Chapter Text
Monday mornings always had a strange way of making the world feel unfinished,
The sky was still pale when Parrot woke up, the sort of grey-blue that came before the sun properly decided whether it wanted to show itself. A thin strip of light slipped through the gap in his curtains and landed across the floor, catching onto the pile of clothes he'd abandoned there the night before.
His alarm had been ringing for almost a minute yet Parrot didn't budge a limb despite the deafening ring, the phone buzzed against the wooden bedside table.
Making a noise somewhere between a groan and a complaint and shoving his face further into the pillow.
The alarm continued, it was persistent, annoyingly. Parrot's hand eventually emerged from underneath the blanket, reaching blindly toward the table, knocked over something, missing the phone entirely, and finally smacked the correct button.
There was a deep sigh of relief from the dead man (metaphorically), for approximately 4 seconds before he suddenly shot up from bed, "what day is it?", his brain foggy from sleep lazily reached for the phone, turning it on and immediately blinking away at the sudden light bursting into his eyes in the dark, room.
"6:07...28 sep...Monday...wait a moment, its monday.."
He quickly shrugged of the sleepiness, and sat up. Monday meant school, and the alarm ringing for- what?, the past 10 mins or something meant he was getting late!
He was supposed to leave at 6:20.
And before you knew it, he was out of bed before he could process the situation. The next 13 minutes which were followed after that were less of routine and more of a series of increasingly desperate decisions and concerning amount of anderlina for a teen.
It took him three attempts to wear his white blouse and tie followed by the deep royal blue uniform jumper which was 2 sizes bigger since he would 'grow into it', sleek black slacks which had surprisingly intricate embroidery with floral patches at the hem of it- that's beside the point,
He found one shoe underneath his desk and the other beside his bed, which raised questions he didn't have the time or energy to answer.
Now stuffing his laptop, phone and some ▄▄▄▄▄▄ hurriedly and slunging it over one shoulder before heading for the door, he was halfway through fumbling with his keys while locking the apartments door when he realized he hadn't really eaten anything.
Parrot did consider going back in, but a quick glance at the watch resting on his wrist immediately forced his stomach to do a complete 360. Hunger was tomorrow's problem.
The front door shut behind him, dashing into the elevator before it closed, murmuring a quick 'thank you' under his breath, barely audible before looking at himself at the mirror fixing his hair.
Despite the morning chaos he seemed surprisingly...decent?
Cold air hit him like a truck, pulling the sleeves over his hands as he stood on the pavement for a moment, breathing in the crisp morning air.
The neighborhood was already waking up.
Cars rolled slowly down the road. A delivery truck was parked outside the little convenience store on the corner, its back doors open while someone carried boxes inside. A dog barked somewhere behind the apartment buildings. The smell of toast drifted from an open kitchen window above him.
It was all painfully ordinary.
Parrot started walking, the route to school wasn't complicated.
Straight down the main road, left at the pharmacy, across the little bridge, then another ten minutes through the neighborhood before the school gates came into view. He'd walked it so many times that he barely needed to think about it anymore.
His feet knew where to go and the brain was still somewhere back in bed, the walk takes a couple minutes usually so he pulled his phone from his pocket to check for any messages or random brand discount notification which 99.99% of the time never works.
none? that was odd, he recalls when once he was walking alone at the dark and saw someone Infront of his faint suddenly so he pulled up a tutorial on how to do CPR on YouTube and the heavens above decided it was an amazing idea to give him a 2 mins long ad and 20 different pop-up notifications.
The sudden discord notification sound which haunts him even in his sleep snapped him out of his thoughts, as his eyes refocused back onto the bright screen,
Spoke: You awak?
Parrot: yeah, unfortunately
Spoke: good
Parrot: why...?
Spoke: just chcking
Parrot: You woke up at what- 6:30 just check up on me?
Spoke: no
Spoke: I wke up at 5
Parrot stopped walking for a moment re-reading the message again. Spoke, that kid out of all the people in the world woke up before him? are we gen degrading...
Parrot: Why would you wake up so early
Spoke: I was forced out of my heenly restig place by an intidating homeork dispeser-
Parrot: bro are we deadass💔
Spoke: nah just joking, dad askd me to clean up and go to the gym.
parrot: that's...normal?
spoke: Being prodctive isnt nomal to you, real iconic coming from the top 3 of the school🤨
Parrot: you're at the gym at 5 in the morning, seek help and autocorret
Spoke: see you at school!!
parrot shook his head before slipping the phone into his pocket and kept walking, there were some people you could reason with, Spoke wasn't one of them.
not even 5 mins later, he heard an awfully familiar voice behind him. "PARROT!!" he recognized the voice without even turning due to the sheer amount of times he has heard endless yap sessions from it.
Wifies was running towards him, not jogging, running at full speed. Backpack hanging from one shoulder, his yin-yang hoodie slipping slightly of one of his shoulder causing it to be askew.
Parrot watched him approach with growing concern. Wifies finally slowed down when he reached him, bending forward with his hands on his knees breathing like he was on chokehold for the past 5 minutes. "Morning" the sound came as calm and non-chalant despite running at full speed as if he was being chased by zombies or smth (holy foreshadowing)
"Are you okay?"
"Yeah"
"You look like you just escaped something," a softer voice came from behind, as parrot looked up to see wh- Planet!,
he was trailing behind Wifies slowly, taking his sweet time. Planet was Wifies younger brother by 5 whole minutes!, "We almost missed the bus," the younger one commented before shifting his attention towards parrot
"Anyways, Morning parrot!" he gave a small wave with a huge grin, so wide that honestly, it looked like it hurt. "Morning to you to as well" he said affectionally ruffling his pure white, fluffy hair despite being younger than him.
Wifies eventually straightened, taking another huge breath before talking, "why are you walking?" Parrot blinked staring at Wifies like he just said he fought all the demons under his bed which he swore are real and isn't going crazy, "...Because that's how you get somewhere, I thought that is common knowled-"
"No, I mean why aren't you taking the bus?"
"Oh, I missed it." Wifies nodded sympathetically, "Skill issue,"
"You're the one who was running down the street."
"Yeah, but I caught mine."
"Congratulations."
"Thank you." Parrot continued walking as Wifies and Planet fell into steps beside him, the silence settled between them, not in a suffocating way, they have been around each other for enough years to get used to it.
"Did you study?" Parrot asked suddenly, Planet who was scrolling on his phone, disinterested by the world suddenly looked up, "...For what?"
"The history test," If there was a record for how fast someone goes from confused to genuinely look like they are about to panic, Planet might have won, because the speed at which his face went from genuine confusion to raw panic caused both Parrot and Wifies stop.
"what...history...test?" Wifies internally facepalmed meanwhile parrot literally did it, "Good luck buddy" he commented sarcastically and continued walking.
"HEY, PARROT PLEASE HELP ME, DAD'S GONNA KILL ME IF I FAIL," Planet immediately dashed and clung to parrot's arm like a leech, whining "DUDE- your brothers smart too bro, just ask him!"
"He gets JOY OUT OF SEEING ME SUFFER! PARROT BRO, YOU DON'T GET IT HE A MENENCE" Parrot looked at wifies with a disappointed look who decided that the grey clouds looked interesting.
"You didn't tell him about the test on purpose didn't you?" Parrot stated staring deadpan at wifies while planet fake sobbed, "Maybeeee-"
They both stared at each other before eventually dissolving into a fit of laughter, "STOP LAUGHING AND HELP ME!!"
By the time they reached the shopping district, there were more students on the streets.
The school wasn't far now.
He passed a group of students standing outside a bakery, all of them still wearing their uniforms. Someone was sharing a packet of chips. Another student was trying to finish an assignment while walking.
Parrot recognized a few of them, he didn't know their names, it was odd on how often that happened.
Unstable High was large enough that knowing someone's face didn't necessarily mean knowing anything about them.
You could recognize someone from three classrooms away.
You could know who they sat with.
You could know which teacher they annoyed.
You could know what sport they played.
But if someone asked you their name, you might have to think.
Parrot had always found that slightly strange.
Thousands of people could occupy the same building every day and still live in completely separate worlds. As the trio crossed the street, a bus pulled away from the stop ahead causing a group of students groan as they watched it leave, Parrot smiled faintly. At least he wasn't the only one suffering this tortures system.
A few minutes later, he heard someone calling his name, again.
"Parrot!" He turned around to be met with Dean walking toward him, bag hanging loosely from his shoulder. Unlike the duo infront of him, Dean seemed awake. Mostly.
"You look tired," Parrot commented,
"I am tired"
"why?"
"I stayed up,"
"Doingg??" Dean hesitated for a spilt second before composing himself "...Stuff."
Now before you judge parrot imagine your friend said that to you, and considering how well...'unreliable' Dean can be at times, it causes deep concern in parrot for the boy, "What stuff?"
"Important stuff."
"That's not an answer."
"It is technically an answer after all"
"Technically..." shrugging of the sudden chill which ran through his body, as Dean talked- actually no, he doing a full on questionnaire for the history test.
"-then you cannot be blaming me for your terrible study schedule, maybe if you weren't on block blast the entire time you would see me actually stud- oh! hey Dean, when...did you get here?" Wifies suddenly paused from his rant to Planet about 'responsibilities' when he had looked up to see Dean besides parrot.
"Morning to you too, Sometime between your yap session,"
Ahead, the school gates were beginning to come into view, the large black letters above the entrance were visible from nearly half a kilometer away.
UNSTABLE HIGH SCHOOL
Students were already gathering around the front courtyard, the familiar morning noise had begun.
Parrot could hear it from here.
Voices.
Laughter.
Someone shouting.
A car horn.
A teacher telling someone to stop running.
The school was awake.
Parrot slowed slightly, Dean paused when he noticed the person behind him was falling behind, "What?"
"Nothing." Parrot looked toward the gates, he couldn't explain why he'd paused there wasn't anything unusual. Nothing looked wrong. Everything was exactly where it was supposed to be.
Students walking through the gates, the teachers arriving with their children, the cars dropping people off and the security guard standing beside the entrance. A completely normal Monday morning.
Parrot adjusted his backpack. "Come on." Parrot murmured before walking in.
Class A was already becoming loud, Parrot could hear it before he even reached the room. Someone was arguing whilst on the other side of the room you could hear hysterical laughs.
A chair scraped loudly against the floor, then came a familiar voice, even with the door closed the hallways could hear the outburst loud and clear. "I'M TELLING YOU, THAT WASN'T MY FAULT."
Parrot took a deep sigh before sliding open the door, the day hadn't even started and he was already done of it.
The first thing he saw was Spoke standing beside one of the desks, gesturing wildly with both hands as though he were presenting his case in court.
Flame was sitting a few seats away, arms folded across his chest, wearing the expression of someone who had already heard enough.
"I didn't even do anything!" Spoke insisted.
"You literally did," Flame replied.
"That's an accusation."
"It's an observation."
"Still an accusation."
"How are those different?"
"They just are." Parrot just stood in the doorway averting his gaze from spoke to flame
He could hear Theo cackling like those witches with god knows what sort of suspicious stew they brew, and beside him was Woogie seemingly trying to calm him down while simultaneously failing himself and losing it in the infectious giggles.
And somewhere in the middle of all of it, Wifies was sitting quietly at his desk as though none of the chaos had anything to do with him.
Poafa had turned around in his seat to watch the argument, while Kier was leaning back in his chair with the sort of expression that suggested he'd arrived halfway through and had no intention of asking for context.
Jepexx was sitting beside him, quietly eating something.
Parrot glanced at the his watch, It was still 7:15, school was going to start in 5 minutes he supposes, he does have a tad bit time to spare
"What's happening?" Nobody answered immediately until Spoke finally noticed him, "Oh, Parrot." there was an odd amount of relief in his voice causing a frown on Parrot's face, "Why did you say that like I'm supposed to solve something?"
"You're class president!!"
"That doesn't mean I'm the emergency response team."
"It should."
"No," Spoke immediately pointed toward the wall "Tell him."
Parrot followed the direction of his finger to see that the classroom clock was hanging crookedly.
Very crookedly.
It was tilted far enough to make the time look like it had been written by someone who'd never seen a clock before, Parrot blankly stared at it then slowly turned back toward Spoke.
"...What happened?"
"I was fixing it."
Parrot sighed.
He had been in this school long enough to know that trying to restore order before the first lesson was pointless.
He walked to his desk instead. backpack landed beside his chair with a dull thud.
Wifies was already sitting there when he looked up from his notebook. "Morning."
"Morning to you to again," Parrot grumbled plopping onto his chair, Wifies went back to whatever he was drawing, Parrot glanced over and curosity got the better of him as he leaned slightly closer. "What are you doing?"
"Nothing."
"That's definitely something."
"It's classified."
"You can't classify your own notebook."
"I just did."
Parrot stared at him.
Wifies stared back.
"...Fine." He eventually tilted the notebook slightly towards him, revealing a badly drawn caricature of Spoke standing on a desk, holding the classroom clock like a trophy. Parrot instinctively had to cover his mouth to muffle out his maniacal laugh.
"Oh my God."
"I know."
"You drew his hair wrong."
"I was going for realism."
Parrot snorted on the other hand, Wifies smiled, clearly pleased with himself. Across the room, Spoke seemed to have noticed the energy radiating from them when he suddenly asked, "What are you two laughing at?"
"Nothing," Wifies said immediately, Parrot nodded along trying too hard not to smile
"Nothing."
Spoke narrowed his eyes. "I don't trust either of you."
"Good," Wifies replied.
Before Spoke could respond, the classroom door opened again.
Pili walked in, Standing at the door for a moment too long, waving to someone goodbye before entering.
"Morning."
"Morning," Parrot answered as he dropped the bag beside his chair and glanced at the clock. "...What happened to that?"
"Spoke."
"Hey!"
Pili looked at him, "Of course."
"Why does everyone keep assuming it's me?"
"Because it usually is." Spoke opened his mouth but after some thought he closed it. "...Okay, that's fair."
A few minutes had passed while the bell rang, and the corridors where full of unintangable blur of noises, Parrot looked around the classroom for a while.
He'd never really thought about how strange it was that all of these people ended up in the same room every morning.
They weren't one big friend group.
Not even close.
There were people he talked to every day.
People he only spoke to during class.
People he knew almost entirely through someone else.
Some of them had been friends for years.
Some had only started talking this year.
And some could probably pass each other in the hallway and not say a word.
But for eight hours a day, five days a week, they were all stuck together. Nine juniors—
Well. Technically, 10
Parrot mentally corrected himself.
The school had changed the class lists twice this year, and he still hadn't memorized the final arrangement properly, but he mentally assigns himself that he is supposed too, after all he is the class president.
That was one of the reasons he had a printed list tucked inside his notebook.
Class A — Junior Year
Parrot.
Wifies.
Pili.
Woogie.
Spoke.
Flame.
Theo.
Poafa.
Kier.
Jepexx.
Ten. He counted again,
Still ten? Parrot frowned at the conclusion, he swore there were like...11 of them? what was it uhh Do-
click
The teacher appeared in the doorway with a clipboard tucked under one arm and a cup of coffee in the other, he took a momentary pause, eyes immediately falling onto the crooked clock.
He took a sigh before glancing back to Spoke, the entire classroom which felt like a Live Hatsumi Miku concert was dead silent. Wow...
Minute slowly lowered his coffee. "...Spoke." Spoke smiled nervously, "Good morning, sir."
"Why is the clock broken?"
"It isn't broken."
Minute looked at the clock which was visibly hanging at an... interesting angle, "Right..."
"It's... leaning."
"Why?"
"Personal preference?" A laugh escaped somewhere near the back as Minute pinched the bridge of his nose before responding in a gruff voice, "Sit down."
Spoke immediately sat, "Everyone here?" Parrot straightened automatically and opened his notebook, "I'll take the attendance."
"Go ahead."
Parrot looked down at the list.
Just another Monday morning, he had no reason to think anything of it.
"Wifies,"
"Here."
"Pili."
"Present."
"Woogie."
"Here."
"Spoke."
"Unfortunately." Minute looked up and Spoke's lazy ahh immediately smiled. "Here."
Flame sighed.
"Here."
"Theo."
"Here."
"Poafa."
"Here."
"Kier."
"Here."
"Jepexx."
"Here."
Parrot marked the final name, ten students.
All present. Why did he feel like someone isn't here?
Parrot frowned and Wifies seemed to have sensed Parrot's concern etched face and leaned over "You doing maths now?"
"No."
"You've been staring at that list for ages."
"I'm checking something."
"What?"
"I don't know." Wifies blinked skeptically, "That's helpful."
"I know." Parrot looked down at the paper again.
There was nothing wrong with it, the school had printed the list and the names were there. Everything was accounted for. He'd probably just misremembered, that happene's!
He closed the notebook as Minute took it from him, glancing over the attendance, and nodded. "Thank you."
Parrot gave him a small nod and leaned back in his chair. Minute turned toward the class "Before we start, I have a few announcements." A collective groan went through the room.
Minute stared at them. "I haven't even said what they are."
"We know they're going to be boring," Spoke said, while the teacher eyed at him, "Would you like to come up here and make them?"
Spoke immediately shook his head. "No."
"Then let me continue." He took another glance at the room before continuing "The history projects are due on Friday, make sure you have written your and your partner's name on it" The groan this time was significantly louder this time. Out of everyone in the class Parrot and Wifies were the only one who didn't looked concerned or even a tad but worried.
Well what else would you expect from the school 2 smartest students, Minute continued talking "Second, the school is changing the procedure for students leaving campus during lunch."
Parrot lifted his head well that was unusual. Usually, students were allowed to leave if they had informed their homeroom teacher "From now on, you need to sign out at the front office."
Jepexx who probably wasn't even listening the whole time raised his hand, "Yes?"
"What if we don't?"
"You don't leave."
"What if we leave anyway?"
"Then we have a disciplinary meeting."
"What if—"
"No." With disappointing sadness he lowered his hand.
"And finally, the school will be conducting a health and wellbeing check-in for students over the next few weeks."
A few students looked confused.
Parrot didn't think much of it.
Minute was the history teacher, but he also worked as the school's student wellbeing and health counsellor. It wasn't unusual for him to bring up things like that. "Nothing to worry about," he added. "It's routine."
Spoke leaned toward Flame whispering to him, "That's what they say before something happens." Flame whispered back. "You're watching too many movies."
"I have instincts."
"You have paranoia."
"Same thing." Minute looked toward them. "Would either of you like to share?"
"No."
"Good." He turned back to the board. The class settled.
Mostly.
Parrot opened his notebook and Wifies leaned over, again. "Hey."
"What?"
"You really don't remember who we're missing?"
Parrot glanced at him, odd hesitance before answering "I don't know if we're missing anyone."
"But you think we are."
"Maybe."
Wifies thought about it, "Could just be the list."
"Maybe."
"You want me to ask?"
Parrot hesitated before shaking his head. "No. It's probably nothing."
Wifies nodded. "Okay." The lesson began and for the next forty minutes, Parrot forgot about it.
The bell rang and chairs scraped across the floor simultaneously.
Everyone had started moving. The transition between classes was always chaotic.
Students spilled into the hallways in groups, some heading to different classrooms, others stopping in the middle of the corridor to talk despite the increasingly irritated teachers trying to get past them.
Parrot packed his books away while Wifies waited beside the desk.
"You going to lunch?"
"Obviously."
"With us?"
"Yeah."
Spoke appeared beside them.
"Us?" Wifies gave him a side-glance before answering "yea'
"Who's us??"
"Me, Parrot, Dean, Lui-" Spoke counted on his fingers before interrupting Wifies, "...Flame?"
"Doesn't he usually sit with Lomedy though?"
"yea!"
"Then...why would you even ask dude..." Spoke gave a very non-chalet shrug. Speaking of Flame he was standing by his desk, shoving his books into the bag with considerably more force than necessary.
Parrot watched him. approaching him with tad bit uneasiness, he is friendly-ish but he heard rumors that he had a fight in his last school where the others student ended up with 6 broken bones.
"You okay?"
"Yeah."
"You sure?"
"Yeah." Flame zipped his bag when his phone suddenly buzzed startling both of them. Upon looking at the screen the expression on his face softened slightly.
"Who?"
"My brother."
Spoke appeared over Parrot's shoulder.
"ManePear?"
Flame nodded.
Spoke smiled.
"What does he want?"
"He asked if I'm coming home straight after school."
"Are you?"
"Probably not, gonna go to Lom's place after school." Spoke looked at him. "You live with your brother?"
Flame glanced at him, "Yeah."
"Still weird."
"What's weird about it?"
"He's twenty-four."
"And?"
"And you're sixteen."
"Good maths."
"I mean..." Spoke struggled to explain before giving up with a defeated look, "Never mind."
Flame gave a light chuckle as he typed out something on his phone. Parrot knew a little more about ManePear than Spoke did, almost everyone in their class knew that Flame's parents had died several years ago, after that, Mane had become the person who looked after him. Twenty four wasn't exactly old enough to suddenly become someone's parent, but he'd done it anyway.
Pretty sure he worked overtime to pay the bills and make sure Flame went to school,
And apparently still texted him during school hours to make sure he came home.
Parrot had met him a few times.
ManePear was nice but a little intimidating.
Mostly because he had the exhausted expression of someone who had been forced into adulthood years before he was ready for it. It wasn't far from the truth honestly.
Lunch at Unstable High was less of a meal and more of a controlled disaster.
The cafeteria was huge.
Not slightly bigger than the classrooms or the sort of huge that could be fixed by adding another table. It was the kind of huge that made Parrot wonder whether whoever designed the school had ever actually watched a group of teenagers eat lunch.
Three long rows of tables stretched across the room, broken up by pillars and walkways that students had slowly claimed as their own over the years.
The juniors usually occupied the tables closest to the windows, while the seniors had somehow claimed the far end of the cafeteria despite there being absolutely no official rule saying they could.
Nobody questioned it anymore but the noise was worse. Well what do you expect when hundreds of conversations collide together until they became one enormous, indistinguishable roar.
Chairs scraped.
Trays clattered.
Someone shouted across the room.
Someone else shouted back.
A bottle rolled underneath a table and was kicked across the floor.
Meanwhile the lunch ladies yelled at a group of students to stop running, It was loud enough that Parrot could barely hear Wifies walking beside him. "Where are we sitting?"
"Usual place."
"That's not an answer."
"It is if you know the usual place."
"I don't." Parrot suddenly stopped and Wifies nearly walked into him as he instinctively steading his hold on his try "What?" Parrot then pointed across the cafeteria, "There." Wifies gaze followed his companions finger pointed.
Their table was already half-full. Pili was sitting with Woogie and Theo, while Poafa had somehow managed to occupy enough space for three people despite being only one person talking to Jepexx, who appeared to be eating something that Parrot wasn't entirely sure was from today's lunch.
Wifies gave a huff as he then pulled Parrot towards their table with Dean and Luigi when he suddenly heard a voice cut through the blur of noises,
"Parrot!" He turned to be met with 4C was standing near the entrance to the cafeteria, holding his tray in one hand while trying to stop Jande from walking into a table behind him.
"Can you tell them to stop stealing seats?"
Parrot blinked.
"What?"
"Your class- they keep stealing chairs," Parrot looked past him, the other class had apparently decided that the concept of personal seating arrangements was beneath them.
Wemmbu was already sitting down while trying to save a seat for Egg who was getting both his and Wemmbu's lunch for some reason?
Derap was trying to make room for everyone while yungy was laughing at something Pangi had said. Ahead he saw Lomedy drawing something on his sketchbook? while Flame probably yapped his ears off.
"Jandenman," 4CIVIT said flatly as Jaden slowly looked at him. "What?"
"That's my seat." He glanced down then up, "Oh."
"Move."
"Why?"
"Because it's my seat."
"You weren't sitting there."
"I was getting food."
"Then it wasn't your seat." 4C stared at him and Jaden stared back while Parrot quietly turned to Wifies. "Do you see what I deal with?" Wifies nodded solemnly.
"Terrifying." 4C shifted his attention from Jaden to the duo in front of him, "You're class president too you know" Parrot just shrugged before replying, "Sounds like a personal problem."
4C looked genuinely betrayed. "You understand me!"
"That's why I'm not helping." Wifies laughed as the other classes president shook his head and went back to his table.
Now that is done, Parrot followed Wifies toward their own spot.
Walking a bit more away from the main crowed near the window, he saw Dean and Luigi with books in their hands and notes scattered on half the table. They both settled besides them without a word as eventually Luigi looked up, "Oh!- when...did you get here?"
"are you seriously that study-deprived bro..." Wifies snorted into his chocolate milk causing him to go into a series of brutal coughing as parrot patted his back.
"Arn't you gonna eat?" parrot asked eventually as he looked at both the seniors and their untouched plate, "It would be a shame if that food went to waste,"
"Bro your not guilt-tripping me..."
"I try my best"
Class B was somehow louder. No one really understood how, It was mainly Wemmbu's sound barrier breaking manic laughs filling half the cafeteria. It wasn't even particularly loud when he was trying.
The problem was that he almost never tried.
Eggchan sat beside him, looking significantly more composed despite the fact that he'd spent the past several minutes trying to stop Wemmbu from stealing his food.
"That's mine."
Wemmbu had already taken another fry.
"I know."
"Then stop."
"No."
Eggchan stared at him.
"Wemmbu."
"What?"
"That's the third one."
"I like them."
"You have your own."
"They don't taste as good."
"They're literally the same fries."
"No."
"They are bro-"
"No." Egg sighed in defeated meanwhile the purple haired person grinned victoriously and stole another.
The seniors had their own corner of the cafeteria.
They were quieter than the juniors, although that wasn't necessarily saying much.
Jaron sat near the end of the table, talking with Wato and Kenadian about complex calculus and doing Ted-ED riddles like its a child's play (NO IT IS NOT)
Besides them was Boosfer who...well lets just say lived in his own little world with his goons.
"Kier, go get me another drink" Boosfer ordered as he placed the wallet in the younger ones grasp who then sprinted off. This is what happens when you have filthy rich parents,
Vitalasy was reading something on his phone. (vita AO3 Stanner canon guys trust)
Jumper was trying to convince Spepticle that something he'd seen online wasn't real despite his persistence.
"It isn't."
"It is."
"No."
"I saw it."
"You saw a video."
"Exactly."
"That doesn't make it real." Spepticle frowned "Why not? those dancing cats look real enough though :( "
"Because people fake things."
"Why would they fake that?"
"For views."
Spep gave it a momentary thought, before sighing and taking out his phone again. Suddenly the pout turned into a concerningly joyful grin as he turned to look at Jumper. "Yo, wanna join my secrete labubu whispered club?" he murmured into her ear, successfully gaining a groan from his fellow classmate,
"Spep...please not again, I told you to stop hanging out with boosfer and spongs- BRO"
Nufuli was quietly eating whilst seated beside Jaron gave a light chuckle glancing towards to juniors table, "Do you think we were always this loud before?"
Kenadian looked over from the sheet he had been solving, "Who?"
"Everyone."
Kenadian watched Wemmbu nearly fell out of his chair because Egg had moved his tray. "...Yeah."
"Fair."
"At least they got to have some fun," Jaron nodded along looking down onto his untouched tray.
Exams were looming close,
10 September, 10:16 am
At another table, Dol9hin was sitting with students from two different classes.
That was normal for her.
She had friends almost everywhere, always been the sort of person who could walk into a conversation halfway through and somehow become part of it within minutes.
She was laughing at something one of the girls had said when her eyes drifted toward the teachers' section.
Empty.
Her smile faded slightly.
Sharpness still wasn't there, it has been what? 15 days now?
"You okay?"
She looked back.
"Yeah."
"You sure?"
"Yeah." Dumb (isdumb) followed her gaze "You're looking for Sharpness again?" Dol9hin hesitated a tad bit before nodding
"He's probably still sick."
"I know."
"Then why do you keep worrying?" She didn't answer looking down at her lunch, "I...don't know" She didn't know that was the problem, she wasn't able to explain the feeling. It wasn't simply that Sharpness was absent, it was Jude.
Something about the science teacher had been strange lately, avoiding question, looking distracted, always exhausted and this weird sort of paranoia always making him jittery.
He also recently has this...odd scent, Dol9hin has smelled everything but...whatever that was, it was almost as if rotten-flesh or smth? "what are you thinking?!, it's probably something else right?"
"Don't overthink it." Dumb placed a reassuring hand on her shoulder as she smiled faintly, "Yeah." looking back at the teachers table, Jude wasn't there?, it had to be probably nothing right?
At the teachers' table, Minute was eating while looking over a stack of papers while Hannah was trying to have a conversation with him.
He was listening. Mostly. "You know you don't have to grade during lunch."
"I know."
"Then why are you?"
"Because if I don't, I'll have to do it after school."
"That's when you normally do it."
"Exactly." Hannah stared at him before speaking, "That's not how lunch works."
"It is for me." She sighed giving a huff "You're impossible."
Minute gave a light chuckle taking sip of his coffee, "You're the one who brought me coffee,"
"Because you looked dead."
"I appreciate that."
"That wasn't a compliment."
"I took it as one." Nearby, Pika was talking with Div, with defiantly didn't sound anything school related whilst Ivory sat nearby Schpood discussing options for the end of year school play.
Sharpness's chair remained empty. Minute glanced at the empty seat before looking at the far end of the table where Jude sat, he was very social and giddy at the first 2-3 years of him joining the school but now he seems very paranoid and... distressed all the time, Minute tried cornering and talking to the younger teacher about sharpness but it was to no awail.
"Sharp's still absent?" Hannah looked over to the empty seat before nodding "Apparently, he's taking a lot of days off. Hasn't he?"
Minute frowned taking a bite of his lunch "Yeah,"
"The students are always sad since they arn't allowed to go for cooking lessons since Sharp's not here, that is literally the only lesson many look forward to," Hannah added looking toward the cafeteria.
Hundreds of students, all perfectly normal, eating, laughing.
Looking back the the empty chair, something about it bothered him, but not enough to investigate. Not yet.
The final bell had barely finished ringing before the school began emptying itself.
Classrooms opened one after another, releasing tired students into the corridors. Lockers slammed. Shoes squeaked against the polished floor. Teachers stood by their doors trying to prevent students from sprinting down the stairs, with varying degrees of success.
wifies was still packing his books while parrot rearranged the tables and cleaned the white board when wifies phone buzzed as he took it out to see who had messaged him.
Papa: Wifies
Papa: bring parrot with you
Wifies read the message before looking up to where parrot was aggressively wiping the board while spraying perfume on it cause some teacher use permanent marker on it.
"Parrot"
"hmm?"
"My Papa's asking for you to come over for dinner,"
"Me? Parrot asked blinking as he looked behind his shoulder, "Nah I meant the ghost in your bedrooms walls,"
"Bro that was last year, shut up!" Parrot huffed before continuing "Why is he asking anyways?"
"Firstly he didn't ask he literally commanded me to bring you, secondly, he prob likes you more than us." Wifies shrugged
Parrot looked genuinely confused. "I barely talk to him."
"Dude, you literally lived at our for 4 years before moving out, he practically adopted you, plus he probably thinks your too quite."
"I am not quiet." Wifies gave him a look and Parrot thought over. "Okay, maybe around him."
Another messaged popped up as Wifies looked at it
Papa: and tell him to not argue,
Wifies snorted as Parrot went back to cleaning. After some time they both left the class and stood in front of the neighbouring classes door waiting for Planet who, from what they can see through the windows, was sitting on Derapchu's shoulder while Derap tried to get him off without throwing him.
Wifies gave a sigh as they both waited outside leaning at the corridor, knowing that trying to enter and stop whatever shenanigans are happening in there won't stop unless a teacher entered or someone ends up on the floor.
"Do I need to bring anything?"
"No."
"Are you sure?"
"Yeah."
"What are we eating?"
"I don't know." he thought over for a while, "Can I ask?"
"You can."
Wifies pulled out his phone typing out something,
WIFI: uhh parrots asking what we are gonna eat
Papa: food
Wifies stared and Parrot leaned over his shoulder. "...Helpful."
"Very."
The staff room was almost empty by the time Minute finished gathering his things.
He sat behind his desk, sorting through the last few papers he'd need to take home when he paused and noticed a small drawing tucked beneath one of the papers. It messy sketch, probably Spoke's.
Minute picked it up, studied it for a second, then smiled eventually slipping it into the side pocket of his bag.
Outside the staff room, Mapicc was waiting leaning onto the wall. He had been waiting for twelve minutes and checked the time six times, it wasn't the he is impatient, he simply had absolutely nothing better to do.
Spoke was sitting on the floor beside him, leaning against the wall. "You're going to get detention if someone catches you sitting here," Mapicc said, Spoke simply shrugged. "I've gotten detention before."
"Yeah, but Minute's going to find out."
"So?"
"So he'll give you the disappointed dad look." Spoke grimaced. "That's worse."
Mapicc chuckled at his friends antics. The two of them had been friends for so long that there was hardly a point where one could be found without the other.
Best friends didn't quite describe it. Partners in crime was closer.
If Spoke had an idea, Mapicc was usually the first person to hear it.
If Mapicc had a terrible idea, Spoke was usually already involved.
Neither was particularly good at talking the other out of things.
They were, however, extremely good at making things worse. Unfortunately fate decided against them when the teachers early on caught onto their 'closeness' and put them in separate classes.
click
The staff room opened, Minute stepped out and saw Spoke then Mapicc before looking back at the clock behind him. "Why are you both still here?"
Spoke stood up stretching his hands above his head "Waiting." he said with a yawn,
"For?"
"You."
Minute stared and Mapicc tried to smile innocently "He missed you."
"I did not."
Minute sighed.
"Come on." Spoke grabbed his bag and Mapicc tailed behind, Minute looked at him before asking, "You're coming too?"
Mapicc shrugged. "If that's okay."
"Of course it is."
Mapicc smiled, he had been spending more and more time at Minute's place lately. It wasn't anything complicated. His parents were gone, and he'd been managing his own apartment while working at a restaurant as a clerk to keep up with rent and everything else that came with living alone.
Of course it wasn't easy and Minute had noticed, he never made a big deal out of it, he simply started leaving the door unlocked more often. There was always food, always somewhere to sit and Mapicc had slowly become another familiar face in the house.
Minute didn't mind and If anything, he seemed to prefer having people around.
Spoke walked beside him and Mapicc walked on the other side and oddly for once, neither of them was causing trouble.
Minute looked between them before starting up a conversation as they walked down the stairscase, "How was school?"
"Fine," Spoke said.
"Normal," Mapicc added.
Minute narrowed his eyes. "That answer usually means something happened."
"Nothing happened."
"Good." he paused before adding on "I didn't see you both at the cafeteria?"
"Oh yea, we went to the sports hall to see Planet practice for his archery competition," Spoke lied, the words rolling out tongue so smoothly without a doubt that if Minute didn't know any better, he would believe it "And didn't Planet also had a swimming competition which you went to see him practice for last week?" Minute said looking over his shoulder while opening the school gates.
A sheen layer of sweat formed on Spoke's forehead while Mapicc looked away since apparently the pencil looked interesting. "Heh...uhh well, he...does both" He tried to counter back but when Minute gave him the knowing look he knew he was cooked
"Okay, fine" he frowned before mumbling out "we went outside,"
"Spoke can you be a little louder"
"We...went out..." he said a bit more loudly to which Minute stopped walking causing the blood in Spoke's body to freeze, moving behind mapicc using him as a shield while Mapicc stared at his feet waiting for the stern scolding they both would get.
"Spoke, didn't I announce it in the class you aren't allowed to leave without informing any teacher, anyways why did you even go out in the first place," Minute said, his exhausted expression more visible without his reading glasses perched on his nose,
"We...just went to the...park," Spoke gulped his grip tightening on Mapicc while he looked down unable to meet Minute's eyes, "Who is 'we'?" Minute asked crossing his arms over his chest.
"Me...Mapicc and Planet..." he murmured out a response, hearing Minute get closer, his body instinctively flinched, his fingernails digging into Mapicc's mundane red hoodie, Minutes expression softened with concern, resting his hand on Spoke's shoulder crouching down to meet the younger one's eyes
"Hey, Spoke it's fine, it's just me, he is not here. im not mad" he paused searching for the right words before speaking "We are just worried for the students because the recent missing reports, it's for your safety Spoke. I don't want anything to happen to you, Just please tell next time, Okay?" Spoke gave a slight nod, visibly shaken up, Minute sighed before turning his gaze to Mapicc
"Mapicc, I trust you to make sure Spoke dosen't do this again, and you to, I don't want this to happen again, okay?"
"Yes sir"
Flame got home a little after four, dropping his bag beside the door and immediately kicked off his shoes. "Mane?"
No answer. Flame walked farther inside, the sound of gloves hitting a punching bag came from the other room.
ManePear was in the small training space he'd set up at home. punching bag hung from the ceiling, wearing training his clothes, hands wrapped, moving steadily around the bag.
Flame stood in the doorway for 4 minutes before Mane noticed him through the mirror.
"You're home."
"Yeah."
"How was school?"
"Fine."
Mane nodded then hit the bag again, Flame stood there and watched. He'd seen his brother train hundreds of times.
Mane worked as a boxing trainer, and the house always seemed to carry some trace of it—hand wraps drying near the sink, gloves by the door, old training equipment tucked into corners.
"Did you eat?"
"At school."
"That's not what I asked."
Flame sighed.
"Yeah."
"Properly?"
"Probably," Mane stopped for spilt second and looked at him before continuing, Flame suddenly smiled before speaking, "I'm going to Lomedy's."
"Okay."
"His grandparents said I could eat there." Mane nodded, "Text me when you're going."
"I literally just told you."
"Text me anyway."
Flame rolled his eyes. "Okay." He picked up his bag and disappeared into his room. He picked up his bag and disappeared into his room.
A few minutes later, he emerged wearing normal clothes. Mane was still training, Flame stood there for another moment.
He wanted to say something.
Anything.
He wanted Mane to stop.
To notice him.
To ask him to stay.
Instead, he simply said: "I'm going." Mane glanced over briefly giving him a nod and continued. It hurted Flame a bit but he didn't say anything, the door clicking shut behind him.
Lomedy lived only two apartments away, It made visiting him extremely convenient.
Flame knocked and waited until the door opened almost immediately. "You came!" Lomedy stepped aside. "My grandparents made way too much food."
Flame smiled. "That's not a problem."
"I know."
The apartment smelled warm, food was already on the table. Lomdey's grandmother emerged from the kitchen going up to the boy pinching his cheeks. "Flame, my dear you have gone so thin! has Mane not been feeding you well,"
Lomdey chuckled before he took flame with him to help in setting up the table.
After a while they all sat down, dinner was loud in a completely different way from school.
There were no hundreds of voices.
No bells or teachers. Just a small apartment, warm food, and people who actually wanted him there. Lomedy's grandparents asked about school, classes and then eventually his brother.
"Mane still training you?" Lomedy asked.
"Sometimes."
"Sometimes?"
"He works a lot." Flame thought over as he chewed with delight "He's a boxing trainer."
"I know."
"You say that like it's a problem."
"It's not." Flame moved the vegetables with his fork, his appetite suddenly lesser, "He just..." Lomdey waited while Flame searched for the right words, "...never really has time."
"He'll train me sometimes," Flame continued. "But then he gets busy. Or someone needs him. Or he has work."
"Yeah."
"I know he has to, Obviously."
"I just..." Flame looked down unable to meet his friend's eyes, "I wish he'd notice me more."
Flame laughed quietly, embarrassed
"That sounds stupid."
"No."
"It does."
"It doesn't." Flame shrugged. "I just want him to spend time with me."
Lomedy nodded. "That's not stupid." Flame didn't answer, for a while neither of them did until Lomedy's grandfather placed another serving onto Flame's plate.
"Eat"
"I'm full"
"Eat more, everyone has enough space for my wonderful cooking" Both teenagers burst into laughter, it sounded stupid, yet it was absurdly funny ot them.
Later, the two of them sat on the floor with paper and pencils spread around them. They drew together.
Nothing particularly serious, just some chaacters or things they found cool, Flame was better than Lomedy expected.
"You're actually good."
Flame glanced over. "Obviously."
"Wow."
"What?"
"Nothing." Flame looked over Lomdey's drawing when his jaw dropped (metaphorically) "Bro-like bro, are you Leonardo?"
"Its not that good"
"Bro shut up,"
Before Flame left, Lomedy's grandparents packed food into a container and handed it to him,"For your brother." Flame stared at it before looking back at them, "There's already food at home."
"Then he'll have more."
"And this?"
"For you tomorrow morning." Flame gave a small smile. "Thank you."
"Take it."
Wemmbu's house was quiet when he got home, too quiet, he unlocked the door and looked around the living room and kitchen before calling out, "Rejoice?"
Nothing.
"Rejoice?"
A small voice came from upstairs. "I'm here!" Wemmbu sighed in relief. "Why are you upstairs?" he said in a unexpectedly soft voice, climbing upstairs. "Because I wanted to!"
"That's not an answer."
"It is!"
Wemmbu dropped his bag in his room, opening the lights and changing out of his uniform. His parent were rarely home, They were both successful businesspeople, constantly travelling, attending meetings, or dealing with something somewhere else.
And the house was far larger than it needed to be, but on most days, it was just him and his seven-year old brother. Now having changed into clothes that weren't constantly suffocating him he left his room going into his younger sibling's rooms.
He found Rejoice sitting on the floor with toys scattered around him. "You eat?"
"No."
"It's four-thirty."
"I wasn't hungry." Wemmbu sighed. "Come on."
"I'm not hungry."
"You have to eat."
"I don't want to."
"Rejoice." The boy looked up while Wemmbu held out his hand, "Come on." After a moment, Rejoice took it and his older brother pulled him up. As they headed downstairs, Rejoice looked at him.
"Can we have noodles?"
"Yeah."
"Can I make them?"
"No."
"Why?"
"Your still very small and I don't want you to burn yourself"
"I'm not small!" he huffed angrily, Wemmbu chuckled at his younger brother's shenanigans before giving into it, "Fine you can help me wash the vegetables,"
"Yay :D "
He looked around before crossing the street. Then again, and again, carrying a small bag and wearing a hood pulled over his head.
He knew this was probably unnecessary.
He also knew that if his parents found out, he'd never hear the end of it.
They had rules and a lot of them. Zam had grown up surrounded by expectations about proper behavior, appearances, etiquette, and family reputation and Pangi was not exactly th sort of person his parents would have approved of to spend time with.
That was precisely why Pangi kept coming, gates of the enormous house stood ahead as he slipped through the backyard's gate, moving ahead along the bushes until a familiar face appeared at the doorway, Zam smiled brightly at the well known silhoute he has far too many times to mistake it for someone else,
"You made it!" Pangi smiled back at him "Of course,"
"You weren't followed?"
"Nah, your guards are total bums bro," Zam gave a soft chuckle, he looked undeniably lovely under the soft glow spilling the mansion behind.
He followed Zam into his room, spending the next few hours basking in each others embrace and talking about their day.
(holy forbidden love gng)
15 September, 5:30 pm
She has noticed something undeniably wrong when Sharpness was again absent for 20 straight days, he might he grumpy while coming to school but it's not like he just skipped for so many days. She's asked Jude about him, the response was always the same, 'Sharp's sick'
at first it was accepted, but then Jude had started acting strangely too. Always more distracted, avoiding people, leaving school quickly.
She had watched him one afternoon, while the teacher walked towards his car, she stood at the gates, staring at it...maybe if she followed him home and personally checked up on Mr.Sharp? But what if something b-
"Helllooo, Dol9hin to earth?" She snapped his fixiated gaze from Jude's car distracted by the hand waving infront of her, turning to see Dumb beside her looking at her with evident concern.
"Don't tell your going to do what I think you are," He murmured pouting when she gave a slight nod.
"It's gonna be quick Dumb I promise, I swear I'll just take a peak and ret-"
"It's...not that' Dumb cut her off looking down at his feet before responding, "It's...just that, this is not right, I know you miss Mr. Sharp but following a teacher...Dol, you can get hurt" Dumb tried convincing her, holding her hands in his, face covered in a pleading look.
"...I'm sorry..." she murmured pulling back from her friend's grip, and running after the car at a distance
"Please be safe..." Dumb could only wish his best prayers for her safety.
She waited till Jude entered, standing outside for several minutes, no matter how much she tried, she wasn't able to shake of the undeniable feeling that something is...wrong, yet not being able to pin-point what.
Now approaching the house which was tucked away at the end of the street. All the curtains were drawn, light were dim, a sound came from inside, it was...low and unfamilier.
Dol9hin frowned moving closer to the window, seeing a strange silhouette, upon closer look pressing her face into the window, she recognized the blond hair tucked in a bun and the red ribbon. It was Sharpness!
Her favorite teacher, inside the house, expect something seemed, very, very wrong.
He was tied up with restraints, his body twitching strangely, posture all wrong, the head tilted in an angle which made her back feel some sort of phantom pain, and his eye- oh gosh...
Dol9hin's body jerked back violently on instinct, knocking over to pots from the window.
Inside the house, Jude stopped moving slowly turning his head towards the window.
Without a second thought she ran, or tried running, the scene she had just witnessed made her body sluggish her legs refusing to move any fast.
The front door opened behind her, she whipped her head back eyes wide and breathing ragged when she saw Jude standing in the doorway, his voice sounded almost normal as if his husband- or if that is Sharpness anymore, didn't look like he was beaten up till his body refused to cooperate and went disfigured.
"Dol9hin?" She wanted to run away and never come back, but her body had other plans, she needed answers. "You shouldn't be here."
"What did you do to him...?" Jude didn't answer
"Where is he?"
"Dol9h-"
"WHY DOES HE LOOK LIKE...THAT?!" Jude stepped outside, she really tried her best to run but curse her luck there had to be a rock below her causing her to trip, but instead of meeting to floor. He caught her.
And the last thing Dolphin remembered before everything went dark was Jude telling her, very quietly—
"I'm sorry."