Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Hat kid sat on her bed, pondering. Now not even she knew what she was thinking about, her never ending imagination seemed to make it difficult for her to stick to one topic for a long time before hoping to the next one,

That was one of many annoying traits about her.

It was 6 AM, the window just above her already had soft rays of the suns light beaming into her room. Though it wasn’t a huge room it proved itself quite nice for hiding from the angry caretakers, it was so messy anyways that the caretakers never really wanted to go in it. She got in trouble loads at the orphanage but all of that was really on her part and her part alone.

popping out of the odd train of thought she checked the time, and once doing so she was quite close to almost yelling in shock, she had a debate speech later that day but she hadn’t even written any speech, nor flashcards... peck she barely could remember the topic they were given! Maybe staying up all night wasn’t the best of plans.

She had an hour before the bus came, 45 minutes until she and all the other kids were wrangled outside to wait for the bus, she’d have 30 minutes until breakfast, in which case leaving her 30 minutes without distraction until she’d have to begin multitasking

First 30 minutes went by swimmingly, once hat kid remembered the topic point of the debate she quickly began to build her argument, she had just begun writing down on her 2nd flash card when she heard in the distance the caretakers already banging on children’s doors, this was the hard part, quickly setting down her flash card to get changed from pajamas into a purple sweater, some comfy pants, and gently picking it up from the special hook she left it on, she plopped on her most favorite hat, grabbed her flash card and a pen, and quickly opened the door to the hall

Looking up and down the hall it seemed most of the kids had already scrambled out of their room and into the ‘dining room’ it was part time living room, part time dining room, and part time arts and crafts room, though it was a very nice orphanage, they still had most rooms for children’s living spaces, to give them privacy, but that meant few rooms weren’t where at least one slept.

Hat kid while trying to use her own arm to set the flashcards on, while she scribbled her basic key phrases and supporting points on them, she also hurriedly went in the direction of the ‘dining room’, she’d be able to either get a spot at a table or be able to use the floor to continue writing, she was on point with her multitasking

Well that WAS until this older kid, not by much, maybe by a year or so, bumped right into her, sending the cards flying across the floor, and knocking off her hat in the process as well, the other kid continued running down the hall ignoring the poor hat kid left on the floor quickly picking up her flashcards but in doing it so frantically she continued to accidentally wrinkle them a tad, or for one even tear one right threw the middle! Of course she was mad but she needed to get these finished anyways, she was not getting berated by anyone about a failing grade, at least not today. She quickly got her Chan on hat and continued down the hall

When she got to the dining room she’d only have 5 minutes to eat, she sighed, she’d just get a snack before class started, she had a small bit of money tucked in a secret pocket in her hat for that very cause anyways. She was able to get most of her cards done besides two of the final closing ones before all the kids were told to clean up their messes and the such. She gently set the flashcards in her hat, and quietly snuck off.

She went over to go grab her backpack early, she didn’t want to get trampled trying to do so later while the other kids did the same. She got it off it hook, it was a simple purple and yellow, she’d always thought those colors fit nice together and it matched her outfit quite well, though if it didn’t she would care to much anyways. She also like always grabbed the green one that was heavily cat themed, and scampered off before anyone could notice

Scooping out where the caretakers were was easy, it was just as easy to slide by outside early so she could meet up with one of her friends! Once out she ran to their meeting spot. they’d always walk to school instead of taking the bus, which though it wasn’t allowed no one really payed mind to them anyways so might as well get a nice stroll out of it.

Bow was already sitting there simply waiting, unlike hat kid, they weren’t at all in a rush, they already had all their papers and flashcards and notebooks set up neatly in their backpack, though by asking hat kid to bring it again at least half of them were rustled up and disorganized.

When hat kid got there they held out bows backpack with a huff or two trying to catch their breath. Bow thanked hat kid for being kind enough to grab it for them

“No problem! It was fun to see how fast I could run with 50 pounds worth of papers slung over my left shoulder!” Hat kid giggled a little after, as bow gave a small huff of her own

“At least I’m prepared, You do everything last minute! Seriously you’d probably run for president, but forget to write the speech until an hour before you had to go in front of millions.”

They begun walking down the sidewalk together as they continued to have a friendly banter, they’d always have fun hanging out. cause of their schedules in school being very diffrent, they barely ever saw each other in school at all besides when there’s big events.

They were both outcasts no matter the situation though, seemingly why they were so happy to have someone who listened, and who understood! Bow was constantly bullied and many people noticed her, but that was only when she was getting slammed against the wall cause she ‘looked at someone the wrong way’. She was horrible at standing up for herself though, she wanted to, but never could get any words out whenever the bullies approached her

Hat kid was ignored, plain and simple. She coined the nickname hat kid since barely anyone knew anything else about her. She’d always try to talk to new people and make friends with them, she wasn’t even shy, very confident actually. But either she didn’t exist or she was a massive annoyance to whoever she attempted talking to. She gave up trying to make any new friends besides bow and a teacher or two after awhile. But she still tries sometimes, just gotta think of something interesting to get peoples attention.

After a long while of chatting and walking they made it to the school, only a few buses had already arrived but not many buses even arrive this early anyways.

“Hey, I didn’t get anything to eat this morning, wanna go hit up the vending machine?” Hat kid asked out of the blue

Bow kid shrugged “sure, why not” she was lucky enough to grab some toast before it was all gone at the orphanage so she was quite content already, but a few more minutes with hat wouldn’t be that bad, she needed to get a bottle of water anyways. They both headed inside, a few of the students that attended the before school classes were chilling in the halls, none payed any mind to bow and hat as both of them hurried to the vending machine.

It was shoved in a corner of a certain hall, the hall was quite gray, and had all sorts of sad emotions lingering there, everyone would say it was haunted, there was only one classroom that stayed in the hall for over a year. When they both got to the machine hat kid took off her hat and put her hand inside, she felt for her secret pocket but when finding it she had also found the money inside it was gone, first she was just sad, she could of had some chips for breakfast, she did that almost every day but still it was nice.

Then realizing where her money probably went she was very, very unhappy

“Oh that... PECKNECK!! THEY STOLE MY MONEY!!”

The yelling caught bow of guard making her jump a little, a little meaning she was very close to bolting out of the hallway, she didn’t like yelling all that much. She didn’t even know what hat kid was mad about, well, she knew someone stole their money but besides when sleeping Hat well... NEVER took of her hat unless it was to put something in or taking something out of it.

Hat kid though not yelling anymore grumbled and kicked the machine a few time in anger, she wasn’t really all that temperamental but when she got mad she’d need a bit to blow off the steam.

“...you two kiddos doing alright?”

Both hat kid and bow jumped hearing the mans voice from down the hall, they turned to see the debate teacher, the only one that really had a class in this hall, peeking his head out from his classroom, with quite the concerned expression. Both Hat and Bow stared at him and then looked at each other, hat was the first to manage a sentence

“Sorry Mr... I uh, just got a tad mad” she chuckled nervously, she did NOT want to get on the debate teachers bad side, not in the morning, and not on the day where the debate competitions began. “I seemed to have lost my money, I shouldn’t have yelled out like that but you know how it is sometimes...” the further she spoke the more she just her voice grew small and soft.

The teacher stared for a moment, like all teachers do in the morning, none of them seem to sleep ever, at least hat kid got 5 hours sometimes, you could swear these teachers lived off of coffee. But suddenly he chuckled a bit, either he understood or he pitied her, but it was a better reaction than either bow or hat expected from him. He looked back into his classroom before giving out a sigh with a smile.

Hat wanted out of the situation and bow was going to be late to one of her earlier classes if she wasn’t able to leave. Just in luck though the teacher went back into his classroom, leaving his door open most likely to come right back out, bow made a mad dash for it, waving bye to hat as she rounded the corner to quickly take a shortcut to class. Hat was still stuck there though, for as when they took a single step the debate teacher came out again this time he... had a few dollars?

Hat was heavily confused but he walked over, he was smiling like he always did,
“Hm, which one did you want kid?”

Hat suddenly realized what he was doing, maybe her lack of sleep was getting to her... no! She’d never let that happen, but she pointed at some chips, shaking a little trying to get over the initial shock of being caught yelling profanities by a teacher. He inserted the needed amount and some reason gently put in the code for the thing hat kid wanted. Once it fell he let hat kid take it out herself but he gave her a warm smile

“I’ll see you today in class, okay kid?”

Hat kid nodded, once the teacher returned to his classroom to do whatever debate teachers did. she quickly got out of the hall while munching on her chips she seemed to have a bit more time till her home room class would start, so maybe she could get a peak at what the art kids were doing, or she did hear that there might be a secret DnD battle going on behind the school, maybe she could get a peek at that action instead

She decided to run over to the art class, to see if any kids were in there early, and if she could get a peak at what they were drawing..or painting or sowing or whatever they were doing today. She always humored the thought of her becoming a part time artist, but she’d rather keep it as a hobby, and get a way cooler main job. Like astronaut! Or... engineer, maybe a game maker, just anything cool really. But doodling was really helpful to her when stressed at least!

She was able to watch them for about 6 minutes before she could hear the normal bus kid crowds start to fill the halls. She sighed leaving a small bit of fog on the window to the art room, she doodled a little moon it it with her finger before heading off to home room.

Classes came and went, nothing exciting happened, nothing ever did, hat kid just sat in the back while everyone else at least got their questions answered without a follow up question of what their name is. Hat mainly just tried to draw during each class but soon enough after the hours flew by it was lunch break,

Hat wasn’t all that excited for it but she did get to relax and prepare for her next class, which was surprisingly one where people didn’t ignore her! Everyone hated her in it besides the teacher but... that’s 1 more Person than 0! So that has to be something right? Hat already lost in their thoughts about the debate class made their way down to the lunch room.

The lunch room was loud, hat was fine with it though, she was honestly jealous of the other kids, though she denied it completely, they were able to talk and yell and chat without getting glared at or having an awkward silence after. She grabbed a simple sandwich and left it, she knew all the seat were already ‘taken’ but she understood why, who would really sit next to her anyways? Bow was still in her class most likely, her lunch started right after hat’s ended. She decided to eat lunch near the hallway where the debate class was. Of course while eating, she decided it might be helpful to eaves drop a tad, maybe hear how others did their speech’s

But it was not the speeches she heard at first, the teacher was in a call, they were closest to the wall that hatty was against,

“H-hello? May I ask who calling..” sadly hat kid couldn’t hear the other side besides mumbles, but they could quickly hear those mumbles become yelling

“I’m sorry, but I’ve already stated my mind Vanes-“ the person on the other side sounded even madder than before, hat kids interest was peaked, she continued to listen

“Please Vanessa, I’m in the middle of a lesson, can we talk about this when I get home..“ there was more what seemed like yelling until it sounded like someone hung up, the teacher sighed shakily, before the speeches continued. Hat kid was able to listen for the rest of the hour

Once the bell rung she was able to throw her tray away in a nearby trash bin, she didn’t care if a few of the trays Went missing anyways, once the other kids left the classroom with a chatter hat kid skipped right on in, she always was early to this class and this class alone. You got a good grade for how well you argued! It was quite fun, and the teacher here was really cool! Hat kid went to her seat and looked over at the teacher.

It was odd, today he seemed, stressed, he still smiled warmly like always but his eyes seemed to scream for mercy, he seemed very, very tired. Hat kid pulled out all her flashcards and counted and reorganized them, acting like she had been preparing all month, or at least making to look like she didn’t do it all last minute. Soon enough she tried to chat with the teacher, but he seemed, quite out of it. She sighed and just waited and drew a little on her flash cards. The other kids came in, sitting at tables next to their partners, besides hat kids of course, they’d avoid her the whole class most likely.

First group, then the next, then the next, finally it was hat kid and her partners turn, The both went in front of the class, their topic was simple, should people be allowed to buy gunsight was pro, her partner was con. Both of theM had their flash cards, hat kid went first, lol she got was a small applause from the teacher. Then when the other kid went, the whole class loved theirs, hat kid clearly deflated a tad when seeing this, but tried to keep looking confident, maybe she could still win, she just had to keep confident and hopeful, she went back to her desk, The class ended after a few more speeches, once out of the classroom her confident and happy Expression deteriorated into a disappointed one. She trudged her way down the hall to her next class

Each class went by, hat kid not even registering and information. She was gonna get a bad grade, she knew it, hope wouldn’t help her with this, she just could Hope maybe next time she’d do better. As time flew by before she knew it it was already time to head home

She wasn’t in the mood to walk, she’d explain to Bow tomorrow. Hat went in the bus, right to the back, curled up and looked out the window, she watched building and people passed, she saw a biker gang at one point, ‘I wonder if they were outcasted as well..’

She began to think about her and bow as cool adults, with color biker gang outfits, it was a pleasant distraction. Once hat heard the screeching brakes she tried to quickly rush off the bus, she got stuff in the middle of children chatting and idling. She rolled her eyes, crawling into a random seat and crawling over each one as the bus line barely even moved. The driver yelled at Hat but she could care less about That. Getting out of the bus and running inside the orphanage.

She didn’t want to get stared at by anyone nor was she hungry for dinner, she just wanted to have someone to talk to about this, Bow was on the complete other side of orphanage so she could talk to them really, unless they both somehow got walkie talkies And or phones, which was clearly not gonna happen any time soon, once hat got to her room she shut and locked her door, she went to grab a piece of paper from under her bed, and a pencil and Some crayons, drawing always helped blow of steam, as she drew she began to rant mainly to herself

“And what am I supposed to do! I’m just a kid, yet the only person that listens to me without looking at me funny legit lives across the orphanage!! And the only teacher I enjoy the class of constantly fails me! What’s with that guy anyways!!”
She huffed a little as she began to color in the doodle she had drawn while continuing

“And what do I get for trying!? They all say just try harder, BUT WHAT IF I AM TRUING MY HARDEST BUT MY HARDEST ISNT PECKING PERFECT!!!” She slammed her fists into the the bes so it didn’t make to much noise. She sighed, deciding it’d be best to keep quite at this rate, every time she yelled SOMETHING horrible happened!..

“Ah well, hello there, you don’t sound all that happy now do you?

She looked around until she caught her drawing, moving.. on its own....

Chapter Text

Hat instantly stared at the drawing, she was seeing things right? That, drawing didn’t actually move, right??

“Ah, I’m sorry if I scared you, probably shouldn’t of spoke so suddenly..”

She could clearly see that it was, in fact the drawing who was speaking. She was definitely scared of it! Who wouldn’t be? It was a TALKING. DRAWING. The drawing moved on the paper almost as if it was a beginner’s sketchy animation, the movements it made was janky but they were movements none the less.

“H-how.....?” Hat could barely stutter even that out, she was bewildered by this but if this drawing was speaking, she’d want to know how it was even doing so,

It seemed that her intent upon her single word had not reached the drawing. The drawing just tilted its head in a confused manner. It seemed to shrug off her question, as if it didn’t really want to answer it with context or not.

“So... may I ask what you were yelling about?”

“No, I’d rather You not.” Hat kid quickly snapped back at the drawing, her voice clearly filled with annoyance, why did the drawing want to know anyways? It just started speaking out of no where and wanted to know her personal life?

“..are you sure? You sounded like you had a lot of pent up anger.” The drawing even sounded like it was trying its best to be comforting, it was an odd tone of voice. As if he was trying to mimic one of a close friend. Hat kid looked at the drawing, and sighed, she felt like it would persist if she didn’t say, and it was a drawing, it couldn’t do all that much even if she did tell it besides tease her.

“Nothing happened, besides me most likely failing my debate class for the third time just because no one even listens to me in the first place. Even the only person who clapped was the teacher! And they seemed to just do it out of pity..”

The drawing actually looked sad for her “oh my, that sounds like a horrible experience, i wonder why they would ignore you though, they must of been confused at which one of you two was talking.”

Hat kid was more confused now, her initial fear of the drawing already dissipated at this rate. It was quite kind, and more importantly it was on her side. Bow had always tried to give reasoning to why other people did what they did, which was nice and all but it almost felt like sometimes she cared more about how the other people might be insecure over the fact that hat had almost been denied access inside classrooms or the such. This drawing on the other hand, was on HER side, at least she thought it was.

She went silent as the drawing seemed to stare at her unblinkingly, she decided to attempt to start up a normal conversation with it, which lasted for hours once it began, she talked about stories and ideas and how the orphanage ran and basically everything she could think of

And the drawing always responded, and it each time it responded, the more she could tell that she even if she was going mad, she was at least making a new friend.

Now for the rest of the day she chatted with the drawing, she even made a few things for it as well, she drew up a pillow, a pencil and paper so if it wanted to it could draw as well! This was truly a miracle that happened to her, she was gonna cherish, since she might wake up from a dream or something and it wouldn’t be there anymore

“Hm, oh! We should probably give you a name don’t you think? Unless you already have one that is.”

At this comment she made the drawings smile grew, maybe it really liked the fact that she was naming it, maybe it was just as happy as her to just talk in general, who truly knew.

“Oh I indeed have one already! It’s Moonjumper ” he replied in a very cheery tone “but if you want to change it, you did create me, so I wouldn’t mind.”

Hat kid thought for a moment, moonjumper? What an odd name to think of, but couldn’t think of any other fitting ones for him really, and moonjumper sounded cool, like some sort of hero name, so it’s was an acceptable name for it

“Moonjumper huh? Alright then, moonjumper, can I ask you something?”

The moonjumper looked at her with a curious expression, waiting for her to continue

“Have you ever been outcasted before? I know probably not, but still is a question I’d like to ask.”

The moonjumper frowned, his expression quite annoyed unlike his usual smile “why yes I have,” he seemed to be glaring right at hat kid, “but why ask such a pointless question? I’m not one anymore and neither are you. We have each other now, so there needn’t be talk of outcasts between us any longer.”

Hat kid was confused on his tone of voice, why did the mention of outcasts irk him so badly? He probably went threw a lot she assumed, though that was near impossible, didn’t he just start existing? She decided to stop thinking about before she went into a spiral of questions that were valid, but would probably never get an answer to.

Hat kid yawned, she didn’t realize it was late in the afternoon, why hadn’t she been called for dinner? She knew she stormed inside but did it really steer the caretakers to just avoid her all together?

“Hm? Are you doing alright there kid?”

She nodded, “just tired, i should probably head to bed..”

The moonjumper frowned at first, disappointed. But he quickly gave a smile after “well then you just head to bed! And we can talk tomorrow, okay?”

Hat kid rubbed her eyes, thinking back on it she really didn’t want the drawing to just disappear as if it was just a Dream, she did have a math test tomorrow, just her luck. But she could spare another night of 0 hours of sleep, at least she hoped so

“Actually uh, it’s fine, we can talk for a little longer” she gave a smile toward the moonjumper but it had a intense glare

“Are you sure? It’s late, you should sleep.”

“Seriously I’m fine, I’ve gone without a solid 12 hours of sleep, let’s just keep chatting while we can okay?”

Though she thought it would argue further, it just smiled and did in fact chat with her... it decided to ignore her eyes attempting to ‘rest’ until she jerked the, back open again.

A loud banging on her door suddenly began and she jerked her attention from moonjumper to whoever was doing so, she looked over at the clock and saw it was 6:30 AM, she suddenly jumped up, she at least knew she hadn’t even changed into pajamas, she’d just stick with what she wore yesterday. She paused when she looked over at the extremely confused moonjumper.

“I uh, got to head to go school, will you be okay if I leave you here?”

Moonjumper shook his head no “I don’t want to be alone, can’t you just take me with you? I’m just a piece of paper after all, so it shouldn’t be all that hard.”

Hat kid just kinda nodded in reply, she had to hurry and she didn’t want to tear the paper and kill him, but she grabbed the paper anyways and quickly rushed out into the hall

She kept the piece of paper close, so if she got shoved or pushed, it wouldn’t get torn, she walked with hast, once again like usual no one even noticed her, she could smell fresh pancakes in the air, she was hopeful to at least get one, she felt oddly energetic, like she could run miles and still have enough energy to run to school and back.

As she got to where the food was she saw she was lucky enough to at leas be able to grab some pancakes if she was quick about it, which of course she was. She wasn’t one to get syrup or butter in it, just the pancakes them self’s would do, grabbing three of them she quickly did her morning routine. As she went to grab bows backpack suddenly moonjumper seemed to have something to say

“Why are you taking someone else’s bag? It seems heavy and I don’t think anything worth stealing would be in there.”

Hat kid grabbed it anyways and slung it over her shoulder

“It’s for bow of course! She would have problems getting out and running out of view fast enough with it! She has asthma you know, a serious case too, not really good for her health to run at all.” A few kids were staring, hat kid didn’t pay mind however and continue what she was doing, no caretakers at the front today, seemed safe enough.

“Well why does she need to run in the first place? From what you told me about her she sounds like quite the rule follower, there would be no need to leave the building early, unless she wants to walk a long ways..” they trailed off.

hat kid wasn’t looking at him nor paying attention to their tone of voice at the moment as she hurried to the meeting spot, she didn’t see bow there yet, so she seemed to have a few minutes to eat,

“Well she’s one of my only friends, and since I’m one of her only friends, we just” hat kid quickly ate a bit of her pancakes before continuing that thought, “decided so no one would disrupt us, we would leave the orphanage a tad early before everyone else! You know? Gives us time to chat, sometimes we even go to the vending machine if we get to school early and one of us have the money.”

“One of you have the money? So you both would just take each others money to get snacks??” Moonjumper asked, in a way as if he was I’m a court, trying to prove something, but hat kid had no idea what he would want to prove, especially with that statement.

“No? Usually I’d be the one to pay, though usually I just do whatever I can at the nearby houses to get a buck or two.”
The moonjumper tilted his head “and how many times has bow payed? Or even worked for money for that matter?”

Hat kid shrugged “she doesn’t have the time, she’s always stuck in her room studying, at least that’s what she tells me” hat kid was starting to get uncomfortable, she just was getting a sinking feeling that she couldn’t describe all that well.

“Well she sounds like she sounds like she might just be using you for the money hat, from what I’ve hear I just, I have a bad feeling about her. How about you head to school without her today,” he paused, and gave a smile, “you can talk to me instead, how does that sound

“Wouldn’t it be nicer if all three of us chatted?” Hat kid though trying to mask it, really was getting concerned, why was moonjumper worried about bow? Hat kid did draw him... but he really couldn’t of been biased, right? He hadn’t even met bow, maybe he was right, hat kid didn’t really know what she did, or if she was truly an outcast like her, what if bow wasn’t in her side at all.

All these thoughts honestly brought some tears to hat kids eyes, she couldn’t images bow betraying her like that but it might be true after all, as she teased up she quickly left the meet up spot almost running to the school or to where bow wouldn’t be able to talk to her, she just needed some time away... yeah, that’d be good, she could reason things out, and realize how stupid this all was, but for now, we’ll let’s just say she wasn’t in a good place to talk to her.

Her head started to hurt like it always did even before she cried, the moonjumper for a moment seemed almost ecstatic, but quickly their expression turned to one of worry.

“Are you okay kid? I-I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have said anything, but uh, maybe she’ll arrive early still! And you can talk to her about it..”

Hat kid just sighed, she at least left bows bag at the waiting spot, this drawing was odd to say at the least, but she didn’t respond to it, and went into the building, her lack of sleep was already hitting her like an umbrella to the head. She yawned and her head bobbed down multiple times, as if she was about to pass out.

She heard the bell ring, her attention back on track she quickly ran to her first class besides home room, math...

Sadly it was the math that had a, you know, test today? She wished she could skip it but if she did the orphanage might get called, police would get involved, a whole lot of problems that didn’t need to happen. Moonjumper had gone in a salty silence at this point, his arms crossed and everything.

Out of pure luck hat kid mad it to class before the late bell rung and she sat in the back like always and set moonjumper on the desk, she yawned again her eyes barely able to keep open. The teacher big and brute as they always are in their blue almost suit like outfits talked for awhile, hat kid zoned out for most of it, she knew there was important information being told but, it was just so boring.

She yawned and before she knew it a new piece of paper was in front of her with all the most tedious looking math questions in the world, they seem like they’d take a whole school day to complete and all hat kid had was an hour and a sleep deprived mind to work from.

Of course she couldn’t seem dumb, that would make any chance of anyone else talking to impossible! She already had moonjumper but still, it’s nice to have more than one or two. Though she was grateful for both anyways, even if she was iffy about one currently. She squinted at the paper, it all looked like some random numbers and a few occasional letters. But it seemed like moonjumper was looking down at the problems as well

“Well those all seem simple enough, why haven’t you finished already?”
Hat kid looked over at him with a confused scowl, simple?? How was 3y x 45y + 27 how was that simple?! How was any of it simple?! She tried to get her train of thought off that, maybe if she was lucky she’d get the first problem done at the end of class,

“Oh, do you need help??”

Hat kid looked up at the front with silent horror, the teacher HAD to of heard that, but no, no one seemed to hear it at all, they’d be glancing at her if they did, odd, but she decided it was just cause since it was coming from nearby her, they probably thought it was some really bad music or the such. But taking this chance she nodded

Moonjumper smiled and helped her threw the problems at first, but noticing how tired she really was, he seemed to just really tell her what she needed to write to get a good grade. Hat kid barely registered any of it, still almost dozing off multiple times but soon enough she finished. She stared at the test paper to try to make sense of any of the equations moonjumper told her to write, that was a pointless action for as she couldn’t recognize any of them if she was awake.

Soon enough the teacher collected the tests, almost skipping hat kids desk he grabbed her paper he only had a glance at it and looked VERY confused. Unbeknownst to the child but what moonjumper told her wasn’t middle school math equations, but was more or looking a lot more like high school calculus. At least the answers were still correct.

The teacher ended up not asking how she learned such intense math problems and continued on, they wrapped up the class and the bell rung for the kids to head to their next class. Hat kid got out of her seat and picked up moonjumper as gently as she could. She didn’t know if tears or even wrinkles hurt him so she knew she had to be gentle. Once out of the classroom she spoke

“Hey did you see the teacher face?” She yawned, “did you tell me the wrong answers or something?”

Moonjumper almost looked offended at the accusation of him lying to her.

“Why would I ever lie to you? I would have no purpose to, and we’re friends right? Friends don’t lie to each other.”

Hat kid nodded, she just have to see what grade she got later since she really was to tired to get him to tell the truth, he might even already be telling the truth but she didn’t know that. She just headed to the next class and luckily she was able to take a nap in that one, she just have to hope no important information was given. At least she found out if she just slept for hours at a time moonjumper wouldn’t disappear, but if they were any longer it still could happen. She continued to nap, wake up, go to next class, nap, repeat, for all of her classes until lunch.

At lunch she simply got a pb&j sandwich and left to go to her usual eating spot. She held the sandwich in one hand and moonjumper in the other, trying to keep the, far apart so nothing got on the paper moonjumper was already on. Hat kid was at least awake enough to do that.

As she approached her resting spot, she heard sobbing. Not sobbing of a child mind you, one of a grown man. It had to have been one of the teachers, hat kid got to the edge of the wall and peaked around it a tiny bit. She saw the debate teacher, he had his phone grasped tightly in his hand. He didn’t seem okay that’s for sure, it sounded like he was trying to keep the sobs as quiet as possible but it was evident he was failing such a task

Hat kid was confused, why was he crying?? Did class end already? What caused him to come out here in the first place? But she knew she couldn’t just leave him crying! No matter the person no one deserved to be sad, especially all alone like he was. She looked at moonjumper, moonjumper shook his head no but hat kid was already rounding the corner, now in plain sight of the teacher

“Are you okay Mr. debate teacher?”

The teacher jumped, he quickly straightened his posture and looked over at hat kid, he stayed silent for a moment before putting on a smile, as if he was never crying in the first place
“Oh I’m alright, your here quite early though kid, shouldn’t you be in the lunch room right now?” The teacher rubbed his eyes to at least wipe away the tears.

“No, they let me eat outside of it since there’s never any room for me. why were you crying?”

The teacher froze, it seemed he hoped the child didn’t hear his sobs but he sighed, his smile briefly faded to a frown, “oh, no reason kid, it was nothing that serious, just got over emotional, that’s all.”

The teacher looked away awkwardly rubbing his arms as if he was cold, though is was most likely more due to stress than low temperature. He seemed as if he wanted to leave but even he knew if he went back into his classroom now all the students would be able to recognize that he had cried while outside.

“Well I um, should probably wash up a bit and get back to teaching before my paycheck gets lowered any further” he gave a smile, and sped off before hat kid could respond.

Hat kid wanted to question further but he was already gone, she looked at moonjumper, he didn’t seem worried or confused. He seemed irate, red lines were near his hands on the paper.

“Who is that guy? How do you even know him?” Moonjumper snapped at hat kid, his voice way harsher than usual

“My debate teacher? I have him next period I-“ moonjumper promptly cut her off

“We’re not going to his class next period okay? We’re not going to his class ever.” Moonjumper had that same scowl from when he last got mad, though it wasn’t that threatening, he’s still just a bunch of moving crayola scribbles after all

Hat kid could barely give a response, what was with this drawings mood swings? Why did he seem so mad at the debate teacher? Why did he want her to not go to his class? Like yes even she was mad about her possible failing grade, but not enough to ruin her attendance as well. Besides now and when she told moonjumper about how she probably failed her class, she didn’t understand how moonjumper could be so upset.

“I can’t just skip it moonjumper, I have to go, even if I wanted to skip it. I can’t let my grade get any lower than it already is.. attendance is one of the few things keeping me from being held back at the end of the year.”

Moonjumper sighed, hat kid didn’t want him to be mad but she really needed to stay in her classes, she didn’t really need to pay attention but she was already doing the minimum by keeping her attendance up.

“Fine, but at least avoid talking to the teacher himself if at all possible, okay?”

Hat kid nodded, she wasn’t sure if it was the best idea to, you know, not speak to you teacher?? As long as she got to keep her grades and friend at the same time though, she was quite fine with it.

Soon the bell rung, and headed into the class. Everyone was chatting and celebrating today. Hat kid decided she’d hide on the counter in the corner of the room, of course with some of the hot chocolate that was handed out for the little celebration, she set moonjumper right in front of her so he would still be in sight but she wouldn’t have to worry if she spilt her hot chocolate. She stayed silent, but quickly got lost in her thoughts basically blocking out any sound if possible,

Most of her thoughts were about bow, she had realized that bow was probably worried sick about her, I tang of guilt plucked at her, she shouldn’t of been so emotional all of a sudden, she should of just waited and asked bow like, well a normal person. Would bow forgive her? She must be feeling really lonely about now. What if bow didn’t want to talk to her again? What if bow had already made new friends? Hat kid promised to herself in her mind she’d make sure no matter what she’d meet up with bow after school, hopefully bow wasn’t to mad.

Hat kid was unaware of the few stares she was getting, when she was able to crawl out of her thoughts for a second she had realized she had been crying a tad. Maybe the thought of losing bow as a friend was a little to much for her right now. She just kinda tucked her knees against her chest, just drinking her hot chocolate, trying to think about other things. The class went by and it seemed no one really cared about her little tear up, like usual. She was glad, but kinda disappointed at the same time.

Once the bell rung she quickly left the room, throwing her cup away of course. as each class went by after that, she mainly got help from moonjumper, or she just sat and waited. As soon as the final bell rung she sighed, and as quickly as possible left the class, and made it to the front door of the school.

She would apologize to bow, she would make it up to her some how. As she walked out she could spot bow already on the side walk, silently walking off, her head hung low. Hat kid felt even more guilt, she quickly ran towards bow

“BOW! WAIT UP!” She yelled, hopefully loud enough bow would hear. Once she sped over she looked at bow kid, she could tell now at least she wasn’t crying but that didn’t mean her expression wasn’t just covered in sad

“B-bow? Are you okay?” Bow nodded in response, way quieter than usual with hat kid, but hat kid did already felt like she deserved it really “I’m sorry bow I-I’ve been having an odd time recently, it’s just quite a lot you know? I-I’m so sorry, I should of at least told you..”

“..it’s alright Hat, I really don’t mind. I know your intentions weren’t harmful, but may I ask what happened exactly?” Her voice was soft, suddenly hat kid could connect two and two together, she most likely gotten bullied and she wasn’t there to at least help!

“Bow did those bullies hurt you again?..” hat kid asked with worry in her tone

Bow nodded slightly, no wonder she was so silent, hat kid wasn’t there to help bow when bow needed her most..

“I’m so sorry! I promise I’ll show them who their messing with tomorrow! They won’t stand a chance against us if we work together to show those pecknecks who’s boss! We just uh, need an opportunity to do so!” Hat kid said with confidence, she was gonna be sure to protect her friend! And help her when need be.

Bow seemed touched by this and began to speak a bit more, they both started to walk back to the orphanage while chatting about how they were gonna get the bullies back, sadly they made it back quicker than they thought they would, but promised to meet up in. The morning.

Hat kid realized she completely forgot to mention moonjumper to bow! She’d have to some other time, she looked down at moonjumper, which she had been holding in her hand the entire time, and saw his eyes were shut, and arms crossed, and she went into the orphanage. Was he asleep? Catnapping? Meditating? She had no clue, but she decided if he was gonna nap she might as well too right?

She headed to her room, once inside she set the drawing on her desk, and once she hit her bed for a nap she passed right out.

Chapter Text

Hi there diary! It's been awhile hasn’t it? How long, two months? well I hope you don’t mind me coming back this far in time, but I guess you would want a run down on what’s happened huh?

Well, a drawing of mine came to life! That was a while ago though. We’ve become really close friends me and it, maybe I’m even closer to it than I am to bow! (don’t tell her that though!!!) its name is moonjumper btw, he’s really smart and cool. Though sometimes he acts very odd. Though I try to forget the times he does, it still confuses me.

First of all, he really hates the debate teacher, like I wonder why? Any first impressions I’ve seen any get from that teacher are quite positive! Like though it’s a theory I believe one of the caretakers might have a crush on him, they’re always talking about his almost ‘princely’ personality and the such. So, it's odd a cold-hearted person could fall for a married man while a very kind one loathes them?

Another thing is he doesn’t seem to like me talking to bow either, always making passive aggressive comments about her. Almost talking about her as if she was a 5-year-old that just got into school. And he talks about anyone else in the same manner as well. Once I got a science partner, and all he would call her was ‘mustache girl’. Like I knew that girl was PROUD of her mustache but still, the way he said it was not in a polite way what so ever.

But to keep moonjumper happy I’ve haven’t been doing anything with people he doesn’t like. That includes my debate teacher, though oddly the teacher hasn’t seemed to approach me in a while about that, nor has he been consistently teaching for a week straight, from what I have heard from bow, he’s been getting sent to the hospital A LOT. But that’s just a rumor.

Anyways! On to the interesting stuff. First of all, a neat thing I’ve been realizing is moonjumper is looking different by the day, like I drew him with crayons at first, but he’s more and more looking almost like a drew him with really fancy markers. I Learned he naps as well, but he only does so when he’s bored. He’s actually doing so right now, it gets kind of quiet without being able to talk to him, which ended up leading me to writing in you! Did I ever mention he’s really smart? He helps me in all my classes! I’ve been getting straight A’s in all of them!

It's getting close to breakfast time so I'ma go for now, nice talking with you diary! Have a great day!

Hat kid doodled a small heart at the end of the diary entry before promptly shutting the diary itself. She had a smile plastered onto her face; she had been really happy since moonjumper had arrived. She had talked to him every day or he had talked to her. she got up from her desk with a kick in her step. She got changed into a purple sweater and some nice comfy pants. She then grabbed her hat and put it on with a spin.

She opened the drawer where she left moonjumper, picking up the paper quickly awoke the drawing, it blinked a few times, which was quite the rare occurrence, and gave hat kid a smile

“well good morning! We’re in a good mood I see,” his voice was a cheery one, “any reason for this? Or are you this happy just because you can be?” he finished off with a what at least sounded more jokingly from when he first started speaking.

“I don't know honestly! But I have a great feeling about today!” hat kid was beaming. Maybe it was being able to write in her diary? Maybe she just slept extra well last night, who knows. But before the caretakers came by to bang on her door, she already had made a grand entrance into the hallway by slamming it open, no one seemed to notice of course. But at least moonjumper gave a small clap.

Hat kid walked down the hall with a bounce in her step, she believed nothing could ruin this mood of hers! Today she was planning to go out and do some extra chores to earn a buck or two, not many kids have been doing them, so she’d probably get plenty of choices of which ones shed be able to do

She made it to where breakfast was being served and quickly grabbed some of it, she thanked the cook. Said cook didn’t respond, probably cause the shock of a child thanking them was quite large, none of them ever really did so.

As hat kid rushed over to where the backpacks were suddenly moonjumper spoke out

“I know you been doing so for, awhile. But could we just walk to the school by ourselves? Bow kid can grab their own bag honestly. I know you got mad before but just think about it,” he paused for a second, staring at hat kid unblinkingly from the paper “she makes you buy snacks for her, she barely ever speaks to you when you two DO speak, and she makes you grab her things for as well!”

Hat kid ignored these comments about bow kid, though moonjumper was really close to her, he seemed to hate everybody hat kid talked to for more than a minute that wasn’t himself. This annoyed hat kid a lot, like did he really have to insult every person she knew? No, he didn’t, but here we were

“c’mon kid, I know I say this a lot, but I wouldn’t do so if I didn’t have a reason! Drawings like me can tell when people have malicious intent, and bow is one of those people!”

Hat kid looked over at the drawing in her hand, and thought for a second, though she was already wasting time. COULD he tell if someone had bad intent? If he could, why wouldn’t he have mentioned it sooner? There were many times he could have told her that he could tell of such a thing. Moonjumper saw hat kid contemplating what he had said, and could assume by her expression she was heavily doubting him

“you think I’m lying, don’t you? I'm your friend, remember? I would never just lie to you like that.”

Hat kid grabbed her bag before any more time had passed, and looked at bow’s bag, she sighed. It was believable after all, he was a talking drawing for peck’s sake, he probably could do many other things he hadn’t told her, maybe he just never felt comfortable telling her now? She left bow’s bag where it was, though she felt guilty doing so she knew IF bow did have malicious intent shed probably have plenty of time to grab her bag anyways.

Moonjumper’s worried expression turned to a wide grin once hat kid left, I guess that thing about her mood not getting ruined was incorrect after all. Moonjumper seemed as happy as a drawing could be! And seemed to chat with hat kid the whole way to school, though it seemed to be more of a one-sided conversation. They got to school WAY early, probably had 40 minutes at minimum before classes even thought of starting. Hat kid sighed; she silently went to the bench that she usually would have lunch at. Moonjumper seemed to be opposed to sitting here, but he didn’t mention so though his tense looking posture seemed to give it away without words.

“are you alright?” moonjumper asked. No response from the seemingly zoned out hat kid.

“...are you mad?” his tone sounded guilt filled, hat kid shook her head but avoided even glancing at the drawing

“I just need to think okay moonjumper?” hat kid finally looked over at the drawing, “you’ve told me to abandon one of my closest friends who, mind you, has been threw everything with me. I'm willing to always listen but even if Bow does secretly hate me, it's hard to think about. I just need to be left alone for now.”

Now a reasonable person would have listened to such a simple request, but moonjumper was neither reasonable nor a person.

“why would you want to be left alone? I don’t want you to have something happen to you where I could have helped! What if someone tries to manipulate you? Or worse! I don’t want anybody to hurt you, and if I leave you alone, I can't tell you when someone is trying- “he was quickly cut off by hat kid screaming out of frustration.

It wasn’t a small scream, it was loud. If you didn’t have the context you would of thought someone was attacking or kidnapping the poor kid. Moonjumper surprisingly only seemed to grow more determined to convince the child to not put him away,

“listen to me kid, everyone here is out to get you, everyone where I once existed was out to get me. I have experience! I can help!!”

Hat kid was beginning to just curl up her knees tucked to her chest but wasn’t there quite yet. Though she was angry, furious, irate even, but much to her dismay the drawing continued

“KID,” it had raised its voice, quite loudly as well. If hat kid was mad then he was the god of anger itself by the sounds of it “LISTEN, I DON’T KNOW WHY YOU SOME REASON THINK ANYONE IS ON YOUR SIDE BUT ME. BUT I CAN ASSURE YOU THERE ISNT. THE WORLD IS HARSH, I CAN ONLY TRY TO HELP YOU BUT ONLY IF YOU LET ME. SO LET ME HELP YOU.”

Hat kid was tearing up, her anger from mere seconds ago had morphed into fear, though it was just a drawing it still did seem it was her only friend. Maybe this is what actual friends were like? Maybe the drawing really did just want to help her. she couldn’t really tell though.

At this rate from the child’s screams teachers had peaked around the corner to see if they were in harm’s way, they didn’t see anyone hurting the child of course so they all seemed to just go back to the classrooms they owned. Hat kid sighed shakily trying to calm down, they looked over at the drawing that was sat next to her, unlike her emotional state it seemed perfectly fine, annoyed maybe, but all it seemed to want currently was a response.

“I- “she almost choked on her own words “I'm sorry, I-ill make sure to trust you okay moonjumper?”

She picked up the drawing as she saw his almost mischievous smirk turn to a warm smile

“I'm glad, now how much time do you have until class?” he asked warmly, as if he wasn’t yelling just seconds ago

Hat kid shrugged of course, she never really attempted to keep track of time ever, she usually just went to class whenever the bell went off, she explained such to moonjumper, and all he did was nod. Moonjumper tried to attempt a conversation and was successful in doing so, though hat kid seemed to speak more quietly now.

Soon the bell rung, and she began to walk off to homeroom, nothing was really planned to be taught today she thought, today would probably be one of those days where the kids just run around the classroom making a lot of noise. Once in the class and rollcall was done, though it seemed the teacher skipped over her name again, she went to go hide in a corner, she could talk to moonjumper alone and without anyone giving her odd looks.

For about 45 minutes her chatting with him went smoothly! Well that was until this one kid, one from science class actually, was right in front of her staring at her vaguely judgmentally. The kid was an outcast like hat kid, though they lived with their grandfather from what hat kid had heard. The oddest part about them that set them apart from everyone else was their mustache, they were the same age as hat kid, yet their they were with facial hair that would make any guy jealous. Their hair was bright blonde and their outfit mainly consisted of the color red.

“what are you doing with that paper? Are you, talking to it?”

Hat kid tried to just ignore her! Yes, it was rude but what else could she do? She didn’t want to tell her about her magical drawing, what if she took it? She always took hat kid’s stuff, pencils, little figurines, if hat kid had it this girl wanted it.

“You just not going to respond? I know your all ‘stoic and ominous type’ but really doesn’t help you seem any cooler, just shy honestly.” hat kid was annoyed and glared directly at her. This too!! This girl was very rude towards hat kid, though sometimes it seemed like she didn’t mean it.

Suddenly in a snap she took the paper, hat kid jumped up. what if she tore it?? What if she killed him?! Hat kid quickly tried to take it back but the girl maneuvered quickly, causing hat kid to tumble down onto the floor

“KID! KNOCK HER OUT OR SOMETHING! SHES GONNA RIP THE PAPER IF YOU DON’T HURRY!” moonjumper almost demanded, hat kid was horrified on what would happen if he was gone, bow probably would have had enough of hat kids antics of leaving and coming back, so she wouldn’t want to talk to her. Hat kid knew she'd probably was able to get a new best friend anyways

But hat kid still didn’t want to hurt anybody at all, couldn’t she get the paper back and be about her day?

“huh? You seem like you really like this piece of paper, why? It’s just a paper with a very... iffy drawing on it! Did someone important make it for you or something?”

Why was she pretending to not hear moonjumper? And iffy!? Take hat kid’s friend and the insult them!? That was the last straw. Hat kid sighed and lunged at the girl as a desperate attempt to get her friend back. Hat kid was lucky for the first time, and as the other girl let go of the paper hat kid swiftly but gently grabbed the paper before It even left the fingertips of the girl.

But as hat kid looked down at the other girl, they saw them... crying? The teacher was already on their way over but the bell rung, hat kid quickly made a dash out of homeroom to her next class hopeful the teacher wouldn’t give chase, which from at least that moment, he did not. Hat kid sighed as she made it to her next class, her day had been way worse than she expected it to be,

“you did quite a great job getting me back! Didn’t know you had a talent for fighting!” no response, hat kid just slid into her seat and set MJ on the table

“...are you ignoring me again?”

The ‘again’ kind of stung, hat kid didn’t ignore him constantly, at least she didn’t believe so. In which case why would he make it sound like she did so? She just didn’t want to talk currently, why wouldn’t moonjumper respect that? Maybe friends were supposed to constantly talk, and she just never knew of such a ‘rule’ for friends?

“I don’t understand why your ignoring me, did I anger you? I understand if you don’t like me anymore, you can just, throw me away...”

Hat kid’s moody attitude quickly disappeared “nonono! I'm not mad!! I just um,” hat kid had to think of the correct words, “you’re a really great friend! I would never throw you away, I just needed to process what just went down in homeroom for a second... Okay?”

All hat kid got in response was a smile and I nod from moonjumper. Oddly enough moonjumper’s smile seemed... suspicious. Like as if he had won something, defeated someone. Hat kid could see some of the other students staring at her. She just brushed off their staring and stayed quiet. After a while class ended, class after class hat kid stayed silent, so did moonjumper

“sorry... for earlier, I didn’t mean to make you feel bad...” hat kid mumbled, almost as if she was hoping even moonjumper wouldn’t hear

“oh, it's quite alright, I would prefer you not.... ignore me like that again, and maybe not let a random kid grab me again?” he replied, with a vaguely... disturbing smile. He didn’t seem angry at least. hat kid smiled back at him, of course hat kid continued to chat with him, until class was over and lunch time was supposed to begin, hat kid quickly stood up with moonjumper, and walked out of the classroom

But of course, today clearly was against hat kid and all that she did. As she tried to walk out the classroom door it seemed as if every kid that had been in class stampeded out of the classroom, pushing hat kid around until she was finally knocked onto the floor, knocking moonjumper out of hat kid’s hands. As quickly as the kids swarmed through, it seemed all of them had passed by. Hat kid quickly sat up, looking around the floor for moonjumper.

Almost instantaneously she saw a paper on the ground. It seemed crumpled up a tad but luckily not torn. Even though hat kid should have felt relief not seeing it was torn, all she could assume was how much pain it could be to be crumpled up like that! So, hat kid hurriedly rushed over to moonjumper, she didn’t hear him making any sound, not crying, groaning in pain, maybe drawings couldn’t feel pain... they didn’t even have verves now she thought about.

As she gently picked up the paper and tried to smooth it out, she could see that moonjumper looked as if he was curled up, the only expression he had was one of fear, his eyes were shut tight

“moonjumper...? Are you okay?” she had never seen him in such a... frightened stance.

He quickly had look over, he looked to be shaking. Hat kid don’t know if the being crumpled up scared him this badly or if it was something else, but he quickly started crying before hat could think peacefully for 5 seconds. Of course, hat kid didn’t know what to do! She just hugged the paper close hoping it'd be some sort of comfort to moonjumper.

She sighed once she heard a weak

“y-yeah, I'm okay now!”

She pulled the paper from her chest to see a weakly smiling moonjumper. Honestly this smile seemed more genuine than, really any other time he smiled if hat kid was really honest with herself. Though this moment had felt at least 3 hours long to her only 5 minutes had passed. She sighed and looked down the hall to see if any other stampedes were going to trample over her if she tried to walk to lunch before it was too late. Of course there weren't any, but hat kid felt guilty just bypassing the fact her friend just got crumpled!

she decided to head to her spot without lunch today, if she really wanted, she could try to sneak some extra dinner later. She tried to talk to moonjumper but he was being a tad quieter than usual, he must have gotten really scared then... once hat kid got to her spot she sighed, she set moonjumper next to her as she proceeded to at least try to make him feel better, though she was clearly distracted by swinging her leg and picking at her fingers. Time went slowly, VERY slowly, but time could never truly stop for a child and a piece of paper now could it? After what felt like forever hat kid heard the bell once more, lunch was over and the next classes would start.

Of course to respect moonjumper’s wishes hat kid wouldn’t be heading to her next class, only the ones after. Hat kid didn’t enjoy the fact she had to skip debate, was she mad about never winning a single debate contest? Yeah. Of course she was. But at least the class was pretty loose on what you were doing, as long as you had your speech ready the day of you were basically allowed to do anything during class. Hat kid sighed before hearing the debate classroom’s door open, hat kid watched as the small crowd of kids passed by, hat kid made sure to hold onto moonjumper... just in case. She wasn’t seeing any other kids walk to the classroom though, odd. Hat kid began to try to talk to moonjumper again, a pitiful attempt just like the other ones. Maybe he just needed to process what had happened, which was of course reasonable.

Hat kid THOUGHT this last pair of footsteps was just a kid that was disorganized and took awhile to grab their stuff. But of course this wasn’t the case, hat kid turned to stare at this person only to instantly see the debate teacher staring at her with a mix between a worried and confused expression.

“kid? I uh, are you okay?? I haven't seen you for weeks...” he trailed off for a moment before snapping right back to speaking “wait, no, hasn’t it been months? Have you been ill? Did something happen?”

Oddly enough the debate teacher seemed to be completely skipping over the thought that hat kid was skipping class completely. Hat kid broke out in a cold sweat, she was a horrible liar, what was she supposed to say?!

“just uh, say uhm, you’ve been doing extracurricular so you can get a scholarship in collage! but sadly you had to choose between it and debate! Technically I'm a drawing which could be an extracurricular class somewhere! So, it's not a lie per-say!” Moonjumper said with his own frantic tone.

Hat kid had no time to process what moonjumper had said, and quickly repeated basically what he said with a few words swapped

“I uhm, replaced debate with uhm, an extracurricular so I can get into college?”

The debate teacher could quite clearly see directly through hat kid’s lie. He sighed, which was supposed to be in a ‘I'm disappointed in you’ kind of tone but more came out ‘I'm going to snap if one more thing happens today’ one.

“kid, I used to be a lawyer, which means I know I a lie when I hear one. Have you been skipping class?? Why?”

Hat kid looked at moonjumper to see if he could help but he just yelled out for hat kid to run, like it was the end of the world. Even though he tried to act sophisticated it seemed he was just as scared about being caught lying as any person would be! Hat kid could barely say anything, was she in trouble? Most likely, he was going to tell the office wasn’t he? Which in turn the office would tell the caretakers...and hat kid would have to so many unpaid chores!!! Hat kid looked around frantically, but she just heard the debate teacher sigh and sit next to her.

“kid, it's okay, though you shouldn’t lei to people in the future its really fine. But can I ask why you skipped class for, two months?”

Hat kid was still tense and could barely mutter a reply

“a friend of mine told me not to...” she scooted away from the debate teacher holding moonjumper close now, it wasn’t the same as a hug from a real person... but it was some form of comfort and whenever hat kid was scared or stressed, well she’d try to grab any form of comfort she could to be honest.

“oh? Well. Alright then... well I'm just a teacher and I'd rather not delve too deep into your personal life. So how about we make a deal? You come into class, but you can do whatever you want, I won't talk to you, nor force you to make a speech, and I'll give you B for all your grades... does that sound fair?”

Hat kid nodded, when she looked down at moonjumper he seemed, well less than pleased. The debate teacher sighed and headed down the hall, he gave a weak smile at hat kid before he left her view. Hat kid could swear for a second she saw bruises on him... but it was probably just some sort of lighting trick.

“WHAT WERE YOU THINKING!? NOW YOUR GONNA HAVE TO BE IN THE CLASSROOM WITH HIM!! WHAT ABOUT YOUIR PROMISE!?” moonjumper exploded with rage

“I'm so sorry I j-” moonjumper cut hat kid quickly off

“SORRY?? YEAH, YOU BETTER BE. WHY WOULDN’T YOU CHECK WITH ME FIRST?! I DEMAND YOU DON’T GO THREW WITH THAT DEAL.”

Hat kid curled up and started crying, not only had she just been caught in a lie but now her only friend was yelling at her. Moonjumper seemed to quickly realize he was berating a child for just following the rules. Which didn’t diminish his anger one bit, but he did calm down,

“just, never, make a deal or decision without me okay? I only want what's the best for you, you just got to let me help you, understand?”

Hat kid nodded, though still crying, she stayed doing so for a while until the next period. Once she saw the halls starting to crowd again, she wiped away her tears, the day was almost over, she could make it through. Which she did! Each one of the next classes were pretty easy, with moonjumper’s help of course. Soon enough hat kid was on the bus heading back to the orphanage. She didn’t want to walk; bow would most surely see her in that case.

The bus ride was slow, sweaty, and horrible, hat kid realized why she despised the bus all over again, luckily it wasn’t overly long until she made it back to the orphanage, she held moonjumper close as she exited the bus last. She passed the caretakers swiftly, not wanting to be seen... just in case the debate teacher DID call the office. Hat kid rushed to her room before anyone could pull her aside either, she accidentally took her backpack with but she was sure nobody would mind.

She slammed her door shut and promptly faceplanted on her bed, but quickly sat up

“so uhm... I guess do you wanna chat a little bit moonjumper? We have plenty of time right now!” hat kid tried to ask perkily

Moonjumper sighed, but gave a smile and nodded, hat kid joyfully began talking to him like nothing happened today, though she talked for so long time flew by quickly, very quickly, skipping past dinner kind of quickly and onto 11PM kind of quickly, but moonjumper seemed to try to deter hat kid from checking the time. Leaving the both of them to chat all night