Chapter Text
“Right dear just this way”
Fischl’s mind comes back to reality.
She just nods in response and quietly follows, she’s only met Lisa a couple of times before when her parents were discussing with the principal what accommodations she would need, Lisa would always invite her to sit in the library, but this time it’s not just a meeting, she’s actually starting in a new school and it terrifies her, she has Oz now but the familiar anxiety of being in a school follows her.
She has met a few teachers already but she wasn’t prepared for how many there would be.
She had already made sure her timetable was memorised so she wouldn’t mess up.
.
But she was being lead around the school by Lisa on her first day.
Fischl liked Lisa.
She always wore these nice glasses with a sparkly chain and fluffy cardigans that Fischl always wanted to touch but could never bring up the courage to ask.
She already knew the signs
The feelings of raw panic
The shaking
The dizziness
The way Oz was putting himself between her and the apparent threat
The pull as he led her away into a room
A quiet room
She sat there in that room holding onto Oz and fidgeting with his ears
“I wondered if you wanted my cardigan sweetheart to fidget with, its an old one so it doesn’t matter if you pull out some of the fluff” Lisa said it with such kindness and care,
Kindness that Fischl wasn’t used too.
She slowly took Lisa cardigan then quickly shoved her face into Oz’s back.
Fischl doesn’t know how long they sat in that room fiddling with Lisa’s cardigan she doesn’t understand why Lisa is still sitting with her.
She hears a bell ring and flinches but she’s feeling better she slowly stands up and Lisa quietly opens the door for her and tells her it’s lunch
Lisa offers to let her sit in the library,
She tells Fischl that a couple other people sit in there but they’re nice and Lisa thinks Fischl would like them.
Fischl disagrees.
She follows Lisa up to the library shes sure that the people who sit there won’t like her they’ll just think she’s weird like everyone else.
Lisa pushes open the library door then they have to go through another door and she sees the other people.
It’s two boys her age, one with messy blond hair and a yellow t-shirt, and another with long grey hair in a high ponytail and a brown hoodie.
The blond haired boy is talking very loudly and waving his arms around while the grey haired boy sits there quietly holding an iPad with an aac app open on it.
The blond haired boy is the first to notice Fischl, he quietens down,
Just as she feared he thinks she’s weird
He whispers something to the other boy and he starts to look anxious.
The blond boy walks up to Fischl and very excitedly almost yells “Hi! I’m Bennett!!”.
The grey haired boy seems to start curling up into a ball,
Lisa goes over and crouches down beside him and starts quietly talking to him.
Bennett is still very quickly talking to Fischl something about how he likes her outfit,
She can tell he’s noticed Oz and just isn’t mentioning so she very quietly introduces him to Bennett,
“Oh sweet he’s so cool I like his vest”
Fischl is taken aback by his response she isn’t used to people thinking Oz is cool or not questioning why she needs Oz.
Bennett quickly runs back over to their table and pulls another chair in,
“You can come sit with us if you like”
The grey haired boy nods nervously
Fischl slowly walks towards the table Oz still heel beside her.
She sits down and Oz lies down and silence surrounds the table,
“So Fischl this is Razor, Razor this is fischl,
It’s ok buddy you don’t have to say anything if you don’t want too” Bennett quickly chimes in to cure the silence that has built up
Razor quickly glances up at her then looks down and looks at Oz.
“Oh um this is Oz he’s my service dog and he does lots of cool things for me!” fischl quickly responds hoping he doesn’t question why she needs him; like so many others have,
“Oh hey the name Oz sounds familiar” Bennett starts furrowing his brow to try think.
“I KNOW that’s the name of the familiar from flowers for princess Fischl!!” Bennett seems very excited that he managed to work out what Oz’s name is from,
“Oh yeah I ummm really like that book series” fischl is scared any minute now he’s going to start thinking she’s weird, maybe he already does but is just hiding it,
“Oh sweet wanna tell me about it” he responds,
“Oh huh what yeah huh ok” she was taken completely by surprise by his answer.
Fischl talks to him and explains the entire plot of the book and how the world works and how she believes it to be a literary masterpiece.
“That’s so cool I’ll have to read it sometime” Fischl thinks Lisa was right she does like Bennett
Bennett and Fischl talk for a while about Bennett’s parents and how sometime it would be so cool if she could come over and Fischl quickly changes the conversation whenever her parents come up.
She can still feel the fear in the background but it’s been overtaken by happiness now, as she happily talks to Bennett about how she got Oz and changed her name and thinks Fischl is much cooler than her old name.
“Could you please be quiet” she hears someone say very quietly and quickly stops talking,
She knew it she knew she had spoken too much.
“Hey buddy everything alright” Bennett seems worried,
She sees the grey haired boy start to shake and Bennett quickly moves towards him with a gentleness she didn’t expect from him.
She tries to say something but nothing comes out,
Not here not now.
Bennet starts to holds his hand.
Fischl is stuck by herself.
The grey haired boy starts to yell and she can’t take it anymore.
Oz quickly jumps up on her and she slides onto the floor off the chair and Oz sits on her lap but it’s too much he’s too loud she can’t take it.
Bennett looks panicked between the grey haired boy and her.
She hears someone enter the room,
And then someone is standing next to her but she doesn’t know who.
She has her eyes scrunched closed and her hands over her ears and she’s swaying back and forth.
She wants to kick but she can’t because Oz is on her legs.
She feels someone put something behind her back.
Then people are talking and it’s quiet again.
The grey haired boy isn’t screaming anymore,
She doesn’t know how much longer it takes until the exhaustion sets in and it’s over.
She slowly opens her eyes and uncovers her ears.
Her vision is blurry but she can see Bennett and Lisa.
“Hey ummmm Fischl” Bennett is suddenly beside her,
Her eyes quickly dart towards him and away,
“I’m here for you if you need me”
Fischl doesn’t expect it.
His words hit her like a truck.
She slowly pulls out her phone.
She vowed to never do this again.
“Can I have a hug?” The robotic voice makes fischl flinch, she swore she’d never have to use it again
“Oh uh yeah sure”,
Bennett pulls her into a cautious hug and she grabs him back and feels him squeeze her back,
She doesn’t know how long they stay holding each other.
Fischl thinks Bennett needed this hug as much as she did,
Fischl doesn’t know if Lisa is still there but she doesn’t care she has Bennett now.