Chapter Text
My, my. It's been a while, hasn't it? I see some familiar faces in the crowd-- And a LOT of new ones! Well, let me give you newbies a rundown..
*Ahm.*
Becky Botsford, an ordinary ten year old girl, is---
"I'm fifteen now."
Is--- Wait. What?
"A lot has happened. It's, uh, probably best you let me take the reigns for a bit. At least until you catch up."
Alrighty...Er..Take it away, improperly introduced protagonist!
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Becky Botsford sat hunched over her desk, glaring down at the page before her. She was currently reimagining an ending to one of her favourite book series, *The Light of the Ruby Moon*, but she had hit a roadblock. The very section that enraged her enough to prompt the rewrite was proving to be her downfall; The redemption of the three bears.
It was such a cheap cop out. The three bears had been tormenting the heroine for the entire series, and suddenly they just stopped and were forgiven?? No way. Even if it took her weeks, she would set it right. Maybe with a dramatic battle, or a sacrifice- Something that held some weight to it.
Rolling her shoulders and hearing them pop was all the warning she needed that she had been sitting for too long. Sparing her clock a quick glance, she sucked a quick gasp in through her teeth.
It was 12:47am. And she has school tomorrow.
Becky leaned back with a groan. School was mediocre enough with a well rested attitude. Anything less, and it was downright mind-numbing.
Ever since her and her former best friend "broke up" years ago, the place just seemed...Dull. Violet and Scoops weren't nasty with her by any means. Heck, it was Becky who decided to distance herself first in order to give Violet space. It was just...
A hand slid through her hair in a futile attempt to calm her thoughts. She had hoped they would have reconciled by middle school, and when they didn't, Becky was at a loss. She'd never fully invested her friendship in anyone else. What did that leave her with?
Jamie from Chemistry was nice enough, but his teeth grating always put her on edge. Super hearing would do that to ya.
Magnolia from History was cute, and funny, but talked too much for Becky to get a word in. Becky liked words too much to forgo them for the sake of companionship.
Lily from Math was a sweetheart, and always helped Becky with the equations she couldn't quite grasp, but she seemed *way* too eager to help. Becky's ego was by no means fragile, but it did easily bruise.
...Y'know. Maybe it wasn't her classmates that were the issue.
The psychoanalysis of her classmates, and the smallest inkling of self reflection, was cut short by the echo of of people screaming, things breaking, and timid (not so) evil chuckling.
Weird, Chuck's mom never let him leave the house this late.
Becky hopped up from her seat and bounced on her heels a few times to get her blood flowing. Once she finished this fight, she'd sleep. She would be in bed for 2am at the latest, surely. That left her with 5 hours of sleep. That wasn't too bad, right?
"Worrrd up!"
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4:28am. She only managed to get some sleep at half past 4 in the morning. Which resulted in her waking up in a *foul* mood.
Her mother had called ahead to notify them she would be late, so she wouldn't be in trouble, but it still stung. She hated being late.
However, it was better than not showing up at all. Her mom was worried sick about her, and had suggested Becky take the day off. From the she reacted, Becky had a horrible feeling her family weren't just concerned about her sleeping habits.
'You hardly see your friends anymore', 'you aren't eating a lot Beckaroo, is something wrong?', 'you can tell us if anything is bothering you, honey'.
But she couldn't tell them, could she? About how she was terrified about making any more friendships, because they were all doomed to fail? How she either had to lie to them for the rest of her life or tell them and have them hate her for it? She couldn't tell them. She couldn't tell anyone. It was too m-
"Wow. I never thought I'd see *you* late to class, Beckface."
It was all reflex. Becky blinked the mist from her eyes, swallowed the lump in her throat, and corrected her posture in one swift, practiced motion.
"And I never thought I'd hear that dumb nickname again. Yet," She extended her arms out dramatically, "here we are."
"Don't be like that." Victoria Best fell into step beside her. "I held off bugging you for most of last semester. Do you know how annoying that is for me?"
"For *you*?"
"Yeah," Victoria nodded, either oblivious or willfully ignorant to Becky's frown.
"Be still my beating heart. Any reason you gave me some peace? Just for future reference."
"Four eyes seemed pretty insistent on it."
The only outward change in Becky's expression was a raised brow, but inside, she was reeling. *Tobey* had been telling Victoria to leave her be? Why would McCallister, of all people, care? The two of them had been butting heads since the day they met. She hadn't even spoken to him properly since middle school, and even then, their interactions were exclusively banter.
"He couldn't have you stepping on his terf, is my guess. Me and him have our own special kind of contempt."
"You're telling me. Sometimes he won't shut up about you."
This was getting more concerning by the second. Self-consciousness nipped at the back of her neck like a workhound. Did he...Talk about her behind her back? Did they all do that? Becky knew she was a bit of a loner now, but people didn't make *fun* of her for it. At least she hoped they didn't.
"I hope I'm not too hot of a topic at your evil little lunch table," Becky side-eyed Victoria with the ghost of a smile, "Or I might start to think you're planning something."
Victoria was unusually quiet after that. Becky was actually worried she had struck a nerve, until she stopped outside her classroom. Her hand lingered on the handle for a moment as Victoria spoke up again.
"Find out for yourself. You know where we sit, and there's only three of us, so...Like it's whatever, obviously, but if you DID want to..."
When she didn't keep walking Becky realized she was waiting for a response. Clicking her tongue, she pondered for a few seconds before giving her answer, and vanishing into class.
"I'll think about it."
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And think about it she did.
No, scratch that, she TOILED over it. She contemplated it like there was no tomorrow.
It was nothing short of bizarre. In fact, it came so far out of a left field that Becky wasn't even sure how to feel about it. Suspicious? Annoyed? A little relieved she wouldn't be sitting outside for lunch again? They were all potential candidates.
There was a double period of art now. So she had plenty of time to think about it.
As her pencil reluctantly scribbled across the paper, Becky found herself getting lost in her thoughts- A usual occurrence when anything visually artistic was involved.
Why was Victoria acting this way? The most likely answer was that this was a prank. However for some odd reason, she doubted it. Neither Tobey, Victoria or Eileen were terribly popular themselves, which meant any mirth they got from teasing her would stay between them.
Now, if it wasn't a prank....What WAS it? Becky ran through the usual list of why people spoke to her.
A question about the student council? Victoria's mom was already tied tightly to Fair City High, there was no point. Something about an upcoming book fair? Eileen usually knew about all the school events-- Sometimes even before the principal himself. That left her with...
Help with homework? Ha! Tobey wouldn't be caught dead asking someone for help. Especially her.
Well, then. That only left her with one option, didn't it? If it wasn't her desire to not sit alone, it was her curiosity driving her;
She was sitting at the villain's table today.