Work Text:
It was an oak smelt day in Hometown, a young deer’s nose sniffed with a yawn. The deer opened her eyes slightly and was greeted with a ray of sun, almost purposefully stinging her eye. The deer groaned at the annoyance immaturely. Closing her eyes, she turned to her side, made herself into a red-blanket burrito, and shut out the chirping birds outside. She knew she wasn’t technically supposed to sleep in on a school morning, and would probably ruin her perfect attendance, but what's one day in a decade of perfection? She smiled to herself as she began to drift, her mind slowly starting to dissipate… Until the door flew open with a loud smack and a whack. She braced herself, knowing exactly whom this is.
“Noelle. Ann. Holiday. What exactly do you think you plan on doing?” Noelle thought about staying silent, until she realized what that would imply.
“Waking up and getting ready?” She squeaked from under her covers.
“You better be.” The woman sternly glared, as she elegantly walked out of Noelle’s newly poster ridden room.
Maybe she was a bigger influence than Noelle thought… Chewing on the concept, Noelle begrudgingly got herself out of bed and into the freezing shower, the water having no time to warm up. She got dressed, her shoulder still ached from that day, shined her hooves and brushed her teeth, and, checking the clock, found out it was 7:50. No time for breakfast, her hooves clapped against her marble kitchen flooring pacelessly. Her mom had left for work, knowing that Noelle would go to school, because if she didn’t Noelle wouldn’t be allowed to contact her friend. Or girlfriend. Or- Gah, they haven’t talked about it! Shit, 7:50!
She fumbled opening the door, cursing it repeatedly, (Why do they still make these doors so difficult with hooves???) and eventually worked it out and leaped out the door, taking an anxious heave of air as she ran past her gate, forgetting to lock it, something she’d probably regret later, but she didn’t know that, she leaped down the street, lungs burning, but persisting thanks to her practices. Gritting her teeth, she knew that she would be cutting it close, her brow creasing nervously, as she focused on the clapping of her hooves instead of the anxiety that is time, she could see the school, bumping into students just walking in, she rocketed through the front door, expecting to just get water from the water fountains, and go to class. As she made her way to the fountains, the corridor eerily empty, as a shadow loomed over her suspiciously. Curiosity beat her instincts, and she looked over her shoulder, to find a familiar purple reptile.
She looked… Awkward, ashamed, scared? She reached a hand towards her, and Noelle could see her trembling, no doubt correlating to what happened, and she placed her hand on her shoulder. They stood there, for a moment, just staring into one another's eyes, the bell ringing but Noelle not finding the anxiety to care, and Susie slightly squeezed her bandaged shoulder, and Noelle whimpered. It still hurt. Susie’s golden eyes grew wide, and Noelle could swear she could see a shiny sheen of tears over them. “I’m sorry… I…” before shoving her hands back into her pockets, her voice cracked out, “Let's talk about it...”
As she sulked away, small noises took over the sounds that Susie would normally make. Small sobs, almost. Noelle gritted her teeth, knowing that class started and that she had to keep it together, at least until an appropriate moment. Nursing the thought, she quietly made her way to the class, her mind numb and avoiding the questions asked her way.
Susie dismissed coming to class at all, understandably. Noelle still felt terrible, but she needed the reassurance of it being talked about. She felt sick. She remembers asking to use the bathroom, she remembers an answer being stuttered out, but not caring for the answer ran out regardless, her vision blurry, like nothing was the way it was supposed to be. It all just became so surreal, confusing, her shoulder ached from the slightest aggravation, it WAS aching, was it hot in here too? Was it cold? Did she have a headache? She took a breath. She then took another. Then another. She looked around at her surroundings. She was in a bathroom stall, sitting on the top part of the toilet seat, and her temperature was warm, very warm. Her shoulder did ache, though less intensity than she felt before. Her head pounded frustratingly, but not as overwhelming as before.
She took out her phone. 12:45. Its a short day. Class had 15 minutes left. She let out a breath. At least she wasn’t absent. She peeked at her phone some more, and found Catti had started a group chat about why she had left, which MK invited her into. She blushed when she saw what people were suggesting. It wasn’t too bad, per’se, but it was… Strangely erotic. Even Berdly, BERDLY, was perpetuating these theories, citing reasons and ‘evidence’. It was weird, for sure, but it gave her a good chuckle and made her day a little better. She would thank Catti later, she really needed this, regardless of if she was meant to see it or not.
She took another breath as she slowly stepped out of the stall, firstly going to the mirror to look somewhat presentable. Her hair was tangled and her fur was off in varying directions, so she did her best to smooth out the nut colored coat and tame her hair. It partially worked, and so she walked out of the restroom, getting a few strange looks from students on the way back to grab her bag, almost running into Toriel, and getting some snarky remarks from Berdly, she began her long, exhausting walk to find Susie.