Chapter Text
It could have been the worst day ever.
These days it didn't seem to take all that much to ruin Violet's mood. It was never something big either. No, because then she would be able to complain about it and people would understand. Instead it was always the small things, piling up until she was at her wits' end. Let's take a count, shall we: first off, it was a Monday. Yeah, a bit cliché, but nothing screamed terrible louder than having to be sat at some old wooden desk in your underfunded school by 8am. Next, the pipes in her apartment froze so she felt like shit, and probably smelled like it to, or at the very least shit covered in cheap deodorant. Follow that up with twenty minutes spent scraping the ice off her car's windshield, combined with another fifteen minutes of getting the stupid thing to start. Mix in her best friend being late for his pick-up again and the realisation that she had left both her lunch and wallet on her dresser and you had the recipe for a terrible day. And that was before she even walked into school.
Vi just grumbled as she doodled in the margins of her notebook, completely tuned out of whatever her English teacher was rambling about, probably some dead poet who wrote boring poems that no one cares about anymore. Poetry was one of those things that she had always tried to enjoy, but just couldn't get into; so many poems were overly complicated, packed full of imagery and hyperbole and that funny word that describes the sounds, and some were just boring, lasting like four lines without making any real points. So many poets seemed to think that being vague made you cool and mysterious, but really it just made you an asshole who liked to torture high school students. How could her English teacher expect her to pay attention when half of these poets didn't even seem to want their poems to be figured out? Vi had been told that poetry was about writing your feelings down on paper, which made the whole not making any sense part make a little more sense; if she had to write her feelings down, she wouldn't want anyone to be able to read them either.
A little piece of paper hit the side of her head and fell down onto her notepad, interrupting her train of thought. She already knew who had thrown it. Violet looked over her shoulder, eyeing the desk that was one space behind her to the left to see Louis, smiling at her. He didn't seem to like paying attention in this class either, which was weird considering he had always been the poetic type. He gave her a little nod, signalling towards the scrap of paper. Vi just rolled her eyes and looked back to her desk, opening up his little note:
whatcha drawing, Vi Gogh?
'Vi Gogh', she had always hated that nickname. Louis gave it to Violet on account of her being "both incredibly talented, and incredibly moody", which was an exaggeration in both regards, seeing as she had yet to get a piece in the Met and had only considered cutting off her ear, every time Louis talked to her that is. She let out a little huff from her nose and checked to make sure their teacher wasn't looking before holding up her notebook so that Louis could see her doodles. While there were a multitude of little scribbles—eyes, flowers, lines that combined to make shapes—there was one that looked to have a decent amount of effort put into it: Louis, freezing to death in the snow as punishment for making her wait around for almost a half hour so that he could finish showering. Louis let out a loud, obnoxious laugh that easily broke through the hushed murmurs of the classroom, causing Violet to turn back around and look in the other direction, hoping she didn't get labelled an accomplice.
While their teacher questioned Louis on what was so funny about the works of E.E. Cummings, Violet rested her head against her fist, staring out the window to her right onto the snow-covered pavement that ran alongside their school. Violet had a complicated relationship with snow: on one hand, it was pretty as all hell to look at. The powdered trees and grey skies really looked nice this time of year, especially when she was looking for a distraction from work. On the other hand, she only liked to look at snow, never touch it. It was cold and wet and it made your fingers sting, it sucked. So she wasn't really planning on going outside today, at least not more than necessary.
That was until she saw something in the snow, a hint of blue among the white. She tried to figure out what it was, even leaning in a bit closer to the window, but it was obscured by the snowfall. At first Vi just shrugged and got back to doodling her her notebook. Things fall in the snow all the time, how was this any different? But the more she thought about it the more it bugged her; what actually was that thing? And how did it get there? Did someone lose it, or was it put there intentionally? Ah, curse her overactive imagination!
Whatever, it didn't matter. She hated the snow, and she hated the cold, so there was no chance she was going out there to get it. Not in a million years.
The snow crunched and compressed beneath the soles of Violet's battered Chucks as she stepped out to brave the cold. The second the bell had rang for lunch she made her way to the school's side door, figuring that the only way to put her curiosity to rest was to find out whatever was buried in that cursed snow. She walked alongside the school, stopping once she got to the window of her English classroom before surveying the area. The snow hadn't stopped since then, so the object of her obsession had most likely been hidden beneath even more snow. That was the worst thing about snow: it just kept on piling up, getting higher and higher until everything north of the sun belt was closed down. Stupid snow, ruining her plans.
Luckily she didn't have to look that hard, as there was a noticeable bump in the snow right where she had been looking earlier. Violet braced herself and reached her hand in, wincing at how the snow stung her skin, before pulling out the mystery prize. She gave the thing a little shake to find that it was... A hat. Some old, beat-up baseball cap, lying there in the snow. She wouldn't be surprised if it had been there all this time, but no one had been bothered enough to pick it up. It was just a simple white and blue cap, but it looked like it could have been through wars: there were some small holes in the front panel, like bugs had chewed through them or something, and the brim had a distinct bite mark in it where a dog must have picked it up and refused to let go. Looking at the back the closure seemed to have been adjustable at one point, but now it was jammed and suited only for one specific size of head. To top it all off the hat's pièce de résistance, a stylised blue 'D' on the front, was almost peeling off, flapping slightly in the breeze.
What a piece of garbage.
Violet sighed and headed back towards the door, keeping a hold of the hat so that she could put it in the lost and found in case its owner came looking for it, though she wouldn't blame them if they didn't. As she walked down the hallway, flicking some of the snow off of her drab, purple raincoat, she saw Louis, waiting patiently by her locker with a smile on his face. He was wearing one of those wool-lined, corduroy jackets that were perfect this time of year. Violet was only kind of jealous.
"Back from your expedition, I see. I can already read the headlines: grumpy explorer braves the West Virginian arctic in order to avoid talking to her awesome best friend who bought her some lunch, because he's so awesome." Louis laughed at his own joke, a habit that put their friendship on the line almost every day, before holding up a tinfoil-wrapped hamburger that glistened in the light like some sort of mythical object. Sometimes his family's maid would go into town to run some errands and would always grab Louis some lunch, and he always made sure to get Vi something as well. "I would have shared the fries with you, but they were going cold so I finished them off for you. Thought you hated the snow?"
"Yeah, well I hate you more so I was willing to brave it, like you said." She chuckled a bit, taking the burger and placing it in the giant pocket of her oversized coat. She looked like an idiot wearing it, but it was the only coat she had that provided her with a bit of warmth. Vi tossed her backpack down and opened up her locker, getting her books ready for their next class. What was it again? Oh yeah, math. She hated math. She glanced over at Louis, noticing that he had that look in his eyes that read 'I have something I want to talk about but I want you to ask me first', one that she was all to familiar with. "Jeez, Lou, is there something you-"
"So glad you asked!" He practically hopped off of the lockers, clasping his hands together as he smiled at Violet. "Five words, Vi: Christmas slash New Year's party. Five more words: my parents won't be there."
"Louis, it's November-"
"Thanksgiving has happened, Vi, that means it's free reign to talk about Christmas, and do so I shall!" He quickly pulled out his phone and held it up to her, showing his Facebook page that had a new event up: a party, scheduled for December 31st titled 'End of Days'. Ominous. Based on the time stamp on the post, he had organised all of this during the previous period. What was funnier was that a few people had already said they'd be there. "The stars have aligned, Vi, just like in that old magic calendar that predicted the future; this is going to be the best party ever, we'll all be talking about it well into our thirties."
Violet didn't want to burst his bubble and explain how monstrously depressing it would be if they were still talking about a party they had back in their junior year of high school when they were in their mid-thirties, so she played along for now. She took another look at the post, raising an eyebrow as she looked up at Louis. "Why is it called 'End of Days'?"
"Because it'll be 2012, obviously: the end of days!" That explained the mention of the Mayan calendar; they had watched that movie back in their freshman year and it was polarising to say the least. Louis loved the action and all the special effects, Violet thought the movie was dumb and couldn't stand Woody Harrelson's stupid face. Violet just rolled her eyes and zipped up her bag, picking up that snow-covered cap and putting it in her locker, which immediately caught Louis' attention. "A hat? You don't wear hats? Oh my god, have you been replaced by your evil twin. Well now that I think about it, your evil twin would probably be really nice to me, so I'm gonna rule out that theory."
"Ha ha, very funny. It's some baseball cap that was sitting around outside, must've blown off their head or something." While Violet was in the middle of talking, Louis snatched the raggedy cap from her locker and tried to put it down on his head, though due to the broken closure it kind of just sat on top of his head. "What the hell are you doing?"
"Modelling, what does it look like I'm doing?" Louis leaned down and looked at himself in the small mirror that was taped to the door of Violet's locker, along with some nice-looking sketches, a few pictures from vacations and school events, and some random stickers. "Y'know, I don't think post-apocalypse fashion really suits me."
"Yeah no shit, dickwad." With that she snatched the baseball cap back, glaring at Louis as she waved it around. "Also don't you know not to put strangers' hats on your head? It could be dirty, or filled with parasites or lice or-"
"Oh my god, I've been looking for that everywhere!"
An unfamiliar voice interrupted Violet's little lecture and the two of them quickly turned to see who it belonged to. And just like that, Violet completely forgot what she was saying when she was put face to face with possibly the most beautiful girl she had ever seen. Scratch that, the most beautiful girl she had ever seen. This girl was an inch or two taller than her, maybe on account of the snow-covered combat boots she was wearing. She had this gorgeous, brown curly hair that was tied up into two buns at the back, with little snowflakes dotting across each strand. She had these big, brown eyes that kind of did that thing where when she smiles, they smile and so you can tell she's happy without even looking below her nose. And her smile, it could thaw ice. It was so soft and self-assured, Violet could feel her frigid fingertips warming up just from looking at it. The way her lips curled into a little smirk, hell even her teeth seemed to shine when her mouth moved- Her mouth was moving, she was talking. And Violet was too busy staring at her to listen.
"I'm- Uh, sorry what did you just say?" There was an awkward pause that was only kind of filled in by the sound of Louis trying to stifle a laugh. She'd punch him for that one later, right now she was focused on... Whoever this girl was. Had she seen her before? No way, she would have noticed someone this stunning before. Maybe she was a sophomore whom Violet had never had the chance to interact with? No, she still would have spotted her in the hallways. Who the hell was this girl?
"Uh, I was saying that I don't have lice." She let out a small laugh, the kind of laugh that makes you want to laugh and then hold that person in your arms as you look into their eyes and close the distance between you as you meet in a sweet embrace. Y'know, like a normal person. "That's my hat, you said it had lice? My little brother tossed it out of the car window this morning and I couldn't find it in the snow. I was ready to spend the rest of my day looking for it after school, but seems like I just got lucky."
"Uh, yeah! Here you go!" Violet quickly handed her the raggedy baseball cap and watched as she put it on. It was only once it was perfectly slotted onto this girl's head that she realised how much she liked this hat. On any other person it would look like something they had fished out of a dumpster, but on this girl it looked cool, because she was cool. Her denim jacket that shortened out just above the waist, her grey hoodie that was the perfect amount of baggy, even just the confidence she seemed to have made her, like, the coolest girl Violet had ever seen. Now she just had to wait and see if she was the coolest girl she had ever met. "You, uh, don't have lice by the way. I just thought- Well, y'know I-"
"Violet was just worried because of the lice scare over the summer, you know how it is." Quick as always, Louis. As much as Violet detested his little quips, there was no denying he knew when to chime in and save her mid-conversation. It happened a lot more than she'd like. "I'm Louis by the way. Don't think we've ever seen you around before."
"Oh yeah, I should explain, I'm-" The bell chimed once again, and soon the hallway was bustling with people on their way to class. The girl's eyes widened as she took out her phone, gritting her teeth as she saw the time. "Shit! Uh, I was meant to talk to the principal before class started, I gotta go. Thanks for finding this old thing, Louis and... Violet, wasn't it?"
"Yeah. That's me." The girl smiled and gave her a thumbs up before booking it down the hall. The two of them watched as she pushed through the herd of teenagers, ducking and weaving to get past all of them on her way to the principal's office. Violet slowly closed her locker, keeping her eyes trained on the mysterious girl as she disappeared into the crowd. The two of them stood their for a second, keeping their eyes trained on where she had been before Violet blinked a couple times, exhaling slightly as she tried to gather her thoughts. "I think I'm in love."
"No kidding." Louis rubbed his forehead, his eyes wide with a sense of disbelief; it seemed he was just as taken aback by this girl as Violet was, which kind of surprised her. Their taste in girls was pretty different: Louis liked fun, talkative girls who would ramble with him about music and movies, but would be just as eager to sit in silence as she listened to him play the piano. In contrast, Violet preferred quiet, more sentimental girls, a girl who could sit on the opposite side of the room as her and still feel her affection. So the fact that they were both immediately enthralled by this girl really spoke to her beauty. Louis shook his head, motioning for Vi to follow him as he made his way towards their next class. "I don't think I've ever seen her before, who the hell even was she?"
"I have no idea." Violet couldn't seem to wrap her head around this mystery. As they walked through the crowded hallway, making their way up the stairs to their dreaded math class, Violet's mind was fixed on this girl the entire time. They had only talked for, what, three minutes? Yet she was completely enamored with her. When she thought about this girl's face, her hair, her eyes, her smile, she felt that sinking feeling her chest that made her kind of anxious, but at the same time made her want to dive deeper and see what was at the bottom of this deep, mysterious pool.
It could have been the worst day ever.