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"O-okay, class, school's out. Remember your homework on Monday, pages 213 and 214 in your math books." Ms. Alphys announces as the bell rings, and the students immediately hurry up out of the classroom to their lockers.
Noelle takes her time packing up, as she likes to stay organized with her things. She notices her old friend, Kris, in the row behind her having trouble. They drop their mathbook on the floor. "Crap." They murmur, bending over to pick it up.
"Ah... I-I'm not really supposed to leave until class is over, but, I, uh, need t-to use the bathroom. Um... Noelle, do you mind making sure no-one causes trouble while I'm gone?" Ms. Alphys asks nervously. Noelle never understood how someone so socially anxious could ever pursue a career in education, especially teaching a bunch of cruel 14 and 15 year olds.
"Sure!" Noelle smiles in response.
"Thanks so much... I'll be back in just a moment." The teacher hurries out of the room.
Who in here would cause trouble, anyway? Sure, Kris was in here, and they may have had a bit of a troublemaker reputation when they were younger, but they haven't been li--
"Hey, dork."
Oh. Susie's in here. Noelle realizes. Susie had been so quiet, she hadn't noticed her in the back of the classroom.
Kris freezes up suddenly, dropping their book back onto the floor for the second time. "You dropped something," Susie approaches Kris and places a hand on the back of their chair. Kris leans back as Susie leans towards them, showing off all her sharp teeth in a wide smirk. "You gonna pick it up?"
Kris nods slightly. Without taking their eyes off of their bully, they slowly reach down to pick their mathbook up. Susie pushes the chair back, forcing Kris to fall out. They land on the floor with a thud, and Susie begins to snicker.
Noelle watches as Susie begins to berate Kris loudly, calling them all sorts of names and throwing all sorts of insults at them.
Noelle sighs. She can only imagine herself in Kris's place.
Part of her really, really wishes Susie hated her.
But strangely enough, she's the only person Susie doesn't hate.
Noelle has tried all sorts of things to get her attention. Dropping her books, tripping on purpose, blurting out the wrong answer in response to a simple question... Anything in order to get something as simple as Susie snickering at her.
But no matter how much she tries, Susie never even bats an eye.
Of course she feels bad for Kris. But that's just because they obviously don't appreciate the things that Susie says about them.
Noelle knows it's... strange, how she thinks like this. No, it's not like she likes pain or being insulted. She remembers getting a papercut just this morning. No, the feeling was not in any way enjoyable. And she remembers the last time her mother berated her for getting a B on a quiz. She felt terrible.
But the idea of Susie shoving her against the locker and insulting her and dropping her to the ground and laughing at her and--
Ms. Alphys shuffles back into the room and gasps when she sees Susie bullying Kris. "Susie!? Wh-what do you think you're doing?"
Susie lets go of Kris's shirt collar. Kris stumbles back slightly. "Just having a friendly chat." Susie smirks. Kris grimaces.
"N-next time I catch you treating a-another student like this, I'll... Y-you'll have detention for a week!"
That's what she said the last four times she caught Susie bullying another student. Noelle thinks to herself.
Susie rolls her eyes. "Alrighty, Alphys. I'll be on my way." Not bothering to collect the books off of her desk, she leaves the room.
Alphys sighs, and walks over to Kris to comfort them.
***
"Hey, Dad." Noelle grins. She approaches her father's hospital bed and pulls up a chair so she can sit next to him.
"Hey there, honey. Anything interesting happen at school today?" Dad asks.
"No, nothing much. Just boring math stuff. I've got a little bit of weekend homework, but it's nothing hard. Just some review, I'll do it when I get home later today."
"You know, I'm not blind... You've got that look on your face."
Noelle blinks. "What look?"
"Who's the girl?" Dad smirks.
Noelle's face heats up and she directs her gaze towards the floor. "Uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh..."
"Ppft... Come on. Maybe I can give you some dating advice."
Noelle twirls her hair with her finger. "Um. Ok, but I won't tell you her name. She's just, like... S-some kids think she's mean, but, uh, she's really not that cruel." Okay, that may have been some sugarcoating... "She just, um, looks really cool. Like... Spikey teeth, long claws... She doesn't have that many friends, either. I've only spoken to her a couple of times, a-and she was really nice to me."
"Alright, so what I'm hearing is she's your average misunderstood loner kid who everyone thinks is a total punk jack-ass but in reality is super sweet."
I wouldn't exactly call her sweet... "Uh, s-sort of. Susie is--"
"Oh, so her name is Susie? Please, continue..."
"Daaaaddddd..... what the heck......"
"Oh, come on. Can't i be involved with my daughter's love life?"
"Ohhhhhh myyyyyyy Goddddddddddddd......." Noelle groans, covering her flustered expression with her hands.
"Nah, I'm just teasin' you. Anyway, you'd better go home and do your homework. Wouldn't want your mom to get mad, huh?"
Noelle sighs and lowers her hands. "Yeah... Alrighty. See you later, Dad." She stands up from her chair and heads out towards the exit.
"No 'I love you'?" Dad asks.
Noelle smiles. "I love you."
"Heheh... love you too, sweetie."
***
It's the next morning, luckily a Saturday. No school, thank God for that.
Noelle got her homework done the previous afternoon, so there wasn't anything she had to catch up on. Might as well continue reading this book she had started a few weeks ago but only managed to get to the second chapter because she completely forgot about it...
She grabs the book off of her shelf. Noelle walks out of her room and down the stairs. She prefers reading outside-- the gentle breeze and sounds of nature often help set the mood.
Noelle makes her way to the park and finds an empty bench to sit on, before opening the book to where she had left off, occasionally glancing up from her book to see the people around her.
About ten minutes later, she notices a purple blur in the distance.
Susie's here..?
Susie is walking on the sidewalk, licking a cookies'n'cream ice-cream cone. In just a matter of seconds, she'd be right in front of the bench Noelle is sitting at.
Ok. This is my chance. T-talk to her. Maybe you can become friends...
But her mind drifts back to Susie's cruelty towards Kris earlier. What would she do to be in their spot?
Susie's almost in front of Noelle now, and it doesn't seem like she noticed her yet.
If I do this, then maybe...
Noelle extends her leg so it's in the way of the sidewalk. Susie, completely indulged in her ice cream, is completely oblivious.
Next thing Noelle knows, the girl she's been pining over for the past year has just face-planted right into the sidewalk. Her ice-cream splatters on the pavement, the cone cracking and landing in the grass.
Susie sits back up. "Who the hell do you think you--" She stops yelling once she notices it was Noelle who tripped her. "Sorry..." Noelle apologizes quietly.
What would Susie do now? Yell at her? Shove her? Steal her book and throw it across the park? Maybe she'd rip the pages out first. Maybe she'd scoop the wasted ice cream off of the sidewalk and throw it at Noelle.
But instead, all Susie does is sigh, dust herself off, and mutter, "Yeah. It's fine. Accidents happen." She walks away without another word.
Noelle stares at the girl as she walks away.
...Seriously? Noelle frowns, disappointed. She hurt Susie like that, all for nothing.
Maybe instead of trying to get her attention by acting like a klutz, Noelle should act friendly to her. Despite the countless times she's daydreamed of Susie punishing her, she has to admit to herself that being friends would be just fine.
Maybe more than friends...
But still, the thought of Susie laughing at Noelle as she's knocked down onto the floor is such a nice thought. She'll just keep trying her best to get on Susie's bad side. Even if it means Susie hates her, so what? Noelle doesn't need her feelings to be returned. She's just fine with her imaginary, one-sided relationship.
She doesn't know what she wants more: to be hated or to be loved by Susie.
***
Damn it...
Susie walks away from Noelle, embarrassed to have just faceplanted right in front of the girl she's been pining over for the past year. She must seem like a total loser right now...
Susie's tried everything she could to impress Noelle. She's literally never once raised her voice or gotten impatient with her. She's never once stolen Noelle's lunch or laughed at a silly mistake she'd made. Surely Noelle has noticed, right?
But no matter what Susie tries, Noelle always seems just as scared as everyone else.
Maybe I should just be nicer to her. Susie thinks to herself. Maybe nicer to other people, too? Noelle probably doesn't like complete jackasses. I'm just making a fool out of myself by acting this way.
Noelle probably hates me. Just like everybody else.
So Susie decides to maybe find a way to cool her temper down some. Noelle surely would appreciate her change in behavior.