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Great. Not only had Clawdeen and Toralei had to endure the embarrassment that naturally came after having a rough, public argument, but now they were stuck in detention together for causing a scene.
Once Bloodgood had told them the base guidelines for detention, she walked out, trusting them to not kill each other. For as annoyed as she was with both of them, she also knew they were both, at the end of the day, responsible enough to not need supervision the whole time.
Unsure of what else to do, Clawdeen pulled out a book she'd been reading and began trying to lose herself in that, hoping it would help her pass the time, but she soon found herself getting distracted by this clicking noise that Toralei kept making.
"Toralei, I get you're bored, but can you please try to be a bit more quiet?" Clawdeen asked. To her surprise, Toralei actually looked a bit sad, but silence followed, so she supposed it was worth asking.
Toralei felt like her entire body was on fire. She was used to suppressing tics, but it was always harder when everything was so quiet because then every little tic was noticeable, so she couldn't let anything out.
She felt a few bubbling up and felt the urge growing stronger and stronger and she just knew that she wouldn't be able to hold them in forever.
"Haha!" she ticced relatively loudly, followed by a string of clicks. Clawdeen looked up at her with a deeply annoyed expression and she just knew she was in for a ride now.
"Oh my god, Toralei, shut up!" Clawdeen snapped. "I don't know if you're trying to mock me or just purposely trying to get under my skin, but it's honestly really immature"
"Fuck off!" Toralei replied venomously. "I've got bloody Tourette's, okay? You don't gotta- Woo! Haha!- Yell at me"
Clawdeen went still, suddenly feeling horrible. The last thing she ever wanted to do was to snap at someone for something they couldn't even control. Hell, one of her best friends was Autistic. She really should've known better...
Toralei pulled out her phone to try to distract herself, but the stress from getting yelled at was making her tics worse. Worse, she was embarrassed, which had always been one of her worst triggers.
She tried to continue suppressing them, but they kept escaping her, driving her further into discomfort and embarrassment. Her campaign opponent was watching her tic and twitch without control and it was honestly the worst feeling in the world.
It wasn't long before this stress compounded in the form of a harmful tic, forcing Toralei to repeatedly punch herself in the collarbone well after she could feel it start to bruise.
Clawdeen just watched her struggle, feeling awful about making it worse. However, once she realized the girl was actually hurting herself, she sprung into action.
Clawdeen got out of her seat and walked behind Toralei, who would've asked what she was doing if she could focus on her surroundings. Suddenly, the werecat felt a pair of arms wrapping around her, and a hand specifically came over her collarbone to protect her from the repeated hits.
"What are- Haha!- What are you doing?"
"It looked like you were hurting yourself" Clawdeen replied simply. "I don't like you, but I still don't want you to get hurt, especially cause I'm pretty sure this is my fault" she sighed. "Look, I'm sorry for yelling at you, okay? I didn't know about this, I just thought you were trying to annoy me"
"Okay"
"You don't have to suppress this, at least not around me, okay? I know better now"
"You're sure?" Toralei asked, and Clawdeen was caught a bit off guard. The girl looked so embarrassed, it was weird. She always just seemed like a beacon of confidence.
"Yes, I'm sure"
A moment passed before a low grunt erupted from Toralei's throat. Neither girl said anything about it. Her collarbone tic was thankfully beginning to calm down, and Clawdeen let go of her once she was sure she wasn't at risk of hurting herself anymore.
She went back to her seat and continued reading her book, just tuning out the occasional grunt or click or random phrase, which Toralei couldn't be more relieved about.
Once Bloodgood returned, Clawdeen noticed the other girl immediately start suppressing again.
Huh, she thought, eyeing the other girl curiously. Wait, does she trust me?