Work Text:
“Um, okay, class, school’s out for the weekend. Remember your homework due next Monday: pages 213-214 in your math textbook.” Ms. Alphys announces. The students groan at the mention of math homework, but the bell immediately rings soon thereafter, and the excitement of leaving the hell that his high school overweighs their frustration. Most of the students rush out of the room quickly without looking back.
Noelle takes her time packing up, making sure everything is nice and neat. Her colored pencils in ROY G BIV order, her papers inserted neatly into their respective folders.
Kris seems to be having trouble in the row behind her. Their textbook falls to the floor with a loud thud! and they wince at the sound. “Crap,” they murmur and kneel down to pick it up.
Alphys shyly shuffles up beside Noelle to ask her a question. “Ah, I’m… I’m not really, um, supposed to leave until all of the students have left the classroom, but, um…” She lowers her voice in embarrassment. “I really need to use the bathroom. Can you, uhm, stay behind, make sure none of the other students cause any trouble…?”
Noelle doesn’t understand how Alphys could ever want to pursue a career in high school education, considering her horrible social anxiety, because teenagers are cruel creatures.
“Of course I can!” Noelle smiles in response.
“Thank you so much, Noelle, um, I’ll be back in just a moment.” Alphys hurries out of the room.
Noelle’s not sure who in here would cause trouble, anyway. The only other person in here is Kris, and they may have a tiny bit of a reputation as a prankster, but they’ve never done anything especially concerning—
“Hey dork.” A voice behind Noelle says slyly.
Oh. Susie’s in here. She’d been so quiet, Noelle hadn’t noticed her in the back of the classroom. She turns around to look at Susie. She’s got her feet propped up on her desk and she’s eyeing Kris with a smug expression.
Kris freezes up when they hear their voice, dropping their book back on the floor once more.
“Y’dropped something,” Susie gets up out of her chair, approaching Kris slowly, and places a hand on their shoulder from behind. Kris bites the inside of their cheek as Susie leans in towards them, showing off her sharp, yellow teeth in a wide smirk. “You gonna pick it up?”
Kris nods subtly. Without removing their gaze from their bully, they slowly reach down to pick up their textbook. Once they stand back up, Susie pushes Kris again, and they stumble backwards, almost tripping over their own feet.
Noelle watches in awe as Susie laughs at Kris and throws all sorts of insults at them, berating them loudly. She can only imagine herself in Kris’s place—being thrown to the ground, yelled at, hair pulled, sharp teeth grazing her skin, painful bruises all over her body…
Okay, maybe Susie never goes that far with Kris. But Noelle still thinks about it regardless.
Part of Noelle really, really wishes that Susie hated her. But, strangely enough, she’s the only person that Susie doesn’t hate.
Noelle has tried countless pathetic, desperate things to get her attention. She’s dropped her mathbooks, tripped over herself in the hallway, called out the wrong answer in class to a simple question, anything in order to get something as simple as a snicker from Susie. But no matter how much she tries, Susie never even bats an eye.
Kris gets the worst treatment out of all of Susie’s victims. Of course she feels bad for Kris, but that’s just because they clearly don’t enjoy the things that Susie does to them. Noelle would appreciate it. In fact, she wouldn’t just appreciate it, she would love it. Oh, the things she would do to switch places with Kris…
Noelle knows that it’s unusual, the way that she thinks. It’s not like she enjoys pain or insults. She remembers getting a papercut just the other day, and it was in no way enjoyable! And being berated by her mother for getting a B on a pop quiz one time? Not fun.
But the idea of Susie shoving her against the locker and making fun of her and dropping her to the ground and laughing at her and—
Noelle is snapped out of her thoughts when Ms. Alphys arrives back in the classroom. She gasps when she sees Susie making fun of Kris, who is, at this point, backed into the corner of the room, head downturned in shame.
“S—Susie! Wh—What do you think you’re doing..?”
Susie lets go of Kris’s shirt collar and they stumble back slightly. “Just having a friendly chat,” Susie smirks. “ Right, pal?” Kris grimaces at that.
“Next time I c—catch you treating another student like this, I’ll… You’ll, um, have detention for a whole week!”
(That’s exactly what she threatened the last time she caught Susie bullying Kris. She never lives up to her word.)
Susie rolls her eyes. “Alrighty, I’ll be on my way, then.” She doesn’t bother to clean the mess of books and crumpled up paper on top of her desk before exiting the room. Alphys sighs and approaches Kris to comfort them.
***
Noelle walks into the hospital straight from school with her bookbag strapped onto her back. She greets the woman at the front desk kindly before pushing past the door into her father’s room.
“Hey, Dad.” Noelle grins, sitting down in an uncomfy plastic chair beside his bed.
Rudy’s tired expression brightens at the sight of his daughter. “Hey, honey. Anything interesting happen at school today?”
Noelle’s cheeks flush pink as she remembers Susie from just ten minutes earlier. “Ah, nothing much. Just… y’know, typical school stuff. I’ve got math homework, so I’ll start on that once I get home.”
Rudy raises an eyebrow. “Come on, I’m not blind. I see that look on your face.”
Noelle blinks. “What look?”
“You’re thinking about something. Someone. Who’s the girl?” He smirks.
Noelle’s face heats up and she avoids his gaze. “Uhm…”
“Pfff… come on. Tell me. Maybe your pops can give ya some dating advice. Y’know, I bagged a total ‘baddie’ as the kids nowadays say.” He snickers.
Noelle groans. “Dad…”
“Just tell me her name! Come on, Noelle.”
“Well…” She fidgets with the cuff of her sleeve. “She, um… some kids think she’s mean, but, uhm, she’s not at all cruel. Just… misunderstood. She’s, um, also very, um, she’s very pretty. Like… Spikey teeth, um, long claws… she’s kind of a loner, too. But I’ve spoken to her… briefly, a few times, and she’s very nice to me.”
“Alright! So, what I’m hearing is that she's your average cliche jack-ass that everybody thinks is a total bitch but is actually super sweet underneath.”
“Exactly!”
“Sounds like your mom.”
Noelle grimaces. “Susie is nothing like Mom…”
Rudy laughs at his daughter’s disgusted expression. “Oh, so her name is Susie, huh? Please, continue.”
“Oh my God, I’m so stupid… what the heck, dad?”
“Awh, is it so bad that I want to be involved in my daughter’s love life? Fahaha… nah, I’m just teasin’ you, hun.”
Noelle sighed.
“Anyways, you’d better get home and do your homework before your mom gets home tonight.”
“Yeah, wouldn’t want her to get mad…” She stands up and slings her backpack over her shoulder.
“Good luck with your homework and with your dear Susie,” he teases.
She rolls her eyes. “Love you, dad.”
“I love you too, sweetie.”
***
The next morning is a Saturday, thank God for that. Noelle got her homework done the previous afternoon, so there isn’t anything that she has to catch up on. But there is this book that she’d been meaning to read, a fantasy romance about a royal knight and her gorgeous princess that she’s been quite invested in. Ms. Alphys had recommended it to her, and Noelle has to admit, her teacher actually has decent taste.
She slides the book off of her shelf and makes her way out of her room. Her mother is already at work, so there’s no need to ask permission to go to the park and read her book outside in the comfort of nature. She’s always preferred reading outside; the gentle breeze and sounds of nature always helped set the mood.
Noelle makes her way to the park, settling on an empty bench to relax on, occasionally glancing up when she hears a kid laughing or a parent yelling.
Around two chapters later in her book, she notices a familiar purple blur in her peripheral vision. Susie, she recognizes in no time.
The girl is walking on the sidewalk, licking—no, taking entire bites out of what looks like a cookies ‘n cream ice-cream cone. Ouch, Noelle thinks, her teeth must really hurt.
And in a matter of seconds, she’ll be just in front of Noelle’s bench.
This is my chance. Talk to her. Maybe you can be friends.
But her mind drifts back to Susie’s cruelty towards Kris earlier yesterday (and over the past couple years). Oh, the things I would do to be in their position.
She bites the inside of her cheek anxiously and extends her leg over the sidewalk. Susie, attention completely and solely on her ice cream, is completely oblivious. The next thing Noelle knows, the girl she’s been pining over for the past year just face-plants right into the sidewalk, ice-cream splattering onto the pavement and melting into a puddle, cone practically shattering.
Susie props herself up on her forearms, clearly pissed. “Who the hell do you think you’re messing with—?” She starts, before turning her head to see Noelle was the one who tricked her. Susie’s expression softens and she shuts herself up.
“Oh, sorry, Susie.” Noelle apologizes. She plasters an exaggerated frightened expression on her face, but inside, she was filled with pure excitement. What would Susie do now? Yell at her? Steal her book and tear all the pages apart, one by one? Maybe she’ll resort to physical violence, shoving Noelle or biting her just like she’d bitten into that ice cream.
But instead, all Susie does is sigh, stand up, and dust herself up. “No, it’s fine. Accidents happen. I should’ve been looking at where I was walkin’, anyway.” And she turned away without another word.
Noelle stares, mouth agape, as Susie leaves.
What the hell? Seriously? That’s all? She frowns, disappointed. She hurts Susie like that, and for what? Just for her to dismiss it like nothing had happened?
Maybe she should have just said hi and been friendly. After all, it would be nice to be friends with Susie, but the thought of her tormenting her is even more appealing. She sighs. I’ll just keep trying to get on her bad side. It ought to work at some point. Besides, she doesn’t need to be friends with Susie—she’s just fine with their imaginary, one-sided relationship in her head.
She doesn’t know what she desires more: to be hated or to be loved by Susie.
***
Damn it.
Susie walks away from Noelle, embarrassed that she’d just faceplanted right in front of the girl she’s been pining over for the past year. She must think I’m a total loser.
Susie has tried everything to impress Noelle. She’s literally never once raised her voice or gotten impatient with her. She’s never stolen Noelle’s lunch or laughed at a silly mistake she’d made. Surely Noelle has noticed and appreciated it, right?
But still, no matter what Susie does, Noelle always seems just as scared as everybody else.
Maybe I should just be nicer to her, Susie thinks to herself, and maybe nice to other people, too? She probably doesn’t like complete jackasses. I’m just making a fool out of myself by behaving this way.
She probably hates me, just like everybody else.
And so Susie decides to cool her temper down. Noelle would surely appreciate her change in behavior.