Chapter Text
A nice breeze swept across the campus as August came around and the cadets got ready for a new, hopefully calm, semester.
Tay stepped out of the elevator and onto the second floor. She ignored Cheesy and Chilled telling her bye and looked around. Third semester, time to fuck some shit up. To her practical delight she saw Pasta was already there.
Was she close to Pasta? Eh.
Was it nice to see her after freeing her from jail last semester? Absolutely.
“Tay!” Pasta said, smiling brightly at her. Pasta was sitting next to Elaina, who flashed a smile herself.
“Hey fuck face,” FooYa said, appearing out of nowhere. Probably her room.
Pasta giggled as FooYa and Tay started to argue. She had been pretty busy over the summer but it had been relatively easy. At least the sciency stuff had been.
Everything else kinda sucked.
“It’s good to be back,” Pasta said, reaching up to readjust her pigtails. She had thankfully gotten her scrunchie back from the teachers, and she had already seen her room which was back to normal.
“Its good to have you back. It was weird without you,” Elaina said and nudged her. Pasta laughed and they heard Tay let out a huff.
“I’m going to my room,” Tay said, gripping the bag on her shoulder and walking off.
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“Kara!” Courtilly called from her place on the couch. Kara grinned at her, seeing that Apple was there. “It’s good to see you!” Court came over and hugged her, which Kara returned.
“Where’s Em?”
“Not here yet,” Apple said and smiled. “Good to see you,”
“You too,” Kara said and dropped her stuff off in her room before returning to their common room. She sat down next to Court and the three spent a while talking before Em got there and joined them.
Court was a little worried about Kara, since she had just lost her twin brother to prison.
“You doing ok?” Court asked softly while Apple and Em were talking, and Kara flashed a smile at her.
“I’m fine. It was…weird without Skadj but I guess this is all for the best. Right?”
“Do you want to go see him at all?” She whispered and Kara shook her head.
“I don’t think I should. He did it, all the evidence stacked against him and I don’t think I’ll be ok if I see him,” she said and Court frowned but nodded.
“Just tell me if you want to and I can go with you,”
“Thanks Court but if I go with anyone it’ll probably be Ze. He’s taking it a bit harder than I am surprisingly,” Kara explained and Court just put a hand on her shoulder.
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Platy and Junk were already sitting in the common area on their floor, both having stayed over the break.
“I’m back!” Cheesy’s voice came from the elevator as it opened. “Did you miss me?”
“No,” Junk and Platy answered nearly simultaneously and Cheesy gasped at them.
“What?” Cheesy sounded so offended when he said that.
“Why would we miss you?” Junk asked and Platy stifled a laugh as the youngest cadet looked so incredibly offended. “I know I’ll miss the peace and quiet since you’re back,”
“Oh be nice,” Platy said, despite trying his damndest not to break out laughing. He had spent the majority of his break with Junk, Apple, and Court. It had been nice, and they had all taken a few extra classes together as well as a few separate.
“Hm,” Cheesy pouted as he sat down. Platy had to admit it was almost…lonely with there just being three of them. It had felt the same way the previous semester, where there were only three of them.
“You can pout all you want Cheesy, that’s never gonna change his mind,” Platy told him and Cheesy just stuck out his tongue. Yeah, he was definitely Tay’s brother but more tolerable than Chilled. For whatever reason.
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Larry sat on his floor and was talking to Greg. It was just them two at the moment and they were catching up. Larry’s break had consisted of him relaxing, talking to a few guys here and there, and helping Pasta with her schoolwork.
“Hello Kings!” Sides' recognizable voice called as he walked towards them with Speedy. It was pretty much the same greeting from last semester, and it kinda reminded Larry about Speedy’s rejection before he had even actually asked him out.
Side sat down with them as Speedy dropped both their bags by the couch as he joined them too. The four of them started to catch up about their breaks, and Speedy locked eyes with Larry while Side was telling a story. Speedy’s eyes softened and he gave Larry a small smile, which Larry of course returned.
Despite the weirdness of the last semester, how he had felt while trying to free his sister, he was so glad to be back. Maybe she was right, maybe he was meant to be here.
And sure, maybe Speedy didn’t want him and maybe he couldn’t have Side but that didn’t mean that he should just ignore them completely. He had a feeling it was gonna be a good semester.
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Chilled and Bonsai went quiet as Ze didn’t even greet them. The man just walked past them in silence and went right to his room, shutting the door and not reappearing.
“One of us may want to go check on him, huh?” Bonsai asked and Chilled stood up. He didn’t say anything but he went to go do it himself. He knocked but there was no answer, so he tried the handle and it opened.
“Ze?” He asked and his classmate looked at him.
“Listen Chilled, I don’t really want to deal with whatever you have to say to try and-“
“Are you ok? Usually you greet us or something,” Ze seemed like he took a moment to reboot and Chilled waited for an answer. “You upset over Skadj still?”
“Yeah,” Chilled hated to see how sad Ze looked and he wished there was a way to make him happy again.
“I’m sure this sucks,”
“I just…I can’t believe you guys got him arrested. Can’t believe Kara got him arrested,” Chilled didn’t like how Ze said that but the man continued. “Like I understand and everything. I just feel like I want to blame everyone except him. Ya know?”
“Yeah, I wouldn’t be able to handle it if it was Cheesy or Tay,” Chilled admitted and sat down next to Ze. The two started to talk and slowly Chilled saw traces of a smile.