Chapter Text
Chip wasn't a terrible person, right? At least, that's what he thought. Not a lot of people genuinely liked the guy, after all. By not a lot, that meant Will, everybody at school, his parents, his brother, everybody on- you know, maybe he should think about something else. Like winning. Yeah, that's way more important.
He wasn't a loser, per se, but there wasn't too much in the world that Chip was actually good at. Something he WAS good at though, was spelling. Oh how he loved spelling. He had been spelling words way bigger than normal for a kid his age for years, and spelling bees were truly the only place he could show off his amazing ✨sKiLlS✨that nobody seemed to notice on regular days. And now, it was finally one of those fun and exciting days again. To show the world that he truly wasn't a weirdo just because he didn't talk to anybody and only spoke if someone pissed him off ever so slightly, to which he would respond 'GET THE FUCK AWAY FROM ME YOU LITTLE SHIT', and he had screamed this so much that every adult who knew him dreaded making him upset even a little bit.
At least he didn't do that at spelling bees. Being respectful to the host was surely a great way to get on the host's good side for the competition. If he was nice, he was more likely to be given a second chance if he messed up or some shit, which he obviously wouldn't because he was an amazing speller and that wasn't possible. At least, that's what he thought until he actually arrived at the Putnam High School gym.
***
"And you are...?" "Logainne Shwartzandgrubenierre!!" the short blonde girl with frizzy pigtail braids responded confidently. "How old are you..?" Chip asked somewhat bluntly, not knowing if kindergarteners were allowed in the bee now or something. "I am 10 years and 7 months old, thank you very much," Logainne responded pettily. "Ohh, okay." They stood in silence for about 4 seconds. "Who are YOU?" Logainne asked, or barked, rather loudly. "Chip. Tolentino." "Cool. Never heard of you." He scoffed, clearly offended. "Excuse you, Lo-gan, I got to nationals last year," Chip announced to the almost empty room. The only other soul was Ms. Peretti.
"Uh-huh." Logainne nodded very slowly. "What place did you get...?" He scoffed again. "Wha-I- ELEVENTH!!" "Ohhh, okay." This girl was very condescending and rude, Chip concluded. He desperately wanted to talk to someone else, but nobody else came. "Uhhh..." Chip murmured before examining the small girl's outfit, spotting 6 small pins on the messenger bag she carried. "You're sapphic and transfeminine?" Her face turned beet red. "I- how did you-" He pointed at the pins on her bag. "How do you know your LBGTQIA+ flags?" She sounded hopeful and skeptical at the same time. "Uhh...I've done a lot of research. I'm bi." Chip smiled awkwardly. She gasped very very loudly.
"Omigosh, YAYY!! I'm the president of the Gay-Straight-Alliance at my school! And yes, you were correct, I'm sapphic." "Oh, nice," he responded as cheerfully as he could. He was genuinely interested, but it was hard for him to sound like it. "I'm so glad to meet another queer person in Putnam that doesn't go to my school, eek!!" She jumped up and down excitedly, and Ms. Peretti turned around and tilted her head. Chip waved awkwardly at her, and she turned back around to prepare for God knows what.
"I'm not like, queer queer, I just had a crush on a dude in my science class like once." Logainne gasped again. "Tell me EVERYTHING!!!" Why'd you like him? What's he look like? Did you ever confess? If so, was he homophobic? TELL ME, WHATEVER YOUR NAME IS!!" Chip snorted. "I told you, it's Chip. Aand, I don't think this is a great place to talk. We can exchange numbers after the bee, if you'd like." Logainne nodded furiously, stars seeming to glimmer in her big brown eyes.
"Alright then. I'll talk to you-" he trailed off as another kid walked into the room. He had never seen this guy. Like ever. He recognized Logainne from back when he was in 5th grade and she was probably in 3rd, so they saw each other at assemblies and things, but Chip had never laid eyes on this person ever in his 13 years of life.
He had a very elaborate outfit. Like, VERY elaborate. He had black sneakers that were very worn down from whatever, he had what seemed like a red bedsheet tied around his neck like a cape, a red bike helmet, a blue shirt with patches sewn into it, a cat sock puppet on his left hand (which was very poorly made) and fluffy ginger hair that looked VERY greasy, like he hadnt showered since 1992 or something.
He spotted them and his eyes widened as he skipped over. "HIII!!!" He waved enthusiastically. Chip immediately didn't like him. He was loud. Really loud. Logainne, most likely sending Chip's discomfort, pushed him aside, and stuck her hand out to the kid. "Logainne Shwartzandgrubenierre. And you?" The boy smiled and shook her hand with his hand without the sock puppet. "Leaf! Leaf Coneybear!" He shook her hand very VERY hard, and she stumbled backward into Chip, who had to push her back up so she didn't fall over.
Chip sighed and tried not to look as pissed as he was. "Soo...LEAF. Why have I never seen you before?" Leaf giggled and pushed some of his hair behind his ear. "Heh..me and my siblings are homeschooled." Yeah, that explains a lot, Chip thought. "Ohh...awesome." " Whats YOUR name?" Leaf asked curiously. "Chip," he replied simply. Leaf snorted. "HAH! That's a funny name." He skipped off to the bleachers and Chip sighed in relief. That was pretty ironic for a child literally named Leaf.
***
Over the course of the next couple of minutes, some black haired girl who Chip didn't know and was too scared to talk to, William Barfée (of course he had to be there), and Chip's somewhat friend Olive had arrived and gotten to socializing. Chip literally didn't know who else to talk to, so he made his way over to Olive and tapped her on the shoulder. She jumped and whipped around from her conversation with Ms. Peretti, who looked equally suprised. "Hiya Olive," he said quietly, and did the most awkward finger guns like ever. "Oh! Uh, Chip! Heeeyyyy...!" Olive said slowly.
"What's up?" She seemed really eager to get away, and Chip wondered why. They weren't really friends, but Olive would always let him copy her notes for math since he usually fell asleep if the topic was even vaguely related to numbers."Hi, Ms. Peretti, can I borrow her for a bit?" Ms. Peretti looked like she was about to cry happy but nervous tears, but shooed them away anyhow.
They sat down on the bleachers and Chip kicked the weird smooth latex wood floor and sighed. "Olive, I'm an amazing speller, correct?" She blinked. "Uh- sure, yeah! You're great!" Olive smiled reassuringly. "Thanks. Anyways, I'm just like..I dunno." He opened and closed his fists a few times. "Do you ever just like..feel like something terrible is gonna happen but you know that a disaster is highly unlikely?"
"Of course. All of the time. Do you feel like that right now...?" Chip nodded slowly. "Ookayy," Olive tried thinking of ways to help the poor kid. "Well, usually, I drink water and take deep breaths." Chip nodded slightly, and stood up. "Thanks." He rushed out of the gym in search of the water cooler down the hallway.
Olive frowned and looked down at the ground. "Why do I talk to him..?" she mumbled to herself. "You're so much better than the men that you choose to talk to, Olive," a voice said, and she almost fell backward. "Oh shit- oh! William! Heyyy!" "Hello." Will sat down next to her and Olive tried not to tremble. This kid was an even bigger asshole than Chip. "Are you prepared for the bee?" "Mhm. Yeah. I studied a lot." "Interesting. I sure do hope you aren't hard to compete against. I really need to win this year. Or just beat Charles."
Olive looked at him like he was on cocaine. "Chip's real name is CHARLES?" Will snorted. "No. It's Charlito. I just hate him." Olive gripped the bleachers. "Why? What'd he do to you?" Will giggled. "Well, last year, he made fun of me when I puked onstage at the bee. I need to get him back for that." "Oh. Okay." Yeah that sounded like Chip. Speaking of Chip,
***
He was fucking TWEAKING. Chip didn't even have the ability to fill up his teeny water cup without spilling it right now. He wasn't even 100% sure what was wrong with him at the moment. He turned to walk back into the gym and was met by someone he didn't recognize. "Oh- uh," Chip stammered. "Can I help you?" "Yes, please," the really, REALLY, tall boy responded quickly.
"Uhm, do you know where the spelling bee is gonna be? I'm supposed to-" Chip giggled. Nobody had asked HIM for help in a long while. "Nooo, I don't," Chip replied sarcastically while tugging on the number thingy he wore. "Yes, yes I do. Cmon." He grabbed the boy by the forearm and led him down the hall and into the gym. "Sooo, who are you here to watch?" The kid laughed nervously. "Oh, I'm uh..actually here to compete." Chip immediately turned around and let go. "Oh!" His voice cracked. Fucking teenage boy hormones, dude. "I've never seen you before. What's your name?"
The boy eyed the floor. "Theodore. Green. Call me Ted. I'm new in town, I moved here from like two towns over." Chip nodded knowingly. "Well, TED, I'm Charlie Tolentino (Chip knew that wasn't his name. Would he tell Ted his real one? Nope.) , but you can and will call me Chip. And if you don't, I will make it my life's purpose to painfully skin you and everyone you love while you're still alive." Ted laughed nervously. Chip wasn't joking. He grabbed his arm again and opened the gymnasium door, and JEEZ LOUISE IT LOOKED LIKE HEAVEN THREW UP IN THERE.
Why.Was.It.So.BRIGHT?? It hadn't been this bright like 5 minutes ago. They both took their glasses off, blinked, then put them back on in unison somehow. When Chip's eyes refocused, he spotted William bothering Olive, who looked like she was about to shit her pants, and he nudged Ted. "Go talk to the woman at the table to get your number and shit. I have something to deal with." Ted nodded shakily and they both trudged off.
"HEY!! WILLY!! THE FU- freak... ARE YOU DOING??" Chip yelled as he ran over to them. Will smirked and flipped his hair out of his face. "Just meeting the competition. Why, you got a problem with that?" Chip gestured for Olive to go away and moved way too close for comfort to the other boy. "Listen here No-Nuts-Willy," William physically flinched at the nickname. "Ew, people still call me that?" "Yes, we do. As in the royal we. As in me. I do. Get the fuck away from Olive you little dick, or I'm going to make you experience such unbelievable pain you'll want to just end your life." Will scoffed. "Yeah, okay mister 'I'm a Boy Scout and I have like 50 badges or something so I automatically know everything.'"
Chip flipped him off and walked off, and another new person entered the room. Why were there so many people he didn't know here? This person had short orange hair and a letterman jacket like thrice their size. They skipped happily up to Chip immediately. "Yo," they started, putting their hands in their jacket pockets. "You Chip?" He nodded slowly. "Yeahh..? Who's asking." " 'm Butter. I'm awesome, I know. "
"Uh-huh. Ookay." "Huge fan by the way, could I maybe get your autograph after-" they started again, before Ms. Peretti called everybody to take their seats. To be honest, Chip wasn't scared one bit anymore. He had this in the bag, and nothing could possibly go wrong.
***
HE DIDN'T HAVE THIS IN THE BAG. EVERYTHING COULD GO WRONG.