Chapter Text
First day of school. Hell for most, but not for little old Looey and his friends– specifically Looey though because they weren’t able to hang out with their friends at all during the whole summer break. Their parents were a little strict, so he wasn’t allowed to really go anywhere if it wasn’t the mall or to Yatta and/or Blot’s house (also considering the fact that they’re almost never at home, there’s no point in even trying to do the second option.) He couldn’t even go to the beach with them! So he’s been waiting to see his two braincell-less friends for months. Two whole months! Of course he can call them, but staying on Discord until 3 AM everyday gets tiring, no? Either way, today’s the day he’s going to see them for the first time in forever, so they’re going to make the most of it.
The school they go to is “Uniform Only,” but Looey can’t stand looking “basic.” They usually add pazazz to their uniform by not fully wearing the jacket/tying it around his waist, or adding pins to their shirt. Hell, one year they even DIY-ed their pants into shorts and the school couldn’t do anything about it because they had no spare uniforms! This year they obviously didn’t do that because the school said if they do it again it could lead to expulsion, but they totally wanted to. Just to add even a little bit more flair to their outfit they wear extra belts over their bland pants and keychains on their bag. Now he really was ready for school.
Him and his friends planned to meet each other at the entrance of the school and catch up on stuff, talk about classes, etc, but it’s really hard to do that when Yatta’s chronically late and Blot’s… well, he’s also frequently late but it doesn’t bother Looey that much since he usually gets there before Yatta does.
After exiting the bus, Looey took a moment to breathe in the school air. It smelled fresh and new like clean linen, or maybe that was just his detergent… either way it smelled amazing and he knew today was going to be a good day.
“Yo, Looey! How ya been pal?” Finn shouted, startling Looey out of their thoughts and running up to them.
“Ha! Finn! It’s been a long time, hasn’t it?” Looey replied, slowing down at the sound of Finn’s eager voice. “I’m doing well, what about ya?”
“Eh… could be worse I guess.” Finn said, looking towards the concrete. “Barnaby hasn’t been doing the best lately, so I’ve been trying to take care of him as best as I could… that’s why he’s staying home today.”
“Yeesh… sorry to hear buddy.” Looey hissed through his teeth. “I hope he gets better soon!”
“Thanks Looey. I REEL-y appreciate it!” Finn sighed, intentionally putting a pun in there. “I’ll let you be now so I can meet Shrimpo, see ya!” Finn ran to a tree that had the seething shrimp leaning on it before Looey could fully say goodbye.
After the interaction, Looey sat near the entrance for about 5 minutes before surprisingly seeing Blot suspiciously early.
“Hey Blot. You’re here early!” Looey started. “Any reason why…?”
“‘yad gib’ ym s’ti esuaceb ylear pu ekaw em edam dad yM (My dad made me wake up early because it’s my ‘big day’)” Blot responded while searching his neatly sorted backpack for his schedule. “(No biggie though I guess. Don’t expect me to be this early tomorrow!)”
“Yeah yeah whatever, hehe.” Looey chuckled. “I bet Yatta won’t get here until the bell rings.”
“...eerag I (I agree…) Blot said. “?ti no teb annaw uoy hcum woH (How much you wanna bet on it?)”
“Like, five bucks at least.” Looey said after contemplating. “Because it’s all I have right now… oh how I love unemployment…”
“(Uh… yeah, I guess mate.)” Blot responded. “(Anyway, I found my schedule. Should we share it with each other now or wait for Yatta?)”
“Lets wait for a little bit. She hates when we share schedules without her.” Looey said, staring into nothingness. “Maybe she–”
Yatta’s loud screeching interrupted Looey’s dialogue…
“AGH HIII LOO-LOO!!! HIII BLOTIE!!!” Yatta said before taking hold of both Looey and Blot, causing lots of unwanted stares. “I MISSED YOU GUYS SOSO MUCH!! I ALMOST CAN’T BREATHE AGHHH!!!!” Yatta started hyperventilating from her excitement.
“WOAH Yatta chill!” Looey shouted to match her energy. “You know how over-excited you get!”
“RIGHT, right, sorry!” Yatta calmed herself. “I rushed here to see you guys!! I even forgot to put on my kandi!!”
Yatta’s usual outfits consisted of hyperpop accessories and lots of decora, but today you can tell she rushed. Her “hair” was tied into a loose ponytail with three scrunchies and she had tons of stickers plastered on her face. She smelled faintly of cake pops and vanilla extract and had around 12 caramel bonbon candies stuffed aggressively in her pocket.
“Anyways, can we go inside??” Yatta started, still panting from sprinting. “I’m gettin’ kinda cold out here and I’m in DESPERATE need of breakfast…”
“(Yeah we can go in.)” Blot said. “(You owe me five bucks Looey…)”
Looey only acknowledged his statement by rolling his eyes and started walking with Yatta.
. . .
After sharing their schedules and finding out that they surprisingly have the same homeroom, they went to get breakfast. The school only had pancakes and apples today, an interesting combo but it’ll manage… for now.
They can’t really do much at the beginning of the day, so they waited in first period for about 30-35 minutes.
. . .
“I’ve actually started to hang out with Cocoa recently…” Yatta said. “I kinda have a crush on her but YOU CAN’T TELL HER OKAY?!”
“Our lips are sealed!” Looey replied. “You better hope she doesn’t have the same homeroom as us though!”
“And if she did…?” Yatta inquired.
“Well I wouldn’t want to see two lesbians making out at the beginning of each school day…” Looey giggled.
“HAHA so funny.” Yatta sarcastically said, flicking her tails. “Don’t act like you’re not gay either Loo-Loo.” Blot snickered.
“And you too Blot!” Yatta shouted. “You’re the zestiest person I know aside from Looey!” He shut right up after that.
Two other toons entered the room, and their names were “Sprout” and “Cosmo.” They haven’t talked to each other aside from the occasional “excuse me” or “thank you,” (minus the occasional prank or so) and Looey didn’t really want to talk to them either. Sprout was really popular and they didn’t really interact with the popular kids. They were the topic of everyone’s conversation in middle school, which caused Looey to have some resentment towards them since even their friends were in that trance too. He was going to hate the fact that they were in his homeroom specifically too, because it meant he was going to have to tolerate their obsessive “fans.”
Sprout wasn’t too fond of Looey either, since Looey was a “class clown” in elementary and middle school. He would always disrupt the classroom somehow someway, and he’d pull pranks on the teacher frequently. Whenever Sprout passed out his hand-made cupcakes to give to everyone, he always turned them down. It might be petty to truly dislike Looey because of that, but he was really proud of those cupcakes… Although Looey’s changed now that they’re both in senior year of highschool, he still doesn’t trust them that much.
Looey and Sprout exchanged glances towards one another, but nothing too crazy. If they were going to talk bad about each other it would have to be in private because Lord knows what could happen.
“ANYWAY, other than the fact that I have to deal with YOUR STUPID ASSES, I think this year is gonna be great!” Yatta shouted, not very loud though, surprisingly. “Also, any of you guys want a piece of caramel candy?!”
“‘Course.” Looey approved, but Blot shook his head.
“(I don’t really like those…)” Blot continued, “(I like the coffee ones better.)
“WELL, your loss!” Yatta chirped. “Also the coffee ones are TERRIBLE I don’t know what you talkin’ about!”
“About your first statement, I think this year is also gonna be good!” Looey said, muffled from the candy in his mouth. “Aside from a few casualties… I can feel it…!”
. . .
Sprout’s been multitasking by talking to cosmo and eavesdropping at the same time. He could really care less about what Looey and his “troupe,” if you can even call it that, are talking about, but he frequently listened just to know even a little bit more about certain toons. No clue why he was letting himself eavesdrop on the one toon he dislikes the most– aside from Vee and Dandy..
“Sprout, are you okay?” Cosmo started, “You look a little disassociated with yourself today.”
“O-oh– yeah, I’m fine.” Sprout trailed off. “I didn’t get enough sleep, went to bed at exactly 4 AM last night… or this morning.”
“Aw shoot, Sprout!” Cosmo said. “I told you to get more sleep! What were you even doing?”
“Making cupcakes to give out to friends…” Sprout said, rummaging through his bag. “Before you assault me, I had absolutely no time to do it earlier.”
Cosmo just gave Sprout a concerned look before letting Sprout pull the cupcakes out of his bag and setting them on the table to later hand out.
. . .
The rest of the toons entered the room such as Bassie, Shelly, Brusha and Tisha, and around 20 others. The bell was 2 minutes away from ringing when everybody got there, and everybody was talking and reuniting with their friends while enjoying the few minutes they have before class starts.
“Alright everyone,” Ms. Mendez started, in a seemingly monotonous tone. “Please settle, I’ll start attendance which should be rather quick considering I know all of you, and then we’ll introduce what will be taught.”
Shannon Mendez was the English teacher. She was a lenient teacher, often being very patient with everyone, even her asshole coworkers which, wouldn’t be a problem if she was paid more.
“Please listen for your names and respond promptly or you will be marked absent…” Looey wasn’t listening, like at all. He was too focused on making tiny doodles of him and his friends in his notebook, and when the teacher called his name…
“Looey.” Ms. Mendez said. “Looey!”
“What– huh?” Looey replied. “Present…”
“Pay attention, please.”
This earned a slight side eye from Sprout. He thought Looey was trying to be “funny” again.
. . .
The day was going fine. Everyone was mostly happy with their classes, and locker placements weren’t bad… unlike last year. It was fourth period when their lunches were being reviewed that changed everything.
“Come up to the board if you want a better view.” Mr Reed said, after placing the A/B lunches on the whiteboard. “Do not touch it. I swear to God if one of you guys do…!” He was already pissed at his class, probably because of Shrimpo.
“Aw shit.” Looey blurted out.
“What’s wrong, Looey?” Scraps said. “Too hangry to wait? Hehe!”
“No… I don’t have the same lunch as Yatta OR Blot.” Looey groaned. “Which means I’ll have no one to sit with!”
“Oh, well, you can sit with me and my friends!” Scraps responded. “I’m sure they wouldn’t mind another tablemate!”
“Are you sure?” Looey asked. “I don’t want to, like, intrude, especially since, no offense, we aren’t the best of friends…”
“Well we can BECOME best friends if you want to!” Scraps exaggerated. “I don’t mind, really.”
“I guess it wouldn’t hurt to try somethin’ new.” Looey sighed. “Thanks.”
“No probs!” Scraps flicked her tail.
. . .
Lunch arrived faster than Looey'd expected. Maybe because he was dozing off in class way more than he should've, but it wasn't that big of a deal.
“Hey! Looey! Over here!” Scraps yelled from down the hallway.
“Hey Kitty!” Looey said, knowing that name would piss her off.
“I told you to stop calling me that…” She pouted. “Anyway, come follow me to our table!”
Looey had spotted Sprout sitting at a distant table next to Cosmo, Goob, and Waxwell (surprisingly). Hoping that he wouldn't have to sit next to Sprout was a complete understatement. He was internally begging to not sit next to him, but lo and behold, that's exactly where he had to sit.
“Hi guysss!” Scraps exaggerated. “Looey's gonna be sitting with us today (because he has no friends) but that's unrelated! Be nice! I'm gonna go buy my lunch!”
“...hi.” Looey said before awkwardly sitting down. Sprout scoffed in response, which caused Cosmo to punch his shoulder.
“Oh my days, hi Looey!” Goob smiled. “I haven't talked to you in forever! Nice to see ya!” He pulled Looey into a tight hug.
“Heh… nice to see you too, big guy!” Looey giggled.
Waxwell was already scheming on Looey while the others talked amongst themselves.
“I just don't understand why Scraps had to bring him over here…” Sprout whispered.
“Be nice, Sprout!” Cosmo gave him a glare. “He's probably different now.”
“Different how?!”
“Well, he didn't do anything obnoxious in first period.”
“Yeah, well, he could've done something in second period too!” Sprout whisper-shouted.
“You disappoint me sometimes Sproutie…” Cosmo sighed. “I'll go talk to him– to see if he changed at all… which he probably has.”
“Don't blame me if you get electrocuted!” Sprout answered, clearly annoyed at Cosmo's persistence.
Cosmo moved over to the opposite side of the table, where Looey was sitting, causing him to look up from the pictures Goob showed him of them as kids.
“‘Sup, Looey!” Cosmo tapped his shoulder. “How ya been?”
“You're Cosmo, right? Doing good, how ‘bout you?” Looey asked, trying to put on a sincere smile.
“I'm well…” Cosmo dragged. “...I got a question for you…”
“Ask away…!” Looey said, with hesitance.
“Have you thought about pulling any of your pranks recently?” Cosmo questioned. “Like, the ones you would pull in middle school?”
“Do ya want me to?” Looey joked, raising an eyebrow. “And no… not really. I'm trying to stop doing that type of stuff.”
Sprout rolled his eyes at that. “(Him? Trying to stop? What a joke.)” He thought.
“No, no! Just wondering…” Cosmo giggled. “How come?”
“I-uh… it started to get boring ya know…! Hehe.” Looey partially lied, he just doesn't like telling random people his business.
“Well… alright…” Cosmo sounded almost disappointed. He actually enjoyed seeing Sprout getting so pissed over a stupid little prank. “I'm gonna move back now, bye!”
. . .
“Aww! Look who's all pouty over being proved wrong?” Cosmo joked. “Don't worry! I'll rock you to sleep!”
“Ugh– stop it!” Sprout pushed Cosmo's hand away from his face. “I still don't believe he changed.”
“Why?” Cosmo asked. “Oh! Is it because of that time he filled your locker with plastic snakes? Or that time when he sprayed fart spray in your notebook so you couldn't use it for 3 weeks? OOH or that time when he–!” Sprout covered Cosmo's mouth with both of his hands.
“Be quiet! I'm not pissy about that… anymore…” Sprout said. “I just don't trust that he won't do it again. End of story.”
“Come on dude! Look at him!” Cosmo discretely pointed at Looey so they wouldn't see. “He looks like a changed man!”
“Tch, whatever… estupido.” Sprout went back to eating his turkey sandwich.
Scraps came back with her lunch after a significantly long amount of time and sat in between Goob and Looey, causing Looey to have to move near Waxwell. The rest of lunch period went well without any major casualties.
. . .
Fourth and Fifth period went by like a breeze for Looey. He didn't have to deal with any loud classmates, and even started talking to people he never thought he'd talk to like: Bassie, Astro, and Dyle! Although… Dyle scares him a bit… he's way too sophisticated and judgemental for his liking. Sixth period, on the other hand, was interesting.
“Alright, settle down now.” Teacher McLaughlin said, clearing their throat. “Today is the first day, yes, but I'd like to preview a future assignment that we will do on Wednesday that will last for a week.” The whole class groaned.
“This is merely a project based on your passions as a group.” McLaughlin said, ignoring the class's displeased noises. “And since I don't know most of you, you're getting grouped randomly. Today.”
“(Today…? Why today…?)” Looey thought, his finger tapping his desk.
“I've written half of your names on a piece of paper. The other half, come to my desk to pick up your partner's name and the rest of my class you have a free day… I guess.” Sam said, putting a large red bowl on their desk. “I'll list off the names of people that need to come up.”
“Connie”
“Gigi”
“Squirm”
“Tisha”
“Vee”
“Cosmo”
“Looey.”
Shit. He'd hoped he wouldn't have to go up to his partner and say “Hey we're partners now wanna be friends?” and all of that stuff… But, they did have enough time to get to know each other… as long as it isn’t Sprout. A few pranks here and there kinda led Sprout to almost hate Looey’s guts. The only reason he didn’t was because he’s just… kind of… nice like that.
“You may now open your papers.” Sam said, drinking their coffee. “Don’t bother me, I’m not changing it.”
Looey took a shallow breath, hoping that maybe, just maybe, he would be paired up with someone like Glisten or Finn or–
Of course, it was the one toon he really didn’t want to see nor talk to right now.
. . .
Sprout got up from his chair to look over Cosmo’s shoulder to see who he got.
“Oh! I got Glis!” Cosmo said, moving hair out of his face. “Honestly I expected to get Shelly.”
“Or were you hoping to get Shelly?” Sprout butted in, earning a flustered response from Cosmo. “Alright, alright. I’m just messing with ya.”
“I wonder who you got?” Cosmo asked. “I feel like they would’ve come up to you by now.”
“Maybe they’re too intimidated by my perfect-ness?” Sprout suggested.
“Only in your dreams, Sproutie.” Cosmo rebuttaled. “Maybe they’ll eventually come up to you.”
“Whatever, mijo.” Sprout said, moving his chair to be beside Cosmo’s desk.
. . .
“(Just go up to him. DO IT!)” Looey thought, trying to hype himself up. Getting himself so worked up over something so simple was not on his bingo card for the school year, but you know what was? Getting out of his comfort zone! So, he got up and marched over to Cosmo’s desk.
“Hey, uh, Sprout?” Looey interjected.
“Yeah. What do you want?” Sprout said, trying to sound as nice as possible so he didn’t cause any issues yet failing miserably.
“Sprout! Be nice!” Cosmo said. “Whatcha need Looey?”
“I think Sprout’s my partner for the project…” Looey said, noticing Sprout getting visibly uncomfortable. “I-I can ask if the teacher can change it–!”
“No. It’s fine.” Sprout said, sighing.
“O-oh okay!” Looey tried to sound like he wasn’t dying inside from this awkward-as-hell interaction. “So… I’ll see you later…”
“Yeah.” Sprout said. Short and sweet.
“Ugh! Sprout, why did you make it so awkward?!” Cosmo almost yelled. “Working with him isn’t that bad!”
“Well, you’re not the one who has to do it!” Sprout huffed.
“You’re acting like a child~” Cosmo said, sing-songy.
“No. I just have PTSD.” Sprout stated.
“Sprout, I’m going to major in psychology in college. You do not have Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.” Cosmo said.
“Sorry smartass.” Sprout said, knowing he’s going to major in culinary arts or healthcare.
. . .