Chapter Text
Amelia Watson hated summer.
It’s hot, and mosquitos loved it, she knew because one just nipped at her neck. The bad older kids enjoyed it, and she knows because five of them just kicked her and Liz out of the playground. There’s nothing good about it.
“Disgrace… It’s a disgrace!” Liz waves her hands in the air.
They learned the word ‘disgrace’ in ELA last week. Amelia watches her friend bounce and shout in the sun. Liz actually loves the summer too. But while the redhead was good, Liz was also crazy. Amelia enjoyed her shade.
“We need a plan…” Liz was sweating now and it looked really gross, “Amelia, help me kill them.”
“Kill is a bad word,” Amelia called.
Elizabeth toddles over to the shade. Amelia takes a step away from the sweaty girl. Nothing personal.
Liz whispers, “I know where the rocks are. We can use them.”
“We don’t need rocks,” Amelia starts, “I know how people fight wars.”
Her friend turns to her, with a classic tellmetellme look.
“It was on TV, there was a hill, and people were… wait… that’s not right.”
“What’s not right?”
“There were these desert guys. On TV. The red guys were fighting the desert guys, and the red guys had more people, but the desert guys were winning because they had bow and arrows on a hill. They were shooting them from up there.”
Liz nodded, “We need bows and arrows.”
“But then,” Amelia continued, “The desert guys with the bows left the hill. They left to get treasure from the dead red guys. Then, a bunch of red guys on horses were hiding behind their hill, waiting for them to come down so they could attack.”
“A trap... Good idea.” Elizabeth said.
“Then the red guys won the war. Because all the bow and arrow desert guys were… unalived.”
“Kill isn’t a bad word, Mum says it all the time.”
“My dad said it is. Only crazy people say it.”
Elizabeth stomped her feet, “I’m. Not. Crazy! And neither is Mum!” her eyes welled.
Bad move on Amelia’s part. Should’ve been more careful. But it’s fine, she can fix it.
Dad calls this ‘damage control’.
“Sorry, sorry. You’re not crazy,” Amelia makes a finger X, “You’re actually a genius. And I’m a bigger genius, so we can beat up Shiori and her friends, easy.”
She stopped tearing up. Crisis averted.
“I wanna be the red guys…” Liz said.
“We’re both gonna be the red guys.”
“I wanna be the red guys on the horses.”
“Fine.”
It took them both a rough five minutes to plan for contingency, then they were off. To win the war, and the playground back.
The sun was getting worse. Amelia could feel it through her hair, but she needed to maintain. The battleground was in front of her. Evil Shiori and Evil Nerissa climbed on the roof of the slide set. They stared at Amelia from what looked like hundreds of feet up. Show-offs.
The Evil twins played on the seesaw. Her and Elizabeth’s seesaw.
And Evil Bijou?
Evil Bijou was collecting rocks. Amelia actually didn’t mind her. She’d be fine so long as she didn’t get in the way.
“If you take one more step, I’ll break your nose.” Shiori yelled from her cursed rooftop.
Amelia pretended she couldn’t hear, “WHAT?”
“She SAID…” Nerissa, the tall freak, parrots her leader, “If you take one more step, we’ll break your nose.”
“WHAT?” Amelia really sells it now, funneling her hand to her ear and raising one eyebrow. She watches the Evil Duo give each other a look before climbing down their roof.
Shiori rode the blue straight slide. Nerissa took the green swirly slide. And she squeezed down with the grace of an angel. That traded all of its gracefulness to be taller.
Shiori finally met her at the edge of the sandbox. Nerissa, the spineless follower, made sure to stand a bit behind her leader.
“No. First graders. Allowed. Period.” Shiori said.
And had Amelia not been to school last Tuesday, she wouldn’t know what a ‘period’ was. The mind games already started. Shiori cracked her knuckles. Something Amelia didn’t know how to do.
“Yeah, period.” Nerissa pointed a single witch finger at her.
God, she hated her so much.
Amelia snarls, “Get out of here, Nose-rissa.”
Shiori tilted her head. Nerissa looked confused too, like she didn’t know whether to be offended or not.
Nose-rissa? You know, because her nose was big? It sounded lethal in her head.
Amelia tries again. This time, with a classic, “This is an A and B conversation. C your way out of it.”
That got her good. The tall demon looks angry, “You stole that from our class. You dumb baby.”
All is fair in war, bog-witch.
“Gonna cry about it?” mocked Amelia.
“I’ll make YOU cry until you-
“Enough, Rissa.” Shiori waves her away, “Go play with Beebs.”
“But-
“That’s an order.”
Nerissa huffs, but she submits and leaves with a trail of vague insults.
“I already told you,” Her enemy declares. “What would happen if you came back.”
“You’re not the boss of me, fatso.” She replies.
“I’m not…” Shiori trailed, “You’re a liar. You are way fatter than me.”
Play dumb. “You are. I’ve seen you run laps. You’re slow as a sloth. Only fat people can’t run.”
“…”
“…”
Shiori sounded calm, “I’m going to choke you.”
The enemy sprints at her.
And when Shiori stepped over the sandbox and into the grass. Amelia had her chance. She screams out the signal, and from behind a nearby tree, came her best friend, Elizabeth Rose, beelining to the fight.
After ramming Shiori with her shoulder — a move that had little effect — Liz grabbed at the ankles. Presumably, because they were the closest thing to Elizabeth’s hands.
As Shiori scrambled to pull her feet away, Amelia remembered to shove at the shoulders, nearly flipping the third grader over.
A gasp-yell, and Shiori thudded on the sand, grabbing her head in pain.
One down. Four left.
Well — Bijou really doesn’t count as one. Too small. But, on the other hand, Nerissa the Massive probably counts as two. Plus the twins, so yeah, four.
Amelia was in the middle of her train of thought when Shiori yelled, “ADVENT. CODE RAINBOW. DIAMOND FORMATION.” Loud enough to burst eardrums.
Something must’ve possessed their “Advent” selves. The twins jumped off the seesaw at the exact same time. Nerissa stopped sulking near the swing set and ran. Bijou took a little longer to process it, but she too dropped her armful of rocks and waddled over.
Amelia expected a brawl, but Advent made a circle around Shiori instead, all four members facing outward. Fuwawa and Mococo linked arms with Bijou and Nerissa, securing the perimeter.
“We’ll protect you!” Fuwawa yelled.
“Right!” Mococo added, “What happened anyway?”
Shiori coughed like she had the plague, “They got the jump on me… I need to heal.”
“You want my fruit snacks?” Nerissa offers.
“How much health does that give?” Shiori crawls to her knees.
“Uhhh…” Nerissa tilts up, concentrating, “Like twenty-five.”
“That’ll work.”
Shiori nibbled on a pack of Mott’s fruit gummies.
“Can’t believe those dang kids took down Shiori.” Mococo says as she spits on the ground. Gross.
Bijou whined. Tugging Mococo’s arm. At what she was upset about, Amelia had no idea.
“Right. My bad.” Mococo retracts, “those… darn kids who took down Shiori.”
And Bijou hummed in approval.
Yikes. Amelia believed in clean words too. But “dang”? Really?
Hearing that exchange made one thing clear. Bijou was soft. And where there is softness, there is an opening.
Amelia pulled Liz close, “Listen. I know that Diamond formation looks strong.”
“It looks cowardly.” Liz said, Amelia patted her cheek for it.
“We attack the weakest link.” She clasps Liz’ shoulder.
“Nerissa.”
“Bijou.” She corrected.
“Oh.”
“Shiori is still eating her little snack. That makes her vulnerable, right now.”
“Vulnerable…” Liz says dreamily.
“In class. ELA. One month ago. Did you forget?”
“Yeah…” Elizabeth pouts.
“Anyways. If I charge through Bijou’s right arm. And you charge through her left arm. The flank is destroyed and we can eliminate them from the inside out.”
Liz’ eyes change, “Eliminate.”
“That’s it,” Amelia praises, “but we need a huge running start. So you take twenty steps that way, and I’ll go that way.”
Elizabeth and Amelia line up on Bijou’s left and right shoulder, respectively. And turn away from the enemy. Taking time to ensure they walked far enough to do some real damage.
They stopped when they reached as far as the seesaw. The enemy didn’t move from their place at all. Bijou stood still, distracted by a bee dancing around her face. Nerissa and the Twins seemed to be none the wiser. It was perfect.
Operation Battle Ram was a go. Amelia and Liz were off in a wild charge.
Like those olympians on TV, Amelia swung her arms and pushed the ground under her. She felt like she was moving faster than a car. On the right, Liz was right there with her, screaming, with a dontstopme look.
It only took a few seconds to collide with the diamond formation. Advent did not move, even on impact. Bijou was in another world throughout the ordeal. The rest of them recoiled and yelped when Amelia hit them.
Amelia and Liz sliced through Bijou’s guard like butter. The lack of resistance made Amelia flutter and paranoid all the same. The mission was accomplished, but something wasn’t right.
Two things happened after Liz and Amelia made it to the inside of the diamond:
- Evil Nerissa, Evil Twins, and Bijou immediately ran towards the slide set.
2. Amelia realized that Shiori wasn’t there anymore. Key words: Amelia realized.
It didn’t occur to Liz that the main objective was missing. And upon seeing the enemy run away, she must’ve thought she had the upper hand and darted after them.
Before Amelia could call her back, Liz was ten paces away from her, and two long, muscly third grader arms circled Amelia and tackled her into the sand box.
Shiori must’ve escaped while they were both turned around. It was genius, but Amelia should’ve known better. How could she slip up this bad?
She couldn’t help but watch Liz and her valiant effort to secure a One versus Four. Obviously, they ganged up and had her friend on the ground in a few seconds.
Shiori sneered from behind her. Amelia tried to wrestle loose, but truth be told, she wasn’t that strong. A third grader could hold both of Amelia’s arms back with just one of their own.
“Gotcha.” Shiori said.
“Gotcha.” Amelia mimicked with a baby-voice.
“That won’t work.” Shiori forces her to stand up, from where she could see Liz rioting against her jailers so hard that four of them struggled to keep her still.
“Oh.” Shiori laughed, “I know exactly what’ll make you madder.”
There was nothing. Absolutely nothing that could ever be worse than this.
“RISSA.” Shiori barked
“YEAH?”
“SWITCH. YOU COME ARREST THIS ONE.”
Amelia cried on the spot, “NO. NO. N-“
Nerissa took her in and held her hostage. It was the most humiliating thing she’d ever been through.
They tied Liz and Amelia to a pole on the swingset. The rope they used felt thin and stringy. And it wasn’t lost on her that Evil Mococo had an apparent lack of shoe laces in her Sketchers.
“Did you really use your shoelaces to tie us?” Amelia asked her.
Mococo blushed, “Yeah… Fuwawa lost her shoes. And everybody else uses straps.”
“I never learned how to tie them.” Nerissa beamed.
“I hate laces. They take too long.” Shiori brooded.
Bijou hummed in agreement. Strutting her tiny heelies. Disgusting.
Amelia groans, “You guys are amateurs…”
“Amateurs…” Liz says dreamily.
“Why do you never pay attention in class?”
“I’m trying! Stop being mean!”
Nerissa interrupts their moment, “Look who’s calling us amateurs. You guys suck.”
Bijou hisses, but Shiori’s the one to correct, “She meant they’re bad. Bad at combat.”
Shiori stands over them both and crosses her arms to try acting tough, “”Thus the expert in battle moves the enemy, and is not moved by him.” Haven’t you read The Art of War? What kind of leader are you?”
“They definitely haven’t read it. First graders can’t read.” Nerissa said.
“We read it…” Sighed Fuwawa.
“Shiori made us read the whole book in one day.” Mococo adds.
“It was really boring.”
Shiori turned to the twins, “It was NOT boring. It was useful and made you stronger.”
Time to lie, “I read it too,” Amelia said, “but it was so stupid that I actually threw it out. I told Liz about it the other day.”
Liz caught on to the opportunity, “Oh…”
Then fumbles it, “You never told me that.”
Amelia cringed, and Advent laughed. They laughed at her, and it sounded like a nightmare.
“Elizabeth…” she only used Liz’ full name in rage, “Do you hate me?”
“No. I love you.”
Her heart did skip a beat at that. But this was still a horrible situation. Even Bijou was cackling at her misery. They were trapped. She was defeated, by Nerissa of all people. There was another mosquito flying around her face. The sun was blazing and-
And she had enough. Whatever her limit was got vaporized a long time ago.
“Hey, Shiori.” Amelia blanked.
Shiori was still giggling at her, “What?”
Damage control.
“You’re a bitch.”
They stopped laughing.
Their eyes shot up, and for once, Advent was quiet. Except for Bijou, who was still cackling — and probably — didn’t know what “bitch” meant. Poor thing. She eventually got quiet seeing her entire group freeze.
Welp. Too late to stop now.
“Your entire group is, actually.” Amelia drawled like it was no big deal, “There are five — no, seven bitches that make up your dumb gang.”
She lists them out, “Shiori is the first bitch, Bijou is the second, The twins are the third and fourth. The fifth, sixth, and seventh are all Nerissa.”
The twins were terrified. Shiori was thoughtful. Nerissa one-hundred percent wanted to kill her right now. Bijou seemed confused and taps Shiori on the shoulder, asking for explanation.
“Hang on, beebs.” Shiori says, “I didn’t see this coming.”
“She can’t…” Fuwawa stammers.
“You can’t say that…” Mococo was in sync.
Nerissa said nothing. She was seething.
“Advent,” Shiori clapped her hands, “group meeting.”
They went some ways away from Amelia and had a discussion.
In the meantime, Liz asked, “What does bitch mean?”
“Don’t worry about it.”
Then, they sat in silence until Advent finished their meeting. Someone must’ve told Bijou what it meant, because the tiny thing started bawling. Fuwawa embraced her until she calmed down.
Amelia perked at what happened next. Shiori gestured to the Main Hall, getting a firm nod from the rest of them. Were they about to…?
They were about to. Advent stomped away from the playground without turning back. Confusion took over Amelia, then triumph, then confused triumph.
She knew that word hurt peoples’ feelings, but to make them give up like that? Amelia shuddered at the sheer force of her ability.
Amelia sighed, “We won… They surrendered.”
“Yay.”
“Remember Liz, don’t go around saying bad words. With great power comes great responsibility.” Maybe this was a lesson for them both.
“I never should’ve watched Spiderman with you. Mum grounded me for it.” Liz sounded regretful.
“Why?” Spiderman was a hero. That made no sense.
“It had violence in it.”
Dad would never, “That’s crazy,” Amelia said.
She realized her poor choice of words too late, “Not crazy. Your “Mum” isn’t crazy. That was mean.”
Liz didn’t say anything.
“Are you crying?”
“No.” Liz retorts, “I never cry.”
That wasn’t true, but she stayed quiet.
“Amelia?”
“Hm?” The tone in her friend’s voice was something new.
“I think she is crazy. You were right.”
Amelia’s heart panged, “I didn’t mean to say that. I won’t call her crazy anymore. I promise.” she looked down in shame.
Elizabeth sighed. All of a sudden the sun felt hotter.
“Her brain plays tricks on her. That’s what she told me,” Her friend whispered, telling her a secret.
Amelia saw a movie about that, “You mean she sees fake things? Like ghosts and dead people?”
“Maybe... but sometimes she lays in bed for a long time. She doesn’t move at all, but she isn’t asleep. Her eyes are open. And she screams at me a lot.”
“How does she take you to school if she doesn’t move?”
“She has these pills under her bed. I grabbed them once but I couldn’t open it. Then she yelled at made me face the wall for a whole hour,” Liz wasn’t whispering anymore.
“She does drugs?” Amelia asked.
Liz hesitated, “I don’t know.”
“I hate waking up also.”
“You’re little. Mum is big.”
Amelia was trying to help, really. But she knew that what she was hearing was strange.
Liz raised her voice and spoke, “I think she is crazy. I think she’s crazy and takes pills to not be crazy, but it doesn’t matter because they don’t work all the time, and even then she’ll run out and be crazy again. Brains shouldn’t play tricks on you. But hers does.”
“Liz?” Amelia felt there was a line she should be crossing right now. Held back only by a few inches and shoelaces.
“Only… hers does…”
Her friend’s words got stuck on something. What Elizabeth said about never crying was lie. The sound of her quiet sobbing made Amelia feel something completely new. Something weird like her insides were on fire. And there was nothing to put it out.
All of a sudden, Liz wondered aloud, still crying, “How long are we gonna be trapped?”
It was the question that put the sudden emotion away. Her blood cooled. Now she was speaking Amelia’s language. It was about time to get the heck out of these cuffs. Amelia grunted and pulled and twisted her hands to try a slip through the lace prison.
Liz must’ve sensed her efforts. She asked, “Is someone gonna save us?”
“I’ll save us,” She lashed and flexed her fingers again, “My dad did this once. He got stolen by kidnappers.”
“No way,” her friend sniffled.
“Yes way. And they tied him up with metal and spikes on his hands. So he waited until all of them were asleep, then he broke six — no — seven of his fingers to escape,” Amelia grit her teeth, and gave the shoelaces everything she had.
With that, the pink fabric broke. She was free.
Liz gasped, “You broke your fingers?”
Amelia’s hands were red all over with shoelace-shaped pressure marks on her wrists. That meant they were broken right? Best to play it safe, “Yeah. I broke them. I had to.”
“Do they hurt?”
“They hurt a lot, but I’m okay.” The soreness and burn compelled her to say that. No time to whine though. She got to work untying Liz. Unlike those Advent prunes, Amelia Watson could tie shoes just fine.
“That was awesome. You’re so strong.” Liz was then free. The win over Shiori was official.
“You’re strong too. I couldn’t have done this without you.” Amelia hugged her friend.
Liz squeezed back, “What should we do now?” was muffled into Amelia’s shirt.
What should they do… They could do anything. As long as it was within the playground.
“Seesaw?” shrugged Amelia.
“Seesaw,” Liz said, and off they went.