"I'm going to kill him. Right now. Where is he?"
Coco takes one look at her, spins on her designer heel, and stalks toward the door.
With adrenaline born of panic, Velvet leaps up and manages to grab her by the elbow, turning a pleading look up at her that would stop a train.
Coco, stronger than a train, drags Velvet another step or two before giving up with a grimace.
"Please don't." Velvet's voice comes out very watery. She tries again. "I have to do this myself."
Coco fights back every sentence starting with "No" that wants to come out of her mouth, and looks at Velvet. Really looks at her. Measures the slump of her shoulders and the curve of her spine, the placement of her feet and the angles of her eyebrows.
Style is more than clothing. Style is how you carry yourself. Coco is familiar with body language; she is a native speaker. It is one of the reasons she is their team leader.
She turns, and Velvet releases her elbow. With one hand she cups the side of Velvet's face and tilts the drooping girl's chin up to meet her eyes.
"If you need anything," she stresses it again, "anything, come to me, okay?"
There is a brief pause while this sinks in.
"I would like a hug?" Velvet tries, and immediately the world is soft and warm.
She can feel Coco chuckle, and from next to her comes a low, amused, "I was hoping to hold him while you punch, but I'm also happy to hold you."
Velvet laughs a little too, and then she cries a little more, and then she slowly pulls away.
"Thank you," she tells her team leader. She had been terrified of meeting her team, afraid of being afraid of being afraid of them; it was a vicious cycle. But the three of them had been incredibly kind. In fact her first year had gone astonishingly smoothly, all things considered.
Cardin is starting to remind her how to be afraid, and she hates it.
"I'll go talk to him," she says, straightening and wiping her eyes, but Coco gives her a once-over and shakes her head slightly.
"Later," she advises, "Remember the last time you went to face a bully right after crying? They thought you'd shown up for more."
"That's true." Velvet's timidness catches up to her after the day she's just had, and she starts to shrink into herself out of habit.
Catching herself, she tries to think of something that will give her some confidence back, and settles on, "Could we maybe go for a little spar?"
Coco takes in her wider stance, lifted chin, set shoulders, and determined eyes, and nods in agreement and approval.
Putting a hand on one of Velvet's shoulders, she smiles and says, "I'm proud of you."
Velvet doesn't have a response for that, so she just ducks her head again and tries not to blush, which is about as effective as fighting off sunshine with a spatula.
Coco laughs, and moves to open the door, waving the embarrassed girl through with a flourish that manages to further embarrass her.