A/N: After a crazy hiatus, I'm back again! This is a new story focusing on Taffyta with Vanellope on the sidelines. This is follows before Tomboy Girlfriend, Girly Girlfriend, but I'm not sure if it'd be a prequel. This is Taffyta's side of the story of why she bullied Vanellope long before they started dating. High school, real world AU. I don't own Wreck-It Ralph. Only OCs. Though Galileo Academy of Science and Technology (located in San Francisco, U.S.A.) is real, none of the students here are real. At least, I don't think so.
Hi. The name's Taffyta. Taffyta Muttonfudge. Everyone knows me as the richest and most popular girl in Galileo Academy of Science and Technology! But everyone knew me as...the bully. Yep. You heard me right. I used to harass the hell outta everyone! Not like it's unexpected or anything, of course. You'd be surprised to know that I wasn't always popular. When I was a freshman, there were already this clique of nasty senior sharks that went after everyone. But for some reason, they loved picking on me... I didn't become popular till the beginning of sophomore year, where I was at my worst with the bullying. Especially Vanellope...
Anyways, on to my side of the story. I walked along the halls of the school, fresh outta grade school. It was my first day of high school! Of course, I was nervous, but I didn't show it, obviously. I couldn't help but feel proud that this was the school I'd be going to for the next four years! I had a smug look on my face, hoping to impress everyone with my confidence. Then I saw Vanellope. That black-haired girl and I rarely got along and I would hardly call her an A-student, but I would never actually lay a hand on her. She was always with Gloyd, usually doing some stupid prank or something. To be honest, it was actually kinda cute when she did some crazy prank...
I scoffed and walked on to my locker, organizing my stuff for classes. To say I was surprised to see Von Schweetz at this school is an understatement! I was shocked and actually a little bit scared! Rancis and Candlehead, my two best friends, came up to me and smiled. I smiled back, knowing that they got my back. "Hey, guys," I said. "How was summer vacation for you two?"
"I went to England for a month," Rancis boasted. That was so like him to go to England. "It was a very nice time to visit family I never knew I was related to!"
"Cool," I smirked, flicking his curl. He hated it when I did that, but I knew he wouldn't kill me over it. "So what about you, Candle?"
"We went to Florida!" she chirped. "I got this cool Harry Potter replica wand from Universal Studios! I'm a happy girl now!"
I snickered, shaking my head. "You're already a happy girl, ya ditz."
"So how was your summer, Taffyta?" Rancis asked, always speaking in that English accent of his.
I bit my lip a bit. The summer was...let's just say it was tense. Mom started fighting with Dad about how he never has time for us and I didn't want to tell the two that...but if I said it was fine, I'd be lying to them! "It was alright. I've had better summers," I shrugged, mumbling a bit.
Rancis and Candlehead looked concerned and started asking me questions that I really didn't want to answer. "Oh, do tell us what happened, Taffyta. Candlehead and I are on your side!"
"Yeah! Even when we make houses of cards and you always knock down my house of cards and say yours is better!" Candlehead nodded. I couldn't help but laugh at that a bit.
"Alright. But we gotta keep it on the DL. If Von Schweetz hears about this... I honestly don't want that."
"Why don't ya want Van to hear?" Candlehead wondered. As far as I knew, the two got along okay. Van didn't really like her airheadedness, though, so that left me with Candle. I'm actually kinda glad and surprised she did, because I always told Candle my secrets.
Rancis, on the other hand? He's infatuated with Van! What the hell! He didn't look like the kind to fall for girls, so I dunno what was going on in that fudge-for-brains of his. But oh, well. The bell rang and we went off to first period class. I had English 9, so I knew my days would start off great, at least. Luckily, Candlehead shared that class with me, so that was even better for me!
Of course, the first day was just going over classroom rules and the like, so it was actually pretty boring. Most of the time, I was resting my head on my right hand and my left was in my jacket pocket, spinning my phone around.
Galileo Academy was a bit heavy on Asian-American students, so I felt like I was the minority for once. But I saw how well Vanellope fitted in with the other students. Kinda weird when she's mostly white and only a bit Japanese. I could go on and on about Snowanna, Swizzle, Minty, and Torvald, but that's another story. The rest were still clumped together with each other, as if scared to say something to the students that would offend them. Kinda understandable, actually.
I took a glance at the seniors and a smug smirk formed on my face. In three years, I'll be just like them! The alphas of the school, not fresh meat anymore! Not to mention that I'll be the alpha female of the school: rich and popular. Everyone will be coming to me! After all, I am the best at what I do and that's to wrap everyone around my little finger.
I saw some of the senior girls come over to me and I froze. I was a freshman, so I was obviously scared of them! Don't breathe, don't even look at them, I thought to myself. I glanced at Vanellope, chilling around with some sophomores, and huffed a bit. I walked on, keeping calm.
"So...you're one of the new girls, huh?" the leader of the pack asked. She was tall and dainty, but she seemed to be friendly enough. She had black hair and dark brown eyes to go with it. She wore typical teen girl clothes: skinny jeans, some boots, and a generic white blouse. Her clothes were as bland and typical as they came.
"Y-yeah," I swallowed, scared to look at the four at their eyes.
"I'm Brianna. I'm the smartest girl in the senior class," she introduced herself, "and who are you?"
"Taffyta. Taffyta Muttonfudge," I nodded.
"No way!" Brianna exclaimed, her eyes widening a bit. "My dad knows your dad! Isn't your dad, like, super rich or something?"
I smirked, blushing a bit. "Yeah! Back at grade school, everyone basically worshipped me because I was the richest girl there!" I boasted, impressing the group.
"Listen, Taffyta. Stick with us and we'll show ya the ropes on how the school works. This is your first year at high school, so you're pretty much fresh meat. During your four years here, you'll get into fights, start dating, and a whole bunch of other stuff. Believe me, I've been there, done that," Brianna reassured me, patting me on the back.
"Sweet! Thanks, Brianna," I smiled awkwardly. "Wish that I could hang around more, but I gotta go home now. See ya around!" I slung my bag around my shoulder and went out into the parking lot, where Mom was waiting for me. It was kinda easy to miss her, since she doesn't exactly have a car of her own. Why would you when you could just walk to work every day? Mom could literally walk about five blocks and bam, she's at the bakery she owns. Dad, on the other hand, worked inner city. It could take a while to get there, so he needed a car. Anyways, Mom usually stood near the entrance waiting for me. "Hey, Mom!" I greeted.
"Ah, Taffyta!" Mom smiled, hugging me as she gave me kisses on both cheeks.
"Mom! You're embarrassing me!" I blushed a bit at that. Mom's French, so she usually did those greeting kisses. She really didn't have to do that in front of everyone, though…
"So how was my girl's very first day in high school?" she asked me, a light hint of a French accent in her voice. I looked more like Dad, but I got the tan from Mom and some people told me I act more like Mom, too. Plus, I really liked her hair style, so I usually got my hair cut like hers. I couldn't imagine myself in any other style.
"Well, everyone had a good summer," I started, "and I even made some friends, too! Some seniors, actually."
"Oh? That's interesting," she commented. "I remember when I was in high school. I came here from France when I was ten or eleven years old, so I was still confused by American customs even when I was in high school!"
I liked listening to her high school stories, especially when she met Dad. But for the past few months, she didn't really like telling that story to me; neither of my parents did, actually. Ya see, Dad usually rarely had time for us, especially lately, so Mom thought he was probably cheating on her. Unlike a lot of other kids, who usually got mad at their parents for fighting, it made me a bit sad, actually. I usually bottled it up really well, but freshman year really made me hit my breaking point.
When we got home, I just chilled since I had no homework and won't have any for a few days. I waited for Dad to get home so I could personally tell him about my day or at least get on break so I could text him about it. He promised me at least that, so I waited and waited. I was on Facebook, venting at Candlehead about how he didn't keep his promise. "Could you believe this, Candle?! Dad didn't text me when he said he would get on break! Maybe Mom's right...maybe he really is cheating on her," I messaged her.
"Hey, don't say that, Taffy! Maybe he's just a bit busier than usual…" Candle messaged me back, calming me down a bit.
"Maybe you're right. I shouldn't get into a conclusion like that," I sent, sighing a bit. "Anyways, I gotta get to dinner. See ya, Candle." I went down to the dinner table, still a bit pissed about Dad breaking his promise. Believe it or not, I actually saw Dad! I squealed and hugged him. "You're back from work?"
"Of course, Taffyta!" he smiled. " I couldn't bear to keep on working when I knew my little girl had her first day of high school! You see, Galileo Academy of Science and Technology is a wonderful school! I graduated there myself, I'll have you know."
"Indeed," Mom said flatly. She sighed and got the food. "Anyway, dinner is ready. Do tell us how work was like, darling."
"Oh, you know how much I love you dearly, mon cherie," he sighed, almost groaning at that. I could see how much he was trying not to spoil this for me and I honestly appreciated that. Mom was trying, too, but I still knew things would be kinda tense at the dinner table. For some reason, my thoughts drifted on Vanellope. I mean, her family life must be as bad as mine, right? I shook that thought away as I eagerly told Dad about my day.
"So yeah. Today was like, a good day. But it was pretty boring," I shrugged, finishing up dinner. "May I be excused?"
"Oh, of course, Taffyta," Mom nodded. I dropped my dish off at the sink and went up to my room before they could even start burning each other with words.
They didn't tonight, so I was glad, but neither Mom nor Dad came up to say goodnight to me. When I got ready for school and came down to the kitchen to make myself some breakfast, I saw Dad sleeping on the couch.