"Go! Go on, get to class!"
Not all, to be more precise…
"Alright! Alright! I'm going!" Oh, just two more classes left…then the month will be mine!
Attending school was always the same for Shiawase Purachina. She always stalled at her locker, talking to her two closest friends—Princess Peach of the Mushroom Kingdom and Princess Daisy of Sarasaland—rather than getting her books and everything ready for class. The trio would stay and continue talking even after the warning bell rang, then a teacher would come down the hallway, see the three, and bark at them to get to class. Peach, being quiet and timid and oh, so proper, would always leave without being told twice. She was the good-mannered, fragile girl of the group. Daisy would have just a smidge of attitude, but obeyed nonetheless. Purachina, on the other hand, is the fiery rebel of the group. She would always snap back at the teacher-toad, and take her own sweet time getting her things, almost always wounding up with a conduct notice or detention slip. In her words, she was "not afraid of some stupid, old teachers".
Purachina also never paid attention in class. Her grades were terrible, and Mario and Luigi—who were technically her guardians—would scold her nonstop. The reason for horrid performance in school was because she was always daydreaming or smart-mouthing or being too busy doodling pictures of her beloved green motorbike or the like.
Oh. Did I ever mention?
Purachina was a bike racer.
Yes, she's just a rookie, but a very rough-and-tough rookie at that. On her first grand prix, she never got behind seventh place. Seventh! Out of twelve! And on her second, she got first place on one of the tracks! She practices almost every hour of her life, and she never stops talking about how "next race, she's going to win the shit out of it".
"Ms. 'Shiawasay', would you like another detention after school tomorrow?" The toad scolded. She was a small, female toad—around the age of forty—with pink spots. She always held a clipboard in her arms, and loved to punish students—at least that's what Purachina thought.
She sighed. Peach already left her. "No, Sensei. And it's Shiawas-eh not Shiawas-ay!"
"Well then get to class before you do! Quit soliciting!" The teacher shouted. "And use English!"
Purachina started to follow Daisy to class, who was silently waiting from a distance, before the teacher stopped her again.
"What?" she asked, a little irritated.
"Take off your hoodie! Wearing those disgraces the academy uniform!"
"Yeah, Purachina!" Daisy giggled. "Take off the hoodie!"
Purachina sighed, before opening her locker again.
"You're late, you two," the algebra teacher—an elderly, green-shelled koopa—pointed out as Purachina and Daisy sauntered in the class. Purachina hung her head low to avoid the stares of her classmates. Honestly, she wasn't up to terms to a lot of people at her school. In fact, she despised almost every one of them.
"Yes sir, I know," she replied, finding her desk and taking a seat.
"Do any of you have a note?"
"No sir."
"…No."
"Conduct notice."
Daisy smirked. "Yes sir." One simple conduct notice didn't really affect her record or anything—she hardly got in trouble at school (not as often as Purachina, at least), and wouldn't get in trouble back at her home.
Purachina flinched at his harsh and demanding voice, but sucked her teeth in annoyance. "Big deal," she whispered to herself. She crossed her arms on her desk and rested her head on them, staring at the board.
Solve the following: x=43-98(24)/3Tch. How easy, even I know that.
Purachina pulled out a calculator from her small tote bag and typed the numbers. She hid it from the teacher, not wanting to get caught. Her green-polished fingers flew across the buttons, making the slightest clicking sound.
Sixteen…I knew it…"Why do you have a calculator, Pura-'China'?"
The girl winced at the voice behind her. It was a naïve toad, about a few months younger than her. She shushed her, not wanting to get caught.
"Hush, and please say my name right. It's Purachina. With an 'ee'."
"Sorry, but…why do you have one? They're not allowed."
"Hush!" Purachina hissed. She was getting pissed off. "Do you want to use it?"
"Just for this one problem—"
"Too bad, the answer's sixteen."
"…"
"Excuse me, but is there some reason why you two are talking?" The teacher said. The toad behind Purachina winced, and continued (pretending to) working. Purachina stayed silent, doing the same thing. She held the calculator under her desk; the last thing she wants to do is get caught with a calculator. That would, of course, lead to her having to go up to the board—in front of everyone—and solve the problem, showing all work. Just the thought of doing so gave Purachina the shivers!
"Purachina?"
"Hm?" She rasped, a tad embarrassed.
"Do you want to share something?" Giggles and whispers echoed through the small classroom. They made the girl's blood boil.
"N-No," She stuttered, trying her best to control her poor temper.
"Then be quiet, Ms. Purachina."
Another suck of the teeth. You're not even going to scold the bitch behind me? Stupid baka!
As the class period neared its last five minutes, Purachina found herself to be very drowsy. She gave up on doing her work, unlike everyone else, and decided to daydream about something that she claimed to have been waiting for since she first met the Mario gang.
To race in the All-Cup Tour.
Just the thought of racing all sixteen majour tracks… it made Purachina want to go "FFFFFFFFFFFF—" She just couldn't contain her enthusiasm! And it was in only two days! Getting on her precious Standard Bike M, reaching break-neck speeds, taking down all of her opponents ahead of her, and damn, she absolutely loved doing tricks—Her favourite being a simple knack knack. And she preformed wheelies almost every second, which is one of the reasons why she almost always wins in the top five. It was no lie that Purachina Shiawase was one of the best rookies out there.
Of course, she was still incredibly nervous at the thought of competing in the All-Cup, and she had a good reason to. Although she has been racing for a little over a year, due to her constant groundings and restrictions, there are a few cups that she hadn't taken part in yet. The Leaf Cup, the Lightning Cup, the Star Cup, and the most treacherous, the most perilous, the most menacing and unapproachable prix of all (at least in Purachina's eyes—she couldn't even hear the description of it without trembling), the Special Cup.
Purachina has raced a few of the easier tracks in the said cups—she raced Koopa Cape of the Star Cup a good number of times; it was one of her favourites—but she would to stray away from the more intimidating tracks such as Dry Dry Ruins or Bowser's Castle. (Meaning: even if she weren't grounded, she'd rather step in a goomba turd than race them…Well, no, not literally.)
Oh, never, ever mention Rainbow Road around Purachina.
Ever.
With its winding, knotting tracks and scarce existence of guardrails, that track was no Moo Moo Meadows. Near the start of the track, there was an eighty to ninety degree decent with three dash pads—the first stretching out the entire width of the road, and the other two being on the right and left side, respectively. The colossal, multi-coloured bunch of a track took place in the middle of fucking space, for another thing. That thought alone was enough for Purachina to simply go 'lol no' and walk out casually of whatever room she was in and never return. Also, there was a large wind tunnel of a passageway in the middle of the course. Rumour has it that driving through it feels like an acid trip gone terribly, terribly wrong.
So, do the math. Space, plus no guardrails, plus steep drop, plus deadly wind tunnel, plus whatever the hell is also on Rainbow Road, equals nauseous Purachina.
Daisy, spying a seemingly-asleep Purachina next to her, poked her skull.
Purachina, who hadn't even noticed that she laid her head down on her desk, sat up and looked at the Sarasian Princess with an inquiring look. She spotted a note in her hands.
Turning her head to see if the teacher was looking, she grabbed the orange notebook paper swiftly.
Daisy used her precious journal paper for a note for me? How sweet!She unfolded the paper quietly, still glancing now and then at the teacher, who was going on about slopes and y-intercepts and all that shit. In black ink pen, it neatly read: "Stop falling asleep, Pura! You remember what Mario told you? If you get into any more trouble you won't be able to race. You already got a conduct notice. (: xx
A giggle slipped out of Purachina's pink lips. Taking her silver mechanical pencil in her hands, she swiftly wrote a response on the same paper in orderly and mature penmanship. (Ironic—Purachina and maturity. Pffch.)
Yeah, I know. BUT I wasn't falling asleep. I was daydreaming about the lovely day of the All-Cup race! (° ▽°) It's gonna be awesomesauce! And besides, I'll be able to weasel my way out of punishment, like I always do. We start Sunday too, sooooo~ I'll be fine.
She tossed the note to Daisy. She scribbled for a few seconds, and then tossed it back.
Yeah, "like you always do"? Remember the time when you were playing around in Mr. L's tools that one time he visited? He caught you and you said that you were planning on making a robot. And you know nothing about robotics, let alone what a Phillip's screwdriver is, love.
Well, that pissed Purachina off a bit. But Daisy was like her sister, so she couldn't say that directly.
Heeeyyyy, no fair! I DO know what a Philips's is! It's the kind of screwdriver that four little nibs on it instead of one flat one! But that's not the point! I just can't stop thinking about it! D: Weren't you ever excided about racing in something that—
Fwip. The note flew out of her hands, making her mouth and eyes widen.
"No notes in class, girls." The koopa scolded, looking at them both. The class chuckled and whispered. "See me after class, you two."
"Yes sir."
"Mhm…"
-Sensei (Sen-Say): Honorific used for teachers, doctors, ect…
Baka! (Bah-kah): Idiot!