A snickering matchbox is quite a funny thing at times, two even more so. However, with three you feel sick with realization, and it only became worse with time after that. If only you cared enough to appease the five in your backpack, but it was too early, you thought. Not while you were only walking to school in the morning, with the building in sight. Be... determined. The closer and close you got, the more and more the structure loomed over you. Despite its cheery exterior, you knew that noncommital faculty awaited inside, uncaring about actually doing their jobs, much less about the death count your school had. Not that anyone was actually murdered by a second party, but among the reasons were overdosing and suicide. Honestly, the only reason the school looked so cheerful was because the person who used to be principal way back when decided to 'radiate happiness to the surrounding neighborhood', but seeing as this neighborhood wasn't your own, you didn't quite understand why it had been worded that way, seeing as your neighborhood would vomit sparkles and unicorns on anyone who came near. Visually, anyway.

The newer principal, who was the old vice principal, couldn't care less about that sort of thing, so long as she was paid. The teachers also held the same mindset, perhaps the only person with any ounce of care in them being the old janitor, but no one listens to him because of his age and because all that was left of his hair were white strands on either side of his head and his little mustache. While the teachers occasionally did have to teach you some material, though not much, in order to give you quizzes and tests so there was actually something to put on the progress reports and report cards alike.

Your hoodie easily hung over your hands and face, as well as reaching down to about an inch below your thigh, while your eye patch sat in its proper place over your right eye, again filling you with a fake feeling of safety as you started scuffing your military boots on the ground, but a few meters away from the stairs leading up to the doors. It did not, however, at all silence the shock that left you frozen for a good minute when you saw Toriel outside, cheerful as ever, greeting unresponsive students as they filed in through the narrow spaces held open by rubber wedges. Even the matchboxes ceased their giggling, and in your mind's eye you imagined them inching away to hide somewhere, a hum of humor rising in your chest in response, just for a moment.

You wished your determination could show you how to sneak past or stop her from catching sight of you, just like she was doing now.

She looked up to see how many more students were coming in, and it took her a moment to notice and recognize you, maybe because your eye was open or due to your choice of clothing, her eyes lit up like stars at the sight of you. Though you didn't understand why you suddenly felt and acted on the impulse, you ran up to her and swept up in a warm, furry, tight hug that truly made you feel safe... for real. She put down moments later, and with a bit of grief you noted how the warmth felt, quickly sapping out of your body.

"Hello, my child!" She greeted excitedily, unable to contain her excitement. You got the feeling that even if she could, she wouldn't. "How are you?" You gave her two thumbs up, feeling a little numb as you did so, and plastered the biggest smile you could muster onto your features, fully accompanied by the rest of the muscles in your face, but then pointed to her, then to the school with a questioning look on your face. "Oh! See, for the last few days we all pitched in and did some odd jobs around town, and were able to get what's called an apartment for us all to share, so then we decided to look for more permanent jobs! And I saw this place, and it looked so happy, and I always wanted to be a teacher so I suggested we go inside and ask about job openings, and they just hired us on the spot!" You didn't know whether to jump for joy or cry a little inside, but instead made a circle with your thumb and index finger, like a piece of gold. "Oh, the nice lady who hired us said she would be paying us $300 at the end of each week... she said in cash, whatever that means." I guess some teachers quit while I was gone? Anyway, point for you, Principal Sixx, not allowing the government to tail you like that. Bet they're not even on the record, either. They probably think they're paying humans who don't even work here anymore.

Before another word could be said, the bell rang and you waved goodbye to Toriel as you fast-walked over to your homeroom, which had just become your English classroom. Before you even heard the teacher start calling attendance, your attention was already fixed to stare out the window and... think. However, when the teacher started talking, the voice sounded deeper than you remembered, or maybe you were being extremely observant, but you froze for the second time that day when you dared a look to the front and saw Sans going through the desk, apparently looking for the attendance sheet, seeing as he had said, "Alright, uh... so I guess I'm supposed to take attendance of you all, huh?" Your head snapped back to the side to stare out the window yet again, purposely first pulling your hair to cover the side of your face, then your hood, covering most of your face. You counted each name in your head as he called them out individually. If your memory served you right, you would be the eleventh.

"Woods, Cameron... Neal, Harvey... Barnes, Tyrone... Strickland, Todd... heh, probably a fan of Froggits," he paused to chuckle to himself, to which Todd hardly cared simply responding with 'Ohio' like everyone else had done, "Ortega, April... Manning, Tony... Phelps, Alicia... Medina, Latoya... Guadalupe, Adams... Kennedy, Eduardo.. hey, I heard that's a place here... alright uhh... Doe, Frisk." He stopped reading the names out loud, maybe to see who would answer. He turned his head slowly to scan the room, but you wanted to remain silent, until Cameron finally gave an audible groan and threw a large piece of paper at your back. "Hey, Frissy One-Eye, you gonna answer or not? Or did you forget your name while you vanished from this hell hole?" "Here." Your voice scratched a little but evened out quickly, likely from lack of use, but didn't bother turn to face the front.

He stared at you for a few seconds, then continuing attendance and pulled out a random textbook. After a few fruitless efforts to try and get something done, he tossed the book randomly. "Alright, I'm not punsonally bone to wanna do work." It wasn't that good, but one of the girls sitting in the back giggled a little, and Sans' grin widened just a little... "Well, I have a skele-TON more where that came from!",and that was how the rest of the class was spent. As a comedy show, the teacher's desk as the stage, and the students as the audience. By the end of it, you were the only one who hadn't even turned to look at the skeleton, which said a lot, provided that nearly the entire class had their fair share of amusement. By the end of it, he was standing by the door, doing the loud-voice "Thank you, I'll be here all week!" thing. When you walked past, you were careful to keep your head down and hair hanging out, hands fully covered by your hoodies and quick to leave. Somehow, you knew his pupil was following you, but you tried to ignore it and relax your tensing muscles, especially around the neck.

For your next class you had math, something you fully disliked and didn't bother hiding it. When you saw Toriel at the front, though, you hushed your hatred and turned your head towards the window again, even though you were sitting more towards the middle of the classroom, convincing a few of your classmates that Frissy One-Eye was staring at them. She didn't bother with attendance, obviously, but through the corner of your eye you could see her glancing around the classroom, again not recognizing you. A little despair whispered to you in your mind, to start getting on your nerves; You aren't very memorable, are you? She was, otherwise, overjoyed at teaching her class and showed as much enthusiam as possible, easily earning some of the more neutral students' attention.

You didn't see anyone else until lunch, where Papyrus was... among the lunch ladies, excitedly handing out food. You imagined he was a bit dejected at learning that he couldn't only serve pasta, but for quite a majority seemed to enjoy it. Once again, you kept your head down as you passed by, quietly thanking him for the meal, to which his smile grew tenfold as you skittered off to the school's roof. It's not as though someone is watching the cameras and actually caring about anything, right? Your determination had ran thin by now, and with a certain heaviness in your chest you hadn't felt in a long time, you pulled a cigarette from the pack and lit it. You simply stared at the sky for the entirety of it, and once finished twisted it against the ground and tossed it into a pile against the wall, right when the door suddenly opened... and Alphys stepped out in front of you, though you was quick to pull my hood down yet again, as she stuttered out a sentence."U-Uhm, I-I'm sorry to, uh, bother you, but... I-I was w-watching the cameras, and... uh... I-uh, noticed you with, uh, a ci-cigarette... so, uh, I wanted to... uhm, inform you, that... you are not... not supposed to, uh, smoke in school... not-not only that, but it's-it's unhealthy, for... you... so, uh... I was... going to-uh, ask you to, pre-pretty please, stop?" "I, uhh... already finished. I'll keep that in mind for the future, though..." You replied a bit blankly, now carefully picking through the food you had been given. "Oh, uhh, okay! That-that's great news! I-uh, have to, uh... get back to the cameras... but I-I guess I'll see you, uh, around?" "Yeah, I guess so," you gnawed through a cold item that looked akin to a vegetable as you said that, and Alphys headed back down.

Next was Biology, and, surprise surprise, with Asgore, so, again with the hoodie and the window as Asgore passionately spoke about flowers, clearly enjoying it, even if you were supposed to be specifically talking about cells, even though he actually ended up giving gardening tips, and how a flower should be properly treated in all ways, along with vegetation in general... At some point in time, he had called on you to ask you something, or for your thoughts, but you remained unresponsive and pretended you didn't hear him, and the hurt in his voice as he backed down was like a knife being twisted into your chest. You were quick to leave, walking as quickly as you could make yourself without actually jogging, and, great enough, was gym with Undyne next. For a reason you never bothered to learn, Undyne took attendance yet again. She had a similar reaction to Sans when 'Doe, Frisk' came up, but you again responded the same way you did this morning, though immediately this time.

Most of the class was spent jogging, then with some exercises like push-ups and sit-ups, accompanied by Undyne's usual energetic yells all the way through. At the end, as you had done all day so far, you ducked your head and left the school immediately, marching off before you could run into any one of your monster friends, down the street from the school in minutes. Your phone buzzed with a new text, but you ignored it for the time being in favor of searching out a supermarket and make a few minor purchases on your father's credit card, something he never noticed due to how extravagant his own purchases were. It just was a much smaller difference, and therefore far too small for him to care.

Now, with arms full of shopping bags, you quickly headed back to your house, and from the distance, you saw a familiar blue hoodie, only causing you to nestle further into your own and quicken your pace, regardless of how your legs began to burn, not only because of the amount of weight you carried, but also as an aftermath of your gym class with Undyne today. Apparently he noticed you, as he came over casually, still not apparently recognizing you. "Hey, pal," he greeted, strolling alongside me. "Your name's Frisk, right? Frisk Doe?" You nodded, pausing to momentarily adjust your grip on the bags. He glanced at the bags, before speaking up again. 'Hey, you want some help with that? Tibia honest, that looks like a bit much for ya." You supressed a giggle; Sans' jokes were something you already missed, and you only felt guilty for feeling so tense around him. What would he think if he knew? About your addictions? Your home life? And what would the others think, as well? "Yes, please," you replied, carefully setting them down, your arms suddenly feeling weightless, though soon you felt gravity on them yet again.

With a simple flick of his hand, he levitated the bags in the air and you took this as a cue to start leading him back to your house, which you did so dutifully, remaining in the front, Sans in the middle, and the floating bags bringing up the rear. "Hey, kiddo... ya don't seem to have much of a problem with us monsters, much this spell." "What's there to have a problem with?" The typical answer would be 'just because', but he just hummed a bit in response and continued behind me. "Why do you think they hired us, and why the the other students didn't have much a problem?" "The faculty, to be frank, aren't the most observant or caring people. As for the students, they probably thought you were... cosplayers, or somethin'..." He didn't hum this time. When we finally reached the blue house, he looked around at the front exterior a little. "Nice house you have here, though it seems a bit big. I wonder if it gets bonely in there..." Yet again, you almost giggled. "I guess it is a bit big for me and my dad, but it's nice." He hummed again, before continuing.

"Do you want me to take this inside for you?" "No, I got it from here... Thanks for you help though, S-.. I mean, Mr.. uhh.." "Sans," he responded with a little hint of something in his undertone you couldn't quite place, but responded anyway. "Just call me Sans." "Ok... Sans... Just call me Frisk, then," you spoke without thinking, and he paused for a moment. "Did I say something?" You hurriedly ask, mentally bashing yourself for being so stupid about it. "No. Alright, Frisk. I'll see you tomorrow. If you aren't there at all, I'll feel it deep in my bones," he spared one more smirk, to which you finally giggled a little. His grin widened as he then casually strode off, back towards the other neighborhood, assumingly towards an apartment complex, based on the information Toriel had given you earlier. You stared after him for a good minute, then hauling your load inside and quickly packing it away, immediately starting with pasta, salmon, and a third pot of sauce, carefully setting up each ingredient, mixing it, seasoning it, and all the like. Maybe you'd escape a punishment tonight, if you did this well.

It was a bit much to hope for.


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