"...Frisk...?"
Frisk gasps and whirls to face Chara.
"Chara..?" They ask, their voice shaky.
"What's going on..?" Chara frowns. Their eyes dart to the large bruise on Frisk's jaw. "Oh my god...what happened?"
"N-Nothing!" Frisk leans back into the sink counter and Chara takes a step forward. "..Nothing.."
"Frisk...what happened..?" Chara frowns, gently turning Frisk's head so they could see the bruise better.
"...I..." Frisk starts, looking down. "After you left, someone c-cornered me while I was alone...and..she hurt me..."
"...Oh my god..." Chara's so overwhelmed. They feel so angry, and so upset, and they feel like everything's falling apart, despite everything...
"..Chara..?" Frisk's voice snaps Chara out of their trance.
And that's when Chara realized they were crying. In front of Frisk. Again.
"..I'm s-sorry.." Chara sniffles.
Frisk shakes their head. "Don't worry about it, Chara.."
"I...I s-shouldn't be crying.." Chara shakes their head. "I've...b-been through worse than this.."
"Which is exactly why you have the right to cry..." Frisk hugs Chara tightly. "You're sensitive to this, I get it..."
Chara sighs and slowly hugs back. "I..I know.." They sniffle. "But..I want to..I have to stay happy for you guys.."
Frisk shakes their head. "Chara, you don't have to 'stay happy'. It's okay. You're stressed and upset, I understand. I'm sure school wasn't good for you when you were younger. I don't expect you to adjust to this easily.."
Chara's tears get thicker. They didn't really want to think about their life on the sirface before they fell.
"Chara..I appreciate that you want to stay strong.." Frisk starts, rubbing Chara's back. "But you can't bottle up your emotions. That's one of the worst things you can do..."
Chara sighs shakily and nods. Frisk hugs them tighter and keeps hugging for a few moments. Then they let go, smiling at Chara.
"You sure you're okay...?" Chara asks.
Frisk smiles and nods. "Now..we're really late. Think you can make it to class?"
Chara pauses. "...I...I can manage."
Frisk nods and hugs them one more time. They rush off to getto their own class. Chara takes a deep breath. They wipe their eyes and re-adjust their bag.
I know I said I was gonna call to go home, but...I'll do this for Frisk.
They take another deep breaty and go to their class.
Twenty minutes. They were twenty minutes late. Luckily, seeing as it was only the second day, Chara was able to get away with the "lost" excuse.
They could feel nearly every pair of eyes in the room staring at them. They feel their hands start to shake under the desk. They take a few more deep breaths and reassure themselves.
You'll be okay...no one will hurt you, not now...it's not like it was before.
They manage to stay decently calm for another twenty minutes. And their anxiety springs up again with something the teacher says.
"We'll be starting our first-quarter group projects."
They can feel themselves immediately tense up and start shaking up. Group projects meant they had to interact with other people. People they didn't know. People that had most likely been there this morning.
And she would be picking the groups.
Chara sat there nervously. They watched her read off of her premade list. Luckily, their group wasn't called last. They didn't have to wait for long.
They ended up paired with these two girls who were...perky. Really. Perky.
They both approached their desk. And they both had a bouncy little saunter. Chara wouldn't mind it if they hadn't been so dramatic with it. One of them had wavy red locks and very pale skin. The other had a lighter brown skin and obnoxiously long black hair.
"You're Chara, right?" The redhead asked. Chara simply nods in response. "Sooo...aren't you that girl who, uh, stood up to Danny?"
"...Not a girl..." They mumble.
"Oh, oh my god, sorry! The boy who-"
"Not a boy either.." Their anxiety was melting into unreasonable anger.
"..Uh, what?" The other girl asked.
"Not a boy, not a girl," Chara explained, annoyed. "A person."
"...Uh.." They both give each other the look. Chara didn't care. People always made that face when they tried to explain what nonbinary is.
"Anyway.." The redhead states. "I'm Seth, and this is-"
"Logan," She cuts in. "I'm Logan."
Chara nods slowly.
"Are you even listening?" Seth crossrd her arms. Something told Chara this girl liked starting conflict.
"Yeah, just don't want to look at you," Chara rolls their eyes.
"Well, you don't have to be rude about it."
"Well, judging by everything that's been going on, that's how things work around here," Chara sneers, their anger and annoyance growing.
"Hey, you can't just-" Seth starts.
"Seth, calm down, she's-"
"They."Chara interrupts.
"They, whatever," Logan continues. "She's going through a lot, give her a break-"
"THEY,please!" Chara cuts in again.
"Okay, okay," Logan holds her hands up in defense.
"Please pay attention!" calls over the class.
Logan and Seth snap their attention back to the front of the room. Chara shifts in their seat.
Something tells me I'm not going to like working with these two..
"I hope you're all familiar with each other now," She continues. "This project will last for the next four weeks."
Chara groans internally. They were not looking forward to this.
