ZorraVixen: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are property of their respective owners. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended. I do not claim any rights to, My Candy Love, or any characters associated with the game sans Lienda Mercer, or any original characters made by me, the author. No money was made from this fan fiction. As well as, the events and characters hereby portrayed within are fictitious. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead is purely coincidental
Three days, three days since Amoris has seen its infamous pinkette. The Queen Bee was pleased with her absence, quoting 'she finally tucked tail and ran,' and finally getting the message of her unwanted presence; while some sung praises, others were missing her warm charisma. Nathaniel was worried since he was the last known person to have made contact with her, and honestly he had half a mind to rifle through her file to find her number to contact her. He knew it went against standard protocol, however, his frustrations and curiosity were slowly deteriorating his will; Nathaniel finally relented and began to look through the student's files.
Creak, he heard the door opening. "I'm sorry for interrupting," a soprano like voice, apologized. He turned around to see Lienda flustered. His eyes darted around her form to be sure he wasn't imagining her. "The office secretary told me to turn in my excuse here Nathaniel."
Twin beauty marks, heterochromia eyes, heart shaped face, full lips. He blushed when he noticed them, and further blushed when he noticed she was dressed in a halter dress, with a lightly padded bodice that emphasized her over developed chest; overall the dress was reminiscent of the forties or fifties. Lienda toyed with her head scarf and handed him a doctor's note explaining what happened. He nodded and proceeded with the proceeded to stamp its date and time. Ask her what happened, his inner monologue demanded. "I'm glad you are back," he shyly admitted, "what happened and you left your bag."
"Oh no I did," Lienda gasped, dodging his question. She went over to where her messenger bag was carefully laid on the table. He carefully read the note explaining she caught a fever.
"You missed so much of the reviews you do realize that tomorrow we have exams, right," Nathaniel turned around.
The bag fell to the floor. Eyes widened in disbelief at the announcement, "The exams are tomorrow!?" He nodded. A string of French escaped her lips, which Nathaniel only managed to understand tidbits, 'Stupid, stress, sick!' Lienda nonchalantly waved it off, managing to collect her thoughts, "I managed to do all the review stuff online, I got in touch with the teachers, they managed to work it out with me, and I'll talk to the teacher's to see if anything else happened when I was away. Thanks for the heads up Nathaniel!" She left the student council room.
Nathaniel continued to focus on where she stood, wondering how can she become sick after their discussion. He shook his head, at the negative ideas that began to manifest, suggesting a possible boyfriend. She could just be simply sick, he chanted to himself trying to cheer himself up but to no avail.
.
.
"So how is Jace," Mr. Faraize inquired as he watched Lienda studying furiously. Faye managed to convince her to let her tell a teacher about her situation. At first she argued not to, but after some persuasion from her and Missy, not only that but Faye's recommendation to trust in Charles Faraize convinced her. She looked towards the concerned World History AP teacher.
"He had a fever and was throwing up, but he is fine now," Lienda snapped, a blush crept up her neck realizing her agitated tone. "I'm sorry, Mr. Faraize for my outburst, I'm just agitated thinking I am at school, whereas I should be at home watching over my son. I know he is with his aunt, but still it worries me that I'm not there watching over him." Mr. Faraize let out a melodious chuckled.
"It is okay, Lienda," he sympathetically smiled at the young mother. "You are in your right to be stressed, especially in your situation, the toughest occupation I believe is a parent, I punch in and out, but you don't." His eyes trailed over her hunched form, eyes potent with stress greeted him.
"Were you married Mr. Faraize," Lienda questioned. He quirked an eyebrow at the question, and she realized how inappropriate it was to ask that. "I'm sorry that was very nosy of me."
She felt a gentle pat on her head; she blushed and was greeted with a warm, weathered smile. "It's alright Lienda, but yes I was married once, it didn't work out, she didn't want children, I did, and we drifted apart." Lienda made an 'o' in understanding the recent wounds of his collapsed marriage. "Anyway I do understand you are a mother, but you are still a student and I know you don't want to spend your vacation in school, you should be using that for Jace." Lienda nodded in agreement, "Have you consider telling the other teachers, Lienda?"
"N-No, not now, I need time, I don't want to extend my secret too far out, I'm afraid someone will slip," Lienda pleaded, she rested her head against the cool faux wood of the desk. "I feel uneasy now that you know."
"I understand Lienda, but try to understand what I am going for, it would be easier on you, if others knew what was going on," Mr. Faraize smiled. She just nodded her head, and gave a muffled response. "We do want to help you, but we can't do that unless we know what is going on. Oh look at the time, it's an early release date, you should head on home, and Lienda since you already took the AP Exams and passed, you are exempt from my exam, take it easy. You have a good day and send Faye my greetings."
Lienda smirked, "Yes Mr. Faraize." She gave the teacher a cheery smile and exited his room. She sighed recalling their discussion and his recommendation. "I should tell them soon, but I don't want the teachers look down on me just because I have a kid."
"Lienda!" exclaimed a voice. She looked up to see a flash of red hair and purple hair. Iris smiled at the 1950s dressed pinkette. "Do you have the notes for Mr. Faraize's class? Hey where have you been, Violette and I were getting worried since you didn't show up, half the school is talking about what happened to you. Amber was spreading around that you left Amoris."
Her eye twitched at imagining Amber's rumor, she bit the inside of her cheek. "I just got sick all this time studying and having a day to relax, ending costing me being bed bound." She gave the uneasy red head a sheepish grin, "Anyway here are the notes and since I took the AP Exams, I'm exempt from taking the exam." She handed her a composition book, its spine worn out but its contents were intact.
"Thanks," Iris beamed and began to look through the book's contents. She hugged Lienda, "This will help out a lot! See you tomorrow and don't get sick."
Lienda giggled, "I won't. I will be here tomorrow, Iris." She gave her a curtsey and left the premises.
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The following morning, Lienda felt uneasy she remembered everything that was taught and focused on her weak points, but still the thought of possibly failing and having to do the exams over the summer and not spending time off, would damper anyone.
"Lienda your back," Amber greeted in a saccharine tone. Lienda curiously looked towards the scantily dressed blonde, clad in distressed high waist shorts and lingerie inspired bodice top. "How is my good friend, are you feeling better?"
"What do you want Amber," Lienda inquired, crossing her arms, questioning her out of character sweetness.
A faux hurt face crossed Amber, "Lienda can't I greet you, after all we are good friends." The pinkette kept focusing on the girl, watching for a sign, which gave away her lies. A sneer marred her makeup covered face, "Well if you must insist, I want to know if you had a chance to look at the exam key before you handed them to my brother, Lienda."
She grimaced at the blonde, "No Amber I did not. Unlike some people I studied for my exams."
The blonde pouted at Lienda, "What, I didn't even have a chance to look at them either; no one was supposed to find them."
Lienda sighed, inwardly groaning at the oncoming headache. She impassively looked at the queen bee. "Well you didn't hide them very well Amber, honestly placing them on top of the lockers isn't the best spot to hide them."
"Humph," Amber snorted, glaring at the vintage dressed pinkette. "And to think you would finally be good for something. Get out of my way; I have to find a way to pass the exams."
"Wouldn't it be easier to study," Lienda wagged an eyebrow at her declaration.
"I didn't have time, besides studying is for nerds," Amber snobbishly retorted, and strutted away, the sounds of her sandal wedges clicking away. Lienda shook her head.
"More like you were too lazy or obsessed with wearing this season's fashion," she turned on her heel and made her way to her locker.
"Hey there princess," Lienda looked over towards Castiel leaning against the lockers. "You are tucking tail and run, and can't handle the blonde bitch?" He was greeted with angered two toned eyes, "Sorry about that princess? You okay?"
"I'm fine Castiel, all this studying, I take a breather, and I end up getting sick," she withdrew her notebooks filled with this semester's notes. Their eyes met, she smiled at the red head. "Don't tell me you missed me?"
"Yes because you make things interesting in this boring establishment we call a school," Castiel wolfishly grinned. Lienda rolled her eyes, and felt her heart beating faster. "I was beginning to think I finally made this good little girl bad, you ditching finals, is rather gutsy."
Lienda smirked, "Sorry Red, but I like my nickname, Nerd Girl, for a reason besides can't you read the bag?" She showed Castiel a worn out book bag in place of her normal messenger bag that read, "I like Big Books and I cannot lie!" Lienda flashed him a bit of her tongue, and he blushed as she walked away to find a quiet place to study. His eyes trailing her figure clad in a 50s summer dress.
The sun glared down at her, Lienda winced at the sudden glare, and immediately put on her cat eyed sunglasses. "I'll take this over Texas' summers," she let out a groan recalling the excruciating heat.
"Hello there Lienda," the pinkette glanced over to see Lysander decked in summer Victorian clothes, his standard coat was replaced with a dark navy blue single-breasted three button frock coat with the sleeves having a short vent at the hands. A white drill collar vest and drab Angola trousers complete the costume. "You look nice today."
"Thank you, you as well," Lysander nodded in gratitude. She sat down next to him and began to go over her Chemistry notes. Lysander struggled to gather up the courage to ask her question. "If you are asking if the rumors are true that I am moving, no they are not, I just got sick from fatigue." Her eyes became hooded as she concentrated on balancing chemical equations. Lysander just smiled at the concentrating pinkette.
"I know you will pass you are a smart girl, but you shouldn't push yourself to hard," she cautiously glanced over towards the sympathetic platinum boy. "Enjoy your sophomore year now, and we have summer to think about." Beads of sweat began to gather around his forehead, Lienda just giggled.
"This heat isn't that bad," Lienda quipped as she turned the page in her chemistry notebook. He incredulously looked at her. "I'm from Texas; we had a tendency to joke to have all four seasons in a day or in a week, and our summers we called them the entrance to hell." Lysander chuckled.
"I figured you were a southern girl," Lysander mused. The notebook was placed next to Lienda, as she curiously glanced over towards the Victorian boy, sunglasses dutifully protecting her eyes from the harsh UV rays. "Your posture, style, dialect screams Southern Belle."
Lysander blushed when he heard her melodious laughter; she looked at the Scorpio boy. "I had you figure you were a Southern gentleman, as well."
His eyes twinkled at her declaration, "What makes you say that." His voice dipped to a sensual drawl. The sakura haired girl just smiled.
"My instinct, that and your accent is slightly Southern, sounds Georgian, I should know, I have cousins that are from there," she elaborated. Lysander could help but chuckled. "Not only that since I found out Leigh is your brother, I heard him drawling and calling a cart a buggy."
The Victorian boy smiled, "You are right." Lienda just smiled and let out an impatient huff at the chemical equations, "Something wrong?"
"Chemistry is not really my best subject along with Algebra II, its balancing the equations that always get me," The heterochromia eyed girl explained. She blushed when she felt Lysander sitting close to her.
"Let me help," their hands met which made the pinkette blush. From the corner of her eye, she noticed a similar response from Lysander, but shook it off assuming it was from the New England heat. "Do you remember the law of conservation of mass?"
"In a chemical reaction, the mass of the products equals the mass of the reactants," the Texan recited. Lysander chuckled. Her eyes were drawn by how quickly Lysander got to work, writing down notes and pointing out what to focus and what to check for. Lienda nodded slowly understanding more than what the teacher taught over this entire semester.
Now it was the pinkette's turn, she proceeded to check both sides and noticed which was missing an element. The answer slowly unveiled itself; Lysander just smiled at her dedication. He glances over, "Perfect." She shyly looked away.
"Thank you," her voice barely audible. Lysander smiled. Lienda nodded her head and proceeded inside. "Well got Chemistry down, I need to settle Art and Algebra II, but first let me get some snacks." She happily chirped.
"Are you sure this going to work Charlotte," she heard an impatient whine. The sakura haired girl averted her attention and listened.
"I am positive," an older, deeper yet feminine voice assured. "The idea of taping the answers to the exams in our pencil cases is too typical and cliché it is expected, whereas taping it to our rulers isn't expected." The snack fell out of the machine, "What was that?" Lienda's eyes widen at the approaching footsteps.
"Well I guess we found our rat," Li snidely declared.
"Goodie just what I was looking for a snack," Amber giddily declared and snatched the energy bar from the unsuspecting pinkette.
"Hey that's mine," Lienda declared. The trio of girls laughed at her outburst.
"Listen piggy," Lienda flinched at Amber's aggressive tone and her newly acquired nickname. "I need this more than you, at least I am a size 3which is something you will never achieve if you keep eating this. Besides I am doing you a big favor, you could afford to lose a few pounds." Lienda blushed heavily and looked to the floor, hearing the trio's ridiculed laughter. "See you later slutty pig."
"I am not fat," Lienda quietly declared to the barren hallways. She felt the burning tears that began to gather at the corner of her eyes. The stinging insult of her weight, which she was always self-conscious, struck a chord deep within her. "I would like to see her look 'sexy' post child birth." She sniffed. The sakura haired girl managed to get up and proceeded to get out the water the trio neglected to take. Her eyes read over the main artists of various points in history, as well identify the various styles in art. She already submitted her portfolio last week before her 'illness,' which was the first part of the test. Suddenly her stomach began to gurgle, begging for food. Lienda felt blood rushing to her cheeks and heard a deep snicker.
"Wow Princess you must be hungry," Lienda threw Castiel a glare. The red head continued to snicker unfazed by her glares. Castiel loudly slurped on his soft drink he got off campus, McDonald's to be exact. He sat down next to the pinkette who continued to focus on her studies. Said pinkette felt herself drooling at the intoxicating aroma, but held strong as she continued to write down notes and hints along the margins. "You want one?" the rebel inquired handing her a small cheeseburger. Lienda incredulously looked at him, questioning if this was a trap. "Keep it, I already ate mine and that one they had a special going on, that didn't cost me a dime."
He turned his attention towards the pinkette bashfully eating the meal. The rebel was surprised that she wasn't as dainty as the way she portrayed herself to be. He was glad that she wasn't one of those girls that ate salads just to show of how feminine they are, and then change after such a long time. Castiel liked it when girls were straightforward and revealed their true colors. He heard a gentle burp, and let out a chuckled as Lienda in vain tried to deny it was from her. Her cheeks now rivaled her hair color, "Castiel thank you for the meal."
"You are welcome," he said in an uncharacteristic soothing voice. Lienda just smiled at the faux red head. "By the way it was Picasso that brought in the style of cubism not Frida Kahlo, and Da Vinci is part of the Italian Renaissance." The pinkette blushed, while she quickly edited her notes, fighting off the rush of color that threatens to permeate her cheeks. Castiel couldn't help but chuckle, when he heard her muttering a thank you and the rest was a babble of French. "Good luck on your test princess, you are gonna need it." The rebel let out another series of taunting chuckles, but it felt shallow, there wasn't any underlying malice or tease to it. Lienda resumed studying her newly revised notes.
"Castiel has a lot of layers," she noted her eyes drawing towards the direction where Castiel left.
.
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There was uneasy feeling that was implanted deep within her stomach as she recalled the exams for Art and Chemistry, Lienda couldn't help but feel that she failed them both, but now all that was left was for Algebra II which her teacher let her take in his afternoon class during her normal study hall time because she missed the first exam during her sick time. Granted all the other teachers had their exams online for more flexibility to the students that were steadily disappearing, which she was eternally grateful for.
The sakura haired girl went over her composition book filled with notes that, she inwardly cringed to see random doodles here and there, not able to recall anything from her class, and slumped against the wall, "Lienda is there something wrong?" She glanced up to see Nathaniel towering over her concerned about her demeanor.
"Just concerned about the tests, Mr. Beck is letting me take the Algebra II exam but in the afternoon, and I don't understand that class," she said coyly, avoiding Nathaniel's penetrating gaze.
"I promised Melody I would help her with an exam," the blonde admitted. Lienda just smiled understanding his situation. "But she will understand you need more help since you missed part of the review." He smiled. "Follow me." The pinkette nodded as they both made their way towards the student council room to have a quieter place to study.
Nathaniel sat down close to her and Lienda struggled to focus but regained her composure realizing this is just for study and for him to help solve her trouble areas. He helped her understand H-RATEY as well as logs, sines, cosines, and tangent. By the time there were finished Lienda was holding her head from the sudden rush of knowledge. The student body president couldn't help but laugh at her reaction, a smile still lingered, and the pinkette threw him a playful pout unlike the bratty pouts that his sister constantly gave him.
"Thank you Nathaniel," she smiled reviewing the notes.
"You are welcome Lienda," the blond smiled. He couldn't help but frown at the time; I am late to meet Melody. "I have to go I'm late in meeting Melody, but do go over the sines, consines, and the tangents, Mr. Beck's exam heavily focused on all that." Nathaniel quickly excused himself to go help Melody with her exam. Good luck Lienda. The pinkette couldn't help but feel uneasy as she made her way to Mr. Beck's classroom; she studied as much as she was able when she was nursing Jace.
She sat down in the last desk which was located in the front of the classroom. "Alright class please use a Number 2 pencil and a suitable eraser, fill in the appropriate bubble for your answer choice, and you are allowed to write on this exam. You have until the end of this class, you may now begin," declared Mr. Beck. The sounds of paper shuffling, pencils scribbling, with sounds of buttons being punched into their TI calculators echoed throughout the room. Lienda stared at the paper and quickly solved the answers she knew she would be able to answer. She worriedly looked at the clock, and she begrudgingly return to her exam.
The memories of Lysander, Castiel and Nathaniel helping her along with the idea of seeing Jace after this pushed her to at least get down as quickly as possible. The pinkette was finished with her exam, with only twenty minutes to spare to review. Answers were constantly edited, adding more to her frustration and nervousness.
"You have five minutes," Mr. Beck declared and a series of rushed clicks and paper filled the room. The atmosphere became tense with students scrambling to finish. The sakura haired girl flipped back and forth and rushed to fill in her scantron. "Time is up!" Clacks of pencils hitting the desk and more shuffling of papers being organized and passed to the front, "I enjoyed having each and every one of you as my students, and I hope you all have a great summer." The bell rang signaling the end of school year and students scrambling to get out. Lienda let out a relieved sigh as she slowly exited out of the room. She passed by the Nurse's room to hear wailing and shrieking and heard what sounded like Nathaniel's voice.
"I wonder what happened," she said aloud, curious at the events unfolding behind the door. The door opened revealing a flustered Nathaniel raking his fingers throughout his blond hair. "Are you okay?"
He flashed the concerned sakura haired teen a smile. "I'm fine, just annoyed to find out that Amber ate something that had nuts in it and she is allergic."
"Oh dear, is she okay," Lienda inquired. She thought back to the snack Amber and her clique took from her. "She did take my snack earlier, but I didn't know it had nuts in it nor was I aware she was allergic."
"I'm sorry for her taking away your snack, let me treat you," Nathaniel sympathized, and bashfully began to count out money.
The pinkette let out a chime like giggle; she smiled at the flustered blond. "It is okay; Castiel took pity on me and gave me food when I was studying." Lienda reflected on the memory while Nathaniel let out a scowl at the mere mention of the rebellious teen. "Anyway I best be leaving, Missy wants to take me out." She curtsied to excuse herself. "You have a good summer Nathaniel." Nathaniel smiled at her quirky yet cute charm.
"You as well Lienda," he declared. Lienda smiled and continued to leave the building.
"Cosette," Missy exclaimed as she carried a content Jace.
"Missy shouldn't you and Jace be home," she scolded her older cousin. Lienda grinned at her son, noticing he was no longer flushed from his fever and was no longer pale. "How is my little prince?" Jace giggled and blew a kiss towards his mother, which the pinkette caught and pocketed, making the blond toddler's laughter stronger.
"Well Jace got bored so I decided to take him here, that and it is my turn to pick you up," Missy explained. The Italian blonde lowered her nephew to the floor who walked towards his mother, embracing her leg. "Well come on let's leave, I've just been in school for ten minutes and I want to go home now." The pinkette sighed as she grasped Jace's hand and led them to the awaiting vintage Orange Volkswagen microbus. As the Mercer trio were strapped in and were about to head off, Missy said, "Oh I forgot to mention, guess who is coming to see us?"
The Volkswagen microbus roared to life. "Who," Lienda inquired over blare of Missy's rock station. The blonde was practically grinning ear to ear, "Matt and Max are coming to visit us for a vacation next month!" The sakura haired girl couldn't help but smile at the news.
"What fun," she mused at the thought of seeing Missy's younger brothers after such a long time.
Onto the reviews:
SweetDreams: Well here is the new chapter albeit two months later than from my pattern, you don't have to accept my excuse but I really hate calculus. Why thank you I am honored that you are calling this fanfic the best, although I know there are others that are doing far better than I. I won't try to leave you hanging, I can promise you this, I won't go on a two year hiatus anymore.
Madylyne Hatter: Yes I'm sorry for the secrets but really Lienda wants to keep things under wraps but progressively things will slowly begin to unwind and we get to see more secrets. I am glad that you love it, and thank you for the compliment of being a good writer.
To the favorites:
Thank you so much for taking the time to read my story and for following my story it means a lot to me that I am doing something right, thank you!