Arcee's day had a great start.
For one, she had pancakes for breakfast. And since she had woken up so early, she could enjoy them in some peace and quiet before everyone else (save for the caregiver, Tara) woke up. Then, she managed to catch the early bus to the academy, which meant that she would probably be able to beat the crowd there. And then, halfway to the school, the bus broke down.
It only goes downhill from there.
Not only was the bus broken, but it was also broken in the middle of a busy freeway, so nobody could leave until the proper authorities arrived to escort everyone somewhere safer. And so Arcee and the other twenty or so other people on the bus sat and waited for an hour on the side of the freeway until a second bus came by, along with a tow truck and a cop car.
The school was on the other side of Seattle, about an hour away at worst. Since she got on the bus at 6:30, and the school was to open at 8 AM, it would've been fine. At worst, she would've gotten there right when it opened up- except her version of worse was just some particularly bad traffic, not an entire bus breaking on the freeway during rush hour.
So, Arcee and the other equally disgruntled passengers were loaded up on the replacement bus, along with the bus driver. The bus route took a little more time than it typically would've, since they were now dealing with 8 AM traffic. It took an hour longer than it should've, but finally, she got there.
And then spent another forty or so minutes waiting in a massive single-file line into a building on the other side of the massive courtyard. It was surprisingly quiet, the air filled with anticipation and fear- save for the two boys bickering behind her.
And then, finally, she made it to the actual interview station. Or admission office. Or sign in? She's not sure what it's called, but whatever it is, she's here. It looks to be a straightforward process- an interviewer asks you a couple questions, you answer, they print something out, and then you get sent down a mysterious hallway to whatever comes next.
It only took a couple minutes for her to get called up to a table. On the other side was a man with what must've been a bear quirk, considering he, well, looked like a bear. Some of his fur was grayed from age, and there was a massive scar over his right eye. He looked a little familiar to her, but she couldn't remember exactly why- maybe he's a retired official or something. He greeted her with a toothy smile that was probably meant to be nice, but came off more as threatening.
"Hello, miss..?"
Arcee smiled tightly in return. "Arcee. Engle. Hey."
He gestured to the folding chair in front of her, to which she promptly plopped down in. She couldn't help but exhale when she sat down- it wasn't the most comfortable seat she's ever sat in, but after standing in a line for what felt like ages, it felt like a throne.
"What's your birthday?"
"August 1st."
"Oh!" He exclaims, typing into his laptop. "Only a few weeks ago, huh? Well, how's fifteen treatin' ya'?"
Arcee forced another smile to her face. "Okay. It's only been a few weeks, y'know," she says, awkwardly laughing. The bear man doesn't respond, only staring at the laptop screen, looking almost... confused?
"Hm, I'm not sure this is correct, Miss Engle," He says, scratching his chin. "Do you mind repeating your full name and date of birth for me?"
Arcee blanched internally. She really hopes that this isn't leading to what she thinks it is.
"Uh- Arcee Engle, August 1st," She repeats, hoping her nervousness isn't shining through. "My current care provider is Tara Elmore."
He retypes her information, but continues to squint at the screen (she thinks) before his stare hardens and swivels back to her.
"Miss Engle, are you sure you belong here?" He asks, eyes narrowed. Arcee already knows what he's talking about- but that shouldn't get her entrance exam acceptance nullified, should it? She checked in with Officer Grace about a dozen times about it already, she's definitely allowed to be there- she's worked so hard for this, Arcee refuses to get shot down now, not when she's so close-
"Uh- yes. I'm sure," she responds shakily. "Look, you can call my-"
"Enough with the sass!" A few people nearby turn to look, including some interviewers- but thankfully, most everyone didn't seem to notice. Arcee couldn't help but sink into her chair a little more as an embarrassed blush spread across her cheeks. "Who's your guardian?" He asks sternly.
"I already said- Tara Elmore. But you should call Carissa Grace, she's my, uh... mentor." The bear man raises what looks like an eyebrow and opens his mouth to talk, but Arcee interjects again. "She's an officer," she adds hastily, "Her number is on my emergency contacts list."
He narrows his eyes at her, but doesn't talk, and instead goes back to his laptop and scrolls, presumably looking for the officer's number. It's then that Arcee remembers who he is- the now retired Hero, Teddy Bear. One of the top Heroes in his heyday, and quite coincidentally, the mentor of the Hero that apprehended Arcee one time.
Arcee isn't religious, but she prayed to every god out there in that moment that he doesn't already know about her from that tale.
It only took him a few moments to find Officer Grace's number, and even less to punch it into his flip phone (how he did it with his sausage fingers, Arcee has no idea). Before long, the woman in question picked up, and a conversation Arcee could only hear one side of began.
"Yes, hello, is this Officer Carissa Grace? Ah, yes, I'm doing good, how about you... Good, good,"
Despite his now pleasant tone, Teddy Bear's beady eyes bore into her soul, which absolutely did not help ease her current anxiety. When was the last time she had been this scared, anyways? It was either that one time she fell into a river as a nine year old, or that one time she got apprehended by an actual Hero, or- yeah, no, it was the second option.
"So, this delinquent here says you're her mentor, her name is Arcee Engle- hm, okay... she says you approved her to be here, is that true?.. Oh? Even with her record-"
Despite her anxiety, Arcee suppresses a scoff. The worst she ever did was property damage, and he's acting like she killed a preschooler-
Teddy Bear nods, listening to Officer Grace's explanation. Arcee doesn't know what she's saying- probably something along the lines of "equal opportunity" or some shit. Whatever she said worked, though, because before long, a look of annoyance crossed Teddy Bear's face, and promptly ended the conversation.
"Alright, then... Yes, of course... Thank you for your time, Officer. Have a good one."
He hangs up without waiting for her to respond, shoves the phone into his pocket, and makes a couple clicks on his laptop.
"Well, Miss Engle, it's your lucky day. Looks like you weren't lying about getting accepted," he spits. "But I'll be keeping my eyes on you, kid." With that, he gets up and walks away to printers. Arcee released a long-awaited sigh of relief and sunk even lower into her seat.
Logically, there was nothing to be scared of- Arcee did the research herself, and even with her record, she'd be able to attend with the officer's signature of approval. Still, with Teddy Bear being as powerful and influential as he is, it's very possible he could've torn that away from her just because of appearances- or maybe he couldn't? Arcee didn't know how much power he had here, maybe all he can do is grumble and pout. Either way, Arcee was terrified.
Teddy Bear stalked back to the table, dropping the papers on it and simply telling her to go down the hall and await further instructions. Arcee complied, snatching up the papers and speed walking away without any further interaction. Hopefully, she wouldn't be running into him again any time soon.
N/A
word count: 1,476
not my best work ngl, but it works well enough. Also btw chapters should get longer as I get more into my groove, but I max out at around 5k, just a warning
Arcee belongs to MysteryAgain! please lemme know how i did with her!
critism is always welcome, as long as you're nice about it. I tried to work on showing rather than telling this chapter, as one reviewer pointed out, so lemme know if I did better about it this time around! Thank you for reading!