Princess moved with a furry in every high heeled step. The paper in her hand crinkled slightly as her fist clenched and released. Her face was puckered into a sour sneer, her red brows drawn together leaving unpleasant crinkles she would have smoothed out had she not been so angry.
Her pace was more of a march as she stepped into the slightly crowded and annoyingly loud room of the cafeteria. Her charcoal eyes immediately landed on her target sitting alone in the back at her usual table, her face buried in the boring black and white of the Townville newspaper.
Her steps were deliberate moving quickly past the line of people to avoid having to come in contact with as many as possible. When she finally made it to the other redhead she waited expecting to be immediately acknowledged though the ribbon wearing teen simply stared more intently at the paper.
Letting out a cough she looked more intently at the teens ribbon tied head burning holes into the silky red fabric.
"Eh hem." After a couple more seconds she was getting fed up with being ignored, taking her free hand she jabbed her finger into the girl's shoulder.
As if to spite her more thoroughly the other red head flipped the page of the paper revealing the other side of the story she was reading.
"Blossom, I'm trying to talk to you!" Princess scoffed, her fist closing firmly around the paper in her hand crumpling the delicate material. Looking down she growled at the rumpled mess that would have to smooth it out! Irritated, she stared back at the girl who was still reading the damned paper.
Opening her mouth again she was about to demand her attention when she finally spoke. "What do you want, Princess." She had some nerve having that kind of tone.
Princess was the irritated one here. She was allowed after all she was the one being completely ignored yet Blossom always had to have that air of arrogance cause that's just how she's always been.
"I want to know why this was posted in the lobby!" She hissed harshly slamming the crumbled paper down being sure to force it down right on top of the newspaper, being more than satisfied when that caught the girls attention.
Blossom examined the paper, her freakish eyes scanning over the bold black words on the light pink paper. She didn't even bother smoothing it out as she reviewed the page.
"Well Princess, it looks like a notice explaining that the winter talent show is going to be a city wide event against the other schools rather than just Townsville High. It also explains that some things have been moved around like the date of both auditions and events as well as placement." Blossom explained in a voice that sounded both 'helpful' and like she was talking to an idiot. "New audition date is next Thursday."
"Blossom I know that I can read!" The curly haired teen scoffed her hands balling up fully this time causing her acrylic nails to press against her palms feeling the slight buckle she eased up not wanting ruin the bejeweled design.
"Then why are you bothering me?" Princess paused, blinking at the girl for a moment.
"Rude." She huffed her arms crossing over her chest. "Why I'm here is because i want to know… no I demand to know why the hell they thought this was a good idea?" She pointed at the page roughly, Blossom finally looked back at her.
Her eyes a pool of frozen pink her lips were tightly pressed together so much so they were turning white. "How am I supposed to know that Princess? The school board probably thought it was a good way to unify the schools in the area since most of them are private in 'A block'. But that's only a guess." Princess stared blankly at her again.
She felt a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach, the name 'Abby Academy' slapping her face as one of the first schools that was listed that Townsville High would be competing against.
"Why are they doing this now? I mean just last week it was just Townsville High. Why add the other schools?" Her stomach twisted as she fired questions off. She was starting to panic and she hated panicking. She wanted nothing to do with the other schools why else would she risk going to a stupid C block school in the first place.
"I don't know Princess, why not ask someone who's actually on the Student Body Council to be sure they should have more information than me." The girl bit out more bitterly then the Morbucks girl assumed she planned to.
Though that always seemed to happen with her or any of the Untonium sisters. They always got so much more bitter with her then anyone else in school.
"Why would I do that just cause you quit? You always know what's going on so why bother getting a new source for information." Princess shrugged her fur covered shoulders, the white puffy pelt tickling her jaw.
"Well I don't know anything about this so go put it back and actually talk to someone who knows something." Her voice deadpanned, handing the paper back a bit rougher than she possibly intended to.
Irritation flooded her stomach white and hot as she snatched the paper back being sure to be extra rough with the section that held the name of that horrid school.
"You know it's probably just a publicity thing to show that the town is still perfect. I mean a huge talent show against all the schools shows a sign of unity. And then the museum taking in the priceless artifacts shows safety. I think the city council members are floundering after what happened the other day." Blossom muttered loud enough for the only child of King Morebucks to hear.
Her head whipped back causing her red curls to bat her in the face and she took another look at the newspaper. She had heard daddy say something about the city council last night. Taking more of an interest she peered back over at whatever had caught the pink eyed girl's attention in that damn boring newspaper.
"Oh yeah they came to the manor last night asking for something to hold in the Museum, daddy didn't even bother coming to the door." Her voice became more high pitched and lispy as she talked about her father before she caught herself schooling her voice.
"Grand opening of three new exhibits at Townville Museum? So they did find something to put into that boring old dust trap?" She said again this time completely lisp free as she annunciated every syllable perfectly. Scanning over the pictures she prided herself on knowing each and everyone
"Yeah yeah that's the Dog head of Anubis and that's the Trinity of Cleopatra, and the Diamond of Despair I've heard of all of those. I wanted that diamond for ages but daddy said it wasn't for sale, like ever. Really crushed my 4 year old dreams. I threw out everything I owned and burned it. He had to buy me everything new. Best Christmas eve ever." She giggled her gold ring clad finger still hovering over the picture of the diamond she still remembered showing it to her father after slapping it on her Christmas list.
Blossom's eyes darted from the black and white pictures to the curly redhead teen judgment showing clearly in her pink eyes.
"What? Oh don't look at me like that! I was young then, I'm older now, I wouldn't just throw everything out. I have some sentimental value to some things now." She scoffed at the slight arch in the girl's brow as if she was judging her more thoroughly.
"Whatever, I don't need your judgment!" She snapped turning from the girl, her heels clicking as she marched away.
"Don't forget to put that paper back in the lobby." Blossom called after her, causing the girl to repeat her words mockingly.
She felt her blood boil under her skin. First she talked to her like she was an idiot, then she gave her that critical look and now she was ordering her around the gall. She didn't even know why she bothered with the pink Utonium brat. Blossom has always been like that though thinking she was so much better than everyone just because she was smart. It was like she was never insecure. It really irritated the rich red head.
Huffing, she adjusted her coat over shoulders and looked around, spotting Poblo who was currently talking to Billy in the line. She hesitated for a moment but in the end there was no way she was going all the way back to the lobby when she didn't have to. She had just gotten these heels yesterday and she didn't need to ruin them before lunch with all that excess walking.
"Poblo take this back to the lobby, just put it back on the board." She told him flippantly not really making it a question, it was a demand since she never really had to ask to get what she wanted. Why start asking nicely now.
"I really don't want to." The dark haired teen paused as the taller girl thrusted the crumpled paper forward. She gave him a look that left no room for argument as she reached into her jacket pulling out a couple hundred and pressed the bills subtly into the creases of the paper.
"Ugh fine Billy will you hold my place in line?" Pablo asked in defeat, taking the paper and the bills turning to a wide eyed Billy Nicolus nodding his eyes subtly looking down at the paper pressed in the short teens palm. "Okay thanks I'll be right back."
Satisfied that she still had power to her name and wealth she turned her heels from the two moving towards her usual table where her friends resided. Kristen and Tera were a part of her personal entourage that absolutely needed her to even function. The two didn't notice her sitting down across from them in her usual seat; they seemed absorbed in the food they were pulling from their lunch boxes.
"Ugh you brought Sushi again, how do you eat that stuff?" Kristen asked, looking over at the blonde, her button nose wrinkling in disgust.
"I don't know, lawn mower, how do you eat your grass clippings? '' Tera retorted, venom lacing her voice looking at the brunettes' all green meal. Well actually they couldn't function together at all they were completely different they hardly liked each other.
Their friendship started when they fought over who was Princesses best friend back in 4th grade causing the redheaded daddys girl to instantly like the pair. Thoroughly enjoying how they never got closer to one another needing Princess around to even sit at the same lunch table.
"Its a salad dumbass, unlike you I don't have to have meat to survive" she fired back smugly. They were so into themselves they didn't even see Princess sit across from them.
Smirking to herself she sometimes revealed the fact that they would probably kill each other if she wasn't around to take the attention off each other and put it on herself. Though right now she allowed them to fight amongst themselves as she stewed in her own pot of irritation.
Not only would she have to deal with people from Abby Academy but now she had to compete with them, her mind halted before she went any further, falling down that pit wouldn't do her any good. Especially with that person coming to mind would send her into a blind rage. So she switched to the other flavor of irritation, her charcoal eyes floating over to the table in the back.
It was already filled up well, sort of that table only ever held five people and other than Robin Snyder four of them were related. The brunette was honestly the odd one out next to the Utonium sisters who mostly kept to themselves other than the brute of the bunch who hung out with Mitch and his unruly group though that was extremely rare nowadays.
In fact the whole family seemed to become reclusive after freshman year. It was almost as if it was their goal to outcast themselves. They all left their clubs or in Buttercups case multiple sports teams. After that they more or less disappeared from the social radar. Sure people knew who they were but it was mainly just the basics. They were sisters that moved to Townville in first grade. They looked nothing alike. They had a single father and a grandfather who owned a diner that they all worked at. She remembered she heard a rumor about their dad being a mad scientist for the government or something but that rumor didn't last long despite a lot of people believing it due to the odd color of the girl's eyes.
Personally she thought the girls were just weird in general even back when they were in elementary they kind of just stuck to themselves doing their own thing. It was kind of anti-climactic really because in her own little childish brain she just had the biggest feeling they would be a threat to her the moment they walked through the door.
Back then she thought they were going to ruin her life just by joining her class the very first day of first grade. Maybe it was because of how they were all shiny and new or maybe it was because of some things going on at home but either way they seemed like the biggest threat in her 7 year old mind.
In a way she could kind of see that they could have been extremely popular if they just tried. One of them had Pink eyes for fucks sake! It was one of the first things they noticed about them was the strange color of their eyes, Blossoms being the most popular of the bunch. Being little kids they might have made her queen right then and there but Blossom didn't care for any status other than being the smartest person in the room. She was the oldest of her sisters taking the leader role over the four girls. Even looking at her now the girl was commanding her tables talking about who knows what with her sisters.
Blossom had always been like that to them, always the leader Princess knew that almost before they walked through the door. She was always the smartest kid in that class knowing all the answers, making the best grades impressing almost every teacher she came across. Despite her color she wasn't a puffy girly girl, she was smart, really smart, always focusing on some sort of prize no one else could see. A total goodie goodie who was every teacher's favorite thought that's not what had always intimidated her, it was the pink girl's way of somehow knowing everything. Like everything, more than just what was in books she prided herself on having a solution for any situation that tried to make itself an obstacle. Things always came so easily for her like she absorbed every bit of knowledge around her into those freakish pink eyes of hers. She always seemed to have some kind of unseen power right under the surface, something that would intimidate just about anyone.
That thought alone reminded her of the brute of the group. Her eyes drifted over to Buttercup; whose name totally betrayed everything about her. She wasn't like a flower, she was the thorns even back then just screamed danger and intimidation. She could remember the first fight she got into was with Mitch and that was over before it really began. From what she heard It took one punch and he was on the ground bleeding. It was said that she punched him so hard that his nose went completely to the left which was probably true cause his nose was crooked now. She never got in trouble though but that was a common occurrence for her. In fact her and the old bully became friends from that day on, somehow. Despite her violent history the raven haired girl was hardly ever punished; it was always brushed under the rug probably due to her athletic benefit. Buttercup was known for being the girl who captains fought over to get on their teams for dodgeball, the girl that coaches actively looked for when sports seasons began. The entire sports division mourned the day she quit.
Of course you couldn't talk about the Untonium sisters without mentioning the second middle child. Blink was well known for being lazy and slothish; no one really knew how she passed any of her classes. Unlike her sisters there wasn't much to say about the gray Untonium, even her color was beyond boring. Well unless you knew her which no really did besides their slim list of friends. The only thing she could think about was the basics. She wore the same hairstyle.. half up half down pigtails..since first grade. She wore multiple rings made of some metal Princess herself couldn't pinpoint and she was extremely unmotivated to do much of anything. Princess didn't hate her, she didn't even think much about her . She didn't seem as important to her; since she never did anything. Unlike her talented sisters she didn't have anything else to mention. She was just underwhelming.
The last one was Bubbles, her biggest threat back then. Despite the girls being quadruplets the bubbly blonde was the obvious youngest. Coddled the most by her sisters she had never had a bully in her life even though she was a huge cry baby in first grade. Not that anyone ever tried. If it wasn't the fact that had a sister who could and would beat you half to death it was the fact that the blonde had a strange way of captivating people. She was alluring, in fact there wasn't a single guy in there grade that hadn't had a crush on her at least once. Princess remembered the burning jealousy there first Valentine's day in first grade when she had the most candy, specially made cards, and even stuffed animals. Then every Valentine after her desk would be overflowing by the end of the day then when they reached middle school her locker filled. Guys and girls alike would always find a soft spot for the youngest Utonium and despite this power she never did anything with which was both unnerving and relieving.
Looking closer at the group she noticed that Buttercup's ears were absolutely filled. They weren't that full yesterday were they. Leaning forward she could see multiple studs and a couple chains hanging throughout her entire ear the girls head was slightly lolling side to side as like her energy was being sapped away.
"When did Buttercup get all those piercings?" She asked out loud, gaining the attention of her friends who looked like they were giving the other the silent treatment.
Turning her head Kristen looked back already knowing what table to look at. Her eyes squinted as she tried to inspect the green girl's ears.
"I really can't see if she got piercings or not Princess but knowing her I wouldn't be surprised." Shrugging she returned back to her salad stabbing her fork into an olive shoving it into her mouth while Tera gagged.
"What don't like olives either?" Kristen hissed, picking up another full on waving it into the blonde's face.
Tera's face twisted her hooked nose scrunching up in disgust "I hate olives!" Tera growled swatting the fork away causing the olive to launch off the fork smacking into the freckled face of the youngest Morbucks.
The two girls stared slack jawed at the redhead there finger instantly pointing at the other with a quick it was her fault. Taking a moment, Princess slowly stood up glaring at both girls before turning towards the hallway. Usually she would toss insults at them all the way to the hallway but she just didn't feel it in her at the moment still having to sort out the whole Abby academy debacle. She knew she would need them around to boost her up this forgiveness was just ammo for later use.
Walking to the line vending machine the third one was her target It was one that she had her daddy install into the school a sparkling lemon water machine.
Reaching into her purse she fished through the contents of items before finding her wallet and opening the gold case she took out the only card that had absolutely no money on it and that was because it was the only way to use this certain kind of vending machine. Swiping the card with a swiftness anyone with the surname Morbucks would possess, she pressed the lemon water before securely putting the card back. She watched as the glass bottle was securely transported to the slot her lip pulled up thinking about how the other commoner machines would just drop down cans.
Her charcoal eyes glanced over to the other machines that were provided by the school Billy was wrestling with the money dispenser attempting feebly to get it to take his crumbled dollar. Frowning she slowly began to move away taking her bottle from the machine slowly she stepped back quickly. She felt her heart pick up slightly turning from the scene she felt the glass slip from her fingers causing the bottle shatter on the hard floor.
Looking up at the towering figure of Joey and Elmor. Wes stood between the two looking like a tiny horny next to a couple of pit bulls. Shifting her head she opted to look at the shattered bottle; it didn't break into a thousand little pieces but the water was fizzing from the impact slowly running over the hard floors toeing at her new heels.
"Heard you gave my boy Pablo a nice sum of cash which I thought was weird since you said you weren't giving out handouts anymore" Joey asked, her eyes still trained on the ground. She felt her fist ball up again but this time she didn't release, nails be damned.
Irritation flooded through her for a moment her head tilted , stealing a quick look over at Billy who she knew ratted on her. The pudgy boy was shaking holding multiple different cans in his thick arms the moment he caught her gaze he looked off to the side in shame.
If she was a snake just for a moment she would have sunk her teeth into his thigh then gagged cause ew.
"You know since your feeling so generous you wouldn't mind breaking into that trust fund money of yours to suit my needs eh?" Her head snapped up, eyes narrowing dangerously. So they told him huh? She guessed dishing out the dirt must have been after initiation.
She wanted to say that say the first rude sarcastic thing that came to mind but that wasn't smart with this certain group, gang whatever the sick fucks were. Her eyes shut, taking a breath she tried to release her fist even if it was only slightly.
"See, I want a new car this beaut of a Camaro. My parents think I'm too young to be responsible but they said if I could at least half of the down payment, I got a shot." Joey smirked, taking a pause solely for the dramatics. "See Flemcess that's where you come in" Joey had a chance of being handsome with his thick lashes and sharp jaw but he decided to add 'being a complete dick' to his list of traits.
Looking over at Wes he gave her a toothy grin that was more of a warning than anything. Her teeth clenched and fist balling back up tighter than before she started doing calculations depending on the price she could get away with this without any issues. "How much?" She asked finally watching the satisfied smirk growing on Joeys slimy face making her want to convulse.
"That's what I like to hear twenty one hundred." Her eyes widened for a fraction of a moment, her brow raising dangerously as she crossed her arms.
"That's a bit greedy if you ask me." She snapped arms crossing, she could already see the damage it would have on her expenses.
"Greedy?" Wes started dangerous. "I think it's a fair request like payment for keeping your little secret."
The little pip squeak bastard! As more curses filtered through her head a deep pressure came from her fingertips then came the snap. Shocked, she looked down, her blood sizzled in her veins, her middle nail had snapped off.
"Look what you did, do you have any idea how much this was!" Her voice growled out coarse and grainy as she cradled her now bleeding middle fingers
The jeweled winter wonderland set now looked off with a short middle finger.
"We didn't do anything you did that yourself." Elmors deep voice finally broke his leave of silence. Even though he was the leader of the group he didn't really do much of the bullying, it was more of the fact that he was captain of the wrestling team and one of the biggest guys in school that gave him his reputation.
At least that's how Princess saw it. He was the leader due to the fact that he was intimidating, known for never losing a single match for the school and pulling the school ahead of their competitors; he was loved by most teachers. He used that to his advantage sure back in middle school when he started to really bulk up he was a menace though now in sophomore year it was really Wes pulling the strings she was sure of it.
"Yeah don't go blaming stuff on us, it's not very nice. You'd think you'd be kinder to us after all we're doing for you." Wes rolled his eyes as she narrowed hers.
"Listen Flem I'll give you till next week I know you won't let me down."
"Uh if you didn't notice I never agreed! This is ridiculous. I'm not some cash cow you can milk whenever you feel like it!"
"What happened?" The laid back of Robin Snyder rang as she followed by the green Utonium.
"None of your business Snyder." Wes gritted out obviously not expecting the redhead to put up a fight.
"Uh yeah it kind of is! I'm tryna walk through here i don't need glass in my foot!" Princess felt her stomach drop the more people who were around the more that would ask questions. Questions that Slime ball wouldn't mind answering if he didn't get his way.
"The little heiress can pay your medical bills." Wes gritted out darkly again trying to brush the girl off. Taking a breath, Princess felt relief for the first time even if it was half baked. He wasn't going to say anything but that was only because he couldn't milk her like a cow if everyone knew that's not how blackmail worked after all.
"And when did you dictate her money?" Buttercup asked, interjecting sharply.
Joey's expression seemed to change drastically, becoming extremely creepy in a matter of minutes. His eyes read like someone who knew more than they should.
"This isn't your business so stay out of it!" Wes hissed bitterly over towards the pair causing Joey's face to fall from its former creepy excitement.
"If she wants to inject, let her doubt she'd have much to say if it really came down to it." Joey seemed to be trying to grip his former excitement and hold it closely but this only gained him a glare from was. Almost as if it was a warning look.
"Princess, you dropped your water on the ground." The dull tone rang out as Blink Utonium stated the obvious.
"We should really get this cleaned up." Blossom Utonium spoke coming into view.
"You're not hurt are you?" Bubbles Utonium asked in her sweet concerned voice.
"Ugh what is this a family reunion come on guys let's get out of here before another comes along." Wes growled knowing full well there was no point black mailing her with so many people around.
"Wait, what about my." Joey's voice was cut off but Elmor placed his massive hand on his shoulder pivoting him away. "Shut up, let's go."
"Those guys are creepy, did they do that?" Robin asked, turning away from the retreating figures, her eyes shifting the broken bottle on the floor, Billy passed them hurriedly following the group..
"I just dropped it as they were walking past and it got on Elmor." She lied smoothly, her eyes narrowly following the quivering pudgy boy being sure that he heard her. He nodded subtly and she rolled her eyes, hating covering for the assholes.
"Oh. Well, did they bother you?" Robin asked again, obviously trying to be the justice seeking hero.
Princess stared at them for a moment as her newly ripped nail throbbed. She entertained the idea of having them playing hero and trying to save her from those exploitative dicks. For just a moment.
"I do not want or need your help, those meatheads are hardly a blimp on my radar!" She snapped moving past them heading back to her table that was now entirely filled up with her group who were happily chatting away. Sighing she took a breath in as she sat down instantly being shoved into the conversation about the mall taking a moment she nodded.
"Of course I'm going! I need some retail therapy anyway since those idiots changed the addition date for the pageant. Can you believe it!" She whined as her friends jumped to her defense telling her how she would win anyway. More eager than before they jumped into the shopping trip.
"What's her problem? We were just trying to help!" Robin scoffed. "I swear I have never met a more self absorbed person than Morbucks." Turning back toward her group she expected them to agree, usually always the first to point out Princess' vain behavior though this time they stared straight ahead. "Come on, forget about her lunch won't last forever and need to get my journal."
Moving forward Buttercup and Blink being the only two to follow while the other two lingered back to clean up the mess. "They shouldn't have to do that, it was Princesses fault." Robin hissed bitterly, crossing her arms.
"They're the good ones." Blink shrugged lightly though her eyes darted across the two.