Roy's PoV
"Ugh…" Roy moaned, resting his hand on his belly. "I don't wanna go to school." The night before, Roy, Alexis, Bonnie, and Inigo had gone trick-or-treating together. Octavia was too busy admiring the new outfit she got for her birthday, Yuri took his siblings trick-or-treating, and Perry was busy working on his rap song. Obviously, Geneva couldn't come with them, so she was out of the question as well. Once it neared midnight, everyone went back home, and the red-haired inkling immediately dove into his stash of candy. The problem was, he ate a little too much and stayed up a little too late. Now, he felt sick and tired.
"Roy, get up," his mom demanded, tugging at his arm. "I'm not letting you skip school, and you're doing exactly that by lying in bed all day."
The red-haired inkling sat up and slumped over, groaning. His mother let go of his arm as he started walking towards the kitchen to make breakfast. Walking into the room, he saw his father, drinking a cup of coffee while reading the newspaper.
While he was preparing cereal, Roy's father looked up from the paper, pushing his glasses up the bridge of the nose. "Roy? Is something wrong?"
"Nothing's wrong," he growled. I wish I could sleep in and not go to school. The tanned inkling took the bowl of cereal with him to the table and set it down before starting to eat it. A grumpy look on his face, he ate in silence, minus the loud crunching.
"I think you're lying," the older inkling pointed out, stroking his thick beard. "You're acting a lot more… angry than you usually do."
"Nothing's wrong," he restated more firmly. Trying to ignore his stomach pain, he continued eating his cereal rather slowly. With no one saying another word, Roy threw the cereal bowl into the sink once he was done with it. Turning into his squid form, he started slithering back to his room. He half-expected one of his parents to notice, but neither of them said a word, instead watching in awkward silence as he advanced into his room.
Once he entered his bedroom, he transformed back into kid form and shut the door. He put on his usual shorts, a King jersey, and red hi-horses before exiting and finishing his morning routine, sans doing his hair. Without saying goodbye, he hopped into his car and drove to school.
When he walked into the high school, a few people immediately took notice of his sluggish attire and movements. The red-haired inkling didn't bother pushing his stray tentacle out of his face; it was like a sick day for him, except it wasn't.
"Roy, are you alright?"
"Roy, what's wrong?"
"Roy, you look tired."
"Can you shut up?" the tan-skinned inkling snapped at the group of freshmen following him, egging him with questions about his well-being. "I'm fine; there's nothing wrong." As he said that, a wave of nausea came over him, and he leaned against a group of lockers, uneasiness washing over his features.
"You should go to the nurse," one of the freshmen suggested. "You're not okay."
"Yeah, the baskfishball team doesn't want a sick player!" another one agreed.
"I don't have baskfishball practice today," Roy pointed out. "I have work after school."
"Still!" the second freshman argued. Ignoring her, he straightened again as the nausea faded and started walking to his first class. From then on, that group of freshmen were no longer following him, much to his relief.
As soon as he walked into his math class, he took his seat at his desk and turned into a squid. He closed his eyes, hoping sleep would welcome him. He was almost successful when the first bell rang, snapping him back to attention. He transformed back, looking around frantically. Once he noticed the clock, he sighed and leaned back into his seat, wiping the drool off his face.
He didn't pay attention to the lesson at all. His longing for sleep was on his mind the entire time, and he swore he almost dozed off a few times. The teacher passed out a practice sheet, which was filled with graphing problems. He grumbled and shoved it into his math binder. He wasn't in the mood to do it now.
The rest of the morning went by in a tired, sick haze, with bouts of nausea every now-and-then. By the time lunch came, he simply sat down at the table without buying a lunch at all. He put his head down on the table and watched as his friends arrived.
"Um… Roy?" Inigo asked, tapping his shoulder. "Are you okay?"
"Yes," he replied, annoyed. "People keep askin' me that today and I hate it."
"You aren't eating anything," Bonnie noted. "And I've heard you don't seem like yourself today."
"Did you eat too much candy last night?" Octavia teased. She was wearing her new Eminence cuff instead of her classic straw boater today. "Alexis did that, so she stayed home today."
Lucky. "Well, I did get a lot of candy from trick-or-treating last night…" He shook his head. "Look, I'm tired, alright. That's it."
"C'mon, Roy, we know about your sweet tooth," Perry sneered.
The red-haired inkling remained silent, his eyes averting their gazes. He could confess why he was acting the way he did today… or he could not. My friends know me so well… Roy wasn't sure how to feel about that. All he felt right now was embarrassment.
"You ate too much candy," Inigo deduced.
"Yeah," he found himself saying. "I did." He messed around with the tentacle covering his face.
"And your parents still made you go to school?" Yuri puzzled. Roy nodded in response. "That's… kind of sad."
"I know. I just want to sleep."
"Can't you take a nap after school?" Bonnie asked.
"I have work," he pointed out.
"Oh," the blue-haired inkling realized. "After work?"
"I have homework."
"You're not getting a break, huh?" she remarked, biting her lip.
"You should take a long nap tomorrow after school," the fair-skinned boy suggested. "Gotta catch up on sleep somehow."
"That… won't make a difference," Roy deduced.
"So… you'll suffer?" Inigo concluded. The red-haired inkling nodded. "Yikes…"
"I can handle it." The boy straightened, clenching his teeth as another bout of nausea rushed through his body. "I can handle it."
By the time Roy arrived at Starfish Drinks to begin his shift, he was absolutely exhausted. He checked in, put on the uniform, and arrived behind the counter to start preparing coffee. He felt his entire body cry for sleep, but he knew he had to push through the day. And then it'd be over.
"Blacktip?" a familiar voice greeted. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Molas, using the coffee machine next to him. "You look tired."
"I am," Roy confirmed. "It's been a long day."
"You go trick-or-treating?" He nodded. "That's nice. I wish I could still do that."
"Why don't you anymore?"
"I just lost the Halloween spirit one day. I haven't gotten it back since."
"I see." The inkling with his hair swept to the side took the filled cup out from the coffee machine and took the order ticket alongside it. Writing 'Saiman' on it, he walked over to the counter and called, "A coffee for Simon!"
An older male inkling with a shaved head came up to take the drink. When he read the name on it, he threw the coffee cup on the ground. "Seriously?! Saiman?! What is wrong with you people?"
"This guy again?" Molas exasperated. The inkling with the side ponytail walked up beside Roy and crossed his arms. Yellow eyes narrowed at Simon. "Seriously, why do you keep coming here?"
"This is the closest coffee shop to my house! And if I can't get a quality coffee cup with my name spelled correctly, then what gives?!" the older inkling ranted.
"You didn't even drink the coffee," Roy pointed out.
"My name, which is spelled S-I-M-O-N, is important, too!"
"Sorry about Blacktip here," Molas tried to apologize. "He's still a rookie. And a tired high school student."
"You spelled my name wrong last time I came here!" Simon argued, pointing a figure at the young adult inkling. "All you Starfish Drinks baristas are still the same—young, inexperienced, and stupid!"
"Woah, calm down," the inkling with the ponytail said.
The older inkling, arms outstretched, leaped at the two baristas. Both of them turned into squids to avoid being grabbed by him before quickly transforming back and running out of his reach.
"Security!" Molas called. "Help!"
"Yeah, help us!" Roy agreed.
Quickly, two police officers ran into the coffee shop and rushed towards Simon. They apprehended him, with the older inkling kicking his legs wildly in an effort to hurt them.
"It's those kids' fault," Simon growled. "They don't know what they're doing!"
"You're that upset over a misspelled name?" one of the officers deadpanned. "Starfish Drinks baristas do it all the time, it's nothing new."
"What's going on out here?" a voice suddenly boomed. Swinging his head around, Roy saw Miles Carp, who was standing in the doorway of the employees-only area. The door was wide open, and the inkling with white-tipped hair had his arms folded. His orange eyes scanned the coffee shop, and then he bellowed, "Who called security?"
Molas raised his hand. "I-I did." He grabbed his shoulder. "I had to, that guy was trying to attack us."
"Hmm…" Mr. Carp relaxed and closed his eyes. When he opened them again, he asked, "Is this the same guy that attacked you back in August?" Molas nodded. "I see. In that case…" His eyes shot like daggers at the police. "Take him away, cops. And he's forever blacklisted from this location."
"What?! You're agreeing with those kids?!" Simon exclaimed in disbelief. "They're so dumb! Why did you even hire them?"
Roy's lip drew into a snarl at the older inkling's words, but the inkling with the ponytail put a hand in front of him to stop him from attacking. "Don't," he whispered.
Without any other words, the older inkling was dragged away in handcuffs, screaming expletives at them. When he was gone, business resumed. Molas walked back to the counter and took some orders, while Roy went back to brewing drinks. He rubbed his eyes. The confrontation with Simon seemed to have waken him up somewhat, but he still felt tired. When he finished a frappuccino, he took the order slip and wrote 'Lehzie' on the cup.
He called for Lizzie, and a beige-skinned inkling Alexis's age came up to the counter. "You're not gonna yell at me, are you?" he asked as he handed the cup to her.
"No, I'm not crazy," Lizzie replied. "I just want my drink."
"Good." Roy smiled. "Good." Much to his relief, it looked like the rest of the day would go without any disturbances, just the way he liked it.