Hey guys, i'm back. I know it's been a long while, but i'm going to at least try to not half ass this. I can't make any promises though. Anyway, on with the story.

Chapter 2: punctured heart

Ellen and Chia were sitting side by side at the disection tray, being assigned as a team by Dr. Phineas, the Biology teacher. It was a strange way of doing things from the other classmates' perspectives, as they each had a frog of their own to dissect. The duo had to share a frog due to an even number of students, but an odd number of available frogs, only one less. Chia quickly objected to cutting open the frog and nominated Ellen to do it. Ellen was okay with this, and quickly grabbed the scalpel, ready to begin.

While the rest of the class were busy dissecting their own frogs, Ellen began to rethink her statement earlier. 'it's just a frog. Just a stupid frog. It's life has no meaning. You've used creatures before, use the stupid frog in front of you and cut it open.' the thoughts raced through her head as she blankly stared at the frog, and then she quickly removed the frog from it's binds, picked it up, opened the window, and threw it out. 'i'm through with using living creatures as tools.' she thought to herself.

Dr. Phineas stared in utter shock before he adjusted his small glasses. "Detention young lady." was all he said before throwing her and Chia out into the hall.

"Why did he kick ME out? I didn't do anything!" Chia started to whimper, but Ellen fell to the ground, wrapping her arms around herself, practically crying. Chia grabbed Ellen by the hand and took her into the girls' bathroom. Ellen stood in front of a mirror, crying over the sink. Chia didn't know what to do, so she patted her on the back.

"Viola, what's wrong?" Chia said, clearly worried.

"I couldn't kill the damn frog." she sobbed as she spoke, making her osund like a whining child.

"i wouldn't have been able to kill the frog either. I'm sorry Viola..."

"you've got nothing to apologize for. We should probably skip school. I'm sick of being here." she wiped away most of her tears and put a grin on her face. At that point, Chia really didn't want to protest, as she thought that it might hurt her friend, so she grabbed her by the hand and they ran out of the school together.

Ellen and Chia were walking through the town, enjoying the sights and eating food at each local fast food joint. They were both having a great time, and Ellen seemed very cheery, much different from the cold and almost indifferent person she usually was. She was enjoying a soda at a small cafe while her and Chia were talking and laughing. "to be quite honest, I think that might have been the worst day of his life."

"but I still don't think that Alice had to be expelled from the school. After all, it was Ritsu who started the fight." Chia was trying to be sentimental on the topic.

"yeah, but to be honest, I think he deserved it. I liked it whenever he started crying when his nose bled. agh my nose! My fucking nose! That bitch broke my nose! Screaming just like a little bitch himself." Ellen made her voice deeper to immitate Ritsu. Chia giggled at the impersonation, and Ellen laughed after she had finished. She finished her soda and quickly stood up and started walking down the lot, Chia at her side. She then saw a group of boys on bikes on the sidewalk near a grocery store, harrassing two girls who were clearly not interested in them. Ellen cracked her knuckles and grinned toward Chia for approval. Much to her displeasure, Chia shook her head. Then one of the boys started yelling, pulling on the older girl's hair. This set Ellen over the edge as she flung herself at the boy and sent him flying with a kick to the face. The other three boys didn't realize what was happening until Ellen was standing in front of them, grinning manically and cracking her knuckles. She quickly beat the rest of them down and left all four of them in a pile to the side as the two young women walked away. Chia was shocked, but impressed. "umm, are you sure you didn't go overboard Viola?'

"nope. I gave them what was comin to em. If there's anything I hate more than Ritsu, it's perverted assholes like him." she started walking down the sidewalk with Chia, who was starting to squirm. She had something she wanted to tell her best friend, but not in the open. Chia quickly grabbed the girl's arm and pulled her into a small clearing in the middle of a park. She twiddled her thumbs for a moment, thinking about how she was about to begin, until Ellen spoke.

"Is something the matter?"

"no. I mean, yes! But I don't know how exactly to explain..." she tsarted to squirm again, her cheeks turning red.

"Explain what, exactly?" Ellen raised an eyebrow.

Chia sighed and started from the beginning. "Viola, the first time we met, you were a kind and loving girl. You helped everyone, and no matter what happened, you were the first one to smile. You helped me get over the death of my brother, and i'm happy about that, but ever since you've stopped going into the woods to meet your friend, it's like you were a completely different person. You get into a lot of fights now, and you don't cry about anything. You're still strong as always, but... you hardly smiled... you always seemed spooked by something, or you were depressed. You lost almost everything I looked up to about you. But today, I've come to terms with... something... I think i've felt for a while now..." Chia blushed more intensely and Ellen was still confused.

"so what's the point here?"

"I love you, Viola." the words 'I love you' echoed in Ellen's mind. She froze for several moments, and Chia continued. "Viola, I needed to tell you about it. Tell you what I felt. I needed you to know before I did something completely stupid. I hope you can forgive me."

"i'm not going to go through that..." she started to back away. "just leave me alone for the day..."

"but Viola-" she reached her hand out, but it was smacked away.

"you can't be my girlfriend! You can't love me! I don't need a relationship like that, especially not with someone as scatterbrained and clueless as you!" she almost instantly regretted what she had said as Chia ran off, sobbing. Ellen began cursing herself and chased after her.