"Ow," Blaze muttered, rubbing her thighs as she stood up from the common space bench where she and Amy were sitting.
"You good?" Amy asked, also standing up.
"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine. I'm just sore from practicing this weekend." She paused to stretch while Amy and Sally waited for her. "I needed a distraction from everything, and my dance instructor said I needed a bit more practice for our upcoming fall recital."
"Oooh," Sally said. "You never told me you did dance. Are you on the school's competitive team?"
Blaze sighed as the two walked to their respective fourth-period classes. "No," she said. "I dance at an outside dance company," Blaze explained. It was only a semi-truth; Blaze had her own personal reasons for not joining the school's dance team, and she didn't feel like sharing.
"That's so cool," Sally commented. "What kind of dance do you do?"
"Jazz primarily," Blaze told her. "But I have dabbled in a bit of contemporary."
"She's a terrific dancer!" Amy commented, to which Blaze rolled her eyes.
"I'm not that good," she admitted.
Amy scowled half-jokingly. "Yes, yes you are," she said.
"I am not!" Blaze insisted.
"Don't make me go all mom-friend on you!" Amy jokingly threatened. Blaze and Sally laughed in response.
Then, something on a bulletin board nearby caught their attention. It was a clipboard with sign-up sheets attached to it. A pen on a string hung next to it. Above it, in big colorful letters, was a sign reading:
Homecoming is coming up! Want to run for homecoming court? Sign up to enter the first round of voting before September 29th!
"Oh hey," Amy remarked. "They're picking candidates for the first round of voting."
Blaze looked at the slip and noted a large number of names already on the sheet. "Huh, that's a lot of people. What's the big deal with the homecoming court anyway? Isn't it just an honorary title thing?"
"Not at our school," answered Sally. "Basically, the student body elects one guy and one girl from each grade to be on the court. All the underclassmen get the title of 'prince' and 'princess' for their respective grades, and then the seniors get the king and queen titles. It's actually pretty hard to win; you have to campaign and everything since you represent the next year's student activities board. They get photographed and put on a wall of alumni that were also on the homecoming court. And there are actual physical prizes on top of everything else. Plus, you know, you basically get super popular if you weren't already."
Almost on cue, Amy, Blaze, and Sally noticed Alysha, Selena, and Fiona walking down the hall. Blaze and her friends scooted out of sight and watch the trio stop in front of the bulletin board. Alysha smiled smugly and wrote her name, grade, and school email on the list. Selena also excitedly put her contact info down before following her two friends to wherever they were off to.
"Should've guessed it," Amy commented. "Alysha has been elected to the court for two years in a row for her class, and Selena was the freshman princess last year." She glanced at Blaze. "You gonna sign up?"
Blaze immediately shook her head. "No, no way. No one would vote for me, even as a joke."
"I would vote for you!" Amy indignantly replied.
The two then glanced to board again and noticed Sally, who had silently departed while Amy and Blaze talked, standing in front of the board. Amy and Blaze hurried over to the board.
"You know what?" Sally started. "I'm gonna run for sophomore princess." She picked up the pen and quickly filled in her name, grade, and school email.
"Did you run last year?" Amy asked.
"No," said Sally. "I didn't think I was popular enough. But, uh, that changed around the middle of last year." She put the pen down and beckoned to her two friends to follow her.
"Do you think you'll be able to beat Selena? Selena is the most popular girl in our grade," Blaze asked. Sally shrugged.
"I dunno," she said. "Gives me something to do for the next couple of weeks anyway."
The three girls continued to class. "Did you attend the homecoming dance last year?" asked Amy.
"No, actually," Blaze replied, much to the shock of Amy and Sally. In response, Blaze explained, "My fall jazz recital was the same day as the dance, and, well, my troupe needed me there."
"Oh my god, Blaze, you totally have to go this year!" insisted Amy. Blaze rolled her eyes.
"I thought it only mattered your senior year," she quipped.
"Okay, well, sorta," Amy replied. "But you gotta attend the dance at least once as an underclassman and once as an upperclassman. Well, actually, twice as an upperclassman, cause your senior year hoco dance is totally different than your junior year dance."
Sally snorted. "Says who? Where in the student handbook does it say that?" She teasingly nudged Amy, who playfully shoved her back.
"Girl, shut up, you know what I mean," Amy said. Sally and Blaze snickered.
Sally continued the conversation. "Well, you should totally attend this year," she said. "It'd be fun!"
Blaze shook her head disbelievingly. "Nah, I don't like parties already, so I probably would hate a dance where most of the school shows up. Besides, who would I ask to the dance? Shadow is dating Selena now, and I don't think anyone else would wanna go with me."
"You don't need a date for the dance," Sally responded. "You could just go with a group of friends, or even by yourself. But you got us for a friend group, so you should totally come!"
Amy and Sally looked eagerly to Blaze for a response. Blaze sighed and rolled her eyes.
"I'll think about it," she told them.
Amy crossed her arms. "Not good enough!" she scolded Blaze, eliciting laughter from the two other girls.
The group stopped in front of Sally's next class.
"Well, catch ya girls later," she said. "Lunch?"
Amy and Blaze nodded in agreement before proceeding to their next class, which happened to be personal finance.
"Oh, that reminds me," Amy said. "Where were you last lunch? We missed you!"
"Oh, uh . . ." Blaze racked her brain for a response. "I had a small headache and wanted to eat lunch somewhere quiet, so I went to the library."
"You said yourself that you don't get headaches . . ." Amy said, looking at Blaze disbelievingly. Blaze sighed in defeat.
"Okay, okay, you got me," she said, putting her hands up in surrender. "Your table yesterday was in full view of Shadow and Selena, and I couldn't take it, so I went somewhere else." Amy immediately gave Blaze a side hug.
"I'm sorry," she replied. "I'll try to pick a table off to the side today, so they'll be out of sight as much as possible."
Blaze sighed in relief and gratitude. "Thanks, Amy, you're the best."
"No, you are," Amy replied.
"No, you."
"No, YOU!"
The two burst into giggles and quickly headed into their next class as the warning bell rang.
Alysha and Fiona glanced at each other and simultaneously rolled their eyes at each other. It was lunch, and Selena was going off on one of her obsessive tangents. Today's ramble was about the dates she and Shadow had gone on over the weekend. Needless to say, neither girl really cared too much after about five minutes. Shadow looked very uncomfortable, which was somewhat funny to Fiona, assuming it was because of Selena. But both were still pretty bored either way.
Alysha shot Fiona a knowing look, and the two of them stood up, grabbing their drinks.
"We'll be back," she told the couple. "You two enjoy yourselves." Alysha and Fiona then excused themselves.
The two walked over to the row of vending machines in the cafeteria and leaned up against the wall.
"Ugh, she really isn't gonna shut up about Shadow-kins, isn't she?" Fiona asked, saying Selena's pet name for Shadow in a mocking tone.
"Guess not," Alysha replied, sipping from her smoothie. "God, that's all she's talked about recently. I'm bored as fuck."
"Right?"
The two glanced around the cafeteria, looking for some entertainment. They found some in the form of a certain girl getting her lunch from the servery. They turned and gave each other mischievous grins.
"You thinking what I'm thinking, Aly?" Fiona asked.
"Is it prank time? Hell. Yes."
They giggled and quickly left the cafeteria, looking for the instruments to plan out their prank. They walked for a bit before coming across the bathrooms near the lunchroom. As if their prayers had been answered, planted outside was a bucket of murky, almost black, dirty mop water. Fiona clapped her hands together.
"Bingo," she said. "This is perfect."
The two of them quickly unlocked the wheels on the bucket and quickly rolled it down the hallway. They stopped just outside of an infrequently used entrance to the cafeteria.
"So, what exactly is the plan?" Alysha questioned. "I'll let you lead. You are the prank master."
Fiona leaned up against the wall. "Simple," she said. "We lure her over to the vending machines, and then we throw it on her." She snickered at the thought. "She won't know what hit her."
Alysha giggled. "How're we gonna lure her over there?"
Fiona thought for a moment, then snapped her fingers. "Well, I bet she's still upset over Shadow. What if we planted a note 'from Shadow' at her lunch table for her to find?"
"Ooh, good idea," Alysha replied, grinning. "Hey, what if we added a little . . . spice to our bucket here?"
Fiona laughed and started to wheel the bucket into the cafeteria.
"I'll collect, you write the note, and then you catch up with me," she said aside to Alysha.
"Hell. Yes."
Oh, hell no! Nuh-uh, no way I'm seeing this right!
Rouge was not buying what she saw, nor could she believe it. She missed one day of school, went a weekend without hearing from Shadow, and when she got back, he was dating Selena Brenig of all people!
Rouge headed over to where her boyfriend Knuckles was sitting.
"Hey beautiful," he said to her, giving her a kiss on the cheek.
"Are you seeing this, Knuckie?" she shouted in shock, gesturing to the table where Selena and Shadow were sitting.
Knuckles looked over to where the new couple was seated and shrugged. "Uh, yeah. They're dating now. You jealous or something?" he joked.
Rouge elbowed him in the ribs in response to his joke. "Oh fuck no. I'm just confused as hell. Shadow and I go way back. We've been friends since forever ago, and he's told me before he'd rather chew broken glass before dating anyone like Selena. So I wanna know is this: What. Fucking. Gives?"
Knuckles shrugged again. "You can always go ask him," he suggested.
Rouge stood up. "You know, that's not a bad idea, Knuckie," she told him.
She leaned down and planted a kiss on the top of his head. "I'll be back in a sec!" she told him, hurrying over to the popular girl's table.
When she arrived, she quickly grabbed a nearby vacant chair and pretended to blend in. Selena picked her out immediately and shot her a nasty glare.
"Hey there, Shadow!" she said, waving at him. Shadow looked up and gave Rouge a look she couldn't read. He looked extremely uncomfortable and irritated.
Before Shadow had the chance to acknowledge her, Selena butted in. "What do you want bitch?"
"Woah there," Rouge said. "Calm down sweetie, I just wanted to say hi to my childhood best friend." She emphasized the last part, having a feeling it would make Selena mad. It did. She turned pink but said nothing.
Rouge began. "Well, this is quite the surprise. I would never have pictured you two together. How the hell did this happen?" she laughed. Shadow gave her a pained look.
Selena scowled. "That's none of your business," she snapped.
Rouge smiled sweetly at Selena. "I think Shadow is a big boy. He can speak for himself. Besides," she said, "I'm a huge gossip, I just have to know what the tea is, or I'll die." She pretended to gag and rolled her head back with her tongue out. Shadow couldn't help but snicker, which made Selena even madder. She glared up at Shadow, who resumed looking extremely uncomfortable.
Shadow looked at Rouge. "Hey Rouge, listen, uh, now is not a good time. I'm kind of busy," he said, gesturing to Selena. Selena gripped his arm tighter and leaned up against it as if holding him tighter would make him his.
Rouge was appalled by how friendly Shadow and Selena were acting but tried to act naturally. She sighed. "Well, okay. But text me the first chance you get," Rouge told him. "I just wanna talk. Like, you do text me the most," she said, winking at him. Shadow was unamused, and Selena's nostrils flared.
". . . Unless you wanna tell me what's going on right now?" she probed. She shot Shadow a "you-know-what" glare. Shadow said nothing and instead stared intently at the tabletop.
Rouge sighed in defeat stood up. "Right. Well, I'll get going." She blew him a kiss. "Bye, lovebirds! Text me, Shadow!" she shouted as she scurried back to her table, heeled boots clicking against the linoleum. She glanced back one last time to see an enraged Selena shout and slam her first down on the table in anger. She laughed to herself.
Rouge rejoined Knuckles at their table. He wrapped his arm around her shoulder and asked, "Well?"
Rouge huffed. "Shadow didn't say anything. He looked really uncomfortable, actually. He kept clutching his stomach every time Selena grabbed onto him and just overall looked like he didn't want to be there. Something is fishy," she said.
"So, what're you gonna do?" he asked.
Rouge tapped her chin thoughtfully. "I'm gonna keep an eye on him for the rest of the day," she decided.
Just then, Fiona rolled by with a mop bucket and stopped at their lunch table. Rouge and Knuckles gave her a baffled look.
"I see Station Square hired a new janitor," she said, chuckling to herself. "You'd be great at spotting the trash around here."
Fiona rolled her eyes. "Wow, you're so funny, Stone," she retorted sarcastically. "Don't be a bitch. I'm just here to ask for your trash."
Rouge blinked, confused. "Um, why? Are you actually a new janitor?"
Fiona looked visibly annoyed. "No, you fucking idiot. Listen, I'm gonna pull a prank, and I need your trash."
"Uh, sure, I guess," Rouge replied, handing Fiona her scraps and paper waste. "I'm always down for a good 'practical goof,'" she said. "What's it gonna be?"
Fiona thought for a second. "It's a surprise," was all she said.
Rouge looked mildly skeptical. "Well, if you don't have a plan, flooding the staff bathrooms would be pretty funny," she told her.
"Noted," Fiona said dismissively. She looked at Knuckles, who also pushed his trash across the table. The couple watched as Fiona brushed their waste over the table's edge and into the mop bucket. She then walked off.
Rouge scooted closer to Knuckles and kissed him. "Well, this should be good," she said.
Alysha and Fiona reconvened near the set of tables where most of the popular students sat. Alysha showed Fiona the note, written in black pen on a scrap sheet of loose-leaf paper. Fiona nodded in affirmation.
"Perfect," she chuckled. "Now, see what I've been working on."
Alysha looked down. The liquid in the mop bucket was a soupy mess of trash, soggy food waste, additional poured-off liquids, and black water.
"Gross!" Alysha remarked. She laughed.
"I've hit about half of the tables in the lunchroom, excepting the obvious one. You wanna come with me and help get the rest?" Fiona asked
Alysha flashed her trademark smile and nodded. "Of course, girl."
The two scurried across the cafeteria, asking all the tables for trash, which most agreed to. By the time they circled back around to their starting point, the mop bucket was full to bursting. Inside it was leftover milk, soggy bread crust, slop from the cafeteria, old plastic bags, used plastic cutlery, and various other things. The two girls didn't want to think about it for longer than necessary.
Fiona pushed the bucket under the table where they were sitting, where some other popular students had gathered, ready to watch the aftermath. "You ready?" she asked.
Alysha nodded and flashed the note in front of Fiona. "Let's do this!"
Alysha waved Honey over, and she quickly walked over to where she was.
"Go give this to Blaze," Alysha told her, handing her a folded piece of paper with Blaze's name written on it. Honey nodded and ran off to do so.
Alysha and Fiona leaned back, looked at each other, and giggled loudly.
"This is gonna be fucking a-ma-zing!" Fiona laughed.
Blaze, Amy, Sally, Julie-Su, Sonic, and Silver were sitting peacefully, eating lunch and discussing who their favorite teachers were. Blaze was just about to explain why Mr. Canus, her world history teacher, was her favorite when someone tapped her on the shoulder.
Blaze turned around and came face to face with a girl she didn't recognize. The girl handed her a slip of paper with "Blaze Katba" written across the top.
"Hey, uh, Shadow said to give this to you," she said and quickly hurried off before Blaze could even respond.
Blaze's entire table went silent.
"The fucking audacity . . ." Julie-Su remarked.
"No, no, this could actually be good," Sally argued. "This could explain something."
Blaze took a deep breath, unfolded the note, and read the scratchy handwriting.
Hey Blaze,
Listen, I want to talk with you about everything that's happened, but I need to do so in secret so Selena doesn't find out. I really do care about you, and we need to work this out privately. Everything is not what it seems.
Meet me over by the vending machines at 11:35. I have to break away from Selena, so it may be a minute or two. Don't bring anyone else. I want us to be in privacy. Talk to you then.
Shadow
Blaze felt her heart rate pick up. "He . . . he wants to talk to me . . ." she said, stunned.
"No way!" Amy yelled. She snatched the note out of Blaze's hands and read it for herself. She and Sonic quickly skimmed it, then passed it around to their other friends. When the note got back to Blaze, Sally asked, "So, are you gonna do it? Meet with him, I mean."
Blaze hesitated. Was it worth the emotional heartache? She needed answers but wasn't sure if she was ready for whatever Shadow had to say. It could work in her favor. Or, it could just be him trying to "explain" why he ditched her and was now dating Selena. He did say he cared, which was hopeful, but that didn't guarantee a positive result.
Despite trying to debate in her head, she already knew what she was going to do in her heart. She stood up. "I'll meet him."
Amy grabbed her hand. "You've got this," she told Blaze.
"Yeah," added Sally. "Good luck. Hopefully, it ends well."
Blaze nodded and nervously made her way over to the vending machines. Once there, she stood anxiously for a couple minutes, waiting for Shadow to show up. Blaze nervously tapped her foot. She glanced at the rows of candy in the vending machine and decided on some peanut M&Ms.
I need something to distract me . . . she thought.
She pulled a couple bucks out of her wallet and slipped them into the vending machine. She was just about to punch in the number for her snack, when . . .
SPLASH!
A wave of cold fluid washed over her. Blaze gasped in shock as she felt the liquid soak her hair, run down her face and clothes, and pool around her shoes. She gagged from the smell, which was absolutely rancid. Blaze then realized she was also covered in trash. A banana peel slid off her shoulder, and she felt something slimy run down her back. She started to cough and gag, trying to suppress the urge to throw up.
Blaze tried to move, but she was rooted to the spot. She then noticed laughter coming from behind her. She slowly turned her head, trash falling off her head, and saw a crowd of students laughing hysterically. And there at the front was none other than Alysha and Fiona, both practically on the floor from laughter.
Alysha stopped laughing hard and tried to suppress her laughter for a moment. She snorted at the sight of a shell-shocked Blaze. "Nice hat!" she yelled, gesturing at the mound of wet food on top of Blaze's head. Fiona, Alysha, and the crowd laughed harder.
The soggy food slowly oozed down her hair and her clothes. The smell was disgusting, and the water had soaked through to her underwear. She covered her chest, realizing her bra was probably visible through her now see-through shirt. She felt her eyes well up and fought the urge to cry, albeit poorly.
"Aw, you gonna cry?" asked Fiona in a mocking tone. "You ain't seen the worst of it bitch!" she hollered. She reached over to a random tray and pelted Blaze with a nearby sandwich. It slapped her in the face and fell to the floor, leaving a splotch of watery mustard on her cheek.
"Ha!" Alysha yelled and hurled a tray full of food at her. It struck her in the back of the head and sprayed lasagna all over her. This sent Blaze to her knees, and the tears started. However, this garnered no sympathy from the crowd, who began to throw even more food at Blaze while jeering.
Time seemed to slow. Nothing felt real. Blaze felt the world start to spin as more and more food landed on her. Her instincts told her to run or to grab the food and throw it back in anger, but it felt like every joint in her body was locked up. Not even when Fiona and Alysha went directly up to her to dump cartons of milk on her could she move. She only cried harder.
After what felt like an eternity, she heard a familiar voice shriek her name.
"BLAZE! OH MY GOD!"
Blaze blinked the mass of foul liquid away from her eyes and saw a horrified Amy, Sally, and Julie-Su hurrying up towards her. They were closely followed by an equally stunned Sonic and Silver. They were all as white as paper.
"Oh, oh my fucking God. Okay, okay, here, uh, Blaze, here, take my hand," Amy hurriedly said, her voice shaky. She pulled a limp Blaze to her feet, and Sally quickly and carefully pushed the two of them away from the scene of the "prank." Blaze continued to cry as they walked, her waterlogged shoes squeaking against the floor.
"Oh, fuck no!" hollered a furious Julie-Su. "You! Fiona, I'm gonna beat your fucking ass!" She swung at Fiona, who narrowly dodged her fists and shoved her away. Julie-Su slipped on the dirty water spilled on the floor and landed hard, much to the amusement of the crowd. A few people started to chant, "fight, fight, fight!"
Even more enraged, Julie-Su shoved an unsuspecting Alysha, who landed against the table, smacking her head on its surface. Immediately Fiona retaliated, pushing Julie-Su back. Julie-Su punched Fiona squarely in the nose. Fiona hollered in pain, but before she or Alysha could do anything else, she stormed off, following her friends that were escorting Blaze.
Fiona attempted to follow Julie-Su. "Come back and fight me bitch! I fucking dare you, you fucking pussy!" she screamed, her nose leaking a small amount of blood. Julie-Su slowed her walking speed down and landed a perfectly timed trip. Fiona slammed into the floor, and Julie-Su ran out the door, urging Amy and Fiona to keep walking. They hurried off in the direction of the nearby gymnasium.
Selena was laughing. "Oh my god, that's amazing!" she said, recording the entire scene on her phone. Shadow had a different opinion on the whole thing. He was trembling with anger. He rose to his feet and grabbed Selena by her wrist, aggressively yanking her out of her seat. Selena cried in pain.
"Shadow! What the fu-"
"You're coming with me! We need to fucking talk!" he barked, dragging her away from the cafeteria.
Rouge and Knuckles watched the whole thing, mouths agape.
"Oh no . . ." Rouge said. "I didn't think they were gonna do that."
Knuckles shook his head. "Yeah, they went a bit far, didn't they?"
"More like a lot far. I thought they were just gonna flood the teacher's lounge or something." She shook her head, the guilt in her rising. "That was awful."
She stood up. "Where you going?" Knuckles asked.
"I think I know where they went," Rouge replied. "I feel sorta responsible, and since no one else is gonna help them, I'm gonna see what I can do."
She grabbed her bag and hurried out of the cafeteria, leaving her still reeling boyfriend at their table.
⬤⬤⬤⬤⬤⬤ END ⬤⬤⬤⬤⬤⬤