CW: This chapter contains depictions of severe bullying, depictions of sexual harassment, references to suicide, and the use of homophobic slurs. I do not in any way condone the use of slurs by adding them in my story. I do not add them lightly or for shock value.

If any of these things might upset you, feel free to speed read or skip entirely. Above all else, please take care of yourselves!

People were giving Blaze and Shadow weird looks, but it was nothing she wasn't used to. As uneasy as it made her feel, she tried to ignore the points and not-so-subtle whispers and focus on moving through the crowded halls with Shadow. It had been a great weekend so far, and she'd woken up feeling positive. And besides, Shadow was with her. Nothing could phase her. Shadow seemed to notice the attention, as Blaze observed him glancing around and back down at her. Steeling herself, she continued to smile at him obliviously while carrying on their casual conversation.

While stopped at Shadow's locker, he glanced around again and leaned down to whisper to Blaze. "Hey, uh, is it just me, or are people pointing at us?"

Blaze glanced behind him momentarily and back to him. "Probably," she commented. "I mean, you did kinda explosively break up with Selena on Friday. That's probably it. People love gossip in this hellhole."

Shadow thought for a moment, shaking his head. "So dumb. She was the one that made it explosive," Shadow muttered. "Can't have a clean 'breakup,' I guess." Blaze replied with a sympathetic smile as she watched Shadow get his books out of his locker.

Blaze then felt a frantic tap on her shoulder, and turned to see Amy and Sonic, much to her pleasant surprise be.

"Oh, hey guys, what's . . . up?" Blaze's excited greeting trailed off as she saw the concerned expressions on her friends' faces. Shadow turned to see the two of them, also noticing their demeanors, and knit his brows together.

Amy looked mortified but didn't clarify why. "Blaze . . . Have you visited your locker yet?" she asked instead.

Confused, Blaze glanced to Sonic (who looked mortified too), and Shadow (who looked as confused as she felt). "Uh . . . No, I haven't, I just got here with Shadow. Why?" She asked. When her friends failed to answer, Blaze suddenly got a pit in bottom of her stomach. "What? Why?" she probed again, dread starting to fill her.

Amy and Sonic looked at each other, worried. "You . . . You should probably come look at your locker," Amy said, though it was thickly insinuated that she was pleading with Blaze rather than stating.

Blaze inhaled and glanced to Shadow, who nodded in agreement. "Should probably go look," he acknowledged.

God, I don't want to . . . Blaze heard a small voice in the back of her head say. She looked too her friends and crush, who were all looking at her, concerned and expectant.

"Yeah, okay," Blaze said, and, anxiety bubbling up, she quickly turned and walked in the direction of her locker. She wasn't planning on going too fast, but as her friends tailed her, she got more and more anxious seeing their expressions, and found herself speeding up gradually.

"Ooh, I think she just found out about the locker . . ." she heard a distant and unfamiliar voice say. That sent electric shocks through her entire body.

Found out about what . . .? Oh, my god . . .

Blaze picked up her pace and hurried through the crowded hallways to where her locker was. As soon as she turned down the hall where her locker was, she could already see something was off about it. She found herself sprinting towards it, the air whishing past her ears, the blood rushing to her face as her chest tightened from anxiety.

She finally stopped in front of her locker, feeling the blood in her face drain as she took in everything.

BOYFRIEND STEALING SLUT

STUPID WHORE

LOOSE CUNT

DIE BITCH

IF YOU WANT AN EASY FUCK, BLAZE WILL FOR A BUCK

KILL YOURSELF

BLAZE KATBA IS GONNA DIE

DIRTY CHEATER

YOU'RE GONNA GET WHAT YOU DESERVE

The entirety of Blaze's locker was covered in graphic graffiti that had been crudely written on with a thick, black permanent marker. Blaze felt her eyes flick up and down the juxtaposed list of expletives and felt her mouth fall open. She wanted to run but was rooted to the spot, as if her mind was forcing her to read and re-read the graffiti over and over and over and-

Blaze saw Amy, Sonic, and Shadow standing next to her. Sonic and Amy stared glassily at Blaze, Amy looking like she was holding back tears. Shadow was horrified too.

"What the fuck?" Blaze heard him faintly say.

"Blaze . . .? Blaze, are you okay?" Amy asked, sounding even further away than Shadow. Blaze tried to force air through her throat, but nothing came out.

RIIIIIIIIIIIIIIING

The warning bell for homeroom felt like it pierced through Blaze's skull. She felt people slowing down and staring at her, the passerby murmuring various things that were impossible to make out in the moment. She could feel their judgement, stabbing her like hot knives in her back. Wanting nothing more than to escape in that moment, she quickly turned and sprinted down the hall towards the stairs, heading to her homeroom class. She faintly heard Amy call after her, but it fell on deaf ears as she flung her numb body up the stairs and down the hall towards her classroom.

She flung the door to her homeroom open, and it banged against the wall, snapping Blaze out of her daze. A few people in the room jumped, and she noticed a few girls sitting towards the back giggle in response. The blood came rushing back, and Blaze felt her face radiating heat as she slowly shuffled to a vacant seat and sat down. She pulled out her phone and tried to block out the graffiti flashing in her head.

The morning announcements came on over the PA, but everything looked and sounded faint and vague. Blaze found herself gnawing on the eraser end of her pencil, something she had quit doing in middle school.

God, that's so mean and cruel. Who would do that to me . . . Oh fucking hell, is it any guess as to who?

Instantly, tears fogged her vision, and she quickly brushed them away with a flick of her sweatshirt sleeve. The pencil fell out of her mouth and landed on the desk with a quiet clatter, the deep tooth marks flashing through her vision. She sighed, trying to hold back her tears.

The sudden scraping of two chairs on either side of her made Blaze jump. She flinched and bumped the now damaged pencil off her desk.

"Oh, sorry hun, we didn't mean to scare you!" an overly chipper female voice boomed into Blaze's right ear.

"Yeah, our bad!" another girl's voice said on the other side of her.

Blaze sharply took in a breath and nervously sat back in her chair. Two girls from her homeroom had abruptly slid their chairs right up next to her while the homeroom teacher wasn't paying attention (or didn't care, it was hard to tell). She felt her heart skip as a bad feeling rose to a peak in her throat.

The girl on Blaze's right, a tall brunette fox, leaned in way too close to Blaze and asked in a hushed voice, "So, is it true?"

Blaze didn't respond, both out of confusion and anxiety. The other girl, a pretty blonde cat, also leaned in to listen in on the forced conversation.

"Is . . . Is-is what true?" Blaze quivered, trying, and failing to hide her nervousness.

"We heard that you stole Selena Brenig's boyfriend!" the cat said accusingly, a slight smirk on her face.

"Yeah, we heard you told Selena that Shadow Ultima cheated on her, and then you went and had . . . you know . . ." the fox said. Both giggled.

Blaze felt her cheeks burn in indignation. "N . . . no. No, I didn't do anything!"

The two girls looked past Blaze, smirking at each other. This was not unnoticed by Blaze, who felt her stomach churn unpleasantly. She could practically feel herself losing control of the situation, so frantically she racked her brain to try to defend herself.

"I don't know . . . who told you that, but I can tell you I didn't do anything," Blaze shakily replied, scrambling to pick up her dropped pencil as the bell dismissing morning homeroom rang.

"Oh really?" the fox jeered, with a scathing look. "Then how come everyone's seen you coming into school with Shadow?" Blaze said nothing in response, and stood up, hurriedly pushing past the blonde.

"Yeah, and how come Selena has proof you told her that Shadow was cheating?" asked her partner.

When Blaze only glanced back in response, the two girls that had been antagonizing Blaze giggled obnoxiously.

"See? Told you. She's super defensive, and they obviously are fu-"

Blaze found herself hurrying out the door, her ears, eyes, and chest burning.

Shit.

It felt like someone turned on a fog machine in Blaze's brain. She couldn't focus on anything going on around her in geometry, even though critical review for a test was happening around her. All she could focus on was her locker and the two girls in her homeroom. She sighed and stared down at her desk, her hair flowing across her face, acting as blinders against the outside world.

Shit, I dunno how I'm supposed to get through an entire day like this. It's like I've got everyone watching me with that fucking graffiti on my locker. What am I gonna do? How do I get out of this?

She tried to force the tears that threatened to creep out back in and firmly pressed the tip of her pencil into her notebook. The lead snapped unceremoniously, and she let out another defeated sigh. There was mild stirring around her, but it didn't faze her or ruse out of festering mood. What did, however, was the sound of her last name being called harshly.

"Miss Katba?"

Blaze jolted out of her daze and looked up, hurriedly brushing her hair out of her face. It was her geometry teacher, a stern looking wolf

"Miss Katba, I've asked everyone else already. Do you have your constructions project?" she asked.

Blaze felt like she was going to throw up. Oh god, did I remember the project? I did it, I know I did, I did it before the due date. I don't have it in my bag though, I would've seen it . . .

"Blaze?" her teacher inquired again.

"I . . . I, uh . . ."

The teacher gave her a tired and impatient look. "Miss Katba," the teacher began again, her voice quiet. "Do you have your geometric constructions project?"

"N-no, not with me right now, I-"

"Did you do it?"

"Well, y-yeah but I left it in my . . ." Blaze felt the last few words in her throat turn into hot air as her last attempt at defending herself was declared dead on arrival.

God, I left it in my FUCKING locker.

"Miss Katba, you know my rule about bringing homework on time to class. Please bring it in to me before your next class for reduced credit."

"Sorry," was Blaze's only meek response.

She sighed as her teacher left her side. She hadn't even visited her locker since this morning because of, well, the obvious.

She laid her head on her desk and sighed once again.

Blaze pushed through the busy hallways, trying to imagine away all the stares and whispers that were occurring around her. She tried to focus intently on the floor, and she pushed her way through a crowd that was murmuring things as she passed.

"Is that the girl with the locker?"

"Yeah, I think so."

"Is that the girl that Shadow cheated on Selena with?"

"Oh yeah, that's her. I heard she told Selena so she could get with him."

"No way!"

"Dude, I'm serious!"

"Ooh, there's Katba, heard she's fucking Shadow."

"Get outta here. No way."

Blaze finally arrived at her locker and kept her gaze firmly planted on her shoes. She could barely look up at it, but she could tell the graffiti was still there.

"Oh wow, she's actually at her locker. I'm surprised."

"Oof, that sucks. Haha."

"Does she actually have sex for money?"

"Dude, why don't you go ask her?"

"Haha, no way, no way."

With shaky hands and sweaty palms, Blaze fumbled with her combination dial, fingers slipping around, her gaze hyper focused on the tiny white numbers and hashes. She failed to input it twice, her anxiety growing more and more by the minute as she failed to do what should have been a simple task.

Suddenly, she felt a sharp pinch on her upper thigh, close to her butt. Bile rose in her throat, and she spun around, slamming back into the locker door. Facing her was a leering group of upperclassman boys, with a tall, bulky blonde guy closest to her, his arm in a semi-extended position that indicated he had been the one to grab her.

The boy grinned at her in a half-mocking, half-sincere manner.

"Aw, what's the matter sweetheart? I thought you liked male attention," he taunted. "Or do I need to pay before a trial?"

The group of guys started to laugh, ooh, and high-five each other. "Nice one Drago!" she heard one say.

It felt like her blood had turned to acid. She hurried down the hallway, her heart slamming against her ribcage. She completely forgot about her project and could only focus on getting away as fast as possible, the laughter of the boys echoing in her ears.

It felt like an entire day had passed by the time lunch came around. Blaze was numbly walking to lunch, and initially was incredibly relieved to see her lunch table. Trying to look unfazed, despite the absolute whirlwind of humiliation that had been thrown at her throughout the day, she made her way to the usual table. Only, when she approached the table, things weren't normal.

Amy, Sonic, and Sally were nowhere to be seen. Only Julie-Su and Silver were sitting there, both on their phones. Both looked up as they heard Blaze move a chair to sit down at the table.

"Hey guys, where's, uh . . ." Blaze started.

Julie-Su looked up, her face in an unusual, unreadable expression.

"Sally's sitting with her boyfriend at that one popular table. And I dunno where Amy and Sonic are," she said.

"Oh," was all Blaze could muster, unable to figure out what she wanted to say.

"Hey, Blaze, are you good?" Julie-Su then asked, her violet eyes locking with Blaze's.

Blaze took a deep breath, hesitating. Silver looked up at her too, his face morphed into one of concern.

"I'm fine guys, thanks."

She's not fine at all.

Silver made his way towards Blaze's locker. The bell dismissing lunch had rung, and the second it had, Blaze had dashed away from their table, leaving their table in awkward silence. Well, the entire lunch was mostly silent; the three of them were intently focused on their own phones, which had led to a tense twenty-five minutes.

I've known her for a while now, and it looks like something's eating at her . . . I would've asked sooner, but she's not super close with Julie, so I didn't want to pry with her around. Julie can be a little . . . intense . . . Now, where's her locker again?

Silver only had a vague idea of where her locker was, but he figured it wouldn't be too difficult to interact with her briefly before her next class.

She usually drops her morning class things off in her locker before PE, so she's probably doing that right now . . . Actually, I think it's down this hallway. Yeah, this looks right.

Silver strolled down the hallway. A couple people jostled him, he noticed, but it felt unintentional, so he brushed it off. It was as he was most of the way down the hall that something caught his eye. He stopped and pushed past a crowd of people taking pictures of one of the lockers.

What are people looking a-

Silver felt his mouth hang open. In front of him had to have been Blaze's locker, because her name was written on it . . . along with a list of nasty obscenities that he could hardly look at. Instead, he chose to stare at his shoes.

What the fuck? What the fuck? Did she see that?

He found himself shaking his head.

Silver you idiot, of course she saw it. It's her locker. That's why she's acting sad. That's horrible. Oh my god.

"Wow, that's tragic," a snide, familiar voice said.

Silver turned around and saw exactly who he thought he heard. It was Alysha, surrounded by a group of popular juniors. Unfortunately for him, Alysha noticed his burning stare, and she smirked.

"What? What're you looking at, fag?" she snapped, sizing him up briefly.

Silver felt his ears turn pink from anger, irritation, and indignation. "What? I'm not-"

"You got something to say to her?" a booming male voice barked. A tall white wolf Silver didn't recognize, and Scourge Reynolds stepped forward.

"Yeah, you messing with my girl, you fuckin' faggot?" Scourge sneered, lurching towards him in an aggressive manner.

The slur echoed in Silver's ears, and he felt his stomach lurch violently. But, after he saw the graffiti on his best friend and crush's locker again, out of the corner of his eye, he regained a small bit of courage, despite both Scourge and the senior being taller and most likely stronger than him.

"I don't want any trouble . . . I just don't appreciate you vandalizing my friend's locker . . . like that . . ." he began, his initially demanding retort decaying into a meek one as he saw the expressions between the group of popular friends morph into one of cruel amusement. Alysha let out a loud, smug laugh.

"What? You think I did that?" she quipped. "Oh, honey, no. Why would I do that? I don't have that much of a problem with her. Besides, why would I get myself in trouble with the school? That whore isn't worth the trouble . . ."

She stared Silver down menacingly, a satisfied smile forming on her red-tinted lips. "Even though she deserves all the shit she gets from this. I hope she fucking kills herself after this. It's the best thing for her at this point."

Silver felt something snap deep inside him. He lunged forward, unsure of what his own body was doing . . . he wasn't really thinking at that moment. Before he could even take more than a couple steps forward, though, the wolf lunged forward, grabbing Silver by the shoulders in a sweeping arm hold, and shoving him into the wall nearby. Silver tried to push forward, but seeing how the senior was mostly muscle, and he was mostly slender, it was fruitless. He let out a surprised, strained gasp as he collided with the wall.

"Thanks, Drago," Alysha said, staring at her phone, completely nonplussed. Scourge stepped forward and grabbed a handful of Silver's quills.

"Don't you ever try to touch my girl again, you hear me? I'll be the shit out of you if you do, you scrawny cocksucker," Scourge warned, leering in Silver's face. Silver didn't say anything.

And just like that, Scourge let go of him and the group dispersed, leaving a dazed and slightly sore Silver still leaning up against the wall. He tried to formulate a thought in his mind, but nothing came through. He exhaled, and feeling a bunch of people staring at him, he suddenly felt sick. He hurried away out of the hallway, fully planning to look for Blaze before the warning bell rang.

Fuck, he thought, changing course so as not to be late for class. His heart was hammering in his chest and he was slightly shaking from all of the adrenaline coursing through him. He took a shortcut by the gymnasium, hoping to spot Blaze in her PE class.

She was nowhere to be seen.

Who he did see however, shocked him even more.

It was Amy. She was sitting on a bench in the gymnasium entryway, and she was sobbing into her hands, surrounded by other girls that looked like they were on the junior varsity cheer team (at least according to his memory). Sonic was right by her side, doing his best to comfort her.

"Amy? Sonic? What happened, what . . . ?" Silver said, his voice trailing off as a slightly judgmental crowd of cheerleaders stared up at him. Sonic looked up at Silver, his mouth in a worried, tightened, fine line.

"Now's not the best time Silver," Sonic explained, cradling his distraught girlfriend closer to him. "I'll talk to you later, okay?"

Feeling like the world was spinning, all Silver could do was nod in acknowledgement, turn, and walk away, feeling hopeless and confused.

Skipping class was wrong. At least, that's what everyone in Blaze's life had told her up until that point.

But it felt like it was the best thing to do at that point.

What else was she supposed to do? It was as if after lunch, even more gossip and rumors about her had disseminated even more than she'd expected. She didn't know what to do, other than to seek refuge in one of the girl's bathrooms, choking back tears.

She sank down to the floor of her stall and let out a rattled sob. This hurt. This pain, this humiliation, it hurt so, so much. It had never been this bad. In just one day, she'd become a schoolwide joke, and a punching bag for a girl infinitely more popular, attractive, and well-liked then her. She thought she had a chance to power through, excluding some bad days. But now? How was she going to come back from this? How was she going to fix everything?

I just want to go home . . . I just want them to stop.

Silver later found out via a private text from Sonic that shortly before lunch, someone had also defaced Amy's locker, like how Blaze's locker had been, and had also left a note in her cheer locker detailing how exactly Amy should quit cheer and then kill herself. Sonic didn't say anything else besides that. It made Silver feel sick thinking about it.

He laid on his bed, staring up at the ceiling. He'd tried to text and call Blaze multiple times throughout the day. She never picked up or opened any of his texts. It made him bite his lower lip in worry as the thought came into his head.

He covered his head in both hands and groaned. It felt like that, in just one short school day, his entire friend group was dissolving from outside influence. The whole thing made him want to either cry or throw up. He couldn't figure out which one, so he instead chose to lay motionless on his bed, staring up at his ceiling.

How the hell are we going to get out of this?

⬤⬤⬤⬤⬤⬤ END ⬤⬤⬤⬤⬤⬤

A/N: Hello everyone! Merry Christmas! (if you celebrate it!)

Enjoy Chapter 19 as my Christmas present to you. My life has been a bit nuts lately. I moved to a new city and started at a new school so I've been super busy. Finals week recently also impeded me getting this out sooner. I hope y'all enjoy the next chapter. Enjoy the last little bit of this year, and i'll see you all in the new year!

Happy holidays! Take care everyone!