Alysha and Selena, dressed in warm designer clothing and wearing puffy designer jackets, hopped out of Alysha's Audi. Fiona and Scourge were waiting for the two of them, Scourge puffing on a THC vape and Fiona loudly chewing on a piece of gum. Alysha skipped over to Scourge and hugged him tightly. Selena crossed her arms impatiently.
"Well Scourge? Is it ready?" she half-asked, half-demanded.
Scourge grinned. "Sure is," he told her. "Turn on AirDrop, all of you, and I'll send it to you."
The three girls did this, and shortly after, they received the video file. Selena played the video and watched it, grinning as she did so.
"It's perfect," she said.
"It really is," agreed Alysha, sipping from a hot Starbucks drink. "When do we wanna leak it?"
"Uh, why not right now?" suggested Fiona, an eyebrow raised.
"We could," said Alysha. "But like, don't we want people to see it?"
"Good point," Scourge said.
"We should do it at lunch," Selena said finally. "That way not only do people see it, but she knows it's out there. I want her to feel bad, like how she made me feel."
The other three nodded in agreement. "You deal with it then," Alysha dismissed. "You got this girl."
"Thanks," Selena said, beaming.
Scourge wrapped his arm around Alysha. "Shall we go then?" he said to the three of them.
The three girls nodded, and Alysha huddled closer to Scourge as a cool autumn wind blew over them. The three of them headed up the main steps.
"I have a feeling today is gonna be good," Fiona remarked with a grin on her face. She took a hit on Scourge's vape, passed to her by Alysha, who had also taken a hit. The four of them agreed and confidently strode into the school.
Blaze's bus finally arrived at school, and she clambered down the bus steps into the cold air. She shivered involuntarily and made her way reluctantly to the front steps of the school, where she knew a rough day of school awaited her. Hell, it had already been off to a bad start when she hadn't seen Shadow leave for school in his truck, forcing her to take the bus. It was all downhill from here, no doubt.
Fuck this. I don't want to do this. I want to go home. I'm so, so tired.
A hand on her shoulder jolted her back to reality so hard she stumbled and tripped over her own feet. Feeling herself start to fall, she shut her eyes and braced herself for an impact, certain whoever startled her had done it on purpose. The fall never came.
Opening her eyes, she realized a pair of arms had caught her mid-fall. She turned to look up and behind her, and nearly fell again from surprise.
"Woah, sorry, didn't mean to startle you!" Shadow said, almost as surprised as Blaze felt. Blaze felt her cheeks go warm, despite the air having a cold bite to it. Shadow lifted Blaze to her feet, and Blaze exhaled in relief.
"Thanks Shadow," she said, feeling mildly embarrassed.
"No problem. I should've known you'd be on edge, what with everything going on the past few days," he told her. He patted her on the shoulder comfortingly. Blaze started to relax.
"Want me to walk you in?" Shadow asked, a smile small appearing on his face.
"Oh, well, you don't have to," Blaze told him, sliding a strand of hair out her face.
"No, I don't, but I want to," he said, with a sly grin. He lightly tapped Blaze with his fist, causing Blaze to giggle in spite of herself.
"Well, if you insist," she replied, smiling fully for what felt like the first time in days. The two of them smiled at each other, and made their way up the steps. As they approached the doors that led into the school, Shadow stopped, causing Blaze to stop as well.
"Hey, listen, if you need anything, please tell me," he told her earnestly. "I know the last few days have been really hard for you, and, well, I just want you to know I'm on your side. I've been trying to stick up for you as best as I can. I know it's not much, and I don't know if it worked, but you deserve to know, and I just want you to be okay."
Blaze nodded, a confusing lump of emotions starting to form in her throat. "Thanks Shadow, that means a lot," she said. He patted her on the shoulder.
"Breakfast?" he asked. "On me, of course."
"No, I want to get it this time," Blaze said, a smile starting to form on her face. She looked Shadow in the eyes, non-verbally challenging him again.
Shadow shook his head, grinning and sighing. "You're never gonna let that go, are you?" he said, glancing down at his phone to check it. "You got it the last time at Mystical Melodies, just let me get-"
He looked up and saw Blaze, who had left his side and hurried into the building before him.
Unable to help herself, Blaze cupped her hands to her mouth and shouted, "Whoever gets to the cafeteria first gets to buy the food!" She then turned and started running, giggling for the first time in what felt like ages. Turning back to look behind her, she saw a bewildered but grinning Shadow. He pocketed his phone and started running in after her, laughing as he did so.
"You know, usually it's the loser that pays for the food!" he yelled after her.
"Conspiracy!" she shouted back, still giggling, as Shadow ran after her, attempting to catch up. The two of them ran all the way to the cafeteria, laughing and teasing each other the whole way.
Blaze walked into the cafeteria for lunch, her spirits feeling lifted. Today hadn't been a total failure like she thought it would be. Plus, her locker was free of graffiti, and people's weird looks, stares, and whispers had quieted down considerably. This wasn't completely unusual. In fact, it was almost routine. Something happens, people start actively bullying her, it dies down (sans some straggling teasing), rinse and repeat. It provided some comfort that this seemed to be following down that path this time around. She had been worried everything had taken a permanent turn for the worst, and for a good reason too.
She spotted Shadow sitting with Rouge and her boyfriend (what was his name? Knuckles or something?), and gave a friendly wave. Shadow and Rouge saw her and they waved back. She briefly considered going over to sit with them, but was suddenly knocked into by a cheery Amy hugging her.
"Oh, hey," Blaze said, smiling at her best friend.
"There you are! C'mon, Sally said she had news to tell us!" Amy said, dragging Blaze towards their lunch table. Blaze shrugged in the direction of Shadow's table and waved again. Shadow seemed to understand and didn't mind; he just waved back.
Blaze finally caught her stride and hurried up to their table. Sally was beaming in an excited manner. All of their other friends looked up as the two girls approached.
"Well, she emerges," Julie-Su said, giving Blaze a playful poke in the ribs. "Good to have you back and happy. You're terrible at lying by the way."
"Jeez Julie, give her a break, she's had a rough time," Sonic laughed, giving Blaze a supportive thumbs up and Julie-Su a poke in her own ribs. Silver, also sitting at the table, snorted into his drink.
"Ay, hands off!" she said. Sonic laughed heartily and moved to sit down next to his girlfriend.
"SO," Amy said loudly, trying to stop Sonic and Julie-Su before an argument at their table erupted. "Sally said she had something to tell us." She looked over expectantly at Sally, who was smiling excitedly.
"Well, I know it's a little lame to be excited about, but . . . I got nominated for the homecoming court!" she said, clapping her hands together excitedly.
"OMG, Sally, that's so awesome!" Amy said, squealing. She jumped up out of her seat and ran over to hug Sally from behind.
"Hey congrats!" Silver said.
"Yeah girl! You got this!" Julie-Su added. "I'll definitely be voting for you all the way. So, who else made it to nominations?"
Sally made a face. "Well, Selena did," she said.
"Of course she did," Amy groaned. Everyone else mumbled their discontent.
"Does everything go right for bitches like her?" Julie-Su thought out loud. "She gets what she wants all the time it seems." She angrily munched on a handful of chips, continuing to mutter as she did so.
"Pretty privilege and regular privilege at its best," Amy sighed, taking her seat.
"But . . . I know someone else personally that also got nominated for homecoming court," Sally continued, looking across the lunch table.
"Huh? Who?" Julie-Su said, looking in the direction Sally was looking in.
Sonic nervously scratched the back of his head. "So . . . I may or may not have signed up for homecoming court for the junior class . . . and I may or may not have gotten nominated . . ." he chuckled nervously.
Their table went silent out of surprise. Amy looked stunned for a moment, and then started giggling.
"No way! You signed up to run for homecoming court?" she said, still laughing. "That's so awesome, Sonic, oh my god! Why didn't you tell me?"
"I dunno," he admitted. "I thought it would be fun, but it just sorta feels weird to tell people I did it. Like, er, I know a lot of people would say it's not something they would expect me to do."
"Who cares?" reassured Amy. "If you think it'll be fun, you should do it. And you did! Oh my gosh, it would be so awesome if you won!"
She sat next him and gave him a side hug. Sonic looked a little bashful about his news, but the table of friends was as supportive for him as they were for Sally.
"Dude, that's awesome," Silver said, looking up from his phone.
"Yeah, congrats," agreed Blaze.
"Hell yeah dude! I told you it was a good idea," Sally said, looking smugly at him.
"That was the easy part, Sally," Sonic said. "I still have to campaign to win, you know."
"You're a shoo-in," Sally told him. "You've got the whole football team that'll vote for you."
"I sure hope so," he replied. "I know I'm not the only football team member that got nominated. Besides, I'm one of ten in general. That's not the best odds."
"Odds schmodds," Amy said. "You're the quarterback! You'll do great, babe, I know it." She hugged him tight, and Sonic kissed the top of her head. Julie-Su pretended to be disgusted and gagged very loudly. Amy rolled her eyes and Sonic chuckled, shaking his head.
"You know," Julie-Su began. "If you win junior homecoming prince, you'll have to dance with Alysha at the homecoming dance," she told him, sipping her drink loudly through a straw.
Sonic grimaced. "I'm trying not to think about it," he said.
"It's not guaranteed that she would win, is it?" Blaze asked, starting on her lunch.
Sally sighed. "She's the most popular girl in school. Unless something crazy happens, the rest of the junior class doesn't have a chance. They'll fight for that crown without a doubt, but Alysha will still probably make it out on top."
"God, that means you have to win Sally!" Amy declared. "We can't let both Alysha and Selena win!"
"Yeah, we'd have to behead the royalty if they did, a la French Revolution," Julie-Su quipped.
Sally snorted. "I'll do my best, guys."
Lunch continued on as normal. Blaze chatted with her friends, smiling to herself as she let herself sink into the conversation surrounding her. It was nice to be around her friends again. Everything seemed to be heading in a normal direction.
Then, Selena burst into the lunchroom, making a huge racket as she did so. Heads at multiple tables all turned towards the noise of Selena, Alysha, Fiona, Scourge, and a horde of other popular kids running into the cafeteria, loudly yelling and playing loud music on portable Bluetooth speakers. Laughing, they ran up to the main table cluster where the popular kids usually sat. Selena proudly jumped onto her lunch table and sat down on the table top, opening up her bag and pulling out her MacBook.
"What?" Amy said, utterly bewildered at what she and her friends has just witnessed.
"Uh . . . What was the point of that?" added Silver.
"Who the fuck does she think she is? The goddamn Queen?" Julie-Su quipped, looking visibly annoyed, eyes rolling back as far as they could go.
The table of friends turned to look at the crowded popular table as Selena started to stand up fully on the table.
"Hey guys! Thanks so much for nominating me and my girl Alysha for the homecoming court election! Remember to vote for us this week! We love your support, and we want to win!" she crowed. She seemed to mostly be talking to the popular kids swarming her table, but was shouting loud enough for the whole cafeteria to hear.
Selena continued. "Everyone check out the video link on my Twitter! Your ticket to our homecoming pre-party AND our after party is in that video! I hope to see you all there, and remember to vote Selena Brenig and Alysha Linehan for homecoming court!"
A bunch of the people around her clapped and whooped. Selena down on the tabletop again, pulling something up on her computer.
"Ugh, what a drama queen," Amy said, rolling her eyes. "You couldn't pay me go to one of their parties."
Lunch continued on, but then Blaze notice something weird happening. She could hear her name being said by other people around the cafeteria. She thought she might've been imagining it, but after a pair of guys passed her on their way to their table and said, "dude, yeah, that's her in the video," she knew she wasn't.
"Oh wow, that's her?"
"Yeah, remember when that happened? That was crazy!"
"Pretty sure you can see her boobs through her shirt."
"She looks better with all that food in her hair."
The table with all of the popular kids suddenly burst out laughing, all crowded around Selena's laptop.
Blaze got a bad feeling in her stomach. Suddenly losing her appetite, she put her sandwich down and swallowed what she had in her mouth in a hard lump. Silver noticed her change in demeanor and tapped on her shoulder to get her attention.
"Hey, Blaze, you okay?" he asked. Him asking this caused everyone else to turn and look at Blaze, and even though she knew it was out of concern, it made her feel worse.
"Um, well, I dunno," she mumbled, staring down at the table.
"Blaze, what's wrong?" Amy asked, her eyes trying to meet Blaze's.
Sally gasped, looking down at her phone.
"Those bitches," she said. "They're so cruel, what the fuck?" she covered her mouth in surprise and disgust.
"Oh no," Julie-Su said. "They hid something about Blaze in that video, didn't they?"
Amy and Julie-Su got up and hurried over to look at Sally's phone, and both of their jaws dropped.
"What the actual shit?" Julie-Su yelled. "How dare they!"
"Oh no . . ." Amy whimpered.
Blaze felt her insides shrivel up. She felt herself robotically pull out her own phone and open Twitter.
"Blaze, I wouldn't-" Sally started.
"I need to see," Blaze said, her voice becoming thick.
She found Selena's Twitter pretty quickly and tapped on the link in her most recent tweet. It brought her to a publicly available YouTube video with a just over a hundred views, uploaded by an account with a random username and no profile picture.
SSHS Slut Enjoys a Wet and Messy Time at Lunch!
It was a video of her getting "pranked" in the cafeteria a few weeks ago, being splashed with dirty mop water and pelted with food and trash. The video was crudely but heavily edited; there was no original audio in the video, and the video kept zooming in on her body in a way that suggested it was editing zoom. A weird stock music track played and occasionally suggestive sounds ripped from some porn track played through.
Blaze barely got about halfway through the video. She didn't need to rewatch something she had lived through.
She looked up from her phone. Sonic had joined Amy's side, and looked as shocked and disgusted as everyone else. Silver was looking at his own phone, his mouth set in a fine line, hands slightly trembling.
Everything hit Blaze at once, and tears started falling before she could stop them. She jumped out of her seat, grabbed her things, and ran for the exit, crying.
She heard another chair scrape behind her, but she didn't look back. She just wanted to escape from everything as fast as she could.
"Huh, wonder what kind of trashy garbage Selena's put on her Twitter," mused Rouge, absentmindedly toying with a salad as she scrolled through her phone. "Must've been something extra stupid if she announced it to the entire lunch room."
"I'd much rather talk about something else," said Shadow, side-eyeing his friend.
"Don't hurt yourself, sugar. It's probably nothing," said Rouge, continuing to search up Selena's Twitter. "Hey, how're things going with you and Blaze?"
Shadow paused, giving her a tired look. "Why do you ask?"
Rouge grinned. "I'm rooting for you two. You and her are so adorable."
"Wait, Shadow is seeing someone?" Knuckles asked his girlfriend, a confused look on his face.
"Oh that's right, Knuckie, I haven't filled you in," Rouge said, a glint in her eyes. "Shadow has got a crush on Blaze Katba, a sophomore. They're super adorable together and I'm pretty sure it's mutual, and he-"
"Goddamn, Rouge, why not tell him my whole life story and all my secrets while you're at it?" he said crossly, looking away in an embarrassed manner. Rouge giggled.
"Awh, you're so cute when you're embarrassed!" she teased, pinching one of his cheeks. Knuckles chuckled. Shadow rolled his eyes upward and slumped in his chair slightly.
"Go cyberstalk Selena some more and let me eat in peace, woman," he said, the smallest hint of a smile appearing on his face as he pushed Rouge's arm off of him. Rouge giggled maniacally and turned her attention to her phone once again. However, not 15 seconds had passed when Rouge let out an audible gasp that made both Shadow and Knuckles jump.
"Oh . . . Oh dear . . ." Rouge said shaking her head. She put her phone down.
Shadow felt himself tense up. "What's wrong Rouge?" he asked gently.
Rouge inhaled. "They uploaded a video of Blaze getting 'pranked' that one time. They sexualized it." The sounds of the popular kid's table laughing in unison reached their ears.
Shadow felt his body tense up in anger. "I am going to fucking kill all of them-"
"Deep breaths," Rouge said. "Don't do anything that'll get you in trouble."
"But-"
Just then, Blaze ran by in a flash, audibly crying.
Rouge touched his arm. "Go comfort her. I'll take care of the video."
Shadow looked in the direction of Blaze crying and then back to Rouge.
"You think it's wise?" he asked, feeling out of his depth suddenly. Rouge gave him a look. He sighed. "You're right. I just don't want to upset her anymore."
"I think she'll really appreciate it. Woman's intuition," Rouge told him.
Shadow straightened himself up. He gathered his things, turned in the direction of the cafeteria exit, and headed out, giving a departing wave.
Rouge sighed to herself, looking at her phone. She stood up, determined.
"I'll be back Knuckie. Hang tight, watch my stuff." She kissed him on the cheek and made her way over to the table where Sonic and all of his friends were sitting.
Sonic and all of his friends looked quite upset, and with good reason. They were quiet, staring around at each other and at the table top. The pink hedgehog she knew as Amy was crying quietly while being comforted by Sonic.
Rouge made her way up to the edge of the table and placed her phone down on it, screen showing the YouTube video. Everyone looked up in surprise.
"I'm fucking mad about this. Firstly for Blaze, because no one deserves this, but also because I'm tired of Selena getting her way all the damn time. Wanna help me get this taken down?"
Everyone at the table looked directly at her, stunned. Rouge almost decided to speak up again out of awkwardness, but then Julie-Su, the echidna with violet dreads, flashed a grin.
"Hey, let's stick it to that bitch. Fuck Selena and fuck her friends. Guys?"
Amy, Sonic, and Sally all nodded in agreement.
"But how?" Amy asked, looking glum. "I spoke to the principal and dean a couple days ago, they didn't believe me when I told them Blaze and I were being bullied!"
"We've got tangible proof now," Rouge told her. She picked her phone up off the table and started taking screenshots. "We've got proof of the video, AND proof that the video being promoted by Selena. I dunno about proof that the channel is hers, but-"
"Rouge's right," Sally agreed. "We can also get all of them for throwing all that shit on Blaze!"
Amy looked a little more hopeful. "But . . . the principal already got on our case about us 'going after' them already. What if he doesn't listen?"
"What if you went to a guidance counselor?" suggested Sonic. "They could be a mediator between you and him?"
"You do have solid evidence now," Sally said. "Also, Amy, I'm so sorry my dad gave you a hard time. I don't understand what goes through his mind sometimes. I can try to spearhead this, if you want. There's a chance he'll listen to his own daughter." She seemed quite embarrassed about the whole thing. Amy sighed.
"It's fine, it's not your fault," she told Sally. "Anyway, back on track, I think you and Rouge have the right idea about going to the counselor. That's what the principal said I should do anyway, if we want to listen to anything he says."
Rouge looked around the table. "So, do you think we should go now? Or do you guys want to go later."
"Might as well go now," Sonic said. "I'm not personally feeling too hungry after that video." Everyone nodded in agreement.
"So, where is Blaze?" Rouge cautiously asked. "Should we go find her?"
"Silver went after her I think," said Sonic. "Knowing her, she'll probably be okay with him, until we get back reporting it."
"Yeah, Blaze gets anxious around authority regarding this whole situation," added Amy. "We can find her after."
Rouge nodded in understanding. "Well, let's go then." Everyone stood up and gathered their things, heading out of the cafeteria.
"Finally, can't wait to see the look on Selena's face when she gets caught!" Julie-Su said, grinning from ear to ear.
Shadow exited the cafeteria, looking around to see if he could figure out where Blaze went. Nothing gave him any immediate clues, so he shoved his hands in his pockets, sighed, and started walking down the halls, picking one at random. He wished he was closer with Blaze, so he could have a general idea of where she might have gone. He figured she probably tried to get somewhere remote and far away from the cafeteria, but he had no clue at the moment.
He had walked along quietly for a while when he heard the distant but distinct sound of sobbing coming from one of the nearby corridors. He turned in the direction of it and hurried down the hall. He turned the corner and stopped out of surprise.
There was Blaze, sitting near a set of bathrooms, with her back to the wall. Her knees were curled up and her face was buried in them. She wasn't alone, though; sitting next to her was Silver, the barista boy and Blaze's friend. He was sitting very close to her and half-hugging, half-patting her on the shoulder in an attempt to calm her down. Sadness and concern was written all over his face.
"WHY? Why are they doing this to me?!" Blaze sobbed hopelessly. "I never did anything to them! Why do they hate me so much?"
"I don't know, Blaze, I don't know," Silver replied sadly. He looked up and made eye contact with Shadow.
"Shadow? What're you doing here?" Silver asked, slightly suspicious. Blaze shrunk herself further and further into her arms.
"I just wanted to come and comfort Blaze, that's all," he told Silver. Silver didn't say anything in response to this, but made no complaint when Shadow went around to the other side of Blaze and sat down next to her.
Blaze hiccuped. "I . . . I'm sorry, Shadow. I . . . I didn't want you to see me like this."
Shadow gently placed a hand on her knee. "You have nothing to be sorry for," he told her. "If . . . If you really don't want me here, I can leave. I just wanted to make sure you were okay."
There was a moment of silence from Blaze. "Y . . . you can stay. It's okay."
"Okay," he replied.
Blaze, Silver, and Shadow sat in silence for what was most likely a few minutes. It felt like an eternity though, with the silence only being punctured by Blaze's sniffles and sobs.
Finally, Blaze lifted her head, tears and snot running down her face. She sniffed loudly and rubbed her eyes on her hoodie sleeve.
"I don't know what to do about any of this," Blaze finally said, sighing shakily. "She's just gonna get away with this again like she does with anything else. I can't believe she did . . . did that . . . It's so humiliating! Now everyone's gonna think I'm a weird fetish-obsessed freak!" Tears started to fall again, and Silver hugged her tighter. Shadow, feeling a little uncertain, rested his hand on her knee once again.
"Do you remember Rouge Stone?" he asked quietly. Blaze nodded silently. "Well, I think she was going to sort out the video thing for you. She was pretty upset by it and wanted to get it taken down."
Blaze sniffed. "But . . . But I tried to tell the principal and dean about Selena . . . about all of them. And he didn't listen to anything I had to say!"
After a moment of silence, Silver opened his mouth in thought, and a moment later said, "You're still worth fighting for."
Shadow nodded in agreement. "We'll help get people to listen to you. Rouge and your friends are working on it as we speak."
"R-really?" a tearful Blaze asked. Both Shadow and Silver nodded. "I . . . I don't know what to say . . ." she mumbled, the faintest hint of a smile appearing on her face.
"We care about you, Blaze," Silver said. "And so do all of our friends."
Blaze smiled a bit more. "Thanks guys," she said, wiping the last of her tears on her hoodie. The bell signaling the end of lunch rang.
Blaze sighed, a frown reappearing on her face. "Shit," she mumbled, burying her face in her hands.
Slowly, people started to make their ways into the halls. Blaze, Shadow, and Silver stood up together, gathering their things.
"Well . . ." started Silver. "I'd stay for longer, but I have a test next period and I can't be late. You'll be okay, Blaze?" he asked, looking up at Shadow.
Blaze nodded. "Yeah, I'll be okay. Thanks for everything, Silver."
Silver smiled. "Of course. Text me, maybe we can play something tonight, if you're up for it?"
"Sounds fun," Blaze replied, "I'll message you. Good luck on your test."
Silver nodded and waved in departure, heading down the hall. Blaze turned back to Shadow.
"I didn't interrupt anything between you and Silver, did I?" he asked her.
Blaze shook her head. "No . . . It was nice to have both of you there . . . I . . . I was just a little surprised when you came to follow me . . . I'm not used to crying around people I'm not friends with," she explained. Realizing what she said, she gasped, hands flying up to her mouth. "Ohmygod, that's not what I meant, I-"
"It's okay," Shadow said, gently touching her wrists. "I know what you meant. We haven't been on a mutually friendly level for that long." Shadow noticed Blaze visibly relax upon hearing him say this, and she slowly lowered her hands.
"So," Shadow continued. "Do you want to return to class?"
Blaze immediately shook her head. "No. No way. But . . . I can't skip class again. I almost got in trouble for doing it once. I had to intercept the automated call to my parent's house. I . . . I dunno," she finished, exhaling in defeat, shoving her hands into her hoodie pocket.
Shadow thought for a moment. "Maybe head to the guidance counselor's office?" he suggested. "You could tell them what's wrong, or at least that you're feeling bad, and why you can't attend class. You can also get your absence marked as excused."
Blaze thought for a moment. "That's sounds like an okay idea," she agreed. "If you don't mind, Shadow, will you . . . will you walk with me to the office?"
Shadow smiled at her, and in return he saw her face light up as he did so. "Of course. Let's go."
The two of them walked closely together through the halls to the guidance counselor's office. Blaze stared at the floor for most of the way there, and Shadow placed his arm over her shoulder to half-guide, half-comfort her. She didn't seem to mind when he initially did it, so they walked like that until they got to the counseling office. Once they arrived, Shadow gestured to the door and said, "After you." Blaze smiled in response and opened the door.
They were surprised to see Rouge, Sonic, Amy, Sally, and Julie-Su all standing in the waiting area, filling out the "sign-out" sheet at the reception desk.
"Oh . . . uh . . . hey guys . . ." Blaze said awkwardly, staring at the ground.
Immediately, all of Blaze's friends rushed over to her and pulled her into a group hug, saying comforting affirmations as they did so. Rouge walked passed them to talk to Shadow.
"Well, lucky timing. They wanted to talk to Blaze privately if they could about this whole thing," she told him.
Blaze heard her through the commotion of her friends. "Oh. They do?"
"Yes, dear. We just want to get your first-hand account of the story, if that's okay with you," the secretary behind the desk said.
Blaze thought for a moment, lips pursed, weighing options in her head.
"You should do it," Sally said. "They're concerned about everything and they want to help."
Blaze nodded slowly. "Okay . . . I'll do it."
Amy hugged Blaze one last time. "You'll be okay," she told her best friend.
"I sure hope so," Blaze replied. She broke the hug and went up to the reception desk. The woman behind the counter gestured her towards the back, where the private offices were. Blaze gave a nervous wave to her friends.
"Good luck Blaze!" called out Rouge, waving her hand. Shadow also gave a wave, before turning and following Blaze's group of friends out of the counseling office.
Alysha: hey did u guys get that slip saying to go to the office?
Selena: ya
Selena: do u think it could be about the vid
Alysha: lol prolly not no one cares about it lmfao
Fiona: are we all saying we got the same thing
Fiona: the office note
Fiona: not my first time getting one but yall got one too? Lol
Selena: ya
Fiona: it's probably nothing lol theyre never that bad
Alysha: hope ur right lol, waste of my time tbh
Selena: lol
Alysha: wait guys Scourge just texted me, he said he got a thing to?
Fiona: oof
Selena: uh oh, it's for all of us?
Alysha: it's prolly a coincidence, dont freak
Alysha: how bad could a chat at the office be?
Had the windows on Alysha's luxury sedan been open, someone would have surely called the police upon hearing Alysha's furious, high-pitched screaming and shrieking.
"FUCK! THAT FUCKING PIG! I CAN'T BELIEVE HE WOULD DO THAT TO HIS OWN FUCKING NIECE! AFTER ALL THE TALKS HE HAD WITH MY PARENTS!" she howled in fury, fists gripping the steering wheel. More screaming and obscenities left her mouth in a manner that made even Selena, someone prone to screaming outbursts, remain silent out of shock.
Fiona was, quite frankly, beside herself. "Girl, it's just in-school suspen-"
"SHUT UP, FI!" she barked. "I've never been suspended before. I know you have and you don't care any more, but I haven't ! I thought my uncle actually cared about keeping my record clean, but I guess he FUCKING DOESN'T!" she finished in another scream, tightening her grip on the steering wheel.
"But-"
"And for the record, YOU and Scourge got in-school suspension," she growled dangerously, voice seeping pure fury. "Selena and I are FULLY suspended for two days! Cause we apparently started all of this."
Scourge, sitting in the front passenger seat, rubbed Alysha's arm. "Babe, babe, everything's gonna be okay," he crooned, trying to calm her down.
"No, it's not Scourge," she whimpered, the anger running out of her and turning into tears. "No it's fucking NOT! It's gonna be on my record, and I'm not gonna be able to run for homecoming princess now!"
She started to fully cry now, and Scourge comforted her as best as he could while still in the front passenger seat. She cried hard for a few minutes, while Selena and Fiona both occasionally shared befuddled glances at one another. When Alysha had calmed down enough, Selena, who also looked quite angry, spoke up quietly.
"I'm gonna tell my dad about this," she said, arms crossed indignantly. "We'll get him to talk to Acorn about our punishments and getting them removed. We'll still get to run for homecoming court, even if I have to make it happen myself."
"Isn't your family rich too, Aly?" asked Fiona cautiously. "You could get them in on it too."
Alysha nodded. "Oh, they're gonna hear about it all right," she hissed. "This is unacceptable!"
She turned towards the back seat, wiping a stray tear away with one manicured nail. "I'm sorry for roping you guys into this. We won't let this stand, right?" The two girls in the back nodded.
"Not your fault," Fiona told her. "It was probably that bitch Katba. I bet she got it taken down and snitched too."
"She definitely snitched," agreed Selena. "She's so gonna get it for this!"
"I've never agreed with you more," Alysha said. "We've gotta show her what happens to snitches when they cross the four of us."
There was a muttering of unison in the Audi.
"What should we do?" Fiona asked.
"Don't fucking know," said an exasperated Alysha, throwing up her hands. "Now she's little-miss-victim and will be under Acorn's thumb, so anything we throw at her will get caught."
There was a beat of silence.
"She's still with Shadow," Selena said quietly. "She's still a two-faced slut-bag and he still cares about her. They make me sick."
"Then we should break them up, right?" Scourge asked, finally speaking up.
"Duh."
"They aren't even together-"
"YES! OBVIOUSLY!"
The car went silent again. Scourge raised his palms in a defensive gesture.
"Woah, woah, don't look at me, I'm just the boyfriend here," he said, hoping to appease everyone before a fight broke out.
Selena took a deep breath, attempting to steady herself. "They aren't dating yet, technically," she explained. "But if we don't get Shadow to see what a slut she is, he'll start dating her, and then it's all over!" she huffed.
"'Kay, but, how though?" asked Alysha.
Selena paused.
"I'd have to think about it. He obviously likes her, so it would have to be something major to get him to pull away from her."
"Like if she was spotted with another guy?" Fiona proposed.
Everyone turned to look at Fiona, who ended up shrugging awkwardly in response to everyone's looks.
"You're onto something," Alysha said, taking out a vape and taking a few puffs on it. "But, uh, we need more than that. Fuck, let's get out of here, if I have to remain here any longer I'm going to fucking lose it."
She tossed the vape into her cupholder, started her car, and floored the gas, speeding out of the junior parking lot.
"Let's go to my house," she told her friends. "We still have to plan my pre-party"
"They're still gonna let you throw one?" Fiona asked incredulously.
"My parents? Psh, of fucking course they will. And if they mind that I'm still gonna throw one, they won't find out," she told her friends.
"Hey, maybe we can expand on that idea about Blaze there?" Selena asked. "We could get her back in some way at the party."
Alysha nodded, a smile forming on her face, as she drove. "I like the way you think," she told Selena in reply. "Let's do it."
"That's my girl," Scourge said, stroking her arm.
"We'll get through this," Alysha said.
"But she won't?" smirked Selena from the back seat.
Alysha laughed loudly and spitefully.
"Almost certainly not," she agreed.
⬤⬤⬤⬤⬤⬤ END ⬤⬤⬤⬤⬤⬤
A/N: Hi everyone, I'm so sorry it took longer to upload this chapter. Unfortunately, my summer has not been as productive for writing as I thought it was gonna be. It was supposed to be longer, but it was cumbersome so I decided to break the chapter up.
In any case, thanks for you patience! I hope you all enjoyed this chapter! I'm going on vacation soon, so I'll try to work on the next chapter then. My plan is to get one more chapter out before school starts again, assuming everything goes right.
Thanks for reading! Hope you all have a great day! :)