[[ Brit again, with the first chapter. I introduce the "OC" in this one, and I worked hard to make her likeable and not a total Mary Sue... Time will only tell if I get that right. It's not a self-insert, either, so, yay! Enjoy! And let me know what you think, please? Pretty please? And pass it along if you think it's good enough to recommend. Comments give me life! Thanks again!]]
"Hey, Lena, could you take this stack of papers to Kathleen? These are her kids' math tests from yesterday afternoon." The voice of a colleague caught the attention of a woman sitting at a cheaply-assembled desk in a black swivel chair, spinning on its axis and turning to glance up at the person over their glasses. Lena was the newest (and youngest) employee of Tristin Elementary School, a fact that her fellow co-workers made evident by their willingness to pass their tasks and assignments off to her. She would have smiled and nodded if the papers hadn't already been shoved into her unready hands, slipping and falling into her lap as she scrambled to collect them. With a small huff she carefully got them all put back into order, making sure they were all correctly facing.
"Yeah, sure," she sighed, turning back to her desk and setting the small stack of papers next to the keyboard, hand gravitating to the mouse as she clicked it idly. "Lemme just finish up grading these online reports and I'll take them right to her." Seemingly satisfied with her answer, her colleague turned and walked out of the faculty room, closing the door a bit too loudly behind them. Now alone, Lena sighed heavily, shoving the mouse across the little ivy-print pad and tapping her fingernails against the papers. The one on top happened to catch her eye and, feeling a bit guilty for it, she picked it up and looked it over closely. The name "Frisk Dreemurr" was written across the top in careful print with a little heart drawn next to it, and the innocence of it brought a smile to her lips. It quickly faded, however, when her eyes caught unfamiliar handwriting. The spaces where some of the answers were had been hastily rubbed out with an eraser (not very cleanly done, either, for that matter) and blatantly incorrect answers were put in their place. 'Who would change this kid's answers like this? Damn kids…' Furrowing her brows, she pushed herself up from her chair, hearing it spin and glide on its wheels across the tile floor as she strode out of the faculty room and down the hallway, intent on having a discussion with Frisk's teacher.
When she reached the right room (with Mrs. Kathleen written on a big, sunny sign overtop of the door, surrounded by kids' handprints), she peeked into the room. The teacher, a thin, pretty blonde with razor-straight hair that brushed past her hips, was sitting at the window, looking out at the playground with an odd smile curling up at her cherry-painted lips. Cleaning her throat, Lena stepped into the room, holding the papers to her chest. The other woman's baby-blue eyes darted over to her, roaming up and down for a fraction of a second, and Lena suddenly remembered why she didn't much care for this woman. The judgemental stares had started right from their first meeting, followed not to terribly far behind by questions about her diet.
"Lena, honey… Don't you think you should take it easy on the carbs?" Kathleen asked, eyeing her tray with an ill-concealed hint of disgust. Lena had flushed in shame and looked down at her food as well, furrowing her brows as she tried to decipher just what was wrong with her meal. "You should join Samantha and I at the gym this weekend! Signing up doesn't take much." She wasn't certain if it was the insults to her diet, or the obvious assumption that she didn't exercise that had pissed her off, but she was. She spent the entire rest of that day in the Library, snacking when the cranky, elderly Librarian wasn't looking and toiling over the limited resources on Monster History.
"Ahh, Lena. I didn't hear you walk in," the blonde said, smiling in a sickeningly sweet way that made it obvious it was forced. Lena furrowed her brows a bit and walked over to her, dropping all but one of the papers on her desk. She held Frisk's out to her, frowning the slightest bit.
"Are you aware that your students are vandalizing Frisk's assignments?" Her green eyes flickered across the other woman's face, trying to read her expression. From the uneasy chuckle, it seemed she had.
"Frisk has been having trouble in class lately… He draws too much attention, you know? And he refuses having an assistant in class. It's really just trouble-" The instant those words left her mouth, anger flared in green eyes, and blue widened just a fraction as she realized her mistake. "I mean, trouble for Frisk! Really, he struggles so much… Maybe it's because of his homelife." Lena could hear the words behind those being spoken. 'Because he was adopted by monsters.' Frown deepening, Lena opened her mouth to say something when a shrill ring of a phone broke the uneasy silence. Kathleen practically jumped to her desk to answer it. "Yes! Hello? ...What? No, I didn't hold Frisk after class… I have no idea. I'll let you know if I find anything out. I'm sure he's just wandering around the school somewhere."
She only got one side of the conversation, but Lena could tell pretty easily what it was about. A heavy wad of worry fell into the pit of her stomach and she gnawed her bottom lip, thick brows furrowing over the thin rims of her glasses. If Frisk's parents had called the school looking for him, that meant that he hadn't gotten onto the bus. He lived outside of Tristin, so he wasn't able to walk. 'Maybe he missed the bus…?' Though it had nothing to do with her, she couldn't help but feel the urge to go and try to find them. Besides, it was obvious from the way Kathleen hung up her phone and started scrolling through something on her smartphone that she wasn't all that concerned. With a huff, she folded the vandalized test and shoved it into her jeans pocket, turning on her heel and storming out of the room, anger burning through her veins. 'How can she call herself a teacher and not care about her student?!' It wasn't all that surprising, or it shouldn't have been, considering she remembered hearing all the chatter about the Ambassador of Monsters attending their school. After the monster children were able to move to the 'school' in Taobh, Frisk was left all alone. She wasn't a teacher (yet), but even she's heard some of the things that the fellow students say about the child.
She walked down every corridor and hallway, opened every door and looked through every room. Feeling only slightly embarrassed, she even checked every single bathroom (female and male) but to no avail. The Library had been empty, just like most of the building. With winter vacation beginning the following day, many people were eager to get out of work and head home to start their weeks of relaxation. That's also why Lena found herself still there, dealing with little menial tasks that other people didn't feel like finishing before they left. Eventually, she found herself back in the faculty room, pulling on her coat and hastily grabbing her purse before heading outdoors. The icy sting of winter air bit at her pale skin, and she huffed with a shiver, watching her breath form in a small cloud in front of her face before disappearing into thin air. Her eyes roamed over the school grounds, looking for what, she wasn't certain. Frisk could have already been picked up by their parents, for all she knew, or maybe a family friend came to get them and just forgot to tell the school ahead of time. Still, she didn't feel satisfied yet, so she found herself stomping across the snow blanketing the dead grass and wilted flowers, verdant eyes scanning relentlessly.
After a half an hour, she'd made her way back to the front of the building, where she saw the old head of the janitorial department locking the doors. Everyone was gone now, and as the elderly man drove off in his sloppy jalopy, the only thing she could hear was her breathing and the white-noise of the wind blowing through the trees. Even her footsteps seem muffled, with only the faintest crunch of snow beneath your (now soggy) shoes coming with each step. Turning and huffing a small sign, Lena pulled her hands from the safety of her pockets and blew her warm breath onto them, trying to keep her fingertips from going numb. 'They must have gotten picked up already…' she told herself, returning her hands to her warm coat pockets and turning to head to her car.
That was when she heard it: a faint whimper. Her head whirled around toward the noise so fast that she smacked herself in the face with one of her ginger-red pigtails, and her eyes widened impossibly as she finally found them. There, huddled beneath an evergreen bush close to the school's main brick building in a striped sweater, was a small child. Lena quickly made her way over to him, dropping to her knees in the snow and reaching a hand under the prickly bush to rest on the child's shoulder. "Frisk…?" The name made them look up, and she felt her heart throb the way their eyes looked so red, like they'd been rubbed raw from crying. A look of apprehension and uncertainty was painted thickly across their features, but she gave a patient smile, thumb rubbing small circles into the fabric covering their arm. "It's okay, kiddo," she said softly, almost missing the flash of familiarity that passes over their eyes, "Your mom called looking for you… I bet she's real worried." A moment passed and the child still said nothing, so she pulled her hand out and motioned with it. "Here, c'mon out. Let's get you home, huh?"
It took some careful convincing, but eventually Frisk did come out from their hiding place, body wracked with tremors as their muscles shuddered with desperate attempts to gain warmth. No sound came from them aside from their haggard breathing and sniffling. The poor thing's nose was running so badly. 'One thing at a time.' Reaching forward and gently grasping the child's hand, Lena gave a small pull until, eventually, they were following her to the parking lot. Their legs shook with each step, and they almost fell once or twice, so she had to steady them by placing her hands on their shoulders. She fumbled with her keys for a moment as her numb fingers struggled to find the right one, but as soon as she got it unlocked, she gently urged Frisk inside the little olive-green SUV. Following into her own seat, she immediately started the car and turned on the heat until it was blasting from the vents on the highest setting. It was cold initially but, after a few seconds, began to warm up comfortably. A shiver ran through her and she raised her hands to cup over her mouth, blowing on them. "Cold out, hu?" An answer hadn't been expected, so it didn't hurt her feelings when one never came.
"Okay, now… I know this may sound strange, but-" She paused, struggling only slightly to pull off her jacket while in the confined space. "Take off your wet shirt and put this on. We don't want you getting hypothermia…" She held the coat out and turned herself around completely, closing her eyes. "I have my eyes closed," she mumbled gently, patiently waiting. At first she couldn't hear anything, but after a moment, the wet 'slop' of his shirt hitting the floorboards met her ears, and she felt the coat being taken off her arm. Once she heard the zipper, she turned around cautiously, feeling her lips curl up into a pleased smile as she watched Frisk nuzzle into the warmth of her coat. Looking at him now, she wouldn't believe that he's anything more than an ordinary child. She knew, though, that certainly wasn't the case.
"Alright, buckle up, kiddo! We're headed to Taobh, right?" With a nod of assent, she started the short drive to the 'Town of Monsters'.