Vriska was feeling uncharacteristically hesitant about going to school. She shifted her backpack, filled with whatever paper she could find—mostly Aranea's old notebooks—and a few pens and pencils that were in her nightstand from the year before, in her lap. Aranea glanced at her from the driver's seat.
"What's wrong?"
"Why didn't you remind me that school was starting?"
"I had no reason to believe you were unaware. Besides, you hardly ever let me get through a sentence before writing off the conversation. We'll go to the store after school, okay?" Aranea said, being genuinely kind, if a bit terse. Vriska nodded, having grabbed some cash out of the jar in her closet that morning knowing they'd need to make a trip. Her mother didn't know about that stash, and she hoped it would stay that way. Whatever. She wasn't going to let the idea of her mother ruin her day. High school was supposed to be a good time. Vriska managed to smile, confidence coming back into her as she thought about it. She was going to be great. Or at least, more popular than Aranea, though that wasn't exactly a high bar. Having reassured herself, Vriska was ready for class, and it came no moment too soon, as Aranea had finally managed to find a parking spot. The girls got their stuff out of the car and went their own ways wordlessly. Vriska had to show up early to get her textbooks from the library, since the actual day for that had gone right over her head, so she did that, begrudgingly, as the librarian seemed very annoyed with her, and then went to drop a couple off in her locker. As she made her way through the hallway, more students were beginning to arrive. Vriska was loading up her locker when she spotted a familiar face in the hallway; none other than Kanaya Maryam. Honestly, Vriska thought she was really pretty and probably the most fashionable in the friend group. It was kind of a wonder that she hadn't had a boyfriend yet. Probably all that bugging and fussing and meddling she did.
"Hey, Maryam!" Vriska called. Kanaya seemed to hesitate for a moment, and then came towards the lockers, putting a combination into the one next to Vriska's.
"Good morning, Vriska," Kanaya said as she did so.
"Heeeeeeeey, looks like we're locker buddies."
"Yes, looks like," Kanaya answered, her voice curt.
"Honestly, thank God. Means I got put next to someone actually reasonable. Anything beats having to deal with Tavros all the damn time." Vriska shut her locker and leaned on the door. "Hey, let me see your schedule!" She wanted to compare. It wouldn't hurt to have Kanaya as a study partner; she was pretty smart.
"Oh, uh… sure," Kanaya answered, taking a piece of paper out of her binder. Always so meticulous and organized, she was. Vriska snatched it out of her hands and looked it over, to find disappointing results.
"Looks like you're not in any of my classes. What a bummer!" Vriska said as she handed the schedule back to Kanaya. "What're you taking French for anyway?"
"I think it might be more interesting than Spanish. Languages are very interesting."
"Yeah, what is it you speak? Farsi?"
"Hindi, actually. But I only know a few phrases."
"Huh," Vriska muttered. It seemed obscure. Kanaya didn't say anything for a moment, and then the bell rang, and it was time to head off to class. Kanaya didn't hesitate, either, moving down the hall immediately.
"Well, I really must be going!" Kanaya said as she started to leave.
"Yeah, see ya around," Vriska answered, going the other way.
Vriska's first class of the day was geometry, and when she got in the classroom, she didn't recognize anyone. Great, math first thing in the morning, AND she was alone. She took a seat pretty much in the middle of the room, and after a moment, she saw Karkat come in. God, he was such a grouch, but Vriska wasn't sure whether she felt relieved or offended when he walked in and sat next to some blond asshole wearing sunglasses inside instead of next to her. Vriska's lack of school supplies didn't seem to be a problem, since it was just syllabus day, and she wound up mostly tuning the teacher out. When Vriska got to her second class, she saw more familiar faces walk in just after she sat down; Equius and Nepeta. She grinned at them.
"Oh, heyyyyyyyy, it's the ambiguously dating duo."
"Vriska, please," Equius chided her. "Humorous insincerity is for pedantic children."
Vriska rolled her eyes at him. "I know. You never make jokes. I was being sarcastic, you stooge!"
"That's because you're a little worse than me."
There he went again with his societal standing upper class bullshit. "The fuck I am! Hey! Did you talk to Aradia at all yet?" she asked, specifically to antagonize him.
"Keep your voice down," Equius hushed, his face turning pink.
The comment seemed to catch Nepeta's attention, and it was no surprise. She loved romancey gossip. "Oooh, Equius, what's this about Aradia?" Equius sighed, and Vriska just smiled, pleased with herself. Equius turned to address Nepeta.
"I may… have… a bit of a…"
"Do you have-!" Nepeta started, and then she lowered her voice. "Do you have a crush on Aradia?"
"Y-yes," Equius answered as the two sat down. Vriska watched as Nepeta started doodling her 'ships' on a piece of paper. And of course she had Vriska/Tavros on the list. Vriska just sighed, resting her chin on her hand and vaguely looking forward as the teacher talked.
Vriska made her way to the gym for her next class. She wasn't exactly a fan of having PE in the middle of the day, but it was better than having it right after lunch, for sure. And even by the time third period started, it was only 11 in the morning. She hoped that meant it wouldn't be too hot out most days. Once again, she found that she shared the class with Karkat, as well as Gamzee. Gamzee was actually a pretty tolerable guy, once she got past his stoner attitude.
"Hey Gam," she said at the beginning of class. "How was your summer?"
"Aw motherfuck, sis, it was fuckin' great. Got to spend a hell of a fuckin' all great time with my bro."
"Kurloz? Isn't he into some trippy shit?"
"Fuck yeah! It's all cool though, all motherfuckin' cool."
Vriska mostly just let Gamzee talk at her for a few minutes while Karkat was chatting up some dweeb with buck teeth and glasses. Okay, a kind of cute dweeb. Why was Karkat chatting him up anyway? Vriska was gearing up to join them and at the very least, introduce herself, when the gym teacher started corralling all the students onto the bleachers and Karkat came back over, looking mildly embarrassed.
Vriska's last class before lunch was English, where she took a seat at the end of a row. Aradia came in and sat next to her, and Tavros on her other side. It was sure to make for an interesting class. At the other end of the row, a girl with bright green eyes and an overly chipper smile sat next to Tavros.
"Hi, I'm Jade!"
"H-hi, I'm Tavros." Oh god. The way he was looking at her? So blatant. And something rose in Vriska's stomach, some burning, angry feeling. Was she jealous? No, she couldn't be jealous because she didn't have a crush on Tavros. So why should she care if he was making heart eyes at Jade over there? It didn't matter.
After class, Vriska, Tavros, and Aradia went to go save a table for the rest of the group. Tavros parked his chair at the end of the table, and Aradia sat on the end of the bench, Vriska sitting at her other side.
"So, Aradia, how's life?" she needled her.
Aradia took a moment to respond, despondency clear in her eyes. "Living with Damara is just peachy compared to you sometimes."
"Whaaaaaaaat? I'm awesome and you know it."
"Mhm, mhm, and I'm sure Tavros just loved being paralyzed from your 'awesomeness'."
That was the wrong thread to pick at, and Vriska just knew Aradia said it to get a rise out of her. She scowled. "You can't prove shit, Droog. It was a freak accident and we all know it." Aradia didn't say anything, and her silence was only more infuriating. Vriska could feel her top about to blow, but before she could keep yelling, someone else came into the conversation.
"Scoot over, Serket." Ah yes, the lispy asshat. Vriska turned her negative energy towards Sollux instead.
"You're not the boss of me."
"Vriska. Move," he insisted. Vriska huffed.
"Ugh, fiiiiiiiine." She moved towards the middle of the table, letting Sollux sit next to Aradia. They were slowly joined by the rest of the group, filling out the rest of the table, and their conversations filled the air. Vriska stuck close to Terezi, for the most part, though Terezi seemed a bit distracted. Vriska glanced around the cafeteria for a moment, finding the same blond kid from her geometry class glancing towards their table. Which reminded her. "Did I tell you Karkat totally ignored me like first thing this morning? Sat next to some douchebag instead, like what am I, chopped liver?" Vriska said. Terezi didn't answer, just having a puzzled expression on her face. "'Rezi? Hey 'Rezi! Are you listening to me?"
"What? No, I wasn't, I'm trying to figure out who in this damn cafeteria is staring at me," Terezi muttered. Vriska got up and started toting Terezi off towards their next class, Biology.
"Whaaaaaaaat? What do you mean?"
"You know when you can just tell someone is looking at you?"
"Mhm, well, it was probably Karkat, to be honest."
"Ha. Besides him."
"Ya know, I did see some blond kid looking over at our table. He had shades on, though."
"Hmm."
"Why, were you wondering if it was someone specific?"
"I thought…" Terezi hesitated. "No. I just talked to this guy in my English class. He seemed cool."
Vriska stopped walking for a moment, a grin spreading across her face. "Terezi, do you have a cruuuuuuuush?"
Terezi bumped her shoulder into Vriska, and they kept walking to class. "Ew, no, I just said he seemed cool. Can't a girl want to make some new friends?"
"Aw, are you replacing me?" Vriska joked as she opened a classroom door, leading Terezi over to a lab station. "Anyway, speaking of boys, I hung out with Tavros last night."
"Oh, really?"
"Yeah, I really just couldn't deal with staying with my mom all night so I left after dinner. He was being all weird and awkward about letting me use his sweater, like isn't that something you're supposed to offer the girl you're interested in, or is that one of Karkat's weird tropes? Whatever. He even fell out of his chair, what a lame ass. And then he mentioned something about school, and I just could not believe Aranea didn't remind me school started today. Fucking ridiculous, right? Like, and now I have absolutely no supplies, just like, one pen and some scratch paper, so now I'm gonna have to make Aranea, or worse, Mom, take me shaopping today. Tavros offered me some extra stuff he had." Vriska paused for a moment, glancing up towards the door as the kid with the glasses she'd seen in her PE class. He looked around, a little confused for a moment, and then approached her and Terezi.
"Hey, can I sit here?" he asked.
"Shit, dude, I'm not gonna stop you," Vriska said, and then continued talking as he took the third stool. "Anyway, so I told him, 'don't be stupid, I don't need your charity.' Like, that boy is too nice for his own good, honestly."
"And you're too stubborn and 'self-sufficient' for your own good," Terezi answered with a light smile.
"Wouldn't have it any other way, though." After another moment, Vriska glanced back at the boy, who very clearly was not following the conversation. "Oh, sorry, we're being rude, aren't we? I'm Vriska, this is my partner in crime, Terezi."
"My name's John!" His enthusiasm was cute. Actually, he was cute in general. It wouldn't be all that bad having him as a lab partner.
As Biology class ended, Terezi tapped Vriska on the shoulder. "Vris, where's the geometry classroom?"
"What? Let me see your schedule." Terezi handed it over, and Vriska studied it for a moment. "Mm. B34. I think it's down this hallway to the left, past the second locker pavilion, and then… hm. I can't remember exactly which room, but that's definitely the B30s over there."
"Okay. I'll check the signs, then."
Vriska waved John off as they all left the classroom, and then she headed to her last dreaded class of the day, Spanish. Again, there were more familiar faces in the classroom; this time, Sollux, Equius, and Nepeta. Vriska huffed and found a seat next to Sollux, only vaguely listening as he and Equius talked about their tech projects. What a couple of nerds. Frankly, the whole day had been kind of exhausting. She wasn't exactly excited about school, but it kept her out of the house and away from her mom, so that was something, at least. It would certainly be easier to avoid her and just go to Terezi's house after school instead of going home. At the very least, Terezi's mom was fairly understanding. Actually, as much of a pain in the ass as school was, Vriska was a little relieved. But she still had to go shopping with Aranea. She let out a sigh as she headed back to the parking lot, not sure if she was looking forward to Freshman year, or dreading it.
