Lucy has been on edge since the altercation between her, Lydia, and Melody, alone, the mask is broken and she has nothing to fight for, no real battle, maybe there never really was. She walked up on Violet.
"I told the principal what happened."
"I know. And now people are taking it out on me."
"Why? That's not supposed to happen!"
"Well, it is."
"I did it for you… to get justice, since I was too scared to do anything else."
"One selfless act, sorry I'm out of cookies and fucks to give," she walked away.
"What is with your brother," Linus complained, catching Sally before fifth period.
"Ah dunno… you tell me, you know him better than I do."
"Seriously, baby, why's he so hung up with Lucy?"
"He's a blockhead? Maybe he sees something we don't."
"What do you see in her, you've spent time alone with her."
"She mostly wanted somebody to watch anime with, but she would talk about Patty, and Schroeder, or you… when she wasn't going on and on about whatever we were watching- I know more about Fairytale and Rave Master, than I cared to know, when we were watching Eden's Zero."
"That… doesn't make any sense."
"All three shows are by the same person, and there's like things they all share, like certain characters, and call backs, like this other world version of this girl Erza, has a magic spear that uses the same attacks as Musica's sword in Rave Master. Ugh…"
"Ah. She really loves anime."
"She loves that we got together, she was hoping that we would date, and said we better give her some nieces and nephews."
"Huh‽ But she… she… the ridicule‽"
Sally shrugged.
"I have this digging feeling that I'm being too hard on her, but I don't trust her."
"I love you, and I trust your judgment. If you give her a chance, I will," she kissed his lips.
"I'm going to take Charlie to your spot after school."
"Oh? You mean our secret romantic spot," Frieda teased.
Patty pouted, and Frieda laughed.
"It's okay, I know you don't like him like that," she mocked.
"That's right. Besides… I'm still kinda hurt over Pig Pen."
"Charlie's here for you, so am I."
"Speaking of Charlie… hey! Charliiieee, are you excited‽"
"Oh yeah, can't wait," he smiled.
"What are you cheesing so hard about," Sally walked up.
"Nothing!"
"She's got a date with your brother."
"It's not a date," she blushed.
"Is it just the two of you," Roy asked.
"Yeah, so?"
"Then it's a date," Peppermint Patty snuck behind her.
"Will you guys stop with the date stuff," she whined.
They walk towards the parking lot and hear a scream, they all take off running and find Lucy crying, slouched over.
"It's just Lucy screaming," Linus took his time walking up, "it's easily recognizable."
"Lucy what is…," Patty started until she saw her bike.
"The fuck, dude," Peppermint Patty was shocked.
"They really did a number on it," Charlie inspected.
"What's going on, I heard Lucy scream," Rerun ran up with Marcie in tow.
"Told you."
"Oooo," Lamar cringed.
"Who did this," Heather gasped.
Various profanities were written on her bike, the saddle was cut up, and both tires had several cuts, stabs, and slashes. Marcie pulled Lucy into a hug.
"I'll give you a hint; they got suspended today," Roy said.
"Them tires are fucked up," Lamar looked them over.
"I… I can't… I can't fix this," Lucy cried.
"We'll find a way to fix it," Charlie rubbed her back.
"Yeah… I'm sure the words will clean right off," Patty said.
"How am I supposed to get it home‽"
"Take my car," Charlie thought quickly.
"You won't even let me drive your car," Sally yelled.
"One; you're not old enough, two; I've seen you ride a bike," he glared.
"What… what about…?"
"I got it. Just take my car home, okay? Calm down a bit," he handed her his keys.
Lucy quickly hugged him.
"We have to walk again," Linus shouted.
"Auuugh, my car! My car," Violet cried out.
"They got her too," Peppermint Patty stated.
They heard a few students laughing at her.
"I guess we better get walking," Sally sighed.
"No, you two should ride with Lucy," Charlie ordered.
"I don't want to ride with her," Linus growled.
"She can't be alone, dude, somebody has to make sure she makes it safely."
"Have somebody else do it!"
"You live right next door, and are all going to the same place, it makes sense that you three ride with her," Marcie deduced.
"Let's just do it, Linus, it's not going to hurt anything," Sally said.
"Fine. Let's go Lucy."
"Don't worry about your bike, okay? I'll take care of it."
"O-okay."
They watched the four of them drive away.
"How am I gonna fix this," he huffed.
"I… I could probably fix the seat. I do some sewing, I would just need some material," Heather spoke up.
"Thanks. I'm sure she'd appreciate it a lot."
"You know this is Lucy you're trying to help," Peppermint Patty stated.
"Did you not see her? She needs a break, Trish," Heather scolded.
"Looks like somebody slashed Violet's tires, and broke both her windshields… and got Lucy too, I see," Schroeder walked up.
"Yeah, got them both good," Frieda replied.
"Patty, looks like we'll need to delay our outing a bit."
"I understand."
"What are you going to do, Charlie," Schroeder asked.
"The only thing I can do, at the moment; push this home," he kicked up the side stand.
Lucy cried in her room, Linus and Sally sat downstairs so they would hear her as little as possible, Rerun did his best to keep Lucy calm as possible.
"They really messed up their rides," Sally spoke.
"Yeah, well, Violet will be fine. Her dad will send a tow truck, and her car will be fixed in a day or two, while she drives something else."
"And Lucy?"
"We'll be stuck riding to school with her for who knows how long… yay us."
"Maybe… we should spend more time with her, remember what we talked about. She needs some kinda hope to keep moving on."
"Tcch… she's supposed to be stronger than this."
"Everybody breaks, honey. Her whole worldview has crashed."
Sally noticed Charlie chugging along the sidewalk with his headphones on from the window, she went upstairs to tell Lucy, Linus cracked the door open for a better look.
"Charlie just walked up with your scooter," she spoke nonchalantly.
Lucy got up and walked to her window seeing him standing there.
"You walked that all the way here?"
"How else was I going to get it here?"
"Do you understand the ramifications of being so nice to my sister, the way you are?"
"No… what are these alleged ramifications," he rose an eyebrow.
"She's probably going to fall in love with you. The only guy that ever gave her attention, and I use that term as loose as possible, is Schroeder."