Welcome to Dodo Academy for the Gifted!
Why Nightmare Hates Rainbow
Mrs. Carroll Liddell was a photographer. Her husband, Lewis, was a writer. Mrs. Liddell liked to think that her family had dedication for art. Her first daughter, Lorina, was a singer. Her second daughter, Edith, was a young actress. And, everyone knew the youngest Liddell was an artist; Alice was talented in painting and drawing.
Their family was one that respect liberty. Worship it, even. That's why they're very happy to have such carefree carreers.
Which was why, Mrs. Liddell and Mr. Liddell, despite their age, could found playing video games that day. One of her friends who came to visit also joined.
"Lewis, possess my elf again, and I'll destroy your campaign." Carroll grumbled.
"Well, I'll take you on anytime, sweetheart." Lewis snickered.
"Oh, Lewis! I can't believe you! I haven't done anything to your campaign!" Emily Gottschalk, Carroll's friend from highschool, groaned as she clicked her mouse frantically.
...Three adults in front of three monitors, playing World of Warcraft.
"I want to use the Undead...why won't you let me?" Carroll pouted as she watched her elf campaign being tore down by her husband's Undead.
"Because you'd buy so may banshees and then we'll have a Possessing War." Lewis stated.
"You two can have the war, but don't destroy my tower, for lord's sake!" Emily snapped and dropped her mouse in defeat. "I give up. Next time I'll use Humans if I want to play house, instead of Orcs."
Carroll sighed. "Oh well, let's go for some tea, I guess?"
"I'd love to." Emily smiled and nodded, while she looked around the house, and her eyes finally set on a blue-covered book. "Hey, Car, is this Alice's report book?"
"Which one?"
"The blue one with a Nyan-Cat on it?"
"Definitely."
"Can I look?"
"Suuure..."
Emily hummed as she took the book and started to flip through it. She then paused, and closed the book to see the cover again, and scowled.
"Dodo Academy!? Alice moved?"
"Oh yeah, I forgot to tell you..." Carroll came back, laughing awkwardly. "She failed her IQ test, so I thought she's not interested with her old school...I mean, her schoolmates gave her a different—special treatment because of her...you know...'issues'...?" she explained while setting down the tea.
"Darn you, Car...you should've tell me!" Emily grumbled, then slammed the report book to the table. "But that's good. It's a school for 'peculiar' kids, right?" she smirked.
"Yeah," Carroll nodded, and then paused, frowning. "Wait...are you going to...?"
"Oh, you know me so well, honey." Emily chuckled and waved her sliver hair away with her slender fingers, while taking a cup of tea. "I'm going to move my son to that school."
Mr. Liddell stopped playing and poked his head from the monitor. "Give up, Em. I've told you many times, I'm not giving Alice to your sick prat!" he snapped.
"Oh, you won't, but she will fall in love with my boy!" Emily hissed back.
"Okay, lovelies, cut it down, will you?" Carroll sighed, rolling her turquoise eyes. "Em, I know I love you and I'd love it very much to be your sister-in-law..."
"Yeah well, you promised that if you've got a boy or a girl, and I got the opposite of yours, we'd set them up together, right?" Emily pouted.
"Arrgh, Em!" Lewis whined, "That was just a stupid promise in your crazy high school time! Alice isn't just Carroll's, she's mine too! And, you can't do anything if she's not interested in Nightmare!"
"Fine!" Emily scoffed and sipped her tea, before saying; "That's why, Nightmare is going to move to Dodo Academy...and I'm sure he'll make your daughter fall over her head to my son!"
Carroll laughed nervously. "I've got money down it'd be the other way around."
Emily quirked an eyebrow. "Hm, great idea. I'll bet on $500 Alice will fall for Nighty."
Lewis and Carroll exchanged stares, then smiled at their old friend. "Deal."
~.X.~
It was the middle of October, and the air had gotten colder. That day was raining hard, and our dear Dodo Academy Students were spending their recess in the class, sitting in a circle, while thunder bolted outside and rain was slamming hard to their school building.
Our always-so-random little heroine, Alice Liddell, had a torch lighting her face to create a darker atmosphere, while the lamp was turned off.
"Good afternoon..." she murmured darkly, "Welcome to Alice Believe it or Don't..." she hissed.
Pierce was hugging his cousin, Boris, for dear life, while his eyes were running tears. Boris was all silent, eyes so wide like a cat in the dark. Ace was bouncing in his seat, biting his fingers, while Julius just seemed nervous as he continued to listen.
"There are many strange things in this world..." Alice whispered. "According to one story..." her eyes widened spookily. "If you're sitting in the RPU class in the dark during a storm..." her eyes surprisingly could get wider, "...you'll hear a misterious snore which is not yours..."
Gulp.
"Y-You're a new student." Julius cut off, scowling yet sweating. "There's no way you'd know more about this class than we do!"
Alice cleared her throat again. "...beside that...you'll also smell a fart that isn't yours...and when you turn around..." she closed her eyes, "A dead figure from the past will catch you, and your scream shall roams the hall!" her eyes widened in instant.
Pierce fainted as expected, but his cousin, Boris, was hugging him while trembling hard.
"OhmyGodohmyGod..." Ace was hyperventilating and bouncing uncontrolably.
"...Yess..." Alice rasped, "...there are many strange things in this world..." she grinned widely. "Believe it...or don't!" she clicked off the torch.
...
...
"It's dark now." Boris pointed out.
"Alice, turn the torch on again, so I can go to switch on the lamp." Julius ordered.
"Okay...err...where was it..."
SMACK
"Ouch! My EYEEES!" Ace cried and of course, went to throw a punch as revenge.
KA-POW
"AACK! MY NOSE! YOU BROKE IT!" Boris shrieked in pain and automatically kicked.
BAM
"Uurrrgh...right on my gut..." Julius grunted in pain. "Okay...stop moving."
"Sorry, I lost it, the torch." Alice finally said. "I swear I just put it on my lap..."
"...Someone took it?" Boris' voice shivered.
...
...
"Um...did any of you just farted?" Julius asked through his pinched nose.
"I was going to afk 'at!" Alice's voice was pressured as well.
"I didn't, I fweaw!" Boris yelped.
"Holy crap that smelt exactly like that rotten balooney in my dad's fridge." Ace laughed, he was too dumb to be affected by rotten smell.
"Did you eat that balooney?"
"No way, I like living!"
"Maybe Pierce farted." Alice pointed out with hope.
"Nah, no one would fart when they're unconscious." Boris scoffed.
...
...
"Does that mean that smell of fart wasn't ours...?" Boris whimpered.
"Wait...did you hear that...?" Julius whimpered a little. "Is that Pierce's snore?"
"Um, he fainted, not sleeping." Alice pointed out.
"Okay...guys, I'm starting to freak out." Boris admitted.
"Ohhh! I'm so excited! We're going to meet a real ghost!" Ace clapped his hands excitedly.
"Excuse me...?" Julius flinched as someone poked his shoulder.
Suddenly, a face appeared in the dark.
"Is this what you're looking...?" the face muttered darkly.
...
...
"GYAAAAAHHH!"
~.X.~
The very same day, Dodo Academy had accepted two new students. Coincidentally, Alice knew both of them.
"Nightmare! Gray too? Why are you going to this school?" Alice frowned in confuse.
"Alice! Alice! How do you know them!?" Ace scowled, possessively hugging the girl. "Please, please, please, don't tell me you married one of them!"
"Huh? What does that have anything to do with this?" Alice twitched. "So, they're my Mum's besties child."
"Um...it's been a while." Nightmare Gottschalk nodded awkwardly, glancing around. He wore an eyepatch, he was pale, his hair was silverish shade, and he sat on a wheelchair.
"Zzz..." Gray Ringmarc, the boy with dark, clean-cut hair was sleeping on the desk beside his cousin.
"Hey, nice to meet you!" Boris grinned. "I'm Boris Airay. I'm eleven years old!" he extended his hand to Nightmare, who instantly rolled his chair backward.
"Aaack! No! No! No! Are you trying to kill me with your filthy hand!?" Nightmare shrieked, and started to cough frantically. He then scowled at Alice. "I don't like this place! I'm gonna die because my lungs are filled with spores from this class!"
"Spores?" Julius frowned and glanced at Alice, who looked bored.
"Why do you always exaggerate? Germs won't kill you like a lethal weapon. And don't say that again! This is my favorite class ever!" Alice suddenly snapped, scowling back to the silver-boy.
"Ughh...what's that noise...? I'm trying to sleep..." Gray grumbled and lazily opened his golden eyes. "Oh, you again, the Noisy Prat."
Alice groaned and turned to stare at Julius. "Both of you are almost the same."
"At least I'm not always sleepy." Julius scoffed.
"Where are we...?" Gray asked, his voice was low and tired.
"Hey! Heeey! Good afternoon, new fella!" Ace greeted happily, "Welcome to our class, the Rainbow-Puking Unicorn!"
Nightmare's eyes hardened and glared again at Alice. "Rainbow!? Puke!? No wonder I feel so sluggish in this room! Uuurgh...Gray, let's go home!" he whined.
"Zzz..."
"He's asleep again." Julius twitched.
Alice sighed and pulled out Skittles from her pocket, and stuffed a handful of them into Gray's mouth. The boy suddenly opened his eyes.
"Mm...Skittles. Mmm..." he nodded in satisfaction. "Go home, you said? But we just got here."
"I don't like this class! So dirty! I wanna go home!" Nightmare whined and coughed.
Then, Mr. Gowland entered the class. "What's with all those yelling, kids? Boris, you should call your auntie to pick up Pierce. It seems he's not going to wake up soon." He said to Boris, who sighed and left the class to use the phone.
"Ah, so you have meet the new students!" Mr. Gowland grinned. "Good. Nightmare, Gray, I hope you can get along!"
"He won't." Alice scoffed.
"I won't." Nightmare nodded.
"Zzz..."
"What? You already got into a fight?" Mr. Gowland frowned.
"Nightmare should just go home! He said he doesn't like this class!" Alice said.
"Yeah, you got a problem with that!?" Nightmare spat.
"I sure as hell have!" Ace yelled, "I'm gonna take you down, Pirate!" the brunette was holding up his fist.
"Okay, okay, time out!" Mr. Gowland snapped. "Just go back to your seats. Julius, you sit with Alice."
Julius groaned as he reluctantly move from his spot. Alice frowned in guilty, knowing that the wallflower had his own spot. Nightmare rolled his chair to the other side of the class, looking down. Gray was still sleeping on Boris' desk.
Mr. Gowland sighed. "Hm, now, I'm going to announce an event for this weekend. We're going to have a small Culture Festival!" he smiled to the class.
"Whoaa! That sounds fun!" Ace was bouncing in his seats, swinging his feet excitedly.
"Zzz..." Gray stopped snoring, an lazily looked up at the teacher. "Hm...a festival...? Noisy..."
The door was slammed open, and Boris jumped in, looking amazed. "A festival!? Oh wow!That would be the first time, right?"
Mr. Gowland laughed. "Well, up until now, we've only got four students. Now that we have seven, it'd be merrier. So, you kids should plan what do you want to do." He then wrote some things on the blackboard. "A food stand, a drama show, talent show, art corner...and music show. Now, I'm going to leave you to wait on Pierce, so be good to each other and discuss the festival, okay?"
"Yes, Mr. Gowland~!"
~.X.~
After setting four desks into a big table, the rest of RPU class sat down. Gray looked bored, and Nightmare didn't let anyone sat near him. Ace, as usual, bouncing in his seat, banging the table with his fists. Julius had took out his calculator, Alice sat beside him, going to be the one taking notes, and Boris had thrown away his shirt and stood on the tables, leading the discussion.
"Alright! This is our first Culture Festival ever! We gotta do it right!" Boris exclaimed.
"Sure, but why do you take off your shirt...?" Gray yawned.
"He's always like that." Alice explained, then stared at her notes. "Drama, music show, talent show, art corner, food stand...which one do we start to discuss? We only have one week!"
"Let's play Star Wars for Drama!" Ace shot up and practically screamed.
"No." Julius deadpanned. "The costs for the settings and costumes will be too much to handle. We should minimize the money as many as possible, and gain many profit from food stands as much as we can."
"So we're...money oriented...?" Boris twitched. "No! This isn't about money! This is about having the perfect Culture Festival ever! And I also heard the Rich People School is having a Culture Festival too! We gotta show 'em that the seven of us can make a better Festival then all of those RPS students combined!"
Nightmare sighed. "That's stupid and impossible. Seven of us—Gray won't even move, so it's six of us—facing that grand, rich school, with hundred students working for the Festival."
"Of course we can!" Boris yelled, pointing at Nightmare with a ruler. "We gotta believe!"
"Don't point at me with that dirty ruler!" Nightmare shrieked and rolled backward frantically.
"The point of a Culture Festival is not money nor glory." Everyone froze and stared at Gray, who had spoken so seriously. "It's about having fun and showing what we've learnt from the school...Zzz..." he slumped on the desk and fell asleep again.
"Three minutes has passed." Alice sighed and took out her Skittles again.
"No, let him sleep." Julius shook his head. "Just wake him up when we need him to talk."
"Okay!" Ace jumped and climbed the table as well. "So, let's discuss about what we wanna show! Boris can show off his body, and Julius can count money, Alice and I can show an epic Star Wars battle!"
"NO." Everyone deadpanned.
"Um...for the art corner," Alice started, "Why don't we draw things or build something? I can...paint or draw portraits at requests..."
"Brilliant." Julius lit up suddenly. "You can get paid for drawing at requests. That's a very nice idea." He smiled softly at the girl.
"Ohh...yeah, Alice can draw! So lucky!" Boris grinned. "Oh, I know! What if we invite Black and White to do attractions? Like magic show!"
"Sounds fun!" Ace clapped his hands. "Maybe we can get Black to take Goofy and Donald with him!"
"Good idea for Boris. Bad idea for Ace." Julius deadpanned. "Alright, that'd be the talent show. Next, what about the food stands?"
"I know! I know!" Ace waved excitedly. "I can cook desserts for this Sunday! I can sell them for good prices, I guarantee!"
"Whoa, you bake? I've never known that, Ace!" Boris looked impressed, "That's so cool!"
"Alright, then we'll leave the foodstands for Ace. What about the music show and drama?"Julius asked, while Alice checked and marked her notes. "What will we play?" he then looked up at Boris. "Boris, you're good at singing. Why don't you do it?"
"Really? Can I?" Boris lit up. "I'll do it! I'll do it! And I promise I'll wear my shirt, don't worry Alice." He grinned before Alice warned him. "But we need music! I can sing and play guitar, but that's all! We need at least pianist, bassist and drummer!"
The discussion got even more serious and animated. Nightmare just watched, disinterested, while his cousin was sleeping soundly.
What's so exciting about going outdoors, anyway? There are many spores, and those will fill their lungs and they'll die. Not to mention the germs—million of germs outside! Culture Festival...how lame. Nightmare sighed and his eyes were set on Alice Liddell.
Why it had to be her? His Mum was crazy—he'd never like that noisy girl! And she'd never like him! She hated him! Wasn't she supposed to be the same as Nightmare? How did she became so...alive and optimist?
She looked so happy in Dodo Academy. Why Nightmare couldn't be happy?
Ever since he was born, he had been bedridden. He had never learn to walk, he had never came out of his room. He went to a private school, the same school Alice went before. Going to school was his only time going outside of his room.
Nightmare's father died because of genetic immune disease. The man was an easy target for many illness. Nightmare was preserved in his rooms, fearing to share the same case, until his mother learnt that he didn't. But it was too late. Now Nightmare was too afraid of germs, outdoors, and he was unable to walk.
"Okay, then it's decided that we will play Red Riding Hood!" Boris slammed the table with his ruler. "Ace will be Red, I will be the Carpenter, Alice is the Wolf, Julius will be the tree, Pierce can be Red's Mother, Gray can be a rock, and Nightmare will be Grandmother!"
"...WHAT!?" Nightmare woke up from his daydream. "No! I'm not playing anything!" he refused angrily and rolled his wheelchair backward, before going away from the group. His wheelchair hit the shelves, and the class' Rainbow-Puking Unicorn banner fell.
"Hey! Watch it!" Ace suddenly jumped off from the table, scowling. "Don't roll on our class banner!"
Nightmare paused, and then stared at the banner. Unicorn? He scowled. Rainbow. The unicorn was puking rainbow. Nightmare hated rainbow. He then glared at Ace.
"Oh yeah? What if I do?"
Ace licked his hand. "I'll stick my germs to your face!"
Nightmare bit his lower lip, furrowing his eyebrows. "I hate rainbows! I hate this class! I hate all of you!" he then rolled his chair back and forth on the banner. "I freakin' hate everything!"
"Hey! Stop it!" Boris yelled, "You ruined our class' banner! Alice, he's ruining your painting!" the boy shook Alice's shoulder.
Nightmare froze in instant, and turned at Alice with wide eyes. The girl was looking down, her bangs covering her eyes. He could see her lips trembling.
Oh God, he hated himself. Nightmare then rolled out of the class.
"Hey, wait! Get back here!" Ace was about to chase the boy, but Alice ran ahead of him. "Alice?"
"Don't follow me!" Alice said as she slammed the door close and chased the boy on the wheelchair by herself.
The whole class fell silent, unsure of what to say. Ace was torn between chasing or staying. He was so mad! That Nightmare prat just ruined Alice's painting! Their painting! And she asked him to stay put!?
Boris grimaced as he noticed Ace was about to burst. Ace was hyper and autistic, he couldn't control himself well. Maybe he'd throw and flip tables in some seconds later...
"Ughh...fine..." Ace sighed.
Boris raised his eyebrows. Well, that's rare.
"I wonder what's wrong with that prat." Julius hummed.
"Nightmare hates rainbow." Everyone flinched in surprise as they heard Gray suddenly talking. The boy was eating Skittles that Alice left on the table.
"He wears that eyepatch, because his left eye is totally color-blind. His left eye is also color-blind, but only for green colors." Gray explained as he stuffed a handful of rainbow Skittles into his mouth. "He hates himself for many things. Because he couldn't walk, because he was color-blind, because he couldn't understand so many things that Alice likes. And, because he couldn't see the color of her eyes."
Julius raised his eyebrows. Boris frowned. Ace sat down limply.
"No wonder he hates our class..." Boris sighed. "Rainbow-Puking Unicorn...he hates rainbow because he couldn't see it perfectly."
"I'm such an insensitive jerk." Ace muttered.
"But...from what you've told us...it seems Nightmare's quite fond of that girl." Julius pointed out.
"We're friends since..." Gray yawned, "...Since we're...still babies...so...Zzz..."
Boris groaned. "Why does he always sleep when he's getting to the most curious part!? It's like he's teasing us or something!"
"Oh well, just leave it at it." Julius shrugged. "We should plan the festival again. Maybe Red Riding Hood isn't really a good choice."
Ace was sitting next to Gray, popping open a marker. "We should practice for the music show! What if I try to play the drum?" he asked, and started to draw mustasche on Gray's sleeping face.
"I don't think it'd be so easy..." Julius was cut off.
"Okay then! Ace can be the drummer! Julius will be the bassist, and Gray should handle piano! We'll learn them in seven days!" Boris yelled, slamming his ruler onto the table. "Believe it! I know we can do it!"
Julius facepalmed and groaned. "Why do I have to be around these optimistic freaks...?"
~.X.~
"Nightmare, where the heck are you?" Alice called around as she walked. She had been circling around the school ground, but Nightmare seemed to have rolled away further with his chair.
The girl sighed and decided to look further away from Dodo Academy.
She paused as she noticed blood trails on the road. Okay, she'd found the trail...it seemed that Nightmare had rolled so far!
That was when a Porsche stopped beside her. Alice looked startled, and when the window was down, she could see the familiar blond smiling at her.
"Hello, what are you doing? Is your school over already?"
"Oh...you're Blood's friend, right?" Alice asked.
"Yes. I'm Elliot March." The blond grinned. "Don't worry, I'm not a bully. So, what are you doing here?"
"My friend Nightmare just ran away from school. He's new around here, so maybe he gets lost." Alice shrugged. "He's also sick, so I'm worried."
Elliot hummed, and then spoke something to his driver in Japanese, before opening the door of his car.
"Why don't you get in? I'll help you look for your friend."
"No way! You're a stranger!" Alice shook her head and started to walk away.
"No, I'm not. I'm your friend." Elliot pointed out.
Alice paused, and then turned at the blond. She watched him for a while, and he smiled. She smiled back and came into his car.
"I'm Alice Liddel. Thanks...Elliot."
"Nandemonai..." Elliot chuckled. "Ja, how does your nakama look like?"
"He has silver hair, he wears an eyepatch on the left, and he's on a wheelchair."
"Souka...he won't be that hard to find. He sounds so outstanding." Elliot laughed.
The car was moving at a slow speed. Every now and then, they'd ask some people if they saw Nightmare and in fact, many people saw him. Then, Elliot and Alice came down from the car. They were in a shopping district, where people claimed to have seen him rolling here.
"Nightmare, where are you?" Alice called.
"Wait, Alice..." Elliot frowned, holding up his hand. "Do you hear that?"
Alice paused and tried to hear anything. They heard loud voices from one of the alleys in the district. Some yelling and a scream or whine. Elliot was turning around to determine where did he hear that noise, and Alice was gone.
"Alice...?" he called, and then scowled in worry.
Oh no...she's gone already.
~.X.~
"If you're not rich, why are you wearing such fancy outfit, prat?" a big, fat bully was holding up Nightmare's collar. "Too bad you can't walk, huh? I'm gonna break that pretty face of yours into pulp!"
"We can sell this wheelchair after playing it, Dale!" another boy laughed, while playing around with the wheelchair.
"No...No! Please don't! I can't go anywhere without it!" Nightmare cried.
"Shut up! I said I'm going to beat you!" The boy swung his fist, but then he groaned in pain when a big, red brick just crashed his back. "Ouch! Dammit! Who did that!?" he wildly turned and dropped Nightmare on the ground, to find a girl, panting on her feet.
"Hah...Let go...of..." Alice sighed and stared at the big bully, unfazed as always. "...My friend. And put down that wheelchair."
Nightmare grimaced, eyes widened. Oh no! Why is she here!? She'll get hurt...!
"Alice, just go! Leave me alone!" Nightmare yelled. "I hate you! So just leave me!"
"Well I can't!" Alice yelled angrily. "My Mum said I should take care of you! I've promised your Mum too, so I won't!"
"Will both of you prats shut the fuck up!?" the bully snapped and threw his punch. Alice dodged easily, because the fist was so big and she was so small. The girl then kicked her flip-flop right onto the other bully's face and ran for the wheelchair.
"Okay! I got your chair!" Alice announced, but then... "Whoa...I'm doomed." She grimaced as the big bully held her up hanging on her collar shirt.
"You've got nerves, for a girl, prat!" the bully sneered. "Too bad I don't care if you're a girl. You're dead—AACK! DAMMIT!" he shrieked as Alice stabbed his eyes with her two fingers.
Alice then climbed onto the bully's shoulders and closed his eyes with her palms.
"Okay, Nightmare! Get out of here!" she yelled.
"But I can't...!" Nightmare groaned as he tried to drag himself with his hands. At times like this...he wished he could be on his feet. He groaned. "I so frickin' hate myself..." he grumbled and tried to use his feet in vain.
"Aaargh! You damn prat! Get off me!" the bully wildly waved around.
"Get down from him, ya bratty bitch!" the other bully yelled, trying to hit the girl with a stick.
SLAM
"Ooff!" Alice groaned in pain as the big bully swung her off and she hit the trash container. "Aargh.."
"Alice!" Nightmare grimaced and was on his knees. Just a little bit more...! He grunted.
"You're going to get kicked until you can't scream, bitch!"
"Yeah, do it!" Alice challenged. "And I'll tell all the girls that you're ugly and you're meanie, and you'll never get a wife!"
Nightmare cringed. Oh Alice, for once in your life, won't you keep those guts?
"You little...! Dale, she said you'd be a single forever!" the other bully repeated.
"You're not gonna do that because you're going down here, prat!" the big bully swung his foot.
"No!" Nightmare yelled and for a second there, eventhough painful, he was on his feet and he ran to her.
SMACK
"Uuuurgh!" Nightmare groaned in pain as the bully kicked him on his waist.
"Aw, crap..." Alice cringed. "That seems hurt! What the hell are you doing, dumbass!? You should run!" she shoo the silver-head frantically.
"I won't ever leave you!" Nightmare coughed blood. "Don't be stupid!"
"Eww! Stop being lovey-dovey!" the bully groaned in disgust. "Wade, you get that useless prat while I kicked this bitch senseless!"
"My, my, I can't believe what losers I'm seeing right now..."
Alice sighed in relief as Elliot entered the alley. She shivered a little, because Elliot had no smile on his face anymore, but a cold glare and a frown. His hands inside his pockets as he walked forth, challenging.
"What? You wanna get some too?" the other bully dashed with a fist, but amazingly, Elliot just dodged to his left and caught the bully's arm before twisting it and throwing him effortlessly.
BANG! The smaller bully was thrown into the trash container.
"Whoa..." Alice and Nightmare gawked.
"Alright, your turn." Elliot smirked as he dashed towards the bigger bully, who flinched with his eyes wide.
"Whoa—wait—No, no, no, no—AAACCK!"
~.X.~
Elliot March frowned guiltily as he stared at the broken wheelchair. He got so angry and banged the big bully with the wheelchair that it got broken. The three walked out from the alley, with Nightmare getting helped to walk.
"I'm so sorry about that wheelchair..." Elliot murmured. "I promise I'll buy you a new one. It won't be a big deal." He frowned at Nightmare.
"No, you won't." They turned to Alice, who shook her head. "You'll lend him."
"Oh, no, it's really fine, Alice." Elliot shook his head. "I broke his after all."
"No, because I'm going to teach Nightmare how to walk." Alice bluntly said. "If you just lend him, he won't depend on it. Right, Nighty?"
Nightmare was gaping at the girl. Teaching him how to walk? Was she serious? After all he'd said to her, she'd still help him out? He frowned.
"Why are you doing this to me!?" he whimpered.
Alice tilted her head. "Doing what?"
"Helping me out! I've said horrible things to you! I...I even ruined your banner..." Nightmare started to sob. "You...You shouldn't be so nice to me...Alice...I'm..." he cried. "I'm sorry...I'm so sorry..."
Alice sighed lazily. "I really hate seeing a boy cry. Makes me want to punch him."
Elliot grinned in amuse, while Nightmare froze and started to wipe his face.
"You can't see a perfect rainbow," Alice stated, "You can't walk, you're sick...There's so many things I don't understand about you, Nightmare. Even though I'm supposed to understand. So...at least, if you can walk..." she sighed, "Then maybe, you can understand me, and that way, I can understand you."
Elliot's eyes softened at the girl, and he looked away with a tint of blush. Nightmare looked up at her, then nodded.
"Yeah..." he muttered. "I really want to understand you. At least...teach me how to walk, so I can be beside you...always." he looked down, clearly blushing.
"Yeah, yeah, so stop being all sappy." Alice insensitively rolled her eyes. "Oh yeah! I remember you can play the trombone, Nighty. Why don't you join the band with your trombone?"
"Band?" Elliot lit up. "What's the occasion...wait, let me guess...Culture Festival?" he smiled.
"Yep!" Alice grinned. "Dodo Academy's first festival! I'm so excited because I got to experience the first Culture Festival of this school! Oh yeah, your school has one too, right?"
"Yeah, we do." Elliot nodded. "What are you going to do? Are you going to sing?"
Nightmare scoffed mockingly. "Psh, don't even think about it. If you hear her singing, you'd wish you're a deaf man. She's singing like a banshee crying—OUCH!"
"Keep going and maybe you'll lose your head!" Alice puffed her cheeks. "I'm not that bad, really! I'll prove it!"
Nightmare shivered. "No, you don't have to!"
"How exciting," Elliot lit up. "I'd like to hear you. What about 'Itsy-Bitsy Spider'?"
"Alright!" Alice yelled, and then took a deep breath. Nightmare cringed and plugged his ears with his fingers.
"No, no, Alice...no—"
"ITSY-BITSY SPIDER COMING DOWN THE SPOUT!" Alice shrieked, "DOWN CAME THE RAIN AND WASHED THE SPIDER OUT!"
Elliot fainted along with Nightmare.
"OUT CAME THE SUN AND DRIED UP ALL THE RAIN...!"
Hm...very long chapter. YES TOMORROW'S FRIDAY!
Has anyone figured out what's Alice issue?
Next chapter, Vivaldi will come!