Too Much Noise
Louise Belcher was skipping around the hallways of Wagstaff School, humming an upbeat tune as she looked for something to do. Louise had managed to escape the assembly that was happening in the gym. Normally, Louise liked assemblies as that meant that classes were stalled and that she didn't have to do any work. However, when the topic of the assembly was something as boring as lice prevention, Louise had no qualms about leaving before they brought out the stuffed lice.
Louise thought about sneaking into the teacher's lounge to try out the new ice cream vending machine that she had heard so much about, but the rabbit ear-wearing child stopped in her tracks when she heard the familiar sound of her older sister, Tina Belcher, moaning. Louise turned her attention to finding out where Tina was, and after a minute, saw her in front of her Resource Teacher, Mrs. Baytes, office. Tina was rocking while she was moaning, her head gently bouncing on and off of the wooden door while having her arms hugging her knees, and her face lightly pressed against the center of her knees.
"Hey, T…what's up?" Louise asked apprehensively, not knowing how Tina was going to react to someone approaching her. Luckily, Tina simply looked over at Louise for a second before sighing and slowly looking back up at her younger sister.
"Oh…hey, Louise. Aren't you supposed to be at the assembly?"
"I was going to ask you the same thing, T," Louise responded before sitting down next to Tina. Tina took another deep breath out before she explained herself, though her eyes remained firmly focused on the tiled floor.
"Well…I forgot my sensory headphones in the classroom, and the substitute teacher working with my class wouldn't let me go get them. She also told me to sit close to the speakers, and I tried to tell her that I don't do well with loud noises, but she told me that I was a big girl and that I would be fine. But when the show started, the music was blasting into my ears and it felt like my brain was rattling. So I…I ran out of the gym and tried to find Mrs. Baytes, but she wasn't here, so…I'm just waiting for her out here," Tina explained, her voice going up a couple of octaves as the memories of what happened only twenty minutes ago. Tina began hyperventilating as she started clawing at her ears when they began hurting again at the thought of the loud music that blared through her ears in the gym. Louise looked worried for Tina before leaning in and giving her a hug, which Tina immediately reciprocated, pressing her face into the shoulder of Louise's green dress.
"Hey, don't worry about it. You'll be OK. How about we sit together while we wait for Mrs. Baytes to come back?" Louise offered, trying to talk as gently as possible so that she didn't overwhelm Tina again. Tina remained silent for a minute, the only noises coming from her were some loud breathing. After what seemed like an eternity, Tina slowly pulled herself away from Louise, took off her glasses, and wiped and remaining tears on her face before pressing her hands together. Louise offered a supportive smile to her big sister, taking Tina's glasses from the floor and putting them back on her face.
"Thanks, Louise," Tina mumbled while laying the side of her head on Louise's shoulder. Louise nodded before running her hand through Tina's black hair, reminding herself that this was what their mother did to comfort Tina when she was overstimulated or overwhelmed.
"No prob, T," Louise responded as she heard soft footsteps heading their way. Louise looked to her side out of peripheral vision and noticed that Mrs. Baytes was coming back with several books underneath her arm and a coffee mug in her free hand. A small part of Louise was annoyed that Mrs. Baytes had come earlier than she expected, as she was enjoying being the sister who could comfort her sibling. However, Louise knew that Mrs. Baytes would be better at helping Tina than she would, so she got back up to her feet, tapped her shoulder, and turned her attention to Mrs. Baytes, causing Tina to turn and her mouth to turn into a small smile.
Louise decided to walk away, not only to keep herself from getting in trouble for leaving the assembly for no good reason but also to let Tina and Mrs. Baytes talk by themselves. While walking over to Mr. Frond's office, Louise couldn't help but smile at how well she had done with comforting Tina, which is something she saw her parents do quite a few times. Louise and Tina's mother had even given Louise some advice on how to make Tina feel better in situations like that when their parents weren't around. As Louise entered Mr. Frond's office and headed towards his desk, she got a smug smile on her face, thinking about how proud they would be that she helped calm Tina down.
Well…at least they might not be as upset with her for the upcoming prank she was going to pull. Louise chuckled as she grabbed a can of whipped cream from her bunny ears and began spraying Frond's chair with the substance.