//------------------------------// // Sour's on the case! // Story: Dear Dean... // by AppleJTZ //------------------------------// Dean Cadence stared at the clear morning sky, the sun slowly crawling up the beautiful veil of blue above her head. With a smile she lowered her gaze to the courtyard of Crystal Prep Academy. A handful of students were spending their small recess outside of the building, walking over the grass or sitting on a bench like she was doing, while occasionally a student stepped through the gates on the school property. From her seat the dean watched a girl sitting down on the stairs in front of the school, quietly unwrapping a sandwich. Behind her the doors of Crystal Prep opened, another girl stepping out with a waffle in her hand. Without saying a word she sat down next to the other, both girls exchanging a short, rather reserved glance before they silently began to eat, their faces turned away from each other’s. Cadence’s gaze wandered away from the two girls, towards her handbag that was lying next to her on the bench. On top of it a letter was lying, looking rather ordinary except for the fact a small plastic bag had been attached to it with a paperclip at the top. Inside the bag was a small blue button, resembling the ones on the students’ uniforms. Cadence picked up the letter, pressing with her thumb on the plastic bag so it wouldn’t bend the paper, and read it once more. Dear Dean Cadence, How are you? I hope you are feeling well? Well I don’t. My stomach feels like it’s gonna explode. But I don’t want to bore you with my teeny-tiny problems. I just wanted to quickly report what I learned about friendship today. Although you know already because I told you in your office, but whatever. When you try to solve a reeeaaaaally difficult problem, it of course can’t hurt to be brilliant. But even more important than having a great mind is having a group of great friends by your side who are there to help and support you. Even when they refuse to acknowledge your brilliance until you shove it into their faces. And while it is always good to be confident in your own abilities, it’s not good to boast with them in front of your friends. You should humbly be aware of your own strengths as well as those of your friends, instead of playing their abilities down with your own. Because if you do, they might pout like little girls and leave you alone. Also, there is a reason it’s said “you should consider anyone innocent until their guilt is proven” instead of thinking of everyone you as your enemy – because it may turn out everything was just a big funny misunderstand, and you have suspicioned a bunch of poor, innocent students for no reason, and nobody deserves that. Not even the jerks here at Crystal Prep. When everyone freaked out this morning, I thought it was silly since it was just pudding in the morning (cream-cherry, but still). But as we’ve seen at lunch today, even something as mundane as pudding can greatly lift the spirits of everybody, and help spread the spirit of friendship. Although, and this is the last and until the stomach gramps are gone most important lesson I learned today, there is a too much for even the best things. That is all I wanted to share with you. Hope you have a fun day with some friends♥ Best wishes, Your student Sour Sweet PS: I’m in so much pain! It wasn’t that Cadence didn’t have sympathy for the suffering of her student, yet she couldn’t help but giggle at that last remark. Carefully she put the letter down, laying it horizontally on her skirt before she looked up to her knees. Tucked between them was a small pot, with a spoon sticking inside the mixture of red pudding and white cream it contained. She grabbed the spoon and pulled out some of the pudding with it. Raising the spoon to her face she looked at the red-white gooey mass for a moment, before the spoon slid through her lips into her mouth. Closing her eyes she felt the taste of cherry and cream engulfing her tongue, making her hum in delight. “Enjoying your meal?” The dean winced, the spoon falling out of her mouth. She quickly snatched it before it could fall on the letter, looking in surprise up at the woman in front of her. “P-Prinfipal Finf!” she stuttered, spitting some droplet of pudding around. Flustered she swallowed. “You startled me.” Hands behind her back the principal of Crystal Prep Academy stood in front of the dean, straight and serious. “I’ve just been at your office to talk with you about some adjustments to the curriculum, but found the door was locked” she told Cadence, a subtly scolding ring in her voice. “I’ve been looking for you all over the school, from the teacher’s longue to the cafeteria.” Cadence blushed. “I’m sorry, principal” she apologized. “But, um, you could have just called me on my phone…” The eyebrows of the principal furrowed even further. “I tried. You didn’t pick up.” Confused Cadence pulled out her phone from her pocket, her eyes widening as she stared at a black screen. “I… seem to have forgotten to turn it on this morning” she muttered, quickly activating it. “S-sorry.” The principal glared disapprovingly at her. Her eyes then wandered to the pot of pudding between her knees. “I don’t remember it being lunch time already” she remarked. Immediately Cadence placed the pudding next to her on the bench. As the principal glanced with a raised eyebrow at the letter on her lap she hastily put it aside as well, making sure it was lying face-down. “W-well, I didn’t have time for breakfast” she hastily began to explain “So I just grabbed some pudding from the fridge this morning and thought I could eat in school while things aren’t busy, and it was such a nice morning I thought it would be nice to sit outside, and...” Pushing her glasses up Cinch rubbed the bridge of her nose, letting out a sigh. “Just eat up and get back to work” she instructed her dean, crossing her hands behind her back again. Her face seemed even more grime than before. “Currently I’m not very good to speak on pudding. The students were so worked up because of this ridiculous incident, acting like little children and babies – everything was an utter chaos!” “You don’t have to tell me” Cadence said, then whispered to herself: “Especially since I was the one you told to deal with it…” “And then the pudding returns, and all the students celebrate!” Cinch yelled, losing her composure for a moment as she threw her arms up in the air. “Getting so worked up over some dessert – I really wish they would show a little bit of that passion and enthusiasm for their schoolwork.” Again she pushed up her glasses, massaging her temples this time. “I really hope I don’t need to hear about pudding for a very long time” the principal muttered as she turned back towards the school. “If we didn’t have a contract, I’d cancel the Pudding Tuesday right away.” With a silent sigh Cadence picked up her pot of pudding, putting the spoon back inside it. She was about to take some more, but hesitated. She watched the principal leave for the doors of school, where her gaze met the two girls still sitting on the stairs. Smiles on their previously serious faces they were eating a lot slower, being engulfed in a rather chipper conversation – they were even giggling from time to time. Seeing this Cadence smirked herself, before looking back at the principal’s back as she slowly walked away. Biting her lip Cadence lowered her glance for a moment, before putting on a resolute face. “Principal Cinch!” Stopping Cinch turned around, staring curiously at the dean. Cadence jumped off the bench, grabbing her bag in the process. In the run she hung it over her shoulder, rummaging through it with her free hand as she approached the principal. When the two women stood in front of each other Cadence pulled out another pot of pudding, causing Cinch to arch her eyebrows. “I… actually grabbed two puddings from the fridge” she admitted. Keeping her head low, but looking the principal directly into her strict eyes Cadence quietly held out the second unopened pot to her, a nervous smile on her face. There was an uncomfortable silence. Without any emotion on her face the principal slowly raised her arm, and took the pot from the dean’s hand. Through her glasses she looked at it for a moment, her face still completely indifferent, before staring the dean straight into the face again. “You don’t happen to have a spare spoon as well, do you?