Family Begins With You

by Jmaster49

Arc XII Episode VI: Waking Nightmare

“What--what’s up?” Tiara asked as she brought out her pocket mirror, “Is there something on my face?”

“Nah,” he pushed the mirror closed, and scoffed, “I just didn’t expect you to approach me in public. Won’t that ruin your perfect image?”

The pink girl scoffed and flipped her hair as she put her mirror away. “Ah--pfft. I could buy and sell the house of anyone in this itty-bitty city. That aside, I wanted to come thank you personally.”

Keiji raised a brow while folding his arms. “Tch. Thank me? What for?”

“The talk you had with my mom,” she went on, “She’s been talking more with dad lately and things have been getting better…for now. I haven’t heard any fighting in the last few days.”

“Good,” he gave a simple reply while leaning against his locker, “The last thing parents should wanna do is fight.”

Tiara took a step towards him and whispered. “...How much?”

“Eh?”

“...Do I owe you?” she asked with a pained look in her eyes, “You went through the trouble of helping us out, so I feel like I should do something for you in return. Isn’t that how it works?”

As a product of the nobility himself, Keiji was somewhat familiar with the utilization of money as a bargaining tactic. But given his personal connection with this girl, he refused her offer. “Nah. I don’t need your money. Your mom pays me enough as it is. And I didn’t really do much anyway--it was up to her whether or not she was willing to change.”

“I suppose you have a point, but--”

“Relaaax, we’re friends right?” he said with a small grin on his face, “We should do things for each other without expecting any ridiculously large payouts. My parents were experts at that crap and were so fake when it came to thanking ponies--er, people?”

“They were?” Tiara asked, “They sound a lot like mine…”

“Oh yeah, trust me, there are a lot of things our parents had in common…” To spare her the grisly details, Keiji didn’t exactly wish to divulge that information just yet. “But that’s for another time. Anyhow. I have a surprise for everyone once we get to class. I managed to change lunchtime around and get all the teachers on board as well.”

With the change of subject, Tiara followed with an enthused set of sparkling eyes. “Wait…you got the lunch schedule changed around? How did you manage to do that?”

“Bribing the principals with the same thing I’m getting for everyone else,” the vampboy snickered as he shut his locker and walked through the hall with his backpack slung over one shoulder. “You’re gonna love it, trust me.”

“Very few people in this school have my full trust,” Tiara commented with a raise of her brow, which then turned into an intrigued smile, “Can’t wait to see what you have planned.”

Meanwhile, as they continued walking, someone had been following them at a distance…

“...Why is she hanging out with someone like him? What’s their deal?” Silver Spoon grit her teeth as she watched her best friend walk off with a boy she--Silver Spoon--barely knew. “Is that the guy she mentioned when I came back? He doesn’t look like much…what’s his plan?”

Naturally, she didn’t trust him. Even less so once she got a good look at him. The bad posture, sharp teeth, and laid-back demeanor spelled out ‘delinquent’ clear as day to the uninitiated. That being Silver Spoon in this case.

“If you dare to try anything with her, I swear…”

---

At Crystal Prep…

Sugarcoat made her way to school and spent the morning before first period searching for her friend. “Don’t worry. I’ll save you, Sour. You’re hurt…I can feel it. Now where are you…”

Through the halls, she passed by one of her friends--a certain pink-skinned, green-haired girl with a pair of headphones that she was busy bobbing her head to.

“Lemon Zest--you got a minute?”

“Whaaaat?” the girl asked, unable to hear properly due to how loud the music was.

Sugarcoat removed the headphones, causing her friend’s headbanging to stop. “Have you seen Sour anywhere? I have a feeling something bad is about to happen.”

“Nope, but whatcha mean by that?” Lemon asked, “You mean ‘bad’ as in ‘awesome’ bad or ‘bad as in…”

“Bad as in terrible,” Sugar replied as she gave Lemon her headphones back, “I can’t explain everything, but I have a feeling she’s gonna do something really dangerous.”

Lemon turned her music off and put her headphones in her locker. “Ya know…if somethin’s real bad, then don’t hesitate to lemme know, yo.”

“Thanks, but I think I can handle this,” Sugarcoat denied her friend’s assistance and began to walk away, “Just text me if you find her.”

As Sugarcoat left, Lemon Zest was left disturbed--she folded her arms and stared coldly at her friend. “Hrm…yeah, this isn’t gonna end well. I’ve seen enough horror movies to know how this goes.”

Unbeknownst to her, Zest’s prediction had merit…

Sugarcoat hurried up a flight of steps to the next floor of the school. That’s when she came into contact with a few familiar faces. A group of students standing near one of the water fountains and talking to each other. Among them?

Upper Crust, Fleur-De-Lis, and Suri Polomare. Three girls who usually hung out here before going to class.

“You…” Sugarcoat confronted them with a cold glare, “You all need to get out of here as quickly as possible.”

Upper Crust replied with a scoff, “Uch. And miss nacho day? Like--yeah, no.”

“And I can’t afford to miss another day, mmkay?” Suri replied in between blowing a bubblegum bubble and chewing.

“Just what’s your deal anyway?” Fleur retorted, “You wanna hog all the glory for yourself in science class, hm?”

Sugarcoat’s expression remained the same as she went on. “No. I know you’ve been saying mean things to Sour. You don’t have much time left before she finds you and--”

“Oh. Her,” Suri cut her off, “It’s not our fault that she’s such a flippity-floppity weirdo.”

“Yeah,” Upper Crust added, “The other day she tried to congratulate me on my cheerleading routine, only to mutter how much better she was under her breath. Crazy twat…”

“Not to mention she freaks out whenever I’m her lab partner,” Fleur continued, “I ask her a basic question and then she decides to snap at me, but when the teacher shows up, she’s all smiles and giggles.” She folded her arms and grumbled, puffing out her cheeks, “Tellement méchant!”

So that was it. They weren’t exactly ‘bullying’ her. Rather, they were annoyed by Sour’s unique…condition that was a result of her abuse. The inability to control her emotions around others had sparked rumors which only made things worse for her around the school.

And Sugarcoat had it all figured out. “I see now…you all just…have naturally curious responses and engage in idle gossip. While it’s not perfect, it’s better than what I thought. But listen--you need to--”

SKRRRT!

It was too late. At the other end of the hall, Sour Sweet made her appearance and called out to the girls, catching their attention instantly. “Aha! Found you! No escape now!”