Chapter Text
“Aphmau?” Her teacher asked, making her look up from her school schedule in her notebook.
“Yes?” She asked, tapping her pencil on the open book, knowing her teacher was gonna ask her to do something before class ended and the club fair started.
They seemed unprepared this year, with the previous club captains manning their own booths and such. But that didn’t do much with the actual setting up of the club fair besides individual booths.
Teony had asked her if she was supposed to be helping out this morning but when Aphmau said no, they seemed a bit worried.
Her teacher smiled sweetly, “Can you go help down at the gym before the club fair opens? Teony asked for you.”
She held back a sigh, looked down at her schedule for when the next period starts, and nodded, “Sure… Is it ok for me to miss the next period?” She asked, standing up from her desk.
“It’s alright, I’ll let your next teacher know.” The teacher told her, gesturing her off towards the door.
Aphmau put her notebook in her bag before getting up and walking out of the classroom, towards the gym.
The girl looked at her phone and checked through her messages while passing through the hall.
On the lock screen she saw messages from Katelyn, Nana, and Teony. All of them asked for her to get out of class and to come help down at the gym.
Quickly she messaged back to them, that she was on her way to the gym to help them out with preparations. She knew it was too good to be true when Ms. Layla said they didn’t need her help getting the club fair set up for the new freshman.
Once she got close enough, Aphmau saw Nana by the doors of the gym, “Hi Aphmau!” Nana said, waving to her frantically while holding some decorations.
“Hi Nana, what are you doing?” Aphmau asked, dropping her bag next to Nana’s right outside the gym doors.
“Well, Teony asked me to just make it look friendly, but we need to hang a banner above the door. I can’t though, not tall enough even with the ladder.” She explained.
Aphmau looked at the door and sighed, if Nana couldn’t get it up, then Aph couldn’t either. “You try Katelyn?” She asked, stretching upwards and linking her hands for a second.
“Yeah, she wasn’t tall enough either. Can you go try to find someone tall enough?” She suggested, holding up two colors of streamers next to the door, trying to pick one.
“Sure. Give me a second...” Aphmau said, looking behind her to see a much taller kid looking at his schedule, “Hey!”
The guy looked around before looking at Aphmau, watching as she ran over to him, “Mind helping us hang a banner really quick?”
He slowly blinked, before nodding, “Great!” Aphmau ran back over to Nana, the taller following shortly.
Nana looked at the guy, “Oh, hi!” She said excitedly, “Are you tall enough to put it on?” She asked, getting off the ladder.
“Umm.” He went to the ladder and got up a few steps, putting the end of the banner into the hook easily.
“Darn.” Nana panted, cracking her back after having tried to put the banner up for a few minutes, “How tall are you?” She asked.
“6’2.” He simply answered.
She fixed her blazer while staring at him, “Are you new?”
He nodded and Nana smiled, “Cool! What grade are you?”
“Senior.” He answered.
“I’m a junior, and Aphmau is a sophomore.” Nana said, holding Aphmau by her shoulders lightly.
Sighing, Aphmau looked at the banner, “What’s the sign for? I thought the teachers were just gonna bring them directly to the Gym.” She asked Nana.
“Ms. Layla wanted it just so if kids decide to skip they can’t say they got lost since there’s a giant sign.” Nana explained, letting her go to choose between streamers, “Which one should I choose?”
“…Why don’t you just do both? They’re pretty.” She asked after looking at the colors.
Nana shook her head, “They are, but it’s just too colorful, I think I’ll stick with yellow. It’s just for today anyway, hand me the scissors.”
Aphmau gave her the scissors and watched as she strung a few below the banner, “There, what do you think?” Nana asked, stepping back to look at her work.
“Is that straight?” He asked, leaning as far back on the ladder as he could without falling.
“Mostly.” Nana said, before looking into the gym, “Oh Irene- I forgot I have a booth.” She ran into the gym towards the cooking club.
The sophomore and senior were left alone with each other, mainly the new boy looking after Nana as she left.
“She’s single.” She quietly threw out, looking down at her nails.
He looked at her, lightly shocked, “I- I’m not-”
“Straight?” Aphmau asked, causing him to immediately shake his head, “No no- I am- but I’m not-” He panicked, “Not that I’m against that-”
She held up her hands while laughing, “Hey- it’s cool dude. She’s cute and single, that's all I’m saying. Now go to class.” She said, switching up her attitude and motioning for him to leave.
“Uhh.” He looked at his schedule and back at her.
“Are you lost?” She asked. He nodded, showing her his schedule, “Aaron?” She asked, looking at the name at the top of the schedule, making him nod.
“Ok, class down the hall to the right. You’ll see the number.” She said, pointing in the direction he was supposed to be going in.
He seemed reluctant and Aphmau crossed her arms, “Look, I’ve been lost 100 times in this school. I know my way around by now. Trust me.”
“Not a good selling point.” He told her quietly.
Aphmau huffed, pointing at him, “I can write you up, I have that power.” She threatened, knowing she didn’t have her detention pad on her.
Aaron looked her up and down, realizing he was a lot taller than her and could easily shove her into one of the lockers.
Her glare got tighter and he glared back at her, “Down the hall, to the right?” He asked again, allowing the threat.
She nodded firmly, pointing to the hallway he had come from, “Go, before you’re considered late for class. As a new student you have some leniency but that only lasts for today.”
Holding back a sigh, Aaron started towards the hallway before turning down where she had shown him.
“Oh come on, 1 puff.” Aphmau heard someone down the other end of the hall say, causing her to turn around towards it.
There were the shadows of 3 students laughing while staggering around, “Ok- ok- ok- once because I think they’re having some event around here.”
“Club fair, Gene.” A girl said, finally coming around the corner, to see Aphmau, “Oh shit…” Sasha spoke.
Gene looked from play fighting with Zenix, “Oh, if it isn’t the feisty kitty.” Gene mocked, holding a vape in his hands.
“Gene.” Aphmau sighed, crossing her arms and staring at the trio, “What are you doing out of class? Or did you not even go?” She asked.
Zenix quietly tried to grab the vape from Gene but he kept it away from Zenix, “Trying to find the- the-” Gene nudged Sasha, waiting for her to finish the sentence.
“The club fair.” She added, causing the two boys to nod.
“That doesn’t start for another…” Aphmau looked at her watch, “8 minutes.”
“We wanna be star students.” Gene threw out, causing Aphmau to roll her eyes, “Come on, we’ll go in now.” Gene went closer to her.
“We’re not ready, it’s not open yet.” She said sternly.
He raised an eyebrow, amused, “You’re not ready for the fair that starts in 8 minutes? Sounds like bad planning.”
“We’re understaffed.” She glared.
About to speak, Gene clicked his tongue and pointed to her before the gym doors opened, “Aphmau, are you alright?” Teony asked, having seen Gene and his posse out the windows.
“Oh! Ms. Bitch, nice to see you.” Gene said, faking an enthusiastic tone to its fullest extent, “How are you?”
“Mx.” Teony corrected, “And fix your tie.” They pointed out, nodding to the loose badly done uniform tie.
The tie remained loose but he had at least looked down at it to humor them, “My bad, no one told me, Mx. Bitch.”
They took a deep breath, “What are you doing out right now?”
Gene motioned to the sign above the gym doors, “For the- the club crap, I wanna do something with art.”
“Graffiti doesn’t count as art when it’s on property you don’t own.” Aphmau pointed out, looking at her nails.
Quietly Gene put the vape in his mouth, taking a drag before blowing the smoke in Aphmau’s face, causing her to gag and wipe her eyes.
Sasha and Zenix both watched in shock at the action, Zenix smiling after a moment while Sasha was more horrified. She hated when Gene blew smoke in her face and knew how gross Aphmau would feel afterwards.
Teony pulled her back from Gene, “Gene! What the hell!” Teony crouched down to her face, “Are you alright Aph?”
Aphmau nodded, “Yeah, they’re just watery.” She gasped.
“Gene, I'm gonna have you arrested for this!” Teony scolded, trying to wipe the tears that were falling from Aphmau’s face.
“Teony I’m alright, just some smoke.” Aphmau tried to dismiss but her eyes kept on watering, causing more to fall
“Go inside Aphmau,” Teony told her, turning back to Gene, “And I’m gonna write you up.”
He sighed, “Ok that may have not been my best move but it’s the first day Mx. Bitch. Let it go.”
Teony opened their hand, “Give it before I have you expelled.” They threatened.
Gene scoffed before handing over the vape, “I’ll see you later in the principal's office.” He mocked, “And get a girl to take that stick out of your ass soon too.” Gene said, loud enough that it lightly echoed down the hall.
When Teony looked at Sasha and Zenix, they shook their head in disappointment, “Go to class, both of you.”
At the moment, Teony let them walk but knew to write a very long speech about what they saw to the principal, Ms. Layla. Their first priority was making sure the club fair went well which was conflicting with their duty to protect the other students.
After the troublesome trio turned the corner, Teony went back inside the gym, “Aphmau?” They said, looking around for the sophomore.
They saw her at the cooking club booth with Nana, carefully holding a cloth to her eyes, “Oh Irene…” They whispered going over to the booth.
“Aph? Are you alright?” They asked again, causing Aphmau to take the cloth that looked wet off her eyes.
“Yes Teony, I’m alright. It just burns a little, but the cold water is making it better.” She smiled a bit.
Teony felt awful that they had let Gene do that to Aphmau, “I know I called for you, but it’s alright, we can do without it. Just keep the towel on your eyes.”
“What-? No! Teony I’m alright.” Aphmau stood up, setting down the cloth on the booth.
Nana picked up the cloth again and pushed it to Aphmau’s face, “She right, your eyes look irritated. Rest, you can stay here.”
“They.” Teony quietly corrected.
Immediately Nana softly gasped, covering her mouth with her hand, “Oh my Irene, I’m so sorry.”
Teony giggled a bit, “Nana it’s alright.” They said, putting a hand on her shoulder, quietly reassuring her it was ok.
Aphmau spoke up after a moment, “I’m fine. I swear, I’ll just go help out real quick.” She told them, holding the wet cloth away from her face.
Both Nana and Teony looked at each other, not really wanting to let Aphmau go, “Aph-” Teony started but was cut off.
“No! Come on, it’s just the first day. Gene is not gonna ruin it for me.” Aphmau whined.
For a moment Teony thought and carefully nodded, “Alright, but if your eyes feel worse, you come right back here and put the cloth on your face, ok?”
Aphmau smiled and nodded, “Yes, of course.”
“Alright… I need you to go help with Garroth, he said something about missing papers. The sign up ones.” Teony sighed, pulling out a small notepad from an inside pocket of their school blazer
“Got it!” Aphmau ran off towards the booth where the senior seemed to be frantically looking around his booth.
“Garroth?” She asked, standing in front of his booth, watching as he scrambled to get everything in place.
He stopped and looked at the girl, “Aph! Do you have any sign up sheets? I can’t find any anywhere and everyone says that Teony had given it to them when they came in.”
“Are you sure they aren’t here? It’s kinda messy.” She pointed out, looking at how some papers were halfway off the desk.
The senior gave her a sharp look, causing her to put her head down so as not to look him in the eye, “Hey…your eye good? Looks red.” He asked, looking worried.
Aphmau motioned her hand as if to dismiss it, “It’s fine, just walked into some smoke. What do you need?”
Garroth sighed but didn’t speak on it, “Just get me more sign up sheets.”
“Uhh- right. Give me a second.” Aphmau ran off towards the bleachers were Teony’s bag was set and opening it.
She rummaged inside of Teony’s bag to find the extra stack of sign up sheets Teony would have gotten from Ms. Layla.
“Aph, what are you doing?” Someone said, making her look up to see Laurence staring down, a large mesh bag of soccer balls thrown over his shoulder.
“Garroth lost his sign up sheets, Teony should have some extra in here.” She explained, going back to pushing around items in the bag.
Laurence looked back towards Garroth and scoffed, “Idiot, his booth is a fucking mess. No wonder he can’t find it.”
“Yeah,” Aphmau sighed, “So how’s your booth coming along?” She asked, pulling out a large file and peeking inside of it.
“It’s going alright. I’m right in front of Garroth, which means we’re gonna be fighting for kids again.” Laurence set the bag on the bleachers.
“Well it wasn’t all bad last year, I thought it was funny watching you guys fight.” She added, hoping it would help.
He shook his head, “Yeah but I thought we would have learned from last year.”
“Don’t you guys get to pick where your booths are? Why didn’t you get a spot away from him?” She asked.
“Got here late, then I couldn’t find my assistant. It was a mess, all that was left was in front of Garroth.” He sighed.
Aphmau finally found the sign up sheets and gasped in relief, “I gotta go Laurence, but I’ll check out the booth later, alright?”
Laurence smiled and nodded, “See ya Aph. Good luck.” He told her, picking up the bag again and walking towards his booth.
She ran off the bleachers and towards Garroth who seemed to be yelling at his assistant, “I told you to put the baseballs in a box, not a bag-”
“Garroth.” Aphmau said, holding the papers out, “Here, I found some more.”
He grabbed the papers and looked them over before smiling, “Thank you Aph, at least someone can do what I ask of them.” He glared at his assistant.
“Oh and please don’t fight with Laurence this year. Teony would have my butt if I let that happen.” Aphmau asked him before walking off.
“Then tell him not to steal my players.” Garroth called.
Laurence heard since he was right across from Garroth, “I didn’t steal anything, your players came to me!”
“Rock, paper, scissors.” Garroth then shouted, holding his hand out in front of the booth so that Laurence could see.
His hand came out, also ready to play rock, paper, scissors but Aphmau got between the two booths, “NO! Last time that happened someone got a ball to the face.”
“His eye healed.” Laurence scoffed, putting his hand down along with Garroth’s.
…
“I think all the classes are in now.” Teony told Aphmau, going to her side, “Your eye alright?” They asked, looking closely.
“Teony, yes, I’m fine.” She waved them off, looked at the crowd of people, “This all of them?” Aphmau asked.
They nodded, “Try to lead them into the nice clubs. Ok?”
“Got it, don’t lead them to the sports… unless they ask.” Aphmau said, making Teony smile at her.
Aphmau went off on her own again, looking around for any lost freshman that may be too scared to go up to the booths.
She saw a white haired boy who was looking at the theater booth, while holding an ice pack to his head, “You alright? Need help finding a club?” She asked.
The boy got startled and turned to her, “N-no. I’m alright. I-i’m just waiting for my friend to finish signing up for a club.” He stuttered out.
One of the first things she noticed besides his white hair was the intense green eyes, she didn’t think eyes got that green naturally.
“You ok?” She pointed to the ice pack that he was holding on his forehead.
He nodded quickly, “O-oh yeah! U-uh one of the volleyball members accidentally spiked a ball at me.”
“Oh my Irene, I’m sorry, who was it?” Aphmau asked, looking towards the volleyball booth.
When he peeked at the booth he immediately looked back down, “U-umm, the girl with the light blue hair…” He whispered.
Aphmau stared at the boy, annoyed, causing him to freak out, “I-it’s alright, it doesn’t even hurt-!”
“Oh Irene- I’m not mad at you!” She reassured, “I just know her and she knows better than to do volleyball spikes right now.”
He awkwardly chuckled, “Y-yeah…”
“So!” Aphmau clapped, startling him, but still smiling, “Any club?”
To which he shook his head frantically, “I-i’m just gonna wait for my friend who’s trying to get into one.”
“Oh good. What club?” She asked, wanting to know if he was actually scared to talk to a club.
“H-he’s looking at the baseball club.” He said, pointing towards Garroth’s booth.
There was a blue haired boy who was looking at Garroth in awe and nodding to every word he said.
“Oh… what’s his name?” Aphmau asked, looking at the younger kid.
“D-dante.” He told her.
The name sounded familiar but could’t think of anything, “His hair dyed?” She asked, trying to make conversation with the freshman.
“Y-yeah, he did it for his birthday.” The kid said, pulling at a strand of his own hair to look at, “M-made me dye mine too.”
“That’s not your hair color?” Aphmau asked, looking at it closely, “I didn’t expect it to be- but like… It looks kinda natural, weirdly.
The boy leaned away from Aphmau, looking nervous, “N-no, it’s like a blondish brown. H-he wanted to do something crazy for his birthday.”
Slowly Aphmau stood back, “Cool! Sooo… are you gonna sign up for a club?” She asked, trying to be more friendly since the kid looked ready to break down into a panic attack.
He shook his head quickly, “I-i don’t wanna sign up for anything, it’s already… a lot.”
Carefully, she went in front of him, “Do you wanna go outside? I’m allowed to take you outside if you want too.”
Again he shook his head, “I-it’s alright, I’m just gonna wait for Dante to finish and maybe we’ll just go sit on the bleachers.” He said, pulling at his tie.
Aphmau looked at him with a worried look, “Are you sure? You look like you’re gonna pass out.”
“N-no,” He panted, looking around carefully and swallowing, “A-actually yeah, can we go outside?” He asked.
Quickly she brought him towards the back door of the gym to the soccer field, “There, that better?” She asked, as they sat down on the outside bleachers.
Slowly he sat down, taking deep breaths, “T-thank you.” He sighed, leaning his head back to lay down while setting the ice pack on top.
“Wanna tell me what happened there? Panic attack? Claustrophobia? Something else?” She asked.
“D-demiphobia, sorry. H-high school just scares the hell out of me..” He pushed his bangs out of his face.
She slowly blinked at him while smiling, “Huh?”
“D-demophobia, fear of crowds of people. W-well kinda, it needs to be a big crowd in a somewhat small area.” Travis said, meaning like a group of 100 people together instead of a close party.
“It’s alright, I get it. Want me to get you some water? Or Dante? I’m sure he’s at least looking for you.” She told him.
Slowly he shook his head, “I-i’ll be fine. N-no need to bother him.” He dismissed, tightening his tie from its disheveled form.
“Well, I’m Aphmau.” She introduced and the boy looked at her with a smile, holding her hand out.
“T-travis.” He told her, nervously shaking her hand.
Her smile didn’t dim even though he seemed to be out of his element, “Nice to meet you Travis… Don’t worry. High school isn’t all bad. At least for me it isn’t.”
“R-really?” He asked, looking at her with a tired look.
“Yeah! Well, it was in freshman year but- it’s not so bad if you have people to hang out with. If you want I can introduce you to my friends,” She offered, “What lunch do you have?” She added.
“U-uhh, I think second.” He answered.
Aphmau’s smile got bigger, “Great, I’ll come find you during lunch, ok?”
Travis anxiously cringed, “A-are you sure?”
“Totally, they’re gonna love you.” She dismissed, “Trust me, you can’t be any worse of an addition then like-... I don’t know how. I’m sure we have someone who’s a bad addition.”
He seemed slightly amused, “O-ok.”
“You’ll be just fine. Trust me.” She smiled…