And here is the last of my forgotten month chapters, each was a right pain to work with as it was too long a stretch to just gloss over, and focusing too much on minor details would have ruined the pacing. Next two chapters are partially written already and have been for a while. Anyway onto the story.
Magical Tinker Lyrical Taylor
Chapter 12
School without the trio wasn't half as bad as it was with, classes were still far too easy, but without the trio pushing the rest of the school were mostly content to leave Taylor alone. The fact that they were all suspended probably helped, the aura of invincibility had been shattered, no longer certain that they could get away with anything. It honestly felt strange not to be dodging attacks from various angles, not fending off grasping hands after her classwork. Not being followed by the wave of whispers and snide comments, well that hadn't entirely ceased, but it was less controlled, less focused.
But even if the trio had gotten away with their old tricks Taylor felt like she might hardly notice, her mind drifting elsewhere. The Endbringer attack, the damage to her mother's device, to the phantom feeling of soft lips touching her own. It was all muddled together in her mind, distracting from the change that had taken over the school in her absence and with her return.
She felt conflicted and confused, the date had been nice, good even and she'd had a lot of fun just spending time with Amy. No, she wasn't confused or conflicted about the date itself, but more the end of the date. She'd put Amy down somewhat clumsily and had to steady her as she found her feet, then they were standing so close, the heat of her breath and scent of popcorn subtle and sweet on her breath. She wasn't sure which of them had leaned in, maybe they both had, but she'd ended up hesitantly tilting her head, eyes fluttering closed.
Soft and warm, buttery and sweet from the popcorn. Her first kiss. A light drizzle of rain dusting and discouraging continuation. It was sweet, it was exhilarating, she couldn't imagine a more perfect first kiss. So why did she feel so conflicted, why did it feel, off, wrong. Was she really straight afterall? She tried to imagine kissing a boy in the same way, a wash of guilt and mild disinterest flowed over her. No, probably not straight.
This was why Emma's betrayal hurt, why the bullying campaign was so devastating. She was already set apart from her classmates by her intelligence, but the campaign had prevented her from really making any connections, even tentative friendships amongst her peers. Other girls had friends to talk to, she imagined this would be just the sort of thing she'd talk to friends about. Hmm.. Maybe not, it might be weird talking about liking a girl to other girls. Being gay wasn't as unusual or remarked as it might have been ten years ago, but that still didn't make it
normal.
Mr Gladdy was frowning as he looked at her, like it was her fault that his favourite students had been suspended.
"Ahh Taylor, I'll see you after class"
His tone was firmer than he'd usually use in class, a tone he reserved for troublemakers and the unpopular. Greg was a frequent recipient of the tone, but Taylor had only felt its touch a few times, when the trio stole and then returned her classwork, getting her in trouble for copying was the last time she'd had it directed at her.
The class should have been more interesting, world economics and trade since the emergence of the Endbringers, and how it differed from before monsters walked the earth. It was surprising how much international trade still existed, millions of tonnes of cargo flowed from one nation to another each year, though the numbers appear small compared to Earth-Aleph's robust international trade routes. Most of the trade reduction wasn't directly stopped by Endbringers, but more caused by the aftermath of their attacks.
Whole cities quarantined, flooded, or burnt into radioactive ash. It had a huge impact on global population and unsurprisingly birth rates. Parahumanity's rise had not been kind to the rest of the species, Earth-Bet had less than half the population of her sister world. Many nations had suffered, some smaller ones had even come fully under parahuman sway. War might be less common here, but the number of parahuman lead states, dictatorships and other non-democratically ran states was higher.
The bell saved them from the frankly depressing topic, a rush of bodies and chattering almost drowned out the suggested reading, not that Mr Gladdy ever really bothered to test them on it. Not really. He'd always given a warning before he sprung a test on his classes, never wanting to be the uncool teacher, always trying to be a friend rather than a teacher. It wasn't an awful teaching style, except he focused on the popular crowd, always had time for them and their problems. Not quite so much for the loners, the uncool kids, the bullied, pretty much everyone that actually needed a friendly teacher helping them would be passed over to gain praise from a track star, or junior model.
Soon the classroom had cleared, desks and chairs slightly askew giving the room and air of disorder and abandonment far longer than the dozen or so seconds it had been since it cleared. Mr Gladdy was at his desk, rifling through a small stack of papers, her test papers if she recognised the page correctly.
"Taylor, I had my doubts before when I was grading the work you were turning in during your suspension, now I'm certain. I don't know how you did it, but I simply can't allow such flagrant cheating to pass, I'm going to have to mark you as failing the class this semester"
What. The. Fuck!
More words spilled forth, but she wasn't even listening anymore. Taylor stood and marched towards the main office. She knew it was too good to be true, that she'd managed to catch you, prove that she was more intelligent than her previously sabotaged work indicated. She'd been in a gifted students program before she'd started at Winslow, was bound for early college like her other before her. Now, now that same intellect was branding her a cheat.
"..see here young lady…"
The office lay ahead of her, a red faced teacher lay behind, she knocked before simply letting herself into the outer office area.
"...around me…"
The poor facsimile of an educator moved ahead of her to speak in hushed tones to the receptionist, the very same one that had watched her take the multitude of tests only a few days since. Her expression closing off as he spoke more at length before she waved him off to fiddle with the intercom.
The substitute Principal, a bottle blonde with unfortunate facial structure, Ms Howell was nominally deputy Principal at Arcadia, strode into the outer office, her well tailored suit tidy but no longer immaculate as it had been earlier in the week. A sheen of inexpertly applied makeup concealed bags hung under each eye.
Mr Gladdy disappeared into the inner office with the interim Principal, his face settled into the smooth cool expression he usually wore. What was wrong with him, seriously, she'd been watched throughout her test taking, there was no way she could have cheated. Double so given her workload that morning, even if the tests had been multiple choice, which only two were, she'd have been hard pressed to memorise just answer keys to any two of them, let alone the number she'd taken that day.
The red haze that had been slowly descending on her started to lift, Mr Gladdy had picked a poor battlefield for whatever vendetta motivated him. The current administrator was already sympathetic to her plight, had seen the number of tests she'd been instructed to take by the absent administrator. Better still, she'd recognised Taylor, the young genius, so far ahead that Arcadia had offered her a place halfway through her previous schooling.
No, this wouldn't go well for him, not at all.