Rising Shards

Marmalade yawned. Everyone in her class was spending the last hour of their day just chatting, which was nice. She wasn't feeling great, though, which made it hard to join in on any of the talking. Marmalade had spent a certain amount of time daydreaming about what she'd do if she was there when someone that had been messing with Kalei was continuing to mess with her. In her daydreams, it turned out a lot more bombastic than in reality. In reality, Marmalade sat quietly and didn't contribute anything. And failing like that was immensely disappointing to her. She didn't want to say that out loud to anyone at the moment, so she stood around, giving half smiles to her classmates.

Michi walked up beside Marmalade, flipping through their notepad.

"Hey," Michi said. "Did you hear any commotion from the other class?"

"Huh? I don't think so...?" Marmalade said.

"Latte almost burned someone's hand with a waffle maker," Michi said.

"Like...on accident?" Marmalade asked.

"Oh, no, it was very purposeful," Michi said. "A girl said she had a cup of coffee that tasted bad once, and Latte tried to get her hand in the thing and..." Michi mimed out slamming a waffle maker down using their notebook as a prop. "It took five teachers to stop her."

"That...sounds like she should probably be at least suspended, right?" Marmalade said.

Michi shrugged. "She's probably gonna be in Wildfire Hearts robes the next time we see her."

"Huh..." Marmalade said.

"I'm going to draw it soon, I just had to tell people first." Michi said.

"Well, thanks for telling me first, I suppose." Marmalade said.

"Well, I did talk to Tay about it right away because she was interviewing everyone who saw it, but you're the first over on this side of things," Michi said. "Wanna join me in telling the others? You can keep me in line if I start to embellish too much."

Michi was pretty quiet most of the time, but when they got chatting it was really nice to listen to, even if they were talking about an absurd situation that was kind of terrifying to think about any deeper than the surface level.

"The story's already pretty wild, I don't know how you could escalate it." Marmalade said.

Marmalade and Michi's classmates had varying reactions to the news about Latte. Friends like Kalei, Iris, Maia, and the Matora sisters found it hilarious and wished they had seen it. Aira had a tale about a relative that was a door to door waffle maker salesperson that went through a similar ordeal. Zeta and Oka seemed more than a bit mortified. Lillia scolded everyone for gossiping, and expressed disappointment in Marmalade and Michi in particular for discussing it in the manner they did.

"It's unbecoming of our school, and I expect better of you two," Lillia said, turning on her heel.

"That's kind of a mood killer," Marmalade said.

"I feel like she's stirred something within me," Michi said.

"Really?" Marmalade asked. "I think she's kinda taken, but..."

"Not that way," Michi said. "I want to draw someone or something with that same petrifying stare."

"Lillia does that to everyone, don't beat yourself up about it," Kalei said. Marmalade was impressed with Kalei's stealth skills, as she had snuck up on her with a smack on the back more than a few times. Marmalade almost apologized immediately for not helping more with that P.D. girl, but the words caught in her throat.

"I'm starving," Kalei announced. "But not for any of this food. You know what I could go for?"

"What's that?"

"I need some Zeta pasta right now," Kalei said. Most of the classmates in the nearby vicinity turned their heads at that. "What?"

"That sounds like a euphemism." Maia said.

"It doesn't! Zeta makes really good pasta!" Kalei said.

“Oka!" Iris yelled. "Kalei’s trying to take your girl’s pasta! Whatever that means.”

Oka and Zeta weren't even that far, but now were roped into this.

"Zeta does make good pasta, it's just pasta!" Oka said.

"I really don't want another round of rumors about me," Zeta rubbed her temples.

"Ahem," Tay pushed her way into the conversation. “I don’t get why Zeta of all people is such a magnet for salacious rumors."

“Hey, thanks Tay. I don't get it either..." Zeta said.

“There are so many more interesting people!" Tay continued. "All of which with lots more juicy drama."

“Maybe less thanks." Zeta said.

"Latte just tried to seriously injure someone, and we're looping back to false Zeta gossip repeats?" Tay said.

After Tay scolded everyone for their poor rumor spreading skills, Kalei and Oka managed to turn the conversation around to Zeta's pasta making skills, ending up with Zeta promising she'd make pasta for everyone in the group.

After cleanup was done, a teary eyed Corinani thanked the class for listening to her directions.

"What a long day, huh?" Corinani asked. "If it wouldn't be too much trouble, before we wrap up, maybe you guys could make your teacher a sandwich?"

"Nah," Kalei said.

"I understand completely."

"Dude, I'm joking," Kalei said. "Stand up for yourself a little."

"That's physically impossible, my doctor told me." Corinani said.

"Man..."

"Unrelated to that, you students are proving to be quite the good little worker bees!" Corinani said.

"I should have you guys work for me more, heh. You'll be my personal assistants!"

"We're good."

"Right, anyways. Thanks for all of your help. That was the first group assignment where none of my students or coworkers tried to hit me."

Marmalade and Michi stuck together after class. Marmalade was tempted to say something about some of her internal turmoil, but still couldn't form the words. Which was strange, normally she didn't have any issue talking about personal stuff like this.

"I feel like I didn't learn anything from any of this," Marmalade said.

"Yeah, well," Michi shrugged. "We learned to avoid Latte at all costs."

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