Victoria shuffled and shifted in her bedsheets, thinking of what had transpired a few hours ago.

“Was it, all, real?” questioned Victoria, to a cold, uncaring universe. “Were, they, real? What was that? It was so, so, vivid. Though, I am starting to forget some key details . . . Maybe it was a dream, I think. I don’t know!”

Victoria's frustration hadn’t been answered by any higher beings, and it certainly wasn’t one for others to want to dwell on, either. The oiled landscapes of that strange world, to her, was no longer real, being comparatively similar to someone like Helen Keller; someone who was real, but someone who seemed so unbelievably fake to the ordinary, feeble mind. She couldn’t handle the knowledge given to her from the venture to the fallen urban landscape she had met in her twisted dreamscape; a choked battleground, and a shining metropolis looming far away. It had felt like her ever-changing creativity had forced this vision upon her, though the descriptor of the vision was herself, and that she had seemingly created this world from thin air; a whimsical world doused in hatred and horrors, and a reflection of her life. She, however, also had a counterpoint to her thoughts from before, of that this world was not made with her hands, but rather by another creator she had no knowledge of. That, or this colorful purgatory was just a fixture of another plane, far beyond or below her, that she may have never seen, and one, that to her, she wasn’t supposed to see.

Despite having technically slept during her short trip on the train, Victoria felt as tired as ever, and soon after lying on her bed, she collapsed into the soft fabrics beneath, cloaked in an ethereal sheet. During the night, she rolled and shook around the casing of the bed, as though she had been possessed by a demon. But that night, she was certainly not haunted by any paranormal activity, for her rest was dreamless and reenergizing. She woke up the next morning, sun dawning, to once again begin the cycle that perpetuated the story of her life, of that revolving around the tiring life of school. It was the same routine she had completed yesterday, which had already become muscle memory, engraved into her brain. This time, she decided to move faster; she wanted to talk with some of her new friends before classes had begun, but mainly, she wanted to tell Amalya about the scandal she had uncovered through careless spying. She boarded the metal train she had fallen into a stupor within, and later locked herself inside its luminescent bathroom, and started to recollect what had happened yesterday after the incident.

What happened after the dream? Oh, right, I went into the bathroom and started making up dumb conspiracies. Great use of my time, body! Ugh, whatever, it’s in the past now, and my phone is still dead . . . Wait, no, ugh. I didn’t charge it yesterday! I am so stupid! At least I will probably see Amalya soon, and hopefully be able to rub it in James’s stupid, vermin face. I may have instigated things, but he had no right to do . . . that. What a loser! It will be fun to finally get him again. How perfect! I started this beef, and now I end it! What is it, brain? You say bullying a kid two years younger than you isn’t okay. Way to be the devil’s advocate, though I don’t think you understand me and him. What are you saying? You are saying that you literally knew that? I don’t care, you use that information in an improper way! Yes, duh! I mean, obviously name calling isn’t as bad as shooting my . . . Never mind. That’s in the past now, and I can finally get revenge on him. Just a couple more seconds away to ruin both of his relationships, or more! Slapping that little swinger with the cold, hard truth of reality . . . delicious.

As Victoria became entrenched within her thoughts, the mechanical behemoth suddenly came to a stop, and its glass doors began opening wide, letting the fresh, chilly breeze float inwards. With the warmth of summer disappearing, and with the transition into autumn, comes the frosty, gray winters ahead. Yet despite the temperature, she sported a clothing decision, one that didn’t quite account for the cold, slow emptiness that autumn brings, and yet, she was emboldened by fervor and heat, ready to enact in vengeance against her greatest foe; the one that had harmed her on the inside. The one that shattered her life, and the one that irreparably changed her life forever, and for the worse, at that. She raced past a multitude of people, including some she had begun to actively keep a record of within her head, and with her trained, colored eyes, she spotted Amalya, walking briskly past the dead trees that lie in their wake. Victoria speedily catched up to Amalya, as though in a panic and rushed to see the few who had shown compassion to her. At least those who happened to be real.

“Hey, Amalya! Remember me, I am Victoria!,” beamed Victoria, as she slowed down rapidly to match with Amalya.

“Oh, hey, Victoria! What’s up?” inquired Amalya, still oblivious to James’s, interesting, double life.

“Um, hey, is it fine if we talk in the lunchrooms, but like, you know, before classes start. We still have 1 hour before classes begin.”

“Oh, yeah, that’s fine with me, but, you look, kinda, anxious?”

“Uh, no. I am just a bit nervous to share some hidden details with your ‘boyfriend’.”

“What you got on James?”

“As I said, let’s talk in the lunchrooms, and also, to answer your earlier questions, yes, I am perfectly fine, thanks for asking! How about you?”

“Ah, ah, ah! I think, I will answer you in the lunchrooms,” teased Amalya, somewhat annoying Victoria, though endearing her to Amalya’s quirks, like her love of eggs, which she oddly smelled like, as though she had eaten eggs for breakfast, though that wasn’t unlikely, considering her origins.

“Well, then! Let’s meet up in the lunchroom.” After they stopped their conversation, Victoria began to sprint towards her locker, which was conveniently placed on the first floor of this building, while Amalya’s was placed with the faraway lands of the Art Building, which Victoria noticed was nearly as large as the Academic Building, the one she was moving across the halls of. After a short stop at her glossy, red locker, she managed to find her way through the twisted maze of the Academic Building, which had only applied for the first floor. Then, something blared through the halls, in a scratchy, broken voice.

“Everyone! Tomorrow will be Poop Day! It’s called that because you will have both classes from Monday and today, in one day!” As its broadcast ended, she realized it was no monster, a fear now granted after the incident, but rather just a noisy, old school speaker, not unlike many other schools, which utilize these underfunded budgets, which had already seemed stretched. She then quickly moved up a flight of dirty stairs, some steps covered a trash, despite it having been only the first day, and came to the blue lunchroom, where she sat and waited for Amalya to appear inside her eyesight, and soon rough, she spotted her, and notice the her face took on the appearance of an egg, almost like an omen for what she enjoyed. As Amalya approached, she soon reduced her speed, before slowly backing up, while making a clear hand gesture asking for Amalya to follow, but it was rendered obsolete after she began to speak.

“Hey, stop sitting there! I have some friends you should meet!” gestured Amalya. Victoria got up silently, and began to follow her around this area of vast and messy space, colored a deep indigo or a navy. As Victoria followed Amalya around the ginormous premises of the lunchroom, she suddenly realized Amalya had sat down, and she saw two people having already sat at the table. One, Victoria didn’t recognize, though she could tell from her body language that she was a decently quiet person, not unlike Victoria, but seeming to be healthier, especially with the lack of eye bags underneath her dark, hazel eyes. The other, however, Victoria readily recognized, for it was the person she saw in her Spanish class, and the same person she had happened to describe as a goblin shark within her mind.

“Hey, guys! This is Victoria,” Amalya pointed at her, oddly menacingly, “and this is Giulia,” Amalya, using two of her fingers, this time, pointed at the relatively quiet one, “and this is Raina!” finished Amalya, pointing directly at Raina’s face. Victoria observed how Giulia and Raina both appeared to be older than Amalya, though still younger than herself. “Make yourselves comfortable, I guess. Hey guys, guess what?”

“What?” quickly responded Raina.

“I met Victoria, the same way I met you guys yesterday!” stated Amalya, and made Victoria wonder what made them all connect with one and another. “With good egg recipes, of course!”

“Oh, yeah, I made this silly, s-crump-tious omelet, and it was so preppy, guys!” enthusiastically shared Raina. “What about you, Giulia?”

“Oh, I made, that one?”

“Which is?”

“The omelet recipe Amalya shared?”

“Oh, yeah, that one. That was, like, so not, like, coquette.”

“Hey, guys, all of my recipes are good, right? Well, my egg ones, anyways. Speaking of, Victoria, what did you do last afternoon or night? Try out any good recipes?” asked Amalya. Victoria silently hid her embarrassment of making instant ramen that night.

“Oh, uh, I didn’t get to try any of your egg recipes, I was too busy, thinking about James and my dream.”

“Oh, right, James. Got any beans to spill about him?”

“Oh, he is kinda ch-”

“What are you four doing here?” Victoria’s head turned like an owl to face the new speaker, who had rudely interrupted her reveal of Jame’s nefarious evildoings. The new person was tall and imposing, with a resting face of anger and, equally, disappointment, perhaps at Victoria, or at something else. Her hair was cleanly braided into little, smooth threads of intricate designs and features, and her head was like an angel’s; touching, yet with a dash of horror. “Well? Are you going to speak or what?”

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

“Oh, uh, we didn’t know you sat here.”

“Well, maybe you should’ve.”

“Ariannah! Is this any way to treat newcomers to this school? I told you, don’t get into these predicaments, or you might be, oh, I don’t know, punished greatly?”

“Malaya, why do you have to be so damn strict, this isn’t a big deal! I can just scare these little kids away, and then we get the spot.” Malaya. That name struck a bell within Victoria’s head, but she didn’t quite connect the dots until a few moments, afterwards, where she, then, connected the person standing in front her with the person who had been eating in the Computer Science class, though she didn’t quite know who Ariannah was, and more importantly, why she was so entitled to this spot.

“Well, look who’s acting like the kid right now? We should just stop being friends, I can’t associate with people, like you!”

“You’ve threatened me so many times, I can’t stand it! Go away!”

“No, you. Keep talking this attitude with this audience, and I think I might turn on you!”

“Well, fine, then! See if I care! I don’t, by the way!” screamed Ariannah, and despite the seeming resolution her words have given, it seemed as though she wanted to continue throwing a tantrum of unjustified reasoning, and to Victoria, she didn’t personally care if Ariannah or Malaya stayed; she wanted both gone. But then, as the argument that seemed to possess a long history, far before Victoria’s time, considering how they both appeared to be more mature, in the physical sense, compared to her, though their mental maturity seemed underdeveloped, another party was to join the fight, for Victoria’s side, and not either of the newcomers she had already found rude.

“Go away, both of you!,” said the new voice. “No one wants to hear either of you having a shouting match, in the literal school, no less! You are disturbing their deserved time of peace, and you should take this somewhere else.” Victoria looked towards the sound emanating from her right, and saw Anterior, standing higher above both Ariannah and Malaya, as if daring them to continue their bickering.

“It’s not me who’s perpetuating this, it’s her!” corrected Malaya.

“You know what?” prompted Raina. “You guys can, like, pop off, or whatever, but just don’t do it here, you got, like, a bad vibe, flowing around, like, here.”

“Shut your loud and obnoxious trap!” shouted Ariannah. “You are the ones who took our seats first, so it’s not my problem to fix; it’s yours.”

“Okay, little bro. No one asked.” After Raina clearly announced her death wish for all to hear, Ariannah looked as though she was about to pop a vein, as her skin glowed with heat and pulsated violently, as though she was attempting to contain her anger, but it easily leaking out of her systems.

“Why, you, you-”

“Hey, hey guys. Stop fighting.” Victoria twisted her neck by ninety degrees to face Giulia, who had suddenly begun to speak.

“Stop fighting? You’re the ones to start the fight! Wait until I get my hands on you,” threatened Ariannah.

“Alright, that’s it. I am going to banish you from bothering and insulting these people, once and for all!” clearly voiced Malaya.

“You can’t do that!”

“Well, I am about to.”

“Stop it, right now.”

“Nah. See you later, in Art Class, maybe. Goodbye, clown.” And then Malaya ran off, with Ariannah forgetting the questionable reason she had been in these scenes, and pursuing her. Victoria wondered if Malaya, in any way, could be endangered by Ariannah, though this wasn’t quite important, at the moment, as Anterior was now awkwardly standing in the place where the heated debate had taken place, and was clearly now uncomfortable after the situation had dissipated, unsure of what to make of herself.

“Victoria, do you know her?” asked Amalya.

“Uh, yeah, I guess I do. Her name is Anterior,” loudly replied Victoria, due to the high volume of the table behind them, which, when she looked over, was the suspected age group; of that being little boys, shouting and being generally loud, with their tables dirtied and covered in litter. However, as she nearly forgot the reason she had wanted to talk with Amalya in the morning, she noticed one which had made her remember. It was the little, shrewish boy she had seen James with.

“Oh, you have other friends! Welcome, Anterior, you can sit opposite to me! Yep, yep, move over guys . . . stop with the groaning, it’s not that bad, Raina. Anyways, introduce yourself to us, Anterior, and then I want to hear what secret Victoria has about James!”

“I am Anterior, I know that’s weird or whatever, but it makes more sense if I state my full name. Um, anyways, I am cool, I guess, and I like not dying, I guess. Funny story, so like I once went to my friend’s house, and like they were getting kidnapped by like this dude, and then like I pulled out my trusty ice pick and stabbed him, it was great, but then I got stabbed, but then, he got blown up by a bazooka, so it’s all fine in the end, cause I got recovered by weird liquids from a burnt jar and some wacky ritual stuff.”

“Uh huh, you sure you aren’t a bit loopy in the head?” questioned Raina.

“No, no, this actually happened. Pretty sure the dude who robbed my friends was named Jamal, or something.”

“Oh, okay, well if it did happen, you ate that up, girl! Like, damn, you totally, like, destroyed that silly thief.”

“I don’t want to particularly ta-”

“Okay, I understand and respect your personal space, girly.” After that, Victoria had begun to space out, and saw, by squinting at an analog clock, that there was ten minutes left before classes started. She also happened to be distracted by the table behind them; the one with James’s personal paramour, all hidden behind Amalya’s back.

“Hey, Victoria,” uttered Amalya, while she snapped her fingers rhythmically, “are you there? We want to listen to your secret about James!”

“Oh, uh, yes, so, like, do any of you happen to know a kid who looks like a mouse?”

“Oh, you mean my lover?”

“No, James is definitely more rat-like than mouse-like, compared to the person who I am talking about.”

“No! Victoria, didn’t you know I have two lovers? James and Sebastian!”

“Who the hell is Sebastian? And why do you have two lovers?”

“Oh, you know, one of the ‘kids’ behind you,” snarked Amalya. “Hey, Sebastian! Come over here!” The kids behind Victoria started snickering, and as she turned around to see the commotion, it had already stopped, as when she looked back, Sebastian had already wormed his way there.

“Hey, what’s up, Amalya?”

“Oh, not much, did you see those two?”

“Oh, yeah, they were pretty funny.”

“‘Pretty’ is too weak of a word to describe what had happened just a few minutes ago.”

“Yeah, it might be a bit tame. Anyways, what do you want me for?” asked Sebastian, chattering with his mouth as though it were an instinct, and his ears becoming rather red during the interrogating, though Victoria couldn’t tell whether if it were his friends giggling behind her, him talking with Amalya, or the secret he’s kept away from her, though Victoria couldn’t believe that Amalya had turned out sinister, keeping a horrid truth, under locks.

“Oh, Victoria said she was going to tell me some secret about James.”

“Oh, uh, right,” nervously answered Sebastian.

“And then, the first thing she said was, ‘Sebastian’. Is there any secret between you and James?”

“Uh, well, yes, actually,” stuttered Sebastian, though Victoria quietly cheered, as she had believed to have busted his ruse. “We were going to make, uhh, origami boats for you! Yes, yes, we were going to make origami boats, or hats, for you!”

“Oh, that’s such a lovely surprise, but did I ever tell you that I am allergic to wood?”

“Oh right, um, we can use special paper, made out of, uh, rocks.”

“Sounds good to me!”

“Okay, cool, I guess. We only have like 1 minute left, so, let’s just start getting ready.”

“Oh, my, gosh, yes,” blurted out Raina.

“Yeah, I think I will leave, too,” quietly stated Giulia, as Raina and her both left, soon after.

“Yeah, let me get out, Victoria,” as Amalya pushed Victoria’s legs out of the way. “Ok, good, we can talk later during Art Class, shall we?”

“Wait, we share the same period?”

“Well, yeah! I guess we were meant to be good friends, all along.”

“Sure, I guess.”

“Well then, goodbye, Victoria!” said Amalya and Sebastian in unison, as they departed along with Sebastian’s friends, who made weird faces at him.

“Hey, don’t you feel it’s weird that, you know, Amalya’s a cheater?” methodically asked Anterior.

“Well, James and Sebastian are cheating on her with each other,” suddenly spilled Victoria.

“Oh, I guess the cats are out of the bag! I mean, of course it was, there’s no way it could have been them making stupid origami boats.”

“Yeah, kinda crazy.”

“Hey, Victoria?”

“Yeah?”

“Don’t you hate all these unfaithful partners, lying everywhere, literally?”

“Yeah, I do, Anterior.”

“And then, they secretly start hanging out with other people, and then they start bullying you for things you can’t change, like, I don’t know, your preference for fruit?”

“Yeah, I do, Anterior.”

“And, like, then, they sneak into your house, and basically harass you?”

“Yeah, I do, Anterior. Yeah, I do."