Hello, hello again, Mr. California~! Cherri here!

Last you saw me, maybe, I went on a whole full blown conquest in these enemy battlegrounds, escaped the principal's office for the second time I was captured, and discreetly infiltrated the ranks of my worst enemies... and now, I'm sitting at their lunch table.

Now, you're probably wondering, why and how?

Well, maybe not the why, it's pretty straightforward. You know the deal if you've been paying attention so far: to get Gumi's phone back. The person who took it gave me one lead to her identity, that she mistook my name for "Charlotte" or something like that. So now, I'm following an apparent "Charlotte" to see if they'll lead me to the culprit. A Charlotte that had friends who took heavy inspiration from Makeup Weasel, looks and insults, so... probably her.

My plan from the very start was to annoy the crap out of people, especially Makeup Weasel's friends. I thought to myself, 'if I went to the lunchroom and sat with the people I came with, then I'd have a good chance of killing two birds with one stone', and... it's one heck of a stone.

Following the leaf man, the teddy bear girl, and the mousey Charlotte brings me to a table with a few other people. A table reserved all for all of Makeup Weasel's friends, with a bunch of them having already gotten their lunches from the line. Seats were empty as other people were totally getting their lunches too. A bunch of candidates for the phone-stealing crime, the culprit possibly among one of these very people.

Alright, I've established the why, now let's go over the 'how' in particular... and, well, it was really easy. Super duper easy. Way easier than I expected it to be. I just sat down.

Probably sounds a bit of Seat etiquette, if I took one of those seats, I'd need to knock over one of those backpacks and sit down- which would make me the bad guy. It's kind of like "finders keepers" rules, or- first come first serve or whatever, with backpacks counting as saving the seat.

I thought they would've been more cautious about me sitting down. After all, the three people I followed and eavesdropped on just sat down, and put their backpacks on the seats to prevent me from sitting down. But turns out, the rest of Makeup Weasel's friends aren't as smart.

... and even then, I saw a free seat riiiight open. One single seat on the other side of the table. They blocked off the closest seats to me, and I just conveniently noticed a free seat that wasn't occupied by a creature or a backpack. I think they either just completely forgot to put a backpack on top of the seat, or were leaving it empty for Makeup Weasel to eat with them in spirit, or whatever.

So, being the trouble maker I was... I went to sit down in it, completely betraying the deal we had like a backstabbing snake and all. Taking my content little seat, even though I didn't have lunch to begin with.

In response, they looked at me with bewildered looks and glared at me all harshly, almost as if they didn't just... expect me to just sit down just like that, and are now realizing their little blunder as I make myself comfortable in that seat. I wasn't going anywhere. First come, first serve, after all.

Sure, they could force me out of the seat and tell me to screw off, but like... the police officer supervising the lunch period is now paying closer attention to me. I see him in the distance seeing me sit down with these people, his eyes ever so vigilant to my actions and all. If they tried to force me to sit somewhere else, they would have had to assault me in front of a police officer, and- y'know, that's frowned upon, they're not gonna risk jail time or anything.

And if, by chance, the police officer looked away for any moment and these guys took the opportunity to force me out consequence free- what's to stop me from forcing them back, in return? I know full well I could handle being beaten up by eleven people, and if I can't... I'll happily pass out on the floor, make this a whole scene.

Therefore... untouchable. Hungry, but untouchable.

And thus, this became a test of endurance, yet another show of how pesky and tough I am in response to these people. I watched as, one by one, they took shifts to get lunch, with a few of them maintaining the backpacks on the seats to prevent anyone else from sitting with us. They couldn't get rid of me, what if I brought friends along to this sitting fest? Had to be really vigilant and all.

Some did try to convince me to stop sitting there, to get out of the seat and all. And I just kept my merry little self in place. I wasn't moving an inch, I wasn't getting out of the seat for any reason until lunch ends. I stood my ground and held my position, and endured all of it as they talked about boring stuff and listened to them talk about boring stuff. Stuff about makeup and classes and junk, pretending I didn't even exist, actively ignoring me the whole time.

Bad news is, none of their voices matched the person on the phone. I didn't hear anyone closely resembling the voice whatsoever, just all different people entirely.

But the good news is, I'm one step closer to winning. Sounds a bit supervillain of me to say this, but I'm growing more and more powerful over these ravenous animals. Bit by bit, I've grown more and more- notorious, more powerful, more hard and tough and rough and all.

Eventually, no one will ever want to mess with me, and I'd totally be able to just- tell the animal that took Gumi's phone: "Hey! Give Gumi's phone back!" and they'll give me her phone right away without question. They'll come out of the crowd with her phone on a silver platter, even, and apologize for ever being mean and rude to Gumi. Maybe even reaching into their pocket or purse and just- throwing it to my hand out of sheer terror. I'm way too much trouble to deal with, too much trouble to bully and beat and come anywhere close to.

I can see it now, the unbeatable and untouchable Cherri Kusuri. Dare you mess with her, you're in for a load of trouble, getting exactly what you deserve for all the crap that you-

"Ah- Cherri. This is where you've been?"

Oh- huh.

I look over my shoulder, and I see Soleil behind me. Speaking to me loud enough so that I can hear her over the rest of the lunch room, her cat arms crossed as she looks at me with a raised eyebrow. Completely interrupted my thoughts, my little villain monologue and all.

After seeing her, I- I quickly looked around for a bit, and... and I didn't see Elena or Gumi with her. She was all alone. Came to the lunch room all by herself for some reason. No lunch or lunch tray in her hand, just... walked right up to me or something. A concerned look on her face, concerned about something- either concern or doubtful, whichever one of those words fit best.

I don't know, what emotion fits a Siamese cat having really narrowed eyes?

"Y... Yeah. It's lunch, and I've been sitting here..." I answer Soleil, bluntly.

"... hm. Well, if... if you don't mind, I need to talk with you about something, alone. Can you come with me, s'il vous plaît?"

Talking with me alone? Huh... now? What could Soleil want to talk with me about...?

... but, uhm, problem... if... if I go talk with her alone, that means I have to get up, and the seat's going to be taken. Makeup Weasel's friends will take the seat back and I'll be shut out of my plan. I won't be able to stick around and continue my intensive, genius, brilliant plan to eavesdrop the hell out of Makeup Weasel's friends.

... I can't abandon the plan. I have to decline the private chat. "I... I can't, right now. I'm really busy right now, Soleil, so is there a reason why-"

One of Makeup Weasel's friends interrupts me and shouts: "Busy? Busy doing what? Just sitting there like a dumb loser?!" Calling me out, prompting some laughs from the others and all.

So I look back at this person and answer with a comeback: "Yeah, a dumb loser at a whole table of them. I feel right at home and all."

In a mocking voice, they try to repeat what I said, giving me a dumb voice as they just childishly... say again what I said to them. That dumb thing that people did in, like, early middle school, like they were 12 or something, to make me sound like a big dumb idiot or whatever.

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... so I decide to go nuclear and personal, and I taunt them by going: "Brittany came up with better, try again."

And the very moment I say the forbidden name, the moment I mention Makeup Weasel, the table went silent for five seconds before they unleash a sudden, sudden uproar.

I struck a nerve, absolutely set them off, ignited their fuses and knocked some screws out of their head with that comment. She was insulting me as hard as she could, calling me a fat pig, calling me a worthless waste of air, all of that. Even started violently cussing at me and shouting out the most inappropriate of swears and junk.

Heh.

A proud look on my face at this... delighted beyond belief, as I stare back at Soleil. "Right. Anyway, I can't exactly leave right now, I have this to take care of."

"... and... just to confirm, y... you- you're busy with... with this, of all things?" Soleil asks.

"Well, yeah, I am," I answer. "It's very important, so-"

...

Oh. Oh no, okay. Okay, I see. Alright. I see where this is going. Soleil has that look on her face. That "lecturing" look on her face, a judgmental "really?" look on her Siamese cat face.

"... what? What is it?" I ask.

"N... No, no, Cherri. You've said enough. I'll talk to you later, then, I suppose," Soleil passive aggressively tells me, before she walks off and heads somewhere else. Headed towards the exit of the cafeteria, actually.

Not telling me a single thing about what it's about. Just heading on out once I told her I was busy.

... I guess that's what I wanted, in the end? For her to go and leave me with his seat? Yeah, yeah. Whatever she wants to talk about, it should be something we could talk about later... right? If she needed to talk to me about something important, like... like Gumi, or something, she could just say it was a Gumi related thing. But she didn't, it's something completely different. Yeah.

Ah, anyway, with her gone, I then turn back to the table of screamers. Seeing all their upset faces, glaring violent daggers at me, going so far as to see them planning to hurt me for that, and not doing so because of the officer. Still as invincible as ever, protected and junk.

And I'm back to it. Back to the plan, back to the plan. The plan to get everyone in this school to not mess with Gumi ever again, a... and... and...

... and...

...

... so... uh... my plan... involves everyone, right? The "getting Gumi's phone back through intimidation" plan and the "getting people to hate and fear me" plan, combining together to make everyone in this school angry at me. I'm making great, great strides in it, I'm doing that very well, and it's been really successful so far.

However, the plan- the plan shouldn't include everyone, actually... it should leave out the people who Gumi's friends with. If I was getting everyone at this school to hate me, it doesn't- or at least, shouldn't include whoever Gumi wants to like, and junk.

And Soleil is still Gumi's friend.

And now she seems really pissed.

Okay, ugh... that explains why I feel a little bad now. I feel bad for choosing the seat over some random conversation with Soleil. It really did look like I upset her by not coming with, and... and she did look like she needed to talk about something important with me. Now she's some sort of sassy, judgmental aunt that wants to lecture the heck out of her niece or whatever.

What in the world could be so important that Soleil goes out of her way to get me, pull me away from the lunch table, and storm off all pissed just because I wouldn't come with her? It has to be a Gumi thing, right?

Dang it, dang it... it's something big.

So I abandon the plan, just for this one moment... and get out of my seat, preparing to follow after her. She couldn't have gone too far, I should be able to-

Oh my god. Immediately, to my dismay- my expected dismay, a backpack takes my spot... and Makeup Weasel's friends just glare at me on my way out, some of then smiling at me out of spite. Glad that I'm going and out of the seat, taunting me all annoyingly, doing whatever they can in this violence-less, officer-seen environment.

Annoying mutts.

... anyway, that's that. The eavesdropping Charlotte's friend group plan is out, I guess... and it's whatever. Again, whatever Soleil has to talk about must be really, really important, and I'm feeling all bad about not hearing her out, so- yeah.

So I follow Soleil out of the lunch room, walking fast to chase after her. "Hey-! Hey, Soleil, wait a sec. What did you want to talk about?"

Soleil turns around to face me after, just... oh, okay okay. Narrowed eyes equals upset. She's upset. Really upset. She's just staring at me, glaring at me, quietly just peering into my soul with those decisive eyes. All angry and annoyed and pissed and junk. "... I thought you were busy, darling."

"Well- I was, now I'm not. What did you need to talk about?" I ask, an eyebrow raised. "I'm all ears."

"..."

A pause of silence, a grand pause of silence as we stand in the hallway. As I await Soleil's grand lecture, waiting for her to get all annoyed about blowing her off or whatever. Whatever she's going to lecture me about's probably gonna be tedious and boring, like what the principal and counselor were going on and on about, so I'm ready to tune her out as she-

"So you headed directly to the cafeteria... instead of back to French class."

Oh.

Uh.

That... that isn't the full truth, but I can't tell her what I was actually doing, so- I nod. "Yeah. It's... a long story. I went to lunch after getting out of the principal's office, so-"

"Why?"

...

I look at Soleil and answer as vaguely as I can, to not give away what my intentions are. "I just... lunch happens right after the-"

"No, no, I understand that part. What I'm trying to understand, ma Cherri," said condescendingly, "is- why didn't you come back to French to pick up Gumi?"

Pick up Gumi- "Huh? Wait, what do you mean by that? Gumi-"

"Gumi was... waiting for you, waiting for you in class."

She was? "Wait... she was?" I asked.

"Yes, she... she was worried sick about you. Didn't know where you were, and... and Elena and I found her just staying behind."

"..."

Crap... okay. Yeah. I was right, it was a Gumi related thing.

Mr. California, I genuinely thought that Soleil and Elena- at least one of them could have come over to pick her up. What did it matter if I wasn't- there to join them? Gumi'd be headed on the way to lunch anyway, so it wouldn't have mattered as much if-

Ugh, okay, I'm not in the wrong on this. Gumi knows full well I wouldn't leave her alone if she told me something was wrong... except, she DOESN'T know that, she clearly didn't tell me what was wrong and expected me to just- not know about the phone thing. Gumi didn't tell me a single bit, why should I be expected to stick around her the whole time?

I did all of this for getting her phone back, and- ughh... it's whatever. I'm not defending myself right now. Soleil said she was worried sick, let's just go.

I walk past Soleil, starting to head to French class. "Alright, then-"

"Cherri."

... Soleil holds my wrist tightly, preventing me from walking further. Just- keeping me in place. "... answer the question. Why didn't you come to pick her up?"

I... I look back to Soleil as she demands my answer, as she- she continues to glare at me with those upset eyes. Demanding my answer, demanding an explanation.

And I give her one. I give her an answer. "Because... Gumi can walk to a lunch room all by herself, or... or at least, find you and Elena anyway, to go with. It's not like she-"

"Not like she couldn't go by her lonesome, that she didn't need her sister to accompany her on both of their first days? Is that truly what you think, Cherri?" Soleil asks. "You truly believe yourself to be above all of it, that you would leave your sister to panic and worry all by her lonesome?"

"... she..." ... "She did... fine without me yesterday. I don't see what the problem is-"

Oh, okay, that's the wrong thing to say. Soleil tightly grips my wrist, a really- REALLY angry sigh escaping her mouth. Sharply, very sharply just glaring at me, as if she wanted to rip my hand off or something.

"Geez... what? Isn't that right? Gumi had a good day yesterday without me. She can walk to a lunchroom all by her lonesome without me. Why are you-"

Her paw's grip gets tighter.

"... well, whatever. Let's just go, then. If Gumi really needs me so badly, let's go," I tell Soleil, sighing.

"... I don't understand..." Soleil whispers, pure distraught upset vibes in her voice or whatever, "how Gumi can say such positive things about a girl who would abandon her crying sister..."

Oh, here we go... I let out a sigh, and I proceed to-

...

"Wait-" I interrupt... interrupting both myself, and possibly Soleil. "... Gumi's crying?"

Soleil lets out a groaning, annoyed sigh. "Yes... yes, she has been. Shortly before I got there... she was with Elena, and I went to find you in order to-"

"Why didn't you just- tell me in the lunchroom?!"

Keep it together, keep it together, Cherri... I- I shouted that, I asked that with a really loud voice. A voice that probably echoes in the hallway, a tense look on my face. "I didn't know she was- you were just going in and talking about- at no point did you even mention that-"

"Casse-toi..." Soleil lets out a groaning, annoyed sigh. "I would have called or texted, but Gumi never gave us your phone number, darling. Said you didn't want to talk to us yet. Maybe you would have known a lot faster about how upset your little sister was if you didn't head to the lunch room and do whatever it was that was so much more important than her."

More important than- "T-That- that wasn't- I never considered-"

"Oh? Am I wrong, darling? Then why, why have you been acting like a complete and total idiot for the entirety of today? Why have you been distancing yourself from Gumi, from your sister, as if she were an afterthought?"

Afterthought-? "That-"

"You've distanced yourself from her on the bus... you've seated yourself away from her in both of your classes... Gumi even mentioned how, at no point, did you pay an ounce of attention to her in French. And now, after being called to the principal's office, you head directly- DIRECTLY to the lunchroom without her, and you dare pretend you're anything but neglectful?"

...

"So I recommend you get off of your high horse and, for once, stop acting like a total-!"

"..."

"..."

... crap.

Crap. Crapcrapcrapcrap. I slapped her. I- I slapped her right across the face.

I don't know what came over me. I just... I just took my hand, raised it up, and then slapped her across the face.

"..."

"... I crossed a line, didn't I...?"

"..." I nod a couple of times.

"I see... I see. Let's... let's just go."

An... awkward silence between us, as I watch Soleil slowly walk past me. As I just follow right after, and as we just head to wherever Gumi was.

I'm... I'm not neglectful... I've been anything but. B... but...

...