...

Hey, Mr. California.

Sorry for the small, teeny, tiny "not speaking to you" bit, I'm- back to talking to you after the whole- bathroom thing, the whole "healing Elena" thing, and the "revealing my entire 'genius', crappy plan to Gumi and her friends" thing.

Right now, I'm eating some barbecue chips to make up for the fact I skipped lunch. Just quietly snacking on them, refueling myself so that I don't- like... pass out or anything.

Time wise, it's like... 1:02 right now. 4th period started a bit ago, and I'm finally in Drama Class. The whole thing took so long that the bell rang after, and, uh... I had to go to class. Go with Soleil and Elena and... and Gumi, to Drama. A funny class to be in after, y'know, the drama we went through in the bath-

Shoot, crap, okay, I forgot again. Restroom. Restroom. It's a restroom if there's no bath inside of it, you call it a bathroom if it has like a bath or a shower- and it's a restroom otherwise.

Blah, whatever, point is, drama funny.

...

Anyway.

Uhm. You're probably wondering what happened. Either that, or you tuned me out a while ago and I'm now your intrusive thoughts, constantly speaking in the background and making you so tempted to spend all of your money on whatever it is Californians like.

If it's the first, then... see, okay, well, what happened was... I completely... completely just stopped. Stopped back there, stopped completely after Gumi hugged me. Like- kind of tuned everything out? But in reverse, where I- I tuned things in but just did nothing, I guess? Then I just went to class, and...

... screw it, it's just you and me, Mr. California, I don't have to hide any of this.

Look, I'm not gonna sugarcoat it. I started crying. Like, ugly tears. Cried like an ugly hag, like... a witch or something?

I cried witch tears.

Ugly, fat, nasty witch tears.

For the rest of that time, after everything was thrown front and center, I... I was just being hugged by Gumi. Kept in place, prevented from leaving, unable to- get out of her grasp, as she completely wrapped her arms around me and wouldn't let go. Kept me in that restraining hug for a long, long while.

I didn't have any of the words to describe how it felt, to- to really tell you how I felt in that moment. Couldn't convey any of it properly with all the words in my head. And if I did know them off the top of my head, I'd be a nerd, and there's room for only one and a half nerds in my life. Lizard Nerd, the whole nerd, and- and the half nerd that started crying into my shirt and sobbing wildly as well.

Both of us witches cried our witch tears.

But I guess it's... boring. Boring to just hear about two girls crying and not understand all that emotional junk that makes it important. So I guess I'll try to describe it...

... so, have you ever watched, like, those children's shows on TV that follow high schoolers living their lives in daily hijinks? And, like, those shows sometimes have cheesy moments where the two girls hug and make up with each other, always happening after an argument that takes up the entirety of an episode?

Yeah, this... this was one of those, for me.

And I was one of those girls. Like, not just a TV actor, like- the actual girl, living in that moment right then and there, going through that cheesy moment myself.

I guess that's the best way I can put it, other than just... sad and happy. A mix of that.

And it started with what Gumi told me.

Clinging to me and squeezing the life out of me, as I just- I think I was just blankly staring at the door. Completely spacing out and junk, unable to really- say anything. Just listening to all of it in a complete silence, her voice just- muffled and sobby throughout the whole thing.

"Y... You really think that I'd want you to... just... be hated by everyone...?" Gumi mumbled into me. "I- I don't want that... I don't want that at all! W-What ever happened to us being popular together...? W-We were gonna do cool high school things and break out into song with everyone and like meet a cool athlete guy who falls in love with us and does all those movie things and like overturn the entirety of this school's social order and-"

And a bunch of... other, other things. Gumi just... she started rambling nonsensically, wailing and sobbing and crying throughout all of it. Randomly reciting the whole plot of an old movie series. A bunch of- idealistic TV things, word for word, with goofy antics and serious drama and so on and so forth.

All of this just being spoken to me as I listen, as I'm reminded of what I did all of this for. This plan, this- telepathic diary, even... just- wanting to have a fun high school life after all that's happened.

Since I was the one who took the fall for it with my suspension, I... thought the right thing to do was to give myself up. To sacrifice myself so that Gumi can be the one to live all of those high school things, since I couldn't get past all of the things that happened days one and two.

But Gumi's here, still believing, still wanting both of us to have fun. Believing with all of her heart that we could both still have a good and fun high school life.

I just embrace this hug for a while. Both of us crying and sobbing, wanting to get past all of this, wanting to just hug it out and let it all out and all that. It was nice, it was sweet, it... it was a huge weight off of my chest.

"... if- you don't mind me interrupting..."

Oh, and, uh, in the middle of this, Soleil totally interrupted our sad moment. Not- ruined it, just interrupted it to... well... insult the hell out of me. Completely roast me alive with everything she wanted to say, all the way until the bell rang.

"I just... I want to say, right here, right now... Cherri Kusuri, I think- and still think that you are the dumbest, craziest, most irresponsible girl that I have ever met," Soleil flat out tells me, lashing out at me. "Your plan is absolute nonsense, having acted like a buffoon and an imbecile the whole time today. Nothing you did even conveys any sense of rational thought whatsoever, and if I didn't know any better- I would have chalked you up to a walking, talking baby going through a temper tantrum because things didn't go her way."

Yeah, and- that's the big insult. Saying that I'm a big, dumb, dramatic idiot with all of her words, continuing the argument we had when I walked with her from the lunch room.

I may have been a little- well, a lot upset at the time, like- extremely upset at being told all of this. Gumi was, too, and just- kinda went quiet, upset that one of her friends could just say bad things about me as if she hated me.

But- I guess Soleil has a ton of reason to. Honestly, like- after the fact, after I had a bit of time to think... I'm actually not that offended by what Soleil said. I actually see her point, since like- Elena got badly hurt, pretty much because I wasn't open with Gumi, and she wasn't open with me.

In fact, Soleil and Elena are- just bystanders to everything going on with Gumi and me. And Soleil's taking her time to treat me with classic French politeness, with their rudeness and bluntness, and their strong tendencies to say it like it is.

Soleil has to be tough on me. There's- really no better way to handle this, and... EFD season be darned, Soleil's packing a punch like her human counterpart. Words upon words ready to rant and call me out like a tough friend, a- a tough parent, even.

But don't worry, I know that this has a good ending...

"... and that's because I didn't get the chance, whatsoever, to know you," Soleil continued, bringing up my faults and such. "To know the person outside of the rumors. You didn't do anything to prove this school wrong. You simply annoyed everyone to the point where the rumors got worse, to where - oh, I don't know, correct me on this - you achieved the exact opposite of popularity, mission accomplished."

It really... stings, to know that I'm wrong. To know that I was in the wrong, that I made the mistake.

Soleil's point was that since Makeup Weasel spread rumors about me, I just made worse rumors for her and her friends to spread. A lot of the insults she said to me, they paled in comparison to what they think, and... and I guess that's right.

I don't like being wrong, but- who does?

"When I walked up to you that first day, when I saw the 'ugly, basic b----' for the first time, saw the 'gross lesbian', the 'eyesore', the 'waste of time and space', and the big- big 'hospitalized a girl at lunch' girl, I... I was open to seeing past all of that. I wanted- no, want, to be friends with her. To be friends with her and her sister, to do the same as you want. To be popular."

I- continued to not respond. Continued to listen to all of this, as Gumi listened to all of this- as Elena, even, just stood aside and watched all of this happen.

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"But... but take it from me, darling... popularity doesn't come with just- hoping you're popular," Soleil told me. "You have to- make friends, to put yourself out there, to... to be the better person and move past these rumors, not- not prove them right and commit yourself to a self-fulfilling prophecy."

And- and Soleil took a moment to hold her phone out. Her smartphone, with a stylishly designed purple lavender flower phone case around it. Showing me the texts where she curiously asked about me, and Gumi answered with...

... with really nice things.

Nice and embarrassing things. Things that I don't even want to share with you, Mr. California.

"You're Gumi's sister, and- and the way she texts about you, the way she- talks about you, I- I want to believe that you're as magnifique as she thinks you are. That you're actually the... the coolest, the smartest, the bravest, and- and the best sister in the world, with all of these messages as proof..."

I did expect this, a little bit. Gumi told me a lot about Soleil and Elena, everything that they were willing to share with her. Of course she'd talk about me, and... and yeah, it goes both ways. Gumi doesn't talk to just anyone, she... she's an open book to the people she considers close.

Gumi truly considers Soleil and Elena her best friends, her non-human confidants and stuff... even if she kept her missing phone a secret from all of us. She... she really, REALLY does want us to be friends together, and- and...

"So for the good of all of us, for all of our sakes and sanities..." Soleil spoke, as she rests a hand on my shoulder, as she leans in close. Looks me right in my eyes as I look back, as she stares into my soul and makes sure I know she's being serious.

The bell rang, before she said...

"... stop pushing us all away, and let's go to class, together, s'il vous plaît. We'll see what happens from there."

And so... we leave the bathroom- RESTROOM. Restroom, and start heading our way to drama, heading down the hallways after all of that.

People were starting to head to their next class, now that lunch was fully over. Didn't seem like anyone knew or noticed who screamed loudly in the hallways, and- well, we walked as if the front of Elena's now healed upper body didn't just get absolutely burned and disintegrated. We managed to get away with all of it, got away with it in time before anybody could see us.... so we're all in the clear. Walked all the way to Drama without any problem.

Well, not any problem, of course... there were some. Saw a bunch of people, a bunch of random people just looking at me with narrowed eyes. Looked at me all upset and junk, still hating my guts and stuff.

And that's what Soleil was getting at. If I wanted these people to not hate my guts, I- need to be better, to act better and get along with everyone. To be nice, to be kind, to do everything in my power to be a likeable person in this high school. Befriending everybody, befriending Makeup Weasel's friends, even Makeup Weasel whenever she gets back.

...

But I think I'm fine with just being liked by Gumi and her friends.

In that moment, I agreed with myself, so I took a moment to look at some people who I definitely, DEFINITELY knew are friends with Makeup Weasel, and - when they looked at me with their annoyed eyes and junk - I also took a moment to stick my tongue out and taunt them. Finger on one of my bottom eyelids, just pulling it down and letting out a "blehhh!" at them.

Childish, immature, and well deserved in my eyes. I'm fine with being mean to them, I just won't be as active about it. I'll sit peacefully and junk, and react if they come after me.

And sit peacefully I am. Now I'm sitting peacefully, with Gumi and her two friends, finally. Joining them for once in Drama, now ready to enjoy the one class that all four of us share.

The room itself isn't, like, a big auditorium, but... it was one of the "movie" rooms that this school built. Sixty chairs arranged like a movie theater, six rows of ten cushiony chairs each. A raised platform to look like a stage, with a whiteboard and a projector and stuff.

Gumi definitely overexaggerated the classroom, to be honest.

But on the other hand, she got the teacher pretty correct. The drama teacher's as absurd as Gumi said she was. Her head, a floating packet of fancy notebook paper. A staple in the corner and everything, about like... 30, 40 pages? LIke- mid-30s, ish...

Her long, brown wig definitely stapled to the corner of the pages, the hair going all the way down to the halfway point of her stone pillar. A pillar that did, in fact, walk- had two shoes underneath it, walking with the moving pillar. Two floating, thick gloves at her sides, serving as armless hands that were holding some sort of second paper packet in one hand and a fountain pen in the other.

Though, there's something really... interesting, something that I noticed about her when we met. When the teacher noticed us, she looked right at us and greeted us with glee.

"Bonjour, bonjour, darlings~!" the teacher exclaims boldly, a kind wave to Gumi and Elena... and hugging Soleil, in the middle of class, to Soleil's embarrassment.

Then, her packet face floats to look in my direction, showing me the fancily drawn and doodled face on it. "Ah! And you must be Cherri, oui? Madame St. Martin, a pleasure to meet you!"

"Oui, oui, merci beaucoup," I tell her, a happy smile on my face. "Glad to be in class, Mrs. St. Martin."

Gumi never told me the Drama Teacher's name, and... well, she never mentioned any last names, but I put two and two together by seeing this. That interesting thing I noticed was... resemblance. I noticed how similar, how- very, very similar the teacher was to... to Soleil.

The uncanny resemblance was like... right in front of me. Sure, the teacher didn't really scream 'Siamese Cat', but like- EFD Season's replacements don't have to be the same species. No, it's- always about what's on the inside, and it just coincidentally lines up sometimes.

But- seriously, like, right before me? A grown up version of Soleil in mannerisms and quirks and stuff, even going so far to notice the fact that her face was a doodled drawing of a Siamese cat's face. The way she speaks French, the way she has a dramatic flair and kindness to her voice, the fact she hugged Soleil...

... Soleil's mom is the Drama Teacher.

Soleil St. Martin, and Mrs. St. Martin, in the same classroom.

Makes me think that all that kindness Gumi received that first day may have been a little biased. Wasn't just helping a shy, timid girl through ice breakers... it was about helping her daughter's shy, timid friend throughout her first day.

And when class started, now she's helping her daughter's bold, previously suspended friend catch up with everybody else.

I had a whole moment where Mrs. St. Martin decided to introduce me to everybody. Gave me a proper introduction, a proper moment where I could stand on stage and just introduce myself to people. Even decided to give me a moment to tell my two truths, one lie.

"Well, well... I played for my middle school's varsity baseball team," I lied, having just participated in just the baseball club. They didn't want a girl like me to represent the school, and mostly just kept me to just drills and junk.

That left me with two truths, and... heh. Okay. Time to play hardball.

"Mmm... I once snuck into a high security bank, and got away with a ton of money," I tell the first truth, referring to that one accounting job Hippo Dad did for some rich guy when I was in middle school. He earned, like, I don't know, thousands for settling the guy's crap... Hippo Dad even brought me and Gumi along, with permission, just because it was a once in a lifetime opportunity to enter a mansion and see bank money.

"And one time, I got to pet a wild deranged wolf that broke into my house at three in the morning. Like- pet, pet. Right on the top of his head," I told the truth, albeit I left out the details that the wolf collapsed after breaking in and... and Mom decided to heal him up, to pretty much nurse him back to good health before letting the wolf free. I did actually pet a deranged wolf, and uh... yeah.

Made a great, great first impression as I spoke about just- baseball, implied bank robbery, and completely unhinged wolf petting.

... and I think Drama Class is probably my new favorite class because of this.

I saw so many people confused about what I said, as I just flat out walked onto that stage and possibly told three entire lies.

Just looked as they all thought about it really hard. Ate my chips and enjoyed my time in the spotlight. And when it turned out that I'm the lucky girl who somehow stumped an entire class (Mrs. St. Martin didn't count Gumi's vote), I was praised for my outlandish claims.

"W-Wait, the BASEBALL one was the lie?!"

"You- you actually pet a wolf?"

"Hold on, are we going to pretend she didn't just confess to a federal crime? What?"

A bit of uproar, uproar that I really- REALLY enjoyed, heh. And I think I'm going to enjoy the heck out of this class.

Sure, maybe I have to be really passionate about drama in order to pass this class, but that brings me to another reason: I am LITERALLY in a class taught by Soleil's mom. This place is genuinely safe, the safest place in this entire school as long as I'm with Soleil. No way is anyone making fun of me or Gumi in this room, not if Mrs. St. Martin has anything to say about it.

Plus, if I struggle to understand Drama, then... I guess I have the literally best study partner for this class in particular. Soleil probably has direct access to the curriculum, even if her mom has to be strict and teach her it- it's still something that gives me an advantage in this class.

So I pretty much can just stick with Gumi and Soleil, and also Elena, and we can breeze through this. A pretty good, relaxing class to just unwind after all of what happened today.

And I've just been eating barbecue chips while sitting with the others. Kind of just silent, thinking to you the whole time while the other three spoke. I didn't have much to say, and- I think they understood, given the fact I'm just eating.

These chips came from a vending machine, and uh... yeah. They're enough to let me endure through the rest of the school day. The others even said some junk about, like, going somewhere afterschool to eat instead. Something a lot more delicious than school food, and with places for us to sit.

"So... how does it feel to finally sit with friends, ma Cherri...?"

Ah, Soleil suddenly asks this, while I'm in the middle of talking with you. Her Siamese cat self just smiling at me, acting all friendly with me now that I actually get to sit with them.

I answer. "Kind of nice. Heh."

"Très bien, très bien..." Soleil responds. "And now, did we 'do things right', ma Cherri? Do Elena and I finally get to receive the elusive Cherri Kusuri's phone number after slapping some sense into you, now?"

Ah, hah. There it goes. Soleil's still pissed at me about the whole thing, showing it in her own subtle way. Elusive, slapping? Yeah, okay.

Well, mocking me aside, I just nod and exchange phone numbers with Soleil and Elena. We did, in fact, do it right- Soleil's personally asking for my phone number instead of just asking Gumi for mine. On this third day, after all is said and done, I might as well.

So after Soleil gets my number, I'm then invited to the group chat, have full access to the whole chat between the three, and... we're kind of friends, now, for real. "Kind of", just meaning that I have to make up for these last three days, and now have to actually be friends with Soleil and Elena, but- y'know, looking forward to that!

And now we get to sit in Drama, just chill out, hang out and stuff, and... yeah. Still the first week. We get to watch recorded theater plays for the second day, no assignments or exercises yet, and spent the whole time just- appreciating the arts.

I think we're watching some recorded play of Romeo and Juliet. That one most notable work of Shakespeare, that guy most famous for plays and junk. I know it's like a book, but like- movies for it exist. Mrs. St. Martin got full permission to just play the movie for a bit, to make the class gain an appreciation for theater and junk by watching full blown professionals act on it.

I vibe with theater. It looks neat, and-

"... uhm... Cherri, uh... I... I'd like to ask..." Elena whispers quietly to me, suddenly drawing my attention from watching the movie.

"Hm?" I ask.

"... what did you actually... like... find out, about Gumi's phone...?"

Ah, okay... this was bound to come up.

"... well, I'll tell the three of you after class... now's not the time, and- and it's clear Gumi doesn't want to talk about it yet... okay?"

"Oh... okay..."

... mm, and with that, I sit back in my chair and continue to relax with chips.

I'll talk to you later too, Mr. California.

Thanks for listening, I- I feel pretty great, thanks to you. I like thinking and talking to you, treating you like a personal diary. Feels like there's actually a future for me at this school, now.

Ahh... hope you stick around for whatever it is I feel like thinking of next, and uh... have fun with whatever it is you're doing right now!

Buhbye!