The Odd Couple

[Namira]

Charlie realised belatedly that she was probably injecting too much force into what was intended as more of a sly bit of roughhousing. She also realised that she didn't especially care, since Mashall was being just that big of a pain in the ass—

A sudden downward grasp on her blazer and before she quite knew what was happening, Charlie's shoes skittered out from underneath her and she slipped. With an ungainly thump, Charlie landed on top of Mashall as they both went to the ground in a heap. A jolt went through her as both knees painfully impacted with the unforgivingly hard linoleum, though at the very least, Mashall herself cushioned the worst of the fall. Ugh! What an idiot. Getting herself hurt just to inconvenience Charlie? How mature of her.

There was a moment of stillness as Charlie attempted to get her bearings, and then a cacophony of noise from the onlookers flooded back in as everyone got over their initial shock to start whooping and hollering. Typical, really.

She got a hand underneath herself, brushing past Mashall's hand, and then froze up again as someone suddenly wolf-whistled. At that moment, Charlie became horribly conscious that one of her legs was positioned awkwardly between both of Mashall's, and with how she'd fallen, was more or less straddling her with her face level with Mashall's chest.

Cheeks burning, Charlie jerked backwards like she'd touched a hot iron, almost tripping over herself in her scramble en route to falling flat on her backside.

[MurderWeasel]

This had seemed like a better idea before it actually happened. Mina's focus on dragging Charlie with her had ruined her balance and the two had completely toppled to the floor, but Mina had been on the bottom and so had absorbed both the bulk of the actual impact and the weight of Charlie landing on her bodily. The floor was hard and Mina's shoulders and butt were probably bruised but it didn't feel like anything had actually been damaged and she'd been leaning in enough that her head hadn't been bounced. On the other hand, she was pinned rather awkwardly under Charlie, dazed for a moment, and the masses seemed to find that very amusing. She had a flash of nervousness; Charlie was bigger and heavier and probably in better shape.

It took Mina maybe half a second less than Charlie to realize that they'd ended up in a somewhat compromising position, but before she could parse that or regret wiping out while wearing a skirt or maybe try to roll Charlie to the side, the other girl was jerking away like Mina was a scarecrow stuffed with spiders.

The power of the moment had totally shifted in a heartbeat. It had to have been the whistle. Mina didn't bother glancing for the culprit. She didn't care. An opportunity was an opportunity and she'd by now pretty well established that she had less shame than Charlie did.

She smirked as Charlie totally failed to stand, then pulled herself into a sitting position to mirror the other girl's. Movement in the hall had stopped. They were the center of attention. Those near where the fall had happened had backed away, leaving the girls a wide berth.

"Wow," Mina said, holding her left hand to her chest, "I didn't know you felt so strongly about me."

[Namira]

If clattering to the floor had affected Mashall any, she wasn't really showing it. Instead Charlie looked back at her to see her wearing a smug little smirk, as if she'd won some kind of victory by dragging her to the ground too.

Frustratingly, in some ways she almost had. Whose reputation would an unsightly argument in the hallway affect worse, Charlie's, which was pristine, or the delinquent who had a rap sheet as long as her arm? Ugh. And even knowing that, Charlie couldn't push down the uncomfortable merging of anger and embarrassment that was currently blasting through her system. Stupid, so stupid. She knew full well she wasn't doing anything remotely suspect with Mashall, just as she knew what the other girl had been spewing out was nothing but tacky lies. It still wasn't stopping her from feeling that way.

And Mashall was still smirking at her! Still acting, still being smug, still--

Charlie sprang forward, crashing into Mashall's chest shoulder-first and knocking her right back to the floor. With a snarl she would have thought most undignified, she pulled herself upwards and then immediately attempted to pin Mashall's shoulder down with her knee.

[MurderWeasel]

Mina had, somehow, not really expected Charlie to get this physical. The girl's tackle brought Mina right back to a horizontal position, but now Charlie was trying to take it further, trying to hold her down. Charlie had the advantage of size and leverage and momentum, but Mina had the advantage of not being a mindless tool of the system. She'd been in some spats here and there, and she could fight as hard as anybody, but that was just the thing: anybody could fight hard. What Mina could also do was fight smart.

Mina's right hand darted towards Charlie's knee like she was trying to shove the girl off her left shoulder, but instead she dipped it into her coat, grabbing into her pocket until she felt the three plastic tubes she'd planned to throw away; she picked one blind (she had no other choice) and popped the cap with her thumb and hoped she'd grabbed a good color even as she wiggled and thrashed, trying to keep Charlie's focus on other things. This would have to be quick.

There was effectively zero chance of Mina getting out of this cleanly now, which meant there was no reason not to bring every tool in her disposal to bear. She could glance into the future and see the meetings, the time in the office, the shouting authority figures, the call home, the halfhearted talking-to from her aunt and uncle, the hollow promises to do better next time. She'd be paying for this for half a month, maybe more. It would follow her around. She'd wear it. And, she decided, so would Charlie, at least for a little while.

The paint pen she pulled out of her pocket and reached up and slashed across Charlie's face was purple. Mina appreciated that.

[Namira]

The hollering and cheering was in full swing now, but any details of the hubbub had faded away, subsumed by just how absolutely livid Charlie was. Forget who was in the right, or the embarrassment which she'd just blazed through like jet fuel, or even the fact that people were watching. All Charlie cared about in that moment was scrubbing that insufferable grin from Mashall's face. Charlie was probably one of the only people who bothered to give her the time of day any longer, and she couldn't even show some basic courtesy.

Not that bending all reasonable effort to keep someone down on the floor was precisely polite, but they'd skipped over civility some time ago.

Charlie was bigger and stronger than Mashall, but the other girl wouldn't stay still, and although she couldn't actually push Charlie off, the way that she was thrashing about was preventing Charlie from actively overpowering her. Each time Charlie pressed down her knee, Mashall wriggled aside, and each time she tried to force her to the floor with a hand, she couldn't properly keep her balance to take advantage. Adrenaline was pounding through Charlie's system as some part of her still dimly conscious of anything other than trying to keep Mashall down noted that this was the first real fight she'd ever been in.

Mashall's hand flashed out and Charlie recoiled with a cry as pain flashed across her jaw and cheek, digging into her nose and very narrowly missing her eye. For a crazed instant, she thought that Mashall might have actually pulled a knife on her, but as much as there was a searing line slashed over her face, it surely would have felt far worse if a weapon had been used.

Her eyes refocused, and Charlie realised that Mashall was holding some kind of pen.

With a twisted snarl on her face, Charlie threw all of her weight onto Mashall's shoulder beneath her knee, cocked back a fist, and aimed a punch square at Mashall's nose.

[MurderWeasel]

The line was bright, jagged, perfect. Charlie seemed shocked for a second, flabbergasted that Mina had actually gotten one over on her, but it didn't last. The girl turned angry.

Mina had seen that coming. There was no other possible outcome, really, and now she would suffer for her indiscretions. This was the not so fun part, and it never got easier and sometimes Mina thought that maybe she was actually making pretty bad choices but every time she'd be feeling better a few minutes or hours or weeks while later and would decide that everything had emphatically been worthwhile. Then she'd go out and find some new problems for herself.

She saw the fist coming and there wasn't much she could do except turn her head so she didn't catch the impact straight on; she still took the blow to cheek and nose, though, and cried out as pain flashed through her face. She closed her eyes and went limp for a moment, only to then throw all her force to the left, rolling towards the shoulder Charlie still had control over, trying to shake the other girl off enough to wriggle free.

She barely noticed the first drops of blood peppering her shirt. The crowd might as well have not existed.

[Namira]

The connection was solid, and if Charlie wasn't so furious she might have been pleased to see Mashall's head snap back. Her fist rose a second time, but before she could swing again, Charlie realised that she'd drawn blood, a trickle beginning to leak from each of Mashall's nostrils. Her clenched fist wavered, and then Mashall pulled fiercely to one side.

Caught off guard and a little shaken, Charlie was promptly dislodged, falling heavily to the side.

A moment later, and hands grabbed hold of each of her arms, pulling her upright. Someone said something like 'easy, easy!' and someone else along the lines of 'break it up!'

Most dreaded of all, a booming voice approaching from down the hallway with 'What on earth is going on here!?'

[MurderWeasel]

Mina rolled clear, spun, struggled to her feet while managing not to lose her balance, and was about to go in for a tackle or kick of her own when someone grabbed at the back of her jacket. This was probably for the best; Charlie was being similarly restrained and Mina would've had to exercise some real self control to not slug the girl in the gut given the opportunity for a free hit. She'd had the presence of mind to let the pen fall and by now it'd been kicked somewhere into the crowd, not that that would help too much when the evidence was all over Charlie's face.

Making a token effort to struggle free, Mina mostly just let things happen. The guy holding her was the basketballer from before, this tall guy she thought might have actually only been a junior. Her nose was running with blood now; she could taste a bit of it on her lips. Spots dotted the floor where she'd passed. There was a murmur of the masses, and Mina tried to flash them a smile but as she did she tasted more blood and realized she had a cut on the inside of her cheek as well. Her face hurt quite a lot, but the rush of the moment was still holding her up, and she meant to ride that as long as she could, just one more one more second after another.

She was about to run out, though. Trouble was rolling down the hallway and really the only consolation was that Charlie was in it with her.

[Namira]

Charlie's anger was ebbing away moment on moment, and it only drained away faster when she noted just how much Mashall's nose was starting to stream with blood. That was her. Something she'd done. Whatever happened to being better than that, over and above childish, petty things like getting into scraps in the hallway?

What remained was twisted frustration. Charlie was upset with herself just as much as she was Mashall. Even if the other girl didn't know any better (or chose not to act on that knowledge), Charlie certainly did, and she'd allowed herself to lose her temper nonetheless. Worse yet, it was her that had made it physical, and though there were technicalities here and there, Charlie couldn't really argue that point one way or the other. Mashall had dragged her down both literally and figuratively.

There was a person holding each of her arms, and Charlie didn't know whether to be thankful that she recognised neither of them, a pair of boys who were in a lower year, since Charlie would know her own classmates on sight. They were more steadying her than restraining her, since she hadn't struggled and clearly wasn't making any tracks towards resuming where she left off with Mashall. She took the moment to tentatively touch her face, where that pen's path was still marked by a painful throbbing.

Her fingers came away faintly daubed with purple, and Charlie clenched her teeth as she realised that whatever kind of marker Mashall had used, it would have left a streak everywhere that it was hurting.

That was enough to get her glowering at Mashall again, though not enough to mitigate any of Charlie's self-directed disappointment.

The gawking bystanders parted like the Red Sea as Mr Phillips, their math teacher who was built like a linebacker appeared. He took the scene in at a glance and then gave a mighty trademark 'harrumph'.

"Mashall. Cade. Office. Now."

[MurderWeasel]

The guy let Mina go and she ran her hand across her upper lip, more smearing the blood across her face than cleaning it effectually. Mr. Phillips was not really who she wanted to see, but it didn't make any real material difference; there were certain escalations even Mina wouldn't make and directly defying or physically challenging a teacher in a situation like this was an immediate route to the sort of dire repercussions that made her blanch. It was pretty hard to get expelled, but if she somehow managed the trick there was of course her accumulated service waiting to whisk her away to probable death or at least the crushing of her soul.

So, when directed, Mina gave a nod and a sniffle and followed along towards the office. She took her steps a little slow, not to cause a disruption or anything but to put off the finale of this escapade and also to sell that she was hurt so maybe Charlie'd get it a little bit worse. Mina wanted to be impassive, and to that end she tried to focus on the world around her: the faces of the other students in the hall, the ways their eyes widened and they turned away when they caught sight of the blood, the mutters and giggles and half-veiled glances; the sensation of walking, her shoes slapping against the hard floor more audibly than her body had, the way her rear still kind of hurt even over the more pressing pain in her face, the way her muscles moved and the way that was different than the fight so recently passed; the chilly glare of the fluorescent lights; Mr. Phillips himself, big and burly and a model citizen, unreadable except insofar as he was obviously very displeased, and that was no surprise to anyone. At the same time, though, Mina couldn't resist taking peeks at Charlie, trying to get into the other girl's head and imagine what she was thinking and feeling.

Probably they'd both be in for a chewing-out when they got home today, but Mina's would come with an air of resignation and a plea to at least maybe be a little bit more discrete in the future. But what about Charlie? What would her father say, the father for whom she'd lashed out at Mina? Would this be the first moment he ever really truly showed disappointment in his daughter?

Mina chewed on that one for a while. The idea brought with it this whole tangle of thoughts and emotions. Charlie obviously totally deserved whatever she got and it really was not Mina's problem whatsoever unless the girl carried a grudge over it, in which case Mina was absolutely willing to go for round two the second the bell rang. But on the other hand, thinking about what that first dressing-down would look and feel like was too easy, too close; she could put herself right there and feel the confusion and the pain and the burning self-righteousness of having been right and this all being unfair. She could still hear the music playing too loud on the radio downstairs, some old classic rock song about being freed by the five o'clock bell, suddenly stifled as the door closed behind her. And from yet another angle, her ability to maybe do that to someone, to really inflict that sort of fallout on someone like Charlie who felt so perfect and untouchable, left her so excited she almost felt like she would explode into a shower of pure light, so excited that nobody in the world could touch her.

She focused on the line on Charlie's face some more and then changed her mind and turned away and tried not to think.

Before long, they were at the office.

[Cicadan]

Bridie sat in one of the chairs of the office waiting room, one knee neatly folded over the other, staring intently at a pamphlet. It seemed to be extolling the values of keeping America clean and green, and also beautiful, and Bridie definitely agreed with the importance of all of those things! She was trying to memorize some of the tips. It occurred to her that she probably needed to be in class, though it was difficult to focus on the thought... 'Organize your neighborhood disposal by'... 'biodegradable'... 'recyclable'... What did biodegradable refer to again? It meant reusable, for sure, but in some specific manner. Bridie's lips silently mimed her musing for a second, heavy and pregnant with the fumes of her internal grousing.

The door to the office was opened but she wouldn't afford herself a moment to be distracted! Well, okay realistically she probably couldn't help that but she liked to think otherwise. Anyways. She mindlessly glanced up, appraising, her mental train now gibberish, her muttering to herself now only tangentially environmentally-relevant babbling.

Charlie! One of her favorite faces, yes, that was definitely specifically Charlie's face. But. It was definitely slightly off, in terms of the diagonal slash of purple from forehead down. Oh, and there was Mr. Phillips. His face was the usual. And then probably Mina- yeah her eyes were fairly obvious at a glance- besides both of them and, wait a second, was she bleeding?

Bridie waved, idly, smiling her usual earnestly broad at the three of them as her forgotten pamphlet dangled off her skirt-draped knee. Huh, she wondered why they were here. Bleeding usually wasn't good. Maybe Charlie and Mr. Phillips were being good citizens and helping Mina out with an injury... But wait, nurses office. Had there been some kind of fight? Bridie entertained the notion, certainly, but she acted under the assumption that no such thing had happened while uncertainty dramatically failed to faze her.

"Hey guys, what are you all doing here?"

[Namira]

"Yes sir."

There was a knot in the pit of Charlie's stomach that she had no idea how she would disentangle. Her eyes continued to flicker between Mashall and the flecks of red that had spattered the floor. They looked enormous, like planets in the solar system of huge trouble that she had landed herself in. Even just a few seconds removed from what had happened, Charlie couldn't quite conceive of what had been going through her head. How stupid did she have to be to start a fight? Words were only words, and anything Mashall could possibly say about her or her father wouldn't be any truer for the words having been spoken.

Mr Phillips started off down the corridor, Mashall followed and Charlie brought up the rear. The cheering had stopped the moment the teacher had arrived, but now it was replaced by something even worse; low murmuring. Some were pointing either at Mashall or Charlie, drawing attention to both of their faces. Rumours would be spreading already, between those that had seen and those who'd been late to the melee, and soon enough what happened here would take on a life of its own. Brilliant. It would be just delightful to hear everyone else's version of events.

Charlie really wished she knew what her face looked like right now.

Mashall kept looking back at her, and each time they locked eyes, there was a strange kind of connection. The other girl's nose was still steadily trickling and at some point she'd smudged a trail across half of her face. The actual expression though, Charlie couldn't place, like sympathy and triumph mixed with something she had never quite seen before.

Charlie pursed her lips and just glowered back.

Mr Phillips opened a door and ushered Mashall in ahead of him. The look he gave Charlie as she followed suit was crystallised disappointment.

To make matters even worse, the office wasn't empty. Bridie Mossberg was sitting there without a care in the world (which was normal for her) and completely clueless to the severity of what had happened (also normal). She wasn't usually too bad a person to be around, but today wasn't a usual day any longer.

Charlie could only manage a tense smile that was more just the corners of her lips turning up.

Mr Phillips gave Mossberg a look and just shook his head slightly.

"Not now, Mossberg. Mashall, let the nurse have a look at you. Come back the moment he's done."

[MurderWeasel]

Mina nodded. She also gave Bridie a little smile, not because she liked Bridie but because she enjoyed the unfortunate interjection and the way it made things uncomfortable. That was actually pretty funny. Bridie was rather thick, which meant she had a certain habit of just doing whatever seemed likely to please those around her without understanding why, and clearly she hadn't quite wrapped her head around this situation being different from any other situation. Would she figure it out eventually? Mr. Phillips had just brushed her off, so Mina was willing to speculate that the answer was no.

She slipped her way through the room, and the nurse came and poked at her nose some, making Mina groan a little more than accurately reflected her feelings. He wiped told her that it wasn't broken, which Mina hadn't really considered it could've been until he spoke but was relieving to hear nonetheless, and wiped her face down with antiseptic wipes, which wasn't great because cleaned up it wouldn't be quite so immediately obvious just who had gotten the worse of this exchange. Were it not for the fact that he didn't actually know what had happened—he'd given a brief query as to the nature of the injury and Mina had just left it at "Got punched"—she'd've thought he was covering up for Charlie. He made her open her mouth, dabbed at her cheek, told her that was mild and would heal well enough left alone, then gave her some tissue to staunch the further trickle from her nostrils.

On the upside, Mina had worn a light green shirt today, so at least that still bore ample evidence of what she'd suffered. Maybe it was even more dramatic that way.

Suitably cleaned up and cleared for the resumption of her punishment, Mina made her way back towards where Charlie and Mr. Phillips were, still allowing herself to move a little slowly and unsteadily even though the nurse had let her know that she wasn't concussed or really injured in any sort of severe fashion. There was no reason to rush, though. The fallout would be what it was, so why hurry towards it? She let her eyes sweep over the room, desks, nurse's table, nurse already turning to clean up what Mina had splattered with blood, Charlie and Mr. Phillips by the door, window to the world outside, Bridie.

In a flash, inspiration struck.

Mina tried to time the moment she passed Bridie with the waning of attention from the nurse and a window in which Charlie and Mr. Phillips weren't paying amazing attention to her. Mina leaned down towards the girl, tissue held to her face with her left hand as her right dipped into her inner jacket pocket again. As casually as she could, she withdrew the two remaining paint markers—orange and green—and held them out, hoping her body blocked view of what she was doing.

"I tripped," she whispered, "but it's okay because I have a present for you, Bridie. Here. Our secret, okay?"

[Namira]

The next few minutes were amongst the tensest of Charlie's life. Mr Phillips just continued to give her reproving looks whilst they waited for Mashall to reemerge, and it hardly would have been appropriate for her to make conversation with Mossberg, given the circumstances. Though, Mossberg was earnest enough but not very good conversation in the first place.

Eventually, Mashall reappeared, and Mr Phillips wasted no time in turning, putting his hands on his hips. Charlie was momentarily distracted by Mashall's sudden stumble over by Mossberg, but then returned her attention as her teacher addressed her.

"Cade. I want an explanation."

Straight to her. The trustworthy party who could be relied upon to tell the truth and not embellish. The model citizen and student who hadn't so much as landed detention in her entire school career. In short, the person who shouldn't have started it.

Charlie breathed out.

Honest, she could at least do.

"Mashall insulted me, so I lost my temper with her, sir." Straightforward and to the point.

"Insults, Cade?" Mr Phillips had raised an eyebrow for a moment, but then arrowed in on that specific point.

"Nothing I'm comfortable repeating, sir."

"And then it became physical?"

"That's correct sir. I pushed Mashall, she retaliated, and it escalated from there," she forced her words past the lump in the throat. "I was provoked, sir, but I started the fight."

[Cicadan]

Well Mina's particular routine smile and wave were quite familiar but Charlie seemed off. Bridie appraised her smile for a moment... Yes, it seemed smaller than it should have been, somehow. Bridie didn't have a chance to blatantly ask though, as she intended, because Mr. Phillips warned her. Bridie nodded in deference. No time for a mouthed 'talk to you guys later', because obviously she had to be a good citizen and obey her teacher. He said not now, it meant not now. Bridie took a firm and honest position on that sort of thing.

She watched the floor for a few seconds, contemplating the streaks of marbled color on the tile... Wait.  That's right, yeah. She had come here along with Miss Gelnick to escort Erik- poor Erik, he'd slipped on spilled maybe coffee- and he'd already been sent home for the day because of his tantrum and distress. Bridie could still feel the ringing pain from where he'd hit her in her upper arm... bicep... tricep... she forgot which one was which but it was facing the outside of the arm. But, that's right. Bridie was already done here. She probably needed to go. She'd sat down in the first place because she'd been distracted. It was on her to do her duty and clean up her messes though! She glanced around for the pamphlet, it had fallen from her knee at some point...

Taking a few seconds too many to make her decision Bridie was forcibly returned to attention by Mina suddenly being near her. Bridie looked up, though hesitant at first because Mr Phillips had been very clear... Oh hey, Mina's bleeding had been taken care of! That was good. Bridie smiled warmly. Mina even had something to give her! Though, huh... Bridie wasn't sure why she was getting a gift? Well, okay, brainpower time... She couldn't think of any other reason besides 'random access kindness', as Clay liked to put it. Aww, so Mina could be a good person after all! Bridie had always liked to think the best of even the worst of the school's delinquents.

"Green's my favorite, Mina, how did you know?" Bridie was a hair too excited and her cheery surprised tone carried maybe further than Mina might have hoped. Bridie delicately transferred both markers into her hand.

"Your secret's safe with me, Scout's Honor. This is so cool! I always thought you didn't like me that much, honestly, but everyone's got surprises, I guess!"

Bridie registered there was a conversation... two familiar voices... Mr Phillips and Charlie speaking just within earshot. But splitting her focus would be a bit hard, she was already so eager with excitement from talking to Suddenly Friendly Mina! Besides, it'd be rude to just up and stop paying attention now.