BFB High (with a continuous plot wow)

Chapter 13: Switching Things Up

Thankfully, however, as soon as the two girls arrived at Professor X's classroom, Sawyer called Teddy over to where she and Dora were. Ellie also perked up at the mention of Teddy's name and gravitated over as Teddy reached her desk. Eve simply went to sit at her own desk.

"Hola Teddy," Dora greeted.

Teddy waved before opening her tote bag to get her phone out. As she did so, Sawyer swallowed and asked softly, "How... how was your friend?"

Teddy blinked, before realizing that Sawyer meant Penelope. She paused, wondering how much she could share. She also didn't want people to worry, so aside from confidentiality issues, she also had that to worry about. Finally, she typed her answer into her AAC app.

"She's doing remarkably well for a victim of a car accident." Technically, that was true. Aside from her amputated limbs, Penelope managed to not sustain too much damage from the car accident, at least as far as Teddy could tell. It's kind of a miracle, actually, Teddy thought. If this was a comic, I'd say Penelope had some sort of plot armor, but this is real life, not a story.

Sawyer and Ellie seemed relieved to hear that. Dora's expression was as neutral as ever, but Teddy was sure that she also cared underneath the neutral expression.

"That's great to hear," Sawyer responded.

Teddy nodded. Wanting to take the attention off of her and the issues with Penelope, she asked through her AAC app, "Are Talia and Lola always like that?"

"Hmm?" Ellie asked in confusion, but Sawyer just chuckled softly in understanding. It was amazing how much lighter of an atmosphere there was to Sawyer's chuckle rather than Eve's earlier one.

"Oh yeah, they're always like that. I'm actually glad they're getting on so well," Sawyer replied. "They both were originally just my friends and not each other's, so I was a bit nervous they wouldn't like each other when I first introduced them. After all, they come from two different worlds. But they got along great and now, many years later, they're close enough to joke around like that with each other."

"What do you mean, they come from two different worlds?" Ellie asked curiously.

"Ah, you see, Talia comes from a poorer neighborhood," Sawyer explains, "while Lola's family is pretty rich. This probably makes me sound like a bad friend, but even then, Lola could be judgmental, so I was worried that she might stick up her nose at Talia or something..."

"Is it okay for you to tell us about Talia's financial situation like that?" Teddy asked through her AAC app.

"Yeah, Talia doesn't feel the need to hide it or anything," Sawyer mentions. "She actually views it as something to be proud of, that despite their disadvantages, she and her parents are pushing through."

"That's an admirable way to look at it," Ellie muttered. Teddy nodded in agreement, but couldn't help but wonder something.

Sawyer said this happened many years ago. Just how obvious was Lola's family's wealth and Talia's family's lack of it that a child would be able to notice? Teddy thought.

"By the way, do we have to sit in the same seats we sat in during Monday?" Sawyer asked.

Dora shrugged in response. Now that Teddy thought about it, unlike in middle school, none of the teachers here assigned them seats. Even Mrs. Chrysanthe Hanasaki had only assigned them lab partners, and aside from having to sit next to their lab partner, she gave no instructions on who should sit where. Still, for whatever reason, everyone seemed to stay in the same seat that they sat in on the first day.

"If we can move seats, do you want to move by mine?" Sawyer asked.

Teddy shrugged. Honestly, Sawyer wasn't that far away from her and Dora. In fact, Sawyer literally sat in the seat right in front of Dora. Ellie, on the other hand, was in the second row from the front and thus, two rows in front of Teddy and Dora.