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After Class

The recess bell rung out through the class. Rue saw the Blonde haired and blue-eyed Vance immediately left his desk to walk up to the class hamster Sprocket. He gave the little fuzzball a big smile and even poked his finger through the cage trying to get him to play with toys. Nate, a boy with black hair and green eyes, came up from behind him.

"If you like chubby little Sprocket so much why don't you just marry him, lover boy?" Nate snickered. Vance froze. Then he turned around.

"You vile brute! How dare you insult Sprocket?!" Vance roared.

"What are you going to do about it?" Nate growled. The red-haired bespectacled boy called Devin stepped in between the two.

"Stop Nate, all this will do is get everyone in trouble." he pleaded. Before Nate could retort him the teacher stepped in.

"Boys, stop fighting!" the teacher's voice was intimidating and uncompromising. It swiftly penetrated the resolve of both boys to be angry. They felt her gaze on their heads even after they left the classroom. Everyone else left the classroom as they normally would have even though they all became slightly afraid of the teacher's gaze. 

Eclair had her suspicions confirmed after seeing Rue get up from her desk. She had slumped shoulders, quick and jerky feet, and her crooked neck looking to the ground in front of her. Despite recognizing the clues pointing her to Rue's emotional state Eclair still had to make the mood comfortable if she wanted Rue to tell her what was wrong. At least, there was potential to work with the promise of free time to lighten the mood. She had to do a bit of buildup though.

"Hey sis, how cool would it be if Sprocket became an actor?" Eclair whispered in Rue's ear.

"He could audition for the school play. This year's it's Phantom of The Opera. I would love to see him run around the giant opera house with his little paws, as the Phantom!"

This earned Eclair a smile and even a quiet snicker from Rue. Now was her chance.

"You know, there is absolutely nothing wrong with this school at all. In fact, I've just signed us up for an extensive after-school program!"

"What? NO! I'm not spending any extra milliseconds in this stupid school!" Rue screamed.

"Oh yeah, why not?"

"This school is full of stuck up pricks who slam doors in your face, literally."

"How many?"

"This one girl, she was crabbing about me when I was only trying to help and she nearly shoved her bathroom stall door into my face"

"I'm sorry you met someone who treated you badly, but you can't let that stop you from making friends with nicer people."

"If there are nicer people."

"Exactly! Except it's more like if there are nicer people we need to find them!" Eclair was interrupted by her own loss of poise. Fortunately, she was able to catch herself. Looking down she saw a pair of reading glasses at her feet.

"We should probably find who they belong to." Eclair patted the back of her head slightly flustered at her fumbling and carefully picked up the glasses.

"I think I already know who they belong to," Rue said. Eclair looked up at Rue. She was surprised that she had said that given the poor attitude she had previously shown.

"And I think we should be able to find her if we split up. To find the girl I'm thinking of, ask yourself, 'what would be the best place to read in a time like recess?' The girl has purple hair you can't miss her." Smiling at Rue Eclair nodded and the two of them split. Eclair looked outside and Rue looked inside. After a few minutes, Rue could hear Eclair's voice booming from outside.

"Found her!" Eclair sounded giddier than usual. Rue decided to get there as soon as she could. That is until she heard another sound looming through the hallways. It was a voice.

"Nate! This is crazy! You're going to get in a crazy amount of trouble if you do this!"