High school (Discontinued)

Under Pressure

Geno shook Reapers shoulder as he began nodding off again.

"Hey, don't fall asleep on me," she said. He buried his face in her leg and mumbled.

"I'm too comfortable." Geno laughed.

"How? There's no way you're comfortable sleeping bent over my bed and resting on my leg. Why my leg by the way?" Reaper turned his head to look at her and smiled.

"I'm protecting you," he answered. "But only your leg right now cause I'm too tired to get up." Geno smiled and moved over. She patted the space next to her and said.

"Come protect me up here, you look like a creep down there." Reaper gladly shuffled in beside her and squeezed himself in the space so she could still lie down. "Do you ever sleep?" She asked.

"Huh?"

"You're here practically day and night, do you ever sleep?" Reaper shrugged.

"How could I sleep knowing my Geno was sick?" He asked with mock seriousness. She gave him a little slap.

"I'm not your Geno," she said reproachfully.

"And how long do I have to wait before you are?" Geno regarded him.

"When you aren't a cocky asshole I'll think about it," she answered.

"Yay!"

"Ink!" Ms CQ called out as she began to walk out the door. "Weren't you wearing your scarf when you first came here?" She asked. Ink gasped.

"I must have left it in Error's room!" She realised. "Just gimme a sec I'll go get it." She ran upstairs and into Error's room. Looking around she found that it had slipped down the side of his bed while she'd been sleeping. She pulled it away from the wall and reached down to grab it when something colourful caught her eye. She pulled out her phone and turned on the flashlight. On the wall that had been hidden by the bed was an old drawing of hers. The others had been washed off but this one remained. "He must've forgotten about it," She thought. She shrugged and moved the bed back into its place, retreating back down the stairs with her scarf wrapped around her neck.

Lust looked at herself in the mirror for the sixth time that day. Her eyes traced the curves of her body and the contours of her face.

"You're so beautiful," Her mother said, brushing her hand over her daughter's face. "But beauty is fragile. You mustn't let it go for anything. Don't worry, Mama's here to guide you."

Lust's stomach growled and the colour in her face dropped just a little bit more. Seeing her face pale she pinched her cheeks and brought the blood straight back into them.

"No, no honey none of that unhealthy stuff. You don't want to ruin your body."

Her hand traced the sallow skin of her stomach and she bit her lip.

"I can go a little while longer."

Dust and Horror paced around the park in boredom. Both were avoiding the daunting idea of doing their homework. Suddenly Horror nudged his friend and pointed to a park bench by the lake.

"Hey look, it's Blue," He said. Dust looked to where he was pointing and found Blue sitting on the park bench feeding some ducks. Dust unconsciously smiled and Horror, noticing, nudged him again. "You are so in love." Dust turned to protest again.

"I don't-" he stopped himself. He thought back to the carnival and hid his face in his hands as a blush spread over his cheeks. "God I have such a huge crush on her."

"Finally!" Horror exclaimed. "It only took you two years to admit it!"

"Shut up she might hear you," Dust shushed him but Blue had already noticed them and was waving. "Look at what you got me into," Dust mumbled as they walked over to her. The birds flew away as they approached but Blue didn't seem to mind and only grinned at them.

"Hello, Dust! Hello, Horror! What are you two doing here?" She asked cheerfully. Horror looked at Dust. Dust rolled his eyes and sat down next to her.

"We were just avoiding homework," he answered. "You know, procrastination." Blue frowned at him.

"You should really do it. Sooner's better than later," She chided.

"Not with my school record it isn't."

"You can always change for the better!"

"Yeah..." Dust rested his chin on his hand and looked at her. "Anyway, what are you doing here?" He asked.

"Feeding the birds," she answered. "They don't like other people so they ran away."

"Sorry."

"Don't be it's nicer to talk to real people than to birds." Dust looked surprised at her words.

"Couldn't you have asked Ink or Dream to hang out with you?"

"I don't want to disturb them. They have lots of fun at home." Dust kept staring at her in surprise.

"Well, I'm happy to hang with you anytime. It's not like I've got anyone else to talk to. Look Horror's already ditched me." He smiled as he said the last sentence but Blue didn't seem to be paying attention. "Do you see your brother often?" He finally asked.

"No, Carrot's always at university or a party or something." Dust's eyes clouded with concern. As they'd been talking her grin and slipped little by little into a sad smile and she kept staring at her hands. "He's always there to tell me to keep my grades up though so..." she trailed off. Suddenly she stood up. "I should get home, sorry for disturbing you." And with that, she ran off. Dust stood up and watched her go.

"I probably should've comforted her or something," he thought regretfully. "I'll do it next time." And he walked away to find the friend that had deserted him.

Horror grinned to himself as he walked through the shopping centre. Ditching Dust meant he could be alone for a few minutes or hours depending on how long Dust spent talking to Blue and then finding him. He walked by a jewellery shop and stopped as he recognised a familiar face.

"Lust?" He asked. Lust turned around and looked at him, surprise changing her features. She waved shyly at him and he entered the shop, sidling up next to her and looking at what she'd been looking at. "Those are some nice pearls, are you gonna buy them?" Lust shook her head and left the shop, heading down the plaza. Horror followed her. "Hey if you want me to leave you alone I will." She stopped and stared at the ground for a moment before looking up at him.

"People are gonna talk if you hang out with me," she whispered. Horror laughed.

"Let them talk. Most of them have skeletons in their closet too." They walked on for a while before Horror spoke to her again. "You ok? Your face is all wane." Lust stopped again.

"How do you do it?" She asked.

"Huh?" Horror stared at her.

"How do you live with your face like...that?" She asked shyly. Horror laughed again.

"I beat up everyone who teases me about it and scare everyone else," he answered. "What about you?" Lust jumped.

"Huh?"

"Are you scared of me?" Lust stared at him for a while then shook her head.

"No, you're too nice to be scary." She immediately regretted her words and began walking fast away from him. Horror put a hand on her shoulder to stop her and frowned at its skinniness.

"You wanna get lunch together?" He asked. Lust's white face paled and she shook her head.

"N-No, I should get going now, see you." She ran away from him, leaving him alone in the plaza.