k-12: the shadows

༺ class fight ༻

alexis

alexis followed crybaby and angelita towards the playground, which was surrounded by tall metal fencing painted a baby blue. crybaby held the gate open for alexis, gesturing for her to go first;

alexis noticed a sign on the gate that read playground: for display purposes only, do not touch.

alexis rolled her eyes at the sign before thanking crybaby for holding the gate for her. the two of them followed angelita to where she was sat on the ground; a place where hopscotch had been chalked onto the concrete.

alexis settled down with her newfound friends, scanning the area for isabel without luck.

she felt a distinct feeling of discomfort settle in the pit of her stomach as she realised she couldn't feel her sister's presence either.

usually the two sisters knew exactly where the other was, making games of hide and seek extremely easy-

although, this appeared to be one game of hide and seek that alexis wasn't winning.

she frowned, but joined in on crybaby and angelita's conversation without voicing her concerns. her sister wasn't dumb. she would be fine.

some time passed.

it was almost the end of recess;

alexis was beginning to wonder if kelly's threats had been empty,

when something happened.

she looked up to see kelly approaching crybaby from behind,

a blade in hand.

"look out!" alexis shrieked, but not soon enough;

kelly bowled crybaby over from behind and began delivering harsh blows to her face, stood over the smaller girl and pinning her to the ground.

"class fight! class fight! fight, fight, fight!" the other kids began to cheer, crowding around.

alexis's jaw dropped; she looked over to angelita, who was being held back by several of kelly's gang; fighting back desperately, but to no avail. to alexis's surprise, not a single other person seemed willing to defend crybaby.

it was less of a surprise to alexis that crybaby wasn't using her powers. alexis tried her best to stay out of the situation, but when kelly raised her blade, she'd had enough.

"get off of her," alexis shouted, barrelling into kelly's side. the two of them landed on the ground near crybaby, with alexis on top of kelly. the two of them rolled around on the ground, hissing and spitting like cats, both determined to come out top.

but kelly was bigger than alexis. before long she was on top, drawing her blade on alexis instead.

if crybaby could get beaten up without using her powers, alexis reasoned with herself, then surely she could too-

although this seemed to be much easier said than done.

dontuseyourpowersdontuseyourpowersdontuseyourpowers-

alexis let out a hiss of pain as kelly began to carve into her arm;

k-

"get off of her!" crybaby screamed. apparently this was the last straw for the other girl; her eyes turned to black as she swung her arms towards kelly. the two of them began to rise into the air, facing each other.

the blade clattered to the ground, and alexis grabbed it hastily.

everyone watching began to step back and mutter, looking scared, while angelita was nodding and smiling as if to say that's my bitch.

"put me down, you freak!" kelly called out, wide-eyed.

dark tears were trickling from crybaby's black eyes as her braids, one black and one white, grew longer and longer. they wound themselves tightly around kelly's neck and began to choke-

choke-

kelly was gasping for breath, tugging desperately at the braids around her throat. alexis could see her rapidly growing weaker as the braids became tighter, and tighter.

"crybaby, stop!" alexis called up to her friend. "stop, you'll kill her!"

no response.

"crybaby!"

alexis shot up into the air to hover alongside crybaby. her eyes flickered into darkness as they met crybaby's own; crybaby blinked, and the braids dropped away from kelly's neck, shrinking back to their normal size.

crybaby moved one arm;

just as kelly's body hit the ground with a loud thump,

the teacher that was now stood at the gate blew her whistle.

"come down here at once!" miss daphne ordered, looking furious.

as crybaby and alexis slowly sank back to the ground, the black fading from their eyes, angelita burst free from kelly's friends and hurried towards them. as she did so, she noticed someone who she'd been looking for stood with them-

no other than isabel, cooing and fussing over a grumbling kelly.

what the fuck? she thought loudly to her sister. isabel spun around to face alexis; the guilt could be felt coming off of her in waves.

what are you doing? she thought angrily to her sister, who blinked for a few moments before turning her back.

and facing kelly.

alexis's jaw dropped, and she felt a pain in her chest. she turned away too, back to crybaby and angelita.

miss daphne was storming towards them, steam practically pouring out of her ears.

"you kids are coming with me, to the principal's office," she growled.