k-12: the shadows

༺ teacher's pet ༻

crybaby

"you've cut your hair," alexis said in surprise as angelita sat down at their lunch table.

it was true, crybaby realised; angelita's long dark hair had now been cut into a bob, with bangs to match.

"what made you do that?" crybaby asked softly.

angelita shrugged. "a... certain someone made me realise it was time for a change."

alexis shrugged, turning back to her conversation with the others. crybaby, however, thought over these words with a frown. elita was never usually so airy.

✦ ♫♪ ✦

then came next period; science.

automatically, as she entered the classroom, crybaby slid into the first seat on the back row. she looked to the seat next to her, expecting angelita to be sat next to her as she usually would be, and blinked in confusion when she instead glimpsed the girl sitting at the front on her own, looking up at the teacher hopefully.

"hello students, and welcome to chemistry," the teacher greeted as the scraping of stools against the tiled floor settled down. "we'll be starting off today with some tests to see where you all are academically, although i trust you're all of intelligence."

crybaby did her best to focus on her test paper, but everything angelita did seemed to distract her;

whenever the teacher came near her, elita's whole demeanour altered. she shifted every time he looked at her, and bit her lip or chewed on her pen.

crybaby was snapped out of her thoughts as the teacher stood up and began to collect everyone's tests. crybaby wasn't even halfway finished, but that was far from her biggest concern right now.

as the teacher picked up her paper from the table, she caught a glimpse of angelita's paper in his hand.

she had written a message in red ink at the bottom;

if i pass this quiz will you give me your babies?

crybaby's jaw dropped. surely angelita would be the last person to do something like this to herself?

the teacher walked back up to the front of the class, a steely glint in his eyes.
"i'll have these graded by next lesson, but i'm afraid that angelita will have to stay after class to overlook her work."

the class all made an ooh noise, assuming she was in trouble.

oh no.

crybaby followed the rest of the class out of the classroom as the bell rang, but she decided to hang around outside the door and wait for her friend.

after around ten minutes, she decided she'd had enough and wanted to know exactly what was going on. she stepped up to the peephole in the door and, bracing herself to be scarred for life, pressed an eye against it.

however,
what she saw would leave her scarred in a different way;

the teacher had shrunk angelita down to the size of a strawberry, and tied her down to a table with string. he was holding a scalpel over her, almost touching her stomach, and laughing evilly to himself.

"p-please stop," angelita shrieked, her voice tiny and shrill. "i loved you."

"and that was a mistake," the teacher whispered.

a fury ignited in crybaby's belly; her eyes burned away into a black abyss as she threw the door open.

the teacher spun around as crybaby let out an angered scream, and threw her arms up into the air; the teacher went flying into the air and was thrown violently against the wall.

in a puff of pink smoke, angelita was returned to her normal size. the girl nodded her thanks before turning to the teacher now behind her. wordlessly, she pulled a large butterfly knife from thin air and began to perform a series of impressively intimidating tricks with it.

"i have a wife, and kid," the teacher pleaded.

angelita leaned in, and whispered,

"and that was a mistake."

she slashed with the knife,

panting triumphantly.

no one messed with angelita's heart.