Dead squirrels and dysfunctional families

6. Dancing ostrich roadhouse

Arbed boys didn't know forgiveness and they never forgot. Their attempts to get Hester out of school have quickly became more vicious every time they tried and failed. They soon began attacking the rest of her coven, yet somehow, they always seemed to pull through.

Rhian and Kei became tired from the endless attempts, not seeing the point of trying again and again, but Aric and Japeth were furious, shocked that somebody actually could resist them for so long, this was no mere highschool fight, for them, it was a war for honour.

...

The Coven were waiting for their chance. They watched Arbed's boys attempts with a mixture of annoyance and amusement. The 'attacks' were too repetitive to actually catch them off guard and pose a threat, yet the group of boys never stopped trying. They, of course, weren't going to just ignore them. They planned on something that would end this stupid war for once, hopefully as legal as possible.

It was an early Monday morning and they didn't share the first lesson.

Dot wasn't happy about being separated from the rest of her group, people didn't dare to bully her anymore, since the last time someone tried to, Hester detailly described the way she'd murder them if that happens again.

Dot appreciated it, but she felt like her safety was just temporary, like everything could turn against her any minute and she'll be back at the beginning again.

No matter how uneasy she was, she still had to admit that it felt nice having people actually avoid her. She never really wanted to be feared, but it's better to be feared then fear others, right?

She was usually anxious around large groups of people, but did her best hiding it behind a huge smile and fake cheerfulness, maybe she wasn't the best actress, but people usually failed to notice.

She made everyone comfortable to be around her, which has proved to be useful on many occasions, especially while unravelling Arbed boys' plans.

Before the class begun, a girl approached her. Her name was Kiko and she was one of the people that were actually nice to Dot, they even were quite good friends before, but later stopped talking, mainly because Kiko spent most of her time with her girlfriend Yara.

Speaking of that, where was she? Dot hasn't seen her in more than a week. And Kiko looked different too, her eyes tired and she wasn't smiling, which was highly unusual.

"Are you alright?"

"It doesn't matter now. Do you know about the student council elections?"

"Yes, of course. Do you want to candidate? If yes, then you have my vote!"

"No. Arbed boys would bully me out of the school. I'm saying you and your coven should."

"What? Nobody would vote for us."

"People will vote for anyone that is not Arbed boys and you're the only ones who aren't afraid of them. Please."

Dot wanted to refuse, but Kiko looked like she was going to break down into tears.

"I'll see what we can do about it. I'm not promising anything, alright?" But Kiko was already pulling her into a hug.

"What happened to Yara?" asked Dot.

"The bullying got so bad she had to switch schools. Her parents decided it would be better if she moved to another town for a while, so she lives with her aunt now, all across the country from here."

"I'm so sorry to hear that."

"We are still call each other every day, but I miss her so much." Kiko broke down into tears.