Wake up babe, new book cover just dropped.
Help this chapter is over 4k words and I don't know what I'm doing-
I was going to do something with the Dozer plotline but idk anymore, if you guys want I could TRY to squeeze it in?
Okay enjoy!
-
"So~ how was the date?" GingerBright cooed annoyingly.
"Grea- HEY! It wasn't a date, even you said he was tutoring me!" GingerBrave said placing his backpack on the ground with a thunk.
"Eh, whatever. It was close enough. Make any more moves yet loverboy?" She asked grinning.
"Yeah, some moves on improving my grades." He huffed laying down on his bed. "He was really helpful, all the scariness from the first time we met is POOF! Completely gone! Not a speck of it left at all!" GingerBrave smiled and sat up prepping his back against the wall.
"I think he almost called me cute on accident and cut himself off mid-sentence. He tried to play it off cool, but I'm not that dumb, or maybe I am and just misheard what he said. Either way it was adorable." He gushed.
"Awwwwww you guys would make a cute couple!... ask him out on Valentine's Day. That is not a suggestion, that is an order."
"BRIGHT NO! We just met! And besides he's coming from a traumatic background, I don't want to overwhelm him. I'll ask in a few months if my stupid little crush on him doesn't go away." He said awkwardly swatting his hand in the air as if doing that would make his crush go away.
She groaned, "Fineeee maybe you have a point.... Who you askin' out though?"
"No one. Just gonna third wheel you and Strawb."
Bright groaned. "And you wonder why I'm so pushy about your love life...."
___
Time skip to Monday, basically what happened on Wizards end was gardening with Herb and becoming a volunteer at the library, idk might write a bonus chapt on that if yall want. (Yes, I'm lazy, shut up.)
_____
Wizard rummaged through the locker a little trying to organize it and grabbed the book for the next period.
"Wizard! Wizardddd!" He turned around to the childish voice calling his name, GingerBrave.
"Yeah? What do you need Brave?" He asked trying to tone down the smile creeping up onto his face.
"I did the things that you told me to do to try and help concentrate and the teacher didn't look disappointed in me for once!" He replied hopping.
"Yippee, you're not a disappointment." GingerBright said sarcastically while doing jazz hands. Brave stopped hopping to cross his arms and roll his eyes.
Just then the bell went off.
"Ah shoot, there's the bell. I think Strawberry has a different class during this period, correct?" Wizard asked.
"Yeah I do, I'll see you guys after." She replied.
"M'kay, see you later!" GingerBright said giving her a kiss on the cheek.
Strawberry's face turned as pink as... well...
a strawberry. "I- uh... oh.... I- Iloveyoubye!" She said returning the kiss and quickly running toward her class as she pulled her hoodie over her head. Brights face was as lit up like a little kids face on Christmas morning.
Wizard snickered under his breath. "I've never seen her react like that to anything before." They all started to head to their classroom. "Not saying that as a bad thing of course, that was an adorable reaction." GingerBrave nodded his head in agreement.
"I know right! She's so cute, AND she's a goddess at the same exact time! One score for GingerBright, still zero for GingerBrave!"
"What does this have to do with me?!" Brave exclaimed as all three entered the classroom and took seats near each other at the front. Wizard watched the two in amusement knowing that another small 'fight' would break out.
"You know what it means." She said.
"I literally do not!"
"BEEP BEEP BEEP! Do you hear that? That's the liar liar pants on fire alarm." She replied putting a hand up to her ear.
"What...? I- I swear I have no idea-"
"BEEP BEEP BEEP! WAH WAH WAH! WHOOOOT WHOOOOT WHOOOOT! WAH WAH WAH!"
GingerBrave leaned over and took a slice of American cheese out of her pocket and smacked her with it.
"HEY! You can't smack a girl with her own slice of cheese!"
"If you can be annoying, I can be annoying."
"THAT DOESNT COUNTTTTT!" She whined.
Wizard covered his mouth with his hand to muffle his laughter. Watching the two pick lighthearted fights with each other was fun, but he could easily see that they both still obviously cared for each other.
Brave turned his head toward Wizard and then immediately looked away as his face turned red.
(Yes, he is so weak that if he sees his crush laughing he will activate gay tomato mode.
This is not irregular behavior for homosexuals, so do not fret my children.)
GingerBright gasped and was about to pull out a rainbow flag and start making siren noises again when the teacher came in and started shushing the class while writing that days class work on the chalkboard.
GingerBrave sighed out of relief knowing that he had dodged a bullet and pulled out his textbook.
Halfway through the class he got stuck on a question and started to repeatedly tap his leg on the floor as he gnawed at the inside of his cheek anxiously.
Wizard took note of this. "Excuse me, am I allowed to help other students with their work?" He asked sticking his hand up.
The teacher looked up from their desk and squinted at him, "Okay. But only because I know you can tutor well, do not tell them the answers." and they went back to doing their paperwork.
Wizard smiled, got up and walked over to where GingerBrave was struggling. "Are you alright? You look anxious, are you stuck on a problem?" He asked putting a hand on his back and rubbing it to soothe him.
Brave blushed. "U-uhm... yeah, I'm kinda struggling on this question- I can probably figure it out though y-you don't really need to help me it's fineee...." He said while carefully averting his gaze away, even if they locked eyed for a second, he would probably faint out of blood loss. He was now even more anxious.
"No no! If you need help I'm right here, you could also ask the teacher next time. Is this the question your stuck on?"
Question? What question? GingerBrave had forgotten all about the question and was now just trying to find out how to get through this interaction without dying.
Oh god someone please take his hand off my back before all the blood rushes to my face. Brave thought to himself.
"GingerBrave? Hello?" Wizard asked as he swayed a hand in front of his face.
"Huh? O-oh yeahyeahyeah, right! Mhm that's the one I'm stuck on but like you don't really HAVEtohelpmeifyoudontwanttolikeitsTOTALYcoolandallthatyeahIgotthishahahaha-" He replied quickly as he started sweating. Oh my god what is UP with me?! Isn't this the teachers job?! AH SHIT BRIGHT IS GOING TO ANNOY THE HELL OUT OF ME ABOUT THIS-
"Are you sure you're okay?" Wizard asked putting a hand on his forehead. "WOW. You're REALLY hot, I think you might have a fever, no wonder your having trouble!"
THIS ISNT HELPING- Brave internally screamed.
"Excuse me, I think GingerBrave might need to go to the nurse's office.... or at least get an ice pack."
"No no! Seriously I'm FINE!"
The teacher sighed and got up to go check GingerBraves forehead. After confirming that his face was indeed as hot as the Sahara Desert, they let him free to go to the nurses office.
*
He entered the office and attempted to avoid talking to any of the people in the room. He had never been more embarrassed in his life.
"GingerBrave, you can come in now." Said an angelic voice from inside the room. He sighed and got up to go to the nurse.
He had always gone to the nurses office, he was there at LEAST fifteen times every year. Because of this he had gotten to know the nurse well. "Hi Angel." He muttered sitting on the bed.
"Hello my child. I have heard that you have been sent to thy office by virtue of a fever, yes?" They asked.
He nodded. "Yup. Yeah, that's it."
"But I have a feeling it is not a fever, no?" They cocked their head sideways while delivering the question.
His face heated up more. How do they know?
Angel smiled. "I have seemed to have landed on your problem. Do you feel the stomach butterflies around a special individual?"
"Ye- mhm." He answered suddenly not being able to speak proper English anymore.
"EWWWWW!" Another cookie in the back gagged.
"Devil! Be silent." Angel scolded shaking their head in embarrassment. "Pretend it isn't here, they can be a trouble sometimes. Anyways, I shall get you an ice pack."
"Thank you..." He mumbled as they applied an ice pack onto his forehead.
"No worries my child, would you mind telling me who this someone is? I am sure I will have the ability to aid you in your struggles." They offered.
"I bet ten bucks it's that shortass new kid with the busted eye!" Devil called out.
"What did I say?! If you do not cease I will have to baptize you!" Angel threatened. Devil hissed at them. "That is what I thought, now be silent!"
It rolled its eyes and shut its mouth. "I apologize about them."
Brave nodded. "It's okay, they are right though."
"HAHA! Angel, you owe me ten bucks!" Devil snickered.
"I did not comply to the bet." They said pulling out a spray bottle filled with holy water. "Get off of thy counter." It hissed at them again and hopped off of the counter. "Apologize to him right now." Angel commanded.
It rolled its eyes. "But I'm not sorry, it's funny. He looks like a tomato around that other guy." Angel squinted their eyes at it threateningly and sprayed the bottle. "AHHHH- HISSSSSS- FINE! I'm sorry." They groaned. "Can I leave? I don't want to watch you 'heal the wounded' it's SOOOOOO boring."
"No." They replied turning their head back to Brave. "GingerBrave, my advice to you is to follow your hearts desires. If he doesn't reminisce the same feelings, maybe it just wasn't meant to be. Confess when you are comfortable, and if his feelings don't match yours, that is okay. Being friends is always good as well. You are free to engage in conversation to me when you are in need, I am good with love."
"If you're so good at expressing your love towards others stop spraying me with holy water." Without even looking they sprayed it again, successfully hitting their target.
After getting Devil to shut up, Angel sprayed Brave once. "For good luck. And also to cool you down a bit. As much as I do not wish to admit this, Devil does have a minor point about you looking like a tomato." Devil snickered while Angel ignored them and continued on, "I grant you permission to go outside and take a breath of fresh air, that is all you require. After head straight to class. Good luck GingerBrave. I hope you find what your heart desires."
"Thank you, bye Angel!... and Devil." He said muttering the second name.
"LOL BYE! BY THE WAY YOU LOOK HILARIOUSLY STUPID WHEN YOU GE- HISSSSSSS- " was the last thing he heard before he left the office.
*
While walking outside to take a breath of fresh air he started thinking to himself. Maybe they're right, I should stop being a coward and ask him out. I mean, Brave is literally my name.
He fidgeted with the drawstrings of his hood. I'm just going to invite him to hang out with me on Valentine's Day... and I'm NOT going to let Bright find out. He smiled at that last thought, maybe he could get away with asking out a cute guy without his obnoxious sister getting involved. Maybe just this ONCE she would let him steer the wheel without her being involved, just to bug her a little bit.
Just then something whizzed through the air and hit the ground with a CRACK! The thing had just barely missed GingerBraves head and nearly gave him a heart attack. But he took a deep breath and walked up to where it had landed. On inspection, it turns out that it was a jawbreaker, and it had in fact, not broken itself, but had broken the concrete instead.
"FUCK." He turned his head to see the person that threw it. It was a girl. Now GingerBrave wasn't usually a perceptive person, but he could tell that it was the same girl he had seen Wizard panicking over at the mall.
He grabbed the jawbreaker on the ground and went to go give it back to her. (Not his brightest idea, considering the fact that she had gone to juvenile multiple times. Buy hey, who am I to judge, I'm just the author!)
Brave handed it to her through the gate. "I think this is yours?" he asked.
"Yeah no duh it's mine." Jawbreaker responded rolling her eyes. "I think I threw the wrong one, I wasn't trying to murder you there, just knock you out or somethin' but that shit broke the fucking concrete." She said inspecting the damage she had done from afar and then snickering. "Be glad that wasn't your head, I usually have better aim."
GingerBrave smiled and nodded awkwardly unsure of what to say. Does this lady just go around knocking out people for fun? He questioned.
"School is usually still in, you skipping class?"
"Uh well-"
She cut him off, "Ah, humble beginnings. I used to do that too. But then I just started walking out and if anyone tried to stop me, I smacked the shit outta them. Good times." She reminisced while smiling like an elder talking about the good ol' days. "I'm banned from all schools now though and I'm supposed to stay at least 50ft away from the property at all times or something. I'm actually banned from a lot of places and also on the run from the police, but I don't follow the rules, rules are for cowards. They were meant to be broken y'know?"
What the hell, is she just casually talking after almost murdering me? How did I even get into this situation?! "Mhm yeah." He nodded just wanting to go back inside so he could figure how to ask out his crush.
"I gotta run soon. Just wanna know though, does there happen to be a short white-haired nerd with hair covering one of his eyes at this school? Pretty sure his eyes are blue or whatever, names Wizard. Know anyone like that?"
GingerBrave froze up even more than before. "I-I uhm- no! I- I don't think there is a kid like that at my school." he said attempting to be persuasive with his lies.
She scoffed. "I ain't buying your bullcrap broken record. I'll ask again, is he here?"
"Maybe he does go here, but I don't know anyone like that, sorry." he replied firmly.
"Well when I find him, I'm going to fucking murder him. And if find out you know him, your next. What's your name?"
GingerBrave stood there for a second staring into her soul, then booked it. He ran back to the school as fast as he ran to the bus every morning.
"HEY! GET YOUR ASS BACK HERE YOU FUCKING COWARD!" She yelled at him as she threw another jawbreaker through the bars onto the schools property and missing GingerBrave. "I'M ADDING YOU ONTO MY KILL LIST BITCHHHHHHH-!"
He ran all the way to the classroom without looking back and shut the door. He stood there for a second catching his breath as his classmates stared at him with a weird look.
"Dude you good?" GingerBright asked looking actually concerned.
"I'm- *inhale* I'm fine." He said finally getting the air back in his lungs and wiping the sweat off of his forehead. "I think I'll sit down no-"
The bell rang. "Class dismissed." The teacher said. They hadn't been the slightest bit affected by GingerBrave busting in and honestly couldn't care less.
Everyone immediately grabbed their backpacks and slung it over their shoulder. (They had all already packed all of the stuff up 2 minutes before the bell had rung) GingerBrave sighed and went over to his desk to retrieve his bag as well.
Wizard tapped on his shoulder. "Hey, are you okay? What happened at the nurse?"
Brave almost started sweating again. "Well- I- uhm-..... it's a bit of a story. I'll tell you at lunch with everyone." He said awkwardly while also slinging his backpack over his shoulder.
"Hey, don't leave me out of this!" Bright complained.
"Calm down drama queen." Brave lightly punched her in the arm.
"Yes, I know I'm a queen." She flipped her hair, "But I'm certainly less dramatic than you are."
"No you're not." He crossed his arms.
"Kay, whatever you say humanified tomato." She smirked.
"Actually, I'm a humanified cookie."
"What?"
"What?"
"Never mind. Tell me what happened at the nurses though. Tell me tell tell me tell me tell me tellmetellmetellmetellmetellmetellmetellme-"
"OKAY FINE! But shut up."
"Deal."
____ Lunch ____
".... and then she said she was adding me on her KILL LIST. HER FREAGIN' KILL LIST." Brave exclaimed finishing off the story, he had left out most of the parts that took place in the actual office.
"Oh. I wonder how long the list is now..." Strawberry muttered. "She doesn't know your name, hopefully she'll forget about you." She said nervously. "I hope she forgot about me too..."
"I'm so fucked." Wizard muttered with his head in his hands shutting his eyes tightly. "Sorry, I don't curse a lot it's just.... ugh."
"It's fine, let it out. We won't tell." Bright said patting his head.
Wizard inhaled. "Well first of all, she's a bitch." He grumbled. "SECOND OF ALL, she's a criminal. THIRD, she HATES my guts with a burning passion and will not hesitate to murder me on sight and- and now...." he hesitated, "...now you guys are in danger too!" His eyes started swelling up with tears.
GingerBrave hesitantly wrapped his arm around him in a half hug. To be honest Brave had NO IDEA what it was like to be hunted down and have someone constantly trying to murder you and your friends, but he figured it must be horrible. Wizard leaned closer for the extra comfort and let out a relived exhale.
"Is... that all?" Bright asked.
Wizard picked his head up with a sudden rage. "NO! Actually NO it's not everything!" Brave flinched backwards startled by the sudden burst of energy. "Now I have to carry a pocketknife incase my magic doesn't keep her away. I'm going to have to be scared for my life until she gets put in jail again JUST BECAUSE I BASHED HER HEAD INTO A WALL IN A CASE OF SELF DEFENSE. I should've killed her when I had the chance." He growled. "I hate her JUST AS MUCH as she hates me, but somehow now I hate her even more." He slammed his fist on the table. "I can't BELIVE she threatened you Brave, even for her that seems low. When I get my hands on that fucking asshole I'm gonna KILL HER. She deserves it for all the mistreatment of others, threatening you was the last straw." Wizard was now practically shaking with rage.
GingerBrave put his arm around him comfortingly, but this time more cautiously.
"L-look.... I don't really like her much either based on-.... well, everything. But maybe we... shouldn't resolve to murder?" He pitched awkwardly.
"Trust me, I don't like murder either, but this is my last resort." He sighed. "If the law doesn't get her I will."
"Maybe we should wait a little to see if the cops can catch her and if you encounter her, you can murder her." Strawberry said fully serious about every word she said. GingerBright nodded in agreement.
"....soooo.... everyone agrees with the murder plan except for me?" GingerBrave asked. Everyone nodded.
"Look, it's either our funeral or her funeral and I'm CERTAINLY NOT letting it be our funeral whether you like it or not." Wizard said sternly. "I'm not letting her hurt yo-... US! I- I'm not letting her hurt US. Meaning all of us." He stuttered. Wizard blushed and then carefully removed GingerBraves arm and looked away. "Your presence growing on me..." he muttered quietly.
GingerBright perked up and subconsciously looked smugly at Brave. Strawberry recognized this look and shook her head. "Brighttt....."
"Whaaaaaat....?"
"Don't interfere..." she baby talked.
"Awww...." She tilted her head down and pouted.
The two boys somehow didn't notice this. "Okay... I guess if it comes down to that then you kinda HAVE to.... I just... don't want you to get hurt in the process." Brave said.
"I'll try my best but no guarantees."
Brave frowned. "Is there any way to guarantee that you won't get hurt?"
"Hey! What if someone walks him to and from school so he has a lesser chance of being killed?" Bright asked obviously still trying to set them up.
"Yeah, I don't kno-"
"I'll do it!" Both Strawberry and Brave offered.
"Oh." Strawberry had put up the offer of her doing it because she thought no one else would. (and also she still felt the nagging guilt of her kinda tragic past, but we don't talk about that.) "You want to do it?"
"Yeah. Maybe I can talk her out of it?"
"GingerBrave, please don't take this personally but that's a one-way ticket to heaven. Don't even try." Wizard said shaking his head.
"Sorry.... yeah, your right that was a dumb idea...."
"Stoopid." Bright said.
Wizard shot her a glare before Brave could. "He's not stupid."
"Uhhh.... yeah he is?"
"No he's not."
"Yes."
"No."
"Yes."
"No. You're his sister, shouldn't you be trying to boost his self-esteem instead of lowering it?" He asked squinting his eyes.
"He has high self-esteem though, and I was just poking some fun!" She said.
"How do you know that?"
"I literally live with him? How do you know he has low self-esteem?"
"You know I'm still here right...?" Brave asked.
"I never said that, I said you should boost it instead of lowering it. Maybe poke fun at the things he isn't insecure about?" Wizard suggested crossing his arms and not even hearing GingerBrave.
"Hm. You make a fair point. But do you know how hard it is to not annoy him?"
"GUYS I'M STILL HERE?!"
"I feel you Brave, I feel you." Strawberry said picking her head up from where she was taking care of her Tamagotchi and was the only one actually eating. "I thought we were talking about how to make sure Wizard doesn't die, what are we talking about now?"
"I am getting taught not to annoy Brave ever again." GingerBright pouted.
"Literally not what I said but okay..." he muttered. "Maybe the best you guys can do is to stay clear of my... situation."
"Technically also kinda my situation now." Brave said frowning.
"Maybe even mine still, if she remembers." Strawberry added.
"Am I the only safe one here?" Bright asked.
"Apparently." Wizard said.
"We should just stick together, its better like that anyway." Strawberry suggested.
"Good idea!" Bright said agreeing with her.
"Why is that a good idea for you? You're the safest out of all of us." Wizard asked.
"I can call the police while you three beat her up."
"Fair. I don't think all of this is completely necessary though, I'll probably be fine."
"We could just... walk together anyways? I think that would be nice." Brave said smiling.
"Like a double date!" Bright exclaimed.
Wizard nearly spat out his tea but proceeded to choke on it while GingerBraves face turned bright red. Both of them too stunned to reply back.
"Are you guys agreeing with her or...?" Strawberry asked.
Surprisingly, Brave was the first one to reply. "W-well technically a walk i-isn't really a date unless you wan't it to be one- and we're not like...." He motioned between him and Wizard "...y'know a thing? So it's not really a double date." ...But I wish it was.
Wizard had gotten his composure and breath back from choking. "Yeah, yeah what he said." He said trying to not feel flustered. "We're just... the third and fourth wheel?" GingerBright nodded and let out an unsatisfied smug 'mmmhmmm....'.
"Have you guys forgotten we're also kinda getting hunted down by a psycho?" Strawberry asked.
"Oh yeah, I forgot." Brave said in union with Bright who said, "Completely forgot."
"No. How could I forget?" Wizard said glad that the double-date idea got tossed out the window. If anything like that would ever happen, (which he was pretty sure it wouldn't) going on a date while you have someone hunting you down may not be the best idea.
"So, we all agree then?" Strawberry asked.
All three of the others said something corresponding to the word 'yes.'
Wizard got an idea. "Hey guys? I know we had a sleepover the other day, but maybe we can all hang out at my house tonight?"
All of them looked at each other and then nodded.
"Sure, sounds cool." Bright replied.
"I'll bring my Nintendo!" Strawberry beamed.
"YES! And i'll bring the snacks!" Brave said happily.
Wizard smiled, happy to have such great friends. "Cool! I'll ask my parents if they're alright with it, I'm pretty sure they'll say yes though. You guys can all meet my brother as well."
"Oh, Herb right?" Strawberry asked.
"Yes, he just came back!" Wizard smiled. "I'm sure he'll love to meet you all."
_____