Fan Fiction ❯ Oblivious ❯ Cause and Effect ( Chapter 4 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

Chapter Four - Cause and Effect

The next day, the student body was gossiping like no tomorrow. Rumors spread through the school like wildfire, as well as first-hand accounts of the event. Talim walked to her locker unaccompanied, surrounded by comments of her peers tossed all around her.

"That's the girl!"

"She pissed off Taki!"

"She got Taki suspended!"

"I heard that she stabbed Taki with a paintbrush afterward!"

"I heard that she said Taki was cheating on her new boyfriend!"

"I heard the she's Taki's boyfriend's ex!"

"I heard that she and Siegfried are an item!"

The many voices were beginning to annoy her. They had not used her name a single time- But Taki's name came up after every other sentence. As she got to her locker, and twirled around the little dial on the lock, her head was swamped with anger. Why couldn't they just keep their noses out of it? Why were they such busy-bodies? Why couldn't they leave her alone?

Ever since she was little, Talim hadn't liked to be the centre of attention. A naturally shy girl, some people even thought she was mute! She only opened up to her friends, and when she did, they would find that she wasn't very shy at all. Her personality resembled that of a puppy- If she felt cornered or threatened, she would defend herself, but Talim wasn't one to start these kinds of things anyway. Why had she started something with Taki, then? Talim found nothing wrong with Taki the first day back...

What had changed between them?

"TAL! TAL!"

Talim whirled around to find Kilik waving his arm and running toward her, successfully evading the hoard of students in her way. Link followed, hands in his pockets, looking as laid-back as ever.

"Yes?" she said, blinking.

"Is it- Is it true? Did you really- DidyoureallytickoffTaki?"

Talim frowned at him, deeply disappointed; She had hoped, at least Kilik would not be a gossip-monger, but... Here he was.

"Well? Is it?"

Scowling, she slammed her locker shut and walked away, not trusting her voice, leaving a stunned Kilik alone in the hall.

Ivy leaned against the wall of an unoccupied bathroom wall, one foot brought up against the thin block of blue. She held a cell phone to her ear, hidden beneath stray locks of silver, and was talking into it in a hushed voice. The voice on the other line, however, was as furious as a dog deprived of its meal.

"That STUPID little WHORE!" It cried, followed by a loud crash, "How dare she!?"

"Calm down, Taki," chuckled Ivy, "she'll soon be taken care of, just as the essays were."

"She had BETTER be! When I come back, see to it that she's NOT THERE. If I see her face one more time, I'm going to... ARRGH!"

Ivy nodded, though her companion could not see, and laughed once more. "Don't worry, next time you see her, it'll be at another district." With that, she clicked off the phone and pocketed it. Then she walked out of the upstairs washroom and to her class, a smirk crawling upon her full, red lips. She had the whole plan set. All she needed was a little information from her boyfriend- Of course she knew he had spoken to Talim, she would certainly not have missed such a tidbit of rumour- and the cat was in the bag. Rather, the girl was in the public school.

Sitting in homeroom, Talim could feel the eyes of her comrades boring into her. It was as though everyone was trying stare at her hard enough to read her mind, and she found herself trying to clear her thoughts. It was like something she'd never experienced before- was this what it was like to be... Popular?

No, it couldn't be, not this. This was anxiety. This was paranoia. This was fear.

"Talim!"

"Um, here," she replied to Mrs. Carinore, a little startled. Right then and there, she could see in her mind that everyone was laughing at her. With a self-conscious glance around her, she found that nobody was looking at her- In fact, all their heads were bowed down in writing.

Writing? Oh, they had an assignment, and she was not aware of it at all!

Calm down, Talim. You're crazy. Don't let it get to you...

But she kept wondering if this was what being popular meant- and if it was worth feeling like your every move was being watched. And then the question arose- Had she done something right, or something... Wrong?

"I know you're here, Talim." Carinore rolled her eyes. "You're to go to the main office ASAP."

Blinking nervously, she rose and left the classroom, taking a route to where she was wanted. Every step on the tile echoed, the sound ricocheting off the walls and at her. Ever face was pure skin, save for the mocking grins everyone wore. Fingers were being pointed, dangerously close- No, invading her personal space.

And then nothing was there.

She shook her head and reached the door.

Suddenly, every sound she normally heard was muted, she felt as though she were moving through water, and the beating of her heart echoed within her entire body, thumping through her ears. Talim gradually rose her hand, reaching for the knob. Her arm froze in midair. What if Taki had said something about her- What if Taki had turned the tables on her? Or maybe someone in the classroom reported her for starting the argument. But everyone was immersed in their own conversations- The only people who could have known that Talim had started it were Taki, Siegfried, and Mina- Could Mina have turned on her? Or maybe Siegfried and Taki had planned it all along. Maybe, maybe... Maybe she should just ditch. Or was that too drastic?

At last, Talim made her decision, and turned the knob. She closed her eyes, bracing for an unknown attack, but of course nothing came. Take a seat, she was told, and she did. Talim settled in one of the uncomfortable plastic chairs lining a wall of the office, staring at her feet again. She wasn't able to study her shoes for long, however, for the secretary informed her that The principal would see her now.

Walking in, Talim could feel the infuriated tension as though it had smacked her in the face, and she began to feel more afraid of Hitoshi than ever before- She had never seen their principal so red-faced, so heavily breathing, had never seen those steel gray eyes so full of disbelief.

"Sit."

She did. And was bombarded by a flurry of pictures, photographs Hitoshi had thrown at her.

"Look! Do you realize the amount of damage you've caused? The money it will take to fix this? The years of school pride, lost? I cannot believe we let someone like you into this school! Do you know what you've made Regelus, Talim?" She slammed her hands on the desk, eyes narrowed. "A gutter school! Because only gutter school have such monstrosities defiling their walls!"

Talim picked a picture up and gasped, chocolate orbs growing wide. On many, many Polaroids was a different angle depiction of the school's neighbourhood-facing wall, and the bricks were covered in mural-size graffiti art, the words 'Fcuk You' written over and over again. She looked at yet another photo and found that, from the neighbourhood's point of view, the multiple phrases blended in together to form the letters 'T', 'A', and 'L'.

"No."

"Don't try to talk your way out of this one, girl, because I have witnesses! Yes, dear, dear Xianghua, dimwitted as she can be, has wonderful eyesight and very good credentials, and saw you creating this abomination!"

"What!?" It got harder to breathe. "No! I didn't do this! Xinaghua, she- She and- and Taki! And Ivy! They... They...!"

"Nonsense!" Hitoshi glared down at her, looking very intimidating over the high desk. "They were with her, and they have some very good credentials as well! Respectable credentials! School board credentials! And you, you were just too good for this school, weren't you? You just had to humiliate us to make your point! Well, you've made it! To expulsion!"

"Ex- Expelled?! No, no! You can't! You-"

The door burst open, and both Talim and Mrs Hitoshi stared at it in disbelief.

"Just what do you think you're doing, student!?"

noisee: I just wanna thank TheGuardofAngels and Jazzy for reading and reviewing, that means a lot to me! Originally, I had given up on this, because I didn't know where to steer it, but then I read the reviews and thought "Hey, they wanna read it omg thanks" and so I started rounding up all the chapters of Oblivious, 'cause, you know, I didn't have them all in one file, I had them in PM boxes everywhere. It took me so long to locate Chapter Four (which was in my friend's compy), and so I decided to upload all the chapters I have, so you guys have reading material, and so I don't lose anything again.

I have no beta. >.>; Not looking for one, either, though. Buuuut thanks for reading! I'd love it if you reviewed! ^-^