A/N: This chapter is weird. I don't know what to do with schools and such. American schools anyway… Hm  :/

But enjoy this. I might not be able to write any more for a while seeing as I'm going to be pretty busy. But. But. I might be able to get another chapter in today. Hehe.

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You try to keep your eyes on Karkat as he runs towards you but your plan fails, seeing as how people keep walking in between you and him. You blink and he's in front of you, your hat positioned on top of his head. "You forgot your hat," he says, taking it off and placing it on top of your (h/c) hair. Surprisingly, your cheeks light up, turning a soft pink. Karkat stares, blinking a couple of times before just turning and walking away with that strange 'I don't give a fuck' attitude of his.

That was certainly surprising. You always thought that if you had forgotten anything that everyone except Karkat would return it to you. Looks like you were wrong about that. You hum and turn back around to face the school. You could say you were ready for another day back at this hell, but everyone would know it was a lie. You hated school with a passion. In fact, it was one of your hobbies. You hated the school and you were pretty sure it hated you back. In fact, you could almost feel the school glaring at you as you walked through its gates. Whoops, no, that was just the principal walking past. You nod to him in a slightly sarcastic manner; suddenly glad that your hat hid your eyes from him otherwise he would probably spontaneous combust from the intensity of your glare. Hang on; maybe that wasn't such a bad thing after all…

You heft your bag up on your shoulder and continue walking. People come up and flank you on your left and right and all of a sudden you're walking into school with your friends in one solid line. You force people out of your way before breaking up into smaller groups.  Easier to navigate the masses that way. You're walking along with Rose and Kanaya. Hey, when did they get here? Huh.

"Hey you guys!" You greet cheerfully, looking back and forth between the two of them with a grin. "Ah (_Name_), nice to see you again." Kanaya responds with a small nod, eyeing your outfit choice as she does. "Did you become fashionable over the weekend or am I dreaming?" This question makes Rose and you laugh while she just walks along, waiting for an answer. "It's only Monday y'know. Wait until Thursday when I come to school in my PJ's." You love teasing her like this. It's always entertaining to see how she'll react to you suggestions of outfits later on in the week.

Hey green eyes widen dramatically, mouth opening and closing like a goldfish. You look over to Rose and see that she's trying not to laugh at this display. You end up gazing between the two of them, unsure whether to smile or frown, so just end up pulling this really weird sort of grimacing expression which causes the other two to stop and stare at you because laughing. Kanaya doubles over, clutching her stomach as she laughs. Rose places her hand over her mouth in a rapidly failing attempt to keep her giggles under control.
After a while they quiet down enough to talk to you. "I'm sorry (_Name_), but your face was just too hilarious." Rose smiles at you apologetically while you just look at her, unsure what to do. This ends up making you two have some sort of half-hearted staring competition. It was getting awkward, and fast, so you tear your (e/c) eyes away from her mauve ones. Kanaya watches the pair of you before smiling. "(_Name_), if you come to school in your PJ's, you had better hope that I don't see you…" She gives you a mock threatening glare although it just makes you smile. Soon enough the three of you are grinning like idiots as you walk up to your lockers.

You open your locker and check your time table. Ugh, maths. Well at least I've got John for company. You take out the correct books and slam your locker shut. What you didn't see however, was the boy leaning against the locker next to yours, right behind the door. You jump and fumble with your books, resulting in them falling to the ground. You glare at the boy next to you, who turns out to be… Tavros. He gives you an apologetic look. More like puppy dog eyes. You just can't stay mad at him when he acts like this. You sigh and give him a small smile, which seems to make him feel better seeing as he isn't looking so sad anymore.

"Tavros, hi. I….Didn't see you there." He smiles at you before bending down and picking up the books that you had dropped. "I, uh, think you might need these." He passes them back to you and you take them from him with a quick thanks. "So how've you been Tav?" You question, starting to slowly walk down the hallway towards your first period classroom. The bell was going to go soon and as much as you despised maths you didn't want to be late. "I've been great!" He answers, beaming down at you. "Did you go to Nepeta's party last night?" His face fell when you mentioned the party. "No… My parents wouldn't let me go…" He hangs his head, making him look like an overgrown little kid. You wrap an arm around his waist in an attempted hug. This seems to make him cheer up and he lifts his head to look at you. "Sorry (_Name_), I just really wanted to go." You laugh softly and smile. God Tavros was cute when he was sad… He looks like a puppy. "It's alright Tav, I didn't go either. Now we can be confused together. Y'know, when the others start talking about what happened and stuff. Ooh, this is my stop. See you at lunch?" And with that he nods and walks off smiling.

You walk into the classroom just as the bell goes. Your eyes scan the rows of seats for John, finally spotting him sitting close to the back of the room. He waves you over. And by waves, I mean stands up, calls out your name a million times or so and practically jumps up and down trying to get your attention. You resist the urge to roll your eyes and instead grin at him. He gives you one of his usual derpy smiles in return and clambers over the table to greet you. This earns a warning look from the teacher from where she sits at the front of her class. John slows down and gives her an awkward wave before rushing over to you. "(_Name_), (_Name_)!" He seems excited for some reason, but you brush this off as the normal John behaviour.

You make your way towards him. "Need something John?" You ask, one eyebrow raised. He pauses and catches his breath. It seems like it takes a lot of energy to be that excited. "So did Nepeta tell you? About Dave and Jade that is?" You both walk slowly back over to where he was sitting. "Yeah I heard about them. Didn't Nepeta say that you were the one who found out about this? How is that even possible? No one can find out about ships sooner than Nepeta."

You sit down at the desk next to his, placing your books down on the table. The teacher starts writing the work for that day on the board and you watch, groaning as you realize that it's algebra. Just when you thought this class couldn't get any worse…

John taps you on the shoulder and you turn to him. His blue eyes are only centimetres from yours and you jerk back away from him. "What the hell Egbert?!" You hiss as you regain your balance, miraculously not falling off your chair. He starts giggling at you, his dark hair falling into his face. "You- You should have seen your face!" He says between bursts of laughter. Your frown turns into a smile and you chuckle a little bit. His energy and enthusiasm were infectious. Each maths class you would come in feeling annoyed and tired. By the end of the double period however, you were laughing at anything and everything.

"Your eyes are blue." You say, poking your tongue out at him childishly. "Yeah, and yours are (e/c). So what?" You smirk before responding, "Does that mean that the inside of your head is a swimming pool? Hey! That would mean your brain is full of water!" You did this every day. Both of you would make stupid jokes that weren't even funny but laugh your heads off anyway. This usually earns strange looks from your classmates and a disapproving glare from the teacher.

After a couple of minutes of joking you started properly working. Maths was hard and required some concentration after all. You finished all the problems with about five minutes left of the period. So you sit and watch the clock, which is basically the inside equivalent of watching grass grow. You open to a blank page in your workbook and scribble a note in one corner of the page. It read "What is the square root of pie?" You then proceed to whack John on the shoulder and show him the note. He smiles at you before writing back. "Apples." You look at his response and snort. The bell rings just as you start laughing. Now there was no chance of getting a detention for laughing, that was good. You and John pack up you books and file out of the classroom.

"(_Name_), how could you not know that the square root of pie is apples? Everybody should know that!" He mocks with a laugh. You grin at him stupidly and wave goodbye as you split up, each going different directions to get to your lockers.
You open your locker, shoving your books onto the shelf along with the others. You shove your bag away, seeing as you wouldn't need it for the next period which was art. You just grab a small bag of choc chip cookies and slam your locker.

You were just about to go find your friends when you saw Aradia rush past you. "Hey!" You call out, wanting to get her attention. She runs back to you and grabs your hand. "Oh (_Name_)! You've got to come! We've got to stop it!" Aradia runs off again, pulling you after her as you struggle to keep up. "Stop what?"

She comes to a halt and you almost bump into her. "This!" You move around to her side to get a better look. It's suddenly really crowded, the hall filled to brim with people. And all of them were chanting something, one word over and over.

Fight, fight, fight.