"RING RING RING RING!"

       Of course. Of course, the snow would barely reach over 1 inch. Of course, the school had to still be open, with no snow day. It was just Kris's luck, that everything had to go south when it was supposed to go north. Kris was grumpy the whole day, wouldn't dare look at another person or monster, wouldn't dare make a peep. Even when Ralsei tried to go up to him, Kris kept turning away from him and shooing him away with his hand. Ralsei understood though, that Kris was just a grumpy fellow. While it made for a weird friendship, he still cared for Kris. He was the one who brought him up from the underground, after all. Ralsei sat in class, looking at the teacher, as thoughts shrouded whatever the teacher said. He looked up at the ceiling, as he contemplated all these thoughts. He was deep into the thought of whether the opposite day was a paradox when Ralsei jolted up.

                                  "RING RING RING RING!"

       "Have a great weekend, children!" said the teacher. Almost everyone raced towards the door, like every other day. Ralsei stayed in his seat trying to calm himself down from the surprise when he finally got up and grabbed his books. He walked over to his locker, opening it up and setting his books on the top shelf. He reached in and grabbed the same crinkled up lunch bag at the back of the locker.

      "Why does everything have to be so plain and boring. Why can't nothing exciting ever happen?" Ralsei said aloud.

      "I mean. I know that's how life works. But it's just annoying to deal with the same old crumpled up lunch bag, same old talking with friends, same old dealing with being 'the smart kid'. I just wish things were different," Ralsei commented. Ralsei gasped and clasped his hands over his mouth. He talked to himself again. He looked around to see if anyone had noticed, and luckily nobody stood there staring at him. In fact, nobody was there at all. Which was 10 times better.

      "Phew..." Ralsei sighed. He began heading to the cafeteria. He looked behind him, to see just a few people walking behind him. Ralsei looked down, trying not to bring attention to himself, as he stared intensely at the hard tiled floor. So hard, in fact, that he rammed his face into the door to the cafeteria.

     "OW!" Ralsei screamed. His thumb and pointer finger gripped onto the top part of his nose, as he stepped back from the door. He could hear the people laughing and giggling, as they walked past Ralsei and into the cafeteria.

     "Nice one, donkey!" said the monster as they passed by. Ralsei looked physically hurt from the comment and was starting to tear up. He took off his green steel frame spectacles and wiped off the tears with the sleeve of his shirt.

     "High school might suck now, Ralsei. But College is coming...just ignore whatever they say for right now," he told himself. Ralsei put the glasses back on and then headed into the cafeteria. He ignored every stare or glimpse that he got, and instead made a b-line for the table Kris was sitting at. He sat down right across from Kris, who looked up at Ralsei.

    "Oh...hi, Ralsei," Kris greeted. Ralsei nodded his head in return.

   "Nice to see you too, Kris!" Ralsei replied. There was an awkward silence between the two, but definitely not at the table. Sitting right next to the two was a skeleton with a blue hoodie and another human who looked almost like an angel.

   "I'm tell you, the school performance was great! You should have been there!"

   "I would have! I was just really busy trying to finish my homework..."

   "School f****** sucks, right?"

   "Swear!"

   "Oh, come on! I didn't mean it!"

   "A swear is a swear, Martha."

   "I don't have any money on me, though!"

  "Well then how about when I come over to your house tonight?"

  "Fine, fine."

  Kris rolled his eyes just hearing Martha and Lancer talk. They were so cliché, and they were so dependent on each other. The thing that Kris hated most about them, though, were the two main things they were known for. Lancer was naïve, cute, and loved to make references and jokes about pop stars, pictures, and all that jazz. Martha was worse, she was almost the same, except she was a little less naïve and much more optimistic. Kris hated Martha mainly just for that. He hated anyone optimistic, or happy all the time. Mainly because he, himself, could never find a way to be truly happy.

  "Hey, guys."

  A familiar voice snapped Kris back to reality. He turned to the front of the table, as did they all. There stood a purple monster wearing the school uniform, black pants and a white shirt with a blue and grey striped tie, with a smirk across her face.

  "SUSIE!" Lancer jumped up and gave Susie a big hug. Susie patted Lancer's back and chuckled and sat back down.

  "I thought you said you weren't coming today?" Martha asked, taking a bite from her, what looked like, mashed potatoes.

  "Changed my mind."

  "Well glad to have you here anyway!"

   "Yeah, yeah. Whatever. Save the gushy stuff."

    For a moment it was quiet, as they all picked at their food and let the sound of children screaming wash over them like an ocean wave.

   "Did they bring back a new FroYo flavor yet?"

   "If they did I'd beat the bloody pulp out of them," Kris said flatly, turning to look at one of the stations at the far right of the room. 

  "Could they even get worse than Salted Caramel?"

   "The real question is could they get worse than that cheese play dough?" Lancer jokingly asked. Everyone, apart from Kris, laughed. 

   "Kris's face was priceless!" Susie laughed. Everyone laughed further, even Ralsei chuckled a little. Just a little though. Kris just rolled his eyes and began picking at his food again. They all were honestly just pointless, to him at least. They wouldn't understand or get him.

   Well, apart from Ralsei. Ralsei was the only one who had stuck with him throughout his years, followed by Susie but she was just...something else.

   While he didn't admit it, he needed Ralsei. He was the silver lining to this world. Not in a love sense, no he didn't love him. He was just the only person who was there when he was down. Even if he made cringey jokes with Lancer. Even if he liked hanging out with Susie and practically did her work when she needed it. Even then, he was still his friend. His only friend.

   "Hey Kris!" Martha tapped Kris's shoulder. He gave her the cold shoulder, ignoring her completely as he drifted off into a fantasy in his mind.

   "Kris? Kris are you ok?" Ralsei asked. He clapped his hands to get his attention, leaning over from his seat to him.

   "Yeah?" Kris came back to reality at Ralsei's voice. He gave a light sigh before sitting back down normally. "What do you want?"

   "We were just about to ask you if you were going to see Friday's talent show!" Martha replied, looking back at Lancer with a smile. 

   "I'm not going."

   "What? Why?" Lancer asked, leaning back to look at him. "Are you feeling sick, Kris?"

   "I'm not sick."

   Lancer raised his hand to Kris's forehead, but Kris slapped it away and gave a glare at him. Lancer cowered away from him, as he grabbed hold of Martha's hand.

   "Me and Martha have a duet! We even got you all tickets!"

   "I would love to see your performance Lancer!" Ralsei piped in, trying to calm and push the conversation. One thing Ralsei hated was awkward or just dull conversations. "I wish I could have gotten in and done a solo but there were no more spots left!"

   "Which doesn't make any sense cause it's just a trash show," Kris muttered, but loud enough so everyone could hear him.

  "Aw Kris! Don't be like that! Last year's one was incredible!" Martha argued as she looked down at her lap. She took out a phone with a galaxy covered case. "Did you see the penguins last year?"

  "Don't tell me you actually recorded that!" Kris laughed, he then placed one finger down on the table. "Also, for the record, Rodney and Marcus aren't even funny. The whole song wasn't funny."

  "It would be funnier if the principal didn't look over all the parts!" Martha argued. She set the phone on the lunch table.

  Ah yes, Jevil. The monster principle of the school. No one knows how he got his role, no one knows what's wrong with him either. He has screws loose, though, and everyone can agree he is a mad man. He would spy on student's just to catch them for the littlest things, or he would take car keys from students just for the fun of it. Some say he got divorced from his wife, some say that he is insane, some say he is a murderer. No one knows about him, and if you even try talking to him you almost always somehow get detention. 

  "True...but that still doesn't change the fact the show is sh**!"

  Martha flipped through her phone and hit on her camera app. She scrolled through selfies of her and Lancer or pictures of performances she's done. Finally, she came across a video that had two people in penguin costumes.

  "Look at this and tell it does not look funny!"

  Martha pressed on the video

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https://youtu.be/tErrmgXS5HA

            The Penguins began waddling around the stage

"My favorite dish is fish mother flipper! And I eat it for the hell of it!"

         "A nice bit of halibut, that's not the only fish they got!"

                                            "Mackerel!"

   The other penguin did a jazz hand motion behind the other

                                           "Mackerel!"

                      "I can take more than a snack full!"

                          "Salmon with some jammin'."

                          "I can drink it by the tapful!"

     The two penguins walked to different ends of the stage

                            "Haddock all is radical!" 

                         "I eat the fins, I eat the gills!"

                     "Pollock, cod, flounder guppy."

                       "All fish is delicious, sue me!"

     Everyone laughed in the audience, clapping to the rhythm.

                The other penguin took the next part.

          "Say, there's plenty of fish in the sea, baby!" 

               "But there's not enough fish for me!"

          The other penguin jumped up and sang:

                                "Fish is delish!"

    "They say, there's plenty of fish in the sea, baby!"

           "But there's not enough fish for me!"

            This time they both did jazz hands.

The audience stood up, roaring with applause, so did the camera

                      Then the video stopped.

 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------       

   "That was not funny."

   "Well if you want, I can show you the next video! That's my solo bit from last ye--"

   "Ah, Miss Martha J Riddley. What do I see there?"

   Martha took a big gulp, she recognized that voice way to well. She slowly turned her whole body behind her, and her thoughts on who it was were very much so right. Standing behind her was a purple monster with bald thinning hair ( No Jester Hat ). It was Jevil. He was wearing a brown coat on top of a blue dress shirt and plaid overalls. He also wore long black pants, black dress shoes, and a grey and blue tie. He had bags under his eyes, and even though he looked depressed...he somehow looked happy? Almost ecstatic with a huge smile across his face.

   "I-I was just showing a video to my friend sir!"

   "Hardly a fri--"

   "Shut up," Jevil snapped as he quickly turned to Kris, then looked back at Martha. Kris put his hands up in front of him, his face turning into disgust. He didn't think anyone could be snappier than him. Guess he was wrong.

  "You know school policy, Miss Riddley. Phone out anywhere in the school," he then put out his hand, waiting for her to give it to him so he could confiscate it. "Then it is mine for the day. Even in the last hour of school!"

  Without even asking, he then snatched it away from Martha. She didn't try to stop him since, who knows, he could possibly have a dagger on him. He snickered as he walked away and looked around to see if he could catch any other students and ruin their days too.

  "What a bas****."

  "Now I have to go all the way to the office to get my phone...and possibly get detention like always."

 "Some things never change, I guess," Kris said, looking at Martha. For a second he had a bit of remorse for her. That went away pretty quick though once he had gotten the scene of what happened out of his mind and locked away.

                                  "RING RING RING RING!" 

  There went the bell. Everyone got up from their seats and ran to their lockers. Just like every normal day at this school. Ralsei grabbed his books and homework, and his instrument case. Susie grabbed a few books, Martha grabbed a stack of papers and ran down to the office, Lancer grabbed his ELA textbook, and Kris grabbed a few papers. Once they threw everything in their bag, they walked out of the school, and into the outside. Lancer and Martha gave a quick kiss to each other.

   "How'd it go?"

   "I got lunch detention tomorrow..."

   "Don't worry, Martha! Things will get better! Don't worry!" Lancer promised, patting her back and nuzzling his face into her hair.

   "I know I know!" Martha sighed as she gave a kiss to Lancer's cheekbone. Lancer blushed lightly as he smiled at her. She began walking down the steps when Lancer ran after her.

   "See you at your house tonight, Martha!" Lancer called, waving at her to get his attention. Martha looked back at him with a beaming smile. "I love you!"

  "I love you too! See you tonight!" Martha shouted. With that, both of them ran down the steps and went on their separate ways. Susie and Ralsei were going on the bus since their houses weren't near the school, so both of them walked together down the steps.

  "I'll prepare some snacks, I guess. Anything you want?" Susie asked.

  "It's no worry! I'll bring snacks myself!"

  "Then that just makes me look like a bad host."

  "Oh. Well, I do love tea! That's a pretty easy thing you could make if you would like to make something for me!"

  "Great. So I guess I'll see you at 5 then?"

  "Yeah! I'll see you at your house!"

  "Bring your papers so I can copy, too!" Susie told him. Ralsei frowned as his fixed his spectacles.

  "I would much rather tutor you..."

  "That's boring and takes time. Just let me copy your papers," Susie demanded, her hair barely floating freely in the wind as the sun started to set behind them.

  "It won't be I promise! Just you wait!"

  "Fine. Fine. So we're just gonna tutor and that's it? Nothing else?"

  "Y-Yeah...unless you h-have something else in plan?"

  "If you mean that sexually, no. And alright, I'll see you are your house and we can talk later. Bye," Susie finished. They both walked in separate directions for different buses. Kris, being the only one left, walked down the steps and continued on the sidewalk. He put in some Air pods and began fiddling with his phone before finally a song played. Kris set his phone back in his pocket, as his body was filled with soft and soothing music. Oh, what a time to be alive indeed.