Archive of Our Own ^beta

It was a week into the new school year, and so far it had been going pretty good for Vi. She had been catching up with friends she hadn’t got a chance to see over the holidays, joking with some of the teachers she was cool with, and had only been warned three times already about her attitude in class. The best part was getting to sit next to her secret friend, and even more so, secret crush, Caitlyn Kiramman. Okay, so maybe their friendship wasn’t that secret anymore, but people were always surprised that they get along so well. They only saw what was on the surface, their highly different backgrounds, and no one, besides their family, could see how deep those rivers truly ran.

Of course, the good week came crashing down on the first day back after the weekend. 

That was when the incident happened.

Their new History teacher was an older woman with grey hair, brown eyes, and wrinkled skin. She had already assigned them homework to do over the weekend - a general essay on the history of Piltover and Zaun. To ‘see where you’re all at’, Mrs Westwood had informed them all. Vi had done her usual crumpled page of work, and Caitlyn had done her usual several pages in neat handwriting. 

They had handed them in on the desk at the start of the lesson and took their usual seats. Caitlyn and Vi sat at their desk in the middle of the room, and Vi did her usual greeting by slumping her weight onto Caitlyn’s side. 

“Hello to you too, Vi,” she says, leaning her head on top of Vi’s for a moment. 

“Morning, are we still good for me coming over after prison today?” Vi asks, lifting herself up and opening her bag. 

Caitlyn nods. “Of course. Magnus and Bolt were very excited when I told them this morning.”

Vi grins, hearing about Caitlyn’s dobermans. “My favourite boys! I’m going to give them so many kisses and belly rubs!” 

“Attention now, class,” Mrs Westwood spoke out, grabbing everyone’s attention. 

Their lesson began, and while they watched a short documentary on the beginnings of Piltover, the teacher marked their homework. When the episode finished, they were given a worksheet to work through in silence. Vi was starting to die of boredom when their teacher stood up from her desk. She slowly began handing back people’s homework with small notes such as ‘very good’ or ‘could do better’. When Vi got hers back, she saw she had a B- and slid it over to show Caitlyn. 

“Well done,” she whispered, her bright smile making Vi’s heart beat that little bit quicker. 

“Thanks, still not going to get anywhere near your grades, Miss A+,” she teased, and Caitlyn gave her a playful nudge with her elbow. 

Mrs Westwood finished handing out the homework, instead of one, which she held up at the front of the class.

“Can I get everyone’s attention for a moment, please? I have Miss Kiramman’s essay here, and let me tell you, this is the perfect example…” Vi could see Caitlyn sit a little straighter in her chair, a small, proud smile on her face. “...of what not to do.”

Caitlyn’s demeanour changed in an instant. The smile disappeared, a crestfallen look appeared on her face, and she sank back down in her seat. The students in the room turned to look in Caitlyn’s direction, and a couple of others even exclaimed, ‘What?’ Vi remained seated, but her fists were clenched, waiting to see what this old crone had to say.

“All I asked was for a simple essay, not a twelve-page thesis,” she continued, waving Caitlyn’s work around. “Overachieving is a goal of people who are stuck up and have nothing better to do with their time. I suppose you also had help with this? I wanted to know what you knew of our history, Miss Kiramman, not what others tell you. I request that you rewrite it, and this time, make sure it’s only information that you know about!” 

When the teacher was finished, she crumbled up the homework and threw it into the bin. Caitlyn looked close to tears. All eyes were on her, and Vi was ready to implode. 

She stood up so quickly from her seat that her chair fell back and knocked into the desk behind them. 

“That is her homework, you idiot!” Gasps filled the room while Caitlyn tugged at Violet’s sleeve to get her to sit back down. 

Mrs Westwood snapped her eyes to Vi. “Excuse me, Miss Warwick?” 

“I said, that is Caitlyn’s homework, you idiot. That’s how she does all her homework. She excels in nearly god damn everything because she’s smart as fuck. She has so much knowledge on everything! She’ll tell you the difference between an airship and a blimp in a casual conversation because she has an amazing brain that stores all this information that she can whip out at a moment's notice. She knows the history of this place. Hell, her family is part of the history of Piltover! Her great-grandmother helped fund the construction of the Bridge of Progress. Do you even know the history? Or did you forget about that part of it?” Vi snapped, her hands still clenched at her sides. 

If she weren’t so angry, she would have taken great delight in the embarrassment on the teacher’s face.

A girl at the front suddenly spoke up. “Yeah, Mrs, that’s how Caitlyn usually does her homework.”

Another student, a lad on the left side of the room, spoke up as well. “Vi’s right. I thought twelve pages were kind of short for Caitlyn.” There were murmurs of agreement around the room.

“Enough!” Screeched Mrs Westwood, angrily glaring around the room. “Miss Warwick, you will pack up your things and take yourself to the principal’s office now!”

Vi threw up her hands. “Gladly! Can’t wait to tell Mrs Greyson what a fucking idiot she’s hired!” 

She shoved her school things into her bag, and before she left the room, she grabbed Caitlyn’s crumpled homework out of the bin, then slammed the door shut behind her. She had only made it down a few flights of stairs when she heard a voice being called out after her.

“Violet!” 

Caitlyn was hurrying down the stairs, and when she caught up, she threw herself into Vi’s arms, who caught her and hugged her back. 

“What are you doing here?” Vi asks, pulling away.

“Well, I certainly wasn’t going to stay in that room,” says Caitlyn, scowling up at the direction of the classroom. She ducks her head a little, a bashful look taking over her features. “I also wanted to thank you for what you said. It was sweet, and I appreciate you sticking up for me like that.”

Vi smiles, her anger cooling. “That’s alright, Cupcake. You know I’m never going to stand by while someone, especially a teacher, picks on someone else.”

Caitlyn beams. “It’s one of your qualities that I greatly admire about you.”

Vi’s cheeks flush a deep red, and Caitlyn smiles knowingly. “Alright, alright, now come on. Let’s go see Greyson. Maybe she’ll fire her before your mother finds out and tries to get her banished from the country.”

Caitlyn rolls her eyes, but she takes Vi’s hand and doesn’t let go until they reach their destination.