Chapter Text
Match waved her hand in front of Pencil's face, trying to knock her out the daze she was in. School was obviously a bore. She and her best friend never exactly paid attention in class, but they, well, she, never dissociated like this either.
"Hello? Earth to Pence-pence?"
In retaliation, Pencil grabbed her hand mid-wave, setting it down on their shared desk. "Quit that. Im just thinking!" Her voice was low, nearly a whisper. They were in English, reading some sort of book that they'll do a comprehensive quiz on sooner or later. This was pencil's favorite subject. Not because she genuinely likes English; It totally sucks. But rather because all they do is read and do tests. Its boring as hell. But barely any work or homework? Sounds good to me.
So, why was she so caught up in her thoughts?
"Thinking about, like, what? Theres nothing to even think about in this class. Unless you're trying to, like, psycho-analyze Romeo and Juliet."
"Thinking about lunch. I didn't eat breakfast. Im also thinking about leav-"
The blonde was cut off by the bell, talk about divine intervention. Her excuse was plausible. Also half true, and half lie. She didn't have breakfast-- but she surely wasn't thinking about lunch. To be quite frank, Pencil's mind was an absolute mess , which is unusual for someone so put together like her.
She couldn't get people out of her head. She didn't often think about anyone outside of her tight-knit friend group. If she did think about anyone else, it would be about the randoms at school who had a parasocial relationship with her, and how stupid they were.
Or it was about what she was gonna wear tomorrow, or what disgusting concoction they’d serve at lunch!
Pencil picked her bag up off of the ground and rose from her chair, waiting for Match to collect all her supplies together. Every school year, its recommended to buy a bunch of useless shit. Like, four binders, six folders for each class that requires them, even though each class doesn't really care, a pencil pouch, etcetera. We have bookbags for a reason, so its just dumb to spend extra money on stuff you'll let rot in your closet.
Match shot pencil a subtle grin, apologizing for the few extra seconds of them being in the classroom. They both quickly hurried out to the hall in a sorry attempt to beat traffic, but their efforts were in vain.
Unfortunately, their next periods were on the opposite sides of the school. Pencil had to bid Match a hasty farewell in the doorway, as everyone has about 5 minutes to get to their next class.
As she watched her friend disappear into the tsunami of kids, someone else also caught her eye. Someone she heavily disliked.
Her rival, her enemy, her arch nemesis, Golfball. Every time she saw the gray haired girl, her face scrunched up in disgust. Although she was pretty basic, she still stood out, somehow. Pencil hated everything about her. Her collarbone length hair, her black rimmed glasses, every single one of her freckles. She felt nothing but aversion.
Those feelings were very clearly reciprocated. They both hated each other's guts. Thing is, neither of them have a valid reason to hate the other. Golfball hasn't done anything to pencil, and vice versa. Perhaps it was their polar opposite personalities that fueled their anger towards each other?
Golf ball found Pencil very annoying. And Pencil found Golfball even more annoying. Annoying enough to come up with the popular nicknames, “Bozo brain,” or, “Bossy bot.” Both combined when she was feeling extra snarky.
But this time around, her face didn’t scrunch up in disgust. She didn't make some condescending remark to get a reaction out of the girl.
this time around, she felt a pit in her stomach combined with that enmity.
…Did hatred suddenly have a new feeling?
She only ever felt this when her nerves were bad. And there was nothing around to make her nervous. Hell– she was rarely nervous. Ugh, get your shit together, Pencil.
She paved her way through a thin gap, and joined the moving crowd. Fortunately, her next class, AP science, wasn't too far. Just down the hall. Unfortunately, she had it with Bossy-bot bozo brain Golfball. She is the biggest teacher's pet ever! Not in a tattletail sense, thankfully, but in a ‘the teacher adores her and cuts her so much slack’ kind of sense.
The tall girl took a sharp right into her class, she was pretty early, but a decent amount of kids were in there.
She put her bag down next to her chair, and got settled at her assigned counter. Directly ahead of her at the other table, it was none other than her dreaded rival. She could already see the girl’s head slightly drooping. This brought a smirk to her face.
Pencil could’ve sworn she's seen Golfball asleep more than once during class, and the teacher had looked directly at her and said nothing. Now, if she were to even do as much as doze off, the teacher would absolutely say something.
Not anything particularly bad, though. Because Ms. Five, the teacher, was pretty chill. Still, the favoritism is ridiculous.
During science, Match would’ve killed Pencil with how distracted she was. More so, because of who was distracting her. None other than… Golfball.
The fact her body was subjecting her to this torture, and doing this against her will, made her want to jump down a flight of stairs. Or push her enemy down the stairs. Either would be fine with Pencil right now. Even though nobody knew, or was paying enough attention to see her staring at Bozo brain, it still felt like a punch to her dignity.
One of her classmates who was sitting next to Pencil poked her lightly. She slightly turned her head in their direction, tapping back into reality.
“Um…” They started, “Pencil… Are you okay?”
She was slightly flustered.
“Yeah. Why wouldn't I be?”
“You’ve been staring, for like, 10 minutes.”
“I'm just…bored. I guess.”
Truth be told, she was bored. Ms. Five was talking about some sort of theory. However, Pencil noticed that Tennisball had arrived, and was chatting quietly with Golfball. She started softly humming , she had never liked Tennisball too much. Why? No reason, to be honest. He was a less socially awkward, less.. bossy version of Golfball. Still a nerd, but not as much of a nerd as her.
Class seemed to be eternal. And to no avail, despite her efforts to occupy herself, Pencil couldn't stop eyeing Golfball. She doesn't usually pay attention to these things, but…
Her hair was actually properly brushed today. Probably Tennisball making sure she keeps up with her appearance. Her glasses were so clean. As if they'd recently been wiped down. Her bottom lashes were longer than her top ones. That was very weird, yet unique. Her gray eyes looked like a muted brown under the warm light in the ceiling. Pencil's eyes suddenly relaxed.
Her side profile was… Nice. The way her sloped down and they turned up, what was that called again? A button nose? Golfball’s eyes were so round. You wouldn't expect someone with such a gaze to be so demanding. Her lips were so–
Pencil stopped her thoughts dead in their tracks.
What the fuck was she on about?
Was she seriously complimenting her enemy ? It couldn't be a compliment, since she technically didn't articulate it. Ugh– this was seriously idiotic. Pencil internally yelled at herself.
After a few minutes, what seemed like forever, the bell rang. The second that noise met her ears she grabbed her stuff and got up. She couldn't stand being forced to look at Golfball any longer.
Pencil thought her day couldn't get any worse. But oh, was she wrong.
In the middle of hourly traffic, she was accidentally shoved, and bumped into no one else but the devil herself. The shorter girl’s face collided with Pencil’s chest, her heart nearly skipped a beat. She could feel her face heating up. Not with anger, surprisingly enough.
“Watch where you're going, Bozo Brainiac!’ She spat.
“ Urrgghhhh…”
Golfball seemed disoriented. But her senses kicked in when she heard Pencil’s voice.
The blonde could see her cheeks turn a bright shade of pink in embarrassment.
“I could say the same for you!” She retorted.
Pencil hastily hurried away before Golfball even had a chance to ramble on about how Pencil needs to take others' space into consideration, and take accountability.
That's not exactly why she left so fast, though. It was because she saw Tennisball wading through the crowd to his friend. She didn't usually mind him, but today, he seemed extra clingy to Golfball. That pissed her off, for some reason. It was also because she didn't want to be near Golfball. That was the first time they had interacted today, and the close proximity made her heart flutter.
Pencil made her way to the cafeteria, constantly looking over her shoulder as if she was paranoid. Well, she kind of is. She doesnt wanna run into Bossy bot, or have her on her tail.
Once she made it to their cafeteria, her usual table came within earshot, as they were close to the door. Specifically Matches voice.
“Pencils been, like, acting really weird today. She's been zoning out, like, alot!”
“She might just be tired. You guys always stay up on facetime, so…” Book replied.
That was true. Match and Pencil usually stayed up very late on the phone together. Usually complaining about boys, some test they were assigned, or gossiping about drama. She absolutely loved the late night talks with match.
“Yeah. I guess I'm just, like, worried. But it's probably nothing.”
Pencil sighed. She was hoping Match wouldn't bring that up. It was pretty embarrassing.
She got to their group, and took a seat with Match, Book, and Ruby. Usually Ice cube and Bubble are there. Guess they’re absent.
Ruby beamed at her presence. “Pencil Encil! Hi!”
“Hi, Ruby.”
Book waved, and Match signaled to a tray full of food in her saved spot. The lunch today looked surprisingly appetizing. There was chicken, rice, salad, and a granola bar on her tray.
“Hi Pence-Pence! I got you what looked, like, the least poisonous. If you die, I'm not responsible, though!”
“If I die, you are totally responsible.”
Pencil glanced all around the lunchroom. Rows and rows of highschoolers. Her eyes landed on a certain table. It consisted of Golfball, Tennisball, Winner and Donut. Her face grimaced at the thought of Tennisball and Donut. Throughout all her years in this school, none of the boys here ever interested her. A lot seemed to be interested in her, though.
She's never had any friends who were boys, and she never willingly talked to boys, either. In her opinion, they were always ugly. Ugly, smelly, and stupid .
She’d go to an all girls school, but what gender would litter her locker with valentines day cards In february, even on days when it wasn't valentines day! Ruby would also have no chocolate to eat.
Pencil gulped. Why was she so skittish?
“I'm gonna go to the bathroom really quick.”
“Want me to go with you, Pence-Pence?” Match asked. Pencil gave a small grin and shook her head, excusing herself and heading off.
A break from the loud cafeteria was definitely needed. The bathrooms weren’t too far from the cafeteria, so she got there fairly fast.
The tall girl went in a stall, and pulled her phone out of her jean’s pocket.
Finally, peace and quiet. She didn't usually like silence, but she needed it right now. Since Science, she’d been brainstorming on why she feels the way she feels when she sees Bozo brain Golfball. As well as why she suddenly feels strongly towards Tennisball. Maybe it's because Golfball has been slowly getting a little more recognition than her? Maybe because shes been getting… more benevolent somehow? Getting kinder isn't a bad thing. But it still managed to tick her off.
Perhaps Tennisball has been hanging around Golfball too much. She hated clingy people. Hold on.
Why did she even care? It's not like she hangs around him, or has a reason to be annoyed by him. Was she
envious?
Gosh, get it together!
Pencil facepalmed herself, rubbing her nose bridge. She cannot have her thoughts getting the best of her like this. Its shame-worthy. She couldn't really think of any other reasons why she was feeling this way.
Because Pencil was too tired to use any more of her brain, she just googled it.
And that was the worst decision.
Ever.
“A fluttering heart and an inability to stop looking at a girl often indicates attraction and infatuation. These physical sensations are a result of the brain releasing chemicals like dopamine and norepinephrine when encountering someone you find appealing, according to the Goiky Tech news. The increased heart rate and desire to gaze at her are common physical manifestations of romantic interest. ”
The color drained out her face. Fast.
The rest of the school day felt like a complete blur; As if it was just a hallucination. She can't remember anything past lunch.
Once Pencil got home, she hopped straight in the shower. It's a place where she can just be herself. Not have to live up to any standards… Not be the perfect girl. It's also the place where she can complain to herself freely. Outloud.
“Me ? In love ? Urgh. That can't be. You can't always trust the internet right?” She paused. Thinking back to where she heard that phrase.
“…Shit. That's only applicable if there's not sources that are backed up by science and multiple studies. Oh my point, now I Sound like… Golfball.”
‘Lovers tend to subconsciously copy each other.’
Her luck cant get any worse, can it?