Parfait

Your first impression of Zaun High has been… tinted. 

Walking through the crowded hall was already a struggle. 

As soon as you stepped through the double doors, a fight had already broken out in the middle of the hallway. 

You could feel eyes on you like needles, various students staring at your unfamiliar presence. Being new and all wasn’t exactly the best thing to be at Zaun, it was more like being “fresh meat” for others to pick on, or claim for friend groups. 

You could hear grunts and groans echoing through the crowd. 

Bulky students of all kinds had shoved and shouldered you to get a closer look of the brawl, earning you a few bruises here and there. The annoying flicker of poor ceiling lights had left the corridor darker and more mysterious than before. 

You could hear chants and screams of encouragement, but you couldn’t see the fight. 

“Bets’ on Vi!”

“Vi’s got this one!”

Who’s Vi?

Your curiosity couldn’t help but flourish under the mention of a person. 

You wormed your way through the bustling crowd after a few pushes and shoves, finally bursting through a barrier of students to meet at the core of the riot. 

Your mouth dropped slightly open at the brawl. Drops of crimson smeared the floor, and the clap of locker metal thundered throughout the hall. 

The crowd cheered as a brawny girl, about your age, hammered a poor guy into the lockers. An angry scowl imprinted on his face, his lip swollen and bloodied red. 

The girls’ hair was noticeably pink, she appeared stone cold and serious. Every one of her punches was loud, and sounded like it hurt. She scared you, in a way; her overall aesthetic was just frightening. 

She continued on, barely reaching the limit of when the crowd assumed that she was going too far.

With one final, harsh punch to the stomach, the guy tumbled down to the tile floor in a fit of coughs and pained gasps. Blood splattered onto the floor in front of him as he held his stomach with his arms, coughing and hacking with distress. 

Cheers and proud whistles erupted through the air as you tensely watched the woman with rose-colored hair. 

Her head lay low, and her eyes only stared towards the ground. 

She spat onto the guy’s face, earning another round of cheers and screams from the crowd. 

You could only watch, slightly afraid considering the fact you’d be spending the rest of your few years here. 

You intently watched her as she wiped thick, red blood from her nose. Her eyes trailed slowly towards you, peeking through locks of deep pink fringe.  

It took you a second to compute, allowing her to soak in your face, your eyes, the way you looked. 

You suddenly noticed her stare, quickly looking away to make it seem as though you hadn’t been ogling at her the entire time. Her stare felt deep and intense, as if she were taking a peek into your soul. A warmth trailed its way up to your cheeks. 

Her tongue trailed around her lips before she rose up from her slouch, the crowd soon dissipating in order to avoid the scoldings of teachers and higher-ups.

The more students left, the more you stood out to her. 

You peered silently from the beaten-up victim, to her once more.

Without another word, she winked at you, and left the scene. 

…

By the time you smoothly made it to your first period, rumors and talk of the fight had already encircled the entire building. 

“Serves him right for testing her.”

“He deserved it.”

You listened to numerous different conversations, hoping to fill yourself in with a little more context. 

Apparently, the girl from earliers’ name was Vi. She was the memorable star of the women’s football team, and sometimes considered a heartthrob at Zaun. 

You’d hear many more rumors of Vi, such as she had apparently been to juvie before, or that her sister was allegedly in a mental hospital for some “crazy shit.”

To you, she was admittedly attractive. You understood why she was crushed on. A crush on the first day was not how you were expecting your first day to be, but you weren't complaining.

Fourth period finally passed, and lunch was just around the corner. 

Your hopes weren’t the tiniest bit high. Cafeteria food was always the ick of the school, no matter what was served. 

The line was just as rowdy as the hallway rush, the risk of being pushed or shoved extremely high. 

You followed through as per usual, helping yourself to a tray, accepting or denying your choice of sludge, and carrying on. 

Being relatively new, you decided to sit by yourself. You’ll make friends eventually, so it was fine. 

You beelined to the farthest table in the corner, scooting yourself to the edge of a table to conceal yourself from any rowdy groups.

You stared at particularly nothing as you played with your food, observing the crowd from a distance. There were all kinds of students, gothic ones, nerdy ones, loners such as yourself, as well as jocks and such. 

The classic highschool stereotypes. 

Amidst your observation of numerous different students, you had once again met eyes with Vi for the second time today, looking away similarly from before to conceal your staring. It was a little embarrassing; did anyone else notice?

She fixed her eyes onto you once more, making you shrink down into your seat. 

She smirked before digging back into her food, which she had seemed to be enjoying quite well. 

Lunch resumed as normal. 

Vi was in a few of your classes, but you tried to ignore her as much as you could to make it seem like you weren’t some kind of weirdo. Nonetheless, you could still feel her stare imprinted on your skin.

Even class on the next day was spent worrying about how much Vi had stared at you. 

You expected it at this point, feeling Vi’s back on your head as she raked her fingers through her rosy hair. She’d always give you smirks or little winks here and there, earning a little blush from yourself. 

With a pout, you shoved all of your notebooks and textbooks into your locker, your mind trailing around Vi and her mystery. With a shove, you slammed your locker door shut. 

“Whatcha thinkin’ about?”

Speak of the devil.

She was awfully close to your ear, sending a chill down your spine and a yelp out of your throat. Your heart rate heightened, and warmth covered your cheeks. 

Hesitantly, you turn your head around, averting your eyes onto her shoulder. 

You barely even had time to think before she had you pinned against the wall, your back plastered flat against your locker. Her left arm was braced onto the locker and near your head. 

Her other hand was supported on her hip. 

And of course, that classic smirk painted her face. 

You nervously played with the hem of your clothes, pursing your lips together in embarrassment. 

“Why so shy, hm? I thought you loved looking at me.”

The extension of “loved” had sent your face into a deeper shade of red. 

After a slight moment of silence, you managed to squeak out a little response. “Maybe…”

Her little laugh in reply was heavenly, you secretly adored it. 

You finally forced yourself to meet eyes with her, watching as she loomed over you with interest. 

Heartthrob heartthrob heartthr-

You abruptly felt a light squeeze on your hands. 

You peered downwards, slowly watching as Vi entangled her hand with your own. She gently stroked your fingers with her thumb. Her hands were rough, calloused, yet she still managed to be gentle. 

“You’re drivin’ me crazy here, babe…”

 For added effect, she gazed at you right in the eye, making you mentally swoon. (Whether or not she did that on purpose was a mystery.)

“Come sit with me at lunch, yeah?”

You quite literally had no choice but to say yes, especially with the slight pleading look her eyes were giving you. You felt yourself becoming giddy, and a dumb smile forming on your face. 

“Sure.”

You watched her eyes shift from your hands towards your face. She then smoothly leaned into you once more, using her rough hand to lightly ease your jaw upwards. 

A messy kiss imprinted on your cheek, and she let go of your face. 

“Tomorrow, alright?”

You simply nodded in a daze.

“See you tomorrow, cupcake.”