Once in the Moonlight Fanfic Scraps: Evil Ear Piercing Ladies

"...Something looks different about you...but I can't place it..." Topleaka mused, looking at Athena speculatively.1

I stared at the aqua blonde, not sure whether she was joking or not.2

Athena, in case you were wondering, had bags hanging under her eyes, a sure sign of heavy sleep deprivation. If she was anything like Sabrina, this was a bad sign. A very bad sign. And her creme-colored headband was crooked... Another bad sign. Besides that, her left ear appeared to be swollen, and was nearly all covered in Band-Aids. The little skin that showed through was a bright crimson.3

Athena stared at Topleaka too, probably having the same thoughts as I was. "You...you ~are~...joking, right?"4

Aspen soon joined us with a lunch tray in hand, pleased by Athena's haggard state.5

"Yo," she said, which we acknowledged by turning to face her. "What happened to your ear, blondie? Mistake it for a pencil sharpener?"6

Athena bristled for a moment, then surprised us all by grabbing an empty chair from some other table and bringing it down over Aspen's head.7

"...that's destruction of school property," I said meekly, slightly backing away.8

I don't think she heard me.9

Aspen had amazingly swift reflexes, and somehow shoved her foot up just in time to kick the chair out of Athena's grasp. It flew across our cafeteria/gym/chorus room/etc. hybrid and slammed into Miranda as she left the cashier area with a lunch tray. There was a loud explosion of emo queen, chair, plastic tray, eating utensils, and cream of celery soup against the cold white floor tiles.10

I cringed, wanting to get the heck out of there. This would be the second time Miranda's jacket was mercilessly attacked by food. First yogurt, now cream of celery?11

Yet, almost miraculously, Miranda's jacket emerged unscathed. Her now-splattered black jeans were a different story, but she didn't seem to care about them--12

My eyes nearly popped out of their sockets as my feet keft the floor, the back of my shirt bunched up in someone else's fingers.13

"You're using ~Haruka~ for a shield!?" Athena growled, her eyes blazing with livid flames. "Fine! Pachane, you're with me!"14

Toplraka whimpered, trying to escape. "The...THE DEAD PONIES WILL GET YOU FOR THIS!" she yelled, shoving her elbow backwards into Athena's face.15

"Young ladies, WHAT ARE YOU DOING!?!?" the principal's voice boomed in our ringing ears, projected by his microphone rather unnecessarily, as he was now standing right in front of us.16

"Eeeek!" I screamed, startled by the unexpected outburst.17

Aspen dropped me and shook her head despairingly, shocked at my apparent stupidity. "Haruka. Shields. Don't. Scream."18

At that moment, Sabrina returned from the bathroom, so I turned to her for help. "Sabrina-chan! HELP!"19

It came out...liked the whinny of a dead pony. I knew this as soon as Topleaka opened her mouth, despite the fact that Aspen's hand immediately clamped over it.20

Sabrina's eyes widened, trying to take in the scene. My eyes must have been wild with hysteria.21

"DETENTION!" the principal barked, dragging us all off to rot away in his office, like moldy bread in a busted fridge.22

Athena looked absolutely outraged at this turn of events, and well, I couldn't really blame her. I mean, this girl had perfect grades, perfect record, perfect everything academic. Now her unblemished statistics would be scarred forever, all thanks to the happenings of less than ten minutes.23

Still, I felt more sorry for Sabrina, whose emerald green hair drooped like the ears of a saddened puppy, limp with the injustice of it all. She hadn't even been involved in any way, shape, or form, but thanks to me, she was being punished as if she'd played a key role.24

"Get in there," Principal What's-'is-Face ordered, jabbing his pointer finger towards the doorway.25

We filed in dejectedly, a row of captured slaves whose hope had been broken. I could almost hear the clink of chains rustling against the ground, and see the ship waiting to take us--26

"Where's Singer?" the principal suddenly demanded.27

I turned my head, surprised. Sure enough, Aspen had eluded him without anyone noticing. In other words, she had deserted us.28

The door slammed, and we were left alone in the room, wondering if the principal would actually catch Aspen.29

"...What did you do?" Sabrina finally asked, breaking the silence.30

"It wasn't me," I said innocently. "Innocently" as in actually innocent, not just trying to look innocent. "It was all Aspen and Athena. But Topleaka and I were going to be used against our will as shields."31

Topleaka bobbed her head in agreement. "The ponies won't forget this..." she muttered darkly, tossing a glare in Athena's direction.32

Athena wailed and fell to the floor, clutching her chest dramatically. "I was partaking in destruction of school property!" she wailed, waterfall tears cascading from her lashes. "That...goes against...AGAINST EVERYTHING I BELIEVE IN!!"33

"Heh. You don't believe in much," Aspen said as she was dragged into the office.34

The door slammed again, and we could hear the principal turning his key in the lock so we would have no chance of escape. Then his footsteps sounded, getting quieter as he got farther away from us. I assumed he was running off to some secret chamber from which he could relentlessly blast us with the air conditioner.35

I think I was right about that, because moments later, the air conditioner went on full power, causing paperwork to swirl haphazardly about the room.36

I shivered, pulling my fuzzy purple sweater tighter around me for warmth.37

"So...what ~did~ happen to your ear?" I shouted above the violent humming of the air conditioner.38

Athena perked up at the prospect of having an audience, even if it was an extremely small one.39

"I was getting my ears pierced--"40

"Ooooh!" said Topleaka, flashing a huge smile. "CHECK THESE OUT!" She pointed enthusiastically to her ears, which appeared to each be adorned with a shiny little brown blob.41

Upon closer inspection, I found that the two so-called shiny little brown blobs were actually tiny ponies, with X's for eyes. Ah, that would make them dead ponies...42

"Um, that's nice," Athena muttered, clearly not caring.43

Sabrina banged her head against the wall. I'm not sure whether it was because her head was getting cold from the nearly unnatural air conditioning or because she was disturbed by Topleaka's obsession with dead ponies.44

"Som I was getting my ears pierced," Athena droned, "at that ink and piercings parlor--"45

"You mean the one with tattoos?" Topleaka interrupted.46

"Please don't tell us you have a dead pony tattoo," Aspen muttered.47

"I don't," Topleaka said, looking at her as if that was a very unreasonable thing to say. "Why would I want a tattoo--"48

"~Ahem.~" Athena cleared her throat, impatient. "As I was saying before I was so rudely interrupted, I was getting my ears pierced. The lady who was piercing my ears had extremely long fingernails, and she got her nail stuck in the hole in my ear--"49

Aspen started laughing, amused at the mental image. Sabrina and I nearly barfed, pitying the poor Corinth. Topleaka was still listening attentively, her eyes widened.50

"And she was like, 'My nail!' And I was like, 'My ear!'"51

Aspen laughed even harder. I just tried to block out the rest of the words as best as I could, wondering why I'd asked in the first place.52

The door burst open, and there stood the principal, chuckling to himself under his breath. I bet he had been recording us on tape, and would show the video to the other staff members later, when he went to the teachers' lounge. Then the whole staff would be laughing at us.53

"You can go back to class now," he announced. Apparently he thought we'd suffered enough torture.54

I hurried off to class, dumping my lunch tray in the garbage can on my way out, and was highly relieved when the air conditioning faded to a slightly more normal pressure. To this day, I have a phobia of ear piercing ladies.