This is Not a Diary, It is a Longan!

[Piefan]

A/N: Ah, longans. They remind me of that one inside joke between my family. What is that joke, you ask? Suffice to say... Longans are shiny.

Anyway, this is a sequel to the Lychee! Summary: A year have passed, and the team has drifted apart. By some twist of fate, they end up together again, and all of them have turned to the wrong paths in life: one a thief, two con artists, and the final... not much, actually, just hates the Populars and participates in their fall.

This entry isn't exactly great, I know. This is just the introduction, so that's the reason. Character forms are welcome, as is posting.

Code: Select all

*Picture here*
Name:
Group:
Personality:
Other:

I know it's really simple, but do we really need something fancy here? It's appreciated if you write down their relationship to the main characters, who stay constant here. (IE, 'she's friends with Henry but hates Lucy, has never met Apollo and Reef before') There is a rebellion against the Populars, so your character can be part of that.

***

I guess I'm getting a diary now. I did own one a long, long time ago, but then I ran out of pages after six months. I also named that diary after a fruit. Maybe I could keep up that tradition here. Longan? Yeah, that's it, longan.

I'll be keeping this in a shelf next to my Lychee where I can read them back-to-back, so what the heck, I'll just write the status quo in terms of what's happened from then to now. If one day I, or someone else, look back on this as a series of books or something, that should be helpful.

The farm's been doing fine. We might be expanding to get some livestock too, though that's still uncertain. It's successful so far, but chickens and stuff should be pretty expensive.

Oh yeah. The rest of my former team. Don't really talk to them much, or at all. All I know is that Lucy's band stayed together for some reason, in the sense that if she ever plays in a group, it's with them. Still no name. She hangs out with Candy sometimes, and they seem to be friends.

Henry, I think, is still the long-winded nerd he always was. I talked to him for a while, but he got busy, I guess. He seems to give speeches after school, though Populars never attend those. Not even Candy. I never really bothered either. Knowing him, he probably talks about scientific theories.

Reef, I have no idea. I never see her around school unless we have the same class... she seems to be trying to keep a low profile, but I can't imagine why. In a family reunion, though, I talked to her and she mentioned that she keeps a healthy relationship with the Populars.

As for me...

Yeah, I got nothing. I'm pretty much alone, hated by omst teachers, and kinda friends with most other jocks. I win most sports games when they are held. Honestly, what secrets I do have shouldn't be written here. Whooo, let's just place things that will get me to jail in my longan! Which will be on a shelf completely unhidden!

... Okay, I just gave everything away with the whole 'get me to jail' thing, didn't I?

I did kinda become a thief. Motives? It's fun and practical. I do get enough pocket money, but, um, you know what? Forget this stuff. (No, I don't work with anyone. Just me. And I usually hide what I get, so nobody seems to be suspicious so far.)

Police, this is totally fictional. Yep. Completely. Nobody I meet is in on this.
______
By the way, you can trust everything Apollo writes. Excluding that last line. He's worried that the police might suspect him, look through his diary, and arrest him. Everything else is true.

[Piefan]

Well, since this is entirely a story and not actually true, I'm going to record my awesome tales of thievery here.

I didn't really need to get any money today - and I generally only take what I want - so I didn't. I did, however, spend five hours plotting to steal a book. Yes, really. A book. I was curious, so sue me. I saw Henry acting like it was incredibly important, and I had nothing better to do... I think you can guess what happens next.

(No, for goodness sake, I did not get caught.)

It was a pretty simple task. He hid it, yeah, but I saw him do that and so knew exactly where it was. (Did you know he has three hidden compartments in his locker, one of which has a miniature safe in it? Who knew that thing was so big?)

It was lunchtime when I did it. Considering I had a large hat to hide my face and I have a whole lot of practice running, I didn't take any precautions to not being caught. At all. I don't know about you, longan, but it seems like perfect reasoning to me.

The lockers are a new addition to the school by the way, put there over the holidays. Before that we just chucked our things in our bags.

Anyway, I hid my eyes with my hat as I walked awesomely into the hallways where literally nobody else was at, then I bumped into a wall. And then I stopped hiding my eyes. Dramatic effect is only important when there are other people to see it.

I didn't have a paperclip with me, didn't know Henry's locker code, or any other thing helpful, so I took the easy way out - using a pair of scissors, I stabbed at the lock until it gave. When that was done, I gently opened the door as if I wasn't a thief stealing a book because he was curious.

I then pulled out the book, closed the locker, and ran off. I didn't have much time left to actually eat, si I just hung around with some of the other jocks and pretended I already ate.

I didn't read it yet, though, I'll just tear the first few pages out...

Scdq dq mpduhsy; rl kls pyhr ds. D hj h pyeyi hbhdqs scy Mlmtihpq. D jhgy qmyyncyq hbhdqs scyj.

... He... seriously uses a code for this... FOR GOODNESS SAKE, WHY?

***

Okay, I just asked my mother for help on this. As it turns out, she's an expert on codes. Who knew? I wonder why she even learned them...

"Mom, do you know how to crack this code?"
"I'll see what I can do. What's it for?"
"... Um... Homework!"

Still dishonest. Yeah, I feel guilty for lying, but I'm too far in to turn back. I gave her the paper... I made a pnother copy of it for this sake.

"They gave you what seems to be a substitution cipher for homework?"
"Um. Yes. Assuming substition cipher is fancy talk for code."
"You should start listening in class. Anyway, this, on the surface, is complete gibberish, so it's probably a letter-for-letter substitution. Now, what types of codes are there?"
"... The... um... Word-ish code?"
"Close enough. What else?"
"The extra word-ish code?"
"The... no, Apollo, those are not real codes. Do you know what a transposition cipher is?"
"No... *bites lip* Um, hey look, the sheep are escaping!"
"We don't own sheep."

Ignoring her, I ran off. She has wings, yeah, but they're so thin they can't hold her even five centimetres in the air. Back when I talked to Henry, he said it was scientifically impossible for her to really fly.

Well, that was useless. I'll just have to figure it out myself.

Either that or go to Henry himself, but that would be counterproductive. I'll just put it back. Should be easy, since I still have those scissors. Alternatively, I could keep it just for fun's sake and take away what may be potentially very important to Henry just on the off-chance that I might figure something out.

Hm...
____
I once read a book on codes, and I can tell you exactly what kind I used. The code Henry uses is a simple Keyword Cipher, with his own name as the key because I couldn't think of anything else. If you have enough free time, work it out; I put all the spaces and punctuation in correctly. FYI it reveals absolutely nothing important... or, for that matter, anything at all. The writing style is basic and very un-Henry, but cut him some slack, it should be really frustrating to cross-reference every letter you write, and that was page 1, so he would be unused to it.

[Snowflakette]

Marking!

[Piefan]

Longan, to quote what I said all those months ago... I am going to punch someone very, very hard.

As it turns out, Henry knew I took the book. I was going to put it back at the end of the day when he was giving those speeches, but then I forgot. Whoops. As it turned out, I left it at home too.

As I headed home, I picked up the sound of footsteps and turned around quickly. Behind me was... Nothing. Oh, except for the dog taller than me wearing a black trench coat.

(Note: This is an artist's (ie me) interpretation of him. Which may not necessarily be accurate. It probably isn't, actually, since he doesn't wear that expression. Mostly.)

I wonder why he still wears that. It practically never rains. (You may be wondering about what seems to be a perfect supply of water then. I have no idea how that works, so there's your answer.)

"Apollo, give me back my book."
"Yeah... But before that... I do have some questions for you..."
"Ask away. I just need it back."
"First off, what code did you use?"
"A simple alphabet substitution cipher."
"Unfortunately, I have no idea what you just said. Anyway, second of all, how'd you know I took it?"
"I have my ways."

I narrowed my eyes.

"Not satisfied? Fine. You leave too much evidence behind, Apollo. You performed it well - the planning and timing was flawless - but after the fact, you never made any attempt to hide your style and approach to life, and through that, your approach to taking things."
"That was some really complicated stuff you just said. And shouldn't you have forgotten the finer details about me after a year of having never met me?"
"Side effect of being around the nerds. Anyway, why exactly did you take my book? That's something I've been wondering."
"Curiosity. Thing is, though... I left it in my room."

He snorted with annoyance after that, and bared his teeth. I think it was subconsciously, given his expression. Plus he doesn't seem like the type of person with good intimidation tactics. It got the point across, however accidental, since SHARP THINGS.

I'll have to pass it to him tomorrow, first thing in the morning. I already stuffed it in my bag, so as long as I don't mess something up really badly, I should be fine.

With the help of my mother, I managed to figure out a few words of page one. It went from

'Scdq dq mpduhsy; rl kls pyhr ds. L hj h pyeyi hbhdqs scy Mlmtihpq. L jhgy qmyyncyq hbhdqs scyj.'

to

'Scds is mpduhsy; rl kls pyhr ds. I aj a pyeyi abadss scy Mlmtihpq. I jhgy smyyncys hbhdqs scyj.'

It's still nonsense, but it's something.

Moving on from that, there's not much else to say. I met Candy while walking along the hallways, and we talked for a while before moving on. Honestly, the stuff we talked about was so unimportant I don't even remember it.

I don't even talk to her much anymore. I think we were once childhood friends, if those pictures in the photo album are right. I can't imagine why, but whatever. She's kinda friendly as long as she doesn't already hate you, but she seems to naturally hate a lot of people - at least fifty.

Anyways, as it turns out when I accidentally volunteered for tour guide, I was volunteering for the rest of my life. At least until I graduate, which isn't really 'rest of my life', but still.
____
Yays. Henry. I would have introduced everyone else here too, but I couldn't think of any way to do it, plus it seemed too abrupt for all of them to meet on the same day.

[Piefan]

Longan, today was... interesting.

I gave the book to Henry as I said I would. He was standing at the entrance, with his regular white trench coat this time.

"Thank you for actually being reliable. If I recall correctly, you were... less than punctual back when we were part of a group."
"You're welcome, I guess? I was trying to figure out the code you made. What exactly does that say?"
"Well, there's too much to tell you everything completely, and most of the things I wrote are nonsense when taken out of context. Simply said, someone banded together a group of Outcasts and Nerds who hated the Populars. I joined, taking the role of organiser."
"You organise stuff? That's not surprising..."
"I'm aware of that."
"But what exactly do you organise?"
"Attacks. Speeches. Events. Speaking of attacks, there should be one taking place in an hour."
"Wait, wait, wait. The Populars... are made to go to their groups... not necessarily because of what they want... and you respond by attacking them."

He rolled his eyes, waving a paw as if I was just misunderstanding everything.

"Something you must remember, Apollo, is that should anyone want to leave the Populars, they can. Candy doesn't stop them, and will happily resort them."
"Oh yeah. Why are you so open about this exactly? Shouldn't this be some elaborate secret scheme?"
"Well, the jocks are going to be taken out next, so there really isn't much risk in this."

I was going to ask him why he was being so open about that, but I decided not to. I probably didn't want to know anyway. Henry is weird, honestly, and I'm not getting caught up in his life. Again.

I ended up getting caught up in his life anyway.

I was curious, alright? I don't know exactly how I never noticed all these attacks, but Candy always seemed calm whenever I encountered here - not really the type of reaction I would have to being attacked. Or that I think Candy would have.

Moving on, I was standing in an intersection of the hallways with Henry beside me. Apparently he had gotten the information of routes and stuff of Candy and co.

"So-"
"Shush!"

I shut my mouth when he told me to, the sharpness of his teeth not lost on me. Chattering voices talking about Gates-knows-what then brought my attention to watching the corridors in front of me again.

About five people then walked in, talking about... yeah, I think I covered this already in the last sentence. One was Lucy, another Candy (who was leading, naturally) and the other three I have never met in my life. None seemed to really notice us, except for one of them, who glanced at us before shrugging and continuing. Just then, I took note of another five people who had snuck up beside us.

All were only just walking up to us, and when they were directly beside us, crouched as if they were about to jump. At a nod from Henry, they did so. All at the same time too. Wow. I bet they're synchronised swimmers.

(That's a totally logical conclusion, by the way. Yep. Obviously.)

They were headed for the other five people, clearly attacking. Of all of them, Candy was the first to react, flying upwards as if her life depended on it. Lucy was the next. Of course, considering her not-really-good fighting skills, the only thing she did was wave her forelegs around screaming.

Then Other Person #1, 2, and 3 did. Not at the same time, of course, but I have no idea who they are and thus, I don't need to go into detail about it. They did other stuff that didn't really help much. Or at all.

By the time the five rebels had touched the ground, Lucy and the other three were caught easily, while Candy had flown away.

"Huh. That was the first time any of the rebels have presented an even remotely credible threat."
"Wait, wait, wait. So... you knew all of them were practically worthless... and you still volunteered as an organiser."
"Of course. I wasn't told that they would refuse to use more advanced plans, and I didn't argue. Maybe one day they'll come around. Until then, they'll fail."
"Maybe. Hey, I didn't think Candy would leave her group so fast. I-"
"CANNONBALL!"

And then a purple dog fell from the sky.

"What."

Somehow, nobody said anything and this message was still ridiculously clear from their faces.

"For goodness sake, Candy, could you not have at least given me warning before literally throwing me into a battlefield?"
"I could. I will next time if you'd like. Just fight already."
"Before I say anything else: what do you mean next time?"

Looking back, the situation was pretty funny. Anyway, Reef took the opportunity of their confusion to punch one in the face. When they finally got back to their senses, they continued attacking, but with one extra person on the Populars' side, it was hard to win. Candy easily charged at them at ridiculous speeds, Reef was easily stronger than any of the other Populars and kept the calmest, while the others were strangely quick and/or agile. Lucy was one of the fastest, I think.

"Oh. Reef's joining in. That's a new one. There goes what little chance we had of succeeding."

Still, the Nerds/Outcasts fought back well. The Populars tend to be utter idiots, which they took advantage of. Honestly, knowing Henry he just hated to believe that it was possible to pull this off without some fancy planning. Eventually some jocks came in and broke up the fight, but if they hadn't, both groups seemed pretty evenly matched. The one with more endurance would win out in the end, but until then, they'd just fight 'till volcanoes freeze over. Or when they got tired.

I asked Henry about it later. He said it was one of the better fights for the Populars.

I'll talk to Reef and Lucy later. So... many... questions... Reef has been part of the Outcasts for as long as I can remember, and didn't Lucy hate Candy?
_____
I don't know. Everyone's family and life outside of school seems to mysteriously disappear in their diary entries.

[Piefan]

I hate Candy.

Why does she get to skip homework, school, break the dress code (not that we have one, but if we did she'd break it), and every other rule in existence without getting detention or even scolded? I mean, yeah, she's basically the substitute principal who could tell the real one lies about teachers to get them fired, but---

Oh. Let me try again. Why did she get that job? Yeah, the whole purpose of choosin a student was to get the most irresponsible one, Candy didn't mess up too many things too badly, and the decision was so abrupt that the real principal probably didn't spend much time thinking---

Oh.

Let me just move on then. I think Lucy and Reef were talking together during lunch, but then I don't really remember. I didn't exactly spend all my time spying on them to see what they were doing.

Hm. Why is it that those two are the only ones still keeping in contact? Yeah, I know there's the whole 'opposites attract' thingy for friendship, but they aren't completely opposites. I think. They both care about their reputation, right?

Anyways, I ran into them in the hallways later on (hooray coincidence), so I basically decided "Eh, what the heck" and talked to them. I had about five minutes until I needed to get back to class anyway.

Lucy was wearing her regular clothing, and Reef was clutching a small coin bag like the one in the picture I added so long ago. She... didn't actually carry it around until now, actually. That was just the only picture I had, and she just so happened to have it with her in it. The bag seemed a whole lot heavier than it was there. And slightly bigger.

"Hey, guys!"
"Hello, Apollo. It is nice to see you again."
"So, how's life been?"
"Well, we recently got attacked by some ridiculous outcasts and nerds while I think a certain someone just sat by and watched."

I flattened my ears.

"Oh. Um, okay. So, where are you headed?"
"Well, Lucy was heading to... drama club, I believe? I myself was goign to literature lessons."
"Yeah! Drama club. I think we're putting on a play. I got a wig for it too!"

She put on an orange wig, bundling her natural hair up to be covered by it.



Some of her hair still slipped through her wig, though, so she looked like she had both orange and brown hair. Weird look, but it looked cool on her.

Reef stared at Lucy, her expression as if she would slam her head against a nearby wall if she had the chance. On either side of us, though, were lockers, and she didn't seem to want to harm those.

"Hey, that hairstyle makes me think of the con artist that once scammed my aunt - and no, it was not Amelia this time - out of, like, a hundred bucks. Heh."
"Oh. Um. *nudges Reef* Weird, I guess. I wonder why that's so."
"Indeed."
"Yeah, it's pretty weird, right? Yep. Totally strange."
"You have said that theee times."
"Darnit, Reef. Take the hint."
"Oh. I see. SMOKE BOMB!"

Reef pulled out an aluminium ball from her coin bag, then threw it on the ground, and suddenly... yeah, smoke... filled the air. I coughed.

I heard a thud, probably Reef tripping over her dress, as the smoke faded. How convenient. But then she shouted:

"I cannot believe I agreed to this. DOUBLE SMOKE BOMB!"

And then more smoke appeared. Not really near me, since she was presumably so far away it didn't matter, but it was so thick I couldn't see through it. I didn't chase them, even when it faded, and I chose to ignore the hundred people watching as I seemed to offend one of the more popular Populars. Who really cares?

... Okay, I do. A lot. I'm more curious about them than I was about Henry's sacred book, and I was willing to spend six hours with that. I know Lucy would like a dramatic exit and all, but I'm pretty sure that's counted as a weapon not allowed here.
____
Next post: Backstory on Reef and Lucy's con-artist-ship. Written by Lucy, who is basically the leader, and edited by her for dramatic effect.

[Piefan]

(Lucy's diary)
Hm. New diary again. Whelp, better just begin writing. I could whine for pages about how the last one was so small, but I won't.

Because history is one of the most important things about a person (that's what Reef says, anyway), I'm going to write about it now! Hooray! Oh, and I'm also ditching the usual coloured-speech thing for dramatic effect.

***

It began one morning while I was at school. Everything always happens at school.

I was still in contact with Reef, who, while not exactly my best friend, was close to me, and I to her. Somebody had formed some stupid rebel group against the Populars, and despite knowing that it would be much more practical to, you know, just launch a damned complaint instead of sending out people ti attack, they did just that.

After a really bad one, all my musical instruments, sheet music, and everything else important to me was either torn, broken, or otherwise unusable. I swear they were trying on purpose to break me or something. They came in just as i was opening my locker, that has to be on purpose. As Reef and I sat together during lunch, the other Populars somewhere else, the two of us discussed the problem:

"While my financial situation at the moment is far from perfect - the rest of my allowance will be received in a while - if you would be willing to wait two weeks I would easily be able to help you," Reef stated calmly. She had already finished eating, since she had smaller portions, but still she stayed for rhe sake of manners.

"Wait now. You could afford a bass guitar and five rare sheets of sheet music, all without this eating much at your own natural lifestyle?" I asked.

She shrugged, and cocked her head. "Yes. Have you not figured that out? It is no more implausible than you bringing a guitar to school and placing it in your locker, or perhaps composing a nice-sounding song on the spur of the moment."

I blinked at her, then laughed. "Yeah, true. Anyways, I don't think I can wait for two weeks, since most of my time is spent with rock and metal. I have my violin, yeah, but I don't think that could make the same sound as a bass." I tried once, and I failed terribly. My parents looked like they would die that day.

"What do you suggest then?" Reef replied.

"I don't know, actually. I'll probably be figuring it out by tomorrow." I finished up my food and glanced up at the clock. Five minutes till the bell rang.

She smiled. "Good for you then. I will always stand by your side, and if you ever need my help, I will always be happy to provide it."

***

I considered this advice as I stood in my room, absently playing a lullaby to myself. It was a simple song - naturally, since I can't really play well with the violin while thinking about other things - and my bedtime (not that I had a set-in-stone one) wasn't actually for about twenty minutes.

Maybe I could, like, set up a business or something, I thought. But then, the only practical skills I have are acting and music, and even then nobody's willing to hire a seventeen-year-old for that.

The song intensified in volume as my thoughts continued. (Hooray, fancy vocabulary! ... I'm killing the mood, aren't I?)

My room is still soundproofed, but I left the window open, and I heard sudden shrieking. This disturbed me. Like, a lot. So I looked outside, terrified, but I found that there was nothing significant. All I saw were two people seeming to have a screaming contest or something downstairs.

I knew my father should have chosen a flat higher up.

With that, I shut the window, again thankful for soundproofness. I considered my fear for a few moments, replaying the lullaby once more. I'm a musician, why would I be afraid of loud sounds? If not for the song being almost routine to me, like how you don't need to concentrate to figure out the answer to 1+1, I probably would have totally butchered it.

The wind blew my window open, and I heard another scream. I was distracted by it once again, missing five notes in a row, but I didn't feel any fear. That's it! I'm not afraid of loud sounds, I'm afraid of the unknown! I was afraid that there was something I didn't know about happening down there!

The revelation made me so proud of myself that I missed another note. Placing my violin back on its stand, I climbed onto bed.

I didn't sleep, still wondering about this newfound knowledge. The unknown is basically the root of all fears. Darkness? Because we don't know what's in front of us. Spiders? ... Not actually related to the unknown, but whatever. I'm sure I can come up with some nonsensical reason once I've gotten my sleep. Death? Because we don't know what happens after it.

I know it's incredibly suspicious that I happen to think of something usually insignificant and dwell on it for so long that it leads to my current situation, but that's just me at night. Lack of sleep does weird things to a person. Or dog. Whatever.

I bet I could take advantage of this and scam people using that fear.

Yes. My mind does usually go from canine fears to conning people. That's normal, right? It seems pretty ordinary to me.

***

I stood in the music room with a violin in my paws, sawing (for lack of a better word) at the strings. A melodic tune filled the air, light, low, and airy.

It was the one I had played during my last birthday party. I had written down the sheet music, and sometimes revisited it and practiced the song. Obviously, I didn't compose a perfect one in the span of ten minutes, so it had plenty of mistakes and things that could be better, but I hadn't bothered fixing them.

Reef recognised the song, naturally. And her first thoughts: "Is this a thinly-veiled attempt to guilt trip me with a reminder of you being with the Populars without me? You are about to ask of me something downright ridiculous, correct?"

(Recap: At that party, I and the rest of my team were there, along with all the Populars. Reef convinced me that the team, however much they might hate me, would be better friendd than they ever would be if I just tried getting along. Paraphrasing. And then, I played a song on the violin - her favourite instrument to listen to, apparently - which symbolised the life with the Populars versus life without them.)

"Talk about cynical," I commented. Sensing that this conversation would need more brain cells than the amount I use while multitasking... and more brain cells than I often use... I made a quick ending for the song.

"I am not being cynical," she protested. "I am simply using my knowledge of your personality to sense your next course of action."

"And your senses are incredibly cynical?" I deadpanned. She rolled her eyes.

"Let us move on from this. It does not take Albert Einstein to realise that you have a plan that involves me. Voice it now."

I tilted my head. Since when did she get so... vocal? Regardless, I explained. She listened attentively, her expression confused. Still, we had time. If she wanted to ask questions, she could. Lunch didn't end for ten minutes, and if you know me you'll also know I use less time than that to explain things.

I knew she'd stay by my side, and that she did. Her objections were flimsy, and I could tell that her inner politician um... devious person... found nothing wrong with my ideas. She agreed to help me, the brains to my charm and the planner to what needed to be planned. Truthfully, if Henry were here, he would have done a more organised job, but I made do.

And partners in crime we became.

_____
To clear things up, their type of scam is like 'OH NOEZ! THIS TERRIFYING THING - OH, IT'S SO TERRIBLE I CAN'T EVEN DESCRIBE IT - ATTACKED ME!!!! I'M LUCKY TO BE ALIVE! BUT IF YOU WANT TO STAY ALIVE TOO, TAKE THESE. Only $50 each.'

Also, note how I never stated the hero of the story. Apollo's the protagonist, the person who this story just happens to be about. Him hating someone doesn't necessarily mean they're evil. He just plain doesn't like them.

[Piefan]

I met Henry again while walking along the hallways. Naturally, we stopped and chatted for a brief while, since he had some time until his next class. He could run there before the bell rang.

"Something you might want to note is that approximately half the Populars and Jocks now hate you for what happened yesterday, as do the Nerds. You disturbed their classes. Technically, Reef and Lucy did, but you evoked it."
"Oh. How'd you know about my reputation?"
"Have you glanced around you in the past ten minutes?"
"No. Should I?"

Without waiting for an answer, I did. The hallway was empty.

"I don't get it. There's nobody here."
"Exactly. This is the school equivalent to giving you the cold shoulder."
"Yeah, but they couldn't possibly completely avoid this corridor. There are lockers here."
"You're right. They couldn't. What they can do, however, is carefully plan when they come in and out."
"All for petty revenge?"
"Yes. And since my class was nearby that smoke bomb, and you caused it, I should also be getting my revenge. Thus-"

He punched me in the shoulder out of nowhere before walking off. Then the bell rang, and I heard him curse loudly and the sound of paws beating on the ground as he frantically sped into a run.

I watched him for a while before myself running opposite him. I have classes too, you know. It's true, I barely ever write about what happens in them apart from stuff like 'I got detention because homework' or some other superficial trash, but that's because, well, what could I write? About the wonders of algebra and figuring out what y equals if x means 45? What beautiful thing I learned about my appendix exploding? (Why is that even a thing at all, I wonder?)

I was lucky enough not to get detention, since my teacher was lenient enough. As such I was home in time. (yes. I'm suddenly skipping from almost the beginning of school to back home. Why not?)

My mother was sitting at a table, looking over taxes and sales and stuff over a cup of coffee. That's her main job; Dad and me do the rest of the work. When I opened the door, she looked up and greeted me. Her words after that?

"Congratulations, Apollo, you're going to a writing workshop tomorrow. It's at the community centre nearby."

... That was random.

"Hey, what now?"
"Don't question it."
"Oh. Fine. Do I get to skip chores?"
"I just told you not to ask questions. But yes. Some of them, at least. You're helping out with the fields, but the rest I'll be doing."

Fair enough. Dad needs the help anyway. The farm's doing fine, I know I said that, but seeing as we are an organic farm (did I mention that? I don't think I did), it takes more effort to earn enough to live. Longans seem to be a favourite, so we work especially hard on their season to supply enough. Some weirdo seems to always buy all of them with the random message of 'shine bright like a longan' or 'twinkle, twinkle little longan~'. That's one of the reasons i named you what I did. It's weird, really, but I'm not complaining.

Mom's going to accompany me, since, y'know, I've never actually been to the centre in my life? I know I do tend to leave out important details about my day and stuff, but I would at least make a small mention if I went there often. Or at all.

Pfft. Lonely, friendless loser? What are you talking about?

Oddly, I found you with your pages opened and laid down on a table, in a position that looks like someone might have read it with interest. How strange. I wonder what happened. Maybe the sudden decision for a writing workshop has something to do with it---

OH DAMN. SHE READ THIS.

Well, better hide you better. Also, I should probably add in some false stuff obviously not real, so she buys the 'book written and not actually real' story:

My father is a cat. I am also a cat. Just in case you were wondering. Cats are amazing animals. Hooray cats. I love cats. Cats cats cats cats cats cats cats cats. Cats. Cats are beautiful. I hate dogs. Dogs are ugly.
____
Apollo apparently knows about psychology, the canine mind, and has extensive knowledge on plants, but he can't figure out how to make people believe this isn't real. For goodness sake, 'Pollo...

The writing workshop may or may not be because I need some way to get him to be a better writer.

[Piefan]

Wow. She found this again. Come on! I hid you in the most private place possible! It was... in a drawer... by my bedside...

Oh.

Anyway, it was a weekend today, at least, and I didn't have much to do, so the writing workshop wasn't that bad. Most of my time on weekends is spent with my parents, doing whatever I need to.

I walked with my mother to the community center when the time came, and I now seem to have a much better skill in writing. Hooray! And something I just learned is not to spend time harping on the unnecessary, so I'll skip to when we got there.

The centre was a pretty cool place, with a friendly, homely atmosphere. People around me were just hanging around talking about things I didn't overhear, and walking to places I didn't find out about. As we walked (and I briskwalked), I found myself smiling. The happiness here was just that contagious. I made a mental note to visit when I had the chance.

(Hey, what d'ya know, I'm already showing better writing!)

I was led to a room with about ten other people, most about ten centimetres shorter than me. At this, I turned to my mother and asked:

"Hey, wait. Why's everyone so short?"
"Simple. You're so terrible at writing that I signed you up for a class for eleven-year-olds."
"... Am I that bad?"
"Yes. You are."

With that, she skipped off, her wings fluttering in her telltale sign of bliss. I squinted at her before turning and entering the room, seeing someone at the front.

The person was probably the teacher, from the incredibly fake smile on her face. (I think I read somewhere that fake-smiling is bad for health. She must be pretty miserable then.) It was a characteristic often present in most of my old teachers, and I'm guessing it's one present in others.

In front of the teacher were about thirty chairs arranged in rows of ten. I walked towards one at the back and the workshop began.

(Apparently when they said 'workshop' they meant 'writing lesson with boring activities'.)

Halfway through, my attention drifted to an amazing amount of different subjects. Afterwards I counted as many as I could remember - about 32 in the span of an hour. Wow, self. About 10 of those were related to stealing things. The teacher was looking at the board most of the time, and these kids had weirdly valuable items. It would be way too easy to take something from them.

Two things stopped me, though:

1) I'm not really tall in comparison to most people my age, but these are eleven-year-olds. I couldn't possibly slip around unnoticed.
2) THESE, AGAIN, ARE INNOCENT KIDS.

I did absorb some things relating to the learning, though. I also now have twenty pages of writing tips in my possession, which were hard to miss. The teacher even added some personal stuff for me! (ie, 'stay concentrated, DON'T RANDOMLY SHIFT YOUR ATTENTION TO RANDOM THINGS WHILE TRYING TO WRITE DAMNIT APOLLO.')

I don't know why, but I have the strangest feeling she noticed I wasn't listening.

Moving on, as I walked out I noticed Lucy walking on all fours, a bright red guitar case slung on her back. She stopped in front of me and lifted her paw, waving.

"Hi! What're you doing here?"
"Well, I perform in a band frequently, have a great interest in music, and am carrying a bass guitar on my back. So obviously I'm here to eat the puppies."
"... I'm, um... Hey look, a policeman."

She sighed in obvious exasperation.

"I was joking, Apollo. I'm meeting up with the rest of the band and some others to practice music."
"Oh. So you're actually calling that a band now? Didn't you use to refer to it as a 'group of people playing music'?"
"Yes. I am. Reef suggested I join an orchestra, actually, but the only instrument I play as far as that goes is the violin, and I don't even like that. I do plan on learning the cello one day, but hey, first things first."
"Speaking of Reef, what happened the day before yesterday? Why the sudden running off?"

Rather than responding, she ran off. As seems to happen so often with her otherwise epic exits, she messed up, and bumped into me, but she scrambled around me fast enough. I considered following her, just for the sake of satisfying my curiosity, but I decided such a thing was unnecessary. It wasn't like this was some elaborate secret that would lead to the destruction of the world. (As far as I'm aware, at least.)

Besides, she'd notice her missing keychain sooner or later.

I was bored and it looked pretty cool, alright? I'm pretty sure she's never cared about that thing anyway, and I just checked - it's almost worthless. Knowing Lucy, if she needed it she'd just declare it to the world, in which case I'd just give it to her and claim it fell off her pockets.
_____
at least Apollo has standards.

[Piefan]

Mother of coincidences...

I just got paired up with Henry for maths class. Mainly because Henry has almost no friends, and because I'm still kinda hated by most Jocks and Populars.

I'm so happy! Not because I really like him as a friend, anyway, just 'cause he's better at it than me. If I don't know how to do things, he'll do them for me. Heck, I'm pretty sure he enjoys doing homework. He probably finds them similar to doing a sudoku or a crossword puzzle, and how I feel about doing a race or playing sports - challenging, but enjoyable.

Anyway, he was... less excited than I was.

"NOOOO! HOW COULD YOU, TEACHER? I THOUGHT WE WERE FRIENDS? HOW COULD YOOUU?"

Actually, he whispered this while face-down on a table, not shouted it, but still.

"... Oh. Am I that intolerable?"
"When we're learning, yes."
"And outside of classes?"
"You're not insufferable, so I'd say we're fine."
"Good enough for me!"
"Same. The only way this could go wrong is if Candy decided to do the same thing the real principal did last year."
"Agreed. Luckily, I don't think she'd do that."

There was a brief pause after he said that, and we waited for some abrupt announcement that that would happen. I don't know why, but every time someone says something along the lines of 'that's definitely wrong' it's proven to be right.

This didn't apply to the current situation, apparently.

The rest of the day passed uneventfully. Candy still has no dental hygiene, ugh. I know I don't really care about that stuff, and I barely talk to her at all, but still. How does she even...?

I ran into Arianna at recess - literally. No, it wasn't while stealing anything this time. Just because I do it doesn't mean everything in my life revolves around that habit, dangit. (Police, this is still totally fake! Yep.) I was just hanging around by the fields, watching others play their sports games, when I got thirsty and thus ran to my waterbottle, which was across the field. And then she was also there.

"Hello, Apollo."
"Hey! So how's life going, Ari?"
"My name's Arianna. Don't call me that."
"Why? It seems a whole lot more convenient than a... 5-syllable name."
"Because it sounds better."

She narrowed her eyes at me, then raised her hood over her head and turned away. A question struck me.

"Why are you wearing a cloak on a hot day outdoors?"
"It's really just for show."
"But... it's..."
"Oh, shush. I'm obliged to dramatically slink into the shadows as if I were some evil lady trying to kill you now."
"What? But why?"
"Dramatic effect. If I'm going to wear this, I should make the most of it."
"There are no shadows. We're outside."
"Oh. Right."

A breeze picked up, and she walked off, her cloak billowing behind her. I spotted Lucy in the sidelines, talking to her other bandmate, Garfield. The latter was standing sweatily, probably having just finished some difficult game, and mostly nodded, only opening his mouth once in a while. When he did, Lucy seemed surprised, as if it were some sacred thing when he spoke.

Honestly, he barely ever talks, so I can't blame her.
_____
K, I need to start planning this story and I need it BADLY. I have no idea how you guys write without planning things ahead and writing those plans down... I'm trying it now, but then this story's going absolutely nowhere because of that.

Would y'all prefer shorter posts written every day, or longer ones written every other day?