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She was already dealing so much, now she just had to lose her phone.
Waterworks were threatening to spill from Aphmau’s eyes as she traveled to the 5th spot of where she might’ve left it. Slyvanna, her mother, is outside waiting to pick her up from school— Aphmau knew she had to be. Her helicopter parent was never a slight minute late or early. Always right on time. Which only served as another stresser, because she could not leave her mother waiting.
Aphmau even put on her glasses, something she hadn’t done since freshman year (not very long ago, just a few months). The girl ran into the hallway, glancing around for any sight of her phone. This was when Ein and her had a rough encounter…this had to be it.
But, unfortunately, for her, it had not been it.
Hot tears poured down Aphmau’s cheeks as she crawled around on her knees, desperately looking at the tiniest spaces. The girl fought back the tears, hard, but it only resulted in the faucet in her nose to drip instead. Her knees and head ached terribly, slowly losing the willpower to continue searching, before she halted into a sitting position.
The girl’s thoughts became more incoherent, simply choosing to repeat “But, FC—But, Aaron…But—” over, and over, and over, again. Her hands shook as if they were desperately craving the cold sleek texture of metal, feeling numb to the touch. Aphmau broke out into a sob.
It could’ve been mistaken for a cry of a child, like she wasn’t already one— but this school year made her feel like nothing close to that. Too much responsibility weighted on her, and she was a twig ready to snap. She needed FC, she needed friends, she needed her phone—
Tapping. Aphmau heard tapping in front of her. The sound akin to thumbs fiddling away at a phone screen.
Through teary eyes and hiccups, the girl tilts her head up slightly, being met with a familiar sight. A purple case with cats all over it with homemade phone charms to top it off. The only unfamiliar thing was the pale hand that held it.
Aphmau tilts her head more, being met with the sight of someone she’d least expect. The bang’s swooping over an eye, the mask, the pale skin. Yeah, she knew who, and everything was the same from what she remembered except…
His gaze pierced through her, like she was being stabbed with an ice sickle—violently. It managed to stop her sobs, instead having silent tears stream down her face. This seemed to cause Zane’s gaze soften,
“I figured you’d be back looking for this thing. Take it.” His tone was sharp, and quite demanding, but Aphmau still found his voice weirdly soothing to her.
Despite Zane’s command, Aphmau didn’t take it, only staring at Zane with wide saucers. Her staring lasted a second too long because Zane squirmed under her gaze and snapped. His brows furrowed and nose scrunched up, “Look, everyone knows about your weird unhealthy attachment to your phone, okay? I found it in the hallway just laying here, so I grabbed it, knowing your strung-out self would come back. I’m being a decent human being, right now. Take. It. Don’t make me change my mind.”
Silence hung in the air after the boy’s monologue. Zane examined her appearance, and could only claim that she looked terrible. He thought she always looked terrible but this was…new? The girl's eyes had a red tint and her tie loosen a great amount— probably due to fidgeting. Then the glasses, he hadn’t seen that since last year. He thought she might’ve switched to eye contacts, but then in homeroom he’d see her squinting at papers they were occasionally assigned. Or would pass her in the hallway putting her face up to close to posters on the wall.
He always watched her with a keen eye…only because she could prove a threat one day—especially with how the Shadow Knights talked about her. Zane was running his own gang, he had to make sure there’d be no ‘goodie-two-shoes’ to ruin his fun. Yeah, that was the reason.
Zane felt his patience wear thin as time passed until Aphmau let out a choked gasp. Then began to sob again, which caused Zane to take a step back in confusion.
“What the hell—?”
“ Zane…!” Aphmau cried out, before jumping from her spot on the floor onto the boy’s pant leg.
“H—Hey! Get off me you—you woman, girl-thing!” Zane yelled, staring down at the emotional girl who nuzzled her cheek onto his leg, still sobbing. “You’re getting your gross snot on me, dammit! My mom just washed this uniform!” His yells only intensified as well did the red that dusted his cheeks. Aphmau didn’t seem to hear his protests, simply continuing her sobs of relief on his pants.
The devil himself graced her with mercy— she’d be a fool not to thank him, but an even bigger fool to not indulge. Though, she really didn’t think of him as the devil…not this year, anyway.
Lightly, Zane placed his foot on the girl’s shoulder, kicking her off of him. Aphmau let out a small ‘hmph!’, falling back on her behind. Zane didn’t give her a moment to process what just happened before he bent over, placing the phone onto the tiled-floor, then storming off somewhere else.
Not before he loudly claimed, “You owe me!” stomping away, of course. Once he disappeared from her sight, Aphmau let out a tiny sniff. She scattered on all fours, picking up her phone, quickly, then held it close to her chest with a smile.
‘Ping!’
Immediately, she clicked her home button.
Many miss calls from her mother, and…
Nine: U ok? FC told me you haven’t been responding to his messages xp.
She let out a shaky laugh, moving her thumbs.
Shu: im ok! just misplaced my phone.
Nine:…?
Nine: Rlly now?
Shu: im a clumsy person, yk me.
Nine: Yeah I do.
Shu: XD.