Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Chatter filled the expanse of the school cafeteria, different conversations, arguments, laughter, maybe even ..crying? It didn’t matter.

Ellen Joe sat with her friends who were chatting amongst each other. Her thick shark tail curled over on her lap, preventing the large appendage from sweeping against the gross floor.

She quietly listened in to what they were talking about, idly picking at the leftover grains of rice with her fork from her used to be lunch from boredom.

“Have you guys ever thought about driving?” 

The blonde haired girl, Ruby, questioned. She leaned down on the shared table with her arms crossed, looking at the other girls that were neighboring her. 

“Yea, just to save money from public transit.” The girl with black hair and round glasses, Lynn, responded. lipping a spoon full of her applesauce. “Cool! I wanna learn how to drive to be in one of those cool fast cars I see racing down Lumina Square! Excitedly exclaimed the brown haired cow thiren, Monna, reenacting a driver handling the wheel and shifting gears. “That’s so dangerous though..” Lynn anxiously inquired, pushing up her glasses with a finger. 

“HA! You’re not even making it out the parking lot, next thing you know your horns are stuck in the wheel!”

Joked Ruby, motioning her hands to her head to imitate horns. It got a giggle out of Lynn and Ellen.

“Oh shut up, it’s awesome! What’s your car plan, huh?” Monna huffed resting a hand on her chin, giving Ruby her undivided attention. “I want a car so we can all go to different places together, you know like shopping at different malls, sightseeing, and travel beyond that!” Ruby uttered with glee and hopefulness that it’ll come true in the future.

The trio seemed like they had solid plans for what awaits them after graduation, it seemed realistic enough. Ellen didn’t mind the idea of driving. However, she prefers public transit due to the fact they give her enough time to take power naps when going to and from work. 

Driving means staying awake and being alert the whole time, something the shark thiren wasn’t the complete best at. “What about you, Ellen? Do you have any car plans or no?” questioned Monna, big brown eyes ogling her way.

The attention was on her now..

 She lazily sat herself up, still playing with the small grains of rice with her fork. 

“Nah, don’t care for em’.” Ellen replied, voice monotone as per usual. “Really? Not even for the fun of it? Or is it because you don’t want to?” Ruby tilted her head, curious to what the shark thiren’s next reply will be. 

“Don’t wanna. To be fair I’m just used to metros n’ stuff, and everything that I like is pretty local, so nah.” It was an understandable reason like what most of the girls had said prior, for convenience, for fun, and for the thrill. And sometimes you don’t need a car to get where you need to be.

“Borringg, but fair!” Ruby teased, which earned a head shake and an eye roll from Ellen. She dug in her skirt pocket to grab her favorite flavored sucker, ripping the packaging off before putting it in her mouth.

“How are you going to come for Ellen for having a boring reason when you picked a boring topic?” Out came from the cow thiren, her thin fuzzy tail swishing back and forth.

“Quiet you, you were the most excited out of all of us, actually.” The blonde haired girl playfully poked Monna’s head. The cow girl girl only scrunched her face from the poke, followed after a small defeated huff because she was right.

“But since you want a more fun topic, do you guys find anyone cute in class??” The girl jumped the gun, causing Ellen to sigh disappointingly already knowing how big of a mess this will be.

“Ruby! Isn’t this the 3rd time you asked this question this week?” Blushed Lynn, who shyly put her head down.

“Yeah? And within those 3 days I haven’t gotten an answer out of any of you! So, do you guys find anyone in class cute?” She smiled wide, curious to know what her friends' possible interests are.

Lynn was a blushing mess, Monna was probably the only one who was genuinely thinking, and Ellen only looked away and crossed her arms, toying with the sucker in her mouth to distract her from the topic at hand.

“Bruh really? If I must , I'll go since you guys are scaredy cats. This boy in my English class is kinda..you know! He’s kind of fine!” Ruby twirled her short golden locs, giggling like an idiot almost.

“What does he look like? Maybe I've seen him before.” Monna was the slightest bit curious about Ruby's possible crush. “He’s pretty tall, wears a face mask and he has one of the best eyebrows I've ever seen on a guy. Like seriously, I’m sure I have pics”

Ruby described, already digging out her phone to look through her gallery of photos. 

“You weirdo you took photos of em’?” Ellen looked at Ruby with a raised brow, now concerned that her best friend Lowkey might be a stalker. “Just a few, they're from today though chill.. chill.”

The blonde managed to get a few shots of the boy, the images were clear that she was trying to be discreet. Her backpack took a portion of the view and some photos were kind of blurry, but the images were clear enough to see the guy.

Ruby showed the girls the clearest photo of the boy that she had.

“...Hm, you know I see it, but what’s under the mask though? Do you think he has buck teeth and chapped lips?” The cow thiren couldn’t help but to ask.

“I don’t want to think that he does.” muttered Ruby, swiping through more of her photos.

“I-I..um…there's this o-one guy in my class..specifically in NE History.” Lynn began, finding the courage to share her interest with the group.

“I think he’s adorable. He has glasses like mine, and he looks like he smiles with his eyes, I’m sure you kind of get what I mean.”

The girl mustered a small hesitant smile, adjusting her glasses but her blush was still very evident. Ruby and Monna were now invested in Lynn’s confession, while Ellen paid half attention, but heard her out regardless no matter how uninterested she was with the topic. “I think I saw him in my P.E. class. He is pretty cute, you have nice taste Lynn!” Complimented Ruby, with Monna nodding in agreement.

This made the girl feel good, Ellen couldn’t help but to smile a little at Lynn. It was almost like her confidence was lifted from the support that followed. It was wholesome to see, she had to admit.

“Okay I’m curious about you, nom nom shark. Do you find any boys cute..or girls? I don’t know.” Ruby blurted, the attention being on the young shark once again.

Ellen awkwardly looked at each of her friends, and just shook her head. She juggled the sucker in her mouth and watched the girl’s sigh in disappointment.

She took the lollipop out of her mouth.

“Were you expecting me to say yes? I don’t have eyes for anyone.” She shrugged.

“Well kinda? Surprising really, with how popular you are. There's at least one person that’s caught your eyes, right?” Ruby pressed, she wasn’t fully convinced the shark girl wasn’t interested in anyone.

“Not to mention your locker always has love notes in it, aren’t you curious about who sent them?” Monna followed after, her tail swishing in wonder.

It was true, ever since Ellen began sophomore year, she’s garnered some attention. Unwanted attention if you asked her. It was the year she started to experiment with her style and look. Getting piercings, styling her hair a certain way, and overall she was an extremely pretty girl. 

She would often have to decline ask outs from boys who had interest in her, or quarantine herself to the back of the class so she won’t be as bothered and could sleep in peace. This is a contributor to her energy being depleted by the second.

“Ew no. The love note thing is already creepy to me, I wouldn’t want to know who’s sending me those.” The shark said with disgust, playing with her napkin. “ You don’t have to be shy nom nom shark ..” Ruby teased the girl, which easily made her flustered.

“I told you to stop calling me that.” Ellen glared with annoyance, feeling her tail twitch in agitation on her lap. “And I’m not being shy, I’m telling the truth.”

“...Are you into girls by any chance?” The blonde questioned, she was curious to know, as did Monna as her face lit up in hopefulness. 

“...Girls? Uh. Do I look gay..?”

The trio gave each other a look and turned back to Ellen, all saying in unison.

“ Yes. ”

“...Alright.”

Ellen wasn’t expecting her group to sync up and agree like that. Can she blame them?

She guesses not, she did set herself up either way.

“It’s the piercings..and colored hair! And your resting bitch face, you either look painfully bisexual or a foot out the closet lesbian..” 

Ruby described, really studying Ellen’s appearance. Something told her that Ruby wanted to ask her that question for a long time, but didn’t know a good moment to do it.

But now that she’s pointed it out, it was a very specific description she thought.

“So, ya into chicks or not?” The blonde pressed further, making Ellen sink a little in her chair, her brows furrowed slightly.

“...Why do you want to know?”

“Why do you keep dodging the question, nom nom?”

“I-..I don’t know, okay! I literally said I don’t have eyes for anyone.” The shark girl didn’t want to sound too defensive, otherwise they’ll further assume she might be hiding something which she’s certain she has nothing to hide anyway.

Ellen popped the sucker back into her mouth and crossed her arms again, looking away from the trio. If it meant not trying to be defensive like she promised herself, she’s not doing a very good job at hiding it well.

“Just screwing with you nom nom, we support you if you are!” She wasn’t exactly sure if Ruby was further teasing her or being a good sport. 

It almost seems backhanded, however she’s also not entirely sure why she’s feeling a little conflicted with her identity, it shouldn’t bother her if it isn’t true, right?

“Anyways, Monna! Find anyone cute?” Ruby redirected the attention off of Ellen, which caused the shark to exhale a breath from the pressure.

“Mm.” The cow gave it some thought. Her fluffy ear twitched idly, really thinking about who in her class she found cute. She had an answer but she thought it was too embarrassing to say in front of them.

“I find this..gi-” 

RINGGG

Saved by the bell-

“Oh no no no, don’t let the bell stop your confession, moo moo! Say it!” Ruby’s eyes were full of anticipation, eager to hear the rest of what Monna had to say.

“..Ah..u-uh! Sorry I can't, I'm not ready yet!” Monna shyly backed out with a blush, taking her backpack from off her chair to put it on her shoulder. 

This earned a groan from Ruby, who was also starting to clean up her mess and placed it on her half eaten lunch tray.

“Almost had you..but I won’t push it.” The blonde huffed, which got a bemused stare from Ellen.

“What the hell, she gets off the hook but I don’t?” She questioned in disbelief, was she targeted for something?

“Okay with you nom nom shark, you have a tendency to lie …and also a big denier! So it’s safe to assume you have another little secret up your sleeve! 

Ruby smirked, teasing Ellen once again.

She thought they cleared the lying thing days ago when everyone revealed their secrets to each other. And Ellen being an undercover hollow security gardening maid agent..thing, she thought that was the biggest secret she could ever expose to them.

But apparently not, she supposes. 

The young shark shook her head, not wanting to entertain the jesting any further. She got up from her seat, and grabbed her lunch tray. Making her way to a trash can to shake off the remnants, and stashing it on top of the bin

The girls gave their goodbyes as they parted ways from each other, each of them going to their respective classes until they eventually sync schedules. With that, Ellen made her way down the school’s hallway, it was painfully crowded like usual. Getting bumped from the sides, her tail, everywhere. She couldn’t wait to graduate already, she’s sick of it all.

She finally made it to her classroom, it was Journalism. Why she picked that as an elective she didn’t know, she didn’t care. At least it was one of her slack off classes so she can take a nap.

The shark girl walked in the room and went down the aisle of desks and made herself comfortable with a backrow seat that was by the window. 

She placed her book bag on top of her desk and whipped out her phone so she could check her social media until the tardy sweep bell rang.

Nothing but corny posts, damning politics, and cute pictures of animals on her feed. She found herself scrolling for what it seemed like minutes before she got a text from the friend group.

Curious, she opened up the messages to see what they were up to.

Ellen shook her head and closed out the messaging app to return back to her doom scrolling. Until another notification popped up on her phone.

She didn’t want to give in and text back but she just had to respond, Ruby was certainly testing her today.

Ellen shut off her phone and placed the device in her skirt pocket. She watched her professor walk in the classroom and slid the door shut, placing his books and notes on his desk to start the curriculum.

The young shark only got comfortable and crossed her arms on her desk, laying her head down so she could snooze for the duration of the class.

—

RINGGG

The final school bell rang, students of all grades made their way out of the building. Already swarming around the premise linking up with their friends, walking to the bus so they can be dropped off at home, and going to food spots to grab some grub after a long day’s worth of activities. 

Ellen leaned against a wall, texting her friend group to see if they wanted to hangout before she had to go to work. She promised them that she’ll make time for the girls when she can. She didn’t have to arrive to work early like she usually does, as long as she stepped foot in the mansion by the respected time, she wasn’t going to get faulted for it.

Well..her boss Von Lycaon prefers her to be there early so they can be on top of certain tasks, but he understands the girl is balancing school and his employment on her back.

Ellen sighed to herself, the one time she wants to spend time with her friends instead of rushing to work an hour early, they’re busy.

..Great. She can’t get mad at that though, even though she feels a little bummed out because of the compromised timing.

She often forgets that her friends also have lives of their own, and aren’t just people who stick onto her like glue for her emotional needs.

Her tail swayed solemnly behind her, her poker face be damned. Her tail showed how she was truly feeling at the moment.

She sighed to herself, closing out of the messaging app.

It’s cool, I'll pick something up myself and head to work.

Mentally talking to herself, it wasn’t a big deal anyway. Before she peeled herself off of the wall another message popped up on her phone, stopping her in her tracks. She thumbed the notification to see what it said.

The shark girl would be lying if she denied that she was feeling slightly better. Her tail swayed with a bit more emotion, at least one of her best friends was going to hangout with her. 

She had at least 5 minutes to chill so she popped in her earbuds to listen to music and watched the still swarming bundle of students walk out of the school. 

Idly observing different people come and go slowly turned into noticing details about their appearance. Ranging from hairstyles, accessories, book bag trinkets, anything tiny that caught her eye that she thought was pretty neat.

However she couldn’t help but to rethink Ruby's comments from the morning.

‘ Do you find any boys cute..or girls?’

Did she? Again she never cared, but why all of a sudden does she feel the need to confirm if she liked anyone? Let alone who she found more interesting to her.

No..she shouldn’t force herself to make a decision just because another person has expectations of her. That’s weird.

But she isn’t so sure of herself either, all of her friends have crushes and she’s the only one who doesn’t have one…is she really that boring?

Admiring fashion choices turned into looking at people’s faces as they were passing by. She’s caught herself looking at several boys, looking at their features, what was unique about them, what made them..attractive to her? 

She blinked and shook her head, no this was just odd and embarrassing. People watching to see what caught her eye the most? She really does have zero dating experience, let alone knowledge of orientation. She’s aware of other individuals' identity but never found herself..which was a jarring discovery she’s made.

The young shark looked back up, the crowd dwindling down making it easier for her to focus. She looked at each individual boy she thought she found cute but they all seemed a little funny looking to her. Maybe a handful she thought were …kind of cute? But wasn’t enough to where she’d stare to admire more or even imagine herself in a position where she would consider herself having a boyfriend.

Hm, guess I don’t care for the guys I think.

She rolled her eyes, again she still wasn’t sure. She doesn't even know what she should consider attractive, she spends most of her time eating, sleeping, and putting things she’ll ‘buy later’ in her cart.

Ellen began to divert her attention to the girls now, and she found it easier to admire them. She’s always been a ‘girl's girl’ and could appreciate common feminine beauty, so she feels she wouldn’t know the difference between appreciation and captivation. 

She watched a few of them walk and chat besides their friends, some were walking by themselves on their phones, and some seemed to have partners of their own. 

She noticed hand holding, shoulders touching, giggling. It was wholesome to watch, however she wasn’t sure if she felt anything.

‘Why do you keep dodging the question, nom nom?’

That damn girl's voice was really invading her thought process, something so small shouldn’t be poking at her this much. She wasn’t purposely dodging the question, she genuinely didn’t know. And she feels a tug at her heart that mildly annoys her that her denial wasn’t believable.

She didn’t realize her tail was flicking around and lightly batting itself against the wall that she was leaning on. 

She exhaled a breath to calm down, thinking of solutions from her own faint delusions is making her even more tired.

“Ellen!”

Out came a familiar voice, her head lifted up to find the cow thiren she was waiting for. She waved high and weaved around the walking students that were in her way.

The shark thiren gave her an up nod as a way to say hello, taking an earbud out of her ear to hear her better.

“I didn’t take too long did I? I was caught up with these guys who were walking super slow in the hallways.”

Monna adjusted the book bag straps on her shoulders, smiling awkwardly knowing how Ellen is with time management.

“Nah, if anything you only took like 3 minutes. You’re good” The shark girl dismissed, standing up right from the wall. She put her phone in her skirt pocket, ignoring the buzzing from the notifications of their friend group. She’s sure that's ruby blowing up the chat.

“Let’s go, I’m thirsty.” Ellen said, motioning her body to walk off.

“Right!” Monna was quick to follow along, walking beside the slightly taller shark thiren. It was lovely outside, Ellen thought to herself. The skies were a beautiful shade of blue, which reminded her of the sea. And the music still played in her ear, though she made sure to lower it just in case Monna wanted to say something. She glanced at the cow who was glancing up and down from her phone to see where she was walking. She was probably texting the group with how much her phone was vibrating in her pocket.

“What’re you guys talkin’ about? I don't want to pull out my phone.” Ellen broke the silence still walking while also enjoying her music. “It’s just Ruby spamming like usual, you know how she is. Something about how she forgot her math homework on her desk and is crying about it.” Monna replied, couldn’t help but to giggle watching their friend complain in the group.

“When is that girl not forgetting her work, she’s worse than me.” Ellen scoffed a laugh, making Monna chuckle. “It’s the second time she’s done it this week, you think we should remind her to pick up after herself?” The cow thiren asked curiously, looking over to Ellen for approval.

“Ehh I mean..I think we should, keeps me from thinking the 99+ notifications on my phone was an actual conversation.”

“ Truee .. Ellen said tha t ..” Monna trailed off, as her thumbs started tapping against her phone’s keyboard. The duo continued to walk along the sidewalk, passing multiple businesses and food stands until they got to their destination, Richard’s Teamilk.

There was a line in front of the establishment, it wasn’t a long one thankfully so the two thiren girls made their way in the queue.

To pass the time the both of them talked about the assignment they had that was due the next day, the girls share a class so they suppose they took advantage of each other's resources.

“N-Next!”

Called the nervous worker of the shop, giving a hesitant but friendly wave to the thirens. She was a shorter girl with lime green highlights in her hair, adorning the adorable pink and white teamilk uniform with the name tag reading “Coco”. The two of them shuffled forward and looked at the menu for a bit before requesting their order.

“Can I get a medium caramel oolong teamilk? Extra boba.” Out came Ellen, her tail slightly swaying at the thought of the cold refreshing drink.

“Okay! Standard sugar or h-half sugar?” Asked Coco, who was typing the order in the system on her tablet.

“Standard.” The shark knew this drink choice was risky, she kept telling herself to cut back on calories due to her small weight gain. She was very keen on watching her diet but she often slips up due to sudden cravings.

“S-Standard sugar got it, a-and what can I get you, miss?” The timid girl spoke, looking over at Monna but momentarily breaking eye contact due to her social awkwardness.

“I’ll have an orchard grape teamilk, medium! Light ice as well.” Chirped the cow thiren, her own fuzzy tail flicked around.

“For sugar, I'll take half.” She added on, earning a nod in acknowledgement from the girl. Coco typed in her order as well into her tablet, telling her the total price for the two beverages.

“Your u-um, total is 1,125 dennies!”

Ellen was already motioning to pull out her wallet to pay for the drinks but she felt a hand touch her arm to stop her, she looked up slightly confused seeing that Monna was the one who stopped her.

“Don’t worry I'll pay!” Smiled Monna, taking her hand off to dig in her own skirt pocket for her wallet. 

“Huh? No, it's fine I got it.” She persisted. She never minded the fact that she was mainly the one paying for her friend’s orders. If anything, it did bring her some joy that she was able to pay for them, on behalf of their tight money management. Her willingness to give as appreciation only swooned her used to be lonely heart. 

“No no keep your money, you always pay for us! It’s only fair if I pay for our drinks this time.” The cow thiren reasoned, taking out her wallet to count her dennies. “Plus I did make you wait a bit, so I wanna compensate.”

Ellen only looked at her with slight bewilderment, that was a change..she thought. It was such a sweet gesture too. The sudden act of kindness threw the poor shark girl into a bit of a loop, so used to the routine of paying out of her own pocket for her friends. She fought back a small blush, she was a little bit of a softy when it came to people doing favors for her or showing her they care. She’s created such a thorn barrier around herself at times, getting good deeds tossed her way was almost taboo.

“Alright then.” Said the shark, her face returning to its usual resting but mean scowl. She watched her cow friend pay the total amount, and watched Coco masterfully make their drinks in front of them

–

Sometime later, both girls were hanging out beside the teamilk building. They sipped on their drinks enjoying the taste of the aromatic flavor of the tea and the sweetness it provided with it. Their tails swayed with delight as they watched the cars pass by, wondering where they could be heading off to.

“How’s your drink?” 

Out came the cow thiren, looking over towards Ellen. The shark glanced up at her as she chewed on the boba pearls, swallowing them down before she responded.

“It’s pretty good, it’s my second time trying this flavor actually.” She studied her cup, appreciating what the contents of it had to bring her. “Also..thanks for paying, that was nice of you.” Ellen’s voice wavered and was a pitch softer than usual, she really did appreciate that act of kindness Monna displayed for her. However, her attempting to convey more tender expressions has always been a challenge for the young shark.

“No problem, Ellen! That’s what friends are for right? You have our backs, we’ll totally have yours.”

The cow thiren smiled, her ear flicked and her tail began to sway back and forth. She wanted Ellen to know that she’s well loved amongst her friends, though they get into turmoil sometimes, it doesn’t stop them from eventually figuring out how to correct their issues. 

The shark felt warm inside..she gave a slight smile with a nod, a sense of reassurance was an offer she could never decline.

Ellen herself was rather lonely most of her life, all she really had as a friend was her stuffed shark doll, Aqua, that she was extremely glued to since she was a child. Often fantasizing that it was another shark thiren like her. During her grade school years, she found it tough for her to make friends. Albeit there were other thiren children in the midst of the classroom, sharks as an animal had gotten a poor reputation of being one of more ‘violent’ and ‘mean spirited’ predators. 

The poor little girl would be avoided or declined playtime due to her being a ‘scary shark’, and it only hurt more because she was an orphan and might’ve been the only shark thiren in New Eridu. Her sadness turned into bitterness, molding that thorn barrier of hers so no one tried to talk to her. And it didn’t help because the girl was also slightly introverted.

So any acts of kindness or vulnerability shown to her was a culture shock, but she yearned it shamefully.

Ellen pulled out her phone to see the time, the clock read 3:53 PM. 

Ah.

She had to go soon for work, taking the metro usually takes her about 15-20 minutes to get to the station where she needs to stop off at, and another 10 to walk to her destination.

The girl put her phone back in her pocket, she had 7 minutes or so to chill so it wasn’t that big of a deal. She would still have 30 minutes to spare and maybe nap at the mansion, which was why she preferred to come in early anyway.

“I don’t think I've ever asked about your work..” Monna suddenly said, sipping her boba drink. Which got an eyebrow raise and a glance from Ellen.

“Not the y’know..fighting part but the maid part, what do you do?”

“...I get sent to people’s houses to cut bushes.” The shark thiren simply replied, mouth half full of boba pearls. “It’s mainly what I do, I clean and cook if I have to..” She swallowed, licking her teeth clean from the sticky sugary coating.

Monna’s eyes lit up in interest, her ears slightly perking up.

“Are the people you get sent to rich with big homes? Like the kind where they have 4 of the same supercar with different colors in their driveway?” The cow wondered, it wasn’t an outlandish assumption that she made, but it certainly was a stretch on what she’s usually tasked to do.

“Nah it’s usually basic homes or apartments even. But it all depends..”

It was true, as a part time working maid, she either gets sent to different homes for garden work or is scheduled to the same home for more maintenance work or even attending to the client’s other necessities. But she knows she works for a high end organization, so it was the truth kind of , keeping it a low profile to not further jeopardize herself.

She still didn’t feel too comfortable explaining her occupation to her friends but she didn’t see the harm in telling Monna the more ‘normal’ part about it. 

“Oh that’s pretty cool, one of these days if you want you should tell us about the craziest stories about your home visits! Like if the homeowner asked you to cook a weird meal for them for example.”

Oh Ellen knew she had plenty of interesting encounters, but again she’s not too comfortable with sharing her work life in detail yet. One of these days maybe, but right now it’s questionable.

“I’ll think about it. Also, I hate to cut it short but, I gotta go..” The shark thiren felt bad having to end their conversation, it was a pleasant talk she had to admit.

“Alright Ellen! And it’s fine I actually have practice too so we’re both busy I guess, heh.”

“Oh shit, well good luck with practice then.”

“Thanks, I’m gonna really need it..have a safe afternoon at work!”

Convenient timing. She supposes she doesn’t feel too bad that she had to break ways, not wanting to leave her alone so suddenly. The both of them waved and parted from each other, Monna making her way back to the school and Ellen shuffling across the street to the A entrance of Lumina Square.

Back to routine again.

The shark thiren mentally spoke to herself. She knew the steps it took to get to work, making her way in the station, scanning her card to walk through the gate and wait amongst the other people who had their own destination to get to. Whether they also had to go to work, going home, visiting family, or going on vacation.

The train sped its way down the long tunnel, getting closer to the drop off and pick up section. It screeched with an echo as it slowed itself down to align its doors with the safety gates. Ellen watched the train pull to a complete stop and saw the lightstrips above the side of the car go from  ‘Please Wait.. ’ to ‘ Welcome Aboard. Destination: Ballet Twins Road.’ The gates slid open and the metro car’s doors opened as well, allowing Ellen and the rest of the onboarding passengers to take their seats

The girl stepped in the train car and sat in the seat closest to the door and rail. She curled her tail over her lap, aware that the limb was rather huge. Embarrassingly enough, some of her tail spilled over on the other seat besides her. She loved her tail, but sometimes it annoys the ever living hell out of her.

At this point..whatever. She pulled out her phone and opened her group chat after a while of ignoring it, she made herself comfy in her seat so, screw it.

Ellen only shook her head, scrolling down to see what all she missed while she and Monna were hanging out at the teamilk shop. 

The shark snorted, the pair always poked at each other. However she thinks Ruby is a little too good at what she does sometimes. She felt the train begin to move, shifting her a little in her seat. It was going to take some time to get where she needed to be so she supposed that she could take a small power nap until then.

—

“.. Uhhggg !”

Groaned Ellen, opening up her bedroom door. She kicked her red bottoms off and tossed her book bag, jaw necklace, headdress that matched the neck piece all off to the side in that order. She flopped herself onto her bed face first, disturbing her group of shark plushies that sat there.

“ Why did I choose to become a damn maid!...I HATE rich dickheads!”

She complained through her blankets, her tail swaying in frustration before lazily flopping to the side with an audible thump from its weight. She laid there motionless for a good few minutes, letting her body unwind from the commissions she had to endure for the last 4 hours that she was at work.

Not only was she scheduled to clear out an ethereal infestation in an abandoned warehouse so the client could purchase it for research, but she was also put to work to take care of a rather pretentious client.

Thankfully, the raid she didn’t do by herself. She was accompanied by Rina, the head maid of Victoria Housekeeping. If anything, doing raids was probably her favorite part about her job, it’s just waiting for the signal to attack was what bored the ever living hell out of her. 

But after she and Rina recovered from their hollow investigation, Ellen was ordered to do an emergency shift cover for Corin. She didn’t think it would be too bad, the younger girl was timid and precious, she didn’t think the girl would be matched with haughty and pressuring people.

She was VERY wrong, at least with this commission she got very unlucky. 

1 Hour Earlier..

Knock knock knock knock knock

Ellen shuffled back from the door, already wanting to get this thing over with. She was informed by Lycaon that she was going to do cleaning maintenance with Corin’s regular client. He had told her that he informed the customer that Corin wasn’t going to make it to work as scheduled, as she had fallen ill with a cold.

Her heart ached, she hoped the girl got better.

The shark thiren pinched through her shirt to adjust her bra strap as she waited for this client to come let her in. She heard footsteps draw closer to the door, hearing the knobs unlock one by one. 

She stood upright to retain her professionalism, and recited her greeting line she’s said maybe a thousand times before. She won’t lie she was feeling a little nervous, as she always did when greeting customers for the service. But she’s an expert at hiding it through her laidback facade..and tiredness. 

The door finally opened, who was behind it was a middle aged elf woman who looked to be no taller than Ellen herself. She wore very tacky brand clothing that screamed ‘I don’t know how to spend my money’. She had hazel eyes and blonde hair with some streaks of gray in it. Not to mention the very bold earrings and bright colored glasses she wore, to further convey that she could afford them.. Very interesting .

“Victoria Housekeeping, my name is Ellen Joe, how may I be of service to you?” Told the shark maid, she tried her best not to sound like she was going to fall asleep at any second. She gave her best calm and collective face and even smiled a little, which she had practiced with Rina many times over.

“...Oh, I see.. this is little Corin’s replacement maid.” The elf said, with disgust in her tone.

…Excuse me?

Ellen’s brows couldn’t help but to scrunch in audacity, still keeping the small smile she adorned to show that she’s trying to be friendly.

“..Yes I’m here for cleaning, correct?” Her eyes darted to the side of the elf, taking a glimpse of the home behind her. As she expected, very expensive furnishings and paintings that were easily worth hundreds of thousands of dennies, unstylish purchases. None of the valuables she bought followed a theme and it just pissed Ellen off.

“They sent me one of ... those .. punk ..goth girls.. I don’t know if I like that..” The rude elf thought out loud, she wanted Ellen to hear her distaste of her appearance. The irony of that one . 

She studied the shark maid’s outfit, she was dressed very clean as expected as an employee of VHK. With the design of the dress following her characteristics, the chains, the jaw necklace and headdress.

But her face..eyebrow, nose, and ear piercings, the makeup work and her hair accessories could make the older elf grimace. 

“...Ma’am, I’m here for cleaning , correct?” Ellen couldn’t help but to be a little more direct with her wording. Her patience was already running thin, she's tired and getting hungry. Who gives a damn if she looked like a cafe barista with 10 pins on their apron. If anything this lady is wasting both her own and Ellen’s time. There was money to be made today.

“I heard you. There was no need to repeat yourself, yes you’re here for my cleaning service.”

The shark maid held her tongue from smart mouthing the woman. She had to be professional, especially for Lycaon’s sake. He’s had trouble training Ellen to be functional with behavioral etiquette, she could get the job done, it's just how she went by it emotionally was a struggle.

“I go by Mrs. Miller, you may come in.” Miller finally let the girl in. Ellen sighed and granted a small bow before she entered the home. This lady was testing her it seems, she doesn’t want to give in to her blatant poking but she won’t tolerate disrespect either.

“I see you are part shark, Ms. Joe. Keep that tail of yours under control when I put you to use in cleaning my prized assets. I’ll be certain you’ll come out of pocket if you damage one of my belongings.” Snarked the elf, closing the door behind Ellen.

“....What would you like me to clean for you this afternoon, ma’am.” The shark maid ignored that taunting remark, just wanting to get this job over with. She won’t argue! Nor will she allow her buttons to be pushed! If anything she’ll tail whip all of her expensive shit out of pettiness.

Ellen however, did notice the elf’s face visibly tighten, unable to get a reaction out of the maid. She wanted an excuse to scold her. Why? She didn’t understand, they literally JUST met.

“Hmpf, I want you to clean my sculptures that are here in the living room, and to clean my daughter’s room. She’s out with a ..friend and she always leaves her room a mess and I rather not touch her devilish things with my own hands, I want it spotless.”

Ellen couldn’t help but to narrow her eyes and raise a brow, she can’t clean someone else’s room without their consent..? Didn’t matter if the woman paid for it all, she feels that it’s just weird to do that.

“Wouldn’t it be more appropriate to wait until your daughter comes back before I proceed with her room? I have no issue with cleaning your sculptures however.”

She had to interject, she’s representing Lycaon's brand and Corin’s absence. And she’s pretty sure it’s policy under their terms of service to challenge an unreasonable request of the client. As much as she hates to read contracts already, it honestly should be common sense, right?

“I don’t care, I want her room clean. Am I understood, Ms. Joe?”

Well excuse you, bitch?

Ellen only looked at her with an empty stare, no way she was being talked down to like she was her mother, who was this woman? 

 “..Yes ma’am.”

The shark maid complied which earned a smirk from Miller. She wasn’t going to do it. She’ll find an excuse to procrastinate.The older woman gave Ellen a small tour of her place, she’ll admit the place was rather spacious and lovely but her decor taste was abominable. It seemed like more of a museum for crazy people than a home.

She was met with the sculptures she had to clean. It was two of them. However they look like they haven’t been cleaned in months. She wonders if Miller rotates her sculptures out for maid cleanup instead of putting the effort in cleaning it herself. She does have money to spend afterall, so she supposes she’ll pay someone else to handle her chores.

“And before you say anything, Joe. Yes I’m giving you cleaning supplies. I don’t trust the type of chemicals you have with the maid business.” Miller said with the same poisonous attitude.

“‘The Brothers of Eden’ cost 750,000 dennies a piece. Both twin set artifacts I purchased by the artist himself, Bruno Pesci. You young folk wouldn’t know good art even when you see it right in front of you.”

Oh please.

Ellen had seen a plethora of heirlooms during her raids. The crap that Miller had on her person was nothing compared to what she saw for herself, so she couldn't help but to roll her eyes at the bragging commentary.

“ And they are VERY rare, I happen to obtain one of 4 sets in the world mind you.”

…Am I supposed to be impressed? Let me clean lady.

It was clear she was trying to get a reaction out of the shark again to fuel her own dying ego, as if she cared about the piece anyway. She was only there to clean. Ellen only nodded at the blatant rambling the older woman was abnormally eager to tell. 

She gave Ellen the necessary cleaning equipment and told her how to specifically clean the sculptures. 

It was easy work she thought, she could get these things clean in like an hour.

“My little Corin could clean a sculpture bigger than these without a single spec to be shown in under 40 minutes. You, I doubt it. Too busy thinking of other awful things I bet..”

Ellen’s eye twitched, but remained cool and collective, putting on her rubber gloves and adjusting her face mask. She looked at the woman, smiling with her eyes almost.

“As Victoria Housekeeping maids, we ensure that our service is as fast and efficient as possible, ma’am.” The shark put on her best professional voice that she could enact.  

Which got a head shake and an eye roll from Miller.

“I expect my brilliant sculptures to be done in 30 minutes then. I will be checking my emails from the self owned business that I run. I’m very well known in the marketing industry, you know.”

“I don’t.”

Was all Ellen had to say before she turned around to dust one of the sculptures off. She’s sure it pissed the lady off, what business does she run to get validation from an 18 year old trying to make money, weird.

The shark maid watched the older elf storm off upstairs, mumbling something under her breath. She shrugged her shoulders and began to clean the art works.

She had 30 minutes, what an asshole thing to do.

–

It had been exactly 30 minutes since Miller gave Ellen the time frame to when she should be done, which was 30 minutes .

She walked down the stairs, fully expecting the shark to still be cleaning, eager to shout at her some more. “I hope that my Eden Brothers are done, or else you-”

Miller was taken aback from what appeared before her. Ellen stood beside the sculptures on her phone which were absolutely polished . The statues glistened under the light and even sparkled at an angle from the natural sunset lighting from an open window. It was a remarkable sight to behold.

The older woman HATED the fact that this brat was true to the VHK name. She fully expected her to be lazy, argumentative, and unprofessional. There weren't enough buttons that were pushed to have a reason to scold the young girl to stroke whatever resentment she had with her.

“Are you satisfied with my work?”

Asked Ellen, as her true attitude started to seep through her facade. Her sleepiness was slowly taking over, prompting her to reach for a sucker in her maid apron for a sugary fix.

Miller was speechless, but she annoyingly walked over to the statues to inspect them.

They were absolutely clean, the details and crevices that were hard to get were taken care of too and weren’t half assed as well. Everything was done in 30 minutes which was impossible! 

She specifically gave her that time frame to purposely mess her up, risking her expensive work to catch if Ellen were to rush the cleaning process and accidentally break it. Making her pay Miller the money in full.

“...It’s decent. Your next task is to clean my daughter’s room like I asked.”

My God, give it a break lady. Your daughter isn’t even here yet!

Ellen made a small face at the request again. Which quickly intrigued the older elf.

“Is there a problem..Joe?” The shark despised when people would call her by her last name but the way this lady said it, and how she keeps saying it, made her blood boil. It almost felt like a cuss word.

And she did have a problem with the request still, must she vocalize it again? Sure.

“As I mentioned earlier ma’am. Your daughter isn’t home, so I don’t think it’s appropriate to tamper with her belongings without her being present or without her consent.”

The girl’s tail flicked a little in annoyance, this woman was really pissing her off now. She almost felt like Lycaon when he would have to restate something to get the other party to fully understand what he’s saying. Because her words that she articulated seemed like something the wolf thiren would’ve said, impressing herself.

“As I said before, Joe . I want.. her room.. to be clean . Am I understood?” The older woman cocked her head to the side in a taunting manner, giving her a shit eating smirk knowing that she’s finally irritating the poor shark girl. All Ellen could do was glare at her before she spoke.

“...Is there anything specific you would like for me to handle in her room? Will there be things that need to be thrown away, or put away to make the room look as neat as possible?”

Again Ellen was going to find a way to procrastinate and not touch anything in that girl’s room. She was uncomfortable with the idea, then again she stated it as a suggestion for her client to make the decision. However she would’ve thought Miller could’ve taken it into consideration, and at least waited for the daughter to come home. That woman was bad JuJu.

“I want it clean, all the punk crap ..weird flags in her room, I want out . So get a trash bag and clean .”

This lady is actually fucking bananas.

 “..Yes, I will do that.” 

The shark lied. Keeping herself from further challenging this lady’s stupid reasonings. She put the special cleaning supplies away and got a big trash bag to ‘gut out’ her poor daughter’s room. It was insane, she was trying to figure out what was her problem with her…and punk? And she was called a punk, was it her piercings and dark color palette?

Why did that bother her so much?

Ellen climbed up the stairs, given directions to where the daughter’s room was located. It wasn’t hard to miss, it was right in front of her even. The door was decorated in cool alternative knick knacks which she thought was awesome, the daughter certainly had more character and taste than her money driven mother by the door alone..

She sighed and opened the door, greeted with a room full of quality.

Woah..

This took some of Ellen’s bad mood away, the room was decently well kept. Opposite to what Miller described about it being a mess. If anything, she thought the room was amazing! 

The walls were blackened out and decorated with different posters of rock bands, mixed with some hanging vinyl records of Astra Yao and Sān-Z’s hit songs.

The bed was a little messy but it was relatable, Ellen’s was the same. This seemed like a regular school girl’s room with money to spend on her special interest? Why was the mom so persistent about getting all of this out?

She couldn’t help but to walk further into the room and explore a little more, being mindful about her huge shark tail knocking anything over. She noticed more merchandise from bands that were displayed on her dresser and saw her school uniform hung on one of the dresser knobs, ironed and ready for tomorrow.

“Oh she goes to New Eridu High, that’s cool.” It was the school next door to her own, Satsuki High.

She looked around the room and noticed some pride flags that were proudly hung over her window, the design of the flag and sunlight casting a beautiful ray of colors that made the room look even more pretty.

Ellen’s tail wagged a little with joy, this was so amazing to her. She always dreamt of a room like this. She thought the setup she had currently was a bit childish, no matter. She had a job that could fix that.

The girl’s curiosity increased further, trying to make out what kind of flags this girl had propped up before she stepped out the room, feeling like she’s really invading this unknown girl’s privacy.

“That’s the progress pride flag..which one is.. this one? I can’t tell..” Ellen quietly wondered to herself, squinting her eyes to see a bit better through the sun's rays. She made out some pink colors at the bottom of the flag which faded up from a white into a pretty orange.

The shark's eyes widened in realization.

“A lesbian flag. That’s dope.”

“ Ms. Joe? I assume you are making progress with cleaning my daughter’s room, yes? ”

Ellen jumped at the sudden voice yelling from down the stairs. Can she go somewhere, or better yet can she change her mind about this room? She wants to go home already.

“Yeah uh! I’m analyzing my workspace!” 

It was technically the truth, she was admiring the hell out of the daughter’s room. She’s not touching jack squat.

“If I must, I'll come up there myself and help you throw that crud away. You don’t need to analyse anything, just get rid of it!

“ Oh piss off..oh my God.”

Ellen groaned to herself with a devastating eyeroll. Before she knew it she heard footsteps make their way up the stairs.

She’s actually coming up here .

This definitely made one of Ellen’s most annoying clients she’s ever had to face. Because what was her deal? Seriously!

She heard the footsteps stomp closer to her, prepping her ears for another mouthful of hot wine breath.

Until she heard the front door unlock with distant chatter paired with it, she also heard the woman’s footsteps stop in her tracks, heaving a heavy sigh of frustration.

.. Was her plans foiled ..?

Ellen took the opportunity to get out of the room and toss the trash bag off to the side, she’s sure that’s Miller’s daughter.

“ Just say you’re a friend so she doesn’t go batshit , I’m home.” Out came a voice from the bottom of the stairs, followed after rustling keys, and the door closing shut with a lock.

Ellen watched Miller scrunch her face, seemingly more agitated than she was when she was talking with her. She turned and stomped her way back down the steps.

The shark maid seriously didn’t know what to do now, she can already feel the awkward tension as she sees Miller make it down the flight of stairs.

She didn't know if it would be appropriate to stay up on the second floor, or go down to her client like a lost child waiting for directions.

This was just so stupid! She just stayed up top and pulled out her phone, juggling the sucker that was in her mouth.

“You’re home earlier than usual, I’m shocked. And who’s this, Rhea?” The older woman looked at the other occupying girl in question, seemingly scrambling to cover her neck a little with her turtleneck shirt.

“Hi! My name is Eve, I’m Rhea’s friend. You’re her mom right?” Eve greeted herself politely to Miller, even giving her a smile.

Eve was a human girl who had stickers on her face and mid length curly dark brown hair with red tips. She was about as tall as the older elf but slightly shorter than Rhea.

Rhea was an elf like her mother, adorned with piercings that decorated her ears and her hair was dyed black with pink streaks in them.

Miller looked at the girl skeptically, and back to Rhea. “How did you meet this ‘ friend ’?” Her brow rose, looking at the girl up and down already creating assumptions in her head.

“From school? We got along during an in class science project and decided to hangout.”

Rhea was visibly getting irritated with her mom, the pair hardly ever being on good terms it seems. One of the facts is that she wasn’t a girly girl like her mother wanted her to be when she was growing up, and was into things that were too ‘masculine’ and ‘devilish’ she would call it.

“You know at your age you should be hanging out with boys, not girls. You know how I feel about you and.. those.. pretentious crowd of hooligans.”

This made Ellen stop her texting and look up through her brows from that comment.

..What?

“Oh god here we go..she's just a friend, chill out man!” Rhea defended, not wanting to deal with her mom’s seeping bigotry

“I’m not your man , I am a woman thank you. Now tell her to go home. She's not welcome here.” Ellen couldn’t believe her ears..she pressed a button on her phone and tucked it away in her apron’s pocket. Eavesdropping more at this unfolding family dilemma.

“Mom- she’s just a friend, we’re just going to go upstairs and study homework together, c’mon Eve let’s go.” Rhea shook her head and grabbed Eve’s hand to motion their way upstairs but they were ultimately stopped by Miller who crossed her arms and blocked their path. 

“Why can’t you study in the dining room, where I can see you.” The questions were getting pressuring and personal now, it made the shark maid feel uneasy. 

But she had to pause and think for a second. These assumptions and accusations to her daughter’s social life, why the hell did she care about who she hung out with? The mom wanted her to hangout with boys..asking challenging questions to make sure this Eve person was just a ‘friend’ so why did..

“Wait..” 

Ellen quietly mumbled to herself, trying to connect the dots. She immediately rethought about the lesbian flag in Rhea’s room. And the pride flag that accompanied it.

“Oh.. ohhhh …”

The frustrated banter about getting rid of Rhea’s stuff, judging Ellen painfully for her appearance, and now asking damning questions about Rhea’s business.

Mrs. Miller is homophobic.

…Did she actually look like she can pass for a stereotypical lesbian?? She had a million and one questions that needed to be answered.

“Because I don’t want to study where I see all your weird stuff, plus it’s privacy? The hell.” Rhea argued, looking over at her mother’s expensive mess collection.

“Besides when have you ever cleaned your statues, those ones actually look taken care of.” She pointed to the ‘Eden Brothers’ statue that Ellen had professionally cleaned mere minutes ago.

“Oh I actually cleaned those mysel-”

“ I cleaned them.”

Interrupted the shark maid, making her way down the stairs holding onto the lollipop stick that was in her mouth. The trio looked over to the staircase to find the shark thiren calmly stepping down the last few stairs.

She casted the sucker to the side of her mouth to speak again.

“It’s pretty rude to take credit for Victoria’s exclusive touch, don't cha know?” Ellen cocked her head to the side to stare at Miller.

The older elf was visibly getting flustered and angry, this wasn’t how her day was supposed to go she assumes.

The shark maid turned and gave the two perplexed girls a small bow as a greeting, returning to her upright stance to meet the girls eye to eye.

“Name’s Ellen Joe, I was hired by your mother-” As she gives a petty glance to Miller.

“-to clean her statues and was also requested to clean your room without you being here.” Her tail swayed calmly, watching Rhea’s head jerk back with a baffled expression. She looked at Eve who also adorned the same expression.

The younger elf looked at her mother, trying to understand what was going on through her head.

“You tried to hire a maid to get rid of my stuff again ? Are you joking ??” Rhea was reasonably upset which caused Miller to rebuttal back to defend herself.

This wasn’t the first time?

“I’ve told you time and time again, Rhea I want that stuff in your room gone! I said either you handle it or I was going to handle it! It’s disgusting to me!”

“You’re actually so weird, oh my God.” The young elf girl pinched her temples.

“Joe, go up to her room and clean it RIGHT NOW.” Yelled Miller, hoping the shark maid would comply with the request, expecting Rhea to be at her complete mercy.

“I refuse.”

 Ellen declined, her face remaining as stiff as a wooden plank.

“What do you mean you refuse? I requested a maid to take care of BUSINESS, this is unprofessional!” Barked the flustered woman, scrambling to get her phone out of her pocket.

“I’ll contact your superior and get you FIRED, a brat like you isn’t deserving to be at such a high level company!” Threatened the older elf, her ears and face were red from anger, her fingers shaking with rage as she fumbled to type in the VHK contact info.

“I am refusing because not only were you being really mean to me throughout my entire service, but you’re forcing me to do a task that I feel uncomfortable doing for you. So I don’t want to help you anymore.”

Ellen’s face remained stoic, her tone of voice tried to be as professional and calm as possible.

“Whatever, brat! I will be going through with the report, you certainly will not have a job tomorrow!” Her trembling hands were poking at her phone to make a statement about how VHK’s employee gave her ‘unsatisfactory service’.

“You can’t just falsely report her, mom! She was literally just doing her job and did the right thing and not mess with my room!” Rhea stood up and defended the shark maid.

“Plus she’s like my age, cut her some slack, bro!” The young elf tried to snatch the mother’s phone from her hand to keep her from going through with the report, in hopes not to violate Ellen’s employment.

“Get your HANDS off of me, Rhea! And I am not your ‘bro’!”

The mom and daughter tussled over the phone. Ellen only observed with raised brows, watching Eve try to intervene with the small fight. This might’ve been a new one for the girl, she never expected a simple service to escalate this far and it didn’t even have to be this way.

The shark maid took the chance and took out her phone and pressed a button on her screen to enable the speaker phone.

“Alright boss, you can talk now.”

The shark thiren said close to the phone, holding the device up so it was well heard around the area.

“ Ahem, Mrs. Miller. ” Out came the booming voice of the wolf thiren, Lycaon. Making the 3 tussling females all stop what they were doing.

They each separated from the fight and the older elf held her phone tight to where her fingers turned lighter from the pressure. Ellen was smirking, seeing the lady’s face went from unbearable to absolute gold.

She looked stupidly stunned.

“M-Mr. Lycaon, yes hello..?” Wavered Miller, she swallowed hard. She was not expecting to hear the boss man himself intervene with this nonsense. It doesn’t look like she was getting away with her bullying either.

“ I am hearing about the mistreatment of my dear employee, Ellen, yes? The words that I’ve heard from you for the past 5 minutes are inexcusably inappropriate. I am baffled by your behavior. ” 

The wolf was loud and firm with his message, like an almost angry father after a long day at work hearing about his child misbehaving at school. But it was a trusted partner instead.

“But Mr. Lycaon, I can s-surely explain-”

“ To save you the trouble I will personally call you on your cellular device so we can talk directly. I am afraid this is not a professional way to discuss business matters, is it not? I do hope you answer my call, madam Miller. Ellen, you may hang up your phone now and leave the property. ”

With the tap of a button, Ellen ended the call with her boss. And almost immediately, the older elf’s phone was getting a call. Her face seemed regretful but still angry as she looked at her caller ID, which was none other than Lycaon himself. He was a man of his word. She scurried away into the back of the home to take her call, finally giving the girls a break from the unnecessary commotion.

All three exhaled their breaths in relief, taking a moment to calm down. They looked at each other awkwardly until Rhea mustered the courage to break the silence.

“Heyy..your name’s Ellen right? I’m sorry about mom, she's a homophobic jerk..” Rhea apologized, she looked embarrassed having her mom show out in front of Eve and Ellen like that. 

The shark’s face softened a little, it wasn’t her fault her mother was like that. And she shouldn’t have to apologize on behalf of her grumpy ass either.

“It’s fine, I deal with people like that almost every week. It’s not a big deal.” The shark thiren crossed her arms, her tail swayed behind her.

“I’m sure you do, but it’s just my mom. It’s humiliating that I'm related to her, you know?” The young elf looked away, fighting tears. Eve came over to console her with a comforting hug, planting a kiss on her cheek in hopes she’ll feel better. Ellen glanced away with a shy blush at the vulnerable interaction. She gave the pair a moment to recollect their emotions.

“I’ll tell you what, Ellen.” 

Rhea suddenly said, digging in her spiked purse to dig out her wallet. The shark watched the girl pull out a wad of cash and counted it right in front of her.”

“Woah woah woah, I-I can’t accept that. I’m sure my boss will disperse my commission for toda-” 

Rhea took Ellen’s hand and firmly placed the money in them. She took her other hand to close it off as if it were a top, she firmly squeezed her hands to let her know that she was serious about the payment. 

This caused the shark’s tail to stiffen at the sudden touch. Her breathing hitched as she stared at the clasps of each other's hands.

Ellen then looked up at the girl which probably made her breathing worse.

Rhea was gorgeous . She already thought she was pretty before, but it was her brain calling it ‘common female admiration’ but she’s certain she actually found this girl attractive now that they were face to face.

“50,000 dennies. It’s a tip and a thank you, keep it. I promise I won’t miss the money.” Rhea assured the shark who was staring at her like a deer in headlights.

She blinked out of her trance and looked down at the staggering amount of money she just got.

It didn’t feel right having such weight in her hand like that, but she won’t decline the thoughtful action either. There was raw genuineness here and it fueled her blush a little further.

The shark maid took a step back and gave a deep bow. “T-thank you, Rhea. And I also thank you for defending me.” She said while still at a deep bow, her tail was swaying a little faster now, evident that her mood is miles better.

Ellen said her goodbyes to the two girls as she finally left the home, however she really thought to herself as she walked off the property onto the route back to the bus stop.

That Rhea girl was..really cute.

Later That Night..

The shark girl was freshened up and ready for bed. Her sharp teeth brushed, her tail was properly moisturized, and her body and hair was squeaky clean. She wore a simple oversized T shirt and some star pajama bottoms with a DIY hole cut in the back for her tail.

She flopped on her bed with her phone in hand, burying herself within her family of shark plush dolls that housed themselves on her pillows.

“What a day..what a day..”

 Ellen huffed to herself, already tired of the bright light that was invading her eyes. She placed her phone on a wireless charger to let the device juice up for the morning. She adjusted herself on the bed to grab one of her shark dolls from off her pillows. 

This shark felt bigger, she thinks that’s Captain Splashy.

She proceeded to take the plump shark doll and hugged it close to her chest with her arm, using her free arm to lift the blankets over herself so she could be warm. She got comfortable under her covers and when she felt relaxed enough she closed her eyes, letting herself drift off to sleep..

…Except she wasn’t exactly sleepy yet, the day was still processing through the young shark’s head. Her brain replayed the room she explored, Mrs. Miller's weird homophobic tangents, getting 50,000 dennies, seeing a pretty girl that made her head do loops for the duration of the time that she traveled home.

Her thoughts were just loud and all over the place. 

She wanted to rest and hopefully have a normal day tomorrow. But she couldn’t help but to think about that girl’s warm touch when she gave her the money, and how the feeling of being recognized as a good responsible person. It meant the world to Ellen.

She’s had nice encounters before, but it was mainly from guys. She never took it to heart and passed it off just to be polite. However, the same gesture from a girl felt different, it felt warmer, it felt personal, it felt intimate almost..

Ruby’s stupid comments from the morning were still haunting her somehow. And it seems like it won’t go away until something has been solved.

‘ ...Are you into girls by any chance? ’

She opened her eyes in the darkness, however it wasn't a question that weirdly offended her, but it was now a question that confused her even more.

“.. Am I into girls..? ”

Chapter Text

BEEP..  BEEP..  BEEP..  BEEP..

..How annoying.

The alarm clock blared loudly on Ellen’s nightstand. Its repeated screams of torment caused the shark to slowly shuffle and adjust positions underneath her bed covers.

Her ears straining at the noise, her body heavy and sore from the hollow raid the night prior, making her already sleepy nature more taxing.

A part of her right now wishes she could telekinetically shut off her alarm without having to move an inch, but yet, that’s sadly an unfortunate fantasy she wishes would come true. Ellen slowly snaked her arm from under her warm blanket, using her hand to feel where her nightstand was located. She used her fingers to touch around to find her clock, which quickly frustrated her as she had trouble finding the damn thing.

“ Mmmm.. ” 

Ellen mumbled in annoyance, her hand still fumbling around for the still screaming alarm. The constant clumsy movement of her hand hit the clock which caused it to crash onto the floor, but to her success it fell on the off button and stopped entirely.

The shark’s arm fell limp onto the side of her bed, relieved that the alarm was quiet. She knew it was 5 AM which gave her some cushion time to nap for another 30 or so minutes before she had to get up and get ready for school. So she confidently relaxed her body to allow herself to drift off to sleep again.

–

And just like that her nap was over with.

Though she was still a bit groggy, she felt oddly rested which pushed her to start making moves. 

The shark girl squirmed from under her covers to push herself from off of her front, putting her at an upright kneeled position. Her blanket tented itself over her figure as she emerged, she then took it off and wrapped the cushioning around her body instead of it being overhead.

As much as Ellen enjoyed the cold, she had to admit this morning was pretty darn nippy. She slowly blinked the sleep out of eyes and looked over to her star patterned curtains, the bright morning sky seeping through the gaps of the calmly swaying fabrics. 

She thought the light seemed a bit too bright outside, so she passed it off as her eyes were still adjusting to her surroundings.

She yawned as she reached for her phone from off of her charger, tapping the screen to turn it on to see what time it was. She narrowed her eyes and blinked a few times at the blinding screen, trying to make out the numbers.

Until she felt her heart practically drop.

Her phone read 7:30 AM.

And school starts at 8 AM .

The shark tilted her head back and squeezed her eyes shut.

“.. Fuck …I’m gonna be late!” Ellen groaned and sighed in her hand, feeling stupid that she let herself doze for that long. But it wasn’t exactly her fault that she slept in! She had a pretty active work schedule last night, mentally and physically draining at that. So taking an extra 2 hours and some odd minutes to recharge was necessary.

But it didn’t matter now, she had to go. She stumbled out of bed to quickly go to the restroom to refresh up. This definitely wasn’t the first time Ellen was late for school, or literally to anything. 

She used to be really bad at judging time and let her damning procrastination catch up with her, and the realization that finally got her to attempt at making a change wasn’t even work or school related.

It was mainly getting first dibs on 404 concert seatings and karaoke bookings that made her realize time was important. And to even leave earlier to avoid getting stuck with herds of people trying to leave out at the same time.

It was a problem avoider, Ellen liked to call it. But it certainly didn’t work if she didn’t seal her end of the deal. She opened her closet to grab her uniform shirt and skirt. Forcing her arms and head through the holes of the shirt. Then, she frustratingly slipped her skirt up and wrapped the strapped piece of fabric over the base of her tail. She stumbled around her room to grab a few items and forced them in her book bag.

“ Uhg ..I’ll do my makeup later.” The shark thiren grumbled to herself, making it out her bedroom door.

She was unmindful of her tail’s size this time, accidentally smacking it against the wall. The force of it shook the complex, causing a few items hung on her wall to fall over. She winced and cursed under her breath, but that didn’t matter right now. She rushed down the stairs, fitting into her blocky school shoes and went out her front door digging in her pocket in search of her keys.

She paused.

“... Dammit , I left my keys in the house..”

With a strong eye roll, she reopened her door and went back upstairs to her room to grab the keys from off of her nightstand, hurrying back down so she could properly lock and leave her building.

If it wasn’t one thing it was surely another.

Ellen thought to herself. She shook her head and hurried down her neighborhood to try and catch the earliest train ride that she could. Being late shouldn’t bother her this much, usually if she was she’d take her time. What difference would it make if she rushed? She would still be late anyway, there’s no point.

And she often skips classes anyway to take a nap. But considering that those are only for classes that have no real contribution to her credits, it’s a reasonable offense. But her first period was math, she promised herself that she’ll work on her attendance for subjects that did matter towards graduating. So she figured that she’ll at least cushion the damage by not being super late.

Since she is a senior, she could slack off and wait for the time to come. But multiple principal and counselors office visits told her otherwise. Basically in short, she needed to get her shit together.

The young shark paced herself through the beautiful routes of New Eridu, this morning was beautiful. The sky wasn’t the ocean blue that Ellen adored most of the time, but was covered in a light sheet of cloud that masked it to its entirety. Which provided its own charm to it. Things like this she would admire more if she wasn’t weaving and wavering around passerbyers, even being aware of her tail length this time to not accidentally slap anyone.

She was fortunate that she was agile and quick, otherwise she would be bumping into everyone that she dared come close to. 

It didn’t take long for her to arrive at the metro station, quickly tapping her card to enter the gateway to get herself to the waiting area.

To her surprise but unsurprising expectation, it was crowded with people, salarymen and women and even other students like her were all conjoined in this faction of bullshit. Ellen couldn’t help but to roll her eyes again, but this was kind of her fault. Not really, but it was. She couldn’t help but pull out her phone to see the time at least. 

“7:43..”

The shark sighed, thankfully she won’t be that late. The metro will take her 10 minutes, and it will take her another 10 to at least arrive at the school. She placed her phone back into her skirt pocket and awaited for the next Metro train to arrive. The shark thiren couldn’t help but to think back about the car conversation she and the girls had. Maybe a car would’ve been convenient right now.

She pondered the thought, but it vanished as the crowd started to move forward and funneled into the train car. The seats quickly filled up which unfortunately forced Ellen to keep standing and hold onto the handrail.

She absolutely hated the feeling of being bumped and touched. Her shoulders squeezed in, she felt her tail being tickled by pants and dresses of other people. It was over stimulating and suffocating. She could even smell the people, they either smelled nice or stunk. At this hour in the morning? It offended her.

—

The shark thiren finally made it to her school, Satsuki High. She hurried up the stairs to make her way into the building front. She opened the door and walked in, relishing the dread of school air. It was all too familiar but so draining at the same time, no matter. She had a class to get to. The hallways of the school had maybe 2 students rushing to class as well so she didn't feel too alone, so she jogged the route to where her classroom was.

–

“Now that I’ve written down the formula to the equation, does anyone have any questions about the step-”

The class door clicked open with a slight squeak, emerging Ellen who walked right into the room. She looked straight, ignoring the sudden stares and silence that came with.

Though it was hard to ignore, a sudden awkwardness flushed over the shark girl.

“Ellen, you're late. But I’m glad you could join us, have a seat.” Outed the professor which caused a small vein to sprout out of her forehead from annoyance.

Just had to announce it, didn’t cha?

“Yeah whatever.”

Was all she could muster up through clenched teeth, she didn’t feel like talking back. She felt the lingering eyes follow her as she made it to her assigned seat next to her friend Monna, giving her professor the go ahead to continue his session. The girl adjusted her tail to slip through the gap of the chair, tucking her skirt to her thighs so she could sit comfortably.

“Hey Ellen, did something happen?” Whispered the cow thiren to the right of her, watching her set her bag down on the floor to open it, digging for her notebook and pens.

“I overslept.”

“Ohh.”

The shark flipped through her book, the papers filled with previous math equations and notes that she took multiple sessions ago. Front and back were inked and lead written, showing her inconsistency of utensils. She finally got to a blank page where she could write down today’s lesson. As she picked up her pen she looked up to copy what all she missed until the professor wiped it all away to begin a new lesson.

Her mouth gaped before she closed it, an expression of disgruntlement washed all over her face.

He knew for a fact that I was late..erased everything anyway because that makes sense, awesome.

“Uhg.. dickhead.” Ellen mumbled, resting her hand on her cheek as she watched him rewrite down another example equation.

“Don’t worry you can copy down my notes.” Monna offered, folding her book so the front covering was to the back. Ellen’s eyes darted over to the notebook being provided to her, causing her to lift her head from her hand to properly look over.

“Oh for real? Thanks.” The shark accepted, taking the book from the cow’s hand.

“But wait, what about the new notes he’s writing down?”

“I have an extra piece of paper right here, don’t worry.” The cow thiren waved a ripped out notebook page around so Ellen could see before putting it back down on her desk. It was littered with practice equations off to the side.

“Oh okay, thanks again though.” 

“No problem.”

The shark was relieved, she could actually catch up on class thanks to Monna. She placed the cow's book next to her own so she could copy down all the solutions and formula explanations.

Her eyes looked back and forth between the two notebooks. Her leg folded over the other, her foot idly wiggling about as she did, she was bored already, but at the same time she was content in the moment. The room was also filled with whispers among her other peers as well. The sounds of pencils and pens scribbling down on their papers, pages flipping, zippers zipping, bookbag digging, and the professor going on about the lecture. It was pretty much white noise for her that she was very accustomed to, starting off the school day as normal.

The shark girl managed to copy down the last of Monna’s notes down on her paper. Thankfully it wasn’t much, but she made sure she hurried up so she could return the notebook back to the cow as soon as she could. Not wanting to hold her up on her own education. She picked up the book and nudged the cow girl’s arm with it to get her attention. Said girl looked over curiously to see what Ellen needed.

“I’m finished.” Came out of the bored sounding shark's mouth, her stoic face looking right at Monna. The cow thiren pulled her lips into a smile, taking the book back from Ellen’s hand. She looked back down at her book and smiled wider, seemingly preparing herself for what she wanted to say. Even conjuring a tiny giggle, at the thought.

“ Now , what have we learned?” 

Monna chuckled, her tail swishing about, bravely poking at the aquatic predator. This made the shark scoff and shake her head looking off towards the slightly open window on the left of her.

“I ain’t Ruby you know.” The shark thiren’s tail lightly slapped against the floor in mild irritation. There's no way she's being teased this early in the morning.

Monna continued to smile, still copying her own notes down on her notebook.

“I know, but what have we learned, though?”

She wasn’t going to stop unless she got an answer was she? She didn’t want to entertain this blatant mockery any further, so she just sighed as she slouched back on her seat, still scribbling down the new notes that were on the board.

“To not oversleep..” Ellen dryly answered, now glaring at the cow.

“Good, get better rest, okay?” Monna said, which threw the shark into a small whiplash. Making her admit her own mistake and then following up with a reassuring comment, interesting.

“M’kay.”

Ellen simply replied. The session continued on from there, more problems were written on the board, voluntary hands were raised from students to share their understanding of the subject, and the class became more talkative as the time went by, prompting the professor to quiet the students down eventually.

“Okay now that we’ve gone over these practice problems I’m confident that you guys can come up to the board and demonstrate how to solve it?” Asked the professor, clapping his hands together with a grin on his face.

The class was silent and exchanged awkward and nervous glances to each other, unsure if they were ready to test their knowledge on the newly acclimated problems.

“...Great! First volunteer..” He looked over the class of students.

“Donny! Come up please, I’ll give you an equation to solve.”

Multiple eyes laid on a raccoon thiren boy. He made a small face but he reluctantly got up from his seat to volunteer to participate in the activity.

“I can use my own work right?.. Like a guide?” Donny asked, stopping in his tracks to point at his singular piece of paper.

“You can, go ahead.”

The raccoon thiren took his piece of paper and made his way to the front of the class, waiting for the instructor to jot down the problem so he could solve it.

Ellen watched the boy relook at his paper, slightly crumpling his paper out of nervousness. He was handed a piece of chalk from the professor, preparing himself to add onto the prewritten formula of numbers.

The shark thiren watched the guy fumble for a little bit before her attention span refocuses on other things. She found herself studying people now, a handful of her classmates were looking at the board and even writing down notes of their own. And the other portion weren’t as engaged, and even created a book or book bag barrier to hide them from using their phone.

She supposes that's what she looks like she thought. Periodically she would glance back up at the front of the room, seeing Donny making progress with his work. Which prompted her to be a little studious and write down her own notes. She wasn’t that bad of a student, albeit not as engaging but she was a smart kid nonetheless. Just preferred to put her efforts elsewhere. 

Time goes by and multiple students go up and even raise their hand up to test out their knowledge. Which gives Ellen some sense of security that she won’t get called on.

She rested her cheek on her hand, idly playing with her pen, her eyes wandered around the room once more to look at her classmates.

She spotted a human boy wearing his cap backwards, slouched back on his chair to mess with his phone. His wired earbuds wrapped around his ears so they wouldn't fall off as he typed and swiped away on his device. 

Ellen then eyed a mixed thiren of some sort? Not exactly a cat, but not exactly a dog either. The girl was pretty, she wore her hair in a braid and had small silver studs in her fuzzy ears. She was one of the more academic students in the class, she was rather far from where Ellen sat, but her desk was packed with her binder filled with organized writings and even sticky notes. Ellen thought that was so extra, but at the same time respected the effort.

The shark eyeballed more of her classmates. She sat with these people for months and could even recognize a handful of them, but she just never really looked at them. Well, it was still strange to just stare at people but Ellen’s boredness and curiousness got the best of her. She watched them get up and sit down, demonstrate and make mistakes, it was at least something to make the time fly..

Ellen peered around the class some more, and happened to notice her friend right besides her, Monna. She looked at her for a short amount of time, not really thinking much given the fact they see eachother every day, but she couldn't help but to glance again, observing her side profile.

She looked at her horns, the imperfect scratch markings on them and how they shined a little, making her assume she likes to put a special serum on them to strengthen and make them look nice. She did the same with her tail too, she wonders if they use the same product?

Her eyes focused on her fluffy golden brown ear, they looked very well taken care of, not a mat in sight. It looked so soft, she thought. The top of the ear was almost a velvet like fur texture, and the inside of the ear was fuzzy and recently trimmed.

It twitched a little to the sound of the instructor's sudden voice applauding a student who completed their task exercise. It temporarily distracted her, but in moments her brain pushed it off to the side as an irrelevant memory.

She looked at her lighter brown hair that was slightly damp, knowing she took a shower this morning before school. But the way her hair became a little wavy at the ends was really cute. Ellen’s own hair was pin straight, wondering what her own hair would look like with small curls like that. 

She watched the cow thiren girl suddenly look up from her book, frightening the shark a little before she glanced away, in fear that she would be caught staring. Oh how awkward that would be.

Once she found it safe to relook, she did. She observed her soft face, the light makeup work in the corner of her eyelids complimented her big soft eyes. Her makeup wasn’t cakey either, she didn't have a real issue with cakey makeup as people are learning how to use the right amount of foundation and powder but she just had to admire the skill, it looked like she had an enhancing filter on.

She was... lovely. The shark thiren didn’t realize it but she was seriously staring at this girl now, her face remained neutral but it softened a little as she continued to scan her friend's pretty face.

“Ellen!”

The girl jerked out of her trance, her tail stiffening up as well. Her eyes were the only thing that moved to see the man that called her name.

The entire classroom turned to look at the shark girl who looked like she just saw a glimpse of her tail being fried on a grill. 

“Come solve a problem for us before the class ends!” 

Her professor seemed to glimmer. He called on her on purpose 100%.

A few of the boys in the back of the classroom cheered for her to get up, evident that they like her. Doing it in hopes their praise and support would get her to notice them. But her face contorted to her typical grimace instead.

She fixed her face. Then pointing to her own notes to nonverbally ask her professor if it was okay to use her references. 

“Yes, you can use your notes.” 

The professor granted, watching Ellen carefully pick her tail out from the chair gap and walk to the front of the class. 

“Go Ellen, you got this!” Encouraged Monna from behind, clapping a little as well.

Something in the shark thiren’s heart swelled a tiny bit. She appreciated her friend’s applause. It was reassuring and warm, not some sweaty guys doing it. She walked up to the chalk board and waited for her instructor to write down a practice equation for her to solve. All she could hear was the chalk scratching against the board and that was it. 

It was dead silent..

It wasn’t this quiet when the other students were taking their turn in solving the problem. It was either small talk and some sort of miscellaneous noise like erasing and pen scribbling. So the pressure was rather punishing for Ellen.

The professor handed the chalk to the shark.

“Alright, let’s see what you’ve learned.”

She took the chalk stick and stared at it, thumbing it a little, feeling its soft powdery surface. Then, she looked back over to the class which only made her visibly recoil. 

That's totally not freaky..everyone is staring.

She made a face and looked back at the equation, eyeing the set up before she looked at her own practice notes. The shark thiren took a while, but she eventually raised her arm up to start writing on the board. 

It was just her squeaky writing and her notebook fondling that filled the silence of the room. 

Her face remained still but she felt her heartbeat gradually getting faster. She’s sure the class heard it from how painfully quiet and focused everyone was.

She took small pauses to relook at her notes and continued to write numbers and symbols on the board. Even having a small self reflection, questioning her own handwriting in some areas of her notes. She made a few errors which prompted her to use the eraser to undo her mistakes, but she ultimately powered through the long problem. 

Alas, she set the chalk stick down on the supporting lip below the board and took a step back for her instructor to evaluate her work. She watched him step forward to look at the formula, checking his teacher's cheat book to make sure she solved it correctly.

Her long tail swayed with an inconsistent rhythm, nervously glancing between the teacher and the board. This wasn’t serious but it was serious. She didn’t want to be embarrassed for the 3rd time this period.

“...Ah, well done Ellen!”

“You did everything correctly, good job.”

The shark sighed in relief, beginning to hear her classmates clap it up for her.

RINGGGG!

Ellen made her way back down the aisle of desks to return to her own, angling herself to sit on her seat sideways so she could pack her things.

“Dang, Ellen. You learned that kind of fast.” Monna complimented, closing her book and collecting her pens to place back in her pouch.

“I might be lazy but I'm not dumb.” 

Ellen blankly commented, closing her own book of math scribbles and stuffed it in her bag. Grabbing her pen and practically tossing it in there too. She cringed a little to herself.

Shit, that probably came off rude..

“I mean like. I don’t know, it made some sense to me.” 

The shark corrected herself, zipping up her book bag. She slipped her arm through the strap of the bag, letting the one strap hang from her shoulder as she sat and waited for Monna to finish her packing.

“No no, I know you’re smart! I won’t lie though... this lesson was kind of tricky for me..”

 Monna shyly admitted, her ears flattening a little in slight embarrassment as she too zipped up her bag.

“You’re good actually. I think it's just the beginning of it, you’ll probably get the hang of all that junk later.”

 Reassured Ellen, she saw Monna smile softly as she got up from her chair. Which prompted the shark to also stand up to leave the aisle, standing behind the slow moving queue of kids that are trying to get out of the classroom for a breakfast break.

“Yeah you’re right. But knowing school, the exams will be a billion times harder than the questions they do give you as practice.”

Monna rolled her eyes, thinking of the many times she had to retake exams because she was somehow missing a step that was never explained throughout the month’s lesson.

“Deadass though, they’re weird.” The shark comfortably stuck her hands in her skirt pocket.

The duo walked besides each other, finally exiting their classroom and making their way down the hallway to aim for the cafeteria. It was packed like usual, students hanging out on the sides to talk with their friends, large groups of people obnoxiously laughing as they held up everyone behind them, other students who were trying to get to their next class or take the time to get a quick bite in the school’s cafeteria. It was just another day in this place.

The pair conversed as they went down the stairs. Monna mainly did all the talking while Ellen stayed quiet to listen to her. The shark tried to engage with small responses however, she didn’t want to seem as if she was uninterested in their conversation. But most of the time, she didn't know what to say or how to respond.

She’s always had that problem, she’s afraid her low energy nature could get in the way of making friends, or even keeping them. Though, she wasn’t afraid of expressing her apathetic attitude towards strangers if the talk became too long.

If she had to, sure. She’ll go out of her way to put up a front if it means saving face for whatever reason, but she didn’t have anything to lose for people she didn’t even know. But this comes with her still lingering trauma of her childhood, she found it easier to push rather than pull.

“So this guy genuinely thought I had hooves, like no man, if they were I wouldn't be wearing regular shoes-”

“-Hey, Monna. I’ll come to the cafeteria in a bit. I need to get something out of my locker.”

Ellen interrupted their talk, she wasn't the best at stopping a conversation when she needed to leave. It was just this second hand awkwardness she felt for Monna, so eager to tell her things just to put it on pause. The girl's bluntness might as well be the death of her. 

The cow thiren halted in her tracks to look at the shark before she smiled, quick to understand they'll continue off when they reunite.

“Oh okay, I'll tell you more later!”

The cow girl gave Ellen a little wave then resumed her walk towards the main entryway to the cafeteria, seemingly vanishing through the sea of students also heading in that direction.

Forgot I had English next period..I need my book.

The shark went the opposite way of the cafeteria, turning a corner to make her way to where her locker was. She again was met with students who were hanging out besides classrooms and even walking amongst the hallways like she was.

She noticed a few of them looking in her direction, and even a few guys getting their friend’s attention to check her out. It’s a curse that she’s pretty and considered ‘cool’ or whatever, it was unwanted attention from all angles.

She arrived at her locker, it wasn’t as decorated as the other neighboring ones beside her. She had maybe 2 or 3 stickers of sharks on it while the ones on the side looked like they could participate in door decoration contests the school loved to hold for crappy pizza party events. She held her lock and twisted the knob to put in her passcode, carefully getting the dial to accurately hit each number exactly.

With that the lock’s handle sprung out, she raised her hand and held the handle to open it.

A couple of cards and folded notes came falling out of the girl’s locker, littering her feet with the crafted gifts. She just stood there staring at the book she was meant to grab but also made a realization she totally forgot about.

“.. Gross .”

The shark sighed. She forgot that she had pending love notes always waiting for her, she’ll always think that it was creepy to receive love letters. Especially it being this many, what was she a freaking celebrity? She didn’t know.

She squatted down to pick up the different colored cards, remembering that Ruby suggested reading some of them to the group to get a good laugh.

A guy randomly came by kneeling beside her, picking up the cards to help her but she declined the assistance, shooing him away as he persisted. She didn’t have time for that gentleman crap right now. The shark managed to pick up the letters, all 10 of them to be exact. She stood back up, looking at each of them with furrowed brows.

Ellen seriously didn’t have time to read all of these, she’ll pick a few and throw the rest away. She chose 4 random ones, one folded notebook paper, one yellow card that had poorly colored hearts and a crudely drawn shark on it, one blank white envelope that had one heart sticker sealing the lip, and one blue card that had shark stickers all over it.

Ohh boy.. .

She took the rest of the remaining 6 cards and threw them in the trash that was conveniently next to her locker. Whoever was watching her and recognized their card more than likely had their hearts shattered.

The shark thiren looked at the blue card first, whoever made this one knew how to get her attention she’ll give them that. She adored the shark stickers, they were cute. She opened it which was decorated in more sea themed stickers, ranging from coral reefs, to fishes, to even bubbles. She likes the presentation but she looked over to the message that was left.

“ You’re so cool! Never seen a shark thiren before! I like sharks by the way :) “

“..Hm, alright then.”

So far it was normal, just a little geeky. She decided to place it back into her locker, mainly due to the fact it was decorated nicely. Ellen sort of liked artistic talent so whoever sent her that card, a +1 she guesses.

She took out the folded notebook paper one which in marker wrote “ TO ELEN.”

“How did this guy manage to spell my name wrong..?”

The shark girl had a raised brow, shaking her head at the misspelling. There was tape that held it together so she simply peeled it off so she could unfold it.

“ YOU ARE BEUTI BEAUTIFUL SHARK GIRL MY NAME IS OLIVER I AM IN YOUR 5TH PERIOD YOUR VERY PRETTY AND HOT HERES MY NUMBER TEXT ME FOR DATE ♡ “

  “Yup that one’s..weird as hell! Least I know who to avoid and block.”

She grimaced, refolding the paper and placing it in her skirt pocket to share with her friends. She picked out the yellow paper card, whoever drew on it had an unstable hand that's for sure. Didn’t bother to even color in the hearts right, she didn’t know why she had high expectations for this type of thing. She opened the card to read it.

“ To Ellen . . You Are Very Beautiful I See A Future Between The Two Of Us . . A Nice Home . . And Babies Of Our Own. . ! I Think 3 Kids Are Cool. You Would Make A Good Mom To My Kids. I Love You Ellen Joe. May You Share Your Last Name With Me? - Parker ”

“Ohh. What in the fuck..?”

Her lips tightened, feeling her tail twitch in irritation. She closed the card and placed it in her pocket. What on earth was she attracting? By simply just existing too, these people are scary. Finally she got to the last letter which was the envelope with a heart. She used her finger to tear the opening so she could pull the contents from inside.

Please let this one be normal..

She opened the card up, reading what it had to offer.

“ Dear Ellen,

I’m so nervous writing this, I hope this letter reaches you. If not then it’s okay.I’ve had these developing feelings for you, ever since we met. I think you’re super cool and unique and pretty badass too! But I’m too scared to talk to you directly about this because I don’t know how you will take it, and because I'm a girl.. I'm not sure if you are even interested. So I’m writing this letter to let you know how you make me feel. I don’t want to weird you out which made it harder to consider writing this letter to you..but I wanted to give it a shot. “

Ellen held onto the note, her large tail swaying slightly as she further studied it. This letter felt genuine and warm , and she didn’t like how it also made her feel..a little enticed? And this note, the girl didn’t leave her name. So she was left anonymous which further raised the shark girl’s curiosity.

The shark thiren lifted her head up from the note to look around, not exactly looking for the secret admirer, but to see any nosy people watching her read her sappy notes like it was some cliched high school drama. She thought more to herself from how ironic that sounds, she probably is in a cliched high school drama.

She wanted to save this note and look back at it later, something about it seemed strangely familiar but she was just wasting time. 

Her stomach rumbled in hunger, she was passed due on getting something to eat. Ellen swung her bookbag towards her front to unzip it open, placing the mystery letter in there along with her English textbook for her next period. She zipped the bag up and closed her locker, squeezing her lock shut before turning and heading towards the cafeteria.

–

“So Ruby, how was your dad’s birthday? Was it fun?”

“Oh, Moo moo..I wanted to cry lowkey, we went bowling . ..Like.. who the hell bowls anymore?”

“I mean..I like bowling.”

“You’re the exception, Lynn. But I thought my dad would’ve chosen something more fun or something you know?”

The blonde girl was scratching at her orange, her blunt nails could hardly peel it’s skin. She scrunched her face, frustrated that the damn orange won’t peel! Monna and Lynn looked at eachother, watching their friend struggle to get the fruit exposed.

“...Do you need help?” Asked Monna, using her index finger to scratch behind her fluffy ear.

“No no I’m fine, I just don’t have grip.”

“So you need help..?”

“I’m finding the grip! Bear with me here.”

Ruby continued to fuss with her fruit, tightening her lips as she's still finding a softer spot to peel. As the blonde girl continues to fidget, Ellen takes a seat in the empty chair the group was saving for her. She had 3 chocolate muffins in her hand, she placed them down and tore the packaging on one of them so she could eat it.

“Oh hey nom nom shark!”

Ruby greeted with a smile, still somehow struggling with her orange. The shark bit into her muffin and glanced at the blonde haired girl, shaking her head as she rolled her eyes at the annoying nickname.

“Good morning, Ellen.”

“Hey Ellen!”

Her other two friends welcomed her, a warm smile from Monna and a small smile from Lynn. Ellen gave an up nod as she bit into her muffin again, she was too hungry to talk at the moment.

“So.. this whole time, Ruby couldn’t peel an orange by the way.”

Outed Monna, looking at her blonde haired friend who was still struggling with her orange.

“I’m telling you! I need to get a grip!”

“ Get a grip and leave the orange alone at this point..” The cow thiren giggled, this was just too stupid of a situation Ruby found herself in. Ellen silently watched the silly problem unfold before she placed her muffin down and let out her hand, motioning her fingers to give her the orange. Ruby looked at her and hesitated, but reluctantly gave the shark her fruit.

Ellen took the orange and placed both of her thumbs in the center of it and ripped it in half, placing the two halves of the fruit on the girl’s tray. Ruby just stared at the orange, her lips pursed as she looked back up at Ellen, who was looking at her with a bemused expression while still chewing her muffin.

“Show off.”

“Not even a thank you?” Ellen said, mouth full of muffin.

Lynn and Monna giggled, looking over towards Ruby’s direction. Defeatedly, the blonde haired girl took one of the orange halves and began to peel it. Since it’s exposed she has a better time handling the skin layer underneath. Ellen swallowed her food.

“Why can’t you open an orange?”

“I don’t have gorilla strength like you nom nom!”

“...It was literally squishy though.”

“I HAD NO GRIP.”

Ellen just shook her head, picking her muffin back up to take another bite. She loved it when school served chocolate muffins, sweet enough to keep her awake and they were overall a great treat. Her favorite part was the chocolate chips that were in the pastry, chewing on pure chocolate goodness. 

“So anyways! Ellen, did you get the love letters from your locker?”

Asked Ruby, putting an orange slice in her mouth. The shark dug into her pocket to take out 2 of the cards she saved for the group, putting them down on the table. She swallowed again before she spoke.

“Have fun.”

She unwrapped another muffin before biting into it, Ruby furrowed her brows a bit before picking up the letters. She looked at both of them before looking back up at Ellen who looked at her just as confused.

“Just 2, nom nom?”

“I can get the rest out of the trash if you want.”

“..You sure you didn’t keep some for yourself..?”

“I didn’t. Waste of time.”

Ellen replied vaguely as per usual, picking out a chocolate chip from her muffin. She glanced over at Monna, noticing her resting her hand on her chin. Her hand covered her face as her fingers curled, clutching on her lip. She looked as if she was in intense thought about something, and a little bothered by the look of her face.

The shark wanted to ask if she was okay but she quickly thought about how she came off a little rude earlier when it came to the math lesson. Something twisted in the girl’s heart, she hopes that it was no big deal right? She’s usually blunt with her words and sometimes speaks what comes to mind. 

Ellen left the assumption alone, worrying that if she were to ask it’ll cause more discomfort. She had no reason to be nervous for what the response would be? Her friends go through disagreements and conflict all the time, why would this be any different? Why does this feel different?

She herself was thinking until it was disrupted by a sudden burst of laughter coming from in front of her. This caused her and Monna to jolt and look towards the source. Ruby was holding one of the cards, specifically the notebook paper one. Lynn was on the side of her reading the paper as well with a visible look of concern on her face.

“WOW THIS IS SO BAD AHAHAHA!”

Laughed Ruby, tears streaking down her face.

“I thought the notes would be a bit more romantic and heartfelt than this..this is just concerning and desperate.” Inquired Lynn, picking up the yellow card to see more of Ellen’s ‘love notes.’

“The yellow one’s worse by the way, that shit made me wanna vomit.”

The shark thiren pointed at the yellow card Lynn was holding, finishing off her 2nd muffin. Lynn looked up at Ellen with widened eyes as if she couldn’t believe there could be worse than this. She looked down and opened the card.

“Oh..”

“Told ya.”

The girl with glasses could only tighten her face at the…interesting choice of words.

Monna curiously looked over at the notes, wondering what they could possibly say.

“Can I see that one, Lynn?”

“Yeah, please prepare yourself though. It’s so weird.”

Lynn hands the card over to Monna.

“..Oh wow this is awful !”

The cow exclaimed, smiling a little and even chuckling from the absurd text before her. Ellen took notice that the cow’s mood was slightly better, but still unconfident in a way. Ruby then momentarily gave her the paper that she held, still giggling at the way it was written.

“You have to look at this one, moo moo. The guy said he's in her 5th period and told her his name, bro..”

The blonde pointed at the writing. Monna snorted and just shook her head.

Ellen was too busy chowing down on her last chocolate muffin, letting the girls look at her weirdo mail. Her tail was curled neatly on her lap to avoid the ground, it wiggled slightly in glee from the sweet pastry.

“And Ellen, you get..how many of these per day did you say?”

Lynn asked, adjusting her glasses to look at her, genuinely concerned for the shark girl.

She swallowed.

“Like what 6? It was 10 today. But it doesn’t matter, I threw all of 'em away.”

The shark replied, biting into her muffin. As unbothered as the girl was, there was some degree of annoyance that she felt getting all those letters. She couldn’t pinpoint when they started to show up either. She guesses around Junior year, around the time she met her friends.

RINGGGG!

There goes the bell. Monna took both of the cards and threw them in the trash as requested of Ellen. The 4 of them each gave each other a brief farewell as they parted ways to their next class. All of them wouldn’t completely sync together until 3rd period, she could manage with 1 period by herself.

She told herself that she would be more productive with her last year, but something was telling her to re-look at the note that she kept in her book bag privately. Her professor for English was understanding of her work life with the help of counseling, so she will use that as an excuse to why she’s a little late for the class.

Ellen’s route shifted as she made her way to the girl’s bathroom, she was thankful that the students were still trying to wake up, zombie-ing their way to their class. So there wasn’t a huge crowd rushing like it is for lunch time. The shark arrived in the bathroom, she turned the knob and walked inside. 

Wow it’s empty for once.

She thought. Typically, she expected maybe a handful of girls to hog the sink and mirror to retouch up on their hair and makeup. Speaking of which, she probably should do that too, her face felt incredibly bare even though she barely does a full face of makeup anyway. It was the small touch ups she liked to do that she thought enhanced her features by miles.

She made her way to the last stall, closing and locking the door behind her. She wasn’t going to use the toilet so she squatted on the floor instead, she wasn’t going to put her bum on the icky seat no way. But then again, her dumb long as fuck tail hardly has any space to rest, so her position was even more uncomfortable. She had no choice but to curl the large appendage around her and hold it like some sort of safety rope. It was awkward but it was only for a little bit.

Ellen took her bag off and swung it to her front, using her fingers to spread away the notebooks, stray assignments, and textbook she had stuffed in there. She located the envelope and pulled it out, taking out the letter inside to reread it. 

There was really something about this letter that intrigued Ellen and she couldn’t quite put her finger on it. She looked at each sentence that was on the paper. It was written as if the girl who was writing it was saying it out loud as she went, which made her believe this note had an authentic thought process. Not minding the fact it was mentioned that there was hesitation in writing it.

Ellen couldn’t help but to study her words. “ I’ve had these developing feelings for you, ever since we met. ”This was the main one that made Ellen become interested.

“Ever since we met..” She narrowed her eyes, there was a bunch of people in her school that she’s ‘met’. She wasn’t sure if this was another fit of delusion by an extremely literate person, or it was by someone that she actually knew but didn’t know who . She kept reading it, feeling her face sting from warmth a little. Someone.. really has feelings for her? She knew a lot of people from the notes alone clearly liked Ellen, but it wasn’t genuine to the point where she felt quite flustered from the admission.

But why her, though? She asked herself. She didn’t see herself as anyone likeable enough to fall in love with, if anything she behaves in a way that should repulse those who even get near her. So how is it that somehow, she was able to attract an individual that saw something in her that she couldn’t see herself?

This was hurting her brain the more she thought about it.

The school bell rang, an indicator that she should be in class but she didn’t care right now. She continued to read through the text. “ But I’m too scared to talk to you directly about this because I don’t know how you will take it, and because I'm a girl.. ” Ellen’s face couldn’t help but to heat up slightly more. 

A girl was interested in her, was this the first? She doesn’t know honestly. But this narrowed down a margin of possibilities that could be her secret admirer. Not to mention, she thinks she has a thing for girls anyway, so this excited her more than she liked.

Her brows furrowed deeper, intensely studying all that was written, even rereading sentences. “ I don’t want to weird you out which made it harder to consider writing this letter to you.. ” Ellen’s face softened a little at the sentence. 

“So considerate..” The shark girl has such a soft spot for people who show her their concern for her own wellbeing. It was almost a trick that could win her over in a heartbeat, but her mindset falters at the vulnerability. And she couldn’t let herself be bitched out by a stranger who gave her a sappy note, she was a dang shark she’s supposed to be tough as nails, right? She shook her head, she was letting this situation rule her over more than what she would like it to be. It disgusted her.

She swallowed her building saliva, still tasting the chocolate muffins she ate prior. It was a niche distraction to pull herself together, but it was only temporary. She really thought the letter was nice, a complete 180 from what she read earlier. 

Had she gotten more letters written to her like this, maybe in lower quantities she would love herself a little more. But it was hard to do that considering she’s battling what feelings she should have for this inked piece of paper. Hell, allowing other people’s words to make her think otherwise of herself, it was all familiar territory but in different day settings.

Another thing that made Ellen take the note with her aside from its message was the handwriting. It was...strangely familiar to her. But she couldn’t pinpoint why it was. She’s seen a bunch of papers with different writing techniques. Ranging from being neat and small, unreadable chicken scratch garbage, beautiful cursive, and even messy and huge. 

The amount of exams she had to grade as a class activity makes this even messier, considering everyone's name was a blur to her. But this one felt extremely recognizable, so recognizable that it was pissing her off. She was close yet so damn far.

The shark girl was pulled out of her trance when she heard the school bathroom open, followed up by chatter from maybe 3 girls that walked in.

Ah, I spoke too soon.

She heard the clunky click of their heels make their way down the bathroom hall. They stopped, seeming that they were indeed checking their appearance before they returned to class…or skip she didn’t know. That was Ellen’s cue to leave the stall, her knees and ankles were growing numb from being in that position for so long. And she still needs to put on some of her makeup.

The shark thiren put the note away but kept her bag unzipped so she could take her makeup kit out. She stood up and let go of her tail so she could unlock the stall, making her way out to do her makeup really quickly. Of course the trio of girls were at the sink and mirror right in front of her, that wasn’t annoying at all. A quick ‘ excuse me ’ to get by drained maybe about 10 points from the shark’s personal social meter.

She walked to the furthest sink from the girls, not wanting to bother them or be bothered herself. She washed her hands before she started to wash her face, getting the last remaining sleep out of her eyes before she dabbed her face dry with the school’s paper towel. Ellen momentarily looked at herself in the mirror and just stared at herself. 

Was she desirable to ‘ her’ ?

…

Cringing to herself she shook her head and got out her makeup kit, doing some light prep work before she added some warm colors to the corners of her eyes. The trio’s chatter was nothing but background noise to Ellen anyway, so she used that as a distraction to keep her brain from delving into the letter and what its possibilities could be. She got out her liquid eyeliner to do a small wing to enhance her sharp eyes. It was routine and she didn’t struggle with her eye makeup like she did 2 years ago.

She felt a small tap on her shoulder as she was in the process of putting her pen away in her kit. She looked over, her brows furrowed because why was she being bothered..? Ellen specifically chose the furthermost sink in the stupid bathroom, how was it this hard to respect her space??

“Hey, where did you get that eyeliner from? It’s so pigmented.” Asked one of the girls, she had pink hair tied in braids and aqua eyes. 

“..Mandy’s.” Ellen said blankly, continuing to put her things away so she could leave the bathroom.

“Thanks! Also, you’re crazy pretty by the way. The look suits you.”

This stunted the shark. A compliment. She knows she's pretty, but hearing it from someone else was a different ball game. She darted her eyes to the side briefly before looking at the girl again, the tension between them already getting awkward.

“Thanks.” Was all she said.

“No seriously though, you’re mad cute.” Said from one of the girl’s that was in the back corner facing the mirror. She was putting lip balm on her lips, she had long red hair with a flowered pattern hair scarf that was tied to the beginning of her hairline. She took the time to look at Ellen, giving her a smile.

“I don’t know if you get that enough, but I felt you had to hear it to count your tallies.”

The red haired girl said, which made Ellen furrow her brows in confusion.

…Huh?

She needs to get to her class now . Her brain was in a cluttered spiral from the note to these randoms calling her pretty/cute. She couldn’t help but feel a little overwhelmed and fight a threatening blush from rushing to her cheeks, but her facade remained stoic and unphased.

“Uh.. thank you, I think. Gotta go though.” She didn’t think twice and zipped her bag up, making her way out of the bathroom. She could’ve sworn she heard giggling before the door shut. 

Her own chunky heels clicked against the polished school floor, the sound of it echoed through the semi empty hallways of the facility. Her pace was quicker than unusual and her pulse was thumping faintly in her head. The compliments were a little too much for her to genuinely handle, as thoughtful as they were, she was conflicted on accepting them.

 Her tail swished to the sway of her hips as she continued to walk to her assigned class. There's no way that was a normal complement right? But at the same time, she wasn’t sure if it was either. The hell did that girl mean by that? Is her own dense brain fighting for her feelings again? She felt weird, maybe even a little lightheaded. But it soon subsided as she grew near her English classroom.

..The fuck was in those muffins, dude.

–

3rd Period…

Ellen was reunited with all of her friends now. Last period in English class, she felt it lasted an eternity. She didn’t understand how some of her classmates couldn’t read a simple paragraph. She had the burning urge to interrupt them and read it herself so the lecture could continue on. The shark didn’t like it when others took long, especially when it was such an easy task to complete.

It is over with now at least.

This period was foreign language. It was an elective class she chose because why not? She had already done a mandatory language curriculum in sophomore year, so she chose another to fill in the gaps of her schedule. This would be one of the classes she uses as a scapegoat to leave school to go nap but her friends are here, that was the best thing she could ask for next to candy.

Ellen sat at her seat as she played with her pen, letting the instructor give a brief rundown of what they’ve learned throughout the past couple class sessions. Her brain tuned it out, it had something to do with grammatical order and items being referred to as a gender. She did not care, it wasn’t like she was going to be fluent in this crap anyway.

“Alright everyone, get into pairs of 4! We’re doing a group activity where each of your peers come up with a sentence and answer the questionnaires I’ve created on your assigned group packet.”

Announced the professor, she rested her hand on the stacks of paper that will be distributed to all the students in the classroom. Almost immediately, the class got up to look for their friends, some awkwardly went to a neighboring classmate to pair up with them. And Ellen’s group naturally came together like bees to honey.

“Woohoo! Group assignment!”

Cheered Ruby, holding her colored pens in her hand. She scooched over to sit with the shark thiren, already accustomed to the fact the girl wasn’t going to move from her own seat. Monna and Lynn followed suit to sit with the pair, getting their own utensils as well.

The professor came over to every group around the class and laid the packet down.

“I’ll give you guys 30 minutes to complete the packet. Then, we’ll move onto the next exercise, be mindful we have an exit ticket based off of everything we’ve gone through. So don’t be surprised with what’s to come!” 

Chirped the instructor, giving the last packet to the final group of students.

“So you guys, I saw my crush again!!”

Started Ruby, already getting a scoff and a head shake from Ellen. The blonde was quick to glance at the shark from the offending noise. Lynn only hummed in acknowledgement as she took the packet and read over it, seeing what all that the girls had to do.

“The hell are you snortin’ at, nom nom?”

“You clearly.”

“Okay but why though!”

Ellen slouched in her chair, twirling her pen around and clicking it over and over again. Her tail swayed slowly from behind her, indicating her feelings were content but at the same time it wasn’t too sure. She needed some sort of distraction to keep her from falling into the deep end of her pool of thoughts.

“Have you even talked to the guy yet, or what?”

The shark asked, she used her free hand to dig in her skirt pocket to pull out a sucker. Craving something sweet and feeling her eyeballs drag as she glanced at the group packet Lynn was scanning.

“ Kinda, okay so like..I dropped my pencil and it rolled to him. And he saw it and picked it up and was like ‘ did you drop this? ’ and I’m like oh my God..yes I did!”

Rambled the blonde, forcing her voice to be deeper to reenact the boy in her class.

“..And that was it after that. But it’s a start!”

Ruby gleamed, wiggling in her seat as if she was doing a celebratory dance. Ellen only nodded, ripping the packaging off from the lollipop, putting the treat in her mouth. The shark leaned forward to see the packet, looking at all the questions and multiple choice questions. She was pretending to be engaged, but at this point she wasn’t exactly pretending .

“So what do we all have to do aside from making up sentences?”

Questioned Monna, her arms were tucked into each other resting on top of the desk.

“It looks like we have to choose which one is true or false in this segment. And here, it’s a fill in the correct word type of situation. Simple stuff, we can all take turns on each part so that it’s fair.”

Lynn was always so planned out when it came to her work. If she wanted, she could do the entire packet by herself! But she wasn’t the type to let herself be easily cheaped out, even if it is her friends.

“That goes for you Ruby, no talking about crushes right now.” The glasses girl warned her which earned a pout from the blonde.

“Okay but we can still talk about them while we work? Y’know multitasking? Just to make the work more bearable.”

To you.

She wanted to settle for a compromise, she had no problem doing the work. She just wasn’t the type of person to stay quiet while doing so. So this prompted a sigh from Lynn, allowing her to at least have her friends listen to her while she gossips.

“Oh yeah guys by the way.” Ruby began, taking the packet from Lynn to write down a sentence so she’s at least engaging with the group activity.

“I saw these bitches making out in the bathroom.” She giggled, still scribbling on the sheet.

The mention of that made Ellen blood run a little cold. Her pen fidgeting stopped and even her tail stopped swaying too. Completely stunned by the topic at hand. Monna looked up, probably just as stunted but was interested to know more.

“Help that was so random, when was this?”

The cow asked, looking at Ruby with a small head tilt in curiosity.

“It was before I met up with you guys for breakfast, I just forgot to tell y'all cause the stupid ass orange was giving me problems.”

The blonde continued, giving the packet back to Lynn so she could fill in an answer.

“Like I had to for real pee , and when I walked in and saw them I was like  oh okay ! I’ll give you guys your privacy! I had to speed to another bathroom, I didn't want to make it awkward, you know!”

Ruby explained, twirling her colored pen around.

The shark forced herself to come out of her stupefied facade. That happens ? Of course it happens, but it isn't often that it does. If anything it’s rare that it does occur which is the reason why it’s not really talked about throughout the school because most people know how to be discreet. Ellen pursed her lips at the thought, now why was she even thinking about that?

In what part of her brain did that trigger for her to freeze up at the mention of such activities? She put that thought to the side, it’s a silly topic that Ruby was going on about to throw the girls off their rocker. She had no reason to overthink things right now.

“What did they look like? That’s probably so invading but I can’t help but to ask.”

Lynn wondered, still looking down at the packet.

“Uhh, shoot it was kind of quick. All I saw was pink and red, that’s it.”

Pink and red..

Ellen couldn’t help but to immediately think about the girls that were in the bathroom with her while she was doing her makeup. Her head replayed the moment she got complimented. “Also, you’re crazy pretty by the way. The look suits you.” “No seriously though, you’re mad cute.” Her heart was starting to flutter from the praise. She was going through the process of burying that memory deep inside her mind only for it to spring back up in full force. Now she can’t help but to think about those two now and her conflicted feelings of receiving compliments from girls.

It couldn’t be them right? It wasn’t a coincidence that Ruby saw two people making out in the restroom and happened to follow the same color value as who she saw earlier. Not only that, they were allegedly the same girls that were.. flirting with her? It was a word she’d never thought she would have to think of, but her own dense mindset wasn’t trying to think of it as a flirtatious interaction. But she wasn’t sure either? 

“I don’t know if you get that enough, but I felt you had to hear it to count your tallies.”

The red haired girl with the flower head scarf, why did she say that? Did she assume that Ellen was so gorgeous that she had a plethora of different interactions in regards to her being good looking? Why is this something that she’s paying attention to to its full glory? Has she genuinely taken a moment to consider a compliment without blowing it off as a ‘no big deal’. The thoughts were flooding, they were everywhere. She couldn’t deny it much longer but it did have an impact on her.

“Hello? Earth to Ellen Joee?”

Ruby waved a hand in front of Ellen’s face which caused the shark girl to blink out of her daze. She was thinking too hard to the point she started to dissociate, spooking her neighboring friends.

“Ellen? Are you alright?” Lynn asked, her eyebrows furrowed in distress setting the packet aside to give her undivided attention to her.

“You blanked out pretty hard just now..we were calling your name to answer the problems and you didn’t answer.”

Said Monna, she looked the most frightened if anything.

Ellen just sat there for a bit, recollecting her own thoughts before she says something stupid. She swallowed and bit down on her lollipop, the pressure of her jaws cracking it slightly. She allowed herself to get her heart and breathing in sync.

“Uh..my bad. What question am I answering..”

“Girl! Don’t scare us like that!” Yelped Ruby.

“We know you usually zone out because you’re sleepy n’ shit, but you looked dead!”

“Okay okay, I’m sorry alright? Had a lot on my mind, I didn’t mean to do that.”

Now the shark girl was starting to feel bad and embarrassed, she seriously didn’t mean to lock up and fade out of reality like the way she did. But it wasn’t something that could be helped.

“Ruby! Enough, I'm sure it’s because of her work, you know? I think that’s the cause, I do the same too sometimes.”

The cow defended the shark, she was under the assumption that Ellen’s dissociation came from the lack of sleep she frequently has. And pairing it with knowing that the girl overslept and was late to class.

“Ellen, are you sure you’re okay? We can just do the work and let you rest.”

Monna offered, looking directly into Ellen’s eyes.

The shark couldn’t help but to glance away from the intense eye contact, she hated being put on the spot like this but Monna genuinely saved her. Even though Ellen knows that wasn’t the reason, she had to roll with it for now. The shark scrunched her brows, fighting back blood rushing to her face at the gesture.

“Yeah..I had a rough night at work, I’ll be fine.”

Was all Ellen had to say, concerned eyes still peeled in her direction. The trio calmed themselves down, trusting that their shark friend will be okay, at least for the remainder of the period. And hoping for the entire day as well.

“..Alright, nom nom. You better be fine! Or there will be problems!” Ruby pointed a finger at Ellen, causing the girl to jolt back in reflex and stare at the digit.

“Ruby .”

“Just making sure!”

Monna glared at the blonde haired girl and momentarily switched her gaze back to Ellen, her face softening in worry. The shark thiren only scratched the back of her head awkwardly, fingers full of black and red strands of hair. She took the cow thiren’s advice and crossed her arms to make a makeshift pillow for her to lay down on, taking a moment to rest as told.

“Ellen, if the teacher asks I’ll tell her you don’t feel good. Don’t worry about it.”

The cow whispered.

“ Thanks, Monna.”

The shark girl’s face was buried in her arms allowing her blush to come rushing at full throttle. Her heart was beating slightly fast from the cow’s sudden thoughtfulness to cover her. Her tail was swaying, she wasn’t sure if she was relieved or happy..? It could be both, she thought.

So considerate..

Chapter Text

Ellen had been aimlessly sweeping the hardwood floor of Lycaon’s mansion for what she suspects has been 20 minutes now. Ever since school ended, the shark thiren has been pondering the thought of what happened earlier in the morning. Caught up in a daze where she was ultimately daydreaming about the compliments she received by those 2 girls. The memory kept replaying in her brain, embarrassingly taking a toll on her way of thinking.

Dude it’s no big deal, stop thinking about it.

She furrowed her brows and shook her head in an attempt to get the idea out of her head. She needed to focus on tidying up this huge living room. It was boring, but at least it was better than being sent to someone like Mrs. Miller again. Speaking of, she wonders whatever happened between her and Lycaon? Were they business partners? A long time friend? 

She didn’t bother to ask him about what they discussed that day when she clocked out, it wasn’t her problem at the end of the day so why even give it concern. But then again, her underlying curiosity can only help but to wonder about the aftermath. 

The girl yawned, exposing her dangerously sharp double rows of teeth. She wanted to go home already, it was a Friday and she preferred to go straight home rather than come to work. But she supposes that she can devote her life for a few hours for a healthy paycheck.

She adjusted her wireless earbuds in her ear to prevent them from falling out, listening to her music on repeat. It’s an attempt in drowning out her thoughts and giving her brain a new focus than to continue dwelling on what she wanted answers for. 

…Which wasn’t doing so great of a job for her, It’s just female admiration right ? They were just being nice, weren’t they ..? This was what bothered her, she couldn’t tell if she genuinely didn’t know the difference between a compliment and a flirtatious comment or was woefully ignorant at the fact that it wasn’t a flirty comment. 

“My God , this is stupid.” 

Ellen frustratingly said through clenched teeth. She squeezed the broom’s handle with enough force to turn her knuckles white. She had the burning urge to actually bite the damn thing but it’s lucky it wasn’t her broom. 

The thoughts that boiled in her mind only manifested discomfort for her. She felt her red bottoms were squeezing her feet, even though she was measured to perfectly fit the shoes. The belt hugging her waist felt suffocating even though she adjusts it enough where she can actually move and be comfortable. Perhaps it's the constant takeout catching up with her. The fabric that overlaps her dress that enables her tail to freely move around felt like it was itching the denticles on her rear.

Her own body becoming self aware because of her useless mind might be the end of her. Everything was rubbing her the wrong way and she felt stuck at the same time.

“Ellen?”

A deep voice from the side of her interrupted her stirring soup of thoughts. Her tail twitched slightly at the call, recognizing the voice belonging to her boss, Von Lycaon. She looked over at the wolf thiren, his tall stature filled the expanse of the room. He was an intimidating looking wolfman, but his face only read concern for his employee.

The shark thiren took a hand from off of the broom, lifting it to take an earbud out of her ear so she could properly hear her boss.

“...Yeah?”

“Are..you alright? Your stance is a ..bit concerning and out of your character.”

The wolf raised his brow. Without the leather strappings across his face, it would indicate that both would be raised. However his singular eye being exposed was enough emotion Ellen could decipher.

The shark girl was confused at this and just narrowed her eyes to the question. Until she looked over to a mirror that conveniently faced her direction, giving her an unfiltered view of herself. She was sort of hunched over, her ankles were bent inwards signaling her feet were hurting from standing for so long, while she gripped the broom as if it owed her money. She corrected this form almost immediately, realizing how absolutely stupid she looked.

“Oh uh yeah, I’m fine.”

Ellen awkwardly replied, fiddling around with the broom with her free hand. A skeptical hum rumbled from the taller one’s throat. The shark was honestly preparing for an earful of his usual lecture about slacking off. She did admit she was in the same spot for a while now, and hadn’t moved to a new area of the room to clean. So she was practically asking to be scolded.

“I mean this in no way to assume your personal matters, but I couldn’t help but to notice your behavior is slightly off put ever since you clocked in. I am just concerned if anything is bothering you?”

He began. A wave of relief washed over her body, though it was replaced with some form of distress. She can not tell him how she was honestly feeling, mainly due to the fact she wasn’t exactly sure herself which complicates everything about what she should tell him. But this also raises the question, this whole time while she was here was she really acting awry and didn’t notice it herself? 

“It’s nothin’, just school is all.”

Ellen replied, a little quieter than what she liked, which didn’t help her case with Lycaon’s suspicion. Using school as an excuse was a card she liked to pull whenever she felt lazy or tired, a point where her boss couldn’t exactly argue or fault her because he cares for the girl’s education. But this time it was the truth..kind of? The issue that she was facing wasn’t exactly a school curriculum thing, but it’s still school related.

“Ah I see, I was afraid it had something to do with the cover shift I had assigned you to do yesterday. Again, my sincerest apologies about that. No client should treat you that way.

“Oh it’s cool.

“However, with school. What is exactly the matter? Do you need extensive tutoring? Questions about a career path? Unsure what to do after graduation?”

“Uh…”

Damn, never thought of em’ but it might be one of those to be honest..

She knew for damn sure she wasn’t taking more school after graduation, she could barely keep up with high school as it is. Did she need tutoring? Not really, that and she didn’t want to go through the uneasiness of someone having to sit down and guide her through her work. She preferred to do that by herself if she had the motivation to even do that.

The mansion’s living room was actually her safe space to do her homework before maid work. Ever since Lycaon gave her the go ahead to do her assignments and projects while being on the clock, there was an overnight improvement in her grades. So assignment wise, she’s alright and could never be better. She could use the classic excuse and say midterms or tests were coming up, and she’s not confident about her performance.

But that would mean she needs tutoring..she wasn’t sure on how to lie to this man, or scooch around the truth. She feels it’ll be too awkward to talk with him about what’s really going on. Heck, even with Rina she feels it’ll make her die inside. 

“Well..again it’s nothing. I’m overthinking stuff that doesn’t matter, I'll pick up on my work if that’s what you came here to tell me.”

The wolfman’s lips tightened ever so slightly, he doesn’t like being dismissed like this. Though, pressuring an answer out of Ellen would get them nowhere and would make her much more persistent in saying anything. So Lycaon just leaves it alone and hopes whatever ordeal the young shark has, it’ll be solved on its own. 

“Very well then. Once you’ve finished with the living room, come find me in my office so that I can inspect your work. Then you’ll be free to leave for the afternoon.”

The discomfort in Ellen’s face almost seemed to lift at the word that she can leave work early, this should be plenty of motivation to get her to stop thinking about her school problems. But this also leaves her confused, not that she doesn’t mind leaving early. But usually Fridays are her longer days and she was fully prepared to go on a hollow expedition in the next hour as scheduled.

“Oh, what changed?”

“There’s no scheduled expedition for today. At least for you, I won’t be sending you out again considering you have already participated in a raid with Ms. Rina yesterday. Back to back ether exposure is detrimental to your health, and I mustn't risk such reckless tasks to you.”

Lycaon explained as he fiddled with the golden chain that hung from his left breast pocket.

“Besides it is a Friday after all, I assume you would like to go home early? Unless you would prefer me to find more work for you?”

“Oh nah, I’ll take the offer. Thanks, Boss.”

The shark girl took a bow, showing him her respect. She momentarily stood back up to look at the wolfman. Her eyes glanced at his tail, it swayed a little which was a good sign. She always found fascination in his tail because it was similar to hers, gigantic with personality.

The wolf thiren gave her a brief nod in acknowledgement and turned back to the staircase, returning to his personal office to send emails and other business affairs he might have.

Ellen sighed and reinserted her earbud back into her ear. She had zero reason to slack off now, and procrastinating would mean going home later than sooner. With that, she reached into her apron’s pocket to enhance her phone’s volume so she could listen to her music better. Lightly bobbing her head to the beat, she wasted no time to get this living room spotless.

–

Lycaon sat in his plush leather office chair as he stared at his computer monitor full of emails and reports. His reading glasses hung low on his muzzle, and his eye scanned through the paragraphs of text he had to break down to properly write back to his business partners and clients. His brow furrowed as he took a manicured claw to lightly scratch his nose. 

This was routine to him also, being digitally available was a new concept he had to learn to keep in touch with advancing projects.

Knock knock knock knock knock…

“You may come in, Ellen.”

The brass knob of the door twisted open, emerging the shark thiren from behind. Her face was tightened in confusion as she turned around to shut the door behind her.

“How’d you know it was me?”

She questioned, trekking her way closer to Lycaon’s desk.

“You have a distinct knock pattern, as strange as it sounds. I’ve accustomed myself to knowing who visits me without having to guess. Paying attention to detail if you will.”

The wolfman answered, he took the time to scoot away from the screen and take off his reading glasses to give the shark maid his attention. Ellen only shrugged her shoulders, she didn’t expect anything less from her boss. He was a wolf thiren afterall with keen hearing, and his attention to detail was extreme. To the point she thought he seemed a little crazy.

“Oh, well anyways your living room’s done.”

The shark pointed behind her with her thumb, which prompted a hum from the wolf. He opened a drawer from his desk to grab a timecard, an envelope, and a pen for her to fill out the card once he inspected her work. He rose from his chair, walking around to prepare himself to follow Ellen.

“Lead the way.”

The both of them exited the office and made their way downstairs to see the living room.

It was noticeably neater and smelled of fruit scented cleaning products the wolf had recommended her to use when cleaning around the mansion when she was still in training. Lycaon walked around the living room, inspecting everything that he saw that Ellen had taken care of.

He nodded his head in approval.

It wasn’t perfect, but the girl was surely improving in her cleaning skills and didn’t see any half assed job she tried to be slick with to get out faster. His tail began to wag, delighted that his space looked very presentable. 

“Wonderful, I am impressed with what you’ve done here.”

The wolf said, still looking around the perimeter. Ellen gave an exhale, worried that the bossman was going to say a chair was misplaced and wasn’t exactly parallel to a rug or some precise picky bullshit she was going to hear. She liked to think that was the case but Lycaon spared her the stress so she could bounce.

He sat the timecard and pen on the coffee table so the shark girl could clock out. She knew where to put her name, place the numbers, and her employee ID. She signed it off and gave the paper and pen back to the wolfman. And in exchange, he granted the girl her paycheck. She bowed once more to the wolf and took the envelope, turning away to grab her book bag from the entryway to leave.

“Get home safe, Ms. Ellen. I will see you Monday afternoon.”

She picked up her book bag and swung the strapping through her arm. She looked at Lycaon briefly, he was standing in front of his staircase with her timecard in hand. He didn’t smile, his face was always so serious looking.

“Thanks, see ya Monday.”

She bid farewell, opening one of the heavy wooden doors to walk out of the large home. 

Ellen loved the feeling of freedom. She wanted her bed so bad, the thought of rubbing her feet together underneath her covers like a coked out cricket. A satisfaction she could get high on for both day and night cycles. She walked to the nearest bus stop to be sent off back to the city so she could take the metro home. The girl didn’t feel like walking this time so she might as well.

It was still relatively light out, the setting sun was gorgeous she thought. The sky radiated just about the rainbow as the colors became warmer on the horizon line. She was so used to going home when it was barely twilight. Just a couple minutes before it was considered night time, if not it being night time already.

The hollows in the distance oddly complimented the environment's beauty. Albeit an unnatural phenomenon and as intimidating as they were, she's grown used to the corrupted ether domes as a part of her daily lifestyle. 

Her ride on the bus was short and bearable. Her earbuds drowning out nearby children having temper tantrums, and the occasional argument between tired workers saved her plenty of migraines. All she did was listen to her music and stare out the window, watching people attend their daily lives. Ellen could only think about the fact that everyone besides herself has a story of their own, and how it was considered incredible that anyone in the world could be having a better or worse day than her.

The shark girl made her way to the metro station that will take her to Lumina Square, before she takes another metro to go to her neighborhood. She scanned her card, entered through the gate, and stood on an escalator en route to arrive at the queueing area. Her eyelids and body were already starting to feel heavy and she hadn’t done anything crazy physical today. She dug in her apron pocket and pulled out a bag of gummy worms she had bought from the 141 store.

Wait, I still have my uniform on..oh well

She brushed the realization off, it’s not like she didn’t go home in her uniform before like yesterday. It was rare that she did and she preferred to change, so she could avoid curious civilians trying to ask questions about her outfit. Using the cosplay excuse always worked though, so she wasn’t that annoyed at her forgetfulness.

The train arrived. The lightstrips on the car read, ‘ Please Wait.. ’ .. ‘ Welcome Aboard. Destination: Lumina Square .’ She boarded the car with several other people around her, a little more crowded given the fact she’s going home earlier than normal, but better than the morning rush hour. She picked a seat to sit herself down, not being mindful with her tail and propped it onto a neighboring seat. She didn’t feel like having anyone sit next to her.

The shark girl made herself comfortable and pulled out her phone, still slightly bobbing her head to the several hour long music playlist. She was mindlessly scrolling her socials, liking random videos and photos, reading comments on a few of them. Until she remembered something.

Crap, I forgot to check up on Corin before I left..I’ll shoot her a text. 

The girl switched to her messaging app to text her friend, seeing her school friend group was active with messages as per usual. She’ll see what they’re up to once she’s done.

Ellen smiled a little. Though feeling a little guilty at the fact she didn’t physically go into Corin’s room herself to see how she was. But the younger girl seemed very ecstatic at the fact she addressed her concern, even if it was through text. Feeling good, she closed out the DM and clicked on her group chat to see how the girls were doing.

She texted with her right hand and dug her left into the bag of gummy worms. Chewing on the sweet and sour candies as she switched from different applications. The tiredness she felt lingered on, but the worms were certainly keeping her afloat until she could finally get home. She occupied herself with the chat some more before she ultimately just placed her phone back into her pocket and listened to her music. Her thumb was just getting tired, no more effort in doing that.

—

The door lock clicked itself open to welcome a semi tired Ellen. She yawned as she opened the door, closing it behind her to relock it up.

“Back at last..”

She sighed to herself, using her toe to slip out from the other foot’s shoe. She kicked the red bottoms off, picking them up and made her way up the stairs to her room. She took off her frilled headpiece, necklace, and wrist cuffs and proceeded to take off her multiple layers of clothing. A belt or two got stuck so she frustratingly tugged the fabrics so it could loosen, and with an eye roll, she was able to finally take her uniform off. She was in nothing but her undergarments now and walked herself to her dresser.

She picked out a cute pair of pajamas with fishes on them. Ellen usually wore an older oversized shirt and a pair of shorts to bed. And if it was freakishly cold, she would wear her onesie. But it was nice to switch things up for a change.

The shark girl grabbed her pajamas and made her way to her bathroom, almost tripping on one of her red bottoms in the process. She grumbled and kicked the shoe out of the way before she entered the bathroom to take a shower.

Ellen placed her clothes on the toilet lid before she went over to her tub to twist the knob that turned the water on. She adjusted the handle so that it was slightly off the blue painted marking, the girl wanted her water to be cool but not bone chilling cold. She pulled the faucet knob up so the water could come sprinkling out the shower head, then she wasted no time getting her undergarments off to hop in the tub.

She sighed, the water felt nice on her skin. She could unwind from a day of not really doing anything, which was a good day for her. Being able to come home early on a Friday evening instead of arriving at her door when it was damn near 9 PM was something she could never pass up, she almost felt like celebrating. 

But the only celebration she knows that truly rewarded her is longer sleep time. Ellen washed her hair and body, getting the day off of her little by little. Her eyes were closed while she simply got herself clean, but the invading thoughts of earlier rushed back into her mind.

That letter was bothering her.

As charming as the anonymous girl’s words were, the thought of wanting to know who wrote it only simmered hotter in the back of her mind. What if that was the only letter she bravely sent to her, and didn’t bother writing more letters because she thinks Ellen is a close minded blockhead with no social significance? Were there other attempts from the same girl but she blindly threw them away because she rightfully thought the concept of love notes was ultimately cringe?

Better yet, why did this matter? It shouldn’t matter. It’s a dumb note, with dumb sappy feelings, and a waste of paper and pen ink.

…

But Ellen couldn’t help but to fall back on the letter’s bravery and genuineness, she didn’t know whether it charmed her or pissed her off. It was annoying, it caused her head to hurt. It was the aching urge to know who was the one who wrote it! But what would that result to..? How would Ellen personally take it? She didn’t know how to approach such sensitive trivials. What would she even say?

Thank you for the letter..?

That’s uhm..sweet of you.

Cool..

What damned the shark girl the most was that handwriting . It was too familiar, almost like she saw the exact penmanship minutes prior from going to her locker. She was mid tail scrub before she paused, forcing her thoughts to pinpoint where exactly did the handwriting correlate. 

It was all a blur to her, her sleepy brain and it’s selective memory when it comes to things that were actually useful, but yet she could remember the stupid math formula like it was her favorite order from a food establishment. She stood there, letting the cold water splash against her wet black and red hair, feeling the water droplets travel down the curvature of her face.

“The only person’s writing I've seen was..”

She spoke to herself aloud. Hoping that hearing herself talk will get her gears turning.

Her eyes widened but quickly narrowed at the alleged thought. Her heart steadily pumped in her chest at the possibility but something told her that it was a far fetched idea. It was unlikely but..she doesn’t know. Ellen shook her head and started to rescrub her tail again, carefully cleaning her fins and being mindful of newer wounds she caused from her escapades in the hollow.

–

The girl was dressed in her pajamas, freshly washed, sharp teeth brushed, hair dry, and tail thoroughly lotioned. She grabbed her phone that was idly resting on her nightstand and lazily plunged herself into her bed.

So satisfying..

She laid there for a good few seconds before she scooched further into her pillows and covered her body with her blanket. Her large tail curled itself in between her thighs, creating a makeshift cushion like that of a pillow for extended comfort. She grabbed one of her shark plushies that housed themselves with her on the bed.

Aqua, her cherished shark that’s been with her ever since she was a little guppy. She held the blue shark doll close into her chest with her arm, and the other extended out so she could play on her phone until she was too tired to look at it anymore.

She aimlessly scrolled through social media for a couple of minutes, and then it turned into another 30 of her watching a random cooking channel of a chef's outlook on Cheesetopia.

She wanted to try their food so bad, it was trendy and the presentation looked incredible! But never really found the time to go and sit down herself to see if it was all true. Maybe when school is on holiday break she’ll bring her friends along.

The video itself was enough to get Ellen’s eyelids to fight to stay open. She felt her body finally powering down and her brain relaxing until she saw a group chat notification on her phone. This caused her eyes to flutter back open, her brows furrowing at the unexpected notification. She groaned, her thumb tiredly hovering up to click on the pop up.

A girls hangout at the mall? This almost awoke Ellen out of her sleepy state, this should definitely get her mind off of that silly letter ordeal. 

The shark couldn’t help but to smile, though feeling a little guilty at the fact the girls would have to take precaution because she sleeps so often. But she also finds it really nice that they are thoughtful and aren’t leaving her out as a whole.

Ellen grew sleepier and sleepier the more she stared at her screen switching through apps and waiting for her friends to reply. At this rate, she may as well fall asleep with the phone in her hand.

—

The Next Day…

Ellen awaited at Lumina Square station where the group agreed to meet up at. She occupied herself on her phone, perching herself by the vending machines. The queuing area was bustling with people of all backgrounds since it was the weekend. Much more talkative, busy, alive really. A drastic difference compared to the dreaded atmosphere of a weekday where most people have to go to their jobs and schools.

It felt more bubbly and welcome, even the shark girl had to admit, it brought her mood up by a couple of points. Plus, she gets to hangout with her friends today! The girl’s tail couldn’t help but to sway eagerly.

“Ellen!”

A female voice called out to her, which caused the shark to look up from her phone to see where it came from. It didn’t take her long to spot her friend, Lynn emerging from the crowd of people from the recently arrived train that just stopped for the next bundle of passengers. The human girl awkwardly paused to let passer byers walk infront of her before she continued to walk towards Ellen.

“Hey Lynn.”

Greeted the shark thiren, putting her phone away in her jacket pocket. Lynn wore a light blue cardigan, turtleneck, and a flowy skirt. It’s not often she sees her friends in casual attire, being so used to seeing them in uniform it's almost like they wore that everyday outside of school. Maybe this was what the Phaethons were going on about when they saw her outside of her maid outfit. They rarely see her so she guesses it’s an honest surprise being how it should be common sense.

“Ruby and Monna should be on their way right now. They messaged that they are both on the metro from Piers District. That should take them maybe 10 minutes?”

The girl with glasses informed, adjusting her sleeve.

“That’s if they don’t get lost again.”

“I still do not understand how they managed to mess that up..the train tells them exactly where they need to go, no?”

“Yeah, beats me on how they screw that up.”

Lynn simply hummed and nodded. Mistakes happen, but if it costs them an extra ticket to get to their destination, it's a pretty ignorant thing to keep doing.

The both of them conversed with each other to pass the time before Ellen’s phone buzzed. The one time she enabled the feature so she’s up to date for her friends whereabouts today. She pulled her phone out and saw what it was.

Ruby was calling her. 

Uh oh.

Ellen swiped her screen to answer and clicked the speaker button.

“Hello?”

“ Ellen, we got lost. We’re gonna take another 10 minutes to get there uhgg! ”

“...How the fuck did ya’ll do that?”

“ I DON’T KNOW! ”

Both Lynn and Ellen recoiled at the sudden shout, momentarily hearing laughter in the background of the call. Both of them assumed that it was Monna.

“ Monna shush! Okay oh my gosh anyways, we have to make a small detour to get on the right train to Lumina, we’re going to stupid 8th street. ”

“I-..alright. Well me and Lynn are at Lumina right now, we’ll wait for you guys.”

“ Alright- Are you on speaker? ”

“Yeah.”

“ Oh, well sorry Lynn and Nom Nom! We’ll link up soon. ”

With that the call ended, even beating Ellen’s quickness to hang up the phone first. The shark looked up at Lynn as did the human girl, both making a face knowing the situation was jinxed. The shark shook her head as she scratched around her nose piercing, heaving a small sigh.

“Called it.”

“...Unfortunately.” 

Lynn couldn’t help but to give a little giggle out herself, only imagining the story the pair will end up telling them once they arrive.

—

20 minutes passed and the next scheduled train arrived at the queuing area. Lynn patiently stood beside Ellen as she watched the train slow to a complete stop, while the shark busied herself in buying something from the vending machine.

“Ohh, that should be them.”

Lynn lightly tapped the shark thiren’s shoulder to get her attention. The girl dug her hand in the dispenser to get out a bag of potato chips, momentarily looking up to see what she needed. Ellen’s eyes went from Lynn to the crowd of people funneling out of the train car, outcoming Ruby and Monna who eagerly walked over to greet them.

Again, Ellen couldn’t help but to notice the girls' attire. So used to the school uniform and such. Ruby wore a simple shirt and jeans with a crossbody bag, and Monna wore a cropped shirt with overalls to pair. She thought the cow looked super adorable in that outfit, Ellen being a little fashion sensed herself, it warmed something in her heart. The fit she chose to wear herself was something simple. A cropped black jacket, shirt, skirt with a pair of tights. She didn’t feel like being alt right now.

“We’re here finally! First of all it’s Monna’s fault!”

Ruby began already pointing directly at the brown haired girl trailing not far behind. The cow thiren’s ears perked up, scoffing a laugh from the audacity. 

“No- okay! I used my GPS again and it rerouted us to the best express cause there was a delay..so technically we were on the right track! And then the Wi-Fi got crappy..so we kinda uh.. had to make a detour."

Monna explained, scratching the back of her ear as she looked at her phone’s navigation app in question.

“You guys.. don’t know your way around the city?”

Lynn questioned raising a brow as she narrowed her eyes a bit.

“I do! But Moo Moo doesn’t! See, I asked her if she was sure that we were going on the right train after the dumb GPS cut off, and she was confident too!”

The blonde haired girl crossed her arms.

“...Apparently you don’t either because you believed her.”

Chimed in Ellen, who just stared blankly at Ruby. Which caused Monna to burst out laughing once more, she assumed her gullibility was what she was laughing about through the phone. In real time, both Ellen and Lynn watched Ruby’s face go from smug to visibly flabbergasted, her flustered blush grew more and more red as her mind scrambled to think of an excuse.

“I-..See-..! UHG! Whatever, let’s go.”

The three of them but the blonde girl giggled, making moves towards the escalator to exit the station. The group walked themselves out the doors, the late morning environment welcomed them with clear skies and busy people. Quite a few tourists as well that occupied the pedestrian area. 

The smells of the neighboring noodle shop owned by Chop Junior filled the air with flavors and seasonings that attracted customers of all backgrounds. The smell alone made Ellen hungry, however she continued to munch on her vending machine potato chips. The girls banked at a corner to enter Lumina’s galleria, followed by other people alike that wanted to enter the large building.

The squad chattered as they walked, greeted by multiple businesses welcoming wandering families and friends. And seeing establishments begin to open their gates to start their shift to earn their commission.

“I’m kinda in the mood for matcha..do you guys want to stop at Coff Cafe before we look around and shop?”

Monna suggested, her tail flicking around at the idea of the subtle but earthy taste of the drink. The group paused as they thought which earned a collective nod in approval.

“Wait, wasn't there one just around the corner of the mall?”

Ruby questioned, fiddling with the strap of her bag as she turned to the brown haired cow thiren.

“Yeah, but there should be one in here somewhere. Would be a little strange if we just left the galleria just to come back, you know.”

Lynn answered, pushing her glasses up with her index finger.

“It’s over there.”

Ellen pointed towards a Coff Cafe establishment that was a little ways ahead of them. Neither of the girls would have spotted it since it was tucked away in a corner from the angle they were standing from.

“Oh wow, good eye Nom Nom Shark!”

The blonde girl praised, giving the shark a pat on the shoulder. The girl's eye rolled at the nickname, she didn’t want to admit that it was slightly growing on her but it didn’t make it any less annoying at the same time. Her large tail found itself to flick at Ruby’s head lightly. Causing her to stumble forward from the force once the group began to move towards the cafe’s direction.

“ Ack! What the hell!”

“Told you to stop callin’ me that.”

“But I gave you praise, it should cancel out.”

Ellen shrugged and gave her another playful slap again which earned a stomp and puffed out cheeks from the blonde girl.

“You know, and to think that’s maybe about 5% of her tail strength that made you stumble like that.”

Giggled Monna, her own tail swishing around at the thought of how impressive the girl’s tail was. Her own was significantly smaller, but she believes it can pack a mean sting if flung hard enough.

“Ehh..give or take maybe 20%. You give me too much credit.”

The shark awkwardly corrected, though deep down she felt her chest stir at the compliment. She wasn’t exactly humble about her own strength let alone it mostly being in her tail, it was something she just lived with as a thiren. She wonders about Monna’s own strength, she wanted to ask but all of a sudden she felt a little shy to push the thought out. 

The girls arrived at the cafe, the rich coffee bean aroma filled the noses of everyone in the cozy corner shop. Mixed with the salty and sweet notes of caramel and the fresh baked goods like croissant, danishes, muffins, and donuts that were displayed in the glass showcases for customers to choose from. The four of them stood in line, it wasn’t super crowded thankfully. Assuming that the peak hour of breakfast time has long passed already, where customer visits slowly decline throughout the day as it draws near lunchtime.

Each of them looked up at the menu to figure out their options, Ellen and Ruby were content with their choices while Monna and Lynn were still deciding.

“Maybe I don’t want matcha today..I'll get the mocha..wait, maybe the cold brew latte??”

The cow thiren girl struggled with her decision, unsure of the many wonderful choices she had to choose from. Both options looked good to her but she knew she could only pick one drink. It frustrated her, her fuzzy tail flicked in annoyance as she studied the menu longer.

Ellen observed silently as she too looked at the menu for a solution, she knew the feeling of being indecisive. It wasn’t a big deal to her, considering the fact that she has a go to to fall back on whenever she is unsure of an order. And if she chooses to try something different, it won’t be a hassle and it’ll be something she can try now or another day.

The line grew shorter as they slowly inched towards the counter, the person in front began to give the worker their details about what they wanted. The shark had to think quickly, momentarily figuring out a suggestion that Monna may like.

“Monna, how are you with caffeine?” 

“Caffeine? I don’t prefer it, it gives me the jitters. Why?”

“Get the decaf light brown sugar ice blend, and if you want, ask for caramel crunch bites in it. It’s simple but it’s good.” 

Suggested the shark thiren. She watched the cow thiren’s shoulders start to lift as she relooked at the menu again to find the item Ellen mentioned, she looked back at the shark for more input.

“Do you have a recommendation for a side?”

“Coconut honey crepe.”

“Ooh that sounds good, I think I'll order that. I trust your judgement, thank you Ellen!”

The shark hummed and nodded, her own tail swishing from side to side without her realizing that this made her..kinda happy? She didn’t think much of it, she was happy to help a friend out. The person in front of them began to leave with their receipt and drink in hand, prompting the group of girls to move forward.

“Oh you guys can find a seat, i’ll order the stuff for us.”

Out came Lynn, who looked at the trio. They all looked up at her a little stunned, assuming that they were gonna pay for their own food and drinks individually.

“Wait, do you have all our orders memorized or something..?”

Asked Ruby who was looking up from her phone.

“Yeah and I’ll pay for them too. I forgot to tell you guys that my father awarded me 20,000 dennies after I passed my calculus exam.”

The glasses girl said with a small smile, she looked shy to announce the news and preferred to be humble about her earnings but she couldn’t help but tell her friends, she just had to. The girls gave her a brief congratulations before they went to find a table to sit at, they would’ve talked more about it but they didn’t want to be a public disturbance nor hold up business.

The trio found a nice table that was in the back of the establishment, they all made themselves comfy on the plush corner booth that was installed by the large window so they could see passerbyers and plan on which stores they might want to visit after they eat.

“Wow, these seats are mad comfy.”

Said Ruby who bounced herself on the seat to test its plushness.

“Perfect for my tail to rest on..”

Ellen added, lifting her heavy shark tail onto the seat. It wiggled a little almost like it was glad to have something to finally rest on.

“I think it’s better than the other coffee shops with stools that hurt your butt.”

Monna also added on, rethinking the many times she would go to Coff Cafe and would be forced to stand because of the hardwood stools.

“True.”

Both Ellen and ruby said in sync, they can agree most cafes go for the aesthetics more than the comfort of their customers. Perhaps it was an intentional design where coffee is just an on the go thing and not a sit down and enjoy your coffee thing. But with such a comforting aesthetic to have your fix in, why not sit down and enjoy your coffee?

“So Ellen, did you realize you accidentally texted the group when you fell asleep?”

Ruby began, crossing her arms to rest on them. She leaned forward at the shark girl who just recoiled back from the sudden spotlight.

“Oh I did? Oops.”

“Okay but how could she realize if she was asleep though?”

Monna asked, scratching her head at the logic. Maybe she realized after she woke up and didn’t say anything or didn’t bother to scroll up in the chat to get an update of the conversation.

“Like when you’re in the text thing there’s just a jumble of random symbols you know.”

Ruby shrugged, it was a common thing to do. Even she herself did it before but she always loved to put Ellen as the topic at hand because she was just so interesting and fun to tease.

“I don’t think it was as bad as when I accidentally facetimed y'all though…”

The shark shyly said, looking away from the girls while a faint blush crept on her cheeks from the embarrassing memory.

“Oh yeah, that was funny! I screen recorded it by the way.”

The blonde girl giggled, the giggle getting louder as she watched Ellen look at her with wide eyes like a deer in headlights.

“You did ?? Eww why?”

“BECAUSE THAT SHIT WAS SO FUNNY! … You actually snore like that ?”

“Fuck you.”

The shark’s blush grew as she crossed her arms, the embarrassment was eating her up like how she ate her potato chips. Her tail was flicking upwards, itching not to bop her friend for the third time.

“I don’t know, I thought it was kinda adorable..her snoring isn’t as crazy as you make it out to be, Ruby! You know you’re seven times worse, I know you!”

Monna defended the shark girl. Ellen only blushed harder that her snoring was called adorable , her feelings were so screwed so she just put her head down. It could be her rampant flurry of thoughts going through her head from the sudden display of a memory but she couldn’t help but think, Monna has been defending her quite often..? 

She’s one to notice patterns, but she never really gave it any attention as it never concerned her, nor was it her business. But it’s really starting to show ever since she blanked out at school. She could appreciate the cow thiren having her back though, even if it was a silly playful banter. She felt seen and not as dismissed as she felt, and she really liked that.

“I do not! I don’t snore.”

“Yes you do, you sound like a kazoo is stuck down your windpipe. Remember when you hosted a sleepover?”

This caused Ellen to snort, her feelings of being humiliated calmed down and was replaced by a giggle at the comparison.

“A KAZOO? See now you’re lying.”

“I’m not though! You actually sound like one!

The shark was softly laughing, because she knew it was true. The time Ruby invited the girls all for a sleepover, the blonde of all people was the first to fall asleep, which surprised Ellen herself because she was confident that she was going to crash first. It was safe to say Monna wasn’t wrong..

Ruby was once again the center of embarrassment, her pale face turning red and Monna bumping shoulders with her to further rub it in.

“Hey guys I’m back.”

Called Lynn who was holding the bag of goods and a cup holder holding all of their drinks. She paused at the display, Ellen snickering, Ruby a blushing mess of frustration, and Monna was innocently sitting there looking up at the black haired girl.

“Did..I miss something?”

“Ruby snores like a kazoo.”

“SHUT UP NOM NOM.”

“You judged my snoring, so that’s payback.”

Lynn chuckled at this herself which crushed the blonde girl’s ego even more. She placed the items down on the table before she herself took a seat next to the girls on the corner booth. They all picked out their respective drinks and each got their choice of snack passed to them.

Lynn ordered an iced peach tea and a sandwich wrap, Ruby ordered an iced hazelnut coffee and a blueberry muffin, Monna ordered Ellen’s recommendation, and Ellen herself ordered a strawberry danish and a sweet cream latte.

All was well for the four of them, eager to indulge in their breakfast for the morning. The shark thiren peered over at the cow thiren who inserted her straw into her cup, mixing the contents up so the brown sugar and caramel drizzle was distributed evenly in her drink.

Ellen sipped her own cold beverage, getting a little nervous but curious to know if Monna would like what she suggested to her. Her eyes glanced from Monna to her danish, careful not to be caught staring or even look like a weirdo watching her friend do the simplest of things.

The conversation Lynn and Ruby initiated together was nothing but mumbled nonsense as the shark’s mind started to kick her like a deflated soccer ball. What if Monna doesn’t like it? If it wasn’t her taste it wasn’t her fault honestly, but at the same time her expectations would be crushed if she were to think otherwise. She glanced back to see if the cowgirl would drink her cup, she watched her take a small sip as a test to see if she likes it.

Ellen felt a sweat droplet fall down the curve of her brow as she awaits for a reaction..

…

Monna’s eyes lit up, almost to the point where she could possibly see sparkles in them. Her ears wiggled and her tail flicked around as she took a more generous sip from her straw. Relief waved over Ellen, which was replaced with excitement as her own tail tried to sway at the reaction. But her own muscles prevented that from happening, the thing could alert everyone in the shop and it was the last thing that she wanted.

“How is it..?”

Ellen asked, now facing Monna’s direction. The cow chewed the caramel bites and pursed her lips at the flavor while nodding her head, looking up at the curious shark.

“It’s good! Probably won’t get the caramel drizzle, a tad too sweet for me but everything else is amazing!”

Now Ellen didn’t care for the caramel drizzle, she didn’t tell her to get that but she was satisfied with the rest of what she thought.

“I’m glad, that’s a more tame version of what I usually get. I ask for extra brown sugar and a triple shot of espresso.”

To anyone, the sound of that would put an average person on a heart racing trip, the amount of sugar and caffeine intake was enough to keep a university student up for at least 3 days! But to Ellen, it was enough to get her through the day almost like if she were to drink just a regular coffee.

Monna just looked at her, eyes and brows raised. Ellen certainly wasn’t lying when she gave her the ‘ tame ’ version of the order. The cow took another sip and ripped up the utensil packet to dig out a fork so she could try the crepe. She opened the plastic container it came with and admired the presentation.

It was like a small slice of cake, and the inbetweens of the crepe were coconut custard fillings. The top was garnished in a little bit of coconut shavings and a light drizzle of honey as an extra sweetener. She dug her fork into the crepe cake slice and stabbed it, taking a bite of the treat.

“Oh wow..”

Monna simply commented as she chewed, her tail swished around digging her fork into the crepe once more.

“Ellen I keep forgetting, you’re a foodie. Your taste in anything is actually top tier.”

The cow commended making Ellen fight another blush at the title. Did she have to mention that? No. But it did prove a point that her judgement when it comes to food is pretty solid, and to the Phaethon’s it’s on the more skeptical side. Her taste buds being so advanced that questionable pairings didn’t seem to bother her that much, and if anything she thought it was funny.

“I uh..thanks.”

“You’re welcome!”

The shark girl took a nibble of her danish, feeling her tail wiggle behind her. This was enough to make her day even better if she were to be honest with herself. The group ate their snacks and drank their drinks before they cleaned up their messes to leave the cafe. They walked aimlessly through the mall’s walkways, looking at the shops that were available to them. Shoe stores, hat stores, game stores, even random booths on every corner of independent sellers who sell their own gadgets and knick knacks.

They stumbled upon a clothing store which caught the attention of Ruby and Ellen the most. The mannequins displayed in the windows had both extremely adorable and stylish looking combos which excited the both of them. The girls walked in to check out what the store had to offer, Monna and Lynn in tow.

“Oh. My. Gosh. These pants are SO cute.”

Squealed Ruby, taking a pair of flared jeans with the hanger still attached. It had a floral stitch-like design covering the sides of the fabrics, she turned the pants around to see the pattern better and her face fell seeing that they were pants for thirens. A hard to ignore hole was present on the hip of the trousers.

“Aw dang..see I don’t have a tail and this would’ve looked sooo cute on me, man.”

Ruby complained solemnly, putting the jeans back.

“You could always get them tailored, you know. We do that with clothes that aren’t made for us too.”

Said Ellen, repicking the pants from off the rack.

“Besides, the amount of people I see with holes on their asses is kinda funny.”

“I mean that’s true but..I don’t want to be those people with a hole on their ass.”

“Yeah so.. get it tailored , like I said.”

Ellen chuckled as she replaced the pants back on the rack, her human friend was just a knucklehead wasn’t she? Ruby and Ellen were looking for pants that would look nice on the blonde, they found several good ones but all of them had a hole in the back which just frustrated Ruby even more.

“See, what the hell? They’re all really cute pants as well.”

Ruby scrunched her face, using her fingers to push away more pants so she could have a look. Ellen hummed and looked around, she wandered not too far off to check the folded pants that were at the discount section and saw that they had holes in them as well. Her tail swayed solemnly trying to think before something told her to look up.

“.. Ah .”

“You found any pants with no holes, nom nom shark?”

“Well you won’t find any here. This is specifically a thiren pants aisle.”

The shark returned and pointed to the sign that was above another rack of clothing, the blonde girl followed her finger and saw the words “ Thiren Style~ ” on it.

“...Well that explains a lot then.”

Said Ruby dumbfoundedly, before she was lightly bopped on the back from a swift tail hit.

“Ah! Hey ! C’mon you didn’t know either!”

“That was for calling me nom nom shark, I told you to stop calling me that.”

Ellen glared at her before she turned to walk away so she could venture to another section of the store, leaving a flustered Ruby rubbing her back as she turned to the ‘ human’s ’ clothing aisle. The shark girl is aware the group split up to find their own style of wear, she peeped Lynn at the more preppy and dress casual section. She suspected the timid girl wasn’t one for super high fashion and liked to wear comfortable and airy clothing.

She saw Monna in an area where they had more trendy clothes, they were very cute and Ellen herself liked to pick out the trendy stuff whenever she could. The cow seemed to have somewhat of a summery like vibe to her. And Ruby seemed to be into super girly like fabrics, she notes. They each had such a unique style to them, no one really had a common interest except maybe like a couple things but other than that the girls were their own person.

Ellen wandered off to a more alternative section of the store. Cargos, skinny jeans, ripped jeans. This was her alley, she told herself to pick clothes that weren't just black and red all the time and it was okay to experiment with more color. 

But she always thought black was such a neat shade that could work with almost anything, she could at least use it as an accent to help blend her features, like her tail for example. It stuck out like a sore thumb when it came to her wanting to dress a little more feminine which discouraged her to even touch that avenue. But she’s learned to embrace and find ways to make it work.

“Hey, Ellen?”

A voice asked from behind, it belonged to Lynn.

The shark girl turned around to see what she needed while she held a T-Shirt with striped long sleeves coming from them.

“Yeah? Sup Lynn?”

“Any opinions about this skirt? I don’t know if it will look good on me.”

The black haired girl asked, holding the skirt in question to her hips to give Ellen an idea of what it would look like on her. The skirt design was….questionable. The fabrics that formed the skirt were of denim material and the bottom of the skirt had ruffled frills that were multicolored spots and other weird patterns. In some cases this would’ve looked cute had the design been executed better with its color pallet of choice, and maybe even the way the frills were stitched on. But the shark girl couldn’t help but to make a face, her facial expression alone was enough for Lynn to know that it was not a good choice.

“It’s um...eh no. It looks tacky in my opinion, like grandma.”

“Got it, thank you for the input.”

Said Lynn before she turned back to where she got that... thing from. Had it been Ruby asking Ellen for an opinion she would be stuck in a 10 minute debate on why the skirt design made every sense in the world to her. Defeating the whole purpose of the question.

The girls spent maybe about 30 minutes in the clothing store with Monna coming out with a bag of outfits that she chose and Lynn having a bag as well with the help of Ellen’s guidance. And Ruby comes out with no bags, complaining that the ‘super cute’ pants she found that were supposedly on sale cost WAY too much money for her.

The shark thiren didn’t choose to buy anything from there, finding it better to go shop at her designated clothing shop which actually catered to her style. The one that they just left had nice options too, she just felt they were just too scarce in picks for her to really make a decision.

They all walked around the mall some more, conversing about different things and even pointing out more shops that they wanted to visit next. Monna was quick to notice a merchandise store, the window display was full of cute plush dolls and media items. Her small fuzzy tail wagged eager to see more of the adorable finds. Ellen had never seen the cow thiren act so excited before, does she have a special interest in cute plush animals like herself? Deep down she was curious to find out if this was true.

“Oh guys! Let’s go in here, I’ve been meaning to look for a specific duck plushie from my childhood! I hope I can find it..”

The cow pleaded, the look in her eyes seemed eager. 

“Woah! Hold your hooves there, we’re comin moo moo!

Ruby said as she started to speed walk to catch up with Monna. Both Ellen and Lynn didn’t bother to pick up the pace and languidly made their way into the shop. It was colorful, almost magical in this place. It was mainly toys for children but there were other sections of the establishment where teens and young adults alike could buy and purchase cute things too, such as keychains, stickers, more plush dolls. Ellen would end up spending her entire paycheck from yesterday on this place if she had zero impulse control.

The keychains that they had were adorable, she thought. Some were of TV series characters, even game characters that were commissioned by artists to sell. Ellen fears she’s too boring to keep up with media franchises like those to know who the heck they even were, but if it means that they look cool or something she’ll buy it just because.

The shark thiren looked at all the neat gadgets that were up for purchase until she spotted something in the corner of her eye, she looked over and saw there was a section where it specifically had aquatic themed plushies and keychains. Her tail couldn’t help but to sway at the sight, trying to focus on her tail muscles so it wasn’t wagging too sporadically to the point where she wouldn't accidentally swat a kid.

“What did the duck look like, Monna?”

Asked Ruby who looked through the piles of plush animals, trying to find something she wasn’t exactly sure that she was even eyeing for.

“Well…it had like a tuft of fur on its head, and it looked squished like a pancake..it’s really specific looking, I’ll know it when I see it.”

The cow described, adjusting her bag to rest on the fold of her arm so she could look in the plush pile better.

“Is it this?”

Lynn asked, grabbing a stuffed duck from out of the pile. This prompted Ruby and Monna to look at it, mainly the cow thiren studying it to see if it was the right one. Though she shook her head which made the black haired girl set the doll back down.

“It’s cute though, just not the one I fell in love with.”

The brown haired girl said, looking around to find another pile.

“Also..where the heck did Ellen go?”

The cow wondered, which made the other two girls look around just as bewildered as well. Ellen was easy but also really hard to keep track of sometimes, this was something the trio could agree on as a collective.

“Oh there she is! She's in the fishy section.”

Ruby pointed, making her way over to where she was. This made Monna giggle a little, a shark being in that corner was crazy ironic and she found it a little silly, but cute of her.

Ellen held up a plush doll of a sea turtle. She was thinking of buying the little guy in hopes it would make for a neat collection of niche things to decorate in her room. She wonders if she could find another shark to build her ‘family’, but she hasn’t found a single one yet which bummed her out.

“Ellen! What’re you doing over here?”

Called Ruby, which caused the poor shark girl to jolt in surprise from the sudden call. The shark girl looked up from her turtle to see the girls make their way towards her, before she looked back down to look at the doll.

“You finally called me by my name, huh?”

“ Uhg don’t act like that! What are you doing here all by yourself?”

“Look at this turtle, it’s cute.”

The shark thiren said in a quiet voice as she passed the little doll over to Ruby so she could look at it.

“Aww..it is cute! Are you going to buy it?”

“Thinkin’ about it.”

Ruby passed the turtle back to Ellen so she could play with it some more, averting her attention to the plethora of sea creatures that were showcased on the shelves and racks. No wonder these things caught her attention, you couldn’t go wrong with seeing sea creature merchandise, they were such interesting animals too.

“Oh Ellen, look what I just found!”

An eager Lynn called out to her, she wore a big smile on her face as she walked up to the girl. She showed her a chunky looking black fin shark doll about the size of her forearm to Ellen, which made the shark girl’s eyes go wide.

“ AWWW! Oh my God, wait, it kind of looks like you, Ellen?”

The blonde girl pointed out as she played with its fins, the shark doll had beady black eyes that made it look derpy, and its mouth was open with triangular felt wool teeth. Most of the shark was black and its underbelly was a greyish tone. This looked exactly like her tail colors which freaked her out a little.

“Oh wow it does? What the hell.”

“No, because the resemblance is crazy, hold him!! That’s your child!”

Ellen just glared at Ruby, she felt her body cringe at the thought of even being considered a mother but she shook her head. She sat her turtle down so she could hold the shark in her arms, feeling the soft fuzzy material they used for its body. Ellen would be lying if she didn’t have the urge to buy the thing right now.

“Aww mama shark Ellen!”

“Shut up, dude.”

She gave the shark doll back to Lynn and twisted her body to pick her turtle back up, Ruby and Monna giggling at the tease.

“Oh, you aren’t gonna buy it, Ellen? I thought you would since you really like sharks.”

Curiously questioned Lynn who gently placed the shark doll back on the pile of other sea animals.

“Maybe next time..I’m not ready for another shark in my room, I wanna switch it up a bit.”

Said the shark girl, it was the truth. In all actuality, she could never have too many sharks in her room, but she felt more content with her new turtle friend more than her shark twin as crazy as it sounds to her.

The group stayed in the merchandise shop for a few more minutes, Ellen joining the rest of her friends in helping Monna look for her childhood duck, but unfortunately they were out of luck with the search. The shark had purchased her new turtle plush doll and Ruby finally came out with her first purchases of the day, 2 keychains and a lobster doll she spotted in the aquatic corner Ellen was glued to.

The girls walked out of the store, in search of a new one to find. They even thought about backtracking from where they were sitting at the Coff Cafe, seeing there was more business along that strip. Lynn spotted a shoe store that she wanted to see, which prompted the group to head towards that direction.

“Hey guys! I’ll be back, I have to go use the restroom really quickly. You can go to the store without me, I'll catch up!”

Said Monna, halting her tracks to walk backwards, the trio paused and looked at the cow.

“Oh, alright. Are you sure? We can just come with you for company?” 

Lynn suggested which granted Monna to shake her head, declining her offer.

“Nah, I'll be okay!”

The trio gave each other a brief look before they turned to nod at the cow thiren, trusting the girl would come back to them. They gave a temporary wave to her as they picked up their tracks to make their way towards the shoe store. While Monna turns around and walks towards the direction of the bathroom.

…

POV Monna.

The cow thiren walked a fair distance away from her friend group, banking a corner before she peaked from it to silently watch them enter the store. She could tell Ellen and Ruby got into a bit of a banter the way Ruby was rubbing her back, even hearing her screams from several meters away. She kept watching until Ellen’s long shark tail was out of sight, which gave her the safe signal to come out from that corner.

Okay, time to move.

Monna retraced her steps from where they were from the merchandise store, she used the bathroom excuse to make her way back to make a quick purchase of an item without the girls growing suspicious of her intentions. She could honestly take the time and keep looking for her duck but at this point, it’s not that important to her right now. If anything she could probably find it online but seeing that they were here, she took the opportunity to at least try and find it.

But that wasn’t the objective now.

She arrived back at the store, making her way straight to the aquatic corner of the business to find that shark plushie that Lynn had placed down. Luckily it was still in the same area from where she left it, making the cow girl sigh in relief and even happy that no snotty nosed kid took it, misplaced it, hell even hid it. She picked the chunky doll up, it was so adorable and precious looking she just couldn’t help herself to come back.

A part of her was grateful that Ellen didn’t bother to buy the doll, but another part of her just questioned it even though the shark thiren gave her answer as clear as day. But that didn’t matter anymore. She picked the doll up and walked over to check out, officially purchasing and having the doll in her possession. She looked around just in case one of the girls decided to come back to see if she was okay, but she saw the signs were clear. 

She sat her clothing bag down and tucked the shark underneath her outfits so it wasn’t exposed and she could avoid any questions the girls may have of her. Her poor heart couldn’t take the pressure if that were to happen. She picked her bag back up and left the store to go find her friends again, even lightly jogging with a little pep in her step with the shark now tucked away safely under her clothes.

The little shark doll was a piece of Ellen Joe.

Chapter Text

Ellen only wished for her weekend to last a bit longer, already having to return back to school to suffer in its draining and dreadful environment. Saturday was the only eventful free day that she had along with her friends, while Sunday she spent the entire day comfortable in her bed hoping her boss wouldn’t call her for an emergency commission. But to her luck, he hasn’t and she’s grateful she could have a moment of peace to herself doing absolutely nothing. 

BEEP.. BEEP.. BEEP.. BEEP..

It was now the start of a new week, Monday morning. The alarm blasted throughout the shark thiren’s room, straining her poor eardrums once again which forced her to come out from the comfort of her blanket cocoon to shut it off.

She didn’t completely fumble with the device like she did Friday morning. Clumsily feeling for the button to shut it off with success, and she didn’t have to hear the damning crash of the thing hitting the floor. However, the naturally sleepy girl was still sleepy.

Ellen moaned tiredly into her pillow, upset at the fact she had another week let alone a singular day ahead of her to muscle through.

The girl was absolutely over it already, but when push comes to shove all she can do is to go with the flow, much like an up or downstream of water. She laid there motionless on her bed, her tired eyes struggling to open to see the alarm’s time on the side of her.

“.. 5:01. ”

Something told her she didn’t have to wake up this early just to prepare for school, but at the same time, what if she wanted to stop off at a restaurant like Waterfall Soup for a full bowl of noodles just to burn off some time? Or even make a pitstop at 141 to grab a few snacks. There were possibilities where detours could happen, which she ultimately learned when dealing with time. Perhaps Lycaon’s influence is rubbing off on her?

Ellen mustered up the strength to push herself to sit up. Her black and red hair a mess from the tossing and turning she endured while asleep, and her tail feeling heavier as her body is starting to wake up. She sat on the edge of her bed for a moment, wasting as much time as she could before she made the mental push to at least get herself to the bathroom and freshen up.

The shark shoved herself off of the bed stumbling a little, the weight distribution between her body and tail were off which only made her intrusive thought in going back to sleep even stronger. She shuffled her way to the bathroom, making herself turn to look at herself in the mirror.

The girl looked closer to death than she was asleep, hair in disarray, eye crust, visible sleep marks on her face, noticeable darkness under her eyes. A zombie pretty much.

She turned the faucet on and splashed her face with cold water, which gave her some sort of nervous reset as she did so. She shortly after began to brush her sharp teeth, ensuring she got every single corner of her mouth clean and even the sneaky crevices of the double row of slicers she had.

Ellen did her ordinary prep, she took a nice warm shower in contrast to the already cold morning air that circulated through her home. She dried herself thoroughly, wrapping her towel around her torso as she opened her closet to get a fresh school uniform set and a pair of undergarments. The girl took her time in getting dressed, slowly buttoning up her shirt, making sure her skirt’s belt wasn’t hugging too tightly on her waist, and even choosing an adorable pair of leggings to compliment the uniform. 

Her maid dress was hung up with all the small accessories that went along with it. It was the only one she had for now, and she had to bring it with her to school until she could put it back on and take it off to leave it at work again. She took the fabrics off of its hanger and laid the dress onto her messy bed, she proceeded to fold her shirt, dress, and apron in a neat little pile while her straps, chains, and other addons were divided in another. 

She learned a fair lesson when stashing away her dress.

One time, she just shoved the thing in her bag not caring about ironing it or what not, and arrived at work with a wrinkled dress that looked the opposite of presentable. Lycaon was upset that day and made the girl iron and properly prepare her clothes so she could start work, and pettily deducted her pay until she was in uniform. She knew not to do that shit again.

She placed her maid clothes in a separate bag from her book bag. Thankfully, it was compacted and could fit into her locker comfortably without having to shove it in to make it fit, and wrinkling her dress some more. The girl sighed at the thought , it was unnecessary cargo she had to carry with her. It’s not like it was heavy, not something like an instrument she sees the band kids carry down the hallways sometimes. But she preferred her hands to be free of holding anything but her phone or snacks.

Ellen took the time to do her makeup, light foundation and some color to the corner of her eyes was her favored technique, and a sharp wing. She looked at herself in the mirror, moving her head to see all angles of her face if anything else needed a touchup. Satisfied with her look, she put her brushes away.

She made her way over to her bed where her book bag rested, she looked in it just to see if she was missing anything.

“Okay, that’s due today..my notebook is here.. my pens and pencils that are scattered every frickin’ where..and-”

The shark paused, staring at the love note that she kept. She took out the piece of paper one last time to give it a final read over. As she read it, her large tail started to sway gingerly, her feelings already clutching at her heart as the sweet note was putting her in a bit of a good mood. But she didn’t allow the charming set of words to swoon her too much as she still has no clue on who wrote it.

She folded and tucked the note back into her book bag and closed it shut, swinging the straps over her shoulder and momentarily grabbing her uniform bag. She grabbed her keys and phone from off its charger and glanced at her alarm clock to see the time.

“6…yeah I should probably set my alarm to that instead of 5..”

She told herself out loud before she exited her room. The girl made her way down the stairs and paused to look at her kitchen. It was pretty empty with maybe a few fruits that decorated the sad space. She wanted breakfast but she couldn’t figure out the last time she actually cooked anything for herself. The most impressive thing the girl made was a cup noodle with a sorry ass poached egg in it.

She shook her head and kept walking, maybe she’ll actually buy something on her way to school. Ellen was too lazy to put the effort in making herself something to eat, which prompts her to blow her money on takeout and eating out. Victoria Housekeeping pays her a generous amount of money anyway, so she didn’t feel as guilty about it.

The girl walked towards her front door, slipping her feet into her clunky school shoes before she unlocked her door to open it. It was beautiful out, the air smelled of fresh dew that clung to blooming flowers that were decorated nicely on her neighbor’s gardens, and the sky was a beautiful orange and pink color. 

Ellen thought it was so pretty. She took a quick photo of the horizon to look at later.

The shark turned to lock her door and made her way down from her complex, languidly walking down her neighborhood with ease unlike the time she was running to the metro. It was soothing hearing herself walk along the pavement, the birds chirping adding on to the early morning flare. Her long tail swayed with the movement of her hips, feeling the cold air brush against her shark skin. It felt really nice she had to admit, she liked the feeling of the cold on her tail more than she liked it on her entire body.

She passed the same businesses that she raced by before, taking the time to actually look at them and even peer inside some of the buildings out of curiosity. She smelled breakfast, a combination between sausage, egg, a hint of toasted bread and the rich strong note of coffee. Her tail couldn’t help but to wag, it smelled absolutely amazing. So amazing that she had to pause and step back to see what the name of this restaurant was.

“ Marco’s Sandwiches , huh? Don’t think I've seen this place before..”

She spoke, eyeing at the restaurant some more. The girl had a lot of time to kill, so she figured she would go ahead and grab a bite.

–

Ellen came out of the restaurant with a croissant egg and ham sandwich in hand, and a small bottle of orange juice awkwardly held in the other along with her uniform bag. The sandwich came straight out of the oven it was toasted in which burned the poor shark’s hand. She held onto the paper it was wrapped in with the tip of her fingers to prevent any more pain. The girl was scared to even take a bite of the thing, fearing it would burn her mouth off.

She knows her food will cool off eventually, she wasn’t in a big rush and wanted to admire her surroundings anyway. For a Monday, Ellen thought it felt strangely welcoming. Usually these days were bound to be the soul catcher of the week for anyone who was relaxing the day prior, but something told her today was going to be productive and she oddly looked forward to it.

The shark girl continued to walk the neighborhoods and columns of New Eridu. She passed by a few traveling salarymen and students much like herself, and even passed a few early morning strollers who decided that this morning was a great day to get some fresh air.

The girl eyed her sandwich, feeling that it’s cooled off enough she finally takes a bite out of it. She hummed in approval, the item was still reasonably hot which didn’t disappoint her even if the thing was just warm. It wasn’t like she wasn’t going to continue eating the sandwich regardless of its temperature, but it’ll take the enjoyment out of a freshly hot one.

Grubbing on her sandwich, Ellen passed by a construction site that was in the process of building a new store of some sort. She watched the crew members scale out their work while she glanced over to a few bear thirens carrying a bundle of steel beams to the worksite. She thought about doing blue collar work as a possible job option but seeing the physically demanding tasks she would have to endure, it was a closed case for sure.

Plus, she would have to wake up super duper early to work and stay there for crazy hours on end each day. She could hardly keep up with part time! The shark finished her sandwich and crumpled up the wrapping to toss into a trash bin, arriving at the metro station finally. She scanned in her card and made her way down to the queuing area where she saw mostly students and workers hanging about.

Unlike the morning rush hour, it was reasonably crowded, she would say. As she waited she pulled out her phone to check her socials. Memes, videos, news, typical stuff she would get on her feed everyday. She scrolled aimlessly until she heard her train come screech to a stop. Eyeing her peripherals, she watched the surrounding crowd shuffle forward to funnel into the open train cars which prompted her to do the same.

She walked in and sat down on a seat, making herself comfortable with her tail and putting up her uniform bag next to it. She took up 2 seats instead of 3 this time, she felt rather generous this morning. Content with her comfort, she opened up her orange juice bottle to take a few sips as she waited for the train to pull forward to its destination.

—

Later at Satsuki High…

The shark thiren finally arrived at the school. 

She found herself walking up the stairs amongst the growing crowd of kids who were also enrolled with her. She heard laughter and distant conversations that might as well be mumbo jumbo for all she cared. The girl reached for the handle to open the door before a random guy rushed to open it for her. 

Dumbfounded and confused as all hell she paused to look up at the dude, feeling her slightly good mood diminishing fast . The guy was tall and his brows were pretty thick, and his face mask rested on his chin. Handsome guy she’ll admit, but he had zero reason to do what he did. He smiled and he looked genuinely nervous, seeming he was awaiting this very moment and didn’t know exactly what to do.

“....Um, thanks?”

Ellen awkwardly acknowledged, her eyes darting at the door and back to the boy who was trying his best to keep his composure. He nodded eagerly in response as the shark girl began to walk, side eyeing him until she passed through the door to enter the school.

Okayy? That was..weird.

The shark thiren thought, feeling a light throb in her temple from the unnecessary interaction. Perhaps her readiness to start a Monday was just false hope, and it was back to dog shit central like usual. She decided that she was going to go to her locker, she didn’t want to deal with the burden of carrying her maid bag all day. And she still had some time to spare before she had to go to class as well.

Making a small detour from her usual route to class, she turned a corner to the direction on where her locker was located. Though, the girl couldn’t help but notice more eyes were on her now, more than usual and it made her feel slightly uneasy. Heads turning her direction, expressions of shock, and some examining her as if they were trying to figure something out. Whatever deal they had, she hoped they kept it to themselves.

Ellen forced herself to stare at the ground to avoid the attention and focused on her way to get to her locker. What was going on? Was there something on her shirt? Did she have a cowlick in her head that she was unaware of? She hopes there isn’t some sort of rumor spreading about her? Whatever the case may be, she silently prays that nothing about her personal life got exposed..

Arriving at her locker, she twisted the lock and swung its door open, she’s relieved there were no letters.

Not yet at least.

She was able to fit her maid bag in her cubby and close it once she knew it's in there completely. She snapped her lock on the hinge and turned to retrace her steps to make her way towards her class. The shark pulled her phone out as a source of distraction from the leering eyes that track her.

She felt them, almost as if each pupil that faced her was piercing a laser at her face. She even heard faint whispers of the students around that were trying their best to be discreet, but little do they know they are doing a terrible job at it.

“ Do you think that’s her? ”

“ Gotta be, that tail is hard not to miss. ”

“ We should say hi to her! ”

The brief conversations just confused her, did they recognize her from somewhere? At the mall maybe? That's pretty public. But then again, why would they even be interested in a rando like herself? Was there something significant that they found out about her?

The shark’s anxiety increased as her endless possibility of reasons came forth in her mind.

I really hope they didn’t find out about my job…

Ellen helplessly wondered, this caused her poor heart to thump against her chest at the thought of her profession getting put on blast. It would quite literally be the end of her, she couldn’t fathom the disappointment her higher ups would bestow upon her once her agent cover has been blown. 

Her contract would be meaningless and that would possibly mean her deal with Lycaon in funding her home would end and she would have to go back to fending for herself like before..she feared that, she didn’t want that at all! A part of her is telling her that it isn’t the case, and her bubbling anxiety was doing more harm than good.

She hiked up the stairs and walked to her class room, the door was wide open, welcoming all students who arrived early to make themselves comfortable before the bell rang. Ellen treaded awkwardly in the room, seeing a portion of her classmates was seated minding their own business, and a few of them were jumbled together to talk about whatever thing they had going on. Her long tail was tense, clear her emotions were getting the best of her so she tried to relax her muscles as best as she could to not draw anymore attention.

She traveled down the aisle of desks to get to her seat, shimmying her shoulder down to take her book bag off so she could put it on the back of her seat. She momentarily followed suit and tucked her tail through the gap of her chair so she could sit with no issues. This wasn’t how she wanted to start her new week of school, why the heck was everything so weird all of a sudden? Seriously , did she do something?

The shark thiren shook her head and pulled out her phone to help distract her from what was happening. It concerned her but she didn’t want to prioritize it further just to scare herself more. Her thumb slightly trembled as her nerves were unsettled, scrolling through her apps as a way to alleviate the tension from off of her person. 

This..is going to be a long day.

Ellen’s nerves slowly eased as she looked through her phone, getting a few cute shark videos on her feed which helped in diverting her brain from ultimately falling into a pit of apprehension. It was working well until-

“Hey, excuse me?”

Out spoke a girl who sounded way too close to her. The shark girl furrowed her brows and looked up to see who questioned her. She was confronted by 3 girls that were parked right by her desk, they each had a look of curiosity and excitement on their face and it only made the shark’s face contort harder as her eyes darted between the 3 of them in confusion.

“Huh?”

Ellen awkwardly honked, her phone still in hand feeling her tail stiffen up again. 

“You're Ellen right? We don’t talk, but we’re classmates! We were wondering if you’re the girl on the metro?”

The girl on her right side questioned. She had short black hair, a pink hair tie with a knot in the front, and a cute yellow vest.

“What?”

Now the shark was confused, the heck did they mean ‘ girl on the metro’ ? The girl in the middle who had blonde curly hair took out her phone to do a quick search before she turned her phone around to show Ellen what they were talking about.

“This one! This is you right? Unless you have a twin sister or something, heh.”

The curly blonde went, using her other hand to point at a very obvious photo of the shark girl herself. Ellen only stared at the screen, not entirely sure how to feel about this strange occurrence. It was a sneaky photo taken of her on the metro from last Friday, eating gummy worms while she was minding her business on the phone. The girl felt the tips of her fingers run cold, just seeing herself on a trending page at that made her feel like a damn gummy worm.

“Uh..y-yeah?”

The shark answered quietly, she wanted to answer rudely to dismiss the conversation all together, but the nervousness was getting the best of the poor girl.

“Oh okay! You look so cool by the way! Are you a cosplayer?”

The curly blonde asked, her excitement seemingly juicing up realizing their classmate was trending on the interknot. To Ellen’s favor, the cosplay excuse always worked well with situations like these, so explaining herself wasn’t hard at all thankfully. But having to engage in having to even say it was what she didn’t want to do.

“...I am, yeah. A hobby.”

“Where did you get the outfit? It looks so well made, I bet it’s expensive stuff too.”

“Amazon.”

The girl lied out of her teeth which got the girls to look at each other in surprise.

Oh my God don’t tell me these dumbasses actually believed that.

The shark girl felt herself drain of her energy as she’s being asked more questions, it should not be this serious. A simple compliment to her dress and that should be it. But importantly, she needs to REMEMBER to CHANGE out of her maid outfit AFTER WORK. She was mentally kicking herself in the ass with this, how stupid of her.

More of her classmates entered the room, she was so engulfed in her self battering void of consciousness and her overstimulating brain she didn’t realize her friend, Monna had sat down. Seeing as the curious girls were literally in her way and couldn’t say hi, which was slightly pissing her off.

“ Also you’re mad gorgeous!! Like crazy pretty! ”

“ Right? Do you do your own makeup or do you have a team? It looks incredible on you, red is definitely your color .”

“ Do you have a page where you post your cosplays? I wanna follow you! ”

“ Those leggings are to DIE for, where did you- ”

“-Okay! I’d like to be left alone now if you guys don’t mind.”

Ellen had to interrupt, the constant questions were tumbling at her like rolling coal and she just couldn’t keep up with them, even if she would like to answer those questions it was getting too much and it seriously irked her.

“Oh! Sorry sorry, Ellen! But seriously though, cute outfit!”

The short black haired girl complimented once more before her trio of friends decided to leave the aisle to return back to their own seat. The shark girl was relieved and sighed, crossing her arms so she could put her head down to combat a creeping migraine that she was developing. Her tail was slightly flicking about also, indicating her annoyance was on par with an almost boiling pot of water.

She sulked for a good few minutes before she lifted her head and sighed. Knowing her luck there were probably more encounters like this yet to come throughout the school day. Ellen was facing forward, blankly staring at the empty chalkboard that had a few chalk stains from the not so good eraser her professor keeps using. She looked to her right to see Monna.

As much as she shouldn’t, she expected the bovine girl to say hi to her first like how she usually does. But she didn’t hear that at all which wasn’t odd, it just pushed Ellen to come out of her comfort zone and say it first this time.

“Hey, Monna.”

“Hey.”

The cow girl replied, though her tone was soft but dry almost? This lifted any sort of annoyance the shark had and it was replaced by confusion, maybe some concern in there she didn’t know. She looked at her face and saw it was pretty blank. She was hard looking at her phone, almost like she was focused on what was on the screen. Assuming she didn’t want to be bothered, she looked away from her, not thinking much of it as she got on her phone to play with it before her professor arrived.

The shark stared at her phone, she closed out of the group chat and hovered her thumb to the interknot icon. She wanted to see the post herself as much as the thought bothered her, she couldn’t help but to be a little curious about it. However, knowing there are creeps out there who are just taking photos of random girls doing absolutely nothing was what makes this ordeal a little weird to her. 

She understands probably at that moment, the person who took the photo thought she looked cool and innocently posted the image online and didn’t expect for the thing to blow up maybe. Yeah, she’ll assume that’s what happened and isn’t a suspicious bystander who thinks she was a secret agent in disguise as a maid.

Ellen clicked on the topic of herself, it was one of the hotter headlines that took interest by the public but it was thankfully getting overblown by a hotter topic of Section 6 doing interviews with news channels about the HIA discrepancy. 

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[Post] I seen this cool shark girl on the metro

I couldn’t get a clearer shot of her because I didn't want her to notice me taking a photo, and I was too scared to ask personally. I just couldn’t help myself, but she looks so friggin awesome! The jaw necklace and the connecting jaw headpiece is something different, I've never seen anything like it before! 

I assume she’s coming from a convention of some sort or one of those influencers who dress crazy regardless of what the public says. 

And another note, that tail man that thing looks like it can kill!!

That’s all, I thought the outfit was badass!

Her assumption stood correct, thankfully. An innocent post by a curious onlooker, would’ve been a million times better if they were to not post her on the interknot without her knowing, let alone shooting a picture in the first place. 

RIINGGG!

The bell rang, which made Ellen’s eyes dart up to look around the class. It was full now and she had yet to see her teacher walk in from that door. Her eyes glanced towards Monna’s direction, her phone was still in hand but it seemed the girl was looking off somewhere else. She peeped a light tail flick as well, a clear sign that she’s upset. 

The shark thought back to the time where Monna seemed conflicted about something, and Ellen assumed it was because she had made that snide remark and the bovine girl happened to take it personally.

But the more she thought about it, she didn’t think that was the case. This behavior was different from that time and she’s sure it wasn’t her fault. Her useless brain almost assumed it was because she didn’t say hi fast enough when Monna arrived in the class but that was just a dumb and ridiculous thing to get upset over. 

She wanted to ask what was wrong, she wasn’t going to do what she did last time and let her lingering feelings passover until she magically felt better, something was clearly bothering the cow girl.

“Yo, you good?”

Began Ellen, it took whatever fixation Monna was stirring about in her mind out from the sound of the shark’s voice. The cow looked over to her, her face lifting into a light smile as the shark thiren looked at her with slight concern.

“Oh, yeah I'm fine.”

“...You sure? You seem kinda out of it.”

“Yeah I’m okay.”

Monna dismissed, her smile looked sad to the shark. If anything it just concerned her more because the cow was usually so bubbly and what not. She could only nod and just assume it was a personal thing going on in her life that could be seeping out into her feelings, she gets it and it happened to the best of them.

“ Good morning everyone! I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend. Do me a favor and put your phones away so we can get started on our formula review, but before we do that let me get the attendance sheet so I could do a roll call.”

The professor gleefully announced as he walked into the room, hanging on to the door so he could close it. The shark watched the man set his books and laptop on his desk, getting ready to start the day with an hour's worth of boring math material. Ellen lazily turned around to open her bag so she could take out her notebook and pen, she flipped her papers so that it was on a fresh page.

She heard the tardy bell ring and the ambient noise of the students around her shuffling to get their tools and belongings out also. It was quiet with the exception of whispering here and there, and the zipping and clicking of book bags opening and closing that filled the air. 

Ellen glanced back at Monna who took a pencil out of her own bag, her eyes darted up to her face just to see if she was still visibly upset, which she was. She noticed the cow girl’s face was tightened into some sort of scowl, her eyebrows from time to time furrowed deeper as if she was visibly combatting an unwanted thought. This was..unlike Monna, and Ellen felt a little useless just staring at her, unsure of what to say in this moment let alone if she should say anything at all.

She noticed the bovine girl glance at the shark briefly before her head tilted down, it was almost as if the shark thiren’s eye contact spooked her? Which caused the girl herself to look away, feeling that she was staring a little too hard out of worry for her friend. The shark girl’s tail curled around the chair’s leg, her feelings unsure of what to do. She couldn’t do much, they were in class, and the thought of that upset the shark. 

She didn’t like seeing her friend unhappy, but at the same time normally she wouldn’t care too much for something like this. Ironically, she isn’t the happiest looking person herself but it doesn’t stop her from feeling a tad joyous seeing others visibly happy.

She’s also not the best person to talk to when it comes to sensitive situations involving tender feelings, nor did she have the right words to even give her own form of advice because truthfully she didn’t have any. Which was further clutching at her heart at the fact she’s woefully aware that she’s just a bystander to Monna.

Ellen pondered to herself, she saw someone feeling upset, it’s normal to feel empathetic or sympathetic for them. It was what made her ‘human’, sharing emotions as a collective. But there were times where Ruby and Lynn were upset and she didn’t overthink a solution for them this hard like she was for Monna. And it’s not like Ellen didn’t care, she did! ..Maybe she didn’t..like them like how she liked Monna?

..Wait what?

She paused as she stared at her blank paper.

Ellen liked all of her friends, equally right? It’s not messed up to favor a friend more than the other? Oh what the hell is she thinking, of course it is! As long as she doesn’t say that out loud it's fine..? It’s still a guilty thought to think about either way.

“Let’s see uh, Ellen Joe? Are you here?”

Her teacher called her name, looking for where the girl was seated. Momentarily the shark half raised her arm to signal the man that she was present, and with a nod and a jot down of his pen he marked her down.

The shark thiren rested her hand on her cheek, drawing small fishes around the border of her notebook paper as she continued to dwell on this thought. She liked her friends, they were cool. If anything, she was blessed to have them and having the thought of liking one of them more than the other just didn’t sit right with her. Ellen, without turning her head completely, glanced back at Monna.

The cow thiren was quietly sitting beside her, she was busying herself with practice problems scribbling down example equations and what not. She assumed the girl was trying to further understand the curriculum, or she’s just finding a way to distract herself from whatever conflict she had going on. 

The shark slightly frowned, she hoped Monna was alright. It was bizarre that she seemed so stoic and stiff in the face. Something in Ellen's chest twisted, she couldn’t tell if it was the ham being cooked with extra butter or it was something deeper within to justify these lingering feelings that she had for her friend. 

It’ll probably solve itself, it’s not that deep Ellen. C’mon now.

She forced herself to look away and harden her facade, feeling she’s getting too sappy and intricate for something that wasn’t even her business no way. Which only frustrated her more. Why does she care so much? It’s not like she shouldn’t care but why does it have an effect on her to this degree?

Ellen hadn’t realized it, but her small fish sketch ended up turning into an ugly jagged line that was smack dab in the middle of the paper. Dwelling way too much in her thoughts, doodling wasn’t even an escape it seems. She sighed looking at her paper.

This feels wrong but..I don’t know.

Her large shark tail was swaying a little, she was just so unsure of the entire thing and only sat there on her chair, waiting for her professor to start the lesson.

—

RIINGGG!

First period was over with. Same stuff, different day was what Ellen got out of it. The students that were in class packed their belongings and began to exit the room, while Ellen stayed back to wait for Monna to pack her things so they could walk out together.

For the duration of the class, the bovine girl hardly spoke to the shark. Usually they exchanged small talk during class if things got a tad boring but she was just so abnormally quiet, Ellen couldn’t help but to feel a little conflicted.

She figures that’s why the class felt so damn long, even taking a small nap during independent work didn’t pass up much time. The shark girl messed with her phone as she waited for Monna to put her things away, she momentarily looked up at her to see if she was almost done and she observed the cow scowling or glancing off to the side at something again.

This caused Ellen to raise her brow in confusion, darting her eyes over to where she was allegedly eyeing at. She saw just a few kids strolling out the door, she didn't really see anyone who could’ve made her upset, unless there was something going on between another student and her that she personally didn’t know herself. So her assumptions were still left in the dark.

The shark saw the cow get up from her seat adjusting her book bag strappings on her shoulder, which prompted her to get up as well so they could walk out. The two of them left the classroom, making their way towards the cafeteria for breakfast and so that they could meet up with Ruby and Lynn. 

“..So, did you do anything yesterday?”

Monna finally broke the silence which caught Ellen by surprise. She didn’t think the girl was going to talk for the remainder of the day she thought.

“..Nah, just laid in bed.”

It was the truth, she had done a few damning commissions that put some strain on her body last week. And if anything, Sunday was the only day she got to genuinely relax. However, the shark thiren was genuinely relieved that she’s finally talking to the cow. It was progress. Though, it got quiet again. A lingering awkwardness swarmed around the both of them until Ellen broke the silence.

“Uh..how about you? Anything cool happen? Or didn’t I don’t know.”

“Same boat as you, honestly. I had nothing better to do so-”

Before the bovine girl could finish her sentence, a random girl came up to them. Ellen specifically, was who she decided to invade the space of. This catches both thriens off guard and makes them halt in the tracks, their face twisting in confusion.

“You’re the shark girl on the metro! I didn’t know you went to school here, that’s so cool!”

Said the girl, her face full of excitement and bubbly wonder it made the shark girl’s stomach hurt. Ellen just stared at the girl, looking her up and down before her sharp pupils darted back up to her face.

“..Yeah, because I’m a regular person.”

Scoffed the shark. She was far from just a ‘regular person’ but in context like this, the girl was just an ordinary student like her. The girl’s face seemed stunted, blissfully smacked in the face with such blunt sarcasm. She thought Ellen would be more appreciative in being recognized, but she came off so… bitchy .

“Uh okay..?”

Was all the girl said as she stood there, dumb as hell was what Ellen liked to call it. The shark thiren rolled her eyes and signaled her and Monna to keep walking.

“That was kind of rude of that girl.”

Monna quietly said as she looked back to see that she was still standing there. Ellen shook her head and sighed, already feeling another headache coming to crash her poor brain.

“Yeah no kidding, invasive and for what.”

Her huge shark tail flicked in agitation. The pair continued to walk down the crowded hallway of the school, like earlier, the shark thiren felt eyes prowling on her more and more. Even hearing callouts that made her roll her eyes hard .

“ Yo! Shark girl! ”

“ That’s the cosplayer girl right? ”

“ Hey, that outfit you wore was sick! ”

All Ellen could do was narrow her eyes and look forward, ignoring the attention that she was receiving. It was uncomfortable, like seriously. Thankfully, both girls were drawing near the doors that lead to the cafeteria.

—

“My day is ruined, I CAN NOT right now…”

Dramatically spoke Ruby, scrolling on her phone in pure annoyance as her other hand was resting firmly on her cheek. Lynn peeled the plastic cover of her fruit cup before she looked up to the blonde in confusion.

“Why what happened, Ruby?”

The glasses girl questioned, getting a plastic fork so she could poke it into a juicy peach. She momentarily sees Ellen and Monna make their way to the table with their own snack of choice in hand, then sitting down to join the conversation.

“Oh my God, y'all arrived just in time.”

Said the blonde, turning off her phone before casting it aside. The shark only glanced towards Ruby, her brow raising as her face remained neutral.

“Why.”

Blankly stated Ellen as she opened her packaged coffee cake.

“...........My crush has a girlfriend! Like I’m so upset!”

“...Maybe that’s a good thing.”

“Shut up Ellen, I'm grieving !”

Blurted Ruby, she reached for her phone again to unlock it, pressing a button to relook at the concerning amount of photos she took of the boy.

“I seen a future between us! This is so unfair!”

“You’re kind of sounding like Ellen’s questionable love notes.”

Inquired Lynn who took a nibble of her peach, this caused the blonde to look at the glasses girl with a bemused expression. Even making the shark herself snorted a little at the comparison.

“Okay that’s different though! We actually had real life interactions while Ellen’s delulu papers were scaredy cats who won’t even talk to her in person!”

The blonde defended herself, her cheeks puffed as her face grew pinker by the second. This made the shark herself rethink the crazy statement. Sure, the people who wrote to her were beyond weird, some were hardly normal and wanted to be with her. However, the mysterious letter she kept from the anonymous girl. She didn’t think she was a ‘ delulu scaredy cat ’. That letter was pure bravery, but she kept that fact to herself.

“Anyways, enough about me. Ellen! How does it feel to be famous??”

“It’s dumb.”

Ellen uttered, taking a small chunk out of her coffee cake to eat.

“I had at least 4 people come up to me asking me about the stupid post.”

The shark complained, feeling her tail wiggle in annoyance on her lap. She rethought about the encounters she’s faced, the 3 classmates that swarmed her desk, that one girl who appeared out of thin air in front of her and Monna, and the passerbyers that gave a brief shoutout that caused a domino effect of other students turning their heads towards her.

“Oh wow, it's that serious?”

“Well I don’t want it to be? They swarmed like flies landing on a pile of shit, I’m already over it.”

Ellen complained, eating her cake with a scowl.

“Poor Nom Nom Shark can’t get a break..I’m sorry girl.”

“..You’re adding on calling me that weird ass nickname, Ruby.”

“C’MON YOU KNOW YOU LIKE THAT NICKNAME! If you’re so against it, why do you keep responding to it when I call you Nom Nom?”

“Because you call me it 90% of the time! I can count how many times you called me by my actual name, and it’s 4 .”

“Dang..that means I’m not calling you Nom Nom Shark enough, huh?”

“Bro.”

The both of them bantered, which caused Lynn to snicker and Ruby following suit with her own laughter. The lighthearted headbutting was always a show for the group, and the blonde’s relentless teasing has always worked wonders in getting Ellen’s strings pulled. This caused the shark to look away, frustratingly eating her cake while a light shade of red masked over her face.

The shark thiren, didn’t want to admit it but the nickname that ‘bothered’ her so much was starting to grow on her a little. Mainly because it’s been said so much like she mentioned, but it’s come to the point where it won’t stop any time soon and she’s slowly accepting that fact.

“Hey, Monna? Are you okay?”

Out came Lynn’s concerned voice, this caused both Ruby and Ellen to lift their heads to look at Monna. Feeling the shift of the atmosphere becoming more serious than the playful argument from before. The bovine girl was quietly sitting with her untouched apple in front of her, her face twisted in annoyance before the question was asked to her which caused her herself to lift her own head.

Ellen could tell the girl immediately felt awkward when all three of their eyes were on her, visibly shifting in her seat for some form of comfort.

“What? Oh, yeah I’m alright.”

Monna replied, her tone low and dry like before. She looked off to the side to avoid the intense eye contact of her friends, but she briefly darted her eyes towards Ellen’s direction which the shark girl herself didn’t pick up on. However, Ruby did, which induced her to look back up at the shark.

“You guys share a class, did something happen?”

Curiously asked Ruby, her face a little worried in contrast from the smugness she showed literal seconds prior.

“No, nothing happened.”

That was all Ellen said, she really wanted to say more to the group, but she felt speaking for the cow wasn’t the best approach. It was her story to tell at the end of the day and assuming that she wanted to be left alone, which she understands. But she also had the lingering desire to explain herself too to not seem like she upset the girl, which her friends doubted she did anyway.

Lynn set her fork in the now empty fruit cup she ate and set the plastic off to the side. She adjusted her glasses, as she prepared to say what she needed to say.

“Are you sure you’re alright?”

“...Mhm.”

The cow briefly hummed. Her fuzzy ear flicked, still looking off to the side almost as if she was contemplating a recurring thought that was the answer to the three clueless girl’s concern.

“Usually you’re all giddy and stuff, it’s unusual to see you mad. Like did something happen at home? Bad day? A fight-”

“-Bad day! I’m fine, guys seriously. I’ll get over it.”

Monna snapped, cutting off Ruby’s sentence which made the blonde jump from the sudden aggression. She looked at the upset cow thiren before she looked back to the other concerned girls which they exchanged an awkward glance and shoulder shrugs.

The table they shared fell silent while the surrounding sound of cafeteria noises filled the air. Each of them tried to think of an approach to not further rile up the cow, before she felt the need to say something once more.

“I’m sorry..”

The cow apologized. Feeling the atmosphere shift again from her small outburst. Her shoulders were tense, already feeling bad for yelling.

“It’s fine, girl. We’re just worried about you is all.”

“Yeah..whatever situation you have going on we hope it gets better for you.”

Both Lynn and Ruby consoled, which made the cow nod her head in acknowledgement. Ellen only looked at Monna wearily, she knew something else was awry other than just a ‘bad day’. Did she want to make that assumption? Of course she didn’t, but her feelings inside only stirred harder, feeling that she’s obligated to do something in hopes to cheer the cow up.

She didn’t like seeing her upset, in fact better yet she hated seeing her upset. She liked seeing her happy smile and curious engagements for whatever the group had actively set for them. And seeing it not there made her sad, and she couldn’t stand for that. Ellen reached over to grab an unused utensil packet and ripped it open to pull out a fork. She then used that fork to cut her coffee cake in half and scooped out the extra bits that she nibbled herself before passing it towards Monna’s direction.

The cow who was sulking to herself noticed the cake being scooched towards her, her fuzzy ears perked up in perplexity and her brows furrowing together before she looked up to see who was offering the cake.

“You can have the rest.”

Said Ellen, her tone of voice was a pinch softer than usual. She was looking up at Monna, both their eyes seemed to lock for a few seconds. Ellen’s sharp piercing red eyes were so absorbed into Monna’s round welcoming brown ones, it almost seemed like she was a bit entranced in them. 

Though the eye contact was too much for the shark to handle and it made her feel .. odd .. so she just looked off, immediately hardening her face feeling like she was exposing too much vulnerability.

“I-..you don’t have to give me your cake, it’s fine-”

“-Well I want to. Feel better please.”

Ellen cut her off, her voice getting noticeably lower as she pushed the cake further to the cow. The shark girl felt her caudal fin lightly tap against her thigh, her nerves were spiking up from the sudden initiative to provide and she felt her heart pump steadily in her chest. The bovine girl looked at the cake, her mood seemed to lift up just a little at  the shocking but kind gesture. She took the cake with her fingers and reached her free hand over to pick up the new fork.

“Thank you Ellen. Thank you everyone, really..”

Monna commended, earning a smile and a nod from Lynn. And Ellen only gave her a nod as she ate her cake scraps. The shark was so weighed down by her own feelings she didn’t realize Ruby was looking at her. The human girl watched the whole ordeal unfold, her cyan eyes darting between the cow and the shark.

She was taken in for a loop in a paradox that the shark thiren offered food let alone a sweet food too, which she thought was freaking adorable. She learned the girl was a bit selfish when it came to sharing sweet treats, so her doing so raised some curiosity at the rare occurrence. But she held her tongue, passing it off as Ellen trying to be nice and not suspecting anything else beyond that.

“..So anyways, to lighten up the mood.. Lynn, let's talk about your crush! Any updates?”

“..E-EHH?”

Ruby abruptly put the timid black haired girl on blast, her face immediately going red and her glasses fogging up from the hot blood rushing to her face.

“R-Ruby!”

“C’mon! Story time!”

“You’re s-such a bug, oh my gosh..”

—

It was the end of school..

 Ellen’s favorite thing about that place was that there was a guaranteed time where she could get up and leave. However she couldn’t just yet, she had to make a quick trip to her locker to retrieve her maid bag for work. The school day, if she could describe it, went surprisingly normal other than the fact she ran into a few more people who wanted to ask her about her uniform.

The group had reunited once more in their foreign language class and all was well with everyone. She was mostly relieved with the fact Monna seemed better, almost as if whatever issue that she ran into was nonexistent. She was laughing, smiling, even joking around with the group. Though, Ellen still couldn’t help but to wonder what had the enthusiastic cow so upset? 

The shark girl languidly strided through the hallway, passing by students who were mostly going out to leave the building. She continued to ponder the thought about the cow, her large tail swayed behind her as she did so. The shark had noticed the bovine girl was staring off in a certain direction, and if she wasn’t crazy, the cow made multiple head turns in that direction and even before they left for breakfast.

She didn’t think much of it at the time, so enthralled in other scenarios and focusing on her school, it was something that didn’t concern her until now. Monna seemed noticeably angrier when she looked off to her right, almost like she was scowling at someone or staring them down. Ellen did make the assumption that she was in fact eyeing a fellow classmate down who she thought Monna had some sort of altercation with.

It seemed like the only conclusion to her that made sense, unless she didn’t want to look at Ellen which was a hurtful thought to think about but it wasn’t impossible.

Okay but..who made her mad?

The shark continued to ask herself, There were a handful of classmates on the right side of the room that she could think of that may have been the cow thiren’s target. But at the same time, what business did Monna have where she genuinely didn’t like someone? She thought she was the most unbothered girl in the world but she guesses not? There was the raccoon thiren and the human boy that sat in that area, but they mostly kept to themselves.. at least as far as Ellen knows . And one of the girls that came up to her desk happened to be there too.

“Hm.”

The shark idly thought, her brow furrowed as the gears in her head were beginning to rotate. Though they were put on pause once she got to her locker, her locker had maybe 2 or 3 letters poking out of the opening slits. Her lips pursed, she forgot about those stupid papers. There was no way around avoiding them either because she had to get to her bag, so with an annoyed huff she twisted her lock to unlatch it and opened the door.

A couple letters flew out, to her surprise there weren't as many as she thought she was going to receive. Considering the fact that she went semi viral on the interknot, it should’ve spiked up the number of notes she got normally from that alone. But then again, she had an entire bag stuffed in there which took up some space. So whoever was attempting to give her mail was tough out of luck until tomorrow.

Ellen knelt down to pick up the notes. Ranging from notebook paper, to construction paper, to notebook paper it was all the same crap that she’s seen before. Boys attempting at making an advance to the girl and admiring her, other girls would dream to be in her position but the shark wished they would just leave her alone already.

She sifted through the letters, growing increasingly agitated with the constant ‘ To Shark Girl be my girlfriend? ’ messages. She was about to throw the entire pile away until she noticed an envelope within the stack. Her body paused and her tail stiffened slightly, her heart began to steadily thump at the sight of said envelope. Ellen wasted no time in picking it out, seeing that it’s scarily similar to the one she had in her bag currently. She turned the paper casing over and saw it had a heart sticker to seal the lip, just like the one in her bag!

Wait no way..

The shark girl’s heart began to beat a little faster, her mind racing back to the charming set of words the anonymous girl left her. She hoped it was from the same girl and wasn’t a coincidence giving her false butterflies. Ellen threw the irrelevant notes away in the trash and made sure to keep the envelope in her hand, she then grabbed her maid bag from out of the cubby and closed her locker. 

She wanted to open it now , the hallways were relatively empty to alleviate some privacy but she didn’t want to take any chances, no way. The shark girl unzipped her maid bag and placed the envelope inside before rezipping it. She picked the bag up before she started to make her way out of the school so she could go to the metro station, her strides seeming a little eager than her usual sluggish stroll.

She couldn’t wait to read that letter, what else did the mystery girl have to say? Why was Ellen getting so.. excited about this note? This made her take a few steps back to really realign her gears in her brain, her usual uncaring and unphased facade seemed to dissipate more and more at the thought of anything affectionate coming her way. 

Ellen still wasn’t sure if it made her seem unnecessarily mushy, but being that fondness coming her way was a rarity when she was growing up, ever since her parents fell victim to the hollow. It’s what she secretly yearned for, and it possibly being in the form of a relationship? She was conflicted, it was still a grey area to the young shark.

The girl by this time was out of the damning establishment, clouds decorated the blue sky that made it seem like it was from a painting. The clicking of her heels coming into contact with the sidewalk below her was satisfying. However, being how chunky they were, it wasn't as satisfying as she would like it to be. Her thought process was elsewhere until she thought about Monna again.

Why do I keep thinking about her?

Her brain replayed the moment where the bovine girl was upset, which reminded her that she wanted to know what made her so hateful looking? Was that the right word to use? Ellen didn’t know, but what she did know was that the cow happened to look over to her right, a little after the group of girls went to return to their seats after annoying her.

“Mm..I mean I guess that’s valid?”

Ellen thought aloud to herself, being that her and Monna’s desks sit a little close to each other. The girl’s behind was more than likely in the cow’s face, but that would warrant her to tell them to move right? Or let them know that they were in the way and to angle themselves elsewhere so they weren’t in anyone’s space? It was logical, but this was all based on assumption.

But then she was upset about it for a while! Of course someone’s ass in your face, you’re going to get upset but eventually it’s a thing in the past and it’s not a major big deal. However..with Monna, she seemed envious? Resentful..?

..Jealousy?

If that was the case, what was there to be jealous of? Ellen couldn’t think of much, it was confusing to her. Was jealousy even the right emotion to use in this context? More than likely the cow was seriously just having one of those days, and a butt to the face, maybe several butts to the face happened to be a trigger. This was what the shark finalized her thought upon, anything to not dwell on her friend further! It was weird.

Before she knew it, the young shark made it to Lumina Square, where tourists and localists alike walked amongst each other to sight see and purchase goods. Ellen crossed the pedestrian area’s crosswalk, walking with people who were either loudly yapping on their phone or rushing past to get to their destination.

She could definitely relate to one of them. She drew near the noodle shop that hugged just about the corner of the intersection. She could smell the rich flavors of sauces and chillis that were being prepared, the aroma was intoxicating and it made her stomach growl at the thought. What she had for lunch was nothing short but a measly low budget sandwich and a cookie, so she figures she’ll grab a quick bite before she’s set to go to work.

The shark thiren wandered over to the shop and took a seat on one of the stools, furthest away from the other customers. The little red man who was occupied with chopping veggies with his bamboo arms looked up at Ellen, giving her a welcoming smile.

“Hey there! What can Chop Junior get ya today?”

The man joyfully questioned the girl, who was in the process of pulling out her phone.

“Oh um, a small bowl of vegetable noodles.”

“Ya sure? Not a big bowl of noodles? I assume you came from school, kids nowadays could plow through a bowl like it’s nothin’! The choice is yours!”

“Nah I’m fine, just something light. I have work later.”

“You betcha kiddo.”

Chop Junior agreed, immediately getting to work on her order. The girl then looked down on her phone, busying herself with videos and mindlessly scrolling through her feed. Some part of her wanted to relook herself up on the interknot, just to see how it was holding up. But at the same time, she did NOT want to see herself. It was embarrassing, she thought. And seeing how she was digging in her bag of gummy worms made her look fat.

With a huff and slight hesitation she looked herself up again, only finding the page was nowhere to be found. This caused Ellen’s half lidded eyes to open slightly larger in confusion.

Huh..where’d it go?

The shark wondered, scrolling through different posts and topics. Even going as far as going back to the time where she believed the image was posted, but she saw nothing. She was grateful! Confused, but grateful that the post was gone and didn’t have to worry about any confrontations from now on.

Hopefully..

While Ellen scrolled, a bowl was gently placed down in front of her which caused her eyes to dart up from her phone. The rich smell of miso welcomes her nostrils to flavor city, albeit a simple dish, it smelled as if she had ordered something more gourmet. This caused her large tail to sway a little, knowing the girl was ready to eat.

“Enjoy! Once you’re done, your total is 1800 dennies!”

Junior cheerfully told the girl, reaching over the counter to retrieve finished bowls from already left customers. The young shark thanked the little red man, and reached for a fresh set of chopsticks. She pulled the attached wooden sticks apart and adjusted the instruments in her hand so she could pick up the noodles, and with a few blows to cool them down she took a bite.

The noodles were so warm and soft, and the lingering broth that was coated on the exposed noodles gave them that extra flavor. The bok choy that garnished the dish, along with the fried egg with its soft yolk broken, the creamy center infusing itself with the grasping flavor of the soup. It was delicious! ..Maybe Ellen should’ve gotten a big bowl to really enjoy the noodles in its entirety. But she knew better not to do that, drinking all that broth would make her feel way too heavy for her to be comfortable.

The shark simply sat on her stool and enjoyed her bowl, leaving nothing behind which surely put a smile on Chop Junior’s face. She left her chopsticks in the bowl and paid the red man his sum before she grabbed her bag to leave.

—

Ellen arrived at the mansion, she was sure to let Lycaon and Rina know of her presence and to give a brief hello to Corin before she went up to the guest room to change her clothes. She shut and locked the door behind her, making her way to the bed so she could lay her bag on it. The shark unzipped the bag and pulled out her dress, the envelope falling out as she did so.

The girl blinked, completely forgetting that the piece of paper was even in there. She was thankful she had placed it in her maid bag where she was bound to open up anyway, so there was no missing this note even if she purposely tried to avoid it which she had no intent of doing. Ellen looked up from where the note fell to look at the door, falling silent to catch if there were any footsteps coming down the hallway. She didn't want to be interrupted with a sudden knock, let alone an abrupt opening of the door for whatever reason to provoke that.

Once she knows that it’s clear, she picked the envelope up from off of the ground. She stared at the casing for a little while, unconsciously thumbing the heart sticker that binded the lip of the envelope. It was such a pretty red color she thought, and maybe noticed a little bit of glitter in the material as well. She then stuck her finger under the lip to tear open the flap so she could take the contents out from inside.

She sat the ripped envelope down and unfolded the paper, beginning to read what the note said.

“Dear Ellen,

My feelings for you are growing stronger... Like my previous letter to you I was just so unsure if you were you know… into girls like me? I don’t want to make myself known yet to you and I'm really sorry in advance..I’m probably annoying you like the rest of the letters you get and this I understand a bunch. But it's the only way that I could speak to you without making it strange. I’m sorry..I’m so so sorry…”

The shark’s sharp eyes scanned each and every sentence the note had to offer, the reading felt... doubtful. Almost as if the anonymous girl was punching herself in the gut with guilt, believing that she was inconveniencing the shark with her messages. It was making Ellen sad, her heart raced throughout seeing the letter. Feeling a weird mixture of anxiety and expectancy, she swallowed hard on her building saliva that pooled in her drying mouth. Her heart and mind ached, feeling a strong sense of sympathy come in waves to the poor girl’s heart.

She wanted..to hug her. It was the only response she could think of that would warrant a situation like this. Comfort was something she always wanted for herself, but she had the strong urge to provide it as well. She felt odd again, overwhelmed with this warm feeling that traveled to her cheeks as she held the piece of paper tighter. Her large tail was swaying, it was madness.

It was getting too much for the young shark and she decided to refold the paper back up, feeling she’s used up too much time sapping around with the note even though she was rather early for work anyway. She placed the paper back into her maid bag and began to take her school clothes off so she could get into her maid ones. Until her phone buzzed in her skirt pocket.

Alarmed at the sudden notification, Ellen was in the process of taking off her shirt. Getting the fabrics off and casting it off somewhere on the floor, she reached into her skirt pocket to pull out her phone to see what that was.

..Oh?

It was a DM from Monna. The shark hovered her thumb to open the chat up to see what she needed.

Family issues huh? I didn’t expect that.

Ellen thought, her assumptions that she thought about previously seemed to be blown out of the water then. She hoped whatever family ordeal the cow thiren was going through would be resolved, she didn’t like seeing the cow like that and wanted her to be happy. She loved seeing her smile and giggle, it was so her and she really liked that about Monna.

Wait like?

The shark was in the middle of strapping the belt on her waist to secure her apron. It was what she was pondering about before, the awful thought of liking a friend more than the others. Again the concept felt extremely taboo to her, and to think she of all people would fall for a friend was some sort of forbidden rule. But she can't help it, the feelings she felt when she saw Monna try her reccommended treat of choice at Coff Cafe last Saturday made her feel a type of joy she's never really felt before. And the time Monna paid for their teamilks, it sparked a flame that only grew hotter by the day without her fully realizing it.

..Was it true? Did she really like Monna more than her friends?

..Am I...falling for my friend?

Chapter Text

MONNA POV..

She stared at her phone for a little while now. 

With an unconscious flick of the ear, Monna reread the brief conversation that she and Ellen shared just seconds prior. The bovine girl’s heart was thumping softly but ever so surely, firmly against her chest as she fought against her anxiousness. Texting the shark girl almost felt restricting, as if she shouldn’t be messaging her at all unless it was meaningful and important. But it also felt restricting due to the fact that the girl had an increasingly growing affection for the shark

The cow held her phone tightly, feeling her hands moisten of sweat as she continued to hold it. Monna had been occupying the gymnasium's locker room for what seemed like hours but it had only been a couple minutes of her asking for a ‘water break’ before she got back to practice.

“Did I have to lie to her..?”

Monna spoke out to herself, feeling the will of owing Ellen a reason for her semi rancid attitude only came with doubtful connotations and sinking guilt that clutched at her like a rusted lock chain. She didn’t want her figuring out the real reason why she had such questionable manners, she fears it’ll make her look stupid and would jeopardize their friendship for the worse. 

However, she thought about the gesture the shark thiren made to her which caught her by surprise and it further squeezed at her chest at the very decision in lying to her. The shark had offered her her cake that morning in hopes that her mood would brighten.

“I-..you don’t have to give me your cake, it’s fine-”

“-Well I want to. Feel better please.”

She had watched the black and red haired girl lightly push the cake closer to her, noticing her softer and shy(?) demeanor as she did so. She’s aware that Ellen wasn’t the best at giving consoling and lighthearted words with softer undertones to shift the mood, which Monna would’ve liked to see from the girl to know if she cared enough to notice. 

But this was an approach she thought helped substitute it, and it was to give her food as an offering. She found that super cute of her and she would’ve been entirely in the wrong if she didn’t thank her for it. But she also felt wrong expecting such actions warranted to come the cow girl’s way..Ellen didn’t have to do that, and Ellen didn’t have to give her praising grace all because she couldn’t help but to be a sour puss seeing that other girls were giving her attention that wasn’t her. 

Pathetic was what she was.

Not only did she sneakily purchase a plush shark doll that looked awfully like her crush, but she also expected her to console her even though speaking to the girl had gotten awfully difficult for God knows how long!

“Yo, Monna! What’s taking you so long?”

Out came a voice from outside of the room which caused the cow to jolt up in surprise. The door momentarily opened, revealing one of her teammates in tow with another.

“You said you were gonna get some water, did you forget or something? It shouldn’t take like 5 years , man.”

The girl joked, she was a deer thiren. Her fuzzy large ears like Monna’s perked at the sight of the cow scrambling to catch her phone, finally clutching it close to her chest when she caught it.

“Y-Yeah! I forgot, I had to text a friend really quickly and I got held up. Sorry!”

The bovine girl awkwardly apologized, shoving her phone in her bag and quickly getting her ‘forgotten’ bottle of water. The two players walked closer to her, skeptical of her frantic and seemingly flustered behavior. It only made the girl feel worse inside, knowing she wasn’t hiding it well.

“A friend, huh? Juggling your phone like that for a ‘ friend’ ?”

The other teammate budded in with raised brows and a conniving smirk, a human girl unlike the two thirens who were occupied in the room with her. Monna shakes her head and picks up her bag to return it to her assigned cubby.

“You guys just scared the crap out of me is all!”

“Scared that we’d catch you texting a special someone?”

The deer chimed, which caused the pair to giggle with a harmonious ‘ ooo ’ following after. Monna's face warmed at the comment. She knew it was just a tease, but she wasn’t doing a great job in beating the allegation to deny the truth. Her tail flicked around which caused the girls to excitedly giggle just from her reaction and lack of response alone.

“....I-If I said yes, would you guys keep it down! Like please ..”

The cow immediately caved, shutting the cubby’s door to return to her friends. As long as they don’t know who it is, she’s safe. The last thing she wanted was for them to find out and expose her loser crush to a certain shark.

“Oh sure we’ll keep it between us, how long have you guys been a thing though?”

Curiously asked the deer, her small fuzzy tail wagging at the idea of her friend getting a date.

“Eh actually..we’re not a thing, I just like them a little is all.”

“.. A little ?”

“..Okay a lot.”

Monna rubbed the back of her head while looking off to the side, she seriously didn’t want to have this conversation. She feels it’ll only fuel their curiosity which will warrant them to put puzzle pieces together, it was still way too soon to make those kinds of assumptions yet.

“Aww that's cute! You gotta tell us when you guys start dating! Prom is in a few months too, right Emi?”

The human girl asked, looking over to the deer who the name belonged to. She nodded in agreement, looking back over to smile at the bovine girl. Wow, the vast thought of them being together grew wider at the idea of prom being on the table now. She could see it now, maybe Ellen asking her to be her prom date or the other way around! Monna would have to shop and find the best dress to wear so she could impress the shark! And even look at tons of makeup tutorials to look her best too.

Ohh..but what would the shark wear? Would she wear a cunning dress as well? Something the secret service she worked for provided on behalf of the event? Or would she be in a suit, stunningly handsome in the cleanest of fabrics. Lending her hand over to her as an invitation to dance together, like a gentlewoman she was taught to be assuming her professional position as a maid. Monna’s fuzzy tail swayed behind her at the delightful and hopeful future she’d like to have with Ellen feeling her cheeks burn once more as the vision became clearer, until it was interrupted with a door swinging open.

“What are you guys doing, fooling around in here? We have blocking drills to do!” 

A gruff voice of a male boomed in frustration, which frightened all three girls that stood by the row of lockers.

“I sent you two to tell Monna to hurry up and join the team, now you’re all lollygagging! Each of you, 2 laps around the gym!”

Their coach commanded, which instantly had the girls squandering about to jog out of the room. The girls in front of her giggled as they passed their coach to leave and Monna followed suit before the man stopped her with a hand on her shoulder.

Puzzled, she stopped in her tracks to look up at him.

“Monna, I gotta ask you a question and I’m a bit concerned.”

Began her coach, taking a hand off of her shoulder.

“You’ve been taking an awful lot of breaks lately, ever since I let you go handle your work with your teacher you’ve been asking for them left and right. Are your assignments getting in the way by any chance or ..?”

The man questioned, his bushy brows furrowing and eyes tightening as he looked at the cow thiren for an answer. Monna wanted to answer yes but this could mean she’ll have to miss out on a game to handle school work to retain her credits to play, or risk falling out of the team in general. It worried her not because that was the issue, she was actually doing well with school. 

It worried her because it was a lie.

Last week she had asked her coach for an exemption to catch up on some ‘assignments’ for a class, him taking the bait so she could have borrowed freetime to hangout with Ellen. She also couldn’t say no either, which would make her look like she's just trying to get out of drills in the coach’s eyes. She was stuck in the middle with both unwanted risks of termination so she just settled for an in between answer to cushion her fall.

“... A little , but I’m working on it though, coach! If anything, I was..relooking at my study guide to get ready for an exam I have tomorrow.”

The bovine girl lied through her teeth, it was but a white lie. Despite that, she was struggling with math ever so slightly, but it wasn’t the reason why she was slacking off little by little.

“You have home to deal with your study guide, young miss. Don’t use that as a way to get out of drills, especially since we have a game coming soon. This is the worst time to be falling back, you understand?”

The man lectured which made Monna nod in affirmation.

“Now gimme a lap around the gym before you come back to join everyone, I would say give me 2 like Emi and Mavis, but you have an excuse. Don’t let me catch you hanging in here again or I’m making it 3!”

“Yes Coach.”

The cow answered immediately, jetting out of the room to take the lap.

“AND NO WALKING! I SEE YOU WALKING OVER THERE MAVIS!”

..2 hour later.

Practice was over to Monna's relief. Reasonably exhausted, she sat in the girl’s locker room in the process of changing back into her school uniform from her damp PE outfit. She was freshly showered, hair lightly wet from the water which defined her loose curls that housed themselves on the cow girl’s head.

She wrapped her tie underneath the shirt’s collar, lazily fastening it into a crappily done knot before she slipped on her dark blue sailor vest. There was no way she was going to walk out of this school smelling of salt and tennis shoes, absolutely not. She worried she would run into Ellen fresh from practice and the smell of workout would scare her away. 

This wasn’t the reason why she decided to make it a routine to bathe after practice, that would be just filthy. She always did, not liking the feeling of being dirty and stuck with damp clothes altogether. But the thought of the shark girl randomly coming in and the first impression was a stinky cow would make her die.

“ Monnaaa !”

Called out Emi from the end of the row of lockers. The cow looked over to the source of her voice, seeing the deer thiren and Mavis looking at her as they waved their hands. They were changed into their uniform as well with their book bag strapped on their shoulders.

“Don’t forget to let us know~!”

Called out Mavis from behind the deer girl. They momentarily giggled, walking away to exit the locker room leaving a semi flustered Monna alone on the bench. She would love to let the girls know, it was just a matter of when or even if it would come true.

The cow slipped on her socks and leg warmers before she put her clunky shoes on. She took her worn PE clothes and stuffed them in her small gym bag, zipping it up as she got up from the bench to exit the locker room.

The school’s hallways were eerily vacant. Thankfully, the sound of band practice a couple doors down filled the expanse of the building from being too quiet to be comfortable. And even the sounds of clubs and elective classes still thriving after the initial school day was over with. But still, it was odd walking through the school when it was getting dark.

But Monna had a lingering thought regarding Ellen as she walked through the hallways of the school. Each locker she absently scanned, slowly turned into curiosity that only fed her initial thought to make a small visit to the shark’s specifically. Her tail flicked about and her ears perked as her sense of objective shifted, detouring down a column of many lockers. She was curious… curious about those letters and she wondered if one was among them all.

The cow was headed to Ellen’s locker. She was in no rush due to it being fairly empty and the risk of her being caught was little to none, but she had the urge to speed walk down the aisle where she knew the shark’s locker was located. She knows the shark thiren threw away her letters, and she hoped the janitor who was in charge of picking up the trash hadn't come by to collect it.

Please don’t let it be empty..

Monna wished to herself, finally drawing near Ellen’s locker. She spotted the trash bin that was next to the row of cubbies, taking an interested peak to see if there was anything there..the cow peered and peered, her fuzzy cow ears pinning back as her expectations were at a draw for hopefulness or hopelessness. 

“.. Yes! Oh my gosh.”

The cow celebrated silently, seeing there were a couple of notes and letters that were still sadly sitting in the hump of trash. She knew this was gross as fuck, looking in the trash just to confirm if her delusions and skepticism were true. She needed to know if her efforts were right or wrong. The girl placed her gym bag down off to the side and grabbed the trash can by the handles to tilt it down towards her. She noticed that the letters were conveniently on top of all the trash that was there prior, assuming Ellen had thrown them away before she left the school. Which made it easier for her to start sifting through.

She hesitated but she dug a hand in the bin, lifting up a note with a careful thumb and index finger to toss it away so she could pick out another. There weren’t many letters she thought, which had her heart beginning to pump against her ribcage at the damning realization. So far there was no sign of it and it made her swallow hard, disbelief starting to creep down her stomach as she went to toss away the same notes to ensure she had gone through everything.

Did she actually??-

Her face was becoming hot and her tail flicked with anticipation. Her hands became grabbier as she used all 4 of her fingers and thumb to grab out the notes to really be sure it was true. Until she felt a firm grasp on her shoulder which made her blood run cold.

“ Hey! What are you doing by my locker !”

This scared her so bad, instead of a scream a brief cow like “ MEEH ” escaped her throat. She immediately clapped both hands to cover her mouth, looking behind her and it was none other than her friend..

Ruby.

The human girl only stared at her with wide eyes, mouth hung open seemingly stunted from Monna’s bizarre reaction. Both of the girls awkwardly stared at each other, The cow’s eyes frantically shifting as she looked at Ruby. The blonde’s mouth went from open to slowly creeping from ear to ear, as she started to wheeze up a laugh.

“RUBY WHAT THE HELL!!”

“BITCH DID YOU JUST MOO? I CAN’T-”

The blonde haired girl cackled, stammering backwards as she held a hand against the lockers for stability. The cow’s ears were pinned back, blood immediately rushing to her face out of embarrassment letting herself ‘scream’ like that. She felt her fuzzy little tail tuck underneath feeling caught and humiliated, was that Ruby’s impression of Ellen’s voice?? She was so evil for that!

“Ruby! You- uhg…Oh my goshh.. ”

“ IMGOINGTOPEEIMGOINGTOPEEHEHE.. ”

The human girl squealed weakly, slowly sliding down the lockers from uncontrollable laughter! Monna awkwardly stood by the bin, watching Ruby enjoy her laughing fit as she squirmed about. She squeezed her legs together to prevent her from unfortunately pissing herself.

The cow couldn’t help but to listen to the girl annoyingly cackle and cough about as she finally found the strength to recollect herself. She watched her weakly turn on her side so she could get on her knees to get up, pushing a firm hand onto the lockers for stability once more.

“..It wasn’t that funny.”

Monna mumbled with shame, her ears pinning further back as her eyes darted away from the blonde girl.

“ I’m sorry..I’m sorry Moo Moo..eheh ‘MOO MOO’ AHAHAHA!”

Monna couldn’t help but to huff and cross her arms, she had to look away with her body this time. She felt more than just simply being embarrassed, she was lucky it wasn’t actually Ellen who caught her snooping about and making that stupid noise in her face. She would never come to school ever again.

“Okay okay I’m done! I’m sorry Monna..That caught me soooo off guard..!”

Ruby huffed, her smile still irritatingly wide as she raised an arm to rub the tears from her eyes with her pink cardigan. The blonde went to give the cow an apology hug, to show the bovine girl that she didn’t want to hurt her feelings and it was all jokes which she herself understood that much. Had it not been a situation where she was doing something she wasn’t supposed to, maybe she would’ve found it funny too.

“You’re mean.”

“I said I was sorry! That was kinda cute though, I won’t lie.” 

Ruby chuckled, sniffing as she rubbed her eye again.

“Okay anyways..ahem. What were you doing looking in the trash?”

The blonde girl asked, pointing at the bin that was sitting in the corner of the locker. This made Monna relook at the bin that she was looking through about a few minutes prior before the daylights were scared out of her.

“I uh.. lost something. So I’m check-..I’m checking the trash cans to see... if I threw it away by accident...”

“Oh, what did you lose?”

“...Lip balm- anyways why are you…here?”

Abruptly asked Monna which made the human girl's head jerk back from the sudden direct question.

“Woodworking. C’mon, Monna, are you still mad at me?”

“Well..not really, it’s just weird seeing you here this late after school?

“I thought you knew I had woodworking! I sometimes stay behind or whatever to hangout if I don’t feel like going home. Then when I do feel like going home, I happen to see you digging in the trash .”

Ruby explained herself with her voice suddenly dropping an octave, pointing an open hand towards the trash bin. The cow’s tail swished about, looking at the pile of letters that were still sitting there.

“I’ll help you look! It’s the least I could do to make up for laughing at you earlier. What color was it?”

The blonde offered, already making her way to the trash to get ready to look for this ‘lip balm’ Monna had ‘lost’. The cow was surely on a lying spree wasn’t she? The beating of the cow’s heart started to go rampant again, afraid that Ruby would notice the letters and grow suspicious. She knew she would point it out, the human was so damn nosy about everything! It was in her nature apparently.

“..Red? Strawberry flavored?”

“The one that I gave you?? I’m never giving you shit ever again.”

“I probably misplaced it! You and I both know lip products are easy to lose!”

Monna defended, she knew exactly where the product was. It was safely snug in her book bag, she knew damn well she wouldn’t throw that away even if it was somehow an accident. But she’s thankful Ruby seemed to buy the cover up, at least for now.

“Yeah yeah alright, where’s this lip balm... the fuck - letters?”

That surely didn’t take long.

“...What letters?”

“What do you mean ‘what letters’? These ones. They’re just.. kind of here, ya can’t miss em’.”

Ruby said, grabbing one and opening it up.

“OH WAIT! THESE ARE ELLEN’S SIMP LETTERS, DUH! She wasn’t lying when she said she threw them away, I bet she still keeps some ehehe.”

The blonde helped herself to grab a couple more out of the trash to curiously read what they had to offer. Monna stood there next to the bin, unsure of what to say or even do next. All she could do was helplessly watch Ruby dig in the trash to entertain herself with the weirdo mail their shark friend had received.

“ ‘ I seen your maid outfit on the interknot it looks secksy on you wow so hot ’ dumb dumb couldn’t even spell sexy right, he spelled it with a C K and S.” 

The blonde snorted, throwing the note back into the trash.

“Heh- Imagine that, why even go to school..”

The bovine girl chuckled dryly, repicking up the note that Ruby had thrown away seconds prior. The pair stood there for a few minutes sifting through the letters, completely forgetting the objective of looking for the lip balm.

“Wait, hold on.”

The human paused, her brows scrunching up. She allowed her brain to shift gears for a second before she slowly looked up at Monna. This made the cow pathetically stir about, pretending to be confused about what’s to come.

“What?”

“...Why are you really here? Did you really lose the lip balm? .. Or are you here to look at the notes~ ?”

Ruby scrunched her lips up in a teasing way to further poke at Monna, which made the cow thiren immediately shake her head to deny the claim.

“No no! These happened to be there when I was looking for the lip thing!”

“But you didn’t ‘notice’ the letters until I said something though. So you did know they were there?”

“...”

“...”

“ Monnaa ..?”

“Okay but they were still there regardless if I noticed them or not, Ruby.”

“Yes because why else are you here? Conveniently by Nom Nom Shark’s locker, and a trash can where she more than likely and evidently throws all her letters away!”

Ruby was reading her like an open book, she had never felt more exposed. The embarrassment that she felt minutes prior only seeped back into the forefront, allowing the human girl to see past her bullshit with her logical assumptions attacking her like a fleet of wasps.

“It’s just a coincidence that I'm checking this trash bin that just so happens to be by Ellen’s. There’s no reason to play detective on me!”

The cow rebutted, her ears’ pinning back again. The effort she was putting into herself to not get too defensive at Ruby’s clear suspicion was enough for her to run 1 more lap around the gym. This would either make her or break her to even be remotely believable.

“Chill chill, I’m only trolling you, girl!”

The blonde gave out a hearty laugh, giving her a pat on her shoulder. Trolling ...? No way was she messing with her! There had to be some underlying truth for her to make these specific claims, right? She knew Ruby! Ruby was the type of girl to poke around and cover it as a ‘joke’ to hide the blatant truth. 

…Crap, I might’ve fallen for her trap.

Monna only stared at Ruby but shortly rolled her eyes, she might as well try and play along and save her tail. Well at least try and save what was left of it.

“When are you not messing around? Anyways, help me find the lip balm.”

The cow said returning to the bin to shift away trash to pretend that she was searching. A couple seconds went by before the bovine girl had the feeling of peering eyes stare upon her, so she looked up to see Ruby who was indeed eyeballing her again. Weirded out, she furrowed her brows with a small head shake, preparing herself for what she wanted this time.

“...Who throws lip balm away by accident?”

“Why aren’t you helping??”

“Okay seriously though, Monna. Are you okay?”

The blonde asked which caused the cow to freeze, she briefly looked away before looking back at Ruby.

“Like you’ve been a little.. insane lately, y’know from this morning then I see you... digging in the trash! ”

“I’m okay, just some uh..personal stuff that came up! Sorry for worrying you guys.”

Monna apologized, now feeling the guilt run back from when her jealousy was at its peak. But did she want to let Ruby know about the actual reason behind her weird behavior today? She wants to trust her with stuff like this but she’s unsure if she could keep it under wraps for her in the meantime.

“You’re good, just a little worried about you. But if you say you’re okay, then I’m okay.”

The blonde smiled with a head tilt which also made the cow smile as well, a sense of reassurance helped soothed her quivering nerves. She watched Ruby dig in her pocket for her phone before she placed it back after turning it on to check it.

“Alright Moo Moo, it’s getting late for me so I gotta go.”

The girl said, immediately turning a heel to make her way out of the school.

“See you tomorrow! And find that lip balm, or else I’m never lending you another!”

“Bye Ruby..and I will.”

The girls waved each other their farewells, Monna watched the human girl run off and turn a corner. The sound of her footsteps were getting further and further until she heard the sound of the front door open and close, indicating Ruby had left.

She was alone again, and the coast was finally clear but she had no reason to dig in the trash anymore. She was 80% sure she didn’t see it in there, which gives the girl a little glimmer of hope that maybe her message was being received. But there was still the lingering 20% that wasn’t sure if it was actually true. The cow checked her phone as well to see the time.

7 PM..jeez I have to go too.

Monna picked up her gym bag so she could exit the school. Her mind had a new delusion to feed off of, and it might be enough to keep her awake the whole night wondering if it will ever be confirmed to be true.

The cow thiren was home now. She had been sitting on her chair stuck on a math problem for what seemed like days to her. Her toes wiggled in frustration, her legs crossed and tucked inside of the chair. She found the positioning to be comfortable but she knew to some it was such an awkward get up.

“Uhg, I’m not doing this tonight.”

Groaned the cow, gathering her sprawled pieces of paper from off of her desk, placing them on the side in a much more neater stack. To hell with her homework, the professors will go over them tomorrow. But at least she got the easier set of assignments out of the way, it was surely better than nothing.

Monna uncrossed her legs to get up from her chair. She stood up tall and stretched, her tail wiggling around feeling her nerves and the tightness of her muscles squeeze in relief before she heaved a sigh to let herself loosen up. She grabbed her phone from off of her desk, taking a running start to go flop on her bed.

The shark plush that was laid snug in the pillows bounced from the weight of its owner, tumbling over on its side clumsy. The bovine girl eyed the plush and grabbed it so she could stick the little thing under her arm as she unlocked her phone. She opened the group chat to see what the girls were up to, ignoring the other chats of her volleyball teammates.

The post was gone? That’s random but convenient to Monna, there won’t be anymore people trying to get Ellen’s attention from now on. ..Or at least maybe it’ll die down? Whatever the case may be, she knew she had no real control over who the shark interacted with. She’s very aware the girl is rather popular at school. So her already high status mixed with interknot exposure was a given for more traction. 

But they didn’t know her like how she did! Er- her friends did! Ellen doesn’t care about attention not even one bit, seeing how easily she flicks people off of her shoulder was a bold telling in itself. She found that..attractive about her, so blunt and upfront. Some say she may be disrespectful, but to Monna she sees it as the shark not putting up with anyone’s bs.

Monna took out the shark from under her arm, placing the doll in front of her so she’s face to face with it. She bought this doll to help her connect with Ellen more. She didn’t know exactly how, being that the thing was inanimate and non sentient. But she figures it’s there as a reminder from how much she hopes that her and the girl would be a thing someday.

…Maybe this is a little far.

The cow thought to herself, caressing the soft fins of the stuffed animal. She feels the purchase was impulsive, leaving her group temporarily to go get it and even hide it from them! Hell, even her feelings for Ellen were on a rollercoaster. Each day it gets harder and harder for her to talk to her, even looking at her makes her feel increasingly shy. The one time they made direct eye contact was when Ellen gave her her coffee cake.

The shark’s eyes were stunningly gorgeous , it almost made the cow thiren choke on her own saliva from how weirdly dreamy they were. They were such a vibrant and strong red color. The pupils of her eyes were usually a bit narrow from her shark nature, but they seemed so full and round as she felt herself absorbing into them. 

The cow thiren’s fuzzy tail swished around at the memory, how sweet of her. It surely wasn’t the first time she offered snacks to her in hopes that her mood would brighten up. But this time, the offer felt… different . Almost in a personal way..? It could be Monna being delusional in her own fantasies, assuming the shark thiren had a more intimate approach over her being a sad little loser..but she welcomed the thought even if she had her doubts.

Being so lost in thought she didn’t realize she was smoothing down the little shark's tail. Carefully stroking it and feeling its fins along its body, unconsciously pretending that it was Ellen’s. She paused and corrected her hand positioning as if the doll itself was going to snap around and bite her. Again, she feels she is doing a little much with this shark doll. Finding herself in and out of consciousness in pretending the thing was her crush.

The bovine girl shook her head and looked back at her phone to see what her friends were talking about until she noticed a DM notification of Ruby appear on her screen.

“Hm?”

Monna furrowed her brows, picking up her phone so she could thumb the pop up to see what it said. If it’s about that lip balm, she’ll probably cry right there.

She was in the middle of typing another reply until she stopped.. 

.. Was she really okay?

Lying this much is dragging her down with so much guilt she believes she needs to tell the truth someway…somehow. But she feels this level of information she had dwelling in her mind was too personal and sensitive to really make her feel the need to admit. However, the poor cow just wanted to be heard, and assured that the emotions she feels are valid and aren't due to her own poor irrational decision making.

She thinks Ruby out of all of her friends would be the most fitting person to help her with her school crush. It was obvious she wasn’t going to tell Ellen, in fear of weirding her out and risking their friendship. She wasn’t going to tell Lynn either. It’s not that she doesn’t trust her with dilemmas like this, but she feels like she won’t care or know enough to really speak to her through this situation. And her volleyball teammates, she already said she’ll let them know if her and Ellen do become a thing, but she wasn’t going to give them crumbs for when it will happen.

Ruby on the other hand, liked conversing about relationships anyway. Always so excited to talk about who each of their friends had a special eye for. Almost everyday, she felt the burning need to talk about her boy crush so openly and confidently, she envied that. This was what made her think she was ‘safe’ to talk to, something that the both of them could find common ground in. But the issue was, she was too big of a loud mouth to just blatantly trust, and feared her secret would be outed way too early for it to be considered a closed case.

But what options did she have? It was either bite the bullet and let Ruby know the truth or figure it out by herself. Monna’s thumb hovered over the phone’s keyboard, staring blankly at the blinking cursor that awaited her next line of words.

The bovine girl was slowly starting to tremble, her anxiousness bubbling in her body like a shaken soda bottle. She felt her fingers run cold, finding it a struggle to even swallow in fear of it going down the wrong pipe.

She’s already gotten this far in telling Ruby the start of her ‘little’ issue. She just needed to find the right words, let alone the courage to even create such words to tell her friend. But did the way she had to say it matter? Did she want to beat around the bush some more in hopes Ruby would catch on? Did she want to be blunt with her problem, being raw about the entire situation just to get it over with?

Was it too late to back out now?

Of course it was.

Backing out would make the human girl extremely skeptical, and she wouldn’t put it past her if the assumptions she had earlier were to be at the forefront of the conversation as soon as they see each other. She could imagine it now, abandoning the text as it is, leaving the girl on read. Then, the following day at school she’s yanked off to the side by her and pressured into finishing what she pathetically started. 

This was a possibility she didn’t want to end with, but she needed to get this out to someone who was willing to listen. Monna was in the process of finding the correct words to use in describing what was on her mind without using too many words to complicate it. Neither did she want to be vague where it’ll become even more awkward to explain.

Monna paused again.

She was a text away from admitting it to Ruby.

..Just say it!

...Why are you waiting just to say it!

SAY IT MONNA SAY IT!

..She said it.

Monna exhaled a shaky breath while putting her phone down. All she could really do now was wait for Ruby’s response.

She stared at the pending dots, only wondering what the human girl would even say to that??..Why was she confused, she knew exactly what she might say.

‘I KNEW IT!’

‘Our friend Ellen or a different Ellen??’

‘I did NOT expect that one, I kind of did but yeah!’

The cow thiren knew there was an endless amount of reactions the blonde would say but it was a matter of when she would even say it. She watched the dots inconsistently stop and resume, indicating that Ruby is at a loss for words herself and wouldn’t know how to approach her admission either. Until the screen on her phone changed.

Ruby is Calling…

“Oh my Gosh why are you calling..!”

Monna whined in a little bit of a panic. Was this necessary for her to have to speak over the phone?? Why couldn’t this girl just text her, it would be more convenient for her and allow her time to form the proper explanation. This would only screw up her nerves worse on a live call!

The cow immediately declined the request, feeling her heartbeat in her throat praying it was only a butt dial and she didn’t mean to actually call her. Until she immediately got a text from her.

[ Monna pick up the phone!! ]

This was all she read before the screen returned to the pending call once more.

Oh no…

This was not how this was supposed to go. The bovine girl had no choice but to swallow her fear and accept the call. The poor girl was a tangled mess, her tail stiff as a plank from her hyperactive nerves and beads of sweat dripping down the curve of her face. A shaky thumb hesitated but ultimately hovered over the green accept call button, mentally preparing to hear Ruby scream ‘HALLELUJAH’ in her ear.

Monna swallowed the growing lump in her throat, accepting the call and placing it by her ear.

“..H-Hello?”

“ Monna? ”

“..Yes?”

Silence, an uncomfortable silence. The type of silence where the cow could hear her own heart beat. She made out a few muffled shifts from the other end of the line, assuming that’s Ruby getting into a comfortable position before she begins.

“ I-……..GIRL! ”

Oh here she goes.

“ Okay I wanted to call you because this is a thing where texting isn’t enough to really get into the nitty gritty..like this is some serious shit bitch, ELLEN??”

“Ruby! Please not so loud in my ear..or in general..please..”

“ Sorry sorry! I’m trying to hold my excitement. Like..wow! ”

The cow thiren wanted to hang up right away, the burning of her face was enough to cook several bowls of stir fry. Just hearing the shocked nature of Ruby almost made her wish she just knew all along and they would just be casual about it. Now it just feels strange.

“ Okay don’t kill me or anything but I lowkey had a feeling you did. Like actually. ”

..welp.

“..Was it obvious?”

“ Not really! But I did actually pick up on a few things. I just didn’t say anything though. ”

“...So it was obvious.”

“.. To me yea! ”

A few things ? Oh no, was her behavior more visible than what she initially assumed? She couldn’t play obliviously now. She already laid herself on the table to be dissected, so Ruby’s assumptions that may come to light won’t exactly be far from a lie.

“ Like okay! Before I even say them, how long has this crush been going on for OMG? ”

“..Um, a little after we met last year I think..not the group but me and Ellen specifically.”

“ How did you guys meet? ”

“..Don’t laugh at me but I got stuck in a bathroom. I-It was my fault actually! I should’ve known the bathroom I went into was known for having faulty hinges, but I didn’t think they would fail on me when I was trying to get out.”

Monna explained, her voice wavering a little. Trying her best to keep her anxiousness in explaining at bay.

“But she saved me in a way. Unintentionally, but she did.

“ Awww, a damsel in distress situation! I've seen this a lot in romance films.~ ”

“...A-Anyways! She was looking for something and happened to check the bathroom I was in for whatever it was and she kicked the door open.”

The cow further explained, remembering that moment like it was yesterday..

Flashback..

“Oh come on, stupid door open!”

Huffed the frustrated cow, gripping onto the handle of the door and yanking it as hard as she could. This couldn’t be happening to her now, no way! A quick trip to the bathroom turned into her being trapped, now pending for her inevitable doom. The girl continued to yank the door which rattled the hinges but the thing just wouldn’t budge.

This is horrible..horrible and freaking embarrassing.

The girl released the handle, stepping back from the stubborn door. She was unfortunately alone in the bathroom, she honestly wished there was another person there with her in hopes to figure out a way out together. Making their chances of becoming free a little more likely.

“Hello?? Help? I’m stuck!”

The bovine girl called out, hoping someone who just so happened to be passing by would hear her and come to her aid, but all that was received back was the sound of her own echo in the bathroom and the soft noises of the pipes in the walls. Monna pursed her lips, walking back up to the door to try and force it open again.

“ Please.. open! ”

She pleaded, even going as far as hiking her leg up and putting her foot against the wall for better handling. But that only led to her hands slipping from the build up of sweat which caused the poor girl to fall backwards on her behind with a very audible cow like “ MEH ” in surprise.

She was glad no one was here to hear that.

Monna slowly got up from the icky floor, adjusting her skirt before standing up straight to look up at the wretched barrier before her.

I’m really stuck in here..

She didn’t want to give up yet, even though she was this close to just hiding in one of the stalls until N.E.P.S. arrived. She continued this cycle for about 2 more times until she ultimately made the decision to just give up and dial the emergency number instead. She figures that would be easier than using up her energy to get nowhere by herself.

The cow thiren was in the process of punching in the number until she heard a noise from behind the door. It seemed like someone was trying to open it but was met with the same issue with it being locked. Monna almost screamed to let her presence be known before she heard someone from the other end speak before she could.

“Oh bullshit , why is it jammed?? Dammit I have no time for this.”

The voice belonging to a female (maybe around the same age as her), clearly protested as she fumbled with the door's handle aggressively. The cow’s relief quickly turned into some sort of fear, her will to scream was only caught in her throat as she stared intensely at the slightly shaking door.

What are you doing, Monna! Now’s your chance to scream! You’re going to be stuck here forever-

“Whoever is behind the door, move .”

The voice commanded, the bovine girl was already out of the way. She was next to the 2nd row of sinks that were along the wall of the bathroom, still staring at the door for what the girl was about to do next.

BANG.

BANG..

BANG..!

“ Eek! ”

The door was literally KICKED open. And impressively, the door was kicked so hard the mechanisms of the door fell and clanked themselves on the ground. Was this the special ops of N.E.P.S?? That was the only logical answer Monna thought would warrant such a powerful strike like that. But to the cow thiren’s surprise, it wasn’t.

It revealed the person on the other end was a girl much like herself? She wore a set of black clothes, a sweater with the hoodie draped over her head and a pair of pants. The mysterious girl looked up, her face a mix of confusion and surprise to see Monna staring right at her in shock.

“Didn’t think there was someone actually in here. Tough.”

The girl blankly said, making her way in the bathroom. She started looking around the perimeter which puzzled Monna, was she a part of a gang of some sort? Monna only stood still as she continued to watch the girl pass her, using her foot to lightly kick the stall doors open so she could peer inside.

Her eyes went down to her freakishly long tail that swayed behind so calmly, but so dangerously at the same time. She’s a..shark thiren?? She was sure all types of thirens exist in the world much like herself, but to see one of a shark was next level. No wonder she felt the need to freeze up and stand there, it was the predatory aura surrounding the girl that had her stuck in place like super glue.

“I don’t know why you’re still standing there, you can leave now.”

The shark girl said without turning around, her voice filled with bluntness and a hint of annoyance. This was enough for the cow to scurry the fuck out of there. She did not have to tell her twice at all! Monna finally exited the bathroom, clutching her phone in her hand with its screen still on the keypad. There was no need to call N.E.P.S. anymore, she was saved by the strange shark girl instead.

Present..

“ ..So you’re into bad girls? Ohhh~ Monna!~ ”

“ NO! Oh my gosh.

“ I mean it’s okay! I’m not telling anyone, it’s just us! ”

“Okay, can we be serious though? You were the one that wanted to call me, I don't want to be teased the entire night.”

“ Alright alright, no more games. I’ll listen for real this time. ”

The bovine girl adjusted herself on her bedding, gently pushing the sharky doll off to the side so she could get her mind in the right gear to tell Ruby all that she needed to hear.

“I should.. really tell you the truth about my behavior from this morning, so everything is cleared up. I was acting like that because..the attention Ellen was getting was making me upset. It’s not that I envied her status or whatever but everyone was talking to her and it felt personal, or something.”

“ You felt jealous? ”

“I-..I guess so. And I feel so bad for lying about it, especially to Ellen! I told her that it was because of family issues.”

“ Did she buy it? ”

“..I think? She sort of passed it off.”

“ So don’t feel bad Monna, the knucklehead in all honesty probably doesn’t care that much and just hopes that you yourself is okay. I lie and say some dumb cover up all the time, it happens! ”

Ruby assured the cow thiren, which did her some justice in easing down. Overthinking about the shark’s own thought process was slowly eating her alive, but it was her assuming Ellen was going to coddle her like her own prince charming.

“ I also see why you like the fishy. Your reasoning could be different but here's my take to why I think you like her. ”

“ You know how I like guys and what not. So I’m straight, but I can admit Ellen is kind of fine..LIKE ACTUALLY she’s gorgeous as hell, right? ”

“..Then are you really straight? Am I the one with the crush or you?”

“ Okay I can still admit when someone is attractive looking! Now am I right?? ”

“..Yeah. Yeah you’re right about that bit. But that goes to all the other people who give her notes, it’s as if you’re asking me what color was the sky.”

“ I’m not talking about the other people though, Moo Moo! I’m specifically talking about you. ”

Monna fell silent, pressing her lips together as she thought about the words Ruby said. She was right, talking about other people was almost irrelevant right now. The assumption was to her directly and it was her time to say what qualities about Ellen was likable to her.

“Aside from appearance, she’s so strong, talented, and caring.. I love it when she sings when we all link up together at karaoke night. And the time she saved us from that big Ethereal monster was really awesome, as scary as it was.”

“ Oh yeah true true. But d’aww, I agree! She can be a little guppy sometimes! Also I have a question, so earlier when we were in the trash can full of letters. What’s the actual reason behind that? Because I doubt it was because of the lip balm, that was an obvi cover up. ”

“I…yeah there’s a reason.”

“ What is it? ”

“...I-I write.. letters to her too.”

The both of them fell silent for a little while, which made Monna unconsciously prepare Ruby to laugh in her ear.

“.. I’m hearing you out, continue. ”

“..Thank you..so. I only wrote two of them to her, and I was looking in the trash to see if she threw it away or kept it. I’m too scared to talk to her in person about it because I feel I will weird her out, you know?”

“ Ohh I get it, okay. ”

“And another problem is I just don’t know if she swings that way? I’m just afraid that I'm crushing on a girl who’s into dudes and I'll feel invasive. So that’s the only way I’ve figured out how to really talk to her.

“ Ssss yeah I don’t know either, see I was trying to see if she did but she got all defensive! And you know what they say when someone gets defensive over a ‘lie’.”

“But what if she’s telling the truth? Ellen is a little like that anyway when you push her around like that so can you blame her..?”

“ Because most of the time she doesn’t admit stuff, notice how she doesn’t talk a lot? ”

“...Because she rather keeps to herself?”

“ MY POINT EXACTLY! ”

Monna couldn’t help but to roll her eyes as she listened to the girl on the other end of the line repeat herself. She couldn’t tell if she walked into that one or unknowingly agreed with her while trying to defend Ellen?

Same difference she guesses.

“ Yes girl, my theory is she might be closested lowkey!! ”

“Wait, you can’t just assume she’s gay like that!”

“ Take a good look at her, what about her looks straight to you? Remember when I said she either looks painfully bisexual or a foot out of the closet lesbian? I was being serious. ”

“So we’re judging by appearance.”

“ ..BUT YOU AGREED, I HEARD YOU! A part of you is hoping for the fact that she likes girls and you’re looking for crumbs too! Let’s NOT be a hypocrite, Monna.~ ”

Ruby got her there..she hates to admit it, but maybe she was the best person to talk to about this crush thing. Not only was she reading Ellen, but she was reading Monna too! Who knows how long this girl has been eyeing the two without them noticing.

“ Alright can I say something though, going back on the few things I picked up on? I also want to talk more about the letters too, maybe I can help you with that. ”

“Yeah? What did you notice?”

“ I’m glad you said what ‘I’ noticed because you sure didn’t, last Saturday when we got breakfast at Coff Cafe. Actually scratch that, I could be wrong about it. Did you notice anything strange about Ellen? ”

…Huh? What was so strange about Ellen? She didn’t find anything strange about her, she simply gave the cow a recommendation because she couldn’t decide what to get. That was all.

“.. Nothing ? Nothing out of the ordinary, she seemed happier than usual when we were talking about your snoring.”

“ GIRL THAT’S- okay. So when she gave you the stuff to order, she was looking at you. ”

“Looking at me?”

“ Yes, not as in ‘looking at you and asking how your food is’ type of looking. But the kind where she looked like she was searching for validation? You didn’t even take a sip of your drink yet and she was glancing up at you all nervous and stuff.

“Ohh..hm maybe because she didn’t want to disappoint me?”

“ MHM! ”

“...The hell is weird about that?”

“ YOUUUU OH MY- ISN’T THAT OUT OF CHARACTER?? SHE RECOMMENDED ‘ME’ STUFF AND SHE COULDN’T GIVE A FUCK LESS IF I LIKED IT OR NOT!!

“Oh she probably doesn’t like you as much- wait.”

“ SEE? SEE? ARE YOU HEARING ME?? ”

Monna also had to think about it, she held her tongue from defending Ellen once more. There were times the shark would recommend the other girls' stuff and she didn’t seem to care too much if they followed through with it or not. But she herself did notice the girl seemed…shyer than usual with her? It wasn’t enough to warrant suspicion from Monna but it was enough to send alarms through Ruby. She had to hear her out some more.

“Okay I’m following, she seemed a little soft but my memory isn’t as clear as yours so.”

“ For someone who has a crush you sure aren’t paying attention to them. ”

“Because that’s creepy?? I’m not you!”

“ ANYWAYS, do you remember complimenting her? She was kind of blushy and her tail was wagging. ”

“I think I remember that, but I think you’re lying about the blushing and wagging part.”

“ Okay that’s fine you don’t have to believe me on that, the other thing I picked up on was during lunch when you were upset and Ellen gave you her cake. She pretty much did the same thing. ”

“Okay yeah, I noticed something . It was almost like she caught herself being too soft.

“ Yeah exactly, not only that she offered you food. A SWEET food. And you know how she is when it comes to her sweets. ”

The crumbs Ruby was feeding the cow thiren felt as if they were getting bigger into maybe a quarter of a slice of cake. There was no defending the shark here with that act of generosity, but then how else would she have cheered her up in that moment?? Maybe the cake was the easiest offer to give! But she also didn’t have to!...Hm!

“ Okay about the letters..I have to make it quick because I have to go to bed soon. Did you ever find your letter in the trash? ”

“I didn't, no. But I still don’t know if Ellen was the one who took it. I actually did look before when I sent my first one, but the janitor already put a new bag in so I couldn’t be sure there.

“ Hm okay, take it with a grain of salt then. I’ll tell you what, let me know when you write your next letter. I’ll be your spy for you. That’s probably the only way you’re going to know if she received it or not. ”

“But what if you get caught?? That’s risky.”

“ Do you want Ellen to be your girlfriend or not? ”

“...”

“ ... ”

“I do, yes.”

“ Then let me be your spy. ”

The bovine girl’s face was heating up, hearing Ellen and girlfriend in the same sentence. This proposal Ruby offered was probably the only chance was going to get to know if the shark was receiving her mail while still being anonymous to her. She owed the girl BIG time.

“Alright. Just please be careful though.”

“ No promises, we have a shark that we’re dealing with. ”

“ We’ll talk more about it tomorrow, I need some sleep. I’ll see you at school tomorrow, Monna! ”

“See you at school, Ruby. Also, thank you..for the help.”

“ Yeah girl! That’s what friends are for right? I got your back big time! ”

That sounded vaguely familiar.

The two girls bid their farewells, Monna ending the call first before turning off her phone so it was on sleep mode. This was such a crazy turn of events, she thought back on the entire conversation that her and the blonde had. Not only was she going to help her get closer to her crush, but she had made damning revelations to show that Ellen may be growing softer around the cow.

As much as she kept trying to deny the shark thiren’s behavior it was starting to sound like she herself was beginning to look a little fruity . This gave her hope, she may not like how this is based off of assumptions and delusions but it was enough to motivate her to pursue whom she wanted to be with.

Tomorrow...will be interesting to say the least.

Chapter Text

She supposes it really is that serious, considering the fact Ruby of all people texted her this early in the morning to let her know of the plans for the day. In the past few years of them knowing each other, this was honestly the first and maybe the only time the blonde was this invested in something so.. dumb . But she had her ways, and she was quite literally the only person who she could even fall into the hands of for situations like this.

The cow walked down her neighborhood, her legs unconsciously moving faster so she could arrive at the school sooner. She felt eager but also a tad nervous, it’ll be the first time she will have to talk about this embarrassing topic in real time to her. Though at the same time, she wondered what the human girl was going to tell her..? As she mentioned, ‘ she still had a lot to talk about’, meaning the things she wanted to say last night were cut short due to her sleep schedule getting in the way. 

And not only that, she would soon have to deal with the relentless teasing of her pathetic little school crush.

Hm, but Ruby has always been like that..

The cow thiren idly wondered, her teasing was one of the many ‘ languages ’ she spoke to show her affection to the group. They could absolutely be too much at times, but the blonde girl always meant well for each of them. Even if she got on their absolute last nerve.

Monna shook her head, scoffing a light chuckle at the many times she would pick on her and the girls. With the flick of the tail, the girl paced herself to get to the metro that led to Lumina Square.

Later at school...

The cow thiren arrived at the school finally. She was relatively early as per usual, seeing how there weren’t many students around. She hiked herself up the steps, knowing her objective in meeting Ruby drew closer and closer. The lingering anxiousness that she felt several minutes prior from the idea of having to face her friend only worsened as she navigated through the school’s hallways.

Her hands balled into a semi firm fist, her thumb and index finger rubbed against each other to help with her rising nerves.

Relax Monna…deep breaths. It's just Ruby, just trust her.

She knew full and damn well she didn't really trust her…however, she had enough faith in her to even admit her silly little feelings over the phone! She had a horrible habit of letting her brain fold under pressure, looking at the possibilities of what negative scenarios that could happen versus the positivity that may come from it.

All she had to do was turn a corner, make her way out the back of the building, go down to the track field, and find Ruby. It was that simple.

The cow thiren paced, the sound of her heels clacking against the polished flooring beneath her. It echoed throughout the hallway with the exception of a few slightly open doors that emitted brief conversations from inside, assuming some of the staff were having a small meeting in them. She caught herself overthinking, everything surrounding her seemed so hyper focused and it only increased as she saw the door that led to the outside.

She huffed before she pushed it open with her hand, allowing her to step a foot from out the building. Students alike were also hanging out here of course, she even walked past a few that seemed to perch themselves by the exit of the door. One told her to ‘ watch it ’ .. even though they were in the way , which caused the poor cow thiren to pathetically apologize and scurry off in search of Ruby.

The blondie wasn’t that hard to find, she could spot that pink cardigan anywhere even if it was a packed Friday night at the 404 manhole.

“ MONNA!! OVER HERE!”

Aside from being fairly easy to locate, she’s also not difficult to hear either.

The bovine girl’s left ear twitched before her head spun to the direction of her voice. It took her a few eye glances around the perimeter of the area but she soon spotted her by a gate entrance to the track. And there she was, the she-devil herself waving her arms frantically for the girl to come over. Monna’s heart started to pump a little faster, this meetup was going quicker than she would like it to. However, there was no point in stalling now and wasting both of their time, so she immediately picked up the pace to see her friend.

“Morning, Moo Moo!”

Greeted the blonde haired girl, her cyan eyes were extra sparkly today and her smile was ear to ear, bigger than when she would earn a measly 200 dennies from a scratch card lottery. Monna could tell that she was very excited to see her, and knowing what the both of them were discussing last night the context of her giddiness was to be expected. The bovine girl finally walked up to Ruby, giving her an awkward grin and a little wave as well.

“Good morning, Ruby.”

“.. Soo?~ ”

Began the blonde, putting both hands on Monna’s already tense shoulders. She gripped them before she started to lightly shake her back and forth.

“You got a crush on our fishy, huh??”

“Ruby! It’s too early for this ..”

“ Okay okay , I'll be for real..we can take our time with this one..not too much time but y’know!”

Ruby took her hands from off of Monna so she could clasp them together, wiggling in place out of joy.

“Alright, first of all..since you said you write letters to Nom Nom Shark, when do you usually write them and put them into her locker?”

Getting into the thick of it.. wow, Ruby is taking this seriously. Maybe I was wrong for doubting her..

“..U-Uhm well…the first one I wrote at home, and the second one was during 4th or 5th period. But it’s.. only when she makes me feel some type of way..”

Ruby only nodded, her eyes staring intensely at her. Monna could tell she was trying to fight herself from interjecting into her explanation, like an untrained puppy waiting for meal time.

“As in like..! Uh.. jeez this is embarrassing.”

“Like….. freaky ?”

“ NO! Oh my God.”

“Just a guess, oopsies!

Monna’s face turned a light shade of red, that was a ‘ feeling ’ she certainly wasn’t having for the shark at all! Her brain delaying what she actually means would only cause the blonde girl to fill in blanks more and more, she’d appreciate it if she would just hush and let her figure it out like she was before.

“I mean, when something impactful happens! For example, she would buy us something out of the kindness of her heart. I would write about how thoughtful she is, basically I just say how she makes me feel depending on the moments I find writing worthy..I don’t know, it’s just unusual to explain.”

Ruby nodded, massaging her chin with her index finger and thumb while pursing her lips. Seeming as if she’s some sort of detective or something.

“So you just write to her whenever she makes you feel gayer?”

“...When you put it like that, yeah.”

“ CUTE! What was the first letter about??”

“...I-I won’t say.”

The blonde’s face fell before it lifted up again with a passive shrug in acceptance. There was no way in hell she was going to tell her about the letters she wrote to Ellen, they were written and sent specifically for her to read.

But... should she tell her? What if it was more of an insight for Ruby to understand where Monna was coming from? This was a prime example of a situational bottleneck and deciding whether she should go left or right. Her fuzzy tail curled around her leg shyly, already feeling the pressure weighing down on the poor cow. She already felt pathetic as is and funnily enough, she needed assistance to guide her through said pathetic feelings, which was even more pathetic.

Ruby seemed to notice the shift in behavior, catching herself from her arising excitement. She needed to remember that this was a vulnerable topic for her friend, and she isn’t as excited as she was when it came to such trivial things like relationships and crushes. The cow was trying to be cautious and she needed to stoop down to her level to properly help her out.

“Actually..you don’t have to tell me much about the letters you wrote, we can just-”

“-It was mainly about how she made me feel!”

Blurted out the bovine girl. This made Ruby jump, her eyes widening in shock from the sudden statement from the brown haired girl’s mouth. The cow finally decided to just trust her friend with the crush situation. This girl was going to possibly risk her life ( not really ) spying on Ellen so she could confirm if her little wimpy letters were going to her. If anything, it makes sense if she knows what’s going on!

“It wasn’t word for word, but basically..it was a risky letter about how I…y'know like her but I wasn’t sure if she was open to the idea of dating girls. I didn’t want to seem pushy to her or anything. It’s what I told you yesterday but more in depth.”

“..Mhm?”

“And the second one was practically the same thing but it was when I was feeling jealous..my feelings were just all over the place. I felt guilty and told her I was sorry for being an annoyance like the other mail she gets..”

The tail on her leg wrapped around tighter, feeling remorseful as she relived that exact moment in writing her possibly ‘ last ’ letter to her crush.

“And just to be sure, she doesn’t know it’s actually coming from you, right?”

“She shouldn’t, I made it clear to her that I’m staying anonymous. I didn’t want to make it weird and potentially ruin our friendship.”

Ruby nodded, swinging her right leg over her left one so she could get comfortable. It had gone quiet for a couple of seconds, the ambient sounds of people talking in the distance and a few birds chirping filled the air as both girls pondered the next few things that they wanted to say. The blonde leaned deeper against the fence before she finally spoke.

“And when do you usually put the letters in her locker?”

“Either early in the morning or a passing period like my second one, but that one was more risky because I wasn’t sure if Ellen was going to come by and visit her locker, she’s a little random.”

“ Ha that's smart, she’s never here early in the morning. And if she ever was, it’s for a school event with promised snacks and free lunch. Say, is this around the time you would send her the letter?”

The brown haired girl simply nodded, playing it safe to be at least 20-30 minutes early before school initially begins to beat the arrival of the lazy shark. Her tail seemed to loosen around her leg, not feeling as tense anymore.

“But Ruby, the problem is that I’m not sure when Ellen even checks her locker..”

“Well duh , you have me to figure that out! And if anything, we have a clue..remember yesterday when I asked you if you ever found your letter in the trash?”

“Yeah? You told me to take it with a grain of salt though.”

“No no, it’s because I just realized something. The cards were above all that junk! Had Ellen checked during school, it would’ve been buried with more stuff, right? It seems like our sharky checked her locker before she left the school~!”

So Ruby also peeped this, huh? Monna already had an underlying suspicion that the shark girl made a visit to her locker after school hours due to the position of where the cards were at. It seemed like a bit of a stretch but it was either that, or she actually threw them away during the passing period and nobody threw anything else away or tampered with the bin until Monna and Ruby investigated it. Ellen throwing the cards away before she left makes the most sense she believes.

“I was kind of thinking that too.”

“Cool! we’re on the same path, girl! Which ALSO could be the answer to your question. Ellen, more likely than not , took your letter! Because you would’ve seen it with the rest of the batch.”

“But I have my doubts..what if the letter fell in between-”

“ No dammit , YOU stay on track! No doubting here!”

Ruby gripped her shoulders once more to get her to cut the uncertainty mess out, their reasonings did not come to a beautiful connection just for it to be shut down with a sliver of doubt to make them start from square one. All that brain power and for what? For the fun of it? She thinks the hell not! She wasn’t going to toss the ball back and forth with her like they did while on call yesterday.

“Monna, let’s just assume Ellen did take your note okay? We can settle on the assumption that she visits her locker afterschool sometimes, that’s a step forward right?”

The cow was looking deep into Ruby’s eyes, her own orbs darting around studying her face. She ultimately nodded in agreement before the human girl unhanded her.

“Yay, so the plan! I’ll do a trial run for you, I’ll just swoop around the hallways during the passing periods to see if she goes to her locker. That way we have a better understanding of when she usually goes and checks.”

“Alright…But I’m also concerned..what if you get caught snooping around Ellen? What will be your excuse?”

“Oh that’s easy, I'll just say I’m volunteering in taking photos and scouting out scenes for yearbooks.”

This girl Ruby was a freaking genius wasn’t she?

Aside from her trollish and swaying nature, she knew what she was doing! Well..as in she knows how to lie ( hardly ) and stalk people. She was the entire reason why they all went and got lost in the hollow just to see if Ellen was being exploited for her job.

Yet she trusts the same girl with this situation? She should do a double take again.

“I’ll be okay, don’t worry Monna! When do you think you’re gonna write your next letter?”

“...Uh I don’t know, again it’s based on what she does and how I feel about it.”

“Fair enough, lemme know though!”

The cow thiren’s tail started to uncurl from her leg, feeling a sense of relief wash over her now that there was solid structure to her worries. This was going fairly well. The thoughts of being ashamed of gaying over her friend were minimized by the minute, all she needed was some sort of path to lead her in the right direction from all of this madness.

“Another thing Moo Moo. Pay. Attention. To. The. Sharky! ”

Ruby ordered, each word following up with a clap to get her attention.

“You may think it’s odd but, girl. STUDY HER! I can’t be the only one who sees she's acting a bit strange around you!

“But I-”

“-Monna . Think about it! You don’t even have to like... stare at her if that’s what you’re thinking you have to do. It could be small things like how she talks to you, whatever! And you guys are both thirens too, so I assume the tail is a dead give away. It’s what I mentioned last night but you didn’t believe me, you would have to find that out for yourself.”

Ruby certainly had a point, she has an entire crush on the shark girl. Wouldn’t she want Ellen to have similar feelings back to her? She was going to have to look for the signs, as long as she doesn’t make it obvious then there shouldn’t be an issue.

“Say, what time is it?”

The blonde asked. Monna dug out her phone from out of her skirt pocket to turn it on.

“It’s 7:34. We have about another half an hour until we have to go, you want to walk around the track to kill some time?”

“Sure! We’ll talk more about Nom Nom Shark too.”

The cow nodded before turning around to go through the gate they were previously perched at. There were a few people who were also walking the track with their friends as well, some of them walked by themselves and a few others decided to jog or practice their running.

The girls kept themselves on the outer lanes of the track, making sure they weren't in anyone’s way because they were going to walk as slow as possible. To Ruby’s favor anyway, Monna was more athletic.

“ So ...are there other things that you noticed about Ellen? Because you said she was acting strange.”

The bovine girl initiated as they began their slow paced lap. She delivered her question rather timidly, her faith in Ruby starting to grow inch by inch as they continue to talk to each other.

“To be honest...other than the two things I brought up to you, no. She’s still the regular ol’ sleepy grump that we all know and love!”

Replied Ruby, raising her arms up to rest them on the back of her head as they walked the track. Monna glanced at the blonde haired girl for a brief moment before she faced forward again with an accepting nod.

“If you want , I have a couple of fun facts about her that I think you should know about!”

This caused her brows to furrow in, raising her head to relook at Ruby again at the proposal. 

“ Fun facts ?”

“Yeah! Like how you can moo when scared.”

“...That’s not a fun fact.”

“It is fun! ...To me!

“Yeah to you! ”

Monna’s face simmered at the thought of her cow-like cry being triggered whenever she was mildly or extremely surprised. But that aside, she wanted to hear what Ruby had to say about Ellen. The girl knows alot about each of them equally, so her knowing a few things about the shark girl wasn’t that surprising and if anything it’ll give her more insight about her.

“ Anyways ..did you know she likes to be hand fed? Don’t tell her I said this to you, she will actually kill me.”

This caused the cow’s head to tilt out of curiosity, a flick of the ear as well to signify if she heard that correctly.

“Really?”

“Yeah! She won’t admit it though, but I can tell she doesn’t mind it. It’s mainly when me and her hangout and go get grub.”

Ruby comes closer to Monna to whisper in her ear, as if anyone was eavesdropping in their conversation.

“ I'm starting to catch on that she lets loose when no one’s around! ”

The cow hummed at the thought, she guesses that’s a cute fun fact of hers. She may try this tactic one day whenever the both of them get some privacy of their own.

“Another fun fact is that she has a lisp, and it’s SO cute.”

“Wuh? She doesn’t have a lisp, are you just making up things as you go, Ruby?”

“No, I'm serious! She can’t pronounce her S’s sometimes, I think it may be because of her teeth.”

Ellen? The Ellen Joe with a lisp? The cow thiren had her doubts, as little as the shark spoke there hadn't been one sliver of a mispronunciation from her end. However, it could be true and Monna nor Lynn paid that much attention to her speech pattern to really notice it, or Ruby was way too observant.

I wonder why Ruby didn’t take criminal justice as an elective, she’d be great at that.

“One more fact! You more than likely know this one but she loves the ocean. So maybe for a date take her to the beach or go to Port Elpis!”

“I figured she loved the ocean, the last time we went to the port she seemed to always stare off at sea with her manager. Though, it reeks of bird poop there.”

“Bird shit is temporary, love is eternal!”

This managed to actually get a giggle out of the cow thiren. And shortly after, the both of them began to share a healthy laugh with each other. It was safe to say that Monna felt a little more confident in herself, but she made sure to stay at a level where that confidence doesn’t turn into complacency. Things could go left, right, up or even down. The two girls walked the track for the remaining time they had left before they needed to return to the school building.

Students that had populated the outdoor space began to funnel back into the school so they could go to their respective classes. Ruby and Monna amidst the crowd struggled with shoulders, tails, legs bumping one another before they made it inside, about to part ways until they get the chance to see each other again later on.

“Remember what I said Monna, Study! I’ll let you know if I see something ‘ fishy ’!”

“I-I will, I’ll let you know too.”

Both girls waved each other their goodbyes before they turned heel to go to their class.

Monna had made it to her first period of the day finally.

She noticed the class seemed fuller than usual. Maybe it was due to the fact that some of the students stood by their friend’s desks to give the illusion of a crowded space, but it seems like all of her classmates were present in the classroom. She looked around, spotting the three girls that were disturbing Ellen yesterday, giggling and smiling and what not. All she could do was just roll her eyes at them, it was a new day with new expectations after all.

As she walked further into the room she happened to spot the very shark girl that she and Ruby were gossiping about. She sat at her desk, phone in hand lazily scrolling on it, and a fresh lollipop twirling in her mouth. Monna was getting light headed already, she knew what was to come and the shark was 100% oblivious to it. She made her way around the front of desks to get to her own, placing her book bag behind her seat so she could slip into her chair.

“Good morning, Ellen.”

She looked over at the shark thiren as she greeted. The black and red haired girl looked up from her phone to face Monna, she shortly gave her an up nod before turning back to her device.

“Sup.”

The shark replied, continuing to scroll on the phone. The cow thiren turned her body over to dig out her materials from her bag, trying to look as studious as possible and also distract herself from Ellen’s presence. It felt a little intense now, she assumes it was because she and Ruby had just had a 30 minute conversation about the shark’s antics and how to snoop on her again. She felt guilty, it was hard not to. But she herself wanted to know if the girl was receiving her letters and to confirm if her crushing delusions were true.

“Hey, Monna. Did..your family issue ever resolve? That’s probably personal but I’m just wonderin’.”

Asked the shark, which caused her to freeze up a little.

Wait she actually cared about that-

“...O-Oh! Yeah it did, it was just a matter of miscommunication between my parents that had me feeling a little sour. We made up though, thank you for asking.”

“That’s good.”

The bovine girl did not expect Ellen to actually follow up with her crooked lie that she told to cover up the fact that she was jealous over her. But this could also mean the girl was worried about her, let alone thinking about her. In all honesty, she would want a friend to be concerned about whatever mishap may be going on that disrupted her mood. So Ellen just asking would be the bare minimum of just being a good friend.

Yet, it was an entire lie from the get go, it may as well have been a disguise to see if the shark thiren was genuinely paying attention to her. Monna raised her head to look at Ellen, giving her a light smile of gratitude to end the lie more authentically. Her heart began to pump at a higher frequency, seeing that the shark girl was also looking back at her. Her face didn’t really hold that known scowl of hers, but what she saw was the slight curve of a smile on her lips.

She’s so SO pretty!

Truth be told, if you were to ask Monna she would like to see Ellen smile more often. Albeit, it was a hint of a smile, such pure emotions from the shark were so adorable on her. Though, Ellen seemed to break eye contact first after the few seconds that her and the cow locked eyes with each other.

‘Remember what I said Monna, Study!’

Oh hush Ruby, I know.

She thinks she noticed the more ‘ shyer ’ attitude here, sharing eye contact was awkward for sure, but for the shark she was known to look people dead in the eyes and she would never be the first to look away. Like the time she confronted all of the girls in the hollow when she saved them.

That stare made everyone there scared and uncomfortable. She was so intimidating and serious looking it was almost like they were dealing with an entirely different person! She knew she meant well however, and only used such intense scrutiny to let them know that she was being direct. But it goes to show Ellen was no stranger to eye contact, so her breaking it could have underlying possibilities.

Hm..the situation is different here though, maybe I’m just deranged.

Monna faced her notebook and pencil case while keeping Ellen in the peripheral of her eye, not wanting to seem obvious that she was trying to observe this alleged behavior Ruby claimed and so far..

It wasn't anything convincing... yet .

RINGGG!

Class was about to start, the students who were previously standing up had made their way to their seats to get ready for the lecture of the morning. Shortly, the professor walked in the room and promptly shut the door so he could get the ball rolling.

“Good Morning, everyone!”

Greeted the professor, placing down his books and papers on his desk.

“Before I take attendance, I would like to hand out these flyers for our upcoming school fair! How exciting is that?”

The man exclaimed enthusiastically, picking up said flyers from his book batch and placing the stack on one of the student’s desks for them to take one and pass it down.

“With finals, prom, graduation, and other things just a few months from now, our school is hosting this special event to help raise money to afford all the cool stuff for you seniors.”

Monna watched her classmates take a flyer and passed the rest on, she was then given the pile of papers shortly from a neighboring student. She took a piece before giving the rest to Ellen so she could take one.

Woah..a school fair? That should be pretty fun.

“Our neighbors, Eridu High, will also be free to join us in the fair! So it’ll be a huge social event for everyone and it’ll benefit the district's funding.”

The professor mentioned with a content smile, looking across the classroom at all of the students who were studying their flyers. Small chatter began to start amongst the kids, talking about the exciting activity that will soon come in just a few weeks from now.

The cow took a slight glance back to the shark thiren who seemed to actually take  interest in the paper. She watched the stick of her sucker move around in her mouth as she flipped the flyer over to see if there was any more information that she should be aware of. The bored bounce of her leg and the calmly swaying tail behind her, Ellen was just so dreamy wasn’t she?

“Hey Ellen, is there anything that you’re looking forward to at the fair?”

Monna asked, finding the opportunity to at least talk to her crush and build a social rep with each other.

“Hm? Oh, probably the food stalls and art exhibits.” 

The shark replied, skimming over the flyer again.

“...Uh- what about you? Anything catch your eye?”

“Yeah, the art displays got me too. It looks like at one of the stalls, you'll be able to draw something on a giant poster! Like a mural of some sort.”

“Oh I saw that, it’s dope. I’ll probably just draw a heart or something, I can’t draw for the life of me.”

This made Monna snicker a little bit which caused the shark to look at her in question. The cow got a glimpse of Ellen’s furrowed brows but she didn’t look offended, just seriously confused which she found really cute.

“..What?”

“Oh no! I’m just thinking about the ‘earthworm’ you drew for art class.”

“That was the best I could do though, I suck at drawing.”

“Okay but the redone assignment of the fish your manager caught for you wasn’t that bad?”

“To be real with you, I didn’t want to draw that fish either. I traced it lowkey.”

“Ellen!”

The shark thiren could only shrug, taking the sucker out of her mouth.

“I got an A for it, so hey.”

“You know what, fair enough..”

Both her and Monna knew the shark didn’t even try with that worm drawing. A part of her wanted to see the girl put more effort into niche little things like that, she believes her art skills aren't as horrendous as she makes it out to be so who knows, maybe her talents extend farther than just singing and fighting. The girl's conversation came to a close once the professor started to take attendance, they had placed their flyers in their bags and got out their appropriate materials as did the rest of the class.

Here we go, my least favorite subject is about to start now…

–

Only 20 minutes had gone by, Monna had felt the professor had gone on about his endless rambling about decimals and functions for hours . 

She was completely burnt out from math truly, hell she honestly didn’t feel like keeping up with the notes this one time because all the numbers did was give her a migraine. She’s fortunate that Ellen didn’t ask for her notes to catch up with the work this time, otherwise she would’ve been shit out of luck and would have to ask someone else. 

It’s not that the bovine girl didn’t want her to copy her, if anything she’d love to lend the girl her entire notebook full of scribbles just for her. But she didn’t want to seem useless. That’s why she offered to pay for their teamilks the other day, the shark thiren was always loaded with cash from her super dangerous job so why not pay her the respects to show she’s appreciated?

Her and her friends weren’t the sour bunch of people who would take advantage of her kindness and use her as an ATM for free things, they try their hardest to match the genuineness that the stone faced shark always seems to supply for them, and Monna herself wanted to go above and beyond to stand out for the shark girl. 

Even if the choice of being nice and chipping her own allowance money down just to save Ellen a few dennies out of her hundreds of thousands. She wanted to show her how much she meant to the girl, more than what dennies could ever buy.

She glanced towards the shark girl’s direction again, just to see what the fatigued girl was up to. Ellen’s hand was up supporting head while she flicked her pencil around (that clearly needed to be sharpened) in the other. Her eyelids were half opened, watching their teacher go on about the math problems on the chalkboard. She could tell the poor girl was trying to stay awake to be at least half involved with the classroom lesson.

She looked at her piercings that lightly decorated her face and gosh were they so cool! From the time that they met, her ears were the only things that were pierced on her. She always thought the look of metal was strangely hardcore, and being that she’s a shark thiren it just seemed to fit her badassery even more. The brow piercing really defined the downwards arch of her thick eyebrows amazingly, and the cute nose piercing that was on the side of her nose complimented her stunning face overall.

Look away Monna or you’ll get caught, you’re staring too hard.

A small blush crept up on the cow girl’s cheeks as she looked back to her paper of absolute nothingness. The blood simmered beneath her skin at the idea of such beauty being exclusive to her one of these days. Ellen was beyond just pretty, and she’d kick herself in the foot for going back on the late night call she and Ruby shared. The blonde haired girl wasn’t wrong at the speculation, but she still suspects that she herself wasn’t straight for even making the comment to begin with..

Ellen is super fine..H-Hot even.

Her coming to this conclusion wasn’t even a stretch because she always thought the girl was attractive, hence why her crush kickstarted in the first place. But it only grew because there was something so pure about the shark aside from her hardened nature and stunning looks. The time where she gave her a recommendation of her go to Coff Cafe order was so sweet of her now that she thought about it, all because her dumb self couldn’t make up her mind on what to get.

And the one thing she barely noticed until now was everyday, the shark would wait for Monna to finish packing her things so they could leave out together. 

What a gentlewoman! 

She herself didn’t know when this started, it could be just the natural factor of waiting for a friend so they could walk and talk. Or an exchanged favor of the bovine girl having to wake the sleepy shark up because she slept through the bell.

She snuck another glance at Ellen who hadn’t moved much from her head hold position, she was jotting down notes on her notebook and stopping to glance up at the professor. Monna peeped the side of the shark’s page that she was writing on, it had little doodles of fishes and bubbles on them. This made her heart swell, Ellen was just so endearing wasn’t she?

And she was such a liar, she could draw! 

…Sort of? Maybe she wasn’t lying about that.

But It was better than the earthworm she drew, that's for sure!

Another thing that always seemed to intrigue her was her uniform style choice. Monna has never ... EVER seen the girl in her full sailor uniform. The closest thing that came to being modest was a cream colored cotton vest that she wore a few times with a properly buttoned shirt with a tie. 

She certainly wasn’t complaining about the lack of uniform and the rolled up sleeves that she regularly adorned, she thought it made her look even cooler. The shark was into fashion and alternative clothing choices as well, so maybe this was just a look she wanted to wear and didn’t want to blend in like the rest of the students at school.

But one day...she would love to see the girl in proper uniform, it would be extremely out of character for her but she would look so delightful in it, she believes. 

…Maybe that was also another reason why she didn’t wear it. Ruby of all people would probably tease the ever loving hell out of Ellen and rebelled at the thought of wearing that jacket to avoid the ‘ Awws! ’ and ‘ So cute ’! Not wanting to put up with such nonsense.

Though, her rolled up sleeves really highlighted the subtle details of her forearm muscles..they weren’t shredded like how a body builder’s would be, but it was enough definition where she could tell she puts those arms to use. She could only wonder what the rest of her arms looked like..were they toned? Biceps as hard as rocks when she flexed? The power she had when swinging those shears around had to have evidence to back that up.

Her legs too, the leggings she wore hid just how amazingly structured her legs were. The shark’s calf muscles weren’t large but they were strong and healthy for sure. That explosive speed Monna witnessed when she was fighting the large ethereals was something straight out of a hero movie. Ellen was fast, powerful, elegant, her fighting style was almost like a deadly dance pirouette of excellence-

“Monna, not paying attention I see?”

“.. Eh? ”

The voice of her professor broke the fogging thoughts of the shark’s strong body out of her mind. Her senses of desire and curiousness came to an abrupt embarrassing end, which was now replaced with awkwardness and silence.

She watched almost the entire class look back at her from the callout from her teacher. 

Why oh WHY did he have to do that??

“Did something out the window seem to draw your attention away from the lesson?”

The cow was darting her eyes from the professor to the lingering eyes of the students that watched her in the room. The feeling of shame settling deeper into her core.

“Or were you looking at your friend, Ms. Joe?”

If she died right there, God did her a favor.

Her face burned almost immediately, and it didn’t help at all that she heard some of her classmates going ‘ Ohhh.. ’ and ‘ Oooo ’. 

This was so bad. She had to think of an excuse QUICK .

“T-There was a squirrel outside and I got distracted! I apologize Mr. Eto!”

Monna quickly defended herself, immediately standing up from her desk and bowing to show further condolence. Her fluffy ears pinning back at the sheer amount of embarrassment that she feels right now. Her nerves were working overtime, especially because in the corner of her eye she could see Ellen looking at her too. But to her slight bit of relief, she seemed to look away.

“Hey squirrels can’t fly to the second floor? You’re lying.”

Smuggily said a male student from the back of her. This made the poor cow’s ears flatten deeper on the side of her head as she sat back down on her chair, the attention on her was getting too much for her to handle. The feeling of humiliation was starting to consume her and all she could do was look down with her hands tightly clasped together.

She didn’t realize it, but this ultimately caused Ellen to react, turning over from her seat to confront the guy who was only making the situation worse.

“Are you stupid? Squirrels climb, dude.”

The shark replied angrily, a scoff coming from the guy. Offended that he himself got called out as well.

“Don’t you sleep all day? You have no room to talk, maid girl.”

“You think squirrels can fly and you're picking on my friend, jackass. So shut up.”

The bickering had got the classroom excited for the most part before professor Eto had to put a stop before it got too crazy.

“Everyone, enough! Ellen, Asher, don’t . It’s almost the end of the school year, don’t mess up your graduation and opportunity to fun senior activities with nonsense.”

“..You lowkey started it, but whatever.”

Ellen rolled her eyes while crossing her arms. Monna looked at the shark thiren, her eyes widened, unsure of what to make of this situation.

But was that her ... defending her? 

Not just once which was about the squirrel thing, but calling out the teacher himself was a new one. She saw that her face was a little red, she can’t tell if that was due to her flustered anger or she might’ve gotten embarrassed at the professor mentioning her name too.

“Ellen! No more from you, do you want to be sent to the principal's office?”

The shark was glaring hard at Eto. Almost like she was staring through her eyebrows from how intensely she was looking at him. This was one of the many examples of Ellen retaining strict eye contact when she was upset or serious. Monna looked down and saw the tip of her tail wiggling impatiently, a key indicator that she wanted to strike him but couldn’t, so her bubbling anger was set to simmer and cool instead.

“...No.”

The shark dryly replied, still staring up at the man. Each movement that he made, her sharp red eyes tracked him. Monna was able to tell that the stare down was making the professor a little uncomfortable himself which she couldn’t exactly blame him for, so to combat this, he cleared his throat and adjusted his tie so he could turn around to continue the lesson.

Awkward whispers began to fill the air, everything that just happened felt like it never occurred to begin with now that the tension in the air was starting to die down. Monna only stared at her blank notebook paper before she glanced at Ellen again, who just rolled her eyes and shook her head once their professor’s back was facing the class. 

“...Jerk.”

The shark said under her breath, moving the sucker around in her mouth. The unsharpened pencil that was in the girl’s hand was slowly starting to snap under pressure. But she released her intense grip, realizing she needed that pencil to keep at her notes.

This was also a sign for Monna to actually do her work too, it was a lesson learned on her end to not gawk at her crush during class time. She slowly got out a purple pen from out of her pencil case and began to write some key information as well.

After Class.

Math was finally over with to the brown haired girl’s relief. Her classmates were packing their things and began to leave their desks so they could exit the room themselves. She folded her book up and snapped her pencil case shut so that she could put her materials back into her bag.

Ellen was sitting quietly at her desk, waiting for the cow to pack her things so they could leave together as routine.

“...You aight?”

Asked the shark, breaking the awkward silence in between them.

The cow jolted her head up, so lost in thought about everything she almost forgot the shark was next to her.

“O-Oh- yeah I’m okay.”

“Man... screw Mr. Eto honestly, he gets a weird kick out of embarrassing his students for literally any reason. It’s annoying but don’t think about it.”

Ellen reassured, her tail wiggling again at the thought. 

“And that Asher guy, he’s a fucking idiot. Dude has more veins in his arms than wrinkles in his brain I swear..”

All Monna could do was stare at her in awe, the shark seemed to be more offended than she was about the entire situation. And she was the center of it all! The black and red haired girl had no reason to pop a blood vessel for her. Not this much at least, which made her ponder about… something .

But she casted that assumption to the side, she needed to calm the shark down or at least remind her that it wasn’t a huge deal (even though the humiliation Monna felt could rival that of a thousand suns).

“Ellen.. Ellen.. it’s okay, I’m fine!”

The cow assured, which seemed to make the shark’s face soften ever so slightly. Her face was a little red again, out of anger from thinking about the two perpetrators that pushed Monna into the spotlight unprovoked. The shark exhaled through her nose, letting the remaining anger she had boiling inside her come out like a heated tea kettle ready to be poured.

“Thank you for sticking up for me, though. That was so kind of you, seriously.”

Monna smiled, trying to take Ellen’s advice to not dwell on it. A peculiar fact she realized about the shark was her selflessness, she always found a way to put others first before her. She was quick to give others advice, but in the same breath wouldn’t listen to her own suggestions. Silly shark!

The shark nodded her head in acknowledgement. Her hand raised up to move a stray hair out of her face, lightly jerking her head back so any hairs that were falling were automatically propped back up on her head.

From her forward slouched position, the shark thiren sat up straight. She seemed like she was preparing to say something but her head gears got jammed, but shortly redeemed herself after visibly lagging.

“You’re good. I just hate seeing people get picked on, it’s just weird y’know.”

She replied, her voice still held that haughty attitude but it was a few levels softer than usual. Monna smiled warmly at the shark girl, her fuzzy tail swayed as she admired her more compassionate side. 

Aww was that all she had to say? A whole brain fart just to assure her she doesn’t tolerate bullying.

“Yeah I get it, and I agree. You did the right thing and I appreciate it a bunch.”

The shark looked up at her, those stunning sharp red eyes just seemed to always shoot through Monna’s calm honey brown ones. This suddenly turned into some sort of staring contest and neither of the girls wanted to exactly look away. The bovine girl’s heart was beginning to pump against her ribcage, really indulging in Ellen’s stunningly beautiful face. 

She still retained her soft smile, even though her crush was looking directly at her . Said crush only gazed at Monna, there wasn’t a clear emotion on her face to really indicate anything, but-

Tap...tap...tap taptaptap-

-DINK

…Wh-..what was that?

The source sounded like it was coming from below, so curiously, Monna’s eyes glanced down to see Ellen’s foot which was shoved back against her chair’s leg with her poor tail caught in between it. A painful hiss escaped her lips at the questionable action

“ MyTailGotItchy!MyFault!”

The shark quickly explained before clearing her own throat, lightly moving her heel so she could ‘scratch’ her tail.

“Oh! It’s fine, it happens!”

The cow said, forcing out an awkward laugh. Now she knows she isn’t crazy for assuming that THAT was Ellen’s tail wagging against her chair, was it??

‘And you guys are both thirens too, so I assume the tail is a dead give away.’

..Ruby I just might have news for you. Holy shit.

“Alright let’s go, I-I’m getting hungry.”

Said the shark who immediately stood up from her chair. This caused Monna to slightly fumble around for her bag, grabbing the strap so she could throw it around her shoulder.

“Right!”

Both girls left the aisle of desks and proceeded to walk out the room, already enroute to the cafeteria to meet up with Ruby and Lynn.

They walked side by side with each other, periodically getting closer so upcoming foot traffic won’t bump into them. But that aside, Monna seriously couldn’t help but to think of Ellen’s bizarre behavior as of late. Maybe she herself was being shallow minded at the thought that maybe the shark didn’t give too much of a crap about her. But taking record of the things she’s done in favor of the cow, she’s slowly starting to believe that maybe this was going beyond just being a ‘ good friend ’.

From recommending an order to defending her in class, arguably, these are the moves a good friend would typically make to show you that they care for you. The same thing could apply for Monna as well, but she’s also doing these good deeds in hopes that the shark would notice. But unfortunately with Ellen’s lack of emotion outside of being angry and annoyed, sometimes it’s harder to even tell if it was even working. But all brick walls eventually crack with time.

The two girls walked down a flight of stairs, turning to make their way down a hallway which they were greeted with a sea of students walking along and hanging out. The cow and shark thiren engaged in small talk or what not to not create any lingering awkwardness that happened earlier, and all seemed to be relatively normal she thought.

Her mind seemed to be lingering elsewhere aside from walking side by side with her crush. They passed by a few other hallways that held lockers against the walls, and she could’ve sworn she saw a blur of pink within the crowd. It’s not like there weren’t other students who didn’t wear accessories such as hats and coats that had an adorable color pink on them, but that specific shade of pink was always tied to none other than Ruby.

Is she making her move? Hm.

This was making her a little nervous again, Ruby actively scotting out the school’s hallway to catch the sharky lacking. It was a literal game of fishing, ironically.

Shortly, they arrived at the cafeteria. Ellen chose a pineapple bun stuffed with custard cream and a carton of milk, and Monna got a few slices of honeydew melon and an orange juice. They made their way to their acclaimed group table, but finding Lynn was the only one sat there snacking on a fruit cup quietly, and an abandoned grilled cheese sandwich next to her which the pair assumed was Ruby’s.

The cow’s suspicion of thinking that blur of pink wasn’t a trick of the eye, but it more than likely was Ruby out trying to see if Ellen is checking on her locker. It’s good to know that she’s actively helping her behind the draped curtains.

“Good Morning guys, if you’re wondering about Ruby, she said she needed to use the restroom.”

Greeted Lynn, fixing her slipping glasses with her middle finger.

...Right..’restroom’.

“Oh okay.”

Acknowledged Ellen, placing her packaged bun and milk down before she adjusted her large tail so she could sit, allowing it to lay on her lap. Monna shortly sat down as well, twisting the cap of her orange juice to take a little swig. She swallowed, tail swishing around in joy from the freshly tasting beverage.

“Morning Lynn!”

Greeted the cow, her usual peppy attitude back on display from her rollercoaster of emotions from earlier this morning and yesterday.

“Hi Monna, I see you’re doing better.”

Said the black haired girl, giving the cow a content smile.

“I am yeah, I cleared some things up on my end so all is well.”

Replied the cow, picking up her melon and giving it a small nibble. Lynn nodded her head, still smiling at her. At least her friends were thoughtful enough to check up on her, even though the reason for her bitter attitude was mainly her fault. But she still feels an underlying guilt knowing that they are completely oblivious to why she was really feeling like that, only Ruby does.

And speaking of Ruby, here she comes making her way around to come join the girls for breakfast.

“Hey girls!”

Greeted the blonde haired girl with a strained breath, taking her seat before scooching herself up closer to the table. They each greeted her with their hellos with the exception of Ellen just giving her a nod while taking a bite out of her bun.

The cow bit into her melon again, glancing over at each of her friends that sat with her. She felt a little strange, knowing that her secret could be blown by the loose lips of Ruby if she doesn’t keep her promise. If Monna could describe the feeling, it was as if she were to crack open a soda without knowing if the fizz was going to erupt from it or not. 

In anticipation if that possibility were to happen, what would she do? What was her solution in cleaning up the mess? And if there's no fizz eruption then all is well and she could proceed as normal. She needed to remember that she can trust the human with such vulnerable information, and went as far as helping her see if her letters were being seen.

“So you guys hear about the school fair we’re hosting?”

Ruby cleared the silence as she is the primary conversation starter.

“I have, but I do not think I’ll be able to participate.”

Lynn replied rather solemnly, her face seemed to tighten at the thought that lingered which got an eyebrow raise from Ruby.

“Don’t tell me it’s because you have to study. Who told you to even take AP Calculus??”

“See, I’m trying to build a reputation for the university I want to enter! So I have to sacrifice a little fun so I can achieve my goals. I don’t want to live off scratch cards like you do.”

“Fair enough smarty pants- HEY?? THERE'S A POSSIBILITY THAT I WILL BECOME A BILLIONAIRE IN THE SWIPE OF A DENNY WITHOUT ALL THAT BRAIN SQUEEZING, LYNN.”

Hollered the blonde girl, the middle of her face seemed to turn a little pink from the damning comment from Lynn. The black haired girl only eyed her before taking another scoop from her fruit cup.

“Uhg! Anyways, what about you guys? Are y'all going because I am!”

Ruby turned her attention to the two thirens who were watching them bicker like an old couple. The shark bit into her sweet bun, her cheeks full of mush like a baby which Monna found stinkin’ adorable!! But gushing aside she decided to answer the human’s question.

“Yeah! I saw a few booths on the flyer that looked really interesting, like the art mural.”

Said the cow, her fuzzy tail swishing from side to side.

“Oh em gee I saw that too! I saw there was going to be a fortune teller there, maybe they’ll tell me that i’ll get a boyfriend before prom!”

Excitedly exclaimed Ruby who got a very strong eye roll from Lynn and Ellen almost choking on her milk. The girl looked at the shark offendedly, not much to Lynn she already pissed her off, but her knowing the facts about the situation she unknowingly made herself an easy target.

“What! What’s so funny, Joey ?”

This caused the shark thiren to whiplash, her brows furrowing looking directly at Ruby.

“ Joey ? What the- where’d that come from?”

“If you’re going to the fair as well, maybe you should visit the fortune teller too! Maybe they’ll tell you you’ll get a prom dateee.~ ”

Teased the girl who gave Monna a light kick on her leg, which made her ears perk at the touch. This caused Ellen to shake her head at the suggestion, her ever so slightly sinking in her chair.

“I- nah, bro. I don’t believe in f-fortune tellers.”

The shark simply but not so simply said, sipping her milk while looking away.

“Why? Don’t you want your love life to be discovered? You’re the only one who’s a mystery box, Joey .~”

Ruby leaned over, poking at the shark thiren’s cheek before the girl nipped at her which caused the human to pull away fast.

This was making the cow a little nervous hearing where this conversation was going. But thankfully, she can tell that the blonde haired girl was only trying to tease answers from out of Ellen to help with the situation.

“Seriously, where did the name Joey come from? Did you seriously somehow turn my last name into a pet name?”

“Don’t dodge my question, Nom Nom Shark!!”

“....I actually prefer the Joey nickname more.”

Monna is realizing this too, Ellen is dodging the question. And she’s dodging it pretty damn hard it seems. And the eye thing! The constant looking off was a tell tale marker that she may be too shy to admit something . But this is simply a theory that her and Ruby will talk about later.

“Okay but will you actually go to prom though?”

“I don’t know, it depends on work.”

“You know..considering what you do, that is rough. I didn't think too much about that. Oopsies!”

Now this was a realization that awakened Monna as well. Her far away dream of having Ellen as her prom date is at a literal 50% chance that it may or may not happen. She hopes her letters will be enough to sway her before then, but then again if it did, her manager or whoever would swoop her up and throw her into the dangers of a hollow like a sack of potatoes.

This crush, dating, queer journey thing was more complicated than she thought, but all she could do was await any news Ruby could bring to her in the meantime.

The school bell rang which signaled the girls and the rest of the students in the cafeteria to clean up after themselves and go to their next period. They each crumpled up their trash to throw in the bin and they bid their farewells until they all get synced up again. Monna was about to turn heel to go to her respected class before she got a tap on her shoulder. Her ear flicked at the contact, turning around to see that she’s met with Ruby who was signalling her to go off to the side for a small little chat.

It didn’t seem like the human girl had much of an update regarding Ellen’s locker situation, but her behavior wise, there was quite a bit to talk about. Hell, she had a few cards behind her back that she could place on the table as well if given the chance. 

The duo parked themselves by the entrance of the cafeteria’s kitchen where there was hardly any foot traffic that'll disturb them. They were only accompanied by the school cooks who were doing dishes which didn’t seem to care if the two girls were there seeing it was only temporary.

“Before you say anything, I knew what you were doing with that prom fortune teller thing.”

“Well I sure hope you did! I nudged your leg too. But anyways, that aside! I won’t say it! But you tell me what you observed.”

She’s quizzing me, huh? Well this time I was paying attention, so this was a relatively easy reflection that I can summarize.

“I noticed she dodged the prom date angle a lot, and her lack of eye contact makes her look a little suspicious I think.”

“Right on the MONEY! That’s my Moo Moo! I told you paying attention to your crush was the answer!”

“B-But I don’t want to seem like I'm being delusional, though.”

“EH! Wrong! That is what you call signs , my friend.”

This was rich coming from Ruby. Had she followed her own advice with the studying your lover thing, she would’ve had a boyfriend by now. Instead she’s sulking about her crush who already has a girlfriend. But to give her the benefit of the doubt, there were visible footprints on the sandy pathway.

“Okay well something happened in 1st period today.”

Monna stated, rather firmly. Feeling the bubbling embarrassment claw at the back of her throat from her professor and classmate being total dickheads.

“She defended me in class..”

“...Wait what happened? Did you get into an argument?”

“No, I was actually uh-...I-I actually zoned out in class and Mr. Eto called me out so I had to make up an excuse. And then some guy tried to question me and Ellen backed me up..”

“Uh huh?”

Ruby’s cyan eyes were wide and her mouth slightly agape, clearly invested in this small form of drama the cow thiren had in store.

“And then after class we talked about it, and Ellen was acting a little strange. She’s always breaking eye contact and looking elsewhere.”

“It’s more severe than we thought, huh?”

“...I guess? Around the time when I was getting to know her, I would always have to look away because she has such intense eye contact when talking.”

The blonde nodded, looking down at the ground. Plowing through her loose files of memories that seemed to be scattered everywhere about the shark.

“Yeah no joke, I’m noticing that too. I think at least with me because I bother her a lot, heh. It’s rare that she looks away when talking to me, she kind of does the same with Lynn but she hardly looks away. It’s a BIT creepy, won’t lie. You think it has something to do with her being a shark thiren?”

“I don’t know honestly, I do know sharks usually rely on their vision for detecting prey.”

“Oh my God, do you think we’re prey and she’s secretly plotting??”

“...No, we’re still alive with all of our limbs so I think that’s just an Ellen thing.”

Ruby sighed in relief, not wanting to be in the jaws of their friend even though she herself flew too close to the sun several times. 

Their conversations came to an end when they heard the bell ring again. The pair walked from the kitchen area back to the hallway where the amount of students were dwindling down as they got to their 2nd period. They waved each other goodbye until they met up once again.

The turn of events was enough to get Monna thinking again, Ellen’s willfulness to defend her in the blink of an eye was incredible to her, heroic even. Not taking away from time that she actually played hero and saved the girls from the ethereal monsters, but she herself had a soul of gold.

She was thankful that no one in her next upcoming period talked to her, or even knew her personally to ask questions about certain things surrounding her as a person. So she believes she will write her 3rd letter to the shark girl, and the cow wants Ellen to see it.

What was happening? What on earth was going on?? The cow was rushing down the stairs from her classroom and ran to the location Ruby texted her. She was trying her very best to weave and wave through traffic but ended up bumping into a few people while doing so. 

Did something serious happen? What did Ruby need? My heart won’t stop beating hard!

The cow turned a corner and arrived at the described hallway, which was nothing but students and the lockers which clearly had Ellen’s decorated cubby there. She was about to round another corner to prepare her search for Ruby before she got yanked immediately from that said corner, earning a cow-like yelp from the sudden snatch.

“R-Ruby!”

“Monna! Hi, okay! So I called you over here because this is quite literally the LAST time I’ll be able to catch our fish! The many times I came around to check to see if she went to check her locker, she hasn’t. Not ONCE.”

The cow was in the middle of trying to catch her breath and it didn’t help that Ruby was speaking really fast. So whatever words Ruby was saying to her was more than likely a sacred language that philologists never encrypted.

“Say-...Say that one more time? Jeez my heart, you had me thinking there was a fight.”

“Ellen throughout the day didn’t check her locker. Now it’s after school, my only window to catch her.”

The blonde repeated, peering at the corner to see any sight of the shark thiren.

“When did you put your letter in the locker again?”

“After 5th period, it took me a while to figure out what I was going to say.”

“Okay, so she 100% didn’t check it then. I was late to 4 of my classes because of that frickin Nomster. I’ve only caught her suitors putting in their grimey ass notes in there, however.”

Ruby huffed, still keeping an eye out.

“Okay but why did you call me here?”

“Because I want you to see her take your letter too. I can’t just see it for myself, this is your effort too, Monna.”

The girl said in a more serious tone, taking the time to look back at her. Now it wasn't as serious as if it was a life or death situation, but serious enough to where the statement felt assuring, almost like a warm hand hold. It is quite rare when Ruby becomes thoughtful like this, Monna thought. But she can appreciate it when she does so.

The cow’s stomach started to turn, was it anxiousness? Fear? She didn’t know what it was, but the actual thought let alone being in the position where she gets to see her crush possibly take her letter was such a damning reality she didn’t know how to fully describe it. The girl swallowed her pooling saliva down her drying throat as she watched Ruby dig in her pocket for her phone.

“I’m going to use my phone so I’m not that noticeable when Ellen does arrive, and so you can see the screen when she comes, okay?”

Monna nodded, looking at Ruby’s fingers swipe the camera icon open so she could be ready.

The two girls seemed to have camped in that hallway corner for what seemed like hours to them now. But knowing Ruby was on her phone she kept track of the time that flew. It had been a solid 8 minutes since the pair agreed to stand there patiently while they waited for their friend to show up. The students that were passing and checking their own lockers seemed to decrease in size as they continued to wait.

Crowds became thinner, the school became quieter. Hardly anyone was checking their locker now which was clearly irritating Ruby.

“You dumb shark, where are you?”

The blonde said under her breath, extending her head from the corner to see if there was at least a tail that was exposed from a distant staircase. Monna’s nervousness started to rise. With such little people to shield them from exposure, there is a higher chance that they'll be caught! She seriously hopes that the shark girl will come around soon, what was she even doing? What even caught her up?

“..Do you think she fell asleep through the bell again?”

Monna asked quietly, her fuzzy tail curling around her thigh for comfort

“Knowing her, probably.”

Ruby replied just as quietly, aware that their atmosphere was becoming hollower by the minute. Man, the human was in character! Using her phone as an extensive eye to locate her subject like a security camera, knowing to use her inside voice because of the clearly diminishing crowd of people took up less volume, thus there would be a prominent echo in the building. This felt unreal to Monna, like a thriller movie.

“..Wait-”

“Hm? What do you see Ru-”

“ Shh shh! She’s coming, Oh my God. ”

Monna stood up from her crouching position immediately, unconsciously clutching her tail as she checked Ruby’s phone screen. The cow’s heart may have stopped, started, stopped again perhaps? But from what she could see with her own two eyes was the shark herself walking towards her locker, preparing to solve her combination code. Their breaths were at a stand still, watching Ellen yawn and pull her lock before opening the locker’s door. 

They watched her sift through the junk mail that she received from the ‘suitors’ that Ruby mentioned before, and it seems like.. she’s looking for a specific one.

“ Oh???- ”

Ruby quietly said in a hushed whisper, she couldn’t believe her eyes either. All of this was happening in real time! The shark thiren was throwing notes and cards away like they were nothing until she finally got ahold of Monna’s envelope. She seemed to study it for a while, adjusting the piece of paper so that it was horizontal in her grasp.

Thiscannotbehappeningthiscannotbehappeningthiscannotbehappening.

The pace of the cow’s breathing increased, rivaling the steady but fast beat of her pulse that threatened to come out of her neck cavity. This was so nerve wracking, exciting, hell it’s scary! This felt like an entire dream to Monna, the time was literally here.

Both girls watched the screen anxiously. The bovine girl was so focused on it, she didn’t even notice the human’s semi trembling hands from her own wrecking nerves trying to keep her phone still. They watched Ellen stand there for what seemed like a minute now, staring at the envelope as if it were some sort of cheap popup card for a birthday. Her large sharky tail started to sway from side to side but suddenly it stopped.

She looked to her left, which was away from where the girl’s were standing and then she slightly looked to the right as if she was contemplating about something. 

...Before her head fully turned.

And looked directly at the camera.

"..What the-?”

Busted.

The girls heard her slam the locker shut in scarily arising anger.

Ruby immediately slid her phone away from that corner and shoved the thing in her pocket.

“Monna gogogogoogo!!”

The blonde was pushing her forward so they could make a run for it. Nothing but pure adrenaline raced to the cow’s ears and legs as she got up and booked it. Her poor heart felt like it was about to explode, the overwhelming emotions she felt at the time was actually torturous. She genuinely felt like crying.

Monna’s quick instincts turned into the girl’s bathroom that was conveniently there for them, praying to the almighty HEAVENS that she wasn’t seen by the fast trailing shark. Ruby was close behind, running into the bathroom with the cow. Both clearly panicking on what they should do.

“ Where do we go? Where do we go?? ”

“The corner! There's a space between the stall and the wall! GO GOO!”

Ruby ordered, the cow wasting no time to cower to the small hiding space with Ruby in tow. Monna was deep into the area with the blonde hiding close with her. Their ragged exhausted breathes was all they could hear with the complement of fast approaching footsteps reaching the bathroom door.

The door was harshly opened, indicating that Ellen was no more than 4 meters away from them now. 

“I know you’re in here!”

Shouted Ellen, clearly irritated as she started to walk deeper into the bathroom from the sound of her clunky shoe’s footsteps. The poor cow tried her best to regulate her breathing to not get them double busted, but it was hard not to keep composure once she heard the girl kick the stall doors open.

This is so scary, I can’t-

Was this how the enemies felt when they were being hunted down by this girl?? This feeling of doom, despair, and hopelessness? She genuinely feels like a predator hunting its prey all because Ruby DIDN’T PUT HER FREAKING PHONE AWAY SOONER. More stalls were being kicked open and they were getting closer and closer and louder and louder.

bang..!

Bang..!!

BANG!!!

Ruby, please do something I’m begging!

Monna was praying for the blonde to do something as she could visibly tell that Ellen was at the last stall before the little space that they were in. And to her breath holding relief, Ruby immediately shot up and exited the nook to confront the angry shark.

“Heya there Joey! No need to be upset!”

Said the blonde, all happy and whatever.

“Wh- Ruby?? Why were you taking pictures of me??”

Ellen at first was super confused, but the question after shot chills up Monna's spine, it was so direct and angry. This was the same tone of voice from the time she had saved them from the hollow.

“Uhh! Yearbook photos! Wait how’d you know it was me?”

“Please don't play stupid with me. You just admited it yourself, and why did you run off if it was just yearbook photos, the hell are you doing??”

“Woah woah calm down, Joey! My mistake!! You just scared the ever living shit out of me, thank goodness we’re in the bathroom, right..? Aha.”

There was silence, an uncomfortable silence. It was so quiet that they could hear the plumbing in the walls quelch and churn and the band team doing drills from outside. And it was so quiet, that Monna could hear her own pulse. She worried that Ruby and Ellen might hear it thump, possibly mistaking it for the band’s drumline.

“I’m serious, I'm volunteering in taking photos and one of my prompts was to take a picture of students looking studious!” 

“...Then go to the library.”

“Well I didn’t think of that!”

Oh..was Ruby a bad liar. The idea of using the photographer for a yearbook card was a genius sounding move, but the way the girl was laying it out from the blueprint was nothing short of bologna. However she can't really blamne her for fumbling her lie, she can only imagine how terrifying it was to be confronted by Ellen.

“Why do you keep glancing back there, are you hiding something?”

RUBY?? Please don’t blow my cover PLEASE DON’T-

This girl was putting her through hell wasn’t she, she could only hear the conversation but hearing Ellen call out Ruby’s obvious eye glances have her in a panic.

“No! I’m not, you know I’m screwing with you Ellen, you’re just making me nervous! You’re all..y’know cranky? Was your nap ruined? You only get this mad when you're nap-cranky.”

“Doesn’t matter, you’re acting real suspicious.”

Monna could hear the shark begin to move forward and the shuffle of clothing from Ruby trying to block her.

“Move, Ruby! What are you hiding??”

“Nothing for you Joey! Don’t you have work? Go make some money!”

This is so BAD RUBYY PLEASEE!

Her fate was sealed right there, she was just a couple of seconds from being exposed like a C sectioned newborn baby at sunrise. She had hoped that Ruby could hold the brute of a shark back, but she knows that Ellen was stronger than her by lightyears . Though, it’s obvious that she wasn’t going to shove her off in fear of hurting the vulnerable human.

The tussling went for a few seconds before it stopped abruptly, all Monna could hear was a ringtone, following after was the shuffling of clothes and a dial button being pressed.

“Hello?”

“ Good afternoon, Ellen. I need you to report to the mansion as quickly as you possibly can. We have an emergency commission that we must adhere to at once. ”

“What? Jeez, alright I’m on my way.”

“ Thank you, I will discuss further details once you arrive. Safe travels. ”

The sound of the phone beeped indicating either Ellen or her..manager(?) hung up the phone. It couldn’t be her manager, his voice was deep and had a hint of a german accent in there. Who was that guy?

“You’re lucky I gotta go, Ruby. But don’t think I won’t ask you about this later.”

“Toodles, worker bee! Duty calls!”

“Shut up.”

The shark said her ‘ goodbye’, immediately turning heel and leaving the restroom. Once the two girls heard the door close and running footsteps fade off, they both exhaled a sigh of relief. Ruby busted out laughing while Monna was still crouched and tucked in that pathetic little bathroom nook.

“Why are you laughing, Ruby?? I almost got exposed!”

Whined the cow, watching the blonde haired girl walk towards her to help her up from that space.

“I’m laughing because I was scared as heck, man!”

“Laughing as a coping mechanism?”

“Yeah, Ellen’s terrifying when she’s confrontational. I can tell she was holding back from purposely shoving me off though when she was trying to peer over here.”

Monna figured that much, or else she would’ve been caught so long ago. But she guesses it’s kind of thoughtful that Ellen was aware of her own strength regardless of how frustrated she is, and allowed herself to struggle against Ruby. But she herself felt like a wet noodle, her legs were quivering and her breathing was still a little jagged, that adrenaline still pumping wildly through her veins.

“Anyways! We caught a fish!”

Ruby celebrated, digging out her phone from out her pocket. Her hands were also shaky from the risky confrontation, seeing that she was struggling a little to unlock her device from her quivering fingers. She opened her gallery and blew up the picture of Ellen clearly holding Monna’s letter while looking at the camera all stupid looking. Ruby chuckled at the photo, zooming in on the girl's face.

Monna could care a little less about the shark’s face right now, so she took her finger to swipe up to look at her envelope that she was holding. That was the main reason why she was dragged into this cartoonish chasing mess in the first place.

“She’s holding it, but did she take it?”

“She did, here look.”

Ruby swiped right on her phone to show another picture of Ellen. This one looked like it was sneakily taken while she was pressing the human about the entire ordeal. It was a little blurry but it looked like the envelope was in her skirt pocket, thankfully the piece of paper was long enough to where it was poking out slightly from outside the fabrics.

Now this was evidence. This was enough proof to get Monna back in a good mood from being scared to death.

“Do you feel better now? Nom Nom Shark’s got your letter!”

“I do yeah, but you definitely owe me for putting me through that insane amount of stress! Ruby!”

“Yeah I know, I’m sorry girl. That was definitely my fault, but hey we weren’t super caught you know?”

“We shouldn’t have been caught at all .”

Argued the cow, her tail flicking with her arms crossed over her chest. But she can’t be too mad at Ruby, she agreed to stick around to see the proof herself and the efforts paid off, even if it was traumatic. She glanced at the time on the blonde girl’s phone, she had to get to her volleyball practice meetup soon.

“Okay, I have to go to practice. I may or may not be on my 2nd warning before I’m benched for a game.”

The cow said, adjusting the straps on her shoulders.

“Oh okay, Moo Moo! I’m heading to woodworking so I’ll be here once you’re done.”

Monna nodded, preparing to make her leave from the bathroom. Though, she stopped in her tracks realizing that she forgot to tell her something. Something that would be crucial about the entire speculation of Ellen's alleged behavior.

“Oh yea, before I go. I forgot to tell you something else that happened earlier after Ellen defended me.”

“Oh my gosh? What happened?”

“So..before we left to go to the cafeteria, we locked eyes. Just looking at each other for a while, and then I heard this tapping noise from beneath her chair.”

The blonde’s eyebrow raised, eyes squinting as her head slowly nodded at the explanation.

“And then I saw her foot was jammed up against her tail from which I assume was to stop it from wagging. And she passed it off as her tail was ‘ itchy ’. I also noticed that when she was looking at me, her face was getting a little red.”

The cow explained, rubbing the back of her head shyly before she felt a sudden grip on her shoulders. It was tense and she shook a little. Monna darted her eyes up to Ruby’s cyan ones which had a crazed but excited look to them.

“See what I mean?! The tail! The freaking tail!”

Ruby exclaimed, shaking her back and forth.

“Monna! Girl! That shark likes you! She LIKES YOU!”