*~Ambition and Love Wearing Boxing Gloves~*

~ T W E N T Y - S E V E N ~

Comprehensible

There was one moment of silence.
One sickening, pulse beating, deafening moment of silence. Where she saw Michael on the floor, and the Squipped kids saw her.

Kids she didn't even recognize.
Had that thing in their head now.
The classroom full of empty Mountain Dew bottles.

Then two arms grabbed her from behind, and she screamed.
One around her neck, one around her waist.
Trapping her arms in place.

"Y/n!" Michael yelled.
So he was awake, probably just knocked down.

"Shut up Mell," one kid yelled. "Where's the Mountain Dew red?!"
Lucky for Y/n, she didn't need her arms to freak out.

She struggled out of his grasp, shutting her eyes and focusing as hard as she could on her frantic heartbeat.

And just like that, Jeremy let her go, flying off and hitting another wall.
She huffed angrily, and just barely caught Michael's excited glance.

The rest of the kids turned on her, awaiting some kind of attack.
Y/n was confident in her abilities now. The waves of power swam through her veins like a spark, or a shiver.

And spent no time hesitating when she pushed the kids back against the wall with her mind.

She just wasn't entirely sure how to hold them there.
So while they fell to the floor, she ran to Michael and helped pull him out.

"What do we do, what do we do?" She asked frantically, holding onto his arm.
He sputtered and shook his head, "Wha- I don't know! I've never done this before!"

She sighed and looked around at the kids getting up from the floor and slowly approaching them.

They were backed off down a hallway. Behind them, Jeremy walked out of the multipurpose room.

"Well what have you done before?"
He sighed and glanced around, staring fearfully at the menacing children in front of them.

"I don't know, last time we fought and yelled at each other, and then he gave the Mountain Dew Red to Christine."

She nodded and surveyed their surroundings. There was no way they could get to the door.

And Y/n wasn't sure how many more times she could give all these kids a mental mind shove.
She whispered to Michael, "I think we have to run."

He gaped at her. "Run? Where? Just shove them all out of the way again." He pointed to the door past them.

She groaned, "I don't know that I can. I can shove them, I just don't know what direction they'll go in."
He sputtered and flung his hands dramatically, "Then do that!"

Y/n squinted, focusing on the little bursts of energy. Every bit of hyperactivity and fear in her.
And all the kids went flying. Some hit the walls, some hit the floor, one hit the ceiling.

Before she had time to feel bad, Michael had grabbed her arm, and they were running down the hallway.

Her heart was beating in her ears as they ran down the halls; every corner they turned, they were met with more kids.

Soon they were on the second floor, looking for somewhere to run.
"They're everywhere." He panted, watching Squipped Children approaching on both sides of them.

Y/n's eyes landed on the double doors across from them.
"In there!"

She yanked him along and they crashed into the auditorium, panting and falling to the floor after all that running.

"Lately I feel like... I've been doing way... way too much running... for my life." Michael huffed, his hands on his knees.

"You wouldn't have to do that," a voice echoed from the stage bellow. "If you just joined us."

Jeremy was standing on the end of the stage, watching them at the top of the stairs.
"Remember this Michael?" He taunted, smirking. "Seem familiar?"

Y/n looked at Michael, whose eyes were wide and lip was quivering.
"You realize, you can never defeat us right? I mean, you tried once... and clearly that didn't go as expected."

The Squip shook his head and tsked.
"And I see that look on your face L/n." He smiled, pointing at her.

"Don't even try to escape, your attempts will be fruitless. We are everywhere; outside those doors behind you, the stage exits, the bottom exits."

She blinked and looked around, finding any other way they could get out.
But then the doors flew open behind them and she was grabbed by the arms, swiftly carried down the auditorium steps.

Before she even realized what was happening, she had been dragged all the way down to the stage.
"Wait, no... get off me!"

They threw her on the ground, and she looked up on her knees, holding her hand up to thrown them back.

The Squip tsked again, looking down at her starkly.
"I wouldn't do that if I were you."
He pointed up at Michael Mell, poor Michael Mell, who they were holding onto at the top of the stairs.

To make matters worse, they were holding a grey oblong pill to his lips. His eyes were squeezed shut and his lips were drawn tightly together.

"So what'll it be Y/n L/n... him or you?"
She frowned and tried to jump up, pushed back down by one kid behind her.

The poor girl's head was spinning, every rational thought feeling completely useless.
"I took one, and my life will never be the same again!"
"The question is... how am I going to do it?"

"What does it matter?" She muttered, looking up at Jeremy, his eyes blue and electric.
"You're just going to Squip both of us anyway. So it doesn't matter if he takes it now, instead of later."

The boy leaned down, menacingly close to her.
She could see the circuits in his irises, and smell the mint in his breath.

"That's not what you'll have to worry about," he remarked, pointing back up at Michael.
The kids beside him were holding Mountain Dew: Voltage.

She gasped, "What'll that do? What will that do to him?!"
Jeremy shook his head, "Wouldn't you just hate to find out?"

She shook, she heaved, she wanted to cry.
Everything was falling apart.
This wasn't supposed to happen.

She was supposed to move to New Jersey, be ignored and forgotten, and disappear into a bottle of isolation and Zoloft.
She wasn't even supposed to have friends.

Jeremy held out a grey pill to her, nudging a bottle of Mountain Dew with his foot beside her.
"So what'll it be Y/n?"
His voice was softer now.

"I don't know how any of this works, and that's fucking terrifying!"
"It's doing more harm than good."

She glanced up at Michael again, while he watched her through fear and thick glasses.
"...are you really sorry, or are you just scared?"

"You only need one, and it can fix everything."
"That's what I'm here for."
She hesitantly took the pill from his hand, staring down at it.

She just barely perceived Michael screaming at her, for a split second, but couldn't look at him.
"Sorry." "Don't be, you keep things interesting."

She held to the pill to her lips, staring up at Michael.
I love you she mouthed silently, which only made him sadder looking.

A hand grabbed her by the hair, pulling her head back.
She shrieked and stared up at the bright eyes Squip.

"Are you done with the sentiment yet?"
He shoved the pill in her mouth, reaching for the soda before getting knocked over the head and falling over.

Y/n fell back and stared up at Rich Goranski, panting with a leather book raised in the air.