Can The Broken Be Repaired?

Chapter Two.

Elizabeth was a bit take back by the language and hateful stare since nothing she had done should have warranted it, however she decided to look at it with the approach talk to her in school.

It was likely one of three things:

A hard shell to cover up frail feelings usually caused by trauma.

A reaction taught by environment that was commonly associated with violence or insults in place of normal expressions of common or mild emotions.

Or a feeling of being threatened by the appearance of a new person. Fear of change and unknowns.

Perhaps it was even a combination of all three; Elizabeth wasn't entirely sure. However there wasn't much point speculating so early on, she just needed to keep those three reasons in mind when talking to this girl in order to keep herself from taking things personally. In order to actually get concrete information, she'd just have to talk more and see what she could discover from body language if all else failed.

"I'm sorry if I've upset you. That's not my intention. I just want to be as helpful to you all as I can, and if there's an issue with the food it's something I will likely be able to fix. Would you like to tell me what that issue might be?"

The glare intensified. Diane was getting angrier rather than calming down from her words. Why though? That what was the question Elizabeth was a bit worried about not having an answer to. There were many causes to irrational feelings and outbursts that could be helped. In fact, many people in the world had some imbalance or another that caused irrational anger or sadness. However even with how common this sort of thing could be, it still had many different levels that could even lead to physical violence that was unpredictable because of the irrational feelings. If that was what was happening here, Elizabeth might not get out of this room unscathed.

"Go away..."

Her voice was a growl, absolute hatred and disgust dripping from it in a way that made it hard for Elizabeth to know where to go from here. Being as kind as possible and non-threatening was angering this woman more and more. Would being more direct and firm improve anything or escalate the situation though? Should Elizabeth just back off and give her space?

"Ms Diane, can you please tell me why I'm bothering you? If there's something I'm doing that's upsetting you, I'll make sure to stop. My intent is not to agitate you."

Violet eyes turned near black in fury as her previously pretty and feminine features turned and morphed into a scowl fit for only the worst of enemies.

"I want you to fucking GO AWAY! I DON'T LIKE LOOKING AT YOU!"

Her voice screeched in wrath, the words themselves causing Elizabeth to feel even more confused. She didn't like looking at her? Why? Some sort of trauma dealing with another woman perhaps? Perhaps also why she did better in the men's section than women's?

Feeling as if the one answer only left her with more, Elizabeth decided to back off. There wasn't much she could do at the moment without angering Diane even further. Any more questions- even if asked with intent to help- would only anger the brunette further and make her feel as if her request for Elizabeth to leave had been ignored.

Although she didn't even have a chance to excuse herself before Harlequin stirred from his sleep from all the noise as he leapt to Diane's side like a dog to its owner.

"H-Hey! What are you doing to Diane! Leave her alone! Can't you see she's upset! Just go away! Take whatever notes you've got and go straight to hell! How dare you upset Diane!"

He immediately began peppering her with worried questions while she shut down and turned her head to the side without reply, likely either spent from the outburst or annoyed by the man trying to talk to her so soon after it.