Tides & Tolls

Low Tide, First Wave

It was cloudy on the first day of school. The warm air seemed to weigh Karkat's lungs down like a bag of sand. He shifted and tugged at the hem of his black sweater. Moving was nothing new for Karkat Vantas, but that didn't mean that he had ever gotten used to it. New schools, a new hallway. Karkat slipped into his class, darting around a lingering group of girls. The boy dragged his feet to a desk in the corner of the room and preceded to watch his fellow students settle into place, glaring at anyone who tried to sit too close. Almost everyone stayed away - everyone, in fact, except a slender girl wearing tinted-red shades. The ends of said glasses pointed sharply to the ceiling. Everything about this girl was sharp - her shoulders, her hair, the way she sat with her back straight and arms crossed, the sound her books made as they hit her desk. Karkat noticed two silver staffs, topped with red handles, leaning on her desk and his curiosity spiked. He cleared his throat uncomfortably.
"Um..."
"Oh!" The girl suddenly through her nose into the air then turned to him. "I knew something smelled different! A new kid, huh?"
Karkat opened his mouth to reply - maybe introduce himself, get her name, ask why she seemed to be looking out the wall behind him as she spoke - but she didn't give him a chance.
"The name' Terezi," she held out her hand and Karkat should it. Her grip was firm and sure.
"Karkat."
Terezi smiled crookedly, her angular mouth crawling to the edges of his face. Karkat decided she was pretty, in a nonconventional way. Her confidence carried her and the way she set her has made him believe that she could take on an entire army and win before the sun went down.
"Well, Karkat, I look forward to working with you. How do you like Wilmington so far? Crappy little town, right?"
"You don't know that I moved here," Karkat answered coldly. "Could've just switched schools."
Terezi chuckled. "Honey - it's your horrible outfit choice that lead me to believe that you moved here recently. Everyone knows late August will grill you alive. I would drop the sweater before I die, if I were you. Unles---s," she raised an eyebrow accusingly, "little Karkles has something to hide." Her skinny fingers stopped her drumming on her desk to point at the boy's sleeves.
Karkat's defenses went up. He folded his arms into his chest, thankful for the reassurance his baggy sweater provided. "Well, fuck you. I don't see how you have any business telling me off, when you're wearing fucking sunglasses indoors!"
Terezi recoiled. Then, after a second of stunted silence, she through her head back and started to cackle loudly (well, maybe that was her normal laugh, Karkat couldn't tell). Finally, once the girl had gotten her bearings, she gasped out, "Geez. That was rude! Telling the blind girl off for wearing her glasses indoors, huh, Karkles?" She tipped her head towards him and dipped her red shades, revealing a pair of milky green eyes that gazed straight to him, as if he was there.
Karkat gaped, trying to find the words to apologize. "I di-"
The bell interrupted him. A few stranglers ran to their seats. However, the seats around Karkat and Terezi stayed empty. Karkat didn't mind.
Karkat glanced at Terezi, who wore a small smile on her face. Her hands were laced under her chin and she regarded the space in front of her with an indifference that could only be found on the face of someone lacking their vision. Karkat frowned at himself, feeling guilty for his comment earlier. Surely, she had it hard enough. He scratched the skin under his sweater.
As if sensing his remorse, Tezeri's smile widened. "It's cool, Karkles. No harm done." Karkat breathed an inward sigh of relief that he hadn't upset the blind girl.
The teacher shuffled in, yawning, with a cup of coffee in hand. He regarded the high-schoolers with a look of dread and tiredness. It was clear the school building was the last place he wanted to be. Yet, here he was.
He set his cup on the wooden podium that stood proudly in the front of the room.
"My name is Mr. Hathe," he drawled, pulling a sheet of paper from one of his folders. "I will be your algebra teacher for this year." Mr. Hathe was a man of small stature, with thinning grey hair, a bald spot on the top of his head, and worry lines that laced his forehead. He wore a linty brown suit and shiny loafers. He continued to speak. "Now, I'd like to say I don't expect any trouble from you all, but, sadly, I do. Punishments will be given accordingly, and no excuses will be made. I don't take bribes, and I won't take pity on you because you're cute," he paused, gazing at a make-up enhanced, short-skirt wearing girl sitting in the front. She smiled at him cheekily. "'cause you're not," he finished.
Her face fell.
"Moving on," Mr. Hathe shuffled his papers. "roll call."
He proceeded to call out names, and a chorus of "here!"s echoed him. Karkat let his mind drift, gazing out the window. He knew he would be called last anyway. The sky was cloudy. Karkat hoped for a rainstorm, so maybe the sky would match his outlook on life.
"Terezi Pyrope."
"Here!"
The teacher eyed the grinning girl in the back of the room. "Glasses off, young lady. I want to see your eyes when I talk to you."
Terezi's smile didn't falter, much to Karkat's surprise. "Sir," she retorted. "I can't see your eyes. So, I don't think it's very fair of you to demand that you see mine."
Mr. Hathe fumed. "Well, Terezi," his voice, laced with mock kindness. "Maybe, if you took your glasses off, you could see me better."
"All due respect, I don't think that would help, sir."
"Oh, and why is that?"
"I'm blind, sir. 's kinda why." Someone in the classroom gasped. By now, all the student were staring at her. Mr. Hathe looked apologetic. However, the smile that played across Terezi's lips held steady. I wonder if she's immune to nerves, Karkat pondered.
"I apologize, Ms. Pyrope. I had no idea-"
"It's forgotten. Can we move on?"
The teacher gulped, his face still stuck in an expression of surprise. "Yes, of course. Kaitlyn Phillips, James..."
Karkat leaned over to Terezi.
"Damn, that was gutsy," he whispered. Terezi giggled, shaking her head.
"If you think that was impressive, wait 'til the cool kid decides to show."
"The cool kid?"
Mr. Hathe continued down his list. "...Dave Strider..." A silence flooded like a wave over the room. "Dave Strider?" he repeated, gazing around. More silence. The teacher shook his head, marking something on his paper. "The trouble really does start the first day, huh? Oh joy," he muttered.
Thud!
The door swung open, slamming against the brick wall adjacent to it, and in flew a tall boy with a mop of pale blonde hair and eyes covered with sunglasses. Karkat wondered if it was a trend. The boy straightened up and announced, "I'm present!" He outstretched his arms triumphantly. "I didn't get called yet, right? Here, check, well ya? The name's Dave Strider."
Mr. Hathe glared. "Actually, you just missed it, Mr. Strider. It looks like I'll have to write you up for being late, not to mention disrupting my class. See me at the end of the period, young man."
Dave over exaggerated a grimace. "Damn it!!"
"Find a seat, Mr. Strider. You're really testing my nerves."
Dave gave Mr. Hathe a mock salute. "Yes, sir!"
He trotted over to Terezi, all the students gaping at him. He didn't seem to notice. Karkat wondered if there was a problem with his eyesight, too. It was more likely that he was just a cocky bastard. Karkat glared. He hated people like that.
"Yooo-o!" Dave greeted Terezi and ignored Karkat's existence.
"Hey, cool kid!" She raised her hand for a fist bump. Dave gladly obliged. Since Mr. Harthe was done with his lecture, the classroom was engulfed with conversation and Terezi and Dave were no exception. Karkat vaguely listened in as he continued to stare out the window awkwardly, but most of their words went into one ear and flew out the next. The two mostly just caught up on what they did over the summer. And - with every syllable that came out of Dave's mouth, Karkat's unexplainable hatred for him grew.
Karkat Vantas just really, really hated Dave Strider.
An all-familiar pounding of a headache began to sweep through Karkat's brain and he pressed the palms of his hands to his temples. Ah, fuck, he needed an Advil. Karkat leaned over to unzip the pocket on his bag... only to collide heads with Dave.
He reeled back. "God DAMNIT."
Dave didn't move from his squatting position beside Karkat's desk ('When did he get there?!' Karkat wondered). Dave only smiled with amusement. "Nice to meet you, too, cupcake. Didn't catch your name."
Karkat tiredly grasped the edge of his bag and dragged it up to his lap, making sure to shot a glare to the blonde. "Fuck off, Strider."
"Aw, hey. That's no way to talk to a person who is just trying to engage in a nice, friendly conversation with you."
Finally, Karkat found a round pink pill and threw his head back, swallowing it dry.
"What part of 'fuck off, Strider' was unclear to you?"
"The same part of 'being nice' that you don't understand," Dave laughed, a pleasant melody that rang through the air. Terezi listened to their exchange from her seat, but her hands never stopped moving. They drummed on the table, adjusted her glasses, and laced together, just to come undone. Karkat questioned if she was capable of frowning.
"Leave. Me. The. Fuck. Alone," he growled.
"Man. Dave Strider, the coolest kid in school, is trying to befriend you, and that's your response. How ungrateful can you get, dude?"

How ungrateful can you get?

Instantly, Karkat turned paper white. Dave noticed, and frowned. "Yo, are you okay? You look a little sick."
Karkat's breath can out in short gasps. He clutched his chest.
"I need... I need to go."
With that, the raven-haired boy lurched away from his desk and bolted out of the room, not bothering to stop and grab his things. Dave stared after him.
"Dave, what happened? Dave?" Terezi pestered Dave waving her arms around her until she made contact with his head. She then grabbed his shoulders and shook him. Hard. "Daa----ave! Fill in the blind girl!"
Terezi didn't usually mind her disability that much. Though aggravating at times, she knew how to get around. She had gotten used to it.
But, it was times like this where her disability pissed her off.
One cannot describe the level of pissed-off-ness Terezi Pyrope had reached. Something had obviously happened - she had picked up the silence after Dave's comment, the harsh breaths, the 'I have to go', the soft shuffle of feet. And still, Terezi was in the dark - literally.
"Dave Strider, you will tell me what happened to Karkat or so help me, god-"
"Nothing! Nothing! Yo, the kid just like, bolted. I don't know, okay?"
The blind student frowned. "Okay."
"I'll catch him in the hall. So, like, you can head off with Kanaya and the lot. Tell them the Dave said hey."
Terezi nodded.