Goddess of Empathy

Matt vs. Jacob

The school day had dragged on for Rapunzel, Nico, and Matt. Each bell seemed to echo with the weight of recent events, and they all looked forward to the brief respite of lunch. As they settled into their usual spot in the bustling cafeteria, their chatter was a mix of mundane school topics and discussions about the new developments with Lamar and Sherisa.

The cafeteria buzzed with its usual clamor of students. Rapunzel was in the middle of explaining a particularly ridiculous incident in history class when her gaze flickered to the entrance. Jacob stormed in, his eyes scanning the room until they locked onto Matt.

Jacob's face twisted into a scowl. His frustration from earlier, coupled with jealousy and anger, made him a volatile storm ready to erupt. Without hesitation, he marched over to their table.

"Matt!" Jacob's voice was a harsh whisper, yet carried across the room. "What the hell are you doing with Nico? Trying to get in his way?"

Matt looked up, startled. "Jacob, calm down. We're just having lunch."

Jacob didn't wait for an explanation. His anger boiled over as he shoved Matt roughly. The cafeteria fell into stunned silence, save for a few gasps and murmurs.

"Jacob, what's your problem?" Nico demanded, standing up and stepping between them.

"Stay out of this, Nico," Jacob growled. "This is between me and him."

Jacob's anger soon turned physical. He began to punch and kick Matt, who struggled to defend himself. The scene quickly became chaotic, with students scrambling to get out of the way or pulling out their phones to record the fight.

Alex, seeing the situation escalating, pushed through the crowd and tried to intervene. "Jacob, stop! This isn't helping anyone!"

Jacob snarled, ignoring Alex's pleas as he continued to assault Matt. The cafeteria staff finally arrived, with the principal close behind. They managed to pull Jacob away, but the damage had already been done. Matt was bruised and bleeding, and the lunchroom was in disarray.

Nico and Rapunzel rushed to Matt's side. Rapunzel's eyes flashed with concern as she helped Matt to his feet. As she looked into Nico's eyes to communicate her worry, her own eyes glowed faintly, a soft, ethereal light that Nico caught out of the corner of his eye. He didn't comment, but the look of surprise on his face was evident.

"We need to get Matt to the nurse," Rapunzel said, her voice steady despite the chaos around them.

In the nurse's office, Rapunzel gently touched Matt's wounds. Her healing powers activated, and a warm glow surrounded her hands as she worked to mend his injuries. The pain began to ease, and the bruises started to fade, but as she concentrated, she accidentally left a faint scar on Matt's cheek—a reminder of the fight and a side effect of her intense focus.

Matt winced slightly as Rapunzel finished. "Thanks, Rapunzel. It feels a lot better. But... uh, what's this?" he asked, touching the small scar on his cheek.

Rapunzel's eyes widened in surprise and concern. "I'm so sorry, Matt. I didn't mean to leave a scar. I guess I didn't have full control over my powers."

Nico looked at Matt with a mix of concern and sympathy. "It's not too bad, Matt. We'll figure out how to deal with it. Thanks to Rapunzel, you're not in pain anymore."

After the confrontation with Jacob and the chaos of lunch, Rapunzel, Nico, and Matt finally found some quiet in the library. They sat around a table, attempting to focus on homework to regain some semblance of normalcy after the day's chaos.

As they worked, Nico's gaze occasionally drifted toward Matt. He couldn't shake the feeling that something was off. With Jacob's violent outburst and the gangsters' mysterious new plan, Nico found himself wondering if Matt might be involved in something he wasn't aware of.

Rapunzel noticed Nico's distracted demeanor. "What's wrong?" she asked quietly.

Nico hesitated. "I don't know. I just have this nagging feeling that there's more going on. But... I guess we can't really worry about that right now, especially with everything that happened today."

Rapunzel nodded, but she too couldn't shake the unease. "Yeah, let's just focus on getting through today. We'll figure out the rest later."

The study session ended with a lingering sense of unease. As the three friends left the library, they knew that the situation was far from resolved. With new threats and mysteries looming, they had to remain united and prepared for whatever came next.