Cecile's New School

The Bear's Mine! (Barrett's a Bitch.)

Chapter Four

Cecile sat with Foster at lunch in the cafeteria.  It was a normal day.  He was trying to ignore her, even though she was too dense to notice. The usual.

Cecile sat, staring at Foster with an unwavering glare.  He couldn't use his 'scoot down two chairs' strategy again, because every time he would do it, she would also scoot down.  She had found a loophole and now he was at the end of the table with no more chairs to scoot down. 

Cecile was smiling so hard at him that her face looked as if it was going to split open.  She was waiting for him to say something.

"What is it?"  Foster gave in when he had enough of her creepy grin.  Cecile blushed and flipped her hair.  "I have no idea what you're talking about!"  She lamely attempted to hide her smirk.

Foster looked back to his food and grunted.  Maybe it was best if he didn't press further into Cecile's harebrained schemes. 

She clasped her hands together and looked into the distance dreamily. "I'm going to fall in love!  And I know exactly who I'm going to fall in love with!"  She squealed in explanation.

Foster almost spit out his milk, but he held it back and choked on it instead.  He coughed and gasped for stable breathing. Cecile slapped his back harshly when he wouldn't stop.  "You should really drink slower."  She sighed.

Foster gasped for breath after his choking fit.  "Water...!" He wheezed. She set her own glass of water in front of him.  He took a tentative sip. 

She quickly slipped back into her love-struck attitude. "I decided that I'll fall in love with your friend, Barrett!"  She gushed. 

Foster did a spit take with the water.  Droplets scattered across the table and reflected the LED lights of the cafeteria.  He quickly took in a breath and began coughing again.

Cecile pressed on and ignored her choking friend.  "A famous trope is that the female protagonist usually falls for the mysterious boy!  It's perfect!  I want the whole rose-colored high school experience, so love is a must!"  She insisted. 

She then noticed Foster standing up after he recovered.  He pushed against the tabletop for support and grabbed his backpack.  "Where are you going?"  She asked him. 

He looked her in the eyes.  His gaze was stern.  Blue clashed with brown.  He opened his mouth to speak. 

"I'm moving to another country far across the ocean.  I can't even stand to be on the same continent as you.  You're ridiculous if you think you can just fall in love with anyone.  Actually, you know what?  Keep on this path so that you can be a sad old cat lady.  I promise I won't come visit you with my hot wife!"  He spat.  He slung his booksack over his shoulder with a huff before walking away.

Cecile stood up.  He wasn't going to get away just like that!  "Wait!  Foster!  The protagonist gets the last wor-AH!"  Cecile started to chase after him, but she slipped on an empty pudding cup. 

She collided against Foster's broad back.  "Wait a-!"  He then fell forward and stumbled into Barrett.  His body pushed Barrett against the wall and Foster's weight pinned him down.  Foster regained his balance by ramming his hands into the wall beside Barrett. 

Cecile fell face first onto the floor. 

She looked up to see Foster pinning Barrett to the wall.  Their faces were close together.  Well, Foster's face and Barrett's bear mask were close together. 

Blood gushed from Cecile's nose.  "I can't believe my love rival is my sidekick."  She marveled as the blood dropped on to the floor with thick-sounding splats.

Foster backed up from Barry.  He looked around at the forming crowd and held his hands up in innocence.  "I'm not!"  He screamed with red splotches of blush blooming on his face.

Barrett hugged himself.  "Be careful with me bro."  He mumbled embarrassedly through the his bear costume's snout.  "SHUT UP, BARRY!"  Foster pleaded. 

Barrett started laughing at his joke and clapped his friend on the back.  "I'm just joking!"  The charismatic bear assured everyone.  He then bent down and extended his hand towards Cecile.  She looked up at him with wide ocean eyes.  "You ok-?"  Barrett started, but Jane slid in and grabbed Cecile. 

She tipped Cecile forward on her lap.  Jane began to wipe the blood from her face with a napkin and then pinched Cecile's nose shut to stop the bleeding. 

Jane opened her mouth as if to say something, but the cheers from the crowd stopped her. 

Cecile stood up while holding the napkin to her bleeding nose.  "You're so mean, Jane!  I could have maybe gotten pinned to the wall, too, until you saved me!"  She cried then threw the red spotted napkin at her rival.

Jane shrugged and stood up too.  She walked closer to Cecile.  Cecile backed up.  "Wait.  What are you-?"  Jane roughly pushed Cecile against the wall. 

Everyone quieted down. 

Cecile blushed. 

Suddenly, Foster's laughter interrupted the still scene.  He gripped his stomach as tears streamed from his eyes.  He thought the tiny girl pushing the romantic with a nosebleed against the wall was hilarious karma.

Cecile colored even more under all of the eyes staring at her.  She pushed past Jane and covered her crimson face with her hands.  "MY INNOCENCE!"  She screamed as she ran from the cafeteria. 

Everyone stared in shock at rejected Jane, except for Foster.  He was gasping for breath before breaking down laughing again. 

Jane then turned her attention to Foster like a loving mother.  She helped Foster into a chair and handed him a glass of water to calm him down. 

At that, the crowd started to disperse back to their normal tables.  A normal din of indistinguishable conversations started up again.

"Thank you."  He sputtered and downed the glass Jane had handed to him. 

Barrett couldn't help but clown his stupid-looking friend.  "You look like you're drunk!  You're seriously horrible, man, for not feeling bad for that new girl.  It's only her fourth day here.  She seems sweet."  Barrett shrugged. 

Foster looked at him with raised eyebrows.  "You mean Cecile?  She deserves it.  She's completely psycotic, Barry.  Don't get involved."  He snorted as he wiped his mouth with his sleeve.

Barrett looked at the cafeteria doors. 

"Cecile's a nice name."  He remarked in a mutter.

    Writer's (me) note:

I'm happy to announce I have a new helping hand on the editorial team! My friend, Mikell Zuvich! She checks very  close for grammatical errors, even in previously posted chapters. That's why I changed a few words around recently in early chapters after I published them and now they sound SO much better. Sorry if the random changes bother you.  They aren't major changes, so I don't think anyone should get too annoyed.  Oh, and go follow Mikell on Wattpad at MZuvich !!  Thanks so much everyone that helps me out, reads my story, and supports me!!!  Y'all are the best!

                                       -Kailyn

*Like Barrett/Barry getting fully introduced today, my friend Mikell Zuvich aka MZuvich, is too. This chapter is dedicated to her. Okay, so she is like a grammatical error HAWK! She has the best eye for grammatical errors so I had to ask her to help out on my editorial team. We've really gotten closer due to writing and I'm very thankful for that. She actually wants to be a writer or something in that nature when she grows up and I support her 100 percent. I truly believe she, like the others in my 'staff', will go far. I'm very happy and thankful for my little Cecile team. I really appreciate them. I also appreciate all of you reading this. Thanks and go give Mikell a big thanks, too! (Theodore Finch is very proud of you, Mikell. Barrett is also.)*