FPE Impetus AU: Grading

A single week has never felt so awful. Nearly half of their class was wiped out. It didn't have to be this way.   *Riley wakes up to the dark void that is her bathroom. This building she calls a home has been abandoned for longer than she knows, and the mold and malfunctioning electricity are evidence to its condition. The first thing she does is draw Oliver/Katie and look at the pictures she has of them. After packing everything, she starts walking to school. *   *On her walk: She takes a small note out of her pocket. Note: "To Lizzy and Petunia: I'm sorry I'm made fun of of Kevin. I should have thought of how you'd feel when I said that. Please forgive me." * "RUBY will love this. " Riley thinks.   *Riley gets to the school early. In fact, she's arrived to early that the school doors aren't even open yet. This leaves nothing left to do but draw Oliver/Katie. Riley's notebook is filled with drawing of them. The quality between the latest and the first drawings isn't too far apart. * *As she draws, she's remined of the 2nd day of the school year.  "Have you studied for ..." RUBY's voice echo's through her mind. ... It wouldn't hurt to study a little. There isn't gonna be a test or - Riley: "The World History Test!" *Riley still has studying material (Notes and notecards) from the various study sessions with RUBY. She spends the entire time studying World History until -* *Click* *The school doors open, prompting Riley to look behind her. Miss Grace is standing behind them. At this point, Miss Grace has seen her here every day of the week, so she isn't even surprised. Riley enters the school and puts her things in her locker. She spends a little bit of time studying for other subjects but decides to spend the rest of it drawing Oliver/Kate. Old Habits. *   *Riley sits in the same spot she usually does in Miss Circle's class. The other students funnel into the room ... including Cubbie, who sits next to her. She never even noticed that he left. While Oliver/Katie, Zip, and Edward are sitting in the same spots they usually do, Oliver/Katie is holding a warning sign for some reason. * *Most of the class enters, but Miss Circle hasn't arrived yet. * RUBY: Riley! *Riley turns around. RUBY sits at her table alone. * RUBY: Would you like to sit at ou- my table. *Riley considers saying yes, as she realizes that she's never even thought of the person sitting next to her. But ... there's still a small hint of distrust. * Riley: No. Oh, I did write this though. Look at it. *Riley gets into a chair that used to be sat in by Skell. * ... I wrote that apology note you asked me to. *Riley hand the note to RUBY. * *RUBY inspects the note! * RUBY: I am not sure about this. You acknowledged your mistake, but it's too short. You could've written this in a few minutes. Riley: It was. RUBY: ... alright. You should send it over. I hope this works. Riley: Alright. *Riley scoots her and her chair closer to Petunia. * psssst. Petunia. Petunia: Wh- oh. what do you want? Riley: I ... read this. Make sure Lizzy sees it. *Petunia grabs the note from Riley. Her face shifts from mild annoyance to one of confusion and slight amusement as she holds herself back from laughing. She shows it to Lizzy. Once she reads it, her expression is highly different. Rather than finding it humorous, her face's expression twists to one of disgust. * Petunia: What's wrong? It's not the best, but she tried. Lizzy: Are you serious? She barely spent a minute on this. She didn't even try. She clearly doesn't mean it. Petunia: Of course she does. She doesn't care about is, so why would care enough to write an apology unless she wanted to? Lizzy: ... RUBY! Petunia: What does RUBY have to do with this? Lizzy: She probably asked Riley to apologize so we would trust her more. Petunia: She wouldn't need to have us trust her. She already can send us the study material.  Lizzy: It isn't just about the studying. Back when Skell and Robby were around, she'd try to interact with Riley. She wants US to like Riley the same way she does. Petunia: ... that's ... even if she did want Riley to apologize, don't you think it's more likely that she asked her because she wanted us to feel better? Or that she wanted to show Riley that what she did was wrong? Why do you have to default to the worst conclusion? Lizzy: ... Because Riley doesn't allow for the best interpretation. Petunia: Maybe ... but RUBY does. I've been thinking about this over the weekend. Even if you don't trust her, she's been going out of her way to help us, even though she has nothing to gain. I'm not saying that we should trust her, but I don't think she has negative intentions. Lizzy: ...   *Riley returns to her desk. *   *Miss Circle walks into the room, finally signaling the start of their learning. *   Miss Circle: Hello, class. For today, we will be having a .... *RUBY looks at Lizzy with a concerned expression. * Miss Circle: lecture. Lizzy: *phew* Miss Circle: You should pay close attention, as we will be having a test about this on Thursday.