School quickly became routine within a couple days. Roxy still couldn't handle being around so many people, but at least she was a bit more comfortable with classes. At least aside from Phys Ed, which she had in lieu of electives on Wednesday. The idea of changing and showering in front of other girls quickly made it her least favorite class.
Well, second least favorite.
Magical studies still loomed overhead like a giant albatross. Every day was capped with a big fat reminder of the fact she would have to learn magic at the end of the week. She had taken to hiding in quiet spots around the school during free periods. Every single day, she lingered until Teddy found her and made her go to class. Maya had been doing her best to explain the basics of magical use, but Roxy's mind was stuck on the fact that her fate was already decided.
Friday morning came at last. Roxy lay awake in her bed, staring blankly at the ceiling. She hadn't slept at all that night, her mind too active to sleep. Her alarm was blaring, signaling her to wake up, but she couldn't even bring herself to shut it off. Eventually, Corrin yanked on the cord to pull it off her dresser and began pawing at it until it stopped making noise before curling back into a ball on top of one of Roxy's discarded t-shirts.
"Thanks Corrin," Roxy groaned as she forced herself to sit up. Corrin was already fast asleep again. She couldn't help but envy him, since he didn't have to worry about this kind of stuff. Her morning ritual passed in a haze. Shower, clothes, breakfast, walk to the bus stop. Will was leaving her alone since he was aware how she felt, but Serena was her normal excited self at the bus stop.
"Ohmygosh! Today is the big day!" Serena was literally bouncing up and down. "Ugh! I wish it wasn't until the end of the day!"
Roxy clenched her fists, already considering just walking off and ditching school for the day.
"Eh, it's really not that big of a deal," said Will, noticing Roxy's discomfort. "It'll probably be really quick and uneventful."
"I just wanna find out what I can do!" Serena was giggling in excitement. Arnold seemed less enthusiastic behind her.
"I want to go home..." Roxy muttered under her breath.
"Hey, c'mon," Will said getting close to her so it was only the two of them. "It'll be fine. Whatever happens, you're fine."
"I just can't put up with this crap today," Roxy grumbled.
"Just take it a little bit at a time, and we'll be all done before you know it," said Will as the bus pulled up to let them on. Roxy did her best to tune everything out, but her mind was too distracted to be fixed on anything else.
"You know you're a walking contradiction, right?" said Will.
"Huh?" Roxy glanced over at him as the bus pulled into the parking lot.
"You try so hard to blend in and not be noticed," said Will. "Yet you're freaking out over having the magical talent everyone expects you to have?"
"You're missing the point," said Roxy. "I never said I wanted to be normal. I just want to do my own thing and not have people notice me. Y'know, mind they're own business?"
"They do that already," said Will as they stood up to get off the bus. "You're basically not much more than an afterthought to anyone."
"Even that's too much," said Roxy as she stepped off the bus. "It would be better to erase myself from the public consciousness."
"Check out this little faggot!"
Roxy's ears perked up as she turned her head to see where that had come from. Instantly, she recognized the bandana from her magic class. Riley was flanked by two older students blocking him from leaving.
"Leave me alone," he said as he tried to push his way past them, but they shoved him back between them.
"Heh! He's wearing girl's shoes!" one of them called out, pointing down at Riley's sandaled feet.
"They're not girl's shoes!" Riley shouted back.
"Want everyone looking at your pretty little toes, faggot?" the other student gave Riley a smack on the back of the head.
"Ow! What does it matter what I wear on my feet?" Riley shouted as he rubbed the back of his head. "We all have to wear our school shoes inside.
Within an instant, Riley had been knocked to the ground by a rather violent shove.
"STOP!!!" Serena shouted as Riley hit the ground, a crowd of students now taking notice. "Don't fight!"
"Stay outta this," one of the students shouted at her as he stood over Riley.
"Please, just leave me alone," Riley said as he tried to back away.
"Let's take a good look at them faggot shoes," one of the students said as they lunged at Riley and grabbed his feet. Riley struggled as best he could, but his sandals slid off rather easily.
"Give ‘em back asshole!" Riley jumped to his now bare feet and threw himself onto the nearest bully, trying to grab his sandal back, but the taller student could easily keep it from his reach.
"Look! It says right here!" He shouted as he kept pushing Riley off him, pointing to the foot-bed at not-existent writing. "Built for faggot's with fagotty feet! Might as well just throw them into the woods!"
"Give me back my shoes! I am not a faggot you asshole!!" Riley shouted, thrashing out at them.
What followed was a massive right hook straight to Riley's face that sent him crumpling into a heap on the ground. The crowd around him let out a collective gasp. Roxy heard Serena let out a loud cry as she took off running in the direction of the school. She didn't really care. She was too focused on what was happening in front of her, immense feelings of rage flowing through her.
It happened so fast, Roxy didn't even know what she was doing, but she found herself charging the bully delivering kicks to Riley and grabbing him by the torso, knocking him backwards enough to get him away from Riley. Once she was aware of what she was doing, she felt a hand grab the straps of her overalls and pull her backwards.
"You shouldn't have done that girlie," she heard the other bully behind her as she thrashed out against him.
"Put her down!" She heard Will shout as he rushed at them, punching the bully right in the shoulder.
"Sucker punching fucker!" The bully let go of Roxy and started swinging at Will, the two descending into a flurry of punches. Roxy felt her arm clenched in the first bully grabbed her, but that was soon replaced with a strange weightless feeling. The hand gripping her loosened, and she felt her feet leave the ground. She looked around and saw both the bullies and Will were also floating off the ground out of each other's reach.
"That's enough!" Roxy looked down and saw Serena and Teddy below her, along with two other guards. Teddy had his hands held out, and it was holding each of them in place with wind magic. "I'm going to put you down now," he said. "Any more physical altercations, and Steve here is going to stun you." He motioned to one of the other guards behind him who was arcing lightning between his hands.
Slowly, the four of them were placed gently on the ground. None of them moved toward each other. "Now, who wants to tell me what happened?" said Teddy.
"Those two attacked Riley!" Serena shouted, pointing at the two bullies. "Roxy and Will were trying to stop them!"
Teddy glanced over at Roxy, and she nodded back at him. "Alright you two. We're going to have a chat with the principal." He motioned for the two to follow the other two guards into the school.
"Bitch!" One of them sneered at Serena as he stormed past her. Serena didn't even give him a glance, as she and Teddy quickly went to check on Riley, who was still curled into a quivering ball of fur on the ground.
Roxy was panting heavily, the adrenaline rush she had felt earlier was fading. She looked around and saw Riley's sandals on the ground. She picked them up and approached him, now uncurled and sitting up, clutching his side where he had been kicked several times.
"Here," she said as she held the sandals out to him. Riley looked up at her, still shaking from his abuse, his left eye barely able to open from the swelling. He reached up and took the sandals from her, just dropping them at his side.
"They look good on you!" Roxy blurted out, not even knowing why she said that. "You, uh... you have nice feet!"
Riley just looked up at her surprised. ‘Th-thanks!" he said, a small smile finding its way onto his face as he picked the sandals back up and slid them onto his toes.
"Here, I'll take you to the nurse's office," said Teddy as he helped Riley to his feet and led him into the school. Roxy watched as Riley looked over his shoulder one more time at her with an embarrassed looking smile.
"What the hell was that?" Will shouted at her, breaking Roxy out of her trance.
"I don't know... I just..." Roxy was shaking slightly. "I did it without thinking..."
"That wasn't right!" Serena was quivering. "Why would someone put their hands on someone else like that."
"You were going on about staying unnoticed, and then you do something like this?" said Will.
"Putting someone down like that..." Roxy growled as she clenched her fist. "Just because of something so insignificant? How can anyone be that cruel?"
"It's ok Rox," Will sighed as he put his arm around her, his tone quickly becoming more calming. "I know, it's not fair. And... well you did the right thing I guess. Just give me some warning next time you're gonna get involved in a fight, ok?"
"But he... I... ugh..." Roxy growled, her frustration mounting, but she let herself calm down. "I'm sorry Serena, I didn't mean to upset you."
"It's alright," said Serena. "Riley might've been really hurt if someone hadn't jumped in. But... what was that part about you liking Riley's feet?"
"What?!" Roxy nearly jumped as she remembered what she had said.
"Oh yeah!" Will said smugly. "My little sis has a thing for the Ri-Guy's feet?"
"S-Shut up!" Roxy could feel herself blushing so hard, it was probably visible through her fur.
"I can't wait to tell Roscoe and Tolbin," Will laughed as he started to walk into the school.
"It's not like that!" Roxy shouted at him as she chased after him. "I just said that because... well, he didn't deserve to be beaten up or made fun of just because of his sandals. He shouldn't feel bad because of that."
"I know Rox," said Will as they went inside to the lockers. "You've dealt with a lot of that." He sat down and slid his sneaker off. "Still, pretty funny, you having a thing for feet." He gave her a mocking grin and wiggled his toes at her.
"You keep those disgusting things away from me!" Roxy cringed at the sight Will's toes, her mind instantly filled with thoughts of dirt and sweat. Will chuckled as he opened his locker, swapping his sneakers for his school shoes.
Roxy felt like such an idiot right now. Even if she had done the right thing, she was regretting it now. Practically the entire school had seen what she had done, and she knew people would be talking about it. She could hear whispers in her morning classes about it, with the name ‘Battle Vixen' being thrown around. First free period was spent in her normal quiet corner in the lounge, but she couldn't avoid the whispers.
"Did she actually punch him out?"
"Knocked him out cold!"
"Woah! What a babe!"
"Jeez, don't get on her bad side..."
It felt like the room was spinning. Roxy gripped her tail tightly as she started hyperventilating. Most of the stuff they were saying wasn't even true. This had to be a nightmare. She could not have done something this stupid.
All she could do was keep her head down until lunch. She just wanted to talk to Will about this. The lunchroom was crowded with people, so it took her a second to find Will in the crowd. Much to her displeasure, he was already at a table with Tolbin and Roscoe, and they ended up seeing her before he did.
"Yo! Battle Vixen! Over here!" Tolbin called out, waving to her.
The world instantly fell out from under her. Roxy froze in place for a split second before turning on her heel and walking right back out towards the entrance hall where her locker was, hurriedly opening it and shoving her books indise.
"Rox! What are you doing?" she heard Will's voice approaching her.
"I'm going home!" said Roxy, continuing to stuff her books into her locker.
"You can't just leave!" said Will.
"Oh yeah? Watch me," said Roxy, grabbing her shoes from the locker and sitting down on the bench.
"Rox, calm down," said Will. "It's not as bad as you think."
"Not as bad?" said Roxy pulling her school shoes off. "I just got called a freaking Battle Vixen! Everyone's saying it!"
"I dunno, sounds pretty flattering to me," said Will with a nervous smile.
Roxy's eyes widened as she chucked a shoe at Will's head, which bounced off his shoulder.
"Ow! Rox, seriously!" said Will, shielding himself from any further shoe launches. "You brought this on yourself after all!"
"I know that!" Roxy shouted at him, jumping to her feet throwing her bag to the ground. "I did it to myself and I can't take it back! I'm the biggest moron in the world, and it's all my fault!"
"Oh yeah? Why did you do it then?" said Will.
"Because..." Roxy paused for a moment. "Because... when I saw that happen, all I could see was myself in that situation." She sank back down onto the bench, Will sitting down beside her. "All the times I was teased and harassed in the past. Every time someone put their hands on me. And how I wished that someone would stand up and stop it. And I realized that one time, I could be that person to stand up and stop it."
"And you did!" said Will. "You helped someone in need. Why are you so upset about it?"
"Because I didn't think of the consequences!" Roxy said, gripping her tail once again. "That everyone was watching me! That I'd be labeled like this!"
"That part doesn't matter!" said Will. "You helped someone! Isn't that the bit that matters?"
"But that part is over now," said Roxy. "I have to live with being the battle vixen for the rest of my life!"
Will let out a deep sigh, planting his muzzle in his hands. "Rox, you can't go through life like this."
"I can't help it," Roxy was trembling slightly as her fingers dug into her tail. "I'm always going to assume the worst of everything."
"Well that doesn't mean you can skip school," said Will, tossing Roxy's shoes into her lap as he stood up. "Mom and dad will kill you. And then they'll kill me for not stopping you."
Roxy didn't respond. Her gaze remained fixed on the floor as she kept a death grip on her tail.
"I'll talk to Tolbin and Roscoe and tell them to lay off," Will sighed as he started to walk away. "Everything else, you'll have to deal with yourself."
Roxy didn't move for quite some time. It was mostly quiet in the entrance hall, which helped her calm down enough to recompose herself. Still hoping to avoid as much contact as she could, she hid herself away in the forerunner studies classroom for the remainder of lunch. Arnold could easily tell she wanted to be left alone once he showed up for the next period. Roxy kept her head down once she saw Riley enter the class. His eye was swollen, but other than that, you wouldn't be able to tell he'd been beat up that morning. Roxy cringed and gripped at her tail as he seemed to give her a shy smile and wave once he noticed her.
It was impossible to concentrate on class. The usually interesting forerunner's couldn't distract Roxy from what was racing through her head. The phrase battle vixen was taunting her. She just wanted to go home and try to forget about what had happened that morning.
"Just two more classes..." she muttered to herself as she forced her body to move towards tech class. It was the last day of the elective class, meaning she'd be starting a new one on Monday. A lot of them seemed like they'd be really frustrating, but that was far from her concern right now.
Expecting for just a normal class, Roxy had let her guard down a bit, her mind too focused on magic class, and the events of the morning. She was letting her mind drift when she was suddenly snapped out of it by the sound of a metal fist slamming on the table.
"You think you're so tough, huh?" the silver fox who usually sat next to her was towering over her, an angry snarl plastered across her face.
"Wha... what did-" Roxy's nerves were shaken by the sudden outburst.
"Don't play dumb!" She growled, grabbing Roxy by her overall suspenders and yanking her out of her seat, almost lifting her feet off the ground. "I heard what you did this morning, battle vixen!"
"Lola! Stop! You're not thinking clearly!" The skunk that was always accompanying her had grabbed her from behind, trying to pull her away from Roxy, but her large size made it almost impossible for his skinny frame.
"I don't know what you mean!" Roxy was starting to cry from fear of how terrifying the fox looked right now.
"Miss Kit! Put her down right now!" A voice rang out from the door. Everyone turned to see Napino, flanked by two guards. The fox let go of Roxy, who fell backwards into her chair, trying to catch her breath through her tears.
"Wait! This is a mistake!" the skunk cried out. "She's not in her right mind!"
"I'm well aware, Mr. Starr," said Napino, "But that doesn't give Miss Kit the right to put her hands on another student!"
"But..." the skunk looked around nervously, clearly trying to think of something to say, but just let out a defeated sigh as the fox stormed off with the two security guards.
Roxy was still in shock. The fox's fist had left a dent in the metal table. Why was she even angry at her? She hadn't done anything.
"Miss Skysong, do you need to be excused?" said Napino.
Roxy glanced up, still in shock, but she managed to give a worried nod.
"It's alright," said Napino, writing out a hall pass and handing it to her. "Take a moment, and rejoin us when you can."
Roxy grabbed the piece of paper and quickly darted out of the room, finding the nearest vending machine and getting a bottle of water, which she guzzled half of it in one gulp. She stopped to catch her breath, still trying to process what had happened. It felt like everything she was afraid of was happening today. She had a reputation with the whole school, a bully who wanted to beat her up, and she had embarrassed herself in front of a boy. What else could happen?
And as soon as that thought entered her mind, Roxy quickly remembered magic class. This day was not over, and she had not felt the worst of it yet.
Unfortunately, she couldn't just stand in the hallway for the rest of the day. Once she was calm enough, Roxy rejoined the rest of the class, trying to shift as far away from the skunk kid as she could. He seemed hesitant to meet her gaze, and was clearly distracted by what had happened, glancing up at the clock every few minutes.
