Law of the Jungle

Walking into Music feels like going down the rabbit hole, when my sister's fucking the teacher, my girlfriend is AWOL, and Poppy is so quiet that she could be mistaken for an actual rabbit. Ty's silent too, but it seems like he wants to say something, just... Can't find the words. I'm not sure that I can blame him, if Mum or Mama tried to attack Echo and Andi I wouldn't know what to say either.

"Sorry I'm late, teach." Grunts a familiar voice without a hint of sincerity, I look at the entrance to see... Echo? Is that her? She enters the room as if nothing happened, except her head tells a different story. Her long hair has been drastically trimmed down and given an undercut on one side, meanwhile the colour's changed from raven black to crimson red, if she locked gothic before, she definitely looks punk rock now. She takes her seat with us, and doesn't bother to acknowledge the surprise on all of our faces. "Got us a gig, next week, we'll need to practice before then." She informs us.

"You look awesome!" Poppy chirps up finally, apparently missing what Echo was talking about. "Did you get that done this morning?" She adds, as if she was never upset at all.

Echo sighs before replying. "Bitch stuck gum in my hair while I was sleeping, it wouldn't come out, so I got it cut out, figured I might as well get a new colour too." She explains, with Ty wincing at the story, seems like he was aware of this development. "Speaking of... I'm sorry about yesterday, I should've known better..." She apologises, now clearly much more earnest than she was about her tardiness.

"No." Ty finally breaks his silence. "You just came along, she didn't care about Rufus, she'd have freaked out on Poppy whether you were there or not. It's... It's my fault. I'm sorry. I don't deserve..." He argues, growing more quiet as more words spill out.

The silence is back. Fucking silence. Oh well, time to rescue everyone again, I need an official title or something. "Not that I don't love the blame game as much as the next person, but in this case, I don't think it's on either of you." I point out, grabbing both siblings' attention. "Like you said, she freaked out when she saw Poppy, now, as far as I know, Pops doesn't frequent mental health hospitals, which means she thought she was someone else. Anyone else ever got that reaction?" I ask, as if I'm a detective revealing the real killer was the butler all along.

Echo leans back in her chair, considering my words. "Only me, I guess we both have black hair? Well, had." She corrects herself, rubbing the side of her head that'd been buzzed. "But I was in the room, she's crazy, not blind."

"Mama." Poppy points out. "Everyone always tells me I look like her."

It's true, Poppy is nearly identical to Mama, maybe it'd be worth asking her when I get the chance. "Either way, it's not on you two, and honestly, up until the screaming I thought it was pretty fun." I reassure them. "Now, can we go back to me being the emotionally stunted one, and you insulting me?"

Echo snorts and rolls her eyes. "You're an idiot." She smirks.

"See, isn't that so much better?" I return her smile, before realising something... Wasn't Miss Heart here a few minutes ago? She vanished before even starting the lesson. Damn it, one fire put out and another ignites, still this one's all Rosie's, just gotta trust she can handle it.

*

Rosie doesn't appear for the rest of the day, I figure she's probably preparing for the game with Andi, or she got knocked out by Maia, and she's at home recuperating, either way there's not much I can do.

After the lesson ends with no sign of our teacher, Echo and I begin our journey to the pitch, with Ty and Poppy tagging along far enough behind us that we can't hear what they're talking about. Bet it's something cutesy and sweet and vomit-inducing.

The pitch isn't much, I haven't been back since my injury gave me a semi-permanent excuse to skip PE. They've at least laid some benches out as makeshift stands, which is nice, I don't recognise any of the girls from the other team, makes sense, not like I've gone and hung out with any other schools. "At least make your ogling less obvious." Echo hisses, giving me a firm nudge with her elbow.

"I'm not ogling." I protest, rubbing my ribs where she'd made impacts.

"Why not? I am." She grins. "It's the obvious part I had a problem with." Ahh, a connoisseur of perving, Echo always impresses. I don't have time to express my admiration, as the others in the crowd begin to cheer and whoop as the team finally takes to the pitch. Andi stands out from a mile away, and seeing her in shorts is worth the torso damage. Sure, I've seen her naked, but you've got to enjoy the little things.

I spot Rosie not far behind, chatting with some of the others, she doesn't seem distraught, so that's a positive. The teams take the time to warm up and coordinate before taking their positions, and the whistle blows for the game to start. Now, I'm not what you'd call a fan of football, but I'm a fan of passion, and I can tell that these girls definitely love their sport.

It doesn't help me understand what's going on, but I can respect it.

Eventually, Andi manages to get control of the ball and makes a run down the middle of the field, dodging the other players as if they were moving in slow motion. I can't help but feel pride in our girl as she approaches the opposing goal, her success inevitable... Until. I can't see clearly what happened, but the next thing I know Andi's on the floor, and the referee is waving some teachers over.

I turn to Echo, who seems as stunned as me. The not knowing is killing me, all I see is a crowd in the distance, until it parts to show Andi leaning on Rosie, my sister practically carrying her off of the field, before I even know what I'm doing, I find myself sprinting towards the two, Echo's hand still in mine as we approach the two.

"It's bad." Rosie informs me as we approach, either unwilling or unable to say more. Echo breaks away and takes Andi's other arm around her, helping to support her towards the school building.

"They're exaggerating, I'm fine." Andi lies, tears still in her eyes. I'm not a doctor, but given how bruised and battered her ankle looks, there's no way she's really fine.

Suddenly, Andi's hoisted into the air and into the arms of Ty, who seems unwilling to let her even limp back. "This'll be faster." He confirms, rushing towards the nurse's office, with Andi still insisting this is unnecessary. As we follow behind, I hear an odd sound, raindrops? No, it's applause. The crowd is applauding Ty for his help.

I turn to Echo, who seems equally as shocked. Since when were they not afraid of him?