Not So Perfect.

Rhubella walked numbly from the classroom on a pair of wobbly legs and her tail drooped behind her; a crumpled sheet of paper hanging miserably from her fingertips. She was holding her own fate; a cruel, horrible fate that tormented her thoughts and danced around her soul, laughing at her and haunting her every waking moment. Her fate. Her midterm. Her F. It was time for lunch, but she barely registered that she was starving, her feet shuffling quietly through the halls towards the lunchroom anyway. Whatever gourmet food the school was going to serve today would taste like utter defeat when it graced upon her lips. Nothing could cheer her spirits now, even as she passed by a brilliantly glittering poster for the upcoming school dance. Roderick hadn’t asked her yet…but everybody assumed they were going together. That much was certain…she just had to wait. Suddenly, she didn’t want to wait. She was furious at Roderick for failing to ask her, furious at Chaos for not remembering that she’d forgotten to ask him for crib notes to the test, furious at Margot for chatting with her on the phone till three AM last night, and furious with the entire world for the fate that she had but didn’t deserve. She snarled quietly and marched towards the corner table of the lunch room, where Roderick, Danforth, Johnny and Chaos were currently seated.

“A. Minus. Chaos.” Johnny snarled, increasing the weight of his muscular arm against Chaos’ skull. The large wolf had Chaos pinned against the table, pressing the palm of his hand into the boy’s head so firmly, Chaos couldn’t move. The boy wriggled and squirmed in pain, whimpering, and pleading for Danforth or Roderick to help, but the two of them just snickered and laughed.

“AHHhhh…Owie…J, Johnny…I, I made sure t, the answers were right…d, double checked them..Triple checked…” The puppy announced meekly and Johnny gave a harsh snarl.
“You sayin’ this is my fault, twirp?!” The wolf demanded. Chaos’ eyes widened when he felt the pressure on his head increase to dangerous levels.
“N, nononono of couse not! ACK…I'll try harder next time…A PLUS…Guaranteed…” The boy squeaked. Johnny gave a hot snort and slowly released his grip on Chaos’ poor cranium.
“You’d better be right, or I’m gonna use you as a tackle dummy, got it?” The larger canine hissed, and watched as Chaos meekly rubbed his poor bruised skull. Roderick, whom had spent most of the time laughing at the interaction between the two, gasped when he saw Rhubella storming over towards the table.

“PMS Alert guys.” Roderick hissed quietly and the males immediately straightened up, all of them flashing Rhubella with their nicest smiles that they had.
“SAVE IT!” Rhubella snapped, and forcefully slid herself into the booth next to Roderick, who gulped.
“Ruby-kins…Sweetie, baby, what’s wrong?” He squeaked nervously. The female rat snarled, and crossed her arms in a wicked pout.
“If you really cared about me, you’d know.” She snapped. The boys all looked at each other nervously, before Danforth twisted his hips to slide out of the booth, followed by Johnny. Chaos would have been next, but Roderick was gripping his tail firmly.
“’l’ll uh, be right back honey. I dropped my fork. Chaos. Help me find it. “Roderick growled quietly. Chaos just stared.
“But…lunch hasn’t started yeeeeACK!” The boy yelped, squirming wildly as Roderick yanked him under the table.
“Alright brainiac, what’s the deal with my girl?” The rat snarled quietly under the table. Chaos shrugged his shoulders.
“How am I supposed to know?! I can’t read minds!” Chaos whimpered, shaking his head. Roderick didn’t seem convinced
“You’ve been spending an awful lot of time with her lately. What’d she say to you? Is it about me?!” He snapped. Chaos gave a whine, beginning to feel rather nervous where the entire conversation was headed.
“Roderick, I don’t know! I’d tell you if I did…”He begged. Roderick shook his head.
“Here’s a thought- why don’t you find out!” The rat growled. The rat and coyote suddenly sprang back up into the booth, Chaos now sitting where Roderick was and vice versa. Rhubella raised an eyebrow slowly.
“So…uh…Rhubella…how..um…How-“
“Shut your filthy sewer.” The rat girl snarled. Chaos nodded his head quickly.
“Y, Y, Yes ma’am! Right away! Not a word! U, unless you wanna talk about som-GACK!” The coyote whimpered as Rhubella wrapped her fingers around his neck in a nasty choke-hold.
“You didn’t remind me to get crib notes from you, you little runt! I failed my TEST because of you!! You moron!! You idiot!! You little …little…”
“Loser? Puke Face? Nematoad?” Offered Roderick helpfully. Rhubella turned towards him with daggers of fire in her eyes, and Roderick shrank immediately.
“AND YOU! Who do you think you are, not asking me to the dance this weekend, huh?! You think I just sit around waiting for you to call me?! I’ve got better things to do you know! I’m beautiful and I’m popular! I have TONS of boys asking me to go to the dance on a daily basis, you jerk! What makes you think I’d turn them all down just to go with you, huh?!” She growled, while Chaos began to turn purple.
“R, Ruby…honey, I’m sorry…I…I…but we ALWAYS go to dances together…” Roderick whimpered. Rhubella shook her head while Chaos wildly tried to get her attention.
“Well it just so happens that…uh….uh….CHAOS asked me to go to the dance!” She snarled. Roderick’s ears perked immediately and he tilted his head in alarm.

“He did?” He asked.
“I did?” whimpered Chaos. Rhubella paused for a moment before she nodded her head.
“Yeah. He DID. And I said yes! Serves you right to take me for granted. YOU. Pick me up at eight.” She growled at the purple and blue coyote in her grasp, before she dropped him like a stone and marched off toward the lunch line. Chaos gave a whimper as he pulled himself up off the ground and onto the table- where Roderick was glaring at him.
“R, Roderick…I…” He gasped in a strangled breath, but Roderick only stared.
“You. Are. Dead.” He hissed, and stood up and wandered away from the table quietly. Chaos gave a nervous whimpered, suckling in sweet, precious air- but somehow he knew the situation was going to get a lot worse before it got better…

All day long the rumor about Chaos escorting Rhubella to the Midsummer Night Dance grew and grew, until it became the talk of the school. The princess and the geek. The queen and the servant. The diamond and the trash. The rumors, discussion and debates just didn’t end. One story claimed Rhubella was getting back at Roderick for feeling her up without her permission, another claimed she’d taken pity on one of the more unpopular kids and decided to help him along, one such story stated that Rhubella was being punished and forced to date the coyote for an entire night. None of which seemed to bother Rhubella in the slightest…she simply grinned and swayed her hips towards the talk, and watched with an amused grin as Chaos blushed at some of the more raunchy rumors fluttering about. Soon, however, school had ended, and Rhubella trotted confidently towards her bus, strangely pleased with herself, considering how depressed she was earlier in the day. Chaos seemed panicked like it was the end of the world, however.

“R, Rhubella! W, wait up! Rhubella! L, look I don’t remember um…I don’t remember asking you to the dance.” The coyote squeaked nervously, as Rhubella walked along through the halls along with all the other rushing students. She simply shrugged her shoulders as Chaos tried to keep her pace.

“I, I mean it’s not that I don’t WANT to go with you, it’s just Roderick’s going to kill me, and it’s all kind of sudden and-“ He babbled, and paused when she suddenly stopped in front of the entire school and gave a sweet, girlish giggle. The most popular girl was talking to a geek...everybody was watching...

“Do you want to take me, or don’t you…you’ll get me all to yourself Chaos…For one…whole…night.”She purred sweetly. Chaos stared, eyes wide and his mouth dropped opened.

“I…I…I…” He squeaked. Rhubella giggled.

“The aye’s have it. Pick me up at eight. Don’t be late. “ She grinned wickedly, and smooched him on his cheek, in full view of the school and Roderick Rat, who glared dangerously from down the hall. The crowd of students went berserk, laughing and cheering while Chaos simply reached a set of fingers up to rub at his cheek and Rhubella skipped off, chuckling softly. She was an absolute genius…Not only did she get Roderick to realize what a catch she was, but with Chaos smitten with her, she didn’t need to worry about her midterm. She pushed down the nibble of guilt that was gnawing at her soul for her plans, and quickly shook free any emotions that threatened to betray her. No time for that now- she had a dance to prepare for.


Thank  draegwolf for the awesome art. Oh yes, oh yes, he's a friend of mine. =3 And and annnnnd thank  ishoka for drawin' it!

If ya'll haven't guessed, Things get very...very...very bad for lil' chaos...