Straight-Up Not Having A Good Time At Night Raven College: Chapter 1

Chapter 4: Student Multiplication

A few more minutes of rose-painting passed fairly smoothly.

Deuce and Grim had actually been doing extraordinarily well for most of this little interlude... However, they seemed to be running out of steam.

Deuce stood in front of a rosebush, fists clenched as he pumped himself up.
"Red... Red.... C'mon, turn RED!"

With a grimace of concentration, he pushed his hands forward, sending out a burst of sparkles. Instead of red, however, the white flower flushed blue.
He gave a frustrated shout, putting a hand to his head.
"AUGH! Dammit-- why'd it turn BLUE?!"

Grim, meanwhile, was glaring at a rose, trying to stare it into submission.
"Color, I command you-- CHANGE!"
His pendant flashed.
Instead of a burst of sparkles, though, he spat out a tiny jet of blue fire. Of course, the rose immediately burst into flame. He shrieked, jumping back in a panic.
"GYAAH! Th-The rose is on FIRE!"

Hurrying over, Kat beat the flaming rose out with her wet paintbrush. A small section of foliage had been charred, with the leaves curling up and crisping. The rose itself was completely unsalvageable...

Grim flopped down onto his stomach, breathing heavily. "I-- I must've reverted to old habits," he panted.
"I've never really done this kind of magic before... This is a lot more tirin' than I thought.."

Kat crouched down next to him.
"Hey, c'mon... You've done really good up until now! And this just means one less rose to paint, right?"
She petted his head with a smile. He grumbled wordlessly, but didn't otherwise complain.

Cater came over, twirling his hair around his finger.
"Wow... You were doin' pretty good for a while there, but I guess you guys are even worse than I thought," he said cheerfully.

With a growl, Ace dropped the bucket and brush again, crossing his arms.
"Ugh... In that case, wouldn't it just be easier to leave 'em white?! I mean, they're pretty enough as is, right?"

"Ahhh..."
With another dramatic sigh, Cater walked over to him, draping an arm around his shoulders.
"If only it were that simple... Unfortunately, this isn't a matter of aesthetics-- it's a matter of tradition."

He raised the index finger of his free hand, closing his eyes with an expression of venerable wisdom.
"See, for an Unbirthday Party, the roses HAVE to be red! And, you can't play croquet without seven-colored flamingo mallets and a hedgehog ball!"

Then he snapped his fingers, like he'd just remembered something.
"Oh-- but for the garden flowers' spring concert, the roses have to be white, though. That's, like, SUPER essential."

Grim grumbled, getting back to his feet.
"Like I said, all these rules of yours are totally bonkers!"

Laughing again, Cater strolled over.

"Huh, really? Well, betcha didn't know that all these rules of ours were thought up by one of the Great Seven-- the Queen of Hearts herself!"

He crouched down, ruffling Grim's head affectionately.

"And if there's one thing to say about Riddle, he's real passionate about 'em... Like, way more than any of our other dorm heads."
Getting back up, he put a hand on the side of his neck, giving an awkward sigh. "I'll admit that he IS a little extra about it, though..."

"Ah--!!"
Ace smacked himself in the forehead, cursing. "Dammit, I completely forgot... Look, is the dorm head here or not? I need to talk to him about something..."

"Mmm..."
Checking his phone, Cater nodded.
"Yeah... Yeah, at this time, he's probably still somewhere around here... But..."
Putting it back in his pocket, he looked Ace up and down, then glanced around at Deuce, Kat and Grim.