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

Chapter 10: A Garden Spat

"Thank you so much, Crewel-sama!"

Kat bobbed her head and knees again, then ducked out of Crewel's office, closing the door behind her.
"Phew..."

She leaned against the wall, holding the stack of new-- or rather, secondhand-- textbooks and notebooks against her chest.

Her moment of respite didn't last long, though. Grim started tugging insistently on her pants leg, jumping up and down.

"Come on, come on, come ON!" He insisted.
"Let's hurry up an' get to those botanical gardens and get chestnut-pickin'!"

She rolled her eyes.
"Okay, okay, o-KAY! Calm down... Will you at least let me go back to the dorm and put these down first, huh?"

Grim grumbled, following her as she started walking back up the hallway.
"Ugh, fiiine...  As long as we get there fast, okay?"

She rolled her eyes again.
"I'll do my best..."

It only took about ten minutes to get back to Ramshackle, drop off the new school materials, and make her way to the botanical gardens.
She decided to bring her new schoolbag with her, though, with only one notebook and a few pencils... Just in case. You never knew when you might need to write something down, after all.
Plus, she might feel like drawing something...
Even though her phone full of reference images was gone.

The gardens themselves were a huge glass greenhouse, glinting in the afternoon light.
She looked at it appreciatively as she walked around it, ending up at the back, where Ace and Deuce were waiting.

"FINALLY!" Ace snapped, getting up from the ground and brushing some dirt off his pants.
"What took you so long, huh?!"

She blinked, then turned on her heel, starting to walk back the way she'd come.
"Goodbye," she said flatly.

Ace spluttered, and she heard him running back up to her.
"H-Hey, WAIT!" He protested, putting a hand on her shoulder. "I'm sorry, okay?! Come on, Pre-K, don't leave... I could really use your help, alright?"

Rolling her eyes again, Kat turned, brushing his hand off her shoulder.
"Don't touch me without my go-ahead, but fiiiine.... Just to get you off my shitty old couch sooner, though."

Laughing quietly, Deuce pointed towards the surprisingly thick forest behind the greenhouse.

"Okay-- the chestnut trees shouldn't be far," he announced, starting to walk. "Let's get going, yeah?"

"Yep!" Kat agreed, starting after him.
She had to pause briefly for Grim to claw his way back up to her shoulder.
After that, the group walked into the cool, dappled shadows, a lot more pleasant than the last forest they'd been in.

It only took about another five minutes to find the chestnut grove.

"Whoooa!" Grim cheered, jumping down off her shoulder and starting to scamper around.
"Lookit all these chestnuts just lyin' around! At this rate, I'm gonna be stuffin' myself with marron tart for weeks! Gye he-!"

Licking his lips, he bent over, picking up a spiky brown lump that had broken open, revealing the gleaming brown nuts inside.
As soon as he grabbed it, though, he yelped, dropping it to the ground and running back to Kat's leg.

"Mee-YOWCH!" He complained, wringing his paws.
"These stupid spines just pricked my paws! Grrr..."

"Aw, geez..."
Crouching down, Kat took one of Grim's paws, turning it pad-side up.
"You okay? You aren't bleeding, are you?" She asked, running her thumb gently over the pink, squishy beans.