Sugar And Spice

~ 3 ~

Paintbrush tapped their foot on the ground, still attempting to process the whole situation.

Mepad was staring at them as they sat in the chair, facing one another. Lightbulb was spinning around in another chair, but Mepad didn't exactly seem to mind it.

"So, there's something I need to ask you Paintbrush." Mepad said.
"Why'd you do it?"

"You're seriously asking me this." Paintbrush replied.

"Duh, you're our prisoner! My friend Mepad here is in charge of your interrogation, and I'm his trusty sidekick." Lightbulb said, looking them in the eye.
"Did ya commit the crime or not?"

"I was already questioned by the principal, so why do you guys have to come and ask me the same thing?" Paintbrush spat.

"Ooh, we've got a retort!" Lightbulb replied, putting her hands on their shoulders.
"They're a tough one, Sherlock."

"That's enough, Watson." Mepad said.
"Could you give me a hand with those papers while I 'interrogate' them?"

"You got it, chief!" Lightbulb replied with a salute.

It seemed that the two were on to their surprise, good terms. Mepad was probably used to her antics by now, and who knows how long they'd been working together?
Mepad cleared his throat, and continued to speak.

"So as I was saying, why?"

Paintbrush bit their cheek in distress. They weren't going answer this, but nonetheless, they had to. What's the point in answering the same exact question all over again? Their mind raced as they looked down to the floor.

You could just lie to him.
No, you idiot! He's a school counselor! Anything you say could be used against you!
But that doesn't mean he wouldn't notice.
He has a PSYCHOLOGY DEGREE on his wall!

"Are you going to answer me?"

Paintbrush's head bolted up as Mepad stared at them.

"My bad, it wasn't my intention to startle you." Mepad said as he waved his hands.
"You can respond when you're ready to do so."

Twiddling their fingers, Paintbrush took a deep breath.

"Trophy's just—he called me names and—in general he's a jerk. Said I should be put in a mental ward, it—it just pissed me off."

Paintbrush continued to speak as Mepad nodded and wrote in a spiral notebook.

"He thinks he's tough just because he does sports, you know? Thinking he can do whatever the hell he wants to other people and get away with it, he's even worse than OJ."

"OJ, you say?" Mepad asked.

"He's completely narcissistic!" Paintbrush replied.
"Putting such petty things over things that are actually important, and he looks down on us! Like, are we on some kind of caste system or something to him? I don't even know how Paper can even keep OJ on his good side."

Mepad kept writing, and slightly but surely, curved his lips into a small smile.

Everything was going just as planned.