Hello, got the second chapter here. I realized from some reviews that I made it unclear what the top 50 percent is so I did cover that some at the beginning of this chapter. I will also warn that my characters, though canon, are different then most people view them so you might be surprised by the actions of some, especially in later chapters.
Before we start, I realized that I didn't make it very clear what the top 50 percent means last chapter so I'll explain it now since it's more than a little important. The top 50 percent are the tree friends that are statistically more likely to survive a day than die during it. Now does it make sense why I wanna be in it so badly? Anyway, back to the story.
I "woke up" at five o' clock in the morning in the school cafeteria. Looking around, I noticed the rest of my friends were here too confirming that it killed all of us. I went over to Cuddles, who had fallen asleep at the table and gently tried to shake him awake. "Cuddles, we have to get to detention."
Everyday, there's a detention at the end of the day like normal schools in normal towns but also one first thing in the morning for those who died in the middle of the school day.
No one told us we had detention but we already knew it. The school has a zero tolerance rule for tardiness, something I've gotten sent to detention for almost everyday.
Cuddles grunted at first but got up, rubbing his eyes clearly not all the way awake again and not happy about being woken up when he just got to sleep. "Right, detention. Who's running detention today again?"
"M-Mr. Flippy." Shit, that damn awful stuttering of mine was back. It wasn't always there, only when I was really nervous… okay, so that is almost all of the time but when I'm worse than normal. Are you happy now?
"Flippy, huh?" Cuddles asked, getting up from his seat with a giant yawn. "Well, let's hope Fliqpy doesn't make an appearance then."
"Don't remind me. Fliqpy's the scariest thing in this whole town!" I gasped as we walked towards the detention room, I struggled to match his pace and only focus on him and not any of the many possible dangers surrounding us.
"Not arguing with that." Cuddles laughed even though there was nothing funny. "At least Flippy's pretty mellow though."
"I don't know. Flippy had helped bury me alive once without needing Fliqpy's help." I reminded thinking back to that disaster on the deserted island. I really should have been more careful with my quills and that inflatable raft.
"Even then, that was the only time he killed someone intentionally and one of very few overall." Cuddles reminded, basically shrugging off that terrible ordeal. "I'd still much rather it be him than any of the other teachers."
I kept quiet unable to repute that logic but the memory still racked my brain as we arrived at the detention room just in time.
I took a seat in my specialized desk and took a look around the room at who was in detention. There was me and Cuddles obviously, Lifty and Shifty, and Sniffles, probably for arguing with Splendid. That was about the average haul.
Like I said, I'm used to having detention so it didn't really bother me. I just thought back to what I was thinking about before I died yesterday. It was a great idea but I needed some ways to make it real.
That was a real conundrum. No one has ever heard of anything like it but I was convinced that I could be the first. I just had to be the first. No pressure.
I actually came up with a few ideas that I quickly scribbled down in my notebook promising to start trying as soon as detention's over. There was no time to waste!
I worked up a good list that I was quite proud of by the time detention was over. I picked up the notebook and hurried out of the room. As I hurried out, I heard another pair of footsteps behind me but ignored them assuming it was just Cuddles.
That was until I heard a voice coming from the same place. "Flaky, wait!" But it wasn't Cuddles voice, it was the last animal in the bottom fifty percent that I wanted to talk to.
He called again though. "Flaky, please wait, I just want to talk to you."
I considered my options and stopped, turning to him. "Fine, what do you want, Lifty? You're not just going to rob me are you?"
He stopped right in front of me, hands rose. "I'm not going to steal anything from you. Just please hear me out."
"Fine, what do you have to say then."
"Well, first of all let me clear up before I even say it that I was not trying to eavesdrop, as a thief, my hearing is really attune. Because of this, I overheard you talking about joining the top 50 percent."
I was starting to get nervous and caught myself stuttering again. "W-what about i-it."
I certainly had not expected what he said next. "Well, I wanna help. Reap some of the same rewards if the plan succeeds. You know, me and my brother have the lowest survival rate in town and we may be thieves but we aren't killers."
"Why should I trust you?" I asked, surprised by the offer but distrusting of some lowly, good for nothing thief. I wouldn't call him that to his face but it's true.
"Well, think about it this way. Exactly how many times have I stolen from you?" Lifty asked in a knowing tone.
"Zero," I admitted truthfully, a fact that always baffled me considering that he's stolen from everyone else in town but Splendid and that reasoning was obvious. "But you've stolen from all my friends."
Lifty didn't even try to deny that, which was a good sign at least. "Yes I have. I guess you really have no reason to trust me but I do know that if you want your plan to succeed, you'll need all the help you can get and your so called friends already laughed in your face about it."
I hated that he was right. I really hated that he was right. And he wasn't done. "There is nothing I could do to ruin your plan here and if I wanted to rob you, you would have by now. And look, Shifty isn't even here. What do you say, Flaky?"
"Well, I…" I thought hard on this. He was right about everything he said and I needed this plan to succeed more than anything. I valued my life, no matter how temporary more than my stuff. I looked at my list, seeing how short it actually was and agreed, "Alright, we have a deal."
"Really?" he asked, clearly surprised that I agreed to work with him. His tail whipped back and forth in a way more similar to a squirrel than a raccoon but I assumed it meant the same thing.
"Yes, really. I really do need the help."
"That's great then," he said, and surprisingly pulled out a notebook. "I was working on a list during detention and came up with a few ideas. I figured that even if you refused I could try out some of them on my own."
I gasped, taking the list and looking over it and it did have some real good ideas that I never thought of. He must actually be much smarter than I gave him credit for. "I did the same thing," I said, showing my list to him. I was still hesitant to hand anything to him but I did have the list in my head as well.
He looked it over for a few seconds before putting on his signature grin. "Well, I think you and I are gonna make a good team on this."
"I hate to admit it but yes, yes we will." Looking over the list, I noticed that not all of them were legal, I'm not sure why I expected different but I was willing to try almost anything to get this goal, and that was rare for me.
"Flaky? Flakes!" Cuddles called from behind me.
I turned to Lifty, promising to meet up with him later and went over to Cuddles. "What is it, Cuddles?"
"I was just wondering what the heck you were doing talking to Lifty." Cuddles shrugged and I could of course understand why that would come as a surprise.
"He offered to help me figure out how to get into the top 50 percent." I answered truthfully and trying to make it sound clear that I wasn't going to listen to his objections.
"His help?" Cuddles asked, clearly surprised that I would turn to a thief for help, something that I was still surprised about myself. "Why would you want his help?"
"Because I need help and you guys clearly aren't going to help me," I snapped, at this point not caring if it sent him on the defensive or not. It was true and he wasn't going to swayed me on this.
So, that's it for this chapter. Lifty was probably as full of surprises for you as he was for Flaky but it will only get more surprising as time passes on in these chapters. So, what plans do Lifty and Flaky have? Are Lifty's intentions of helping her really pure? Where the fuck is Shifty? Find out as Give It Fifty Percent continues. Please comment and constructed criticism is greatly appreciated.