Chapter Text
The morning light peeked through the curtains of Poob’s room, warm sunlight dancing on the walls and furniture. One of the sunbeams hit the mobile of miniature disco balls that was hanging above the confetti-covered bed, covering the room in sparkling lights.
Poob was already up, tugging his favorite T-shirt over their head. They were wearing their favorite outfit today, along with their favorite socks, which were covered in little stars and went up to their knees.
They were excited, really excited! And for good reason, too; it was their first day of high school, after all! They’d been waiting and waiting and waiting, and now the day was finally here!
Today was supposed to be special, Poob remembered their mama saying. Today was one of the biggest moments in their fourteen years of existence! That's why they had gotten blue bands in their braces at his last orthodontist appointment—and not just one blue, either. Cyan, turquoise, cerulean…every shade of their favorite color!
“Poob! Breakfast’s ready, sugar!”
Poob grabbed their backpack and hurried downstairs to the kitchen, their grin practically a mile wide. Pest was sitting at the table, nursing a cup of coffee as he glanced at Dr. Retro, who was standing at the stove, putting birthday cake waffles onto a plate with strawberries and whipped cream.
“Morning, mama!” Poob cheered, bouncing over Dr. Retro and hugging her tightly.
“Good morning to you too, sugar!” Dr. Retro giggled, wrapping her arms around her child before peppering their cheek with kisses. “There’s my highschooler! You excited?”
“Yeah! I can’t wait!” Poob bounced on his toes a little, grinning widely. “It’s gonna be so, so awesome! I’m gonna make so many new friends to have parties with!”
“I bet it will.” The cat ruffled Poob’s hair, setting the plate of waffles on the table. “Now c’mon, eat up! You don’t wanna be late!”
“I wouldn’t get your hopes up,” Pest piped up as Poob sat down, starting to shovel down forkfuls of thick, fluffy waffles. “High school isn’t all it's cracked up to be, kid.”
“Pest, you never even finished high school,” Dr. Retro pointed out.
“Just because I dropped out doesn’t mean I’m not right.”
Retro rolled her eyes, turning to her son. “Don’t listen to Pest, sugar. I’m sure you’re going to have a great first day.”
“I never said he wasn’t going to have a great day today!” Pest scoffed, leaning towards his nephew, digging in the pocket of his jacket. “I actually have somethin’ for ya.”
“Fuh muhh?” Poob asked, through a mouthful of waffles and strawberries.
“Yep! Snagged it from…a store yesterday.” Pest pulled out a giant taser, tossing it on the table. “Here ya are, kid.”
“Pest!” Dr. Retro cried, snatching the weapon before Poob could reach for it. “What on Earth—why a taser?!”
“For self-defense!” the insect argued, before turning to the young noob. “Now, if anyone tries to beat you up, let them get a couple good hits before you hit ‘em with the taser. Then you won’t get in trouble because you can say you were just defending yourself!”
“I am not giving my child a taser to attack his classmates with!” Dr. Retro turned to Poob. “Poob, sugar, if any of your classmates are bothering you, just tell me or Pest, okay?”
“Okay, mama!” they singsonged. “I promise!”
“That’s my boy,” the cat doctor chuckled, pinching Poob’s cheek affectionately, earning a giggle from the young noob. “You’re growing up so fast, sugar…”
“Growing to be a real pain,” Pest scoffed.
Dr. Retro shot the beetle a look. Pest quickly shut up.
“Done!” Poob exclaimed as they shoved the last bite of food into their mouth, adjusting their backpack as they got up from the table.
“Hang on, sweetie, let me get a picture before you go! Pest, get me the camera, would you?”
Pest grumbled a response as he got up to look in a nearby drawer, whilst Poob continued adjusting their bag, the myriad of little trinkets on it clattering and clinking as they did so.
“Thank you, Pest,” Dr. Retro chirped as she took the camera from him, fiddling with it for a moment before lifting it up to her eyes. “Okay, Poob, smile!”
Poob flashed a big, bright smile, the metal of their braces glittering against the camera’s flash as his mother took a bunch of photos in a row.
“Aw, you look so nice! I’m definitely going to hang this up in my office later.” Dr. Retro tucked the camera in her pocket, before planting a gentle kiss on Poob’s forehead. “You have a good first day, alright sugar?”
“I will!” Poob replied cheerfully, bouncing their way to the door. “Bye mama, bye uncle Pest! I love you!”
“Love you too, hon!”
High school was huge.
And that was an understatement—at least, it felt like it to Poob, anyway. There were hundreds of students, many of them talking in pairs or groups as the young noob wandered the halls.
Poob shrugged their backpack off their shoulders, taking out the big book of sparkly stickers that they’d gotten for their last birthday. There were all sorts of stickers inside—hearts, stars, party hats, rainbows and cupcakes and unicorns. They’d used quite a few of the stickers already, but they were gonna use a bunch of them in their new locker!
In their excitement, Poob failed to notice that they were walking towards a group of older boys until they bumped into one of the bigger ones, grasping the sticker book tighter so it didn’t fall on the floor.
“Hey! Watch it,” the boy growled, glaring at Poob annoyedly.
“Sorry!” Poob said quickly, shrinking back slightly. He looked scary; not scary like Pest was—no, this felt a lot worse than that.
“What are you wearing?” One of the group’s members pointed to Poob’s shirt, which was bright pink with a rainbow on it.
“Oh! It’s my rainbow shirt!” Poob chirped, the smile quickly returning to their face. “I really love rainbows! They’re one of my favorite things!”
The group began snickering, whispering among each other.
“Rainbows? Really? What are you, five?” The boy Poob had bumped into scoffed. “You’re not in elementary school anymore, you know.”
“I…” Poob began to deflate a little, shaking. They felt like they wanted to cry.
“Are those stickers?” Another boy pointed at the book in the noob’s hands. “What would you ever need that many stickers for?”
“I…I was gonna decorate my locker with ‘em,” Poob whimpered, his voice wavering.
The boys started laughing again. Poob was sure that they said something else before they all walked away, but they were too busy staring at the floor, trying to hold back the tears that were welled up in their eyes.
Maybe Pest was right.
“Hey! You lost?”
Poob wiped their eyes with the back of their hand before looking up at the source of the voice. It was a girl several inches taller than him, dark hair with bleached ends falling past her shoulders. She was clearly one of the seniors, judging by the confident way she was carrying herself.
“No, it’s just…” Poob trailed off, looking at the floor again. “It’s nothing.”
“I like your outfit,” the girl said, gesturing towards Poob’s shirt. “I really like your shirt!”
Poob perked up a little, his smile starting to return as he glanced down at it. “You do?”
“Of course! It looks super cute!” she chirped brightly. “You can’t go wrong with rainbows, after all!”
“Yeah!” The brightness that returned to Poob’s face could have lit up a room. “That’s why I’m putting some of these in my locker!” They opened their sticker book, showing the girl the page full of little glittering rainbows.
“Aww, those look so adorable!” she cried. “Hey, do you want me to help you? I know that those lockers can be hard for freshmen to open…”
“Really?! Thank you!!” Poob grinned as the two started to walk towards the freshman’s lockers. “My name’s Poob! What’s yours?”
“Romana.” She smiled. “I’m Romana.”
