Chapter Text
Florence didn't think his day could get any worse after his principal's office visit.
Unfortunately since the universe seemed to have it out for him that day, it did.
While he was walking to lunch Flynn ran past them and accidentally brushed up against their lunch bag, setting it a flame and burning it to a crisp. Flo didn't like school lunch and they decided to walk to school that day, so they couldn't go off campus to get lunch. It's safe to say that they starved during lunch today.
He could've teleported off campus and in hindsight he really should’ve. But, they were too focused on the fact that their lunch just got ruined, rather than trying to find a way to fix the problem.
At least he got to sit in the courtyard under his favorite tree to watch BFDI.
But… he forgot his laptop at home so he had to watch it on his phone which drained his phone battery down to 5%. And, on top of forgetting his laptop he forgot his phone charger. They could ask Tori for their’s, but Flo had a strong feeling that they also forgot to bring their charger. Asking his twin for her charger was automatically out of the question.
Florence let out an irritated sigh before walking into their precalculus class.
Maybe their favorite class of the day will help cheer them up, they hopefully thought with a small smile. Math always did put them in a better mood.
The inside of the precal classroom wasn’t very big, in fact it was actually one of the smaller math classrooms on campus due to precalculus not being a very popular class. In the front of the classroom there was a large TV with two white boards on either side of it, and in the corner the teacher’s desk was there. The desks in the were arranged in groups of two and were sporadically placed around the classroom, and the walls were decorated with corny math posters that were sure to make any teenager roll their eyes.
This was Flo’s favorite classroom.
They felt their smile widen a bit as they walked over to their desk in the front of the classroom and set their stuff down.
His teacher, Mx. Triangle Speaker box, was sitting at their desk doing something on their computer. Probably putting in grades, Flo assumed.
Florence looked down at their phone and back at their teacher as they felt an idea begin to form in their head.
Maybe Mx. Triangle Speakerbox has a charger…
“Excuse me, Mx. Triangle Speakerbox?” Florence called out as he made his way over to their desk.
Mx. Triangle Speakerbox paused what they were doing to turn and look at Florence. “Yes?” They had straight red hair that was cut into a triangular bob, and a triangle themed outfit.
“Uh, I was wondering if you had a phone charger. I left mine at home and my phone’s about to die.” Flo explained while fidgeting with his phone in his hands.
“Hm….” The red haired teacher hummed in thought. “I might… What type of charger does your phone use?”
“I don't know, but it's an android.” Florence responded. “You can look at it if you want.” They handed the teacher their phone.
The math teacher looked over the phone for a second before pulling out a charging cord and plugging it into the phone. After the charging cord was inserted the phone lit up, indicating that it was being charged.
“Tell you what, I'll charge your phone at my desk and I'll give it to you at the end of class. Sound good?” Mx. Triangle Speakerbox asked with a kind smile.
“Yes. Thank you.” Florence said, giving the red haired teacher a genuine smile before walking back to his seat.
Mx. Triangle Speakerbox had always been their favorite teacher. They seemed to be the one of the few people in the school who liked math as much as he did.
Shortly after Flo sat down people started noisily entering the classroom. Florence paid them no mind and instead opened up his math notebook to doodle in it. Right before his pen hits the paper he senses someone, actually multiple people, standing in front of him.
Florence sighed before looking up to see Nigel along with Silvia, Fiona, Steven and Elijah crowded around his desk area. Fiona and Silvia seemed to be having an argument of some sort while Elijah and Steven were watching and instigating.
Nigel on the other hand was looking straight at Flo with her signature smirk.
Florence mentally prepared themself for their inevitable conversation with Nigel.
“Hi, Nine.” Flo dully greeted the white haired teen in front of him.
“Wassup, Four-bro! How's it hanging?” Nigel exclaimed, returning the greeting.
“Uh, it's hanging. My day hasn't been very good.” Florence admitted, his face sourering as he thought back on his day.
“Well that's no good. What's got you feeling down broski?” Nigel asked, concern lacing their features.
“I got detention today for the ‘incident’ before third period.” Florence grumbled as they started to scratch lines into their notebook with their pen.
“Bummer…” Nigel hissed out before his face lit up as if he suddenly remembered something. “Oh! If it makes you feel better bro I'm pretty sure Two-bro also got detention for getting into an argument with Flowe-”
“Two didn't get detention! I said Two almost got detention! They said they would’ve if they didn't tell the principal that the argument was really a misunderstanding.” Fiona cut off Nigel to quickly correct them before returning to her argument with Silvia.
“Uh, nevermind then. Looks like Two didn't get detention…” Nigel sheepishly mumbled while giving Flo an apologetic expression. “Y’know speaking of your little sib-sib, they completely saved my ass during fourth period today. So, Silvia and I were arguing again like usual and…”
Florence zoned out halfway through Nigel's story about how they won fifteen dollars because Tori was early to class. They broke out of their trance when the bell rang and Nigel stopped talking.
“Aw man, class is about to start! Talk to you later Four-bro!” Nigel waved at them with a small frown before making her way to her seat.
Flo on the other hand smiled at this. The bell ringing meant he was one step closer to doing his favorite thing in the world, math.
A few minutes after the bell rang, Mx. Triangle Speakerbox got up from their seat, walked to the front of the classroom and stopped in front of one of the white boards.
“Alright class, take out your notebooks and something to write with! Today we’re going over-”
“WAIT!”
Mx. Triangle Speakerbox was cut off by the sound of someone yelling and the sound of the classroom door being practically slammed open.
The class went silent as everyone looked in the direction of the door.
Standing the doorway was a short blond haired kid that looked oddly familiar, Flo felt like he had seen them somewhere before he just couldn't put his finger on it. And standing right next to them was his annoying twin.
They had forgotten she was in this class.
Florence sent a glare towards the newcomers, his sour mood suddenly returning.
“Heh-heh… Sorry, Mx. I didn't mean to cause a scene. I was just worried about missing the lesson…” The blond haired kid laughed awkwardly, seeming embarrassed.
“Sorry about our tardiness, Mx. Triangle Speakerbox. I was running late because I volunteered to help my teacher clean up the classroom last period, and while I was walking to class I found him looking lost in the hallway.” Ophelia innocently explained. “They said it’s their first day here.” She added on with a smile.
Florence rolled his eyes at Ophelia’s statement, he could care less as to why they were late. She was holding up the lesson.
“Well that's quite alright Ophelia, you can go sit down now.” Mx. Triangle Speakerbox said with a kind smile before directing their attention on the new kid. “You’re new here?”
The blond haired kid nodded.
“Yes I am! My name is Ximenia, I hope I didn't miss too much of the lesson. I've been having a lot of trouble finding some of my classes…”
That name sounded familiar too, Florence felt like they've heard it before…
“Oh that’s quite alright dear, we were just about to get started on the notes when you got here.” Mx. Triangle Speakerbox reassured. “Now let's find you an empty desk to sit in…” The math teacher scanned the scattered pairs of desks, looking for an empty one, before their eyes landed on the one next to Florence.
Florence had a bad feeling about where this was heading.
“Florence, who sits next to you?” The teacher asked.
“No one does…” Flo reluctantly replied, dreading what was going to come out of the teacher's mouth next.
“Good! Alright, Ximenia you're going to be sitting next to Florence. I can't have you sitting alone because group work is a big part of this class, okay?” Mx. Triangle Speakerbox explained.
“...Okay.” Ximenia muttered in response before nervously making their way over to the desk next to Flo and getting themself situated.
“Alright! Now that we've gotten that taken care of, let's get on with the notes,” The math teacher announced as they grabbed a dry-erase marker and started writing on the whiteboard. “Alright class today we're going to be going over…”
Flo sent a sideways glance at Ximenia before he started to write his notes, they looked nervous to be around him. It wasn't like he was going to jump out at them or attack them.
They wouldn't admit this out loud but, it actually made them feel quite hurt.
Sure, he could get a bit aggressive at times but he wouldn't hurt someone unprovoked, let alone someone he didn't even know.
Florence pushed these thoughts aside as he continued writing his notes. He didn't have time to be sad, he had math to do.
.
.
.
After Mx. Triangle Speakerbox was done going over the lesson they assigned an assignment that was due at the end of the period, much to Flo’s delight.
It seemed like their day was slowly but surely getting better.
Florence eagerly got to work on the assignment shortly after it was passed out, and finished it in ten minutes.
Flo tapped his pencil on his desk as he looked at the clock above the door, there were fifteen minutes of class left.
They sighed at this, they were getting bored.
Florence decided to sneak a glance in Ximenia’s direction, maybe he could watch them do their work to pass the time.
‘Wow his work is really neat…’ The blue haired teen thought to themself as they looked over their desk-mate's paper.
Ximenia organized his work very neatly and on top of that he had good handwriting.
He should compliment them, he likes people who organize their algebra correctly.
“Excuse me,” Florence whispered while tapping Ximenia’s shoulder to get his attention.
The blond haired teen startled at the sudden contact, before turning his head to face Florence.
“...Yes…?” Ximenia responded cautiously. He still seemed pretty nervous to be around Flo, but they decided to ignore his nervousness for now in favor of giving him a compliment.
“Your work is really neat.” Flo complimented with a smile.
Instead of looking happy, like Flo thought they would after receiving a compliment, Ximenia gave him a confused look.
“...Uh, sorry I don't think I quite understand what you mean. Do you mind repeating that?” Ximenia asked, before quickly backtracking. “I-I mean if you don't want to it's fine! Actually just forget I-”
“Wait no I meant- Uhm…” Florence trailed off, thinking of how to reword their compliment. “I like the way you organize the work on your paper. It's really neat and well organized. I like people who organize their algebra correctly. Also you have really nice handwriting!” They blurted out.
Ximenia’s confused expression returned for a split second before their face lit up, after they processed the barrage of words thrown at them.
“Oh! Thank you! I, um…” Ximenia looked nervous as he trailed off, trying to think of a way to compliment Flo. “I think you're really good at math…? I mean you finished your worksheet pretty quickly… Also I like the drawing you did on your paper, what is it?” He pointed at the drawing Flo drew on the corner of his paper, it was the number four with limbs and a face.
“Thank you, I think you're pretty good at math too.” Flo replied with a smile, before turning his attention to his paper. “As for the drawing, he’s just a character I made up when I was younger based off of my favorite number. I tend to draw him when I get bored.”
“So, I'm guessing his name is… Four?” Ximenia asked, a small smile making his way into his lips.
“Uh-huh,” Flo confirmed with a thumbs up as his smile widened. “Named him after myself, and my favorite number! I love the number four.”
“...Wow, you really like math, huh?” Ximenia asked in astonishment.
“I sure do!”
The two of them fell into an awkward silence. Ximenia and Florence stared at each other, both of them having run out of things to say.
“Uh… I feel like we might've gotten off on the wrong foot…” Ximenia muttered a few minutes later, breaking the silence between the two.
Now it was Florence's turn to look confused, he was sure he had never met Ximenia before.
Unless he had run into them earlier and just didn't remember…
“We did?” Flo asked, their face screwed up as they tried to analyze Ximenia. Something about him looked familiar, they just couldn't put their finger on it.
“Yeah… You were kinda rude to me in the hallway before fourth period when I tried to ask you for directions.” Ximenia sheepishly explained with a nervous smile on his face. “But I won't hold it against you or anything like th-”
“Oh my gumdrop, that was you!?” Florence exclaimed, panicked.
Their eyes widened, that's what they remembered Ximenia from. He must think he's a real jerk…
“Yeah, but-”
“Oh my math, I'm sorry! If I had known how good at math you were, I never would've been rude to you like that!” Florence cut off Ximenia again, apologizing for their first encounter. “I was kind of in a bad mood because I got detention…” He muttered, averting Ximenia's gaze.
When Flo looked back at Ximenia, he noticed that he didn't look as tense as he did when he first sat down. He also noticed that they were looking at him with a sort of apologetic expression.
“Hey it's okay, I'd be in a pretty bad mood if I got detention too. Apology accepted.” Ximenia replied, offering Flo a small smile. “Also I'm really sorry that you got detention. I know that probably sucks.” They added.
“It does,” Flo sighed, their face dropping at the reminder of their unfortunate fate. “But at least I can go on my phone to watch my favorite show while I'm there.” He smiled as he thought about his favorite show.
“That's good.”
“Yeah.”
The two of them fell into another silence and locked eyes with each other for a second time.
“Uh… My name is Florence but most people call me Four because it’s my favorite number.” Florence broke the silence, deciding it was a good time to introduce themself.
“Oh! My name is Ximenia but most people just call me X-”
“LIKE THE VARIABLE!?” Flo shouted, causing everyone in the classroom to turn and look at them.
“Hey Four, we're inside. We need to use our inside voice, okay?” Ophelia asked with a sneer, earning a few snickers from other students in the classroom.
Flo whipped around to glare at their twin, oh how he loathed being in the same class as her.
“Shut up, One!” Flo shouted back before turning around to face Ximenia. “Sorry I got a little excited…” He sheepishly apologized.
“Uh it's okay. I guess it is kind of like the variable…” Ximenia muttered awkwardly, before changing the topic. “So tell me about your favorite show. What's it called?”
“Oh my algebra, I thought you'd never ask! My favorite show is called Battle for Dream Island, also known as BFDI for short. So basically it's about these objects that battle for…”
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.
.
Florence and Ximenia spent the rest of the class period talking about his favorite show. He was happy to finally have someone who was willing to listen to him info-dump about his favorite show. They’ve tried getting their siblings to listen to them before in the past but Tori was always busy and Ophelia just didn't care.
Maybe he could convince X to watch it with him sometime…
Flo felt himself breakout into a toothy grin as he packed up his stuff, maybe his day wasn't turning out as bad as he thought it was going to be.