Chapter Text
You glanced at the time. It was 5:30pm. Usually you would start packing up and heading to the house, but tonight you just did not feel like dealing with everyone so soon. I mean, you were having such a good day, it won't hurt you to have at least one more hour away from "your home".
This morning, you were determined to have a good start to your day, so you had woken up two hours earlier than usual, got ready for the day without waking anyone up, and managed to silently sneak out of the house without making too much noise. All done before 7:00am. A little excessive but it was necessary with the roommates you were living with. Not having to talk to anyone in that house this morning, was a tremendous start to your day.
The memory caused you to chuckle quietly to yourself, as you finished reading the last few pages of the book you were reading. The book was a mandatory read for a class, and you were glad to be done with it. The book was a bit dragging in the middle and lacked any interesting qualities at the end. You found yourself dozing off at some parts.
Waking up so early to get out of the house was so out of character for you. At your parent's house, on a day like this, you stayed inside most of the day and went out when you wanted to get something that you wanted. At any other house, you would have done just that, but at the house you were staying in now? You could not do that. The reason was because, simply, you could not stand being in that house for more than an hour. Conscious, to be more specific. At least, when you were asleep in that house, you were unconscious and not aware of your surroundings. The roommates that you lived with were very unpleasant towards you. Almost every time you entered the house, you were blamed for something you did not do, and every time you did something productive or positive, a roommate named Callista took all the credit for that task you had done.
Callista.
Immediately you felt anger, for the first time today, as Callista’s face entered your mind. She truly was the embodiment of a backstabbing, scandalous, disgusting witch. She honestly reminded you of the Grand High Witch from the 1990s movie, The Witches starring Anjelica Huston. Almost every time she would speak to you, you would imagine her taking off her face mask, to reveal a hideous thing underneath.
You did not only have to share a house with Callista, you also had to share it with eight skeleton monsters. Their names were Sans, Papyrus, Blue, Stretch, Edge, Red, Black, and Mutt. In retrospect, these guys would be great company if Callista was out of the picture. Their personalities were diverse and engaging, and you would have liked to get to know them more. Too bad Callista had manipulated them into thinking you were a horrible person before you could do that.
When you first met Callista, it was after you replied to an ad that was posted on the Off Campus Housing section of your college’s website. You were living with your mother for the first two years of college, mostly because you were concentrating on saving enough money to get your own place. You did not want to spend extra money living on campus with a roommate, all because it was expected of people your age to do. Also, you are not a people person, and you wanted privacy.
You did not care about what strangers thought, or what your family said:
“You’re young! You should be out and about, especially out of your parent’s house!”
“You’re going to regret not experiencing college life.”
“Are you that anti-social, (Y/N)?”
First of all…..rude, you are not anti-social. You have a lot of friends actually, and you were experiencing enough college life before you decided to live near it.
The reason you answered Callista’s ad, was because of how involved you were starting to get with the music department. You were involved with the creation of an upcoming musical, you were practicing for a recital, you were in the Mt. Ebott Symphony, and you had a job teaching children how to play string instruments. All of these were in association with the Mt. Ebott University. Additionally, you were practicing to get ready for a very important violin competition that would greatly improve your resume if you got in. ALSO, this did not include the regular practicing you had to do to stay on point and your English degree assignments. You were a busy gal.
It became tedious to commute back and forth, especially with everything you had to do. Your parent’s house was an hour and a half away from the college, and you had managed to make this work for two years. When you began to get calls for extra rehearsals, emergency meetings, and calls from your boss wanting you to stay a little longer with a struggling student, you started to think about getting a place near the campus, to make it easier for you.
You also, admittedly, wanted to be near your friends. You always would feel bad every time you had to leave a get together early because you didn’t want to drive in the dark, or you didn’t want your mother to worry about when you were coming back home.
Callista’s ad was the only ad that had offered the amount of rent that you could afford to pay. So you showed interest and she decided to meet with you at a random cafe. You thought she was nice at first. She told you about the other guys in the house and told you about the size of the room you were going to stay in and what came with it. You remember that she complimented your outfit and said that she was eager to become friends with you. This was the first and last time she was nice to you.
Honestly, you were impressed with how fast she created a story about you and her being best friends, and you suddenly becoming the opposite of “who you once were”. You were surprised she wasn’t an English major, like you were, with how quickly she could come up with a fake story.
After two weeks in the house, you observed that Callista had seemed to put a love spell over all the skeletons in the house. They were all in love with this girl, and, for the life of you, you could not see why. Besides being mean to you, she was a brat and had tantrums whenever she did not immediately get her way. She loved talking about herself, and would lose interest if any other subject was brought up. If Callista did not like something, she let you know about it. Rudely.
Regardless, all the guys in the house absolutely loved her, and did not see the awful side of herself she would show to you.
What puzzled you the most, was how the guys would believe every word she uttered. No matter how ridiculous it sounded, and how easily it would be to recognize her lies. They could look at the security cameras and look at her social media and see that she was at a party, instead of studying. But to them her word was fact. At first, you encouraged them to look at the camera footage and to look into things themselves, but they refused, saything that “she would never do that!” and Callista would mischievously smile in triumph.
Does being in love make you stupid?
Not have common sense?
Does it make you blind?
You found yourself constantly asking those questions every time you entered that house you were staying in.
And right after, you had to calm yourself, and be reminded that the guys were being manipulated by her. Still, it does not excuse how some of them treat you though.
Man, they made you think you should have stayed at home.
Sans, Stretch, and Red were somehow convinced that you would hurt their brothers in some way, Edge and Black just flat out hated you, and you could tell that Blue and Papyrus were uncomfortable every time you entered a room they were in. However, you had no opinion on Mutt, as he seemed to be either smoking a dog treat on the porch or sleeping in the living room.
You also discovered why Callista put that ad up on that website. She wanted to be her true self without ruining the projection of herself that she has shown to the skeletons, so she had put that ad up so that someone can take the blame every time she would do something that would make herself look undesirable.
Believe me, you were looking for a way out the moment you discovered this. Unfortunately, your friends didn’t have an extra room in their apartments or houses, and didn’t know anyone who did. You called your older brother and two sisters, who were also attending Mt. Ebott University, but they couldn’t help either. The Off Campus Housing website did not have anything you could afford, and other websites gave you no luck, too. You were stuck.
So two months went by. All the while, you worked, focused on your degree path, and paid attention to the friends and the life you had, outside of the house. The goal was to save enough money to get out of there, as soon as possible.
The ultimate goal was to get a living space, that wasn’t just some rinky-dinky place in a hole somewhere. No. You wanted your own apartment, or even a one story home, all to yourself, but you knew you were a long way from that possibility.
After finishing all of your homework, you checked the clock, and it was definitely time to go. You packed your things and walked out of the library. The sun was setting, so everything around you seemed to have a dark orange hue. You blocked the sun with one of your hands as you walked down the grand staircase that led to the library. Some photographers were on the lawn that was in front of the library, taking pictures of the scenery around them. You figured they were using the golden hour to take some nice pictures.
“Hey, (Y/N)!”
“Aza! Hi!” You happily waved to your best friend, who was walking towards you.
“I haven’t seen you all day. What have you been doing?”
“Oh, just, taking it easy, finishing my homework. Just simple things.”
“You didn’t want to do anything special today?”
“Well, I don’t have anything in mind.”
“You know that’s not true. Where were you going just now?”
“I was about to go to the house.”
“Stop. No you weren’t.”
“Yeah, I was.” Aza, looked at you shocked, then put her hands on her hips.
“(Y/N)!”
“What?! I woke up early, so I didn’t have to talk to anyone, I had a nice breakfast at my favorite restaurant, I practiced my violin and bass, and I finished all my homework. I think that’s a good birthday.”
“Oh my gosh, just follow me.” She grabbed your left hand, since your other hand was carrying your violin case, and started heading to your car.
“How did you know that I parked here?”
“I might have followed you.”
“How?”
“I know your schedule, (Y/N). Just like how you know mine.”
“........you right,” Aza laughed as she continued to lead you. “I guess we’re both at the ‘stalker’ part of our friendship now.”
You laughed with Aza, as she led you to your car. When you got there, the car handles had balloons tied to them. Each balloon had a ‘Happy Birthday!’ written in marker on each of them.
“Awww, Aza. This is so sweet.” You quickly put your violin case down, and gave her a big bear hug. “This is a lovely surprise.”
“I’m glad you like it!” The moment she returned the hug, you felt a dose of serotonin go through you. It was moments like these that kept you going.
“Careful, you’re going to squeeze the life out of me!”
“Five more minutes, please.”
“I’ll be dead by then! And, I won’t be able to tell you the other surprise!”
“What other surprise?”
“Release me from your clutches, and I’ll tell you.” You ended the serotonin dose.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
It was 10:00pm when you arrived back “home”.
You sat in your car, reminiscing on all the fun you had. Your brother, Yuto, and his roommates had decided to throw you a surprise birthday party at their house. He made sure friends you knew and some of his friends were there to surprise you. Oh, the aura in that house was heavenly. You didn’t want to leave.
Video games, board games, karaoke,.....the FOOD! You were in a blissful daze as you wiped off some glitter that had, somehow, gotten on your clothes.
Everything was perfect. Your mother set up a Zoom call, and wished you a wonderful, happy birthday, one of Yuto’s friends tripped and fell headfirst into a slice of cake, you discovered Matthew, a good friend, could sing, to your horror Aza learned how to twerk, you got to show them your cooking skills by cooking up some bomb oatmeal raisin cookies, which everyone loved, and the gifts you received were so thoughtful, it almost made you cry, but Aza started twerking, making you cry from laughing so hard, instead.
You, still in your blissful state, gathered your things, your bag full of gifts, and walked up the stairs to the front door of the house. The keys were put in the lock and you entered the house.
Everyone was in front of the tv, watching an action movie. Callista was on the couch, sitting on Red’s lap. She looked in your direction, then paused the movie with the remote. Everyone turned in your direction as you took off your shoes. The feelings you felt before said their goodbyes, and were replaced with uneasiness.
“Where have you been? You usually come home earlier than this.”
“I was out with friends.”
“And you didn’t invite me?”
You were already tired of this conversation and didn’t reply. You started to walk to the stairs. Stretch teleported in front of you. He gave you no warning, so you bumped into his chest, and backed up, startled. You looked up at his face, and saw pure hatred. Usually Edge and Black looked at you like that, but not Stretch, he usually just glared at you, and would bump into your shoulders sometimes.
“i hope you’re going to pay back what you stole from my brother.”
“What?”
“Oh yeah! I forgot about that!” Callista exclaimed as she got up from Red’s lap and walked toward you. “(Y/N), why did you take Blue’s credit card?”
“I didn’t take his credit card!”
“I saw you, this afternoon, in his room shuffling through his things, then Blue says his card is missing.”
“I wasn’t even here this afternoon! I left the house at 7:00am, and now I’m coming back home.”
“WELL THAT’S TRUE,” Papyrus chimed. “I DIDN’T SEE YOU COME DOWN FOR BREAKFAST THIS MORNING.”
“AND I PEEKED OUTSIDE, AND SAW YOUR CAR NOT THERE,” Blue added. His face was a mixture of contemplative and disappointment as he looked at you. You felt bad for him.
“After leaving this morning, Blue, she came back in the afternoon, took your card, spent some of your money, and then came back at around six to put your card back in your room.”
“I did not. Just check the cameras, and you will see my car not there in the driveway, all day. Also, how would I even use his card? I don’t know his pin number!”
“(Y/N), if you needed money, all you had to do was ask me. I give you money all the time.”
Every time, you had to refrain yourself from jumping on Callista and beating her face in every time she made a remark like that towards you. You internally breathed, and calmed yourself from doing so. Your taekwondo classes have really helped you with your anger over the years.
“I will keep repeating this til the cows come home. Check the cameras.”
“We don’t need to check the cameras! I saw you.”
“and I will believe, honeybun over here, over you any day.” He then got up real close to you. You didn’t dare move back. You had to stand your ground. “you better pay back every cent you spent with my bro’s card,” growled Stretch.
Callista was standing behind Stretch with a smirk on her face. You rolled your eyes, and walked around the two. Their gazes followed you as you walked to Blue, who was sitting next to Red on the couch.
“Blue, I’m sorry that your credit card was stolen, but I’m not paying for something that Callista used your money for.”
“why you little-”
“HOW DARE YOU ACCUSE HER!” Black said as he stood up from where he was sitting. He snatched the bag full of your gifts and looked inside the bag. “IT’S CLEAR YOU WENT ON A SHOPPING SPREE!”
“Those are gifts from my friends!”
“Why would they randomly give you so many gifts?”
“If you were my so-called “best friend” you would know why, Callista.” You both glared at each other, before you quickly took the bag back from Black. He looked at you with malice at this action. You retreated back to the stairs, just in case anyone made another attempt to take your precious bag. “On the camera footage, you would see me leave first, then everyone else would leave. Callista’s car would still be in the driveway, then shortly after 12:00, you would see Callista leave. That is what you would see if you looked.”
The only sound heard was the drops of water coming from the faucet. You looked at everyone’s face, and you could tell that no one believed you. You were tired of wasting your time, talking to people that didn’t want to listen, so you walked up the stairs.
“Believe what you like, but I’m not paying for something I didn’t do.”
You hurried to your room, and closed the door. You heard some chatter coming from downstairs, but it was muffled. Your back was against your door, and you exhaled. You had used the last of your energy for that conversation, and you were about to drop. You put the gifts in a hidden part of your closet, and got ready for bed.
You would never accept the things Callista would accuse you of doing. You knew it would be easier to do so, to just say, “ Yeah, I took your card, Blue. I’ll pay you back.” and be on your way, but no. That would not be you. Accepting would make living in this house much easier, but you chose not to. Sure you had to go through so much conflict, so much arguing, so much thinking to provide proof for yourself, so much general hate towards you, but you would rather go through that, than accept the label Callista put on you.
In a deep part of your heart, even though you were frustrated with them, you had hope that one day, Blue, Papyrus, Sans, Black, Red, Mutt, Edge, and Stretch would see Callista as who she really was. You think, maybe, one day they might think, “Hm, (Y/N) hasn’t owned up to one thing Callista has said she has done, maybe there’s a reason for that.” And finally look into Callista’s lies.
But, one can only hope.
You plopped yourself into bed and dreamed about your friends and your family.