Jonestown Tea, Director’s Cut
Cup Three.

-- OCT. 21tst. Mon. --

“Kept my lungs full”
“With the breath of their”
“Mute atmosphere.”

Monday, a day that any school age kid hated, though if it was one of the few holidays, they wouldn’t care, but this wasn’t one of them.  All throughout the orphanage, a bell rang, loud enough to wake any of the kids that were still snoozing, though some of them would do their best to ignore it.  They would hide under their pillows, toss, turn or anything to get back to sleep.  They might get a few more minutes of sleep, at least, only till the workers would make their rounds to make sure that everyone was up and getting ready for school.

“Morning Lilly.”  Lola’s voice spoke up, the two sitting up in their beds.  “Sleep ok?”

“I did something kind of like sleeping.”  She said shaking her head a little as she rubbed her eyes before swinging her legs over the side of the bed. 

“I take it that you’re a little worried about giving you know who the note?”  The canine said with a little smile as she leaned in a little.  “I’m telling you, you worry to much, things will be ok, and everything will work out ok.”  She said reaching out and patting her on the knee.

“I don’t know, you know my luck and how bad it is.”  She said shaking her head a little before falling back on the bed and letting out a little sigh.  “I don’t think that I’ll give it to him.”  Lilly said shaking her head a little.

“Well you know you have to give it to him, and if you don't. I’m sure that I can.”  Lola said poking her tongue out a little.

“I will end you.”  The opossum said squinting her eyes a little.  “I know where you live and sleep.”  She said poking her tongue out a little.  She went to say something before getting cut off by the sound of a knock on their door.

“Ladies are you up?”  It was Amanda, opening the door, a small bag in her hand.  “It’s time for you two to get up and get ready…  And Lilly I need to change your bandages.”  She said sitting on the edge of the bed.  “Go get dressed and ready.”

“Yes ma’am.”  The two said  in near unison as they got up and moved around the room gathering up the things that they would need to get ready for school.  

Lilly was the first one to get her clothing, happy that it was getting to be fall and that she would be able to wear long sleeves, at least with long sleeves she could hide the bandages.  Like all the other mornings, she was the first to get all of her things together and slipped into the bathroom.  Once she was there she made quick work of getting undressed and changed into her school clothes, a plain long sleeve shirt and some jeans, a quick brush of her hair and teeth and she was out of the room and sitting next to Amanda as Lola slipped into the bathroom.

“So do they know?”  Lilly asked, holding her arm out for the rat woman to start taking the bandages off.

“Well the teachers know what happened, but for the most part, the kids shouldn’t know about it.”  Amanda said as she started cleaning the wound and stitches.  “If things get to be to much, or you hear something about rumors going around, let a teacher know that you need to go see the counselor and they will help you out.”

“Thank you.”  Lilly said, wincing a little as she felt the older woman starting to rub the ointment on her cut before starting to wrap a fresh bandage around it.  “The last thing that I need is more rumors and things for people to talk about me with.”  She said shaking her head a little as Amanda finished up.

“Well you know that you can talk to the counselor or the principle if you need to, and I know that they will help handle it.”  She said patting the opossum’s knee, “now you two finish getting ready and come down to breakfast.  Oh and don’t forget this.”  Amanda said handing Lilly a little plastic cup with a pill in it.  After that, she got up and left the room in time for Lola to come back into the room, dressed a lot like Lilly.

“Well it looks like it's time to get something to eat.”  Lola said smiling a little as Lilly finished adjusting her sleeve and getting up.  

“I’m ready when you are.”  Lilly said as the two got up and made their way down to the mess hall to get something to eat before they all had to board the bus and head off to school.

---------------------------

“Lilly, wake up.”  Lola said poking the opossum that had fallen asleep leaning against the window of the bus.  The weather had started out looking like it was going to be at the least a nice day, but that soon changed as the sky darked to a grey sea before starting to let loose a drizzle of rain.  “We’re here.”

“You know, if we don’t move, we might be able to stay on the bus and just go back home.”  The opossum said with a little yawn, it was clear that the weather wasn’t making it any easier for her to wake up this morning, though she would admit that there was something about this kind of weather that she liked, there was something that was peaceful about it.

The grey skies and lazy rain seemed to cause something in her to spring to the surface, something that she would rather keep buried.  She could remember all of the times that her, her mother and him would sit out on the little covered porch that they had, listening to the rain patter against the tin roof.  A lot of the time they would be sitting out there talking, laughing, playing a board game or something like that, Lilly was sure that she could smell coco for some reason, and feel a cool breeze.

“Lilly, come on, we’re going to be late.”  Lola said, nudging the opossum again, this time snapping her out of the trance that she seemed to be in.  “You ok?  Do I need to walk you to the counselor or something?”  She asked as she watched the opossum rubbing her eyes.

“No, I’m ok, I just spaced out a little.”  She said, taking a moment to dry her eyes of the tears that formed in the corners of her eyes. 

“Are you sure, I mean it looks like you were crying, or about to start.  You know that I don’t mind walking you there, or we could just go hide in the bathroom if you need a moment or something.”  The bull terrier said as the opossum started getting, the two starting to walk off of the bus and down the path to the entrance of the school.

“I’m sure, I just spaced out a little and got to thinking about things.”  Lilly said shaking her head a little.  “The weather reminded me of a few things.”  The opossum said shaking a little as they walked down the halls, the opossum looking around, sure that all of the students and teachers were looking at her, like they knew what she had done.

“Lilly.”  A voice spoke up, causing the opossum to look to the source, it was her homeroom teacher, Anastasia.  “It’s so good to see you back with us.”  She said walking over to the opossum and putting her paw on her shoulder.

“Hey Ms. White.”  Lilly said, letting out a little squeak as she felt the paw on her shoulder.  “It’s kinda nice to be back.”  She said softly as she walked to her locker with her teacher.

“Well I just wanted to catch you before class got going and everything, and just let you know that if you need anything, or if you need to leave the class to go to the counselor or anything like that, just let me know and we will get you there.”  She said patting the opossum on the shoulder, “and don’t forget that I’m here for you if you need someone to talk about things that are happening, or happened to you.”

“I will remember Ms. White.”  Lilly said as she opened her locker, “I don’t think that there’s anything to really worry about, I’m feeling pretty good, a little tired cause of the weather.”  She said as she gathered the books that she needed.

“Well that’s good to know.  I’m happy to have you back, I’ve missed my favorite little marsupial.”  She said giving the opossum a smile before turning and walking back to her class.

“You sure that you’re ok with being back and stuff?  I mean you look a little worried.”  Lola said putting her paw on the opossum’s shoulder, getting a little squeak out of her before she closed her locker.

“It’s like I told Ms. White, everything is ok, the weather has me a little sleepy.  There is one thing that I am a little worried about.”  Lilly said as the two walked into the classroom and took their normal spots.

“Let me guess, it’s either giving Clay the note, or about people thinking up or spreading rumors and things?”  Lola said as she pulled out a notebook, glancing around as she watched more people coming into the classroom.

“You know, I forgot all about that, now I have something else to think and worry about.”  Lilly said hiding her face in her paws, “I’m not going to do it.”

“Yes you are, or I will.”  The canine said smiling as class soon got started, most of the students getting a little more quiet as the otter teacher walked to the front of the class.

Lilly spent a lot more of the class looking at the note that she and Lola had written the night before.  She kept reading it over and over looking for any little mistake that wasn’t there, trying to find some reason to toss it or to at least buy her some time to rewrite it, though something in the back of her mind told her that her roommate wasn’t joking about the whole thing of having a copy of the note that she would give Clay for her.

This wasn’t the only thing that was happening in the class that would cause the opossum to lift her head up and look around the room at the sound of the people around her whispering.  She was sure that they were talking about her, talking about were she had been about her trying to kill herself and all that, she had to take a moment or two to try and breath and catch her breath.

“Lilly are you ok?”  Lola asked, leaning over a little to nudge the opossum that was now panting a little bit.

“Just a little worked up.”  Was all that she said as she looked around the room, trying to turn her ears a little to get a better bead on something that someone on the other side of the room was saying, though she was sure that they were saying something about her.

“Lilly are you ok?  Do you need to step out?  Maybe go see the counselor?”  The teacher asked, getting up and walking over to the opossum, looking a little more than concerned with the fact that she was nearly gasping at this point.

“I ne....  I need…  I need to go.”  Lilly managed to squeak out as she got up, sending her chair toppling to the floor behind her, causing the rest of the kids in the room to turn to her in shock and surprised at the sudden sound.

“Don’t worry Ms. White, I will make sure that she’s ok and everything.”  Lola said as she got up nearly as fast as the opossum and rushing off to following her, hoping that she wouldn’t lose her or that she would get hurt in the short time that she ran out into the hall.

The canine rushed out, turning the corner just in time to see the opossum slipping into one of the faculty bathrooms, and starting to push the door closed seeing as the closer wasn’t doing it fast enough, letting Lola get her foot in the door.  “Lilly, don’t you think that it would be better to go see the counselor or something, I bet even going to see the nurse would do you better than running off like this.”  The canine said walking into the room and letting the door shut behind her.

“I can’t go back out there.”  The little opossum squeaked out from the corner of the room that she was balled up in.  “Everyone knows, everyone out there is talking about it, they know that I’m fucked up in the head and Clay knows, and he’s not going to want anything to do with me.”  She said, hiding her face in her knees, though it was clear to the canine that Lilly was crying.

“Lilly, the only people that know about what really happened is the teachers and counselors, you know, the people that wouldn’t say anything to anyone about all of this.”  Lola said putting her paw on the opossum’s back, slowly rubbing in circles.  “As far at the other people know, you were just out with a flu or something like that.  So you don’t need to worry about anything like that, just buck up, and make it through the day, and you know that you have to look forward to giving Clay that note, or at least putting it in his locker.”

“I still don’t know about all of that.”  Lilly said shaking her head a little as she looked up to the canine that was doing her best to comfort her.  “Even if my luck held out with people not knowing what happened, I don’t think it would last much more than that.”  She said rubbing her eyes with the back of her paw, drying the tears that had formed there.

“Well there’s only one way to find that out, and you know, I still think that you’re a little more than past do for something really good happening to you.”  Lola said getting up and holding her paw out for the opossum, who happily took it and got to her feet. “And it’s like I said, I have a copy of the note that I will give him if you wuss out.”

“You know that I’m in the literal perfect place to end you and get away with it…  Right?”  Lilly said smiling a little as she poked her tongue out a little.

“And you say stuff like that like I’m afraid of you.”  Lola said booping the opossum’s nose, giggling at the sight of the opossum wiggling her whiskers.

“I don’t want you to be afraid of me, if you’re afraid of me then you would run and that would mean that I would have to do more work, and you know that I’m too lazy to do something like that.”  Lilly said shaking her head a little.

“Well you know.  I’m sure that we could get away with dropping the note off in Clay’s locker on the way back to class.”  Lola said smiling as the two started walking to the door, stopping when she said that, at least Lilly froze in place.

“Oh god, what do I tell them, what if they figure it out from me running out like that?  This is how rumors and stuff get started.”  Lilly said refusing to go anywhere.

“Lilly, you just tell them that you had a little panic attack, I mean you’ve had them a few times before, and no one has said anything about you running out or why you have them, now have they?”  Lola said shaking her head a little as she reached out and took the opossum’s hand in her’s.  “Now come on, you know that you’re strong enough to do this right?  You know that you’re my strong scream bean, right?”

“I’m your strong scream bean.”  Lilly said taking a deep breath or two to help calm herself and keep herself like that.  “Ok, let's do this before I end up being a scared bean.”  The opossum said opening the door, the two walking out and making their way back to the class, Lilly kept walking only for feel Lola stopping her with a tug on her paw.

“Not yet, you have one more thing to do before you go back to class.”  The canine said as she pointed to one of the lockers.  It looked like all the others, but Lilly knew what, or who’s locker it was.

“It’s a locker.”  Lilly said reaching into her pocket and pulling out the note that her and Lola had written just for this moment.  “It’s like all the others, full of books and things like that.”

“Well yeah, but it’s who’s books it’s full of.  You know that you can do it.  You know that deep down that things will work out for the best with this.”  Lola said smiling, putting her paw on her friend's shoulder as they looked at the note.  “If you don’t do it, I will.”  Lola said as she pulled out a folded piece of paper.

“Ok, Ok, I will do it.”  Lilly said shaking her head before reaching up and slipping the note between the little slats of the locker.  “There…  Can I go hide again?”  She asked as the two started back to the class.

“No, and you know, I didn’t think that would work.  I didn’t know what I would have done if you didn’t believe me.”  Lola said holding out her copy of the note, “it was just a blank.”  She said smiling and showing off the blank paper, letting out a little oof as Lilly nudged her.  The two rounding the corner and into the classroom, not noticing that someone had seen them slipping the note into the boy’s locker.

------------------

It took all that the opossum had to not think about the note that she had put into Clay’s locker, thinking about the payback that she was going to get on Lola helped with that.  She was thinking of going with something a little classic, maybe dipping her paw in some warm water when she’s sleeping, Lilly always wondered if that kind of thing worked.  She didn’t get to think on that too much before the teacher called her name to answer something.

Thankfully for her the rest of the class went by pretty quick, the teacher giving them something to work on, something that the opossum had to think about and keep her mind busy.  Moments before class came to an end, all of the kids were watching the clock and waiting, the teacher’s voice broke the silence and got their attention. 

“Lilly would you stay after class for a few minutes, I want to talk to you.”  Anastasia said, the class breaking out in a chorus of ‘oohs’ and ‘ahhs’, making the poor opossum sink down in her seat as the bell started ringing, everyone but Lilly getting up and rushing out, Lola stopping for a moment to pat her on the shoulder, her sign that she would be waiting for her.

“Yes ma’am?”  Lilly asked, getting up and walking over to her desk, a little worried to make eye contact with her.  

“Don’t worry, you’re not in trouble or anything like that.”  The otter said smiling warmly, looking to the opossum.  “I just wanted to make sure that you’re still doing ok, specially after your little panic attack.”  There was something about the way that she had said that, that just told Lilly that she knew that it was more than a panic attack.

“I’m doing ok, I got a little worked up thinking about stuff a little too much.”  The opossum said shaking her head a little.  “Lola helped me out and talked me out of it.”

“That’s good, you know that you mean a lot to her and a lot of us.”  The otter said getting up and walking around her desk to stand with the opossum.  “Do you want to talk about it?  We might be able to help you out with anything that might be weighing on you.”  Anastasia said as she put a paw on Lilly’s shoulder.

“I know that she worries a lot about me, she’s like a big sister to me.”  Lilly said shaking her head a little.  “And as for talking, I don’t think that there is a lot to talk about, I mean I got to thinking a little too much about if people know why I was out.  I don’t want people to really know, cause if they do it’s only going to add to any rumors and make my reputation worse.”

“It’s understandable to worry about something like that, I know that something like that could do a lot of damage to someone’s reputation, but I want you to know that you don’t have to worry about something like that, we here at the school will do the best to make sure that no one other than the faculty knows about it.”  The teacher said smiling and pulling the smaller opossum into a hug.  “As for your reputation, I know that it sounds silly, but it’s something that you don’t really need to worry about, your classmates are going to think they way that they want about you and everyone else, and it’s not going to be the best, but the people that know you the most and best, will know that you are a good girl.”  

“Thank you.”  Was all that the opossum could get out, it was clear that hearing this made her feel safe, a truly rare feeling for the poor girl, something that even in her room by herself she didn’t feel that safe.  “I’ll remember that, but... “  The opossum took a deep breath, “I don’t think that I feel like I’m all that good of a person…  I mean…  I just don’t feel that good.”

“I bet that you hear this a lot, but I know that a lot of people thing that you are a good girl, and honestly, I will tell you that I think that your wrong, you are a good kid that’s growing into a fine young woman.”  Anastasia said patting her on the shoulder.  “Now you get off to lunch, I know that Lola is outside the door waiting for you…  Call it a hunch, that and she’s not that sneaky.”  The otter giggled a little as the opossum smiled and started for the door.

------------------

“You won’t believe what I seen.”  A goose girl said to her cow girl said smiling as she sat down to with her friend..

“You say that just about every day.”  The cow said shaking her head a little as she looked at the food that they had gotten.

“I know, but Bessie, this is a big one…  And I’m sure that it’s something that you will really like.”  She said leaning in a little.

“Well, spill it and this better be good.”  Bessie said shaking her head a little as she started eating a little.

“You know your favorite opossum?  The one that likes to give you all kinds of trouble?  Guess who I saw standing in front of Clay’s locker?”  Bri said smiling as she started eating.

“Ok, and just what good does that do for me?”  She asked cocking her eyebrow a little, “I mean, people stand in front of people’s lockers all the time.”

“Well it’s a little more of what she and her friend was doing at the locker.”  The goose said with a little snicker as she leaned in, looking from side to side, seeing that none of the other kids around them were watching or paying them attention.  “I saw the little shit slipping something into the locker.”

“You know, that’s something you could have said right off of the bat.”  The cow said looking to her friend, smiling a little.  “I mean something like that is big, and useful…  I mean there is a lot of ways that we can put something like that to use or plane something…  But what.” 

“Well we need to make sure that the note is from Lilly and not that mutt that she’s always around, and then we need to find out or figure out what the not is about.”  Bri said shaking her head a little.

“I’m willing to bet that it’s Lilly, and I’m like ninety percent sure that no matter who the note is from that it’s a love note or some kind…  Oh, that gives me an idea.”

“Oh, do tell.”  Bri said, turning to see Lilly and Lola walking into the lunch room and to get their food.

“In due time, I have a few things that I need to think on.”  Bessie said smiling as she watched the two walking by.