Sour raisin (джен)

A week later, Lila’s tactical lying saved Barbara from a domestic execution. She had answered the school's follow-up call with a pristine, authoritative tone, convincing the vice-principal that "Mr. Torrez was currently stationed on an offshore drilling rig with zero cell service and wouldn't return until next month." The administration backed off, but Dead Chan, realizing her first trap hadn't completely broken Barbara, decided to escalate the warfare.It was a bleak Thursday afternoon. The final bell was about to ring, and the classroom was a chaotic mess of students packing their bags. Barbara left her backpack on her desk for exactly three minutes to run to the library to grab a new sketchbook. The moment she stepped back into the room, she was hit by a wall of noise. The class president, a girl pale with panic, was frantically ripping her bag apart."I swear I put them right here!" the girl cried, her voice squeaking. "My gold earrings and the matching bracelet! My mom literally just gave them to me for my birthday!""Oh my gosh, that's literally so awful..." came Dead Chan’s sympathetic, sugary voice. She was standing right in the center of the room, adjusting a massive pink bow on her head. Her bracelets clinked dramatically with every gesture. "Guys, maybe someone just took them by mistake? Why don't we all just check our bags real quick, just to clear everyone's name?~""Like anyone’s going to just hand them over if they stole it," a guy scoffed from the back."Well, I have absolutely nothing to hide!~" Dead Chan said cheerfully, dumping her pristine, pastel backpack onto her desk. "See? Just textbooks and my makeup pouch. Barbara, why are you just standing by the door? Why don't you show your bag? You were the last one to leave the room before everything went missing, right?"Barbara froze at the threshold, her hands gripping the new sketchbook. "I didn't take anything. I was in the library." "Then you won't mind a quick look, right?~" Dead Chan smiled glibly, stepped over to Barbara’s desk, and without asking, grabbed Barbara's grunge backpack by the strap, flipping it upside down.With a heavy, metallic thud, pencils, erasers, a worn drawing pad, and... a heavy gold bracelet along with a pair of matching earrings spilled across the wooden desk. They caught the harsh fluorescent light, gleaming mockingly. The classroom fell into a suffocating, dead silence."Oh..." Dead Chan gasped, covering her mouth with her hands, staring at Barbara with a masterclass performance of shock and pity. "Barbara... Why would you do that? Guys, please don't yell at her. Let's just pretend she found them on the floor and forgot to give them back, okay? I really don't want her to get into trouble!~"Instantly, the room erupted into a vicious wave of whispers. "Thief," "Well, look at her family, what do you expect?" "Grunge klepto"—the insults flew like sharp stones. Barbara stood frozen, a deep, burning humiliation flooding her chest. She looked at Dead Chan. Behind the mask of pure angelic concern, a tiny, triumphant smirk danced on the edge of the girl's lips."This isn't mine..." Barbara whispered, but her voice was completely swallowed by the noise.Suddenly, the door flew open. Lila marched in like a storm, with Mizuki trailing closely behind. Taking in the scene in less than a second, Lila immediately threw herself between Barbara and the hostile crowd. She drew herself up to her full height, her eyes locking onto Dead Chan with absolute, icy disdain. "You know, Dead Chan, your fake holier-than-thou act is officially polluting the air supply," Lila barked, her voice cutting through the room like a buzzsaw. "If you think planting cheap parlor tricks in people's bags makes you the queen of this school, you are severely visually impaired.""Lila, she’s literally defending a thief! The gold was in her bag!" the class president yelled, snatching her jewelry back."I don't give a damn what was in her bag," Lila snapped, her tone dripping with arrogance. "Mizuki, pack Babs' stuff. We’re leaving this circus."They walked out under a barrage of glares. Once they were two blocks away, hiding in the courtyard of an abandoned kindergarten, Barbara’s composure shattered. She shook violently, clenching her fists until her knuckles turned white, fighting back the tears of pure frustration. Lila wrapped an arm around her, while Mizuki pulled out her phone, opening her log."I can't do this anymore," Barbara choked out, her voice raw. "She is systematically erasing my life at school while my dad is literally breaking me at home.""She’s going to pay for this, Babs," Mizuki said, her voice unusually firm as she pushed her glasses up. "I checked the classroom timeline. When you left for the library, Dead Chan 'conveniently' wandered near your desk to look at a poster. She had a five-second window to drop the jewelry in. Lila, we need to get into her inner circle's communications. They’re talking online.""Consider it done," Lila laughed, a malicious, arrogant smile spreading across her face. "I'll make those pastel-wearing parasites think I'm their new best friend by Tuesday. They only worship her because she buys them lattes anyway. Loyalty that cheap is incredibly easy to hijack."Barbara looked up, a dangerous green light flashing through her tears. Dead Chan’s hidden warfare had crossed a line, and there was no going back.