# Return To Sender

Title: Return to Sender
Status: Complete
Characters: Anon, Fang, Trish, Reed, Stella, Rosa
Rating: SFW
Classification: One Shot
Author: F4L
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Slow and directionless movements of her pen give the illusion she's paying attention. From far enough away, that is. Mister Tsuki's English lecture is beyond boring, and Trish has stopped paying attention months ago. She's never going to need to know the history of typefaces in her life. As far as the tests go, she has Reed. How he gets the answer sheets for every test, the triceratops does not know and frankly doesn't care. The doodles she's made have filled almost every page of her notebook by now. Only a couple of minutes to go before the bell releases them from this torture.
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Reed is too busy typing away at his phone to pass the time chatting or gossiping. The raptor is so enraptured that he's even forgotten to take regular sips from his thermos. With Fang spending so much time with that skinnie, Trish often has no other choice but to talk to him about the freshest gossip.
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With the bell's chime, students pack their things and rush towards the door, unwilling to stick around longer than they have to. Reed is among the first to leave the classroom, not even bothering to say bye. For a moment, Trish fears Reed is also moving on from hanging out with her, just like Fang. Then she spots the raptor left his thermos on the table. He must be in a real rush to forget it.
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'Might as well take it and send him a text.'
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The next class drags on even more than the previous one. The tiny triceratops dutifully works on her task sheet while some poor soul is practically begging the teacher for a chance to raise their grade. At least the subject matter is interesting, which helps pass the time. With all the questions answered, Trish has a few moments to herself. No one from her friend group shares this class with her. Neither Reed nor Fang have returned any of her texts.
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Her eyes linger on Reed's thermos. He surely wouldn't mind if she took a sip. The concoction probably sterilizes the whole thing anyway, so no risk for raptor cooties either. It was less like a sip and more of a big gulp. At first, it tasted like nothing, then it was like the most horrible coffee she's ever had the misfortune of drinking. All the carfe probably burned out some of her taste receptors too. Absolutely not worth it. The bell announces the end of class and time for lunch. Hopefully, she'll be able to get rid of the foul taste in her mouth by eating something.
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With lunch secured, Trish scans the cafeteria for any of her friends. Seeing neither of them and unwilling to appear desperate by sending even more texts, the triceratops resigns to eating alone. Bite after bite of salad do next to nothing to wash out the horrid taste from her mouth. Some taste buds definitely didn't make it.
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'Stupid Reed and his stupid drug-laced coffee.'
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Not feeling particularly hungry anymore, Trish spends more time poking the salad with her fork than eating it.
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'Fang is probably making out with Anon in a closet somewhere while I'm sitting here alone, bored out of mind.'
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Her movements become slower by the moment, the effects of Reed's coffee-flavored carfe taking effect. Either something is wrong with the salad, or Reed put an extra ingredient into this terrible excuse for coffee. Battling drowsiness and nausea, Trish doesn't even notice someone standing opposite of her.
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"Hey Trish, this seat taken?"
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Before the triceratops can respond, Stella takes it as a no and sits down.
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"You look tired. Were you also up all night watching some good show? I just couldn't go to bed until I got to the season 6 finale of-"
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Trish tunes out Stella's droning about whichever anime she's watching. Meanwhile, her stomach has decided to start doing somersaults.
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"Uh, Trish, you OK? You look kind of pale."
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"Nope!"
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Trish becomes a purple streak racing towards the nearest bathroom.
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'Poor Trish.'
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The green stegosaurus finishes her lunch alone. Trish's emergency is severe enough to prevent the triceratops from returning before the lunch period is over.
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'Might as well hold on to her thermos. She has enough problems to deal with by the looks of it.'
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Stella makes it into the classroom with the rest of the stragglers, beating the chiming bell with mere seconds to spare. The exhausted weeb almost dozes off several times throughout the class. Only Rosa's quick reactions prevent the stego from hitting her head on the desk.
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"Chica, you really need to stop binging anime every night."
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"We both know that isn't going to happen."
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Stella eyes the thermos on her desk, the gears in her head slowly turning as she does.
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"I'm sure Trish won't mind if I borrow some of her coffee."
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Initially, the liquid had no taste but quickly became utterly foul by the second gulp. She's wide awake, but at what cost.
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"This tastes horrible. How can Trish drink this?"
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Rosa glances at the thermos and sees a 'fuck communism' sticker.
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"Probably because it's Reed's estúpida."
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By the end of the class, Stella feels the full effect of the terrible excuse for coffee. Rosa has to help keep her keep steady as they make their way to their next class. With her intoxicated puppet safely seated, Rosa begins preparing for the start of the lecture. Her preparations are cut short when Naomi notices something is wrong with Stella and approaches the pair.
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"Oh my goodness, is everything alright with her? Should we take her to the nurse?"
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It's then that Naomi notices the thermos in front of the green stego. She glances between it and the clearly high stegosaurus. It doesn't take a genius to make the connection.
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"First, it's smuggling contraband and now distribution. As if the former wasn't bad enough." Naomi's anger becomes apparent, "When principal Spears hears about this, he'll have him transferred to Reef City Continuation."
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Rosa winces when she hears the name of that dreaded place.
"Stella is merely tired from being up all night again, and the thermos is mine."
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Naomi's eyes narrow as she remains unconvinced. The ankylosaur grabs the flask and takes a quick swig to prove her ownership, doing her best not to grimace as the awful taste hits her.
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"See, just coffee, no contrabando."
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Naomi doesn't seem too convinced but relents anyway. By the end of the class, Rosa isn't in much better shape than Stella. The two wait for everyone else to leave the classroom before exiting themselves, stumbling about like a pair of drunks. As they round the corner, the duo crashes into Anon, nearly sending the human flying. A slurred apology later, Rosa thrusts the thermos into his hands.
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"Give Reed his devil juice back."
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Before Anon can respond, the girls are already gone. The human enters the music classroom and takes a seat next to his ptero girlfriend. Fang immediately notices the object thrust upon Anon by the drunken duo.
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"Why do you have Reed's thermos?"
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"Rosa gave it to me and told me to give it back to Reed."
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Fang contemplates for a moment, "How high was she?"
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Anon gives the thermos a quick shake, only a little bit of liquid left inside sloshing around.
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"Very, both her and Stella."
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"There's still enough inside to kill you several times over, dweeb."
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Anon gives a nervous laugh while Fang remains deadly serious. With Mr. Jingo preoccupied with listening to music, Anon spends the remainder of the class trying to embarrass Fang by acting affectionate in public.
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"Anon, please, my street cred."
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"What street cred?"
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The human gets an elbow to the ribs for that remark, an improvement from the typical boot to the toes he gets. The final bell signals the end of the school day. An extremely hung-over Trish and cheery Reed greet Fang and Anon as they exit the school's front door. The human gives back Reed the thermos, much to the raptor's delight and some confusion.
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"How did you get this, bro?"
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Before Anon can respond, Trish begins speaking in a pained voice.
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"That's what I've been trying to tell you." The triceratops winces in pain and rubs her temples, "What did you put in that stuff anyway?"
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"Something to elevate the buzz, trade secret."
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Stella and Rosa exit the building leaning on each other. The ankylosaur gives a half-hearted wave as they pass while the green stego is too preoccupied babbling about tarot and anime to notice the group.
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"We better head off too. See ya, bros!"
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Trish winces from the raptors shout, "God, not so loud."
Anon and Fang find themselves alone at the base of the school stairs.
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"How did we end up being the only sober people of our friend group?"
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"I have no idea. So, what do you want to do now?"
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The ptero shrugs, "Just go home and relax."
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Anon is slightly disappointed and begins to turn towards the route to SkinRow.
"Oh, well, see you tomorrow then."
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Fang grabs the human before he can get outside of arms reach. As he turns around, he can see the ptero's disapproving face before it turns into a slight smile.
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"I didn't say alone, you dweeb."