[IC] No Less Than Tolerance!

[TheFlyingScotsman]

Charlotte stood by the vending machine, pondering for a moment, lost in thought. After a moment or so, she dug a few coins out of her pocket and pushed them into the machine, pressing a few buttons and letting her choice fall down, grabbing the water bottle after it landed. Smiling to herself, she unscrewed the cap and took a deep swig of the icy liquid, letting it run down her throat, soothing the dryness forming from the nerves she felt. Turning around, she made her way to her locker, grabbing a few books, ensuring her personal notebook was included in the pile, hoping she got the chance to spend a few moments collecting her thoughts or the chance to work on some creative writing.

"Who are you?" A voice spoke out, causing Charlotte to jump suddenly where she stood. Shutting the locker, she turned out, eyes meeting the taller girl's as she gazed upon her. "I'm talking to you, you need to answer me NOW!" She demanded, stomping her foot on the ground in a childish manner. Inwardly, Charlotte wanted to laugh at the other girl's actions, put in mind of a toddler having a tantrum. Instead, she kept the giggles buried, opting to give a friendly smile instead.

"My name is Charlotte. I'm new.. obviously. And your name is?" Charlotte offered a way to try and seem friendly, though to be left alone would have suited her just fine at that moment in time. Not that she was anti-social, she just wanted to get to lesson on time.

"I'm Felicity. Now, I'm going to offer you a choice. You can be who you are SUPPOSED to be, or keep up the act you have." The taller girl spoke in a dangerous tone, and the implications struck Charlotte like a runaway freight train, but she knew the best option was to remain calm at that moment in time.

"I don't have a clue what you mean. I'm not hiding anything from anybody. I am who I am, nothing more, nothing less." Charlotte felt her wall quaver under the imposing glare, and the next sentence sent chills through her spine.

"I know you are a boy. I have connections in other towns, and this town is small, my dear. Be careful, or this secret might get out." Felicity purred, smirking coldly at her.

"Oh, piss off you overgrown Barbie doll." Charlotte snapped, mentally kicking herself as the girl clicked her fingers, two of her "friends" appearing by her side, one making a motion to punch Charlotte, which the girl dodged, only to be hit in the gut by the other female, the two attackers flanking Felicity once more.

[Pudding]

Berrie was walking down the hallway with her little posy of girls and guys. They complimented her and gossiped about people in the college.
"Omg you're looking soooooo faboulous right now bez!" Said the confident brunette.
"Did you hear chad is like dating a girl from the marching band? Gross to the max!" Said the gossip loving red head.

Berrie didn't pay attention to what they were saying. "Look guys, I'm kinda thirsty, I could go for a Mountain Dew or something like that" She shrugged and asked where there might be a soda machine.
"O.M.G. Mountain Dew is like, tha best thang ever!" Said the confident brunette.
One of the boys kindly told Berrie that in at the next intersection in the hallway was a soda machine. "Yeah, so like thanks, I'ma go guys!"
The girls followed Berrie forcibly.
"So why are you guys following me again?" Asked Berrie unenthusiastically.
The gossip loving red haired replied with the simple answer of them all being 'The Bestest Of Best Friends'.

Shortly after a conversation that dragged on for what seemed forever, Berrie and co came across to an ugly scene. A red haired girl was being beaten by a bunch of other girls, they didn't stand out at all to Berrie, so she didn't really know them. But she's never seen the red haired girl before, so she must have been new. For some reason, Berrie felt a little sad.
"Look at that loser! Haha yeah! You go girls beat her up!" Yelled the Brunette and Redhead friend of Berrie.
Berrie was disgusted by her so called friends words. "How... HOW DARE YOU!" Suddenly Berrie started to feel rage well up inside of her.
"Felicity, you little scrag, you better get you scrawny ass outta here before I leave boot marks all over your face! Ha, that might even fix up your fugly face a little!".

Felicty turned to look at Berrie.
"You little skank!" She replied. She was all talk and no action, they knew that she had connections.
"Teh! Skanks like you two would get along, girls, lets get outta here!" The three scrags strutted off.

"Wow Berrie! Nice going! Yeah you really told them off!"
Berrie just stopped and turned back to those two. "You two faced..." She bit her tongue. "Just... Just get away from me... You cheered the bullying on, I have absolutely no respect for you two anymore! JUST GET AWAY!". Berrie clenched her fist, the two girls just fled from her sight, Berrie scoffed at them. She kneeled down to see the red haired girl sitting on the ground next to the soda machine, winded, trying to catch her breath.

"Hey, sweetie, are you okay?" Berrie raised her concern for the girls physical shape and offered to take her to the nurses office.

[TheFlyingScotsman]

Throughout the entire slanging match, Charlotte had been cowering against the lockers, hiding her face in her hands. Though she could hear what the others were saying about her, she couldn't quite comprehend the situation at hand.. Was some defending her? It certinally sounded like they were, but she couldn't quite believe anybody would waste time on her, she was a "freak of nature", "sinful", "a trannie"...

Tipping her head up at the softer, kinder voice addressing her directly, Charlotte gazed at the stranger for a few moments, in shock. Her crying and tears stopped, though her face was stained with smeared makeup, blood and tears, minging together on her chin and cheek, dripping on her clothes. Coughing slightly, Charlotte gave Berrie a tiny, frightened smile. "Wh-Wh..What?" She stammered, shock seeming to set in now as she began to tremble violently as the young girl struggled to her feet.

Charlotte's nose was bleeding badly, possibly broken. Bruising was forming already on her left cheek and near her eye, and she held her right side by her ribs gingerly, as if they'd been broken when she was set upon by Felicity and her dim-witted cronies. Swaying a tad on the spot, Charlotte fell against Berrie and began to cry, letting it all out at last.

[Pudding]

The red haired girl started to cry on Berrie.
She was hurt so badly, like something out of an action movie, there was some bad bruising and alot of blood.
Berrie hugged the girl, patting her softly on the back.
"There there... Everything's fine, I scared those gutless gronks away!" The girl continued to cry on Berrie. Berrie was not used to this, so she didn't really know how to react, so she did what any normal fashonista would do. She pulled the girl on to her shoulder, helping her stand to her feet.
"Lets get you to the bathroom, we need to get you cleaned up before we take you to the nurse". Berrie out of instinct swung the girls arm over her shoulder and aidded her with walking to the bathroom, thankfully it wasn't to far away. The girl was still crying, struggling to breath with each cry.
"You must be in so much pain, but don't worry! I'll fix you riiiiight up!"
Berrie reached into her pockets, she pulled out a makeup remover cloth, and proceeded to clean up the excess blood and makeup. It took a little time but she cleaned up the girls face, but the bruising had become more visable, and was a deep purple. "Geez thats' nasty, but I can't cover that up, we need to let the nurse see it... Oh! I know!" She reached into her pocket and pulled out a scrunchy with a cute cherry printrd on it. "Just lemmie... Yep, beautiul!" Berrie tied the girls hair up in a pony tail.
"Right! Now lets get you to the nurses office!" Once again Berrie aided her in walking, but before they begun, Berrie saw what looked like the teeniest smile on her face. Before, Berrie couldn't make out what the girl was saying over her crying, but she had calmed down a little, she mumbled somethings on the way to the nurse.

[TheFlyingScotsman]

Charlotte smiled sweetly at her, following the girl to the nurse's office. Smiling as she reached back and felt her new pony tail, the young woman couldn't help but grin at Berrie's kindness. Sitting down on the bed in the nurse's office, Charlotte swung her legs little, dangling a few inches from the floor due to both the slightly higher bed, and Charlotte's petite build. As she looked around, her hand moved to touch the bruising on her face. "And I spent so long doing my make up this morning too!" She pouted, trying to clear her mind from what had just happened to herself.

As the nurse started to look Charlotte over, moving her nose a little as she checked over the injures Charlotte had obtained in the attack. "Yes.. Your nose is broken.. You can go to the hospital, but they can only set it. I could do it here, but it will hurt."

"Do it. If I'm sat waiting to be treated, it's going to ache while I wait for it to be set. Just relocate it, please."

The nurse nodded, clicking it back into place, as Charlotte nearly screamed in pain. "Ahh!"

"Told you."

Charlotte just pouted at her, sighing as the nurse left to retrieve some creams. "Will we have to involve the police?"

[Pudding]

Berrie was waiting outside the nurses office.
"Poor thing, the heck kind of people do that..."
Shortly her so called friends showed up.
"We heard that you rescued her! You're sooo totally amaz-" Berrie just stopped the girl from talking as she butted in by saying; "Look, I don't want to hear any of your kissing up bullshit right now, there's a person being checked out by the nurse who's badly hurt. I really don't have time for you two."

They gasped, "W-W-Well we never liked you anyway!"
Berried laughed, "Hahaha! Yeah that really hits the spot, like I didn't already know, all you two ever do is rant about boys and other stupid rumors!" Berrie began to scold the girls, she told them off for being complete gronks, mainly for cheering on Felicity.
"Come back to me when you two get your act together, work hard to become decent human beings and maybe we'll talk"
Berries former 'friends' left, crushed by her harsh words.
She overheard the girl talking to the nurse...

"No, unfortunetly we do not have that kind of power, since it was on the school premises and not outside, we'll have to do things directly. So you'll have to talk to the principal. He's currently on vacation for about three more days, so you'll have to hold out until then" Said the nurse very emotionlesy.
She began to tell her how, making friends is easy and she should get out more often, these words only hurt the girls feelings. The nurse shot the girl up with some painkillers and sent her out.
Berrie, surprised the girl as she came out of the room.
"Boo! Haha!" Berrie managed to get a good gasp out of her. The school bells suddenly, out of all times, decided to ring, signaling that the students needed to get to class NOW.
"Oh shoot! Well we better hurry! I've got English then History, talk about a snooze fest! Keep that scrunchy, it'll remind you of me! Haha!"
Berrie laughed and waved goodbye.
"OHYEAH! MY NAME IS BERRIE!" Shouted Berrie down the hall, trying to sound louder than the incomming horde of students.

[TheFlyingScotsman]

As the lunch bell rang, Charlotte sighed sadly. Headed to her locker, the young woman opened it, grabbing her make up and making her way to the bathroom, deciding to eat her packed lunch outside in the sun.

Getting in front of the mirror, she began to work at hiding her make-up, humming as she did so. Grabbing her lipstick, she ran it over her lips, glancing up as she heard a yell of disgust from another student.

"Why are you in here, you're a guy!" Felicity squealed, glaring at her crossily. She moved towards the girl, shouting her mouth off. Charlotte didn't fight back, just letting her run her mouth off at him.

[Pudding]

After the painfully boring lesson of History, Berrie walked out the classroom barely awake.
She yawned, a guy from the year above decided to come over and talk to her, his mates goons were waiting a little further behind him.
"So, Berry, is it? How about, you and me, go out sometime?" He winked and got uncomfortably close to her. Placing his arm on the wall blocking Berries' path. The two were almost at equal height, Berrie is tall compared to most of the students.
"Look, whatever your name is, *yawn* I don't have time for this!" She ducked under his muscular arm and walked off in the other direction. Unfortunately he followed her.
"Cmon! I'm gunna be the best thing that ever happened to you!" His words fell on deaf ears, Berrie spotted a nearby bathroom and quickly made an excuse to get out of this conversation.
"Owww... That pickup line, it was so bad, I think I'm gunna barf! Ewww!" Berrie dashed into the bathroom.
The other two guys patted him on the back. "Don't worry bro, nobody can get her, haha! Sept me! Just you wait, I'll have swoon!"

Ignoring their barbaric talk, she made a sigh of relief only to realize she was not alone in this bathroom. There she was, Felicity and the mysterious red haired girl again.
Berrie quickly pushed Felicity into a bathroom stall, she landed face first in the toilet bowl. "What did I see you dumb gronk! If I catch you picking on this girl again, I'll leave boot marks over your face!
The girl was soaked with toilet water. She ran out of the bathroom with a piece of toilet paper stuck to arse. As the door flung open and shut slowly, you could hear the immense laughter of other students in the halls.

"Haha, guess I saved your butt again newbie! She must have a bone to pick with you or something. I mean she's not normally this much of a B-Yatch. Maybe its her time of the month or sumthin, I dunno..." Berrie shrugged her shoulders, then gasped. "Ah No! My accent darn slipped!" Berrie coughed a few times, and her voice returned to its normal form.

"Yeah, so wassup newbie? Wanna hang out with me for lu... oh..." Berrie bent down to see a broken lipstick tube. "I am, like so sorry! Here, I'll replace it!" Berrie dug into her pockets and pulled out a pretty and slightly expensive lipstick tube deemed 'Peachy Princess'.
"This stuff is just the best, all the rage in France right now!"

[TheFlyingScotsman]

"Isn't it clear why she's picking on me so much? I am not a.... Well, I am.. But I.. I am not really a girl in the biological sense... to an extent. I am a girl, but not a girl.. If that makes any sense?" She sighed, confusing herself more now. "I was a man, and now I am undergoing hormone treatment, to be a woman, Okay? If you wanna go, I understand. Thanks for the stuff." He pointed to the lipstick and scrunchie, getting up to leave the room, tears racing down his face.

[Pudding]

"..." Berrie didn't know what to say.
But she blocked the exit.
"Look, I'm not to smart with all this technicality talky stuff... But you used to be a guy, but you're becoming a girl. You can't just dump these kinda things on me and expect me not to be confused in someway! But, in a way, im glad you told me. Otherwise this new friendship would have been really awkward!"

Berrie put her arm on the girls shoulder.
"Look its obvious you need a friend, come hang out with me now for lunch and we can talk. I mean, I know, I only just met you, you probably don't trust me, but atleast tell me your name so I can say hi in the hallways or something!"
Berrie frowned.

[TheFlyingScotsman]

"I'm... I'm Charlie... Charlotte, Charlotte." He replied softly, looking around the room quietly. Smiling as Berrie's arm wrapped around her shoulder, Charlotte followed her from the room. "Thanks for being here for me. You hardly know me, but.. Well, thanks. Anyway, I was going to go outside and eat in the sunlight. Care to join me, dear?"

Charlotte grinned happily, looking at her new lipstick. "Will it suit me?"

[Pudding]

"Heck yeah! I was gunna ask you to eat with me anyway!" Berrie laughed.
The two sat outside at a bench, eating their lunch. The sun was shining and there was a nice cool breeze. Berrie put a pair of black sunnies on, they were chic and hip, complimenting her outfit.
She was eating her tuna sandwich when she decided to start up a conversation.
"So you new here *munch munch* neva seen you before!"

[TheFlyingScotsman]

Taking a bite of the her own Chicken and Lettuce wrap, Charlotte looked over and nodded. "Yeah, I am. I moved in with my older sister's partner, Ruby. My sis, Amber, is away in the war, and she's not returning home for a few months. My mom didn't want me living with her, so Ruby took me in. Amber doesn't know, we plan to surprise her when she returns back home to us." Smiling, the girl reached into her lunch pack and smiled gently, opening a note.

"It's your first day! So.. I think you should have two candy bars! Enjoy!

-Your new big sister forever, Ruby x

"Here." Charlotte held the bar out to Berrie, smiling sweetly at her new friend. Adjusting the scrunchie, Charlotte put her own sunglasses on, smiling at the rich girl.

[Pudding]

"Heh, so you live with your sisters... Girlfriend?Its really sweet of you to throw her a surprise party, ccan't remember if anyone ever did that for me! But it must be fun to live in a house full of girls! You'll have to invite me over sometime" Berrie was compley unphased by the lesbian relationship, ot didn't bother her a all.

In anycase, Berrie denied the chocolate.
"Ah, I-I... I can't I'm on a diet... There's going to be a fashion show tomorrow, they say the best selected person will be put into a modeling agency" Berrie shook her head, but thanked Charlotte anyway.

She gasped. "O.M.G! I just had, like the bestest best idea! Why don't we both goto the fashion show and enter!" Berrie had a giant smile on fer face.
"cmoooon!" She egged Charlotte on a little, "Lets celebrate our femininity by dressing up in gourgous clothes! I have this bikini i'm DYING to try out!"
Berrie started to ramble on about the fashion show a little, not aware if Charlotte was interested or not.

"I can't do it alone! So you've gotta come!"

[TheFlyingScotsman]

Charlotte thought for a moment, then looked to her. "Am I pretty or even cute enough? What if my true gender is found out? I'll be done for, surely? And so will you." Charlotte sighed, then looked over at her. "And if it is for women, I might not be allowed to even take part. Some people might see it as unfair, or will flip if I win ANYTHING, even if it is just a simple ribbon or the like." Charlotte looked over, meeting her eyes.

"I'll do it for you, though."

[Pudding]

At Berries' Mansion House
Berries' family were sitting in the dining hall, waiting for the butlers to bring out their evening meal. Her mother chatting away on her delux iphone, whilest her father read the newspaper.

Berrie scratched her head an behan to talk out aloud to nobody in particular.
"So I made a new friend taday, she's a real beauty I tell ya, nice girl!"
Her father eyed her. "Really? Who is she?" He said quickly returning to his greypaper.
"Well, shes kinda new ta town! And like she's got red 'air 'er 'ame Charlotte I -
BERRIE HOW MAN TIMES HAVE I TOLD YOU NOT TO SPEAK LIKE THAT!" Shouted her mother, slaming her fist on the table.
"Just because you can pull of an accident doesn't mean you have to use itclike its real!
Oh sorry, just my daughter being anoying as usual... So you were saying..." Her mum returned to her conversation.

Berried frowned. "Me! Annoying?! Dad, what the heck? Dad, are you even listening?"
Her father was distracted by something.
"Charlotte.... Red hair... Where... I read something about a girl like that..."
Berrie tilted her head. "Wassat dad?"
"Ahaha oh nothing! Say I think I can smell pork, I think dinner is ready!"

[TheFlyingScotsman]

Charlotte say on the sofa, legs tucked below her as Ruby sat typing away at her laptop, the two chatting quietly as the older woman worked.

"I made a friend today."

"Oh? Who?" Ruby stopped typing, giving Charlotte her full attention now.

"Her name is Berrie. She's kind and very pretty. I met her earlier, when.. Well, you know."

"Yes, I do.. How are you feeling, Char?" Ruby frowned, looking over at her, as if studying her for any possible injuries that might be playing up.

"I still ache, but other then that, I'm good." Charlotte replied, shifting her legs slightly to prevent her legs from aching.

"Alright, dear. Want a coffee?"

"Please."

Ruby stood up, heading to the coffee maker, humming as she opened the fridge to obtain the milk and a few biscuits. "Do you wanna invite her over at some point?"

"Who? Oh, Berrie. Of course I do! I want her to meet you, you're awesome!" Charlotte replied happily, standin up and moving to help Ruby.

"Anyway, what do you want for your birthday?"

"That's easy. To spend a day with my sister and you."