Ritualistic Nonsense
Sugarcoat stood against a wall at the back of Crystal Prep Academy's gymnasium, with her arms crossed as tightly as her eyebrows. She frowned as she took in all of the sights before her.
Wreaths and streamers adorned the walls and ceiling. The corpse of a freshly cut pine tree, adorned with fragile glass bulbs and multicolored lights, stood as the gym's centerpiece. Atop the coniferous cadaver rested an angel, wings spread. Sugarcoat leered at it, then scoffed and picked at her fingernails.
"All of this nonsense is giving me a headache. Do you actually like this, Sour?" Sugarcoat asked the girl standing next to her.
"Oh, I think it's just amazing!" Sour Sweet replied with a wide smirk. She dropped that smirk a moment later and rolled her eyes. "Amazing how it looks like Hearth's Warming vomited all over the place."
Sugarcoat cracked half a smile, then she shrugged and closed her eyes. At least someone here understood.
"Ah, well. At least we're getting some presents out of this. You ever figure out who your Secret Santa was?" Sour asked.
Sugarcoat shook her head and scanned the room with attentive eyes. "Not quite yet. But I do have a good idea of who most people ended up with."
"Hmmmm." Sour placed her fingertips to her chin and eyed the pile of gifts resting on a long party table. "And who's getting your present?" she asked, with a quick elbow jab to Sugarcoat's ribs.
Sugarcoat delivered a swift backhand to her friend's arm and turned up her nose. "I'm afraid that's none of your business."
"Oooh! That means you so totally drew me!" Sour did a preening twirl, then stopped, and deflated, her arms drooping. "Oh, no. You drew me." She groaned. "Ugh. Which means I probably got something super-practical, didn't I?"
Sugarcoat chuckled and raised an eyebrow. "Not that I'm saying who I drew, but you should be happy to receive a practical gift."
"Are you kidding? Practical gifts are boring," Sour said.
"Practical gifts are useful," Sugarcoat corrected, adjusting her glasses. "And useful means you won't be tossing it out at your earliest convenience. Unless you like making garbage."
"Whatever." Sour Sweet bit her lip and rolled her eyes. She then cleared her throat as her attention was caught by a large bowl of punch being placed onto the refreshment table. "I'll be right back," she said as she stepped towards it.
Sugarcoat barely acknowledged her, her attention still focused on the pile of gifts, and the students who were gathered around and practically fondling them.
Her eyes twitched as she spied one particular girl with poofy red hair and thick-rimmed glasses lifting each box to her ear and shaking it. Sugarcoat's crossed arms tensed further, and her shoulders squeezed tighter, with each new box shaken. Her glasses slid halfway down her nose. Before long, she found herself chewing on her tongue.
Then the girl accidentally dropped a box to the floor.
Sugarcoat lost it.
"Hey!" She barked from across the room, causing the girl—and several onlookers—to turn to her with deer-in-headlights-eyes. Sugarcoat cared not one bit. "You have no idea what you're shaking around. You're going to break something if you don't stop!"
The girl glanced over her shoulder, in one direction, then the other, and then the last gift down before running away.
"Most of those aren't even yours!" Sugarcoat called after her. With a disdainful shake of her head, she sighed.
Sour returned to Sugarcoat's side with a cup of punch in each hand. "Here ya go. Drink up and relax." She made a face at her cup. "Not to say that this cheap, bulk-purchased, off-brand punch is any good for either, but still."
Sugarcoat snatched the cup away and finished it with a single gulp. "Thank you. I appreciate that you thought of me while otherwise feeding your face."
Sour Sweet cocked her head as she watched Sugarcoat crush the foam cup in her hand. "Is... something bothering you? You're coming off a bit more... mean than usual. I mean, even for you."
Sugarcoat gave Sour a sharp glance, and pushed her glasses back up. "Yes. Something is wrong." She gestured out across the gym. "I'm stuck somewhere I don't want to be: caught up in a ridiculous 'celebration', and wasting my time watching a bunch of narrow-minded kids obsessing over a pile of boxes filled with crummy gifts that were all bought on a school-board-mandated five-dollar budget."
"Well, yeah." Sour shrugged. "But it's not like we don't do this every year."
"Why does anyone care?" Sugarcoat exclaimed, turning on the other girl. "Why do people care so much about so little? I don't care that it's winter. Winter sucks. It's cold, everything is dead, and it's been that way for months, so by the time all of this rolls around, I've already had it up to here. The last thing I want to do is celebrate!"
Sour gulped and took a step back. Several other students glanced towards the outburst, and scratched their heads before carrying on and continuing to mingle. Sour rubbed her temple with her forefinger and thumb. "Geez. Tell me how you really feel."
Sugarcoat gave the world's largest scoff, then took a deep breath and regained her placid expression as her eyes threatened to pierce Sour Sweet's very soul. "Forget I said anything. We're here. Let's just deal with it."
"Sure, that's fine," Sour said with a mirthful smirk and a quick shrug. "We can just... stand here and be in bad moods together until this whole thing is over. Want more punch?"
Ignoring the question, Sugarcoat pointed across the room at another girl with wild blue hair. "Hey. Isn't that Indigo Zap? Why does she keep peeking over Sunny Flare's shoulder?"
Sour Sweet tilted her head and focused her gaze towards the two. "Looks like she's trying to read her texts."
"So much so that she's rubbernecking. Again: why?" Sugarcoat squinted and watched carefully. Sour Sweet simply shrugged.
Sunny placed her phone into her pocket, and Indigo stepped back with a nonchalant yawn. Meanwhile, another girl Sugarcoat recognized as Lemon Zest wore her headphones around her neck and rested her elbows against the gift table, laughing over some joke Sugarcoat was too far away to hear.
Indigo placed a hand on Sunny's shoulder, and started speaking into Sunny's ear, while also making some sort of hand signal. Upon seeing the signal, Lemon stood, walked over to Sunny and pulled on her arm, leading her behind the Hearth's Warming tree.
Confused and unmotivated to make sense of any of it, Sugarcoat exhaled. "This is what I'm talking about, Sour. Total nonsense, all made possible because of some meaningless get-together. Why do they even look so happy?"
Sour Sweet swayed her shoulders from side to side with an overt starry-eyed smile. "Maybe it's because they're all such great friends and holiday cheer brings out the best in people!" She rolled her eyes and balled her fists. "Or maybe they're just idiots. Seriously, who cares?" She turned to Sugarcoat. "Especially you. Why do you care? You've been complaining about this stuff since we got here, but you won't shut up about it, either."
For a moment, Sugarcoat's harsh stance and fierce eyes softened. Sour instantly picked up on it, and scowled. "Ugh, don't... don't tell me even you're considering giving in to all this garbage."
"Not exactly," said Sugarcoat, her tone inquisitive. "One can't help but wonder, though, what it must be like to be so naïve as to get wrapped up in petty drama and squabbles. What if it's... what if they're actually having fun?"
"Fun?!" Sour Sweet scoffed. "What's more fun than having a bunch of people snooping around your personal business and constantly invading your personal space? Getting punched in the face, maybe? Oooh! Or how about getting shoved into a ditch? Both of those things sound to me like just a little bit more fun than... whatever the heck they're doing."
Sour Sweet snarled and looked across the room, towards where Indigo held a cellphone just out of Sunny Flare's reach, who fought to retrieve it. Eventually, Sunny noticed she was being watched, and looked directly towards Sugarcoat and Sour. Both girls quickly averted their gaze.
"You're right," Sugarcoat finally said. "This isn't worth it."
"Hah!" Sour Sweet placed her hands on her hips and nodded triumphantly. "That's a first."
"What's a first?" asked Sugarcoat.
"You just said I'm right! Even though I was sort of disagreeing with to something you said. That doesn't usually happen," Sour reiterated.
"So what's the big deal?" Sugarcoat said with a huff. "You're just one of the few students in this school I don't consider to be completely moronic and incapable of having a conversation with."
Sour’s eyes lit up, and she puffed out her chest. "Well, it's good to know... that I'm not a complete moron in your eyes. That's all."
Sugarcoat glanced up through her glasses, which sparkled in reflection of the many Hearth's Warming lights in the room. She took careful notice of what appeared to be a genuine smile lighting up Sour Sweet's pretty, freckled face.
Was that a hint of pink emerging across her friend's cheeks as well? Before Sugarcoat could be certain, Sour grabbed her own elbow as her eyes darted across the floor.
"I'm... happy you care what I think about you, Sour," Sugarcoat said. "Even if you probably shouldn't."
"Why shouldn't I?" Sour Sweet asked. "You're the smartest girl in our class... probably the smartest in the whole school! Not that the rest of these nutjobs set the bar that high," she added as she watched a student dunk his own head into the punch bowl.
Sugarcoat watched as well, and shook her head. "Well, you're the most fun person here to talk to. I usually can't predict what you're about to say, which is somewhat rare for me." She paused, then added, "And I... don't just mean that you're fun to talk to compared to everyone else, either. You'd be fun even if you didn't already stand head and shoulders above the competition."
Sour Sweet playfully bumped her hip against Sugarcoat and beamed. "Are you saying that I'm your best friend?"
"Don't you dare. Just five minutes ago you said you weren't interested in that kind of stuff." Sugarcoat recrossed her arms and squeezed them, then cast her gaze towards Indigo, Sunny and Lemon again. This time, Indigo had her arm around Sunny, and Lemon had put her headphones over Sunny's ears. Sunny didn't appear to be enjoying Lemon's playlist very much.
"Hey now, I know what I said. And I meant it when it comes to... some people. Those girls over there are probably having fun, even if it looks a little harsh. I should know." Sour looked at the ground for a short while before continuing. "So yeah, friends aren't terrible. And those friends don't really seem that bad to me.”
Sugarcoat shrugged, then watched Sunny hold her hand up to her forehead and make an 'L' shape upon spying a homely freshman admiring her from behind the refreshments table. Sugarcoat couldn't help but giggle and raise an eyebrow at the sight. "Okay, that's funny."
"Hilarious." Sour Sweet said dryly, as she huffed her bangs from her face and pouted.
Sugarcoat dug the toe of her shoe against the floor and looked over to the other girl. "Wow. You really do care what I think of you. Or for that matter, if I'm paying attention to you." She put her fingers to her chin in thought. "I suppose it makes sense, considering how often we stick together during these types of events."
"Hah! You noticed!" Sour snapped her finger and pointed at her friend. "And that means you care what I think of you, too! If, uh only a little?"
Sugarcoat was about to protest, but a sudden screech tore through the room, bringing the jolly music that had been playing to an abrupt halt. Principal Cinch stood tall on stage, with all eyes on her, as she held the a record player's needle between her fingertips.
"Attention all students! The Secret Santa Gift Exchange will begin shortly. I trust that you all will avail yourselves to each package specifically marked with your name, and retrieve it in an orderly fashion. Let it be clear that anyone attempting to hinder the distribution of gifts will be punished swiftly and severely. That is all."
The music resumed, and Sugarcoat let loose her held breath. "That... was a pretty unnecessary level of intensity."
"You said it." Sour sighed and trudged towards the back of the line that had formed near the gift table.
Sugarcoat followed closely behind her and groaned out loud. With great efficiency, the students each claimed their packages and dispersed to their designated areas of the party room. Sugarcoat cringed at the sight of her gift—noticing with disdain the nametag which read, 'Sugar Coat,'—and forcefully snatched it off the table. She and Sour returned to the corner that hosted the least amount of decorations, and silently challenged the other to open their gift first.
Neither budged.
"Well?" Sugarcoat finally asked after several long seconds of silence. "What are you waiting for?"
"Waiting for you," Sour Sweet replied. "I'm just so sure that you'll love whatever's in your tiny little poorly-labeled box. But, fine, whatevs."
Sugarcoat smirked while Sour Sweet gently tugged at the ribbon holding her own box closed. As it fell loose, she removed the lid and pulled a solid chocolate Santa from within.
Sour Sweet's mouth twisted as her brow furrowed. "This is... terrible. I knew it." She set the sizable chunk of candy back in the box. "I hate it. I really, really hate it."
"But it's so sweet," Sugarcoat teased.
"Shut up and open yours," Sour Sweet demanded.
Sugarcoat shrugged and ripped the wrapping paper off, then tossed it over her shoulder. She opened the unmarked box and peeked inside. Then, for the first time Sour Sweet could ever recall, Sugarcoat's cheeks glowed bright red.
"W-what is it?" Sour asked, reaching for the box.
Sugarcoat forced it closed and shook her head. "No... no, this has to be a mistake. This can't be for me. I must have grabbed the wrong box!" She scrambled to the floor and uncrumpled her wrapping paper.
Sure enough, the gift-tag still read, "Sugar Coat."
"Are you kidding me?" Sour Sweet asked. "You have to show me what's in there. Seriously, come on!"
Sugarcoat tentatively held the box in front of her and bit her tongue. "Okay, I'll show you. But you have to help me figure this out!"
"Fine, whatever. Just show me already!" Sour said, her eyes eagerly locked onto the box.
Sugarcoat grimaced and lifted the top, revealing the contents within. Sour Sweet's eyes lit up... and she burst into a fit of laughter.
"Stop it!" Sugarcoat yelled. "I... I know what this is, I get what it means, but I don't do this stuff. This is exactly the kind of ridiculous ritualistic nonsense I wanted to avoid!"
Sour calmed herself and wiped away a stray tear. "Okay, okay... phew. This is too funny, though," she said as she reached into the box and pulled the mistletoe from within, dangling it above Sugarcoat's head.
Sugarcoat promptly slapped it to the floor and got right in Sour Sweet's face, gritting her teeth. "There's nothing. Funny. About this," she scolded.
Sour Sweet cautiously pushed Sugarcoat's face back. "Eh. It's a little funny to me. I mean, really, who would give you that? And why?"
"Exactly what I want to know," said Sugarcoat as she glared at each and every student mingling across the party.
"Hmmm." Sour Sweet placed her hand on her chin and joined her friend with a quizzical gaze into the crowd. "Yeah, I dunno where to start on that one, either,." she said with a wily grin. "I mean, who here actually likes you that much? Or at all, for that matter?"
Sugarcoat's nostrils flared in response to Sour's dig, and she huffed... then clarity hit her all at once.
"It was you!" she said, whirling on Sour in an instant. "It had to be! You just spelled my name wrong on purpose to throw me off. I'm onto you!"
Sour Sweet raised her hands in mock-surrender. "Whoa, hey!, Why would I send you that? What are you implying here?" she asked, her grin never leaving her face.
"Me?! What are you implying?!" Sugarcoat retorted.
"I'm not implying anything," Sour Sweet said with a grin, her eyes darting to one side. "You're the one saying all this stuff, not me."
Sugarcoat lowered her shoulders and exhaled. "It really was you, though. Wasn't it?"
Sour Sweet giggled and nodded. "What can I say? I just knew you'd love it... not. It took me a while, but I figured out that Indigo drew your name, and I traded with her so I could have you instead.”
Sugarcoat eyed the small plant on the floor and scoffed, then chuckled. "Heh. A prank gift, ultimately meaningless. All because you knew it'd get to me... yeah. You really had me going for a minute. Well played."
"Don't give me too much credit." Sour Sweet jabbed Sugarcoat yet again with a sharp elbow. "It isn't too hard to push your buttons."
Sugarcoat's expression hardened. "Yes, you're a real master of comedy." She turned and stepped towards the building's rear exit.
Sour followed. "Oh, come on! Where are you going now?
"I'm done. I've officially reached my limit. I'm leaving." Sugarcoat opened the door and stepped into the frigid evening air.
Sour shuddered beneath the sudden shift in temperature, and rubbed her hands together. "W-wait. Are you mad at me?"
Sugarcoat glanced back with a raised eyebrow, then continued stomping through the snow, until she reached the dormitories of Crystal Prep's west campus. She held the door to her dorm open, letting Sour Sweet in out of the cold, then let go. The door closed forcefully with a howling wind pushing behind it.
The sound of the door slamming echoed through the empty halls of the dimly-lit building, and both girls stood silently.
Sugarcoat shifted her weight from side to side as she shook the cold from her body. She then lifted a finger and said, "Look. I'm... I'm not mad at you. It really was just the party. Believe me when I say that you were the only thing that made it even somewhat bearable at all."
Sour Sweet sighed in relief and shrugged. "Yeah, that's me, life of the party... which is really sad all things considered."
Sugarcoat chuckled and placed her palm to her face. "You were not 'the life of the party,'" she said as she brushed the snow from her hair. "You were a much better alternative. And I'll leave it at that."
Sour Sweet's eyes softened. She revealed her hand from behind her back, and the previously dropped mistletoe she still held. She carefully dangled it from her fingertips and held it over Sugarcoat's head. Sugarcoat's eyes narrowed again, and Sour's face fell, her heart visibly pierced once more.
"Wait! Hold on for a second and hear me out," Sour pleaded.
Staying silent, Sugarcoat crossed her arms and shifted her weight with a stoic face.
"Okay." Sour collected herself and took a deep breath. "It's just that... as bad as Hearth's Warming parties with those nincompoops are, they aren't so bad when you have someone who gets you standing with you. Remember when you said you sometimes wonder what it's like to be as naïve and carefree as those clueless students? Even if it was dumb? Well... it's just us here. No one's going to see or tell if we give being dumb a shot for five seconds, right?" She looked up hopefully.
Sugarcoat didn't answer, still gazing sternly.
Eventually, Sour Sweet tossed the mistletoe over her shoulder, rolled her eyes, and sighed sadly. "Well, that went just about as well as I had expected... not well at all, that is." She put her hands in her pockets and walked down the hallway to her own room. "I'll, uh... see you when I see you, I guess."
Sugarcoat watched the plant hit the floor as small, dried pieces flaked off of it and scattered. She then watched her friend slowly walk towards her own dorm room, where she was sure to vanish for the rest of the night.
She wondered.
She looked back to the mistletoe.
There it was, lying broken like the useless garbage it really was. Technically poison, she recalled having heard before.
Yet, there it was. A lifeless organism that, to some people, represented many odd and impossibly unrelated things, of which she couldn't even begin to fathom the origins. Insignificant on its own, yet somehow representing so many overly significant concepts.
It was stupid. It was so utterly, paradoxically, infuriatingly stupid. Yet there it was, influencing her own life right now, in ways far too profound for her to possibly be comfortable in giving it any credit. "Symbolism," realistically, meant nothing. That she knew.
She stepped on the plant, crushing it beneath her heel.
"Sour," she then called from across the hallway. "Wait."
Sour Sweet turned around, scratched her head and shrugged. "What?"
With a brisk walk, Sugarcoat closed the distance between herself and her friend.
"Do you actually want to kiss me? Is that what this is all about?" Sugarcoat asked with absolute bluntness.
"Do you really have to ask that, Sugarcoat?" Sour Sweet placed one hand on her hip.
Sugarcoat paused and looked into her friend's eyes. She assessed the situation carefully—very, very carefully.
"No. But..." She felt her cheeks grow hot as she finished her sentence, and placed her hand on Sour's shoulder. "...I wouldn't mind a confirmation."
Sour relaxed her muscles and lowered her gaze, blushing as well. "Well... yeah, I do. I mean, that's what I was going for all afternoon." She sighed. "But who am I kidding? I was stupid to think a girl like you who has it all together would ever want to—"
"Stop talking," Sugarcoat said as she placed a finger to Sour Sweet's lips.
Before Sour Sweet could respond, Sugarcoat removed her finger, then darted forward and delivered a swift peck onto her friend's mouth. A second passed—which felt like an hour—before she darted away.
"You look tired," Sugarcoat said. "We could both do with some rest."
Her heartbeat quickening, her breaths short and shallow, Sugarcoat walked to her room double time. She then quickly yanked her door open, and stepped inside. She closed her door to a slight opening—just enough to peek through and see a wide-eyed Sour Sweet still standing there, her hand on her cheek.
"I... hope that was satisfactory. Have a good night. I'll see you tomorrow," Sugarcoat said before latching the door shut.
Silence followed before she heard Sour say, "Um... goodnight," through the door. A whoop of joy and the skipping of feet followed, fading as they moved away.
Goodnight, Sour.
Sugarcoat sat against the door and hugged her knees in the darkness of the bedroom. Neither her blush nor her embarrassingly large smile would leave her face, no matter how hard she tried.
Eventually she stopped fighting them and elected to bask in the warmth brought about by a new happy memory that repeatedly replayed itself in her mind.
She hugged herself tighter as she closed her eyes and sank into the moment.
And... thank you for the present.
