History's Haughty Hiccups [Part II]
Giantess/Shrinking & Farts
chapter 4
by
RandomAnon
[Flashback continues]
After that tremendously unusual introduction, the rest of the class went about as normally as it could but you couldn't shake the feeling that Isabel kept glancing at you, although you couldn't prove it every time and you'd rather not make any further eye contact. You groaned quietly and thought: 'Valentina is already bad enough and now I gotta deal with this, which is somehow even worse...' You rubbed your temples, as if trying to quell the countless future headaches that this girl would give you. Once again, you felt as if somewhere high up was out to spite you for reasons unknown.
Of course, things would once again take a turn for the unexpected shortly after the bell rang. Students rushed out mostly out of habit although some probably intended to cut the next class. Your friends grabbed their things and walked out of the classroom but they always waited for everyone in the group before heading to the next class and fortunately, you all shared the same classes. However, just as you were putting away your stuff in the backpack, Isabel approached you and at first you decided to pretend not to notice and see if that sent the message.
[Note: The following conversation happens in Spanish, it's rendered in English for pure convenience and to conserve character space]
"Hello there" Isabel spoke with what appeared to be her usual bold, smug tone, putting a hand on your part of the desk as if to demand your attention in all but name.
"Can I help you?" You replied dryly, already on your guard even if realistically there wasn't much you could do to defend against her.
"Ooh, how kind!" She giggled smugly "I wasn't even sure that you still spoke the Mother Tongue, I've heard that many forget their roots around here"
"Look, I'm pretty sure you got the wrong impression from Ms. Coleman... I'm not doing this" You replied, rolling your eyes as you could tell where she seemed to be headed with those piercing little remarks. In response, she surprisingly grabbed you by the chin, which made you tense up.
"Ah, you still speak that cute little colonial dialect, I see. That can be fixed" She smirked.
"Excuse me?" You said, feeling your blood's temperature raise at least a few degrees.
"Nothing bad, just saying that a pro~per educatio~n can do wonders" She chuckled and let go of your chin, perhaps sensing the shift in your emotional state though not entirely caring for it.
"I don't exactly know what your deal is but if you ignore me I'll be happy to do the same, there's no need for this nonsense" You said, almost growling.
"Oh? But who said that I want to ignore you? On the contrary, I'm pretty interes-" Isabel then backed away from you, dodging a certain pale arm that clearly had attempted to grab her and to your surprise, you saw that it was none other than Jen, who looked even more bothered than you were.
"How rude!" Isabel looked at Jen up and down and then seemed to focus on her face for a couple of seconds.
"I believe he was asking you to get lost" Jen said to her and the fact that she spoke as good Spanish as yours seemed to have thrown Isabel off for a moment.
"What?" She muttered in confused disbelief, than shaking her head and regaining some composure "You look Scandinavian. I don't really care if you're a Dane, Swede or Norwegian but a Nordic barbarian should not sully the beautiful Iberian tongue like that" She then said, which definitely did nothing to ease the tension "Shush, this is none of your business anyway" She dismissively waved her hand at her, expecting that to work somehow.
"But it is my business when you're bothering my... friend" Jen said and only you failed to note that slight delay between the last word and the rest of the sentence. Isabel, however, took full note and it seemed that it only amused her further.
"Oh, so that's what this is? Do you really want to play this game, Viking cow? It won't end well for you" Isabel said as she cracked her knuckles.
"Hey Jen, this isn't really worth the hassle, let's just-" You said, sensing that something was going to happen and that you had a duty to stop it from happening.
"Someone has to teach this brat manners, might as well get on it" Jen replied with a huff.
"Lady Isabel-" Marcia pulled up from behind Isabel and tugged at her tank top but the cocky Spaniard brushed her aside with a mere gesture.
Jen then threw a punch that Isabel dodged with ease. Your eyes widened, she normally only showed this level of ferocity with the likes of Toxic Lily and her cronies, Isabel must have pissed her off way more than you had estimated. Jen threw several punches with pretty much perfect boxing form that would've made your dad proud if he witnessed. However, Isabel weaved in between those with remarkable skill that you wouldn't expect from a spoiled brat.
After that first barrage of punches, Isabel reached for her waist and grabbed a... wooden rapier?! Sure, Orihime carried a wooden katana around and that was "her thing" that nobody really questioned given her open secret status as the "Yakuza Princess" but never in your entire life would you expect to see another girl pull off about the same exact thing. Jen appeared unfazed by the weapon and resumed her assault with Isabel employing it to parry her hits and showing off a prowess in fencing that only Marcia must have known about.
"Slow. Sloppy. Completely unrefined, no technique whatsoever" Isabel said as she dodged and parried Jen's attacks and then pointed the wooden sword right at her chest "The barbarians' brutality fell apart the moment actual warfare emerged, chivalry put an end to their nonsense. And just like that, your brute strength does nothing against me, there's a reason why your people don't rule anymore, "
"Neither do yours for that matter" You then replied and her face instantly went red with embarrassment "S-Shut up!" She turned to you, a big mistake as she took a strong punch right in the stomach from a Jen that had gone silent though you could hear her deep breaths.
In spite of her bold claims, that one punch seemed to have messed her up considerably as it got her coughing and struggling to catch her breath though she refused to let go of the wooden rapier, instead using it like a cane to support herself. At this point, before things could escalate even further, Lillian walked in casually as if to check in on you and Jen but you felt that she knew already what was going on.
"Ugh" Isabel huffed and upon seeing Lillian, she correctly inferred that she wasn't a neutral presence and realized that she was outnumbered as well as probably outmatched by Jen alone already. Still, she valiantly regained her composure and put the wooden rapier back in its holder around her waist "Whatever... perhaps we should speak again when company's more pleasant" She said to you, completely ignoring the other two girls as she left in a hurry, followed by Marcia who not only had to carry her own stuff but Isabel's as well... poor girl.
[Conversation in Spanish ends here]
"Are you okay?" Lillian asked the two of you.
"Yeah. That wooden sword hurt a little when it blocked my fists but it's not that bad. Not as hard as Celeste's skull" Jen giggled and even you couldn't resist chuckling at that joke.
"That girl sure is something" Lillian crossed her arms.
"Tell me about it" You said "I swear she seems tailor-made to piss me off"
"Well, no worries, if she's up to her bullshit again I'll give her another dose" Jen said with a proud smirk of her own while making a fist in a triumphant manner.
"I dunno, you might kill what little braincells remain" You laughed a little "Anyway, it's probably best to ignore her. I'm sure she'll find someone else to bother, as you've seen how keen she is at picking fights with people.
"Oh boy, and we'll have to deal with her for the rest of highschool unless she transfers... or something" Zuemy said as she unexpectedly walked in from behind Lillian.
"I was hoping she'd be nicer" Cindy said, being the last to join the group as you finished putting away your stuff and grabbing your backpack.
"That was completely unpredictable, no worries" You said, patting Cindy's head "We can't have all days be good, I suppose" You said and then headed for the next class alongside your friends.