Chapter Text
90 days to notice me
~Chapter 1~ Pitaya’s arc
The University campus was quiet that day. Even the cafeteria; which is usually packed with students rushing a quick snack before class, was empty except for 5 individuals talking.
Pitaya, Ananas, Lychee, Lotus, and Longan were all sitting in the cafeteria, despite their volume, anyone who was there didn’t bat an eye.
Pitaya dragon, one of the youngest of their siblings, stood up preparing to give an announcement.
“Ssso, I have sssomething to sssay.” Pitaya said standing up from their seat.
“I won’t listen to anything you say if you keep rolling the s.” Lychee
teased.
“Let them speak Lychee.” Lotus sighed, looking at their phone.
Both Ananas and Longan eyed Lychee with a “Let the fool speak” look in agreement with Lotus.
“Ugh, fine! But it better be interesting.” Lychee said, crossing their arms.
“Ssso,” Pitaya paused, with a little red glow on their face, “I really like Hollyberry… Alot.”
The group went dead silent for a solid minute. Lotus looked up from their phone. Ananas closed the book they were reading, and Longan sat up in their seat.
Then Lychee burst out laughing.
“YOU LIKE HER?!” Lychee said chackling, “YOU; PITAYA DRAGON LIKE HOLLYBERRY?!”
“SSSHUT UP!” Pitaya yelled, hitting Lychee in the back of the head with a water bottle.
“HA, out of all people you would be the last person to like anybody!” Ananas was also laughing in a quieter tone, “And plus, with the school year having only ninety days left, how the HELL are you supposed to get her to like YOU?”
Lotus and Longan both nodded in agreement with Ananas and Lychee.
“Besides,” Lychee scratched the back of their head, “Doesn’t she consider you just a-”
Pitaya put their hand over Lychee’s face to silence them, and looked down the hall; The entire group turned their heads to see what Pitaya was staring at.
Hollyberry was talking to Pure vanilla near a message board close to the cafeteria exit.
Pitaya smiled, and their face glowed a nice shade of dark red.
“I see…”Ananas raised an eyebrow, ”And how long have you liked her?”
“Two yearsss,” Pitaya sat back down and kept smiling, “Ssshe’s just perfect I guessss…”
Longan Dragon, the oldest, got out of their seat and knocked on Pitaya’s forehead, their face showing visible annoyance at Pitaya’s confession.
“Do you hear yourself?” Longan scolded with a monotone voice, “It’s pointless to obsess over this crush of yours.”
Despite Longan’s warning Pitaya was still staring at Hollyberry; starstruck.
“Helloooo?” Lychee said, waving their hand in front of Pitaya’s face, “Earthbread to Pitaya?”
“What?” Pitaya said, coming back to reality.
“Longan is right…” Ananas commented, “You ARE down bad.”
The entire group chuckled except Pitaya laughed, no matter how much Pitaya wanted to disagree with them, Ananas was right.
Pitaya could easily recall when they realized that they had feelings for Hollyberry. Despite knowing her since the 6th grade, they were completely oblivious to it until 2nd year of college.
They could remember like it was yesterday, they had forgotten one of the many items they had, it didn’t matter which one because after their classes; when Pitaya realized they left it behind, Hollyberry had returned it to them. It normally wouldn’t have been as big of a deal, but Hollyberry looked like she went through war and back to return it to them.
Once Hollyberry had returned it she had one of the biggest smiles on her face. That single moment made Pitaya’s face light up whenever they thought of her. The idea that anyone would go through such lengths for them was foreign to them, so when Hollyberry did it was the equivalent to love at first sight.
“I’d personally like to see where this little crush goes.” Lotus said with peaked interest.
“I would as well.” Ananas also stated, “Besides, it would provide a bit of entertainment for 3 months.”
“I don’t care if you confess or not Pitaya,” Longan grabbed their things and stood up preparing to leave the cafeteria. “Just don’t make it an issue I have to deal with.”
The rest of the group also packed their things and prepared to leave the cafeteria. Pitaya was the only one who stayed back, still watching Hollyberry and Pure Vanilla.
“You guysss can go without me.” Pitaya said, staying in their seat.
“Lemme guess…” Lychee snickered, “You wanna watch your… crush~”
“Lychee, if you open your crusssty mouth one more time I WILL throw a table at you.” Pitaya retorted.
“Damn.” Lotus said under their breath.
With a final goodbye the four had left the cafeteria and Pitaya sat there alone. Then from across the cafeteria Hollyberry and Pure vanilla noticed Pitaya and sat next to them.
“Hey! Pitaya what's up?” Hollyberry yelled in a loud voice.
Pitaya’s heart jumped for a moment but managed a reply.
“Jussst sssitting down,” Pitaya replied looking at Hollyberry, “What are you two doing?”
“We were just looking at the campus calendar,” Pure vanilla said, fiddling with his glasses, "It's the last couple months of the year, I wanted to see if there are any extra exams to take.”
“And I wanted to see when the last Friday of the school year was!” Hollyberry smiled, “I’m planning an end of year party!”
“Really?” Pitaya asked, “Who will you invite?”
Pitaya wanted more than ever to be invited, although the thought was stupid they decided to hold out hope that Hollyberry had them on her mind.
“I don’t know yet!” Hollyberry pulled out a small note pad from her purse, “ I was planning to write who I would invite but oddly enough, no one immediately came to mind.”
“This is why I recommended studying for final exams Hollyberry.” Pure vanilla said face deep in a medicine textbook.
“You're no fun Vanilla!” Hollyberry sighed.
“I’m just saying, there is no way you’re passing Kingdom Management if you don’t study!” Pure vanilla retorted, slamming his book shut.
Pitaya’s head rang with ideas to get Hollyberry to invite them to her party. If they only had ninety days, they had to make each one count.
“Hollyberry,” Pitaya’s hand was lightly tapping the table, “If you are going to invite anyone at the campusss, who would you want to asssk you?”
“Well…” Hollyberry paused and flipped through her notebook, “Like I said, I don’t know! There are so many people I want to invite, and not nearly enough space in my dorm!”
“I sssee.” Pitaya sighed.
Pitaya wasn’t exactly a party person. Matter a fact, the only time they went to parties was for free food; That’s one of the things Pitaya and Hollyberry bonded over.
Pitaya also had no idea how to get Hollyberry to invite them to the party. Of course they could just ask, but the idea that Hollyberry could reject them scared Pitaya just a bit too much for comfort.
“Maybe you should invite Dark cacao, or Black raisin.” Pure vanilla said putting his book back in his yellow and blue bag.
“And maybe…” Pure vanilla paused, “White Lily?”
“Her…” Hollyberry paused.
“Wasssn’t ssshe the sssame perssson who left you all for a different ssschool and didn’t contact you until yearsss later with a bit of a sssuperiority complex?” Pitaya said amidst the long pause.
“Yes, but she has gone to therapy and changed!” Pure vanilla advocated.
Pitaya did remember the “old” White lily as Pure vanilla always said. She used to be kinder in the 6th grade. But when she returned the last year of high school, she had distanced herself from everyone else, including Pitaya as well.
Pure vanilla was the only person who still attempted to interact with White lily after her change, but he never seemed to really get to her. Hollyberry and Dark cacao were uneasy about White lily at the best times, but Golden cheese completely hated her. Pitaya also felt uneasy about White lily but didn’t concern themselves about her anymore.
“Look, I know she wasn’t the best back then but-“ Pure Vanilla was cut off.
“She left us, and didn’t even bother herself with contacting us!” The voice from down the hallway boomed with frustration.
“Golden Cheese, I know you don’t like her, but-“ Pure vanilla was cut off again.
“No matter how much gold I gave her, White Lily never returned!” Golden cheese yelled slamming her hand on the table with enough force that Pitaya almost fell out of their seat.
Pitaya knew about Golden cheese from Hollyberry’s descriptions of her. Someone who would give you anything and everything, but somehow also hordes all of her items. They also knew Golden cheese was loaded with cash at all times because of her parents who died in a terrible accident. Hollyberry said once Golden cheese learned about this, she vowed to have the fortune to prevent this from happening to anyone else.
That was probably the reason why Golden cheese was so furious when no amount of riches she had would get White Lily to come back to her, and the rest of the group.
“I just think White Lily needs some support after she dropped out.” Pure vanilla replied, “I still have her number, so it would only be fair.”
“Only when she shows the light in her heart hasn’t grown cold after ten years!” Golden Cheese said with the same volume as before.
Pure Vanilla and Golden Cheese kept arguing about White Lily, while Pitaya and Hollyberry sat to the side as awkward spectators.
“How…often do they argue about thisss?” Pitaya whispered to Hollyberry.
“Not often,” Hollyberry replied, “Pure Vanilla doesn’t like confrontation, and Golden Cheese avoids talking about White Lily entirely!”
Pitaya decided to leave the area and return back to their dorm. While it would have been interesting seeing Pure Vanilla and Golden Cheese argue about White Lily, they could tell Hollyberry was getting actively uncomfortable.
“I think I’ll take my leave.” Pitaya said packing their things.
“You probably should.” Hollyberry sighed, “It doesn’t look like they will stop arguing anytime soon.”
Pitaya got out of their seat and prepared to walk away from the table before Hollyberry stopped them.
“Also Pitaya, I wanted to have a small meet up with some friends from High school,” Hollyberry smiled, “Y’know, Tarte Tatin, Royal Margarine, and Wildberry!”
Tarte Tatin and Royal Margarine were old friends of Pitaya. They met when Pitaya had a group project back at highschool; it required five people so Pitaya, Hollyberry, Tarte Tatin, Wildberry, and Royal Margarine grouped together. Since then, they have been best friends.
Pitaya’s opinion on the others in the group had not changed since then. Tarte Tatin and Wildberry were always too serious but had a decent soft side, and Royal Margarine was a goofball that was often the butt of every joke.
“Sssure,” Pitaya said, “I’ll try to be there!”
“Glad to hear it!” Hollyberry replied, waving Pitaya goodbye.
____________________________________________________________
Pitaya walked back to their dorm. They were roommates with Ananas and Longan. Pastry University separated all of the students into dorms of three or two. The one who makes those decisions is Timekeeper, she was the Room director and main one who coordinated the entire university.
Timekeeper was known for making some of the most crazy yet interesting events at the University, so no matter what you asked her for she practically always found a way to do the opposite, all in the name of fun.
Apart from the Head mistress Sugar swan who was the leader for anything that happened at the university. She was the more calm of the two, and just so happened to be able to stop the University from becoming the equivalent of a circus.
“You’re back already?” Ananas asked, peaking their head out of a study room, “I thought you would have stayed back and talked to Hollyberry for a lot longer.”
“Pure vanilla and Golden cheesssse sssstarted to argue about an old friend, ssso I left.” Pitaya replied.
“I would’ve hoped you did something interesting!” Lychee slammed the room door open.
“Lotusss, Lychee?!” Pitaya almost screamed, “What are you doing here?!”
Lychee walked in the room, hopped into a chair and placed their laptop down.
“Felt like it!” Lychee said with a smug grin.
“Lychee flooded the kitchen AND the bathroom…” Lotus corrected.
“Really…” Longan said entering the door behind Lotus.
“DON’T SAY THAT LOTUS!” Lychee yelled, “Plus, Longan, where have YOU been?!”
“I have a job.” Longan said in their signature monotone voice, “I considered staying at Millenial’s tonight to get a break, but I figured something would have happened while I was gone.”
“HA,” Lychee laughed, “It seems like everyone is in a situationship these days!”
“First Pitaya, now Longan!” Lychee snickered.
“Can sssomeone ssshut Lychee up…” Pitaya said through Lychee’s laughing fit.
“Unfortunately, it seems their babbling doesn’t end.” Ananas replied, stepping into the main area.
Lotus then harshly played the strings of their mandolin to get the others' attention.
“I would like to fix the original problem at hand,” Lotus said. ”Afterall, I’d hate for my stuff to get wet.”
The group made their way to Lotus and Lychee’s dorm, which was, in fact, completely underwater.
“I’m not helping you.” Longan turned around, “This isn’t worth my time.”
“I’m…going to finish what I was doing.” Ananas also said, quickly leaving the room.
“Jussst what were you both trying to accomplish?!” Pitaya said, stepping over a floating book.
“I didn't try to flood the dorm, Lychee did.” Lotus said, walking into the dorm.
“HEY! Just because I accidentally forgot to turn off the bathroom and kitchen sink, doesn’t mean I did it INTENTIONALLY!”
“You turned both on just to annoy me, then forgot to turn it off.”
Lotus corrected, sitting on their blue bed.
“How in the world are you ssso calm about thisss?!” Pitaya said.
“Most of my stuff isn’t damaged.” Lotus said, "However, since Lychee’s things are closer to the bathroom, THOSE are definitely soaked.”
“AW SNAPS!” Lychee ran to get their things from the room.
“We will most likely need someone to fix this, and in the worst case, we will have to switch dorms.” Lotus said.
“Well, that doesssn't ssseem like my problem.” Pitaya replied.
“You can’t just leave!” Lychee yelled, holding a mountain of items, “We have a mess to clean, and you haven’t helped us yet!”
Lychee suddenly dropped their things on the floor, and despite their small size they grabbed Pitaya by the collar and practically started yelling at them.
“And I am NOT going through the hassle of asking the Room director for a new dorm! That woman is mentally unstable!” Lychee screamed, “And plus, what if she puts me with some RANDOM people I don’t even know! I can’t be seen in that predicament!”
“That'sss… a call I’m not helping you with.” Pitaya said slowly, wiggling out of Lychee’s grasp and leaving the room while closing the door.
Once Pitaya opened the door back to their dorm, Ananas greeted them with a book in hand.
“Did Lychee and Lotus ever solve the whole flooding issue?” Ananas asked, leaving the door open.
“Nope,” Pitaya replied, “But I also have an isssssue on my mind.”
“If this is about Hollyberry, spare me the details.” Ananas quickly said.
“Well…” Pitaya paused.
“Knew it.” Ananas replied with a smug grin.
“Look, it'sss really sssmall,” Pitaya said, “And if you help me I’ll leave you alone for two weeksss.”
“And…?” Ananas pointed to their book.
“Fine, I’ll buy you new booksss every week.” Pitaya frowned.
“Deal.” Ananas sat down on a spare chair.
“Anyway, Hollyberry invited me to lunch with her friendsss.” Pitaya said.
“And how does that concern me?” Ananas replied.
“I… have nothing good to wear, and you have the mossst money out of all of usss.” Pitaya continued.
“Doesn’t Longan actually have the most money?” Ananas asked, “And even if I did, I have no intention of spending any of it on you.”
“I thought we had a deal.” Pitaya said.
“Fine.” Ananas sighed, “But if you embarrass me, I will rip your hair out.”
“You wouldn’t do that…” Pitaya stepped back.
“I would.” Ananas said innocently.