RE: Trailer Trash chapter 355 & 356

   Springton High School, at the outside courtyard during the lunch period. Along the very outer ring edge of tables, a youthful girl dressed in dark clothing sat, all by herself. She was slender and possessed fair features; her hair was dyed ink-black but shone with luster, and her eyes were as clear as pools of autumn water. However, all of the other students kept a wide distance, with few daring to draw any closer to her.

   Elena Seelbaugh preferred it that way.

   “Aiyo, what’s gotten into you?” Alicia Brooks asked with a sigh, sitting down to join the girl without invitation. “I wanted to leave you be today, but you look so troubled that I really just couldn’t bear to do it. What’s wrong, Elena Seelbaugh?”

   “Nothing is wrong,” Elena Seelbaugh replied with an air of indifference, not even giving Alicia Brooks a glance. “It’s just...”

   “We’re friends,” Alicia Brooks reminded her, as she saw that Elena Seelbaugh didn’t want to speak. “We’re friends, and so—your troubles are my troubles, your burdens are my burdens!”

   “I’ll not bother you with trivial matters,” Elena Seelbaugh said, dismissing the matters as if they were trivial. “Some trials can only be faced alone…”

   Elena Seelbaugh’s words trailed off and her lofty expression hardened into an impassive mask, because a small procession of students was approaching their isolated table. Leading the group at its head was a figure that couldn’t be any more familiar to her—Carrie Elwood! The same witch that had attempted to lure Tabitha Moore out of the Williams family’s residence and entrap her into a confrontation with Erica Taylor.

   That confrontation had happened anyways, but Elena Seelbaugh shuddered to imagine how things would have turned out if Tabitha Moore had been attacked alone outside the manor, where there would have been no witnesses! Her friend’s life had been hanging by a thread—if not for the immediacy of them rushing the girl to safety, she would have surely breathed her last breath!

   Then, Erica Taylor and Carrie Elwood could have made up any excuse they liked, Elena Seelbaugh thought inside her mind, her eyes narrowing. Erica Taylor is facing justice now—but this Carrie Elwood hasn’t answered for her crimes!

   As always, Carrie Elwood dressed in an ostentatious manner, wearing a fur-collared gilet several grades above what most Springton students were able to afford, with the Tommy Hilfigure brocade insignia prominently sewn upon the lapel. Her golden hair was ornamented with jadelike butterfly clips from the Claire’s pavilion in the prestigious Sandboro mall, her eyebrows were like fine feathers and muscles soft like snow, and Carrie Elwood’s frosty disposition could be summed up with the words—ice princess!

   “I thought to take pity on you and invite you to tea—on account of us once being like sisters,” Carrie Elwood lamented, glancing from the Snapple tea she held and then back up to Elena Seelbaugh with a mocking smile. “But to think you really went so far as to cripple your own popularity base!”

   In the eyes of all the Springton High students, Carrie Elwood’s words were an indisputable truth! The Elena Seelbaugh of just last month had been lauded by many as one of the most promising youths in the entire school. Her countenance had been sunny and fair, her reputation had been advancing swiftly for her age, and even though she was considered at the peak of the freshman class, she was still kind and courteous with fellow disciples.

   Now, however, Elena Seelbaugh took pains to avoid her peers, ceasing to cultivate her image of a bright young beauty, and dressed herself instead in the black of funerary clothes. It could only be described as shocking! One of this generation’s coveted white lilies had instead become as strange and inauspicious as a black lotus! Gossip and rumor found its way into the ears of many students, most believing she’d gone berserk in the practice of her fashion subculture and was experiencing some manner of social deviation. In their eyes, what other reason could there possibly be?

   “So what if I did? What does my popularity have to do with you?” Elena Seelbaugh answered with total disregard to Carrie Elwood’s status. “Drink Snapple? With you? I would sooner drink poison just to quench my thirst!”

   The curious onlookers all around them watched with rapt attention. Since ostracizing herself from the grade’s main cohort, Elena Seelbaugh had rarely spoken—some had even thought her struck dumb or began to take her for a mute. Her instead replying to Carrie Elwood in such a bold manner went against all expectations!

   “You!” Carrie Elwood’s eyes flashed with cold fury, and she nearly dashed the bottle of Snapple against the flagstones of the school in a fit of rage! “Good! Very good! A shameless cripple like you still has the face to brag!? I’m warning you, Elena Seelbaugh—don’t refuse a toast only to drink a forfeit!”

   “Could it be your own popularity has reached a bottleneck?” Elena Seelbaugh guessed with a meaningful smile. “So, you hope to use me as a stepping stone? Hmph, as expected—you could only come this far!”

   In fact, though it now seemed that Carrie Elwood had risen to new heights and held every advantage, the girl had been struggling to consolidate her popularity. With several of the more tyrannical sophomores that had opposed Tabitha Moore either expelled from the school or forced to kowtow in apology after a suspension, a rift had appeared in the hierarchy of student alliances. Though Carrie Elwood had used every advantage and stolen every opportunity to fill the political vacuum, she was still but a reed that bent in the wind, subject to the myriad swaying and flowing influence of common opinion.

   Elena Seelbaugh had instead chosen the more bitter and difficult path. Forsaking the popularity she’d painstakingly built up wasn’t simply a true loss, however—this experience was tempering her spirit. Advancing one’s popularity through ordinary means slowly accumulated impurities in one’s temperament, which Elena Seelbaugh was now expelling. Circulating the beautiful and endlessly profound lyrics to My Immortal filled her with meaning and continuously forged Elena Seelbaugh’s resolve to go gothic.

   The haunting melody Tabitha Moore had sung for her was like spellwork, and in the hours since she’d been lost in thought trying to unravel the meanings hidden within that song. For it to have such a calamitous effect on the inner core of Elena Seelbaugh’s very being there was surely some profound mystery or secret, but exactly what it might be continued to slip through her grasp and elude her.

   “I know why you begged and pleaded your wretched way into the Halloween lakehouse party,” Carrie Elwood’s voice rose until all of the students gathered in the school’s courtyard could hear her. “This shameless freshman slut was hoping to seduce a sophomore—Matthew Williams!”

   Gasps of surprise and murmurs of agreement resounded throughout the crowd. Who hadn’t heard rumor of Elena Seelbaugh’s interest in Matthew Williams in the prior months? With the clever twisting of her words however, Carrie Elwood meant to imply that Elena Seelbaugh had sinister intentions! Perhaps Elena Seelbaugh had hoped to borrow the status and prestige of the prince-like Matthew Williams by fawning upon him and his wealthy family. The other youthful girls present here felt awash with jealousy, thinking to themselves that Elena Seelbaugh was a toad lusting after swan meat! The expressions of the young men darkened as well, thinking to themselves what was so great about Matthew Williams? In what way could they not compare to him?

   “Say whatever you like,” Elena Seelbaugh said, treating the girl as though she were a simple passing cloud that wasn’t worth another glance. “What you think means nothing more than a joke to me.”

   “Why don't we make a little wager, then?” Carrie Elwood asked with a provoking sneer. “I bet that before the end of the week, Matthew Williams will agree to be my boyfriend! ’ll wager twenty United States dollar bills!”

   “Why not make it fifty United States dollar bills?” Elena Seelbaugh challenged with a mysterious smile. “Do you dare?”

   There was a sharp intake of breath from many of the nearby students who had been listening in on their exchange. United States dollar bills were a precious cultivation resource for any youth of Springton High School; even the wealthy young masters here could simply never have enough United States dollar bills. The coveted notes were a precious commodity used as currency even beyond their province of Kentucky.

   “Fifty United States dollar bills?! Despicable!” The girl standing at Carrie Elwood's right leapt forward.

   “You're courting death!” Carrie's other lackey declared, her face turning black.

   “Hmph!” Carrie Elwood waved back her followers with a flick of her sleeve. “Fifty United States dollar bills? Why would I not dare? I only hope your Seelbaugh family can bear such a heavy price!”

   “Elena…” Alicia Brooks began to protest in a hesitant voice. She knew her friend was domineering, but this was fifty United States dollar bills! That was no small sum!

   What Alicia Brooks had forgotten in the heat of the moment, however, was that the two of them already were in possession of a certain important truth! They had discovered Matthew Williams was already engaged in a secret courtship with Casey Miller! In deference to their friendship with the pair of young lovers they had both kept silent on this matter and word had not yet leaked out. Carrie Elwood was completely unaware of this critical fact, and had lost her own wager before it had even begun! Truly face-smacking!

   “My father is a core practitioner of transcendent law, and his legal firm is one of the nine great pillars of Springton,” Elena Seelbaugh answered. Her clear face was like a tranquil pool, without a single ripple of concern. “Trash like you who can only cling to the thighs of the sophomore disciples need not concern yourself with the affairs of my Seelbaugh family’s pockets!”

   “Y-you!” Carrie Elwood gnashed her teeth.

   “Elena Seelbaugh has Mr. Peterson and the entire Art department supporting her!” Alicia Brooks scoffed. “She doesn’t even have to put Carrie Elwood in her eyes.”

   “Oh, so you haven’t heard?” Clarissa Dole spoke up.

   “Heard?” Alicia Brooks asked. “Heard what?”

   “I'm afraid this matter indeed isn’t simple,” Clarissa Dole sadly shook her head. “Mr. Peterson is an elder of the Art department, yes—but  rumors throughout the sect say that those sophomores Carrie Elwood has been fawning over have the backing of Coach Cooke!”

   Alicia Brooks staggered at receiving the ominous news as if she had been struck a shocking blow, while Elena's pupils sharpened to a knife-like quality.

   After all, Coach Cooke was head of the Sports department! In their province of Kentucky, an Art department elder like Mr. Peterson was not even fit to be mentioned in the same breath as a venerated teacher from the Sports department! The Springton High sect had always favored the martial path over the more obscure profundities of the arts.

   To make matters worse, in the generations since the foundation of the school, the Art department had continuously fallen into decline, failing to produce any young prodigies capable of ascending beyond their foundation stage. Even an arts genius like Alicia Brooks who was as rare as phoenix feathers and qilin horns was still only just an outer disciple, while young experts pursuing the dao of football or basketball were as common as clouds in the sky!

*     *     *

   “Shameless!” Carrie Elwood spat, unable to quell her rage. She’d thought that with Tabitha Moore out of the picture Erica Taylor gone, her own rise to prominence was set in stone! “Someone needs to teach that slut a lesson!”

   “How does that Elena Seelbaugh even qualify to be compared to our Young Miss Carrie?” one of the girls exclaimed. “Hmph, she has eyes but can’t even see the Appalachians!”

   “Fifty United States dollar bills? A wastrel good-for-nothing like her really only knows how to flaunt her family’s wealth!”

   “Doesn’t she know our Young Miss Carrie has the support of several juniors and seniors?” Another sycophant chimed in. “I don’t believe that slut won’t be willing to give face to upperclassmen. The freshman class has always bowed their heads and given respect to their seniors— or does she intend to overturn the traditions of our Springton High?!”

   “Another freshman dares step all over our Sports Department?! Good! Good! Good!” Coach Cooke roared out three times as he slapped a hand on his desk. “I’d really like to know where they get their courage!”

   As a former semi-professional football practitioner, Coach Cooke was an enormous man with arms like tree trunks and eyebrows like swords. Within the halls of Springton High he was celebrated as a hero, a tiger among men. Who else but him could summon the wind and the rain by simply turning his hand?

   Had news of Elena Seelbaugh’s challenge to Carrie Elwood reached his ears at any other time, Coach Cooke would have just taken it as words not worth a fart. However, it had only been a few weeks since the matter with Chris Thompson!

   It was bad enough that the state officials hadn’t sought his opinion regarding Chris Thompson, and remembering the matter once again had Coach Cooke furrowing his brow in displeasure. Chris Thompson had been one of the favored disciples he had been grooming personally! There hadn’t been a doubt in his mind that with a bit more nurturing and guidance in mastering the secret footwork technique Coach Cooke had been passing down for generations, Chris Thompson was a rare talent. Without the young dragon of their star running back representing them, he’d been unable to win any face for Springton High in the recent competition with Fairfield High!

   Chris Thompson’s expulsion from Springton High really had Coach Cooke’s intestines turning green with regret! The boy had indeed erred, of that there was no doubt. But, expelling him from the sect for such a mundane infraction was going too far! A hot-blooded temperament was to be expected from disciples of his Sports department, for how else could Coach Cooke forge these youths into young heroes? If those despicable administrative officials had only given him his due and left the matter to him, Chris Thompson would simply reflect on his actions in the detention hall and his training regimen would be doubled or tripled as punishment!

   Coach Cooke had reasoned with the officials until he was blue in the face, but his council fell on deaf ears—all of the sudden it was as if his words weren’t worth a fart to them!

   He couldn’t make any sense of it. The Tabitha Moore girl was a nobody without any standing in the first place, and her family’s abject poverty made the circumstances of the minor injury suspect. There were always despicable characters muddying the waters and using any means to climb up from where they belonged in the natural hierarchy of things. To Coach Cooke, the Thompson family was already generous enough in offering recompense at all! The matter should have been as good as settled!

/// These chapters a discord joke that eventually got fleshed out to become the 2022 April Fool's satire chapter for Royal Road. For the uninitiated, the writing style was in mimicry of Chinese webfiction and shamelessly leans into every idiom and trope. There are a lot of parallels between high school and Xianxia melodrama that were fun to explore. A few more additional floating sections that didn't get posted up:

   "Did you forget our bet?" Elena Seelbaugh challenged. "Do you, Carrie Elwood, intend to go back on your word?!"

   "Humph, so what if I am?" Carrie Elwood mocked. "I'd like to see what you, a mere freshman student, can do about it!"

   "How black-bellied can you be?!" Alicia Brooks shouted. "Aren't you also a freshman student?!"

   "Hah! With my grade-point average and standing within the Springton High Sect, I can already be considered a half-step Sophomore!" Carrie Elwood gloated.

   "Heh, then don't blame me for being impolite!" Elena Seelbaugh said, leaping to her feet.

   "What?!" Carrie Elwood took two steps back. "Don't go too far!"

    *     *     *

   "Who are you to interfere in the matters of our Springton High sect?!" Carrie Elwood sneered.

   "It--it's indeed Great Mistress Karen Williams! As well as Education Minister Pamela Cribb! It's our sports department's honor for this small matter to be in your eyes!" Coach Cooke hurried to cup his fists in a show of respect. "To what do we owe such a visit?"

   In actuality, Carrie Elwood's careless words nearly caused Coach Cooke to spit  out a mouthful of blood! How could she not recognize the Great Mistress Karen Williams?! Hadn't Carrie Elwood boasted to everyone before about that she'd been welcomed into the Venerable Officer William's estate for their Halloween gala?

   "But, earlier you said--" Carrie Elwood began to whine.

   "Unfilial child!" Coach Cooke interrupted with a roar. To think that he had believed the idiot girl's shameless bragging and found himself in such a terrible position today—truly, there was no medicine for regret! "Quickly, bow down before the Education Minister!"

   In truth, however, it wasn't the Education Minister he was afraid of, but the terrifying power standing beside her! Everyone knew that Great Mistress Karen Williams was the pampered wife of Venerable Officer Williams! Even a martial elder of the Springton High Sect had to kowtow before a Springton Police Officer. Before the might of the Springton Police, Coach Cooke's position was a joke!

   A dispute of a mere Fifty United States Dollar Bills between fellow disciples of Springton High was a trifle to Coach Cooke, but the scrutiny of the Police Department was definitely not! Principal Howe was willing to turn a blind eye to the forbidden medicines Coach Cooke used to build his impressive physique, but if suspicions were roused and a drug test came about, he could kiss his career goodbye!

   Worse yet—even putting Venerable Officer Williams aside, Coach Cooke wasn't unfamiliar with the amount of social influence of Great Mistress Karen Williams possessed herself! Which ladies from throughout Springton's esteemed clans weren't clamoring over each other for the honor of being invited to the Great Mistress' estate for a meal? Coach Cooke's wife had joined the Springton First United Methodist women's choir in hopes of currying favor with such a personage! If he offended the Great Mistress here and thereby incurred his own wife's displeasure, Coach Cooke might as well simply wash his neck and wait for death!

   "The Great Mistress is here to borrow a certain treasure from the art department elder," Education Minister Pamela Cribb stepped forward to explain. "The Phoenix Transcending Tribulation print! The depiction of the young heroine Tabitha Moore rescuing Venerable Macintire from his heavenly tribulation will be displayed at the Police Officer's banquet!"

   "Phoenix, What Phoenix?!" Carrie Elwood scoffed. "Rumors have instead said--"

   "Who said such nonsense!?" Coach Cooke barked. "Hah! Let whoever spoke such nonsense step out so that I can give them a good beating!"

   "Oh, if it isn't Coach Cooke?" Mrs. Karen Williams remarked in a cold voice. "Wasn't it /your/ disciple who pushed my poor Tabitha Moore and caused such an incident for the sect?"

   "Aha ha, well you see," Beads of sweat began to dapple Coach Cooke's brow as he spoke, "when members of the Springton High sect are exchanging pointers--"

   "So, we have your teachings to thank for a senior bullying a junior, then?" Great Mistress Karen William's voice grew even frostier.

   "No, no--I wouldn't dare," Coach Cooke wrung his hands.

   "Then scram!" the Great Mistress dismissed him.

   "Yes, Great Mistress!" Coach Cooke was in such a hurry to leave that he used his own Nine Yards Ghost Step technique to escape! Even then, Coach Cooke was cursing his parents for not giving him more legs so that he could run away even faster!

   *     *     *

   “Bro, what the fuck are you talking about?” Joe asked.

   “Huh?” Bobby blinked.

   Big Trouble in Little China had already finished playing at some point and the credits were rolling up the screen. He didn’t even remember watching it, this time.

   “I asked whatever the deal was with that shit that went down at school,” Joe rubbed his bleary face and ran a hand through his hair. “You went off spouting lines like it was some mystical oriental adventure, like Elena was the Golden Child or some shit.”

   “I did?” Bobby frowned, looking around in confusion. “I don’t remember what I said. What’d I say?”

   “It was all like, it was like,” Joe lifted both hands as if he could describe it with gesturing. “Fuck, I don’t know. I forgot what you said.”

   “You’re high as fuck, bro,” Bobby shook his head in dismay. “Rewind the tape, I missed like, the entire ending this time.”