[CHAPTER TWO] Bait & Switch [DW AU]

Instructions

{ Chapter Two - Cosmo } “It wasn’t me!” Brightney exclaimed for what seemed to be the thousandth time. “I-” “Just so happened to be there.” Sprout interrupts, finishing her predictable sentence. You’d think with how smart she is that she’d have a better defense. “We know.” “Brightney, are you sure you didn’t… accidentally hit her?” I speak up timidly. “You know, since you didn’t have your glasses.” “No!” She snapped. “We were talking!” “Were you angry at her about something?” Sprout asked. He was really trying to get her to admit everything. “NO! We were just talking!” “Sprout, maybe you should leave her alone. She’s not going to give you any answers right now.” I grab Sprout’s arm, pulling him away. “I've got my eye on you, Brightney…” Sprout muttered as we walked out into the hallway. I let out an exasperated sigh, mumbling something resembling an apology to her as we left. “You didn’t have to interrogate her.” I say, staring at the floor, watching my feet automatically walking, following Sprout. Sprout crossed his arms. “If we have someone like her roaming around Gardenview innocently, then more toons are going to get hurt.” “I know you care but…” I start, but trail off. “But what?” “Brightney is-” I catch myself. “Was friends with Vee. She wouldn’t do something like that!” “She would.” He retorted. “Well- E-Even if you think she would, don’t you think she’s too smart to make it that obvious?” Sprout grumbled. “You think it’s her too, don’t you?” I stayed silent. Yeah. I did. But… “Brightney’s always acted like she’s better than everyone!" he continued. “And Vee is generally more well-liked than her by both the toons and children that visited Gardenview.” “So she was jealous of Vee?” “Yeah.” By noon, basically everyone in Gardenview found out about the “Vee Incident”. Gossip spreads like wildfire when the most exciting thing to do around here is stare at the wall and make small talk. However, for some reason, Sprout wants me to have NOTHING to do with it. “You don’t need to be involved in this,” he said. “It’s dangerous.” Gee, just tell me I’m useless already! You don’t need to beat around the bush. I just agreed with him, though. He’s very stubborn and arguing with him is like talking to a wall. Despite the fact that me and Sprout were made to be “best friends” I… don’t really think I like Sprout all that much. He’s very… VERY headstrong, and insists he does what he does to protect us. Protect us from what? A blind lamp? But I’m too nice to tell him any of that. Sprout needs someone to support him unconditionally, so I’m there for him. Even if what I’m supporting him in involves prodding and poking the truth out of Brightney. Sigh. “Hey! Cosmo!” I look up. “Hm?” Scraps walks up to me, wrench in her hand. “I fixed your oven up! …Again. Please stop breaking it.” I chuckle nervously. I’ve broke the oven maybe three times this week. “Sorry, Scraps. Thanks for fixing it, though!” Scraps became our makeshift engineer after the shut down. She’s surprisingly good at fixing stuff up for being made to make crafts. She always seemed to be fixing lights, electronics, and, yes, the oven. It was good to know she was keeping busy. “Mhm! Also, have you heard of the… um… Vee-” “Yeah.” I cut her off. I know what she’s going to say already. If I hear “Vee Incident” one more time today, I may just scream. “I don’t really think Brightney would do something like that…” Scraps shrugged. “But that’s just me. Everyone’s currently pinning the blame on her, so I have to agree with them or they’re going to think it’s me.” “Yeah… I-” Then I see it. In Scraps toolbelt, I see it. Brightney’s glasses. Why does she have those? “...I- um, gotta go.” “Huh?” Scraps follows me as I walk away. “What’s wrong?” I ignore her and walk faster. I remember what Sprout said: “You don’t need to be involved in this.” Yes, I do.