A City Story: The Next Day... Chapter 2

[Misty]

(Hey, guys, if you've got characters that still need to wrap up the night, go ahead and finish it. Whenever you finish, feel free to start the next day off.)


'Beep! Beep! Beep! Beep!'

Felix moaned as he smacked the night stand weakly with his fist. He hit the table again in a weak attempt to punish his clock. He hit it again, this time his fist landing on the clock's head and silencing the blaring alarm. Moaning again, he squinched his eyes closed to block the invading light from seeping through the cracks in his eyelids. Something weightened ran along his arm and across his chest, flickering at his chin, and Felix moaned a third time.

There was no escape.

Morning was there with all its unwelcomeness.

The alarm went off a second time: snooze. The light burned at his eyeslides: sun. Something flickered on his lips: snake.

Opening his eyes, Felix yielded to the day.

A pale narrow scaly face hovered two inches from his nose as the big black eyes peered down at him and the skiny forked tongue flickered in-between it's thin reptillian lips. Grabbing the snake's foot long body in both hands, one just behind the neck and other supporting its body halfway down, Felix picked up his albino corn snake. It was milky white with light tan designs and markings down its back. The snake wrapped its elongated body down Felix's arm in two loops and extended its head towards him. Hiz was excited. It was Monday, feeding day.

Putting Hiz down in his 20-gallon tank, Felix opened the miniature freezer that stood under the table his snake's cage sat on. He pulled out a pre-frozen mouse, sprinkled some vitamins over its fur, and set it down in Hiz's tank. The corn snake slithered over excitedly, tongue flickering over the mouse. He closed the wire lid over the tank and clipped all fours corners down to make sure Hiz wouldn't escape and venture through the house. Already his mom disagreed with a snake in the house. A snake hunt wouldn't make her any happier. Hiz was a good pet. He was just curious and adventurous. And a skilled escape artist.

Throwing on a pair of black and red skating shoes, his black and red hoodie, and a red flat-brimmed hat with red designs to go with his black t-shirt and baggy jeans, Felix grabbed his backpack and thudded down the stairs to find his mom and sister in the kitchen. His mom was at the table, pouring over some sewing work, and Odette was at the counter, perched on a stool as she scribbled in a binder.

Poem day... He remembered with a sigh. This was the day that they were all supposed to bring a poem that they had written as an assignment to British Literature class. He shrugged. What did a poem matter anyway? Would one little poem make him successful? Why did they even bother having that nonsense in school?

With a shrug, Felix grabbed a piece of toast from the plate on the counter and headed for the door. Odette slammed her binder closed, slipped it into her backpack, and followed after him.

[Anwen]

Cock-a-doodle-do!

Gil woke and stared up at the patterned ceiling. Uuuh. What time was it? Gil rolled over and looked at the clock by his bed. 6:00. Time to get up. Yawning, he made his extremely rumpled bed and pulled on his dark red sweats and metallic gold colored T-shirt. After flying down the stairs to the kitchen. There, he fixed himself some fried eggs and hash-browns which he scarfed down quickly. Hurrying to the outdoors track, he tied on his sneakers and began.

Racing around the track in the dim light of a November morning, Gil smiled. He felt freedom when he ran. I do wish I was running in the fields though. Running under a light, even if the whole thing is outside, isn't the same as running into the sunrise and then feeling the sun on your back on the way back to the house.

Racing back to the house, Gil dashed back up the stairs, and took a quick, slightly cold shower. After changing into his school outfit; gold t-shirt, red jacket, and jeans, he combed his hair back to its natural, slightly wavy, and out of his face look. 7:30 he thought as he glanced at his clock.

He picked up his bag and came walking down the stairs this time. He said good-bye to each of his parents, and walked out the door.

[Hwin]

Ada moaned, it seemed as if she had just fallen asleep and now her alarm was going off, waking her up for another day of school. Pushing herself away from the warmth of her cozy bed, Ada walked over to the cold connected bathroom. After showering, Ada grabbed a pair of skinny jeans, a blue shirt and a brown jacket with a furlined hoody. Brushing her long blonde hair dry, she clasped her silver necklece around her neck. All in all, it was a simple look. The way Ada liked it.
It hadn't taken her long to get ready, only 30 minutes. Leaving pleanty of time to eat and gather school books.

After going down three flights of stairs, Ada walked into the kitchen. The smell of toast, eggs and bacon greeted her.
"Hello Mary." Ada greeted the cook as she reached for a piece of crispy bacon.
"And the missus finally desided to wake up. Your father was up long ago, and you best not bug him today, he's in his office with some important men." Came the cook's rushed reply.
As usual...Ada thought absently. He's avoiding me again, but why? This question creeped back again into Ada's mind as she ate her meal.
Finishing up, she threw on her boots and gathered her school books. Saying a quick good-bye to Mary, Ada stepped out into the cold November weather.

[Tinuviel]

Adara woke to the lazy sunshine of mid-morning streaming through her windows. She turned over and glanced at her clock. 9:30. A smile flicked across her face as she sat up and stretched. A gorgeous day. Dara had begun the school year as an independent student, taking some classes at the school and some at the University. Today her schedule was clear, and she looked forward to a calm day at home. Hopefully I'll get a response today.

She swung her legs over the bed and gazed through her sheer curtains out her third story window. Dara loved her view of the city--she could see the formal town square with its historic architecture and the beautiful river. She pulled her thick, plush robe off of its hook on the wall, picked up her smooth leather Bible and began to make her way down the spiral staircase outside of her room. Her room had the best view in the city, but she made up for it by how chilly it could get.

Adara eventually reached the dining room where a casual brunch had been set out on the sideboard. She placed a danish, some strawberries, and some yogurt on her plate and took a seat at the table, enjoying the warm morning sun washing over the room from the bank of east-facing windows. Dara read her Bible as she ate her pastry. I love mornings like these. If I'm accepted as a full-time student at the University, I might not have many more lazy days like this.

[Misty]

Felix strode down the hallway with its sea of people and its walls of lockers and doors, backpack slung over his shoulder by one strap. He knew Odette was following close behind him with her books clutched to her chest as usual, letting him do all the work to clear the pathway. It didn't matter to him because he had no trouble walking the hallway with ease. He owned these hallways; he was the king of them, as were the rest of the seniors that came here. The rest of the population, the juniors, the sophomores, the freshman especially, were at the lower end of the spectrum.

Not only was he a senior, he was the captain of the lacrosse team. People thought the quarterback of the football team was a position to envy, but football was nothing more than a sissy sport in which the refs stopped the game every time the guys got dirty. Lacrosse was the sport of true strength and endurance. But status and rank weren't the only thing that deemed him ruler the school; he had the swag. He had to admit that, with his 5' 7" height, he wasn't the tallest, the biggest, or the strongest, but he was the baddest. He had the looks; anything below presentable was unacceptable. He had the girls; of, at least, the pick if he wanted it. And he had the life; living to the fullest at the top.

But still unsatisfying... He didn't quite understand why. Perhaps it was the lack of height, or the lack of the girl, or the lack of challenge. He just didn't know, but nothing seemed appealing. He had it all. But there had to be something else. He just couldn't figure it out. What?! What else was there that he was searching for.

Only playing lacrosse, playing his guitar, or engrossing himself in street dance eased the aching desire. For a time.

Felix gave everyone who greeted him a polite smile and a nod, hardly knowing most of the people. That was the way it was of a team star. Some made themselves untouchable by the public. He made himself available to the public. Might as well have charisma with status.

At last, Felix turned out of the hall and sauntered into a classroom where he and Odette made their way to the back. They always made sure to come a few minutes early so they could claim it; it was the best spot in the room, where he could get away with a lot more, texting, passing notes, talking even. Freedoms came with the back of the room. He knew Odette, great little student as she was, chose the back to avoid having to talk; the teacher was less likely to choose a student in the back of the room to question or 'converse' with.

[Anwen]

Gil parked his shining car and hurried into the building. He wouldn't be late, he just liked to hurry. He knew how the school hierarchy worked, but he had been the tallest of all his high-school classes, and that in itself made him less likely to be picked on. This, along with his extremely influential father and frequent mood changes, had given him more freedom in the school.

He walked down the halls with long strides and quickly turned into his classroom, nearly walking into a freshman in the process. After much apologies on both his and her parts, they turned their separate ways. Gil walked into the classroom a couple minutes before class and noticed Odette sitting at a desk near the back of the room. He began to move towards the available seat next to her, but stopped as he saw it filled. He shrugged and sat next to the "celebrity" Felix. He was amazed that he had even gotten that seat!

(sorry about the brevity, but I am in a hurry!)

[Misty]

Odette sat quietly in her desk, snuggled up in her black hoodie with its faux-furry gray interior and her fuzzy red scarf wrapped warmly around her neck. She and Felix matched, she had noticed at breakfast, but she expected others to be wearing these colors. They were beautiful and mysterious, pretty with their dark side, like roses with their thorny green stems hiding beneath the blossoming crimson flower, like people, like stories, the imperfection beneath the perfection. They were her favorite colors.

Taking off her matching fuzzy red gloves, Odette stuffed them into the front pocket of her backpack and took out her binder, setting it on the desk in front of her and laying a felt-tip pen across it. Then she waited, her gaze flying to the door every time someone new edged in. She quickly diverted her eyes after a quick observation, not wanting to seem either rude or 'interested'. Chase was now present, she noted. He strolled through the room and down the row beside her that Felix wasn't in.

"Hey," he was talking to the guy who'd started settling down in the farthest back desk next to her. "That's my spot, always has been, always will be." She glanced at the guy who was there now, watching the inner thought process show on his face: defensive, calculating. "Move yourself, or I'll do it for you." Defiant, submissive. He got up and moved, not wanting any trouble, Odette supposed. He probably knew he wouldn't win. "Get a good night in with that little personal body guard of yours?" He was talking to her now.

"Yes," Odette replied with a polite smile.

Her gaze idlly trailed to the door as more movement disturbed the air around it, and her glance hesitated there. It was Gillean! She'd never noticed him in class before... Well, she decided, maybe she'd seen him before. She'd just never been able to put a name to him, seeing as no one had ever told her and she never went out of her way to figure out. She was almost sorry - when he made a move towards the row beside her - that Chase had gotten there first.

"Odette, hello..?" Chase waved a hand in front of her face, and Odette looked over to see him leaning across the aisle towards her, tried to get her attention. "Odette!"

"Sorry," She replied.

And then he continued talking, about lacrosse. Ay, of course...

~~~~~

"Hey, man," Felix greeted Gillean, recognizing him from the lacrosse party last night as the guy he was supposed to tease Odette about, but had never gotten a chance to. It didn't matter; there was still time. He grinned. Especially since he'd seen the guy eyeing her when he'd walked in the room, and even better because he'd seen her looking at him too. "All ready for today?"

[Toph]

Ri walked down the busy halls of the school. Her locker was in the Subterrean locker area, or so it seemed. The doors were covered in various graffiti and were a little more worn and dirty than average. Upstairs, she knew, the pretty, spotless Royale lockers stood like soldiers in a row. Perfectly the same, perfectly locked with little metal number locks.

She opened the door of her locker, which sported a blue and purple graffiti letter that might have been an 'h' or maybe an 'n'. Ri dumped her third and fourth period books in the locker, checked her hair in the little mirror, and taped up a new little doodle to join the others that occupied the space around the mirror. She glanced at her watch. 8:40! School started in five minutes!

Hurrying to her downstairs, pre-cal class, Ri raced by the other students as they milled about. They were already by their classrooms, but were loathe to go in before it was absolutely necessary. Ri entered her classroom three minutes before the bell. She slipped into her assigned seat. The seats in math classes were arranged differently than any other class. Four desks were turned together to make larger, square tables.

Dahnay smiled accross their table at her. "How's the flares coming?" he asked above the other chatter.

Ri smiled back. "Still only two, but I've managed to perfect the landing."

"Sweet." Ri smiled to herself at the compliment. Dahnay was a flare master. As a guy, aided by much practice, he had the potential to reach higher numbers. His record was twenty-one in a row. Amazing in itself, but not the best of the best.

"Settle down now," Mrs. Boyle began and the chatter slowly died down. "Today we will begin with our algebraic review..."

Ri listened half-heartedly to the lecture. She really knew all the review material, and going over it again was a frustrating prospect.

From across the desks, Dahnay passed Ri a piece of paper.

You gonna be at team practice today?

Ri looked up at him and nodded slightly. Dance practice was fourth period, and Ri had been known to skip if she had something important to do. But today she could go and rehearse with the team. The bi-annual competition between all the immediate area's schools' dance clubs was the next weekend after the coming one. Her dance team, (haven't thought of name yet), had almost worked itself into a frenzy. They practiced every day except Sunday. Thankfully, they had already planned their whole routine. Ri wasn't worried about it, but a little extra practice never hurt.

"Ri," Mrs. Boyle's voice woke her from her thinking. She was pointing to the board at the end of a long series of equations.

Dahnay began tapping his desk quietly and Ri counted them. "Five," she answered.

Mrs. Boyle turned back to the board. "Good. Now..."

Ri looked gratefully at Dahnay and he winked. She looked down at her empty sheet of notebook paper. Time to get to work.

[Anwen]

"Hey," Gil said as he settled into his seat, placing his bag of books on the floor by his desk. "Yeah I'm prepared." He looked at Felix again taking off his deep red, almost black gloves. "You're Odette's brother aren't you,... Felix right? I'm Gillean Elcarnin." He surveyed Felix as he spoke. He seemed a good enough fellow, even if he was popular to the general public. He had never been much in the public eye and was happy with that. He had been adulated once (when he won the National OneNation High-school Triathlon) and hated every minute of it. He was able to make friendships easier without it.

[Misty]

Felix nodded as Gillean spoke; yeah, he'd known his name, thanks to Aaron. There was no one at the party whose name he didn't hear from someone, even if he never spoke a word to them-which was a shame; he would've liked to have spoken to every new person. He just never seemed to have a lot of time to get around, especially when the cheer leaders and lacrosse team was involved, which was almost always.

"Yeah." Yep, identified as 'Odette's brother.' "Dude, the poem is such a fricking pain in the back. I couldn't figure out what to flipping write about, and then there's those freaking lines she was talking about, and rhyming, and the syllable 'agreement'. I don't even know half of those things-couplets, octets. Tough stuff." Small talk. He noticed the deep rosewood red gloves; Odette would like that, though she typically preferred intense bright red. She liked deep colors too.

"Alright, class, quiet down."

Felix looked towards the front where the teacher now stood at her desk, walking across the front in that habitual way some teachers had. Suddenly, a few seats up the row, he noticed a familiar tow-headed girl with her long bobcut-probablly grown out since she last got it cut: the Subterrean dancer whose ability to street dance Felix couldn't help but envy. It wasn't really fair that the Subterreans had the dance just because they were born on the streets while the Royales had no connection whatsoever in their pent-up lives except videos on the internet and occasonal crossings on the street.

"As you should remember, and I hope most of you at least attempted to do, we had an assignment yesterday to put our thoughts down in a painting of words on paper. Would anyone like to share what they got first?" Felix glanced around the room as the teacher did, making sure to avoid any possible eye-contact with her. Hardly anyone so much as twitched. "Mr. Smith," the teacher's gaze paused on one of the guys in the front, a guy named Hudson who was involved in the drama area of school; his writings tended to be entertaining, if not promising.

"Yes, Mrs. Jones," he replied with the same tone she'd used in saying his name, which earned him a few laughs from the crowd.

"Would you please come to the front and share with us what you have," Mrs. Jones tapped on the center of the desk as she edged around to the side.

"I would, Mrs. Jones." Standing, Hudson grabbed a piece of paper that was laying on top of his desk, walked to the front, around the desk to stand behind it, laid his paper down on top, and cleared his throat, wringing is hands. "I lay there in the night." He leaned out across the desk, giving the class an intense look. "It was stuck in my bed, that I had to make my plight." He pounded the desk as if he were preaching. "Through the land of gum drops, through the land of the night." His voice was dark, as if he'd had to set out on the very quest to take the evil ring of Sauron to the Mountain of Doom himself. "What was there, what did I see? Nothing but gumdrops met my sight." He bowed his head. "Thank you." Then he made his way back down the row of desks to his seat.

"Thank you, Mr. Smith... for that... heart felt work." He nodded, giving Mrs. Jones a 'heartfelt' look. "I suppose you've almost got a quatrain and a couplet there... Anyone next?"

(The teacher is open for use; just remember, to keep her in character, she calls students by their last names)

[Anwen]

Gil didn't get a chance to answer Felix before class started. It was just as well really. He wouldn't know what to say! Gil winced inwardly at Hudson's 'poem,' then deliberately made eye contact with Mrs. Jones, as Hudson went back to his seat.

"Mr. Elcarnin, please come forward and share your lines."

Gillean walked forward, paper in hand, stood behind the desk, and began:

"A Wizard known as Gandalf, Middle-earth
Once roved. He’s clad in garments, travel-stained
And wore a pointy hat. In times of dearth
And times of mirth, his wisdom he maintained.
He was the first of all the wise to think
About the Shire, knowledge there he gained
Of Halflings small, who from adventure shrink

He was a trekker dressed in robes of gray,
And in his wrinkled hand, he held a staff. (he read it light-hardheartedly up to this point)
He led the Nine who walked through darkened halls (Darker now)
Within the dwarves' abandoned city, cold.
Until they heard the drum, for death it calls,
A Balrog then was overthrown, but laugh
His friends could not. He fell that fateful day.

Now he returned unto his friends; a task (intense)
He must complete before his final rest
But now he glimmered under his grey mask
That shrouded whiteness and his aura best.
That Wizard Grey, now he is brightly white
Mithrandir walked the ramparts high he brought
Much hope to men, he was a gladdening sight

So how he, Gandalf, won in this Great War
Is now a goodly tale in elfish lore."

Gillean bowed his head, "thank you for listening." He said, before walking down the isle.

"Thank you Mr. Elcarnin for that well-written piece of Anglo-Saxon style poetry." Mrs. Jones turned her attention to the rest of the class. "Who would like to go next?"

[Misty]

Ay... Obviously, the guy did not have the same ideas about pointless poem assignments that Felix did. Over-achiever... He might as well put that piece right up there alongside Beowulf. Felix glanced back around the classroom, joining the teacher as he looked across the students, she looking for the next victim. Like pulling teeth... He wondered how the teacher even chose, with her sea of choices. What made any of them stand apart from one of the others?

~~~~~

Odette looked down across her paper as she covered most of it with her arm, blocking it from anyone's sight. 'Happiness, where can one fi...' one word peeped out at her. She couldn't go up after that; no one could hope to top that much less stand next to it. For the teacher to call anyone up to follow up that would be an insult, a lost cause.

Besides her poems were meant for no one's eyes but her own. The teacher could see a glimpse into one of them, just to get her a decent grade, but she wasn't aloud into any more than that. And neither was anyone else in this class for that matter; they had even less title to it-

"I suppose we'll go up the rows, starting with one." Odette's ears grew hot. That meant seven students before her, since there were eight in each row, Hudson had already gone, and she was in the back of two. "Mr. Collins, if you would." Perhaps, if she were lucky, by the time they were finished class would have ended.

[Hwin]

Finishing off another detailed doodle, Ada glanced at the clock pearched on the white wall. 20 minutes until lunch. It always seemed as if time was against her during classes before lunch or before school was out. Absently, Ada began on another doodle, the forth one on her already covered paper. Swiftly, she guided her hand to give just the right shading to the hair and a personal feel the eyes and face. Suddenly, Ada felt somthing on her shoulder. Turning around she saw Mrs. Janson (the Junior's teacher).
"I know you are usually very good about listening when you draw, but I have just called on your name three times without reply."
Ada felt her cheeks grow hot as a few guys snickered and some girls upfront giggled.
"I would appreciate it if you would pay as much attention to my teaching as you do to your drawings. Or else I will not permit it anylonger."
"Y-yes ma'am. I'm sorry." Ada said with a polite smile, although at the moment the smile felt false.
Now, after that mishap, the minutes felt as they had five jammed into one.

[Misty]

The time Odette had been dreading was slowly inching its way forward, tick by tick as the clock's hands jerked around the center of the clock, passing over the numbers, word by word as the students took their turns standing and plodding to the front read their work, beat by beat as she unconsciously held her breath willing the clock to ring. Ten minutes... nine and a half minutes... nine minutes... eight and a three-fourths minutes... eight and half minutes... eight and a fourth minutes... eight minutes... Time seemed to be stretching out longer, its evil laughter hidden somewhere in the background as it sceemed to get her and her poem up there if it was the last thing it did.

The student in front of her grudgingly rose to his feet, stretched, and began shuffling to the front of the class.

"Today, Mr. Swan, if you will," Mrs. Jones urged, her voice somewhat monotone. The look on her face was beginning to grow robotic too. The thoughtless, feelingless teacher pushing them on.

Tomorrow, Mr. Swan, if you will... Odette soundlessly contradicted her teacher, hoping there was some form of brain waves that would fly out and smack him in the face, causing him to stall, delay, take his time, anything. Five minutes, she checked the clock. Only five left. All he needed to do was take up all three hundred seconds of it.

[Anwen]

Gil watched every student plod up to the front, recite their mediocre(if even that) poems, and shuffle back to their seat. You could tell no one was very interested in what they were doing. Gillean was mildly perplexed by the dirty looks some of the students were giving him. What, I can't write a half decent poem without being despised!?!

He looked over at Felix, who looked like he'd rather be anywhere but in that classroom listening to Robert Swan's robotic lines. He looked past Felix at Odette. She's up next isn't she... wonder if she'll do a good job... Gil glanced at the clock. Suddenly, he wanted time to slow down.

[Misty]

"Ms. Rodriguez." Odette soundlessly glanced up at Mrs. Jones to meet her teacher's steely gray-eyed gaze. Her teacher didn't bother to speak because Odette already knew why she was saying her name. The time had come. The moment she had been dreading.

Unwrapping her fuzzy red scarf to lay it on her desk so that she could breathe easier-it was already burning up in there as it was, seeing as her mocha brown cheeks were already flushed-Odette grabbed her paper and slowly stood. She walked to the front, dreading to turn towards the class. Thankfully half of them weren't paying attention. Then again, she found herself surprisingly somewhat disappointed that they didn't care so much as to listen to what she had to say. Here she was, the one time she was sharing a glimpse of her inner self to someone besides Pancho, and most of the people didn't even care enough to hear. Chase was paying careful attention, she noticed as he caught her eye. He was mildly interested in her work-or was it her attention. A jolt coursed through her chest when she noticed Gillean watching her too, and her cheeks flushed warmer. It's only because you're standing where people can, she reminded herself, attempting to calm her roiling nerves.

"Ms. Rodriguez."

Clearing her throat, Odette took a deep breath, lifted her paper and glanced down at her writing. The blurry letters took shape, and she took a speaking breath-

'EEEEEEEEEERRRRRRRR!!!!'

Sounds of shuffling paper, scooting desks, and thudding books filled the room as it burst to life in the form of students packing up and grabbing their backpacks to head to the next period.

"Alright, class!" Mrs. Jones shouted in a vain attempt to keep a little bit of order. "Leave your poems on my desk and don't forget to read your assignments for the next class!"

Students filed passed, dumping their papers in a messy pile on the teacher's desk as Odette lowered her eyes and shoved through the crowd in the opposite direction to get back to her desk. She didn't understand it. Here she'd been hoping the bell would ring before she had to get up and read her poem, but now that it had happened she was disappointed.

[Anwen]

Grrr! Why did the bell have to ring?! He hadn't heard even a portion of Odette's poem! He realized he was scowling at the bell, and quickly calmed his face. He gathered up his backpack, and walked over to Odette's desk. "Hey, I'm really sorry I didn't get a chance to hear your poem. It probably would have topped the whole class." Mine wasn't very good. I just couldn't find the right adjectives! Gil smiled and walked towards the door.

[Misty]

Odette smiled up at Gillean, lowering her eyes shyly to avoid that penetrating exotic blue-eyed gaze. Her heart fluttered in her chest as clutched her paper closer to her chest. She hoped the paper wouldn't get too hurt in her moist hands. She almost wished she could walk out with him and get to know him a little better, but that was impossible. He was already headed out the door, and she was headed back to her desk where Chase was taking his time stalling as he packed up so he could suck up her attention.

"Close call there," he commented as she walked down the row. "You barely made it out of there."

"Que suerte," Odette answered in a resignated tone.

Hesitating over her binder, Odette slipped her poem back into its pocket and withdrew a different one. From English to Spanish. The poem was just as much one in Spanish as it was in English, so technically her teacher couldn't fail it. Besides, all these grades were pretty much participation grades anyway more so than actual quality grades. This one should suffice just as well. Who was her teacher to read and understand her writing?

Odette slammed her binder shut, stuffed it into her back pack, zipped the pocket closed, and swung it over her shoulder. She grabbed her scarf, letting it drape over her arm, and plodded towards the door, Chase walking up the row beside her.

~~~~~

Felix slipped through the door, easily making his way through the sea of people who were plodding along around him. He punched in the code to his locker and opened the door. It wasn't too bad of a mess in there, though nothing as organized as Odette's locker was. She tended to be the type to care about little details like that. As far as he was concerned, the locker served its purpose whether it was clean or not. He shoved his English binder inside, switching it out for his Physics book.

[Toph]

Ri slammed her notebook shut right at the bell ring. Yes, she had been watching the clock. Pre-cal was her least favorite subject and an hour and a half of any subject always had her counting down the minutes.

Dahnay followed her out the door. "What you got next?" he asked, slinging his black backpack on his shoulder.

"Royale Lit," Ri replied with a grimace. To say reading and analyzing the endless Royale books and ballads was a drag would be an understatement. Ri found the works of literature tedious and dull.

Dahnay began to turn a corner. "I'm off to West Culture," he said and waved.

"Good luck with that," she called after him, comiserating.

Ri glanced around quickly. There were only a few small groups of people talking quietly and no one seemed to be paying attention to her. Time to make her move. She walked easily toward the stairs, trying to pretend she belonged where she was headed.

The top floor was light and clean, and there, to the left, the girl's bathroom. There was one downstairs, of course, but Ri would die first before she ever used it.

No one was paying attention to her. Any longer and they would notice the misfit Subterrean, but at the moment, they still talked animatedly and headed toward their classes.

She was almost there, only fourty more feet! Thirty- a shoulder suddenly appeared to Ri's left and it hit her on the side of the head. Ri prepared to dart away, but the voice stopped her.

"Watch where you're going," he snapped. Realization dawned on his face. "Hey... You're from the ghetto, aren't you? Dirty Sub scum shouln't associate with us Royales. You might recognize how pathetic you really were compaired to us."

Ri glared at him, her hands already turned to tight, white fists.

"In fact," he went on, brown eyes glittering under a frame of black hair, "Why are you even up here?"

Ri could feel her face get hot. "I..." she gritted her teeth, hating the tears that she struggled to keep from springing to her eyes.

"Go back to the gutter where you came from, roach." He scoffed as the girls he had been talking with began to laugh.

She would have run away then, but she was glued to the spot. Her fingernails dug into her palms and her throat felt tight. The tears hadn't broken free yet, but she knew that any minute they would run down, humiliating her further.

"Trent, stop teasing her," one of the girls said lightly.

"No," Trent answered firmly. "They need to know once and for all what they really mean to the world, to us," He paused for effect and Ri noticed other Royale groups watching. "Nothing." His brown eyes bored into her own purple ones as a tear slipped down her cheek. "And what's up with your eyes? Did you get some kind of disease down there with all that dirt and germs?"

[Misty]

Felix's ears perked to the sound of a nasilly gloating tone, though he hadn't really been in tune to the words. "...disease down there with all that dirt and germs?" His mind began picking out words he had subconsciosly heard in the back ground. Ghetto... Scum... Roach... There was no doubt about it. The voice was addressing a Subterrean individual. And he knew just whose voice it was too.

Slamming his locker shut with a beginning fist to the door's back, Felix slowly turned around, teeth clenched as he glared back. "You would know a scummy cockroach when you saw it, wouldn't you," he growled as he shoved his palm into Trent's shoulder. "It takes a piece of filth to know a piece of filth. The only problem is that you're stupid and blind because you can't even identify one if it smacked you in the face." He shoved Trent away as the guy glared at him. "You wanna be entitled to talking that way, why don't you earn the honor and get tough. Picking on girls. You wouldn't last a day out on the field if your life depended on it, that's how pathetic you are."

Silence filled the air as the hall hung in a strange eerie silence. Onlookers paused to watch, backing away from him and Trent to create a sort of circle and wait for whatever came next. Trent clenched and unclenched his fist, the muscle in his jaw flexing as he ground his jaw. Felix tensed.

'EEEEEEEEEEEEERRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR'

The hall sprang back into a bustle and people hurried about rushing to get to their classes.

[Misty]

Ri watched the boy stand up to Trent, even though Trent was taller. Looking closer at him, she recognized Felix, captain of the lacrosse team. He obviously had a lot of confidence, a quality that Ri could not help but envy.

Ri didn't neccesarily want it to break out in a fist fight, but seeing Felix stand up for her caused a warm glow in her chest. Even though she knew he would probably do the same for anyone, it felt special to have someone on her side.

Their eyes met for a moment as the bell rang and Ri thought about thanking him, but he was gone in the crowd before she could move.

Hurrying towards the stairs, Ri glanced wistfully at the bathroom before it too disappeared from sight. She was headed for a tardy and a very uncomfortable hour and a half of Royale Literature.

[Anwen]

Gillean walked briskly down to his locker, dropping off his British Literature textbook, and grabbing his Latin. There was only one Latin class in the school, and less than half the number of people in average classes. I guess I'm one of the few people that realizes the Latin is the building block of many spoken languages today. Gil thought wryly as he sat in one of the sixteen chairs in the room. "Salve magister!"

"Salve Gillius, dei servi noster patria*"

"Deo servo nostra patria." Gil echoed. And Latin class commenced.

Pardon my poor Latin... "dei servi noster patria" means The gods preserve our fatherland.

[Misty]

All through class Felix couldn't bring his mind to focus on what the teacher was saying, what his book was saying, or anything else around him. I am such an idiot... He just left... He didn't even say anything to her. She knew street dancing! He'd seen her at the lacrosse party! And he let her get away... Since when did he ever care about tardies anyway? Dang it... Maybe she cared about being late to class anyway. She might not have stuck around. Perhaps another time he could get her.

[Toph]

Adam slid the roller out from under the car with his feet. He sat up and wiped his dirty face with his arm. "Shcultz, what else needed to be done with this one?" he called to a passing supervisor.

"That's it, man. You wanna move on to the next?" John Shcultz called back.

Wiping his oily hands on his jumpsuit, Adam headed for the bathroom. "Nah, my shift's over."

"You wanna stay an extra hour?" the manager asked from the counter as Adam passed.

"Can't today," Adam replied, knowing that if he did stay it would end up being an extra four hours at least. Normally he would do it, even if it was for a measely five bucks an hour plus a next-to-nothing Royale tip, but today he had something important to do.

In the bathroom, he showered quickly in the public shower. He wished for shampoo as the cold water ran down his back, but he hadn't had the money to buy it for himself for a week now. Ri had some, he always made sure she did, but he never took any from her. As a girl, her hair would need it more anyway and he didn't want her to be the hygene-lacking laughing stock of the school. Instead, he slicked his hair back with gel.

Adam slipped his royale jacket over his suit as he headed out the door. Time to play pretty boy for Ri's new employers. That is if that suspicious celebrity was legitimate and actually wanted to give a subterrean a decent job.

[Anwen]

Gillean enjoyed Latin class, even if his teacher was an extremely crusty old man. The class was encouraged to talk here. In Latin anyway. They had made it through most of the rules and grammar by now, and now mostly practiced their vocabulary in conversation. One of his Subterrean friends, Reynard, was his banter partner at that time.

"So Gillean, I see you have a girlfriend now."
"I have no idea what you're talking about."
"You're a sly one! Do you think your friends are blind? I saw you going out of your way to speak to that Rodriguez girl."

Ah... That's what this is about.


"Why do you guys always assume that, if I make friends with a girl, she's always a 'girlfriend?'"
"We simply want to see you 'get with the game.' We're just looking out for you." Reynard smiled foxily.

Gil was about to reply, when he was 'saved by the bell.' He said his good-byes as he picked up his books. Time for lunch

"See you later Gillean."
"Good-bye Reynard."

(Any orange words are in Latin.)