Having repeatedly found himself to be the target of prejudice, intolerance and preconceived notions, especially over the past year, Rio would usually try not to judge people based on appearances and other such superficial traits. He knew that more often than not, there was more to a person than would meet the eye, and he didn't believe people to be as one-dimensional as they might seem when you didn't know them. He tried to keep an open mind about everyone, and tried to see what might lay behind the behaviour they displayed. Mean, crude, arrogant and judgemental behaviour in particular. People weren't born evil, so whoever targeted others in some way and/or put them down, had to have something in their mental or emotional baggage that caused them to act like that.

None of this meant that Rio would in any way condone such behaviour, but he did try to understand it. To a point. He was only human after all, and had been put through quite a bit of verbal and even physical abuse for being who he was, mostly by a particular group of people, and so it was only natural that he wasn't completely immune to the treacherous nature of bias. Jocks and preps were two cliques where he struggled to understand the individuals, and ever so often, he would fail. He was still only a teenager, and didn't have the patience to ponder other people's problems for too long. And since trying to understand them rarely yielded anything useful - in general, they still tended to treat him like dirt, regardless of whether or not he figured out why - he did harbour a bit of a general aversion towards them, yes.

Thus, had he known what was going through Lauren's head - the mild exasperation at his reaction to Sidle kissing Brennan, and the various strategies of how to make herself a part of Brooklake's prep clique - he wouldn't have been all too thrilled, and odds were he would have grown quite a bit more reserved. Not because she wanted to be one of the preps, but because of the manner in which she was contemplating to achieve it. He would have thought he'd had her pegged wrong.

As it were however, Lauren appeared to him to be a rather pleasant person to be around, sans mood swings, and so remained just as open and straightforward as he usually was with people he got along with.
Though her comment did earn her a bit of a quirked brow.

"Do I want to know?", she asked, but before he'd had a chance to even consider answering, she changed her mind; "You know what, dont answer that. Don't. I don't think I want to know."

A comment worthy of a quirked brow indeed.
She didn't see it? After what had just happened between Sidle and Brennan, and the (granted, biased) description Rio just given of the former, she didn't see why it made sense for Sidle to have acted the way he had? Behaving like a complete jerk and targeting others, just so that no one would get to thinking he actually had anything in common with the people he condemned? It was such a classic front for plain ol' insecurity.

But oh well, whatever. If she didn't want to know, she didn't want to know, and Rio most certainly wouldn't force anything on her.

"Hey do you move around alot?", she asked as a way of changing the subject, and soon followed it up with a second question. "What's you family like?"

To Rio, they both came somewhat unexpected, given the circumstances, and he couldn't help but to give a minor pause before answering, as his eyes lingered thoughtfully on Josh. Unlike Sidle, he still remained in the gym hall, hands now full with an enraged girlfriend, not to mention being stared at by practically everyone, with eyes that only a minute ago had shone with acceptance and envy, but now shone with something else entirely. Poor guy... Coming out wasn't an easy thing to do, Rio should know, and the thought of not getting to chose the time and place himself, of being outed by someone else, made him almost wince with sympathy.

For a moment, he downright contemplated going over there, to see if Brennan was okay, or at least give him a little support, but soon decided against it. Considering the jocks' and preps' attitude towards him, he'd only risk making things even worse for Brennan. And what was more, he didn't know Brennan, and so for all he knew, him going over there might even prompt Josh to launch himself into the kind of behaviour typical of an aggravated jock in denial: Despite it being too late to undo the damage, he might still try, by turning on Rio and beating him up, just to make a point to everyone. And Rio really wasn't tempted to act the part of punching bag.

Consequently, he remained where he was, and after a second or two, turned his attention back to Lauren.

"Yeah, I've moved quite a bit...", he started, slowly at first, but then gave a slight smile as he finally let go of the Sidle/Brennan scene. "Typical army brat. My dad's a training officer, and he's been stationed all over the country, so yeah... And if I'm a typical army brat, he's a typical officer. Sometimes he forgets me and mom aren't his soldiers, and his word is the law. But he's okay mostly. And mom too. They're just a little too uptight sometimes, you know?"

Having said that, he figured he'd gone as in-depth about his family situation as he was comfortable doing with someone he didn't know - the problems he did have with his parents, wasn't something he'd go touting to just any and everyone - and so turned the question back to her;

"How about you? I got the impression from Jon you've lived here for some time, and just changed neighbourhoods? How come?"

Pain.

Physical pain is such a common thing. Everyone knows it. Everyone experienced it and will experience it again. Pain is an integral part of life. Unavoidable. He knew pain too well. He remembered it too well. That unbearable pain that crushed him that day, like a living nightmare, expect that you don't get to wake up. No, you open your eyes and you know. It happened. And you feel it. This is all you can feel. A gnawing pain on a useless body.

It was not a fight anymore, it was a mob killing and he was not the kind of guy who took free shots at someone in Esteban's position, no matter how tempting it could be. But he wasn't going to stop them from doing it either. That *** was getting what he deserved. What goes around comes around right? And as he had stepped back to contemplate actively the beating, the heat of the fight was wearing off, drawing acutely aware of the rushing pain through his head, token of that last blow. God. How he hated this. Not the pain in itself but that feeling it entailed, that subconsciously reminded him how his own body could fail him. Pain was a weakness. Something that Ethan both rejected and negated. Something he fortunately knew how to get rid of. And he was planning to, as soon as he could. He just had to get the meds that were...

“What on earth is going on?”, interrupted suddenly a familiar voice, preceded by a shrilly whistle.

He didn't even had to look on the face to recognize the person who delivered that speech. Mrs. Jaym. Damn. This looked bad. A fight right in the middle of a room crawling with chaperons? Killjoy were to be expected at one point, hopefully rather later than sooner. And even if being the perfect guilty party didn't necessarily mean that he couldn't at least reduce the damages, being interrupted by Trunchbull, was bad news. With her, they were all guilty until proven innocent.

And as he was trying to think of a way to make this mess look better, Katie delivered her plea in a perfectly mastered shaky tone:

“Mrs. Jaym… my friend Penny and her boyfriend were here, dancing together minding their own business, when Cynthia, for no reason, out of nowhere, dumped a cup of fruit punch on her head.“

He glanced at Cynthia, who stood there, wordlessly, her face displaying a righteous indignation, apparently as unable as he was to find a valid explanation. It's not like she could say that she tripped and inadvertently spilled her drink on Penelope.

“So I figured the decent, friendly thing to do would be to stand up for my friend, and then one of the football players dumped punch all over me. I wasn't going to do anything on my own of course that's what the school and the discipline codes and stuff are for."

And there it was. What the teacher's pets did best, apart from sucking up, although it was involved in the process: Run to the most biased teacher around and play the victimization card, making it look like the wicked cheerleaders and their sidekicks the big bad jocks were once again bullying some poor students without any motives other than pure nastiness. Wait for the sentence. And rejoice. But one thing surprised him and he threw a scrutinizing look over Katie. One of the football players. Was the anonymity intentional ? She had no problem naming Cynthia. It's not like it mattered anyway but it was intriguing...

“And then Esteban came over to try to help, and they just ganged up on him after he hardly did anything!", concluded Katie dramatically.

That conclusion was soon followed by a chorus of muffled protests, and as Wes comment "That's bullshit" reached his ears it echoed perfectly Ethan's own thoughts. Maybe the first part of her little tale was credible but that last part was so not. Holy Esteban, protector of the retarded. Yeah, he was such a nice guy, the kind that would neither ever beat the crap out of someone and send him to the hospital. Next thing she’ll try to convince them that he spend his free time giving candies to grannies and militating for world peace too.

As Cynthia tried to add her voice to the objections “That’s so not fair!”

“So, you didn’t dump a cup of punch on Penelope?”

As Mrs. Jaym had swiftly brushed aside Cynthia, Ethan, who had been fighting internally his need to stand up and share his version of the facts settled in keeping his mouth shut. With that much witnesses, denying the obvious seemed a bit pointless. Besides, she was hardly the kind of teacher that you could easily sweet-talk, and contradicting directly the teacher's butt minion without anything or anyone other than the interested parties to back him up was not a good idea. Every word he would say had a chance of backfiring him... or someone else. No, the best thing to do was to keep a low profile. For now. Finally breaking the oppressing silence, the coach dryly stop short any eventual argument that might come up:

“I’ve heard enough here. Cynthia, Ethan, Dan, Wes—you’re all following me to the Dean’s office. We’ve got some paperwork to fill out, and you can all forget about coming back to the dance tonight.

The announcement came as a bombshell as the evaluation of the consequences of the fight was falling upon them, and as his gaze met his friends' apprehensive gaze, he cracked a confident smile in return and whispered :

“Everyone is sorry, everyone abides by the rules and no one says anything unless specifically asked. I'll handle it”.

But as they were making their way the hallway that led to Laramie's office, he was still mentally trying to find out a how exactly he was going to handle it behind his self-assured appearance. Cynthia should be able to go through it without too much trouble, but they risked a whole lot more. The best defense would have been to put everything on Wes expense since he started the fight but he wasn't about to do that. They would be lucky if the only retaliation was being kicked of the dance. Suspension was at stake and detention seemed almost inevitable. But it would mean missing the training. And what about Friday game? Cutting three of their key players would hurt the team badly and could prevent them from getting a win. He wouldn't risk it, would he? After all, every school win made him look good. And bring sponsors. No it had to be community service, or even better, essays. All right, maybe a little too hopeful there...

(((OOC: Good lord, I'm awfully rusty. I suck . I hope it works at least... I would have loved to include Matt events but even if it's posted now, it was supposed to happen way before and they were in Laramie office during the big event. )))

"What's you family like?" Lauren asked.
Rio didn't answer right away, and Lauren started to get the feeling that Rio probably didnt have a fantastic family life. She was about to try and quickly change the subject when she realized what he was looking at. Not what, who. Josh Brennan, Lauren remembered Rio saying, Lauren saw a hint of sympathy, or maybe pitty, in Rio's eyes as he looked a Josh.

Lauren also took the time to also see was happening to Josh. Unsuprisingly, he was being yelled at by his girlfriend, wait, what was the deal with that? Was she his girlfriend, or just a cover, maybe she had no idea. Yeah, Lauren decided that she hadn't known previously, or she wouldn't look nearly as inraged. And nearly everyone in the room was occasionally throwing distainful looks his direction. The same people who had, only moments ago, looked upon him with awe and admiration. Disgusting Lauren thought. Humanity is disgusting, one minitue they love you, next minute you're worth less then the dirt in the bottom of their shoes. I'll be better then that. I will.. She promised to not judge people before getting to know them, and especially not to shove-off queers. No matter how different they maybe. And I'll start she concluded, with trying to understand and befriend Rio. Yeah, thats it thats what ill do!

Lauen and Rio turned their attention back to each other and Rio answered.
"Yeah, I've moved quite a bit...", he began, slowly at first, but after a final glance at Josh, he smiled. "Typical army brat. My dad's a training officer, and he's been stationed all over the country, so yeah... And if I'm a typical army brat, he's a typical officer. Sometimes he forgets me and mom aren't his soldiers, and his word is the law. But he's okay mostly. And mom too. They're just a little too uptight sometimes, you know?" Not exactly! lauren giggled in her head. Her parents rarely denied her anything, unless of course they knew it would have seriously negative side effects. Luckily she was pretty laid back and easy to please, for she didnt often take advantage of this.
Rio turned the question back to her. "How about you? I got the impression from Jon you've lived here for some time, and just changed neighbourhoods? How come?"

"Well, actually I only moved from across town. Another random whim of my parents no doubt. Dads a retired surfer, whole family are great people, but not the ...erm, well they're not occupied with their social rankings, lets put it that way. Mom's family is really buisness-ie, take things too seriously for my taste,but they pay for things so you can't argue can you? Mom's a former beauty queen, constly nagging at me, but she can be nice when she wants to be. Love daddy though, we think so alike its almost scary." Lauren smiled. She didnt really like secrets very much, so she tried to have as few as possiable. But she did consider that maybe she was being a bit too open, he probably didnt care, and was only asking to be polite. "But uh, you probably don't care do you?" Lauren laughed. "Be honest. Im pretty sure I enjoy talking about myself too much anyway."

“I would just be happy that it’s not a W-9, seeing as how your family seems to have a kryptonic aversion to tax forms and simple algebra.”

He spoke slowly as if she was dumb. Regardless, his words tore quickly through her flimsy façade.

“Maybe if you built a time machine, then you could go back in time, and tell your parents to be more careful with their math homework so that they don’t frack up little things like managing multimillion dollar portfolios.”

Brilee stood speechless. For that moment she couldn’t read him. He appeared neither upset nor displeased with her comment. He just stood there, eerily calm, enunciating his retort. It was the eerily calm that frustrated her the most.

“You don’t want to be poor and stupid, do you?”

He motioned at the paper; his words tearing open the large wound she had spent all day nursing. Brilee had assured herself that the news wouldn’t get out. It was her way of coping with culture shock. As long as no one knew her father, how could they know she was linked? Besides, the story had barely broken the media yet. How?

She kept her eyes focused, ignoring the burning sensation to burst into tears. Her faux confidence was shattering around her. This was not the place to break down. Not here in front of everyone anyways. If Donnie didn’t think she was unstable yet, he definitely would after the water works started.

The school had enough to talk about on Monday anyways, and she didn’t want to be one of the topics.

She glared at him; after all, he was right. It was her father’s fault she was here anyways. It was his fault she wasn’t able to enter the academy’s doors on Monday. It was his fault she standing here with her math tutor when she could have been at Bruce’s football after party. It was his fault that she wasn’t currently enjoying a beer with all of her friends. Her fake friends.

But it wasn’t that simple. Just pass math? No it wasn’t that simple.

Frustrated, Brilee crinkled the packet into a ball as best she could. Such a simple action caused her much relief. It wasn’t as simple as doing math problems. It couldn’t be.

“Sorry,” Brilee whispered, attempting to keep her voice steady. Clinching the balled packet in her hand, Brilee made her way towards the exit desperate to make it outside the school before the water works began.

"Well, actually I only moved from across town", Lauren confirmed the inquiry Rio had just made, based on what little Jon had told him about her before introducing them to one another back at Billy's house, and from there she then went on to elaborate a little; "Another random whim of my parents no doubt. Dads a retired surfer, whole family are great people, but not the ...erm, well they're not occupied with their social rankings, lets put it that way."

At that, a somewhat wistful smile touched ever so briefly on Rio's lips. God, what wouldn't he give to have a family a little more like that? He loved his parents, he really did, but God knows they weren't the most supportive and understanding ones at times when he might really need it, and unlike Lauren's parents, at least by the sounds of it, were indeed a little too concerned about how things might seem to others. The rest of the family especially. If anything, the past year had taught him that, as they had tried their best to somewhat stifle his teenage need to express himself; personally, artistically, and most of all sexually. They didn't particularly care for his way of dressing, or sometimes wearing eyeliner, they didn't understand his love of photography, and God forbid anyone should find out that he, the son of a Colonel, claimed to be attracted to boys. No, according to them, it was best to get in the way of that, in whatever manner they could. If all else failed - and it had - then hey, they'd just move, so that Rio could no longer associate with whatever boy he might have gotten into his head that he was infatuated with.
That was how his parents worked.

Although... To be fair to his mother, it was usually his dad who had the issues with his look and his behaviour. She was mostly just being a supportive wife, who stood behind her husband in the calls he made regarding what was best. To an extent at least. There were areas on which she was in total agreement with her husband, such as the homosexuality. Rio would never forget her wailing when he'd told her and his father about it. Nor could he help but to notice how it all was kept so very, very secret from the rest of their relatives, as though they thought that if they just did not talk about it, it would go away.
That really hurt, and frankly, was probably part of the reason why Rio was so straightforward about his preference where he was at liberty to be; he refused to be completely silenced and have it be hidden away like some shameful, dirty secret.

The sad part was that even though he was so much more than just gay, it usually ended up being what things came down to. With his parents, and with most of the people he got to know. In school, few people knew him as anything but "the queer", and at home, even though they didn't actually talk about it, it still permeated just about everything in the daily contact between parents and child. Like tonight; he hadn't been able to leave the house without a minor third degree about what the suspicious text on his T-shirt meant, or being given a set of rules designed to keep him clean, sober and celibate.

"Mom's family is really buisness-ie, take things too seriously for my taste, but they pay for things so you can't argue can you?", Lauren kept going from beside him, and in doing so basically voiced the very same reason why Rio didn't rebel against his parents too much too soon; like it or not, he was still dependant on them. "Mom's a former beauty queen, constly nagging at me, but she can be nice when she wants to be. Love daddy though, we think so alike its almost scary."

The last part, she said with a warm smile, that brought back the faintly melancholy one to Rio's lips, and he gave a slow nod in understanding. That sounded really nice, to be so in tune with one's father.

"But uh", Lauren then cut herself off with a light laugh, "you probably don't care do you? Be honest. Im pretty sure I enjoy talking about myself too much anyway."

At that, Rio's smile both brightened and widened, and he shook his head in mellow protest.

"Nah, don't worry about it. I like getting to know other people. And it sounds like you have a really cool family. I wish my parents were that laid-back. But..."

He glanced at the clock on the opposite wall, and finished with a bit of a sigh;

"... since they're not, it's time I start heading home. Midnight curfew."

A slight rolling of the eyes as he stood indicated his feelings on that particular matter, after which he gave another small smile as he looked down at Lauren.

"See ya Monday. And if you have any questions or just want to talk, you have my number."

((ah, ok. Thats what I figured, but I wasn't sure. Thanks! ))

(((ooc: Okay, once again the deadline has come and gone... Are we supposed to assume Monday has started, or....? )))

Ugh. Monday morning. 06:45. The red glare of the blaring and soon to be violently silenced alarm clock on Rio's nightstand was informing him that he was now expected to crawl out of bed, and drag himself off to school in about forty-five minutes. He so didn't feel like it. Anything before 10 a.m. was too early, as far as he was concerned, and much like Garfield the cat, he would have liked mornings so much better, had they started later. Monday ones especially. Not to mention winter ones. Rio wasn't at all tempted to set foot outside in the cold, and have to shuffle through the snow and over the patches of icy pavement, just to get to school, where the only sure thing was boredom. Even if there were elements of interest, one never got to spend sufficient time delving into them, and sooner or later, the teachers' droning about things he didn't really care about and often doubted would ever be of any use to him later in life, would have him struggling just to stay awake.
Needless to say, he'd much rather not go.

But, then again... The events of the winter formal had left quite a bit of anticipation in it's wake. He'd felt it in the very walls of the school as he'd left to go home on Saturday, and he felt it still, even though he was nowhere near school or any of it's students. It was like it was in the very air; the thrill with which the majority of Brooklake High's student body were looking forward to getting to explode the halls with their gossip, rumours and speculation, not to mention see the arrivals of it's main targets. Knowing his peers, Rio suspected many of them were just dying to see how this one would unfold, and for a moment as he lay there in his warm and comfortable bed, he couldn't help but to imagine the entrance hall overcrowded by students with popcorn and sodas, like a movie theatre audience glued to their seats by what was playing out in front of them.

He had to admit, he too was quite curious. He usually wasn't one to gossip or take much of an interest in what to many seemed to be considered obligatory knowledge, but with this one, he wasn't above taking an interest. He was curious of how things would play out today, considering the earth-shattering - by high school standards, that is - revelation of Matt Sidle’s and Josh Brennan’s relationship, because needless to say, this time he took a personal interest, since the issue itself was one that he was highly familiar with. One that was, for obvious reasons, close to his heart. He wanted to see if now that Brooklake's two most popular and admired boys had turned out to be gay, or bi, it would in any way change people's way of viewing the matter - which, frankly, he didn't deem to be all too likely - or if they would prove themselves to be just as narrow-minded as people in general tended to be, by rejecting the "deviants", and turn against them.
Sadly, Rio's money was on the latter.

After these brief minutes of contemplation, he did eventually get up. Just like he did every other school day, and just like every other school day, he started by heading to the bathroom across to the hall, and the shower therein. Even if he hadn't been curious to see what would happen in school today, it wasn't like he really had a choice anyway. He had to go, as always, lest he'd risk finding himself grounded for a month, at least. Colonel Adams might have already left for work, but Rio's mother was still around, and would make sure to either see Rio off to school, or report his refusal upon his father's return home. And, well, Rio just wasn't too interested in having even less of a social life, so, after having showered, dressed, and had breakfast, off he went.

Due to the biting cold, and the brisk pace he kept because of it, he arrived fairly early, with a good twenty minutes to spare before the first bell would sound. Although there were other students milling about, the halls had yet to fill with the boisterous laughing and chatting that the majority tended to bring with them, and so with little else to do before first class, Rio plopped himself down on one of the benches, to make use of the relative silence, and quickly skim through the homework he'd had for today.


(((ooc: Approachable, and not necessarily on the bench, but basically anywhere in the hallways; near the class room, thedrinking fountain, by the locker, etc. I'm flexible. )))

There were two things occupying Riley's mind, as he was setting foot in the entrance hall of Brooklake High this Monday morning. One was finding Tyler Young, and the other was finding Matt Sidle. It had been a turbulent weekend, to say the least, and he still wasn't anywhere near done processing all of it; that his secret had been found out, that he'd stolen from a friend, and that he'd promised another he would stop doing drugs, and never involve himself with dealers ever again. That said friend had given him all of her savings to save him from getting beaten up again today, that they'd lost their virginity together, and that they'd done so without any protection. That according to both Peter and Jackie, Matt Sidle of all people had literally hurled himself and Josh Brennan out of the closet at the school dance, after having been such a complete and utter *sshole to Faye for the past couple of years, and that he had apparently been blackmailed into outing himself by Natalie Cardew.
And, again, that Riley himself had actually promised Faye to stop using, to give up what for the past few months had been his only comfort. That one, and the long, inner debate that had ensued because of it, had been on his mind ever since it had happened, and it still was. Despite all else that had happened, it pretty much overshadowed the rest, it was what his thoughts had constantly returned to, over and over again. And each time, the outcome had been a different one than the last.

One minute, he'd been asking himself why the h*ll he had done it, why he'd agreed to quit. The next, he'd been trying to convince himself that he could do it. That he wanted to do it, and that he would do it. Back and forth, back and forth, he'd kept swinging between wanting to just say "to h*ll with it, and to h*ll with Faye, she just doesn't get it", and wanting for someone to just lock him away somewhere until the withdrawals were over, so that he wouldn't cave. So that he'd keep his promise, and Faye as a friend. He'd had himself so convinced when she'd left, that he could do it, but it had been no more than a few minutes later, fifteen at the most, that he'd started sorely regretting that he'd let himself be talked into trying to quit. He'd regretted asking Faye to take the syringe with her when she left, and he'd regretted saying he'd try. He didn't want to try. And yet a few minutes later, he'd known that he had to, that he couldn't keep doing what he'd been doing for the past few months.

Back and forth indeed. Not just then, right after Faye had left, but ever since. Not a single hour had gone by without those conflicting thoughts entering his mind. Although with the memory of how good it had felt to confide in her fading ever so slowly from his immediate awareness, the stronger grew the conviction that in order to really quit cold turkey, he just needed one last fix. Just one, to say goodbye, knowing that it would be his last and thus making sure to truly cherish it, like you did with the last minutes spent with an old friend, with whom you would then forever part ways. His last fix a few days ago had been taken with the intent of being followed by the one he'd been preparing when Faye had walked in on him, and since he'd given that one to her as she'd left, it felt like he hadn't gotten to say goodbye. And the more he thought about it, the more convinced he got that he had to do exactly that; have one last encounter, knowing it would be the last. If he could just have that, he'd totally quit afterwards.
It was, at least, what he kept telling himself. Deep down, in the parts of his psyche that he didn't care to explore, the very part he'd been trying to keep passive and numb, he knew it was just another excuse formed by the user in him. And so even though his mind was pretty much made up as he stepped through the doors of Brooklake High this morning, there was still a battle raging within him, of how badly he wanted to, but knew that he shouldn't.

However, there was one other thing on his mind as well, because no matter how much that conflict had dominated his thoughts, there was one thing it hadn't managed to block out; how Sidle - the guy that had treated Faye like crap for no reason - had revealed himself to be the biggest hypocrite Brooklake High had ever seen, by judging her and treating her badly just because her father was gay, when Sidle himself apparently was too! Oh, how Riley intended to make that b*stard eat every single word he'd ever said to Faye. There had been many times, when he'd wanted to just clock Sidle square in his precious face, to get him to back off, but truth be told, he hadn't dared. He'd been afraid it would only make things worse, for him and Faye both. Sidle had been known to get back at people who'd for some reason earned themselves his ire, and with him being one of the most popular guys in school, and having a way with the teachers because of his grades, accomplishments on the track team, and overall charm, he had so much more firepower at his disposal than someone like Riley; a nobody, a kid with barely passing grades and a tendency to cut classes. But now, after what had happened at the dance, Sidle was going down in flames. Riley was sure of it, and he intended to make full use of the opportunity to help him along. The guy had it coming, and even if Faye herself didn't intend to get back at him - when Riley had talked to her about it, she'd just seemed distracted and disinterested in getting her revenge - Riley fully intended to do it for her. He didn't care if Matt was already having a tough time; it had been the same for Faye, and that sure as h*ll hadn't stopped Matt from making things worse. So, an eye for an eye.

But, it would have to wait. As far as he could tell from walking into the school and through the entrance hall, Sidle had yet to show, and Brennan too for that matter, and Riley did have more important things to take care of: He'd better find Tyler, before Tyler came seeking him. It was better that way, and didn't risk hurting as much. Tyler would be on the lookout for him, to collect the money he was owed, and since Riley was intending to pay him with the hundred dollars he'd gotten from pawning Deb's necklace, and the two hundred that Faye had given him, the sooner he did it, the better his chances would be to persuade Tyler to let him buy just one more fix.

A little unsure of where exactly he might find Tyler at this time of day, or if he was even in school in the first place, after a few moments of deliberating with himself, Riley decided to try the area close to Tyler's locker first. He knew where it was by now, having discreetly dropped off payment in it a few times over the past couple of months. As it would turn out, however, luck was on his side, because he hadn't even gotten halfway there, when he suddenly spotted the taller boy up ahead, and heading in the opposite direction too. Thus, it didn't take Riley many seconds to establish eye contact, and motion his head towards the nearest exit, indicating that he was ready to pay up. Tyler of course caught the hint, and gave a small nod in return, so minute you'd have to look for it to see it.

A few minutes later, he came around the corner of the building, to the spot near the deserted exit Riley had indicated, where Riley now stood waiting. And freezing in the winter cold. Practiced as he was in covert dealings, Tyler had chosen to make his way there through a route different from the one Riley had taken, in order to cover their tracks as best he could. Eyes locked expectantly on Riley, he came to a halt in front of him, though he didn't get a chance to say anything to prompt the transaction. Riley beat him to it;

"I've got the money", the smaller boy said hastily, before Tyler had even had a chance to open his mouth, or, as seemed to be what Riley feared the most, beat him up. Though only a second later, he admitted with a bit more hesitation and reluctance in his tone; "Well, most of it anyway..."

Tyler quirked an unimpressed brow.

"'Most of it'?", he questioned.

It wasn't what he'd asked for. He'd told Riley to bring it all, not just "most of it". "Most of it" was not how things worked, especially not when payment was already long overdue.

"Yeah", Riley said, quickly digging into his pocket to retrieve and hand Tyler the money, hoping that it would be enough to buy Tyler's patience a little while longer. "I've got three hundred... But I'm getting the rest soon! I swear!"

For a moment, Tyler simply looked at him in obvious doubt, but said nothing. Instead, he lowered his gaze to the money Riley had just shoved into his hand, and flicked through it while counting. Yup, there it was. Three hundred, just like Riley had said, and thus the majority of what he owed. So okay, fair enough, maybe he was telling the truth about the rest. Though as Tyler was far from that gullible, he still wasn't convinced, and so looked up at Riley again in obvious scrutiny.

"When?"

"In a couple of days", Riley quickly assured him with as much conviction as he could muster, even though he had no idea how he'd get a hold of the rest of the money. But, he'd cross that bridge when he got to it. It wasn't the most pressing matter on his mind; "Tyler...?", he continued slowly and in a voice so careful it immediately gave away his intentions to the older boy, "I hate to ask, but-..."

"No."

Tyler's voice firmly cut him off before he could finish the question. Though Riley had pretty much expected it, and so launched himself into an instant attempt to weaken his resolve.

"Please, just one", he begged. "I'm good for it."

He motioned towards the money in that Tyler was just folding and shoving into his back pocket.

"See?"

Tyler remained unimpressed.

"Riley...", he said, with part impatience, part reproach in his voice. "Seriously? What do you take me for?"

"Tyler, please", Riley kept pleading, while doing his best to ignore the feeling of being so very pathetic for it. He really needed a fix, his last one, and so couldn't be above grovelling, if that's what it would take. "Just one. Please? It's just a few bucks, it doesn't make that much of a difference. And you'll get the rest of the money in a couple of days. All of it. I promise."

Yeah, right. Taking the most recent experience into consideration, Tyler didn't believe a word. If Riley hadn't been able to come up with all of the money today, what guarantee was there that he'd manage to get what he still owed, in just another few days? They wouldn't have gotten into this situation in the first place, had Riley been able to pay when he was supposed to. There'd be no debt, had that been the case. But it wasn't.

On the other hand, Riley obviously had managed to come up with three hundred bucks over the weekend, so Tyler couldn't completely dismiss his claim about getting the rest within the next few days. He obviously had found a source of income, and since Tyler didn't know what it was - nor did he care - who was he to say that it wouldn't land Riley with the amount of money that remained of his debt? He didn't believe it would, but he couldn't know for a fact. And to be perfectly honest, when he saw the desperation in Riley's eyes, and listened to his arguments, he couldn't help but to soften. He wasn't a mean guy, and Riley did have a bit of a point; he wasn't a heavy user, and his doses weren't particularly big. One fix for him didn't amount to that much, money-wise, and so it didn't make that much of a difference in the grand scheme of things.

"Alright", he finally sighed, mostly at himself for being such a d*mned soft touch. "Alright, fine. One fix, and you better have the money by Wednesday."

Riley's face lit up with an instant smile, and relief washed over his troubled features.

"Great!", he breathed out in a sigh of his own, as though he'd been holding his breath. "Thanks, man!"

At that, Tyler just shot him an unamused glance.

"I don't have anything on me right now", he then said. "I'll leave it in the usual place, before the bell goes."

Riley gave a quick, eager nod in agreement.

"Thanks Tyler, you're a lifesaver."

A dry scoff sounded from the other boy.

"Right..."

Though Riley pretended not to hear the sarcasm.

"See you in class", he just said instead, and then slipped off towards the back door through which he'd come minutes earlier, and returned into the school to await the sound of the first bell.

Soon, soon...


(((ooc: Tyler and Riley are both approachable, and just like with Rio, it doesn't really matter too much where. Just somewhere around the halls, or possibly outside.)))

“Ughh…” Lauren groaned as her radio/alarm clock clicked on. The cheery DJ going on about how great a morning it was, followed by a catchy song. Lauren eventually was coaxed out of bed by the smell of fresh waffles being made. I was 6:04 and her mom was already up, dressed, and halfway done making breakfast. “Geez, how do you do it?” Lauren mumbled, groggily wiping sleep out of her eyes, and plopping herself down on a barstool. Idly chatting Lauren slowly became more and more awake. Lauren helped herself to a huge waffle with inch deep pockets, drenched with homemade syrup, and loaded with fresh fruit. As soon as she was finished she walked into her cramped closet and grabbed a few things that may, or may not have matched, she didn’t care. She got dressed, tucking her shirt into her backpack, just in case her mother would disapprove, and slipping on a black under shirt.

She ran her hands through her hair. It was cold out so she didn’t get nearly as much sun as in the summer, and in turn her hair was also darker, almost fully red, rather than strawberry blonde. She curled and teased her hair for another 20 minutes, until her hair looked like it was naturally curlier then wavy. With her hair now perfect she spent another 10 minutes on her makeup, Lauren tended not to wear much, but she was a master of natural makeup, making herself look naturally pretty, rather than obvious globs of eyeliner and shadow. Finally looking perfect, she hugged her mom, who was now cleaning the kitchen, gave her dad a peck on the cheek, and yelled “bye!” to her sister’s shut bedroom door. With her lunch and keys in hand she hopped into her jeep, hurrying to get it started and get back to a heated building.

Once at school she headed straight to her locker to drop off some of her stuff. While she was walking she pulled her shirt on and pulled out a slip of paper with her locker combination on it. She didn’t pay much attention to anything around her, and once she got to her locker it took her a few minutes to work out the lock. She shoved her back pack in it and got what she needed for her next few classes. A small bang to her left caught Lauren’s attention as a girl to her left shut her locker. The girl’s outfit practically screamed trouble, and seemed pretty boisterous, Lauren liked that. The girl looked at Lauren as though evaluating a pair of shoes before trying them on.

“Hey” She said a little loudly, “Haven't seen you around before.”

Lauren smirked. ”Yeah, I just moved here. First day and everything.” She shut her locked and turned to get a better look at this girl. “I'm Lauren, whats your name?”

Deborah was staring blankly at her reflection at the girl's bathroom, lost in her thoughts, her face bearing visible traces of the sleepless night she spent, tossing and turning, exhausted but unable to find sleep as a myriad of thoughts flooded her mind, trying to convince herself that what she was about to do wasn't as bad as it sounded.

It was a Monday morning and as every school day, it was still early when Deborah made her way toward her locker and the school halls were not yet overloaded with the chaotic hustle and bustle that usually filled it. But it wasn't an ordinary Monday. It was the day after. The dance, so full of promise of excitement had kept its word, providing not only a fight but also an earthshaking revelation that left everyone, whether they were simple witnesses or actors of the drama that happened there, with loads of expectations, questions and anticipations. She only had been there for two days but she would have needed to be blind, deaf and clueless to ignore who Matt Sidle and Josh Brennan were and not to reckon how much a big deal the sudden disclosure of the two of them being together was to the little microcosm that was their school. After all, even her that couldn't be less concerned, was still curious on how this will end up.

And involved in both dramas, Esteban. Either trouble was following him around or he was looking for trouble. Or maybe a little bit of both. First, the fight. He was not the one who started the whole thing but there was so many better ways to deal with it than throwing yourself in a fight with a bunch of jocks. What was it with guys and their need to get at each other throats as if it would do any good? Yet, seeing him flying to Katie's rescue like that was not without reminding her of Alec. The first time she met him had been when he rescued her from some evil bullies and his protective nature was something that she always liked about him, making her feel safe. As for Matt's accusations. It was... troubling. It was beyond the usual high-school crap. Blackmail? Beating? Because he was gay? There was no possible excuse to any of this kind of behavior. But she didn't want to jump into hasty conclusions, not, after how he'd been with her. She neither knew how much of it was true nor the reasons that could lie behind it. And as she composed the code of her locker and began dumping her stuff inside, her gaze mechanically began scanning around the students who were slowly gathering around for him without getting a hold of him. It's personal had been the only answer she got out of him when she bring up the subject on the ride back and she let it at that. She shook slightly her head and turned her gaze back to her locker. It was not her business. Besides, she had her own issues to deal with that were more than enough to keep her busy.

She locked down her locker and froze. At the end of the hallway, walking down the hall. The last person she wanted to see. Coming right up. Riley. It's not like she didn't knew she would eventually run into him but... What was he doing here so soon? He didn't see her yet but he'll soon do and she'll have to talk to him. Well, she needed to talk to him. Did she really needed to? He's coming, make up your mind now. Maybe just... All right. Not now. She threw a quick glance around to an escape and catching sight of the girl's bathroom she swiftly strode the few feet that separated her from the door and pushing it open, got in and closed the door behind her.

And as she stood there, a nervous chuckle rose in her throat before dying as she discontentedly shook her head. Avoiding someone by hiding into the girl's bathroom. That was a first. And just how pathetic was that... Good thing no one saw that. She headed to one of the sink, bent over to splash some water on her face and standing up back straight, examined the dark circles under her eyes. God. She looked like crap.

How could she come to that? Well, it all, came down to the loss of her locket. And Riley. How the two of them could have been tangled was something that she still had some trouble figuring out. But the facts were there. Riley had sold her locket to a local pawn shop. And not matter how she tried to deny the obvious and tweak it to turn it into some big misunderstanding, facts were facts. And so many unpleasant conclusions stemmed from that simple fact. How did he get it? Did he … stole it from her? Technically, selling someone else properties to a pawn shop was considered stealing. But imagining Riley stealing anything to anyone was already a stretch. It was... Riley. And it wasn't anyone's locket. It was her's. She knew he may still resent her because of what happened between them... but that? Did he purposefully wanted to hurt her? That idea was hurting more than what she was willing to admit to herself. To make the matter worse, it was not just a locket, a pretty trinket. Her mother gave it to her. Deb already had lost so many things and at this time when everything seemed to be slipping away from her, being ripped from one of the few things that her mother left to her seemed unbearable. The only people that cared about her were a thousand miles away and she had never felt that lonely and vulnerable. She had no one to turn to and she was so very tired of all this crap. And as her reflection on the mirror became blurry, she briskly swept her eyes from the tears that were threatening to roll down her cheeks and obscured her vision. The only thing more pathetic than hiding in the lady's room to escape from someone was to hide in the lady's room to cry. She wasn't that kind of girl. Falling apart was not an option. She could handle it. She'll handle it. And she'll get her locket back.

After all, what she was about to do to get it back couldn't be as bad as it sounded, right?

(((OOC: Hope it works for everyone? Feel free to get her out of the bathroom)))

((It's been good fun, everyone, but I'm officially withdrawing. I think I've tied up all my loose ends at this point, but if there are any remaining ones regarding my characters, feel free to PM me to work it out.

Have fun writing.))

Lauren was fully aware of the Judgement which was going on in the other girl's head. Granted she was nervous, but she always managed to find friends, so she wasn't about to have a nervous breakdown or anything. She smiled politely when the girl answered her question.

“Lilith”, she stated, while stuffing some school things into a bag. “Welcome to the saltmines, otherwise known as Brooklake High. Cool shirt; you like Disturbed?”

From the first moment lauren had layed eyes on Lilith she had recognized the whole look. From the just rolled out of bed hair down to the monsterous black boots. Lilith was a troubble maker, or at least very troubbled herself. Lauren usually didnt join this clique, but she always had one or two friends in it. She shared most of their taste in music and clothing and she found humor in their pranks; however she hated it when the pranks went too far, or were even borderline cruel. Lauren concluded that she ought to change her attitude a bit to fit Lilith's example. So rather then bouncing on the balls of her feet, as was her first reaction, she shruged slightly and answered.
"Love 'em. They always know how I'm feeling on my bad days, and how to keep me grounded when my day's too good to be true.I listen to alot of other stuff though, what do you think of them?" Lauren finished glancing around the hall for a place to sit, why waist energy standing around?

Following the events of the other night, Natalie wasn’t exactly expecting a spectacular return to school. Actually, she was expecting even less than the normal humdrum, but she wasn’t expecting a lynch mob either. Because regardless of how he chose to delude himself, Matthew Sidle was quite fairly disliked, and a reign of terror brought you no friends. So, no, she wasn’t expecting someone to try crucify her over her blackmailing him (because hey, no-one knew it was a retaliation, right?), but she wasn’t expecting three cheers and a sing-song of “She’s A Jolly Good Fellow” either.
Which, she almost got. Quite a few people had words of awe to say to it, and others just looked scared, and therefore, it was much like being back at Chicago.
Well done, Natalie.

She was feeling no remorse over it, either. Let’s put it this way; he incited it first with an identical action, and yet when it’s turned onto him, he whines like a bitch. Therefore, the moral is, if you can’t take a particular type of bullying, don’t do it to others. Simple, but so, so misunderstood. Another thing that was misunderstood was her; people probably had her down as a vindictive bitch, but hey, everyone’s entitled to their opinion and she wasn’t looking to make herself loved and accepted by Brooklake far and wide. She came here to keep a low profile, and that she would.
Except now, that plan was blown to smithereens, but hey, we do what we can.

However, one person she did have to explain herself to was probably Laramie. He’d have heard about the blackmail threat, and he probably wanted an explanation/to suspend her, so there was a lot of that crap to contend with. Will do, but there was no way in hell she was keeping quiet about Sidle’s months of sustained bullying in front of Laramie; fair play and all. However, she was going to wait for him to approach her about it, rather than go for it herself; she didn’t know what he wanted to do about it. Well, until lunch, anyway, where she’d just go talk to him if he hadn’t.
For now, it was just another day at school, bar the looks she got in response to all that which transpired, and Natalie just walked back into the hallway and headed straight for the locker.

(((OOC: Approachable, and outfit)))

A noise broke out from behind scraping Deborah out of her chain of thoughts as the door pushed open revealing a feminine figure that barged into the bathroom. Rousing herself from the gloom into which her thoughts had plunged her, she snapped a sidelong glance over her shoulder to the girl who was now turned looking at her with a slightly puzzled look on her face so similar to the one you can see when someone has just been caught red-handed and as Deb gaze locked on the vaguely familiar face, her eyes narrowed ever so slightly before turning her gaze back to the mirror while the unidentified girl blurted out:

“Oh! I didn't know someone was in here!” before mumbling: “And considering this is a public bathroom, why wouldn't there be?”

The inquiring expression on Deb's face dissolved into the hint of an easy smile and trying not to add to the obvious embarrassment of the girl, and even if she was somewhat curious about the reason behind this, Deborah abstained from any commentary and kept pretending being fully absorbed in the careful observation of her appearance as her long fingers were running through in an ever-failing attempt to order the tangled mass of brown curls that freely cascaded down over her shoulders, which was also conveniently giving her an excuse for her presence in the bathroom, as she was still struggling with her memory trying to place the brunette's face, who, after clearing her throat shot her an unassertive smile that Deb returned politely as she stepped forward next to her and said, offering the answer that she had been looking for:

"I'm Faye"

Faye. She was just a girl from her class. And then it dawned on her. Or just a girl from her class who also happened to be Riley's old buddy. But what would be the odds of that? There must be more than one Faye in Brooklake High. And as she was evaluating the possibility that the girl by her side was really Riley's Faye, her feelings were torn between a mild interest and a certain apprehension. On one hand, she had to admit that she'd grown quite curious about her, especially now that she knew that she was in Brooklake High too. And she was probably the nice person Riley described. Even if he was biased, there were no real reason not to trust his judgment on this. In the other hand, considering how things had turned out with Riley, she was not sure that she still wanted that much to make her acquaintance. Even less now. And as she was about to break the silence by introducing herself at her turn, Faye added :

"Are you OK?"

Great. Obviously, not only she looked bad, but she looked bad enough to prompt people that didn't even knew her to ask about it. Easing the quizzical frown that Faye's question had raised, she plastered an amused smile on her face and not really caring to know if it was because she was feeling chatty and used it as a way to initiate a conversation or just plain nosy, without taking her eyes off the mirror, she just fended off the question by replying dryly :

"Yeah. Fine"

But as soon as the words escaped her lips she softened her stance. Defensive much? That was just a question and she didn't mean to come up as rude either. And finally tearing her gaze away from their reflection, she turned her head to face her and addressing her a pleasant smile, pursued in a warmer tone:

"I'm Deborah. Deb"

Three, Brilee thought as she debated rather or not she should hit the snooze button one more time. She laid in bed pulling her covers tighter in a half-asleep half-awake state. Four, she thought as she hit the snooze button one more time. Instead of rolling back over, she opened one eye to peek at her sister’s bed, which was already empty with the sheets thrown haphazardly around. Since she was currently running twenty minutes late, Brilee decided that four was enough and ripped the covers off her.

Brilee’s body immediately met the cold, chilled air. Resisting the urge to wrap back up in her warm blankets, she pushed her feet to the floor and quickly got out of bed. She studied the articles in her closet closely. It probably was not going to be a warm day and Brilee planned her attire accordingly. After a few test runs and a quick session with her flat iron, Brilee was ready to leave. Brilee grabbed her second most prized possession, a large Coach tote that she somehow weaseled past the auditors, and followed her sister out the door.

***

Nothing was more embarrassing than walking from the bus to the large doors of Brooklake. She walked blindly down the hallway trying to read the schedule in her hand inconspicuously. Following what little she remembered from her brief tour Friday, Brilee maneuvered the halls until she found her assigned locker. After fumbling with the lock, Brilee selected her English Lit book from the row of books and dropped it into her large tote. With one last subtle look at her schedule, Brilee slammed the locker shut and headed towards her class.

Regardless of high school clique status, it seemed everyone Brilee passed was talking excitedly about the same topic, the dance. Although she had yet to understand Brooklake politics, she had a feeling that what she had witnessed was earth shaking. Brilee continued walking the uniform halls trying to blend in as best as possible while reading each door number.

It wasn’t until Brilee entered an empty hall that she began to slowly panic. The hall was void of bodies and none of the door numbers seemed to match what was on her schedule. She stopped in front of two doors leading outside and let her head fall back in desperation. “Ugh,” she exclaimed, pulling a small binder from her tote that housed her full schedule and school map.

Flipping open the binder, Brilee realized that both papers were useless when you had no idea where you were.

He was going to regret this, wasn't he? Tyler just knew it, and was berating himself for being such a d*mned softie, all the way back into the school building after meeting with Riley outside, towards the main entrance hall again, and the parking lot where he'd left his car fifteen minutes earlier. Deciding to let a junkie - the most unreliable category of people in the world - buy even more on credit, after failing to cough up some of the money he already owed, was such a bad, bad idea.
Christ, what a sucker he was.

Although frankly, it wasn't really as much the fact that he'd agreed to let Riley buy another fix on credit, as it was that he'd let him get away with not paying the full debt, as promised. Much like Riley had said, one fix for him only amounted to a few bucks, and Tyler giving a few bucks on credit was hardly a risky thing to do. Worst case scenario, if Riley didn't end up paying for that one, Tyler would have to shell out himself to his employers, and a couple of bucks was hardly a big deal for him. And really, even if Riley didn't have the rest of money on Wednesday, Tyler could afford to shell out the almost hundred dollars he still owed as well, if he had to, and then just make sure that Riley did eventually pay up. He could do that, if he had to. It didn't mean he wanted to. There was a vast difference between a few bucks and a hundred, and while he might be able to afford it, it wouldn't be without a bit of unwelcome inconvenience. But that wasn't the main issue. What he really couldn't afford, was to go all too soft. When you went soft, people noticed it in no time, and started taking it for granted. They didn't take the deadlines or the threats as seriously anymore. If letting Riley buy on fix on credit was a bad idea, going soft was an even worse one. Tyler knew from experience. He still had the scars from last time to keep him reminded of that.

But, the deal had been made already, and he'd let Riley get away. There wasn't much to do about that now, except follow through. And if it turned out Riley failed yet again to get the money on time, Tyler would have to get rough with him, like it or not, pay his employer out of his own pocket, and not say a word about it to anyone. Not to his employer, and least of all to Riley. That way, he'd hopefully manage to cover his tracks, and learn his damned lesson, to not go soft on people just because he happened to like them and feel sympathetic.

That conclusion made, he finally arrived by his car, opened the door and slid in behind the wheel in order to retrieve the fix for Riley from it's secret hiding place, under guise of fetching a CD from the glove compartment. There were only a couple of students milling about, and none of them seemed to be paying attention to what he was doing, but Tyler did always watch his back, and make sure to never be conspicuous about what he was up to. Hence why he'd never gotten truly caught.

He practiced the same amount of caution a few minutes later as well, after having left the car again and headed around the back of the school, to drop off Riley's fix in the usual spot, in the far end corner of the school property. Thankfully, that area was currently deserted, which allowed him go there, hide the small plastic bag of heroin under one of the small boulders placed there for decoration along with some bushes, and back to the school without anyone spotting him. It was only a couple of minutes left before the first bell would go, plus the winter cold wasn't exactly hospitable, and so it was quite understandable - not to mention convenient for Tyler - that most of the kids preferred to stay inside. The operative word being "most". Not all. There was one girl who, just as he pulled open one of the double doors to go inside, seemed to be on her way out.
... Or not.

"Ugh", came her peeved voice as she stopped, and threw her head back in a gesture to match.

Although only a second later, after having allowed herself that small outlet for her frustration, she seemed to compose herself and decide to try again, whatever it was that apparently wasn't going her way. His curiosity somewhat piqued, Tyler glanced down at the papers she was studying; a schedule and a map. The two main accessories of a new student.
Okay, made sense then.

"Hey", he said, and stopped in front of her, with a somewhat amused smile on his lips. "Need help?"

Friendly guy that he was, especially where pretty girls were concerned, he figured that since he seemed to be the only one around, he might as well be nice enough to at least try and spare the new kid the embarrassment of walking into class too late.


(((ooc: Alissa - I'd quite like to know the answer to Ghani's question myself, if you don't mind?)))

(((OOC: No, I figured it was better to act it out within the groups. Didn't have any better ideas for the class - figured exploring the motives of the one character in the allocated scene was stretching it a bit.)))

Useless, Brilee thought, analyzing the blue print of similar corridors. Her finger traced the route she thought she had taken. Her finger paused at room 122 and she glanced up from the map to look at the room number of the door closest to her. She leapt backwards in astonishment seeing that she wasn’t alone. Instead of seeing the door, her eyes locked with a boy standing in front of her.

"Hey need help?” He said with a smile spread across his face. Relieved Brilee returned the smile. Brilee glanced over his shoulder down the empty hall and then up to the closest door number, which incidentally was not room 122. She was obviously lost with no hope of finding the classroom in time and here was a companion willing to help her.

“Erm,” she hesitated under his inquiring gaze, “I’m looking for,” she drew out for, trying to recall the teacher’s name, “English Lit.” There was a short pause before she tried to recover from her senseless babbling with a lighthearted joke, “Anyways the point of this story is I think I might have taken a wrong turn.”

Slightly embarrassed, she handed him her schedule.