Because I love Dess like crazy. I haven't written fic in forever, so I hope I still remember how to do this. D: This is one of many, many oneshots I started about the Midnighters, but this is the first I actually finished.
Also, am I the only one that thinks it's weird that Dess and Jessica never got busted for talking in class? My teachers are totally crazy about that. Maybe Mr. Sanchez has a thing for Dess or something.
I was trying to name this something more creative, but apparently my title lobe is still rusty from disuse because all it gave me was "First Impressions" and "Encounters", both of which I thought were kind of lame. Thanks, title lobe. I hope you're happy!
(P.S. I love both Rex and Jessica. I am just mean to them for story purposes. Or Dess is mean to them for story purposes. I don't know. XD)
First Impressions
Dess had never been particularly good at social interaction.
It wasn't that she was antisocial, no, that was more Melissa's department. But so many people out there were idiots who just could not do the math. And even the non-idiots couldn't understand Dess's indifference towards daylight.
Besides, Dess was pretty sure she was the only person in Bixby High that knew how to solder a trash can lid in order to make it a formidable weapon. (Rex? Ha. As if. All Rex did was stop by, tell her what to put on it, before speeding away to make sure Melissa hadn't ripped someone else's brain in half.)
But Jessica Day? Jessica Day was something else.
Dess had heard the gossip about the new girl from Chicago—Chicago, where there was no curfew, the population exceeded 200,000, and no one ever fell asleep to the sounds of crickets or oil foremen. She'd seen her a few times in the halls, too. At first Jessica had been alone, then slowly a bubble of people began to surround her. Most of the people were popular, geometry-taking idiots. (Geometry was so sixth grade, didn't they know?)
So when Rex said, "She's one of us," Dess wasn't sure to believe him—seer knows best, after all—or just sit and stare at him with her mouth open. (Not that she didn't do that on a daily basis. For someone who was supposed to know everything, Rex hardly ever did the math. And considering he was the oldest of the three of them, he could be so stupid.)
Jessica Day could not be a midnighter. Jessica Day's long red hair was pulled back from her head in a no-nonsense ponytail, instead of covering her face like Melissa's or hanging in tangles like Dess's. Jessica Day's eyes were wide open, even in the bright sunlight. She smiled disturbingly often. Even Flyboy hadn't been this bad.
Still, Rex had insisted on it, and even Melissa looked slightly intrigued. As a matter of fact, if there hadn't been about six hundred teenagers in the cafeteria with them, they could've just found out right during lunch.
But no, the bitch goddess couldn't cast for crap without all the mind noise. So it was up to Dess, as always, to get things done.
Which was why, when she stepped into trig, instead of heading for the seat in the darkest corner, she made a beeline towards a seat in the middle. The seat next to Jessica Day.
"Hey," Dess said. Not the best opener, considering the circumstances, but Dess really didn't think the Rex-approved greeting, which went along the lines of, Hey, so me and my friends were watching you, and you're one of us. Don't know what I mean? Well, you can see a secret world that only we can, and so you might want to ditch those geometry-class-taking morons and hang with us, because we can keep you from being eaten alive, was going to work in this case.
"Hi, I'm Jessica," the supposed midnighter said. She smiled a little, but Dess could tell that she was creeped out. It was kind of funny.
"Yeah," Dess said. She had one other period with the girl: study hall. Jessica had sat with Constanza Grayfoot (ew) and her brainless cronies, two of which were probably still in advanced algebra. Lame. "I'm Dess."
"Hi," Jessica said again, then winced as if she realized what'd she done.
Dess studied Jessica a little further as Sanchez began passing the books out. She looked tired, as if she didn't particularly enjoy being herded around by the A-listers all day. There was hope for this one yet, then. Strands of hair had escaped from her ponytail. Most of them were shoved behind her ears, but a few stray ones still hung around Jessica's face, as if she didn't care anymore. She had one piercing in each ear, cute little jeweled studs. Probably done in a mall by a professional, nothing like the way Melissa had packed Dess's earlobe in ice before poking a hole in it.
A textbook landed on Dess's desk, and she turned away from Jessica (who had, if it was even possible, looked even more freaked out) and began flipping through the book. Scribbles here and there, a few underlined words. Dess didn't bother writing them down. Sanchez would let it slide. She was his favorite student.
"So, how do you like Bixby so far, Jess?" she asked, keeping an ear out for anything like strange dreams or flying snakes.
"The water tastes funny here."
There it was. Most people didn't find anything wrong with Bixby water, but the midnighters didn't feel the same way. Of course, that could mean nothing. The water in California probably tasted weird too, but that didn't mean the blue time came there.
"No kidding," Dess said, feeling her mouth quirk slightly. No one had ever been quite that blunt about it before. It was refreshing. Even if she wasn't a midnighter, Jessica Day still had some redeeming qualities. (Though her taste in friends wasn't one of them. Constanza Grayfoot? Really?)
"Yeah, to me anyway. I guess I'll get used to it."
"Nope. I was born here, and it still tastes funny."
"Great," Jessica said.
"And that's not all that's funny," Dess pressed. Jessica obviously wasn't going to start talking about weird dreams to someone she didn't know, but...
Jessica was silent, so Dess skipped to the back of the book. For God's sake, who checked these? What was the point of having answers in the back if they weren't the right ones? All it was doing was creating more lazy, stupid people.
Upon voicing this opinion (well, except the last part, which was kind of mean), Jessica nervously said, "Uh, yeah, I guess. We found a mistake in my algebra textbook last year."
"A mistake?" This girl was clearly not a polymath, that was for sure. Dess hoped she wasn't a mindcaster, eavesdropping on all the rude things Dess was thinking about her right now.
"A couple, I guess."
Dess shook her head. At this point, having Jessica Day turn out to be nothing more than a useless daylighter would be kind of a relief.
Neither the interrogation nor the class was particularly scintillating (tridecalogism, Dess noted, and filed it away for later use), so she turned back to her book. "A handsome rendering of the gorgeous Mr. Sanchez, page 214," she mumbled, drawing a quick doodle of Mr. Sanchez (who had a craggy face, a huge nose, and apparently was not fond of showers) on the page, then recording it. Out of the corner of her eye, Dess saw Jessica roll her eyes.
"You know, Jess," Dess said casually, starting the conversation again, "Bixby water isn't just tasty. It gives you funny dreams." If that didn't get her talking, nothing would.
"What?" Jessica said. Dess tried not to roll her eyes.
"The water in Bixby," she repeated, slower this time. Maybe Jessica was just shocked that someone seemed to know about her funny dreams. She'd better be, otherwise Dess would be in from a long lecture from Rex about how she wasn't recruiting Jessica properly. "It gives you funny dreams. Haven't you noticed?"
"Not really. With the moving and everything, I've been too tired to dream."
Well, okay. Valid excuse. Unless she couldn't see the secret hour at all. This was so confusing.
"Really?"
"Really."
I am the best interrogator ever, Dess thought dryly as the supposed learning began.
When the bell rang, Dess picked up her bag and left without saying goodbye to Jessica.
Then she stopped by the drinking fountain and the bathroom, because Rex's lecture was going to take a very, very long time.
Ladies and gentlemen, what you have just read is the first fic I've completed in about a year. Maybe two years, I've lost track. Am I still the incredible awesome I believed myself to be? Do tell! How can you tell? By REVIEWING! -nudgenudgewinkwinkLOOKHOWSUBTLEIAM-
The Peace