Note: I don't own any of the Bioware characters. Re-edited as of 8/15.
1.
She was late, but that wasn't anything new. Usually she wouldn't have cared, but barging into her first class on her first day at a new school was probably not going to win her any brownie points, especially with her track record of five different high school expulsions under her belt. Considering this was her last chance before being shipped off to military school, she needed all the brownie points she could get.
She came to a halt in front of the door marked Room 107, breathing deeply through her nose. She shook out her hands and exhaled sharply: this was a delicate operation that required the utmost of care if she were to sneak in without getting caught. She paused, then held her breath before carefully twisting the door knob as quietly as she could, gently nudging the door just a fraction of an inch -
The door hinges groaned so loudly it was like they were collectively giving birth to her now extremely noticeable, entirely obvious, and clearly late attendance.
Twenty-seven pairs of eyes swiveled towards the noise and landed on her sheepish grin. One pair in particular, the teacher's, honed in on her like a hawk's, squinting in suspicion.
"Sorry I'm late…" she muttered, shuffling through the doorway and shutting it. "I'm…I just transferred and I got a little lost on the way here." She handed him a piece of paper, evidence of her transfer and her addition to the roster.
"I see," the teacher said coldly, dark brow furrowing even further. "You may call me Mr. Udina. Don't be late again…" He paused, looking down at the paper to catch her name with squinted eyes. "…Darcy…Shipyard."
"Darby Shepard," she corrected, enunciating clearly.
Mr. Udina sniffed and raised an eyebrow, apparently his version of a polite 'fuck you'. "Ah, yes. Darby. Well. It appears the only seat open is next to Miss Lawson." He gestured vaguely towards the front corner of the room, disgustingly close to the teacher's desk. "Miranda, will you please raise your hand?"
A supremely gorgeous dark-haired girl raised her hand in response, looking terribly bored with everything around her. Darby shrugged mentally; she could've had worse seat buddies, she supposed. Darby headed over obediently and settled into her desk next to Miranda as Udina got back to whatever boring lecture she walked in on.
"Hey," she whispered in greeting, smiling a little as she settled into her seat.
Cool blue eyes regarded her blankly before turning away in disinterest. "Don't," the girl said, her words colored with the hint of an Australian accent. It was undeniably attractive and only made the girl hotter.
"Er…don't what?"
The girl – Miranda - huffed a little. "I said, don't. As in, don't even bother. I'm not in need of any more friends," she said frostily before turning her gaze back towards the chalkboard.
Did Darby say she was hot?
Because clearly her hormones were misguided – she actually meant cold. Ice cold. Frosty the Snowbitch in human form.
Well, Darby tried, to say the least. She couldn't stop the words that came to her lips even if she wanted. "To say 'more' would be to imply that you already have some, and with that attitude, I sincerely doubt that. Christ."
Miranda's back noticeably stiffened, going ramrod straight. "What did you just say?"
"You lack decent manners and the ability to hear?" Darby retorted.
There was a low chuckle a few seats back, appreciative and thoroughly amused. "Ooh. This'll be good."
"Jacqueline?" Udina snapped, suddenly looking away from the board. "Do you have something to say?"
The girl with the shaved head and tons of tattoos, apparently the one who had laughed, threw the teacher a baleful look. "It's Jack," she corrected with a growl. "And why yes, I do have something to say, now that you mention it. I hate this class and you can go fu—"
"That's enough, young lady," Udina spluttered, red as a blister. "You can be sure I'll be speaking to Principal Anderson about this."
"Ooh. Goody," came Jack's disinterested reply.
Darby let out a quiet snort at Jack's antics. Then she glanced over at Miranda, who was apparently still trying to murder her with her eyes. Suddenly Darby felt a ball of paper smack the back of her head. "Wha-?" she mumbled, looking around for the offending shooter. Her gaze landed on Jack, who smirked at her and gave her a thumbs-up, jerking her head at Miranda.
Darby merely grinned at the recognition, and mimed brushing some dirt off of her shoulder.
Her last class of the day let out a little bit earlier before the final bell rang, so Darby was left to dawdle in the school parking lot. Late to her first class and early out of her last one: it didn't exactly bode well for her first day, but at least she'd made a friend. She and Jack had found out that they had lunch period at the same time, so they bonded a little over Udina's weirdly-shaped growing bald spot as well as the rubbery tire-like substance the school paraded around as lunch meat. The two of them had made plans to meet up after school but Darby still hadn't spotted Jack, even as the final bell rang for the day and the floodgates opened, waves of students hurtling out of the school towards the parking lot.
Darby dodged most of the student stampede easily, but a straggler accidentally clipped her, knocking Darby out of her reverie, and the books out of the stranger's own hand. The girl – asari, actually – blushed a deep, deep blue as she immediately scrambled to pick up the fallen textbooks, eyes darting everywhere except to Darby's face.
"I'm so sorry. I wasn't even looking where I was going, I should've—" The asari frantically gathered up her books, looking ready to die of embarrassment.
"Hey," Darby interrupted gently, bending down to pick up the last book. "It's okay. I was totally in the way." She ducked her head to catch the asari girl's eyes and give her a reassuring smile. The two of them stood, and Darby reached out to hand her the book. "Are you all right?"
"Oh," The asari blinked and stammered as her fingertips brushed against Darby's. "I'm…I'm fine, I just—"
"Liara? Liara!"
The two girls turned towards the source of the shout: a quarian girl decked out in purple, waving to Liara as she approached. "Keelah, there you are. I've been looking all over for you. I had to finish my project in workshop and it ran a little late, but I – oh, hello," she paused, as though she just noticed Darby's presence. "Sorry to interrupt."
"Tali," the asari – Liara, apparently – greeted a bit nervously, shifting the weight of her books in her arms. "This is…" She frowned, hesitating. "Um…"
"Darby, right?" Tali interrupted, snapping her fingers in recognition.
"Yeah," said Darby, tilting her head in curiosity. "How'd you know?"
"I'm in your first period class with Udina," Tali clarified. "I didn't want to get in trouble so I didn't say anything at the time, but what you did with Miranda…that was hilarious. And cool," she admitted. "Nobody ever really stands up to her like that. It was really…really admirable." The quarian shuffled her feet and cleared her throat. "I'm—I'm Tali, by the way, but you probably already figured that out."
"My name is Liara," the asari offered, albeit belatedly.
"Well, it's good to meet you both," Darby said, smiling. "I can't say I've had the friendliest welcome to this school otherwise."
"Udina's a little bosh'tet," Tali griped. "But Principal Anderson is pretty nice once you get to know him, and he puts Udina in his place a lot. And Miranda…Miranda's something else," she finished with a grumble.
"So I've gathered," nodded Darby. She gave a thoughtful murmur and then a full-fledged grin. "Any other tips or tricks you might wanna teach me?"
Liara blinked and Tali kind of giggled to herself. "I—" Liara began, until a loud, brash voice bellowed over.
"Shepard!" Jack called out, standing next to a ridiculously badass looking motorcycle. She leaned against it, lighting a cigarette and impatiently waving Darby over.
"Oh," Darby said, looking regretful. "I should probably go…"
"Be careful with her," Tali warned out of the blue. "She can be a little…"
"…Much," Liara finished for her. It was clear Tali had other choice vocabulary in mind. "It was nice to meet you, Darby," Liara said, giving her a small smile.
Darby's grin was broad and genuine. "My pleasure, ladies. Tali, I'll see you in first period tomorrow?" The quarian nodded, and Darby caught Liara's eye once more. "And Liara, maybe I'll bump into you again. Maybe not when you've got so many books in hand and places to go," she added, "but hopefully sometime soon."
"I…um. Yes."
Only when Darby disappeared into the crowd, heading in Jack's direction, did Liara find her voice again. "Goddess," she mumbled, embarrassed and confused all at once. She pressed a shaky hand to her forehead.
"I agree," Tali said sagely.
"Okay, I don't even know how you can mess up a formation this badly and this quickly," Miranda snarled at a nearby team member. "We did this routine all this past summer. You should be perfect!"
"Sorry, Captain," the girl said, dying of shame and embarrassment, if the red on her cheeks was any indication.
"Don't be apologetic," Miranda snapped, frowning. "Just be…" She flailed a hand, searching for the right word. "Better." She bounced on her heels, impatient but aware that they weren't going to get anywhere when the squad was this stressed out. "Take ten," she commanded. "And when you all get back, show me something that will not get us laughed out of Regionals."
There was a mass grumbling and shuffling as the cheerleading squad dissembled, but Miranda blatantly ignored the murmurs of discontent and walked off towards the bleachers to begin some stretches. God, she was so incredibly tense, and her squad acting like a bunch of half-wits wasn't helping. She was in the middle of bending over to do her hamstring stretches when she heard an interested murmur of approval. It was one that was all too familiar that brought an equally familiar curl of disgust to her lip.
"Hmm. Sneaking out of practice to watch the head cheerleader get all warmed up," Jacob leered. "Heavy risk, but the-"
Miranda huffed as she abruptly slammed her leg back to the ground, standing evenly on both feet with arms akimbo. "Seriously, Jacob?"
He shrugged, the leer still quite obvious beyond the barrier of his football helmet. "Just sayin'."
"Yes, well," she bit out, "There's no need to say anything."
"Oh come on, Miranda, don't be like that," Jacob practically whined. It grated on her ears, and she yanked her hair tie even tighter around her ponytail.
"I hate it when you do that," she seethed. "Tell me how to be or what to be or…or what-have-you." Her accent always became more noticeably pronounced when she was angry, a fact that Jacob would've found sexy if she weren't glaring at him with murderous intent. "You're so bloody predictable. Just go wander off and leap onto sweaty men and chase after balls, as you do."
"It's called tackling, Miranda. Tackling. It's football."
"Football isn't a real sport," she said dismissively, rolling her eyes.
"Oh, like cheerleading is?" Jacob challenged.
Miranda straightened and looked at him evenly. "Cheerleading requires balance, dexterity, and flexibility. You know, actual athleticism? It's not some grunting pantomime of testosterone and masculinity," she retorted, "or the veritable font of homoeroticism that your silly game is." Looking rather bored, she sighed irritably. "Now what part of 'We're taking a break that's the permanent sort' do you not understand, Jacob?"
Finally, that normally cool exterior of Jacob's shattered, and he noticeably bristled. "Fine," he growled. "I…Well, I didn't need you anyway."
"Right," Miranda called out in a drawl as he returned to the football team, tail between his legs. "Of course you don't. I'm sure your right hand has missed you!"
Sucking on a tooth, Jack eyed her from across the table. "I saw your ink, Shepard. Didn't think you were the gang-banger type."
Darby laughed, touching her fingertips to the inside of her wrist in a subconscious gesture, as though she could feel the ink beneath her skin. "No banging involved," she said. "Ganging and whatnot, however, yes."
"Tenth Street Reds, right?" Jack asked, watching Darby's expressions carefully.
"Uh-huh," Darby replied, eyes focused on her cards. "For a little while. Wasn't really my thing, so I… quit."
Snorting, Jack tossed a few chips onto the pile with ease. "Unless they've changed drastically since I last ran into them, I'm pretty fucking sure you don't just quit a gang, especially one like the Reds. Who'd you blow to get out of that?" Her grin turned sly. "Better yet, who'd you kill?"
"Gross," Darby said, making a face. "Nobody. And why did you look more turned on when asking about killing rather than blowing?" She shook her head. "Never mind, don't answer that. Anyway, can't a girl keep her secrets?" asked Darby.
"Not at this shit-hole of a school," Jack muttered. "Especially the way that fucking cheerleader Miranda rules it." She heaved an impatient sigh, tapping her fingers on the table in a sharp staccato. "Are you gonna make a fucking move or what?"
Darby bit her lip, shrugging. "I don't know. The second I saw her, I was like, 'wow, hell yeah,' but then she started being a –"
Rearing back in her seat, Jack squawked. "Ew, what the fuck? Dude, I was talking about the game!" She gesticulated wildly at the table in front of them, laden with poker chips and well-used cards.
"…Oh," Darby blushed. "The game. As in, it's my turn to play."
"Yes!" Jack shrieked, the look of abject horror and disgust still painted on her face. "I can't believe-seriously? You like her? The Rack from the Outback? The Ass-Wonder from Down Under?"
"Well, look at her!" Darby protested, flustered and embarrassed. "She's like, fucking perfect or something. No one should look that good. No one's ass should be that amazing. It occupies its own solar system, for shit's sake."
Jack pretended to vomit. "Gross. And well, I heard that shit isn't all natural anyway. Plus she's a huge bitch."
Darby squinted. "You kind of are too."
Flaring her biotics, Jack held a hand up. "Yeah, but at least I'm a badass. She's just a fucking teacher's pet and little Miss Perfect." She huffed, extinguishing the blue glow of her powers. "I don't even know why you would want a chance with her. Besides, I'm pretty sure she's blowing the football captain."
"Seriously, what is it with you and blowjobs?" Darby frowned. "Wait, never mind. Don't answer that either." Grimacing, Darby fiddled with the cards in her hand. "And the football captain…Jacob or something, right? Walking pair of pecs and biceps?" At Jack's nod, she added with a grumble, "Great image, thanks."
"You're welcome."
Darby shrugged and heaved a sigh. "Well, we all have our little flaws. Hers just happens to be her heterosexual tendencies."
"Right," Jack drawled. "Tendencies."
"Dude, I'm a major step up from Jacob. I'm like a whole fucking staircase up from him. She just doesn't know it yet."
"I still can't even process the fact that you have a lady boner for this chick."
"Lady boner? Gross."
"This whole conversation is!" Jack huffed impatiently. "So shut up and play. You gonna make a move sometime this century or what?" she growled, gesturing towards the cards.
Darby gave a wolfish grin, thinking of Miranda. "To answer your question, yes. " She smirked before smugly laying down her cards face up for Jack to see. "And also, yes. Straight flush."
"Fuck."
"Need help?" Darby offered, leaning against the wall with arms crossed.
Miranda stapled the next poster onto the board with more force than necessary. "No," she ground out. "I think I'm perfectly capable of adhering a piece of paper to a wall with a stapler."
"You know, I was thinking maybe we got off on the wrong foot, but I'm beginning to think there isn't a right foot with you," Darby replied easily.
"The right one is whichever one helps you walk away from me," Miranda said, voice curt.
"Ouch."
"I told you, I don't need any more friends – because yes, I do have some, thank you very much – and I don't need any help."
As soon as the words left her mouth, however, an asari-shaped blur rushed past the two of them, accidentally knocking Miranda's papers out of her hand and sending leaflets flying all over the hallway.
"Goddess, I'm so sorry," Liara muttered frantically, scrambling to pick up both her and Miranda's papers.
Watching in amusement, Darby remained against the wall, still leaning but this time with a particularly smug expression.
"A hand, please?" Miranda snapped at Darby, gesturing at the strewn papers.
Quirking an eyebrow, Darby shrugged but stooped to help, noticeably only picking up Liara's papers and not Miranda's. "You said you were perfectly capable," she said to Miranda, a wide-eyed innocent look on her face. To Liara, she grinned charmingly. "And Liara, we've got to stop meeting like this."
"Um," Liara blushed, the picture of eloquence.
"Ah," Darby said in surprise, looking at the flyers Liara had dropped. "You're running for class president too? So is this bowl of sunshine right here," she added, gesturing towards Miranda.
"Y-yes," Liara mumbled. "I just finished my flyers and was rushing to put them up before school was out."
"Hot off the press," Darby smiled. "Well. Is there anyone else running?"
Standing up briskly, Miranda huffed. "Not as of right now. But the candidacy is open to anyone for the next three days before the campaigning starts. Not that it's of any significance to you," she hissed.
"Are you going to run, Darby? I think you would make an interesting class president," Liara said.
Miranda snorted to herself, still picking up her papers with vehemence.
"Against such fine candidates like Miss Lawson and yourself?" Darby teased, delighting in both Liara's flush and Miranda's deepening scowl. "I wouldn't stand a chance."
"You're right. You wouldn't," Miranda said, voice sharp.
Darby hummed, blissfully ignorant. "On that note, I should probably get going." She waggled her fingers at both women before sauntering away, stepping on a flyer that Miranda failed to pick up with particular relish.
"-Your project will be due the following week. It is to include not only the full history of the alien council, but the complete biographies on each current serving member, as well as-" Udina sighed irritably. "Yes, Miss Chambers?"
"May we choose our partners?" Kelly asked, furtively looking at the back of Darby's head.
Udina sniffed. "For the past five years, I have never allowed students to choose their own partners. It works out best for everyone that way." He clapped his hands. "Now, as for your assignments…"
"That's too bad we can't choose," Darby whispered, grinning as Miranda resolutely kept her eyes on the chalkboard ahead. "I'd pick you."
"Really," Miranda asked drolly. "Because I was thinking quite the opposite."
"Touché."
"—Tali, you're with Kenneth," Udina droned.
"What exactly is your problem, Shepard?"
"I'm not the one with a problem. But you can call me Darby if you want."
"-Chambers, you're with Hathaway-"
"I won't be doing that, Shepard."
"-Grunt, pair up with Jack-"
"I reiterate: that's too bad."
"Yes, well. You seem to be plagued with misfortune. What a pity."
"Hmm, I dunno. I got to be seat buddies with you. Seems like I'm in the habit of getting lucky, wouldn't you say?"
"No."
"—Darcy, you're with Miranda-"
The grin that lit up Darby's face brought the utmost misery to Miranda's, the devastation and horror marring the latter's perfect features. "Well, would you look at that? Guess my luck has changed. I suppose you can call me Darcy instead, if you like."
Miranda snapped her pencil in half.