Iridescent
"Some say people are born in colors, each color representing their dominant point, and every now and then, you'll come across someone who's iridescent, a bit of everything." He paused. "My friend, do you think it's a good thing that Miss Contraire falls under that category of 'iridescent'? I, for one, think of it as a tragedy."
"Ah, S.Q, there you are."
"Sorry for being late," the Executive apologized, clumsily dipping his head and bumping it into a nearby lamp, which rocked precariously, on the verge of tipping over.
"No worry," Mr. Curtain replied curtly, though one could easily spot the displeasure in his eyes, even behind the sunglasses, as his arm launched out to steady the lamp. "I want to discuss something with you...something that involves our young student - Miss Constance Contraire."
Light sparkled in S.Q's eyes. "What about her, sir? Isn't she a delight?"
...If it had been anyone but S.Q, Mr. Curtain would have thought of the statement of desirable sarcasm. But, alas, it was the one person that could possibly mean it he was talking to. At times, Mr. Curtain heavily contemplated what S.Q was doing for this cause, the purpose of LIVE. Yet, for reasons unknown to him, he had kept S.Q as his faithful servant. A clumsy dunce, but loyal.
"No, S.Q, she is not a delight," he said firmly, "In fact, I deem her a pain in the-"
"Mr. Curtain, sir!"
Mr. Curtain laughed his cold-hearted laugh. "I was going to say neck, S.Q, not anything vulgar, as you thought."
His companion visibly relaxed. "But why do you deem her a pain, sir? She's quiet...rather sulky at times, but-"
"Precisely. Her attitude is not suitable for this school. She has no motivation for LIVE, S.Q! Please tell me, why was Miss Contraire admitted to this Institute in the first place?"
"...Er...I-uh..."
"You don't know, I suspect. That's fair, S.Q, as I don't either." A scowl was stretched across Mr. Curtain's features. "And, if you recall correctly, I am the runner of this Institute; I should know everything."
Silence. Impenetrable silence.
Mr. Curtain spoke again, his voice low, obviously displeased. "S.Q, some people say that people are born in different colors-" S.Q looked at him blankly. "-metaphorically, of course. Their color would represent their dominant point, their source of charisma, you could say. And once in a while, you'd get someone so diverse that they couldn't be classified as anything but iridescent, a bit of everything." He paused. "If Miss Contraire fell under that category-"
"What category?"
An impatient hiss. "The iridescent category, fool. But if she did, my friend, would you think it were to be a good thing. I, for one, would think of it as a tragedy," he continued, not allowing S.Q to inject his answer, "if the iridescent category had been degraded to classifying little girls whose diversity only consists of rudeness, anger, grumpiness..."
"On the contrary, sir! Constance isn't always rude - at least, she doesn't mean to be. She's a bit of everything, yes-"
"Silence!" Mr. Curtain yanked off his sunglasses, fixing S.Q with his bloodshot glare. "Are you defending Miss Contraire, S.Q?" His voice had resumed to being dangerously low. "I hired you to support me, not rebellious students!"
The young man nodded his head vigorously, not exactly as petrified as his leader would have liked him to be.
Mr. Curtain sighed, sank back into his chair, and fell fast asleep.
S.Q stared at his boss curiously, shrugged, and left the room.
On the other side of the school, the young girl in question was scowling. Typical.
"Will you hurry up already? I wanna go to sleep!" she demanded, her blue eyes rather watery.
"It's nice enough that I agreed to do this, Constance!" Sticky snapped, "I'm sure Mr. Curtain wouldn't be all too pleased that I'm doing homework for you!"
"Oh, so now you want to please Mr. Curtain, huh? Traitor!"
"No, I-"
"Just admit it! You're such a goody two shoes that you can't stand working behind a teacher's back! You're not helping our cause!"
The bickering pair immediately fell silent. Then, there was a embarrassed, reluctant "Sorry."
Sticky nodded, and turned back to working. Not so much as seconds later, he handed Constance her homework. "Here you go. Don't thank me."
"Okay. I won't." And then she turned on her tiny heel and ambled back to the girls' room as if daring anyone to defy her from her destination, not seeming to care that curfew was to be called in approximately thirty seconds.
Sticky scoffed. A voice behind him called, "You handled that pretty well."
He spun around slowly in his chair, having forgotten about his best friend. "Yeah, well, why didn't you interject? I thought you would."
Reynie looked up from his studying. "You didn't really need my help." He smiled. "Besides, I wasn't exactly in the mood to be snapped at by either of you."
Sticky's cheeks colored slightly. "Well, I wouldn't have snapped at you. Miss Bossy Face probably would have, though."
"Yeah. Didja see the way she walked out of the room? She's rather bold, wouldn't you say?"
"True. And remember that time she ate the licorice? Accidentally, of course, but it was sort of brave. In a way," Sticky said, eyes sparkling reminiscently. "She's really one of a kind."
"In good ways and bad," Reynie laughed with agreement, "but one of a kind, yes."
"Jackson, Jillson, Martina Crowe and S.Q Pedalian. Report to me immediately."
The last four words seemed to have struck a chord in the four Executives. They leapedt out of their seats, their chairs scraping the floor with a loud squeak, and promptly arrived as a group outside Mr. Curtain's office within five minutes.
"Come in."
"Yes, sir? What did you need?" S.Q inquired, stepping into the attic-like room after Jillson.
"I don't need anything," Mr. Curtain said curtly. "Have a seat, all of you." Scraping chairs sounded once more. Then, through gritted teeth, the leader of LIVE growled, "The girl is driving the school insane."
"Who?" asked S.Q blankly.
"Constance Contraire!" his four companions admonished after nodding their heads in consent to Mr. Curtain's opinion.
"Never before have I felt the urge to, for lack of a better term, 'kick out' a student. Every student, every pupil here at LIVE has exceeded my expectations, except her. My friends, how would you feel if Miss Contraire no longer attended the school?"
"I'd be the happiest person in the world," Martina responded promptly and emphatically.
Jackson glowered at her. "I'd be the second happiest, I suppose."
Jillson scowled. "I guess I'm stuck with being the third happiest..."
"I get it," Mr. Curtain said coolly, "you'd all be elated, do I stand correct?" Everyone but S.Q nodded fervently. "S.Q, is something troubling you? You do not seem very enthusiastic about this discussion."
"Sir, are you really going to kick Constance out?"
Mr. Curtain made an odd grumbling noise at the back of his throat. "Of course not." The others' shoulders slumped, none of which exactly discreet. "It would ruin the image, demolish our enticing manner to accept any student and promote excellence. If word were released of Miss Contraire being expelled, we would be portrayed in a different, a more negative, light by the general public."
S.Q seemed immensely relieved. "Oh. Of course, sir. The iridescent girl stays," he added, somewhat jokingly, though Mr. Curtain didn't quite distinguish the humor in his words.
"Yes, the iridescent girl stays, much to my displeasure." He scanned the faces of his four Executives beneath the rim of his sunglasses. "You are dismissed. I merely wanted your opinion on the matter. Oh, and Jillson, you have an a session tomorrow. Messengers just won't do for a session like the one I have appointed to you."
"Yes, thank you for giving it to me," Jillson replied politely, though it wasn't difficult to recognize the gleam of joy in her usual uncaring eyes. She couldn't refrain herself from doing a fist pump as soon as the door shut behind them. The others glared at her with envy. She smirked, and departed calling, "See ya later, squirts."
Martina and Jackson immediately left after her, abandoning S.Q and his attempts to extract his foot from an open vent. As he finally yanked his big foot with a tiny clatter, he heard his only role model mutter rather loudly in his office.
"Constance Contraire, out of all students, iridescent. Preposterous..."
A/N: Well, hope you enjoyed. The whole iridescent idea came from "Flipped"...so yeah, the idea doesn't belong to me.
As always, please point out any mistakes, reviews would be appreciated, and thanks for your support!
Yours truly,
~Dove's Wing