It's too early...
The day was overcast and the sky was dark with clouds that looked ready to burst with rain at any moment. It was early in the morning and among the various people making their way to Peach Creek High School were the Kanker Sisters. Lee seemed to be particularly animated and May's gaze was transfixed on her. Marie, however, seemed as though she wanted to be anywhere but right there with her sisters. Her eyes were dull and her movements slightly sluggish. She was still tired.
"And then, May'll catch Eddy off-"
It's too early for this right now...
A loud giggle was followed quickly by a snort. "Good idea Lee!"
Stop talking...
"And then, Marie, you're gonna-"
I don't care... It's too early...
"Marie. 'Ey, Marie!" Lee snapped her fingers rapidly in front of the blue haired girl's face. "Were you even listenin' to me just now?" Even with the crimson curls shading her eyes, Marie could tell that Lee's eyes were boring into her.
Marie trailed dark eyes over to meet the redhead's hidden gaze. "Yeah Lee. I was listenin'. You want me to trip Big Ed into a rope er... Somethin'." She yawned loudly. It was an obnoxious sound. One she only made to spite her older sister. "I got it."
Lee scowled and jabbed her elbow right into Marie's hip, earning a loud grunt and a hard glare. "You weren't listenin' again! It's because'a you the Eds've been gettin' away from us lately!"
Marie's fingers clenched into tight fists. Every urge within her was screaming to send her fist flying into Lee's stomach. She inhaled deeply, then exhaled slowly. "Nothin's because'a me. Don't blame me for your incompetence! Just because you can't get the boy you want doesn't make it my fault!"
In all honesty, Marie's drive to chase after the Eds had dwindled over the years it had been happening. Plan after plan, attempt after attempt, to get them to fall in love with them had all failed and Marie was tired of it. She just... Didn't care anymore. She'd tried numerous times to explain to Lee to give it a rest but every time, she was shot down and told to "Get her head back in the game."
Her eyes never lost the harshness in their glare. In spite of the fact that Lee was taller than she was, Marie never backed down. Not even when she knew that Lee's gaze was just as hard as her own behind her hair.
"What did you say ta me?" Lee's voice was low. A sign she was mad and getting madder. Both sisters had stopped walking at this point.
"You heard me," there was a bit of a challenging edge to the tone of Marie's voice. "It ain't. My. Fault you can't get the boy you want because you're in-com-pe-tent." The word was spoken slowly, just to further emphasize her snark.
May's gaze between her two sisters was a concerned and worried one. She shrank into her shoulders and suppressed a quiet whimper. "Guys... Don't..." She knew better than to try to step between them, though. The last few times she had resulted in a hurt jaw and a black eye for her.
Marie wasn't stupid. She knew her sister well. She could see the subtle motions of Lee's shoulders squaring for what she assumed would be some kind of sucker punch. She'd be lying if she said Lee wasn't fast with her swings. Thankfully, though, Marie was just a little bit faster. As quickly as she could, she ducked her body low and lunged forward, ramming her head into Lee's stomach. The audible, nearly winded grunt was enough for her to know she had caught the redhead off guard. She had just a few seconds before Lee regained enough composure to attack back. The bluenette feinted to the side and scurried past both Lee and May. Due to her awkward hunched position, she had to use her momentum as best she could to push herself back up onto her feet properly. She didn't look over her shoulder as she ran in the direction of the school. Behind her, she could hear Lee's shouts of "You gotta come home today, asshole!" All Marie did was quickly adjust the strap of her bag more securely on her shoulder and increase the pace of her running.
"Dude, did you see the Kankers this morning? It looked like a fight was about to break out. I almost feel robbed I didn't get to see a fist fly." Kevin was busy getting the books he would need for his first-period class out of his locker.
Beside him were the two people he was often seen with. A tall foreign boy most people assumed was Norwegian and a blonde girl, whose gaze appeared neutral at worst and semi-concerned at best.
"Flying fists? Surely you jest He-Who-Rides-The-Steel-Pig." Rolf was stuffing his books into a goatskin sack.
Kevin's facial expression dropped any pretense of amusement, but before he could explain that he rode a motorcycle to Rolf, again, Nazz interrupted him with a quiet murmur.
"I don't think it's cool to want to see anyone fight for any reason that's not sportsmanlike, Kev."
Kevin's brow furrowed. "You serious? You're telling me you wouldn't wanna see them finally tearing each other apart after the hell they put the rest of us through for years?"
"Yes."
The jock managed to refrain from rolling his eyes and instead loosed a grunt. "Anybody ever tell you you're too nice sometimes, Nazz?"
"Sometimes," her words were spoken with a playful, cheeky smile.
"When do you think the teacher will get here?" Edd's voice held a deep level of concern.
His first-period class was Creative Writing. He shared the class with Nazz, Eddy, Ed, the Kanker Sisters, and Johnny. The last remaining straggling students slumped their way into class and to their desks as Eddy rolled his shoulders noncommittally.
"Dunno. Maybe she won't show up and we can't get outta that dumb test."
Edd frowned. "You know Eddy. Perhaps if you studied more, you wouldn't be so concerned about upcoming exams."
Eddy shot the words back at him with a mocking edge to his voice then waved his hand dismissively. "Yeah yeah."
"Studying is boring Double D," Ed said.
Eddy snrked. "Lumpy gets it. I got way more important junk to do."
Edd rolled his eyes. "If you say so, Eddy."
Marie's feet were propped up on her desk, her arms were crossed and her eyes were closed. Her sisters were on the other side of the room today. May she didn't mind, but she was still very upset with Lee. Still. She was serene enough. At least until she felt a pen ricochet off the side of her head. She snapped her eyes open and quickly turned her head in the direction the pen had come from. Her lips curled into a sneer when she noticed that the only person looking directly at her was her older sister. The blunette scoffed, stuck up her middle finger and turned to face forward once again. Instead of closing her eyes, she let them rest half open. Her gaze scanned the classmates seated in front of her. She watched the Eds prattling on about something she wasn't really interested in then her gaze shifted over to Johnny. He seemed to be laughing with that piece of wood he'd been carrying around since he was a kid. Her lips thinned slightly. He was nearly out of high school and still talked to that thing like it was a living person.
What a freak, Marie thought.
Then her gaze moved and settled on the blonde seated not too far in front of her. Nazz Van Bartonschmeer. The head cheerleader. The popular girl. The Angel of Peach Creek High. From what Marie could see, Nazz was laughing about something on her phone. She wondered what could be making her giggle like that. It was such a cheerful sound with a noticeable lilt. Marie worked her jaw back and forth. She should really find a time to talk to her. She mentally scoffed at herself. What would she even talk to her about? Nazz didn't seem like the kind of girl into any of the things she liked. Marie sputtered and closed her eyes, though not for long as the peppy voice of an older woman reached her ears.
"Good morning, students! I'm sorry for arriving so late. I was in a meeting with Principal Antonucci." She turned and wrote her name on the board in large, curly letters. "My name is Mrs. Piper. I'm gonna be your substitute for the next few weeks. Your teacher unfortunately hurt himself in a rock climbing accident. Broken an arm and a leg. So sad." She shook her head. "So in his place, I'll do my best to make sure you all are learning what you need to be! Now if you would all please pull out your homework from the previous night, I'll be collecting that shortly."
Marie blinked as she eyed this woman. With her young looking face, silky shoulder length black hair and slender frame, she couldn't have been older than 25. The sounds of bags opening and papers shuffling around her caused her to quickly snap to and reach for her own work. She pulled out a small stack of stapled together typed-faced papers and looked over the title once before setting it on her desk in front of her. It read iNovocaine./i She sighed softly, hoping it was good enough. She'd spent a decent amount of time at the library working on it.
When the time came for Mrs. Piper to pick up their papers, Marie was once again reclined in her seat with her eyes closed. She heard footsteps approaching her, prompting her to peek an eye open and meet the teacher's smile with a silent nod. She seemed nice enough Marie thought.
Once all of the homework was collected, Mrs. Piper clasped her hands together and smiled.
"Alright guys. It's time for the exam. I assume you all know what you're being tested on?" She was met with responses varying in their level of enthusiasm. "Very good! Please take out a pencil or a pen. Black or blue ink only." As she spoke, she picked up a stack of papers and walked around to begin handing them out. She glanced at the clock. It read 8:37. "You have until 9:10. That's twenty minutes before class ends. Your teacher had planned for a partner assignment."
Mrs. Piper easily ignored the complaints and continued speaking. "I know most of you don't like to be partnered up, but just think that the quicker you get the assignment over with, the quicker this whole thing will be over. And to make it fair for everyone, Mr. Sanders has already assigned the duos." Again, she was met with groans and complaints, which she promptly ignored. She strolled back to her desk and sat down. "You may begin."
Marie looked down at the papers before her and managed to keep from sighing.
'Great. I'm sure this is gonna be tons of fun.'
9:10 rolled around and Mrs. Piper stood to collect the tests. Several students looked confident. Others looked worried. Marie though? She looked indifferent. She wasn't worried. Hell. She thought the test wasn't even that hard. She'd studied, but still. She drummed her fingers on the top of her desk and glanced up when the teacher had begun to speak.
"The time has come. I'm sure you're all excited to find out who you'll be working with on your projects."
"Oh yeah. Real excited," Eddy snarked.
Mrs. Piper's grin didn't fade as she held up a list. "These are the partners."
She began to read off the names. Many of the students seemed fine with who they were paired with. Eddy was settled in his seat, eyes locked on Nazz. He could only hope he was paired with her. It would give him the opportunity to try to shmooze and charm her without Shovelchin Kevin bothering him.
"Eddy."
He perked, eyes on the blonde.
"You're with... Ed."
If his smile and eyes could have shattered, they would have. His smile fell instantly and he turned his gaze to the large boy who was grinning as though he had just won the gravy lottery.
"Happy Day Eddy! You and I are going to have much fun!"
Marie couldn't help but smirk at the boy and his sputtering as she listened to May and Lee and Johnny and Edd being paired together. Wait... That only left-
"Marie Kanker and Nazz Van Bartonshmeer."
Dark eyes widened and for the first time all class, Marie sat up straight. Her eyes locked onto the blonde's. That azure gaze that was just as surprised as her own. Eddy groaned audibly in the background, but Marie couldn't even begin to care. Her visible eye was glued to Nazz's.
Both girls sat staring wordlessly at each other. Neither girl immediately budged when the class was instructed to move beside their partner for the remainder of the class period to discuss ideas.
Nazz's expression appeared to be somewhere between shocked and mildly worried. She'd never actually had to work with a Kanker before. Would this be a good idea? Could she trust that Marie wouldn't do anything to her if she invited her over for the sake of their schoolwork, right? She shifted rather uncomfortably as she watched Marie grab her bag and meander over to sit in the desk beside her.
"Hey Princess." Marie's eyes returned to hers.
"Hey dude," she chuckled quietly. Nervously. "I guess we're working together, huh?"
"Seems like it. Look. You probably don't want me in your hair too much durin' this so how about we brainstorm a few topics now then we can discuss what we wanna end up doin' at lunch? Sound cool?"
Nazz nodded. "Sure, Marie. Sounds cool."
The blunette offered her a light smile and pulled out a grey notepad as Nazz opened up a pink one. It didn't take the two girls long to begin thinking up various topics that they could potentially do. The talking was strained at first, but over the course of the class, Nazz seemed to lower her guard enough to relax. They even ended up sharing a few laughs. When the bell finally rang, their teacher gave them a final parting reminder and then let them be to leave.
Nazz stood up as Marie was setting her bag on her shoulder.
"Sooo I'll see you at lunch?"
Marie flashed another soft grin and nodded. "Yeah, dude." She stood up and lightly punched the other girl in the shoulder. "Save me a seat."
Nazz placed her hand on her shoulder and laughed quietly before she turned on heel and walked towards the door. "You got it."
Marie wasn't long behind her. She wanted nothing to do with her sisters still. She was feeling good, though. Things weren't as awkward with Nazz as she thought they would be and she even wanted to meet up again at lunch. The smile that had been on Marie's lips widened. Maybe this would turn out okay.