Here's chapter two of Learning to Bounce Back, hope you like it. I wanted to say thanks to everyone who favorited/alerted and a special thanks to LA Gypsy for the review- it's good to be told your ideas are amazing once in a while, *grins and winks* I certainly wouldn't object to hearing it more often. *I'm joking- you know- mostly.*

Anywho, enjoy the newest chapter.


Learning to Bounce Back

Chapter 2: Tosh Is Clever


He was cute, but Tosh was not the sort of girl to let that affect her.

Or… not in the way that it affected other girls. She would not become a blushing, stuttering mess, would not try to get him to like her in any way. She would, in fact, withdraw emotionally from the situation. Become coldly professional, almost clinically removed. She would not let her mind become anything other than clear and calm.

And that was if she liked him.

She didn't though, she merely acknowledged that she found him aesthetically pleasing, which is to say: cute.

She smiled politely and held out a hand. "Hello, my name's Tosh. Tosh Green, I'm here to help you with your studies. What do you seem to have the most difficulty with?"

It took Tosh all of half a minute to realize that this Lash character had no intention of making things easy on her, not that she was terribly surprised. She had expected as much, the tall boy –And he was seriously tall.- had no reason to like or trust her. Why should he want to do what she told him to?

Still, she had not expected him to ignore her completely, but, aside from a quick once-over when she first entered the room, that was exactly what he did. Clearly, she would have to think out her approach very carefully with him. She observed him as he sat there, ignoring her, for fifteen minutes before she came to a decision. Crossing her arms and affecting a very put out expression, she sighed loudly and snapped at him, "Could you be any more juvenile? I mean, seriously? The silent treatment? How old are you, five?"

She observed the way his lips quirked upwards into a smirk, one he didn't even bother to hide as he faced her again, "I don't know what you're talking about." His tone was all mockery and scorn.

Her face colored with an angry flush, "Oh, I'm sure! You were just sitting there, ignoring me, because you didn't notice I was here. How dumb do you think I am? I can't believe you would act like such a child!"

His smirk widened and he turned completely to face her, "You're the one who got angry. You don't have much patience, do you? How juvenile." He threw her words back at her.

The angry blush darkened and her stance widened, strengthened- in a clearly confrontational way, but he didn't even bat an eye, "What are you trying to say?"

"I'm saying that you fell for the oldest trick in the book. And they expect you to be able to teach me something? Please."

Her face smoothed instantly, the blush cooling as though it had never been and she watched him with calmly intelligent eyes. He was plainly surprised by the sudden change, "So, my theory was correct. Thank you for making things clear." Tosh turned to the door, ignoring the confused, indignant expression that quickly appeared on his face. "I'm done for now, I'm ready to leave."

"Hey! Wait a second!"

She turned only slightly, looking at him over her shoulder and offering him a smirk that could have rivaled his own. "But I thought you didn't want me here." And then the door opened and she was gone.


Lash stared after her with his mouth agape, 'What the Hell just happened here?'

How had things changed so quickly?

One moment he was the one controlling the situation, the next- everything had spiraled away from him. He scowled. That was not how things were supposed to have gone.

The Norm was supposed to be frightened of him. She was supposed to be intimidated, and willing to do what he told her to. She was just some Normal, and a high schooler at that- not a hardened jailer as he had been dealing with in recent days. It should have been a synch to manipulate her.

He had been even more certain of his –admittedly vague- plan when he saw her. Her image was pristine, every hair in place; she was clearly someone who was trying too hard. Slight of frame and pale- she looked like a total pushover, especially dressed in her not-quite-a-suit outfit.

The only interesting thing about her whole image was the color of her nails- if envy had an official shade of green then that was what the intense color of her nails had been.

The scowl on his face deepened when he realized the turn his thoughts had taken. For someone Lash had already decided to not care about at all, -Like hell he was going to do what she told him to.- he was doing an awful lot of thinking about her appearance.

'Okay,' he admitted to himself, 'she was pretty hot.'

That was okay, he still wasn't about to do what she told him to.


Tosh heaved another sigh –She seemed to be doing a lot of that lately.- as she pulled into the driveway; a quick glance told her that she was home before either of her parents. Just as well, she didn't really want the deal with them jumping down her throat with a billion questions about her day. She was tired.

It had been a long, troublesome day; she wasn't in the mood for their craziness just yet.

It felt almost like one movement- in the door, up the stairs and down the hall all the way to the end, into her room- her things on her desk. It was as she was stepping out of the bathroom nearly a half-hour later, after changing into more comfortable clothes, that she finally came to a stop. She stared at the door standing closed across from her for a long, quiet second, then with an easy gait she swept into the room and splayed across the too-small bed.

Stuffed bunny clutched to her chest, Tosh began a streaming babble about her day, about the boy she would be helping –hopefully- and the rumor that she'd likely started about herself. About how much her guidance counselor seemed to disapprove of her decision to join the outreach program; more even than Karen- although, unlike the blond, she hadn't stared as if Tosh had lost her mind.

She talked about everything.

She stayed in that room until she heard her parents come home over an hour later, she was downstairs greeting them warmly before they even began calling for her. It was her mother who started asking questions first- having had time to calm and collect her thoughts, she answered all questions with an unfaltering smile and carefully cultivated words.

It was as it always was: She was well. Her day had been good. She had some homework, but she had already started it. Did they want her to cook or did they want to go out? Etc. etc. etc. If her parents suspected there was something bothering her, it was not because she gave any sign.

And so another day in the Green household began winding down.