Disclaimer: Nope. Still own squat.
A.N: Frankly, the review count last time was kind of sad for me, almost non-exsistant! A great big thank you to my SOLE REVIEWER Crazy Home Schooler, you are awsome and therefore get an answer to your review right here at the beginning,
Thank you again for reviewing. Now I don't want to spoil the rest of the story, but let us just say that someone will have to give another character a certain piece of advice sooner or later, that is all I will say.
Now please everyone, on this site, the only way I know if people are reading and enjoying is if you review, so if an author doesn't get any comments, suggestions, concerns, constructive criticism, etc. Now in the last little while I haven't had much time to work on my own fanfic, let alone read others so that is why there aren't a lot of reviews around from me, a situation which isn't actually likely to alter in the next little while, but please please PLEASE press that little review button. I have got the next chapter ready, all it needs is to be posted so the more reviews I get the quicker I will update. Simple as that.
Part 1 ch 7
Liir had gotten out of class early, he'd already forgotten what excuse he had given, and gone to the library. By the time his project partner had arrived, he was already researching the topic they had been assigned. Surprisingly enough, he was finding the social structure of wolves (wolves, not Wolves) quite fascinating. The book he was reading was quite old, and he'd never heard of the author, but whoever it was certainly made the topic interesting.
"I'm hallucinating." A dry voice said, he lifted his eyes from the page he was on to see the tall, slender girl with shabby clothing and glasses standing there looking down at him, her arms crossed and a wry smile on her face.
"What makes you say that?" Liir asked, flashing her his stellar grin.
"Now I know I'm not an expert at this, but I'm pretty sure you use that smile and tone for flirting or something, right?"
"Huh?" he was surprised. A couple of the geeks had actually tried to flirt with the girl for some reason, (probably for practise to be honest) but she didn't seem to get that they were hitting on her and not just trying to make idle conversation (another peculiarity, she had no idea what the concept of 'social skills' seemed to entail in that area, and very little of what it meant in others).
"Some of Annette's groupies were babbling about it, and since propositioning the opposite sex seems to be most of what a lot of them do, I put two and two together." She said as she slid into a chair opposite him.
"So," the boy started again, still using the same tone and smile,
"Okay, stop that. Let's make one thing clear, I am NOT interested in you, and you aren't interested in me. We both know that, so let's not set the Cat amongst the Pigeons."
"Don't you mean cat, and pigeons?" he asked
"Nope. Mine hate each other more." She replied briskly without elaborating "So were you just pretending to research, or was I actually hallucinating?"
"I was researching and you weren't seeing things." Liir said jovially, but not flirtatiously.
"Well, you certainly surprised me. I thought I'd have to fight with you for weeks, or until just before the assignment was due and you realized that I wasn't bluffing." She said. "That's what your little friend the Track star thought until he figured out that I would easily have let him fail."
They had now been in school a month an a half now. Annette and Rhonaraye were still stuck with each other because repairs were being made to about half the dormitories that year (health officials had finally cracked down on the school). The blonde had been given the choice of either keeping the roomie she had, or exchanging her for 3 more. Oddly enough she had chosen to stay with the girl she despised, and Liir couldn't figure out why.
Rhonaraye could though. It was out of fear. Raye had discovered several things from living with her without even having to try, such as the fact that the other girl dyed her hair blonde and was currently suffering from acne trouble that was hidden by about a pound of makeup every morning. Raye was the safest bet because while she knew these 'terrible' things, she a) had no interest in social climbing or the cosmetics of the other girls b) no one would take her word for it over Annette's, and c) she had known for weeks and not made any move or shown any sign of telling.
The truth was, Raye honestly didn't care, but also had to grudgingly admit that she was probably better off where she was. Annette was at the top, so she didn't have to do anything drastic to impress or avenge someone in order to get higher up in the school social order. Consequently, she didn't condescend to dig through her 'deplorable' roommate's stuff, for which the red-head was almost grateful. She was a very private person.
Pulling herself out of her musings she looked at the titles one the spines of the books in the pile, and then got up, walking over to a shelf and coming back with some different ones.
"The ones you've got aren't the informative, accurate books." She told him as she separated some of the books into a third pile, stopping to look at each one a moment before putting it in her second stack. "Well, these three aren't too bad I suppose, but definitely none of the T. Woodsman set. They're completely inaccurate with a lot of glorifying dramatics. Don't trust any by Gale either, both of them write fiction in the guise of research. Nope, Tomocsin isn't worth it, he just recycles the junk from the others. No, you want the ones by Ox and Thwane, and others like that. The only modern one worth reading are the ones published anonymously by A Vinkus author, my guess would be it's done by someone in the royal family, since they would have the funds to get it published, and the opportunity to get into a variety of wildernesses." She informed him casually. Her partner's jaw was open slightly.
"How…how exactly do you know all that?"
"I read a lot, always have." She shrugged. It was then that Liir made a somewhat guilty realization. This girl must be lonely. She sat alone everywhere unless assigned a seat beside someone in class, people pushed their books into empty chairs when she walked by their table at lunch, they took verbal swipes at her, and she returned them, which didn't do anything for her popularity.
But at the same time, she didn't ask for pity. She gave as good as she got, acted as though she didn't care about sitting alone (pretty convincingly) and seemed to almost enjoy being different from everyone else.
"Hello? Earth to Wizantier?" she said, snapping her fingers. He shook his head a little and they began to get to work.
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Liir and Rhonaraye met at the library every evening to work on their project. The librarian weren't surprised to see the female member of the pair, she was there every evening regardless, but the boy, Liir, was a prankster, and a general trouble-maker. The teachers were wary and weary of him, but couldn't say or do much because of his 'connections'. Yet, here he was, and he wasn't making any trouble and was actually quiet. Granted, he stayed only an hour or two while she spent quite a lot longer, but it was still both a surprise and an improvement.
Liir and Rhonaraye's teacher also noticed a very big change in Liir, particularly in his work habits. Professor Kindron (the life-sciences professor) had assigned his class homework and even a quiz on top of the project, and the arrogant, slightly obnoxious and annoyingly smug student with grades that just barely passed, had suddenly started to improve, not to mention actually complete his homework!
On the day that the projects were due, Kindron wasn't surprised that it was on time, after all, that was why he had paired the border-line delinquent with one of the best students, the next shock was the presentation(Kindron always had an oral component in his projects). To his surprise, they talked for an equal amount of time on the subject and answered the same amount of questions, and when he read over their work to mark it, it was neat, precise, accurate, and some of it was in Liir's handwriting. A week or so after the assignments were handed in, the Professor went to give the Vizier's son the good news, he had received an A on it. He found him outside Morrible's office.
"Mr. Wizantier," he said as he walked over.
"Yes Professor Knidron?" wow. Manners now as well. Oh no wait, that was a mocking smile on his face, ah well, one step at a time
"I thought you would like to see your mark for that assignment." The teacher said, handing him the mark sheet, "You see, you can do it if you put your mind to the task." And with that he left.
Liir stared at the page for several seconds before he realized that his mouth was still hanging open. He had never gotten a mark like that before! Then again, he had never actually sat down to work or study for something school-related, except with his mother on occasion. Speaking of which, she would certainly be happy about this. Hmm. Maybe the library wasn't a waste of space after all… … …
Just then Morrible called him. It was his turn to do the magic testing. Whilst in there the Press Secretary made him touch a couple of magic detectors, see if he could do this and that, etc, etc. He, of course, did have the talent and though Morrible gave him a wide toady smile and congratulations and all that, he suspected that she had been expecting to find more.
In fact, the little woman had. On the day Liir had arrived, the 'magic waves' (as the Wizard had named them) had spiked off the charts when she had looked, or rather felt into them. She didn't have the power Elphaba possessed, but she had refined and honed two aspects of the small abilities she possessed. One, of course, was the weather, which everyone knew. The other one, though, was 'feeling' for magic. Unfortunately, she could only tell when there was an extreme talent in the area, and among many people, not who it was or exactly where it was coming from. Around Elphaba it was pointless to try seeing if her son would be anything like her. The green woman, at first without realizing it, had the ability to block that sense somehow, she wasn't sure exactly how.
Well, Liir was probably going to follow in his mother's footsteps eventually, even if at the moment he seemed to determined to be like the father no one would tell him much of. He had some magical ability, but not that much. Annette, the little copy-cat herself, had been in several times. Unfortunately Morrible would probably have to accept her into the classes with her connections, though she, like her hero, had barely enough to conjure up a change in the colour of her flagrant clothing. Still, there were a few she had not tried testing yet, so she would simply have to continue going through the roster. Sighing, she turned and picked up one of the clip boards. It had to be someone hiding in the larger social circles,(maybe even around Liir and his little blonde friend) it simply had to. There was no other explanation…