Rainy doesn't groan but she presses the wad of tissues to her nose with so much force that she should be.
Three minutes. Almost three whole minutes she's been sitting out here in the hall bleeding like crazy. It has been three minutes too long than she should be here. She is also losing her class time...
Rainy pulls the tissue back, sees that it is soaked with red, and sighs. Her head softly thuds against the white wall behind her. Luckily, the pressure she had been applying to stop her nosebleed had seemed to help lessen the flow, it is still bleeding a significant amount, but still she needs help. At this point, she was going to need a new shirt and a trip to the hospital.
Rainy is waiting in a chair outside the school nurse's office. A student had been called inside five minutes ago. She suspects the faint sobs heard minutes ago as them. She also knows that it would be a squeeze for anymore than three in the divided section of the office inside. In the other space is a desk and a sickly student sleeping on a cot.
But still, this wait had been going on for much too long than it should. But she's lucky that her head isn't spinning just yet.
Rainy glances between the wad of tissues again and sees that it is almost completely soaked with blood in a matter of the passes few minutes. The halls are clear due to it being the middle of class. The hall monitors were gone and the nearby water fountain unoccupied so there is no chance to be seen and have another claim tacked on to her reputation—not that she particularly cared, of course. Rainy throws the bloodied tissue in a bin across the way and scurries back to her seat, and before anyone could see, makes herself a tissue-walrus.
She begins mocking to herself: "Come outside, Sherry said. It's just a little hot, we won't be out that long, she said." She rolls the tissues between her palms.
It was around ninety-two degrees and climbing when Rainy had been persuaded by Sherry to skip class to be with her again, this time outside in the school's field for P.E. Thinking that she would there only as someone for the strawberry blonde to talk to and that she would leave relatively soon, Rainy had thought nothing of it. It was when Sherry insisted that Rainy stay for the entire gym class and participate did things take an unexpected turn: Sherry wanted Rainy to accompany her out in the blazing sun while Rainy is in denim. In order to stay, Rainy would have to participate in the class, even when she wasn't wearing the clothes for it. And the P.E. class were to flip a tractor's tire across the field today—Rainy with no shorts in almost ninety-eight degrees weather.
"You'll be fine. You're wearing a skirt, just take off the jean jacket," Sherry had told.
The temperature seemed to remarkably escalate as time went by. The coach doesn't care if students skipped to the P.E. class as long as her own students were attending and participating.
When Sherry had merely been sweating out in the heat, Rainy was bent over her long jean skirt, gasping for breath. Sherry was the one who noticed the red droplets on the grass; she put a hand on Rainy's shoulder and asked if she was ok and had practically panicked when she saw the deep flush of Rainy's face and the thick lines of blood trailing down to the girl's lips.
Rainy doubts she'd be allowed to skip to that class again, even when she would lie that she had been in her assigned class at the time of the incident. She is certain that she wouldn't be allowed back into Sherry's class by how quickly the coach ushered everyone inside following Sherry's small freak-out.
And now she is waiting her turn in the nurse's with an excuse to call for a ride to the hospital, bleeding to death.
All students are in the middle of class, she suspects, aside from the occasional wanderer or someone with a bathroom pass. And the hall monitor. Can't forget the hall monitor. Most had their heads stuck so far up their butts with power. Rainy eyes a lanky ginger from the other end of the long hall. There's a sash slugged over his torso. He hesitates, as if debating to pull out the notepad in his back pocket. He continues on his way instead. She changes out the tissues in her nostrils, making sure to squeeze the bridge if her nose for more pressure to ease the flow.
The seat outside the nurse's is a long, painted bench against insipid white walls. Almost ironically, the bench is placed between the nurse's and one of the dean's offices.
Rainy looks to the clock high on the wall behind her. It's going on nine minutes now. Nine consecutive, critical minutes and her head should be beginning to throb. Too bad she couldn't feel it… Her fingers return to the bridge of her nose and presses. She hopes that she is adding enough pressure. Because there is a steadily continuous banging coming down the corner from the right hallway. She turns; it was someone trailing a hand on the locker doors, slamming the open ones closed, causing the loud echoing as the culprit jogged to her direction.
She sees black shades and silver Vans. Rainy catches sight of a head of familiar gray hair and her deadpan expression doesn't change. She watches the boy hurry down the tile hallway and seems to be staring off at the distance. The pair of dark shades contrasted with his hair and made it difficult to determine just what he was looking to. A hand rests in one pocket of his jeans.
Rainy holds her hands over her nose, hiding the tendrils behind a clean wad of tissue. And she turns away, turning her back to his general direction, and pulls both tissues out, wondering if the flow had slowed and that he would just pass by. She'd be damned if she let him see her that way.
She blinks.
He reaches for something at the top of the lockers, and she peeks over her shoulder just in time to catch his dark unbuttoned shirt flutter along to the disperse of loose papers he shoves, fluttering to the floor behind him. He's wearing a white tank top underneath.
She blinks.
As he nears, he plucks something—a toothpick?—from between his teeth, runs fingers through his light hair, slowing to remove his shades catching the same hall monitor glaring at him. Pietro shoots him a quick finger-guns.
She blinks.
The boy pays no attention to anyone around, one earphone in of his Sony Walkman to help block out the world. He bobs his head along with the beat of the current song playing.
Rainy would have turned her nose up at his approach. But instead, she adjusts in the seat so he could barely be able to see a quarter of her face. And she fumbles a little with jamming the remaining clean tissues into her sweater pocket.
The boy plops down on the bench and pulls out a stress ball he had stolen from his teacher once. His head bobs at least four more times, rapidly. So, he too didn't notice the other until after several tosses of the ball, one going particularly too high and he'd have to jump to his feet to catch it—when he reaches a little too far to the right and—that he notices the other's presence at the other end of the bench and turned away.
Pietro pauses—it's a girl—before realizing it was the same girl from English class. Her name starts with an R, he thinks. She's mocked for her name and is referred to as Juliet. He stretches his arms. A hand fiddles with the stress ball. He debates whether to begin say something or leave her be. Both are seated at opposite ends of the bench.
He inhales...
"Fancy seeing you here."
The hallway remains silent.
"So, uh, Juliet...what're you here for? Cheated on a test? Too many tardies?" It was almost like he was mocking her by his tone.
Somewhere off, the echo of a slammed locker door reaches them.
"You know," Pietro purses his lips. "I always thought you to be someone who's too good to do anything like this—anything bad, I mean. Never got into a fight either, huh, I bet. What, you get all the boys to fight for you? Seems typical."
She turns to him without the slightest sound and an unwavering stare.
Pietro merely watches her and stuffs his hands in his jeans pockets. He shuffles in his seat. "They do say that there's a girl here who seemed to get a kick out of blowing off those who try talking to her... Says that she's all hard 'nd crap 'nd doesn't like talking to people, like no one's good enough..." He tries swallowing his grin but it comes back full force. "Sounds like a real hard-on to me. Hey," he jerks his chin in her direction; she's staring off instead of at him. "You don't happen to heard this girl, do you? She sounds so wound up and I wonder...if her boyfriend has slid her the hot beef injection yet..." He then opens his mouth as if just remembering something, but it too was sarcasm. "Oh, that's right! That's you, isn't it!"
She doesn't answer. Rainy raises a brow, still not looking his way.
Pietro continues, beginning on a different topic. "You know, I once knew a guy who got suspended for cracking one—punching one of the coaches in the face. You know, the one that one who just got fired. How crazy is that, the psycho. ..But then again, there was this girl I heard who got suspended for doing something like it... I think. Not you, of course." And he scoffs. "You probably wouldn't ever do something like that, would you, Juliet?"
His attention is then taken as he catches the sight of blood when he looks over at her. "I know I'm handsome but damn. Those must be really filthy thoughts to have a nosebleed already," his arrogant grin shines through again.
"As if," she grumbles behind the tissues pressed under her nose. "Any thoughts like that would be considered quite irrational and ridiculous to someone like me. Besides, given the current selections here, I would have to pick...no deal."
The corners of his lips waver. He watches as she sniffs, turns away, pulls something from her pocket and then walks over to the trash bin. When she returns, her face is clean once more.
Pietro pauses. He tosses the ball in the air a couple times. "So Juliet, what'd you get called up here for?"
There's a hesitance in the air.
"The nurse's," she answers.
He mouth opens in a silent "ahh." Then, "for what? A broken arm, sprained ankle, ruptured spleen...some boo-boo you got?"
No answer.
"Or you're just going to call Daddy to come and get you out of class?" he mocks.
She glances at him from the corner of her eye. He was smiling, pleased at himself.
Almost everyone knew her father, so that comment was expected.
"It's none of your business."
He hesitates, grin wavering. "...Fair enough." He poked his lip out a little, shrugs. "Guess I just had my hopes up too high for someone like you, huh?"
She looks back at him, still refusing to turn around completely. "Someone like me...? What would anyone with the likes of you know anything as that; you do realize that you are talking to a stranger, don't you? You don't truly know anything about me."
He then laughs a little. "Yeah—no. I've heard the rumors."
"The rumors?" She cocks an eyebrow, unimpressed.
His smile was gone by now. "The rumors."
She's still unconvinced.
"The rumors of the girl with a mouth so bad it makes everyone runs for the hills. They say that she's almost a teacher's pet and puts up a face to everyone and all just because her daddy's probably going to be the head of town. She acts stiff, mean, and a hard nut you crack, you know—all the typical symptoms of the diagnosis virgin." He's smiling widely to himself now. A hand rests on his thigh and he's turned fully towards her. "Or, if you can even remember that," he adds in a snarky manner. He's waiting for her to bite, to snap back and maybe stomp off in a huff as so many usually do—those of higher school social status, that is.
Rainy adjusts her seating, making sure to leave her back to him and now much space between them. She remains quiet as her eyes run over the boy across to her. "Is that so?" she tests. "And how trustworthy are those words coming from someone with such a big ego and without the little friend to match?"
Pietro's smile falters. His lips set in a line.
LIES
RUMORS
FALSE
"You are just as inexperienced, given yourself to talk." She turns away again and begins toying with the ends of her hair. Her mother had it permed a week ago and it now hung straight. "So, it is true that you are some kind of stalker, that one with silver hair?" she tests with her own brutal venom. There's a trickle of blood that is falling from her nostril. "I bet that in the morning, if you squint, you might look older than you truly are, I'd presume. With your hair and all." She remains expressionless the entire time.
Rainy sniffs to make sure no blood has fallen and doesn't know that it doesn't work. She looks toward the nurse's door; it should be opening soon, the previous student's session having been finished.
Pietro is now staring at her with a hardened look.
"Juliet—you also went to Winchester Middle School too, right? Moved here about four years ago? Was in Mr. Trevelyan's science class last year? By the way, why do they call you weak and complicated? I mean, judging by you, you don't look like anything's wrong. 'Cause I remember that back in Mr. Trevelyan's class—-"
"Don't ask questions if you can't handle the consequences of having that information."
Was that a threat?
Pietro's brows furrow. A pause hangs in the air.
"What's your deal, Juliet?" He squints. He was now fully turned toward her with a leg folded across the other. His grin slowly returns, more arrogant than before. "Because it seems like you are just one tough shell."
ONE FINGER
She holds up one finger in the air. "First, it isn't Juliet, stalker. For someone who supposedly knows a lot about people, you sure are poor at it, missing the most small and important details," she mocks.
TWO FINGERS
"Two, don't go around acting like you genuinely want to know about everyone, because I'm sure that you have unresolved personal issues as well." She lowers her fingers and now points her index at his exposed white t-shirt, at his chest. "Anyhow, that still does not justify your actions of deliberately jumping to a conclusion and judging based on feeble and exaggerated words by people who's it's there only legacy."
He's frowning. "So are you saying I'm lying?" It wasn't spoken as a question, but he really was curious.
She sees drops of blood fall to her arm, pulls out another rumpled tissue to clean her face. She should probably be feeling lightheaded by now. "I'm neither saying that you are nor you aren't." She still has her back to him and only looks over her shoulder. "All I am saying is that anyone smart enough would not fall to believing any rumors. ...But then again, you are a part of the C-crew, aren't you?"
The C-crew is the nickname dubbed to the students lumped together who could never seem to get out of the C-average grading range.
Rainy is no longer looking to him.
Pietro's eyes rake over the girl's back in front of him, contemplating on just how to respond to this. At least he wouldn't have to deal with her judgmental glare.
Word here sure goes around fast
He breathes, folds his hands and leans in her direction. He lips part, he contemplates on whether to respond. "Don't take this the wrong way but you're as cold as ice with an attitude like a cactus." He's trying to hold back a snarl. "Why are you so cold?"
"Again, don't ask questions you do not want to find the answers to."
Her tone was so calm...and it was beginning to irritate him extremely.
"Anyway, from someone with the likes of you, I'm surprised that you would even be here, bothering to talk with someone as higher up the scale as I am. Didn't you say that I'm too stiff for your liking because of my father's position?"
Now that was just insulting...
Rainy's brows rise. "What? Where you going to attempt at asking one of those vulgar come-ons?"
He didn't answer.
She raises a hand to her mouth, eyes wide as if in surprise. "Did I beat you to the punch?" Her concern is fake. "Oops."
By this point, Pietro wore a studying glare. Just what game was she trying to play at, he wonders.
"Well, that's one thing off your troubles." She almost sighs. "Anyway, I'm sure that a guy like you would have something better to do that try to hit on a girl. ...Well, it's hoped that one would have something better to do with time than going to the principal's."
"Oh, so now you're switching up? Jumping to conclusions are you? A little hypocritical, isn't it? I'm hurt, Juliet."
So now they were on the same level of sass
Another silence follows them.
She just stares.
And he doesn't look away.
It continues on for some time—a pregnant pause in the air—to the point of irritation for him—until—
"Do not try to be all nice with me," she speaks, wiping at her nose again. The tissue is almost completely soaked with blood. "Any attempt will be feeble and useless and it would save a lot of your trouble and unwanted prying. We can't be friends. So," she points to him again," stay away from me." Her hand drops with a loud bang at her side that must have hurt. Yet, she doesn't flinch. "You should feel lucky, grateful even—I'm letting you off nicely. The last Neanderthal had the impudence to question me to jump on him one weekend," she wraps her arms around herself as if she felt hurt, "in such ungraceful vulgarity."
"Well I don't even know the definition of impudence," he admits. "But I can guarantee that some are passed the stage of Neanderthals." He pauses. It seemingly only for a second. "And that you did beat me to it," he tells, only to see her turn away again.
Rainy folds her arms. "Typical." She points her gaze down the hallway, opposite of him.
"Wh—-That's not what I—-"
"If you don't have anything intellectual or worth the time to say, it would save you the trouble, as well as those around who would have to put up with that inadequacy going into their ears, that to just not say it at all."
"I'm all about time!"
He didn't know "adequacy" either...
"And I'm—-"
Rainy's attention is taken to the door, hearing the screeching of chairs inside. She stands when the door swung open. There's a purple hair-clip on the side of her hair that is threatening to slip. He bits his lip and thinks he should tell her.
Pietro had stopped mid-sentence. He watches as a blonde exits the room, wiping away stray tears.
Rainy focuses on the nurse inside, greets, and slinks inside the office. The nurse immediately begins to rush seeing blood pouring from the girl's nose. The door shuts as Rainy is calmly explaining that a trip to the hospital is needed.
Exactly one minute later, Pietro is sitting back with crossed arms. He bites the inside of his cheek as the dean across from him laces together his sausage fingers atop a stack of paperwork. When the teen is called in, he is accused of several malfunctions in the teachers' lounge. This including some suddenly-missing personal items—a missing collector's mug, plastic wrap on the toilet seats, and all the screws missing to the entire office desk and chair belonging to one of the teachers. Pietro had merely sat with his arms across the back of the seat and a leg propped across a knee, trying to hold back a smirk.
The man could complain as much as he wanted, but there was no way he could ever prove the boy had done it. And that fact just made it that much better for him.
. . .
. . .
Later that day, Rainy wouldn't know but she crosses paths with the speedster again. It was when he was in the library with Meisha that he overhears that strawberry blonde, Sherry, speaking about a mission to meet back in the school during after-hours.
Pietro had smiled to himself. This would give him the perfect opportunity to get back at that teacher who had sent him to the dean's office. He could slip in and out of the school building—because there was no way in otherwise—without anyone noticed.
This "mission" was to commence in a few days, at the start of next week. And that gave him more than enough time to plan.
A/N: Replies-
to Cyanide Siren: Thank you! Let's see...to answer your question: yes, there will be input about the other X-movies. But I have to remember that since there was (sadly) very little screen time for the Maximoffs, there will definitely be more of them in here, especially inn the second arc. And I do plan to have references to other Marvel material, but DOPF will definitely be involved and not merely glanced over.
to flirtingwithanarchy: I like your user name and thank you so much :)
to Raven: Oh my gosh PLEASE DON'T apologize! It's all good. It's so lovely to...read your words again! :) lol (Can't say HEAR in this situation huh?) And don't worry, we all squeal like little girls now and then (I admit I did seeing your review.)
Ok. So there will be more interactions coming soon, especially after next chapter. Yay? Oh, and Meisha and Ronny aren't the only mutants I'm planning to have in here; there will be OC ones and canon ones.
And the many times you make me smile is absolutely ridiculous! I don't know if it is beginning to be overused or not of all the Thank You's I want to send you. Every. Freaking. Time. Overall, I'm glad I could make you happy with this :) Anyways...I didn't know what to say because, you know how some people are specific about that.