The evidence doesn't lie, it's official. The world hates you. Flat-out, blatantly hates you. It's the only logical explanation for why, when you finally roused yourself to make the effort of going to the library, you were rewarded for your struggles with this. A visit from America's Next Top Moron. You swear, you're about 18 seconds from telling the world to go fuck itself! Or maybe you'll just yell that at Eridan. Seeing as how he is right here in front of you after all.
Of course, having to drive home this unfortunate point, Eridan chooses that moment to speak.
"So, I see they're lettin anyone in these days," he sighs, flipping one end of his ridiculous scarf over his shoulder as he takes a seat at the table you'd been using. "Vvery disappointin."
Oh gods he still has that fucking stutter. And the stupid hair dye. Why is he even here? Why?! There are thousands of other schools in this country, not to mention the rest of the world. Out of everywhere this pretentious douche sack could have ended up, why here? Clearly the world is conspiring against you.
You mentally count to ten before replying, "Well Ampora, I've got to say, I'm surprised to see you here too. I didn't know they allowed paparazzi into the library! Where's your adoring entourage?"
You didn't miss the fact that he's alone. Eridan hates being seen as rejected or unpopular. It's something of a...delicate subject with him. From the stories he used to tell about his preppy boarding school you'd think half the school had followed him around. Of course, it only took one look at the stunning lack of visitors he received during the time you knew him to see what a big fat lie that was. Were you not out of the habit of betting, you'd pin quite a bit on the guess that he hasn't found too many people here willing to put up with him here either.
"Vvery funny Vvris," he sneers, not missing the jab. You smirk a little at his tone. If he didn't want people to know about his "rejection issues", or more specifically if he didn't want you to know about his issues, he should have been more careful about who he blabbed to! Not much remains a secret in close quarters if you're not subtle. You know that all too well.
"I see you're still as charmin as evver," he continues, leaning back in his chair. "Some things nevver change I suppose."
You say nothing, willing gravity to step in and knock Eridan over as he continues to balance his chair on its back two legs.
Eridan does not fall, and you conclude that apparently gravity hates you too. Whoopee.
"I, on the other hand," he continues, choosing to ignore your silence, "havve changed plenty."
"Is that so?" You ask, crossing your arms as smoothly as you can. How shocking, he seems like the same self-important brat he's always been. Believing everyone's beneath him, pretending he's a gift to the world, getting by on his family's money-
Aaaaaaaand that explains it. Eridan's family used all the bribes to get him here. All of them. Skaia may not be Harvard, but it's by no means shabby. Most people here earned at least one scholarship to make ends meet. One look at Prince Douchelord's record here and a less...influential college would have said no way.
That mystery settled, you reluctantly tune back into the present. It doesn't look like you missed more than a sentence or so, and you distractedly note that as he twirls the end of his scarf it causes the knot to loosen and lower the other end of the fabric considerably. Eridan does not appear to have noticed, surprise surprise, the unraveling fabric or the lack of fucks you give about his story.
"And for your information, I'm majoring in Physics. That's science, in case you didn't knoww," he continues, oblivious to your little zone-out.
"Physics?" You ask, tilting your head to the side. "Why not Chemistry? Is it too hard to study something you don't have? I mean, judging by how long you've managed to balance on that chair it seems not even gravity is attracted to you!" You smirk, watching his face go red. You're practically cooing the last few words. You know just what buttons to press and you've got to say, seeing this stuck-up prick lose his composure over a few well calculated jabs feels really damn good. It serves him right for thinking he's better than you.
Eridan's expression darkens into a scowl as he leans forward. "Wwell you knoww wwhat-owww fuck!" He yelps, toppling backwards as the end of his scarf catches under the leg of his chair.
"Guess I spoke too soon!" You laugh. Someone shushes you both from a few tables over, but you ignore them as Eridan stands and brushes himself off. He doesn't speak as he re-wraps his scarf. Hah! It even has a tear in it! This loser always did make it too easy to screw with him! With any luck he'll finally leave and you can get something done. Sadly, luck has not been on your side much of late. Or for the past few years really…
"You think you're so funny Vvris," he sneers. You groan inwardly as he sits down again. Apparently making a fool of himself once wasn't enough for today.
"I try," you reply with a shrug. It's getting late, you notice with annoyance. At this rate you're going to have to come back tomorrow to get anything accomplished. It was hard enough convincing yourself to come to the library in the first place, seeing as how you pretty much hate studying. At least the library is pretty empty this time of day. Most people have already gone home.
"Wwhat're you studyin anywways?" He asks, reaching over to pick up your textbook. You swat his hand away too late and his eyes widen as he reads the cover.
"...Psychology?! You're takin psychology?" He laughs so hard he doubles over, gasping as he tries to catch his breath. "Hah! That's priceless!"
You are not amused. At least there's no one around to hear him, you think to yourself. As long as he doesn't bring up-
"Wwhat's the matter? Thought you wwould study other psychopaths for a change? " He points a finger at you. "Can't you do enough a that just starin in the mirror?" Almost everyone's left the library now, and over Eridan's cackling you hear someone on the intercom announce that the library will be closing in ten minutes.
"Shut up," you growl at him, trying to stay calm. You can practically feel your blood pressure rising. This is exactly why you wanted to avoid him. You are starting over, and the last thing you need is some idiot like Eridan screwing it up with little stories of the past. These past few weeks have gone by perfectly. You'll be damned if he's going to be the one to ruin this for you.
"Oh my god Vvris, I bet you could get extra credit if you make a timeline a' your old loony meds or somethin." No. No one is going to ruin this for you. "Oh, oh! Or maybe you could- ulg!" You've startle him by grabbing a fistful of his scarf and yanking him forward so hard he chokes.
"I said, shut up," you hiss. He needs to understand just how serious you are about this. "Listen Ampora because I'm only gonna say this once." You just want to forget the last few years and start over. Is that really so much to ask? "You don't talk about me, to anyone. You don't mention knowing me now, you don't even mention having ever met me in the past, nothing." You dimly notice his face is turning a very dark shade of red, but to be honest, you don't really care. As long as he gets the message. "As far as everyone here is concerned, we've never even met before. Do you understand? "He frantically nods his head at you, but before you can so much as say "good", you hear a loud crash from behind you. You whip your head around, and see a guy about your age scrambling to pick up a stack of books he'd knocked over. He looks up and meets your gaze with wide blue eyes.
For several moments you both stay frozen.
"I-I think that guy might be…dying," he finally stammers, not breaking your gaze. You blink, surprised. You turn to look at the idiot still held tightly by your fist and-oh shit he's purple! Murdering Eridan Ampora by asphyxiation was not how you'd planned to start your new life!
...
Your name is John Egbert, and you are currently struck speechless as you watch the most beautiful girl you've ever seen strangle the life out of the boy sitting across from her. It dimly occurs to you in the back of your mind that you should probably do something like separate them, or call campus security. At the same time this obvious thought occurs to you though, you're overwhelmed by the scene playing out before you.
"You don't mention knowing me now, you don't even mention having ever met me in the past, nothing," the girl seethes. Wait, girl? Young woman? Young woman sounds so outdated, like you're some old geezer, or a teacher! Whatever you want to call her aside, it's clear she's pissed about something. You only caught a glimpse of her face before when you were re-shelving books, but even in that short time she caught your attention. Enough so that you may-or-may-not have just volunteered to let the people in this section know that the library was closing soon, just in case she still happened to be here.
...It would appear you've walked into more than you bargained for. She's currently got some guy held by his scarf, (It's not even cold out yet! Who wears those now?) and is apparently telling him what's what. Also cutting off his air supply. Also that. Wow, his face is really getting dark! ...Yeeeeaah, that's not good. You should really probably step in, you think, setting down the pile of books you'd been carrying onto the table beside you and taking a step forward. Shit- what are you even going to say? This is really awkward; clearly you've walked into something private-
"As far as everyone here is concerned, we've never even met before. Do you understand? " She continues, shaking him a little. Damn, she sounds really serious! Who is this guy? And what on earth is she so against him telling people about her? Is she an international spy? Is she in WITSEC? Did she have an emo Hot Topic phase complete with the mortifying photos to prove it? Whatever it is, the guy seems to think his life is more important than telling the world, because he starts to frantically nod his head. Okay, good, maybe you won't need to intervene after all- you think, just as you oh-so-smoothly step back and elbow the pile of books on the table.
Well shit.
The girl, young woman, WHATVER, is staring at you full force in shock, and wow. Her eyes are amazing. There's like three different kinds of gold and amber in them! Not to mention the cool blue lipstick she's wearing that would probably look really stupid on most people but somehow looks great on her and her cool scar and- oh shit shit shit that guy she's strangling is REALLY SUFFOCATING!
"I-I think that guy might be…dying," you stammer idiotically, pointing at the unfortunate chokee still caught in her death grip. She blinks, as if woken from a trance and turns back to the guy only to inhale sharply and let go of him. He splays his arms out just in to time to avoid a nasty face-plant into the table and wheezes.
"Eridan," she starts to say, but is cut off as the guy- err, you guess you mean Eridan, takes a deep breath and says "You're never going to make it here." She recoils as if she's been slapped, and though you can't see her face you'd guess she's wearing the expression to match. Eridan, having regained his breath it looks like, pushes away from the table with a sneer. He starts to storm off before pausing, and looking over his shoulder to say, "You don't need me to sabotage this for you, Vvris. Just wait n' see; you'll do a fine job of it all by yourself."
"Fuck. You," she hisses.
"Maybe another time," he shrugs, walking off for real this time.
"Well- WELL YOU KNOW WHAT," she shouts after him. Yikes, it's a good thing all the other patrons have already left, or you would be getting sooo many complaints about this. "YOU'RE GOING TO DIE ALONE. KNOW ONE CARES ABOUT YOU ERIDAN, YOU'RE STILL THE SAME, SPOLIED, PRETENTIOUS, PIECE OF SHIT YOU'VE ALWAYS BEEN." Okay, beautiful as she may be this has gotten a little out of hand. You should probably- oh wait, she's leaving, you realize. She's swinging her bag over her shoulder and trying to balance her books and she looks really fucking upset. Should you ask her if she's alright? No, she just choked a guy and they hurled insults at each other. Obviously that's not alright, no matter how bad her emo phase may have been. But still...you feel kind of bad? What he said really seemed to hit home with her, and you think you should have broken this up before it went so far. WV would not be impressed, and honestly, you're not so impressed with yourself either right now. Okay, screw it, you're going to talk to her.
"Hey, are, you okay?" You ask, taking a few steps towards her.
"Oh yeah, I'm fucking fabulous," she mutters. "I just got into a pathetic pissing match in the library. With a wonderful audience no less! That's not lame at all," she adds, rolling her eyes.
"Well, I mean it could be worse," you say. She raises an eyebrow at you and you quickly add, "You could have really ugly purple dye in your hair." She's silent for a moment, before laughing a little. "It is pretty horrendous isn't it?" Before you know it you're both laughing out loud. It only lasts for a minute before she stops, and says, "The library's closed now isn't it?"
"Oh, uh yeah it closed about five minutes ago when we shut all the computers off," you answer. "The doors aren't locked yet though," you continue, lifting the lanyard out of your pocket where the keys are attached.
"Damn. I was supposed to check this book out," she frowns, waving the paperback in her right hand.
"Take it," you blurt out. "I mean, you're not planning to hoard it away in your secret lair or sell it on eBay, right? I don't see any harm in putting it on my library card," you finish. She looks at you for a second before giving you a small smile.
"Alright then," she nods. "Thanks."
"No problem," you reply, grinning back. "Just make sure you don't dog ear the pages, the librarians here hate that."
"No promises," she jokes, tucking her chair back under the table. There's a moment of silence just sidling up to awkward when she says, "Good Night."
"Bye," you say as she turns away and walks towards the stairs. She waves a little and then she's out of your view. Only then do you realize two things.
One, you never found out her name. And two, she left her phone on the seat next to her.
AN: Sorry for the wait. As always, comments are more than welcome!