----------------------------------------------------------------------
"The Laughing Planet"
'Topaz's Story'
Recorded by Ziska Ames
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This is what I refer to as a 'sugar chapter.' Basically, I was hyper
when I wrote this, so it's a little... weird... Anywho, hope you enjoy!
This happens pretty directly after Jendra's Story.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Chapter 1
Topaz pulled the old yellow station wagon wannabe into a parking
spot close to the entrance of South High School. She had made sure they
had arrived half-an-hour early. "You need to get your schedule. We all
got ours last year at the end of school." Topaz said as she unbuckled
her seatbelt. She reached behind her for her backpack and grabbed hers
and Jendra's. "Here."
"Thanks." Jendra said. She stepped out and walked down the new
concrete path looking at the pretty trees that led the way. She stopped
short of the entrance and looked up. A huge glass atrium towered above
her. She gaped at the size. "It's huge!" She exclaimed.
Topaz giggled. "Yeah. They built it my freshman year. I think it
makes the school look like a mall. To think, we have this, but no stools
in the lab rooms. That seems wrong." Topaz grabbed Jendra's hand and
pulled her inside. "There's everyone else! Come on."
The inside was just as amazing and mall-y as the outside. Large,
marble pillars held up the beams and sunlight poured through the windows.
A massive set of stairs led up to the second and third floors on Jendra's
right. To her left was the cafeteria. She personally found it rather
childish. The walls were white, but the beams around the perimeter were
painted in bold colors of orange, red, blue, yellow, and purple.
There was no one else in the atrium but their group. Topaz gave
Jonquil a quick kiss on the cheek and he snaked his arm around her back.
Jendra walked up to Noki and hugged him. He'd been away for the week
preceding school and this was the first time she had seen him. "I missed
you." She said softly into his shoulder.
"I missed you, too." He replied gently. He kissed her temple and
ignored the gagging sounds coming from Lapis and Vanax.
"Soul mates can make you sick. It's dangerous for your health."
Lapis stated in a mock serious voice with her arms crossed over her chest.
Topaz slapped her lightly on the shoulder and stuck her tongue out.
"You're just jealous." She said with a grin.
"I need to go get my schedule." Jendra said looking up at Noki's
face. "Come with me?" her voice took on that pleading sound that all
girls could do and no guy could resist.
He nodded instantly and they headed up the stairs to the office
on the second floor.
"I've forgotten all my classes." Jade said pulling her schedule
from her binder. Topaz gaped.
"Where did you get that?" She yelped. It was the funniest thing
she'd ever seen. The binder was a brilliant pink and covered in imitation
shag carpet.
"What?" Jade asked. She looked down and said in an 'Austin Powers
voice', "What, the shag binder, baby? Yeah!" she rubbed the binder with
her hand as she spoke.
Topaz and Lapis burst out laughing. Vanax and Jonquil just looked
at each other and shrugged.
"Only you, Jade. Only you." Topaz managed to gasp between breaths.
By the time they all calmed down Noki and Jendra were back.
"Let's compare schedules." Lapis said. Everyone held out their
schedules to see who had classes with who. Since South was a small school,
only about four hundred students in all, everyone had a lot of classes
together.
Lapis, Topaz, Vanax, and Jendra were all starting their junior
years. Noki, Jade, and Jonquil were all seniors.
All the juniors had U.S. History together first period, while
the seniors had Historical Applications. Jade and Topaz were in the same
physics class second period, while the rest of the group was scattered
about. For third everyone had different classes. Fourth was varied,
except for Lapis, Vanax, and Jendra all had English 5-6. And for fifth
period, everyone was in Jazz Band.
"Well, we all have lunch together. That's not bad. Remember last
year? I didn't have any classes with anybody!" Lapis cried.
Soon it was lunchtime.
"Food!" Lapis yelled. Being a witch, she needed the substance.
Jade was quickly behind her in line while everyone else went to find a
table. They quickly snagged a huge eight-seater. Topaz pushed the extra
purple colored chair to another table and plopped down next to Jonquil
in her own plastic chair.
"I can't believe I have homework. It's the first day! Stupid
Sellers. I hate him. I've only known him an hour and I still hate him."
Jendra growled as she started her science homework. "Well, I suppose
this is the good thing about not needing to eat, hmm?" She asked the
two vampires and two shifters sitting at the table with her.
"Whatever. I'm bored. You should be glad you have something to
do." Vanax yawned as he tried to balance a pencil on his fingertip.
"Ick. Wood. Mechanical pencils are my best friends." Topaz pulled
her pink mechanical pencil from her pocket and gazed at it with adoration.
"Isn't that mine?" Jade asked as she sat down next to Topaz. She
swiped the pencil.
"Hey! Give that back! I don't have any more." Topaz reached for
the pencil.
"You don't need it. You carry fifty pens." Jade said as she
stuck the pencil in her pocket.
"I do not. I only have... hold on." Topaz pulled out a pencil
bag from her backpack and dumped it out on the table. She started
counting. "One, two, three..."
"Ohh... I'm so glad they have chicken nuggets today." Lapis said
as she plopped down in the last seat between Vanax and Jendra. She
eagerly started to devour her lunch.
"Four, five, six..."
Noki leaned over Jendra's homework, ignoring her outraged yell,
and grabbed one of Lapis' nuggets.
"Hey! Give it back." Lapis cried out reaching for the tasty
morsel, but it was too late.
"No." he said simply as he put it in his mouth and chewed. "Dead
meat. Been dead for days. How can you eat that everyday?" he said with a
disgusted face.
"I ask the same question." Jade said as she ate her salad. "Meat's
gross."
"That's not what I meant." Noki said with a light glare in Jade's
direction.
"I know." Jade said smiling back at him charmingly.
"Seven, eight, nine..."
"I need something to drink. Be right back." Jendra stood up
leaving her homework half done to get a small, overpriced bottle of
water.
"Ten, eleven, twelve..."
"I can't wait till last period. Dubie's such a cool teacher.
You'll love band, Jay." Lapis said as Jendra came back clutching her
purchase. There was no more water, she'd been forced to buy Sprite.
"I hope so, Kelli. I don't know how good I am though. I haven't
played trumpet in years." Jendra said.
"Where did you learn to play trumpet?" Vanax asked. Curiosity
lit up his face.
"Curiosity killed the cat." Jendra said as she picked up her
pencil from on top of her binder and tapped Vanax on the nose with it.
"But I'm not a cat." Vanax said.
"Um hmm..." Jendra said with a raised eyebrow. She couldn't blurt
out his shift, they were in a public place, but she could sure insinuate.
Vanax narrowed his eyes, and crossing his arms on his chest and
sinking into his chair, began to pout. Jendra laughed out loud.
"Okay, okay. I learned it at the orphanage. The guy who funded
the place loved music and we'd play for him when he came and inspected
the place. So I had to learn to play something, and the nuns picked
trumpet." Her smile had died about half way through her little speech as
she was swept up in memories. Vanax frowned and leaned over Lapis to
place a hand on Jendra's shoulder.
"Hey, I'm sorry. I didn't mean for you to have to remember the
orphanage or anything."
"I know." Jendra brightened up and smiled gratefully at Vanax.
"It's okay. Really." Vanax smiled and sat back down from his half standing
position.
"Thirteen. Ha! I only have thirteen." Topaz said triumphantly
waving her green pen in front of Jade's startled face.
"Thirteen is a bad luck number. I'll help rid you of it by
taking this." Jade said recovering from her surprise. She grabbed the
pen and stuck it in her pocket with her pencil.
"No! That's my favorite one! Give it back! I'll give you the
gold one!" Topaz dived for Jade's pocket.
"Eep! Okay, just get off me!" Jade jumped up away from Topaz and
threw the pen at her.
"Yay! What?" Topaz asked Jonquil. He was laughing really hard.
"Nothing, nothing." He gasped.
Topaz glared at him as she put her thirteen bad luck pens away.
"Oh shut up." she mumbled.
"Hey, guys." A voice said from behind Topaz.
"Allison!" Topaz jumped out of her seat to give the girl a hug.
Her red curly hair was severely pulled back and her eyes smiled at the
group.
"Oh, Allison. This is Jay. She moved here during the summer. Jay,
this is Allison. The local violin protegee." Topaz said. Allison blushed.
"I am not, Kory. Hello, Jay, nice to meet you. Kory, I just
wanted to tell you that I saw Leah hanging out at your locker. I thought
you might want to know."
"Thanks, Allison. See you later." Topaz grabbed her stuff as she
stood up. "I have to go to my locker anyway. I'll see you guys in band."
There was nothing wrong with her locker that Topaz could see.
Leah was probably just trying to look cool. What a weirdo. She thought
as she twirled the combination lock on the bright blue locker. She opened
it and frowned at the folded piece of paper staring up at her from its
position on her stacked books at the bottom of her locker. She dropped
her math books in her locker and grabbed the paper. She opened it and
almost screamed after reading the first line. Her horror grew as she
read on.
"Oh god. Oh no."
She turned and ran back to the lunchroom.
--------------------------------------------------------------------
I'm bored and my ANs are usually short and boring too. This time,
I'm gonna write my ANs as we go here, so it'll be a bit detached, but
it'll give a ton of background info on the story and how bits of it came
to be. Maybe it will be interesting?? Let me know if you like this type
of thing. You might have to go back and reread a part to understand the
comment.
You know that car I meantion in the first paragraph?? That's my
car...scary, no?
My school looks like this one too... the atrium, the cafeteria,
everything. Again, scary... And I still say the school looks like a mall!
We don't have stools and some of the labs don't even have running
water.
Yeah, guys watch out! All us girls can do that pleading thing
Jendra does to Noki!
My friend who is named Chris and who Jade is modeled after does
have a shag binder... I swear!! It's the coolest thing ever.
I had Jazz Band last period, and me who Topaz is based after
and Chris had physics together second... BORING CLASS!
Poor Kelli you guessed it! My real friend who modeled for Lapis
didn't have classes with any of us this year... how sad! But we did have
lunch together!
Everyone tells me Sellers is an evil teacher. In case you haven't
figured it out, a ton of my chars are based on real people. Fun!
I'm always stealing pencils from Chris... and I used to carry
tons of pens, but I got over that.
The school's chicken nuggets are awesome! Along with the mashed
potatoes. Oh yeah...
I'm always trying to get Chris to eat the nuggets. She refuses.
Dubie is the all time coolest teacher! His name is Mr. Dubinski,
but everyone calls him Dubie. He's Allison's dad! That's completely
irrelevant though.
Allison is awesome on the violin!
I HATE LEAH JOHNSON!! I HATE LEAH JOHNSON!!! Sorry...
Well, that's it! It was fun writing those! If you liked, tell me and I'll
do more. I might just do more anyway!
JA!
Ziska Ames
"The Laughing Planet"
'Topaz's Story'
Recorded by Ziska Ames
----------------------------------------------------------------------
This is what I refer to as a 'sugar chapter.' Basically, I was hyper
when I wrote this, so it's a little... weird... Anywho, hope you enjoy!
This happens pretty directly after Jendra's Story.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Chapter 1
Topaz pulled the old yellow station wagon wannabe into a parking
spot close to the entrance of South High School. She had made sure they
had arrived half-an-hour early. "You need to get your schedule. We all
got ours last year at the end of school." Topaz said as she unbuckled
her seatbelt. She reached behind her for her backpack and grabbed hers
and Jendra's. "Here."
"Thanks." Jendra said. She stepped out and walked down the new
concrete path looking at the pretty trees that led the way. She stopped
short of the entrance and looked up. A huge glass atrium towered above
her. She gaped at the size. "It's huge!" She exclaimed.
Topaz giggled. "Yeah. They built it my freshman year. I think it
makes the school look like a mall. To think, we have this, but no stools
in the lab rooms. That seems wrong." Topaz grabbed Jendra's hand and
pulled her inside. "There's everyone else! Come on."
The inside was just as amazing and mall-y as the outside. Large,
marble pillars held up the beams and sunlight poured through the windows.
A massive set of stairs led up to the second and third floors on Jendra's
right. To her left was the cafeteria. She personally found it rather
childish. The walls were white, but the beams around the perimeter were
painted in bold colors of orange, red, blue, yellow, and purple.
There was no one else in the atrium but their group. Topaz gave
Jonquil a quick kiss on the cheek and he snaked his arm around her back.
Jendra walked up to Noki and hugged him. He'd been away for the week
preceding school and this was the first time she had seen him. "I missed
you." She said softly into his shoulder.
"I missed you, too." He replied gently. He kissed her temple and
ignored the gagging sounds coming from Lapis and Vanax.
"Soul mates can make you sick. It's dangerous for your health."
Lapis stated in a mock serious voice with her arms crossed over her chest.
Topaz slapped her lightly on the shoulder and stuck her tongue out.
"You're just jealous." She said with a grin.
"I need to go get my schedule." Jendra said looking up at Noki's
face. "Come with me?" her voice took on that pleading sound that all
girls could do and no guy could resist.
He nodded instantly and they headed up the stairs to the office
on the second floor.
"I've forgotten all my classes." Jade said pulling her schedule
from her binder. Topaz gaped.
"Where did you get that?" She yelped. It was the funniest thing
she'd ever seen. The binder was a brilliant pink and covered in imitation
shag carpet.
"What?" Jade asked. She looked down and said in an 'Austin Powers
voice', "What, the shag binder, baby? Yeah!" she rubbed the binder with
her hand as she spoke.
Topaz and Lapis burst out laughing. Vanax and Jonquil just looked
at each other and shrugged.
"Only you, Jade. Only you." Topaz managed to gasp between breaths.
By the time they all calmed down Noki and Jendra were back.
"Let's compare schedules." Lapis said. Everyone held out their
schedules to see who had classes with who. Since South was a small school,
only about four hundred students in all, everyone had a lot of classes
together.
Lapis, Topaz, Vanax, and Jendra were all starting their junior
years. Noki, Jade, and Jonquil were all seniors.
All the juniors had U.S. History together first period, while
the seniors had Historical Applications. Jade and Topaz were in the same
physics class second period, while the rest of the group was scattered
about. For third everyone had different classes. Fourth was varied,
except for Lapis, Vanax, and Jendra all had English 5-6. And for fifth
period, everyone was in Jazz Band.
"Well, we all have lunch together. That's not bad. Remember last
year? I didn't have any classes with anybody!" Lapis cried.
Soon it was lunchtime.
"Food!" Lapis yelled. Being a witch, she needed the substance.
Jade was quickly behind her in line while everyone else went to find a
table. They quickly snagged a huge eight-seater. Topaz pushed the extra
purple colored chair to another table and plopped down next to Jonquil
in her own plastic chair.
"I can't believe I have homework. It's the first day! Stupid
Sellers. I hate him. I've only known him an hour and I still hate him."
Jendra growled as she started her science homework. "Well, I suppose
this is the good thing about not needing to eat, hmm?" She asked the
two vampires and two shifters sitting at the table with her.
"Whatever. I'm bored. You should be glad you have something to
do." Vanax yawned as he tried to balance a pencil on his fingertip.
"Ick. Wood. Mechanical pencils are my best friends." Topaz pulled
her pink mechanical pencil from her pocket and gazed at it with adoration.
"Isn't that mine?" Jade asked as she sat down next to Topaz. She
swiped the pencil.
"Hey! Give that back! I don't have any more." Topaz reached for
the pencil.
"You don't need it. You carry fifty pens." Jade said as she
stuck the pencil in her pocket.
"I do not. I only have... hold on." Topaz pulled out a pencil
bag from her backpack and dumped it out on the table. She started
counting. "One, two, three..."
"Ohh... I'm so glad they have chicken nuggets today." Lapis said
as she plopped down in the last seat between Vanax and Jendra. She
eagerly started to devour her lunch.
"Four, five, six..."
Noki leaned over Jendra's homework, ignoring her outraged yell,
and grabbed one of Lapis' nuggets.
"Hey! Give it back." Lapis cried out reaching for the tasty
morsel, but it was too late.
"No." he said simply as he put it in his mouth and chewed. "Dead
meat. Been dead for days. How can you eat that everyday?" he said with a
disgusted face.
"I ask the same question." Jade said as she ate her salad. "Meat's
gross."
"That's not what I meant." Noki said with a light glare in Jade's
direction.
"I know." Jade said smiling back at him charmingly.
"Seven, eight, nine..."
"I need something to drink. Be right back." Jendra stood up
leaving her homework half done to get a small, overpriced bottle of
water.
"Ten, eleven, twelve..."
"I can't wait till last period. Dubie's such a cool teacher.
You'll love band, Jay." Lapis said as Jendra came back clutching her
purchase. There was no more water, she'd been forced to buy Sprite.
"I hope so, Kelli. I don't know how good I am though. I haven't
played trumpet in years." Jendra said.
"Where did you learn to play trumpet?" Vanax asked. Curiosity
lit up his face.
"Curiosity killed the cat." Jendra said as she picked up her
pencil from on top of her binder and tapped Vanax on the nose with it.
"But I'm not a cat." Vanax said.
"Um hmm..." Jendra said with a raised eyebrow. She couldn't blurt
out his shift, they were in a public place, but she could sure insinuate.
Vanax narrowed his eyes, and crossing his arms on his chest and
sinking into his chair, began to pout. Jendra laughed out loud.
"Okay, okay. I learned it at the orphanage. The guy who funded
the place loved music and we'd play for him when he came and inspected
the place. So I had to learn to play something, and the nuns picked
trumpet." Her smile had died about half way through her little speech as
she was swept up in memories. Vanax frowned and leaned over Lapis to
place a hand on Jendra's shoulder.
"Hey, I'm sorry. I didn't mean for you to have to remember the
orphanage or anything."
"I know." Jendra brightened up and smiled gratefully at Vanax.
"It's okay. Really." Vanax smiled and sat back down from his half standing
position.
"Thirteen. Ha! I only have thirteen." Topaz said triumphantly
waving her green pen in front of Jade's startled face.
"Thirteen is a bad luck number. I'll help rid you of it by
taking this." Jade said recovering from her surprise. She grabbed the
pen and stuck it in her pocket with her pencil.
"No! That's my favorite one! Give it back! I'll give you the
gold one!" Topaz dived for Jade's pocket.
"Eep! Okay, just get off me!" Jade jumped up away from Topaz and
threw the pen at her.
"Yay! What?" Topaz asked Jonquil. He was laughing really hard.
"Nothing, nothing." He gasped.
Topaz glared at him as she put her thirteen bad luck pens away.
"Oh shut up." she mumbled.
"Hey, guys." A voice said from behind Topaz.
"Allison!" Topaz jumped out of her seat to give the girl a hug.
Her red curly hair was severely pulled back and her eyes smiled at the
group.
"Oh, Allison. This is Jay. She moved here during the summer. Jay,
this is Allison. The local violin protegee." Topaz said. Allison blushed.
"I am not, Kory. Hello, Jay, nice to meet you. Kory, I just
wanted to tell you that I saw Leah hanging out at your locker. I thought
you might want to know."
"Thanks, Allison. See you later." Topaz grabbed her stuff as she
stood up. "I have to go to my locker anyway. I'll see you guys in band."
There was nothing wrong with her locker that Topaz could see.
Leah was probably just trying to look cool. What a weirdo. She thought
as she twirled the combination lock on the bright blue locker. She opened
it and frowned at the folded piece of paper staring up at her from its
position on her stacked books at the bottom of her locker. She dropped
her math books in her locker and grabbed the paper. She opened it and
almost screamed after reading the first line. Her horror grew as she
read on.
"Oh god. Oh no."
She turned and ran back to the lunchroom.
--------------------------------------------------------------------
I'm bored and my ANs are usually short and boring too. This time,
I'm gonna write my ANs as we go here, so it'll be a bit detached, but
it'll give a ton of background info on the story and how bits of it came
to be. Maybe it will be interesting?? Let me know if you like this type
of thing. You might have to go back and reread a part to understand the
comment.
You know that car I meantion in the first paragraph?? That's my
car...scary, no?
My school looks like this one too... the atrium, the cafeteria,
everything. Again, scary... And I still say the school looks like a mall!
We don't have stools and some of the labs don't even have running
water.
Yeah, guys watch out! All us girls can do that pleading thing
Jendra does to Noki!
My friend who is named Chris and who Jade is modeled after does
have a shag binder... I swear!! It's the coolest thing ever.
I had Jazz Band last period, and me who Topaz is based after
and Chris had physics together second... BORING CLASS!
Poor Kelli you guessed it! My real friend who modeled for Lapis
didn't have classes with any of us this year... how sad! But we did have
lunch together!
Everyone tells me Sellers is an evil teacher. In case you haven't
figured it out, a ton of my chars are based on real people. Fun!
I'm always stealing pencils from Chris... and I used to carry
tons of pens, but I got over that.
The school's chicken nuggets are awesome! Along with the mashed
potatoes. Oh yeah...
I'm always trying to get Chris to eat the nuggets. She refuses.
Dubie is the all time coolest teacher! His name is Mr. Dubinski,
but everyone calls him Dubie. He's Allison's dad! That's completely
irrelevant though.
Allison is awesome on the violin!
I HATE LEAH JOHNSON!! I HATE LEAH JOHNSON!!! Sorry...
Well, that's it! It was fun writing those! If you liked, tell me and I'll
do more. I might just do more anyway!
JA!
Ziska Ames