Don't tell me: Chapter 10?
The shadow loomed over me like a specter of death. I fought the tremble in my heads, if it actually WAS the grim reaper, then hey, that would be fine. Hello? Goddess of Death here. I actually wanted to have some words with Mr. Grim for stealing my gig, but no, it wasn't the Grim Reaper. It was something much, much worse.
The towering sign blocked out the sun, casting a heavy shadow on my face. The words, "Alliance Prep" were emblazoned across the top of the sign in a garish orange and below was a map of the school buildings and it's grounds. The soldier part of me scoffed at this. It was poor tactics to display your blueprints where your enemy could easily view them. I took a deep breath and straightened my shoulders as I prepared myself to wade into the stream of uniformed prepettes, allowing my inner soldier to realize that the residents of the school were deterrent enough for any attackers. Heh. Forget Trieze, if you wanted to totally eviscerate someone, leaving them traumatized and humiliated, all you probably had to do was tell a teenage girl that person was sleeping with her boyfriend. I grinned to myself at that thought, suppressing a giggle and drawing odd stares from the girls milling about on the lawns around me.
Mira was bored. She sat at her desk, buffing her nails discreetly with an emory board. With a clansdine look around the entrance hall, she grinned and propped her feet up on her desk, tilting her chair back. After slipping on a pair of headphones with her favorite band's new disk she laced her fingers together behind her head and closed her eyes. Ahh… bliss.
….At least it was until someone cleared their throat rather loudly somewhere above her head. She squeaked and jumped, or at least attempted to, tipping over her chair in the process, sprawling herself on the ground. " Ow! Julie! What the hell did you…" She trailed off as she met a pair of bright blue eyes. A pair of eyes which did not belong to Julie, her co-worker who had just left for lunch. No. They belonged to a tall, well-built young man.
She gulped. Extremely well-built young man, she amended. "Um, C-can I help you?" She asked, blushing.
One corner of his mouth quirked upward, "I hope so," He replied, faint amusement coloring his voice. "My name is Odin Lowe, I'm a new student, I've come for my schedule, if you have it."
Duo grinned all the way to the main office, envisioning gangsters whimpering in terror as teenage girls descended screaming: "You bitch! Get your own man!" When she reached the office, her grin stilled and faded.
Heero was in the office. Her pulse sped up. 'Oh no you don't,' she thought, breathing deeply. 'You're not going to affect me this easily. I am strong. I am independent…He's smiling at her!' Her eyes widened and she fought the impulse to slap his silly smirk right off his handsome face. As far as she was concerned that smile should be for her, and her only.
After a few minutes of standing there, rigid and pale, the pretty, young secretary noticed her over Heero's shoulder.
"Hello there! Are you the other new student supposed to be arriving today?" She asked. "Maxine Solo?"
Duo nodded. At those words, Heero's shoulders suddenly tensed, then relaxed, slowly turned around prepared to act shocked and love-struck.
Well, he got the shocked part down at least. His jaw literally dropped, and he made a few random gasping noises, opening and closing his mouth. Duo would have thought this was funny if she hadn't been idly wondering if he was choking on something. "Hello." He finally managed to mumble, "I'm Odin Lowe. I'm new as well." He thrust out his hand in front of him. Duo could tell he was disgusted at the fact that she was able to surprise him like that. In an undertone, he added, "What are you doing here? You almost made me blow our cover."
Duo eyes narrowed. "Me? Come on! Maxine Solo, don't tell me you didn't guess." She hissed in return. Heero's lips pressed together in a thin, white line. He hadn't.
At least the secretary seemed oblivious to the tense scene conducting itself in her office. She hummed as she thumbed through the files in a cabinet across the room. With an exclamation of triumph, she pulled several papers from the drawer and bustled back to her desk where Duo and Heero were waiting. "Here you go!" She cried cheerfully. "Maxine Solo, and Odin Lowe. Here are your dorm numbers, your supervisors, your time-tables, a copy of the dress code, a map of the grounds, a list of banned objects and substances, and your new room keys!" She handed each of them a stack of papers with a small keychain of top. She smiled widely, "Welcome to Alliance Prep! I'm sure you'll love it here!" She exclaimed.
With a long look between them, Duo and Heero took their stacks of paper, smiled perfunctorily at the cheery secretary, and, remembering they weren't supposed to know each other, trudged off angrily to their respective dorm halls without more than a grunted "Bye."
Mira sighed as she watched the two new students exit her building. He was a student! Too bad, he'd looked much older, and hot too. She shrugged, "Ah well," She thought, "He seemed rather taken with the pretty little brunette who was new as well, best of luck to her, I guess."
She slipped her headphones back on as Julie skipped through the door, back from her lunch date. "Did I miss anything while I was gone?" She grinned.
"Nah," Mira replied, smiling back at her friend, "Nothing whatsoever, just another boring lunch hour!"