Hullo to no one because no one has given me any reason to believe they have been reading this. If anyone is reading this, even if you don't like it, please leave a review, and lie if you have to because the one flame I ever got hurt and I didn't like it. Just as a recap, I'd like to remind everyone (disclaimer) that I own nothing Mario-ified. I own only Jessie, Ian, Nicole, and Mogjyn. Thanks, on with the fic.
Chapter 5: ...Homecoming Sucks
"Beats are due, people," Mr. Yidderan called out over the room. "I need articles of the week and chapters too! I've only gotten one of each so far."
Jessie looked up for half a second and then returned to the paper she was working on. It was her work that had already been turned in for each of those three assignments. The newspaper was nothing like she had expected. It may have been because she was so much more advanced than anyone, but no one else seemed to have a very good idea of what they were doing except the juniors and seniors who had been there one and two years already, and even their grammar Jessie found herself correcting in articles. The editor-in- chief seemed pretty incompetent as well. Jessie had her first articles for the paper done before she even did.
Mr. Yidderan seemed to be the only one beside Jessie who had a clue. He was a yoshi, like Yoshi, only Mr. Yidderan was a sky blue instead of green. It was true what Nicole had heard: he had three PhDs and two masters. However, he was still working on two more masters and one more PhD. And the thing was, he wasn't all that old, maybe his forties at the oldest.
Jessie liked him. His PhDs were in journalism, theater, and writing. The two masters he had were literature and videography, which was what his next PhD would be. The two masters he was working on were poetry and philosophy. Most of those were her own interests, and he knew a lot about soccer too. It also turned out that he also coached the lacrosse team in the spring.
Jessie got up and walked over to Mr. Yidderan with the papers she had been working on. "I finished writing them out for you," she said handing the papers to him. One of the first discussions they'd had was about poetry and Jessie brought up an old favorite of hers, Edgar Allan Poe.
"I miss my Eap," she would say. "I memorized every Edgar Allan Poe-m, but his tales of suspense, mysteries, and satires are impossible to recreate now." It was the poems that she had been writing and now gave to Mr. Yidderan to read.
"Thanks," he said, taking the papers and starting to read them. Jessie returned to her seat and sat down. There wasn't anything else for her to do. She'd done all her work for Mr. Yidderan. The paper was already at the printers. All her homework was done. Forgot her book at home. Everyone else was working still and couldn't talk because it was Friday and everything was due by the end of the week. They had all goofed off until the last minute, but Jessie did it as soon as it was assigned.
Jessie crossed her ankles. Then she uncrossed them. Re-crossed them. Re- uncrossed them. She looked at the clock, and then away and then started scribbling on a piece of paper.
"Hmm," she hummed for a moment, and then smiled in spite of herself. She'd just remembered the poem she'd written at the end of eighth grade, on the last day of school when there was nothing to do and she'd gone bored out of her mind. In the poem, the person kept crossing and uncrossing their ankles, looking at the clock, doodling, tying their shoes, anything to keep their self occupied. Now she found herself doing the same kind of things, except that it wasn't the last day of school. She took out another sheet of paper and rewrote the poem she had written that day.
Boredom
Cross ankles, uncross, cross, uncross, cross, uncross
Stare at clock, look away, five minutes later is two minutes later
Scribble, scribble, look at clock, look away, look again
Untie shoe, tie again, switch the foot, do the same
Look at clock, look away, clean fingernails, look again
Fix your hair, fix your clothes, wipe your glasses wipe your nose
Read a sentence, close the book, try again, close the book
Look at clock, look away, try a nap, look again
Drum your fingers, tap your foot, hum a bit, again the book
Book is boring, look at clock, look away, cross your ankles
RIIING!
Look at clock, look away, grab your stuff, and run away!
"Hmm..." she thought. She took out another piece of paper and started writing again.
Still Bored
Cross ankles, uncross, cross, uncross
Look at clock, look away, look at calendar, look away
How many days since the end was here?
How many more till the end this year?
It was gone but came once more
And so I sit here, ever bored
Many days have since gone by
And many more have yet to fly
I've scribbled lots and tied my shoes
Whoa, I got some déjà vu
Fixed my hair, fixed my clothes
Wiped my glasses, wiped my nose
I remember my book, but then I grouse
This morning I left it at the house
Look at clock, look away, calendar, then away
Maybe some homework, work for home
Dang! It's finished! It's all done!
Drum my fingers, tap my foot
Hum a bit, I WANT MY BOOK!
Cross ankles, uncross, cross, uncross
Wiggle my toes, twiddle my thumb
Why's it have to be so dumb?
Look at clock, look away, clean fingernails, look again
Cross ankles, uncross, cross, cry for book, uncross
Look at clock, look away, BOOK! look at calendar
RIIIIING!
Look at clock, look away, grab my stuff and run away!
...But then I remember tomorrow-day
So I slow my step and mutter, "Hooray..."
Jessie grinned at her creation and made another copy before putting it away in her folder. Then the bell rang. "Finally!" she exclaimed, gathering her things. Mr. Yidderan said goodbye and granted them leave. "I got two more for you if you're interested," she said as she handed the two poems to him.
"More of this guy?" Mr. Yidderan asked.
"No, my own creations," she answered. Then she walked out the door and headed to her locker, where she met Nicole, Ian, and Mogjyn. "'S'up, guys?" she greeted them.
"Nothin' much," Nicole answered, pulling her algebra book out from her locker.
"Anything interesting in the newspaper?" Mogjyn asked.
"If you include writing out every Edgar Allen Poem there is to occupy yourself while the rest of the staff makes up for their loss in the battle with the imp of perverse interesting... then yes," Jessie said longwindedly. "Otherwise no."
Three weeks into the school year, the four had mastered the route to all of their classes, how to get there and their lockers in time, etc. Mogjyn had become one of the group too, although, he was still rather uncomfortable with the idea of meeting them outside of school. But next night was the first game of the soccer season, so maybe something would happen then. When they all had all their stuff, they turned and headed toward the bathrooms, avoiding the same preppy girls who wanted to get in with the royalty, so that they could change for practice. Then they went to their respective fields.
'
"Jiminy freaking cricket!" Jessie exclaimed, wincing once more at the excessively loud cheering coming from the stands.
"Why is it such a big deal?" Nicole asked, turning to her friend. They were the only two on the field, in their team anyway, that weren't screaming their heads off. The noise was coming from their teammates and the stands. You would like to think it was because they'd just scored or something at their first soccer game, but no. It was because the varsity football team had just come onto the field... for the pep rally.
"Is this absolutely necessary?" Jessie posed. "It seems more than anything to be a waste of, like, two hours. I can think of a whole list of things I'd rather be doing, and that's only including school stuff."
"C'mon, girls. Show a little enthusiasm," Mr. Yidderan encouraged, though it was clear from the look on his face-
"Mr. Yidderan, you know you don't want to be here any more than we do!" Nicole returned. Jessie was rubbing her ear.
"A little school spirit never hurt anyone," he tried again.
"Yeah, just their eardrums," Jessie said when she was done. The captain of the team had just delivered his stupid little speech and everyone around them screamed louder than ever and pounded the ground, causing it to shake slightly.
"Find a happy place! Find a happy place!" Nicole echoed repeatedly as she, Jessie, and Mr. Yidderan's hands flew to their ears.
"Y'know Nicole, I have a mind to put this all to an end right now," Jessie said nudging Nicole in the side and winking.
"If only you could," Mr. Yidderan finally agreed.
"I would back you one hundred percent on that one, Jess," Ian said. He and Mogjyn had just come over from the boys' soccer team... not that anyone cared at that moment. Mr. Yidderan and Mogjyn looked at them curiously.
Seeing the looks on their faces, Jessie consoled them, "It's okay. Don't worry about it." They shrugged their shoulders then the five turned to watch the marching band.
"This is so lame," Ian said. The other three agreed. Then, with no warning, a mushroom in the front of the band line tripped. Being in front of the line, he caused a domino effect. Within a minute, just about the whole marching band was on the ground to the laughter of the entire student body, and a lot of the faculty. Ian and Nicole looked at Jessie with sly smiles on their faces and raised eyebrows. Jessie smiled innocently and looked away innocuously. Mogjyn had a mixture of amusement and confusion on his face.
Everything died down, and the defeated marching band had cleared the field. But then, "Give it up for the Toadstool Thwompettes!" shouted the announcer, and they had to cover their ears again as everyone began rooting for the cheerleaders who were returning to the field to perform "the routine that would win them the championships." The music started and they went into an assortment of dance steps, flips, and tosses.
"Hey! You remember what happened at our old high school's pep rally?" Nicole asked Jessie and Ian slyly. They nodded their heads, and all of a sudden, some of the cheerleaders missed the goomba girl they had just tossed into the air. When they realized what had happened, the whole squad started screaming and acting frantic.
After his first guffaw Ian laughed, "You mean that?" They then joined the laughter as teachers and coaches rushed out to help the girl, who was fine except for a sprained pride. However, she and the rest of the squad blew the whole thing out of proportion, making it out like she'd had a concussion and was seriously injured and stuff like that. So the pep rally was cancelled, to the great joy of our group.
Mogjyn was still quite confused, but he was glad they were done with the pep rally. And because there was nothing planned for the last half hour of the day, for the first time ever, the students had complete free time.
'
There was a nice amount of cheering coming from the stands again. Jessie and Nicole were out on the field, but this time they were cheering as well because Jessie had just scored a goal on the Wedding Hill Bullet Bills' goalie. "Woot!" she shouted high-fiving Nicole, who had assisted.
They hurried back to midfield for another kick-off but the ref blew his whistle signaling the end of the game. "Heck yeah!" they both screamed jumping up and down, Nicole's arms around Jessie's neck. Soon the whole team had joined and they were cheering for their victory.
The boy's soccer team, who had won their game about five minutes earlier flooded onto the field to join the girls. Ian and Mogjyn fought their way to the center of the mass where Jessie and Nicole were trapped. "Nice goal!" Ian shouted to be heard over the loud cheering. They couldn't hear Jessie's "thanks."
When finally the two teams had managed to make it off the field, they headed back toward the school to change. Afterward they returned to the school and went home until about seven o'clock. At that point, many people returned decked out in formalwear for the Homecoming Dance. As athletes, our four were obligated and forced against their will to attend. So, they met in front of the cafeteria, where the dance was being held.
"Why'd soccer have to be a fall sport?" Ian asked as he and Nicole had found Mogjyn. He wore a nice orange shirt and khaki pants and a white tie. "If it had been a winter or spring sport then we wouldn't have to put up with homecoming."
"I wouldn't have a problem with it if we didn't have to come to the stupid dance," Nicole said as they stood outside the streamer, balloon, and crepe paper decorated cafeteria. She was wearing a blue dress that extended about an inch past dress code length. She kept pulling it down because she felt like it was coming up.
"Agreed," said Mogjyn. He had added a darker blue jacket and tie to his normal shy guy robe. "By the way, where's Jessie?"
"Haven't seen her yet," Ian answered. They looked around.
"Oh. My. God. SO NOT FAIR!" Nicole exclaimed. Jessie came striding up to them.
"'Sup, guys?" she greeted them with a smile. They all gaped at her.
"-SO NOT FAIR!" Nicole repeated. "How come you don't have to-?"
"Because nothing says I have to," Jessie answered. She was wearing a dress shirt, slacks, and tie.
"-SO NOT FAIR!" Nicole repeated again. "I wish I'd thought of that! Why didn't you call and tell me!"
"...Because we don't have phones here. That was back in the other world..." Jessie explained slowly. "Now come on! If we have to do this, let's just get it over with." The four locked elbows and walked through the cafeteria doors. Many heads turned to watch them and several jaws dropped. Jessie just smiled at them, admiring her work. "Shall we dance?" Jessie asked her friends.
They moved to the dance floor and started dancing, if not a bit awkwardly at first. Eventually they got into the basic scheme of things. "Looks like DK's tutoring paid off," Ian commented to Jessie in reference to their games after the Mario Party.
"If only on the outside," Jessie, who was usually horrible at dancing, answered. They continued for a while. At about eight-thirty, they were getting tired and decided to take a break. The group looked around for a place to sit and found an empty table with four chairs at it nearby. They sat down and took a rest.
"Tired right now!" Nicole said waving away the preps that had come to bug them again.
When he was sure they were out of earshot Ian said, "Do you think they will, at any point, give up?"
"Doubtedly," Jessie answered. "I think they are a little cheesed at you though, Mogjyn." No answer. "Mogjyn?"
"Uh-oh, did we lose him?" Ian asked. They looked around. Jessie and Ian shrugged it off, but Nicole thought she spotted him trying to sneak away.
"Hey, I'm gonna get some food," she said and left them. Jessie and Ian raised their eyebrows at this, but again shrugged it off and returned to talking.