Todd awoke some time around three in the morning to the sensation of cold skin. His stray hand sought the blankets which were most likely pooled around his ankles or had fallen off the couch. His hand came up with nothing.
The boy muttered and opened his eyes, searching around the room. He was cold and whosever's idea of a joke this was, it was not cool. His eyes fell on the awol blankets lumped up in an armchair. "Yo, what gives?" Muttering, Todd got up and made his way over to the kleptomaniac furniture to steal back a few more hours of warmth and rest. A tug on a blanket's edge resulted in a string of muffled obscenities. The lump shifted away from him and struggled to tuck the edges of the blankets even tighter around itself.
Todd thought he recognized the voice. "Tabby?" he groaned. "Yo back already?"
His answer was a middle finger.
"I was sleepin' here! You got yo own room."
"So do you. Piss off."
"Yo just too lazy to walk up the stairs and turn a doorknob!" Todd shouted back. He got flipped off again. "Fine. I'll go sleep in yo room." The lump struggled mightily at this and struggled to extract itself from the armchair and blankets. Todd raced upstairs, opened and shut Tabby's door, and stealthily hid in the linen closet.
The sound of heavy footsteps and death threats bumbled past his hiding place. Todd waited while Tabby's door opened and shut again. There was another string of curses and a soft 'flop' upon squeaky mattress springs. Todd made his way downstairs with the utmost quiet and reclaimed his blankets.
He curled back up on the couch and fell asleep until about six thirty when two small time bombs nestled between his back and the couch cushions knocked him yelping to the floor. "OW!" he ranted, gingerly exploring now blistered skin. "Tabby, you stupid bitch!"
"Good morning to you too, froggy," the blonde girl replied cheerily from the next room. "Oooh! Grapenuts! I love those!"
"Those are mine!" Pietro snapped. There was another explosion. Todd winced, knowing Pietro was in no shape to zip away from Tabitha's effects. "I... guess you could have one bowl," the speedster amended, sounding woozy.
Lance was naturally pissed that Tabby had come home early. The fact that he'd been half threatened into giving her a ride did not make for a happy trip to school. Principal Kelly arrived at the same time and upon seeing Tabby, approached the Brotherhood wearing his famous 'you're-in- deep-muck' face.
"Ms. Smith," he glared. "I'd like to have a word with you about your truancy--"
Tabitha waved his words off as if they were fruit flies. "I know, I had a whole bunch of stuff come up. My mother nearly had a heart attack."
Kelly raised his eyebrow. "Nearly?"
"See, we thought she was having one, but it turned out to be a mild case of cerebral palsy so she's okay."
Todd was currently making a valiant and painful effort to maintain a straight face. Kelly's expression required him to duck out of notice. "Ms. Smith, I'm not amused. Report to my office after morning assembly." Kelly walked away, either not hearing or not acknowledging the raspberry Tabitha blew at him.
Todd's snickering broke out into a fit of giggles and fortunately the other boys started laughing at about the same time. Tabby gave them all death glares and stalked toward the school entrance.
"I think that was about the best thing that happened all morning," Pietro commented, to which they all agreed.
To Todd, the best thing that would happen was if he managed to score a seat next to Sara at assembly. He detatched himself from the safety of his friends and went looking for her.
Sara was making her way toward the gym, dodging and apologizing as she tried to dance around people both smaller and larger than herself. Someone tripped her, or tried to. Todd saw her stumble and regain her footing. She was unhurt, though the smile on her face was replaced with a sort of resigned sadness. Todd ducked and twisted until he was near her enough to touch her hand. She looked at him and... there, the wonderful smile was back. And it was for him.
Todd returned it and squeezed her hand as they walked on. "Sit next to me?" he asked unnecessarily, but not daring yet to assume.
And all of a sudden, there he was, holding her hand. She could only see him if she looked at him directly. "Hello," she smiled. "Of course I'll sit next to you, dear. I need someone to lean on."
"Trouble?" he said. "Someone beat you up?"
"Nuh. I just feel like heck." She squinched her eyes again. "Maybe I am allergic to something..."
"Yo' got any of them antihistamines?"
"They always knock me right out," she said. "Bad idea when I blend into the walls." She let him guide her to two adjoining seats, and pressed the heels of her palms into her eyes. "Gyah..."
"So wassup? Yo' kay?"
"Ungh... my eyes..." she barely kept herself from whining. "They're all itchy and gritty. Got some weird kind of flimmer on the edges."
"Flimmer?"
Sara made herself look at him. "Sorry. Speaking in tongues. Flimmer's a kind of flickery, misty obscurity in the vision field. Ever had one of those really bad migranes where you lose patches of reality?"(1)
"Uh... no... but I know someone who does. You should see Lance when he's got a bad one. Feelin' aroun' fo' shit on the way to the tylenol, yo."
"Ouch. He has my sympathies." She blinked again. Her eyes were watery but she could fake ways of seeing around that. "I've got the obscured vision but none of the headache. At least, not yet." She groaned. "I'm ultra-hyper-sensitive on the back, too. How often do you go through this?"
"Once a month," Todd murmured. "Take it cool, yo. Yo' prolly got scales growin' in. That's gotta be tough."
"Scales?"
Todd managed a sick, I'm-sorry-as-all-hell grin. "The doc mentioned it might be a possibility. Sorry I couldn't break it to you."
Scales. She was probably growing scales. That jagged, abrasive, glass- in-the-back feeling was scales. "Well... at least I'll be waterproof..."

Todd saw the water bottle in her bag. "An' speakin' of water, yo' need to keep hydrated..." he risked it, "...sweetums." He loosened the cap and pushed the bottle into her hands. "Here. Take a good swig."
Someone was glaring at them. Some dumpy chick with copper frizz-hair and brackets. She looked extremely pissed off and kept staring at both him and Sara.
"Yo, take a picture," he sniped.
"I would, but you'd break the camera," she said, and went back to gossiping with her neighbours.
"Janine?" said Sara. She turned her head at a slightly wrong angle. "There you are. Got plenty of good material?"
"I'm thure I don't know what you're talking about Thara," lied Janine. "I wathn't thaying a thing about your allergieth."
Shyah. Riiiight, thought Todd.
"OmiGod!" The Trish next to Janine squealed laughing. "Allergic to sperm?"
Janine tried to look innocent while the whole school rivitted its attention on Trish, who blushed and tried to hide.
"Thank you, Miss Walker..." drawled Kelly. "Now, if we could move onto more important news?"
Sara was laughing behind her hand. "Ah, cosmic justice," she said. "Where is thy sting?"
Todd allowed himself a small chuckle. "She gets what she deserves, yo." I'll see to it all, personal-like.
"Leave her be," said Sara. "Janine's just seeking social acceptability. It's difficult with her current appearance, so she falls to gossip."
Damnit, Todd thought. Can't you let me kick her? Just once? Aloud, he said, "Yeah, but she shouldn't talk shit about you... Yo' her friend."
"Associate," corrected Sara. "We kind of banded together as the kids that no team wants."
Ouch. I'm hurting.
"She has her good moments, too, you know."
"Yo' got three of them?" wondered Todd.

(1) Yes, I have had headaches like that. It's most unnerving when one is writing notes and 'loses' one's notes, pen and hand, but not the notepad.

Sara chewed on her lip. "I appreciate the cavalier attitude, but I don't tend to judge friends for their shortcomings or flaws. She's not a dragon. That's good enough."
"Dragon?"
"Someone you have to do battle with."
"Ah." Todd was wincing inwardly. So is that why she tolerates me? Cause I don't give her shit?
Sara seemed to pick up on what he was thinking and poked him. "Don't you dare. I might not have high expectations of my aquaintances, but you I like. A lot." She faltered, uncertainly. What if she'd said too much?
Good, scare him off. Not that you could do otherwise, but you'll be better off alone than with this one, her inner Mom put in.
Sara's eye flickered. She looked away from Todd and stared at her hands.
"I like you too, babe." Todd found no problem this time adding the endearment. She needed it. "A lot," he echoed with a teasing grin. I wish you could know how much.
"Today, we will be conducting a fire drill," Kelly's voice droned on. The student noise level swelled with groans and excited chatter. "If I may have your undivided attention," the principal called out over the ruckus. He did not speak until there was considerably less sound traffic. This happened fairly quick since nobody wanted a prolonged assembly. "Anyone caught skipping out on the rest of the school day will be given a week's worth of detention. Suspension seems rather pointless for people who want out of school." His joke earned a few chuckles from both students and faculty.
Out of the corner of his eye, Todd saw Janine glare at him again and whisper something to Trish. He fought the urge to reach over and smack the back of her head. Sara saw his scowl and followed his gaze.
"I'm sorry," she whispered. "Associating with me will kick you down the social ladder a few pegs."
"People gossip about me all the time, yo. I'm used to it."
"Ah." Sara nodded knowingly. "The worst is when you don't know what they're saying, yet you know it's about you." She took a long draught from the bottle.
"Thirsty, Essel?" sneered Taryn. "You drink like a camel."
Uh oh. Sara could feel Todd's hackles raising. She moved her foot to nudge his and shook her head as he looked at her. Sara lowered the bottle from her lips and licked them. Oosh, they felt dry even while wet.
"Ignore them, dearest, and save thy energy. They're just dragonlets."
"Like I said, I'm used to it. But it's different when it's aimed at you," Todd murmured, looking distraught.
Sara's heart melted into a puddle of happy goop, but her brain sensed danger for him. "Don't invite more trouble on yourself."
"Trouble's my middle name, sugar. It don't need no invitation."

Halfway down the hall, following the shuffling masses, Sara said, "Want to see if I can spit like one?"
"Huh?" said Todd.
"That's what I should have said. I thought water made the brain work."
"Don't feel bad, yo. I'm always a li'l fogged when I'm sheddin'. Guess all that water's bein' used elsewhere."
Sara shut her 'bad' eye. "Nearly outside," she said. "Thanks for being my seeing-eye person."
"Hey, no problem," he said. "Yo need help an' I'm here, y'know?" Besides, you're kinda pretty and I don't want neither side getting their claws into you and I want you in ways that I've never considered with the other girls.
Sara giggled. "I keep waiting for the shoe to drop. The hammer to fall. Or Damocles' sword..."
"Who?"
"Myth and legend, never mind." She sighed and moaned slightly in the sunlight. Mmmm. Warm. "Nobody's ever this nice to me unless they're setting me up. No offence, dear, but life has taught me paranoia."
"Eeehhhh..." said Todd. "An' I know there ain't nuthin' I can say to make it feel better 'cause the rats've said it first. Shit." He kicked a rock, and watched it sail directly over to Duncan Matthews' head. Score! So what if it was only a pebble? Dunc would never trace it to him. "But I mean it when I tell yo' I don't want nuthin' bad happenin', 'kay?"
"Intellectually, yes. Alas, my instincts cry to protect myself. Just ignore it when I get twitchy."
They had to seperate to file into their first-period class lines. And by the time Sara found Janine, half the school was murmuring that Adrian Essel was currently high on E.
Sara ignored them and applied another coat of calamine while they waited. At least the sunshine felt good. If only she wasn't so feverishly thirsty...