Murphy's Law
Summary: Ivy isn't appreciated back home and needs a fresh start (don't they always?)…getting pushed into Middle Earth in a freak swimming accident wasn't exactly what she had in mind…BoromirOC
Second chapter up! I KNOW the first chapter was quite dark, but I PROMISE, this one is considerably lighter. I want to thank everyone who liked the first chapter enough to keep reading it, and who will read this chapter as well! Kisses and hugs for you all!
::..::
I woke up to see the sun high in the sky, not a cloud in sight. I found it strange, because I usually woke up when the sky was still dark and…
Shit. I had forgotten to turn my alarm clock back on. I checked the time and nearly had a heart attack. It was already nearly nine. I was over two hours late for school! I pulled my hair back into a quick pony tail, threw on some shorts, a tank top, and sneakers, grabbed my school bag, and bolted for the door. That's when I remembered that it was still locked up.
"Dammit." Didn't Dad remember I was still in here? His snores from his bedroom told me no. On Tuesday mornings he didn't work so he liked being able to sleep in late with Naomi. "HEY!" I yelled, pounding on the door. I heard footsteps, but they weren't from Dad's room.
"Still caged up, I see." Came Fern's voice from the doorway. I nearly growled in frustration.
"Did you ditch again?" I asked her calmly. I heard some shuffling and then a little slurp.
"Woke up late and decided to treat myself to a proper breakfast instead of that eggy crap you always feed us." She said, and I heard the crunching of cereal along with another foul slurp of milk.
"That's gross." I said, but wished I'd never said it because she immediately began slurping some more. "Look, just unlock the door and let me out."
"No can do." She replied, still munching on cereal. "I don't have a key. You're going to have to use the window."
"Can't you just check?" I begged. I didn't want to have to climb out the window; my room was on the second story and that tree next to my room didn't look all that stable to me. I could almost see her shrug and then her footsteps started down the hall, disappearing into the kitchen.
"FERN! FERN! LET ME OUT!" I yelled. After a few minutes I resigned myself and pulled open the window. I looked down and suddenly felt queasy. The drop wasn't unbearably high, but still enough for me to get second thoughts. I didn't wanna be like Pollyanna, you know, when she fell out of that tree and couldn't walk again? That movie still gave me nightmares. I laid my foot onto a branch and tested its durability by pressing more and more of my weight on it, little by little. I threw my bag down to the ground and almost fell out of the tree when I heard a cracking sound. Something in there broke. I sighed and hoisted myself into the tree, praying that it would support my weight.
I almost died when I realized that there were no other sturdy branches nearby. I would either have to maneuver my way through the thorns, clinging to the tree itself, or I could just suck up my courage and jump. Neither seemed appealing. And I would probably look like I'd just been mugged either way.
But after eyeing the thorns and the long tree trunk, I decided that jumping didn't seem too bad. Or at least, worse than I had first made it out to be. I just had to hop down and land on my feet, no sweat, I thought. After a few minutes of mental questioning (mainly praying to God that this was the best choice), I closed my eyes and jumped down.
DO NOT CLOSE YOUR EYES WHEN JUMPING FROM A SECOND-STORY WINDOW TO THE GROUND.
Cause when I did, I couldn't see the big tree branch that smacked me in the stomach. Though I suppose it might have been slightly scarier if my eyes were open, cause I could've seen the branch coming at me and I would have been staring at it, waiting for the impact…
The wind was unexpectedly knocked out of me, and the ground was rushing at me at a fast speed. Then I realized that my back was scraping against something. I slightly turned my head to see the wall of the house. I figured that the branch had probably swung me against the house, and now I was sliding down it at a nice pace. But gravity forced my body forward and I fell face-first onto a branch of thorns, which scraped across my neck painfully. I grabbed onto the nearest thing and stopped falling. I peeked open my eyes a little wider to see that I had grabbed onto a smaller branch, and I was weighing it down a lot. My feet weren't far from the ground now. With a huff I let myself drop the small distance, but my legs gave out surprisingly when I touched the earth. I slumped down next to my school bag, feeling sore and beaten.
I touched my neck and found that I shouldn't do that because it stung pretty badly. My back hurt from scraping down the side of the house and my stomach felt as if someone had repeatedly punched me. I cursed the tree.
"Yoo-hoo!" Came a voice from my window. I looked up and my jaw dropped to see Fern grinning at me and waving the key to unlock my room above my head. "You fell pretty hard there!" She laughed. "You just couldn't wait for me to get the key?" She was getting sarcastic now. I was overcome with humiliation and anger. I threw a rock at my window. She ducked it.
"I hate you!" I screamed at her. A man popped his head out of his window, but I didn't notice him yet.
"I hate you!" She mimicked. "Baby!" She hollered. I clenched my teeth and tried to ignore her cruel remarks. I hastily hauled my bag over my shoulder and started down the street, pretending that nothing had happened, that I wasn't late, that life was just fine and dandy as usual. But I felt a pair of eyes on my back.
"Fern, just lay…" It wasn't Fern. It was this guy. He was an old man, with gray hair and a wrinkly face, but what was weirder was that even if he looked old, his eyes looked older…you know what I mean? Maybe you just had to see it to get it. One of those things.
I met his stare with a challenging one of my own, but he didn't back off or look offended. On the contrary, he looked ready to smile. The nerve! Could he not see that I was in pain? I shook off a strange feeling in my stomach and hurried to school.
::..::
"Late again, Ivy."
"I know, Mrs. Heart." I said, looking down. I had made it to school just missing the first ten minutes of my third period, physical education.
"You know the punishment for three tardies, Ms. Brooklyn."
"Detention." I said more to myself than to her.
"Only thirty minutes, Ivy. Could you step into my office for a moment?" The other girls and boys in my Coed class whispered and joked to me as I laid down my bag and followed Mrs. Heart to her office.
"Yes?" I asked once she had closed the door.
"What happened, dear?" She asked, putting on a concerned face. "You look like you've been mugged."
Exactly what I was going for, I almost said. But I settled for a casual shrug. "Really?"
"Yes! Did something happen, Ivy?"
I couldn't just say that I had been locked in my room until nine a.m. and then fallen down a tree in an attempt to escape. That would seem…odd, to say the least.
"Well, you see, our neighbor has this dog." I started. Going for the old chased up a tree story, huh? I asked myself. Shut up, I reprimanded…me.
"Go on." Mrs. Heart said, noticing my small smile crumble.
"Oh, yes. Well anyway, it's a big dog. Like, Great Dane big, except it was a…a German Shepherd."
"Goodness!" Mrs. Heart gasped. I thanked God that I had such a gullible teacher. "And then…?"
"Well, I woke up late anyway and was running out the door, but you really can't go by my neighbor's house unless you're going to tip-toe or something because that dog just sits on the front porch, no tether or nothing."
"And it chased you?"
"Yeah. All the way back home and up this big tree. I guess I was in such a hurry to get up it that I didn't notice my cuts and things until now," I motioned to my cut neck and my cheek. I could pretend that the cheek cut was from the tree, right?
"Maybe you should see the nurse. You can also sit out of gym today, since we're going to be doing a swimming activity and the water might irritate the wounds…also, it wasn't really your fault that you were late, right? Perhaps you shouldn't have a detention…"
"No, no." I assured her. "I don't need to see the nurse and I can swim, I mean, my injuries aren't as bad as they look…and I'll go to the detention. I was still late after all." Mrs. Heart patted my shoulder and led me out of her office with a small smile. I thought back to my sister's observations from the preceding day. Maybe I did let people walk all over me. Like a 'welcome! walk all over me' mat, a little voice said.
I thought I told you to shut up! I mentally shouted. No more from the little voice. I rushed into the locker room and changed into the required swimsuit of our senior class. You see, in our high school (not sure if it's the same for all of them or not) you only need to take gym ONCE for ONE semester out of your whole high school experience. I was one of those people who slacked off and is now stuck taking it during my senior year. Will I ever learn?
I walked back into the gym area and got in line.
"Now that we're all here we're going to go to the wrestling room. There are some pool rules I need to go over with you all in there, since we've never used the pool before." Mrs. Heart said. The door opened and the other gym teacher and football coach, Mr. Clark stepped out.
"Single file, single file," He boomed. A girl and a boy held hands from behind her back. He slapped them apart. "NO physical contact!" He roared. Did I mention that he's slightly temperamental as well?
Mrs. Heart led us into the pool area guided us into a door on the other side of the room, Mr. Clark bringing up the rear. When we got in the wrestling room, we went over the guidelines of pool safety, behavior, no splashing, etc. As soon as they thought that they had us under control, our gym teachers told us to go back into the pool area and wait for them to come back with equipment, but we were NOT to touch the water.
We walked in a line back into the area and broke off into little groups to talk. I stayed off by myself, being the timid person that I am. Selma Gripp walked past me and I barely acknowledged her smirk before I felt a hand shove me in. Everything went into slow motion.
Since I was near the shallow end, I clumsily fell into the warmed water, the jolts stinging my wounds. My head hit the stairs and I could have SWORN that I saw stars before slumping in, closing my eyes. The jeers and gasps of my classmates above the surface faded away and I couldn't tell left from right.
It seemed as if time stood still, like I had been there for hours and hours but never needed to take a breath of air. Like I didn't need it. I eventually began to comprehend that I needed to get air soon and began to swim in the direction I thought was up. I bumped into something. Preparing for the water to sting my eyes when I opened them, I squinted through half-opened eyes to try and reduce the pain. But what I saw made my eyes bulge out. A behind. A very naked behind. A very naked male behind. I could just tell, okay?
Before the behind could turn around and bless me with another big surprise, I planted my feet on the hard tile surface of the floor and bolted up out of the water, sputtering and coughing. Opening my eyes slowly, I turned up my head. I took in the room for a brief second. It seemed like some kind of city bathhouse, like the kind you could find in an old Greek movie or something. My jaw dropped when I noticed that there were around twenty men already in the water. Twenty, ahem…naked men. I grew warm…no, hot…no, scorching with embarrassment. I didn't even give thought to how I got from the school pool to a medieval bathhouse. I couldn't process thought at the moment. At a tap on my shoulder I turned.
A man with black hair was smiling softly at me, blushing under his mild mustache with wide brown eyes. I stared back.
I screamed.
He screamed.
I screamed.
He screamed.
I screamed.
He stopped.
I screamed.
"Whoa, now!" He said, bringing up his hands. "Help!" He called to the other men. They began to slowly circle us. I stopped screaming and took up a defensive posture.
"Stay back, all of you!" I said and they all quick advancing. I MUST say, it is extremely uncomfortable to see a crowd of naked beings walking towards you in a bath while all you have to cover up is a modest one-piece bathing suit. I motioned to them all to clear the way and they formed two little lines. At that point I promptly got my ass out of there and to a large pair of wooden double doors. I threw them open with quite a lot of difficulty and probably looked very comical to the men in the bath. After they were open I slipped and slid down the marble hallway.
I surprisingly didn't see many people in the spacious halls. After rounding a corner and hiding in a little nook, I could let a thought get past my mental barrier:
"Where AM I?"
Then my brain shut off again. I looked around and saw a nice little cloak hanging on a hook. It was a dark purple with red on the inside, and very warm looking. I was pleased to discover that it was as warm as it looked when I put it on. I didn't know how to clasp it, so I just wrapped it around myself. I slipped the hood over my head, telling myself that I'd catch a cold if I let the air get to my wet head. I walked down the halls and almost fainted when I saw a man coming towards me. He looked like a simple servant, carrying some kind of towel into a room I passed. I froze as he passed me and barely returned the automatic nod that he gave me. Didn't I look suspicious in this huge cloak? I shrugged. Time for that later; now I had to find out where I was!
I crept quietly along the wall, nodding and appearing normal to anyone passing by. When I decided that walking around in this huge palace wasn't gonna cut it I began peeking in doors. Mistake…
Lesson One: The type of door indicates the type of room it is. If it's a big grand door it will be a big grand room. I should have known better when I opened the elaborately decorated door with the large banner hanging on it. I slipped inside and rested my head on it, breathing deeply, gathering my wits about me. I heard a cough and bit my lip. I cautiously turned around.
The room had a long, round table in the center, with the entire right side covered in open windows and tapestries lined along the walls to hide the dull stones. At the table sat about thirty men, all dressed like some kind of knights, minus the suits of armor. At the head of the table sat a very old guy with long, stringy gray hair and a very foul expression. Like I'd interrupted something important…
On his right side sat a man with reddish hair and light eyes that I could see from all the way across the room. He had on a red tunic and a dark leather vest that accentuated his muscles and figure nicely, though he was sitting down. Various soldiers (I supposed) were scattered around the table. Papers and maps were settled here and there.
There was another cough and I turned my head again, seeing two guards on either side of me. I regarded them fearfully.
"Remove your hood, soldier." The gray haired man commanded in a nasal voice. He was tapping the table with his fingers under his long sleeves. I looked at the guard's spears and cursed myself. I had been doing so well, too! Why the hell weren't those guards outside the doors, anyway? What good were they inside the room?
"I said, remove your hood." The man demanded once more. I gulped and complied, slowly slipping off the hood and blinking at the light that momentarily clouded my vision. A few men gasped; they had obviously been expecting a guy or something. I smiled sheepishly at the astonished looks on their faces. A guard then ripped away my new cloak.
"Hey, hey!" I squealed at the suddenly cold air, grabbing for it. I hugged myself, forgetting all I wore was a swimsuit. The guards looked me up and down, probably admiring my figure more than my attire. I blushed furiously as I concluded that the other men might have been doing so as well. They glanced up at my face, after I shyly snapped my fingers. I laughed nervously.
"Well, uh, first thing is, security around here sucks." I said, flashing an unsure smile.
::..::
A/N: This seemed like an okay spot to end. I think Boromir being paired with someone is a great idea, you hardly ever get romantic fics with him being a main character nowadays. Review, please! Oh, wait, I hope nobody minded that Ivy isn't supposed to be communicating with them, cause they're all speaking Westron and she knows English...I just didn't want to have to get all into that. If you want a story that touches on that, read my other LotR fic, Something Special.