Oh for the love of...*sighs* I just found my first error. V.V Chapter one.
I
said seventeen days. I meant twelve. ^^; Sorry?
Disclaimer: I don't own Dragon Knights. V.V If I did... I would offer to give
away bishies in return for reviews(How's that for a good deal?).
Alfeegi's job and Rath and Cesia's meeting belongs solely to Kat. I just
borrowed it and tweaked it slightly to fit my own purposes.
Kat: Did you say ANY pairing? ^^
Jaid Skywalker: Awesome, a review!*big grin* Homework is evil.*glares
at offending homework*
***
Thats stood in line, impatiently rocking back and forth on the balls of
his feet, his hands holding on the the straps on the bag on his back. He
was third from the front with twenty more minutes left on his break
before he had to head off to his Spanish class.
Of course, twenty minutes wouldn't be that bad, but he had other things
to work on.
He was going to practice again after school with Rune and Rath,
and both boys had threatened him with physical harm and lack of food if
he didn't have at least part of a song written up by Saturday.
He muttered an obscenity under his breath.
Thats felt that the others should be the ones writing it, but they felt that
since he had contributed the least to the band so far, he should be the
one to write the song they would perform for the judges in nine days.
When he asked why Rune couldn't be the one to write them since they all
knew Rune had scored an A in English last term, Rath had pointed out
that he had more free time than the other boy.
Rolling his eyes, he moved forward with the line.
More time, his ass.
It wasn't his fault Rune was an such an overachiever.
For that matter, it also wasn't his fault that Rath was completely
untalented when it came to song writing.
This latter fact had been proven when he had finally seen what his friend
had written as a rough draft.
Thats winced.
Good lord, were those lyrics bad.
Both boys had forced him to take Rath's page of crumpled notes to
school for him to use for ideas or reference, and had said they were going
to see what he had written by the time school was out for the day.
Unfortunately, the day was half over and Thats had drawn a blank.
He had no idea what to write a song on, and even less of an idea how he
could get it finished in time for them to practice.
Since his mind was wandering to the piece of paper covered with crossed
off scribbles and squished into an overstuffed English binder, it wasn't
until he was poked in the back several times that he realized he was at
the front of the line.
"Sorry," Thats mumbled, glancing over his shoulder at the two
younger girls standing behind him.
He turned back to face the heavyset middle-aged woman in a navy blue
shirt and hair net standing behind the counter shooting him an impatient
look.
"I'll take a BLT, two scoops of rice, a bag of M&Ms, and a chocolate ice
cream malt," He informed the cafeteria lady, digging in his jeans pocket
for his id card. He pulled it out and gave it to her, nodding his thanks as
she returned it and gave him his order.
He carried his purchase outside to a table near the classrooms,
where he placed the food down and dropped his bag on the ground. He
knelt beside it and, after opening it, dug out a white folder. Thats
snapped open it's rings and removed a slightly crumpled sheet of paper.
Closing the rings and the folder and tossing it lazily on the ground, he sat
down at the table, spreading the paper out in front of him and
unwrapping his sandwich.
He took a bite, enjoying the crisp taste of tomato and bacon, then turned
his attention to the task at hand.
"Right," He mumbled through his mouthful of food, "Lyrics."
Thats swallowed and placed the sandwich down, shooting a nervous
glance at his quickly melting dessert.
He stared at the paper, chin cupped in one hand, the fingers of the other
drumming on the wooden table.
The sun moved behind a cloud and reappeared, shining down on
the lightly tanned teenager, the angle of it's rays causing the shadow the
boy cast to shrink and hide beneath it's master.
Thats sighed.
"Daaaaaamnit," He complained, noting in the back of his mind that he
sounded like a whining six year old in a toy store who wasn't being
allowed to get his favorite action figure, and slumped down until his face
was eye level with the table.
He sent off a glare in the direction of the offending piece of paper, and
crossed his arms over the edge of the table.
"Anyone out there got an idea for sale?" He muttered in an annoyed
fashion, stretching out one arm and grabbing his melting chocolate malt.
He straightened up, pulling off it's lid and dropping it on the table, then
tipped some of it's dripping contents into his open mouth.
He wiped his mouth with the back of his hand and placed the malt back
down.
"Well," He remarked in a much cheerier voice, "If I can't have a
brainwave, at least I'll have a sugar high!"
***
A young girl, barely in high school, with long red hair and blue- green
eyes dashed out of the cafeteria, attempting to balance a salad and a
bottle of some sort of blue sports drink on top of the stack of books she
was carrying in her arms.
"Are you sure class starts at twelve thirty?" She asked the freshman
sprinting alongside her.
"I checked the schedule!" The second girl shouted back, clutching onto a
sandwich in one hand and attempting to pull on an overstuffed light
purple backpack with the other.
"I told you we didn't have time to get food!" She snapped, her bright blue
eyes flashing angrily.
"Well, sorry!" The first one said, gasping as her text books jabbed her in
the chest, crashing into the loose black halter top she wore.
"You didn't have to come, you know, Shian!"
They ran across the paved ground, quickly reaching the field which
separated them from their next class.
Shian sent her friend a look that promised her severe bodily harm in the
near future and hissed a response.
"You said we had a break!" She stumbled over a dip in the ground and
swore loudly.
"To hell with it all!" Shian slowed slightly and finally managed to pull her
bag on properly.
"Miyabi!" She began running after the other girl again, tugging down her
short black mini skirt with one hand, her blue ponytail smacking her
backpack as she sprinted across the grassy field.
Miyabi stopped running suddenly as she heard her name being called,
almost falling over from the sudden change in speed, and turned around.
"Are you ok?" She asked.
Shian nodded, catching up to her.
"Come on, Mi'!" She grabbed her friend's hand and yanked her forward,
towards the tall white buildings looming ahead.
"Ouch!" Miyabi pried her hand free, "That hurt!" She complained.
Shian glared at her, annoyed once again.
"Well, you made us late!"
"It wasn't my fault!" Miyabi protested, almost dropping her lunch as they
sprinted up the stairs leading to the entrance to the building, "I thought
we had a fifteen minute break!"
The two girls reached the hallway and continued running, their shoes
causing their footsteps to echo louder than normal as they hit the tiled
floor. They passed through the empty hallway, somehow managing to
avoid crashing into any of the small metal lockers lining it as they raced by
at breakneck speed.
"There it is, there it is. This way!" Shian yelled, pulling her friend
towards a door on their left.
Miyabi nodded, and both girls burst through the door into the classroom,
where they immediately doubled over, gasping for breath.
"So s-sorry," Miyabi wheezed, her hands on her knees. Next to her, her
friend was straightening up, wiping sweat off her forehead and panting.
"We got-- The times wrong--," She managed to get out, letting her
backpack slide off and hit the floor.
"Class, too," She heard an low, unfamiliar voice mutter in the deafening
silence filling the room.
Startled, she peeked up at her classmates through her red bangs and
immediately froze. Beside her, Shian was staring at the students with
wide blue eyes.
"Ah," Miyabi felt her face grow hot.
Directly in front of them were about thirty students, all of the upper
grades, and a very confused looking teacher.
"How may I help you girls?" The middle woman asked, looking at them
from a slender face framed by long curling black hair falling down to just
brush past her hips which were themselves covered by a luxurious
lavender and gold skirt.
Miyabi stood up, hoisting her backpack back on, unable to find her voice.
"Oh, shoot," Shian said, laughing nervously, as she attempted to back
out of the room unnoticed.
"Man, we're sorry about that," She opened the door behind her.
Both freshmen quickly ran out the door and into the hallway, attempting
to ignore the more than slightly hysterical laughter following them.
Miyabi and Shian both glared at each other.
"This is _your_ fault!" They proclaimed in unison.
***
A small statured, teal haired man in a pair of long gray pressed
pants and white tunic-looking shirt was seated behind a thick wooden
desk, a mound of paperwork in front of him.
He ran a hand over his face, drawing it past disturbingly orange eyes and
small, delicate mouth, and let it clench into a fist, just in time to pound the
desk as the force of gravity drew it downwards.
There was someone to see him. Again.
He mentally sighed and visibly scowled, reading over the important
looking document in front of him and quickly glancing up to look through
the small glass window installed on his office door.
Through it's thick panes he caught a distorted glimpse of two young girls
in his waiting room, probably sent to see him for being late to class, or
coming on their own accord with a feeble excuse for a tardy slip.
Feeling distinctly annoyed, he decided to see them now and get it over
with before he fell even more behind into the ever growing list of things
that needed to be done.
He pressed a small red button on his desk, causing a buzzer to sound
and both girls in the waiting room to jump.
As he straightened the papers on his desk, clearing some of them off and
simply shifting others to the side, his secretary, a young woman with fine
light brown hair that barely graced her shoulders, ushered the two girls
through the door where they stood, kicking nervously at the ground.
Alfeegi glared at them.
"Well?" He snapped.
One of the two girls, the taller one with dyed blue hair, raised her arm
and pointed at her friend.
"It was her fault," She said matter-of-factly.
Alfeegi watched as the other girl snapped up and whirled around,
shouting at the first.
"It wasn't my fault! You were the one who said we should go in that
classroom!"
"But you made us late," The first pointed out, crossing her arms.
"Well, you made us late the last time!" The shorter teenager said, sticking
her tongue out and placing her hands on her hips.
Which, Alfeegi noted, were covered by a short white skirt that was
defiantly out of dress code.
He noticed another breaking of the rules in the form of her black halter
top, a loose shirt made out of some sort of sheer material that appeared
to be almost, but not quite, see through.
His eyes narrowed. Of course, they might have been a full length ball
gown compared to the skimpy articles of clothing her friend had on.
Black faux-leather mini skirt, skintight white open-back shirt, bra straps
plainly visible...
He mentally marked off all the violated school dress code rules, creating a
lengthy mental list.
They were both wearing high shoes, the shorter girl had on a pair of
ankle-length white boots, dirty at the toe from daily wear, and the other
had longer boots of an identical color, reaching to her knee and with a
much higher heel; maybe three inches in height compared to her friend's
two inch heels.
There was no rule against that type of footwear, but he reminded himself
to create one; shoes like that had no place on school grounds.
Alfeegi squinted in the bright artificial light of his office and took a closer
look at their hair.
The redhead might be a natural, but her friend had obviously dyed her
bright blue locks.
Why she thought it looked good he would never know.
"Sir?" He was jerked out of his thoughts by a tentative voice.
"What is it?" He snapped, wondering how he was to get any work
done around here if people insisted on interrupting him all day.
"Ah," The girl who was the most out of dress code said, apparently
startled by his outburst.
Her friend spoke up in a nervous voice.
"Could we have a late slip, sir?"
He glared at them, making sure they knew how much hassle it was going
to be for him to grant their request, then pulled open a drawer in his
desk, snatching out a small blue slip of paper.
"Your excuse?" He asked in a voice that showed what he thought of
people who needed tardy slips.
"We lost track of time," The girl with the dyed hair said, recovered from
her shock.
He jotted that down on the tab of paper, then looked up at them.
"Names?"
"Miyabi and Shian," The redhead answered for both of them.
"Well, Miyabi and Shian," Alfeegi said, writing their names down and
adding in the current time and a signature, "Here's your late slip." He held
it out for them.
Miyabi took it from his hand and both freshmen turned to leave.
"See me after school."
They stopped in their tracks.
"What?" Shian turned around, staring at him with wide eyes.
"You heard me," He glared at both of them again, pulling a document from
the top of a pile on his desk and reading it over, then picked up a black
pen and underlined various important phrases on the paper.
"You are in detention for an hour each," He said.
"What?!" Shian repeated, not believing what she had heard, "Why?"
Take a deep breath, count to ten.
1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6...
Alfeegi sent them a withering look over the top of his paper.
"Dress code violations," He stated simply, "Skirts too short, sleeves not
long enough, open back shirts," He was steadily becoming more annoyed
with every word spoken.
"Undergarments in plain view, clothing too tight," A vein was throbbing on
his forehead and he seemed close to loosing it.
"Not to mention hair dyed unnatural colors," He said, casting a
disapproving glance at her blue hair.
"Your detention starts at three sharp, be on time. If you come late, you
stay late. And," He glared at them for the fifth time that day, "Don't even
think about sneaking out. Lord knows how many times the teachers who
are supposed to be supervising have tried that, not to mention the
students."
He let out a sigh through tightly clenched teeth.
"Hurry up! Your class started ten minutes ago!"
He heard one pair of feet head towards the door, but the other girl
stayed where she was.
"Shian," He heard hissed by the student who was now opening his door,
"Just drop it! We're late enough as it is!"
His hand squeezing the pen in it's grip so tight that it creaked in protest
under the extreme amount of pressure he was exerting upon it, he
looked up, fighting for control; he'd already received complaints this
month about how he treated his students.
"What is it?" He tried to keep from snapping and failed.
"I have a lot to do here and am very busy, so if you girls could leave and
get to your class, I would really appreciate it!"
Shian was giving him an impertinent look. It took no small leap of the
imagination to spot the flames spouting up behind her.
"Well?"
She crossed her arms, bright aqua eyes flashing dangerously.
Sending her elder the deadliest look she could muster, she spoke.
"Your hair is blue."
The throbbing vein enlarged.
"My hair," He ground out, his face redding with a mixture of
embarrassment brought about by being caught breaking his own rules
and simple rage, "Is teal."
The freshman stood her ground as her principal continued talking, his
voice slowly growing in power and volume until, at the height of his rant,
when her glare had long since faded away to be replaced by a look of
shock, she was grabbed by her friend and willingly dragged out of the
room, leaving the young man to slam the door after them.
Alfeegi spun around on his heel and stalked over to his desk, sitting
down behind it and muttering to himself. He viciously snatched his work
up and straightened the stack, then let out a long sigh as he felt the
beginnings of a headache form behind his temples.
"That will be two more angry letters from two more angry parents," He
mused in an annoyed fashion, then fell silent.
He grabbed the top ten papers on the pile and flipped through them until
he found the one he wanted, a lengthy document explaining the various
types of dress that were not allowed on campus.
He grabbed his pen and started writing, muttering to himself as he did so.
"Boots...Boots with heels three inches...No, two inches or higher..." He
wrote down the rule, then slipped the finished article into his out box.
"One thing finished, 2,864 to go," Alfeegi sighed, one hand coming up to
massage his temples.
***
He was on the verge of finishing yet another important paper, when
a shadow outside his door caused him to look up.
"God," He muttered under his breath, "Another student?"
He pressed the button on his desk, signaling the buzzer to sound and
Cernozura to allow the student to enter his office.
Well, maybe if he was lucky, this one wouldn't comment on his hair.
His door opened and Alfeegi visibly twitched with annoyance.
"Oh," He said, "It's _you_ again."
The boy in front of him chuckled nervously, one hand reaching up to run
through his cinnamon brown hair, then trail it's way down his face, lightly
tanned and marred with an assortment of scars.
"Can I have--" He was cut off by the man in front of the desk.
"A late slip," Alfeegi dug one out and continued speaking, waving the
piece of paper threateningly.
"It's always a late slip, Thats! If not, then it's a reprimand on falling
asleep in class. So what did you do this time? Go off campus and forget to
come back? Meet your friend and talk too long?" Seeing the boy shake his
head, he clenched his fist tighter around the paper.
"Let me guess... You bought lunch, then fell asleep."
Is it good to be able to feel your blood pressure rising?
Thats nodded, grinning slightly from embarrassment.
"Yeah... I did that last week too, didn't I?"
"And the week before, and the week before that," Alfeegi said, glaring.
"Honestly, Thats! If you weren't you, I don't know how you could do that
so often!" The young principal wrote down the excuse and the student's
name on the four by two inch slip of paper.
He glanced at the clock he had on his desk, marking down the time as
well, and signing it at the bottom.
"Do I have detention?" Thats asked.
Alfeegi glared at him, looking intimidating, rather hard to do with aqua
colored hair.
"Yes, you have detention. You also have cafeteria cleanup duty for the
next cycle!"
Thats groaned and Alfeegi continued, "You will be coming in every day
after school and staying for two hours, until next E-day-that's next week
Thursday-sweeping and wiping down the cafeteria."
"Wait," The boy suddenly looked concerned, "I can't come in after school.
Today, sure, but not all of next week. I've got practice," He explained to a
skeptical looking principal, "With my friends. We've started a band," He
added in hopefully, praying that the man would let him off the hook once
he heard that he was doing something constructive in his free time.
"Too bad," Thats' hopes fell.
"You should have thought of that before you got in trouble!" Alfeegi
growled, sending the clock an anxious glance.
If he got the teenager out of here now, then he would have enough time
to possibly get finished with his work on schedule.
"Hurry up and go to class," He shoved the late slip at the downcast boy,
"I have work to be doing!"
Thats sighed and trudged out of the room, turned around once he
reached the door, his mouth open to ask a question.
Whatever it was he was going to say died on his lips as he saw the look
he was being given.
He rolled his eyes once and exited the room.
"Finally," Alfeegi muttered to himself.
Now he could get some work done around this place.
***
Just about to sign the paper in front of him, his head snapped up at
the sound of Thats' voice.
"Why hasn't he left yet?!"
He tried to keep from screaming in frustration and, with a bit of work,
barely managed to do so.
Looking out the small, thick window on his door, he saw the blurry figures
of the same boy who was just in his room and another. It was different
boy, from what he could see, with black hair and an odd lock of white that
kept falling into his face.
They seemed to be talking, the newcomer agitated about something, and
Thats trying to calm him down.
Curiosity piqued, albeit against his will, Alfeegi was about to summon
them inside, when he noticed a third figure.
A female he hadn't seen in his office before, with long black hair and deep
red bangs.
She was wearing a pair of long black pants and a white poet shirt.
Wondering why everyone was wearing black and white today(even the
boy with her was dressed in mostly black!), he watched as the teenaged
girl wrapped her fingers around the dark haired boy's arm and dragged
him over to his door, at which she gave a curt knock.
He jumped, having forgotten for a second that it was his office they were
going to.
"Come in," He said, attempting to sound annoyed, trying to see over both
figures outside his door to find out whether Thats had indeed left the
room, or was still standing there.
There was a pause as the students outside spoke.
"Well?" His curiosity was draining away by now and he really was getting
annoyed.
What as taking them so long?
He heard muffled bickering, then a pause, a slap, and a loud "OW!"
Then his door was torn open and a very ticked off teenage girl entered,
dragging after her a boy of about the same age, who was rubbing his left
cheek where a red mark was starting to form.
One eyebrow raised.
"Yes?" He asked.
***
Rath rubbed his face where the strange girl had hit him, a voice in
the back of his mind pointing out that it was most likely going to leave a
large red mark in the shape of her hand.
"Sir?" The girl asked, never letting go of her death grip on his wrist, "I
would like to speak with you."
Rath attempted to pry her hand off him and failed, then turned to face
her, rolling his eyes and sending off a glare.
"I told you," He said crossly, "I'm sorry, already! What else do you want
me to do?"
Ignoring him, she continued speaking as though he wasn't there. Or as if
he was some unintelligent creature with not much more than a brain stem
filling it's skull.
"I want him suspended!"
Alfeegi raised his other eyebrow.
"On what charge?" He looked over the teenaged boy, still trying
unsuccessfully to loosen her grip on his arm.
"He doesn't seem to be doing anything wrong."
"He," She faltered as if embarrassed to continue, her face was now at a
stark contrast to the way it had been moments before.
There was a long silence in which Alfeegi began drumming his fingers on
his desk.
"I was going to class," She said abruptly, apparently deciding it would be
easier to explain the whole story instead of simply saying what rule had
been broken.
"My science class is on the other end of this building and I had a minute
to get there, so I was running..."
She continued speaking, brushing an invisible speck of dust off of her jet
black skirt with her free hand.
*Flashback*
Cesia dashed down the near deserted hallways, her science text
book under one arm and a freshly printed out lab report in her right hand.
Her left one was preoccupied with holding on tight to a pencil case, made
of a soft material with a pattern of Hawaiian flowers in a light yellow.
She had met Kitchel before school, and the other girl did indeed
have the tubing, so they would defiantly be able to finish up their
experiment today.
Well, so long as Tintlett was there, anyway.
She was coming from the library, a large building filled with rows of thick
books and various resources necessary for papers and essays assigned
to the students of the high school.
There were several individual desks on the far right hand side where
multiple students were still seated; either studying or pretending to, and
a couple of the desks had computers station on them. It was at one of
these desks where Cesia had spent her break, pouring over the helpful
notes Tintlett had left her and typing furiously on a red apple computer,
trying desperately to get her report finished in time for class.
Well, it was finished, all right, but just barely.
She had about a minute to make it to her class before being marked as
late by her bitch of a science teacher.
As she virtually flew down the hall, rounded a corner, passing by
the bathrooms and janitors closet, then swung around another bend,
something heavy slammed into her, knocking her over and sending her
sprawling on the ground, eyes tightly closed.
Wincing from the pain spreading upwards through her back and body,
she opened her eyes to discover a teenaged boy straddling her around
the middle.
She recognized him.
Some part of her mind reminded her that his name was Rath Illuser and
that he had been in her English class the year they started high school.
Rath was wearing a pair of long and baggy, but not overly so, faded black
pants and light gray t-shirt, bearing the phrase, "Boys don't cry" in blood-
red velvet lettering. She couldn't see his shoes, but from what she could
feel of them when she moved her leg slightly, they seemed to not be
sneakers. They were too hard for that, unless he had somehow managed
to stiffen them, or had stuffed the toes with metal.
His hair was pitch black, except for a small lock of white-blonde hair near
the front of his head that kept falling into his dark eyes.
He looked down on her, startled and obviously sorry about what he had
done, and appeared about to speak.
Brushing herself off, she started to stand when she suddenly stiffened.
Something hard was pressing itself up against her abdomen.
*End Flashback*
Alfeegi looked incredulously at the boy in his office.
"What?" He asked, still somewhat startled by the unusual outcome of the
girl's story.
Cesia nodded empathetically.
"Sexual harassment!" She stated, sending the boy a dirty look.
Rath reddened considerably and glared at the other student, finally
managing to shake her off his arm.
"That," He growled, "Is not what happened!"
He turned to the principal, "Look. She's twisting the facts! I didn't 'jump
out' at her, and I didn't mean to land that way! Listen to me!"
Alfeegi sighed and leaned back as the other student began his
longwinded version of events, wondering if they would notice if he got
started on some of his other work while they were still present.
*Flashback*
"Stupid teacher needs to let us out friggin' earlier!" Rath complained
as he sprinted from the lecture room where he had spent a full hour and
a half of his life being bored to tears listening to his History teacher drone
on about some old dead guy in some old lifeless city in some old and
long-renamed country.
He growled under his breath.
He had to hurry or he'd be late to his next class.
Combat boots thudding noisily on the ground, he hurried to make it on
time to his next class; although he wasn't completely sure what it was.
Math, possibly.
English, probably.
Phys. Ed., hopefully.
He managed to stop his running as he passed by a clock hanging on the
wall above the mostly-locked metal lockers and a solitary water fountain,
filled with gum.
11:58.
"Shit," Rath muttered under his breath as he dropped his bag onto the
floor and dug out a crumpled schedule.
He read it over quickly, then crammed it back into his bag, closing it and
picking it up again before dashing off again.
English.
His English class was taught by a young man, not much more than thirty
years old, and with fair blonde hair that matched perfectly with his light
skin and blue-green eyes. He was considered to be one of the easiest
teachers you could get, and was incredibly nice.
Rath despised him.
As he dashed along the empty corridors, his mind preoccupied with
thoughts of his dreaded class and practice after school with Rune and
Thats, he almost didn't notice the girl until he was crashing into her.
Not that she would have been easy to spot, he had turned a corner, and
there she was, running in the opposite direction as him, as if the dogs of
hell or some hated teacher was on her trail.
As it was, he wasn't able to stop in him, and bowled her over, flying
through the air himself, and coming to land straddling her around her
waist. She looked vaguely familiar, but it wasn't until she opened her
eyes-she had shut them tightly right before hitting the ground- that he
realized where he knew her from. He had been in an English class with
her before, a couple of years ago.
She was wearing a soft white shirt with lacing part way down the
front and bell shaped sleeves. Her hair, pure black except for her bangs
which had been dyed crimson, was wavy and currently spread out behind
her, creating a billowing mat of silk on which she had landed. She had on
a pair of pants as black as her hair; tight in all the right places, and
supple enough to allow her free movement of her legs.
He noticed all this in a moment's time, for that was all that had
passed since he crashed into her and sent them both to the floor. Now
the girl beneath him was attempting to get up, apparently forgetting for a
moment that there was a person seated on top of her. She arched her
back, pushing herself upwards with her arms, and then slid back down,
realizing that what she was doing was futile.
Rath stiffened.
Oh, God.
Did that feel weird.
From her angle it was no more than a simple and innocent attempt to get
up, but from his...
He was sitting rather rigidly now.
It felt as though the Junior had just been grinding on him.
As he was about to open his mouth to apologize and get off her before
anything else unusual could happen, Cesia suddenly jerked her body
away from him and sent him the worst glare imaginable.
Before he knew what was happening, she had his wrist in a death grip
and was pulling them both towards the principal's office at an
unbelievable speed.
*End Flashback*
Alfeegi looked back and forth between the two juniors in his office,
both now standing with their arms crossed, glaring daggers at each other
and him.
He let out a long sigh and rubbed his temples.
"I. Don't. Have. Time for this!!" He looked slowly at Cesia, then at Rath.
"You are the two biggest wastes of my time that have been in here all
day!" His short patience had finally snapped.
"I don't have the damn time to figure this out, and as far as I'm
concerned, you can both just go to detention this afternoon for two hours
each!"
Rath gaped and Cesia looked extremely surprised.
Alfeegi was off in his own little world, so he noticed none of this, but kept
talking to the students.
"That's right! Half an hour for being late to class, half an hour for running
in the hallways, half an hour for PDAs," He sent a deadly look to Rath who
was opening and closing his mouth indigently.
"And half an hour because I feel like it! I never want to see you two in
here again!"
By the time Cesia opened her mouth to protest the injustice of it all, the
two students found themselves outside their principal's office with his
secretary staring at them curiously.
Cesia ignored her and stalked out of the room into the hallway, Rath
following closely behind.
As soon as they reached the corridor, Cesia spun around.
"Will you quit that?!"
"Why?" Rath asked, crossing his arms, "You're the freak who got us in
trouble."
"Pervert," She hissed through her clenched teeth.
Rath stuck his tongue out at her, "At least I didn't get us two hours
detention! I'm supposed to practice after school! How the hell am I gonna
do that now? I won't be able to get ready in time, and it's your
goddamned fault!" He was shouting at her by this point, crimson in the
face from rage.
"You..." She seemed at a loss for the correct word, "Baby!"
He rolled his eyes sarcastically and she continued.
"You're the biggest crybaby I've ever seen! For God's sake, could you
stop with the whining for a minute!? You're an immature, irresponsible,
selfish, idiotic child!" She snapped, empathizing the last word.
Rath responded to the challenge.
"At least I'm not a total bitch like you!"
She bristled, "I hope I never see your stupid face again!"
"Good!" He called after her as she stomped off to her next class, already
fifteen minutes late, "Same goes for me!"
She swirled around.
If looks could kill, Rath would be a bleeding mass on the floor.
"I hate you, Rath Illuser!" Cesia screamed at him.
"I hate you too!" He yelled back at her, scaring a random freshman who
was walking down the hall to his locker.
Rath clenched his hands into fists and stood motionless in front of the
office door, watching as she rounded a nearby corner and fell out of sight.
He sent a vicious look at the underclassman who was kneeling on the
dirty ground, quickly gathering his supplies from his small locker on the
bottom row.
"Go to hell," He muttered in the direction Cesia had vanished, stuffing his
shaking hands into his pockets and walking down the hallway in the
opposite direction.
As the younger student scurried off, Rath shot yet another bloodthirsty
look over his shoulder, but the girl was already far out of his sight.
He crammed his hands deeper still into his pockets and marched off.
He stayed in his poor mood for the rest of the day, the only thought on
his mind one of an angry dark haired girl, surrounded by violent gusts of
swirling wind.
***
*has just finished reading Inkheart and is now looking at her Dragon
Knights books with longing*
V_V
Please Review?
Like just now. As in, as I was about to post this, he keeled over. o.O;
said seventeen days. I meant twelve. ^^; Sorry?
Disclaimer: I don't own Dragon Knights. V.V If I did... I would offer to give
away bishies in return for reviews(How's that for a good deal?).
Alfeegi's job and Rath and Cesia's meeting belongs solely to Kat. I just
borrowed it and tweaked it slightly to fit my own purposes.
Kat: Did you say ANY pairing? ^^
Jaid Skywalker: Awesome, a review!*big grin* Homework is evil.*glares
at offending homework*
***
Thats stood in line, impatiently rocking back and forth on the balls of
his feet, his hands holding on the the straps on the bag on his back. He
was third from the front with twenty more minutes left on his break
before he had to head off to his Spanish class.
Of course, twenty minutes wouldn't be that bad, but he had other things
to work on.
He was going to practice again after school with Rune and Rath,
and both boys had threatened him with physical harm and lack of food if
he didn't have at least part of a song written up by Saturday.
He muttered an obscenity under his breath.
Thats felt that the others should be the ones writing it, but they felt that
since he had contributed the least to the band so far, he should be the
one to write the song they would perform for the judges in nine days.
When he asked why Rune couldn't be the one to write them since they all
knew Rune had scored an A in English last term, Rath had pointed out
that he had more free time than the other boy.
Rolling his eyes, he moved forward with the line.
More time, his ass.
It wasn't his fault Rune was an such an overachiever.
For that matter, it also wasn't his fault that Rath was completely
untalented when it came to song writing.
This latter fact had been proven when he had finally seen what his friend
had written as a rough draft.
Thats winced.
Good lord, were those lyrics bad.
Both boys had forced him to take Rath's page of crumpled notes to
school for him to use for ideas or reference, and had said they were going
to see what he had written by the time school was out for the day.
Unfortunately, the day was half over and Thats had drawn a blank.
He had no idea what to write a song on, and even less of an idea how he
could get it finished in time for them to practice.
Since his mind was wandering to the piece of paper covered with crossed
off scribbles and squished into an overstuffed English binder, it wasn't
until he was poked in the back several times that he realized he was at
the front of the line.
"Sorry," Thats mumbled, glancing over his shoulder at the two
younger girls standing behind him.
He turned back to face the heavyset middle-aged woman in a navy blue
shirt and hair net standing behind the counter shooting him an impatient
look.
"I'll take a BLT, two scoops of rice, a bag of M&Ms, and a chocolate ice
cream malt," He informed the cafeteria lady, digging in his jeans pocket
for his id card. He pulled it out and gave it to her, nodding his thanks as
she returned it and gave him his order.
He carried his purchase outside to a table near the classrooms,
where he placed the food down and dropped his bag on the ground. He
knelt beside it and, after opening it, dug out a white folder. Thats
snapped open it's rings and removed a slightly crumpled sheet of paper.
Closing the rings and the folder and tossing it lazily on the ground, he sat
down at the table, spreading the paper out in front of him and
unwrapping his sandwich.
He took a bite, enjoying the crisp taste of tomato and bacon, then turned
his attention to the task at hand.
"Right," He mumbled through his mouthful of food, "Lyrics."
Thats swallowed and placed the sandwich down, shooting a nervous
glance at his quickly melting dessert.
He stared at the paper, chin cupped in one hand, the fingers of the other
drumming on the wooden table.
The sun moved behind a cloud and reappeared, shining down on
the lightly tanned teenager, the angle of it's rays causing the shadow the
boy cast to shrink and hide beneath it's master.
Thats sighed.
"Daaaaaamnit," He complained, noting in the back of his mind that he
sounded like a whining six year old in a toy store who wasn't being
allowed to get his favorite action figure, and slumped down until his face
was eye level with the table.
He sent off a glare in the direction of the offending piece of paper, and
crossed his arms over the edge of the table.
"Anyone out there got an idea for sale?" He muttered in an annoyed
fashion, stretching out one arm and grabbing his melting chocolate malt.
He straightened up, pulling off it's lid and dropping it on the table, then
tipped some of it's dripping contents into his open mouth.
He wiped his mouth with the back of his hand and placed the malt back
down.
"Well," He remarked in a much cheerier voice, "If I can't have a
brainwave, at least I'll have a sugar high!"
***
A young girl, barely in high school, with long red hair and blue- green
eyes dashed out of the cafeteria, attempting to balance a salad and a
bottle of some sort of blue sports drink on top of the stack of books she
was carrying in her arms.
"Are you sure class starts at twelve thirty?" She asked the freshman
sprinting alongside her.
"I checked the schedule!" The second girl shouted back, clutching onto a
sandwich in one hand and attempting to pull on an overstuffed light
purple backpack with the other.
"I told you we didn't have time to get food!" She snapped, her bright blue
eyes flashing angrily.
"Well, sorry!" The first one said, gasping as her text books jabbed her in
the chest, crashing into the loose black halter top she wore.
"You didn't have to come, you know, Shian!"
They ran across the paved ground, quickly reaching the field which
separated them from their next class.
Shian sent her friend a look that promised her severe bodily harm in the
near future and hissed a response.
"You said we had a break!" She stumbled over a dip in the ground and
swore loudly.
"To hell with it all!" Shian slowed slightly and finally managed to pull her
bag on properly.
"Miyabi!" She began running after the other girl again, tugging down her
short black mini skirt with one hand, her blue ponytail smacking her
backpack as she sprinted across the grassy field.
Miyabi stopped running suddenly as she heard her name being called,
almost falling over from the sudden change in speed, and turned around.
"Are you ok?" She asked.
Shian nodded, catching up to her.
"Come on, Mi'!" She grabbed her friend's hand and yanked her forward,
towards the tall white buildings looming ahead.
"Ouch!" Miyabi pried her hand free, "That hurt!" She complained.
Shian glared at her, annoyed once again.
"Well, you made us late!"
"It wasn't my fault!" Miyabi protested, almost dropping her lunch as they
sprinted up the stairs leading to the entrance to the building, "I thought
we had a fifteen minute break!"
The two girls reached the hallway and continued running, their shoes
causing their footsteps to echo louder than normal as they hit the tiled
floor. They passed through the empty hallway, somehow managing to
avoid crashing into any of the small metal lockers lining it as they raced by
at breakneck speed.
"There it is, there it is. This way!" Shian yelled, pulling her friend
towards a door on their left.
Miyabi nodded, and both girls burst through the door into the classroom,
where they immediately doubled over, gasping for breath.
"So s-sorry," Miyabi wheezed, her hands on her knees. Next to her, her
friend was straightening up, wiping sweat off her forehead and panting.
"We got-- The times wrong--," She managed to get out, letting her
backpack slide off and hit the floor.
"Class, too," She heard an low, unfamiliar voice mutter in the deafening
silence filling the room.
Startled, she peeked up at her classmates through her red bangs and
immediately froze. Beside her, Shian was staring at the students with
wide blue eyes.
"Ah," Miyabi felt her face grow hot.
Directly in front of them were about thirty students, all of the upper
grades, and a very confused looking teacher.
"How may I help you girls?" The middle woman asked, looking at them
from a slender face framed by long curling black hair falling down to just
brush past her hips which were themselves covered by a luxurious
lavender and gold skirt.
Miyabi stood up, hoisting her backpack back on, unable to find her voice.
"Oh, shoot," Shian said, laughing nervously, as she attempted to back
out of the room unnoticed.
"Man, we're sorry about that," She opened the door behind her.
Both freshmen quickly ran out the door and into the hallway, attempting
to ignore the more than slightly hysterical laughter following them.
Miyabi and Shian both glared at each other.
"This is _your_ fault!" They proclaimed in unison.
***
A small statured, teal haired man in a pair of long gray pressed
pants and white tunic-looking shirt was seated behind a thick wooden
desk, a mound of paperwork in front of him.
He ran a hand over his face, drawing it past disturbingly orange eyes and
small, delicate mouth, and let it clench into a fist, just in time to pound the
desk as the force of gravity drew it downwards.
There was someone to see him. Again.
He mentally sighed and visibly scowled, reading over the important
looking document in front of him and quickly glancing up to look through
the small glass window installed on his office door.
Through it's thick panes he caught a distorted glimpse of two young girls
in his waiting room, probably sent to see him for being late to class, or
coming on their own accord with a feeble excuse for a tardy slip.
Feeling distinctly annoyed, he decided to see them now and get it over
with before he fell even more behind into the ever growing list of things
that needed to be done.
He pressed a small red button on his desk, causing a buzzer to sound
and both girls in the waiting room to jump.
As he straightened the papers on his desk, clearing some of them off and
simply shifting others to the side, his secretary, a young woman with fine
light brown hair that barely graced her shoulders, ushered the two girls
through the door where they stood, kicking nervously at the ground.
Alfeegi glared at them.
"Well?" He snapped.
One of the two girls, the taller one with dyed blue hair, raised her arm
and pointed at her friend.
"It was her fault," She said matter-of-factly.
Alfeegi watched as the other girl snapped up and whirled around,
shouting at the first.
"It wasn't my fault! You were the one who said we should go in that
classroom!"
"But you made us late," The first pointed out, crossing her arms.
"Well, you made us late the last time!" The shorter teenager said, sticking
her tongue out and placing her hands on her hips.
Which, Alfeegi noted, were covered by a short white skirt that was
defiantly out of dress code.
He noticed another breaking of the rules in the form of her black halter
top, a loose shirt made out of some sort of sheer material that appeared
to be almost, but not quite, see through.
His eyes narrowed. Of course, they might have been a full length ball
gown compared to the skimpy articles of clothing her friend had on.
Black faux-leather mini skirt, skintight white open-back shirt, bra straps
plainly visible...
He mentally marked off all the violated school dress code rules, creating a
lengthy mental list.
They were both wearing high shoes, the shorter girl had on a pair of
ankle-length white boots, dirty at the toe from daily wear, and the other
had longer boots of an identical color, reaching to her knee and with a
much higher heel; maybe three inches in height compared to her friend's
two inch heels.
There was no rule against that type of footwear, but he reminded himself
to create one; shoes like that had no place on school grounds.
Alfeegi squinted in the bright artificial light of his office and took a closer
look at their hair.
The redhead might be a natural, but her friend had obviously dyed her
bright blue locks.
Why she thought it looked good he would never know.
"Sir?" He was jerked out of his thoughts by a tentative voice.
"What is it?" He snapped, wondering how he was to get any work
done around here if people insisted on interrupting him all day.
"Ah," The girl who was the most out of dress code said, apparently
startled by his outburst.
Her friend spoke up in a nervous voice.
"Could we have a late slip, sir?"
He glared at them, making sure they knew how much hassle it was going
to be for him to grant their request, then pulled open a drawer in his
desk, snatching out a small blue slip of paper.
"Your excuse?" He asked in a voice that showed what he thought of
people who needed tardy slips.
"We lost track of time," The girl with the dyed hair said, recovered from
her shock.
He jotted that down on the tab of paper, then looked up at them.
"Names?"
"Miyabi and Shian," The redhead answered for both of them.
"Well, Miyabi and Shian," Alfeegi said, writing their names down and
adding in the current time and a signature, "Here's your late slip." He held
it out for them.
Miyabi took it from his hand and both freshmen turned to leave.
"See me after school."
They stopped in their tracks.
"What?" Shian turned around, staring at him with wide eyes.
"You heard me," He glared at both of them again, pulling a document from
the top of a pile on his desk and reading it over, then picked up a black
pen and underlined various important phrases on the paper.
"You are in detention for an hour each," He said.
"What?!" Shian repeated, not believing what she had heard, "Why?"
Take a deep breath, count to ten.
1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6...
Alfeegi sent them a withering look over the top of his paper.
"Dress code violations," He stated simply, "Skirts too short, sleeves not
long enough, open back shirts," He was steadily becoming more annoyed
with every word spoken.
"Undergarments in plain view, clothing too tight," A vein was throbbing on
his forehead and he seemed close to loosing it.
"Not to mention hair dyed unnatural colors," He said, casting a
disapproving glance at her blue hair.
"Your detention starts at three sharp, be on time. If you come late, you
stay late. And," He glared at them for the fifth time that day, "Don't even
think about sneaking out. Lord knows how many times the teachers who
are supposed to be supervising have tried that, not to mention the
students."
He let out a sigh through tightly clenched teeth.
"Hurry up! Your class started ten minutes ago!"
He heard one pair of feet head towards the door, but the other girl
stayed where she was.
"Shian," He heard hissed by the student who was now opening his door,
"Just drop it! We're late enough as it is!"
His hand squeezing the pen in it's grip so tight that it creaked in protest
under the extreme amount of pressure he was exerting upon it, he
looked up, fighting for control; he'd already received complaints this
month about how he treated his students.
"What is it?" He tried to keep from snapping and failed.
"I have a lot to do here and am very busy, so if you girls could leave and
get to your class, I would really appreciate it!"
Shian was giving him an impertinent look. It took no small leap of the
imagination to spot the flames spouting up behind her.
"Well?"
She crossed her arms, bright aqua eyes flashing dangerously.
Sending her elder the deadliest look she could muster, she spoke.
"Your hair is blue."
The throbbing vein enlarged.
"My hair," He ground out, his face redding with a mixture of
embarrassment brought about by being caught breaking his own rules
and simple rage, "Is teal."
The freshman stood her ground as her principal continued talking, his
voice slowly growing in power and volume until, at the height of his rant,
when her glare had long since faded away to be replaced by a look of
shock, she was grabbed by her friend and willingly dragged out of the
room, leaving the young man to slam the door after them.
Alfeegi spun around on his heel and stalked over to his desk, sitting
down behind it and muttering to himself. He viciously snatched his work
up and straightened the stack, then let out a long sigh as he felt the
beginnings of a headache form behind his temples.
"That will be two more angry letters from two more angry parents," He
mused in an annoyed fashion, then fell silent.
He grabbed the top ten papers on the pile and flipped through them until
he found the one he wanted, a lengthy document explaining the various
types of dress that were not allowed on campus.
He grabbed his pen and started writing, muttering to himself as he did so.
"Boots...Boots with heels three inches...No, two inches or higher..." He
wrote down the rule, then slipped the finished article into his out box.
"One thing finished, 2,864 to go," Alfeegi sighed, one hand coming up to
massage his temples.
***
He was on the verge of finishing yet another important paper, when
a shadow outside his door caused him to look up.
"God," He muttered under his breath, "Another student?"
He pressed the button on his desk, signaling the buzzer to sound and
Cernozura to allow the student to enter his office.
Well, maybe if he was lucky, this one wouldn't comment on his hair.
His door opened and Alfeegi visibly twitched with annoyance.
"Oh," He said, "It's _you_ again."
The boy in front of him chuckled nervously, one hand reaching up to run
through his cinnamon brown hair, then trail it's way down his face, lightly
tanned and marred with an assortment of scars.
"Can I have--" He was cut off by the man in front of the desk.
"A late slip," Alfeegi dug one out and continued speaking, waving the
piece of paper threateningly.
"It's always a late slip, Thats! If not, then it's a reprimand on falling
asleep in class. So what did you do this time? Go off campus and forget to
come back? Meet your friend and talk too long?" Seeing the boy shake his
head, he clenched his fist tighter around the paper.
"Let me guess... You bought lunch, then fell asleep."
Is it good to be able to feel your blood pressure rising?
Thats nodded, grinning slightly from embarrassment.
"Yeah... I did that last week too, didn't I?"
"And the week before, and the week before that," Alfeegi said, glaring.
"Honestly, Thats! If you weren't you, I don't know how you could do that
so often!" The young principal wrote down the excuse and the student's
name on the four by two inch slip of paper.
He glanced at the clock he had on his desk, marking down the time as
well, and signing it at the bottom.
"Do I have detention?" Thats asked.
Alfeegi glared at him, looking intimidating, rather hard to do with aqua
colored hair.
"Yes, you have detention. You also have cafeteria cleanup duty for the
next cycle!"
Thats groaned and Alfeegi continued, "You will be coming in every day
after school and staying for two hours, until next E-day-that's next week
Thursday-sweeping and wiping down the cafeteria."
"Wait," The boy suddenly looked concerned, "I can't come in after school.
Today, sure, but not all of next week. I've got practice," He explained to a
skeptical looking principal, "With my friends. We've started a band," He
added in hopefully, praying that the man would let him off the hook once
he heard that he was doing something constructive in his free time.
"Too bad," Thats' hopes fell.
"You should have thought of that before you got in trouble!" Alfeegi
growled, sending the clock an anxious glance.
If he got the teenager out of here now, then he would have enough time
to possibly get finished with his work on schedule.
"Hurry up and go to class," He shoved the late slip at the downcast boy,
"I have work to be doing!"
Thats sighed and trudged out of the room, turned around once he
reached the door, his mouth open to ask a question.
Whatever it was he was going to say died on his lips as he saw the look
he was being given.
He rolled his eyes once and exited the room.
"Finally," Alfeegi muttered to himself.
Now he could get some work done around this place.
***
Just about to sign the paper in front of him, his head snapped up at
the sound of Thats' voice.
"Why hasn't he left yet?!"
He tried to keep from screaming in frustration and, with a bit of work,
barely managed to do so.
Looking out the small, thick window on his door, he saw the blurry figures
of the same boy who was just in his room and another. It was different
boy, from what he could see, with black hair and an odd lock of white that
kept falling into his face.
They seemed to be talking, the newcomer agitated about something, and
Thats trying to calm him down.
Curiosity piqued, albeit against his will, Alfeegi was about to summon
them inside, when he noticed a third figure.
A female he hadn't seen in his office before, with long black hair and deep
red bangs.
She was wearing a pair of long black pants and a white poet shirt.
Wondering why everyone was wearing black and white today(even the
boy with her was dressed in mostly black!), he watched as the teenaged
girl wrapped her fingers around the dark haired boy's arm and dragged
him over to his door, at which she gave a curt knock.
He jumped, having forgotten for a second that it was his office they were
going to.
"Come in," He said, attempting to sound annoyed, trying to see over both
figures outside his door to find out whether Thats had indeed left the
room, or was still standing there.
There was a pause as the students outside spoke.
"Well?" His curiosity was draining away by now and he really was getting
annoyed.
What as taking them so long?
He heard muffled bickering, then a pause, a slap, and a loud "OW!"
Then his door was torn open and a very ticked off teenage girl entered,
dragging after her a boy of about the same age, who was rubbing his left
cheek where a red mark was starting to form.
One eyebrow raised.
"Yes?" He asked.
***
Rath rubbed his face where the strange girl had hit him, a voice in
the back of his mind pointing out that it was most likely going to leave a
large red mark in the shape of her hand.
"Sir?" The girl asked, never letting go of her death grip on his wrist, "I
would like to speak with you."
Rath attempted to pry her hand off him and failed, then turned to face
her, rolling his eyes and sending off a glare.
"I told you," He said crossly, "I'm sorry, already! What else do you want
me to do?"
Ignoring him, she continued speaking as though he wasn't there. Or as if
he was some unintelligent creature with not much more than a brain stem
filling it's skull.
"I want him suspended!"
Alfeegi raised his other eyebrow.
"On what charge?" He looked over the teenaged boy, still trying
unsuccessfully to loosen her grip on his arm.
"He doesn't seem to be doing anything wrong."
"He," She faltered as if embarrassed to continue, her face was now at a
stark contrast to the way it had been moments before.
There was a long silence in which Alfeegi began drumming his fingers on
his desk.
"I was going to class," She said abruptly, apparently deciding it would be
easier to explain the whole story instead of simply saying what rule had
been broken.
"My science class is on the other end of this building and I had a minute
to get there, so I was running..."
She continued speaking, brushing an invisible speck of dust off of her jet
black skirt with her free hand.
*Flashback*
Cesia dashed down the near deserted hallways, her science text
book under one arm and a freshly printed out lab report in her right hand.
Her left one was preoccupied with holding on tight to a pencil case, made
of a soft material with a pattern of Hawaiian flowers in a light yellow.
She had met Kitchel before school, and the other girl did indeed
have the tubing, so they would defiantly be able to finish up their
experiment today.
Well, so long as Tintlett was there, anyway.
She was coming from the library, a large building filled with rows of thick
books and various resources necessary for papers and essays assigned
to the students of the high school.
There were several individual desks on the far right hand side where
multiple students were still seated; either studying or pretending to, and
a couple of the desks had computers station on them. It was at one of
these desks where Cesia had spent her break, pouring over the helpful
notes Tintlett had left her and typing furiously on a red apple computer,
trying desperately to get her report finished in time for class.
Well, it was finished, all right, but just barely.
She had about a minute to make it to her class before being marked as
late by her bitch of a science teacher.
As she virtually flew down the hall, rounded a corner, passing by
the bathrooms and janitors closet, then swung around another bend,
something heavy slammed into her, knocking her over and sending her
sprawling on the ground, eyes tightly closed.
Wincing from the pain spreading upwards through her back and body,
she opened her eyes to discover a teenaged boy straddling her around
the middle.
She recognized him.
Some part of her mind reminded her that his name was Rath Illuser and
that he had been in her English class the year they started high school.
Rath was wearing a pair of long and baggy, but not overly so, faded black
pants and light gray t-shirt, bearing the phrase, "Boys don't cry" in blood-
red velvet lettering. She couldn't see his shoes, but from what she could
feel of them when she moved her leg slightly, they seemed to not be
sneakers. They were too hard for that, unless he had somehow managed
to stiffen them, or had stuffed the toes with metal.
His hair was pitch black, except for a small lock of white-blonde hair near
the front of his head that kept falling into his dark eyes.
He looked down on her, startled and obviously sorry about what he had
done, and appeared about to speak.
Brushing herself off, she started to stand when she suddenly stiffened.
Something hard was pressing itself up against her abdomen.
*End Flashback*
Alfeegi looked incredulously at the boy in his office.
"What?" He asked, still somewhat startled by the unusual outcome of the
girl's story.
Cesia nodded empathetically.
"Sexual harassment!" She stated, sending the boy a dirty look.
Rath reddened considerably and glared at the other student, finally
managing to shake her off his arm.
"That," He growled, "Is not what happened!"
He turned to the principal, "Look. She's twisting the facts! I didn't 'jump
out' at her, and I didn't mean to land that way! Listen to me!"
Alfeegi sighed and leaned back as the other student began his
longwinded version of events, wondering if they would notice if he got
started on some of his other work while they were still present.
*Flashback*
"Stupid teacher needs to let us out friggin' earlier!" Rath complained
as he sprinted from the lecture room where he had spent a full hour and
a half of his life being bored to tears listening to his History teacher drone
on about some old dead guy in some old lifeless city in some old and
long-renamed country.
He growled under his breath.
He had to hurry or he'd be late to his next class.
Combat boots thudding noisily on the ground, he hurried to make it on
time to his next class; although he wasn't completely sure what it was.
Math, possibly.
English, probably.
Phys. Ed., hopefully.
He managed to stop his running as he passed by a clock hanging on the
wall above the mostly-locked metal lockers and a solitary water fountain,
filled with gum.
11:58.
"Shit," Rath muttered under his breath as he dropped his bag onto the
floor and dug out a crumpled schedule.
He read it over quickly, then crammed it back into his bag, closing it and
picking it up again before dashing off again.
English.
His English class was taught by a young man, not much more than thirty
years old, and with fair blonde hair that matched perfectly with his light
skin and blue-green eyes. He was considered to be one of the easiest
teachers you could get, and was incredibly nice.
Rath despised him.
As he dashed along the empty corridors, his mind preoccupied with
thoughts of his dreaded class and practice after school with Rune and
Thats, he almost didn't notice the girl until he was crashing into her.
Not that she would have been easy to spot, he had turned a corner, and
there she was, running in the opposite direction as him, as if the dogs of
hell or some hated teacher was on her trail.
As it was, he wasn't able to stop in him, and bowled her over, flying
through the air himself, and coming to land straddling her around her
waist. She looked vaguely familiar, but it wasn't until she opened her
eyes-she had shut them tightly right before hitting the ground- that he
realized where he knew her from. He had been in an English class with
her before, a couple of years ago.
She was wearing a soft white shirt with lacing part way down the
front and bell shaped sleeves. Her hair, pure black except for her bangs
which had been dyed crimson, was wavy and currently spread out behind
her, creating a billowing mat of silk on which she had landed. She had on
a pair of pants as black as her hair; tight in all the right places, and
supple enough to allow her free movement of her legs.
He noticed all this in a moment's time, for that was all that had
passed since he crashed into her and sent them both to the floor. Now
the girl beneath him was attempting to get up, apparently forgetting for a
moment that there was a person seated on top of her. She arched her
back, pushing herself upwards with her arms, and then slid back down,
realizing that what she was doing was futile.
Rath stiffened.
Oh, God.
Did that feel weird.
From her angle it was no more than a simple and innocent attempt to get
up, but from his...
He was sitting rather rigidly now.
It felt as though the Junior had just been grinding on him.
As he was about to open his mouth to apologize and get off her before
anything else unusual could happen, Cesia suddenly jerked her body
away from him and sent him the worst glare imaginable.
Before he knew what was happening, she had his wrist in a death grip
and was pulling them both towards the principal's office at an
unbelievable speed.
*End Flashback*
Alfeegi looked back and forth between the two juniors in his office,
both now standing with their arms crossed, glaring daggers at each other
and him.
He let out a long sigh and rubbed his temples.
"I. Don't. Have. Time for this!!" He looked slowly at Cesia, then at Rath.
"You are the two biggest wastes of my time that have been in here all
day!" His short patience had finally snapped.
"I don't have the damn time to figure this out, and as far as I'm
concerned, you can both just go to detention this afternoon for two hours
each!"
Rath gaped and Cesia looked extremely surprised.
Alfeegi was off in his own little world, so he noticed none of this, but kept
talking to the students.
"That's right! Half an hour for being late to class, half an hour for running
in the hallways, half an hour for PDAs," He sent a deadly look to Rath who
was opening and closing his mouth indigently.
"And half an hour because I feel like it! I never want to see you two in
here again!"
By the time Cesia opened her mouth to protest the injustice of it all, the
two students found themselves outside their principal's office with his
secretary staring at them curiously.
Cesia ignored her and stalked out of the room into the hallway, Rath
following closely behind.
As soon as they reached the corridor, Cesia spun around.
"Will you quit that?!"
"Why?" Rath asked, crossing his arms, "You're the freak who got us in
trouble."
"Pervert," She hissed through her clenched teeth.
Rath stuck his tongue out at her, "At least I didn't get us two hours
detention! I'm supposed to practice after school! How the hell am I gonna
do that now? I won't be able to get ready in time, and it's your
goddamned fault!" He was shouting at her by this point, crimson in the
face from rage.
"You..." She seemed at a loss for the correct word, "Baby!"
He rolled his eyes sarcastically and she continued.
"You're the biggest crybaby I've ever seen! For God's sake, could you
stop with the whining for a minute!? You're an immature, irresponsible,
selfish, idiotic child!" She snapped, empathizing the last word.
Rath responded to the challenge.
"At least I'm not a total bitch like you!"
She bristled, "I hope I never see your stupid face again!"
"Good!" He called after her as she stomped off to her next class, already
fifteen minutes late, "Same goes for me!"
She swirled around.
If looks could kill, Rath would be a bleeding mass on the floor.
"I hate you, Rath Illuser!" Cesia screamed at him.
"I hate you too!" He yelled back at her, scaring a random freshman who
was walking down the hall to his locker.
Rath clenched his hands into fists and stood motionless in front of the
office door, watching as she rounded a nearby corner and fell out of sight.
He sent a vicious look at the underclassman who was kneeling on the
dirty ground, quickly gathering his supplies from his small locker on the
bottom row.
"Go to hell," He muttered in the direction Cesia had vanished, stuffing his
shaking hands into his pockets and walking down the hallway in the
opposite direction.
As the younger student scurried off, Rath shot yet another bloodthirsty
look over his shoulder, but the girl was already far out of his sight.
He crammed his hands deeper still into his pockets and marched off.
He stayed in his poor mood for the rest of the day, the only thought on
his mind one of an angry dark haired girl, surrounded by violent gusts of
swirling wind.
***
*has just finished reading Inkheart and is now looking at her Dragon
Knights books with longing*
V_V
Please Review?
Like just now. As in, as I was about to post this, he keeled over. o.O;
