A/n: I'm going to try and get at least one chapter transferred from my notebook to my computer and posted here so y'all don't have to wait so long between updates. Also, I was selected for jury duty; so that'll be taking up some more time, just bear with me. And as always, please review! I appreciate the comments and critiques. If someone would like to beta for me, please give me an email that would be so wonderful. I don't own Dark Angel or the characters, just the ones I make up.
THE SECOND GRADE"Good morning class! I am Mrs. Anderson, and I'm going to be your teacher for the next school year. Welcome to the second grade! This year is going to be so exciting, we're going to learn new things, meet new people, and have lots of fun!"
The moment I heard the first part of this speech I knew I was in trouble. Actually, I'd known since Wes told me "second grade" that I was going to be in trouble. I already knew all the 'new things' we were supposed to learn this 'exciting' school year. My teacher looked like she was on the wrong side of forty who abhorred children but put on a fake bubbly attitude to make it through the day to earn her paycheck. She needed to find another job or else join Ms Binker in the office downstairs.
Mrs. Anderson started going on about oh, speaking of new people, isn't it just exciting that we have foreign exchange students this year? It was exciting because most foreign exchange students came in during the high school years and it wasn't often foreigners our age were exchanged. It was a new program 'just started!' this term and it was going to be 'exciting' and 'lots of fun'!
The teacher annoyed me.
I was bored.
I decided started debating which method of torture I wanted to inflict upon Mrs. Anderson if I had to hear her say the words exciting and lots of fun in that fake, cheery voice talking down on us like we were stupid.
Let's see here, how about the Chinese water torture? No, she seemed like the type who would freak out too much and drown prematurely, taking most of the pleasure out of it. That was out.
How about skinning? If done properly, skinning has about a 75 survival rate of its victims, though there is always that minority percentage. The survival rate also was dependant upon whether or not the victim had a full body skinning or taken in just parts.
Full body skinning has a higher risk for shock fatality, and an increased chance of infection as the epidermis is no longer able to protect now vulnerable body parts. The best way to go would probably to take sections at a time. One could even get creative and strip designs off the flesh and make a pretty mosaic if the wounds were aloud to heal.
Whoa.
I was starting to creep myself out.
I tuned back into Ms. Actually-Not-Cheery-or-Likable's speech, and she now wanted to introduce all the foreigners to the class before making general introductions. To quote a phrase from the greatest thinker of all time, Mr. Winnie the Pooh…oh, bother.
Did I mention I was bored?
"Class, let's welcome the our foreign guests, and let's make sure they have an exciting and fun filled year!"
A 9mm Glock point blank using Glazer Safety Rounds. No, make that Homady Custom XTP handgun ammo, something with more penetration power from somewhere a little farther away than point blank. Glazers only made sure that you didn't blow a hole outside the victim but had no long range. Not that I minded getting bloody.
"Evanescence Corazon, please stand up and tell the class who you are and where you came from. She's our first exchange student," Mrs. Anderson added in an aside to the rest of us.
"No…" I whispered in fake awe, resisting the urge to roll my eyes.
"I am Evanescence Corazon, I come from Wales in the United Kingdom," Nessie stood up and began. She was just a tad bit shy, enough so, that one could believe she was bashful upon first meet.
"My da, my father, is part Spanish, hence our name Corazon. The other part of him is Welsh, the last remnants of the Celts and Gaels. My ma came from Scotland, in the Highlands, which is where we live half of the year with ma's brother and the rest of the Clan," Nessie's quiet explanation, coupled with her softly accented voice, was an oddly soothing combination and I felt myself relax slightly.
"The other half, we spend in Wales, at me da's ancestral home, where he does studies for university research."
"Have you met the loch ness monster?" one of the boys shouted, causing the surrounding children to laugh.
"Everyday when I look in the mirror," Nessie quipped dryly, surprising some children with her sharp retort. "My da calls me Nessie."
She sat down and let out relieved breath. Mrs. Anderson was smiling as if she'd been pleasantly surprised, and I was amused that she could perform something so genuine as smile and mean it.
"Thank you, Evanescence…or can we call you Nessie?"
"Nessie is fine," she assured the teacher.
"Right. Katarina, why don't you go next? You share the same host family our new friend Nessie here, so you probably know a bit more about her than we do. Go on."
"My name is Katarina Murrieta," I spoke as I stood, my r's rolling off my tongue as if I spoke this way since birth.
"My family and I live in Ciudad de Mexico. That's Mexico City, Mexico for those who don't know. I have a large family, lots of brothers and sisters whom my parents adopted, with only one blood brother. He's older by only a year or so and is in the exchange program also, but we were separated to different places."
"Hey, chica, you have some maracas?" the loch ness question boy piped up again. This time, only a few kid laughed, mostly boys.
Before the teacher could react, I beat her to it.
"Si, but only experienced players can handle them, and you don't appear to qualify," I came off, hand on one hip, arching an eyebrow in challenge. This got a bigger reaction from the kids, and the teacher looked appalled.
"Well, um, that was very…informative. Katarina, sit down, you can sit."
I tossed an amused grin the teacher's way, not caring if she took it as insolent or not. Okay, so maybe I didn't have to use any lethal or potentially lethal methods to get back at Mrs. Anderson. All I had to do was act naturally. Oh yeah, I was sooo going to get into trouble.
Welcome to the second grade, Max.
