Rating: PG13

Pairing: T/L

Disclaimer: I own nothing but this antiquated Dell, which is not earning me any money by posting my drivel here.

HAIKU DRIVEL

Chapter One

The sounds of metal clashing against metal reverberated through the locker-lined hallway as the students of Henry Roscoe High stowed away their books and belongings and scattered about the campus for lunch. The foursome of friends weaved through the crowded hall toward the cafeteria for lunch talking loudly to be heard over the din of noise. Ray was unsuccessfully trying to earn pity for his predicament.

"Man, that woman singles me out. I was the only one out of the early classes to get double homework and due by tomorrow too!" He played the downtrodden hero angle further by hunching his shoulders and hanging his head.

Lily shoved him lightly and he had to acrobatically dodge innocent bystanders. "Whatever, Ray. Ms. Willoughby is only returning the favor. You single her out all the time."

"I do not!" He forced his way back to her side suffering jostles from oncoming students.

Robbie laughed and clapped his friend on the shoulder. "Sure, Ray. I'm sure she thinks nothing of your pet name for her. She loves being called Ms. Wildebeest."

Ray continued to whine, "It's a slip of the tongue; she provides a stunning visual." Despite the group effort to chastise Ray, they all laughed at his commentary.

As they gathered food trays and filed down the line, Travis brought Ray back to reality. "Thirty four, Ray. A haiku is only seventeen syllables so your overbearing and intolerable punishment comes to a whopping total of thirty-four. You've expended three times that just whining about it." He chose a bottle of water and a carton of milk and moved down the line to the cashier as the lunch lady glared at the lone holdout who refused to eat from the cafeteria.

Lily chose her standard fruit cup from the lineup as she agreed, "Yeah, Ray, haikus aren't that hard; they're fun!"

"Yeah, for you!" he responded, "I'm sure it's easy for a future Grammy winning star."

Robbie exclaimed, "That's seventeen syllables right there, Ray!"

Ray turned to face Robbie nearly nose to nose. "Here's two more. Shut Up!"

Travis grinned slyly. "Actually that's five, Ray."

Ray narrowed his eyes at all of them and left without another word or syllable.

Travis settled into the tech booth to begin preparing for the daily broadcast of RFR. He was almost always the first to arrive. The booth felt comforting and safe, like a cocoon and he loved to be there when it was quiet; he could swear he heard the old warehouse breath. He usually used the time to meditate or go over the day's playlist. He began to stack some CDs into order for today's roster and came across Lily's single. He leaned back in his chair with a sigh. He stared thoughtfully at her picture for a few moments then reached for his notebook. He wrote a few lines and sighed once more. Ray swaggered through the door and Travis closed his notebook quickly and reverently set Lily's CD into its appropriate slot.

Ray's mood had improved considerably. He walked up to where Travis was sitting in the booth and slapped a wrinkled piece of notebook paper down over Travis' binder. "You must change my DJ name or at least admit it is more fitting now. I'm already half done with my grueling assignment." He tapped his finger on the paper. "One haiku for public perusal."

Travis pulled the paper toward him and read aloud just as Lily and Robbie strode through the door.

One must respect the
magnificent wooly beast
on the open plain

Robbie whistled long and low. "You turn that in and she'll have you writing your epitaph."

"Besides, Ray," Lily interjected, "You are supposed to have the subject be about something you love or enjoy. I don't think that haiku meets that criteria."

He shuffled his feet as he moved toward his spot at the table. "Well, it's not so easy for guys to do that. Right, Robbie?"

"Actually, I wrote mine at lunch."

"Let's hear it!" Lily chimed.

Ray plopped into his chair mimicking Robbie in a high pitched whine, "Already wrote mine; I'm a supermodel student."

Robbie lifted his backpack from the floor and pulled out his binder. He flipped to the proper color-coded tab as Ray and Lily shared an eye roll over such organization. He cleared his throat theatrically.

Man's intelligence
measure not by his answers
but by his questions

Ray huffed. "What's that show love for?"

Travis answered matter-of-factly without looking up from his preparations in the booth, "Journalism."

Robbie replied, "Well, a love for finding the truth in any way, really." He replaced his binder into his backpack and looped his headphones around his neck, ready to start the show.

Ray looked over at Lily, "I'm sure you have some newfound crush to idolize through literature."

She casually sat in her place and responded, "No! And it's not about music either." When that got everyone's attention she added, "Would you like to hear it?"

"Of course." Travis leaned forward seemingly interested for the first time in the conversation.

Lily easily recited her haiku from memory, as memorization was a required skill to make it as a singer/songwriter.

Able to defend
with strength grace agility
confident power

When she received so many questioning glances she clarified, "I've been taking self-defense courses. It teaches us safety, proper use of strength, and some kickboxing, martial arts type moves." Eyebrows went up all around. She rolled her eyes, "What? Only guys get to be tough?" She spun her chair around to face Travis. "What about you, Travis? What's your passion?"

He stuttered for a moment and then dodged the question. "We're on guys…5…4…3…2…1…."

A/N: Here we go again, folks. I must say that this story will not be near as long as Because I Know You. (all right who said, Thank goodness!!) AND it will not span a long length of time. I know there are those of you who liked my treatment of Ray in BIKY but in this one he is a typical 14-15 year old who messes up and THEN tries to fix it. Having said all that....ummm...REVIEW?