Hello readers. It's been a while since I've updated her. I'm much farther in this story over on the Megamind Live Journal community. I'm going to try to catch up here before I upload much more over there, and then I'll update here and there at the same time. But until then, enjoy this older chapter :)

Chapter 7: Tomorrow

She walked briskly down the path, shivering. Yesterday was still on her mind. Nigmadem and his eyes had really stayed with her; she couldn't stop thinking about him. It left her feeling frustrated and embarrassed, why would she be so interested in someone she didn't even know? It was those eyes…Roxanne had seen silver, grey, brown, and yellow of all shades, and even eyes leaning towards orange and violet, but never had she ever seen eyes the color green. She wanted to see them again, just to reassure herself she hadn't imagined them.

What bothered even more though was the fact that he seemed interested in her. Why was that? No one had ever truly shown interest in her, not since she had first been discovered drifting with asteroids. Nannarry, and even Reggen and Derex on their rare visits, always comment that it was good she didn't get any more attention than she did, but would never explain why. It scared her. He probably had some ulterior motive and was planning something malicious.

…Or maybe not. Years of enemy building and no friendships left her paranoid. She sighed. I'm probably just being irrational. Still, she couldn't shake off the feeling.

Abraham stood sentry on her shoulders, scanning the surroundings for signs of trouble. Not that it was usually necessary on their walk to school which was normally uneventful, but after yesterdays prank he was on red alert. In the midst of her troubled thoughts, the teddy bear spotted someone and their minion walking on the other side of the street in the same direction. He recognized the pair as the new pupils from yesterday. Stiffening, he hugged Roxanne's head and watched them from over her hair, "Warning, pedestrians approaching from the left, Ms. Ritchi."

Roxanne turned to look just as the two noticed her. Nigma quickened his pace and started flailing an arm in a spastic wave at the sight of her. "Oh! Oh, oh! Hey, you! D-don't go anywhere, I'll be right over!" She blinked dubiously at the street filled with hovering vehicles and shuttles whizzing by at high speeds, racing to get to important places. She didn't stop walking, but slowed her steps.

Nigma and Minion dashed to the croscalator, a structure that looked like the hybrid between an escalator and bridge, she had just walked by, clanking up and down to the other side. Roxanne found herself holding her breath as they came up to her from behind and Abraham hugged her head tighter, little bear ears flattening ever so slightly. He reached her side then slowed to meet her pace, Minion falling in behind them. Nigma's chest was puffed, and it deflated dramatically after speaking, "Hello!" He looked back sharply and shared a moment with Minion, who nodded and enthusiastically gave two thumbs up.

Roxanne looked at him from the corner of her eye and then straight ahead. "Hey,"

"Hi," He said again on impulse, "My name is –"

"Nigmadem, yes, I know." She completed his sentence, sounding annoyed on accident. Stupid nerves, she scolded herself silently, just relax already! She was stiff as a board just because someone was talking to her like this, it was new. Maybe she was bracing herself for an insult or readying herself for a witty comeback. That wasn't necessary right now, Relax!

"How did you…? Oh, that's right; you were there for most of that conversation." He chuckled, "Is that girl always so charmingly straightforward? What was her name again? It's left me," His voice was sarcastic, Roxanne found herself struggling not to smirk, "But more importantly, what's your name?"

Roxanne rubbed her shoulder where it was bruised from yesterday, hoping to rub off the awkwardness she was feeling. "Her name is Vivinie, and no, she's usually worst." She narrowed her eyes at him without turning toward him, "And why do you want to know?"

Nigma failed for words a moment, "Aaah, um, well, why wouldn't I want to know your name?"

"And why are you talking to me anyway? Why are you being so friendly?" She didn't mean to start an interrogation, but she couldn't stop herself, she had word vomit, "What's with the interest?"

Nigmadem was suddenly feeling under pressure, and the fuzzy thing on the girls shoulder wouldn't stop staring at him. Abraham's beady black eyes were protective daggers. "…Am I not supposed to talk to you? Or be kind? Isn't that how things go when making new friends? Or do you have different customs?" Roxanne snorted humorlessly, different customs? What, alien customs from my alien planet? Haven't heard that one before… Wait, did he say friend? He continued with a hesitant laugh, "…As for my interest…" He turned to look back at his minion, green eyes asking for help.

Minion stared stupidly for a moment before getting the hint, "Oh! Well, you see Miss…Miss, Sir here has a fascination with all things unique; he even has a personal collection of strange things. That's why he changed his name to Nigmadem - originality," he explained with a smile, even though he was talking to the back of Roxanne's head. "In a world full of big headed blue people, Sir has found interest in you because you're different."

"Yes! That's exactly what I wanted to say. Thank you, Minion." Abraham twitched visibly, and both Nigmadem and Minion noticed. That was a …different reaction to the phrase 'thank you'. They both shrugged it off and looked to the girl for her response.

She thought this over for a moment, and the quartet walked in an odd silence. It seemed innocent enough, and he sounded honest, but she couldn't hold back a doubtful, slightly biting reply. "I see. So you want me to be a part of your collection for this weird fetish for weird things. That's nice."

"Yes! I mean, wait, what? No!" He was in a small panic, "No, no that's not it at all! It's just, I'm new to this district and thought, you know, you'd make a cool first friend, that's all."

Roxanne smiled sadly and finally turned her head to look at him directly, taking in his full face and not just his eyes for the first time. His face was very angular, practically triangular, especially his chin, which was accented with a thin strip of black hair. Something else unique, she thought, I haven't seen that style of facial hair before. His black eyebrows were a reasonable thickness, and his nose was pointed like his chin. The last thing she noticed were his temples, perfectly concave and shallow. Yes, they were very nice temples.

He was silent as her blue eyes absorbed him in; a chill ran up his spine. Eventually she spoke, "Sorry, but I find that very hard to believe. I don't make friends well, apparently." She watched his face fall and she turned away again, looking like she was about to walk away. On a second thought, she turned back to him one last time, "Roxanne is my name." Then she quickened her stride and finished her walk to shool alone, while Nigma and Minion slowed to a halt.

"What do you know about her?"

"Um…well, I don't talk to her much, I mean, I've talked to her before, but, I-I don't know, sorry…She started shool the same time as all of us. I think she's always been the way she is, pretty distant. I don't get to talk to her; more so, I'm not really supposed to…can't really say she's a mean person. Supposedly she's from a different solar system."

"Do you know why she is the way she is? Personality-wise?"

"…She's avoided a lot. A-and blamed for things, not sure if things are really ever her fault though. I see her being antagonized a lot, and she gets into fights, but I never see who started the confrontation…one can only guess. She seems a bit clumsy in classes, messes things up a lot, but no one ever corrects her so…people seem to regard her more as a source of entertainment than as a true knowledge-seeker. She doesn't try much anymore…I-I'm sorry, that was more of an explanation of her personality than reasons for it, I'm sorry…"

"Hmm? That's all fine information, why apologize for it? What else can you think of?"

"O-oh, okay then. I'm sorry…well…"

Nigmadem stopped himself from rolling his eyes. This morning's walk with Roxanne had gone in an entirely different direction than he had anticipated, but it hadn't got bad. It left him even more curious about her, wanting to know about her character and why she was such a secretive recluse. He knew people weren't just born that way; there had to have been reasons and histories behind her behavior. So he had been asking around all day. Few people were of any help. Mostly when he brought it up, people scoffed and ignored his questions, or said things like "You want to know about Flat-head?" or "Do you mean Freckles?" Did anyone know her real name?

Finally he had found someone worth talking too, a girl named Felleta. She had pale brown, almost grey eyes with small flecks of yellow that reminded him of a stone hiding gold at its core. Felleta was quiet and shy and stuttered ever now and then, but at least she gave valid and unbiased answers, even if she said sorry a lot. It was a bit ridiculous when she apologized for apologizing though. Plus, she had the voice of a flower, if flowers had voices. It left him straining to hear what she was saying. He did appreciate her honesty, however.

He learned that Roxanne was a source of ridicule, had awful nicknames, was the framed for everything, and was good with her fists. She didn't do well in most of her classes, aside from language and literature, but because they were considered inferior classes, everyone believed her to be a simple-minded fool. She was alienated because of her differences and had no friends except for the furry robot that nearly always traveled on her back. No wonder she was a recluse! Nigmadem longed even more for her companionship.

After thanking Felleta in earnest and making her blush, he gathered Minion, and started down the hallway. Turning the corner, he was just in time to see Roxanne finish taking out a few things from her wall pocket when someone yanked her hair from behind, causing her to drop everything in her hands as her neck was jerked painfully. He heard her gasp out of surprise, and watched the furry robot on her back leap at the attacker and latch onto their arm. The person yelped and tried to pry the thing off in a rush as though it was causing pain, until whipping his arm and making the robot fly.

Someone caught it and laughed, yelling to a third party, "Hey, catch the scruffbot!" proceeding to toss it through the air.

"Abraham! Give him back!" Roxanne cried, Nigma did not miss the concern in her voice, even under her threats, "Give him back before I break your skinny little blue necks!"

He watched Abraham soar through the air, and the rage fill Roxanne's face in the form of blood in her cheeks, wanting to help but not sure how to go about it, until Abraham was suddenly thrown his way. He caught the robot with ease, looking into its glass eyes he saw small green symbols he didn't recognize, they looked like circles and lines to him. Fascinating. "Hey newby, throw it over here!" Someone called out. He gave everyone an unimpressed gaze. "Yeah, I think not." He replied coolly, handing Abraham over to Minion who set him on a metallic shoulder with a smile. "Hello!" Minion said warmly. Abraham didn't answer, but looked back at Nigmadem in wonder.

There was a collective gasp from everyone in the hallway; clearly they all expected him to join in, including Roxanne and Abraham. He walked over to her while the others dispersed, fun having been killed, and picked up what she had dropped. He was surprised to see it was a device he didn't recognize. Smiling, he handed it back, "I believe you dropped this?" She accepted it with a blank expression, not even acknowledging when Abraham jumped agilely back onto her shoulder. "Yes…I, um, I did."

"Can Minion and I walk home with you?"

"Sure."

They walked in silence, Nigma waited patiently for Roxanne to speak first. He noticed her clutching the device she had dropped close to her chest with one arm, while petting one of Abraham's feet. He concluded they both must be very valuable to her. The fuzzy creature was still starting at him intently, just like that morning, but it felt different than before, which was odd, since the robot didn't appear to be capable of changing its facial expression. It always bore a sowed on smile.

"Thanks," she finally spoke, "for what you did back there. I …appreciate it." The words felt foreign on her tongue.

Nigmadem shrugged, "It was nothing. It's awful how they treat you." He looked at her in confusion when she chuckled. "What?"

She looked away, "It's just, that sounds really odd coming from someone like you, a scirian. I'm not used to being sympathized with like this."

"I'm sure you're not," He said seriously, with a small frown, "I learned a lot about how others treat you today. You deserve a break from all that."

"Where did you learn about that?" Roxanne arched a thin eye brow at him.

"After this morning's talk I wanted to know more about you, so I asked around a bit around shool," He noticed her blush slightly and couldn't stop a small smile creep onto his lips, "One girl was particularly informative, Felleta."

"Ah yes, Felleta the fragile." Roxanne knew Felleta, she was one of very few scirians she didn't hate or greatly dislike. In fact, she had almost become her friend. Of course, Vivinie would have none of that, and pulled Felleta into her own circle of snobby friends. Vivinie was always pushing Felleta and telling her what to do or not do, and Felleta being the flower she was, would bend. She was too easily manipulated, and Roxanne hated it. But what could she do?

"What are you called?" Nigmadem interrupted her thoughts with the question.

"I'm sorry, what?" She didn't understand the question; didn't she already tell him her name?

Nigma rephrased, "What's your species' name? We already know I'm scririan, you are…?"

"Oh." Roxanne bit her lip. Did she really want him to know that? She was so tired of people calling her by her species name she cringed at it like it was an insult. It nearly was, the way people used it as though being human was something horrible and monstrous, or something to be ashamed off. She opened her mouth to reply but closed it again, hesitating.

He noticed the hesitation and wondered if he shouldn't have asked. "Is something wrong?"

She shook her head and answered softly, "No, it's…it's just – it's nothing. I'm a Human."

"Roxanne the Human–"

"–No, not 'Roxanne the Human'. Roxanne Ritchi, just Roxanne Ritchi." Her voice was hard; her hand formed a fist around Abraham's leg.

"Yes, of course, Roxanne Ritchi, just Roxanne Ritchi," He was quick to corrected himself. "I like that name."

She smiled weakly, "Thank you."

Soon they were back at the croscalator where Nigmadem and Roxanne would have to go separate ways. He seemed reluctant to depart. The two divided paths of the croscalator moved in opposite directions to either side of the street with a faint hum while everyone stood where they were.

"So…see you tomorrow?" He asked hopefully.

Roxanne's weak smile filled out, "Yes, most likely."

He seemed satisfied with that, "Goodbye until tomorrow then, just Roxanne Ritchi!" She giggled, and then his minion, who apparently was named Minion, said his own goodbyes, "Goodbye Miss Ritchi!" She waved, "Goodbye Nigmadem, goodbye just Minion."

The pair grinned widely at each other and sprinted over the croscalator, talking animatedly about her and not being very silent about it. The smile on her lips lingered even when they were out of sight, and she finally started walking again.

Abraham broke the silence that had fallen, "Ms. Ritchi?"

"Yes, Abraham?"

"I think I like them, Ms. Ritchi."

"Yeah, me too."