Weaving about the tables, Katie was hit by the sudden feeling, like a prickling across the back of her neck, that she was being watched (no, more like stared at)... She froze, looking around her. The feeling was gone almost as fast as it had come, but it still managed to unnerve her.
As the foursome stepped out from the dining hall and onto the grounds, Nicole took a deep breath of fresh air tinted with the scent of on coming rain. She shook her head. It was amazing that one man's cigar smoke could alter the smell of a large mansion. It was almost like at home... where everything smelled like her mother's cigarette smoke to the point that Nicole couldn't distinguish the smell from anything else. It was different here, in a good way.
"So, what would you guys like to do? We better get around to doing something before the rain sets in... I don't want to be sitting around playing the ' I dunno what do you want to do?' game for hours and then get rained on before we ever get around to doing anything!" she laughed, observing her friends, open for any suggestion.
Bobby grinned. "Let's go skating."
"But, there isn't any ice-" Katie started, somewhat out of it as usual, before catching herself and blushing as red as one of the late-blooming flowers on a nearby bush.
Nicole nodded at Bobby. "Skating sounds fun." She'd used to take lessons, and was still rather good at it. Arch nodded along with Nicole, though Katie looked a bit more apprehensive, given that she was not so coordinated on the best of days, and balancing on knife blades, on ice, was not the best of days.
The grounds were fairly large considering the size of the mansion/school. For miles around it seemed, there were designated spots for the students to lounge around on the days with good weather. The sloping lawns at the front of the house were well kept with green springy grass, and littered with gatherings of magnificent old, twisted trees that lined the gravel drive. Where the foursome stood, behind the mansion, was completely dedicated to a large garden. The paved pathways that winded through the garden lead to the center, where a man-made pond the size of a swimming pool was situated, with its numerous fish and aquatic plants swaying in an invisible current beneath the pond's crystal clear water.
Ducks bobbed and paddled in the water at the very edges, always staying near enough to the water's edge in hope that passers by would toss out their left over scraps of food to them. They rippled the water's smooth surface, quacking serenely. Around the pond were many park benches and hedges, as well as many late blooming flower bushes. Beyond the garden lay a small orchard. In the small paths between each row of trees were plotted clearings decked with picnic tables and marble benches, for students who enjoyed to dine outside for lunch or during their free periods. The foursome made their way to the pond. Nicole, Katie, and Arch observing as Bobby neared the small body of water.
Sitting down on the edge of the pond, he held a hand an inch or so above the surface of the water. The surface grew a thin layer of frost which traveled in crystalline curls throughout the pond, ducks quacking in surprise and flying off and plants freezing as they swayed. The frost covering grew deeper, until the entirely pond was frozen from the surface to the bottom. Standing, Bobby smiled at his friends over his (rather spectacular) handiwork.
Katie tilted her head to the side slightly, observing Bobby's handiwork in a puzzled manner, while Arch and Nicole beamed.
"Cool." Nicole smiled, meaning it in the quite literal way. Bobby laughed, flushing a bright shade of pink.
Katie rolled her eyes, grinning in Nicole's direction. "Yes Nicole, ice is typically quite cool." she laughed.
Nicole scowled. "I know..."
Bobby chuckled at them, and then looked at each of his friends (and girlfriend, if he could call Nicole that, as he would so like to do). "So, who's first?"
Katie, who'd been somewhat puzzled about the largest missing piece in their plan, looked at him with a plainly confused face. "What? But we don't have skates!" Skates were rather essential to good ice skating, after all.
Bobby's grin never faded from his face, "If I may, I would like to choose an assistant from the audience to answer your question, Katie." Bobby declared in a louder, theatrical voice. He then made a show of sizing them all up. "Hmm... would the young lady in the faded red t-shirt step up please?" His voice carried loudly throughout the backyard so that a few emo looking students who had situated themselves at some picnic tables nearby, looked up.
Nicole pretended to look surprised, skipping up to stand at Bobby's side like a blushing beauty pageant contestant, and waving like an idiot to the 'audience'. Katie rolled her eyes, attempting to pretend that she didn't know them. She would have been fine with it if people weren't watching, staring open mouthed, pointing, and sniggering.
Bobby gestured grandly to the space at the edge of the pool, dusting it off and motioning for Nicole to sit there. She did, (somewhat) gracefully, crossing her legs demurely and giving him a peppy smile. Bobby knelt on the ground in front of her, ignoring the "whispered" comments. Taking a hold of one of her shoes, he ran a hand along the bottom of the sole, leaving a thin, sharp, ice-blade edge. "I give you... ice-skates."
Nicole gasped in mock amazement and clapped enthusiastically. "Bravo! Amazing! How does he do it?" she cheered loudly. Now this was her kind of morning. Now it was a good morning. It was never a good day until someone made a fool of themselves at least once.
Bobby's grin widened, "Let's have round of applause for my lovely assistant Nicole." he called, clapping. Arch and Katie were the only ones to acknowledge the fact that he even had spoken, clapping somewhat unenthusiastically. Bobby sighed as the smile ran away from his face, "Right, C'mere Katie, Arch. I think I've made enough of a fool of myself... lets just get to skating before it starts to rain.." he mumbled slightly sullenly.
Katie and Arch complied, as everyone else decided that the foursome weren't terribly interesting anymore, and looked away, though one or two continued glancing upwards, wanting to see someone fall on their ass so they could laugh at them. Katie balanced uncomfortably at the side of the pool, feet planted best she could and hanging off of Arch for support, waiting for Nicole to demonstrate exactly how one was supposed to remain upright.
Nicole (for once this morning) looked as if she knew exactly what she was doing. She pushed off with the tip of one bladed foot, and glided on the other, then moving to the other foot until she found a rhythm. Gliding on one foot, and then the other, moving gracefully in a straight-line before abruptly swiveling so she was gliding backwards. Her arms were thrown out for balance, though she certainly didn't look as if she needed it.
Her back arched gracefully as she moved into a complicated looking spin, where she thrust out one of her legs mid-backward glide and pushed forward, swinging her leg around the other, crossing her arms over her chest and spinning so fast it looked as if he would spiral straight off of the ice and into the air. She ended it as soon as she had begun, looking off balance for a moment and somewhat dizzy.
Katie's jaw dropped. "Since when can you do moves like that?!" she hissed, completely confused as to how she was supposed to learn to follow Nicole's example if she was going to pull off stunts like that.
Nicole grinned, "When I told you I knew how to skate, I didn't exactly have to tell you that I knew how to do skating moves." she commented, surveying the slightly awed look on all of her friends faces. "What?"
Katie eventually got the hang of the whole skating thing, though not after quite a few intense falls (she'd be dotted with large, painful bruises later, and wasn't looking forward to it). Even then, she couldn't hold a candle to Nicole, but at least she stayed (mostly) upright. In the middle of one of her more graceful glides across the ice, it began to rain. No, not the light, barely noticeable drizzle most storms start with, but a right good downpour.
Katie promptly fell over, setting herself up for another bruise on her bottom and a rather wet skirt. "Fuck."
Matters only got worse when the fact that: Rain was warmer than Ice, finally sank in and the Bobby's masterfully crafted ice rink promptly melted and Katie was now sitting in the pond, fish trapped underneath her skirt. Everyone else was now up to their knees in muddy pond water, and Bobby had to help save a few fish which got stuck in the cuffs of his jeans and were wiggling in a desperate attempt to free themselves from their denim prison. The foursome spent some time ridding themselves of the poor fish before trudging soddenly up to the mansion. Upon entering, Nicole promptly shook her head like a dog, spraying the clean floor with flecks of muddy pond water.
"Blech!" Katie hacked, making a vaguely hairball-ish sounding noise. "Nicole, I'm wet enough! I don't need your wet too!" Giving Nicole a mock-resentful look, shivering rather violently in her non-weather-appropriate clothes, Katie began running a light current through her fingers trying to dry herself off.
Nicole ignored Katie's comment, instead suddenly running for the stairs. "I call the shower!!!"
"Agh Noooooo!" Katie called, ending in a whimper, hand outstretched at Nicole's retreating back. Though she did heartily snicker when Nicole promptly slipped and landed on her rump before continuing to scramble up the stairs
Nicole was met with more than a few questioning gazes, and a hell of a lot of openly pissed off bitchy Logan fan-girls shouting obscenities at her as she pushed them out of her way while she sprinted for the bathroom. Once inside the bathroom, she promptly locked the door, desperately wanting and needing privacy. However she had probably forgotten that it was lunch time anyhow so no one was about to be taking a shower when they wanted food so much more.