Disclaimer: Om nom.
ii. gossip
She has all of his classes except PE, English and Mathematics. She might as well not be sitting there, right at the edge of his peripheral vision.
As far as he can tell, however, (and that's not far, given his status as a loner) nobody in the whole school knows more about her than he does. In fact…
(In fact, she seems to be as much of a social pariah as he is.)
Over the next two weeks, he gets rather curious. By this time, usually, people should start jabbering on about who her boyfriend is, or if she belongs with the goths or the emos. But… he hears nothing, except whispers of her stoic silence when approached or asked a question. (Oh, and she turned Kipps down when he asked her out without so much as changing her expression.)
He knows something is different, especially when his friends start gossiping about her.
(The three outcasts never gossip. Ever.)
Florence Bonnard, the would-be freelance artist, rolls her eyes when George brings her up at lunchtime and slaps her art folder down on one of the greasy cafeteria tables, tucking her mane of stiff, straw-coloured hair behind an ear.
"The sour mare ain't worth hangin' round," she grumbles to both of them and casually swipes Lockwood's pudding. "You don't mind, do you Locky?"
(He doesn't. The pudding is horrible and long past its expiration date, but Flo will eat anything.)
"Anyway," the blonde continues brazenly, "we were partners for a collage project with recycling as our topic. So, naturally, we went down to the rubbish bins and I started scrounging up some of the best things. Nice candy wrappers, there were, all bright'n glitzy."
Lockwood puts a polite smile on his face, prodding his greasy, congealed mashed potatoes with meagre enthusiasm and George looks up from studying the skull sitting on the table next to him long enough to elbow his girlfriend in the side.
(The chubby teen has most of his classes with Lockwood too. Like Flo, he has a shtick for sticking his nose into old, mouldy, dirty things he probably shouldn't be touching, which is undoubtedly the two get along so well and why he intends to become a forensic anthropologist.)
(On a side note, no, Lockwood doesn't know where George got the skull.)
Flo scowls at George and wrinkles her nose. "Yeah, yeah, I know. The lot of you are too posh to talk about the real world over lunch anyways." She wipes her nose with her sleeve and continues. "Anyway, the whole time I was looking for trash, she was standing behind me, wrinkling her nose and looking all high and mighty an' disapproving. She's on a high horse, that one."
Lockwood shrugs. "Not everybody likes rubbish as much as you do."
Flo rolls her eyes. "Whatever. George here's got a little more dirt on 'er."
The porky boy polishes his glasses and shoves his untouched food tray aside. "Eh, not much. I'm in her Maths class, and she almost never talks, except on those rare occasions when the teacher calls on her. The rest of the time, she just sits there, looking annoyed at the world. I'm not even sure she's listening to what the teacher's saying."
He pauses, then continues cheerfully. "One time I asked her if I could have a pen. We traded insults for a few minutes… I think I annoy her."
"You have the uncanny ability to annoy most people, George," Lockwood tells him.
"As I said, she's..." Flo starts, but trails off when the two boys give her a reproachful look. Lockwood also thinks she might be judging Lucy too harshly.
(Then again, he's trying to make his own judgements about her without having even been in her company.)
(He's always been quite hypocritical.)
"What about you, Lockwood?" George asks, digging a tuna sandwich out of his backpack. "I hear you're in almost all of her classes. And yet you're the only one without any information about her."
Lockwood shrugs. "I don't notice her much, and there's not much more to add. All she does is sit there and write, although she doesn't seem all there."
"Of course you wouldn't notice," Flo scoffs. "Locky here would die if he got so much as an A-minus on a test."
Lockwood doesn't frown. He's used to Flo's burlesque jabs by now.
He's usually described as a teacher's pet and a nerd even though all he does is get good grades. (Teachers annoy him. A lot.)
...Okay, fine, he's the student with the highest marks in the whole year by far (very far), and the only one who routinely manages to get one hundred percent on all tests - hey, school's always been easy for him, even Senior Year.
(Social interaction - not so much. Which is how he ended up with George and Flo as companions.)
(Companions, not friends. The concept of friendship has been Greek to him for a long time.)
The bell rings and he heads off to History together with George.
Lucy's got her head down as usual and spends the whole period with her pen gliding over her book in some ineffable pattern, her short chocolate hair just covering her arch eyes from the rest of the world.
(But they're working on the French Revolution, and there's no room for trivial drama.)
So, this was supposed to be short, but it just... grew. I always thought school would be rather easy for Lockwood, since he's got so much useless trivia in that big head of his. Plus, he seems like the social outcast type of person.
On a personal note, school's started. My teachers are instilling me with confidence for my exams. NOT. C'est la vie. Yay.
Next chapter: [undecided, something like bewilder or revelation]
Review Replies:
Nemaides: Thank you! Hope you enjoy this part, and that you'll be happy to find it's a multi-chap. (Flubbins. I cracked up when I read that. I'ma call them that now. :)
Mayflowers123: Thank you! Yes, that's what usually annoys me in fanfics... The main couple is always so damn attracted to each other from the very start! Well, hope you like this.
Anonymous (guest): Really!? Wow, that was unexpected. Let's see what Book 3 brings! Florge/Flubbins has officially happened... :)
Merci, mes copines! Profiter de la littérature!
Review, s'il vous plaît! OvO