Beep beep beep beep...
Cassidy awoke gradually as the sound of the digital alarm on her bedside cabinet faded into her ears. She moaned tiredly, eyelids heavy as she reached one arm across to shut the noisy thing off. As she caught a glimpse, she saw the red digital numbers on the screen read 8:56 AM.
Her previously half-closed eyelids shot open at the realization that she was supposed to be at Viper's office in less than five minutes. Considering it normally took her at least an hour to get ready, that clearly wasn't going to be achievable. Instead of throwing the bedsheets back and rushing to get dressed in a blind panic, she let herself have five more minutes sleep.
Being late was fashionable.
By the time she'd eventually slid out of bed, had a shower, got dressed and done her hair, it was already half past nine. Looking at herself in the mirror above the bathroom sink, she slid a tube of cherry lip gloss over her lips, smacking them together to blend it in and then putting a touch of black mascara on her lashes. She smirked at herself, giving a little wink. She'd always adored her appearance and considered herself, well...as perfect as it gets. She knew for a fact that with her impeccable figure, she even managed to make this unappealing uniform look half decent. It was black boots and gloves, royal blue pants and a matching blue collared top with a red R on the front- Cassidy had fastened her black belt extra tight around her small waist to accentuate her curves. Customizing the uniform was a no no, but she did wear her triangular pink earrings. They were large, bright and shiny; an evident demand for attention.
She was, at long last, ready to leave her room and make her way down to Viper's office, not forgetting the map that she knew she would so desperately need. Getting lost would not be cool, especially as she was a little more than 'fashionably' late now. As she walked briskly through the corridors, she wondered about what her partner was going to be like. Viper hadn't said whether they were male or female. In all honesty, she prayed it would be a guy. Unsurprisingly, the fact that Cassidy was good-looking and extremely conceited about it, didn't bode well with other females. Girls hated her for her cutting remarks and stuck-up attitude, and the fact that she laughed it off only made it worse. But as for men, they were easy to handle. She could have them wrapped around her little finger purely because of her looks. She was blonde and had boobs, so they all put two and two together and assumed she was 'easy'. In some cases, this had been very true.
When Cassidy reached Vipers office she felt just a little nervous about how late she actually was. She could only hope that he wouldn't yell at her and give her a punishment- gosh, she'd only been here a day. She knocked on the door and waited a moment, until it was opened.
"I know I'm late, sir, before you start ranting and raving I'm sorry. Gosh, it's not my fault I overslept! Yesterday was the most exhausting day in a long time and I'm not used to being up early, so you'll just have to deal with it, alright?" the blonde blurted out all in one shot, crossing her arms and indignantly glaring up at a displeased Viper.
"An hour and fifteen minutes late, Cassidy. Unacceptable. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I told you to be at my office for 9am. Being late isn't something you should make a habit out of," he reprimanded, shaking his head at the girl wearily and standing aside for her to enter the office, still continuing to ramble on about how punctuality was vital in this Academy. As Cassidy edged past the Sargent she noticed a young man with green hair sat in the room, he glanced at her as Viper ranted, and then he rolled his eyes mockingly behind the man's back. Cassidy grinned. Was this her new partner?
"-Once your training starts, this lateness will unhesitatingly result in punishment. Please bare that in mind next time." When Viper eventually ceased lecturing, he closed the door behind Cassidy and retreated to his desk. "Now, on a lighter note- Cassidy, this is your new partner, Butch," he announced, gesturing to the green-haired young man. "And Butch, this is Cassidy."
Cassidy stared at him. Her partner. He was staring back at her with gorgeous deep brown eyes. Wow. Not only did she get her guy partner, but he was pretty darn cute too. Tall, with shiny teal-green hair and a strong looking build. Sure, he wasn't the beach-blonde, tanned pretty boy she usually went for...but still, such a handsome face... there was something oddly charming about him. She had to tear her eyes away from the guy before she embarrassed herself. She perched herself down on the seat next to him and managed to glance back at him, giving a casual nod. "Hey."
He smiled, giving her a little nod back. "How's it goin'?"
Cassidy's expression faltered when she realized his good-looks didn't quite match up with that...horribly raspy voice that just came out of his mouth. Really gravelly. Annoyingly so. Like he chain smoked five packs a day. She was staring at him again, although not in the awe-stricken way she had been doing a few minutes ago. More of a disgusted stare. The way you would stare at something extremely repulsive. She couldn't really insult him in front of Viper, so she let her expression do all the talking, for now.
Butch frowned, friendly smile fading, and then looked away awkwardly.
Viper looked up from some paperwork he'd been reading over and glanced at the two trainees, noticing the sombre expression on Butch's face that hadn't been there a minute ago. He misunderstood, thinking the young man was just shy. "It can often be a little awkward when you meet for the first time; but I assure you, after a few weeks of sharing a room and working together, you'll be much more comfortable in each others company."
"As long as he doesn't talk," Cassidy said between fake coughs.
"Today, I'll leave the two of you to become acquainted and get to know each other a little, you could also try and become more familiar with the building, perhaps go for a walk around," Viper suggested. "We also need to make the decision on who's going to be the team leader. All pairings tend to have a more dominant role. Leadership is a matter of intelligence, courage, and discipline."
"Sounds just like me. I'll be team leader," Cassidy said decidedly, glancing at Butch. "Unless...you think you'd be a more effective leader...?"
He shook his head, eyes remaining downcast. "No. It's fine," he mumbled.
"As I assumed." She smiled and looked back at Viper proudly. "Well, there's our decision, I'm the leader."
"Very well," he said, pausing before he leaned forward slightly on the desk, giving the blonde girl a somewhat stern stare. "Although, I suggest you don't get too ahead of yourself, Cassidy. It seems you could be quite...assertive, and that's not always necessary. As an effective team leader you need to be able to think quick and have a positive attitude, not be pushy and controlling."
Cassidy smirked, rolling her eyes as she leaned back in her seat. "Well, I'll try, Viper-"
"Sir, Cassidy. Sir."
"Sorry, sir. I'll try not to be pushy."
"Good. Well, I think that's all for now. I personally think the two of you could make an excellent pairing once you become a little more familiar with each other. Do either of you have any questions to ask?" They both stayed silent. "Then you are free to leave. If there are any problems, feel free to come and see me here, although I can't promise I'll always be around."
"There won't be any problems, don't you worry, sir," Cassidy replied sincerely, standing up along with her partner and heading out of the office the moment Viper gave a dismissive wave of the hand.
It was only once they were outside with the door closed she glanced at Butch, who was a few steps behind her with his hands in his pockets, looking extremely reserved.
"So, uh, how's it goin'?" Cassidy mocked in the hoarsest voice she could manage, pressing her lips together in order to stop a giggle escaping.
Butch knew full well she was making fun of him, but he chose to ignore it and take her seriously. An angry reaction never got him anywhere- he knew that from experience. "Great, thanks," he replied in the friendliest tone he could manage as they set off down the corridor together, glancing at her and forcing a smile. "Your name was Cassidy, right?"
"Yeah. And you're...Botch, correct? Botch with the botched up voice, how fitting," she replied, glancing at him to see his expression. It had rapidly changed to an extremely irritated and upset one, like he was trying desperately to hold back anger. "Jeez...I'm just kidding, for gods sake. Can't you take a joke?"
"The name's Butch, it's not 'Botch'," he corrected her swiftly, sighing. This hadn't been the first time someone had gotten his name wrong, much to his frustration. "And no, I'm not so great at taking jokes when I'm the butt of them- which seems to be nine times outta ten."
"I'm not surprised," Cassidy remarked curtly. "What on earth's wrong with your voice, froggo? Sounds nasty, whatever you've got."
Butch rolled his eyes, hoping it would look like he didn't care. Although secretly, mocking remarks about his raspy voice were another thing he had to put up with on a daily basis, and it did no favours for his self esteem. "Look, we've only just met. Is it really necessary to make such a personal remark? Whether you like it or not, you're gonna have to tolerate my voice just like I'm gonna have to tolerate your stinkin' attitude," he snapped.
Cassidy's brows rose at his aggravated response- even though a reaction was the exact thing she'd been looking to inflict, as usual. "Wow. I wish I'd been given a less grumpy partner," she muttered dejectedly, playing the victim.
He glanced at her and heaved a sigh. "I'm not grumpy, I just think it was pretty rude of you to make fun of me like that when you don't even know me," he replied. "But alright. How's about we start over? Without the insults about my voice?"
The decent thing to do would have been to agree and stop acting bratty, but Cassidy decided she didn't have to be nice to this guy. There were no rules saying they had to be friends. She shrugged, continuing to mock his voice under her breath.
This didn't go unnoticed. Butch forced himself to ignore it though, gritting his teeth. "So uh, why'd you join Team Rocket?" he questioned, in an attempt to steer the subject away from any provocation.
She glanced at him, intentionally giving him an 'odd' look that would hopefully discomfit him. It did, judging by his sudden lack of eye contact. "That's none of your business," she said coldly. "Who are you to ask me personal questions?"
He quietly let out a frustrated sigh, hanging his head a bit so he could roll his eyes behind his bangs. "Just trying to find something to talk about. Unless you'd rather we didn't talk at all...I gotta say though, that'd be sorta awkward considering we're gonna be around each other pretty much twenty-four seven from this day on."
She frowned. He was arrogant! "So, let it be awkward."
He stayed quiet for a moment, still walking by her side, but keeping his head down. He was trying not to let it show, but her attitude was making him feel very uncomfortable and unwilling to speak. Still, confrontation was the last thing he wanted when he was going to be working with her. "How old are ya?"
"Seventeen."
"Heh, nineteen."
"I never asked you. And just because you're older, I hope you don't think you're going to tell me what to do and take charge. Like we decided, I'm team leader, what I say goes," she shot back with an unnecessary amount of defensiveness.
"Sure. I never said anything about telling you what to do. I'd be a lousy leader," he replied. "Not bossy enough."
Cassidy narrowed her lavender eyes at him contemptuously. "Are you insinuating I'm bossy?"
"Not at all."
She scoffed. "I bet you're not smart enough to be a leader either," she retorted smugly.
"Hey, who says I'm not smart? You don't even know me."
"My idiot radar senses these things."
He chuckled quietly. "You sure your idiot radar ain't broken? I consider myself to be pretty intelligent, I might not seem it, but I am."
"Whatever."
Butch sighed. It was obvious by her negative attitude and dirty looks that the girl had taken an instant dislike to him, so his efforts at being friendly seemed useless. "Uh...so," he began awkwardly, willing to give it one more shot before deciding she wasn't worth his time. "Not much to do around this place at the moment, huh? Do you wanna show me the dorm room we're unfortunately gonna be sharing as of tonight? Or we could go find the cafeteria? Here's hoping they've got some decent food, I'm pretty hungry."
"Or we could just like, not hang out with each other," the blonde replied coldly, although really she was a little tempted to see how the cafeteria was. Not with this guy, though.
He shrugged. "We're partners now, might as well get used to being in each others company."
"No. I don't need you and your guttural voice cramping my style."
Butch hesitated for a moment, staring at her. He couldn't believe the sheer rudeness of this girl. "...Know what?" he began curtly. "That's fine. You seem like a real stuck-up little brat anyway. So, I'll see ya when I see ya," he snapped, before turning on his heel just like that, and storming off the opposite way.
Cassidy sighed frustratedly, shaking her head as she continued walking herself, briskly. She didn't know where she was going. Maybe back to her dorm room? It seemed like a tempting idea, considering that soon, it wasn't going to be 'her' dorm room. It was going to be their dorm room. Hers, and that idiot. Sure, there was no real reason for her to have behaved how she just had, and she knew it. But she was Cassidy, if she didn't like someone, she made sure they knew it. In her eyes, that was an extremely good quality of hers- the ability to speak her mind.
After the way things had just turned out, whether it was all her fault or not, she decided that Jessie wasn't the only one in for a rough ride at this place.