Thank you guys so much for all the reviews! I need some new words of gratitude…these are getting stale.
New chapter of RH is coming in hot! We get to see Padmé's POV for the first time. I hope you enjoy it! Be sure to let me know what you think!
Padmé was still sitting in the office when Dooku breezed out of the newsroom, smiling conspiratorially.
"This is gonna be great! He totally bought it!" Dooku snickered.
Padmé barely spared him a second glance. As he strolled past.
Dooku stopped short of the door. "Aren't you going to ask 'what'?" He queried
Padmé looked up at him disdainfully. "To be completely, ruthlessly, soul-crushingly honest with you, I don't care."
"Your feisty…I like that." Dooku leered.
With a deft movement, Padmé kicked the skateboard up into her hand. "Touch me and you're going to wish I'd killed you." She snarled, standing up.
"Is there a problem here Mr. Dooku?" Principal Palpatine asked, stepping out of his office.
"Not at all sir, I was just leaving." Dooku replied, totally blasé as he stepped smoothly out of the room."
Palpatine turned his attention to Padmé. "Alright Miss Naberrie, you know why you're here." He beckoned the apathetic teenager into his office with a weary wave of his hand.
Padmé followed him in and dropped into her usual chair; she had logged some serious time in here.
"Now, I have very patiently reminded you of school policy, Miss Naberrie, and yet you continue to take advantage of my leniency. That time has come to an end. Please report to the dean of students' office for disciplinary action." Palpatine instructed with a weary sigh.
Padmé said nothing, but made an offensive hand gesture and marched out of the room, snickering.
She slid into her usual spot until the Dean of Students looked up from his paperwork.
"Ah, Miss Naberrie, to what do I owe the pleasure this time?" The tall man asked.
"The usual this time Mr. Maul…skateboarding on school property, use of death-sticks in the girls refresher, and consumption of alcohol during lunch hour." Padmé answered.
Cyrus Maul sighed. "Have you considered the possibility that maybe the rules were made to benefit you? Not to put a chokehold on your freedom?" He asked, running a large hand over his dark forehead.
Padmé leered back at him. "I have, sir. And then I dismissed it immediately."
Maul struggled to keep his composure. "Well, then, why don't you spend this Saturday sitting at your desk and writing a three thousand word essay on the benefits of rules."
"What the kriff! Are you nuts? The Sublight Slashers are playing the Senate Arena this weekend! I have to be there!" Padmé effectively roared.
Maul answered with a smugly-satisfied smirk of his own. "Make that, four-thousand. Perhaps you should have thought of that before you decided to break the rules. The only place you are required to be is here, on Saturday morning, at six A.M. sharp."
Padmé scowled and shoved herself out of her chair. "Kriff you." She sneered.
"Six thousand. Would you like to try for seven, Miss Naberrie?"
Padmé's scowl deepened. "No…sir."
"Alright then. You are dismissed. Please make sure to get a pass from the Secretary; you're late for first period." Maul instructed.
Without another word, Padmé stalked out of the room.
Maul allowed himself to smile. One way or another, that insolent child was going to adhere to the rules.
***Later That Day…***
Padmé dropped into her seat in the busy cafeteria, sitting her tray on the table with a sharp smack. Her upper lip curled in disgust when the crowded lunch room erupted in cheers as Anakin Skywalker strode in.
Look at him, self-righteous, arrogant, sexless little marsh-toad basking in the admiration of all the drooling mudcrutch fan-girls. Probably thinks he can bork whoever he wants. That's just kriffing disgusting. She mentally gagged.
Slowly, the cheers died down.
No longer having much of an appetite, she picked at the pizza she'd been so eager to eat just moments before.
Just then, Obi-Wan Kenobi cruised up on his skateboard, dropping into the seat across from her.
"That's just kriffing disgusting." He groaned, running a hand through spiked brown hair-shot through with blue dye.
Padmé laughed. "Dude, I was just thinking the exact same thing!"
The two of them bumped fists.
"So, what brings you skulking back to skater crew? Couldn't hack it with the BMX scrag-ends?" Padmé ribbed good-naturedly, slugging Obi-Wan a few times for good measure.
Obi-Wan grinned. "Nope, and I've got YouTube to prove it. Two words: epic fail."
Mace Windu, came up then, holding a small video camera. "Kenobi! Naberrie!" The dark-skinned youth razzed, slugging Kenobi with a flurry of none-too-gentle punches."
"Mace!" Obi-Wan replied in turn, returning a few slugs of his own, which only earned him more punishment from Mace. "Why?" Obi-Wan wondered quietly, rubbing his chest.
"I don't know," Mace said in his baritone voice. "You just have this wimp-vibe; it's constantly screaming: hit me!"
Obi Wan rolled his eyes.
"When did you get back?" Padmé asked her other friend.
"I just flew in. The contest was great, I wish you guys could've been there." Mace answered, referring to the skate competition he'd taken part in over the weekend in the small city of Yavin.
"I bet you ripped." Padmé said, smiling.
"You know it." Mace replied, hi-fiving Padmé.
"Oh, Force." Padmé groaned.
"Wha-" Obi-Wan began to ask. And then he saw.
Anakin Skywalker was making their way over to their table.
"What's wrong with him?" Mace wondered, having missed the boy's arrival earlier that morning.
"He's the new kid." Obi-Wan explained. "Padmé doesn't like him 'cause he famous."
"So what?" Mace asked, looking incredulously at his female companion. "Dude, admit it, if he was a skater, you would be all over that shiz."
Padmé took a swig of her soda and belched. "Would I?" She raised an eyebrow.
Mace just laughed at his friend's attempt to change the subject. "Why don't you like him?"
"I just don't like him. He's so kriffing arrogant." She moaned.
"Were you even watching the newscast this morning?" Obi-Wan asked. "He seemed like a pretty-down-to-earth guy. And Dooku gave him plenty of chances to flaunt his accomplishments."
"No, I was too busy hitting the eight-set out front to catch it. Besides, he's guilty until proven innocent." Padmé countered.
"I think you've got it backwards Padmé." Mace interjected.
"We'll see." Padmé replied.
"Is this seat taken?" Anakin asked politely.
"Do you see anyone in it?" Padmé snapped.
Very slowly, Anakin sat down in the empty seat.
"'Sup" Mace asked, extending a hand. "I'm Mace."
Anakin shook it gratefully, happy to finally interact with someone who wasn't swooning over him. "Anakin. Nice to meet you." He said.
"I'm Obi-Wan Kenobi,"
Anakin shook his hand as well. "My pleasure."
"And I'm leaving." Padmé snarled. With that, she got up and cruised out of the cafeteria.
"What'd I do?" Anakin wondered, staring after her.
"Nothing." Mace assured him. "She's actually pretty nice, once you get to know her. She just doesn't like famous people. Thinks they all believe their 'entitled' or some slag like that. She'll come around…eventually…we hope." Mace said, losing conviction with each word. "Hey, she might even like you. But if you even want the ghost of a shot with her. You'll have to convince her that you're not like everybody else. And…since she won't even look at you, let alone talk to you, that might be pretty difficult."
"Yeah, that'll be the day. Padmé Naberrie becomes an actual girl." Obi-Wan snickered in disbelief.
"Not to change the subject or anything, but do you guys know where I can find the fencing practice room? I'm supposed to go there after school and I've already gotten lost three times today."
"No problem, we'll walk you there. We're headed to the same place." Obi-Wan offered.
"You guys fence?" Anakin asked, surprised.
"All the boys do. Principal Palpatine thinks we need a 'structured outlet for our testosterone-fueled aggression.' At least that's how he puts it." Obi-Wan explained.
"Thanks." Anakin replied.
"You can thank me if you live. The fencing instructor doesn't play games. And the swords are real."
"You fight with real swords?" Anakin's eyes widened.
"You don't? We have armor plating and stuff, but only posers use those metal twigs you see in the Olympics. Don't tell me you've never fought with an actual sword before." Mace stared at Anakin in disbelief.
"Um, actually , I haven't" Anakin admitted.
"May the Force be with you dude; otherwise you're hosed." Obi-Wan said pointedly.
Anakin gulped nervously. Crap!
Like it? Hate it? Let me know! And check out the links on my profile for character theme songs!
Also, I just wanted to let you guys know that Republic High, Endless March, and Xmen Evo: Picking up the Pieces will not be updated for the week of Jan. 15-22, because I'm going on vacation. I'll try my best to have another chapter for you guys before I leave on Friday, but I can't promise anything.
Remember, Reviews mean updates!
~Ink