***Authors Note***
Sorry guys, I know it has been way too long since I've updated, and I'm sad to say that it
took me losing my job to have time to write on my stories… I laid around the house
feeling useless for about a week and then I caught up on reading my favorite fics. And
was all like, Wow… I bet all my readers would like to have seen an update… and Yeah
I'm sorry so I'll just keep updating regularly until I am no longer unemployed lol
So let's see, I believe a list of thank you's is in call for! THANK YOU:
Modz4u, Okay Wow, Shadowkiller13, ShokoraNushi, TouchingTheSkyInMyDreams, And Salamander B. Hat
Thank you all so much! I am going to try to keep updating a lot. I am determined this time!
In fact, I got bitten by a dog, and so I am having to type the whole thing with my right
middle finger in the air! I can't touch a key without it killing me… So~ Proof I am Loyal!
Well whatever right? Enjoy The chapter!
~Gebrelle
***End Note***
The alarm blared unrelentingly in Nina's ear, and she let it, only rolling to stare at the glaring red numbers that informed her of the fact that she had already slept through too many previous alarms to press snooze again.
Why were people even required to live on Tuesdays? Everyone around her said Mondays were the worst day of the week. But no. Nina had always believed Tuesdays were so much worse… Even though Monday was usually the beginning to a long week, at least you had rested during the week end. But with Tuesdays, you had the rest of a long week in front of you, without the rest of the day before. Making it so much worse in her opinion.
The alarm continued to blare and her cat got irritated, walking all over her, as if to roll her out of bed himself, only bugging her as he was trying to help. Nina growled and pushed him off her side, sitting up and smacking her alarm clock to turn it off.
Nina could only grumble to herself as she stumbled her way to the bathroom, Light looking on perceptively, knowing the source of her bad mood, having watched her pound frustratedly at her keyboard, trying to find decent webpages that she could trust to continue to give her reliable criminal information.
She spent forever in the shower, just letting the water run off her body as she just stood in the warm spray, trying to straighten her mindset, knowing she would just have to find another way to get a hold of names from now on since the FBI had done a rather thorough job of censoring the sites that mattered.
When she finally came out of the bathroom, Kira and Light were staring at each other, seeming to have a contest, not that she could have cared less at the moment since she was pushing her time before school, and she haphazardly threw everything into her laptop bag, only taking her time when it came to her DeathNote, tucking it into the paper folder that had become its protective housing, making sure it was nestled safely in the bottom of the bag, not trusting it in her bedroom, knowing her dad would find it if he searched her room.
Nina decided to go ahead and start her dad's coffee. However the floor had other plans, and her head hit the door frame as she tripped over the threshold to the hallway, drawing a few choice words that her dad would have laughed at had he heard.
She scowled at the floor and door as if they had both done it intentionally before checking the laptop in her bag. Oddly enough it wasn't even in her bag… That was a good thing, though she had almost left the house without it… She growled to herself as she stuffed it in her bag, dusting herself off and rubbing the darkening mark at her hair line, leaving her in a terrible mood as she stomped to the kitchen, starting her dad's coffee and locking the door behind her as she walked down to the bus stop.
She barely made it there in time only to find that Anne wasn't even there. So of course someone else had taken the first opportunity that they had gotten to take that back seat… She muttered unhappily to herself as she plopped down in an empty seat somewhere in the middle of the bus.
"Today just isn't your day is it?" She heard from behind her, but she didn't bother responding, knowing it was only Light. She did however give him a tiny shake of the head as she pulled out her phone, finding missed texts from Anne, meant to have informed her much earlier that morning telling she had gone to visit some family that was in town and that she would probably not be in school for a few days… At least one, at most three… How pleasant…
She glared out the window, catching her reflection, and she decided she looked like Kira when she bathed him, soaked, tired, and mad at the world.
The scenery passed outside her widow in the all too familiar bus route. The one she had watched pass since she was ten years old, once her tiny broken family was able to settle down and start rebuilding after everything that had shredded their peaceful life before…
The thought alone made her grit her teeth, just a few more months and she would never have to ride the monotonous route over and over, twice a day five days a week… Ugh… She couldn't wait to graduate…
She looked up at the front of the bus as it made a turn it never took, and rolled her eyes as the 'helpful' noisy kids in the front informed their new bus driver that he had gone the wrong way… She couldn't wait to get to school… And she was going to eat some of that pizza… The pizza would make it all better…
When the bus FINALLY made it to the school, she shoved her way to the cafeteria, only to be disheartened when she found the only things on the menu today was French toast sticks and muffins… She decided on the latter, figuring the first would look the same on the trip out as they did on the serving tray…
Once again she chose to sit across from Nathen and couldn't help but wonder at the death glare Light was giving the guy. She stuffed her face, watching the boy out of the corner of her eye. He was solving and scrambling a rubix cube looking rather bored, always keeping his eyes lowered. She had lost interest in him when he finally looked up, she looked at him curiously, finding him looking behind her, and she turned a little to figure out what would have grabbed the quiet one's attention, never expecting what she was met with.
Ice blue eyes locked with hers, and she could feel a cold feeling of dread creep down her spine as he approached with a cocky smile, and she faked the best one she was capable of…
"Well~ Just the two I was hoping to see. And together no less?" He cast Nathen a curious look that the white haired boy shrugged off, his attention returning to the toy in his hand, leaving the surprisingly intense questioning look to fall to her.
She kept her grin, "Should I be flattered?"
He blinked, losing his curiosity, his smirk getting on her nerves, "I wouldn't say so…"
Ah. So he disliked her as much as she disliked him… "So may I assist you wi-"
"Nina~!" A little British ball of perky flounced over to land in the seat beside her, "Who's this cutie?"
Nina forced herself not to sigh, "Evie, this is…" All she could think of was the red letters over his head and his alias stuck to the roof of her mouth for a moment, "um… Scott right?" She thought that sounded right… A nod from the red head made her feel much better.
"Oh~ So you two know each other?" the girl purred, insinuating more than just knowing the other.
"I've met him in passing…"
"So have you showed him your pictures yet?" she was beaming looking way too happy for this early in the morning…
"Evie… I'm sure he's not interested in-"
"But it looks like Maria's~"
She could feel the smile that she was already having a hard time holding slipping and she chanced a look at Scott who was giving an almost shocked look to Nathen who had looked up at her dully.
"I thought it was rather nice…" She wanted to fall in a hole. This 'Scott' was too perceptive as it was, without giving him more reason to remember her specifically…
"If Nathen says it's worth looking at then perhaps you wouldn't mind sharing?" Those intense eyes were digging in her own and she bit her lip, pilfering through her untidy bag, looking for a random notebook she knew would have art in it, finally settling on the one she had lent Evie and passing it to the boy that was watching her so intensely.
He flipped through it very slowly, his eyes taking every bit of the sketch before turning to the next. "I'm secretly a big fan of Maria's…" he said, his eyes locking with hers for a moment and she shrugged as if she didn't care one way or the other, as Evie rambled about how Nina liked her too and she had gone with Anne and her a few times to exhibits that Maria's stuff had been in… Nina wished she could just make the girl shut up… Normally her chatter was calming but today she was telling the one… Maybe two… people that she didn't need to know these things everything that they could possibly want on her.
"Did you know that Maria is classified as an anonymous artist because she never comes in person to pick up prizes or to even submit things?" It took everything in Nina not to flinch at Scott's words as he passed back the notebook, "And I like the artist mark you hide in your work."
Nina felt some of her color leave and her muffin suddenly seemed too dry and stuck in her mouth. All she did was nod, making a big thing of her mouth being full, as she avoided answering.
Nina marked all her art. Anne took marked art and put a cute little boat at the bottom with the name 'Maria'. If Scott saw the marks hidden so well in her art, then he could see it in Maria's… Though the point of the blatant mark was to draw from the hidden ones…
Light muttered something about Evie talking too much and Nina almost agreed aloud, having to check herself for it, trying to block him out again. Ugh… She really needed to distract Scott before he thought about it too much…
There was a big commotion on the other side of the lunchroom and Evie wasted no time going over there, leaving her alone with the two strange boys.
"So now that we're alone, what were you doing over at the FBI plaza?" She looked at him curiously, as did Nathen.
"I was instructed to take a case file there… Did I give it to the wrong person?" Don't let them know that you knew all too well it was the right agent.
"No… Kline was who is in charge of the files…" He looked at her almost sideways, obviously trying to figure her out, "Who sent you?"
"The police station…Why?" Innocent. Be innocent.
He just shrugged, "You just seem pretty smart is all… Have a good head on your shoulders it seems…" He looked her over and she tried not to squirm because it wasn't a nice look… It was more like the look someone gives a person when they are wondering how many knots are required in the noose they are going to use to hang a person…
Nathen wasn't looking at her and was instead looking at Scott through the corner of his eyes. "She does seem quite intelligent…"
"So how did you get to the Plaza? Surely you didn't take a Kira file on the public bus?" Perfect. Just what she needed. Something to make him wonder that wouldn't hurt her at all if he dug for it.
"Eh?" She asked innocently, "D-does it matter?" She looked down at her food and stuffed more muffin in her mouth.
He raised an eyebrow, "So you did?"
She shook her head, mouth still carefully full.
"A taxi? A friend take you?" She shook her head after each one, "I'm not playing a guessing game…"
She finally cleared her mouth, "I drove."
He raised an oddly red eyebrow again, "So why did it matter when I asked?"
"It doesn't" She answered quickly, as if hiding what she had been driving, knowing he would try to pry outside of school since if he did in school, he wouldn't find out anything. There were very very few that knew she had a bike. And when he did dig up what she drove, he would find out it was a motorcycle and assume she didn't want others to know about it.
He just nodded, accepting that she wasn't going to tell him anymore.
"So~? You two know each other huh? Does Nathen hang around the FBI plaza too?"
Scott looked at Nathen, "Yes… We're both special agents that they only call for almost impossible cases. We're currently teamed with a special division of the FBI called together to crack the new Kira case."