A/N: Hey there guys. I just wanted to let you know that I'm working really hard to improve the quality of my chapters. I'm working on making them a little less overly-descriptive, and I'm trying to make the story line pick up a little bit. Thanks for hanging in there, guys. Your constructive criticism is always welcome, as are the rest of the reviews. (Particularily ones confessing your unrequited love for my fanfictioning talents.) Whoa...somebody's got quite the ego there. :D
Chapter 7: School, Perverts, and a Few More of My Least Favorite Things
Max's POV
Brush, brush, brush, brush, SPIT! Brush, brush, brush, SPIT! I seemed to be on auto-pilot today. Or rather, I'd been on auto-pilot for a few days now. When I did things, it almost seemed as if the directions for how to do them went streaming through my mind. I was currently brushing my teeth forcefully, trying to rid my mouth of any toast crumbs or bits of apple leftover from this morning's breakfast. When the last sequence of directions had repeated themselves in my thoughts, I stuck my toothbrush back in the handy little cup on the corner of the sink and glanced up at my reflection. I looked tired. That was the only word I could use to describe my facial expression at the moment. It was too early in the morning to think up better words. I sighed and spun on my heels to trek out of the bathroom.
Today would be my first day in attendence to Buena High School. Student body population: 2,721. As you can tell from my demeanor, I'm absolutely psyched to be going back to school. (Right now, I'm wincing with sarcasm. You can't see...but I am.) Not only had I had a terrible first week here, but now I was going to have to go and get brainwashed for six hours with the other hick children. It had been about five days since me and my lovely half-sister had clashed in the kitchen. We'd spoken, in total, about twenty words to eachother since then. And most of them were something along the lines of "Coming through" when we were going up the stairs, or "I'm in here" if one of us knocked on the bathroom door and the other was using it. Other than that, we had had ZERO communication. Ella spent most of her day at school, and either came home and locked herself in the room we were supposed to be sharing, or went home with one of her friends. Turns out she's only in the seventh grade, and attends some school called Joyce Clark Middle School. At least I won't have to deal with her at the high school.
Thankfully, though, Ella seemed to have about as much interest in interacting with me as she had interest in interacting with vicious, hungry animals. Though she had resentfully let me sleep and keep my stuff in her room, she slept on the couch downstairs instead. She was ice cold during dinner, pretending as though I didn't exist. She no longer seemed to blame Mrs. Martinez for my presence and acted like I had been forced upon the family and was only taken in out of pity. Like some poor, homeless dog. I treated her with about as much respect. And gratefully, the carpet cleaners had come, and now I had the guest room to myself with all my stuff in there. Mrs. Martinez, however, went out of her way to be nice to me. She tried to cook food that I liked, and bought me extra toiletries just in case. I'd go up to my room and find a bag of shampoo and conditioner with a note on it saying that she'd seen them in the store on sale and thought I might need some soon anyways. But even though she was incredibly generous, I could tell that what I had said about not wanting to live here was in the back of her mind always. The newfound feeling of guilt I was experiencing was really taking a toll on my mood. I spent most of my days moping around the house, or taking walks around town.
I kept putting off calling Jeb, and whenever he called (usually once a day, in the evening), I'd tell Mrs. Martinez that I didn't want to talk right now, but maybe tomorrow. But of course, that was my answer every time. I was still mad at him for sending me here. I knew that if I started talking with him, I would just end up yelling. So I didn't talk at all. It was as simple as that. To summarize my time spent here so far, it had been (and, I'm assuming, is going to continue to be) miserable. But despite all my angstiness and hermit-like behavior, one thing kept popping up into my head. That guy that had bowled me over coming out of the Welcome Center on my first day in Sierra Vista. Whenever I walked around town, I always passed it by and checked in the windows just to make sure he wasn't in there. He never was, but the action had become almost habitual. I wanted to see him again. He seemed like the gateway to something. Probably just because he gave off that feeling of a daring, trouble-making, slightly dangerous kind of person. I loved all those things, and he seemed like the only thing in this shit hole town where I would be able to get them.
Of course, there was still that necklace. I sighed at the thought. That fucking necklace. I still had nightmares about one of the guys from my old gang breaking into the house and slitting my throat just to get it back. I was still paranoid about it and checked up on it three times a day. When I woke up in the morning, sometime in the afternoon, and then right before I went to bed. I hadn't felt safe keeping it in my suitcase, so I had come up with a hiding place for it. Unfortunately, I may have piqued Ella's curiosity about it two or three days ago when she caught me trying to stow it away...
I dug through my suitcase until I was able to pull out the necklace from it's protective coverings. The silver strands slid around in my palm and the plum gems glittered in the light from the bulb over my head. I glanced around Ella's room for some small, inconspicuous little container I could keep it in. The cardboard packaging for what must have been a cell phone lay discarded by the dresser. I picked it up and slid the necklace into it along with the styrofoam padding that was already in there. Then I darted out of the room, feeling like a burgler all over again with my heart racing, and popped into the guest room. The carpet-cleaners had finished the carpeting, and I was supposed to be moving in here some time tomorrow. I was just about to stuff it under the mattress of the bed, when a voice came from the doorway.
"Umm...what are you doing?" It was Ella, looking at me like she was observing a mental patient in a hospital, her arms crossed and her eyes narrowed in confusion.
"Er...nothing..." I said thickly, praying that she was dense enough to just forget about it.
"That's my phone container. Why are you stealing my things?" I didn't know how to respond, but I was getting ticked off. Couldn't anybody mind their own business anymore? "Give that to me." I was so startled when she lunged forward and pried the box from my fingers, that I hardly reacted. A sound of surprise issued from my lips, but that was it. "What's in here?" she asked, rattling the box. She opened it open and poured the contents out over her open palm. The styrofoam came first, and then the necklace plopped out. My eyes went wide. She looked up at me. "What is this? It looks fancy."
I snatched it irritatedly out of her hands. "Nothing!" I snapped, "It's just something cheap that my um...my ex-boyfriend gave to me a little while ago. I just wanted to make sure it didn't get damaged in my luggage." I came up with some petty little excuse, hoping that by using some teen-girl language Ella would drop the whole thing. Instead, she just stared at me incredulously.
"YOU had a boyfriend?" she asked in a mocking tone. I rolled my eyes and turned my back to her, pretending to futz with bed covers. Ella started to laugh as she exited the room, and I heard her continue to laugh until she reached her room and shut the door.
"Yeah, fuck you, too, bitch..." I muttered angrily under my breath. I shoved the necklace under the mattress, and then left the room, fuming.
Mrs. Martinez's voice brought me out of my flashback. "Max? Ella? Are you almost ready? It's just about time to get going for school! Don't wanna be late for your first day, Max!" She was calling from the bottom of the stairs. I realized that while I was thinking, I had paused in the middle of the hallway right in front of Ella's open door. I was absentmindedly staring into the room like some sort of creeper. Ella was staring right back at me with confusion and irritation.
"Can I help you?" she demanded. I just shook my head and made my way downstairs. Mrs. Martinez was waiting there with a brown paper bag clutched in her hands. I picked up my backpack off of the floor and slung it over my shoulders. It was filled with the school supplies Mrs. Martinez had bought me yesterday. When I had straightened myself up under the weight of it, she held out the paper bag to me.
"Here...I packed your lunch for you. I noticed that you forgot to last night, and well...I had some spare time this morning." She grinned sheepishly, looking a little embarrassed, but proud of herself at the same time, if that makes sense. I tried to show my gratitude without showing that I was a little weirded out. I had never been taken care of like this before, and it was all still a little foreign to me.
"Umm...thanks, Mrs. Martinez. That's...that's helpful." I hashed out the best thank you I could muster, and then started to walk out towards the car. Ella thundered down the stairs and shot past me to grab the front seat. I gritted my teeth and hopped into the back, trying to resist the urge to snap her neck.
Buena High School was a large building made out of gray brick with some weird tribal-looking brick patterns in the walls. The words Buena High School: Home of the Colts were printed in maroon letters on the front wall. Kids of all different kinds milled around in the front of the school. Some sat on picnic tables, others were plopped in the grass, and still others stood in little circles, all of them texting and talking non-stop. I gulped. I would never admit this to any human being, but I was nervous. I hated new schools, because I was always the outcast. The one that all the popular girls laughed at, and that all the boys dared eachother to talk to, and then laughed at. Mrs. Martinez grinned at me from the drivers seat. "Remember...you'll have to go straight to the administration office and get everything in order. They should have your class schedule and things, and the woman I talked to said you'd get a student guide to help show you around." She paused for a moment and then reached out to touch my cheek. "Have a good day at school." I tried not to flinch away, and answer at the same time.
"I'll try." I managed to say, grabbing my lunch and stepping out of the car. I took a deep breath and started to walk towards the building. I felt as though every single kid's head turned to size me up as I passed. A group of laughing girls on their cell phones all went quiet when I walked by and stared, a guy drinking a soda and sitting on the grass glared at me suspiciously, and two boys with ridiculously long hair stopped headbanging to their music when they caught sight of me. I kept my vision straight ahead and managed to make it all the way to the front doors without anyone stopping to talk to me. For that, I was gratefull. I stepped into the building and it seemed relatively empty. I wondered if I was allowed to be in here, but didn't really care. Anything to escape the mayhem outside. A big, laminated paper sign taped to the glass of a big room let me know that it was the administration office I was looking for. Oh god...no turning back now.
In the office, I was greeted by a peppy blonde woman wearing too much makeup and a piece of her breakfast stuck in her teeth. It glared profusely blackish-green at me when she smiled, and I couldn't stop staring at it when she started to talk to me. "Hi there. What's your name, dear?" she asked, beaming.
"Umm...Max..." I said distractedly. She smiled wider, which made it worse.
"Let me just see here..." She shifted through some files on her desk and pulled out a little folder. "Oh, yes...Maximum Ride. Coming here to live with your mother, I see. That's nice." She pulled several papers out of the folder. "Okey dokey, well I've got your class schedule right here, and a map of the school you can carry around. And this is just a little Welcome Packet that tells you a little bit about our school." She handed me the bunch of papers and I stared down at them in my hands awkwardly. The woman didn't say anything for a little while, so I just shifted about, wondering if I was supposed to go or not.
"Er...should I just go now, or-?" The woman rose her eyebrows.
"Oh, heavens no, dear! We aren't going to make you wander the halls in confusion all day long. Your student guide should be here any minute now. I'm sure they'll show you around, so don't worry. They'll take you to all your classes, tell you which room is where, and anything else you want to know. You can sit over there until they get here." She pointed to some rigid looking chairs by the glass windows. I shifted the papers in my arms and leaned a bit on the counter.
"I think I'll stand." The woman just smiled at me for several more seconds and then started to type rapidly into her computer. I was left to stand uncomfortably by the desk, my back starting to ache just a little bit from all of the shit in my backpack. The school bell rang shrilly and the front doors to the school banged open immediately. The glass "wall" that was the entrance to the administration office provided a perfect view of the main hallway. I watched as bunches of students pulsed into the building, laughing and pushing forward. I glanced at the clock. Judging from the paper schedule I had just gotten, my homeroom was supposed to start in about eight minutes give or take. I glanced hopefully out at the kids pouring in again. Maybe my student guide had gotten trampled or something, and there wouldn't be anyone to show me around. Maybe they'd just send me home and tell me to come back again next week.
Unfortunately, my hopes were crushed about thirty seconds later when my student guide (speak of the devil) stepped into the office. Although...the guide himself just about made up for it. The door slid open and he slipped inside, dressed from head to toe in black, and eminating a bad-ass vibe. He brushed his dark hair out of his eyes, and I fought to keep my facial expression flat. In my head, I was screaming, though. "Oh my God! It's that guy from the Welcome Center! The one who knocked me over!" I wondered curiously if he would even remember me. Judging by the fact that he did a double take when he looked at me, I assumed that he remembered quite well. He didn't say anything to me at first, though, and just approached the woman at the desk.
"Um...I'm the student guide." he said plainly, with no real emotion in his tone. Again, the only thing that betrayed the fact that he actually had emotions were his dark eyes. The woman nodded and gave him a quick briefing on what his duties were and such. At least...I think that's what she was talking about. I was only half paying attention. The rest of my thoughts were recalling the memory of him running into me, and then all the trouble I had gone through trying to catch sight of him again. And here I am, meeting him on accident in my own school. And he just HAPPENS to be my student guide. I wondered vaguely if there was some sort of conspiracy theory going on here. I didn't have much time to theorize, though, because before I knew it, he was standing in front of me. "Hi." he said flatly. "I guess I'm supposed to show you around." He waited for a moment and then started to walk towards the door. I followed after him. Hmm...just as short on the polite conversation as last time. This was good. I didn't really care for formal introductions OR polite conversation.
I stepped out of the office and was greeted with a blast of high school morning noise. Kids were laughing, lockers were slamming, two people were making out quite loudly a couple feet away from us. I was a bit mystified by all of it. Back at my old school, I was usually either skipping with my so called "friends", or I just tried to block everything out as much as possible. That would explain why this was all a little overwhelming for me. I tried not to let it show. I followed the boy's fast-paced walk as closely as possible. He wasn't much of a tour guide, but I didn't mind. As we walked by some things, he would occasionally mutter something about it. Stuff like "Yeah, that's the gym" or "Over there's where the library is". Sometimes he would say things like "God, I don't know why they assigned me to do this. I hate showing people around." In the approximately five minute period he spent walking me to homeroom, he didn't once mention our last encounter. I wondered if it was in the back of his mind like it was mine. Finally we stopped outside of a classroom already filled with students.
"Okay, this is homeroom." he said blandly. Jeese...did his voice only have one tone? He started to walk into the classroom and took a vacant seat towards the back of the classroom. I followed and sat down in the seat in front of his. He glanced at me, but didn't say anything. Finally, I spun around in my chair to face him. He looked up from shuffling through his backpack. I had laid mine across my desk.
"You never told me your name." I pointed out. "Not even last time." He looked at me for a minute.
"Nick Damon." was the only response I got. I almost sighed. I had been looking for a bit more of a detailed answer. Maybe for him to make a comment. I needed to analyze this guy. Find out how he worked. It was a bit of a hobby of mine. I figured that if I didn't really care for much human interaction, the least I could do was observe. I could make it into a sort of game. It would be less annoying that way. Just a science experiment instead of actual connection. I decided to tell him my name, just to see if it would start anything.
"I'm Max Ride." I paused. He just nodded and continued to pull out a few text books. Ugh...was he really going to force me to get personal just to get a conversation going? I hated talking about my personal life. It made me feel like I was on Oprah or something. "I just moved here. That's why I was reading that map at the Welcome Center place last time." I was testing the water. He looked up at me this time. It looked like he was possibly going to say something, but if he was, I never got to hear it. At that moment, another guy walked up behind Nick and clapped him on the back.
"What's up, man?" the guy said. Fang glanced up at him.
"Hey, Michael." Then the guy called Michael leaned in and whispered in Nick's ear. I could JUST make out what was being said. "First of all, can I have your science homework? I forgot about it last night. Second of all...who's that chick in front of you? She's kinda cute..." Nick laughed slightly.
"Umm...okay..." he whispered back. "I guess if you like that sort of girl..." The fact that they both glanced at me when he said this confirmed what I thought I had heard. I rolled my eyes. I hated it when guys teased me about my looks. So what if I didn't wear makeup or get perms. I'd always thought makeup was decieving anyways. This is my face; take it or leave. They didn't have to make jokes about it everytime I turned around.
"Haha, very funny." I said, glaring at Nick. Michael looked taken aback. "You know, I'm right here. I can hear everything that you're saying." My eyes narrowed on Nick. Only his eyes told me that he was a bit confused as well. "What? Do none of the girls around here ever stand up for themselves?" When neither of them responded, I swiveled back around in my chair and stared straight ahead. Why did guys have to be such douches? I didn't need help from guys like them. I would find my own way around this shitty school. That'll show them. And then the bell rang, signaling the beginning of homeroom.
Unfortunately, my confidence that I would be able to navigate the building was soon failing. And by soon, I mean immediately after homeroom ended and I was supposed to find my Social Studies class. I had abandoned Nick and was wandering the halls, trying to read the stupid fucking map the lady in the office had given me. Sadly, map reading was not one of my many talents. I turned it this way and that, trying to make sense of it, but to no avail. Then I heard Nick's voice behind me. "There you are." he said, calmly. I ignored him completely, and continued my attempts at decoding the map. "You need some help with that?" He offered. This was the first time he had posed a question directed at me. I didn't let that distract me from the fact that I was pissed at him.
"I don't need help from a guy that openly mocks me." I said bitterly. This time, his face actaully changed expressions. This one was confused.
"What are you talking about?" he asked, sounding baffled. I rolled my eyes and sighed angrily.
"You know, I'm not deaf. You guys were sitting right behind me. I heard every word you said." I snapped. For some reason, I felt like picking a fight today. But Nick just chuckled.
"You're offended because he thought you were cute?" he asked bluntly. I didn't have time to respond before he started talking again. "And by the way...I new you could hear what we were saying. I thought it might have been a bit awkward if I said I thought you were cute or something like that and you heard it. You know...since I'm SUPPOSED to be showing you around and stuff." He emphasized the word 'supposed'. I didn't know what to say. I didn't understand if there was some underlying meaning to what he had just said. His sentence swirled around in my head, but I just ended up puzzled. He overlooked this and pointed to something on the map. "You are here." was all he said. "Your next class?" He trailed his finger all the way to the other side of the building on the map. "Over there." He glanced at the clock on the nearby wall. "You have three minutes." I glared up at him.
"Well that's just great." I grumbled. I was NOT in a good mood today. And now I would proably be yelled at by some psycho Social Studies teacher. The kind in glasses and ancient suits that have freakish mummy's in the classroom, and hang posters of all the presidents on their bedroom walls like some people hang band posters. I tried to figure out the quickest route to class, but my brain was simply not working today. This map did not read like the maps I was used to. The kinds of maps I usually read were floor plans. This was just a bunch of squares with numbers in them.
"Do you want me to show you a shortcut, or are you just going to wander around for another forty-five minutes?" Nick asked, looking on the verge of a smirk. Oh sure...now he was all talkative. Why hadn't he been doing this earlier? Maybe then I wouldn't have needed help finding the fucking classroom. My response was to glare. I hoped he'd get the message. Apparently he did, because he started to walk off. "Suit yourself. I'll see you at lunch then. If you can find the cafeteria..." I groaned. He had a point. So I reluctantly followed after him. Thankfully, he didn't say anything even when he noticed I was walking with him. The look on his face told me that he was pleased with himself for forcing me to surrender by threatening loss of lunch period.
"Well, someone changed personalities." I said. "You answer me like a robot every time I ask you something, and now all of the sudden you're making sarcastic remarks with me?" I tried to make myself sound a bit irritated. I wanted to see how he would react. He shrugged slightly, and I saw an invisible wall go up. Okay...now he had me intrigued again. My anger was forgotten as opportunities to play the game of analyzing people arose. He glanced over at me.
"I don't know...I guess I was...testing the water." He half grinned at me, and then he walked into the classroom we had finally located. I paused for a minute. A few students pushed past me. Hmmm...maybe he and I had similar tastes in hobbies.
My morning classes flew by quickly, and before I knew it, it was time for lunch. I was becoming accustomed to trailing Nick where ever he went, trusting that he would lead me to the right rooms and such. When the bell rang to end my English class, the hallways became filled with bustling students, all griping about how hungry they were and fighting to get up to the front of the pack. Nick remained cool and slipped in with the crowd. I tried to delve in with him, but wasn't nearly as smooth and got my feet stepped on several times. "Hey! Watch it, ass hole!" I would shout whenever someone got in my way. Nick's eyes told me he was mildly entertained by my antics.
The cafeteria was big enough, but it sure seemed awfully crowded to me. It looked as though all of the kids were already gathered at their tables of choice. It was funny to see all the different table groups that had been established. There were the stoners, laughing and goofing around while they chowed down on their nachos and let their long hair fall in their face. There were the quiet kids who sat in a silent circle at their table, either quietly eating or reading intently. There were the nerds, pulling angularly cut sandwiches out of their lunchboxes, probably discussing coordinate planes and calculus. Then there were the girls, who sat at their table staring at other people's food while they split a box of raisins and sipped ice water. And of course there were the "jocks", and the "gangsters", and cheerleaders. I got in line behind Nick and grabbed a hamburger, some tater tots, and an apple from the selection.
I didn't really want to exert myself by hunting for a place to sit with people that didn't make me want to punch them in the face, so I just followed my trusty guide and prayed to Ghandi that he didn't normally eat lunch with a gang of football loving morons, or any body with psychotic disorders. Thankfully, the table we approached was filled with relatively normal-looking people. One of the girls stood up when I came near so that she could say hi. "Hi, I'm JJ." she grinned. Her light ginger hair was in a loose braid over her shoulder. "New girl, huh? Been there, done that. Freshman?" I just nodded. "Cool, me too. Didn't catch your name." I figured it would be okay to tell her my name. She didn't seem too weird.
"I'm Max." She smiled wider.
"So what brings you to Sierra Vista? The town where nobody really wants to come."
"My mom...she lives here." I shrugged. The girl seemed to get a kick out of what I had just said. I looked at her in puzzlement. She shook her head.
"It's nothing. It's just that you seem to be just about as monosyllabic as somebody else I know." She elbowed Nick in the ribs and sat back down. "So, take a seat. You'll fit right in. She pointed to the chair next to her. I was a bit surprised that someone who was so outgoing would be in Nick's group of friends. I simply couldn't envision him actually talking to people. He seemed like the kind of guy that sat in his room late at night writing depressing poetry and looking up videos of animal sacrifice or some creepy shit like that... O.o
I walked over to the seat and had just set my tray down when something came ramming into me. I froze completely for a second. A pair of hands belonging to a tall, gangly guy with pale skin and strawberry-blonde hair were splayed directly across my boobs. I was immediately enraged at this violation and pushed the kid backwards with all my might. He rammed into a tiled piller that was in the middle of the cafeteria seating area. He groaned slightly. Looking up at me finally, I saw that his eyes were a glassy, clear light blue.
"Whoa...sorry there, beautiful. I'm blind you'll have to forgive me." He sounded sincere for the most part, but his face betrayed him. He was grinning pervertedly. Something told me he did that alot. I figured it was hight time he learned a little lesson. I walked up to him menacingly.
"Listen here, you creepy pervert! I don't care if you're the friggen pope! If you ever touch me like that again, I will waste no time in kicking your little creeper ass!" I said loudly to his face. "This is for your own good, so next time you won't even think about it." I kneed him in the balls as hard as I could, and then I turned around and sat down in my seat, shoving a tater tot in my mouth. It was a couple seconds before I noticed that everyone at the table was gaping at me. Even Nick had his eyebrows raised. "What? I'm hungry." I said defensively. A guy who I recognized as Michael was sitting directly across from me.
"I think I'm gonna like this chick..." he said. Everyone else muttered words of agreement. The pervert limped around and sat down gingerly at the opposite end of the table, looking a little embarrassed.
"Oh, Jeff! You got TOLD!" JJ said mockingly. She flicked the paper wrapper of a straw at his head.
"Haha, you guys." The boy named Jeff said, running his long fingers through his strawberry blonde hair. "That ALWAYS works. ALWAYS." He muttered half to himself. "All I have to do is pull out the blind card. No one can be mad at the disabled. It's impossible." He turned to look almost directly at it.
"Well apparently, this girl can." JJ said triumphantly. She turned to me. "Way to go, girl. I've been waiting for someone to get up the nerve to do that." I grinned into my hamburger. I listened to everyone talk for the rest of the period. It was actually not bad. And I met another girl named Caitlyn. She was a Softmore. It turned out that the rest of them (including the pervert) were freshmen like me. All either 14 or 15. And I learned who to stay away from. The name Lissa came up a few times, along with someone named Sam, but I was only half paying attention.
"Okay, see you tomorrow, Max!" JJ was waving to me as I walked out to the parking lot. Nick was standing with her, along with Jeff. I gave an awkward sort of wave. Jeff saluted me, though it was slightly in the wrong direction, and Nick just halfheartedly smirked. Mrs. Martinez was waiting patiently in the car when I hopped in the back seat. Ella was already occupying the front. Mrs. Martinez beamed at me.
"So how was the first day? Did you meet anybody? Any cute boys?" She laughed lightly. I rose my eyebrows.
"Umm...yeah, not exactly." I said, though a flash of dark eyes ran through my brain. "But...I guess it wasn't...as bad as I thought it was gonna be." Thinking it over, it actually hadn't been. It was relatively short, really. She smiled.
"Well that's a start." She started to back out of the spot. "After I drop you guys off, I have to run back to the clinic. They called and said they needed some help. I probably won't be back until later tonight." Mrs. Martinez was a vet, and she worked normal hours at a clinic just out of town, and was often generous enough to come in if they needed another set of hands. "Now let's get home. I made some of my chocolate chip cookies again." My mouth started to water at the thought. My day was actually turning out pretty good. You know...considering the fact that I'm in hell and all...
A/N: Alrighty then. Tell me what you thought. I'm trying to pick it up here just a little bit. I've got a shit ton of homework this weekend, so I probably won't have the next chapter up for another couple days. I'm sure you guys'll survive. Now if you'll excuse me...I have a date with some index cards and a couple of smoking hot speech transition packets. :P