Not as much feedback as last chapter, but good feedback nonetheless! I'm back with another chapter, which I hope that you all enjoy
November 15th
"Oh no oh no…" A young girl slid to a halt at a fork in the hallways. She looked both ways, unsure of which path to take. She racked her brain to remember which way to take, but when she could not recall she opted for the right hallway. She walked at a steady pace.
"Oh no…" She murmured to herself. Her head swiveled from side to side, looking at each of the doors she passed, making her light brown pigtails sway lightly. Her face scrunched up in confusion. She looked down at the paper in her hands, "My teacher isn't going to like this…"
New to the school, she was still having issues finding her way around. She stopped at another intersection, and took a left this time around. She already knew this wasn't the right way as she neared the end of the hallway. She may not have known her way around just yet, but she knew that she was at the double doors leading to the gymnasium.
She jumped lightly hearing something smack against the wall. And again, and again. Then what sounded like grunting reached her ears. Against what she thought was her better judgment, she decided to peak her head in and take a look. She took slow steps towards the door while she rubbed her wrist nervously.
She stuck her head in the door.
"Eep!"
She immediately jumped back with a yelp, falling on to her knees and she covered her head. A loud bang followed an impact on the other side of the door.
"Mademoiselle!" She jumped once more, her eyes, wide with fright, turned up and it was then she looked up in to the worried eyes of a young man. He was dressed as if he was going to play soccer for a team; she recognized the colors of his shirt as their school colors.
"Oh my, are you okay? I did not mean to frighten you," He spoke with a French accent, kneeling in front of her. He gently took both of her hands, "Please, mademoiselle, let me help you up."
She slowly nodded, still processing what had happened and what was going on. He helped her to her feet, and she dusted herself off.
"I am very sorry," He said, scratching the back of his head, "I was practicing and I hadn't expected anyone to walk in… I … I apologize, I hadn't meant to do that."
The girl slowly nodded her head, still at a loss for words. She remembered poking her head in to the gymnasium to take a look, thinking something was going on, only to see a soccer ball flying at her face at breakneck speeds. The next thing she knew she heard a yelp – which she highly believed was from her - and she ducked to keep from being hurt too badly. Then he was helping her…
"Oh!" The young man suddenly gasped, "I have forgotten my manners! I apologize again, mademoiselle. My name is Pierre Vastia!" He gently took her left in his and kissed the top of it. He looked up to see her eyes widen, red rush to her pale cheeks. He smirked, he chuckled to himself before asking, "Would you allow me the privilege of knowing your name?"
She was at a loss for words, her mouth opened and closed similar to a gaping fish. She took her hand away quickly and finally found her voice once she had, "A - april Jones!" He voice was rather high pitched, a veritable squeak.
"April Jones?" He repeated back, "Hmm… A little plain… Especially for one so beautiful," He flashed a bright smile. Her blush only deepened. She pulled her light blue jacket a little more tightly around herself.
Pierre laughed, "Sorry about that, I just can't help myself around cute girls!" April's blush deepened to the point that he could practically feel the heat coming off of her skin. She looked down, fidgeted in place. April pushed her index fingertips together, stuttering as she tried to ask a question.
"W-well… Uhm – I – I – I… Uhm…" Her eyes shut. Steam was practically pouring out of her ears, "C – c – can you h – help… H – help m – m – me… w – with…" She slowly and shakily held out the papers in her hands to him.
"Calm down, mon cher… How you Americans say?" He scratched his chin in thought, "Chill out…?"
Her hands, and the paper, were visibly shaking in front of him, "C – c – could you h – help me w – with th – these directions!" April's voice grew gradually higher and higher as she tried to speak. Pierre chuckled, finding her embarrassment amusing. He took a look at the papers for himself.
"You are not too far off," He stated with a kind smile, "You went through two of those forks on your way here, yes?" April slowly nodded and he continued, "At the first one you should've taken a left and the room you're looking for is the third on your right… Or fourth, you should make sure!"
April nodded once more, taking a few tentative steps back, "Th – thank you!" She squeaked. A moment later she turned on her heels and briskly walked away.
Pierre waved, "Jusqu'à ce que nous nous reverrons, mon cher!" He called after her, waving. He suddenly slapped his forehead, "Oh my, until next time, mon cher! Sorry!" He called a little louder.
-Later-
"Arken Drake?"
"Present."
"Colette Dupree?"
"Here."
"Jaime Estavez?"
"Present."
"Jonathan Jones?"
"Here."
"April Jones?"
"Here." The voice was rather quiet.
The teacher looked up from her clipboard, the light bouncing off of the lenses of her glasses. She looked around the room, as did the rest of the class, "What was that? April Jones, are you present?" She asked the classroom a bit more sternly.
A shaking hand rose slowly, "Yes. I'm right here." The voice was still rather quiet. The class honed in on the girl raising her hand, and she sank more in to her seat.
The teacher adjusted her glasses, "Ms. Jones, speak more clearly from now on. This is the third time this week since you've transferred, I'll be lenient now, but start being more assertive otherwise you'll be counted as absent, am I understood?"
"Yes ma'am," April replied loudly enough for the teacher to hear her. She straightened up in her seat, her eyes downcast at her hands in her lap.
The teacher adjusted her glasses yet again, "Also, I want to speak to you after class." A harsh shout of 'quiet down' silenced the murmurs, whispers and chuckles that broke out amongst the freshman class. After her brief pause to address April, she continued with taking attendance.
"It seems mister Thorton chose to skip out on class again today… Pity. We'll be carrying on with today's lesson nonetheless."
She turned to the blackboard, "Open your textbooks to page fifty and we will begin…"
"Okay, so I'll meet you in front of the school to make sure you learn your way around, all right?" April had been "buddied" with a sophomore by her history teacher. Helen Walker, the girl was easily taller than her; she fidgeted under the older girl's stare. Those green eyes, her eyes seemed larger than normal which only worsened her nervousness. She tugged at the hem of her light purple skirt.
"Uhm… Yeah…" She replied rather quietly.
"Eh?" Helen leaned down, "Speak up!" She demanded.
"Okay!" April squeaked, taking a step back.
Helen stood up to full height, folding her arms under her chest, "This school has seminars on the weekend to help students build confidence and all of that stuff, you should really think about signing up."
April nodded her head, averting her gaze to the floor, finding a crack she spotted rather interesting, "All right…"
The sophomore girl shook her head to herself, 'Poor girl… This place'll eat her up if she doesn't toughen up…' She glanced over hearing a ruckus nearby, 'And fast.'
"Stay here, all right, we still have to talk," She told April who nodded; she could see that the timid girl was also looking toward the noise. Helen made her way over to the group of students and gently pushed them aside. She got to the front of the crowd, which was gathered around four people, three of them pushing around the fourth between them. She knew all four of them…
"Three guys… Picking on one… who has a messed up arm… Seems fair..!" Seth was finally pushed against the lockers with a bang. He took a step forward, but stopped when a fist came to a halt in front of his face. Strands of his bangs sticking out from underneath his beanie shifted slightly.
Seth yawned.
"Really? Group bully tactics… How fun…" The young man murmured, leaning back on the lockers.
The leader of the trio stepped forward. Known school bully, Russell Thrush. He leaned down to be face to face with Seth, "Don't think I've forgotten about you getting me busted. I lost out on a damn good deal because of you…" He grabbed Seth by the front of his shirt, "Do you know what I do to people… When they decide to be a rat?"
"You make them go through this awful reenactment of every group bully scene ever made in movies?" Seth asked. The crowd chuckled at his joke, but they were quickly and effectively silenced by Russell's goons, Terry and Shaw.
Russell chuckled, looking around at the crowd and shaking his head. His chuckling grew louder and louder still, until it became full blown laughter. His two goons laughed as well, they even threatened the crowd in to joining in, laughing along awkwardly.
Suddenly the blond haired bully slammed his fist against the locker mere inches from Seth's head. The crowd jumped, Seth jumped as well. The young man's eyes shut, and he sucked in air. His useable left hand balled in to a fist.
Russell took his fist away from the sizable dent he left in the metal locker, showing no signs of being in pain.
"No…" Russell snarled. He picked Seth higher up by the front of his shirt until his feet no longer touched the floor, "I beat the living hell out of them, until they're red, black and blue all over."
"Russell…" Seth breathed out, "Do not… do it… It won't end well."
"Of course not, for you," Russell said with a smirk, drawing his fist back.
"No… For you!" Seth snapped.
Russell threw his punch. Seth's eyes widened immensely.
No impact. The crowd gasped, not because of what was going to happen, but at what had. Russell's arm had been caught at the wrist by Helen. Glares honed in on her from Russell and his two goons. Helen didn't even bat an eye, her grip tightened and she gradually pulled his fist away.
"That's enough of that," Helen stated forcefully, "Unless you big, strong fellows don't mind picking on someone who is handicapped and a girl, two on three, then I suggest you back off."
Russell glared down at Helen, easily a foot taller. He wrenched his arm away, he dropped Seth who slid down the lockers on to his butt, and stepped back until both Terry and Shaw were at his sides, "Bug-Eye's Helen… Seth, you have a bug-loving freak like her fighting your battles for you… That's pretty pathetic."
Russell and his two followers walked away, the crowd parting for them.
"Seth…"
His heart was beating in his ears. He slowly tried to pick himself up off of the ground, but his legs wobbled underneath him, Damn... I cannot catch a freaking break lately... Does everyone want me to lose it?!' He thought.
"Seth!" He jumped, snapped from his thoughts. His head whipped around, looking up to see Helen looking down at him.
"You all right there, or what?" She asked, grabbing the shoulder of his uninjured arm and lifting him to his feet.
He swayed a bit, but caught himself on the lockers, "Yeah… Yeah I'm fine. No harm done," Seth replied, dusting himself off. He glanced around at the crowd, who were starting to disperse. They were murmuring and whispering amongst themselves. He already figured that some rumor would be started later today, and he would be hearing about it by tomorrow. Hurray…
"You need to think about taking some confidence courses too," Helen stated.
"Huh? … Oh … Oh, yeah okay…" Seth replied quietly, as if barely listening.
"See ya around then, don't get beat up… Or any more broken than you are now," She said with a light smirk before turning on her heels and walking back to her charge, who was still standing where she had left her.
"Does that happen often?" April asked, looking past Helen. Seth placed his ipod buds in to his ears, and walked away from the scene.
Helen scratched the back of her head, "More often than you would probably like… Never mind about talking now, I'll tell you what you need to know tomorrow."
April nodded, "Oh – Okay… Bye."
"See ya."
The End
Mademoiselle translates to Miss
Jusqu'à ce que nous nous reverrons, mon cher! Translates to Until we meet again, my dear
Mon cher translates to My dear
Author's Notes…
First, A big thank you to MysteryAgain for miss April Jones and Reitzel-chan for Helen Walker. Other characters were introduced as well, but… I want it to be a surprise for when they really show up. A big thank you to the creators though! You know who you are…
Second, OC submissions are officially closed until such time as I want to open them again.
And Third, Check out Hidden by GrassBlade-chan if you have not already, it is a Teen Titan's fic and she is looking for a lot of characters.
That'll be all. Until next time everyone.