Chapter 4: Where a week ends and problems occur
Or How Not Having Lived a Normal Life Skewed Ones Perspective
CHAPTER 4
The next morning Ellen found herself with a bit of a conundrum. For one, taking the bus to school made her a lot later than she estimated. For another...weeeelllll- not to be mean, but she got herself tangled up in a conversation with Miranda.
"Um, I don't know whose book that is Miranda, I just need the late slip." Ellen pointed out cautiously as the older woman slid a book across the counter, with her pink slip for being late stuffed between the pages.
"I know, its Mr. Mikk's book." Miranda had such a big smile as she said that, the brunette had to wonder what put her in a good mood, and if it was going to last long enough to clear up this misunderstanding without a freak out.
"Who is that?" Ellen asked, digging out her schedule- she was pretty sure there wasn't a teacher named Mikk.
"He is the TA for your Portuguese class." Miranda chirped.
"The TA?" Ellen echoed, eyes wide as she looked up at Miranda, hand still shoved deep in her messenger bag. "You mean a student teacher?"
"Not a teacher yet."
"Yet?" If she kept echoing everything, Ellen was sure even this oblivious woman would notice her discomfort. "Is he is college?" She asked, trying to get a hold on her emotions.
She knew she was surprised, and a bit freaked out; not so much because it was her teacher she bumped into, but because one of her teachers was possibly the eye candy of the school and any unusual interactions with any of her teachers would be encouragement to be singled out by the students.
"Ye-es, yes he is a college student." Miranda confirmed, stammering and rushing through the response with a hard-not-to-notice fire engine red blush.
Unquestionably. He was unquestionably the school eye candy if he could make the overwrought recluse blush. She had stolen the personal property of possibly the hottest guy she ever met after walking right into him. Maybe she was jumping the gun, and maybe it was the fiction books she occasionally read, but anything outside the normal was a problem. And any interaction with someone that good looking drew attention, because everyone would be wishing it was them.
Maybe she was getting a head of herself though.
And then in the silence after that "Wait, if you know who the book belongs to, why didn't you just leave it in his mailbox or something?" Ellen didn't think it was possible for the older woman to get even more flustered, but from the wailing that followed she certainly wouldn't doubt it again.
"I'm sorry, I'm a useless secretary, I should have thought of that." and it just kept going, with pleading for Ellen to forgive her. Not that the crazy woman gave her a chance to say as much.
Thankfully the familiar exhausted tone of the assistant principal cut her off. "Miranda that's enough."
From the door next to Komui's unoccupied office Reever emerged, the look on his face testament to his bad morning so far.
"I'm just gonna head to class now, if that's all right?" Ellen's tentative question was almost unheard as the door slammed open behind her.
"Ellen!" The rough arm immediately slung over her shoulder was answer enough as to who came in the door.
"Get off Lavi." Though she said it, the teenager didn't bother trying to shrug away the boys over affectionate greeting. He would just do it again anyway.
"I just knew you would come to the office when you couldn't find your way to home room." Lavi crowed, far too close to her ear for comfort.
"Try again." she quipped, tilting her head as far away from his high-pitched voice as she could.
"But that's the only reason I can think of for why you're not in homeroom yet." he was apparently satisfied with his intellect as he started steering her out the door without waiting for any indication of the true or false nature of this statement.
With a half-hearted wave goodbye to the still sniffling secretary Ellen allowed herself to be steered out the door into the almost empty hallway.
"What'chu got there?" Lavi asked, snatching the book out of her hands before she even remembered she was holding it.
"Really, Lavi." Ellen snatched it right back, holding it tightly in her left hand. "It's a book, obviously."
"Yah but who's book?" He asked, trying to get another peek at it.
"Not yours."
"But Ellen, I just wanna know what is it?"
The whining and a worn-out Ellen were not a good combination in the morning.
"Get used to disappointment." She snapped and stuffed the book deep in her bag before Lavi could make another grab for it.
/*/
Two minutes later when they finally made it to home room Lavi was still whining about how cruel she is. Mostly for his own amusement it seemed, but from the rather judgmental look in his eye she figured he was also trying to see how long he could carry on before she snapped at him again.
Unluckily for him, Lenalee noticed Ellen's mood as soon as they entered the room.
"Ellen you look annoyed."
With difficulty, the red-haired girl shrugged off Lenalee's worries, plastering a fake smile on for her.
"Just an annoying red head sighting." Was her reply, trying to not turn her ire on the dark-haired girl, especially as she was shooting such a cheery smile their way and invitingly patting the chair beside her.
"Hey, you're a red head too." Lavi pointed out, coming up the aisle behind her as she collapsed into the indicated seat, looping her bag over the back of the chair.
To Lenalee's amusement, Ellen dropped her head onto the desk with a groan.
"Let me know when the morning has ended."
Giggling Lenalee turned her attention to Lavi, leaving the tired girl be for the moment, thankfully.
"So, where did you find her?" Lenalee asked amusedly. Ellen was eternally grateful to her new friend for distracted the overly loud boy beside them.
Now that she didn't have a red head to discourage, Ellen took a glance around her homeroom. Surprisingly there weren't many students in it, and most seemed to be exorcists; scratch that, all of them were exorcists, from all the different grades. Were there really so few of them in the school?
What did that say for their whole fighting force? Ellen knew they were glad to have another exorcist, but from Cross' attitude she thought the Black Order had enough operatives to work with. But seeing that this homeroom consisted of only a portion of the trainees she observed yesterday, she had to wonder if she had seen the entirety of their exorcists in the gym. Except for generals it seemed, and there were only a few of them as far as she knew.
Her musing was interrupted by a familiar tall beret-wearing man who loudly announced his presence as he entered the classroom.
"Good Morning my wonderful Lenalee, and other exorcists!" Komui exclaimed, practically prancing over to the teachers desk. "I hope you are all doing wonderfully this morning, especially my Lenalee!"
Seeming used to this behavior Lenalee ignored her brothers flamboyance, as did everyone else.
"So whatchu got for us today Komui?" One of the other students asked, the one with the odd makeup Ellen met yesterday, Daisy was it? Ellen had been more preoccupied with not letting him touch her mark than learning his name to be honest.
"Well Daisya, I'm so glad you asked!" Komui's grin was too happy for this early in the morning in Ellen's opinion. "I have a mission for you, and Kanda, and Marie too" he waved around a manilla folder.
"Awesome!" Daisya hopped up to snag the folder from his hand, eagerly pawing through it.
"This doesn't excuse you from classes Daisya, I would prefer you three to leave after classes end for the day." Komui mock scolded the teenager before him.
Apparently as wound up as usual, Kanda pushed his chair back with a screech and stomped his way to the front to snag the folder from his odd companion. "We know the drill Komui." Kanda said, and shouldered his way past Daisya to leave before the beret wearing man could respond.
"Ha ha, anyway," Komui rubbed the back of his neck in a nervous gesture. Glancing out the door he seemed to spot something, or someone, important as he whipped back around to grab his stack of folders, "So um, yah that's it." He said, before hurriedly skirting from the room.
"Um, what was that?" Ellen asked
"That was, well…that." Was the brilliant answer from the pigtailed girl, motioning to the tired looking blond vice principal that popped his head into the room.
"He already ran away, didn't he?" the blond asked exhaustedly. Lenalee smiled in a sympathetic manner and nodded,
"Sorry Reever, you just missed him." She informd the young man.
"Ah, oh well," Reever said, shoulders slumping as he slouched out of the room, defeated.
"Does that...happen often?" Ellen asked, wondering if she should be used to the oddity that is the principal by now.
"Don't worry about it," Lenalee fretfully brushed it off, gathering her things, "we should probably be getting to class now."
"Oh, uh, okay." Ellen agreed, snatching her own bag up from the floor and following the two exorcists from the room.
Even if it was odd here, it was still good, right? Nothing had gone wrong yet after all.
Satisfied with this thinking Ellen concentrated on keeping up with her two new friends in the surprisingly thriving hallway.
/-*-8-*-8-*-
Even with the craziness that enveloped the school, everything seemed to settle into a routine as the day went on.
Until lunch that is.
They had finished quickly and gone to the study hall since Ellen kept insisting she had to catch up on her homework and Lenalee and Lavi wanted to spend more time with her.
Ellen was attempting to do her homework with Lavi bugging her every five seconds, Lenalee was French braiding the red-haired girls hair, and Kanda was sullenly making his way through his math problems from A period.
"You're tugging on your skirt again Aly!" Lavi sing-songed, waving a finger at her over his homework. "If you keep this up it's going to become habit."
"Oh shut it," Ellen snapped, preoccupied with trying to figure out one of her math problems. Exponentials sucked. Algebra in general sucked.
"If you are that uncomfortable with the skirt Ellen you could always exchange it for one of the other styles." Lenalee pointed out, concentrating on the neat braid she was making with Ellen's hair. If it had been anyone but Komui's sister, Ellen probably would have tugged her hair out of the girls grip the moment she reached out. But, she couldn't bring herself to move away from the calm atmosphere that surrounded the dark haired girl, and the graceful fingers threading through her locks was soothing. It helped too that beyond a close inspection of the unnaturally white streaks, Lenalee ignored any oddities.
"What?" It took considerable effort for the red haired girl to ask nicely, though her voice was strained with holding back her anger. "There is another style?" she asked, putting her pencil down to turn and face Lenalee, halted by the tug on her hair as the dark haired girl kept a firm hold on the braid.
"Yes, there is a knee length and a mid-calf length skirt style you could request." Lenalee said, oblivious to the dark aura gathering around the younger teen as she pushed her shoulder until she got the message to turn back around. "Didn't brother tell you this when you chose your uniform?" the puzzlement was so honest and worried in nature, that Ellen felt bad even thinking angry thoughts near the dark haired girl at that moment.
She was going to kill him. Komui was so dead when she got a hold of him.
"No, he didn't." Ellen grit out, picking her pencil back up, the plastic creaking under her tight grip.
"Well, why don't you drop by after school to ask him about changing it? There aren't any exorcist classes today so you'll have time." The taller girl pointed out, pacifying the others bad mood with her simple suggestion.
"Okay, I can do that." Ellen agreed, turning her attention back to another frustrating problem, saving her anger towards Komui for later.
Really, Ellen completely understood how Lenalee kept such control over Kanda with her easy handling of people's emotions.
How in the world had Kanda managed to finish his math homework so quickly? Would the samurai-wanna-be be willing to help her out?
Reflecting on her realization of Lenalee's powers of persuasion, Ellen figured this would be the best time to try and seek help with her math homework from Kanda. It helped to that it would placate the other girl, since the poor girl had been trying all day to get the samurai wannabe and the scarred girl to talk. Seemed she was one of those people who needed all her friends to get along.
Tapping the corner of Kanda's book with her pencil, Ellen held up her own unfinished math problems.
"Kanda, do you think you could help me with these?" she asked politely, trying to smile as he turned his apparently customary glare her way.
"No."
"Kanda, you're in the same class, the least you could do is give her some hints." Lenalee reprimanded, smoothing Ellen's bangs back to clip them into the braid.
The response was a scowl, the older boy's eyes flicking to Ellen's forehead before he turned his back on the two girls.
"You shouldn't be near someone who is cursed like that." Kanda muttered, turning the page in his English textbook.
"Kanda." Lenalee snapped, and Ellen turned in her chair, trying to meet Lenalee's eyes with her hands raised in a placating manner. This wasn't the first or the last time after all, and she really didn't want a fight to start because of her.
/ Lavi's POV
"It's okay Lenalee." The red head tried to pacify the dark haired girl with polite words, but Lavi knew from experience that the girl in question wouldn't back down when one of her friends had been mean.
"No it's not," the dark haired girl insisted, sharp eyes on Kanda, who was outwardly ignoring her. From the tense set of his shoulders Lavi knew the Asian boy had realized he had earned Lenalee's ire, probably for the rest of the day, if not the whole weekend. At this moment he was probably doubly grateful he had a mission this weekend to keep him away.
"He's not wrong though." Ellen pointed out quietly, and both Lavi and Lenalee turned their attention fully on the red-haired girl, astounded looks on their faces.
Seemingly ignorant of their looks Ellen occupied herself with slipping the pin from her hair and smoothing her bangs back over the mark.
"Ellen," Lenalee began, unsure, eyes on Ellen's polite smile and carefully polite expression.
A sudden urge seized Lavi to wipe away that mask and coax a real reaction from the younger girl.
He didn't think before he voiced the question that had been rebounding in his mind since Kanda spoke.
"Cursed like what?" He asked, the seriousness of his tone drawing an indecipherable look from Ellen, her hands clenching around the pencil case she had just finished packing her things into.
"She already knows." Kanda's reply was as short as usual, and after having been around him for so long Lavi interpreted it in time to see Lenalee look away from Ellen's suddenly startled gaze. A thump and clatter announced the fall of the pencil case from gloved hands, but the scarred girl didn't notice for a long moment, staring wide eyed at the girl beside her.
"Lenalee, do you?" Lavi's soft question seemed to jolt the red-haired girl out of her thoughts as she haphazardly gathered up her books and papers on the table, staggering out of her seat. "Ellen?" the red-headed male turned his attention to the younger girl, trying to make out her expression as she kept her face downturned.
"I have to go talk to Komui about my uniform." She mumbled the excuse as she turned to go, "Sorry for the trouble." She said softly before she was gone through the double doors of the library, head down as she hugged her books close.
"What was that all about?" Lavi murmured, looking between his two friends, one of whom was stoically focused on his work, the other of which was watching the library doors with a heartbroken look on her face.
"Stop being stupid, junior." Kanda intoned, sparing only the barest of glances for his eye-patch wearing companion.
Well.
The only time Kanda used junior was when he was annoyed with Lavi for pretending he didn't understand or see something important.
But this time, he really had no idea. Of course he had hypotheses, but no clear indication that any of his theories were true. For one, it was as generic a curse mark as you could get- just the outline of a pentacle. If the zagged line protruding from it actually stood for anything, Lavi didn't recognize it as belonging to any language. And he knew more languages than Lenalee and Kanda combined. So Lenalee and Kanda wouldn't be able to tell just from looking what the scar on their new friend meant.
For another theory, Lavi had to consider his closest girl-friend herself- Lenalee was empathic, to an extent, and certainly more in tune than Lavi was. If there was something to glean from the energy coming off the mark itself, Lenalee would be the only one to understand it. So, this was the most plausible idea Lavi had so far.
Watching as Lenalee transferred her despondent gaze to the contents of the pencil case scattered on the floor, the red head decided that this may not be the best time for him to enquire further. He didn't want Kanda smacking him for hurting Lenalee's feelings; hypocritical though the action would be, it was a plausible outcome.
Instead, his own gaze wandered to the library doors and he lost himself in his thoughts of a certain questionable girl with far too many secrets and too cautious a manner.
/*/
Before she had made it more than five steps outside the library Ellen found a familiar and welcome presence settling on her head.
"Tim, you're supposed to stay in my bag during school." She scolded lightly, though she was smiling through it. At least, she had someone who – no, she had to stay away from that for the moment, or the prickling in her eyes would get worse and she would have to sequester herself in the closest bathroom.
For now, she would focus on the uniform problem. At least she could try and get that fixed, that would be one good outcome of spending time with those three.
Concentrating on this goal Ellen let her anger and indignation over the far too ridiculous uniform wrap over the stabbing pain in her heart.
"Come on Tim, we have a principal to teach a lesson to." She patted the golem once before setting off in a more determined manner towards the main office. Luckily, the library was the middle of the school and all she had to do was head towards the exit and she would pass the main office.
Her way with directions worked for her for once and she found herself marching into the principal's office in two minutes flat.
"Komui." She barked out as soon as she crossed the threshold, taking a small bit of satisfaction in the fact that the beret wearing principal practically fell out of his chair he was so startled. "Lenalee has just informed me that there are other uniform styles I could be wearing." She began, crossing her arms and positively glaring at the older man. "Why the hell would you think to give me the shortest freaking skirt in the repertoire?"
Komui for his part looked guilty, but only for a moment. Then he straightened up and regarded the student before him with a kind of uncanny smile.
"You haven't worn a uniform before, right?" he didn't wait for her confirmation before continuing, "I thought you would be happy wearing the more fashionable style like normal girls get to wear." He announced with a satisfied smile.
The teenagers look sharpened as she met Komui's gaze. "You don't know what would or would not make me happy." Her quiet tone conveyed her irritation well enough to wipe the smile from Komui's face. "When I asked you yesterday if I could wear the boys uniform, you should have just said yes."
Silver eyes held purple so like his sisters that Ellen couldn't help her mind wandering to the conversation she just left. Some kind of indication of her thoughts must play across her face because Komui put on his ridiculous smile that he wore most around Lenalee.
"You didn't ask the right question." His cheeky response threw Ellen off a moment but as she caught on to his meaning she scowled.
"You mean, 'would you like flowers for your hospital room or chocolates?'" she snipped.
"Now now Ellen, violence is never the answer," Komui began creeping from his chair in a comical manner, putting it between him and the angered girl, "unless you're Kanda." He commented to himself,
"Did you just compare me to that girly boy?" Ellen asked, her tone carefully blank as she again crossed her arms, regarding the man across the room with emotionless eyes. She really didn't need to be reminded of that boy right now.
"No, of course not," Komui forced a laugh, seeming a bit confused by Ellen's change in manner.
Giving an irritated sigh Ellen took a step back, trying not to glare at the useless principal. "Just tell me how to exchange my uniform Komui, cause I am not going to keep wearing this." She said, motioning to her skirt with all her disgust for the object apparent in her voice.
"Ask Reever." Komui popped up, seeming to sense that the danger had passed, "I have no idea how to do that." He said happily, smiling. Until he had to duck a moment later to avoid the golem Ellen tossed at his head.
Growling in frustration Ellen stomped out of the office, almost bowled over as Tim hit the back of her head,
"Sorry, sorry." She said to the golem, petting it with her thumb as he sat in her palm, "I won't do that again Tim, you don't deserve that."
Turning on her heel she spotted the other doors in the office, glad when she noted that Reever's door was open.
Luckily her conversation with the lab coat wearing man was short and sweet, both for her temperament and his workload. All she had to do was fill out a quick order form for her new uniform piece and give it to Miranda to pass on to someone named Johnny. All Ellen cared to note was she got to choose her change in uniform and she was only too glad to put down pants instead of a stupid skirt.
A few minutes later she found herself outside the doors of the main office for the second time that day. Taking a quick look at the clock in the hall, Ellen decided she had enough time to get back to study hall before the bell rang for the last lunch. That would give her at least a half hour more in the library to send a message to Anita.
Anita was a long time contact of Cross' who had taken great joy in spoiling Ellen whenever their travels took them near her bar and restaurant. If it wasn't for the Chinese woman, the red head may never have wanted to grow her hair out, or learned any of the important lessons a member of the 'fairer' sex was meant to know.
More importantly though, Anita was skilled at information gathering and had made a name for herself among independent exorcists with her ability to connect clients and contractors. And she never had a problem sharing her resources with her favorite lady exorcist.
/*/
After a quick conversation with Anita via messenger, Ellen excused herself from study hall ahead of the bell. Without her guides from yesterday, she had to find her Portuguese class on her own. No surprise that finding it took the whole 15 minutes, quite a bit of backtracking, and a few bumped shoulders as the other students began to flood the halls.
When she finally came upon the right door and opened it to enter, Ellen's movements were arrested by the zinging realization that she had completely forgot about the problem before her.
The problem being the dark-haired man with the startling brown eyes gazing at her expectantly from the teacher's desk. He was dressed just as casually as yesterday when she ran into him, but surprisingly it fit the picture; the young teacher's assistant, leaning back casually in his chair, feet braced against the desk while he fiddled with his phone, top couple of buttons of his shirt undone, hair loose and falling around his face.
"Ahem." The sound jolted Ellen from her observation and she grasped at the strap of her bag, quickly looking away and hoping her cheeks weren't flushing too noticeably.
"And you are?" The young man asked, and the red head pushed herself to look back as she responded,
"Ellen Walker. I'm new." She explained haltingly, taking a few quick steps into the room, glancing around at the student desks in a feigned bid of interest. "Is there an empty seat I could take?"
"I don't care where you sit, but I would like my book back." Turning her attention back to the front desk Ellen found the young man had straightened up and was holding a hand out expectantly, an amused tilt to his lips. If Ellen wasn't so good at reading people, she might have thought his expression polite and not mocking.
"Book?" then a lightbulb goes off, "Oh your paperback." Ellen began digging through her bag as she nervously apologized "I'm sorry again about bumping into you-"
Interrupting her casually the young man augmented, "You'll have to stay back after class today."
Incredulous, book forgotten in her hands, Ellen sputtered, "For walking into you?"
"No, for tutoring." He corrected, raising a finely shaped eyebrow at her reaction. As she stood there, clutching the paperback close, he braced his elbows on the desk and dropped his chin on his hand, his eyes drifting up and down, studying her.
"I don't need tutoring." She responded point blank, fidgeting with the book in her hands as she grew more uncomfortable under his unwavering gaze.
Her response was brushed off with a wave of his hand as he leaned back, crossing his arms casually "Komui said you do, so you will."
"Well Komui was wrong." Ellen pronounced, annoyance beginning to creep up. She just kept herself from making sure her bangs were smoothed over the mark when his gaze wandered up, her grip tightening on the book in her hands in her agitation.
"Well I already tried to talk Komui out of it, so we're both stuck." He announced with a flippant gesture, righting his chair, momentarily glancing at the door to the classroom as the noise level in the halls heightened.
"But-" the assistant teacher held up a hand to stop her.
"Just be here after class for your tutoring." He said, his tone indicating there was no more to talk about, his attention turning to the other students coming into the room, greeting a few as they called out to him. And where the hell were they five minutes ago when this ridiculous conversation began?
"There is a free seat down this row, you can ask your classmates which one it is." His dismissive manner was only emphasized by the less than exact motion at the student desks spread out before him, not narrowing down her choices in the slightest, before returning to the papers he had on the desk. All while studiously keeping his gaze away from her.
Ellen wanted to argue more, maybe even comment that she could sign out of this class and they could both be done with this.
But she doesn't. Not with the incoming students already giving her odd looks, and not when it would just cause a scene.
Instead she took a breath and turned her back on the TA, promising silently that she would just make all her jobs for right after class so she could skip tutoring. She didn't need a language anyway.
She didn't need any of these classes. It was all a farce, a façade, to keep certain people's attention turned away from Cross' activities.
She could care less about actually completing high school.
It's only after trying not to slam her books on the desk indicated by surrounding students that she realized she was still holding the paperback.
Dropping heavily into her chair Ellen dropped her head on the desk, twisting her shaking hands in the fabric of her bag.
This day needed to be over already.
/*/
Before the bell stopped ringing to signal the end of class Ellen was already out of her seat and making her way out the door. Both luckily and unluckily the TA's desk was swarmed by teenage girls asking if he was 'really going to be taking over the class from the Sr.', and if he would hang out with them after school. Luckily because it gave her a clear path to the door and blocked her from 'Mr Mikk's' view. Unluckily cause now she couldn't slip his book on the desk and pretend she never had it.
What kind of name was that anyway, Tyki Mikk? Frankly she had spent the class pretending to take notes as she worked on an English essay. She wasn't going to give this class any more time than it needed.
"Hey, whats the rush?" the deep voiced question sounded a little too close, but it was recognizable, as was the hand on her arm pulling her back a bit. Presumably so she would slow down, but Ellen just shrugged off Lavi's hand and kept going, clenching her teeth to keep from commenting.
"What got you in a bad mood?" the eyepatch toting red head asked as he hustled to keep up with her through the after-school crowd.
"Nothing." Ellen said shortly.
"Mmhm." Lavi hummed, managing to make that sound seem all-knowing.
"Go away Lavi." Ellen bit out, glancing at her watch. She had fifteen minutes to catch the bus and get to her job on time. Thank God Anita could set one up for today- she needed some money for the travel to school next week.
The bus stop was a two minute walk down the road so she definitely had time to drop by her locker and get rid of her books and exorcist jacket before she ran to catch the bus. Should she call the guy and tell him she might be late, just in case? Anita did say the client would appreciate a phone call before she showed up.
Preoccupied with her thoughts Ellen wasn't expecting a hand to snag her elbow and turn her around.
"-to see you…Ellen?" Lavi's words registered in her mind as she stood a couple of steps away from him, books on the ground around her and the student she stumbled into cursing her before walking off.
/ Lavi's POV
If Lavi hadn't been a Bookman in training, he probably would have mistaken Ellen's reaction for shock at being jolted out of her thoughts, or even just the reaction of someone who didn't wish to be touched. But she didn't wrench her arm away and drop all her books to the ground because she was startled and backed into someone.
No, she had dropped her books as she raised her arms, ready to fight.
Just one more mystery to add to the enigma that was Ellen Walker.
And Lavi really wanted to ask about it, especially since it had been her left arm he grabbed and he was pretty sure, from what Bookman had told him, that it was her innocence. But from the furtive glances Ellen was shooting him at his continued silence, he probably wasn't going to get very far.
So, as the young woman finished picking up her books and berating him perfunctorily about scaring her, Lavi stepped up closer, all cheer and goodwill again, mask settled and incident filed away for later perusal.
"Sorry about that Aly," He said with a sheepish chuckle and scratch of his head, "I didn't realize you hadn't heard me."
"Really Lavi, why are you so insistent on that nickname." Was her response as she moved to start off down the hall again.
"Ah wait, wait," Lavi quickly jumped in front of her before she could go far, hands out to block her way, "the old man wants to see you before you head home for the day." He announced
"Old man?" she scrunched up her nose in question, furtively glancing at her watch again.
"Jiji, Bookman, the one you have history with." At her small noise of understanding Lavi continued on, trying to complete his errand for the old man. "He said something about a placement test that you needed to take before the exorcist class on Monday."
"Another placement exam." Ellen groaned in reply, throwing her head back.
"Yep." Lavi confirmed, popping the p in an exaggerated manner.
"And when do I need to take this exam? I had study hall today so Monday I won't have free time."
"Oh Panda knows that, that's why he wants you to take it right now."
"Panda?" Ellen asked, confused for a moment before her mind caught up with the rest of Lavi's statement. "right now?" She repeated, disconcerted.
"Yes, right now Miss Walker." Bookman's voice rose behind them and the teenagers were surprised to find the shorter man standing there, the few students in the hall skirting widely around them rather than face the old man's stern gaze.
"Oh, um, hi Bookman." Ellen greeted the older man, leaning on her ingrained manners rather than giving way to her surprise like Lavi did.
"Jeez Panda, don't sneak up on us like that, my poor heart." Lavi clutched at his heart, knocking Ellen's shoulder as he swooned and leaned all his weight against her.
"Lavi." She snapped, trying to shove him away.
Apparently too used to his antics, Bookman ignored the whole scene, concentrating on Ellen instead.
"Come along Miss Walker, this is quite a lengthy test and I don't want to keep you here all afternoon."
"Um, but, could we reschedule?" Ellen inquired as she took a step back, ready to hurry out the door, "I have something to do this afternoon," she continued, forcing herself to be polite rather than angry that this was sprung on her with no notice.
"Right now is the best time for it." Bookman said, turning and beginning to walk away as if the decision was final.
"But I have to make a phone call." Ellen maintained,
"You can make your phone call after the test Miss Walker."
"But," Ellen hemmed, looking desperately over her shoulder at Lavi as if he could offer some kind of assistance.
The red haired eye-patched boy waved his hands frantically in a 'no way' signal.
Shooting him a glare and mouthing 'traitor' Ellen sighed and reluctantly followed the shorter man to the history classroom, holding back a groan as she realized there was no chance she would be able to keep her job after this.
She would still try, but granted calling after this bloody test was over would mean asking the client to adjust his schedule to accommodate her appearance, something which no one wanted to do.
So much for earning money to last until Cross got back. Whenever that might be.
/*/
Ellen's bad mood only persisted after the test. It wasn't hard to tell that she failed, since for the few questions she could answer her responses were so brief as to be non-existent. But then Bookman had to hold her there while he corrected the test, only to announce she should be in tutoring for this and get a passable level before she goes on missions.
Any protest she gave was easily brushed aside though, and Bookman declared he would talk to Komui about who could assist her and how to work it in to her schedule.
Not even Lavi getting his ears boxed by the old man could level out her mood. He deserved it, for eavesdropping on her test results.
It was only after she hung up on her irate client and called Anita that she gained any good grace for her circumstances.
"You can't be so unprofessional Ellen, it's hard enough convincing most of these guys to let a teenager come perform the exorcism."
"It's not my fault Anita." Ellen whined, tugging forlornly at the cord of the phone, trying not to think of all the swears the guy had thrown at her when she called to apologize for missing the appointment.
"It would be easier for you to work through the Black Order you know." The older woman pointed out smoothly.
Ellen could imagine the dark-haired woman gracefully draped over her satin pillows, shooting an apologetic smile at her current guests while trying to entertain the brat of her long-time lover.
"Anita, you know why I can't. Not yet." Ellen reminded the business woman.
A sigh was all she heard for a few moments beyond the slight crinkle of pages being turned echoed over the phone. Maybe Anita did have another job she could do?
"All right Ellen, this is out of your area, but since its later in the afternoon you should have time to get there by public transit."
"Oh thank you Anita, you are a god send!" Ellen enthused, just keeping from jumping up and down, all her ecstatic energy transferring to a victorious fist pump.
"Yes, yes, just write this down," Eagerly Ellen snagged a notebook from her bag and looked for a clean page, glad when Timcampy surfaced with a pen for her before writing the address and phone number and contact name down, right next to a note about her math homework.
"You are going to be calling the client this time to explain your age and expertise."
"What, wait, how am I going to convince them to let me do the job?" Ellen asked anxiously, the paper crumpling in her fingers as she clutched the phone in both hands; why would Anita make her go through this.
The older woman's voice softened, chiding gently, "Ellen, you insisted on taking your own jobs, you are going to have to get used to arranging them and proving you are capable of doing the work."
"But," Ellen scrambled for some reassurance, anything, "can I at least say you referred me." A heavy sigh greeted this desperate question,
"Yes, you can." Anita said, and Ellen could hear the amusement the woman was trying to hide behind her professional tone.
"Thank you Anita, really, thank you." Ellen stressed the second thank you. There was so much she owed the older woman for, and she hoped Anita knew just how grateful she was for all her help.
"You are welcome Ellen. Good luck." With that there was a click signaling the end of the call and Ellen smoothly unfolded the paper she accidentally crumpled in her hand.
Now to convince some random guy to let her perform an exorcism. Easy peas'y… well at least it would be easy to pop over to the library and print out some directions to the job, the phone call probably not so much.
Maybe she'd splurge a little and grab a snack on the way back to the motel, as a reward for putting up with such a taxing day.
Timcampy flitted around her head a few times as she dialed the number, settling on her schoolbag and watching as she practically oozed politeness in talking to her potential client. She would make it work, she had too.
/*/
A/N: God guys, I owe like a thousand and one apologies. This is such a big project, and when I had a new demanding job I let this fall to the wayside so badly. I feel horrible for stringing along my readers. Like this is legit turning into a novel length and I'm so sorry for anyone who wanted a quick read highschool AU. Maybe at some point I'll start narrowing this down, but who am I kidding, I love being long winded lol.
Even so, this chapter doesn't really hit all the points I wanted it to- but unfortunately Ellen's weekend isn't done lol. But I'll post that as the next chapter when I do have it written out.