Hello hello!

I finished Death Note! Best anime ever. I won't spoil it for anyone, but the concept was just so great. It was interesting to see the pov of a genius serial killer, the Shinigamis added a hint of fantasy, and Misa, L, and Ryuk were fantastic, as with Light, of course.

Reviews time!

Sadfox729: CHOMP CHOMP. Thank you for the compliments! I will probably change the title soon. Also, you should definitely use that as the title.

Notjeillen: wonderful ideas, will use.

Also, big thanks to Sadfox729 for the idea of making this chapter themed around Women's History Month!

Enjoy!

~ghost

Chapter 22

Ruby Goes To School

A sheep...with wings. Eating a cupcake. Yup. I think that's what it is. And a hot dog with mustard and sunglasses. And…'Maegan Was Here'? And...what does that say? Oh, yikes, maybe I shouldn't read that.

Ruby traced the Sharpy doodles with her finger on the side of her desk. No matter how weird, poorly drawn, or just plain inappropriate they were, they were a million times more interesting than the boring math class that was going on in front of her.

"So, you see, if we carry the five and bring down the zero…" Mr Abrams droned, writing numbers down with a squeaky stick of white chalk. His class was the only one in the school with a chalkboard, everyone else's had a whiteboard.

"Mr Abrams?" Risa raised her hand.

Mr Abrams seemed to jolt out of his zone of math. He sighed and set down the chalk.

"Yes, Miss Acharya?" He asked, expersated.

"Um." Risa put down her arm and giggled for a moment. "I forgot." She dissolved into giggles.

Ruby placed her head on her desk and groaned in frustration. Risa had done this three times this class, making it drag on seemingly for twice as long. And the rest of the class wasn't helping either.

"Class, I am going to go grab some more paper from the supply room. Please stay quiet and still while I am gone. You may work on your homework if you wish." Mr Abrams instructed.

The second he left the room, the entire classroom swung into energetic action.

"Heads up!" Caleb threw something small and pink at Ruby from two seats behind her.

"Careful, it's fragile! Don't let it break!" Matt called, his hands cupped over his mouth.

She only had a split second to catch whatever the object was before it would fall and most likely cause a scene.

Ruby reached out and caught the object in the palm of her hand. She leaned over to examine it.

"Oh, gross! What the heck Caleb!" Ruby waved her hand furiously, trying to get the pink piece of possibly chewed gum off her hand. It fell to the floor with a splat.

Caleb, Matt, and a couple other annoying boys burst into laughter and guffaws, slapping hands and whooping.

Ruby rolled her eyes and turned back to examining doodles. She wiped her hand on the side of her desk absent-mindedly, forgetting about the doodles. She looked at her black-smeared hand in disgust. Ew. Oh well, it was just marker. She could easily wash it off anytime she needed to.

"Guys! He's coming!" A girl with long straight platinum blonde hair and black glasses, Opal, or Opie, shouted. Ruby remembered Opie having strangely good hearing, so she was always volunteered as the class lookout.

Everyone immediately stopped what they were doing and sat straight in their desks, backs straight, evidence thrown haphazardly into their desks.

"Hello class. I see you all did as I asked. Now, we are going to get started on this new math assignment that I find simply fascinating-"

BRIIIINGGGGG!

"I'll see you all tomorrow!" Mr Abrams said sorrowfully, sad that he didn't get to teach the 'fascinating' math assignment.

Let's see...next I have…Ooh! Science!

Ruby was very excited for science. Their science teacher, Ms Diaz, had informed them of a surprise she'd be handing out at the end of the class! Ruby hoped it was cupcakes, but she'd have to wait and see.

"Hey!" Tulisa waved to Ruby. Ruby grinned and walked towards her friend.

"Hey! What's up?" She asked.

"The sky." Tulisa responded. Ruby rolled her eyes. "Thanks. I needed that." She hugged her thick science textbooks closer to her chest.

"You're welcome!" Tulisa replied cheerily. "Anyways, I'd better get going. I have art class, and today we're working on our collages. I brought a smock to not ruin this." Tulisa gestured to her outfit, a black plaid tee and ripped jeans with fishnet underneath. Her gray-brown hair was in a ponytail, the white streak standing bright against the more dull background.

"Oh, I've been meaning to ask. Is there a meaning to that white streak in your hair?" Ruby asked. Tulisa laughed.

"Actually, it's kind of a dumb story. When I was eight, I was obsessed with Chilled, you know, that movie about the princess sisters and one of them has ice powers? So I dyed a streak of my hair white to match Anna, and, well, I kept dyeing it! I guess I just got so used to it over the years, I just let it stay."

"Ha! That's a great story. You should write a novel about it. I haven't dyed my hair before, mostly because I don't think any colour would look good with bright vibrant red." Ruby laughed.

"Wait, your hair is naturally that colour?! I thought you dyed it or something!" Tulisa exclaimed.

"Ha! No, everyone always thinks that at first. But my hair's been this colour for as long as I remember, and I certainly don't dye it regularly. It's weird though, I don't think I've ever met someone with hair naturally this colour."

"Huh. Maybe it's some kind of twisted long-buried secret hidden deep in your past that'll be revealed in a dark, unexpected plot twist later on!" Tulisa suggested.

"Maybe," Ruby replied ominously. She laughed again. "Probably not though. I mean, the only thing about this hair is it barely goes with anything except shades of gray and red!" Case in point, her outfit that day. Her hair was in two low braids, she was wearing an oversized black night guard staff hoodie, and a light red skirt, along with boots and a leather jacket.

"Pfft, no, you look amazing in everything. Oh well, we should probably get to class. Thanks for walking with me!" Tulisa called.

"No problem!" Ruby called back. She whirled around and dashed into the science classroom. Just in time too, it appeared Ms Diaz was taking attendance. Lucky for her, her last name was late in the alphabet.

"Isaac Martin?" Ms Diaz called.

"Present." Isaac raised his hand. Ruby searched around for her seat, fumbling with her textbooks.

"Olive Rojas?"

"Absent." Olive joked.

Ms Diaz looked up from her attendance book and smiled. "Ha, ha. Present." She laughed. Olive grinned and slapped hands with a girl beside them.

"Ruby Roxanne?" Ms Diaz scanned the room. "Ruby Roxanne? Do we have a Ruby Roxa-"

"Yes! Here! Present!" Ruby slid into her seat, setting her tall water bottle on the corner and throwing random papers on her desk. She sat straight up and raised her hand.

Ms Diaz raised an eyebrow. "Okay, I'll let this one slide. Present. Bella Swan?"

She soon finished up the attendance, and picked up a purple marker. Ms Diaz had came into their classroom after the old teacher, Mr Marvin had 'retired' (code for setting fire to the curtains in an unfortunate science experiment gone wrong and being promptly fired, ironic.)

Ms Raya Diaz, a woman in her late twenties, was fun, bright, and cheerful, taking the class outside on nature hikes (although there wasn't much nature besides the elementary school playground two streets down), got the class to cook delicious pastries for food science, and didn't even give homework, saying she didn't believe homework was necessary. Ms Diaz wore pretty rainbow colours, flowy dresses and cool earrings. She said her style was influenced by Ms Frizzle.

"Alrighty class! Today, in celebration of Women's History Month, we are going to be learning about some famous women of science!" Ms Diaz wrote 'Women's History Month' in big, purple, sparkly letters. She circled it like a bubble and turned back to the eager classroom.

"Any ideas?" She asked. Ruby raised her hand.

"Ruby?" Ms Diaz called on her.

"Tiera Guinn. She's twenty-one and she's helping NASA build a rocket that could be one of the biggest and most powerful rockets made."

Ms Diaz wrote 'Tiera Guinn' on the board. "Wonderful! Anyone else?" A girl with a low black braid, gold glasses, and a thick gray cardigan raised her hand.

"Ginger?" Ms Diaz asked.

"Um, Marie Curie? She grew up in Poland and researched radioactivity. Her and her husband won the Nobel Prize in 1903." Ginger said tentatively.

"Great! Marie Curie is definitely one of the more well-known ones, and her studies really shaped the future of science!"

Ms Diaz called on a few more people, and soon their board was chock full of ideas.

"This is great! Now, I know I don't usually assign homework, but I would like you all to research a woman scientist of your choice, because we'll be working on posters for Women's History Month tomorrow. If you don't have a device to search on, you can get a book from my shelf right here or the library."

"But what about the surprise?" Booker asked after being called on. "You told us there would be a surprise."

Ruby nodded in agreement with him. She had been looking forward to this! She scanned the classroom for a tray, maybe covered with tinfoil and a few smudges of white-and-pink icing, but no luck. Maybe she had it hidden in her desk?

"Oh, right! Silly me. Booker and Camilla, will you please pass these papers out?" Ms Diaz held out a small stack of neon orange flyers. Jaya and Booker took them dutifully.

Ruby felt a slow sinking feeling overwhelm her. Is the surprise just homework? That would be boring. Cupcakes are much better than homework. Her mind went off on irrelevant tangents for a bit there until she heard someone say her name.

"Ruby! Here." Camilla was shaking a paper at her.

"Oh! Sorry." Ruby snatched the paper and took a look at it. She at least hoped it wasn't hard homework.

To the parents/guardians of Ruby Roxanne,

From April 5 to April 10, two science classes from grades 10 and 11 will be going on an exciting overnight field trip to Saffron Falls to study the flora and fauna, go on thrilling hikes through the mountains, and explore the vast sea life Saffron Falls has to offer!

Here are the lists for the four groups:

Group 1:

Olive Rojas

Isaac Martin

Tulisa Abbott

Ruby Roxanne

Ginger Harrison-Keats

Joshua Abbott

Camilla Knight

Levi Smith

Ruby ignored the rest of the groups, as they weren't important to the plot.

Please have your child sign here and a parent/guardian signature here. We also require a fee of $25 for hotel costs and others. We are looking for drivers, so if you wish, you may volunteer to drive a group of kids to the hotel they will be staying at. Three of our staff, Rhodes Ingram, Karl Jacobs, and Seanna Pearl, have volunteered already, and we have a bus to take the remaining kids if necessary.

Thank you!

Wow. Wowowow. This was even better than cupcakes! Saffron Falls... Hurricane was great, and all, but it didn't really have too much to show for besides a decent mall and being the hometown of Freddy's.

Saffron Falls on the other hand...it had mansions, a huge mall, rolling fields and hills, a sparkling ocean, tall mountains, deep forests, theme parks in the summer- it was the place all the kids went to for summer vacation, the town Ruby had always dreamed of going to. Her mother said she never had enough money, hotels were expensive. But now...only $25! She could even pay that with her night guard earnings if she had to!

Two weeks in April…

Ruby could hardly wait.

Ooh la la, a field trip! Wonder how that will play out…

Sorry if this chapter was a bit boring, just Ruby in school. But I needed a school chapter so I could show the flyer!

Also, if you know who Rhodes Ingram and Karl Jacobs are, you are an amazing person, go get yourself a cookie. (Especially if you know who Rhodes is. I'll give you a hint: she's a book character.) And Seanna is a bit of an inside joke, she was one of my first stories' main character, and she was a complete and total Mary-sue.

Have an amazing day!

~catghostlittle