Information

[Inspired]

---A full five minutes before the bell rung Alex slid into the eleventh grade English glass, toting only a mostly empty, tattered bookbag - the very same one he had carried for the past two years. Alex's green eyes sparkled as he scanned the room, glad for once, that the school year was starting. School may be boring, but you haven't even learned the definition of boring until you've been forced to spend an entire summer in lock-down in Iowa. Seriously.

---But the events of his mediocre summer didn't matter now, school was starting and quite obviously Alex was the first one here. Unfortunately, the teacher wasn't. Coming early to meet and greet the teacher (perhaps earning brownie points) was the entire reason he had bothered to come early. Frowning, he slid into a non-descript desk somewhere in the center of the class: one that was close enough to the front to not be conspicuous in the back and far enough from the front to not appear as a teacher's pet. Arrogantly he propped his legs on the desk chair in front of him and opened up his newest book - Duma Key by Stephen King. Usually he wasn't that much of a reader, but this summer he had been given Cell by King and was smitten with his writing.

---Somewhat anxiously, he checked his watch, curious as to why he had beat the teacher here to his first English class. Instead of getting up to check in the teacher's office behind the room, he sighed and flipped to his last page in the book, hoping to get Duma Key finished before the end of the day.

[writersdevil0203]

Amber-Lynn
17

Amber-Lynn walked drugingly down the corridor towards her English class, clutching her backpack and a photo of Jessie in the palm of her hand. It had been hard enough to deal with her loss these past eight months, and now still struggling with it and being shipped away--it was enough to make her wish she were dead, the very thought that landed her here in the first place.

She sighed as she stopped in front of the doorway to her classroom, noting that there was another person already inside. He was cute, that was for sure, but she hadn't quite prepared herself for meeting new people just yet. She swallowed hard before walking in, pausing before taking a seat quickly, noting that the teacher hadn't yet arrived.

The boy looked up, his green eyes locking with her hazel ones for just a moment before she turned away, her brain reminding her of all the times she and Jessie, her best friend, had scoped out the cute guys at her other school. The thought of Jessie made her want to cry.

She could tell the boy was about to introduce himself but the door swung open at that instant, a young woman entering the classroom with what Amber-Lynn believed resembled an energetic smile.

[Rahakasax]

Why can't that damn stoplight ever work in my favor?

The strawberry blonde shuffled through her purse in a hurried attempt to find her ID card within the clutter, lest the old hall monitor decide he didn't recognize her and lock her from the building. With a scowl, she recalled her previous run-ins with the aged man. One time in particular bore a great reminder to her; she'd nearly been tackled by an eighty-one-year-old man intent on keeping her from arriving on-time to her first ever class. Thankfully, a colleague had recognized her and convinced Barty that she was not an immediate threat to the students. "Not that you could do any harm, even if you wanted to, anyway," the science teacher had joked, elbowing her playfully.

This day, however, she was in luck. From the mess of her handbag she removed the tag, dangling it in front of Barty only long enough for him to scrutinize it to his satisfaction, before moving toward the main office. She stopped at her mailbox and blinked twice at an absence of papers, moving on with a casual wave to the attendance lady whose name she had yet to learn. Times like these she was grateful that her classroom was on the first floor, as she didn't feel she had the energy to make it up three flights of stairs. Her swift but carefully placed steps were announced throughout the main hallway by a telltale clicking; she didn't often wear heels, but as today was the first day of classes, she'd decided to dress up.

Entering her 11 CP classroom through the student entrance, the blonde narrowed her eyes at the site of a boy sitting with his feet atop a chair. She opened her mouth to speak, but then caught site of the book in his hands, and said nothing. Inwardly, she twitched at the site of him in such a casual position--he was, after all, dirtying the chairs with his shoes--but the book made her second guess herself. A softy for reading, herself, Schuyler softened her comment accordingly. "When the bell rings, kindly remove your feet from the chair, please, sir."

Her head nodded once in finality, before she realized there was another student in the room as well. A girl, looking to be no older than the boy, sat quietly at a desk. Schuyler let a calm smile slip briefly across her features, as the girl reminded her of herself back when she'd been in school. Her thoughts didn't show on her expression for long, however, and within moments she bore the familiar dips at the corners of her lips, as though she were either intently theorizing on some matter, or expressing sorrow for an unknown reason. She deposited her coat on the back of her chair, not bothering to unlock the dusty office at the rear of the room, as she rarely used it, and placed her purse in her desk. Looking up again at the two students present, she made the decision to introduce herself. "I'm sorry I'm late," she said in a seemingly shy tone. "I hope you'll forgive me. Assuming you're both in the correct class, I am Miss Young, and I teach eleventh grade College Prep English. Any questions on that small bit of information?"


OOC: Monique, notice how my character didn't enter the classroom with an energetic smile on her face, and how she didn't close the door behind her? Those are things you don't want to put in your posts, or if you must, put something like, "So and so THOUGHT the teacher bore an energetic smile..." or something like that. You don't want to be saying what other people's characters are doing, only your own =]

[Inspired]

---The arrival of his fellow classmate registered somewhere in the back of his mind, but he didn't bother to look up from Duma Key, at the moment it was just too engrossing. After a few seconds, when his eyes had reached the end of the chapter, he glanced up - finally acknowledging his companion. For a long moment Alex only stares, tracing her body quickly with his eyes before returning his gaze to her's and offering a brief flash of startlingly white teeth. It was a token gesture - she was too unknown to him for an actually friendly smile, but it was nicer than giving her the cold shoulder.

---Milliseconds after this the teacher entered, her pretty face contorting into a grimace when she looked at him, which immediately put him on edge. He hated it when people judged other people based on their looks. However, she didn't snap at him (which he reluctantly gave her credit for) and he slid his legs off of the chair in front of him slowly, letting them slap against the tiled floor. "Yes ma'm," there was no missing the sarcasm in his voice, but he doesn't challenge her authority persay.

---In fact, despite the fact that he's usually content to be the strong silent type, he questions their teacher, leaning forward on his desk and subsequently flattening his hardback book. "So how long've you been teaching, Ms. Young? I can't say I've seen you around." A cheeky grin split his lips, and his eyes met her own in an unspoken challenge, except, this was one she couldn't win: to meet his stare and expect him to back down would challenge his own imagined self authority, but backing down was not something he tolerated from a teacher. Well, respected from a teacher anyway.

[writersdevil0203]

Amber-Lynn groaned inwardly as the teacher began to speak, first apologizing for her tardiness. She didn't want to be here, but she refused to let the new teacher know that. At her old school she'd been a straight A student, well liked by most teachers. Here she was fine with her position as the recluse, the odd one out, the emotional one, and of course, the one who would probably fail. She did not intend to "make her parent's proud" as they'd so happily told her before she'd boarded the plane. No, instead she chose to do the opposite.

She once again inched her eyes towards the other student in the classroom, wondering why they were currently the only two. She lost focus of the boy and turned her attention back to the teacher, studying her a bit. Her blonde hair reminded her of Jessie's once vibrant blonde hair, and the hair reminded her of her friend's once bubbling and carefree personality. Again she wanted to cry.

She hated thinking of Jessie, but she had a feeling that being shipped to another school wasn't going to help. It was moments like these when for a brief moment, Amber-Lynn almost wished she'd succeeded in her suicide attempt.

[Rahakasax]

What the hell is her problem?

Schuyler blinked twice at the boy's response, half surprised, and half skeptical, that he would have obeyed her so directly. His instigating gaze resulted in a narrowing of her own eyes, and she spun on her heel to write her name on the dry-erase board behind her desk. The comments following his 'good pupil' attitude irritated her, but she did her best not to show it on her face. "Seeing as this is only my second year here, I make it a priority not to wander about the halls, lest some administrator catch me and ask why I am not in my classroom keeping track of curious students," she replied, her voice calm but firm. "That's what the hall monitors are for, are they not?" She turned again to face them both, though this time her eyes settled on the girl.

"And you, miss, what is your name?" asked the instructor, exhaling slowly as though to calm herself. "As you are a junior, I feel I should have seen you around the halls in the few times I have travelled them, but I cannot say I have. Are you a transfer?" She mentally scolded herself for letting that slight accent slip through her lips while pronouncing the 'r' sounds. Her eyes darted back over to the boy briefly, inwardly daring him to interrupt her attempt at conversation with the quieter female in the room. Schuyler knew she wouldn't retain this method of teaching past the first few days--that is to say, she wouldn't remain strict past the point of letting her students know she was capable of being such. At this point in time, however, she could only hope they didn't assume too much of her.

[Inspired]

---Alex's gaze dipped back to the quiet girl, slightly put off by the fact that she had neither acknowledged his gesture or offered one of his own. But the more he watched her, the more he noticed how withdrawn she was; how she hadn't spoken, barely met his gaze, shuffled when she walked (so to speak) and lacked the vibrancy of any student just preparing for a summer break. Of course he knows nothing of her history and probably wouldn't be so crass if he did, but he doesn't convey his irritance in anything more cruel than his quick glaring assesment.

---The teacher responded then, and his gaze is pulled back to her's, assesing her just as he had his classmate. Her response had slightly dampened his fire and he reluctantly accepted her response as permissible in his metaphorical challenge. "I s'pose," his voice was softer now and his broad shoulders rolled forward in a shrug. As she turned to the silent girl he took the oppurtunity to flip the book over and pretend to read, though his attention is broken by the in-pouring of students. In little groups their classmates began to fill in, taking up seats mostly in the middle, like himself.

---Alex still listens to see if the girl responds or fully ignores their teacher - he's never met anyone who chooses to be silent and is intent on learning how to deal with them. To be honest, he wouldn't mind getting to know the shy girl - she wasn't too bad looking and didn't seem painfully immature like others. But Alex couldn't and wouldn't deal with silence, hence his earlier immediate dislike.

[writersdevil0203]

"Amber-Lynn"

Her voice was soft as she responded to the teacher, avoiding gazes as she did. Other students were filing in slowly and she said it in such a way that she wouldn't be surprised if nobody had even heard her. She noticed the boy's gaze towards her, studying her, and she tried to think of a response. Ignoring him any longer would make her look suspicious, allowing others to ask her questions. She hated questions. And she hated that the teacher had chosen now to question her, even if she had just asked her name...and what was with asking if she was a transfer, or the slight accent she noticed? She wasn't a transfer. The word sounded so foreign, like she was nothing more than a tourist stopping by to visit. Unfortuately though she was here to stay.

She cleared her throat once again, choosing to take control of the situation.

"Ms, my name is Amber-Lynn Cody...and I don't like being called a transfer student"

[Rahakasax]

Why do people always take me to mean something I don't?

An all-too-familiar frown cut the older woman's face nearly in two, the dark-lined eyes narrowing considerably at the girl's soft response. Schuyler took no further notice of the boy, as he'd offered no continuance to his questioning. The other students filing into the room, however, concerned her, as the last thing she'd wanted to do was offend the girl, and that seemed to be exactly what she had done. Even worse, the increasing number of students meant an increasing chance that someone would overhear Schuyler's next words. To compensate, she walked closer, leaning back against a desk in the row between the boy and Amber-Lynn, her palms braced against the wooden surface and her manicured nails drumming absentmindedly atop it. Her gaze travelled once further about the room, taking in the sight of her students, before she responded.

"I'm sorry it was such an offense to have asked of your history, Miss Cody" the woman articulated, her expression thoughtful, but not cruel. She did her best to maintain the genuine inflection so often heard in her voice. After all, she didn't want to make an enemy of the girl, but she was annoyed at her snappiness. "I simply wanted to know why I hadn't 'seen you around,' to put it in the words of the boy over there." Given by way of an inclination of the head, was a gesture to the boy who hadn't yet introduced himself. She didn't bother to inquire either, as she knew her attendance list would solve that problem quickly as soon as she looked at it. "However, I can assure you there is no ulterior meanings behind my calling you a transfer student. What else might you propose I christen you?"

[writersdevil0203]

"Amber-Lynn. I'm not particular with names but don't call me Amber. Call me Amber-Lynn...and I'm sorry for my snappish response."

She really hadn't meant to sound snappish and she thought it right to respond in a nicer tone to the teacher. Her gaze travelled to boy again, noting the empty chair right by him. He seemed interesting enough, and he wasn't bad looking as she'd noted earlier.

On a whim she excused herself from the teacher, moving towards the seat next to the boy. She smiled softly, pushing a strand of hair behind her ears, taking another deep breath before she spoke, trying to find the right words to say. Finally she settled upon simplicity.

"Hi. My name's Amber-Lynn. What's yours?

[Inspired]

---He did try to read, in fact, his eyes traced the same sentence five times before he gave it up, only to have his gaze orient back to the conversation between their teacher and the quiet girl. The girl, Amber-Lynn, responds quickly - never meeting the teacher's eyes but being abrupt and almost rude with her answer. Alex swiveled in his deck chair, closing his book and stuffing it into his ratty backpack, only to turn around and see the girl sitting next to him, already giving him her name.

---One eyebrow raised quizzically as he finished zipping up his bag, but his lips returned to that cheeky grin as he straightened up and twirled around in his seat to semi-face her. "Alex," his voice is smooth, lacking the hard edge it had taken when challenging the teacher's authority. "So you're new here, huh?" He wasn't probing or being rude - simply trying to facilitate conversation - he wasn't going to pass this opportunity up.

---Warily he glanced back to the teacher - expecting her to break them apart or give Amber-Lynn a piece of her mind for leaving so abruptly, but for the moment it looked okay and he turned back to Amber-Lynn, favoring her again with a smile.

[Rahakasax]

Ah, so that's how things go these days.

Schuyler gave no indication of her confusion at the way the girl had responded, instead merely knitting her brows and letting a scowl overtake her lightly freckled face. She'd never been fond of people who insisted so much upon their very first meeting with her, but this one took the cake. In just a few moments she'd gone from shy and mysterious, to angry, biting, and now a bit too overly upbeat. It was as if the teacher had flipped several switches on her, with each one elliciting a different personality. Of course, it wouldn't be the first time she'd come across a real case of bi-polar disorder, or schizophrenia. Still though, sufferers of these illnesses bothered the strawberry blonde to no end. Her issue would be learning to cope with Amber-Lynn's personality swings. Schuyler wouldn't, after all, know who the girl really was, at this rate. She shook her head and watched as the boy, who'd finally introduced himself as Alex, offered his classmate a conversation starter that didn't sound as grudging as the teacher might have expected.

After waiting briefly for a chance to interrupt, the older woman spoke to Amber-Lynn softly, but sternly. "I wish I were at liberty to call you by your first name, Miss Cody," she began, one hand on her hip, "but unfortunately it is my own policy that I refer to you as you refer to me. It's only fair, as far as I can see." Her violet eyes snapped toward the clock as the bell rang, annoyed that she had to begin so soon after arriving (as she was used to arriving much earlier and having a great amount more time to prepare her lessons before the first classes started), despite the fact that the class was relatively small. It seemed by this point in time that most students had dropped out of school and gone on to work their part time jobs for meager wages and hope to live off of them. Her eyes closed briefly in memory of a good friend having followed a similar life course, only to wind up in federal prison a few months later. She scoffed inwardly at the thought.

[writersdevil0203]

“My parent’s made me come here. They thought it’d be ‘in my best interest’”

She laughed at her own words, flashing one last smile at Alex before returning her attention to the ever annoying teacher, who had just interrupted Alex as she saw it.

“Well then I suppose Miss Cody is fine. Don’t you have like a class to teach instead of focusing your attention on me?” asked Amber-Lynn, making sure the students surrounding heard what she was saying. This teacher was making it all too easy for her.

Amber-Lynn turned her attention back to Alex, gazing into his perfect eyes, feeling herself get lost in the transition from the teacher to him.

Well, if she was forced to be here then she might as well make it interesting.

“So, you want to meet me at the Coffee Bean after we get out of this hell hole?”

[Inspired]

He has to laugh at her answer, just has to. It's funny though, how he could use the same excuse as to why he was here - but he doubts she's had any trouble with the law. If anything she got sent here because of drugs or trouble in school, she doesn't look like the type who could go out and steal without remorse. He used to be, but not so much anymore.

It's then that the teacher speaks again, having savored a moment to rebuild her injured ego, and while Amber-Lynn is turned to talk to Ms. Young, Alex flashes their teacher a smile, but his eyes remain gaurded. She didn't seem to like him much, and he still had an entire year in English, no need to go messing it up now. But Alex has to respect this meek girl for her courage, mouthing off to the teacher brazenly, further challenging her authority.

When she finally turns back to him, he is in mild shock (but we assure you, it's a good shock), his eyes are wide and his shoulders tense, but it passes as she moves on to ask him out. Again he is suprised by the girl, having instantly pegged her as one of the quiet girls that he never gets around to dating. And he counters her offer, his voice still charming and full of ill-concealed laughter. "How about Friendly's at seven instead? I'll pick you up."

Maybe after that they could go to a movie and he could explore some possibilities with her, or just get things started. Vaguely he remembers the girl he was out with last weekend and the fiasco that had been, but the memory fades and he's left staring at her with that cheeky grin and messed up hair. Who could resist?

[Rahakasax]

I love being reminded of how much students hate school.

A fierce frown overcame the blonde woman's face at the teenager's words. She didn't appreciate being spoken to in such a way, and while she wasn't normally one to lose her temper, the girl had warranted her next comments. "I'm glad you approve," Schuyler snapped irritably, folding her arms across her chest. "And yes, I do, like, have a class to teach, but I can assure you that you won't be remaining here to enjoy its educational value for much longer with that attitude of yours, Miss Cody. But then, perhaps it would be more appropriate to keep you here in this hell hole, as it appears it would be more punishing." Her dark blue eyes flashed, and she clentched her teeth to prevent herself from saying something more emotionally damaging. She eyed Alex, apparently debating whether to scold him as well, but decided against it, instead turning on her heel to return to her desk. She called the class to order, awaiting their attention.