Bad Company

[Pine]

"... so you're not going to want to wait on that. I have had students in the past that think they can just show up without any preparation for their appeal, and those are the people who end up crying."


"God," a kid half-laughed.


The woman gestured with a wave of her hand and a solemn nod. "Now, the essays will be the easy part. All of them are between 300 and..."


Saul reclined his head back, blue eyes rolling up to the ceiling tiles. When will this suffering end? It wasn't so hard. Just give the kids their respective packets and send them on their way. We know how to read. You're going to make us read it anyway, cripes. Traditionally, the Friday before a break was specifically designed for watching movies in class, maybe playing a few board games, or in the case of the last period, getting out of class early. Contrary to this common courtesy of teachers, Mrs. Fowler decided to participate in the sinful activity of assigning them a project over the break and then waste time talking them through it. The boy could only cope so much with her exaggeratedly arched, penciled eyebrows.


He craned his head deliberately away from the teacher, making his decision to ignore her official. Amanda immediately came into his line of sight, her black hair kept up in a tight bun. John, pretending to pay attention to Mrs. Fowler, was blissfully unaware of the scowl set on her face. It only took Saul a moment to locate the source of her irritation. Not only was John shaking his foot that was resting in the basket of her seat, but his elbows were set on the back of her chair, as they were both slouching forward.


She inhaled deeply, glaring daggers into the other wall. Saul was about to resume his daily challenge of counting the ceiling tiles in all of his classes when suddenly the girl whipped her head around, gaze targeting the elbow with determination. Before the other boy could react to the older girl, she ran her tongue quickly over the bony joint. John withdrew immediately, straightening up and staring at her in stunned silence. This drew some attention in class, enough to make Mrs. Fowler cut off in the middle of a sentence. Amanda didn't look back at her, however, and instead relished in the disturbed look on the boy's face.


After a few moments, the geography teacher heaved a sigh and resumed what she was saying. "As I was saying, when you're working on your flags, make sure they correspond with your chosen..."


Amanda turned the other way, her face smug, and sent a wink to Saul before resuming her staring contest with the wall. The boy snorted lightly and looked down at his desk with a small grin. Her antics were typically amusing, to say the least. She was typically alienated in her classes, considering she has been a freshman for the past three years and prominent rumors of her drug use, but she was one of perhaps the closest person that he came to considering a friend in this class, especially. Even with that, their relationship was somewhat fabricated.


His arms folded over the desk, one hand gripping the cuff of his plain button-up shirt in preparation of pushing up his sleeves but stopped himself, making the gesture casual by glancing over at his watch. Five minutes. Saul drew his bottom lip out, channeling the air to blow into his face in an effort to cool off a little. Another reason to leave this class early, Mrs. Fowler was just another old lady who kept her room too flubbing hot. The other wasn't entirely because of the break, since he had to wait for the bus anyway, but if he didn't get out there soon, he might miss the product of months of planning and careful orchestration on his part. It had not been a hot topic for the day, so maybe everyone's surprise will compensate-


"... Saul."


The boy's head snapped up, moving his arms to cover his stomach as he redirected his gaze to Mrs. Fowler. However, her head was turned down, glasses resting lowly on the bridge of her nose as she read off a list. Oh, partners. Saul grabbed the packet being passed down his row without so much as a glance. That must mean... ugh, who did I get? he wondered, scanning over his classmates in an attempt to discern who he had been assigned to.

 

[Mordecai]

Piper Lee Reid was spread out across her desk like jam on toast. There was a dull and generally nondescript look on her face, with her lips contorted into the smallest hint of frown, conveying the displeasure she so desperately tried to hide behind raised eyebrows and feigned interest. The professor, who was standing less than a metre from her seat that was situation front and centre in the organized grid of student’s desks, was saying nothing that Piper was paying any attention to. Piper was a bright, if not dull, young woman who only did things that would look good on a college application. While such a personality normally dictated that she be alert for the discussion on a project that would make up such a large portion of her geography class grade, Piper let her vision stare off into some distant daydream. In truth, there was quite a workload for her to complete—but as the class wore on, her focus seemed to wane. Mentally, she was determined to work and be the student that future colleges would want to see, but her body just could not be bothered with the effort. She was not quite sure how to respond to such a rebellion.


So, she continued to do nothing besides jingle a ballpoint pen between her fingers and try and drum up some sort of interest. Her blasé attitude had gotten so bad, she hadn’t even bothered to lift her head that was pillowed in her arm to glance back at the small commotion that paused Mrs. Fowler’s incessant speech. All the sandy brunette freshman wanted to do was head off campus and begin the glorious concept known as Spring break. There were few times during the school year that Piper allowed her the luxury of sitting around and doing nothing, but Spring break was one of those times. It was a glorious span of seven days where she left the comfort of her pajamas and bed only when she had to. It wasn’t a common occurrence, but it certainly was not something detested by every fibre of her communal being. It was slightly therapeutic to spend time selfishly on Youtube instead of pouring her days into studying, volunteering, and going to speech team meets.


But there went Mrs. Flower… ruining that whole idea with a carefully planned takeover of her Spring break using a terribly lame project. By 2:30 in the afternoon, she was entirely convinced that there was a circle of hell compromised entirely of attending endless Mrs. Fowler’s group project lectures.


With only a few minutes remaining in the period, Piper lazily lifted her head as the information packets were passed out and students began to scatter across the room to meet with their partners. Piper leafed through bundle of papers, running her finger down the page that listed the pairings. Surely, it couldn’t get much worse, right? It didn’t take her long to find her name on the list, but when she did, every piece of morale she had left sunk deep within her chest. Sual Cox? That was like getting the diet soda of partners. It was better than getting water, but damn, she was hoping for the non-diet Pepsi: the type of partner she knew would do their work in a timely and proper fashion. Cradling her belongings against her chest, Piper made her away begrudgingly through the rows of desks and stopped several centimetres in front of Saul’s desk, staring down at him with steady hazel-eyed gaze.


That had been introduced a few times in the past and she knew of Saul vaguely from around the neighbourhood, but hadn’t shared more than a handful of pleasantries with him before. “So, it looks like we’re partners?” she began, glancing down to the packet that was opened to the partners page on the top of the pile in her arms. “It’s due when we get back from break, so, I suppose we should probably figure out a time to work on it?” she continued, crinkling her a nose a little at the realization of how awkward she sounded. Piper had always been the type of girl who had more brains than personality and on a list of things Piper was not, social was the crowning item.


There wasn’t anything particularly special about Piper except maybe her report cards that were glowing with praises from the teachers. She was meek, mild-mannered, and just normal looking enough to avoid an onslaught of high school teasing by the more beautiful people of the school. “So, uhhh—“ she mumbled through some more conversation, trying to discern what would be a good thing to say, “I’m Piper. If you hadn’t realized.” Real smooth, Pipes, real smooth. Like he wouldn’t have figured out who you are… “Maybe we can talk on the bus?” she offered, knowing they rode the same bus as they lived on the same block several kilometres from the school.


“You know. And figure out the project… or whatever?”


Keep it up, Pipes. You sound like a moron, she thought with a painful sigh.

 

[Pine]

There was a quiet rustling sound as Saul ran his thumb repeatedly up the side of the packet, tracing up what was easily fifteen sheets of paper stuffed with entirely too much to do. That class was gravitating into look respective pockets, some eagerly running up to each other for being paired with their best friends "for life", others having to be in the awkward position of working with the social circumstances of being classroom acquaintances. This, Saul soon found out, was to be his situation, as he observed Amanda being approached by Sam, an almost forlorn look settling on her face. It would be a lie to say he wasn't relieved. If they had been paired together, he would probably be joining her in her fourth year of being a freshman in Molach's incarnate's class.


A movement caught his eye in the corner of his vision. Saul glanced over in time to see Piper Reid treading carefully down the aisle. Oh no. Maybe his partner was absent? The boy finally flipped open the packet and scanned over the pages for some sign of hope. Yeah, she was probably just walking up to the kid who sat behind him. Confound it all, idiot, nobody sits there. Saul looked up, gently sighing through his nose, and found himself staring face-to-face with the dreaded token of his sealed fate.


He had mixed feelings about this partner choice, which she confirmed with a simple opening statement and a distracted glance down to the precise page he had been looking for, held close to her breast. Saul sorted out the pros and cons of this situation which, in the disorganized mess that he presently found them in, was leading to a sinking feeling in his chest.


Cons were that he had plans for over the break, which ideally would have as little intrusion from school work as possible, but with one girl known for literally nothing aside from her massive over-achieving streak, that would be a struggle. A pro was that he could take advantage of that. If he made a display of having no intention of doing anything, she would lose patience with him and do it all regardless of her own personal health. A con was that the idea made him a little uncomfortable and her incessant nagging that he would surely have to deal with before he made that realization for Piper. Not to mention that she lived just down the street from him, and if his parents found out, he knew they wouldn't take too kindly to it. Then again, I'm probably grounded right now anyway, since I couldn't find my phone this morning. Then there was-


"It's due when we get back from break, so, I suppose we should probably figure out a time to work on it?"


It has begun already. The statement alone suggested the "work first, play later" principle and he wasn't prepared to deflect it in time. I swear, if she's another one of those passive-aggressive wenches... But the fact remained that he only knew the bare minimum about her, which suddenly made him feel very vulnerable. Previously, he'd had no need to know anything about her, but now he was stuck in a project with her that could go south very quickly if he didn't play his cards right and he had no dirt on her. The way Piper's nose scrunched up soon after her attempts to communicate with him suggested discomfort on her part, perhaps as a result of low self-esteem? That was something he could work with. Fudge knockers, it's probably because I'm just staring at her.


Saul shifted in his seat in an effort to correct this. His mind scrambled for something appropriate to say as he slipped the packet off the desk and grappled at his overstuffed backpack on the side. I hope this doesn't take too long. He opened his mouth to say as much, unzipping his backpack gradually in an effort to stall time, but snapped it shut just as quickly. No opinions, he reprimanded himself, unless asked for. Does that even count as an opinion? She certainly didn't ask for it. Saul groaned internally, parting the binders just enough for him to be able to stuff the packet between them before zipping it again.


"I'm Piper. If you hadn't realized."


"I know," he responded automatically, tone evidently prepubescent. In hindsight, that had probably been rude, but he felt no remorse. Saul looked back up to see a few of the kids lining up at the door, if only to be met with Mrs. Fowler firmly telling them that they had to wait for the bell and being sent back to their seats. The boy's thin lips fell into a grimace. A combination of that and Piper's continued stumbling through her lines complicated his immediate plans after school, but he could deal with both.


Saul hooked his fingers in the straps of his backpack. "I guess, yeah. I have plans tonight." Plans was a loose term meaning her only had the general idea of how he wanted to kick off his break, but she didn't need to know that. The boy finally looked back up at her. "We can just go now." He hauled the backpack up as he stood, swinging it over his shoulder as he did so.

 

[Mordecai]

{ooc: I fail at life. Sorry this took me so long—some major stuff came up in the real world, but I should be back to normal now. C: Or as normal as I get, anyways.}


Piper dug her fingernails into her palm to feel the sharp shock of pain running up her arms. It was a reminder to herself to shut her trap, though it was proving more difficult, for every word that had spilled out of her mouth had caused her to dig deeper into an awkward hole. Of course, there was a part of her that wanted to continue trying to talk her way out of it, but knowing she’d just make the situation worse, the young woman dug her nails deeper into her palms. The fact that Saul was doing nothing more than staring at her and not responding was enough to make a trickle of adrenaline to siphon into her veins, which made her shift back and forth uncomfortably from foot to foot, rocking her weight for the want of something to do. Luckily, she managed to quiet her mouth by clenching her jaw until her muscles began to ache, but she ignored the pain in favour of looking more like an idiot than she already had.


Hearing words finally come out of his mouth brought with it a wave of relief. Suddenly, she stopped awkwardly shifting from foot to foot. A comfortable half-smile replaced the clenched jaw, nodding happily that he remembered who she was. Not everyone did. Piper was the type of girl that people often noticed initially, though no one was sure why. Pretty was probably a stretch, but she was agreeable enough, though people often described her as looking like everyone. It was a hard concept to describe, but people often commented that her features were forgettable and they had trouble remembering her face.


It wasn’t completely a curse, she supposed, as it avoided cumbersome passing encounters with former acquaintances. Plus, Pipes really had no interest in being memorable. She wanted to keep studying and performing well so she could some day get into Yale. Things like getting noticed by boys just didn’t top her priority list, really, so she didn’t mind fading into obscurity. She probably would have been the type to be picked on by the more popular kids if there was something distinctly noticeable about her.


But the fact that Saul remembered her was enough to bring a small smile to her face. She wasn’t sure why she felt the need to bask pridefully in his acknowledgement, but she was.


The loud pip of electricity filling the classroom as the sound of the dismissing bell stirred her from her reverie as she lifted her head and glanced to the clock, surprised it was already time to leave. “That’s okay,” she replied once the sound waned, commenting on the matter of his evening plans, “I’ll get started tonight and you can join in whenever you can,” she said. Her parents wouldn’t be home until the wee hours of the morning anyways and it was her duty to stay home and tend to things.


While Piper had inherited her parents’ intelligences and ambitions, she hated the fact that her mother was a surgeon and her father an oncology researcher. Most of her time at home was spent alone in a large house, with only intermittent blurbs of her parents’ presences in-between. The family never went on vacation together. Hell, she couldn’t remember the last time she had seen both of her parents in the same room together.


Piper followed behind him quietly, her stuff still pressed against her chest as she strolled through the busy hallways towards the front doors of the school, towards the buses. The distance between her house and school was so short, it was often more practical just to walk home than to take the bus, but this option gave her a few moments with Saul. He didn’t seem overly eager to work on the project, and Pipes began to make the assumption that, like most other school projects, she’d just end up doing it, and he’d end up taking half the credit. Typical.


At some point, she had lost track of the boy, but thought nothing of it. He’d show up on the bus eventually, so she climbed up the steps of the yellow school bus and plopped down in her usual spot.

 

[Pine]

(It's all good man. I've been busy this week anyway, so don't even worry about it. Glad to hear things have calmed down on your end. cx)


Saul was about to press on, regardless of her answer to him wanting to leave early because it would have benefit him either way, when the ringing of the bell sounded throughout the building. Shoot, I better not be too late. It was a signal of their liberation. All the kids sprang from their seats, eagerly trying to cram their way through the narrow passageway out of the room, the only break in this being the occasional, venturous soul who decided that an act of chivalry would be worth the long wait of kids passing him by and trapping him behind the door.


His eyes returned to focusing on the girl blocking his path, but the discontent on his visage did not change. Piper's face was no longer tense with anxiety as it had before. Instead, the remains of a tiny grin she had previously been trying to hide toyed at her lips. And what are you so happy about? Had he been wrong about self-deprecation? A general sense of meekness was a common enough trait among girls. Saul supposed he would find out the next time they inevitably met, but in the mean time, it may be in his best interest for her to be uncomfortable around him. Then she couldn't badger him about the project.


The final dings of the bell faded out and she jumped straight to talk of working on the project. A sense of irritation churned in his stomach. She means tonight? I meant plans for all night, doesn't she understand? Would that be suspicious, then, if he never showed up? Jiminy Cricket, don't you have something better to do other than just working on a stupid geography project? Saul settled on leaving it open-ended for him to determine later. Maybe he could excuse it as a misunderstanding if she expected him to show up tonight, and instead he came by... Monday? Saturday would encourage her. Sunday, he wasn't allowed to work, but just being forbade from doing so almost made working on the project look appealing.


He mulled over these ideas as he made his way out the room, the two of them being some of the last to file out of the class. The instant he turned up, the boy that had sacrificed himself to hold open the door instantly abandoned his post, letting the door swing back just soon enough to force Saul into awkwardly catching the handle just before the door slammed shut. I wish I had boobs, he grumbled internally, opening the way once again and placing the tips of his fingers on the false wood just long enough for the girl behind him to similarly pass through.


This brought the other matter at hand back to his attention. He wriggled his way into one of the spare vacant positions amongst the throng of kids. Piper said they could just meet on the bus, right? Shuffling along in the crowd was painfully slow and he could imagine it would already be crowded outside like this. He would have to look for them, he already knew, and it would seem weird for him to be taking the sporadic route on the way to the bus if Piper was watching. Saul would just have to shake her off. Considering the claustrophobia-inducing environment that the hallway currently provided, the only solace in the mix from the bulge of his backpack pushing people to distance themselves behind him, it shouldn't be too hard.


The boy made an effort to further submerge himself, carelessly squeezing his way between lines of friends in an effort to move himself forward in the crowd. It wasn't long before he was in the main hallway where the kids were spilling out of the building, and when he tossed a glance over his shoulder, Piper was nowhere to be seen. A smug satisfaction curled the corners of his lips then before he compulsively pulled back his sleeve to check his watch. He still had time, in theory.


Saul's eyes scrunched into a squint as he stepped out into the light of day, the transition between the two environments causing his pupils to shrink painfully in adjustment. He swerved his way between kids, most having settled to standing around and chatting the evening away in waiting for their bus to arrive. One look up showed that his bus had arrived surprisingly punctual, but with the front end of number forty-seven crossing over the crosswalk, as per usual when this happened. He turned deliberately from the path of this, but not soon after he found just the person he was looking for standing right outside the bus.


Mason was shuffling from foot to foot in his vexation, the athletic kid shamelessly prepared to bring his own personal drama to light in front of this whole crowd. Kids parted their way around him, evidently uneasy by the aggression his hulking form radiated off. He was well-known on the baseball team and had the arrogance to show for it, with his closely-shaven hair bleached an unnatural blonde just like the rest of them. Sure enough, just as previously arranged in front of the buses, the other boy, Caleb, soon arrived, his ugly ginger face a blotched red in his fury that matched Mason's own.


Saul moved silently around the fringes of the conflict that was about to ensue, taking the careful interest in the situation the same way that a scavenger might.


"Hey!" Caleb snapped, already making a big deal of his entry, making heads turn in confusion and Mason to look back at him. "You wanna' go talking shit about my girl and thinking you can sleep with her?" This line had already been used before, but Saul supposed that he wanted some macho thing to say first. The girl in question, Britney, had indeed slept with Mason. Caleb's probably-virgin-self simply couldn't handle that truth, and had been in denial about her ever spending the night with another guy ever since their flimsy so-called "relationship" had begun.


Some unintelligible slurs were exchanged, as per traditional of high school sparring matches that modeled closely after the Hollywood representation, before Mason fell on Caleb. Saul stopped in his stalking, the first to react to the tackle, but this soon drew the attention of the rest of the crowd. A roar of voices suddenly swelled, people jabbering excitedly, some blatantly cheering it on, and a few quietly sharing their concerns. As you should be. Mason is much bigger. Then again, I think Caleb picked up a few tricks in tai-kwon-do?


The two had rolled over on their sides, grappling at each other's shirts, Caleb's legs hiking up to dig his shoes roughly into Mason's stomach. A decisive punch from Mason split Caleb's lips, blood instantly drawing on his already colored face. Saul chortled quietly to himself, and he had to clasp his hand over his mouth to conceal the cruel smile that was twisting its corners. He surprised himself for a moment, concerned by the delight he got from watching events unfold as they were, but just as soon reminded himself that it had to be done.


An elbow jabbed into his side, but he was careful not to acknowledge the other boy. "Hey, do you know what happened?"


Sixth grade, Mason had said he was better than me. In fourth grade, Caleb launched a soccer ball into my face. I got a nosebleed and he didn't even bother apologizing. Now look whose face is bloody. Saul had no intention of sharing any of this, however, and instead pretended he hadn't heard the prying boy, staring fixedly forward as the fight was driven on by the encouraging screams of the dozens of angsty teenagers.


It wasn't until he looked over his shoulder to see the crowd parting, without a doubt the campus police officer the only one in that moment with the power to do so, that Saul decided it was time to split. He stepped through the crowd as quickly as he could manage with everyone boxed in as they were, all their eyes hungrily searching for the source of the commotion. Finally he stepped off the curb, holding his arms close to his side as he traveled the narrow path to the short line of kids loading the bus, all casting distracted glances at the scene not too far off.


He fell into line behind them, the kids picking up their pace significantly once they had ascended the steps of the bus. Saul swept his eyes over the students, many of which were leaning over to stare out the window at the police officer attempting to pry the two away from each other, but he made a conscious effort to not pay them any more heed. His hope had been that the bus had been too stuffed for anyone to have an empty seat next to them, as he had some fun in the back of the bus sometimes, but lo and behold, some higher force was conspiring against him and leaving the space right next to Piper wide open.


Saul took in a shallow breath and attempted to suppress the following exhale, but this unintentionally lead to his mouth gaping open in a great yawn. He slipped his backpack off his shoulder and slipped in next to her, setting it in his lap and securing it with his arms encircling it. "Uh..." He hadn't planned far enough ahead to excuse himself. Then again, he didn't really have any need to apologize to her, now did he? "So, you wanted to talk about the project?" Lame.