|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 Posted: Mon Dec 28, 2009 2:00 pm
It'd been a few days since Elle was released from the hospital, and the dark-haired girl was settling into living at home with her mostly-absent mother again. She was also adjusting to attending a new school; Meadowview High was a far cry from Barren Pines (thank God), and although there were some familiar faces among the sea of strangers, Elle was still learning to fit in. It was... difficult, after what'd happened. But Elle chalked it up to unresolved trauma and being a teenager in a new high school, and didn't let it get her down. No, she was Elle, and she was better than that.
The classes might get her down, though. Home ec? Really? What was this, middle school? Elle Hammel had been cooking her own meals for years now. Alas, she'd needed an elective, and voluntarily taking gym was as unlikely as it was unappealing. So here she sat in a classroom equipped with kitchen facilities and cooking supplies, enough for a classful of students to make a huge mess. The teacher informed them happily that they would be making cakes today. Birthday cakes. For her goldfish. They were to pair up and pick a place to work, following the recipe at each station and listening to her instructions so that they did not set Meadowview High on fire, cue stern look to known pyros.
"Remember to put his name on the cake! Humphrey. NOW GET TO WORK!" the teacher added gleefully, thundering the last sentence as if she had been messed with a few too many times. Aw man, did that mean she needed a partner? Elle got up as the rest of the class started to move, glancing around at the other students dubiously and trying to seem somewhat approachable. With her off-the-cuff haircut it was easier said than done.
"Uhm..."
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Dec 29, 2009 12:58 pm
"Humphrey? Really?!" Varete thought to herself, with disdain as she stood up from her seat. She really really did not want to be here, she thought to herself with a sigh. As much as she disliked school already, this class was not helping. (Who needed Home Ec anyways? Kids?)
Goldfish. Birthday. Cake. And what idiot had told her that school was a educational experience?
Not likely. This was utterly ridiculous. It wasn't as if that silly goldfish was going to eat all of those damn birthday cakes. No. If anything, she didn't doubt her teacher over there would have happily gobbled down the cakes in the name of her goldfish. She was strongly tempted to point this out.. if she wasn't afraid of what her overly plump teacher might have done to her. (Smother her perhaps?) Holding her tongue, she couldn't help the image that formed in her mind.
Disgusting little cakes made by inept students.. "Ugh." Already, she heard of the boys creating a a cake of brains. No doubt, influenced by the idea of zombies.
Struggling to clear her head of such nonsense, she reached out to grab a random girl's hand. "Partners?" She proposed in a breezy tone, giving her a smile, before dragging her off to one of the cooking stations.
As usual, Varete was dragging some poor girl into her pace.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Dec 29, 2009 5:51 pm
The dark-haired girl didn't have much time to think, watching students pair off and feeling mildly hopeless, casting a desperate look around the classroom, but the only one that met her eyes was a very greasy looking dude that she didn't savor the idea of having to stand close to.
Thus Elle was much obliged when Varete grabbed her hand, opening her mouth to agree with as much gusto as she could muster on this most inauspicious of occassions, but the girl yanked her off before a single word could pass black-lipsticked lips. She blinked, following after her, trying to play it cool anyway, quirking an eyebrow at her 'partner'. Well, at least she seemed pleasant, if a little too eager to do this stupid a** project.
Then again, Elle didn't know just how much they sympathized with each other. She didn't question why the girl would just randomly pick her-- they were both thrown into this together and it was better to count her blessings, she figured, than to turn her nose up at a gift. It was better than getting stuck with the idiot boys that were bound and determined to make nothing more than a disaster, and Elle kind of wanted to pass so that she didn't have to suffer through another pointless class like this.
"Uhhh, thanks. I'm Elle, by the way," she introduced herself with a half-smile, giving Varete's hand a squeeze before she loosened her grip, glancing at her sidelong. "Man, let's get this over with," she sighed, smoothing her hair a little and picking up the sheet of directions, making a series of horrified and disgusted faces at the cutesy way their teacher had written all of it. She wondered if the woman even owned a goldfish, or if she was just doing this whole thing as a horrible joke. It was going to be a looooong term if this was her idea of cute. She'd already moved to the middle station and was pulling out pans and ingredients.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed Dec 30, 2009 3:30 pm
Satisfied with the girl's answer, she propped herself up on the kitchen counter. Taking a seat, she addressed the girl in a casual manner. "Varete." She said, as she extended a hand. As far as introductions went, it was quite the informative one.
Contrary to her sudden manner, Varete hadn't picked this girl entirely on a whim. She had noted the girl's look of desperation and frowned upon the sight of it. The poor girl was judged on her looks, and ignored because of it. (She couldn't admit that she wasn't better then those girls, but she was certainly open-minded) She didn't mind the girl's looks. In fact, she would go as far to as to praise the girl for her boldness. She didn't personally go for the emo-punk style herself, but eh. It worked out for Elle.
And hopefully, Elle was a fast cook. The faster, the better.
First things first, clothes. Taking her position at the kitchen, she pulled out two very stylish aprons from the apron rack. Ignoring the glares of the other girls nearby, she handed Elle a black apron as she grabbed the green apron for herself. In a matter of seconds, she had her hair styled neatly as she fastened the apron strings to her back. Her appearance had to be absolutely perfect.. or whatever she could make of a uniform and apron.
Plucking the recipe from Elle's hands, she cringed at the cuteness of it. Well. That was to be expected, she reminded herself. Next subject please. "So, what kind of cake will it be Elle?" She questioned, her legs dangling from the counter as she watched the other girl pull out the pans and ingredients.
"Personally, I'd suggest a dead Humphrey on the cover." She suggested, with a cheeky grin. The teacher's reaction would have been hilarious.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed Dec 30, 2009 4:04 pm
Elle took the proffered hand and gave it a customary squeeze, the typical little dance of social formalities upon meeting someone else. Whatever. Names were plenty to get through a cooking project with, Elle thought. She was glad that they both had a short-speaking nature as far as that went. Some people wanted to go on and on and on. And it was always a plus when her appearance didn't immediately put a person off of her. She approved of Varete mildly.
As Varete went to pick their aprons, Elle bent to pull out some cake pans and mixing bowls. She straightened, finding a black apron thrust at her, and grinned. "Thanks," she said, amused, putting the pans and bowls down on the counter at the station and tying on her apron, glancing sidelong at Varete as she primped efficiently, raising her eyebrows. She was a funny girl. Elle liked her-- she was forward at least, no bullshit.
"Right. Let's make it simple so we can get done and get out of here," she said in an undertone beneath the teacher's instructions, grinning at Varete. Her suggestion invited a choked laugh, covering her mouth, glancing at the teacher to make sure she wasn't looking over at them. A dead Humphrey? That was playing with fire, even if it would kill her to see the look on the woman's face.
"I'm not trying to get detention, ya dig?" Elle smirked as she flicked the oven on to preheat, shaking her head at her in amusement. "Save it for the end of the term when she has less time to mess with our grade..."
Briskly, Elle moved on, picking a smaller pan and lining everything up. "Two-layer vanilla cake with white icing sound good? Should be quick and easy to make some gay decoration on it," she suggested as she made sure they had everything necessary. She didn't need the stupid instructions to make a cake for god's sake, measuring out the sugar and baking powder. Varete might be the forward one, but Elle was all business. She wasn't trying to be stuck here for 3 hours, either.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed Dec 30, 2009 5:51 pm
"I guess." Making a face, Varete reluctantly agreed to the girl's suggestion. Perhaps she wouldn't go as far as to draw a dead Humphrey. (But no matter what, Humphrey would get his revenge, she vowed. Or she wasn't Varete Valentine for nothing.)
"Two-layer vanilla cake with white icing sound good?"
The question snapped her back to reality, her attention once more focused on the matter of the cake rather then Humphrey. "Vanilla sounds good!" She replied, her voice muffled as she leaned into the cabinet for a bottle of vanilla extract. Her nimble fingers patted the floors of the cabinet blindly, as she struggled to locate the tiny bottle.
It was gone. With a frustruated sigh, she shut the cabinet door with a loud slam. "Elle. The bottle of vanilla extract is go—"
Or not. The sight that greeted her was short of amazing. In the span of a few minutes, Elle had already finished the preparation, and started on the cake. This wasn't merely fast. It was superman fast. Like that, she gestured with a snap. She couldn't have asked for a better partner, she thought to herself with a smug grin. While the other students were still debating their choice of cake, they were already done. Stupid girls, to have missed out on such a prime opportunity.
"Great Job Elle!" She said, leaving Elle to bake the cake as she busied herself with other tasks; dishes and the like.
She was impressed. But that might have been due to her own cooking skills. It was a given fact that she burned water; Quite the accomplishment, she considered!
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Thu Dec 31, 2009 6:15 am
Elle merely grinned. It was her gift, a symptom of the quality that had landed her a place at Barren Pines-- a past life by now, a foggy memory with emotions loosely associated, a subconscious nightmare that sometimes surfaced as an actual nightmare. And boy did those leave her in a cold sweat, paralyzed under her sheets. But regardless, Elle knew how to cook. And how to make napalm. She was a regular human Anarchist's Cookbook if you really wanted to go there, but she tended to stick more towards practical stuff, since flirting with the wrong side of the law was one thing, but ending up in prison was quite another, and certainly never her objective. Though she had gotten dangerously close a few times in her short life.
As Varete moved to clean up in her wake, the dark-haired girl shot her a grateful glance, beating the eggs into the mixing bowl full of other ingredients. "If you would just pour the flour in--" she gestured with one elbow at a measured out portion. The batter was almost ready, they just needed to wait for the gawt damn oven to preheat and then it was all a matter of waiting for the cake to bake. And standing there awkwardly with a girl she didn't know for thirty minutes. Ehhh, she could at least be friendly. She did like Varete.
"So like," Elle looked over at the pretty blond, still mixing. "Aren't you a senior? How'd you get stuck taking this class?"
There were worse conversation starters, she decided. She wasn't sure what those were, but there had to be something. She didn't really want to talk about school, if they were going to chat. But the Meadowview uniform gave her a very limited impression of her; if she had to guess anything about Varete she'd guess cheerleader, from the whole blond beauty and perky personality thing she had going on. Except for wanting to draw a picture of a dead goldfish. That didn't really fit in with the stereotype. Then again, Elle didn't quite fit the mold for the stereotype she'd likely been relegated to as well.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Jan 05, 2010 12:17 am
Flour..? Clearly suspicious of the flour, she gave the white-beige powder a skeptical glance. She had expected something different.. not some kind of powder. Wasn't it supposed to be.. flowery? She was tempted to ask Elle, but she seem pre-occupied with other matters. (She wasn't certain if the thick substance in the mixing bowl warranted such attention.) Clearly, she expected Varete to accept it and move on.
Ah, well. She supposed Elle knew best. "Whatever." With one hand, she grabbed the cup of 'flour' and dumped it in the batter. All done!
And with nothing else to do, she was content to leave Elle to do the rest. Fortunately, Elle didn't seem to mind the arrangement and continued on with her work.
Re-perched atop the counter, she cupped her face in her hands as her elbows rested upon her knees. For the first few minutes, the cake had appeared to be something of interest. But now? She was just plain bored. Impatient for the cake to finish, she was glad for a conversation starter.
Even if the questions did concern questions of the polite, and boring nature. "Senior?" She said, head tilted in a questioning pose.
"I suppose am." She confirmed, but it was obvious that she was debating the issue. Hands falling to to her side, she reclined back with her gaze directed at the ceiling. She was seventeen, so she supposed she was a senior. But it was difficult to tell, with her constant ditching and all.
In the end, she never did come to a concrete conclusion. "I just happened to be assigned this class, I suppose." Evidently, she did no take much consideration in the courses of her schoolwork. But it was an understandable point, as she was never there anyways.
With a wave, she dimissed the issue. Enough about her, what about Elle? "What about you? I heard you were a transfer student."
For some strange reason, there had been a large influx of transfer students recently. And she had no doubt that Elle was a part of them. Now the question was, why?
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Reply
