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Mental note: Next time Phil dumped off the donated car parts at the school, make him at least dump off a rolling cart or something.

Her father had mentioned that he was going to have some parts delivered to the school today. He also mentioned that his friend, Hank, was going to have an employee, Phil, stopping by after school to assist with the delivery. Ellie knew the minute that Phil was coming, there would be an attempt to pass the work load off to someone else.

She knew it, but that didn't prevent her from letting him get away with it. Phil was a friend, no matter how lazy he was. He had delivered the various car parts at the office, filled out the appropriate paperwork, and then asked Ellie if she could "be a bro" and take care of transporting the parts from the office to the auto shop. She was fine with such, but Phil had been an idiot and didn't leave any sort of rolling cart to make the load just a little easier.

Outside of the school office, the girl was carefully inspecting the various parts. They were all loose and bulky, since it would be a waste of time to package them up in boxes just for transport. Had it been any other girl analyzing the parts, it might have seemed odd. However, Ellie Spectre just seemed as if she truly belonged with all the scraps of metal. Perhaps it was her height which gave the illusion that she was strong, or maybe it was just all the oil smudges on her skin from that day's session in auto shop? Or maybe it was just the way she moved with absolutely no grace, almost coming across like a ruddy boy ready to get into some mischief? Regardless, the blonde began to pick up several of the smaller parts. It was almost a balancing act, but Ellie figured she could handle lifting these parts without any trouble. However, the only things that were really giving her a headache were the broken engines. They were deceivingly small compared to some of the other parts, truly masking how heavy the part really was.

She would carry them to the auto shop. Somehow, someway, all of the parts would make it to her favorite classroom. If Ellie set her mind to doing something, she would do it!

"I'm gonna kick Phil's a** later!" she grunted to herself.

For a while, the blonde didn't notice there was a person behind her. She tromped heavily across the campus, since she was weighed down with what most people would call "junk." There wasn't much room for her to hear the sound of any steps other than her own. However, she soon enough came up to one of the school buildings and had to pause for a moment to turn around to use her back to open the door. Ellie must have been a sight to see, balancing various machine parts in her arms and leaning against a door to open it rather than using her hands.

And this was how she spotted the dumb jock.

He might not have been stupid or dumb, but that was the automatic label in her mind for jocks until proven otherwise. Her golden eyes squinted slightly as she looked over what was in his hands.

Wait?

Was that what she thought it was?!

"Hey, dude! What th'heck do ya think yer doin'?!" Though she was leaning against the door, she didn't take any steps back to open the door. If anything was evident, Ellie Spectre was noticeably suspicious of this jock, whoever he was.

The jock obviously didn't know Ellie very well.

Her short fuse burned through rather quickly as she grunted out "Don't ever call me 'Miss,' dumbass!" She was smart enough to realize that he wasn't trying to run off with the donated parts. With a rather piercing glare, she stepped backwards into the door, swinging it open and holding it in place for the boy to make his way inside.

"Go on, git!"

She wasn't going to let him hold any doors open for her. As he passed her, she simply just told him "I'll show ya where it goes!" Once the jock had cleared the doorway, she slipped in as well, carefully attempting to juggle the metal scraps. She quickened her pace for a moment just so she could catch up to the boy before resuming her more natural walking pace.

"So, y'gotta name, or should I keep callin' ya 'dumbass?'" she offered conversationally, her voice seeming to calm slightly as they walked down the hallway.

"Benji? Like th'little runt dog from th'movies?" She let out a hearty laugh as if she approved of his name. She even dismissed the "darling" comment for the moment.

The two students rounded a corner and continued on down the hallway, going at a sluggish pace thanks to the jock tagging along. "Go by Ellie Spectre," she pointed out. "Go by Ellie or Spectre, and that's 'bout it." She shrugged as best as a metal adorned high school student could pull off. It was probably a bit delayed, but she eventually mentioned "Don't call me 'dahrlin' or anythin' of th'sort. Seriously."

Fortunately, the auto shop class wasn't too far down the hallway, and eventually she paused in front of a door. She had obviously been taught the right way to pick things up and to set them down, for she bent at the knees and set down a few of the items in her arms.

"So, what sport ya inta', Benji-boy?" As she stood herself up to her full height again, her cheeky grin was rather easy to spot. With her arms free, she easily turned the handle on the door and pushed it open. Before he could really answer what sport he obviously played, she gave him the brief directions of "Just set it down in the work area... not in the classroom half." It should not have been too difficult to figure out which half was the classroom half and which one was the work area. It literally looked as if someone removed the wall between a normal classroom and a work garage. There were no students present, but it was the teacher's free period.

After finishing with the directions, she knelt back down to tend to the scraps she had set down.

Mental note: Benji-boy was slow on the uptake.

Once her arms were once again sufficiently carrying the scraps she had to temporarily set down in the hallway, she marched in close to where the dirty-blonde had been eying the power tools. She chuckled out her answer as she carefully set the pieces down next to the engine.

"Well, I ain't 'bout t'leave those out in the hallway. Don't know what sorta jackasses are 'round the school at this time." She flashed her teeth with a trademark Ellie grin before bouncing up and casually snatching up the power screwdriver.

"Ya know, it ain't gonna bite!" she chided a bit. "Otherwise, what would be the point of havin' a shop class if the students couldn't use th'tools?"

With another laugh, she put the tool back where it belonged before walking back over to the door. She paused before actually exiting the classroom, but her face was already looking out towards the hallway. Ellie did not look back. All she did was ask simply "So, ya gonna finish what you started, Benji-boy?" No explanation nor a hint as to the meaning of her question. She just asked it and expected Benji to know what it meant.

"So? Yer family pays taxes, don't they? You've got every right t'these tools as anybody else."

No Ellie, tell him what you really think.

She laughed a bit as she led the boy away from the classroom, making quick work of the hallway and pushing past the doorway. When Benji mentioned that he was going to finish the job, she offered him a hearty pat on the shoulder. "Good t'hear that! Very respectable!" She soon enough moved back to a more respectable distance from his side as they continued to walk.

The question wasn't a hard one to answer. In fact, it was a really simple question to answer.

"My dad!" She paused to flash a grin before adding a more exact explanation. "He works at a used car lot... and sometimes th'cars don't make it through transport in one piece, so he donates the parts t'the school."

Enough with that subject. They were both outside, and Ellie had energy to spare for now. With a large smile, she rather suddenly shouted out "Race ya!" and began to dash back towards the front of the school.

It was easy to tell who was the athlete and who wasn't strictly on form and approach to the scenario. Benji paced himself, where as Ellie simply just ran as fast as her legs would allow at any given time. With some training, she could probably be an excellent sprinter, but what would be the fun in that? Running had always been a good way to get her extra energy out. And for the blonde tomboy, that was how it was going to remain.

Rather than nearly run into the pile, the girl turned and pushed out her arms as she approached the front office. Her brakes were plenty good, but sometimes it was just more fun to use a building as the stopping place. When her hands slapped against the building with a loud SMACK, that was when her feet stopped. She spun around just in time to see Benji jump over the pile of scraps and parts.

She was breathing heavy and leaning forward, but she wandered closer with a big grin. The first thing she said to her racing partner was not anything to deal with their race. Instead, he was greeted with a simple "Show off!" Her tone definitely wasn't serious, in fact, it was probably something close to tiredly amused. Once she was immediately next to the pile, she concentrated on simply catching her breath. She was bent over, hands on her knees, panting almost like a dog with a grin that nearly matched any canine as well.

It took a few minutes, but eventually she pointed out her take on the race. "I don't think ya tried as hard as ya could'a." It only meant one thing for the near future. There would be another race.

Just, not now. Ellie was still catching her breath.