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Vanessa was most definitely not reciting Hamlet lines. Homework wasn't really her thing. Instead, the auburn haired girl was on her way home from the grocery store. She'd taken a shortcut through the park and her arms were loaded with several plastic, food-filled grocery bags. It wasn't easy going, as she'd bought more than it was physically safe for her to carry, and she had to crane her neck upwards in order to see over the head of broccoli that poked out of the centre bag.

Like homework, vegetables were also not her thing, but Mr. Rae had specifically requested that she buy at least a couple of them. "Vegetables are good for you, Vanessa. They make you strong and keep you healthy," he would say through his newspaper.

Vanessa liked to argue that having muscles and not being sick made you strong and healthy. What did either of those things have to do with celery?

Her latest purchases were not too heavy, exactly, for her to carry, but the weight of them was significant enough that she had had to switch from lifting with her shoulders to lifting with her legs. She stomped passed the bench upon which Azzo sat, a little red in the face, but with an otherwise happy expression on her face.

"Nice puppets," she grinned at the boy on the bench, whom she thought she recognized from school.

Vanessa was an independent sort of chick. It didn't matter if anybody else was better for the job, she liked being able to do it herself. It made her feel good. It made her feel strong. She was also, however, a sucker for an opportunity to make friends and it was very nice of Azzo to offer in the first place. And, if she was going to be completely honest, help was a nice thing to have. Her calves and lower back appreciated it.

"Yeah, I've seen you around school," she sighed as she passed one of the grocery bags off to him. It was the one with vegetables, and the lightest. Vanessa may have accepted his help, but she was still going to keep the heaviest load for herself. It was the courteous thing to do.

"Thanks, Azzo, I'm Vanessa," she smiled gratefully at him, and then waved his apology away with a hand. It was an awkward gesture, which almost sent the bags tumbling out of her arms, but she steadied herself and caught them in time.

"Whoops, that was close," using her chin to point in front of them, implying that he should follow her, Vanessa started on the trek that would lead them to her home. It was not much farther to the apartment complex, and she was relieved that Azzo wouldn't have to carry her groceries very far. "Its really nice of you to help me with this. My home is pretty close by, so you want have to carry that bag very far for me, but the help is still awesome."

Pointing and leading and gesturing and generally making a lot of noise were things that Vanessa did well. Especially the latter two.

"Its nice to meet you too, Azzo," she smiled cordially, impressed with this black-haired boy for being so nice. Hamlet probably wouldn't have even bothered to carry Ophelia's groceries for her, and she had been his girlfriend! Vanessa didn't know or care why she was suddenly recalling that Shakespeare dude and the things that he'd written, but she was. Azzo reminded her of english class, and the homework that she hadn't finished.

"I've dropped a lot of eggs," Vanessa laughed loudly, "Dad doesn't let me buy them anymore. He picks them up himself."

When he mentioned cars her eyes lit up for a moment and then, just as promptly, dulled. Vanessa was old enough to have her license. She had tried and failed, multiple times, to get it and that fact bothered her. Their family didn't actually own a car, but she was certain Big Willy would have shared his with her- and it upset her that, no matter how hard she tried, something always went wrong. She hadn't seen that pedestrian! It hadn't been her fault! And, anyways, he hadn't been hurt- just a little frightened.

"I wish we had a car," she sighed, but didn't say much more than that. Vanessa liked to talk on and on and on about most things, but failure was a touchy subject for her.

"Huh? What do you mean interesting classes?" She blinked stupidly at him, as if he'd just told her the moon had exploded. Then, she shrugged, "I like PE. Its nice because I get to throw things, and I like playing games."

If Azzo had asked about her the note of sadness in her voice Vanessa wouldn't have told him. Vanessa would have either ignored the question, or hastily taken back her bag of groceries and fled. She didn't dislike discussing failure or weakness, particularly when they belonged to her.

"I just go to school because my dad says its good for me. He says a lot of things are good for me, but its always just 'blah blah blah' to me." Vanessa supplied conversationally, and didn't really bother to watch where she was going. She didn't need to. The auburn haired girl was quite certain she could have walked from the grocery to the apartment building she shared with her brother and father in her sleep.

"English is okay, I guess," she said with a disinterested shrug, "except for the homework. I like Mr. Gordon, 'cause he doesn't send me to the principal's office."

A good student Vanessa was not.

"Oh, work!" Vanessa grinned at Azzo over her shoulder, "Yes, work is interesting. I work at Big Willy's Record Store. I like it there because Big Willy's kinda like my second dad. Only cooler because he doesn't tell me what to do all the time- unless he's being my boss, which is most of the time, but even then he's pretty sweet."

Curious, she cocked an eyebrow at him. "Do you live with your gran, then?"

"Oh, man," Vanessa groaned in agreement, "I hate science."

There wasn't much else to say about the subject. Physics and Chemistry and Biology were sports for thinkers, and Vanessa was most definitely not a thinker. Science classes generally required her full attention, a luxury Vanessa was only willing to share with worthy endeavours; like skateboarding, and playing the drums, and other fun things.

"I love kids," Vanessa smiled, and the rest of the world understood that it was probably because she might as well have been one of them. "They're great fun. I have a little brother- John Jr. He's nine and we have loads of fun together."

Actually, if Vanessa was going to be fair, she'd have to admit that John Jr was probably her best friend and certainly one of her favourite people.

"We sell music, pretty much," Vanessa informed him casually, shifting the grocery bags in her arms to bounce their collective weight around a little. "Some other things to, like movies and graphic t-shirts. Do you need a wallet? We sell wallets."

It was nice to see someone who cared so much about their grandmother. Vanessa only had one living grandparent, and he lived out in the country. They visited occasionally; on the holidays and when the weather was nice, and Grandpa Dan was always happy to see them, but it wasn't very often.

"That's good of you, staying with her that way. My grandpa is a bit of a grouch- dad says he's stubborn, and that that's probably where I get it from, but I don't care. I like Grandpa anyways."

They turned a corner, and were barely more than a block from the building she called home. Vanessa smiled, glad to be on this particular sidewalk and eager to get home and finally put the groceries away. She sped up just a little.

The wide-eyed and vulnerable innocence of children was something Vanessa was very familiar with, but only because she shared it with them in bucket loads. An honest, hopeful girl with big dreams; Vanessa was, by no means, a cynic. Even with the strange things that were going on in the news and all of the people that were dying, she still had a lot of faith in the good of the world.

When Azzo affirmed that, yes, he did need a wallet Vanessa grinned, "You should stop by the store sometime, then! Its right across the street from my building, and there's a lot of wallets to choose from. Its closed today, though. Big Willy had a wedding to go to. His niece's or something."

His next statement made her snort. "Grandpa's weird alright. He hates the city. How can anybody hate the city?"

Vanessa, who found the peace and quiet of the country eerie and suffocating, absolutely adored living in Destiny City. It was almost impossible to be bored and, well, it had the word 'Destiny' in its title. The way she saw it, it was pretty much impossible to go wrong with that.

They were drawing closer to her building now. An elderly lady, pushing a cart full of something, who lived on the floor beneath Vanessa smiled and waved at the pair of students as they passed her.

"Good afternoon Mrs. Scott," Vanessa greeted her cordially and then, when they were out of earshot, she smirked at Azzo; "Mrs. Scott has a crush on my dad. She always asks him over to her apartment for tea, or to fix something for her. Its kind of adorable."

She liked to tease her father about it.

"I usually work Fridays," Vanessa informed him conversationally. "Saturdays, too. Just not Sundays. Big Willy always closes the store on Sundays."

Work played a big role in Vanessa's life. She had regular shifts after school, and generally spent more time at the store than she did at home. Big Willy usually let her bring John Jr to work with her, which was handy- she would have hated to skip out on work because she had to babysit.

"I've never lived in the country, and I don't really plan to. There's so much going on in the city. I'd be afraid to miss it all. I can see why your grandma isn't used to it, though, if she lived in the country most of her life. Its a big change."

Vanessa knew this, because she couldn't fathom the thought of leaving the city.

"Oh, yeah, Mrs. Scott is lonely. She tells dad about it all the time," Vanessa laughed, "He's a good guy, though. He lets her flirt with him. Secretly, I think he likes all the attention."

They had reached the lobby doors.The glass shimmered in the light of the sun. Vanessa sighed in relief, arms aching, and stopped at the bottom of the stairs to thank Azzo.

"Your Grams sounds very nice, Azzo." she tilted her head to the side and took this opportunity, the first one she'd had since bumping into him at the park, to get a good look at him. "This is my place- thank you for helping me."