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 Posted: Mon Mar 15, 2010 12:35 pm
He did not think there had ever been a moment in his life when he had become quiet as still as he had when he heard his name being paged over the intercom system.
The INTERCOM.
There was a small twitch he could feel starting just under his eye at the laughter of his class mates to hear him summoned like that. To the Principals office... HIM, and not even with someone else whom had probably started a fight. Just him... how humiliating.
He glanced narrow eyed at them all as he gathered up his books and shoved them into his messenger bag, carefully closed his notebooks with sharp little snaps and put them away too, he took careful mental notes to mark down to paper later, he was still weighing just who he could get away 'disposing' of without too much attention being drawn to him as he tried to recompose himself and marched down the halls and stairways to the office just as the intercom crackled again.
"Zac Bantock please report to the..."
He knocked on the door sharply with his knuckle and it cut off. He had to suppress another twitch as a fresh volley of laughter greeted the cut off page and seeing him stand there.
"What's the matter twerp! Someone finally turned you in for being a creepy little s**t?!" crowed one of them. He elected for now to ignore it, clenching his fist into the strap of his bag and swallowed hard when he heard the invitation to come in.
He swung open the door and slipped inside putting his back to the wall and trying not to look too much like he'd been summoned to the gas chambers.
"Mam?" he said, addressing the 'buxom' new Mrs Killingworth who's manicured finger still lingered near the intercom button.
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Posted: Mon Mar 15, 2010 8:17 pm
It was a boring afternoon.
A really boring afternoon.
And when Ursula Killingworth got bored, she looked for things to occupy her time. With no boys being sent to the Principal's office (quite the surprise, actually), she'd painted her nails. Reread the March Cosmo magazine for the third time. Repainted her nails a different color. Rearranged her desk. Even, at one point, she began doing actual paperwork. Everything was short lived, bringing her directly back to her original state of boredom.
So, in a moment of desperation, she decided she needed someone to talk to. She could always get Khaldun pulled out of class, but he probably needed the class, at this rate. Elzo was still going gaga over his mystery girlfriend and Scheelite was a bit too off-the-wall for her afternoon mood. Hm.
It was as her mind skipped over Scheelite that she recalled one of their newest recruits... what was his name? Ziiiink. Zinkenite? Z?
Reaching into her drawer, she yanked out the student directory and began to flip through it. Ahhh, Zac Bantock. Hm. Well, as it was her duty as Queen to know all her subjects, so it seemed perfectly reasonable for her to pull Mr. Bantock out of his class for a little heart-felt chat. Well, that and she could probably figure out exactly what was going on between him and Scheelite - though it was fairly obvious the boys were dating, regardless of it being quite a nono for Hillworth standards.
Smiling to herself, she pressed the intercom button and waited.
It didn't take long for the door to open, a short puny looking figure slipping his way through the door.
"Zac!" She said brightly, rising from her chair, "How nice to see you - please, take a seat over there."
Her hand waved over to the row of chairs lining the wall. These were the Detention Chairs, the chairs set aside for the rowdy boys awaiting their sentencing.
What in the world could that mean?
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Posted: Mon Mar 15, 2010 8:29 pm
He glanced at her, at the chairs, back and her... a long pause before he cautiously approached the chairs as though they might fold up underneath him and take a liberal bite out of his a**.
The Detention chairs... really?
There was no WAY he'd been caught setting someone up for a calamity. He was so -careful-.
He couldn't be in trouble over the 'mugging' could he? I mean that was off school property...
OH GOD!
What if someone had found his notebooks, what if they managed to get in his drawer without setting off the traps!
No... no no no that was silly. The notebooks were of course in his own version of short hand. They couldn't POSSIBLY determine what they meant... could they?
There was a little furrow between his brows as he tried to work out what he'd been called here for.
"Did... I do something, Mam?" He asked at last an uncertain tone in his voice and written for once across his face. He perched on the front edge of the chair, back strait and utterly polite.
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Posted: Tue Mar 16, 2010 7:22 am
Oh, this one was a cute one.
Resisting the urge to prop her elbows on the desk, she swiveled her chair around to face him directly as he took a seat in one of the less-dinged up chairs. Demy had probably been in one of these. Several of the boys that had picked on Zac in the past had found their way to these chairs as well. Was he going to get one named after him, like the Jesse, Elzo, and Khaldun chairs?
It was rare for a boy to come in as distressed looking as Mr. Bantock did, which only made Ursula feel the need to take advantage of the situation.
"Do something, Zac? I'm sure you're well aware of what you've done, dear."
"...Mam?"
"Well you wouldn't be here if you hadn't done anything in the first place, right?"
Her look spoke of nothing but mischief, not that poor Zac would have ever known what that looked like, it being his first direct conversation with the Hillworth secretary. He was fidgeting, fingers gripping the edges of the chair beneath him as he looked like a terrified rabbit cornered in the garden patch by the hoe-wielding gardener.
Crossing her legs and straightening up her skirt, she gave the young man a friendly wink. "So, why don't you tell me what you've been up to and I'll see if I can't convince the Principal to go easy on you, hm?"
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Posted: Tue Mar 16, 2010 8:00 am
By this time he as almost defiantly as pale as the liquid paper on her desk as his mind trotted through any number of things he might be pulled in for.
Was it at all possible to suspend someone for things like 'fake love notes' that may or may NOT have lead to someone getting their pocket picked? Or... what about the arrangement that lead to the infamous 'bike stand wars' that he was SO sure he wouldn't be caught in... but what if someone had -seen- him with the ribbons and glitter, or worse, had seen DEM with the ribbons and glitter.
Actually Dem the might consider natural for having that...
His brow furrowed again as he tried to think... oh god. It wasn't like he could just start TALKING to this woman. And Dem wouldn't betray him... would he? Oh god don't be stupid, of course he wouldn't.
What about Scheelite?...Dem seemed to operate under a totally different set of rules when he was like that. No... no Scheelite was the one who kept talking like a crazed stalker.
Had they been seen going out late? He was supposed to patrol, he couldn't just stop that -either-, oh god, How the dickens had DEM of all people gotten away with this for so long if it was the case.
"W...w..well...I...I" he stumbled his words tangling feet with the tumult of thoughts
"... I...really don't.... know..." He said the end tipping up into an almost a question.
"M...Maybe insinuating that... that the Football teams MVP was in fact r...reverting to a...a.. a form similar to Java man and...the um..."
He looked ascance...
"The fliers with the angle of his forehead in comparison?...That... I had nothing to do with..." He added quickly.
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Posted: Tue Mar 16, 2010 8:10 am
It was hard to suppress the grin just dying to show itself, but she somehow managed, masking her face with a solemn expression. "Oh dear."
The boy began to look even more panicked (she hadn't thought it possible - this was going to be her lucky day!) as the secretary frowned, her eyebrows furrowing in worry. "This isn't going to do at all, Zac. I can hardly understand you through all that stuttering....but I don't think that's it? It doesn't sound like something the Principal would be bothered with... but then again..."
Rising from her chair, she closed in the gap between them, looming over him as her arms folded themselves across her chest, "That could be why he sent you here initially... but all sports-related problems get taken up with Mr. Killingworth. So it sounds like you're going to be seeing him pretty soon."
One hand moved out and gently poked his nose. "But don't worry, dear. My husband has a way of beating bad habits out of people; I'm sure he can take care of that stuttering problem for you, while you're in there. Is there anything else you'd like to tell me? It's always the quiet ones that get into the most mischief, you know."
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Posted: Tue Mar 16, 2010 8:19 am
BEAT??
If there was ever a moment that a student rather looked like he wanted to pass out in the chair. This was one of them.
"I...I...NO! I.. WHAT? HE CAN'T?!"
Could he?? it -was- a boarding school... but really corporal punishment?!?
"I Didn't...He can't just..."
His hands white knuckled on the edge of his chair as he pondered the ramifications of bolting for the door, or stealing the starseed of the principal... maybe his secretary... of course they'd know he was the last one IN here... s**t s**t s**t...
And a moment of rage... if the were willing to beat HIM then what the HELL were they just letting the sport team kids get away with. Sports were just...SPORTS if anyone deserved beating it was THEM after all.
And back to panic... he hadn't actually -said- he passed out the posters but he might as well. He'd considered it his most MINOR infraction but what if they'd just convinced him to admit something they HADN'T known about to add to something they DID?
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Posted: Tue Mar 16, 2010 8:33 am
With a sympathetic smile, she turned around on her heels and strolled back to her desk. Pulling out her bottom drawer, she started rummaging through her files.
"See, darling, I'm afraid he can do that..."
Settling on the immunization form for students (as it was quite lengthy with small type), she pulled out an empty form and presented it to him from a distance. If luck would have it, he wouldn't see what was written on it. "When your parents had you sent here, they signed away all their rights as caretakers in this disclosure form. If Mr. Killingworth believes that physical punishment is the best route to teach students by... well, then, he's within his rights as your legal guardian to do so."
His face was whiter than snow and after quickly stuffing the paper back into the file cabinet, the older woman made her way to the chair beside his, true worry now creasing her brow. It would be terribly difficult to explain how a student had wandered into the school office and mysteriously passed out - Ursula would rather not have to deal with a scenario like that, at the moment.
Reaching out, she wrapped her arm around his shoulder and pulled him up against her, as a mother would her child. "There, there, Zac darling, don't panic. We'll figure something out."
Cue the figurative lightbulb above her head.
"I mean... if you wanted, I'm sure I could find some way of getting you off the hook. I just hate seeing my boys all worked up like this!"
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Posted: Tue Mar 16, 2010 8:42 am
His parents -WOULD- have signed something like that without reading it too. He KNEW he should have double checked them but he'd been so relieved that they hadn't sent him to the 'other' school that he'd just...
he actually tensed more when her arm went around his shoulders. He was not at all accustomed to 'familiar' contact as Dem himself could attest. Some families were just not 'hugging' families, and his never had been.
He turned suspicious eyes on her at the mention of getting him off the hook.
How could a secretary... well she WAS married to the man in charge of the beatings. The purple haired chain smoking dreadnaught terror of all whom were even peripherally involved in sports whom made turrets syndrome look polite.
She had to be at least a -little- devious to survive that... right? But what did SHE want. There was the ever important question, no one helped for free... it just wasn't done.
"How...do you mean." He asked wary, careful not to flat out accept but still staring at her with wide nervous electric blue eyes.
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Posted: Tue Mar 16, 2010 9:00 am
The look she gave him was nothing short of disapproving. "Really now, Zac, have a little faith in me! He listens to me because he cares about me. You think I would just let any man marry me? I'm hurt."
Adjusting herself, she hugged against him still, refusing to let the poor paranoid student go. He was obviously not falling for her charms (she would have had to practically crowbar Elzo Xanis off of her, if she'd put him in this position) which only proved one of her suspicions correct.
Zac Bantock just had to be gay.
Brushing one hand over his dark hair, she fluffed the otherwise straight strands as she explained her catch, "You're just going to have to tell me about what you've been up to... especially where you and Demetri are concerned. I know you two are roommates, and trouble usually comes in pairs. Not to mention all those other horrible rumors I've heard about you two... being together. That wouldn't be true now, would it, Zac? You best be out with it before I'm forced to call Mr. Wright in. I have a feeling he'll be willing to tell Mr. Killingworth everything there is to tell - so you better explain now, while I can still have you two spared. I love my darling but sometimes he can be just a bit too rough with you boys."
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Posted: Tue Mar 16, 2010 9:16 am
"W..W....WHAT?!"
His face went from parifin white, to beat red and back in record time.
"N...NO!... NOnono! We...we haven't been up to ANYTHING!! ANYTHING He flustered.
They couldn't know...they just couldn't. There was NO WAY. Ohgodwhat if someone had seen him through the window that time that they kissed. OHGOD.
"W...Well I mean Dem is... afraid of..." he waved a hand at her chest.
"B..But I'm not! I...I had a date...sort of... with a girl... once... DATING IS DISTRACTING FROM STUDIES"
And this was why Zac tried so hard to keep people out from under his skin and out of his secrets. He handled it with less grace than a drunken orca trying to tap dance.
Oh my GOD he didn't wnat them to assign him a new room mate, he'd just beaten DEM into shape...of sorts. Ok so he'd been just as beaten into shape but he was utterly not going to admit that.
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Posted: Tue Mar 16, 2010 9:35 am
"Oh, Zac."
She smiled with her sigh, "I don't know what Charonite is going to do with you, seeing as you're not only lying to his wife, but to the Queen, of all people."
He'd been squirming in his protesting, so she'd let him go. His hand was still waving towards her chest (who in the world was afraid of breasts, for Christ's sake) and his sputtering had gone back to being incoherent.
Leaving her chair, she moved torwards the desk and picked up her phone. Nestling her ear close to the receiver, she gave him a mournful look. "Dating is also a distraction from the Negaverse... but I think Charonite will have to tell you that himself, since you didn't think it was appropriate to tell me the truth."
Her finger hovered over the numbers on the phone, allowing him time for the change of heart she expected to come next.
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Posted: Tue Mar 16, 2010 9:53 am
There really was nothing quite like the look of shock on his face... he'd made it on other's a few times for much -lesser- reasons than finding out that The principal's secretary was married to Charonite... and therefor was the queen of the Negaverse.
"..Y....your..." He managed and then hastily stood up and bowed.
... wait if dating was a distraction and she was MARRIED.
NEVERMIND...
"M...Mam we haven't -done- anything, W...we went out for -dinner-...ONCE...mam...I didn't know if...I'm not sure that. It seems very abnormal for me to..."
He glanced up form his bow cautiously... scarlet cheeked.
She was going to laugh, he was sure of that.
He stared down again.
"I wasn't...enterily sure I -liked- men that way...I'm still...not. I mean I don't want to... I looked on the internet and..."
He shudered... He didn't want to think about it, he'd spent his life to this point not thinking about it, why start now?
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Posted: Tue Mar 16, 2010 10:11 am
Had Zac Bantock commented about the hypocrisy of the Queen and General-King's marriage in terms of the 'Negaverse dating rule', Ursula would have been insistent on mournfully divulging the fact that she and her husband did not date. They moved in together, they married and they were currently in the process of taking over the world. There was, indeed, no time for dates.
As he was clever enough not to bring up such a subject, however, he was spared the thirty minute sob story (Zac Bantock also would have counted his blessings, had he known he had been so close to a female meltdown in his presence).
Instead, she did indeed laugh (as he predicted she would), and then settled the phone back down in its cradle.
"Dinner is not dating unless one of you footed the bill for it." She assured him, still grinning, "And the internet? What in the world would you be looking up on the Google? 'Ten ways to know you're gay'?"
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Posted: Tue Mar 16, 2010 10:16 am
"I...did foot dinner, I -normally- foot dinner just not under the heading of 'date'" he managed in slightly strangled tones.
"and...er... maybe..." he admitted still staring at the floor.
It was a wonderful floor, full of fascinating old tread marks.
He really didn't want to admit he had also spent a few horrified moments staring at what one apparently DID when one was gay... at least according to Google. Needless to say it had driven him so far back into the closet that he'd almost met Aslan.
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