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 Posted: Tue Feb 23, 2010 7:46 pm
It had not been a good day for Andrea. He had spent breakfast listening to his younger brother gush about his "girlfriend" (seriously, who dated at 12?), and then Lucas had started giving him crap about why didn't he have a valentine? Both his first and last class for the day had featured pop quizzes, too, and though he had done passably on the first-period science one, he felt unusually worn out by the end of the day, and the mathematics quiz had just frustrated him. Andrea was not sure he had scored any points on it.
Between that and a few other generic bad-day happenings (gatorade leaked all over his lunch, left his binder in the desk in science so he had to run back and get it), he was looking forward to dance practice tonight just to clear his mind. He was toying with the idea of a nap, too, but just before getting on the bus, Andrea realized he had forgotten his house key. He could not remember the last time he had run out without it, but the ordinarily well-organized boy must have left it somewhere after returning from his spontaneous and extremely surreal outing the night before with Robin ... and just neglected to put it in his backpack again after.
So rather than wait around outside feeling like a moron for his brother to get back from football practice or for his sister to get home on the bus, Andrea decided to linger around Meadowview and walk around. Maybe find someplace quiet to chill out where no one would bother him, and review the maths that he had forgotten for the stupid pop-quiz barely an hour before. Ordinarily Andrea would have preferred finding a friend to listen to for a while in order to calm his own nerves, but there was goign to be another stupid test in math at the end of the week, and he was not exactly hoping to feel his mind go utterly blank again on a grade that mattered even more.
Fortunately, it was decently warm out today, and so Andrea wandered out to the athletic field, and, finding one of the high school teams practicing there, went around behind the away-team stands to seek a quieter place to study. With a heavy huff, he sat down on one of the wider crossbeams and slammed his backpack down at his feet, then dug out his math text and notebook. Balancing on the metal beam, he folded one leg up to rest his ankle on the opposite thigh, and opened up the pair of books so he could stare down some algebra for an hour or so.
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Posted: Tue Feb 23, 2010 8:45 pm
Today started off bad and just escalated to a capital SUCK in no time at all. He got a C on his test that he had to hide because the night he should have been studying he was too tired from patrolling and passed out. Now he was worried that his grades might be slipping, which really wasn’t going to win him any favors back at home. Then there was the fact he had to leave track early because his legs were so sore from still being torn up from Regulus’ attack that he just couldn’t bring himself to run around for an hour. Even with that, he didn’t have a ride home. Tate had gone home and was probably going off to see her BOYFRIEND, the creep Zachary Ester whose very name made him want to strangle something. He spent all day preoccupied in thinking about relationships and girls, something that always spelled misery for him, that he was caught off guard when he was called upon in class. Getting a scowl from his teacher for the rest of the day, he decided just to go home, study a bit to catch up again, and then pass out.
Still, he had no ride. The buses left and he didn’t have a car. While it was nice out, he still felt cold and to top it all off, he forgot his mittens at home. Rubbing his hands, he prepared himself for the walk home. Lets still sore where the bandages hidden under his socks rubbed his wounds, he walked slowly, taking a bouncy-ball out of his backpack to bounce as he went. It kept him occupied as he moved, but as he walked around the bleachers, the ball hit a rock, bounced, and few off. “Aw, come on.” He was thinking of just forgetting about it, but he really wanted that ball. It was green and when you hit it hard enough, it flashed lights.
As he headed into the bleachers, he looked about and saw, of all things, a boy there. While you usually expected couples making out, this kid was just sitting there doing…math? Okay, to each their own, he guessed. “Did you see a ball come around here?” His eyes went to the book. “You know there is a building over there with heating.” He pointed back to the school. Why freeze when doing match homework. Both were horrible, but together seemed like torture.
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Posted: Tue Feb 23, 2010 9:09 pm
Andrea had felt something hit his foot, but when he looked up to see whatever it had been, he had seen nothing from where he was sitting and did not care to get up, so he just shrugged and went back to his reading. A moment later, another kid walked up and asked about a ball, though, and he sighed a little as he flipped a page of his textbook vertical to look at both sides quickly.
"Felt something hit my foot," he said, letting the page go and watching as it hovered upright a moment before falling gently to one side of the book. Then Andrea looked up at the other student and flashed a quick smile. The other kid was smaller than him, which made the dancer perhaps at least subconsciously less inclined to snap at him, in spite of really wanting to. He made no move to get up, but marked the page in his notebook with a finger before shutting it into the textbook before leaning over to gesture at the grass around his foot on the ground.
"I guess it was a ball, but I didn't see it. But I felt it there, so I guess it would've bounced over that way." Andrea pointed off in the direction of bounce ... towards where the grass tufts were taller than the field, but still fortunately not quite as bad as further under the bleachers, where the mower definitely could not reach.
He then glanced in the direction the other boy pointed, and shrugged. "Needed some fresh air, and some peace and quiet." There was perhaps a bit of an emphasis on the "peace and quiet" part, reflecting Andrea's vague irritation at having his studies interrupted by a missing ball, of all things. He did his best in general to avoid taking his bad days out on other people, but today had rather sucked, and between dance and work later this week, he only had so much after-school time to devote to stupid maths he thought he had already learned.
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Posted: Wed Feb 24, 2010 5:29 pm
He kept his eyes about. Under the bleachers, there was still dried, dead grass where the snow did not reach, and he looked about for any signs of the ball. “So something hit your foot and you didn’t check?” He didn’t really get that. If someone touched him, he’d be making sure to look around and see what it was. If something even brushed him, he usually was on alert. This was mainly because he had a fear of spiders and snakes, which he didn’t stop worry about in winter. If he felt something mess with him, he was usually jumping up on something – just in case.
“You know, there is a nice place called the library that is great for peace and quite. Don’t you think sitting here is probably the worst study areas around?” It was behind the bleachers. If you wanted to get some fresh air, why not sit on the bleachers or at the park. He could understanding getting fresh air, but that’s why you took a walk. If it was any other season, sitting outside would be fine, but staying stationary and not moving around to keep yourself warm seemed like a bad idea to him. Luckily, he was here to point this out.
“Just because it’s nice out doesn’t mean you won’t catch a cold…” He was checking beside Andrea’s seat when he noticed a open condom wrapper. “…..or something else. You do know that people make out back here?” Ladon looked about and noticed a few cigarette butts and a empty pack. Gross. This place was a breeding ground for disease.
Making sure to not touch anything, he continued his search, already deciding he was going to disinfect the ball when he got home.
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Posted: Sun Feb 28, 2010 4:53 pm
Well, thank goodness Andrea had been fortunate enough to run into the sitting police. Normally, he was pretty patient and willing to put up with quite a bit, just smiling and nodding, but this little kid (freshman?) had caught him in one of the worst of moods.
"Hey, look, it's me sitting out here in the cold, not you, so unless you either happen to have my house key for me, or there is a bomb under these bleachers and I need to evacuate, just let me sit where I want, okay?" Andrea's tone was tense, but civil for an irritated high school boy. He followed the other kid's gaze to the condom wrapper and quirked an eyebrow. Not like it was any secret that people made out back here, just not when it was 40 and windy out. Hence why he figured it would be a great spot to be alone.
"And if you're so concerned about germs or whatever, then go bounce your balls somewhere else next time."
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Posted: Sun Feb 28, 2010 5:15 pm
Ladon paused in his search and stood up, looking at the boy with narrowing eyes. “I didn’t intentionally throw my ball over here, and if I did, I wouldn’t have nudged your little foot and ruined your ENTIRE day. I would have gone for your head.” This kid wanted to start something, he wasn’t about to just let it go. It wasn’t like he was trying to find an excuse to talk to this kid. In fact, this was exactly why he didn’t like talking to random people. They were rude and ungrateful. Here he was being thoughtful and making a kind suggestion and the other boy just wanted to be snippy.
Could the other boy take him on? Yes. Could he be short-tempered and prone to violence? Sure. He was outside taking a moment to get away. Who knew if he was seeing a shrink or counting to tent his very minute? Could he get beaten into a fine puree? He certainly hoped not, and he already had plotted course for escape in his mind in case if came to that. Even while he was being prepared for the worse, he STILL continued.
“I was just making a suggestion. Don't get angry at me, because you lost your house key. You should keep a spare.” Again, just being helpful.
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Posted: Sun Feb 28, 2010 5:28 pm
Clearly, Andrea had chosen his study spot poorly - he should have just risked getting distracted by his friends rather than coming out here and running into this kid. He felt a surge of anger and snaped his text shut with a sharp sound, and dumped both of his books into his backpack. Sorely tempted as he was to deck the shrimpy annoying kid, the dancer took a deep breath and just tried to focus on being the bigger man and held his hands up, palms up and fingers straight.
"Not how you ask for help, buddy," he told the kid, having obviously forced patience into his tone. "I'll just get out of your way and let you find that ball on your own, and not bother coming out here to try to study again."
He took out his frustration by yanking the zippers shut on his rucksack and hefting it none-too-carefully onto his back. Then, keeping one eye on the other kid, he flashed a fast and rather fake smile, and started to walk back towards the school building.
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Posted: Sun Feb 28, 2010 6:01 pm
Scowling, he watched the kid get up and leave. He didn’t WANT the kid to leave, but he didn’t like him enough to apologize. It wasn’t like he was trying to be mean to begin with, and he had all the intentions of being friendly and nice. It was just the other kid’s fault of being in such a sour mood and misdirecting all his problems at him.
Feeling firm in that belief, he stepped forward. “I didn’t NEED your help to begin with.” He called out, stepping forward in time to trip and fall back. Landing hard on his a**, he groaned and looked down. “Oh hey.” Ladon reached over and picked up the ball. It seemed it didn’t even bounce far at all, and he picked it up with two fingers. Rising, he plopped the ball into his jacket pocket and looked up to see the other kid farther away. At least the kid was going indoors, he hoped.
“What is it with these bleachers? I never find a nice person here.” He really should stay clear from here.
Turning, he headed for home since he had his house key and the common sense not to stick around in the cold.
[FIN]
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