Day Two: Revelations

[Ayingel 24]

Once he left, Lila stood up. That was odd...She looked at her watch. Shoot! Gotta get back. She made her way back to the study hall room and sat back down at her computer.

***

Gertie sat bored in her music class. She leaned over to Brad. "How much longer until this is over?" He shrugged and went back to paying attention. At least this is a bird course... She slouched into her chair and pouted. After the scene she caused a few nights ago, there were plenty of snickers when she walked by. At least the cheerleaders were quiet about it. I'm sooooooo bored... She let out a sigh.

"Yes Gertie?" The teacher looked straight at her. "You know the answer to this question?"

Gertie sat straight up and looked around. Everyone was staring at her. "No, I'm sorry, I was just thinking about how beautiful the Baroque Era was. Sorry."

"Just try to keep it contained next time, young lady."

[Vergere 1]

Brett nodded, and glanced at Kurt. "Does that work for you?"

****

She glanced at the teacher, who was still talking, then looked back at Neil. "Where are you from?"

[Rogue 4]

"Ireland originally." He replied. Understanding that she had an accent, and had spoken Spanish before he asked, "You from Spain, or one of them South American countries?

***

"Ya, ya." Kurt said, nodding enthusiastically. "Sounds good to me!"

Natalie looked over to the board. "Okay, so we have a presentation, a poster, and a report to do...and it's only the first week of school. Man, Mr. Johnson's not pulling any punches."

[Vergere 1]

"People are usually lazy though. If he makes us work now he might not during finals." Brett shrugged.

***

"Ireland? That's a ways away. I'm from M?xico. I moved here about two years ago." She quickly turned back to face the teacher as he looked back at the students, pausing in his lecture.

[Rogue 4]

Neil waited for the teacher to go back to writing on the board before he turned back to her. "Yeah, I've been travelling the world for years now, I just happened to end up in California this time. I was in New York last, and Russia before that."

***

"I didn't even think of it that way...okay, I withdraw my complaint."

[Vergere 1]

Catalina smiled, "Regular globe-trotter, aren't you? I've been all over South America for vacation, but never to live."

***

Brett just smiled faintly, and glanced between Kurt and Nat. "So, um, where do you want to start?"

[Rogue 4]

"Well, I don't really stay in one place for long. I've lived a very busy life." He said in his handsomely accented english. "A few weeks, 'ere and there. Usually not long enough for all this."

***

Natalie shrugged. "I suppose we should hit the books and find out what we can. I'll stop by the library after school and see what they have. If either of you want to come with me you're welcome. And then...Maybe we can all meet up later at the Cove to study?"

[Vergere 1]

"Why now?" Catalina looked curious.

***

Brett glanced at Kurt, who nodded eagerly, and Brett shrugged. "Sure, I guess. How about 4?"

[Rogue 4]

Because somebody has to keep an eye on Mystique.

He met her brown eyes with his and shrugged, being as honest as he could muster. "I don't know...a new start perhaps? There are supposed to be many opportunities out here."

***

"It's a date." She said with a small smirk at the two of them. "Just don't go playing hookie and making me do the whole project."

[Vergere 1]

She smiled. "That's why we came!" She smiled warmly again before turning back to face the front before they got in trouble.

***

Brett just raised his eyebrows in suprise, honestly shocked. "I wouldn't do that!"

[Mara 29]

Bored, August drew in her notebook, only half listening to Ms. Doran explain some function or other. She knew she'd be able to pass the class easily, whether she did or not.

* * * * * * * * *

Joseph sat in the front row of his civics class, studiously taking notes as Mr Chin wrote things down on the chalkboard and lectured.

[Rogue 4]

Natalie laughed, placing a hand on his arm. Her eyes danced. "I'm just kidding, Brett. I don't think you'd do that either."

***

Neil faced forward, deciding to go silent before he got called on to read or something. Now that would be a nightmare.

[Vergere 1]

Brett jumped slightly at the touch, then just nodded, shuffling his notes into an organized pile before the bell rang.

***

As the bell went off to signal the change of classes, Catalina smiled at Neil as she got her stuff together, organizing it better than it was when she walked in, and making it less off-balance. "Well, I hope you enjoy it here. A lot of us hang out or work at the Cove if you ever need a place to go and be with people. Have a good day, Neil." With another soft smile, she headed out, hoping to get to her next class without incident.

[Mara 29]

Joseph whistled to himself as he made his way to his locker to put his books away before going to his sculpture class and digging into some clay. He didn't count himself as artistic, but liked the challenge of trying to create something with his own hands.

* * * * * * *

August left her trigonometry classroom, happy to be away from Ms Doran, but now was faced with having a class with Bridget. Hopefully the girl would be so self-absorbed she wouldn't even ask about her own morning. She switched out her lit. and trig. books for her American history one and headed towards the classroom.

* * * * * * *

Mr Reynolds ended his art class, looking forward to his next, and last two, of the day. But he was also looking forward, like most teachers, to lunch hour. Even though he enjoyed teaching, everyone needed a break.

He put on a bright smile to greet the next batch of students, ready to explain about Mrs Jones and why she wasn't there.

[Ayingel 24]

"Finally." Gertie hurried out of the classroom. Stopping at her locker, she quickly double checked her blouse in the mirror to make sure that it was showing just enough skin at the top to leave the rest to the imagination. As she started turning around, someone bumped into her. "Hey, watch it!" When she looked and saw the guy from the other night, she changed her mind about what was going to come out next. She smiled. "Sorry."

[Rogue 4]

Neil looked over at her, annoyed. He stepped over, crossing his arms and leaning against the locker beside hers. "You always this miserable girl, or are you giving me special attention?"

He smirked slowly, looking over her shoulder. "Or was it just that I distracted you from your mirror?"

[Drake 53]

Marcus closed the door to his locker and walked to the library with his notebook. Inside, he had snuck a few comic books to read instead of working. Right now he had study hall, meaning teacher supervision was minimal.

He walked into the library and took a seat at one of the cubicles near the back. Opening his notebook, he flipped to the first page in his comic and started reading.

[Rogue 4]

Natalie signed both hers and Marcus' names on the attendance sheet out of habit, before heading to the back. "Hey Mark." She greeted him quietly, pulling a seat over to his cubicle and dropping her bag beneath the desk. "Sorry about before. Kelly's friend Brett isn't very social, and she kind of recruited me to coax the fear out of him."

[Drake 53]

Marcus looked up at her, offering a small smile and a shrug. "That's cool," he said. "How was...biology? Did Johnson whip out his snake for everyone?" He laughed quietly.

[Rogue 4]

Natalie nearly snorted out the following laughter. "No, not quite. But he's got us all working in groups on a big project---speaking of which, I need to check out some books on the subject. Walk with me to find them?"

[Drake 53]

"Yeah sure," said Marcus, before getting up to follow her. "So what's the project about?"

[Rogue 4]

Natalie walked him through the sections to the one with the animal books, bending over to pick up the one on her subject from the bottom shelf. She pulled it out and held the dolphin-covered cover for him to see. "Believe it or not...I didn't pick the subject."

[Drake 53]

Marcus smirked. He took the book from her and flipped through the pages. "I see, I see. What an ironic and strangely hilarious coincidence." He closed the book and handed it back to Natalie. "I think now would be the part where I crack some joke about how you should study dolphin anatomy first-hand."

[Rogue 4]

"Only if this is the part where I thwack you upside the head with a book about dolphins." She said, tapping his forehead with the book just hard enough to make a point, before kneeling down to search through some of the other books.

Natalie looked up to him. "So anything interesting happen in second period?"

[Drake 53]

"Nothing special," Marcus said. "Just World Geo with Mr. Potter. We're learning about Asian countries. Wooo." He twirled his finger around in mock excitement.