[Monday, August 30, 2004.] [My, how the weekend flies when you're not bursting into flames! Then again, maybe time goes even faster when you do. You should ask Camila sometime when she's out of the hospital.] [It's a fairly cool August morning, but it's also incredibly humid, which just promises a hot, sticky day later and potential rain even later than that. School hasn't even started yet, as students are still arriving at school through busses, cars, walking, or however they do it. A few seniors are standing just outside, smoking, and others mill around chatting, though most people go straight in.] [What do our students and teacher do? Now's a good time to find out.] [Session Start.] * Luke pulls his SUV into the teacher parking lot. He steps out into the humid morning, dressed in dark grey slacks and a yellowish-white shirt. He grabs his briefcase out of the cabin, then shuts the door. * Charlotte arrives through the most basic public transportation: walkink. She's wearing a red tube top and black jeans, red sneakers and a black leather jacket. She carries her backpack over BOTH shoulders, and waves to various people. (I always wear backpacks over both shoulders. I find one shoulder uncomfortable.) (I always wear it over one.) ( Well, you're not cool. ) (I only use both shoulder staps when I've got lots of books in there) ["Watch out! Coming through!" a girl calls from Luke's left.] ( [Luke gets run over. Session end.] ) * Luke automatically steps aside, turning to see who is shouting. (Man, Luke doesn't even work first period. I'd totally be sleeping in if I were him.) (He's a dutiful teacher.) (Yes.) [Skating right for him, or where he was, is the same freshman who ran into him and knocked all of his books on the floor. At least she had the decency to alert him this time around. She grins and waves as she blades right past, red- tipped black hair streaming behind her in the ponytail.] (...it's Lurika with more hair-dye) [Immediately behind her is the boy she always plays cards with. "Ya gotta be more careful," he calls as he goes at a saner pace, "Someone could get hurt an' stuff!"] (You've met both of them before. ;P Well, seen them.) * Krista is a driving fool. Even if it is a sensible brown family car-type thing. She still wears glasses as well as a light blue blouse and long skirt as she steps out. And she has a bookbag she grabs too. How nice! (XD) (Oh god, I think I recognize those two characters.) (Hehe.) ["What?" The girl turns to skate backwards. "No, I'm fine. I've got everything under- whoa!" She barely avoids running into Tabby, arms full of books as usual. "Sorry!" The boy shakes his head.] (What? Running into Tabby is evil!) (EVIL. She's a demon.) (She definitely is.) * Krista walks schoolward, not paying too much attention herself... [Right about now, Mrs. Thorne pulls up to the front and stops to let Jeremy and Ivy out, though they don't exit *immediately* due to the two skating fools going by. Then they exit.] [Mrs. Thorne spots Charlotte and waves cheerfully. Jeremy glares at her.] * Charlotte starts to wave back, but it falters at that. She fakes a smile and then looks towards the school. (* The boy following the skateboarding girl is suddenly kidnapped by scientists and dumped into a contrived mystery scenario. No one notices.) * Veronica drives up too. It looks like a silver sporty car and looks in fairly decent shape. Which means, if a high school student's driving it, that it's borrowed. Still she pulls up into the space and opens the door. She's in a tank, cargo shorts, and Cubs hat today. Because it's HUMID. (She's rollerblading) ( It's "borrowed" ) (Hey, you're the criminal, not me.) [Two police cars follow Veronica into the lot, and once she exits, they point guns at her and tell her that she's arrested for grand theft auto. No, not really.] (Veronica is in a tank! Run!) (Fortunately, Veronica lives in Vice City and jumps into the cop car and runs them over with it) * Ivy takes one look at Charlotte and then quickly looks down, her body glued to the spot of just getting out of the car. She's wearing a knee-length black skirt with a pink sweater-top (short-sleeved), Mary Janes, and matching socks. * Veronica flops her jacket on over as she gets out and her backpack over one shoulder, then sighs and looks at the sky before locking up and walking towards the school. ["You kids have a good time at school, all right?" Mrs. Thorne says to Ivy and Jeremy. Ivy's mother, by the way, is a lot like her: tall, blond haired, green eyed, fairly young for having a teenaged daughter, and gorgeous.] [But unlike Ivy, she actually talks.] (Which means we've gotta hook Luke and her up.) * Ivy gives her mom a look as if she's not planning on having any fun at all at this weird hell-like place that they've dubbed school. (But the subtitled version calls "learning factory".) [Jeremy gives a weak smile. "Sure, Mrs. Thorne." He closes the door and Ivy's mother is on her way! Out. Yes.] * Luke heads for the entrance nearest where he parked, nodding and saying hello to students he knows. [Tabitha seems a little dazed, as she walks for the entrance, then she notices Luke and proceeds to walk over to him. "Mr. Mendel?"] * Ivy moves a hand over to Jeremy's and clenches it tightly, still not moving. * Krista goes straight for the school, her head just slightly bowed, but she can still look forward so hopefully she won't crash. * Luke halts. "Good morning, Tabitha." [She blinks. "You know my name?" And then she tries to push her heavy glasses up, which doesn't really work because her hands are full of books. "Uh, I mean... hi. Um."] [Tabitha looks away from Luke. And around. And seems to have forgotten whatever she was going to say.] [Jeremy tries to pull Ivy along a little. "C'mon, it's okay," he coaxes.] ( Because she suddenly has AMNESIA! ) ( It can strike at any time! ) (How'd you know?) (It is a common malady.) ( I watch Nick at Night :P ) "Is there something I can do for you?" Luke asks. "Or do you need to see if the coast is clear before you tell me?" * Ivy walks haltingly with Jeremy, her muscles tightened. * Charlotte wanders towards the school, eyes focused ahead. * Veronica walks in Luke's direction, but to pass him on the way, bookbag in tow, keeping half an eye on the back of Tabitha's head as she walks past but still heading towards school. * Krista gets to the door and does the heading in thing too! She's so dutiful. ["Wha? Oh! Uh." Taking a deep breath, Tabby says, "You're the teacher who saw the spontaneous combustion, right? I just want to know about it. I mean, whenever's good for you."] [Those of you who are really determined to get into school make it! OH NO. Skip and Xiang are making out in the hall, one of the first lockers half open; that's probably one of theirs. Everyone else is ignoring them as they head for their own lockers or sit and chat.] [The lights aren't busted, either. Seems they replaced those.] * Luke shrugs. "I'll be in my office first, fifth, and eighth. Assuming you want to waste a precious free period talking to a teacher, stop by and see me." * Ivy gets to the front of the school where Luke is and stops abruptly, her eyes growing large as she looks at him. * Krista glances to the makeout artists and blushes slightly before heading to the library straight away. [Tabby looks relieved. "Okay. Thanks!" She walks off, then turns and tries to wave and nearly drops her books again, catches them, and goes back to walking.] * Luke switches the briefcase back to his left hand, and uses his right to open the door. He enters the school. [Yes, Krista, they're *really* good at making out. You could learn a thing or few from them.] (Nothing I want to know!) (But she has no one to practice with) (*runs*) (Well, I'd wonder if you were volunteering?) (But then the running. It makes one sad. ;_;) * Ivy doesn't continue walking again until Luke is far far away from the front door. (Dude, Veronica ran OVER to help.) (Oh! Well, then.) * Veronica heads in the front door first then. Which is probably good for Ivy. [Jeremy stops because he probably *could* drag Ivy along, but he doesn't. "Ivy, what's wrong?"] * Ivy glances over to Jeremy, pauses for a moment, eyeing the hall in front of her, and then pulls out a pencil and notebook she had out of her backpack. She writes something on it and hands it to Jeremy, her eyes looking frightened. ("He poked my breasts with a key!") (I wouldn't put it past him!) [Jeremy reads that note, blinks a few times, and then hands it back, asking, "You sure?"] ("Ivy, what isn't wrong" would be a much shorter list.) [Krista REACHES THE LIBRARY. It's even open. Nobody's in there, though, except the librarian. Some kids don't want to learn.] * Ivy bites her lip a moment and then writes more on the page. * Ivy looks down at the floor after she writes the last bit. [Jeremy reads that one, too, and then gives Ivy a hug. With his left arm. His right one's bandaged up pretty nicely.] * Ivy hugs back, her eyes closed tightly for a few seconds before opening them again. * Krista glances around, then scurries over to the librarian and smiles slightly at the woman. "Good morning, Missus Turner. Did you have a good weekend? " She takes a weird book from her bookbag and hands it back to her. ["He was probably just joking," Jeremy says as he keeps hugging Ivy. "You know, how people don't know what's gonna happen? It's okay."] * Luke heads for his office, greeting students and teachers on the way. "Hello, Steve. Morning, Josie. Ave, Gail." [Steve grins and says hello back. Josie waves. Gail scowls.] * Ivy hugs him tighter, shaking her head against his chest. [Mrs. Turner takes the book and checks it back in before setting it aside for reshelving. "It was fine," she says cheerfully. "How about yours?"] (HI GAIL! I MISS YOU.) [Jeremy pats Ivy on the back. "It's okay. I'll be here, okay?"] * Krista straightens up slightly when the book is removed from her presence and actually finally smiles. "It was good. We sang well at church and there wasn't too much schoolwork." * Ivy reluctantly lets go of Jeremy and writes yet a third thing on the paper, looking sullenly hopeful. [Mrs. Turner smiles back. "That's good."] [Jeremy reads that, then chuckles. "Well, maybe *you* can, but I can't convince my mom and dad that I've got problems, you know?"] * Luke gets to his office. He doesn't work on his lesson plan, though, because does anyone honestly think he follows a lesson plan? * Ivy frowns at that, glances at the exit, and then lets out a small sigh as she shakes her head. She writes one last thing and grudgingly begins walking again. * Krista nods and says, "Thanks. I'd better be getting to Calc..." she waves. [In his office is another teacher, Fredrick Salvo, chronic smoker and fast asleep at his desk. In fact, the only times Luke's seen him in the office is when he's sleeping. The cigarette smoke wafts over even though he's not smoking (for obvious reasons).] [The third teacher is missing at the moment, but she usually runs late anyhow.] (Krista knows James? Awesome.) (She wasn't blushing because of kissing, she was blushing because of bad thoughts about our local pimp. It is all clear now.) [Jeremy takes Ivy's right hand with his left and gives it a squeeze before walking with her. Aw.] [Mrs. Turner waves back before playing solitaire on her computer. Or doing librarian stuff. You never can tell.] * Krista goes back out to the hallway! Woo! She looks around a little as she goes lockerward. [Fred snores. Aw again.] * Luke shakes his head at Fred and pulls a book off his shelf. [The day goes by, PCs not really chatting during drama, physical education, and study hall. Well, seeing as Ivy's in two of the three combined classes, that's a total lack of chat. Luke reads and tortures other students with his presence. And then that glorious passing bell rings: third period has ended! Get moving to English class.] * Luke is already there. He's sitting at his desk, briefcase on his lap, flipping through some pieces of paper. * Veronica sighs as she walks in, her jacket having made its way as a tie around her waist as she looks at Christy. "I hate days like this." * Krista gets moving! To locker! Get books! Get to class! She is adjusting her glasses as she walks in, glances towards Luke quickly and then goes to the just- off-of-front n'center desk to sit. [Christy half-bounces, half-walks in. "Yeah, I'm drowning in my own sweat." She doesn't *seem* to be sweating that much, though. Her hair's tied up in back, and she's wearing platform shoes today, which makes her look almost average height. She waves. "Hi Mr. M."] [Camila's friend walks in almost immediately after Veronica and Christy. She doesn't say anything as she goes to her seat, sits, and stares at her desk.] "Hello, Christy." * Ivy is pulling on Jeremy's arm as they loom closer and closer to the English room door. * Veronica snickers. "Yeah. You're practically in a sauna." She pokes Christy in the side. "You could do to sweat away a few pounds." ["It'll be okay, Ivy," Jeremy says for what must be the eleventy billionth time that day.] * Veronica then goes silent and stares over at Camila's friend and her empty chair, stopping midway in the classroom. * Charlotte wanders in. She seemed cheerful, but underwent a sudden transformation as soon as she stepped through the door. [Christy doesn't seem to notice, walking right by. "Yeah, you're one to talk. You've got..." She trails off when she sees what Veronica's staring at, then shakes her head. "Sit before you block traffic with your big butt."] (She turned inta a turtle.) * Veronica doesn't seem to hear Christy, still staring. * Ivy finally concedes by dropping one arm and having the other trail down so she can link hands with Jeremy once again. She lets him lead her in. * Krista starts using Hamlet as a fan as she watches the door idly... [Other students, for the record, are walking in. They're generally talking well enough, though they seem more subdued once they enter class. Hot Dog Guy goes to his usual seat. Christy starts tugging on Veronica's arm. "Come on!"] [Jeremy leads Ivy in, holding her hand. Yeah, *they're* not a couple. He doesn't look happy, though, going to take his seat without a greeting to anyone.] * Luke glances at the clock, setting the papers on his desk. He picks the briefcase off his lap with his left hand and stands up. * Veronica turns around suddenly towards Christy, eyes wide. "Huh?" She then chuckles nervously and puts her hand up to the side of her neck. "Aaah...sorry, musta spaced out there." * Ivy looks down the entire time, giving the floor beautiful eye contact, her body hunched in defeat. She doesn't look happy either. [The more students enter the room, the hotter it gets. Not impossibly burst into flames hot, but it's humid and hot and the air conditioning doesn't like us in this part of the building hot.] ["Yeah, you can start your own academy, cadet." Christy pulls out Hamlet, but not her notebook, and plunks it on her desk.] * Luke idly wipes some sweat off his brow, but he doesn't seem bothered by the heat. * Veronica starts heading over towards her seat. "You're one to talk. I swear Jupiter's your second home." ["You know. Men are from Mars..."] Uh-huh. [The very last students rush in and take their seats as the bell rings.] ("Women are from wherever they say they're from, and don't you dare think differently." ?) [Christy eyes Veronica, then waves a hand in front of her face.] (Women are from Boobitopia.) * Veronica grabs her hand by the wrist in a reflex action. "Goof. Pay attention." She points towards the front of the class. (No, that's where men wish they were from.) "Before anything else, I'd like to reassure everyone that Camila is going to be fine," Luke says, unusually serious. "She'll be out of school for a while, but she's out of danger and on the mend." * Ivy sets her notebook and pencil she was holding on her desk, but doesn't grab anything else out from her backpack. She glances up to eye Luke suspiciously for a moment, and then looks down quickly after a brief second. * Charlotte glances up at that. [There are some relieved faces around the room. Camila's friend doesn't look surprised, but she pays attention when Luke says that.] * Veronica watches Luke for a moment, then grumbles under her breath at the statement. She doesn't seem too convinced. [Jeremy smiles a little and glances at Ivy.] * Krista slows her fanning and adjusts her glasses again, although she doesn't really need to cover most of her face with her hand to do that. * Ivy doesn't look up to see Jeremy smile. "I'd also like to thank Veronica for her quick thinking and bravery in helping put out the fire... but she'd probably just get annoyed at me if I called attention to her like that, so I better not." [Christy nudges Veronica.] * Veronica groans and slaps her palm against her forehead. She takes the bill of her hat down just a notch. No she didn't take it off inside. [There's some giggling and snickering, and a smattering of applause. Camila's friend just looks at her listlessly.] * Luke pauses for a second to see if anyone is going to try to ask or say something. ( She left the list of why she hates her at home. ) * Krista glances to V and then back. She doesn't need to pay much attention to V, nope. (I watched Clueless this weekend... That Debate class reminds me eerily of this English class.) (Well, people spontaneously combusting aside.) (Yeah. Wallace Shawn should totally play Luke.) (Ha!) ("Never bet with an English teacher when DEATH is on the line.") (*Cracks up*) [Camila's friend raises her hand, slowly.] * Krista also looks to Luke normally, finally. ("You keep using that word. I don't think it means what you think it means." "Of course I do, I'm an *English teacher*!") (HA!) (Ahem.) * Veronica turns towards Camila's friend slowly, peeking out from underneath her hat. "Yes, Pia." (Is her last name Carrot?) (No.) [Pia bites her lip and looks around with unusually large eyes, then talks; she has a fairly high voice: "I have a card for Camila. I'm going to visit her after school, so if anyone wants to write something, can it go around during class?"] "Sure." [Pia smiles nervously and gets up, walking over to one corner of the class and handing it to the first student there.] * Krista smiles a little as she turns back to look to Pia for a sec or three. * Luke waits a couple of seconds to see if anyone has anything more on this topic. * Veronica turns to watch the card going around instead. [Krista catches Pia as she's walking to her desk near the back. Right now, a blond-haired, tall boy is looking at the card. There's a pony on the front, and an oversized sun (maybe Camila likes My Little Ponies?). He scribbles something down real quick before handing it to the person behind him.] (Quick as in short or as in he writes it quickly?) [Christy blurts, without raising her hand, "Why do you think it happened, Mr. M?"] (Short.) (And quickly. Both!) * Ivy 's eyes look up to Luke when Christy asks that. * Veronica gives Christy a light smack on the shoulder. "Christy. Geez." ["Ow." Christy rubs at her shoulder.] "I'm not sure." Luke comes out from behind the desk, circling it and then perching himself on it. He sets his briefcase down beside him. "They never covered spontaneous human combustion when I got my teaching certificate." ["Yeah, but you're supposed to know better than us. You're the teacher."] * Krista glances to him and frowns a little at his crazy ideas. * Charlotte shivers a bit and rubs her arms. Yes, with the jacket on. (And the hot and humid weather!) * Veronica's not seeming to pay too much attention. She's leaning on her desk and looking a bit outside. "I do know better than you. But if I told you everything I know, I'd lose my advantage." Luke grins. "Seriously, Christy, I don't know exactly what happened. That's why the world needs doctors and scientists and investigators as well as English teachers." * Ivy eyes Luke skeptically for a moment and then looks down at her desk. * Veronica mutters. "So why can't you find out?" It's low, and directed at the window, but just loud enough to be audible. * Krista bites her lip and refrains from lookin' back. Whew. [The card pokes Charlotte in the back.] * Charlotte turns around in confusion, then takes the card. * Charlotte writes! {Hi Camila. I tried to visit you but the hospital wouldn't accept visitors. I'll try again later though! Hurry and get out soon. We miss you! I'm saying 'hi' for Monica, too.} It may be a little long, but... eh, not like the others were taking up space. "I'm doing all I can, Veronica. Contrary to popular belief, I'm only human." * Charlotte considers, then adds a smiley. :) * Charlotte hands the card to Krista. * Charlotte resumes slumping in her chair. "Maybe someone in the class can help shed some light on the situation?" Luke surveys the room. "Did anyone see anything?" Smoke. * Luke turns to look at Charlotte. * Charlotte doesn't offer more than that. "Did you see smoke before the fire?" * Charlotte nods. * Krista takes the card, reads it, and writes something herself! { Get better soon. You're in my prayers. -Krista } She's also temporarily ignoring Luke now. Yep. She hands it to the next person. * Charlotte doesn't make eye contact, though. She's afraid Luke's a pervert or something. [Creaky desk guy says, "I smelled smoke."] "Did anyone else see or smell smoke before the fire?" * Veronica just window-stares. She doesn't raise her hand, but responds. "Yeah, I did." [Pia looks down at her desk again, her dark hair covering her face.] * Charlotte glances at Pia. "And now we know something we can see gets passed on to the doctors treating Camila. It might help them figure out what caused this." * Krista is contributing nothing, for she saw nothing, and goes back to fanning herself. She has a small smile now. [Jeremy gets the card right about now. He looks it over for a while before writing something and passing it back.] (Krista is contemplating the Rapture.) (Snicker.) "Does anyone have anything else to add?" [Jeremy wrote, for the record: {We're rooting for you. Get well soon. -Jeremy Prescott}] Look, I saw those burns, Teach. I don't know how the doctors can be so optimistic. But I bet they didn't tell ya anything else. [There's some murmuring in class when Veronica says that. Pia looks out the door.] * Veronica turns to look at Luke. "Did they?" * Krista does look back to Veronica for a second at that. ( * Luke pulls out a cell phone and dials a number. "One sec." ) "I was told that she was out of danger and would recover, and there was no brain damage." Good. * Veronica snorts. "I wasn't talking brain damage, Doc." [Pia looks at Veronica. "Shut up."] * Veronica sighs and looks back out the window. "Nevermind. You've got a class to teach." "What are you asking, Veronica? The exact medical details are probably full of words that I couldn't pronounce, let alone understand, so I took the layman's version." * Veronica just waves Luke off. * Ivy looks down at her bare arms, eyeing them silently. [Pia keeps glaring at Veronica. Maybe she'll burst into flames with the power of her mind.] "So I do. And I never got a chance to assign Scene Two on Friday, so everyone, that's going to be tonight's reading." [The person behind Ivy taps her on the shoulder, holding the card to her.] * Ivy jumps slightly at the touch, but then she glances behind her and sees the card. She takes it, glancing it over for a couple minutes. {I am sorry you were punished.} She bites her lip nervously, looking like she's about to write more, but then just signs her name. She closes the card and then slowly moves her hand out to gently tap the person's shoulder in front of her. (Ivy = creepy.) [The boy in front of Ivy takes the card without a fight.] [The card is handed off to Christy fairly quickly. She skims it, eyes the thing oddly (probably because of Ivy), and then writes in her bubble handwriting way, {We're not really friends, but this still sucks. I wish I could do something. Get better. I mean it! :) ~ Christy}] ( "I hate your guts and hope you die. Get well soon!" ) [Christy hands the card back to Veronica. THERE.] "This is the scene that introduces the hero, Hamlet, and the villains. You can pick out which side to root for." * Charlotte raises a hand. "Yes, Charlotte." * Veronica looks at the card for a little while, then scowers for a space, frowning and flipping it back and forth. She seems to be taking her time for a little bit. Then she finally takes out her pen and writes slowly and carefully and in small enough print to make it fit. (Hey Camila, I know you think I hate you and all. And I'm pretty sure you hate me too. But I wanted to say that no one ever deserves that. And, well, I'm hoping that we can put it all behind us and be friends. If you need to talk or anything, just give me a call. -Veronica Winters (Phone number)) * Veronica hesitates for a moment, staring at the inside of the card, then finally passes it back. (Veronica actually wrote "(Phone number)" because she didn't really want Camila calling her.) (Well obviously.) [The person behind Veronica SCRIBBLES OUT THE ENTIRE MESSAGE. No, not really.] ( Veronica Winters is her phone number ) (1-900-WINTERS) * Luke looks slightly puzzled. "French king?" Yeah. "Which French king?" Um.... I dunno. They all have the same name. "Louie" something or other. * Krista glances to Charlotte and fans herself a little more. * Veronica doesn't play off Charlotte's snark for once and just stares out the window. [Since the card only passes through two more sets of hands, it's finished in short order. The girl in back doesn't seem to know what to *do* with it, so she looks at it for a moment, then finally gets up and walks over to Luke, handing it to him.] ( Would have been funnier if she ate it. ) "Well, you can, but he's not actually in the play. On the plus side, that means he doesn't end up dying at the end, so you'll have better luck than if you root for anyone who actually does appear in the play." Okay, cool. (Aww. The girl should have drawn glasses, a moustache and a goatee on the My Little Pony.) * Luke takes the card. "Thank you." He flips it open, glancing at the messages, and takes a pen off his desk to write a message. (If she did, Pia would have made her burst into flames. Oh! I've said too much!) (Snicker.) (Fire sucks. Use Ice. -Mr Mendel.) (But if she had to perish twice...) * Luke writes, "This too shall pass. Get well soon. - Luke Mendel." ( "Don't worry, it's only your face." ) * Luke walks over to Pia's desk, picking up his briefcase, and sets the card down in front of her. ("In a week or two, you'll learn to LOVE the nickname "Leatherbag") [Pia picks up the card and starts to read it. She blinks a few times, wiping her eyes, and looks around the room, identifying who read what. Her gaze lingers on Ivy for a while, and later Veronica, but she doesn't look any happier or more upset for it.] ( I wrote a paragraph and I get nothing?! :( ) ( I'm taking my smiley back. ) (It wasn't FREAKING WEIRD.) (Yay!) ( Yes it was. I was genuinely nice. ) ("genuinely") ( If that isn't weird, I dunno what is >.> ) * Charlotte decides, now that she knows she can root for the French King, to return to her mopey state. (Charlotte will be sorry when she reads Henry V!) * Luke heads back for his desk, though as he does so, he casts a curious glance at Ivy, before turning his attention once more to teaching. [EVERYONE BURSTS INTO FLAMES. Not really. But there's much talk about Hamlet!] [Session End.]