[Charlotte escapes! Where does she go?] * Charlotte isn't sure! Who's around? [There are small clumps of people hanging around the school, but less so now that the busses have left and the parking lot's clearing up. She sees Krista, Ivy, and Jeremy break off from the little Hamlet convention, leaving just Christy and Veronica.] * Charlotte looks for Monica! Monica's fun, with her awkward silence and stuff. [Charlotte spots Monica! She's by the bike racks, fumbling with the lock on her dark purple ten speeder. Not many students bicycle to school, but apparently Monica's one of them.] * Charlotte heads on over, smiling. "Hi Monica!" [Monica kicks her bike and looks up, then she grins. "Charlotte!" She waves, too. "Hi! Did the diabolical doctor keep you late?"] * Charlotte shakes her head. "Nah, not today. It was someone from my English class trying to organize a trip to the movies." ["Neat. Who is it?" Monica's looking better than she did yesterday, at least.] Christy Walters. Do you know her? She's Veronica's friend, I think. [Monica looks thoughtful, then something clicks in her head and she nods. "Yeah, she's in my Spanish class. She's pretty nice, if you ignore that she's loud and obnoxious and likes to tack 'o' on the end of everything." Pause. "I mean, in class, not normally."] * Charlotte chuckles. "I thought you might." ["Oh, *please*. I don't know everybody. Just almost everybody." Monica goes back to fiddling with her lock. "Stupid thing... so, what's the movie? You gonna do it? I mean, you know. If you can."] * Charlotte shakes her head. "I don't think so." ["Christy get on your nerves? And why do I even lock up my bike? It's not like anybody'd take it."] * Charlotte sighs. "I said something stupid again. If I go, the others might not just to avoid me." She chuckles. "Besides, I can't afford it." [Monica reaches over and pats Charlotte on the arm. "It's okay." She grins. "We all say stupid things. Just don't say them about me." She winks, then goes back to opening the lock. "Sucks about the movie, though."] * Charlotte smiles. "It's ok. I read the book." ["The book?" Monica looks confused.] It's Hamlet. You know, Shakespeare. ["Oh! That's the movie. Okay, cool." Monica finally undoes the lock and pulls the chain out from around her bike. She stands up again and faces Charlotte. "My class didn't start it yet."] * Charlotte grins. "Oh? Well I won't spoil it, then." [Monica rolls her eyes. "Yeah. It's Shakespeare. Thees and thous and weird writing and lotsa people dying. Hamlet's a tragedy, right? The ending's already spoiled."] * Charlotte laughs. "Yeah, something like that. What's your class doing, instead?" [Monica makes a face. "Great Gatsby."] * Charlotte mimics Monica's face. "Ugh. I'm sorry." ( He's not NEARLY that great. ) ["Tell me about it. At least it's better than, like, Scarlet Letter from last year. That book sucked. I didn't even read the second half."] * Charlotte shudders. "I did. You didn't miss much." ( You're recalling all my childhood nightmares ; ; ) (Mine too!) ["I'm sorry. You're a survivor."] Well, at least it's over for now. [Monica laughs. "Yeah. Just two more years." She grins. "They say these are the best years of our lives, but I am so not seeing it."] * Charlotte nods. "I hear that." [Monica nods. There's a moment of silence, then she says, "So, you doing anything today?"] * Charlotte shakes her head. "Not really." You? ["Nothing, and I don't wanna do homework. You want to get together and go blading or something?"] * Charlotte grins. "That would be fun." ["Great, it's a date." Monica frees her bike. "After dinner good?"] Sure! Where do you want to meet? ["Um..." Monica thinks, then snaps her fingers. "How about the park down the street? You know where it is? It's got a playground with one of those tire swings."] * Charlotte nods. "Yeah. I'll be there." ["Cool. Do you want me to call first, just so we get there at about the same time?"] Okay. ["Okay," Monica says with a grin. "See you later!"] * Charlotte smiles, waving. "See you, Monica!" [Monica waves back, then puts the pedal to the... er, pedal and pedals off!] * Charlotte stands there waving for a bit, then heads for home. [Charlotte walks off! She's good at that. As she goes, she notices that Veronica and Christy are still chatting by the school entrance, though she can't make out what they're saying from where she is.] * Charlotte considers, then heads back over! Whee!