[Thursday, September 2, 2004.]
[The GM said she wouldn't start the next session in class.  She lied.  You're in 
class.  Not only are you in class, you're in English class.  Exciting, isn't 
it?]
[It's still heavy and cloud-like today, or at least it was when you came to 
school.  You're approaching the last quarter of class.  Luke's doing his... 
thing... and so are you.  Sure.  Ivy still isn't around.  Her seat is empty!  As 
is Camila's.  Isn't that sad?]
[Session Start.] 
* Krista is doing her thing. Which is adjusting her glasses. How appropriate! A 
pale green dress is today's thing that is being worn. Her notebook is out.
* Charlotte has her book out but unopened. She's wearing a red-and-white T-shirt 
with capped sleeves and black jeans. Fashionable! Or not.
* Veronica is sitting there looking awfully bored, tapping her pen against her 
notebook lightly. She's got no hat today.
<Krista> (I bet she does.)
* Luke's wearing navy blue pants and a light blue shirt.  He stands at the front 
of the class, holding his attache case in his left hand, leaning back against 
the front of his desk.  "If there are no further comments or questions on Scene 
3, I've got a couple of announcements to make before the end of the period."  
Luke pauses.
[Christy stretches in her seat.  One hand nearly knocks Veronica on the back of 
the head.]
* Krista taps her pencil on the paper for a second and looks to Luke after a 
second. Announcements? Wow.
* Veronica dodges away and whacks her hand away and hisses out in a low voice. 
"Hey, watch it!"
 [Christy blinks at Veronica innocently.]
* Veronica sticks her tongue out at Christy and goes back to paying attention to 
Luke. Or at least appearing that she does.
* Luke waits for anyone to speak up.  No one does, so he continues, "First, it 
looks like the trip to the movies will work."
[Christy cheers and pumps her fist!  Matt looks up from his doodles and grins.]
* Krista gets a sedate smile and that's it. What, did you want celebration?
[Other people in the class dissolve into murmurs and whispers.]
<Luke> (Also, where it says Monochromatic.)
<Luke> "There are still some details to work out, but the principal's approved 
of the idea."
<Krista> (And he only has one day to do it in.)
<Krista> (That's what I call fast action.)
* Veronica snickers at Christy's fist pumping.
["Does this mean we're going on a field trip, Mr. Mendel?" Christy asks.]
<Luke> "No, we were planning to transport the movie theatre to the campus.  A 
giant flatbed truck stands poised even now."
["Cool!"]
* Krista glances over to Christy in a suspicious sideglance. Just for a second, 
though.
<Veronica> That idea's even better.
[Christy's beaming.  She totally doesn't notice Krista's glance.]
<Luke> "I haven't sold the principal on that aspect, though, so a field trip is 
the back up plan."
<Luke> (No one wants to reply?)
<Krista> (To your joke? Nah. ^_~)
<Veronica> (Face it, Luke.  Your humor falls flat on this class.)
<Luke> "The second announcement is that we'll be having a quiz tomorrow in 
class."
<Luke> (The NPCs love it.  :P )
<Krista> (They love you.)
<Luke> (They love Luke because he rarely calls on them.)
[Now there's class-wide groaning.  Steve adjusts his glasses.  Jeremy breaks 
from his stupor.  Matt keeps doodling.]
* Krista doesn't groan! She does make a note in her book, though!
<Luke> "I've been told that it's a lot less work just sitting at my desk 
watching you all in a stern manner than it is to lecture, so I thought I'd give 
it a try."
* Veronica perks up. "Wait, what?" She groans too. "Aww man..."
* Charlotte doesn't groan. She marks it down in a notebook, and is done with it.
<Luke> (Charlotte is copying Krista!)
<Krista> (Hey!)
["Yeah, but doesn't this mean you have to make a quiz?"  It's Christy again.  
She never raises her hand.]
<Luke> "Damn, you're right.  I'd rethink the plan, except since I've already 
announced it, I'm committed."
* Krista makes a slight face.
[She snaps her fingers.  And doesn't pull out her notebook.  Steve flips to 
another page and starts writing something, though.]
* Veronica raises her hand. She'd be a good little girl if she actually waited 
to be CALLED on before she spoke up. "Ugh... um... what's the quiz going to be 
on?"
<Krista> (The price of tea in china.)
<Veronica> (42)
<Luke> "At first I was leaning toward making the topic the Thirty Years War, but 
now I think I'll go with the first three scenes of Hamlet."
<Veronica> (I can see it now.  One of the later test questions will be "Alas 
poor WHO?")
<Krista> (Snerk.)
<Luke> (*sigh*)
* Krista nods to herself.
[Steve writes some more.]
* Charlotte doesn't.
<RDMgryphon> (Alas poor LUKE! I knew him.)
<Luke> "Any other questions?"
* Veronica sighs and leans into her hand, writing things down with her pencil.
* Krista shakes her head to herself. As if Luke would see it! It's a common 
trick.
[Hot Dog Guy raises his hand.  He might've gotten a name, but he's still called 
that sometimes!]
<Luke> "Yes?"
["What kind of quiz is it?"]
<Krista> (PLUMP HOT DOGS ARE REALLY NEAT. THEY ARE MADE OF DUNNO MEAT.)
<RDMgryphon> (<Luke> Short answer Essay! BWHAHAHAHA!)
<Veronica> (Iambic pentameter!  +20 points!)
<Ardweden> (If Luke starts that sort of maniacal laughter, I'm heading for the 
hills.)
<Luke> "Choice of passages to analyze."
<Veronica> (Oh wait, add an up in between made and of and you have IP.)
* Luke declines to laugh maniacally.
[Matt winces.  Creaky desk guy blinks and says, "What?"]
<Luke> "There will be a choice of passages from the scenes we've read in class.  
You will pick one and analyze it."
* Krista tilts her head slightly, then just mms and makes another note.
<Luke> "Or you won't, but that may not get you the best grade."
[There's a small collection of blank faces in class.]
* Charlotte raises a hand. "Analyze how?"
[Steve glances up, checks that Luke's serious, and makes another note.]
<Luke> "I'm not going to be using a checklist.  That said, explaining what the 
passage actually means would be good.  So would identifying literary devices and 
techniques.  You can even critique the writing, though I'll expect a 
justification and not just "it sucks"."
[Blank faces still abound!]
* Charlotte raises her hand again. "Literary devices like what?"
<Luke> "Like metaphors."
* Luke looks at the sea of blank faces.  "Have you been taught what a metaphor 
is?
[There are a few nods.  Steve looks around, sighs, and raises his hand.]
<Luke> "Yes, Steve?"
* Krista is in the nodding group. Head movement is a high school tradition.
["What besides metaphors?"]
<Luke> "Similes, motifs, imagery, allusions, metre, and anything else you can 
think of."
[Blank looks are back!  Awesome!]
<Krista> (Face it. Your class is a bunch of slackers.)
<Krista> (It's high school. Whaddya want?)
<Ardweden> (It's not even AP English or something.)
<Luke> "Similes are comparisons; they include a word such as "like".  Motifs are 
when the same thing gets repeated, or at least a similar one.  Allusions are 
references to some other work of fiction or real event or person.  Imagery is, 
well, imagery."
 [There's a mass of notebook grabbing and scribbling.]
<Luke> (Influence roll on teaching all that lightning speed?)
* Charlotte raises her hand. "What's imagery?"
<Ardweden> (Uh... I'm not sure if I'll allow Influence on super fast teaching.)
<Luke> (Well, what would it be?)
<Veronica> (What you really need is a "making any damned sense" roll.)
<Luke> "It's when the way something looks gets really described in a lot of 
detail."
<Ardweden> (Yeah, I'm not sure if there IS a roll for that.)
<Krista> (I suppose it would be influence, since you don't technically roll on 
languages.)
<Ardweden> (But it's not influencing... I could buy it for him convincing 
students to try to learn it, but if they're already trying, actually getting 
it's another story.)
<Veronica> (Or something dealing with communication in general.)
<Charlotte> ( BESM has a skill for this o/~ )
<Luke> (Oddly, it's Thrown Weapons: Knives.)
<Ardweden> (Great for BESM.)
<Krista> (WILLPOWER + INFLUENCE.)
<Krista> (LEARN IT. LEARN IT, YOU MORONIC STUDENTS.)
<Luke> (*snerks*)
<Veronica> (Not that odd.  I'd be convinced to learn something if someone threw 
a knife at me.)
* Charlotte jots a few things down in her notebook.
<Luke> "Metre will probably take longer to explain than we've got left this 
period, so don't worry about it if you don't know how it works."
<Charlotte> But we need to know it for the quiz.
[Jeremy looks like he might want to raise his hand, but doesn't.  Christy speaks 
up, though!  "Does alliteration count?  You didn't mention it.  Does it?"]
<Luke> "Alliteration counts, yes.  So does rhyming."
[More scribbling!  Seems they know what THAT means.  Even Christy's pulled out 
her book now.]
<Luke> "And you don't need to know metre for the quiz.  I'm not expecting you to 
cover everything."
* Charlotte raises her hand. "What are you expecting us to cover?"
* Krista isn't scribbling anymore. She's actually sorta looking away from Luke 
now.
* Veronica scribbles down notes herself.
<Luke> "At the bare minimum, you should be able to actually identify the passage 
and explain what it means."
<Veronica> (Question one: "Hark!")
<Luke> "You should also have some sort of critical analysis of the passage.  If 
you can identify some literary devices, that's fine.  If you'd rather write why 
you think the passage is good or bad, do that, but like I said, you'll need to 
explain why."
["Uh."  That's from Creaky Desk Guy.  "What makes it 'critical'?"]
<Luke> "You having to think about it."
* Charlotte frowns, and marks a few things in her notebook.
<Luke> "And the trick to identifying a literary device is: they're all the 
things that make the passage all fancy and literary and hard to understand."
<Charlotte> You mean words like "thee" and "thou?"
* Krista continues looking elsewhere. Are there windows in this class?
<Ardweden> (Yes.)
<Ardweden> (Towards Veronica!)
<Luke> "Can you understand what they mean without thinking about it?"
<Charlotte> Not completely.  I mean, what's the difference between thee and 
thou?
<Veronica> Two letters?
<Charlotte> They both mean the same thing, don't they?
* Krista is looking wall ward, then. Something something fist of rage.
<Luke> "Do "I" and "me" mean the same thing?"
<Luke> (Krista hates lectures on literary techniques?)
<Charlotte> Well, what about "Dost" and "Doth"?
<Ardweden> (Krista thinks people are dumb for not getting it.)
<Veronica> (She also likes Polonius.  Your point?)
[Steve's making notes.  He's even opened his book.]
<Luke> "Dost is for second person and follows "thou".  Doth is for third person 
and follows he, she, or somebody's name.  It's similar to "you are" and "he 
is"."
* Charlotte copies more stuff down
[Note taking!  Bell ringing!  A few students jump at the sound and look up at 
the clock.  Others keep scribbling madly.  Jeremy started but gave up.]
* Krista glances back to Luke for a second. That one deserves a look at least... 
and then bell!
<Luke> "Looks like we're out of time.  One last thing: if you don't know the 
proper term for something, just explain what it is you're trying to discuss."
["Oh, crap!" Christy yells.  She keeps writing!]
<Luke> (That deserves a look?)
* Charlotte finishes her notes and shoves her belongings in her bag, then takes 
off!
<Krista> (The bothering to explain dost and thou and etc.)
* Krista looks down to her notebook for a second, then closes it and stands up 
slowly and smooths her dress out.
[Steve puts his things neatly away.  "How much is the quiz worth, Mr. Mendel?" 
he asks.  Some students are already leaving.  Christy slaps her forehead and 
leans over to Veronica.]
["You catch what allusions are?" she asks her.]
<Luke> "I'll see how everyone does on it before I decide that," Luke tells 
Steve.
[Steve nods and zips up his backpack.]
<Luke> (Luke has previously told the class his office hours at some point, I'm 
assuming.)
* Krista picks up her notebook and stuff, glances to Luke for a few seconds... 
then hurries out into the hallway maelstrom.
<Ardweden> (He can remind them!)
<Charlotte> ( High school teachers have office hours? >.> )
[Krista is TOSSED ABOUT IN A STORMY SEA OF STUDENTS.]
[It's like The Tempest, only we're not doing that play.]
<Luke> (Not really, but Luke seems to.)
<Luke> (Maybe no one told him he shouldn't.)
* Veronica whispers back. "Uh...no. Aren't they things that are invisible? Like 
mirages or something?"
<RDMgryphon> (better question "High school teachers have offices?")
<Luke> (He shares one.)
[Christy blinks, then groans.  "We are *so* doomed."  She shovels her stuff into 
her backpack.]
* Krista is walking up towards her locker!
* Krista is also looking around a bunch as she does so...
<Veronica> Yeah.  I know.  Study date?
["Yeah, you wanna do it after school?  It can be a library thing.  We're 
literary!"]
* Charlotte stops by her locker to exchange books and grab her lunch, then heads 
towards the cafeteria.
* Luke sets his attache case down on the desk and picks up a pad of paper and a 
pen, and writes a note for himself.  It reads, "Basic literary analysis 
techniques."  He folds it and puts it in his pants pocket, then picks up his 
case again.
* Veronica stands up slowly. "It'd help." She stretches. "Gah, I hate hanging 
out at the library..."
[Students leave.  Whoo!  Jeremy's one of them.  He looks sort of dazed, but most 
of the class seems to have gone over his head.]
* Veronica glances at Jeremy for a second, then to Christy as she's leaving. 
"Say Chris...you heard anything about Ivy lately? She just sick or what?"
["Not really.  I guess she's just sick.  You could ask Jeremy or somethiiiii 
okay, he's not here."]
* Luke answers a few other random students' questions about the quiz, then makes 
his way out into the hall.
<Veronica> He just left.
["Guess so."  She checks the clock, then eeps.  "I gotta get to Spanish!  See 
ya!  Remember: study date!"  She motors out of there.]
<Veronica> And great.  Just the person I want to talk to.  He thinks I hate his 
guts.  Or doesn't care. 
* Veronica sighs and packs up her stuff, heading out.
[Charlotte and Veronica make it to the cafeteria.  It's noisy, as usual.]
* Charlotte takes a seat and eats. Ooo.
* Veronica sighs and puts her last remaining books away that she's been carrying 
and stands in the Line O' Doom.
[Charlotte sits near Tabby, who's arranging her crackers and pepperoni and 
cheese.  She glances up at the other girl, then goes back to her project.]
* Charlotte has an apple, a sammich, some Hi-C, and a bag of potato chips. Very 
nourishing. Beats the cafeteria food, anyhow.
* Charlotte offers a smile when she's looked at. :)
[Tabby smiles nervously back, though she doesn't show her braces.]
[Veronica stands in the Line o' Doom.  OOOH.]
[It moves.]
* Charlotte holds out her hand at Tabby. "Hi!" she says, after swallowing her 
food 'cause she's not impolite. "I'm Charlotte."
["Oh.  Um.  I'm Tabby."]
<Charlotte> Nice to meet you.
* Veronica moves forward in line. This could take a while.
[She rubs at her face, then smiles again, this time showing her braces.  "Nice 
to meet you, too?"]
[Oh, Veronica gets to the food already. ;P]
<Krista> (TABBY LOVES YOU.)
* Veronica gets food and looks for an empty table.
[The closest she can find to an empty table is the usual one.  There's a Tabby 
and a Charlotte there.]
[Alternately, Veronica can sit next to the card-playing Freshmen.]
* Veronica glances at the table, and glances at the Freshman. Is he cute? Is it 
a he?
<Luke> (*laughs*)
<Luke> (Veronica hits on Terry!)
<RDMgryphon> (heheh)
<Krista> (... Don't hit on the freshies.)
<Krista> (They're beneath you.)
<Ardweden> (Which table?)
<Veronica> (The first glance is the Charlotte/Tabby table.)
[There are two freshmen!  One's a girl and one's a guy.  They're the same ones 
who always sit at the table, and they don't notice Veronica.]
* Veronica sighs and resigns herself to sitting next to Tabby and Charlotte. 
Boo.
[Tabitha blinks at the new arrival.]
<Luke> (Terry is so close and yet so far to scoring with Veronica.)
* Charlotte glances briefly at Veronica, then focuses on her lunch. Fruit. 
Mmm... Fruit is good for you.
* Veronica waves in a slightly detached manner. "Hey." She's not glancing up 
much.
<Charlotte> Hey.
["Um.  Hi?"  Tabby doesn't manage to not turn it into a question.  And then she 
goes back to her lunch.]
* Veronica glances at Charlotte for a moment, then back at Tabby, sitting down.
* Veronica looks up and blinks. "Oh." She perks up a bit. "Oh. Hey! You're 
Krista's friend, right?"
[Tabitha blinks, almost dropping her cracker and cheese and pepperoni.  "Uh?  
Yes."]
* Charlotte glances at Tabby at Veronica's words, and does a double take. She 
hurriedly returns to her sandwich.
<Veronica> Yeah.  We met in the library.  I think I've seen you around campus 
too.
[She nods.  "That's because I'm around.  You're Krista's friend, too, right?"  
She nibbles at her lunch.]
<Krista> (Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha... *breath* ... 
ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha.)
<Veronica> Eh.  I don't know if you'd say that.  We're in the same class 
together, sure.  We've talked a few times.
["I saw you together.  At the library?"]
* Veronica grins. "Yup. How'd your meeting go by the way? Musta been important 
for you to rush out like that."
["Oh.  It went... it went okay."  She looks down at her food and eats another 
cracker sandwich.]
* Veronica tilts her head and glances at Charlotte for a moment before back at 
Tabby. "Just okay? What was it about?"
["Um.  School stuff."  Tabby glances at her watch.]
* Veronica waves her hands up. "Okay, okay. I know better than to pry." She sets 
all her stuff down and holds out her hand. "I'm Veronica by the way."
["Um, Tabitha.  But Tabby works."]
[She pushes up her heavy glasses.]
* Charlotte finishes eating. She shoves everything in her bag and looks at the 
clock.
[The period isn't even half over yet.  Pity Charlotte's with the BORING people.]
<Veronica> (I don't see Charlotte adding anything relevant!)
* Veronica smiles. "Nice to meet you, Tabby. And I see you've already met 
Charlotte here." She gestures to said person.
<Charlotte> ( Relevant to what? >.> )
["Oh, yeah.  Just, um.  Now, really."  Pause.  "You're friends, too?"]
* Charlotte waves again.
[Tabitha waves back, a little.]
* Veronica glances at Charlotte for a little while but doesn't answer the 
question.
* Charlotte doesn't either. Veronica's the one having the conversation.
[Tabby looks at Charlotte, then Veronica, then, um... food!  She starts peeling 
an orange.]
* Veronica picks at her food. She doesn't seem particularly cheery.
* Charlotte finally decides to say something. "I guess so, yeah."
["That's cool.  You're both juniors, too?"]
* Charlotte nods. "Yeah."
<Veronica> Yeah.
* Veronica glances at Charlotte for a moment then picks at her food. It's a 
salad, so it's definite picking food.
* Charlotte has finished her food. :(
["Oh."  Pause.  "I'm not."  Yeah, Tabby's not doing much with the whole making 
friends thing.]
<Charlotte> Oh? What year are you?
<Veronica> I'd think we'd have the same classes if we did.  What--yeah, what she 
said.
["Um, a sophomore."]
* Charlotte nods. "Cool."
* Veronica snorts. "The dead years."
* Charlotte frowns. "Well, I think it's cool."
<Veronica> I didn't say it wasn't cool.  But think about it.  When you're a 
freshman, you're still a newbie, getting into a new school and everything.  When 
you're a junior, you're finally an upperclassman.  When you're a senior, you're 
almost outta here and off to college and stuff...
<Veronica> Sophomore, you're just sorta...there.
[Tabitha shifts a little in her seat.]
<Charlotte> So?
<Charlotte> Nothing bad about being there.
* Veronica looks at Charlotte for a moment, taking a bite of the salad. "You've 
never heard it called the "dead years" before?"
<Charlotte> No. Why would I? It's just like being a freshman, except you're 
older.
<Veronica> Well at least you're not teased for being a freshman anymore.
* Charlotte scratches her head. "They actually do that?"
<Veronica> Uh, yeah? 
[Tabby mutters, "Like you need to be a freshman."]
<Veronica> Well, not me exactly. *grin* They know I'd kick their ass.
* Veronica glances at Tabby for a moment. "Hmm?"
* Charlotte pats Tabby's shoulder. "Hey, not everyone's like that." She offers a 
comforting smile.
["Uh?"  And then she realizes she talked, and she blushes.  "Nothing."]
* Veronica shakes her head. "No, they're not. People suck sometimes."
["If... um... yeah.  But that's normal."]
<Charlotte> If what?
["Nothing.  They just do that."]
* Charlotte blinks, then shrugs.
<Veronica> They don't have to be.
[Tabitha shrugs, too.]
* Veronica looks more interested at Tabitha. "What do they do?"
[Tabitha looks up at Veronica, a bit surprised.  "You... um, you don't know?"]
<Charlotte> ( Veronica wants to get in on the action )
<Veronica> Well, I saw what happened at the lunch table earlier.  But beyond 
that, no.
* Charlotte says quietly, "I can see your bruise."
<Charlotte> Were you in a fight?
* Veronica frowns and looks at her more closely. "You should put ice on that, 
just in case."
[She puts a hand over her cheek self-consciously.  "Oh.  No.  Well.  Just shoved 
around... I'll be okay."]
<Charlotte> You sure?
[She nods and glances at her watch again.  "I have to... I have to go to class.  
Nice meeting you."  She gathers her textbooks and backpack, barely manages to 
hold her garbage with the rest of it, and hurries off to throw said garbage 
away, then go to class.]
* Charlotte blinks. "Uh, okay, see you!" she calls, glancing at the clock again.
[It's about halfway through the period.]
* Veronica watches her go and shakes her head, finishing off her salad.
* Charlotte sighs. "Guess we made her feel uncomfortable."
<Veronica> It's not easy to talk about getting beaten up at school.  I mean 
bullying is one thing, but...
* Veronica glances at Charlotte. "You're concerned?"
* Charlotte blinks. "Well... yeah." Her tone indicated that should be obvious.
<Charlotte> You're not?
* Veronica starts opening up her drink, saying in a casual, but slightly subdued 
tone. "I'm just surprised someone from Karasu would be worried about someone 
getting beaten up." She takes a sip.
* Charlotte blinks. She sits back in her chair. "Yeah, well, I'm a surprising 
person."
* Veronica leans back in the chair. "I can't figure you out, Charlotte. I'm 
trying to. And I'm trying not to hold it against you. But I don't know. Finding 
that out without you telling me is hard, y'know?"
<Charlotte> Not hard enough, obviously.
* Veronica looks at her evenly. "What? You want me to tell you to fuck off or 
something?"
* Charlotte returns her gaze. "Maybe you would if I started digging around 
behind your back."
* Veronica snorts. "I haven't done any digging. It was you talking to that guy 
who bumped into Ivy."
<Charlotte> It's not like it's a big secret.
* Veronica grumbles and rubs her head. "No, I guess it ain't. Which is why it's 
silly to hold anything against ya for it. I know that, and still...I gotta 
wonder..."
* Veronica turns back to look at Charlotte. "What got you into something like 
that anyway?"
* Charlotte answers ambiguously. "Lots of stuff."
* Veronica scoots her chair back and closes her eyes. "Look. Do you mean it 
about the friends stuff?"
<Charlotte> I don't know.  I've honestly tried, but it's hard for me to be 
friends with someone who thinks I'm an idiot.  
<Veronica> And whatever gave you that impression?
<Charlotte> The fact that you said I wasn't very smart?
* Veronica blinks and looks at Charlotte. "When?
<Charlotte> When Camila got set on fire.
<Veronica> You were outright accusing me of causing her to be on fire.  You 
think I'm gonna take that well?
<Charlotte> About as well as me taking what you said, I guess.
* Veronica grumbles and leans back. "Way to go, Rica. Way to put your foot in 
your mouth again."
<Veronica> Look, if you don't want me prying, I won't pry.  But I expect you to 
be honest with me.  And I'll try to be honest with you.  Deal?
* Charlotte looks down. "You're probably right though. I'm not very smart." She 
looks back up. "I... guess? But I won't always answer, either."
<Veronica> That's fine.  But hey now.  You're actually taking me as a good judge 
on intelligence?  I'm surprised I'm not on academic probation yet."
* Veronica groans. "I'm never gonna get this Shakespeare stuff."
<Charlotte> It's not too hard... But I don't think Mr. Mendel is a very good 
teacher.
<Veronica> He's a perv.  I think he's stalking me or something.
<Charlotte> He seems to want to test us on stuff he hasn't even taught.
<Veronica> At the very least, he creeps me out.
* Charlotte nods. "And his suit was ugly today."
* Veronica snickers. "I didn't really notice. I was too busy dozing off."
* Charlotte chuckles. "Class was that interesting, huh?"
* Veronica rubs her forehead and gets a frustrated look. "It's not easy. I mean, 
I'm trying to get this stuff. I really am. It's just not clicking. So I zone 
out."
* Charlotte nods. "Maybe you could talk to Krista about it? She gets it, and 
she'd probably be able to help more than the teacher."
<Veronica> At least he's letting us do the fieldtrip thing.  That, at least, 
should be a bit interesting.  Besides, Brannaugh's cute.
<Veronica> Maybe I could just get her to do my homework for me.
* Charlotte nods. "Yeah," she sighs. "Tell me how that works out, okay?"
* Veronica frowns and looks up. "That's right. I forgot you couldn't make it."
* Charlotte smiles. "Not like I'll miss out on the story."
<Veronica> I'm not sure if I should really either.  I mean, I haven't been 
practicing nearly as much as I should.
<Veronica> I've got no idea if I'm going to be ready for the tourney or not.
* Charlotte shakes her head. "You should. This was your friend's idea, after 
all."
<Veronica> Yeah, I know.  It's hard to say no to Christy.  She's...interesting 
after all.
<Veronica> Okay, look, I know she's an out and out freak sometimes but she's a 
helluva blast to hang out with.  Trust me.
* Charlotte nods. "She seems nice."
<Veronica> By the way, is that why you heckle Mister Mendel so much?  Because 
you don't think he's a good teacher?
* Charlotte thinks about that. "I guess that's part of it."
<Veronica> What's the other part?
* Charlotte shrugs. "Me trying to figure out what a literary device is. I 
thought he wanted to know what kind of quill Shakespeare used to write the play 
with, or something."
<Veronica> Oh, I didn't mean today.
<Veronica> I mean, you've gotta be serious when a teacher screams out "Quiz 
tomorrow."
* Charlotte blinks. "What did you mean?"
<Veronica> Eh, just in general.  I'm not any better, but I've already got a rep.
<Charlotte> I don't get what you mean.
* Veronica shakes her head. "Forget it then. I'm going to try studying with 
Christy at the library later. Wanna come with?"
* Charlotte shakes her head. "I can't. I've got stuff to do after school."
<Veronica> Ah suck.  Oh well.  How are you ever gonna study though?
<Charlotte> I'll do it at night, I guess.
[The bell rings!  Oh no!]
<Veronica> Alright.  Well, good luck with that.
* Charlotte nods. "Thanks. Oh, and if you want to get together to practice some 
time, I'm up for it."
* Veronica gathers her stuff and waves. "Yeah! That'd be good. See you in 
Orchestra!"
* Charlotte waves. "Later."
[Session End.]