[Thursday, August 26, 2004.] [The school day's almost over! Honest. It's just the beginning of the eighth period, and that's the last one, right? Right? Well, actually, it's the end of the day for a certain Mr. Mendel, because *he* doesn't have to deal with any more bra- students. He's done his teachin' duty for the day.] (Woot!) [And there was much cheering in OOC. We find him wherever we find him. Where is he? Let's find out!] [Mini Start.] * Luke strides through the empty halls, dressed as he was earlier in the day, his attaché case in his left hand. His destination: the principal's office, half a hallway ahead. [Oddly, every time Luke gets half there, it's another two halves away.] (Damn Xeno!) [But eventually he beats the paradox and reaches the office. Luke wins! Fatality.] * Luke pushes open the door and goes in. (Xeno rocked!) [Luke opens the door, and there's a secretary's desk there. And a secretary! She's a bit... large, and there's paperwork strewn about before her. She's looks up to Luke through the top part of her bifocals. "Can I help you?"] [Behind the desk is the door to the principal's office. That is probably the goal. If Luke can reach it, he gains fifty points and is one step closer to defeating the demon queen!] "Will Doug have a minute free anytime soon?" ["He's talking to a student right now. It shouldn't take too long."] "Thanks." Luke flashes her a smile. "How's your day been going?" [There are a few plastic chairs lined against the wall outside the door, incidentally. But no water cooler.] [The secretary sighs. "Busy. It always is in the beginning of the year."] "There are a lot of problems to straighten out?" [She shrugs, grabbing a handful of the papers and making a stack of them. "Kids getting their schedules and lockers mixed up, old combinations that weren't changed, half the computers in the lab catching a cold. The usual."] * Charlotte enters the office somewhat timidly, shutting the door behind her. She stands to one side of it whilst Luke talks to the secretary. * Luke turns at Charlotte's entrance. "Hello," he waits a beat as he tries to recall her name. "Charlotte." Hello Mr. Mendel. "What are you doing here?" The principal wanted to see me. [The secretary looks through her papers. She has to find the right one before time runs out and her desk flips over!] "I'll let you get back to your work," Luke says to the secretary. * Luke strolls over to Charlotte, clasping his attaché case in both hands in front of him. "Any idea why?" [She makes a vague sort of 'hm'ish noise as she continues looking for the paper.] * Charlotte casts a glance at the principal's office. She turns her head to Luke as he speaks and shakes her head. "No idea." "If there's anything I can do to help, let me know." Thank you. * Luke wanders over to one of the plastic chairs and sits in it, placing his case on his lap. "How is the school year shaping up so far?" It's a little early to tell. * Luke nods, trying to settle into the uncomfortable plastic chair. He shifts about in it a few times, then stands up again. (Stupid plastic chairs!) * Charlotte folds her hands behind her back. After a minute, she casts another glance at the principal's office. [The office STARES BACK.] * Luke picks up a pamphlet lying by the chairs. * Charlotte is glad she's not Harmony, then. Shying from an office would just be embarrassing. [It's about mononucleosis! Which is like senioritis, only a lot worse.] * Charlotte idly glances around. * Luke learns about mono. [The door to the principal's office opens! "Okay, thanks sir," a familiar, male voice says from inside. And out steps a familiar male. Jeremy, in fact.] * Charlotte casts her gaze towards him. * Luke glances over, looking interested. [He looks back at Charlotte. And then Luke. "Uh, hey Charlotte. Mr. Mendel."] * Charlotte waves. "Hi!" "Hello, Jeremy." "How are you doing?" [He smiles a little at Charlotte. Then he realizes he's in the doorway, so he gets out of the way, letting it close behind him. "Okay. I had to talk to Mr. Sheldon about..." He looks a little uncomfortable. "Well, you know."] (Tattling on Veronica for kicking his ass.) (Yes. That's exactly it.) "I think I can guess." Luke flashes a quick smile. Say, Jeremy, can you meet me after school, do you think? [He nods. And then he looks at Charlotte. "Yeah, I think so. Is something up?"] * Charlotte shakes her head. "Not really. I just wanted to talk to you when you had some free time." (Charlotte's love!) ["Sure. Right after school I gotta take care of-" And he stops himself. "Wanna meet at five or somethin'?"] (I gotta take care of some guys who ain't payin' their protection money.) Ummm.... That's kind of late. You can't do any earlier? (Five is late?) [He scratches at the back of his head. "Not really. Uh... look, how about I call you?"] * Luke wanders around the office, seemingly ignoring the kids today and their attempts to plan meetings after school. ["Unless you've got something else in mind?"] * Charlotte nods. "Sure. I'll be home about 9:30." ["Cool." He sits on one of the chairs and opens his backpack, pulling out a notebook and pencil.] * Charlotte gives her number, which does NOT count as inviting him to her house, in case he's a daytime vampire or something. (A reverse vampire!) (But giving a hacker your email is an invitation into your computer. ;p) [Right about now, the door to the principal's office opens! Oh no! Principal Sheldon looks out. He's a white, heavyset man in his fifties with balding, gray hair and blue eyes. He's dressed in a suit and tie, as is normal for him, and reading glasses hang from his neck. He takes in the scene, not surprised at the kids conversing as they wait for their respective dooms. He does, however, seem a bit surprised that Luke's there.] [The secretary indicates Charlotte without missing a beat. "You're next."] [Jeremy scribbles Charlotte's number down.] * Charlotte nods to the secretary and heads towards the office, waving to Jeremy. "See ya!" [He waves with a grin. "Bye."] [Charlotte enters the DEN OF EVIL- er, principal's office. Same difference.] * Luke turns to Jeremy. "It's nice of you to help Ivy as much as you do." * Charlotte walks into the office, looking somewhat relieved. [Jeremy smiles sheepishly. "Thanks, sir. It's the least I could do."] [Charlotte enters the principal's office. Mr. Sheldon walks in and around to have a seat at his desk, on the comfy chair. It's a relatively big office, as far as offices in this school go. There's a potted cactus. And windows. And the desk, which he's sitting behind, with lots of papers and a fairly old desktop computer.] [There's also a chair in front of the desk. It's not plastic! Mr. Sheldon puts his glasses on. "Have a seat. You're Charlotte Matthews?"] * Charlotte takes a seat, crossing her legs. "Yes, sir." [He nods and picks up a sheet of paper, smiling at her. "Well, Ms. Matthews, we seem to have a problem. This says you've been missing both English and Trigonometry yesterday and today, but you've made your other classes."] * Charlotte blinks. "I'm sorry?" [He nods. "Yes. I'd like to know why." And he looks at Charlotte.] But I didn't miss any classes, sir. [He blinks. "That's interesting." He looks at the sheet, then turns it so Charlotte can see.] * Charlotte leans forward to look at it. [It looks just like Charlotte Matthews' schedule. It even has her name, social security number, and all that good stuff on it. And it has third period English and fourth period Trig.] ( "Da Prinze: Charlotte misd her classz. Give her detension lolololol" ) (*snerk*) * Charlotte reads it over. "Um... Sir? This isn't my schedule." [Mr. Sheldon sighs. "It's what I have for you," he says. "Do you have your schedule on you?"] * Charlotte pulls her backpack to her lap, rummaging through it. "I think so. I'm supposed to have Trig 3rd period and English 4th." She produces it and hands it over, adding, "Mr. Mendel was right outside. He could tell you I've been going to his class." [He takes it, looks it over, and nods. Mr. Sheldon picks up a pen and turns the sheet he showed Charlotte around, making a couple of notes on it.] [He hands the schedule back to Charlotte. "All right. Thank you for clearing that up, Ms. Matthews. If your schedule changes because of this, we'll let you know."] * Charlotte nods. "Thank you, sir." ["Keep going to third period Trigonometry and fourth period English until then."] Alright. [He smiles. "You can go back to class now."] * Charlotte nods and gets up. "Okay." ( In a principal fighting tournament, Quentin would mop the floor with this guy. ) (Ha.) (This is true.) (But this guy has an attack secretary.) (And fireballs, if you push down-diagonal-forward-punch.) * Charlotte exits the office! [The waiting area is still there! So is Luke! And the secretary! Jeremy is not.] * Luke is standing there talking with a student. "I'm sure they won't really make you take advanced Spanish if you've never taken it before, Chad." ( "Si senor." ) [The student, a brown-haired, short guy with freckles and dark eyes, shifts his backpack. He looks uncomfortable. "I dunno. Mom really wants me to take it."] * Charlotte ignores the conversation, as she has to get back to class. "Oh, Doug, can I speak with you a minute about Ivy Thorne?" Luke asks, passing by Charlotte into the office. * Luke turns to look at Chad. "I'll be right back." * Charlotte pauses a second at that. ["Thanks, Mr. Mendel," Chad says as Luke heads off. When he enters, Sheldon looks up. "Sure, Luke. What's the problem?"] * Luke pushes the door shut behind him, but neglects to close it all the way. [Chad looks around for a little bit, then has a seat on one of the plastic chairs.] [The secretary, uh... secretaries.] "I was just wondering how much special treatment I was supposed to give her. I don't mind letting her do whatever she wants, but if I'm supposed to be imposing discipline on her, I need to know." * Charlotte stands near the door and watches the secretary. [Doug removes his glasses and rubs at his eyes. "That's a problem. How's she been in your class?"] [Chad fidgets, then pulls out a Spanish textbook.] * Charlotte isn't eavesdropping. Nah, no way. (*snerks* Well, I did set you up to eavesdrop.) "She hasn't been a problem so far." [He nods. "Good, good." And then he sighs. "It's a delicate situation, Luke. The girl's... well, it hasn't been pretty. We don't want to traumatize her."] "A bit late for that." [Doug frowns. "Further."] "What happened to her?" ["We don't know." He shakes his head. "You'll hear about it eventually, so it might as well be from me. Have a seat."] [Chad looks up from his studying to the door and Charlotte.] * Luke has a seat, placing the attaché case on his lap. * Charlotte notices, and smiles and waves to Chad. ["Ms. Thorne was an average student. Nothing wrong with her. She had a happy home life and everything, as far as I know."] [Chad waves back shyly.] "What happened?" ["She went missing over the summer for about a month." Doug folds his hands, leaning forward and lowering his voice. "Ms. Thorne hasn't been the same since. Nobody knows what happened, and you know that she refuses to talk."] "I noticed, yes." "I guess she was kidnapped? It doesn't sound like she was a runaway." ["That's the police's best guess, but they have no idea who took her."] "I suppose they have no idea how she escaped either." ["Not a clue."] "So we want to make things as easy as possible for her?" ["We're not sure what to do about her. Her therapist seemed to think that putting her back into the public school system is a good idea, but this..." He shrugs helplessly. "I just want what's best for our students. If she's given free reign to do whatever she wants, she'll be a disruptive influence."] "That was why I asked. Still, if she's not actively disrupting the class, I'll try to leave her be if she does anything unusual." * Charlotte decides she's waited long enough and approaches the secretary. "Um... Excuse me Ms...?" [Doug nods. "That's probably for the best."] [The secretary lady looks up. "Yes?"] * Charlotte fidgets a bit. "Um... I need a hall pass to get back to class." [The secretary blinks, then she opens a drawer and pulls out a stack of hall passes. She takes the top one off. "What's your name?"] Charlotte Matthews. [She writes Charlotte's name and signs it before handing the pass to her. "Here you go."] Thanks * Charlotte takes it and heads out the door, back to class! [Charlotte goes to class! Go, Charlotte, go!] "Is there anything else you can tell me about Ivy?" "Just so I can better deal with her." ["You know about as much as I do. Mr. Prescott tries to take care of her... that's the boy who just left here. I think he and Ms. Thorne share one of your Junior English classes."] "They do." Luke pauses, shifting in his seat. "Are they a couple?" "I mean, do you know why Jeremy looks after her?" "I'm not sure exactly how to treat that, either." [He shrugs. "He's an old friend of hers, her parents said. I believe it. He's about the only person in this blasted school she trusts."] ( Not for long! ) "Okay. I just worried that he might be taking advantage of her." ["I'm a little worried about that, too, but he seems like a good kid. She'd never get to classes if it weren't for him."] "Is there any reason they weren't just given the same schedule?" (The GM needed an excuse for her to interact with the PCs.) [Doug sighs. "We might have to do something about that. No, when they picked their classes for this year, it was before Ms. Thorne disappeared. We didn't know they'd *need* the same schedule at the time they were sent."] "It might be a good idea, under the circumstances." [He nods. "That's actually what I was talking to Mr. Prescott about a while ago."] "Very good. I guess that's it. I'll let you get back to work." Luke stands, grabbing the case in his left hand. [Doug nods to Luke. "Glad I could help. The students aren't giving you too much trouble?"] "No, they've all been fine so far." "What was Charlotte in here about, by the way? No trouble, I hope." [He grins. "That's good to hear- oh, no. Just a scheduling mix up."] "I'm glad to hear it." [Doug nods again and puts his glasses back on.] ( "She was going to some silly English class instead of her World Domination class. Silly girl." ) * Luke turns to go, opening the office door; he blinks when he notices he doesn't have to turn the handle because it never actually shut entirely. [Doug doesn't notice! He's typing something at his computer.] * Luke exits. (Chad still there?) ( He was checking me out. ) [Chad is there! He's looking at his textbook helplessly. IT EATS HIS FACE. Or not.] "Sorry about that, Chad." (Chad is totally going to fall in love with Charlotte.) [He starts, then looks up. "It's cool, Mr. Mendel."] ( "It's so cool, Mr. Mendel!" ) (Chad = Chikako.) ( His middle name is Ako ) (Well... ... yes.) "Have you spoken with the Spanish teacher about this?" ["Um... no."] "Why don't you start by doing that. Maybe he can explain to your parents that you should start with Introductory Spanish." ["Yeah, right. But I guess I can try." Chad stands. "Thanks."] "Good luck." [He smiles crookedly. "I'm gonna need it." Chad picks up the seething hate- filled book of Spanish hate and waves to Luke before leaving.] * Luke waves back, though he follows him out. [Mini End!]