On School Grounds

[erika]

"Remember, Gellar, I want a full-story by Monday. A full one! And I want it good, or you won't be earning anymore front-page reviews from this day on. Got that?"

"Yes, Ms. Connor."

"Good. -- oh yeah, where's my cappicino?"

"Right here."

"Extra foam, right?"

"Twenty-four percent."

"Okay, good."

Said Ms. Connor, the head of the Daily Newspaper in California. She ... was such ... a hag! Erika sighed as she walked out of her boss's office holding her own cup of hot black coffee, came to work in the good ol' leapord skirt(knee-length), black stockings and dress shoes and then a nice black long-sleeve. Letting her blonde hair triumph above her shoulders, Erika quickly found her desk which had been submurged with paperwork, papers, a lamp and a cup of pencils and then her handy camera. Sipping her black coffee, Erika leaned back in the cushy wheeled chair as she thought of what exactly she was going to write about in the next seven days. Local deaths? Nah, too few of those going around. How about the local hospital and if it was or not giving enough service to all the sick people of California? Maybe! But...too boring.

Erika sighed, "Guess it's back to that old trick called thinking." She spoke to herself, something the nineteen-year-old reporter usually did. Pulling the black heels off her feet and snagging a shoebox from underneath her desk, Erika took out the usual things she needed to get around sometimes. Inside the shoebox, which mind you was actually clean, was a pair of white nikes', a bright lavender track suit, and a white T-shirt. When Erika went on a mission to get a front-page story, she usually dressed athletic. Just...where would she go for this one?

-- Thirty Minutes Later,

"Aha! Erika, you are a genius! -- Behold, on the frontpage of the Daily News Newspaper will be the title 'High-School Students. In every child ... an animal?', Erika Gellar!"

Whispered Erika to herself, pushing her hands a bit deeper into the pockets of her track shirt which was zippered at full-length, her blonde hair she had put into a ponytail and a small red duffle bag was slung over her shoulder as she stood before this high-school she stumbled upon that was near work. She was looking for something on the cityscape to make a story out of, and believe it or not, she picked this. A school. #259.

"Looks like period is in play though, and I wouldn't want to have to be forced into one of those classrooms if some idiot teacher thinks I'm a student. I could go in as a reporter, like I am, but that'd spoil my cover and I want to stay -- undercover for this story. At least there'll be a smaller chance of me nearly losing my arm that way. -- waitasec, lose an arm? This is a high-school!" Erika argued with herself, finally sucking up the willpower to step inside. It wasn't anything too personal, but her and high-schools didn't exactly make the closest friends.

[Aureus]

Again? Yes, again. Once more the Freshmen boy known to his peers as Levi Ranson was running from a small group of males that wanted his head. Why? Well the answer was quite obvious if you knew the redhead at all. They were mad because he had picked up on their girlfriends, and succeeded. It was understandable as well. Levi wouldn't like it if some guy pulled his girl out from under him like a rug in an old cartoon. But the thing about that was that it would never happen. He never tied himself down to one girl, and from what he had seen there was no one with enough skills to even match him in charms. Besides, if their girlfriends let him pick up on them, they didn't care much about their boyfriends, right? He was good, but not good enough to make women forget all previous engagements.

A downside of this running was that it caused the teenager to recklessly weave in and out of crowds. Although on most days Levi's agility proved enough to save him, today he just wasn't on the ball. He had skidded around a corner, and gunned it towards the front door only to slam into a nice young blond with a curious look in her eye. This would have been a nice turn of events any other day, but the Freshmen wasn't too keen on sticking around. He was sore from all the fighting Aureus did against the thugs that wanted him dead for a completely different reason. It seemed like the schizo could never catch a break.

As expected, the upperclassmen were right behind Levi and were ready to stomp him into the dirt, or linoleum rather. Turning his head to see a foot about to do just that, the redhead grabbed the girl who was at this point underneath him and rolled to the side. Once they were out of harms way he kicked the offending leg in the kneecap, rolled to his feet and tackled his two opponents into the wall. "You could have hurt that innocent girl, ya know. Where's your manners?"

[erika]

"Son-of-a-bi--!"

Erika shouted as she felt herself being pushed off her feet as some kid tackled her, she wasn't concerned about hitting the ground with her back, she'd gotten hurt enough at other times when she was trying to get top-notch stories to not feel too much pain in little accidents like this. She was just concerned about her camera and other things in the duffle bag she was carrying, seeing to it that it didn't slam onto the ground like she had with the boy ontop of her, Erika tossed the bag over her chest as she felt herself being rolled over and then the extra body-weight lifting off of her.

Standing up, the blonde took a deep breath ready to completely relieve the boy of his head, until she saw him pushing two guys up against the wall. Er, ... that didn't mean she didn't want to beat him up still for doing such a crazy thing, almost breaking her camera, but this could've been used as a picture for her story. Erika quickly pulled her camera out of the duffle bag and took a few dozen pictures of the little scene as she then hurried it back inside. No one would've noticed, pulling the strap back onto her shoulder, Erika walked over to the red-haired boy, tapping him on the shoulder as if to say 'excuse me'. Why waste time like that? Kids nowadays, Erika thought, as she simply just tossed her fist forward and punched both the guys in the face.

"Okay, now's the time for an explanation on what the hell you just knocked me over for, kid." She shouted angrily at the boy who had slammed into her.

[Aureus]

As he continued his attack on the two jealous idiots, Aureus alerted his alternate personality of an odd sound. What the hell is that clicking? I'm not sure...doesn't matter though. Hmm... Fortunately, the blond girl paid Levi back by tapping his shoulder, and effectively flooring the two boys. Despite that fact, the question she asked showed that she was still pretty pissed at him for knocking her down. Though her tone alerted the redhead of something he had overlooked before.

Kid? Hmm...now that I think about it, you do look older. Which raises other questions. Though I'd be careful about talking in such a condescending tone around here. You might not have noticed, but this is a high school. You're the odd girl out. As to why I knocked you over, it was an accident. I wasn't paying attention, and for that I apologize. Now, why don't you tell me what you're doing at 259? And don't lie, it's too easy to pick up on. Levi retorted. Sure, he liked girls that gave a little lip, but something was odd about this one.

[erika]

"Kid? Hmm...now that I think about it, you do look older. Which raises other questions. Though I'd be careful about talking in such a condescending tone around here. You might not have noticed, but this is a high school. You're the odd girl out. As to why I knocked you over, it was an accident. I wasn't paying attention, and for that I apologize. Now, why don't you tell me what you're doing at 259? And don't lie, it's too easy to pick up on."

*cough, cough*

Wow, I guess the kids are putting down their video games and picking up their vocabularies nowadays. Erika Gellar thought to herself, never expecting to be given some type of long speech that she could've related to one of her boss's rants from some high-school student, even though she did have quite the lip before she had dropped out of high-school didn't mean she wasn't surprised. Erika stared coldly at the red-haired boy, she couldn't tell whether he was smart or not, but she knew one thing for sure and that was that she didn't have to answer any of his questions. She was a reporter, she was the one that was supposedly on duty trying to get a good story on school-violence, not get busy talking to some moron who smacked into purposely instead of doing a 360' turn in the hall and sprinting away from the guys who were chasing him. Children.

Erika had been taught not to put down others for their specific state(sane, not sane, ugly, hideous) but she couldn't help it. She felt ... proud, being older then probably everyone there except for the guys who dropped out and came back at twenty-one and the teachers of course. Holding her duffle bag's strap tightly even though it was already around her shoulder, the blonde decided to sustain a conversation afterall. Yea, she wasn't just going to take pictures of the enviorment, she needed student-violence! -- this would be a real exciting story on the front-page if she got it done by Monday, maybe it'd bring the school down or make people pull their children out of it, buttttt was that really Erika's problem? Wait, maybe it--

" ... er ... " Erika scratched her head nervously when she realized she was supposed to talk either way, even if she didn't want to answer him. She did something similar to turning off and then turning on only half of what she already was turned on, biting her lip Erika closed an eye and then opened both,

"Y'know what? I don't believe you have the right to know what I'm doing here." She replied in a faint voice, blank expression. Yeah! That sounded cool, maybe she could use that? Well it was the only explanation Erika could sum up at the moment, so why not go with it? "And excuse me, kid, I don't think you're controlling this situation well because technically ... you're a little small to be telling me that." Erika wanted a story, but people ... it made her cold, very cold.

[Aureus]

Studying the older woman, he noticed she looked a bit surprised. Maybe he had smashed a dent in her superior feeling ego with his words. Good, maybe she would be less snippy that way. In addition he picked up on how tightly she held onto her bag. Now what could be in there?

"Haha, I'm just as tall as you. And I weigh more. Though I'd never hit a woman. I am curious as to what's in that bag though. You seem awfully protective of it. Hmm...an older woman in a high school with a duffle bag...drugs maybe? That's about all I can think of now. And I could easily inform others who are less kind than myself. I don't think they'd mind jumping your for the bag." The redhead said smugly. The ball was in his court, and she had no choice but to play by his rules. At the end of the day, whatever was in the bag probably didn't matter, but he was bored and it was fun messing with this girl. She was pretty cute too.

[erika]

"Haha, I'm just as tall as you. And I weigh more. Though I'd never hit a woman. I am curious as to what's in that bag though. You seem awfully protective of it. Hmm...an older woman in a high school with a duffle bag...drugs maybe? That's about all I can think of now. And I could easily inform others who are less kind than myself. I don't think they'd mind jumping your for the bag."

Asshole, you're just barely my -- aw, damn. Erika frowned, realizing she wasn't exactly wearing her high-heels so infact the kid was her height. Guess the youngsters are getting taller and taller as they grow. Erika thought to herself, though she wasn't ashamed of her height at all. She was content with her height, her size, and definatley her weight. She was heavier then a lot of girls, and that didn't mean fat either, she was a fit person and worked out a lot and though her appetite for anything large had truly been killed she still ate healthy and enough unlike some of those girls out there which ate nothing.

This kid was real rude, actually. Erika was getting angry, and believe it or not, Gellar was not a person you'd like to make angry.(especially when she's got a camera in a duffle bag and pepper spray) Rolling her eyes at the stupid comments, Erika sighed,

"Look, you're really pissing me off now. Why don't you run along like a good boy and don't be late for class? I have a lot to do today -- and about drugs? Please, I'm most likely the last one in this whole school to be walking around with those. And go ahead and tell any one of your stupid friends around here, I've ran into bad news enough in my lifetime to know how to deal with it."

And that was actually not a bluff!
The guy thought he had the edge here? Erika was keeping the bag zippered and her agenda at the school locked, so the guy might of as well just run along and attended to class like she told him to, otherwise he would be standing there for a long time since Erika didn't exactly intend on being honest with him.

[Aureus]

"Don't associate me with them." Levi replied, the annoyance ringing through heavy in his voice. Unlike the thugs, preps, and airheads that roamed the school, he didn't beat up on others to make himself feel better, smoke pot because his parents didn't buy him a car, and he definitely wasn't an idiot. This woman seemed pretty shady, though confident in her ability to defend herself. The redhead hadn't been counting on that, but he was still certain four or five potheads would give her a run for her money, or her bag to be specific. Having her hurt didn't sit too well with him though. He had mostly been lying before. What could he do to mess with her? What did she want to avoid? Attention! The word hit him, a plan following suit.

Turning around, the Freshmen walked into the middle of the hallway and shouted out. "Hey everyone, this woman is with the media, and she's going to be shooting a documentary on the school!" Was his story made up? Of course, she was alone and didn't have a camera crew or anything. However, the students were easily manipulated. Why? Because they all wanted to be on tv and all that other crap. Now that they thought she could give them that, she wouldn't have a single moment of peace. "Have fun." Levi said to her before walking away. Looking back, he noticed a crowd was already forming around her.

[erika]

"Don't associate me with them."

What the hell ever, you're probably already asscoiated with them you idiot... Erika thought rudely to herself, she didn't know why she was so annoyed with this boy but she started to become more comfortable with it when she noticed the annoyance in his voice which meant he was just as annoyed with her. I just hope this jerkface doesn't happen to draw any attention to me, or I'll ... get fired ... which might not be the worst thing though, right? Because I hate Ms. Connor! -- yeah, right! Erika knew losing her job would be very critical to her life, writing was her only passion and the only thing that kept her sane. Look, she didn't even have reflex-actions anymore, she didn't have a sense of humor and she sure the hell didn't have a love-life and she was nearing her twentieh birthday! Her camera and her job was the only thing she had left and she didn't want to lose it.

"Hey everyone, this woman is with the media, and she's going to be shooting a documentary on the school!"

Son-of-a-bitch!
Erika's eyes turned huge, larger then that one time when she had a gun pointed at her face, she felt her hands squeezing the strap of her duffle bag so tightly that sweat was running down her fingers in a moment. She felt anger brewing inside her so quickly that she had a feeling she might've set off the fire alarm. It was curtains for her thanks to that little...little piece of... "Have fun." Erika gasped, she saw a small group of kids running from classrooms and through the halls all turning their heads in different directions to spot this 'media' girl. She was thankful none of them had seen her yet, or had they? Just run, Erika...Run...and take that motor-mouth, somewhere dark where you could beat the shit out of him!

Erika gasped as she turned around and bulleted forward, grabbing the red-headed kid's arm and pulling him through the halls while she ran and finally found a small maintenence closet that was thankfully open! She pushed him in and then squeaked inside the not so small closet herself, holding the door closed and panting frantically. Okay, first, she was going to come clean...whatever, tell him to keep his mouth shut and she'd...repay him, somehow, and then she'd punch him a couple of times real hard.

((I hope you don't take this as modding.))

[Aureus]

That was a bit mean, ya know? Yup, but that's what she gets for being so snippy. I wasn't happy doing that to her...well...maybe just a little. But who cares? She'll leave and never come back. Nothing wrong with that. Meh, I guess you're right. The Schizo debated with himself as he made his way down the hall. Unfortunately, not long after he felt himself begin dragged backwards. It seemed the woman wasn't too happy with what he had said. He could have easily swung around and broke her hold on him, but that wouldn't be any fun. So, he let her drag him into the closet and decided to scold her. "See what you get for being condescending?" He asked before laughing a bit. It wouldn't surprise him if she tried to hit him, but if she did he'd be ready.

[erika]

"See what you get for being condescending?"

Oh screw yourself...
Erika mummered in the back of her head, moaning quietly openly as she listened by the door for all the stomping and footsteps to be heard and then gone again by her ear. Finally after all noise outside the small maintenence closet had settled, she took the risk of opening the door near partly, no one was around that the naked eye could see.

Turning back around to the kid, still being quite protective over her red duffle bag, the young woman sighed. "Look, not trying to be rude or anything here but what you did deserves an Asshole Award." She explained quietly, twitching at the sight of the red-head. The kids are starting to up their vocab but their still the same thick skulled...maniacal...morons. Erika thought, no longer labelling herself as a 'kid'.

"Look, I'm here on business and all I was trying to do was innocently complete my ... business," Erika cleared her throat and emphathized on the word, not wanting to explain what she was doing any further then that, [/b]"Until you came and didn't want to mind your own business and starting to stick your nose into my bu--"[/b] Erika twitched again, she was rambling and she was saying that word too much.

"Okay...how do you put it?" She spoke in general, mainly to herself though, searching for words in a noisy thought train.

[Aureus]

The girl really seemed shook up about what he had said, which only made him wonder. Sure, it brought a hell of alot of attention to her, but something told Levi she was acting extra paranoid. He couldn't help but smile when she called him an asshole. "Well, you got on my bad side. I didn't mean to run into you, besides the way you were sneaking around made me curious. And the way you're talking bolsters my suspicion that you're up to no good. So, are you up to no good?" He asked slyly. Why did he even care? What she was doing probably wouldn't effect him, no matter what it was. Even so, he was bored and didn't feel like going to class. Since when did he care about what happened to other people? It was funny, she seemed to have trouble double talking her way out of the situation, and he didn't plan on helping her.