SOMETHING ABOUT A GOOD BOOK. (OPEN) {finished}

[JENNIFER ROSE MCMAHON]

i am human and i need to be loved.

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If there was anything Jennifer McMahon loved more than writing a book, it was reading a book. And as she fingered the dusty books in the "Fiction" section of her school's library, she thought about what story she would be engulfed into next.

Jennifer, an avid reader, had just finished reading one of her absolute favorites for the umpteenth time, and it was finally time to get hooked on something new. Of course, finding the right book wouldn't be easy. Sure, there were plenty of options in the large school library, but it took a special book to draw Jen's attention. There was a list of rules Jen kept in the back of her head when searching for a new obsession. Primarily, the book had to be of good size, and she had to like what she read on the back. A small and boring book wouldn't do it for her.

As Jennifer got to the end of the shelf, nothing appeared to be to her liking. When it came to food, clothes, music, or activities, Jen had never been picky. But when it came to books, even she had to admit she was annoyingly picky.

"To the other side, I guess!" Jen announced to nobody in particular as she turned around to the other side of the shelf.

Maybe this side would hold a worthy book.

Not even halfway down the shelf, she found the treasure she was looking for. It was One Day, around four hundred and fifty pages - not the longest book Jen had ever read, but she knew it would keep her occupied for a few days. As Jen read the back, she smiled. She had a soft spot for these kinds of stories, and knew she'd enjoy it.

"I'd like to check this one out," Jen addressed the school's librarian.

As the librarian handed Jen her book, Jen nodded her head "thanks" and started toward one of the chairs in the library. She had more than enough time before her next class. She made herself comfortable on the large chair, crossing her medium length legs Indian style, before dropping her leather messenger bag to the floor. After situating herself on the chair, Jennifer opened up to the cover page. It was time to get into another good book.

-----*-----

Outfit: This.
Status: Completed.
Words: 384.
Notes: Anyone...jump in? (:

[Nicki Burne Michigan]

The cafeteria food here wasn't good at all, but Nicki couldn't complain. After all, the student handbook made it very clear that if you didn't like the food, you could buy some from the shop. The only thing that with Nicki's family across the ocean and Nicki himself not having a job, it wasn't like he had any money to buy different food with. Oh, sure, his family sent him an "allowance" every month, but he himself had to do the currency exchange from won (Korean currency) to the dollars used here in America. His allowance had come yesterday, and he hadn't been out into the town to exchange the money yet. So here he was, stuck with eating the cafeteria food. The food itself wasn't bad, it was just the insane amount of meat that bothered him. His shift being a herbivore, Nicki himself was bordering on vegetarian, though he wasn't fully a plant-eater yet. He couldn't stand the meat replacements, so he stuck with just limiting the amount of meat he ate. Biting into an apple, he sighed, watching the insides slowly get a shade darker. Oh well, he thought as he stood up, throwing the leftover contents of his tray into the garbage can next to the door. I can always eat later tonight. After all, he had that little storage of junk food under his bed, right? Right.

He entered the hallway, looking around with a bored expression on his face. He still had the majority of the lunch period left, and he wasn't exactly sure how to spend it. He didn't feel like going outside, and he knew that if he lingered in the hallways too long someone who disliked him would appear. Well, not dislike exactly. Just someone who had a shift that would be delighted to eat him. Which... was about half the school. He smiled slightly to himself and started up the stairs with the intent of reading for a while. From a young age he had known that schools screened all the books they let in, and therefore had a lack of good classics. Well, the classics that weren't classics, as he called them. Some of them had been denied classical status, or were pending, like the one he currently held in his hand. Huck Finn, a classic if Nicki had ever seen one, though some states didn't agree with him. He wasn't sure about Florida, but even if it was in the library, he didn't want to take the time to look for it, anyway. His battered old version had sentimental value for him, seeing as it was written in Korean. Of course, that made it a bit harder to read... but Nicki needed to practice his native language; all of his family said so.

He yawned and stretched, wandering into the library. Another reason that he didn't want to look for books here was that for five-foot Nicki, most of them were hard to reach. He didn't exactly enjoy people giggling behind their hands as he tried to get a book that they themselves could have taken off the shelves without even hesitating. Hell, someone had even asked him if he had wanted help getting a particular book, once. He knew that they hadn't meant any harm, but it still offended him. The shifter was offended quite easily. He tugged uneasily at the dark brown sweater he was wearing, reaching nearly to his knees. His hair stood up like a black halo around his face, mainly because he had slept in and had been in too much of a hurry to comb it. Bed head, a few of the older kids had called him. He sighed, heading over to the sitting area, but not really paying attention to where he was placing his feet.

It was that lack of attention that caused him to slam right into one of the larger chairs, the inhabitant of said seat probably close to falling straight out of it. Though, with the animal side of most of the students came pretty good balance, so there was a chance that she wouldn't fall off, after all. Nicki's dark eyes watched her nervously as he backed up, wondering what her shift was. Since he was bullied in human form and prey in shift form, it was a question that was asked a lot, though never out loud. Another thing that was said a lot, now that he was thinking of it... "Sorry," he blurted, wondering if the girl was mad at him. She had looked quite content, reading her book, and Nicki guessed that being shocked out of it was quite unwelcome. Especially by 'freshmeat'... which was what one of his junior... er... acquaintances said that most of the older students called people in his grade. "Are you okay?"

notes lol, sorry. I couldn't think of any other way to introduce him, seeing as he doesn't talk to anyone... Love the character, btw ♥ Bi-Polar people ftw

[JENNIFER ROSE MCMAHON]

i am human and i need to be loved.

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As Jennifer approached the fourth chapter of her newest selection, she paused to look at the clock on the wall. A fast reader she was, and she still had fifteen minutes until her next class. Full Transformation. Besides English, it was probably her favorite class due to the fact that it focused on shifting.

Two years ago, things might have been different. Two years ago was Jen's first shift. The craving for raw meat, the intense desire to hunt, the new reflexes. All of it terrified her. All of it made her want to disconnect herself from humanity. She had no idea how to control her shift, and she would have never been able to forgive herself if she hurt someone she loved.

It wasn't until she actually researched what she was that she accepted it. When she understood who she was, she embraced who she was. She embraced the animal within her. After all, who was she to try and suppress her instincts? She couldn't deny the large cat inside her. She accepted who she was and she accepted the fact that she couldn't change who she was.

Jennifer looked back down at her new read. She had about three pages to go until the next chapter. Fifteen minutes was more than enough time to complete the task at hand. But before Jen got through a single page, she felt herself launch forward. Fortunetely, using her reflexes, she was quick to react. Dropping One Day to her lap, Jen grabbed the end of the two arms of the large chair, saving herself the embarrassment of landing face first on the carpet.

"Sorry." She heard a quiet voice behind her.

Jen turned around, rather annoyed that she'd been interrupted, but quickly softened her expression when the boy was sweet enough to ask if she was alright.

She gave a small smile and nodded her head, "I'm fine. No worries. No harm, no foul."

Jen grabbed the book she had now lost her page on off of her lap, and set it on top of her messenger bag. She then stood up and and faced the boy.

"I'm Jen McMahon." She introduced herself.

-----*-----

Outfit: This.
Status: Completed.
Words: 356.
Notes: D'aw, thanks! (:

[Nicki Burne Michigan]

No harm, no foul? Nicki had heard that somewhere before, but he wasn't the type to keep up with the phrases everyone else knew so well. Sure, he could speak English as his second language; in fact it came more easily to him than his native language did. But if anything, it was the version of English that they taught in foreign schools, the one without slang and text-speak. It was English, yet it didn't having the defining characteristics that the modern generation gave to it. Speaking in more simple terms, Nicki spoke like a most people's parents. He didn't understand 'lol' or 'gtg' or 'rofl'. In fact, his phone didn't even have a text plan. He was perfectly content with the idea of calling anyone the old fashioned way, even though it wasn't that old fashioned. It was... a fashion that had passed by quickly. Nicki was almost stuck between generations, and all because he had been forced to change between cultures so often. But enough with the blabbering; the point was that Nicki had to think for a moment before understanding what Jennifer had said.

"Oh... okay." Personally, he thought that almost being knocked out of your chair counted as harm, but he wasn't about to object to being let off the hook. It was a relief that he wasn't going to have his homework stolen again, or be pushed into a locker... or something like that. Classic bullying, something he had come to understand much more than he would ever understand the English language. You got a much clearer perspective of the ball when you were on the receiving end... and it hit you in the face.

Seeing as she actually had let him off the hook, and not punched him in the gut and walked off like some certain others would have done, he was eager to talk to her. Well, to make sure she didn't get angry at him, that was. After all, if she introduced herself, it probably meant that she was going to stay for a while. His next class was also Full Transformation, and after that Pack Politics. The two classes he normally skipped, seeing as he didn't really need either of them. He already knew how to shift; what he needed to know was how to control it, and he didn't think that FT taught that. Well, maybe it did, eventually, but they hadn't gotten to that topic yet and he felt no desire to sit through the boring class. As for Pack Politics, pikas didn't live in packs. They were extremely solitary animals, and though he supposed it would be fun learning about how other animals lived, it sure wasn't a necessity for him. Another class he felt no remorse in skipping. Neither of them gave much homework, anyway, so it wasn't like his grade was dragged down that much.

He smiled shyly, having to actually tilt his head up a few inches to look at her face. "My name's Nicki. Nicki Michigan," he said happily. He was a decent actor, so he could pretend that he actually wanted her to stay and talk. After all, showing that all he really wanted was for her to shut up and walk away might make her angry, and that wouldn't be happy for anyone. For the sake of living a few more days, he would have a decent conversation if that was what this Jen girl wanted. "How's your day been? Other than me slamming into the chair, of course... Oh, and what book were you reading?" he chattered, eager to evade harm for a few more minutes.

notes Sorry that he's being so skittish... he's normally more relaxed than this...

[JENNIFER ROSE MCMAHON]

i am human and i need to be loved.

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The boy seemed to be a little surprised that Jen had been so forgiving. But really, the only damage done was a lost page, so why get mad? Jen mentally patted herself on the back for controlling her temper. Being bipolar, Jen knew that task wasn't the easiest. Sometimes it was hard for her to hold in her frustration at the smallest of things. Fortunately, due to some good medication, her mood swings were easily controlled and kept in check during the day.

Although, thinking back, it hadn't always been this easy to control her emotions. For years Jen had gone unmedicated and undiagnosed. It wasn't until Jen was thirteen that mother finally looked up why her child was so manic and angry. All of the websites pointed to the same thing: bipolar disorder. The diagnosis, later confirmed by a professional, was a bit shocking for Jen. She had never known anyone who was bipolar, let alone never thought that she would ever be diagnosed with the disorder. Disorder. That word alone made her feel like a freak. It made her feel like she was defective.

It was after she learned that she could shift that she accepted her diagnosis. She accepted that there were things that made her different. The things that made her different, made her who she was, and at the end of the day, she liked who she was.


The boy, who had begun to strike up casual conversation, had introduced himself as Nicki. Nicki Michigan.

Jen smiled at Nicki and casually leaned on the back of the chair she had been sitting in, "Well, besides that, I'd say it's going real swell!" She paused and reached down for the book lying on her bag, "It's a new one I'm trying out. One Day by David Nicholls. You could say I'm a sucker for these kinds of stories." She laughed and continued, "Anyways, how's today treating you?"

-----*-----

Outfit: This.
Status: Completed.
Words: 318.
Notes: I like her spunk. haha.

[Nicki Burne Michigan]

Nicki shifted his balance from one leg to the other, looking up at Jennifer. His mouth was slightly open to make breathing easier in the stuffy library, and he wouldn't have looked out of place if he had been dropped into a daycare center. The only thing missing from his childish image was a teddy bear, but he conveniently had one laying on his pillow back in his dorm. He just never brought it to school, because, well, if you were already bullied, would you bring a teddy bear to school? Nicki knew that it would just get him beat up even more than he already was, and even Asia couldn't save him then. He smiled at her response. "Yeah, well... I really am sorry for knocking your chair over," he said, averting his eyes to the ground. He really just wanted to leave; socializing was the bane of Nicki's existence (one of the many), and he despised it. He was only talking to her because he felt guilty for interrupting her reading. He took a deep breath, wondering when she would return to her reading and give him a chance to make his escape.

One Day.... Nicki had never heard of that book before. He wasn't surprised, though. There was a lot of books that Nicki hadn't heard of. "Oh... uhm... that's nice. What's it about?" he asked quietly, his face somewhere between bored and completely devoid of emotion. Well, his mood had changed pretty fast. He had just wanted to say sorry and scurry off, and then he had accidentally started a conversation. Lovely. Well, if she wasn't going to stay quiet, they might as well have a conversation about something he liked. Or, rather, disliked. "I brought my book from home. Huck Finn. I didn't think that they'd have it in the library," he said, rolling his eyes slightly to show his contempt. "And anyway, I needed to practice my Korean." he was sure that the school didn't have any Korean books in the library. Maybe French or Spanish, even Japanese, but probably no Korean. It annoyed him a bit, but whatever. There were too many languages in the world, so it wasn't like one library could keep up with all of them. Nicki supported the idea that there should be a universal language, and that was why he had tried so hard to shun his Korean roots and learn English instead. Of course, when his mother sent an angry letter saying that he shouldn't have to practice his native language, it had started to feel a little guilty. So he was trying to keep up with both languages now, through it provided a lot of stress for the fifteen year old's life. Like he didn't have enough of the already.

"Eh, my day's been okay so far. Pretty boring, but isn't school always boring?" he said absently, humming some song that was stuck in his head. He flinched a little when the bell rang, signaling that lunch was over and they had about five minutes to get to their next class. Maybe this girl would finally leave now. "Er... I guess you should be going? What's your next class?" He wasn't really that eager to learn the answer, but he didn't want to look like he was looking forward to her leaving, either. And no, he hadn't said we should be going. He planned on skipping Full Transformation today, maybe practicing his singing for a while outside or something. Maybe he would just hang out in his dorms until Choir.

notes Well, they have the same class next XD

[JENNIFER ROSE MCMAHON]

i am human and i need to be loved.

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Jen wasn't always the best at reading people, but when they were as shy as this kid, it wasn't hard to get the story without asking. Obviously, he was an underclassmen. An underclassmen who probably wanted nothing to do with her. But, hey, it's not like she could blame him. Upperclassmen were tricky. Some were your friend, others, not so much. Fortunately for this kid, Jen wasn't one to harass the freshmen. Although, judging by the way he wouldn't even look at her, Nicki obviously thought otherwise.

"No, really, dude. It's fine. Now, if I'd actually fallen, well, that would have been a different story." She replied hoping Nicki knew she was kidding.

Sure, falling would have been embarrassing. But not so embarrassing that she'd go all crazy hunter lioness on the poor kid. Besides, that wasn't allowed.

Jen casually glanced at the clock. The bell was going to ring any minute. She looked back at Nicki who had asked her another question. Judging by the look on his face, it seemed as though he could care less about the answer, so Jen kept it short and sweet, "Not really all that sure yet. I guess it's about these two people that are meant for each other, but uh, kind of like real life, shit happens. You know?"

As Nicki explained his book situation, Jen gave her mental approval. She had read Huck Finn numerous times. To her, it never got old.

"Huck Finn - awesome choice," Jen stuck her thumb up before continuing, "But in Korean, huh? When did you come to the states?" She asked, genuinely interested.

Just seconds before the bell rang, Jen grabbed for her messenger bag and placed her book inside. It killed her that she hadn't finished her chapter, but she'd just have to wait until school was over to find out what happened.

"Not the biggest fan of school, I see," Jen adjusted the strap of her bag around her shoulder as the bell rang, "I've got Full Transformation next. What about you?"

-----*-----

Outfit: This.
Status: Completed.
Words: 341.
Notes: They should totez walk to class together. hahaa.

[Nicki Burne Michigan]

If she had actually fallen... yep, that definitely would have been a different story. Instead of just saying sorry, Nicki probably would have ran out of the room at top speed. There was a hint of amusement in her voice, so Nicki was able to grasp that she didn't really mean it, but it had scared the freshie for a moment. And Jen was right with her assumptions; Nicki wanted nothing to do with any of the students, let alone the ones older than him. He knew that a few could be decent, but he wasn't about to take the risk, seeing as most of them wanted to eat him. The only one he really trusted was Asia, but that was only because instead of talking to him or getting to know him as a first meeting, she had saved him from some bullies. When someone saves you without even knowing you, it kind of leads you to trusting them, and the same went for Nicki. Of course, there was always the chance that said savior could have ulterior motives, but Asia hadn't shown any of those yet, and Nicki didn't think that she would. Distrusting as he was, it wasn't like his brain was completely corrupted or anything. When someone saved you, they did it because they really wanted to save you, or at least the pika shifter thought so. He wasn't so messed up that he would look upon his heroine with mistrust or contempt. Jen, however, had met him by trying to control her temper when he had done something wrong. It was just natural for him to assume that she could blow up any minute. He hadn't missed the look of intense annoyance on her face before he had asked if she was okay.

"Uh..." Nicki wasn't too sure what Jennifer had just said. It was one of those rare moments when improper grammar and fast talking got to his head. "Like... fate?" he asked, his expression utterly bemused. How could a paraphrase of fate and a cuss word be in the same sentence? Nicki just didn't understand... he didn't think he'd be reading that book any time soon. "Kay... then," he said slowly, moving his confusion to the back of his mind. He didn't comment on what she said because he didn't want to sound stupid. Nicki hated sounding stupid, but with him belonging to the lowest grade, it was inevitable. But, still. Inevitable or not, he could still try to stop himself from looking stupid. It didn't have to happen every other minute, right? Right.

If this Jennifer girl approved of Huck Finn, Nicki guessed that she couldn't be so bad. At least she wasn't raging over how much it swore. Someone had once bothered to count, apparently. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn; uses the n-word two hundred nineteen times in about two hundred pages... Nicki didn't know what kind of person would bother to record that information, but he knew that it was probably - no, definitely - one of the reasons that the book was banned in so many places.

"Oh... I was born here, actually," he said, shrugging. He didn't want to go into the whole two houses thing, but he supposed that the girl would make some odd assumptions if he didn't. "My family lives in Korea, though, so I have to practice it to read the letters they send me." It was simple enough to Nicki, but... that story could create some odd assumptions too. What kind of fifteen year old went to boarding school on the other side of the world? What kind of family left their irresponsible son practically alone and simply sent him letters and money every once in a while? Nicki felt like shouting out 'tune in next time for the answers!', but restrained the urge. Sure, his family was odd, but he honestly didn't care what Jennifer thought of his little story as long as she didn't tell anyone else. "It's not that interesting," he said, shrugging again. For Nicki, it honestly wasn't. It wasn't like it would be the end of the world if the school found out, or anything, but he was pretty sure it would cause a new round of jokes at his expense. It wasn't a big secret, but he liked being in control of who exactly knew about it. Hell, even Asia didn't know, but that was because she hadn't asked. He watched Jennifer warily, wondering how she would respond to his little moment of openness.

"Nahh. School really isn't that interesting. It's not like any of it applies to real life," he said softly, absent-mindedly flipping through the pages of Huck Finn. Her next class was Full Transformation? The same as him, that couldn't be good. He wasn't ashamed of skipping class, but once again, he didn't want this girl to spread the fact that he did all over the school. He sighed, blowing a strand of hair out of his face and rubbing the back of his head. "Same class as me, then," he said, nodding slightly and staring off to the right of him, towards the door. "But... uh... I left something in the cafeteria. So I have to go get that first." It was a lie, a complete and utter falsehood, and Nicki wasn't good at lying. He blushed, still refusing to look at Jennifer. She would probably see through it right away, but it was worth trying. Nicki really just wanted a few hours of time to, and to get those hours, he was planning on skipping a few classes. He wouldn't let this girl stop him.

notes They should... and they will, if Jen can stop him from skipping class XD

[JENNIFER ROSE MCMAHON]

i am human and i need to be loved.

[/font][/color][/blockquote] [/center]

By the look on Nicki's face, Jen could tell that he hadn't quite understood her summary of One Day. To be honest, she didn't understand her summary either. Sometimes she was a little quick to explain things, and it seemed as though Nicki was having a hard time keeping up. But still, her summary of the book wasn't the best she'd ever given. After all, the book was still so foreign to her.

"Uhm." Jen paused for a moment thinking about her answer. She wasn't really in a place to answer, "Well Nicki, I guess you could say that. I mean, fate works in mysterious ways, doesn't it? It brings people together so they can do the rest. So yeah, I guess you could say it's kind of like fate."

Jen, who had always been somewhat of a time-conscious student (merely to save herself the embarrassment of walking into class late) looked around at the bustling students. Already two of the five minutes she needed to get to Full Transformation had gone by, and here she was listening to Nicki's family history.

It wasn't like she didn't care, because she did, in fact, she was actually surprised that the kid who seemed like he wanted to be somewhere else had opened up to her about his family. Jen nodded intently, knowing it probably wasn't her place to ask questions, as she listened to her acquaintance, but at the same time kept an eye on the students moving out of the library and making their way to their classes.

It wasn't until Nicki mentioned that he had the same class as her, and then proceeded to make up the lamest excuse as to why he couldn't possibly go, that Jen brought her full focus back to him.

Jen raised an eyebrow and studied the freshman.

"Look, Nicki, I know I just met you, and I know your freshmen problems are none of my business, but I get it. School's a challenge. Ninety-nine percent of the time it's pointless. Ninety-nine percent of the time, you want to crawl under a rock and just stay there forever. But seriously, at least come to Full Transformation. If you don't need math, or science, or English, or whatever, you're gonna need FT. Trust me."

She gave the freshman a small smile hoping he'd do the right thing.

-----*-----

Outfit: This.
Status: Completed.
Words: 393.
Notes: That speech suuucccks.

[Nicki Burne Michigan]

Nicki rubbed the back of his head again, stretching a bit. Jennifer was currently rambling on about fate or something, and Nicki was completely zoned out, occasionally putting in the appropriate noises and fractured phrases to show that he was listening. He wasn't, really, though he was aware that he had been the one to lead her to this topic. He mentally scolded himself for a moment, knowing that he shouldn't be talking about big subjects like fate when there were only a few minutes until this girl had to be in class. "Uh-huh... interesting," he murmured, nodding and trying to look like he was paying attention. It was class all over again, just with a junior as a teacher. He would rather sit through Full Transformation than listen to Jennifer talk about how fate worked! This was boring. "Yeah... that's nice..." Trying to hide his disinterest was hard, but he managed it.

He watched her with a bored expression when she started ranting about how he shouldn't skip class. Had he really been that easy to see through? Apparently he had. But, seriously, two rants in about five minutes was just too much for Nicki to deal with. "Listen, I don't have any freshman problems. Fuck off. You only have a minute left to get to class," he said, pointedly closing his eyes and stretching his arms over his head. He had been standing still for too long, been cooped up in either the dorms of the classrooms. There were a few forests around here, maybe there would be some trails he could hike on. After all, he had two periods of time to exercise, maybe even the rest of the day if he skipped his last class too. "I'm not going to class with you. Accept that and get moving." It was heartless of him to say, really, and maybe stupid too. He had kind of gotten rid of the fear that she might punch him, but he still watched her warily for a few seconds after he said it, then looked away.

notes I have learned... that I have no muse for angry Nicki... Unless Jen doesn't mind missing class, I'm guessing we should probably end it soon.

[/size]

[JENNIFER ROSE MCMAHON]

i am human and i need to be loved.

[/font][/color][/blockquote] [/center]



The less than enthusiastic reaction that Nicki had given to Jen's rather, er, interesting description of fate was another obvious clue that Nicki would have preferred to be anywhere else but in the library talking to Jen.

"Uhm. Sure." Jen replied awkwardly, hoping that the subject of fate would just be dropped. Really, she wasn't an expert on it, and he obviously didn't care. It was a useless topic that garnered itself a bored reaction.


Unfortunately, Jen hadn't inherited all that great speech skills, and after her little speech as to why Nicki shouldn't skip class, she could tell that it hadn't been that effective. Before Jen could try another tactic to get the freshman to class, it seemed as though Nicki was frustrated and he had definitely had enough of her.

Jen, unphased by the kid's burst of out-of-character behavior, held in a laugh, and took a step forward, "Look, dude. We all got problems, alright? It's a fact of life. So don't even tell me that you don't have any, because that's bull. " She paused for a moment thinking of ways she could get the stubborn Nicki to class, "Look, I'm not gonna whip some big speech out and give you a thousand reasons why you should go to class. I get it. School sucks. But dude, if you miss it, that's one whole learning experience missed. And I'm not just talking educational. I'm talking life experiences. I know it sounds cheesy, but it's true. You learn so much. And I know you just met me, and I know you're already not too fond of me, but trust me, I have."

Wow, Jen. Could you get anymore lame?

Hey, it's not like she planned on giving a motivational speech to an unmotivated freshman today.

As the warning bell echoed in Jen's ear, she knew it was crunch time. Either leave this kid and get to class, or follow him, which would probably annoy the crap out of him, and hope he'd eventually do the right thing. She rubbed her eyes, a bit frustrated at the freshman. There was no way in Hell she was going to let him get away that easy.

The final bell rang, and Jen made her move, "Soooo. Where are we going?"

-----*-----

Outfit: This.
Status: Completed.
Words: 381.
Notes: Seems as though Jen's got a feisty frosh on her hands. No way she's letting him skip class to be alone. I kinda wanna see if Nicki accepts Jen's "help"...although she's not the most helpful. Any ideas if they could go somewhere with a plot? I kinda see Jen wanting to help him, but Nicki's a little reluctant.

[Nicki Burne Michigan]

Nicki’s expression was some odd cross between shock and fury, his eyes narrow and his brow furrowed, but his mouth hanging open a few millimeters in disbelief. Who was this junior to tell him that he had problems? He didn’t! Sure, he was bullied, but that wasn’t his problem. It was something that was messed up in everyone else’s brains, he was the only normal one here, and she was telling him that he had problems! Everyone else ate raw meat, and out of the people he had met so far he was the only one with a relatively normal shift, one that didn’t eat everything it came across. Well, no, Nicki’s pika shift ate all the nuts and berries and grasses it came across… but Nicki had never killed anything. He was proud to be able to say that, when almost everyone else here killed to satisfy their other selves. By the time he was done with that train of thought, he was slightly calmer, able to look at Jennifer without blowing up again.

There were some more things in her little speech that he didn’t like, or rather, didn’t understand. ”Bull?” he asked, looking up at her with confusion clearly written across his features. Mentioned before, Nicki was horrible with slang. He had forced himself to learn all the swearwords by heart, but he just couldn’t get the English slang to stick in his mind. It just didn’t fit in with his version of the language, and it didn’t fit in anywhere in the Korean language either. So Nicki was completely oblivious when it came to certain shortened words. Like bull. ”Didn’t you already whip about a speech or three?” he asked, his voice able to cut a pineapple in midair. No, he had heard that comparison on a commercial, forget about it. But his voice was sharp and cutting, rude.

This girl annoyed the life of out him, she really did. He couldn’t stand being around someone that was so… helpful. Helpful in a horribly sarcastic way, or at least, that was how Nicki saw it. He didn’t want help, didn’t think that he needed it. Hell, he was living pretty much alone, save for his roommate. He only saw his parents… well, he hadn’t seen them in a while. He hadn’t been attending this school long enough to work out when he would see them, but at the moment all he knew about them was that they were living in Korea and doing swimmingly without him. They thought that he didn’t need help, so he didn’t. He just didn’t, and he wouldn’t accept any if this girl tried to force some on him.

”… We’re going hiking,” he said, grabbing his schoolbag off the chair and storming out the door, not waiting to see if Jen was following him.

End Thread