After school snack

[Ruggahissy]

Isabel tapped her foot impatiently as she sat at her desk. She glanced up at the clock on the wall above her teacher. She couldn't even hear what the woman was saying; the ticking sound of the clock seemed to drown out all the other noise. Her eyes widened as the second hand jerkily moved towards the clock's zenith. As soon as it did the bell rang, as if on cue. People bustled and chatted around her as she hastily shoved her books and papers into her backpack.

Once outside, she sighed and looked down at her clock. She knew the time; she had just been staring at the classroom clock for a solid ten minutes, but the action made it look to others as if she might have some place to go. Isabel adjusted the strap of her back pack on her left shoulder and started walking towards the candy stand.

The school set up a little table with overpriced candy and snacks after school. Normally she would have waited to get home to eat, but today she thought something sweet would cheer her up on the walk home.

Isabel attempted to stand in line, but there wasn't really a line to stand in so much as a mob of people that occasionally pulsed forward towards the little table. She managed to push herself in after a few people who had received their goods squeezed out of the crowd.

I hate being so close to all these people. It's disgusting.

Isabel managed to fight her way to the front. She had shoved some people along the way, but everyone was shoving so she didn't think anyone had noticed her pushing in particular. It was hard to maneuver with so many people; she jammed her hand into her backpack and fished around until she pulled out her brown, cloth wallet. Isabel unzipped the coin purse and started mentally counting out change. Her eye line alternated between the change in her hand and a chocolate bar on top of a stack of chocolate bars on the table.

20, 35, 40, 65, 75, 85, 86, 87,88, 89.....I'm ten cents short, she thought with a sigh.

Isabel turned to look at the crowd. She didn't think they were going to be very giving but she thought she might give it a try.

"Anyone got a dime or something?" she yelled above the din.

[Hollyquin†]

Hayley was absolutely exhausted, as per usual. The long days of class were getting to her. She really missed junior high, in a way- everything was so much easier. She didn't have to try at all, back then. But now...Hayley sighed dramatically. The fact of the matter was, she was a new person now. Last year's Hayley- fat, bitter, depressive Hayley- was gone forever and not coming back. Bayview got to see her with her gorgeous new face on.

Just because she was skinny now, however, didn't mean she was immune to the call of delicious chocolate.

As Hayley left class, swinging her messenger bag over her shoulder and fixing the ponytail her long hair was tied into, she spotted the snack table. Mocking her with its delicious contents. She considered her options, but her self-control was never exactly her strongest attribute- she quickly found herself in line, line here meaning mob. Hayley was used to this kind of thing- she'd been to a few shows, and this was exactly what they were like, except that the front of the mob meant candy rather than seeing the band members up close.

Hayley's advantage here laid in her small size- even compared to the other freshman, she was tiny, and could pretty easily squeeze through the other students to get to the front. The chocolate was calling her name. She could practically hear it in her head. Hayley...eat me, Hayley...

"Anyone got a dime or something?" Hayley looked away from the stack of chocolate bars with a start, blinking over at the dark-haired girl who'd spoken, or rather, yelled. She had a rather distinct look about her- to begin with, she was rather tall for a ninth grader. Hayley thought she looked somewhat familiar, but couldn't place her. Even so, she dug into her pocket for a dime.

"Here you go," she said with a small smile. Change was pretty much wasted on Hayley- she'd forget about it and it would disappear when her clothes went through the wash. At any rate, this seemed like as good an opportunity as any to start...networking, for lack of a better word. She didn't have nearly enough friends at this school, and that wouldn't do. Of course, she didn't want to be friends with most of the idiots she'd met so far. But perhaps this girl was different. She had trustworthy eyes.

[Ruggahissy]

Isabel heard a voice. She looked around until she saw a girl offering up the missing ten cents. She looked curiously at the girl and carefully took the coin.

Pale girl, but pretty.

Isabel had always been jealous of people who could wear their hair in bangs. Her curls didn't really allow for such a style.

"Thanks," she replied quietly. Isabel wasn't sure if the other girl actually heard what she had said, probably not. Now having enough money, she dumped the jingling change into the open hand of the flustered looking parent volunteer behind the counter. Isabel grabbed the chocolate bar she had been eyeing off of the top of the pile without waiting for the woman to finish counting and set about trying to squeeze her way back out. Every time she advanced it seemed like the space behind her would immediately close up behind her.

After a few moments she was finally ejected from the crowd and took a deep breath. She looked down at her side and poked her rib cage, thinking perhaps a shorter person had elbowed her. Isabel cast her glance back towards the table.

I don't think that girl heard me. Should I wait to say "thank you"? Probably.

Isabel stood a few feet away from the line. Far enough to be clear of the people but close enough so that she knew the girl would see her. She pulled out her phone and tried to look casual while fiddling with the buttons to make it look like she was busy doing something.

[Hollyquin†]

Hayley smiled at the curly haired girl and then returned her attention to the task at hand- that being, of course, the ever-so-important task of buying chocolate. Chocolate was Hayley's biggest vice- well, that and oversized energy drinks. Healthy? Not at all, but at least they kept her awake. She plucked a dollar bill left over from lunch and paid for her chocolate, and it this point she remembered something else about crowds at shows- as tricky as they were to get through, they were harder to get out of, since everyone was trying to get to the front. She stuck the chocolate bar in her mouth, biting down on it to hold it, and started to push her way though.

Hayley winced. She didn't like crowds like this, not at all- she was a bit claustrophobic. That was the reason she'd stopped going to those shows. She managed to wiggle her way through the cracks in the crowd, though it took quite a bit longer than it had to get in due to the opposition of those coming towards her. Eventually, she escaped, stopping just outside of the mob to take the chocolate bar out of her mouth and actually start taking the wrapper off of it.

Hayley noticed, as she started to walk away from the snack table, that that girl was still there. Texting someone, it looked like. Well, Hayley's instinctual impressions of her had been good. Why not try to talk to her now? It would be nice having someone to not hate around this place, given that her only real close friend didn't go to Bayview. She walked up to her, tearing the paper off her chocolate as she walked- unable to resist the delicious chocolaty goodness any longer. She stopped in front of her, tilting her head and looking up into the tall girl's eyes.

"Hey! I couldn't help but notice your fantastic taste in junk food." Hayley grinned and took a tiny nibble of her chocolate bar. She'd make it last all night...somehow. "I'm Hayley. Nice to meet you. I probably look, like, super crazy bouncing up to a random stranger and saying hi, but I'm really lacking in, like, the people-in-this-school-I-don't-hate-department at the moment. I'm rambling, aren't I?"

Hayley giggled and scratched her head. She could never really keep up with herself.

[Ruggahissy]

Even though she had only been pretending to be busy with her phone Isabel was still somewhat startled when the girl spoke to her. Her eyes widened momentarily while trying to take in all of the bright colors the girl was wearing.

She snapped her phone shut and shoved it into her pocket. Isabel took the candy bar out and worked to remove the wrapper with both hands. She took her time removing the wrapper, making it appear as if it was much more difficult than it really was. Most people expect a handshake when they meet someone new, so Isabel had become skilled at keeping her hands busy when someone new approached her

"Uh... I wanted to say thanks for the dime. I tried to say something back there, but I wasn't sure if you heard me over the noise."

"Hey! I couldn't help but notice your fantastic taste in junk food."

Isabel felt her face twitch into a reluctant smile. She looked down at the candy bar she was still fiddling with, but her smile still showed.

She seems nice. There's no reason to be afraid. It's silly to be afraid, this place is different. You're going to be here a long time, hopefully. Try to be nice. Make an effort.

"It's nice to meet you, Hayley," she said still looking down.

How am I ever going to remember more names? I'm so bad with names. I heard once if you say someone's name three times in the first conversation you have with them, then you'll remember it. It's worth a shot.

"Hayley. It's a nice name."

Her head jerked up to look at Hayley. "Yeah, I'm a real connoisseur. But I guess you must be too," she said motioning to Hayley's candy. Her smile grew and her shoulders relaxed slightly. "No, it's cool. Crazy people are more interesting anyway. Who wants to hang out with boring, well-adjusted people?"

Isabel finally tugged the wrapper off of the candy bar. With one hand she brought it up to her mouth and took a bite, with the other she twirled a strand of hair around her fingers.

"I don't really know anyone around here either. I just moved to the area. Oh, my name's Isabel," she said with a shrug.

Isabel looked down at the candy bar. She took the end she hadn't bitten out of and snapped off a piece.

"Here, ten cents worth of chocolate. To pay you back, Hayley."

I hope I don't sound like a total weirdo saying someone's name so many times.

"So, what do you like to do for fun?"

[Hollyquin†]

Hayley wasn't the handshake sort of girl. Usually, when she met someone new, as soon as they'd been introduced she'd offer them a hug. But something about Isabel, perhaps the way she was fiddling with her chocolate bar, suggested that she didn't want to be touched. Instead Hayley concentrated on eating her chocolate.

"Uh... I wanted to say thanks for the dime. I tried to say something back there, but I wasn't sure if you heard me over the noise."

Hayley smiled. Politeness! In high school! Who knew?

"Not a problem. I've always got a ton of change in my pockets and I've never got much to do with it. Plus, trust me, I've been there in the ten-cent-short scenario." She sighed, dramatically. "Sad stuff. Very sad."

Christ do I ramble a lot. She probably thinks I'm insane. Well, anyone who might be friends with me needs to get used to insanity sooner rather than later...

Hayley tilted her head to one side, listening to Isabel speak. She seemed to be opening up rather quickly. Hayley got confused sometimes by introverted people- she was naturally incredibly extroverted and introduced herself to just about everyone, though she was learning that most people weren't worth speaking to.

"What's a well-adjusted person, really? I don't know if I've ever met one. Or if I believe in them. I'm cool with being...whatever it is that I am. As long as it means like I'm not like all these other kids..."

She seemed to have struck lucky here, though. This girl seemed nice.

"I don't really know anyone around here either. I just moved to the area. Oh, my name's Isabel."

"Is-a-bel," Hayley pronounced in a sing-song voice. "I like that name. It's pretty. And singable, apparently."

Hayley looked in surprise at Isabel as she gave her that small piece of chocolate. She popped that piece in her mouth with a grin- "Thank you. Every bit of chocolate helps."

"So, what do you like to do for fun?"

Hayley thought about that for a moment.

"Video games, mostly. I draw a lot. I read a lot. I watch a ton of anime. And I listen to a lot of crappy music." She laughed. "E tu?"

[Ruggahissy]

Isabel perked up and smiled wide.

"¿Sabe Español? Estuve tratando de encontrar alguien con quien puedo practicar," she shot off quickly. Isabel waited for a few seconds; the silence acted like visible ellipses.

"You... don't know Spanish, do you?" she said, a little embarrassed.

Isabel laughed and sat down on a bench. Her hair shook when she chuckled. She stretched out, placed both palms on the bench and leaned back. Her long legs sprawled out haphazardly in front of her.

"Sorry, I thought maybe you did. There aren't a ton of people to talk to in Spanish in St. Paul."

She took a large bite out of her candy bar and several little pieces went everywhere. Isabel held her shirt away from herself and tried to brush the pieces away without smashing them into her shirt.

"Isabel's okay. My parents named me after some writer or something. They made me read one of her books once; it was pretty depressing."

Isabel looked up to see several students come out of the bike cage and whizz by on their bicycles.

This is a really pretty town. Seems kinda boring, but it's a good place for kids.

"Video games? ...I've never played video games. Well, I played Dance Dance Revolution once at a mall, but there were a bunch of pervs staring at the girls play. I've seen a little anime. I used to run home after school to catch the Toonami block on Cartoon Network, but that's about all the anime I've seen."

Isabel brought her knee up to her chest and rested her head on her knee. She closed one eye to block out the sun and looked at Hayley.

"Crappy music?" she said with a grin.

"I like some crappy music. Be more specific."

[Hollyquin†]

Hayley couldn't help but laugh. "Nah, I don't speak Spanish. My best friend's been taking it for years so he's always speaking it at me and then I speak Japanese back and no one knows what's going on anymore..." She allowed herself a moment of sadness. She'd spent three years of junior high school with her best friend, John, and he was going to another high school. She'd been feeling exceptionally lonely without him. But this was, admittedly, helping.

Hayley sat down on the bench beside Isabel, leaning back all the way, her head parallel to the ground, looking up. It was an awkward angle to eat chocolate at, admittedly, but she somehow managed. She looked over at Isabel, who'd managed to crumble a good amount of chocolate onto her shirt. She giggled.

"I was named after a character in a book, actually. I don't even remember what the book was called, I just remember that there was a male character named Lucas who my parents were gonna name me after if I was a boy."

She yawned- Hayley was always, always tired. The sky was blue, and it was a bit warm for fall- this irritated her slightly. She liked autumn weather to be, well, autumn weather. Cool and crispy.

"I love DDR! I'm really good at it, actually. I watched Toonami as a kid, yeah, I remember, but then I graduated to the big leagues! As little as that means, taking about anime..."

She laughed and sat up normally, polishing off the last of her chocolate.

"I like...indietronica. And screamo. And shit like that. Yeah." She smiled. "God knows what any of that even means though."

[[OOC: Major writer's block, I apologize.]]

[Ruggahissy]

The wind picked up just a touch for a moment, blowing some of the newly fallen leaves and odd pieces of trash around. Isabel hugged herself and shivered. She had just moved from New Mexico a few months before. To her, even this mild weather was freezing. In a way she missed the oppressive, dusty heat of the South West. This place was really different from anywhere else she'd lived. Sure, it had a down town area and an airport, but the school area and the houses, they seemed like a really great place to grow up.

"Japanese, hu? That sounds hard to learn. I don't really know if I'm good at learning another language, the ones I've got sort of came pre-loaded. And don't they use some other way of writing? Like ...lines and things?"

Isabel folded the wrapper over the uneaten half of her chocolate. She wanted to save the rest for the walk.

"Indie...... tronica?" she ventured with her nose scrunched up. She'd never heard of either of those types of music. Isabel took the phone out of her pocket and opened it just enough to see what the time was. She stood and smoothed her shirt out, making sure there wasn't any left over crumbs.

"Well maybe you can teach me about Japanese and DDR and..uh...indietronica. Listen, I gotta go. I have to start dinner soon and I haven't done laundry in like, two weeks. But it was... nice talking to you! Maybe I'll see you here tomorrow."

[Hollyquin†]

Hayley looked back up at the sky, thanking god for the cool breeze. As much as she loved summer- at least, as much as she loved not having school- she had gotten incredibly sick of the heat. Cool weather was her thing- the only thing she liked about fall, a season that marked the return to the hellhole called school. She'd hoped that this new school would be different- that, perhaps, high-schoolers were smarter, more mature. She didn't have much hope left in the regard, really- she'd barely started high school and she was already a tad jaded. But she wasn't giving up yet.

"It is a hard language, yeah, but I love it. I want to make video games when I grow up, and the industry kinda comes out of Japan, you know? So I figured I should learn the language. I learned the alphabet...like, I can't do kanji- those are like symbols that represent words or concepts or whatever. Look..."

Hayley took a moment to rifle through the smallest pocket in her bag, eventually coming up with a red pen and a scrap of paper from her Totoro notepad. She wrote, large enough to cover the entire paper-

イサベッロ

"That's you. Your name, I mean. I-sa-be-r-ro," she said, pointing out the symbols in turn. "There's no l's in Japanese, so you use r's instead." She grinned. "I end up ranting when I get talking about Japanese. I'll stop now."

Hayley looked at Isabel's chocolate with a sigh. "Should've saved mine. Heh. I get caught up when I have chocolate. As in I like can't stop eating it."

She watched as Isabel checked the time and then got ready to leave- checking the time herself, she realized that it was quite a bit later than she'd realized. She stood with a start- her parents got worried easily, so she wouldn't be surprised if they'd tried to call her. She checked her phone- yep, two missed calls and three texts for good measure. She rolled her eyes at the phone and then smiled back at Isabel.

"Yeah, no problem. Will do. I'll find you tomorrow, we can eat lunch." Hayley scratched her head and thought for a second. "You might be in one of my classes, I think. We have algebra together, right? I'm not sure but if I'm right I'll see you there. I better get home. My parents are apparently going to explode."

She laughed and, slinging her bag over her shoulder, ran off down the path away from school, turning once to wave.

[[Hayley Kelly continued...uh, in the future.]]