(Fragments of) Another Day in Homeroom*

[Strawberry Prince†]

"I would also like to volunteer." said paris standing up with a grin. "If their's anyone in this classroom that knows about Kim and her life than that would be me." It made feel Paris proud that he was the Rumor Mill at school, he knew everything about everyone, at least he thinks he knows. its true, Paris knows qutie a lot of things on people but many of them still have secrets they haven't told. paris knew. Paris sensed it.

Here is what Paris did know, he knew about Kim and how incessant need to be skinny all the time, he knows how conceited Kim is, and he definatly knows that Kim has shared things with mai who is her apperent best friend. The thought wasn't true at all, Paris has heard rumors of Kim and Mai. He wast he one who started some himself. he had spread rumors that Kim was anarexic, then it switched to bluimic and that Mai would help Kim throw up.

Paris scanned rumors thorugh his head trying to figure out what to tell and what to keep secret. he knew that these detectives weren't all peachies and cream like they portray themselves. They are just waiting for someone to let something slip and then nail 'em. He was way smarter than that, too smart. Another thought entered his head, what happened if he was the crime solver? He'd definatly be praised, and Paris being an actor loved being in the spotlight.

Hmmmm.....If the killers is in this room....It can't be Taylor or Gigi...

Paris looked at Taylor and Gigi conversing with eachother. They were way to goodie too shoes to do anything. They were to boring, to kind, and to soft. paris never really had close encoutners with them but only with taylor. Now Taylor was capable of being a popular but he was simply too nice. He is better then that 60's lamer. The pair are not capable of murder. His eyes then went to Lance and Kasumi.

Religious freak and Japanease loser......I can't seem them doing murder either...

Moving on from the obvious couple he continued to scan the classroom trying to list who to watch out for, which suspects to put down. He kept a mental note about whats being said, what sounds off and what's to obvious. Paris was going to solve his crime, unknowingly that the criminal will not be caught.

[Megami†]

(OOC: This is the third time I've tried to get this posted, so yeah, it sucks, oh well. )

Detective Jessica DeVlure was delighted by the events that were hurridly unfolding in front of her. She was simply thrilled by the fact that all these students were stepping up in hopes of helping solve the Kim Jones-Larame Murder Mystery, as she had entitled it. Looking on in what seemed to almost be fascination as Alex Ovechkin volunteered his information (or lack thereof), followed by a certain Vietnamese girl, Jessica was beaming with excitement. When the oriental girl who had volunteered second made a subtle mention of Mai Oshinari being friends with Kim, Jessica's interest was sparked.

Almost before Mai had even volunteered, Jessica was making a dash toward the girl, aiming to pull her out the door. This girl was the key to making up an awesome conclusion to their murder mystery, "solving" the crime, and looking good on her first detective case. That's what this was all about. Ushering the asian girl out into the hallway and down toward an empty secretary's office, Jessica was inwardly jumping for joy. Meanwhile, Donnie was running after his partner-in-crime, trying to keep up with the hyper brunette.

As Jessica entered the secretary's office, she plopped down in the cushioned chair behind the desk and spun toward the seats that were sat across the table from her, motioning for Mai to sit down. Meanwhile, Donnie once again perched himself on the doorframe, effectively propping the now closed-door shut for the time being. Before anyone could get a word in edgewise, Jessica began her tirade of questions.

"So, Mai," she started casually enough, her voice beginning to pick up as she got more excited by the second, "You knew Kim well, right? Best friends, was it? What can you tell me about Kim, Mai? Did she have any enemies? Ever make anyone... angry? Did she have problems at home? Did Kim have..." Jessica leaned in toward the girl, her voice dropping to a whisper, "secrets? Everyone has secrets, Mai. What were Kim's?"

From his sloped position against the doorframe, Donnie made a sign indicative of Jessica stopping the barrage of questions and letting the young girl in question actually answer. Finally taking the hint, Jessica continued to lean in, her eyes fixated on Mai, listening intently to the girl's story about Kim Jones-Larame. This girl, Jessica's golden girl, she was Jessica's ticket to a good case... to not getting kicked off the police force for absolutely ruining the Jones-Larame murder.

***

Back in the classroom, Maggie was just now standing up from underneath the desk and brushing off the dirt that had accumulated on her khaki pants. Everything had happened so sudden, that Maggie had barely had time to absorb it all. One moment she was talking to Mai Oshinari about the tragedy that had occurred in the bathroom. Then two badge-toting individuals had popped up outside the door and escorted Mai off, sayiing she was the first of the class to be interviewed about Kim.

Do they think Mai did it? Just because she was out of class before it happened?

At the sheer thought of it, Maggie's eyes widened and she became somewhat lightheaded. Not because she thought Mai might be being accused of murder, but because if they were interviewing Mai, who would they interview next? Burton had found the body in question, would he be next on their interrogation list?

For that matter, Maggie herself had been out of class directly during the time of Kim's death. She had been wandering from the choir room back to Mrs. Saranna's room, and had seen hide nor hair of anyone else in the vacant hallways. Thus, nobody had seen her. She had no alibi for where she'd been, except the honest truth. But how often does anyone believe that these days? In essence, Maggie Heartgreeder found herself in the position of being the perfect scapegoat.

Surely not. They'd never think it was me, right? I've never done anything wrong, I'd never kill anybody, ever! Oh God, I... I hope they don't think that I--

Feeling faint, Maggie flopped almost placidly into her desk and leaned her head backward, her eyes shutting as she tried to erase the panicked and misplaced thoughts from her mind. Besides, they were much more likely to interview Mai's friends, right? The detective woman had even said that nobody in the class was a suspect. Then again, that's always what they say, isn't it? To keep people from panicking.

Panicking was certainly what Maggie Heartgreeder had begun to do.

[Solitair†]

Lance had had enough with the dialogue of this fight. "Can you believe those two" he asked Maggie, pointing to Aisin and Snipes. "They're so full of themselves they're going to spill all over the floor."

[Megami†]

Maggie Heartgreeder had retreated to the front of the classroom near the doorway as the fight between several of her classmates had broken out. She had all but gotten lost in the fray. Paris Persphone, as per usual, had been picking on the so-called "lower class", people not quite as well off as he was, which was quite frankly something the blonde-haired girl despised.

Of course, she'd never had the courage nor the gull to stand up to the "populars". They tended to leave her alone, and she them. Aisin Jin, however, seemed to have more than enough courage to stand up for himself in the face of adversity, and when he had retaliated to Paris's remarks with his own, things had turned ugly, and fast.

The fair-haired girl had only looked on as Paris and Aisin squabbled back and forth over the most trivial of matters, even going so far as to incite racial slurs upon one another to prove themselves better. Somewhere along the lines, the classroom had erupted in chaos and confusion as Adam Amato had come from seemingly out of nowhere and caught Paris with a hard punch.

Things had gotten really out of hand after that, with Paris jumping on top of Adam, trying to continue with the brawl, and An Linh Tuan also jumping in in an attempt to break it up. From there, Brendan Snipes, one of the so-called populars, had stepped in, trying to remove An Linh from the fight so Paris could get the upper-hand, and somewhere in the fray Aisin had jumped back in, and now he and Snipes were having what almost looked like a dual between, of all things, yardsticks.

Maggie had been snapped back from her thoughts and escaped from her desk nearly as soon as Adam had gone flying toward Paris, and now leaned against the door, looking on in horror at the events that were unfolding in front of her. Her terrified glance turned from the brawling students to Mrs. Saranna, who was apparently doing absolutely nothing to retaliate against the squabbling kids and break up the fight.

With pencils flying through the air and children attacking one another with yardsticks being used as swords, things had gotten rather chaotic and somewhat dangerous in such a short time. She watched out of the corner of her eye as Kasumi White exited the classroom somewhere in the fray, but her eyes kept tracing back to Mrs. Saranna, and Maggie couldn't believe that their homeroom teacher would do nothing to end the madness that had unfolded in the classroom.

Her mind had all but rushed from the nearly paranoid thoughts of being accused of having anything to do with Kim Jones-Larame's death at the beginning of the brawl, and she continued to look on in a vague expression of shock as the war between the students continued. She was only vaguely aware that fellow classmate Lance Adams, who was standing nearby, had addressed her. The sound of her classmate's voice brought her back from her thoughts as she turned to him, the same mortified expression plastered to her usually angelic face.

"Why isn't anyone stopping them? Everyone's just standing around, letting them go at it. This is bad, they'll probably all be suspended for this..."

Of course, the likelihood of her statement being true was probably slim to nil. People like Brendan Snipes would never be suspended from a school that so graciously took in vast amounts of money. Why, if the Snipes family forked over enough money, it was very possible that the school would turn a blinde eye to anything their prized son did. At least, from what Maggie had heard about Brendan, that's the way things would probably work themselves out.

Casting another offhanded glance toward Lance, she mused to herself for a moment before finally taking the opportunity to once again speak up. It was hard for Maggie to even imagine stepping in and attempting to break up the fight, she was certainly no fighter herself, and the church going girl had no intentions of ever being such. Regardless, this entire ordeal needed to end before someone ended up hurt.

"Do you think we should step in and try to stop them before this turns ugly? I'd hate for the whole class to get in trouble over this..."

[I-eat-cute-animals*]

((Syuji continued from: http://z10.DEFUNCT_IF_LINK/SurvivalOfTheF...pic=1036&st=0))

"Well, if you were to interfere, it would be like stepping infront of a train" Syuji said with a nervous smile as he sketched something out crudely, but finely enough to make a little sense.
"You two pussies settling your differences like women?! Come on, this fight is fuckin' pathetic rip an arm off!!" Kage said, making Syuji jump "FIGHT DAMNIT, THERE'S NOTHING BETTER TO DO!!"
Syuji seemed to attempt evasion of the classroom, but he wasn't assertive enough to get out of the desk rows, he could've made a show by jumping onto his desk, but that would make him nervous and victim to alot of attention.
He needed to get away from his brother somehow, he began breathing faster, he feared when others were booming with rage and excitement, a cold sweat, or tear rolled down his chin.
Questions like "What if a riot begins?" And "What if he starts wailing on me?" ran through his mind like a jaguar on speed.
"Shit!!" Syuji said, he was soaked, with fear and sweat, like a wolves prey, he was trembling, on the verge of tears, he was a little too close for comfort to his brothers boiling rage.
Kage continued to shout at the two, in an unintelligable tone, though this may not phase them, as he hasn't been known for taking action in violence ON CAMPUS.

[Solitair†]

"Son of a-" Lance complained, scowling at the aggression that was enveloping the classroom. "That's it! This classroom's gone to hell," he tells Maggie. "I'm going to find Kasumi. Tell me how it turns out." Lance grabs his volume of Sanctuary and storms out of the classroom.

((Continued in: http://z10.DEFUNCT_IF_LINK/SurvivalOfTheF...howtopic=1069))

[Megami†]

It was obvious that the students enrolled in room 225 had begun to get more than a little stir-crazy since lockdown had gone into effect. Everyone seemed to be on edge now, and fights and arguments kept flaring up over the most trivial of things. Much to her relief, the fight between Aisin Jin and Brendan Snipes had come to a rather abrupt end. Almost immediately thereafter, however, the two Isuka brothers had begun a brawl of their own, and things only escalated further when Andrew Swainson brandished a knife at Kage Isuka. Fortunately for everyone, that fight had ended abruptly as well.

And now? Well now, everyone was sitting around chatting as if nothing had happened. After the third fight to break out since lockdown began ended, Maggie Heartgreeder had reluctantly returned to her seat. The blonde-haired girl focused her attention out the nearby window, musing over the fact that they should be outside right now, not locked in a school building with no way out. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see Andi Ayala enter the conversation between Syuji and Andrew.

Surprisingly enough, the group began talking civilly after a short exchange of harsh words, and the blonde finally smiled to herself. Things had gotten crazy in a hurry, and Andi's last comment rang through her ears with a sort of finality to the words. Indeed, lockdown does seem to do things to people. It seemed like so long now that they had all been locked in this cramped up little room with one another, and the students had finally seemed to go from being hostile and edgy to attempting to alleviate their boredom.

Come to think of it, it seemed like eons ago that that terrifying alarm signalling lockdown had rang out. It seemed like ages ago that the loud brunette and her companion had entered the room and informed them of the death of Kim Jones-Larame. And it seemed like it had been an eternity since they had pulled Mai Oshinari from the classroom to interrogate her about the girl who had just suffered a tragic fate in the girl's restroom. Maggie couldn't help but wonder what they could be talking to Mai about now, or if she was even still with the detectives.

Maybe they had sent her home. Everything seemed like so long ago now, Maggie didn't have a clue. School had virtually been put on hold for the day, the students all being confined to their homeroom classes since that morning. Sighing audibly at the thought, Maggie absent-mindedly traced circles around the surface of her desk and continued to stare out of the window contemplatively. She, like probably everyone else in the classroom, was more than a little tired of being held captive in this cramped and quite frankly overfilled room.

Then again, it had been like that for a year now. It had been like that ever since the city had cut school budgetting and crammed her beloved St. Andrews Academy together with the shoddy mediocre school known as Southside. Things had just never quite been the same. The Southside kids were unrefined, almost primitive in nature. Well, most of them, anyway. Maggie silently reprimanded herself for such a thought, but the fact remained... events like today's never happened at her old school.

[riserugu†]

Edgar too had taken the liberty in removing himself from the general area the fight had broken out in, turning into a jest of words between Aisin and Paris, to growing into this free-for-all of sorts with even An Linh and Adam joining in. He now sitting back in his normal seat – some distance from where the fights where taking place, watching in slight disbelief that in a time such as this that his classmates could turn into such animals at the drop of a hat – going as far in some cases as to pull knifes, be a pocket one or not, and use it in a threatening manner against another student in this case. But as soon as the fighting began it seemed to end, and everything return to normal – least as normal as it could be. He was surprised the teacher hadn't taken the liberty in stopping any of it, but from what he could see she seemed far too occupied chatting up a storm on her phone to be borrowed by a couple of fights – in fact, she probably would have been thankful if they all had knocked each other out.

Sigh-escaped lips as his attention drifted away from everyone else and back into his own personal, little bubble; eyes drifting over the once-again forgotten paper that lay atop the desk. The bold headline still burning across so very clearly, making his stomach even more as that simply phrase, 'Survival of the Fittest' rung clear in his ears, and burned in the back of his mind. Truly, as of late, the simple thought of the game was bringer feelings of harsh dislike up in him. From by the papers words, the game had entered their final ten competitors as they entered the Tenth Day on that island. Though he could only wonder how many it had fallen to by now, who where the ones that where left and if he remembered them from what small bits and pieces he had watched some days prior.

Of course when he had last watched, more than half of the students where still playing the game.

That had been on Third Day, nodding a bit to himself – agreeing with thoughts. Odd how in the course of almost five days – ninety something kids could go down to ten, or even less now. Some of those kids on there where sure playing a no-holds bar match it seemed – of course it seemed that their would be some that would play – be it to protect, win, glory, pay-back whatever. He couldn't help the slight train of thought that passed through, questioning him on how he would react if he was thrown into something like that – if his classmates where thrown into something like that. 'Amusing thought Judah, but it won't happen... this Danya – or whatever won't be able to keep hidden forever. Not with the governments of so many countries wanting him – it won't be long before they hold some international trail against him and his terrorist. Least it might be interesting to watch.'

He lightly wondered to how people across the river where handling it – those New Yorkers, where a lot of those kids where from. Edgar knew within the upcoming weeks the obituaries section will be full of the picture of dead students from that Barry Coleson High School, he knew sooner or later he'd have to go over there too again – visit those doctors and their little family again; the first time had been on behalf of his mother, before she had fallen into her current state. More or less asking for something or anything recent of this person to help her, because all she had been baby pictures. The process of finding out about an older half-sibling is complicated, the process of dealing with the fact he's dead is even more so. Edgar never took a look at the pictures, or anything else they had given – he had simply gotten on his train and returned home.

It was two days later when his mum went into the hospital.
It was another day later when she stopped knowing who he was, and figured him for her dead child.

But he couldn't find it his heart to speak up and say otherwise, she seemed so happy in her current state of mind. He sometimes wondered why, but never asked; though his father once mentioned, 'you two look a like in a way, its clear you both took after your mum. Hair, face, even the look in your eyes.'

Edgar bothered commenting on his father's insight on the subject, though he mentioned he had been talking the other's dad a great deal since his mum was sent in to the hospital. Though didn't bother listening much after that, he still hated this all the same.

Another sigh and thoughts, flashbacks and the what not where broken, Edgar's eyes traveling again, thought this time to the window. Though he couldn't help noticing he didn't seem to be the only one with the idea of looking out it. Maggie, he believed, was staring out too – the girl never seemed to talk to much, though from what he had gathered she had been one of the one from the Catholic school that had joined with this one, one of the ones that didn't seem to pleased about it either. Nothing he knew about, this being his first year here anyway ---

"Anything interesting out there, or is it as boring as it is in here?" He muttered in a light tone of a question, resting his chin down in an open palm.

[Megami†]

Maggie Heartgreeder had been in quite the daze, staring vacantly out of the classroom window into the street below. Normal, everyday life continued as per usual outside, and the blonde-haired girl had taken to watching the bustling and crowded road that wound in front of Hobbsborough High School. Quite a bit of traffic had accumulated outside. Was it that late in the afternoon already? It seemed like people were already headed home from work. Then again, it could always just be lunch-time traffic. She'd been sitting in that same seat for so long now that she had no clue what time it was.

Pedestrians gradually passed through Maggie's line of vision, meandering down the sidewalk in a world all their own. At this point, Maggie wished she could be down there with them, aimlessly walking to get nowhere in particular. It seemed a much better way to spend the afternoon than her current choice. Secretly, she envied the few people wandering down the street who she knew to be Hobbsborough students who had cut class and retreated from the school grounds before lockdown had begun.

An absent-minded smile crossed her face as she thought of those people. In a way, she admired them. She'd never have the courage nor the audacity to skip out on school, and being the ever-punctual student that she was who never seemed to miss a day of school, she had been given the misfortune of being trapped in a room with a bunch of students who seemed to positively despise one another for the duration of the day. She sighed a bit at the thought, but her thoughts were immediately interrupted as a voice rang out, addressing her.

"Hm?" the blonde mused lightly, turning to face her newfound companion, an ever-polite smile forming on her lips.

It took her a moment to place the student's name. She heard it everyday in roll call... after all, she was in the same class as him. Then again, Maggie never was a very outgoing person, and she'd never made it much of a point to get to know her fellow students very well, save the ones she had attended Saint Andrews with before the merger a year ago. As she looked the copper-headed boy up and down, a name finally rang out in her mind. Edgar... Ed or... something? Perhaps? Shrugging lightly, she studied him for only a mere second before answering.

"If you call a traffic jam amusing," she stated softly, laughing a bit, "Though I imagine if we could hear everyone swearing, it'd be a riot."

The stoplight directly in front of Hobbsborough High School was simply notorious for shorting out, and considering the school was on one of the main routes through town, this tended to cause a problem. It seemed like the city was constantly sending a crew out to work on it, but within a week, it had shorted out again and caused yet another massive traffic jam right in front of the high school. Chalk that one up to the city's budget cut.

Turning back toward Edgar, she smiled a bit, though couldn't help but notice the same group of boys who had been causing trouble earlier out of the corner of her eye. She looked right in time to see them comparing pocket-knives, and shook her head disapprovingly at the site. Maggie hadn't thought it would be that bad when the city had merged the two high schools together to cut funding, but bad was turning out to be quite the understatement. Looking at Edgar momentarily, she nodded toward the group brandishing their knives inside the classroom.

"This place has really gone south ever since the merger. I never thought it'd be this bad, you know? We had metal detectors and stuff at Saint Andrews. If anybody even dreamed of doing that back at the Academy, they'd be suspended at the drop of a hat. I knew they were cutting budgetting, but this is ridiculous."

Indeed, more than budgetting seemed to have been cut. When the city had merged Southside and St. Andrews into Hobbsborough, they apparently hadn't felt the need to equip the school with metal detectors or any of the other safety precautions most schools took the liberty of having. At the thought, Maggie cast a glance to the teacher, who seemed to be talking to someone on her cell phone still. They'd cut funding on everything else, so it was only logical that they'd probably cut the wages of the employees as well.

That would explain quite a bit. Like the fact that Mrs. Saranna seemed to pay no mind to the repeated fights that had broken out in her classroom since lockdown began, or the fact that she wasn't reprimanding and in fact didn't even seem to notice the fact that a large group of boys was now comparing knives right in the center of the classroom. She shook her head again at the thought and nearly commented on the intelligence level of some of Southside's kids, but refrained. First of all, it wasn't the Christianly thing to do to talk badly about other people. Secondly, for all she knew, Edgar could've come from Southside. She was rather enjoying the company, and didn't want to insult the boy. Instead she simply shrugged her shoulders and smiled, unsure of what to say and not the best at making conversation in the first place.

[MooCow*]

Taylor had been reading George Orwell's 1984 for quite some time. His conversation with GiGi had been at a standstill for what seemed like hours. The book was interesting. Taylor had found it boring when it had been required reading for his English I class his freshman year but for some reason the lifting of chapter deadlines and omitted taking of copious notes let the story weave an interesting and disturbing tale of corruption and control. Putting the book down, Taylor Brennan sighed and lay his head down on the desk. Glancing at GiGi he allowed his eyes to gaze around the room. Each and every one of these students, all of whom he considered friends, from Maggie to GiGi to Edgar to, yes, even Paris, none of them really understood how great it was to be free from totalitarian rule. To have the ability to choose their own destiny. Taylor chuckled inside and flashed a million dollar grin to know one in particular and let all the stress of Kim's demise and the end of the halfway mark of he and his classmates high school careers drift away.

Goddess bless America...

Unfortunately for Taylor and his peers, the fine line between destiny and freewill, the ability to choose ones fate over something inevitable, was about to be crossed all to soon.

Closing his eyes Taylor began to dream...

***

Walking on an island he felt an indescribable ammount of fear and paranoia... but what for?

Dead, dead, their all dead and now we're fucked... royally fucked. Nothing but psychos left... and the handful of us who managed to make it to the end of this game... the plan it should have gone down without a hitch...

Plan... what fucking plan and where the hell was he?

"Where am I," he sputtered.

Two boys looked at him confused, one familiar the other not so.

"Taylor?" the familiar athletic boy asked. Was that Austin?

What the fuck am I doing with a prick like Austin Spencer?

"Where am I?!" Taylor screamed. A familiar Pink Floyd masterpeice blarred in his nightmare.

"We don't need no education...'

"We don't need no thought control...'

Pink Floyd what the hell I must be dreaming...

"No dark sarcasm in the classroom...'

"Teachers leave them kids alone...'

"Hey teacher leave them kids alone...'

"All in all it's just another brick in the wall...'

This is so fucked...

"All in all you're just another brick in the wall..."

"Shut him up," the other unfamiliar boy hissed, "they'll hear us. We didn't make it this far to let them win."

"Where am I!" Taylor yelled grabbing... a gun?!

What the hell... where did that come from?

Austin looked at Taylor worriedly, "babe put down the gun, we're in Battle Royale, we've been here for days..."

Why was the sexist pig calling him by a pet name?

BANG, BANG, BA-...

"NO!" screamed what sounded like Austin.

And then black...

***

Taylor jolted awake, drenched in sweat. He was in his own room.

School... I was talking to GiGi... then Battle Royale! Oh God it was all a horrible dream... Kim's death too... oh talk about a nightmare!

Rising he walked in his pajama shorts towards his bathroom door. He opened it but instead of his sink he saw an old restroom... bodies strewn across a dirty floor.

"No," he whispered.

Turning to flee he found himself on another island, or was it the same one? Images flashed before his eyes, a boy on a motorcycle carrying the severed head of a pretty girl. A boy dying in his own blood surrounded by his friends. An asian girl on the verge of insanity, her attire, a trim cheerleader's uniform. Taylor shut his eyes.

This is not happening... this is so not happening!

A boy in a hockey jersey... a normal boy slightly stocky and tall, with red hair and an amassed amount of facial stubble stood next to him when he reopened his eyes. The boy didn't seem to notice him, keeling over in pain, Taylor screamed, "oh my God are you okay? What the hell is going on? Can you tell me?"

The boy looked past Taylor, not noticing his present company. The location had changed once again and Taylor could hear the crashing of waves in the distance. He smelled the metallic stench of blood and the rotting aroma of maggot ridden flesh that reminded him if he wasn't in the same place as before, he was in a place very similar. If Taylor had believed in hell, perhaps he would have thought he was there.

A voice boomed loudly, that of a man.

"Well done little warriors this is Mr. Danya speaking, in the last day there have been many deathes..." he rambled off names several of which he recognized as friends and some he didn't know, "next was resident 'it' boy of Hobbsborough High, Taylor Brennan, choked to near death and left to asphixiate as friends were forced to watch... not that they had to suffer the sadness of his death long because they were the next to die!"

The voice of Mr. Danya, whoever he might have been, continued to speak,"... and that ladies and gnetlemen brings our grand total to 666 dead. Until next time."

Taylor reached for his throat. He couldn't breath... falling to his knees he struggling...

Austin appeared.

"Don't you fucking die on me now! Don't you fucking die!"

Now Taylor was watching it all happen floating towards the clouds... Austin shaking his now lifeless body.

Oh God I'm dead... I died... I died in Battle Royale.

And then only blackness.

"WE HAVE A WINNER!"

***

"NO!" Taylor screamed in his nightmare, jolting himself and several of the more tired classmates awake. He felt his throat as his eyes darted nervously around the room. Confused eyes starred at him from all over...

"Battle Royale," he whispered looking in the direction of the students who had just recently been discussing what he'd only heard of as some sort of horrific version of Survivor on steroids.

"Excuse me," he said standing up and wiping sweat from his brow. Suffering no further embarressment Taylor Brennan rushed out of the classroom and towards the men's restroom. After vomiting and looking himself over carefully in the mirror, Taylor sighed. It was time to pay a visit to the Hobbsborough Library.

((Continued in: http://z10.DEFUNCT_IF_LINK/SurvivalOfTheF...howtopic=1262))

[LadyMakaze†]

Amidst the exchange of nonsense that was being thrown back and forth between her classmates, An Linh looked on with a look of utter boredom and disdain, still relaxing carelessly atop of Alex's desk with her feet resting idly on the desk next to it, red canvas sneakers and all. It was quite sad enough that she was resigned to listening to dull and idiotic conversation after another, with the occasional outburst from what she assumed to be one of the more mental students.

Indeed, it was all nonsense, and listening to it all, it didn't take long for the disdainful An Linh to grow sick with apathy and incredulity of all this senseless talk. She tilted her head to the side, looking over her fellow classmates, and wondering briefly just when would the interrogation with Mai get over with so she could have her turn. Kim's death seemed long past and little more than a trivial matter to her now, right now all An Linh was something to break the monotony.

Of course, there was that lockdown keeping her within classroom walls...within the same room she was sharing with all of the brainless ones about her. Andrew and Nich for a pair broke the monotony if only momentarily squawking out noisily over some 'third wall' or something, the fanatic dorks they often were. Andi obviously whoring on Peter in front of the entire class so blatantly, had he no shame? Taylor throwing some kind of fit over a dream of some sort, just how mental could you get? And Siouxie, poor Siouxie, having little to no idea what in the world was going on despite the classroom falling into more than an hour into lockdown. Then again, she was sixteen, a whole year older than An Linh, yet of the same grade. That had to be for a reason, didn't it?

An Linh smirked that cynical little smile. Granted, there were people in the classroom that didn't irk her as much as these particular students, and they were the ones who happened to be keeping quiet, or just keeping to themselves without disturbing the peace of others.

Nevertheless, An Linh felt about ready to snap, at the idioticy that was beginning to dominate the classroom... a nap seemed impossible at this time, and none of her more likeable acquaintances seemed to want to talk about anything in particular. Perhaps they were all tired of this as well.

Of course, it wasn't as though she had to put up with this. And frankly enough, she wasn't about to. Promptly, she slid onto her feet, wordlessly ignoring the classmates around her and calmly sliding her fingers into her pockets as she strode towards the door.

"Students aren't allowed to leave the room during lockdown," she could hear the teacher calling out towards her. An Linh ignored her, casting a frown as the knob at her hand refused to turn. Looking exasperated, she shook it. The door remained closed, though it shook rather unsteadily, held in place loosely by rusty hinges. She stepped back slowly, surprisingly looking as though she were about to give up quickly, and then-

WHAM!

Was the sound that resulted from An Linh's foot flying out and slamming square into the surface of the door. The wooden panel popped clear from both lock and hinge and toppled over to land flat in the hallway outside with a deafening impact. From outside the hallway, staff and students alike wandering by stopped to stare agape, first at the now empty doorway, then at the form of An Linh standing calmly just beyond it.

Placing her fingers back in her pockets, An Linh calmly stepped out, making her way down the hallway from the classroom. Skittering like a tentative mouse behind her, a teacher stammered, "E-excuse me, but students aren't allowed out during lockdown."

"I'm to be interrogated by the detective," An Linh told him calmly. "And to be honest, I seem to recall obstruction of justice being a crime..."

((Continued in: http://z10.DEFUNCT_IF_LINK/SurvivalOfTheF...howtopic=1043))

[riserugu†]

He eyed the other girl for a moment after he spoke out to her before letting his attention sift from her, to the window and the ever so oddly normal sight beyond it. It just wasn't a normal week unless there was some sort of traffic jam happening outside their classroom window. Usually it was rather annoying to have to listen to it when he was trying to concentrate on his schoolwork – but now, actually looking out over them he couldn't help but feel somewhat slightly amused by the sight. It was awkward really – seeing how busy people had made their live, always in a rush going here and there, never taking hardly anytime to really just stop and breath. Her voice, making mention of the traffic jam he had become so intent on watching these past few moments caused him to grin in a slight manner keeping his attention focused on that outside. It would probably a lot more fun if they could here what they where shouting at one another – cursing and spiting, making fools of themselves, but amusement for others'. Then again anything was more interesting than what was currently happening, and being talked about in the class at the moment.

It was her voice again; her, who he was pretty sure, went by the name of Maggie. Then again, Edgar had never been good at remembering names – be they have been in the same homeroom class as you for quite a while or not, he knew she sang though – quite nicely at that. But he didn't bother speaking up against his thoughts, be he sound rude. But yes, it was her voice and her nodding that returned his attention back into the classroom and onto the boys that massed along the center. He listening to her words ever so lightly, it was true – least from his fathers' words about the after affects of the merger, boys' brandishing weapons, people fist fighting, murders, and all the while their teacher seemed to don't give a second glance to the any of this. Still, far to engaged in her phone conversation to be worrying about things outside her own circle of caring. "I wouldn't know a thing."

After speaking those words, he smiled, releasing she might not take note of what he was speaking about – he musing a bit as turned back to look toward Maggie. "I mean, I wouldn't know a thing really about what it was like at either school before the merger. I was attending a Catholic middle-school just outside the city lines, as there isn't one in this area. I was supposed to attend Saint Andrews, like my father – and continue on with my Catholic schooling. Though by the time I was ready to start high school, the merger had already taken place. I didn't think it would be to bad –" He trailed off, hazel eyes trailing over the louder group of the room with a slight raise of his brow, sighing in an audibly way. "Sadly it seems I was a bit mistaken on more than a few levels. Though in the same sense it isn't that horrid, I must admit there are quite the number of interesting people here, would-be murders or not." The last part was mostly muttered to himself, glancing at the door out the corner of his eye. Mai sure had been gone a long while... perhaps she had broken down during the questioning and sent home... but then again, he remembered his conversation earlier – why he figured the reason for Kim's death was.

Jealousy.

It was a silly thought – but you saw it all in murder cases, then again, no one probably had a passion like his to watch all those murder mystery shows. Like he'd ever admit to anyone, but he found the shows rather interesting to watch a majority of time. Though it also made his thought process to take things to a deeper degree than was usually needed, like now. Why couldn't it just be a suicide? 'Because Kim would be far to busy looking at her face to be bothered to slit her wrists, or throat... can't be getting blood on those nice clothes anyway. Other ways are far too messy – 'cept overdosing of course... that's' another possibility it seems. But why am even bothering with this – you didn't even know the girl expect through drama... and even then when ever she spoke to you, all she did was babble about like a broken record until thoughts of suicide came popping into your own head.'

It was the yell from one of the fellow classmates Taylor was it? His name-recalling abilities were top-notched as always as he watched the boy, who was know dubbed screaming boy in his head until he learned the others' name, ran out the room. Completely not caring about lockdown, this sudden outburst prompted talk between the members of the larger, louder group in the classroom. Mutters being mentioned of the Battle Royale and Survival of the Fittest games, an annoyed sound escaping lips as he eyed the paper on his desk. These students attention spans seemed to be the same as that of a cracked-addicted, ADHD ferret they jumped from subject to subject as if they had just saw something shiny. Going from talks of Andi and his little plaything named Peter, to this and now it seemed yet another player was entering the game as the door opened. School officials dropping off a girl in a dress – a girl who's, this was starting to become an annoying commonplace thing for him, name he either a ) couldn't remember, or b ) didn't bother learning in the first place for one reason or another. When she opened her mouth questioning as to what was going, he quickly in a mental note check to box b, adding that sometimes people, including those older than himself by two-years are really just that unobservant to what the hell was going on around them.

It didn't take that long for he to be cut off in his breakdown of his classmates probable IQ levels when the classroom door went falling off the hinges all in thanks to one Ah Linh, she really was one of the more interesting people he had come to known at this school. Her apparent lack of caring of the doorknob – which was unlock, after all how could these guys keep leaving and coming back in? Made the copper-haired boy grin a bit as he leaned back in his seat, "She sure makes things a bit more interesting about here." He mused in a light tone, turning a bit again to face where Maggie and the window where only to find that the window was occupied by a rather unattractive sight, Edgar raising another brow with a sigh and glancing toward Maggie with a bit of a defeated look.

"Some people though –" Ed muttered with a tilt of his head toward Debrah, "Are prime examples of why animals eat their young."

By the time he had finished this statement, Debrah had already walked away and was poking at Siouxsie, he didn't know how he didn't remember that name – then again, yes he probably did. Now it seemed they where more focused on Andi's little 'shivers' that seemed to mean something bad was happening, or happened. But shaking off this thought as another stupid comment made by the group, he laced hands together, propping elbows on his desk top and resting his chin down a top laced fingers. Tilting his head a bit, not noting the return of Mai into the classroom. Turning his head a bit to glance at Maggie once more, hoping for a bit of a talk in a civil manner while they where stuck in here.

"So... you're in choir right? How is it? I was thinking about joining, as my last school's wasn't that good so I didn't really bother when I came here. But... I've been interested as of late, tennis and drama can only hold my attention for so long anyway." He said, musing once more with a bit of a grin.

[Megami†]

Maggie's attention was drawn away from Edgar's words as Deborah Dollop, a student from Mr. Satchel's ninth grade class, burst into the room with what appeared to be a note for Mrs. Saranna, who was still babbling away absent-mindedly on her cell phone. Apparently, even though the school was still under lockdown, it was perfectly fine for a student to leave their classroom and trapse through the halls where a would-be murderer could very well still be lurking, because apparently notes the teachers passed between one another were more important than the students' lives.

Sighing audibly at the thought, Maggie refrained from vocalizing it to Edgar, not wishing to verbally badmouth the staff nor the students attending Hobbsborough High School. Despite herself, Maggie found herself subconsciously eyeing Deborah's choice of apparel, wondering if it was within Hobbsborough's dress code guidelines to wear such a revealing and attention-attracting get-up. Then again... as Deborah approached one of her fellow classmates, an odd girl who went by the name of Souixie Souix, Maggie's attention quickly transferred from the overly-aggressive young blonde to the dark maiden decked out in a dress far too fancy for high school.

"I think she wants to be the next Amy Lee..." Maggie mused in her soft whisper of a voice, a light smile forming across her pale pink lips as she did so.

That was all she said, but Maggie's thoughts on the girl who was all but decked out in a prom dress in the middle of a high school class went so much deeper than that. First of all, nobody in this day and age dressed like that. Were her parents on crack when they named her, or what? Seriously, how retarded. Maggie immediately reprimanded herself for the thoughts passing through her head about Souixie. It wasn't her place to judge people, after all. Still... Deborah seemed a lot more tolerable by comparison.

Especially then the tyrannic trio of Souixie, Phoenix, and Andi all started making fun of Deborah.

Did they know how retarded they looked? It took three of them to pick on a freshman. Sadly, it appeared that Deborah truly had more class than all three of them combined. That wasn't really saying much, though. Once again, Maggie inwardly kicked herself. It was horrid, thinking such cruel and insensitive things about her fellow classmates. Whether she liked them or not, she was supposed to love all of God's children. Some were just... a lot more difficult to care about than others.

As Edgar referred to the recent ongoings with his cynical and snide comment, Maggie turned a bit red in the cheeks, looking at the boy sitting near her with a bit of disbelief at the fact that he'd actually said that out loud in the middle of class. That sort of thing was something that Maggie greatly envied... the ability to outwardly speak her thoughts without fear of reprocussion... the ability to say what you thought when you thought it... it was something she'd never be able to have, she was far too quiet and timid.

The original shock of it all evaporated into thin air after a short moment, and almost before she knew what was happening, a giggle escaped the blonde-headed girl's lips. Shaking her head in disbelief at what he'd just said, she tilted her head to the side and looked at him curiously, letting the comment fully sink in.

"You're terrible, you know that?"

In truth, she'd been thinking the same thing. These kids, all of them, it seemed, obviously had a large lack of discipline growing up. They all acted like barbarous animals, coming to blows with one another over the most trivial of matters, acting out purely to bring more attention upon themselves, the list continued on and on. Honestly, most of these kids acted like they were raised in a barn, from the loud-mouthed gay kid who was far too open with his sexuality for anyone's tastes to the smart-mouthed Vietnamese girl who'd kicked the door down as a means of escaping the room.

But she really shouldn't think those things. Like it or not, these were her classmates.

The subject of their fellow roommates subsided and Edgar just as quickly brought up the capabilities of Hobbsborough's school choir. Maggie's eyes lit up at the question. Now this was more like it. A civil conversation with someone who wouldn't turn into a raving lunatic over the most trivial of things, that was what she needed. Smiling a bit as the question passed over his lips, Maggie shrugged lightly.

"We're pretty good, I guess. We've got a lot of really talented singers in the choir. They all push us to do our best, you know? But yeah... we went to a national competition in Washington D.C. last year... before the merger."

Maggie trailed off a bit as she ended her sentence. Much like many of the other things at Hobbsborough High, the choir had gone a bit downhill since St. Andrew's was merged with Southside. While they were still by all rights good, Maggie had noted their performance level had dropped drastically when the merger took place. A lot of the Southside kids they had accumulated were lousy singers and only joined choir as a slack-off period. It disgusted her how people could join a class they cared nothing about for an easy A.

Then again, not much surprised her these days. She'd almost come to expect it. While Maggie had previously excelled at school and proudly boasted one of the highest GPAs in the class, her average had dropped considerably in the past year, and she'd almost come to feel as though school was a chore... as though she was only sent here to help babysit the students who weren't yet capable of independent and rational thought. Sighing a bit, she turned back to Edgar, a smile still on her face.

"You didn't strike me as a singer. Glad to know that there are some people around who aren't an open book for the world to read. Makes life a little more interesting, don't you think?"

Her attention momentarily turned to the duo of Andrew Swainson and Nich Finlayson as they headed for the now broken down classroom door, exiting without a care in the world. Mrs. Saranna was still glued to her cell phone, and must have been having a very intimate and attention-getting conversation, because she seemed to pay no heed to the fact that An Linh Tuan had knocked her door off the hinges, and even less attention to the fact that the dynamic duo of Andrew and Nich had just exited the classroom.

[riserugu†]

A yawn escaped through the copper-haired boy when Maggie made her quiet observation of the darkly dressed Siouxsie, he not quite catching what she had said in full but eyeing her lightly he somewhat followed where she seemed to be looking at. A bemused look crossing over features as they continued with their open conversation to the class, if not the world, raising a brow again as Andi and Siouxsie began to speak amongst one another. Siouxsie poking fun at Andi and Peter, while Andi bit back with a comment of his own – really now, bringing a hand up to rub at his neck, he couldn't help the sigh that escaped him as he turned his attention on Peter for the moment.

Least Peter seemed to be a dignified person in his own sense; he seemed to have a personality that differed from the... rather loud and distracting people he hung out with. "A bit sad." He breathed out, but then again – wasn't their that whole 'don't judge a book by its' cover' kind of saying, he knew his grandmum always used to beat it into him – though oddly enough it was her that he took after in terms of thought process, and what made him, as quoted from his father; 'far too opinionated for your own good'.

Turning away from the trio, he silently stared forward for a moment – just rather trying to absorb what was going on (though blocking out a few choice people) as he allowed himself to more or less delve into thoughts, namely what he had to do when he got out of here. No doubt drama practice would be canceled what with the star lying dead in the bathroom from unknown causes.

He had no clue when his dad would get home from work so that meant another night to himself most likely, a glance toward his wrist-watch toward him if they let classes out anytime soon he might have a chance to run to the bus stop and take one to get into town. Though if they kept them in lockdown any longer than the normal school hours, he'd have to take a later bus – and probably wouldn't have much time left in the visiting hours at the hospital.

Though as he heard a laugh break through off to his side, he blinked – glancing Maggie's way, watching a bit before she spoke. At this time, it was becoming very hard to fight the musing grin curling against lips, shaking his head with a short laugh as he glanced toward Maggie. "Terrible? I don't think I'm terrible – bluntly honest, perhaps. But I don't think terrible really suits me too well. Anyway, it isn't if those guys even know I was talking about them, too inapt."

She seemed to trail off, going on to answer the question he had offered up about the choir, listening lightly as she spoke. Somewhat displeased at her words, perhaps so that boys where never ones to step up and verbally admit doing something like choir. He never quite understood why, suppose that was the way today's society worked – though as far back as he allowed himself to remember he had always been involved in singing someway. His mother used to sing, all the time – she still does, sometimes when he'd come to visit her, she be sitting there, knitting something and humming the same tune he used to hear when she'd sing him to sleep when he was little.

He had been in the choir for church, when he had gone – it had been a good month since his last visit, been in choir at school up until last year in the eighth grade, when he had dropped out because of the fact they did nothing in there but goof off, the teacher not caring either way what happened with the class. It was an elective course, meaning in some students and teachers eyes it didn't matter. It was probably then that Edgar allowed himself to become more concerned in schoolwork than anything, probably the main reason he was sitting in the tenth grade now instead of being ninth grade with the classmates he had grown up with all those years.

Her statement caused him to blink once again, allowing a smile to cross features, as he leaned back into his seat once more. "Quite a lot more interesting, learning something new about someone always is. I've sung for a long time -- I'm sort of in a band of sorts, lead vocals because I can't play a guitar or anything. Though, learning something new about someone can be annoying, be it because of people shouting it across the room – as such, case in point." He said with a nod toward the ever-babbling form of Siouxsie and Andi, "Ever the repetitive bunch don't you think? I think the last twenty minutes have been the same thing of them making some mention of either of the boys being gay, the one girl making a innuendo of some sort, Andi telling her to 'shut up' and it all starts over again – like a pointless circle of life."

It was at that point that the circle seemed to continue along its tracks, and once more Siouxsie and Andi went back and forth to one another – though this time something a bit different happen, with Peter more or less shouting at Siouxsie for her comments to Andi. Edgar having to admit, least to himself, he was having a hard time not cracking up at the sight – mentally adding a couple more respect points to the boy, perhaps he wasn't as bad as his friends and seemingly boyfriend, though still...

Though as he sat there watching the trio lightly as they went about their business – he couldn't help but glance up and anyway from them as the shrill school bell ripped through the room. The crackle of the intercom system soon following, and one of the schools' officials going on over, "Due to an unfortunate accident..." So they weren't going to outright admit murder, suicide... whatever; perhaps for the better – even though he had a feeling that everyone probably already knew.

"Classes will be cut short today, and classes for tomorrow will be also be canceled as we look into the this situation. As you're dismissed, do not linger on the campus; all students must leave the campus within the hour. This is all for now, we'll see you all back on Thursday."

That said, the intercom system cut off and another bell rang through the school, Edgar sighing in turn and raising up from his desk – grabbing at his school bag. Thank goodness for small favors, he was getting out or this class – and better yet, he didn't have to deal with asinine conversations anymore. A glance over the room told him that some students hadn't cared with the lockdown had been called off before or not, some had already left – their teacher had finally got off her phone and was now supervising over getting her door out from the middle of the hall. Muttering something toward the workers about crazy martial artists with no sense in using the doorknob.

Either way, some students had already begun filing out, glancing toward his watch again toward him that there was still a little over an hour and a half until the bus he took into town left – no point in going early, mum was usually in therapy at this time anyway. Now he needed something to do for an hour and a half – wonderful. Maybe if he hurried he could make it and take a bus to Parkway, and then take a bus downtown later -- that could work, thier was supposed to be a new bookstore of sorts that had opened, selling second-hand books at half-price the usual. Worth checking out he supposed...

[Megami†]

As Edgar laid his credentials in the musical arts department out for her, Maggie couldn't help but raise her eyebrows in curiosity. She had been rather taken aback by the fact that Edgar seemed interested in Hobbsborough's choir, and she was even more surprised to find out about his history in music. Most of the guys who showed any interest whatsoever in Hobbsborough's music department joined up for one of two reason.

One, they wanted a slack-off period to stand around in and up their grade point average. Two, and the surprisingly more common one, they joined choir hoping to impress one of the choir girls. She'd seen it a dozen times. They'd join the class and actually try to sing in an attempt to impress a certain special someone, and more often than not, wound up making complete fools of themselves and ruining the entire choir with their offkey singing.

Finding someone who was actually interested for a reason other than those two was a refreshing change of pace. Maggie certainly thought the choir could use more people like that... more people who were passionate about music and the desire to perform and excel at it. Once again, her thoughts were distracted by the obnoxiously loud talking of Andi Ayala and Souixie Souix across the room. Honestly, didn't they have anything better to talk about? Souixie seemed bent on announcing to the world that both Andi and Peter Rosenthal were gay, and she was doing a fantastic job of it.

When Peter jumped to his feet and verbally assaulted Souixie, however, Maggie was quite taken aback by the site. To some degree, it was quite humorous. However, she couldn't help but sympathize with Peter. What with his social status and all, coming out period would probably be rough on him, even more so since a large portion of the school he attended, herself included, were devout Catholics who saw his entire lifestyle as a sin.

Maggie, however, hadn't necessarily been brought up on the strict Catholic beliefs that condemned people like Andi and Peter to Hell for their sins. Rather, her father had taught her faith and spirituality, but also to live and let live. Carpe diem. With all the homophobes and religious zealots in the world, people who chose that sort of lifestyle had a hard enough time, and Maggie truly commended Peter, Andi, and the other students of her school who lived their life the way they believed was right, even under such scrutinizing, belittling, and judgemental eyes.

Besides, you love who you love, right? It's not like you really have a choice in the matter.

At least, that's what she'd always been told. Maggie turned toward Edgar once again, about to enquire about his band. As she opened her mouth, however, the shrill and deafening sound of the school bell ringing filled the room, and the crackling of the intercom echoed momentarily before a member of the staff came on, announcing that school would be released early today and cancelled the following Wednesday. Knitting her eyebrows a bit, an expression of puzzlement formed on the blonde's face.

"They're evacuating the school?" she mused audibly, trying to make sense of it all.

In a way, it was a good thing. A very good thing. If they were evacuating the school, that meant that they very possibly could've ruled out murder as the cause of the late Kim Jones-Larame's death. It was a relief, really. Surely, nobody at Hobbsborough High School was capable of murder. Maggie hadn't wanted to believe it when the rumors and speculation had enshrouded the classroom earlier. Nobody in this school was capable of taking the lives of others. Especially the St. Andrew's branch. After all, murder was the ultimate sin.

Perhaps soon they'd solve this mystery and things would return to some state of normalcy around the high school. She certainly hoped so. Her attention once again turned to Edgar, who seemed to be deep in contemplation. It wasn't every day that they released school this early, and it was even less often that the school called for a day off. Most likely, it had left a lot of students pondering what to do for the next day and a half of freedom that they had. Edgar was probably one of them. She opened her mouth to speak, but was interrupted by a buzzing echoing out from the side pocket of her backpack.

"Hang on a second," she mused, reaching down for the pink Jansport backpack that currently sat beside her desk and removing the pink Motorola RAZR from the side pocket. Flipping it open, she placed it up to her ear, mouthing a "Sorry" to Edgar in the process.

"...Hello?" the blonde answered in a quiet voice.

Even from where Edgar was, the sound of a male voice echoing from the phone a few decibels too high was clearly audible. Not enough to make out what he was saying, but it could be heard, nonetheless.

"Everything's fine, Shawn... something happened to one of my classmates in the bathroom... they haven't told us anything... I don't know, they pulled a couple kids out of class for questioning, but I don't think it's -- oh... Really though, everything's okay... alright. Alright... bye."

Closing the phone with a bit of a click and shoving it in the back pocket of her pants, Maggie sighed a bit and shook her head.

"My brother," she stated simply, "He worries too much."

Indeed, Shawn Heartgreeder, Maggie's 17 year-old brother, came off as a bit of a worrywart at times, and certainly came off as a bit overprotective. He hadn't really crossed her mind throughout the entire lockdown, but apparently he'd been rather panicky upstairs when he'd heard some bizarre occurance had happened to one of the blonde-haired sophomores in the bathroom. Shawn, being the ever paranoid person he was, had almost instantly assumed an ill-fated accident had befallen his sister, and had called as soon as he possibly could.

"I'll have to hang around for a bit to wait on him," she said, pausing momentarily before continuing, "... What do you have planned now that we have to leave campus?"

It was a simple enough question, and was her way of making smalltalk until her brother arrived from his class halfway across campus and ultimately decided their next destination. Absent-mindedly grabbing at her backpack, she shoved her journal, along with the contents of her desk, into the pink bag and slung it over her shoulder before leaning against the desk a bit, her eyes fixated on the doorway in anticipation of her older brother's arrival.