It's An Inky Dinky Doo Da Morning

[KamiKaze]

Sip.

Sip sip.

The warm coffee hit Felicia's throat, sliding down it and warming her insides.

She placed the cup down.

It was just what she needed, really.

Felicia didn't have a good night's sleep, and it showed in her eyes. She had been working on an assignment all night, and after she had finished it she tried as hard as she could continuing the story she had written, only to discover that she had been up until about 3 'o clock in the morning. At which point, she had shut everything down and went to bed as best as she could.

Needless to say, she didn't feel so good, and it took her some time to get out of bed. Luckily, she had been early enough to get a cup of coffee from a cafe, and her first class wasn't going to start for a long couple of minutes. So she had been lucky. But oh, did her eyes hurt.

As she stayed in the school's cafeteria, she stared at the lid of her cappuccino, still feeling groggy. She... well, she needed to not do that ever again, honestly. But at least that assignment was done, even if it wasn't due until Thursday. And heck! She actually made some progress on her novel. It wasn't particularly bad; she now knew the heroine's motivation, how she was going to react to the revelation of the main antagonist was actually her mother, and so many other things. Problem was, she was worried it was going to turn out really cliched. Like people were going to laugh at it. There was a reason Felicia didn't like showing off her work, and that was why; critiquing was the worst. She never knew how people were going to react.

Felicia looked through the window next to her; it wasn't a bad morning. It was actually really pretty how the light hit the schoolyard. She got probably one of the best seats in the cafeteria! If she had felt a lot better, she'd honestly go outside and stretch a bit.

Oh heck, she had cheer practice later today, didn't she? And here she was, all sleepy headed. You know what they said; you snooze, you lose. Felicia frowned at this.

Ah well. Hopefully she'd do okay.

And, since she still had a bit of time... she might as well catch up on some reading.

Felicia tugged her bag open, and pulled out the book she had been reading on her own time. It was alright, she guessed. There were some spots she liked, but there were also others she didn't like. But, she had a bit of time to read and finish her coffee.

It was a good morning. And she had the feeling that despite her tiredness, it was going to be a good day as well.

[Iceblock]

((Audrey McKee: Pregame Start))

"Hey!"

Audrey clambered onto the bench, opposite from Felicia.

Her dad had delivered her to school pretty early today; probably because he was headed off to work along with mom, and there was some sort of important meeting, from what she'd heard. She wasn't particularly curious or worried about that. She didn't usually think much about her parents' careers, except when she was asked what she'd study in college. And whenever Clark sent her a letter back, insinuating about the military being a great career choice or professional sports or whatever. He could be a real pain sometimes.

Anyway, she was here early. Didn't matter. More time for her to be with friends! Except there wasn't really anyone in the cafeteria. Or, well, anywhere she'd looked before she'd gotten to the cafeteria.

But there was Felicia, and she'd do. Audrey had heard weird rumors about her but she couldn't be that bad. Everyone had their off days, and it was a beautiful day out today. All it needed was a little bit of friendly company.

"What're you reading?"

[jimmydalad]

((Maxim Senders: Continued from Melodies in the Sports Field))

Maxim didn't like school. Who liked school? The grimace was clear on his face as he entered the cafeteria, not really sure what to do with his time. The thought about the weekend was clear in his mind and luckily, he got permission from his parents to go to Louisa's place for the weekend. Just him, her, a keyboard and a concept for a song. All the ingredients for an amazing weekend. The problem now was making it through another week of school.

Scanning the place for somewhere to sit, he noticed Audrey and Felicia sitting on one of the tables and started to make his way towards them. Both of them were good people, to a certain degree. Felicia, in his eyes, was a girl who didn't really deserve her reputation as the school slut. There was so much more depth to her and he felt sorry for the people who couldn't look deeper than her reputation. As for Audrey, he didn't mind her too much, but she did get on his nerves whenever she showed her bouts of racist behavior, which mostly came out when her last name is mentioned. Since these moments didn't come up a lot though, he generally was ok hanging out with her.

"Hey Felicia, Audrey!" Maxim shouted as he got closer to the table, hoping to get their attention. His grimace turned to a smile as he realized he didn't have to be alone. He always believed that being with others was so much better than being alone. He took a seat opposite the two girls, yawning and stretching his arms out as he made an effort to wake himself up. It was then that he noticed Felicia. She looked horrible and Maxim guessed that this was probably from yet another late night doing stuff, probably some homework. To be fair, Maxim had his fair share of late nights doing homework and on those days he looked terrible as well.

"Another late night Felicia? What were you doing this time?" Maxim asked her as he leaned back a little on his chair, his chair starting to stand on only 2 legs as Maxim struggled to find a comfortable position to sit in. He actually felt tired as well and it was taking some of his willpower not to fall asleep right now, let alone in class.

He crossed his arms as he attempted to find a comfortable position, his eyes drifting in between Audrey and Felicia. He thought about the lessons coming up today and he remembered that he had both Maths and History in a row. All before lunch time as well! He knew how he was going to spend these lessons, head in his hands as he looked outside the window at the beautiful day and wishing every moment that he could be outside and having fun. But alas, he would be stuck in lessons. Just keep a low profile, and he would be fine. That's how he survived classes.

[Sideliner*]

(Start of Lenny Osborne)

Munchmunchmunchmunchmunch

Hurried crackling and crunching filled Lenny's ears as he chewed up the soaked and scrumptiously sugary Fruit Loops that he fetched from one of the cafeteria's vendors. Goddamn, did he love Fruit Loops. It would probably have been more practical for him to eat Raisin Bran or whatever, but screw Raisin Bran or whatever, he loved sugary-sweet things. There was little in the world that he loved more than sugary-sweet things, with the exception of meat, and football, and his team, and his family. And...

Well, there were actually a lot of things he loved more than those of the sugary-sweet variety. Fruit Loops and their ilk were definitely around the top, though.

Company was around the top too, but unfortunately for him, there was no company to be found...no, wait, there were three people over there. There was Felicia, the blonde cheerleader who kind of reminded him of Rupert, in that she loved boys like his little brother liked girls, then there was Audrey, one of the girls who ran track, and there was Maxim, who was kind of queer in a lot of ways.

Lenny lifted his backpack onto his shoulders and carried his tray in his huge, calloused hands right over to the threesome. "Myo," he said through a mouth still grinding up sweet, sweet Fruit Loops. "Mum're m'ah magin mamout?"

[KamiKaze]

A few hurried footsteps, and the sound of someone sitting at her table.

Felicia looked up from her book, and saw Audrey. Audrey was one of her classmates, obviously. She was pretty friendly, really.

"Hey!", she replied, forcing a tired smile on her face, and then Audrey asked her about her book. Well, why not?

"It's Water For Elephants", she said. "It's about someone working in a circus. It's... okay so far. I guess?"

If someone made Felicia give it a rating so far, she would say "6 out of 10". There were some genuinely interesting moments, like the elephant who only understood Polish, and how the performers worked. There was a bit of a weird focus on sex, though. It was the eyebrow raising kind of weird focus on sex. Apparently they made a movie of it a long time ago, but she hadn't seen it. At least, not yet.

With that, Maxim ran up. Maxim was a friend of hers, really. They hung out, really. He took a seat at the table as well, and took notice of how awful she looked.

Even though Felicia tried her best to wash herself up, comb her hair, apply make-up, and generally make herself look presentable, she knew going out that she didn't look her best. And Maxim noticed. She had worked hard on that assignment and actually made progress with her story, but was that really worth not feeling so good?

"Well... you know that assignment due on Thursday? For Social Studies?" Felicia raised an arm to rub the back of her scalp. "Yeah... I... kinda worked all night on it..."

She couldn't help but continue to smile, her face becoming more sheepish. Well, at least there was someone to talk to. And not only that, but-

A series of squishing noises was very close nearby, and getting louder and louder. It stopped Felicia's thought process entirely. She turned her head, and saw Lenny Osborne, smacking on some Fruit Loops. He was trying to sit at their table as well, and he was saying something. Unfortunately, though... he forgot to swallow. Not only could she not figure out what he was trying to say, but Lenny was showing off his ABC cereal to everyone currently sitting at the table. Felicia couldn't help but feel slightly ill, watching his teeth grind up colorful sugary cereal. Wasn't that one of the first things you learned? "Don't talk with your mouth full"?

[Iceblock]

"You guess?" Audrey looked at Felicia quizzically. She opened her mouth, mind searching for if she'd ever heard of the book before.

Maxim joined the table then, and Audrey gave up on figuring that out. Maybe she'd look it up sometime.

Felicia blamed her lack of sleep on the social studies assignment, and Audrey nodded sympathetically, though it looked like she was talking to Maxim about it. To tell the truth, Audrey hadn't really started on the project yet. She'd do it, though, as soon as she got home. It'd be awesome. Surely it couldn't really take all night, right?

"Hey, guys," she said, as Lenny made his way over as well. Maybe other people did get to school early, after all! Well, the more, the merrier.

Lenny might have benefited from taking a little more time with his breakfast, though, she thought. She supposed she ought to be offended at his lack of table manners, but he just looked really silly with his mouth turning into some sort of cereal rainbow.

The corners of her lips twitched slightly upward. "Um, Lenny, you've got something in your, er, mouth." Then she had to look away, for fear of bursting into a fit of giggles.

[jimmydalad]

"Felicia, you do know that today is Tuesday, right?" Maxim asked her, confused as to why she would bother to do the Social Studies homework last night, let alone spend all night on it. "You didn't have to spend all night on it, we have like 2 more days to do it." He then said as he gave her a quizzical look, trying to rack his brains around it. He saw Felicia's sheepish smile and that smile brought a smile to his face as well. He was considering what else to talk about when-

MUNCH MUNCH MUNCH MUNCH

He saw him. Maxim's chair to fall back to it's original position as Maxim saw Lenny Osborne walk into the building.

It was very common knowledge around the school that Maxim did not like the "Minutemen". It wasn't that he didn't like them, he outright despised them. His eyes turned to daggers as he glared at Lenny, the enmity clearly showing in his face. Lenny was a very good example of a stereotypical jock, very strong and sporty, but a complete and utter idiot. He was also a military buff and Maxim knew he took part in his fair share of racism and especially misogyny. All of this mixed together to form something that Maxim utterly hated, but Maxim had to admit he was sorta hot.

"Lenny, would you care to speak in English? Not gibberish. Plus, didn't your mother ever tell you not to talk with your mouth full?" Maxim questioned sarcastically, the bitterness in his voice ringing through with each word that came out of his mouth. His eyes never left Lenny as he leaned on the table. No way was he going to let this idiot ruin his morning. Going to school was bad enough as it is. He did not want to have to deal with stupid idiots like him. Luckily, he wasn't with the rest of his group, something that relieved him. He quickly slid over to sit next to Felicia, all the while not moving his eyes at all.

"Do you really want him to sit with us?" Maxim whispered to her in an annoyed tone. He didn't know how long he could last sharing a table with someone like him, and one thing he couldn't guarantee is not telling him to shut his stupid face up if he ever said something out of line. Maxim had very little patience for people like Lenny.

[Sideliner*]

"Um, Lenny, you've got something in your, er, mouth."

Wait, what? Oh. OH. WHOOPS. Lenny swallowed the mush in his mouth, mildly embarrassed. If his ma had seen him then, she would have reprimanded the shit right out of him. He then wiped his wet mouth on his sweater sleeve and set himself down on the seat, while setting his tray down on the table.

"Lenny, would you care to speak in English? Not gibberish. Plus, didn't your mother ever tell you not to talk with your mouth full?"

Lenny looked at Maxim with his eyes narrowed. Sure, it had been pretty dumb of him not to swallow his food without talking, but the way Maxim's words slithered toward him like Medi...uh, Meguca...no, Me...that one lady with snake hair made Lenny think he'd taken a dump in his leotards or something. Eh, whatever. He acts like a girl. Girls are weird sometimes. Might be his time of the month, in fact.

The heavily-built teen snickered inwardly at his own joke before asking his new company a question, before going back to munching on his sweet, sweet Fruit Loops. It was the very same question he'd asked before: "Sorry 'bout that. So, what're you guys talkin' about?"

[KamiKaze]

Audrey, however, made it a point to call Lenny out on his lack of table manners. Maxim did too, but it was in a... less than polite way. Felicia remembered that he was never fond of the Minutemen. Personally, while Lenny in particular wasn't her type, some of them weren't bad looking, even if there were people like Callison on the team. It wasn't like she ogled them all the time or anything, but really, there were some cuties on the team. But she digressed.

Anyways, Maxim seemed really tense about having him here, to the point where he asked him if she wanted him there. Honestly, Felicia wasn't sure. As petty as it sounded, his table manners weren't really delighting her right now, what with talking with his mouth full of sugary cereal and wiping his mouth on his sleeve. On the other, it would be rude to dismiss him, wouldn't it? Even if he could potentially be misogynist as well as having bad table manners, it would be kind of cruel to just kick him out. Maybe stating it politely would work?

Her lack of sleep wasn't really making it easier to figure out what to do either. Dang, again, why did she think that was a good idea? As Maxim noted, it was Tuesday so they had a few good days. She felt really stupid about doing that, really.

He asked what they were doing.

"Uh..."

It was pretty safe to say Lenny's arrival had given everything a touch of awkward.

"The assignment for Social Studies due on Thursday and..."

She completely closed the book she had been reading and pointed the front cover towards the group, flicking it.

"That."

[Iceblock]

Maxim wasn't very pleased with Lenny's appearance, it turned out. Seemed like a bit too much hostility for a mouthful of cereal, to be honest! Maybe they had history. Best not to ask. She certainly didn't want to stir anything up, especially so early in the day. As long as Maxim and Lenny stayed on opposite sides of the table, they'd probably be okay.

"Felicia pretty much said it all," Audrey said, leaning on the table with her elbows, her chin on the back of her hands. "Anyone else do the assignment yet? I haven't."

Maybe she could catch some tips.

Her eyes flickered to the cover of Felicia's book. Someone in a shiny bathrobe coming out of a canvas tent. Huh. Felicia had said it was about a circus, but... Audrey had to admit she was kind of curious about it. She wondered if it was light reading. Maybe she'd go to the library, pick a copy up. She'd probably be able to get through it today if she tried. Wasn't as if the assignment was due tomorrow, after all.

"That book have some deep meaning to it?"

[jimmydalad]

When Felicia didn't reply to his question, he gave up trying to get Lenny out of the table and just decided to try to bear through it, no matter how hard it could be. This could be a problem. Maxim was not the type of person who was pleasant to people he didn't like. He could be described as being downright cruel to those people. However, it took quite a bit to get on Maxim's shit list and Lenny was definitely on it. He didn't care what they thought of him, and why should he?

However, this situation required him to be civil and tactful. Well, as civil and tactful as he possibly could without looking like an idiot. He probably should stop glaring. It looked to be a large problem due to the fact that Lenny was now glaring back at him. His eyes narrowed instinctively, unblinking as if challenging him. Come to think of it, that was probably what Maxim was doing. Maybe he should stop. After all, Lenny was a beast compared to him.

"You talking about the Social Studies assignment? I haven't even started it." Maxim replied as he leaned back on his chair a little bit, once again trying to get himself comfortable. "Why should we start it anyways? It's due in on Thursday. I can probably do it on Wednesday night or something."

Maxim was now feeling a little bit more comfortable as he tried to ignore the ever looming presence of Lenny. He was glad that Lenny hadn't said anything stupid yet. To be more precise, he was glad that Lenny didn't say anything that made him want to punch his face. He didn't want to get in trouble with the school anytime soon.

"Water for Elephants? Didn't they make a movie out of that book?" Maxim asked Felicia as he noticed the cover of her book. Of course they made a movie out of it. He knew this because he saw some trailers and other stuff that advertised it. All those advertisements also had to mention Robert Pattinson and focus on him. Then again, he did play the main character so that was inevitable.

"I wouldn't know, I've never read the book. Reading really isn't my forte."

Maxim was not the bookish person. It made him think of school. He did not like school. He didn't like how they encouraged people to be bigoted in regards to racism and prejudice. But when he thought about it, he couldn't really blame school. It wasn't as if their school was any different to any other school. The real problem was American mentality.

"Hey, I've got a question." Maxim suddenly stated, looking at every single person in the group in the eyes.

"Why do people discriminate against minorities?"

As he asked his question, a cheeky smile stretched across his face. He was interested in what they had to say. Maxim had his answer, he couldn't wait to see what the others thought.

[Sideliner*]

Meh. Books. Whenever Lenny read a book, he didn't really...read it. He turned the pages and looked at the words, but he really didn't get the tiniest inkling of meaning out of them unless somebody compelled him to focus like it was a lady with huge knockers or something. Man, that would be something, wouldn't it? If every book had pictures of huge-knockered ladies in them, he probably wouldn't have fallen flat on his face when Ms. Ellison asked him about Fawkesner, or whatever. Seriously, why did they read books, anyway? Just a bunch of writing by some dead people who didn't even know about what was happening these...

"Why do people discriminate against minorities?"

Lenny turned his head toward Max slowly, his eyes squinting in annoyance once again. He gulped down his mouthful of cereal this time and said, "What, it's not obvious to you? They're foreigners, Max. They aren't as committed to freedom as we are." Wiping his mouth with his sleeve again, he continued, "They come from places with kings and queens, and...and tribes, and...commies. Their roots aren't planted in the same ground as the pilgrims who came here hoping to not get the shit oppressed out of them by King George the Third. I mean, seriously, I'm pretty sure I'm not the one who needs to explain shit around here." Lenny went back to eating his cereal without waiting for a response.

[KamiKaze]

Audrey seemed really fascinated by the book.

Felicia was glad for that. Books were underrated these days. Personally, Felicia loved them. It was quite nice to get swallowed by a good book, really. It was a shame some of her classmates didn't know how nice reading could be.

Maxim also asked if that was the one that could made into a movie a while back.

Felicia nodded. "Yeah", she said. "It's about a vet at the circus and his time there. It deals a lot with how animals and people are treated. It's also kinda a love story."

Maxim didn't seem too interested, so she wouldn't go into too much detail perhaps. But on the other, Audrey was really fascinated by what she was reading, so she'd probably prod on. Which Felicia didn't mind too much, now that she thought of it.

The assignment? Maxim didn't understand why they had to do it as soon as possible. Well, it was better to get it done as quickly as possible so you could go off to do other things, right? Because then you won't be rushing to get everything done at once at the last minute, of course.


Then Maxim asked it.

Why did people discriminate against minorities?

Felicia had a feeling he was trying to bait Lenny into saying something stupid. She might as well answer, though.

And just as one might suspect, Lenny answered, and her jaw dropped.

Felicia had encountered a lot of racists in her lifetime. People felt they could say anything to people they didn't think were "American" enough. It was ignorant, and frankly quite stupid. Thing was, though, most racists didn't admit they were racist, and would adamantly defend themselves if they were called out on it.

Key word here, though, was "most".

She expected him to say "I dunno", shrug, and go back to eating his cereal. Not something as offensive and horrible as what just came out of his mouth. She had no idea someone could be so ignorant, so offensive, so...

Felicia felt a fire burning up inside of her. She wanted to grab her coffee and toss it directly in his face. But she restrained herself.

"Do you even realize what you just said?" she said to Lenny in a low voice. "That's horrible."

[Iceblock]

Things were getting pretty heated around here. Maxim had started it, maybe to goad Lenny, maybe because he was curious. Minorities and discrimination. Not exactly the most patriotic of topics, nor one that Audrey was very comfortable with. When Maxim put it as discrimination, it didn't sound very kind. But better them than her.

It wasn't that she agreed with Lenny. They were American enough for her. They just looked different and were good at different things, like Asians being good at math, but not so good at basketball. Genetics. She guessed being different was enough reason for some people to tease them, though.

Audrey wasn't going to answer with anything, just kind of smooth over the topic when everyone else had had their say. Maybe keep asking Felicia about the book - a love story sounded really interesting.

But Felicia seemed angry, Lenny seemed annoyed, and Maxim would probably join in before long with his own opinion. Audrey only hoped it wouldn't turn into a full out argument.

"Hey, um, chill, guys," she said, already half feeling it was a bad idea. "No need to get all worked up about this, right?"

[jimmydalad]

He had to admit it, Maxim was baiting Lenny. He knew he was a racist son of a bitch and he wanted to know his reasons why. Though he did feel a bit guilty for getting the other two into this, he wanted to know. He wanted know what went through their minds when they did those horrible actions. Maxim couldn't see the justice in it, the good of it all. He was not able to understand why, only how.

He regretted it almost immediately. Lenny's reply to his question was so mind-numbingly stupid, it was amazing that his brain didn't just jump out of his head and run away. His hand grasped the table tightly and his face soured to a grimace as he tried his best not to stand up and punch the idiot right in the face. No, he didn't want a repeat of middle school. Maxim did not want to risk getting expelled any time soon.

Felicia's reaction gave him a very happy smile. This was one of the reasons he liked her as a friend. She wasn't racist and was pretty much against it. Like her, he thought that racist actions were ignorant and ridiculous. Did they even bother to try to at least get to know other races? Maxim seriously doubted that they did.

"I am with Felicia on this." Maxim said harshly as he glowered at Lenny with a deep rage. Though he heard Audrey, he ignored her.

"Do you even realize what you are saying? Don't you hear yourself? How utterly ridiculous this whole racist mentality is? What evidence do you have for your reasoning?" Maxim exclaimed quietly as he spent all his energy in preventing himself from screaming and hitting Lenny. "Have you even bothered to try to get to know them? Have you tried talking to them without provoking them and calling them names? Or are you just too ignorant to even think of the idea of talking to them, let alone becoming friends with them." Maxim stated in an intensely angry voice, his rage obvious as he increased the intensity at which he gripped the table.

"I hate how we even have to refer to them as "them". It's not like they are creatures or monsters that are completely different to us. They are people Lenny, people! They are like you and me, except have a different skin color and other features. Some of them are amazing people and I have to admit it, I would prefer to be friends with them than other people in the school, like Callison." Maxim continued to say, shuddering a little when he said Brian Callison's name, the name of the devil. If it was possible, Maxim hated Callison even more than the Minutemen, and people knew this. He wasn't trying to hide it, that's for sure. Maxim considered Callison to be his mortal enemy as he represented everything he despised in a person and he wouldn't be friends with him even if hell froze over.

"I don't understand why we have to hate people just because of their skin color. Is it that much of a sin to be born outside America? Are we just supposed to hate a person just because they were born in England or Mexico? Is that what America is encouraging us to be? If it is, then I have to say that I hate the fact that I have to call myself American." Maxim sighed to himself as he reached the end of his rant. He still had more to say but frankly, it wasn't worth it. He knew that Lenny wouldn't change his mind anytime soon. He just had to get it out of his system. What he said was true. If we live in world where their very own country encourages them to frown down and discriminate against people that were "different" to them, it was a country that Maxim would not want to be a part of.