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To say that Laney is lost isn't exactly accurate.  She drifts, like a plastic shopping bag in the wind.  Thrown about in what seems like a completely random way, but what is actually the result of unseen math. 

OOC: motely text follows

No doubt the county prioritized reconstruction but, in spite of the bitter weather and the very real risks, Laney is there observing the revival of activity from within.

It’s a kind of mindless peace Laney finds in the midst of the paradoxical remains of structure.   Underweight and not an inch over five feet tall, with streaks of powdery ash blending her clothing into a colourless shroud and her hood pulled low over her face, the sixteen-year-old darts through shadowed fractures and squeezes into unlikely hiding places in order to evade discovery.   The game is indefinably appealing.

Laney can’t remember making a conscious decision to be in the damaged building; she had obediently gone through the motions of preparation for school this morning.  It doesn’t matter now.  She isn’t going to classes.

However, in spite of her strange eating habits, she grows hungry right before lunch time and disengages from her refuge to clean up before joining the psycho geek table.

As luck would have it, rounding a corner on her way to the cafeteria, Laney finds herself face to face with one of the US.   Her eyes instantly ignite with recognition and affection, and she rushes forward to hug Sammy...

Sammy regards Laney's impending hug with all the horror a normal person would give to the sight of an oncoming train, given that person's truck is currently stalled out on the train tracks and the ground is crawling with zombies at both road barriers.  She bites her own tongue, hard enough to hurt but not hard enough to make it bleed,  and stands there to suffer the onslaught.  If I push her away, I'm the one who looks like the bad guy.  Just get it over with and move on...

Not commonly known about Laney is that the girl is one of those ofttimes obnoxious "full-body" huggers, unwilling to participate in artificial tokens of sentiment.

With her backpack discarded on the floor at their feet, there Laney is:
Both her skinny arms curl around her victim's waist, her face presses to Sammy's breast so Laney's wild black hair tickles her chin, and her trembling body is right against Sammy's own.   She smells oddly of drywall.   

The embrace is intimate enough that the pair of them are probably getting amused looks (or worse) from passing students.

Sammy must endure an eternity (7 seconds) of torment before she feels her assailant draw a shuddering breath and relinquish her hold.  Laney turns her face up and smiles, her little nose is red from trying not to cry.

"Thanks, Sammy," she whispers.  "I know it was you.  Four hundred seventeen...They're safe.  Thanks."



Edit:
@#!typos...

Normally, Sammy enjoys a good hug.  But this time she's frozen like a statue.  When Laney's done, Sammy peels herself loose.  A self-deprecating laugh escapes her, and she stares up at the Heavens.  "I say this doesn't count as my one, but you're going to disagree on technicalities, aren't you?  Yay.  I suppose I should move on now."  She turns back to Laney and says "You're welcome."

“Oh. The cafeteria’s that way.  Will you walk with me?”  Laney is bubbling with affection and steps closer, looking for all the world as if she were about to nab Sammy again.

“Technicalities are for homework assignments.  I don’t ever know anything for certain, but I saw it. A perfect circle.  It was you. Part of one of the most beautiful things I've ever seen.  I wish they’d left the circle.  What is your count at, Sammy?”

Sammy shifts her backpack to the front, like a baby carrier, making it her personal body armor.  "My count?  Oh.  My count.  One."

Laney’s eyes remain wide and innocent of any awareness of Sammy’s discomfort with her proximity.  She accepts Sammy’s answer as a positive and shoulders her own pack, obviously establishing herself as Sammy’s second shadow (at least for the lunch period).

“One including this one or one from before?  Oooo, what else did you do?  Was it in the papers?  I’ll bet I could figure out which.  Another circle?”  She lowers her voice conspiratively.

Sammy looks confused.  "Er, uh, that's not what I was counting. Sorry.  I misunderstood.  I don't know how many, um, circles.  Spheres.  Whatever they are."  She starts scanning the crowd for band friends, for Nick, for Elrod, anybody...

“Oh!  Sorry, Sammy.  I thought it was a competition and wanted to know the score.  I guess it’s lucky no one saw you, since everyone else’s privacy is in jeopardy if you’re exposed, but…Do you think the other students would treat you differently if they knew you’d saved their lives?  Stupid question.  Of course, they would.  But I mean different good or different bad?  Do you need help carrying that?  I don’t have much in my backpack today. What were you counting?”

Sammy holds on tighter to her backpack.  "I got it, thanks.  That's what I was counting.  Thank yous.  I, uh, thought I was missing one, and I guess the universe picked you to let me have it.  And I have no idea how or even if it would be any different if everybody knew."  Her nose twitches.  "I, er, um,  still smell vomit.  Sylvia threw up all over herself and passed out this morning in a hallway.  I found her and stayed with her till the nurse saw her.  I guess some got on my clothes.  Maybe you should run ahead and ask John to find out if Sylvia is all right.  I-- need to take care of this smell."

Alas, logical leaps don’t always land one even remotely close to the truth.  Having confirmed she missed something, Laney is stubbornly unwilling to let it bother her today.

She chatters on matter-of-factly, “You’re a valuable person, Sammy. Excuse the reference to geometry, but that’s an axiom, not a theorem.  It’s self-evident.  Even if some thank-yous are forgotten.  Of course, you can’t know.  You can only guess until it happens.   I guess you can’t please everyone and maybe have to decide whose opinions are important to you.  It’s an awful drain on time and energy if you try to connect with everyone, anyway. 

“How are you doing with that, by the way?  Geometry.  I meant to – Oh!  Do you need a ride home?  I can – Stupid question.  Sorry.   Um…yyyeah.   I’ll check with the nurse."

And then all of Sammy's not-so-subtle body language of discomfort and anxiety queues in Laney's brain.

"Are you alright?”

Sammy squirms.  "No, not really.  I have a lot on my mind.  Why don't you find out about Sylvia?  Maybe Donnie knows.  I'm going to try to clean up."

"Yyeah...You'll feel better in fresh clothes, too.   Um...I'll check things out and let you know what's going on.   If you change your mind about the ride, the offer - stupid as it was - is still open."   She flashes a worried look at Sammy and veers down a side hall...

...whereupon she stops and texts Alicia with the coordinates of the room she guesses Sammy is heading to, along with a note:

syl sick. c sam plz. im w nurse

Following that, Laney heads directly to the nurse's office.  She knows the nurse by first name, knows the names of her children (if any), and as much personal gossip as the GM will allow.  She's a regular in that office and has little doubt this is the best place to learn about Sylvia.

Alicia looks at her cell phone in confusion. What the f**ck?

She shrugs, excuses herself from Rhys's side (where she's been all morning when not at class) and navigates her way to the indicated location. She confirms Sam is there by following her scent.

Alicia walks in and asks nonchalantly, "Hey, Sam. Wassup? Looney Laney said Sylvia was sick and that I had to see you."

Sammy is in the bathroom scrubbing at the right cuff of her sweater.  "Yeah.  Our very own Nancy Drew, girl investigator threw up and passed out while I was in seeing Strange.  She was waiting outside, so I saw her pretty much as soon as I left.  It was so gross, her face was in the vomit; I thought she was going to drown herself in it.  I got a little on my sweater so I'm cleaning it off."  Sammy suddenly looks alert.  She whispers, "Is Laney with you?"

Alicia looks on with interest at Sammy's ministrations. "I was wondering what that was about. It didn't smell like yours but I wasn't sure if it was just that someone puked in the bathroom."


Alicia pulls back her head a bit, perplexed. "Uh, no. She texted me, saying Sylvia was sick, I was supposed to see you, and that she was going to the nurse. So she's probably driving the nurse insane about now."

She takes a careful sniff, and wrinkles her nose. "Hate to tell you this, Sam, but the sweater may be a total loss. I don't think you're gonna get that smell off any time soon."

She leans on one of the sinks. "So why did Syl upchuck? Can't be lunch 'cause we haven't eaten yet. And she hasn't missed a period so she can't be preggers."

'

Sammy raises an amused eyebrow.  "I don't know.  Maybe she's got the stomach flu or something.  Maybe she was so afraid that I'd stir up Strange, and so excited that she might catch him in a bad touch picture, that she lost it."  She squeezes the water out of her sleeve.  "I'll go get El's keys.  He's letting me keep a change of clothes in his trunk.  Want to walk outside?  You can be my bodyguard in case Laney tries to hug me again."

Alicia chortles, "Sure. If worse comes to worse, I'll snap some pics to embarrass you later."

As they stroll down the hall, Alicia asks, "What's the deal with Strange? You're talking 'bout the school shrink, right?"

"Yeah, that's him.  You know how she is, always digging up dirt on somebody.  She thinks he's up to something here, so I thought I'd trail some bait in front of him.  It wasn't hard.  I've-- I've been really stressed out lately, and wondering about how I fit, why I'm even here, so I just let some of that out and gave him something interesting to chew on.  I think she was hoping he'd do something right there so she could catch it and get the high school Pulitzer Prize or something."

She texts El and asks to borrow his keys so she can get a change of clothes from his trunk.

Alicia rolls her eyes (a gesture lost behind her shades) and sighs. "Are all the teachers in this school messed up or something? 'Cause if they are, I want to go after my History teacher next. I swear she's, like, trying to melt my brain by frying it with ultimate boredom."

She looks at Sammy and says in a softer voice, "Anything you want to talk about, Sam?"

"Nope.  There's nothing to talk about, just the usual.  Sometimes I just wonder why I even bother with some things, you know?  And then I wonder why I even care, or why I wonder.  But everybody does that.  No biggie.  Why, do you have some dark secret you want to confess?"

Elrod meets Sammy and Alicia at the agreed upon spot and he gives her his keys, and a kiss.  "I'll hang around after practice and give you a lift home, so hold onto those and I'll see you too later."  And he makes his way back to his class, which is where he's normally supposed to be when the Freshman are at lunch.

"Yes, as a matter of fact I do," Alicia replies, heavy on the sarcasm. "I find myself in a constant struggle to keep myself from bitch-slapping some sense into a friend of mine when she goes into drama-queen mode, because I really do like her as a friend and don't want to hurt her." She cocks her head at Sammy and quirks a wry smile at her.


"See?" Alicia comments after he leaves. "You're not allowed to angst when you have a guy like him for a boyfriend. It just ain't allowed, nope."

Sammy rolls her eyes.  "See.  I told you.  No biggie.  I just need to remember how to get over myself.  I used to be pretty good at it, so there's hope."


"Unless he's the source of some of it."  Sammy watches him disappear down a hall.  "I really should have met him when I was at least 18.  Some things would be so much easier..."

"Well, if you need any help, sensei Jack's been teaching me some coping techniques I could try out on you," Alicia replies with a smirk.


Alicia looks quizzically at her friend, probably for different reasons than Sammy would ascribe to, but wisely keeps her mouth shut.

"Sensei Jack?  You're joking, right?"  Sammy sniffs dismissively.


"No, seriously.  Dude would marry me today, but by the time I am really old enough to think about it or anything else with him, he'll have morphed into my big brother.  I can feel it coming and can't do a thing about it."

Alicia shrugs defensively. "Well, he is teaching me stuff, and if I screw up and call him what my old teacher had me call him, I get the third degree."


Alicia gives her a blank look. "So obviously you need to work on not looking like a little sister," she advises with a snort.

Sammy laughs lightly.  "You can call him whatever you want.  I just wasn't expecting it is all."


This is met with a raised eyebrow.  "Excuse me?  Want to elaborate on that?"

Alicia shrugs again, as if explaining the obvious. "Remind him you're not there to be his little sister, I mean. If you're going to make him wait for it, don't let him forget what he's waiting for. And that it's worth waiting for."

This earns Alicia a weird little look.  "I'm not asking him to wait for me.  He's going away at the end of the summer; asking him to wait for me to catch up would be wrong in so many ways.  Especially since he couldn't get a promise like that from me; he wouldn't even ask, even if he wanted to ask."

"So you're giving up on him, just like that?" Alicia asks with a twinge of surprised disbelief.

Sammy looks pained.  "We've had this conversation before.  I'm not 'giving up on him'.  But I'm not giving up anything else either, not right now, and he's not asking me to.  Can we drop it, please?"

By this time they've reached El's car.  Sammy pops open the trunk and digs through a gym bag for a clean sweatshirt.  Looking around to ensure there's not too much of an audience, she quickly peels off the tainted sweater and gets redressed.  She then balls up the sweater to carry to the nearest trashcan.

Alicia sighs but complies. the rest of the walk is spent in silence.


Alicia dutifully works as cover for Sammy as she changes and waits for her to dispose of the soiled clothes.

OOC: I figure at this point, we segue into the other thread and the phone call.