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Dave has secured a table for the Usual Suspects.  Greg is there today, and so is Shelia.

Shelia lets people know that Matt has runaway from home.  "He left a note for me.  Apparently he's got some things he's trying to work out and he wants to meet his biological father.  He said he'd call me, so I'll let you guys know when I hear from him."

OOC: This is to explain Sacremas' absence for the time being.

Megan makes her way into the lunchroom around the usual time.  Today her hair was in a ponytail after Spark’s electricity had made it a mess last night.  She had not had time to try and do much about it this morning, and even if she had, having to put the Velocity mask back on to take Katie to the airport would have just messed it back up again. She had contacted her stylist and gotten a time after the Constitutional Debate team meeting tonight so she could go in and get a trim and get it back under control.

She was feeling a bit sad at the thought she might never see Katie again, but at least she knew she was in good hands now, having met Eagle Force this morning with Kevin.  They seemed like they could take on a whole stadium full of the goons that were after Katie, and boy were several of the guys major studs.  The blond teen still felt a bit warm and flustered at the memory of meeting them, it had taken every last ounce of practice at being upbeat and cheerful in cheerleading to play things off as normal when she had.  The fact she was in costume, even one that has scorch marks on it, had made it a little bit easier to play calm.

Looking over at the Usual Suspects’ table, she noticed a girl she did not recognize, so she figured she would wait till later to go over and let everyone know how things had gone.  She did give them all a wave and a warm smile before heading over to the cheerleading table.  As she got there, she knew the mood would be a bit glum given the news about Lisa, but she was hardly surprised.  If that had happened to her, Megan would never want to set foot in the school again, let alone be seen by most of the students there.  Looking at the other girls, she spoke up.  “The news about Lisa really sucks.  What is going to happen now?  You going to be the new Captain Diane?”  She looked over at the other Senior on the team.

"I guess I will.  My folks are thinking of pulling me from Oak Park though.  All this crazy stuff going on, I'm not sure it's such a bad idea, ya'know?"

Megan frowned slightly at Diane’s response, or at least about the talk about being taken out of Oak Park.  “But what’s the point?  My dad talked about sending me to Fenwick as well, but everywhere is having problems right now, even Fenwick.  Is leaving here really going to change much?  Plus, you already know everyone here, do you really want to go to not knowing hardly anyone somewhere else for your last year in school?”  She then looks towards the other girls as she asks.  “What about the rest of you?  Your parents considering doing the same thing?”

Samantha scores a pass for the library, and spends the lunch period in a very quiet corner pretending to read a Jane Austen novel.  She's tired from trying to not sleep too deeply last night, and she keeps nodding off over the book.

Colin enters the lunch room and akes a look around. He notices that neither Donnie, nor Sylvia, nor Sarah are at their usual table. He drops by to greet Dave, Greg and Shelia, but doesn't take a seat. He worries a bit hearing about Matt, and thanks Shelia for letting them know. He reassures her that, even if they got no news, the PCD is working hard at her brother's case. Then he leaves, and heads to the cheerleaders table.

"Hello." He smiles to the girls. "Hi, Megan. I have... the notes you asked me last week. I'm sorry I made you wait. Also, if you've got a moment, I'd like to show you the questions we at the paper would like to ask your dad, so you can tell me if he'll be fine with them."

He gestures to a corner where there's still a free table.

Megan looked up at Colin as he came over to the table and spoke to her.  “Oh, yeah, thanks Colin.”  She says with a smile.  “Sure, I’ll take a look at those questions with you.”  Glancing back at the other’s she says, “be back in a few.”

She then gets up and makes her way over towards the empty table that Colin indicated.  Sitting down, she smiled.  “Well, Katie is off and safe, probably as safe as she will ever be.  She is under the protection of Eagle Force now.  Boy were some of the guys with that group major hunks.  If that's not a reason to stay a superhero, I don't know what is.”  She fans her hand in front of herself with a grin.  She then lowers her hand. “So, anything else up?”

"I'm really glad to hear that. She deserves to look at her future and see some happiness in it. And... I'll just take your word on the hunkiness of them." he laughs.


"I just wanted to lend you these."

He takes out of his hiking bag two notebooks and shows them to her. They're full of newspaper clippings, photos, drawings, and notes in three different colors.

"This is a sort of log of our investigations. In red I underlined the things that in my opinion mattered most or had some connection with what happened here in the school. In black there are facts, mostly what the other guys uncovered and sometimes some... intuitions of mine. In blue there are my theories, most of which have already been proven wrong by new facts. Everything you need to know about the witches, or our other... 'cases' is here. I think Velocity's there too, a couple times. But she's never been listed as a villain, neither when the Speed Freaks came out." he smiles at her.

"If you find out that there's something not correct, that you have something to add, or simply that there are other cases that escaped my attention, please do point them out. I hope it may be useful to you, though it will probably make you a little paranoid about this place, or even more so if you already were. Be very careful to this in particular."
Colin points her to the pages that deal about Vandross and his organization, at the graphs that show how he must be somehow involved with the school, and finally about the only real connection they've got: Logan Darklighter.
"If he ever tries to give you anything, don't accept."

Megan looks at the binders and all the hard work that Colin seems to have put into assembling them.  He was indeed passionate about this, like he had said last night.  “This is very organized Colin, but you know, you got to get out and have fun a little bit more. By the way, calling Sarah ‘princess’ was a little too mushy for her.  You might want to tone the sweetness down just a little bit, least till she gets a bit more used to being a girl and being seen as a girl.”  Megan adds the last part with a warm smile.

She then looks back down at the binders.  “Thanks, I’ll look these over.  If I can find a place to shut myself off for about ten or twelve minutes where no one can see me, I can probably be done with them and get them back to you today.”

When he points out the stuff about Vandross and Logan Darkligher Megan frowns.  “Logan?  I don’t know why he would offer me anything, we have only talked once.”

Colin's whole face wrinkles in embarassment.

"Oh." he says, trying to put his thoughts back on track. "I noticed that. The 'princess' thing... it was a once thing... it's just what her name means. Soo... does she tell you everything? And I do get out and have fun. I... I just don't do it with a wig." he says with a still embarassed smile, trying to get a little back at her.
"Speaking of fun, our movie buff friend, is he good for more than backrubs? No, I'm just kidding, not my business.
Seriously, instead, I'm sorry about what happened to Lisa. You must be friends. I think it's not fair. She was the victim there."


"Wow, you really are fast. Do you ace your homework like that too?"


"Rory Burns didn't know him much either, but Logan gave him something that killed him. Be really careful around him." he says this time with a very serious face.

Megan give Colin a friendly smile when he gets a bit embarrassed about her mentioning the ‘princess’ comment and tries to get back at her some.  “Hey, could you imagine what moving at the speeds I do might do to my hair?  Bad enough I have to get it worked on tonight from cramming it under that mask and Spark’s little electrotherapy.”  She replied with a grin.

“But really Colin, Sarah doesn’t tell me everything.  We just went to lunch and a movie on Sunday and she was so excited and happy and wanted to tell me she had followed the advice I had given her Friday night when I called her.  I just thought I would offer a little helpful hint.”

When he mention’s Greg, Megan shrugs.  “Not at the  moment, but if he can get me a face and name for Spark, that will really be something.  Though he has offered to show me some old movies of his favorite film stars.”

As he brings up Lisa, Megan sighs.  “Yeah, that was totally embarrassing, though I have to admit, it was also not the brightest thing to do on campus.  I need to go talk to her, her parents pulled her and put her in Fenwick.  My dad was thinking of transferring me there as well a few weeks ago.”  She looks over at the table with the other girls.  “Some of the others are thinking of transferring, everything is freaking people out.  But only so many can go somewhere else.”

She has a big smile at Colin’s reaction to who quickly she could read over this and replies, “I think I have mentioned that before, maybe I talk to fast sometimes in costume.  But yeah, 20 minutes tops and I have done three hours of homework.  It also helps with folding laundry and doing dishes and everything else you can imagine.  I think I type about eight hundred words a minute now.”

Her face gets more serous at the mention of what had happened to Rory and how Logan might be connected.  “Logan had something to do with what happened to that kid?  Well, I wouldn’t worry, I don’t exactly go out of my way to talk to him or anything. “

"Oh, so you're the one that..." he beams at her "Well, then I owe you. Big time."


"Do you think the bastard that did that to her is the same sick bastard that took the phots in the shower room. God and Great Spirit, how I hate those that give all us photographers such a bad-"

He stops suddenly, an idea forming in his mind.

"Why didn't I think of it before?! Megan, would you be interested in a little revenge? I can't find him through the photos, that have likely passed dozens of hands, but maybe through that closet... I wonder if the camera he put there is still there. But even if it isn't, do you think he'd like being spied upon with a special camera to the past?"

“Owe me?  Nah, I was just encouraging an old friend to get out an live a little before an opportunity passed her by.”  Megan replied with a wave of her hand.  “Friday I didn’t even know who it was, not that I would have said anything different if I had.”

Megan sits in tough a few moments as Colin brings up the possibility that whomever had set up Lisa and John might also be the one taking the shower pictures.  “I could be I guess.  I think that the person behind the shower pictures is also the one stealing stuff around here, but maybe not.”  She leans forward and whispers.  “I am trying to see if I can bait that person, have a tracking device in my iPod and am trying to see if they will steal it.”

“But some revenge would be nice.  We just have to find the closet in question.”

"Stay here a moment. I'm gonna ask Dave if he happens to know where it could be."

Still looking out for Sarah, Sylvia and Donnie, Colin goes back to the Usual Suspects table to ask Dave about it.

"Yep.  It's a storage closet on the third floor next to one of the old science rooms."  Dave rumages around in his backpack for a map of the school and points out the room.  "The football team has had a secret key for the last five years.  They use it as a make out spot pretty regularly.  There are a few other copies of the key out there too."

"Uhm. Do you think you could ask someone for it? I don't really know anyone in the football team, now that Cal is gone. Last time we had to go trough a locked door we had Seth, but I can't see him around either. Let me know."

(OOC removed to be reposted because of disruptioin of Colin returning to where Megan is sitting)

Unbeknowst to Colin, Seth was right behind him food tray in hand.

"You rang"  Passibly awful Vincent Price impression.

"What's up?, Hey everyone."

Sarah walks up behind Seth, "Is this the line for the concert tickets or has our table gotten that popular?"

"Concert?"  Seth's head spins around almost linda blair style.

"Whose concert? Who's in town?"

DAVE: "Sometimes I think you could be held up through the mail Seth."

Sarah replies to Seth in a straight on serious manner, "Oh it's a local player, totally small time so far, playing at the Tasty after school today." 
Sarah glides past Seth and finds a seat at the table.  "That reminds me Seth, what are you doing after school today?"

Donnie stumbles up to the table, tripping over someones backpack. He's got a silly grin plastered to his face, and his usual scowl and worry lines are conspicuously absent. He looks around the table, and takes a spot where there is another open one beside him, dropping his backpack into it.  He looks at everyone, goofy smile still in place, and says a bright "Hi!"

Seth presses his lips together comically.

"I'm playing at the Tasty.

Smart ass."

"Hi Seth! Hi Sarah!" Colin says, though between the two greetings there is a remarkable difference in tone.

"Megan and I were talking about getting revenge over the sicko that framed Lisa, who I think is also the same sicko that took... those... photos in the girls changing room.
But we kinda need to go through a locked door, so you came into my mind, Seth."

He turns to Sarah with a mischievous smile. She can see he has that cute ruffled look he gets when he hasn't been sleeping much, but he seems quite better than last night. "Remember the little thing that I hoped would impress you? It's done. " he whispers to her. "You'd better drop by my locker before lunch break is over."

"If you want in the vengeance mission, Megan is right there on the corner table waiting for me to bring news." he says, going back to her table to report.

But as he does that, he nearly runs into Donnie.
"Hi, Donnie." he says with a frown, expecting to be shunned or worse. Donnie does look remarkably happy though. Even too happy. "Is everything fine?"

Dave grins, "Dude, you stepped into that one though.  He goes back to reading his book.

Greg arrives and sets his books down, he looks like he's had a long night.

DAVE: "Greg, try sleeping.  I hear it does wonders for those dark circles under your eyes."

GREG: "Ha."  He says weakly, "History test today and I was cramming all night."

Sarah smiles foolishly at Seth and nods to his comment.  "That I am sir."

She turns and grins at Colin and her voice changes to a softer tone, "Hey Colin."  But lasts only the moment until Colin starts talking about revenge.  "Ooh taking care of bad people.  I can't break locks but I'm glad to help if you need me!  Wait, a surprise at your locker?  Should I go there now?  I should go.  Surprises!  It's not a puppy is it?"

DAVE: "Dude, Colin.  You're not cruel enough to put a puppy in your locker are you?"

"Yeah, I guess i did."

"Why would you cram for a history test? History is prolly my least favorite subject, but all you have to do is show up in class and B.S. the essays...I'm sure it doesn't change that much by senior year. What, a few more dates to know?

And instead you missed out on sleep....

I would have a good nights sleep over an A on a test any day.

Zombie voice de soto- NEED SLEEEEEP

"Wunderbar!"

He keeps looking around.

"Hi Greg. Ok, just a moment everyone. Let me out of here a second."

Colin tries to get his way among all those that just arrived at the table, and doing so, he passes very close to Sarah.

"No, Sarah, not now. Later. With me. And not a puppy."

He goes back to Megan's table and sighs.

"Sorry if I made you wait. Lots of things going on."

He explains what Dave told him about the closet, trying not to think too much of the witches' "make-out spot".
"Anyway, here is the plan. Either Dave gets the key or we get Seth to open the door. I go in hoping to sense something. If it's enough to identify him, he's in for a bad surprise."

GREG: "History is a hard subject for me, I get movies confused with reality and forget which is fact and which is fiction.  I cram before the tests so that I don't list Ben Kingley as the person responsible for securing India's freedom from British rule."

DAVE: (Laughing) "I remember that one.  His Freshman year, I laughed about that for a week."

Sarah nods, "It's contagious too.  I described Jamestown right out of Disney's Pocahontas movie.  To be fair it made more sense than the real history did."

She nods to Colin, "Okay, I can wait."

Ben Kingsley, Sexy Beast, Ben Kingsley?

OK...OK...So this is really cool. I was playing around last night after everything....and watch this.

Seth grabs the salt shaker at the table, and removes the top, and pours the salt in a big mound on the table. He flattens the mound with the palm of his hand and scrapes the salt off behind him. Now there is a big white blob on the table.

Seth tilts his head slightly and a line begins to draw in the salt.

Pretty soon, there's a little stick man, holding a flying V guitar.

While Colin had been delayed by the arrival of others at the Usual Suspect Table, Megan had been paging through the first of the binders he had left with her.  To someone watching from another table, it would seem as if she was casually thumbing through the binder, glancing at things and then turning to the next page.  If someone had been close enough, they would have seen how inhumanly quickly her eyes moved over the pages, actually reading everything significant on them before she casually turned to the next page.

When Colin came back, she looked up from the binder.  “Oh, hey, over half way done with this one so far.”  She said with a grin.

“Hmm.”  Megan replies when Colin tells her what he learned about the room.  “Cal must not have been let in on that little secret yet, or he just hadn’t tried to get me to go up there with him yet if he had.”  She thinks a moment before saying.  “Well there might be another option, if Dave can’t get a key, I know a bunch of guys on the team and can possibly get it.  I can tell them that Lisa dropped something in there that I wanted to find for her or something.”

"Well..." he shifts uncomfortably. "I don't like that idea very much. If you ask them to get you there, their brains could get carried away and not notice the 'only to pick up something for Lisa' part. I mean, Cal is the kindest guy in the world, but the others usually aren't like him at all. Though I guess you can outrun them all, and it's not a problem for you. Sorry. It may take a bit for me getting used to the fact that I likely need more protection than all the girls I hang out with."

"Anyway, your friends are likely beginning to wonder what we're doing. You should go back to them. I'll try to convince Seth to help us. And just keep the notebooks as long or as little as you want." he says with a smile.

Megan smiles slightly at Colin’s dislike of her idea to ask the football players for the key, despite how mention of how special Cal was caused some of the feelings she had worked so hard on putting behind her over the last few days to resurface a bit.  “That’s sweet Colin, but despite stereotypes, and what happened with Lisa and John, they are not all sex fiends.  Most expect to at least have to take a girl out on a date before they can get her into bed.” 

She considered mentioning how Cal’s hands had begun getting a bit more brazen when they would make out, but figured he really did not need to know that.  Besides, she had not tried to discourage it, and also greatly appreciated how lucky she had been with Cal.  “But that’s fine, you all do what you can.  If you can’t get in though, let me know and we can go with Plan B.”

She nodded at the mention of getting back to the other girls as she stood up.  Picking up the binders, she replied.  “I’ll probably try to head up to the library in a bit.  I should have them finished before the end of lunch.  Before the end of the day easy.”  She then made her way back over to the cheerleaders’ table to join the other girls.

Sylvia strolls into the cafeteria and pauses at its entrance, searching the tables for--oh, there he is.  She looks different today.  She's still wearing the same eccentric patchwork skirt and hand-knit cardigan, sort of a Ron Weasley look overall, but maybe her hair's braided and pinned into place, or maybe she's wearing a hint of lip gloss.  It's like the difference between throwing clothes on in the morning and picking out an outfit the night before.

She sashays over to the seat next to Donnie and gives him a nervous but bright smile before she says hello to everyone else.  The pile of salt in the middle of the table catches her eye pretty quickly.  "Ooh, hangman?  Um, X!"

Colin goes back to the Usual Suspects' table, but now Sylvia is there too. Colin sighs, and gets out of his bag something he has prepared for this eventuality. A stick with a handkerchief tied to it. A white flag.

He decides that the sooner it's gone the less it's goin to hurt.

"Hi Sylvia. I... I have been a jerk yesterday. Can I talk with you a moment, so I can apologize?" he asks her with pleading eyes.

Sylvia tears her attention from the salt pictograph and sees Colin, white flag and all.  For a second she can't remember what he's talking about.  Then it comes back to her, and her expression changes from goofy-perky to angry-bitchy.  She has to force it, though:  for the sake of them all she can't let Colin charm his way out of his self-righteous episode.  "You're right.  You were a jerk."  She decides to take a stand here and now and presents the evidence at a jury of his peers.  "You picked on me because I was an easy target, because you know me better than Sammy and because you knew I wouldn't bop you in the nose like Kel."

Sarah leans over and says quietly to Seth, "Make salt angels!"  She decides to stay out of Colin and Sylvia's conversation unless it starts getting out of hand.  Though she was still sort of fuzzy about what they were arguing about before anyway. 

"Good Idea...Or maybe Salt White Elephants....."

Invisible fingers add angel wings to the guitar player, and a crudely drawn elephant appears at his side.

"So, Sarah....converse about something interesting?"

Sarah nods but adds, "I wanna keep one ear tuned in though."  She shrugs, "Heard any more from your agent?"

Colin seems not to react to her tone. He looks for a moment at the others, especially at Donnie. His voice remains the same, and his eyes are still pleading.

"No. That never even crossed my mind. I picked on you because I was really worried about something else in my mind, because it looks like I can barely bear the stress of being shot while I'm trying to save someone's life, and because I'm stupid. Stupid enough that I lashed out on you while all I wanted was for you not to get hurt. I've told you things that are not true and and that I never really thought, and I'm really sorry for that.

I was tired and I probably gave you all the impression that your night out was a bigger matter to me that it actually is. It was... the other matter that mattered the most to me. And I overreacted to what I saw as a lack of respect towards... two friends of mine. I think I expressed myself very poorly and gave all sorts of wrong impressions. I'd love to better express what I really meant, and if you want I can do it here in front of them all, but I'd rather do it in private.

It doesn't matter though. I've told you awful things, that I regretted as soon as I cleared my mind enough to realize what I'd done. I couldn't stand for you to think that I really think those things about you for any longer than this. That's why I'm here. You can accept my apologies or not, but I want you to know I don't think that about you. I'm sorry."

"No, and that's worriesome. I want the schooby do gang here to help me investigate him. But where do you start with something like that?"

He's clearly listenting to the conversation  as well, and then all of Colin's diatribe happens.

"The white elephant just broke the china."  Realizing he sounds like he's speaking on code, he takes it to the next level. "And the wolf howls at midnight."

Sarah blinks.  Then blinks again.  ?  - Nope I got nothing.
"You want to find stuff out... talk to Greg and Dave.  I think they've got the inside track to everything.  Now if you need whatever you find thumped on the head... well then you can get back to me."

Donnie just looks in confusion from Sylvia to Colin (after hastily removing the bag next to him so she could sit down). He starts "Uh-", but then wisely snaps his mouth shut to let them work it out, though he is looking a little strangely at Colin.

Sylvia gives him the look of a jeweler assaying the worth of an old coin.  Has he groveled enough?  Perhaps not, but she's in a good mood, all hearts and flowers, and doesn't have the heart to stay angry, or even pretend to stay angry.  Her smile turns on, full wattage.  "It's all right," she tells him.  "Everything's okay."

And it's as if, to her mind, that's all there is to it.  He's been given the royal pardon and may now resume his place amid the populace.

After the scene of repentance, Donnie's silly smile returns, and he leans over to Sylvia, whispering something in her ear before getting up to get his lunch.

He is almost bouncing.

Sylvia would blush if her skin allowed it, but no doubt there's some trace of pleasure in her expression, regardless.

"....Thank you."

Colin is a bit surprised. He thought it would have been harder. Actually as he ever seen her smile this bright? Colin looks at her for a moment. Uhm. Then there's Donnie. He too is smiling like he ate the moon this morning...

"Oh." Now it's Colin's smile that goes on at full might. "I guess... my other concerns... aren't a concern anymore. You have no idea how happy I am for you."

He drops his bag on a chair. "I'll be right back. Any of you are in the mood for a little justice? Megan and I would like to go after the sicko that stalked Lisa Janush and John Moxxon, who probably is the same sicko that took the photos in the girls changing room. Seth, don't disappear because we're going to need you. I have something important to do first."

He looks straight in Sarah's eyes "Surprise time. You coming?"

Sarah looks at him with suprise, "Am I ready?  Are you serious?  I was half considering sneaking off to your locker while you and Sylvia were chatting."  She grins.  "We will be back.  Everybody have a cookie while I'm gone,"  she gestures towards her lunchbag on the table.

She smiles at Colin, "Lead on."

Colin takes Sarah's hand and bring her to his locker. He unlocks it, but before opening it, he turns and says "Close your eyes and stick out your hands."

After she complies he gets something out of his locker and puts it in her hands. It has the shape of a large book, though it is lighter, and it smells and feels to the touch like new leather.

"You can open your eyes now."

It looks like a book covered in leather. It's bound with a leather cord too, all around the edges. On the bottom right corner of the cover, fire branded with an elegant handwriting, it says Sarah's Works.

"Open it."

It's not a book, it's a sort of photo album, with plastic transparent envelopes to put every size of photo, or digital photo prints in. On the inner side of the cover, which is made of thick cardboard to make it stiff, there's on the left a pocket, to put coins, clips or other small things in, and on the right a pencil, notepad, and post-it holder, which Colin has already filled. The first photos in are the ones she took last saturday with his camera, starting from the one at the chocolate Moby Dick.

"You haven't seen everything yet. The most interesting part are the last 4 pages."

The fourth to last page is the photo he took of her looking at sunset, but he clearly has done something to it. Now it looks like something out of a dream, he has played with the light, or the color, she doesn't know. She looks really beautiful, though, and, at the same time, like she was made of fire.


The third to last page is the photo she took of them together on the roof of the library. Here too he did something, though it is more subtle. This just feels authentic and fresh as if they were still there.


The second to last is a a drawing, it has a cartoonish feel to it. It shows two teenagers walking in a park, huddled together seen from behind against the sunset. He's got black hair, and he's carrying a backpack and is pulling around a bike with his free hand. She has got red hair instead, she's leaning on his shoulder and carries a staff made of light. To their left there are four puppies playing in the grass, while to their left there's a small table where Morpheus and a black bird are playing chess together. The bird is moving, he's got a rook in his beak.




Finally the last page is a piece of parchment, this too elegantly written. It simply says: Will you go to the Homecoming Dance with me?

Sarah is speechless.  She looks at every picture in the book carefully and smiles at the cartoon.  Hey Morpheus, do you know how to play chess?  Only half expecting some kind of answer Sarah turns to the last page.  The invitation.  Oh my gosh! 

She turns to Colin, nods and smiles.  A look of joy takes over her face and she wraps an arm around Colin's neck squashing the book between them.
"Yes... yes yes yes yes yes yes!"  she answers without even knowing why she was so happy about it.  It's just a dance.  Isn't it?

Such enthusiasm sends Colin's heart soaring. He takes the book and puts it back in the locker for a moment so to better embrace her, then he can't resist kissing her on her cheek, and maybe on her lips too, quickly, before somebody notices them. He'd like to grab her by her waist and lift her high up, or to dance with her right there on the spot. She makes him so happy.

"You'll have to tell me what to wear, then. I probably have some shopping or renting to do. Will you help me?"

----

When they return to the table Colin is in such a good mood everybody could tell there's something going on.

"Ok, what was I saying? Ah, yes, the closet? Seth, do you think you can open that door? I man it won't give an headache or anything, will it?"

T.J walks towards the table with an annoyed look on his face. He stops as he glances at the table full of smiling faces. "Why is everyone so happy? Did something good happen yesterday? Geez get one bad spell of headaches and you miss everything." He sits down and takes a drink. "Mr Heep and I are going to look at some of the evidence to see if we can find anything out."

He looks at Colin and Sarah beaming. "Seriously, why is everyone so happy?"

Sylvia's eyes sweep tellingly to Donnie as he stands in line for his lunch, and as she snaps a bite of her celery and tuna salad, she says, "No one died yesterday, and we found a couple of people who needed help.  I'd say we're entitled to feel pretty good about ourselves.

"What evidence, TJ?"

Arriving back at the table with the other cheerleaders, Megan sat down with a grin.  “Sorry about that, with all the acclaim the paper has been getting, they are coming up with all sorts of new things to write on to try and keep up the pace.  So, I miss any good gossip?”

Off in the library, Sammy realizes she has read the same sentence at least 3 times in a row.  Yaaaaaaaaaaawn.

Kel wanders into the library, it's later into the period and he looks fairly tired and a bit sweatier than usual.  He spots Sammy off all alone and settles down across from her and then says, "Howdy."

"Hey."  She brings up a hand and covers her mouth as she yawns, then stretches her arms out.  "How's it going?"  She looks at him, grey eyes narrowed with some concern.  "Nobody's busting up the school again, are they?"

Kel shakes his head,  "Hope not.  But everything's fine, I'm just wandering 'round. What about you?"

She grins.  "Trying to catch a nap.  Been to the cafeteria yet?  Checked the drama levels?  I'm afraid of getting sucked in again."

Kel laughs and nods his head,"Haven't stopped by yet.  But I figured a day away from the craziness would be good.  Especially after last night."

"No kidding.  You'd think with two sisters I'd know better than to stick my nose into certain situations or to get involved in certain conversations, but I guess I still have a lot of things to learn. "  She shrugs.  "But it is safe in here, for now at least."
She gestures at his sweatyness.  "Were you working out?"

Kel nods, and flexes ever so slightly, "Yea.  I've been trying to keep up with a stricter regimen ever since well...ya know, all this stuff.  It's one thing to just be naturally strong, but I figure there's no harm in trying to be even stronger."

"Good idea."  Just don't let Sylvia watch.  She pauses and looks like she's trying to make up her mind about something.  She then asks "Hey, I know you like her, so are you going to ask Megan to Homecoming?  Are you going at all?  Because I'm not planning on going, not officially anyhow.  I was thinking that if somebody's going to cause trouble, that would be a good night to do it, so I thought I'd kind of go 'on patrol', you know, hang around the area around the school and keep an eye on things.  It'd be a lot easier" and a lot more fun "if somebody else was doing it too.  But if you have other plans, that's cool."

Kel's jaw drops, and then he tries to pick it up, and it drops again.  After a few moments of this, he composes himself, looks around and leans in real close, and whispers extremely quietly, "How'd you know I liked Megan..."  His voice belays how stunned he is.

"How'd I know?"  She shrugs and tries to look like Sammy the All Knowing.  "There's something in the way you look at her.  I almost handed you a towel to wipe the drool from your chin last night.  But I wasn't absolutely certain of it until just now when you said "How'd you know" and looked so stunned.  Then I knew for sure.  So are you gonna ask her?"

Kel shrinks back a bit, and thinks to himself, fell for the oldest trick in the book.  He then shrugs, and shakes his head, losing the typical Kel-confidence, "I don't know.  I don't think, I'm...her, well type ya know."  He shrugs again, slumping back into the seat, Kel stares up at the ceiling as he continues speaking, "I'd say my chances of her saying yes are like...a million to one."

Sammy leans forward in sympathy and quietly says.  "Her loss, then, if she says no.  My mom says 'Nobody can tell you yes or no unless you ask first.'  But that's your business, not mine; all I want to know is if you are planning to go to Homecoming or not, in case you want to hang out with me and play hero instead.  Probably nothing will happen, and we'll wind up sitting on a cold dark rooftop for several hours freezing our costumes off while our friends make yearbook memories in the heated indoors, but hey! it could be the one thing that keeps the bad guys from winning.  Assuming the bad guys aren't just taking the night off and partying too."

After her first two sentences Kel is no longer listening, he stands up in a near triumphant pose, and smacks his fist down on the table, and starts to cry out, "You're!" he pauses to lower his voice, "right! I should go ask her out right now!"  He pushes the chair from his path and storms off in search of Megan.

Samantha waves feebly after Kel as he marches out of the library.  I've created a monster.  Guess I'll be freezing my butt off alone.  She comforts herself with the knowledge that she did NOT tell him to do anything, so whatever happens is entirely his own doing.  Tossing Emma aside, she gets up and wanders through the non-fiction stacks looking for any books on bees or beekeeping (just in case).

Colin grins. "It's just a beautiful day. This morning while I was going my paper route there was this spread low fog... It looked like swimming in a sea of clouds, I took some nice pics."

"Any news on the bees, T.J.? And do you think you could take me to the room in the basement where they came from? I mean, not through the air vent. Though....."

He lowers his voice hoping Sylvia can't hear him.

"Have you tried exploding while grabbing something else, like a chair?"

From the cheerleaders’ table, Megan glanced away as the current gossip update started to die down and over towards the Usual Suspect’s table.  They did not seem to be in much of a hurry to get moving on checking out the storage closet.  With the gossip update apparently done for the day, Megan figured she had some time to go see what she could do about trying to get ahold of a copy of the key, if nothing else, she could find someplace quite to look over the binders Colin had felt inclined to dump on her.  If she it had not been for the fact she could get though them in less than 20 minutes, she likely would have been really ticked off at having such a pile of reading pushed in front of her.

“Well I gotta go.”  She said, standing up and looking at the other girls.  “Need to copy these notes Colin gave me.  See you all later.”  She then headed off to find Lance, the football player she knew best, after Cal that is.

looking up from salt sculptures...

"Huh? Door? Yeah probably.

What's going on slash lead the way?"

Colin realizes that Seth probably missed what he said before.

"Do you remember the... incident involving Lisa Janusch and John Moxon. Megan and I would like to go after the jerk that set them up. I think he's the same one that took those photos in the girls changing room. Or maybe he's the one using love slime around. Anyway, we would like to take a look at the closet where they... where the incident happened, and since it will be certainly closed, we need you help to open the door."

He stands up and looks around for Megan, since he can't see her anymore at the cheerleaders table.

OOC: So at the moment Kel and I are looking for Megan, while Megan is looking for Lance. Let us know who finds who first. :)

"Im more than willing to try. When do you want to engage in this law-breaking?"

Seth said with a wry smile.

"I wouldn't call it law-breaking, it's just... aggressive journalism." Colin answered with a grin.

"I'd go as soon as we find Megan. Last time I saw her was with the other cheerleaders, but she's no longer there. Did you see her leave?"

While looking for a "bee" book, Sammy is distracted by a copy of How Things Work: The Physics of Everyday Life and takes that back to her chair instead.

Megan had not gotten far outside the lunch room when she found herself stopped at a group of other Freshman girls from rather well-off families that she had known through grade school.  They were asking about how she was handling Cal being gone, and if she had gotten a replacement date for Homecoming yet and a dozen other things.  Megan was smiles as she told them how she still missed Cal, but was ready to be moving on.  The thought that she would need to find a replacement date for Homecoming was a bit worrisome though, as Megan was sure that the really good choices in dates were starting to get very few and far between.

Colin & Seth went off in search of Megan when no one could tell them where she was.

They found her a few minutes later as she was just finishing up some conversation with some other girls. They waited out of sightline until she was finished and then approached.

"Hey Megan. I'm, uh, In. So to speak. I suppose we should get this show on the road."

After some brief conversation, they started towards the door. But Seth had been thinking, and avoinding thinking about something for awhile. Finally something uncharacteristic happened. Some little puzzle peice clicked into place in Seth's mind, and he did something forward, and a little risky. I.E. Uncharacteristic.

"Hey Colin, do you mind going ahead. We'll catch up. I have something i want to talk to Megan about. In private..."  He let his voice trail off, mostly so it didn't crack or something.

His stomach started to do flips, and it was entirely possible that his face was tinting green even as he waited for Colin to get out of sight. He straigtened his Guster concert T- shirt while Colin rounded the corner. Running his fingers through his hair, and tucking it behind his ears, so it stayed out of his face: "Hi."  And then he gave a sort of nervous laugh.

Megan had just finished talking with the girls and started off again when Seth and Colin caught up with her.  “Okay,” she replied to Seth’s comment about getting things going.  “I was going to try to find Lance, one of the football players to see if he could get me the key, but guess we can try this first.”

They had started towards the third floor Seth suddenly asked Colin to go on ahead so the two of them could talk.  Megan gave Seth a questioning look as Colin reluctantly continued onward.  It only took a glance at Seth’s nervousness for Megan to get a pretty good idea what he wanted to talk about.  “Hey.”  Though she was feeling a bit impatient about seeing what they could learn about who might be behind the incident with Lisa and John, she kept her tone gentle and a bit demure, though not showing any of the nervousness he was feeling.  “What is it you wanted to talk about?” 

Seth could feel his newfound nerve fading. He blundered through it anyway.

"I've never really done this before, and stop me if I screw it up or something. But, I would be really honored if you would go to the dance with me. That is if like a million people haven't asked you already. I mean.

I would still be honored if you would go with me if a million people had already asked you. More honored probably..."

Seth stopped himself. And continued before she could jumpin after quickly steeling himself from his babbiling.

"I'm going to start again. I know that a lot has been going on lately, and that it might be to soon or whatever, but. I would really like to take you to the dance.

In whatever capacity is most comfotable for you. Friend, Date, Whatever... I think we would have a lot of fun, and I would consider myself very lucky if you said yes. I understand if you don't anwer right away."
Seth blinked out the last awkardness from his eyes, and kind of bobbed his head a little. The hair fell out from behind his ear, and covered his left eye. He waited. The butterflies didn't.

Megan gave Seth a sweet smile as he began babbling through asking her to Homecoming.  Guys could get so flustered when asking a girl out at times, and while she might be quick to shoot some down, Seth was not one she would be so cold to.  While he might not be among her first choices for a date to Homecoming, he was pretty cute and she did know he already knew how to wear a tux as well, despite his current dress.

When he gave her a possible means of delaying answering, she almost took him up on that, but decided that would not be entirely fair, after all, he had been the first guy to work up the courage to ask her.  “I’d love to go with you to Homecoming Seth.  But as friends?  I know that is not uncommon these days, but really, might as well say we were cousins.”  She says with a grin. 

She then takes his arm and starts pulling him towards the direction Colin went. “Now, lets get moving on what we set out to do right now.  By the way, you are actually the first guy to get around to asking.” 

His heart rose to heights unparelled...


and then sank back down to earth. He kept a loopy grin on his face the entire time, because he was still extremely pleased.

"Ok. I'd really like that."  He thought about adding the awkward joke Kissing Cousins?...but thought qucikly better of it. He was going to show her a perfect night, planned down to the last detail. Friends was a good place to start, because they allready kinda knew each other.

Seth has seen her dressed up a few times and he knew she was beautiful, had heard her smoozing friends of her fathers, and knew that she bright and witty and charming. He knew that there was no one he would rather spend a night dancing with. Which was why he was surprised he had even asked her. It was almost like he had worked on autopilot. Glad someone was up there looking out for his best interests.


Seth's arm felt a little tingle when she grabbed his arm, and then he was off. "Really. I'm sure there are other people thinking about it. I may have to lay low for a while." Laugh.

"So where exactly are we going? Cause I really don't know."

“Well, if others were thinking about it, their mistake for waiting.”  She replied.  At he question, she looked at him with a sly grin.  “The storage closet the football team uses as a makeout spot.”

She let that thought stick in his mind a second, before she made sure he understood that was not what they were going there for.  “Its where Lisa and John were the other day when their little, ‘encounter’ was broadcast through the entire school.  We are going to see what Colin might be able learn about whoever set them up.”

Rounding the corner, the caught back up with Colin and Megan slowed down, releasing Seth’s arm.

More uncharcteristic nerve flooded through him right before they rounded the corner...

"So what you're saying is I have to give up my musician dreams, and join the football team...Got it."

Then they rounded the corner and Seth felt her hand drop away...

"Hey Colin. Thanks for running ahead.

Should we do this thing?

Colin Waited by the closet's door. He thinks he saw Megan grabbing Seth's arm for a moment, but he isn't sure, so he just feels really awkward, and avoids looking at them directly.

"Well... it should be this one Seth, and it is locked. Give it a look, please." he says, staring intently at something outside a window.

Megan stops in front of the door as she looks around the hallway.  "Shouldn't we make sure no one is around or coming down any hall before we go breaking into the Football teams' makeout spot?"  She asked as she started down one direction in the hallway to check that it was clear. 

"Uh... Yes, that too." Colin admits as he goes take a look in the direction opposite Megan.

Sarah turns to her lunch bag and finds it to be incredibly light.  She tips it out and a couple of empty bags and a slice of cucumber falls out.  The cucumber has a small reptilian looking footprint on it but is otherwise unharmed.  Sarah looks in Donnie's direction.  "I guess I should go try and keep Colin out of trouble." 

She wads up the leftovers and buys a small box of cereal on her way out. 

Sarah hurries to catch up with Colin, Seth and hopefully Megan with a key. 

Donnie returns to the table, whistling. "Boy that line was awful. Took me forever to get my food." He slides over a veggie plate between he and Sylvia, and munches on a carrot, looking at Sarah hurrying out of the cafeteria. "Did I miss something?"

After Megan returned with the all clear, Seth moved to the door. Running his hand against it, and settiling on the knob he tried opening the door the old fashioned way.

It didn't open. It barely budged.

"Let me try something. I want to see if i can unlock it from the outside first. Failing that, I may knock a little harder."

Seth tried to push his mind out, he imagined where the latch would be. He's seen all the doors in the school, so he had like three places to try. He unlatched every place with his mind...hoping....

---

Try to TK the actual door lock.

OOC: Make a Dex Check with a DC of 13 to unlock the door with your TK.

Dex Check (1d20+1=8) (http://invisiblecastle.com/find.py?id=746280)

A small click can be heard...but not a full throwing of the bolt.

"I think I can do this. Let me try one more time...."

---

Is it possible for me to take a 20, even knowing it will take a minute or two?

OOC: Yes.  I'll need a Fate Roll from you though.

Colin notices someone coming in their direction, and is about to gesture Seth to let it go, when he realizes it's Sarah.

"Hey, glad you joined us. Megan and I are looking out while Seth works his magic."

He considers for a moment telling her something about Megan and Seth, but in the end he figures Megan will probably tell her about it anyway.

"The coast to this side is clear, Seth. Just don't do anything too loud."

Megan frowns as whatever it was Colin though Seth could do didn’t seem to be working very well.  “Well, try not to take too long.”  She says as she heads back down the hallway towards the corner she had checked to make sure no one was coming now, not knowing how long it might now take. 

"They're going to check out the make-out closet where those pictures of Lisa were taken.  Want to go?" Sylvia says coyly.

Fate Roll unlock door. (1d20=2) (http://invisiblecastle.com/find.py?id=746386)

Donnie grins. "Is it going to be a group effort or what?" He swallows the last bit of carrot and takes a swig of coca-cola, then clears his throat. Seeing how they darn near had the table to themselves except for Greg and Dave, he turns to Sylvia, blushing slightly. "Hey uh, Sylvia. Would you like to, uhh, go to the dance with me?"  he says quietly, a serious look on his face.

Sylvia blinks.  She thought that was a done deal, but hey, at least now she can say that he asked her.  "Absolutely," she says with the gravity of someone entering into a contract written in blood.  He's now bound to take her to the dance, or he forfeits his immortal soul . . . and a corsage.

Donnie's big goofy grin returns. "Great!"  He takes a bite of tunafish sammich, after adding an appropriate number of potato chips under the wilted lettuce.

Sylvia's nibbling on whatever crazy thing her mother's given her today and glances in the direction that Colin, Sarah, and Seth went.  "I guess they'll be okay, you think?  No one will be waiting to ambush them in the make-out closet?"

There are no interruptions and Seth manages to pop the lock and open the door with a little mental groping.

The room is a storage closet.  It's walls are lined with shelves and based on the footage that was streamed over the schools video system it's not hard to find the camera tucked up in a corner peaking out through a whole in the ceiling tile.

Sarah joins up just in time for the not very mysterious camera to be revealed.  "Still powered up?"

Megan is glad to see the halls are still empty as she glances back to see Sarah with Colin and Seth at the door as it gets open.  She shakes her head at the fact that no one was now watching the other direction.  Moving at a quick pace, she walks back towards the closet and says, “well, find what you can, I’ll keep an eye out here.”  Last thing she wanted was for all them to be seen coming out of that closet together, it would likely lead to a considerable amount of gossip, and gossip she would rather not have going around about her.

An examination of the camera shows that it's a wireless battery powered type that seems to have been modified.  It's currently off, but it looks like some of the modified components that are attached to it are still on.

Sarah offers, "I think we should leave it.  Put it back just the way it was and get someone more technical to take a look at it.  Maybe find out where it's broadcasting to.  Somebody might have a laptop hidden around the school thats taking info from a whole slew of little cameras." 

"It's still here?!"

Colin can't believe it.

"They suspended Lisa and John, but didn't even bother checking how they ended up on every room's monitor, or looking for who breached their security and broadcasted them to the whole school? Is this is the principal's idea of justice?"

He moves a crate and climbs on top of it to reach the camera.

"Let's see if I can at least pick anything out of it."

He closes his eyes, shush his thoughts, and closes his hands around the camera.

Colin's vision narrows to a pinpoint and then slowly expands outwards.  He's climbing up to put the camera into the space and put the tile back in place.

"How's this look?"  he asks.

"Excellent."  A voice from behind him says.  "What did Landis do with the other one?"

Colin is adjusting the camera slightly, "It's in his office.  I'm hoping to get some good audio from it later this week."

"So the head cheerleader and football quarterback.  Who'll be the next victim of the Candid Camera?"

"It's not important.  These people think they can do anything they want because they're popular.  It's time they learn that popularity is no substitute for having good values and common sense."

The vision fades and Colin is back in the room with Sarah and Seth.

Colin shakes his head clear, then steps down the crate and sits on it.

"I got something. But I'm not sure I understand it."

He gets up and gets out of the closet, so he can talk with Megan too. He explains his friends what he has seen and heard.

"Do you think the principal knows about this, or he just confiscated for some reason the other camera, that unbeknown to him is still working? And how is "good values and common sense" what they did to Lisa? It looks like I was wrong this may have nothing to do with the photos after all."

He scratches his head for a moment.

"Do you think I should tell him?"

Megan listens to what Colin learned once he emerged again.  She feels her face get a bit red with anger at what she heard.  When Colin asks them what the little incident had to do with “good values and common sense” she angrily replied.  “It has nothing to do with that.  It is a bunch of hypocritical crap.  They totally invaded Lisa and John’s privacy, regardless of how inappropriate what they did was.  If nothing else, they are both at least at the age of consent, unlike probably half the other kids at this school who are having sex.  Two wrongs do not make a right.  They are probably just bitter because Lisa wouldn’t give them the time of day.”

Calming herself down a bit, she thinks about what Colin said regarding Principle Landis.  “From what they said, it sounds as if he confiscated another camera and it is still working, thus why they mentioned an ‘audio’, probably in a drawer.  As for telling him, how would you explain what you learned?”

Colin makes a face as if he isn't sure he actually sees the problem.
"The principal knows I have... talents. Kinda. I'm not sure he really believed me last time. But if I'm good enough for the PCD, why shouldn't I be good enough for Mr. Landis? If I really have to, I'll have Chris or Inspector Kiernan give him a call. Besides, I'm on the newspaper stuff. I could tell him that this is the result of our investigations and I have to protect my sources.
I'd like to try, because if I could touch the other camera maybe I could pick some more info. Right now, I only have their voices. It's hardly enough to find them."

Megan was a bit surprised to hear Colin had let the principle know about his powers.  She remembered the fact the witches had attacked him, Donnie and Kel at school.  Last thing she wanted was for people to start learning who she was beyond the small group that she had let know.   â€œWell, then I guess you should go tell him.  Just don’t mention me please.” 

Megan sighs.  “I was thinking about going to check on Lisa tonight, I’ll see if she knows of anyone in particular that might have wanted to try and get back at her or John, but not sure that will be that helpful.  I’ll try to get those binders back to you by the end of the day Colin.”  Taking out a piece of paper, she wrote her cell number on it and handed it to Seth.  “Here, I’ll be home late tonight, but we should talk about stuff for Homecoming.”  She said with a smile and then started off away from the closet.

When Megan is a fair distance down from the closet, she nearly gets run over by Kel who seems to be at a full run.  He looks at her, and stops, then tries to collect his breath, he stands there panting for several moments before he says, "Megan! Finally, I've been looking everywhere for you.  There's something important I need to ask you."  He spends the next few moments continuing to catch his breath as he stands there, head glistening with sweat.

Megan stops suddenly to avoid being run over by Kel as she looks up at him.  “Oh, hey Kel.”  She says, somewhat surprised by his appearance.  “You were looking for me?”  She asks.  “What is it you wanted to ask?”  Though as she said the words, she felt a slight chill that she knew what the question would be.

Kel looks her in the eye, and takes a deep breath, "Well, with Homecoming happening real soon.  And well, I don't mean to really impose, especially after you've broken up with Cal so recently just..."  He takes another deep breath, "I was wondering if you'd allow me the honor of going to the dance with you?"  He tries to smile, then decides against it, creating a sort of rogue-ish smirk on his face as he waits for Megan's reaction.

Oh great, was afraid it would be that.  Megan thought.  She gives Kel a little smile as she replies.  “That’s really sweet Kel, I would, but I have already agreed to go with Seth.  Sorry.”  She gives him a sympathetic look.  “But we could always go catch a movie or something sometime though.  If you wanted.”  She adds quickly. 

Kel nods, and just says, "Yea...that'd be uh...Great, totally, see ya at ummm...practice."  He walks off and nearly trips into a bathroom.  Kel just stares at himself in the mirror, and contemplates things and after a few moments he just lets out a raw scream of "F****CKKKKK!!!!!!"

"I won't mention anyone. Don't worry about it. I... should probably go alone. He knows I'm weird, no reason to let him think anyone else is too."


Colin just smiles at Seth and says nothing. He takes of a moment Sarah's hand and gives it a squeeze, then he goes to the Principal's office. He goes over to administration and asks "Is Mr. Landis in? I'd have to talk with him for a moment."

Megan watched Kel as he took off, realizing that was clearly not the answer he was hoping for.  “Yeah, maybe Seth should lay low for a bit.”  She said quietly.  It was not her fault that Seth had asked first, she did mean what she had said to Kel about going to a movie.  After being helped along into the relationship with Cal, while it had been nice, she was feeling like getting a better idea of what sort of guy she really liked.  While she was not about to go out with just any guy, she did want to see about dating more than just football players.  Kel was probably about as far away from that as she was wanting to go. Sighing, she continued on her way back to her locker to get ready for her next class.

OOC: To make it easier I'll just assume Colin gives Mr. Landis the low down on the camera in the closet.  Principal Landisd explains that he confiscated the one that was used to catch Lisa and John, so this one is new.  He send one of the janitors to go get it and change the lock on the closet.  He also thanks Colin for the heads up about the one he confiscated and says he'll send it to Mr. Heep to see if he can discover anything useful about it.

OOC: That's ok for me. Then I guess that to investigate further on the first camera, we'll have to look for Mr. Heep tomorrow.

Colin returns to the lunch room. He's really hungry now, so he explains people at the table what the principal said in the brief pauses while devouring his sandwiches.

"Dave, you know nearly everyone around here. Who do you think would do such a thing to get at the popular students?"

"I'll put some feelers out.  There are a few guys I know that would be of a mind to.  We just have to find the right ones."