groovygamers.com

With warmer weather some of the upper classmen have left the cafeteria for outside.  Dave, Greg, and Rob on the other hand have kept to the Usual Suspects table.

Sylvia sits next to Rob, chatting idly about the MacGyver marathon they've been chewing through on DVD.  "But see, you can't have just one brand of duct tape.  They all have different properties.  Like, super-tack duct tape?  Not so good when you're rigging a trigger-operated trap."

As she speaks, she nudges a pencil out from under the lunch table with her shoe, into traffic, and two guys from the basketball team veer off their courses from fifteen feet away to fetch it.  They bonk heads bending over.  Sylvia winces.  "Ooh, sorry."

Sammy's longing gaze out the window at the inviting spring weather is interrupted by the end of class bell.  She sighs heavily and reluctantly trudges off in the direction of the cafeteria.

When she gets there, she plonks her belongings down on the chair next to the one Sylvia is almost definitely saving for Donnie.  "Hey," she says.  "How's it going?"

"A-okay," Sylvia says, but there's a little bit of regret, and boredom, in her tone.  "Code green.  Nothing to see here.  Move along, citizen."

She brightens.  "Got plans for the week?  Now that the concert's over, you don't have rehearsals, right?  Going out?  Seeing the boys?"

Murmurs of "Good."  come from the guys.

After the pencil is returned to Sylvia and the boys head off rob leans into her shoulder and smiles.  "Little things."  he says, then straightens up, "Yeah, but you have to assume that Duck brand is generic enough to serve like ninety percent of your needs though."

Elrod and Nick make a pass by the table.  Elrod kisses her neck, "I need to finish this college entrance essay thing.  Dinner Friday night, maybe some live music and dancing?"

Nick kisses her cheek.  "Have to cancel Saturday.  It's a thing." he waves dismissively, "Can we do Sunday instead or is it too far to fly and get back if you have to go to school the next day?"

Sammy murmurs her assent to both sets of plans, reassuring Nick that flying there and back again won't be too difficult.  When they have each stopped and gone, she shrugs her shoulders at Sylvia.  "Now you're as up to date on my plans as I am."

"Donnie has to work on a paper on Sunday, and there's a game Friday.  Saturday--"  Sylvia strokes her jaw like a pulp villain.  "Saturday I'm turning to a life of crime.  Evil is slacking.  Good is bored.

"Hey, Saturday you wanna do miniature golf or something?"

Sammy nods and smiles affably.  "Sure.  Local golf, or would you like to go somewhere?"

"That depends," Sylvia says.  "How are things with you and Alicia these days?"

Sammy stops unwrapping her sandwich.  "I dunno.  Ask her. But your answer leads me to believe you would rather do it closer to home?  You didn't jump up and squeal "Ooh, San Francisco" when you were offered a free ticket to anywhere."

Alicia stalks into the cafeteria, defining the meaning of the term. On the way, she stops at a table where a few of the remaining upperclassmen who haven't left for brighter ground are sitting, and converses shortly with one of the boys, to his obvious discomfort.

Her business done, she glides the rest of the way to the US table and nods to the group as she takes a seat. "Hey."

"If it's just us, why stop at San Francisco?  They have mini golf in Paris, right?  But if it's a small crowd, transportation will be more of an issue."  That's the pragmatic answer Sylvia gives Sammy, but really she was just sussing out the situation at the lunch table.  Things have been different since she got back from Arizona with Colin and whoever else went.  She's been nicer to Alicia, for instance--ridiculously patient, even--and training harder, even though things have been quiet.

"Do you just sort of head out at random?" she asks.  "No travel plans?  Like, is there something you want to see that you've never seen?"


"Hey," Sylvia says, giving Alicia a casual glance that's really a status check.  Blood?  Bruises?  Mood?

Alicia looks... sharper. She's not aloof, but a bit distracted, her mind churning through planned scenarios involving someone deserving getting hurt. The dark river that is her mind is running smoothly, but no less dark and rapid.

"Planning a trip there, Sam?" she says casually, extracting her lunch from her bag.

"San Francisco is doable in a day.  Paris is not, and its on the other side of an ocean which I may or may not be able to cross on my own.  But yeah, I'd like to see Paris.  And Rome.  And London. And Sydney, and Mount Kilimanjaro...  Someday, I will.  For now, the magic game spinner points my way, and I stop if I hit ocean or international borders.  Or if something below catches my interest enough to make me want to check it out."  She resumes unwrapping her food.


"That's up to Sylvia," Sammy responds.

Sylvia has the feeling that, if she lets this continue, she's going to be the Berlin wall--hated on both sides and covered in graffiti and bullet holes.  "It might be too rainy this weekend for golf here in Chicago, but I'm game for anything.  I just want to get out and have some fun."

There.  Buck passed.  Sylvia rolls her pencil out into the aisle again, and a couple of soccer players provide the girls with a display of etched hamstrings and curvaceous gastrocnemii.

Colin arrives, noticing the pencil scene, and gives Sylvia a look. He looks thoughtful. He's been for quite a while.


Almost absent-mindedly he asks "Sammy, have you ever tried hitting a jet stream?"

The pencil is returned with smiles, and both boys wave as they depart the table, parting to go around John as he approaches.  "Hey."  he says with a wave as he sits down.  It's spring like, so he's stopped wearing the jacket that he wears when it's cold and is just in his traditional blue t-shirt and jeans look.  He digs his lunch out of it's bag, along with a few power bars, and begins to eat.

Sammy smiles and her eyes are suddenly cloaked by half lowered lashes.  "Pssst," she whispers to the closer one.  "You have lint or something on the back of your shorts.  Right there. Want me to wipe it off?"  She reaches out and pats very gently at the non-existant lint.  "There.  You're good."  She wiggles her fingers bye-bye at the nice, sturdy, healthy athlete.


"Over land, yes.  Not over the ocean.  That's what you're talking about, right?  It makes things easier."

Sammy nods at John but doesn't say anything when he shows up.

Sylvia smiles at Colin, but as John sits beside them, a little flash of dread shows on her face.  Oh, Jesus.  She has to get out of here before the A-is-for-angst-bomb goes off.  "Pardon me, guys.  I have to talk to Cleo."

Sarah strolls into lunch with a smile.  She waves at Sylvia as she gets up to head off somewhere. 
"Hey all."  
She curls up against Colin, kisses his neck and breathes him in before hopping over to pick a seat.
Yep that's me hooked on Crow. 

"How goes the daily struggle?"

Sammy smiles and nods at Sarah, and continues to quietly eat her lunch.

Sylvia waves back, and with her back to the lunch table she's making faces at Sarah meant to convey, 'Danger!  Danger!  Walk--don't run--to the nearest emergency exit!'  She picks up her pace to join the freshman cheerleaders (trapped inside), makes a show of asking them where Cleo is, and then waltzes out into the yard, fearless of the administration's impotent requests.

Laney drifts in and settles beside John, smiling in greeting to those at the table and immediately unpacking her lunch: a red apple, a thin slice of yogurt cheese, and eight saltine crackers - precisely the same thing she’s brought since her second day at school, every day but one.

Sarah looks confused but then holds up her hand in the 'call me' gesture before pointing to her temple. 

As a courtesy to the other mentalist, Sylvia gives Sarah the telepathic playsheet.

(http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_o2majYVo0Kc/Sl4wB7d5OGI/AAAAAAAABKg/buqosh3Iq2A/s400/rect4800.png)

Sammy deliberately chews a bite of her sandwich, making sure to fully grind it before swallowing.

She then pastes on a smile (it doesn't go all the way to her eyes) and says in a perky, cheerful voice "So! I think Sarah and I might travel faster together than you, John.  I took her up high where she could see really far, and we made it all the way from here to Fort Lauderdale in [some ungodly fast amount of time.]  We got back even faster once we figured out how fast I could be moving while she simultaneously thwpped us through the sky."

Sarah's response is :   

???
very confusing. 
thanks for chart & heads up. 
gonna daydream bout Colin now.  :-* 
catch ya later. 

.... oh dear.  Sammy's got dain bramage.  must go. 

Back at the table..

Sarah blinks at Sammy, glances over at John  and says, "um" before slouching and hiding behind a cookie. 

John smiles, "Cool.  Now that the weather is warming up guys can really get a chance to explore some."

Sammy nods in agreement. "Sure.  I think Sarah's going to be faster than that all by herself once she figures out how to go where she can't see with her eyes." Sammy resumes eating her sandwich.

Donnie walks into teh cafeteria, shoulders slumped and hollow-eyed. He waves nonchalantly at the US crew before heading to the lunchline. A long wait later he comes back to the table, his tray full of pre-Sylvia quality food: two cokes, two slices of pizza, and a basket of fries.

He collapses into an open chair and begins eating.

Sammy bumps him with her foot and whispers,  "You ok?"

"She can go places she can't see. With her eyes.  Wrong word to use. See.  It's a finite space.  The planet, I mean.  I think, after time, she'd be able to avoid constructs."  Laney glances up, smiling mildly past Sammy.  When she turns towards Sarah, however, she focuses sharply on the girl's face.  "Have you ever tried?  You might not be able to do yourself harm.  Hi, Donnie.  Pesky instincts.  Did you see dolphins?"

Donnie nods, swallowing a bite of pizza. "This term paper is kicking my ass. I pushed it off too long and it's due on Monday. History is cool, but Mr Scherman is making me do 10 pages more on my term paper than the rest of the class. I aced the last three exams and the bastard thinks I somehow cheated, so he's making me do extra work on my exam, because as he says 'Donald, you obviously have little trouble with history, so I think I need to challenge you more.' Bastard. So I have a thirty page frikkin paper to finish, and I needed a little food-pleasure to get my mind off of it."

He smiles and takes a bite of pizza, followed by a few fries liberally coverd in ketchup. "Jack will work this off of me next week, since I'm taking this week off to work on the paper."

Colin looks up. "Wait. He said almost the same thing to me. It didn't occur to me that he could suspect me of cheating. Is it because we hang together? He thinks one of us unfairly favors the other? That's quite preposterous. I should talk to him about that that, if you think that's the case. Or send my mother."

"Poor Donnie," Sammy sympathizes.  "History, then more history with Jack.  It never ends, does it?"  She bumps him again with her foot.  "Want me to go chase down Sylvia to come back and give you a nice neck rub?  She's outside with the upperclassmen.  Said she had to talk to somebody."


Sammy squints.  "Or maybe he's got something against the two of you that has nothing to do with history class."  She laughs melodiously. "Maybe he's the Love Goo guy and you've ruined all his plans.  Want me to go check him out?"

Alicia shrugs with disinterest. "Okay." Sylvia can hear her mental sigh of resignation.


Alicia chortles at the exhibition.


Alicia catches the look. "What's the matter, Colin," she sweetly. "The estrogen level on the table getting to be too much for you?" She bats her eyes innocently.


Alicia covers her mouth to hide the giggle trying to escape.


Alicia fixes a stare at Sylvia. The message in her mind comes through clearly. Chicken.


Alicia nibbles on her sandwich. "See? There's a good reason not to excel in History. When you're #3, you don't have to try at all. I mean, these days the teach's happy if I actually stay awake the whole class."


Alicia's sandwich must be extremely delicious since she's focusing so much of her attention to eating it.

Donnie furrows his brow at Colin. "hmm. I just thought he was mad at me for acing the tests. Did you ace them too?"

At Sammy's question, Donnie shakes his head vigorously. "Nooo. Sylvia would look at my tray and raise one delicate eyebrow in disapproval, and my enjoyment of this would be ruined."

Sammy frowns.  "She shouldn't do that.  I know, its because she cares, but you're using food as an escape, for comfort.  If she wants you to stop doing that, she ought to trade you something at least equally pleasurable for that forfeited pleasure.  Like a neck rub.  Its only fair."  She puts her food down and opens her arms wide.  "I know I'm not her and I'm probably risking my life here, but -- Want a big hug?"

Now this was immensely more interesting. Alicia looks on like a rubbernecker at a car wreck.

Donnie smiles tiredly. "Certainly! Anything to keep you from flying away again."

Donnie hugs Sammy.

As she wraps her amrs around his shoulders he says "Just don't grab my butt while we're embracing, because Greg will get jealous. He's always resisting grabbing my buttocks."

Alicia snorts a laugh. Yes, she actually snorts a laugh.

She looks seriously surprised at this and claps her hands over her mouth in total horror. She can see her cool cred augering into a death spiral right in front of her eyes.

"OK.  But you can grab mine if you want, even if it makes Greg turn purple from watching."  She looks at him.  "You still look sad.  And tired.  I need to try harder."  She slides onto his lap so that she's straddling him in his chair and snugly squeezes his whole torso.  "Almost as good as pizza yet?"  She flips her hair out of the way and looks over her shoulder.  "If you're jealous Greg, let me know.  I can move over and make room for you here too."

Alicia witnesses Sammy's act with two raised eyebrows. Well at least no one's going to have notice my foe-pah. Saved by the Belle, so to speak.

"Not that I want to break up the lovely scene," Alicia says in a conversational voice, "But you are way beyond the PDA threshold. Trust me, I know. And you're exactly two seconds away from having the hall monitor have an infarction. Just sayin'."

Sammy rolls her eyes.  "Yesss, Muh-ther! Jeez!  I'm not doing anything you haven't done a hundred times more, or a thousand times louder!  Gawd!"  She slides off Donnie's lap. "Enjoy your pizza.  I have a piece of chocolate cake in my bag; you can have that too."  She retrieves the cake and pushes it at him.  "Sorry Donnie.  I tried, but it isn't working.  Sorry."

Mmm good cookies.  Cookies don't confuse me.  Cookies don't climb into the laps of friends boyfriends and act all slutty.  Nope.  Not you cookies.  And until the world makes sense again you are my bestest friend.  Omnomnom

She is amused by the familiarity of a pattern.  Jack and history, the third and the three, time and twenty-five, Scherman and...  

Laney isn't disturbed that her words were washed over by her friends' conversation, like a sand castle against the tide.   She does, however, lose her concentration, and her gaze slips away from Sarah.  Far away.  Her hands lower to rest in her lap, still holding her half-eaten apple.

Donnie is kind of stunned by Sammy straddling him and for a moment, his hands hesitated around her, as if he were thinking of grabbing her behind. He embraces her, if a bit hesitantly.


Alicia speaks up, amazingly the voice of reason for once, and Sammy slides off his lap.

Typical of Donnie, he's blushing like mad and mumbles his thanks. His heartbeat is raised, and as he grabs his can of coke, his hand shakes a little from the sudden surge of endorphins and adrenaline. He reaches for a cookie, and his hand brushes Sarah's. He quirks his head and looks at her strangely. "Sarah, why do you feel all magicky?"

Angry, frustrated, and embarrassed, Sammy starts grumbling and mumbling to herself.  "Try to do something funny, try to make somebody laugh and feel better, and it doesn't work.  Nobody gets it.  Just Sammy being a big old Ho again.  Why do I even frikken bother.  Not like it matters anyhow.  I give up."

She gathers her stuff.  "May I be dismissed, Mother Superior?  I need to pick up some sheet music to learn for the graduation ceremonies."

Sarah blinks.  "Me?  Magicky?  I just have a sparkly personality is all."  

She looks to the grumbling Sammy and wonders if she can diffuse the bomb.  "Hey Sam can I walk with you for a little bit?"

She hasn't left yet.  "I can't stop you," Sammy says.  She looks apologetically at the other girl.  "I'm not mad at you.  I like you.  I don't like feeling sad or angry or stupid all the time, and lately, that's all I feel when I'm here.  The simplest thing to do is walk away before I do something even stupider, or feel more angry or much sadder, because as hard as I try to let the bad feelings go, that frown ain't turning itself upside down."

Donnie blinks at Sammy's outburst and laughs, not realizing she was serious. When she gets up and bolts, Donnie sighs. Dammit.

He waves at the rest of the US and gathers his stuff to trot after Sammy and Sarah. He tosses the unopened can of coke to Rob and takes the last piece of pizza and folds it in half, New York style as he tries to catch up wit the girls.

"Hey guys, wait up!"

Sarah heads off with Sammy and nods.  "Okay.  I get that.  I mean, I totally bailed on you all back in February.  I don't do the winter thing well."  She smiles the small content smile she's been often wearing since late February.  Maybe all she needs is a fresh coat of paint?  
"I'd like to listen if you want to talk... plus this gave me an excuse to dodge that magicky comment from Donnie.  I mean, if Colin wants to explain that one to the boys... and Alicia, at the table that's okay with me but I'm not brave enough."


"Aww crap.  Did he hear me?" she asks Sammy in a whisper.
Louder she says, "Hey D."

"Probably," says Sammy.  "But you can still choose to let Colin explain it, or not explain it at all.  It is what it is."  She turns and looks at Donnie.  "Go back and eat your pizza." She says resignedly.  "Just because I'm Queen Stupid of Imbecile Land doesn't mean you have to listen to me.  At all.  Ever."

"Sammy, it was just unexpected. Sorry if I reacted like a hormonal fourteen year old when an attractive girl slides into my lap. Oh, wait. I am a hormonal fourteen year old."  He grins a goofy grin. "It worked, see? I'm smiling. Now, if we can do something about chocolate cake while you're straddling me.."  He waggles his eyebrows in his best Nick impression.

"So Sarah, why are you a-glitter with magic? I didn't notice anything until we accidentally brushed hands going fro the cookies."

He takes a bite of pizza as he walks with the girls.

"Nice try," Sammy mutters.

"Magic cookies?" she offers by way of weak explanation.  "It's those Keebler elves.  Or maybe the transfats."
She sighs and says, "It's no big deal.  Colin just did a little magic for me to help me get through the cold months without feeling so bummed all the time."

Donnie bobs his head. "Okay, cool. I just wanted to make sure it was something voluntary and not an evil spell. Watch out for crones and ruby red apples."

Donnie takes a couple more bites of pizza and veers off, tossing the crust into a nearby garbage can. "Got to get back to the grindstone. Later!

"Isn't it a bit in bad taste, like abusing the mentally challenged? When she tried it on me, I resisted."

He seems to realize what he just said a moment too late.

"Please don't assume anything." he tries, wincing.


"A thirty-page assignment is hardly going to break my back."


Colin shrugs apologetically. "History's one of my best subjects. My mom teaches it, she wouldn't accept any less."


Here Colin makes such an effort at not having a reaction it's almost screaming he's got something to hide.


After Sammy, Sarah and Donnie are gone (Colin makes vague gestures to Sarah implying he'll call her) he turns to Alicia.

"Allie, what's wrong exactly between you and Sammy?"

OOC: Damn you all! The one night I figure I'll be good and go to bed at a reasonable time and you guys go off! Sheesh!


Alicia sports an ornithophagous feline look. "Too late."


Alicia gives Sammy the "Excuse me?" look. "At least I have the sense of doing it where I know I won't get caught and with the one I'm supposed to be doing it to."


Alicia's eyes blaze, even through her shades. Tossing her sandwich on the table, she says tightly, "I'm not your mother. And neither are you."

She stares at Sammy's retreating back, the tension leaking out of her like water from a broken vase.


Alicia looks at Colin, pointedly not glancing at either John or Laney. "Is that something you want to discuss here?" she says levelly.

Laney smiles at nothing in particular.   

"I hope she learns to appreciate it.   She has a history of pulling out at the last second; I've seen it before.  What does she know about magicky history?   If it's a hormonal problem, it can probably be managed with medication, worst case surgery, can't it?  It's hard when you have a problem and everyone can see.  At least, you're trying to help, Alicia.  That's something.  That seems excessive, doesn't it?  Thirty."

Alicia just fixes her gaze on Colin, lifting an eyebrow as the only acknowledgment at Laney's rant.

Sammy flinches like she's been slapped.  She doesn't say anything.

Sammy musters a weak "Bye."

Laney looks up at Alicia and adamantly pushes on, taking her silence for disbelief

“I’m serious, Alicia!  You weren’t at the rehearsals.  We can see everything from up there.   I’m sure what some kids say bothers her.  Her friends love and forgive her, but does she know that?  I’ve been trying to make sure she does, but…   She didn’t give up on me.  It’s the least I can do, right?”

John reaches up and puts a hand on Laney's shoulder.  "Better not.  There's a good chance it wont end the way you want."

OOC: I'm waiting to give poor Doc a chance to chime in. I know how it feels to be left out of a conversation 'cause you're not at the machine while it's happening. ;)

Sammy waits until there's a good distance between her and Donnie, then says to Sarah "That was nice of him to make sure you were okay."  She starts moving again in the general direction of the music rooms.

"Yeah.  It was," she agrees.  "Plus it was magic so bee to honey y'know?  It's like pulling out a new gadget in front of the geek crowd.  Only problem is that my gadget is sort of NSFW  er I guess here it's NSFS."

Sammy smiles a little.  "You handled it okay.  All he needed to know is that Colin gave you some magic.  And I mean that in the safest safe-for-school context possible."  She looks sidelong at Sarah.  "Why are you walking here, now?  You'd be a whole lot happier back there snuggled up with the light of your life."  That's not said in a 'poor me' voice.  It's very matter-of-fact.

*snrk*  *cough* "I'll try and take it in that context."  *snrk*  Her eyes light up with merriment because she is classy like that.


"I get plenty of snuggling.  I can be away from my boy from time to time without going into shock.  Part of it was Donnie's curiosity.  I used your getting up as an excuse to jet for a little bit.  Plus you seem kinda all over the map today.  I know you famous actor types can be a little high strung but I just wanted to double check.  Y'know, make sure you had the right bottled water in your trailer, that sort of thing." 

"Oh." Sammy waves her hand dismissively in front of her.  "My trailer's fine.  And I'm not a famous actor type; that would be Nick.  I'm just a walking talking stage prop for his genius."  She keeps walking.  "As you should have been able to tell from my earlier performance.  I was just trying to cheer up Donnie.  If I wanted him that bad, I wouldn't have crawled all over him in public, especially not where Sylvia could walk back in any minute.  And I wouldn't have invited Greg to sit on his lap too; I suppose everybody missed the joke about him grabbing Donnie's butt and thought I was making a Sammy sandwich, huh?  I wasn't.  Then Miss High and Mighty I'm So Responsible Now got started; you know, people who have Reformed from something can be extremely irritating; they can only get more irritating when they are Reformed and then start Proselytizing."  She sighs.  "Its easier to just be somewhere else."

"Wherever you prefer. News room?"


This time Colin's universal translator seems to fail, and he seems very confused.

"Laney, who are you talking about?"


This makes him regain some bearings.

"Not exactly. John's right. Sympathy's not going to help her."

Alicia nods curtly. "Sure. It beats the boys' restroom." She leaves it at that.

Without another word, she gets up and heads out.

OOC: Feel free to start a thread for this and for the continued Sammy and Sarah talk if you like.

"I'm not inclined to worry about the odds against me, John.  If I was, I wouldn't get out of bed in the morning..."  She meant to say something else; but when Laney looked up she lost the words, somewhere between his hand on her shoulder and his eyes.

"Then let me say it another way.  Let her be."  John goes back to his lunch, staring at the table intently, as though he might be able to stare through it.

Laney frowns slightly, unable not to follow John’s stare.  She tries to see what’s so fascinating about the table, and after a minute she does.

Sarah wanders back in and sits down next to Dave.  She fishes out her sandwich and starts quickly munching.  "Did I miss anything?"

Spotting Laney gazing intensely at the table she just doesn't ask.  Weird girl.  Luna Lovegood weird but really nice.  I hope she figures herself out. 

To Alicia from Samantha:

going somewhere quiet to do homework.  Hair doesnt look too bad.  Hand burns still sting a little.  You ok?


=*=*=*=

Nick and Elrod get individual I am at location X doing homework messages.

Today is a salad day for Sarah so watch out evil doers.  No cookies mean life will go badly for you all!

Having discovered that once again teleporting does not seem to burn calories the same way that a four mile run will Sarah has reduced her sandwich and sugar intake for the day and in theory for the month but promises like that don't ever last very long. 

School is almost over!  Summer vacation.  I don't even know what to do with myself.  Is trouble going to take the summer off as well?  I really hope so.  I want to head up to Canada with Sammy if she's willing.  Maybe we'll walk across the border and get our passports stamped just in case.  I'd hate to get carted home twice in one year. 

She munches a salad, lost in thoughts of travel and adventure of the non lethal variety. 

Alicia stands outside the cafeteria in a secure spot, typying:


im ok. let me kno if u need company, pls?


With a deep breath to center herself, Alicia strides to the door and makes her entrance.

Her hair is cut short enough to make her look like Demi Moore's stunt double from G.I. Jane. She's sporting a long-sleeved hoodie over her regular T-shirt. At least her shades hide her still blood-shot eyes.

She makes her way to the US table, ignoring the reactions around her. A trio of boys whisper among themselves, stealing looks at her as one of them sniggers. Alica tilts her head slightly and a dangerous smile graces her mouth.

Without slowing, Alicia detours to where the three are standing. When they see her approach, the boys scatter like a flock of birds. Her smile widening with satisfaction, Alicia returns back to her original course and arrives at the table without further incident.

Dropping her bag, she greets the assembled with her usual "Hey." Her voice sounds raspy and rough. Only the very observant will notice a slight gingerness to her motions as she folds herself into a seat.

Sylvia has not had occasion to perform her ninja vanishing act yet, so she's there with a heap of salad in front of her.  "What happened to you?" she asks as Alicia arrives.

In total deadpan, Alicia states, "Found out Ree-is is a total Britney Spears fan, so I'm showing solidarity with the sister for his sake."

She sounds like she chain-smoked a pack of Marlboros just before walking into the cafeteria.

"Oh, baby baby," Sylvia says.  "Looks like Britney, sounds like Harvey Fierstein."

Colin barely lifts his eyes from the newspaper he's reading. He just pushes a bottle of a yellowish liquid in Alicia's direction.

Alicia flashes a grin. She seems comfortable in being the target of any teasing.


Alicia gives the bottle the hairy eyeball. "What am I supposed to do with that? Drink it? Rub it on my skin? Send it off for urinalysis?" she croaks inquiringly.

"Drink it. Slowly. Just every now and then, until the throat gets better."

Alicia looks even more dubious. She snags the bottle and unstoppers it, giving it a careful sniff. She looks puzzled at the variety of scents she detects: vinegar, sage, mint, horseradish (!), and that's just the stuff she can pick out.

She gives Colin a speculative look. "You just put this s**t together to see if I'd actually drink it," she says jokingly. "Besides, how did you know...? Oh, never mind," she adds in mock-exasperation.

She glances at Sylvia. "You're my witness in case he poisons me," she warns her. With theatrical reluctance, she takes a sip.

It's sweet, very sweet at first, and it seems to soothingly warm up her throat, making the air she breathes fresher in comparison, and that's relieving too. Once it's down, though, it leaves a somewhat salty aftertaste. It almost makes her want to cluck her tongue. And though it's good, she doesn't want to take another sip right away.

"Licorice root and honey..."  Laney mumbles with a half smile as she settles into a seat and begins unpacking her lunch.   The unexpected presence of a red mechanical pencil at the bottom of the wrinkled brown sack has her utterly confused for several minutes.

Alicia's eyebrow raises as she smacks her lips. She takes a couple of test breaths and seems satisfied with the results. She nods to Colin in gratitude, re-stoppers the bottle and slips it into her bag.

Suddenly her face registers alarm and her hands fly to her throat as she starts belting out, in a throaty voice with definitely less rasp:

"Who can take a sunrise,
Sprinkle it with dew.
Cover it with choc'late and a miracle or two?
The Candy Man,
Oh, the Candy Man can.
The Candy Man can 'cause he mixes it with love
And makes the world taste good."

After her little exhibition, she smirks at Colin and goes back to her lunch.

Donnie says "Don't say Candyman multiple times in front of a mirror in the dark or something. Evidently the Candyman has a love of fishhooks and gutted teenagers." He looks at Alicia for a moment, then says "Did you convince another building to fall on you again or something?"

He says it with a smile.

Sylvia can't let that rest.  Donnie's a magician, after all.  "Is that true?  Really?  Has anyone tried that?"

Donnie's grin broadens. "Hell, I don't know. I like my intestines exactly where they are now. I don't wanna get gutted like a fish, so I resist the temptation."

Sylvia sniffs.  "Chicken," she says, nudging his shoulder with hers.  "We should do that some night, see if we can call up the Candyman or Bloody Mary, see what answers if we use a Ouija board.  You and Colin.  We should have done that last Halloween," she says regretfully.

"Naw," Alicia denies with a wave of her hand. "I couldn't let you be the only one to introduce radical hairstyles to the group."

Alicia's grin is cheerful. Her voice shows signs of definite improvement; now it sounds throaty instead of raspy.

"Besides," she looks around demonstratively. "No mirrors around, see? Now if I called out Beetlejuice three times, then we could have some serious fun!"


"With this group? They'd either run into the night screaming in terror, or ask to join up," Alicia comments between nibbles of her sandwich.

Sylvia grimaces.  "No more of that, please."

Alicia grins evilly. "I don't know. I think the guy would fit in nicely. After all..."

Taking advantage of her roughened voice, she quotes directly from the movie. "I attended Juilliard. I'm a graduate of the Harvard business school. I travel quite extensively. I lived through the Black Plague and had a pretty good time during that. I've seen the EXORCIST ABOUT A HUNDRED AND SIXTY-SEVEN TIMES, AND IT KEEPS GETTING FUNNIER EVERY SINGLE TIME I SEE IT. NOT TO MENTION THE FACT THAT YOU'RE TALKING TO A DEAD GUY. NOW WHAT DO YOU THINK? You think I'm qualified?"

She breaks up in giggles after that.

Donnie laughs. "That was totally Michale Keaton's best role."

Sarah offers to Donnie, "He made a really good Dogberry and I liked his voice for Batman, the rest of him not so much."

She smiles over at Alicia, "I like your hair.  It's so short and fuzzy looking.  Can I touch it?  Way better than Brit's.  More like Sinéad O'Connor.  Which also gives you the advantage of not comparing yourself to an absolute redneck."

Alicia gives Sarah an amused look, "Yeah, sure, just be careful with this spot over here," she indicates an area on the left side near the back. "Still kinda tender there." The skin underneath the hair does look a bit reddish, and what little hair is there feels brittle.

"Sinead O'Connor? Was she, like, some singer or something?"

Sarah nods, "Yeah, my mom and dad have all this music from the eighties and nineties.  Some of it's pretty good.  Some of it... not so much.  I had no idea that Rick Rolling was sooo old though!  The song was like twenty years old!  Oh and they have VHS tapes of MTV back when they played videos all day.  Sounds like a good idea to me unless they played just the top ten over and over or something.  That would get boring quick.  I should convert all those tapes into MP4's or something and put them on their computer for their anniversary!"

Laney raises her head and interjects, "MTV wasn't around in sixty-seven."

Alicia grunts, "Heck, my mom listened to that s**t, too, although her stuff was more street, y'know? Tupac and Wu-Tang clan, that sort of s**t."

She grins. "Although I do remember catching sight of some Julio Iglesias in her collection when she thought I wasn't looking."

"Indigo Girls," Sylvia chimes in.  "Roy Orbison.  Sting and David Bowie.  Concrete Blonde."

"Hey!" Alicia chimes in. "I remember Concrete Blonde. They had this great song, 'God is a Bullet', I used to listen to all the time."

"Carolyn likes to sing 'You're The Only One Can Make Me Cry.'  But she'll only pull out the ukulele after a couple of beers."

Alicia stares at Sylvia for a few seconds. Finally, she shakes her head and shrugs theatrically, "I got nothin'."

The wattage on her grin is reassuring.

She gets a visit from both of them to harass her and bring her food.

"Actually, we had plenty of ghosts around for the Halloween party. Mostly of the nice and curious kind not the angry and murderous, though. If you ever want me to introduce them, you only have to ask."

What's nice is that he says that as if he was talking about the weather.


"Why sixty-seven? 'Never gonna give you up' was eighty-seven. 'Nothing compares to you', if memory serves, was ninety. MTV started much earlier, in eighty-one."


"That would take some work, but I'm sure Greg knows someone who could help. I wouldn't mind having a look at that. The eighties are always a good mine of amazing imagery for any visual artist."

"My mom has always been more about classical and jazz. Chet Baker is her favorite, I think. I'm not sure about dad, but I remember him in an old Ramones t-shirt. But Chris..." he shakes his head grinning "I found two tapes in his car. The Blues Brothers soundtrack and... Caravan of Love by the Housemartins. Ever heard it?"

"We're putting the band back together.  I don't listen to music anymore.  At all.   It's too - "  Laney waves her hand like she's trying to bat away an annoying insect.   "I'd love to eavesdrop on them at a party.   But The Squeeze was eighty-seven.  I didn't like it."

Really?  Elrod's not in a class, or is he cutting?  He's in a class at lunchtime, then he's not in a class... which is it?  This is another one of those weird anomalies that is driving her crazy.

OOC: Elrod ditches plenty of classes.  If I recall correctly he didn't have a class during this lunch period until after the mid-term break.  It's probably an art or music credit he's blowing off from time to time.

OK.  So maybe its not her that's confused, but me.

Wednesday morning finds Miss Brennan where she shouldn't be, doing what she shouldn't be doing given what limited time she has.  Setting all three alarms on her cell phone helps, however.  She won't be late, and she will wander into the cafeteria and offer her usual vacant smile to everyone there.