Chapter Three: Une Ballade de la Chance (A Ballad of Luck)

I stood up against a wall in the cafeteria until the morning bell rang and I suddenly found myself being herded out of said cafeteria by a flood of people. No one at all looked at me though. I am totally insignificant to these people.

I suppose some things don't change based on location.

My first class here is a French class, taught by a Mrs. Lenore. I made my way to where the office ladies explained the room to be. Seeing as the bell had just rang, most students were congregating in the hallways and chatting with their friends, roaming about and finding more people to talk to.

Naturally, I just bypassed them and went straight to my classroom. Upon arrival, I found the classroom to be empty of students, the only people in the room being myself and the teacher.

Mrs. Lenore is best described as a short, round, red-haired woman with a kind face and sharp eyes. She looked up at me from her position behind her desk when I entered the doorway.

"Hello there." She chirped brightly, her accent of some place to the north.

"Hi." I replied quietly, standing uncertainly in front of her, looking down slightly so that a few blonde locks shielded my eyes.

"Are you new here?" She asked happily, moving out from behind her desk towards me.

"How'd you know?" I asked naively, looking up to meet her eyes, head slightly angled to the side.

"My but you're an adorable one, this class should prove to be interesting." She practically sang, laughing quietly at the same time.

"Umm...okay..." I trailed off, looking at my shoes once again

"Okay then," She announced somewhat loudly "You may sit wherever you wish, for in my classroom there are only two rules: Tests are the only grades that count, and when an administrator walks by, look busy."

And with that, she swept back over to her desk and sat down again. I walked to a desk in the back corner of the room and sat down, leaning into the wall.

I then took a black notebook labeled French in gothic-style handwriting on the front, covered in various doodles and such drawn by my best friend Varden and I during our study period. I smiled sadly as I viewed our artwork covering the notebook...I miss him. I made a mental note to call him when I got home, and then, realizing I'd forget, wrote it on my hand.

I started to draw on some of the unused portions of the notebook, and paid little attention to the people who started to slowly siphon in to the classroom until the next bell rang, signaling the morning announcements, and I looked up to see the classroom nearly full, and the desks surrounding me full as well.

The desk directly in front of me was still empty, but there were also two desks beside mine, one directly to the left and one to the left and somewhat above the first.

The first desk was as of yet unoccupied, but in the second sat a girl. She seemed to be quite deep in thought. She had shoulder length natural white-blonde hair, really light blue eyes, and fair skin. She was wearing a tight grey t-shirt and matching grey jeans.

Suddenly, the girl turned and looked at me, her light blue eyes widening slightly before focusing on me.

"Hi." She said, her voice tranquil, giving off a neutral air.

"Hello." I replied to her.

"I'm Rydia." She said, smiling a little bit.

"My name is Liam." I replied in an equal tone, smiling slightly as well.

"You're new here aren't you?" She asked

"How can you tell?" I asked, frowning a little

"Because you're wearing chucks and a studded belt, yet you have layered blonde hair. And you don't have an accent." She stated mildly

"Neither do you." I retorted

"I'm just skilled like that." She said, just as mildly as before.

"No, to answer your question. I'm not from around here." I said, smiling brightly at my newfound friend, my confidence bolstered a bit by her warm smile.

The late bell then rang and we all turned to the front of the classroom, me hiding behind my notebook, waiting for the announcements and such. The intercom system came on with an annoying beep, signaling the morning announcements for that day.

'Good morning students! The word of the day today is obedient. Make sure that you're obedient today! In the announcements, we have: The jazz band is meeting in the band room immediately after school today, football practice for the JV team has been canceled, varsity volleyball has practice from 4-7pm, and Principal Terrance has rabid, mind-controlling, man eating crabs...WHO PUT THAT THERE!!'

And with a final annoying beep, the announcements were over. The class paused a moment, rather shocked by the change in announcements, until they all burst out laughing. In the midst of the chaos, Mrs. Lenore made her way to the front of the classroom, laughing as loudly as the students.

Suddenly, the door sprang open and two boys ran into the classroom and dove into the two available desks beside mine before quickly pulling themselves together. Mrs. Lenore looked at them knowingly, smiling slightly anyways. The door then burst open yet again, this time traversed by a rather harried looking administrator.

"Did anyone come into your classroom after the morning announcements?" The administrator asked severely

"Why no, not today." Mrs. Lenore replied calmly

"Thank you then." The administrator said before hurrying out of the classroom.

Mrs. Lenore then walked over to the desks the boys had taken, a smile on her face.

"Nicely done, boys; I commend your efforts." She said, her smile evolving into an evil grin. "However, next time, I suggest you plan your escape a bit better."

"Yes, Mrs. Lenore." They both said simultaneously.

"Good." She said simply before trailing back to her desk.

"Nice work." Rydia giggled to the two guys.

"I do believe that was our finest work yet." One of the two said. The boy speaking was sitting in the desk to the left and slightly above mine. He was wearing a black hoodie and black bondage pants with matching combat boots. He had red hair with black streaks. A curiousity to be sure, but not extraordinarily interesting.

"I agree." The second boy said from his seat directly in front of me. Currently donning a grey t-shirt that clings, equally tight jeans and a pair a black vans. He also has sandy-blonde hair just long enough to start curling at the ends, creating a typical shaggy style. He was very attractive, with stunning blue eyes and a lithe, muscular body covered in tight emo-style clothes. Very interesting.

Suddenly, I found myself caught in the depths of those icy blue eyes, trapped like a bird in a cage. We both just sat there for a second, neither one of us moving, speaking, or breaking the eye contact we'd formed in any way.

"Ummm...who are you?" Goth boy asked.

I then jumped, startled out of my silent commune with the other boy.

"I-I-I-I-I--My n-n-ame is Liam." I stuttered, blushing profusely and staring at my desk.

"A shy one eh?" Hotness asked.

"He was talking fine earlier." Rydia said.

"Maybe he's someones making him nervous." Goth boy said, grinning ferally and exposing sharp little canine teeth.

"It's definitely not you." I replied dryly before becoming immediately contrite. The comment had made hotness laugh though, so the rude comment was worth it.

I looked at him to see him smiling at me, two rows of perfect, pearly white teeth shining away at me.

"I'm Erik." He said, sticking out his hand. It took it hesitantly and shook it, my grip nearly nonexistant.

"I'm Liam." I said distractedly, causing Erik to smile again.

"I know." He replied

"Oh god, now they're gonna start dating and I'm not going to have any friends at all." Goth boy whined petulantly.

"What the hell am I then, a llama?" Rydia asked somewhat angrily.

"I lvoe you Rydia." He replied quickly.

However, this exchange went totally unnoticed by Erik and myself, neither one of us realized that we were still shaking hands.

Today should prove to be quite interesting...

--

A/n: I've been typing up this damn chapter since the day I finished the last one. I used to type a chapter a day for my stories, now I'm lucky if I can get one every two weeks. So, I am a ball of stress and I have TONS of stuff I have to do in the near future and it doesn't look like it'll let up anytime soon. I have Tuesday off from school, though I have indoor drumline tryouts from 6-9pm. Which brings me to my moment of insane bitchiness for this week. You guys know all that complaining I've been doing about practicing my ass off to make winterguard, as it turns out, our instructor doesn't want any guys this year, and that means that I've been working my face off since August for absolutely nothing...well, nothing except I can spin a flag with better technique than all of the veterans minus the captains. Anyways, I'm off to do review replies and then I have to study for my GHP interview...which will be held in French, since that's what I'm nominated for...squee. Also: IMPORTANT: I've changed my email address once again, it's now , so drop me an email or IM to that.

Review Replies:

xanthofile: It's not that I'm stuck (anymore), it's just that I have no freaking time to write. I used to write out all of my chapters in one sitting, now I'm literally able to write one line before I have to do something else, and it's even worse because when I do get free time, all I want to do is go to sleep. But I think now that there are no more football games I'll be able to write a lot more on Friday nights.

Lunatik22: I love my old lady characters, they always come out so funny. The YSomN update is coming, if I have any say about it at all, it should be out by Tuesday. Let's hope you get first this time. I prefer long reviews, they give me something to reply back with other than 'I hope you liked the chapter.' Anyways, I hope you liked the chapter. -smiles-

TiGeR-BaBe-1989: I always write slash, and I'm not sure if I could write something else even if I tried. Parker will play a role in the story, and he was supposed to be back this chapter, but it didn't happen.

Naomi Shemer: Naive and sheltered is adorable, and I really like those qualities in people. I love Grandma Yuri, she's really cool to write, so you'll be seeing a LOT of her.

Becks-007: I like Liam, I think he's quite adorable. And I will translate all of the chapter titles, it should be written in parenthesis by the title at the start of the chapter.

Graphiti Skies: The goodness of VS is something that Sugar and I are still arguing over, personally, I can't even believe that anyone liked it; but for some reason you people find it cute. I just changed my account and all that jazz, so I'll drop you an IM sometime now that I'm stable and such. It's just good to know you're back, I've missed your reviews, you've been with me since I started writing here.

SugarCoatedWalnut: The beach? Sounds like fun, we don't live near a beach, so I don't get to go but like once a year. The truck thing is just something that happens around here. Generally, your parents tell you to do something, and that if you don't you'll get hit by a truck. It's just a southeastern American thing I suppose. The walls at my school actually do bend a little bit when you lean on them. They've never actually broken though...I think.

Esquirella: ...Esquirella has reviewed one of my stories...and said it was interesting...squee! Now is the part where I fawn over you like the pathetic fanboy that I am. Note that only one other person has received this reaction from me when they reviewed for the first time. I'm really glad you liked!

I've-seen-the-fairies: It should be cute, I like cute. I write cute a lot. I've been a neglectful ass when it comes to reading and reviewing stories lately, I'll make time to catch up sometime soon, I promise. The YSomN update should (note the should) be out by Tuesday.