Ficathon Challenge #1
Genre: Romance/Angst
Rating: T
Likes: Romance, small moments, original plots, and characters (maybe complicated), doses of reality, inner demons, beautiful details(ie. descriptions,dialogue), maybe a twist tragedy, smokers, dyed hair, something that'll make you think and leave you breathless.
Dislikes: Cliches, mary sues, homosexuals couplings, unrealistic happenings, unrealistic characters, fantasy, sci-fi, crime/thriller.
Words/phrases to use: "We are lovers in a frame." "If I were a needle..." "I'd rather be married to Hades than Hercules."

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Chapter 2

I walked through the doors that morning without realizing I had done so. I was staring at the floor, listening to my headphones, deep in thought about God only knew what. I always wonder to myself if anyone else does this. After I emerge from this stupor, I remember thinking about a lot of complex things, but I can never for the life of me remember what it was I thought about. The entire period of time is a complete blank in my memory, like my mind stops recording and every thought is totally off the record. I can’t decide whether or not I like it. I guess that’s to be expected, if I don’t even know what I think about.

Anyway, I’m walking down the hallway, and something compels me briefly to look up. So I do. It’s then that I realize I’m almost to my first classroom, and I see a girl leaning against a locker, talking to a tall, dark-haired boy. They’re completely alone, but as I move closer, I see that the boy she’s talking to is Tris. Our eyes lock briefly, but I drop my gaze. I hate his eyes. They’re this clear, discerning green, and it’s a little unnerving.

Tris glances back at the girl he’s talking to, one I’ve never seen before, murmurs something, and walks off in the other direction. The girl, she just sighs and turns to a locker, sparing me the briefest of glances. I walk on. I never liked Tris much.

I was losing myself again when I felt the presence of someone next to me, and found the same girl I’d seen standing next to me looking rather rushed. I was a little perplexed at this, but removed my headphones anyway.

“Eh?” I asked her.

“Um, hey. I just wanted to introduce myself…we’re in Lit and Math together…I’m Moira, and I’m new here. So…you know…um.” She shrugged, looking slightly uncomfortable, although I have to admit it was a little endearing because she was obviously trying to hide it.

“Oh. Hi. I’m Kaden,” I said tersely. “Welcome,” I added as an afterthought.

“Heh,” Moira said, clutching the backpack strap slung over her shoulder.

We walked on, neither of us knowing what to say. I generally hate it when people I don’t know come around and don’t even bother to talk, so I was beginning to be a little annoyed with her. She kept glancing around, looking awkward, which only served to annoy me more.

Just as I was about to ask her, not very nicely, if there was anything else I could help her with or could I go to my class now, she cleared her throat.

“I’m sorry if I’m bothering you. I just don’t really know anyone, and I figured since we had classes together…maybe we could be friends. Or something.” She glanced at the floor.

I stopped and turned, considering her with narrowed eyes. “You know Tris, it seems.”
She blushed. “I only met him yesterday. And we’re not friends,” she said wryly. “I know him through a girl called October, and I only met her yesterday. She’s a friend, I guess…” She trailed off, staring down the hallway, chewing her lip thoughtfully.

Her shyness and embarrassment were enough to cause the rather heated annoyance I had been feeling to gradually flow away. I took pity on her, if only because she was pretty cute, I had to say. But she really did seem new here, too.

“Look,” I said softly. “I’m not exactly the kind of person you want to be friends with.”

Moira said nothing for a moment. “I’m not exactly the kind of person you’d be friends with, either,” she said finally, resignedly.

I grinned. “Touché.”

Moira said nothing, and merely stared at me guardedly. I thought I could see her wondering if she’d made a mistake.

“All right. I’ll be friends with you,” I said with a sigh. “Just…don’t expect anything.”

Moira shrugged and grinned slightly. “I know better than to expect anything at all from people,” she said, a touch of derisiveness coloring her words. It made me wonder. “And, just so you know…I’ll probably use you, anyway.” She grinned and stared at me again, clearly waiting, on edge, for my reply.
I shrugged. I didn’t really know what to say to that at all. “…At least you’re honest, I guess.”

Moira grinned again. At this point, students were flooding into the school like an army of insects. They weren’t much better than that, anyway. Not really.

“Well, I better get to class,” I said, to break off this awkward line of conversation. I could see October fighting her way through the crowd toward us anyway, and I supposed her business must be with Moira. I didn’t really want to have to talk to her.

“All right. See you in Lit,” Moira said, although I had begun to walk with the flow of the crowd as quickly as possible.

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My first class, Chemistry, passed as boring and as dull as ever. I still can’t believe that Chemistry could ever be the first class of the day, for anyone. What an idiotic idea. I’d like to find out who planned that and get them fired, because honestly, everyone’s tired in the mornings, even the teachers. Quality and alertness, it’s just not going to happen. Same with Math, actually, but even more so with Chemistry because you make mistakes easily when you’re tired, and in Chemistry, you can’t afford to screw up. It’s dangerous. Of course, knowing that doesn’t make me do anything about it. I tuned out more or less the entire lecture and let everyone else do the work in the labs.

Next class is U.S. History. I like that class because I can sleep and pretty much nothing happens. I wish it were first, though, because then it would be easier to get back to sleep. I honestly can’t begin to tell you the first thing that happens in that class, because even when things aside from lectures happen, I don’t know what’s going on.

My third class, and final class before lunch, is Biology. I actually like that class. It’s about the only class that was planned perfectly, actually, because I like the subject material, plus I’d have just had my nap in the previous class, so I’m actually awake for it.

Today, though, I was mostly thinking about Moira. It’s not often that people just sort of approach you, asking straight-out to be friends, and then saying they’re going to use you right afterward. She was…weird. I wasn’t at all sure if I liked it. Aside from that, she’d already fallen in with October and Tris. It wasn’t that I had a problem with them, really. I was actually pretty indifferent toward them, but October hated me. I could never actually figure out why. She didn’t like me from the start, but then after what happened with Sarah…

I sighed to myself, resting my head on my notebook and closing my eyes. I tried so hard to never think of Sarah. Everything surrounding her was convoluted and unnecessarily complicated. Every aspect of my life was affected by her, and I couldn’t want to get out of here so that I could leave the situation behind. I’d tried so hard to recover. How she affected me, this past year or so, the changes she wrought, I can’t begin to describe or even contemplate, firstly because it hurts and secondly because it’s indescribable. The merest thought of her made my stomach clench still, until I felt sick. Decisively, I sat up straight, raised my hand, asking to be excused. I didn’t do that often, in Biology, but it was useless to try to focus.

Angrily, I made my way toward the restroom. No one was around, which made me feel better. I opened the door with more energy than was strictly necessary, and stood before the mirror, staring at my reflection unseeingly. I bent over the sick, breathing heavily, turning on the cold water, watching with relief as it flooded out of the facet, splashing the sides of the sink. I splashed my face with water, realizing as I did so that I was crying simultaneously.

About ten minutes later, I was back in my seat, hands shaking, my heart beating ferociously. I was angry at Moira, now, angry because through some kind of weird thought pattern she’d made me think of Sarah.

I tried to focus on my Biology notes, but realized it was pretty much useless at this point, and that I’d probably have to ask a classmate for them later.

I barely noticed as the rest of the class flew by, even though I had banished Sarah from my thoughts. Any thought of her had the potential to ruin an entire day, and the air of moroseness that hung over me lasted much longer. I felt like ten kinds of complicated.

---

At lunch, I didn’t bother to meet up with my usual circle of friends. Nor did I bother to get anything to eat, not even Pop Tarts from the vending machines, which were often my lunch on a fairly regular basis. Immediately after Biology, I made my way toward the library, where I promptly found a cramped corner with a table where I could focus on drawing while listening to music.

It wasn’t long, though, before Christina came to find me. She was one of my closer friends, whatever that meant. She’d been my friend before I even met Sarah, and consequently had a better understanding of the whole situation than anyone else I knew. I didn’t care about her, though. I wasn’t even sure I liked her, but I drank in her sympathy because I felt hopelessly abandoned without her. She was the only one I could stomach the thought of discussing Sarah with.

I didn’t bother to look up as she silently sat down across from me.

“If I were a needle,” I said mildly, “I would hurt everyone who touched me.” I reluctantly removed my headphones.

I could almost feel Christina’s sad, awkward grin. “You know it worries us when you go off like this,” she said quietly.

“Yeah.”

“What’s wrong?”

“Nothing. Everything’s fan-fucking-tastic,” I said with a smile, digging the pen I was using into my sketchpad, consequently tearing the paper.

Christina was silent. “Sarah?” she asked finally, hesitantly.

“Yes,” I replied curtly, making it clear I had no desire to discuss it further.

She nodded, and after a moment, said to me, “Come back with me.”

“I really don’t want to.”

My finality must have convinced her, because five minutes later, she departed without another word.

---

I was still feeling pretty horrible when the time came to head to Lit, but I went anyway. Drawing had relaxed me enough, and I knew that if I skipped it, it would do a lot more harm than good. So I went, for lack of a better alternative, even though I didn’t really want to see Moira. I just knew, with dread, that she would approach me in class…

I sat down at my customary seat, still listening to music as students began to file in. I had my head down, but was watching out of the corner of my eye for Moira. I had steeled myself, prepared for another conversation, but to my astonishment, she did not even look at me as she crossed the room behind October to take her seat in the back. I wondered if October had ‘had words’ with Moira, because I knew she wouldn’t like anyone from her group associating with me in any way. Moira hadn’t struck me as the type of person to allow herself to be pushed around by October and her rather psychotic standards, but I’d been wrong before.

I normally like Lit, boring or no, because I’m a pretty creative person. I especially liked this Lit class, because we were starting it off with a Mythology unit, which meant that this term was, at least, going to be pretty interesting. And in the syllabus, Mr. Spalding had outlined our projects. There were two. First, we were going to do a thorough analysis of a myth of our choice, and second, we were to research a certain type of myth (Greek, Egyptian, etc.) and then write our own myth within that premise. The first wasn’t as appealing to me as the second, naturally, but I could appreciate the necessity of analysis; it taught you what to look for, what to include in your own myth once you wrote it. It had to do with gaining insight, really. Preparation for the bigger project. When I looked at it that way, it wasn’t so bad. I might even try, provided my interest in the project grew.

I liked Mr. Spalding. I’d had him for a composition class the previous year, and I’d felt like we connected. There was certainly some level of respect between us, because we left each other alone. I think we could tell that we each had rather similar personalities and needs for space. I’d had conversations with him, in the course of my work, and they’d always been cordial but not pressing. I appreciated that. I sometimes wondered if he knew about my connection to Sarah, and what he thought of it if he did, but it wasn’t really important since it didn’t seem to influence his opinion of me if he did know.

As the class progressed, he handed out packets concerning a certain myth, and we spent the entire period looking for the usual elements of literature; metaphors, personification, allusions, imagery, etc., which was okay with me because that sort of thing came to me fairly easily, and it also meant we probably wouldn’t have to work in groups. Next time we would, doubtless. He’d assign us each an element, we’d spend time discussing what examples of it we’d found within the myth, and then present it to the rest of the class.

Oh well.

The end of the class came, which I accepted with complete apathy, having had no particular reason to want to escape today. At that point, I was feeling a lot better than I had been earlier, which was good, because math was next. I disliked math, and I remembered that Moira was in it. Not that she seemed to be presenting any concern at the moment, but October wasn’t in the class, so Moira might approach me then.

And, of course, as my luck would have it, we were assigned to work in groups on a packet that had to be completed by the end of class. I pointedly ignored Moira, but she either didn’t notice or didn’t care, because she came over and asked if we could work together. Having no excuse not to, I mumbled a yes and took out my book.

Another girl joined our group, which I appreciated, because it meant less one-on-one conversation with Moira. I couldn’t tell if that disappointed her or not. She had a similar air of aloofness that October had, I was beginning to notice, and wondered if that was why October had befriended her, or if it was simply rubbing off already.

That was another problem, being friends with Moira. She’d be like the others in that group in a few months…dull-minded, conniving, depressive. For the second time that day, I thought of Sarah, but this time with scorn. And October thought it had all been my fault. Probably none of it would have happened if I’d been able to extricate her from October’s social politics in time. I’d done more to help her than hurt her, or at least compared to the damage October had most likely done.

Tris hadn’t come into the picture until afterward. Or right before. I couldn’t remember exactly. But as far as I knew, he knew very little about any of it at all, because no one talked about it, not even October. It was simply an unspoken feud between us, or at least, that was how she seemed to perceive it. I didn’t care. I just wanted to forget, and the only reason October’s hatred toward me bothered me was because it meant I couldn’t forget her, too. I had no idea what Tris thought of me, but probably nothing good, and I always felt so uncomfortable any time I had to see him. He was in my History class, which was bad enough.

“So…how’s it going?” Moira asked, posing the question generally, but clearly directing it at me.

The other girl we were working with shrugged. “I’m okay,” she said.

I glanced at her. “Fine,” I said.

Moira nodded. “Good. So, I’m thinking if we each do a third of the packet, that’ll be fasted. Then we could just write down everyone else’s problems.”

The girl nodded. I said nothing.

“What’s your name?” Moira asked her.

“Charlotte,” she said.

“Okay, Charlotte…want to take the first third? 1 to…20?” Moira asked.

“Sure,” Charlotte answered, immediately setting to work.

“Mmkay…want the second bit, or the last bit?” Moira said, this time to me. “The last bit as one less problem.”

“The last part,” I said automatically. “I’m pretty bad at math.”

Moira merely nodded, and set to work on her section.

I ended up finishing about half my section by the time they were done with theirs and had copied each other’s work, so they split what was left of mine between them while I copied what they had done. Pretty boring, overall, but it was the first time in a while I’d actually had to bother with doing anything in a group, as far as math was concerned.

When class finally ended, Moira exited with me, although neither of us said anything. She could probably tell I was a little tense. Then again, I was also more or less ignoring her presence. A part of me realized I was being a complete jerk and I really couldn’t expect her to understand why, but I couldn’t bring myself to care. Logically, I knew I couldn’t blame her for anything. It was my own fault. But I did anyway.

As we reached the entrance of the school, she turned and offered me a grin. “See you tomorrow, I guess.”
“Yeah. See ya,” I replied numbly, walking in the direction of the parking lot. She turned in the opposite direction, toward a path off to the side. I couldn’t help glancing back at her briefly, feeling slightly guilty about my behavior and feeling like I could’ve offered her a ride home to make up for it, but I managed to shrug it off. It was better this way.