Tardy

[click]

Tyler wasn't quite into the swing of this whole 'school' deal yet. He hadn't been to school (at least seriously) since middle school and it seemed that he'd forgotten quite a lot about it. No alarm was set the night before and when he woke at ten-thirty AM, when the rest of the students were in class, he saw no problem in the situation. He took his time getting dressed, then moseyed into the hallway in search of the kitchen.

The hallways were quite empty. It occurred to him that some people would be in class during the day, but all of them? It seemed a bit excessive.

[pandora]

Quiet, obedient Pandora had been in sitting in boring study hall for quite some time. Finally she took a pass to go the bathroom and left. As she headed out, she accidently bumped into a boy named Tyler in the hallway.

"Oh, I'm so sorry," she said. She hadn't meant to be so rude.

[click]

Spinning around quickly to face the girl, he grinned. Yes, there was life on this planet! "Don't worry about it," he assured her brightly, "Hey, where is everyone?" His tongue toyed with his lip ring unconsciously, flipping it from side to side.

[pandora]

"Everyone's in class, of course. I'm supposed to be in study hall right now. I took a bathroom pass, but nobody really cares whether you attend study hall anyway." It was pretty true. One could take passes to the library or guidance couselor and then end up going to lunch. The professors really didn't care because they knew no work was being done anyway. "Are you new here?"

[click]

"Ya-huh. I just got here yesterday. When did class start? I think someone told me, but I wasn't really listening," he confided, shrugging carelessly. Tyler jerked his head toward the way he'd been walking. "Come on, you should show me around." He looked genuinely enthused to be able to talk to her and he was!

[pandora]

"Well, okay. I guess the professor won't mind." Study hall was boring, and the professor wasn't really paying attention to whether she left anyway. The boy seemed nice. He was certainly very friendly. "What's your name?" She began to proceed to walk towards the kitchen since it was nearby.

[click]

His eyes flitted up and down the hallway curiously, studying everything and imprinting it in his mind so he could find his way around later. "Click," he told her, holding out a hand, "or Tyler. Whichever. How about you?"

[pandora]

She shook his hand. "Nice to meet you. My name is Alice, but you can call me Pandora. Either one is fine." She continued down the hall.

(( Writer's block. lol ))

[click]

Tyler walked a bit faster, turning around so he was walking backwards facing her. "Alice... So what do you do?" he asked, suddenly excited, "I mean, everyone here are mutants right? That's so awesome. Can you show me?" He flicked some gel-caked hair off of his face and fidgetted with the zipper of his tight black hoodie.

[pandora]

She blushed. She hated being asked this question. She wasn't going to tell him that she had reality bending powers contained within a box that had unleashed Inhumanity Syndrome upon the world. She never really told anyone new who she met about, even mutants. They might have relatives who had IS.

"I have reality distorting powers," she said. "But I really don't know how to use them, so I can't show them to you." This was true. Right now, she could only access them by opening the box, and that was something she dared not do.

[click]

Shrugging, he assured her, "No biggie. That's pretty cool, though, man. That's like major stuff." He tripped on a loose lace of one of his boots and stumbled backwards. Deciding that walking forwards was safer, he turned around and fell into step at her side. "Wanna see something cool?" he asked mischieviouslyy.

[pandora]

"Okay, sure." She wondered what he was going to show her. She could see the mischievious look in his eye. She had seen many demonstrations of mutant powers from teenagers before. Sometimes they got her into trouble. Looking at him, she hoped he was cautious of the rules, though it looked like it would be interesting.

[click]

Grabbing for her arm suddenly, he closed his eyes and a sharp click filled the air for a moment. They both experienced a dizzying sensation as their molecules sped up sharply. He used it as a sort of high. Once the sensation had faded away, he turned toward her and smirked. "Where's somewhere with people?"

[pandora]

Whoa, thought Pandora to herself. An adrenaline rush filled her as her molecules accelerated. It was an exciting feeling, one that uplifted her in contrast to her previously boring day. She could feel the warmth of his hand as he grabbed her arm. Slowly, the feeling disappated.

"There are people in the gym," she replied. She wondered what would happen next. Pandora had never imagined when she woke up this morning that she would meet someone new.

[click]

"Awesome." He didn't let go of her arm, tugging her along in a child-like manner. Hurrying down the hall, Tyler glanced through doorways, searching out the gym. Finally, he spotted it up ahead and slowed, looking back over at her.

"Okay, we're gonna go in, but you can't touch anyone, got it?" Through the door, immobilized basketball players were visible, one suspended in mid-air, falling at an imperceptible speed.