New Feeling - Chapter Two

The Cranstons had been over a lot. At first, it was during the weekend but soon their visits had spilled into the rest of the week. At least, the parents were there. Billy didn't come over most of the time, Lady didn't necessarily care. She knew he had a goal in mind. His parents dragging him over to her house and forcing him to socialize when he clearly wasn't up for it kept him from completing that goal. Still. If she had to be honest, it wasn't all that bad talking to him. His frustrating way of speaking paired with his intimidating intelligence made things awkward, yeah. But, it was easier to talk to someone your own age rather than super smiley suburban middle-aged couples, she guessed.

Lee, or Mr. Cranston as her dad insisted she'd call him unless given the strict okay by Mr. Cranston himself ("You know how white folks are."), had taken it upon himself to help with the heavy lifting after the pros left. It wasn't necessary. At all. It had made things go faster and it was funny to see a scrawny, formally dressed man like that struggle to move the crappy couch downstairs, but it was unnecessary. Darla, or Dr. Cranston, that was very important, had helped Lady with unpacking the kitchen and her room. The more ladylike jobs. Unpacking her room was frustrating, to say the least. The two of them had different ways of organizing and were anal about them in their own ways. At least Darla knew how to make beds look nice. Real nice.

"Oh, my son likes this band."

Lady blinked before shuffling over to the shelf to see what band Darla was pointing at. She hoped it was Talking Heads. David Byrne and Tina Weymouth were the shit. To her chagrin, it was not. It was Duran Duran. The only reason why Lady owned 'Notorious' was that it was a gift from some cousin at a family Christmas party's Secret Santa from a few years back. It was fine enough, she guessed.

"Oh." Unsure of what to say beyond that, she toyed with the end of her braid.

"And this one too. But, I must admit, I'm not a fan of it. I prefer the other one."

Lady squinted; It was Oingo Boingo. She liked them more than Duran Duran, at least. "How come?"

"Too chaotic."

'What the fuck. How white is that shit?'

"He also has a habit of playing a certain song of theirs over and over again while he works."

Lady smiled. "...Weird Science?" She had said that too hopeful for her taste, but it'd be pretty funny if it was.

"No." Lady frowned, realizing her joke had gone unappreciated. "I don't recall the title... I'm sure I'd know what it was if I heard it. Anyways, your room is finished now, right?"

"O-oh... Yeah. Thank you, Dr. Cranston."

The room was pretty much finished. The bed had looked like a bed rather than the quilt avalanche that would've made up her bed. It looked like a picture in a Sears catalogue; sheets, blankets and bedspread all tucked in nice and tight (so tight that Darla literally bounced a coin off of it), her pillows and Grumpy Bear arranged all nicely. Her dressers were now in the room, all filled with clothes except for the designated 'junk drawer'. As little of it she had, her makeup had been arranged in neat rows on the vanity, or whatever that piece of furniture was called. The shelves were put up, filled and organized to Lady's preference after a one-sided shouting match if she had to be honest.

Genre, Artist, Album, Medium and then all arranged alphabetically with Talking Heads and David Byrne getting a shelf to themselves. Her system might've been fucked when the artist decided to switch genres entirely between albums, but Lady ignored it and kept them under their original genre. Darla had made a comment about Lady having several copies of the same albums. Lady just gave her a look. It was unlikely that she would've understood that it was sometimes just necessary to have a vinyl, cassette and a CD copy of something. Completely necessary.

While it'd take a while for her room to actually feel like her room, Lady did feel a little more at home. Especially when all the posters, bulletin boards and photos were hung up or placed on her dressers.

"You know that you can call me Darla, Lady. It's alright."

"...'Kay." She was back to playing with the end of her braid. It felt a little weird actually having permission to call her by her name now.

"Have you visited the school yet?"

"No."

"But you're registered, yes?"

Lady shrugged.

"I think your father mentioned something about heading there today, actually!"

"'Kay."

Darla chuckled as she reached out to touch Lady on the shoulder, only for the girl to recoil backwards. She frowned for a moment, unaware that Lady caught it, before forcing a smile. "Well, I'll get out of your hair now. Make sure you're ready to go out for the day, in case your father decides that you're heading out anyway! It's a good idea! While I'm sure that William will help you out on your first day, you should take advantage of exploring the school ahead of time. So you won't get lost and waste time trying to figure out where your classes are!"

Lady shrugged again, tucking a loose lock of hair behind her ear. "Mmmm..." was all that she gave as a response.

She guessed that Darla was right; it was almost a tradition for her and her dad in the past. They'd wander around the school after talking to the counsellor or principal, taking note of the weird things about the school. One in Thompson had a carpeted gym floor, another had a mural of Voltron with the words COEXIST HAPPILY painted on the outside of the second-floor bathrooms and her favourite one being a damn graveyard across the street on the primary side of the school. But, exploring wasn't something that she and Ian did anymore. Why bother? By the time that she would've gotten used to the school and figured out where shit was, Ian would decide that they were gonna move somewhere else.

Darla left the room and basement. The stairs creaking under her step could be heard from the bedroom. Lady shut the door, flicked her wrist on the knob to lock it, though, she wasn't sure how effective the lock really was. She sighed. She should get dressed now, as in clean clothes instead of the t-shirt and sundress she had been wearing for the past two, or was it three, days. How Darla or Lee didn't notice was a mystery. Or, maybe, they did and they just didn't want to be rude.

Her dad didn't care about that. Just this morning he had straight up called her a nasty bitch when he walked in on her making eggs.

'Shit.' That had to have been what Darla meant by 'make sure you're ready to go out!' Damn, that meant showering too.

Lady ripped down a random t-shirt from the closet, a pair of bike shorts from a random drawer along with whatever else she needed before dashing out the room. After freaking out on the doorknob that she forgot she locked just a moment ago.

There was a full bathroom in the basement, something that Lady was absolutely thankful for since both bathrooms at her old house were upstairs. While it was smaller and shabbier than the one upstairs, it did just fine. It was functional. The shower booth worked fine. There was enough space around the sink so she didn't have to worry about knocking shit over.

Yanking off her clothes, Lady wondered what her dad had planned for the day. Was Darla right about them possibly going to the school? Or were they just going to stay home and finish unpacking? She wasn't sure what else needed to be done beyond organizing some things. She yanked out her elastics next, whining as it caught in her hair before working on unravelling her long braids. Her scalp had ached once her black mass of hair was wild and free. As free as greasy, unwashed hair could be, anyway.

When the hot water had hit Lady's skin, she let out a soft moan. The sound itself sounded like the result of a drunken, unprotected one-night stand between a hiss and that high pitched girlish squeal of ecstasy that boys in her seventh-grade class would make out of nowhere to make girls uncomfortable. The water was in that weird grey area where it was between that one nurse's death scene in Halloween 2 and where it felt like the Devil himself was sensually licking up her back. It was hot. Real fucking hot. Not wanting to put up with desperately trying to wash herself after inevitably using up all the hot water, she got to work on her hair which was always a bitch and a half to clean. After the second shampooing and conditioning, her mind began to drift.

"You alright?" Ryan shouted over the roar of his motorcycle's engine.

Lady couldn't even respond. Her arms wrapped tighter around her friend's chest. Her fingers desperately trying to get purchase on his leather jacket in an effort to stay on the bike. Her head was buried in his back, or as close as it could be to that since the scooter helmet she wore kept her from really getting in there. Fear, and another feeling that the vibrations gave her that she didn't want to admit to having, rang throughout her body. She wasn't sure if it was the adrenaline or the vibrations that made her feel like she was struck by lightning at least three times. It was probably both.

"We're almost there, I swear!"

'Me too!' The thought had been so loud in her mind that she wasn't sure if she had said it out loud or not. Part of her wanted to laugh, but the rest of her wanted to live. The fear of accidentally letting go and winding up like the afterbirth of roadkill on the concrete all because of a lame cum joke was too great. Because Ryan didn't respond in any way, she assumed that she didn't. Or he just didn't hear her.

Mercifully, they pulled up to a structure that was oriental in design and stopped. He killed the engine. The sound of silence was almost overwhelming; it drowned out nearly everything that wasn't the buzzing sensation that was wracking her body at the moment.

"Lady," he whispered. His voice was soft, gentle, basically everything that the whole experience wasn't. She was sure that it would've reduced her knees to jelly under her if they weren't already in that state thanks to the ride. "Let go."

Over time, she let go of him and stepped off the bike. Her knees wobbled in between the slow, deliberate but still clumsy steps she made away from the bike. He laughed, making her charge at him with a punch and missed thanks to her arms feeling like cinder blocks. She crashed to the ground and he laughed harder. It sounded melodic, even more so as it echoed through the field.

"Was it really that bad?" He asked, holding out his hand for her to take.

"F-fuck..." She said as she took his hand, wobbling wildly once she was on her feet. Lady looked around; there wasn't a whole lot out there besides a few trees and the highway that brought them here. The sound of cars rushing by in the distance, the crashing of waves that old her the sea must be in the distance and the wind that rustled her hair and dress was all that could be heard. She looked at the structure; a low roof supported by strong and sturdy red pillars on top of a concrete platform that had a low fence. Under the roof was... something that she couldn't make out. "Where are we?"

Ryan smiled before leading her to the structure and then up the stairs. He gave her hand a soft squeeze, reminding her that they were still touching. Her heart fluttered. She wasn't sure if she wanted to let go. "Before he disappeared, my dad took me here a lot."

"Oh."

Lady didn't know his dad or a whole lot about him beyond what Ryan told her. He sounded like a wise, kind and overall wonderful person. He was the one that taught Ryan martial arts, origami and just how to be a good person. She didn't know how or why he vanished, but it sounded like Ryan didn't know much either. She couldn't imagine losing someone like that. Let alone losing them and not knowing what had happened.

"I come here to think."

"That's dangerous," she said. The realization that she shouldn't make jokes like that here of all places soon hit her like a bus. "Shit, sorry..."

Ryan chuckled, letting go of her hand, making her audibly sigh at the loss of contact. "It's okay."

She looked at the building in front of her, taking in the details to distract herself. Under the roof and surrounded by a rope, there was a large bell. It was a dark, almost rusty, green. She guessed that it had been made of copper and the ocean air had turned it green, like the Statue of Liberty apparently had. Designs had been carved into the bell as well. She took a few steps closer to the structure, taking notice of the brilliantly bright colours under the roof itself, different shades of green, blue, orange, yellow and red. Floral designs, swirls and other patterns she didn't really know the name of decorated the uppermost parts of the strong red pillars and the various panels and rafters. It was gorgeous. The sight combined with the echoes of seagulls in the distance made her feel at ease, even as a strong gust of wind whipped past her, making her sundress ripple beside her like a flag.

As calm and serene as it was here, it seemed to exaggerate the moment of silence between them.

"I-it's really fuckin' nice here!" She shouted, whipping around to face Ryan. Her voice had made him look up from where he was sitting on the fence. He had looked like he was in deep thought. Or posed like some mysterious, brooding hero would during a heavy part of an action movie. One leg was propped up on the fence, his right arm resting on his knee, other leg on the ground to keep him steady as he stared off into the distance.

He gave her a smile and signalled her over to the fence. Her heart fluttering, she sat down not quite beside him, more a few inches away from his foot. "I'm really glad that you think so..." He began, a gloved hand running through his blonde locks. "I, uh, I wanted to show you someplace nice."

"Y-yeah?" Her heart jumped into her throat, hammering away at her insides so hard that she almost wanted to puke. If she wasn't smiling before, she definitely was now, judging by how much her cheeks ached. A hand raised itself to cover her mouth, but she was sure it did a piss poor job at hiding anything.

"Yeah... Before you, uh, before you leave." The smiles they were both wearing faltered. Sadness panged loudly inside her chest before worming in between her ribs and blossoming throughout her. "I know you're not going that far, but it still sucks. I feel like we only just got to know each other, y'know? God, I dunno how to say this."

Lady blinked before inching a little closer towards him. "Say what...?"

Ryan took a deep breath. "I know... I know we haven't known each other that long. Like what? Since September? But, Lady, you mean a lot to me."

Her heart stopped.

"...And the others."

And it started back up again. She kept her hand in place, now trying to hide the disappointment that was on her face.

"This place, uh... This place means a lot to me too. I have so many good memories here. A lot of them. I guess I wanted to... give you a good memory before you leave." He was babbling now. It was weird seeing him like this, seeing him like she was when talking about 'The Outsiders' or Talking Heads. Not that Lady thought it was annoying like she was whenever she did it. He ruffled his hair as he spoke, the few clear words that managed to slip out in between the exasperated noises that fell freely from his mouth. Then, he laughed. "Jeez, what am I saying?"

"Ryan," she whispered, unsure if he could even hear her. She didn't want to look at him, or she was too shy to look at him right now. Her shoes and the cracks in the concrete were way easier to stare at, but she could feel the gaze of his pale grey eyes on her. "Cross World City... it's nothing but good memories for me. 'Cause... 'cause of you."

There was a long pause.

"...A-and the others."

They both snorted. Now she was doing it too.

"I just wish that I fuckin' made better use of my time here, y'know? Like I was such a fuckin' bitch to you at first—"

"No, you weren't—"

"Oh my God, don't fuckin' lie, man. I was a miserable fuckin' bitch and we both know it. I wish... I wish that I could've seen into the future and seen what a great guy you and Kaitlin and JB were right away. Or go back in time and slap some sense into me and tell me to give you guys a chance instead of doing... whatever the fuck it was I was doing. Then we all could've been friends way sooner instead of me being a raging fuckin' cunt for a month while you tried to talk to me at the gym after our argument or whatever in the hallway."

Now, words were spilling out of her and onto the ground, pooling around her feet like an awful puddle of vomit. No matter how much her throat and heart clawed at her words, desperate to catch them and yank them back inside the dark recesses of her thoughts. Tears welled up in her eyes, threatening to roll down her cheeks in fat globs as more and more words gushed out of her.

"I wasted so much fuckin' time for nothing. And when we were all friends finally, after everything I said, everything I did... I didn't know what to fuckin' do, y'know? You guys were the first friends I had in fuckin'... forever. You got me to go to a dance for the first time, take karate lessons and watch that fucking spider movie. All this shit... I would've never ever done on my own. You mean so fucking much to me."

She sniffed loudly, her hand moving to wipe her eyes, knocking her sunglasses off in the process. There was a short awful laugh before she clenched her eyes shut. "I... I kn-know.. I know we didn't know each other that long... but... Fuck." She stopped when he had pressed up close to her side. His side was against hers as he swept his arm around her shoulder. Her body turned to stone for a brief moment, only to relax when he hugged her a little tighter.

He was warm. He was solid. He was here for her.

Tears spilled from her eyes before a loud hiccup came from her now sore throat. She couldn't continue.

"Well, I wouldn't use raging... you know, to describe you back then. Miserable? Yes." he said with a laugh. He gently shook her as she wiped her eyes and cheeks. "But like I said when you asked me to the dance, you're stuck with m—us forever. No matter how far you are."

"Fuck off, Ryan." She sniffed again before smiling and leaning into his chest as he continued. "Thank you."

"No prob."

The slamming of her dad's fist against the bathroom door woke Lady up, for lack of a better term. The once hot water was now lukewarm. Her jaw had felt tight and her face weirdly sticky despite being under the water. She took a deep, shuddering breath, cringing at how much it had caught on the inhale. 'Fuck.'

"You fall asleep in there?" Ian shouted. She could just barely hear him through the rushing water, the shower door and the bathroom door itself. "Get out soon if you want your hair braided before we go, eh?"

Lady immediately rushed to get her body clean and thousand pounds of wet hair as dry as possible once she killed the water. There was no fucking way that she was going to deal with this shit down.

Soon, she was on the living room floor. Her back nearly flush against the couch and in between her dad's knees while he worked a brush then a comb through her thick hair. Fresh tears pricked at her eyes every time it had gotten caught in a knot. Though, even without the pain, she was sure that tears would still be threatening to come out thanks to her episode in the shower.

"I'm sorry, my girl." "It's okay."

Those two sentences were repeated every few minutes until her hair was finally in two neat Dutch braids. While they took longer to do than the two low braids she normally wore, it'd keep her hair better under control.

"Where are we going?" Lady asked as she stood up and straightened out her back and limbs. Only to hunch over once again. She slipped on her sunglasses as he spoke.

"Lunch then to the school," he said as he got up onto his feet. "We gotta go over the classes you want with the counsellor, make sure it's all in order and all that other shit I know you love."

Indeed, she did love all that shit. At all her other schools, she was handed a large book with a list of classes and clubs and a signup sheet. She didn't need to see a guidance counsellor. She knew the song and dance by now. Unless they had taken a special interest in her for whatever reason. That reason either having something to do with Montana or they saw how creepy and sad she was and took pity on her. Which one was worse? Lady wasn't really sure. Both were fucking terrible in their own way. "Oh."

"Then, we're gonna get groceries. I know you can live off of Ichiban but we're running low on that shit too, " he said with a laugh, ruffling her damp hair. "That alright with you?"

Her lips curled into a smile. "Yeah."

Angel Grove High School was big. Much bigger than her school in Cross World City, despite Cross World seemingly dwarfing Angel Grove in size and population. Maybe it was because this was the only public school in the city? The other school, at least to Lady's knowledge, was a Catholic one. She was explicit with her dad about not wanting to go to Catholic school.

Again.

"Wasn't planning on it, my girl."

As the two made their way through the identical halls of the school, desperately trying to figure out the mind-bending directions to the Student Services the secretary gave them, Lady wondered how big the other school was. Were they the same size, give or take a few square feet? Did they have uniforms? If she went there instead, would it's identical halls be instead full of students in burgundy and wheat-gold plaid with 'PRAISE JESUS' on the walls?

"Save the observatory!"

"Please sign the petition to get city hall to give the observatory more funding!"

"It really needs our help, you guys!"

Lady stared at the two girls standing in the hall next to a display; a short white girl with shoulder-length chestnut hair that wore washed-out pastels and a taller Asian girl with long stark black hair and a penchant for yellow. The one in pink swerved in front of her after shoving a flyer into Lady's hands. Her blood ran cold as the girl's brown eyes flashed almost dangerously as she bounced in her spot.

"Hi! Can we count on you two signing the petition to save the observatory?! Like, every little bit counts! Whether it's a donation," she said as she leaned to the side, pulled out an ice cream pail from the desk in front of the display showing pictures, the history and services of the observatory. She held it up just beside her head and gave it a quick shake, the sound of coins rattling inside "Oooor... a signature! Of course, it'd be, like, totally rad if you did both!"

Lady threw a glance towards her dad before mouthing the words 'What the fuck.' Her hands didn't know where to go, around herself, the nape of her neck or trying to fidget with the hem of her shirt. Her mouth felt dry, her indecisive hands shaky and breath a little heavier.

Ian didn't respond, instead going for his wallet. "It's always great to see kids helping out. It shows a lot of initiative, especially you, Miss..."

"Kimberly Ann Hart! And this is Trini! We're both, like, really into helping the community. Because it's like... Like how is the world gonna get better if we don't do something, you know?" Kimberly said with a smile. Her voice was bubbly, reminding Lady of an overflowing bottle of diet pop. It was frothy, sickeningly sweet and artificial. The smile on the girl's face widened when Ian slipped a ten dollar bill into the ice cream pail. "Ohmigosh, thanks! Would you mind signing our petition? Trini, hand over the petition!"

Trini chuckled as she handed Kimberly the clipboard over Lady's head. "Kim, you might be being a little too forceful..."

Kim hummed as she handed the board to Ian who then handed it to Lady. "Well! It worked here, didn't it? Thank you guys so much!"

Lady grunted as she scribbled her name down on the page so hard that it nearly ripped under the pressure. She shoved the clipboard into Kim's hands, ignoring how wide her eyes had gotten, before trying to move around her. Her dad's hand reached out and gripped her on the shoulder, effectively keeping her in place. She groaned. "No problem. Hey, would you girls know where Student Services is? The lady at the front was kinda worthless at giving directions, eh."

Trini smiled. "I'd be willing to take you guys there, if you'd like, oh... But Kim, would you be—" She trailed off as she turned towards her friend who was currently hounding a group of teens. "Well, it looks like she'd be okay on her own for a bit. I'll take you guys there."

The girl lead them down the hallways where they came from, making Lady feel like an idiot for missing the giant arrow-shaped sign that read STUDENT SERVICES. If Trini had thought they were stupid for missing the sign, she certainly didn't show it. Instead, she seemed genuinely happy to help them out with navigating the school.

"Are you transferring in?" she asked, slowing down so that Lady would be beside her.

"...Y-yeah," Lady muttered, slowing down further so she wouldn't be beside Trini. 'Isn't that obvious?'

"That's awesome! Angel Grove High is a great school; the teachers here really do care about what they're teaching and are super helpful. The students here are also pretty great too, we all work hard to make sure the school and the city is a better place with all the charity events. Most of them are a success too. There's also a lot of clubs if you're looking for something to do after class. Kim and I are in a few, so you might see us around if you join any."

Her voice was friendly and gentle, making Lady feel weird. It wasn't like Kimberly's pushy energy, but it was still too much. She was only doing it because she was new.

"If you ever need help with anything, you can talk to me. Being new in school can be pretty rough, especially this late in the year."

"...'Kay."

Trini gave her a weak smile before stopping in front of a door at the end of the hall. Finally, here it was, Student Services. "Well, it was really nice meeting you both. I better get back to Kim." She turned towards Lady. "I'll be seeing you around...?"

"Lady definitely will, thank you, Trini," Ian said as he opened the door. Trini's smile widened as she jogged down the hall after giving them both a gentle wave. "She seems nice, maybe you and her can hang out whenever Billy's busy, eh?"

"Ugh."

"Okay, you're all set and ready to go, Lady! It may be a bit difficult catching up, but your teachers for your core classes will be aware of what's going on once the break is over in two weeks. If you have any trouble, trouble about anything..."

Ian looked over at his daughter, noticing how her eyebrows furrowed forward and her fingers twisting themselves in her shirt. They twisted and writhed around so much that he wondered how they all didn't break or at least become dislocated. He looked away, the sound of her sighing deeply made his heart ache. As accommodating and friendly as the guidance counsellor, an older white woman named Barbara Gibson, was, she sure laid the fairy godmother act on thick.

"You come on down whenever you like, alright? I need to talk to your dad about something, so why don't you look around the school? If not, you can just sit in the waiting room, though, I can't imagine how much fun that'd be," she said with a laugh.

Lady huffed, getting out of the chair and out of the room, the door shutting behind her too hard. Ian snorted when he heard her mutter a soft 'Oh fuck.'

Barbara's smile faded before she sat up straight and pulled her chair closer to the desk that was covered with photos of what was either relatives or past students. There was one that he could see tucked beside the IBM that had Lady's record on it; a small picture that had a picture of some Native youth in what he assumed was local traditional regalia in a crudely painted frame and had stickers on the corners. His eyes flickered from the photo to the computer screen and then finally to the old woman.

"What's up?" He finally asked.

"There's an incident that I want to talk about in particular."

His body went cold. A stone, reminding him of the times he had touched water that was so hot that it felt ice cold, dropped in his stomach.

"I'm guessing you know what I'm talking about, Dr. Johnson?"

"Ah, yeah, the one in Montana, right?"

Barbara nodded. "It doesn't go into detail on her record, but, I wanted to hear the story."

"Well... She pushed a girl down the stairs and there was an agreement. The parents said they'd drop charges if she was expelled. I'm not really sure what else there is to say." He shrugged before slouching in his seat. A hand went to run through his hair, only to get caught in the beginning of his braid. He bit his lip, glancing at the door and swearing he saw her silhouette through the blinds of the window. He blinked, and it was gone. "The story is..."

Lady shuffled out of the Student Services area, her heart pounding at what she had heard. They were talking about her. They were talking about Montana. Her sneakers smacked against the smooth tile as she ran down the hall. A voice in her head told her to stop and slow down before she got any shit from staff or a hall monitor, even though she had never seen one in her life outside of movies. She ignored it. She wasn't officially a student here yet. School didn't start for her for two weeks. What's the worst they could do? Throw her in detention for the whole afternoon?

The halls were empty, save for a few people coming and going from the bathrooms or the library. Lunch hour had ended half an hour ago, so everyone was either in class or ducking out somewhere for a spare period or simply skipping classes.

She had no idea where she was going. She just wanted to get away from that conversation. To get away as far as possible.

Fate had led her to the gym. It was full of people. Students and a few teachers actually participating in class while the others were sitting on the bleachers observing or in the balcony above the gym. She ducked down, hoping to avoid the gaze of gym teachers who'd ask what she was doing here or stray basketballs that might come flying into her face, before heading up a staircase that led to the balcony. Once she was up there, it was clear that the kids up here were here to skip and not be discovered. Everyone up here looked like the stereotypical bullies that old white executives thought bullies had looked like and crammed them into the kids show they were meddling in. Either these kids were simply trying way too hard to be intimidating and tough looking or those TV shows and high school movies Lady had seen were actually right. Regardless, Lady didn't want to find out which was correct. So, she kept to the edges of the area in an effort to not bother anyone. She settled for the corner closest to the staircase and up against the banister.

"Heya, Bulkie, check this out."

Lady looked up to see a pair of boys, one slightly taller and skinny that was decked out in at least three different types of punk and the other much bigger in girth that dressed simpler, leaning over the banister. The skinny one leaned over the banister so far that he was nearly half off of it, snorted and spat down onto the bleachers. Lady cringed. The loogie dived downward like a vile meteor out to destroy everything in its path. And the only thing in its path was a nerd in a Duran Duran concert t-shirt. It landed right beside him, maybe an inch or so away, Lady couldn't tell from up here. But, she could tell that it must've splashed onto him because he got up from his seat and yelled.

"That's disgusting!" The big one yelled before turning towards his friend, she couldn't see his expression but she could tell that it must have had a wide smile. "Do it again."

The skinny one laughed, reminding her of a hyena and afternoons at her Jaban's house when her Kookum, Jaban and aunties were all together and laughing loudly in Cree. It was loud. The acoustics in the gym made it even worse. The sound made her grip her chest in shock and to keep her heart from leaping out of her chest. He leaned forward once again and spat another wad. The nerd had been looking up, most likely to get a look at the culprit or to see where that awful sound was coming from.

The spit landed right onto his face. The two bullies howled in delight. The bigger one raised his hand for a high five, which the skinny one went for but missed and nearly fell off of the balcony.

"TAKE THAT, CRANSTON!" shouted the fat one as he yanked his smaller friend to safety.

"YEAH, GEEK! THERE'S PLENTY MORE WHERE THAT CAME FROM!"

Cranston. Duran Duran. Geek.

Lady dashed forward to get a better look, her head spinning from how fast she moved and just how high up she was.

There was Billy Cranston, decked out in the concert tee and blue short shorts, glaring hard at the duo. He swiped his hand over his face in an attempt to fling off the saliva and God Knows What Else but was most likely just smearing it around. In the process, he slipped on the surface and tumbled down the bleachers. That had made the bullies laugh even harder, the echoing sound making Lady grind her teeth. Her hands twitched as she tried to keep them from slamming against her ears. She stared at the ground below her in an attempt to distract her from the noise, settling on the sight of two classmates running towards Billy and helping him up.

'Jesus, poor guy...'

"WILL LADY JOHNSON PLEASE COME DOWN TO THE MAIN OFFICE. LADY JOHNSON, MAIN OFFICE. THANK YOU."

Her skeleton nearly jumped out of her flesh and ran into the horizon at the blaring announcement. The woman's loud, nasally and droning voice, the booming volume and the crackling static of the intercom had sounded like a god damn car crash. Lady drove her wrists to her ears and squeezed her head so tightly that the others must've thought she was trying to make her eyes pop out of the sockets. The pain she was dealing to herself was nothing compared to the noise. Her heart hammered inside her chest, the sound drowning out the curse words that crashed down from her lips. Her throat felt sore. Was she yelling? Shit. Shit. Shit.

At some point, she had dropped down to her knees as she tried to calm down from the overload. God, she wished she had her Walkman. If only David Byrne was here and his almost anxiety-inducing vocals could drown out the snickering which she knew was going on. Then, he could lull her into a false sense of security; no, no one had seen or heard anything. No, people didn't think you were a fucking retard. No, your mom wasn't right. Yes, I would totally sing at your prom and look I brought your friends from Cross World City. It'll all be okay, Lady.

Lady breathed in deeply. It was okay, she was okay. She opened her eyes, her sunglasses thankfully blocking out some of the harsh fluorescent lighting above her. It was okay, she was okay. Slowly, she rose to her feet, brushed off her knees and tried to ignore the stares as she headed down the stairs. It was okay, she was okay. Her face felt like it was on fire, her own hands splaying all over it making it worse, as she made her way out of the gym.

On her way out, she had collided into someone and they said something to her, but she couldn't hear. She needed to go. She needed to leave. It was okay, she was okay.

It was okay, she was okay.

"H-hey, Lady..." Billy spluttered as he righted himself upwards after she had crashed into him. "I wasn't aware that you had already commenced with attending school! Are you finding everything satisfactory? Oh, are you alright yourself? you appear to be quite discombobulated and agitated—"

"It's okay, I'm okay. It's okay, I'm okay. It's okay, I'm okay. Same as it ever was, same as it ever was, same as it ever was..."

He blinked when his neighbour had ignored him and just kept wandering down the hall, muttering to herself. It was quite clear that she was not okay. He pushed up his glasses with his free hand, the other pressing an ice pack to his forehead, as he watched her go.

"Holy fuck, there you are, my girl," said Ian once she had stepped into the office. He went to smack her playfully on the back but stopped, seeing how she frazzled she looked. Even behind her dark lenses and thick frames, he could see how wide and blank her hazel eyes were. Small red indents about the same width as her fingernails decorated her forehead. If she wasn't also breathing deeply and erratically, he would've known something was up. Quietly, he led her out of the building and into the truck, even going so far as to open and close the door for her. Once they were out of the school parking lot and on their way to the grocery store, he decided to speak. "You get a good feel of the place?"

She sat there in a tense silence, her eyebrows furrowed closely together and lips pressed into a hard line as she stewed in her feelings. Several minutes had passed before she spoke, "Can we put on Talking Heads—fuck it, can I have a smoke too?!"

Ian looked at her again before giving her a slow nod, deciding to not press her on anything. She reached for the handle to the glove box, pulled out her dad's copy of 'Stop Making Sense' then a pack of Marlboros and a lighter he had stashed. She slid out a cigarette from the pack and lit it up before rushing to crank the window open before taking a long drag. It had felt almost hot as she inhaled but it calmed her nerves almost immediately. Her head had felt light and empty. Anxieties about how much of an ass she might've looked were gone for the moment. Slouching, she slid the tape into the player and turned up the volume, the opening to the live version of Psycho Killer now filling the vehicle.