Sands of Time.

[nina]

Ooc:// I fail at coming up with titles sorry.

Bic://Watching from afar you would see a small bundle of white and blue sitting on the sand of the warm beaches. Growing closer to the image you would see a young girl, Luci.
Luci wasn't exactly doing anything here, she had absolutely no intent of swimming but she needed a place to be alone and thing. Something about the lake brought her a comfort of home, yes home.
She had missed her family, the poor beings left without either of their children and Luci just taking in the wealth as she was from it herself. She knew her parents would be working hard, earning their livelihood. That's where Luci's shame had been brought in. She hadn't enjoyed the idea of being in this paradise. She was barely learning anything anyhow. It was all on how to be proper. Yes, she learned some things about design. Those were always fun things to do.
But Luci just needed to think about her parents and stop missing them for a while. Isn't it normal for a child to miss their parents? Luci sure believed so.
Her legs were folded against her chest while her toes dug into the sand completely out of a nervous habit.
She began mumbling, it was a silent little noise but she had actually been singing. A simple lullaby, nothing all extravagant nor was her voice anything to be proud of. A simple lullaby sung to her when she was a child.
As the comforting melody and rhythm melted over her Luci begun to find some relief, the feeling brought something back to her that Luci had came here for.
Yes, this is why she had come here. Pushing herself off the ground with her hands, Luci stood to her feet, grains of the sticky dirt clung to her hand but she soon brushed them off. She began to walk to the edge of the lake looking down in the water.
She was back to herself again, thinking about flimsy things like school work and friendships.
Kicking a bit of sand into the water she giggled as it made a small ripple, nothing but cause and effect.
She might have been alone at the moment but she had the entire world, or so she thought.

[Poe]

Screeching laughter could be heard from the forest as several young men darted through the trees, their bare feet barely leaving a mark upon the dry ground, their tough skin immune to the scratch and sting of thistles and thorns. They raced each other through the underbrush of the woods, running toward the crystal clear, calm waters of the lake that rested just on the edge of the woods and the school. As they jumped through trees, the blue water bobbed into view, flickering through the green leaves of summer as the hot sun poured down on them. Taunting words left each one's mouths as they striped themselves of their shirts, and in one case of his breeches, leaving him only in his undergarments. The bare chested, brown skinned gypsies ran, dancing and laughing, taunting and whistling through the wood, drawing closer to their destination.

They had no clue that a young woman was among them, sitting on the shores of the beach, sitting and thinking and attempting to be alone. Perhaps if they knew that, and saw that she was but a young one from the school they would have stopped dead in their tracks, scowled at their luck and returned. A child was so much different from the wonders of the young women that grew inside the school's walls. And the gypsy men did so enjoy meeting them at the lake, attempting to lure them into the clear, cold waters with tales of magic and jokes. But children... They were so much different, so less complicated. Their lives were yet to become puzzles, and the lads had too many of them to deal with at the camp, where the children ran around naked, screaming bloody murder.
The boys did not see the child though, as they burst through the trees, hollering like there was no one on earth to hear them, and jumping, one at a time off of the boat dock on the opposite side of the lake and deep into the depths of the water.
One particular young man, wearing dark brown pants and no shirt let out a loud yelp as he launched himself off of the dock and into the air, doing a delicate flip before he sunk, low into the water.

Below, all was dark and peaceful, and he stayed there in silence for a moment, among the shadows of the fish, tilting his head up to look at the light of the sun, which cast eerie shadows below. Shadows of monsters and dark times, but also of his friends' swimming bodies. With a grin, he swam toward one, grabbing his ankles and yanking him down, before emerging with a large grin, practically gasping for air. He looked at his friends, his short, dark hair dripping with water, and he shook it out, sending beads everywhere.
Bryce Sanders narrowed his eyes in confusion when he listened to silence, and followed the gaze of the other boys, noticing for the first time a young girl.

Ah, shit," he muttered, being swatted on the back of his friend for language. No matter how young the lady was, it wasn't right to be cursing in front of them. He looked at his friends and then back at the little, girl, sighing. They weren't about to give up the lake though, it was far too hot of a day. Pushing a hand through his hair, still treading water, he began to swim over to her, deciding that maybe he could scare her away.

"Hello there, little girl," he said, watching her make ripples in the water, as if she didn't even know he and his friends had invaded her little world. "What are you doing down here all alone?" Part of him hoped that maybe she wasn't all alone and she'd brought herself a pretty little friend from the shcool... who was considerably older. "Don't you know these woods are dangerous?" From behind him came several snickers, his friends swimming in slow circles around the lake, talking among themselves and listening at the same time. Bryce looked at her, knowing that he really did speak the truth. These woods were a dangerous place, especially with that damn shifter on the loose.

[nina]

Looking up at the source of the noise, Luci began to walk away. These people were strange to her, like those stories the older girls always told about gypsies. She never really believed there were actual strangers wandering but these people were doing just so. Before she could even get a good distance away someone was talking, to her judging by the words.
Little girl, Luci hated being young but she knew better than to let it get the best of her. “Oh, I’m very sorry to interrupt you here…” she said to him not entirely sure of what to actually say. “I can go if you’d like.” When she finally turned around to face him, color rose in her cheeks. She was obviously embarrassed by his state. Her eyes automatically fell to the ground not willing to look directly at him. “And I didn’t think I was in the woods, I was just here thinking. I’m very sorry.” Again with the sorrys, it had been a tremendous habit of the eleven year old. Her small hands began tugging lightly on her two braids not entirely sure what to do now. He seemed decent as a person, but he wasn’t even dressed. Then again, a hot day like this Luci was ashamed of not wearing her sweater. What seemed like ages ago Luci had managed to take it off thinking no one was around, now she was just in that white outfit that was poorly designed at that.
She was very curious about him though, it took all her inner strength to keep from asking him a frenzy of questions, she looked down at the sand only to see her sweater feet away. Her toes beginning to play in it again, it felt so warm under her fragile feet. Those terrible shoes always pinched and bit her feet raw but the underbelly of her feet were still as children.
Looking at them again, they reminded her of her father and mother. She smiled lightly remembering she had to leave. She was thinking very quickly now, everything was actually coming together in her head. She looked around innocently, trying to figure out if she should ask to stay. She was beginning to like these people, they hadn’t cared about being proper, and they cared about sensibility.

[Tsubasa]

Ah, it was nice taking a break once and awhile from all the hype. Snotty nosed children always running in and out of his office with a 'owwiee! I got a paper-cut!' or an obvious fake 'yeahh, so I got a stomach ache. Better sit out of school then, yeah?'. Usually he would scare the latter out of his office never to return again. Scare them how? Would YOU like to find out? No, I didn't think so.

Feeling the cool particles of sand under his feet, due the discardation of his previous shoes, Taki sighed and stretched his arms out with a grin. Twirling around for the heck of it, he stopped with a breeze ran through him and caused the man to shiver. He probably should have worn his lab coat, shouldn't he? Shrugging it off and pretending to be imune to cold, the doctor ran out to the watery surface and endulged his feet in the cool liquid. Luckily, the sun shone through the clouds around this time, so the air was warming up, and the cool lake water was now refreshing.

Just then, he heard noise coming from the far left, so he blinked and spun his head over. There seemed to be a few gypsie boys, playing around in the water like usual. He often saw them there and smiled at their silly antics. But today he saw a little girl, one of the students of course, placed among them. Strange, he thought, and peered longer to see a tall gypsie talking back to her. Hmmm, his crazy senses did tingle so, and his curiosity got the best of him when he waltzed over without a thought. That was the problem with this strange, rash man.

Skipping over, he stopped himself and grinned that oh so famous fox grin of his.

"こにちわ！、hi there!" he shouted, almost too loud, "whatcha guys dooiiinn?”

Today had been rather slow and boring, so why not make it fun?

[Poe]

Bryce laughed at her words, at her awkward stance, at how she dug her toes into the ground. His wide mouth opened so that his white teeth flashed as they caught the light of the sun, deep contrasting with the dark tone of his skin. His baby blue eyes glittered with absolute amusement as he watched her, enthralled that he had embarrassed her by simply coming up to her with no shirt on. He had forgotten how such young ladies were trained within that school- she would not last a moment in their camp. Behind him, there were more splashes and laughing as the boys climbed up on shore and jumped back in, either off the dock or out of over hanging trees. Bryce glanced behind him to watch the fun for a moment. As she spoke though, he looked at her, head tilted to the side, and more beads of water rolled down his smiling face. "I never said you had to go," he said, grinning. "Stay as long as you like."
Bryce slowly stepped closer up to shore, standing on the muddy lake banks, now only hip-deep in the water. His feet had disturbed the mud, causing it to float around him, staining his black pants brown, at least until he started to swim again. However, by the looks of things, that might be awhile- he had a little girl to scare off, which was obviously going to be harder than he thought, since she was more embarrassed by his shirtless appearance than anything else. And she needed to learn a thing or two about the woods anyway.

"Listen here," he said softly, leaning forward, his blue eyes staring sharply at her. "No where is safe anymore. Not the school. Not the town. And not the woods. Don't ever come here alone. Do you hear? You have no clue what sort of frightening things await you in these woods. Within these branches dark things lurk..." His voice had lowered dramatically in an attempt to paint a picture perfect, frightening scene.
But it was ruined both by the splashing and laughing behind him that only depicted care-free summer fun, and of course, by the good doctor, Taki walking up and injecting.
Bryce's gaze met the man indifferently.
"Just teaching one of your dear students here a lesson, doctor. About wandering out alone in these woods." He took another step up onto shore, running a hand through his short hair, water beads flying everywhere. More mud swirled about him.

He looked back to his friends, then to the strange doctor. He half expected the man to jump him, attack him for being so close to the young girl, and was honestly surprised that he hadn't right away, when he saw him swimming so close. Bryce smirked to himself, thinking about being a sea monster in the water's depths. He snapped back to attention though, watching the man critically.

ooc: Icky.

[nina]

Her eyes looked at the water peacefully, "I'm not all that scared of being alone. I'm pretty smart." she smiled trying to keep from running off, why did he continue getting closer? "And I don't believe in mythical creatures. I'm sorry." she added almost rolling her eyes. Her smile was priceless, teeth still growing and awkward from age. She looked at the dark skinned man a little curious now, she hadn't cared how he was dressed anymore, she wanted to know more about the gypsies not here those flimsy horror stories, besides, she really hadn't enjoyed them.
"What's your name?" she asked her body rocking back and forth. She understood how small she looked to him but didn't really care, that's when someone saw her. Oh goodness, was Luci in trouble.
She looked at the man trying to figure out who he was. The man was oddly familiar, she understood he worked at their school but didn't really know him personally. Probably some kind of science teacher, or doctor all she knew was he worked at the school.
Luci looked at him trying to be innocent but her eyes were hungry with curiosity of this odd stranger.
Watching him grow closer Luci smiled looking between the two, when the stranger got closer she was a little scared of what was happening. The people of their school didn't like the gypsies. Luci really shouldn't have been there...
Her toes pushing into the warm sand once again as she thought over how to react in this kind of situation, Luci understood she had to stay around for a while if she wanted to talk to the stranger, yet she might have gotten in trouble. Either way, she was going to stay for a bit. They wouldn’t kill her for the first time ever getting in trouble. Well, she didn’t ever attempt to break the rules, this was just an accident.
She was in the wrong place at the wrong time.

[Tsubasa]

As the man saw the gypsie getting closer to the girl, instantly Taki's 'uh-oh' senses kicked in. (happy Poe? xD) Raising a skinny eyebrow, he pushed up the glasses on the bridge of his nose with a finger, and peered straight at the boy, and then the girl.

"So, what do we have here? はああ？" He thingyed his head slightly to the side as he looked at the girl. "あらあら、おじょうーさん。Young ladies like you shouldn't be out far back here, especially with all the crazy things that could happen."

Without giving a thought, he grinned and rested an arm on the gypsie's shoulder, then pointed to him with his free hand.

"For instance, this guy here could simply jump you and steal you back to his caravan...," he chose to lower his voice for effect, which didn't quite work seeing as he was smiling like it was all funny, "making you little-girl stew!!"

Taki laughed at this, slapping his leg as if it were a hilarious joke of some sorts. The man sighed, wiping his brow, and calmed down a bit. He took his arm off the boy and then placed his hand on the girl's shoulder.

"No but seriously that guy could like rape you in a second. You know, indecencies and stuff?" With that he clapped his hands together as if this represented a man and a woman screwing each other. With that, he chuckled and sighed again, crossing his arms.

"Ah well, if you wanna get raped, get raped. But I'm not going to help carry out the baby! いいえ、まさか。”

[Poe]

"Ah, bah, every child believes in mythical creatures. They are what keeps them up at night with nightmares. And if you don't you really should." A smirk pulled against his lips, and Bryce leaned closer, the hair on the back of his own neck standing up as the thoughts of all the dark things swirling about just inside that golden door reached him. "Come to our camp some day, hm? Listen to our stories, they'll make you believe. I promise you that." He laughed at her rather innocent question, and wondered how many more the girl had bottled up inside ofher, waiting to explode. "Bryce Sanders at your service, m'lady," He said, bowing low to the ground, just for her. When the boy wasn't trying to scare of little munchkins he was always looking to make people laugh, it seemed. Behind him, his friends continued to laugh and screech as they continued to jump into the icy water.
He looked behind him, his blue eyes studying the depths before looking at the young girl before him. "And what's your name?" He asked, knowing he sounded like a total creeper. Pushing a hand through his hair he stood up straight, not even noticing how quickly the doctor moved.

Bryce's head and body jerked up when he felt an arm on his shoulder, and glanced over at the doctor, listening to him nearly yell his crazy thoughts out into the air. Bryce blinked at the little girl stew, but decided not to interject by saying that he did not enjoy eating it. Bryce was quite surprised when Taki did not threaten to call the authorities, and his rigid body slowly went lax. Still, he glanced suspiciously at the man as he continued on about rape and babies and such, and as Bryce looked back at the girl he half wondered if she was even old enough to have a child- physically.
As he looked the child over he caught her gaze, and tried not to laugh, realizing her stare was an interesting one. One of wonder and curiosity. He chuckled, scratching his head, and then looked at the doctor.

"Sir, I can assure you, there's no need to worry. I was just warning her about the dangers in the woods. Wild animals and such," the young man nodded, and then sort of twisted away from the doctor.

[nina]

Luci’s eyes widened at the offer, she was confused at why he’d ask her to join him. She mumbled something about loving to go but not being able to not wanting the other man to here.
Upon his coming came with horror stories, oh of course he had to bring up stew stuff. “Um, excuse me Mr., but humans don’t eat themselves.” She said looking at him completely serious about what she believed. She looked at the two and wondered why she had ended up here at the wrong time. Beginning to shiver a bit a little scared to ask more questions she looked at the other man, staring at him trying to figure out what he was saying.
“If you don’t mind me asking, what is rape?” she questioned picking at her skin in nervousness. But no grin came out of this question, she was completely serious. She was scared to make eye contact anymore due to being ashamed of her lack of knowledge. Luci was pretty innocent seeing as she was eleven it’s not like she would know those kinds of things when someone said it. He seemed to say it in a creepy tone though.
Luci let her shoulders drop so she wouldn’t be so tense anymore, she figured the man was trying to tell her to leave, she began to walk slowly but walking. She picked up her sweater and shoes looking at them only about four feet from the place she had just stood.
“And my name is Luci, if you don’t mind can I bother you with one more question? Why do you guys live like you do?” she asked in a steady voice, not really ashamed at what she was asking. Her eyes were staring at him, large and curious. She bit her lip gently trying to keep her patience until he responded then leave. She really wanted to know this, and didn’t care what the teacher thought. It was an innocent question.
She rocked back and forth gently waiting for a response her teeth leaving light indents on her lips as she glanced between the two men, then Bryce’s friends, then the her own feet.

[Tsubasa]

Giving a short, snicker-like chuckle, the doctor gave a warm smile that was really more reassuring. He, rather harshly, pat Bryce on the back and smiled down at the girl.

"No no, I'm just kidding around here. I know you gypsies you may be known for your ...well, everything bad possible," he gave a snicker at this, "but I know you're alright."

Taki paused, blinking at her statement of human-eaterage, and grinned once more. This girl really was young, wasn't she? It made him think about the school, and it's acceptions. There really wasn't supposed to be young children at Florence, or at least, that's how it used to be. But now youngins like that Chinese girl, Miles, and this girl were running amuck in the chaos of teenagers. Teenagers, hah, what a strange bunch they are. The Japanese man chose to stay away from their strange kind, but alas his job proves otherwise. It was the only opening for him, and if he wants to work as a professional in the future, he had to have some experience.

Although, he didn't know how that fickle Demetrio could do it. Snot-nosed brats like these really were just unappetizing. Who would choose them over tall, hansome, and mature......Well, he supposed he was getting a little ahead of himself there. Shaking his head, Taki turned his attention to the task ahead.

"Well now, that's not entirely true. There are cannibals in this world, especially in wild places like Africa." Well that's definitely not going to give her nightmares. And you've done it again, doctor.

Although, the next question stopped him in his tracks. Did no one tell her of the birds and the bees? Always left for the doctor to explain. Especially when it was too late and the girl was pregnant. Too many times did he have to deal with that confusion.

Raising up his finger, Taki opened his mouth to say something but then paused, turning that same hand to stroke his invisible beard. Thinking, thinking, thinking...he proceeded to then grin, bend down and pick up two pebbles, and bring them back up in each hand.

"よし、you see these two pebbles?" He raised both clutched hands in the air holding the pebbles. "Well, this pebble," he motioned to his right hand, "loves the other pebble. But the other pebble unfortunately does not." Taki made a sad face. "So Mr. Right Pebble gets angry and forces love onto Mrs. Other Pebble." The doc smashed the two pebbles together. "And thus follows STDs, abortion, and traumatic stress. Viola. There you have rape."

He bowed, and straightened up grinning.

"Any more questions?"

[Poe]

ooc: I really do not know how to reply to this. =PPP XD I apologize in advance if it absolutely sucks and blows.

bic:
Bryce had no clue what he wanted to do more... Duck from under the insane man's arm and run screaming back to the lake, jump in and hide among his friends, or rescue the little girl from his clutches, take her back to the school, and tell her to report the doctor. He did appear to be insane to Bryce, after all. Instead he stayed silent, watching the ten-year-old girl with curious eyes. She had to be the youngest he allowed in. He remembered Cicily and Ara claiming that girls as young as ten were allowed to enter the school, but that was all.
He missed having inside eyes and ears. Now that they had begun their season and graduated from Florence Academy Bryce never saw the girls again, he was sure they had entered the Realms through different means, but he did miss them. The new Unloved just weren't really... aquainted with him well, and he was sure that they were utterly terrified of him. What with the sword and all... But he should fear them- they had the power to do whatever the hell they wanted, and he was almost positive that that was what they did.
Behind him his friends continued thier game, pretending they did not see what most likely looked like impending doom on their friend. After all, they were certainly still safe, if they wanted to they could easily run away when literal danger came from the grown English man.

Bryce practically winced when he smashed two pebbles together, and looked down at the girl, rolling his eyes slightly to show how bored he was. Maybe he could be friends with her... If nothing else, maybe he could stop trying to scare her away, and now she seemed honestly interested in what he was... How he lived. That was first, and Bryce grinned at the question that flew from her mouth half-way through Taki's speech. Bryce didn't even wait for him to finish, hoping that perhaps he could shield the child's ears from total scarring.
"We live like we do because it is the only way we know how to live," Bryce answered softly. "We live off of our work just as your men do, but we work... differently. We dont' waste our talents. If we know how to be sneaky, or know magic, or the best stories, or how to juggle we put it to use. We entertain crowds." However, he wasn't entirely sure if she meant the running from place to place, hiding among the trees, fearing the coppers. Pushing a hand through his hair, Bryce continued. "And we move because people don't like us," he said at last, making it as... easy for her to understand as possible.

[nina]

Luci looked at the teacher horrified, yet utterly confused at his explanation. "Why'd the rock break? Do people break when they love someone?" she asked, staring at the broken rocks. Luci hadn’t even begun to decipher the words he said at the end but really didn't feel like asking at this point. STDs, abortion…. What were these strange words anyhow, never mind what they had meant.
The man was obviously insane. His wide grin and deranged stories had left that her only solution. She looked at Bryce wondering if he could stop this doctor illness, or insanity, answer the question to why in heavens name he would be explaining this stuff anyhow.
A smile rose to her lips when she listened to Bryce’s reasoning, it had really sounded nice. His life style wasn’t filled with so many rules and complication. Looking at him about to ask more questions she stopped herself thinking; for the moment she really wanted to get away from here. She wanted to leave this weird doctor to himself and do as the boy had wanted in the very beginning to let him have fun in the lake.
Luci looked down backing away slowly. "I'm sorry for bothering you two, I really am." she nearly whined sitting down when she felt a safe distance beginning to put her shoes on though really not wanting to go, the people seemed to have different opinions and she enjoyed listening to them. It was just the idea that they had been a tad scary in explaining them. If they were acting someone decent she would have understood the rock story, and maybe even been able to ask Bryce more questions but for the moment she was trying to wrap her head around everything she had just been told as well as tie her shoes, and keep her mouth shut from asking more questions.
Luci was only eleven; she had virtually no friends but a head full of curiosity. What more could you expect from a child?

[Tsubasa]

(I have too many threads to reply to at the moment, so i'm leaving this one. ;__; well, Taki was technically a third-wheel anyway.)

Ah, the rock broke. Did that happen when you got raped? Well, possibly, in a psychological sense. Forcing a grin, the man put a light hand gently to his forehead, the sounds of drums were coming back and he feared his weekly headache was about to spring upon him. Oh the disastrous knives that shot in repeatedly in a consecutive manner, pouding on his temples over and over. Ever since he went rhough his godforesaken pubesent stage, the doctor had had this migraines come and go like seasons. Much quicker and much faster than season though, it seemed. And as the switch from pleasure to pain arose, his personality felt the swift change coming along as well.

His forced grin turned from fox-like into a grumbled looking frown, and the raised brow suddenly knitted together. Heaving with a sigh, he threw the crumbled forlorn pieces of the -raped- sediment over his shoulder and dug his hands into his pockets. Looking at the two, and trying hard not to grumble from the upper pain, he rolled his eyes and yawned.

"Well, this has been sufficiently boring and useless. Really, I don't know what I was doing here talking to you bunch, I should be enjoying myself and relaxing in solitude." he took his right hand out to massage his temples. "Thanks for wasting my time and giving me a headahche."

With that he spun around and continued away from the probably dumfounded duo, making his way possibly back to his cozy little office. He didn't really know, he just wanted to get far away from other people at the moment. Maybe he'll just head back to the office and take a nice bath.



(that was really short. ;__; sorry.)

[Poe]

Bryce shook his head, watching the two people walk away. First, the teacher, who seemed to storm away in a sudden anger, clutching his head as if a child and a gypsy could really put the doctor in a foul mood or even purposefully give him a headache. It wasn't as if they meant too. It was probably from all the yelling he'd done when he had gone on and on and on about abortion and STDs and teen pregnancy. Sighing, Bryce looked down at the ground, feeling just like a leper, scaring away anyone who had tried to come close to him, who had tried to talk to him.
Not only was the doctor walking away, but so was the child, the young girl. Bryce watched her go, his head tilted to the side, almost wishing she'd stay. It would have been much less lonely if she did.
Shrugging, Bryce turned his body back toward the lake, suddenly cool, thanks to the chilly breeze that blew across the lake. The shirtless man covered his bare chest with his thick arms, glancing once more at the little girl behind him who seemed to be trying to only escape an awkward situation with a teacher. "You know," he said thoughtfully, attempting to stop her, "I bet I can answer some of you questions, if you have any? Or you could come swimming with us," he added, gesturing toward the lake, where his friends were still swimming, scrambling up the muddy, slippery bank to jump back into the waters of the large lake.

It was only when he had walked halfway to the dock, the mud and grass squishing between his bare toes and dying his feet brown and green did he remember her words. Her apology for bothering the two of them. He scoffed, laughing and attempting to not roll his eyes as he turned back around. She seemed to not have moved from her spot, and he glanced at her, his eyes suddenly inviting. "Come on, now," he said, grinning. "You weren't bothering me at all, honestly..."
Well, he had certainly acted as if she had been. The boys had, in fact, left the camp to get away from children and their curiosity. They had wanted to spend some time alone being boys while Bryce did not feel the pull of his duties to the cave. Even though he was in his twenties he often still felt like a boy, a child at heart, and someone really couldn't blame him for that.

Unsure if the child would follow him out to the waterside or not, he walked to the dock, picking up several rocks on his way. Chuckling in remembrance of Taki's demonstration of rape. He had no clue how that would actually come into play later in his life. He'd bristle about it he'd hate the doctor for putting that in his mind, believing it was the doctor's fault because he'd put it into the air.
Bad juju, you know.
He stopped at the end of the old boat dock, sitting with his feet dangling in the water, his toes just grazing the surface. One at a time, he threw the rocks into the water, watching the ripples dance along.

[nina]

Now the abnormal teacher was leaving Luci really had no reason to leave, he was the one frightening her into leaving, not Bryce. She looked up for a moment before returning to tying her shoes. Her fingers pulled a bow into the laces making sure her eyes didn’t wander up.
But Bryce said something; he was saying he wanted her around. Now, this had shocked Luci her mouth struggled to keep down the words she wanted to shout, not wanting to say it sure seemed like he wanted her to leave with the stories then all the other devilish things he could think of doing.
Standing up, sweater dangling from her hand she was rigid unsure what to do now, he wanted her to stay and she was perplexed due to longing to stay around and talk, ask questions. She wouldn’t even mind living with the boy for goodness sakes. She belonged over there, at school though. She hadn’t been a part of this world anymore she was going to try to do something with her life as her parents wished upon her.
She stood limp; thinking her options over Luci decided she had to stay, just for a bit longer. She hadn’t been concerned about getting in trouble any longer and really wouldn’t mind staying around longer asking many more questions.
Walking across the dock, shoes clicking against the wooden floor with each step she looked at the water, pupils dilating to the bright reflection of the sun. “You seem different from them.” She said nodding to her friends who were quite the show on their own. They were disorganized but they were having an extensive amount of fun making a mess of themselves.[i “Do you choose to be different? I’m positive most of them would have told me to go right away… it’s just how people seem to be.” She said confident now, she felt wanted and she wasn’t so terrified of them.
She dropped her sweater on the deck sitting down in the traditional “criss-cross-apple-sauce” formation drawing unseen pictures with her finger on the wood waiting for his reply. Her eyes glanced up for a minute just to answer one question, “I’m not allowed to go swimming, I could get in trouble.” She said looking around the water was so attractive on a hot day like today. She wasn’t about to ruin the outfit that hadn’t even belonged to her but rather her sponsor. That’s what she deserved for being an average person unlike all the people who were around this school.