wandering around (aly)

[alexkilmartin]

Alex had finished art class, took her things back to her room, had lunch, and had just started walking, unsure where she wanted to go. Currently, she was supposed to be in Algebra, but that wasn’t going to happen. She thought about her first day at Blackwood Academy it had been interesting to say the least. She met some students and one of her teachers who was so annoying. She could not believe she had to spend her first night there in the infirmary with a broken nose courtesy of a bitch. They had wanted to make sure she didn’t have trouble breathing. Her nose was swollen and she had bruising around her nose and under her eyes. The pain wasn’t anything she couldn’t handle.

Alex stopped realizing she had wandered to the side yard. It wasn’t anything special, just a large open space of grass. She wasn’t sure what she was going to do here, she hadn’t brought her art supplies or anything. Then an idea occurred to her. She hadn’t done it in a very long time, but she could give it a try. She walked to the middle of the yard, got in a ready stance and bowed. She turned left, did a left down block, stepped, did a middle punch, and continued on doing the best she could to remember her yellow belt form.

[alyssaberger]

Alyssa was out on the grounds, enjoying the warm afternoon air. She felt a little guilty, being outside when all the other students were locked away indoors, but she wasn't strictly skipping, she could never do that, not in good conscience. But she'd been feeling ill earlier, and had been excused from afternoon classes. After sleeping through lunch, she was feeling peppier, and what better way was there to get you feeling better than fresh air? So after grabbing her bag filled with homework, she'd set out to find the perfect spot.

She eventually made her way to the side yard, it was sunny, it was a little secluded, it was perfect. She tilted her head to the side curiously, catching site of a tall blonde girl. Aly's perpetual smile grew as she watched the other girl go through a series of punches. She quietly observed for a few moments, not Karate, but similar, she'd have to see some of the kicks to be sure, but she thought it was probably Tae Kwon Do. It had been ages since she'd been able to talk about, let alone practice any of her karate. Forgetting that she was supposed to be intimidated by the other students, Aly dropped her bag on the ground and walked over to the girl. “ Hey, nice moves. What was it, tae kwon do? How long have you been doing it? I'm into karate myself. Been doing it since I was like 6. So cool, right? We should spar sometime, if they'd let us here. What belt are you? ” she babbled in her normal run on way Oh, right, I'm Aly. she said, sticking out her hand [/size]

[alexkilmartin]

Alex had been so focused on her Taekwondo form that she had not noticed anyone around her until a girl came up to her. Alex startled, and pulled her had back, ready to punch whoever it was, if they were a threat. Her heart pounded in her chest and she felt her adrenaline surge. She had been jumped by guys after they lost a fight to her, and she didn’t take being surprised lightly. She relaxed slightly when she saw the girl, she didn’t appear to be a threat. Hyper, yes. But not a threat.

Alex was slightly taken aback by how fast the girl talked. She had just crammed so many questions into one breath, Alex had to concentrate to figure out what she was saying. When she finished Alex took a minute to think. She hadn’t talked to anyone about her Taekwondo training in a long time, and didn’t know what she should tell this stranger. She stared at the girl’s hand for a second before she took Aly’s hand in her own, giving it a firm squeeze. “Alex,” she replied. She let go and let her hand hang by her side. “Yeah, it’s Taekwondo. I…umm…I started when I was like 9. That would be cool, But given how, yesterday, my first day here went, I don’t think they would let me.” She intentionally hadn’t answered Aly’s question about her belt rank. She wasn’t ready to get into that with her yet. It would bring too many questions. Questions Alex didn’t want to think about or answer right now.

[alyssaberger]

Aly grinned “Well, it's super nice to meet you Alex. I miss the competition part, it's too bad. I'd say we should just forget 'e and spar anyways, but they'd probably think we were like, you know actually fighting, and I for one do not want to end up in detention.” she chuckled a little. She didn't bring up the belt thing, not noticing the other girl hadn't answered, one of the problems with asking so many questions in one breath, Aly often forgot what she'd asked in the first place.

“ I'm new here myself. Only a few weeks. I'm liking it so far I guess. I mean, really, it's better than the alternative, right? And it totally seems like the people here are cool enough. How about you? You enjoying it so far? I mean yeah, you've like barely gotten settled in, but other than that, are you liking it?” she asked brightly, eager to connect with someone who had similar interests as her. The girl looked pretty athletic, maybe she did track or soccer as well, that would be cool. [/size]

[alexkilmartin]

Alex gave her a small smile. “You too. Mmm detention doesn’t scare me but I really don’t need to add another one already. I’ll be finding out about it soon enough anyway,” she said nonchalantly with a shrug of her shoulders. Maybe sometime the staff would let them, which could be a lot of fun; but for now Alex now, especially after yesterday Alex knew no teacher would trust her to spar.

Unable to catch everything Aly said, Alex just nodded in agreement. She didn’t think she had ever met someone who talked so fast. She wondered if someone had given Aly sugar or something to make her so hyper. “My first day was great! I got this in a fight with some bitch I found out is named Skylar,” she said sarcastically as she pointed to her broken nose. She was sure it had to be puffy and gross looking with all the bruising around it. “I would hardly call getting a broken nose before I had even been here 24 hours a reason to like it here,” she said. “But I met with the coach for track, and I had art class which I like, so that was cool”

[alyssaberger]

Aly scrunched up her nose, looking at the other girl's face “ Yeah, I was kinda wondering about that, just figured it be rude to ask. That freaking sucks, getting in a fight and getting detention your first day? I've been like wicked terrified someone was going to start something with me. Not that I would pick anything, just that some of the students here seem a little, well, scary.” she laughed.

Her smile widened further ' You're on the track team too? Awesome! I am too. I do sprinting mostly, though I've started the hurdles too. My shins are sooooooo bruised up from it, I'm not very good at it yet, clearly. That's great, so we'll totally see each other there too. Are you on the soccer team as well? I played back home, so it seemed natural to join it here too. I was considering baseball, just to try something new, but you know, any game where small ball are hurled at my head seems like one I should avoid.” she giggled. She was used to yattering away, all she really needed was for someone to show even the slightest interest, and she was off. She liked it when someone actually responded back, even if Alex was a little sarcastic, it was still a conversation, which was really all someone like Aly could ask for. [/size]

[alexkilmartin]

Alex nodded in agreement, as Aly spoke. “Yeah, well I probably would have just ignored her and let her fall trying to hobble down the stairs, if I had known she was a level 4. But of course, I had to find that out after. I thought, being a level 3 I could take her, but that bitch is just plain psycho. Seriously, something is majorly fucked up with her,” Alex told Aly in warning.

Alex concentrated hard to understand everything Aly had asked her and said. “ I haven’t done like an organized school sport thing in a very long time. But it’s a requirement, so it’s not like I really had a choice. I’m going to give cross country and long distance running a try. I’m going to just see how that goes. But if it goes well I might join something else. If I do, it would probably be baseball. I’ve never played it, but I think it looks fun. I’m not very big on soccer. And while I like swimming for fun, I can’t picture myself on the swim team.” Alex did not like the thought of being in a swimsuit in front of a whole room of strangers who would be staring at her while she swam.

[alyssaberger]

Aly cringed “ Warning taken, stay away from psychotic level fours. Too be honest, I’m only a level one myself.” she chuckled a little “ I feel pretty cute and cuddly compared to some of the people here” she paused a moment “ So what got you in here? I’m sorry, that’s totally personal, isn’t it? I wasn’t really thinking. You don’t need to answer. I’m here because I stole things. I was embarrassed about it back home, but I figure, I’m here, no reason to hide it anymore, right? We’re all here for doing things we aren’t supposed too. My shrink says it’s actually kleptomania, like, I just can’t help it? So It’s also a warning. If something is missing, there is a good chance it was me. I always end up giving it back though, so like, don’t take it too seriously.” she chattered.

Aly chuckled and nodded in agreement about the swim team “ I just can’t imagine hanging around in my swimsuit all the time. I’d rather not have the entire school staring at my scrawny legs.” she laughed “ I thought about doing the cross country thing, I just really don’t think I’d have the endurance to make it through a race. I’m super quick in short bursts, but I so can’t pace myself. Which is why I normally stick to the sprints. Otherwise I’d own the first lap in long distance, than pass out.” she laughed.[/font][/size]

[alexkilmartin]

Alex nodded her head in agreement to Aly’s first words. Then Alex heard Aly ask her what what she had done to end up here. “You really wanna know?” Alex asked but didn’t give Aly the opportunity to respond before saying, “I was skippin’ school again to go buy some heroin and the lovely po-po decided to bust us. I tried to ditch my shit and run, but this one asshole cop caught me. I broke the motherfucker’s jaw and got him in a chokehold until he passed out. I hadn’t counted on his 5 buddies showin’ up just as I dropped his unconscious ass to the floor. I fought hard, but there was too many of them, I couldn’t take them all. They took me to juvie and the F*cking judge sent me here. Mmmkay?” Alex’s fists clenched as she remembered that day.

She took some deep breaths, and tried to calm herself down some, as Aly talked about swimming and track. It wasn’t Aly’s fault and Alex knew she shouldn’t take it out on her. She relaxed some and said, “Yeah, I don’t like the idea of everyone staring at me in a skimpy swimsuit. I prefer to be much more covered.” Alex was conservative that way, she didn’t like low cut shirts or skirts, not that she wore skirts anyway. Here with the dress code she still wore the pants, she would never wear that skirt. She nodded at Aly’s words anout track. “ it’s not for everyone, but I liked running long distances back home. It helps me to clear my head and just forget al the shit in my life, so I thought doing cross country and long distance on the track team would work for me.”

[alyssaberger]

Aly slowly raised her eyebrows as the other girl told her why she was at BAD. Aly's first instinct was to step back, for one, she could see the girl growing agitated, simply telling the story. Her body language was tense and her hands were clenched into fists. Aly did not want to end up on the receiving end of those fists. Yes, she was reasonably sure she could defend herself, but she'd rather not have too. Secondly, Alex had beaten up a cop. That seemed like it crossed some kind of line, police were the good guys. Aly had expected to hear about drugs, that would seem pretty normal for this place, but assault, well that freaked her out just a little bit.

Despite her initial reaction, Aly stayed where she was. She couldn't judge this girl. Alex was being nice to her, hadn't made any comment about Aly's own problems, what right did she have to assume she was any better than her? Besides, Aly had always been taught that you judge people based on who they are, not what they do. She would give Alex the benefit of the doubt.

The smile returned to her face as Alex started talking about track again, and Aly felt her self relax as Alex seemed to calm down, and her hands dropped out of the clenched fists. She let out a little breath of relief, it was good to know she wasn't going to be punched, at least not today. She chuckled “ I get what you mean about it clearing your head. That's why I do karate, and soccer, and track, and, well pretty much everything. It's a good way to keep your thoughts from running a million miles per minute. Well mine still do to be honest, but they are easier to manage when I'm doing something that distracts me.” she said, her smiled returning full force. “ Well, regardless of if we're doing the same track or not, it will be nice to have a familiar face on the team. she added brightly [/size]

[alexkilmartin]

Alex nodded in agreement, and couldn’t help the small laugh that escaped her lips when Aly admitted her thoughts still were running through her head, even when she was active. She was so happy and energetic. It reminded Alex of herself when she was younger. She had been so full of energy though, that she’d had such a hard time focusing on anything, especially school, before she took Taekwondo. It straightened her out and helped her learn to concentrate when she needed to. But then, Alex had lost a large chunk of the happy part of her personality a short time later. She hoped maybe one of these days she could get at least some of it back, but she wouldn’t hold her breath. She didn’t think anyone could fix her, not even the people here, she was just too broken inside.

“Yeah, it will considering I only know a few people here so far,” she said honestly. “So…what are the classes like around here?” She asked Aly, curious about what Aly thought of them. Alex had only bothered to go to one class today, Art. She was debating whither or not to go to her music class she had chosen as her elective. She had liked it as a child, but that was so long ago she didn’t know how she would feel about it now.

[alyssaberger]

Aly beamed when the other girl laughed, so far Alex had given the impression of being really serious, it was nice to see her laugh. Aly loved when anyone laughed or chuckled or giggled, really any form of laugh made her feel good. It meant that the person was happy, and there is no downside to that. She was glad she'd decided to come over here to talk to her, Aly was an optimistic and relatively simple girl, she was convinced that her and Alex were going to end up friends, yeah, Alex seemed a little rough around the edges, but that was fine, Aly was sure she would smooth out as they got to know each other. Thoughts were whirring around in her head, planning all the things they could do together here. It would be nice to have a real friend around.

She smiled brightly when she asked about classes, too bad the girl looked older than her, it would have been cool if they have shared some classes as well. Oh, well I like them loads. I mean, schools isn't really my forte or anything, but they are pretty cool. The teachers are super nice, and I'm half in love with the math teacher, he is like so awesome. I always think school work is hard, so I'mprobably not the best judge on that, because all the classes seem tough. I decided to try and take French. HUGE mistake, I like, can barely string a simple sentence together. It's totally going to bring down my average.” she chuckled “ How about you? What are you taking? You liking the classes? Hey come to think of it, why aren't you in class now? ” she asked [/size]

[alexkilmartin]

Alex listened as Aly talked about how she liked the classes and the math teacher. Alex rolled her eyes. Why would anyone like school, especially math? Alex didn’t care how cool the teacher was. It was the most stupid, pointless, and most annoying class there was in her mind. Alex raised her eyebrows when Aly mentioned being worried about her average. She almost found it funny. Almost. Alex hadn’t been concerned about her GPA in a long time. It was probably like a 1.0 or less. And it was only that cuz she showed up to art most of the time back at her old school.

“I gave up on the whole school thing a long time ago. Well… most of it anyway. I went to art most of the time, back at my old school. And I went to it here this morning. It seemed alright. I’m supposed to be taking Algebra I, Biology, music and some others. I dunno,” Alex shrugs and continues,“ I’ll probably go to music ‘cuz I like it and I used to play piano a long tme ago. Who knows, maybe I’ll start playing again. But the other are just stupid and a waste of my F*cking time. I’m not going to use that shit in my life.” Alex frowns and continues her rant, “ I'm not in class now cuz’ I don’t F*cking feel like it. I’m supposed to be in math right now, but math is the class I hate the most. It’s Algebra, the most useless class ever. So I’m here skipping and enjoying my day, instead of being cooped up in that F*cking classroom listening to boring shit I don’t give a F*ck about.”

[alyssaberger]

Aly blinked, she was not used to so much swearing, sure, she may drop a damn every once in awhile if she was really angry. But usually the most she got was a 'dang', and even those were rare. She was torn between feeling intimidated and instantly finding Alex cooler, because she could do it so casually. She was leaning towards 'cooler', but had some reservations. She herself had never loved class, but Alex seemed to genuinely hate it. And she was skipping, that just seemed crazy. Didn't she want to get into a good college? The fact that she liked music, that was good, but you needed the other stuff, it was important.

Aly smiled “ Course you need it in real life. I mean, maybe not everyday, but you need it to get into college, and what you learn in college is what helps you in real life. And Algebra has to have some kind of purpose, I don't think they would teach it to us otherwise. It is pretty damn boring though, which is why I spend the class staring at the teacher daydreaming. Probably going to mess me over the first time we have an exam. Besides, if you skip, you'll get in trouble, and if you get in trouble you won't be able to do anything fun like, ever. What if they make you drop music or something because you aren't going to your other classes, that would like, totally suck right? Or I dunno, put you on like, house arrest so you can only go to class and your dorm. God, I don't know if they do that here, but wouldn’t that be horrible!” she said with a bit of a shudder [/size]

[alexkilmartin]

Alex couldn’t help but roll her eyes when Aly went on and on about college. Alex had no hopes of going to college. With her grades and the assault charge on her record, she had fully accepted she would never go. Not to mention she had no idea what should would do in college, Alex didn’t really have any future goals. A knot formed in her stomach as Aly mentioned them not allowing her to take music. And she wondered if they did do that house arrest thing, would she still be able to go to track? Alex really hadn’t thought about what the consequences for skipping would be. She knew Riley had told her yesterday that she would see to it Alex went to class, but Alex didn’t really believe her and hadn’t given it a second thought.

Alex frowned at Aly and said, “ I’m not planning on going to college. With my grades and the fact that I assaulted a cop no college would take me anyway. I don’t think colleges like it when you have to check the box that says you have a felony on your record. Especially when you are asked to explain it and all you can say is that you beat the shit out of a cop who was in uniform” She paused for a second, “What the F*ck is there fun to do around here anyway? The only things I care about are music, art, and track, and they had better not try to take those away from me or they’ll get my fist in their F*cking face! This Riley chick last night threatened to escort me to my classes if I didn’t go, but I don’t see that lasting long. She’ll get sick of me and give up just like everyone always does,” Alex said and shrugged.