Liz walked into her classroom and took an empty seat near the front of the classroom--not her fault, there weren't any other desks open. As she sat and set her bag to the side of her desk, she felt so completely out of place it was ridiculous; she knew the other students were staring at her--she could feel their eyes all over her--but she ignored it the best she could and stared straight forward with a blank visage. She'd seen, as she entered the class, that both Ronny and Thomas were in her class. How nerve-racking; first period and she had to deal with that?
"Yo, check out the girl in the front," Thomas turned around to tell his friends so that Liz couldn't hear them. Lucky her, the only open seat was right in front of the conceited one. His friends, looked over his shoulder and glanced at Liz for a moment, then turned back to Thomas--head of the pack.
"Whoa..." one murmured. "She's hot." Liz did not enjoy being the focus of this kind of attention, and due to his friend's stupidity, Liz had heard that remark despite the shushes that followed. She was shocked and quite frankly, she was frightened. What should she do, what should she do? Nothing, she told herself, then looked down at her desk to both avoid having to speak to any of the boys and to focus her attention to her ears and to what she could hear them say.
"Yeah I know," Thomas smirked as he eyed Liz. Liz took this plainly, Typical guy...she sighed. If only Zell were here...she smiled. Wouldn't have to deal with them. "And she's only here for a little while."
"Alright class, settle down, settle down," the teacher said as he walked into class. He was sort of an awkward little man making wide gesticulations to make himself seem bigger. "It seems we have a new student here for a month or so. Please show her around and be nice to her." The teacher leered at Liz scornfully, as if only a month or so was such a waste of his time. New student? Like I'm from a different country. Too bad that's barely the case. "her name is Liz." Liz smiled subtly and looked up--she noticed that Ronny, two desks away had nearly raised himself out of his seat to get a look. How embarrassing!
After that, the teacher got the class warmed up, led the students into a new lab they were starting and separated the class into six different lab groups. Liz found herself in a group with some random people Amber and Jen had not pointed out to her and so, for the majority of the activity, she stood at the side, contributing as much as they would allow. While the students worked, the classroom because noisy with chatter, but the teacher had left the room as he periodically did--just for a breather. During the ruckus, Thomas approached Liz.
"Hey, you new here?" he asked her. Liz didn't make eye contact with him--she refused to be "some project" besides, she had other things to worry about--like how to find her next class and where to meet up with Amber and Jen after second period during brunch.
"Well... that's what the teacher said," she muttered, making sure the projector plate she was preparing didn't slip and drop to the floor--the glass was always fragile. Liz could feel Thomas's presence like a disease, unbearable persistent. "So I guess I am."
"What the hell's that supposed to mean?" He asked as he combed a hand through his hair coolly. Liz sighed, stopped with her execution of the task and turned to face him.
"It means yes," she replied the simple way. You'd think a person would start to see just about how annoyed you're getting by constant hounding, but no, Thomas ignored it. Back in the other world, if some guy were being as annoying as Thomas was right now, it could all be settled in a little Duel--no biggie, just as long as one walked away conscious.
"Hey, well, I'm going to a bar downtown later," Thomas said. "Maybe I'll see you there around... oh say ten o'clock?" Liz, who'd gone back to work with the projector slide, stopped what she was doing and set it aside.
"Did you just ask me out?" she asked him incredulously. This had caught Ronny's attention as he turned from his chattering group to observe the scene. Why would you go out at ten o' clock to a bar whether or not you're underage. That's just ridiculous. Thomas leaned himself against the lab counter and stopped Liz from doing her work.
"Yeah," he responded, shrugging slightly like it was nothing. Here Liz was, looking at probably THE most conceited boy on the earth. She'd met this guy for what, a second? Please, even Irvine would have talked a little bit more. Liz shook her head in disapprove, then reached around him to her projector glass and headed back to her group behind the crowds of chatty students. Unfortunately for her, Thomas followed her. "Take your time to answer," he announced. "I know you're thinking about how cute I am." Liz stared at him in utter disbelief. Him? Puh-lease, even if he were half as good looking as Zell, which he wasn't, this conversation would end the same way.
"Um.. no," she said bluntly, but he put his arm around her.
"I think we both know what I'm talking about," he said. He tightened his grip on her shoulder, as if that were supposed to make himself more attractive. For a minute, she smiled, turned around to face him as if she were accepting, then jammed a knee into his stomach. He knelt down onto the floor faster than her knee had gone up. Ronny's sudden motion as he laughed freely attracted Liz's attention and she looked up at him and smiled a bit subtly, then left back for her seat quickly.
"What happened to the decent boys in this world?" she sighed to herself, then looked up at the clock. Lucky for her, bell rang just then. She grabbed her bags and left quickly. Wouldn't she have something to tell Zell when she called.