Nervous Much?

[Megami*]

The courtyard of Southridge High School was especially peaceful during this time of the day. Overall, it made for an excellent place to study, and so Lauren Van Asche was making the best of this opportunity. She currently sat with her Anatomy and Physiology book sprawled out in front of her on one of the many benches in the area. Another boy, a fellow A&P classmate, as luck would have it, sat nearby on the concrete sidewalk that lead into the building. Both students eyes were fixed upon their A&P books, and Lauren was reviewing notes as her companion vigorously wrote his own set.

"Okay so, the hypothalamus makes up the... it's like the floor of the third ventricle. It's like its foundation. It's the most important regulatory center of the autonomic nervous system. Still following me? It regulates water balance, metabolism, thirst, temperature, and all that good stuff."

"Mm...kay," her companion responded hesitantly, "Gotcha... I think."

He let out a nervous laugh and ran a hand through his gelled-up coal black hair. Lauren shook her head and grinned a bit before returning her attention to her book and rereading the information she'd just read.

"This stuff's confusing," her friend added in.

"Not really," she replied, still looking down, "You just have to break it into pieces. Everything stays the same, really. Nothing moves around, and they don't rename stuff. Once you know it, you know it. You've just got to do small pieces at a time, because there's a lot to learn about the human body."

"Which is why I shouldn't be in this class," he laughed, "I thought a five-point course would do me some good, but it's slowly devouring my GPA. Makes it kinda hard to do the whole sports thing... then again..."

He couldn't help but chuckle as he looked down at the crutches lying beside him on the concrete. Zack Larcade had been an outstanding athlete at Southridge High School throughout his entire school career. He'd done anything and everything. He'd played baseball briefly, he played football up until his injury, he ran track, he lifted weights... in short, he did it all. At least, until an awkward tackle from an overaggressive Northside Patriots football player snapped his leg a few weeks prior. Since then, he hadn't been doing much of anything except hobbling around the school on crutches.

Lauren couldn't help but feel sorry for her study buddy. In a matter of weeks, he'd gone from one of the big names around campus to a nobody. It seemed like since Zack Larcade had made a temporary exit from the sports scene, he was nothing and nobody. She supposed that was just the world of high school. People are so fickle when it comes to things like that. When you aren't around to provide the entertainment anymore, they don't care where you are or what happened to you.

Having gotten to know Zack pretty well over the course of the year, she found it really sad. She had been really reluctant to partner up with the jock when the resident A&P teacher had asked her to do so, but as always, she was complient and became, more or less, Zack's tutor. The teacher, being a sports fan herself, had wanted to see Larcade do well in the class, hence her idea of pairing him up with one of her better students. Lauren had gone into the whole ordeal thinking that she was in for someone just like he had been... in short, an egotistical, self-centered jerk. Needless to say, she was surprised when she'd gotten to know Zack better.

"I don't get this stuff," Zack sighed, staring dumbfoundedly into his text book, "It's like its in a foreign language or something."

"It is," Lauren retorted, "It's written in Scientist."

"I think they're trying to make up for something by using all these big words and trying to sound all smarter than everybody," he chuckled.

Lauren laughed slightly before returning to her notes, "The last of the cerebral hemispheres is the epithalamus..."

"Can we stop for today?" Zack inquired, "I think my head is gonna explode."

"Alright," Lauren complied, "Don't sweat it, this stuff isn't easy."

"Hey, you're preaching to the choir," he laughed as he forced himself up onto his crutches. Lauren frowned slightly and handed him his bookbag... no sense in standing there watching him struggle to pick it up.

"Same time tomorrow?" she inquired.

"Of course," he responded with a grin and a light wave, "I've gotta pass A&P somehow, don't I? I like exploiting pretty girls to do it."

"Whatever," Lauren retorted with a giggle, trying to play off what he'd just said.

Zack hobbled into the building, apparently taking his sweet time getting to his next class. The sad truth was, it probably wouldn't have mattered if he'd been on crutches or not. He'd never been a particularly studious person, and now, he had an excuse to be late wherever he went. He couldn't walk, he had to hobble. Lauren gathered up her own belongings, which were strewn across the bench she'd been sitting on. She stood up, dusting off her black skirt in the process, and let out a light sigh. At least the day was almost over.

In the distance, she could hear the faint "tink" of a baseball bat coming into contact with a baseball. The boys must've been practicing over on the field. A nostalgic smile came to her face, followed almost immediately thereafter by a light frown. She forced any thoughts running through her mind out and sat back down on the bench, allowing herself to relax. She didn't have anywhere to be until the bell rang, so she figured there was no point in running around in the hallways. The hall monitors -- namely, the underclassmen that were looking to assert their power in some way around the school -- didn't take too kindly to people being in the hallways in between class periods. She liked being outside better anyway.

((Continued in Life is a Crowded Hallway))