Survival Of The Fittest

Reese hadn't quite got around to finishing the paper, but the bell rang anyway. Packing his things away, he listened to Lavender's banter with the teacher with quiet disgust- things sure were different here in the United States. Whether or not it was the people back home, the culture or whatever... but it all seemed a lot more wild than it did back in Wales.

The thoughts of his old life came flooding back... including her...

Blinking back what he knew was coming, he made his way out of the door quickly. Wishing to get to his next lesson quickly, he sped up his pace, looking at the floor and hugging his bag to his chest. Sped up...only to bump into the two girls who had left before him. He didn't need to look at them to figure out who they were, he could recognise their voices- Lord knows he'd heard them enough times whining about something. Talking about hot guys or nail polish, the usual preppy concerns

Their life was hard? They barely had a flicker of the pain that he had felt. That he was feeling.

"Sorry," he muttered, although it was obvious that he was not remotely apologetic. He didn't want to cause a scene, and these two were notorious for doing just that. Lavender's desk fiasco fresh in his mind, he made to go past them, not looking them in the face.

The bell rang and he immidiately stood up. His chair was pushed back into the desk behind and he started to make his way out of the room when lavender started her verbal abuse on ms. Gussie.

He laughed as he walked past the teacher, he towered over her and felt the need for the abuse to continue. "She's right you know, you do have pig like features" He told the woman before leaving the room, not bothered to take notice of her yelling at him. What was she going to do spank him?

He walked down the centre of the school corridor, Giving off a small smirk to the masses that gave him dirty looks. He was generally feared within the school. dont know why? All he did was beat up a few kids here and there, slept with there girlfriends. he was a nice guy really.

The cigarette was taken from his ear and placed between his lips. A red disposable lighter was taken from his jacket pocket and raised to the end of the rollie. With a flick of his thumb the cigarette was lit and he took some of those tasty cancer filled drags. "Yummy" would be said as he blew a funnel of smoke into the hallway.
Smokin wasnt allowed in school but it would take him all of three minutes to find his way outside, He couldnt wait that long now could he.

He was walkin behind that fucker of a welsh kid, reese when he bumped into the two girls. He had a right mind to kick his knee caps out for that, And maybe he would if he continued to stir shit up.

He stood there for a moment watching to see what would happen, if mariavel would be bitchy as ever and give him a quick slap.

Mariavel was about to answer her freind, when she suddenly felt a push to her back and she fell forward, landing on her knees.

She got up with Lavender's help and looked at the boy who, she thought, had pushed her.

"Hey, Kid! Wach where the hell you are going!" she yelled at the boy.

"Sorry."

Mariavel had now lost control. she slapped the boy across the face, hard.

"Don't you fucking lie to me! If you're so god-damn sorry, then why dont you say it like you mean it!?" She flashed a wicked smile at the boy. "What now? Baby gonna cry?"

John turned his head towards the door at the sound of skin hitting skin. He got up from his sitting position and calmly walked over.

"You might want to stop that Mariavel" John said sternly, his attitude changed from playful to completely serious. His eyes stared her down and he looked over to Davies.

"You okay man?" John asked.

The slap had come as no surprise to him- Mariavel was a grade A bitch and he had known that something like this would happen. The best thing to do would be to walk away, just ignore it... let her have her petty victory, and glaring at her he turned to do just that when a second voice sounded out-

"You might want to stop that Mariavel..."

Reese glanced over to see John talking to Mariavel. Inwardly rolling his eyes, he looked around, seeing if there was a way to escape before things got too out of hand... he could have settled for 'the guy who got slapped by Mariavel' because in all honesty, he didn't doubt that that was a title he alone would hold. But if John got involved and Mariavel got even more wound up...

"You okay man?" John addressed him and he knew that he was stuck for now.

"I'm fine," he answered non-commitally. His cheek stung slightly and a nasty red patch had begun to rise up, but that wasn't important right now.

If he had it his way, he would have done something about the way Mariavel had reacted. Put her in her place, so to speak. But for now, all he could do was walk away.

Eager to calm the situation, he nodded back to John.

"Do I have next period with you?"

Johnathan was waiting on everyone else before he grabbed his backpack and things. On his way out the teacher smiled towards him, the gesture looking a little saddened by the events earlier on. She wasn't here to make everyone's life miserable, as many of the students thought.

He was nearly out the door, when he looked down both sides of the hallway, and darted out towards his next class. The group of baddies were fairly close by, and he needed to get a running start if he wanted to make it before getting punched a few times, or worse.

But he wasn't too scared to fire off in his chiuhuahua-esque voice the same thing he always did.

"God is watching you!"

Jack was torn between his urge to get involved in the excitement of a potential conflict and his desire to avoid Mariavel following the unofortunate event that had passed before invlving her, Liz and Panom. He stood in the doorway of the classroom, hanging back whilst John marched right right up to Mariavel and issued her a short but firm verbal reprimand, before taking pity on Reese, the Whelsh student who generally kept his head down and his nose clean, so far as Jack was aware. There was no doubt Mariavel's re-action to what was evidently an accident was totally out of line, but Jack really did not want to have to be the one to tell her so, and thanks to John, that potentiality had been nicely avoided.

Still, he felt not only an urge to do something but also pressure from the other students around him. He was known for interfering in these sorts of situations, often with good intentions but often to their escalation, and Jack did not want to appear to be shying away this time. Things around school had been quiet recently, and he had had little reason to take any drastic actions, and he was half-afraid he might be losing his reputation as a trouble-maker. Whilst in the presence of his pears Jack would alwsy insist he had no desire to be known as one anyway, and was merely regarded so because of unfortunate circumastances and the corrupt system that spurned them (the words of Elizabeth re-iterated really) in truth he loved the title and did not want to lose it.

Suddenly from his back Jack heard that beating-inviting squeek he was all too used to, as the socially retarded Johnathan invited yet more torment upon himself with his usual catch-phrase:

"God is watching you!"

Jack sighed and shook his head and with a look at the people around him, not generally a friendly bunch on the whole, and even those that were had no time for self-righteous losers, in his head he bid Johnathan to run, very fast, before all the angst  that had developed were turned upon him. Then again, it would draw attention away from Mariavel and thus allow Jack to get involved in any...activities, without the possiblity of having to confront her. Subconsciously, he hoped somebody would start on the poor kid.

John nodded to Reese.

"Yeah, Science righty?" John asked, he couldn't really remember. As Jonathan left and saying his usual "God is watching you" thing, John smiled and waved.

"That's good, nice to know someone cares!" John said genuinely. He wasn't much of a religious person, more spiritual than anything. He believed in the afterlife, but not god. He could never believe in god since that day.

"Say, want to join me and Jack on the way to Science?" John casually asked.

Jack frowned a little, or he felt like frowning anyway, but managed to restrain the urge. It seemed John was far more eager to leave the oppurtunity for excitement far behind them. Jack loved being a hero, and thus far he hadn't had any oppurtunity to be so, and if things continued in this manner he would lose the chance altogether.

He turned to look back into the classroom, where Elizabeth had thus far held back, taking an oddly long time about packing up her class-things into her bag before leaving. Panom meanwhile did not appear to have any intention of leaving anytime that day, but remained in hs seat, watching her.

A wave of anger overcame Jack and he felt a churning in his stomach, suddenly his perfect day was taking a sharp twist towards something much less pleasant.

Externally however, he produced for his public audience his trademark act, covering himself behind his usual facade of a real easy-going guy. He smiled a warm but forced smile for Reese, and nodded when John suggested he join them on the way to science. Leaning back against the doorframe he also smiled cockily at just about everyone else in the hall (except Mariavel), though he moved only his eyes rather than his head, in a way that simply said: 'My ex-girlfriend is being eyes up by a guy that floored me with an elbow to the face a while ago but I am still so damn cool, and if any of you want to mess with me or my cool friend right now then step on up because I am ready for anything'. If he did say so himself, and he did, he looked pretty good right now, despite how he felt inside.

He glanced at Elizabeth once more.

Lavender was used to falling down sometimes in the hallway. It happened nearly every day. One kid rushing to get to his class pushes you roughly out of his way. Another girl is trying not to get her third late in a row. She trips you by accident and doesn't stop to say sorry. Atleast this guy had apologized. Lav would've told Mariavel off about it, but John had killed the little chance she had had. So much for standing up for a potential date. Looking around the hallway, she saw Seth himself. She shuddered, guessing that Mariavel had slapped Reese to put on a show for the gangster. Why was she even bothering with that crowd?

"Mariavel, c'mon, let's go." Hopefully, Mariavel wouldn't want to stick around to talk to her smoker friend. "This place is starting to get lame." And, just after she had said that, Johnathan had passed by with his favorite catch phrase.

"See? Way lame, time for us to go." To emphasize all of this, Lavender began to pull on her pal's arm.

((Continued in: Give Me What I Want))

He put the cigrette out on the arm of his jacket before putting what was left of it behind his ear again. He hadnt been taking that much notice of the events, but then again nothing had happened really. He was hoping he'd get a chance to floor that reese kid then smash jack into the lockers and watch the whole school turn into a riot but it seemed not everything went his way.

He watched lavender as she tred to take mariavel off with her, but mariavel was the only person worth hanging out with in this corridor.
"Hey mari" he shouted to mariavel, "Want to go for a reefer?" he called down the hall. He still had a joint or two left from last nights party and he wanted to get wasted. He wasnt sure if mariavel would be up for it, or if she would even come with her goody goody friend lavender.

Mariavel was at a loss of what to do. She felt bad about slapping the boy. But couldent apologize with Seth their. She wanted to talk with Jack, but Lavvy was pulling on her arm. And now Seth was inviting her to a smoke. She didn't know what to do.

"No thanks Seth, maybe later. Lavvy, I have to talk to someone. I'll meet you in the caf, okay." She said with a smile on her face.

This was exactly what she DIDN'T want to happen...

Strolling in school when the bell rang at the end of class was the entrance Jenna enjoyed most, and she let it show in her expression as she eyed the students piling into the halls. It was a mix of haughty arrogance and general disdain to the rest of the student body, as she didn't catch any of her fellow members deciding to attend today.

Of course, when she passed by Mariavel and some other girl that was clinging to her, she opened her mouth to spew a comment at the blonde teen. A smirk plastered on her face as she barely broke her stride to the bathroom, Jenna's eyes sparkled humorously.

"Ah, I see we've decided to put some children's clothing on today, how kind of you. Did the the whore on the corner tell you to cover up?"

She let off a laugh and kept right on walking, it wasn't like Mariavel wouldn't try something, but it probably wouldn't be much.

"Oh Jenna, don't be jelous. It isn't my fault that the only thing boys notice on you is that pointy nose." Mariavel yelled to the girl with a smirk.

She really didn't like her. They were rivals. The only girls in their respective gangs, of course there would be tension.

Her steps never faltered as Jenna opened the door to the bathroom, her back facing Mariavel before she turned and smiled.

"Your manners are really flattering. Thing is, I don't think boys find attractiveness because you're open like a 7-Eleven."

With that she walked inside to fix herself.

((Continued in: Bank on This, Bitch))