Survival Of The Fittest

(Debut of Vivian Paine)

Either the guy she was supposed to tutor was suddenly invisible, or he wasn't coming. Vivian was betting on the latter. Naturally. The guy had probably forgotten, what with all the prom stress piling up lately. A popular, attractive guy like him had better things to do than sit in the library for an hour with some mousy girl and get tutored in chemistry.

Vivian didn't know why she was so depressed. So what if she didn't have a date to the senior prom? No big deal, she never expected to be asked anyways. She wasn't even planning on going. It would just be another night at home, alone, with some microwave popcorn and a comic book from the library. It's all good, right?

Wrong. Vivian sighed. She didn't even like dances... maybe it was because of all the "senior prom is one of the biggest nights of a teenager's life" messages that got shoved down her throat when she was younger. She'd secretly entertained the idea of some cute guy asking her out, getting to wear a pretty dress, and having lots of fun, but she knew how unlikely that was. She didn't even know many guys, and none of them were interested in her. Maybe it was for the best, though. She didn't need distractions right now, she had school to focus on, and work, and... other things...

Vivian buried her head in her arms with a small groan. 'Other things' indeed. She had been sitting here for the past hour and a half, waiting for someone who wasn't going to show up, because she honestly had nothing better to do. Amanda was out with friends, Vivian had read all the comics at the local library twice, and anything else worth doing was too far away for her to walk to.

Lovely.

‘To the Actor' had to be the most boring book James Claypoole had ever read. While it was true that he hadn't read that many books to compare it to, he still couldn't imagine a single book in the library being worse than this. He had just read five pages of some dead Russian dude rambling on about psychology and shit and he was just about ready to throw the book down in disgust. Still, his Drama teacher had told him this was the book to read if he wanted to become a great actor so he decided to persevere with it in the hope of gaining some useful knowledge.

Looking at the page he was on he noticed a heading that read Exercise 1. This had to be more enjoyable than what he had just read through so he skipped ahead and started working on the practical exercises.

Do a series of wide, broad but simple movements using a maximum of space around you. Involve and utilize your whole body. Make the movements with sufficient strength, but without straining your muscles unnecessarily.

James frowned. This was going to make him look rather weird to his fellow students. Looking around, the only person sat near him in the library was a slightly nerdy looking girl who didn't seem to be doing a whole lot. Come to think of it, hadn't she been sat there when he had arrived in the library? James thought back, he had seen this girl around the school corridors before but couldn't recall ever having talked to her. He wondered why she was sat there doing nothing but put that thought out of his mind and got back to making a fool out of himself in front of her.

James began flailing his arms around wildly as far as he could reach them. Doing this certainly didn't make him feel like a better actor so he looked back at the page to see what he had to do next.

Now close yourself by crossing your arms upon your chest, putting your hands on your shoulders. Kneel on one or both knees, bending your head low. Imagine that you are becoming smaller, curling up, contracting as though you want to disappear bodily within yourself, and that the space around you is shrinking.

James got up off his chair and began kneeling down. He screwed his body up into a ball and tried to take up as little space as possible. After sustaining this position a few seconds he got up and viewed his next instructions.

Resume a standing position, then thrust your body forward on one leg, stretching out one or both arms.

James did as instructed, thrusting his right leg forward and throwing his arms out in front of him. He realised he had done this right in the direction of that mousy looking girl and was now staring her in the face whilst in a rather uncomfortable and awkward position. He gave her an embarrassed smile and quickly turned back to the book.

Do a movement that resembles a blacksmith beating his hammer upon the anvil.

This was getting ridiculous. He couldn't even begin to see how all this was benefiting him and he was beginning to feel extremely awkward. But he had almost finished the exercise so it would be stupid to stop at this point. He grudgingly lifted his arm and started beating his imaginary anvil, feeling like a total idiot. He had finally finished though and presumably gained some valuable acting skills.

This exercise will gradually give you a glimmer of the sensations of freedom and increased life. Let these sensations sink into your body as the first psychological values to be absorbed.

What the fuck?

James had no idea what that even fucking meant. He had just made himself look completely insane only to be rewarded with some vague and meaningless bullshit. In frustration he flung the stupid book as far across the room as possible.

Feeling incredibly embarrassed, he felt like he owed the girl some sort of explanation.

"Err... I was just practicing my acting. I'm not crazy or anything, if that's what you were wondering."

He considered making a hasty exit to spare himself further embarrassment, but he didn't really have anything else to do right now. He figured he might as well try and talk to the girl. Moving closer he decided to introduce himself.

"My name's James by the way."

Vivian gradually became aware of another presence in the library. She looked up to see a boy around her age doing... something. It looked like he was stretching, but why on earth would he be doing that in the library? She continued to watch out of curiosity and confusion. People did the weirdest things sometimes...

Shortly after he had mimed hammering or something, he turned to her looking embarrassed and offered an explanation.

Oh, he had been doing an acting exercise. That... sort of explained it... kind of...

Vivian just stared in silence for a few seconds before realizing that he probably wanted an answer of some sort.

"O-oh! Uh, n-no, I didn't... erm, mind... that is I understand... uh, kinda... not really, since I don't know anything about acting or anything, but whatever you were doing was totally fine! I mean, yeah, I was wondering what you were doing, but that..." Vivian wracked her brain for something to stay that didn't make her look like a complete and total spaz, but eventually figured out it was pointless by now.

"Uh, Vivian. My name is, I mean."

James smiled at the girl's nervous response. It seemed the Vivian was one of Bayview's more shy students. That didn't really matter to him though. It just meant that he would have to take the more active role in the conversation, something he was more than happy to do.

"Pleased to meet you Vivian."

James enjoyed spending time with others. He enjoyed talking about random shit, he enjoyed laughing at a good joke and he enjoyed the profound pieces of wisdom that would spill out of people's mouths at the most random of times.

Most of all though he enjoyed the company of women. Women, he could relate to. Women didn't feel the need to out-macho each other in pointless acts of bravado. Women were subtle and enigmatic, and gradually unearthing their complex personalities was one of his greatest pleasures in life.

The sex was great as well, of course. But unlike the majority of men that was far from the only thing he was interested in.

The trouble was that James had very little self-control. As soon as a newer object of his fascination came along he would not hesitate to pursue her, despite the status of his current relationship. This led to a lot of short-lived but passionate flings and a lot of time spent single. It was due to this that James was currently in-between relationships.

James looked at the girl sat in front of him; she didn't look too bad he concluded. All she needed was to take a little more care with her appearance. If she wore some less loose-fitting clothes and a bit of make-up to bring out her features she would probably look pretty damn cute.

Pulling over a chair and sitting next to her, he decided to steer the conversation away from his previous rather odd display of his acting talents. He was still curious as to what she had been doing in the library the whole time.

"So what's a pretty thing like you doing cooped up in here?"

"Nice to meet you too." Vivian mumbled so softly he probably didn't even hear her. Ah, boys. Vivian often thought about boys, more than she'd like. It got very irritating, especially when actually talking to a member of the opposite gender left Vivian stammering and staring at her shoes. She really needed to wash her sneakers, they were getting pretty dirty...

"What's a pretty thing like you doing cooped up in here?"

Vivian felt her face turn the color of a ripe tomato.

"Buh-huzza-whu-wha?" She randomly snapped her gaze from the boy to the floor to the boy again. James, he said his name was? At least she hadn't forgotten that.

"Dah-I w-was wa-waiting for so-someone to tutor, b-but they didn't show up." She stuttered, trying to calm down. He hadn't meant any harm by it, he was just being friendly, no need to freak out like a total and complete nerd. Too late for that, she supposed. She probably looked pretty pathetic, too. Waiting in a library for over an hour.

(Debut of Brian Murphy)

"What the hell is that weirdo doing", is all that Brian could think as he noticed the boy turning around and flailing his arms......"Some people are just weird"

Brian looked around to see if anyone had noticed this. But he could see no one looking at him. "Ok......just dont look at him and he might not notice you"

Brian went back to the searching the selves he was at for anything about the American Revoultion. To this day he still didnt know why he chose Histoy. He was good at it when he lived in Ireland but since he moved he noticed he could get into American History. Ask him about the 1916 Dublin Easter Rising and he could tell you all about the taking of the GPO and the reading of the proclomation of the Republic. Yet the bare mention of the Wall Street Crash or the Cold War preplexed him.

As Brian glanced around he noticed that boy was now sitting on the floor like a baby cradling himself. "Ok......Lets just assume this is some excercise routine he follows.......or maybe yoga. You know how weird some Americans are,"

Suddenly the boy jumped up and kicked in the direction of a slightly shy looking girl next to him.

"What the fuck!"

Brian started to walk towards him now but quickly stopped in shock when this boy began to punch the air it seemed. How weird can this guy get. Brian walked in behind a selve and slowly walked around keeping his eye on the guy and girl.

As he watched the guy moved over to the girl and started to talk. Brian could not make out what they where saying. "This has nothing to do with me, walk away" is all Brian could here in his head. But something made him keep walking towards them.


"What's a pretty thing like you doing cooped up in here?" He heard the boy say.

"Dah-I w-was wa-waiting for so-someone to tutor, b-but they didn't show up." The girl stammered.

This girl is scared of this boy is the conclusion Brian came to. "And why wouldn't she. He has kicked at her, Punched at her, He must be trying to scare her. The Library is empty. No one could stop him. I have to think of someway to get in there"

Brian quickly got an idea.

"Dah-I w-was wa-waiting for so-someone to tutor, b-but they didn't show up."

"Ok lets try this" Brian thought to himself

He quickly came around from behind the selve, "Eh hello, Sorry to but in on you two. But is there a chance that either of you two know anything about American History?"

"Dah-I w-was wa-waiting for so-someone to tutor, b-but they didn't show up."

"Seriously? What an asshole that person must be, messing you about like that. It's their loss though, I guess."

James smiled at her reassuringly. He was beginning to get a little concerned about the constant stuttering and nervousness. He wondered whether she was always this shy or if she was still freaked out by his actions earlier.

"Hey, so..." James started, intending to inquire about Vivian's taste in music. Then it would be fairly easy for him slip in some line about how he was a musician – girls always loved it when he brought that up. He barely managed to begin the sentence before he was interrupted by some dude who sounded Scottish or Irish or something.

"Eh hello, sorry to butt in on you two. But is there a chance that either of you two know anything about American History?"

James would be lying if he claimed not to be annoyed by the other guy's intrusion. He'd only asked a question though; it wasn't as if there was any malicious intent behind that or anything. All he needed to do was answer his queries and then he could get back to getting to know Vivian.

James looked up at him. "What is it you need to find out, specifically?"

"Eh hello, Sorry to but in on you two. But is there a chance that either of you two know anything about American History?"

Brian looked at the girl hoping she would reply fast, otherwise he would look quite stupid at the moment. Brian started to feel quite open now during the silence that followed.

"What is it you need to find out, specifically?"

Brian was taken back by this. He had not expected the boy to answer.

Brian racked his thoughts for anything to say. He did not like the look on this boys face, He looked annoyed and frusrated. Brian quickly averted his gase and stared down at his sneakers. He noticed they where nike. The symbol catching his attention. The way his feet where had the ticks facing each other. "No thats not right, They shud be parallel." Brian became focused on this. It started to annoy him a bit.

"Oh god, there still looking" Brian looked away from the shoes but kept his mind on them.

"Oh.......well ya see. I don't much.......much at all about the History over here........and I......have a report.....on the old revolution you had here." Brian managed to blurt out as his gase once again went back to the shoes

"Seriously? What an asshole that person must be, messing you about like that. It's their loss though, I guess."

"N-no," Vivian smiled tightly. "I-I'm sure they just forgot. Or something."

Vivian appreciated the fact that James was talking to her, she really did. He was just trying to be friendly. She got that. She just wasn't used to talking to people she didn't know. Or talking to people at all, really. Why couldn't he just go back to reading his book? Of course, that would leave Vivian wallowing in self-pity again until she got bored enough to go home.

"Eh hello, Sorry to but in on you two. But is there a chance that either of you two know anything about American History?"

Vivian snapped her attention to the Irish-sounding boy, grinning almost maniacally.
"American history! Yes! I know some of it!" She flushed with embarrassment when she realized how crazy she must sound. She cleared her throat, trying to look composed. "Uh, the American Revolution, you said? S-sure. Um, there are some books on that right over there." She pointed to the American history section. "A-anything specific you need to know? A battle, a person..."

James watched with curiosity as the boy stared down at his shoes for a few seconds, eventually managing to mumble a vague response about needing to do a report or something. Why was everyone acting so weirdly today? It seemed that every time he opened his mouth people responded fearfully and forgot how to form a coherent sentence.

He was rather taken aback by Vivian's enthusiastic response. So she likes history then. Maybe I could use that to my advantage somehow...

To be honest though, he was beginning to think that his efforts with her were probably wasted. Originally, he had thought that her anxiety and stammering was due to his display of weirdness earlier. It was becoming clear that this wasn't the case though, and harsh as it may be, he was concluding that she probably wasn't worth the effort involved.

Anyway, she seemed to have a lot more in common with this other kid than she did with him. She would probably feel a lot more comfortable talking with someone shy and quiet than with someone as exuberant as himself.

James continued to sit in his chair, waiting for the other boy to respond to Vivian. Which could take a while, considering his previous performance.

(Debut of Aston Bennett)


Aston peeked over the edge of her book at James, Brian, and Vivian. She tapped her pencil on the table as she analyzed them. They seemed interesting enough, but she wasn't in any mood to be particularly friendly or inviting (not that she ever was). She licked the tip of her index finger, flipped the page, and continued reading as she listened in on their conversation.

Perhaps Aston could get more out of this than just a few hours' worth of reading.

((Sarah Atwell continued, indirectly from The Long Walk Home))

((OoC: Feel free to skip Sarah's post order until 14th of Feb cause I'll be away))

Sarah pushed open the door to the library slowly. It wasn't heavy per say but she had a late night editing footage and she was exhausted. Bag over shoulder she practically lent on the door to force it open, slipping through the ever widening gap with the minimum of energy needed to achieve her objective. Her camera hung limply by her side she half heartedly gazed around the library, her eyes seeking around until she found what she was looking for. A desk.

Now by exhausted it didn't mean that Sarah was looking tired cosmetically. Indeed she had applied her usual quick covering of foundation, powder and such, as well as ensuring her hair was nearly combed and tied back in to a pony tail, finished off with a hair lackey with two small blue orbs adorning it. However an observer could easily tell from her slight slouch and slow, lethargic movements that she was running low on sleep and energy.

Stumbling over to the furniture Sarah slipped her bag to the floor and gradually unzipped it, dipping one hand in to pull out her notepad and pen. Lazily she glanced around the immediate area, frowning slightly at the two boys attempt to pick up Vivian. She expected to something like this from James but Brian was more of the 'sit at the back and say nothing' kind of guy. The whole thing was slightly amusing to Sarah and her mouth quirked reflexively at the thought of James and Brian playing tug of war with the shy Vivian. Pulling her book out of her bag and letting it fall to the table her gaze focused behind them on Aston for a second, her face buried in a book. Sarah had invited Aston to sit with her group before but she refused, preferring to hang around boys. It didn't matter though.

Gazing back at her book Sarah closed her eyes momentarily. A nap would be nice but she really had to finish this math homework. Derivatives were not her strong point which is why she had come to the library in the first place. To get some study done. There would of been little point in headed home during the middle of the day, and she really did not want to deal with either of her parents complaints in this state of mind. Almost subconsicously she placed her camera on the table and flipped it on, zooming in on the three way pick up in progress on the table next to her and pressed the record button. Maybe the footage would be interesting later. Turning back to the notes Sarah clutched her head in one hand. What *exactly* is dy/dx?

Gripping the pen the brunette began to scribble, working on the first of the sixteen math problems while the camera recorded to one side. It was going to be a long hour.

The Scottish kid had once again responded to them with complete silence and it was beginning to make him feel uneasy. James absently stared into space, hoping that someone would say something.

Drumming his hands lightly against the table he noticed that Sarah Atwell had entered the library. He didn't know her too well but she seemed like a nice girl. She'd interviewed him a while back for that project that she was working on and he'd jumped at the opportunity to perform to the camera, probably talking at far greater length than she actually needed.

Unable to bear the awkwardness any longer, he gestured to where Vivian had pointed before. "The books you need are over there. Maybe you should go and look at them?" he declared, unable to keep a slight hint of irritation out of his voice.

Looking back to Vivian he tried to pick his next words carefully. "Err... Vivian, it was great meeting you, but I've got to go do... a thing. I'll see ya ‘round."

Smooth.

Getting up from his chair he headed towards the exit, giving Sarah a smile as he went. Hopefully he'd be able to find some way of entertaining himself for the rest of his free period.

((James Claypoole continued elsewhere))

Time flies when you're having fun, it drags when you're not though and for Sarah math was never fun. After a few minutes staring blankly at the equations in her notebook she sighed, glancing over to the clock at the wall, watching as the second hand slowly made its way around the clock face. A soft rumble in her stomach snapped her out of her reverie and she looked around. She could do the work later she was tired and she needed food. Plus she promised she would meet Aislyn at the cafeteria in half an hour and she shouldn't be late. She knew she was making excuses but at this point she didn't really care.

Flicking shut her camera and sweeping her notebook and stationary back in to her bag Sarah stood up, tucked her chair back in and strolled out of the library, already in higher spirits with the thoughts of food and catching up with her friend.

((Sarah Atwell continued elsewhere -> technically in I Wish She Was Here I suppose O.o))