Survival Of The Fittest

((Mary-Ann Warren continued from People Watching))

Mary-Ann headed straight for the Library after her conversation with Meredith Hemmings. Her light brown hair whipped in the wind as she rushed to the library. Due to having a study hall (which she really didn't need) she had no class first period--however, she was eager to get to the library. As she entered, the smell of books filled her nostrils; for her, a soothing, familiar scent. The frigid air of the library contrasted with the warmth of the spring-time sunshine, sending goosebumps running up her arms and down her legs.

Maybe I shouldn't have worn a skirt today.

Only a few students sat in the library, studying quietly.

She walked directly to the fiction section and placed her leather, brown messenger bag on a nearby table; its brass buckles clanked as it was laid down. Her shoes made no sound on the plush carpeting of the library floor as she hurried towards the bookshelves in anticipation to enter into another amazing story.

As she scanned the shelves, she realized that she had already read most of the books in the fiction section. Discouraged, she sat at the table she placed her bag on, and set her head on her arms, inviting sleep. Her head began swimming as the darkness cloaked her vision, enticing her to finally sleep.

((R.J. Lowe debut.))

...And if you do lose yourself at least take solace in the absolute certainty that you will perish.

It was long before page 117 that the young man had begun to wonder whether he was reading a novel, or staring into the abyss itself. He hadn't slept soundly all week, but hell if he could put it down now. Maybe he was scared of what it would do if he left it alone too long. Dammit, Danielewski, he thought, you should've known when you said this wasn't for me that I wouldn't listen. Leaning back in his seat, legs propped up on a chair on the other side of the table, he relaxed his body, if not his mind, while he waited for second period to roll around. He was coasting by well enough in his classes that he could afford to skip this one without too much impact on his final GPA. He wasn't going to be a chemist at any point in his life, anyway.

Meanwhile, another student set her bag down on the table where he was sitting, making a sudden clank sound that damn near made R.J. jump right up out of his seat. Christ almighty, who's idea was it to read this, again? Glancing up, he saw Mary... something... something else... and knew it was going to bug him all day, trying to remember her name. It was right there, on the tip of his tongue. Or mind. Tongue wasn't probably the best turn of phrase, considering. Turning back to the doorstopper in his hand, he continued to read as the novel continued to grow more incomprehensible. The girl, eventually coming to rest next to her bag, didn't appear to notice him. Sleeping in the library, huh? Classy. Drawing his HTC palmtop from his pocket with his free hand, he entered a brief message in Notepad, before sliding it over next to the girl's head and looking back to his book.

[font=courier new]Try not to snore too loud.[/font]

Bright light. Mary-Ann clenched her eyes tight, fighting the sudden light prying itself past her eyelids and into her pupils. Finally, frustrated, she opened them; her surroundings blurred as she tried to shake off the drowse. She raised her head with a sharp inhale and looked around to observe her setting; the smell of books, the dim lighting, and cold air. That's right. I'm in the library.

After roughly rubbing her eyes she looked down at the table. The light that woke her up emanated from a small HTC palmtop. She read the message displayed on the bright screen aloud.

"Try not to snore too loud." What? Startled, she looked around for the owner of the device. The only nearby person was a pale, black-haired boy sitting at the other end of the table reading a large book. When did he get there? Quietly, she picked up the device and her bag and walked over. As she walked nearer to him, she realized how tall he actually was, even though he was sitting down; he was easily over six feet. How did I not notice him before?

Apprehensively, she continued walking over. As she passed a well-cleaned window (no doubt courtesy of the obsessive compulsive librarian) her own reflection caught her eye. A dried up trail of saliva adorned her chin and her light brown hair was horribly unkempt--one side of it was ravaged by the demands of sleep: wild and frizzy. The other side hung plainly straight in comparison. Instinctively, Mary-Ann rummaged through her bag for her hairbrush. Don't tell me I forgot it! After a minute of struggling to find her brush, she resigned herself to patting down her hair with her hands. As her glossy, long nails combed through her hair, she continued walking to the boy. I really hope he doesn't notice. She thought to herself as she finally stepped up to him. She stealthily set down the HTC palmtop on the table and, still conscious of her appearance and location, spoke as quietly as she could.

"What are you reading?" She whispered almost inaudibly from behind the boy.

The girl hadn't gone unnoticed in her approach, R.J. catching her out of the corner of his eye. The novel had made him paranoid enough that he continually glanced around the room somewhat unconsciously. Still, when she came up right behind him, right in his blind spot, and asked her question in that eerie whisper, the table shook from the force of the resulting jump. Shit! The seat his feet had been resting on toppled over, his right shin banging into the table's edge. Dammit, that's gonna bruise something fierce later...

Swinging his head slowly around, he looked her in the eyes, offering a nervous wave and a pained grimace. Oh, right, the book, he thought, giving it another look as he slid his bookmark in between the pages of seemingly haphazardly assembled text, some of it upside down, some of it mirrored from the corresponding section of the previous page. He shut the massive paperback, holding it up to show her the cover. House of Leaves, by Mark Z. Danielewski. He signaled with a thumbs up, with the intention of conveying that it was a good read. Placing it back on the table with one hand, he used his right to enter a second message. He typed quickly, indicating that he did this fairly often.

He turned his body about in the chair, straddling and leaning forward on the seat back, and held the palmtop up for her to see. [font=courier new]Thanks for bringing it back, by the way[/font]

"No problem." Mary-Ann smiled as she responded to his message. "Sorry for startling you." She laughed. She found his mannerisms boyish and charming; from the way he typed his messages instead of saying them to his kind, friendly gestures. She pulled up a chair right next to the boy and promptly sat down, keeping her legs together as she did so. She set her hands on her lap, holding her skirt down. Even though he was leaning into his seat, he sat taller than she did.

Now that she was sitting directly across from him, she could observe his facial features much better. He had a kind of oval, pale face. His eyes were brown, adding to his subdued appearance. His hair hung in a sort of shaggy way, obscuring his features like a curtain. A scarf was wrapped around his neck. At least someone has the right idea: the library is far too cold, she thought to herself as the cold crept along her skin, raising the fine hairs running along it.

She decided to sneak another look at his eyes, inadvertently making eye contact. Taken off guard, she quickly turned her head to the scenery outside the window. Outside, the sun shone happily, illuminating the lush green grass. A few small birds flitted from the grass to a nearby tree. She looked back at the boy. Suddenly, she realized something: she didn't know his name! Her cheeks became pinker as she realized this fact.

"Um... My name is Mary-Ann." She said. "What about yours?" She asked, turning even more pink; whether from embarrassment or something else, she wasn't sure.

Warren! That was it. Mary-Ann Warren. Well, that was a weight off his shoulders. They were in the same calculus class this year, now that he remembered right. She was a cute girl, friendly too, but otherwise, she pretty much flew under his radar, not hanging out in the same social circles as him. That had more to do with the fact that he didn't have a definite circle himself, though, only really hanging out with whoever took the time to approach him. It wasn't that he was anti-social; he enjoyed company when he could get it. He just tended to feel like a spare wheel in groups.

He thought it was a little odd when Mary-Ann blushed at him. He'd never really taken himself as the type girls really went for, even though he'd been through a couple of short relationships that ended prematurely, because of either communication issues, or because it was "creepy how you never make any sound when we're in bed." God, of all the reasons to dump a guy. Maybe she was embarrassed about something, but damned if R.J. could come up with what that might be. Either way, he keyed in the letters "RJ," before raising the device with a smirk. Couldn't hurt to see what comes out of it.

"RJ, huh?" Mary-Ann smiled. Her lips gleamed with gloss. "Well, RJ, it's nice to meet you." Where have I seen him before? She looked down, deep in thought, her right hand on her chin, teeth biting her lips. Why was she suddenly so concerned? I guess it doesn't matter, she thought. She had never been in a relationship before--was that what was going on? She looked back up; RJ was still sitting across from her, fiddling with his HTC palmtop.

Suddenly, the bell rang. Her ears were bombarded with a rapid machine-gunning of reverberations. Mary-Ann shot up instinctively. Ah! What am I doing?! Realizing the rudeness of her action, she looked down at RJ. "I'm sorry." Letting her pulse slow a little, she spoke up again. "Well, RJ, I've got to get to class. I look forward to seeing you around." Not knowing what else to do, Mary-Ann held out her petite, smooth hand for a shake.

(Apologies for this being a little short)

Shit, already? The buzzing certainly caught him off guard as well; he'd completely lost track of time. He returned her handshake, before hastily grabbing his things. Crap, crap, can't afford to miss calculus again this year... wait, calculus? Suddenly, a thought occurred to him. Slinging his bag over his shoulder as he stood up, finally giving her the full scope of his size, he keyed in a quick message, one he offered with a slight blush and a nervous smile. [font=courier new]Calc, right? I'll walk you.[/font]

((No issues on my part. This post is also rather brief, sadly. XD))

"Oh, sure." Mary-Ann replied sheepishly as she fiddled with her light brown hair. That's right: he's in my Calculus class! That's where I've seen him before! As RJ finished gathering his belongings, Mary-Ann pushed their chairs in--better to do so now than to incur the wrath of Mrs. Collins on the way out and be forced to walk all the way back simply to push them in; but maybe that wouldn't be so bad right now. She smoothed down her plaid skirt, forcing out the wrinkles, then shouldered her bag and patted her hair down again. Looking up at RJ, she asked, "Are you ready?" He nodded and smiled in reply, and the two headed for the exit of the library, the dim lighting adding to the atmosphere. Despite the frigid library air, Mary-Ann felt a warmth emanating from somewhere within her, effectively fighting off the cold she was feeling the entire time.

Walking alongside RJ, she smiled, enjoying the no longer solemn, but comforting silence. As they walked through the Library doors, RJ began typing something on his HTC palmtop. After he finished, he held up the device for her to see. Reading the message, Mary-Ann blushed and nodded, and the two walked out.

((Mary-Ann Warren continued: Young Cardinals))

"Are you ready?"

As I can get, he thought to himself, letting out a slight sigh. He was never truly ready for calculus, but he was prepared in the sense of having everything he needed, at the very least. He answered with a nod and a smile, glad he at least had company to walk the longest mile with him, especially with him walking off his now-tender shin An idea had crossed his mind a few moments earlier, though he was somewhat hesitant about following it through. He didn't really know her, and it wasn't the sort of thing he typically initiated, but something in his gut was just nagging him to follow through on this one. Keying in one last message with his free hand, practically on a whim, something he wasn't often given to, he raised the device for the girl to see. [font=courier new]Free for a movie Saturday?[/font] If he'd been able to ask aloud, he'd probably have barely been able to get the question out through nervous stuttering.

And then she replied in the affirmative. R.J. returned her blushing, honestly not expecting that. Still, he was excited. He couldn't quite place it, but something about Mary-Ann was just... special. Something in the way she smiled. Maybe he was too much of a romantic at heart, but he couldn't help but think there was something there that he just had to reach out and go for.

Smiling wistfully, he continued onward with Mary-Ann through the increasingly crowded halls. Despite the all the people surrounding them, however, for a moment, it felt like just the two of them.

((R.J. Lowe continued elsewhere))