Survival Of The Fittest

<<Continued... mostly... from Mrs. Saranna's Home Room, for Felix, and Mrs. Laney's Homeroom, for Kayla.>>

(Feel free to interact with either of my characters or participate without doing that. Aggression of both a physical and verbal sort are mostly welcome. So is standing there stupified. If your characters claim to know either of them, I'll go with it.)

Felix had mostly enjoyed his first day back at school in nearly a month. Questions about his absence by those who weren't in contact with him had made interesting conversation the first few times, though Felix wondered at how many people believed him when he said "I got shot" when he didn't truly get a chance to expound on the rather dull tale. The day had gone mostly well without incident.

Rounding the corner to the hallway with his locker, Felix was regardless looking forward to going home. He found it rather a chore to haul himself around and longed to just be able to sit down, or even better, walk again. Recovery was coming soon, he knew, and he didn't really need his crutches, but he felt it made his return a bit dramatic, and Felix found drama rather enjoyable, much like reading a book, except actually interesting and reading each page as it's written.

Sometimes, though, it did have an ugly side, and about halfway through the day, Felix realized that if things went south, he was somewhat vulnerable. Felix found himself attempting to 'crutch' backwards while making quick small-talk with someone stationary at their locker, and when he turned around again he felt himself collide with a person a little more than half a foot shorter than him. Before he really got a chance to apologize, Felix barely glimpsed a head of dark red hair before his face was assulted by an open palm - something he would have seen coming, had he been paying attention to where he was going.

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Over the course of the day Kayla's mood steadily lifted. Later in the week were the rescheduled track meets that were cancelled due to Kim Jones-Larame's death. Falling back into the routine of shcool quickly, Kayla became much more stable and much less irritable. Even Felix didn't seem like such a big deal, when earlier this morning Kayla knew she would have to face him for the first time in a week and a half and practically dreaded the impending encounter. Looking to it now, it didn't matter so much. Nothing had really change din her life, except now she was single.

Somehow, what had seemed like something incredibly distressing had faded into the back of her mind. Until she literally walked right into it.

It was odd how she had just thought about how little he mattered, and then she walked into him and all of her stress and anxiety returned. Had she given it time, she probably would have come short of breath at the shock of running straight into Felix, and how everything that happened to lead to their break-up came flooding back to her. She didn't give it time, Kayla reacted in the only way she felt safe. By getting angry and lashing out.

And so she tried to take him off his feet with her hand.

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Felix was already entirely off-balance from walking into Kayla, so when she slapped him with the force of an oncoming truck he was lucky to still be standing at all, awkwardly balance don his good leg. Regaining his posture, Felix tried his best to hide how surprised he ahd been when he spoke.

"What the hell was that for?"

Spoken with more intentional surprise than genuine, Felix did his best to sound indignified. He instantly regretted it, because Kayla could see right through him.

"What the hell do you think you fucking prick?!"

She was shouting, and Felix knew why. She had to act tough because if she didn't, she'd have broken down on the spot. Felix knew he had no other course but to talk her down, and he similarly knew he was going to fail dismally. He didn't want this to happen here, in a crowded hallway where some people already were edging around them carefully. He wasn't even entirely sure what he was feeling, let alone what to say. Calmly, he attempted the most natural course of action.

"I don't know. Kayla, please calm down, I've been trying to talk to you-"

"So you could lie to me! Trying to talk to me so you could get me to shut up and not make any problems for you because the entire damn world revolves around Felix fucking Travertil!"

Felix agreed silently, a part of him was curious as to what she would say if he completely conceded the point. The part of him that decided what came out of his mouth, however, came to the obvious solution that if he approached this calmly he would get completely shouted out. The next plan was to shut her up by being louder.

"You're just making this shit up! I don't know what your fucking problem is because you won't stop accusing me of shit long enough to fucking talk to me!"

"Because everything you say is bullshit! All you want to do is convince me you didn't do anything!"

"That's becuase I didn't do anything you fucking psycho!"

"You fucking raped me you lying piece of shit!"

Felix instantly wore a look identical to the one he had when he was slapped in the face moments earlier, his mouth slightly opening in surprise. Looking at Kayla, it was obvious to him she'd made that up and she was completely aware of it. That didn't matter, because Felix knew she hadn't said it for his benefit.

People had stopped in the hallway to watch them now. Every one of them had heard Kayla's accusation. She was accusing him of rape so THEY would hear. Behind Kayla, James had edged himself to the front of the crowd, and, meeting eyes with Felix, silently communicated exactly what Felix had been thinking.

Oh, shit.

Barely missing a beat, Felix retorted that she was just trying to get him in trouble, but even though he was still being rather loud, the message seemed to have fallen on deaf ears...

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Crossing her amrs and looking stern, Kayla's mind was actually racing. It was definately a spur or the moment thing to say, she'd only thought of it when she noticed how many people were watching. Thinking about it though, it all seemed to work. People would believe her, people would hate Felix.

Was it worth it? It did seem a conniving thing to do. In fact, it was someting Felix might have done were he in her position. That thought actually comforted Kayla. It was fitting that Felix got a taste of his own medicine.

Still, there was a nagging thought that it might not be worth the consequences. Would the teachers get involved? The police? If Felix suffered all the better, but how much hassle would this give her? Kayla didn't show her distress when Felix started yelling that she was lying...

As Jackie wheeled around the corner, he saw the same dark red hair he had seen earlier that day on his desperate search for his history class. She stood next to a boy in crutches, this much he could discern through the sea of heads. He could only make out the vaguest details, and he had not heard the outburst earlier. Still he figured that idle conversation could be made. What could go wrong?

As he approached he suddenly noticed the corresponding looks of shock and accusation. Something wasn't right here. Jackie didn't want to get into the middle of anything, but at the same rate he didn't really want to see a fight break out with a guy in crutches.

Well, better do something and not just stand here looking like an idiot.

"Hey, um, it's Kayla, right?" he stepped in between the two squaring off. "I met you earlier today. How's it going?"

Nice going. Way to be.

He looked to the boy in crutches, he was not satisfied, but Jackie was determined to stop this before anything got worse.

"I'm Jackie," he stuck out a hand to the boy. "I just transferred in."

This could only go downhill from here...

The moment tensed. Kayla did her best not to look smug, but if Felix got in a lot of trouble, so much the better. Then, to her distress, everything was entirely interupted by Jackie. In true new guy fashion, he stumbled straight into the middle of the scene, and Kayla was at a loss of how to respond, as he tried being friendly to both her and Felix. Felix, bemusedly, offered his crutch to Jackie's hand, seemingly unable to actually extend a real hand without losing his walking aide.

Kayla looked straight at Felix, searching for his reaction. Amusement was nothing new, he found everything from clumsy children to immense emotional distraught at least a little amusing. Somehow, what she waslooking for lcicked a little bit late in Felix, when he drew back his crutch she could sort of see it, in the back of his eyes...

Kayla stepped right up to Jackie, maybe a little close for the both of their comfort.

"Hey, Jackie... I think we should go." With one last contemptuous look at Felix, Kayla grabbed Jackie by the arm and led him out the crowd, and nearly walked into Felix's friend James. Looking up at him, she saw him mouth the word 'bitch' at her before she hurried past...

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Despite not being an expert on Greek plays, Felix knew was Deus Ex Machina meant. Those latin words seemed to jump right to mind when the stranger took center stage. He said a few words to Kayla, implying familiarity, during which James, still in the background, seeme dto communicate to Felix that it was a good time to leave, something Felix had considered doing as soon as he was presented the opppurtunity.

Felix was glad the other guy was here, but at the same timedidn't want one of Kayla's friends to try picking a fight with him. He might not have loked like much, but he could, at least, walk. Not knowing who he was, Felix eagarly made to leave when the stranger introduced himself.

"I'm Jackie," "I just transferred in."

He offered his hand. Felix was entirely stumped. Had Kayla told this new kid about their failed relationship, perhaps the same lie shejust told everyone else? More imminently, how was he going to shake hands without dropping a crutch?

"Felix." Extending his right crutch itself and slapping the end firmly into Jackie's hand, Felix briefly wondered if he was Kayla's new boytoy, dismissing it as today was likely his first day at Hobbsborough. Kayla tried to imply just that idea immediately after, however. Leaving the circle that had formed around Felix and Kayla, James approached Felix.

"I think she was trying to make you jealous." James said bluntly, as though he fully expected Felix to already know.

"Honestly, I think I have other problems."

(Felix continued in 'Unfazed.' at Tilles Court)

Ok, that did not go as expected...

Jackie attempted a shrug in Felix's direction as Kayla grabbed his arm and literally forced him away from the situation. He couldn't help but feel like he'd just made some obvious mistake. He apologized many times hurriedly as he bumped past strangers and classmates. This wasn't what he had expected after only a few days at Hobbsborough. He had just met Kayla earlier that day and already he had been pulled into some sort of drama.

Jackie gasped in shock as the passed through the halls. He had a wide-eyed look across his face. He wasn't nervous around women, being raised by a single mother in the fashion industry (and being as liberal and metro as he was) had nearly turned Jackie into a feminist. He had never been nervous because he had always treated women with a subdued reverence and respect, but Kayla made him nervous. It wasn't because she was a girl; it was because of her intensity. It was because of her forwardness.

Confused and utterly flustered, Jackie burst out of character. But he did say it as politely as he could, given the situation.

"What the hell is going on?"

Stopping only once they were out of earshot, Kayla released Jackie's arm.

"Sorry." She said, trying to be sincere. To no great surprise, Jackie was completely bewildered.

"What the hell is going on?" was, in Kayla's opinion, a strange question, until it occurred to Kayla that Jackie hadn't heard her fight with Felix. He had seemed to just step in abruptly.

"Oh... it's a long story. That guy, Felix, he was my boyfriend, and in short he's just not a very good person and I hate him, becuase he kind of... well, you heard." Realizing she was seemingly unscarred and happy for someone who had supposedly been raped, Kayla tried to appear a little more subdued, biting her lip and casting her eyes away, but she was unsure if the message got across.

"Well," Jackie grinned. "I've got time, why don't you enlighten me?"

Jackie was pretty sure she didn't want to tell the story, or that she was uncomfortable as is. He was just as surprized as Kayla was at the situation in general and blurting out whatever came into his mind.

"I mean," Jackie began back-pedaling. "You don't have to tell it if you don't want to, but you might wanna get it off your chest. It's not good to keep that kinda stuff bottled up."

He smiled at Kayla, and inwardly, he was surprised at how well that had come out. He didn't intend to pry but, he wanted to help. He meandered towards the front doors with Kayla and stood outside. He didn't know enough about this school, or the people in it yet, but he would find that out eventually. Right now his main concern was getting through the day without messing anything up, and so far, he thought he was doing a decent job.

Kayla did her best to smile dreamily. Jackie was nice - a little too nice for her liking, but that wasn't a bad thing.

"You're sweet." Kayla said. "Don't worry about it, though. He's just some prick, and I was using you to hopefully make him jealous. Don't worry about it." Kayla was vaguely aware of her redundancy. She really wanted to be nice to Jackie, but at the same time couldn't help using him to make Felix jealous - surely he'd hate to get 'beaten' by someone so feminine.

Feminine, but good looking Kayla observed. She wasn't really interested, already a boy had caused more relationship stress than was required. But Jackie was nice...

"I have to go. I'll see you later." Kayla smiled again and walked away.

"Um, bye," Jackie waved sheepishly as Kayla wandered off. He was hardly aware of what had just happened but he was pretty sure it wasn't terrible. He blushed sleepishly when Kayla called him 'sweet'. He had never been good at talking to girls in anything but a polite and receptive manner. It's how he'd been raised, but he was still nervous around girls no matter how you shook it.

Oh, well. That didn't go as terribly as it could have. I guess I stopped them from fighting.

Make him jealous? Jackie was taken aback by this. He had thought Felix looked like a pretty good guy. That gave Jackie an idea.

He began wandering through the hallways in an attempt to find his way back to the place where he had found Kayla and Felix originally. Maybe he would still be around there. He had couldn't have gotten far after all. Maybe he could remedy this somehow. He wanted to make it up to Felix being that he had just been used to make him jealous. If he couldn't find him, he'd just call it bad luck and leave it at that.

((Nealosi in blue...))

Felix had moved on to James' locker with him to discuss his psychotic ex-girlfriend, coming to no conlusions as expected. Crutching his way back through the shcool with the intention of leaving, Felix saw that still in the Hallway where the shouting match occurred, was the new guy - Jackie, still looking thoroughly new, like he was looking for something.

Felix had reserved judgement on Jackie. He was a strange guy, ranodmly stepping in to something like he did. Nomrally Felix would find such an action pompous, but Jackie looked too clueless to have been trying to make an impression. Felix felt he was determined to both step in on behalf of Kayla and not make a fool of himself at the same time. Nervous was natural, he was new. Sticking up for Kayla, however, meant he had meant well on some level. Felix resvoled to continue through the hallway, give a passing nod and leave like he often did with others he had just met.

Working his way through the hallways, Jackie was surprised he'd been able to find Felix. Hobbling through the hallways, he looked as if he wasn't going to stop for him. He moved to interecept him and waved nonchalantly. He grinned and tried to make eye contact with Felix but he was deadset on ignoring him.

"Um, hey," Jackie ran his hand through his hair. "I just wanted to say sorry about what happen earlier, man. I guess I didn't know what I was walking into." Jackie examined his shoes and than looked back up at Felix.

Felix looked fairly intense at that moment but at the same moment Jackie recognized him as a fairly laid-back person normally. He could tell by the way he hunched over his crutches and had that look like he really didn't care a whole lot. Being naive in his own way Jackie wanted to salvage this as best he could.

"Hey," Jackie offered, "she was just using me to get you jealous. I don't even know what's going on and I don't even know her that well so you don't have to worry about me."

Jackie was trying his best. There was probably some history here that he wasn't seeing. Felix didn't look like he was the type to hurt a girl, but we're all guilty of ignorance every now and than.

Jackie was determined to talk. Felix tried his basic nod and continue, but it didn't seem to work, and Jackie spoke. He hadn't even finished his sentence when Felix had established a very beneficial reason to befriend Jackie. Even after he got his apology out, Felix kept their eyes locked, Felix trying to get the measure of him, to see the best way to make Jackie play into his hands.

And then Jackie went out of his way to play himself down to Felix, like he was afraid of some sort of retribution, Felix smiled. Straightening himself up, and putting both of crutches in front of him to form a sort of post to lean on, Felix finally responded to Jackie.

"Don't worry about it." Felix seemed truly reassuring. "I know what Kayla was trying to do, and I'm positive you're not trying to make any problems." Trying to put Jackie at ease, he offered some advice. "Stop trying so hard. Just do what you think you ought to do and don't worry about what's coming. Roll with it, you know?"