Survival Of The Fittest

((Kaliska Day continued from The Only Sacred Ground ))

Kaliska stood for a moment watching the waters in the Sound crash onto the shore. She'd set today aside to finish up on her homework and had been surprised when she'd finished it all this morning. Nothing at home had caught her interest and the idea of visiting her mom at work was unappealing. Instead, she decided to get out of the house for a while. She'd driven without a direction at first, but had eventually wound up at the Waterfront.

She loved the Waterfront. She loved the combination of old shops that she'd visited as a little girl and the modern stores like Starbucks that had come later. Kaliska parked at one end, intending to buy Starbucks, if nothing else, to get her parking validated. She raised her face to the sun and allowed it to warm her face momentarily. With a sigh of contentment and after another glance out at the water, she began to walk down the Waterfront.

((David Anderson Start))

David jogged along the waterfront, listening to the crashing of the waves. He paused for a moment, rubbing an itch on his arm. It was nice to be out of the house. Hearing more arguments was the last thing that he needed. He looked out over the water, feeling the warm breeze on his skin. It was nice to be out and away from the distractions of home and school. As he turned away to start jogging again, he noticed someone nearby.

Who's that? She looks familiar...

As she got closer, he realised that she was a student at Aurora. He had seen her in the halls a few times, but he didn't really know her too well. Unsure of whether to greet her or not, he nervously looked away toward the water again. He stuck his right hand up his sleeve and ran his fingers over the raised scabs. 

I've been here for two years and still have trouble talking to people. How pathetic...

He looked over at her again and decided to take a chance.

"Um, hi!"

A classmate jogging towards her caught Kaliska's attention. It was David something. She'd seen him in the halls, but they hadn't had much chance to interact. The only reason she remembered his name, was because he was one of the newer faces on campus. Kaliska couldn't even imagine what that was like. She'd lived in Seattle all her life, and had known some of her classmates since elementary school. To have to pick up and move, especially in high school seemed like some for of cruel and unusual punishment to her.

"Hi," she greeted him with a warm smile. "Isn't today a beautiful day? I couldn't bear to spend it inside, so I thought I'd come down here and do some window shopping. Maybe even some actual shopping though that defeats the purpose of spending the day outside." She smiled again at her own joke.

At seeing her positive reaction, David smiled. Well, that wasn't so bad. He walked carefully towards her, trying not to seem more awkward than he already was. He looked over one more time at the water, seeing the reflection of the afternoon sunlight glinting in the waves.

He stopped a few feet in front of her, straining to remember her name. He knew that he must have heard it before. Why would he recognize her if he'd never heard her name? He looked down at the ground, embarrassed. He decided to go ahead and answer her question.

"Yeah, it is a pretty nice day," he said, smiling awkwardly. He scratched his head. "Um, sorry, but what's your name? I don't think that we've spoken before." He dropped his arms to his sides and waited nervously for her response.

((Grace Faraday Start))

Grace leaned against a railing simply staring at the vast expanse of water before her. It didn't seem to matter how often  she walked by here. Each and every time she still managed to be entranced by the sights and sounds of the Sound. Grace had always loved the water. As a child, she had loved to go swimming in the lakes near Austin. Upon moving to Seattle, the Waterfront had become her favorite hangout due to both the view and the interesting variety of stores there.

That was exactly why she felt almost guilty that she hadn't been here in almost a month. While she liked spending time with friends at the mall, being without them for once, was a refreshing change indeed. Even better was the fact that Elysium was actually devoid of students from Aurora for once, meaning that she could simply walk in and pick up the comics she wanted without having to try to avoid Aurora students while in the store.

With new comics tucked into the bottom of her book bag and in a better mood than she had been in weeks, she was about to make her way home when she noticed two people standing a little further down the walkway.

The two of them were from her school. The boy, who was standing around rather awkwardly, she recognized only as "the new kid". He'd been here at least twice as long as she had, but that was what her friends called him so he was stuck with that moniker, at least to her. The other person she knew a little better. She'd had classes with Kaliska before. She had seemed rather nice, even though Grace didn't get much of a chance to interact with her. It seemed like a good idea to go over and talk to her.

"Hey, Kaliska! Haven't seen you 'round here before. What brings you here?"

Kaliska smiled at the boy who by the end of the senior year, still didn't know her name. Not that she was much better off. She opened her mouth to introduce herself, but was cut off by the arrival of Grace Faraday. Kaliska and Grace had been in several classes together. Grace was another relative newcomer to the school, if Kaliska remembered correctly even a newer arrival than David. She rolled her eyes at Grace's comment of not seeing her at the Waterfront before and then turned to greet her with a smile and a wave.

"Hey, Grace," she said. "I don't know what to tell you, I've been coming here since I was little. Though, I haven't had a chance lately; with all the schoolwork and competitions. However, I was just telling David that today was too beautiful to pass up. Anything in particular bring you two here?"

David stood, waiting for to hear her name. A light breeze rustled by as he shifted his weight from foot to foot. Just as she was opening her mouth, he was startled by a voice coming from behind him.

"Hey, Kaliska! Haven't seen you 'round here before. What brings you here?"

So, that was her name. Odd. David turned around to face the source of the noise. He sighed inwardly, relieved. It was someone from school who he did recognise. He had had a couple classes with her in the past. She had actually moved here a year after him. Maybe she needs friends too, he thought, or maybe she already has too many friends to bother with a loser like me... His depressive line of thinking was interrupted by a question from Kaliska.

"Anything in particular bring you two here?"

"Not really", he answered. "I just like to jog, and I figured that this would be a nice place for it." Unconsciously, he began to rub his hand over his arm. Wow, this is awkward..

Grace smiled back at Kaliska before coming to a stop next to the pair. "The weather is great today, isn't it? I used to come here quite often as well and I thought it'd be nice to come down here and peruse some of the stores here. I'm not quite sure why I love this place so much, but you'd have to agree that there's nothing quite like a long walk by the water, is there?"

Grace looked back to the boy once more. The boy seemed more awkward than before, if that was actually possible. He seemed so unsure of himself, it was rather clear he wasn't used to being around people. Perhaps she should back off and give him some space? She was never quite sure how she should act around people like him.

"Um...," she finally said, "So your name's David? Well, you probably heard Kaliska, but I might as well introduce myself. My name's Grace. Grace Faraday."

Kaliska watched Grace introduce herself and suddenly couldn't get the introduction to the Mickey Mouse Club out of her head. ‘Kaliska, David, Grace,' a super cheerful voice rang through her head. Now that we've all had Mouseketeer role call, maybe we can do something besides stand around staring at each other.

"Seems like we were all lucky enough to end up with a totally free Saturday," Kaliska said with a smile. "You guys want to head over to Starbucks and grab something to drink? Maybe do a little window shopping along the way? I always try to stop into the book store to see what's there. Or take our drinks and wander down to the shore?"

((I'm so sorry for the late post...))

David paused for a moment, considering her offer. On one hand, he wasn't very comfortable just going out for coffee with people that he barely new. On the other hand... some people from school were inviting him to do hang out with them. After a few awkward moments of silence, he spoke.

"Sure, that sounds good to me." He felt around in his pocket to make sure that he had change. Not many things would be more embarrassing than agreeing to go for coffee with some people and then having to beg for money. With that taken care of, he continued.

"So, do you guys think that going for coffee and then the bookstore is a good plan? I mean, if you have other ideas, or if that's not what you meant or anything, than I'm listening..." His voice trailed off as he realised how awkward that sounded. He decided to shut up and wait for someone else to speak.

Grace mulled over the suggestion for a moment. Standing around here doing almost nothing would be pointless, no offense to the nice view, though odds were that it couldn't be offended anyway. Starbucks was much better alternative, with its source of coffee and occasional eclectic customers. Even David was up for it, showing the briefest bit of certainty before lapsing back into awkwardness. The bookstore was also a nice place, the nice scent of old books, and the odd chance of finding a great book in good condition. She wouldn't mind going there, even if she wasn't going to buy anything today, not after splurging like she did at Elysium earlier.

"Starbucks sounds great. I could do with a bit of caffeine in my system. Looking at some stores round here doesn't sound bad either. " Grace looked about at the stores for a moment. "I suppose we'll be heading to the bookstore first. Unless you want to have coffee first? I honestly don't mind it either way round."

Kaliska fought not to roll her eyes; she'd never before had so much trouble trying to hang out with people. These two were almost too accommodating; they didn't seem to have an opinion about anything. They both sounded unsure of the plan, even though it was Kaliska that'd brought it up in the first place. Instead of calling them on the fact she smiled brightly at the pair.


"The bookstore sounds like a great idea," she said and started down the sidewalk towards it. She turned and walked backwards so continue to talk to them. "I don't have anything particular in mind at the bookstore; I just like to wander through it. Occasionally they have books on genealogy. I've been looking into my dad's side of the family. I'm rambling but what I'm trying to say is that whenever you get bored with looking around let me know and we can go grab a coffee."

She stopped walking as she realized that she was walking past the entrance to the bookstore. She gave them a lopsided grin this time and reached for the door.

David tensed with anxiety as he waited for Grace's input. Turning again to look at the waves, he stuck his arms into his sleeves for a moment before pulling them out. To his relief, Grace had offered up a similar idea. Although David was thinking of going to Starbucks first, going there after the bookstore probably made more sense. They wouldn't want to spill their drinks on the books, right?

David followed the two girls as the three of them walked toward the bookstore, staying slightly behind them. He shuffled down the boardwalk, looking in the windows of the shops as they passed by. Even though he had lived in the area for a while, he had never actually gone to most of these stores. He had been to the bookstore, but had never bought much. The public library had much better selection anyway.

His thoughts were interrupted when they finally reached the bookstore. The girl in front opened the door, and David quickly followed her inside. Once inside, he began to quickly regret agreeing to this excursion. He never usually could relax at the bookstore, even when by himself, and now he was going there with almost complete strangers. The anxiety became almost too much to bear as he turned towards Kaliska and Grace.

"Um, if you guys need me, I'll be in the back, okay?" he stammered. Without waiting for a response, he headed towards the shelves towards the back of the store. The science fiction section was disappointingly small at that store, but they could have restocked the shelves since the last time that David was there. As he reached the shelves, he went around to the side of them where he could not be seen. The uncomfortable feeling in the pit of his stomach worsened as he took a book off of the shelf and flipped through it, unable to concentrate.

The bookstore looked the same as usual, the smell of cut wood and glue and whatever else that went into making books permeating the air. Grace normally loved the chance to explore the place, looking for a good book, perhaps spend some time reading before she left.

It was perhaps a little weird with the two of them there, but David had immediately gone off towards the back, while Kaliska seemed busy looking for something. A quick check of her phone showed no messages, leaving mild disappointment in its wake. It wasn't as if she was really expecting anyone, but it would have been a welcome distraction.

Putting her phone back in her pocket, Grace looked over the shelves a couple of times, picked up the first book that looked interesting, a copy of Fahrenheit 451, and began reading. Kaliska was still looking about, while David had disappeared from sight. Hopefully the two of them wouldn't take too long.

(sorry for the wait guys, school started again)

Kaliska wandered the aisle of the bookstore aimlessly. She'd stop whenever anything caught her eye, but for the most part made a circuit of the store. Not finding anything new, or at least new to the store she made her way back towards the front of the store. She waved at David and Grace to let them know she was ready and then made small talk with the clerk while she waited for them to finish up.