Survival Of The Fittest

((Mara Montalvo continued from High Fashion High Prices))

Mara was sat at one of the desks with a computer and a pile of papers in front of her. Her cell phone vibrated and made a cheerful "ding!." She glanced at it and then at the screen again. She picked up the phone.

"Hello, this is Amaranta from the Aurora newspaper and I'm checking some things over. Is your name spelled with two Ps?"

Working.

Let me just email this girl asking her about an interview and then proof read the columnists thing and then I'll try to think of pitches for next week and I have to get ready for the debate club's debate next Friday and exercise 20 minutes every day and go dress shopping for the next pageant and look over the notes again from math because we have a text next week and I only got an 80 on the last one and I NEED TO DO BETTER EVEN THOUGH I FEEL LIKE THAT'S ALL I EVER DO, I SPEND EVERY WAKING MOMENT OF MY LIFE WORKING AND I'M MISERABLE NO MATTER WHAT I DO.


Her hand was shaking on the computer mouse she was clutching. It made a slight cracking noise and brought her back.

She dropped the mouse, looking wide-eyed at it.

"Piece of junk."

Her cell phone vibrated and made a cheerful "ding!."

((Zubin Wadia continued from Pregunta))

Zubin had a free period to chill for. So, naturally, it was time to chill in the computer lab. He found an empty computer, logged on, and plugged in his headphones.

As the computer logged on, he placed a brown paper bag onto the table, and took out a can of Coke and two plastic wrapped sandwiches - both of them filled with peanut butter, chocolate syrup and strawberry jam.

The computer logged on, and Zubin opened up the web browser to go to his favorite review: "Atop the Fourth Wall: Freak Force #1"

"Duh nuh-nuh nuh-nuh duh nuh-nuh nuh-nuh, ne-ne-ne-ne-ne-nuh
Duh nuh-nuh nuh-nuh duh nuh-nuh nuh-nuh, ne-ne-ne-ne-ne-nuh
Welcome to Atop the Fourth Wall, where 90's KID ROCKS!"

Zubin chuckled as the video continued. Nice way to take a break.

((Claire Monaghan continued from Adapting The Orchid Thief))

Okay, I am going to fucking kill this review. Yeah, this review won't know what hit it. It's going to be sitting peacefully, drinking tea, when it suddenly is kicked in the back of the head. Then it's gonna be like "What was that? Oh no! It's Claire Monaghan! Take whatever you want!" Aw yeah. I've got this.

Claire strolled into the computer lab with an iced coffee in one hand and headphones in her ears. The soundtrack to Doctor Who was blaring in her ears, and she was focused on getting to an open computer. She had a review of Moonrise Kingdom to write for the school paper, and she had to get it done before the deadline.

She noticed the two other people in the room. The first was Amaranta. She was one of the mean Heather bitches that roamed Aurora High who wouldn't even notice Claire. They didn't even do much together with the Newspaper. Amaranta seemed busy with a phone call, so Claire just walked by her. She at least gave her a quick "Hey" just to show that she acknowledged that she was there.

Over on the next computer was Zubin. She remembered that he ran for President and was involved in a ton of other clubs, including Debate team. She couldn't remember if he was involved with Newspaper.

Whatever, he's free to do whatever he wants.

Claire sat down in front of the computer next to Zubin and logged in. She had seen Moonrise Kingdom over the weekend and made sure to check several sources for details she might have missed. She opened a blank word document and cracked her knuckles.

Alright. Time to go all Ebert on this damn thin-is that Linkara?

Claire looked over at Zubin's computer and saw that he was watching Atop the Fourth Wall.

"Oh hey, Linkara," she said aloud. "I mostly watch Cinema Snob and Oancitizen, but he's pretty cool."

Claire had no idea if Zubin heard any of that due to his headphones. She simply set her iPod to play another Doctor Who song and began to write.

WES ANDERSON'S MOONRISE KINGDOM WILL RUN AWAY WITH YOUR HEART IN TOW.

Aw yeaaaaaaaaah. I've got this down.

Claire continued to type away at the computer, completely focused on the project.

[Jack McDonald continued from (To Be Added Later)]

Jack heaved his backpack over his shoulder once again to momentarily keep it from slipping as he walked down the halls of Aurora. It was the middle of a period, most of his friends had classes, and the BioWare forums were blocked by the school, so Jack had decided to stop by the computer lab and see how the newspaper was going. Jack didn't really consider himself a full member of the team, though he did occasionally submit an editorial or something when he got the writing bug.

He walked into the room, unceremoniously dropping it on the floor and promptly nudging it under a desk with his foot for what he presumed was safe keeping. Once that was finished, he looked around the room to see if there was anyone interesting. There was some girl who Jack didn't really know (waaaaay out of his usual crowd) and Zubin, whose name he knew mainly because it was an odd name. Peering over Zubin's shoulder from afar, he noticed a familiar brown-hatted comic book nerd on the screen. It was a topic of conversation, at the very least.

That would have to wait, though, for Jack noticed the third occupant of the room, Claire. He felt a mix of relaxation and tension. It was always nice to see a familiar face, but there was the awkward fact that he had skipped out on their prom date together. It wasn't his fault, of course (mono really DOES suck), but he didn't know how she would feel about it after the fact.

Is she going to be disappointed? She's going to be pissed off at me, isn't she.

Jack managed to expel those thoughts rather quickly, but he still needed a deep breath and a couple of seconds to compose himself. After a quick glance around the room to make sure no one had noticed his anxiety, he walked over to where Claire was sitting and tapped her twice on the shoulder.

Mara continued clacking away at her keyboard intensely. Suddenly the room was all but full of people wandering around. At least two of them were with the newspaper and only one of them appeared to actually be doing newspaper work, Claire.

Mara didn't care for any of these people really and she wasn't in a particularly good mood. Zubin was laughing at something and she could hear some sort of musical buzzing emanating from his headphones.

"Hey!" she said, slamming down her cellphone. "Go watch your nonsense elsewhere," she said sharply.

"This is the newspaper room. You see?" she said pointing at a sign above the door. "News. Paper."

Zubin barely noticed Claire. She had said something, but Zubin didn't know what. He just nodded and smiled as he started to chuckle at 90's Kid talking about the woman who looked mint-flavored. It was at that moment when he thought he heard something. Zubin paused the video and looked around. In front of him was the source of the noise. Mara Montalvo was one of his debate friends, to use the term "friend" loosely.

"Hey! Go watch your nonsense elsewhere. This is the newspaper room. You see?" Mara pointed at a sign above the door. "News. Paper."

This was a bit of a delicate situation. On the one hand, Mara was a little busy. On the other hand, everyone else was dealing with it fine and Mara was a bitch most of the time. Zubin thusly decided to turn on his charm.

"Oh. Hey, Mara. Want a bite?" Zubin held up the other, intact, half of his sandwich. Rather than move, or even acknowledge Mara's complaint, Zubin simply decided to ignore Mara's bitching and act as if she had given him a simple greeting. It would probably piss her off more, but given the fact that it was Mara, it would just be funny.

[font=comicsans]The film tells the tale of two adolescents, Sam and Suzy, as they run away from their homes and live together in the wilderness. The film follows Sam and Suzy as they live their lives in their utopia while the adults of their community work to find them. Anderson depicts Sam and Suzy as a little bright for their age, while the adults looking for them are shown to be even more childish than the twelve-year-old protagonists, particularly Suzy's father (Bill Murray) and Sam's Scoutmaster (Edward Norton).[/font]

Claire continued to type away on her computer. She had the music from her iPod blocking all outside noise and the iced coffee keeping her energized.

Okay, I better look at that introduction again, but I guess I better go to the critical aspects. Let's see...... probably should begin with the themes, mostly about the problems of growing up and the cynicism children face as they enter puberty. Yeah, that sounds good.

At that moment, Claire felt a tapping on her shoulder. She removed one of her earbuds and turned to the source of the tapping.

Oh. It's Jack.

Claire grinned at Jack and gave a small greeting to him. She was a bit so-so about seeing him. Right before Prom, he came down with Mono, leaving Claire to attend Prom on her own. She didn't blame him for getting Mono, but part of her felt awkward around him. She had hoped for an awesome night together, but that didn't happen. She had fun, but it felt sort of hollow since he was sick in bed.

"Hey Jack. I guess you're feeling better now?"

Just then, Claire heard some shouting to her side. Looks like Amaranta wasn't happy that Zubin was in the room watching Linkara videos instead of contributing to the newspaper.

Well gee, didn't realize that Regina George here was in charge of the computer lab. Better remember that or she might insult my wardrobe OH THE HORROR!

Claire noticed that Zubin had returned Amaranta's complaint by offering her a bit of his sandwich. Claire let out a small chuckle. She knew Zubin was a wacky guy, and this response would surely set Amaranta off.

Eh, let them have their banter. I've got better shit to do.

Claire decided to at least see how Jack was doing.

"So yeah, feeling better?"  

((Gonna go ahead and skip Flare))

Mara arched a critical eye brow at the offer of a sandwich. Her eyes narrowed and widened, a gauge of her displeasure.

"No thank you," she nearly hissed. "Only animals share half-chewed food."

She stood up from her chair with her hands remaining flat on the table she'd been working at. Her phone still jovially shook now and again. Her hair whipped from the sudden move she made to stand.

"Listen, I realize you'd hardly have any reverence for the newspaper, seeing that based on the sign above the door and the fact that pointing to it brings up no reaction from you, I might safely assume now that you can not read," she said smoothly. "However," she said as she leaned in, saying the word as sugar sweet as cotton candy, "I take pity on you and I will ask you once more to vacate the room, which has been designated for a purpose you have nothing to do with."

"Oh, yeah, definitely. Mono sucks, but you get over it. Still feel a bit tired at times... but then again, that was pretty much the same before I got sick."

Jack let out a little smile at his own joke, putting his hand on the table behind him and leaning casually. Claire didn't really seem mad, which was a big relief. He would hate to graduate from high school with hurt feelings as the main focus.

His train of thought was slightly interrupted by the sound of the other two increasingly louder voices in the room. Jack glanced over, seeing that Zubin and Whatsherface were getting into an argument over something he really didn't care to know. He almost opened his mouth to ask them to be quiet, but he quickly reconsidered. Things like that, especially at school, tended to die off rather quickly, so it was probably best not to get involved. He turned his attention back to school.

"I still feel bad though. Would've been nice to attend the one last big event before we finally graduate."

((Skipping Decoy in order to keep this going))

Claire let out a small chuckle at Jack's joke. Jack seemed a bit upset about not being able to go to Prom though. Claire shook her head.

"You didn't miss anything," she said, "just a lot of awkward dancing and lousy punch. Just be sure you don't get mono before Graduation and Disneyland. That would really suck."

Claire smirked. She figured it would be better if Jack didn't believe there was any real reason to be at Prom. Claire herself only went to Prom alone just to at least make her mom happy, but there's no real reason Jack should feel upset about being unable to go.

Meanwhile, Amaranta and Zubin continued their old married couple routine. Amaranta didn't like Zubin's offer of a sandwich and went off on how revered the newspaper was and how he should respect it by leaving if he wasn't going to do any work. Claire covered her mouth in order to hide her smile and the laugh that was building in her throat.

Holy shit, what is this girl's deal? Is this really the biggest issue at hand? Oh my god.

Claire leaned back in her chair and turned towards Amaranta.

"Hey, Montalvo, it's not that big a deal," she said to the girl. "There's only four people in here and it's not like he's taking the computer from someone who needs it. I'm sure if Zubin kept quiet you'd be able to easily ignore him and focus on your work."

Claire Monaghan has awoken the sleeping dragon. Let's see if she gets burned alive.

((Wugh, sorry about the lateness factor))

Naturally, Mara said no. To both the sandwich and the idea that she was going to let this go. Zubin could have offered to move, or turn it down, but really, he was too lazy to move, and not motivated enough with regards to the newspaper to see why the computer lab was off limits to anyone not using the newspaper. He pulled out the big guns.

"Mara, that's excellent. I'm glad you see things my way." He then placed his headphones back on his ears and restarted the video.

If she wants to fight, let her fight. I'll just ignore the bitch. Heh-heh, more pouches to his huge shoulder pads. Rob Liefeld cracks me up.

"But you see, he's not. He's really not being quiet and furthermore, he's being a rude little popinjay who could easily go find a computer in the COMPUTER labs in the library where people don't have the rooms reserved for a specific-"


And then Zubin decided to pretend that she'd agreed with him. Oh, that did not sit well with her, not at all. Zubin went on to flat ignore her and turn back on his show. Mara's face turned a flushed pink color and her nails dug into her palms. Her eyes narrowed dangerously and then, suddenly, she stopped. Her shoulders relaxed and her fingers loosened. Mara pulled her hair back into her ponytail and took a deep breath.

"Yes. How dare I not let you watch your stupid internet show. I mean, why should I complain just because this is the newspaper room and you're not doing newspaper things? How silly of me."

Mara walked past Zubin and the others to the end of the line of computers where all of the plugs met, plugged into an outlet expansion.

"So please accept my sincerest apologies."

Mara stomped on the main power cord, unplugging it and sending all the screens to black.

"Opps. Bad luck."

"Well, hopefully my immune system has strengthened from having it... or something..."

Jack smiled a bit. So far, he hadn't heard about anything TOO big or exciting happening during Prom... at least no one had gotten suspended or expelled, it seemed. Though in his opinion, there WERE a couple of classmates who could use some retribution...

"So, since-"

Barely two words into his sentence, Jack was cut off by the continued rambling of the duo on the other side of the room. He rolled his eyes a bit.

Figures, I go to the least populated room in the school and I STILL have to deal with - wait, what's she doing?

Boom.

In an instant, the mass of computers lined up around the room shut completely off, dimming the room oh so slightly and quieting the area a bit due to the lack of hard drives running.

Mouth agape, Jack paused for a second, stood up straight, and gave his best "Are you serious?" look.

"Really?"

Claire couldn't believe what she was seeing. Amaranta still couldn't chill out about Zubin being in the lab, even using the word "popinjay" to express her anger. Claire tried really hard to hold back her laughter as the girl continued her rant. Then the girl had to go over and unplug the entire row of computers.

Claire's eyes widened as she saw her computer screen turn black. She wasn't too upset; she was only two paragraphs into her review and had made sure to keep it saved in her files as she made progress on the assignment. She was more shocked by Amaranta's overreaction.

Holy shit, it's just because one guy decided to watch Linkara. Is she really that fucking petty?

Jack stood up in shock. Claire then realized the golden opportunity she had and stood up as well.

"Amaranta Montalvo!" she began. "If you're going to interfere with the work of others, then you should take your business elsewhere. Because of your actions I am unable to work on my review. If you're not going to do any work and instead choose to bother the people who are trying to peacefully work here, then I'm going to have to kindly ask that you leave and find something better to do with your time."

Claire folded her arms and stared at the girl.

Hypocrisy, thy name is Amaranta Montalvo.

"I am totally in favor of adding guns to the American Flag! It so needs that kind of an update "

Blackness and silence. Zubin frowned. He looked at the monitor. No light. He pressed the button, before

"Oops. Bad luck." Mara was at one of the outlets. Zubin looked around. Not a single lit screen in the room. Jack and Claire were saying some stuff, but Zubin wasn't paying attention.

Wait, wait. Let's see if I have this straight. You're so concerned about me bothering other people doing newspaper related tasks that you bother me, in spite of the fact that there have been no other objections, and in fact, even with other people agreeing with me, that you had to unplug every computer and bother everyone. That either means you erased all your progress or that what you were doing wasn't all that important either. If you can do that and still think I'm in the wrong and you're right, then I have to ask you this in the kindest way possible:

"Mara, what is the name of your dealer? Because you're on some really good shit right now."