Nano april 2013

The boy got out of the nicely shined Dodge Charger, flicking his emo-ish hair into his face. Another day in hell. He grabbed his backpack out of the back seat of the car, slamming the door on the adult's words that tried to reach him from inside the car. He shouldered the bag, carefully avoiding his wings. Unlike other Vampires, his were feathered, and too big to hide under clothing. He skipped steps as he climbed up to the office. He walked in through the door and smelled stress. He knew that his appearance caused fear in many of those around him, and was use to it. But this was different. Someone else had caused the problem, and a girl his age sat on the bench where the damned sat to wait their turn to be chewed out by the principle who thought that he was God. Her face was red with tears and her makeup was ruined. The boy sighed. This just make his first day all that much worse. To top the inconvenience, he was starting to be unable to contain his emotions. There was a really good reason that people feared and even hated him. He seemed to have absolutely no emotion at all.  

He crouched down, shunning the slot-backed bench, and glanced up into her eyes. “Hey, you okay?” He knew it was lame, but he wasn't really use to talking to girls or even people in general. Only his dad and step-mom.

She had noticed when the emo/punk/goth boy had walked in. He looked really scary with his black clothes. They had silver accents all over them. But not only that, he looked like someone who was use to standing up to any and all authority. And he had piercings on his face. One through his left eyebrow, another in a ring arround his lower lip, and some on his ears. Then there were his wings. They were black, or dark brown as well and were feathered, held outside his shirt and leather jacket. They just added to his intimidating appearance, not that he needed to look more intimidating. She was a good girl, and guys who looked like him scared her. But something stopped her from shrinking back. The expression on his face was neutral, even a bit pissed that he was actually paying her attention. But his eyes were filled with concern.

It was the look of genuine concern in his eyes that stopped her from shrinking away and giving some non-commital answer. “It....it's nothing.” If he could ask a stupid question, then he could deal with a pathetic answer.

Just as the boy was about to respond, voicing the indignation that was apparent in his eyes the secretary walked in. Before her disapproving glare even hit the boy's back, he was up on his feet, leaning against the wall on the far side of the bench that the girl was sitting on, looking like he had when he had walked in. Dangerous.

The secretary glanced over both of them critically. It wasn't like Jo to be looking after a boy who looked like that with confusion and concern. She was a good girl, who always did what she was suppose to do. That boy looked like someone who was use to defying authority. Seeing that Jo was waiting to speak with one of the school councilors, she turned to the boy, “Can I help you?”

The boy glanced up from the floor and walked over to the desk, his steps like those of a giant cat, a tiger or lion, contained in the body of a seventeen year old boy. “I'm suppose to pick up my class schedule here. My dad talked to you guys?” He wasn't sure why his attention was still on the girl on the bench, Fern, but he couldn't deny that he was confused. For years his shield had held. It disturbed him to know that it could crack.

The Secretary, who's name tag read Bertha, frowned and looked through her papers. She found the only new student addition, and it caught her by surprise. She distinctly remembered Ethan Hart. He was very handsome and strong looking. He also wore suits and was very clean cut. This could not possibly be the son of a man who held himself to standards like that. “Name please?” Her words came out sharp and condescending.

The boy sighed again and dug through one of his pockets, finding his wallet. He pulled out a driver's liscence in response to her question. Obviously his father had been trying to impress someone the day he had come and inrolled his son here. He was use to people's reactions to the diffrences between him and his father, but he didn't think he would ever get use to the looks.

Bertha was supprised when the driver's liscence was given as an answer. The name read Thomas Hart, and gave various statistics, including his wingspan. She wasn't expecting proof to be offered, but as she looked at the picture and the boy in front of her, she could see the inevitable similarities. He was much like his father, both in the way he looked and moved, even if he dressed the way he did. She handed him his liscence and some paperwork to sign, and after that was given back to her, she handed him his schedule.

Thomas thanked her, quietly and under his breath, and turned to go. Jo, the girl who he had met when he had walked in, was just walking out of the councilor's office, looking even more upset. Thomas knew that she was scared, but also knew that she wasn't scared of him. It was something else. He lengthened his stride, and got the door for her, still trying to figure out why he was feeling protective. He rarely felt protective of his family, let alone a random stranger who he'd barely met. Once out in the hall, he started to study his schedule.

Jo looked over to where the new boy was. She knew that logic dictated that she contenue walking to class and let him figure things out on his own. It would be safer. But as she watched him out of the corner of her eye, she could see, only for an instant, the overwellming emotion that came with changing schools, and being the new kid, so she walked over, and gave him a small smile. “Hey, what's your first class?”

Thomas jumped slightly when a voice broke into his concentration. He looked over to his left, following where the voice had come from. It was Jo, the girl who had been in the office. He flashed her a short grin. “AP English, with Crowly. It says it's in,” he looked back at the paper, trying to decifer the murdered printing. The school office needed a new printer badly, “Room 4-C.” He would be glad for her help if she was willing to offer it. He seriously doubted anyone else would be willing to risk their necks to help.

Jo raised an eyebrow. He's in AP English? She mentally moved him from the scary, dangerous category to the interestiung one. There was definitely more to him than met the eye. “It's this way. I'm in the same class.” She started to try to make conversation as they found their way through the halls, but when he didn't respond, she stopped.

Thomas was confused for a minute, then realized why. Jo was Vampire, but she didn't act like one. She was so much more like a human it was actually nice. He concentrated on following her to the class, so tomarrow he wouldn't have to ask for help. He hadn't even noticed she was talking until she stopped. When they got to the classroom, he stopped just outside the door. (smell halfbreed)

Jo was halfway through the door when she realized that the boy in black wasn't following her, she turned arround to ask him but got dragged into the room by another girl, who was asking tons of questions, not letting Jo get a word in edgewise.  

Thomas took a deep breath, shoving all emotion back into the box in his head where it belonged. He couldn't act on emotion, especially not now. He stepped forward into the classroom, and all talking stopped. People started to whisper once he passed them. He knew that it was a reaction. Noone wanted to be the one to attract the preditor's attention. He crossed the front of the room to where the teacher stood, frowning at him. He gave the teacher the slip of paper that had been in with his schedule. He figured that the teachers were suppose to sign it and he was suppose to drop it off at the office after school that day. To make sure he had gone to all the right classes. He almost rolled his eyes right then and there. He had failed the psyc evaluation to go to the same school that his sister, Ashleigh, was going to, and so he was stuck at the second best one he could find. The only good thing about his dad's obsession with education and what he thought was best for his kids was that Thomas could choose what school he wanted to attend. The teacher took the paper and signed it, and introduced Thomas to the class, tripping over his words trying to tell the class to make the boy welcome. Thomas walked to the only open seat in the back row, and sunk into it, pulling out books and papers, unenthusiastic about class.

Jo watched the way that people shrunk away from Thomas, the new kid, and frowned. She hadn't done that and she was probably one of the most cowardly people there at the school. Her unwillingness to stand up for herself was the reason she had been crying in the office, trying to get her schedule changed. He had seemed kind, even compassionate then. Now he seemed hard and unemotional. Untouchable. He was definitely scary, but he was also someone who should not be feared in the way that everyone feared him as he walked down the isle to his seat. She took her seat beside her second best friend. Her best friend, Wynter, had moved to West Virginia last spring, and was stuck there. Neither were thrilled about it, but nothing could be done in November, with Christmas break so far away.

Class went uneventfully, noone really payed attention to Thomas, and in turn he pretty much ignored the rest of the class. Mr. Crowly was going through some stuff that Thomas had done last year, so he was happy that, at least for the next couple weeks, he wouldn't have any homework. Some of the classmates snuck glances at the new boy, which he ignored. None of them were threatening, and after the summer he had spent in Japan, not much could be threatening. He still was in contact with Sora, his friend who was a Werefox. His second skin was far too small to be a wolf, or a big cat, so by default he called himself a fox. Kitsune was the label he used, and the label his great-grandfather had used. Thomas shook his head, and glanced up when his name was called sharply. He frowned, and realized he hadn't been listening, and was forced to ask Mr. Crowly to repeat the question. The answer came easily enough when he knew what the man wanted, and minutes after that the bell rang, signalling the stampeed to the next class.

Thomas stood, to walk to the door, and it started again. Two of the jock football player steriotypes cornered him, trying to push him arround. Thomas was not impressed at all. People like that should be decently scared of someone like him, but apparently their brains were so muddled by the extra testosterone and other junk they were messing arround with that they didn't even recognise that he was a very big threat. Most humans had that realization from across the room. He could smell stale alchohal on their breath, so he just kept his head down, pushing through them to get to the door. He did allow himself a heated death-glare over his sholder as he passed through the door, once they were a safe distance away from him. He almost ran into someone, and blinked when he recognised it as Jo again. He was confused by her sticking arround to help. Hasn't she figured out that I'm dangerous and not someone anyone would really want to be friends with? Haven't everyone else's reactions told her what she needs to do? The fact he was confused by her actions was greatly overshadowed by the fact that he was confused by his reaction to her. Normally emotion was kept within him and never saw the light of day. Females especially never saw any emotion from him. It was something he had done to protect Shawna, his step mom from the aftermath of what his mom had done and instilled in him.

Jo grinned up at him, totally interupting his inner conflict. “You got Biology next?” Jo was supprised when he muffled a curse and just handed her his schedule without even looking at it. In a couple of moments she had the entire thing decifered, and was relaying his schedule to him on their way to Biology class. She was very supprised to see that he was taking both Biology and Forensics, and when she expressed that supprise she actually got something close to a smile from him.

Thomas grinned as he could without showing fang at her supprise with the strangeness of his schedule. “I'm going to be a consultant to law inforcement when I graduate from college. I need to know how things work.” Inwardly he kicked himself. Why would he go and share something that could be turned against him with anyone much less a girl?

Jo laughed and the day contenued. Jo was facinated by him. He seemed to be a walking conterdiction. He looked so scary and intimidating but he really was more vunerable that she would have ever imagined. He also seemed to carry himself really well, which confused her. He walked both like a cat, and someone who should be wearing a suit and tie and only talking to rich investors and the like. He was definitely interesting.

Thomas was inwardly cringing. There was so much for him to remember, and not all of it was verbalized. None of the four wolves in the school wanted him there, and each had challenged him in their own way, all before lunch. There was no way he was going to go look for a quiet place to retreat to for lunch with four ticked off wolves gunning for him. That left the cafeteria. And a sour taste in his mouth. He retrieved his food from his backpack and walked into the noisy room, glancing arround to find himself a place to sit. He blatently ignored Jo's motion that he should come and sit with her and her friends. That would be dangerous for them. He had a giant target on his back, why should they have to share in the pain that inevetably would fall on him?

He found a place, or rather a table, at the back in a corner that was unoccupied. It was in one of the worst spots in the room, but at least it was a place where he could eat in retitive peace and quiet. He sat and started to pull out his lunch.

Jo was dissapointed that Thomas had ignored her. One of her friends gave a sigh of relief at the fact that he had chosen to go somewhere else. Jo looked at her friend with somehting close to horror. “He's new Kels. He doesn't have any friends.”

Kelsey looked up from her sandwitch, “Well it's pretty obvous why he doesn't have friends. He's into something. I mean, who wears that much black? And did you see, he's got piercings on his face! I wonder how he even got into this school. And he hardly says a thing in class. Besides all that he's obviously some kind of Vampire. Who would want to be friends with a Vampire?”

Jo looked away. Kels had always had a deep seated hatred of Vampires, but never told anyone why. She hadn't ever told her friend what she was, mostly cause Jo knew that Kelsey would make a huge scene about it and make sure that noone ever talked to Jo again. But still, last week at church... “Kels, what about what the youth pastor said last week? We're suppose to reach out to other people, people who we think don't deserve it. Thomas would qualify, right?” Without waiting for a response, Jo got up and walked over to the corner table where Thomas had started to set out his lunch. She shuffled her feet, trying to figure out what to say, and when she had gotten enough courage, “Hey Thomas, mind if I sit here?”  

Thomas hadn't packed his own lunch that morning, and so he was rooting arround in the bottom of his backpack looking for a fork when he heard someone come up. Thinking it was one of the Wolves, he ignored it, only to be shocked when yet again Jo happened to be standing there. He blinked, trying to comprehend her question. Her body language screamed that she really didn't want to be there, but her eyes and voice were steady and sincere. He decided to leave it up to her. He shrugged, “If you want to, go ahead.”

Jo glanced back over her sholder, and motioned for her friends to join her. They all grumbled, but gathered their stuff and moved over, taking up most of the seats in the table. None of them looked at Thomas, which depressed Jo. She was hoping to be able to bring Thomas more friends, but in the end, she gave up. She was too hungry. As she looked arround the table, the only spots still open were the ones to either side of him. Swallowing hard, she martialed her courage again and chose the seat to his right. Kelsey was sitting in the next seat looking very unconfortable.

Thomas was very supprised when he looked up and his entire table was populated by girls. Does God hate me today or what? He rolled his eyes and went back to looking for his fork, or anything to eat his food with. He came up partially successful. Sometime in the past he had gotten something from Subway and they had given him one of the packaged forks. It was still in it's packaging. A small smirk crossed his face as he stuffed everything back into his backpack and opened his lunch. Leftovers, enchaladas. The nanny that his dad had him living with this time was a decent cook, and not only that, but she basicly let Thomas have the run of the house. Including the kitchen. He smiled and dug into the food, trying to ignore all the staring girls, some of who gasped when they saw partial views of his fangs. He sighed inwardly yet again. Sometimes it wasn't worth it, hiding all the time. People were just as scared of him if he tried to act normal. He scooted his chair over, giving Jo some more room, tuning her out as she introduced the rest of the girls. He was more interested in surviving and getting home in one piece without having to tear appart one of the local alpha's kids than the names of the girls who he wasn't particularly interested in at all.

The rest of the day went well, all things considered. Thomas mannaged to avoid the Wolves, and make it through the rest of the classes without being distracted overmuch by Jo and her friends. None of them seemed to like him very much, and he didn't really care for their vindictive way of showing that, but then he didn't really expect anything different. He walked home, and was very supprised when he didn't get jumped or anything. Once home he was happy to see that his dad had dropped off his car, and after throwing his backpack through the door he went to go and check his car to make sure it hadn't gotten scratched. As he ran his hands over the hood, he could feel someone's eyes on his back. He ignored it. If it was someone threatening his 'spider sense' would have kicked in and told him to turn arround. Since it didn't he kept at polishing his 60's Mustang. He wondered off hand when his dad was coming back. If he knew when, he'd be able to do some sabatouge to the car and the two of them would get a weekend together again. A lance of pain went through him. He loved his dad and wanted to spend time with him, but every time he tried, he got pushed away. Or ignored. That was worse. He had no clue why his dad insisted on being so distant, but it really hurt. He finished with the hood and was moving to the door when he looked over his sholder, half expecting to see Jo since this had apparently become her habit, sneeking up on him. He was right, it was Jo. She still looked a little supprised, even though she'd been standing there for a while, staring at him.

He grinned, just short of showing fang, which would be a threat, “Hi, um, can I help you?”

Jo had gone with her parents, after much threatening, to meet the new neighbors. She didn't understand why her mother would insist on going and meeting some random people who they would probably see only once a year at the yearly block party in the summer when her daughter had a ton of homework that needed to be done yesterday. An older lady in an apron had answered the door and told them that her name was Anita. She had also told them that the 'young master' was out tending to his car. Jo had been curious and had walked back down the stairs and arround to the garage.

Finding Thomas playing with a really shiny pretty old car was the last thing she expected. This boy was definitely confusing. He had ditched the long leather jacket, and was wearing a dark blue long sleeved t-shirt that had been modified to fit his wings through. She had been hoping he wouldn't realize she was there so she could just watch him. His movement was beautiful, like a tiger, very fluid. And the fact he worked out showed through his muscles. If she had been watching him on a tv screen she would have thought him cute. In person he took her breath away. She felt her face heating and was about to turn to leave when he glanced up. Horror raced through her, holding her in place. His question registered a few agonizing seconds after he had asked. She thought that he must think her an idiot. “Um, well my mom wanted to go and meet the new neighbors and so yeah...” She trailed off looking down at her feet.

Thomas was very supprised at the surge of emotion that happened as Jo looked down and away. He wasn't use to dealing with such strong emotions, and he put out a hand to steady himself against his car. To anyone else it would look like he decided to lean against his awesome looking car, but only he knew the real reason. He was pretty sure that he was attracted to this girl, Jo. He just didn't understand why or how. He recovered fairly quickly, however, and walked forward, out of the garage, wiping the grime off of his hands as he did so. “If your mother's here, will you introduce me?” He wasn't sure what kind of reaction he would get from the family, but they should know that someone who went to their daughter's school lived a couple doors down.

Jo was supprised at his request, and only nodded, watching him. She knew that her face was red, or at least pink, and that just added to her embarassment. She watched his wings as he led the way back to the front porch where her mother and the cleaning lady were getting into a discussion about how to cook casserols. Jo cleared her throught and did the introductions, and watched in suprise as Thomas stuck his hand out to shake her father's hand. Her father was a bit supprised as well, considering Thomas's choice of clothing. That went well, and when Thomas offered to show her dad his car, Jo knew that the two of them would become fast friends. She started to wander off to follow them when her mother's sharp glare stopped her. She pouted a bit, but got really interested as she realized that Anita might be able to answer many of the questions she had started to have about her new, very interesting, classmate.