Escaping Perfection

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flachel421

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Original poster
Scarlett tapped her feet against the carpeted floor impatiently, anxiously awaiting for the bell signaling the end of the school day to ring. She was sitting in her last class of the day, History of Our Present Society, and she was ready for the school day to end. She wished fervently to know the time, but her History of Our Present Society instructor, Mr. Young, didn't have a clock in his room. He insisted on having everybody's full attention at all times, and declared clocks a distraction - so he didn't have one. After a few more minutes of desperately hoping for the bell to ring, it did - a loud, sharp whistle that could be heard clearly throughout the entire building.

"-And we will continue talking about the origins of the Pretty Surgery tomorrow!" Mr. Young shouted above the blaring of the bell. Like all adults, Mr. Young had already had the pretty surgery. He was an older pretty, perhaps in his thirties or forties, like most of the pretties with jobs. People who had just had the surgery were usually too busy having fun to work, and so didn't get a job until they turned about thirty, when all the novelty of living in an all-beautiful place and having non-stop fun wore off. Though, how having nonstop fun could wear off, Scarlett didn't know.

Once Scarlett had made it out of the academy, she pulled out her schedule from her knapsack to see what she had for exercise time today. In small print written by 3:30, it said, free time. Great! She had a free day today, which meant she could relax at home or do a sport of her choosing. Going home, eating some potato chips and relaxing on the couch sounded rather tempting, but she scolded herself for thinking that way. She didn't want to get fat and lazy. Finally, after a few moments deliberation, she decided to go running on a treadmill in the Fitness Centre. After making her decision, she started walking in the direction of the Fitness Centre. As it came in to view, she thought that maybe she could meet Alexis, since that's where she usually was. She sighed. Scarlett kept forgetting that Alexis, her best friend, had turned eighteen last week, and had gotten the pretty surgery. She would usually be in the Fitness Centre, running, as running was her main sport. Scarlett and her would meet there whenever they could and hang out. Now that she thought about it, the Fitness Centre brought up too many painful memories. She knew that she would be turning pretty in about four months, but that wouldn't keep her from missing her best friend.

Scarlett sighed, and stopped abruptly, turning away from the Fitness Centre. She decided just to wander around aimlessly and see what happened. Walking around with no specific purpose was technically against the rules, but she could just make up an excuse if she was asked.

So Scarlett started walking.

((Sorry if the introduction isn't very good :c I've never been very good at introductions.))
 
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(( Would the surgery change their appearance, as well? ))
 
((Yeah, but only a little bit. Like, you can still tell who they are once they've had the surgery, but they look different, if that makes any sense? Kind of like an older, prettier twin. Sorry. I don't know quite how to explain it :T Chasing after hyperactive three year old girls all day sure can fry your brain.))
 
(( Oh, I get it. Alright, I'm going to wrap up my intro and post. c:
Ooh, three year olds? Sounds like...fun. ))
 
((Alright c: Yeah. It's mostly fun but very tiring, especially since today they got to finger paint :T And in my group there's a pair of identical twins that like to switch their name tags.))
 
(( Oh, wow. Finger painting is fun. ^^
Really? Clever little children. I have to say, though...How do the parents keep track of which is which? ))

If he was going to be honest with himself, John was pretty damn scared.
Most teenagers, he'd figured, were excited around their eighteenth birthday. That was when they got the Pretty Surgery, after all. Once it was over with, they didn't have to go to school, didn't have to work, they just messed around and had as much fun as they could handle. Sounds like a teenager's dream, right? Endless partying?
Not to John.
His birthday was just two weeks off, and he was freaking out. His doctor, his parents, his teachers had all told him that being nervous was normal, and that it would all be fine once it was over. He'd be given a great life, and a great job once he tired of the parties. He'd be a Pretty, and his life would be awesome. He'd be assigned a life, a job, and it would be great.
Despite the benefits, that didn't really reassure the seventeen year old.
He was afraid of hospitals, after all. The fear was something he'd had for as long as he could remember. It wasn't justifiable logically, there was no traumatic event that had created it, he just...hated the places. Hated the needles, hated the doctors, hated the cold sterility. And the Pretty Surgery, no matter the benefits, still was a surgery and he would have to go into a hospital.
Shuddering at even the thought, he quickly jogged down the steps in the front of the Academy and pushed the nervousness from his mind. It did no good to worry now, and why waste his free time on that? Taking a deep breath, John started walking in the direction of the Fitness Centre.
He was a bit on the tall side, standing at just over six foot two when barefoot. His muscles hadn't quite caught up to his height yet, and his hair was cropped short and dark brown in color. He was tan on his arms and face, due mostly to his interest in taking apart mechanical objects-from hoverboards to coffee makers-and figuring out how they worked. High cheekbones and a strong jaw were the stand-out aspects of his facial features. Steel gray eyes looked around the campus quickly, then he jogged down the street.
And ran straight into someone going the opposite way.

((Took a few liberties with my intro, let me know if I should change something. c: ))
 
((They were supposed to finger paint on a sheet of white paper, and three of the five kids actually did that, one of them accidentally got some on the table, and the last one went crazy and just slapped paint wherever she could get it. And I have no clue how the parents tell them apart. All I know is they usually wear different shoes, and that's how I tell them apart :P))

Scarlett had just looked down for one second, one second, and she had run into somebody. "Crap! Sorry!" She said, as she stumbled backwards slightly, her body of five foot three reeling. "I'm really sorry!" She said again, cursing to herself in her head. She hated her klutziness - thankfully, she had only four more months to live with it. Clumsiness was something that the surgery did away with.

She looks up at the person she'd run into, and by up, she meant way up, as the guy she had run into was nearly a good foot taller than her. He was at least six foot, probably even taller, and Scarlett couldn't help but feel a little bit intimidated. She'd always hated her shortness, even though her friends would insist that there were plenty of people shorter than her. There were people shorter than her - a lot, actually - but that didn't keep her from hating it. She was a good weight for her height - about 115 pounds, and she was fairly skinny. She had long, brown hair that reached about the middle of her back, and bright green eyes.

"I'm really sorry," she said again. "I'm such a klutz..." She trailed off as she noticed her school bag had ripped in the collision, spilling books, papers, and notebooks all over the sidewalk. "Damn it," she muttered, bending over and starting to pick up her stuff.
 
(( Ah, gotta love the clever little schemers. Anything fun happen today?
I could not do identical twins. I'd have to have them have different hairstyles or something. o.o ))

Damn, that one hurt. At least he didn't hit his head, this time. Last year, he'd hit his last growth spurt and gained four inches in height. The difference was something he was still getting used to. That, of course, lead to a notable increase in injuries. He'd had to visit the hospital much more than he liked since then, mostly due to concussions from walking into low hanging cabinets and branches.
After regaining his senses, John bent down and helped her, mumbling mixed apologies and curses. "It's not your fault," he says a bit louder, so she can hear him. "I was the dumbass who was running without looking where he was going." He swallowed, then looked at her, realizing he hadn't asked her about her well being. "Are you alright?"
 
((We had stickers for craft today, and one of the little kids decided it would be funny to stick one on my face. :P And then, when I took it off, she started screaming bloody murder and stuck it right back on, so I kept it there to keep her from screaming anymore. So I walked around my church for the rest of the day with a sticker stuck to my cheek and now I'm pretty sure my crush thinks I'm a total retard or something :P))

"I'm fine," she said, grabbing a few stray papers that were trying to blow away in the wind. "And I wasn't looking either. It's not totally your fault." She stuffed the papers into a random book to keep them from flying off. After a few minutes, she'd managed to collect most everything, and took the stuff from him that he had helped to pick up. She then slung her ripped bag over one shoulder for her mom to stitch up later, and transferred all her books to her right arm. "Thanks," she said, smiling. She recognized the boy from some of her classes, but she didn't know his name. "I'm Scarlett," she said, hoping that he'd reply with his name in response.
 
(( Okay, that's pretty cute. c: And...yeah, that would be a bit interesting. Could've been a conversation starter, though. ))

After handing her the items, he stood up straight. "I'm John," he replied, blushing softly and nodding. "It's nice to meet you." Now that he thought about it, he'd seen her. She went to a few of his classes, but John had never really talked to her before. Noticing the rip in her backpack, he blushed more and met her eyes. He needed to make up for that. Fix it, or something? She was right in that it was both of their faults, but it wasn't like he was carrying anything. "Do you want me to fix that?" He paused and swallowed. "Or something. I need to, um, make it up to you." He mentally sighed and facepalmed himself, once again hating how awkward he was around members of the opposite sex. People in general, really. Maybe it had something to do with the fact that he preferred machines to other people.
 
((Yeah :P ))

John. Okay. She could remember that... Hopefully. Scarlett had never been good at remembering names, but John was a fairly easy name for her to remember, since that was her uncle's name. Hopefully, though, she would be able to match the name with John's face. "It's nice to meet you, too." She said, noticing his blush but not commenting on it.

Then, he asked if her if she wanted him to fix her bag. She was about to say no, she couldn't ask him to do that for her, but he kept rambling. After he was finished talking, Scarlett responded. "I couldn't ask you to do that for me," she said. "And you really don't need to make it up to me. It's not your fault. It's an old bag. I was expecting it to give out any day now."

She smiled again, shifting her books to her other arm. She had five books - History of Our Present Society, Science of Our Present Society, Mathematics of Our Present Society, English and Literature of Our Present Society, and How To Properly Care For and Maintain Your Hoverboard, the last of which she was bringing back to her dorm for her younger sister to read. Not to mention several notebooks. Hopefully, she'd be able to get permission from somebody in charge to go visit her mother to get her bag stitched up, so she wouldn't have to carry these heavy books around for the rest of the week until she could get a new bag. Once again, she shifted her books to her other arm. Damn, these things were heavy.
 
He swallowed, then looked at her books. Text books. Each felt like it was made out of lead, no doubt. "Well, let me carry your books for you." The suggestion just tumbled out. John wasn't even totally sure how it had gotten into his head in the first place, but there it was. It would work, anyways. Well, unless she said no. Then he'd probably figure out some other way to make up for the damaged bag. He wasn't one to break something and not fix it in some form or fashion. He was too mechanically minded to do that.
 
Scarlett was about to decline, but then changed her mind when the weight of her books decided otherwise. "Alright..." She said, though she sounded a bit unsure of herself. She really didn't like asking people for help, or accepting help from other people. When she asked for help or accepted it, she felt like she was being a nuisance and she felt like she was wasting other people's time by getting them to help her when they could be doing whatever they wanted to be doing. "Are you sure?"

((Sorry for the short reply :c I'm so tired it's not even funny. But, on the bright side, I got to talk to my crush today! I was taking one of the little kids to the bathroom, and I could hear him walking up the ramp [he cut his foot really bad and needed to get stitches so he's on crutches :c] and I'm standing there thinking "Oh my gosh hurry up Miley!" [that was the little girl's name]. And then poof! There he is. And so he's all like "Oh, hey!" So I'm like "Hey!" back, and even though I already knew what happened to his foot cause my friend told me, I ask, "What happened to your foot?" And he told me and then the little girl came out of the bathroom and I left. :P So I was pretty happy for the rest of the day. :P
Haha. Sorry about ranting. I couldn't help myself CX))
 
(( Yay! :D It's always such a crazy feeling after you chat with the person you like. ))

"Yes, I'm sure," John replied, chuckling softly. She didn't like help, he assumed. John had known people like that before. He smiled, one side of his mouth quirking up higher than the other one. "Remember, I offered. I feel bad for ripping your bag." He nodded, then took the books from her. They felt like lead bricks, of course, but dammit, he was going to uphold his end. "So, where are we headed?" he asked, looking at her. His lazy side hoped it wouldn't be far, but he quickly squished that thought like he always did. The exercise would be beneficial, anyway.
 
((Yeah. I'm surprised, though, that I could actually say anything at all because usually when he tries to speak to me I freeze up, start blushing, and just smile like an idiot. So I guess it's a good thing we don't talk very much :P))

She nodded, handing him her books. Gratefully, she smiled. "Thanks." When he asked where they were headed, she smiled slightly. "Dorm building E32," she said. She felt bad that he had to carry her books all the way to dorm E32, considering it was the dorm farthest away from the school. "We could take an air train, but there isn't another one coming for another hour and a half..." She shrugged slightly. "Guess we'll just have to walk it." She then turned and started walking down the sidewalk, glancing behind her to make sure John was following her.
 
John followed her. E32? Damn, that one was a long way off. "It's alright," John told her, smiling softly. There were worse things he could do with his time, after all. Carrying books for a pretty girl was better than pretty much everything else he could be doing, even with the textbooks. "Hoverboards, huh?" he asked, glancing at the books he held and smiling widely. Hoverboards-and technology in general-was a subject that he was never awkward about. "For you, or for someone else?" Most people his age could already properly care for a hoverboard, but you never knew.
 
(( I'm the same way...which is bad, because he's my friend's brother and hangs with my group at school. o.o ))
 
((Oh, that's really bad :P My crush is friends with my dad [I know, kinda weird] but anyways, sometimes my dad stops to talk to him at church or something and I'm just like "keep moving... keep moving..."))

"It's for my little sister," Scarlett said, falling in step beside John. "She just turned ten last month and got her first hoverboard today, so I thought I'd bring her home a book from the library on how to care for it." Everybody knew that once you turned ten, that you were taken away from your parents and put into dorms until your eighteenth birthday, when you had the surgery. Everybody had their own separate room, though you were allowed to visit other kids as much as you wanted to. Though, it was unusual to get your hoverboard so late after arriving to the dorms. Usually, everybody was so excited to start flying they got one the week they turned ten, but her sister, Elizabeth, had an unnatural fear of flying. Even though Scarlett explained to her that she would be wearing special shoes to keep her from sliding off, and bracelets that would catch her if she fell, Elizabeth was still terrified. But now, after a month of convincing, she had finally gone out and gotten her first hoverboard. And once you got your hoverboard, if you decided flying wasn't your thing, you didn't have to use it.
 
(( My parents were friends with the neighbor kid, so I get that. :/ I've kinda noticed, though, the more you get familiar with a person, the easier it is to not freak out around them. ))

John chuckled softly. That was a nice thing to do for a sibling. He didn't have any relatives that he knew other than his parents, but he respected people who were close to or at least cared for family members. "You care for your sister a lot, then." It was more of a question than a statement, with his tone indicating such. The hesitance at speaking with her was gone, for the moment, and John smiled softly. Idly, he wondered why the girl had just gotten her hoverboard, but he didn't ask. Better to not be rude.
 
((Yeah. And I know this is totally random, but my mom introduced me to Supernatural the other day, and so I've been having this insane Supernatural marathon over the weekend and now I've only got two or three more episodes to watch in the first season XD I would have been done already, but my brother keeps walking into the living room while me and my mom are watching it [I'm not allowed to watch it without her -.-] so we'd have to pause it until he left, and for a while, just to be mean, he kept us waiting for TWO FREAKING HOURS. So yeah :P))

"Yeah," Scarlett said, carefully stepping over a hole in the cracked sidewalk. She wasn't in the mood for taking another spill today. "Yeah, I do," she said again. "I had an older brother, but he got the pretty surgery three years back, and I haven't seen him since." Her tone suggested that she and her brother were very close, and that she was upset she wasn't able to see him, but she flashed John a quick smile. She walked in silence for a moment, before speaking again. "Do you have any siblings?"

((Sorry for the short reply. I'm watching Thor right now so I'm really distracted >.<))
 
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