Roomies

Lark didn't realize that he was standing behind her until he opened the door. She nearly did a double take and quickly put on her blazer, buttoning it down. Sighing, Lark took her backpack and stuffed a series of notebooks, pens, and pencils. At least the uniform is comfortable. The socks came right above her knee and her skirt hovered just above that. Desperately, Lark pulled down the edge of her skirt, however the waistband wouldn't allow it to move down any further. Letting go after a few moments, Lark huffed, defeated. She took her key, stuff it in another pocket, and pulled open the door.

Lark tentatively looked down the hallway to make sure none of the guys were out and about just as she was about to make her way down. Seeing that the coast was clear, Lark let out a breath of relief and closed the door behind her. I can't believe I was forced to wear these shoes. I hate these shoes. Mom probably took out my sneakers and put these in, god. Walking down the hall, she felt a slight stare of someone and turned around to find a boy with bright blue eyes and short black hair watching her. Uh... Creepy.

After breakfast, Lark walked down to her first class in the massive campus. Biology. Lark wasn't very much one for science, she was more of an artistic person and couldn't wait for her art class. Opening the door, Lark walked in to find a buzz in the classroom.

"That's the girl--"

"Oh... She's the one in 34A--"

"Wow, she's kind of hot--"

Ughhhh.
 
Joseph's favorite class was history, but sadly he didn't have it until the end of the day. He'd found that out when he found out his schedule was changed, which was during breakfast. He'd eaten fast, which was good since he needed more time. For Joe, he happened to start in biology as well, only so he could move on to gym afterwards. He walked into the classroom briskly, noticing the various people looking at him yet leaving him uninterested. However, noticing Lark, he waved. "Looks like we start off the same. Not that it's a big deal...Science is kind of boring, isn't it?" For Joseph to call something boring was rare. He was normally easily interested in anything, but some subjects just didn't suit him- math and science were those things. However, he didn't absolutely hate science. It just tended to make him sleepy when he already was. It was likely the worst class he could have in the morning besides math.

While he was talking to Lark, he could hear some of the girls talking about him. He wasn't the most handsome guy in school, but he was certainly attractive due to his gentle and yet well-toned physique. Some girls seemed to like that he was a bit haphazard when it came to his hair, and when he looked towards the voices, he could notice they were decreasing to not be upsetting. He sighed- people would talk, it was natural. He was tired of worrying about them, and looked around for some signal of where to sit. "Any idea if it's free for all or assigned seating?" If he could help it, he would try to get a seat in the back to sneak some reading in. That, and he actually saw better from the back most of the time anyway.
 
Lark glanced over at her roommate.

(OOC: Don't be afraid to take any of my outside characters, I'm kind of just making them up as I go :P)

"I don't know. I don't really care."

Lark shrugged off all of the talking and walked over to a desk near the center of the classroom. She set her backpack on the desk and sighed, closing her eyes for a moment.

"Hi," A deep voice greeted.

Lark opened her eyes and saw the dark haired, blue eyed boy. She swallowed slightly and tried to muster up a smile. "Uh... Hi."

"I'm Jace." The boy named Jace held out a hand, expecting a handshake.

Lark kept her hands in her pocket and simply looked at the outstretched hand. She could see the hand was slender and gentle. And maybe soft--stop it. There was a slight blush creeping on Lark's cheeks and her gray eyes became clouded with embarrassment.
 
(OOC: Thanks for the notice. I was trying to avoid it because there are some who don't like it when that happens, so it's good to know you're okay with it.)

Joseph mentally hit himself after she went to sit down. Hadn't he told himself he wouldn't bother her normally? Somehow, it just had happened naturally. As he went to one of the empty desks in the back, taking a seat, a few people tried to chat with him. It was a bit of a difficulty for Joseph, who wasn't really interested in most of their topics of pop-culture, but one of the girls near him happened to be reading a book that caught his attention, so he was able to converse with her instead. "It's a good book," He mused. "The author has a good style of explaining things."

The girl looked at him with a meager smile. "You like historical reference as well...?" She smiled. "My brother likes writing about history...So I grew up with history books from him."

"Your brother writes history books? I should check it out sometime. Hey, have you read this one?" He pulled out a book from his bag, one from the same author. The two continued to converse about books, which seemed to be helpful. The girl had no interest in him otherwise, which also aided his calm feeling. Perhaps that was also why Lark seemed comfortable as a person to room with, he added to himself. Because so far, she didn't seem to have an interest in him anyway. Those who did made him a bit more unsettled at times.
 
Jace smirked at Lark's reaction. She on the other hand cleared her throat.

"...Lark."

Jace took a pensive breath and nodded. Bringing a hand to his chin, he thought.

"You're the famous girl roomie aren't you? I'm pretty sure I saw you on my floor."

"Yeah... Uh, that's me. Lark," Lark answered matter-of-factly.

Jace nodded and walked around the desk--pulling the chair next to her back and making himself comfortable. Lark watched him closely and pulled a lollipop out of her pocket, unwrapping it and sticking it in her mouth. Another five minutes passed and Lark could feel the look Jace was giving her. It was one of curiosity. Squirming in her seat, Lark was glad when classes began. The whole forty-five minutes of the class flew by as Lark glanced about the classroom. She could see many girls who had their daddies pay for their chances in and a lot of boys who's father forced them to this school.

"Lovely crowd..." Lark mumbled.

"I'm sorry, what?" Jace asked, a bit too loudly.

Lark gave him a none of your business look and rolled her eyes. Jace smirked once more. This is going to be fun, he thought.
 
When classes started, Joseph took a seat and relaxed himself. He was quiet throughout class, almost too quiet to the teacher who was already used to noisy students. He worked diligently, but seemed slightly distracted at the same time, as he had a book open in his desk to read while he was taking notes on the topic at hand, albeit in chicken scratch. When class flew by, he was relieved to hear a bell ring and closed his notebook, his book still open. Removing his book and marking his place, he looked about the room again at the many faces. He could see as well the ones who had come with money or been forced, which made him a bit uncertain. Joseph had come on his own will, and had helped with payment of tuition by getting some financial aid and working for part of it as well. He'd wanted to come to the school badly, so seeing those who had no proper interest bothered him. However, he'd let it go. It wasn't like he had to interact with them mostly, and their backgrounds were their business.

Walking ahead towards the hallway, he was stopped by another group of people, annoyingly to him. Apparently they were well aware of his scenario of having a female room mate- the word had gotten around fast. Some people asked him how he dealt with it, while others tried to ask more perverse and unlikely questions. He mostly brushed them off, giving half answers at best or simply showing disinterest. He wouldn't fuel rumors, but he wouldn't give extra information either. He was a simple boy who just wanted some peace and quiet during the day to read and learn a bit. As he got away from the crowd, he found it easy to change into his gym clothes in the locker room and find a quiet spot in the gymnasium while he was waiting for class to start. He sighed of relief as he sat in a place designated, looking at the ceiling vaguely. Finally, some quiet. People here seem to be very...chatty.
 
(OOC: Sorry, I was in rehearsal)

Lark nearly booked it to the girl's locker room. She was glad to get away from all the talking and the rumors. Her ears were ringing and she ran a slender hand through her wavy hair. This was no time for the rumor mill. Finding an empty locker, Lark slowly changed letting the days events so far sink in. It was only about ten o'clock and yet people were talking like mad. It was only a mess up with some paperwork, what did it matter? Jeez.

"Oh it's her," Lark heard.

Pulling on her shirt, she groaned inwardly.

"May I help you?" She asked with an edge.

"You're... Lark, right?"

Lark glanced over to see a tall blond leaning against the locker down the aisle. The girl sashayed over to Lark as her gray eyes flooded with confusion. The girl clearly rolled her shorts up to the point where bending at the waist too much may show more than tell. Lark didn't see it before, but, the girl had a posse.

"It seems you already figured that out..." Lark said.

"M'hmm. The name's Lucy."

Lucy looked over Lark in a somewhat calculating manner. Lark didn't like it at all. She felt vulnerable under Lucy's stare. Lark cleared her throat and Lucy looked back at her gray eyes, smiling.

"Best be off. The period is about to start."

Lark watched as the blonde and her posse walked out of the locker room. Weird... Shrugging it off, Lark finished changing and stalked into the gym. It seemed like they were going to be playing soccer for the day. A smile tugged at the corner of her lips. She loved sports.

"Holy shit," One of the boys said from the bleachers. "The new girl can play."

"Do you think she has enough stamina?"

"You're nasty." There was a flurry of chuckles.

Lark quickly ducked under a boy's arm and moved the ball forward. Suddenly an arm came out of no where and knocked her right off her feet, sending her flying sideways. Landing on her back, Lark took a gasp as the wind was knocked out of her. She couldn't breath for a good thirty seconds. A shrill whistle blew and the game stopped.

"What do you think you're doing, Jace?" The coach yelled.

"Sorry, coach, just playing the game." Lark could feel the smirk.

"Uh huh.." The coach said, unconvinced. "Take a seat."

By the time the coach went to help Lark, she was sitting up and breathing on her own. She held a hand up to say that she was fine and stood up. The game resumed.
 
((OOC: It's fine! Rehearsal for what though? -curious- Oh and...I have no idea who the boy is talking to Joe. It might be Jace or someone else. I'll figure it out later. But it's someone interested in Lark.))

Joseph had been surprised to say the least when he found that the two had the same gym class, but he didn't seem to be phased besides the first glance. In the locker room, he generally stayed to himself, though he recalled someone asking him about his roommate and what she was like- though he couldn't recall who it was, and hadn't really bothered to answer. He'd simply used a truth he thought of as a way to push it off. "One day isn't enough to know someone to say what they're definitively like."

Despite his appearance of a simple bookworm, Joseph was able to hold his own during the game. He wasn't particularly fast, but he seemed to hold up a good defense for his team, his timing seeming to be the most accurate thing about him. He wasn't the best at aiming a kick, but he was able to generally keep the ball out of the way of the opposing team- however, some of the more aggressive players tended to get to him at times. He was switched out partway through the game, so that others would have a chance to play.

He was sitting out when Lark was hit, and had shown a sign of concern on his face- it wasn't because she was his roommate or anything like that, but because he had a natural affinity towards worrying when he happened to notice something. However, since she was clearly fine after the fact, he took out the book he was now interested in reading, and began to scan it since he no longer had anything to do. As the game continued, he drowned out the shouts of the various players, and was only interrupted when one of the other recently seated players took a spot next to him and took his book, telling him they wanted to read it.

"Er, you can borrow it, but can I at least mark my page?" The boy didn't listen, but threw the book back into his lap soon afterwards."

"That's a boring book."

"To each their own," Joseph replied, instead returning to it after a slight struggle to find his place. He returned to ignoring the boy, whose voice he vaguely remembered. It was that of the one who had asked about Lark in the lockers.
 
Lark groaned as she walked back into the locker room. Feeding off of adrenaline, Lark didn't feel much pain. However, now was a different story. Lifting up the bottom of her shirt, she can see a bruise forming down near the top of the left side of her hip. That's not going to be pleasant. Quickly changing, Lark headed to her next class.

During lunch, she was approached by a number of people wondering what it was like having to deal with a boy for a roommate and Lark continued to act as if she didn't care. Most mumbled and walked away. Others...

"Hey, took a pretty hard fall there," A familiar deep voice wandered in.

"Yeah," Lark snapped. "No thanks to you."

"Look, I said I was sorry."

"Uh... huh. "

Lark looked up to find Jace's alarming blue eyes and nearly stumbled over herself for a moment before raising her eyebrows. They said, can I help you? With that Jace lifted his hands in mock surrender and walked off. A sharp pain moved through Lark's body and she took a quiet intake of breath, massaging the bruise. She was glad that it was only two periods before they were released to sports or club activities.

---
Opening the door and slamming it shut, Lark sagged against her room door. Glancing up, she saw Joe walk out of the bathroom. Lark set down her backpack against her desk and pulled open a drawer. After rummaging for about a minute she found was she was looking for. Pads that helped deal with the pain of her bruise. She walked into the bathroom, carrying a T-shirt and quickly changed out of the uniform shirt. Tearing open the package, Lark realized something--she wasn't going to be able to put it on her back by herself. Groaning quietly, Lark shuffled her feet to were Joe was sittin in his bed.

"I need to ask you a favor," Lark said, sighing. "Can you put this on my bruise. It's on my back and I can't reach it."
 
Joe was only responsive from Lark's words because he had only just opened his book when she came to speak to him. He'd been relieved after changing in the restroom into more comfortable attire, and had sat down to enjoy some reading since he had nothing left to do. Joseph hadn't decided on a club yet, and he wasn't particularly interested in anything else- so for the time being, the room was likely to stay his refuge. As he looked at her, head leaning on his shoulder, he smiled weakly.

"Let me guess. From gym class? It looked like it'd be pretty painful- I was surprised you hadn't gone to the nurse. You're a trooper, I'll give you that." He smiled, holding a hand out for the pad, nodding. "I'll take care of it. Just show me the bruise. I think I have an ice pack or two too, if that'd help...Though ice on and off is more useful for swelling, it can help pain too at times. Though sometimes heat is better." He stopped talking after that, however, deciding he didn't feel like talking like a walking encyclopedia anymore. He'd rather just help, and then return to what he was doing. This was the natural order for him, after all.

"It's a shame you got a bruise though," He mused lightly. "I live with a lot of boys and a lot of girls equally back home...And I know one of the girls is very clumsy. She tends to cry when she gets a bruise, claiming her skin is her life. Though a blow like that would be a problem for other reasons, I'm not sure if it's normal to think of your skin as the most important thing..." He looked at her as he continued to speak, taking the pad when given it and waiting for her to show him the bruise.
 
Lark sighed as she handed Joe the pad and turned around.

"Hold on..."

Lifting the hem of her shirt, she lifted it up to her neck to show the massive bruise over her left shoulder. She waited until Joe put the soothing pad onto the pain and closed her eyes in relief. Normally, Lark would have left it alone considering the circumstance, but the bruise was starting to become quite painful. After Joe smoothed it out, Lark let go of the hem of her shirt and sighed slightly. There was a moment of awkward silence before Lark straightened her back and turned around.

"Thanks."
 
To Joe, the silence wasn't awkward, but rather inviting. He didn't have anything against the quiet, but when she spoke, he accepted the change just as easily. "It's not a problem. It's important to help each other too, as well as not getting in the way." He gave a simple smile, patting an area of her back that wasn't injured in order to try to relax her. "If you need help with other things, just let me know. There may be many things I can't help with, but I'll help with the things I can. Well, as long as I notice. You caught me at a time where I wasn't reading, so I was able to catch your words- it may take time to get my attention sometimes, though."
 
Lark nodded and then headed for her bed. Thankfully, the first day was full of passing papers and nothing but introductions. There was no homework tonight. Lifting the blankets and sliding under them, Lark sighed a tired sigh and closed her eyes.

"Don't forget to turn off the light," She muttered.

Turning to face the wall, Lark wrapped the blanket closer to her shoulders, pulled it up to her chin, and fell asleep.
 
Joseph turned the lights off before he was ready to sleep, using a small book light to finish his chapter before putting it down next to him. He laid down on his back, a deep sigh escaping his lips- though it hadn't been a horribly difficult day, he had found it a bit tedious and boring. Letting his eyes shut slightly, he turned his head to look at the wall quietly, before drifting off without even realizing.

When morning came, he woke quickly and noted he'd use the shower, once again taking his change of clothes with him in as he did so. Leaving them atop the counter, he was quick to shower and wash, then to change into his uniform again. Once done, he exited called out that he was done, opening the door with care. "You can use it if you need it, now." He noted easily as he did so, eyes closed for safety.
 
(OOC: Sorry I've been gone. I've been a bit busy.)

Lark heard the boy say something to her, but she just groaned in slight pain. Her shoulder was throbbing and she barely got any sleep last night. Lark was constantly waking up, moving herself around so that she could feel as comfortable as her hurt shoulder would allow--which wasn't much. Despite that, she pushed the covers off of her body and shuffled to the bathroom, pulling slightly at the hem of her sleeping shorts. Splashing cold water on her face, Lark sighed as she leaned on the counter. She could already feel in her skin that it wasn't going to be the most fantastic day. She peeled the adhesive pad off of her large bruise by picking at the only corner she could reach.

After fixing her hair with a comb and brushing her teeth, Lark walked over to her dresser, pulling open drawers for clothes and such, not caring that Joe was in her presence. Pulling off her T-shirt, Lark tossed the fabric on top of her dresser and put on her bra and undershirt. She could feel the tenderness of the skin and took a slight sharp breath at moving her left arm. God, this is going to SUCK.
 
(OOC: It's fine. Things happen- there's life outside the internet. Or so I've been told xD)

Joseph was finished as soon as he left the bathroom, thus went to sit on his bed to prepare some of his necessities from under the bed. He pulled at his phone to find a morning message, swiftly replying to it with a slight sigh- he was the only one from home that had gone to this school, so he regularly got messages from home to check in. Most of his friends and quasi-family members went to school from home, and tended to worry for the boy that was usually locked up with a book. He smiled when he received a picture, because some of the other kids were starting school later, and finally took pictures of their first days to show him. A few took one together, and he had trouble not laughing at one of the little girls giving another bunny ears with her fingers. He replied to it before stuffing the phone in his pocket.

When Lark went to the dresser, he was still generally with it, thus was startled slightly when she started to change right there. Realizing within seconds of it starting, he switched his head to look towards the door. Adjusting himself on his bed, he took some of his books from the edge of the bed, which he'd left there yesterday, to put them into a good neat pile and put them in his bag to carry. A light sigh escaped him again. He could tell the girl nearby was struggling a bit from the pain. Without looking her way, he spoke aloud. "Maybe you should go to the nurse to get it checked after all? You can at least get some pain killer probably."
 
Lark turned sharply, buttoning her shirt quickly, her skin turning a shade of pink."O-oh, I'm sorry. I completely forgot," Lark stammered slightly.Subconsciously, Lark touched her bruise lightly flinching at the spark of pain. She closed her eyes for a moment, letting the pain pass. She smiled slightly and nodded."I guess you're right. I-I'll see you at breakfast."Lark quickly put on the rest of her uniform and hastily tied her bow and rushed out of the dorm, forcing herself to calm down and touching her cold hands to her face. What was wrong with her? She never stuttered but suddenly, she couldn't seem to say her words the way she meant to. Lark dashed toward the infimary and hoped the nurse would be able to help her.
 
Joseph sat in a bit of a daze after her sudden burst of uncertainty. The stuttering had quite surprised the boy, as his idea of her was already that she was fairly strong-willed and calm when he was involved. Had his idea been totally off mark? It was rather concerning to him, as she was going to need to be comfortable enough to live in the same room as him for a few years, and she'd seemed comfortable enough the previous day with him that it didn't seem a concern. Now he was starting to question his judgement, which was a bit unusual.

When she spurted out that she'd see him at breakfast before fleeing, he sighed when she was out of the room. "Yeah, at breakfast..." He muttered his words slightly under his breath, moving his legs over the edge of the bed to stand up properly, looking at a clock on his desk. He left the room soon after her, closing the door behind her without realizing until he made it to the dining hall that he'd left his book that he was reading in the room. "Man, I'm really out of it compared to usual..."

He shook it off to take something to eat, but seemed to subconsciously look for her as he did so. Had she made it to breakfast already? Had she gotten her bruise checked by the nurse yet? These questions seemed to flood his mind, and distract him as he made his way to a generally empty table to eat.
 
"Ow! Ow! OW!" Lark shouted, her feet kicking the table. "Jesus lady, you already know that there's a bruise. Why do you keep touching it?"

"Calm down, birdie, I was just making sure of something," The woman scolded. She looked about in her early forties and her hair was tied in a tight ponytail, strands of hair framing her face. Her glasses slid down the bridge of her nose and she used her wrist to move it back to its original position.

"Fine."

The nurse sighed as she took off her gloves. "It looks like that's a nasty bruise, were you doing something?"

"Well obviously," Lark started, but after the glance she received, she cleared her throat and nodded. "Soccer on the first day of school. Some guy stuck his arm out, making me fall on my back. I must have landed on my shoulder first."

"Hm... Alright, here," The nurse handed a small bottle to the girl. "It's just Advil. Take those and keep putting those pads on during the night, they seem to help tremendously."

Lark nodded and gave her thanks. She took the bottle and stuck it in her blazer pocket, her hands following. Her shoes clicked down the mainly empty hallway, as seeing that everyone had headed to breakfast.

"Hey, stop."

Lark's ears perked as she heard the muffled voice. She stopped walking and glanced around. There was nothing but the massive windows and classroom doors. After scrunching her eyebrows for a moment, Lark shrugged and started her walk to the mess hall.

"I said stop," The voice said again, this time a bit more desperate. "I-I'll scream for a teacher."

"Try me." The second voice sounded sinister.

Lark slowly turned toward the classroom door directly next to her, her hands slowly making their way out of her blazer pockets. By looking at the sign over the door, Lark quickly found out that it wasn't a classroom at all, but a storage closet. There was a muffled crash as if something had fallen off of a shelf.

"Jace, stop it--"

Suddenly a loud banging hit the door and Lark quickly made it to the door, putting her ear to it. Lark could hear muffled cries for help and stepped back quickly, trying the doorknob. Locked, of course. Thinking quickly, she pulled two bobby pins out of her hair, making her bangs fall over her eyes. Tucking them quickly over her ear, Lark got started on the lock. Bending the end to a right angle and putting the other pin in the lock, Lark began to scrape at the pins until finally she turned the doorknob. A small girl tumbled out, her cheeks streaked with tears and her shirt unbuttoned a little too far. A flash of anger burst through Lark when she saw the boy scrambling to get up. I am so tired of your bullshit. Picking the boy up easily, she thrust him to the wall.

"Well, well, well," The boy began, coughing. "Look at what I found."

Jace was greeted with a hard punch to the face and he groaned in pain. Lark then kicked him in the crotch and he would have doubled over if he wasn't stuck to the wall. Lark leaned in closely.

"If I catch you trying to do this to someone else, you will disappear, do you hear me?" Lark whispered coldly into his ear.

When she felt him nod, she roughly let go of his shirt and let him fall to the ground. Picking up the sobbing girl, she took her to the nurse.

"Th-thank you," The girl struggled to get out through her tears.

"Shh..." Lark comforted her. "You can tell the nurse."

It looked like Lark was going to miss breakfast.
 
Joseph was silent during lunch, but when he realized that quite a bit of time had passed, he stood from his lonely seat. Lark hadn't made it to breakfast, and it was near ending- considering her injury, he was rather concerned about her not getting proper nutrition at such a time. Without much thought, he took some extra food for her and left the mess hall quickly, all of it in a bundle he prepared carefully in his arms. He made his way to the nurse's office, and was told that the girl had left, much to his concern. "She hasn't made it to breakfast yet."

"Oh my...I think I know why." The nurse mused. She ran past Joseph in order to help the girl whom was being aided by Lark at that time. "What happened here?" She had concern in her voice as she took the girl curiously. As the girl was careful to explain what happened without much detail, Joseph frowned. Clearly, she was in a state of shock of some sort. He turned to Lark curiously.

"What happened? I came when I realized breakfast was over- you need to eat enough when you're injured..." He looked at her warily, then to the nurse and the girl again. "This is a very troubling scenario, I see..."
 
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