Log:High School Wishes, Scene 1

High School Wishes 2021/03/24 	 Bran Heather Helen Linda Lizzy Pamela Chas Richman Logan Palmer Luke Froggett Sandy Tillet Stan Dunmore Terry Ironman Todd Finch 1

Lizzy enters the lunch room. She is aware of all the eyes on her as she heads toward the table where, in times past, she would eat with her friends. She doesn't eat anymore, but still enjoys spending time with friends.

Linda moves along the lunch queue loading up her tray with everything she can get, even the items she personally dislikes.

It's been a long morning to be staring out windows at the bright sunshine outside! If one is the sort to do that. Of course, now lunch time has arrived it's clouded over. But the general enthusiasm resulting from a break from classes means reasonable cheer among the student body.

Helen, on the other hand, does not really have any friends. It would make carrying her lunch tray fairy awkward and difficult, but -- perhaps fortunately for her, and perhaps equally unfortunately for her reputation -- she brings her lunch from home, and only has to carry it over from her locker. In a pail. An actual pail, no kidding.

Pamela queues for her lunch with Logan, who is with a few members of the football team. At the nerd's customary remote table, Frog and Finch (Luke Froggett and Todd Finch) look at Pam despairingly. Looks like she won't be having lunch with them today.

Sandy Tillet is after Linda in line, and she emulates the hero in trying to take a bit of everything.

Bran doesn't get a hot lunch today. He brought his own in his backpack. He makes his way over to a table, trying to remain mostly unnoticed. He didn't get into serious trouble after the last altercation he had in here, but he doesn't want to draw too much attention, either.

With a fully loaded tray in hands Linda looks for somewhere to sit. Walks across to the nerd's table, "Mind if I sit here with you?" she asks.

The nerds stare disbelieving for a couple of seconds, then Frog jumps up and scoots sideways a seat, to allow Linda to sit on the easier-to-reach end seat he had been occupying.

Linda nods, "Thanks." she says.

"Sure thing!" says Frog.

Pamela is soon going to sit next to Logan on a table which is mostly jocks and cheerleaders. Terry Ironman sits to Pam's other side.

Helen inhales deeply, Then lets out a slow exhale as she reaches the lunchroom behind pretty much everyone else. With a carefully neutral expression -- the one that the other kids are coming to call her "Ice Queen" face -- she looks over the array of tables, searching for somewhere to sit. Ideally, with people who will not be creeps to her as she eats, but sitting alone will do fine. The latter does not seem a likely option.

Sandy Tillet hovers, also looking for a place to sit where she at least won't be bothered.

"Most people don't want to sit with us!" says Finch to Linda. Before his brain catches up and remarks how uncool that sounds.

Sandy Tillet's situation does not escape Helen; perhaps the two might make common cause. She clumps over to the other to say, "Let us find a place."

Linda smiles, "I'm not most people." Linda says.

Sandy almost jumps as Helen speaks to her, then smiles timid agreement. "Maybe over there?"

Lizzy watches as people she's used to spending her lunch period with sit elsewhere. Well, she supposes she can't blame them. She's changed. She's not who they thought she was.

Chas Richman (the name says it all) smirks as he passes Helen. "Nice pail. Off to milk a cow?"

Linda asks Frog and Finch, "Would you mind if Lizzy joined the table?"

Stan pokes his head round Frog to say to Linda. "You're telling me! You're a superhero!"

Linda chuckles and says to Stan, "Try telling that to Mr. Taylor, the Maths teacher."

"Uh, sure, I guess," says Finch. He gives a forlorn look in the direction of the jocks' table. "Looks like Pam's seat is free."

"Why," Helen snaps a fast reply to Chas, "is your Mother available again?" She does not slow her clumping, wobbly pace.

Linda waves her hand, "Lizzy. Over here."

Helen's expression does not alter during her response to Chaz.

Bran has managed to find a seat at the end of a long table, with a little bit of room around him. Room enough for three people, probably. He looks up at the comment from Chas, and he frowns.

Chas goes red faced, unaccustomed to people talking back to him. He restrains himself, though, to returning, "Best to stick to cows, with those barnyward manners of yours!"

Helen calls over her shoulder, "Your father thought it hilarious."

Sandy has reached where Bran is, trying to distance herself from Helen for the exchange with Chas. "Is it ok if we sit here?" she mumbles.

Bran looks up and smiles, "Umm...sure. Please do."

Lizzy sees Linda wave to her. She gets up and crosses the room to the nerd's table. "Hey Linda, what's up?"

Chas decides there's nothing immediately to be gained by talking to the farmgirl who can't take a joke. He can find some suitable revenge later. He goes to sit with a 'better' class of people.

Sandy sits down diagonally across from Bran, leaving the seat directly across for Helen.

Finch makes a noise. still looking toward Pam.

Linda says, "Hi," Linda says. "Come join us?""

"Hi," Linda says to Lizzy. "Come join us?"

"Plenty of room," says Stan. "Pam's over there and Eddie's not in school today..."

Helen continues on her way, realizing in the back of her head that there will be consequences for that; she just hopes they do not fall upon Sandy. Reaching the other girl, she looks across the table at Bran and asks, "May I sit here?"

Lizzy slides into the seat next to Linda. "How are you guys doing?"

Bran smiles to Helen. "Umm..yeah. I mean, Sandy just asked too for both of you...but the answer is still the same."

Frog says, "I'm ok!" pretty well automatically. Stan shrugs. Finch doesn't seem t be paying attention.

Linda asks Stan, "Going to the dance?"

"Thank you, Mr. black," Helen says to Bran. "And thank you, Miss Tillet," she adds, "for asking for us both." Pail onto table, girl onto seat.

Bran has a brown paper bag for his lunch. He looks at Helen's choice of a lunch storage device curiously. "An actual pail, huh? Does it fit in your locker okay? I'd think it'd be a tight fit."

Stan hesitates. Does he admit he has no one to go with? That's not cool. What if this is way of Linda asking him?! Doesn't seem likely but... Nah, she's way out of he league... Pretend he has a date, so he seems cooler? But then what if she *is*? In the end he gives up and shrugs.

Sandy smiles briefly, nervously, at being thanked so formally, and looks down at her food, picking half-heartedly at the vegetables she wishes she hadn't taken.

Lizzy asks Frog, "How about you, Luke? Are you going?"

"Look at them!" mutters Finch. "Terry's after her too, not just Logan!"

Linda nods to Stan, "Yes. I'm in much the same dilemma. I'd like to go but I fear it would be unfair to any date. I'd probably end up having to rush away on a Starguard callout, leaving my date stranded."

Frog nods. "I'm going with Beth!" he says.

Lizzy nods, "And how about you, Todd, have you asked Pamela yet?"

Helen gives a little smile.)Not if you turn it sideways," she states, and removes the lid. From inside, she extracts a paper-wrapped sandwich, an intricately-folded foil package that turns out to be potatoes and carrots, a fork, and a thermos. "It is true, though, that it did get used for milking."

Sandy glances in the direction Chas went. "He shouldn't have said that though!" she exclaims, briefly showing some spirit.

Bran is eating a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. (Genetically modified to be non-allergenic for folks. It's the FUTURE!) He nods. "Well, it's a pail. It's....not terribly surprising, since you live on a farm? If I had one, I'd have to say it catches leaking water from the ceiling." He shrugs and finishes his sandwich off.

Finch jumps as his name calls his attention back to the the table, then shakes his head, blackly. "What's the point? SHe's dating Logan now. She's not going to want to go with me now she's... I mean, we're good enough for gaming with but a dance is something else!" he finishes, bitterly.

Linda quietly asks Finch, "Has she stopped gaming with you?"

Lizzy says, "She may be dating him, but I'll bet he hasn't actually asked her yet. Give it a try. Go ask her if anyone's asked her to the dance."

Bran adds, "Though we were lucky. the leak went into our tub instead. It was the tub upstairs that was leaking in the apartment building."

"Well, no," Helen agrees with Sandy. "His intent was clearly ro be rude and bullying. I despise bullies, so I was -- admittedly -- rude right back." She takes a bite of the soft potatoes, and adds, "I don't live on a farm -now-, Mr. Black. A townhome. With a caretaker."

Finch replies to Linda, "Oh no. She still does that - though I better Logan would prefer if she didn't hang about with us at all. But she still sees me - us - just as friends...:

Stan had just take a breath of air to ask Linda to the dance when the topic changed to Pam and the moment was lost.

Linda says, "Lizzy is right. You should ask her. She might say no, but if you don't ask the implicit answer is bound to be no."

"Someone should do something about bullies like that," says Sandy, darkly, but still looking down at her food.

Finch looks pained. "But - I mean - that would be - what if it upsets her? I wouldn't want to..."

Bran nods to Helen. He also notes the use of his formal name. Again. "Umm...yeah. I'm sorry. I had the wrong idea." He packs up what remains of his lunch. Maybe there's some time to skate in the parking lot before class.

Helen looks appraisingly across the table at Bran, considering Sandy's words. "What do you suggest?" she asks the other girl.

Linda shakes her head, "Take this as truth. No girl is upset by a decent guy asking her for a date."

Lizzy says, "If nobody has asked her, then you can ask. I would more upset if nobody asked me."

"Oh, I didn't mean - I mean, nothing," says Sandy, not looking up from her food.

Stan, hearing those words from Linda, manages to get out a sort of strangled sound, end with "...ance with me?"

Linda turns to look at Stan. "As long as you are aware I'm on call and may have to leave at any time, I'd be delighted to go to the dance with you."

Stan grins, delighted. "You will? Great!"

Lizzy says, "And if Pamela says no, you could ask Heather."

Helen blinks at Bran. "What idea?"

Lunch room bliss! Okay so, as someone who eats like seven lunches a day due to 'reasons'. Well, technically due to caloric requirements to maintain her healthy body operation.. Heather tends to be a fixture during lunch break. She's just finished wolfing down her third helping of what the lunch staff somehow get away with calling 'Chili'.

Having deposited her remains in the trash can, she finds herself no longer doing an impersonation of a Hoover Vacuum cleaner mixed with a garbage disposal. As such, she lifts her eyes to scan about the room from where she sat in one corner.

Bran takes a deep breath. "Mmm...no. I'm not going to dig a bigger hole for myself." He smiles and waves to Helen and Sandy as he stands back up. "I'm leanring when to keep my mouth shut. I'll get it eventually." He shoulders his backpacks and tosses his balled up brown paper bag into the trash can.

"When to keep mouth shut? Are you sure you're a teenager? Maybe you're with Jump Street." says Heather as she approaches. She grins and reaches to half-ass try to block Bran's shot. Of course, she misses her 'block' and then shakes her head, "Man. Nice shot." she remarks.

Finch, encouraged by these words, seems to get courage from somewhere. Or insanity. Either way, he gets up and walks over toward where Pam is, intent on asking her before anyone else does. The madness of asking her *in front of her boyfriend and his jock friends* only really hits him when he's most of the way there, but by that point he feels committed: people have seen him coming.

Bran chuckles to Heather, "Yes, I'm a narc. How are you today, fellow student?"

"Finch!" hisses Frog after him, rather afraid for his friend's health, but Finch doesn't seem to hear him.

"Well, my tummy is happy, so I won't be bitching at anyone for the foreseeable future. At -least- for the next twenty minutes or so." offers Heather with a grin as she looks to the others, "Sup folks?" she asks.

Sandy glances up from her food and gives a quiet 'hey' at Heather's greeting.

Helen's eyes get a distant look to them for a moment as she performs a quick review of the conversation had. Honestly, there is not much that has been said ... hmm. With her eyes still distant, she says, "If you are uncomfortable with me addressing you with formal courtesy, you could simply ask me to use your first name." Seriously -- why do people not simply communicate, and communicate simply??

Linda shifts in her seat getting ready to make a quick move if matters go south with Finch and the jocks. ]

Helen glances up at the greeting, and nods courteously to Heather.

The scene plays out without a sound track, at least for those without superhearing, over the din of the room. Finch says he bit to Pam, nervously. Pam responds apologetically. Logan puts and arm around Pam possessively. Then Terry Ironman says something to Finch, standing up to tower over him. People at the table laugh.

Linda waits for the denouncement, knowing how much Pam hates bullying.

Bran raises a brow at Helen's comment, like he's supposedly the one who made a mistake. He starts to answer, but he stops himself. There's a long moment before he shakes his head and walks away from the table. He goes to head over to the door from the cafeteria that leads out to a small courtyard area.

And then Heather lifts a hand, index finger pointed skyward to the folks she'd been greeting. That done, she steps over to the other table and reaches to place a hand on Finch. "So. Am I right in assuming you are unattached for the upcoming dance then? Because I seem to be without a date too. Care to help me fix that?"

Pamela stands, removing Logan's arm from about her, and interposes herself between Terry and Finch. He anger is clearly directed at Terry, not at Logan, though Logan looks put out. She looks up defiantly at Terry's face.

Finch looks confused at Heather's offer! His mind was on Pam, and then on the prospect of having the tar beaten out of him, and now there's this - is it some kind of trick? It's hard not to think otherwise when the cool kids have just be laughing at him! As for Terry, he doesn't want to fight Pam! But then, he figures he doesn't have to, just pick her up and put her aside...

Helen opens her mouth, then closes her mouth. She watches Bran walk off, and observes, "Maybe I should just start using the first name of people close to my age."

Glancing to Helen, Heather shrugs and nods her head. But then she turns back just in time to see the altercation beginning. She offers a smile to Finch and gestures at the jocks. "I mean. It's your call. But if it helps any, I'm totally serious."

Pamela is caught be surprise by Terry, and passed back toward Logan. From the look in her face, she is *not* happy by the way her handled her, either.

Bran gets close to the door out to the courtyard before he glances over toward the confrontation. He doesn't really know what's going on, just yet.

Lizzy stands up, but stays be her table, watching.

Finch's brain is still trying to sort through the confusion when the angry Pam attacks Terry behind her.

Linda stands and takes hurried steps toward the jock's table. "That's enough physical contact." she says, trying to interpose herself between Pam and Terry.

Lizzy If Terry tries to hit Finch, Lizzy will intervene.

Pamela attempts to sweep the big jock's feet out from under her as soon as her own feet are back on the ground. She does moderate her strength, somewhat...

Pamela deposits the surprised Terry on his backside.

Cringing, Heather shakes her head, "Nobody who has ever grabbed the tail of a tiger, has ever enjoyed the experience." she mutters.

Pamela snaps, "Don't you mess with my friends!" at Terry

Bran doesn't really intend to get involved, but he does watch closely.

Then things get even messier. Terry, struggling to his feet, suggests Pam go back to the nerds if she's going to behave like such a b*+c# - implying they done her a favour by letting her join their exulted numbers. Logan jumps up to Pamela's defence. Others at the table are also getting up....

And that is when Heather steps forward. She inhales deeply as she does so, and then she bellows... using all of her voice training.. at the top of her lungs, "THAT IS ENOUGH!" almost like she was a teacher. Her arms are spread out, and she gives an evil glare at the jocks... Terry mostly.

Finch tries to avoid the bullies while staying close to Heather. Which mostly looks like manfully hiding behind Heather.

Linda is over by the table by this point. She starts to say loudly and firmly, "Sit back down." But Heather beats her to it.

Helen finally becomes aware of the ruckus, and turns to luck.

Lizzy follows Linda to the other table and stands behind Heather.

Terry glares at Heather and Linda. "You rosenvilles, throwing your weight around! You shouldn't be allowed to touch normal folk!"

Linda says, "Well there's the thing, Terry. The vills don't care about hurting normal people, swo it's use who put our lives on the line to protect you from them."

A big fight, it seems, has been averted. The jocks aren't stupid enough to take on metas. But they look none too pleased. The cheerleaders generally don't either - in particular, they seem displeased with Heather and Pam.

Lizzy says, "Like when Pierce got hurt. It could have been much worse if we hadn't been there."

Helen cannot help but burst out with a loud "HA!!" at the blatant logical fallacy.

"Everyone just calm down!" says Logan.

Helen gets to her feet and limps over, clumping with every step. "So that you can get on with being bullies and pushing around the weak and the shy?"

Lizzy says, "Let him speak. He's not the one being a bully here."

Pamela looks annoyedly at Logan. "Don't tell me to calm down. Your friend here started this!"

"My apologies; he is not the one I meant." Helen looks straight at Terry.

Terry stares at Helen. "And you can butt out too! What business is this of yours?"

Folding her arms over her abdomen, Heather doesn't really bother replying at first. She lets the others talk. But then she shrugs as folks start stepping away. "Hey. You're right. We should totally be segregated away for the good of... oh wait, you. Just you. I seem to recall reading about another racist prick with a tiny little moustache... what was his name.. oh right, Hitler." She nods, "That's who you remind me of."

That said, she turns back to Finch and asks, "Can I buy you a coffee after school?"

Finch nods, mutely. Does Heather actually like him? Either way, he can't believe his luck! He's not going to say no!

Helen's Lips twitch upwards in the slightest of smiles. "Why, we are a community, are we not? Injustice and violence and bullying within the community is everyone's business."

Terry just glares at the ros arrayed against him. Then says sidelong to Logan, "See? This is what you get for dating a nerd-turned-fitness-freak instead of a proper girl!"

"Proper girl? Are you offering to date him Terry?" asks Heather as she leans in. Then she kisses Finch's cheek. "I will see you after school." she says to Finch.

Bran snorts and says to Terry, "Shut the up. Seriously." He shakes his head.

Helen laughs outright at that. "Gods --" and she remembers her advice to herself "-- Terry, aproper girl would twist you into a pretzel."

Pamela shows visible effort in not doing some such thing to Terry.

Pamela says, "I wish someone would!" says Stan, watching from several tables away...."

And then, Terry screams in pain, as an invisible force starts twisting his arms and legs...

Jumping back, Heather shouts, "Okay! Whomever is doing that! CUT IT OUT! HE IS NOT WORTH IT!"

Bran puts his hands up. "That was not me."

Linda steps in the way to block Stans line of sight to Terry.

In seconds, Terry is twisted into a pretzel shape! It seems no longer to hurt him, but he looks in shock. And won't be playing football any time soon...

Blue eyes going wide, Heather is shaking her head, "No... no no no no no..." And then she is rushing forward to try to provide medical aid. "Someone call Nine One One!"

Lizzy pulls out her PDA and calls in the emergency

Bran blinks. "I...um...hmm."