Excuse Me

[Blair Collins]

Blair got to class early to avoid the morning crowd. Even the teacher was not in the room yet. It was warm day--only slightly hotter than usual--but it was steaming for the sensitive girl.

She tied up her ash-blonde hair and waved a hand at her neck. The black school jacket did not help. Sitting near the windows to get the best of the air circulation, she took off the jacket and folded it on her table. She suddenly felt glad she decided to wear the short-sleeved shirt today.

Not a good way to start her first day. She remembered her first class at Sir Henry Barnet Academy. That had been hell too--everyone whispering and rain pelting the windows. Deafening.

Still, she managed to settle in eventually. Blair sighed. Now she had to start all over again in this American school.

Then she heard them--multiple footsteps making their way all over the school, muffled voices and laughter. Closing her eyes, Blair slipped on her her earphones and blasted Queen into her ear.

It helped for a while, blocking out most of the white noise. That is, until someone cleared their throat loudly next to her. "Excuse me."

Blair looked up to the source of the voice.

[Cassie Stryker]

"Excuse me." The girl was distracting...that sounded really cliche Cassidy realized. But firstly, the girl had this sense about her...Cassie just really wanted to say something to her. It seemed almost magnetic. She, apathetic Cassie, actually wanted to make friends. It was so odd. She had an excuse ready made to talk to the girl, and that made the situation even better.

"Not that I object that much to Queen, but I can hear it and I just bought the new Rihanna album and put it on my iPod. So the mix is understandably a bit odd. Why do you have it so loud?" Not that she blamed the girl. Sometimes you just needed to drown the world out. It was a technique Cassie used a lot herself. Today, however, was different for some reason. She was feeling things. Like a light in her soul...she wasn't sure why. Maybe she'd simply woken up on the right side of the bed for a change. She'd started her day with a brief run before showering before class. She hadn't had anything better to do after her shower, so she'd wandered here early. She'd been a dedicated student through middle and high school. Old habits die hard after all. Her hair was still wet and air-drying too. Just dry enough though that when she sat down in a nearby seat, her hair didn't drip on her textbook or binder.

"I know, I know, I'm a college student sitting in this class. But I get permission from the teacher I promise. Service to the community or whatever." She shrugged.

[Blair Collins]

Blair looked up to see green eyes staring back at her. She pulled out her earphones. The girl looked a little too old to be in the class... but she should not assume things. People go at their own pace.

Wow. She had been playing her music loud enough for someone else to hear? Well not loud enough, apparently, because most people would take it as a don't-talk-to-me sign. This girl had different ideas.

Interfering with her Rihanna! The nerve... That was interesting though. Who knew that that alone could drive someone to approach her. Or did she have an ulterior motive?

"Music up, world down," she answered, trying to smile. She did not want to be rude.

The stranger's brown hair was damp. Sweat or water? She took a seat. Wait, what now? Blair opened her mouth to say something. Maybe this girl was lost.

But her question was answered without her asking it. So she was right--the girl was older, a college student. Blair cleared her throat--that last statement irked her.

"Community service? I'm sorry, who are you?"

[Cassie Stryker]

Music up, world down. Cassidy could understand that. It was basically the reason she went for runs. The person before her didn't look like she really wanted to talk. Cassie didn't know what to do. She did want to talk to someone. Being social was too complicated for her, honestly.

"Not community service really. Just like...volunteering I guess. I didn't do anything wrong. It would be odd if that were the case, seeing as I'm part of the security squad." She shrugged.

"And I'm Cassidy Stryker. What about you? Who are you?" She appreciated the girl's bluntness in asking who she was. It made things much less complicated to follow.

[Blair Collins]

Oh. She was part of the security squad. Blair thought she had been considered a charity case or something but realized the Cassidy was just trying to be nice. Funnily enough, the college student reminded her of herself. She used to hang out with anyone who looked lonely. She noted that this was in past tense. She did not do that anymore. Not recently anyway.

So she tried to appreciate the gesture. She recalled usually being given the cold shoulder for her own attempts at befriending the seemingly unfriendly--she would not repeat the cycle. She was her own person. "Blair," she answered at last. "I just moved here from Sir Henry Barnet."

She took in the girl's details again. Cassidy looked athletic--fit, not just slim. Then there was that dampness in her hair... "Have you been running? Or do I just make you nervous?" She grinned.

[Cassie Stryker]

"Oh wow the Australian school. First one I've met from there. I just know someone who was in two of the others." She laughed. Ryan really did get flipped from school to school. When she was asked if she'd been running, Cassidy nodded. And shrugged at the nervousness.

"Kind of both to be honest. Social interaction isn't exactly something I'm good at. It's part of the reason why the teachers have no issue when I volunteer for stuff like helping out in classes. I'm book-smart, but making friends...well not so good at that. So nervous right now, but yeah I was running before. It's one of the only hobbies I have really."

[Blair Collins]

Blair's smile became more sincere. She had just been joking about the nervous part but hey, the truth was the truth. And honesty had always been one of her favourite virtues--it promoted sincerity and who did not love that?

"I used to be great at social interaction--kind of my forte, actually. But now..." She gestured around her and shrugged. "New girl on new land with new powers she does not understand. If there is one thing I could say about manifestations is that they definitely change people--literally." She lifted her iPod. "Freddie Mercury is currently one of my closest friends."


She knew Cassidy was on the track team--she had been stalking someone else but one did not choose the information they picked up. "I like taking walks around the school--Kallispell is a beautiful place, though I have yet to visit the rest of the area. Have you always lived here?"

[Cassie Stryker]

"Ah just manifested I'm guessing? That's rough. Adjusting is odd. And even Freddie Mercury had awesome friends. There's a rumour he once snuck Princess Diana into a gay bar dressed in drag. Like Princess Di was dressed as a guy." She shrugged, smirking. Then the girl asked if she'd always lived here and Cassidy's brief smile disappeared thinking about her past. She was just a little more subdued. But it wasn't enough to notice unless you were especially perceptive really.

"Naw. I manifested when I was fifteen and came here. But before that, I was at boarding schools, and then with my family. I honestly prefer the boarding schools and this. Socializing never did me any good. People ended up hurt. At least here people can defend themselves."

[Blair Collins]

Blair laughed at the story of Queen's front man. Now that was one she had never heard of. The college girl seemed to pause for moment before answering. It was subtle but it was there nonetheless. Was it something she had said?

"Oh." She could not relate. Their pasts were almost total opposites. Blair had gone to school and came home everyday. Her family and friends were pleasant. The perks of being ordinary, she supposed.

But now she was not ordinary. Extraordinary? Maybe, but leaning towards "your classic weirdo".

"You hurt people? I find that hard to believe... In any case, I was once told that friends we make in boarding school are usually friends for life. Considering, you know, we all pretty much live together." She shrugged, giving a sideways smile. "I have yet to experience that but hey, I'm an optimist."

[Cassie Stryker]

"I didn't really have friends because before fifteen, I was the aloof daughter of an heiress and a scandal. After fifteen, I only went to classes and studied my butt off. Didn't really want to meet any people, and I didn't." She shrugged.

"And you'd be surprised who's hurt people. I don't want to, but I have. Teleportation while someone was touching me. I can't teleport other people yet. Part of them though...that I can apparently do. I still can't believe he didn't sue me." She sighed.

"Anyways, we're in the same boat, both not knowing if boarding school friends are friends for life."

[Blair Collins]

"Oh. Wow. That's wild." Blair definitely could not relate. But her heart went out to the older girl. They way she said it made it seem like she was over it but Blair knew anything could be happening under that facade.

She winced visibly at Cassidy's story. "Yikes. That bad? Maybe he knew you did not do it on purpose. Teleportation? That's cool. Any idea how it works?"

Blair hoped she was not pushing any buttons. The college student seemed like a nice girl and they had similar opinions despite different pasts. But she had always had a problem with boundaries. Maybe she should offer up some information about herself too--but what? Her life had been kind of insignificant so far. And no way was she telling anyone about Lister yet.

[Cassie Stryker]

"Yeah I teleported his legs away from him. Not great." She'd turned her emotions off a while ago really. She got the occasional feeling, and she could still laugh. But when she thought of her boyfriend, she just felt numb. It was a safety mechanism.

"I don't know how it works. I just look towards somewhere, kind of think that I want to go there and pop I'm there." She looked at the desk of the girl for example. And she'd only thought about it briefly but POP suddenly she was sitting on the girl's desk.

"Ahem. Um. That was perhaps not my best demonstration." She stood up with a sheepish look on her face.

"I'm lucky that the teacher wasn't here she might've skinned me alive for sitting on a desk."

[Blair Collins]

The way Cassidy talked about him, Blair got the gist that she knew him better than she let on. In any case, it was time to ditch the sob story. She did not come here to start feeling.

Cassidy explained her powers and as if to prove it, she teleported onto Blair's desk. She laughed when she saw the sheepish look on her face. "Are you kidding me? That was awesome. I have not gotten much control over my powers either so you actually seem kind of pro."

Then she realized--had she even told what her powers were? "I have superhuman senses," she told, giving a sideways smile. "I can't turn them off--that's why I blasted my music so loud."

[Cassie Stryker]

"Well I've had a lot of practice. And that's really all I did, that and studying. No social life, training and studying. A direct result of what my powers did. I was afraid of them. Not so much anymore." Even just teleportation came with that difficulty. She sighed. Then the other girl mentioned her own powers and Cassidy smiled.

"I see. Sometimes you don't want to hear anything. Do you have super eyesight as well? Because I kind of have that. I have telescopic vision where I can zoom in on whatever I'm seeing."

[Blair Collins]

"Yes, though supervision is not my favourite. I can't zoom in and out or whatever--not yet, at least." She waved her hand in no particular direction. "Mostly, details just catch my eye--too many. I've been working on that." She shrugged.

Hm... Cassidy seemed very nice. Based on what she has learned so far, Blair was not surprised. If the girl avoided social interaction, her niceness could be more focused--less thinned out compared to those with too many so-called friends.

"Well, I'm glad I got to know you, Cassidy. Truth be told, I've been wanting to get a little more excersie. Any chance I could run with you sometime?"