English isnt my strong suit

[Rylee Gordon]

The young girl Sat at the table next to Blair Collins, her gazed fixed beneath the table on the old, worn batman comic. Her clammy finger traced to almost invisible words that had worn away from the countless times her fingers had run over the page. She paid no attention to the teacher, not even looking up when everyone started talking in pairs with the people on their tables. She didn't really want to work with anyone. She just wanted to dissapear into a dark hole and loose herself in the world of the dark knight.

[Blair Collins]

To be honest, Blair had not been listening much either. But this was not intentional. Her classmates were whispering and making faces behind the teacher's back as per usual. But with her heightened senses, it was hard to ignore them.

Then the teacher announced he had assigned the students into pairs. She did not have much choice either. He read off the couplings. Who was Rylee Gordon?

She soon found out, of course. While everyone went off in pairs, only one girl remained in her seat other than Blair. She looked to her right. Rylee was about her height but seemed smaller. Her gold brown locks were thick on her head. She was reading a comic.

Blair blinked. She could barely make out the writing on it but she did eventually. They were supposed to talk about their preferences in reading material, right?

"Batman, huh? I'm more of a Marvel fan myself. Though the Joker is my all time favourite villain." The risk of sounding clichéd occurred to her but hey, some things were cliché for a reason.

[Rylee Gordon]

Rylee's hazel flecked eyes focus on the dulled pages of her comic. She was silent, almost entirely oblivious to the world around her. Right now she was in Gotham, gliding around with the Batman and making friends with Catwoman. A sudden voice pulls her back to reality, and she hated it.

She turns her head slightly to rest on Blairs hands. The girl never wanted to look people in the eyes, it made her nervous. She swallowed deeply, looking back at her comic and remaining silent for many moments.

Her voice piped up, meek as a mouse. I-I-I-I-I-I L-L-Li-Lik-k-e C-C-C-C-Cat-t-t wom-m-men-n It to a long time for her tongue to stumble over the words, her face glowing red as she bowed her head lower

[Blair Collins]

One thought ran through Blair's mind when she heard the stutter: Oh, shit. Not another one! She thought of Lister--her awkward photography partner. Why did this keep happening to her? She groaned internally. How many stutterers were in this school anyway? Not that there was anythingbwrong with that but...

The girl would not even look her in the eye! There was a possibility that she only heard her answer due to her super-hearing. Her face was red too. The situation was much too familiar for Blair's liking.

Still, it was as much Rylee's fault as it was Lister's--not at all. And they had an assignment together. The teacher wanted them talking? Well, she would try her best to get Rylee comfortable with that.

"I'm Blair. Honestly, I never got to read any comics in my life. All I know about Catwoman is what Halle Barry and Gotham showed me." She shrugged. "Why do you like her? That comic is really worn in--it must be quite good."

[Rylee Gordon]

Rylee ran her finger over the page, tracing around the pictures. She swallowed again when the other girl introduced herself. R-R-R-R-Ry-l-l-l-l-ee. She whispered, before shrugging. S-s-s-s-he-e's-s-s c-c-c-c-ool Was all the anwser she gave. She nodded gentky at Blair's remark. Yeah it was good

[Blair Collins]

Damn. The girl was not really giving Blair much to go on. It made her feel like she was kind of annoying--pestering Rylee with so many questions as she was. Blair nodded to the answer. Maybe she should give the Rylee a chance to ask her a question as well. Blair smiled as if to show that all questions and/or statements were welcome.

[Rylee Gordon]

Rylee shifted uncomfortably, her hands already clammy. Sje just hated being around new people, amd she didnt understand why she had to go to this school. It was all new, and it made her brain work over time, so she had an almost constant head ache. She felt as though she had to talk, but she hated talking. She swallowed, closing the comic and pulling a bottle of water from her bag. She struggled with the lid, unable to open it. She swallowed again, tugging at Blair's sleeve and holding it out to her.

[Blair Collins]

Rylee tugged at her sleeve. Wow, this girl was quieter than Lister. Still smiling, Blair took the bottle from the girl's hand. As she twisted the cap, she noticed its slippery feel--sweat. Oh gosh, did she make the girl nervous enough till she was unable to open her own bottle?

Blair handed it back to her, uncapped. "So I guess your power ain't super-strength then?"

She could hear the smaller girl's heart beat fast. Oh my. She took a deep breath. Well, it did not look like she was going to speak up anytime soon. She pointed to the comic. "Can I read it with you?"

[Rylee Gordon]

The girl took back the uncapped bottle and took a small sio, nefore closing it with shaky hands. She remains silent, just shaking her head gently. She was in no way strong, in fact she was a bit of a weakling. She looked even more terrified when Blair asked to read her comic. She shook her head, grabbing the comic and holding it close to her chest. She looked like she was going to cry quite suddenly.

[Blair Collins]

She refused--and looked like she was about to cry. "Oh, that's okay!" said Blair, trying to sound reassuring. "No pressure. I can tell you really like it." She reached for her backpack and rummaged through her stuff. Where was the damned thing? Ah! She pulled out her worn copy of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. The edges of the cover was worn and the pages yellowed. "I must have read this a hundred times--I love it. Sometimes, I don't feel like sharing either. I feel... a sort of connection with the story."

The girl gestured to the precious comic. "It's good that you have something like that. I think everybody should." She opened the book and laid it out on her lap. Yes, she knew they were supposed to be talking about books, not reading it. So she might fail this assignment but whatever. "I'll just sit here and read with you--if that's fine by you?"

[Rylee Gordon]

The young girl chewed her lip silently, relaxing her grip on her batman comic slightly. She watched as Blair took out a book, her pale eyes scanning the cover. Silently she reached out and pointed to the last word of the titles. W-w-w-w-w-w-w-wh-wha-t-t d-d-d-oes t-t-t-t-th-th-th-that-t s-s-s-say She asked meekly, her stuttered words almost inaudible.

She looks a little worried at the idea of Blair staying beside her, but she nods gently, swallowing

[Blair Collins]

The little girl relaxed a bit--thank goodness. Blair looked to where she pointed. It was a good thing she had super-hearing too. She almost did not hear her. Well, the counselor did say she would use her powers for daily use eventually. "Oh. That's hallows. It means... something holy, I think." She searched through her brain. Yeah, that was what it meant, though all she could think about was the J. K. Rowling's use of it. She chuckled to herself and winked at the girl. "My English is a little rusty, apparently."

[Rylee Gordon]

Rylee just nodded awkardly. If Blair didnt know the actual definition of the word, she could not put it in her vocabulary book. She twiddled her fingers nervously, though she seemed far less distressed then before.

Her hand went into her bag, and she pulled out a bag of brownies. She held one out to Blair, lookong nervously at her hands. Yeah... Offering food was good, right?

[Blair Collins]

The girl was offering her brownies. Should she accept them? Paranoia kicked in and Blair took a careful sniff--as casually as she could. If there was one thing she learned recently it was that weed stank. She learned this the hard way.

But these brownies smelled normal... She looked at the teacher at the front of the class--he was not even paying attention to anyone! She started to question the point of this exercise.

She smiled to Rylee and took the held out baked good. She took a bite. Yep. No pot, thank goodness. Swallowing, she complimented. "Not bad. Did you make these?"

[Rylee Gordon]

She watches as the girl takes one of the brownies, takinging her own and nibbling it slowly. She shook her head gently at the question. D-D-D-D-D-Dar-r-rc-cy m-m-ma-mad-de t-t-t-them-m(wink wink) She whispers gently, before nibbling at her brownie again.