Baltimore-Washington International Airport, Portalocity Port, Saturday Morning

[wantstodirect]

Tony's first airplane ride wasn't as interesting than he'd hoped. It was rather like riding the bus, only with less space and more pretzels. Although "boring" was probably the way to go when it came to air travel.

He'd spent a bad half hour in Customs after his flight had landed. They'd pulled him from line and fingerprinted him and for a bit he was afraid he'd be barred from entering the US. But they apparently realized he was neither a drug dealer nor a terrorist and let him through.

He retrieved his oversized duffle from the baggage claim and followed the instructions on the crumpled printout of an email from the school. He took a quick detour to buy a horribly overpriced breakfast sandwich with his shiny new American money. (Dollar bills? What was wrong with coins?) He made a wrong turn on the way back, but he managed to orient himself and find his way to the Portalocity terminal.

A piece of paper tacked on the wall in one corner of the room said "Fandom High." Looked like he was in the right place. He sat down on a bench under the sign, duffle near his feet, and clutched his laptop case as if it might walk away. (It wouldn't, would it? Arra would've warned him if that was a possibility.) It seemed he was the first to arrive. Not surprising, since he'd taken the red eye out of Vancouver. Late-night flights made it easier to say goodbyes to vampire ex-boyfriends.

[Newbie airport shuttle! Open to all new students and teachers, no matter which world they're from. Posted early for great slowplay. OCD coming. We can has OCD!]

Comments

Re: Waiting for the shuttle!

[noboynextdoor.livejournal.com]

The flight from LAX hadn't been as bad as Jess expected. All his stuff fit into one bag, and the guy next to him had been happier to sleep than bore Jess with pointless small talk. He didn't think he'd be so lucky on the shuttle though, and he was trying to prepare for dealing with people who were a lot happier to be here than he was.

Re: Waiting for the shuttle!

[joan-notjane.livejournal.com]

Oh, hey, cute boy.

Joan smiled. "Hi, there. Going to Fandom?"

Re: Waiting for the shuttle!

[noboynextdoor.livejournal.com]

Oh hey, cute girl.

"That's what all my papers say," he replied. "You too?"

Re: Waiting for the shuttle!

[joan-notjane.livejournal.com]

"Yeah. I'm Joan."

She held her hand out and hoped her palms weren't sweaty or anything.

Re: Waiting for the shuttle!

[noboynextdoor.livejournal.com]

"Jess," he said, smiling a little as he shook her hand. "Good to know I didn't secretly get shipped off to an all-boys school."

Re: Waiting for the shuttle!

[joan-notjane.livejournal.com]

"Oh, man, an all-girls school would be a total nightmare," Joan decided.

Re: Waiting for the shuttle!

[noboynextdoor.livejournal.com]

"Not for the guys," Jess said.

Re: Waiting for the shuttle!

[joan-notjane.livejournal.com]

"If you're a masochist," Joan said. "Girls are nasty and vindictive in large groups."

Re: Waiting for the shuttle!

[noboynextdoor.livejournal.com]

"Sounds like your last school was a blast," Jess remarked.

Re: Waiting for the shuttle!

[momslilassassin]

Ben gave the new arrival a small smile as he yanked a bit on his braid and glanced around impatiently.

Re: Waiting for the shuttle!

[noboynextdoor.livejournal.com]

Jess hadn't really thought about how young some of the people going to the school would be, and he gave the guy a smile and a nod. "Hey."

Re: Waiting for the shuttle!

[momslilassassin]

"Hello," Ben replied, relaxing just a bit. He glanced at Jess's bag. "You pack like I do."

Re: Waiting for the shuttle!

[noboynextdoor.livejournal.com]

"It's a lot easier to get around with only one bag," Jess pointed out.

Re: Waiting for the shuttle!

[momslilassassin]

"Plus it's easier to escape if you're not burdened with a lot of extra stuff," Ben added.

Weird kid...

Re: Waiting for the shuttle!

[noboynextdoor.livejournal.com]

"Did you run away?" Jess asked. It was possible his experiences gave "escape" a different meaning.

Re: Waiting for the shuttle!

[momslilassassin]

"My parents kind of thought so," Ben said, "but I was on a mission that required comm silence."

Re: Waiting for the shuttle!

[noboynextdoor.livejournal.com]

"A mission? Like you're some kind of soldier?" Jess asked, surprised.

Re: Waiting for the shuttle!

[swipedthatfoot.livejournal.com]

Something about him reminded Claire of Gabe.

That wasn't entirely bad.

"So," she ventured, "what are you in for?"

Re: Waiting for the shuttle!

[noboynextdoor.livejournal.com]

"Quite possibly? A year of hell," Jess said, smirking. "What about you?"

Re: Waiting for the shuttle!

[swipedthatfoot.livejournal.com]

"It could be the same thing," Claire said. "Another senior, huh? I'm Claire."

Re: Waiting for the shuttle!

[noboynextdoor.livejournal.com]

"Jess," he said. "You're a senior too?"

Re: Waiting for the shuttle!

[swipedthatfoot.livejournal.com]

"Good to meet you," Claire nodded. "Yeah, I am. I even got like a week into classes back in L.A. before they shipped me off here."

Re: Waiting for the shuttle!

[noboynextdoor.livejournal.com]

"Senior year's not so bad. I should know, I already did it once," Jess said with a smirk.

Re: Waiting for the shuttle!

[swipedthatfoot.livejournal.com]

"Yeah?" Claire giggled. "So, what, you flunked and this is your second chance?"

She may have sounded slightly awed.

Re: Waiting for the shuttle!

[noboynextdoor.livejournal.com]

"It wasn't so much flunking as not going," Jess said, not wanting her to think he was a total idiot. "I've been told the second time around might be more entertaining. Or else."