fandomhigh | BWI Portalocity Terminal [Saturday Morning]

Entry tags:

!event: newbie shuttle

BWI Portalocity Terminal [Saturday Morning]

Rather than fly from Philadelphia to Baltimore, Eric's parents had given him a lift. They had offered to drive him directly to the school, but he told them he would rather meet the group at the airport and take the shuttle. That way he'd get an early glimpse at all the hot girls he was sure would be going to his new school.

So now he was relaxing in the lounge, drinking a soda and waiting. It wasn't going to college, but it would do.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"Because nothing's happening," Kennedy said. "No big deal, nothing. Just a regular boring old airport terminal, nothing special about it."

"Airport terminal," he repeated, resisting the urge to write that down. "Was there supposed to be something special? There's a lot of people here. They're not special?"

Jonas was still in that 'everything is special' phase all things considered.

"Supposedly we are," Kennedy answered. Sure, not necessarily in a good way, if she went by Constance's description of the place. Problem students, her ass. "But I'm not really getting the impression they're treating us like it."

People here were exceptionally forward and direct. It was something he wasn't used to and the adjustments he already knew he was going to have to make were rolling around in his head.

The emotion was frustration though, that was evident. Frustration wasn't anger though and Jonas was glad of that.

"I'm sorry, I'm unfamiliar with how we're supposed to be treated," he said mildly, no trace of sarcasm in his voice. "What's...wrong with this?"

Kennedy was used to much fancier boarding schools than this one; that was where the frustration came from. Well. That and her own sense of entitlement. If it was a school that had a fighters reserve--that was the part she'd latched onto most, naturally--she'd been expecting more of a heroes' welcome.

Except he didn't look particularly heroic, and neither had the doofus who'd offered to help with her bags, or the guy who'd asked about rainbows and laser beams.

Thus, frustration squared.

"Nothing's wrong with it. I was just expecting more."

"It seems enough to me," Jonas said mildly, not letting her frustration affect him other than being aware of it. "Perhaps the...airport terminal--"

As he said the words, he looked around, taking in shapes, sizes, corners, and structure to file away in his memory.

"--wasn't large enough or equipped?"

"Maybe." Kennedy shrugged, like maybe she wasn't really buying that. "It's just, as first impressions go, I've seen better."

Jaded little rich kid that she was.

"I've never been in a place like this before," he shared, probably making himself seem more like a dolt than she originally thought. "It's rather...spectacular to me. I'm used to bicycles."

"Sheltered, huh?" Kennedy knew the type. Lots of those at her past couple of schools, and to her credit the smile she gave him was only slightly patronizing. "What, did they never let you out of the house unsupervised?"

Kennedy, be less of a tactless idiot.

Oh, she had no idea.

"No, we were allowed to go Elsewhere," he shared without hesitation. "We just could never stay. The Community was our home and Elsewhere was just for visiting."

Very, very sheltered.

It was weird, the way he said some of those words like they ought to be capitalized. Or maybe Kennedy was just imagining things.

"I went to a school like that once, when I was twelve," she offered. "Super, super strict. It was a miracle they let us go to the bathroom without someone holding our hand. I didn't get kicked out of that one, though."

She had not, however, been invited to stay on for post-sixth grade education. Boarding schools in the Midwest weren't that thrilled about twelve-year-olds cheerfully proclaiming to everyone that they were gay. Who knew?

The age she mentioned, twelve, caught his attention and held it. Jonas had been a Twelve once, more recently than he cared to remember and that was when everything had turned to dust.

She didn't sound like she'd been Assigned though.

"You've been kicked out of others?" Jonas asked, frowning and wondering what rules she would have broken to be given that punishment. Even Asher had never been dismissed from a classroom.

"Twice," Kennedy said nonchalantly--again, mostly an act. "Just last week, at the last school. People are a little too uptight about things sometimes, you know?"

"You broke rules, then?" he asked, sounding redundant to even his own ears but three years ago, he'd been given the power to break rules and, even so, it was still so foreign to him. "Dismissal sounds harsh."

"I broke some guy's nose." Kennedy shrugged. "Someone thought that wasn't cool."

Well, it hadn't been.

Jonas rubbed his nose, glad to not have experienced that particular painful memory. He'd run into doors before, smacking his nose hard enough to bring tears to his eyes but he'd never broken it.

"Why did you do that?" he asked, unable to help himself. "Isn't violence frowned upon?"

At least he hadn't asked if it was completely eradicated like in his own Community.

"Funny how that works, isn't it?" Kennedy asked with a little laugh. "Okay, so maybe I got a little carried away, but the guy was a jerk. One day into the semester and he was making girls' lives miserable. He just picked on the wrong person eventually."

She was not at all apologetic about throwing him into the locker. Not at all.

"Why wasn't he punished?" Jonas asked, proving that his middle name should be 'Questions'. "Misbehavior by any gender usually leads to punishment of some kind."

"Maybe he was. I don't know." One side of Kennedy's face scrunched up a bit. "I...sort of didn't stick around long enough to find out."

"Are you planning on breaking anyone's nose here?" Jonas wondered, suddenly fearing for his poor nose. He knew he hadn't done anything, just asked questions, but she still didn't seem like one to be trifled with.

"Hey, I don't go around planning these things!" exclaimed the girl with the giant, lumpy, clinking duffel bag over her shoulder.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

BWI Portalocity Terminal [Saturday Morning]

Re: Wait for the Shuttle!

Re: Wait for the Shuttle!

Re: Wait for the Shuttle!

Re: Wait for the Shuttle!

Re: Wait for the Shuttle!

Re: Wait for the Shuttle!

Re: Wait for the Shuttle!

Re: Wait for the Shuttle!

Re: Wait for the Shuttle!

Re: Wait for the Shuttle!

Re: Wait for the Shuttle!

Re: Wait for the Shuttle!

Re: Wait for the Shuttle!

Re: Wait for the Shuttle!

Re: Wait for the Shuttle!

Re: Wait for the Shuttle!

Re: Wait for the Shuttle!

Re: Wait for the Shuttle!

Re: Wait for the Shuttle!

Re: Wait for the Shuttle!

Re: Wait for the Shuttle!