fandomhigh | BWI Airport Lounge, Saturday Morning

Entry tags:

!event: newbie shuttle

BWI Airport Lounge, Saturday Morning

Kathy should have been tired as she made her way to the lounge with the bright and glittery Fandom High banner. Even for someone who considered herself a morning person, the time she'd had to get up to catch her flight out of LAX had been obscene. Excitement had kept her awake on the plane. Excitement and energy drinks were keeping her jittering around while she waited for the shuttle.

Lots of excitement. Lots of energy drinks. Lots of jittering.

She hoped that other people would show up soon. Otherwise, she'd probably end up doing an impromptu gymnastics routine, just to burn off some of that extra energy.

[Open to teachers, students, and anyone else catching a ride to Fandom High]

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"Yup!" Kathy pointed to the glittery banner above them. "I double-checked just to be safe and the guy at the smoothie stand said that the shuttle always came right here."

He also muttered something about a weirdo in pajamas, but Kathy wasn't sure what that had been about.

Well, that was a lot of glitter right there. "That's convenient then." If only because they'd be unlikely to notice any one particular teen passing through.

Even Kathy thought it was a lot of glitter, and she'd be running around in a rainbow gi in a few weeks. Fandom went all out for these kinds of things.

"I take it you're new, too?" she asked. "Hi, I'm Kathy Li. Nice to meet you."

"Emma, same," she said, purposefully avoiding the first question. Emma didn't really know how to deal with perky and bouncy, but there were worse things Kathy could've been.

Like pretending to be a space alien like the other crazy chick with them?

At least she wasn't pouncing on Emma with suggestions of being best friends or whatever, either. "So, are you from the Baltimore area? My first time on this coast, so I'm trying to figure out if it's always so sticky hot around here."

Yeah, that would have had Emma fleeing for the hills, suspicious security guard or no. "I've lived here a while." Just long enough to know she didn't care for it one bit. "It's better further up north."

She'd liked that last place in Boston, so naturally she'd been moved as soon as she really started settling in.

"It gets hot in LA, too, but the air isn't as chewy as it is here." In the the three minutes Kathy had stood outside. That had been a bad plan. "Hopefully it will cool down at night or something."

Or their dorms would have AC.

"It's more manageable, but it won't really get cold." Which suited Emma, since she didn't have nearly enough clothes to get proper layers going on.

"That's good," Kathy said, relieved. "I mean, it's not perpetually summer back home or anything, but I know the East Coast can get slammed by snowstorms and stuff. I am not prepared for that, you know?"

A little snow might be cool for her to see, but she didn't think she'd like relentless winter storms or whatever the Weather Channel reported.

"Winters can be a bear, but that's still nearly six months off." Emma planned to be in a much warmer state by then.

Kathy wanted to facepalm. I She had gotten a little confused for a second there. Probably all the jet lag.

"I'll take anything over this stifling heat," she announced. "Ugh, I can't think of anything worse."

Fandom would be happy to help her realize how limited her imagination was.

"Well, you've jinxed us now," Emma said, also completely unaware just how worse Fandom weather could be.

Emma had every right to find Kathy after their first rain of...whatever...and whap her upside the head for this.

"Maybe they have a pool we can swim in," she offered. "Like for gym or something. And we won't even notice the weather?"

Keep reaching, kiddo.

"Yeah, a pool, it probably has one of those." Like camps, swimming lessons were a thing that cost money so Emma hadn't exactly had many of those either.

"Did your brochure give much in the way of details?" Kathy asked. "Mine had some really pretty pictures on it and a bunch of testimonials, but not a whole lot in the way of real information."

"No, no real details." She would have had to have actually read a brochure for that. "Just glitter."

She felt confident in saying these people liked their glitter.

Yeah, Emma was pretty spot on there.

"They're really excited about their programs, I guess," Kathy agreed. "My mom wasn't thrilled by that when she opened it."

Emma shrugged. "But she still let you come, so there's that."

"Not without a fight," Kathy mumbled. "Neither of my parents were all that thrilled about letting me travel across the country to school and summer camp."

Kathy'd had to bring out the big guns and remind them that ivy leagues were impressed by this sort of thing before they'd agreed.

"How did your parents react when you said you wanted to go?"

Lot of assumptions right there, Kathy.

Another shrug. "You know, like parents."

Not that Emma knew how that would be, but she figured people who'd leave a baby by the side of a road wouldn't care and her latest foster parents probably wouldn't even report her missing until they actually had to account for her whereabouts to a social worker, since that way they'd get all of the cash and none of the hassle.

Kathy sighed in commiseration and nodded. "I kinda feel bad, leaving my little sister Sarah to bear the brunt of them while I'm gone. I mean, not enough to stay, but I should probably send her something nice every so often as an apology."

Her parents' default setting was 'hover.'

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BWI Airport Lounge, Saturday Morning

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