Nydie

Return of a Princess (Nydie & Vena)

School was finally over, and Jocelyn made a beeline for the exit the moment she was released from her final class. She didn’t stop to wait for Tony, or take a moment to pause by her locker to relieve herself of some of her books, she went straight out the front doors of the school to wait for the buses to be loaded up and released. Her brother would be waiting amongst the line of cars that would eventually drift down the street in front of the school to pick up awaiting kids, and then she would be free to do what she wanted for the remainder of the day, without having to be bothered by anyone else. The day had been a total nightmare as far as she was concerned, and all that mattered to her was getting off the school grounds without any further incidents occurring that may possibly get her into trouble. Luck, however, was not on her side, and as Jocelyn took up a position on the sidewalk in front of the school, she quickly surrounded by Jenna and her little group of airheads, all of whom looked like they were out for blood. Jocelyn was outnumbered, four to one, but she did not show any signs of being nervous in the slightest.

Wearing her most cynical smirk, she glanced at the four girls around her, giving them her best ‘Are you serious?’ expression. Quirking a brow at the group’s ring leader, she folded her arms across her chest, her spine straightening up to place herself at her full height, which was a good four inches taller than the tiny blonde who was doing her best to look intimidating, but failing miserably. “What’s the matter, Jenna? Get lost on your way to your car? I knew you were stupid, but I didn’t figure you were that stupid.” She taunted, struggling not to laugh when the other girl’s face turned a bright shade of red. Jocelyn didn’t get to enjoy the girl’s speechlessness for long, a shove to her shoulder forcing her forward into the smaller girl, who surprisingly managed to shove Jocelyn back. “You think you’re funny, don’t you bitch?” Jenna snapped, punching her fist into the palm of her other hand. “Let’s see how funny you are now, freak.”

Jocelyn could have easily taken on all four girls if she wanted to, especially since she knew all they could manage was a cat fight with lots of scratching and slapping rather than fist flying and headbutts, but she could not fight, no matter how much she wanted to. Getting kicked out was not an option for her, and if she gave into her urge to kick the four girls’ butts, she would end up being forced out of school, and enduring a punishment that would last well beyond her eighteenth birthday. “Is this about the little shove in the locker room? You must have hit your head against the wall harder than I thought if you think you could take me on. Why don’t you go head off to your car before I use your face to mop up the sidewalk? I’m sure your boyfriend wouldn’t want anything to do with you once I was done, and I’d hate to be responsible for a breakup.” Jocelyn warned the girl, who looked uncertain for a moment, at least until her friends grabbed a hold of the redhead’s arms and held her back from being able to punch Jenna back. Jenna gained a moment of confidence, certain that Jocelyn was restrained enough for her to throw a punch without retaliation, but before the blow could come, a familiar voice cut through the group, one that Jocelyn was both grateful, and irritated to hear. “I know you girls aren’t about to fight. Jenna, I’m certain you don’t want me to talk to Coach Rosco and have you cut from the cheerleading squad. After all, what kind of cheerleader attacks a fellow student? That’s not showing school spirit very well, now is it?”

Jenna balked, but backed away from Jocelyn, her friends releasing their grip on her arms, but giving her small shoves to try and knock her down. She didn’t budge much, but she did manage to cast a glance over her shoulder to take note of who it was that had been holding her, making a point to remember faces and names for future reference. “This isn’t over yet, freak.” Jenna hissed threateningly to Jocelyn in a low whisper, the redhead smirking faintly at the words of intimidation. “I’m so scared. Bring it on you pathetic bitch. Next time one on one, or are you so weak you can’t fight your own battles?” Jocelyn growled back, her words loud enough for the entire group to hear. The three other girls began to close in on her again, and rather than allow them to grab her limbs as they had before, she throw her backpack off her shoulders and turned to face the other three. “You bitches want in on it too? I’ll kick your….”

“Jocelyn, that’s enough.” Snapped the female voice that interrupted what had been the start of a fight before, the owner of said voice stalked toward the group, pushing her way into the center beside Jocelyn. “I suggest you girls go to your vehicle before I change my mind and call the principal out here. You do know a suspension now and you will not be permitted to go to prom.” The group of girls all glared at Jocelyn, but made no further move to go near her, instead they gathered together to make their way to the parking lot, leaving Jocelyn alone with her art teacher, Miss Dominque. “I could have handled them. They’re a bunch of wusses. Jenna would have gone down in one hit.” Jocelyn gripped without the same bite in her voice that she had spoken with to the girls. The older woman chuckled, bending down to grab a hold of the straps of Jocelyn’s backpack and handing it off to the girl. “I know you could have, but you would have been kicked out of school, and they would have gotten a slap on the wrist.” Jocelyn took her bag from her teacher and shoved her arms through the straps, making a quick adjustment as she listened to the woman continue to speak. “Besides, I don’t think you’d want your brother turning up in the middle of a schoolyard brawl.”

Jocelyn sighed heavily, but nodded her head in agreement. All she needed was for her brother to turn up in the middle of her fighting; she’d never hear the end of it. “I’ve got to go finish up bus duty. Do you think you can stay here by yourself without getting into any more trouble before your brother turns up?” The teacher asked, earning herself another reluctant nod from Jocelyn. Without wasting any more time, the woman walked off to finish up her job, leaving Jocelyn alone to fume over the fact she had not been able to kick Jenna’s butt and hopefully earn herself a break from the girl’s taunting for a while. She still had to wait for the buses to leave the school grounds before the cars would be waved through, but she could manage that without attracting any more trouble; at least she hoped she could.

Return of a Princess (Nydie & Vena)

The shrill sound of a whistle pierced the air, and even from her place on the pitcher’s mound, Jocelyn flinched as the noise rang inside her ear. “Damn that’s loud.” She muttered under her breath, stopping to look up at the coach expectantly. Today’s torture was a game of softball, and as always, Jocelyn had been drafted as the pitcher, although she never figured out how the airheads in her class had discovered it was a position she had a knack for. The coach, a rather butchy looking woman with short cropped hair, and a masculine face was glaring over at her from home plate, her hands on her hips. “Jocelyn, you’re not supposed to be trying to hit the batter with the ball.” Smoothing her expression to one of complete innocence, Jocelyn blinked owlishly at the woman. “I’m not? This isn’t dodge ball? Oops, my mistake.” The disgruntled teacher shook her head, her thumb jerking over her shoulder in a silent order for her to sit down on the bench. “Candice, you’re pitcher.” The rest of Jocelyn’s team groaned, but she happily ripped the glove off her hand and made her way over to the bench she was forced to sit on for the remainder of the class.

It really hadn’t been her fault, she had not started class with the intention of hurting anyone, but little Miss Homecoming Queen had decided to open her mouth and act like a complete bitch about things she did not know about. Things had been going fine, Jocelyn having struck out two of the other team when Jenna Linden came up to bat. The plan started out as simply striking the girl out, but the girl had to start opening her mouth. “Come on, freak. Let’s see what you got.” Jocelyn could have easily ignored the mild insult, and had been about to when Jenna decided to open her mouth once again. “You might want to use your left side. Wouldn’t want you to rip your scar open. What did you do? Try to stab yourself in the heart and you were too stupid to realize you didn’t have one?” Jocelyn growled loudly at that insult, knowing that her scar had been because of an attempt to stab her in the heart, but it had not been her own doing. The one thing she was grateful for was that no one knew the full story about what had happened to her when she was five, and if they had learned, she didn’t doubt she’d be taunted for it every day.

Jocelyn had thrown the ball, by all appearances aiming it down the center of the plate, but she’d added enough of a curve to it that it had ended up hitting Jenna square in the stomach. The gasp for air and the sight of the girl doubling over in pain had been enough to satisfy Jocelyn’s urge for revenge, but watching as she dropped the bat on her toe in her rush to double over only added to it. Jocelyn all but rolled around on the ground laughing as Jenna was half carried off the field, the two other girls shooting her glares as she continued to find amusement from the girl’s pain. It was then the coach decided to end Jocelyn’s fun and send her off to the bench to sit out the rest of the class, which really wasn’t much of a punishment since Jocelyn hated the class. She could sit around and do absolutely nothing, and she wouldn’t even get in trouble for hitting Jenna with the ball, because there was no way to prove it had been intentional. For Jocelyn, it was a win-win outcome, and as she sat down on the bench, she smirked darkly at the glaring faces looking in her direction, completely proud of herself for what she had done. ‘Serves her right. She’s lucky I didn’t hit her in the face.’

Jocelyn was content to sit and do nothing at all, taking no joy in watching the game as her team lost the lead that she had gained them and began to lose. Her eyes were drawn to the woods behind the baseball diamond, searching for the same flash that she had seen earlier in English class. She did not see it, but she did hear her name again, this time whisperer in an ominous tone that sent chills down her spine. She glanced around the area, looking at her coach, and then at the other girls in her class, waiting for one of them to smirk at her, or show some signs that they had heard it. No one looked as if they were responsible, and they showed no signs at all that they heard the sound, which only further confused her. The voice was male, she could tell that much, but she could not determine the distance it had been spoken, or even who might have been responsible for it. She tried to push it aside, but it repeated again, this time followed with a laugh that did little to put her at ease. Again, no one around seemed to hear it, and Jocelyn began to question her own sanity.

By the time class was over and the coach had sent everyone back into the school to change for their last class, Jocelyn was convinced she was losing her mind and hearing voices. Her entire demeanor changed, her face pale and her eyes wide with shock. She was silent as she went through the motions of changing out of her gym uniform, ignoring the jeers and taunts from Jenna and her cronies more than she usually did. She couldn’t have told anyone what the obnoxious girls had said to her, paying them absolutely no mind at all while she went over the voice that had been calling her name. When Jenna moved o stand in front of Jocelyn as she made her way out of the locker room, the redhead had shoved the other girl out of the way and walked out, leaving the petite blonde sputtering and huffing angrily behind her. She walked to her Civics class in a daze, still confused over who would waste their time toying with her in such a way. She knew most of her classmates disliked her, but it seemed like a complete waste of time and effort to play that type of joke on her. When she reached her classroom, Jocelyn sat down at her desk and silently placed her belongings on the table to wait for class to start, still completely disoriented and unable to understand what was going on.

Return of a Princess (Nydie & Vena)

Lunch period ended with no further events, Jocelyn having convinced herself that her over active imagination was responsible for the sound that she thought she heard. Her time spent outside had been used to settle down her annoyance and find her calm in order to be able to return back to class without losing her cool on everyone around. She was one suspension away from getting kicked out of school, and that was the last thing she needed on her plate at that point in time. She, her aunt, and her brother had been living in Rhode Island for two years; the longest they had managed to live in any one area. Her aunt Alicia was happy for a change, having finally been able to unpack and keep things out rather than packing back up within a few months of moving, and she had been encouraging Jocelyn to keep up her efforts in succeeding in school and attempting to make friends. She was actually managing a C average in all of her classes, but as far as making friends though, that was completely out of the question. She’d never fit in anywhere, and she certainly didn’t fit in where she was, not when she was stuck going to school with a bunch of preppy kids who cared more about how much someone’s shoes cost rather than how they treated people.

Gathering up her belongings, Jocelyn rose up from the bench, the sound of her name lingering in her mind, but she would not allow herself to focus on it too much. She was stressed, although she couldn’t explain why, at least not at first. It hit her though, once she reentered the school exactly why she was feeling tense, the thought going off inside her mind like a bomb as she walked to her next class. ‘I really, really hope that jerk isn’t in this class.’ Tora had gotten under her skin, although it had not started out that way. She could have handled his continued teasing if he had kept it limited to simple insults against her; he didn’t know her well enough to have any true insight into her personality. No one really knew her well enough to accurately assess how she was, outside her family that was. She knew that people had heard about her past, her brother often made it a point to warn the people he encountered about the attack from her mother when she was younger, believing they would understand her brash behavior if they knew her background.

Art was her next class, one that Jocelyn did surprisingly well at. She was one of the most talented students in her class, which was probably due to the fact that she had been drawing since the moment she could first hold a pencil. She would lose herself the minute she began to draw, sometimes even losing hours of time without even being aware of it. Anyone that attempted to talk to her during one of her drawing sessions would often times be tuned out completely, and there had been a few times when her aunt, brother, or even some of her teachers would attempt to snap her out of it and she would continue to ignore them, her hand flying across the page until the image she was working on was completed. Some of her drawings made no sense to her, and those few were placed in a drawer in her desk at home to be hidden away from view. Others were equally as puzzling, picturing events that made no sense at the time she drew them, but would later become a reality. She kept those secret as well, only sharing them with her brother and aunt on a few occasions. Not everything that she drew came to life, but more often than not, it did.

Jocelyn made it to her art class before the bell rang, and without waiting around, she entered the room and began her work, barely taking notice of the other students as they filed into the room after the sound of the second bell. The image that she was working on was one she had consciously selected, which did not happen all the time. Usually, something would get stuck inside her head, a single frame of a scene that would remain inside her head until it was captured completely on paper. Once it was done, she would forget all about it, along with the context of the image. It was strange, and her aunt had taken her to a psychologist to see if there was something wrong with her. After MRI’s and dozens of tests they had ruled out everything and brushed it off as nothing to be concerned about. Jocelyn had grown used to being rushed to the doctors for some odd behavior, or strange occurrence with her health that would never be explained; she just assumed it was part of her mental trauma that was playing out in strange ways.

The drawing she was working on was another one of the odd, unexplainable urges, but not one that put her in a trance when she began to work on it. The woman in the picture was a familiar figure that occurred in most of her drawings, one that she had nicknamed her ‘Fairy godmother’ but was not a fairy at all; but she wasn’t human either. Her aunt had explained the reoccurrence of the woman as Jocelyn’s need for a mother figure in her life, but she didn’t buy that at all. She thought the woman was simply her overactive imagination at play, which happened far too often for her to even count. She was creative, and a part of her creativity also caused her to imagine things that were far beyond reality, at least that was what she believed.

The forty five minutes of class was spent finishing up her drawing without any interruptions from the teacher or her other classmates, no one even looking in her direction knowing it was useless to try and get her attention. When the teacher clapped her hands and told everyone it was time to pack up to head to the next class, Jocelyn reluctantly closed her sketchbook and placed it back into her bag. The bell rang and it was off to P.E class, or as Jocelyn referred to it, forty five minutes of hellish torture. The only bright side was that Tora could not possibly be in her class, which meant she would have a small reprieve from the constant back and forth that was both draining and entertaining at the same time. There was still one last class after P.E, a stupid social studies class that was full of goof offs and losers, but she could spend the whole time daydreaming and the teacher wouldn’t even notice; as long as the new pest in her life was not there. With a heavy sigh and dragging footsteps, Jocelyn made her way to the girl’s locker room to change into her gym uniform, hoping that she’d fall and sprain her ankle at some point between changing and heading to the fields outside.

Return of a Princess (Nydie & Vena)

Tony, for his part, sat and listened to the exchange, watching as Jocelyn tried to focus on her food, but he could notice the small signs that she was bothered by Tora, but not in the way she was trying to let on. She wasn’t in his face, and she had yet to jump out of her seat and get physical the way that she would when other people got on her nerves. Most times when someone bothered her, she shoved them out of the way, or made threats to scare them off. The only thing she did was blow a lot of hot air around and toss taunts back and forth with the other boy at the table. He cringed when once again Tora commented about her being his girlfriend, and this time he decided to answer rather than let Jocelyn come up with another comment. “Nah, she’s not my girlfriend. Feel free to move on in if you want. Seems you two have a little something going on, although I might be reading into things wrong.” Jocelyn wasn’t answering, but the look on her face told him that she was seconds away from exploding, and he definitely didn’t want to be around when she did.

Jocelyn tried to ignore Tora’s question, and would have continued to pretend that he was not around, at least until his final words which set her off. It was one thing to have him leading everyone into believing she was flirting with him, but a completely different thing to insinuate that she and Tony were a thing. Dropping her spoon into the empty bowl that had held her jello, Jocelyn grabbed up her apple and orange from her tray, shooting a scathing glare over at Tora. “Listen here, pal. You’re not my father, or my brother, and you’re certainly not my keeper. If I want to go somewhere, you’re the last person I need to tell, and trust me, I’m not telling you because I don’t want you following me.” She wanted to grab up her tray and slap him across the face with it, but she held herself in check, her hands gripping onto the remainder of her food tightly to keep herself from lashing out.

“And as far as who I’m ‘banging’, that is definitely none of your damn business, even if I was banging someone, which I’m not. Maybe where you come from, and every other girl in this school is willing to sleep with the first guy who looks their way, but I have standards.” Implying that she was sleeping with her best friend wasn’t that big of a deal, people did that all the time. What pissed her off was that Tora had taken it upon himself to judge her without knowing a thing about her. She wasn’t like the rest of the girls in her school who were only interested in jumping from one bed to the next without any respect for themselves. She considered herself above them, not that she was better than them, but she certainly had more sense than any of them. She might not be a straight A student, she might not even be perfectly innocent, but at least she had standards high enough that it took more than a look and a smile to get her to take her clothes off. As a matter of fact, it took so much that it had never happened, and it never would.

Jocelyn grabbed up her backpack, tossing her fruit into it before grabbing a hold of her tray. Rising from her seat, she lifted the tray up from the table top and shoved her chair beneath the table with her foot. “This conversation has been enlightening. You really are a pig.” Pulling in a deep breath, she lowered her voice, but the usual condescending smile was absent from her expression. “Now if you’ll excuse me. I’m getting the hell out of here where the air isn’t quite as fouled up with the stench of pork.” Jocelyn didn’t allow either of the boys to protest her departure, not that she really expected either one of them to do so. Tony knew where to find her if he needed to, and Tora could kiss her butt for all she cared. She needed some fresh air, and to get out of the confines of the building before she completely freaked out and really did punch Tora in the face. Heading off to the baseball diamonds where she spent most of her lunch period, she dropped herself down onto one of the benches outside the diamond, pulling in a deep breath of fresh air, and completely ignoring the weird feeling she got once she was settled. Jocelyn was too concerned with absorbing as much sunshine as she could, that she didn’t feel eyes on her, and she would have been perfectly content to sit there for the rest of the day if it hadn’t been for the sound of her name blowing on the wind. At first she thought it was Tony messing with her, but a quick scan around the baseball diamond and the area behind her showed no signs of anyone at all. Brushing it off as her imagination, she kicked her feet up onto the chain linked fence in front of her, relaxing until the bell sounded and it was time for her to return back to class.

Tony watched Jocelyn storm off without concern, shrugging his shoulders at Tora once she disappeared from view. “She likes you. Anyone else, she would have punched in the face.” Tony proclaimed between bites of his burger, grinning broadly over at the new kid. “She’s a little rough around the edges, but she’s not bad once you get to know her. Considering that her mother attempted to kill her, it’s kind of understandable how she is.” He had only learned about the incident through Jocelyn’s brother, since she never brought it up, but he thought that Tora might take it easier on his friend if he understood a bit of her history. “But honestly, I don’t think I’ve ever seen her let someone talk to her that way without smacking them upside the head. That’s gotta count for something, don’t you think?”

Return of a Princess (Nydie & Vena)

“Of course my name is Jocelyn. Who else do you think he was talking to? A little slow on the uptake, aren’t you.” She snapped, her annoyance over being the center of attention displayed clearly on her face in a deep scowl. Having everyone staring at her wasn’t something that she was interested in repeating, and if she was going to have to endure the looks of her classmates in the future, she would stop talking to Tora all together to save herself the hassle of rumors that were completely untrue. She doubted that he would care about having her name paired with his, especially since he was the new kid and didn’t know many other people, and from what she had seen, he hadn’t attempted to try and meet anyone else. He spent their entire class time harassing her, and not even bothering to interact with anyone else. If she had been a normal, teenage girl, she might have been flattered over it, but being who she was, Jocelyn was nothing but weary about it. She had to watch herself, and keep an appropriate amount of distance between herself and Tora.

She didn’t linger long enough for the conversation to continue past confirming her name was Jocelyn. The moment the bell rang she was off to her keyboarding class which she sat through in a daze. The other kids in the class could type away like they were experts, probably because they spent most of their time online or on a computer, while Jocelyn only used her laptop whenever she had an assignment. She still had to hunt and peck through the keys in order to type out a sentence. She was the slowest person in her class, but considering the other electives she had to choose from, this had seemed like the less invasive and the one with the least amount of work. She didn’t score very well, but her teacher always passed her for at least putting forth some effort, which she did. In this class she didn’t have to deal with other people. She could sit behind her computer, and not say a word to anyone all period and they wouldn’t even notice her. Once the class was over it was lunchtime, which meant a forty five minute time period where she only had to deal with Tony, who was the only person outside her aunt and brother that she could tolerate.

As usual, her friend was waiting at the entrance of the cafeteria for her, his fingers hooked around the straps of his backpack as he fidgeted anxiously in the doorway. Once she approached he wheeled on her, bombarding her with a half dozen questions in a single breath. “Is it true? Were you really flirting with the new kid? How come I’ve never seen you flirt with anyone before? Do you like him? I honestly thought you were a lesbian.” Tony blurted out breathlessly, his eyes wind and observing as he stared down at her. “Hold the hell up! Can I at least get some food first before you start overwhelming me with questions?” He shrugged, but led the way to inside the cafeteria, only pausing to grab a tray, which Jocelyn mimicked immediately afterwards. She didn’t go for any of the slop they served, instead she grabbed an apple, an orange, and a bowl of red jello. “Are you ever going to eat normal food?” Tony inquired, filling his own tray up with a cheeseburger and fries, along with a bag of chips. “This is normal food. Are you ever going to stop clogging your arteries with enough cholesterol to kill an elephant?” Tony smirked, and shrugged his shoulder. “I need the calories.” Rolling her eyes she shoved her tray forward to pay for her food and move off to go find a table for them to sit at.

They were seated, Jocelyn digging into her jello while Tony began to smother his hamburger roll with ketchup and mustard. “Are you ever going to answer my questions?” Pausing mid-bite, she peered over at her friend, but before she could answer, Tora made his appearance, drawing both of their attention onto him. She watched as Tony eyed the other boy up curiously, tensing at the mention of him being her boyfriend. Before he could respond, she was quick to answer in her usual, snippy tone. “What’s the matter? Jealous?”

Tony glanced between her and Tora, a grin stretching across his lips as he took in Jocelyn’s demeanor and responses. She didn’t give anyone the chance to interrupt, starting in on Tora again. “Who said you could sit here? I could have gone the rest of my life without seeing you again. Why are you here anyway? Afraid you might embarrass yourself if you open your mouth around anyone else?” She would have enjoyed lunch a lot more if she wasn’t forced to deal with Tora, and now that he was sitting at her lunch table, he was only going to keep the rumors going. Tony on the other hand wasn’t about to let Jocelyn scare him off, his curiosity sparked by the offhanded way his friend was talking to the new kid. “Don’t mind her. She gets edgy when she’s not allowed to go outside at lunch time.” Her mouth snapped open, eyes widening and swiveling over to glare at her friend, who looked smug as he took a bite of his burger. She would have huffed and began to argue that she was not annoyed because she wasn’t outside, but that she did not want Tora to sit with them, but the more she argued against his placement at their table, the more it would draw attention. Instead she began to eat her jello, her shoulder shrugging with indifference. “Sit wherever you want. I’m out of here in five minutes anyway.”

Return of a Princess (Nydie & Vena)

“Awww, poor baby. Tell it to someone who gives a rat’s ass.” She blurted out, masking the smirk that she could feel tugging against her lips with a uninterested expression. By this point she would be lying to herself if she tried to say she wasn’t having fun, although it was only a small amount. Her knew partner seemed to know how to attempt to get a rise out of her, and she dutifully gave him what he wanted to see what he would come up with next. Her only complaint was that she still had to find a way to ditch him over the next few days, if only to keep her rep intact and to keep people from thinking there was anything going on between them other than harassment. She almost considered it a shame that he hadn’t started off the school year with the rest of the class, she might have actually paid a bit more attention to what was going on rather than stare out the window counting the minutes away. She doubted he would have stuck around for long, but it still would have been far more interesting than her class had been to date.

Their assignment was dwindling down, and Jocelyn had mixed emotions over the end of class. On one hand, she could go back to daydreaming and spending her time doing more productive things such as planning what she would do once she got home. On the other, she’d have to go back to being bored out of her mind and waiting for one of her other classmates to do something stupid that would amuse her to no end. She always found amusement when one of the jocks got in trouble for strolling into class late, or the primped out princesses, as she liked to refer to them, cried out over breaking a nail, or their hair getting messed up. There were a few times when she’d stir things up herself, kicking her backpack out into the aisle as they were walking in hopes they’d fall on their faces. It didn’t happen too often, but she’d managed to trip them up a few times. She’d play off as innocent, and the teachers would give her a stern, disbelieving look but let the matter drop, while her victim would shoot heated glares at her which she returned with sweet smiles and winks. If there was one thing she definitely would not miss at school, it would be her shallow classmates who cared more about what was going on in entertainment than the world around them.

Tora caught her off guard with his next set of statements, Jocelyn’s cheeks flaring a shade of red that would rival her hair. She knew he was trying to rile her up, and the words had left his mouth did the trick perfectly, actually rendering her completely speechless and struggling to come up with a reply. What made matters worse was that she could feel the eyes of the others in the class peering back at the two of them, and she did not need to look in their direction to know that his words had been overheard. ‘Perfect….exactly what I need. Now I’ll be hearing my name linked up with his for the rest of the day. Guess I’ll have to punch him in the face at some point so people will figure out I’m not interested in him.’ She mused, sighing obnoxiously loud at her own thoughts.

Other than the sigh, Jocelyn gave no other response that would show how bothered she was by his words, instead, she turned in her seat to face him, lips forming a smile but her eyes darkening with anger. “Now, now. I know you can’t take your eyes off me, but I should tell you now that you’re not my type. I’m not interested in cross-species relationships, and as far as I can tell, you’re a pig.” Her words were spoken loud enough that everyone around could hear her, and she made no attempts at all to hide the venom lacing her voice. “You may want to learn to keep your eyes to yourself, before I turn your glasses into contacts.”

Her voice dropped in tone, the words now spoken in a heated whisper. “And the next time you put your hands on me, I’ll rip your arm off and beat you with it.” Her brows lifted threateningly, her smile transforming into a cynical smirk. “You’re lucky I have to play nice, or I’d have poured every single vial of acid over your big head.”

The teacher clapped his hands and announced that it was time for everyone to clean up and prepare to head off to their next class. Jocelyn didn’t need to be told twice. Sweeping her pen and notebook into her backpack, she turned back to look at her partner, the smile back in place. “Do you need me to explain how to clean all this up? Or are you too distracted by my beauty and need me to take over?” Jocelyn’s luck had run out, for it was at that moment that the teacher decided to pass by their table again, his throat clearing as he stood directly beside her. “Jocelyn, stop flirting and finish cleaning up. The bell will be ringing in a minute.” Tensing, she began to sputter helplessly, wanting to explain to the man that she wasn’t flirting, but before she got the chance to he was walking back to the front of the class. “As if I’d willingly flirt with him….maybe if my water bottle had been spiked with roofies.” She grumbled, her hands busy cleaning up the mess that had been left behind by the experiment, and returning the beaker back to its proper place. “Really, has everyone started doing drugs today?” She continued to mutter, growling quietly in frustration. It had all been fun and games until it had been assumed she was flirting, and that was when her attitude began to change. She wasn’t given long to dwell on her anger before the bell rang and she was on her feet racing out of the room to head to her next class, her pace near a jog as she rushed out into the hallway. She wasn’t in a rush to get to her classroom, but she wanted to put as much distance between herself and Tora, before the rumor mill began to go wild with assumptions.

Return of a Princess (Nydie & Vena)

Jocelyn’s hand balled up into a fist as her quip was thrown back at her, her eyes widening minutely at the mention of holding his hand. “Ewww. I don’t know where that thing’s been. Hold your own damn hand, freak.” Her chest heaved with an annoyed breath, her eyes rolling in their sockets as he tipped the beaker in her direction. “Do me a favor and drink it all.” Inwardly she was throwing a hissy fit, cussing him out with every possible word she could come up with, and some she made up along the way. She had thought he wasn’t annoying, but he had gone and changed her opinion in a span of a few seconds, simply by opening his mouth. She wasn’t used to anyone talking back to her in the same manner she pretty much talked to everyone, and now that it was happening, she wished she wasn’t so entertained by it. The rest of her classmates would roll their eyes and stomp away each time they attempted to talk to her, but he gave as good as he got, which was unusual. She hated him for it.

“Keep running your mouth and my chicken scratch will be all over your face.” Jocelyn threatened, snatching the beaker back to slide across to her section of the table. “And so help me, if you talk about my butt again, and they’ll be throwing you in the burn shower.” Grabbing up one of the tubes she was supposed to be mixing, she held it out in front of her, her fingers tipping the glass container from side to side. “You really want to piss off a girl with acid in her reach?” She hissed under her breath, adding a growl into the mix so that he got the point. She wasn’t amused at all this time around; annoyed that he had even gone in any direction that could have been construed as flirting had anyone else overheard him. She didn’t need people thinking that she had some interest in the new boy, or any boy at all for that matter. She’d spent the past two years that she’d been enrolled at this school avoiding appearing even slightly interested in being pursued by the opposite sex, she wasn’t about to let some guy she just met ruin the reputation she’d worked so hard to create.

Repeating the process with a new set of components, Jocelyn watched the reaction with the same expression of boredom. Scribbling down the reaction, she intentionally made her handwriting as sloppy as possible, the pen flying across the page with the same brisk strokes as before. If he was going to be a smart ass about everything that she did, Jocelyn would go out of her way to give him something to complain about; it beat the hell out of sitting quietly. She tried her hardest not to be entertained by the constant banter with her new partner, but it did honestly beat sitting there alone and pretending to pay attention. Sure, it cut into her daydreaming time, and her view of the outside was obscured by his head, but it really did beat having someone sit there in silence and watch as she did all the work. Jocelyn hoped that this would be their last class together though, if only to spare herself the risk of getting in trouble; her aunt would never let her hear the end of it.

Once the reaction was jotted down, Jocelyn emptied out the contents and shoved the glass container back onto Tora’s side. “Be careful you don’t inhale too deeply. You may kill the last few remaining brain cells you’ve got working.” She cooed in a sweet voice, her lips curving into a smile that did not reach her eyes, which had darkened with a mischievous gleam. “Wouldn’t want to have to explain to the teacher why you’re sitting there drooling all over yourself.” Her hand rose, index finger extending in a gesture telling him to wait. “That’s right, that’s pretty much all you’re doing now.” Jocelyn returned to stare back out the window, wishing that she could have asked him if he would at least switch seats with her, although she doubted that he would without giving her a hard time about it. He was already proving that he wasn’t going to let her get away with her usual behavior, no matter how much she might try to.

It was his turn to do the next reaction, and Jocelyn realized that she hadn’t even bothered asking what his name was. She probably wouldn’t bother to ask, still only giving him a few days until he became far too annoyed with her constant snippy tone and bad attitude. She wasn’t about to soften up simply because she did not mind the fact that his retorts amused her, and it beat listening to the drabble of other kids in her class. She only really had to deal with him for this class, at least she hoped so, and the rest of the day had to play out before she would learn if they shared any other classes together. There was one class she knew she wouldn’t have to worry about him, even if he was in the same room with her. She could tune him out completely during art class, and that was the one class that she actually enjoyed. Even if he did talk to her, she could ignore him and focus on her work. She hoped that this would be the last class she had to deal with him in, but if not, she’d figure out a way to annoy him until he stopped talking to her all together.

Return of a Princess (Nydie & Vena)

“I never said I was intimidating.” Jocelyn growled out quietly, shooting a glare for what felt like the hundredth time that day. She was used to people rubbing her the wrong way, but the problem was, he actually didn’t really bother her. When other people spoke, she could hear her spine wanting to cringe at the sound of their voices, and her mind automatically shutting off any words that left their mouth. She would be annoyed instantly, and did not bother hiding it from them, but with Tora it wasn’t quite that way. His voice didn’t grate on her nerves, and it didn’t hurt her ears the way most people did. It had been a constant complaint ever since she was a small child. Most sounds affected her negatively, either by causing a headache, or making her inner ear throb in agony. When she was smaller she’d been prone to ear aches constantly, and the doctors had told her aunt she would eventually grow out of it, along with her sensitive hearing, but she had yet to hit the age where they were no longer a nuisance. She’d opted out of physical education to avoid the sound of the coach’s whistle, because each time it sounded she would have a migraine immediately after. The bell too was bothersome, but most teachers kept their doors shut, which kept the sound down to a more tolerable level.

Jocelyn was perfectly content to sit around and daydream, especially when the alternative meant dealing with her partner, who to her dismay, did not annoy her as much as she tried to let on. She couldn’t even say the same thing about Tony, and he was considered her best friend. However, he had other plans for her, and she was pulled back to the class. Turning her head to glare back at her unwanted partner, Jocelyn turned her nose up at his work before returning her attention back to her side of the table. “Who said that I wanted to work with you? I do better on my own, thank you very much.” She hadn’t even taken notice that their teacher had given them something to work on, and she was absolutely clueless what they were supposed to be doing, and honestly didn’t even care.

She wanted to ignore the boy sitting next to her, but his constant movements continued to draw the attention of her eyes which would dart off to the side to watch what he was doing. Unfortunately for her, she was stuck waiting for him to finish up since the teacher only supplied them with enough materials for them to work in pairs. Jocelyn would have continued to daydream until her partner finished up his experiment so that she could do her own, but as the teacher began to circle around the class, he made a point of stopping by her table. Knuckles tapped lightly on the surface directly in front of her, and she was forced to stare up at her teacher. “Miss Turner, do you plan on helping your partner out?” She shrugged in response, her arms folding across the top of the table. “Not really. I thought I’d sit here and look pretty since he stated I’d just slow him down. Wouldn’t want to get in his way.”

“Get to work, Miss Turner.” He barked out, strolling away from the table to move on to the next one. Huffing, Jocelyn snatched the beaker away from her partner and growling softly under her breath. “Give me that, and just sit there and be quiet. I don’t need you slowing me down.” Carefully she began to mix things together, watching the reaction with a look of utter boredom. Setting the beaker down she leaned over to grab a pen and her notebook from within the confines of her backpack, dropping them both down on the surface of the table. Opening up to the first blank page that she could find, she scribbled down the reaction in with furious strokes of her pen before turning to the boy sitting beside her. “Did you get that, or do you need me to hold your hand and explain it all to you?”

Return of a Princess (Nydie & Vena)

It started last night, so I've still got a while to deal with it. So far Dayquil has been my savior. lol

Return of a Princess (Nydie & Vena)

Okay, halfway through my post. Lucky me, I caught a cold, so it probably won't be very good. =/