#baronyofthesilverwolf

"Eh, you know. There's assholes everywhere. Did someone give you any trouble? It's like prison - you gotta beat up the toughest guy around on day one to make your name. That, or join a gang!" Pam laughs

"Okay, uhm.. before I answer that, let me ask, do any of you know a Kristenn?"

"You gotta be more specific. Kristen Baker, Kristen White, or Kristen Prince?" Pam asks between tater tots. One of the boys adds, "if she's asking about assholes, it's gotta be Prince." Pam shakes her head a bit. "Brunette, almost as tall as you, and with an expression like someone pissed in her lemonade?" Describing the girl from earlier to a T."

"yeah, that sounds like her. She knocked some kid's papers ou of his hands. I bent to help.. and she tried to get into my face about it. "

Pam snorts. "She thinks she's a big shot just because her mom's got money and is on the PTA. Don't get me wrong, she IS tough. But she's a bully, and if you stand your ground she'll probably leave you alone. It's not worth the trouble to mess with her."

"PTA, stands for Pain in the ass right?" a sigh "Great. Well" she samples her food "She stays out of my way and maybe I'll stay out of hers but I'm not going to let her trash folks in front of me either. I got to find this artie guy she was bullying if anyone sees him, let me know?"

"Artie? Why are you looking for Farty Artie?" One of the guys asks, through a mouthful of tater tots he snags from another guy's plate, which also merits him a punch in the back and he starts coughing and steals his coke to slurp.

"Guys..." Chuck says in a warning tone as he returns and sets trays down in front of himself and Gwen. "It's like, her first day." Pam laughs and adds, "Yeah, if she wanted that behavior, she'd go to the zoo!"

"Because it was his notebook she decided to stand on," She shrugs "Look. I don't know artie, and if he has a gastronomical problem, I admit, I would probably step a certain distance, but apparently she's bullying him. All I did was try to help him, and she stepped on it to act bad ass. I moved it anyway, but wasn't able ot hand it to him because he was already in retreat."

"You don't need to explain yourself, Gwen." Chuck gives the other jock a look. "Thanks for giving him a hand."

"I'm just sayin', if she wants to get off on the right foot, she should pick her friends from the get go." Jock boy explains, in a placating tone. "Skip the bullies like Kristen and the dweebs, and you can coast right through."

Pam glances at Chuck, who is starting to bristle up a bit, and prods the jock in the gut. "Yeah, and if you don't start doing better than coasting in your classes, you're going to get kicked off the team, JB." He frowns and settles back down muttering something under his breath.

"It's cool. JB and I may not aggree on somethings but he's trying to look out for me which is meant well" She nods to JB, "But no. I'm not wired that way. I mean, I'll make friends with who I like and who is right by me, and I'll be right by them, but I'm also not going to treat stuff around me like I'm viewing shark week." She smiles at Chuck "And.. thanks Chuck It's cool how you get me"

Pam grins, and offers Gwen some of her tots in exchange for french fries. It seems that the going rate is a 3/5th exchange of tot to fry. It also seems that Pam has a bit of a gift for defusing - it's handy to have one of those in the group!

"I can drop that off in the lost and found, or you can look up Arty when you come back." Pam offers. "Or I think he's in my Lit class. At least, he has that sometime during the day, someone keeps writing things on one of the desks that points that direction."

Chuck smiles to Gwen. "Yeah, I get you." And it takes a few moments before he shakes his head and realizes he was just grinning goofily at her. The table laughs again, and lunch resumes!

Pam ggets a smile "Thanks, Pam. "

Then "I'll drop it off at the art class I guess. I'm already signned up for my classes mostly. Me I'm trying music i think. NNot that I can sing or dance"

A look at Chuck "I'm hoping to get into Lacrosse"

"Really? That's awesome! I bet you can get on, no problem." Chuck beams.

Pam grins. "So is THIS why you went out for Lacross this year?"

Chuck blushes. "No! I mean, kinda? Gwen made it sound cool."

"Hey, Lacrosse is the oldest sport in North America, it's basically born of Native American War games." This she knows "Like knights jousting? It was a way to keep warirors from killing other while still keeping them sharp"

"See? It's cool." Chuck grins.

JB slurps his soda and pushes away the empty tray. "Too bad we can't watch real jousting. I think the closest anything gets these days is polo at the country club, and that a snoozefest."

"Actually Polo is one of the oldest known team sports in the world. It came from ancient Iran and was a training game for cavalry." The group give Pam a look, and she adds, "What? You've all taken World History, too. Try to pay attention next time. There's some cool stuff."

"Okay, it's official, I think Pam is cool" She grins

She even kens Pam. Not every nice person has something to do with changelings, but hey, no harm in checking

"See, I knew she was smart. Even if she's dating Chucky." Pam grins.

There doesn't seem to be any glamour around the table... wait... there IS some. Pam glimmers... not with a fae soul, but she has the potential to be a dreamer! JB... perhaps not so much... and a small flare to her right, where Chuck gleams a bit as he turns red at the term, "Dating". He looks happy, but a little surprised, and worried, waiting for her response. They hadn't exactly made things official... the flickers from the boy beside her remind her a bit of the magic from Brightshot, the cupid.

"Ha! Bride of Chucky!" JB laughs!

"Pam, I don't know the rules here, am I allowed to kick JB under the table, if so, how hard?"

A sweet exagerated smile. She also bumps, slightly, against Chuck. Yes, she's blushingg, but the bump means she's not against the idea

"JB runs track, so you can't damage his precious knees. Which is to say, go ahead and punch him. It's the only way to knock sense into him sometimes."

"Hey!" JB says, belatedly. And then laughs. "Sorry Gwen. And Chuck. Uh, Mazel Tov." He waves a hand as if blessing their union.

"Ha" She smiles "Knees are off limits. Got it." Then adds "Track, wow."

"Yep. I'm not dumb, my brain is just so much faster than the rest of you, that you all have to catch up to get what I'm talking about."

Chuck rolls his eyes. "Sure thing." And there is the bell! Pam stands, and without being asked, scoops up the other trays. "I got this. Y'all get to class."

A stack of trays is dropped into JB's arms. "What??"

"You're fast, right? Take care of these for us, speedy." Pam snickers and waves, heading down the hall. "Nice meeting you Gwen! See you soon!"

"Later" she says "Oh I better follow her to art class just to see if Artie is there" She looks at Chuck "See you around. Nice meeting your friends"

He reaches out and snags her hand before she can get away, and gives it a squeeze. "I was glad to finally introduce them to my, um. My... um. Friend. Who is a girl."

A blush and she fights a giggle because he might SO take it wrong "Maybe even more.. later" A squeeze back

They might have stood there all day if a hall monitor didn't happen over to drone, "Get along to class now." Duly shoo'd, Chuck squeezes her hand once more before heading off, and Gwen is left checking her map for directions to the art room.

She's almost there - even in a relatively small school, why are there so many hallways? When a voice pipes up behind her. "That's my notebook. Please." From in the hallway outside the art studio.

She turns "Hey?" then looks down a bit

Artie looks up at her, a bit warily. He's small, even for a freshman, and has a look that seems to yell, "bully me". It's not so much his appearance, though he could use a better haircut and the spattering of acne that comes with that age, but his posture, and his attitude just scream 'victim'.

"My notebook, please. It has all of my drawings from the Perseids last year. They won't be back until August."

"Oh sure" She says taking it out "You know I tried to get it to you earlier but you ran away" And hands it to him

He blinks. "You.. don't want my notes, or anything?" A little cautious.

"I don' even know you. I mean, I know youre smarter than Kristen or else she'd do her own damn work. I don't bully people into helping me."

He looks taken aback and shakes his head worriedly. "Don't say anything to Kristen. Please. She won't do anything to you, but I have to see her every day." He clutches the book to his narrow chest as though it was something precious.

"I won't, but I hope you don't put up with her shit for long"

Mumbled, "Four years til I graduate... or 2 for her..."

"Her mom's on the PTA and has clout huh?" A frown "Unless she's a lot nicer than your daugghter I see your concern"

"Better to not get noticed." He says dully. "Thanks." And he backs away, checks the hallway, and hurries off.

"But you're already in her crosshairs if you keep runnnin they'll." She watches him go and sighs "Never stop chasing"

and she finds herself alone in the hallway.

She moves to.. gee, where, so she walks by he clases, and kenns. it's a way to maybe find the dreamies places.

She might expect the art class to be filled with blips and bloops of glamour from the art, but instead she feels.. a chilly spot. Maybe she's been overworking her kenning skill. The room is bright and airy, spring sunlight shines in the windows and even casts colors from some stained glass-esque art using colored films, but.. it feels dim.

Suddenly she's glad she went musical.

For now, she trusts her instincts and backs away. She goes to find the music room and ken there..

There is a sign on the door that says "quiet zone"... but it is scribbled over in bright red marker to say "LOUD". A cacophony of noise comes within - nonharmonic, amelodic, but somehow a cheerful din.

Laughter erupts from inside as a voice rings out from the teacher, a mid-sized, plump lady with hair pinned back, as she carols, "Now that we've seen how LOUD we can play, let's see if we can play something specific!"

The noise, perhaps, or the additional kenning, is making her head ring a little from focusing and squinting, but this room, though darker and a bit worn or dingy, feels infinitely more cheerful than the somber art studio.