[hr][center][img]https://i.imgur.com/bemGSrE.png[/img][img]https://i.imgur.com/fGCaIL3.png[/img] [img]https://i.imgur.com/MrAFI3T.png[/img][img]https://i.imgur.com/zS3Ugjd.png[/img] [img]https://i.imgur.com/7gwGxyR.png[/img][img]https://i.imgur.com/sHP9Odv.png[/img][/center][right][b]Interactions:[/b] Vicky ([@Atrophy]), & Tommy ([@Blizz]) [code]Cornell High.[/code][/right][hr][hr] [quote=Tommy][color=a79500]”The hell are you three doing up so late?”[/color][/quote] Kari looked up from her notebook and stared at Tommy for a second before glancing toward the cafeteria windows, where broad daylight was very obviously spilling through the glass. [color=#eac6ae]“... It's like... [b]twelve PM[/b], Tommy.”[/color] Lupe turned toward Kari. [color=E14BC5]“Mami, maybe that's late for him.”[/color] [color=#046904]“Maybe he just woke up,”[/color] Zakira added with a shrug. [color=E14BC5]“Damn. [i]Gooooooooooood morning![/i]”[/color] Kari sighed and returned to her notebook. [color=#eac6ae]“Can we please just act normal when everyone gets here...?”[/color] Lupe and Zakira looked at one another. [color=E14BC5]“No.”[/color] [color=#046904]“That's wishful thinking,”[/color] Zakira rolled her eyes. Kari closed her eyes. [color=#eac6ae]“[i]Great.[/i]”[/color] She had just started rearranging the notebook and pens on the table for the third time when someone screamed from the hallway. Kari froze, Lupe's head snapping toward the doors while Zakira's hand immediately went toward her bag. For half a second, Kari's heartbeat surged hard enough to hurt her ribs. Then the voice continued. Loud. Angry. [i]Familiar.[/i] Kari exhaled through her nose. [color=#eac6ae]“Oh my fucking God...”[/color] Placing both hands on her temples. Zakira's hand remained near her bag. [color=#046904]“She doesn't sound happy.”[/color] Lupe looked at her. [color=E14BC5]“She's never happy.”[/color] [color=#eac6ae]“[i]Lupe.[/i]”[/color] [color=E14BC5]“Whaaaaaaaaaat, mami.... I'm just [i]saying[/i].”[/color] The heels came next. [i]Clack. Clack. Clack.[/i] Kari looked toward the entrance as the noise approached. Then Vicky entered. Kari watched the tirade unfold in silence. The swim team. The pictures. The posters. The [i]injustice.[/i] The complete and total devastation apparently brought upon Cornell by somebody rearranging a simple trophy case.- Then came... [quote=Vicky][color=32cd32]“-You have [i]noooooooooooooo[/i] idea what I’ve been…”[/color] [/quote] Kari's eyes closed. [i][color=#eac6ae]No. Absolutely not.[/color][/i] Beside her, Lupe went completely still, and Kari slowly opened [i]one[/i] eye. Just one. Lupe was no longer looking at Vicky. She was looking directly at Kari. Her head had turned almost unnaturally slowly, and an enormous smile spread across her face until it practically reached both ears. Kari stared at her. Lupe said nothing. [i]She didn't have to.[/i] Kari raised one hand and flipped her off. Lupe's smile somehow widened. Zakira looked between them. [color=#046904]“[i]Don't.[/i]”[/color] Lupe placed a hand against her chest and spoke completely monotone, for once, [color=E14BC5]“I haven't even said anything, mami.”[/color] [color=#046904]“Your [i]face[/i] is too loud.”[/color] [color=E14BC5]“I'm just observant, boo.”[/color] Zakira's mouth twitched. [color=#046904]“... You predicted that almost word for word.”[/color] Kari's middle finger remained raised. [color=#eac6ae]“I will flip you off too if you don't quit it.”[/color] [color=#046904]“[i][b]I[/b][/i] didn't invite her.”[/color] [color=#eac6ae]“Neither did you, Lupe!”[/color] Kari slammed both hands onto the desk, and the echo boomed through the halls, then returned. The one blood vessel in Kari's brain that Lupe had spent the morning aggravating had finally reached critical mass. Then went back to flipping Lupe off. Lupe's eyebrows rose. [color=E14BC5]“[i]Exactly,[/i] mami. [i][b]That's[/b][/i] the lesson here.”[/color] [color=#eac6ae]“There [i]is[/i] no lesson.”[/color] [color=E14BC5]“There is a [i][b]beautiful[/b][/i] lesson, mami.”[/color] [color=#eac6ae]“[i]Shut up.[/i] Just shut up, before I hang myself in the bathroom.”[/color] Kari lowered her hand and tried very hard to focus on [i]literally[/i] anything else. It did not help when the invisible bat clipped her ribs. Pain immediately bit through her side. Kari sucked in a breath and folded slightly toward the injury before catching herself against the table. Lupe's smile disappeared immediately. [color=E14BC5]“Mami?”[/color] [color=#eac6ae]“[i]I'm fine.[/i]”[/color] Zakira looked over. [color=#046904]“You did the face again.”[/color] [color=E14BC5]“See? Now [i]she[/i] gets it.”[/color] [color=#046904]“Sit down. [i]Please.[/i]”[/color] [color=#eac6ae]“I'm already sitting.”[/color] Zakira looked at her. Kari looked down. She was, in fact, half-standing with one hand against the table. [color=#eac6ae]“... Well, I was going to.”[/color] She lowered herself carefully into the nearest chair. Lupe was still staring toward the center table now. Kari knew that expression. She had seen several different versions of it during the walk over. It was the expression Lupe made when she had just been handed an opportunity to become everybody's problem. [color=#eac6ae]“[i]Lupe.[/i]”[/color] Lupe didn't look at her. [color=E14BC5]“What?”[/color] [color=#eac6ae]“No.”[/color] [color=E14BC5]“I didn't even do anything!”[/color] [color=#eac6ae]“You're thinking [i]loudly[/i].”[/color] Zakira glanced at Kari. [color=#046904]“Now [i]everyone's [/i]face is too loud...”[/color] Lupe crossed her arms. For several seconds, Kari genuinely believed the situation [i]might [/i]survive... [quote=Vicky][color=32cd32]“Lupe, you always have something to say. Why don’t you get the ball rolling?”[/color][/quote] Then Vicky directed the conversation toward Lupe. Kari saw Lupe's entire body change. Her shoulders straightened. Her chin lifted. Her mouth opened. [color=E14BC5]“Oh, believe me, bitch, I didn't bring a notebook but I got a whole ass-”[/color] [color=#eac6ae]“[i]No.[/i]”[/color] Kari cut it off. Lupe stopped and slowly looked at Kari. [color=E14BC5]“Mami.”[/color] [color=#eac6ae]“[i][b]No[/b][/i].”[/color] [color=E14BC5]“She was talking to me.”[/color] [color=#eac6ae]“Yes... I heard her...”[/color] Kari rolled her eyes. [color=E14BC5]“So I'm just answering-”[/color] [color=#eac6ae]“You're going to start a fight. We don't need that right now.”[/color] Lupe looked genuinely offended. [color=E14BC5]“You don't know that.”[/color] Kari stared at her. Zakira stared at her. Lupe looked between them. [color=E14BC5]“Okay, [i]damn.[/i]”[/color] Kari pushed herself carefully upright again, one hand remaining against the edge of the table. [color=#eac6ae]“[i]Nobody[/i] is getting the ball rolling by starting shit... Vicky,”[/color] Her gaze moved briefly toward Vicky and then back to Lupe. [color=#eac6ae]“This is bigger than your stupid drama.”[/color] Lupe threw her hands up. [color=E14BC5]“Why am [i]I[/i] getting lectured? I didn't even say anything yet, mami!”[/color] [color=#eac6ae]“Because I know you.”[/color] [color=E14BC5]“That's profiling, mami. And you know it.”[/color] [color=#046904]“... [i]Or pattern recognition.[/i]”[/color] Zakira rolled her eyes. Lupe turned toward Zakira. [color=E14BC5]“Zakky! Whose side are you on?”[/color] Zakira thought about it. [color=#046904]“[i]... Mine.[/i]”[/color] She shrugged. Lupe stared at her. [color=E14BC5]“Cold.”[/color] Kari rubbed at her forehead. [color=#eac6ae]“This is what I was trying to avoid, you know....”[/color] Zakira glanced at her, and shrugged yet again. [color=#046904]“I mean, so far, this is exactly what Lupe said would happen.”[/color] Kari's head turned slowly. [color=#eac6ae]“[i]Zakira[/i].”[/color] [color=#046904]“... I'm not saying she was [i]right.[/i]”[/color] Lupe gasped. [color=E14BC5]“You don't have to, boo. Lord knows I am.”[/color] [color=#eac6ae]“[i]Lupe.[/i]”[/color] [color=E14BC5]“I'm done.”[/color] She mimed zipping her lips. A second passed. Two. [color=E14BC5]“But[i] fooooooooooooor[/i] the record-”[/color] [color=#eac6ae]“... Shut up!”[/color] [color=E14BC5]“Damn!”[/color] Kari took a breath, then another. Her ribs still hurt. Her meeting had barely started. Half the people weren't even there yet. [i]And Lupe had already been proven right [b]once.[/b][/i] Kari hated today. She looked toward the tables, then toward Lupe. [color=#eac6ae]“You wanted to get the ball rolling?”[/color] Lupe's eyes narrowed suspiciously. [color=E14BC5]“[i]Maaaaaaaaaaaaaybe.[/i]”[/color] [color=#eac6ae]“Then help Zakira finish moving the chairs.”[/color] Lupe twisted her mouth up. [color=E14BC5]“That's not what that means, mami.”[/color] [color=#046904]“[i]Come on,[/i] let's just get this over with.”[/color] Zakira grabbed a chair. Lupe remained where she was. [color=E14BC5]“This is bullshit.”[/color] [color=#eac6ae]“Move the chair.”[/color] [color=E14BC5]“My sexy voice is being[i] silenced.[/i]”[/color] [color=#046904]“How I wish it was right now...”[/color] Lupe turned toward Zakira with genuine betrayal on her face. Kari sat back down. For the moment, at least, nobody was fighting, and she took the time to look at the first page of her notebook. [b][code]WHAT WE KNOW.[/code][/b] Her eyes drifted toward the room, then back to the page. Kari picked up her pen and, beneath the heading, wrote a small note in the margin: [i][code]People are going to be a problem.[/code][/i] She stared at it. Then reluctantly added: [sup][i][code]Lupe was right.[/code][/i][/sup] Kari immediately scratched the second sentence out so hard the pen nearly tore through the paper.