Skippin' Class (Open)

[Mid]

It wasn't exactly a good idea to keep skipping math class, but math was her least favorite and worst subject. With that, Sabrina sat in the low, vibrant green grass in the field, resting her chin on her knees, her arms wrapped around her legs. Sabrina heard the music beating into her ears, and she raised an eyebrow slightly as she heard one of the gym teachers yelling to a kid about how they screwed up. Idiots. Sabrina decided, sighing as she watched. She glanced up as the sunlight was blocked by a shadow, "And you are?" She asked, her expression turning into a frown.

[splashofkayos]

Ivan had been planning to go to school on that day, honest. He'd just also been planning to get there at the end of school so he could meet the teachers and sign all the forms without the other kids messing around. Which meant he had time to kill. And he wasn't going to spend that time downtown, no sirree. His parent s would already know that he skipped school, though he doubted they'd do anything. They'd think what they thought whenever he did something troublesome - it's just his way to cope with it. The silly fools. However, though he didn't worry about his parents, he did know how important first impressions were. And this was a small town - everyone knew everyone. Well, except him. But it meant that whatever someone saw of him would have a backlash. So he walked to school, taking his sweet time, until what must have been the high school came into view. He glanced at his watch, frowning He still had an hour or two to kill before school was over. Glancing around, he found a hiding spot. It wasn't perfect, but, it would do just fine.

Then he heard a yell and tensed like a deer in headlights before realizing it wasn't directed at him, but instead at a kit out on the field which made him snort. I'm not saying we do it differently in England, but, I don't think that kid is going to need to know how to play your stupid American football. If anything, get him on being too slow or too fat or too weak. Not on the knowledge of some stupid sport. He thought, half tempted to yell it out there. But, that would give away his cover. Quickly, he started walking to a less populated part of the field, hoping to avoid the notice of the gym class - which wouldn't be hard as they all seemed pretty focused. However, he found that even the less-populated part of the field wasn't exactly empty. There was a girl who seemed around his age, give or take a year, sitting there and listening to her iPod. I don't think she'll be much of a problem. I doubt she's doing what she's supposed to be either. He figured, walking over past her to a predetermined spot in the corner of the field that seemed to be pretty empty.

"And you are?" The voice stopped him - he'd been planning to just continue on, but, though quiet, he enjoyed conversation as long as the person had something that resembled intelligence and didn't spend the whole time screaming, using too many double negatives, or just generally being an idiot. He focused his gaze on the girl, quickly locking the image into his head. She had green eyes too, though colder and much more boldly green. "Ivan." He replied, British accent flowing easily out of his mouth. He wondered, for a couple seconds, if he should have attempted to use his fake American accent. Though he'd been good at it as a kid, he hadn't used it in many years. No, it was better to use the British accent from the start. Because he didn't slip up when using it. If he tried to use an American accent, eventually it would fall away and make others think he was ashamed of where he grew up, which was far from the truth. Wherever he might currently live, London was home.

[Mid]

Woah! This kid was British! Sabrina hadn't been expecting that, so when she heard his accent, she flinched back in surprise, her face expressing some of the shock she had felt upon hearing him. Sabrina actually quickly turned down the volume of her music, hoping he wouldn't see, and decided to keep the conversation going. "Unless you're using a fake accent and we've seen each other around, but have never spoken, I'm going to assume that you're new to this town and that you're from Britain or Australia. I never could tell the difference between the two in accent," Sabrina stared up at the boy, who seemed to be a bit older than her, but he didn't have the look of a senior. Seniors often were snobby idiots who thought the world of themselves because they were the oldest, Sabrina always thought.

As she waited for a response, Sabrina took in for the first time that it was Spring. The seasons hadn't really mattered to her much for the past four years, mainly because nothing new ever happened; she didn't go to special events or anything like that. Nah, Spring, Fall, and Winter all meant school, while Summer meant a long vacation. That was about it for the 14-year-old.
At that moment, though, Sabrina looked past Ivan, seeing that the trees were already almost in full bloom, and she could see flowers growing in the field. Sabrina wondered for a moment why she hadn't noticed any of it before, but decided it was probably because she'd never taken the time to care all that much.

"You know," she muttered, "I forgot to tell you my name before. It's Sabrina."

[splashofkayos]

Ivan was more amused then anything by her surprise, holding back a small chuckle, but, baring his teeth a crooked, amused smile, standing there as she composed herself. Though he was amused, it wasn't particularly..... mocking. ".....never could tell the difference between the two in accent." He tilted his head slightly. "Well, Australian accents are typically a bit lower and more rural. My specific accent is that of a Londoner, so you could say it's a bit posh or upper class. Whereas my cousin has a more rural accent. Then again, I can hardly tell the difference between an American Southerner and an American Northerner, so I'm hardly guiltless." He replied with a little smile. "Anyway, yeah. I'm from London, just got here a couple days ago. Still haven't talked to anyone in this town yet."

Noticing the black-haired girl looking behind him, he halfway turned around, wondering if she saw a teacher or anything. He allowed himself a slight sigh of relief as he saw that the only things behind him were trees, a rather nice sight, their colors green and vibrant and soft pink flowers occasionally appearing among the pale green buds. And, yes, it was nice. Perhaps nicer then anything you'd see in the bustling city that was London. But those city streets, the concrete jungle - it was home. It was familiar. This was another world. And exotic things were beautiful, yes, but they just couldn't replace home. And whatever his parents said, he was viewing this like a very long vacation on his aunt and uncles ranch, out in the British countryside. That was it. Either way, it was temporary. The second he completed high school, he was hopping on a plane out of here. Three years. His mind taunted.

The raven-haired girl spoke again, and even in a soft murmur, it jerked him out of the daydreams of his home. Sabrina. A part of his mind that had remained aware of the world around him told him, briefing him on what he'd missed. It's her name. "Well, it's a pleasure, Sabrina." He said, extending a hand for her to shake, quickly compiling a bit of information about the girl. She was probably skipping a class - maybe this gym class? - so probably a bit rebellious, which meant she was either listening to rock music or perhaps something like Coldplay - in fact, he was wearing a Coldplay T-shirt right then. Ivan knew people judged others on how they looked, so, he tried to dress in a way that would give others insight to his personality - which meant he liked to wear T-shirts that boasted a certain band. Music told a lot about a person, which prompted the question, "By the by, what are you listening to?"

[Mid]

Sabrina furrowed her eyebrows as she returned her glance to the other teenager, "How can't you tell the difference between a North American and a South American? I mean, I guess it's hard to tell the difference in some states, but if you go somewhere like Texas or Alabama, then up to Massachusetts or New York, there's a huge difference. If we're talking throughout the whole two continents, then I really don't get how you can't hear it. Go to Canada, then go down to Mexico and try telling me there's no difference." Sabrina listened as he spoke again, then smirked a bit, "Well, you've talked to someone in this town now, haven't you?" She took his hand and shook it, then released her grip and brought her hand back. "Pleasure to meet you, too, Ivan," for some odd reasons, Sabrina was in a decent mood. She was generally much more rude and hostile, but today, she was quite decent.

When he asked what she was listening to, Sabrina blinked, taken slightly aback. She noticed the Coldplay tshirt he was wearing, and figured he might have good taste in music. I know I have one of their songs... Viva La Vida, is it? The girl thought, spacing for a moment. She shook her head, pressing a button on her music player, and showing the screen to him, "Forgotten by Linkin Park." Sabrina answered. "They're one of my favorite bands."

[splashofkayos]

"I can recognize the difference between Canada, Mexico, and the US accent-wise. But within each country I can't get the different parts. You know, America's not the only one with different accents in certain places. The same thing happens in Britain. There's a Northern accent and it's much different then mine. Well, to me. But not to an American, I'd guess. You'd be surprised how similar all the American accents seem to a foreigner. I'm more likely to tell the difference based n the words they use then their accents." He replied with a shrug. "Well, you've talked to someone in this town now, haven't you?" He grinned. "That I have." Ivan said, giving her hand a firm shake before returning his hand to his pocket. It was always good to meet someone who wasn't stupid, as he had found at least a third of the people in his old school back in Britain were.

Maybe America has less idiots then Britain. Thought a portion of his mind, and he almost laughed aloud. You've only met one. Plus, even if people are fine in this town, remember that trip you and your parents took to New York? Ivan almost laughed again. There'd been plenty of stupid jerks. So there was no point in thinking he was ready to judge them yet. Plus, he figured that because people were the common denominator, there'd still be quite a bit of stupidity yet to discover in this town. Quickly refocusing, he waited for a reply to his question. Luckily, he wasn't the only one who'd spaced out a bit. He saw that She had taken her iPod out of her pocket and looked at the screen. Though he didn't know the specific song, he knew the group. However, he knew the group. Back a few years ago, Leah - a friend of his - had introduced him to the group.

"Ooo. Lincoln Park. I bought an album of theirs a while ago. They're pretty good." He said in reply. "I friend of mine used to really like them. She introduced me to a lot of music. Most of it had a pretty clear resemblance to rock. You'd never guess it - she was all sweet and stuff towards teachers, one of those really quiet people." He gave a little laugh. "Oh, those were the days. The four of us just doing whatever and not a care in the word." Ivan could remember back to when he was almost a teenager. Leah, Sarah, and Nick. They'd called Nick Neo one day, just to annoy him. On that night, they'd watched 'The Matrix' and the nickname had stuck.It was one of the happiest memories of his life, just messing around with those kids, free as a bird. And now he'd lost those wings, or at least the illusion of them.

[Mid]

"The four of you?" Sabrina echoed in the form of a question, "You just mentioned one other, so that makes two. Who were the other two?" She did bother continuing the argument about American accents and how they sounded to foreigners; Sabrina had decided she no longer cared to argue about that. She made her point, and even if he disagreed or she was wrong, she was done with the subject. Sabrina couldn't help but nod at him, though, almost holding her hand up to high-five him, but deciding not to, when he said Linkin Park was good. So he did have good taste in music! If he was a little country music nut, the teeenager have turned her head away and stopped speaking already.

Suddenly, it hit her. It took a bit, quite obviously, but it finally clicked in that this boy was from London. Sabrina's eyes glinted a bit, and she stood, "You're from London, aren't you?" She asked quickly, "I've always hated this puny town because it's so damned small! What's it like in a huge city like London?"

[splashofkayos]

"Yeah, the four of us. Leah is the one I told you about. She seems all sweet and feminine, but, she's a second degree black belt and going for her third. She can and will beat the crap out of you. Then there's Sarah. She's a tomboy. Sarcastic, athletic, the lot bit. We played a lot of foot ball together." Ivan said, remembered each of them vividly, before realizing his mistake. "And when I say football, I mean my kind of football. Ya know, where people use their feet. Not the American football with fat guys charging at each other. And then there's Nick. We called him Neo and occasionally annoyed him by making way too many Matrix jokes." Ivan grinned a little. "We were a group, but, I hung out with each of them individually, too. It was like having three different best friends who all hung out together some times."

Ivan allowed himself a couple seconds to be lost in those memories. The four of them sitting on the beach, attempting to bury anyone who dared fall asleep. Hanging out and riding bareback as his cousins' ranch. Lee, his cousin, was a part of the group too, though he was too far away to hang out them a lot. They were all so close. They took vacations together and everything and it was amazing and wonderful and he missed them all so much. It was only a few days, but, he'd never really spent that long away from them before in the last couple of years. He almost sighed, but then he realized that Sabrina had gotten to her feet. There was a certain shine in her eyes and he wondered what it was about. "You're from London, aren't you?" Ivan's eyes lit up quite a bit at the chance to talk about his home town. "I've always hated this puny town because it's so damned small! What's it like in a huge city like London?" Ivan grinned, warm and open.

"Oh, it's brilliant! Absolutely fantastic!" He exclaimed, spreading his hands in an exuberant hand signal. "You can walk and walk and walk and you don't come to the end, you just meet a big forest. There are people everywhere and you don't know any of them. They're not like people here who know everyone and stop to chat when you walk by. The people there are just part of the scenery, all wrapped up in there own little problems. And the buildings! They stretch into the sky, all glass and metal, clean and shining. There isn't a bunch of open space - everything is used and crowding and you never run out, never get bored. Here, there's so many endings. But in London, you never run out. And because there's so many people, you can find people like you, people who you clink with. Whereas here, there might be no one." Ivan realized he was rambling and stopped, grinning a bit sheepishly.

[Mid]

Going back to the friend subject for a moment, Sabrina said, "I can kick ass just like Leah, but it sounds like I'm more like Sarah, though I'm not very athletic," she glanced over at the gym class. "That's not my class, but I've always skipped gym class during school, anyway; found a nice corner to sit and play video games in."

"The city sounds amazing," Sabrina said. It would be harder to get caught, she almost added, before biting down on her tongue, cringing at the pain, and realizing that would be a horrible thing to say. Sabrina would be really screwing herself over if she said that to a boy who was practically a stranger. "I'd give up anything or anyone but Phoenix to go to the city."

[splashofkayos]

"I've always liked gym class, but at my old school, we played sports that I like. Like football - again, my kind - tennis, rugby. This stuff in America is pretty dumb. But I've always liked the non-sport stuff, like fitness and all." He said with a shrug. "Throwing a one of these American footballs around seems like a bad excuse for a gym class, but I guess that's how it works. Actually, football here is kinda like rugby." He hadn't seen much of American football on the telly but he didn't like what he saw. In fact, if they focused on American football, baseball, and similar sports so much, he might get a failing grade in gym. He just hated the sports - they irked him to no end.

"It is amazing." Ivan confirmed with a nod. However, he noticed Sabrina wince. He frowned, looking a little worried, "Hey, are you okay?" He asked, taking a half step closer before rethinking it and stepping back to just look at her worried, eye brows pressed together. He wasn't sure what exactly had happened - stretching of an old wound, some sore muscle being used. But he figured that she was a pretty cool person, and therefore she deserved the inquisition as to what had caused her pain. For an enemy or a stranger, he wouldn't have cared, but, he liked Sabrina - in a friendly way, of course, for he didn't even like females in the other way - and so treated her as a friend, leaving out only the trust that came with actual friendship.

But she seemed to be moving on - covering it up - so he kept up with the conversation. "And I'd give anything to go back." He said with an agreeable nod, not missing out on the other person mentioned. "Phoenix? Friend, brother, boyfriend? Cousin, maybe?" He asked, curious. It would be one of those interesting meetings, if he ever ran into this Pheonix, already having a bit of information. Knowledge is power. Well, that and intelligence. Never underestimate intelligence.

[Mid]

She was about to make a rude remark when he asked if she was okay, like she usually did to people, but decided to let it go, since he didn't know her too well. "I accidentally bit my tongue," Sabrina replied, half-lying. It wasn't an accident, but she did bite her tongue.

Feeling embarrassed at his guesses, Sabrina put her palm to her face, trying to hide how much she was blushing, "BOYFRIEND!" She snapped quickly when he suggested "brother" and "cousin", shuddering at the thoughts. "Boyfriend," she repeated, "No relations. Just boyfriend. Anyway, he's a pretty cool kid, and I think you'd like him enough. He gets along with anyone who's nice to me. As for the others, well, let's just say they leave with at least a few harsh words fresh in their minds, maybe a black eye."

Pausing for a few moments, Sabrina then said, "I don't ask him to protect me. I can do that pretty well on my own, but Phoenix does it anyway often enough."

[splashofkayos]

Okay, she'd just bit her tongue. That was fine. Nothing serious. Ivan didn't like it when people had serious injuries of any sort. But she'd just bitten her tongue, which wasn't much at all. He looked a bit relieved. He laughed a bit at her reaction to his question about Phoenix, raises his hands up slightly. "Alright then. Didn't mean to make you uncomfortable." He said with an amused grin at her reaction to the idea of her boyfriend being a family relation. People were funny like that. Ivan didn't have the same problems. Then again, as he had yet to actually have dated anyone, he couldn't exactly try to understand the way people felt about it.

"Sweet of him. You don't look like you need protecting, but if I were in your place, I'd be flattered." Ivan said with a shrug. "I've been told I can get overprotective of my friends, so I guess I'd be the well meaning idiot in any relationship. But, honestly, hold on to that boy. It's not likely you'll find another like him. Either people are too protective and therefore controlling or they don't actually care enough, but, you seem to have pulled the long straw, that perfect one in the middle." There was something honest in his voice, and the words themselves were for a point. Ivan was always glad when he found that girls he talked to had boyfriends, especially ones they were close to. It meant that there wasn't much a chance that they might like him. Then he went on to congratulate them on their relationship, for the purpose of making it clear that he had no intention on any sort of flirting or courtship. Ivan's position had often been 'that awesome gay friend'. The guy who you could do do girl things with and not have to have all that worry about how your friend might likelike you. It was a position he'd enjoyed.

"Well, if you asked him to protect you, then that would just ruin it, eh?" Ivan stated with a grin. "No one ever asks to be protected."

[Mid]

"Of course," Sabrina said steadily, "I love Phoenix. I would never let him go." She finished, a determined look in her eyes. It was true that she'd never gave him up.

Although Sabrina didn't know, the boy she was speaking to happened to be gay, and he was saying this to make it known that he had no intention on flirting with her. However, none of these thoughts made it into her mind; he came off as straight to her, and very intelligent at that, but not the flirting type.

"That's true, too." Sabrina said, "There are some people who ask to be protected, I suppose, but those are usually in dire situations, where it makes sense, or they're attention whores."

"What's your view on secrets?"

(Short, sorry. x.x)

[splashofkayos]

Ivan gave a pleased nod as she stated that. Ah, good. It eased the conversation quite a bit to him - no worries whatsoever, then. He'd never been good in dramatic situations, and the less likely his life was to be turned into a stupid TV sitcom, the better. Phoenix seemed like a nice enough guy, and considering that he was dating Sabrina - who seemed to be a very smart and powerful person - he must be doing something right. If you can get someone with an outward personally like that to love you, then you ought to be a bloody good person. In fact, for someone like Sabrina to be as determinedly in love with you, there wouldn't be really anyway to not be a good person. After all, she would probably realize if you were lying to her.

He nodded, listening. "You've got a point. There probably are some situations where it would be smart to ask for protection. Not many occur in today's world, but, some do happen." He said, thoughtfully. There were some situations - though he probably wouldn't bring it up - in a couple co-op video games he played. Ivan always made his characters small, fast, and agile, sometimes wizards or rangers. They often needed protection from bigger tank characters. But that wasn't real life and Ivan never applied video game logic to real life.

"Secrets? Well, I pride myself on honesty, so I can't honestly say yes. I mean, I've kept secrets for friends, because, well, they trust me to keep them. They're not my secrets to tell and so I don't. But, of my own, I have to secrets. As long as a secret is mine to give out to whom I choose, that's what I do. You see, you can ask me any person question about me or my home life and I'll answer honestly. But if you ask me who Neo's crushing on, expect me to refuse to answer or lie. That's my policy on secrets." Ivan said, a bit pleased with himself for his rules. It was always nice to know where one stood on the grounds of a subject.

[Mid]

Sabrina listened carefully, gulping as he finished. She still didn't know him very well. The only other one who knew was Phoenix, who she'd known for a full nine years. It was nearly worthless to ask, considering she'd probably never get close enough to Ivan to tell him of her sisters. Anita, Asuka, and Sabrina had an unspoken agreement; Anita and Asuka kept the fact that Sabrina was their sister quiet just as Sabrina kept the fact that Anita and Asuka were her sisters quiet. Out of school, they spoke and hung out quite often, but in school it was like they hardly knew each other. Of course, Anita and Asuka always presented themselves as fraternal twins, because that's how they had been raised.

Getting her family problems out of her head, Sabrina scratched her neck for a moment and asked, "You know, you never told me what class you were skipping by being out here." Sabrina said, snorting in amusement after. "I can't remember if I said it or not, but I myself am skipping math class. English and science are my best subjects, while I don't care much about history that isn't my family's, and, well, math is the cliche thing to hate, but I hate it, anyway."