Untold Words

[Stormelle]

Wesley Lane stretched as she stood and collected her books from her desk, her eyes their typical unnatural blue hidden behind red rimmed glasses that matched her v-neck t-shirt and black rope-belt and loose fitting jeans. She disliked red on herself but it'd been the only thing that was clean. She sighed inwardly at the thought of having to do laundry when she got home but was quickly distracted as her closest friend came moving into the room, they didn't share the current class but always went to their last period together. His face was cheery, as was usual for him, eyes shinning brightly and hair tousled perfectly. "Wes!" he called to her as she waved slightly at him, a hint of a smile marking her lips. "Excited for our next class? That chapter last night was pretty drab...Good thing you called me." he said, grinning sheepishly, he'd been entertaining his younger siblings, or rather, procrastinating.

"It was interesting enough." Westley said shortly, moving back toward the door Darius had just come through.

"Awww, come on Wes. It was boring and you know it."

"I found it most interesting. Wars are, in no way, boring. They are simply baffling and disturbing. Perhaps intriguing." she said, pulling her back fully onto her back as they stepped out into the hall, the windows on the opposite side of the hall filtering in the green light of the large tree in the center of the out doors commons that was used for lunch. Westley's eyes fixed on the window momentarily but then she turned to the right toward their next class.

"Ah man Wes...Your pulling your smart cards on me now. You and studying. I swear, if you didn't have such an obsession with being outside you'd be one of those creepers who only comes outside to go to and from school." he said, shaking his head and grinning all the while.

"And? What if I was?" Westley asked, giving him a sort of sharp smile over her shoulder.

"Then...I dunno...You'd look even paler standing next to me?" he said, laughing slightly. "Question, Miss Smarty," what he often called her.

"Yes, Mr. Tan?" she interrupted him, using her frequent nickname for him.

"Are we going to go on a hike this weekend? I need a break from my siblings." he said, a hint of strain tainting his cheery voice.

Westley looked at him, taking in his expression. "Yeah...But what about horse back riding? My parents wanted to go up to the stables in Santa Liona."

"Like I'm going to turn that down, just got to check with my parents." he said, smiling before sighing as a shrill belle rang through the halls. "Well then...Too class." he said.

The two of them, who'd been standing just down the hall from the class room, turned and headed into the large lecture style class room.  

[the friendly fiend]

The bell rang through Flynn's ears as she snapped awake. Her head flew up from her hand that it had been leaning against, her elbow against the desk. She swallowed and yawned as she wiped the drool from the corner of her mouth and hand on her jeans. Her hand ached from the awkward position it had been in as she stood up to gather her notebook and other books and grab her bag. She heard her teacher's voice speak to her from his desk.
"Maybe next time, Ms. Walker, you'll find the energy to stay awake during this class-and your next one." His eyebrows were furrowed as his sarcasm bounced off of her.
Wait...what? She thought as she raised one of her eyebrows slightly, she looked around the class, all the students were looking at her...except they weren't the students that were in her last class at all. Then she realized it was the second bell that had just rang.
"Aw...crap." She ran out of the classroom and hurried around another corner to her next class, passing the student common area. As she ran down the hallway, she saw students still walking into the door to class. Good, she thought with relief, I can still make it without any embarras-the thought wasn't even finished when she had accidentally dropped one of her books and then tripped over it and landed flat on her face.
"Are you kidding me!?" She called out, relishing in her luck. She laid there for a minute, not wanting to get up, feeling that it would never be worth it again. She sighed and couldn't help showing a little smile, it would make a great story to tell to Joe. She picked herself up off the ground, dusted her blue long sleeved shirt off and picked up her books and nonchalantly tried to walk into class. The teacher was already talking and casually glanced at Flynn, smirking at what he had heard in the hallway as she entered to take a seat across the classroom, her cheeks as red as her hair pulled back in a loose ponytail.

Joe had been walking through the hallway, casually thinking about skipping his next class with a couple of his friends, when they had seen Flynn barreling down the hallway, they stopped to watch her and saw her trip. They cracked up and all made 'oohs' and 'ouches' as Joe just chuckled and signaled them on, deciding to go to class after all so he could talk to Flynn after school about what he'd just seen.
"That's gonna leave a mark..." He joked with his friends.  

[Stormelle]

Wesley glanced at the girl who'd walked in behind them, watching her for a moment. How had she never noticed her before? Such a fun skin tone and hair combo, she made note of it mentally, it was rare that many people could match Darius' skin tone but this girl was ever so close. She shrugged the thought away, opening her note book, her own scrawling hand met her eyes, notes on the chapter they'd be discussing. The war that had brought "peace." The war that had brought their ancestors this land, through the suppression of it's native people, a people now extinct...Or so her father had said, along with one of his rare sharp glares.

Darius, who sat behind Wesley, looked up as she did, trying to catch the girl's eye and give her a smile, but failing. He'd noticed her before, he noticed more people than he'd admit to Wesley, she'd say he'd stolen her hobby, he laughed inwardly at the thought but quickly looked down at his book and the few pages of notes he'd managed via his favorite method, skimming! Then he fixed his eyes on the Professor.

-

"Now that are whole class is here," he began, his kindly face turning serious. Professor Kirk, one of the senior most teachers at the school, he had a slight beard which was a stark white, unlike his hair, which was a peppered color. "Before I go into notes, any questions on last nights reading?"  

[the friendly fiend]

Flynn took her seat in a chair that was in the front corner of the room. As she got her book out of her bag, she studied the cover momentarily and opened to the correct section. As she hit the right page she saw the subject and Professor Kirk's words echoed in her mind.
Crap. Crap! Remember idiot-what do you remember from what you read. I did read this right? Her hand was leaning against her mouth as she was concentrating on the floor trying to remember everything that occurred last night.
Start at-dinner...was good. Mom should make that more often...and then dad...secret food fight...aha! I went to my room after that and...began reading! She smiled to herself, but then it faded as she then recalled she had started to doze as she had reached the third page in the section.

Flynn raised her hand, Kirk gladly called on her, everyone else seemed a bit hesitant. She had to word this carefully.
"Um...I was just wondering if you could elaborate a bit, I mean, this section was a bit hard for me to understand, it just seemed really confusing." She hoped she didn't sound too stupid. Kirk sighed as he smiled and leaned back on his stool and folded his arms.
"Sure. Of course most of you would understand a lot better if you hadn't stopped after page three."
Flynn raised her head as she looked to the professor in sort of a confused yet slightly shocked look. When he looked back at her, she quickly lowered her head so he wouldn't see her expression.
How'd he know!? She thought as she looked down at the ground again.
Kirk continued with a slight chuckle, "Of course I'm joking, I know most of you finished the section-this has been one of our more interesting topics in this class."
Flynn sighed in relief as she relaxed back into her chair and tried to pay attention.
"Anyone wanna help Ms. Walker out?"  

[Stormelle]

Darius grinned, leaning forward in his seat and tapping Wesley on the shoulder. She ignored him, as was usual in class, but the Prof didn't.

"Mr. Swanson?"

"Eh? But I-...Tsk." he grabbed his notes attempting to remember the thing most interesting about the chapter. "Well...One thing that got my attention was that our ancestors conquered this land but it doesn't say who they conquered."

Kirk's expression was a curious one as he listened, a slight frown on his lips he stood and moved to the door, closing it, which he rarely did. "As interesting as my conversations have been today no one has yet asked that question. Does anyone know an answer?" he looked around the room, waiting.
Tentatively Wesley raised her hand.

"Miss Lane." there was a hint of slight shock in his voice but he nodded signifying she had the privilege to speak.

"According to some outside sources the previous inhabitants were something of a magical race." at this some laughed, thinking her a bit crazy but the professor gave the group a stern look and Wesley continued, her face only the lightest of pinks, "That our world was once like those in fairy tales. Inhabited by talking beasts and half human beasts. These inhabitants our ancestors saw as impure or even primitive when much of their societies were more advances than ours is currently, just in ways more focus on the betterment of their peoples, not the betterment of their high class."

"Well put Miss Lane. The subject she breaches is one that is not often breached, and I speak of it in the strictest confidence. It is something our Government would rather not have people know. Talking beasts, hah!" here the majority of the class snickered but stopped when they saw the expression on their professors' face, "But it's, for all of my studies, true. Any questions on the chapter or outside sources?"
 

[the friendly fiend]

Flynn turned to look up at the student who Kirk had called on. She smiled and laughed slightly at the Spaniard looking student.
She laughed to herself. haha...Spaniard...
She smiled slyly but then reminded herself to pay attention, she turned her mind to the student known as Miss Lane. Flynn tilted her head and looked up at the wall behind her as she tried to remember if she'd seen her before.
That's right...Wesley. Not very many girls with that name. Flynn smiled as she looked back at her. Well, she looks good in red, that's for sure.
She was impressed by how much she knew, she kept looking at her for a minute, smiling. She turned back around to the Professor. Man, I feel dumb.
Flynn was actually quite engrossed in the conversation, she was particularly interested, despite her minimal reading. She looked down at her book, maybe she should have read the section.
Suddenly there came a knock at the door. Kirk looked to the door and stared at it for a minute before walking over towards it and opening it. To Flynn's surprise, Joe was in the doorway.
"Mr. Evans. Always a pleasure, is there something I can help you with?" Kirk smiled as he showed Joe into the room.
Joe had one of his award winning smirks on his face as his eyes scanned the class, stopping at Flynn and smiling at her.
He turned back towards Kirk and handed him a note saying, "Thomas insisted you owed him." Kirk laughed as he took the note and went over to the desk in the middle of the room in front of the chalkboard.
"Should have known he'd need something sooner or later." Kirk replied. The class either sat there awkwardly paying attention to what was going on or flipping through pages in the textbook discussing what had just been said.
Joe casually sat on the Professor's stool and asked him what they had been studying.
"The chapter of Ancestry and Historical Arts." He replied, looking up over the note he was signing at Joseph.
He smiled fondly land replied, "Ah...that chapter..." He looked playfully over at Kirk, "You guys talk about Dragons?" He made a wiggly hand gesture when he mentioned the word Dragons.
By now most of the students were listening to their conversation, Joe was looking over them. Kirk smiled.
"As a matter of fact, no-no one has seemed to have brought it up yet."
Joe smirked and replied, "Really?" He looked at Flynn as if he was wanting her to bring it up after he left.
Kirk handed the note back to him and smiled again as Joe jumped off the stool and headed back towards the door.
"Tell Professor Thomas that he'll be the one owing me before this is all through." He smiled as he saw Joseph Evans out the door. Before he exited, he turned back towards the Professor and gave him the gun point with another smile as he replied, "Will do." He looked to the rest of the class and winked as he walked out the door.
The girl sitting next to Flynn sighed as she heard her whisper, "He's so dreamy!"
Flynn's expression went flat as she leaned her head on her hand and looked away.
Gag me. She thought. He'll hear it this time.
 

[Stormelle]

Wesley watched intently as the boy came in, him she'd noticed before, he was often the center of attention among the seniors, or the ones she knew the faces of, but she'd never really payed him much attention aside from noting his eyes. Hearing him talk and watching his obnoxious manners, they were the one things that got under her skin that somehow Darius just didn't do. A hint of a glare crossed her face as the boy exited, too much flare, too much. As soon as he was gone what he'd said hit her. Dragons? What on earth were dragons?

As Wesley pondered Darius, for perhaps the first time in his career at this school, raised his hand, Kirk nodded to him. "Dragons Professor? Like in the mythology of the Arcans?"

"Mythology it may be to us but to them, I think, it was very real." he said, nodding as he spoke.

Wesley's brow furrowed very slightly a thoughtful expression coming to her eyes she raised her hand slowly, "But...Professor...If this is all true doesn't that make our originalleader a Tyrant? And if we are not from here where are we from?"

"Both good observations, our leader was more than likely a Tyrannical king or queen but it has been thousands of years and-"

Here Wesley stopped listening, looking away and scribbling something in her notebook, something that read along these lines, "And we still are a tyrannical nation..."

As Wesley tuned Kirk out, Darius continued to listen, "as for where we came from...That's another theory. We could be from one of the isles of the seas, or the continent of the west but there are certain books that point to a different theory...The theory that this world was once, in the days of it's highest magic, linked to other worlds."
 

[the friendly fiend]

Whoa.
Flynn never really knew that this kind of history existed. Sure, she'd heard stories and rumored legends, but nothing so serious as this. Mythical creatures, tyrannical leaders?
Flynn felt like she wanted to do some more studying on the topic, as rare as that was. Maybe she could even stop by the library on the way home.
In the classroom, one of the students raised their hand.
"Let me get this straight. Are suggesting that our 'tyrannical' ancestors came from another world?"
Kirk sighed as he looked to the student and replied, "Not necessarily, but there are stories in ancient mythology that talk about a strange people coming to this land and conquering."
Flynn furrowed her brow. Their history wasn't limited to some silly stories in ancient mythology, was it? Then she recalled that she had heard these stories before.
"Yeah-I remember when I was little my parents telling me tales like that," She continued as some students gave her some weird and questioning looks, "But only, for like, bedtime stories."
Kirk nodded in agreement.
"That's pretty much all we're left too. Some of the elements in those stories are true, some aren't, and some-well, I guess we'll never know. You see, stories are passed down generation to generation. Some change little, while others change drastically, sometimes according to the situation or experience the storyteller has had. So it's one of the main reasons we're only left to speculation."
Flynn nodded along with the rest of the class.
Something was still bothering her though. She raised her hand.
Kirk nodded to her as she brought up her question.
"But what exactly are Dragons? I mean-what do they look like? What do they do?"
"You, Ms. Walker, and your cousin, share that common interest, as well as the color of your hair." He laughed slightly as he continued to reply to her question. Flynn snorted silently and thought, if Joe only knew what having real red hair was like...
"They are said to be described in many ways. The only way I know how to explain it in the most general description is that they are giant reptilian creatures, with large wings and a long tail. In some stories, they have said that people even used to ride these creatures, sometimes even into battle. They also had great abilities, like that of actually speaking human language and breathing fire. The exact purpose of the majestic beasts seems to be unclear in most of the stories or rare historical facts about them."
Most of the students were fascinated and were looking at the Professor as if wanting more information. Flynn however, was doubting him when he said that she shared a common interest with Joe. Reptiles that speak and breathe fire? That's some weird juju.
Flynn looked back up as she heard Kirk's voice.
"Any comments or questions before we move on?"

(OOC: long post is loooong.)  

[Stormelle]

Darius listened quietly, his blue eyes flicking toward the red headed girl for a moment as she spoke, then shaking his head as the Professor asked if anyone else had more questions before they continued. He looked up at the time keeper on the wall, class was a little over half over. If he could have kept the discussion going her would have, sadly, not so. He looked at his note again, where in the heck had Wes been reading to get the information she had? Certainly not in the government issued text book. He'd have to ask her about it later.

Wesley had tuned the group of people out, it was something she was good at, tuning people out when she was angry or annoyed. Currently she was annoyed at the idea of their past government, it disgusted her. Looking up for a moment, and actually listening, she caught the part about the dragons being able to speak human tongue. She raised her hand, a slight fire showing in her blue eyes.

Kirk, looking surprised at her raising her hand once more nodded to her.

"Are you implying that the dragons are the only other life of intelligence that was once here? If, like I stated earlier, there really were smart beasts, talking animals, why would it be so shocking that a mythical beast could talk?"

Kirk was taken aback a moment, shaking his head, "You act as if this is personal Miss Lane. Please, this is all hypothetical, my studies of mythology, I highly doubt that such creatures existed. And if they did, it is as out government states, they are now extinct."

Wesley glared slightly but sad nothing more, a sort of eerie and awkward silence creeping into the room for a moment before Kirk went on with the rest of their lesson.

Darius raised an eyebrow, wow, someone had managed to get Wes to show her stubborn side in public. A small smirk crept onto his lips, another thing they'd have to talk about later.  

[the friendly fiend]

Flynn turned back to her desk after looking to the girl, Wesley, ask her question and Professor Kirk answer it.
That was intense.
She looked at the timekeeper up on the wall and was surprised to see how much time had gone by. Class was a little more than half over. She looked down at her book and flipped a few pages, trying to get more information on what they were talking about. She tried to read a couple of passages, but as Professor Kirk's voice carried across the room as he began to talk about regular historical figures in later history distracted her. She sighed as she leaned back in her chair and looked up to him and tried to pay attention.

As soon as the bell rang to signify the end of the school day, most students, yawning or still discussing the beginning of class walked out into the hall and headed towards the doors that led outside. Flynn picked up her books and stuffed them in her bag as she lazily walked out the door and sighed.
Another day gone. She thought as she ran her hand through her bangs and began walking towards the doors as well.
She hadn't walked two feet when Joe caught up with her. He had run up and put his arm around her.
"Hey Flynn-how was Kirk's class?" He smiled as he waited for her answer, they were both walking with the crowd of students towards the doors.
"It was alright." Her flat look explained more than the word itself, but then she stopped herself.
"Don't get me wrong, it is interesting...I just don't see how it's particularly relevant to today." Her flat look returned.
He slapped her lightly on the back of the head and replied with, "Don't say that-it's interesting to see history and what happened before us and how we got to become who we are." Flynn scowled as she rubbed the back of her head and rolled her eyes. There he goes, being smart again.
Flynn was one of the only people who knew that Joseph Evans was actually one of the smartest in his class. She didn't know, however, why he acted like such a goose.
He saw one of his friends and gave him a heads up, he turned to Flynn and said, "Hey-I'll see you tonight, alright?"
"Yeah." She gave a small smile and waved goodbye. Once he had turned around she muttered under her breath, angry at him for making her walk home alone.
When Flynn reached the point where three hallways joined and ended in the doors that led to the outside courtyard in front of the school, she hesitated. She looked down the hallway to her right, in front of the door to the library, there was a gathering of students. Most of them from her last class, they were crowding each other trying to get in, when a librarian stopped them. Flynn could hear her loud voice over all the commotion in the hall.
"For the last time-there are no books here on Ancestry and Historical Arts. I keep reminding Professor Kirk to tell his students, and yet he forgets every year." Flynn smirked, looks like she hadn't been the only one with the idea to check it out further.
She heard two teachers taking on the spectacle and listened in for a moment.
"Well, this happens every year about this time. Kirk had been encouraged by a number of people to dispense with the topic, but he refuses to leave his students in the dark. " The other teacher chuckled and began talking about some assignment or other. She turned towards the doors and began walking as most of the students had cleared out. Maybe she should just check the library in town. Flynn scoffed. Maybe I should just forget about it all together.
 

[Stormelle]

Darius seemed to spring out of his seat as the bell rang, pausing as Wesley collected her books and bag. "So...Where did you about this stuff Wes?"

Wesley glanced at him, sighing and pulling off her glasses so the full flare of her contacts became obvious, rubbing her eye slightly, "Some books my dad had hidden in the far corner of our library. He yelled at me when he found out I'd read them but didn't take them out of the library if you want to read them."

"Erm...Me plus reading text book for fun equals no-go...Remember?" he asked, laughing and grinning.

"They're full of mythology that you might enjoy though. I'll bring a few tomorrow if you like."

"Nah, best not. Just bring 'em with you when we go this weekend."

"But you still need to check with your parents." she said as she paused, opening her locker and dumping several of her books into it, she'd finished the majority of her homework while the teacher was lecturing about the previous days' work.

"How 'bout I come over tonight then and let you know?"

"Can't. I've already planned what I want to do and you are not invited."

If she'd said that to anyone but Darius they might have been insulted but he knew Wesley too well, she didn't mean it to be rude, she just knew what she wanted to do and didn't want to change it, that was her stubborn streak. "Fine, fine. I'll call your house and leave a message with your mum, that cool?" for he knew that if she had plans he'd be hard pressed to even be able to get her on the phone.

She nodded, closing her locker, "Sounds good. If your not coming horseback riding then I'll bring the books tomorrow."

"Cool. Maybe I'll be able to pick something out of them to get Kirk off subject again." he said with a smirk, one that Wesley raised an eyebrow at as they reached the front doors, one of Darius' friends waving at him from down the right hand hall.

"See you tomorrow." she said, putting her glasses back on as she slung her bag over her head and headed out the door.

Darius waved belatedly and went to talk with the other guy, he made a comment about how the two of them were always together and Darius raised an eyebrow, "Seriously dude? Where have you been the last five billion times I've told everyone. She and I are just friends. Ah man..." he'd just glanced at one of the timekeepers posted in the halls, "I've gotta go."

-

Truth be told Darius could have lingered, he walked slowly away from the school, hand behind his head, eyes directed at the sky, thinking. It had been a rather interesting lesson. He shrugged and as he grew closer to his house starting thinking up what he'd tell his parents about this weekend, in the distance he heard a sharp squeal and looked across the street to see his eldest sister's daughter, his niece, waving at him her large eyes alight and excited. "Dang..." Darius mumbled, if his sister, or sisters, were in town there would be little way for him to escape this weekend.

"Heya 'Liva." he said, smiling at the six-year-old and ruffling her deep brown hair. "How are ya?" he asked, kneeling and picking her up.

-


Wesley's mother had been waiting for her outside and as soon as she'd closed the door to the car she was off. "How was your day dear?" she asked, smiling as the sun reflect off her hair, a short version of her daughters at least color wise.

"Good." Wesley said, giving no further response. Her mother nodded and still smiling she kept driving till they arrived at their house. Wesley gave her a hug, dropped her bag in the house and picked up her small orange fluffy tabby and put him on her shoulders where he lay, purring. Picking up one of her leather bound notebooks which she used for sketching and notes not related to school and then headed out into their large backyard. Once outside she settled under their largest tree which was in the far right corner, it had been there before her parents owned the house even. Settling under the tree she began to flip through her notebook as her cat, Samson, clambered down from her shoulders and began meandering around the yard, coming back to her every few minutes.

"Mum...Dad...?" Darius said tentatively as he waited for their answer. His mother looked at his father and her began.
"Well...Since your sisters are here..."

At that Darius put his hands up, smiling, "Got it. I'll just go tell them another time." his mother smiled and his dad nodded and he turned, picking up the phone and dialing the number to Wesley's house.

"Hello?"

"Mrs. Lane? Hey, it's Darius. Wes invited me to come horseback riding with you guys this weekend but my sisters are in town so I won't be able to come. Can you let Wes know?" he asked.

"Of course Darius. We'll let you know next time and hope it isn't so ill-planned."

"Thanks. Bye."

"Goodbye."

He hung up, sighing deeply, going back to his family, ready to enjoy the meal his mother was preparing, knowing it'd be his one chance to escape to his room afterward.

-

"Dinner!" came Wesley's mother's voice from their balcony.

Wesley looked up from her notes, glasses low on her nose, eyes bright, Samson in her lap after an afternoon of playing. She put her pen in it's place and strapped the notebook closed, heading in.

Dinner was a quiet affair, or for her, her parents were discussing the retreat this weekend, Wesley was thinking about which books she should bring to Darius.

-

The next morning Wesley woke early, dressing quietly and brushing through her hair, which was a crazy mess of wavy curls that fell nearly to her bum when down. She looked at it in the mirror, pulling a slight face, she didn't feel like braiding it today, instead she pulled it up into a high pony tail, which was still almost as annoying as braiding it, if not more so. Once her hair was up she put her contacts in, glasses on, and a pair of black shoes that went with her now clean earthy brown shirt and jeans. Once completely ready she headed, quietly, toward the library, picking out three books she'd mentally picked out last night, setting the other books so that he father would be less likely to notice the absence of the others.

After which she proceeded to eat a light breakfast and placed a note on the counter telling her mother she was riding her bike to school.

She arrived at school early but still didn't find Darius, it was likely he was late due to his family visiting. The day seemed to fly by, even when she did pay attention, at lunch Darius wasn't there either. She wondered at this, frowning slightly, but shrugged it off, and headed to her second to last class. Mathematics, boring, she was far ahead any of the other students and so turned in the assignment half way through the class and spent the rest of it thinking about the previous day's history class.

As the bell to go to the last class period finally rang she stood, slinging her bag over her shoulder and heading out the door, Darius didn't meet her, she puzzled at this till he met her at the door of Kirk's room, panting slightly.

"Sorry, my parents oh so graciously let me skip my classes today...But I wanted to come to this one." he said, grinning slightly, though she could see he hadn't really been enjoying his free time.

The pair of the stepped into the class room, surprised to see no one there. No students, that was understandable, Wesley moved fast when by herself, and Darius hadn't wanted to be late. But no Prof. Kirk. He never missed without warning them. Both of them gave each other a puzzling look before taking their customary seats. Darius proceeded to tell Wesley about the previous day and today and how he was thinking about going on a hike tomorrow and wondered if she would mind him starting at the trail head in her backyard.
 

[the friendly fiend]

(Seriously? I am so sorry. Longest post of my life. haha. ^^ wink

As Flynn closed the front door to their small home, she dropped her backpack on the ground and slumped down on the couch and sighed. At the sound of Flynn's entrance, her mom got up from her chair and walked over. Dad was in his study as usual.
"Hey-how was school?"
"Good."
This was the usual routine, word for word, ever since Flynn could remember. She never knew why, but she would just always say good, even if it had been a crappy day.
"Well, you need to fix your hair up and get ready because we're going over to Ben and Lizzy's house early today." Her mom said as she pushed back part of Flynn's bangs. Her mother's hair had once been the color of Flynn's, when she was younger. Now it had softened out to a nice auburn color.
"What? Why?" Flynn asked annoyingly. Why did they have to go over to her aunt and uncles house so early? She had just gotten home, she needed her rest!
Her dad walked in with his glasses still on and a book in his hand. He smiled when he saw them and said excitedly back, "Because it's little Audreys's fourth birthday! And I made the cake!" He was particularly proud of himself for this.
Learning this, Flynn's whole attitude changed. She got a small smile on her face as she turned to her mom.
"Don't worry, I've already packed the spare cookies in the trunk. No telling what it'll taste like-I still can't get over how awful those brownies were last time." Her mom said in a low voice, they both giggled as her dad looked at them suspiciously.
~
"...happy birthday dear Auuuuu-dreeey!! Happy Birthday to you!" Their voices were terribly off pitch and not in sync at all, but now four year old Audrey squealed and clapped when they were finished and she blew out the singular candle on the small cupcake that had been made for her. They all clapped and cheered as Elizabeth Evans, Flynn's Aunt, took the candle out and gave Audrey the cupcake. The cake that Flynn's dad had made was sitting in the far corner of the kitchen, and most everyone knew why.
"Hey Amy," said Flynn's dad, calling to his wife, and eating a cookie at the same time, "you gotta try these out, they're amazing. Hey! Who made these cookies?!" Flynn and her mom shared a secret laugh as his request was forgotten over all the commotion. In the Evans house, there were always little ones and teenagers and adults everywhere, chatting, making jokes and having a great time just being with each other.
Flynn usually hung out around Joe and his older brother, Hyrum, but today Hyrum wasn't there. Flynn loved it at the Evans house. She loved her Aunt and Uncle and their family, they made her laugh all the time. Being best friends with Joe helped a lot. At these family get-togethers, they usually played with the younger siblings, Joe's two little sisters, or chilled with the rest of the family. Nights like these happened at least once or twice a week.
~
"Well, just think about it. If the government actually allowed us to learn about things like this-then maybe the situation wouldn't be so touchy." Joseph argued. They were all sitting around an outside patio table. Both sets of parents, Flynn, Joe, and Joe's oldest brother and his wife.
His dad, one who actually worked in the government replied, "That may be true son, but there's a lot of things you don't know about the past. A lot of wrongs were committed to get to where we are now."
Flynn dad chimed in, in one of his more serious tones, "I remember learning about it back in school. Even then it was touchy." Most of them nodded in agreement. Joe persisted to argue with his father.
"If you're so sure that the government's corrupt then why don't you quit your job?"
Silence persisted around the table until his dad replied.
"It's because I need a good way to provide for my family, and stinkers like you. And besides, the office that I work in doesn't deal with problems like this. I promise everything I do for the betterment of our society." Joe seemed to think this a plausible answer but he was getting into one of his moods again.
While I have no idea what they are talking about. Flynn thought with some disappointment in herself.
Then Joe's older brother spoke.
"People who do speak against the government are not looked kindly on. In fact, back when I was in school Professor Kirk was highly criticized for teaching the little on that subject matter that he did in his class. I can't imagine what it must be like for him now." Flynn's chewed on that thought for awhile, but eventually put it aside, Joe remained silent and thoughtful.
~
The next day, Flynn woke up to her alarm and rolled over. She did not want to get up. But when the smell of pancakes wafted into her room she jumped out of bed and ran into the kitchen.
"Surprise!" Her parents yelled as she entered the room. As soon as she smiled and was informed as to what was going on, her dad soon left for work.
"Eh, we thought you could use a good start to your day." Was all the explanation she needed as she scarfed down the pancakes.
As she grabbed her books and headed out the door, she saw a black car waiting for her. It appears she wouldn't be walking today.
Things just keep getting better and better! She thought with a smile. As she opened the door to the back, she saw Joe pouring over his math homework.
"Stayed up a little two late did we?" She said with a smirk.
He smiled as she slid in next to him.
"Na, just finishing up some extra credit work." She scowled as she looked out the window.
Figures. She thought.
~
As she walked out of her second to last class, giving her teacher a look before she walked out, she yawned. It was always around this time in the afternoon when she got especially tired. Last class period she had especially made sure she was awake when the bell rang, giving the teacher and the students something to laugh about. As she slowly walked to her next class, she thought about what they had discussed last night, subconsciously avoiding other students that crowded the hallway trying to get to their next class.
For some reason, Joe had been particularly upset about what he had learned from his father. Flynn furrowed her brow as she became slightly worried about him. Sometimes he turned into a person she didn't know very well when he got worked up about things.
As she entered Kirk's room as she lazily looked up to find it empty. Except for a few students here and there, it was completely barren. Even Kirk wasn't there, and that was unusual. She looked confused but then shrugged and sat down.
Then the second bell rang. Flynn was still confused.
What is going on? She thought as she looked to the other students. It seemed like they didn't have any answers either.

Suddenly it was like a wave as students came pouring, all of them shouting and arguing about something. When they saw some students in the classroom looking kind of clueless, mainly Flynn, they all starting yelling and arguing even louder. Her confusion grew.
Suddenly two boys pushed through the crowd and looked around. Students began to fill into their normal seats, but still as loud as ever. In the confusion, one of the boys slipped past everyone and sat in an empty chair next to Flynn. To her surprise, it was Joe.
"What are you doing here?" She said as she looked around and asked, "And what is going on?"
He opened his mouth to reply but at that moment a teacher came walking through the door with a not so pretty look on his face. He wasn't very nice either.
"Quiet!!!" He stood in front of the class with his arms folded. At the sound of his voice, the students were hushed. Joe turned forward as if nothing were unusual.
"Now, " the teacher continued, "as most of you have heard, Professor Kirk has taken some vacation days. He'll actually be gone for quite a while." While some of the students were appeased, most began whispering again.
"I will be your substitute teacher until he returns, if he does. I believe that you were in section seven of your reading. If you all would open up to it now and complete the guided readings"
One student raised her hand.
"Excuse me, but we were actually on section eight." The teacher gave her a harsh look.
"His notes say section seven, and you will do section seven."
Whoa. Flynn thought as she turned back towards Joe when most of the murmurings had quieted down. She repeated her question.
"Didn't you hear him? Kirk took some 'vacation' days."
Flynn stared at him for a moment and shook her head.
"Everyone has vacation days." She replied.
"Not Professor Kirk. If you know him like I do, you'd know. He's been teaching here for a long time-and not once has he taken a vacation day. And besides, if he was going on vacation, don't you think he would have told somebody?"
Flynn nodded as she thought it strange. Kirk was a great teacher who loved what he did, he usually told them if he were going to be away.
Joe continued to prove his point.
"And didn't you hear him? He said he's the substitute until he comes back-if he does."
"So what are you implying?"
"Rumor has it, he's been sacked. But I think it's a lot worse than that."
"How could it be worse?"
"Well, every year Kirk insists on teaching the section of Ancestry and Historical Arts, and I know you know he's gotten a lot of flack for that. This time around, I think it's serious."
Flynn's blood froze.
"So you think the government has something to do with this?"
Joe shushed her as he looked around, most of the students were discussing the same thing, except without much depth.
"Keep your voice down. There's no way of telling who's responsible for this, but something's telling me that Kirk won't be coming back."
Flynn gasped. "You mean...like...like...they're gonna kill him?"
Joe looked at her with a solemn face. Then he slapped her on the back of the head again.
"No, you goose. The worst thing that could happen is he'd lose his teaching license." He laughed and shook his head as he looked up at the teacher, who was telling more students to be quiet. Then he turned back to Flynn.
"Or so we can only hope." He sighed and looked at her and smirked for reassurance. He then got up from his chair and walked out of the classroom. Flynn stared in confusion, with her mouth open as he walked out the door.
The same look was on the teacher as he called him out.
"Excuse me! Where do you think you're going!?" Joe turned around and gave him a smile and said, "Oh, I'm not in this class, check the roster." The teacher nodded and went to go check the roll, but as he looked up and down the list he looked back at the doorway to ask his name, but Joe was already gone.
Flynn was still looking at the doorway in confusion.
How does he do it?
She thought back to what he had said. How does he know so much about this stuff?

She bit her lip. What if he was right? What if something did happen to Prof. Kirk because of what he taught? There's no way they'd try anything now...but...what if he was right?
 

[Stormelle]

Wesley's face paled very slightly, she understood the words which the substitue teacher spoke, perhaps more than most. She shivered slightly as she did was she was told, ignoring Darius' incesent poking. Hadn't he heard? This wasn't right, but there was little that they could do. At least here. She flipped her book open to the section the teacher had mentioned and then leaned forward seeming to focus her eyes on the page, ignoring the scene as Joe eixited, leaving behind him a rather large chatter, which the teacher quickly quieted with a stern look. She looked up at the face of the younger man, trying to remember if she'd seen him before, wondering. Her mouth became a thin line as she pulled out her note book and began to scribble away in it, every so often looking at her book so as to give the apperance of studying the proper material.

Darius sank back into his seat, his blue eyes wide and staring, could the inflections in the teachers voice, if he really was a teacher, mean what he thought they did? "If he does..." the simple sentence rang in his head, Wesley was sribbling wildly in her notebook, giving the apperance of compliance. He knew her to well to fall into that trap, it was a rutiene she even adoptopted at home around her father, she alwasy had pen and paper with her. It was something that came in very handy if he happened to space out. He opened his bag and pulled out his textbook, flipping to section seven and looking at it boredly, ironically, this was a section he'd actually already read. He stared at the title page blankly, his happy expression having for once fallen off his face. He understood all to well what was going on. He and Wesley had discussed it time and time again, and though he'd often shrugged it off once she got to far for him to really understand he did know one thing. She thought he father was involved in that portion of the government, something that disconcerted her, especially because the illegal books were in her home. Wether the government knew this or not she'd never been sure. Darius leaned forward onto his hand, gripping at his hair and messing it out of it's "perfect" disarray. He'd never felt the need to be so silent. But the ominous gloom and confusion that still stuck in the air probably contributed to that. He shivered and slowly leaned forward, tapping Wesley on the shoulder once more. "Wes...Do you have a pen and some paper I can borrow?"

She didn't even look at him, simply pulled a pen out, handing that to him, and then freeing from paper from one of her binders and handing that to him in a few quet motions, doing her best not to attract the attention of the teacher and making sure her backpack was zipped up as soon as she was done.

In the brief moment in which Darius was able to see her face she looked both frightened and angry. Her expressive eyes hidden behind her mock glasses and the contacts she wore. But then the moment passed and taking the papers Darius began to join Wesley's ruse, which was harder for him to put up, but that way the teacher might pay less attention to them, if his motions didn't seem rehearsed, which, if one watched him, they didn't.

-

The class moved slowly, occassionally becoming loud as a student attemopted to raise a question or the point that they had read this section already. When the bell finally rang a good portion of the students were asleep, an odd occurance for Kirk's class, and the ones that were awake looked distressed or noncaring. As the bell rang Wesley stood slowly, rolling her wrist in her customary habit after she'd just written for an extended period of time, and shoved her pen and notebook back into her backpack before slinging it over her shoulders and picking up her text book. "Coming?" she asked Darius, who was staring rather blankly at the pages of his books.

He started and gave a rather false smile, "Yeah." he said and quickly collected all his things, holding her pen out to her, Wesley shrugged and the two of them exited.

"Mind if I come home with you for a few? I rode my bike today." she explained and Darius, though still seeming distant, nodded and the two proceeded to Wesley's locker and then toward the front doors.  

[the friendly fiend]

Joseph Evans entered his Math class as he took his regular seat each morning. Other students were pouring in also, as he greeted his two friends. As the bell for the first class of the day rang, one of his friends turned to him as they all three huddled together. It usually took a while for their teacher to get there.
"Dude, I hear they got Prof. Kirk up on something."
"What? Where'd you hear that?"
"Principal and Administrator were discussing it this morning in the office, Jay and I had attendance issues, I was a little surprised to see they hadn't called you down too." Said the other one. Joe smirked.
"You guys get it all straightened out?" He asked, he didn't want his friends to take blame when skipping class was usually his idea.
"Yeah dude, we still had some of those blank attendance slips from last semester." They both smirked back at him as Joe gave them both a fist bump.
"Excellent work."
At that moment the teacher walked in, looking a little upset, but didn't make any particular mention about it.
"Sorry I'm late, but we were stuck late in a teacher's meeting." He set his briefcase down and looked at the class. One student's hand was raised, he called on her.
"Professor Thomas-is it true that Professor Kirk has been fired?"
"What?!" Joe questioned as many other students began whispering.
He looked up from the rim of his glasses and sighed. He wondered how things like this got out so quickly.
"He hasn't been fired, but he's on a temporary leave."
"But why?"
Professor Thomas could give them only one answer.
"For teaching on the subject of Ancestry and Historical Arts."

~

The school was literally buzzing. Could it be true that Professor Kirk was in trouble for teaching about History? Kirk wasn't a bad guy-he just loved to teach, and wanted to get things down right, for his students. He loved his students. These thoughts raced through Joe's head as he entered the commons. He saw Flynn sitting by herself eating her lunch her mom had prepared her. Knowing her, she probably didn't know. Flynn didn't pay attention most of the time. It was surprising that most of the school had the inside loop. Of course, a high percentage of their parents worked for the government. He smirked as he stood there looking at Flynn for a moment. Sometimes, he wished he could be like her. Oblivious to the world and...innocent. He began walking towards her to tell her the news and to just chat, but the bell rang as a crowd again appeared as students headed to class. He looked in and around and between people to try and reach her, but when he looked back, she was gone. He would see her before her last hour, Kirk's class. Maybe he should just wait and let her find out on her own. But he laughed to himself as he headed to his next class and thought, knowing her, she'll never figure it out.

~

As Joe walked out of Professor Kirk's room, or what had used to be his room, he was smiling. That had been a trick he pulled more than once his sophomore year, when he was still learning the ropes. Of course now, he'd had it down pat to where he could suavely disappear without the teacher noticing.
After class was over he waited outside the door for Flynn and sighed when it took her forever. It usually did.
When she came back out she had a serious look on her face.
"So?" He asked, as they began walking with the mass of other students.
She looked at him and then looked back down at the ground, and replied, "I got yelled at twice for sleeping and once for reading the wrong section." In spite of the seriousness of the situation, Joe laughed. They stopped at his locker and he dropped off most of his books. As he was looking inside, double checking to make sure he hadn't forgotten anything for the weekend, he heard a familiar voice behind him and sighed. He closed his looker and slowly turned around with Flynn on his left to face Alec Daniels.
"Hey Evans, you hear Kirk got sacked!? Awesome, right? Of course, you wouldn't care much about that. Or would you?" Alec had known that Kirk and Joe had been good friends ever since last year. The truth was that Alec was just a jerk in general. A rich kid with no spine at all.
"Get out of my way Alec. I don't have time for your sissy jokes today." Joe wasn't intimidated by him, since Alec came up to about Joe's shoulders.
"I'm not the one being a sissy here Evans, it's you...let's see, or is it your father?"
"What does my father have to do with this?"
Joe's father worked nearly in the same office with Alec's, yet their attitudes about society were noticeably different. Alec's father was one of the many corrupt officials, and yet he had so slyly slipped past the radars that he had gained much more at so many other's expense.
"He's one of the only ones in the regional office actually defending Kirk. I mean give me a break, it's kind of pathetic."
Joseph sighed again as it took all his willpower not to punch him right in the mouth.
"It's you who's pathetic. Just leave me alone."
Alec took two steps closer to Joe but still looked up to him. His mocking tone was gone, a serious one in its place.
"I'll take you on anytime, Evans. And you know I'll beat you."
Joe raised an eyebrow.
"Are you serious?" He scoffed as he turned to Flynn, "Come on, let's go."
Alec was silent, but when he looked to Flynn, his mocking tone had returned.
"Oh, and who's this? Pretty little sister, or cousin perhaps?" His smile made Flynn flinch as he grabbed a lock her red hair, she backed up slightly as he continued to approach closely.
"We'll just have to break you of that habit."
Flynn was grimacing and looking away, her embarrassment growing.
Joe grabbed his shoulder and shoved him into the wall away from her. He gave him a threateningly look as Alec grunted and gave him a look in return that seeped poison.
He gently grabbed Flynn's shoulder and led her away quickly. She hugged her books and stared at the ground as he led her out the front doors. Many of the students that had paused to watch had now moved on, most of them laughing at Alec because of his foolishness to challenge Joe.
Alec spit on the ground and glared at Joe's back as he walked away.
 

[Stormelle]

Wesley walked quietly along side Darius, wheeling her bike along on the edge of the rode and walking through the grass with Darius on the sidewalk. "So, mom and dad are thinking about going abrode this summer and I'm not sure what I want to do. Do you have any plans?" she said, hoping to bring him out of his moppy expression, but failing, he simply shrugged and kept walking. She paused, he kept walking, she sighed. "Dar?" she rarely called him that, but it did make him look up. "Here are the books, read some of it, if you can manage." she said, smiling slightly. He nodded, taking the books, though still giving no smile or hint of one too her. "Guess I'd better get going." she said, removing her glasses and putting them in her backpack and mounting her bike, pedaling along side him for a minute, hoping he'd crack a joke or just smile or realy react. Seeing that it was a lost cause she shrugged. "See you on monday." she said, before pushing off of the curb and turning back the way they'd come, toward her house.

Darius looked up at the noise of her moving away, "Wait..." he said quietly, wishing he knew what to say. He laughed slightly, though it was more of defeat than anything, looking at the books. Probably wasn't a good idea to advertise that he had them, he let his backpack fall off one shoulder and opened the zipper, putting the books in, and then zipping it back up and retunring it to it's normal position.

At home he did his best to smile, though he could see his eldest sister watching him with a concerned expression, he shot a smirk he way and she smiled slightly, looking away. He continued this sharrade through dinner.

-

When Wesley finally got home her father could be seen heading toward the front door while her mother was closing the trunk top on their small SUV-ish car. "Hello dear!" she called, waving to Wesley. "Ready to go?" she asked, smiling.
"You put my bag in there?" Wesley asked, wheeling her bike into their garage. He mother nodded and Wesley nodded in return. "Just lemme go say goodbye to Samson." she said, dropping her bookbag in the car and heading into the house. "Samson!" the cat mewed loudly and she found him quickly, setting him outside with a large water bowl and large bowl of food, as they usually did when they were gone during good weather periods. "Bye, see you on sunday night." she said, giving him a good scratch behind his ears and then heading back around the house where her mother and father waited in the car.

Wesley stepped in, taking her seat quietly, "Alright! Let's go." her father said, in a rather cheery voice. A voice she currently despised. What had he done? She glared at the back of his seat as he mother turned on some classical music, drab, but it'd work. Wesley sighed, pulling out her own music player and putting it in her ears, letting herself drift to sleep.

-

Darius sighed, as soon as dinner was done he pulled his sister aside, "I need a break...I'll be back in a few hours, k?" he asked but she automatically nodded.

"I'll cover for you with mom and dad." she said, smiling and waving him out the door, luckily he'd already grabbed his bookbag and so he proceeded out the door.

Once out he quickly put his backpack on and began to run, letting his mind clear as he ran. Listening only to the rythmn of his feet as they hit the pavement.

After about a half hour he reached his goal, Wesley's house, he came here often when he could, so even with the house empty he didn't feel odd, he simply meandered into the back yard. He heard a soft mewing and looked behind him. "Hey Samson." he said, crouching and petting the cat who attempted to get onto his lap despite the fact that he wasn't really sitting. Darius shrugged, picking the cat up and heading into the forst just behind the Lane's home. After a few minutes he found a good tree to sit under and began to read, however, in the comfortable coolness of the evening with a purring cat on his lap, it is hard to stay awake. And so, he driffted off to sleep.

-

Wesley woke as soon as the car pulled to a stop, yawned, and stretched as she stepped from the car. "Time to unload" her father said as he stepped out of the car, pocketing the keys and heading to the now open back. Her mother followed and she fell into step. They unloaded their stuff into a small cabin, built only for sleeping in. Below them, for the place was taraced, were the stables an a large cabin where you could find food. Here there were several cabins where those who owned horses, or those who wanted to come for a week or weekend of trail riding the stables' horses, could come. The Lanes had their own horses, plus a few that they payed for that were trail horses. As soon as things in the small cabin were settled they parked the car properly, Wesley grabbed her shoulder bag, a thin bag that fit only her leather-bound note book and a few writting utensils.

Dinner proceeded and afterward Wesley's mother stood, smiling slightly, "I've got to get some rest....Not feeling too well. But you two should go on a ride. Like old times." she said, before waving and walking away. Wesley stared with slight shock at her mothers' retreating back. This was the thing she wanted the least. She was no longer igorant to her father's job, if only she was, she sighed inwardly following behind her father toward the stalls where their horses were kept. Her horse, a great buckskin bay gelding, knickered at her as she saw her, his large dark eyes seeming to take her in. "Hey Caspian." she said, smiling at the great beast and stroking his neck as she watched her dad great his roan mare.

"How was school?" her dad asked as he began to brush his horse down.

Wesley glanced toward him but he wasn't looking at her at all. "Fine." she said cooly.

"Only fine?" her dad's voice did sound questioning.

"Yeah...Well....One of the teachers is on leave...."

"Why does that change a day from good to fine?" he asked, still brushing his mare.

Wesley, who had finished brushed Caspian was now saddling him. "Because he was a good teacher." she said stubbornly.
"And? He's just on leave."

"Dad...It was one of your people." there was contempt in her voice now, her eyes were narrowed as she adjusted the sturrups. "He said something about 'if he comes back'. It's not right, what you do."

"Hey now. Who said I have anything to do with Prof. Kirk?"
"I didn't say his name." she hissed, having just put Caspian's briddle on she shoved the stall gate open and mounted swiftly and gracefully, urging Caspian through the hall and out the door to her father's feble cry of "Wait!"

"Wait? Wait? Why should I? Why would I?" she hissed into Caspian's mane as the two of them took to the first path she could see, Caspian moving egarly underneath her, his black mane shinning in the late evening light.