English Class (Open to students)

[sepia]

"Wow," Jessica said, a slightly disbelieving expression on her face. "Small world... I lived in the UK until I came to Blue Ridge - my parents are moving to the US, too. Gosh, that's pretty amazing." She smiled, a little bemusedly for a moment, thinking that it was a very good thing she'd come to sit down by Cara, and hoping - if a little unsurely - that they might actually become friends. Maybe?

She hadn't picked up on Cara's blush - no-one had ever said she was particularly observant around people, she'd always found them quite difficult to interpret - and even if she had, she wouldn't have known or understood the cause. Nor, really, would she have at all judged Cara for not liking the same types of literature as her: she might not like plays much personally, never having known how to really read them properly, but if other people got a lot out of them, well, that was cool.

Not quite sure how to respond to Mr Stone's words - was he teasing, or being serious? she didn't know - Jess merely smiled, ducking her head in a half-nod (because there couldn't be anything wrong with doing that, right?), and then listening to he and Cara converse. Wow, it appeared that Cara was thought highly of by every teacher - oh, alright, so the two she'd had much to do with so far, so maybe she couldn't draw a very good conclusion - but still, that was pretty awesome. She'd have to see how she did it! And she seemed nice, too, and not at all adverse to talking to someone two years younger than her, thankfully.

[.Rissa.]

How could this happen? It was his first day of class and he was late. Plus, he wasn't too keen on English. The blonde haired boy rushed down the hall, his blonde curly hair bouncing with his every stride. He held a book and notebook in one hand, and a pencil in the other. His footsteps slowed once he neared the classroom and he tried not to seem out of breath as he walked in.

Bay Cromwell swallowed as he seemed to be the attention of the classroom, "Sorry I'm late Mr. Stone," he apologized, his heart thudding in his chest. His blue eyes looked around the room, he saw Cara and Andie. A nervous smile played on his lips seeing the girl. Gee, good impression. She was probably a straight A student like all the other goody two-shoes on the cheer leading squad. Hearing steps behind him, he turned to see someone else enter the room, and he was glad he wasn't the only one late.

*~*~*~*~**~*~**~

It was just one bad deal after another. Kristin couldn't get over the fact that he was gone. It was a lie, a hoax, a fake. Could everyone else see that? Why was she blind? Kirk had been right all along, Travis was a two-timing jerk and he always would be. Now, the blonde had to live with the embarassement of the whole academy knowing. She hadn't been around lately, mostly staying in her room, or at the barns when no one was there. She was never seen in the arenas. Her blue eyes were dull and grey, her hair dull from not seeing the sun.

Her small frame managed a small smile to the professor, and she found an empty seat, not looking at anyone else. She could already imagine them whispering about her, and what she and Travis had done. It was no secret, he lived with her. She pulled the book she was doing from her bag. It was 'The Horse Whisperer' by Nicholas Evans. She cried at the end. She hated the book for that fact, she held onto the fictional character in her mind, Tom Booker.

[Ω-Admin-Cara-Ω]

Andie looked up as the door opened and Bay walked through it. She could feel her cheeks warm as she looked at the blonde student and returned his smile. she casually glanced at the empty table beside her before she returned to her own work.

~*~*~*~*~

Richard looked up as not one student walked in late, followed quickly by another. "You are both lucky that I'm not actually teaching today." He said, the twinkle in his eyes betrayed the sternness in his voice. "Go and find a seat and you can both carry on with your assignments. I'm here to answer any questions you might have."

~*~*~*~*~

Cara looked up from her sketch as two more people entered the room. She lifted her eyebrows when she saw Kristin and tried to catch the older girl's eye. She hadn't seen her around much and her attempt to teach the cowgirl to jump had been put on hold when the co-owner of the school had just seemed to vanish into thin air. Since she wasn't in the loop with school gossip - and ignored it when she did pass by - she didn't know anything that had been happening.

[sepia]

Following the looks of most people in the class as the latest two arrivals entered (and she was beginning to see that she wasn't the only person having problems getting to class on time, as almost every lesson someone seemed to roll in late) Jessica quickly decided that she didn't know either of them. Which wasn't, actually, all that surprising, given her newness to the place, and her less than stellar skills at introducing herself to people. What was somewhat surprising was that as she was preparing to go back to her work, several other students continued to peer covertly at the girl... one of them being Cara, who looked to be trying to catch her eye. Given that this was the most outwardly social she'd seen Cara been, she wondered who the elder teen was, precisely.

"Uh," she said, quietly, not wanting to be heard by anyone but Cara. "I think I might be missing something, but, who's she? Everyone else seems to be interested in her." And upon closer inspection, she didn't look particularly great, either, hair dull and gaze listless. Jess was just as out of the grape-vine as Cara was, but at least the other girl had the advantage of long-time residence at Blue Ridge.

[.Rissa.]

The boy stiffened at the man's first remark, but an easy grin graced his face realizing it wasn't to be taken seriously. He nodded his head once and glanced around the room. Andie had smiled back at him. All you have to do, is play it cool, the teen told himself. He didn't think another second before he made his way to the empty desk right next to the brunette. His muscular, yet slender frame took a seat and his books made a soft thump as he sat them on top of his desk. His blue eyes gave her a quick look over, "Hi Andie," he whispered quietly. His eyes filled with humor catching a hint of the thin black chord going up to her ear.

The boy glanced around to see where the professor was now, then looked down at the book he was supposed to be reading. He had skimmed through it. Well, it wasn't like Mr.Stone had ever read every single book by all the English authors on a shelf. This man wrote westerns anyway, and Bay just couldn't picture the professor being that sort of guy.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

The blonde let her eyes study the cover. There was a black silohoutte of a horse running through painted purple skies. Her mind took her back to the book, to the lifes and reality of the characters she had created in her mind. It was the only thing that could bring her back to reality at the same time. She wasn't foolish enough to fall in love with a fictional character. He was real to her. He was the only she could grab onto as an attempt to recreate the past. And, he was gone too. Truth be told, she wished she could have loved the cowboy never knowing what was going on. If she was still blind, that's how it would be. She couldn't stand being with someone not pure to her after all those promises made.

Her dainty fingers rested on the cover, never daring to open the book again. Nicholas Evans, in some way, had crushed her dream. What dream? The happy dream for Tom Booker, which, was that linked to a happy dream for her that was now crushed too?

[Ω-Admin-Cara-Ω]

Andie looked up as Bay sat down and she graced him with a bright smile. "Hi." She replied. She returned her attention to her own work before she looked over at him again. "Who you doing?" She gave an impish grin as she heard how it sounded to her own ears.

~*~*~*~*~*~

Cara looked at Jessica as the girl spoke to her, in a voice that was made for her ears alone. "That, would be Ms Kristin Clarkson." She replied just as softly. "She is the co-owner of the Academy." She cast a worried glance toward the older teen who was seemingly deeply engrossed in the book on her desk.

[sepia]

"Oh," Jess breathed, "Oh." Things began to mentally slot into place: she knew, of course, that the two owners of the Academy were young, but she hadn't realised that one of them was young enough to be involved in classes. She wondered about the logistics of that for a moment, then gave up. It obviously worked, though perhaps the double stress of running the place and studying were what was accounting for her less than stellar appearance.

Not wanting it to seem like she was staring, she returned to her work, starting off by making a list of things she already knew, and things she'd have to look up. The second list was, not surprisingly, rather longer than the first list.

[.Rissa.]

The blonde haired boy grinned as Andie returned the greeting. She looked back down at her desk, so the boy looked around the room at all the faces of the class. Hearing the girl shuffleing about, he turned back to look at her, and her words caught him a bit off guard. At first he just sat there with his mouth partly opened for a second, and then he realized what she was talking about and quickly glanced down at his book, "Louis Lamore," he nodded his head.

A wry grin crossed his face, "You?"

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

The girl snapped out of the thought she was in, if you could call it that. Her dark ocean orbs quickly scanned the room, and she saw Cara among the others. She swallowed and looked over just long enough to make eye contact with the young teen. She tried to smile, but why bother? Her eyes returned to the book on the desk, then she looked up at the board.

Her notebook opened, and with a pencil in hand, she began to write down the list of items. She got to be a stalker and find out private information about the author.According to the back cover, he seemed to be married and had a wonderful life, like every other well-known public figure. Who cares?

[Ω-Admin-Cara-Ω]

Andie bit back a giggle at Bay's expression and she nodded as he said who he was doing his report on. She remembered that name being mentioned in the movie Practical Magic with Sandra Bullock and Nicole Kidman. Now that was a good movie... She shook her head, and tuned back into the class "I'm looking at William Blake." She informed him with a laugh.

Reaching down to her pocket she pulled out her i-pod, making sure to keep it hidden from the teacher at the front of the room, and skipped it through to the next song before she tucked it away in her pocket once more, her head bobbing to the tune of Lady Antebellum's Need You Now.

~*~*~*~*~*~

Cara nodded to Jessica's monosyllabic answer. She cast another worried glance in Kristin's direction. When the older girl looked in her direction, she caught her eye for a moment before she too dropped her own gaze. she was never good at seeking out other people to ask them for help but she was always there if someone else needed an ear, and right now it looked like Kristin needed someone to talk to.

[.Rissa.]

"Is he interesting?" Bay asked with a cocked brow, wondering if she would carry along with the humor. His blue eyes glanced down at his book. Yeah, he probably needed to read some of it, most of it, okay, all of it. There wasn't a single note in the red heavy-duty notebook on his desk about the Author or anything for that matter. There was crappy drawings of cars and such, things he drew when he was supposed to be paying attention.

As long as all they did was 'work' on their projects today, they would be alright. Mr. Stone hadn't made his rounds over to them yet, and if he did, well, there was always an alibi for everything. Bay wasn't at all concerned. He looked at Andie now, trying to figure out if she was acting so giddy becuase it was her nature, or maybe she liked him? And not just as a freind, "Do you have any plans for lunch?" he asked casually though it was a very random question to throw out there. He was thinking on taking her somewhere else, while he still had his hotrod, and so the football boys would leave him alone.

[Onzyy]

Darren noticed the two new arrivals, but chose to ignore them and carry on working on his essay. The draft planning was almost done, and he just needed to do the final, and check a few facts that he wasn't certain of. It was more of a rushed job, and Darren wasn't proud of the paper he had planned. So he would go and redo it once the lesson was over.

It was just such a lovely day outside, Darren knew that he would rather be outside with his yearling filly, than inside a stuffy class. This however was all part of the agreement of school.

[Ω-Admin-Cara-Ω]

Andie lifted an eyebrow as she looked at Bay. "He's an English poet." She replied dryly. "But he did write some really cool poems. I especially like The Muses! And he lived a semi interesting life." She shrugged as she went back to her work, casting a side-long glance toward their teacher to make sure he hadn't suddenly noticed her i-pod and was going to tell her off. Her position on the cheer-squad depended on her course grades, if they dropped - head of the squad or not - she would be dropped from the squad.

Bay's next question caused the girl's head to spin toward him again, the earplugs falling from her lobes. "Excuse me?" She asked and then wanted to kick herself for sounding so dumb. "Not really." She tried to recover what dignity she had left. "I was planning on grabbing a piece of fruit and going to sit outside and work on my tan.... oh, and see how much more of this I could get finished." She gave an impish grin to show that she wasn't completely serious about working on her tan.