Outside JGoB, Wednesday Afternoon

[3s-a-crowd.livejournal.com]

After classes had finally gotten out--and Sholeh had never been so glad to be released from classes before--she'd found herself with lots to think about. And a hand that hurt a lot, especially after having to climb the wall in Bootcamp. Rather than scurry back to her dorm and try to lose herself in a book as she usually did, Sholeh decided that a nice long walk was in order. Maybe that would help clear her mind. She could feel her sisters at the back of her head, cold fury radiating off of Zeela in waves, but both of them were quiet for not, letting Sholeh come to her own conclusions about things.

Sholeh spent the entire walk to town deep in her own thoughts, trying to reconcile her thoughts on authority with the punishment she'd received, with the teachers like Mr. Priestly and Mr. Bolton and Mr. Wayne and the teachers like Ms. Maggotbone and Ms. Kennedy and the Madri. By the time she was paying attention to where she was, she had walked all the way to JGoB--and there, had stopped. Now she was staring in the window at all the delicious baked goods on display. Oddly enough, Sholeh couldn't tell if she was made more hungry or nauseated by the sight of them.

[Open for all and sundry]

Comments

[leavingthenest.livejournal.com]

It was rather hard to be furtive and unnoticed when you had as much hair as Rapunzel, but she'd still managed to learn to be both rather quickly. The trick, she'd found, was timing. You just had to go places when no one else was around.

But sometimes that meant you'd fall into a pattern, and sometimes that meant you'd get sloppy.

And sometimes that meant you'd rush out of JGoB, hoping to get back to the dorms and into your room without running into anyone, and in your hurry you actually ran into someone.

[3s-a-crowd.livejournal.com]

"Ow!" Sholeh had tried to catch herself before she fell and only succeeded on landing on her injured hand. The words had barely scabbed over and split open again on impact. "Hey!" she squeaked. "Watch where you're going!"

[leavingthenest.livejournal.com]

"Oh! Sorry!" Rapunzel's eyes flew wide. "I'm so sorry!" She scrambled, kneeling down next to Sholey, and saw her hand.

"Sorry! I didn't mean to..." Her eyes grew wider, staring. She hadn't meant to hurt the other girl so badly! Or at all for that matter!

[3s-a-crowd.livejournal.com]

Sholeh snatched her hand away, trying to keep the other girl from getting too close a look at it. She didn't want everyone to know she was a rule breaker. "Well you did," she said stiffly, pushing herself to her feet with her other hand. "Why were you flying out of there, anyway?"

Her eyes grew large and she looked back into the store. "You didn't steal something, did you?"

[leavingthenest.livejournal.com]

"What?"

"No!" Rapunzel sounded more than a bit panicked. She didn't want to get in trouble!

"I was just..." Um. "In a hurry!"

For no reason, really. At all.

[3s-a-crowd.livejournal.com]

That...sorta sounded like she stole something.

"Are you sure?" Sholeh accused. "What do you have to be in such a hurry for anyway?"

Maybe if she turned in a real troublemaker, then everyone would forgive her slight fall from grace!

...On the other hand, whatever the punishment was for stealing, it had to be a lot worse than just eating desserts because your teacher told you to. Could she do that to another student?

[leavingthenest.livejournal.com]

"I-I..." Rapunzel stammered, her heart hammering in her chest. Not because she'd done anything bad today, but... she knew she'd broken the rules before, with healing. In fact, she'd been that close to offering when she'd seen Sholeh's hand, but now...

She swallowed. Loudly.

"I'm sure! I wasn't stealing anything! I-I just wanted to get back to my room." And hide.

[3s-a-crowd.livejournal.com]

It was probably best that Rapunzel hadn't offered. Sholeh would probably have assumed it was some sort of test to trick her into getting in trouble again. And with Rapunzel's pretty pink dress, it was easy to assume what side she was on.

Sholeh took in the lack of anyone yelling or chasing Rapunzel out of the store and nodded stiffly. "It's probably best to go back to your room," she said, hating how mean she sounded but afraid to sound any other way. Someone could be watching her right now. The Madri said they'd be keeping an eye on her. "Going outside just gets you into trouble anyway."

[leavingthenest.livejournal.com]

Rapunzel's lower lip quivered slightly.

"I... don't want to get into trouble." She was actually wibbling, there, yes.

[b-demosthenes.livejournal.com]

Being the quiet double agent that she was starting to believe was her lot in life, Valentine didn't have a lot of idle time or idle thought...probably a good thing, considering how well it distracted her from the fact that she was sacrificing spending time with her brothers to help her brothers.

Still, even with everything she had to do, her mind wandered that way pretty often, and it was good to find other distractions for it. One of them definitely came with seeing the girl from her class peering into the window at J,GOB, and she had to smile softly.

"So," she said, quietly as to not startle Sholeh as she tilted her head and stepped up to join her, "do you think they ever run out of pink frosting in there?"

[3s-a-crowd.livejournal.com]

"Miss Wiggin!" Sholeh whirled around to greet her teacher, tucking her hand behind her skirts so Miss Wiggin wouldn't see. Miss Wiggin seemed kind enough, with her smiles and the feeling that sometimes there was a hint of puckish mischief in her eyes, but Sholeh still wasn't sure of her reaction to seeing that Sholeh had gotten in trouble. She might be disappointed, like Mr. Priestly probably had been. Or she might be angry at her for not following the rules, like Ms. Kennedy and the Madri.

It took her a moment to realize Miss Wiggin had asked her a question (see? There was that humor again!) and likely expected an answer. "I don't think so," she offered, voice a little shy. "It seems like a bad idea." Then feeling greatly daring, she added, "Bet there's enough in there to frost an entire life-sized cake."

[b-demosthenes.livejournal.com]

There was, for a brief moment, something hardening in Valentine's eyes, a tightness in her mouth, but it seemed to melt away when that gentle smile pushed its way through. "Maybe," she proposed, leaning forward almost in a conspiratorial fashion, "they've just got huge vats of it in the back room. Enough pink frosting to fill a swimming pool."

[3s-a-crowd.livejournal.com]

The idea of that much icing--or maybe that much pink--had Sholeh feeling slightly queasy. Her hidden hand burned. "I used to really love the color pink. It's the color of my favorite dress."

It was a dress she didn't think she'd be wearing much once she left the island. In fact, she was pretty sure she'd be burning it as soon as she could.

"But having that much frosting can't be healthy," she added. "They should make fewer treats so we can all learn the value of moderation."

Did that sound almost robotic and rehearsed? Huh, funny that.

[b-demosthenes.livejournal.com]

"Ahhh," said Valentine, lifting a finger; inside, she was shaking her head, practically gawking at the effectiveness of the regime. Half the time, she was surprised that Peter was working underground rather than here taking notes, but it wasn't the first time she'd been cast in the role she expected him to take, "but with so many available, it teaches us the value of resisting temptation, wouldn't you say?" She tilted her head, looking at the girl curiously. "And you can bet the results of giving in would yield a pretty hard lesson, too."

[3s-a-crowd.livejournal.com]

Sholeh nodded vigorously, unconsciously reaching for her injured hand before remembering herself and bringing it back to her side. "I'm sure they would," she said softly. "But if a punishment is too lenient, then the students would never learn the error of their ways. And the staff need to be stricter still to us muggle students, because we're slower and more prone to error."

More of that robotic monotone. This time, however, Sholeh's shoulders were tense and her good hand was balled into a fist. Stupid to do, if Valentine was whole-heartedly part of Umbridge's regime, but Sholeh wasn't much good at deception anyway.

[b-demosthenes.livejournal.com]

And that was the hardest part of Valentine's own deception, seeing all those little things that she'd have noticed even if Sholeh was better at hiding it and not being able to do a damn thing about it. It was difficult to not let her own hand ball up into a little fist of outrage, but they reminded calmly and politely folded in front of her. She smiled again, part indulgently, part sympathy. "The same could be said of us muggle teachers, too," she said lightly, with only as much of a winking tone as she'd allow, which wasn't much, just enough, "but I think you do a fine job, Sholeh."

[3s-a-crowd.livejournal.com]

"Did I do well on my test?" Sholeh asked, a little bit of praise going a long way to easing some of that bitterness she felt. Until she'd come here, she'd never been considered slow or prone to error. "I studied very hard for it. I didn't want to disappoint you."

Sholeh didn't want to disappoint anyone. But the way things kept going, she was pretty sure that she was going to be a disappointment to someone pretty soon. She just didn't know who, yet.

[hungriesteyes.livejournal.com]

There was a boy walking up to the window, giving a casual look in through it. He certainly didn't look like he had any mind to follow anything resembling the island's dress code. He also looked like he didn't give a shit, either way. He had a backpack slung over one shoulder, a little grin on his lips, and an unlit cigarette hanging from one lip.

He'd steal a lighter for it later.

"Goddamn do they ever make enough of that shit? You'd think they'd throw more out at the end of day so that the rest of us can have some, too."

[3s-a-crowd.livejournal.com]

Sholeh couldn't help but overhear Sparkle's comments. She was already not sure how she felt about treats themselves, but the idea of eating the ones in the garbage was making her stomach roil.

"Throw them away...?" she asked, vaguely recognizing the boy from the beginning of school. Soon after, he'd vanished. "Do you mean that you eat them then?"

[hungriesteyes.livejournal.com]

Sparkle glanced the girl's way, an eyebrow raised. Oh, hey. One of the ass-kissers from the school. But she didn't seem to be trying to drag him away or anything.

Sure, she could keep standing there.

"Well, it isn't like I can afford it. Nobody bitches about the stale crap that they've already written off, anyhow. And shit, some businesses in town are good enough they don't leave it in the dumpster. But you have to know where to look to find those ones." He smirked a little. "What, you don't like your food second-hand?"

[3s-a-crowd.livejournal.com]

=That's Sparkle,= Zeela whispered in Sholeh's mind.

::How do you know that?::

=Never you mind how I do. I just do.=

"I don't think I like sweets that much right now anyway," Sholeh said, hiding her hand in the folds of her skirt. "So I guess it doesn't matter too much either way."

[hungriesteyes.livejournal.com]

Funny thing about hiding, wasn't it? When you wanted somebody to not look somewhere, that was usually the first place they looked. And Sparkle made a point to let his gaze linger there, one eyebrow cocked up as he adjusted his backpack over his shoulder.

"You, uh, usually like sweets, do you?"

[3s-a-crowd.livejournal.com]

Sholeh just nodded, stonily looking down at her feet, her hand trying to burrow further into the fabric. "I was gluttonous and wrong," she said stiffly. "I am grateful to Ms. Maggotbone for showing me the error of my ways. This punishment should be sufficient to teach me not to misbehave further, so long as I overcome my natural muggle tendencies towards indulging in my baser nature."

[hungriesteyes.livejournal.com]

"Oh. Oh, oh, oh no I did not just hear you say that," Sparkle insisted, followed by a cluck of his tongue and a step toward her. "Girly, let me take a look at that hand of yours. If they've got that spiel carved right into you, so help me, I'm going to- to I don't even know, oh my God, but it'll be good when I do it."

Look, Sholeh, you were tiny and scared and pretty helpless. Sparkle was going to strongarm you into at least putting on a bandage. God.

[3s-a-crowd.livejournal.com]

"We're not supposed to touch!" Sholeh said, almost tripping over her skirts in her haste to back away from his proffered hand. It was obviously not meant for Sparkle, though, as her head was whipping from side to side, looking around to see if someone were watching. "If they see, we could get in more trouble!"

Her hands were in the air as she windmilled for balance. On one could clearly be seen a scabbed over I will not be a glutton. It wouldn't scar, but the marks were deep and would take days to heal.