on top of the worl-- tables. same diff ; zelda

[STELLA HINES]

School was so boring. Capital B. Capital BORING. Totally dull. Stella hated it. Why did school even matter? It wasn’t like she needed to know any of the stuff she was learning. Yeah, so she didn’t know what she wanted to be when she grew up. So what? At least she knew it wasn’t going to be something to do with math and science. She could, like, understand language arts and maybe history. Whatever. At least there was gym and track and electives. She could handle those classes just fine.

Ditching class was basically the best decision she’d made in days. Okay, maybe not the best. She made a lot of really good decisions all the time. But ditching class was definitely up there with, like, deciding to buy not the teal skinny jeans or the yellow ones but BOTH because why the hell not? Her mom would totally not approve of how she was spending the money she earned from chores but it was Stella’s money and she’d do with it what she liked, thank you very much.

Unfortunately, she wasn’t a regular at ditching class so she didn’t really know what she was supposed to do. She was hungry, though. Maybe the cafeteria was open. It wouldn’t make much sense seeing as lunch was over. MAN, what if the cafeteria was closed? Did they even have vending machines anymore? Stella wouldn’t be surprised if they didn’t. Dumb parents worrying about junk food and soda being sold. LAAAAAAAAAAAAAAME. Still, it wouldn’t hurt to check, right?

The cafeteria was in fact closed. Not, like, the room. Just the area they went into to get food. And there was a vending machine, but OF COURSE, she didn’t have any money on her. She sighed a very long annoyed sigh and kicked the floor with her shoe. So boooooooooooooooooooooooored. Stella looked around, tugging on her hair while being careful to avoid the extensions (she’d picked green today). The idea that came to her was sudden and random (like most things Stella did) but it was also the best idea ever.

Stepping up onto a chair, Stella cautiously climbed up onto the table. For a moment, she was nervous and wobbly, figuring she’d surely fall at any moment. Once she got the hang of it, Stella cheered. Not terribly loud because the last thing she wanted was a teacher to find her but loud enough to feel satisfied. If only the tables were closer. It would be so awesomely legit to just leap from one to another. Stella rocked on her heels and chewed a strand of hair while she pondered trying it.

outfit!

[THURSDAY DAVENPORT]

So maybe Thursday was the more academic of the two Davenport twins, but that didn’t mean he liked going to class. In fact, he didn’t like going to class at all, usually because he was bored. He liked learning on his own time, and there were days that he just wasn’t interested in sitting in a classroom for an hour and listening to a teacher drone on about the theory of relativity or symbolism in such-and-such a book or whatever. No way. He was not down for that today.

So he’d decided to cut class. Again.

Already an infamous troublemaker, the idea of Thursday not showing up in class wasn’t unusual to most people. The class he was skipping today was Physics, a class he got horribly bad marks in simply because he was almost never there, and when he was, he didn’t pay attention. Well, why should he? He wasn’t going to be a physicist. He didn’t care about waves or frequency or whatever the hell else they learned about in physics. It didn’t mean a damn thing to him. He wasn’t into science. Sure, he was pretty good at math and reading and stuff, but science? Hell no. He just wasn’t down.

Therefore, he’d decided skipping was his best option.

He’d had a hard time figuring out what to do this particular day. He didn’t really feel like video games – which was weird, because he usually felt like video games. He didn’t feel like reading, either, because he’d be damned if he was going to be even a little intellectual on a day when he didn’t want to be. So that left him few options besides wandering around the school, evading teachers and trying to find something half-interesting to do.

He was passing by the cafeteria when he heard someone whoop.

Well. Looked like there was another kid in this school that had the same idea he did.

Swinging casually into the doorway of the cafeteria, he rested his shoulder against the doorframe and observed the girl now standing on the table. Her outfit was almost obnoxiously bright, but hey, he wasn’t one to judge based on fashion. His own had gotten him called gay once or twice, even though he totally wasn’t. He was just fashionable. Jeez.

“Y’know,” he piped up, quirking a smirk, “skipping class usually requires a touch more subtlety.”

ooc: outfit!

[STELLA HINES]

Stella had barely been standing there for a minute when she heard a voice somewhere behind her. She’d tell you it hadn’t scared her and the only reason she’d jumped was to test how sturdy the tables were. Swinging around to look for who’d spoken, Stella breathed a loud sigh of relief. “God, I thought you were a teacher.” She sounded snappy and annoyed but very relieved. He was just some other kid ditching. Hopping down from the table and then to the chair, Stella looked the kid up and down as she approached him. Taller than her. Obviously. Everybody was.

Stopping a few feet away from him, Stella narrowed her eyes, trying to remember how she knew him. She definitely knew him. What was it, though? “How do you know what skipping class requires?” she asked curiously, almost as if testing his knowledge of ditching. Then again, this was her first time ditching and it was likely that he knew a lot more than she did. It hit her then; “you’re one of the Davenport twins!” Yes, that was how she knew him! It seemed so totally obvious now. Seriously. Duh. She was an idiot.

There weren’t a lot of twins at Baum Academy which usually made it pretty easy to figure out who they were. “I’m Stella,” she said, holding out her hand before changing her mind and letting her arm fall to her side. Handshakes were boring and so typical of meeting new people. No way was she going to follow that rule. Looking back to the empty cafeteria, she wondered suddenly why she’d gotten off the table in the first place. This whole interaction could have gone down from a distance.

“Feel like jumping around on the tables?” Stella asked, already starting to walk backwards towards the one she’d just been standing on. “Unless,” she said, stopping suddenly. “You know of some cooler things to do?” She tilted her head, grinning curiously. “I’m assuming you would since you seem to know how this whole ditching thing works.” Stella shrugged, feeling not at all bad for thinking he knew what was up. If he didn’t… well, that sucked. But if he did, then great, because she was sure there were better things to do than leap from table to table.

[THURSDAY DAVENPORT]

A teacher? Ha. Well, he'd certainly taken her by surprise; he'd seen her jump right now, there was no fooling him. But God, a teacher? Did he sound that old?

"Not on your life," he drawled, still leaning against the doorframe, watching the girl. She was younger than him, much younger. Maybe fourteen? He was eighteen now, Jesus, yes, legal adult. But this chick was clearly fresh out of Hell -- er, middle school.

Well, good for her.

Whatever.

How did he--oh, lord, that was a good one. He snorted. "Oh, trust me, kid, I know oodles more about skipping class than you." A slight grin came to his face as she seemed to recognize him. One of the Davenport twins. Yes, that was his identity, indeed, and he liked it that way. Tuesday and Thursday Davenport. A unit. He needed them to be regarded as a unit, for his own personal sanity.

"That's right," he said. "Thursday Davenport. Pleasure's all mine."

He'd always been awkward around people when he wasn't around Tuesday, although he was gradually getting better. But like, of course he was, duh. He had enough experience to get along on his own. Still, he was a lot warier of people when not around Tuesday, a little quieter, a little less carefree. He'd always been that way. It wasn't quite as bad as the mood swings he used to have as a child the moment Tuesday was so much as out of the room.

"Stella? I know a song by that title, I think..." he mumbled thoughtfully, watching the way she held out her hand and then dropped it. He raised an eyebrow.

"Dude," he said. "You know who I am. You know that I got the skills to pay the bills when it comes to skipping class, and believe me, this tabletop exploit you've got going on here? Muy dangerous, compadre. Teacher could walk right in here at any moment. If you want to skip class, you don't do it somewhere big and open inside. You don't do it where you can be easily seen. Unless you want to be caught, in which case I can't help you, because I don't oft get caught." He smirked at her.

"Anyway, I do know a few places, if you're so hellbent on getting out of class."

[STELLA HINES]

Not on her life. Well. Good. Okay. Yeah, good. That was good. Fine then. She’d probably be in years of trouble if it had been a teacher. But hey, look, a Davenport twin! Even better, right? They were totally famous. Or, like, she thought so. Of course, Stella could never tell twins apart. Maybe she’d call him by a different day of the week until he introduced himself. Or maybe she’d just keep that to herself. Then again, if she always called him Friday in her head, then she’d forget which twin he was when he did introduce himself. That would be embarrassing. Yeah, maybe it’d be best to stick with the T days.

For a second, Stella glared at him. Who was he to assume he knew more about ditching?? For all he knew, she was a master at it! She could have ditched all the time during middle school. Right? Yeah, of course. She could pull that off. Okay, but if she lied like that, then he’d probably not teach her all the tricks to ditching. Damn. Okay, fine, she didn’t know a thing. Stella crossed him arms. “Alright, oh expert on all things ditching, teach me your ways.” She felt skipping class was a dying art. Too many bookish kids nowadays.

Thursday. “No way. Pleasure is all mine,” she said, shaking her head. It might have been inevitable to eventually meet a Davenport, since she had four years of school left. What grade were they in, anyway? That was the thing, though! They’d probably be out of Baum soon and then she might have never met them. Today was her lucky day. What was he going on about song titles for? (She made a mental note to look it up later, though). Standing in the cafeteria like this was making her antsy, made clear by her fidgeting. She didn’t like standing still.

What the hell was he speaking Spanish for? God knows she didn’t know that language. Other than that, she hung onto his every word. He was brilliant. Stella looked around the room, only now noticing how big it is. And empty. Totally empty. Really nowhere to hide, either, if a teacher were to show up. How could she have been so stupid? “Wow, I’m an idiot.” Stella closed the gap between them, almost skipping, so ready to get out of here. “Yes. I’m hell bent on getting out of class. I thought I made that clear.” She stared up at Thursday freaking Davenport, waiting for him to lead the way.