Prankster Meets Her Match {Melissa}

[JOEY ROOKS]

Again. She was being sent to the office again. Part of her wasn't even really surprised anymore. School had become the better part of a joke for her. She had more important things to worry about like...catching the ice cream truck. Orr, checking in on Jamie. Or even sneaking into Kenzie and Benny's classes to keep them company.

But yesterday was particularly special. You see...there was one administrator that really grated on her nerves. Told her that her bright (now red) hair color wasn't allowed by the school. That her ripped jeans were in appropriate. And when she spoke up, asking why the other girls could wear something skimpy and almost have their tits pop out; she got a detention after school.

So the next morning, she did exactly what she planned on doing. She poured coca-cola into the gas tank, and tipped mentos on the edge--so when the car turned, they'd plunk right in. As well as the potatos in the exhaust, that caused a loud bang--plus the mess spilling out of the gas tank. Joey's biological dad helped the school a lot--offering money for repaires, new supplies, new books---so Joey couldn't really get expelled. Especially since it was getting close to the end of the year.

Her grades were down in the dumps, only passing gym and stagecraft. Everything else was mostly a D and F battlefield. It was just after lunch when the intercom came on in the classroom, asking for Joey to be sent down to the guidance counselor. That was a new one.

She waved to the woman behind the desk, dragging her purple and black backpack on the ground.
"Again, Joey?" The older, african american woman asked her, raising her brows. Joey only grinned, and opened her mouth, showing off a mentos she clutched in her teeth, which received a shake of the head and a hidden smile from the woman. "Go sit in there and wait for her, Baby Bear. She'll be in soon." The woman said warmly, patting Joey's tiny shoulder.

"You got it, Momma Bear." Joey was so often in the office, that her relationship with some of the staff who had humor, became friendly, and warm. Joey sauntered into the office, all four-foot eleven of her. She plopped into one of the chairs, leaving her bag at her feet, and crossing her legs in the chair. She rested her elbow on her knees, and put her chin in her hands. She peeked down at a slightly thick folder resting on the desk.

Rooks, Josephina.

Joey shuddered. She really, really hated that name.

Tags: Dani / Melissa / Olley / Joey
Notes: I love how Joey's biggest concern is that her folder says "Josephina", and not the fact she vandalised a car.
Outfit:Retroooo.

[MELISSA HEWITT]

Melissa loved her job. What wasn’t there to love about it? She was doing what made her happy and that was what mattered. It wouldn’t be the same if she was managing a small business or solving cases or directing movies. No, she was perfectly happy as a school counselor. Not only was she happy with her job, her job helped her to find the other characters from her story. They had a certain… glow about them. It was quite useful. Just, there were so many students at Baum and she couldn’t make it a point of watching each and every one of them for that glow. It just took too much time. Melissa always hoped that they’d end up in her office at some point. Of course, none of the characters seemed like they’d land themselves in the office. Though Eeyore could use some counseling… he was always so melancholy.

Melissa had left for the copy room. She’d printed out the schedule for a boy who had come in earlier. He was new to Baum and had, of course, lost his first copy. Just about every student did on their first day, though. When Melissa returned to her office, she was surprised to see a small girl with bright red hair sitting in one of the chairs. Melissa raised her brows before continuing in, setting the papers down. Melissa took her own seat and gave the girl a curious look. Familiar, but only because she was quite sure she’d spoken to the girl in an online chatroom a few days ago. “You must be Joey.” Melissa said, and sure enough, it was. Melissa took the folder and began to flip through it.

Every prank Joey had pulled was in her folder. Including the frogs. Melissa closed it and returned it to her desk. “Quite the record.” She said, crossing one leg over the other, giving Joey an amused look.

W… wait. Did she… Melissa narrowed her eyes, watching Joey closely. Did she have the glow…?

outfit; not retroooo

[JOEY ROOKS]

Joey looked up when she heard Melissa walk into the room. She raised her brows, and stared straight at her with round eyes. “Woah, MelanGaGa or something, right? From the chatroom? Let me tell you, it is so bizarre seeing you in real life, especially being a teacher…administrator…person. It’s like…you were all chill and stuff in the room, but now it’s different, cause like…you got my folder and stuff.” She rambled, straightening up, trying to take a peek at the folder.

She bounced her chair in a little bit closer, trying to see the papers. “Yeah, this has been going on quite a while. It’s all pretty harmless, but you’d think people had a sense of humor, you know?” She drummed her fingertips on the table, smiling at her. At east she looked amused by it—for a second.

Joey’s expression dropped when she noticed Melissa was squinting at her. She leaned back a little, her eyes looking to the left, then to the right, before twisting around slowly, and looking over her shoulder. Lifting one brow, after not seeing anything, she looked back at the woman. “Uhh…what are you staring at?”

Joey’s hand reached up to her head petting the black cat hat sitting on her head. “Am I in serious trouble or something? Lady, you’ve got me confused. What’s going on?”

[MELISSA HEWITT]

Joey looked very at ease in this office. Then again, Melissa had never made it a point to seem intimidating. That was a job for the principle or school security. Students had to feel safe in the office of a guidance counselor. It was why she made sure to always have sunlight filling the room, to have very comfortable seats, and to have a plate of cookies in the room at all times. Not only did they give the room a most delicious smell but she was quite sure the students were more at ease when they had cookies to chew on while she spoke to them.

“Melissa,” she corrected Joey, realizing she’d been staring. She leaned back, correcting her behavior. The last thing she wanted was to lose one of her characters the moment she found them. “It is a little bizarre, I suppose,” she agreed nonchalantly, grabbing the plate from the desk behind her and setting it on top of Joey’s folder. Hopefully it would distract the girl from being nosy. “I’m still… chill and stuff,” she quoted, laughing a little. It was strange how students found school staff to be that much worse when they were in an office.

“So long as nobody ever gets hurt,” Melissa commented, taking a cookie for herself. She was sure nobody had ever gotten hurt during Joey’s harmless pranks. Well… physically hurt and emotionally hurt were two very different things, though she was sure neither had happened. Then again, it must have hurt financially when one of the administrators had to take their car in to get fixed after that prank. She ate her cookie in a thoughtful silence, wondering who Joey could have been.

There were quite a few of them in her story and she’d seen some of them around school, with that certain glow. But she couldn’t approach them and simply ask for that was strange. Melissa almost hoped that they’d somehow land in her office one day. Like little Joey. … Joey. “Trouble? Goodness no, dear!” Melissa waved a dismissive hand and then brushed the crumbs from her fingertips. “You’d be in the principal’s office if that were the case.”

[JOEY ROOKS]

"Right, but your screen name on the chat. Plus, shouldn't I be calling you--" Joey bobbed her head, looking at the tag on the desk, "Ms. Hewitt?" She turned her eyes to the cookies. They looked good, and smelled good. But were surely posioned--they had to be, right?

She watched the woman take a cookie, and squinted her eyes slightly when Melissa took the cookie. So...not poisoned. She leaned in and took one also, and nibbled on the edge of it, before rocking back in her seat, her legs still pulled up, heels pressed against the bottom of the chair. "So like, if I'm not in trouble. Why'm I here again?" She asked, draping her arms over her knees.

She bounced slightly in her seat, trying to keep herself amused while she waited for the counselor to get to the point. It was a little bizzare, and Melissa didn't look that much older than her either. The longer Joey sat in the chair, the more impatient she got. Joey wasn't a rude girl, or mean by any stretch of the imagination; but she wasn't very suited to having to sit still and be serious. She took another bite of the cookie, and straightened her back for a moment, before slumping in her chair, openly watching Melissa.

"Say, how old are you anyway? Cause you look like, super young, to be a counselor. And it's like...I dunno, still really weird. Cause you're...a teacher, ya know? And they have something wedged up their assssbutt--" She quickly changed her gear of words--school---right, "That makes them all. Not fun and stuff."

[MELISSA HEWITT]

Melissa shrugged, not minding really what Joey called her. If she felt more comfortable using Melanga, Melissa would have been fine with that. Her first priority was that students were comfortable in the office. Never mind that Ms. Hewitt was professional and how student/teacher relationships should work. She had never cared for that. It was why she had called most of her own school professors by their first name, so long as they were alright with it, anyway. “You don’t have to call me Ms. Hewitt.” Melissa said eventually, “whatever makes you comfortable.”

Carefully taking Joey’s folder from under the plate of cookies, she leaned back and began to flip through it. Joey wasn’t in trouble. It was mostly that administration thought she could use some guidance. So, who else to send her to but a guidance counselor? Melissa was pleased that Joey had been sent to her instead of Brown or Whitaker. There were both… adequate was a mean word. It was just that Kanga never would have found her Roo if Joey had been sent elsewhere. Melissa mentally scolded Kanga for believing so easily that Joey could be the host of Roo. They still couldn’t be sure. However, Melissa thought as she peeked over the folder at Joey, she sure did bounce like a kangaroo. “Administration feels that you need guidance,” Melissa finally said, closing the folder and placing it on the desk behind her.

Melissa leaned forward, watching Joey as she finally settled in her chair. She smiled a little. “You move an awful lot. If you want to walk around, feel free. I know it’s not a very big room, but it’s better than nothing.” Once she’d let Joey know this, Melissa felt it was probably time to become the guidance counselor she was suppose to be instead of favoring this girl like her own daughter. She rose her eyebrows. Wasn’t it rude to ask a woman her age? Melissa didn’t mind either way, though. “24. I consider myself to be fun,” Melissa pouted a little, hoping not all the students grouped her with the stuck-up teachers. “Now then.” Melissa cleared her throat and clasped her hands together.

“While pranks or ditching separately probably wouldn’t be as bad, you’re guilty of both.” Melissa watched Joey for a moment, wondering why she couldn’t attend class more often. “Why don’t you go to class, Joey?” Kanga assumed it was that her little Roo was too restless to sit in a desk for an hour but Melissa shooed her away, focusing on her job.