No, I am NOT a hedgehog!

[XERXES HARRISBURG]

Xerxes pranced down the hallway, exchanging high-fives and fist-pounds with friends and acquaintances that he passed in the hallway. A “hey,” here, a “dude,” there, his face beaming with a glint of recognition each time he glimpsed a familiar face. He drummed his fingers on the windowsill as he passed by, cheerfully whistling a song by Dashboard Confessional that had been stuck in his head since this morning, and had been reverberating back and forth through his train of thought all through science and history class.

He glanced out into the courtyard, and was surprised to find it raining dismally, wind whipping up the leaves, grass, term papers, and tin cans littering the blacktop like the blades of a blender. ”Sure is a blustery day outside,” he remarked to a blank page of his notebook. Suddenly, he jerked to a stop in his tracks. Blustery? he thought to himself. Blustery, Xerxes? Really? He shook his head. What was getting into him?

But he didn’t let it bother him: there were more pressing matters tugging at his attention. For example, the fact that he hadn’t had an Episode since about 5 AM yesterday morning. It had been during a phone conversation with Darius too, which was irritating but not the end of the world. Here, though, in the middle of school, would be a problem. Especially if it was one of those interminable ones that went on for two or three hours, like the last one had been. Xerxes sighed. If he could just get through the next three hours of school today, he could be out on the ski slope by 2:45, and all of his worries and stress would vanish. That fact, at least, he could rely on. He would hardly feel the Episode as it came and went without incident.

Xerxes pulled his locker door open, rummaging aimlessly through the nest of books and papers piled inside, trying to run over the schedule for the day in his head, and wondering if he’d meet any new people throughout the course of this day. He did love making new friends.

[danyisdarling]

What did she need for her next class? Science and Math were done. She had History and English later. Super duper fun~! But not really, she reminded herself as she continued to stare into her locker with this bored expression. What was she even doing? It wasn't like there was a DVD player in there, ready to start up a movie. Turning around to face the hall and windows, Gabrielle could barely see past all of the students. Part of that was the fact that there were so many of them. Second was the fact that she was shorter than most and could barely see over them anyway. The crowd was beginning to thin, very slowly, though. Why would you want to get to class on time? With a quiet scoff, Gabrielle turned back to her locker and finally pulled out her English notebook.

Gabrielle had been ready to take the History textbook out next when the locker next to hers opened. Whoa! She'd never met her locker neighbor before! Well, she had met her locker neighbor to the left. But never to the right. Peering from around her opened locker door, she realized that whoever he was, was tall. Well, everybody was tall compared to her. He, though, was about as tall as Marcus. Letting her gaze go upward, she found herself surprised by his hair. Spiky as heck and nothing she'd ever seen before. It was... intense.

Before she had a moment to think, she'd slammed her locker shut and faced him. Eyes wide, she said, "Whoa! Wicked hair!"

[XERXES HARRISBURG]

Whoa! Wicked hair!"

Xerxes spun around with a start, his eyes instantly fixating on a blonde, rather short girl. Her eyes were bright: she looked like the bright, spunky, energetic type. Ah, great. Just Xerxes’ type. Or the type he’d been looking for, anyway. He really needed some people like that to keep him out of the doldrums in the absence of his brother. Wicked hair, he thought, unconsciously running a hand through his spiky locks. He felt the heat rising in his face as the corners of his mouth twitched upward into a smile. She likes my hair! He felt like the two cans of hairspray this morning had now been totally compensated for. Awesome.

“Thanks!” He stretched out his hand for a high-five. “I’m Xerxes! What’s your name?” This time, for once, he wasn’t faking the enthusiasm: he genuinely felt it. She likes my hair. Wow. He loved getting complements.

[kate]

"GET OUT OF THE WAY!"

Cory sprinted through the hallways, waving his arms like a wild man and shouting at the top of his lungs. His sneakers squeaked sharply on the generically tiled school floor as he rounded a corner, his body low to the ground in a turn that had him pushing off the floor with his hands for balance. Upright again, he navigated the crowds with a swiftness and grace that could only point out he'd done this kind of thing before. His red hair stood straight up on his forehead as he bolted along the corridor. He was flying.

People threw themselves out of his way, eager to get out of reach of his lanky appendages that were wont to cause injury otherwise. Some tutted, some rolled their eyes, most threw curses at his back that he was too far away to hear. Right now, he was concerned with pumping his legs for all they were worth, swinging his arms and craning his neck to gain full speed. The hall monitors (the ones we now know are rather apathetic in disciplining this hooligan) waved at him to slow down. But Cory had a plan to stick to. He had to run.

From nothing.

Nope, nothing was chasing him, no one was right on his heels, swearing at him or vowing to get revenge. Cory was quite honestly just getting rid of some energy until gym class, and running seemed to do the trick. Plus, it got him loads of attention which was never a bad thing in his book.

Cory looked behind him and grinned toothily. He looked about four years old and stupid as anything, now running with his eyes closed just to feel the self-created wind on his face.

Stupid move.

"Ah! Nngh!" Cory bellowed, then grunted as he practically body tackled someone taller than him. They hit the floor and actually slid a couple feet, Cory rolling ass over tea kettle, all knees and elbows. Finally they came to a stop, tangled in a rather compromising-looking heap to one side of the hallway. Cory knew he'd skinned his elbows and there was definitely the taste of blood in his mouth. Split lip. Nice.

"Nnnnghn..." Cory groaned, sitting up and attempting to untangle himself from the guy he'd plowed down. "...Sorry, you okay?" he managed as he wiped the blood from his lip, only to look up to see a mess of black hair that resembled some sort of creature. "Whoa. What are you? Ow!" Cory asked quickly and he tried to grin, but that only pulled his split lip further apart. Ah well. It was fun while it lasted.

[danyisdarling]

A high five? He was greeting her with a high five? Jeez, he just got more awesome each minute! Slapping her palm against his, she grinned. Xerxes? What an awesome name! Ah, would she remember how to say it though? "Xer... xes," she said slowly, as if memorizing. "Nice to meet you, dude!" Gabrielle grinned up at him, still a bit surprised at his hair. "I'm Gabrielle! Most people call me Gabby though," she answered, nodding. She'd been ready to ask him what grade he was or just start up a conversation when some short (well, short compared to Xerxes) red-head ran right into Xerxes. They tumbled down half the hall and Gabrielle stood, shocked and confused. What the hell had just happened!

Hurrying down the hall after them, she kneeled beside the two, eyes wide. "Are you guys alright?" she asked, nearly the same time the kid asked Xerxes if he was okay. Hey, she knew that kid! Three cheers for a good memory! Cory Henderson was in her Art class. He was intense and practically five. Her type of person, actually. "That was an epic tumble," Gabrielle added with a grin.

Ouch, he'd scraped his arms. And cut his lip. Oh jeez, was he bleeding? The last thing she wanted was to pass out here. No, though, from what she'd seen. It'd been a quick glance, but she hadn't caught sight of any blood. Good. Maybe she'd just not look at him. As rude as that sounded...

[XERXES HARRISBURG]

Xerxes grinned broadly as the girl high-fived him back. Darius would be all over this. He could almost his brother’s austere drawl in his head. “Let the bitch butter your corn, Zerk, let the bitch butter your corn.” He shook his head, almost laughing to himself. He really missed his brother, even the despicable innuendos. Xerxes felt hollow without the presence of the person that had been by his side his whole life. It was like missing one of his arms: he felt self-conscious as he walked through the halls, as if the eyes that surrounded him every which-way were staring him directly in the face, sensing his vulnerability. He was so glad that Darius would soon be transferring to Baum.

The next series of events happened faster than a train flying through a tunnel. Pshhhh. He almost cracked up at the Darius sentence he’d just unconsciously constructed. He shook his head again. This was getting out of control. He needed to be his own person. He refocused his mind on the events before him. One moment he was listening to this girl babble about herself: the next he was prostrate on the ground, arms stretched over his head as if he’d been attempting to protect himself from falling rubble. There. Much less suggestive metaphor. And his ankle really, really hurt. Like, really hurt.

And there was something heavy on top of him. A kid, to be precise.

Huh. Well this was interesting.

"Nnnnghn..." the kid moaned, stirring slightly and animatedly pulling himself up, like a zombie from the grave. "Sorry, you okay? Whoa. What are you? Ow!"

Xerxes feebly attempted to rise to his feet, but quickly sank back to the ground as pain shot up his leg like an arrow. He grimaced as he rolled back the cuffs of his skinny jeans, discovering that the lovely bruise that had been there previously had dilated about four centimeters on each side. Ow, he thought, remembering the incident yesterday that had brought on the original injury. God damn, that had hurt. He could still feel the explosion of agony as he’d collided head-on with the snowy ground, a grotesque crack resounding through the air as his ski soared over his head and into the trees. He should’ve known when he’d flubbed that barrel roll of the first rail that it wasn’t going to be a good day. Messy, in fact, but at least he’d managed to 1440 the Kicker before botching the landing.

Gabby’s voice jolted him back to reality. “Are you guys alright? That was an epic tumble”

Xerxes, shifting his weight onto his left side, managed to hobble to an upright position, his right foot poised almost a foot off the ground. “I’m okay,” he gasped breathlessly, the pain overwhelming his nervous system into overdrive. “How about you, dude?” He glanced at the kid who’d just plowed him over. “Hey man, what were you doing running through the hallways anyway? Late for class?”

[kate]

He tasted blood on his tongue again, but there really wasn't anywhere to spit it out. Cory looked around desperately for a trash can but upon finding none, was forced to swallow the blood spilling into his mouth. Charming? Oh god he was gonna throw up.

""M'fine," Cory mumbled, hand covering his lips and he pulled it back to reveal his fingertips covered in sticky blood. He wiped in on the back of his pants as he noticed the painful position the other kid was in. Vaguely he heard the girl comment on their "epic tumble" but Cory had other things to attend to. "Here, lemme help," he offered, crouching down to look at the hedgehog-kid's ankle. Surprisingly calm and collected despite his recent stunt, Cory took the kid's ankle gingerly between his palms, biting his own lip to keep the blood from dripping out.

Having received the same type of injury countless times in fencing (mainly getting tangled up his own feet, tripping, and cracking his ankle), Cory twitched his lips knowingly. "This isn't something you'll want to just walk off," he said putting Xerxes' foot back on the ground. "Need help to the nurse? Here, c'mon." Cory pointed to the girl. "Can you grab his other shoulder? Just like that, yeah."

Cory looped his arms around Xerxes's shoulders, finally grinning. "Naw, I'm not late to class," he explained, "just bored. Needed to get some energy out I guess. I missed fencing practice yesterday and I'm tweaking out. Sorry you got the brunt of it." He shrugged. "Feeling better?"