Wrong Turn

[Tallulah Wright]

Tallulah tried to calm her heartbeat down. She acted so dramatically here, she was a bit ashamed of herself. It was not the first time she heard comments about her look. The girls went about her style, or lack thereof, and every gender would hit on her handicap. Bullies are not known for their imagination. She did her best not to show how much those words could hurt her but no matter how strong of a front she would show, inside it ate her up. And it just so happened that she reached her limit. She felt tears threatening to fall over, burning her eyes. She pushed the closest bathroom door and ran in the nearest stall.

She didn’t make a sound as she cried. She didn’t want to give them the pleasure. She fought against her breathing as it just didn't want to be calm anymore. Closing her eyes, she just let it happen. At one point, you have to let the levee break. She knew her shoulders were moving, she felt the tears falling down, even hit her hands resting on her knees and holding them so they would not shake. After a moment, it calmed down and she could breathe right again. At the point and this point only did Tallulah open her eyes.

At first, she used her hands to wipe off the tears but as she remembered where she was, she used some of the toilet paper. Once her eyes and cheeks were dry, she touched her eyes, wondering if she could feel if they were puffy. She could use the mirror by the sinks but she feared opening to fall face to face with another girl. She didn’t exactly paid attention to her surroundings. Not hearing anything, she figured the way was clear. As she opened the stall’s door and got out, the restroom’s door opened. And her eyes widened, growing bigger than they ever did. “Oh! That’s not what you think. Not at all!” she cried out, waving her hands in front of her as her puffy red eyes stared at a boy.

TAG: Toby Chastain

[Toby Chastain]

Toby kept looking at his phone as he exited the stall, finishing up the level he'd been completing. He hadn't even noticed the girl until she spoke, and when she did, he nearly jumped. He spent a second or two looking around, worried that he'd been the one to enter the girl's restroom by mistake. He looked over to the walls and, yep, there were the urinals.

So he looked back at the girl. He knew those eyes; he'd seen them in the mirror a few times, particularly before he'd gotten, well, older? More mature? More sarcastic?

"So you didn't just dash into a bathroom at random to avoid something and try to let out emotions somewhere private? My bad," Toby said, first gesturing with his hands and then holding up the phone. "Whoa, this is awkward enough, so let me put this away," the phone went into the pocket. "So, like, did you need to talk about it," he was gesturing toward her now, "or did you want me to just sort of get out--uh, you might want to dab, like," he pointed at his own eye, "around here? There's, I want to say a smudge?"

[Tallulah Wright]

Tallulah looked at the restroom’s door. She had a strong desire to make a run to it but that would imply going past the guy and he could have the plague that she wouldn’t be more scared to walk near him. She was so embarrassed by her mistake. What if he had been at the urinal? She was just glad it was not the case. What would that boy think of her? She was so embarrassed over being caught in the boy’s room, along with shame for being found out in that state, that she couldn’t think that a toilet was a toilet when you really needed to go and that shouldn’t cause that much of a fuss. Only it did. To her, at least.

She flinched at his words. She had been trying to avoid his look, not sure of what to find in them and even less sure she wanted to know. But he got exactly why she had been in there, up to the reason why she got it wrong. She allowed herself to look at him, slightly surprised at how unaffected he was by this situation. “Yes,” she agreed in a whisper.

Then he ended up the one a bit awkward because of his phone and this actually made her laugh a little. He was even suggesting she talked to him about it. Did he just forget where they were, because she certainly did not. One boy in here was already embarrassing enough, no matter how understanding he was, she didn’t want to risk others to walk in. “No, I-“ but she stopped as he said she had a smudge or something. She frowned at this, as she knew she didn’t put makeup. It would seem she’d have to stay a little longer as she moved towards the mirror and saw some of the toilet paper actually glued near her lashes. It was not exactly top quality. She took it away then secretly wished she was more girly so that she’d have makeup on her to hide her puffy eyes but. She touched the skin under them, tried to make it look a little better. The skin seemed okay for now. As for the eyes themselves, there was little she could do. She’d have to wait for the red to disappear.

Once that was done, she was reminded of her situation and the boy as she timidly turned back in his direction. “Hm, thanks. I’ll... I’ll let you do... your thing.” She tried not to sound too awkward but that was the best she could get. “I’ll just go.” That one she said fast, aiming for the door while putting as much distance between herself and the boy. She didn't go very far once out though. She was so glad of being out that she suddenly realised she held her breath the whole time and had to rest her back against the nearby wall before exhaling deeply.

[Toby Chastain]

Ok, so he'd nailed the reason, but that definitely wasn't making the girl any happier. Toby knew he should probably say something reassuring or charming or something, but if he knew how to do that, he probably wouldn't be, well, Toby. He'd at least made her laugh a little, which he supposed counted for something. Plus, it seemed his thing about the eye thing had at least been a little helpful.

"No sweat,' Toby said, shrugging. The girl seemed all too eager to get out, not that he could blame her, but Toby still wasn't sure that he should be leaving her alone. Not that she was leaving a whole lot of option, what with all but sprinting for the door as fast as she could possibly go. Toby hurriedly moved to wash his hands and dry and all, but he was still moving while throwing away the paper towel.

He came out a little after she did, looking around and all. Toby opened his mouth, closed it, then shrugged and figured he might as well put his foot in it: "Did you, like, need to walk with someone or...' he offered, gesturing nearly hopelessly with his hands. It wasn't like he could see an easy solution here or had more than a vague idea what he should be doing or saying.

[Tallulah Wright]

Tallulah couldn’t quite tell what embarrassed her the most : that she was caught in the wrong restroom or caught crying. She didn't mean to sneak in the boy’s room, it was an accident. She also didn’t think it deserved to make a big fuss over it. She probably shouldn’t make a fuss over someone seeing her crying either, but, somehow, she was. She should be stronger by now, get used to it, yet their words still found their way to pierce her armor and wound her. She really hoped adults were less cruel than the teenagers they used to be but she doubted it.

Tallulah didn’t want anyone else to find out what happened (the crying, not the bathroom thing although that too could remain hidden). She could really go without that kind of attention. So she needed to calm down, otherwise she wouldn’t be able to join in with the other students as though nothing happened. Lost in her thoughts, she startled as she heard the guy again. He came out of the restroom and was now next to her, asking if she needed anything more. She straightened up, moving away from the wall. Unconsciously, she passed a hand on her face to make sure she was not crying still. “No, no, I think it’s alright. It’s just...” That boy seemed to be genuinely nice. She didn’t feel like his goal was to make fun of her. Still, speaking of her leg right now was not exactly what she wanted to do. Sighing heavily, she shook her head. “It’s nothing. It was just the last drop, you know?” She didn't want him to worry too much over her. She’d be fine in no time and will be able to pretend she didn’t hear nor care about what they had to say.

Looking at him, her eyes narrowed a bit. “Don’t we have classes together?” Tallulah didn’t think she was the kind of student others noticed which gave her plenty of time to notice them. He didn’t look like the popular type either but his face definitely looked familiar.

[Toby Chastain]

Toby shrugged, adding a smile and a slight laugh. "oh, you don't have to tell me about the last drop thing. There are times... this one time, I had just gotten out of being stuffed into a locker, which isn't so bad and half the time I'm asking for it, but anyway, I'd just gotten out, and this cute girl passes by and just makes the snidest comment about my hair. Took all I had not to punch her," at least Toby had managed to resist crying in public, if only by the hair of his chinny chin chin.

Toby scratched said chin speculatively, part of his mind already wandering off into the middle distance, mostly considering stuff regarding chins and weird nursery rhymes. His mind snapped back as Talullah spoke again.

"Uh, maybe?" he offered, lowering the hand and shrugged. "I've also got one of those faces," he gestured at said face. "People say I look like a lot of people. Or they talk about my punchability." Toby shrugged again, offering a wry smile.

[Tallulah Wright]

Tallulah looked at the boy. She wasn’t so good at associating people with a stereotype but he definitely fit one of those that tended to get in trouble, less for what they did than what people thought they could do to him. There wasn’t exactly anything special about him, but that was just their ideal targets. Still, locking him in the girl’s locker. How did he even fit in there? That must have been so uncomfortable. She couldn’t resist laughing a little at his anecdote though. She figured he was telling her this somehow to reassure her or something like that. Make her feel like she was not alone, that others dealt with worse. She wasn’t sure, but she still laughed a bit and had a sheepish smile for laughing at his misfortune. “How can you ask for t though? They’re just dumb,” she let out, along with a heavy sigh. Bending some, Tallulah reached for the right leg of her pants and lifted it so he could see the prosthetic. She always put a sock, even if that was pretty useless, but she didn’t have any tall enough to cover it entirely and the pants were stretch enough she could pull it high enough to reveal the plastic instead of skin that was hiding underneath. She let him have a good view before pulling it down and make sure it looked just as the left one. “I thought finally having one would shut them up, but they still have something to say about it.” Somehow, she found a companion in her misfortune and she did so in the strangest of places. She was still not sure if that was a good idea to show him. He too could be a pain about it. But this was a handicap she’d have to deal with all of her life. She might not want it to be the only thing people knew about her but she didn’t want to hide it like it was a shameful secret. Besides, if they had been in classes together, he must have seen her with crutches before. Hiding it then was a lot harder than it was now.

Tallulah had a small smile at his remark. She wished she’d never end up underestimating herself to the point she could mention her punchability as if it was nothing. “I wouldn’t say that. But take the powers away and it’s a high school like any others and you don’t get people sticking to their clique more than in a high school. You don’t fit in theirs, you don’t exist.” She wondered in just which of these cliques he fit in. And her? She was in no club and could count her friends on her fingers. She doubted there was a clique for that, unless they put together all those left behind. “I’m Tallulah by the way. Tallulah Wright. Wright like the brothers who invented the first airplane, not like Right the opposite of left. I’ll stop talking now,” she said, indeed stopping to talk and even looking away a moment before she eyed him again and started to laugh.

[Toby Chastain]

"Ah, but you've only just gotten to know me," Toby pointed out, nodding his head. "So you have no idea the depth of my own stupidity," because there were definitely times when Toby seemed determined to get to the bottom of that depth. He almost winced just thinking about it. But then again, he supposed that was all part of the high school experience or something along those lines. The girl would understand that much, based on what she was saying. Plus, it looked like Toby was growing on her, so go him.

See? his joke even got a slight smile. "Nah, it's cool. I know all about the cliques and whatnot. I'm sort of a nerd, but more dorky. Definitely not the cool kind that's all hip and trendy these days," Toby added a shrug. "But who wants to be that anyway?" He half-smiled at her again. Nothing wrong with owning up to who you were, after all.

Talullah? The name made Toby raise his brows. He knew some people had some odd names (he had a class with a girl named Friday once), but that one was definitely a mouthful. "You mean not like rite as in secret ritual? Because that would have been my third guess," Toby said. "I'm Toby, Toby Chastain. Sort of like the actress, but with less sex appeal, I guess? Most people think my name evokes the image of a turtle," Toby extended his neck as far as he could and pressed his lips together, sliding into his mouth to give an illusion of toothlessness, "but I don't know where they get it."

[Tallulah Wright]

“The one who knows he is stupid is less stupid than the one who doesn’t know he is,” she quoted back to Toby after his comment that she only took as a way to cheer her up a little more. “That’s not from me, but don’t ask who said it first.” That did sound like the sort of witty quote some witty guy must have said in the past and that people kept using ever since, most probably without knowing its source, just like she did. Then again, if they could only say original things, there wouldn’t be a lot of things left to say.

“Right?” she agreed with him about the cliques. She was certain that one look at her would indicate she was not part of those cool kids either. She probably fell in the same category as he did. “Nerd. I guess that puts us in the same group,” she thought out loud. Nerds were the obsessed ones, right? Or was it the dorks? Unless it was the geeks? She couldn’t say she knew the difference all too well but she figured it was not all that important. She certainly was not crazy enough to feel insulted because she was not put in the right category. She’d prefer no category at all.

He said nothing about her leg, which she was grateful for. Obviously this did not matter, but she knew it was easy for it not to matter when you didn’t have to deal with it all the time. It was neatly covered under the leg of her pants, he could pretend it wasn’t even there. Since she had no idea whether they’d have the opportunity to talk further and become more than mere acquaintances, she didn’t really care.

She was surprised as he joked over her embarrassing explanation over her name and laughed again. “Yes, not like that either. The worse is when people get it wrong. Because then you have to say it’s Wright.” Okay, her jokes weren’t all that funny. And his might have been, had she known who that actress he mentioned was. Sadly, Tallulah knew only a handful of celebrities by name and she could not recall any Chastain. She didn’t want to admit it though so she figured silence was her best option. Until he made the turtle and had her chuckle again. “Turtle suits you. But Toby’s good enough,” she replied with a little smile.

Looking at him made her feel awkward and it had her look down before chewing on her cheek. “You wouldn’t mind... not, mentioning what happened?” she asked him, pointing at the wall, obviously meaning the room behind it and not the actual wall.

[Toby Chastain]

"Ah, I believe that one's from Yoda," Toby said, nodding. "Or possibly Gandhi. Pretty much all quotes come from one or the other, right?" Yes, he was definitely on a roll here. Probably helped that Tallulah was proving to be remarkably chill and all. By now ,Toby had all but forgotten their horribly awkward meeting and what all that had entailed. He wasn't sure if that went both ways, but he wasn't planning on bringing it up.

Toby shrugged. "They say we're bound to rule the world now. Personally I'll settle for just getting out of here. Maybe proving something involving mutants and how this whole crazy business works, but I'm not up enough on the science," probably because he spent too much time writing and attempting to be clever and all. He almost took the opportunity to ask Tallulah about her power, which sort of came with the whole mutant conversation thing, but she was already asking him for a favor.

"What thing? You mean how you actually laughed at my horrible turtle impression? Because I'm going to be reminding you of that until the day you die. Also reminding other people. Maybe writing it in a blog." Toby smiled again, shoving his hands into his pockets. As for Tallulah's leg, well, Toby really hadn't noticed. He wasn't much of a leg man and it wasn't like Tallulah was drawing attention to it or anything...

[Tallulah Wright]

When it came to humour, Tallulah was not all that hard to please. She could easily laugh just because she could tell someone was trying. And Toby was not vulgar or offensive so she had no reason to be serious and tell him he crossed a line. The one with Yoda and Gandhi wasn’t exactly as funny though and so she merely smiled, tilting her head slightly. “Them or some writer no one reads anymore except for literature students.” How many people read Oscar Wilde or Tennyson? Maybe if they tried to make them read more recent books would they show more interest in it.

She was with him about getting out of there and not caring about ruling the world. “Yeah, as long as I have a little spot in here somewhere, I can leave the rest to them.” He said something about mutants and science and it made her stare at him. She had her own dreams once she’d graduate from here and believed he just shared a bit of his with her. “You’re interested in it? The science, I mean. Does it have a branch of its own or we just say genetics?” She couldn’t say she was all that good in science. She had no problem with mixing things to see their reaction but the whole dissection part was not exactly to her liking.

Toby feigned ignorance about what she meant and she started laughing again. “Oh no, don’t do that. What about my reputation?” she said in a teasing manner. “If you write it, I’ll have to make a video of that impression and share it with the world too. They need to understand what nerds find funny these days.” Again, she wondered if she really fell in the nerd category. But that didn’t really matter.

[Toby Chastain]

Toby had to snort. Literature, and people thought that the sort of things he was interested in studying were more useless. Then again, Toby's interests were probably too varied; he kept flitting from thing to thing. Came with the insomnia; he'd figure something out eventually.

"I think it's part of genetics," Toby offered. "I'm more interested in some of the overall theories and trying to piece together patterns. Like, we sort of know how long there have been mutants and all, but is it just me, or are they increasing? And what's with the forcing thing? Most importantly: why are we not put in skintight blue and yellow uniforms and sent on dangerous missions? Because if we're going to be called mutants, I want the full package."

Again, Toby mostly meant to be funny with this. That didn't stop him from being somewhat disappointed. The same thing had happened when he'd found out his oh so wonderful ability. It pretty much just made him useful for long survival trips or gaming binges. There was probably some sort of career there somewhere.

"Hey, I never said it was funny. Just distracting. And you looked in need of a distraction for reasons I can no longer remember," Toby shrugged. "I blame the media: inputting all those ideas of masculinity. Clearly I listened ever so closely." he smiled again, before gesturing toward Tallulah. "But hey, I shouldn't be hogging all the talk and sharing. What are you interested in, Tallulah? Besides being a nerd. And turtles. Pretty sure we've established that already."

[Tallulah Wright]

Tallulah read a few books. When you couldn’t move around as much as the others, there weren’t as many hobbies you could find and since she didn’t get a computer until after she moved to Bellefonte, books proved to be the best way to pass the time. But she couldn’t say she read much of those writers people loved to quote. Most of them, she didn’t even know about. Toby sort of laughed so she figured he agreed or at least found her comment amusing.

She nodded. It did fit genetics. “It should have its own lessons though,” she let out. Genetics was a pretty broad topic. It may be more specific than scientist or engineer, but she saw a difference between that and mutation. He explained his interest and Tallulah tried to listen but she had to say it was all a bit puzzling. Theories, patterns, forcing? It all sort of mixed up together for her but she could tell he was invested in this and that was the most important. She smiled, trying not to laugh at the uniform bit. “Not everyone looks good in one,” she pointed out, not daring to look at him so he wouldn’t necessarily thinks she was talking of him. She knew she wouldn’t want to wear one. “And we don’t all have powers useful for dangerous missions,” she added, although on a lower tone of voice. She didn't want to rain on his parade or anything, especially when she assumed it was a joke. But that didn’t change it. In fact, she figured it was even worse to object to a joke.

He was right, she needed a distraction. She didn't think he could have provided her with one. She figured that, had he seen her outside the restroom, he would have headed the other way. But no. And, in the end, it was a good thing. She was smiling before being a bit surprised at his question. Her interests? Now, she thought she couldn’t avoid being laughed at or at least get a weird look. She preferred to avoid that. “You’ll laugh if I said them all so I think I’ll go for the safer one and say cooking?” she answered, her hand playing in her hair. “You want to study mutants, I want to have my own restaurant. Not exactly as impressive eh?”

[Toby Chastain]

"I think it does?" Toby offered. "I'm not, like, well, like I said, I'm more interested in studying it... maybe, like, from a journalistic perspective? Yeah, I'm going to go with that. I'll run the first journalistic mutant blog."

He had to smile at that, liking the idea more as he said it. Plus, it meant he wouldn't be thinking about the whole science angle, which he couldn't wrap his head around if he tried (and he had). This way, he could still be intelligent and still look at things... yeah, it was adding up.

Though Toby still had to chuckle at the mention of the uniforms. "Yeah, I'd be the one babysitting the little mutants," he said, smirking at the thought. His power was more than useless in that sort of situation, which had been disappointing. Sure, there were technically disappointing mutants in the comics if you looked, but they weren't the ones people were writing stories about or making movies or what have you.

Distraction time, even away from powers. "Nah, cooking's a legit path. Much saner than deciding to be a mutant journalist. Plus, owning your own restaurant's a pretty cool goal. I could never do it. We have to warn the fire department whenever I'm trying to cook," he smiled at that, before looking around. "so, uh, not that I don't mind talking, but should we try walking with it? Or are you still thinking that it's better to scurry away from me? I so won't blame you: I can get all kinds of annoying. I do grow on people. like mold. Or a deadly infection. But possibly more fun than those two options?"

[Tallulah Wright]

“It probably does here,” she guessed. A school full of mutants, it seemed logical they could offer lessons on mutations. They did have doctors in here, and a lab and all, so obviously they needed experts. And she could see how some basic knowledge could be useful to trainers or recruiters. But she stopped thinking about that as he explained the science didn’t interest him all that much. “Ah, I see. You want to share our point of view or it’s more about better understanding where those abilities come from?” She didn’t really see a problem in both. There were people against mutants, but she thought it was out of fear and ignorance. Having actual research they could read and learn from had to be a good thing. She just didn’t want to end up a lab rat for some mad scientist’s research.

At what he said, she assumed he didn’t have one of those ‘cool’ powers you see in movies or comic books. It was true that you never had one with a power you couldn’t find a proper use for. It was always super incredible. They were superheroes after all, they couldn’t be plain and boring. “Then we’d be two,” she told him. She was certain they could find some use to her power but she couldn’t say she totally enjoyed using it. It barely worked on her and all she ended up with was a terrible headache afterwards.

Saner? Less difficult maybe. Well, it could be tough, but not in the same way. She laughed at his cooking talent. “It’s more like an idea I had. I just know I love to cook, not sure how much I’ll still love it if I keep doing it all the time.” It was her goal nonetheless. She was young, she believed she still had plenty of time to change her mind if she had to. Toby offered for them to move. A good idea, because they were still rather close to the men’s room. She chuckled a bit at the way he brought it. He had a special kind of humour. “I don’t know if I could get away from you. I did try and you’re still there. But you’re right, we should probably go. Were you heading anywhere in particular?”