Pretty Pink Princess

[Lucian "Lucy" Lafaux]

The fun part of doing crazy things was watching as the crazy things happened to other unsuspecting people. Fill a person's locker with chocolate pudding, or a glitter bucket over someone's door. Watch the person curse as containers of the chocolate pudding crash to the floor to burst and cover their shoes in chocolatey goodness. Plus making it look like they'd stepped in poo. Or watching the glitter person walk about all day covered in glitter because it seemed that stuff stuck no matter how many showers. Laughter was life's best medicine after all.

The bad part of doing crazy things was when people retaliated. Some people just took the prank and went with it. Some just didn't have the brains to figure out who pulled the stunt. Others found the person and beat the crap out of them. After which the person takes a hot shower to sooth such pains only to come out and find all their clothes were gone. The only thing left to wear a very frilly pink dress with pink and violet glitter. Not even a blanket to cover up with. Oh, and the only shoes? Princess plastic glittery heels. So the lesson here kids is not to dump a bucket of glitter on the head of the football team.

He couldn't miss classes, he couldn't go find the punkass jerk and melt crap to his eyeballs. No matter how badly he wanted to do both. Instead he dawned the pink frilly dress, the heels, and the tiara they so kindly provided, and go to class. The dress barely came to his knees, and sitting down proved problematic. He got some whistles, some cat calls, and plenty of laughter mixed with stifled giggles.

Did he care? Oh hell yes. Would revenge come like a tidal wave of molten fire? Sadly not the way he most wanted. Hurting other students was against his new policy, or the schools policy for him anyway.

Turning a corner he tried to not see all the people staring at him, and not think about burning them all. So focused in fact that he ran into someone. Hard. Stumbling on the blasted heels he flung out his hands to grab hold of whomever he just collided with. Hopefully they could stop him from crashing and flashing the school his pretty princess undies they'd left him too. "Son of a bit-!" This day seriously couldn't get any worse.

[Wren Averett]

The cool thing about being new at a school is everyone expects you to get lost.  Bearing that, is there any real rush to get anywhere?  You have a perfectly valid excuse to be as late to class as you want, and you can milk the hell out of it for at least a week, and Wren had already let too much of it go to waste. A better student would have wanted to start off on a good foot with the teachers, but Wren had already exhausted herself in that department.  Arriving at Bellefonte had been an unrelenting whirlwind of new.  New faces, new rules, new classes, new town, new buildings, new schedules, the list went on.  She'd had no time to adjust and after the morning onslaught of class lectures and assignments over material she hadn't yet covered at her last school, she just wanted a break.

A better student would have wanted to start off on a good foot with the teachers, but Wren had already exhausted herself in the first impressions department.  Arriving at Bellefonte had been an unrelenting whirlwind of new.  New faces, new rules, new classes, new town, new buildings, new schedules, the list went on.  She'd had no time to adjust and after the morning onslaught of class lectures and assignments over material she hadn't yet covered at her last school, she just wanted a break.

In Wren's hands was a creased piece of paper with her class schedule on it.  Her eyes moved between the room number for her next class on the paper and the room number posted outside the door on the other end of the hall.  A perfect match.

"Well, can't be sure," she said to herself, folding the paper back up.  "I'm still new here.  Better make sure I'm not just...mixed up or something."  She smirked at herself as she jammed the paper into her pocket, pleased with her deviousness.  Back home she would have never had the guts to take advantage of her teachers like this.  She would have been too afraid of coming him to an angry Gran.  But living away from home put a bit of power in her.  Sure, she could still get an angry phone call from home if one of the teachers caught on, but 

She smirked at herself as she jammed the paper into her pocket, pleased with her deviousness.  Back home she would have never had the guts to take advantage of her teachers like this.  She would have been too afraid of coming him to an angry Gran.  But living away from home put a bit of bravery in her.  Sure, she could still get an angry phone call from home if one of the teachers caught on, but what were the odds of that?  These teachers were so accustomed to new students coming in and having to feel out their new environment.  They were counting on Wren to be late.

That bit of bravery was short-lived.  Wren had only taken one single step in the wrong direction when the universe knocked that defiance right out of her.  The term "instant karma" had never felt so accurate.

"AHSHITCRAPMOTHEROFGOD!"

Having only taken one step, Wren was pretty much standing still when her assailant crashed into her. So she wasn't off-balanced, just really spooked.  And since he wasn't too heavyset, he didn't yank her off her feet grabbing onto her either.  But he did off-balance her then, and she started falling forward with him.  Big-sis mode kicked in and she was instinctively trying to catch him and her own balance at the same time.  In the end, she ended up staggering forward and bending at the knees, clutching at the boy at the shoulders and lower hip.  

Wren froze in that stance, letting her mind process what just happened.  No, his dress was still down and his pink panties were still a well-kept mystery, but now he was being held in a dip pose, like having just finished a dramatic dance.  And that fit the princess theme to an agonizing accuracy.

The hallways were silent for several seconds until they errupted into laughter.

Wren just kept staring at the dress clad boy, her face turning hot red.  She was too humiliated to look up and let the laughing masses see her face.  And after getting enough of a glance at what the boy was wearing...she was too humilated FOR him to get a better look.  So she just...stared at his face like a deer making eye-contact with an oncoming driver, still lacking the presence of mind to straighten them out of that pose.

[Lucian "Lucy" Lafaux]

Curse words filled his ears from both his mouth and the person he ran into. For some reason hearing curse words from someone else for a change reassured him, comforted him in some twisted way. So many kids in this blasted school seemed so goody goody. Or maybe they were all just too wigged out at being here to dare say something bad. He passed the wigged out stage years ago. Not that many students knew him anymore and if they did they stayed clear of him.

Arms around him he thanked the karma beings of the universe that he didn't go bump up. What surprised him however as he looked up that the arms belonged to a girl. He knew he'd lost weight in solitary, but damn. The blood started rushing to his head in this prolonged dip, but it felt a bit like getting drunk so he decided to just stay there. That and the bombardment of laughter made him go still in the girl's arms.

"Laugh it up now bunch of mush for brains twits." The girl's face looked almost as red as his got when his powers kicked on. A slight twinge tweaked at his insides. He hadn't meant to embarrass the girl to drag someone else down into his misery. For once. "Hey, gorgeous. Mind helping me vertical? These heels are a bitch on balance."

Clinging to her pathetically he hoped she snapped out of the whole doe eyes faze soon. He shifted trying to get his feet better underneath him trying to stand, and not fall when she did so well keeping him up in the first place. With a glance around the hall he mutter a few more curses. "Hey! Unless you all want all your underwear melted together buzz off worm brains!" Yes, worm brains very mature.

[Wren Averett]

Wren was having a hard time processing reality here.  Because, well...reality wasn't looking a whole lot like reality.  It was looking like one of those freaky nightmares you have before the first day of school, like you dream of answering a question naked or realizing you forgot to put on pants that morning.  It was weird.  Perhaps the strain of adjusting to so many new things had worn out her brain's capacity for weird,  or maybe dip-holding a taller boy dressed in an eight-year-old girl's Halloween costume was an overload of weird that no brain could be expected to handle.  But whatever the reason, the only thing her mind could come up with was a bright, bold message: DOES NOT COMPUTE. 

The harsh words coming from the frilly-clad boy didn't help, either.  Maybe it would have made sense if his voice sounded even close to the voice that belonged in a princess dress.  Not that he had a terribly deep voice, but he sounded so angry and aggressive and tough, and it just didn't match the outfit at all.  The pressure of the laughter and teasing around her was pressing in on her hard, and the more Wren struggled to make sense of it, the more blanks she drew.

"Hey, gorgeous. Mind helping me vertical? These heels are a bitch on balance."

Finally, she was addressed, and her mind was given a task.  She cleared her throat and got just a bit redder, embarrassed to have had to been *told* to help him to his feet rather than figuring that out herself.

"Right, right," she practically wheezed. She took a slow step back and steadied him to his feet, drawing even more laughter and snickering from the crowd.

"Hey! Unless you all want all your underwear melted together buzz off worm brains!"

Wren flinched at first, jumpy as she was.  But after a couple of seconds, a grin crept across her lips and she huffed a chuckle, and suddenly she was giggling.

The dress.  The fall.  The pose.  The voice.  The laughter.  Worm brains.

"Worm brains," she muttered, shaking her head.  "Oh god.  Where am I?  Wake up, Wren."

She squeezed her eyes shut, throwing herself one final lifeline in hopes that this embarrassing mishap was all a bad dream.  Of course she knew better, but it was worth a shot, right?  She kept them squeezed for several seconds, then opened her eyes.  Nope.  Still there.  Still standing in the hall surrounded by laughing and a little taunting.

Wren cleared her throat and crossed her arms.  "Well.  Y-your welcome," she said, trying to play off her embarrassment.

[Lucian "Lucy" Lafaux]

He was starting to worry about the girl when the on button finally clicked on. Maybe she wasn't used to getting stared at by the masses with laughter raining down upon her. Finally in the upright position he straightened the dress tugging it down in the back.

"Hmm, maybe I shoulda worn the tights after all." At least then he couldn't have to worry so much about his panties getting seen. Panties. Damn. Panties against his will to boot. Not he'd wear panties for a good laugh or if his date wanted him too. But when the laugh was on him?

"Those wankers are gonna pay for this." Mumbling he almost missed the part where the girl kind of lost it. Eyebrows going up he watching he start giggling and talking to herself. Not that talking to oneself was that odd seeing as he tended to do it frequently. Had to have someone intelligent to talk to after all.

"You're at Bellefonte School for gifted nut jobs. I'm not positive but you look awake." He leaned closer to her tilting his head curiously. The surrounding morons didn't bother him much anymore. The taunting ones however he gave a quick look around making mental notes. Key to car, melt rims of glasses, fill locker with shaving cream, etc.

At the throat clearing he snapped back to the girl eyes blinking. "Thanks, right. Totally. Fast moves there, chicka. Verrah nice." Grinning madly he reached up to straighten his tiara, then changed his mind and put it back to crooked. Yeah, much better.

[Wren Averett]

"Thanks, right. Totally. Fast moves there, chicka. Verrah nice."

Wren took a breath and exhaled.  She was expecting him to get a little defensive, but no.  He just...thanked her.  Gave credit where it was due.  One thing she had noted right away at this school was that it was strongly *lacking* the kind of snootiness she got from the students at other private schools her parents had plugged her in.  Granted, a boy in a princess costume didn't have a lot of room to act indignant, but it was still surprising.  Like a breath of fresh air.

"Well...big sis," she said with a shrug, glancing off.  She let herself take a breath as the laughter finally started easing off.  "You know rugrats climb on couches and jump off 'a stuff.  You get kinda used to catching."

Her southern accent was glaringly clear, and especially so to herself.  She cleared her throat as if to scold herself and looked back at the boy.

"That's..." her voice trailed off, distracted by how he was adjusting his tiara.  The corner of her mouth twitched into a grin.  She didn't know whether to laugh or not.  "...an...interesting fashion choice.  Should I ask, or...?" 

[Lucian "Lucy" Lafaux]

He wasn't the most grateful type but they girl could've let him fall. The girl could've laughed with all the rest. She hadn't. That earned her brownie points, and those went a long way in his twisted world. More brownie points she had the less likely he'd pull something over on her, or attack her, or melt things she held dear.

At first he thought she was calling him big sis then it clicked. "Yeah? Coulda let 'em fall. Coulda let me fall. So. Thanks." His voice held a note of something most people just called it European. He never had a set home long enough to develop a particular accent, but all those boarding schools in Europe gave him a hint of something distinctly not American.

Noticing her southern accent but not commenting on it. He kind of liked the accent and if a guy spoke to him in that voice? Hmmm, yeah. Certain southern could melt his bones, not so much the rough hick back woods southern. That just creeped him out and hike his shorts up high.

Tiara tilted just right he glanced down at her though he did notice she wasn't that much shorter than him. "Hmm? Oh, this old thang?" Grinning he lifted the skirt slightly with one hand his other hand on hip cocked hip. After a second he dropped the frilly pink fabric and shrugged. "Someone didn't appreciate my lil' joke I played on them. Soooo...they decided to update my wardrobe."

Giving a little twirl he put a hand out to brace himself against the wall. He still hadn't gotten quite used to the heels just yet. "I figured might as well own it. I'll get my clothes back eventually." Hopefully without having to resort to violence.

[Wren Averett]

A prank war, huh?  A smirk started to crawl its way across Wren's lips.  A prank war...that's what it sounded like.  She'd watched them on Youtube and had seen how they could escalate to the point where nothing was sacred, and how pranks could be sabotaged and backfired.  Distrust and paranoia hung over once tight-knit families and groups of friends until someone either gave up or called a truce.

...Wren had always wanted in on one of those.

"Just...rolling with it, then?  You've got guts."  She chuckled a bit.  She couldn't think of anyone she knew who could just "own" being left with nothing to wear but a princess dress. She didn't even know it was possible to be that comfortable with yourself.  Of course, this guy could just be a class clown lapping up the opportunity to take credit for something so funny, but even still.  A princess dress was a whole other level of confident.


"How do you plan on dishing it back?"

[Lucian "Lucy" Lafaux]

"Guts? I suppose. What else am I suppose to do? Crawl in a corner and cry till I get better clothes? Puh-lease." Smoothing down the skirt he gave a cute boy who was staring at him a finger way making a kissy face at him. The boy blushed then proceeded to hurry off down the hall bumping into multiple people along the way. "Adorable."

Giggling his attention peeked its head back up for the girl at her question. Brown eyes moving to her interest finally clicked on for his catcher. "Not sure just yet. Something involving recording them doing something humiliating and posting it online." He shrugged non-nonchalantly figuring some grand idea would pop into his wicked brain eventually.

"Got any suggestions? I love new and shiny ideas on how to make people's lives miserable." His smile dripped with malice and ill intent or so he hoped. That's what he pushed into it anyway. The jerks who did this to him would pay alright, seven times fold if he had his way about it.

[Wren Averett]

There were a few seconds before she spoke where Wren very sternly explained to herself that she would regret these words the instant they left her mouth.  But even still, she said them anyway.

"Well, that depends...do you think they're afraid of spiders?"

Wren wanted to be able to use her powers on purpose for once.  And what better way than a prank war?  She would start off this new school year right.  Impress one of the other students, help him lay a glorious prank, establish herself in this new social order.  It was an exciting sort of risk that could either be the most badass wonderful thing she'd ever done, or the most humiliating failure.  

And given her track record with her powers, humiliating failure wasn't that far off.  Wren may have *wanted* to be the badass spiderqueen that could sic legions of eight-legged freaks on a bunch of jocks...but in reality, she was the one getting swarmed and running screaming.

But no.  Not this time.  New school, new start.  The best way to get your feet wet was to jump right in, right?

"Becuase if they are, I might be able to help with that."