Time Warp: Everything Has Changed

[Rowan Booker]

Set Early 2011

Just keep shuffling, just keep shuffling on by. No one has to notice you, just keep shuffling on by. Going through the hallways past all of the classrooms, Rowan glanced around to make sure that no one was looking at him, or ya know, about to trip him. That was the problem with being so quiet, everyone thought you were a freak of some sort. Little did they know that in his mind, he wsa cursing all of those people straight to hell because he could. Fuckin' morons with their ignorance and shit. This is why he didn't talk to people, that and feelings....ew.

Rowan stared down at the ground again, looking at his feet as he swept past everyone. Well, he tried to sweep past everyone, but just as he passed by the art room, he crashed right into someone, sending his books flying. He stood there, staring down at his books, with a string of curse words directed at this stupid person that wasn't paying attention because CLEARLY it wasn't his fault.

"Sorry, you okay?" He asked in a clipped and not-so-friendly tone. Then again, it was nicer than just picking up all of his books and walking away without saying anything. He looked up to see the girl that he bumped into and his eyes widened a bit. She was pretty, very pretty. But still an idiot. Yup.

[Lucy Serrano-Blaise]

Why did people like it here? Like, why did everyone always make a big deal about seeing snow. Living with snow. Oh, I can't wait to have my first white Christmas. My first snowy winter.

Well fuck your snowy winter, America. It was freezing.

A sixteen-year-old Lucy Serrano wished giving the proverbial finger to the snow would make it go away. Early months were supposed to be about sweltering in the summer heat, not wearing an excessive amount of layers and looking like a dumbass while doing it. At least she was inside now, so useless bloody mittens could be discarded - she couldn't wait to tell her dad how absolutely fucked the weather was.

But at least it's better than fucking Switzerland.

Lucy stared at the ground, a beanie strapped tightly to her head - it meant the earphones she wore were completely hidden from view. As she swung out of the art room door with her head down, she instantly realised someone had crashed square into her. There went those pens she'd been procuring.

"Holy fucking fuck," Lucy cursed under her breath. "Are you fucking kidding me?" She pressed a hand to her head. What was he, a fucking giant? Did she hit him in the chest or something? "What?" She all but shouted at him, realising the music in her ears was too loud. She ripped the things out. "Shit, did you just fucking well run into me?"

[Rowan Booker]

Rowan winced as she practically screamed in his face like she was fucking deaf. He stepped back and appraised her. She looked like she was dressed for fucking Antarctica because she had a beanie on and was layered up like a puss. For Rowan, it was practically t-shirt weather. Growing up in Boston toughened him up to weather and it really didn't bother him as much anymore. That and he was usually warm as it was, very rarely cold to the touch.

When she accused him of running into her, he gave her an incredulous look and snorted, "No, you ran into me. Maybe if you fucking paid attention to anything of the outside world, you'd know that. And if you didn't have the music so fucking loud, you'd have heard me apologize even though it was your god damn fault." He glared at her.

Who the fuck did she think she was? All he'd been doing was trying to get to class and she just flat out plowed into him. "Now if you'd promptly move out of my god damn way, I'll be retrieving my books and leaving."

[Lucy Serrano-Blaise]

Instinctively, the Australian gave him the once over too. He must have been a bloody local - she didn't really get much difference when it came to accents in America, but she knew his wasn't from around here. Still, he was American. Just look at him.

Lucy literally scoffed at the guy as he started going off at her. "Listen jackass, why the fuck would you be apologising if you didn't think y'did anything wrong?" She raised her eyebrows. Point made.

"Why of course! I'll promptly move, as you'll be retrieving your god damn books." Lucy mocked him. What big words he had. She went so far as to actually take a step to the side, but by now the ink manipulator's ill-equipped ability to handle her powers had flared, and her pens had leaked ink all over his dropped books.

[Rowan Booker]

"Force of habit because some fucking people have manners, jackass," God was this the girl's first time ever having human contact? Rowan wasn't exactly a people person, but at least he knew basic human interaction.

Must have been the Australian in her, which was painfully noticeable with her accent. It was so obnoxious - or maybe he just thought it was because she was being obnoxious.

Rowan rolled his eyes back in his head dramatically and looked down to see his books covered in ink. Normally, he'd probably be pretty happy about it because if he couldn't see shit on the pages, how was he supposed to do the work? But the fact that it was her that caused it, well, he didn't take it as well. "What the fucking hell? Are you incapable of keeping your shit from getting on my books? Way to fucking go," He shook his head and knelt down to pick them up, careful to avoid all inked up areas.

"Fucking beautiful," He muttered as he stood back up.

[Lucy Serrano-Blaise]

"Sure you didn't lose yours too?" Lucy denoted, nodding her head slightly. People shouldn't argue when they themselves are doing the very thing they're advocating against.

When Lucy looked down, she realised what he was staring at. Fuck. Fuck, fuck, fucking fuck. She kept her nerve. It was okay. This was bound to happen. He didn't know she was an ink manipulator. Her sleeves covered the lion tattoo she had, so it couldn't try to roar at him for being an absolute toss about the situation. "Keep your books in your fucking hand and this wouldn't have happened, Seppo." She shot back fiercely. "Or open your bloody eyes. How's that idea grab you?"

"You were gonna use those?" Lucy asked, furrowing her eyebrows in his direction. "What the fuck for?"

He clearly didn't look like the studying type.

[Rowan Booker]

"Must have escaped with yours," Rowan said with a sneer. God, why was he wasting his time with this? She was annoying.

Rowan rolled his eyes, "Stop talking. Damn, you must really like the sound of your own god damn voice." He ignored everything that she said though because it wasn't of any importance to him. What was important was figuring out how he was going to get out of this situation and how he was going to tell his teacher that ink happened to spill all over his books. Then again, it was a school full of freaks, he could probably come up with a decent excuse.

"No I wasn't going to use them, do I fucking look like a brainiac?" He wasn't stupid by any means, but that was only when he wasn't being lazy with his work. He could have probably gotten decent grades if he gave a fuck about anything or anyone. His mind wasn't even in Vermont. It was in Boston with his cousin, with his aunt.

[Lucy Serrano-Blaise]

"That's what dumbasses say when they don't have an answer." Lucy pointed out, twisting her mouth to one side. Lucy Serrano called that an obvious victory against the guy. So she didn't stop talking. Being told to shut up had never exactly stopped the aggressive Australian before.

She furrowed her eyebrow, desperately wanting to laugh at his answer. But she opted not to. "Okay, so if you don't wanna use them, why are you bitching?" She asked, genuinely curious for his response, "You get a good excuse for why you couldn't do your bloody work." How did that not cross his mind? Was he really an idiot? Lucy ran her fingers through her hair in her own confusion.

This guy was a conundrum.

[Rowan Booker]

Rowan shrugged, still not exactly that convinced she was as much of a badass as she was trying to come off. He wasn't amused by her attitude and he was ready to just be done with her. What was the point of sticking around when clearly they couldn't say anything nice to each other? Granted, it made him a little less tense the more he snapped at her, but to be fair, she wasn't the one he was mad at.

That didn't make him stop though. "Fair point, but I'd rather not have to dick around talking to the teacher who already isn't my biggest fan," Seeing as how he was kind of a dick to have in class and constantly distracted people with childish pranks and whatnot. He figured he was just a joy to have in class. An absolute poster child for students who were loved by teachers. It wasn't his fault the staff had a giant stick placed where the sun doesn't shine.

"Then again, I could just skip," He mumbled to himself. Today was definitely feeling like a skipping day. Rowan was sick of school. He was sick of this stupid ability and he was just overall frustrated.

[Lucy Serrano-Blaise]

His shrug counted as a victory, but Lucy didn't voice that. That was obvious, right?

"Need me to walk you through it?" Lucy asked, half joking. She found it hard to believe an inconceivable dickwad like this guy was legitimately afraid of dealing with a pissy teacher. From memory, and she was pretty sure she'd seen him in class, he wasn't exactly a favourite. Then again, neither was she.

Lucy raised her eyebrows at him. Did he seriously just say that? He was weird about talking to a teacher about books, but not about the inevitability that was getting caught skipping? "Are you serious?" She asked.

Maybe she wasn't meant to hear it, but she did.

[Rowan Booker]

"No thanks," he said with an eyeroll. Who did she think she was? The fucking god of the school? Rowan really just wanted to go. Was it that hard to see? Or maybe she was keeping him there on purpose, egging him on just so he'd stick around. Why she would want that, he didn't know, but either way, he couldn't be sure.

The look she gave him confused him. All he'd said was he was thinking of skipping class. What was the big deal? No, they didn't necessarily handle skipping very well, but they'd get the fuck over it. He had a legitimate reason for distraction and they couldn't say he couldn't get distracted by it.

"Yes I'm fucking serious, why the hell wouldn't I be?" He asked as he looked at her.

[Lucy Serrano-Blaise]

All the Australian did was jerk her head back slightly in a laugh. His reaction as funny. His eye roll, more so. Whatever he thought about her, it was amusing to her nonetheless. At least he wasn't being a total dick any more.

It was like he took her confusion and wore it for himself. Why was he confused? She was confused as to why he was such a hypocritical paradox. Did he not realise that?

"You don't wanna start shit with a teacher, but you wanna bail on a teacher, which then ends up causing shit between you and a teacher. D'ya get that much?" She asked genuinely, her eyebrows raising. "Bet you're too busy shitting yourself over the wrecked books to really consider bailing." She raised her eyebrows. A bit of a challenge for the Boston boy.

[Rowan Booker]

Okay, so Rowan wasn't exactly mad about the fact that he had to dick around with the teacher. He was more pissed because his books, if they weren't dry in time, were going to stain his desk with ink and it bothered him immensely to have things like that happen. He wasn't OCD by any means, he just had anal tendencies when it came to cleanliness. She wouldn't know that though because she, like many others, had never been in his dorm room or his room back in Boston.

"It's not about the teacher, I'm not scared of starting shit with one of them. It's a different issue entirely. But to be honest, I have many reasons to bail on class." None of which she needed to know about.

Rowan held his books at an arm's length and sighed. "Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go do something that's not a waste of my time. And it won't be going to class."

[Lucy Serrano-Blaise]

Lucy narrowed her eyes on the guy. Alright, now he wasn't making any sense at all. She suddenly wished she understood him, because he wasn't making any sense at all. It was weird that he was making a point to tell her about the fact that it wasn't about teachers. But hadn't it been? Lucy was already tracking the conversation in her mind to try and figure out where she picked that up in the first place.

But before she could, he was talking about leaving. And not going to class.

"Me neither." Lucy interjected, reaching her hands out and pulling the books away from them. She made the move to hug them close to her chest despite the ink. "No way you're getting this shit off yourself."

[Rowan Booker]

"Uhm, okay," He said when she stated that she too wasn't going to class. It was a little strange how she took his books and didn't even freak out about the ink getting on her. That shit stained and she was going to be an inky mess of nasty with the way that she held it close to herself.

What did he care though?

Rowan narrowed his eyes at her, "So what? You're gonna help me?" He laughed a bit at the thought of it, but couldn't say he'd mind. Getting this shit off his books and keeping it out of his room was gonna suck ass and he definitely didn't want to do it himself. "I guess I could use the help, uhm, thanks I suppose."

He rubbed the back of his neck and up through his air before letting his hand drop again, "Name's Rowan, by the way. Rowan Booker." Might as well start being polite now.