Bad Luck: Speak (OPEN)

[Oliver Barnes]

For the past month, Oliver had been working on a final project for his history class. He was assigned a military leader, in this case General Patton, and had to present visual aids as well as a speech to the class. While presentations would have made the nervous boy cower in fear some time ago, he was learning to deal with the anxieties that came with class presentations. He had everything set up the night before, including the poster board with pictures relating to the content and a sheet of paper with the speech printed on it. He'd even looked up tips to deal with presentations.

He rubbed the base of his throat, giving an experimental cough. The night before, while he'd been practicing, Oliver had noticed that his throat felt unusually sore and his voice was rough. Oliver hadn't thought much of it, brushing it off as the start of a cold. After getting dressed, he decided to go over it one last time before he had to go to class. He picked up the sheet of paper and tried to read the first sentence.

Only, no words came out.

A frown appeared on the shy boy's face, his grip tightening on the sheet of paper. Nononono... this couldn't be happening. He gave a few more experimental sentences, with various words. Nothing, except hoarse breathing where words should be forming. His throat ached with each attempt at speaking, barely able to understand what he was saying. What was he going to do? A month of preparation... and now he wasn't able to talk.

The only thing that he could do was go talk... attempt to communicate with the teacher. Grabbing his crutches, Oliver managed to make his way down the hall at a slow pace, internally cursing his ankle that was still mending and now his lost voice. Apparently, things could get worse.

By the time he made it to his history class, there were a few students but no sign of the teacher. And Oliver hadn't even brought his presentation material down with him, which would require another trip. A deflated expression crossed Oliver's face, about ready to call it quits for the day and sulk away in his room. 

[Sydney Emerson]

Sydney was a classic overachiever. Much as she hated to think she was unoriginal, she liked patterns and schedules and plans which naturally made her a bit predictable. As such, it was no surprise to anyone that she was one of the first students to arrive at the classroom, as per usual. The only times that Sydney didn't arrive to class early was when her extracurricular delayed her, which she made certain was a rare occurrence. She enjoyed the challenge of sports and the tasks of the Council, but nothing was more important to her than her academics.

History class was fairly easy at this point. She had already presented her final project last class which meant there was little for her to do but relax and enjoy. Some of her classmates presentations were quite interesting. Others were poorly researched and simply served as background noise and she focused on other tasks to ensure her time was still used productively at least. Nothing terribly intrusive of course, simply things like making to do lists and whatnot. It was simultaneously a relief and an annoyance for the prodigy. She loathed being bored but at the same time, when her life was so diligently scheduled, it was refreshing to have a moment to relax.

Her desk was all prepared for class when she noticed one of her classmates enter, looking more than a little lost. She knew Oliver - after all, she made an effort to know all of her classmates. He had been struggling lately having injured his leg, and Sydney couldn't help but feel badly for him. When she had first begun learning soccer, she had managed to twist her ankle rather badly. She had only been on crutches a couple weeks, but it was quite the nuisance she recalled.

That memory made up her mind for her as she quietly rose from her seat and approached the older boy. Sure enough, as she got closer she could feel his distress, though she quickly tried to push those emotions aside. After all, she couldn't be any help if she was as upset as he was.

"Hey Oliver," she said with a polite smile. "Is everything okay? You seem a bit... upset. Is there any way I could help?"

[Oliver Barnes]

Thankfully, due to his diligence, Oliver only had another week to go on crutches. It had taken a bit of time to heal, a little over two months, but he was grateful that soon things would be back to normal. Of course, now that his one injury was almost healed, something else had to happen. There was no explanation for the sore throat and lost voice, leaving Oliver confused and hopeless.

A voice cut through the background noise of other students' conversations. Oliver raised his head from its lowered position, seeing a girl standing in front of him. Sydney. While he couldn't remember ever talking to the girl, Oliver knew who she was. Younger, but intelligent. Driven. Always prepared. But that about summed everything hew knew about her up. Opening his mouth, Oliver forgot for a moment his problem, but was reminded of it when no words came out.

With a frown, he reached over to a pack of sticky notes and a blue pen on the teacher's desk, quickly scribbling something down with his neat print.

Hey Sydney... not really. I don't know if you can help... but it's my turn to present the project today and I've lost my voice. I'm kind of frazzled.

Oliver was sure that she could tell his state of mind wasn't exactly the best, the betrayed emotions written all over his face. He handed over the note with a sheepish smile, trying to pull himself together.