No, YOU'RE stupid! Nyehh! (Ruby)

[Deleted]

This class was boring and stupid and he hated it. The only thing that made it tolerable was that he was seated almost in the back of the class and could hunch over his notebook and doodle in the margins while the teacher droned on about grammar or Shakespeare or something like that. Gene didn't know and didn't care. He'd pay someone else for a copy of their notes later. And no doubt his tutor would make sure he kept up with the work he had to do, whatever it was.

In the meantime, Gene was lost in his own little world, focusing very intensely on the chibi-sized doodle that he had going on his notebook. Some grouchy kid with fang-pire teeth and bad hair. Hmm....maybe add a bottle of booze since the guy was such a lush. Gene snickered to himself and started another one of the same character, this time giving him floppy dog ears and a bushy tail to go with those canines. What a dork! Let's make the next one of him crying like a baby while the handsome rich protagonist stepped on his back. And another of the dirty mutt begging for forgiveness for being such a jerk and showering the well-dressed hero with hymns of praise.

Gene was having fun with this, his lips curled into a deviously amused smile. No doubt his aura was glimmering a swirl of orange and yellow over this as well. He hadn't noticed that there was anything else going on in the classroom, he was so self involved. Not even that the teacher had stopped lecturing and left the students alone for while he took care of something personal. Not even that the noise level surrounding him had grown from the empty sound of crickets to the dull murmur of chattering.

[Ruby Parker]

Ruby sulked into her seat, burying her face deep into her scarf. She loved classes and learning and it was a bit disappointing to see the teacher leaving, especially when her powers made it nearly impossible to do any of the internal speculation required for her own writing. Forcefields, invisibility, more shapeshifters than you could shake a stick at... it would be inspiring if she could just think without getting another power thrown in her face. The bright flashing from the back of the classroom wasn't making things much better and in fact dominated her headspace.

Orange. Aura projection. Yellow. Aura projection. Orange. The colors and knowledge drilled into her head like a techno beat. Noise, noise, noise, like the Whos and the Grinch it assaulted her senses, drumming into her head, pounding into her sinuses, drilling into her temples and throwing off her groove something hardcore. She was certain he was doing this just to be a brat, but maybe if she just asked politely, he'd stop. Maybe.

With a defeated sigh she stood and straightened her coat, moving to saunter to the back of the classroom with her light footsteps. She paused in front of his test to tell him off, only to glance down and spot his paper. A small smile of delight spread across her face, and she squealed out before she could stop herself, "Those are really, really cute!"

[Deleted]

The moment Gene heard the grating voice of the girl who’d come up to him, he flinched and immediately his aura shrunk and faded from sight(mostly). He snapped his head up stare at the girl who’d brought him out of his artistic daydream, his cheeks slightly flushed in his irritation. They grew even more red as he slowly processed what it was she had actually said.

W-what? She had seen—?

Gene looked down at his doodles and covered them with his arm, then darted a fiercely annoyed glare at the ugly ginger. “Go away! What do you want?” Because people usually didn’t talk to him unless they wanted something, like money. Usually money. If it made them go away, he was happy to give it. He prayed that that was all this fat banshee wanted.

[Ruby Parker]

Ruby flinches back from the unexpected scowl, her grin snapping into a well practiced hurt look. was she putting her nose where it didn't belong again? It could have been private... but his drawings were so good and she was so confused. Most people liked being complimented, especially if they actually were good. It sounded like he was angry at someone mentioning his art was good. That sounded like a classic cry for help, especially when he was blushing. And he was always so quiet and withdrawn... maybe he just needed a friend to stop being such a prick.

"Oh, um... You kind of had your aura on and i was going to ask you to turn it down and then I saw your drawings and thought they were so cute I had to comment but now you're mad because I interrupted you and you're out of your art zone and I'm sorry and now I'm rambling and oh gosh..." Rambling was the best way to explain yourself, right? Let it all out at once like a popped biscuit tin. People liked you better when you were honest, right?

[Deleted]

Yes, this girl was putting her ugly snout right where it didn’t belong. In Gene’s business! Exactly where it shouldn’t be, or anybody else for that matter. This was why Gene liked sitting in the back of the classroom, because there was less risk of someone sneaking up on him and looking over his shoulder. But this girl…this girl had waltzed up upon him from the front of the class…meaning that she had come to his desk specifically to bother him, and just that knowledge already had Gene grinding his teeth in irritation.

No, he did not need a friend, he was perfectly fine without them!

Of course, it was his stupid aura that attracted her attention. This blasted thing, he wished it would just die! Gene scowled and growled forward like an indignant kitty being force-showered with unwanted love and affection. “If you’re quite done, then just leave already,” he grumbled, holding his notebook to his chest protectively. “Your voice is like nails on a chalkboard, it’s grating my nerves.” Gene took a breath. “You ugly cow,” he added impulsively.

[Ruby Parker]

Ruby's face dropped and her hands begin to wring the air in front of her as the words hit her hard. Cow? That was terrible and awful. Like, awferable! But it was kind of true, wasn't it? Her voice was pretty annoying with it's high pitch peaks and she was a bit on the... fat side.

She looked down, trying to think about it as quickly as she could. She could just leave the insult where it landed, just let him get away with it, but... but... it was so mean, and everyone would start calling her fat if she let it slide. She could feel everyone else staring at her back (at least in her mind), telling her to just bounce back from the verbal assault.

She looked at his face, trying to find something to criticize, anything to remedy the situation. The big problem was he was really skinny, which wasn't really a bad thing in her eyes and he didn't really have any unattractive features. Instead, she decided to try and attack his character.

"Well, um... you're stupid! Really stupid! So stupid you're sitting in the back, where they say you're 20% less likely to get school work done!" She blurted out, still staring at the floor in front of her.

[Deleted]

Gene saw her face and silently willed the ginger girl to go away. Please be hurt enough to just leave him alone and never come back. Gene didn’t take sadistic pleasure in saying cruel things to people(HA!), but if it got them to leave him alone, then he would without mercy.

Unfortunately, it seemed to have backfired. And in a rather pathetic way.

Was she really….quibbling with him? With stupid 2 year old insults? “You’re call me stupid? Maybe you should look in the mirror, then you’ll find someone worthy of that title.” Because that was a much more mature comeback than what she flung at him. “Are you a kid? I tell you to leave me alone and you call me stupid! That’s stupid!!”

[Ruby Parker]

Now it was on. Before he was insulting her appearance, one thing she took to heart but didn't take any pride in. Now he was going after he intelligence, something she wasn't great at but had at least some stock in.

Looking up with a look of defiance on her eyes, a sense of determination to be the one to end this, Ruby responded, "No, stupid is calling someone stupid. Can't think of anything better? Maybe if you sat in the front of class and stopped being a sociopath, you'd learn how to make more intelligent insults. Besides, you started it so you can't take the moral high ground, you... you... slutty taintgoblin!" She remembered rolling that insult on a generator a while back. She had no idea how effective it would be.

[Deleted]

Was this girl serious? Even Gene didn’t suck at snark this bad! “Did you pull that up on a random generator or something?” he asked, his face stricken with pure, dumbfounded incredulity. “Because that’s what it sounds like! And do you even know what a sociopath is?” Granted, Gene didn’t know the exact definition of the word either, but he was certain it had something to do with being emotionless…and Gene’s always on display aura automatically refuted that fact.

“And I didn’t start anything! You’re the one sticking your giant schnoz where it doesn’t belong, you…you snout-nosed hobbit!!” Ha, he totally one-upped her! Kodi would be proud of him, for sure!

[Ruby Parker]

Curses, her secret said aloud! Red began to tint Ruby's face while she tried to save her dignity as best as she could... at the cost of Gene's.

"You used nose twice in one sentence, idiot, and a sociopath is characterized by a lack of empathy for other people and a blatant disregard for authority figures."

[Deleted]

Gene flushed out to his ears at the blunder she pointed out. “S-so!? I can use ‘nose’ twice in a sentence if I want to! There’s no rule against that!” To her other comment, Gene wasn’t planning on backing down. “And you sound idiotic, did you memorize that from the dictionary? How lame do you have to be to have to sit around reading the dictionary!? Nerd!” Because that was original.

In the meantime, the two of them were gathering quite the audience amid their senseless argument. Gene didn’t notice a one of them, he was going to win this stupid word battle if it was the last thing he did!

[Ruby Parker]

Ruby, too, was caught in the battle of soggy wits. She'd avenge what little pride she held yet.

Her hands curled into little useless balls. Even if she tried to swing at him, she'd probably hurt herself more in the process. With a face as red as an apple, she shouted, "I read the dictionary and the thesaurus when I'm stumped on something! Maybe you should read something yourself every once in a while instead of paying people to read for you!"

[Deleted]

Why did everyone seem to think that Gene didn’t read anything other than comic books?? (that’s not what she said) He read books! Real books! Whole novels! “I read plenty! I bet I even read better than brainless ginger like you!” he countered, standing up in his chair and growling at the girl. Gene’s aura was flaring up more now, having forgotten to quell it from sight. “Stupid! Idiot! Mush for brains!” he continued like a five year old.

[Ruby Parker]

Ruby's eyes welled up with tears and she bit her lip and in a moment of blind stupidity brought on by rage, hurt feelings and a general lack of willingness to back down after going this far, Ruby swung her fist at Gene. It was a pathetic sort of swing, the kind usually labeled as 'swings like a girl' in men and 'hits like a little bitch' in women. But there it was, a feeble attempt to save her price with fists when she was out of words.

[Deleted]

Gene recoiled from the jab, his eyes wide with surprise that he was actually hit by a girl! Like hell was he backing down now, Gene didn’t care what people thought of him, but even he didn’t want the reputation of having been beat up by a girl! “Two can play at this game!” he exclaimed with them clever fightin’ words! Gene pulled back and threw an equally spectacular half-fisted hand at the girl who dared to touch him. He didn’t care that he hit a girl, she was fat enough it probably just cushioned the blow anyway.