Manners are Not Overrated - Open

[Jude Shepherd]

For someone who was quite content in being alone, Jude had a hard time just staying indoors. He could have just studied in his room and drank the instant hot chocolate he had bought for himself earlier in the year. But he really didn't want to so out he went downtown to get a hot chocolate made with actual cocoa powder instead of the "just add water" variety.

Packed with school books and his stationery, Jude went to the first cafe he saw and ordered a huge mug of hot chocolate, a plate of assorted pastries before finding a seat at the back of the cafe.

Cracking open a textbook and a notebook, Jude sipped a little of his hot chocolate, intent on at least finishing two pages of reading before rewarding himself with one pastry.

But of course, as Jude was wont to do, he got himself so involved in the text that his pastry was left to turn cold. And anyone who approached him would just be left ignored. Not that that was any different than an attentive Jude.

The sudden bump of his table however was enough to rouse him from his studying stupor. Thank goodness his hot chocolate hadn't spilled. He turned to try and find the person who bumped into him but the person had already gone. "Thank you for saying sorry." He mumbled to himself before munching on a pastry.

[Rebecca Adler]

(Hope you dont mind if i post but..the way you ended it sounded perfect for rebecca)
Rebecca wanted to get out of school, she was constantly scared of everyone and she could not hide herself in the library forever, She wandered around for a bit before she noticed a cafe and she had the sudden need for something warm to drink.

Rebecca wandered inside to buy looking around and trying to think about what she wanted to truly be paying attention, her mind filled with doubts and what books she should have grabbed from the library instead of the ones she got.

Finally looking ahead Becca realized to late that she was way to close to a table and bumped into it, she closed her eyes and hoped that this time her power would work and she would turn invisible, if anything to hide from the possible fury of boy sitting at the table, she slowly started to back away, when she heard his mummble, and she instantly felt bad. Rebecca was not the kind of person to make a hit and run so to speak but she was sure that staying and apoligizing would cause more problems for her then just staying hidden and never seeing this person again.

Making up her mind she continued to back up, only to bump into another table, the contact causing her to squeak and loose her consentration of her powers, and she stood still hoping the boy would not look up and realized she was the one who had bumped his table.

[Jude Shepherd]

He heard the squeak from behind him and turned, his pastry hanging off the corner of his lips. Frowning slightly, he tried to wonder why the girl was just standing there frozen.

Against his better judgment, Jude pulled the pastry out of his mouth and tilted his head slightly to the left. "You okay?" He asked after clearing his throat. He was half hoping the girl would just walk away. Maybe if he was lucky, she'd think he was a freak and stay away from him.

But she looked...scared. Why did she look scared? Did he really look that scary? Maybe that was a good thing? People don't stay around the people they were scared of. Maybe his chances of her running away were getting bigger.

Oh if he were that lucky...

[Rebecca Adler]

Rebecca sighed slightly happily, he didnt seem to be mad at her, he actually didnt even notice it was her who had bumped his table, but then again, she thought it would be better if now that he saw her she could at least apoligize right?

"I, bumped your table..i didnt mean to.. sorry"

Rebecca looked around trying to find a place where she could just go sit and hide now that there was no obvious way of her just leaving now that someone had actually saw her.

"Im going now..over there somewhere...you um..you have crumbs on your face."

Rebecca turned around and went as quickly as she could to the other side of the room, there was no way she could look at anyone after saying that. her courage for the month was just spent on that one sentence and she would rather not be yelled at for being honest.

[Jude Shepherd]

When she finally spoke up, apologising for apparently knocking into his table, Jude's frown softened slightly. It didn't make much of a difference though since she was quickly turning here and there, probably looking for an exit strategy, something he could relate to; he was always looking for one, wasn't he?

She spoke up again, and just as he thought, she was going to go. But not before telling him he was messy though. He was busy wiping his mouth when she seemingly zipped across to the end of the cafe. He shouldn't call her back...she was too far away.

So he didn't.

What a weird encounter, Jude thought as he went back to his pastry. And also embarrassing, he thought to himself, being more careful with his pastry this time. He took a sip of his hot chocolate and continued with his book, getting lost in the text. If someone bumped into his table again, he was going to have to move and he wouldn't like that.

Few minutes later, he gave up reading as the pastries were calling to him asking him to eat them and so that was what he did. He looked around the cafe, munching on pastries.

[Rebecca Adler]

Rebecca hit her self behind her hair and wondered if she should go back to apoligize for being so rude, she didnt have a lot of friends and it would be best if she didnt make a lot of ememies expecally over something so small. It took a lot of deep breathing for her to accept that she was just plain rude and you should always introduce yourself to someone, expecally after you have interupted them.

Becca stood up and got half way there before she wondered if going to apoligize for being rude and interupting him before would actually interupt him again, the thought confused her so much that she stood there for a moment before she realized he wasnt reading anymore, which means going to apolgize couldnt be rude anymore. with her mind made up she walked up to him, every step making her wish she had just left and wasnt so polite.

"Hi, i wanted to..well..say sorry..i was rude..and um i was taught to never be rude...i bumped you and i tried to run and then i..well..said you had stuff on your face and i didnt even introduce myself..so i just wanted to say..um..hi..im Becca..and..Im sorry i bumped your table?"

She hadnt meant to make the last part like a question but at this point she wasnt even sure which part she should apoligze for anymore, she would normally praise herself for being able to talk to people, but at this point she wanted to go hide under her bed and swear she would never walk off campus ever again.

[Jude Shepherd]

Sipping on his hot chocolate, Jude barely took note of the girl's approach, more intent on enjoying his drink. Truthfully, had she not decided to come over and apologise, it would have been no skin off his back. He was used to it and besides, she already apologised for bumping into him. He was golden.

When she finally came over and started to apologise, Jude kept silent and let her. He couldn't decide whether to laugh at how awkward she was or groan at being approached so he just kept quiet and let her finish.

Once she was done, Jude's foot slid down to the floor and pushed the chair in front of him and gestured for her to sit. "If you want." He shrugged. Nibbling on a pastry, he gave her an awkward smile. "I'm Jude and...it's okay. You didn't have to apologise." He shrugged.

[Rebecca Adler]

Rebecca stared at the chair, wondering if he was going to push it when she tried to sit down, she really didnt want to look like an idiot in a public place. The last thing she needed was to run back to her dorm crying because someone she didnt know was mean to her, as if she was not already used to it.

Deciding that it was safe she sat down, slowly, giving her time to move incase he shoved the chair out of the way. "Thank you... You didnt have to..um..let me sit...im used to it..its ok really..i can go back to my table if you want?"

Becca interally smacked herself. Someone was being nice and she was letting them take it back, she should of just kept her mouth shut, but she steadied her emotions waiting for him to tell her that he would rather be alone and for her to get lost. She knew she wasnt the best company but she wanted to at least make a friend, just one and she would be happy.

[Jude Shepherd]

He shrugged lightly at her response to his action. "I don't mind." He said curtly, though he really did mind. But it was no use being rude. Not when the girl looked that scared. He may not have a good grasp on social conventions but he was pretty sure being mean to someone who looked like she could fly away at a raised voice was probably not the best course of action.

He bit into his pastry and looked around awkwardly, trying to think of a follow-up to that...

...and coming up with nothing. This was why it was so much better reading and vicariously living through the characters in books. Nobody in books hit an awkward point in their interactions. Or if they did, there would ultimately be an ice breaker and the awkward moment would evaporate just like that.

Real life did not work like that. Real life had way too many awkward moments that wouldn't just evaporate.

He looked down at his plate that was still full of pastries and before he could properly think things through, he pushed the plate towards Becca. "Um...have some." He said, shoving the remaining piece of pastry into his mouth.

[Rebecca Adler]

Rebecca looked at the offered plate and smiled, someone was generally being nice, not that she was hungry or anything it was just amazing that she had not gotten rejected.

"um..No ..thank you though.."

Becca tried her best not to stare but what else can you do when their is bot a lot of conversation in progress, not as if she had ever really had a conversation before so most of this was new to her, but she was fairly sure that there should be more talking then what was presently happening.

"You uh...you dont talk much do you?..not..that..i do..just...i dont normally talk to people..so..this..is new for me.."

Trailing off with a frown she realized that unless she brought up something interesting that there really was nothing to do but stare, and she knew that staring was rude.

"So um.. you go to Hammel right?..i..mean..i just figured..not that there is anything wrong with it!..ccause.i do..go there i mean.."

With a sigh Rebecca put her hand on the table only to find it pass right through, embarassed and hoping he did not see she put her hand in her lap, figure that her power would make an apperance in a public place when she didnt want it to. She stared at her lap and messed with the ends of her sweater. This really wasnt her day.

[Jude Shepherd]

Her refusal brought another shrug from Jude as he pulled the plate closer to him again. He took a sip from his mug, looking over the lip of it as she spoke. He was mildly offended by her statement, but only because what she said was true. And he could appreciate her sentiment, seeing that she knew exactly what he was going through.

The staring was the least of Jude's worries though. No, he did not like being stared at but at the moment, there were more pressing matters at hand. A girl was talking to him. Stepping out of her comfort zone to talk to him. And here he was, not giving a care and hoping she would leave. He should be worried offending the girl but...two shits were just not given.

His frown deepened a little at her next attempt at small talk. "Yes. I do." He answered with nothing else to accompany it. He supposed he should at least try at the 'being cordial' thing. She seems so fragile.

Not noticing the phasing, Jude took a bite of his pastry and mused on what to say next. "Um...so are you new here?" He asked after a very long pause.

[Rebecca Adler]

Rebecca thought of leaving, this was obviously going no where and she knew that she was not the best person to be talking to when you wanted to be alone, mostly because even though she was bad at talking to people, soemthing about silence made her say the weirdest things imaginable, and she considering herself lucky so far that she had not started talking about purple dinosuars or something idiotic like that.

Taking a deep breath she smiled that at least she got something right and he did go to Hammel, but it quickly disapeared along with the conversation, she was erally expecting more to come after that but it seemed that talking about school was not going to get him to open up. She was about to get out of her seat when he spoke again, new? well.. she was sort of new, she probably had been here longer then it felt, but with her trying all these new things and actually trying to talk to people, it felt a lot like being new.

"Something like that I suppose, I um...haven't been getting out much, so trying a lot of new things....including talking to strangers." she offered a smile and hoped to get one in return, she was reallly trying her best to make complete sentences.

"I spend a lot of my time in the library...I enjoy reading, I almost brought a book...but...I thought people would thing I was weird....getting away from school just to read somewhere else...I know I need to learn more people skills..but its hard! people just...suck.."

Feeling completely deflated Becca slouched down in the chair, posture could wait for a time when she wasnt feeling like a complete failure in herself, trying to get someone to talk by telling them people suck probably was not the best, but in her opinion people do suck, no one she has met since the begginging of her life have even bothered so make so much as an attempt to be nice that she couldnt help but snatch up every smile that people tossed her way, which meant she really didnt understand when to leave, and she was terribly hoping this boy didnt want her to leave, she was trying really hard to be social for the first time in a month or so and she didnt want it to be a complete failure.

[Jude Shepherd]

Jude gave the girl a small smile, sort of relating to her in the context of strangers and talking to them. He supposed he was also new in that aspect, wasn't he?

The girl was similar to him, that he could tell, but while Jude had the confidence but lacked the care and effort, this girl seemed to have none of that at all. Which was a huge problem for her to be sure. At least Jude had made a conscious effort not to interact with people because he found his studies more important.

"I can agree on that." Jude scoffed with a mirthless grin. "You never tried in school?" Jude asked Becca, still not entirely sure why he hadn't walked off.

[Rebecca Adler]

Rebecca blinked several times at the question because in all honesty it confused her, why try to talk to people in school?

"No one has ever been ..well.um..nice enough to try. People dont like me...which is ok I guess...but..making friends is not something I am good at...wish I was though,.."

With a small sigh, Becca couldnt help but be a bit sad, at 15 she had no friends what so ever and she was pretty sure that had to be a record for someone to be alone that long. Other then being shy she really had no reason why she couldn't try being more social but with how people acted these day Becca wasnt completely sure she even wanted to be friendly.

"People tend to ..well..make fun of me because I like to read..Kind of makes me want to be invisible all the time just so no one would notice...but..not that lucky I guess..No one can be invisible all the time like that.."

Becca was sure that if she got ahold of her powers she could be invisible for most of the time, but there was no use to doing that if she couldnt read during those time periods, she really couldnt find an active use for her power which is why it was so hard for her to practice. Being motivated was something she seriously lacked when it came to learning about her power, and if she was being honest with herself she didnt really care.

"Do you have a lot of friends?" Becca felt the question was a bit childish but why not ask while she could still muster up the courage to talk.

[Jude Shepherd]

Jude shrugged and munched on his pastry thoughtfully as she quietly spoke. "You won't know that people like or dislike you until you've talked to them." He said in his quiet manner.

His frown returned when she mentioned being made fun of. Big brother instincts kicked in high gear because of it. Daisy was always pushed around and made fun of because she had to take medication regularly in school. But Daisy knew how to take care of herself even though she always called on him to handle things. It was by her own merit that she was made a candidate for the prefectorial board. And she won the spelling bee competition all by herself.

Either way, it struck a nerve in Jude that someone was being picked on.

Her question caught him off guard and without thinking, he shook his head, laughing a little. "I'm sorry. Do I look like someone who would have a lot of friends?" He rubbed the tips of his fingers against his forehead. "Sorry...I don't get asked that question a lot..." he shook his head.

"You know...you don't have to hang around just to be polite. I mean, I've already accepted your apology...you don't have to prove anything else to me." He said curtly.