Rangers of the Halls (Kevin)

[Amber Krasenski]

Mondays were not known for being well-liked or appreciated. In fact, Monday jokes were staples of society, probably for as long as the work week had started there.

Amber thought he could understand that. After all, Mondays were the start of classes after a beautiful two days of freedom; he didn't much care for classes. But after all, classes were five days a week, and he couldn't very well be miserable for all five weekdays. So with that in mind, he usually tried to take Monday in stride.

Even if he did possibly shirk just a little bit, loitering in the hallways between classes longer than was absolutely necessary, as if being precisely on time for his classes would make them just a little more bearable than arriving early.

The result of this loitering was that he noticed another student, one looking rather lost. A student he hadn't met before.

This would have to be rectified at once.

"Heeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeey," He greeted the new person, bookbag slung over one shoulder carelessly. It wasn't very heavy, as most of his books were back in his dorms. He didn't see the point in carting them around everywhere unless he knew that he needed them. "Are you new? You look new. I mean, sorry if you aren't and all, but I guess I haven't seen you round before and it's not like Hammel is so big, which is probably good, it would be hard for the teachers if we had a big school full of people who can set the place on fire and stuff and I'm Amber by the way."

That introduction out of the way he added, helpfully, "I can show you around if you're lost."

He might get in trouble for skipping class, but maybe Ms. Reynolds would understand if he said he was showing someone new around.

[Kevin Bailey]

Kevin was definitely lost. He didn’t even know where his locker was, even though it was written on a piece of paper right in front of him. Kevin looked from the paper, to the empty hall, scratching the back of his ear. Was this even the right hallway? He was so confused. He had been too excited to ask the secretary where his locker actually was. And what about his classes?

It was hard being new. So far, he had met a couple of students down at the lake who ended up hating him right away. He wasn’t sure why, it wasn’t like he was mean to them. He had been friendly and kind, introduced himself... Maybe people weren’t nice in Pilot Ridge.

Kevin’s big blue eyes shot up as someone got his attention. He smiled sheepishly and waved at the girl. “Hi,” he said, hoping that maybe she wouldn’t be as bad as those kids at the lake. He blinked a few times as she rambled on and on, before smiling brightly. “Hi!” Didn’t he say that already? “I’m new, I mean I’m Kevin. Well, I guess I’m new too...” He clamped his mouth shut. He frowned a bit. “I’m glad the school isn’t on fire, I just got here and it’s confusing enough already.”

There was no one else in the halls. If he wasn’t lost, then what else would he be? He sighed, and nodded a couple times, a toothy grin forming. “That would be awesome,” he said, readjust his backpack, filled with all of his books because he didn’t know where his locker was. He dug around in his pants pockets a bit, concentrating hard on the ceiling. “Ah, that’s where it went,” he said, taking out his schedule. “Power training,” he read aloud. “Where’s that?” Maybe he’d ask her about where his locker was later.

[Amber Krasenski]

"Hi, Kevin! It's nice to meet you!"

So he was new, just as expected. Of course, that hadn't been difficult to deduce, or Amber would never have noticed. It wasn't that hard to tell when people were wandering aimlessly, looking round in a daze, when they were the only other person in the hall.

"Power training? D'you know who your trainer is, yet?"

Maybe Kevin had someone cool, like Coach Kilbourne.

No, Coach Campbell. Sometimes it was difficult to remember he had changed his name.

"Training rooms are just down this way, to the left of the science hall." He explained, then paused and furrowed his brow. "No, I mean right. I mean..." He stared at his hands momentarily, then shook his head, "Just follow me."

He took off confidently, because he spent rather a lot of time in the training rooms. More time than he was sometimes comfortable with, because he didn't really like exercising his power at all, but it was better to train because accidentally shifting during soccer practice was annoying, and also dangerous; he didn't want to get stepped on.

"So what's your deal? If you don't mind telling, I mean, you don't have to say."

[Kevin Bailey]

“You too,” he said, grateful to run into someone who seemed genuinely nice. Did he really stick out that much though? Kevin looked down at the floor before looking back at Amber. Hopefully he’d get the hang of this soon enough.

“Nope, why?” Kevin scrutinized his schedule. “Does it say somewhere?” He asked. He had totally forgotten about teachers! Hopefully they would like him as much as his last ones had.

Kevin nodded along, before Amber changed her mind, and he was shaking his head no. He furrowed his eyebrows, this was starting to be more confusing that he thought. Why didn’t the school have signs? Kevin readjusted his backpack and followed her. Usually he’d be chatting her up, but today he was nervous. Hopefully the teacher didn’t yell at him once he finally did show up.

Keeping up with Amber’s pace was difficult, but Kevin did his best and stayed on her heels without going much faster than a jogging pace. “Oh, well I have powers.” He said, before laughing. Of course she knew that already, that was a dumb thing to say. “I found out I can breathe under water about a month ago, so some people from Hammel came to recruit me from the capital city,” he said in a bright, chipper voice. “What’s your power Amber?” He asked, very curious, as he tried not to step on her heels.

[Amber Krasenski]

"Oh, I don't think it does. I was just wondering if they told you at the office."

Sometimes trainers changed, anyway, though with less regularity than typical classroom teachers. "Mr. Campbell is the nicest, he's totally the best, I hope you get him." He added, running through the trainers in his head. "Mr. Thornton is pretty no nonsense, I don't think he knows how to smile. Ms. Sokolov is okay, but she doesn't take any nonsense, either."

He supposed this was fair, given what they had to deal with: hormonal, angsty teenagers with super powers.

"But," And here he dropped his voice to a whisper as they turned the corner, finding themselves down the training hall, "Ms. Sayers is scary. I wouldn't wanna be on the wrong side of her."

And he shuddered dramatically.

But then the topic was on powers again. Sometimes he wondered what went through his head when he asked people about their powers; that always resulted in them asking about his own.

"Oooh, I just shapeshift," He offered casually, hoping the question of what he shifted into wasn't important enough to come up.

[Kevin Bailey]

Kevin frowned. “They might have... I don’t remember,” he blushed. He was far too excited to pay close attention to the hundreds of things the secretary said to him once he arrived here. At least he was going to be settled in dorm soon. He didn’t have a room yet, he was still living with his friend’s parents, but soon. Maybe once the summer was over, once he was ready.

“Okay, so no nonsense during training,” Kevin added, with a nod. He was here to learn, and make friends, but he supposed that the trainers didn’t want to be friends with a teenager. “I want to try really hard,” he said in all honesty. Kevin watched Amber tell her story with his mouth slightly open, and when she finished, he clamped his mouth shut and gulped. “I hope I don’t get her,” he said, conspiratorially.

Kevin smiled broadly. “Just shape shift?! But that’s awesome!” Kevin was looking all around him as he spoke, trying to commit to his memory everything that he was taking in. His bright eyes snapped back to her. “Can you shape shift into anything?”

[Amber Krasenski]

"I hope you get Mr. Campbell, he's the coolest," Amber offered helpfully, not at all biased by the fact that Chase coached his soccer team. Coach Campbell was just cool.

"D'you know what room you're supposed to be training in?"

The training corridor wasn't endless, so they could just go room to room until they found the right one, if need be, but that wasn't a particularly efficient way of finding their way. If Kevin's schedule listed a specific room, that would be far easier.

"If your power is to breathe under water they might take you to the pool in the gym instead." He added as an after thought. He was a bit envious of Kevin for that; it would be much cooler to have a power that required going to the pool every day.

"It's not that cool," He disagreed with Kevin's assessment of his power. "Shifting kinda hurts. And I don't even turn into anything cool, just a spider." He added, in response to the question about what he specifically shifted into.

"At least breathing under water means nobody's gonna accidentally step on you while you're training."

[Kevin Bailey]

Squinting down at his paper, Kevin frowned. “Four three two. Is there a room four hundred and thirty two down the hall?” He asked. Hopefully when they found it, Amber would tell him who was waiting for him. Then he could prepare himself. It hadn’t occurred to him that if his power was breathing underwater, that maybe they’d be using the school’s pool. He didn’t even know the school had a pool.

Kevin gasped. “There’s a pool!” He asked, his voice hitching at the end of his sentence in that adolescent boy way. He cleared his throat. “That would make sense,” he said, pursing his lips together. Do not squeak again.

Kevin shook Amber’s wrist in excitement. “That is so cool!” He said, grinning. He liked outdoorsy things, even spiders. “Unless you bite people, that’s pretty creepy.” He laughed a little, hoping that comment wasn’t rude or anything.

“I guess they can’t drown me either,” he said, never really seeing his powers as useful before, just his. “But can’t you get the whole training room to yourself? Then no one would step on you.” Kevin glanced from his schedule to the hallway. He wasn’t sure if they were in the right place.

[Amber Krasenski]

"There's a pool. It's in the gym," Amber confirmed, grinning in amusement at Kevin's enthusiastic response to this information. "You like to swim, huh? But man, given the heat who wouldn't?"

It was useful for Kevin that he actually enjoyed his powers, or at least the circumstances they would be used in. Amber was a little jealous; trainers didn't care if you liked your power or not, they made you practice anyway.

He fortunately didn't mind touching, and thus only smiled wider when Kevin grabbed his wrist. "I haven't bit anyone yet. I guess I might, if they got close enough. Or do you mean in human form? I promise I have more self control than to go around biting people!"

The remark about having the training room to himself caused him to laugh. "Okay, you're right. Some training sessions are solo. But shifting is kinda...not always voluntary, you know? So if I get all panicky and turn into a spider while I'm not training it could be kind of a bummer."

He paused a moment, then added, "But that's what training is for. It would be really inconvenient to be, like, the president or something and give a press conference and turn into a spider in the middle of it."

They were reaching the end of the hall, and he began to slow down, reading the numbers on the doors mentally.

"You said four two three? No, wait. What was it again?"

Maybe he should pay more attention and talk less.

[Kevin Bailey]

“I love swimming! It’s like my power was made for me or something.” Kevin grinned. “You like swimming too right?” Maybe he’d actually have someone to go with now.

Kevin outright laughed. Amber was funny, he liked her a lot. “As a spider!” He withdrew his hands and pressed them together. “Unless I should be worried about you biting me right now?” He was teasing.

“Oh,” Kevin said really worriedly. “Are you nervous now? I don’t want to step on you,” he said, obviously concerned. He didn’t know that people could just morph like that. He’s think twice before stepping on a spider now.

“You should be president!” He was far too amped right now.

“Almost. Four three two.” Kevin glanced around. He had no idea where they were.

[Amber Krasenski]

"Well....not...really. But it's been so hot I might not mind." Amber laughed, scratching the back of his neck in embarrassment. "Spiders and water don't always mix that well. Didn't you learn The Itsy Bitsy Spider as a kid?"

Although he supposed that Kevin was technically still a kid by most definitions; but if you were old enough to attend Hammel then you were no longer a kid by Amber's definition, because you were officially going through puberty.

Which sucked, majorly.

"Are you on the swim team? My friend Reggie's boyfriend is on swim team. But....actually....I think he's graduating. Bummer."

At the reminder he laughed again, speeding up to pass the four twenties. "Oh, right, four three two. Okay, then, four two five, four two seven...four two nine....four three one...Oh, this is the wrong side of the hall," He realized, spinning to look at the door across from 431 and pointing. "There ya go!"

[Kevin Bailey]

"But you're not always a spider," Kevin was quick to point out. How could someone not like swimming? That was beyond him. He knew people had different interests, but water was just the best. "I was kinda hoping you'd show me the pool too. I'll probably be in there the most." He was just a kid, ready and willing. And maybe, he had developed a small crush already.

Kevin's eyes only lit up more. "There's a swim team! Can I join?" He asked. Some schools had trials you had to go through before they deemed you able to be on the team. He knew because he'd tried out before.

And there was 432. "I guess I'll see you around then," he smiled at her, "and thanks for your help!" Another pause. "Maybe I can tell you who trained me tomorrow?" Seriously, she was the closet thing to a friend Kevin had right now.

[Amber Krasenski]

"I can show you where the pool is if you want, I just won't get in." Amber reassured Kevin somewhat apologetically. Maybe he should just dip his toes into the shallow end, to be nice; after all, Kevin seemed friendly enough, and he was new.

Amber remembered that feeling well.

"Sure! Meet you in the student lounge this evening? Maybe at like...four?" He suggested as the younger student disappeared into the training room.

"See ya round!"

(annnd that's a wrap)