Just so you can translate the girl’s accent:
h = ‘ (it’s silent) like ‘ello for hello, etc.
th = z Zis and zat for this and that
s = z in a short word like is
Urg, I know the chapters don’t seem to really tie together. But they will, later on.
OUTFOXED
Chapter One: A New Beginning - Frog Style
Todd Tolanski reclined in his first period class chair, supressing the urge to eat the fly that was buzzing nosily around his head. He was definitely not having a good day. This morning Mystique had found ten new reasons to yell at him, then again, he had managed to shrink almost half of her wardrobe when he was doing the wash. But she still didn’t always have to be so tough on him.
He started to copy the note on the board “Song Writing- Unit Two, How to Truly Express Yourself With Music.” He laughed to himself, this class was so easy! The only reason he took Vocal Music was because it was a bird course. He looked around the room at the jocks, especially Duncan Matthews, that was the only reason they took the class too. He hated the preps with a passion. Not only were they good looking and good at sports, the teachers were always giving them breaks or extensions. On top of that, they got to date cheerleaders. It was enough to make a person sick.
The door of the classroom opened noisily but Todd didn’t look up, it was probably their teacher, crazy old Mrs. Winston. Or it might be Lance, if he actually decided to come to class for once. Todd wished he could skip as much as he and Pietro did, but Mystique would have his head, literally. He just wasn’t one of her favorites. Todd tried to take comfort in the fact that she pretty much hated Fred too, but he was too thick to really notice.
Out of force of habit, Todd finally looked up and when he did, he saw neither of those familiar faces. Instead, a girl stood in the doorway of the classroom, intelligent, sparkling green eyes staring out from beneath inquisitive eyebrows at her schedule and the door. Satisfied, she ventured fully into the room, shoulder length copper curls bouncing as she walked. Her white cashmere sweater clung in all the right places. Todd blushed at his thoughts and turned his attention back to the note.
From the corner of his eye he saw Duncan pull out a chair beside him and clear his throat loudly. He sighed quietly to himself, it was only her first day and she was already going to become a prep. He waited for the obligatory sound of the girl walking over followed by merciless and sickening flirting by Matthews. Instead, a low, seductive voice cut his thoughts, “Excuse me, does anyone sit ‘ere?”
Todd looked up, this had to be some strange dream, maybe Mystique was drugging him, he wouldn’t put it past her. “Uh, no,” he replied. Usually, it was Lance’s seat but, as he said before, it was debatable whether he would come or not anyway. Besides, for a girl like that, any guy in Bayville would give up their seat.
She pulled back the chair and sat down, flipping her hair unconsciously. He could smell her shampoo. Duncan continued to clear his throat loudly again to attract her attention. She ignored him and took a binder out of her backpack. Todd decided to speak to her again, “Hey, my name’s Todd. Are you new in Bayville?” Way to go captain obvious, he scolded himself in his head, of course she’s new. A thought just occurred to him, maybe she was part of Xavier’s team. But then why would she be talking to him?
“Yes, I am. In fact, I’m perpetually ze new kid. My name iz Angeline.” Her voice was breathy and deep, and it had a hint of an accent though he had no idea what it was. When she pronounced her name it sounded like On-gel-een (with a soft g like cage). She smiled at him wistfully, “I move a lot.” She stared down at the desk for a few seconds before continuing, “Well, itz nice to meet you Todd. Can I tell you somezing?” She leaned in closer and dropped her voice, the air purred in his ear, “I can’t stand, um, ‘ow do you say, . . . jocks. Zey annoy me to no end, zink zey are God’s gift to women or somezing.” She rolled her eyes.
Todd snicked but stopped as Duncan approached the desk. “Hey,” he said, his voice was smooth and he ran his fingers through his hair as he talked, “There’s a free seat next to me.”
“As opposed to an expensive seat?” she cooed sweetly. Duncan looked confused, and her smile grew even sweeter than her voice, “I’m quite ‘appy ‘ere, zank you.”
“Uh, whatever. Do you know I’m the captain of the football team? Do you like sports? You know you could try out to be a cheerleader, you’re certainly pretty enough.” Duncan flashed his most devastating smile as he dropped this line. Todd almost felt bad for the guy, he had no idea that this girl had absolutely no interest in him whatsoever. Almost was the key word. Watching Duncan Matthews get turned down was an event he didn’t want to pass up on.
“I like to play sports, I really don’t believe in ze whole cheerleading concept, itz sort of degrading. Maybe you should go back to your seat.” She answered, looking at him, head cocked aggressively. Todd had never seen a girl rebuke Duncan quite like that before.
Mrs. Winston walked into the room, grey hair frizzled. She clapped her hands brusquely, “Class,” she said in her high sing-song voice, “settle down, back to your seats. The announcements will be on soon.”
Lance slid into the classroom behind her as the bell rang, raising his eyebrows at Todd and then taking the seat behind him. He tapped him on the shoulder, “Hey man, who’s the girl?”
Todd didn’t have time to answer as Principal Darkholme’s voice cut through the air over the P.A. system, “Please rise for The Pledge Of Allegiance.” Mrs. Winston swept her arms in an upward motion, signaling for them to stand. Todd sighed, and then began reciting the pledge, they had to do this everyday.
He noticed that Angeline was having some problems, “I pledge allegiance to ze flag . . . uh . . .” she stared perplexedly at the Stars and Stripes and listened to the others as they finished. As they sat she grinned at Todd, “I still ‘ave to learn zat.”
Mystique read the announcements but no one was really paying attention, though Angeline looked like she was trying. Todd noticed Duncan was still trying to get her attention, he hadn’t quite gotten the hint. Lance tapped him again impatiently on the shoulder, whispering, “Are you gonna introduce me to her or not?”
“Sorry. Uh . . . Angeline,” she looked up as Todd spoke, “this is Lance, Lance - Angeline.”
“Nice to meet you Lance.” As she spoke, the announcements ended and Mrs. Winston stood up at the front of the class.
“Alright animals,” she said, her nasal voice resonating throughout the room, she didn’t think any person was truly civilized until they hit the ripe age of twenty and it was her idea of a joke to call them that, “Today we’re going to read this note,” in unison the class began to open their binders to copy it, “Stop shuffling, we’ll copy the note tomorrow. Your assignment today is to read the note, follow the steps and write a song about your attitude towards your parents or how you think they treat you.”
They each took out a piece of three ring paper and began to read the note on the board. After scanning through it quickly, Todd found himself hopelessly lost. The instructions were vague at best, with things like “Write what you feel” and “Your own emotions can make wonderful music”. No wonder Winston was so often referred to as a crackpot.
Seconds turned to minutes as Todd’s blank page stared back at him ferociously. His attitude towards his parents? Well, his real parents disowned him because he was a freak, a mutant. They were more than glad to give him up to Mystique. He doubted a song titled “I Hate You Both! You Ruined My Life You Selfish Bastards!” was really what Mrs. Winston wanted. Then there was his guardian, the “charming” Raven Darkholme. Nothing he ever did was good enough for her! But how could he really express that in a song? Beside him, Angeline was writing madly on her page. With a flourish she finished, sighing contentedly. Mrs. Winston walked over, looking over her shoulder at her paper.
“Very good,” she said, smiling proudly, “Did you take a vocal class before coming to Bayville?”
“No, actually. But I ‘ave been writing songs since I was very young.”
“Does it have a tune?”
“Oh yes, itz totally finished.”
“Would you like to sing it for us?”
Angeline’s eyes widened in fear, “Um, no . . . no” she stammered, “I really d. . .”
“Oh come on. Class,” she said loudly, everyone looked up from their papers, “Our new student, Ms. Feurenard, has finished her song. I’m going to have her sing it for us all. Please go up to the front Angeline.”
Duncan clapped loudly as she walked up, looking like a lamb being lead to slaughter. Scattered applause echoed his and Todd clapped as well, Angeline turned a deep beet red. Picking up the acoustic guitar and sitting down on the stool, she began to strum the strings of the guitar gently. Her voice lifted above the murmur of students, sweet and clear:
Sometimes is never quite enough
If you’re flawless, then you’ll win my love
Don’t forget to win first place
Don’t forget to keep that smile on your face
Be a good boy
Try a little harder
You’ve got to measure up
And make me prouder
How long before you screw it up
And how many times to I have to tell you to hurry up
With everything I do for you
The least you can do is keep quiet
Be a good girl
You’ve gotta try a little harder
That simply wasn’t good enough
To make us proud
I’ll live through you
I’ll make you what I never was
If you’re the best, then maybe so am I
Compared to him compared to her
I’m doing this for your own damn good
You’ll make up for what I blew
What’s the problem . . . why are you crying
Be a good boy
Push a little farther now
That wasn’t fast enough
To make us happy
We’ll love you just the way you are if you’re perfect
She finished, looking flushed. The class burst into applause and cheers as she packed up the guitar. As Todd clapped, he couldn’t believe how close the song was to his own personal feelings. She ducked into the seat beside him, “Zat was so embarrassing. Did I do okay?” She looked at him questioningly, “Tell me ze truth.”
“You did amazingly.” He smiled at her and she glowed at the praise. Without warning the bell rang signaling the end of class. “What class do you have next?”
“Um . . .” she studied her schedule, squinching up her nose in thought. Todd though she looked adorable, “Advanced Trigonometry . . . I guess I better get going, au revoir. I’ll see you around.”
“Yeah.” Todd grabbed his books and headed for chemistry with Lance. He sure hopped so.
*~*~*~*
Scott ran down the hall amongst a sea of students, he was going to be late for trig if he didn’t hurry up.
To be continued . . .
Early stages of a story, it’ll get better. I didn’t write the song (phh - like I’m that talented, please) its called Perfect by Alanis Morissette (download it, it doesn’t sound like most of her songs do) so I hope I don’t get sued. Please R&R so I know if I should continue or not. Toodles, Kelly