Poplar School and Reformatory

[AeRaShin]

[OOC Thread (http://role-player.net/forum/showthread.php?t=9284)]

Dear Jun,
So sorry about mom and dad sent you to Poplar. I heard that place is crazy scary. But I think you'll be fine. After all, you always pull through when you need to the most. If anything, those nasty kids will just leave you alone because they don't notice you! I'm only joking, so please don't be angry.
Hope you live to see us again!

Love your big sis,
Chun

Jun read his letter silently in his new home. He wanted so badly to cry, but that would only give the others another reason to pick on him. And honestly, it was getting old. Everyday he had to deal with punks who feel it's their place to degrade or beat up weaker people, and Jun happened to be one of those weaker people. If he could only learn how to fight, or at least protect himself, then he wouldn't even mind being in Poplar. But the fact that Poplar was rumored to have some nasty kids (and some say teachers too), he would never be able to at least live normally any longer. So much for his teenage years.

He sighed and dropped his head to he chest. The bed he was sitting on was the most uncomfortable thing he'd ever felt, and the room smelled like gasoline. At least they each got their own room. His things were still in his two suitcases, but he didn't want to unpack. He still couldn't accept that his parents actually abandoned him in Poplar, the most suspicious school in the country, if he was still in his country, which he doubted. At least Chun, his older sister, was still on his side. He clutched the stone pendent around his neck, a present she had gotten him years before.

Mrs. Grummler stalked the long dorm hallways, searching for anyone trying to escape. It was her favorite job, always getting to send them to Detention. She was a tall, slim woman with her hair tied so tight in a bun, that her eyes were pulled into a snake-like slit. Think glasses sat on the bridge of her long, pointed nose, and her thin lips were pursed into a hard line.

"Orientation will begin in ten minutes," she announced. Her voice was shrill, and it sent shivers down Jun's spine. He heard it through his closed door, and he didn't even want to think of what it would hear like up close and in person.

[TheBaron]

James opened Jun's door and silently slipped inside. He was good at sneaking around inattentive and obnoxious women. He turned and saw Jun and jumped from fright. "Holy crap mate. You scared the living daylights out of me. More over I am sorry I am in your room. Didn't mean to intrude. I was just avoiding that woman with the obnoxious voice." He stood there rubbing his head from where he had hit it on the door when he had jumped and stood there in the awkward silence that followed. He glanced at the boys face and saw sadness. He looked away and out the window where it was starting to rain. The sky was dark and ominous. The wind whistled around and through the trees and through the poorly insulated walls of the crappy building. "Anyway I am James class 1A. Nice to meet chu." He turned to leave.

[Noir]

'This could be fun!'

It was most likely a thought that wasn't being shared by many, but it was foremost on Marcus' mind as he started to unpack his bag. From what he'd seen so far, Poplar was going to be the most interesting place he'd been in years. Sure, some of the people he had seen looked they were here simply because they were rock stupid, but others looked violent, and more still looked rather disturbed. The games he could play with these people! The havoc he could wreak! Every single one of them with insecurities and flaws that he could exploit... The sheer possibilities of this place were mind boggling!

Smirking, he started hanging his clothes. Sure, the room was shitty, sure he missed the big city, but he would never be able to forgive himself if he didn't find some way to set this place off. The room itself was fairly small. A bed, probably snatched up from some military surplus store, a desk, a closet. Four walls, complete with a noticeable hole in one, that looked like they may have been a particularly unattractive shade of baby-blue twenty years prior. He added a new item to his mental checklist: Find some way of covering walls. It shouldn't be too hard to get some introverted artist kid to scribble something up, but for the moment the colour was beginning to hurt his eyes.

His reverie was broken by a bony sounding rap on his door, the mild force causing it to shake on its loose hinges.

"Orientation will begin in ten minutes." The voice was clearly recognizable as the skeleton woman from before and while Marcus could feel a certain sort of camaraderie for another that, clearly, took pleasure in other's misery, he couldn't help but be a little rankled that he was on the receiving end of it.

"Still though," Marcus thought to himself, "baby steps. She doesn't know you yet, and it might not even be worth the effort to try and get on her good side. Provided a woman like that has a good side... For now, just go to the orientation, see what you can see. Perhaps make some new friends."

It never failed to amuse Marcus how his inner monologue could put audible sarcasm on a word. He supposed it was just another quirk of his nature. Putting the thought out of his head, Marcus left his room, smiling, to head to the orientation.

[AeRaShin]

Jun snapped his head up when the boy entered his room. He too jumped in surprise, but he didn't relax after. Who knew what the guy was up to? He scrutinized him, trying to find something that would mean he wasn't there to beat the crap out of Jun. But, instead, the guy only apologized and introduced himself. So, maybe it was okay? Yeah, maybe...

"Uh, sure," he muttered in reply. "I'm, uh, Soojun from class 2C." He averted his gaze away from the other, hoping he wouldn't catch a glimpse of sarcasm in James' expression. He felt better when James turned to leave, but something made him stand suddenly.

"Uh, are you going to the orientation now too?" he asked. He might as well make allies at this school if he wanted to survive. He figured, in this school, there wasn't anything really called friends. In order to continue to avoid looking the other in the eye, he fondled with the trim at the bottom of his red, fitted t-shirt. His black, boot-cut jeans were only held up by the belt around his slim waist, and he had on black sports shoes. Bracelets, rubber bands, and chains rested on his wrists, and he lost his contacts that morning, so he was stuck wearing black-rimmed glasses.

[Ushima]

Out of breath and struggling. "Seventy-five." His arm burned under the weight, his face sweating, his left arm tucked behind him. "Seventy-six." He had a strict regiment to follow. Muscles like the one he had didn't build themselves overnight. They were the only weapons Michael had left, his knives long ago been confiscated. He kept up the push-ups until he reached a hundred. Micheal was only slightly tired, two hundred push-ups were nothing. Standing up he looked at himself in the mirror. He had a black left eye, he had gotten into a fight recently and that was all he walked away with. The other guy was way worse. Michael didn't stop til the other's face was bloody. He may have knocked out a few teeth.

"Orientation is in ten minutes." Michael recognized the voice. The teacher yelled at him earlier for fighting. Now he already had a detention and school hasn't offically started up yet. New personal best for him. The fastest he ever gotten a detention. This school was another challenge for him. Michael will take anything they throw at him. A good thing was that anybody who saw the fight would have spread the news around about him. So he'll attract anybody who thinks they're tough enough to fight him. Michael, grinning, wiped away the sweat and exited his room. Students clearing a path put of his way as he walked to orientation.

[SikstaSlathalin]

Julius sat on his bed with his back to the wall watching the wood shavings fly off a stick he managed to snatch off the ground on his way in. The razor he hid under his tongue was making beautiful work of the bit of wood honing it to a deadly point. The razor would be awesome for close quarters and surprise stabbings but he wanted something with more reach so he could avoid the other person's fists or weapon. He'd already seen a fight today some jacked dude beating on some Emo looking kid. He chuckled at the fight in general it looked like just some stupid pissing contest. And the big guy got a black-eye from it which made it all the more funny. The boy's quick mind was running over the fight planning a strategy in case he met either of them in the hall and a fight ensued.

So far he had distracting them with a handful of papers or something at the eyes and a quick stab to the knee or the main artery in the leg then spin behind and take a stab at their kidneys then he'd just walk away with no further thought or action. Once the enemy is out there's no reason to hang about. He heard someone announce orientation is in 10 minutes.
"Didn't know Juvie halls had orientations." He jokes stashing the razor and the sharpened stick about his person but in easy reach. He exited his room locking it then follows the flow of life to the Orientation.
Lotta girls here wonder if I can get some bunk mates during my stay here. Most of them I bet are easy to get undressed. He think letting his eyes rove of the hotter prospects.

[Awean8]

Ryuu Masato was probably the closest thing you'd ever seen to a ghost; despite his strange choice in clothing he had a knack for looking invisible. He wore mostly pajamas everywhere, not really caring enough to put anything else on. He hated being noticed since he hated talking to people even more.

This school is probably the bes thing that has happened to him, since no one is likely to talk to him unless provoked, but that at the moment seems unlikely. He can now just be alone with his music. He locked the door to his new room, strumming his guitar casually.

Mrs. Grummler rapped on the door fiercely in an unnecessarily aggressive way to tell me that the orientation was in ten minutes. She also made several rude comments about how the door was locked but soon surrendered to go bother the person in the next room.

[G]

Genie was woken from the nap she'd fallen into almost instantly after sitting down on her new (and not all that comfortable) bed by a hrash, feminine (sort of) sounding yell from the hallway, declaring that orientation was ten minutes away. She re-lit the joint that may have had something to do with her unexpected nap and crossed to the one small window in the room, which she'd already opened wide earlier to let in the breeze and the sun.
She took a long drag then snuffed out the joint. After a quick spray with perfume to cover the odour of the weed, she left the room and made her way down the hall to the room the orientation was being held in. A few kids were already there, a brown-haired boy and several girls.
She took a seat to one side of the room, letting her mind wander the way it was prone to when she was stoned.

[TheBaron]

James laughed, "Nice to meet you...I am going to call you Jun I hope that is alright... easier to say and remember than your full name." He had turned back to face him at this point. "I was going to skip orientation but I guess since you asked I might as well."

James had no problem with eye making eye contact but he noticed that Jun did seem to have a problem with it so he stared ideally out the window. James was wearing jeans that were to tight for him and shirt that was also to tight for him and had long sleeves and a jacket over the shirt with a scarf wrapped around his neck. He had a black with white square patter on it around his waist. He had headphones and goggles hanging around his neck barely visible under the scarf. "You can call me your friend Jun..."

[Bia]

Mari sat on her bed staring at the ceiling, tossing a small rubber band ball up and down, up and down in a repetitive motion. Her bags were sitting half-way unpacked on the ground next to her, some of the clothes spilling out in evidence of when she had given up on trying to stuff all her clothes in the small closet. It wasn't her fault all the kids at this forsaken school all wore the same thing everyday. Mari for one actually cared about her appearance.

The soft pat-pat of the rubber band ball as she threw it above her head was strangely comforting to her. The sounds of other settling delinquents into their rooms was muffled as she lost herself in thought. Thinking about her dog Kida. Mari was forced to leave her when she was shipped off to Poplar. Shaking her head with disgust at the thought of her prize-winning German Shepherd with her drunken old step-dad. Poor Kida probably wouldn't eat for weeks at a time if it wasn't for Joseph. Good old Joseph...the only person who had ever remained her true friend. Through all the rumors, fights and now this. Being sent off to the most suspicious school in the country. The pocket of her jeans held a letter from Joseph, a good-bye letter of sorts. They had promised to keep in touch constantly for the next few years while she was at Poplar, and she had been waiting until the right moment to read it, even though she was dying with curiosity as to what it said. But she still felt that it still wasn't the best time to read it.

She tossed the ball higher, seeing how high she could throw it without it touching the ceiling. She got really close, only a few inches away. Reeling her arm back again she tossed it up. Nearly perfect!

Orientation will begin in ten minutes,

The shrill voice of the old hag pierced her reverie and shocked Mari a little. The ball landed sloppily on the side of her hand, slipped and fell right onto her face, jamming her nose. "UGH" Mari growled, rubbing her nose until the pain went away. "Orientation in ten minutes" she mocked, using a high voice and making a rather ugly face. She sat up, pausing for a moment as the sudden movement made her a little dizzy. She took this time to adjust her navy boots, pulling them higher on her legs. Standing up she took a moment to fix her jeans and loose top. And run her fingers through her hair. Unfortunately, this room didn't come equipped with a mirror, which Mari thought was ridiculous. Thank goodness she anticipated this and brought her nice mirror with her. A last gift from her real dad, who she never really saw but still kept in touch with. When she was little her mom and dad had had some troubles, which resulted in her mom taking her cross-country while her dad stayed in Oregon with no money to reach her. They had kept in touch through the years, but not nearly as much as she would have liked. When he had heard about her going to Poplar, he sent her a nice mirror. It took a lot of room up in her bags, but she thought it was most definitely worth it. She fished it out of her bag, and gave herself a once over, picking and poking at her eye make-up. The outfit she chose for today was one of her favorites. Simple black clothes with her favorite beautiful navy boots. (http://www.polyvore.com/maris/set?id=25885860) And she felt her multi-colored hair really set her apart from the others. Just the way she liked it. Though there probably wasn't anyone she wanted to impress in this school, just a bunch of rebels like her.

Stepping out of her room she joined the river of people, not really sure where the auditorium was but assuming the crowd knew and just going with the flow. Eventually she got to a big room, where a bunch of people where already sitting. Breaking off from the crowd to go sit on the far right side. She settled on one of the hard benches in silence.

[SikstaSlathalin]

Solicitation was an Art and Julius was the King of it. Picking himself a nice spot on the wall he leans back crossing his arms over his chest watching the squirming masses filter into the Auditorium picking out both potential bunk mates and people he'd have to watch like a hawk. The boy was in full survival mode like a Lion trapped in Hyena territory. His eyes were always moving his mind always working and planning that was until he saw something that made him stand straight and stare a little.

Now there's a work of pure art. He watches the girl with multicolored hair walk into the Auditorium. Not wanting to lose the mental picture he follows a few paces away from her his eyes and mind roving over her working out yet another plan. Punk girls are often introverted so he couldn't expect her to talk to him first and he guessed she wasn't one of those slutty punk girls so there goes the direct approach. All that was left was indirect and friendly, low risk but a long run and a good reward. Muscling his way through the crowd he saw the girl seat herself in the far right of the room scanning over the area he decides one row behind her and about two away from her. Sitting down he looks through his pockets then curses lightly.
"Damn forgot my watch, now I'll never know how much of my life is wasted in this Orientation." He look around a little then leans forward tapping the girl's shoulder lightly.
"Hey do you have the time please?"

[AeRaShin]

Jun stopped ruining the bottom hem of his shirt long enough to realize that he actually met someone nice. Or someone pretending to be nice in order to hassle him later. He had to be wary about relationships in Poplar, since it would only be the same as any other school only with more delinquents than normal. Oh joy.

He nodded his head slightly, meaning it was fine for him to be called Jun. His sister always called him that too, so maybe he needed some sort of comfort in that hell-hole they call a school. He finally built up the courage to actually look at James. Instantly, he felt worse, since this guy in front of him was nice and better looking than Jun. What a let-down. At least, he thought, he was sort of decent in the looks department, but whatever. He had other things to worry about. Without actually waiting for his new friend (at least he hoped he was a friend), he started out the hallway. He didn't really care too much if James was just teasing him or actually going to follow him as he said, but Jun wasn't going to get in trouble in the beginning. At least he had a semi-clean slate at this new school.

"Ah!" he gasped. He had run into a much larger guy. Well, of course he was larger. Every guy there was at least his size or larger. He seemed very muscular, and everyone was stepping out of the way. And how perfect. Jun just ran into his back like a drunken speeding truck driver. He stepped back slowly, as if the large kid was an animal that was about to eat him.

"Er, uh, s-sorry," he muttered, his hands in in defense. "I didn't mean to. It was an accident." He suddenly wished he was dead. At least that would be better than getting the crap beat out of him.

[Ushima]

Michael was going to enjoy this place. But honestly he'd rather be out. Now he was kicking himself in the ass for setting fire to the principal's office. Smiling he replayed the day in his head. Michael had just gotten out of the locker room for gym. Shooting baskets for warm up when he was called out to the office. Now he was there regularly but always cause he deserved it. Getting there he was informed he was being suspended for vandalizing the chemistry labs. Of course he flipped, he didn't like getting introuble for things he didn't do. So he set fire to the desk figuring if he was being suspended he might as well deserve it. If it wasn't for his father and having friends in high places he'd be in jail....again. "Ah well that's enough remembering."

The tattooed fighter was about to enter when someone bumped into him. A small voice apalogized. "Eh?" Turning around he starred down at a smaller kid. "Damn, you look like you're going to pass out. What'sa matter, scared?" People around were expecting Michael to just lash out, like he did to the kid earlier. But Michael and that guy were pissing each other off the entire day so they were bound to come to blows. Also Michael wasn't irrationally violent. "Just be careful." And with that he walked away into the room and sat himself, near some girl with multi-colored hair and a fool trying to hit on her.

[TheBaron]

James smiled as the big tattooed kid walked away. That guy was a behemoth compared to little Jun and he was definitely stronger than James so he backed off till the guy walked away with a slight smile. He looked around everyone was staring at the boy and whispering mean things about Jun so James launched Operation Save the Small Asian Kid. He walked up behind Jun and started to push him along in front of him towards the entrance to the big hall the the wake that the big guy left.

He walked into the room and sat Jun down on a bench on the right side of the big room but close to the door so if need be they could both escape and skip if things got to tedious and boring. He looked at the girl with multicolored hair appreciatively but not in a overtly interested way and quickly turned his attention back to Jun and spoke to him in a normal tone, "Well Jun here we go, we made it to the big room to find out what kind of hell we are going to be living in for the next year or so of our life."

[Bia]

Mari picked at her old blue nail polish as she waited for orientation to begin. The paint was chipping nicely, and the polish on her left thumb was almost completely gone. Wishing she had brought her drawing supplies she gazed boredly ahead of her.

The other students filed in, some going to the middle, some sitting at the top, and some choosing far sides like her. Mari wasn't really paying attention to any one of them. She could care less if she made friends here, in her opinion Poplar wasn't permanent, and as soon as she could was gonna go back to her life outside of this heck hole. Going into that zone she did when she lost herself in thought, the shuffling of kids feet started to fade away-- Until she felt a couple small taps on her shoulder.

Hey do you have the time please?

Mari looked back to see a very tan and rather buff guy looking at her expectantly. Out of habit she patted her pockets, searching for a cell phone, forgetting that all electronics were confiscated. "Ah crap" she mumbled to herself, a little embarrassed that she just felt up her legs without anything to show for it. "Nope, sorry." she said shrugging to the guy and turning back around. She didn't carry a watch, though she probably should start now. She relied way too much on that cell phone of hers...

The room was almost full now, and Mari hoped this thing would start soon. She was pretty sure she knew what to expect, a long list of rules and threats of what would happen if you break them. Stupid stuff really. Going back to picking at her nail polish, she felt the bench dip slightly as a large tattooed man sat down not far from her. Glancing out of the corner of her eye at him she had to admit she was impressed, here was a guy that didn't give a care. Definitely wasn't afraid to show his true self. Even if that self enjoyed tattooing strange letters across his hand. Mari wasn't close enough to get a good look, but she suspected it was something violent. A couple more guys sat down close to the door, and Mari tapped her booted foot impatiently.

[G]

Genie was jerked out of her daydreaming and back to reality as two boys sat down nearby her.
"what kind of hell we are going to be living in for the next year of so of our life," the boy was saying, and Genie looked over interestedly, first at them and then let her eyes rove over all the occupants of the room. SHe had always been fascinated with the relationships between people, the way they reacted toward each other, although in this case it was a fairly typical scenario. Most of the male attention was focused on a pretty girl with her hair dyed in different colours, though she didn't seem to have noticed.
The two who had sat nearby Genie were not so focused on the girl, though they had been momentarily. The smaller boy seemed like he was emanating fear, while the other boy, the one who had spoken, seemed to be putting out a protective kind of aura.
Strange, she thought, as school's only just begun and none of us could know each other yet. It was nice to occasionally see someone helping someone else with no personal gain or reason involved.

[AeRaShin]

Jun's shoulders slumped, and he sighed in relief. He placed a hand over his chest as if he just recovered from an asthma attack, grateful that he didn't actually have one. That would have been embarrassing. Whispers came from all around him, every single one of them were either about how tough this 'Micheal' guy is and how stupid Jun was for 'trying to pick a fight' with him. Ha, that was funny. Fighting, sure.

He let himself be led away by James. As he sat down, he was still trying to get over the fact that he was still living. If anything, maybe this wasn't as bad as his old school. There he would have gotten beat up right away, but then again, maybe he didn't feel Jun was worth the effort. Oh well, lucky him. He glanced over at James for a moment, and looked down at his clasped hands in his lap.

"Maybe it was a better idea to skip," he said, laughing nervously. "Uh, thanks." At least he had someone to talk to. If this was going to be long and boring, he might as well just ignore it. But something made him interested to hear what the principal had to say about the mysterious school.

A tall, slim man clothed in a black suit and tie stalked in the auditorium. Two girls were arguing about something eventually started pulling at each others clothes and hair, but as he walked by, they stopped. His face was skeleton-like, and his eyes were green and snake-like. His long, black hair was greased back, and his pale, white skin seemed almost ghostly. Some people started snickering at him; others froze at the sight of him. He carried a clipboard at his side, and Mrs. Grummler was right behind him.

When he finally made it to the stage, he stood silently and still behind the podium in the center. A muscular looking-man and an old mischievous man shut the two doors at the entrance. And although he thought he imagined it, Jun thought he heard a small clicking noise come from the doors, as if they were locking. But, again, he was just as paranoid as always.

"I am Mr. Shadey," the man announced into the microphone. The stereos screeched, and they sent echoes of the horrible noise throughout the auditorium. The man's voice reminded Jun of gasoline for some reason. "I am your principal, but I insist you consider me as your friend." Sarcasm dripped heavily in his words, and he was smiling. But it seemed almost too horror-movie cliche to be reality.

[TheBaron]

He heard the silence fall on the room and also smiled a huge smile at Genie who he did not know. He looked up to the stage in time to see the man with the skeleton-like face and whose eyes were green and snake-like, he had long, black hair that was greased back whose skin was pale, seemingly ghostly like. James rolled his eyes but paid attention to the weird guy on the stage. He definitely did not like this man but he could tell that it was not worth the trouble of ignoring him. He cracked his neck and settled in against the back of the bench for what he was sure would be a long and boring conversation. He heard the man speak.

I am Mr. Shadey and I am your principal, but I insist you consider me as your friend.

The sarcasm in his voice was evident and James rolled his eyes again at the horror movie cliche.

[SikstaSlathalin]

Man her voice is even sexy. Jules thinks as she feels up her leg then says she doesn't have the time.
"Damn then thanks anyway, I'll have to learn how to tell time by the sun." He laughs a little leaning back some stretching his back. He was just thinking up another excuse to talk to the girl when the bench groaned and warped a little. Looking over the teen sees the giant dude with the black eye.

Good god he must eat 7 year olds or something. Oh well big guys are easier to beat more surface area to make them bleed from. He leaned forward again and smiled to the girl.
"I'm Julius by the can I ask what brings you to this little slice of hea...?" His voices trails off as Mr. Shadey entered the Auditorium.
"Oh look Skeletor is our principle. He jokes to the girl smiling a little, he hears the doors close and lock. Oh as if being here wasn't bad enough now they're gonna gas us." He rests his arms on the back of the chair resting his head on them. He was splitting his attentions between the girl and the Teachers.

[Ushima]

The doors closed, it was starting. He was bound to be bored out of his mind. He hated orientations. "This is going to suck." He rubbed his eyes, he alreaady felt like going to sleep. The principle came out and started talking, about how they could be friends. "Maybe I should set his desk on fire. Wonder how friendly he'll be after that." Michael chuckled lightly. He already has detention for the first day, anything on top of that would only go to trying to break his record from his old school. Nearby though Michael noticed the kid who ran into him earlier and his friend. He kinda wondered what the runt did to get in here. Shaking his head he focusedm or tried to, on the man speaking. The guy, Julius he overheard, was still trying. "Trying to hard if you ask me." He said aloud under his breath. Rolling his neck he heard it crack loudly. "This crap ending soon?" God he was bored.

[Awean8]

Ryuu snuck in just before Mr. Shadey got on stage, and stood leaned against the back wall avoiding everyone else. He thought all the people here were stupid, and violent. Why did his parents have to send him here, as if he'd make any friends here.

As Mr. Shadey and the other administrators locked the doors, Ryuu felt a little creeped out, but not enough to voice anything. He just wanted to leave, this place was just depressing.

[G]

Genie smiled back at the boy, then turned her attention to the man who'd just entered.
"I am Mr Shadey your principal, but I insist you consider me your friend."
The man's freakishly pale skin coupled with the slicked back, dark hair and bright green eyes reminded Genie of an old-school horror movie, and she imagined him letting out a fiendish cackle, throwing back his head to reveal fangs. In her mind he leapt onto the nearest student, latching onto their neck and draining them of their precious life blood - yeah, he was definitely a vampire...
Genie shook her head, as if trying to shake the foolish thoughts from her mind. This guy was creepy.
"I sooo should not have had that joint this morning," she mumbled to herself, horrified and entranced at the same time as she waited to hear what Mr Shady would say.
"Aptly named," she thought to herself.

[Bia]

Mari had just realized that picking all the polish off her nails caused the little paint chips to fall all over her jeans. Scrunching her brow in annoyance she did her best to brush them all off. It was kind of difficult because the little pieces kept sticking or bouncing around without actually falling off her legs and she probably looked a little ridiculous.

I'm Julius by the way, can I ask what brings you to this little slice of hea...?

It took Mari a split second to realize it was the tan guy that was talking to her again, and she dropped her hands in order to put her attention on him. His voice trailed off though and his eyes looked up, following an unknown source. Averting her gaze to see what he was looking at she was greeted by the sight of a ghost. Well, that was her first impression anyway. His hair was pulled back and slick, he was skinny as a stick, and his skin was so pale and fragile looking. But it was the eyes that shocked her. Bright green and very out of place looking. Mari wondered if they were contacts meant to scare the students.

Oh look Skeletor is our principle. Oh as if being here wasn't bad enough now they're gonna gas us.

Mari nodded,"No kidding." She turned her head a little so he knew she was addressing him, without actually taking her attention away from The Ghost. Heh, The Ghost...I like that she thought to herself, pleased that she had came up with a nickname for their principle within the first few seconds of meeting him.

I am Mr. Shadey,I am your principal, but I insist you consider me as your friend.

Raising her eyebrow in disbelief, she suddenly felt like she was in a bad movie. "Is this guy for real?" she whispered to herself. She felt Mr. Tattoo-guy shift and heard the unmistakable popping of neck bones and the slight grumblings of a disgruntled human. She suspected he was as bored as she was. In fact, everyone here looked really bored.

[AeRaShin]

"I'm only hear to speak a few words of advice, and then I'll it over to Mrs. Grummler," he said, a voice so sick with fake honey-coated sweetness. Jun felt everyone else sink into a depressed boredom, and so did he. He didn't think he had deserved to be there, but since he was, he might as well be bored with everyone else.

"Here at Poplar, we want to mold you into perfect little students," he emphasized mold with creepy hand gestures, and Jun sighed. What a creep, he thought. "All you have to do is follow our rules-the paper is coming around. Do keep in mind that if you choose to break these rules, you will be punished."

"Well, no duh, man," Jun muttered to himself. Any school had punishments for kids who broke rules. But, the way Mr. Shadey said the word punishment left a bad taste in Jun's mouth. It sounded all wrong. A tall, fit-looking kid was walked on stage with Mrs. Grummler. He was shaking and twitching his head like a chicken as if he needed to check all around him in case for something. He was brought to the microphone, and Mr. Shadey grinned.

"A good student from last year was sent back, unfortunately," he said while placing a hand on the kid's shoulder. The kid flinched, and his eyes grew wide while glancing up at the snake-principal. "He said he'd like to share advice with you all, since you're all new students."

"Don't get in trouble!" the kid blurted out. He grabbed either side of the podium, and he was yelling at the top of his lungs into the old microphone. Jun covered his ears to shield them from the horrible screeching coming from the speakers, but it didn't work much. "This place is crazy! Illegal even! If anything, plead your parents to get you out! NOW!" He was carried away by two men in white. They carried him out of the auditorium. Of course, after they were gone, the doors were locked again.

"Where do you think they're taking him?" Jun asked. He didn't really ask anyone in particular, but his thoughts seemed to spill off his lips. The kid's reaction had caused an uproar. Some kids were frightened, and others were getting excited. And some didn't even care. Mr. Shadey tapped the mic to get everyone's attention.

"See?" he said. "If you break the rules, you get sent to detention, just like him."

[SikstaSlathalin]

For once in his life Julius was paying full attention to a teacher talking. All his senses and survival instincts were at full capacity. He had a feeling this was some kind of prison but now he was thinking it was some kind of comic book brainwashing facility to train up some super army for the Germans or Russians. Now he was going to sleep with a chair against his door after locking it and keeping his stabbing stick right next to him as he sleeps. He leans close to the girl he was talking with and whispered.
"Is it just me or could you picture Skeletor going all Hai Hitler on us? He rested his head on his arms again half smiling at the girl and half watching the nutcase kid being hauled away.
Ok that's not right I'm pretty sure." He whispers to her again.

[Ushima]

The skeleton man brought up a student. The kid looked like he was about to pass out. "Wonder what he did to get back here?" This place had the feel of a prison camp to it. It was clearly what everyone was thinking. Now that everyone was paying attention cause the boy was about to speak. He started screaming about not getting into trouble. "Opps," Michael smiled. "To late." Next the kid was screaming about how crazy the place is and all to quickly he was taken off stage. Now Michael was curious, how bad could it be? Were they gonna be tortured or something? Nah it was probably staged to scare them. "Guess I'll find out later."

[TheBaron]

4

James rolled his eyes at the display of power the principal was trying to put on and smiled at his fakeness of his voice. The real fear of the boy worried him a little and he looked a tiny bit concerned as they dragged him away physically. He was worried about that but not for himself. He worried about people like Jun. "I need more allies..." he murmured to himself and loud enough that Jun could here. He pulled out four pieces of paper he used to wrap weed with and with a pen he kept in his other pocket wrote the same short note on each. Hey there is something wrong with that guy and this place. Obviously. So I, James, and my friend Jun. Would like to ask you to be our friends so we can help each other out. He folded them into little paper footballs and flicked one to Julius, Mari, Genie, and Michael. He flicked them along the floor so no one would notice and he watched them reach their targets. He then resumed looking bored and stared ahead and out into space.

[G]

Genie was transfixed by the boys outburst, the whole thing reiterating her previous thought that the joint she'd had that morning had been a bad idea. Something tapped against the side of her bare foot, and she looked down, scooping up the little piece of paper that was sitting there.
Hey there is something wrong with that guy and this place.
"Fucking tell me about it," Genie muttered very quietly, continuing to read.
Obviously. So I, James, and my friend Jun would like to ask you to be our friends so we can help each other out.
Genie glanced back at the stage. "See," Mr. Shadey was saying, "If you break the rules, you get detention, just like him."
Genie decided there and then that allies were definitely something she was going to need here, and she could definitely do worse than these James and Jun, who she assumed were the two boys sitting nearby her, since noone else seemed to have created any sort of alliance that could be called a friendship.
Plus, the paper the message was written in smelled vaguely of pot, so at the very least she'd have a smoking buddy.
She was in too clear a view of the stage to risk writing a reply, so she just turned her head slightly and looked at the taller boy who'd had the protective feeling over the other. She assumed this was James, since the smaller boy, who she imagined was Jun, looked like he would have a heart attack if he tried to do anything remotely rebellious. She nodded slightly, her eyes on his, hoping he would recognise it as an agreement of friendship, then turned quickly back to the stage, not wanting to draw any attention to herself after what she'd just witnessed.

[AeRaShin]

Jun felt his arm being nudged by someone he didn't know. He glanced over nervously and took the sheets of paper everyone was passing around. Yes, everyone seemed to be passing them around, obediantly. Jun handed the stack to James to be passed on, and he thought he saw him tossed away something but didn't pay it any mind. The paper read 'RULES' in bold at the top. He laughed mentally. The school went to the trouble of printing out hundreds of pieces of paper just to give everyone a set of rules. What a waste. Since this school was so prison-like, why didn't they just get a fancy plaque and hang it for everyone to see.

He looked over the paper, but the font was so tiny it was hard to see. He couldn't even try to make out what it said. And for some reason, it frightened him.

"Your only job is to follow these rules," Mr. Shadey repeated. "But, you can spend time in detention if you really wanted to." He smiled, but Jun could have sworn he heard him snicker into the mic. He stepped away from the microphone to let Mrs. Grummler speak.

"Uniforms have been delivered to your rooms," she announced, her shrill voice killing Jun's ears. "Your classes are divided into four, but you will all stay with your classmates. Teachers will move from classroom to classroom, except for gym, of course. However, today is special since you are all new students, so please meet in the cafeteria for dinner."

Jun swallowed hard. Dinner? Oh God, If this place is giving me the creeps already, I don't even want to know about the food here, he thought. And uniforms? Jeez, they better not be some crazy military uniform. I'd die if I had to wear that.

[Ushima]

"Uniforms? Damn it." He got kicked out of a private school cause he hated the uniforms. The year was going to be a long one. Sighing he rubbed his eyes, they had gotten heavy as he listened to the orientation and now he was really tired. They were dismissed for dinner when he was hit with something. Picking it up he unrolled it and scanned over the message. Seemed the kid wascalling for allies, and that tiny kid from earlier was with him. That kid was prime target for those who want to show they're tough by picking on him. There might be some strong people out there. If Michael was there he'd fight'em off, and have an excuse to stay out of trouble. By defending a friend. He'd be a body guard. "Why the hell am I just thinking of this now? I could've been doing this for years." Getting up he made his way over to them, easy cause everyone cleared out of the way. He was behind them, looking down. He made his presence known by quoting his favorite movie, Terminator. "Come with me if you want to live." Yes he'll join these guys, maybe even be friends, who knows?

[Bia]

I'm only hear to speak a few words of advice, and then I'll it over to Mrs. Grummler. Here at Poplar, we want to mold you into perfect little students. All you have to do is follow our rules-the paper is coming around. Do keep in mind that if you choose to break these rules, you will be punished.

Mari was staring silently at The Ghost. This was a little different from all the orientations she'd been to before...but then again, Poplar was probably very used to punks and rebels, they were still trying to scare us. The shuffling of papers was heard, and Mari could see a small stack being passed down from kid to kid. It would still be a while until it reached her. Turning her attention back to the podium, she saw The Ghost's had on some nervous kids shoulder, pushing him toward the microphone.

Don't get in trouble! This place is crazy! Illegal even! If anything, plead your parents to get you out! NOW!

The sound of the kids shrieking caused Mari to duck down, covering her ears in shock. She watched open mouthed as 2 men in white came from seemingly out of of nowhere, as if they knew this would happen, and drag the kid away. What kind of crazy school is this? The rest of the students were in uproar and The Ghost had to pound on the mike to get everyones attention again.

If you break the rules, you get sent to detention, just like him.

Note to self, don't get detention. She ran a hand through her hair nervously, she did not sign up for this.

Is it just me or could you picture Skeletor going all Hai Hitler on us?

The voice of Julius was back in her ear now, and seemed a lot more calm then she was. Trying to cover up any trace of nervousness in her voice she turned to him, pulling a smirk, "Totally, next thing you know he'll be making us wear patches and growing a funky mustache." Her eyes passed over to tattoo-dude as she turned back around, and she noticed he seemed rather calm too. She couldn't be the only one freaking out on the inside could she? Her attention was distracted though as the stack of papers that was being passed around finally got to her, automatically she took one off the top and passed it along to tattoo-dude, taking a look for herself at these rules. "Dude I can't even read this." she said aloud to anyone who would listen "How does he expect us to follow every one of these?"

A small, almost non-existent bump was felt on the side of her foot. Glancing down she saw a folded up piece of paper had been slid over to her. Curious, she reached down to pick it up and unfolded it.

Hey there is something wrong with that guy and this place. Obviously. So I, James, and my friend Jun. Would like to ask you to be our friends so we can help each other out.

Ask you to be our friends? she thought in disbelief, who the heck was this kid? Looking up she looked around the room for the note passer...but couldn't see anyone who was looking at her. There was a couple smaller guys in front of her by the door, they had been acting like friends...maybe it was them. Deciding to confront them after the orientation was over she meticulously folded the paper back up and slipped it into her pocket, the one without Josephs letter in it.

Uniforms have been delivered to your rooms. Your classes are divided into four, but you will all stay with your classmates. Teachers will move from classroom to classroom, except for gym, of course. However, today is special since you are all new students, so please meet in the cafeteria for dinner.

The skinny shrieky lady from before went up to the podium. UNIFORMS?! Mari held back a shriek not unlike Ms. Grummler's. She could not do uniforms. Everyone looking alike, no way to show personal expression, or wear her favorite boots!? This place really was hell. The fact that the school system would be done Mexican style was vaguely registered in her mind, she was more concerned with the fact of uniforms. Well at least now she knew why her closet was so small.

The orientation was dismissed. And Mari stood up in a sort of daze, looking down at herself, she realized this might be the only time she would get to wear her clothes in a while. She was very glad she had chosen one of her favorite outfits. Turning to pick up the rules sheet (she might as well try to look at them) she remembered the small note she received earlier. Standing up on her tip-toes she tried to find the small kids from earlier. "ugh, curse my small stature" she mumbled to herself. She saw that tattoo-dude made his way easily through the crowd, and on a small moment of genius Mari hurried ahead behind him, easily cutting through everyone in his wake. Expecting him to continue going out the doors she was caught by surprise when he also stopped by a couple kids. Hey, these were the kids she was looking for!

Come with me if you want to live

Mari recognized the line from the movie, and realized that they were about to leave or something. Wanting to ask quick before they started moving again, she side-stepped around tattoo-dude, and faced James & Jun (she still wasn't sure who was who yet) "hey, did one of you guys toss me this?" she said, waving the paper football around for evidence.

[G]

Genie stood with everyone else, ducking and weaving between people as she made her way toward the door.
Her mind was reeling over everything she'd just seen, and she slapped a hand to her forehead in exasperation as she realised she'd forgotten her rules sheet.
"Seems like something I outta keep, given the consequences of breaking rules seem pretty wild here," she muttered, heading back toward her chair. But the piece of paper she was sure she'd placed beside her was gone, and she doubled back again, feeling a strange sense of foreboding. Surely a rules sheet wasn't something any of the students would take.
Remembering the tiny, almost illegible font she shivered slightly. It was like this principal guy didn't want them to be able to follow the rules, and now hers were gone completely. She'd have to ask someone to borrow theirs, try to read it. Maybe ths James person could help her out. He'd said he wanted to be friends.
She scanned the crouwd for him, and caught sight of both the boys still in the same place they'd been sitting before, the girl in the all-black outfit who'd drawn so much attention and an enormous fellow covered in tattoos standing with them.
Once again twirling between people with a kind of easy grace, she stopped as she reached them.
"Hey," she greeted the four, feeling a little sheepish at the mundane hello, but how else do you greet four people you've never met before in your life?
"I'm Genie. I got your note. I assume you two," she gestured to the girl and the large guy, "got them too? Well, I'm in. We're all gonna need some support here. This place is creeping me out. Those rules sheets we got, the ones you can't even read? Mine's dissapeared. Somehow I don't think it was a kid who took them. It's like... they want us to get in trouble, or something?
Any of you still got yours? Reckon I could look over it?"
She realised she was blabbering, as she tended to do when she was nervous and stoned in combination.
And that strange, foreboding feeling hadn't left her. There was a prickling feeling on the back of her neck, like when somebody is watching you and you can't see them. She turned toward the stage, looking straight into the bright, strange eyes of Mr Shadey.
"Ugh," she shuddered, turning back around, hoping he hadn't just been watching her, had just seen her turn and turned to look at her also. It occured to her that being seen as allied in a group could be dangerous in itself, and she suggested to the others that they start making their way to dinner. "No need to draw attention to ourselves, hey?" she said, laughing nervously, for who could draw more attention than the oddball group of students standing here. Herself, in her flowing, hippy attire with her bright red hair, a girl with multi-coloured hair and a face and body that obviously drew eyes onto her, a huge guy covered in tattoos and a small asian boy and his unlikely friend.
Oh well, it definitely beat being alone.

[SikstaSlathalin]

Julius chuckled at the girl's joke.
Cute smirk too this girl is the full package. He thinks looking back at Skeletor as he begins talking again.
Oh great choices, follow the rules or get locked up in a padded room until you snap. And uniforms too probably orange jumpsuits and white sneakers or some other kind of prison garb. As they were dismissed a small nudge at his leg made him look down and half reached for his razor. When he saw it was just a note he picked it up and read it over a few times.

"Why the hell not." Was all he said as the page of rules came to him taking a few planning on making wasps with them. Leaving one out he tries to read it over.
"I need a magnifying class for this or a broken clear glass bottle." He shoved this peice of paper into his pocket and followed the multi-haired girl and the big dude out. They stopped next to some skinny Asian kid, a hippe and some other kid with black hair. Assuming the Asian was Jun like in the note and the other was James. He dropped the note into Jame's lap and heard the hippe ask for another set of rules. Pulling one of the others out of his pocket he hands it to her.
"There you go but we'll need a magnifying glass or something to read them. I'll be happy to watch your backs out there in psycho high. He looks at the multi-haired girl and the Hippie and winks a little. Or fronts if it comes to that. And it any one needs a weapon I can help with that too."

[AeRaShin]

Well, Jun had absolutely no idea what was going on. First he was scared that the tattooed guy had come back, but then he was confused with his offer of protection. Then he was nervous when the multi-colored hair girl was talking to them, and then he was again confused with the hippie girl. Not to mention some other guy shows up and starts talking with them. He assumed he hadn't just imagined things when he saw James toss something away. But why?

"Uh, what did you tell them?" he asked. He wasn't exactly sure about it, but if it involved getting allies, so be it. But he was also wary since he didn't want to be teased for trusting so easily.

It's like... they want us to get in trouble, or something?

Jun thought about it for a minute, then realized it was probably true. All he wanted was to go home, but if the school purposely handed out detentions and made them crazy, he wasn't seeing it happen. He would just have to get through the year. Two male teachers seemed to be watching the group, so Jun stood up instinctively.

"Uh, maybe we should talk about it more in the cafeteria," he suggested. He still wasn't used to talking with such a group, so his voice was still a quiet murmur.

[TheBaron]

James smiled and stood with them. "You are probably right Jun. What class are you all in? We should probably determine that first." He turned and started to head for the door. "I am James class 1A. The brilliant mastermind behind the paper footballs... Again that is not important at the moment... what is important is that we lay low and not attract attention to ourselves. For some reasons I can feel that making friends is not exactly looked highly upon in this school."

He strode out of the hall without another word as not to attract any more suspicion to them. He sighed a little breath of relief as the cool evening air hit his face. It was going to be a nice evening despite the gloom that seemed to hang over the campus. Maybe he would be able to enjoy a cigarette or a joint. He shrugged, "Well either way... " He trailed off once more lost in thought.

[AeRaShin]

Jun followed James out of the auditorium. The cafeteria was on the other side of the school, but that would give them time to get introductions out of the way quickly. He had to quickly think of what to say, since he wasn't used to introducing himself. Never had to before.

"Uh, I-I'm Jun," he said after James. "Uhm, I'm in class 2C." He hoped others were in his class as well. He didn't want to be by himself in a room full of delinquents and crazy teachers. His bleached-brown hair was constantly getting on his nerves, but today it didn't seem all that horrible compared to the hell he would be living in. A teacher nearby spotted the group and approached them, sinister smile and all.

"The cafeteria won't be open to those who arrive after eight o'clock," he said. "So, I'd hurry were I you. Those who arrive late and ask for food are punished." Jun shivered. The man's voice was a deep baritone that fitted his muscular build. He was dressed in a gray track suit, tennis shoes, and a shiny whistle around his neck. Gym teacher, Jun thought. He was still holding his rules sheet, and out of curiosity, he tried scanning the list for such a rule.

"Number 53," the gym teacher said. Jun squinted his eyes more than they already were. Sure enough though, he found the rule:

53. Arriving late to meals and then badgering the cafeteria staff for said meal results in a one day detention.

"Ridiculous," Jun muttered. He closed his mouth hard, hoping Mr. 'Gym Teacher Guy' hadn't heard him. But, he didn't, and Jun was thankful for that.

[G]

"I'm Genie, I'm in, uhmm.. 1A," Genie said, remembering. She was in James' class then, she thought wondering who of the others woud be too.
She kept silent as the gym teacher approached them, wearing a silver whistle on a neck strap. If it hadn't been for the way he sinisterly told them to hurry to the cafeteria or they would be punished, Genie would have laughed at the stereotype, but as it was, she thought it best not to say anything.
"Ridiculous," she heard Jun say, but the teacher appeared not to hear him, continuing down the hallway past them.
"Let's hurry, then," Genie said, "I don't want detention or an empty stomach tonight, though considering what we've seenso far dinners' probably gruel or stale bread and water."

[SikstaSlathalin]

Julius followed out after James, June, and Genie putting his hands in his pockets.
"I'm Julius, 1A." He said as the Gym teacher came up and tried to warn them but it sounded more like a threat to the boy.
Fucker's probably some kind of Ex-Navy Seal that got kicked out of the military for liking to kill too much. He thought walking close beside the others letting his eyes scan for trouble. He kinda felt like Rambo in his new movie always looking always planning getting ready to attack at a moments notice.

He saw the cafeteria ahead other students filing in most of them looked scared. The crazy kid's outburst must've gotten to them. The tanned boy knew it would though a lot of the rebels and bad kids were really just trying to get attention they were actually good kids deep down they just needed a friend. This is where you tell the men from the boys sorta speak. The true bad kids wouldn't be phased in fact they might be in Rambo mode like him at this point. With a slight shrug he keeps pace with the others walking slightly ahead of Jun.

[Ushima]

"You got weapons?" Michael turned to Julius. "If you do, you have just become my new best friend. I had all my knives confiscated. The amount of blades was scary. The Joker would be proud." The actual confiscation did go down like the movie, where all The Joker had on him was about over twenty knives. "I also suggest we relocate. We're to open and look suspicious." So Michael followed the group to the cafeteria as the Ex-Seal watched them. Michael glarred back at him. "I could take him." Michael would step up to any situation, evern if he knew he might lose, he figured it's better to go out fighting than to look like a bitch. Though realizing they were doing introductions he gave his. "Name's Michael Burton. I'm in 1A."

Stepping into the cafeteria Michael smiled. "Ah the cafeteria. Where the social class system thrives. I freaking hate it. Everyone looking down on those that are different and not afraid to be themselves." Many times had Michael fought off jocks who thought they were cool and tried to mess with him. So Michael sent them to the hospital later. "Hey this could be fun. Everyone trying to show how tough they are and crap." Michael glanced at Jun. "I must insure the survival of John Connor. God damn it I gotta stop making movie references and quoting lines of dialogue."

[Bia]

A hippie looking girl with bright red hair approached. Presumably with the same note Mari got. She looked a little nervous, and suggested they move. Looking around, Mari realized they were the only ones not moving and standing in a group. Probably the only ones even talking to each other. Yeah, moving would be a good thing. Before they could move, she saw the tan guy from before had got the same note. How many people did this dude invite?

The 2 small guys finally introduced themselves and Mari was now able to distinguish who was who. James was in 1A with Mari, and Jun was in 2C. Before anyone else introduced themselves a stern looking teacher approached and yelled at them to get their butts in gear. Mari scowled, but didn't say anything, time limits annoyed her.

Hippie introduced herself as Genie, also 1A. Tan guy introduced himself as Julius, again 1A. And finally Tattoo-dude introduced himself as Michael, 1A once again. Mari felt bad for Jun, he seemed the most scared out of them all and he was the one all alone. Looking up she realized everyone was looking at her expectantly and she realized she forgot to introduce herself. Clearing her throat and feeling a little put on the spotlight she said, "I'm Mari Rendarez, also class 1A" her voice sounded quieter than she meant it to be, but still easily heard. Great, they probably think I'm some weirdo quiet girl now. she grumbled as the group headed to the cafeteria.

The cafeteria smelled weird, like badly cooked food and scared children probably pretty accurate she thought as she followed next to Tatto--Michael and Tan g--Julius. How she got stuck between two guys over 6 foot she would never know, curse her short-osity.

[SikstaSlathalin]

Julius nodded to Micheal and using Mari as a blocker he passed the razor from his pocket into Micheal's with a pat on the large boy's back he scans around for an open table.
"There we go the corner by the windows, we have walls on three sides. Easily defensible." He makes a bee-line to claim the table before someone else jumps on it. Only problem was he wasn't the only one that saw it. Another kid followed by a group was heading for the table.
"Oh no you don't." Julius says to himself picking up his pace. The other guy picks up his pace too noticing Julius heading for the table in the corner.

Julius snarled a bit going a little faster but not fast enough to attract the Lunch Monitors. That was actually the other boy's mistake, he took off at a run and caught their attention. There was only a loud yell in German or something and the boy stopped dead in his tracks and turned to the yeller. It was a medium sized man with an eye patch and a nasty scar over his hairless upper lip.
"There is no running in school outside Gym class, this is the only warning for everyone!" The man spoke in a sharp German accent and his blond hair was slicked back over a very round head. Slowing his pace Julius made it to the table he was after and sat down waiting for the group to join him.

[G]

Genie was careful to keep her pace steady as she followed Julius to the table he'd picked, not wanting to end up in trouble if that was thier 'only warning.'
She sat down across from Julius, beside the window, staring out through the glass idly, wondering what they would be served for dinner.
A number of horrible canteen experiences came flooding back into her mind, and she thought perhaps it was better not to wonder. Food was bad enough in normal schools, god only knows what they'd serve up here.
"I'm not sure I'm even hungry anymore," Genie said, her words followed immediately by a grumble of protest from her stomach.
"Hmm. I just hope whatever they give us is at least edible."

[AeRaShin]

Jun listened to each of the other's introductons, but he hadn't hear anyone say class 2C. His shoulders slumped, and he sighed. It wsn't as ifhe already knew he was going to be the only one by himself, he was just hoping his assumptions would be wrong. His only good quality being his ability to assume things correctly. He decided he would take this chance to try and toughen up and try to make himself more presentable t his parents and his sister.

In the cafeteria, the smell of instant frozen dinners surrounded the group. Jun recognized them because his parents always forgot about him, so he normally ate the instant dinners from the convenience store. It was the only thing he could make without blowing it up. He peeked at the trays some people alreadt had, and he shuddered. He used to think the covenient store had bad food. The school redefined Jun's understanding of 'bad food'. And to make things worse, half of it seemed as if it were still frozen.

The atmosphere made the dinner seem worse, too. Everyone was nervous or scared or looking to defen themselves. It didn't make anyting better that the German(Hitler) teacher gave everyone their only warning. Jun hoped to God he was just a Lunch Moniter and not a teacher. But, of course, he assumed he would be their English teacher or councler or someting outrageous like that. Jun slowed his pace like everyone else, and he sat down next to Julius to make room for everyone else. He bit his lip like he did when he was nervous and clasped his hands together in a tight fold.

"So, uhm," he started. "W-What is going on exactly?" Jun had never read any of the notes, so he wasn't exactly sure what James had told everyone or why they were all suddenly buddy-buddy with each other. Not to mention, the tattoo-guy, Michael, was going on bout proteting or whatever. He was extremely confused, but he didn't want to sound stupid by asking them about what they all already knew.

[TheBaron]

James looked around the dinning hall ravenously. He was what you would describe as a tank when it came to food he would eat almost anything in almost any amount. The surprised most people because he was so skinny and was well built. He looked at the food and noticed... he noticed well its lack of looking good and he shrugged. It could be worse... maybe. He saw the race to the table and smiled. This would be one of the more important moments if their group was going to survive. However, more important than anything else he knew that no one could get in trouble tonight or at least until they could meet again simply because by surviving that long they would be able to figure out the rules and ways around them. He walked over to the table and slide inside beside Genie, "I enjoyed my view of the Great Race from across the room especially the look on the face of the guy who got yelled at. Anyway, Jun, my friend we are going to for a Extraordinary Alliance of Awesome to Combat the Forces of Evil at Poplar School or EAACFEPS for short." He smiled totally serious about the name. "However, in all reality I jest that would be a silly name."

[G]

Genie laughed, the first time she'd done so since arriving in this hellhole of a school.
It felt good.
But probably laughter and merriment would draw unwanted attention in a school where they obviously wanted the students to be scared and subdued, so she quieted herself quickly.
"So what's the plan, then?" she directed her question to James, "You've got the notes and the name sorted."
She wrinkled her nose at the frozen dinners she could see passing by, wondering if their food would be brought or if it was a self serve kind of thing.
"Most importantly, right now, where do we get these.. delicious looking.. meals from."

[Ushima]

"That name is rediculous." Michael turned to James as he pocketed the razor Julius gave him. He felt a bit better having a weapon, not that he needed it. He's taken on more than a few people with knives. That's how he's gotten so many scars. "Anyway "Rambo" over there got the table, lets go." They made their way over to Julius. "Nice going Rambo." Michael nodded. "Getting that punk to screw up and get caught, classic." Michael has done that before, often tricking teacher's to punish the guy he was fighting and him getting off scott free. Didn't always work as the regular teachers caught on quickly, but new and substitute teachers always were fooled. "Anyway I'm getting dinner." The "Terminator" moved away from the table and to the line.

He noticed people kept looking at him, not surprising. He was pretty big and his tattoos were quite interesting. The scorpion, the sword and the barbed wire were all inked with tremendous skill. Some guys gave him a smirk, he knew what they were thinking. They were thinking they could take him, not likely though. Others were ducking their heads, pulling up hoods and refusing to make eye contact out of fear. Girls, some, looked at him with interest. He wasn't arrogant about his looks but he knew he was better looking than most. Other's scoffed as he went by, just thinking he was just some arrogant, muscular, violent, insane punk. Not that he cared about what they thought, he was who he was. You can either accept that or not. Finally making it to the line he had to wait to get his food. "Always hated this part of school."

[AeRaShin]

The corners of Jun's lips turned up into a half-smile. He found James very relaxing, since he was obviously able to find some sort of humor out of this situation. He, too, wanted to know how they would somehow form an alliance, but another part of him didn't, seeing as he was still all by himself. But, he forgot about that, and instead, tried listening to what everyone had to say. He had realized from Genie's question that they were in a cafeteria and trying to get food before the kitchen closed. He scanned the room, trying to ignore kids getting warnings about more ridiculous rules.

"Ah! Over there," he said, pointing to a small doorway at the opposite side of the room. It led into a room that seemed cramped and odorous. Steam (or fumes, perhaps) emitted a visible fog, and the kids that went in coughed up a storm. Gross, he thought. But while the food was probably worse than his own cooking, he would rather eat crap than starve to death for an entire year. But he realized, Michael made it there before anyone else.

"Uh, maybe getting food would look less suspicious." He emphasized food with sarcasm, but didn't try to make anything funny out of it. The German man was eying their table, a smirk forming on his lips. He absolutely didn't want to be an enemy when he was going to be alone in his class of outcasted delinquents.

He glanced nervously at the rest of them, and frankly, he was surprised they had all agreed so easily to become "friends". There was two bad ass looking guys, a hippie, a hot girl (Jun blushed), James, and Jun. It was a very strange combination. Just when Jun thought everything was cool for the moment, a loud crash of trays came from the table behind the group.

"You F-ing little tramp!" A guy yelled. Apparently, tough guys don't give a hoot about warnings, especially the ones where they physically drag kids into detention. A skanky-looking girl in a short, tight skirt stood up and turned her tray over onto the guy's lap. He grabbed at her hair, and he clawed at him with her nails. Finally, when the two were pretty much involving other people, too, three teachers dragged them out of the cafeteria and probably to detention. The room grew silent, but the teachers seemed perfectly fine with it.

"I hate this place, officially," Jun muttered.

[Tune]

She found herself still trembling from the words the Principle spoke only minutes ago. Honestly, how could they sentence children to suffer in this prison? More like Concentration Camp, if you ask me, she thought, shifting her eyes towards the Nazi looking man. I hope he is just the Cafeteria Monitor, and not the coach. If there was anything she hated worse than having to have blood transfusions, it was being here at Poplar.

"Here at Poplar, we want to mold you into perfect little students. All you have to do is follow our rules-the paper is coming around. Do keep in mind that if you choose to break these rules, you will be punished."

Mr. Shadey was a Class A Creep-a-zoid. His words still haunted her even as she squirmed her way in past a group of kids still looking for a table to sit at. The Cafeteria was horrible, and she dreaded the food they would be serverd, if they would be served "food". Being a Hemophiliac, not eating was not an option. She needed her strength just as much as she needed to keep her blood in her body, and not causing her organs to shut down from internal bleeding. You can say the thought of dying was a constant problem, but then again, you would be sugar-coating it. Death was more like a phobia to her, and judging by this school, she was enrolled into hell.

She managed to find an empty table by the door as more kids filed in past her; some looked positively terrified, others -the possible gangbangers- looked thrilled, and eager for a fight. Of course they would, this is their perfect habitat, filled with scared children, fearsome teachers, and undesirable food, she thought, scratching at a piece of paint chipping away from the the table. Even the paint wants to get away from this place. She leaned forward, and propped her elbows on the table -which was probably against the rules. She wondered how her parents could even send her to a place like this. She knew they were tight on money, and that she was a financial burden, but why would they choose this place? She They probably don't even have a nurse's station.

"If you break the rules, you get sent to detention, just like him," Mr Shadey had said.

She bit down on her quivering bottom lip. Her punishment for breaking any rules would probably be death by bleeding, or flushing down her medication that was suppose to get her blood to clot. She held her head in her hands, her stomach feeling as if it was going to do backflips. She was going to puke. The clatter of trays, and a guy shouting caused her to cringe, and she turned her attention a distant table. From the mess on the guy's lap, and the Prostitute-looking girl standing up, he probably tried getting in her pants, and it failed.

She shook her head, you would have thought that people would not be so dumb as to get in trouble already, she thought, watching as three teachers drug them out of the Cafeteria, and to detention.

[SikstaSlathalin]

Julius sneered at the little spat and said sardonically.
"And so it begins buckle up children, prepare to be watched like mice before a group of Owls. That's twice someone's gotten in trouble. I'd be surprised if they didn't keep us all up this night with Gym or some shit like that." As Micheal called him Rambo and complimented him he laughed lightly. Following the big guy to the line after patting Jun's shoulder.
"Come on everyone let's eat maybe it's drugged so we don't taste anything." He noticed folks looking him over as well, it's like some kind of hunt everyone watching everyone else waiting for the weak to fall back and be picked off by either the sadistic teachers or the more brutal students who think they can get away with anything.
Not liking the looks of the food the boy just decides to grab what he assumed was a sealed sandwich of some kind and some milk. Happy enough with this he begins going back to the table. But he stops upon seeing a pale girl sitting by herself. Which normally would be enough to draw his attention but he wasn't the only guy watching her.
Oh great cute girl being watched by a bunch of wannabe gangsters. This won't end well. He set his food on the table as the punks dressed in pants and shirts 10 sizes to big and walking with some kind of shit in their drawers bow-legged walk.
Oh the stupid impracticality of such clothing and gait.

He watches the punks all sit down around the girl there was four of them two sat on either side and the other two sat across from her. The one to her right was blond and had an obnoxious gold watch dangling from his wrist
"Hey shorty, how about you bring that fine ass over here?" He says leaning back to look at the pale girl fully.
"Fo'shizzle you fine girl I think you'd look great up on me." This was enough for Julius with a grunt he walks over and taps one of the punk's head soundly
"Hey white boy why don't you leave the nice girl alone, before Hitler over there throws you in the gas chamber. All of you." He turns to the girl.
"Hello I'm Julius you can join my friends and I at our table over here if you want." The blond jabbers in some kind of angry urban city talk then stands up pushing Julius a little or at least he tried before the tan boy had the sharp stick against his throat. He positioned it so none of the monitors could see then spoke in a low menacing voice.
"Last warning freak take your gangers and leave otherwise you'll find out how much blood you have in you neck." The boy gulped and slowly backed away as they moved Julius quickly replaced the stick to his pocket before it was seen. He smiles at the pale girl again.
"The offer still stands we're working on an alliance to survive this slice of hell and we could always use another person."

[TheBaron]

James watched with curious eyes as her returned from the lunch line he had left behind the others silent in his thoughts. He was not surprised that Julius had interfered. James would have done the same but with effect. All he would have been able to do is act as a sort of punching bag to shield the girl but this was more effective. He walked up behind Julius and smiled cheerfully at him, "Down boy." He said this completely jokingly He looked at the girl with his eyes clear and free of angry emotion, "Come sit with up because as unfortunate as it is to admit it. You are not safe sitting by yourself." He put his hand lightly on her shoulder. "If you don't want to go that is of course your choice, not one that I would recommend because the goons would just come back and attack you again and there is no hundred percent chance of a knight in shinning armor a second time, and as they say it it not wise to tempt fate twice." He took his hand off her shoulder and walked over to the table and sat down and dug into his food without another word.

[G]

Genie stood and followed Julius to the line, grabbing a frozen dinner for herself. She grimaced at the food before her, wishing they offered something that at least looked like it had been fresh at one stage. All this food looked as though it had been chemically constructed from god knows what, and didn't smell the greatest either.
She tried to get a couple of other trays, so that everyone wouldn't have to get up, and recieved a sharp slap over the back of her hand with a kitchen ladle weilded by a brutal looking... woman? in a filthy apron, her face covered in scabs and scratched and squeezed pimples. Genie gave her a hesitant, tiny smile, saying, "I was just gonna grab some food for..."
"Yer, I'm sure, you wanted it fer' you're friends, just like every other greedy whelp in t'is place try'n ta get more 'en their share. Get back to yer' table! If I catch yer tryin' to pull summat like that again, it'll be detention fer yer."
Genie gulped, mumbling an apology as she left the line, returning to the table.
She saw Julius' little rescue act with a girl dressed in dark clothes, looking a little sad but pretty all the same, and smiled at her reassuringly, then sat back down, climbing around James to her original seat by the window.
"I tried to get you guys something, but apparently that's against the rules too. Sorry," she said, taking a reluctant bite of her 'dinner' and almost gagging. The middle of her stew? was still cold, and the vegetables, or she assumed that's what they were supposed to be, were little more than a soggy pile of goop.

[Tune]

Her heart sank as the four gangsters sat down around her, two beside her, and the other two beside her. As if she wasn't pale enough already. Recoiling her hands from the table, she inhaled deeply, waiting for the taunting to begin. She caught sight of the guy to the right of her. He was a blond with oversized clothing, and a large, gaudy watching dangling from his wrist. How much do you want to bet that he didn't pay for that legally? she thought, hiding a small grin.

“Hey shorty, how about you bring that fine ass over here?"
Did he really think she would ever get up for an ass like him? He was as dumb as the rest of them looked. She almost gagged when she watched one of the guys across from her lean back, eyeing her up and down. She hoped he fell on his ass.
"Fo'shizzle you fine girl I think you'd look great up on me."

Those words, they reminded her of some crappy rap song she heard her brother play one too many times before. Her brother might have been obnoxious, and a bunch of other curse words jumbled up, but he did protect her when he was around, sometimes. Other times, he was the one tormenting her, harassing her for being such a burden on the family. It wasn't like it was her fault that she had a medical condition. She got it from her Grandma, and it skipped her mother -surprisingly- and hit her full force for the missed generation. She was waiting for all hell to break lose when a musclular tan guy came to her rescue and tapped the one of the guy's on the head.

"Hey white boy why don't you leave the nice girl alone, before Hitler over throws you in the gas chamber. All of you." The guy then turned to her. She couldn't help but smile. He was the first nice person she had seen since she arrived at this hell hold, and even though he didn't know her from a hole in the wall. The threat was still immenint, even with this guy here to defend her.

"Hello I'm Julius you can join my friends and I at our table over here if you want."

He introduced himself as Julius, and before she could open her mouth to say a word, one of the boy's jumped up, and tried shoving that Julius guy. Everything happened so quick. She seen the tan guy named Julius being pushed after the gangster rambled on in some type of possessed Urbandictionary language, then Julius pulled out what looked like a sharp pointed stick, and held it to the guy's throat without any of the Cafeteria Monitors being alerted.

"Last warning freak take your gangers and leave otherwise you'll find out how much blood you have in you neck." Julius said, pocketing the stick quickly as the other guy backed away. He then smiled at her again.

She seen another guy come up behind Julius from the corner of her eye, and she ducked her head, preparing for the kind guy to get his head knocked off, but when she caught a glimpse of the new guy placing his hand on Julius' shoulder, and told him to cool down in some jesting guy language.

"The offer still stands we're working on an alliance to survive this slice of hell and we could always use another person."

He threatened to kill the guy right in front of her eyes. She was not used to violence mingled with trying to protect her. Even her brother's show of kindness was a rare sight, so this was all so new and confusing to her. Should she trust him? Her train of thought was cut off by the feel of someone's hand on her shoulder. She cringed, and noticed it was the new guy that seemed to know Julius. He offered the same thing as Julius, so, they had to be friends, somewhat. Did they mention something about an alliance? She looked back at the gangsters backing away, and to Julius and the new guy, who, after talking to her had walked away to his table. She quickly slid out from her table, and offered a smile.

"Anything is better than being a victim of idiots," she said, then followed the new guy to his table where a bunch of other people waited, believing Julius would follow.

[Bia]

Mari was walking slowly, letting the cafeteria sink in when suddenly Julius took off from around her. Well took off at a speed walk that is. She watched as he deftly sped ahead of a kid wanting their table, and got him in trouble to boot. She noted the German teacher seemed extra mean and made a mental note to avoid him.

At their table Genie sat down across from Julius and grumbled about the food. Jun took a seat next to Julius, and seemed extra fretful and feeling bad for him, Mari gave him a kind look. James slid in next to Genie and seemed to be the most pumped out of anyone. And Michael didn't even bother to sit down before going into the line to get food. Wondering if she should sit down or follow Michael, she hovered over the table uncertain.

Her attentions were disrupted though when a shout came up from some tables over. Some slutty girl was "fighting" some guy. Pathetic. For one thing the fighting was more like boy-beats-up- girl-while-she-yells-profanities, and another thing, that girl totally brought shame to Mari's gender. It was one thing to dress nice and good-looking, another entirely to look like a hooker. She adjusted the lower cut part of her black shirt self consciously.

During this time it seemed the group decision was to get dinner, so she followed in line after James. Picking up what looked like it was supposed to be some sort of grilled cheese sandwich, she walked back over to the table half-heartedly. Her long navy boots clicked on the floor as she walked, attracting attention from the other tables since heels had long been associated with teachers. Some turned back away when they realized it was just another student, others smirked and one even waved her over to their table.

"Hey come sit with us!" some tall lanky guy with way too much acne called. He was surrounded by a bunch of friends who looked almost exactly like him. Mari smiled but shook her head, gesturing over to the other table to say she was already sitting somewhere. The guy looked disappointed, but she waved sweetly and took a seat on her original table next to James who was already digging in.

[SikstaSlathalin]

Julius eyed the baggy-clothed fools until he sat down behind his tray and pulled out the empty seat next to him for the pale girl to sit in.
"This seat's open Miss. With a smile he turns to his sandwich and unwraps it. Which actually made it look worse then it did wrapped up. Is cheese supposed to be yellow green like that? He pulls the cheese off watching it leave slimy white trail. With a groan he wipes off the slime on a napkin. I hope this is mayo or something." Once he's wiped the meat and bread clean of the slime he takes a bite of the sandwich. Only a small grimace crossed his face much to his surprise. Not the worst but no where near the best he's ever had. After a few more bites he opens the milk after checking the expiration date luckily it was kinda fresh. He took a sip and it washed down the sandwich.
"I don't think I'll be able to survive with this food for a year. Might have to hunt rats in the basement or something." He takes another bite of the sandwich and another swig of the milk.

He lets his eyes rove over the lunch room again spotting all the cliques that have been formed. The normal ones you come across, Jocks, Preps, Burn-outs, Clowns, Goths, Gangers, Nerds, Techs, Awkwards, and basically his group. Loners just different people of the same mind trying to survive. He'll need a lot more weapons.

[Ushima]

Michael grabbed a tray of food. "Son of a bitch is this even edible?" With a sigh of disgust he just left. The slutty girl and asshole from early already pushed out of his mind. Soon replaced were thoughts of what his detention would be like tomorrow. Not that he was afraid, it was more curiosity. "Oh well I'll find out soon enough." Walking back to the table he caught challenge glares and he shot glares right back. Most looked away, some held for a bit longer before looking away. The few who hadn't he'd make sure to take care of them later. He dropped his tray on the table and sat down. "Well this sucks." He noticed a new pressence. "Seems we picked up another stray. Name's Michael." He introduced. "Welcome to the survival group."

[AeRaShin]

Jun followed after everyone, picking up a tray of the basic frozen "dinner". It reeked of old processed gravy and some other smell Jun couldn't distinguish. He frowned as he took it back to the table unwillingly. He couldn't help but watch the scene with the gangsters and the pale girl. It was one of those moments Jun would have liked to step in, but the most he'd do was create more of a problem. He sighed with relief when Julius stepped in, and then James also interfered. The girl seemed to be joining them, and Jun wasn't sure whether to be thrilled or indifferent. The girl seemed sort of off in Jun's opinion.

He placed his tray on the table, sat down, and let his shoulders fall into their natural slump. At first, he did that when he was young so people would know he wasn't a girl since the girls usually sat up straight and proper in his old school. And not to mention Jun was sort of border-line girly. But in recent years, he's been a little depressed with his lifestyle, and soon, the slouched shoulders became a part of him. He glanced up nervously at the girl, trying not to make too much of eye contact.

"U-Uh, I'm So- Er, I mean, you can call me Jun," he muttered. He followed suit in introductions since she really was going to join them.He was so used to saying his full name, and having no friends usually meant no nicknames. So, introducing himself was different, but it made him happy. But instead of wasting time on petty introductions, Jun started thinking ahead.

"Um, m-maybe we should start by getting all the rules figured out," he suggested. "Like, write notes down on the Rules sheet and keep it with us at all times." Jun was usually pretty good at getting survival down since he had to avoid bullies all the time. But what he said was pretty obvious. A thought hit him, and even though he's never talked this much in his lifetime, he figured it would be best to ask this important question.

"What do we do if someone gets a detention?"

[G]

Genie smiled at the girl again as she sat down.
"I'm Genie," she introduced herself, taking a bite of the ... meal .. in front of her.
The mashed potato was soggy and disgusting, tasted like 1 part potato to ten parts water with no butter or milk or anything. She usually ate organic, and when she could't at least ate fresh food, so this was more than a little disgusting to her.
She looked dubiously at the meat, breaking off a tiny piece and putting it in her mouth. Cold and dry, great.
She looked up at Julius, wishing she'd thought ahead as he obviously did and gotten a drink. Not that she'd even trust the water in this place.
"Um, m-maybe we should start by getting all the rules figured out, like, write notes down on the Rules sheet and keep it with us at all times." she heard Jun say.
"Good idea," she agreed, pulling out her replacement rules sheet and squinting down at it, trying to make out something, anything of the tiny words, "Be a hell of a lot easier if we could actually read it."
"What do we do if someone gets a detention?" Jun asked, and Genie swallowed. She didn't know what they did to kids in detention, obviously, but the little exhibition in the hall earlier had been enough for her to know she didn't want to find out.
"There's not really much we can do, at least until we know what actually happens in there," she replied, thinking maybe it would be a good thing to know, and then kicking herself immediately for the thought, for that was as good as wishing someone would get a detention. She lapsed into silence, halfheartedly eating a little more of the unidentifiable meat on her plate.

[Onizuka-San]

Niko was sitting in quiet reflection on the familiar military style cot which was bringing back memories from the first day at his last school, Harry S. Truman Military Academy. He had been admitted there by his parents when his first school had advised them that Niko was too violent for public schooling. But the truth was Niko had never instigated any fights. They came to him. When in his second year of jr. high a kid much larger then Niko had come up to him and demanded all his money. Niko easily defeated the brute and astounded the other students who had circled up for the impending beating. They told Niko that he looked Jackie Chan and asked him if he was a martial arts master. He told them “No, my dad taught me how to fight that’s all.” Their responses had confused Niko. He didn’t think he had done anything special at all. So that night he asked his father what it was that he had been teaching him. “Judo” was his answer, “Judo is a well rounded martial art. Using it you will be able to defend yourself from any danger that you will find in the real world. Judo is not fancy or flashy or brutal. It just gets the job done.” The next day at school Niko discovered that rumors of “The Ninja Dork” had spread throughout the entire campus and from that day forth could not avoid being constantly harassed by challengers. It didn’t take long for the school to notice his new after school hobby and slapped an “Anger Issues” sticker on his permanent record then recommended his admittance to a military school. His parents took the schools advice and shipped him off to Truman Academy. Truman was essentially a prison, but instead of orange jumpsuits you where in camouflage. And like a prison there where gangs. In order to get around the rule that “Students are forbidden to gather in large numbers outside of school activities,” the gangs had registered themselves as “after school fitness clubs.” The principal thought the students where to soft and would always approve fitness clubs. Niko had no choice but to join a “club” or be eaten alive. Niko’s Judo abilities where quickly noticed and, when the club leader got himself expelled, was himself promoted to leader. But Niko too got himself expelled for starting a cafeteria riot and was sent to Poplar.
Niko had never really thought about where the last leader was sent after he was expelled from Truman Academy. In fact Niko had never thought that there could be a place worse than military school. The thought sent chills down his spine but his thoughts were interrupted by a female faculty member belting out

"Orientation will begin in ten minutes”

‘perfect’ Niko thought to himself. Orientation would be the perfect time to do some business while all the staff was in one spot. Rising from his bed he went out the door to find himself a customer. Niko exited to the halls to find that it was packed with some of the ugliest thugs and delinquents he had ever seen. His attention was drawn by the glimmer of a black kids rhinestone necklace that read “baller” Niko locked eyes with the kid and casted an oversized nod in his direction. Having attracted his attention the heavily jeweled fellow slinked over to Niko and said “what’s your business fool?” Neko ignored the rude remark, confident that what he had to say would put the kid in a better mood. “I got some weed for sale. Why don’t you ditch the orientation with me and have yourself a free sample.”
“Yeah nigga that’s what I am talkin about!” The gangster shifted up and down excitedly. Niko was sure he could smoke a jay and strike a deal with the guy in time to catch the end of the assembly and appear as though he had never been gone.

“That’s some dank weed fool” the gangster said as he let out a large cloud of smoke. “how much you want for it?”
“I don’t want your money. Money is no good to me here. You got any weapons?”
“Tssss” the black kid hissed in contemplation. “Yeah, I gotz a switch blade. But you gotta give me all yall weed man this shit right here is hard to come buy.”
“Deal” Niko could really use a switch blade. They traded and then made their separate ways to the orientation. Unfortunately Niko had no idea where the orientation was and didn’t arrive until the last few moments of the assembly. Niko was just closing the door behind him when he heard a familiar annoying voice announce

“Uniforms have been delivered to your rooms, your classes are divided into four, but you will all stay with your classmates. Teachers will move from classroom to classroom, except for gym, of course. However, today is special since you are all new students, so please meet in the cafeteria for dinner."

The flood gates opened and students began flowing out of the room all holding a piece of paper. ‘They must have handed them out at the orientation. Hope it’s not important.’ Niko thought, but luckily someone had left theirs on the bleachers so he snatched it up and read the title. “Rules” he said aloud. Niko was thinking ‘Huh good thing I found this’ when a large man in a track suit approached him. “Orientation is over.” He said bluntly.
“Oh I am sorry sir I was jus..”
“Number 53” He pointed to the paper in Niko’s hands.
Niko read aloud “Number 53, Arriving late to meals and then badgering the cafeteria staff for said meal results in a one day detention.” Niko looked at his watch and before he could reply was once again cut off by the teacher.
“Well don’t just stand there.”
“Yes sir” Niko replied. He didn’t need to be noticed by the staff so he tucked his tail in-between his legs and ran off to the cafeteria.

Niko arrived just in time for the teachers not to notice him but not in time to get himself dinner. He would have to go hungry tonight but from the looks of it he wasn’t missing much. Scanning the crowded cafeteria Niko saw nothing but an ocean of unfamiliar faces but was lucky enough to find an empty table to sit at. Niko new being alone like this was dangerous but felt better because the shiny new switchblade hidden in his boot.

[TheBaron]

James was throughly enjoying his meal. His mother said he had a bottomless pit for a stomach and was lucky he was unable to get fat. He had grinned at her when she said this and laughed with her as well. It was true he would eat anything simply because he had learned a while ago that one cannot afford to let personal wants ahead of ones needs and even the needs need to be carefully evaluated and prioritized. When he had a group which was rare he had learned that the needs of the group were similar in the fact that they needed to be evaluated and prioritized and that the group needs came ahead of ones personal needs. For without the whole the one could not truly survive.

James grinned and smiled, "Wish I could have seconds I am starving and if you don't taste it it's not half bad." He sat up straighter. When Jun spoke. He smiled and pushed his plate that was completely clean and spoke up, "Well the rules will basically be. Don't do anything but what we tell you to do and even then don't do what we tell you to do because everything we say will be a loaded trap that will land you in detention. That is their ultimate goal as far as I have seen. The obvious course of action if you want to know what is in detention is for one of us to get detention. If that is the course of action we choose. I will willingly volunteer myself for that. Hell if the food is any indication their bark is bigger than their bite. He reclined back as he spoke so that his back rested against the wall. He would be willing to take the bullet for the team this time but they would all owe him depending on how it all turned out.

[Bia]

Mari's eyes followed some pale goth girl as she sat down at their table next to Julius. She seemed just as quiet as Mari. Now because of shyness or just lack of things to say Mari wasn't sure, but she looked cool enough. The string of introductions went to the new girl, and again Mari found herself being the last one to say anything. "I'm Mari," She said quickly, thankfully with a little more power than she had last time.

The grilled cheese sandwich that sat in front of her looked soggy and the cheese half-melted. Poking at it with her fingers she sighed audibly, amazed at James next to her who was eating like it was a gourmet buffet. Delicately she pulled a corner off, stuffing it into her mouth quickly. It wasn't horrible, but definitely wasn't good. Thankfully she was never one to eat much. It wasn't as if she was anorexic or anything but due to the fact she never did sports and was really small, it didn't take much to keep her little body going.

Using the same process, she finished off about half the sandwich before she pushed it away, unable to eat more. Jun brought up the rules and staying out of trouble, and Mari shrugged, she would do whatever she wanted. She didn't have time to study up on impossible rules in order to prevent something. She wasn't going to go out of her way to get in trouble, but no use putting off the inevitable. Besides, she suspected the uniform thing would get her really quick, since she was already planning ways to make it her own.

[Tune]

She sat down at the table next to Julius, who suprisingly made it to the table before her. The sight of the questionable food was as gross as it seemed, but at the sight of slime and cheese looking like it was molded, she crossed her arms over her stomach, feeling queasy. She noticed anothet guy joining them at the table, and she smiled nervously. The guy was big. Big as in muscular and covered in tattoos big. As if that made any sense, she thought, frowning.

The muscular guy introduced himself as Michael, and sat down at the table. There was this Asian kid who called himself Jun. A hippie-looking girl was named Genie, and at last there was the small, pretty -and quiet- punk girl named Mari.

"I'm Nixie Faircroft of class 2C. Thanks for inviting me to your group. I didn't think people actually looked out for others here. They seem to want to eat each other," she said, shivering a bit. She had a close enough call with a group of gangsters, and from the looks of them, they wouldn't be so happy to find her -or Julius- alone in the hallways.

"Um, m-maybe we should start by getting all the rules figured out," he suggested. "Like, write notes down on the Rules sheet and keep it with us at all times."

Jun's suggestion wasn't such a bad idea, and she fished around for her Rules sheet. Pulling the wrinkled piece of paper out in front of her, she smoothed it out, and peered down at the teeny-tiny little font. What, was using font size 10 too big for all the ridiculous crap they wanted to shovel into their heads?

A guy she didn't know the name of spoke up. He looked like he could have been an Emo, but without all the eyeliner, tight clothing, and whatnot, but his hair sure looked the part. He was small, and thin, too. Or at least looked like it.

"Well the rules will basically be. Don't do anything but what we tell you to do and even then don't do what we tell you to do because everything we say will be a loaded trap that will land you in detention. That is their ultimate goal as far as I have seen. The obvious course of action if you want to know what is in detention is for one of us to get detention. If that is the course of action we choose. I will willingly volunteer myself for that. Hell if the food is any indication their bark is bigger than their bite." The unknown guy said.

She hoped she wasn't the only one who seemed confused. Did he mean the teachers, the Cafeteria Monitors, or the members of their little "Alliance" thingy?

[SikstaSlathalin]

Julius smiled at Nixie. "Pleasure to meet you Nixie, and that's what we thought too until James over there. He points to the skinny kid mauling his food. Sent out notes to us asking for an alliance. A very good idea so far and hopefully it'll stick. But what I don't think is a good idea is James throwing himself under the bus to see what Detention is like. All we have to do is watch and wait give it time I know someone will see detention sooner or later. No reason to draw much more attention to ourselves by testing it out." He leans forward on the table speaking with hushed emphasis.

"Besides I've been cooking up some plans that'll benefit us greatly in our little group. What we need is a battle plan here as far as I can see it's us. He waves his hands around the table. Against them and them." He points to the other students and the Staff.
"All we need for these rules is something to magnify them with. Ideas?" He says clasping his hands in front of him looking around at them.

[Ushima]

Michael nodded to Nixie. "Pleasure to meet you." He bit into his food, chewed and swallowed. "Not the greatest thing I've ever tasted. But also not the worst." He took a swig out of his water bottle as he listened to the others discuss some plans. He isn't a plan guy, he's an action guy. He'll go along with a plan yes, but come up with one? "Don't worry James, you won't have to go to detention, honestly you probably wouldn't survive." Michael chuckled. "I already have a detention schedueled for tomorrow. Honestly I'm kind of looking forward to it. You know to put all the rumors to rest and crap." What could they do? Torture him? Even for a place like this Michael figured that was a little extreme. He's sticking to the intimidation theory. Scare them into not doing anything bad. "As for a battle strategy, I say beat the crap out of any threat."

[G]

Genie shook her head, wondering how the boys all seemed so eager to get into trouble.
She was a little shocked to hear that Michael had already gotten a detention, he hadn't said anything about it until now.
Forcing down the last of her meal, trying to ignore the queasy feeling in the pit of her stomach, she answered his question.
"Someone suggested a broken bottle before, didn't they?" she remembered, "But maybe we should try and find some alternative. If we're seen with that they might class it as a weapon, or something. No doubt that's banned somewhere in here," she continued, squinting down at her rules sheet.

[TheBaron]

James smiled at them well they were getting along well. It was good to see that. It would make this hell of a school that much easier. He decided to stay out of this conversation. He reclined back and leaned against the wallmand looked slightly out the window. He turned his head to the side so that he could look out the window. It had begun to rain steadily. It made a nice sound against the window and against the roof overhead. He listened harder and heard the sound against the pavement and the sound it made against the asphalt. Farthere, in the distance he could hear the sound it made against the leaves of the nearby trees and the sound it made against the leaves below. Then there was the sound that could barely be heard as it hit the grass and the easier identifiable sound of it hitting the exposed dirt. All these sounds that were the building blocks of one of the most beautiful natural symphonies in the world and was called by James the Cachophoney of Rain. It was so named by him because it represented the fact that most people who were not as musically inclined as him could not generally discern the different sounds of the rain. He shook his head trying to clear his head of such thoughts for they were useless in the groups situation. Even as he did so he felt his gaze being drawn back to the window. This symphoney it told to him of countless years or sadness and of pain. He shook his head again and let his chair fall back to all four legs. He had missed a majority of the conversation and decided to take a moment to get back up to speed.

[Tune]

So the guy with tattoo's, Michael -wasn't it? He had already got detention. By his muscles, tattoo's, and normal demeanor, she was not surprised he would have gotten in trouble. Others were looking over at their table, whether sizing them up, lusting after Mari, or wondering how people could get along in a place like this. She wondered the exact same thing, but it was happening. She was relieved that not everyone was going to treat her like a victim to prey on. At least not yet.

She set her rule's sheet down on the table in front of her. It was raining outside. She looked towards the window, noticing one of the guy's leaning against the wall. If she guessed correctly, his name was James. He hardly looked like he belonged here at Poplar. It seems only Julius and Michael look like they belong here. The others -especially Jun- looked like they were forced into this nuthouse, she thought, frowning, just like me. It wasn't as it she had asked to be born with a blood condition, or to be treated differently. Maybe her parents' would have been happier if she died.

Choking back a sob, she pretended to sneeze, and rubbed her eyes. The hippie, Genie, said something about a bottle, didn't see? A thought occured to her. Her Crucifix had fake diamons on it, and she wondered what type of use that would be. She reached behind her head, and unclasped her crucifix, and held in loosely in her hand, pondering.

"My cross... It has fake diamonds -crystals- or whatever they call 'em. Maybe one us could try using it to see the rules better? It's like a thousand to one, and might look distorted, but it couldn't hurt to try." Gosh, had she really said that much?

[AeRaShin]

Jun ate half of his so-called "meal" and pushed the tray away from, trying hard not to look at it. It wasn't exactly horrible, but he would obviously would have liked his sister's food better. He glanced up nervously at the new girl who had just joined them, but he didn't make it a point to make eye contact with her. Again, he focused on the bottom hem of his shirt, picking away the frayed thread. Everyone was coming up with ideas, but he wasn't exactly smart, so well-thought ideas didn't come to him naturally.

"I already have a detention scheduled for tomorrow."

Jun's eyes widened, and he picked his head up to look up at Michael. He already got a detention? What if the school really was a torture house? They were on some strange island with no way out and no connections to the outside world. Of course it would be easy for this crazy to get away with torture! Jun sort of had a mental panic, but on the outside he just stared off into space. No wonder people thought he was an airhead. Then it hit him. He liked Nixie's idea, but he thought of something easier.

"You could use my glasses," he muttered his suggestion softly. But for some reason, he knew someone would hear him. "If you hold them a little bit away from the paper, it will magnify it. And I have bad eyes, so it will work out even better." Thank God he forgot to put in his contacts that day. He took off his glasses and the crumpled Rules sheet from his pocket. He held the glasses a little ways from the paper and, although not perfectly, he could read the first rule:

1. These rules are absolute. Ignorance of them will result in an immediate Detention, and in some cases In-School Suspension.

[Bia]

Mari was surprised to find out Michael already had a detention. What could he have done within the 3-ish hours they'd been here? She gave him a sly glance, watching him curiously.

The talk around the table continued. It seemed they were going to attempt to read the rules anyway. Boring. Mari wished she was back in her room, tossing her rainbow rubber band ball and reading that letter from Joseph. What had he wanted to tell her?

The goth girl, Nuxie was it? No Nixie. She pulled off her cross necklace and offered to use it's fake gems to read the rules. Clever, Mari wouldn't have thought of that. Jun though piped up, offering to use his glasses, which would probably be a much better choice. Not so distorted.

1. These rules are absolute. Ignorance of them will result in an immediate Detention, and in some cases In-School Suspension.

"Wow" Mari scoffed aloud. This place was insane. She tapped her booted foot for lack of better things to do. Her hands itching to draw and toss her rubber band ball.

[SikstaSlathalin]

Julius nodded and listened to the others chatter doing some more of his plotting as of now he had learned all the doors that lead outside are locked at all times and only some of the teachers had keys Hitler being one of them. The Servers stopped serving food promptly at 8:30 and it only took them about 5 minutes to break everything down, wash it, trash it, turns the ovens off, padlock the freezers and stuff and leave locking and bolting both the kitchen doors before they all vanished into a room marked staff only.
Probably robots or some shit. He thinks letting his mind wander into the possibility. His train of thought was broken as Terminator announced he already had Detention the boy whistled.
"Well damn Terminator I think that's a record, but it's probably better you or I get through so everyone else doesn't have to worry. Not putting anyone down just better us then you lot. He tries to smile being as non insulting as he can. Luckily he didn't have to hold it as Nixie and Jun proposed ideas to read the rules.
"Both ingenious ideas but Jun's is a bit easier and we won't have to destroy his glasses to make it work. Reaching over he plucks the glasses from Jun and pulls out his own copy of the rules. Squinting a little he reads the next few rules.


Rule 2: Curfew is at 9:30 and will be enforced under threat of Detention or In-school suspension.
Rule 3: Boys and Girls will never be allowed in each others room or floors at anytime unless in the presence of a teacher. Violators will be subjected to Detention and/or In-school suspension." The boy rolls his eyes scanning down the list mostly looking at the last bit of each rule.
"Almost all of them end in some variant of detention and/or In-school suspension. Or other disciplinary actions, anyone else thinking this is where they put us in a Gas Chamber?" He continues to read around then laughs and points to a rule.
"Here's one for us big guy, Rule 22: There will be no fighting or threatening of fellow students or staff. Violators will be given at least 3 weeks of detention and/or in school suspension." Will a wry chuckle he hands the glasses back to Jun and sits back in his chair.

[G]

Genie frowned as the cafateria staff cleaned and locked the room, then dissapeared all in the space of a few minutes.
"Wonder what's in that staff only room?" she thought aloud, "Probably a chef to make them all real food."
She wished she was back in her dorm room, curled up on the windowsill with a nice fat joint, then almost in answer to her wish, caught "Rule 12" over Jun's shoulder, where he was examining his sheet through his glasses. "possession of drugs and/or alcohol or other illicit substances will result in detention /in school suspension or other disciplinary action, at the teachers' discretion, level of punishment based on the severity of the crime."
God, they make it sound as though we're being judged in court, Genie thought, sitting back in her chair and hoping 'they' hadn't sent someone around to search all the rooms while they were in here.
"Do you think they'll search our stuff?" she asked the others, "It wouldn't surprise me if they've done it already. Probably in that staff only room they're splitting up all the contriband between them."

She shot another glance at the room, then sat listening in silence while the others relayed rules off their sheets.
"So basically, considering the length of this," she said, squinting at the lines that covered the paper almost entirely, "don't do anything except breathe, walk quietly to each class and then immediately back to your dorm room. There isn't one banning friendships or groups, is there? I'd bet there's something about gangs, and if we make a wrong step I'm sure they wouldn't hesitate to label us one."
She looked nervously up at the teachers, thinking she wouldn't be surprised if it was against the rules to use a foreign object to read the rules.

[TheBaron]

James returned to watching. He was not at all surprised that the big guy had already gotten detention and grinned because it saved him the trouble of having to do so, "You are probably right. I wouldn't stand a chance. Well all I can do is wish you good luck." He sighed as the others read out various rules, "Wow these are even more ridiculous that I had initially predicted. However, this is not to be unexpected. I mean hell this place is already over the top weird. Well, at least the food isn't half bad." He leaned back in his chair again and grinned at the rest of them, "You all look so grim and slightly upset. I would change that or the teachers might think that we are plotting something dark and sinister. Anyway I do not think there is much point to reading these stupid rules anymore. Also I think we should clear out of here some time real soon it looks like it is about closing time." He motioned to the teachers who were now moving through the crowd telling everyone to get out of here and go somewhere until it was lights out. He shrugged and let his chair fall back to the ground and stood.

He streched as he waited for the others to prepare to leave. The last thing he wanted was to have the teachers corner him and the rest and begin to question their motives for being in such a large group in a corner of the room. They seemed to be a paranoid lot and it was best not to push them, yet... He was sure that if in time they proved to be as ruthless as they claimed to be he was sure that there was going to be some sort of resistance. What shape or form that resistance would for he couldn't predict but he was sure that it wouldn't be pleasant for those involved or even those caught in the middle. Especially for those caught in the middle. But then again maybe there would be no resistance and everyone would just settle down and follow the rules. He smirked. That was very doubtful.

[AeRaShin]

Jun shivered at number fifteen:

15. Students who's grades are far below average and required percentage will result in a Detention and In-School Suspension as directed by a teacher.

And number sixteen:

16. Students who fail the required physical level will receive a Detention or In-School Suspension.

He panicked. What the hell was he going to do? Cry? Perhaps later, when he was by himself. But, if he failed gym or any other class he got detention? Okay, let's see. He's not athletic at all (can't even run a quarter of a mile without getting winded) and has crappy grades (he had a D average at his previous school). Alright then, welcome to detention, Jun! At least they wouldn't have to do any classes until the next day.

The teachers were directing everyone back to the dorms. Apparently, they left uniforms, schedules, and provided towels for showers. Jun was already tired from being so surprised, angry, scared, and depressed all in one day. He breathed out heavily, and he assumed his slumped-shoulder posture. He couldn't see where he was going, since they were using his glasses, and he bumped into something big and hard. He squinted his eyes so he could see. Eventually he realized it was a woman... a very handsome woman.

She wore all white, so he assume this man- er, woman was one of the school nurses. He had a nasty mole on her lip and a thick, fat body. Her voice was even like a man's.

"Tomorrow at 6:30!" she announced, a heavy German accent on her tongue. "You get physical exam!" Oh, no. That's when they threw all the wimpy kids into detention, right? He sighed again. He quickly apologized, but she didn't seem to even acknowledge him, and she walked away. Thank God, too.

[G]

Genie watched Jun's eyes widen in horror at the rules heet, and she peered over to read;
16. Students who fail the required physical level willrecieve a detention or in school suspension.
Joy, she thought. PE* had never been her strongest point. But hopefully the required level wouldn't be too high. She held back a gasp as Jun collided with a teacher, a large, german looking... woman? but luckily she didn't seem to react, instead telling the there would be a physical exam at..
"She did not just say 6.30 in the morning, did she? That shouldn't even be a time!" Genie asked in disbelief as the woman walked away,"They definitely want us to fail. It's scientifically proven that teenagers brains don't fully function until around ten o'clock."
Not that a physical exam required that much brain power, but still.
"So, where to now, guys?" she asked the group, "Split up until tomorrow morning? We won't all be allowed to group anywhere in the dorms, with the gender restrictions, and we hould all definitely get some sleep if we're not gonna fal this exam tomorrow."

*physical education.

[Tune]

She blinked. Had she not been paying enough attention to notice Jun was wearing glasses? Maybe she needed her eyes examined. Jun's idea to use his glasses was a far more simple than the use of her cross. If we were stranded on an island that would have been the perfect, last resort item. The corners of her lips twitched in attempt to smile. Tucking her cross choker into her pocket, she peered down at the little squiggles on the page.

"I bet smiling, laughing, grinning and maybe even coughing would be against the rules. Maybe even breathing would be outlawed one day," she jested.

Knowing these paranoid people, she wouldn't doubt that breathing might be against the rules if they thought the students -were they students?- could breathe acid from their lungs. Rule 15 wasn't much of an issue to her. She kept her grades around A's or B's, and if she paid attention enough in Alegbra, maybe even a low C. When Jun read off rule 16, her heart almost stopped.

16. Students who fail the required physical level will receive a Detention or In-School Suspension.

She felt faint; could they really force her into in-school suspension if she was injured and kept bleeding till she died? Would they drag her lifeless body to detention just to please their sicken principal? She covered her mouth, not doubting her face turned green. She wanted to puke, but maybe doing so was the last thing she wanted to test out.

Bracing herself on the table, she grabbed her rule sheet, and followed the other students out. Don't think about gas chambers... They won't lead us to the slaughter yet, she assured herself, biting her bottom lip. How she wished she was able to get her lip pierced, instead, she was only allowed to pierce her ears -several times each.

Tomorrow at 6:30, you get Physical Exam, she repeated in her mind. Inhaling deeply, she forced herself to breathe. Failing the Physical Exam would be the worst thing she could imagine. She would have to take precautions to make sure she wouldn't cut herself on anything. Would padding be out of the question?

[Ushima]

Michael finished up his meal. "Great food." His voice was heavily sarcastic. It was boringly plain. "Atleast it goes down alright." As long as he could eat it and it doesn't make him sick then he'll eat anything. Getting up from the table he threw out his trash, finishing his drink he threw that out as well. Heading back to the table he listened as the rules were read off. "Christ this is maybe a little bit better than a prison. And I would know." He was locked up for an entire summer, just so his parents didn't have to deal with him. "Grades I get this is a school after all." Michael wasn't worried, he pushes straight 97 percent average each quarter all throughout middle and high school. "Students who fail the required physical level?" Michael looked down at himself. "Ripped with muscles, I think I'm good. Guess you're good to eh Rambo?" Physical education wasn't really that difficult but with weird prison camp who knows how much they've bumped up the standards. This whole situation was sketchy, despite the way he acted he'd admit to being a little nervous. Not knowing where they were and not being able to contact the outside world was more than a little unerving. Michael got up and followed Jun from the table. He watched as he bumped into somebody. That person went on to announce a physical exam at 6:30. "Wouldn't be the first time I've been up that early." Michael could get up at anytime and be good to go." Michael looked at the other's to gauge they're reaction. Nixie looked like she would faint. "Hey." He put an arm around her shoulder. "Come on it won't be that bad."

[SikstaSlathalin]

Julius had tossed away his trash and began filtering out with the rest of his group as Micheal commented on the physical Education he laughed.
"I yet to meet the rope I couldn't climb Terminator or ball I couldn't kick." The boy chuckles again putting his hands into his pockets. He was behind Jun when he bumped into the Nurse or something he caught the young lad and nodded.
"Lovely probably gonna plant chips in us or something. He patted Jun's shoulders a little. Don't worry lad we got your back." He says handing Jun back his glasses so he wouldn't fall down the stairs or something.

"So an speculations on what our uniforms will be? He asks after a short bit keeping his eyes moving over the milling students. I think they'll stick us in orange jumpsuits and white sneakers like they have in the Prison movies. Or some modified Nazi Youth combat uniforms. What do you guys think?" He looks over his shoulder at the others.

[Bia]

Mari watched wryly as the staff all bustled around then disappeared. That was weird. She would have assumed they were going to stay around, breathing down their necks and waiting for them to put a toe out of line so they could slam them with detention.

Probably a chef to make them all real food

The Genie girl piped up. Mari laughed and nodded, "Yeah they all looked pretty fat to me.."

James pointed out that everyone seemed to be getting up and heading back to the dorm. And Mari noticed that some of the teachers had come back out, prodding the students to get their butts up. Jun got up with a pained look on his face. She felt sorry for him. He was one of the only ones in 2C and he was probably the most vulnerable too. She gasped quietly as he ran into the nurse. God what an ugly nurse. Mari thought as she barked at him and walked away.

She did not just say 6.30 in the morning, did she? That shouldn't even be a time!

Wait. 6:30 AM? Mari groaned, already anticipating the hell that was Poplar. Mornings were NOT her forte. Not even close. She wasn't too worried about the exam. It couldn't be too hard could it? She could do the basic things, run a mile, do some pull-ups and push-up or 2. But usually schools didn't require anything more than that. They couldn't force them all to be a Michael could they?

Mari followed Jun and Julius out the lunch room quietly, contemplating the letter that was still burning her right pocket.


So an speculations on what our uniforms will be? I think they'll stick us in orange jumpsuits and white sneakers like they have in the Prison movies. Or some modified Nazi Youth combat uniforms. What do you guys think?

Mari could've cried out. She almost forgot about the uniforms. Oh the dreaded uniforms. Sighing, full of resigned remorse, she twisted her blue heart necklace in her fingers and glanced down at her favorite boots. There was no way she was gonna wear an ugly old uniform. There had to be some way to make at least a little personalized.

[AeRaShin]

Jun sighed. He wasn't sure he could pass the physical exam normally much less at 6:30 am. And if he failed, he would get detention? His life wasn't getting any better. His grades would never improve, nor his athleticism, nor his social skills. The hallway to the dorm building reeked of mold; the air was thick and damp. It was pretty hard to breathe, actually. He ignored it since he was faced with larger problems. Once in the dorm building, two hallways split, one for girls and another for boys. Fortunately, Jun got a room on the second floor, right above the shower room on the first. The bathrooms on each floor were close to the stairs at the end of each hallway. Shower rooms, lounges, and recreation rooms were on the first floor. And, well of course, there was no co-ed lounge.

Jun stared nervously down the hallway, as if it was scary as hell, but it was also his only safe haven. He glanced back at the group, careful not to make any eye contact, and halfheartedly grinned.

"Uh, well, see you tomorrow," he muttered. "I hope." He swallowed hard and started up the staircase to the second floor. His room was two doors down from the bathroom, room 202. Before opening the door, out of habit, he looked around the hallway so no one could attack him or anything. Habits like that are hard to get rid of. He sighed, if anyone attacked him, he would just ask them to get it over with. Maybe they'd send him back to Chun and his parents.

[G]

"Yeah, they all look pretty fat to me,"
Genie smiled at Mari's comment, following those of the group who had gone down the hall toward the dorms.
She reached the fork in the hall a moment behind Jun, almost bumping into him when he stopped, eyes flickering around. He looked nervous.
"Uh, well, see you tomorrow, I hope," he said in a voice that suggested it had been difficult for him to push the words out, then took off down the hallway.
"Goodnight, Jun! Sleep well!" Genie called after him. No point getting depressed, she may as well take it all on cheerfully.
Now down the hall to her room, she guessed, and to see what the dreaded uniform would be. She hoped they hadn't found her pot. Surely not, or they probably would have come and hauled her ass out of the cafateria and straight into detention on the spot.
"Sweet dreams, everyone," she turned and grinned at the group, "I guess I'll see you at the fitness exam," she couldn't help but lose the smile a little at the thought of that.
She began to walk down the hall to her room, at a slow and steady pace, mulling over the odd turnout of the day. On the downside, well, they were here, but they'd managed to form an alliance of sorts, something that seemed rare in this place. That was definitely a plus.

[Tune]

Nixie heard some of the others remark about the cafeteria staff being fat, and she sighed, looking down at her body. It must have be nice to have some flesh on thier bones. She had always been small, thin and sickly; thinking od people's weight was strangely a sensitive topic for her.

She heard Michael say something close by, and felt someone's arm drape around her shoulder. She nearly gasped, her heart thudding quickly in her chest. She turned her head to the side, and looked up at Michael; he was the one who put his arm around her shoulder. She hadn't known any of them for more than twenty minutes, so, to have someone trying to comfort her was a new feeling.

Hey, come on it wont be that bad. Michael said. He must not know anything about me... She felt like smacking herself in the forehead. Of course he wouldn't, none of them did except for her name, and class.

"Unless I fall, and start bleeding all over the floor," she muttered, hoping he didn't hear her.

She tuned out all the chatter, and zoned out on the voices she was semi-familiar. Julius had asked their opinion on the uniforms that lurked in their dorm rooms. Would they even know what size clothes everyone wore or would they give them plastic clothes pins to keep from falling off them. She tried to relax as they came to the fork in the hallways. She seen Jun sulk off down the hallway after saying he'll see them tomorrow. She couldn't help but smile when Genie yelled down the hall, telling Jun good night. She was a sweet girl, even for a hippie.

Sweet dreams, everyone, I guess I'll see you at the fitness exam, Genie had said, then started walking off towards her dorm room. Realizing Michael had not removed his arm, she blushed, and stepped towards the girls' hallway. Lightly clearing her throat, she tossed her hand in the air in a mini-wave, and said good night to each of them that still remained before sauntering off towards her dorm room, following in the direction Genie went.

[SikstaSlathalin]

The group began breaking up for the night which meant Julius had to work on a battle plan for the morning. He had to help Jun pass the examination and keep anymore bangers off the girls, it was tough being Rambo sometimes.
"Good night everyone get some sleep we'll be in for a long day tomorrow." He smiles and nods to everyone that was left before he went up to his room. The halls were lightly cluttered with people most of them were just hanging out in the halls chatting with their neighbors or planning a break out, the tan boy didn't know or really care, what he did care about was the note on his door.

"Julius Martin due to your late admittance to Poplar School and Reformatory and the amount of students in class 1A you are being moved to class 2C it's a smaller size and moving you even it up."
"OH YOU BASTARDS!" He growled crumbling up the note and tossing it into the little trash can in his room. With a angry sigh he slams the door and walks to his bed intending to pass out for the night but another surprise was waiting for him.

The dreaded uniforms he's been contemplating all day. Only problem was they weren't Orange jumpsuits or Hitler Youth Uniforms it was worse.
"Did they steal these from a fucking Harry Potter movie? Where's my wand and broomstick?" With a disgusted sigh he reads yet another note.
"Uniforms will be wrinkle-free and clean before class everyday, failure to do so will result in detention and further negligence will bring about an In-School suspension." The boy growls tossing this note into the trash throwing the folded clothes onto the desk.
"Of fucking course, another reason to lock us away in the gas chamber." He says kicking his shoes off laying on his bed trying not to mess up the bed cause they'll probably have to make them tight enough to bounce a quarter off of.

[G]

Genie woke with the sun, as usual. Once the light hit her eyes, it was impossible for her to keep them closed.
She grabbed a towel from her suitcase, looking rather mournfully at the colourful, silken skirts and singlets and whatnot that spilled messily from the top of it. She'd have little reason to touch them after today.
Her eyes fell on the uniform she'd been given. Navy had to be the most boring, tragic colour there was. She'd prefer black, for chrissakes!
"Why do they always choose navy?" she wondered aloud, thinking that public school systems universally must think there was something about this colour that crushed spirits.
This one was no different, it seemed.
She made her way down the hall, to the bathroom which was mercifully empty at this early hour, and lost herself under the hot water for a while... three minutes, to be exact, and then the steaming, cleansing goodness was replaced almost instantly with a jet of freezing water.
"Oh, jesus!" she cried, jumping from the shower and grabbing her towel, "I shoulda' known there'd be water restrictions."
She turned off the shower and dried herself quickly, then, cursing herself for not remembering the uniform from hell, she hurried back to her room in her towel, the clothes she'd fallen asleep in last night draped over one arm.

Moments later, she was dressed, appraising herself critically in the rooms' only small mirror.
The navy clashed horribly with her bright red hair, but she'd never cared too much about those things. What bothered her most was that she'd never looked so bloody normal.
Like ten thousand other school kids preparing for their day, though she supposed not all that many would be up at this hour.
She sighed, reached inside her pillowcase and pulled out a small bag of weed, wrapped in a sock with rollie papers, a strip of cardboard for roach filters and a lighter.
She opened the window, rolled her joint, and stared out at the sun, the sky still tinted slightly orange from it's rise.

[TheBaron]

James watched quietly and with a quiet good night to all those who still remained walked off down the boys corridor. He laughed sleep he would not. He had a sleeping disorder that did nit allow for such. He smiled not caring if a teacher saw. Not caring if they suspected or even threw him in detention. Thankfully the person who they had assigned to inspect his baggage and his had been easy enough to buy off with a little incentive. He strode down to the very end of the hall where they had stuck him. The room opposite him was empty and the one next to him was occupied by a boy who just stared at the ceiling talking to himself. James waved at him as he walked past the open door and the boy turned and stared at him looking a little lost. James nodded and opened the door to his room and looked at his bag see that it had been searched. It had moved from one side of the room to the other. Luckily he had already hidden his stash else where in the room. He grabbed a chair and stood on it and pulled the vent off of the vent that was above the door and reached into it and then around the corner and pulled a largish plastic bag from around the vent. He looked at the assortment of drugs in it. There was nothing to terribly hard core. No cocaine, heroin, or meth. It was mainly weed and other sorts of pills that guaranteed a good time. He pulled one out and swallowed and pushed the bag back into the vent this time to the other side and a but farther back. He replaced the vent and walked back to his bed and went to look at what the crazy people who had been in his room had left him. He felt the pill beginning to creep over him. He looked at the uniform and found himself uninspired. He pushed them off the bed and lay on it. The pill was really beginning to hit him now and he stared up at the ceiling in contentment as he drifted of into illusion. He would fall asleep at some point he was sure but until them may as well enjoy himself.

The light woke him. He must have been only asleep for three to four hours at best but he still felt fine. He needed a shower and then a walk and after that maybe some weed. He picked up towel he packed and strode off to the shower. He barely noticed the waters temperature as it hit him. He noticed it scalding heat and then its chilling freeze but it didn't matter to him so damn early in the morning. He cursed to himself in German as he started shivering and stepped out of the shower and wrapped in a towel walked back the hall and waved again at the lost boy as he had last night and walked into his room. He slowly he pulled on a pair of boxers. He pulled on the dull pants and the even duller top and when he was finished dressing he looked at himself in the mirror. The clothes were dull to be sure but they weren't the worst things he had been caught wearing. He looked around yes the sun was just rising. He had heard another shower turn off when he had stepped out of the boys shower which meant a girl was up as early as he was. He rolled his shoulders and felt the soreness in his legs. Yes it was time indeed for a walk. He strode out of his room and turned down the hall. He knew he would not be allowed out of the building they were way to strict for that but maybe he could walk around inside the dorm. He grinned and set off. He reached the entrance of the dorm and saw that it saad indeed locked. He was pretty sure there were not teachers in the building and was certain that none lived here. He turned and with a sigh began walking down the girls hall planning to turn around once he got to the end when a smell distracted him. It was the smell of weed of that he was sure. That is was he needed this early in the morning. He turned and traced the smell to a door. He heard a sigh from inside the door and stepping forward knocked on the door. He called out softly so that only the person inside could hear him, "Hey can I get a hit of that."

[AeRaShin]

Jun didn't sleep easy that night. He tossed and turned. Of course, half of it was nerves, but the lumpy, scratchy bed didn't help much either. When he woke up the next morning, he was tired and so not ready for the physical exam. He grimaced at the ugly uniform, but at least it wasn't prison uniforms or something outrageous like that. He grabbed the towel and some soap from what he brought (trusting the provided toiletries seemed dangerous at the moment), and he headed for the showers. He wasn't the only one there, but most everyone was still sleeping. Another tall, tanned guy was there, getting in. He glanced at Jun, but after scrutinizing him for a minute, he ignored him. He must have have decided Jun was not worth an effort to hassle.

Jun showered quickly before other guys started showing up. Back in his room, he put on his uniform, but there was a problem. The shirt was a size too big for him, and it made him seem smaller than he was. It wasn't like Jun didn't have any muscle, but the shirt really made him seem like he had nothing. He tried tucking part of it in, and it sort of worked. But keeping it tucked in made him look almost gangster, but he didn't care. The whole school was full of gangsters, and what they would do to their uniforms would be far more "trouble-making" than what Jun was doing. He took out Chun's letter again, and he read it, again. It was his only way of feeling just the slightest bit relieved. Then again, he did make a cirsle of friends to watch his back. He jumped when the familiar shrill voice sounded in the hallways.

"Everyone report to the gym wearing suitable shorts and t-shirts, and bring along your uniforms." Mrs. Grummler shrieked. He would never get used to her voice. He reluctantly changed out of his uniform, grumbling the whole time about how he just put it on. He changed into red basketball shorts and a white t-shirt which he brought from home. At least his regular clothes would be used. He came out of his room, a look of annoyance plain on his face. He squirmed through a crowd of guys, quickly passing through them. If he accidentally bumped into someone he maneuvered quicker to get away, and occasionally he heard yelling from where he unintentionally caused an argument. "Ah, sorry." he muttered too late.

[G]

Genie jumped at the voice, then put the joint down on the windowsill and cautiously opened the door a crack.
"Oh, it's you," she said in a relieved voice, "You scared the crap outta me, James."
She peeked out the door and looked up and down the hallway to make sure the coast was clear, then nodded.
"Alright, come in, be quick though, everyone will be up soon and we're dead if they catch you in here."
She picked up the joint again, taking another long drag and passing it to James.

After a moment, a voice rang out in the hallway.
"Everyone report to the gym wearing suitable shorts and t-shirts, and bring along your uniforms."
Mercifully, there were receding footsteps, and the woman who'd yelled the order to go to the gym left without looking into any of the rooms.
"Damn it, I just changed into this thing," Genie complained., "You'd better clear out and get dressed, so I can too," she said to James.

[SikstaSlathalin]

Julius awoke suddenly and sat bolt upright looking around he had half convinced himself that the whole of yesterday was some kind of bad dream. He thought he was back home in his Uncle's house being the only relative left alive that's where he was sent. His Uncle was cool let him take over the basement and set it up as he liked as long as he didn't drink any alcohol, smoke anything he shouldn't and never brought a fight home. Julius had no problem with these conditions he'd seen all that drugs and shit slowly kill his family one way or another. He didn't want that shit anywhere near him, but he had no problem fighting which might have been the reason he was here. You can only beat so many gangers and punks into traction before someone noticed.

But back to the present he was here in Poplar naked in his bed with his first bunk mate next to him. She was a blond, pale skin, blue eyes, perfect teeth and very curvaceous. Cheerleader gone bad every guy's fantasy but he had a rule about never dating girls he beds the first day he met them. Usually meant he wasn't the first and he wouldn't be the only. He heard others moving around and various showers going on and off. He shakes the girl next to him lightly.
"Hey Malibu you better scram before the Wardens swoop in." She mumbles a little then sits up next to him yawning and stretching. Damn no wonder he didn't much sleep last night she bounced with every movement. He shook his head before his body got the better of his sense.
"Best go now I don't know their schedule yet." Still half asleep Malibu scoots out of Julius's bed not even trying to hide the way she moved and how he reacted to it. With a coy smile she began dressing over-exaggerating every thing. She knew what she had and she knew how to use it.
Great fuck but not great gf. He shook his head again and gathered his stuff and escorted her out then booked it to the showers jumping in and cleaning the sex off his skin.

As he felt the water run down his body he let his mind wander about what happened last night. He'd went to bed actually planning to sleep all night but he needed a drink so after everything had went quiet for the night he snuck out and headed for the bathroom keeping low and in the shadows he made it to the door before he heard a little groan and shuffling feet. Slipping around the corner he peeked down the hall to the staircase and saw Malibu on the verge of tears and looking lost. Feeling for her he crept around and approached her.
"Hey what's wrong?" She gasped a little at first looking scared but then relaxed upon seeing Julius wasn't out for blood.
"I just escaped my Boyfriend's room he was wasted on something and threatening to kill me for looking at some guy and smiling." Julius whistled a little.
"Sounds like a real winner." She smiles a little looking into Jules's eyes.
"Yeah I have a knack for picking the cream of the crop when it comes to guys." Julius smiled at her first noticing her perfectly white teeth and blue eyes. Noticing everything else would come a nano second behind noticing those.
"Well I'll escort you back to your floor." Before she could answer a door shut and a wiry due with long black hair and torn black clothes stumbled out and saw them he didn't yell cause that would bring the Monitors running so he gave a silent growl and charged or rather tripped after them. The girl squeaked a little and clutched Julius's arm without a word he grabbed Malibu and they took off for his room. Apparently the long-haired punk fell down too many times and decide to give up th chase. They didn't hear anything the whole night you know aside from them. As the water turned ice cold the boy was jostled out of his thoughts by the shock of cold he actually jumped out of the shower in surprise.
"Oh sunuvah bitch! He shudders shaking the cold water off.
Of course shower drills, my uncle even got longer then that when he was in military training back in the 80s." He shudders again then jumps back into the shower lathering up and rinsing off in a matter of 10 seconds. Another thing to add to the list of survival keys "shower smart."

As he was drying off last night came back to haunt him and sucker punch him the head. He saw stars and dropped to a knee closing his eyes letting the world refocus.
"Go near my girl again and I'll brea...ungh!" Was all he got out before Julius mule kick him the gut before spinning on his knee and uppercutting his attacker as he was doubled over then finished off his assault and sweeping his legs out from under him. Julue's sprung over to where his attacker fell and preceded to smacks his ears with both hands this would get his message across and not leave a bruise for him to report. After a solid minutes Jules stopped staring at the stunned and mostly deaf boy.
"And if you terrorize another girl or sucker punch me again you'll be dead." He said in a low vicious voice, he never shouted when he was threatening he learned that the a calm voice giving a threat is far more effective then yelling. With nothing more Julius dried off, turned the shower off, and left. As he got to his room he heard the Wicked With screeching again.
"And here is the physical examination." He dressed in what would normally be his sleeping clothes a pair of green shorts and old red shirt putting his sneakers on. He quickly put some deodorant and grabbed the uniform stuffing the sock into the coat pocket before he exited and locked his door to join the milling crowd. He found James and patted his back lightly.
"Day two eh dude?"

[Bia]

Mari made her way into her small dorm room sadly. This place was DRAB. It's like they were trying to squelch any individuality in these kids, and Mari didn't doubt they had had a lot of practice doing it. Why was she here again?

The uniforms she found on the bed were horrid, of course. Silently, she picked one corner of the sweater vest up, letting it hang there loosely for a second, before dropping it unceremoniously back on the bed. Flopping onto her bed in defeat, she groped madly for her rainbow rubber band ball, needing to feel the familiarity and comfort that was her favorite toy.

Finding it finally on the far corner of her bed she pulled it to her, missing home and Kida intensely. Not sure how long she lay there, she didn't bother to make any move to get ready for bed. It's not like she had anything to look good for anymore, (though she knew she would never let herself leave this room looking less than her possible best) still though, that wouldn't prevent her from taking a lazy night off. Bothering only to take off her necklace and kick off her navy boots, she fell into a shallow slumber.

~~~~~~~~~

Mari's eyes popped open to a sound of hurried footsteps. It sounded like someone was running down the hall. Squinting, she turned her gaze to the window that was shooting light into her face. Obviously, curtains were too much of an expense. Grumbling to herself about using some spare sheets...or these uniforms, she sat up. Her rainbow rubber band ball still in her hand. As she stretched, she realized she couldn't hear much else going on. She had expected lots of girls going to the showers and chatting, you know, typical boarding school stuff. But of course, this wasn't a typical boarding school. Digging around in her bag for her watch she looked at it. 5:40 am! She only had 50 minutes to get ready!

Jumping out of bed, fully awake now. She grabbed all her shower stuff and raced out to the halls. The running footsteps she heard earlier were long gone and other girls were starting to trickle to the showers as well. Speed walking to claim a good spot she found a nicer shower by the door. Going quick, she was nearly finished when the icy water hit her. Gasping and shivering violently, she finished shaving and hopped out of the shower in about 30 seconds.

Since she knew that a lot of girls were going to be in the showers, and they were in the girls wing of the school anyway, Mari hadn't even bothered bringing her clothes to change into. She disliked getting dressed in a cramp space, and she needed lots of room to do her hair and make-up. So she quickly headed back to her room, and had just picked up her uniform when the announcer came on. Reminding them to wear P.E. clothes.

"Well," Mari said shrugging, "at least I get to wear my clothes." Her mood shifted into happier, and she dug through her suitcase pleased. She pulled out a pair of short black shorts, an old green t-shirt that read "Turtles rock" with a picture of a turtle in KISS makeup, and her black & silver pumas.

After she was dressed, Mari pulled her multi-colored hair back into a high ponytail and debated pinning her bangs back or letting them hang. Sighing she decided to leave them as she realized she was nearly late for the exam. Make-up wasn't really necessary since she was just leaving to work out, so she slapped some lotion on, grabbed her clothes and was out the door as the 5 minute warning came over the intercom. She made her way down to the gym, trying not to get pushed by the sea of people. She managed to get shoved to the side of the hall though as some humongous girl pushed her way through the crowd. A sharp point pierced her ankle and she cried out in surprise, a stray nail sticking out of the wood had stabbed her. "ugggh!" she groaned at the nice red scratch she acquired, her rainbow anklet had already been stained with the blood.

She was still scowling when she got to the gym, taking a spot by the bleachers and clutching her clothes to her chest, waiting for this damn thing to start already.

[G]

Genie rushed to get dressed once James had left, pulling off the uniform and climbing into a pair of short black leggings and a nice purple singlet. She slipped on her running shoes, sighing inwardly and hoping they'd let her just take the test barefoot. She found herself much more clumsy and slow when hindered by shoes, they threw her balance off somehow. Better to be connected with the ground.
She went to slip some of her usual beads and bangles on, then stopped, realising her nice jewellery probably wasn't allowed here.
Frowning, she left the room, leaving her hair out and flyaway around her shoulders, but slipping a hairband around her wrist just in case.
She entered the gym and, spotting Mari, went to sit by her, dumping her uniform unceremoniously on the seat beside her.
"Morning," she greeted the girl, her eyes running over the other students milling around the place. Noone else she recognised, yet.
"Way to start the day, huh."

[Tune]

She was surprised when she managed to fall asleep in the unfamiliar room, in a dangerous school in the middle of nowhere. Her dreams were filled with nightmares; blood, gore, evil teachers, disgusting food... She woke up with a start, her skin covered in cold sweat. She ran a trembling hand through her messy hair, and groaned, holding her chest. Oww... She had died in her dream from some sort of blood draining ceremony, and she cringed, hugging her knees to her chest. The last thing she needed was to have nightmares in this place. Nightmares upon living nightmares... she thought, trying to get a grip on herself. She was still trembling when she crawled out of bed, and rummaged through her bag for her medicine bottle. Bet their water is brown from sewage and iron, she mused silently, making her uneasy stomach roll. Life here was going to be miserable. If the school didn't kill her, maybe she would.

Gathering her shower supplies, and a robe she brought along, she trudged her way towards the shower. The showers were starting to get crowded with girls readying for today's miserable P.E exam -or whatever they called it. The warm water was a welcoming feeling against her skin. The cold water seconds afterwards caused her to scream, erupting complaints, insults and cursing from the other girls who were only half awake. Oh God, I hope that screw doesn't come in and beat me. She scrubbed, and rinsed of quickly. and scurried from the shower room in a hurry, avoiding hateful glares and people giving her the finger.

She hadn't had time to dress in her scratchy uniform before the shrieking voice of Mrs. Grummler shattered her concentration. She sighed with relief, and pawed through her bag for her Gym clothes. She had thought ahead, and packed a few sets to wear before she was shipped out, practically blind folded on a plane to God-knows-where. Standard basket ball shorts, and a black t-shirt, how boring. She eyed her black leggings with white skulls & crossbones; she wanted to wear them so bad to cover up her pale legs, but she wouldn't doubt they would be shredded if she was caught dead in them. Brushing her hair into a quick ponytail, applying a little bit of eyeliner, she grabbed her pill bottle that she forgot, and quietly snuck out of her room. The showers were less crowded now -which was good-. She couldn't afford some idiot druggie thinking her medicine was some type of opiates or pill-based heroine. Did they make heroine like that? She shurgged; she wasn't too fond of learning much about drugs since she had to take a lot of prescribed ones for her medical condition. Turning the water on in the sink, she popped her pill in her mouth, scooped water in her hand, and washed her pill down.

The five minute warning came over the intercom, and she hurried to her room. Hiding her medicine bottle, she grabbed her uniform, slipped on her sneakers, and was out the door with the rest of those who were almost late for the exam. She spotted Mari right away from her multi-colored hair, and Genie beside her. She crossed the room, and sat next to Genie, holding her uniform in her lap.

"Good morning," she said, stifling a yawn.

[AeRaShin]

Jun had finally managed to find his way to the gymnasium. Well, more like he was washed away with the rest of the crowd, but as long as he got there, who cared how it happened? He held his folded uniform close to his chest, and spotted vaguely familiar faces. He was bad with memory, since he rarely had opportunity to remember friends' names or faces. He walked over to Mari, Genie and Nixie, a bit nervous. He was the only guy there so far, and he certainly was no good with girls. They made him nervous, especially Mari. He thought she was pretty, but wasn't exactly interested. But other guys seemed to notice her, but they also noticed Jun standing with her and the other girls.

"U-Uh, hey," he muttered, avoiding the glares of jealous men. He used his free hand to rub his arm, trying to rid himself of the goosebumps he got. In the corner of the gym, there were hurdles (crap), pull-up bars (geez), and mats. He frowned, expecting the worst to happen. Who knows how cruel this exam would be? At the opposite end, there were pale blue curtains hung up and it seemed like staff in white uniforms. Oh, no. If it was anything like his hometown, they would have a physical along with the exam. Great. Wasn't this school supposed to be different from every other school? Guess not.

[G]

"Hey," Genie greeted Nixie warmly, and waved as she saw Jun approaching. He came and stood by them with a rather hesitant greeting, and Genie gave him her warmest smile.
"Hi, Jun. How'd you guys sleep?" she directed the question to all three of them, "I hope it was good, because this looks tough," she added, her eyes running over the gym equipment and resting on the curtains at the back of the hall.
"What do you think that's for?" she asked. She'd managed to get out of gym classes at her old school, mostly because the teacher disliked her so much, and it was mutual. Eventually she'd got a letter home saying that because she was so 'gifted' and 'talented' at p.e, she was going to be put in her own class, which turned out to be going to the library and doing nothing.
(ooc: true story, that happened to me in highschool. Never had to do p.e again.)
She stifled a yawn, a sudden wash of tiredness coming over her, and wished she hadn't smoked that joint this morning. Seemed every time she did she ended up regretting it here. Maybe she should give it a rest for a while, at least till she knew how things worked here.

[SikstaSlathalin]

Julius made it to the Gym and let his survival instincts loose. He had no clue what was going on here it could just be an obstacle course or they could be putting them through some kind of Ninja Warrior and American Gladiators mixed with The Running Man shit. Hell for all he knew they could be fitting them with microchips to turn them into drones, Jules didn't know and he hated it. It never sit well with him when he was someplace he had no clue about. Some people wouldn't think about it or call him afraid of change he'd knock them out of course but the truth is being in an unknown place with unknown people made his teeth itch. He always associated himself with a dog wary of new people but loyal to those he knows, and like a dog he hated feeling caged.

He soon found his comrades at least the prettier half of them and he saw Jun to as he got closer. The tan boy smiled a little looking at the little guy.
Man, he looks like a mouse facing down a snake or three snakes as it were. He walks up behind Jun and pats him on the back lightly.
"Hey Jun, hello lovely ladies I trust everyone at least got a little sleep in the 3rd level of Hell they call or rooms?" He sat down behind the girls tossing his uniform down beside him looking out over the crowd still planning and observing.

[AeRaShin]

Jun lifted the corners of his lips into an uneasy smile. He was glad there were people who he could get along with, but he couldn't hide the fact that his nerves were slowly but surely taking over him. How long would it be before he went crazy like the kid from the orientation? He gave himself a week and sighed. So much for optimism. Majority of the school was in the gym, and it was getting very hard to see around without catching the angry glares of other juvies. Again, the crappy sound system went off into an ear-bleeding screech before the nurse (man?) began speaking.

"You take physical exam now!" Jun cringed, but kept listening since she seemed like she was going to give instructions. Her German accent reminded him of the Nazi guy from the cafeteria. Perhaps they were related? "Girdles (Girls) see doctors first. Boy take exam first. After done, wait in opposite line!"

Jun sighed, again. There was no escaping this exam. He would just have to live through it. The girls were separating from the guys, but their group hadn't moved yet. Jun was too nervous... no, scared to go first. Guys were protesting, but most of them were lining up, very reluctantly. Maybe they were too cool for phys. ed. exams? Whatever, Jun didn't want to take it either.

"I-I'm gonna fail this," he muttered. "Do you think they'll give us detentions right off the back?" He knew Micheal already had a detention, but Jun also knew that he would be able to handle it. But would Jun? They couldn't just throw him into detention when he just got there and without any instruction, could they?

[Tune]

Nix cringed from the sudden announcement on the sound system, her hands instinctively reaching to cover her ears. She grimaced, the torment had begun. At this point, she could hardly tell who was making the announcement, the Nazi from the Cafeteria, or the Nazi woman-thing that lurked the halls of the dorms.

Girdles see doctors first. Boy take exam first. After done, wait in opposite line!

"Girdles?" She patted her sides, then stomach, "were we suppose to bring girdles to this?" Her face flushed when she noticed some of the boys staring at her as they started lining up. Could they know what a girdle is? she thought, glancing around. Her group had yet to line up, and she knew from experience (mainly from the rules) that disobedience would not be tolerated. She nervously chewed her bottom lip; Jun looked as sad and nervous as she felt. Well, guess this is where I grow a backbone, she thought with a deep exhale, and stood up, placing her uniform in a neat pile on her seat.

"Wish me luck, guys," she said, flashing a weak smile, "the least they could do is send me to detention for the rest of my life because of my blood disorder." They might just do that... She swallowed hard, and headed over towards the line for the girls. Her knees felt like lead when she walked, and she caught the same glares from the girls in the showers this morning. She hung her head, and nervously rubbed her arms. This would take forever. At least the girls didn't have to start off the physical part of the physical exam.

[AeRaShin]

The girls lined up and one by one, they were called back behind the curtains. Hopefully, they only took measurements like they did in his previous school. Anything else would be.. harassment? At least the girls had it easy for the moment. He wanted to think like that, but he was too worried for himself. The first guys were already being tested. The lot that volunteered to go first made the test look easy, and it would have been reassuring if the guys weren't very muscular and athletic looking.

They did stretches for flexibility, push-ups or pull-ups for arm strength, sit-ups for abs, and finally a run. He couldn't tell how long the run was since they only told you when it was your turn. The line was moving slowly, but the ticking time only made Jun more and more nervous. He looked around for Micheal, Julius or James. Hopefully they were close in line to him. But, he couldn't exactly look well since he was in between two large guys at least six foot and over 200 pounds. Another guy who didn't seem too athletic couldn't finish the run, and a man in a white uniform took him to the side. He handed him something, and the kid looked ashamed and went to the opposite line.

Jun started panicking. What was it he was given? Why did it make him look so ashamed? Was Jun also going to receive something like that? What happened to kids who couldn't get through the physical exam? He started biting his lip from nerves and started messing with the hem of his shirt.

[SikstaSlathalin]

Julius manages to slip around and stand by Jun so he doesn't pass out in the line.
"Relax Jun the more you stress over this the worse it's gonna be. Just take a breath and don't pass out." The tan boy smiles patting the little guy's shoulder lightly. As the line moved Jules began noting how everyone was doing in his head. Gaging the threats and wondering who will be shanked first.

[G]

Smiling brightly and welcoming the newcomers to the group, Genie once again scanned the hall. A teacher approached and gave them instructions in a no-nonsense tone, and Genie half-smiled, half-grimaced at the others as they left to their respective groups on the order of the german-sounding woman. She stood reluctantly, approaching the girls' queue to stand behind Nixie in line. There were only a few people before them, and Genie was more than a little worried, considering she would barely even have time to gauge the other girls' reactions before it was hers' and her friends' turn.
Maybe they were better off that way.

[AeRaShin]

Only two people left in front of Jun. He was, of course, comforted that Julius was there, but he couldn't help worrying after watching the other poor kid. He watched and counted how many of each exercise they were supposed to do.

A minute to do as many sit-ups, push-ups, and pull-ups, each. And then thirty reps of the heaviest weight they could bench. And then of course the 1k run, which was countless, boring laps around the gymnasium. He gasped when he realized it was his own turn next.

"Sich beeilen (Hurry up)!" snapped the German staff from the cafeteria the previous night. "Hurry, hurry!" Jun didn't want to be yelled at anymore, so he took a deep breath and stepped out of line. He sat on the floor next to two other guys still finishing up their push-ups. He started with the sit-ups since that's what everyone else had started with.


"1, 2, 3, 4," he counted in his head.

5
pause
6
pause
7

Oh God, he was definitely not going to make it through the entire exam.