In the Presence of Enemies

It was getting so old, the constant hours of sitting and doing nothing but listen to an adult drone on and on. About nothing in particular too, just stuff that introduced him. And only him. Like, who cares that Elizabeth Bathorway was a wanna-be female Dracula? Seriously, that was so random and obscure that no one even bothered to feign interest. Obscure. Hah. That's a funny word. Obscurity is not cool though, not at all. Every student in the classroom was almost literally drooling on their desks, and the teacher seemed not to care in the least imaginable bit. The teacher himself was a rather heavy set man of about forty three. His head sported a beautiful shine that reflected the classroom lights, and his voice droned in a monotone that had any attentive pupil wanting to tear out his eardrums. Twenty four seats in the classroom, four columns of six desks, and yet, only twenty three were occupied. The only unoccupied one was that of Cheshier, but that was no surprise to anyone. Maybe a shock... but definitely at ease in their minds. He had been missing for three days, and even his parents were not sure where he was. If two more days went by though, they would send out a notice.

Some thought differently about the situation, though. It wouldn't be the first time that the ‘spirits’ had taken a mortal soul to appease their never-ending hunger for flesh. But, that was a very laughable thought, that right there. Why? Mainly because it was improbable. How could a spirit remove a human body? Pah! There was simply no excuse for such incredible thoughts. Incredibly stupid. Uf!

These thoughts were thought by a girl sitting in the sixth desk of the third row, her feet propped up on said desk. She was basically in the back alone; all because of the fact that… well… she was not the nicest of people. Definitely not simply because well… she didn’t do niceness to people. Her legs were crossed, and adorned in thick black Tripp pants with chains and straps hanging off of them. They did nothing near as much to give any credit to her generous form as did her shirt. The crimson/orange shirt had the words (which were so not true) ‘I Want You to Want Me’ written in fancy black script. This was centered around a ‘Hard Rock Café: Love All, Serve All’ logo. Her hair, which was actually shorter than most guy hair, was two toned. The left half of her hair was fire engine red, and the right faded into black. Her bangs hung down over her right eye, jagged and not cared for. It was streaked both red and black. Her arms were decorated in millions of small black bracelets and her dark grey eyes glimmered slightly as she opened them. The seat ahead of hers was Cheshiers…. And he had never really spoken to her as it was so she didn’t really care.

“Ms. Blade, would you care to sit properly and then proceed to answer the question?” The teacher had turned his nasally monotone of a voice on her. Her eyes shot up from where she was examining the chipped black paint that lacquered her nails. She bit her nails frequently too, so the chipped look was always there. However, that did not mean that the chipped look was up to her standards. The paint was only slightly chipped. That meant she still had another day or two to wear it and it not be up to her standards, then she could stay that way for weeks on end without having to repaint the hardened nails that were so unhealthy. She brushed a hand through her spiky, disarrayed hair. Uncrossing her legs, she took her time in setting them on the ground. Once done, she let a mocking smile curve across her lips. “And what would that question have been?”

“When exactly, Ms. Blade, did World War II end?” A few people turned their heads in her direction to see if she would answer or come up with some sort of witty remark… the others, the smart ones, kept their gazes pointedly averted. Charlotte grinned. “First off, why, all year have you adamantly refused to call me by my name, Corsair?” She had taken a few letters from her name to form that. After all, a Corsair was a type of blade, right?

“Well… I believe that it ended yesterday, Mr. Moore.” She replied, her lips forming a straight line as she spoke. Her face was completely bland, as though she were dead serious. Not to mention that her voice, despite her very masculine appearance, was quite clear and feminine. Very, very clear indeed.


The man’s beady eyes bulged slightly as a few in the class sniggered at this remark. Corsair never let it show, but she was actually a very smart student. She simply liked retaliation; and she had never really enjoyed it when people refused to call her by the name that she chose. Not like her mother would care if she changed it anyway.

Her mother.

Pah! The woman and her father were never home anymore. They left her in this little Massachusetts town all alone so frequently that it wasn’t even funny. Not in the least. Still.

Mr. Moore shook his head. “Charlotte,” He emphasized the name on purpose, looking at the bi-colored head of the girl. She simply waved at him with black coated finger nails. “This is the last day before Break; do you really want to spend your afternoon in detention?” He inquired calmly, looking at her expectantly. The girl, who had been too absorbed in watching the lights reflect off of his head as he spoke, shook her head to remove herself from her reverie. “Actually… I have nothing better to do, so, why not?” She answered him.

This drew a laugh from another student, but Mr. Moore simply gave an exasperated sigh. “No… you will not get detention today. There is no one there. First day back, Ms. Blade… you will be in detention from two thirty on. Now… Adam, care to answer the question.” He had turned away from the gothic/punk dressed girl to a totally different student in the class. Who cares, right? We are focusing on Corsair.

Hah!

Grey eyes flicked up to the clock. Another five minutes of class. Good gawd it was taking forever today. The last class of the day before Thanksgiving break. A week-long break, so that wasn’t too bad. Right? Nah. It was worth the wait too…. Not like Corsair was planning on spending any time with her family. No… she normally stayed home and chilled with Corey. Corey and here recently she had started hanging out with this chick, Lindsey. She was okay…. To say the least.

So, when the bell rang, she was neither the first nor the last to leave the classroom. Instead, Mr. Moore called her name for a second, and she paused… but when he said nothing she continued to walk out the door with the other students. There was a small, three tile wide bubble around her… but that was only to be expected, right? That was the kind of response you got when every female that tried to interact with you ended up with bleeding ears, and any guy that came too close ended up with a bloody nose. Slinging her grey messenger bag over her shoulders, Corsair made her way through the clattery, loud hallway to the courtyard outside of the school. East Larietta High. Not like there was a ‘West Larietta’… but either way. Once outside, she dropped her cold demeanor and smiled. The weather was chilly, as it was late November. The few trees in the courtyard were still leafy… some of them were pines, while majority were little apple trees and willow barks. Their leaves were gone but covered in snow, giving the school a very college campus feel…. Still. Looking over to one of the picnic tables, she saw two kids sitting there waiting. Haha. They had classes that were closest to the Courtyard doors than she did… so they always waited on her. One, the guy… was Cody. He was laying down on top of the concrete table, his tight jeans and black ‘Crest Fallen’ shirt accentuating his form quite decently. A ring hung from his left and right ears, and his black hair was cut the same as Corsairs, only… his bangs covered the right eye. His lips were moving, because he was talking to the girl…. Lindsey. Now, Lindsey was not exactly punk or gothic, not emo either. There was really no label fit for her. She wore jeans as well, but a green shirt. Her long brown hair was layered, and was straightened down her back. No evil humidity to try and kill her. Or kill her mood, more like it. Her eyes were on Cody, for she was listening intently to his rant.

“…And then, you know what she said?”

“No, Co, I don’t. What did Anne Marie say?”

“She said that- Oh! Hey Corsair!”

Ahh, that was a relief. Someone finally calling her by her name. Corsairs light eyes brightened as she watched Lindsey turn and realize she was there and Cody sit up. She was, in more ways than one… the leader of the little group of friends. “So, we’re crashing at my place for the break, right?” She inquired, moving to give Cody a huge hug. Odd coming frm a girl who never hugged people. Then again, she had known him since they were both like… three. And, he never left her house as it was. So…. Basically they were like brother and sister.

You know how you get into a relationship like that and you hope that they never break? You’ll go through all sorts of hard times and good times… and then you’ll still be the best of friends? Well, that’s how it was with the two of them. Lindsey had just recently been accepted as cool with them…. Not that either of them were cool to begin with. But still. It mattered to them at least.

Lindsey shrugged, laughing. Now that she had turned, it was visible the golden letters in an archaic script on her shirt that read ‘Thy Will be Done’, and the golden cross that hung from a cord around her neck. “Well, my parents gave the ‘okay’ and we know that Cody can stay… so let’s go.” She stated as he swung an arm into Cody’s and he swung his around Corsairs’ shoulder. None of them had cars, the silly people….