[Untitled]
AS IT TURNED out, Ritzie had hit his head hard, but his injury wasn't bad. His jaw wasn't even swollen where Ted had hit him; it was only slightly bruised. He wasn't at his usual Step Fountain post on Friday morning, but he did attend the rest of his classes. Perhaps it was just as well, since no one could go to the Fountains that morning; rain poured down, with thunder crashing overhead. Much of the county of Charlevoix had power outages, but the worst Little Rock University suffered was a three-minute brownout. By three o'clock the sky was still very dark and water still washed down, drenching everything. Early that evening Amy, Kat, Choby, Phemie, and Amy's best friend Janet the motormouth met in the lobby to watch T. V. [Note--ZOMG! I forgot about Janet!] The LRU Channel was showing one of their ridiculous low-budget soap operas. Ozzy already sat on the couch next to Fredric, his feet on the table. D. J. and Crusher quietly bickered in the corner, while Jojo sat on the carpet making paper flowers. It was a typical evening.
Amy sat next to Fredric and started to tell him about her latest love fantasy. He listened without interrupting since he'd been one of her boyfriends once--only as an act to rid her of an overbearing Alpha Deltan--and knew that she was all talk, hardly any action. In fact she'd never really gone "all the way" yet but loved to talk about it. [Note--Mya and I devoted like six hourlong audiocassettes to Amy and her misadventures. Seriously. We called it Chastity!--"Starring Amy. Written by Amy. Directed by Amy. Produced by Amy. Co-starring Amy's boyfriends--a cast of thousands!"]
After a while Jojo got up and she and Phemie passed the paper flowers, with little paper peace signs hanging from them, out to the others. Amy bubbled out her thanks though it wasn't really the flower she was thinking about. Kat said thanks normally; Choby exclaimed, "Hey, grooooovy, dude! Like, this must be the dawning of the Age of Aquarius!"; Janet started blabbering nonstop so even Phemie wouldn't listen; Fredric gave a polite "Thank you, Jo"; Ozzy merely mumbled something uncomprehendable [sic] and stared at the T. V.
Psyche walked out onto the balcony, her fingers to her temples. "Aaaaaauuuuuummmmmm," she hummed. "I sense hostile vibes emanating from someone in this room." [Note--as you can see in Minot, Psyche's not really THIS weird.]
"Stuff a sock in it, Spoonbender!" Ozzy shouted. [Note--Ozzy can be a snot, but he probably wouldn't be so rude to Psyche seeing as they grew up together (though he is the one who gave her the nickname "Spoonbender").]
"Thank you for your flower," D. J. hissed at Jojo, while Crusher complimented her on how it went with her eyes--and just about everything else.
"The petals really accent your--uh, irises!" he said. "And it goes just nicely-like with your magnifique--umm, apparel!"
Things hushed down enough for some rap music to be heard coming faintly from someone's open room. Then the door opened and in came Ritzie, helping Damien. There was a brace on Damien's ankle with a bandage wrapped tightly around it. The look on his face was so gloomy that nobody had to be like Psyche to sense that something was wrong.
"Dami, what is it?" Choby asked, instantly turning serious.
"What's going on?" D. J. asked.
"Is you guys okay?" asked Crusher.
"Doc says I'm lucky it ain't broken," Damien said as Ritzie helped him to the couch. Fredric sacrificed his seat. "Not going to be running on it for a while, though."
"That means you're out of the Olympiad!" Ozzy said, sitting up.
Damien nodded, sitting down.
"But you're on Team D! My team!" Ozzy persisted.
Damien shook his head. "Not no more." [Note--Damien, now please, use your proper English. I know you're able. Seriously though, Damien only tends to talk this lousily when he's TRYING to sound stupid!]
Ozzy responded by getting up and jogging up the stairs to his room. Several seconds later there was the dull thud of a door slamming. Everyone was silent. [Note--there are some out-of-character reactions in this story. Ozzy isn't nearly so emotional as I make him out to be. And the others aren't nearly so obvious.]
After a moment Ritzie said, "Dami, if you want me to--"
"No, I don't want you to do anything, Mr. Potatohead," Damien said. "Stick to your Shamrocks, mate. I'll be okay." He cast a crafty look in generally everybody's direction, and a sly smile began to creep up his face. "I'm gettin' a plan shinied up already." [Note--WHAT THE HELL IS THIS. This is crap. I like Dami a lot better when he's talking normally and fighting Satanists!]
Fredric gave a similarly sinister smile. "I have a feeling all these other teams are going to be running for cover before tomorrow hits."
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