Punk x Nerd

[Hadley McGarden]

It's fine. Also, don't be alarmed by the sudden lack of your form. I simply moved it to the "character sign-up" tab, since I didn't know that existed when I first made the topic.


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The past few years had been rough for Jamie. Or, as he often thought to himself, the past lifetime had been rough for Jamie. With a father he'd never met and a mother who couldn't care less, his childhood hadn't been the easiest, and it only grew worse when the other children began to notice how much littler he was than them. Possibly the hardest time in his life had been the years between second and sixth grade, a time where he was relentlessly harassed due to his small stature, pointed ears and strong mind. Fortunately, he'd turned it around before he started middle school. Who would have guessed that a leather vest and a pair of heavy combat boots could change so much? At the time, the rebellious Jamie had been nothing but a mask, a defense mechanism, but now, it was as much a part of him as the timid child had once been. Though still rather scrawny, he had grown into his intimidating reputation well. With cold eyes and shockingly white hair, many of the school population feared him, knowing from experience that although he may be little, he was fierce, and he had a technique when it came to fighting that almost guaranteed his success. (It was rare that he fought, but there had been a few who'd tried to take his title, and that always ended in a brawl.) Sure, at times he wished he wasn't so bitter, or so cynical, or so gruff, but it protected him, and by this point, there was no changing it, so he didn't even try.


"Jamie, kid, get your head out of the clouds," Jamie turned his icy gaze from the window to the docile teacher standing in the front of the classroom, a clipboard in his hands, "Did you hear me?" Jamie rolled his eyes, crossing his arms over his chest and resisting the urge to groan. What a stupid question. Whether Mr. Charnley was referring to whatever it was he'd said while Jamie's mind was elsewhere or when he'd managed to catch Jamie's attention, the answer was obvious. To the former, it was obvious that he hadn't, considering he hadn't replied, and to the latter, he clearly had, since he'd turned around. It was a foolish thing to ask, so Jamie didn't dignify it with a spoken answer, merely shaking his head and tapping his foot beneath the desk. He almost wanted to see the vein in Mr. Charnley's temple pop out, or glimpse his fingers curling when he thought the students couldn't see, just to give some sign that Jamie's sour attitude was annoying him, as was the case with most teachers, but he didn't. In fact, the teacher offered him a gentle and understanding smile, which only made Jamie more aggravated. Mr. Charnley didn't understand anything, and there was sympathy in his eyes that made Jamie feel sick. Why does he always look at me like that?


"I said that your partner for this project is Daniel," Mr. Charnley repeated patiently, irritatingly calm as he pointed to a fairly attractive boy about his age, "Please move to sit with him so I can continue with the pairs." Trying not to roll his eyes again, Jamie tucked his binder under one arm (it could be noted that the binder was covered in drawings, most done in vibrant red sharpie so they'd stand out on the black binder) and walked over, dropping into the empty seat beside the other boy. He cast him a glance, eyes darting across his features for traces of malice or ill intent before he looked away once more, slumping a little in his seat. He wasn't entirely sure what this project was on, but knowing Mr. Charnley, it was some hippie bullshit about discovering and embracing their spirit, or maybe he was going to have them write and act out a skit about a misunderstood middle age man reconnecting to the earth and defying the system to prove his loyalty to Mother Nature. A tiny grin quirked at Jamie's lips at the thought, easily able to picture the flower child teacher giving such an assignment. After all, in the past he'd taken them to the park to study the simple but happy life of the birds as they gathered worms and fed their precious young. The only thing Jamie had learned from that experience was that the sound of baby birds chirping was annoying as all hell.

 

[Kasper]

Mathias had barely paid any attention in class. The psych teacher, Mrs. Dunst, was even older than the lessons she taught. She might as well have been the teacher of the natural history class. She could probably recite everything that happened beyond the Precambrian era, not because she read up on it, but because she was there. She had handed out worksheets at some point, but he hadn't bothered to look at it. He wasn't sure what it was even about. Probably the stages of grief, like she'd been teaching for the whole goddamn school year so far. Mathias sighed, etching into the blank side of the worksheet a masterpiece that he liked to call "The Evolution of Dunst", showing her progression from single-celled organism too primitive to even label as a bacterium to a roughly humanoid creature with a hump in its rickety spine. A few steps along the way included a massive basilosaurus with a pearl choker and 40's glam spectacles. Ordinarily he would have been amused, but today was wearing extremely long already and he was really just trying to keep himself from going insane. The bell rang to interrupt his doodling.


It didn't really matter whether or not he did the work anyway, Mathias thought as he exited the classroom. As long as he kissed up, Dunst wouldn't dock his grade. He had already written all of his papers in advance, and she didn't understand how to use the online grading database anyway, so he could bullshit his way through. He sighed again, putting in his earbuds and restarting his music. He looked down at the tiles as he walked. The mysterious stains on them would be concerning if he hadn't been fully aware of how disgusting the average American teenager was. Of course, he included himself in the survey. He wasn't ashamed to admit that he, too, was a bit gnarly.


He wasn't consciously walking towards his next class. The route was automatic in his brain. He kept his head down the whole time, wishing he could just disappear for a while. He wasn't a stupid kid, but he wasn't really especially smart, either. Sure, he was well read, but that didn't mean he really knew the information. All it meant was that he was damn talented at memorizing Wikipedia passages and bullshitting his way through courses. All the pressure put on him to be the perfect student was beginning to be too much. He felt like he was being crushed.


Or maybe it was because the wind had just been knocked out of him. When he looked up, he saw that he had rammed straight into some kid with a black binder and a jean vest. "Sorry," he said, face flushing bright red. So much for disappearing.