(Untitled)

[victimofnoone]

Who: Hayley Anderson (Stark), with Aaron Tucker (Stampler); Robert Capa (Multiple threads with others possible, please ask first)
When: Day 2 of port
Where: At the high school; private lesson
What: Aaron thinks Hayley looks familiar; meanwhile, surprise! their friends are trying to make them a couple. Hayley has an art lesson with Capa.
Warnings:

Comments

[victimofnoone]

Hayley was glad, more than anything, that she came from a time and place not far removed from wherever this was. It was easy for her to navigate her way around the people, to choose clothes--even if they weren't really her style--and to fit the language. Some part of her had missed high school, even though she hadn't had any real friends, because it was something to do and a break from the rest of the world. The Barge never had breaks until this, so she was trying to enjoy her time between the stresses.

She glanced over at Aaron as he entered, their eyes locking for just a second before he looked away. The girl tensed and her heart started pounding with nerves. One of her friends started giggling and, when she looked at them, they smiled and asked quietly if she wanted to pass him a note again.

Despite her better judgment, Hayley nodded and turned back to her notebook. She jotted a quick note, folded it, and passed it beneath the desk to her friend; she had also spent a lot of time passing notes where and when she was from and none of this was remarkably new. The chain passed it from her friends to his to him without a question; clearly, this was not something new.

Hey. Are you settling in feeling okay about everything?

[victimofnoone]

Her book was open to approximately the appropriate page, but she wasn't paying much attention. The girl's mind was distracted with what to do during lunch, her French class after, and the art lesson she was supposed to rush to immediately after school. This was harder than she would have guessed, even with her friends helping her out.

Hayley accepted the note from 'Amanda' when it was returned, ignoring her suggestive look in teasing. The less she could think about she and Aaron as a couple, the happier she would be. But then she opened the note and it was worse than any teasing.

She immediately shifted to sit up in her chair, muscles tensing with a fight or flight reflex. This was normally the time when she was turn around, walk away, and never speak to them again, but there was no way she could pull off suddenly being ill with how she had been acting the whole rest of the day. She was tempted to look at him, but resisted, hunching slightly over the note. Amanda gave her another look and she returned a glare.

After a beat, she scribbled a response and passed it back.

What do you remember?

[victimofnoone]

Hayley accepted the note warily now, shooting a very short glance over to Aaron and even more anxious wit his seeming enjoyment of the situation. Unfolding it now was more akin to discovering what essay she would need to have memorized for next class than keeping in touch with someone on the Barge. The dread that filled her was practically palpable in her mind, but her friends and the other classmates were oblivious.

She stared at the note in silence for a moment, flipped forward a few pages when others flipped a page to look like she was paying attention, then stared again. The girl swallowed and slowly wrote a reply, pausing every word or two to reconsider her statements, scratching some things out and scribbling above others. Finally, she folded it as slow as reasonable and passed it back.

No. Roy, right? Aaron is It's not like there's that much to remember anyway.
I thought you didn't remember. How did you find out? I don't My name really is Hayley, by the way.

[victimofnoone]

Hayley accepted the note when it was passed with the same resistance as the last time, unfolding it slowly. She slumped slightly at the words he wrote and her heart began to pound even harder. Oh, so that's what her friends had meant. It nearly made her sick, the idea of being with him. Aaron was weak, adorable but ridiculous; Roy was a dick. The last thing she needed was to deal with him on top of everything else.

She kept the note for awhile, staring down at it and thinking about what he had said and what to say in response as the lecture continued. After a long stretch, she finally wrote a very deliberate reply and passed it back.

Break up with me during lunch.

[victimofnoone]

Hayley turned to look at Aaron at the noise, her greatest fear being that someone else would read their note. Amanda turned to give her another look that she had to ignore and she turned the page of her book to catch up to where they actually were, pretending to be listening intently to the lecture. Instead, her mind wandered and her gaze drifted through Mr. Fawkes back into space. That is, until Amanda slid the note into her lap and snapped her attention back to the present.

When she unfolded the note, the girl turned to glare at Aaron-- Roy. Yes, he was absolutely that bad. She knew, however, that the personality she was meant to be wouldn't break up with him and, if he wouldn't break up with her, then there was no chance of it being believable. Besides, unlike Aaron, she did worry a little bit about the people whose lives they were inhabiting for the time being.

Hayley looked back to the note. Just then, she noticed that people were looking at her and looked up to see Mr. Fawkes staring directly at her. She quickly ran through the lecture in her mind again, realizing that he had just asked her a question and was waiting for the response. Smiling, it only took her a beat to catch up. "Jane Seymour."

Mr. Fawkes nodded, pleased and surprised, then continued. The girl sighed in relief, then folded the note again and slid it into her pocket. She wasn't willing to risk another incident, because she knew very, very little about Henry VIII except what she had seen in some movie once. Casting a glance back to Aaron, she then settled into her seat and waited for class to end.

[victimofnoone]

Hayley began closing her book and gathering her things together as soon as a few other students did, recognizing that class was soon to end. The instant the bell sounded, she was out of her chair and making her way to the exit. She got the feeling they usually stayed behind, because Amanda hesitated a second before following along with her and asking her what was wrong. She made an excuse about teasing Aaron that she knew Amanda would accept and followed along with the girl to her locker, glad that they apparently shared one half the time.

At lunch, she had gone with Amanda and a couple other girls to their 'usual table,' taking a seat without complaint. Apparently it was a normal thing for her to forget her lunch, because someone else bought her food before she even thought about not having any. The conversation was a little hard to follow, given that it was mostly about people she didn't know, but Hayley tried to keep up well enough and thought things were going pretty well-- until the guy she recognized from History rolled up with Aaron, shoving him into the space next to her.

She slid over to allow him as much room as she could manage, but they were still uncomfortably close. Hayley had no intention of looking at him, but her line of sight became worse when Amanda was reunited with her apparent boyfriend, so the inmate caved to turn to look at Aaron. She offered him an entirely fabricated smile, though it would appear sincere to most of the outside world. "Hey!"

Then her tone dropped into a whisper. "It's one day. Let's just pretend we get along and then we don't have to think about it ever again."

[victimofnoone]

Hayley's smile dropped from her face at his first remark, though she forced herself not to actually frown. If she didn't know better, she would think he was actively going out of his way to make her present situation as miserable as humanly possible. Then again, with what little she knew of Roy, it was possible that that was the case.

"Yeah, you are," she retorted after a split second hesitation, not entirely certain she believed that even as she said it. After all, Aaron wasn't so bad. "Short of you like, growing a third personality that's a reasonable human being? I don't want to be around you."

She glanced away, only to be met with the same makeout scene as before. Instead, her eyes fell to her food and she took a bite angrily, trying to ignore him and to ignore how close he was and how much she wanted to shove him off the bench and walk away.

[victimofnoone]

Hayley was disgusted with every part of this situation, including the food. After a few bites, she decided she would rather starve until she returned home than to continue to eat the sad excuse for food in front of her. Even her own high school had better food than whatever this was. Or maybe she had just lost her appetite being stuck here with Roy beside her and the two lovers across the table. She frowned at them again, then was pulled out of her reverie by Aaron.

"What the hell are you talking about?" She whispered quietly after he gave a poor save, glancing over at him again.

"How long have you guys been going out now?" Amanda asked. It took a second for Hayley to realize the girl was talking to them and she felt sick to her stomach for a different reason than the food as she looked over at her 'friend.'

"Have you guys even made out yet?" Drake teased, wrapping an arm around Amanda's shoulders.

Hayley was stunned into silence, though her face read as an unamused scowl.