The Tiberius J. Swann Education Facility

Who: Jane and Simon
When: Night
Where: The kitchen
What: Baking cookies! And no, that's not code for something else... yet.

( Still think I'm so out of your league? )

Who: Simon and Jane
What: Lunchtime meeting
Where: Cafeteria
Rating: G

Simon was thinking about Cissy. It wasn't an unusual occurance. He thought about her a lot. Today, though, he was wondering how she was coping with her friend in the hospital. She cared about Fisher a lot, and he knew it was probably killing her. But she wasn't in school this week, so even if he wanted to say something to her he couldn't. But he didn't know if he could talk to her anyway.

It was pretty dead in the cafeteria today, not unusual for the midweek. By now people often were either ordering in because two days of cafeteria food was making them crave flavor, or they were too busy with assignments to bother eating lunch. Simon liked cafeteria food. It was plentiful, cheap, and lately someone in the kitchen had learned to use spices. He was browsing through a textbook and having a sandwich when someone caught his eye. She was tall, limber, and unbelieveably sexy.

Simon looked up, following the woman with his eyes. She was coming out of the kitchen and walking across the floor. "Jane!" he said, finally placing a name to the face. It was the woman he'd played pool with at the bar! Wow, what were the odds he would see her here... at the school... where she obviously worked. Oh, no! All the color ran from his face. Shoot! He had snuck out and had gone drinking, and he was definitely not old enough to do either of those things, and now he was totally caught. He slumped low in his chair, hoping against hope that she hadn't heard him.

Who: James and Simon
When: Thursday Night
Where: Simon's room to start with.
What: James has been banished from his room so that Cissy and Fisher can be all BFF together and even though he barely knows Simon, Cissy suggested it and he couldn't think of anywhere else to go instead.

He had been banished. That hardly seemed fair. And he would have thrown a fit about it if it was anyone other than Cissy trying to run him out of his room. She wouldn't tolerate him throwing a fit, for one, and for two... well he knew she had had a shit week and maybe being around Fisher would help her out or something. Whatever.

Simon had, apparently, had a shitty week as well. James felt sort of bad about this because he was the one that had told Simon that he should fight for Cissy if he wanted her. And now they were broken up again already. Of course it wasn't like he could predict the future. He only knew what Cissy told him and he had thought she was happy, or would be happy but... apparently that was not the case.

So he had an idea. He had nowhere to go tonight seeing as how his room was occupied. According to Cissy, Simon had no friends and probably no plans for the evening either. So he was going to go find the boy and take him out. He wasn't sure where they would go and what they would do but... Anything had to be better than sitting around the school.

It was just after 7pm, right after Cissy had booted him out of his room, that he knocked upon the other man's door and waited, hands shoved into the pockets of his American Eagle jeans.

Who: Everyone who received invites
When: Saturday night, starting around 8 pm
Where: The student lounge
What: Frankie's surprise party!

When it came to planning big, elaborate things, Vinnie wasn’t so good at it. Luckily, when it came to planning and working on stuff for Frankie’s surprise party, Nate had his back. He and Nate were gonna split the cost of supplies and stuff for the shindig itself and Nate was also gonna bake the cake, which was a huge relief. Vinnie wasn’t very skilled in the cooking or baking departments so he was glad that Nate at least was. As for the rest of the food, the two guys had managed to get stuff from the kitchens, so that was another huge relief.

The invites to the surprise bash had been sent out earlier in the week and Vinnie was happy to see the responses he had been getting. It seemed like it was gonna be a good sized party after all! Hopefully, Frankie would like her surprise. He didn’t doubt she would, though. Vinnie was pretty sure his sister was gonna be ecstatic about it.

After his last class of the day, Vinnie ran out to Party City to get balloons, streamers and other decorations to put up in the student lounge. Once he got back to the school, he changed his clothes, grabbed the supplies and his iPod and headed off to the kitchens for all the food. Luckily, the kitchen staff had set everything up on a food cart for him so that all he had to do was move it over to the table. Sweet deal.

With the loaded cart on hand, Vinnie headed off to the lounge to get everything ready. The first thing he did when he got into the lounge was hook up his iPod to the sound system. He needed music to entertain him while he set everything up. Once that was done, he grabbed all the drinks and bowls and plates of chips, dips, cheeses and other finger foods and spread them across the large table in the lounge, placing Nate’s homemade cake in the middle. Next came the decorations. He hung red streamers from the ceiling to all the walls, blew up a ton of red balloons and hung up a huge sign that said ‘Happy Birthday Frankie!’ on the wall across from the door.

Once he was done with all that, he plopped on one of the sofas he had moved out of the way to create a ‘dance floor’ and let out a sigh of slight exhaustion as he waited for the guests to start arriving.

Who: Simon and Cissy
When: Tuesday Evening
Where: The Water Tower
What: Clearing the air

Simon had been at the water tower for an hour now. He didn't think Cissy would show up early. He just needed time to think about what he was going to say, how he was going to say it. After talking with James, he realized he'd been complicating things too much, looking too deeply at the situation. He and Cissy had been together, and she had destroyed his trust. And every day afterward he would have to wonder whether or not she was still being faithful. God, it sounded awful.

Eventually he saw Cissy coming, and just like that all the preparing he had worked on became undone. She looked different tonight, SHe looked older, sadder, more subdued. He wanted to ask her what had happened in New York, but what if he didn't really want to know? She had said the person she was going with was gay, but what did that matter? Then again, it was totally unfair to assume that she had been sleeping around. But part of him did anyway. He was still angry, and he would be for awhile.

( Give me the ring. )

Who: Simon and Vinnie
What: Discussions
Where: Their room
When: After dinner


Simon hadn't gone to dinner. He hadn't gone to breakfast or lunch, either, lest he run into Cissy. It probably would've been safe to go because no doubt she had avoided meals (lest she run into him), but he didn't want to sit all alone at a table feeling pitiful. Or worse, sit with a person at a table and have to act normal.

Vinnie had gotten back to the room very early this morning, around three-ish, or maybe four. Simon had been staring at the ceiling in the dark either way. Vinnie must not have known he was awake, or hadn't cared, because he'd simply come into the room and gone to bed, and slept until early afternoon. Simon was grateful, because that meant he could mope about and his roommate would just sleep right through it. It was just unbelievable. He couldn't wrap his mind around what had happened last night. It didn't even feel real, except for the painfully hollow feeling he had where his heart used to be.

Eventually Vinnie came back from dinner, and Simon was still lounging on his bed, the hood of his sweatshirt pulled over his head. God, this sucked. Vinnie was a cool roommate- very respectful of Simon's space, not unreasonable about a little untidiness. But his being Cissy's cousin was just awful. Or... maybe not. Simon knew that Cissy and Frankie did not get along, but she and Vinnie were on okay terms.

Simon sat up, not going to bother with pleasantries. Vinnie wasn't a stupid guy, and he would have noticed right off that something was not right with his roommate. "Vinnie," he said, his voice oddly hollow, "I have a question for you." God, was he even ready for the answer? But not knowing was worse than anything.

"What do you know about Cissy and Xander?"

Who: Olivia and Simon
When: Thursday Afternoon
Where: Olivia's office
What: Olivia meets with her second student charge.

One would think that the second meeting of the day would be far less nerve wracking than the first. And one would be wrong. It wasn't just a matter of getting her feet wet that had Olivia completely stressed out about this job, it was the fear of not being liked and not being accepted that really tried her nerves. And even though things had gone well enough in the morning, this was a completely different student who may be completely different in nature. And that was simply terrifying!

Simon Curtis sounded like a nice enough boy on paper. He was from the states, had lost his father (There was a similarity again.), and his mother was in an institution. Fire was his element, which she knew precious little about, but he was raised in a very religious household, something else that they would have in common. He too was a transfer from Halcyon, just as Ita had been, and as were many of the students this semester. And that probably made her all the more nervous simply because sometimes people rejected change and he could have been one of those boys.

Similar to this morning, she was at her desk waiting for the clock to hit three. She was on her feet and at the door the moment that his hand had touched the wood, her acute hearing having clued her in to his approach. This time, she didn't forget the introduction. "Olivia Albright!" She extended her hand towards him. "You must be Simon. It's simply lovely to meet you. Please, come in, have a seat. We'll just have a spot of a chat and you can be on your way. Sound good?"

Who: Lirije and Simon
What: A meeting in which Lirije does not get hurt. Or tooo scared.
Where: Wandering around
When: Wednesday afternoon

Lirije was always physically active, always exerting herself. Form a young age she had found that getting rid of excess energy was an effective way of keeping her inner panther from getting to antsy. That part of her loved a good run, or a long day's ballet rehearsal, or even a pilates or yoga class. It just kept everything more balanced and at peace. She'd spent too long in her room, so a few miles were definitely called for.

When she had finished, she had barely broken a sweat. Her heart was pounding a bit though as she began to cool down and then stretch out. As if it was nothing at all, she leaned down to touch her toes but went much farther than that. Her palms were flat on the grass and her elbows were bent a little, far from fully extended. Her nose was between her shins, brushing the skin, and her ponytail was flipped over her head, brushing against the ground.

Unaware of anyone else around, she sat down and slid easily into a sideways split position before leaning to grab first one foot and then the other. Years of ballet had made her body extremely pliant, and it was hardly a stretch at all.

Who: Cissy and Simon
When: Monday Afternoon
Where: Simon's room
What: Cissy is LIVID about the way Professor Witt treated her and has a sprained ankle and needs someone to pamper her for a little while.

Cissy was... well the only word that even came close to what she was was livid. She was livid. She had never been so angry in her entire life! Okay, so that was a bit of an exaggeration. She had been pretty damn angry when she had found Xander in bed with her mother but that was hurt angry and this was just pure, seething anger. There was a huge difference. This was the kind of anger that drove someone to extremes.

And that was certainly the case just now considering that as soon as she had left his office, she had limped her way back to her room to fill out her class selection sheet and had signed up for Advanced English. She was going to show him. She was going to write the best damn papers he had ever read and by the time it was all over and done with he would be falling at her feet and apologizing for ever insinuating that she was not a smart girl. She had the best damn education that money could buy without going to a formal school! Her papa had seen to that. And though he had insulted many things, that was the one that had gotten her the most and the one that had driven her to go do something as crazy as take a class that she didn't even need just to prove a point.

After her schedule was submitted, she had tracked down some more comfortable clothes, a pair of her velvet lounge pants in dark purple with a matching jacket and a white tank top, and slipped her feet into some better shoes, and then limped her way from her room all the way down to the other side of the building where Simon's room was housed. A hand raised up to knock firmly upon the door.

He was supposed to be here. She had wanted to see him first thing but she had been running late arriving and had to make her appointment with Godric. And then she had gotten sidetracked in her anger and, well, the time had started to get away with her, But maybe that had given him enough time to get settled in, if he hadn't been settled in already. She wasn't even unpacked yet, all of her clothes and suitcases just sort of overtaking the entire room. Her roommate would just have to deal until later. Right now, Cissy was in a crisis. And she needed a little bit of TLC to get her out of it.