Who: Arthur Lloyd and Clair Montgomery-Andrews (Mentions of Griffith and Claudia) Where: Zener. Outside Clair's room. When: Early Monday morning. What: Arthur was lying in his email.
Arthur had lied in his email to Clair. Basically he had told her that he and his siblings were coming on the 27th of this month, and that his parents were driving them down and that he had to go because he was going to make breakfast for the family. Those had all been lies. When he had sent that email he was already packed and Claudia had been yelling at him to get his ass out of the room so they could head to Zener. On hindsight, Clair should really have known that they were lies because...when did Arthur ever make breakfast for anyone?!
And now here they were and he was trying to maneuver his car, a red Honda civic, into the empty parking space next to some beat up old Taurus. Said Taurus had the word, SQUISHY, spray painted onto it's hood and Arthur wondered if he should be worried about vandals. Claudia on the other hand had taken one look at their would be neighbour and had asked, "What kind of fucking idiot names their car, Squishy? This isn't going to be a Brady Bunch school is it?"
Arthur answered both her questions with a simple. "Shut up, Claudia." It wasn't going to work but he did need to take his frustration out on something. He didn't know what kind of idiot named their care Squishy but the person didn't know how to park either. After several more tries, Arthur zoomed off to find another parking space. Finding one, he parked and cut the engine. Turning to his siblings, or rather Claudia, because Griffith was asleep in the back seat Arthur said. "So you have the information packets...rooms first. We can all explore later."
He got out of the car as Claudia snapped, "You're not the boss of me Art. No one died and put you in charge." just to be difficult. "Sure." Arthur replied and popped the boot open so he get all their bags out. No matter what Claudia said, he was in charge because he was the oldest and because their parents weren't here. From inside the car, he could hear Claudia smacking Griffith awake. Several seconds later the door on Griffith's side opened and Griffith tumbled out.
"The harpy had to be Psychic." His brother groaned and blinked owlishly from his position on the ground. Arthur simply smiled and slammed the boot shut. "If she wasn't our parents would have lied anyway just to get rid of her." He felt bad for leaving Griffith to fend for himself but...there was something he had to do.
"Griff? Do me a favour and take our bags up to our room please?" He stepped away from the car, and would hopefully get away before Claudia realized what he was doing. "Thanks I owe you one. I got to see my new boss. Bye!" He said fluidly before he was pocketing his car keys and running off into the school.
Arthur had no idea where he was going but it was around 8 or 8:15 am and there were kids milling around the main foyer. He approached one group, all panting and smiling and sheepish. "Arthur Lloyd. I'm new, I'm a friend of Clair's...where's the girl's dorm? More specifically her room?" His rapid speech must have been charming in it's own way because he was quickly given directions. Arthur dashed off and then realized that...wait...boys weren't allowed in the girls wing during certain periods of time right?
Who cared though. Well..he did because he didn't want detention on his first day but...He waved at one of the security cameras in the corner and mouthed sorry before skidding to a stop outside Clair's door. Shit...this was going to be fun. Arthur knocked. And then continued to knock, rapping out a random but annoying ditty on Clair's door. He was about to try for a drum roll when the door flew open.
And here they were face to face. Arthur took a breath, staring into Clair's unmade up face and was about to go for his best Smithers impression when she interrupted him. Stepping out she looked down the hall and said,
"Charlie? Charles Brandon?! Did Justin put you up to this?"
Huh? What? "I didn't knock your head a few times too did I? Sometimes I can't tell the difference between the door and your head?" Arthur asked then, staring at Clair. His question caused her to whip around and then her hand shot out...fingers giving his arm a sharp pinch. "Owwwwww! Look I'm sorry I lied!" Shit..the girl knew how to pinch. "Owwwww! Leggo! Leggo! I only wanted to surprise you." He tried to shake her off but that only made it worse. Arthur could have sworn that he was tearing up. So much for Smithers maybe he whimpered just like the cartoon character.
Finally Clair let go. "Not an illusion then. Just making sure." She said in a voice that was too chirpy for the numbness in his arm. Arthur simply shrugged at her helplessly. What else could he say? She had throw whatever he had in mind out the window. And then there was no need for words because she had launched herself at him.
"You liar." Clair whispered in his ear, but he could tell that she was smiling. "What else did you lie about in your emails?" He turned to look at her and smiled too. "Basically just the date and my parents being here...and liking to tell you the story about the time I was abducted by aliens and had a probe shoved up my butt." But not all the stuff about being in love with her. Of course not.
"It went up my nose instead. Wanna see?" Arthur flared his nostrils and she giggled, pushing away from him. "Well you have the worst timing, Arthur." She said, rolling her eyes at him. "You've arrived right at the start of exam week. I'm going to have to ignore you until it's over." She was not. Right? Arthur pouted as she pretended to think it over.
"Well...you can always have breakfast with me though." Clair said finally, moving to step back into her room. Deal. Deal. Deal. Arthur nodded. "I'll wait out here like a good minion."