Room 417, Tuesday Afternoon

[iamnotallgirl]

Jill had finally unpacked enough of her stuff to have found the 2009 wall calendar she'd gotten for Christmas, and was smacking herself for not putting it on top of the suitcase where it would be easy to get to, as it was pretty much the most important thing she owned. Now she was busily preparing it for the year ahead: X-ing off the first five days of January with her favorite apple-green marker, sticking little blue dots on Jack's days, as calculated based on the usual 28.76 day cycle she'd figured out, and little red ones on the three days after so she'd remember to have tampons stocked before Jack came to visit, and marking important dates like birthdays, and then spring break and the last day of school from the calendar in her orientation packet. If it looked completely anal-retentive, that's because it was, but she liked to have everything organized, okay? There was just one thing bothering her, and she'd been through her orientation packet three times to make sure she hadn't missed it: she didn't know when prom was.

Clearly, she needed to start planning for the prom now if she was going to (make sure she wasn't going to be a freaking boy) get a decent date and find a dress, especially now that she couldn't get Raimie to help her. How could she possibly plan for prom if she didn't know when it was?

This was totally mal.

((Open! Jill's a little...obsessed with the prom.))

Comments

[withoutverona]

Romeo tapped on the doorframe. "Jill, hello," he ventured. "We didn't get much chance to talk at the welcome picnic, so I thought I'd drop in and see how you were settling in."

He noticed she seemed to be hunched over ... something. "Are you busy?"

[iamnotallgirl]

Jill looked up from madly flipping through her papers for the fourth time. "Oh, hi, Romeo! Do you know when prom is?" Her expression suddenly took on a hint of terror. "You do have a prom, right?"

[withoutverona]

"Prom?" Romeo repeated, trying to remember. "We have one, yes. Last year it was the weekend before graduation. The theme was, of all the things, skeletons."

And that wasn't even the weirdest thing about that weekend.

[iamnotallgirl]

"Skeletons," Jill said. Her tone suggested she was highly doubtful about this.

[withoutverona]

"Skeletons," Romeo agreed. "I don't know why. And then the next day our children from alternate futures showed up."

He may have been playing 'break the newbie' just a little.

[iamnotallgirl]

"Ohhh," Jill said. "I should've known you were too nice and helpful to be true. This is 'mess with the new kid' time, isn't it?"

[withoutverona]

"A little, but, sadly, this is all true," Romeo told her. "I had three -- two with my girlfriend and my best female friend from here, and one with someone from back home. This place is so odd there's no need to make things up."

[iamnotallgirl]

Wow, he was actually putting some effort into this. Jill admired that, kind of. "Whatever you say."

[withoutverona]

Romeo opened his mouth to argue, then shut it. "You'll see soon enough. You're just too new to recognize how odd this island can be."

... okay, maybe he was arguing a little.

[iamnotallgirl]

"It's just an island," Jill said. "With a boarding school." A boarding school she'd been told was for 'special' cases. Hmm.

[withoutverona]

"An island with a boarding school," Romeo agreed. "And what state is the school in, Jill?"

[iamnotallgirl]

"Maryland." Duh.

[withoutverona]

"Right! Maryland. But when I started a year ago, it was in Virginia," Romeo told her. "It used to be smaller, too. I can show you the handwavey maps and things from when I came here."

[iamnotallgirl]

"Right, because I'm totally going to believe that."

[withoutverona]

Romeo looked at her, exasperated. "Give me five minutes. I'll go up to my room and get things to show you that prove it. Or -- is your roommate a new student, or someone who's been here a while?"

[iamnotallgirl]

"She's new," Jill said. She kind of couldn't wait to see whatever photoshopped 'proof' Romeo had.

[withoutverona]

Romeo rolled his eyes, said "Wait for me, then," tromped up the stairs to his room, and returned with his brochure and welcome packet for Fandom High School in Virginia from the year before, which he presented to Jill with a flourish. "And if you had a car, you'd know our parking lot is in Virginia, not Maryland," he added.

[iamnotallgirl]

"I can't drive," Jill said.

She had to admit, that was some very impressive photoshopping for messing with the newbie. Maybe he was delusional, like that girl from her class today who thought she was from the year 3000, and had made this stuff to support his delusion? But 'we're in Virginia instead of Maryland' was a weird delusion, and he seemed so (hot) normal...

[withoutverona]

"You should learn," he told her.

Not that he had a car there. But still. He nodded to the packet. "Anyhow, so the island moves."

[iamnotallgirl]

"So not an option." If Jack could drive, that would be mal to the mal-th power. "And of course it does."

[withoutverona]

"You aren't going to believe me, are you?" Romeo said, then shrugged as he reclaimed the papers. "Suit yourself."

[iamnotallgirl]

"Nope," Jill said with a shake of her head. "Sorry. I know you tried hard."

[withoutverona]

"I so clearly had nothing better to do," Romeo said, giving up. "Did you have any questions you would trust my answers to, anyhow?"

[iamnotallgirl]

"What do people do for fun around here, anyway?"

[withoutverona]

"There's a bar called Caritas that doesn't ask for ID," Romeo said. "It has karaoke, too. And we have a few decent restaurants, some shopping, an arcade with bowling ..." he thought. "Most days, though, it's a lot of hanging out in the common rooms mocking the television."

[iamnotallgirl]

No ID? Sounded like a dive, and probably illegal. Jill would steer clear. Her mom would kill her if she got arrested. "Mocking the TV sounds like about my level," she said.

[withoutverona]

"There's a movie theater too," Romeo remembered. "But I'll see you in the common rooms, then. And I'm in 502 if you ever need me."

[iamnotallgirl]

"Thanks, Romeo. I'll know where to find you if I need any big brother-y help."

[withoutverona]

"Assuming you don't think I'm creating elaborate practical jokes just to tease you," he told her with an easy smile. "I'll see you, little sister."