"Criminal tendencies run in the family, I guess," Mike says darkly.
"Mike, be nice," pouts Jessica. "It was for abuse!"
"Doesn't that run in families too," Lauren says; it's not really a question. "Bella, I dunno if you're sleeping with him yet, but don't have his kids, right?"
"Bella's not sleeping with Hammond!" exclaims Mike stridently. This exclamation is not less annoying for being true.
"You're not, right?" Eric asks Bella. She rolls her eyes and shakes her head.
"Grow manners," says Jessica. It's not clear to whom.
"Grow eyes," snorts Lauren. "Delaney wants to bang her worse than you do, Mike, and I read the paper too and now he's got millions of dollars."
"I do not - I haven't - you're -" sputters Mike.
Bella has no idea why these people still sit with her. All she did was plunk down next to Angela and Angela's new boyfriend Ben. She remains stoically silent.
[Have fun. I'm going to Bio,] Bella says. She does pat him once on the head, when she stands up, like he's a support.
Bio goes by and she heads for gym. Time to learn to play badminton and then play it like she was born for it. "Hi, Ms. Finch."
She doesn't even ask about their mutual friend.
"Still feeling cured, I hope?"
She provides a thorough and concise explanation of the rules, punctuated with occasional humour of that dry sarcastic kind she seems to like so much.
Bella giggles where appropriate. "Sounds simple enough," she says. "Do we get assigned partners or do we pick them?"
"You pick them," says Ms. Finch, "unless that takes too long or involves too much adolescent politics. So far this class hasn't been too bad about teams, though."
"Okay. I just haven't met many people in this class besides Alice - oh, he asked me to call him Alice awhile ago, it's kind of weird - and he's not showing up today, so I'm not sure who to go with," Bella shrugs.
"Alice," she repeats. "Funny. Well, if you can't find a partner once class starts, make pitiful faces at me and I'll get you straightened out."
"Will do," Bella agrees. She experimentally swings her racket a few times. She spends a pentagon on general athleticism so she won't be terribly exhausted by suddenly adding cardio to her day, and one on skill at racket-based sports in general after discovering that "all sports" is too general. She gets a birdie from the pile and starts tapping it up into the air, over and over. "Hee."
Well, some people are naturally talented. Ms. Finch doesn't find Bella too suspicious, and she is shortly distracted by the arrival of the rest of the class, anyway.
Her partner doesn't have much to do.
Bella grins so hard her face hurts.
After class, Bella has no reason to stick around; she puts her equipment away and runs off to call her dad to come get her. (Her car should be fixed soon. If only she'd thought to magic it fixed when it first broke - sure, magic was scarcer then, but it might have taken only a square -)
It hasn't been a great afternoon. Parts of it were, but on the whole, no.
[Shit-all, pretty much. How much ass did you kick in gym?]
[Lots. Finch didn't even seem suspicious. You recovering okay? Mike was pretty awful to you at lunch.]
[I'll be fine,] he says, tucking his hands behind his head and gazing up at the ceiling. [Still kinda feel like shit, but whatever. You wanna hang out?]
[Sure. Be over in a few.] Bella walks out, and once she's deep in the woods turns invisible and takes flight. [If Mike sits at my table again I'm just going to get up and leave, I'm done with him.]
[Maybe social consequences will have an effect where arguing for human decency didn't. Also it's less work. I think I've settled on soccer,] Bella continues. [The school has a team, the women's teams aren't as generally denigrated as, like, baseball ones, and we're doing it in like a week so I can "learn" it then.] She flies through the rock and down the spiral staircase. "Halloooo!"
"Hi!" he calls from his position on the floor of the sewing room. Then he gets up, walks through the broad arch to meet her at the bottom of the stairs, and hugs her.
Bella hugs him back and pets his hair. "So have you put your sewing room to any use yet?" she asks.