The Art of Being No Help

Who: Tad and Jesse
Where: School hallway
When: Between classes

Tad wasn't sure how exactly to approach someone in the way he was having to approach Jesse, so he'd just opted for loitering in the general area he'd figured out Jesse's locker was in. Thankfully the swelling from his Friday afternoon beating had gone down completely and the remaining bruises were mostly the standard yellow and purpling under his eye and lip. It wasn't the worst he'd looked with bruises, but it probably wasn't his best either. At least he didn't look grotesque enough to scare the guy off right?

He was half pacing along the lockers, avoiding people who came to use their lockers, trying to keep his head down long enough to make it through this conversation before getting crammed into something and trying to keep an eye out for Jesse coming down the hall.

It was a Primus day. Everything felt surreal and kind of messed up and off-kilter. Probably because he hadn't gotten much sleep the night before, between the nightmares and the ghost who was yet again breaking shit. His mom and Scott had spent the night mostly up themselves, he could hear the TV in their bedroom all night. They hadn't come out this time to see what the noise was. She didn't need the stress, really. But in any case, it was a day to listen to discordant bass and bizarre lyrics, and that was exactly what was being pumped into Jesse's ears.

He walked toward his locker, hardly noticing there was somebody already near his. He stopped seeing people most of the time on days like this. The blonde stopped at his own, tucked some hair behind his ear, and started in on the combination.

Of course the kid would have headphones on and make this whole thing even more awkward than it already way. "Dude!" Tad sorta yelled at Jesse barely half a foot from him. Glancing around to make sure no one really cared enough to noticed he was half yelling, Tad decided he was far too nervous for trying to be heard over whatever the kid was listening to and opted for a friendly type tap. "DUDE." Unintentionally he yelled anyway and of course three people turned and snickered. Awesome.

Blue eyes that were magnified by thick lenses turned to Tad. Jesse stared at him for a beat, wondering what the fuck. He didn't look familiar, but he also didn't look like he had ill-intent. Even though it looked like somebody had beat his face with something blunt. Jesse pulled his headphones down and arched an eyebrow at the Kid He Didn't Know. "Yeah?" he asked, halfway expecting some kind of trick. He glanced around, but his peripheral vision was shit, so that didn't really tell him much.

Finally, Tad thought. "You're Jesse right?" He was bouncing just a smidge, rocking from heel to toe in his green chuck taylors (green for good luck again). It was interesting that half of the people he'd talked to in the past 24 hours or so always looked around to make sure him talking to them wasn't some sort of trick. He really hoped it was just everyone being paranoid and not that he just looked like the kind of kid that would fuck with someone like that. He was going to have to completely change his game if that was the case. "You're the one who does all the ghost activist stuff right?"

Oh joy, his reputation had preceded him again. Fucking fabulous. "Yeah, I'm Jesse," he said, because he couldn't deny that. There were too many people to call bullshit to risk it. "And ... kinda, I guess, why?" he asked, still looking halfway suspicious. Even though the dude was scrawny and younger-looking, it wasn't like he was some hulking guy of self-defense or anything. He never fought back. He just didn't know if he felt like being harrassed today.

"I was really just wonderin', what you know about them. The ghosts. I mean are they all people who've died around here? Or people who are from here? And like, have they been known to travel around such, like say they want to be here but they were you know somewhere else when they showed up?" Tad realized after a few seconds he was just barrading this guy with questions and he'd not actually even explained who he was or anything. "I'm Tad by the way. We're both seniors." For some reason he felt the need to clarify his age, but probably because with all his questions and building hyperactivity and overall demeanor he typically came across as a sophomore. It's not like Jesse knew who he was, but then again who did right?

At first, Jesse gave him a look like he was crazy. Talking about ghosts all out loud in the hallway and everything. But ... oh. Well okay, everybody knew anyway. He opened up his locker and started pulling books out of it. "Okay Senior Tad ... um ... I don't know a lot about them and the mechanics and shit," he said, glancing over. Dude seemed pretty eager to learn things. "The couple I've actually talked to died around here. I dunno about traveling, but I don't see why not. I can hook you up with one of 'em, she kinda goes to school here, if you're that interested." Not that he'd seen Lauren since their first meeting, but still. She'd be easy to spot.

Oh the crazy look. That was not a good sign. Thankfully though Jesse moved on Tad was relieved that he'd not scared the guy off completely. The news about dying around here wasn't what he wanted to hear. It was going to be near impossible to find his parents' ghosts if he had to figure out where they died. Although his grandmother said it had been a car crash...maybe he could google something about it. "Still goes to school here?" Why would a ghost want to continue to suffer through high school? "I mean I guess, do you think she could help? I don't want to be a giant pain in the ass. It's just with all the ghosts popping up I was curious about my parents..." Tad stopped the sentence short and looked down at his feet running his hand through his hair, trying to smooth the curls into place a little. It was never intentional to play the orphan card. Mostly because he didn't feel that way; he had Grams and he wasn't living in a home or whatever. And usually he just glided over it, not emotion attached, like he did now but it was far to obvious when talking about ghosts and his parents that he'd meant them.

Even though Jesse had the flash of that 'share much?' feeling, it was followed up with even stronger sympathy. He looked at the guy with a much softer expression. After all ... pretty soon he was probably going to lose his own mom. "I wish I knew more to tell you dude, sorry," he said, and meant that. His ghosts' rights stuff was more of a lark than anything; just an idea he'd had watching the news. Something to shake MSHS up a bit. Even though it hadn't really worked. "I can ask her when I see her again. She ... I dunno, I keep getting the impression there's like ... no rulebook that all of them have or some shit, y'know? They're just as confused as we are, I think. And y'know, your parents might not even be ghosts. Not everybody becomes one." He didn't think, anyway.

"Right, yea no I was just you know wonderin' or whatever." Damnit. He'd fucked that up dropping in the whole parents thing and now the guy was looking at him like he was going to start crying or whatever. Which he wasn't. It had been seven years, he'd been to a thousand shrinks, he'd dealt with it. He just needed to know who they were because Grams wasn't giving him anything. There had to be more to him than this loser exterior. "I was just trying to figure some stuff out, being able to ask them questions might you know, help or whatever. I guess, if you see her ask her and let me know and such." Tad's voice didn't waver even though he sounded somewhat disappointed. Largely though he sounded frustrated.

Jesse could understand getting excited about that sort of prospect. And from the bits and flashes he was getting off of the kid? His childhood hadn't been the happiest. There seemed to be plenty of misery there. "Okay, I will," he said sincerely, giving Tad a nod. With that hair, he was sure to be able to find this dude again pretty easily too. "I'll try to find her as soon as I can, okay?" He wanted to ask her about something the dude in the parking lot had said anyway; about the fulfilled-purpose-then-poofing thing. "But in the meantime? There's this bookstore in town called Nevermore? It's kinda ... got lots of shit about everything. If you want to go hunting for some books or something." There, he was trying to be helpful.

Tad nodded, curls bobbing a smidge (mostly they just stayed where they were as if defying gravity). "Yea, buddy of mine, Dean, and I were gonna check it out for a school project or whatever, I figured I'd look there too." So perhaps calling Dean his buddy was a stretch but he'd had enough sympathy for the day and Dean would probably understand if it got back around to him. "Thanks for your help." Tad wasn't expecting too much from a chat with ghost high school girl, but then again you never know right? Plus it was nice of Jesse to offer seek out the ghost girl and ask her about it. Taking a step or two back he looked over his shoulder in the direction of his next class. "I should probably go, class and such. See you around or whatever?"

Feeling like this filled his Weird Encounter Quota for the month, Jesse nodded. "Sure dude, see you around," he said, but it wasn't sarcastic. He really would see him around. He shut his locker and stuffed the books he needed into his messenger bag. Giving Tad one more look and a nod, he pulled his headphones back up over his ears, then started his head-ducked shuffle toward his next class. Poltergeists and now he was apparently the go-to guy about ghost information. What the fuck. He was going to have to read up, himself.

He'd tried the half wave thing when Jesse nodded but the kid was back in headphone land and on his way. Tad shoved the loose hand through his hair again so he wouldn't look like a complete moron and headed in the opposite direction, digging out his phone to text Kaysen. She'd better have another idea becasue they were back at square one.