Discussions with a Future Prom Queen

Who: Alexis and Chance
Where: Nevermore
When: After school

The school day had been mostly boring, though Alexis had spent it watching people and listening. Listening seemed to be the key. The rumors had created a breach in the norm, and opening and a chance for change, and all she had to do was take it while she could. And why not? She'd be gone next year, most likely. It had her mind spinning with possibilities and she began to plot, making lists and making notes. She could read the books in Nevermore any day of the week.

Chance had been reluctant to go straight home after school. He wasn't a big fan of the empty house since Hannah had left, and Kaysen didn't want to be there anymore because of his mother. It only reminded him that Devon - who would have been there every day after school when he wasn't with Jordan - was gone, and Jordan... things weren't the same there anymore either. So he left school on his skateboard and rode it down to Washington Street, glancing at the posters around town for the circus. Why did things like that keep coming to Marquette? Did they really think there was enough population to make it profitable these days?

Once he hit Nevermore he stopped and stepped off his board, lifting it under his arm before he headed inside. He couldn't help but wonder if there were anymore books on Fades - not that he really needed one thanks to Hannah - but he was still curious. It had seemingly benefited Lullaby, and he was always eager to learn more if there was more actually out there. Once inside he caught sight of the girl and recognized her in a vague way from school. "Hey," he greeted before wandering toward the books.

"Hey," Alexis smiled, looking up from her notes. "Can I help you find something?" He looked familiar, but almost everyone did, even if she hadn't lived there all that long. That's what she got for moving to a small town. If he went to Marquette Senior High School, then she had to have at least seen him in the halls.

"Just looking," Chance replied. He hadn't seen her in Nevermore before, and he wasn't sure how comfortable he was asking for things. He pulled out a book on angels, just to flip through after setting his skateboard down on the floor. "So, what happened to the owner of this place? Is he coming back?" He hadn't seen Dorian in a long time and he was curious, given Dorian had been helping him at one point.

"I don't know. I've heard about him, but never met him," Alexis said. "Harper hired me the other day, after a previous employee left?" She wondered about this absentee owner, why he was gone and why he had left. Who just up and left their business? "Did you know him?" she asked. If she could find out about him from the customers, maybe she'd know what to expect when he returned.

"Sort of? Not really well," Chance replied, looking up at her. Dorian had helped Chance bring Kaysen and the others back from the In Between. Dorian was one of the few that knew Chance was a Fade. One of the few who had offered to help him out. "I just hadn't seen him around, so I was curious if he was coming back or not. You're new at school, aren't you?"

"Just this year, yeah," Alexis smiled. "Moved up from Tuscon right before school started. I'm Alexis," she smiled. "Marquette seems like a hoppin' town." It was such a funny thing to say, but Marquette really was one of the most exciting places she'd lived thus far. Most of the time, her father made sure the chaos was a ways away from her, but since moving to Marquette she'd actually seen some of the things she'd only read about. Plus those she hadn't, like attacking shadows.

"Don't know what it is with people moving from warmer climates to Marquette," Chance said with a wry smile. "I'm Chance. And Marquette's not really... hoppin' so much as kind of limping along." He replaced the book and left his skateboard on the ground as he continued to skim the titles. "How're you liking school so far?"

"Just following my dad," she smiled. "Work takes him up here, so I go along. I've never had a white Christmas, so I'm kind of looking forward to it." Everyone she'd told that to had warned her off, so hopefully she wouldn't regret it. Not that she could avoid it. Maybe she'd like the snow. "School's okay. I'm trying to understand the social structure." Alexis paused, her pen tapping on her notepad. "Maybe you can help me out-- Are you friends with Chrissy Chapman?"

"Yeah, it's pretty nice around here when it snows around the holidays. The lights and shit. It's after Christmas that everything seems to get gray and sludgy and depressing." Chance glanced at Alexis when she mentioned social structure. It almost made him laugh, given he was probably at the very bottom of that structure. "Chrissy? Hell no, I'm not friends with her. I'm too sane for that shit. Why do you ask?"

"I'm trying to figure out why a girl that no one seems to like, and a sophomore at that, is running the school," Alexis said. "How'd she get there and why's she staying there? Why hasn't someone knocked her down? It doesn't seem like it'd be that hard to do." Alexis knew there must be something she was missing, but she hadn't grown up there like everyone else. She didn't have a history with Chrissy, didn't have a fear that people had just grown to accept. She still saw the school from the outside in and, rather than adapt, she wondered what kind of games she could play with the set up.

Chance lifted an eyebrow briefly, trying to think about those particular questions. Obviously the girl had been introduced to the devastating tornado that was Chrissy Chapman and it hadn't gone well. Which was strange, because judging by looks, Alexis looked like the type of girl to hang out with Chrissy. "You know, I don't really know. I don't really pay her much attention. There's a lot of people that despise her, but there's a lot of mindless sheep that worship her and her popularity. I don't get it either. I think she's pretty vacant, bitchy and... she wears too much makeup. But some people she's sweet to and treats okay because it benefits her somehow, so they don't see that side of her. Only the people she thinks are beneath her." Chance chuckled and wandered over toward Alexis. "I think she's just a whore, but that's only my opinion."

"Is she?" Alexis asked, raising a brow. All the boys seemed into Chrissy, but then she hadn't heard too much about the girl actually sleeping around, even if she'd heard more than she ever wanted to about Chrissy's ass. "Those people that despise her... I wonder how they'd feel about taking her down a notch..." Her pen started tapping again. "Who would you say are the most popular kids in school?" It was another direction to turn in, but one that would be just as helpful. Hopefully Chance didn't care if she picked his brain.

"Personally I think she is, yeah." He crossed his arms and studied her, wondering why she was so curious about Chrissy and the others. "I'm sure the people she tortures would like to see her humiliated every now and then. I don't know how eager they would be to take part, but I can't speak for them." The Homecoming incident, in Chance's opinion, had been pretty damn awesome. "Popular kids? Other than Chrissy and her minions? I don't know... Gabe Winters and his friends. Thom Harkin, Isaac St. James and their friends. It just depends on what kind of popularity you're going for." He paused. "Mind if I ask why you're so curious?"

"And now Thom's dating Chrissy..." Alexis said. That was going to make things difficult. She liked Thom. He seemed like a nice guy, though she couldn't even begin to guess what he saw in Chrissy. "I'm thinking of conducting an experiment," she said with a little smirk. "I'd tell you, but I don't know how trust-worthy you are. If I tell you, and it gets back to Chrissy, it could ruin everything-- not that I've completely developed my plan yet." So far, it was only six steps. "How do I know I can trust you?" she asked, a smile playing on her lips as she twirled her pen between her fingers.

"That's what I hear," Chance said, referring to Thom and Chrissy. If it was true, the guy was a world class moron and Chance had an inkling to beat the guy's face in for doing that to Kaysen. Then again, a part of him was okay with it - because if it meant Kaysen remained pissed off at Thom, he was okay with that. "Thom and Chrissy... that's just unnatural if you ask me, but it's none of my business. She's a bitch, and she's been a bitch to Isaac's sister - my girlfriend. Not to mention the shit she spread around about Thom and Isaac in the past, so I don't know what the hell his deal is." And right now he didn't care. Chance chuckled once and relaxed his stance to lean against the counter. "You don't know you can trust me. Most people wouldn't. If you want to tell me about your experiment, all I can do is tell you that it wouldn't get back to her. Most people at school don't talk to me, and I'm not a gossip, so I don't think you have anything to worry about."

"Who's your girlfriend?" Alexis asked. From the sound of it, Chance would mind giving her dirt on Chrissy, if he actually had any. That seemed to be the issue, that no one actually knew how to get to Chrissy. The homecoming incident was a first. But the girl had to have weaknesses. Everyone did. "Why wouldn't most people trust you? And I'm not most people," she pointed out. "I'm just thinking it might be interesting to try and knock Chrissy Chapman off her high horse. Shake things up a bit. It might bite me in the ass, but what've I got to lose? She doesn't even know my name."

"Kaysen. She and Chrissy are... they're pretty much the complete opposite spectrum of being friends. And since you're new, you're probably not too terribly schooled on the social structure, obviously... yeah, people don't like me." He grinned, clearly not bothered by that bit of information. "Which is okay because I don't like them either. If you want to try and take Chrissy down, I'm certainly not going to discourage it. And if it bites you in the ass, who cares? You'll probably go down in MSHS history as the girl who tried to take down Chrissy Chapman. Even if you fail, it's something to be proud of."

Alexis had heard of Kaysen. Nothing she'd heard was positive, but then she hadn't met the girl and she wasn't one to judge without meeting her first. She'd waited to meet Chrissy to form her own opinion, so she'd grant Kaysen the same favor. "You seem likeable," Alexis grinned. "Or at least straight forward, which is cool. See, this is how I look at it. Chrissy's just a blond cheerleader who rules at least partially out of fear. No one really wants to piss her off, friend or foe, because of what she might do in return. But what if someone were to challenge that? I mean, I'm blond. I could be a cheerleader. And at least I'm an upper classman. Maybe no one's scared of me, but that could work in my favor. The hole in my plan is that I don't know Chrissy's weakness." Her pen flicked up and down in thought. "Any ideas?"

Most of the time Chance felt like he was likable - to those who weren't dumbasses or pissed him off. Maybe at school he projected something completely different, but sometimes he couldn't help it. Chance studied Alexis, wondering if this chick was seriously trying to figure out a way to take down Chrissy - at least socially. "Sometimes being straight forward gets you a punch in the face," he said simply before grinning again. "So what you're planning on doing is what... taking over as Queen Bee? I can't really help you in that arena - Chrissy's weaknesses, because I don't pay enough attention to the girl to really know. Finding and befriending someone who maybe knows her a bit better should help you. I would say her weakness is being unable to resist a dick, but I don't think that helps you any."

"You think she'll hit me?" Alexis laughed. "I don't know. I'm generally a nobody wherever I go. And taking over implies stepping into the void she leaves behind. I've got no desire to be the next Chrissy Chapman. I don't think I'm bitchy enough, and if it takes sucking dick, then screw that. I think I'm more interested in leveling the playing field. Kill the social structure and see what happens." She was quite aware that she probably shouldn't be saying a word of this to him, but it wasn't like she had a whole host of friends to plot with. Plus, if he was as unpopular as he said he was, who would he tell? What would he do with the information? If he was popular, then he could always try and stop her, but she didn't think that was the case. "I've got ears. I'll ask around. She seems like the kind of girl that people are just chomping at the bit to take down a notch." Alexis sighed, leaning against the counter. "I'm really not a vindictive bitch."

"If she hits you, I think that means you've gotten to her." Chance shrugged. "And I don't know, I don't think you have to be a vindictive bitch to take down another vindictive bitch. People are more likely to be drawn to people who have like, something good about them, you know? They like what they don't fear," he said with a grin. "Get out there, meet people, make friends... kill 'em with kindness and shit."

"Have you been reading my notes?" she laughed, playfully covering the sheet of paper with her hand. "That's pretty much the plan. Be popular by--" she gasped "--actually being nice to people! Wow, what a concept!" It seemed completely absurd that Chrissy had gotten to where she was by being a bitch one hundred percent of the time. Then again, the people in Marquette seemed to be their own brand of weird. "Wanna help me out?" she asked. "I'm short on friends and that seems the way to start."

Chance couldn't help but laugh. "You seriously have notes? Damn, maybe you are vindictive and you just don't know it yet." Chance straightened and slipped his hands into the pockets of his jeans. "What do you by help? By what... being friends? I don't know if being friends with me will help you with the majority of the school's population. I can be your silent friend," he offered with a wry smile. "Like a silent partner almost."

"It's a six step program. Very unrealistic," Alexis laughed, turning the paper around to face him. He could read if he wanted. It wasn't exactly detailed. "Hmm... I don't know," she said, lips twisting as she playfully thought. "Only a silent partner if you want to be. I'm not really into that whole 'fake-friend' thing. Tell me about yourself. What year are you?" she asked, leaning against the counter.

He couldn't help it, he was curious, so he looked over to glance at the paper. And then he chuckled. "Well, it seems like for a new girl, you've pretty much caught onto the steps to popularity in this town. That ought to work for you." He looked up at her from the paper. If she wanted to win people over, being seen hanging out with him definitely wasn't the way to do it. "I'm a senior." There really wasn't much else to tell her. Except he was immortal, bipolar and hey, he liked video games. "What about you?"

"It wasn't rocket science and I've got no rep," Alexis shrugged. A large part of it worked because no one knew her. She could mold their perception, and that would probably work fine so long as she stopped talking about her belief in the supernatural. While that wasn't likely to happen, she'd do her best to tone it down. "I'm a junior. I sing in the choir, but I prefer alternative and pop. And I work here. And I've obviously got way too much free time on my hands. Did you grow up here?"

"Nah, I moved here when I was ten after my dad died." And as it always was, and always would be when he mentioned his dad, Chance felt a dull ache inside of him. He was getting better at moving past it though without it affecting his mood too much. "I don't sing, and I'm not big on pop music. I like rock n' roll, I guess. And depending on the song, some rap. I don't have a job and I also have a lot of time on my hands that I usually fill with playing videos games." Chance grinned. "Was that better?"

"Yes," she laughed. "I'd worry if you liked pop music. Most guys don't. Rock is good, and some rap. Rap can be good to dance too, but not like... studio dance. Like dance dance. And video games are good if you've got the right one. I always had a game boy or things like that. I'm not used to playing on a full console. What's your favorite?" she asked, her toe bouncing on the ground as she leaned against the counter. "I could see you liking something like Grand Theft Auto," she teased.

"I do have Grand Theft Auto," he told her with a grin. Any chick who could talk about video games was aces in his book. "I like the Resident Evil series, but I think Silent Hill is my favorite. Anything that'll scare the shit out of me is great, actually. The problem with Grand Theft is that if you play long enough? It starts to take over your mind. You'll be driving and you're damn sure it's totally safe to just smash into whatever car you damn well feel like. It's a dangerous cycle, video games. What about you though? What do you play?"

"See, those scare me. I'd get all creeped out and then wouldn't be able to sleep. Which is back-asswards from the fact that I like scary movies, so I think it's the soundtrack or something," Alexis shrugged. She couldn't explain why one would scare her and the other wouldn't. It had never made that much sense. "For a long time, all I had was a Nintendo DS, so I'm good at a buttload of those games, all on a tiny little screen. For my last birthday I got a Playstation though, so I'm trying to learn to play on that. Do I lose cool points for liking Kingdom Hearts?"

"Yeah, it's probably just the creepy ass music that gets to people. You could mute it, but then you wouldn't know when shit was about to jump out at you." He liked games like that, and movies... was it any surprise he was all about discussions on zombie apocalypses? It was just rare to find a chick who liked the same stuff, which was why he liked Kaysen. "And no, you don't lose cool points for Kingdom Hearts because I played that game too," he admitted sheepishly and then grinned. "But you do lose cool points for only having a Playstation. That shit's old. You need to upgrade."

"It's a Playstation 2," she added, doubting that would help. "I'm saving up for an Xbox 360 and thinking the job would help with that. But even once I get one, I'm not up on what the good games are. Any advice?" It didn't take much for her to figure he was a good person to ask on this account. "Or maybe I should get a Wii. Though I'm one of those people that would probably put the controller through the tv on accident. Don't you swing those around or something?"

Chance thought about it for a second. "I've got a playstation 2. Though I'm trying to get my hands on a Playstation 3. I think it has better graphics, and it's got the Blu Ray player? So that's a bonus. I don't know what I think about the Wii yet. Swinging those controllers around seems like too much work for me, and yeah, I'm like you, I think I'd end up throwing it out the window or at the wall. I get kind of competitive when I play and I've thrown my controllers before, but if they're connected to the console, they stop before they hit the wall.. most times. I don't know what kind of games you're into. Don't they have a new Kingdom Hearts game? Assassin Creed is a good one. Just don't tell me you bought Dance Dance Revolution and we'll be cool."

"No," Alexis laughed. "No DDR for me. I like to dance, but coordination mixed with a video game isn't exactly where I excel. I'd just look like I was flailing around on the dance pad." She'd played a couple times in arcades, but that was enough to teach her it wasn't something she'd enjoy on her own. "I do think it'd be fun to have Rock Band or Guitar Hero. Then I can pretend I can play an instrument." The issue with both of those games was that they had big pieces of equipment that would have to go with her if she moved. They were hard things to pack up in boxes at a moment's notice. The smaller the equipment, the more likely she was to keep it. "I've never heard of Assassin Creed. I'll have to check it out."

"Good, because that shit's annoying. It looks like a music based version of Twister every time I see people do it. I haven't tried Guitar Hero yet. I don't know if I have the coordination to even play that, though it might be fun to try sometime. I haven't bought a new game in fucking forever... I need to remedy that. There's a gaming store in the mall you should check out. They have used games if you don't want to spend like, fifty bucks on one. Or you can borrow mine, I don't care. After you beat a game a couple times, it starts to get boring and they're just collecting dust in my room."

"Awesome. Now I'll have to check out your selection," she smiled. "It's something to do with all that free time on my hands." If she worked things right, though, she wouldn't be bored for much longer. "So, what do you come here to read?" she asked curiously. "Anything specific, or just overall interested in the weird?" If he knew the owner, she imagined that he frequented Nevermore. That probably meant he was a believer, at least in part.

"I don't know. I just come in and look around sometimes. Not for anything specific," he lied easily enough. "The place is pretty good at bringing in new inventory on a consistent basis, and you never know what you'll find. There's shit in here I've never even heard of before, you know? What about you? You work here... were you just desperate for a job, or do you have invested interest?" Which was as close as he could come asking her if she believed in the supernatural - or was the supernatural - without straight out saying it.

"Invested interest, I guess," she shrugged. "I could either spend all my money buying up the bookstore, or work here and read for free." It was the complete and utter truth without giving too much away. She'd always been interested in expanding her knowledge and this was the best way to do it without seeking out the creatures her father sought to kill. Plus, there was some real information on elementals, which she continued to poke through curiously. There was excitement there, that she might have found an answer, but also fear. Knowing what was wrong with her didn't create a solution.

Chance nodded. "Makes perfect sense to me. As nice as it is to have this store in town, some of the stuff is pretty expensive. I mean, it's worth the price, but I don't think I could even afford to buy half the stuff I'd want." "What are you most interested in reading? Anything specific?" So maybe he was nosying around a bit, but there was nothing wrong with that. These days he could meet anyone and start to wonder if there was something more than human about them.

"Not really," Alexis lied. "Vampires are interesting, as are Lycanthropes. I've poked a little at the witchcraft section, but it's not really my thing." If her father caught her doing witchcraft, she was scared she'd be grounded for life. At least it was a human thing-- he wouldn't make assumptions about her abilities just for playing with eye of newt, would he? "There's really just so much to cover that I'm trying to get an idea all around. That way, if people come in looking for something, I can at least point them in the right direction."

"Yeah, I guess it would benefit you to know what you're talking about when people come in to ask questions." He didn't want to know anymore about vampires. He had enough of them when they had been here. "Definitely expand your knowledge. It'll help living here." Chance glanced back at the books. "I've been reading up on a multitude of things myself... psychics, elementals. Honestly you hear supernatural and you think of ghosts and werewolves and shit. This place really goes above and beyond that." Chance flashed her a grin. "I ought to come in here in a week or so and start quizzing you."

Now she wanted to know what he'd read. It wasn't like he could know by looking at her or talking to her, but it still made her slightly paranoid. Elementals were human, but they could still be dangerous. "Will you?" she grinned. "That could be fun-- cause you can't quiz me on things you don't know yourself, right? You'd have to know what questions to ask. I might surprise you. Then you'd just be winning points for the ability to quiz me. Lucky you!" she grinned.

He drew his brows together briefly before he laughed. "Don't make this complicated. I'll win points for quizzing and you can win points for answering... if you can answer correctly. So... yeah, get studying." Chance motioned toward all of the books. "Who knows which book I'll be pulling questions from. You'll get a gold star if you do well. Or hell, maybe one of my video games."

"Oh, now we're talking prizes," she laughed. "Okay, then I've got some studying to do. Now that there might be video games on the line, I've got some incentive. So will I see you around?" she asked. Alexis thought about asking for his number, but she wasn't sure how that could come across. She didn't want him to think she was picking him up or something, though it would be been fun to play video games with him sometime.

"Yeah." He nodded once and turned to go pick up his skateboard. "More than likely around school, or y'know... town or whatever. You'll definitely see me when I pop in for your quiz." He stepped on the end of his skateboard and caught it when his hand when it lifted up. "Good luck dethroning Chrissy. If you get to number six, you'll have my vote for the prom thing."

"Thanks," she smiled. "I've got a long way to go, so we'll just have to see what happens." Picking up her pen, she went back to doodling on her page, letting him look around the shop. He'd barely arrived when they'd started talking, so she didn't want to be the employee who drove away customers with conversation. Still, it was nice to sit and chat with someone about nothing really serious. She really needed to expand her group of friends.