Lunch of Weridness and Doom

who: lullaby, charlotte, dean, isaac, kaysen, herbert
where: mshs side lawn
when: around noon

Lullaby had texted the two she was asking...Isaac and Dean, both with a Can you meet me on the side lawn at lunch? Got a favor to ask. <3 - L She was nervous about it, considering she didn't know if either of them would come, and of course, there was a whole lot of weirdness going on, and she was trying to help a situation she a) couldn't help with herself, and b) didn't even know how it felt to those experiencing it since she wasn't. It was a crap situation if she'd ever heard of one. Antsy, she found herself sort of pacing around back and forth a bit as she waited for people to show up--if they were gonna show up.

After getting out of fourth period and retrieving his lunch from his locker-- and leaving behind a lot of heavy school books that smelled like hundreds of previous students-- Herbert headed off to the cafeteria in search of Charlie and this mysterious lunch meeting of hers.

Charlotte was glad they were doing this outside, maybe it would make her feel better. Doubtful, yes, but she could try and tell herself that. She felt too nervous to eat, but forced herself to grab and apple before hunting down Herbert. He'd been just as easy to find as she had thought he would. She came up behind him and gave his shirt a light tug. "We're all meeting on the lawn. You okay with eating outside?" Somehow, she figured he would be.

Turning at the tug, Herbert smiled down at her. "Yup! Lead the way, Charlie." And he let her be the guide to the little party on the grass.

Dean had been surprised by the text he'd received earlier, but pleasantly so. He'd liked Thia - pity she had a boyfriend already, but he still liked her. Somehow, he hadn't really expected her to call. Finding the side lawn was a bit of a challenge - hell, even with the tour he'd got yesterday, finding anything was a challenge - it was all so different. But he got the in the end - aaaand apparently he wasn't going to be the only person there. Oh. Right. He hid his disappointment under a mask of 'generally sullen' and mooched over, managing a slight smile as he took in the earlier arrivals and sat down. Thia had invited him - he might not know these people, but he had a right to be here just as much as they did.

Lullaby smiled brightly at Dean as he came up, happy he had arrived instead of writing her off as a psychopath. Or a moochy girl who just wanted things. So witness her being pleased. "Hi Dean!" she said, her momentary happiness over not being blown off overriding her nerves. Sure, they'd kick back in in about .2, but still. "This is Dean." she said to the people who were starting to roll in...they might actually have a crew here. Crazy. And that was without Journey, who she'd called several times and wasn't in school today, so he'd be getting an earful when she got to his house later. Until then though--people. "Dean, this is Charlie and Herbert, I think." she added. "Herbert?" she asked, addressing the boy directly, and smiling and offering her hand to shake. She'd been signing again, and hoped Dean didn't mind too much.

Gosh, there were a bunch of people coming to this mysterious lunch, weren't there! Herbert grinned amiably at everyone, nodded at the introduction of Dean, and took Lullaby's little hand carefully in his big one for a warm shake. "Yup, I'm Herbert. And you're... Lullaby Draven?" He remembered Charlie had said she was the other girl involved in this lunch thing, and this girl smelled like a "Lullaby", he figured.

Dean hoped that there weren't going to be that many other people turning up, or he was going to start having a bad time of things. The lawn was busy as it was - other groups of kids around, all having their own conversations. It was distracting, the fact that he could hear that cheerleader half way across the grass talking to her friend about the guy she'd met on holiday over the summer and - eww, all the things they'd got up to. Which he really didn't need to know! But to his ears, that conversation was as loud as Herbert's reply to Thia and it added to the general hubbub, all of which meant that Dean was approaching near-deafness as the noise assaulted his ears, constant and undifferentiated. As a result, he was concentrating more on the people around him, his entire focus on them, looking from face to face as people spoke and he supplemented his hearing with self-taught lip reading as he nodded to the people he'd just been introduced to.

"Pleased to meet you, Herbert." she said back to the rather big guy. Yeah okay if he didn't think they were totally crackpot insane, he was going to be a lot of help. "We're just um...waiting for two more people I think, Isaac and Kaysen St. James. Then we can start in on the whole...weirdness situation..." she started hesitantly.

Speak of the devil (or something), Isaac St. James was on his way to the lawn. He'd gotten Lullaby's text and foregone lunch with a bunch of guys from the basketball team. Because she'd said favor, and he figured he probably more than owed her anyway. He rounded a corner and pushed through the door out of the building, headed down to see what was up.

Kaysen had been waiting for Isaac. Not stalking, not shadowing, in her land it was totally waiting. Nevermind she fell into step a half a step behind him and hurried along in his shadow as he headed towards the lunch lawn. She felt like a sniper target, she was so nervous. God, this was a horrible idea. Bad, bad horrible terrible idea. But...Isaac would be there, so maybe she could escape unscathed or something. For like, today.

There was only so far that someone being so close on your heels could go unnoticed, and Isaac was halfway to the lawn before he realized that he felt somebody behind him. He threw a glance over his shoulder and was honestly surprised to see his sister there. "Hey," he said, sounding vaguely confused. Usually she avoiding him in school. Avoided everybody that she could, really. He paused in his walking to see what was up, 'cause she didn't look so happy.

She had her hands shoved into her pockets, and her hair down in her face in an attempt to hide herself further, and yes indeed, she looked pretty damn miserable. "Charlie told me that she wanted me to go to this thing too and she said you'd be there and I don't know if I should go but she said to and if you're gonna be there it'll be okay for now and I dunno, do you know what's going on? Should I go?" Hello ramble.

He blinked, processed that, and squinted back in the direction they were going. He saw Lullaby and ... Charlotte ... and two dudes he didn't know. One was a big 'un. Huh. Wasn't just him then, now he was really curious. "I dunno exactly, Lullaby texted me and asked if I'd come for a favor," he said, looking back at Kaysen. He smiled faintly. "I trust her, though, she's nice. And if Charlie's there, I'm sure it'll be fine. I'll keep it fine. Deal?"

Kaysen looked at him for a long moment, then nodded. "Kay." she answered. Then still stayed half behind him as they headed towards the group again. Yeah. Hello Misery. She had absolutely no way of dealing with this, and still felt like she was in the crosshairs, just waiting for the bullet to sink home.

Lullaby looked over and smiled again as she saw Isaac approaching...and Kaysen behind him. She waved, though waited til they were close enough to speak, since it wasn't like her voice carried. "Hey, Isaac, thanks for showing up. Hey Kaysen. Okay everyone...for those of you who don't know each other, we've got Isaac, Kaysen, Dean, Herbert, Charlotte, and me. So...thank you all for coming." Well, that was pleasant. And here's where half of you leave due to insanity.

Both of Herbert's original guesses for number of people had been outstripped, but that was perfectly okay with him. Especially since they all smelled so very different, too. He grinned and nodded in response to all the introductions and the thanks, plopping himself down on the grass next to Charlie so he could eat while he listened.

The introductions went by a little too fast for Charlotte to say much of anything, but really, that suited her fine. She waved when she was introduced, and now that it was crunch time, tried not to look so nervous. Which she really was. She sat in the grass and hoped that just being outside would make her more comfortable. She wasn't really sure how well that was going to work out. "Yeah, thanks." she echoed, softly, her apple entirely forgotten. Now, how exactly to start?

Lullaby looked over, and gave Charlotte a little half smile. "Want me to go over it?" she asked.

Charlotte gave a small, nervous smile back and shook her head slightly. "Well, you could tell them about Joshua. That's where it started." Then she could tell people she'd had the same dream as a near-stranger. Eep.

"Well, okay. My boyfriend Joshua's been having weird dreams the past few days." She started, addressing everyone. "Weird and compelling, about a way too specific area, up in Negaunee. The dreams kept coming, and he wanted to go out there. So, we called Charlotte." Lullaby said, then handed it over to her friend again.

Charlotte nodded. "Lulu asked me to give them a ride... but when they told me about the dreams... um..." She ran her fingers back and forth through the grass and shifted a little. "I'm having them too. The same ones, every night. Some nights they go a little bit further, but they're leading to the same place. These abandoned mines... so we drove there and found places in the fence to slip through. I knew where I was going from the dreams? Everything was the same, but I'd never been there before. It lead to an entrance, but it was boarded up and blocked off. But in the dream we think someone is calling for help. I don't know if that's why we're being drawn there, but... we need to get inside."

Though he put a reassuring hand on Charlie's shoulder when she sounded so nervous, for a moment, the very idea of someone following a dream someplace kind of disturbed Herbert. It even made him pause in his hungry devouring of his peanut-butter-and-jelly sandwich. That wasn't like following his nose, it was like following something... not real. Something weird and not right. It made him give Charlie a concerned look, when she admitted to the same feeling, until it registered that she was the second person to have that... dream-feeling-thing. Though the idea that more than one person was having the same dream, about a real place, no less, was even weirder, it at least made him feel less like Charlie might not be okay, and more like there might be something else strange going on. Not that he had any clue what, of course.

Which also meant didn't mean he had any idea of what to say. Hopefully someone else would have a question or a suggestion or something.

Dean had paused, until Charlotte - was it Charlotte? He wasn't very good with names. Hell, she could be Charlotte for now, he just wouldn't name her to her face. Charlotte said she'd bee having the dreams as well, then he spoke up. "Yeah, I've had those," he admitted, not sounding happy. "Went out there too, the other day, but couldn't get passed the gates."

Charlotte looked over at Dean with a surprised, slightly wide-eyed look on her face. So that was three people having the dream, with the only connection being, what? Lullaby? And she highly doubted that Lulu was the cause of the dreams. In fact, she'd be happy to say it was all but impossible. "We went yesterday." she offered. "We found bits of the fence that had been turned up to slip under."

Lullaby was blinking at Dean. "You're having them too?" she asked. Wow, was everyone having them? Jeeze! "So...would you come with us--er--them to help?" she asked, then glanced around at everyone else. "Would everyone be okay with helping? We're aware how insane it sounds, just..." She shrugged, then glanced back to Dean in case he answered her, since she'd started with talking to him.

He hadn't answered her - in fact, he'd been waiting for her to look at him again, so that he could answer her and she'd get what he said, awareness of her hearing problems coming as second nature to him. "Yeah, for the past few nights - went up there after the first one, but couldn't get through the fence - so if someone's turned the fence up, it's since then," he told them. Which was as weird as three people apparently having the same dream, because it suggested that someone else, someone who wasn't them, was having them too. "And.. sure I'll come," he added.

Okay all this? Was fucking weird. Isaac was trying to process it all. His instinctual urge was not to believe it, but ... that had been the whole point of the past shitty week, hadn't it? He shifted his weight from one foot to the other, subconsciously closer to Kaysen. "Help out how?" he asked neutrally when Lullaby glanced his way again. Just 'cause he wasn't sure what 'help out' entailed. "Any ideas what we're going to be doing?"

Kaysen didn't say anything, and just barely peeked around her brother at everyone, listening to every word said.

Here was the crap part, and one Charlotte wasn't at all looking forward to. She looked down at her hands in her lap for a moment and forced herself to answer. "I need a few people to go back in there with me to help me try and break in." She knew exactly how crazy that was, and how dangerous. "I'm sorry to ask anyone but I can't do it myself."

Three people with the same dreams? Okay, this really was weird. Herbert, a little bewildered by it all, repeated, "Break in?" He'd never broken into anything before, not even a cookie jar. At least breaking into something boarded off sounded easier than trying to slip past his Ma's nose, but....

"I'll go," Dean offered, because he'd wanted to go back since that first day - he just had been reluctant to ring Aiden's number. "I also know another guy - he took me up there the first time - if we're short on transport or anything. He said he'd be willing to drive me up there again, but I don't know him very well, so..." He trailed off and looked at Thia, what she said actually registering. "Why 'them'?" he asked her, directly. "Aren't you coming?" He sounded vaguely disappointed at that.

Lullaby fidgeted slightly and looked a bit uncomfortable. "I'd kinda be in the way..." she suggested. "Don't um...worry about it." She'd suggest she'd stay by the car to alert to police, but it wasn't like she could hear any sort of device that would relay back anything auditory, and texting would take a while to type out back and forth. So...yeah. Whole lot of not really helpful.

It looked like people were going, no matter what, then. Herbert looked between Charlotte and Dean's faces, since both of them were the definite yeses, and made a decision, himself: "I'll go, too, sure." He'd feel awful if something happened and he wasn't there to smell the danger, first, and if it'd make Charlotte feel better to have friends help her out, well, who was he to tell her no?

"Lulu and Joshua will be waiting with the car if something... goes wrong." Charlotte offered, sending a small smile Lulu's way. She still felt bad about it, but she didn't want Lulu to be in danger, either. Then she smiled gratefully at both Dean and Herbert. Even if it was just the three of them, they could probably figure it out. Right? "Thank you."

Dean frowned. "Why are they waiting in the car?" he asked, feeling like he was missing something. It just seemed to him that it was bizarre asking what amounted to strangers to go with you on something and leaving your friends behind. If there was a reason behind that, he'd prefer to know upfront.

Kaysen was frowning, still mostly hiding behind Isaac, but she was kind of confused too. Um, if they were going to be running around like, digging or something, shouldn't there be more people so they could get it done faster? Not that she spoke up. She would probably have needed a cattle prod to get her to say 'boo'.

Lullaby looked uncomfortable. "Um...well, with me, I'd...like I said, kind of be in the way, I couldn't communicate well with anyone, cuz most people don't know sign and I couldn't hear to be directed by anyone..." she started.

There seemed to be a conversation going on all it's own, so Isaac just turned to Charlotte and gave her a little half-smile. "I'll go," he said. What the hell, right? Maybe it'd give him a chance to talk more with people who seemed to know about this sort of shit. "And I'm almost positive I can get Thom to go with." He gave Kaysen a glance but didn't suggest one way or another for her. That was her decision.

Kaysen kind of half nodded, like she was seconding Isaac's statement, but yeah. Not opening her mouth to attract any more attention to herself than she had to, and she hoped that sufficed for her part.

So it looked like everyone was going. And the sweet-smelling Lullaby girl was deaf, so that was why she wasn't. Herbert was trying to follow both conversations and, really, not doing so hot at it. He finally gave up on the Lullaby-Dean one to offer grins to Isaac and Kaysen-- poor little girl smelled so nervous, too, so being friendly seemed the best thing to do. "We'll make a regular party out of it, eh?" he suggested, then asked Charlie, "So when are we doing this?"

Dean was looking over at Lullaby, since she wasn't looking happy. He wasn't really of the opinion that her being mostly deaf should be a problem for her, if she wanted to go. You okay? he mouthed silently - not at all emphasising the words, just not making the sounds. He looked around the group. "Look, I can stay with Thia, if she wants to go. She wouldn't be in the way, just because she's deaf," he told them without bothering about tact. Anyway, if she couldn't go, maybe they wouldn't want him to - since right now their hearing ability was probably on par. Sure, if it was quiet they were going, he'd make up for that, but still, he didn't like the idea that for some reason they were not including her because of a disability that needn't be a problem - not to mention nobody had explained why her boyfriend was staying behind as well. Maybe to keep her company - and where was he anyway? Maybe it wasn't as serious as Dean had thought it was. Not that he was going to fixate on this girl or anything, but she was cute. Then again, he decided, looking around, there was an abundance of cute girls here at the moment. Yeah, hanging out with this group was definitely something he wanted to get into the habit of.

Lullaby was looking at Dean for a moment, and felt a rush of a lot of different emotions. Relief for one, that maybe she would get to go, and affection along with a gratitude that she hadn't expected. It made her smile at him, a genuine, sweet expression that clearly articulated her mood. Most of her expressions did that. A master of hidden feelings she was not. But then she looked mostly to Charlotte, since she was the one who'd kind of suggested she shouldn't go in the first place, and well. She was the one with the dreams and everything. Her show, as it were.

Charlotte felt like a deer in the headlights, knowing this decision was being left up to her, and well, it was a bad one. Lulu wanted to go, and that much was obvious, so Charlotte didn't want to tell her no. But that didn't mean she thought it was a good idea. She still thought it was a very bad idea. Lulu couldn't hear if something went wrong, and then once they got in the mine itself... who knew. She hated being put on the spot like this, and was sure that no matter what she did she'd make the wrong decision. "Let's try it. Will Joshua be okay with that?" She still didn't know why Joshua couldn't go. She'd wanted to ask, but hadn't had the chance - and she wasn't going to do it in front of everyone else.

Lullaby didn't know how to answer immediately. "I'm not sure, I'll have to talk to him." she said. She knew he wouldn't like it though, and might make her stay at the car or something. But then again, it wasn't actually up to him. She didn't want to upset him though. Damn. She didn't like it any more than Charlotte did. "But...I would like to be able to go." she finished.

Looking vaguely confused at all this-- how had the decision "no deaf people" even come about, in the first place?-- Herbert swallowed the bite of sandwich he'd sneakily taken during the miniature argument and agreed, "Well, I don't see anything wrong with it. Y'know," he grinned a bit, "I bet I could bellow loud enough, if there was trouble, even deaf people could hear it." Okay, that was a really bad joke, but hey, he was trying, right?

Isaac personally didn't see anything wrong with Lulu going, either. She knew things, after all, and he didn't know what-all these other people knew. It was possibly way more than him, but ... yeah. Who knew, right? In any case, he just stood back and listened, glancing around and absorbing it all. He was definitely going, and that meant Harkin likely was too, so there were two more sets of hands. Three, if Kaysen wanted to come.

Dean returned Thia's smile with a small one of his own - a rarity for the normally sullen Englishman. He felt a rush at that - her smile, not his and he looked away. She had a boyfriend after all, even if he was absent. He glanced across at the quiet girl instead, the one who hadn't actually really said anything - Kaysen? Something like that. People round here had really bizarre names.

It took a moment for Kaysen to realize someone was paying attention to her, and she immediately looked panicky, and attempted to make herself smaller. That was it, she was now wearing her hoodie to school every day, because at least she could yank the hood up and kind of hide. Some. Whatever. She only had her brother to hide behind here, and she couldn't hide any farther behind him without like, clinging to him and she wasn't gonna do that. So when she saw Dean looking at her, she kinda gave a little half wave that could have been written off as a hand spasm, then hoped he'd find someone else more interesting to look at.

Lullaby wasn't sure if she should be insulted by Herbert's comment or not. It was kind of one of those things that maybe it would have been funny if she wasn't hearing impaired, but well. She was. And yet she didn't think he'd said it in an attempt to offend her...just maybe he didn't know what was funny and what wasn't when you had a disability. So she didn't say anything, just sort of gave a weak smile and let it go. "Okay...well...thank you everyone for being supportive. Maybe within the next day or so we could figure out how were going to get out there and when? After school obviously...probably the sooner the better, not that we're going to have to worry about nightfall until late, but still..." Night time wasn't fun. It meant things that could jump out at you and try to eat you, and she wasn't about to risk her friends with first caving grounds then demons, thank you.

Bad Joke had also been Bad Idea. Herbert ducked his head with a sheepish little, "Sorry," and went back to his sandwich to let the rest of them finish the planning while he just listened.

Charlotte nodded in agreement, though the idea of possibly having to wait a few days was agonizing. She saw logic in not rushing in, but she didn't like it. "We'll definitely need another vehicle. I can fit in five maybe, or six if we really squeezed, but people would be sitting on top of each other."

"I can get mom's van," Isaac piped up to add. Because he was pretty sure he could; he could puppy-eye her into most anything. "That'll seat ... all of us, so far. It's a seven-passenger, so rides won't be a problem." And he didn't mind hauling people around in the least. He glanced around and smiled a bit crookedly.

Lullaby smiled at Isaac, a pleased, grateful sort of smile. "Thank you." she said. "That sounds plannish then. We'll get ahold of everyone for a time and the specific day. Thanks again everyone, for y'know. Ignoring the massive weird to help out."

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Dean hung around after everyone had left, not sure what to do now. Okay, okay - so that was a total excuse, really he wanted to talk to Thia, because there'd been something going on there and she hadn't looked okay to him. So he took his time, rearranging stuff in his bag as everyone else wandered off. Maybe she would too, but maybe she wouldn't. he didn't have a better plan.

Lullaby stuck around mostly because she didn't like leaving people alone, and Dean was still new. Maybe she could help show him where his next class was or somesuch. So after she'd waved goodbye and thanked everyone a plethora of times, she turned her attention back down to Dean. Squatting down next to him, she glanced over to make sure everyone else was back inside before she spoke. "...so am I being oversensitive, or was what that guy said kinda mean?"

He looked up and across at her as she spoke, fastening up his bag. "Which guy? The big guy - er, Henry.. No, Herbert, right? About being able to shout loud enough that the deaf could hear him?" He asked. "Yeah, it was a bit." But then again, he'd snapped at her for signing at him the other day, which had been rude as well.

"Just wondering if I was being overly twitchy." she said, giving him a little quirked half smile. "Thanks for...well. Not immediately leaving and telling us we're all nuts." she continued. "And um..." she fidgeted a tiny bit then, righting the bracelet on her wrist for something settle her attention on. "For saying you'd stick with me so I can go." she added. "I really didn't want to be left behind. This whole thing's the first time in a really long time that I actually felt...disabled."

"Well, saying that you can't go because nobody'd be able to tell you if there was an emergency is stupid," Dean shrugged. "You know, cos, if someone stays with you they can just touch your arm - or summat. No problems - you don't need to be able to hear to feel.

She smiled at that. "Yeah...I kinda feel like maybe they didn't want me to go because they would worry or something...I dunno. Like I couldn't exactly take orders easily, and if there's rumbling or whatever, everyone else would be able to high tail it in no time, I'd have to be like...warned." She was still giving him a warm little half smile. "But you'll poke me if something starts going horribly sideways, right?"

"I'll do that - I'll stick with you like glue and if there's anything, we'll be out of there," he promised her - knowing that that wouldn't exactly be a hard promise to make. let's see, sticking with the cute girl... Yeah, he could definitely do that.

She grinned at him. "Thanks. I feel like less of a huge lame detriment to the team already." she said. And sure, she was joking, but she did actually mean it. It was hard for her when she felt like she was really a hassle, and it had been a long time since she'd felt it, so it was sorta biting her in the ass around then. "If everyone else is going to be risking their necks, I certainly don't want to be left out."

"Oh, but of course," Dean deadpanned as he shouldered his bag. "I mean, who doesn't want a good bit of death-defying derring do? It's what this place was missing, after all. And you're not a detriment. You know, people who lose abilities in one sense generally make up for it with the other senses - I bet you notice things, don't you? You can't hear so good, so you see instead - and maybe that'll prove to be important. You might see something that other people would miss."

Lullaby stood up, and offered her hand to him to help him up as well. "Well, I know I haven't had enough death-defying lately in my life. So I should get on that." If one didn't count demon attacks, and cats on crack. She was giving him a quirked little smirky smile at the last bit. "So my important contribution to the team is being perceptive?" she asked. "I can live with that. I do notice things. Like I notice that when you're talking to people, you really give them your undivided." It had become more obvious in the group setting, noticing how his attention locked down when he spoke to people.

Dean had hesitated for a moment and then took her hand, standing up and making himself not linger over that. He took a step back, then froze mid-move as she pointed that out. "I do?" he asked, as though he didn't realise that he did that. He knew he did - especially on a day like today, but generally anyway - a habit he'd formed years ago.

She nodded. "Yeah. Like when you're talking to me, you're talking to me. You're really paying attention. It's nice. It really helps me out, a lot of people kinda...well their attention wanders? And so they're looking all over the place, because with other people, they can because they don't have to worry about not being heard and understood. I don't seem to have that problem with you."

Dean shrugged. "Well, that's only polite - right? It's what people do. Really bugs me when people act like whoever they're talking to isn't important enough to have their attention - like they're ignoring you for some butterfly that just flittered past or some shit." That and he needed to be looking at people to hear what they had to say at times - he knew the frustration of speaking to someone who wasn't looking your way. Made you look stupid when you missed what they had to say.

"Shiny butterflies are far more important than being understood." she said, wrinkling her nose cutely at him and sticking out her tongue. "Didn't you know that? Sparkly shiny things! People don't have an attention span." she said. "Apparently, however, you're a shining exception."

Dean cocked an eyebrow and considered her. He decided he liked being a 'shining exception'. "Well, don't tell anyone - it'll ruin my reputation. You know, the one I don't have, what with being the new guy and everything."

She laughed good naturedly at that. "Ah, but you're the new guy. With an accent and everything." It was fun to watch people's mouthes form works with a different accent. Like she liked how Joshua talked. Dean was like that too. "So, you can have any reputation you want, you can start it out however you want. I can help. I can start whispering to classmates about how you're supposed to be..." she paused and made a show of looking at him, assessing him. "Hm...kicked out of every school in England because you're far too mysterious and bad ass for the entire country, so they've shipped you here."

You know, that's closer to the truth than you think it is, Dean thought, trying not to look uncomfortable. "Er, yeah..." He laughed a little nervously. "That'd be a hoot." Since he in fact been kicked out of school and he was here because they didn't know what to do with him back home. It just wasn't as cool in practice as it sounded in theory.

She paused as she looked at him. "...okay did I just step on something true there?" she asked, head tilting to the side. She'd expected a bit more of a laughing things off than the weird uncomfortable thing. Or the 'I'm covering for being uncomfortable' thing. "Were you really kicked out of school over there?" she asked. Then she made a bit of a face. "And feel free to tell me to mind my own damn business..."

Dean paused, then made a 'what the hell' gesture and deflated slightly. "Yeah - just the one though, not lots or anything. I... Kinda - well, I, kinda had a tendency to short circuit things. At school. Took them a while to figure out it was me, but then there were some fights and... Yeah, branded a troublemaker and expelled. Eventually. And... my mum and dad sent me over here to live with my cousin and her partner cos they thought they'd be able to control me better. Or something." He shifted from one foot to the other. In truth, he realised, he did prefer it here. He hated the fact that he'd had to leave all his friends behind, he spent most of his time locked in his room, not speaking to Oz or Sophie and sulking on his bed, but he was generally more comfortable here. The migraines, whilst not gone, were more manageable and there wasn't that all consuming noise everywhere. And he hadn't used his abilities since he'd gotten here - that had to be a good sign, right?

"You short circuit things?" Lullaby asked curiously. She didn't really appear to be appalled at him being a trouble maker. Journey was her best friend, and she was from a small town. Which meant kids who didn't get into trouble now and then were just slightly better at not getting caught. "How do you do that? And...well, I'm sure you're not worried, but don't worry about things here. Might be kind of small and boring and all that, but I don't think you'll really have anything to worry about from the student body. Well...except maybe unless Chrissy targets you and tries to molest you in the halls." She made a face. "If you meet a girl named Chrissy Chapman, be forewarned that she's probably diseased. And she's a bitch, and other explicatives."

"Well, the usual way is to wire up a plug backwards, plug it in a flip the switch - you can generally take out a whole building that way," he told her. Not that he did it that way, of course, but that was an accepted way of doing things. The fact that he just thought about it and it happened was why they couldn't catch him for so long. he wasn't sure that he was willing to reveal that to her right about now though, even if he had admitted to having bizarre dreams and talking about the weird. Dreams were one thing, psychic abilities? Something else. "Chrissy Chapman? Okay, I'll remember the name." She cute? - he thought it, but managed to bite the question back before it left his mouth.

"You won't have to, I'm sure she'll come running up to you in the halls and stick her tongue down your throat by way of greeting." Lullaby said. "She's my arch nemesis. Or sort of. She's been trying to get with my best friend for years and won't take 'no, you're a skanky whore' for an answer. Not to mention she pretty much tried to gank my boyfriend when I was standing right there..." She smirked. "She doesn't like me a whole lot. I did tell her once that if she didn't lay off she'd be taking her teeth home in a plastic baggie. But somehow, I don't think she was actually intimidated..." she said, grinning at him. Intimidating and Lullaby didn't really fit in the same sentence and she was well aware.

Dean tried to hide a smile - come on, he was a sixteen year old lad, he was allowed to grin at the idea of a girl throwing herself at him and sticking her tongue down his throat. It'd be a first, anyhow. Something he was not about to tell anyone. "Arch nemesis, eh?" he asked, still stifling a smile. "Okay, since I don't want to piss you off, I'll be wary of her." Not that he seemed to be taking the warning to heart. She was a girl - how bad could she be? there seemed to be a lot of history there - and with a best friend and boyfriend involved, she was bound to be against the girl. but he would take her advice and be cautious. Knowing his look, the girl wouldn't give him a second glance anyhow.

"Cuz I'm so terribly scary." Lullaby said, giggling again. "And okay. Less an arch nemesis, and more I just don't like her. For us to really be arch nemesi, she'd have to y'know. Know I really existed when I wasn't directly in front of her." she continued, shrugging. "Which I'm fairly sure she doesn't. She's only interested in any guys that happen to be around me. Or maybe it just seems that way. So hey. If you're going to be around me, then you might be her first target of the new year, after she tries to jump Journey in the science lab's closet."

Oh maybe she would be interested. Interesting. of course, if she generally had that kind of a reputation, did he really want to just be knows as 'another one of those guys Chrissy Chapman got off with'? Hmm... Course, he could end up being 'one of the only guys Chrissy Chapman didn't get off with' - and was that a good thing or a bad thing? Maybe he should just keep his head down and stay out of her way altogether. And stop thinking so hard. "Well, I'll take that on note," he promised her as the bell went, loud and harsh. He cringed slightly. He was growing to hate that damn school bell already. But he was trying to be good - so he was avoiding the thought that maybe it'd be having a small accident sometime soon. "Well, I guess we should get to class."

Lullaby noticed the cringe, then glanced back towards the school. "Did the bell ring?" she asked. Crap, she was going to be late to her next class. Oh well, she deemed it a worthy cause. "Thanks again for not telling me I'm a crazy person and to never speak to you again." she added, walking backwards a few paces towards the school, to keep him in her view. "I appreciate it." She gave him a genuine, warm grin.

"Yes, the bell rang - and any time. Really. Anytime," he told her, not that bothered about being late for class himself - it meant that he didn't ahve to find out that he couldn't sit in 'that' seat, or that he was on the wrong side of the classroom - and everyone stared at him anyway, since he was new, so he may as well cut that down as much as possible. Anyway, he had the 'I got lost' spiel down pat now. They bought it every time.

"See you later...thanks for totally being my hero today." she added, then waved at him, turned, and dashed off towards the back of the building, the opposite way he seemed to be headed. She didn't have the 'I got lost' excuse, after all. She couldn't have gotten lost in MSHS if she tried. But all in all...everything seemed to be working out, in it's weird, crazy way. She was a happy bunny for it.