Part Two: Already at Odds

Recap: 

            "Edmond?" Nyssa raised an eyebrow.
            "Yes, young lady." He looked at her as if he where staring right into her soul. “Edmond.”

 

Forward:

 

 

            “Oh.” She looked away.

            "Now, you are the eight, and I’m guessing why you’re here? Well, I’m here to give you a big welcoming, and tell you who you will be rooming with, etc."
            "Rooming with?" Jake asked more confused than ever.

            "Yes, you didn’t think you’d have your own rooms. Did you?" Edmond looked up from the clipboard he carried in his hand. Jake looked confused but dared not say anymore. After dusting off his pinstriped suite, he cleared his throat and looked back at his clipboard. "Now this is a little introduction I’m going to read to you from the boss, so bare with me. It’s a rough draft."

"You are here because you live in fear,
You are here to conquer through peers,
And though the journey may seem long and tough,
You are together in the rough with your friends."

 

             Edmond then folded the paper neatly and put it in his coat. "Okay, well then I must tell you who you’re rooming with? Huh?"
            A great silence suddenly fell across the room. A silence so defining; so much more deep than mere explanation. It ran through every bone in Scout’s body and blistered her toes. She dug her nails into her skirt as she looked around. Everyone seemed so deep in thought. None of them noticed the silence. Scout began rocking back in forth in paralyzed fear. It reminded her of when she was a kid. The silence resonated throughout the two story mansion. It broke through all barriers and chains. It beat and boomed against the walls and the artwork that hung on them. The silence grew more graphic and paralyzing with each moment that passed. The silence grew and expanded until there was no more room left for its being to penetrate. And Scout dug her nails into her legs.
            "How can you people stand it!? That didn’t tell us anything!" Scout suddenly burst out. "And what is this about fears!? What the hell!?"
            "Calm yourself, young woman." Sarah said simply as she sat there completely and perfectly postured and lady like. "Mind your tongue and listen to the man."
            Nyssa made a face and mouthed 'You did it now to Sarah.'
            "Why should I listen to you-you-Barbie!" Scout scoffed.

            "Sweet girl fight!" Justin yelled.

            "Shut up you perv." Jake smacked him over the head.

            "Hey buddy! You wanna go again!?  Ill be yo a*s in the ground!" Justin said as he pulled up his sleeve and got ready to punch Jake.
            "You wouldn’t last a minute in a fight with me." Jake said almost too simply as he simply stood there and remained calm and careless.
            "I was just saying that a young girl should keep her calm and be polite." Sarah emphasized and turned to Scout showing just a bit of her venom.

            "Shut up! You don’t even know what polite is!” Scout burst out at Sarah.
            "Excuse me Tinker Bell!" Sarah stood up and looked Scout straight in the eyes as if to say 'You’re not going to win this one.' "But I know many things, probably more than you-you ill dressed starving artist scum."

            Scout’s face turned bright red. She looked as if she wanted Sarah dead, deceased, six feet under the ground in a little wooden coffin. She pulled up her shirtsleeve and cringed.
            "Do you want to say that again?" She turned to Sarah with almost red eyes.
            "Shut up! I could so kick your a*s! I’d punch you in the face right now if I wasn’t trying to keep my cool for the ladies." Justin said through gritted teeth and a clenched fist.
            "Yeah, if you could reach." Jake rolled his eyes.
            "That’s it buddy!" Justin said pulling up both is shirtsleeves now. "We're going right now!" He held up his fists in front of his face.
            "Where did you get your stanza? Popeye?" Jake laughed at his own joke.
            "I should seriously video tape this." Andrew laughed as he grabbed his video camera out of his bag and turned it on.

            "I don’t think so." Kevin pulled it away just as quickly as he opened it up. "That just isn’t proper."
            "Hey!" Andrew swiped for it but missed.
            "You're just liberal hippie scum." Sarah said clearly and out loud so everyone could hear.
            "And you're a republican jackass! I should’ve decked you a long time ago!" Scout said standing up a little straighter.

            Nyssa and Katie looked at each other for a moment and contemplated whether they where going to join in and fight. Instead they just shook their heads and averted their gaze as if it wasn’t worth it. And while everyone fought and yelled, screamed, pulled, and got ready to punch, Edmond just stood there in amusement. Nyssa gave him a look as if to say 'You did this.' Which quickly snapped him out of his childlike amusement. Taking a deep breath, the older man, cleared his throat and looked at everyone.
            "Are you ready for your rooms now, children?" He smirked.

            The fighting stopped. For a moment everyone just stood their fists raised and eyes a gaze, and then sat down slowly to listen to what he had to say.

            "Good. Well, here are your room numbers and whom you will be staying with. First off, the rooms are just up the stairs. Second, the room numbers are on top of the doors so you can see which room is which. Now”' He cleared his throat and looked down at a clip board he had picked up from the chair next to him.    “Nyssa will be paired with Katherine, room 1." Nyssa and Katherine scoffed at each other. "Sarah and Scout together, room 2." Sarah and Megan looked at each other like they where both the worst most disgusting thing that ever walked the planet. "Kevin and Andrew are together, room 3." Edmond read off of the clipboard, not even noticing that they looked at each other uncaringly. "Oh, Jake and Justin, room 4. "

            "What!?" Justin blurted out. "I’m with this guy!?" He pointed to Jake.
            "Yes, now, I shall keep in contact with you and The Boss will keep in contact through the cameras, me, or the speakers. Have a nice day and remember, conquer your fears!" With that Edmond got his things and disappeared. Leaving everyone there to argue or kill each other.
            "Well-" Sarah put on her sunglasses and stood up. "We just have to deal with it as we see fit. Ill be up in my room." She then walked out shaking as much hip as possible for the boys to see, which they did.
            "She annoys the hell out of me" Scout said mostly to herself. Katherine and Nyssa walked up to their room while she was contemplating whether she should fry Sarah or leave her raw for the dogs to eat. "She’s got a lot of nerve calling me a liberal hippie scum! Jebus, what a b***h." Andrew and Kevin tiptoed out and Justin just grabbed his stuff and stomped out furiously. "Am I right pe-people" Finally Sciut noticed everyone was gone.
            "Yep, you’re right. But she’s one hot b***h." Jake said as he grabbed his bag and swung it over his shoulder.

            "How could you say that?"
            "Simple, she’s beautiful and powerful, simply why most guys like her. They like when a woman takes charge." Jake looked at her simply as if waiting for her to beat him to the ground.
            "Yeah, only weirdoes would like a girl like me." Scout said sadly as she sat down and looked at the ground.

            Jake sighed and set his things down. "Tons of guys would like you. You’re beautiful and spunky and very cute." He gave her a small wink.
            She immediately jumped and upwards curve formed upon her lips. "Guys like you?"
            "Don’t get too ahead of yourself." Jake laughed as he grabbed his bag and slung it over his shoulder.
            "Wait!" She ran after him as he walked away.
            He turned around so quickly she barely had time to stop. He stood so close to her their noses where touching. For a moment their lips almost touched as she stood there blushing. Her back tensed up and she stood as straight as Sarah would with an added stick in her a*s. Jake smirked and pulled away.
            "No, I just thought I might as well be nice. I mean, I am living with you for the next 8months."

            “Yeah, nice.” Skye grabbed her things and walked past him. Skye’s sweet aroma of baked goods and musky old records tickled his nose and aroused his thoughts. “You know.” She stopped at the door frame. “It looks like living here wont be so bad.”

            Jake couldn’t help but smile as she exited out the living room door frame.

            “Yah, looks like it.” Jake smiled to himself. “..Looks like it.”