My First Lawbreaking (tag: Rachel) on Crotalus Commons

Raines Bradley

October 10, 2010 12:14 AM

My First Lawbreaking (tag: Rachel) by Raines Bradley

One of the most irritating things about Sonora was the lack of privacy. No matter where Raines went, he could never be sure that he wasn’t being overheard by another student even when he wasn’t feeling especially paranoid about the professors having some way of listening in on them that he didn’t know about. The best he could do was make sure no one else was in his line of sight, keep his work charmed against other people reading it, and, if he had to speak to another person, keep his voice as low as the proprieties of the situation would allow.

Today, they allowed him to speak very quietly indeed, for which he was grateful. His paranoia about the teachers was rising by the moment as he hovered just inside the stairwell leading out to the common room, occasionally glancing around the wall to make sure there was no one standing there to listen. Against that wall on the outside would have been better for making sure he wasn’t eavesdropped on, but it was a much better place to be observed. By Pierce. Who, he had a feeling, would not look kindly on his method of clearing up some of his problems.

Still, unless he was somehow being clandestinely observed by the staff, this was going to go right. What was she going to do, call his bluff? All he would have to do would be tell certain people that he’d just discovered certain information, and he still got at least some of what he wanted.

He was actually pretty proud of himself for figuring out how to think of it that way. It made him feel better. Like, for once, he was bound to come out on top of an arrangement, instead of having a stalemate be the second best and least likely option.

He was still incredibly aware of what the worst case option here was, though, and so went on the offensive as soon as the target brushed past him. “I know now, Bauer.”

0 Raines Bradley My First Lawbreaking (tag: Rachel) 155 Raines Bradley 1 5

Rachel Bauer

October 10, 2010 12:15 AM

That sounds like one messed-up children's book. by Rachel Bauer

She had woken up with a headache, and despite having washed and dried her hair twice on top of taking an aspirin, it had stubbornly clung on through the morning, making Rachel feel more irritable and inclined to scream at something by the minute. She could deal with physical pain, even keep a straight face when it was no worse than this, but that didn’t mean she liked it. Going out again after breakfast was a move of desperation, founded on the shaky theory that lunch food was more solid than breakfast food and might do better at alleviating the step-beyond-pressure in her temples.

At least it was the weekend. If she’d had to listen to the annoying voices of some of her teachers for hour after hour today, and deal with the activities after that, Rachel thought she would have snapped. She was a Crotalus girl who associated with Aladrens, but that didn’t mean she wanted to deal with having the reputation for instability that about half the people in those two categories gained at some point or another. Being disrespectful to a professor and then starting to cry was not a good way to go about avoiding that kind of thing.

She saw Raines standing just inside the stairs, but figured he was either doing some weird jerk thing on his own or else waiting for Theo and so walked by without saying hello. It wasn’t like they were bosom buddies. Rachel didn’t know exactly how he’d picked up on her distaste for him – he seemed too self-absorbed to notice anything other than flattery and adoration thrown his way – but she didn’t consider him a great loss as long as he played nicely enough around Veronica that they didn’t have a screaming fight in public and put her in the position of being the friend who got jettisoned in favor of the would-be boyfriend. That would be contrary to staying comfortable at this school, which was her major life goal just now.

”I know now, Bauer.”

Rachel stopped where she was and inhaled. So much for waiting for Theo. She turned on her heel and smiled. “That’s great,” she said. “What do you know now?” She bit her tongue before she could throw out some options, or call him Ray, or something else designed to provoke a fight. She had to suppress the urge to do things like that. It wasn’t socially advisable.

16 Rachel Bauer That sounds like one messed-up children's book. 154 Rachel Bauer 0 5

Raines

October 10, 2010 12:17 AM

Would a good moral redeem it any? by Raines

Raines was almost impressed when Rachel elected to face him down and act like she had no idea what he was talking about. She was almost good enough to convince him. Unless she thought he was very stupid, or had so many secrets that this was just one of many…

It was unlikely, though, so he forced himself to ignore another wave of paranoia. She couldn’t have a great deal of practical intelligence, which was a requirement for keeping lots of secrets, or she would have known that this charade of hers couldn’t last anyway. That kind of information was accessible to anyone with the drive to look for it and a bit of money, at least when it was as poorly covered up as her family had done, and her personality did not lend itself well to blending in and being invisible in a crowd, which meant that, inevitably, she was going to make someone angry enough to want to get back at her.

Raines knew about that. People usually didn’t overlook him, either. He just knew to cover his tracks, and had parents who, while they did stupid things, did not do things that could come out and end them.

“About your family,” Raines said, ignoring also the corner of his mind that told him he sounded ridiculous. “I imagine Miss Veronica and Miss Alessa would be shocked if I told them about your father.” He decided not to add the part about how her mother was pathetically middle class and possibly a complete moron. It wouldn’t go with the tone he was working for.

0 Raines Would a good moral redeem it any? 0 Raines 0 5

Rachel

October 10, 2010 12:20 AM

No, I think it's pretty much done for. by Rachel

The cold chill went down her spine as soon as Raines mentioned her father, but it took another second for her to process the full meaning of it. It wasn’t just because of the headache. It was that she couldn’t really grasp another thirteen-year-old casually telling her, to her face, that he was going to end her life.

She wasn’t sure if she was horrified or relieved. The horror she felt about that uncertainty added up, though, to make her decide the first was more appropriate.

Too bad her brain was set on being defensive and angry instead.

“Do not talk about my father,” she snapped, crossing the space between them. Consciously, she was grateful that she wasn’t subconsciously suicidal enough to not keep her voice down, but it didn’t really seem to matter. “Ever. Unless you really want me to start talking about your family, too.” She didn’t know anything about his family except that there were a few girls between him and its fortune, and would rather beat him up than badmouth him anyway, but she thought that threat might work better. He was a Big Pureblood; there had to be even more dirt than she could think of off the top of her head rattling around his family trees. “And how do you know I didn’t have Alessa and Veronica over to meet Dad this summer? Not everyone’s a narrow-minded little weasel like you.”

That, of course, was a flat bluff. This had always been about bluffs that were way too easy to call. Her mother, or Granddad, or even Helena might have been able to talk a way out of this, but Rachel wasn’t a good liar. She wasn’t a good bluffer, either. All she was good at, or so it looked now that she thought for two seconds, was digging her own grave; she had as good as confirmed, if he had been bluffing, that there was something to know about her father that her friends in Aladren wouldn’t like.

It made sense. Someone finding out was what she’d been thinking about constantly since she was eight. She didn’t think her mother would accept instinct as a legitimate reason, though, not to throw her out on her ear for this.

16 Rachel No, I think it's pretty much done for. 154 Rachel 0 5

Raines

October 10, 2010 12:24 AM

Oh, well. Better luck next time. by Raines

When Rachel started walking back toward him, Raines couldn’t help it: he took a step back, onto the stair behind him, and then cursed himself silently. Yes, the extra height did let him look down on her, but he had backed down to a half-blood girl because, in a moment, he’d honestly believed she could damage his person if she chose to do so. Now she knew he was, deep down, not sure which one of them would win in a fight.

He was sure, though, that she didn’t dare touch him unless he made it clear that he would talk, or else was stupid enough to even vaguely threaten her father in any way. He hadn’t expected, after all the efforts to play pureblood, that she would be this attached to the guy, but then, who was to say how someone like her thought? Maybe all the constant lying and pretending had done something to her brain. It would explain how she thought everyone was foolish enough to have missed all the signs.

Her idea of a bluff added more credibility to the theory. “Partially because I overheard you talking to Miss Alessa about your summer in Potions,” he said dryly, “and partially because I know Miss Veronica to be a person of sufficient taste to not associate with…people like that. Willingly and knowingly, at least.” At this place, there was really no avoiding it from time to time.

“And I don’t have anything in my family to be ashamed of,” he added. Well, that wasn’t already common knowledge; he was fairly sure the cats in Siberia knew about Aunt Lila by now. Besides, the gardener had gone away years ago. Aunt Lila was old news, and she was at least publicly behaving now. “So that’s a bad threat. I’m half-inclined to tell everyone I can get to listen just for that. I’d rather have you owe me the favor, though.”

0 Raines Oh, well. Better luck next time. 0 Raines 0 5