(After School) School's Out [Joseph]

The bell rang, and the students were dismissed. TYPE-0 (T.0.) completing her first week of school, is filled with a feeling of accomplishment that has never been felt before. Though not much of the school material stuck, learning how to blend in and attend class as Nina was more than enough for the first week. T.0. really feels she has her introduction down as well. She has been practicing at home in the mirror to make sure it is perfect.

While walking past the classrooms, she sees a door leading to a annex at the end of the hallway. The sign above it indicates that this is the Sorority Hall. Having never ventured into this part of the school, T.0. accepts the challenge of going into unknown territory. Not knowing what to expect on the other side.

Upon entering the building, T.0. notices a plethora of posters on the wall. Pottery, Sewing, Debate, Computer, Chess, it was some what of a over load. While continuing down the hallway, she begins to read a particular poster, that caught her eye, under her breathe.

"...garden–"

T.0. falls and lands stomach first on the floor. Not watching where she was going, the student had tripped over her own feet. Though the fall did not hurt, the shock of landing on the ground shocked the girl.

"Waste of time," Joseph declared to himself. He moved past club advertisements pleading and encouraging the sheep to join their little cliques. In its own way, it was disgusting as a cloying bunch of rotten garbage. So much of this gathering happening around him reeked of mediocrity and cringe. Common interests were great, but that was it. A club to him was nothing more than a festering cesspool of hopeful and helplessly unremarkable people. The Cadets could fit in that label too. But he had other plans than buddying up with a bunch of losers.

He raised an eyebrow when someone fell. Kerrigan lacked any empathy for anyone's bad luck. But she was in the way and there was no other path around it. With a rough hand, Joseph grabbed her by the arm to help her up. "Hey. Get up, you're blocking the way."

Rude, maybe. But he wasn't wrong...

Before T.0. could collect her self, she is harshly pulled up by a much taller student. After a quick glance at him, the girl realizes he must be a senior at this school. Looking up at the other student, he scolds her for being in his way. She keeps the same emotionless face and turns her head to the other side of the hallway, not realizing he was rudely addressing her as a inconvenience. What did he mean? T.0. was confused. Trying to define what this 'way' is, she pauses for a second.

"I was in the way...?"

She raises her hand and points at the open space. "Isn't there some 'way' over there? ...why is this 'way' unique?"

The android assumes he means 'way' as open space. Clearly, T.0. did not understand the expression, and the other teen's words went over the girl's head... It was somewhat sad. She still has much to learn about the world, which can cause her to create some awkward interactions. Hopefully the other student was not insulted by her ignorance.

"Is she some kind of mindless basket case?" Joseph thought to himself. He was annoyed that this was taking a little longer than he thought. What he said earlier was to tell her to move out of his way and she would. But here he has some kind of weird who just didn't seem to understand something so basic. He replied with false courtesy and composure, "Uhh... yeah. Sure. I was trying to walk through you. You're in my way. Could you move?"

What a weirdo. It was rare enough to meet one once in a lifetime. And he wasn't going to be trying to meet everyone of them. It's too much of a pain. "Watch your step. Like... don't hurt yourself."

The small commotion created by the pair has caused a few students to begin to stare. Their voices could be faintly heard in the background. Looks like T.0. has drawn more attention to herself than anticipated. Hopefully the good kind.

After heeding the older student's words, T.0. began looking directly at the boy's face, particularly the two dots under his eye. The message started to sink into her head. Realizing what "in the way" means, T.0 sees that she is being a nuisance right now. She slowly takes a step aside, as per the upperclassman's instructions.

"Is this what was desired...? I do not want to be in anyone's way..."

Looking back at the teen, T.0.'s eyes become trapped staring at the dots on the boy's face. Before he could answer her question, she begins to lift her hand and point her finger towards the dots.

"Ohh..."

T.0. expresses a face of wonder while slowly creeping her hand towards his face to touch the face marking, having no comprehension of personal space.

Joseph couldn't tell what this girl was talking about. No matter how little sense her words made, the most important thing was she was moving out of his way and that's all he ever wanted. Satisfied with the result and refusing to waste any more time with this weirdo, he tried to be on his way. A crowd was forming and it was a pain to have some weird reputation before joining the Cadets. But from the corner of his eye, he noticed something trying to touch him before recoiling back and preventing her from gaining contact. "Whoa, hey. Personal bubble here, buddy. Don't (fucking) touch. Do you want something from me (bitch)?"


He was eager to be on his way, but this girl just kept trying to get his attention. There were seven million nerves in the human body and there was someone close to stepping every single one of them at this rate. With the people staring at them, he just couldn't be rude to her. At the same time, he was losing his patience more and more.

Note:

T.0. pulls her hand away realizing she had made a fatal mistake. She tucks her pointing hand underneath her shoulder, as if it was just burnt from a stove. That was incredibly foolish of her. If there was ever a time the girl was going to learn about personal space, this was it. Picking up on the frustration that was between the teen's words, she briefly gives a look of distress. She didn't like this feeling. The student felt somewhat "small" in front of the other teen's stance. She really was in his way...

"Do you want something from me?"

"I-I..."

The girl looked down at her feet. It was a difficult question answer for her. Up until this point, she hadn't really thought of what her desires were. Just doing as instructed, she enrolled in the school and spent the last week living as Nina. Was this what she wants? T.0. looks back up at the teen. She may not know what she wants, but she does realize that the other student is not happy with her, and this was the worst case scenario for the young droid.

"I just want to be friends..."

After a moment of reflection, the girl was able to express her true feelings to the teen. Slowly, but surely, T.0. becomes more self aware.

He stared at her blankly with an entire look of confusion on his face. What a tool. What a weirdo. He really lacked any kind of experience with these people and for obvious reasons. But with everyone else still surrounding him like a pack of wild hyenas in their little peanut gallery, it just frustrated him even more. Finally he had a bright idea to deal with this pain in the ass dilemma.

"Sure. (Fuck off.) Since I'm your friend, you can let me be on my way. I'll see you later. (Eat shit and die)" Joseph finally spoke nonchalantly with a shrug. Playing dumb was one of the easiest things to do. But it didn't mean it stopped him feeling as if he was dying inside for playing along with the delusions of the mentally deficient. He was quick to finally start leaving. Hopefully this bitch can stop harassing him.

A ugly smile forced its way on T.0.'s amber eyed face. Looks like she is still going to need to practice her expressions. But besides the point, the other student has agreed. This was a celebratory moment for T.0., believing that she has avoided further being a nuisance. The girl, lost in her in thoughts, grabs her arm and continues her unnatural smile. A moment passes and T.0. realizes she had forgotten a very important step in the union of two people. Clearing her expression, she looks up at the student, staring into his eyes and then slowly shifting her gazze down back to the two dots below his eye. The droid was still very intrigued by the markings.

"My name is Nina Erdeli."

T.0. holds her hand out, awaiting his response to the introduction ritual. It seems not all of the android's practice went to waste. Compared to her first day, this introduction went swimmingly.

"What is your name?"

She turns her head slightly to the left, and expresses a look of great curiosity. The girl wishes to know more about the teen.

Every. Single. Time.

Joseph thought he won the victory he deserved. A hand more or less told him, "lolno." He was more than sure just a while ago he mentioned something about personal spaces and bubbles. His precious tolerance was beginning to reach its limit. This time, this last time was going to be it. He almost mechanically raised his hand to shake hers with barely bottled up frustration. "Joseph (Why should I even be telling you my fucking name?)."

He needed to remember he had an entire year before finally leaving this cesspool of mediocrity for good. The utter revelation of that thought filled him with even more dread. But certainly he wouldn't meet this weirdo again, right? It's a big school. A glance here and there is expected. It wasn't like he couldn't try to avoid her. Yet it was such a pain. "Look, as much as I like to talk more with you... I got stuff to do. Obligations. You get me? I'll talk to you later. (never) See ya. (Take a goddamn hint)"

This time he made a stronger departure with even and solid footing with more speed than the last attempt. Screw this, he was going to find a vending machine and drink some Coke.


[Exit]