Léan nodded, agreeing. "True...Arcturus, stop it..." he added, irked, as Archie hugged him around the middle and nuzzled him.

"Deal with iiiittt...I'm happy, and hyper, and you're going to have to put up with me!" Archie giggled.

Léan gave Glory a look that quite plainly said, "Oh, please...save me...help me..."

Glory giggled and shook her head.

"No way, he's not my brother," she said, laughing as she watched the two. After a few moments, she decided to have mercy on him. "Alright, Archie, enough. You have a mate if you want to snuggle that much."

Archie promptly pouted. "But...I always get to cuddle Damon. I don't get to cudle Léan that much. He attacks me..."

Léan wriggled away from him. "Ugh...having you cuddle me is like eating a sea urchin..."

"Sea urchin is considered a delicacy up here," Glory couldn't help but point out. Léan was on his own. She gave her token defense. Archie wasn't HER brother, so technically she couldn't make him do anything.

Léan groaned, putting his head in his hands. "Arcturus. Go away..." he complained, curling up a bit.

Archie frowned, then snorted and swam away, under the rocks.

Léan sighed, relieved. "Oh, good...I can sleep, now..."

"It's getting late," Glory agreed. The sun was almost completely set. "I need to get inside." She grinned. "I need to get ready to lay siege to the high school."

Glory thought back to the parking lot and grimaced.

"That Italian sports car, I take it," she said. She'd mooned over the car for a few moments before the novelty had worn off and her desire for a pop-top Jeep reasserted itself. "Pity... that car is too nice to bologna or plastic-wrap."

"Then go ahead and get some sleep. No sense in you being crankier than normal," Glory replied, standing up. She brushed the sand from her jeans and stretched. "Seems I need to actually put some thought into tomorrow's outfit."

"Sleep well," Glory said. Heading inside, she packed her things for the next day. She felt oddly exhausted, so she told Nana she was going straight to bed. She stripped down to just her camisole and slipped into bed, relaxing once she was under the blanket. She fell asleep quickly.

The next morning came earlier than Glory was used to. She went through the morning mechanically, although she did remember to braid her hair back to keep it out of her way.

The first thing she saw when she got to school was the Italian sports car. Somehow, she must have had unusual karma that day, because the only open parking spot was next to the sports car. Glory made sure to lock all of her doors when she got out of the car. Then she made her way to her first class.

This time, Selena was not alone in homeroom. She was with her friends from last time, but there was also a much taller, more menacing-looking presence with her that was absent the first day.

http://i371.photobucket.com/albums/o...g?t=1273287392

He was tall and muscular, as Léan had said. But, unlike your typical military-aspiring boy, his jet-black hair was long and free. The homeroom teacher was scowling at his tattoos, as most of the teachers did. Unlike the rest of Selena's friends, who were gossiping away, he was leaning against the wall, arms folded across his chest and emerald eyes scanning the length of the classroom, boredly.

Glory breezed past the group as if they weren't there, tucking stray strands of her own dark hair behind one of her ears. Taking her seat from the day before, she glanced around the room a few times, using her peripheral vision to get a decent look at Viktor. Inwardly, she was amused at Selena's dark expression, but ignored her.

Once the bell rang, Selena and all of her friends rushed to take the seats that weren't near Glory--Viktor, slow-moving, didn't bother.

When he finally shrugged away from the wall, the only seat left was the one open next to Glory, which he promptly plopped down in. He never took notes, which peeved his teachers. Instead, he just sat there and listened, an auditory learner at his finest.

"Oh yeah, because THAT'S not obvious, guys," Glory murmured as she took out her notebook. She wasn't one for taking notes, she prefered to look through the textbooks later to pick out the information she would need. Absently, she doodled in her notebook, although her drawing skills were far less than mediocre. Every so often, she would look up for the lecture to give the impression she was paying attention, but otherwise, she was running over some plans in her mind to counteract whatever Selena might be planning.

The teacher's patience with Viktor was running thin--very thin. She turned around after a moment and cleared her throat. "Mr. Vittorio. I'm aware that you're the prime candidate for becoming your class's valedictorian...but shouldn't you be taking notes?"

Viktor looked at her, pulled from his daydream, and grinned, charmingly. "Didn't I have you in my freshman year, Susan?" He had authority issues, and always thought of teachers as equals... "I don't take notes. I ace your tests. Stop complaining..."

In the back of the room, Selena and her friends giggled. They swooned over him constantly.

Glory just rolled her eyes.

"Please," she muttered under her breath to herself. She couldn't understand why the other girls were getting so wound up over him. Whatever charm he was turning on, it wasn't working on her. She kept her eyes on her notebook, turning to to a fresh page when the teacher came near.

Woodshop? Well, there was her chance on its way out the window, unless she took it. Second period was her first study hall of the day, so she made her way to the main office and asked the secretary to switch it to woodshop. She wasn't taking any other electives, so there was room in her schedule. After she was done with that, she quickly made her way to the woodshop for the remainder of class.

Glory had noticed that there weren't any other girls in the class, but she held her head high as she walked in.

"Can I help you?" the teacher asked.

"The front office just changed my schedule," Glory said, holding up the new print-out. "I'm supposed to be in here." Taking the paper, the teacher examined it, and then handed it back.

"Alright. Take whatever seat you can find."

"Alright," Glory responded, setting her bag down in the corner with the others.

"You look bored," Glory said as she made her way to his table. While it was only half-true that he looked bored, Glory didn't care. It was one of her standard conversation-starters. "Since I'm willing to bet you know what you're doing better than I do, think I could be your partner for today?"