Shadow saw her throw it. He knew he wouldn't have time to run over there, so he scooped up the nearest ball. He aimed, quickly, and sent it flying, with considerable speed, at the ball Lanina threw.

Years of practice with throwing knives had honed his precision. And he was able to smack the ball back to where it had been launched from...still at considerable speed...

Laina watched as this was done. She had just enough time to move her head out of the way before the ball smacked against the wall, hitting her ear slightly. She pretended to be shocked, and got up. Carefully she limped to the teacher and asked to sit outside of the gym where she would be free from possibly being hit. The teacher saw how red her ear was from being hit with the ball and allowed her to do so.

Maria only had looked in Lanina's direction when she had heard the ball hit the wall. She slightly wondered what had happened, but really didn't care too much. Carefully she reached out a hand and pretended to try and catch a ball, but of course it just hit her hand so she was out of the game.

Shadow eventually allowed himself to get hit, on the arm, and sat out, sighing. He waved off every teammate who tried to 'resurrect' him back into the game.

Maria did the same thing as Shadow did. She really didn't want to be in the game, and it was getting closer and closer to the time when they would be able to go into the locker room to shower and change before school for the day is over. She just had to make it a few more minutes without getting hit from a ball flying into the side lines and hit her, like they so often did.

Shadow sat there, bored, until the bell rang. He walked over to Maria, sighing. "Awful, awful class...it is pointless and boring..."

----------

Shadow seeemed than cheerful when theperiod ended, more so than anything else.

Maria nodded in agreement with him. She smiled when the teacher told them that they could go shower. "I'll talk to you after school." She smiled at Shadow before jogging off into the locker room.

Shadow watched her leave, hiding a bit of sadness in his expression. He couldn't allow himself to get too close to a human. Unless he had intentions of...using a special sort of 'magic' on her. His variation of vampire was very...peculiar. And different from others.

He sighed, and headed into the locker room to just change. He didn't even break a sweat, so he didn't need to shower.

Maria took her time in the shower and then got dressed. She was definitely happy that she had gotten away from the first day of gym with no injuries at all. She stood by the gym doors waiting for the bell to ring, though she noticed that Lanina had already took off some place.

Shadow changed, boredly, and then slipped outside, also waiting for the bell to ring. He seemed tired.

Maria took off to her locker once the bell rang, figuring that Shadow would most likely follow her anyway. It seemed to her that Shadow liked to be around her.

Shadow did go with her, for a lack of anything better to do. He seemed to be bored most of the time.

Maria put her things away, only keeping out her notebook for math. She then looked at Shadow, "What do you want to do?" She asked while closing her locker.

Shadow pondered that for a moment. "I...do not know. I am new around the area, so I don't know what sort of restaurants or social places are here...all I knew about beforehand was the location of the school and mall," he admitted, somewhat sheepishly.

Maria didn't look at all shocked. She then leaned against her locker and started to think of some of the places where they could go. "well a few more miles down from the mall is the movie theater...it's normally packed every day of the week though. Then there's a few fast food restaurants around and some fancier ones. There's the stake park, the regular park, the YMCA, some beaches, and others things as well that normally people go to."

"Hm...well...which areas do you like the most?" Shadow asked politely, tilting his head.

"the beach." Maria said without hesitation. "Normally it isn't that crowded when school has started. I've always loved the water too." She smiled.

"The beach it is, then..." Shadow agreed, nodding. He seemed content with that. He loved to swim, as well. But he rarely visited beaches due to the infamous crowds that often gathered at them. So, an uncrowded beach would be a nice thing.

Maria smiled, "let's go then!" she walked out of the school and headed towards Shadow's car, once it was in sight it appeared that someone had keyed it. It wasn't pretty picture art either. Maria frowned, she knew that it must have been Lanina's doing.

Shadow didn't seem too fazed. In his life, which had been rather long, he'd done many things. Fixing a keyed car was not a big problem if the paint wasn't seriously damaged--which it didn't seem to be. He popped his trunk and dug around. He resurfaced with an unmarked bottle.

It was a concoction he'd used on keyed cars before--a mixture of many different paint crack-filling-and-buffing substances he'd found in his lifetime. He kept it and a cloth in the back of his car at all times.

Carefully, Shadow poured some of the substance onto the cloth and began to wipe at the marks. After about fifteen minutes, all of the marks were gone, and the car looked untouched.

Maria watched as Shadow fixed the marks on his car. "I'm sorry..." She couldn't help but say that since she had been the one to introduce him to Lanina. Maria couldn't comprehend why her friend was being like she was. It seemed like it wasn't how she normally acted, but it could have been a mask all this time.

"It's not a problem," Shadow replied, honestly, as he put the 'fix-up' concoction away. "If it truly was her, there will be a time when I decide to take action. I'll use her own weapons against her, but I will not harm her, of course.

Maria nodded. "Alright. And thanks for understanding." She didn't wait for him to open the door for her this time, and got in Shadow's car. She still felt bad about the whole mess, and to think it was only the first day of school.

Shadow stepped inside his car, sighing contently as he closed the door. "All right...which way to the nearest and most empty beach?"

Maria pointed him in the direction that he had to go. "I'll give you more instructions once we get closer. It's about a twenty minute drive from here, depending how fast you go on dirt roads."

Shadow nodded, starting his car up. He pulled out of the parking lot and headed for the beach, quietly.