High School Epic

After the first week the hazing has almost stopped. Every once in a while Heaven will get knocked in the shoulder, straight into a locker or a water fountain. Mostly people leave her alone. She's in spanish, sitting next to Gerard, who hasn't said more than three words to her since he cut her hair. He doesn't really say much to anyone but Mikey and Frank anyway, so she doesn't feel slighted.

He's drawing in his notebook, and she leans over a little to peer at the drawing. He rolls his eyes and tips the paper so she can see it better. It's a picture of their teacher in the middle of a cemetary. The three cheerleaders and the two football players in the class are crawling out of graves, in various states of decomposition, attacking her. She's screaming help in spanish.
Where Gerard learned the word for help is beyond Heaven.

Heaven snickers and leans over to add big tears down the side of the teachers face, because she looks like the kind of woman who would beg zombies not to eat her face. She doesn't really get through to the zombies in her classroom either. Its kinda fitting. Gerard grins over at her, draws in a hand ripping out of the ground next to her ankle.

They realize the class is silent two seconds before the drawing is snatched off Gerard's desk. Heaven has a really bad feeling that this isn't going to go too well for them. They're asked to stay after class where they are both given two days of detention. Heaven is surprised because she thought it would be a lot worse than that. The spanish teacher dismisses her and asks Gerard to stay after. Heaven doesn't see him again until gym. He's pissed, talking loudly and quickly.

The spanish teacher, Senora Hyde, a chubby white woman with brown hair, turned the drawing in to the principal. Who turned it in to the counsellor, who searched Gerard's bag and found his sketch book.

They're now labeling Gerard an "at risk" student. He has to attend weekly counseling sessions. Mikey is beside himself laughing, and Heaven thinks he'll be lucky if Gerard doesn't punch him.

She kinda hopes he does.

Gerard doesn't punch his brother, in the end, but he does ignore him for the rest of the school day. When Heaven gets home her mom is seriously pissed about a detention the second week of school. She tells her mom that this is not as bad as that time Ashley got sent to Juvi her fresh year for beathing up Tyler Brown, a boy who thought it was cool to wear a dog's collar around his throat.

She still gets grounded for two weeks.

At nine thirty, hours after Nell has already left for home, the basement window slides open and Nell drops to the floor in a heap. She stands, fluffs her shirt, and flops on the couch next to Heaven. Heaven looks up from her science homework and smiles over at Nell. Some times Nell's mom and her will get into arguements and Nell will come hide in their basement. It's not a real big deal.

"Sup Nell?" Heaven grins while Nell digs for the remains of her twizzlers.

"My mom's mad, because I told her that I don't like her boyfriend."

"Ouch, you staying the night, or you going back in the minute?" and Nell shrugs.

Heaven rolls her eyes, "I'll go get the Pocahontas sleeping bag."

"Fuck that," Nell chirps, "You better bring the Han Solo one down."

"Nell," Heaven says, "I better not catch you kissing my blanket again."

"One time!" Nell shouts, "One time! On a dare!"

"You still kissed it," Heaven sing songed, "Did you do your homework?"

"You know I did my homework, you watched me do it."

"If by watching you mean I brought my laptop down and did most of your research for your JM Barrie paper myself, then yes, I watched you do it."

"Don't hate," Nell grins.

"If you finish that with appreciate," Heaven warns, "I will appreciate with my fist all over your face."

"Get my blanket, bitch."

Heaven stumbles up the stairs to grab a blanket and pillow for her younger friend. When ever Nell sleeps over she always insists on sleeping in the basement. Heaven didn't really have a problem with this, since the couch pulls out, so it's not like Nell is sleeping on the floor. She stops long enough to call Nell's house and let her mom know that she was staying over. Nell's mom had already figured that out for herself, but she thanked Heaven for letting her know anyway .

She drops the sleeping bag next to Nell and sits upside down, feet in the air, and hums. "What time do you want me to set the alarm for?"

"I already set the one on my cell," Nell says like the mean little kid that she is. Heaven rolls her eyes.

In the morning Heaven stands over a still sleeping Nell. Nell kicks in her sleep, mumbling something about pink jelly. Heaven leans over her and wrings her wet hair out in Nells face. The resulting screech makes her cover her ears and laugh. Nell looks murderous, crawling out of the sleeping bag, from the floor where she'd rolled.

"You are so dead," Nell says, but Heaven just snickers.

Later when she's feeding Nell fake eggs and bacon she smiles, "I spit in your egg."

A piece of scambled egg falls out of her mouth. Tarra snickers from the other side of the island in the kitchen, "She's just kidding Nell. Besides, I cooked that egg substitute."

"I hate you," Nell says, picking up the piece of half chewed egg and throwing it at Heaven's head.