Aberrant: Children of Heaven - Saved By The Bell [Fin]

[Wa'ne]

[Monday, March 30 2009]

7:25am

Sebastian Knight, or Skins, as his frie- former friends knew him, flew into the student parking lot of Fort Vancouver High, the back tires on his brand spanking new F-150 squeeling as they skipped on the pavement. The sounds of the Paperboys could be heard blaring through the windows, the pace of the music fitting the style of driving.

The music cut off as the driver's door opened and Sebastian exited, his satchel thrown across one shoulder, a stack of three Poptarts wedged in his mouth and a thermos in his hand. He pressed the button on the keyfob, the echoing honk signaling the locking of the doors.

The normally quite stylish young man was dressed in a wife-beater, a dingy red & white flannel and a pair of muddy jeans, his hair still had a shape reminiscent of pillow styling. This was all testament to one thing, Sebastian was uncharacteristically behind schedule.

Crap, gonna be late.

Not that he necessarily wanted to go to homeroom, that meant sitting next to Laura, the bitch. Thoughts of Laura overcame his desire to be on time, and the awkward jog he had started slowed to a walk as he closed the distance between the back of the parking lot and the school.

Then, after homeroom, came US History...with Alex, the asshole.

Sebastian's pace slowed to a crawl.

This promised to be yet another crappy day in a line of crappy days that would go on for another two months before he escaped to Summer Vacation, though what of the trip to Puerto Vallarta he and Laura were going to take? The tickets had been already paid for, the hotel reserved...

Sebastian stopped and sat down on a bench, taking a long drink of his coffee.

Screw homeroom.

[Valentine Cormack]

Click to reveal..

Lie awake in bed at night
And think about your life
Do you want to be different?
Try to let go of the truth
The battles of your youth
cause this is just a game

It's a beautiful lie
It's the perfect denial
Such a beautiful lie to believe in
So beautiful, beautiful it makes me

It's time to forget about the past
To wash away what happened last
Hide behind an empty face
Don't ask too much, just say
'Cause this is just a game

It's a beautiful lie
It's the perfect denial
Such a beautiful lie to believe in
So beautiful, beautiful it makes me

Everyone's looking at me
I'm running around in circles, baby
A quiet desperation's building higher
I've got to remember this is just a game

So beautiful, beautiful...
It's a beautiful lie

It's a beautiful lie
It's the perfect denial
Such a beautiful lie to believe in
So beautiful, beautiful it makes me

A beautiful lie

Valentine watched the kids swarm into school like mindless insects. He didn't like school but it was a better place than staying home with his miserable mom. Ever since his father 'disappeared' she was a nervous wreck. Just like earlier today when she blamed him for still having contact to dad.

It had gotten to a point where he hated being called by his father on the phone because his mom would be all over him asking if he said anything that could be taken as a hint that he would return. But he wouldn't. Who would want to return to a woman like mom? She was crazy.

The only refuge he had was his mind and the music he had. Sometimes he asked himself if it was coincedence that exactly those tracks shuffled through his I-Pod that reflected his mood perfectly.

He ditched first class and sat on a bench listening to his music and watched the people around him. Sometimes it felt like he could blend with the background because no one seemed to really take notice of him.

His peripheral view noticed someone approaching the bench. It was Sebastian and he seemed to having some kind of episode, too. Valentine mentally tried to disappear but caught himself staring at Sebastian instead. He was Laura's boyfriend.

Laura...

It made his heart skip each time he saw her but he was invisible to her. She was with the popular crowd - like Sebastian. Valentine was scared that Sebastian could somehow read his mind and beat him to pulp if he knew that he had a crush on Laura, too. But how likely was it, that she would ever want to date him?

As if he summoned it the next track played

Something I can never have

Click to reveal..

I still recall the taste of your tears.
Echoing your voice just like the ringing in my ears.
My favorite dreams of you still wash ashore.
Scraping through my head 'till I don't want to sleep anymore.

[Chorus:]

You make this all go away.
You make this all go away.
I'm down to just one thing
And i'm starting to scare myself.
You make this all go away.
You make this all go away.
I just want something.
I just want something I can never have.

You always were the one to show me how.
Back then I couldn't do the things that I can do now.
This thing is slowly taking me apart.
Grey would be the color, if I had a heart.
Come on and tell me.

[Chorus]
You make this all go away.
You make this all go away.
I'm down to just one thing
And i'm starting to scare myself.
You make this all go away.
You make this all go away.
I just want something.
I just want something I can never have.

In this place it seems like such a shame.
Though it all looks different now,
I know it's still the same.
Everywhere I look you're all I see.
Just a fading fucking reminder of who I used to be.
Come on and tell me.

You make this all go away.
You make this all go away.
I'm down to just one thing
And I'm starting to scare myself.
You make this all go away.
You make it all go away.
I just want something.
I just want something I can never have.
I just want something I can never have.

He smiled nervously at Sebastian hoping he wouldn't kill him. Valentine was really acting strange - even for his reputation of being a freak.

[Wa'ne]

He hadn't even noticed...what was his name...Valentine! Yeah, Valentine when he sat down on the bench and jumped when he realized he wasn't alone.

Oh Lord, not him. Not now. But then, you don't take requests as far as I can tell.

Sebastian took a long drink of coffee, as he stared out over the campus.

"I guess you've heard by now." Sebastian said it more like a statement than a question. There was no doubt he was referring to his break up with Laura, it was all over school like a wildfire, Sebastian had made sure of that. He didn't want to be associated with them anymore.

[Zoey Black]

As usual no one noticed Zoey. She had been sitting on a bench before either the jock or the... whatever he was sat down. That made her smile to herself. She thought Valentine was kinda hot, but he was so standoffish. He was too good to hang with the Goths even though he dressed almost like one them. Zoey had always wondered what his deal was, but Ted had always been jealous of his good looks or maybe homophobic. Some people said he was gay, but Zoey didn't think he was. Then there was Sebastian all broken up and angry over the thing with Laura. It wasn't about being broken hearted, it was about bruised man-pride. She'd just broken up with Ted two months ago and she wasn't all angsty over it... ok, so Ted and done the breaking up, but it didn't matter.

"Oh yeah, everyone's heard." She grinned as the two boys both looked over their shoulders in surprise at where she had been sitting so quietly. Seeing the expression on Sebastian's face she wiped the smile off her own. She stood languidly and moved over to the two boys and sat on the back of the bench with her feet in the seat. "It sucks what they did, but you handled it well. Wish I'd been there to see Mr Quarterback dumped on his naked ass in the gravel. Supposedly someone got some pics, but no one's posted anything yet." She shrugged at the looks both the boys gave her, "What? He was a dick to me and my friends last year in the cafeteria because Malcom was sitting at his favorite table. He deserves what he gets."

Zoey looked down at the ground allowing her hair to fall over her face giving her some concealment from their eyes while she looked at them. She wouldn't normally have just walked up and started talking to these guys, but her break up with Ted had her feeling a little bold. Besides high school would be over in a couple months and she'd never have to see these guys again if she made too big of a fool of herself. To anyone else looking it must have seemed like Sebestian was hanging with the goths since both she and Valentine were both wearing all black. They would be wrong, but that's how it would look.

[Valentine Cormack]

Valentine was paralyzed. Did he actually speak to him? He slowly removed his headphones while the chorus of the song could be faintly heard.

I just want something.

I just want something I can never have...

Just before he wanted to say something he heard Zoey speak up. Where did she come from all of a sudden? Valentine eyes widened as she approached them and simply started to talk.

The Queen of the Damned herself - the Mistress of Darkness talked to him? Valentine's mouth was suddenly very dry and he fidget around on the bench as if he was having a wedgy.

Zoey was a whole different thing for Valentine. He had decided to fall in love with Laura because there was a remote if almost near to zero chance that she actually took notice of him one day if he only tried hard enough. Zoey was achingly beautiful and as much unreachable for him. Falling in love with her was not an option but if he had a wish Zoey would be top on his list. The goths gave wide berth around him because he could taint their coolness with his odd freakishness. But there she stood and simply talked.

Valentine obviously was not up to date with the social network at school. He didn't know that Sebastian and Laura had broken up and much less the reasons why. Not that it had changed anything for Valentine. Sebastian got replaced by another popular guy. Problems Valentine never had and could barely relate to.

Valentine couldn't help but stare at Zoey. He was sure he never was so close to her like now. At least not without getting bullied away by her friends. His heart beat fast and he felt himself shiver. That always happened when he was nervous or excited. He balled his hands to fists and unclenched them again wiping the sweat off his palms on his black jeans and sighed heavily.

"I'm sorry, Sebastian. I didn't know that. If I could change things I would - but I can't.", Valentine looked at Sebastian then averted his eyes. Zoey could see they were full of sadness, as if Laura had left Valentine instead of Sebastian.

[Wa'ne]

Thread Theme

He was still confused over the whole situation, he had tried to be everything that Laura wanted, done everything she asked, gone everywhere she wanted, and Alex! He'd been friends with Alex for 7 years! How could have done that? The whole thing had him wondering how much of his life was real and how much was just for show.

Sebastian looked at Valentine with confusion. "Yeah, uh, thanks though."

This guy is weird. You'd think the news that a 'jock' had been embarrassed would be golden, not upsetting.

He looked up at her, she was nice enough, they'd had a class together last year, Shakespeare or something, but she had always hung out with the wrong clique, it didn't particularly intimidate Sebastian, because he didn't really see himself as a jock anyway, but he dare not try to talk to them publicly for fear of pissing off Alex or Laura. Those two wouldn't be caught dead talking to either of these two quote, 'losers'. Now, however, none of that mattered.

She was cute enough, she had gorgeous eyes, not a bad body either, under all that black. "Zoey...right? How'd you like to go to Puerto Vallarta this summer?"

That was stupid. She's gonna say no, more rejection for the loser.

Probably the biggest gamble, speak before thinking, boldest thing he had ever done in his life. But at this cross-roads in his life, it was time to change things. Laura had obviously moved on, why couldn't he?

[Zoey Black]

Zoey was surprised by Valentine, that was either genuine empathy or he was a hell of an actor. Wow, that was a real surprise. She had always figured him to be standoffish. He had come around her friends a couple times but had wandered away as if he didn't want to stick around, but maybe he was cool after all. He was definitely hot.

It was a morning for surprises apparently. Mr. Jock himself actually knew her name. Despite herself she was flattered, it was always nice to get attention from guys. Then he dropped a bomb right smooth in the middle of the conversation. She couldn't help herself, she looked up and just stared when he asked her to go to Mexico with him this summer. After a second she forced herself to close her mouth. Then her eyes narrowed, he was a jock, was he just being a dick to her? Was he going to say 'Oops I changed my mind' the day before the trip? But how could he know that she longed more than anything else to travel and not be stuck here? It was like the gods were being intentionally cruel to her.

"Are you serious Sebastian? I want to get out of here and go places and see things so bad. If you aren't serious, if you're just fucking with me, then you are possibly the biggest douche in the world, you know that right?" She waited for the other shoe to drop and tried to judge whether he was just toying with her. She also tried to watch Valentine out of the corner of here eye to judge if he was going to make fun of her or was in on a joke or something.

[Valentine Cormack]

Valentine watched Zoey and Sebastian talk and felt himself shrinking. His mind numbed and focused solely on the next track that was playing as Sebastian made his request. It was as if god himself tore through the sky with his arm just to push him down.

All these things I hate

Click to reveal..

Once more I’ll say goodbye to you

Things happen but we don’t really know why

If it's supposed to be like this

Why do most of us ignore the chance to miss?

Oh yeah

Torn apart at the seams and my dreams turn to tears

I'm not feeling this situation

Run away try to find that safe place you can hide

It's the best place to be when your feeling like

Me (me!)

Yeah (yeah!)

All these things I hate revolve around me (me)

yeah (yeah)

Just back off before I snap

Once more you tell those lies to me

Why cant you just be straight up with honesty? (honesty)

When you say those things in my ear

Why do you always tell me what you wanna hear? (wanna hear...)

Oh yeah

Wear your heart on your sleeve make things hard to believe

I'm not feeling this situation

Run away try to find that safe place you can hide,

It's the best place to be when your feeling like

Me (me)

Yeah (yeah)

All these things I hate revolve around me (me)

Yeah (yeah)

Just back off before I snap and you'll see (me) me (me)

All these things I hate revolve around me (me)

Yeah (yeah)

Just back off before I snap

Torn apart at the seams and my dreams turn to tears

I’m not feeling this situation

Run away try to find that safe place you can hide

Its the best place to be when your feeling like me...

Its the best place to be when you're me (me)

Yeah (yeah)

All these things I hate revolve around me (me)

Yeah (yeah)

Just back off before I snap and you see (me) me (me)

All these things I hate revolve around me (me)

Yeah (yeah)

Just back off before I snap

Valentine could feel tears watering his eyes and he slid to the furthest edge of the bench giving Sebastian and Zoey more space for their flirt. He shivered as if he was freezing. She’d never ask him and Laura wouldn’t either. He shook his head knowing that no matter what he did it always came down to one thing. No one really cared about him. He’d be just the bystander waving at the happy people as they lived their lives while he just watched and longed. There was so much inside of him that he wanted to share but the vent was too small. Valentine was incapable of showing or giving word to it. He swallowed hard as his mouth got dry again. His eyes stared blankly at the distance and he barely noticed Zoey or Sebastian. They would go to Mexico and have a good time, he’d dump her on his first chance at another beauty queen that fit better into the mainstream while she would lament about worthless guys. Valentine slumped his shoulders and wanted to cry but all he could manage was feel pain. Intense pain that burned down his throat and set his bowels on fire.

[Zoey Black]

Zoey was watching Sebestian to see if he was screwing with her, but she was nothing if no perceptive. It was probably her strongest trait, and it was what kept her from getting into trouble more often than not. She had been watching Valentine out of the corner of her eye to see if he were in on some joke against her so when he shrank away she noticed and was confused. Ok, so it wasn't a big joke and she wasn't the butt of the joke. Had she made him uncomfortable somehow? She risked a furtive glance in his direction and was stunned by the pain on his face. He was trying to hide it, but he was hurt. How had it happened? She reviewed the last few seconds in her memory and came to the only possible conclusion, Valentine was interested in her... could it really be? He was so cool and so much of a lone wolf.

Oh hell, that put her directly between a chance to go to Mexico this summer with Skins and tall dark and hawt. Shit!

Now what was she going to do. Skins was hurting and she was the first girl to get in his way so he'd invited her to go somewhere with him. Crap, that makes me the rebound if I accept, but Mexico and the chance to get out of here even if only for a while... but I can't accept under those circumstances anyway. She sighed grabbed Sebastians arm and pulled him over to the bench and scooted up right next to Valentine sandwiching herself between the two.

"I'm sorry Sebastian. I totally want to go, I really do. Traveling is my biggest dream, and it would be cool to hang out with you too. But. You are hurting right now and I'd be nothing but a rebound and that wouldn't be cool. Tell you what lets hang out some and see if we can be friends before you invite me to go off to another country with you. That ok?"

She put an arm around each of the boys and squeezed. "I think all three of us are in tough places at the moment for one reason or another. Prom queen just ripped out your heart Sebastian. Ted and I broke up a couple months ago after dating for the last three years. And Valentine, well, I don't know what is killing you, but I can see that something is. Why don't we all hang out and get to know each other. In a couple months High School will be over and our old clicks will be pretty meaningless anyway. We can be our own little Breakfast Club." She smiled and gave the boys another squeeze with her arms. "Why don't we meet here for lunch and eat together?"

She hoped that both boys would be ok with this solution. She didn't want to hurt either one and was near to amazed that she was suddenly thrust into a position where she could. The Universe had suddenly developed a sense of humor when Zoey Black was put in a position like this. All because she had flaunted tradition and decided to talk to people that were outside her click? Wow. Just wow...

[Valentine Cormack]

Her touch was soothing and it immediately calmed him casting away the shivering and the pain he felt. He didn't dare look at her and instead focused on the ground right in front of him. Was she trying to play with him? Zoey was completely different to how he imagined her. Not in a worse way, just different.

He just nodded at her offer and managed to give her a little smile. "I'll be here." Like always - I'm always here - no one ever noticed.

He actually spoke to her which was another record in his book. His eyes slowly scanned the ground next to him where Zoey sat and continued their path until he could see her shoes. He held his breath as he turned his head to face her while his eyes took in the rest of her until he saw right into her eyes.

Valentine's eyes had an unusual intensity and for a moment they appeared like two black pools. In this light his natural darkbrownish greenish mix was barely recognizable but if there was direct sunlight the odd mix could be seen.

He just looked at her and said nothing else as the next track started to play and resonated faintly through his headphones.

Was it a Dream?

Click to reveal..

Your defenses were on high

Your walls built deep inside

Yeah I'm a selfish bastard

But at least I'm not alone

My intentions never change

What I wanted stays the same

And I know what I should do

it's time to set myself on fire

Was it a dream?

Was it a dream?

Is this the only evidence that proves it

A photograph of you and I

Your reflection I've erased

Like a thousand burned out yesterdays

Believe me when I say goodbye forever

Is for good

Was it a dream?

Was it a dream?

Is this the only evidence that proves it

A photograph of you and I

Was it a dream?

Was it a dream?

Is this the only evidence that proves it

A photograph of you and I

(A photograph of you and I)

Was it a dream?

Was it a dream?

Is this the only evidence that proves it

A photograph of you and I

A photograph of you and I

A photograph of you and I... in love...

[Wa'ne]

"That's alright, I understand."

whatever

"Sure, lunch, sounds fine. Though not here, it will be raining." Sebastian said, looking up at the sky, his obsession with the weather had done nothing if not make him a human barometer, he could almost feel the low pressure system coming onshore. Heck, this was Washington in Spring, he could say it was gonna rain later and 85% of the time he would be right anyway. "Why don't we meet here and we can run to Arby's?

Sebastian may not necessarily consider himself a jock, and may be at a crossroads, but he wasn't going to voluntarily be seen eating lunch with Valentine, Zoey was one thing, but definitely not Valentine.

[Zoey Black]

"Sure, Arby's sounds good." She wasn't too sure Sebastian took it as well as she hoped but coming off the breakup with little miss prom queen she didn't think anything would be happy for him right now. She just hoped they could be friends. Being able to get out of this rainy place for a while would be nice. It was practically all she ever dreamed about. Maybe he'd still want her to go with him after his heart started mending, then again maybe he wouldn't. That would be more likely. She was convenient and the first girl that crossed his path after Laura. He'd mend then he wouldn't want anything to do with her.

Maybe things would be different after graduation. Ted said that he hardly ever saw anyone from school after crossing the stage, and he sill lived here going to community college. Till he gets himself busted for something stupid at least, she was expecting to hear about it happening any time now. He wasn't smart enough to get away with things without someone to help him.

"Yeah, it's always raining here. I want to be someplace warm and dry. At least not raining anyway."

[Wa'ne]

"Well, Arby's should be warm and dry." He said, swallowing his mouthful of poptart and intentionally playing dumb to her intent. "Though you never know with those fast-food places..."