"Red Alert, huh?"  Esther couldn't help but laugh at that.  The humor fit her sensibilities nicely.  The way he awkwardly tried to explain the joke, though.. Oh, dear.  Thoughts from her morning dalliance came back to her, and she thought to herself, if it were any other time, or if Shawn had come along a little before Dorothea, she would have taken him to task about flirting with her.  But even then, it would have been a little nutty.  She'd never really had to deal with affections from that corner of the school before.  What<em>did</em>she look like to other people, now?  The sundress wasn't<em>that</em>good!<br/><br/>"Thanks for the laugh, English!" She said honestly.  "It's been one of those days where you need one.  This project Golden Boy and I are working on is a real doosey, and I'm rushing around about it.." She gives him a smile.  "Hey, you'll probably see Mike before I do, won't you?  You mind telling him I've made some discoveries that make our class project a bit more ugly than we thought.  Tell him I need to talk to him about it."<br/>"And give him a friendly..." Esther turns her wrist, trying to think.  "Okay, I don't know what you guys do.  Chest Bump?  Fist Bump?  Rub Elbows...  just whistle at him and say it came from me.  Congratulate him!  Tell him I didn't think that flavor of Mtn. Dew was coming back."<br/><br/>She pats him on the shoulder, says gotta run, thanks, and begins to move away when she thinks of something.  "Oh, hey!  Do we have a new student here?  A sophomore I think.. blonde.  I saw her in the hall when I bumped into you."  She didn't expect a name, not really.  But stoner athletes with sandy hair had a way with women, and if there was new blood, someone he knew probably knew her already.<br/><br/>The next moment, she is catching a glimpse of a clock as she sweeps down the hall.  It's almost time for next period.  Golden Boy and Red Alert ..Princess Prim had gotten old, anyway.. fucking each other was good news.  Hopefully she'd run into them soon to explain a few things.  But now it was Band Boy she needed to see.  It was strange: she'd always liked Band Boy from afar, never really giving it any thought.  Right now, shallow thing that she was, she'd prefer to pull Mike into the sheets with her.  But she had to admit: Red Alert and Golden Boy were a matched set.  And Weed Girl and Band Boy were much more matched than any other combination.  Still, she'd have to wait to see what class he was in.  No use searching the whole school.<br/><br/>She was a minute late to class, although moving into there under the eyes of everyone had a different meaning for her.  She wondered why she was going to this class anyhow.  Maybe it was just that she needed a sense of normal while she made sense of how very abnormal she had become.  Taking a seat, she obediently opened her books, and prepared to spend the next hour in silent, lethargic, cynical boredom.<br/><br/>Heh.  That<em>was</em>it, then.  Class was the only part of the day when she felt like the person she'd been yesterday.