Jock-splosion! (Levi, tag open)

[Levi Rubenstein]

Levi felt like he had been so busy the last few days, what with schoolwork being piled on and his Guild being very active. Ever since the unbelievable drop a few days ago, it seems like everyone in the guild just wanted to raid over and over. Levi almost got to the point where he was sick of it, and finally last night had to stop and take a break! He did so by turning on his Xbox to play Oblivion.

Thus it was that the next day at school he had fantasy on the brain, not comics. His doodles during class were of brave warriors as opposed to his normal superheroes, and he was almost compelled to join Denny outside during lunch for a bit of Larping. Levi always felt awkward about such activities at school, however. He got pushed around enough as it was, he didn't need a great public spectacle to draw even more attention to himself. Plus, there were actually some pretty girls that sometimes took part, and Levi couldn't bring himself to look them in the eye, let alone duel them high atop the rocky crags of Caer Dwailith, even if it were all make-believe.

Levi instead opted to take his lunch outside, but unfortunately for him he turned down the wrong hallway. A group of silver and green clad jocks lay between him and the doors to freedom. Taking a deep breath and wishing for the best, Levi kept his head down and began walking towards the door, hoping the jock mob would simply pass by him in the opposite direction and take no notice.

This, however, was too much to ask of fate. While it could have been much worse, the hand that smacked down onto the paper sack he was holding, bursting it open and scattering the contents of his lunch across the floor. Levi took a knee to gather his meal, the items not protected by bags being the top priority. Thus it was that while he was able to save an apple, a pudding, and a can of cherry coke, his sandwich and bag of Cheetos were unfortunately crushed under the feet of the athletic trolls. He silently hoped a real life vampire or werewolf would happen upon the group of thugs as he sat back on the ground and attempted to assemble the paper sack into something that may yet still hold his lunch.

[Roxy Rivera]

Roxy was actually excited about lunch today. Normally, she just bought her lunch but today she had uber yummy leftovers from last nights dinner which had been a spread of delicious sandwiches. Sure they were small but she had three of them which was more than enough food for her. But still, Roxy was excited for it. And as she headed down the hall, she had an extra skip in her step and smile on her face. In the back of her mind she wondered what Thad and Ezzie were up to. She was excited that Ez seemed to finally be hanging out with them again. Thad was awesome and all but it just wasn't the same without their third musketeer.

As she made the turn to head for the cafeteria she eyed a bunch of guys in Silver letterman jackets laughing over a poor kid who'd spilled his lunch all over the floor. Roxy hadn't seen them do anything to him but she wouldn't be surprised if they had knocked the food from his hands. Roxy shook her head at them, but there were just too many for her to be of much help. But then as the boy on the floor turned slightly and Roxy recognized him as the kid who had chickened out in meeting them to fight the werewolves. Poor kid...he'd been so nervous just talking to them...let alone surrounded by the jocks.

Roxy took a deep breath and changed her course. She marched right up to the jocks and placed her hand on her hip. Roxy could be very loud and didn't embarrass easily. And she wasn't scared of a couple boys she didn't know. "Yeah, very funny," she said to them. "I'd feel real good about myself too if I picked on people half my size," she said sarcastically. She knelt down next to the boy and began to help him, before looking up at the other boys. "You can leave now," she told them and was thankful when they did scatter although she did hear some crude comments that she chose to ignore. She sighed. "You okay?" she asked, pushing her hair behind her ear as she met his eyes.

[Levi Rubenstein]

A voice carried through the hallway that was markedly different from that of a jock. Levi's eyes rose to see the girl that had been pestering him about helping in that silly vampire movement yesterday. If his lunch wasn't already bad enough! Now he had to be defended from some jocks by a girl? He decided his best hope was to remain fixated on repairing his lunch sack in the hopes she shooed the jocks away and left him be.

He glanced up quickly to see if she was moving on, and that was him mistake. Their eyes met. She was much to pretty to be talking to a guy like Levi, causing Levi to look directly back down at his mangled sack. “I'mfine,” he mumbled quickly, the words barely intelligible. He could feel his face start to burn as the blood ran into his cheeks. If he had glanced in a mirror he would have seen that most of his face was beet red.

The paper bag mostly together, Levi attempted to stand up. And he bent down to grab his backpack, however, the structural integrity of the paper failed once again, his food spilling for the second time onto the ground. He made a quick grasp for the apple, and almost had it if it weren't for his backpack falling from his shoulder and knocking the fruit from his grasp. This time he just stood, defeated, his lunch a mess upon the ground.

And the whole time the girl had been watching.

[Roxy Rivera]

He didn't seem very appreciative which confused Roxy. She was just trying help after all. She pushed some of her hair behind her ear and watched as his face turned red. Was he embarrassed about the jocks messing with or was it her? Sure Roxy had some experience with boys but she'd always gone out her way when she wanted it. She wasn't typically the girl that guys lusted after...or if she was, she really wasn't aware of it. So that wasn't really the first thing that popped into her head when she saw his cheeks flush.

He gathered his things and stood up, only to drop them once more. Roxy, who was still crouched on the floor caught the apple, but the rest of his food had an unluckier fate. "Hey...uh...let me help you," she offered. "Here, you can store some of your stuff in my bag," she said, holding out the plastic shopping bag she'd put her lunch in. "I don't know if you remember me from yesterday, but I'm Roxy," she said. "I was one of the crazies that wanted you to help fight the werewolves," she explained. "You're still free to join us of course if you want--I mean, its not anything that I take seriously, its more just for fun. What's your name anyway?" she asked.

She was really trying to be nice. But she wasn't really sure what else to do. She pushed her hair behind her ear once more, mostly out of nerves. Roxy wasn't really a nervous person, however the fact that he wasn't really responding to anything she was saying which sort of made her feel a little uneasy.

[Nate Kane]

Nate had been at his locker. The one he shared with the oh so lovely Skye. Which reminded him he needed to go see her again. He hoped she was feeling better. he missed seeing her smiling face at school. Stupid Brian. if the fucker ever came back. Nate had a low tolerance for people who picked on someone obviously weaker then themselves. It was sad and there was no excuse for the lack of intelligence really. Nate closed his locker, well Skye's locker. he smiled at the though once more and took off for the doors. His plan was to go off campus for lunch. Who was really going to stop him. There were to many kids around. it was easy to sneak off and now that he had a car, it was even easier.

Nate rounded a corner just in time to see some jocks give a kid a hard time. Which automatically pissed Nate off. seriously, high school jocks were idiots. Yet he was a jock. As proven by the letters-man jacket he was wearing. Nate was about to interfere when some petite young woman did it instead. man she had a loud mouth on her, and Nate smiled at he cojones she obviously had.

Nate smiled when she told the jocks to leave. When he saw that one of the guys was not going to leave is when he interfered. Nate grabbed the guy by the collar and pushed him into the lockers. "You heard the lady. Next time you wanna pick on that guy you come find me and we will see who ends up on the floor...now scram, or you will be looking for your lunch next." Nate was serious. The guys scrammed. Nate was popular. he was one of the top jocks and top dogs around Silver, but he had no patience for guys who picked on people they should not be picking on.

Nate watched the guy leave. he turned around just in time to see the guy's lunch fall again. He shook his head. Nate looked at Levi, although he did not know the kids name. Nate could pick this kid up with one arm and pick the girl up in the other. he was a big man compared to the both of them. "Jocks are idiots. You okay dude." he said to the boy. "I'm Nate, I was just about to head off campus for some real quality food, you both want to join me..I'm buyin...its the least I can do to make up for what this school lacks in human decency. If you can even call those idiots human."

[Levi Rubenstein]

Levi didn't understand why this girl was being so nice to him. He would have thought that she was part of some trick the jocks were pulling if it weren't for his encounter with her the previous day. The fact that she knew at least something about vampires and werwolves that wasn't Twilight related made her even cooler in his book, which of course made her all the more intimidating to him. But still... she kept talking to him. Why? Eventually he was going to have to either answer or run away again, but he was pretty well cornered this time, and he's have to ditch his lunch. And he was getting hungry.

“Umm, thanks,” he finally managed as he and the girl gathered what remained of his lunch and put it in her plastic bag. “Hey, Trader Joe's!” he remarked, momentarily forgetting himself and pointing at the bag. In an instant, however, his mouth zipped shut. He felt like such a dork for even caring what store the bag was from, but he always like going there with his mom and eating the free samples.

He decided to change the subject. “Yeah, I remember you. And I know who you are, you're Roxy Rivera.” Levi had a good memory, and had also seen the Gould yearbook, since his friend Denny attended the school. He didn't even know if Roxy realized it, but she and Denny had been in school together for quite some time. “And I know you were involved in that thing, but, I dunno.” He paused, his brow furrowing a bit as he thought. “I know they're not real, vampires and werwolves and stuff, so what it boils down to is that it's all kinda mean to that werewolf kid. I mean, I know I wouldn't like it if people were passing out fliers that made fun of me.” Levi realized how much he had just said to the girl, and noticed that nothing felt weird or awkward. He allowed himself a little smile.

Suddenly an older kid appeared. Levi also knew him, Nate. He was one of the few jocks that didn't pay attention to Levi when he walked by, which is about the best he ever hoped for when walking down the hall. But today he was being overly nice. There was also something about him that nagged at Levi's brain, but he couldn't think of it at the moment.

“Umm, thanks, but that's okay. I just... I can eat my lunch here just fine,” Levi managed to get out. The invitation felt awkward, since Levi didn't expect such an offer. But he also didn't want to be rude. Did he say thank you? He couldn't recall. “But thanks.”

[Roxy Rivera]

Roxy honestly didn't have any rhyme of reason to helping him out really. She'd recognized him from the previous day which probably had had something to do with it, but mostly she just tended to be a nice person. She'd do the same thing for any of her friends so why not for this guy. Plus, Roxy had no problem standing up to people or yelling at people or yelling in public or even dancing in public. Roxy did not embarrass easily.

But he finally spoke up...said thanks, causing Roxy to smile. "Uh yeah," she said holding out her Trader Joe's bag, still with a smile on her face. "Secretly I like Whole Foods better because they have amazing soup, but Trader Joe's is closer to my house," she said with a laugh. "I actually brought some super good Trader Joe's sandwiches for lunch. They are sort of mini-sandwiches so I brought 3, but you can have one if you want because I probably can't eat all 3 and your lunch looked kinda squished anyway," she offered. Okay, maybe Roxy sort of felt bad for the kid so was being extra nice, but so what. He seemed like an okay guy. He certainly wasn't the type to knock people's lunches from their hands so he was okay in her books.

Roxy smiled when he said he knew her...and even said her last name. She couldn't remember if she'd told it to him. Maybe she had yesterday, but decided to just go with it. "Yep, that's me," she said. "Sorry, I don't think I know your name though," she admitted. It was easier to just admit the truth and get his name rather than pretend like she knew him. Roxy didn't see any need to be fake.

As he went on about how he felt bad for the werewolf kid, Roxy started to feel sort of bad too. Sometimes Roxy got caught up in how 'fun' something would be, she didn't always think about the casualties. And really, Roxy wasn't a mean person. And targeting the werewolf kid was kind of just as bad as how the jocks and ganged up on Levi. "Yeah...I didn't even know it was against a specific person at first...I just thought it was one of Thad's crazy schemes triggered by his sister of course...I don't even know the werewolf kid...but now that you mention it...I feel kind of like a jerk," she said. "I wonder if he knows about it," Roxy said. "I don't think Thad's done anything yet." She shook her head, still thinking about it.

It was then that other guy appeared. Roxy was about to go off on him, assuming that he was one of the jocks who'd given Levi a hard time, but then after seeing how he'd stood up to the straggling guys who hadn't quite left yet and offered to even buy lunch to make up for it, Roxy was glad she hadn't opened her mouth yet. "Yeah, thanks," she agreed. "It's cool that you can stand up to your friends," she said, the words still coming out a little harsh, since she assumed that as a jock this guy was friends with the others.

[Nate Kane]

The scrawny kid looked familiar to Nate. It took him a while. Being a cops kid, meant he had a knack for remembering things. Little details. Nate hated it, but its how he was able to memorize numbers so fast. Specifically women's numbers. It was a talent. A woman could say their number out loud and Nate would remember it. A gift and a curse to have such a good memory. Nate thought about it for a moment trying to place the kid and then it dawned on him. He was the kid riding around on that skate thing or whatever it was, when Nate had seen the red head girl, Sandy or as Nate liked to call her Nurse, for helping his injured ankle at the time. Nate thought nothing of it. "No problem. Come on let's eat." He motioned for them to lead the way.

Nate smirked when Roxy spoke up about standing up to friends. She was a cute little thing. She looked too young for him, which meant she was fresh meat but she was still cute. "I agree it is easier to stand up to your friends. Unfortunately those guys are only teammates, not friends. If I wanted to stand up to my friends. It would have involved a cheerleader named Trixie and her idiotic brother Jay." Nate told them with a laugh. The harshness in her voice was cute.

Nate looked at both of them. "By the way I am Nate." He told both of them. Nate sometimes hated being a cops kid. It meant he did feel bad for the underdog, which in this case was obvious the scrawny kid. Nate hated seeing the underdog getting picked on. It was stupid really. Why pick on anyone. There was no point, but picking on a kid was just stupid. Nate would rather help the underdog then pick on him. Jerks were not cute, example Jay...idiot. Nate hated being friends with kid, but he was friends with Jay, mostly due to Trixie. "I am actually meeting Trixie for lunch, I can text her and have her meet us where ever you guys want to sit." Nate said with a shrug.

[Levi Rubenstein]

Levi smiled to himself. Of course she didn't know his name, duh! Girls like that didn't know the name Levi Rubenstein at all. They knew names like Jayson Michaels or Tyler Durnham. Cool names that proper heroes had, not anything like his name. His name sounded more like the producer of a movie than the star. The guy that has the money to make other people look cool, not himself.

“I'm Levi,” he said, throwing his arm out in front of him to greet Roxy. Talking to girls got a heck of a lot easier once you started. Breaking the ice was the most difficult part. Now all he had to do was constantly patrol his mind, and keep any traces of dorkiness from his speak, which was much easier said than done. “I understand, it's really easy to get caught up in stuff. I'm sure sometimes the jocks don't realize they're being that mean.” He didn't know if he necessarily believed that, but he did believe that Roxy wasn't trying to be mean and he just wanted to make her feel a bit better. “I don't... I mean, I know you're not a jerk.”

Nate's entrance onto the scene, while not unappreciated, just made Levi feel all the more awkward. How could he ever compare to a jock, especially one who was trying to be nice? But the mention of Trixie's name threw Levi for a loop. Trixie Michaels would not have lunch with anyone like Levi, never in a million years. Hell would freeze over first. He looked up at Nate, trying to figure out what was going on. It had to be a trick, a big elaborate trick the jocks were trying to pull on him. Was Roxy involved too? No, it couldn't have started so far back. She must just be some innocent damsel.

“Umm, that's okay, but I think I was just going to go outside and have lunch,” Levi managed to say, albeit very quickly. He knew he needed to get out of this situation before whatever trap was waiting sprung on him to humiliate him even further. “So thanks for the invite, but we better get going.” He smiled as wide as he could at Nate, hoping it seemed sincere, then grabbed the bag Roxy was holding and used it to pull her along with him as he hurriedly walked towards the exit. He tried to give her a look that explained what was going on, but he wasn't quite sure how to describe the elaborate plot using only his eyebrows.

[Roxy Rivera]

Not knowing Levi's name really had nothing to do with him not being popular. Perhaps it was easier to know the popular kids names because those were the people that everyone talked about but for the most part, Roxy just didn't know many people from Silver. Even though the two schools had combined before, for the most part Roxy had just stuck by her friends and hadn't really met too many people from the other school. Levi was no different. "It's nice to meet you, Levi...well, again," she said, taking the hand he offered and shaking it.

She nodded when he went on about getting caught up in things and not thinking she was a jerk. "Thanks," she smiled, "but I don't think it was an accident on the jock's part," she whispered, "I think they really might just be jerks," she added with a bit of a giggle. She wasn't impressed my meanness in the least. She didn't really see the point. After all, Roxy was by no means popular. She probably wasn't the nerd of her class or anything either, but she spent most of her time scheming with Thad and Ezzie, and they were hardly the popular kids. Maybe Roxy could have been one of them had she made an effort to befriend them and dress the part, but Roxy really had no interest in it. She liked her friends. They were a lot of fun and she really didn't see what was so fun about going to parties and drinking until you couldn't remember anything. She'd much rather get a nice sugar high from pixie sticks or something.

"Nice to meet you, Nate," Roxy said when the other boy introduced himself. She felt sort of bad for assuming that he was friends with those jerks, but thought that it was a fair assumption on her part, so figured she could let herself off the hook. She shook his hand too. She thought it was odd that the older boy wanted to have lunch with two freshmen, but figured he just felt bad for what had happened. He mentioned meeting up with his friend...some girl that Roxy also didn't know. But Levi seemed to get nervous at the mention of this Trixie girl. He grabbed her by her lunch bag and started to pull her away.

Roxy didn't understand. Did Levi maybe have a crush on this Trixie girl? Maybe he was too embarrassed to eat lunch with her? It was a possibility, she supposed. However, seeing that she was being pulled toward the door it wasn't really something she had time to theorize. "Uh...okay," she said. "I um...yeah, thanks," she said looking at Nate and shrugging innocently, obviously confused to what was going on and why Levi was so eager to leave, "I guess we're just gonna eat outside," she said, looking at Levi. He was trying to convey something to her...that much was clear. But what was it, she had no idea. Once they reached the exit she looked over at Levi once more. "I'm confused, what just happened?" she whispered, her eyes dancing excitedly as if it was some big secret she was just about to be let in on.