Wake up to the sound of W A R ;; DESIRE

[KITTY JUTE]

outfit

Two hours. Two hours left in the school day, and then she was free. It seemed like such a short time, yet it was so out of reach it was unbelievable. Kitty couldn't stand it that long, not without some help. Who needed gym class anyway? The sub most likely wouldn't take attendance either, so Kitty was standing underneath the shade of a large weeping willow on the grounds of the high school, a cigarette in her mouth and a lighter in her hand. She was generally pretty sneaky about her smoking habits, and for the most part didn't get caught. She'd been unlucky enough once to have the principle walk by when she was standing right next to his car in the parking lot, but luckily it was only a cigarette she was smoking at the time.

The brunette took a long drag on her cigarette, letting the smoke out slowly. Sweet relief. She was going to make this one last. She pushed her aviator sunglasses onto her head, holding her hair back from her face. She squinted through thick eyeliner, a smirk forming on her face when she saw a few students from her gym class jog past, not even noticing her. At this point, she didn't even ask anyone to cover for her if the sub happens to take attendance on that day. She had stopped caring about school a long, long time ago. Her parents had stopped being disappointed in her a long, long time ago, when they realized that she wasn't as perfect as their other children.

Kitty sighed, watching the ashes from her cigarette fall to the ground as she exhaled. She didn't even care that she'd reek of smoke when she walked back into the school. Chances were, nobody would even question her anymore anyway. People in her school were used to her habits, and they were used to her smelling like menthol. Hey, it was better than her smelling like some other things, right? Kitty's blue eyes starred at the ground, watching the shadows of active students run past her, a gentle breeze blowing her hair off of her shoulders. She tugged on her black and white scarf with her free hand, and glanced at what remained of her cigarette. She had at least a few good drags left. Maybe she'd even light up another one after this one was finished.

[désiré fay]

OH BABY, DON'T YOU REALIZE?
OH NO, NO, NO, YOU'RE WAITING FOR THE WORLD TO
PASS YOU BY, LIVING IN A STATE OF COMPROMISE
- - - - -

Finally the day was coming to a close and he was allowed to go outside for gym class. Personally, he wasn’t so fond of hanging around all of the kids out there and then changing into his clothes, but whatever. It wasn’t like anyone was actually staring him down or something so after a while Désiré had just sort of gotten used to it all over again with new people. That, of course, didn’t make him like it anymore. In any case, he did like the idea of getting out and doing something. Sitting inside the classrooms all day wasn’t really something that he enjoyed too much. His mother had been wrong when she said he would go and enjoy the company of other people. Oho, she couldn’t have been more wrong about that. Her son, enjoying people? Hah! That was hilarious to think about wasn’t it? Désiré enjoy somebody? That was a ridiculous thought. Well, alright, it wasn’t completely ridiculous to think about but it was silly to think that he was going to suddenly become a social butterfly because she had placed him in a public school. To be honest, he would rather be at home finishing his work alone in his bedroom. Who wouldn’t want that?

In any case, that couldn’t be helped and here he was just waiting for the day to pass and enjoying the time that he had outside. And he was just in luck when the activity for the day had been picked out. The substitute teacher was going to have them running. Running was one of the few things that Désiré was actually good at. He loved doing it to an extent, he supposed. It wasn’t something that he thought was amazing… it had just sort of ground itself into his head so much that he had to think that it was amazing. After his father constantly telling him that sports and running especially was his life, Désiré had come to believe it. Sometimes he was sure that he subconsciously hated doing it. It was just so… redundant.

He wasn’t even really paying any attention to anything that anyone around him was doing or saying. Désiré stood silently at the back of the class while the substitute babbled on about something or another. There was really no need for him to be paying a whole lot of attention. When the other students started moving then he would just go ahead and follow behind them. It was as simple as that.

Oh and what do you know- there they all went. It was just that simple; follow right along behind them without a word. He had no clue how long they were supposed to run or anything. No, he would just wait that out too and watch whoever sprinted up ahead of him. You know, see who decided that running laps around a field would be done and over with. Well, this whole running thing did end up lasting a few minutes and soon Désiré had figured that they would be running, jogging, or walking all period long while the substitute… disappeared? What the hell was the deal with that? You couldn’t just- oh, whatever. If he could ditch then... now who could that be?

Whilst his train of thought, Désiré’s wandering eyes managed to fall upon something that was pink in color. It was a tee-shirt of course and it wasn’t long before he put all of that together only to discover that the pink shirt was being worn by a girl under the willow tree. Désiré was honestly quite disgusted with the idea of ditching these physical activities when he was told he needed to do them but… why do them if nobody was there to boss them around? May as well drift off a little and maybe see why this person thought that they were special enough to just wander off and smoke under a tree. As he slowed to a jog and turned off his track toward the tree, Désiré felt an automatic frown curve onto his lips. The person was slowly becoming more familiar and he suddenly liked the idea of running in circles for no reason again. At least that was something that he could tolerate in comparison to this train wreck.

Then why was it that he found himself moving a few of the wispy branches from his face to see what she was doing? He hadn’t the slightest clue. He supposed just to bug her a little. Then he would turn around and leave, completely uninterested in whatever it was that she was doing. She was only sucking in smoke and killing her lungs; interesting? No, not so much. Just a revolting habit that people should really consider quitting. It could really mess you up and all-

“Typical,” he murmured under his breath, as he stared down toward her. Then his eyes seemed to lose interest in her all together and he wrapped his fingers around the hem of his white tee-shirt, pulling it downward further over his athletic shorts.

He wasn’t surprised to find someone like her here.

[KITTY JUTE]

Sighing, Kitty let her cigarette butt fall to the ground, lightly stomping it out with the heel of her shoe. Glancing to the side, she noticed that kids were still running. She had time for at least one more. Reaching into her bag, Kitty located the half-empty pack of cigarettes, taking another one out and making sure that it was damaged or anything. She reached into her pocket, taking her lighter out again. Holding the cigarette in her mouth, she shielded it with her hand as she lit it so the wind wouldn't blow the flame out.

Kitty closed her eyes, taking another long drag on her second cigarette of the 40-minute period that she was skipping her gym class. Gym was stupid anyway. You took 10 minutes to change, ran around and got all sweaty for a half hour and then changed back. What was the point? She had horrible endurance, and hated running. It was the perfect day to skip. So maybe not participating in gym class was killing her GPA, but she didn't care a whole lot about that anyway.

Hearing footsteps, Kitty turned her head to the side, seeing a figure merge away from the rest of the class and start to walk towards her. Maybe they'd ask her for a cigarette. It didn't look like someone she knew...oh wait. Rolling her eyes, Kitty took another drag on her cigarette. Really? Did he really want to start something today? Sure, she didn't know Désiré Fay very well, but from what she knew, she didn't like him. He was extremely judgemental, and for all she knew disliked her as much as she disliked him.

So why was he coming over here? Kitty crossed her arms defensively as he walked her way, starring him down as he came towards her. Typical, she heard him mutter, which only made her roll her eyes again, sticking her tongue out slightly. Seriously, what the hell did he want. She was having a shitty enough day as it was, and she didn't some dumbass French jock coming over and giving her shit when she was trying to calm herself down.

"What do you want," Kitty muttered, very disinterested in the subject. She didn't even look at him as she spoke. She knew he's just wind up being an ass and it wasn't worth her time to acknowledge him.

[désiré fay]

His steady eyes couldn’t help but follow her cigarette. If there was one thing that was truly ghastly and if not slightly nauseating, it was smoking. How in the world could someone stand there and basically kill themselves just for a few moments of relaxed pleasure? Not to mention the taste was nothing that should have been popular and the scent that the things carried was enough to make any poor sap that happened to be near gag a little bit. Désiré happened to be that sad sap right now but it was his own fault for walking over here. But how in the world was he supposed to know that she was over here smoking like a chimney? Through these ridiculous willow branches it had gone by unnoticed. It was probably getting all caught up under this tree and just floating around, with his luck. Now he was standing here breathing in those wretched fumes that she was spreading all over, poisoning everyone else’s air for her own enjoyment. Oh, how selfish these smokers were. There had been plenty everywhere where he had come from but he always made a point to try and avoid it. It was a nasty thing and here he was choking it down his throat just to see what she was doing. He felt like an idiot.

Désiré didn’t answer her right away. His eyes were busy looking off through the branches at the students still doing what they were told; still following the rules. And here he was spending time with a burnout smoking her cigarettes because she probably didn’t have the energy for running (let along thinking) after killing so many of those precious brain cells. He mused in his mind whether hers had been worth saving to begin with. For all he knew she had been smoking since she was a kid and none of those brain cells ever developed to their full capacity. She could have been a moron from the start, he didn’t know. But he decided not to question that out loud. He didn’t hate her with a burning passion strong as the sun, after all. He just didn’t like her enough to not want to be around her… except for now apparently. The shade was feeling pretty good on the back of his neck… that could make for a lovely excuse if she was wondering why he was here. And what do you know, she asked him. Not that he was giving her that answer now she had actually asked him something…

What did he want? Hell, he hadn’t even figured that one out yet so why did Smokey here have to go and ask him about it? Oh right, probably because he was standing before her now and sort of invading her privacy and what not. That sounded like a reasonable enough reason to him. Not that he would voice that or try to ever take her side. Especially when he was the opponent on the other side and trying to be the winner. It was Désiré against Kitty and that meant Désiré stayed way away from trying to solve any of her problems even if those thoughts were just that: thoughts. It left a bad aftertaste in the back of his throat to think that he had for a moment thought that he had done something that caused this wrongdoing; or maybe it was the smoke getting to him. That’s right, the smoke. It was probably going to start giving him a headache so why not just leave her alone and go back to running? He was good at ignoring things.

“Cancer in your lungs appeals to you?” he questioned, ignoring her own statement from a few moments ago. This shade that he was getting was rather nice… and talking didn’t seem half bad even if it was to someone who he disliked strongly. All day he had been quiet and it even felt strange allowing words to vibrate against his throat. He had almost forgotten the sound of his calm voice that was licked with a bit of his voice that he had thought he left at home in France. He had almost forgotten the pronunciation of the few words that he spoke simply because talking had not been on his mind. But speaking here in this language was definitely becoming simple. When you spoke it every day you started forgetting what you knew before this. “Or maybe it is… polluting the air you like more?”

[KITTY JUTE]

Kitty quickly took another drag on her cigarette, getting nervous from him just standing there starring at her like an idiot. Did people not smoke in France or something? It wasn't that big of a deal. Tons of teenagers smoked. It wasn't this big uncommon thing that someone had a cigarette in their mouth. She sighed, glancing down at the ground as she exhaled clouds of blue smoke into the air. She glanced over at Désiré nervously. Was he going to say something or just stand there like an ass? She rolled her eyes, shaking her head slightly as she flicked some ashes at the ground.

Cancer in your lungs appeals to you?

Oh, so now he was going to lecture her about how unhealthy her habits were. She rolled her eyes again. Like she hadn't heard that one before. You should've seen her mother fly off the rocker when she caught Kitty smoking out her window the first time at three in the morning. Not a pretty site. At least it was only a cigarette, though. "Maybe it does," Kitty replied, mumbling slightly. It wasn't a problem to her if she was slowly killing herself. Smoking at least got her through one day to the next, didn't it? Everyone was going to die anyway, she didn't see very much harm being done.

Or maybe it is… polluting the air you like more?

Oh for Pete's sake. Kitty sighed loudly, exhaling her smoke up into the air. Really? Was he really just going to waltz right over here and yell at her for "polluting the air"? She looked over, her blue eyes starring him down through smokey eyeliner. "Alright, Frenchie. What do you want. Really." she spoke, blinking her eyes purposefully at him. As far as she knew, she hadn't done anything to make him hate her so much, which only made her hate him even more, that he was so judgemental. He didn't know what she was going through. What right did he have to come over here and tell her how to live her life? It was bullshit, and she didn't have the patience for it.

[désiré fay]

Her comment caused his brow to furrow deeply when Désiré heard the nickname she had suddenly decided to grace him with. It was definitely something that Désiré found himself hating quickly but for the time he decided not to share that with her in fear that it just may please her to know that she had managed to get underneath his skin even just a little bit. Frenchie; honestly did she have to go and call him such a thing? It sounded almost like French fry and reminded him of things that were not all that pleasant. At least she had just proved that her brain was capable of retraining information and recalling that he was from another country. Not that the nickname was flattering but he guessed that he had that one coming when he invaded her privacy and pointed out some things that he knew she could care less hearing out of his own mouth. In the end, Désiré supposed that at least the two of them were being somewhat honest with each other rather than tearing each other’s ears up with silly and trivial lies. What a waste of time that would be. No, he just had to stand here and think of an excuse for being- oh, wait, that would be lying, would it not?

Désiré’s mouth twisted uncomfortably as he turned his eyes away from her to continue watching the other students still out running or walking by now. The honest reason why he was here was because he had been curious. It was simple as that. But letting curiosity grasp a hold of his rationality was not something that was common for Désiré. Often he would manage to ignore things and continue on minding his very own business. But then he had to catch the sight of a stupid coral colored shirt and follow it over all because he had suddenly been struck by a curiosity. Did he regret doing it? So far yes but he wasn’t sure completely. What would be better, after all? Running out in the sun or standing under the shade talking to an enemy? Sadly, this choice was not as difficult as he first pondered it to be.

“A breather,” he replied to her with completely simplicity. His eyes were still wandering very far away from Kitty completely but his ears were tense and ready to catch any sound of movement or words near him. After a moment of avoiding eye contact with her, Désiré turned his eyes back over toward the girl and gave her a disgusted frown. “This was possibly the wrong place to find a breath of fresh air.”

Instead of continuing on with standing completely still, Désiré shifted his weight from side to side a moment before stepping further away from her and placed his hands on his hips while he turned his to face the other direction. He drew in a few careful and steady breath from his nostrils, wondering if he really should just leave her be. What would it matter to him that she was being lazy and smoking under a tree? It was her health she was putting at stake by herself and by standing around her horrible habit Désiré too was taking in some of the air around her. It gave him the chills when he felt a warm puff of smoke lick passed his face. Especially when it was coming from between the lips of someone who may have very well been filthy with other chemicals or drugs. It would only make him worse, would it not? All this thought of smokes and drugs was making him a good deal uncomfortable and he could feel a few muscles in his arm tensing.

“Do you not take place in any of these activities?” he inquired while shifting his weight and nodding out toward the running students. His eyes fell back on her once again and he let the annoyance shine back through his features yet again. “Perhaps you are… too cool for it? Or maybe sucking on the end of that-” he motioned toward the cigarette “-has made you… tired?”

[KITTY JUTE]

Kitty sighed, dropping her cigarette butt on the ground next to the other one and stomping it out so the grass didn't catch on fire. What was this guy's problem? Was she really bothering him by standing there having a cigarette? It was a French word anyway, he should like that. She rolled her eyes, starring at the ground as she shook her head. She didn't get people like him. She really didn't. Some people just get off on giving other people shit, apparently. Oh well, if he was gonna give her a hard time then she was going to give him one right back. She may have been unmotivated to run in circles around the school, but she had quite a bit of fight in her.

This was possibly the wrong place to find a breath of fresh air.

Kitty looked at him, her eyes starring deep into him. "You're the one who came over here. I didn't invite your or anything like that," she said, a harsh tone coming over her usually mellow voice. She couldn't help it. She had two cigarettes in the past 10 minutes, yes, but she was still on edge today. She got like this from time to time. Moody, randomly angry. It only took something like Désiré coming over here and questioning her smoking to really start to set her off. It wasn't any of his business anyway, what she put into her lungs. It would be one thing if they were actually hanging out and she started breathing smoke on him purposely, but she hadn't.

Letting out another sigh, Kitty kind of listened as Désiré asked why she wasn't participating in gym class. She didn't really see who would out of their own free will. Some kids cared enough about their grades to do the minimum, and then there were the suckers who actually enjoyed running around in circles pointlessly. Though, he was partially right. She'd give him that. Her smoking made it really hard to breathe while running, but that wasn't the only thing stopping her. She glared a bit as he asked if she was "too cool" to participate. She had an answer for that. "I don't think you should run unless you're being chased," she said simply, keeping her arms crossed as she looked over at him.

[désiré fay]

Alright then, so that was something that Désiré already knew but he would take a small, simple note in the back of his mind to say that she was right. She had not invited him to come over here and stand next to her. Kitty had even found this place before he did so she probably had every right to be agitated at him for being here and he probably was rude for coming over and suddenly feeding her things that she probably did not care to hear no matter how true they could have been. Even if Kitty had suddenly gotten a change of heart and invited Désiré to come and stand with her underneath the shade, Désiré knew that he would have swiftly declined by giving her a careless stare. That was just the way that things were between the two of them. Désiré personally had no interest at all in getting close to this girl. She showed no signs of interest in anything but smoking so how on earth would a person manage a simple conversation with her unless it be something such as this? An argument over absolutely nothing really. Had Désiré been a pot head then he was sure the two would hit it off great because they’d be too high to give a damn. Or they would merely have one thing in common: smoking. But that could not be considering he was more concerned with running his laps than inhaling smoke and other nasty things. He, for one, wanted his body to be healthy and in tip-top condition. How could you be the best- oh, no. He didn’t want to be the best… he just had to stay in good conditions and make up to his father everything that he couldn’t do right. That was all. Not the best, not the best, not the best.

Désiré had hardly realized that he was watching her put out what seemed to be a second cigarette. That meant that she must have had the other before he had gotten here. Unless this was some kind of popular spot for sucking on cancer sticks that he was not aware of until this very moment. His eyes were so busy watching her put it out that he did not take heed to anything else she was doing. And that was just a simple motion of crossing her arms. Preparing herself to fire a comment back at him? Most likely, that was the case. And when she did say something back at him, Désiré only slowly turned his eyes back up toward her with a furrowed brow. But he carried a look that showed he could almost care less. The words she said, however, did bother him.

“And you are in peak performance to run when the time comes, yes?” he continued to interrogate with a rather gentle almost coaxing sound in his voice. But that surely did not mean he was anywhere near being happy with her. No, had he had things his way he may have just spat something wretched back at her. Those wretched thoughts were kept away though. It was like that little dose of evil that every human being carried with them. The one that made you hate so bad you could just break something in half. Something like that, at least. “When you are being chased there will be no… gasping? Just a perfect sprint?” Despite tugging on his bottom lip with his teeth, Désiré couldn’t help but smirk lightly at her as he stared back at her. “I would hope I would be there to see it.”

[KITTY JUTE]

Kitty shifted uncomfortably. Why'd he have to stare at her like that? Like he was so much of a better person than she was just because he didn't smoke? As if she wasn't self-conscious enough just talking to him, he had to go and be a jerk to her for really no reason. She was under this tree long before he was, so why did he have to come over here and interrupt her when she was just trying to get her nicotine fix so she wasn't trying to rip people's faces off all day until school let out. She checked her watch. If he didn't like her, why did he always have to start stuff? Why couldn't he just let her live how she wanted?

Kitty sighed, starring at the ground as he attacked her again. He seemed to be bothered when she called him "Frenchie" before. Was he ashamed of being French? Or maybe he just didn't like it when people pointed it out. Either way, it got under his skin, and if she really wanted him to leave her alone, then she could use that as ammo. So why was she putting up with him? She hated the guy, that was for sure. She just couldn't grasp why he was so concerned with her lungs. They hated each other, it was a mutual thing.

And you are in peak performance to run when the time comes, yes?

Kitty rolled her eyes. "Just because I don't run around the school doesn't mean I'm out of shape," she sighed. Skateboarding took more energy than people realized, and she was pretty good at it. When she wasn't home or at a friend's house vegging out, they hung at the skate parks, or just in a parking lot, practicing. Her legs were pretty toned from it, and she was sure that if she really needed to outrun something, she'd be fine. "I think I'll be okay. And if you're so concerned about it, why don't you just go back to running laps around the school like the rest of the sheep in our gym class?" Kitty muttered, sighing as she let one arm fall, keeping the other one crossed. Désiré had just picked a bad day to mess with her. She was sure that as soon as she got home she'd be calling up one of her pothead friends for a long session of vegging out in front of the TV, watching some stupid movie that wouldn't be funny unless you were high at the time.

[désiré fay]

Kitty was just a clever little thing, was she not? With her sagacious choice of words and annoyed composure. It was enough to make him just as irritate as she was. Because to be honest Désiré was not all that upset with her just yet. There was not a doubt in his mind that she had managed to make him feel at least the slightest bit abrade but deep down he began to guess that in a way he had just asked for it with his own badgering. Of course this did not mean that Mr. Fay was going to go and treat her like a princess for his own wrong doing. But, one thing it did manage to do was shut his mouth for now. His jaw cricked back and forth lightly while he removed his stare from the brunette completely. The thought of just giving up on standing here shot across his mind and seemed like an amazing suggestion.

Well you know what? Maybe Désiré really would just go and run the remainder of his laps that he had with the ‘sheep’ out there. He was not the one who was going to fail his years in school like this girl. She may have somehow found herself above the activities that they had to perform but considering the things she did in her spare time, by mimicking her, Désiré would be lowering his own standards and rules if he were like her. What was the greatness in standing around and being nothing more than a pot addicted teenager? Nobody looked up to you unless they had the same addiction in common or had no sense of… common sense. It made Désiré feel a little better about this to think of things such as these. It made him feel better to know that at least he was only a sheep and not a future bum or convict.

Standing near Kitty was not making this time tick by any quicker and was not making him feel anymore rested. In fact, Désiré was just feeling kind of angry. He did quite a superb job of eliminating the feeling from his features though. Yes, by now he just looked more like he was bored with her instead of slightly flustered by her words. There was no time to be angry as of now and his brain was busy pulling together the options that now laid themselves out before him. Obviously the least likable of these choices was to stand here and continue murmuring things over at her. There was no point in making points, was there? Not if she was not going to agree with him and not if he was going to agree with her. They already thought far too differently about things so what was the point in trying to just have a normal conversation with one another? It was a waste of time. Why had he not figured that out sooner or made it clearer to himself? Maybe if he had been using half of his brain he would not have stopped. He would have kept running. And that was the other option; keep going and ignore her. The more favorable one wasn’t hard to pick out.

“When I see it, I’ll believe it,” Désiré commented quietly at what she had mentioned earlier about her apparently being in shape. The teenager highly doubted that Kitty was in tremendous shape at all or really in. Why? Well, that was simple, it was because she stood here treating her lungs like a chimney. Things like that could make you very… not in shape. But maybe that was considered in shape to someone who was labeled as a ‘stoner.’ Anyone who excelled in keeping their body in shape was just a ‘sheep’ apparently. Since he could run and did not mind, he was a sheep. Stupid girl with no sense. There was no use listening to someone who sucked in smoke all day and killed their brain cells. “Well then, Jute, I will leave you to your more important business now,” he informed her lightly while taking a step out from underneath the tree’s dropping branches. He turned his eyes back her way again and gave her an agitated frown. “Enjoy killing your body.”

[KITTY JUTE]

Kitty starred right back at him. Désiré, the little French asshole. She couldn't tell if he was annoyed, or secretly enjoying the little confrontation that they were having. Really, she had no idea why he was still standing here. He should know by now that conversations between the two of them did not generally go very well. They just weren't compatible. They were nearly on complete opposite sides of the spectrum, and they both knew it. He dropped his eyes from her for a moment, and Kitty squinted hers. She wasn't going to back down from him. Not today. Désiré standing there and talking to her wasn't making either of them happy, that was a definite. Every second he continued to stand there and judge her, Kitty felt her blood pressure go up just a little bit. She felt like a time bomb.

Groaning quietly, Kitty continued to stomp out her cigarette butts, taking her frustration out on the litter that she had thrown on the ground. They were made out of paper, right? So it was bio-degradable...kind of. Not that she cared anyway. She looked up. He was still there, not saying a damn word. Désiré was really one person that she'd never get. He couldn't just run his laps like a good boy and let her do her own thing, could he? No, he had to go and randomly attack her, when she'd been standing there first, not bothering anyone. Instigator. That's what he was. She wondered if he was like this around anyone, or just people he deemed underneath him. Well, he clearly wasn't as great as he thought he was. Kitty hadn't ever done a damn thing to him.

"And you're still here," Kitty said impatiently, rolling her eyes as she ran a hand through her thick hair. Did this guy ever give up? She had made up her mind, and she wasn't moving. Not until the warning bell rang, and she wasn't sure if she was going to go back into the school at that point anyway. Nobody would miss her if she didn't show up for the second half of the school day. Some people, people like Désiré would even be thankful for her absence. The brunette looked over at him, tilting her head forward slightly, her eyes starring straight into his.

"Whatever," she muttered, shaking her head as he fired back on her previous comments. She let out a sigh of relief as he began to walk away. Really, she'd been beginning to wonder if he'd ever leaver her alone. Enjoy killing your body. "I will," Kitty said, loudly enough for him to hear her as he turned his back and began to walk back towards the rest of the class.