Early Morning Regrets

[Frostbite]

Lorelai had left Rumble's room wordlessly, not even giving him a last smirk or looking at him before she left. She just about waddled to her room, in all her clothes but her shirt, thanking god that it was the early morning for no one to be around or awake while she carried it as a tiny crumpled ball against her chest. She didn't want to be seen like she was, nor after that did she think she'd prefer to be touched again, because it was not at all like she thought it would be, and it hurt too much for her to want it again. It didn't escape her that that was her first time, but at the moment she didn't want any of it anymore because none of it was enjoyable. All she wanted was to get to her room and stay there for a good long while.

Creeping as best she could, as quietly as she could, she finally made it to her room, which seemed all the further away since it was where she wanted to go. As she quietly closed the door behind her she let out a shaken sigh and leaned against it for a moment. She longed to just lay down and sleep away the time for a good year or two so maybe the feeling she felt would go away, but she wanted to take a shower and wash all the dirt off her. She let herself waddle freely in her room before knocking on the door to make sure Tia wasn't in there. After the silence she went in and locked the doors before starting the shower, running it so cold the valve was close to being turned off. She took off her clothes again, flashing back to what just happened seeing them on the floor again and quickly- well for her right now- picked them up, and put them in the hamper, burying the bloody shirt in the rest of her clothes before putting it all in.

Lorelai got in the shower and felt the cold water raining down on her, feeling only slightly comforted by its coldness. She was mad at herself, as well as disgusted and ashamed. In anger she curled one hand into a fist and hit the shower wall. It hurt and she knew it would, but she was too mad to care. She hit it again before deciding against doing it a third time and just tried to breathe and calm down. However, instead of calming down, she started crying, turning into the shower wall as she covered her face from no one and let the shower rinse off all the dirt she felt was on her. She knew she would be worse off after it, she knew it and she still went for it. Why did she have to just let herself do it, especially what she just did? Had she no self control that she just let herself mess everything up? This made it official; she was the Queen of making stupid decisions, and she knew she wouldn't be able to live it down, nor would anyone else if they found out, nor Rumble. She banged her head against the tile as she realized he would probably say something and cried more, the last thing she wanted now was for anyone to find out about it.

Her tears mixed in with the cold water as she stopped standing there after twenty minutes and started washing her hair, and then scrubbing hard at her body, whimpering as she felt the pain killers fade away by the pain in her chest and softened a little as she finished. All the while she felt so stupid about everything and wished she hadn't done a damn thing to go against anyone. There really was no going back now and she could never go back to her friends, especially Kevin. She didn't want them to see her like this, know what she did and remember she brought it upon herself, and she didn't think they would want her back so as much as she might want to, she couldn't crawl back to them. As she reflected, she wanted to sit there forever in the cold water, but she was tired and wanted to sleep, so she finished her shower and got out, gingerly drying herself and feeling a bit more relaxed, not needing to waddle around. She kept herself covered until she had her pajamas out and changed into them, not wanting to feel bare for anything other than a shower. She walked back to the bathroom and hung the towels up, feeling a soreness whenever she moved and quieted her crying before heading back to her room where she sat carefully on her bed, wishing Beast gave out pain killers to the children because she was hurting so badly.

Laying down on her side, she covered up despite ever being cold and curled up without making it too sore and tried to push the previous events and the way she felt out of her mind as she tried to sleep, still feeling on the grosser side even after washing herself. Eventually, she cried herself to sleep.

[Frostbite]

The next morning..

Lorelai was still curled on her side even as the sun shone through her window, her eyes wide open as she stared at the wall she faced. She barely slept the night before, her mind unable to push away what she chose to bring upon herself. She hugged her chest, still able to feel Rumble’s rough hand on her upper back when he held her down so she couldn’t move or even adjust so she wouldn’t hurt so bad from the way he had been with her. She could still feel everything as if it had just happened or was repeating itself and her body flinched at the fresh, cutting memory, grimacing as she could feel her dry eyes welling up with more tears. After crying to herself for hours, Lorelai had thought she didn’t have any tears left in her but she was surprised to find she did, and she just let them out because there wasn’t anything else she could do.

Whimpering at the pangs she felt, she uncurled her stiff body and felt every single bump, bruise, and soreness she got the day before, a combination of a personal hell given to her from the team practice and her encounter with Rumble. Right now, she wished the Broken Dagger simulation could have been real because she would have chosen a real death by how it ended instead of what was done to her after the fact. Slowly and painfully, she made herself sit up as she got what she was sure was the last of the available water out of her eyes, coughing dryly.

Lorelai hugged herself as she got up and dragged her feet to her door, making sure it was locked so no one could come in before she wiped her eyes and went to the bathroom. She knocked on the door to make sure it was empty and then went in to get a drink of water to moisten her throat. Looking at herself in the mirror, she saw how bad and different she looked. Her eyes were red and puffy, her face was tearstained and her lips were dry. That rebellious glint that she saw in her eyes a couple days ago was gone, and noticing it she realized that was what got her here in the first place. It reminded her that she brought it upon herself, and she couldn’t look anymore. Her eyes landed on the hamper, and she saw the clothes she had stripped off the night before and she trembled. It was a surefire reminder of what happened, and again she flashed back to hours ago, when she had taken them off and left herself free for her body to be raked by Rumble’s eyes. She couldn’t believe she let herself let it happened, and she felt dirty again. “I’m a whore,” she whispered to herself as she remembered being down on her knees and actually enjoying it, before she let him have his way with her.

She let him, but she didn’t want to let him at the same time, even when she knew she didn’t have a choice. Not when she saw too late how it was going to be. She couldn’t move the whole time, and he made it hurt a lot. Lorelai felt even more whorish knowing she had gone in a virgin, and having her first time be a hell like that. Before any of this, she would’ve never thought it would be like that. Before she came to the school, she had thought it would be with Chris, because she thought he would still be around and with her when she was ready. If it was like that, she knew it would have been a lot different, and she wouldn’t be feeling like this. Of course, it wasn’t, and it was never going to be like it no matter what she may have hoped or imagined. She was afraid to have sex again; she didn’t want to again, especially if she felt like this afterward.

It felt like her breath was barely there as she kept looking at the clothes before she grabbed them, crumpling them up into the tightest ball she could manage before it froze into an ice ball, making sure the clothes themselves froze too, to the point of brittleness. Her eyes watered at the pain everywhere as she raised it up and tossed it against the wall in her room, hoping it would shatter. She knew no one would hear it because it was well into breakfast, and everyone was down there. She saw that her ploy didn’t work, seeing as the clothes were still there, and in a messed pile on the floor on the other side of the room. Walking oddly and whimpering in anger and pain she went to a drawer and dug in it, looking for a lighter.

[Aqua]

"Of course you can come K'8," she said warmly. Heather and K'8 had actually become good friends in the past several months. They grew into a family thanks to Riker and were able to put aside their differences and come together. That was what being a family was all about. But Heather was glad that the goth girl was able to be more herself and feel comfortable around her peers. The water manipulator liked to think it was Sean to helped, but it seemed that whatever happened in LIMBO could have been the main cause.

"You're input would be really helpful," she continued as she hastened to the girl dormitories. "I hope she is OK. Everything that Ana said was just... terrible." Heather was known to be a bit of an airhead from time to time, however it wasn't anymore than most people. She wasn't gullible and usually thought a lot about certain things before acting upon them. In this case with Lorelai, the rumors seemed to tie together and make sense. Then again, most things that looked one way didn't mean it was correct. Grabbing K'8's hand as she quickly turned the corner leading to the girl dorms, Heather felt a bit nervous. She couldn't help but wonder if indeed the rumors were true, that Lorelai would be in pain at all. Sex wasn't Heather's forte and from what she heard, it was quite unpleasant the first time. But she was able to wait for the right guy. Not "The One" but just someone who respected her enough to want to share that intimacy out of affection and not for a point added to their scorecard.

Finally reaching the door, she looked at K'8 with worried eyes and bit her lip. "Here goes nothin," she said before she lightly tapped the door. She listened for a sound but wasn't able to decipher anything that advised her to leave. "Lorelai? It's Heather... and K'8. We came by to see if you were... awake?" It seemed like a good excuse rather than barging in on the poor girl saying 'Oh my God are you OK?!? Did he hurt you?!?' If the ice girl wanted to share then that was up to her. Otherwise, she had two friends to talk to about her problems if that was what she needed.

[D'mnchyld]

I know i just said to her 'Hey, I'm heading up to check on Lorelai. If you have a minute maybe you could join me there.' I'm pretty sure I even said 'I'm a little worried for her', and joked about her never missing a meal. Oh my god, look at her K'8 thought as she watched Heather I invited her to come with me, I was the one who asked HER. Oh dear, Riker is right about her being "special", guess it's why he asked me to keep a watchful eye on her. I thought he was just kidding around, but oh wow- he musta been serious as a heart attack

"Uh....." her eyes were wide and her mouth hung slightly open as she blinked not believing what she was seeing. The girl was like that middle girl from the Brady Bunch movies, and K'8 couldn't still quite wrap her head around what just went down. She decided to be the calm one, and keep her head about her. It's ok let her think she's the one who invited you to come, Sean will be happy you didn't make waves, Riker will be proud of you for keeping an eye on her too. "... thanks? Uh, thanks for the invite?" was all she could manage to say as Heather knocked on the door.

"Yeah, hey you didn't come down for breakfast? What's up?" She decided to put a little bit of something touching on concern into her tone, but followed Heathers lead.Why I don't just ask her about the blood I'll never know. I'll see how this plays out maybe Aqua has a better touch with this sort of thing. "You awake!?!" She looked up at Heather and shrugged.

[Frostbite]

Rustling could be heard through the door as Lorelai dug in her drawer for the lighter she had, and when she found it, she flicked it on and glanced at the pile of clothes on the floor. Lighting them on fire inside her room was something she knew was a very stupid thing to do, but compared to going to Rumble and letting him put her through two hours of hell, it didn't seem to really compare. In fact she thought it might make her feel a little bit better, but she knew in the back of her mind even if she got rid of the clothes, she would still remind herself. She was breathing hard and still whimpering, about to bend down to light the clothes when she heard a knock on the door and Heather's voice.

Lorelai froze with wide eyes, taking in a sharp breath that didn't make things any more comfortable than she already wasn't. No....no, I can't be seen, I don't want to be seen..if I don't say something they'll come in, but my door's locked so they couldn't....but they know I'm here since I'm not at breakfast.. Oh god, why?? I knew it was only a matter of time...oh god I hope they don't know...I'll die if they know, she thought as she unfroze to stand back up and hold her head so she wouldn't start wailing about being found. She squeezed her head and knotted her fingers in her hair to keep quiet and took a couple steps away from the clothes, still not knowing what to do.

She didn't want to answer, but she couldn't or she'd cause more worry, and she only grimaced more when she heard that D'mnchyld was there as well. Noo why is she here too? Oh god, no she'll see me like this too...no one should see me, no, no, she thought, continuing to freak out in her head as she glanced at the clothes on the floor and the lighter in her hand. She wanted to burn them so badly, but she couldn't do it if there were people at her door asking why she wasn't at breakfast and if she was awake. Of course I'm awake, I haven't slept barely a wink, thanks for asking, she thought bitterly as she flicked the lighter on and off over and over absentmindedly while trying to think of a way to deal with this.

Since burning the clothes was out of the question now, she couldn't think of anything else to do with them but to kick them all the way to her closet, but she kicked once too far and accidentally kicked her skateboard. She cried out in pain and anger at it and slammed the door to her closet shut, for now. She took a deep but shaky breath as she tried to calm down for a second to just give them a quick and short answer. She walked slowly nearer to the door so they could hear, not touching the handle or the lock and she still flicked the lighter on and off as she spoke in a hoarse and almost dead tone save for the hint of franticness for being found, "I'm awake. I'm not hungry." Simply put, she stepped away from the door and looked at the little flame from her lighter and at her pale, cold white skin and bit her lip. If she couldn't burn the clothes, maybe she could burn something else.

[Aqua]

Being so worried about Lorelai and trapped in her own thoughts, Heather's infamous blond moment kicked in again. It was something she needed to work on, however for the meantime her attention was only on her friend.

Lorelai's voice sounded so cold and distant. Heather made the assumption that the rumors were true and the ice girl was being more than regretful about her foolish decision. A piece of the New Mutant's heart cracked, feeling so bad for the Paragon. She wanted to be there for her, hold her if she needed to cry or yell or punch something. But Heather didn't know Lorelai all the well and only understood that she wanted to be left alone. Unfortunately for Lorelai, Heather wasn't going to go away and she was going to make sure of that.

K'8 was right about Lorelai needing a friend, someone to talk to even if it's only one word. Being an outcast could definitely be damaging to a human mind and even though Heather never experienced it personally, she could imagine the suffers people have gone through.

Looking at K'8, Heather sighed with worried eyes and shook her head. "We need to talk to her," she whispered so only K'8 could hear. "She sounds like a mess." Returning her gaze to the door, Heather sighed again and spoke up. "You need to eat something," she said in a playful manner. "C'mon let us in so we can force you out of this stuffy room." She smiled at the end of her sentence in case Lorelai decided to open the door suddenly. Something told her that this wasn't going to be easy for either of the three girls. Not one bit.

[D'mnchyld]

Aw hell with this playing patty cakes with her, she deserves the truth... at least lets give her that K'8 cleared her voice and tapped a fingernail on the door. "Uhhh, Lorelai..? You and I have gotten closer since you know all the stuff in LIMBO and in IceMan's class and all, hanging out with the teacher and stuff... and you are great in class, really awesome with your powers you know?" She looked over at Heather and bit her lip slightly.

"But you are even cooler as a person than your powers ever could be. You are just too sweet to not be up front and honest with. I respect you enough to tell you, we are a little bit worried about you. Now, you didn't come down to eat and uhhh," she lost her nerve right then and floundered for a reason to be worried "the uh, rest of your team... they um said it was a rough time you had last night." That was in fact true in practice as well as after, both accounts of which she had heard at the breakfast table were provided by her new team mates.

"It's tough to fit in, I know, I've been an outsider. Hey I'm outside right now, with Heather so come on and let us in huh? You don't have to eat, but we want to see if you're okay...OK?" She smiled weakly as she hoped for an answer. Placing the palm of her hand on the door and the crest of her forehead too, her ears strained to hear what was happening behind the door. I hope I didn't just screw this all up she worried. Looking over at Heather for support she sighed.

[Frostbite]

Lorelai stopped flicking the lighter near her skin as both the girls spoke. Her eyes went wide in fear and she froze again. They knew. They all knew. She didn't even think that they meant the practice; right away her mind flashed back again to the dumbest and most humiliating few hours of her life, and found it only got more humiliating. Of course, she didn't know for sure, but they may as well have known. Nothing in that school stayed secret, and there had most likely been a sign to give it away. The little bits of traitor blood that Lorelai didn't even realize she had been bleeding all her way back to her room gave it away, and she didn't know it. Everyone else surely did though.

"What?" she breathed, her eyes only getting wider as she repeated in her head that her team was talking about how rough a night she had. "Oh god, they know? Oh god, nonono, why do they know? Oh god they all know," she babbled frantically, able to move again only to shake her head and have her hands twitch with a mind of their own, dropping her lighter. She hit the door with a fist in anger and fear and shame at knowing anything personal that she had wanted kept quiet was out in the open. She wailed at remembering that if it was the Paragons doing the talking, that anything they said would be heard in no time, and just her luck in the presence of the whole school- other students, the teachers, the Hellions too......

"Oh god," she cried, letting herself fall against the door, feeling every bump, bruise and soreness as she sank to the floor and curled up into a ball and knotted her hands in her hair again and tucked her face into her knees and let out dry sobs. freak, oh god! They all know they ALL know! I can't step out of this room again- not after they all know about what happened last night..oh god I wish I really died in practice oh god! It would've been so much better than this GOD they all know! I can't show my face...they all know...they'll laugh and I can never come back from this I can't go back to my friends I can't ... I just can't.. she thought as she cried harder.

The fact that Heather and k'8 were both standing outside her door, worried about her and waiting for her to open the door didn't occur to her as she realized they all probably knew about her biggest freak up, and almost right after it happened! Lorelai felt like she couldn't feel anything inside knowing they knew; there was that horrible visceral feeling that made you feel sick to your stomach, and there was the feeling of humiliation and knowing she couldn't bring herself to show her face to anyone outside her room. It was all there, the whirlpool of all the emotions she didn't want to feel along with a numbness of knowing there was nothing she could do to fix any of it, and knowing that it wasn't just a frightening nightmare that you could wake up from.

Lorelai's repetition of 'Oh god's quickly turned into jumbled sobs as it sunk in over and over that it was obviously known all around. She didn't want to be seen or heard like this, but she didn't have it in her to try and hide it. The only comfort she had was knowing the door was still locked, and unless Heather or k'8 had a key to open it, the only way they'd ever get in to see her was if she unlocked it. At the rate she was going, she was never going to open that door again.

[Aqua]

The sobs sounded even worse through the door and it was heartbreaking to hear. Heather's smile turned into shock and worry. She didn't expect the sudden slam against the door and it made her scream quickly before shutting up. Turning to K'8, Heather pressed her hands against her forehead and bit her lip. She was more worried than before and wanted to break the damn door down. The worst part was that the rumors were true. Lorelai actually spend the night with Rumble and Heather couldn't believe it. She had to of course and wanted to hold Lorelai and just comfort her. But seeing the Paragon so vulnerable was both hard and a surprise at the same time.

"Shit," she said to K'8 as the sobs continued. "Lorelai sweety c'mon open the door. We are here for you we want to help you. It will be OK I promise." Cooing from the opposite end of the door was the only way to try and calm Lorelai down. This would be a great job for Shadowkat, she thought. However Heather didn't want to bring a teacher into the situation unless it was really necessary. She looked to K'8 and nudged her head to the door telling her to add something to what was already said.

[D'mnchyld]

"Yes, please open up." k'8 said rubbing her forehead and mouthing the word 'OUCH', with the urging look from Heather she knew she had to say something. This isn't working, why am I letting this sweet pretty softy run the show? I hope she gets her head out of her butt before she is asked to lead any of us. Riker wouldn't do that to us would he? Naaah, he knows her better than that, she might have the teachers fooled but not him. OK Katie girl think about it...path of least resistance...she should know this, its how water goes, finding the path of least resistance. "We only want to help."

Katie grabbed Heather's wrist and gently tugged her away from Frostbite's door and over to Tia's. "Path of least resistance, just like how water flows." She thought she'd share with her. k'8 made many observations, and kept them mostly to herself, except in cases where they would help or at least where she thought they would help. Reaching a hand up she tried the door.... UNLOCKED! ...."Awesomeness! Lets go."

She pulled her through the first doorway and right into the bathroom. It was used recently, or at least it smelled like it was, but that could have all been in k'8s head. Turning the knob she opened the door out into Lorelai's room. Looking down at the girl as she pulled Heather into the room behind her she softly said "Whoa." Lorelai looked like death smeared across a cheap cracker.

"Oh man, help me with her" she said to Heather as she leaned down to sit Frostbite up. "Sshhh...ssshhhh, it'll be alright hon, c'mon lets get you someplace comfy." She tried to sooth the sobs as she stroked her hair and leaned her into a sitting up position. The floor was cold but hard and she knew the girl didn't mind the cold at all, but how undignified to be laying on the floor. "Lets go sit on the bed huh? Okay?" She hugged her around her shoulders looking to Heather for help.

[Frostbite]

Lorelai tried to hug herself more when k'8 and Heather burst through the bathroom as if she were protecting herself from them. It was then she realized that she had forgotten to lock the second door and wanted to kick herself in the ass for it, because it didn't keep them from getting to her. It was something she could add to her list of things for being ridiculously stupid for, but it definitely wouldn't ever match up to what she let herself do the night before. Also among that list was letting herself be seen in such a shitty state like the way she was, because she always made sure that she looked decent before other people saw her. Now was certainly not the case, and she didn't want to know what she looked like now that she knew everyone knew. It was horrible, and the worst yet best part was it was all her own fault, and she wouldn't let herself forget it.

As k'8 brought her up and tried to calm her down as she was stroking her hair, Lorelai felt like she was going to resist it so that she could just deal with it in peace, or hell or whatever she was in and just deal on her own, but it was nice that she wasn't alone. She also knew that it would be just as stupid as everything else she'd recently done to turn it down and make everything that much worse, and though she knew what she wanted didn't work out for her, she hoped maybe just this once it would be okay to let someone help her with this.

Tears slid down her face as she tilted her head up to breathe better and she leaned against the door and tried to calm down even a little to look up at k'8. She nodded at sitting on her bed, but couldn't and wasn't sure if she wanted to get up. She felt like she couldn't really, like if gravity wouldn't let her get up or her legs wouldn't allow her to, but though the floor was nice and cold, her bed was more welcoming. Lorelai sniffled as she let herself lean her head on k'8's shoulder when she hugged her, shaking her head slightly. "I can't believe they all know....god I can't step out of here again, not with the way they're gonna look at me," she whispered, getting that visceral feeling in her stomach at all the people who probably knew, and she felt another wave of shame as she couldn't believe she forgot one person who offered help to her she didn't take. "Oh god, Bobby," she breathed and shook her head again with a whimper, feeling horrible about how he must feel knowing what she did. He knew, and now she couldn't look him in the eye.

She was just losing all around, and it was out of her control now. Everyone knew, she shamed herself, she probably shamed everyone who still liked her, and most likely changed the way the teachers viewed her. I'm a stupid little slut now. I've really done it this time, and now there's proof of my great decision making. Oh god, I don't want this to get out next. If people know what a wreck I am, then it'll never end, she thought as she covered her face with one hand, not wanting to be seen in a worse light than she already was. She knew she was stupid, but she didn't think she was this stupid to bring all this upon herself.

[Aqua]

Actually seeing Lorelai so hurt made Heather feel upset herself. She didn't like Rumble one bit and even though he didn't force anything upon her, the New Mutant couldn't help but think of him responsible. She was wrong of course. However Lorelai's break down made Heather completely bias against the Hellion. He was definite bad news. I don't care if Veronika finds him the hottest guy in school, she thought bitterly. He's freaking crazy.

She quickly got to the other side of Lorelai and helped K'8 bring her to the bed. "It's OK," she said warmly. "We're here for you. You don't have to leave if you don't want to. But you have to tell us what happened and talk about it." Heather was a very curious person and she did want to know exactly what happened between Lorelai and Rumble. But it wasn't so she could go and spread it to her gossiping friends. The best way to get over something, even thought it took a while, was to talk about it. Heather knew this first hand since it was how Gavin, Veronika and even Riker helped her through her problems from home.

Holding Lorelai's hand, Heather looked intently at her face waiting for her to get comfortable. "When you are ready," she continued. "We're here."

[D'mnchyld]

K"8 cared about Lorelai and yet she wanted more to be with Sean and watch him work, shirtless if she was lucky, than to spend who knows how long with all the drama. "Well, you will have to leave eventually. I mean you can't stay in here the rest of your life, can you?" Katie stroked Frostbite's hair and sat down on the bed next to her. She decided to amuse herself and also since she always loved when somebody played with her hair, she started to braid up Lorelai's hair. It was nice and clean and she would just keep going until it was all braided, she had a great design in mind.

"Besides, what's the worst thing out there? It's really the wost that anybody faces any day of their life, if you think about it, it's just the unknown." Her little fingers were nimble as she smoothed the twisted hair around making her look rather ghetto-chic in a way. "So, I think it might help you to know what we know and then just get on with our lives, right?"

She saw the look on Heather's face and she really didn't care. Life was harsh, she knew what it was like to be unwanted and alone, to chose to be by herself, and she knew how much strength of will it took to change. " If you let what other people think of you make you who you are then you can be anybody's puppet, so you decide who you are. What we know, as it has of course been the talk of the school is that you spent a few hours last night with that Hellion guy Rumble. Hey, no big deal really, 'cept you left a bit of a trail from his room to yours and that was kinda gross. I guess if you had fun it would be all good, but by the look of you I guess it was less fun than spending the summer at my Dad's place, huh."

"So as far as I can see all you need to do is claim it and make this little tryst into some great adventure in your mind. Hey nobody has a great first time from what I hear, but I wouldn't know. I plan on having it be with somebody I love, but whatever right? To each their own." she shrugged as she started on the other side of her head. "So, it was what? Less than you hoped for? Or was it fun? Did he treat you like you wanted to be treated, or like you needed to be treated? I hear that some people like it rough, if that's what you're into then who cares, right?"

K'8 was full of questions and comments as she kept braiding Lorelai's hair. She asked Heather and Lorelai both what they thought and what they hoped for and what they had tried and the three girls spent a good bit of time learning about themselves and one another. Somewhere in the midsts of it all it became clear that nobody was judging anybody, and that mistakes as well as hopes and expectations were all a part of growing up. By the time she finished and hopped off the bed to get a mirror to show Lorelai her new look there was actually a bit less sadness in the room, and even some giggles had been scattered here and there in the air.

Katie's new attitude on life was infectious and she shared what she felt about choosing how to face a day, and making the most of things. "Well, it's up to you if you stay here all day...or for the rest of your life, but me and Heather were going to this picnic later on and well... I for one was hoping to see you there. Just remember, it's your life to live and you are allowed some mistakes along the way... if that's what that was. Hey, you could just be experimenting, or whatever, so don't beat yourself up over it. Okay?"

She smiled at the girl. Her blue hair braided close to her scalp in a cool geometric way with a wild spikey puff at the back. "Come on Heather, let's let her sort some stuff out for herself." she said pulling her team mate by the wrist gently. With a happy smile she turned back from the doorway to say "Hey, I think I did a hell of a job on your hair. Maybe you could do some wild eye makeup with it for the cookout, that'd look awesome!" and with that she pulled Heather out of the room and shut the door behind them.