Beaches, boobs, bikinis, oh my! (Nick)

[Demetra Katsaros]

I perked up and grinned, rummaging through my bag. "That's okay. I'm not much of a dancer, either," I confessed. "But I am getting lessons. My friend from my psychology class--her name is Samantha Ballerino, I don't know if you know her, but she mostly goes by Sam--offered to give me some lessons, 'cause she's really into dance, and I agreed to teach her some tai chi in exchange. So, you know, maybe with time I'll be half as good as she is."

I pulled out a container of red grapes, popping a couple in my mouth. "Want some? They're very good for your heart."

[Nicolas Constantine]

That name sent shivers down Nick's spine. Right now that was one of the last people he wanted to hear about right now. He was really upset with that girl and he didn't really want to talk about her at all, but it seemed that she was an inevitable subject.

"Yeah, I know Sam." he said it in a really forced tone, like he didn't want to say it, but it came out anyway.

She offered him some grapes and he forced a smile through his thoughts of Sam.

"Sure, I'll have some." he said, hoping to steer away from the subject...

[Demetra Katsaros]

"Really?!" I exclaimed, swallowing my grapes. There was something odd about his voice, but I couldn't pinpoint what the problem was, and I wasn't about to over analyze it or get paranoid that something was very wrong when it probably wasn't a big deal in the first place. After all, he was fine enough to help himself to my organic grapes. "Isn't she just the sweetest thing?" I gushed. "I love Sam. She's so nice. It almost makes me worry a little, like somebody might take advantage of her because of it, but really, she's so kind and cute."

Oh wait. My face dropped as I came to a conclusion that I might have pushed aside before. "You didn't fuck her or something, did you???" Ugh. Now that would suck. I really hoped he said no.

[Nicolas Constantine]

She seemed exited that Nick knew Sam. He wasn't excited in the least as he popped a grape in his mouth. He half listened to her talk about the girl he really disliked right now, his brow furrowing at the thought of her. Knowing that someone did take advantage of her. Well, kinda...

"Mhm, sure." he said quickly, without any emotion in his voice whatsoever, and looking away from Demetra.

He did see her face drop however, seeming that she realized something.

"You didn't fuck her or something, did you???"[/b]

Nick now looked at her with a look that said "I can't believe you just asked that" on his face.

"No, I didn't fuck her! She was my best friend. I don't fuck everything with two legs and a vagina, sheesh..." he said sternly.

[Demetra Katsaros]

"Is that so?" Nick had made a similar statement before, trying to reassure me that he didn't stick his junk into any willing girl, but it was still amusing to hear him repeat it. "Then if you didn't hook up with her at all, and she was truly Platonic friend, no attraction whatsoever, why is there hostility toward her? What could she have possibly done as your former BEST friend that led you to rid her of that title?" Yeah, I caught the 'was.' It was hard not to, since he put emphasis on the word.

He seemed a bit ticked, but I didn't care. That was his own problem if he wanted to get upset about the conversation. I didn't want to hear him say anything nasty about my new buddy Sam, yet I was certainly interested in whatever made him dislike her now.

[Nicolas Constantine]

Nick sighed. He didn't really want to discuss the topic with Demetra, but it seemed as if he wouldn't hear the end of it if he decided to keep his mouth shut. He still had to choose his words wisely just in case they found their way back to Sam.

"Well, she kind of stabbed me in the back, or so to say... We were going to ditch and one of the Pillars caught us and made us do things to avoid punishment. And when I was on the spot and she could have stood up to him with me, she decided to be his pet and leave me to fend for myself..."

Nick scoffed.

"What do you think of your 'cute little Sam' now?"

[Demetra Katsaros]

If Nick wasn't so serious, I would have burst into laughter about the 'made us do things to avoid punishment' comment. Oh hell, I was going to ask about it anyway. It just sounded way too intriguing. "What kind of things did this pillar make you two do in order to avoid punishment?" I held back a smile. I'm mastering the straight face, yes?

Still, I didn't see how Sam was totally in the wrong. Perhaps I was again blinded by my bias, but I imagined there had to be a reason why she didn't stand up for poor Nick, most likely a fear of this aforementioned punishment. "She didn't want to get into trouble is all, though. Don't take it so personally. If you cared about her as a friend, you wouldn't want her to suffer a pillar's punishment, anyway. Those bastards can be brutal with that corporeal punishment dealie deemed as acceptable. Besides, she might have actually been protecting you by not snapping back at the pillar. You might have been in even deeper shit if she ran her mouth about you."

I didn't know the entire situation, of course, but I tried to imagine the best I could based on the broad information Nick gave me. "Which pillar was it? Matrim?"

[Nicolas Constantine]

For some reason, he actually felt safe, telling Demetra about the situation.

"The things themselves weren't that bad, it was just the means he was about to do it by..."

God he hated that whistle and that Qi...

And Demetra was correct. But it was a little to late to make amends with Sam now... they kind of had a really big fight that not only made everything worse, but it made their friendship hard to mend.

"Which pillar was it? Matrim?"[/b]

Nick chuckled at her guess.

"Ha, no. Matrim and I are on good terms. It was Damien Kross. Know of him?"

[Demetra Katsaros]

WHAT?! Oh fuck that shit. Now I was the pissed one.

"Damien?!" I repeated. "The bloody media director?!" Nick could probably guess that I knew of this guy by now. "He's my... my boss, so to speak. I agreed to be a worker on his Whammy show." Why the hell would he try to treat Sam and Nick like shit? It wasn't his God damn problem if some kids felt like ditching. Heck, on college campuses, if I didn't feel like going to class, I didn't have to (even though I usually did, 'cause I was going to take advantage of every opportunity to be educated as possible). I mean, I knew the jackass poured coffee on my skateboard in the beginning, but at least he turned the other cheek, cleaned it off, and even took me out to lunch without badmouthing me the rest of the afternoon.

"I am SO going to grill his ass. I told him I wasn't an obedient good girl, so he better not be surprised when I don't let him slide with this bullshit." I chomped on my grapes hastily. Maybe it wasn't whatever the punishment was that bothered me. It was more of the fact that Sam was involved. Why did she take Damien's side?

"You sure it wasn't a joke? You know, he says he likes to 'jest,' and people don't get that it's just him trying to mess with people..." I couldn't word it right, since that wasn't exactly what he had told me, but I think I got the jist of it.

[Nicolas Constantine]

Oh Jesus. Yeah, she knew the infamous Damien Kross. He was kinda hard to forget once you met him... But she was also part of his staff!?

"I am SO going to grill his ass. I told him I wasn't an obedient good girl, so he better not be surprised when I don't let him slide with this bullshit."

Nick's face became frightful at the mention of her talking to him and his eyes grew wide. He shook his hands in front of her.

"Nonono, please don't! I don't need any more trouble from him and if I wanted to tell it to his face, I would go march up to his office and do it myself. It is my problem..."

"You sure it wasn't a joke? You know, he says he likes to 'jest,' and people don't get that it's just him trying to mess with people..."[/i]

Nick sighed and shook his head.

"I'm sure it was no joke. I would have known if it were. Either that, or he has a sick sense of humour. But please don't go up to him and tell him this... I-I'll do it. Eventually..." Nick looked down, avoiding eye contact with Demetra.

[Demetra Katsaros]

I sighed. The idea of standing up to Damien seemed a little exciting, especially if I got a glimpse of the side of him that Nick was referring to, but he was right- this wasn't my battle, and it wouldn't be fair to fight it for somebody who didn't need a warrior.

"Alright, you can talk to him. You know where his office is, right?" I finished off the container of grapes. Hmm. I had more food, but I wasn't planning on eating it all at once. "And you should probably talk to Sam, too, if you'd like to make amends properly."

That was all I was going to say on the matter, not because I was no longer interested, but because Nick wanted to handle the situation himself, and I respected his decision. "Anyhow, let's talk about other girls besides Sam. Met anyone interesting in America so far?"

[Nicolas Constantine]

"Yeah, I know where his office is..."

When she mentioned Sam, Nick gave a little sigh. It would happen eventually if he were to make amends.

"Anyhow, let's talk about other girls besides Sam. Met anyone interesting in America so far?"[/b]

Nick chuckled and then smirked.

"Well other than you... everyone I've met so far is interesting in their own way. Definitely odd, but interesting nonetheless."

Everyone who he had met so far had at least one thing about them that wasn't considered the norm. That's what he got for going to a public high school...

"What about you? Aren't you new to the school?"

[Demetra Katsaros]

"Me? New?" I shook my head back and forth. I wonder where he got that idea from. "Nah. Been going to Moral Crest since freshman year." I shrugged, looking through my bag once again. "It's probably hard to keep track of who's new and who isn't because there's so many damn transfers. I mean, I'm not going to complain, since I'm sure a lot of them are nice, but uh, I'm not big on overcrowding the schools, increasing class sizes, and all that stuff that pretty much brings education down a notch."

Oh, yay! I found some raw almonds, and fortunately for me, they had already been shelled. I think my mom did that when we got the batch. Remember to thank her later. After all, I didn't really carry around a nutcracker with me. "Want some nuts?" I asked with a grin. Eating nuts was always fun. Yup. Nuts, nuts, nuts.

[Nicolas Constantine]

Oh, so she wasn't a new kid.

"Sorry, I thought you might be new to the school! I don't know if I've met any San Franciscans yet. Usually I meet transfers or people who have moved from somewhere else like myself..." he blabbered on embarrassingly.

"Want some nuts?"[/b]

She had rummaged through her bag to produce a bag of almonds and Nick couldn't help but laugh at how she asked.

"Ha, no thanks..."

Nick wasn't really hungry. He assumed it was late in the afternoon at this point and he had already had lunch and didn't want to spoil dinner. He stretched out a little and yawned; he had been at the beach for a good few hours with Demetra now.

"Wow, I'm pooped."

[Demetra Katsaros]

I snickered. We had that one race in the ocean, and I was rather upset with myself for doing such a small amount of swimming, as I usually did more laps for more efficient exercise. "The sun soaking up all of your energy?" I crunched a few nuts in my mouth. Oh God, that sounds so painful. Good thing testicles weren't a part of my anatomy. I could still imagine the pure disgust with the idea, though, even if I didn't want an actual image in my head. I quickly tossed it away before I could think any further.

"That's a damn shame. I was going to ask you to have sex with me, so you can show me those moves that has all those girls going crazy and prove to me once and for all that your manhood could pleasure me like nothing else, but if you're worn out, I suppose we'll just have to schedule that for another time."