Introducing the Kids

Janet is suddenly ly flustered. Yes. I mean...maybe...what is it?

Clarke grins and sits down next to you, straddling the bench to face you. His blue eyes sparkle as he speaks.

"You know my kid brother, Joey? He's been going nuts for these Machine Friend things, but our mom won't let him go to the launch tomorrow and I have swim practice during the event. Do you think you could stash one away? Maybe, like, the one that turns into the truck, Optimus Ektimus or whatever it is. It'd be really cool to be able to surprise him. He's a good lil' dude. Also, like, I think he's mad at me, and I don't want him to tell our mom that I was at that party last weekend. Whaddaya say, Spiderwoman?"

OF COURSE! ....I mean...I can try. I'll ask my boss, if you pay for it, he shouldn't mind... Janet is suddenly flustered and plays with her hair.

"'Course I'll pay for it! Oh man, thank you SO much. I'll be by the store before it closes, alright? You rock, Spiderwoman." He grins and offers you a high five, before sliding away from your table and disappearing into the lunchroom crowd.

Turning back towards your table, Davis and Leslie sit there smirking at you. Leslie leans forward for more private conference.

"Him, Jan? Really???"

What...? Have you seen his eyes? and those abs! sigh.... Shakes her self out of her haze. did he really just touch me?

Burt rolls his eyes. Swimmers...good job, you can swim back and forth in a pool...one step below a dude running circles on a track he thinks.

Davis and Leslie glance at each other and snicker, while Jerry prepares another tot on his spork and takes aim at Burt's face.

HARD CUT TO

---

The students file into the cafetorium, the paint on the walls practically vibrating as 6th, 7th, and 8th graders are stuffed in the same room. Normally, the school wouldn't hold an assembly for all three grades at once, but this is the only slot of time that Our Friends the Machines' corporate representative, Eric Loudon, was available. Rumors have been flying around about the nature of the assembly - there are even whispers that they're giving out free toys ahead of time, or passes to cut to the front of the line and have first dibs at the Toy Corner tomorrow.

Julie files in with the other kids, but her attention's entirely on chatting with her friend Amy and a couple other girls from their class. Around chewing a piece of gum -- her own minor public rebellion -- Julie says in a low voice pitched away from teachers but easy for other kids nearby to her, "Did you hear what happened to Jeanie in 2nd period?"

The other girls grin in anticipation of some gossip. Amy looks over at the Jeanie in question, already sitting down some distance away. She's sort of plain, the kind of kid that mostly goes unnoticed as she moves about the school. Today, she's carefully avoiding looking at anyone and everyone, dark straight hair mostly concealing her face. "What?" Amy asks, looking back to her friend and ringleader.

"Mr. Thompson caught her passing a note to Mark. Garcia. Thompson read it in front of the whole class. I thought Jeanie was going to shrivel up and die, right there," answers Julie. The other girls gasp behind their hands. One of them says, "Does she have a crush on him? Doesn't she know he's going out with Lisa?"

Julie shakes her head as the gaggle of girls finds their seats. "Oh, she definitely does. It was..." she trails off, fanning herself with one hand and whistles softly.

Principal Deever stands on the small stage which has a patchy, red curtain suspended on either side, and a small podium set up in the center. A few other administrators and faculty join him in a row of seats, with one seat empty. The principal and other school employees look about nervously, their eyes continuously darting between the empty seat and the door to the cafetorium, and they lean in and whisper to each other. Finally, mere moments before the assembly is scheduled to begin, the doors burst open and a young-ish looking man strides towards the stage. You recognize him from the Our Friends the Machines ad campaign as Eric Loudon. He can't be older then 35, with perfectly coiffed hair and a definite "cool boss" vibe. The principal breathes a sigh of relief, and welcomes him to the stage, before turning his attention to the podium.

"Alright, alright everyone, settle down! Settle down now, we're ready to get started!"

He waits in hopeful anticipation for a few moments before visibly deflating at the lack of attention or respect afforded him by the assembly. He looks apologetically at Loudon, before turning to Coach O'Hara in a silent plea for assistance.

The girl on the Julie's left side leans over to the other girls and says in a low whisper, "At least he's cute."

Julie wrinkles her nose. "The toy guy? Ewww, Marnie, he's like old enough to be your father."

The other two girls snicker quietly behind their hands and Marnie puts on a lofty expression. "Well... I think he's cute. Just because you girls aren't sophisticated enough..."

As they typically do on a Wednesday, Ambrose sits in a corner with some of the other nerds running a Dungeons & Dragons campaign. He's forced to run it free-form given the limited space for dice, maps, and other table-top accouterment, and also to avoid having more of miniatures stolen by the jock upperclassmen. It's fine, though, he was always pretty good at spinning tales and sometimes felt the dice got in the way of a good story anyway. Hearing Principle Deever trying to hush the crowd, Ambrose looks up and then back at his friends, "Hang on, guys. I think this is about the OFM launch," he announces excitedly, a broad smile plastered across his face. They had been discussing and anticipating the toy launch so much that they adopted an acronym, just to speed up conversation.

Coach O'Hara nods, and lumbers up to the podium. His voice rumbles through the cafetorium. "Alright, if you kids don't all wanna be running laps in gym class for the rest of the week, you all better pipe down!" A hush ripples through the cafetorium, starting with the youngest kids. Some of the 8th graders still scoff, but everyone in school knows to take Coach O'Hara's threats seriously, and even the most disillusioned upperclassmen stop chattering, more or less.

Principal Deever smiles and let's out an exasperated sigh of relief, and approaches the podium.

"Thank you, Coach O'Hara. And thank you, all, for coming to this very, very exciting assembly!"

He pauses, as if to hold for applause, but the only sound is the groan of the students. As if there was any choice but to come to this stupid assembly.

Julie rolls her eyes and sits there in sort of a flounce. Totally booooooring. She continues chewing her gum, giving it just enough of a smack to be faintly audible around her. She idly studies the fingernails on her right hand.

There's Stephen (pronounced 'Steven', not 'Stefan') Thompson - he's Xanthar, the wizard in the party; Timmy Kappell playing Kain, the Rogue; and Jeremy Crenshaw playing Andre, the Warrior. We used to have a 4th member - Tiffany Clarkson - who played a Cleric, but she moved to Houston over the summer.

Stephen chews on his lower lip in anticipation as he absentmindedly toys with a loose d20 on the table. "Man, I miss Tiff. She would've loved this!! I hope they're gonna give away some toys or something," he says with a quiet excitement. "I really, really want Polaris Septus. Which one's your favorite, Ambrose?"

He looks to Ambrose for an answer. The computer geek can tell that Stephen really wants him to approve of his toy choice. Though these friends are Ambrose's same age, he has become sort of the de facto leader/role model of the group since advancing an extra grade last year.