Perception Is Belief (Part One)

In the afternoon after classes ended, I indulged in my traditional practice of taking one of my consoles into the common area of my dorm to play games. It was a good way to run into people who were usually too busy to hang out otherwise, or who I didn't think about hanging out with until I saw them.

On this day, my presence attracted the attention of Julian, who had been looking for a bruising in a few games, and Laura, who just wanted a comfortable, spacious place to study. How she got anything done over Julian and I howling at each other with game noises flying out of the TV, I don't know.

Eventually, a lull came when we decided to switch over to a different game. The fucker thought he could handle me in NBA 2K. I had to show him how wrong he was.

As we waited for the game to load up, Julian's eyes strayed past me over to Laura, nose-deep in her notes and assignments, "Does she have to do that here?"

I spared her a glance and shrugged, "Laura can do homework anywhere she wants," I certainly wasn't going to begrudge her company. I was just glad she was alright being around me again.

He couldn't argue my point, and it wasn't like Laura was hurting anyone. He could only get so uppity about her presence, "I guess, but it's just weird. Who comes to hang out and doesn't say anything?"

I shook my head as I started rifling through teams on the selection screen, "Julian, not everybody has to fill silence when they're around other people. Just relax and soak in the chill of the atmosphere."

Julian though, couldn't help but be obstinate, "I can't relax. She doesn't look relaxed at all, Marcher," He was still glancing at Laura every so often while trying to pick his team, "It's like any second, she's just gonna jump on the first thing she thinks is a threat, and we all know I'm the strongest student at this school," He said, none too humbly.

"She can hear you," Laura said in the third person, never looking up from the homework she was dealing with.

"Her name is also Laura Kinney," I added, seeing as how Julian had literally never referred to her by name, "Codename-," I stopped, getting her to look up, "We still don't have a codename for you. We really need to fix that soon."

"How about 'Homewrecker'?"

Julian and Laura both turned around while I leaned my head over the back of the couch to find a group of nondescript students standing there, "...Who in the blue hell are you?" I asked.

Some girl stepped forward with a stern look, "I can't believe you've got the gall to flaunt her around right after the thing with Pixie," Some of her friends shared the same look. The smarter ones looked more apprehensive. Good for them. Still, guilt by association.

Julian looked at me and then Laura, "What are you talking about? They're on the same team."

I didn't even bother dignifying them with a proper response, "If you don't tell me your name, I'm just gonna call you 'Riffraff', because I don't care what your name is. Go away," I'd been having a decent afternoon up until the court of public opinion decided to remind me of my current approval rating.

"Seriously, Marcher's right," Julian said, floating off of his seat, clearly annoyed, "Who are you and why are you talking to us?" As the girl went to open her mouth, Julian cut her off, "I don't care. Shut up," He gestured to us, "Pixie broke up with him. And they're just sitting there. It isn't like Marcher has the clone in his lap with her tongue down his throat. Quit projecting and get over yourself, loser."

Wow. He had our backs and actually kept me from having to verbally fillet someone myself. It was something I didn't feel like doing, because I would have been much meaner about it.

Once in a while, Julian proved to me that he wasn't a complete ass, and reminded me why we actually wound up being something resembling friends. The guy did have a sense of right and wrong.

"Besides," Julian added with a laugh, "If Marcher cheated on Pixie, I'm pretty sure he could do better than Wolverine's creepy clone."

...And then he could just as quickly remind me why he annoyed me so much a lot of times. The guy had worse foot-in-mouth syndrome than I had, and that was saying something.

Julian seemed proud for what he would have defined as defending us. Laura seemed slightly irritated at being called creepy, and again not being referred to by name. I was... conflicted, "I'm torn between thanking you for standing up for me, and hitting you for Laura's sake. I'm just going to call it a wash," I said, regretting ever bringing my console out of my room and into the common area.