This is my one chance, to take back, no regrets.

[Seraphim Donnelly-Rousseau]

"Okay, well. I guess she isn't always lame, she can be pretty cool sometimes," Seraphim admitted, a little begrudgingly, as she allowed Leigh to take her hand for just the moment, to pull her closer. She stayed at the blonde's side, arms brushing against each other, and leaning in a bit so that they'd be able to properly hear each other of the rumble of students on their way to their after lunch classes. "I should shove my stuff into my locker, too, actually.. and grab my jacket. I'm up on the second floor though, and you're just down here a bit. Meet me in the lobby, or do you want to go to both together? Far more time consuming, but I can understand if you're dying to stay at my side."

[Leigh O'Conner]

Leigh half turned to Sera and pouted a little -- and then sniffed. "I'll be just fine, thank you," the blonde answered teasingly, "but I'm torn on leaving you alone...I'm scared you might get distracted by some poster demanding you join their club. I don't think thirty-twelve of them is enough! Think you can get back all by yourself without getting side-tracked?"

[Seraphim Donnelly-Rousseau]

"If there is a poster, I'm probably in the club already. Actually, I probably designed the poster, and put them up. So I think I'll be okay, I'll keep my mind on the prize, so on and so on. I know how to focus, when I need to," Seraphim replied, a slow smirk settling onto her thin lips. "Just hurry up, okay?" she added, as they reached the stairs that would lead her up to the second floor of the school.

She had a moment of debate, wanting to lean over and place a kiss onto Leigh, but deciding against it, as a senior boy pushed past them, nearly knocking Sera over, and snapping her out of her internal monologue. The brunette headed quickly for the stairs, taking them two at a time, as she bounded for the time and followed the familiar route to her locker. It was just outside of her physics classroom, and she turned the combination with ease, off by heart. Thirteen, twenty four, twenty six.

Shoving her school bag inside, she pulled her jacket out, pulling it on and then taking just a moment to look at herself in the mirror that hung from the metal door. She looked a little flustered, but that was to be expected, wasn't it? Giving herself a sheepish smile, she slammed the door quickly, and reattached the lock, before heading back toward the stairs, going down and toward the lobby in a hurry.

Not distracted one bit, she thought cheerfully.

[Leigh O'Conner]

Leigh watched Sera disappear a little wistfully, and immediately headed for her locker. Upon reaching it, she spun the lock wildly in one direction and pulled down -- it popped open. The stupid thing had been broken forever. She kept meaning to buy a new one, but somehow she never did. She grabbed her jacket, her keys would be in the pocket, and her notebook and shut the locker swiftly and closed the lock, and spun the combination again for good measure. She immediately started a half-jog to the lobby and blessed her long legs.

She pulled out her phone as she went, half watching people in front of her, and half paying attention to the screen as she texted Tatum a brief notice of where she was going, and where Seraphim would be. She entered the lobby with a brief squeak of her sneakers sliding on the linoleum and she winced a bit. No one could possibly like that sound, and she waited impatiently for Sera to arrive. She knew it wouldn't take long, as much as she teased her best friend...girlfriend?...Leigh knew better than to believe it.

[Seraphim Donnelly-Rousseau]

With the corridors starting to thin out a little bit, most people either in their classes or standing at their lockers, Seraphim managed to get down the stairs, and through the hall, without too much of an obstacle course in her way. It was rare, but a nice change, considering the rush that she was in. Passing by Leigh's locker, the brunette dug momentarily into her pocket, before producing a iPod from it's depths. She slipped one head phone into her ear, and left the other hanging down around her neck, waiting for Leigh, a habit they shared when they rode the city bus. Music was one of the only things that made the ride tolerable.

Finally reaching the lobby, Sera was pleased to see that they were actually the only ones there, aside from a pair of boys from their grade who were sitting on chairs outside of Principal During's office door, and looking none too pleased. Half chancing it, and half deciding that she didn't care, Sera leaned in to place a light peck onto Leigh's mouth, before pulling back and smirking at her, offering up the second head phone. "Ready to go?"

[Leigh O'Conner]

Leigh, who was too surprised to return the peck, instead offered her best dazzling smile, picked up the bud, and placed it into her ear, nodding. "Yes, please," she noted, and smiled in pleasure when she noticed that they immediately began walking towards the exit together perfectly in sync. She wrapped her arm around Sera's waist, and hooked her forefinger into one of the shorter girl's belt-loops, anchoring her arm in place. That was kinda new, but again, it felt natural and smooth. And so long as Sera didn't slap her or something, Leigh figured it was all okay, especially that it was absolutely no worse than any of the other kids in school did -- hardly as incriminating as even the small peck would be.

And to be frank, Leigh didn't really care if she was incriminated. The only people that really mattered already knew how she felt and who she felt for, and there were already no problems for Leigh. Anyone else could just fuck off for all she cared, if they felt some overwhelming urge to voice some objection.

[Seraphim Donnelly-Rousseau]

Quite pleased with their position, Seraphim leaned some of her weight against Leigh's embrace as the blonde's arm wrapped around her waist, and held onto her. They moved together, a long practiced habit, to keep from yanking the buds from each other's ears, but it amused Sera just as it pleased Leigh; perfectly in sync, working together. As they left the school, no one even really looked their way, just another two girls among hundreds of others, nothing particularly special. Except, of course, to each other. Stepping down the front walk way of the school, and heading through the parking lot, Sera inclined her head just slightly to regard her new girlfriend.

"It's freezing, I hope the bus comes soon, I hate sitting outside and waiting," she sighed, as they were reaching the sidewalk at long last, heading down the familiar path toward their bus stop. Leigh lived much further from the school than Seraphim, and they took the city bus quite often after classes, if Leigh's parents weren't around to pick them up. She pulled her jacket a little closer to her body, leaning further into Leigh. "I think my fingers are going to fall off if we have to stay outside for much longer. God, it's only October, what the hell is wrong with this town?"

[Leigh O'Conner]

Leigh shrugged and scooted closer to Sera's side, pressing the outside of their thighs together, and deliberately placed one of her hands in Sera's (which were, true to her word, absolutely freezing), heat seeping from her to Ser like a vacuum. "Got me, Sera. I like cold weather well enough, but I object to it turning you into a popsicle. I think the dangers of making out with one would be quite self-evident," she added, and giggled. "But the bus should be here soon...ooh, look, I'm right! The cosmos are clearly on our side!"

And true to her word, the public bus was coming along, for once at a convenient time, and Leigh released a quiet cheer, and waited impatiently for it to roll up and open the doors and save the girls from being frozen completely solid. Leigh would wager that Seraphim was already part-way there.

[Seraphim Donnelly-Rousseau]

"It would be like that movie, right? Uh, a Christmas Story, or whatever it's called? You'd get your tongue stuck to me, and the kids would leave us all out on the playground, and we'd have to call the fire department to come and cut you off. It'd be a mess," Seraphim agreed, giggling a little as well at the mental image that worked up. She was thankful for the blonde, who was making her feel a bit warmer, even if only slightly, and even if only by making her blush like a fool by the way she was pressed so close to her body. Looking up as the bus was pulling up along the curb, Sera smiled widely, giving Leigh's hand a little squeeze. "Excellent, now we'll actually survive through the winter months. Mission success."

Tugging the blonde the rest of the way toward the vehicle, Seraphim stepped on once the doors opened, freeing one of her hands in order to dig her bus pass out of her jeans pocket, flashing it to the driver, before heading down toward the back to find a seat.

[Leigh O'Conner]

Leigh grinned and followed Sera dutifully, also showing her bus pass and tipping a greeting nod to the driver, and also went down the aisle behind Sera. Upon reaching it, Leigh sat comfortably in what was their usual seat, and slouched a little comfortably. "You think that really ever happens to people?" The blonde asked idly, playing with some of the ends of Sera's hair. "That people are too dumb to just realize that if you pour some cold water onto the pole, they can just...uh...unstick? I know kids are dumb enough to lick cold metal." She grinned, "Michael did that when he was younger, and that's how Dad got him off. I think I have an article about it somewhere in my box."

[Seraphim Donnelly-Rousseau]

"Oh, it definitely happens to people," Seraphim replied firmly, nodding her head a bit. She settled comfortably into her seat, slouching as well, and letting her knees rest against the chair in front of her. She tilted her head a bit as Leigh played with her hair, giving the blonde a little bit of a smile. "I figure that these days, most people realize that you can just pour on the water, but back in like.. the fifties? I bet they totally cut tongues off. Or ripped them off. Terrible, really, I'm glad that we live in the information age. We're at least slightly more advanced, enough to figure that out," she mused, chuckling.

"And somehow, Michael doing that? It doesn't shock me. You'll need to show me that article, for memories sake.. but speaking of your articles about childhood injuries, o you still have the one about the time that I split my knee open? I hate stitches, that was terrible."

[Leigh O'Conner]

"You bet," Leigh replied after making an obligatory face about people's tongues being ripped off. "I keep just about all of 'em, you know. Never know when you're gonna need a spot of blackmail to get things running smoothly. Speaking of that particular injury, that was a beautiful fall," Leigh teased. "So graceful! Until you hit the ground anyway. But at least you didn't cry as badly as Tatum did. You'd think that she'd lost her leg the way she was carrying on. She's such a worrywart," Leigh affectionately tacked the teasing name on.

[Seraphim Donnelly-Rousseau]

"You would think that, wouldn't you? Blackmail, that's terrible. You've always been so sly, I partially blame my influence.. I mean, me as the evil world dictator, you as my evil sidekick, it will be a new dawn," Sera teased back, laughing a bit, and looking up as the bus was coming to another stop, and some other kids who were clearly skipping class as well climbed on board. The musing about her injury got her laughing a bit again, turning back to Leigh with a raised eyebrow.

"Falls are always graceful until you hit the ground.. and for the record, I so didn't cry, those were.. I dunno, whatever eight year olds do when they get hurt. I was very strong for my age, I didn't even cry when they put the needle in to freeze it at the hospital. I thought your mom was going to faint, I'm such a bleeder. And you're right, my sister is a worrywart. She always did all of the crying whenever any of us got hurt, even if it wasn't her. Same as now, really."

[Leigh O'Conner]

"Ha, my mom does not tolerate injuries well. I can remember when I fell out of the tree, broke both radius and ulna clean in half and came home black, blue, bleeding, and laughing, and she about murdered me on the spot," she reminisced. "Dad wasn't too pleased either, that time, so far as I remember. I can't imagine what they would have done if I told them Michael pushed me out. He maintains that was an accident," Leigh commented dryly. "Not sure I believe him."

Leigh grinned at noted Sera-influence. "And hey, you were the one who started rubbing off on me, lady," she sighed dramatically and threw the back of her hand to her forehead. "Ahh, remember a time when I was innocent?" And, frankly, it was true, not that she was particularly regretting the transformation. She had always been kind of naive and optimistic (never stupid, but more gullible, and with a tendency to believe the best of people), and while she retained the optimism, she was much more world-wise now, and blamed (or thanked) Seraphim for the change. "You know you could never find a better henchwoman than me anyway," Leigh added pointedly. "I'm like the crown-jewel of all henchpeople, in fact."

[Seraphim Donnelly-Rousseau]

"You know, I've got that at least. I mostly did the pushing, with my siblings? They didn't risk pushing me, I've always been tougher than both of them combined. I think, to this day, there are third graders that could pretty much take Tatum down in a fight," Sera mused, turning her head slightly to look out of the bus window. They were at another stop now, and the thing was getting pretty full, though no one was sitting too close to them, thankfully. Though one of the boys who had gotten on had glanced their way for a bit, mostly seeming confused by the way they were leaning into each other, hands held and fingers twined.

"I'll give you that. As far as my sidekicks go, you have been the most successful. I wouldn't trade you in, not even for a younger, prettier model," the brunette teased, without looking away from the window, just squeezing Leigh's hand slightly as she spoke. "I like keeping you around, you're a good kisser. Or I assume you to be, I don't have much to compare you to, I'm sure you realize.. but you sort of taste like peppermints. Did you have gum earlier or something?"