Under the metaphor tree (open)

[Tully Jameson]

Tullylet out a sigh as he gave his locker a good and final kick. In the end he landed up hurting his foot but just frowned at the pain as he looked down at his foot. The bell had rung over ten minutes ago and the halls were mostly empty. Five minutes after the bell had rung Tully had arrived at school, much earlier than usual and the security gaurd that stood at the door gave him an approving nod and smile as Tully darted into the school.

Arriving at his locker he found to his dismay that there must have been a brawl around this area earlier, or later yesterday since there was a rather large dent in his locker. Opening it seemed futile, and kicking it seemed to be the only answer. Now Tully with two options at hand. Either he could go to class and be yelled at for being late, and for not having his books, or, he could prolong the yelling for tomorrow, where perhaps, if he was lucky, he could be on time, but still without books. Then again he could always go to the administration and explain to them what had happened, however that plan did not look so great since he had a feeling he'd get in trouble for the dent he obviously didn't cause.

Another sigh escaped his lips before he turned away from his locker looking up and down the now completely empty hall. Kicking a scrap peice of paper he made his way down the hall, still not having made up his mind of what exactly it was that he was going to do that day.

[Spencer McMahon]

Late, dammit. You're never late. Why'd you have to sleep in today, of all days?

Spencer McMahon scurried into the school as fast as her legs could carry her without breaking into a actual run. The day so far had definately not gone according to plan. Her alarm hadn't gone off, and she'd been woken by the cat begging for food. The shower wasn't woking, meaning that the water was like ice cubes hitting her back. And to top it all off, she had a spot. That's right folks, Spencer Mcmahon had a beautifully red zit develloping on her left temple. It was all she could do not to just sit down angrily and start swearing at anyone that happened to pass.

Which is why, when she saw the one person in the school she was determined to avoid - for eternity, if possible - she did swear. Quietly, yes, but in the halls sound carries. Especially when they're empty. The quiet little "shit" that was barely a whisper carried to the wall, and back to her. She was certain that he would have heard it. But Spencer never let what people thought of her get in the way... at least se thought she didn't.

Holding her head up, her hair still damp from her shower (and mercifully covering the part of her face that looked as though it was trying to errupt), she carried on walkin to the point where Tully Jameson, the boy she loved to hate, was kicking a scrap of paper.

She tutted. "Littering now Tully? Dear dear dear. Tardy too." She looked past him, to where she knew from silent observation his locker was. "And your locker's not looking too happy. What happened there?" Now here was the thing with Spencer. She claimed to hate Tully. Loath him. Despise him so greatly that it reached to the depths of her soul. In fact, she was so smitten, that upon finding out he never thought of her 'like that' she decided that the best course of action would be to ignore him. To hate him and make him hate her, and hope that it would all go away by itself.

Yeah. Right. Like that ever worked. She knew she was late. She would get yelled out. But even an insult slinging match with this boy was better than no interaction at all. At least, that's what her subconxcious thought. Her conscious mind was thinking: "Spence. You're an idiot. Get to class." But when did anyone ever listen to that little voice in their head. You know... the one wth common sense?

[Tully Jameson]

Tully looked up from where he stood when he heard quite an upset voie down the hall. Looking up he noticed Spencer. Spencer? Tully had never heard her swear before, and he was pretty sure that if she did use foul language it would most likely be at him. When it came to Spencer Tully was more clueless than usual. It seemed obvious that he had done something to morally upset her since she, it had appeared, had taken it upon herself to loath him for all eternity.

In repsonse to these displays of out right hatered, Tully chose to either flat out ignore her, or on more of his light hearted days he gave in to actually teasing her back. However, after not such a cheery start to the day he was not in the mood to fight back. He let out a low sigh as she approached, bracing himself for the worst. Stopping in his tracks he looked her straight in the face as the words she spoke sunk in.

"First of all it's not littering if I didn't drop it," he stated, "and I didn't see you skipping off to class -" Tully glanced down at his watch, "fifteen minutes ago," he remarked as his eyes went back to her face. Tully was a senior in the school, and most of the people that had heard his name had assumed that they knew him, and he had made himself beleive that Spencer had been in the same boat.

Afterall Spencer was only a sophmore. What could she possibly know about the gothic senior? Tully had come to the conclusion that she must be one of those people who listens to rumours, the kind of person who beleives that he wasn't nice to his friends, or to the girls he was with.

His eyes studied her face and then looked behind her, not a difficult feat when he was taller than her. "Anything else?" he asked with raised eyebrows, "Or can I go now?" he asked sarcasticly.

[Spencer McMahon]

Spencer's eyebrow raised in surprise. It wasn't normal for Tully to snap back at her, he usually ignored her. Or teased her. This was different. She stared at him incredulously. "First of all, I only have your word that you didn't drop it." She bent down to pick it up, making a mental note to bin it at the nearest opportunity. She tended to pick pieces of paper up. Sometimes they made interesting reading, and other times... they were sticky. This one was looking like the interesting kind.

She turned her attention back on to the boy in front of her. "Second of all, you know jack about me Tully. I was just passing comment, so don't presume to tell me where I should have been fifteen minutes ago." She looked at her own watch. Damn. It really was that late.

She tossed her still-damp hair over one shoulder. It wasn't that she was a perfect student, she forgot about homeworks, she didn't pay attention, and she daydreamed to the extent that teachers sometimes had to say her name three or four times before she realised they were talking to her. What she prided herself on though, was never having been late. For the last 2 years anyway.

"And third," She was at a loss for a 'third', until she noticed him looking behind her. "It's polite to look at people when you're talking to them." Her face - a scowl until now - broke into an almost imperceptable smirk. "And I thought you were such a nice young man." Someone paying minute attention might have heard her voice soften as she said this. But not many people payed that close attention.

[Tully Jameson]

"Not to big on trust are we?" Tully asked sarcasticly. Though he was truly not one to speak as gaining trust from Tully was like trying to pry cake away from the fact kid. It just didn't happen so easily. Sure it would happened eventually, but over time, and with alot of work. The process, though not favourable suited Tully just fine, those who wanted to be his friend stuck it out, those who didn't, obviously weren't ones to be trusted anway he presumed.

Tully's eyebrows shot up at her 'number two'. "So you can accuse me of littering, and you can instruct me as to where I'm supposed to be," he questioned, 'but I can't tell you to get out of my way?" he said with an incredulous look upon his face. Spencer had never seemed like a ridiculous person to Tully. He had always assumed that she had method to her obvious madness, but this was all togther absurd. "Hypocrite much?" he asked with a smirk.

His eyes snapped back to hers at her 'number three' and stared her hard in the face, it was what she had blatantly asked for anyway. "Nice young man?" he asked with sarcasm still in his voice, "You don't know jack about me McMahon," he retorted using the same inflections that she had used when she had thrown the comment back at him. The smirk that had been on his face was slowly starting to fade, the morning seemed to be getting worse, "No fourth?" he asked in mock surprise.

[Spencer McMahon]

Spencer almost laughed. "Trust?" She shook her head. In fact, she did allow a slight chuckle to escape. If he had known jack about her, he'd have known that with her mother it was a wonder that Spencer ever trusted anyone at all. In fact, she wasn't sure that she did completely trust anyone not to dump her on someone else's doorstep eventually. "Not a word in my vocabulary, no."

He passed comment about her hypocracy, and she folded her arms defencively. "Hey. I was passing comment. We're both tardy, we both know that." She shrugged. She regretted beginning this conversation- she should have just scurried away the moment she'd sworn. But now she couldn't. Just walking away would make her look... well... weak, she supposed. She couldn't have that.

She smiled sweetly at him, as he mimicked her earlier comment. "No, I don't suppose I do, do I?" She gestured to either side of her. "This hallways big enough for more than two people. Surely you and your inflated ego can squeeze past little old me?" The smile faded, leaving a rather uncharacteristically ugly look on her face. "And just for the record. If I said the fourth, I think I'd have to wash my mouth out with more than just soap." she stood stock still, her face still a mask. He could pass her, he could yell at her, she didn't care at the moment. The morning hadn't been her best to begin with, and as far as she could tell it was just going to get worse. May as well make it as bad as it could be, and let karma sort it all out later.

[Tully Jameson]

Spencer wasn't big on trust. Something new about her that Tully hadn't known before. Little by little he seemed to gather bits of who she was. He knew she was viewed as an individual, and knew that she was a sophmore. There were a few other tidbits he had picked up here and there, like not having an easy time with trust that he got from the arguments that broke out between them. He had gathered that it would be the only way he would get to know the girl who hated him for nothing.

"Ah yes," he said with the smirk in place, "I too was just passing comment, and it twas you who should not have presumed to tell me where it twas that I was to go fifteen," Tully paused from his self entertaining moment, "now twenty minutes ago!" he said with a small smile on his face. He could have laughed if he hadn't caught himself, sometimes he spent so much time fighting with the girl opposite him that he forgot why they bothered, and then he would realize that he didn't actually know the reason they bothered. Having made up his mind to try and now give her reason to hate him was harder than it seemed sometimes.

Tully's eyes narrowed and scanned her face. A frown set upon it, "It's amazing you can find so much to dislike about me," he said shaking his head, "and not know anything about me," he sighed. An ego was not something that Tully would say that he had, and it was a stab at the small esteem that he had when she said that. In his mind those with the egos were those with something to show off, and what did Tully have to show? A broken home and an old guitar? Not exactly jock skills, probably the type that Spencer was more used to he assumed. Or perhaps she was into the artsy guys.

Another sigh escaped him as he looked around the halls, "Wouldn't want to keep you," he said with no emotion, and he started to walk past her. Tully mentally shook himself, he had no idea what it was that made him take her so seriously, she just seemed so level headed to Tully, at least when she wasn't fighting with him. "Oh yeah," he said turning around with a small smile on his face, "you have a zit on your forehead incase you didn't notice!" he remarked with a cheery smile before turning away from her again to start his way out of the school, deciding that class wasn't all that exciting anyway, and that he had missed much to much now anway.