Happy New Year (Now That You're Here)

[Jude Dorrian]

Jude felt a groan escape as he slid down onto one of the seats lining the walls of the Reception area. He was sort of exhausted. The New Year had gone by in a blur; Steve was now back, but Jude hardly felt any the better for it. Will and him still hadn't spoken since their argument, and from what Jude had heard, Steve wasn't too pleased with her either. Jude couldn't say he blamed him, but still, it wasn't a nice feeling, not being able to talk to one of your mates without getting mad.
The Receptionist eyed him moodily, apparently suspicious of his presence there. Jude ignored her, staring forward at the door opposite, which led to the Main Corridor. He was exhausted, not having slept the past night or two properly, because he'd been so worked up from all the searches for Steve. But finally, things were returning to normal.
The school routine was back on, and students were all arriving back. Jude had never been so relieved to get Christmas over and done with. He'd already been able to welcome Tameron and Dakota back- and all of his other friends too; Jack, Lee, Kira, Maddox, Macy- and now of course, Steve. But now, the person he'd awaited most almost painfully eagerly to return was due to arrive any second.
Ailith was coming back to Orchid.
Ailith's disappearance over the Christmas holidays had affected Jude a lot worse than he'd expected it to. He supposed it was because of the Steve thing, and how stressed he'd become because of it. If Ailith had been there, Jude would have been able to hang out with her, to have relaxed and just... cooled off for a bit. With Ailith, he always felt calmer, and happier. She just had this natural affect on him; something about her sure, safe, sweet presence always helped to put Jude at ease. And he'd grown so used to her as a constant factor in his life, her sudden absence had really unnerved him.
He'd missed her; a hell of a lot more than he thought it wise to let on.
And she still hadn't arrived yet! Jude sighed, looking up at the clock. He didn't think he could take this waiting much longer...

[Ailith Rayner]

It was a long journey from London to the highlands of Scotland. A whole day it took and of course the food prices were ridiclulous, Ailith was glad for her stocking fillers. While she ate and orange as slow as she could, Ailith tugged gently on the charm Jude made her; it had hardly been off her neck. The train finally crossed the boarder into Scotland at 4.30p.m and Ailith chewed on the last slice of orange to celebrate. She was glad she went home, just to see the faces and hear the voices of the people she was missing the past few months. Cpl. Linnens really got hyped up about Ailith's arrival; judging by the bear-hug she recieved from him as he picked her up from the train station, he missed her just as much, if not more than she missed him. He informed her that he had a girlfriend now but didn't think it would go anywhere. He was still mourning his wife deep inside. Capt. Alar was really struggling to fill the boots of Capt. Rayner, he was greyer and more lined than when Ailith had seen him last, but he was glad to see her all the same.
But even though she thoroughly enjoyed every minute of her Christmas, she missed the company of people her own age at Orchid Hill, people in similar situations as her own. Her hand moved absentmidedly to her cowboy hat charm again as she thought about the person she'd missed the most. Sure she'd laughed hard and felt great at home, but not even Cpl. Linnens could make her as content and happy as she was with Jude. For all his fun and Texas pride, he could be serene and affectionate and he wasn't afraid to display that. She could really let go around Jude and have little to fear about what to do or say. Except... would she ever tell him about that? If it cropped up in cserious converstation she wouldn't lie. Would he see or treat her any different? Would he understand why she kept if from him? It would come out someday, but hopefully, not just yet.

And so she sat for a further 2 hours getting up once or twice to keep blood flowing in her legs, lost in thought, watching the landscape go past but not really seeing it, until at long long last Cardsdale zipped into veiw an the train came to a stop.

Ailith barely noticed the incredible weight in the surprisingly tiny suitcase (ailith was a genius at packing light) as she approached the huge doors into Orchid Hill Academy. She strode happily through them into the reception area where she stopped short when she saw a familiar figure slumped in a chair.
"Hey Jude!" Ailith sang, "Happy New Year! Good Christmas?"

[Jude Dorrian]

It was 6.30 p.m. before Ailith finally graced the doorway with her presence; and not a moment too soon. That receptionist looked ready to kick him out!
"Hey, Jude!" she sang in greeting, and Jude sighed in relief, a grin stretching his features. "Happy New Year! Good Christmas?"
"Hi, Ailith," he said, getting to his feet. "Happy New Year to you too... and as for the Christmas thing..."
Well let's see...
First everyone left him and Steve all alone over Christmas, so he was already pre-destined to have a lonely sort of day. Suddenly, Steve had fainted, and wouldn't take his meds. Then Jude and Will argued, and while she forced medication on Steve, Jude was kicked out of the wing. That night, Steve went over the edge and escaped. Next day, Jude was roped into the SCR searches, but before this, he discovered Will had been stabbed by a vicious member of the enemy in disguise. Jude then spent a gruelling week in the sarcastic, patronizing Deron Miles' company, bored, tired and sick with worry over Steve. Then, of course, Deron went crazy, and tried to kill him, Macy and Steve. That'd been fun.
Also, this morning, when he got up, he stubbed his toe and it hurt.
"It could've been a lot better," he said finally, grinning. "What about you?"

[Ailith Rayner]

"Mine was ...great." Ailith frowned, Jude really didn't sound that enthusiastic about it, she knew pretty much everyone went home and it would most certainly been a bit boring but still, it's Christmas. "What happened here? Actually hang on till I get signed in."
"Just go." The lady at reception called over, she was standing bent over the book writing in Ailith's name and time of arrival presumably with her belongings clenched in the other arm. She bolted out the doors even before Ailith and Jude had reached the corridor.
"Sorry to keep her waiting," Ailith laughed, "Speaking of which how long were you there?"

[Jude Dorrian]

"A couple of hours," Jude admitted, grinning awkwardly. "I didn't have much else to do with my time, and besides, I wanted to make sure I'd be there to meet y'all. I figured you might have a lot of bags, and might need some help or something..." He surveyed her luggage- i.e. one abnormally small suitcase. "I guess not."
That was pretty weird. Weren't girls meant to bring at least five bags with them at once?
Oh well, less work for him.
"Um... so you don't have any idea what happened at Christmas, do you?" he asked her carefully.
It was surprisingly scare knowledge at the moment, but Jude had a feeling it was set to spread like wildfire sooner or later.

[Ailith Rayner]

Ailith shook her head and half-laughed, "I haven't even been in the same country." She looked up at Jude, something was really wrong. Something definately wasn't right about this Christmas. Did someone get sick? Or even die? Jude had lost his usual chirpy charm, they might've bu... oh God Tameron! Wait, I can't make that kind of assumption, besides he'd be a hell of a lot more upset than this...
"Jude?" Ailith stopped walking at the foot of the stairs, "What happened?"

[Jude Dorrian]

Jude came to a halt a couple of steps above Ailith. He stopped, then back-tracked slowly; one step at a time, before he came level with her. What happened over Christmas? Really, just a load of exhausting stuff. She'd really no idea what a relief it was for him to see her, did she?
"Right, long story," Jude frowned, thinking carefully about how best to condense it. "On Christmas Day, I went up to see Steve. He seemed a bit off though; I wasn't really sure what to make of it... We talked for a bit, then he decided to go out to hall- for a drink, I think, not sure- and he collapsed! I had to bring him to the Hospital Wing where..." he pulled a face, "Will tried to force medication on him. Actually, correction- she did force it on him."

[Ailith Rayner]

"Good Lord." Was Ailith's reply. So it was anger more than worry judging by the face Jude pulled. "So Will's not in your good books huh?" Ailith's frowned, then softened her voice, "And what about Steve? How is he now?"
If Will had messed him up Ailith knew who she would have to deal with.

[Jude Dorrian]

"No," he half-laughed. "No, she's not... she... um... kicked me out of the Hospital Wing, and then later that night, Steve woke up, went a bit bonkers and... em... blew up the Hospital Wing..." He glanced at Ailith, watching her expression carefully. "He got lost in Cardsdale- we worked with the SCR to find him. In the meantime, Will was stabbed... so that wasn't so good... and... oh. Yeah. When we finally did find Steve, the SCR volunteer we were working with, Deron Miles, tried to kill him."
And Jude could honestly say that if Deron had succeeded in this, there would've been two fresh graves being dug by the end of the week- one for Steve... and one for Deron.

[Ailith Rayner]

By the end of the tale Ailith's mouth was gaping slightly and her frown had got gradually deeper and deeper. It was hard to believe that all of that had happened between Christmas and now, but hell, this was Orchid Hill. Anything could happen. "So... what happens now? I take it the Hospital Wing needed a clear out?"

[Jude Dorrian]

"Already done," he laughed. "That's why we have students with telekinesis and psychokinesis, right? Steve's still in hospital... but besides for that, everything's as normal as before."
Well, maybe normal wasn't quite the right word...
"So," Jude hopped up a step again. "What about y'all? What did you get up to over Christmas?"

[Ailith Rayner]

Ailith looked at Jude for a moment, she marveled at how he just bounced back, before climbing the steps with him.
"Well the Christmas do was as alway hilarious, I don't know what the police are like in Texas but when Christmas arrives in East London the coppers blow off some serious steam. And hey, look at this!" Ailith jumped the last few steps to the flat between the staircases, set her bag down and partially unzipped it. From it she extracted a small transparent cube with a sheet of plastic going diagonally vertical with a square piece of plastic with a pattern of ten holes resting on top of it. On top of the square lay eight tiny metal ball bearings.
"My friend's son made loads of these and it never ever occurred to me to do this," Ailith traced a finger over the cube and each ball bearing fell neatly into it's indent, "I've been playing with these for years, OK at the time I didn't know I could bend metal, but I thought that was pretty cool." Ailith laughed and realisted how stupid she must seem being absolutely fascinated by a little cube that most people find infuriating. "Do you like these?" Ailith held it up and wrinkled her nose.

[Jude Dorrian]

"Do you like these?" And there it was.
Jude grinned automatically, and looked away. Ailith had wrinkled her nose- with just that slight, quirky tilt upwards and sideways, and he was grinning like an idiot. He couldn't help it. He guessed he hadn't seen it in so long...
"Yeah," he said, looking back, with the grin still in place, determined not to reveal the reason for his secret smile.
For Ailith, it was obviously something automatic- a habit, like biting your nails or cracking your fingers. He wasn't about to point it out, and make her self-conscious.
'Cause if she might try and stop, if she was aware of that. And Jude didn't think he'd like that. He didn't want to lose that part of her.
"I love them, actually," he confessed, taking the little cube from her and examining it. "But, I never thought of metal bending thing either..." he shrugged, handing it back to her. "So, I guess y'all and I can both be that little bit thick."

[Ailith Rayner]

Ailith laughed, shoved the cube in her pocket and started to climb the stairs again.
"So apart from the whole Steve escapade how was your Christmas really? Tameron was away wasn't she?" Ailith didn't have a sibling but she figured if she had one she'd miss them like hell if they left for any great length of time. Ha! There's a thought, if I had a sibling...

[Jude Dorrian]

"She was, the cow," Jude said, smiling. "She was off skiing with one her little friends- but she was pretty traumatized whenever I phoned her and told her about Steve, and came back almost immediately afterwards."
Okay, okay, so that was sort of because her skiing vacation was over, but still, Jude reasoned, he reckoned she wouldn't have been able to stay away much longer. Not while Steve was in trouble.
"My Christmas really was all about Steve," he admitted. "I'm sorry I don't have any better stories to tell y'all..."