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Clean!
Topic Started: Apr 13 2009, 06:29 PM (302 Views)
Xanth_Young
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Xanth waited while every single piece of clothing he had brought was in two of the washing machines. It was slightly embarressing having to do this, but he really did need clothes for tomorrow, and he wasn't the kind of guy who enjoyed wearing dirty clothing.

Bored, Xanth moved to sit on top of the washing machine. It was actually sort of fun! That had surprised Xanth.

Once his clothes were done in the washing machine, he moved each load to the dryer and set to getting them dry. It sort of felt nice to be the first one to use the laundry fascilities.
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Scot McCann
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Scot skipped cheerfully to the laundry room. She could almost guarantee that it would be empty, or at least near-empty, and she was eager to escape the noise. She had thought that the school would be a quiet place to attend. There weren't that many kids here, after all... Somehow, though, those few kids managed to make a lot of noise.

There was another kid in the laundry room. She smiled at him politely. "Hello, operator!"

She moved past him to the washer and began to load her laundry in, whistling a bit of a tune as she did so. Laundry was nice. Calming.
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Xanth_Young
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Xanth smiled, a bit surprised to see a girl besides Angel, Maegan, or Aryana at the school. "Hello to you too. You seem cheerful today. I'm Xanth." He told her as he continued to wait for his clothes.
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Scot McCann
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Scot smiled at the boy, Xanth. Nice name. she pointed an index finger to her chest. "Scot Fitzgerald McCann."

She finished putting her first load in the washer and then hoisted herself on top of it, smiling a little as she felt it shaking beneath her.

"I watch the proverbial sunrise coming up over the Pacific and you might think I'm losing my mind, but I will shy away from the specifics, because I don't want you to know where I am, because then you'll see my heart in the saddest state it's ever been. This is no place to try and live my life... I talk to absolutely no one- couldn't keep to myself enough, and the things bottled inside have finally begun to create so much pressure that I'll soon blow up."

To her, it was obvious what that statement meant; she was pretending to be happy, but the truth was that she had a lot of problems and was having difficulties adjusting to the new school, which were exacerbated by the fact that she couldn't find a way to communicate with anyone... The boy probably just thought that she was crazy. That was what most people thought. People rarely understood her manner of speaking. In case he was some exception to the rule, she continued to try. Even if he understood just a little, she might feel less alone.

"The kids called me everything from spaz to freak. I didn't really have many friends, but I did have a constant companion. I can barely remember a time when it wasn't there."

She winced a little. She wished that she could speak as easily about her autism as Brad Cohen could about his tourrette syndrome, and educate people about it as he did. Back home, there was always someone to explain. It was harder trying to explain for herself. She didn't know the words.

"I'm not crazy," she whispered to Xanth. "I'm just a little impaired."

It was the closest she had come so far. Not bad, even. Impaired was a good word for her condition, she decided. A very good word.

(Who I Am Hates Who I've Been/Relient K, Front of the Class/Brad Cohen, Unwell/Matchbox 20)
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Xanth_Young
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Xanth slid off of the washing machine. "You don't seem crazy..." Xanth started to say before turning towards her and smiling. He recognised the lyrics. He had to be one of the biggest music buffs in the school, but it paid off a bit sometimes. "Those are some great songs... Do you talk in lyrics all of the time? If so, that's pretty amazing. I'm not sure that I would have the patients to try and do that."

The dryer finished, and he loaded the clothing into his laundry hamper, but wasn't so sure he wanted to leave the mysterious new girl. "Do you mind if I wait around here with you? It gets really quiet alone down here." He half explained. In truth, he wasn't sure if that's what the new girl wanted, but he hadn't a clue.
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Scot McCann
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She smiled when the other boy said that she didn't seem crazy, and nodded to his inquiry. At least he didn't seem to think she was playing some bizarre prank on him. That was the most common reaction she got, at least in the beginning.

When he asked if it was okay if he hung around for a while, she was pleased. No one ever wanted to hang around her. For the most part, they avoided her like the plague. She nodded at him again, not able to come up with the words to say that she would be thrilled to have him around. She gestured that he could join her sitting up on the washers.

"I never knew there were such great movies on the TV at 3 am!"

(I should be sleeping/Emerson Drive)
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Xanth_Young
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Xanth laughed at that and hopped up onto the washing machine beside her. He considered making small talk - how long have you been here, how are you, what's up - but those might not be easy for Scot to answer.

"Scot? Have you made any friends since you've been here?" He figured it was a small talk of sorts, but it could be answered any number of ways. He wanted to keep her talking, she was quite interesting, to say the least.
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Scot McCann
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She smiled as Xanth sat next to her. This close, she could almost pretend that they were friends, of a sort. She'd never had a lot of those; mostly just her brothers and their friends. It was strange to be around someone who wasn't being nice to her just because she was the twin's little sister. The funny thing was, she didn't feel like Xanth was being nice to her out of pity. He was just being nice.

She smiled a little when he didn't ask her one of those stereotypical questions like how she was or whatever. She had been trained in speech therapy to answer the most basic questions- she could say 'I'm fine' or 'I'm fourteen', but it didn't feel like her talking. It felt like parroting, like translating her greetings in French class. Speaking in quotes was more natural, more real. She was glad that Xanth seemed to realize this, or at least have a basic sense for it.

"What's another night all alone when you're spending every day on your own? I'm just a kid and life is a nightmare, I'm just a kid and I know that it's not fair... Nobody cares because I'm alone and the world is having more fun than me tonight."

(I'm Just a Kid/Simple Plan)
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Xanth_Young
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Xanth frowned a little. "I'm sorry. Well, if you ever want to hang out sometime, just let me know. It gets boring around school, and it's a lot better when you have a friend to help get you through it." He told her, thinking back on how great it was before his roommate arrived to have met Jack. He had been pretty bored the first few days.

"Have you ever listened to a band called Train?" Xanth asked, "If not, I have a cd you can borrow, you might like them." He added as an afterthought. Music was constantly on his mind, and around Scot, his mind seemed to flow with ideas.
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Scot McCann
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Scot grinned at Xanth's second suggestion. She loved getting new music. It was more than just music, it was language to her. It was learning new ways to say things, and new things to say. It was communication.

"I said I thank you. I'll always thank you. More than you could know, than I could ever show."

(Thank you/Good Charlotte)
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Xanth_Young
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"It's no problem. Music is... huge... with me too." Xanth smiled, "Mostly because I play piano." He added, thinking a bit outloud. He figured that it was a great way to get to know her though. Sharing a passion for music, however it was being expressed, was important - a great thing that people could share.
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Scot McCann
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She grinned at the declaration. "Sing us a song, you're the piano man! Sing us a song tonight!"

(Neil Diamond, I think?)
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Xanth_Young
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Xanth blushed lightly, hoping that she didn't really want him to sing. He didn't like singing in front of other people - it was one thing that he was slightly self-conscious of.
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Scot McCann
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Xanth didn't start singing, but she wasn't really surprised. Matthew might have, but the mere suggestion would have had Michael turning red, and as far as she could tell, there were a lot more Michaels in the world than Matthews.

Just then, the washer went off, sounding a buzzer that had her jumping off of the machine, hands over her ears. It was so loud! Back home, her parents had made sure not to have buzzers like that. She fell to her knees, the sound still ringing in her ears, her eyes watering.

"Loud!" she screamed, forgetting for a minute where she was. "Loud! Stop!"
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Xanth_Young
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Xanth, from his spot on the washing machine, turned off the machine to stop the buzzer, and hopped off of his make-shift seat. He put a hand on her shoulder and told her softly that it stopped. He offered a warm smile, knowing that she might feel a bit weird or something after that. He knew that he would.
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