Kale Ivy Institute discussion

~RP

A small shack on the side of the lunch line.

Cai sat at the Sushi Bar, flipping through his camera at the picture he had taken throughout the day as he waited for his sushi. He was minding his own business for the time being but had plans to sit with a group of his friends. One of those people in today lunch circle of friends was Xiame. Cai admired Xiame because, like him, she was heavily dedicated to the art of ballet. You could tell by the the way she talked about it, the way she moved gracefully when she moved in and out of the tutu, and the way her body looked. Xiame was beautiful in her own way.

Xiame huffed into the sushi bar, still exhausted form practice. She slid into the seat next to Cai, where he was flipping through his camera. She didn't always like to eat so soon after dancing. She liked to give her stomach time to settle while the sweat dried. Xia had hurried from the studio to here, not having stopped to take a shower, so her hair was still in a bun, and she hoped desperately that she didn't stink. "Got any good ones?" Xia asked Cai, meaning his pictures. She didn't usually interrupt, but he seemed so engrossed in his work, and she had to know what was so interesting.

Cai was deeply into his cameras, but as soon as he heard Xiame's voice, he turned and saw Xiame. She was obviously tired and hadn't completely gone through her clean up routine. This fact was confirmed by the light musty smel that came with hard work. He sdmired it. "Probably. The full beauty doesn't always come immediately. What about you. Did you reap the fruits of your labor in practice today?"

Xia sighed, thinking of her failed triple pirouettes and the annoyance that's was Nisan. "It was alright. Well, pretty good," she said grudgingly. She was tempted to rant to Cai about certain slutty guys who happened to be on his team, but she held herself back, because she doubted he'd want to know about her failed love life. "How have you been?" she asked, forcing some brightness into her voice. So, yeah, she was changing the subject, but she didn't feel like talking about her dancing right then.

Cai's roose his eyebrow really quickly and then replied to Xia "I've been good. I traveled to Peru, Mongolia, and New Zealand on a Culture Tour. I took tons of pictures." Cai put a hand through his hair he as a little tired. He had to stay up late last night because He hadn't read his third required book for his Victorian Literature class.

"Sounds amazing," Xiame said, feeling a little jealous. Because of her intense ballet schedule, it was very rare that she got out of her hometown during the summer. In fact, coming to Kale was the first time she'd been out of her state since she'd left the school the previous year. She'd always wanted to travel. She thought it would be so cool to see the world. But she'd never had the time to.

"It would have been cool to have someone around age there. It was full of College students, College Professors, and Natives. How about you? What did you do for the summer?" Cai gained a small sliver of energy from talking about His Summer Adventue, but was till tired. He should have read on the plane instead of editing pictures on his laptop.

Xia thought for a minute, trying to come up with a way to make her ballet-filled summer sound interesting. Of course, it was interesting to her, but she'd found that people who weren't dancers didn't understand all of the ballet terms she babbled on about. Finally, she gave up and said, "Not very much. I danced about twenty five hours a week and that's basically it." She wished she had something interesting to talk about, like New Zealand or Mongolia. "Tell me more about your travels?"

"That's interesting. I wish I could dance." Cai said. And honestly meant it. He understood what dedication is and how important dancing was to her. "Well I had to get all kinds of shots. I don't really want to talk about it right now. Cai yawned and covered his mouth as he did so.

Xia smiled sympathetically. She knew all too well what being tired felt like. She was tired nearly all the time - a kind of bone-deep weariness and aching that came with the trials of ancient ballet. Her mother told her to take good care of herself, and yet at the same time to suck it up and push forward. Xia had developed a very effective (if driven) mentality this way. She flagged down someone who was taking orders and ordered her sushi - a veggie roll, like always. "Are you excited to start the school year?" she asked Cai, because the silence was getting a little awkward.

Alex walked into the dining hall with Jackie, not paying much attention to his surroundings, heading directly for the sushi bar. He loved sushi more than any other food, and if it was available, he was getting it. Hands-down.

Cai answered with a voice that had the familiarity of anyone who was stretching, only he was stretching as he talked. At least, not blatantly. "Yeah. I guess so. Hopefully this year is more exciting and less dramatic. " Cai said. Last year felt like it was full of Drama, but it was all a blur to Cai now, so he couldn't be certain. This year, however, Cai was a Senior. "And its going to be stressful for me because of College Applications" Cai said

Drax wrote: "Alex walked into the dining hall with Jackie, not paying much attention to his surroundings, heading directly for the sushi bar. He loved sushi more than any other food, and if it was available, he..."

Jackie walked with Alex but didn't say much, simply observing him as she mentally took notes on him. Once they reached the sushi bar, she finally asked, "Which ones taste good to you? I've only had sushi once before.... I didn't like it but I'm willing to try it again."

"I prefer California rolls if I don't feel like any heavy stuff," Alex said, hoping she hadn't noticed him using the reflection of windows and mirrors to check her out a bit. He sat down, smiling up at her, and patted the seat next to him. He pulled over some of the rolls for her, and a lot of sashimi and other rolls and fish for him.

(Sorry!)

Jacqueline noticed Alex's "subtle" way of checking her out but made no comment about it. She was proud of her body so if he wanted to look, he could look all he wanted. Smiling at him, she said, "California rolls? I guess I'll start out on that then." There were so many rolls, most of them actually appeared to be rather appetizing but she was still wary. "Yum this all looks so......good. You eat anything else beside sushi?" she asked in a teasing tone.

"There are other things to eat?" Alex asked, joking. He cracked open some chopsticks, since his philosophy was, 'if you're going to eat their food, eat it like they do.' He wondered if she was one of those religious types, but he grabbed a piece up anyway, dipping it in soy sauce, and dabbing some wasabi on it. He looked around, trying to find a way to continue what he had been doing, and noticed a spot right in front of his sushi that reflecteded at her midsection, and a few windows for other parts. He probably seemed to be looking at things that caught his eye. Which he was, technically.

Jacqueline rolled her eyes at his joke but snorted in amusement. "Many other things to eat. There are these amazing things called burgers, which can some with chicken, beef, or even fish. I personally don't like the fish burgers, but they serve these amazing hamburgers here," she replied, her tone dripping with a playful sort of sarcasm. This was rather nice but she wondered why he kept looking around. Taking up her own pair of chopsticks, Jackie poked at the roll before she picked up a piece but ignored the sauces and took a bite from one. Ok sushi definite was not something she loved but it wasn't half-bad. "Are you looking for something? Someone? Or trying to "subtly" check me out again?" So it was time to call him out on it, yet the dark-haired beauty hardly minded. Guys could look all they want, just no touching. "Look all you want, I don't mind."

Alex sighed. "So you noticed," he said, eating some more. "Well, I'm not going to deny it, he said, but he didn't keep looking at her. Now that he'd been caught, he didn't continue. He was sure she'd have many other annoyances to look over her. He didn't want to be an 'annoyance.' He wasn't very sure what he wanted to be. "You know, I don't even know your name," he realized. He had seen her called Jackie, but other than that, he felt like a stranger. And strangers checking you out can be weird. He ran a hand through his blond hair, thinking it over. He supposed thinking was what he was good at. Honestly, about fifty people a day wanted him to 'tutor' them. Several different meanings to that.

"Jacqueline Summers," she said, surprised he didn't already know. Would it be too creepy if she said she knew his name? "Got to say, I'm surprised you don't know my name, but this is the first time we've actually sat down to talk, so maybe I shouldn't be too surprised." For a second she was going to say she knew his name but decided against it. That would be creepy, though he was the one just checking her out so maybe not that creepy after all. "And you are Alex, right? I don't know your last name though." Jackie shrugged, plopping the rest of the roll in her mouth. "This stuff isn't all that bad. Hm maybe I should start eating sushi more often."

"Alex Cross," he replied, not caring that she already knew his name. He must've made an impression already, he supposed. "I knew that be called you Jackie, but I wasn't always sure they were talking to or about you," he continued. "As you probably noticed earlier, I don't pay attention much. Unexpected, I know, since I skipped sophomore," he said, yawning softly. He'd already finished his, probably too quick to notice. "It's great, but sometimes it makes your breath stink," he said, chewing some of the ginger on the plate to clean out his palate and make it smell better.

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