The Apprentice's Apprentice

Part 28

"Graceful," Warren said sarcastically as Cora stumbled getting off the last step.

She made a face though she was glad he wasn't the dark version from last night or the more annoying Mr. Sunshine. He was just what she considered normal Warren. "Don't act like you didn't hit yourself in the face with the pillow you were tossing around last night," she replied. She fell in step with him as they both headed towards the cafeteria, part of the enormous crowd all surging towards the same place.

This time it was Warren who followed Cora's lead as she headed towards her and Zoe's typical table, her friend already settled there. As they wove their way around the people spreading out to the different tables, Cora said, "I apologize in advance for anything she says."

Warren only had time to frown at her before they'd reached where Zoe was sitting. Cora sat down across from her friend while Warren took the seat beside her. Zoe smiled up at both of them. "Why, hi Warren," she said, grinning wickedly.

Cora kicked her under the table. Zoe yelped and glared at Cora who flicked her eyes towards Warren and back. Zoe rolled her eyes but settled back into her chair. Times like these really made Cora aware that they'd been friends forever. She couldn't have conversations just through looks and gestures with anyone else, nor was she sure she wanted to be able to. Practically living in each other's heads as much as Zoe and her did was bad enough. Still, she wouldn't trade her for anything.

"Hi," Warren replied, looking from one girl to the other. They both ignored it.

"You get those scene questions done for English?" Zoe asked him.

"Yeah. I don't know how anyone could get them wrong. Mr. Upston isn't much for hard questions, is he?"

They both snorted. "That would require more effort from him in marking," Zoe said.

"And you forget, there are people here who think a metaphor is a kind of Pokemon. Guaranteed there'll be people who got questions wrong. If they even bothered doing them that is," Cora added.

"How do these people graduate again?" he asked.

"Because our school board doesn't like teachers failing kids," Zoe said. "Mom's heard the teachers bitching about it often enough at work. She thinks it's stupid too. Some people just need a good kick in the ass to smarten up. While I like being able to get eighties without putting much effort in, I hate seeing the real morons being moved ahead without being able to string two sentences together. Like last year. When Janelle wasn't failed on grounds of being a brain-dead after actually asking our teacher if baby oil was made from babies... And I had to correct one of her stories. She couldn't even spell Prime Minister right, let alone tell the difference between then and than."

Warren laughed. "Seriously? She thought baby oil was made of babies?"

Cora nodded solemnly while struggling not to smile. "Yeah. That's our school."

"God! You hadn't heard that? I thought everyone heard it last year. I mean, even the rest of the school realized how stupid she was and it spread like wildfire. I'm surprised you hadn't heard, though I guess you were in the other Math class," Zoe said, shaking her head.

Warren shrugged. "Guess I just wasn't paying attention."

They all sat in silence for a moment, attention turned back to the lunches they hadn't even started eating yet. After a few seconds of eating, Zoe nodded at Warren. "So Cora says you met Philippe. What do you think?"

He coughed for a moment, pounding on his own chest until he swallowed the chunk of sandwich that'd gotten lodged in his throat. "About Philippe?" he gasped before taking a long drink from his Coke can. "Seems a bit overprotective and pretty damn sure of himself."

"He's not that bad," Cora said, glowering.

Across from her Zoe met Warren gaze and then rolled her eyes. She mouthed "She's his favourite," to Warren before Cora caught them. "What are you two talking about?" she asked.

Zoe smiled blandly, instantly making Cora distrust the expression. "Just that Philippe's always been your hero."

She flushed a little. "That was when I was a kid. I mean, yeah, I'm glad to see him and I still like him, but I'm not a crybaby who needs to be protected anymore. I wish he'd see that," she said, sighing.

Warren exchanged another long look with Zoe before smiling at Cora. "Give him time and he'll get better," he said, echoing her words to him. "And let's be honest, you can't even make it safely down the stairs so maybe you do still need a babysitter."

"Hey!" Cora cried while the other two just laughed.