Chapter 4

Stalking Students

Anxiety was a feeling not alien at all to Thian, something that made it a lot harder for him to complete tasks and work as a team with his common frets.
"So, doesn't this feel like Minority Report?" Thian asked in an offhand manner, once again voicing his fears at the premise of what she was asking of him. They left the girl's restroom to some strange looks.
"Now tell me, where would we find the kind of people to dye their hair purple?"
"Uh, I thought there was a blanket ban on all unnatural hair colors in this school," said Thian, feeling dismissed. "That never stopped that glam fag from wearing all the colors of the Gay Pride rainbow on his face, though."
"Jonathan Queer?" she asked.
"I thought his name was Jonny Queen this week," said Thian. "Anyway, I guess anyone from his crowd would be a prime suspect."
"We'll start there," said Tamora.
"So what are we going to do when we see this purple-haired menace to society?" he asked.
"I dunno," she said.
"Oh, screw thee," said Thian in a typical sardonic tone. Tamora stifled a laugh and Thian didn't notice.
"Well, we could go get lunch first and we might get lucky," she said.
"Yeah," said Thian, "but the lunch line is already too long."
Thian led her to the back of the school. In-between two classrooms and another one directly behind it, there was a room with two rows of computers. The area was completely deserted.
"We're going to get a real lunch," said Thian as he grabbed her.
"Do you really have to hold me so close?" she asked.
"Would you rather I left you here?"
"No," she said and she let herself be taken.
Tamora and Thian disappeared, and instantaneously reappeared in a restroom that was very unfortunately occupied.
Thian turned to Tamora as the old, very scared Vietnamese woman began to whimper at the strange sight of two teens materializing in a restroom. Tamora's eyes were already bright blue and Thian had to admire the professionalism that she asked of herself as she instantly calmed the woman to the point that she wasn't even aware that they were there.
Why, thank you, she sent to him. He knew she had been peering into his thoughts (when was she not?). I am starving, though, so let's get out of here. I can make the customers completely unaware of us as we get out, if you like.
I think that'd probably be better.
They walked out of the restroom with nary a glance at them. Tamora rolled her eyes as she spotted a stuffed panda in a glass case, the panda gripping a bamboo stick.
"Panda Express," she said.
"Yeah, I dunno," Thian said dismissively.
"Perfect, I was getting real tired of the imitations that have spawned at our school," she said. "It's not even Panda quality, which is really sad."
"Agreed," said Thian and he opted for a three entrée plate over the two entrée plate, decided what those three should be and that he was more in a fried rice mood than a fried noodle mood.
As soon as their bags of take-out were ready (before even the first signs of Avocado Hills High School students were in the Panda Express, as the distance was notable, and more notable was the distance that the high school students were willing to venture for the food), they were back in the bathroom, thankfully vacant and had disappeared before the lunch line at school really had become too unreasonable for standing in.