Study Group

[jess]

--open

"So, I said to her 'with those shoes? Not hardly!'"

The girls all laughed in response, as they were trained to do. Each of them was actually attempting to study, and two of them were even assigned to actually do their leader's work. But they couldn't very well ignore Jessica as she talked. Not so very close to the holidays.

"How's my project coming along? I want to get a good grade on it!" chimed Jessica. She leaned over to study her lackeys' work, all smiles. For once, it actually stayed that way, as Jessica was actually happy with what she saw. One did have to be nice to the help every once in a while, or else they'll abandon you.

"Oh, and make sure you all get your Christmas wishes to me," chirped Jessica, grinning. "I'm going to make certain that some of you are treated specially! You've been just super!"

Dripping with false emotion, but the lackeys ate it up.

"Now, let's all get to studying! Wouldn't want to get a bad grade, now would we?"

[Garion DeLuse]

Garion stared intensley at the group of girls, though not for the same reason as every other male in the building. The scowl on his innocent face was quite noticable. In his hand was a thick book, closd as he heard the loud and obnoxious voice of the ringleader. His disgust was such that, quite by accident, he made one of the books nearest to the girl drop on her foot.

Garion looked away, stifling laughter. One of the chuckles escaped, and Garion quickly opened his book to pretend that he was laughing at a humourous text.

The effect was hardly convincing, as Garion was reading Infant Mortality, the tragic Truth

[jess]

Fortunately for Garion, the giggling blocked out his chuckle from the ringleader. However, one of the cronies on the edge noticed, and flashed the boy a curious look. The book obviously threw her off, because she looked quite surprised.

Jessica, wondering what could possibly be more fascinating than her, addressed her lackey. "What are you looking at? Someone cute?"

The other girl blushed, turning back to her boss and pointing a finger at Garion, "There's a kid over there with a really big book, and--and, I think he was laughing."

It was this latter that really drew Jessica's attention and ire. She glared in Garion's direction. The innocent face threw her off though, and she was momentarily flustered.

Infant Mortality?

"Great, he's one of those uber-smart know-it-alls," she quipped, rolling her eyes.

Of course, the crowd murmured in agreement.

[Garion DeLuse]

Did the girl not realise that Garion was listening! He was only three feet away, and wasn't deaf. Putting down the book, he sat up, trying to muster an angry look. The effect was about that of a three year old pouting, too cute for words... but not the effect he was looking for.

He looked her in the eye. "What!? You think because you have a group of... mindless...cronies..." Garion faltered, as half of the cronies in question were burning holes in his skull with glares, and the other half in awe of the stupidity the boy had to even talk to the great and immortal queen bee.

[jess]

"Awwww, how cuuuuuute!" cooed Jessica. She leaned forward, grinning at Garion. Clearly she could care less what he'd said. That expression was just priceless! Jessica reached forward, pinching Garion's cheek tightly.

"You're such a little sweetie. An' so smart!" she turned to smile at her cronies. There was an edge to that smile that spoke of cruelty.

"So smart!"
"He's sooooo cuuute!"
"Look at those little cheeks!"

The girls swarmed around Garion, and began poking and prodding, cooing all the while.

Jessica just stood to the side, smiling at the boy and wiggling her fingers in his direction.

[Garion DeLuse]

Garion backed away slowly, too creeped out to think. he could feel a blush creep on to his features. He backed into some lackeys, and realised he was surrounded. Garion satred at the leader, trying to decide if this torture was on purpose. He thought he saw an expression like that of a Bond villan on the girl's face, but it was gone too fast to tell.

Concetrating, he tried to push away a girl using his Gift, but he was too weak. The poking was starting to break his concentration, and one girl suddenly pinned him to the floor, as they continued admiring his hair, and eyes, and skin.

"Tell.... them... to let.. me... GO!" he squirmed as best he could, but was outnumbered and forced back in the spot.

[jess]

The girls certainly were working Garion over. It was fun to watch, really. So many hands prodding and poking the kid. And he really was cute. That was probably why Jessica felt somewhat guilty at doing this. A momentary pang of conscience, that mostly dead thing that lay in the back of Jessica's mind somewhere.

"But... they're just mindless cronies," Jessica placed a finger to her lip, tilting her head. She looked far too clueless, unrealistically so. "I mean, they're just my friends, it's not like I can do anything with them."

She smiled now, watching as the girls lifted Garion up. Apparently he didn't have a Gift that could really work to save him here. Poor kid, he messed with the wrong girl.

"Let him go," she ordered, waving a hand. the girls did so, widening the circle. Jessica stepped forward, grinning.

"What's your name, cutie?"

[Garion DeLuse]

Garion was too startled by the turn of events to lie, like he should.

"Garion... Garion DeLuse." his face was still red, and a tear had started to form in his right eye, but he brushed it away. Now he knew, without a doubt, that this girl was irrevocabvly evil. He thought bullies in his old school were bad, but this girl took the cake.

He remembered reading something in a psychology textbook.

Contrary to popular belief, the female is more dangerous in a fight than the male. The male is far more likely to use violence, and the matter could be solved in about ten minutes. The female mind is much more ruthless, as they will not stop until thier opponent is shattered both mentally and emotionally.

He should have let the girl go, should have walked away, but he confronted her. And now he had to deal with the consequences. He decided to play nice, as open hostility was not going to get him anywhere.

"You sure have a... loyal group of friends. And... um... you are so pretty. And funny too.. I mean that joke was so witty. And, did I say something wrong? I saw a new word in the comic book I was reading under that big book, and I thought it meant friends..."

Garion was good at many things. You want a psychoanalysis? Sure. Move things with his mind? You betcha.

But for all those things, Garion could not act.

[jess]

For a few moments, Jessica waffled. The boy was flattering her, which was what she wanted. That had been the point of harassing him, after all. But something told her that he was mostly doing it as a survival mechanism. You might as well put blood in the water and not expect a shark to show up.

"My friends are so loyal," agreed Jessica. She spared her lackeys a smile, which of course melted most of their hearts. Something that rare usually did. "An' thank you so much for calling me pretty!"

The smile turned to him, and it didn't even look all that predatory. You know, for a man-eater.

"But you know," she looked down at his book, which had fallen in the struggle, "lying is bad. Boys shouldn't lie, even to pretty girls."

Her eyes flicked to the book, and then to Garion. She was smarter than she liked to let on, and knew full well that there was no comic book. "There's no comic, hun. We're in a school of super-freaks, you don't have to hide. You're such a little cutie!"

Again, she pinched his cheek, hard.

"Don't worry, you should just be yourself!"

The giggle gaggle broke into laughter and titters, covering mouths with hands.

[Garion DeLuse]

Garion gave up. Panic was swelling in his chest,and this girl was undefeatable. His mind flared up, and adrenaline pumped through Garion's body. Escape was the only thing that mattered. Escape and survival.

Sometimes one must fight to flee.

Garion turned his head to a girl, and his eyebrows furrowed. The girl's hair yanked up, hard. The girl yelped in pain as Garion continued to twist and tangle the hair as painfully as possible. Without skipping a beat, he clenched his hand into a fist, and used telekenesis to reinforce the punch to the girl's stomach. She doubled over, and Garion ran for it, grabbing his belongings, adrenaline fueling every step he took.

[jess]

Oh no, he wasn't going to get away with that. Now, if he'd asked to leave and been polite, then Jessica might have let him. But just to run out like that? And after assaulting two of her "friends?" She wasn't going to let him get away with that.

"Stop!," she ordered, throwing layers of influence into her voice. That Gift of hers reinforced her already persuasive tone, making it nearly impossible to resist her command. "Get back here! No one told you to leave!"

Now she was glowering, angry. Her eyes flashed to her lackeys, who were tending to their wounded. A few peeled away, falling in behind her. Clearly a predatory, supportive formation. Wolves circling a wounded animal.

"Garion DeLuse," Jessica rolled the name on her tongue, her Southern accent drawing out the syllables. "You must think you're smart, a nine-year old playing with all the big kids..."

Her lips parted in another cruel smile, white teeth showing between red.

[Garion DeLuse]

Garion slowed to a halt. His entire body was burning to move forward, burning to go on, but something stopped him. He turned around slowly.

She didn't mean it. Go back... come on. She's so pretty... maybe she was just joking with you. You tend to be a little... sensative

"STOP IT! GET AWAY FROM ME!" Even as Garion yelled his voice faltered. Jessica's features were becoming more alluring, heightened.

Go on... you have so little friends. Go on.... just a few steps... you can always escape later.

Garion took halting steps... one at a time. She was so alluring... so tempting...

Garion stopped, a foot away from the group. No... she can't do this to you. Don't let her. Do you want to be her slave?

Aren't we all slaves to friendship. Do it. Do it! DO IT! DO IT!

Garion gasped as he pulled his mind away from the girl's words. Tears now streaked his face, stars swarming in his vision. He took a few weak steps back, fear dominating his eyes.

[jess]

Occasionally someone actually bothered to fight against her Gift. It happened so rarely that it almost always took Jessica by surprise. For one thing, the Verbal Manipulation was so subtle that people usually didn't even realize what was being used on them. It certainly helped that Jessica's mother had been a Faerie of some esteem. However, they did occasionally resist, or in a few memorable instances, pervert her orders.

So it was amusing for Jessica to see Garion sweat and struggle so. In fact, it made it all worth while.

"Garion," she stalked forward, cruelly smiling, "let me give you a little piece of advice. There are people, people like me," she pointed at herself, "who are above people like you," now at Garion, "and you need to do what we say, okay?"

She smiled, tapping Garion's cheek twice. Her eyes met his. Sparkling delight versus trapped terror.

"Now, I think you understand, don't you?" her tone came out as it would when speaking to a baby, and she patted his cheek again, "now, go and run along. Just remember to respect pretty girls in the future, 'kay?"

Jessica straightened fully staring at Garion expectantly. Clearly he'd been dismissed, though no use of Manipulation had occured.

[Garion DeLuse]

Garion was too afraid to be angry at the patronizing tone. \\he stopped himself from saying 'Thank you', and ran for it. He really wished he had never gone to the library.