Clarice & Amanda at lunch

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Clarice picked at her pudding at lunch, her sandwich completely untouched. She was certain that the drama around school was her fault, but she couldn't quite understand why since she had only
mentioned drinking alcohol once and Sarah and others had been drinking at the clubs much more than she had. Lately, she just hadn't really wanted to get plastered, which had been different from the past few years.

"You gunna eat that?" Amanda asked, sliding into a seat opposite Clarice and pointing at the sandwich.

"What?" she asked, looking up at the witch. "Oh...no."

"Brilliant." Amanda grabbed the sandwich and unwrapped it, taking a large bite and swallowing before speaking again. ""You like someone ran over yer dog or somethin'."

"I caused Pete to take the clubbing away and everyone to be mad," she explained, sniffling a little, "and I don't know how to fix it. I didn't mean to do anything, I was just excited to go out
with you to a club."

"Well..." Amanda paused, chewed the mouthful she'd taken, and swallowed. "I was talkin' t' Shinobi on Sunday, an' he mentioned the bit about us goin' t' kiddie clubs then. So it weren't yer fault Pete did what he did. An' if I know Pete, he probably didn't want t' do it any way, but since he's a teacher - sort of - he's gotta look responsible. So that ain't yer fault. If anyone's it's us for
forgettin' we've got the world's most powerful telepath livin' in the place an' apparently takin' an interest in things again."

"Oh. So it's not me then?" Clarice almost perked up, but didn't quite, "I know I didn't think before posting. I just...I want to still go out."

"Well, that weren't the brightest thing t' do, an' I don't think we're gunna be allowed t' go t' this punk place in New York any time soon. 'Less I sweet talk Pete, tho' he's probably disgusted at me for gettin' caught." Amanda gave the youngr girl a wicked look. "We could probably sort somethin' out eventually."

"Really?" Clarice perked up at this, "You think so? I love getting out of here on the weekends!

It's so...unconfining. I don't care if we go clubbing all the time or not, I just like getting out!"

"Well, there will still be nights out an' the New York bus on Saturday, just these no-booze venues.

Ain't like they're gunna lock us up an' feed us bread an' water. But like I said, it's all about the subtlety. You wanna do somethin' yer not supposed to, you don't go bloody announcing it to all an' sundry."

"Right. Working on that, " she sighed, taking a bite of pudding, "I guess, I never had anyone care. My mom never did, I mean, she told me not to drink but that was it. And my friends at home," Clarice snorted and rolled her eyes, "if I didn't drink I wasn't their friend."

"Yeah, well, things're different here. Mostly for the good, but there's always a catch, ain't there? Looks like stupid rules is one of them." Amanda finished Clarice's sandwich, looking regretfully at the empty wrapper.

Clarice took another bite of pudding, "Catches are everywhere, I think. Like with Red X. I can go out and be purple and no one really seems to care, but if I went to the mall, it'd be bad."

"That one we might be able t' change. Eventually. An' if you get fed up with it, move somewhere where it don't matter. Yer'll have the choice of goin' anywhere once you finish school," said Amanda, wishing for a cigarette but not wanting to abandon Clarice just yet. She fiddled with the sandwich wrapper instead.

"Ya think?" Clarice asked, surprised. "I never thought about after I leave here...Speaking of which, when do you leave?"

"Which time? If you mean this trip t' LA, straight after class. If you mean when I graduate or whatever the fuck it's called, probably when I'm old an' grey, at the rate I'm goin'." Amanda shrugged. "There's more t' the world than this place, Pixie. An' you got the chance t' do somethin' good in it."

"I meant LA. Have fun and be careful, okay?" Clarice finished her pudding and gathered her bookbag.

"I will. Ain't nothin' t' be careful of, not with Doc Strange an' Angelo with me." Amanda shrugged into her jacket again, preparing to go out to the back porch for a cigarette. "You keep yerself out of trouble, an' don't beat yerself up over this, okay? Plenty of people do that already, an' it's borin'."

Clarice laughed at this, "They're better at it too."

"Better leave it t' the experts then," Amanda said sagely.