3.1--Welcome Home Harper Dennis

Harper isn't particularly excited to go to her first day of High School.  Over the course of the week, Corrigan had tried to convince her that there would be "awesome" people there, and she would make a bunch of "awesome" friends while learning about "awesome" subjects, but she severely doubted it would be as "awesome" as he said.  However, she did learn that her Uncle lacked word creativity and made a mental note to work on expanding his vocabulary.

"So... Harper, are you ready..."


"...for my first 'awesome' day of school? Not in the least." Harper says, interrupting Corrigan's attempt at breaking the usual breakfast silence that had become tradition in the last few months.


Cedric laughs. "Well, someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed."


"More like the wrong side of life." Harper retorts.  "Do I have to go to school?  I mean, can't I just evade the education system as a whole and learn from home... by myself?"


"Nope." Corrigan responds, shaking his head. "You must endure the misery of High School like everyone else. You'll be stronger for it, trust me."


With a heavy and overly dramatic sigh, Harper adds; "Well, then I guess I better finish getting ready for my own personal Hell... that I'll complain about everyday for the next four years.  Unless a super cool and totally loving Uncle of mine decides to enroll me in the homeschooling program I showed him last week?"


"Nice try, but you're still going.  At least give it a chance before dismissing it." Corrigan decided long before Harper arrived, that he wasn't going to relent.  He absolutely could not. Giving in now would only exacerbate the situation and make her think she can get whatever she wants.  The parenting book he read detailed that much, although that was intended for babies not teenagers.


Cedric laughs as he watches his friend mentally struggle quietly at the table. Once Harper leaves in defeat to go take a shower, Cedric adds: "Don't worry, Cor. She'll be fine." 


Corrigan smiles sarcastically. "It's the other kids I'm worried about."

Harper did as she was told and caught the bus waiting outside her house.  Oh, she was going to give public school a chance... but she wasn't going to be happy about it.

Back at home, Cedric is enjoying having the bathroom to himself without someone budding in on his "me" time.  He decides to go in late to work this morning and let the other firefighters do some work for a change.  Although, Watcher help whoever does have a fire while he's not on call as his co-workers are not the smartest (or most proactive) bunch.

Proof! This is Cedric's co-worker Terri Cesspool... I mean, Cespo (silly me) pointing at the alarm AND DOING NOTHING.


*Sigh* So Cedric goes to the rescue yet again.

As soon as Cedric gets to the station and clocks-in, the alarm goes off.  Not having any time to check the Woo Woo 4000 before he leaves, he ends up getting there an hour after the poor tenant made the call.  What he finds when he arrives is a tiny apartment engulfed in flames.  Cedric quickly jumps into action, attempting to put them out before the whole place goes under.


>>Cedric's Song of the moment.<<

When he returns to the station after his heroic and masterful work overpowering the flames (not really, he got a D because it took him too damn long to get to the apartment. Stupid elevators!), he immediately gets his hands dirty fixing the alarms and firetruck...

... while his co-workers remain just as vigilant. 


Hey, at least they're consistent. Right?

Not wanting to let himself get as "soft" or as careless as the others that work there, he then spends the rest of his shift exercising upstairs.


And he wonders why he has no friends in the station... 

After school, Harper goes to the park just around the corner from her apartment hoping to get a short jam session in with the random guitar someone left there.  She's actually playing pretty well, before a stranger shows up and ruins her alone time.  So she quietly places the guitar back where she found it and then stomps her way home, all the while mumbling to herself angrily about constantly being surrounded by "cretins".


How dare they come to a community spot when you are there Princess Harper. Shame on them!

She takes her sweet time coming home, relishing in the fresh outside air and finally having some time to herself. She visits the other local park and plays on the swings, before finally relenting to her hunger and heading home for dinner.


"So how was school? I take it from your expression, not good."  Corrigan asks.


Harper shrugs. "It wasn't all bad.  My music class is surprisingly fun and filled with a lot of talented students, but everything else is shit."


Corrigan laughs. "Well, at least you found one class you can look forward to."


"How was work? Did you get promoted yet?"


"Pah! Me? Promoted? I would only get promoted if my boss was somehow replaced. That guy hates me."


"Why?"


"I may have made a few jokes that were inappropriate for the workplace during my first week."


"Please tell me it wasn't the one about the naked lady in the bar..."


Corrigan smiles mischievously. "I'm not not saying it was."


"Uncle Snuffle; if you're going to tell an inappropriate joke at least make it a funny one."


Corrigan smiles again as he gets up to leave the table. "I'm not the master of comedy, it seems.  I'll let you work on your homework."

But it is not long before Harper's studies are interrupted yet again.


"Having trouble?" Cedric asks, sitting down with his last minute dinner.


"Sort of.  I didn't learn some of this math back home.  I'm not even sure what a quadratic equation is."


Cedric shrugs in defeat. "Me neither."


"Thanks for the pseudo help, Ced."


"I do what I can. So, was your first day as Hell worthy as you thought it would be?"


"Pretty much."

"Well, perhaps this will make your day a little better."

*blank stare*

"Man... nothing? No laugh?"


"Laugh at what? You didn't do anything."


Cedric sighs. "I gave you my creeper smile.  That always makes Corrigan laugh when he's down. Damn... now I have to find something for you."


"Why would he laugh at that? It's not much different from your normal face." Harper says sarcastically.


Cedric backs away in mock offense. "Ooh... ouch. Burn! Don't you fret though, I will find your weakness as I have found Corrigan's and I will use it against you to make you laugh at my whim. I have taken the challenge and so it must be." 


"I have homework to do." Harper says, crossing her arms in defiance. 


Cedric laughs and then gathers his plates and leaves, allowing Harper to return to solitude.

As soon as Cedric joins Corrigan in the living room, Harper allows a tiny smile to appear.  She wasn't used to receiving so much attention from her parents back home, but all the care she gets from her Uncle and Cedric makes her miss what she never got from them.


"I think I'll like it here." She says quietly to herself.

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Can I just say how much I love writing Corrigan/Harper, Cedric/Harper banter? Seriously, I love writing it. 

Anyway, here are the updates (there's only one, so don't get too excited):

--Harper is at level 2 of guitar. Ta-da! Shows how productive I've been with them so far. 0_0

Well... Chapter 2 will up be sometime soon and hopefully I'll get an actual plot cooking up in the meantime.