[Smells Like Teen Spirit]—❈—16:: Welcome to Arcadia

Monday, March 21, 2011

"Mr. Whitaker, welcome," Principal Nomad says as I enter his office. "Please, have a seat."

"Thank you," I say, taking the offered chair across from him.

Montgomery Nomad, Principal of Arcadia High, is a short man; it is evident even seated at his desk as he is.

I mean, I'm 5"5, and yet this man looks like he'll be a couple inches shorter than me if we stand beside each other.

For a moment, I wonder if Arcadia kids are just that polite, or if there's something to Principal Nomad that makes him capable of running a school full of teenagers despite having to look up at most of them.

The thought rises to Sniff him, but I quickly restrain it; there's no way he won't notice me doing that, seeing as I've done it several times in front of him before… when I was helping in his interrogation last week.

God, this is so awkward.

Principal Nomad watches me silently for several seconds, a little smile on his lips.

I sigh. "You're enjoying this, aren't you?" I ask.

"Maybe more than I should, yes," he admits, smile growing wider.

He's a relatively handsome man; late fifties (maybe), white, dark, well-groomed hair greying in the temples, a good suit.

His smile also looks like something that has been honed over a lifetime of having to win people with a smile.

I sigh again. "Is this what it's like for those IA guys all the time?" I wonder out loud.

"Perhaps," Principal Nomad says, "I couldn't say. But I can say that I hold no grudge against you.

"What happened to you was awful, and I'm glad that you're able to feel safe working with The PRT after it."

I nod. "Thanks," I say.

"Don't mention it," he says. "I'm here to help. Whatever you need, whenever you need it. Odds are I will already have been informed of anything pertinent, but nonetheless, feel free to come to me."

"Thank you, sir."

"You're welcome."

In a moment of curiosity, I ask; "Isn't this dangerous for you?"

Principal Nomad cocks his head in questio.

"This," I elaborate. "Your job. I mean, everyone in The Bay knows that Arcadia is the wards school. If someone wanted to get at us, wouldn't you be a target?"

"Yes, I suppose I would be," Principal Nomad says.

His tone of voice implies that he's only just considered this possibility, but there's a look in his eyes; it's a look that almost seems to be saying, I'd love to see those motherfuckers try.

I frown. Right. The Principal is sus and a little scary. Noted.

"But then," Principal Nomad continues brightly, all trace of the look gone, "considering the demands of your job, one can hardly call being Principal dangerous, can we?"

"I suppose not," I say slowly. Mostly because agreeing with him looks like the only right answer here.

You know, I would have thought that after having the opportunity to use my thinker power on this man, there would be little about him that could surprise me, but I suppose the joke's on me.

Although, thinking back on it now, I'd hardly dug into his Smell at all, had I? I'd actually just stood quietly to the side and confirmed his answers to the yes/no questions the actual interrogators had asked him.

In fact, the only reason I remember his from the litany of faces I'd come across during the investigation, is because I was aware I was helping interrogate the man who ran the school I would likely be attending soon.

"Anywho, your teammate Dean Stansfield has been assigned as your school escort; to give you an excuse to hang around your group without drawing suspicion. He should be here any—"

Someone knocks on the door.

"Ah," Principal Nomad says, "that should be him now. Come in."

The door opens, and like the Principal suspected, Dean walks in, the handsome, older boy waving at me before greeting Principal Nomad.

"Mr. Stansfield, good morning. I was just finishing up with Mr. Whitaker." He looks at me. "You have all the requisite material, yes?"

"Uh, yes, sir." I nod.

"Good. No point in dallying then. Off you go. Oh, and Mr. Whitaker? We're happy to have you."

"Happy to be here, sir," I say, then walk out with Dean.

"Well," I say after a moment, "he's…" I pause, in search of the right term. "Interesting." I settle on finally.

Dean smiles. "Yeah, Principal Nomad is quite…" he too pauses. "Memorable." He says finally.

"He clearly also has the superpower to make people pause in thought while describing him," I say.

Dean smiles again, wider, revealing perfect teeth. "He does, doesn't he?"

"You think he's like a PRT plant or something?" I ask, making sure to lower my voice.

Dean actually takes a moment to think about it. "Maybe," he decides finally. "Shouldn't you know that though?" he asks.

The question could easily be taken for a pointed barb, but if Dean means it that way, then he's either too good at playing innocent, or he has the wrong face for contempt.

"Because of the interrogation?" I ask.

Dean nods.

"Yeah, no," I say. "I can see why you would think that after Stalker, but with the investigation I was only there to confirm the answers people gave. Even if I wanted to go digging through their lives, it would have taken too long."

"Oh," Dean says.

I eye him askance. "Why do you sound so surprised? We did you, you saw what it was like. Only people we dug into were those who lied."

Dean blinks. "I see," he says. "I guess that makes sense."

I chuckle at his expression.

Dean shows me around the school.

There's a lot to see, but our seeing of it is constantly interrupted by people coming up to Dean to say hey.

And not even to me, the new kid, they come up to Dean. I swear it's like this guy knows everybody.

Eventually, or maybe inevitably, we meet the other members of The Wards. They stop to say hi, but they let us go on our way.

We even meet the teenage members of New Wave.

They're both exactly like everyone says. Glory Girl is bright, beautiful, and charismatic, and Panacea is introverted and 'not much of a smiler'.

When the tour ends, I go to class, and I've got to say, it's great. The school is fine.

The best part about it though, is that we only do half days.

—❈——❈——❈—

Thanks for reading.

The pace will be picking up after this chapter.