Chinks and Chasms - A Collaborative Story You Can Join

[knightofnarnia]

(Just for info: if I knew what sort of understanding Joseph and Matthew have, I wouldn't have written it so cryptically)

Evelyn had noticed the look between Joseph and Matthew but put it off as her imagination. She also realized that since the lunch had begun Roger had been the only boy who had said anything. And most of the boys (Joseph included) were ignoring her. Was she invisible? She decided to concentrate on her new friends and let the boys to their own affairs.

(sorry if this sounds weird, but I couldn't help but notice that most people speaking to Evelyn were girls)

[renegadeoftheshire]

"Oh yes. I'm 16. My grandpa's name is Grandpa Joe, and he knew that the school existed, so he told me about it. I thought I could give it a shot." Hunter replied to Miss Plumber.

[Ariel.of.Narnia]

@knight: Guess we’ll have to discover the Joseph-Matthew connection! As for Evelyn and the boys, it was mainly because only girls had been named till just recently. The boys probably don’t mean to ignore her, but it’s fairly natural for boys to hang out with boys and girls to hang out with girls, generally speaking.
@Rennie: It would help if you gave some context when you change POVs.

Miss Plummer searched her memory for any student named Joe, in the event that she could place Hunter’s grandfather as a former student. As far as she could recall, there had been a few scattered about through the years. Joey Farrow the stableboy. Josiah - what was his surname? - the linguist. Joe Blackwell with the club foot. Of course, the current Joseph, arrived only a few days ago. There were more, she knew, but none she could positively identify as Hunter’s Grandpa Joe. But Grandpa Joe wasn’t the one here for an interview, nor did he have to be a graduate of Chinks and Chasms to have known of it, so she set aside her questions about him for the time being. All except for the most important one for the moment:

“Does he know you’re here now?

Hunter nodded and swallowed a mouthful of food. “Yeah, he does. He even drew a map for me.” She reached into a pocket and pulled out a folded piece of paper. “He figures you could help me with something, though I’m not sure how.”

Miss Plummer smiled. “We can certainly try.”

[Lil]

M.K. followed the others into the hall and towards the serving line for food, lost in her own thoughts the only thing that breaks her attention is when a strange girl enters and asks to shelter there. With a suspicious gaze, she watches as Miss Plummer escorts her into the hall and frowns.

When she's finished going through the line, she pauses briefly and scans the room sighing. Once again she must make the choice of who's table to sit at. Spotting Matthew at the back she makes her way over, glancing out of the corner of her eye at his artwork as she approaches. "May I join you?"

[Ariel.of.Narnia]

Matthew had seen MK coming, but her request surprised him. No one approached him after an “episode” unless they wanted something, so what did she want? He attempted a nonchalant shrug to mask his reservations.

MK plunked down across from him and wrinkled her nose to push her glasses up. She opened her mouth to say something, then decided against it. She shoveled a forkful of food into her mouth and darted her eyes to her right -- where there was nothing to look at but the wall beside them. Matthew turned his own eyes away and back down to the sketch in his lap. She wanted something, all right. She just didn’t know how to say it. Maybe if he discouraged conversation, she wouldn’t say anything at all and he wouldn't have to defend himself.

“Why, it’s Evelyn!” she exclaimed around a chipmunk'ed cheek.

“Shh!” he hissed desperately. He hugged his sketchbook to his chest and looked around to see if anyone had taken notice. No one had.

Unfazed, MK continued, though she did lower her voice. “I do a little doodling myself, see?” She pulled a slip of paper from her pocket and laid it before him. On one side was a tally of checkers games won — MK was the clear winner —, but the rest of the page consisted of scattered sketches. A pocket watch. A raindrop and a ripple. A tangled vine of flowers, some with five round petals, some with extended stamens, some simply represented by swirls. A string of loops and dots and heavy strokes that might be another language. Matthew nodded to acknowledge them.

“It’s not great art, I know,” MK said, “but I do it to remember the worlds I’ve seen.”

Matthew raised his eyes to meet hers. They were green and inviting, shining bright from behind her spectacles. He looked at her drawings again. She bent her head down to search him out. He clutched his sketchbook tighter. Maybe he could share some of his sketches. Not the ones of Marus, and certainly none of the dreams — though at least the one of Evelyn and the bullet and the shattered window was safely tucked away in his drawers. But the ones he showed Professor Kirke? Those he could share.

A chorus of laughter caught his attention and he swivelled to discover its source. Anna, Evelyn, Joseph, and the others were rising from their seats. He opened his mouth, then shut it. He licked his lips and shot MK what he hoped looked like an apologetic glance. Without bothering about his dishes, he trotted after the group, carefully tearing the latest page of sketches from his book.

[knightofnarnia]

Evelyn who happened to be glancing in Matthew's direction saw him tear a page or pages from his book. For a second she wondered about that then gave it up as just something strange that he did.

[Ariel.of.Narnia]

She followed her new friends out of the dining hall and threw a laugh at the conclusion of Roger's anecdote. Anna suggested that they take advantage of the weather and spend the afternoon outdoors, and they agreed. Nico put to a vote a game of football, three on three, boys versus girls. With majority consent it was decided and Nico dashed off to fetch a ball.

"Evelyn?"

She turned to find Matthew a few paces behind her. When he did not come any closer, she approached him.

He scuffed a shoe in the grass. "I, uh.... Here." He shoved a folded paper at her. "It's for you."

She accepted and examined the gift. There were only two things on the page: a still-life of daisies and a portrait of a girl who looked up at the rest of the empty paper with an expression of wonder. It took Evelyn a moment to realize that it was a reproduction of herself.

"I'm sorry I knocked you down," Matthew said. "I didn't mean to. I mean, I did, but... I had a- a dream." His voice had dropped to a whisper so that Evelyn had to strain to hear him. She noticed him look at someone behind her, so she looked too. Everyone feigned disinterest except Joseph. Joseph stood quietly by, hands in his pockets, and watched. He might have given Matthew a slight nod, but Evelyn couldn't be sure. She turned back to Matthew, who continued. "It felt so real. They were, Over There. And... well, anyway, I'm sorry."

[cleander]

(Note: I'm assuming this is British football (basically what Americans call soccer.
Also: I actually have a cousin named Nico! Interesting....)

Despite his misgivings at listening in to Matthew and Evelyn's conversation, Joseph found himself straining his ears to catch what was being said. He had only caught a snatch of something that sounded like "Thanks" and "That's all right." before Nico returned with the ball, and everyone was talking at once.
Nico took charge, tossing the ball and catching it as he talked over everyone else. "All right then... where shall we put the goal posts... those two trees over there should do... and for the girls... how about that gap in the hedge there? Good! All right then, have at it!"
In a few minutes everyone was running like mad. Nico was by far the most aggressive of the boys, and the real conflict seemed to be between him and Anna, who was half a head taller than him and could quite decently hold her own. Matthew did his best to back Nico up, but all he could do was to catch passes and pass again as fast as he could before Hunter was upon him, lashing out with her feet to get the ball away. Joseph and Evelyn were quite content to guard the goals.
With a sudden, furious kick, Anna managed to put a stop to the stalemate and shot the ball across the field to the boy's goal. Joseph lunged to block it, and immediately he felt a surge of ripping pain in his ankle as he twisted it on the roots of one of the trees. He fell, and his head struck the tree's trunk.
A minute later, he awoke sitting up against the tree. Five anxious faces stared into his.
"I say, are you alright?" asked Nico.
"I... I'm fine." said Joseph. "Go on ahead. I'll be there in a minute."
He dared not try to tell them what he had seen in that brief moment of unconsciousness.

[Ariel.of.Narnia]

(Yes, I did mean soccer. )


Anna peered into his face. "You should see the nurse, in case you're concussed."

"He's fine," Roger said. "Just a little bump on the noggin."

"It was hard enough to knock him out," Anna argued.

Hunter's face lit up and she patted the side of her leg, but then her mouth twisted into scowl. "Barf me out," she muttered.

"What's that?" Anna asked her.

"Nothing. Just a narbo who forgot that I can't look at the damage to his code - head. I mean his head." Hunter shrugged and stuffed her hands into the pockets of her jacket. "Wouldn't work out here anyway."

Their voices grated against the buzzing in his head. Joseph waved a hand at them. "I only need a minute, alright? Just... give me a minute."

Everyone backed away a respectful distance till the only grating voice was that of Nico asking Hunter what "barf me out" and "narbo" meant. Joseph allowed himself more than a minute to calm his drumming heart and breathe away the lightheaded fog from his brain.


(80's slang time, since Joseph didn't get to hear the answers. "Barf me out" is an expression of disgust. "Narbo" means "idiot".)

[knightofnarnia]

Joseph knew that seeing a nurse could bring unnecessary questions that is why he had asked for a minute. Hunter was reddening while trying to explain "narbo". But Matthew was looking at Joseph. Matthew took a few steps and whispered something in Joseph's ear.