Lost in Thought

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Cassidy sauntered into the cafeteria of her new school. She was too early for the large dinner crowd. Instead, a few teachers sat at a table socializing in quiet tones, and a few lone students scattered the large room otherwise. Some were reading, a couple were seated facing the window, but all of them looked pretty happy eating on their own. Cassidy made note of this as she went to counter to get her meal.

Her boot heals clicked against the floor. She still had her half-chaps and britches on, too. She had pretty much come straight from turning her horse out after her lesson. She hadn't eaten since this morning, before driving out to the farm to load up her horse and the last of her gear before trailering to this school. Once she had gotten her, she was busy unloading her horse and unpacking into her room, and then rushed off when she realized she could make it to her Show Jumping Class, albeit late.

She chose a table by herself, not wanting to bother the other students who seemed to be lost in their own thoughts, as well. She began to dive into her vegetable lasagna and drifted off into thinking about her horse, and wondering about how her classes would go here. She also thought fleetingly about how she was going to make any friends here, but she chose instead to divert those thoughts quick.It wasn't something she wanted to dwell on just yet.

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Niall groaned as he walked out of Blue Ribbon. Today was one of those days where he had been hungry all day. He had just ran up to his room to swap out his barn boots for a pair of decent smelling shoes. His stomach growled as his feet kicked at the rocks in the path, scuffing up his clean white sneakers.

Some dirt had accumulated on his Shamrock Rovers tee shirt from the barn that set his self conscious levels soaring. His hand hung around his abdomen in a miniscule attempt to cover up the grime. The smell of food began to fill his nostrils as he neared the cafeteria, completely taking his attention away from the shirt. He snagged a tray and shuffled down the line, adding as much food as possible without going way too overboard.

He glanced around the cafeteria, seeing no one he was familiar with. He licked his slightly chapped lips before deciding to sit at the table he usually sat at. There was a blonde sitting alone, working on her own dinner. Niall walked over to her slowly, planning a small introduction. "Mind if I join you?" As he got closer he was able to take in her features a bit more thoroughly.

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Cassidy stuck her fork into a piece of eggplant on her plate, meanwhile slowly chewing the zucchini from her previous bite. Though intially ravenous, she had forced herself to slow down her food intake after the first few bites. Besides, she had always loved the taste and texture of a good, cooked zucchini. She had just been thinking about a funny behavior her mare had developed about a week before coming here - during their dressage rides, her mare had begun to throw her shoulders out during trot departures. However, her thoughts were interrupted by a friendly-looking boy. Cassidy grabbed her napkin and ran it across her lips, using the distraction to watch him for a second.

"Nah, I don't mind," she answered nonchalantly, though her eyes narrowed a bit as she looked at him and her mouth curled into a smirky half-smile. It only lasted for a second beforen she looked back down at her plate. She ponited in the general direction of his midsection with the end of her fork before using it to stab the piece of eggplant she had been eyeing. "I'll assume you just came from the barn?" she half-stated and half-asked, referring to a little dirty spot she had spied on his short. She brought her fork up to her mouth and as she chewed, her eyes raised to look at him and wait for a response.

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Niall almost sighed in relief when the girl allowed him to sit. Though it was silly, he was honestly terrified that she would have rejected him and he would have made a complete fool of himself. He graciously offered a thank you, sat down in front of his tray and straightened out his meal. "Yeah I did." He showed a slightly embarrassed smile. "I did a sad job of trying to hide that one." One hand dropped to his stomach to help cover the dirt even though she had already spotted it. His self consciousness was now through the roof.

He started at his dinner, thinking about whether the way he was eating was weird, whether their was any food on his face, or he was eating to fast. Being lost in his thoughts completely made his manners fly away and he wiped his mouth for food to be safe. "Please forgive me. My name is Niall, Niall Brennan." He set his fork down and stuck out his hand. Niall mentally slapped himself, knowing that most teens don't shake hands with each other. Why? What on this Earth made you so awkward? His left hand crushed the napkin underneath the table in irritation at himself, yet his face sported a bright smile.

OoC:Sorry for the long wait.

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The corner of Cassidy's lip twitched upward for a moment at his unease and self-consciousness. Especially since he was uneasy about being dirty, at a school known for its use of horses in education. At his remark about hiding it, she replied, "I did a worse job hiding that fact, " referring to the fact she was still in her britches and boots. While they were nice and flattering (unusual - finding britches and boots that do that are generally hard to come by), they were far from clean. Her shirt, a form-fitting thought not skin-tight polo, had been protected from any dust or grime due to the jacket she had worn, but there was still some dirt beneath her fingernails (really, wasn't there always some on a horse person?).

Maintaining a fairly aloof air, she continued to watch her plate, pushing her food around a bit. When the boy thrust his hand forward, across the table, she raised her eyes to him and stared for a second, a playful smirk on her face. She remained that way for a second, before dropping her fork and grasping his hand in return. She kept her hand very relaxed, and took her whole face up to look him in the eye for a moment. "Don't know if I can forgive you-" she said fecitiously, with a joking grin "-but I like to be called Cassidy." With that, she let her hand drop from him, reaching for her fork again, and returned to watching her plate as she scooped up the last little bit of her lasagna. She never felt like telling people her legal name. Afterall, it wasn't her anymore.

OOC;; no problems, I've been swamped with school work and wouldn't have been able to get to it before now anyway :]

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Niall laughed slightly at the girl's comment towards his clothes. "Well, you may be used to it. I was never aloud in the house unless I had changed into clean clothes." He grinned into his tray, picking away at his food. "Mum is a bit of a clean freak." He explained with a roll of his eyes and a smile. His mother wouldn't even let him come in the house without taking his shoes off. If either he or his sister tracked in anything, they would have to clean the house for about a week until they learned. Besides all of that, he hadn't even taken notice to her clothes since he was to worried with his own.

By the smirk he received after he tried to shake her hand, he determined that she was probably the one who liked to tease others. He was becoming more nervous as she just stared at him and began cursing his self-consciousnesses in his head. As she shook his hand, he dropped his head down and laughed. At least she hadn't made any rude or annoying remarks. "Well, Cassidy, I don't know how I'm going to be able to live then." His tone was joking, just as hers had been moments ago. A smirk grew on his as he dug at the little remains of food on his tray. Niall was unsure of whether or not he should stay quiet and let her finish up so, he asked the usual questions he heard when he first came. "So, are you liking it here?"

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Cassidy mentally grinned. She was rather enjoying himself. Though he squirmed a bit under her teacing, he seemed to have relized that she wasn't serious, and she let a little chuckle at his retort. Good - he knew how to be light hearted. As for living in the house of a clean freak, well, Cassidy had a hard time imagining that. For all she knew, she could've been living on a dirt floor at home. (In fact, her family had a couple rooms with just that - a dirt floor. Her mother's zen garden/yoga room came to mind.) Though Cassidy learned and used the hygiene lessons she had picked up from school, and her parents were not in anyway neglectful, Cassidy had been accustomed to the prescence of dirt in her life. Side effect of being raised by hippies, she guessed. 

Moving on, she mentally rolled her eyes at his question, though she supposed she would have to be used to it and others like to it for a while. She had finished her food, so she set her fork down on her plate. She had nothing to do tonight except start unpacking her room, and she wasn't too keen on starting that. Besides, he was good company. So she leaned back in her chair and raised her eyes to him, making it clear she would stay and socialize for at least a little while longer. She took a few seconds to think about how she was going to compose her response. Though normally with new people, she would remain polite and cordial at first, she felt relaxed enough with him that she might give him a bit of a hard time. So far, he'd taken it well. 

"Sure, I've enjoyed all -" she let her voice draw on and she checked her watch and did some math in her head "- seven hours I've been here. I've only really gotten to see the barns when I settled my horse in and snuck into a riding class, but it all seemed top-notch and really quite nice."  Though her tone was cheerful, in her next sentence it contained a hint of snark. "Though to be honest, I was hoping you might start a slightly more interesting conversation. So -" she paused for a moment - "How long have you been here? Got any advice for a newcomer?" 

What she really wanted to ask was slightly personal, but she didn't feel right asking just yet. She knew that everyone had a story, and kids who end up at boarding schools, especially specialized ones like Blue Ridge, tend to have some of the best to tell.