Genesis / Implementation
***
The funeral had been painful but perfect. She had read out some words he had written, they seemed to sum him up. Somehow she had managed to finish before collapsing into a fit of tears. But that was last week, she had resolved to move on, and move on she would.
-=1=-
Uli stood at the bottom of the flight of stairs, she looked up at the landing that loomed ahead of her. Her hand rested tentatively on the cold scuffed bannister. Noise from the lecture room drifted down the stairs, that odd mix you get when forty people congregate after some form of social catastrophe. For Uli it was still too raw, but she had to come. Her parents were paying a vast sum so that she could attend the very best university in the country.
She put a foot on the bottom stair, whilst rearranging her bag with her free hand, then straightened her shirt, and set her sight dead ahead. As she slowly climbed the next stair the noise grew louder, she closed her eyes as she reached the next step, she began to make out words, and occasional sentences as she continued her assent. “I heard it was,” “I wouldn't be surprised if”, “Which class was he in?”, “Do you really think”, “Wasn't he”, “hey look at me”. Bits and pieces floated down. She continued, the landing now level with her fringe. Taking a deep breath she opened her eyes to step onto the landing. Raising her head, and lifting her hand from the banister, she turned into the classroom.
Silence.
Everybody stopped what they were doing when Uli walked into the room, except for someone stuck behind a small desk engrossed in a small hand held device. Katie, Liz, and Mike walked across the room to meet her.
“Are you okay Ul?” Katie asked in her “made for television” way.
“I heard what happened it must have been awful. If you need any help you know you can talk to us” Liz said whilst putting her hand to her heart. Uli's eyes narrowed.
“I'm fine. Thank You for your concern. I'll be just fine” Uli feigned a smile and circumvented them. She could hear the scattered whispering groups of people, as she walked to the back of the room. She placed her bag on the desk, and sat down. A moment later Isaac was leaning over the desk staring at her, she stared back, “What Isaac?”
An evil grin was smeared across his face, “I gotta ask - were you, ...you know?” His grin turned to a sneer. She felt eyes from all across the room fixed on the two of them. Her anger began to well up, “Screwing him?!”
Before she knew it, she had slapped him, hard.
Joshua was sitting in the corner of the room, browsing message boards on his pda, when a loud slap, momentarily snapped him out of the technology induced trance. He turned to gaze at the source of the noise, a black haired girl clutching her hand, and that idiot Isaac reeling back in shock. He saw her search the room with her eyes a moment, as everyone else in the class turned away pretending not to have noticed. He saw her wince slightly. He looked back down at his palm computer, just as the lecturer appeared at the door. Joshua had found psychology an interesting subject, but more then anything it was an easy way to earn more points towards his degree, not that he needed them, but “points in the bag and all” he thought.
The lecture ground along slowly, Uli found herself staring at the ceiling and subconsciously counting the number of tiles. She'd always enjoyed Psychology, but now it just didn't hold it's appeal, she was only dimly concious of the lesson winding down as the lecturer handed out an assignment.
Uli looked at her notes and sighed, slipping her books into her bag, she looked up with a start. The guy with the pda was standing in front of her scowling as though he was trying to remember something very important.
“You should use a ruler next time” He said as he lifted his head slightly. She stood up picking up her bag and putting the strap over her shoulder, while looking quizzically at him. He turned around and began to walk off.
“What?” She asked.
“To hit someone, it's more effective and doesn't end up hurting you” he said, walking off down the aisle between the desks.
She blinked, and stood for a moment as he vanished through the doorway, then shook her head, there was a strangely familiar sense, but she couldn't place it.
