A Change Of Heart {Tiffany}

[Frederick Orson]

After the small talk he'd had with Mikayla a few days ago, Fred was admittingly feeling a little bit better. Not a whole lot, but really, it felt nice to have one less thing on his conscience, to have received her forgiveness as to everything that had happened last year. At the end of the day though, there were still a lot of things to make him feel like his life wasn't exactly on the right track right now. The situation with the sophomore actress had only been the tip of the iceberg, and now there were other things, other problems as to which he was entirely clueless. Tiffany, obviously, being the main one. He didn't know how he'd let her get to him, how it was even possible that during the very few encounters between the two of them, some sort of interest might have grown, because really, any time they'd met definitely hadn't lead to situations that'd showed off the best of her - and well, obviously not the best of him either - yet he couldn't shake it off, that want to be around her, to get more reactions out of her, to aggravate her just so he could see her face flush with annoyance, her eyes flash with aggravation.

The best way he'd found to deal with that situation so far was to go the complete opposite way of how he'd previously been acting with her. Rather than seeking her out, he'd taken to avoiding her completely, or at least as much as what was humanly possible. He still saw her from time to time, in the halls, in the cafeteria, or when he walked past the fashion design rooms, but he just kept going on his way - or in the case of the classrooms, turned around so that he wouldn't have to hear the huff of annoyance or see the roll of her eyes that showed just how much she didn't want him around. He'd had it coming though, so it wasn't like he could complain about it, and then, he didn't really think he would have pursued her even if things had been different, even if she'd actually seemed to share his interest. Relationships were too complicated, brought along too many emotions, too much closeness. Trust was not something that came easily to him, if at all, and so he didn't see the point in getting himself involved in something he wouldn't be able to go through with. Still, as he walked through the hallways in direction of his locker after the lunch bell had rang, it didn't stop her from being on his mind.

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[Tiffany James]

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Tiffany's life had been surprisingly without agitation lately. She hadn't heard anything from home, which was better than hearing all about whatever Ginny and Eric were doing. She'd had a good time with Derrick at the Sadie Hawkins Dance, though nothing had really come out of that one and she was okay with that because despite the good time that she'd had... something just hadn't felt entirely right. Either way, her life was still going pretty smoothly right now. She hadn't failed to notice the one welcome addition of less time spent being bugged by a certain Junior fashion design student. Though, she figured that now that she'd thought about it she'd just doomed herself. She'd really have to find some wood to knock on because the last thing that she'd want was for him to go ahead and start seeking her out to bug her again just because she'd had to go and count her chickens before they hatched. Hopefully, he had shifted his interest to another person and now spent his time bugging that person instead. It would make sense and make the both of them happy.

Lost in her thoughts when the lunch bell had rang, she snapped out of them when she heard it and left class. So that she'd be able to make her way through the halls to get to her locker - which seemed forever away - and hopefully make it to lunch before the crowd of people got there and took all of the very best food. However, it seemed her streak of non-agitation was soon about to be up because as she was walking some douche bag guy bumped directly into her. He almost sent her falling, but she managed to catch her balance. Unfortunately, in order to do just that she had to drop her books on the floor. And what did the guy do? He laughed at her and carried on his way and had she actually fallen over, or fall into another person, he probably still would have laughed and kept going, further proving the fact that he was a complete jerk. "Thanks a lot, douche," she snapped at him, huffing as she straightened out her clothes. Why some people were such jerks she'd never manage to understand, but it did not make her happy in the slightest bit.

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[Frederick Orson]

Fred didn't really know how long his luck would last when it came to avoiding Tiffany - of course, even if he so happened to bump into her, he wouldn't start a lengthy conversation with her, and she'd probably be more than happy with the idea of walking past him and ignoring him without saying a word, but still, no matter how hard he was trying to keep himself under control, he knew that if he found himself in a situation where he could easily go up to her and start talking, just so that he could get a reaction out of her, he'd have a hard time resisting the temptation. Obviously, at this point, he'd much rather be able to just talk with her, maybe get to know her, but he was well aware that there was no chance of that happening at this point, and that annoying her would be the best way of getting her attention. Besides, there was just something about her when she was pissed off... she probably wasn't aware of it, but she was pretty hot when he got all huffy and upset. There was no doubt in his mind that her temper matched her hair, which he also happened to think was very nice, along with her eyes and her lips and... well, her whole body in general.

Being attracted to her definitely didn't make his situation easier in any way though, and that was something else he tried his hardest to ignore, but it wasn't as easily done as said. Sighing, he shook his head a bit, trying to keep his thoughts off of her at the very least for the time being as he walked on his way to the cafeteria. As it was, luck was not to be on his side today though, turning a corner to see Tiffany standing practically right in front of him, her back to him though as she proceeded to snap at a guy who was currently walking away, laughing. From the look of her books on the ground, and the way he'd noticed her trying to regain her balance a little, he figured that she'd probably gotten bumped into, and before he even knew what he was doing - because if he'd thought it through, he definitely wouldn't have taken a step toward her - he walked up to her and bent down to pick up the books she'd dropped on the floor with the intention of handing them back over to her, figuring that making a nice gesture wouldn't hurt. At least, that was to be hoped for.

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[Tiffany James]

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Tiffany just had the kind of bad luck that would cause her to run into guys that were complete jerks. She couldn't have someone bump into her that would apologize, help her pick up her things and ask her to lunch. That would be just too much to ask, apparently. Stupid universe, always having to make cruel jokes at the fact that most guys that she had to come across were just not nice and the ones that were, were taken or completely and entirely boring. Someday, she was convinced that she'd meet a guy who was actually nice and interested in her. Hopefully, that day would be sometime before all of her friends had already found amazing guys because if it was way after they were all in happy, caring relationships, she might just go completely insane. It was bad enough seeing strangers go about all happy with their public displays of affection, if her friends had all jumped on that bandwagon and she was left alone... she would not be a happy camper. Probably about the same level of annoyed that she felt currently, give or take some.

Grumbling she turned to go ahead and pick up everything that she had dropped. Of course, the world had to hate her even more though because as she looked, what did she see but Fred of all people standing up with everything of hers. Great, now she'd have to deal with him doing something dumb. Like deciding to play a game of keep away in the middle of the hallway and only giving back her stuff after thoroughly mocking her and getting her even more worked up. It was surprising that he hadn't already made some lame comment about her not being able to walk without falling, or something equally lame. She was sure that it was going to come though, within the next few minutes if it was that long even. Why did the world have to hate her so? "Okay, just hand it over," she said in annoyance, reaching out for him to hand her the things that she'd been unfortunate enough to drop. "I'm not in the mood to deal with one of your stupid little games right now." The only thing she was in the mood for was finally having some lunch.

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[Frederick Orson]

Fred didn't really know what had prompted him to pick up Tiffany's book and now move to offer them back to her. Maybe it was the same reason that had made him go ahead and apologize to Mikayla, added to the fact that he did have a thing for her so he wanted to... well, try and be nice, somehow. He knew that any sort of nice gesture he made for her wouldn't necessarily be well received, she'd think he was just trying to annoy her again, but then, he figured this was probably a pretty safe one. And maybe he could even attempt to get on her good side, maybe tell her that he was sorry they'd started on the wrong foot and he wanted to try and make it up to her a little. Of course, there was always the chance she'd think he was kidding and she'd turn him off, hence why he couldn't really bring himself to speak up as he waited for her to turn around and acknowledge his presence, but still, he was just tired of being on bad terms with everyone. It wasn't so much that he was craving friends so very badly, but he was starting to realize that, even though they weren't necessary to life, they could turn out to be a rather nice addition.

So maybe he'd just go ahead and tell her just that - as it was, he was finding that apologizing wasn't such a bad thing to do, considering how well it'd gone in the whole Mikayla situation. Maybe it'd go over well, maybe she'd react in a positive manner and then he could even suggest that they could maybe eat lunch together, so to maybe get to know her and reverse the bad first impression. That was still just an option in his head though, and for now the first step would be to just hand back her book, which he was prepared to do as she finally looked back and noticed him. He opened his mouth to speak, only to be beaten to it by her, and the words that came out of her mouth were definitely not something he'd wanted to hear. Okay, maybe he'd looked for it, but still, did she really think he couldn't do a single nice gesture ever? He frowned as she practically snapped at him without him having even done anything and demanded that he give her things back because she wasn't in the mood for one of his stupid games, figuring that if that was what he wanted, then why should he bother with anything. "Fine, whatever, I'm sorry for trying to be nice," he spoke, annoyance showing through his own tone. "Don't worry, I won't do it again," he added.

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[Tiffany James]

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Tiffany didn't think she was wrong in assuming what Fred would do. It matched everything that he'd ever done before, the guy just practically lived to annoy her. Why should today of all days be different? It didn't matter that he hadn't done so in a little while, it just gave him all the more reason for him to want to do it now. It would make sense for him to want to make up for all the opportunities that he had missed for one reason or another. It wasn't like he'd just decide to stop, that went along with nothing that she knew about him. And despite the fact that she didn't like him, she still figured that she knew him pretty well by this time. After all, she was sure that she was the one who had the most contact with him. He seemed to avoid everyone else and only come around her to annoy her, those were the facts of the case. The current fact was that he was here and had taken her things, so the only explanation that was logical was that he had taken them with the purpose to annoy her in some way, shape or form.

The way that he frowned at her words did surprise her a bit, but she wasn't going to feel bad about it. So what? Did he think she couldn't catch on to what was going on here? He wasn't that hard to read. Except, maybe he was. She eyed him dubiously as he spoke in annoyance that he was sorry for trying to be nice. Sure, like he'd be nice. The last thing that he added making her roll her eyes, like he'd really been trying in the first place and even if he was capable of trying once being nice didn't exactly seem to suit his personality either. It wouldn't have surprised her in the slightest if even after he was 'nice' to her that he'd reveal it'd all been a trick or something just to further annoy her. "Oh yeah, because being nice is exactly the sort of thing that you're always doing," she said, her own annoyance showing through the sarcastic tone she used. "You've done nothing but annoy me and insult me since you met me and now you're trying to be nice? I don't believe it." Why should she? What had he really done to prove himself any different?

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[Frederick Orson]

Well, if anything, this was gonna be a pretty good lesson that being nice was not something that should be done with everybody. Fred couldn't help but feel slightly resentful though - it wasn't like he'd messed with Tiffy's life so bad and so often that it was really impossible that he might want to be nice to her some time. Really, she probably just wanted to create some other kind of drama - she seemed to be a fan of that, for all she complained whenever he caused some. He tried not to be too upset though, figuring there was no point in it since obviously it seemed so completely ridiculous and impossible that he could be nice with her, even if it was for something so stupid as handing back her books that he'd picked up for her. Really, if he hadn't handed them back already, he probably would have just dropped them to the floor again and left her to deal with her own problems. Well, okay, probably not because that would just have proven her right, but still, it wasn't like he was such a horrible person that it was completely impossible that he'd want to help out someone or whatever. Admittingly, he hadn't done it often, but oh well.

He rolled his eyes a bit when he heard the first thing she said, wondering if she was really so full of herself as to make herself believe she knew what he was like. He was starting to reconsider a bit this whole liking her thing, to be honest, because if she couldn't even accept a nice gesture, then trying to get to know her better would probably be more of a bother than a pleasure. "Yeah, I'm sure you know me well enough to be able to say that and think you're right," he returned, starting to feel just as annoyed as she looked right now, but he wasn't about to start a petty fight with her. If she wanted to stay upset, then that was her own problem - he wasn't gonna put up with it. "Besides, it's not like you were a ray of sunshine yourself the first time I talked to you, and I didn't start out with the intention of annoying you or insulting you, you just had to go and be all judgemental," he pointed out, still quite unhappy with how things had turned out. "You know what? It's not like any of this matter anyway," he added, shaking his head and turning around to be on his way. He really didn't feel like keeping this conversation going.

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[Tiffany James]

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Tiffany was certain that anyone in her position would have reacted the same exact way as she had. When the only time someone came around was to annoy you, only ever having negative contact in your life, no matter how short a time it had been since the start of said contact, it would make anyone assume that naturally when he came around again it was because of something negative. People just didn't wake up one day and decide that they were magically going to be nice from that point on. In her mind - and she believed that in any other person's mind as well - Fred was the same exact way. He hadn't shown himself capable of doing anything but trying to push her buttons, trying to get her huffy and upset and finding some sort of amusement from all of it. It really spoke wonders about the kind of person he was when he got amusement out of getting others upset. It was just a plain mean thing to do, no matter how one person might try to justify it to another. There was no circumstance when getting people mad for fun was acceptable.

Watching him roll his eyes at what she said she wasn't about to back down. Even with his comment about her knowing him well enought to make such judgments she couldn't help but roll her eyes some. Really, it wasn't her fault that he had only made himself bad impressions upon her and had done so multiple times. It wasn't like he was ever seen around being nice either, he just stuck to himself and annoyed her when he had the chance. "Oh whatever," she replied as he called her judgmental. It didn't even matter that it hadn't been his intention at first talking to her, he quickly made it a pattern for whatever future encounters they'd have. She blinked in surprise as he turned around and felt, figuring like it was really not like him to do such a thing. Not when he seemed to get such pleasure in getting her into a huff. It was weird too, watching him leave and be all pissed off at her. Usually things turned out quite the opposite. Oh well, whatever his problem was she didn't even really care. She was still thinking that he lied about what he'd been planning on doing.

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