Gleefully Yours!Verse - Chance Encounter

Charlie's been a student of William McKinley High for a grand total of two hours and so far, she's learned that the students really love their gossip. This was to be expected, of course, since it was a mass of young people with nothing better to do than talk and talk and talk.

It was a vastly different experience from homeschooling and Charlie was enjoying it, mostly.

The only thing that was bothering her? They certainly were set on ruining the already damaged reputation of Hunter Clarington.

Charlie was fully aware of the controversy surrounding Hunter. You can't be a Lima resident and not know of the steroids. That had been on TV for weeks. His explosion over Splenda was all over Facebook and Youtube for a while.

So, being the new girl, Charlie was told to stay away from him. If she wanted to get anywhere in the social hierarchy of school, which she didn't, she was to never speak to Hunter Clarington. Ever.


So what's the first thing Charlie does when she sees him sitting alone at lunch? She heads over. Boldly. With a certain 'fuck convention' attitude in her step and the way she sets her food down and the way she sits across from him at the table.

Hunter gives her an annoyed look, which she promptly grins at, and she's privy to several incredibly rude comments about Hunter as other students walk by. But they're ignored. Mostly.

"You don't mind if I sit here, do you? Of course you don't," she says quickly, not really giving Hunter much room to talk. There are more comments about Hunter, and a couple directed at her and Charlie raises her voice, looking right at the people talking and raising her voice some. "I'm not a douchebag like the rest of the people here."

This gets her a rude look, a couple scoffs from nearby Cheerios and they leave.

"Why are you sitting here?" Hunter asks after a moment or two of shocked silence. Charlie's eyes lift to his, eyebrows furrowing in mild confusion. She has a bite of macaroni and cheese from home in her mouth, chewing and swallowing before answering.

"Because it's lunch time and I'm hungry and I wanted a place to sit?" Duh, Hunter. It's obvious.

"That's not what I meant. What I meant was why are you sitting here?" Hunter asks again, sounding annoyed. "You do know why I am, right? I'm Hunter Clarington. The resident asshole of William McKinley High."

"Okay."

"So sitting with me is social suicide."

"Oh, no. The horrors?"

"You do know what I did, right? That's ---"

"I don't care." Charlie's comment silences Hunter, much to Charlie's amusement. It was getting difficult to eat with all the talking he's doing. She takes a few more bites, silently waiting for Hunter to say more, but he's just staring as if he's unsure of what he's seeing.

"Listen. What you did at your school? That was fucked up, I'll give you that much. But this isn't your old school. It's probably the last place on earth you want to be in. I get that. It's understandable. You have no friends here."

Hunter visibly shrinks some, face hardening as he shifts his gaze to the sandwich he really suddenly doesn't care about. Charlie reaches a hand out, fingers touching his wrist lightly and Hunter can't stop staring at the bluish black nailpolish on her fingers and the mass of black and white bracelets on her wrist.

"If you let me, I'll be your friend. Cheesy as that sounds, I couldn't think of a better way to put it. But...I think you need someone on your side. Don't take that as me agreeing with with what happened. I don't. No offense, but that was a dick move, man."

For some reason that Charlie can't discern, Hunter's shoulders shake just a bit with a small laugh. His eyes find hers and Charlie grins, retracting her hand.

"But I'm not going to hold it against you. It's stupid to. It makes for a hideous start to a friendship."

She watches as he straightens some, still picking at his food and taking a drink of his soda. His face hardens again, but not as badly as it did previously. There's a subtle change to it that Charlie takes to mean she's had some success.

"Whoever you are--"

"Charlie."

"Charlie? Is that short for Charlotte?"

"No. Charlene."

"Okay. Charlene--"

"No. Charlie."

"You're really infuriating, you know that?"

Charlie grins and nods. "It's my goal to annoy you so much, you can't help but want to be friends."

And this time, Hunter actually grins and laughs. "Charlie. You don't want to be my friend. I'm an asshole, and a dick, and not someone you want to be around."

Charlie's finished eating by now, containers being packed away into her lunch bag. A student walks up, the look on their face one that tells Charlie whatever they have to say, it isn't good. Before they can open their mouths, Charlie's talking to them and waving them off.

"No. Go away. I don't care who you are. Keep walking. Okay, bye. Bye. Goodbye. Adios." A few more goodbyes later, and the other student walks away, grumbling. She grins, looking at Hunter with a smirk that she doesn't know he thinks is adorable.

"And yet, I chose to sit with you. It's my decision who I spend time with. Just...give me a chance. I'm willing to do the same for you."

She watches as he shrugs some, eyes rolling just a tiny bit. She won, and it makes her happy. Standing, shouldering her backpack with ease, she stretches a bit. Digging in her pocket for a pen, she reaches for his hand and writes her number on his palm.

"Here. Call me sometime. We'll hang out after school or something." With that, Charlie leaves Hunter with a mildly confused look on his face.