OOC: All right, after that long site breakdown, we can finally continue!
IC:
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It was about 6 in the morning, and the sky was only just beginning to rise. Zuri was awake though, and she had just finished getting dressed and everything. So now, Zuri walked over to the door leading to the rest of the house, pausing for a moment to acknowledge that her grandmother was waiting down there. Then she glanced behind her, where a big window stood--it was nice to sit in this darkness and watch the sun rise, but now Zuri had no time for that, as today was a school day.
When Zuri opened the door, she noticed a glow coming from a corner of the floor below--Zuri sighed and fretted at the sight of this. As she walked down the wooden stairs, she glimpsed her grandmother, kneeling at an altar that stood in a far corner of the house. That was where the glow came from; the altar was lined with candles. As Zuri descended the stairs, she could her her grandmother speaking, praying...
"Lord, bless this house, this entire house... from the vast living room all the way up to the second floor, even Zuri's room. Let my precious grandchild be free from all the sinful acts she is ever drawn to..."
This was one part of this Zuri hated, as those "sinful acts" actually meant paranormal activity, especially having to do with her late parents.
"...The Devil has her possessed, I fear, so much that I am finding it increasingly harder to bring her to the light... Please, oh holy one, please help us."
After Grandma was finished, she turned on the electric lights in the house and started putting out the candles. It was then that she saw Zuri.
"Good morning, my angel," Grandma greeted. Zuri found this greeting rather odd--hadn't she just claimed Zuri to be under influence of the devil?
"Silent as usual, are we?" Grandma said when Zuri didn't reply. Zuri just looked back and started heading to the front door.
"Leaving already?" Grandma asked. "You have an hour and a half before school starts--why don't you come have breakfast first?"
"No thank you," Zuri answered without looking at her grandmother--she just continued walking to the door.
"Whatever could be wrong?" Grandma lamented. "Why are you so cold around me? You never open up to me, you act like I've been mean to you... Why, after I've done everything I can to be loving and kind and..." Grandma stopped mid-sentence and started to cry. Zuri couldn't help but feel a little bit sorry for her, but she neither said anything nor turned around to look at her grandmother.
That morning in school, Zuri was in her gym clothes, sitting among her classmates near the soccer field. Mornings were usually depressing for her, as she first had to deal with problems with her grandmother, then have her first class in high school be of her worst and least favourite subject.
Some choice I made, Zuri thought, waiting until my senior year to take P.E. Especially when all these problems with my grandmother are taking place. Now she even thinks I've been possessed by the devil! So now the only good day I look forward to nowadays is Saturday...
The teacher/coach blew her whistle, causing Zuri to focus her attention on her instead.
"All right everyone," the teacher, Ms. Akida, announced, "get into the teams you picked yesterday and let's start to actually play!"
Zuri didn't like the team she was in, as most of its members were the classmates that usually teased her the most. What was worse, this time the team had picked Zuri for playing goalie. Great, the most important position assigned to the worst player. What were they thinking?
The good thing was that in this game, Zuri didn't have to do much running around in her position. But then one time when the ball came to her and she picked it up (another plus: she was the only one who could use hands), she couldn't kick it very far, so she ended up with a sore foot and the embarrassment of the other team scoring a goal.
"Come on Zuri, are you gonna play or what?" another girl on the team asked. Apparently she was mad at Zuri letting the goal in, but Zuri didn't reply--the game just continued on.
A couple of minutes later, Zuri was standing on the right side of the field, when someone on the other team kicked the ball hard, right at her. Zuri made to catch the ball, but it was flying at her with so much force that it hit her in the stomach then knocked her backwards a little. Unfortunately, Zuri happened to be standing right in front of one of the goal posts, so she collided with it, then fell sideways onto the grass.
Ms. Akida came running to her.
"Are you all right?" Akida asked, kneeling down next to Zuri. "Maybe you should go up to the nurse's office."
Though with a little difficulty, Zuri stood up. "I'll be fine..." Zuri muttered, still wincing from the impact. "I think I'll just wait somewhere until... until class is over. I don't... want to miss my other classes."
Ms. Akida nodded, and then she helped Zuri over to a bench where they sat down. Akida continued to observe the other students while talking to Zuri.
"This is the third time this month that something like this happened," Akida commented. "Normally, after you miss class three times, you get suspended. I know you don't like this class, but I also know that all these incidents have been accidents. Therefore you are exempted from that punishment. Just try to be a little more careful, OK?"
Later in the day, Zuri was sitting in her chemistry class, just about finishing a quiz on chemical formulas. Now, she was checking over some of the questions on the quiz to make sure they were right. Glancing around the classroom, Zuri could see some students staring into space, others concentrating on their quiz, others looking around the classroom. Anyways, after a while, the teacher cleared his throat and whispered to Zuri and the guy sitting next to her,
"Zuri, Hiro... I have to take your quizzes. I warned you about the cheating rule."
"But..." Zuri protested, "...who, why... I wasn't copying..."
"You didn't copy anybody, Zuri," the teacher commented, "but you let Hiro copy you."
"Aww, Mr. Raiji..." the classmate named Hiro groaned as the teacher took both his and Zuri's quizzes away. Mr. Raiji... Zuri liked his manner of teaching, but he was sometimes a little too strict...
As the bell rang for lunch, students passing Zuri in the hallway often giggled or muttered things behind her back, probably relating to her bad experiences in PE and chemistry class that day. So instead of heading to the cafeteria like the others, she headed outside and found an isolated place at the very edge of the campus. She wasn't sure whether students were allowed in this area, but all she cared about at this point was being alone.
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OOC: Great conditions upon which to start a Digimon adventure, huh? Nowadays I like to make life hard for my RPG characters...
