Iza sat on the chair waiting for a piece of the dean's time. It wasn't like there was much of a wait, but it was long enough to get Iza antsy.
She hated being stuck in place.
Sighing, she turned her thoughts back to her collapsing plan of giving Suzy a wonderful birthday present.
'By now, she's probably enjoying the exhibits...' Unlike Iza who lived in a coastal city for most her life, Suzy was someone who had never seen a lot of marine wildlife, and wasn't totally informed of the culture and habits of marine wildlife. She had constructed a ton of fun facts about sharks and whales in particular, trying to create an array of horror stories that were farfetched to someone who actually lived in areas where sharks may appear.
It was nothing like the movies showcased. If anything, shark attacks were completely accidental from the shark's point of view.
'Jaws totally villainized these poor guys...'
Still, Iza could imagine Suzy being quite entertained with the "real facts" about sharks and their habits, among other things. Suzy was the type that enjoyed gathering information, and learning. Iza was a bit prone to wanting to experience things, she found out.
Still, experiencing learning with a friend was quite fun. Especially the late night study sessions.
As Iza sighed, she heard a rustle next to her as someone sat in an empty seat that could only be waiting for the dean's office.
As the field trip included most of the grades within the school, and as there really wasn't a lot of troublemakers here, the dean's office was scarcely visited.
"What'd they get you in for?" Iza asked with pity, not turning her head out of habit and consideration for the other person.
Afterall, not everyone was used to someone turning their head around with glowing amber eyes.
Iza had startled quite a few people before she gained this stoic habit of hers.
"Oh, the usual. Trying and failing to hold back a friend from punching the heavens out of her school bully." Iza's eyes widened as she spun to the voice.
Suzy Blair, in all her diminutive glory, smiled mischievously back at her.
"Suzy... But wait, what about the field trip...?" Confusion and concern etched on her face as she came to terms with the fact that Suzy stayed behind for her.
'Ah... I ruined her birthday now, didn't I?' Iza sighed inwardly.
"Sharks and whale stories would be cool to learn, I must admit." Suzy said, her voice calm, hiding a soft excitement as if she was going to say a particularly inspiring line that she liked. "But I wouldn't leave my bestie hanging alone in front of a lion for that."
She gave a smile that also made Iza smile.
Friendship was amazing. That's for sure.
It was then that a strange hum sounded. Iza could see that Suzy's mouth kept moving, but she didn't hear a word she said. As if there was a screen, a strange white noise humming screen.
"...you okay? You're looking pale."
It was then that Iza could hear Suzy. "Uhh... Yeah, just stress I think..."
Iza sounded uncertain.
She was uncertain.
Her glowing amber eyes had shaken slightly, reminiscent of a flickering fire for a second before regaining their stability as Iza collected herself from that strange experience.
Suzy's worried gaze showed that she had noticed it too. Iza didn't like that she looked so worried, though she appreciated that Suzy would show concern for her benefit. Iza thought that she would be a burden on their friendship if she just worried Suzy one-sidedly.
Before she could relieve her worries, the door to the dean's office creaked open, as the Dean peeked his head out.
Mr. Rogers had a kind but stern type of face, like a weathered professor that practiced both deep empathetic talks with troubled students, but also with eyes that could pierce out any tomfoolery with a single glance.
"Iza Smith...?" He spoke, his eyes glancing with a slight surprise at Iza's glowing amber eyes.
Obviously, Iza tried very well not to get the Dean's attention this past year or so, wherever possible.
'She just had to call out my parents...' Iza grumbled inwardly before arising to her feet, giving a confident glance back to Suzy.
Hoping that such a calm and confident facade could ease some of the worry that Suzy had.
But to Iza's surprise, Suzy stood up and put herself in-between Iza and Mr. Rogers. "Uhh.. Mr. Rogers, sir..? Iza did punch Ashley, but Ashley was provoking and taunting Iza. Ashley should get punished too..." Suzy had her eyes closed, and her gaze wandered a bit shyly.
Her defense warmed Iza's heart causing Iza to smile in stunned admiration, and Mr. Rogers gave a leveled gaze at Suzy before speaking. "Well, come on in. The both of you. Let's see if we can figure this situation out then."
As Suzy and Mr. Rogers led the way into the office room, Iza faltered in her steps.
The humming.
It returned.
Her gaze wandered across the empty waiting room, across the chairs, lingering slightly over the electronics she saw along the way. The intercom speaker, the computer screens, a moveable trolley with a projector and vhs cassette player. But the sound wasn't coming from each of them. This... white noise like humming noise didn't come from any of the speakers she saw, didn't seem to come from any of the electronics.
'What... What's going on?' Her breath tightened, and she felt a wave of stifling anxiety before she felt the warm hands clasp around her hand.
Iza turned, seeing Suzy's very worried gaze yet again. The image of a black cat that worriedly gazed at its master, as if sensing something was wrong, wouldn't leave Iza's head from this sight. When she spoke, Iza heard her clearly.
"Are you sure you're okay...?" Suzy whispered.
Mr. Rogers curiously watching from afar, added atop of Suzy. "You seem a little disoriented. If you're worried about impartiality, I can assure you I'm quite fair. If you were being harassed, you can trust me to give a fair assessment." Mr. Rogers gave a friendly smile.
To be fair, Iza didn't think badly of Mr. Rogers.
It was easy to tell who was a real shill for the family of the school sponsors, or a real shill for the very popular, or very successful students of J.C. Sovereign Academy. There were many like that, that were likely to give favors to the affluent students, or the very known students. It was that type of unfair school.
But even then, Mr. Rogers was a staunch defender of the order within the school and was the primary reason that more cruel forms of bullying didn't exist. There was more than enough students of troublemakers getting ousted by the policies and regulation of Mr. Rogers.
If it were not for the recent strange humming, Iza would be quite comfortable with Mr. Rogers.
'Maybe I'm just tired...' Iza shook off the thoughts that she might be going crazy, and calmed herself.
"Thank you, Mr. Rogers. I'm fine... I'd like to get this over with." Iza tried to pull off a stoic expression to cover how shaken and confused she was.
This didn't immediately ease the tension between Suzy and Mr. Rogers.
However, it was enough for Mr. Rogers to nod his head. "Alright. Let's head in and discuss what happened."
He didn't say more and invited Iza and Suzy into his office, something that Iza took advantage of this time.