Follow Me Down [ALTAIR]

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I had a heart then but the Queen has been overthrown
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As her eyes fell on who it was that interrupted her alone time, her posture instantly straightened up a bit. ”Hello Altair.” Altair Bennett. Former Fire Leader for the last two years running and all around role model for Kelsey’s own term. The two had been to a few of the same parties when Altair still took high school classes, but Kelsey was always too nervous to go up and say anything to her. Altair usually had her own crew of people hanging around, or she was too busy lining herself up with some guy. For all the admiration she had for the older girl she had barley every said much to her. Just a passing greeting here or there that may or may not have been acknowledged every time. So for the blonde model to be sitting across from her and take a seat across from her was ground breaking.

Holy Shit…..Altair knew Kelsey’s name! She smiled at the recognition only to have her little balloon of happiness slowly deflate. Hesser? Her smile faltered a bit. Heffer!? Now that was just too harsh of a blow. ”Umm, Hennessy,” she corrected tentatively. The twelfth year wasn’t really sure Altair would like being corrected, but for her to keep thinking her name was Heffer would be too much for Kelsey to have to swallow. Her legs swung up on the couch as she crossed them Indian style to minimize the amount of space she was taking up. For the first time in a long time she was feeling rather nervous in the presence of someone else. It wasn’t helping that the older girl seemed to exam her once more. Kelsey’s curiosity kicked in as she wondered what the other girl was thinking. Again a foreign feeling since Kelsey usually ignored other people’s opinions about herself.

There was no need for the girl to introduce herself to Kelsey. Of course, it would have been creepy for Kelsey to actually voice that, so she just nodded at the older girl. It was Kelsey’s turn to sort of look over the girl in front of her, and to no surprise she almost looked like a villain in a Bond movie. She wasn’t just sitting in the armchair, but she owned it. Everything down to the littlest detail exuded complete self-assurance. ”It’s been an interesting adjustment so far,” she admitted. Of course, she had no problem dealing with her school workload, but the social aspect of it all was a nightmare. Balancing friendships, responsibility, and downtime seemed like an impossible task most days. You can’t have anymore than two going on at a time it seemed. Either she could go out with friends and shrink out on her responsibilities or stay on top of all the troublemakers during her downtime. ”Maxism…does his best,” she said. Of course she had reservations on him. He seemed to not take the whole balancing act as seriously as she did. "So, what brings you back down here?" Kelsey did her best to sound casual, as though this wasn't as awesome for her as it really was.

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I had a heart then but the Queen has been overthrown
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Kelsey perked up a bit once Altair confirmed her last name. She was probably reading too much into it, but it was satisfying all the same. Now she could at least pretend all of this wasn’t so one sided, even though it probably was. ”Start of term might have given everyone the impression that they were welcomed to the same sort of free reign they had during Winter Break.” she admitted to the pervious leader. It was hard to decided what was worse to deal with; incoming students, or trying to prove herself to graduates. "Most of our time so far has been spent towards reigning younger students in without breaking their spirits." The younger kids were easier to rope in through fear and a little light play of her abilities, but she couldn’t say the same about the older crowd. Kelsey had no real in with the upperclassmen other than the occasional few that remembered her from a few parties here or there in the past. Kelsey had no leverage over the older students yet and the only glue holding them together was a bit of loyalty and a common enemy of the Water/Earth alliance. If the girl didn’t do something big to fully win them over soon she would be a poor excuse of a leader. Maybe refreshing herself on Sun Tzu could help give her some creative ideas on how to lead. No way in hell was she going to go down as a terrible leader in anyone’s books.

As if breaking some sort of tension within Kelsey, she let out a small laugh at Altair’s assessment of the other Fire Leader. She was on point about the other Leader when it came to his mane. ”I’d be the first to get the shears myself if he wasn’t so obsessed with his hair.” He was worst than a lot of girls and that in itself was quite the statement. Hair product and cute boys were his weakness. Two pretty feeble things to succumb to in Kelsey’s opinion. Kelsey thought she had it bad having to stare down an upperclassman, but Maxism was even a year younger than she was. Now that was a far shittier position to be in. If only there was a twelfth year up to the task of being a leader. No, they were all too busy fucking up their lives and pissing their opportunities away.

School rules made it very clear that smoking inside school grounds was not okay. Even if it was within the confines of the common rooms. Yet this was Altair…so she could either let it slide or fall into a trap. Was this some sort of trap to see if she was doing her job right? There wasn’t much time to dwell on it as Altair made no stop to put the cigarette away. Shrugging in response she decided it wasn’t the worst thing that could happen. Though if any of the other high schoolers started to walk around thinking they could get away with that crap, Kelsey would quickly squash that idea. Kelsey didn’t smoke herself. The health issues were enough to keep her away from the deadly things. In true fashion, her ego saved her the trouble of picking up the nasty habit. Why risk death by cancer if she could one day find the cure for it. Sadly enough the sense of self was that loaded for the new Fire Leader.

Altair’s stare found Kelsey's and the girl tried finding somewhere else to look. Kelsey wasn't sure what it was, but Altair's stare, even though most of the times apathetic, made her feel uncomfortable, however, not in a bad way. She felt it in her gut, like something was dancing in her stomach. Must have been nerves. Her eyes found purchase on Altair's laptop, noticing that the girl was going on about schoolwork. ”Top in my class,” she commented boldly, not bothering to explain she was probably top in the whole Academy. Ancient Civilizations sounded pretty interesting to the girl even if Mathematics and Sciences were what really got her rocks off. Mu, Rama Empire, the Osirian’s of the Mediterranean, Mayans, The Aroi Sun Kingdom of the Pacific, Mesopotamians. A rush of different lists went off in her head as she thought of plagues, leaders, religions, and different advances in technologies all of those civilizations went through. All of this in just a matter of seconds. ”What’s it like in the college level?” a bit of her intellectual craving seeping through her detached façade.

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I had a heart then but the Queen has been overthrown
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Deep down Kelsey had more than her fair share of words to spread about the other Leader. Half the time it felt like she picked up the slack for the younger boy. She wasn’t going to mouth off to an older student about that though. It would provide a weak front and clue others into who was a weaker link. Maxism definitely let more things slide by the wayside than Kelsey would ever allow. Judging by Altair’s reaction she was less than impressed with what the younger students had to offer as leaders. Kelsey had a hard time remembering who the male leaders were in her past years. She had never been one to cross paths in a disciplinary manner when it came to the Leaders. Other than her sometimes late night excursions, Kelsey had a clean record. ”Maxism has a bit more to learn before I take him seriously.” He needed to stop asking for Kelsey to cover for him. Never had she ask him to cover up for her. Responsibility was top on Kelsey’s wish list for her she wanted Maxism to bone up on real quick.

A swell of pride rushed through Kelsey upon hearing Altair off passing compliment. Her parents had taught her to believe that the most important thing was a strong and intelligent mind. As her father’s daughter, Kelsey couldn't agree more. Cleverness and shrewdness were her specialty. Simple words were far more effective at times than any physical move she could think of. The mind was the greatest weapon a Hennesy possessed, and Kelsey’s was the greatest of her family, even more so than her father. She merely held back around him for the sake of the older man’s pride. Sometimes sharp words and utter confidence were enough to silence opposition for good. While the school may not have helped her further herself with her studies, she was becoming cold and calculating as she learned to navigate the social waters. She also had instilled a mentality that anyone who wasn't a Fire was an enemy. Sometimes she even cast a wary eye at some of her Thunder counterparts. Some of them were too slow to retaliate against opposing hostility, ironically enough just like their natural enemies the Earths. She’d still side with a young ninth year Thunder over an upperclassmen Earth any day.

Kelsey had been lulling herself into a false sense of security around the ex leader, relaxing to the point where she was no longer nervous around her role model. Until she had popped the million-dollar question, throwing Kelsey off balance once more. She was mentally kicking herself as she scrambled to feel certain with herself again. Kelsey's brown eyes reflected the fire playing in front of them as she tried to find an acceptable answer. ”I fair well enough and work hard at it.” She offered an honest assessment, but left out that fact that there might have been other people in her grade that had better control than she had. She had no way of knowing what the other twelfth years in other elements were like. It was not for a lack of effort on Kelsey’s part. Sadly some people just had an upper hand over her on that area. And it didn’t bother anyone more than it did Kelsey. So when Altair informed her about the coursework at the college level Kelsey felt nervous for once when it came to schoolwork. ”How hard can it be?” She was unable to take her eyes off of her own collection of schoolbooks. Kelsey was fighting the urge to seek comfort in her complex equations and algorithms. Math may have been an enemy to most kids, but to Kelsey it was a constant source of support.

If there was ever a time to ask for advice it was now. Who better to ask than Altair Bennett. ”How were able to do it?” For two years the blonde had to juggle students from a span of eight years difference between them. Was it better to treat every the same, or did each age group need a different style of leadership. She felt like she was in the dark on how to lead and in turn felt like shit. ”Sorry, you probably just want to do your work in peace.” The more she opened her mouth and asked for advice the more she probably looked like an idiot. Looking at Altair's laptop caused Kelsey to think of something to make up for looking like a complete idiot in front if the former leader. "I could help you with that if you like," she said nodded towards the computer. Kelsey had no idea what kind of student the other girl was but she was desperate to prove herself.

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I had a heart then but the Queen has been overthrown
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Kelsey felt uneasy under Altair’s stare. It was like being pluck into a petri dish and examined underneath a microscope. What was it that the blonde was thinking or seeing when she stared so intensely at the younger girl? Kelsey would be lying if she didn’t admit that not knowing it was driving Kelsey mad. Kelsey would have to try and bottle that look up for the next time someone crossed her path, because it was certainly having an effect on the new leader. Altair advice was lack luster at first, until it took a dive for the worse. Kelsey’s face scrunched up a bit into a look of misunderstanding. While the older blonde may have been patting herself on the back, Kelsey quickly found fault in her logic. A pressurized chamber of any design would not have any sort of ‘valves’ present within the actual chamber. Even in the more complex thin wall versus thick wall vessels a valve of some sort would not be able to function in Altair’s example. The stress in the longitudinal direction along with the internal gauge pressure, even with ideal inner radius dimensions and wall thickness, would decimate an internal operating system. Applied Mechanical Engineering and Physics must not have been Altair’s ‘thing’.

Now Altair’s words of wisdom in regards to being a leader were both helpful and of accurate standings with Kelsey. Instead of telling people she was the leader she needed to focus on acting the part. Or really just being the leader. Hell if someone told her that they were a leader and ‘Gosh darn she had to listen to them just because of that,’ that would be even more of a turn off for the younger girl. So she had to firmly place her feet on the ground and steel her resolve. It was Truman who made the phrase popular ‘The buck stops here,’ and damn it, Kelsey was going to go with it as well. As of now Kelsey would have to act like the head bitch in charge and man up, or else there could be some civil unrest on her hands.

Altair’s dry laugh was not lost on Kelsey. How disappointing for yet another person to fall into the atypical role of begrudging student. Would it kill for cosmos –a divine entity Kelsey normally shunned with rational thought and science- to let her meet someone who broke that mold as she did? It’s not like it would have been a terrible thing really. Pushing her thoughts back and doing her best to keep her vile and condescending academic superiority at bay, she pasted a smile on her face. ”Probably better than everyone in your class.” She still sounded a bit cocky, but she tried. ”Right off the bat I can give you some advice on how to improve your grades in any Humanities based class without even cracking open your web browser. When you right a paper try and do anything other than reading a passage and basically rewrite it. Trust me, professors have read the same recycled garbage from accredited authors with far superior writing skills than you. They’re not going to be tricked into thinking a paper is good after some punk eighteen year old looked up a Wikipedia page and basically jumbled some words around to produce some shit they are proud to call, 'a complete sentence'.”

Her advice was coming off a bit nonchalant, but it was true. Kelsey had read dozens of scientific journals that, although flowery in word use and too hard for the average reader to digest, basically was repeated facts the field has known for thirty odd years or so. It infuriated her, so a Professor must have wanted to blast himself in the skull when students struggled to even understand what a thesis statement was. ”Professors and readers in the field get excited when you take the same information and present it in a new light. It doesn’t have to be fancy. All you have to do is take your studied topic and relate it to something else. It may not be proven, but as long as you can create a healthy amount of logic from your perspective to string something together, you’re in the clear." Kelsey attempted a metaphor for Altair that was both accurate and easy enough to understand. "It’s like dangling anything shiny in front of a baby. They don’t know or care what it is, but the just know they fucking like it and that puts them in a better mood.” Sure, Kelsey may have been dressing up cheating a bit, but it depends on where the morals stood. Was it really cheating if she was merely encouraging Altair to spice up her papers, there for putting her Professors in a better mood come grading time. This was Kelsey’s realm, and the more she got into it, the more she felt like herself in front of Altair. There was no hesitance in her posture now. Comfort seeped back into her frame as she tried to think of other easy ways to beef up Altair’s assignment. ”Perhaps I can give you an example. Now, when you say Ancient Civilizations, what have you gotten yourself into? I mean… Ancient Civilizations is the biggest, broadest blanket term there is. You got a certain tribe, or culture, or even narrower topic point for this, or are you writing an encyclopedia?”

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I had a heart then but the Queen has been overthrown
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”I know I am,” Kelsey replied firmly and without any uncertainty. There was no point in denying it. When she was younger her parent’s had her IQ tested to see just how smart their daughter really was. The Wechsler Adult Intelligence Test landed her a 165 and a solid 170 based off of Alfred Binet’s studies all before the age of fifteen. Kelsey felt no need to impress teachers she was already better off than. She simply knew most other students felt the need when they could measure up academically. Clearly she had been off about Altair. So if Altair wasn’t one for studying and didn’t care enough for cheap tricks to get a decent grade,-what was she after? Compliancy? Not having a single care about academic results did not compute with Kelsey’s rigid love for it.

It was clear to Kelsey that the way she presented her claim didn’t sink in with Altair. Leaning forward a bit Kelsey went for her notebook and pen before placing it in her lap. ”The way you spin it makes it sound like you are lying on your paper. You would simply be presenting a hypothesis and using the paper to prove it’s thier is potential for it to be true. Scientists do it all the time.” Ancient Greece? Well Altair was right about one thing, Greece could certainly hold it’s own in weight of writeable material. ”So, for example… take something from current events like the Olympics that just past.” Ugh, people and their sports. A completely different world from what Kelsey wanted to live in. ”Take another hot buzz topic filling our new channels like homosexuality. Now, normally the average mind wouldn’t find the connections between Ancient Greece, Homosexuality, and the Olympics when first presented with the topics,” All of this seemed pretty obvious to Kelsey’s mind, if she had ever needed to stoop to such levels of trying to ‘wow’ a teacher. ”That’s where they are wrong. Homosexuality, until recent social movements, is widely unaccepted by society. Shunned as sin and never to be talked about or accepted in some communities such as the military, rap and athletic industry. It is even openly discouraged.” It was the harsh reality of small-minded people who placed their faith in false idols and ritual instead of the rational mind.

”Ancient Greece and their Olympians were known for openly accepting homosexuality amongst men, even encouraging it for prepubescent boys as a learning experience. And not in a Vatican way,” she said, correcting any misjudgments the girl might have on the older culture. ”You could argue in your paper that our society has gone back on it's devolved in this aspect of life.” Through all of her lecturing Kelsey was jotting things down like crazy, attempting to keep her neat cursive in check. Soon her bullets and notes began to spread to the next page as she wrote down things she didn’t even feel the need to explain out loud. ”That leaves you with one paper drawing common aspects of culture still relevant on many levels thousands of years later. And with a paper like that, your professor would be so overcome that a teenager 'took the time' to pull together such 'obscure notions' instead of looking at Wikipedia as your only source page.” By the time Kelsey was done lecturing and jotting down notes, she had managed to fill an entire three pages with bullet points to further expand upon. Her mind work in weird ways as information she only read once or twice could easily be brought back at the drop of a dime. Tearing out the notes Kelsey left her hand extended towards Altair with the papers. Wither she used them or not didn’t bother Kelsey, but Kelsey surely didn’t need her own notes.

”Or you can ramble a bunch of facts about how their philosophies and art shaped us today.” Boring, dry, and so…predictable. Caught off guard by Altair generous offer, Kelsey almost did a double take. ”Really?” For Kelsey to help Altair out barely presented a challenge for the blonde. Hardly something to break a sweat over really. But effort would have to be put in on Altair's part. Kelsey wasn’t a lost cause but elemental work could be exhausting when done right. ”You would do that?” Kelsey hadn’t been asking for it when she set out to help Altair with her work. For once she hadn’t been thinking about herself. And for once it was paying off.