WE NEED SOMEONE EXPENDABLE , (tag: ara)

Arabella Carthage had been called many things during her school career and most of those things rolled right off of her because she simply didn't care that people thought she was soulless or mean spirited. There were a few things that could get her attention in a single moment though and those things required attention. When that last season Prada knockoff of a sophomore dared to call her a liar it needed to be dealt with. Immediately. Her little cow friends had known immediately that the girl had crossed the wrong line because they had backed off, but little miss couldn't do that. Oh no, she felt the need to stand her ground and take whatever Ara wanted to throw her way.

The infant hadn't lasted even ten minutes before she was a sobbing mess against the wall wishing she'd been anywhere but in front of Arabella. All it had taken was a few scathing words about her wardrobe followed by an assessment of her face and body and Ara's doubts as to whether anyone would ever love something as pathetic as that girl. Everything that Arabella had said was true, that was why the girl was such a mess and likely to need counseling in the future. Of course the professor hadn't thought it kind of Arabella to point out all of the little nobody's flaws and so had cuddled the girl and handed Ara a pink slip while pointing down the hall and telling her she was sure that Arabella knew where detention was by this point.

Bella pulled open the heavy door and entered the detention room with a look of irritated disdain on her face. She spotted the professor immediately and raised a single eyebrow at his look of put upon irritation. "Back again Miss Carthage. What was it this time?" He demanded as he made his way forward with all the usual bluster he deemed necessary. Arabella smiled darkly at him, not in the least bit ashamed to be there. "A spineless worm who talked a larger game than she could actually play," She held out the pink slip with 2 fingers, staring at him blankly. He didn't frighten her like he did some of the other students who got stuck with him for an afternoon. Her eyes traveled around the room, pausing on a familiar figure that caused a sneer to come to her lips.

"If you don't stop your bullying we are going to need to take further steps to correct the behavior." Her attention was immediately brought back to the professor, her eyes narrowing in anger as the rest of her face froze. "I didn't start it, I just finished it. Without physicality this time so I think I've actually made an improvement. So long as that stupid cow doesn't talk to me again we shouldn't have to worry about a repeat performance." She gave him a brittle smile before continuing on. "I know the drill professor. I'll take my seat and focus on the inevitable repercussions of telling truths other people don't want to face." She was baiting him but they saw each other often enough that they had a good read on one another. She knew he didn't really have any control and he knew she wouldn't cross the line into flat out verbally attacking him even though she had little to no respect for his authority.

Arabella turned about, eyes narrowed in on a face she despised. It wasn't her smartest move but she was in a bad mood and so she walked forward and sat down at the desk beside his and turned to give him her most dazzling smile. "And here I thought you'd been run out of the school. However did you manage to avoid all those pitchforks?" Persona non grata did nothing to explain what Joshua Dale was to the Thunder Elementals. He was less than the weakest little Earthworm.

He was trying to ignore her, if she had been a tiny bit fond of him it might be adorable. Because it was Dale she just smirked. Her eyes were half hooded as she stretched her long legs out to rest her feet on the empty chair in front of her. He wouldn't look, he'd never checked her out the entire time they'd been acquainted. Of course part of that could have been that they had rubbed each other wrong since day one. Even before his betrayal and the problems with Cynthia.

She knew the instant he had chosen to respond to her words. He might think he was oh-so suave and mysterious but he was just another boy who wanted attention. He was simply too coy to admit it. For all he looked down his nose at her, Arabella at least was honest about her need for attention and adoration. She had planned on ignoring him but his words struck her as suddenly funny and she turned her face toward the older boy. "My kind? I do beleive you mean our kind. It wasn't just the Thunder, it was the Fire as well or have you already forgotten? They certainly haven't."

Arabella let out a huff of laughter at his comment of combat. She wasn't going to fight him without some backup, not with powers. Hand to hand she'd go in an instant. She might look deceptively thin but she had a great deal of muscle and she had no problem admitting that she fought dirty. After all it was winning the battle that mattered, not how you got there. There weren't rules in war like their were in sports and she took full advantage of it. We'll bring our pitchforks and our Fire friends and then we'll see how you're little torch fares against a wall of fire." She sent him a brittle smile and then faced forward once again, folding her arms across her stomach.

Usually Arabella could respect someone that spoke his mind and was obviously intelligent and powerful but Dale was an exception. She might have respected him even as she disliked him when she was younger but it had all dried up with Cynthia's death. She had idolized that woman. Strong, passionate, beautiful, powerful ... she was everything that Arabella had wanted to be. She despised Dale for turning on them. He had turned his back on everything that Arabella stood for and respected and there was no forgiveness for treachery. His voice snapped her out of her silent seething, she shouldn't have sat beside him. His mere presence was disturbing her.

She wasn't ashamed of her actions as he seemed to be implying she was. "She was a sophomore and the stupid cow was the one who started it." She waved her hand dismissively, knowing she was in the right about that and choosing to ignore his implication that she was a bully. He wasn't the first to insinuate such and he likely wouldn't be the last but she was comfortable in her assertion that she was not, in fact, a bully. She was simply strong minded and too honest for some to handle. There was nothing wrong with that. His opinion of her didn't matter, he was nobody. No one. "Picking fights again Dale? It must be so hard searching for Daddy's affection in all the wrong places." She pouted with false sympathy, a mocking sort of anger in her eyes as she stared at him.

Arabella felt a cold smirk spread across her face and she tilted her head toward the tall young man as though she were going to share a secret. Her tone was civil with a hint of disgust as she spoke. "I'd actually feel safer behind you at least I know to expect you to turn on me at any moment. She turned her attention forward dismissively, as though he wasn't worth paying attention to once she'd said her peace. Of course this was patently untrue since Arabella was one of those that felt the need to say the last word and so had to respond to everything he said.

Dale drove Arabella to fits of rage no one else ever had. There was just something about him and incited her to instant violence, verbal and physical. Being in detention kept her from physical violence. It didn't stop the verbal barbs though. She flung them with abandon and as usual he gave as good as he got. It was irritating. Most people were gibbering idiots once she was through flaying their fragile psyche with her hard-to-hear truths. Dale just stabbed back. Even when they'd been on the same side, that time so long ago, the two had disliked each other.

She turned and sneered at the older boy when he laughed at her. She had slapped down that cow quickly and efficiently and now the little slag would think twice before picking a fight with someone older and tougher than she thought she was. A girl needed to know when to stop herself from going too far and Arabella was more than happy to teach them where that cut off line was.

Now it was Ara's turn to give a dry laugh as she turned and raked scathing eyes over the tall young man. "Bollocks Dale, I know. That entitled air of yours isn't something a person is born with, it's something that is bred into a person. Those designer labels don't come cheap. Either you're looking for approval from somewhere or a priest was touching you in the rectory as a child." She might not know his details but Ara was observant and stupidity was not one of her flaws. For all she knew he might not have parents at all, he could be an orphan. That didn't mean he wasn't trying to prove something to the memory of his dead parents or whoever had raised him. People were always trying to prove themselves to someone.