Take a Good Look ( FINISHED )

Kaie was more then a little happy with her current scheduled. In the morning she had her hard courses, all of the advanced placement courses she had been able to test into this semester. Biology, Environmental Science, Art History and then English Literature and Composition. After that she had exactly one hour for lunch, and then the best part of her day, a solid three blocks of independent studies in studio art. It was an absolute dream come true for the young mutant. Most days, if she didn't get sucked into an art project, as she was known to do, she would wander campus and try to find a new friend or go down into the Danger Room and see what sort of practice she could get. All and all she was happy here at Xaviers, and that hole that had always been in her chest seemed much smaller now. She could even ignore it most days. Today, it might as well have not been there at all and by the time the bell rang for her English class she was in great spirits, looking forward not only to lunch but the project she had waiting for her in the studios. Kaietlynn quickly and methodlessly shoved her book and things into her green canvas rucksack and bolted back to her dorm room. Her room mate was out, and that was ok with her, she just jotted down a friendly note, with a doodle of a cartoonish dinosaur and left it on the girls pillow telling her that she had been in, and that their was some mail waiting for her on her desk. In a surprisingly organized little hurricane Kaie had her school books out of her bag and stacked up on her desk, trading them for all of her art supplies, sketchbook, erasers, straight edges, inking pens etc, and was in a more casual outfit. Worn denim jeans, paired with a flowy black tank top that was super easy to get clay out of. Thusly prepared for the rest of her day she popped in her head phones, cranked up her music, and slung her bag on her back and started the long trek to the cafeteria.

She only made it about half of the way before she came across a large, and growing cluster of noisy students, squawking like a group of birds.

"Palmer's in a hula skirt!" "Oh, my God!" "This is gold!" "PALMER'S IN A DRESS!"

The fact that she could hear them over her music was enough to make her ignore her initial instinct to simply go around and avoid them all like her grumbling stomach wanted her too. But something about the tones of their voices caught her attention. Clearly it was unusual for the Palmer kid in question to be in a dress, which made it highly unlikely that they were in one of their own free will. And just like that her desire to make any bullies sorry they ever messed with this Palmer before they could do some sort of lasting damage silenced any arguments to walk away. She was small but determined and managed to worm her way into the center of the circle group, one hand on her sketch book and a wordless challenge in her posture.

She was unprepared, to say the least, to see what she saw once she had cleared the last tall kid. There in the center was one beaming underclassman, and one coconut clad, grass skirted upperclassman. Her emotional roller coaster was written across her face, clear as day for anyone looking of course. The bravado, melting to surprise, then confusion as her brows furrowed, and then accidentally blatant appraisal. Sure she had seen half naked boys before, heck she had seen fully boys before during a figure drawing lesson she took, but one of them were quite as stunningly... well, hot, as this boy in his hula drag. 'Was she staring? It kinda felt like she was staring....'

Kaie was totally checking him out. There was no way even she could ignore that fact anymore, since she had zero skill in hiding it. The few times she managed to tear her attention away she was impressed by the spontaneous party feel that had come over the crowd.

She even managed to find her way into a chattering group of students, though her gaze never strayed far from palmer for long and it was clear she was only partially listening to them. The pict wasnt sure why, but something about the attractive male in the coconut bra with the adorable face kept drawing her in like a magnet. And if she wasnt mistaken.... it seemed like the checking out was being returned from his end a little.

When he started over her direction Kaielynn gave him a come-and-get-me grin, her posture relaxed showing that she had no shame about getting caught. In fact she was more then a little amused.

"Excuse me, miss, but uh . . . my eyes are up here."

Kaie laughed at that and nodded. "Och! Would yea look at that!" She said with mock surprise, standing on her tip toes so she could get a good look, partially for show, but also because hey, he had gorgeous eyes. "An this whole time Ah've been lookin fer em everywhere else on yea. Silly mae." There was zero point in denying things since she was caught red handed. Might as well offer a joke out of it and hope he didnt take things the wrong way.

Kaielynn nodded, composing her expression into one of somber agreement as she nodded. "Aye, just a wee bet with such an incredibly fabulous outfit like yers." She replied, amused as he put himself back in place. It was strange, this easy familiarity she felt around him. Sure it was easy for her to get off on the right foot with people, all you really had to do was be nice and maybe a little funny, but it didn't normally come this easy for her. Not that she was complaining, someone as comfortable in his skin as he was seemed to be... well they seemed like a good person to try and get to know.

"Ets nice tae meet yea, Darren Palmer. " She said with a smile, her eyes flicking over to who ever had brought music. It really was a party over here and from the looks of things all because one Mr. Palmer decided to wear a hula skirt and parade around for the school to see. Why he was in the skirt still had to be seen though. The little scott nodded to answer his question. "Aye, that ah am, straight from Scotlan en fact. Got recruited and couldnay say nae. They didnay warn mae that the good lookin laddies liked tae run around en skirts o're here though." Kaie added with a laugh, not being to subtle as she took another peek at the rest of him before flicking her gaze up to his eyes again. He seemed to be about as subtle as she was, and she shifted slightly so he could see a little better if he wanted. Being checked out by someone you just shamelessly stared at like a fox looking at a chicken coop, totally fair, and more then a little flattering.

"Kaielynn MacLeod" She purred by way of introduction. After a moment of silence between the two, her attention drawn away by the sudden outburst of dancing behind them, a smile working over her lips as she watched them, she flicked her attention back to Mr. Palmer.

"Sah... why the skirt?" she asked, assuming this was out of the ordinary for him, since she would have noticed him before had he been parading around the school in a similar get up all this time. Not to mention his friends wouldn't have been so eager to draw attention to him if this was normal.

She laughed, "Well thats a relief tae hear, wan lad es enough tae keep mae on mae toes." Her barely concealed smirk was fighting to grow into a full cat-watching-the-canary-grin. Flirting shamelessly, check, and she didn't even know that had been on her list of things to do today. Clearly the little lass was enjoying this strange little game they had going. They watched the dancers for a moment, though she did so more out of amusement then the Shepard tendancies running through Palmer's mind.

The fact that she could clearly see his concern for the other students in his gaze when he flicked it away from her to them and then out and around like he was making sure they weren't about to get in trouble. It was very interesting to have met a young man who was able to multitask so well. Her list of adjectives she was pinning to him only seemed to be growing longer.

The pict's smile grew as she listened, and watched him wiggle his hips... 'That should really be illegal'. She mused to herself, trying to keep from staring as the grass swished. His eyes met hers after she manged to drag them back up to meet them, and then glanced to where he was pointing to see a young boy he was talking about. As he explained his reasons, the flirtatious grin changed. She was genuinly impressed with the clever kindness he had used.

She chuckled and nodded in response to his question. "Aye that he does. Like a fesh tae water." She chirped. "Sah es that what yea dae around here Mr. Palmer? Yea help fesh find their ponds?" she asked curiously. If she had wanted to get to know him before, her desire had increased ten-fold.

Kaielynn watched him as he thought through her question, nothing in her body language to try and hurry him to his answer, though she couldn't help the slight curious tilt of her head as she waited. She chuckled as he smiled again and confirmed her guess. Darren Palmer the gorgeous, young, fish herder. That mental image made her smile stretch a bit wider across her lips. When he pushed her question back at her she let out a surprised laugh 'probably should have seen that wan comin' she thought to herself, regretting not thinking up an answer while she had been studying his expression. Whoops. The lass giggled again when he took the answer she had literally just opened her mouth to give him, off the table.

"Well now that yea took mae new favorite hobbeh off the table..." Kaie paused to think. To be honest she didn't do much of anything, or at least nothing anyone else would find interesting. She studied her butt off, drew her heart out, and ran sims down in the Danger Room. It was pretty much exactly like what she did in Scotland, only here she was free, and she knew where all of her new scars came from. "Ah'm a mysterious reclusive type who doesnay know how tae take her nose out o text books. Naythin sah noble or interesten as a fesh herder... Just yer basic, um...." she paused, taking a moment to translate the term from swot or boffin to something an American would understand. "Nerd." she finished cheerfully, clearly not applying the term in a negative way. And why would she, she liked who she was.

The others around them had pretty much lost all of her interest except for the little fish Mr. Palmer had helped. As she talked every now and then her gaze would flicker to him for a beat. He did seem incredibly happy, and it had spread like wildfire. It was fascinating, though not nearly as fascinating as the lad taking up the other 99 percent of her attention span. Even the prospect of lunch had been forgotten.

The little Scottish lass noticed his eyes focusing on her now, definitely taking the view well. She found it rather flattering in fact, and more then a little amusing. Her grin turned to another chuckle when he lit up about her being a nerd, and then a full laugh when he shoved the different types at her so eagerly."Aye, all o the above." She answered, holding up her hands as if to calm him down. She didn't want him to vibrate right out of that skirt in excitement.

She smiled and reached up, tucking a stray lock of red hair back behind her ear. "Maybe ef yea are hungry, and feelin confident en yer little fesh o're there tae keep swimmin on his own..." the little lass paused, for the first time in the whole conversation did she come across as something less then completely confident as she glanced at the ground and smiled a little shyly. "Would yea like tae join mae fer a spot o lunch? Or ef yea are busy maybe some other time? Then ah might have time tae run through the whole list o fandoms with yea." The lass finished, her eyes darting back up seeking his, and his reaction to her proposal.

It wasn't a date or anything, and she wasn't quite sure what the butterflies were all about in her stomach. Check on intelligent, funny, smooth, kind, fascinating. Check on similar interests. Double check on super attractive. Heck she didn't even know that she found tattoos attractive until she saw his, so maybe change that to a triple check. . . Okay, yeah. . . Maybe she did know what the butterflies were about, but she tried to down play them and smile more confidently like she did this sort of thing all the time.