7306/School Tour

School Tour
Date of Scene:	10 August 2021
Location:	Exterior - Happy Harbor High School
Synopsis:	The Khan family tours Happy Harbor as a possible school for Kamala. It goes about as well as one might expect, as Kamala and Bando come face-to-face without their superhero costumes.
Cast of Characters:	Kamala Khan, Bando George

---

Kamala Khan has posed:
    A small Pakistani family walks along the cement path that goes from the parking lot to the main entrance of Happy Harbor High School. It's a mother, a father, and an age-appropriate daughter. "Okay, betta. We will keep an open mind, but if I get one hint that this is just part of some super hero fantasy, we're getting in the car and driving home, and you'll be grounded until..."

    "...Until I'm a grandmother. I know, Abu..." Kamala replies with a good-natured roll of her eyes. "It's supposed to be a really good school!"

    Yusuf and his wife give each other knowing look. Their daughter suddenly cares about the school's reputation for academics? HA.

Bando George has posed:
    Ticking...clock...

    Bando waggles his pencil between his fingers nervously. Reading. No. Yes. Read. But the clock says 2:59! Why can't they just let him out now? What's going to be the difference for one minute! The agony! His brain is full, he surely can't be expected to learn anything more during the day.

    Riiiiiiing!

    That's all he was waiting for. He stuffs his books dramatically into his bag, and rushes to...the window. He looks out the window down at the lawn. Fwump.

    He hadn't intended to land next to Kamala. He most certainly hadn't intended to land in nearly the exact same space as the one she was standing in. But with a *Fwump* he does exactly appear directly there. And given that he's naturally larger than she is, his arrival means her immediate forcible ejection from the spot, assuming he has more mass. He's beat all of the other students even to the door, given the fact that he just teleported himself straight from the classroom.

Kamala Khan has posed:
    "Hey, watch where you're---" Kamala looks up and see's... "...Ban---er.." The details of her double life immediately throw a wrench into this. Ms. Marvel knows Bando but Kamala Khan does not. She reaches up and rubs the back of her head awkwardly, color filling her cheeks.

    Yusuf and Muneeba, who were both too distracted to take notice of the sudden arrival of Bando George, turn together and reach out for their daughter. "Betta, are you alright!" Muneeba calls out. Yusef, on the other hand, has other things on his mind.

    "Get away from my daughter, you common hoodlum!" he bellows. All bark and no bite, but still...loud!

    "Abu!" Kamala protests. She stands up quickly and waves her hands in the air. "It's my fault, I wasn't watching where I was going."

Bando George has posed:
    Bando looks immediately mortified. "Oh no! I'm so sorry!" he declares. He holds out defensive hands in surrender at Kamala, and then her parents. He starts to bend down to help her, but recoils at Yusef's bark. It's enough to intimidate him! "Sorry sorry! It was completely an accident. I didn't mean to land there. "No it was totally my fault," he rejects Kamala's offer to shoulder the responsibility. "I just teleported right there, and I was aiming for a little farther back. You know?" As if other people would know about his teleporting. "Just sometimes if there's something in my field of vision, I might accidentally land a little closer. Are you okay, are you hurt?" he asks, rambling off his ongoing apology and unrequested explanation. Loudly.

Kamala Khan has posed:
    Kamala knows Bando's power, so she's ready to suddenly 'HAHA!' as loud as she can, just so her parents can't hear the boy say the word 'teleport.' She knew it was coming and also knew that her parents really, really shouldn't hear that right now. She even waves her arms in the air a couple times to provide even more of a distraction -- a visual one this time.

    "Just be more careful," Muneeba says gently, placing a calming arm on her husband's forearm. He lets out a quiet tuff of air and starts walking in the direction of the school. "Come on, let's get this show on the road."

    Trailing back, Kamala leans in towards Bando. "Ixnay with the eleporting-tay," she whispers with some intensity.

Bando George has posed:
    Bando is left with a little confusion as Kamala loudly covers up part of his apology, and has a rather dumbfounded stare on his face. "Uh... why?" he asks, glancing at Kamala. "Oh, are you gonna come here?" he asks. "Oh man I'm even more sorry! He glances back at her parents, and starts following in her direction. Wasn't he in a hurry to get out of school a second ago? The doors open, and several students start flowing out, putting Kamala's family and Bando against the current. "Oh..." he seems to put it together, and mouths, "They don't like mutants?"

Kamala Khan has posed:
    "I don't know," Kamala replies, unsure if she is going to come to this school. That's the hope but it's going to be a tough sell and she knows it. Sudden teleportation is not going to be good for what she's trying to do, though. Kamala wraps her arms across her chest and walks toward the school, trailing after her parents.

    "I'm just... I think they need to be eased into this," she whispers to Bando. She reaches up and tucks a lock of her brown hair behind an ear. "I'm Kamala." And you're Bando George, she thinks.

Bando George has posed:
    "I'm Bando!" he says with every bit of vigor and enthusiasm as he did when he introduced himself to Kamala's alter ego. "Maybe I can help!" He almost prances on his toes as he weaves between the incoming students on his way to Kamala's parents. "Hey, would you guys like a guide?" he asks. "I'm really sorry about knocking down Kamala," he apologizes again, as if his las several weren't enough. "I can show you around the school, and the gym and there's the uh...art room and science...stuff. I'm pretty good with directions, answer all your questions. Just like a tour guide, but for a school!" His smile to them is genuine, if not a little indicative of his excitable nature and short attention span.

    He glances back at Kamala with a discrete thumbs up. He's got you covered, girl!

Kamala Khan has posed:
    "Yeah," Kamala replies with a faint smile. It's one of recognition. "Uh, I mean, nice to meet you." She walks ahead a few steps just so she can have the relief of rolling her eyes at herself. While Muneeba and Yusuf are busy commenting on things that they see and hear, Kamala is in the middle of a slight panic. Is it really a good idea to expose her parents to /more/ of Bando? Could he really stay discrete?

    "Uh, ha...ha ha...That won't be necessary, right?" Kamala answers suddenly. She stares at Bando, both eyebrows rising.

Bando George has posed:
    Kamala's interjection causes Bando pause. Oh, he's already on the new girl's bad side, and she hasn't even started yet. He looks uncomfortable for a moment. "Oh, um. Sorry, just wanted to be helpful. You already don't like me, I'm sorry about all that. I'm really not a jerk, I promise." And she did smile as if she knew him...

    He suddenly stares at her hard, as if trying to think of something. "Do I...know you?" he asks. "I'm usually pretty good with faces. Names are kind of a crapshoot, but faces." Is something burning? That might be his brain thinking.

Kamala Khan has posed:
    Kamala reaches up to tuck a lock of her hair behind an ear. This is the absolute worst, she thinks, but at least they're too focused on the school itself to take notice of this awkwardness. Her parents are indeed more interested in the school itself. "No, no, no, you're /fine/!" Kamala insists. "I like you, I like you." She nods her head, as if to confirm it, but then that color returns to her cheeks again. "I mean, you know, not like-you-like-you. Just, like you. You're fine."

    Kamala Khan walks forward and tilts her head back so she can roll her eyes at the sky. Kill me now, she thinks. Could this get any worse? And then Bando says it: Do I know you? "No!" Kamala shrieks, turning around to face the other teen. "I mean.... No. Of course not."

Bando George has posed:
    Bando rears his neck back curiously, and glances to toward Kamala's parents, then back to her. "Um, okay!" he says, adding a cheerful grin to punctuate. The shriek earns a slight jump, and he gives a wide eyed blink. "Right. You're kinda weird," he says, just throwing it right out there. "You'll fit right in, there's lots of weird people here," he says. "In a good way."

Kamala Khan has posed:
    You're kind of weird, he says. Kamala Khan sighs softly and nods her head, resigned to her fate as weird. "I know..." she mutters, staring straight ahead as they walk through the throngs of students leaving for the day. As weird as this school might be, Kamala is bound to find some way to not fit in here.

    "A tour would be most appreciated," Muneeba replies with a smile, nodding her head at Bando's offer. Kamala, meanwhile, looks horrified. "Uh!" she interjects. "We, uh, don't need that, right? I mean, wouldn't you and Abbu prefer seeing the school yourselves, you know, without us slowing you down?"

    Yusef turns his head and stares daggers at his daughter. Before he has a chance to reply, Muneeba's hand reaches out for his. "Come, Yusef, let us give them a chance to get to know each other," she suggests gently, winking one eye in Kamala's direction. Kamala, meanwhile, scowls.

    "What?!" Yusef bellows. "That's precisely what we're trying to avoid!"

Bando George has posed:
    Bando looks almost as shocked as Yusef when the wink comes back in Kamala's direction. He opens his mouth, he's not that kind of guy! He's just being friendly! How does he say that without opening a whole new can of worms.

    He shuts his mouth. Pro tip: Better to remain silent and thought a fool than to open your mouth and remove all doubt. The students start rushing through the doors, laughing, talking, and bleeding the sense of relief through the courtyard as they file out from their classes.

    "So, um," Bando says back to Kamala. "The Jeannie, and China, and Jarod, Dwayne..." Yeah, as if she's going to remember these random people he's pointing out as they file past.

Kamala Khan has posed:
    Kamala closes her eyes tightly. Maybe if she just wishes hard enough, this will all go away? She opens one eye and then the other. Nope. "Kill me now, Bando George," Kamala mutters to the other teen. She begrudgingly continues onward, lagging behind her parents by a good ten feet or so at this point.

    Kamala doesn't bother paying much attention to the faces attached to those names, as there's no way she'll remember. Instead, she focuses on pressing matters: "Does this school have a cafeteria?" she asks. Of course it does.

Bando George has posed:
    "But you have so much to live for!" Bando answers without even missing a beat, his hands thrown out to the sides. That was the right answer, right?

    "Yeah, there's a cafeteria," he says. "We just have to fight the flood. He starts up the steps, indeed going the opposite direction of most other students, attempting not to get himself knocked over in the process. "So, where do you live, you close to here?" he asks. Thunk. A rather large and very strong looking woman knocks him almost off his feet, but he keeps goin.

Kamala Khan has posed:
    "Not once I get home," Kamala replies with little enthusiasm. She's bound to get grief about this or that once they leave. "Flood?" Kamala repeats, eyebrows rising. "Oh." She follows Bando's lead, bobbing and weaving through the flood. "Not really... We live in Jersey City," Kamala answers. "How about you?" But then...

    "Hey, watch where you're going!" Kamala apparently has no issue screaming at a stranger, let alone a very large and strong-looking one.

Bando George has posed:
    Bump, bang, bump. Bando makes his way against the current until they get into the halls, making it a little easier. "Here," he says, pointing in the direction of the cafeteria. "So your folks, they don't like mutants or somethin'?" he asks. "Since you didn't want me talkin' about my powers I noticed."

Kamala Khan has posed:
    "Huh?" Mutants. "Oh, no, I don't know," Kamala answers, turning around to watch the very large girl pass them on by. She catches up to Bando and peers into the cafeteria through a tiny glass window in the the door. "I just... They'll probably say I can't go here if they think the school is too weird. I don't know. They're... " Strict? Unreasonable? Confining? "...My parents."

    "Can we go in? I'm /starving/"

Bando George has posed:
    Bando makes his way to the cafeteria, which...doesn't have anyone in it, naturally, it's not lunch hour. "Welp, here it is. Land of plenty," he announces. "There's even a cool like inner courtyard here," he walks past the lunch line to show the area that can be sat at, like a walled in park with a few tables and chairs in it. "They probably mean well. My folks don't want me to be a superhero," he explains. "Sometimes you gotta handle them carefully. They're just human."

Kamala Khan has posed:
    "Yeah..." Kamala mutters, giving Bando a sideways glance. "...I know what you mean." Her parents are only human. "...I mean, so am I." She's not. Just as Kamala is about to reach out to open the cafeteria door, something loud interrupts her.

    "No daughter of mine is going to go to a school like this!" Yusef's voice echoes through the hallways, announcing that it is time for the Khan family to be on their way. Apparently he saw something that could not be handled. "Kamalllaaaaaaaaa!"

    Kamala closes her eyes and winces. "Gotta go..." she mutters, looking up at Bando. "I'll, uh, see you later. Maybe." Kamala might. Ms. Marvel will.

    With her hand stuck into the air as a wave, Kamala begins running down the hall!