Realistic or Modern Radcliffe High

[Winona]

Zeph

Alright it was just... a new school. Zeph had done this a million times before. Well, not a million times, but a couple times in the last couple years. They had left their hometown around the middle of sophomore year and Zeph had been devastated. He had just gotten together with a girl that he'd had a crush on since middle school and then his family was moving. Although they tried to keep things together, they had broken up right before he had started his junior year of high school because... ahem... look okay, maybe he got drunk and a girl kissed him and his ex had found out and broken things off with him.

Junior year had been shit after that. Turns out the girl that had kissed him was dating some big football jock who turned half the team against him. The bullying hadn't even been the worst part of it, though. The whole "mother being sick and getting worse" thing had been the part that had truly brought Zeph to his knees.

Her death and funeral had sucked and been a horrible way to end his junior year, but then they had packed their things and moved to... Radcliffe, Oregon to live with his dad's parents. Zeph had tried to get his family to move back to their hometown but his dad had insisted that there were "too many memories" so now... here they were.

It didn't seem too bad. Really. It just... didn't feel like home. Not yet. Zeph had a feeling it never would.

He pushed his way into the school and so far so good. There were no jocks waiting to beat him up and so far, he hadn't even offended anyone. Off to a great start. Sure, right now he was invisible to everyone else, but that was fine. Zeph could live with invisible. Over the last year and a half, he had learned that there was a certain peace in being unnoticeable.

However, Zeph found himself slowing down and coming to a halt when he realized that he had absolutely no idea where he was going. He turned in a little circle, totally lost, and a frown formed on his lips. He looked around for someone to ask for some help -- nerd, total freshman, probably another new kid, that guy looked like he would break Zeph, che--

He stopped, blinking for a moment, when he saw the blonde cheerleader. By now, Zeph had found himself back near a wall while he tried to find someone to ask for help, and then the cheerleader walked in. She demanded the room in a way that may have reminded him of someone from his past. People moved for her. Also, she was fucking hot and maybe Zeph felt like his heart picked up its pace in his chest a bit. Beating ever so slightly faster when she breezed past.

Zeph walked after her, jogging for a moment to catch up, and then fell into step beside her. "Hey," he said breathlessly. "So I'm... new to the school and I was wondering if maybe you could help me out?"

mikaluvkitties​

 

[DrabberRogue]

Jace Rose

No sooner had Jace arrived at his locker, than he saw a girl of rather unusual style pull up right next to him. Opening the locker directly adjacent to his. Between the old fashioned clothing and porcelain complexion, the much shorter girl almost struck him as someone straight out of a fairy tale. If Alice in Wonderland counted as a fairy tale? Anyways, Jace quickly decided he liked the aesthetic. Even if it was a little out of place.

She certainly didn't have a fairy tale attitude though. Her quiet, exhausted sounding comments quickly drew an amused chuckle from his lips, his icy blue eyes regarding her with a playful curiosity. His new 'locker twin' was leaving an... Interesting first impression. She'd also apparently come prepared for something that Jace had not, as he quickly realized upon inspecting the doors of their lockers more closely. They didn't have their own locks! Strange. Back at Jace's old school all the lockers had their own locks build it, so he hadn't expected he'd need to bring his own padlock. That was kind of a pain.

Radcliffe High: +2 Points for interesting people, -1 for making him bring his own lock.

Jace had already slung his backpack off his shoulder by the time he noticed this, and was halfway through extracting the first few books that he wouldn't need for first period. He thought better of this mid movement, however, and quietly slid them back into his bag as the fairy tale girl asked him about

"Room 230...?" He repeated, his gaze wandering off to the side while he thought about it. "Ummm... I don't." Jace decided with a slight frown, his gaze returning to meet hers. That frown was quickly replaced by a smile once more, however, as Jace spoke once more. "Buuut I could help you find it if you want." He offered, slinging his still full bag back over his shoulder as he shut his still empty locker. "I wanna get a feel for the layout of the school anyway, so I don't mind a little explorin'."

Chimney Swift

 

[Winona]

Drake

He had been walking along and minding his own business. Since the party Saturday night, Drake had been enjoying time to himself at home -- in a nice foggy haze of highness. Mason had asked Drake to check his back for shards of glass and Drake was pretty sure he had gotten whatever was leftover out but to be honest, everything had been kind of spinning and he had just nodded his head vigorously because it seemed like fun when Mason had asked him if he was good.

So yeah that had been his weekend. That and playing with Ariana which was always fun. Drake had even stepped up and gotten Ariana from the babysitter on Sunday morning since Mason was still knocked out and he felt proud of himself. He was literally the best uncle to ever walk the face of the planet, you know?

Now, he had arrived at school and was hanging out outside whereas Mason had headed in right away on some sort of mission. At least, Drake was pretty sure it was some kind of mission because Mason had kept walking without noticing his little brother had stopped. That's what he did when he was deep in thought about something.

It was during his reverie of being alone that he heard someone come up behind him and start talking. At first, Drake was confused but then a bright smile lit up his face when he saw Juniper. Aka one of his best friends -- right up there with Aaron. He hadn't had a chance to hang with her at the disaster of a party on Saturday.

"Oh yeah, I'm fine." Drake said with a shrug. "I just got pushed. Mason looks like he was hit by a car and then backed over twice, but..." another shrug, "I'm sure he'll be fine, too. But hey, how are you? Did you have fun at the party?"

Taelonthesands​

 

[mikaluvkitties]

AARON & CASPER OLLILA​

Casper trailed after his brother, leaning towards Ange as she went to hug the pair. They laughed when she remembered the backpack, offering a wave instead. Immediately, they were thankful Aaron had gone to speak to her, even if he hadn’t really asked their opinion. She was a nice distraction from the encroaching beginning of the grind.

Aaron, meanwhile, leaned just a smidge away, hands just barely staying by his sides. He had never been a fan of hugs, and though he could indulge Ange, especially on the first day of school, he was more than a little grateful to see her foiled by her backpack.

He nodded along as she began speaking, relaxing with the temporal distance from the hug that wasn’t.

Casper spoke before Aaron got a chance to, eyes alight. “Can I see?” He didn’t even wait for her to finish speaking, and seemed to realize a second after it was inappropriate, blushing a bit as he smiled down at the ground, hand going to fiddle with his hair.

Aaron knocked his knuckles against his brother’s arm absentmindedly, shrugging. “It was Summer. I spent a lot of time with-” Drake- “friends. Smoked weed.” Worked on his latest project, secret as it was. “Casper drew a lot, too.”

Casper smiled less tightly, nodding. “I really like how it looks. Kind of creepy...”

ohdittoh

LAUREL DAVIS​

Today was the first day of school, and it started like any other day for Laurel: She went for a jog, took a cold shower, and had breakfast, complete with an in-season smoothie. Since she was feeling particularly magnanimous today, she even made enough for Hazel to go with the sad poptart she decided to serve herself. She really wondered when that girl would learn that if you wanted to feel good, you had to eat good. That really wasn’t enough to get her going.

And then, like any school day, she drove her and her sister to school, playing whatever music she wanted without any input from the hellion she was forced to chauffeur. She dropped Hazel off at the front, traded a couple insults, and went to park.

And then she pushed into the school building like the hot shit she was. Sure, she was a polarizing force, but better polarizing than a nobody, and better true to herself than pretending to be somebody nicer or… Whatever. She wasn’t sure what her old therapist would have said to that one. Should she really care as much as she did?

She was pulled from her thoughts by a voice behind her. She frowned, turning to face a… fairly attractive guy around her age. She squinted at him.

As he finished speaking, her phone buzzed. She looked to it, frown deepening as she replied to her boyfriend, promising to be… ‘nice’.

She returned her phone to her pocket, then looked back up, cocking her head with a smile just that side of mean, and said, “Sure. What’s your first class?”

Winona

ELIJAH FISCHER​

So, the party had been a bust. That was fine, though, because Eli had had a really good rest of his weekend- He even went to bed early so getting up for school wasn't absolutely awful! Win for Eli!

His first course of action, upon arriving to school, was to reread his schedule, nod at it vigorously, then head into the building, straight to his locker.

When he got there, there was a girl by his locker, and he recognized her- He for sure recognized her- but he couldn't quite place her, not immediately. He opened his locker, glancing at her curiously occasionally, and put in his books.

It was as he was sorting his books that it occurred to him, and he gasped, turning to her with a smile. "You were with the drunk freshman at the party, right? Around the time...?" He gestured a bit, hoping that properly got across the The Everything of the situation.

BasilOwO Beeze​

 

[Taelonthesands]

Juniper Ava Rowlands

Juni

Patience by The Lumineers

Mood: Feeling a bit awkward

location School Entrance
mentions N/A
interactions Drake Winona

She was definitely concerned to hear about the state of Drake’s brother but knowing the other Juniper thought it’d be better not to ask too much. One of those things that were a sensitive topic, and something she could probably ask Mason later if she was brave enough after giving Key his things. She definitely wasn’t sure if she was brave enough. She was relieved though to know that Drake was okay. It had terrified her seeing him get pushed like that, having only seen him fall and learning later that he was luckily caught by someone else.

There wasn’t really a good way for Juniper to describe the weekend. Honestly, if she didn’t know or guess that Drake was completely out of it based on his tweets, or if they weren’t the good friends they were, she’d probably be a little miffed at why he was asking. That wasn’t the case though, Juniper knew that the other meant well, but it didn’t help the fact that she was trying not to think about all this at the same time as worrying about classes.

“Well, it started out alright, met a girl who was nice, danced a little. But uh, the vibes really changed after well, the whole wallet fiasco.”

Juniper rolls her eyes as she once again thinks about what happened, “You can’t tell anyone this, but because of the whole thing I’m stuck giving a favor. Turns out like almost every time that trying to do the right thing costs you more than it might be worth.” She kicks her top stop across the sidewalk a bit, pausing as she tries to think how to make this sound better. Which, wasn’t very easy. Instead, she takes an entirely different route, changing the subject as quickly as she can while hoping that Drake either knows not to question further or doesn’t try too.

“Oh! I got new industrials! Take a look,” She turns her head to the side, brushing her curls that stuck out from hiding her ear. “The arrow one is personally my favorite.”

coded by incandescent

 

[ohdittoh]

@therealangewalle

​

Status: Chitchatting and catching up
Location: Front of the school
Interactions: mikaluvkitties (Aaron, Casper)
Mentions: N/A

• A N G E L A • W A L C O T T •

Ange smiled easily and shifted her bag to her front again so that she could reach into it. "Creepy drawings are fun!" she said as she shuffled through her large bag. "I mostly draw cats, but I can dig creepy stuff..."

Finally, she withdrew a sketchbook from her bag. Washi tape of the colors of the rainbow were striped down the front, then hatched over like a basket of a pie. "Here you go," she said, smiling at Casey. She really didn't mind their way. Just because it was different than hers didn't bother her. They weren't a bitch to her, so they were her friend. That was how it went.

She pulled her backpack back to her back again, and then she tucked her hair behind she ear and frowned slightly. "You smoked weed without me, Aaron? Not cool. You should have invited me." She sighed. "Devin had his friends over all the time, so the house smelled like weed anyway. Not much would have changed had I joined you except I wouldn't have been miserable." She clicked her tongue. "And get another summer has passed without Mom either marrying the deadbeat bastard or kicking him out... "

She looked at the sky and laughed slightly. "That's...well, enough about my summer, mm? I figure that you two had a good one, then?"

code by ditto (head empty go bonk)​

 

[BasilOwO]

Samantha Jones​

She turned to the guy, blinking. “Uh, yeah I was.” She’d murmur. “But not the whole time. That cheerleader Ash was with her as well, I just helped them get her safely to a room, why?” She asked him, head tilting.

Now, she wasn’t trying to come off as hostile to the guy, he seemed really nice and it wasn’t her place to be a dick. She stepped back, shoving her hands in her pockets. “And so you don’t continue to call me the “girl with the drunk freshmen” I’m Samantha, but you can call me Sam or Sammy, I don’t really mind which.”

She had tried to forget that party, for it was the worst. Not only a fight, but a drunk child? Who the hell would get someone so young so fucking drunk? And why had she been there in the first place? Shaking her head, she tried to think about something else, like the nice guy standing in front of her.

mikaluvkitties​

 

[Winona]

Parson

Turns out that his whole method of faking it until you make it was harder than he expected. For one, Parson understand next to none of this jock talk that Key was spitting. Also, Key said that he shut him up and bruised his ego, but Parson had seen the pictures and read how Mason was acting on Twitter. If anything... he was even more pissed and egotistical than before. But never the less, Parson was able to keep that kind of opinion to himself and not said it aloud. Reputation, and all that.

Plus if he spoke out against it, Key would probably snap him like a twig.

"Oh fuck, nice. It's 'bout time someone knocked him down a peg." That was what people said when complimenting them on punching each other, right? "Chase showed up Sunday morning with a black eye from that bastard, too. Glad someone at least made him pay." Kind of. Being thrown into an island couldn't have been fun.

Parson shrugged at Key's question. "I showed up for a bit and grabbed a drink but then I left to hangout with Noah." He explained and boy was he glad because they had been way too close to the kitchen. The last thing that Parson would've wanted would be to be dragged into some... stupid fight and end up with a third new nose like Key.

He didn't want to dwell on hanging out with Noah for too long, though. The dude hadn't exactly seemed to be in the best of moods on Saturday night and although Parson liked to think that he had picked him up a bit, he also didn't want to go into too much detail about why they had left. He knew how rumors spread around here and he wasn't eager to spread some weird rumor about Noah being depressed at a party.

"Wish I had stayed, though, man. I could've helped you teach Mason a lesson." He said with a grin.

ohdittoh​

 

[ohdittoh]

@key_kill

​

Status: Talking the day away.
Location: In front of school; inside of the school
Interactions: Winona (Parson)
Mentions: N/A

. K E A G E N . K I L L O U G H .

As Key listened, he grinned and nodded along. At the end, he let out a loud laugh. "Parker, yeah! You really should've stayed! Coulda kicked his ass with me-- we coulda taken turns beating him to a pulp, huh?"

He put an arm around his shoulder suddenly. "You know, man, I don't really know you, but you seem pretty cool." So he was admitting it now. "Just seen you at a couple of parties and stuff." (His grammar was top-notch, huh? That was beside the point.)

He walked him almost forcibly inside the big doors and breathed in the scent of the freshly-polished floors and the fumes of the yearly coat of paint that had hardly dried on the walls. He continued what he was saying when they had been outside. "You know, you should join football. You seem like our kinda guy. Plus you'd get a chance to beat Mason up more often. Isn't that a plus?"

In Key's mind, this was idle chatter. It probably sounded serious to anyone else, though. He really needed to work on that.

"Looking forward to this year?" he said. "Cuz I sure am. Third nose aside, I'm already doing great, ya know?"

Of course he was doing great. Rich dad, high and static popularity, and literally nothing to worry about except failing.

"I have Spanish this year, though." He laughed his dumb laugh. "I dunno how in hell I'm gonna pass that. Hope they let me change out of it. Up until, like, Saturday, I thought that hola was Greek." He paused for a second, then chuckled. "And Trigonometry. And English 12 and World History... but other than that, I have cool classes."

He didn't seem to want to elaborate any more, as that was the last thing he said before he kicked at the locker door that some small freshman boy had just opened. They had arrived at their first stop: the lockers.

He chuckled and released poor Parson from his tight grip. He chattered as if he hadn't just said all of what he'd just said, and he went back to chattering about Mason. "You should have seen Rivera's face! Just so mad! Like a little bull getting mad at one of those red sheets that the pirates wave in front of them!"

He meant matadors, but he didn't know that.

He pulled his lock out of his pocket and opened up the locker, then locked it shut as if his business in it was already done. He looked at Parson. "What's that locker you got?" He meant what number, but again, he said things the way that they made sense in his head, so it almost definitely was not clear.

code by ditto (head empty go bonk)​

​

 

[Beeze]

Chase Callahan

Wow, the weekend sure was something. He had only moved in recently, and had hoped a relaxing party would be the best way to get himself back into life here. Yeah, that had gone exactly according to plan. It actually had gone well at first. He'd spent some time with Owen and Ash, and had some ice cream. It was the fight that had really turned the night from great to horrible. After everything had gone down and he made sure Ash and Owen were okay and that Theo was good on help cleaning up.

After that, he'd brought Ash back to her place and they had relaxed. Movies. Jeffery. Hot chocolate. After the eventful night, they'd ended up passing out together in the middle of a movie. Chase wasn't even sure how many they had watched before he'd drifted off. The next morning he had headed home, explained his face to everyone, and then hung out in his room until it was time to meet Owen for their first bro date of the year. He didn't sleep much (or at all) Sunday night. Monday morning came with high stress, and Chase had gotten his eye covered in makeup. There was only light tints of black and blue showing through the makeup by the time he'd arrived at school with Ash and Owen.

He had to admit that he didn't really want to be here. He had actually been excited for the beginning of the year - not for school, but to see his friends and enjoy the social aspect - but now he was just dreading about anyone bringing up the fight. Sure, Key and Mason were the idiots that had actually gotten to destroying each other, but Chase knew he would get grouped in. He didn't want to get blamed for a fight unless he had actually participated... like more than just pulling a guy off another guy.

Plus, what if Coach heard about his involvement and suspended him before the year even started? That would be miserable. He found himself caught up in his own thoughts, his body moving on autopilot until Ash spoke.


"Oh! Yeah, kinda sucks that she's on us right away. We were just talking about juice. Not like we were actually hurting anyone," he snorted. Despite his tone, he pasted a smile onto his face and put an arm around Ash's shoulders. "But, hey, we're in this together, right? At least me and Owen are. Did you get laps too? I can't remember..."

Winona cadence

 

[elytra]

Monroe Quill
Location: The Lockers
Mood: Shut Up About the Ocean Being a Soup. Shut Up About the Ocean Being a Soup!
Interacting: His Siblings, Pip ( Beeze ) Mentions: N/A
​

"The ocean isn't a soup."

There were plenty of benefits to having siblings, even if Monroe wasn't all that keen to say it to his family. Siblings- at least in his case -were ride or die. They kept things interesting, and if given the choice, he wouldn't trade them for the world. It was nice to have people around who actually cared. He appreciated them, even if he never said it to them directly.

He was, however, going to beat his head against his locker and hope to be knocked unconscious if they continued bothering him any longer.

"Well, hear me out for a second--" Lucky tried, trailing after him down the hall, hands moving around wildly as she spoke "Okay, so, look. What constitutes a soup, right? First, water or cream base. Check! The ocean is made of water."

"Undrinkable water." He pointed out, though it didn't stop her.

"Its just over-salted. You can over-salt soup and it's still soup. Anyway, it needs some form of nutrients, and there are fish in the water. Fish have nutrients." When they reached their lockers, she didn't bother to open hers, instead leaning against it and finishing her pitch with a flourish "Therefore, the ocean is just a big, over-salted thing of soup."

He sighed in the most tortured manner he could, fixing her with a look before opening the door to his locker, effectively blocking her from his sight. "Soup is cooked. The ocean hasn't been cooked. Therefore, not a soup."

"It doesn't actually have to be cooked." Melvin chimed in helpfully, joining them by the lockers. "Cold soups. Blender soups. Therefore--"

"--the ocean is a soup!" Lucky finished along with them, grinning widely "Also, fun fact-"

"Oh, Jesus Christ."

"-the ocean boiled for, like, an entire year way way back because of an asteroid impact. Not to mention that there are, like, lava vents at the bottom of the ocean, right? Those boil the water, convection currents distribute that boiled water to the rest of the ocean, and bam, soup!" She was clearly proud of herself, ducking under his locker door so she could speak to him directly rather than rambling at the metal "Because....just because you put a hot soup in the fridge doesn't mean it instantly morphs from being a soup to being a not-soup because it got colder. So, soup."

He rolled his eyes, putting books into his locker as carefully as possible, before shutting it and raising an eyebrow at his sister. "If I agree that the ocean is soup, are you going to drop it? Because if that's the case....Sure. The ocean is a soup."

"I'll drop it, yea." She agreed, falling silent a moment or two, before a smug look appeared on her face "However, I'd love to introduce you to the concept of poptarts as a ravioli--"

"Yea, no, I've decided I'm done." He quickly sidestepped around her, surveying the hall for anyone or anything that could save him from another 30 minute long conversation on the technicalities of definitions of differing food items. Luckily, he spotted Pip, and not only was talking to her a perfect excuse to escape, he needed to do it anyway. "I'll see you guys later. I have to go talk about a group project with someone."

Ignoring Lucky's protest of 'its the first day, though!', he fast walked his way over to where Pip was at her locker, leaning on one of the unopened ones and trying not to seem too relieved. "Hey. Any more thoughts on the project? I started drafting up some ideas for costume stuff, but I'm still working on it, so there's still time to shift course."

 

[Beeze]

Maddie Wilson

Okay, so Maddie had dropped Mason off at his own place before heading home to Jack. She told her older brother that she had just been babysitting Ari. While Jack wasn't crazy about her spending any time at all with Mason, he did appreciate that babysitting allowed her to get out of the apartment and do something productive instead of just doing whatever she usually likes to do. She hadn't heard from Mason since she'd dropped him off, and she was a little concerned.

She was a little later than she liked to be for the first day of school (though plenty early) and by the time she reached her locker, she saw two people near by. Maddie tucked her head slightly, keeping her eyes on the floor as she opened up her own locker to start setting up everything. Her folders and notebooks were already organized to follow her schedule with the usual color scheme - English was blue, math was red, science was green, history was yellow, and health was purple. Magnetic cups were stuck onto the inside and she began to fill the various cups with pencils and pens and red pens and erasers and any other little bits and pieces.

However, she caught a bit of the other people's conversation. She wasn't trying to eavesdrop, but she heard mention of the party. "You guys were at the party? Did you see the fight?" she asked, blurting out the question before she could stop herself. Her face turned pink immediately after, and she wished she hadn't spoken up. But maybe one of them knew how Mason was doing. Or what had even happened during the fight. She hadn't even tried to ask Mason on the way home.

"I, uh, was there, but already on my way out when they started," she explained. Okay, now she was rambling. Or at least, talking more than absolutely necessary. "I'm Maddie, by the way."

BasilOwO mikaluvkitties

 

[Winona]

Mason

It was good to know that he still struck fear in those around her. It was easy to tell when Theo jumped at Mason's presence and although he questioned his own reputation for a moment when Theo started laughing, but the boy's quick and rather messy apology kept Mason from smashing the locker door on his head.

Of course, Mason hadn't been expecting to have an apology spit right back at him. How in-- what the--

Yeah, no, that didn't make any fucking sense and Mason's hand instinctively formed into a fist. Not that he was planning on hitting Theo, but he was frustrated. The one time he actually tried to freaking apologize for something and the person wouldn't even fucking accept it? This right here was why he never apologized. Apologies were bullshit.

"Alright, so obviously I'm not gonna accept that apology." Mason stated, narrowing his eyes in annoyance at the small, breakable boy in front of him. "Because I'm the one that's sorry and you should accept my apology. And stop sending me random ass shit about frogs because I really don't give a fuck about them." It was just an annoyance in his DMs at this point. Something that he would swipe and try to ignore or say sarcastic comments in reply, although the sarcasm was lost over text.

Mason did look at Theo with a bit of suspicion when he asked how he was doing because, well, usually people didn't ask how he was following a fight. Usually they were more wrapped up in their own lives or how the other dude was doing so to know that someone was... curious. Well, it threw him for even more of a loop than he already had been.

"I'm fine. Just a few little cuts." He stated, which was the understatement of the century.

elytra​

 

[Beeze]

Fern Franklin

Fern was ready for the new year, but she was exhausted even before she left the house. Clothes were set out and backpacks were packed the night before, but she still made sure to get a couple bowls of cereal poured for when her siblings were awake. With a little help from Felix, Flynn was dropped off at the babysitter's for the day and Fletcher was seated in the backseat of Fern's car, looking out the window with a grumpy expression covering his usually happy face.

The car ride passed mostly in silence until Fletcher was dropped off at the middle school. When it was just the two of them left in the car, Fern turned to her brother. "Excited for the year?" she asked.

"I guess," Felix said with a shrug.

Wow, apparently all of the Franklin kids were in a rather negative mood. She knew that she wasn't gonna get any more out of him than that.

When she finally parked in the high school parking lot, the two siblings exited the vehicle and Fern turned to look at Felix. "You're staying late today, right? Some club meeting?" she asked. When her brother nodded in affirmation and headed off in his own direction, Fern finally let the exhaustion show on her face as she headed in towards the stream of students heading towards their lockers.

However, her lips turns upwards slightly in a smile when she spotted a familiar face. "Max!" she said, mostly to herself as she moved to catch up to the boy. Though she had started to learn ASL when she had initially befriended Max, she was still far from an expert. She greeted him with a smile and signed "hello".

Chimney Swift

 

[Beeze]

Pip Fox

Pip wasn't a fan of school. Not any aspect of it. Classes were boring and difficult and the teachers often didn't get along with her. None of the sports or clubs were at all interesting to her. There were very few students she actually got along with. Maybe that was a pessimistic view, and Pip had gotten plenty of recommendations to just "be optimistic!" because clearly that made everything better.

Spoiler Alert: It didn't.

She'd tried optimism and it had gotten her nowhere. Now she was just ready to ready to smack her problems in the face instead of trying to kill them with kindness.

There were only three parts of school that Pip found any sliver of joy in:
Gym class - while it was often annoying, she was very skilled physically and actually excelled in many of the units they did.
Friends - She had friends. Very few friends, but still friends. Frankie and Monroe made up the bulk of her friends.
And, last but not least, the smug satisfaction of absolutely dominating at group projects.

As always, Pip had come into school dressed in her jeans and favorite green and gray sweatshirt. Nobody paid much attention to her as she pushed her way to her locker and that was how she liked it. She was focused on her actions, trying to waste time with anything until the bell rang. Maybe she shouldn't have gotten here so early, but it's not like there was anything to do besides sit at home.

When someone spoke up behind her, Pip jumped. As much as she hated it, the small girl was very easily startled. She would stare any danger right in the face, but someone speaking up right beside her made her jump. She turned, scowling, but her face relaxed when she saw who it was and processed what he was saying.

"Oh, hey, Monroe," she said. The two had bonded over their irritation of other people doing stuff wrong, and now he had quickly become one of her best friends... which wasn't saying a lot. They did their group projects together, and that was pretty much it. "I figured we could wait until we get the actual assignment to do too much more in depth. Hey, it's still, uh, cool if I come over tonight to work on it, right?" she asked.

She hated asking for things, but Monroe had offered work time and dinner tonight. She shut her locker and fiddled a bit with the strap of her backpack. Plus, it's not like she had anything better to do.

...And as much as she hated to admit it, the idea of being with Monroe and his siblings was comforting. Her house was always so quiet. Her parents were either asleep or out and she had no siblings. Monroe's siblings were interesting. Just because she didn't like being social didn't mean she didn't like having occasional time with other people around. Even though she hated to admit it.

"I can even bring something over. Maybe a pack of cookies or something? I'd hate to take food without giving anything in return."

elytra

 

[mikaluvkitties]

ELIJAH FISCHER​

Eli’s face lit up as she spoke, and he couldn’t help but nod along, grinning a bit. “That’s so cool! I mean… it was a real nice thing to do, that’s all.” He offered out a hand. “Long as we’re doing introductions, I’m Eli.”

Someone spoke up from behind him, and he turned around, mouth sliding open as he kept smiling. Vaguely, he thought he recognized her, though he couldn’t quite place a name. She’d always seemed pretty nice, though.

He nodded in response to her question, nodding more as she kept going, hand still raised for a shake, though he didn’t quite seem aware of it. “Nice to meet you, Maddie. I didn’t see the fight, but Sam-” He gestured to the girl beside him- “was in there when it happened. I just heard about it on Twitter… Same with the drunk freshman.”

His face scrunched up, a grim frown entirely unlike the jock surfacing on his face. “I just don’t understand how a freshman got to the party, or how she managed to get that bad off so fast.”

Beeze BasilOwO​

 

[Winona]

Zeph

So maybe those dudes on Twitter didn't know what they were talking about because the pretty blonde before him (who, by matter of elimination, was supposed to be the bitchy one) was actually quite nice. It made him relax and an easy-going smile spread across his face. He shifted his backpack on his back, readjusting the strap across his shoulder as he looked down at the tiny blonde.

Oh shit. Right. What was his first class? "It's uh..." the smile faltered for a moment, replaced by a small frown, before the smile returned tenfold. "Chemistry in Room 190." He was pretty sure, anyway. If it wasn't it he'd deal with that when he got there. For now, he wanted to enjoy the company of the so far not bitchy blonde in front of him. The not bitchy pretty blonde although if the dudes on the cheer team were right, then she was off flirting limits.

But it didn't hurt to flirt, right? Although those kinds of thoughts are what got his head smashed in a locker.

"I'm Zeph, by the way." He said, holding out his hand for a hand shake for a moment before realizing that people probably didn't do that anymore. So he smoothly turned it into a totally cool wave and then slid his hand back into his pocket.

He liked to keep his name simple, too. Zeph. Zephyr was weird and would just cause questions but Zeph... Well, it was still weird but less people asked about it. Plus he hated being called Zephyr. It kinda reminded him of his mother and the loss of her was still a painfully large hole in his heart.

mikaluvkitties​

 

[Chimney Swift]

Interactions: Beeze

A short b-handed wave up ahead caught Max's attention, shaking him out of his jumble of thoughts and bringing him reluctantly back into the present moment.

Fern was someone he was forever happy to see, though, even on the worst days. The tall and pretty junior shared his passion for all things of kingdom plantae. Ever since he'd met her in Freshman Biology two years ago, he'd been quite an admirer.

He weakly smiled at her, returning the word with his dominant left hand.
"Hello."
His hand paused in midair and circled for a moment, struggling to find the motivation to continue the conversation. His eyes flickered towards the door, as if he were considering running away, but just a second afterwards he looked back, asking a simple and safe question she was likely to understand if his recollection of her ASL proficiency level was correct: "how was your summer?" He genuinely was curious: he hadn't seen her at the party from hell, and generally Max sort of sequestered himself socially for most of the summer. After a brief vacation with his family in June, he'd been kept busy by summer essay assignments and walks along the tidepools by the shore observing the sea life. He was honestly shocked to have been invited by Theo, which may have been part of the reason he decided to attend against his better judgment...​

 

[BasilOwO]

Samantha Jones​

“I’m guessing one of the populars dared her to drink something.” She murmured, turning to the girl. “Hi there, Maddie was it? What can we do for you?” She’d ask, head tilting slightly.

She was in a good mood, which most could’ve found surprising if not for the fact that her Sunday had gone well. For once her parents didn’t fight. They had all gone out as a family, and they had even asked how she was doing. As strange as it was, she should be grateful for the break.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you both. And yes, I watched the fight between Mason was it? And Key go down. If you’d like, I can give you the story in full context, and how that Freshmen got drunk, well I won’t be able to answer that, but ask Ash.”

Interactions: mikaluvkitties Beeze

 

[cadence]

owen bostwick

The party, in a single word, had been horrible. He had shown up with hopes of having a good time. He'd get drunk. He'd hang out with his best friend for the first time in months. They'd plan a juice heist and overall just have a grand old time. But the universe, the spiteful bitch that she always was, had different plans for the night. The party, along with his general mood, declined at a rapid pace after Key and Mason's fight, thus starting a weekend he was sure to be shitty. Although he was usually one of the last ones to leave at a party, he left earlier than most, asking his girlfriend to come pick him up before he literally lost his mind. And as if that wasn't bad enough, he woke up the next day with the worst hangover.

Sunday, thankfully, hadn't been as bad as he expected, if you could ignore the raging headache and the urge to throw up every minute. He'd manage to convince his mom he was feeling too sick to go to church in the morning and practically stayed in bed until Chase was crawling through his window with capri suns, beer, and ice cream, the unofficial requirements for a bro date with Owen and Chase. Thanks to the beer, he slept like a baby that night, completely unprepared for school to start the next day.

He woke up Monday morning with a hangover that didn't compare to Sunday's hangover but was still bad enough that his morning alarm was blaring to him and he could barely open his eyes without the morning sun that peered through his window burning them. Still, knowing his mom would literally beat his ass if he decided to skip school (much less the first day), he got ready. He threw on the first suitable outfit he found in his closet; a simple white t-shirt, a navy windbreaker, and some blue jeans. He had two aspirins for breakfast and only remembered to grab his backpack (as well as a pair of sunglasses to protect his eyes from the horrible burning sun) in passing as he ran to Chase's car after hearing the familiar honk.

He rode the entire trip with Chase far less chipper than usual, listening as Chase talked but only offering the occasional groan in response. The entire time, he had his head poked out of window just in case he felt like he was going to throw up (which seemed like a very real possibility at this point). Even when they arrived at Ash's house to pick her up, he mumbled a simple "Hey, Ash," before his head, once again, was out the window.

"Ugggggh." He let out a prolonged dramatic groan when Chase pulled into the familiar parking lot of Radcliffe High, still not at all prepared to start his first day. He reluctantly got out, walking alongside Chase and Ash. "Yeah, I have to, too," he answered Chase's question, a pained look on his face at the reminder of laps. Twenty whole laps because they talked about juice. "Think she'll kill me if I skip? I don't think I can take it." He asked, glancing towards the two of them. How many beers had he had last night? "How are you alive, bro? I feel like shit."

"Speaking of which, how red do my eyes look?" He asked now that they were inside and he had no reasonable excuse to keep wearing his glasses. He took them off, squinting at the bright fluorescent lights above them.

Interactions: Beeze Winona

 

[Chimney Swift]

Interactions: DrabberRogue

"Wait... that would actually be fucking awesome, thanks."
Ivy at first seemed to balk at Jace's offer to help her find her first class. She looked him up and down, as if studying him for anomalies, before placing her hands on her hips with a curt nod. "I sort of assumed you'd know the layout a little better. You're too tall to be fresh, aren'chya? Or did they hold you back 4 years in kindergarten?"

At this, she cracked her first smile of the day, an impish giggle escaping her pearly grinning teeth. A little bit of the personality she'd shown at the weekend party had slipped back into her. Even some of the color seemed to return to her face. She tossed her bag back up on her shoulders and pointed down the crowded hallway, which parted into smaller corridors before ending at a side exit to the building. "Let's start this search! You know where you're going first, new kid?"
​

 

[Winona]

Drake

He rolled his eyes as he turned and started shuffling his way towards the school. But he really didn't want to go in. Drake reached up with one hand and rubbed at one of his pale, dry eyes -- a bit of a nervous habit of his. Or, rather, just something he did when his eyes felt dry like they did right now. His hand fell back to his side and his fingers started tapping against his thigh which was a nervous tick of his. Which didn't make any sense. Why in the hell should Drake be nervous? Drake was never nervous.

"Yeah, just like everything else in life, Mason ruined it." Drake grumbled, the tone of his voice edged with ice as he spoke about his brother -- as it typically was. The brothers may have been close, but that didn't necessarily mean that Drake liked Mason all the time. You could love someone without liking them, right?

He glanced at her, one eyebrow tilting up in question but Juni was trying to change the topic. Clever girl, but Drake was not to be fooled. No, no, Drake would never get distracted by--

"Oh those look freaking sick," Drake said and paused, leaning in closer to look at them up close -- his nose scrunching up and his eyes squinting together to look at it properly. "Yeah I like that arrow. Very nice. Very shooty." He grinned and straightened back up. Man. Why couldn't Drake have cool things like that? But nooo. Mason wouldn't let him.

Stupid brother.

Wait, wasn't there something else? Drake's eyebrows furrowed together for a moment before his eyes lit up when he remembered -- actually remembered something. What a surprise. The boy was on fire today.

"What favor are you having to do?" He asked, head tilting to the side like a confused puppy. "And the... whole... thing? Did Mason ask you to do something? I'll go slap him if you want. Don't do anything for that jackass."

Taelonthesands​

 

[ohdittoh]

@key_kill

​

Status: Confusing the hell out of a dude who he hardly knows
Location: Lockers
Interactions: Winona (Parson)
Mentions: N/A

. K E A G E N . K I L L O U G H .

"You got a point with Spanish, man." Key gave his locker a big slap and grinned when it clunked.

The dude was entertained by just about anything and everything it seemed.

He paused. "We can go find out where your locker is real quick, dude? I haven't seen any of the other guys and we have, like....uh..." He squinted at a clock on the wall. It wasn't analog, so he muttered aloud, "Five plus ten, that's...fifteen carry the...."

He seemed to drop it and pulled out his phone. "Oh, fuck...I was earlier than I thought," he mumbled.

Fucking idiot.

He shook his head, trying physically to clear the thought from his head before it got to him, and he looked at Par...Par....

Pat? Yeah.

He looked at Pat with a grin, though this one felt less enthusiastic than the others. "Let's go, huh? You get my point, right? Can't find my friends, so I got time."

That probably sounded rude, what with the implication that he was just talking to Parson because he had to, but he meant it well.

He began to walk off, obviously expecting Parson to follow. He didn't speak much this time. Too much was going on in his head to do that.

He lifted his pinky to his mouth and gnawed on the nail of it, a nervous habit of his. He wanted to burn something, get that down feeling out of his head, that name he kept calling himself and feeling out of his head. Fucking idiot.

Fuck, why did he feel this way? It was the first day of school, and he'd just told Parker how great he felt about it. Was he a liar now, too?

He signed softly and dropped his hand, rubbing his neck with his other one and turning the corner to the other hall of lockers.

He stopped walking and just...stood there for a moment. He breathed in deeply through his nose and out slowly through his mouth, like his elementary school counselor had taught him, and then he looked at the dude beside him.

"Yo, Walker," he said in a quieter, more solemn voice. "You need any help or anything with getting your stuff into your locker, man?" He sounded dead serious, which made it obvious that he was offering not because he wanted to.

It was truly that he wanted to get his mind off of, well, being down on himself, though this specifically was not obvious.

code by ditto (head empty go bonk)​

​

 

[PenguinFox]

First day of school, in a place Ian Evans didn't even want to be in. Needless to say it was incredibly difficult to find the motivation to get out of bed. He'd interacted with some of his soon to be classmates over twitter but it wasn't like he could exactly call those people friends. He'd befriended Ash over the summer, but she was one person, with her own friends and life. If she was available then sure Ian would stick with her, but he wasn't about to cling to her like a lost puppy. As lonely as it would be Ian was perfectly capable of keeping to himself and figuring things out on his own.

Eventually Ian was able to drag himself from the intoxicating pull of the sheets and get himself ready for the day. The first thing he did after showering and getting dressed was to put in his headphones. Today felt like a Red Hot Chili Peppers kind of day. The volume was cranked as Ian went about finishing getting ready for school. His stepdad was in the kitchen and clearly trying to say something to him but Ian din't hear a word of it. The music was too loud and to be totally honest, he would've pretended not to hear the man anyway.

Backpack in one hand, skateboard in the other Ian left the house and began the journey to school. He had already mapped out his route and tested it so he knew it would take about fifteen minutes. Given the current time he was going to be a little early. To break the monotony the occasional end over was done. Ian wouldn't call himself all that skilled in skating, but he could do a few tricks. While other kids had gotten bikes when they were younger, Ian had gotten a skateboard. His first board had belong to his dad when he was younger and Ian had practically ridden the wheels off of the thing. Countless hours and countless scrapes all because of that board. When his dad died Ian retired the deck, and gotten a new one. It never quite felt the same.

Ian brought himself to a tailstop in front of the school, staring up at it. His survival plan was simple; keep to himself as much as he could. If he avoided making enemies everything would be fine. Yeah it was high school so it would be hard to avoid enemies, but who would hate on a new kid? They don't know enough about them. At least that was his hope as he entered the building. One earbud came out so he could have better awareness of his surroundings as he strolled through the halls. He made it to his locker and put his skateboard in before closing it in leaning up against it. He had some time to kill before the first class.

Green eyes scanned over faces as Ian made mental notes of who seemed to be in what cliques. Almost as if a lifeboat in a sea of unfamiliarity, a friendly face appeared in the crowd. Ian flashed a small smile and nod in the direction of Ash West. His eyes then drifted to the arm on her shoulder, then the guy who owned said arm. Chase presumably. Were they really actually a thing? Ian had assumed it was a joke because, well seventeen year olds didn't get married, but maybe there was some truth there. As much as he wanted to go over and talk to really the only person he would call friend in this town his feet made no movements. As he had presumed she was with her own friends, and it felt rude in some way to interrupt. So Ian hung back, back resting against the cold metal of the locker. There was a social hierarchy and Ian was well aware of his place in the food chain. If Ash had been alone he would've gone right up to her, but of course she wouldn't be alone. When is a cheerleader ever by herself? Mentions: Winona Beeze cadence

 

[Winona]

Ash

"Well I don't have to run any laps." Ash stated triumphantly as Chase put his arm around her shoulder. It was a familiar, friendly gesture of his, but she knew not everyone would see it that way. Especially those that knew they had dated in the past. Ash wondered if things would be different, seen differently, if they had never dated.

She peered around Chase to look over at Owen when he mentioned skipping. Yeah, Owen looked like hell. What in the world had the two of them gotten into? It looked like Owen had partied the night before, not Saturday. Could hangovers carry over to multiple days? She really wasn't sure -- Ash drank, yeah, but not usually enough to end up with a super bad hangover.

"Don't skip the first practice," Ash pleaded. If he skipped, then it would just be her, Chase, and Grace dealing with the others. And although the odds were still good, Ash liked to have numbers on the bitchy cheerleaders.

Basically, the cheerleaders could be split into two groups. The super nice will probably feed you cookies type -- Ash's group. And then the bitchy would totally stab you in the back and the laugh about it type -- which made up the rest of the cheer squad, consisting of JJ, Laurel, and Kat. There was no in-between. You were either one or the other.

"Okay, no, how about like... Like I'll talk to Coach and see if maybe she'll hold out on the laps?" Probably not a good idea but gosh darn it, Ash was desperate. Plus if Owen missed the first day, Richards would never let him hear the end of it. Ash had missed one practice the year before due to being sick and Coach had punished her for it by making her run laps or be the bottom of the pyramid for a solid month afterwards.

Ash was still trying to come up with solutions when she saw the familiar blonde head of Ian. She returned the smile and then blue eyes darted back to Chase and Owen.

"One sec," she told Chase and Owen and stepped away from the boys and out from under Chase's arm. Ash turned away from the boys and walked towards Ian, a smile on her face, and her hands now clenching the straps of her backpack.

"Hey, didn't expect to see you here." Ash joked as she came to a stop in front of Ian, her smile only growing. "So, how do you like the new school so far?"

Beeze cadence PenguinFox​