Westbrook Season 2

[PenguinFox]

Parker's eyes flicked between Gia and the guy she was talking to, arms held firmly behind his back. He gave a nod of thanks to the guy and moved away from the group with the blue haired girl, taking backwards steps so he was facing her the entire time. Once they were a good enough distance away she spoke. "Yeah, normally this type of thing isn't my scene but..." he trailed off and fiddled with what he was holding behind his back. One hand reached up and scratched the back of his head nervously. "I uh...wanted to see you specifically. For a couple reasons."

Finally Parker revealed what he was hiding; a stuffed Fox. "I didn't get the chance at the fall festival so I went ahead and got you this. It's not much but I felt bad we couldn't spend more time together." he said handing the soft thing over to her. His eyes studied her and her reaction. Gauging their 'relationship'. He processed for a moment before going ahead with the next phase of his plan.

"I also wanted to ask you something..." Parker bit his lip as if he were considering his words, after all this whole thing was a show. There likely wasn't a drop of genuineness in him right now. "Are you going to homecoming with anyone?" his tone was even, letting every deeper meaning behind the question be a possibility. Was he asking so he could ask her? Just as a friend? Just plain curious? Each possibility was as equally likely as the next. He wasn't going to let Gia in on his motives just yet. Elf_Ruler

Audra couldn't hide the grin on her face as Stu approached. She gingerly took the bag of candy from him, her eyes filled with admiration. She didn't really think that he would actually get her candy. It was a very kind thing for him to have done and she felt a little awkward now. Was she supposed to pay him back somehow? "Thank you, yes these are perfect..." she gave him a grateful smile before looking down at her hands nervously. "It was very nice of you to go out of your way to get these and then spend your own money on them." She looked back up to Stu and noticed he seemed extremely anxious. She carefully reached out and put a hand on his shoulder in hopes of calming him down some. Perhaps large groups made him anxious? She had to admit she had never really seen him around a group of many people before. Even at JJ's birthday he had been outside where there were less people.

A warm smile returned to Audra's face as Stu mentioned a second bag. "I'd love to share them with others. What's a sweeter gesture than sharing candy?" she put emphasis on the word sweeter, fully recognizing her pun. "Swedish Fish are my absolute favorite candy, next to Kit-Kats that is. I'm glad you've finally gotten to experience the joys of them." She opened the bag and popped a few in her mouth then offered the bag to Stu. Candy was always a good way to bond with someone, unless you were trying to bond with like a dentist or something. But why on Earth would you try and bond with a dentist?

Stu brought Audra's attention to the group they were standing by. Video games, and he liked them! Sure he sounded more like a casual gamer based on his reaction, but that was at least something they could talk about! More and more Audra thought Stu was a great guy. She really couldn't find anything to not like about him. "Oh yes, I am! I mean not all genres, but I like lots of different stuff. Mostly rpgs and things like that." she giggled and put her fists on her hips and puffed out her chest in a heroic pose. "Lady Audra the Dragon Tamer at you service m'lord!" she laughed and pushed some of her hair behind her ear. "What about you? What kind of things do you play?" Dede

 

[Elf_Ruler]

Gia smiled up at Parker, granted being 5’1 meant she smiled and looked up to almost everyone, but she was actually happy to see Parker. He was always so nice to her and she had missed seeing him at the festival because of the fire. She waited patiently for him to say what he needed, especially with his posture being less than what he was. When he pulled the Fox from behind his back, she couldn’t help but get a bigger smile, “Oh my goodness it’s so cute! You didn’t have to get me anything. I love it though. Foxes are one of my favorite animals.” She really appreciated the gift, but she didn’t quite understand why he was bringing her a gift. She was just enjoying the gift from Parker for a moment before she heard his voice perk back up, so she gave her full attention back to him.

The next word out of his mouth threw her off, was he asking her? She had never really had so much attention from a male, so she wasn’t sure if he was asking or if he was just curious. Her head tilted just a little the smile still on her face, “No one has asked me to go with them. I figured I’d meet up with friends. Why? Are you going?” Of course, she’d be happy for Parker if he went. He deserved a little fun in his life, he seemed too uptight and serious for his own good. She could see he wasn’t as suave as he believed he was, but she wouldn’t say that to him. If he wanted to think he was suave she wouldn’t stop him. It was cute and if it brought him joy who was she to stop it? Her face was looking at her eyes wide with anticipation to see what his next response would be. She liked him and she trusted him, he had done her no wrong and he even gave her a cute little gift. She had done nothing for him, and he was already doing so many nice things for her. He wasn’t bad and she knew it. She enjoyed how their relationship? Friendship? Somethingship was going, and she couldn’t wait to see how they progressed.

PenguinFox

 

[KingofAesir]

Sawyer
Sawyer's heart ached and groaned as Grace tightened her hold and moved to lay her head on Sawyer's shoulder. It felt nice. Foreign and familiar at the same time. For the first time in a long time, Sawyer felt grounded again. Sawyer felt like she had a home again. She nestled her head on Grace's, placing her chin on top of Grace's head and chuckling as she mumbled an unintelligible answer to her. Her heart swelled, threatening to burst. It just felt so good to be here like this. It felt good to be wanted again. Sawyer had honestly expected Grace to just kick her out. Shut her out like she had those few months after they broke up. She was glad she hadn't. Sawyer slid an arm under Grace's head and let her hand come to rest on her shoulder. The next words Grace said had Sawyer reeling.

I missed you.

Sawyer's heart did explode this time. The smile on her face was soft but incredibly bright. It took her a second to recover and when she had Grace's breaths had become gentle and even. She was asleep. Sawyer sighed contentedly and placed a lingering kiss on the top of Grace's head.

"I missed you too."

A few minutes later would have Sawyer's slow circles on Grace's shoulder coming to a stop as her eyes slid closed and she too fell asleep. Almost an hour after that a nurse poked her head into the room to inform them that visiting hours we're over. But when she saw the two of them she simply smiled and reached to flip the light off. Leaving Grace and Sawyer sleeping peacefully into the night.

Soap​

 

[Winona]

Drake

It was Friday of Spirit Week, which had been fun. Well, it had been fun for Drake. He loved a week where everyone dressed up in goofy costumes, and the whole week left everyone laughing and for once, there had been basically no drama! Actually, almost nothing had happened since the lock-in… er, well that was a lie.

Nothing had happened to Drake or Mason, though, so life was good! It was great! And he was excited because for the first time ever, Drake had been voted onto the Homecoming Court. It meant that people actually liked him, which was a welcome relief since Drake had been fairly positive that he annoyed all of his fellow classmates. Except for Alaska, and Nova had liked him, but she was gone now, which left him with Alaska.

And Maisie.

Life could've been even better, but Drake's budding relationship with his dad and sister had been putting him at ends with Mason. Mason was always saying it was nothing, or he didn't care, or he was just worried that Drake might get hurt. But Drake knew that all of that was a lie -- Mason was jealous. Jealous that Drake now had a dad and a sister that wanted to be in his life, and that the only person could ever identify Mason's biological father was dead. Mason may have spent his whole life fatherless and claiming that it didn't bother him, but Drake knew it did. He knew that secretly, it killed his brother knowing that his father had never wanted him.

Drake felt guilty some days, but he tried to shake those feelings away. Especially now, when he was supposed to be happy, and having a good day. The best day.

He’d stolen some eyeliner from Raven and painted those little black marks on his cheeks which he had thought would look cool, but he actually looked ever so slightly ridiculous. And of course, he had his football jersey on. He couldn't wait for the Homecoming game, or the dance. It was a night that he didn't want to forget, because it was his first... kind of date with Maisie. He loved being around her, but it also always reminded him of Aaron, and he was almost afraid of the dude coming up and punching Drake.

It was a stupid fear, but still.

And Drake was distracted as he went up to his locker, popping it open and looked inside, his fingers tapping against the door in thought. He should talk to Alaska, too. Hang out with her today before the dance, but she was all into that Ian guy. But that was fine -- his best friend was happy, and that was the most important thing.

But he really could use a few minutes to talk to her.

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Ash

The lock-in had been great – amazing. After her little dance battle with Jackie and answering the rather awkward question about Ian, Ash had received a message from Greyson saying that Grace had woken up from her coma. At first, Ash had thought that he was joking or messing with her, but he wasn’t. However, her mother being the witch she was refused to unlock the doors until the next morning, so Ash hadn’t been able to see her until the morning afterwards.

But seeing her best friend sitting up, alive, and breathing had been the most amazing thing ever. By time Ash managed to finally see her, she could still tell that Grace wasn’t… totally herself yet. And it had broke her a little bit, reminded her of what she had done, the mistakes that she had made, and that Grace had been forced to pay with.

At least Grace was alive.

She tried to forget about that, instead focusing on the issue at hand. The issue being, of course, stupid freaking jolly that had published Ian's suicide note on Twitter. It was weird to have the roles reversed -- instead of Ian being worried about Ash, it was Ash being worried about Ian. Who knew that would ever be at such a point to take care of other people again?

With everything that was going on -- between jolly and Grace's coma and her own injuries from the car accident -- Ash couldn't wait to be done with Westbrook. This school had been nothing but years of misery, interlaced with a handful of decent memories. Well, she still had her entire senior year ahead of her, so maybe she could turn her life around? Make the year better.

She just... couldn't keep making mistakes, and she couldn't let her mistakes get out. Sleeping with Kanen. Kissing Raven. At least Kanen was gone now, although Jace and her mother knew, but they would never say anything. Instead, she would just have to deal with their disappointed looks for now. But the kiss with Raven...

If she kept avoiding Raven, then everything would be fine.

She bounced up to Ian at his locker, her fingers playing with the bracelet on her wrist. "So Homecoming is today," she reminded him, although it was obvious. The students were decked out in blue and gold, with the football players in their jerseys and the cheerleaders in their uniforms. Which Ash was not a fan of wearing to school all day, but whatever. She had to show "school spirit."

"Which means you have that great date with Alaska tonight. And they'll be crowning the king and queen, and I bet you totally got the king spot." She said, with a bright smile. Ash didn't want to bring up the suicide note thing, instead wanting to try and keep their conversation as light and easygoing as she could right now.

It was Homecoming. Things were supposed to be happy. Even if, for her, being near Ian was a little weird after what Jackie had said. Ash had stopped clinging to him like she had before, instead trying to keep her distance, to kill the rumors or whatever was going on. First Tatum had accused her of feelings for Ian, and now Jackie? That was an issue, because Ash absolutely did not and never would have feelings for Ian. She was with Ryder, and she was happy with Ryder.

Plus, Ian was supposed to be into Alaska. Ian was into Alaska. Which meant that there couldn't be anything between them, except as friends. But she still kept her distance, partially to dispel rumors, and partially because Ash knew that Ryder got jealous easily. And although a year ago he had promised to try and keep his fists to himself, it had still been a year since Ash had talked to him. And if she was being honest? Well... maybe Ash felt a little bit bad about that ultimatum. Hell, Ryder could probably punch about anyone he wanted now, and Ash would still be with him.

"How are you doing?"

PenguinFox

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Zander

It was crazy.

He’d been at Westbrook for a little over a month now, and yet he already felt more at home and at peace here than he’d ever felt at North Chester Prep. It was nice to be accepted for who he actually was, and not what everyone felt that he should be. Zander was confident in who he was, and he hated having to defend himself, but at Westbrook he didn’t have to. Of course, there was that fucking Easus dude and his stupid comment. As much as Zander wanted to brush it off as nothing, well…

It had hurt.

Zander didn't want to go back to being that scared little kid, crying in the bathroom and trying to muffle his sobs, terrified to go back to class because he knew what they would all do. Call him a girl, call him Skylar, and laugh at him. Throw things at him, start rumors, pass him hurtful notes. It had been part of the reason he had started acting out. Vandalizing things to take out his hatred at a world that cared more about who they thought he should be instead of who Zander knew he was.

But he brushed that off for now, forcing that easygoing smile back onto his face. Along the way, he stopped by some of the people that he knew, joking around with them with that easygoing smile plastered on his face. For Spirit Day, he wore an old blue shirt hoodie that he had. Most of Zander's clothes consisted of dark grays and blacks, so it had taken a while before he found something that screamed "school spirit" and not "rebel dick painter." Wait.

Not how he wanted to be remembered.

He continued walking down the hall, heading for his locker to gather his books for the day. Although for the whole week, there had been hardly any actual schooling going on. Everyone had just been taking it easy, and it was fun. Way better than stupid North Chester, where every day felt like it was specially designed to crush kids.

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Mason

Being football captain meant that Mason had to at least act like he had school spirit, which meant that he had the jersey on depicting his number. To be honest, Mason had never really wanted to do football. But Adriane had told him that it would make him popular, and he'd get bullied less, and the chance of a scholarship caught his attention. And then Mason had poured everything into it, into being the best that he could, because he needed that scholarship. To get out of the slums. Out of Westbrook.

And just like that, he'd fucking blown it when he went after Aaron.

His whole future and the little bits of his life that he'd finally gotten together had just blown up in flames, just like that. But Mason was used to it -- he was used to be knocking down, only to have to get back up again. And again. And again. Even if there were days that Mason wanted to stay on the ground and give in, he couldn't. He had to stay strong, level-headed, together for Drake and for Ari, even if he didn't have his daughter with him quite yet. He had to do it for them.

If it wasn't for them, Mason would've been just like his mother. Spiraling downwards, his days fading into a blur with his only companion a liquor bottle and needle. Mason knew that for his whole life, he would always been teetering on that edge between addiction and having his life together. Or, as together as he could.

Drake had already ditched him and Raven, his face adorned with those ridiculous little black smudge marks that the team sometimes put on their face. Mason wasn't one for any of that, because it would draw attention to him and despite popular belief, Mason really didn't like to be the center of anyone's world, or anyone's attention. He was a private person.

But he was walking up with Raven, and Mason's heart was thumping hard in his chest. It was literally Homecoming day, and Mason hadn't had the balls to ask Raven to the dance.

He really fucking sucked.

"So Raven I was thinking..." and he caught himself, trailing off, unable to ask her. Why was this so hard? Just last year he had asked June without hesitation, without his tongue growing dry and his words getting tangled. Where the fuck had all of his game go, and why did he feel like he lost himself when he was standing next to Raven?

"Are you writing a piece on the game tonight?"

Soap

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Jace

He never thought that it was possible to hate himself as much as he did now.

Jace had decided to get out of the house for the day. Maybe go to a coffee shop and relax, like some kind of weird hipster in the corner. But the moment that he actually stepped into the coffee shop, he was washed away. Dizziness as people shuffled around him, his hand accidentally brushing against someone, his breath catching in his throat as he found himself in the line. At least, he thought this was the line. The back of the line. God, he hoped it was the back of the line.

His hand felt weird where it had touched the person, and he found himself rubbing at it. Trying to rub away the fuzzy feeling, but it didn't go away and just got worse, until his hand was red, and he was moving up in line, and his nails were just digging in more and more and more to get rid of that feeling, but it wouldn't go away.

"Next."

Oh no.

Jace stepped forward, and realized that he hadn't decided what to get. His gaze moved to the menu behind the kid's head, going over the different options. He could feel everyone else's stare on him, their impatient gazes burning into the back of his skull, and his stomach started twisting into knots. His fingers dug in harder.

"C-co-coffee." That wasn't specific enough, and the guy was obviously annoyed, and Jace just wanted to sink into the ground beneath his feet. "Latte. Me-medium." His words were stuttering as he fumbled with his wallet, passing the cash over to the guy after he counted it out. And then double counted it. And then triple checked just to be sure before he passed the money over the counter.

The guy counted it, and his heart was beating faster and harder. What if it wasn't enough, and Jace just wasted everyone's time? But it was enough, and the guy told him that it would be a few minutes. Great. Okay.

Jace's hand still hurt. It felt funny, and now he was tapping one of his fingers against his thigh, but now that finger felt weird, and he had to tap the others in the same order again and again until his fingers started to feel normal, but his hand still felt funny. Fuzzy. So he headed to the bathroom, his stomach twisting into so many knots.

And then he was washing his hands, turning the water on so hot that it burned to try and get that feeling off of the now red and tender skin. Jace scrubbed and scrubbed, but the feeling wouldn't go away, and now he was having trouble keeping his breath steady and normal, and then his stomach was just rolling more...

After puking in the toilet and washing his hands for another few minutes, Jace managed to exit the bathroom. He felt exhausted, his muscles and body aching, his breathing having trouble as he grabbed his latte -- only to realize that it was a medium, not a small. And Jace knew that he should say something, but the very idea of arguing made him even sicker.

So he took the small drink and escaped from the coffee shop, back out into the fresh air of the uncrowded streets.

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Milos

The lock-in had been nice. After playing and losing horribly at MarioKart, Milos had spent the rest of the evening with Cam. It was nice, and it was easy to be around the other boy. And Milos was a fan of nice and easy. He'd returned home the following morning and had passed out for a few hours before his mother had woken him up, asking about how his night had gone.

Milos and his mother were close -- heck, he was close with both of his parents, but where his mother was warm and welcoming, his father was cold and distant. He knew that his father loved him, but things had been even more tense since Milos had come out to his dad about being pan. Which had been an entire conversation of Milos trying to educate his parents about what it had meant. At first, he'd thought his dad would kick him out, but he didn't. But things hadn't been... normal.

His mother, on the other hand, was supportive and asked her son all sorts of questions about Cam. Milos answered all of them enthusiastically, and eventually she asked the dreaded question. When was Milos bringing Cam to meet his parents? And his smile drifted for a moment, before coming back. He promised his mother that he would, soon, but not today. Not yet.

Milos wasn't even sure what they were.

And then his mother had mentioned that his father had lost his job, and Milos's heart had fallen. Because every time that his father lost his job, they had to move, and Milos was finally feeling like he was fitting in. His mother said that they had some money saved up, so they were going to wait and see if he could find another job, but if he couldn't... they were gone.

Milos could see the pain and helplessness in his mother's face. Despite living in the states for so long, she still didn't have a very good grip on the English language. Getting a job as both an illegal immigrant and without being able to speak English was hard, so she mostly stayed home. Taking care of the house, while his father worked -- plus, Milos knew that part of it was a pride thing. In his father's world, the man of the house was always supposed to take care of the wife. It was old. It was trivial. It was ridiculous, but Milos couldn't control what his parents did. Even if the effect of what they did hurt him, too.

He had now just arrived at school and headed to his locker, popping it open only to find a note with a little Scrabble letter piece attached. Confused, Milos pulled it out of his locker to read it over.

"For the next clue, find the girl with the hair of blue."

Gia.

So Milos dropped his backpack off and grabbed the H, shoving it into his pocket and then he was taking off down the hallway until he saw the bright blue head of hair that was the little freshman that he'd taken under his wing and befriended. She was sweet, and it was nice to have someone in the theater club that he could be friends with.

"You have note, yes?" He asked, as he came to a stop beside her.

Elf_Ruler

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Beau

It was Spirit Day.

In honor of Spirit Day, Beau had a bright gold bow with sparkles on her ponytail. A bright pink letterman style jacket sat over an equally sparkly blue shirt, and the jacket had gold, blue, and silver bows sparkling on it. Beau practically screamed school spirit and if all of that glittery sparkles of gold and blue adorning her clothing wasn't enough? Beau had also taken the liberty of dying some strands of her hair gold and blue, which were now pulled back in her ponytail.

Maybe the pink wasn't very Westbrook-ian, but OMG. Could you imagine going to school without pink? It was like, literally the hottest color ever, and Beau was nothing if not hot.

Her lock-in day had been BORING with a capital B. Her boyfriends hadn't been there, and then she'd found out that Kanen had left! The skank. Without even telling her goodbye, or inviting her to leave with him, because you know Beau would've dropped everything to be with her bae for the rest of their lives.

And Noah was too busy getting cozy with some guy to pay attention to Beau. Had he forgotten that they now lived together? Beau had even moved her favorite bows into his room, and now here he was, cheating on her with some... some... well, he was a hot jock so Beau couldn't blame him. She would've chosen that guy over Noah any day.

Maybe Beau should steal him from Noah...

Either way, it was now Friday before Homecoming. And life was actually going decent for Beau. Her business of selling bows for Bling Bling had been going alright, and she had managed to hook the local girl scouts as one of her main sources of income. Of course, instead of getting a lot of money, she mostly traded bows for cookies.

But she had also made her first friend! Lexi Moore, and Lexi had even invited Beau to her very first American sleepover with the other cheerleaders. Beau had actually tried out for the team, and been turned down. Probably because the cheer captain was jealous of Beau and her hot dance moves and sexy body.

Now, she moved through the school, a huge smile on her face while she said hello to anyone dumb enough to look in her direction.

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Ava


One pep talk in the mirror of her bathroom later, and Ava was on her way to school. Her pep talk had mainly involved convincing herself that one) murdering people would not solve her issues, and two) it was the last day of Spirit Week, and then school would return to her normal. Because there was nothing Ava despised more than Spirit Week.

It was a ridiculous American custom. Dress up stupid for five days to pledge your loyalty to a stupid losing football team at a school that you hadn't chosen to attend, but were rather forced to attend because you had been born at the wrong time in the wrong place? No thank you. If they started doing dumb things to support some of the clubs like the chess club or debate team that actually won things (okay, so the football was actually good but Ava still hated them), then Ava would start pledging her loyalty to the sport of slamming people.

Ava had always been of the mindset that brains were much more important than brawn, and she despised the American school system for saying the complete opposite. Knowing the Pythagorean Theorem was going to get you farther in life than knowing how to throw a freaking ball. Then again, jocks could barely throw a ball correctly.

Dumb asses.

She pushed her way into the school, absolutely decked out in no gold or blue. Instead, she wore her usual. Skinny jeans, boots, and today... the jean jacket that JJ had gotten her all those months ago. Okay so yes, it just so happened to be one of Ava's most prized possessions, not that she would ever admit it aloud.

And she had absolutely not wanted to go to that stupid dance, because she was fairly sure that watching JJ kiss all over freaking Toby might just kill her. It had been a stupid crush, but it was a crush all the same. One that no matter what Ava tried to do, she couldn't get over it. Stupid Toby. Stupid JJ. Stupid, stupid, stupid.

Although, she knew that in this situation, she was the only stupid one.​

 

[KingofAesir]

Sawyer
It was spirit week and Sawyer was glad she could say that she couldn't be happier. There was still moments where she got a little down on herself but other than that, she was doing a whole lot better. Grace was awake. Grace wanted her there and that's all she could ask for. Every lunch period and night had been spent at the hospital with Grace. They spent most of their time with Sawyer trying to fill Grace in on what was going on at school. Everything that had happened of some importance. Grace still wasn't 100% yet but they were making progress. Dr. Kirk had told Sawyer that her coming was good for Grace. Something about how she needed someone to talk to her about things and remind her of things from time to time too. She just told Sawyer to jeep coming and she had absolutely no problem with that. The rest of their time not spent talking about school was mostly filled with just sitting in comfortable silence. Grace seemed to feel a lot more comfortable when Sawyer sat with her in the bed. That was also something Sawyer had no problem with. Sometimes she'd still play guitar for her but that was mostly just to help her sleep.

Sawyer was particularly happy this morning because Grace was coming to school. She'd finally been allowed to go home. She couldn't drive yet, of course, but that was something that could easily be made up for. At first, Late had insisted on taking her but Dr.Kirk had been quick to back Sawyer taking her. Something about Grace needing a kind of helper or whatever. Someone to watch her and make sure she was doing okay. Sawyer was the perfect candidate and it was just easier for Sawyer to drive her anyway. Grace's house was on her way and that way Kate wouldn't be late for work. It was a win win situation. Sawyer got to take Grace to school and have a reason to stick to her side like glue. Not that she was actually going to do that. Of course. Of course. Grace could have time to herself. Like, not that long but. Oh, shut up. Sawyer was worried about her. So she was going to be attached at her hip if she wanted to be.

So, that's why Sawyer was pulling up to Grace's house for the first time in a long time. That's why she was texting Grave that she was there. They'd only given her phone back to her recently and Sawyer was flad for it. She slid the phone back into the pocket of her letterman as she waited. It was the final day of spirit week and Sawyer had tried to dress up at least a little but today was the best. Her letterman was covered in patches two of them all-state honors and one a state champion patch for basketball. Quite a few of them were hockey honors as well. There was even two patches for state appearances at One Act Play competitions. It was quite a show of talent, with Sawyer's last blazed across the back. It was quite possibly her favorite article of clothing, besides her beanie of course, which had been swapped for a blue one today in honor of school colors.

Soap​

 

[geminiy]

Jacqueline Dupont

Spirit Week had been exhausting, to say the least and although she had tried her best to enjoy the festivities, something stopped Jackie from experiencing the fun, something that she simply couldn't place her finger on. Something felt missing. Jackie was not particularly sad or angry about anything, in fact with everything happening in her world, she almost felt overwhelmed.

Outside of the whole living in her car thing, life had actually been going pretty well for Jackie. She had begun her job at the pier which was physically draining but actually rather fun, as fun as cleaning boats could be that is. On top of her job, Jackie had really thrown herself into the wrestling team, cherishing the fact that she actually had something that was strictly fun only. She hadn't realized how much she had missed martial arts before she had joined and although the sport lacked to fill the hole that those sports had left, wrestling had become a new passion of hers.

Friday of Spirit Week had rolled around and Jackie would be lying if she said she wasn't happy that it was almost over. A pit of anxiety had settled in Jackie's stomach as she walked into Westbrook High that morning. So many students were decked out in the school's colours and members of the football team were dressed in their jerseys, it was almost overwhelming. Not to mention all of the chirping about the dance that night.

The night before, Jackie had hunted down the single dress she owned but hadn't even decided she was going to the homecoming dance. Dances were never Jackie's style. All of those tacky teenage couples pretending like they were going to be together forever only to break up the next day, the really bad mixes of music that could put anyone to sleep, the stale food... All of it just seemed boring, especially since Jackie had very few friends that would be going and even less friends that would be going alone. Spending the night as a single third wheel wasn't exactly Jackie's idea of fun.

Jackie was on the way to her locker when someone called out her name. Her chemistry teacher had called out to Jackie on her way past the classroom, a thick envelope in hand.

"Ms Dupont, just who I was looking for. This is for you, something about your postgraduate studies."

Taking the envelope in her hands, Jackie nodded her thanks to the teacher and made her way to her locker. Postgraduate studies? She hadn't even applied to many universities, how was she getting information already? Jackie swung open her locker door and placed her bag inside, turning her attention to the envelope. Her heart jumped in her chest as her eyes landed upon the sender: Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

She took her time opening the envelope with trembling fingers, her mouth going dry. There were two things inside: a booklet about admissions to MIT and a letter, addressed specifically to her. After taking a deep breath, Jackie read over the letter. And then read the letter again. And again. Words like 'prime candidate' and 'scholarship' danced off the page and ingrained themselves into Jackie's mind. For someone who is incredibly smart, she was sure having a hard time understanding the letter.

The university had written her, saying they had been sent her information by the school and were encouraging her to apply to their university for the following fall. Her grades from France as well as her outstanding grades from Westbrook apparently made her a prime candidate for the university, though she was not in yet. There was also a scholarship to the school that Jackie would potentially be applicable for, should she keep up her grades.

Jackie lowered the letter, her hands shaking. She hadn't even considered applying to MIT, the school was so immensely competitive and she wasn't entirely interested in going to such a high intensity school after graduation. But now, having them reach out to her as a possible choice? She simply couldn't ignore that.

| open |

Isabelle Dupont

When the Friday of Spirit Week rolled around, Bella was filled with excitement. At first, the poor girl had really struggled to understand the whole 'dress in your school colours and dedicate an entire week to celebrating "school pride"' thing but she was beginning to get it. It didn't make much sense logically but that didn't stop the whole event from being incredibly fun. All she hoped was that it didn't rain during the game later that day, she didn't want to borrow another stranger's jacket.

The lock-in had been a lot of fun once she got past the panic attack caused by hearing about Victor. Talking with Zander had really helped her to calm down but even during the fun of the evening, that phone call was still nagging her in the back of her mind. That's why when she went home, she did something rather stupid. Bella looked him up online.

Victor had gotten out of jail two months prior for apparent 'good behaviour', though Bella could hardly believe that her ex had anything remotely resembling good behaviour in him. He stayed off of social media until just three weeks before the lock-in, posting some stupid picture on his Instagram. He looked different, aged and worn down even though he was still only in his mid twenties. Tacky tattoos crawled up his neck and crested the side of his face, new additions to his body that he had not previously had the last time Bella saw him before they moved. His most recent photo showed the asshole smirking with a joint dangling between his recently yellowed teeth and a younger girl, another tacky new addition to his life.

Bella hadn't really known what to expect when she looked him up. Part of her wanted to see that he was doing well, that he had moved on from the drugs and the parties and had done something good with his life. Bella always was able to see the good in him, even though there were so few moments that she could likely count them on one hand. Part of her wanted to find an obituary, Victor having been killed in some stupid gang fight over drugs. But instead, she found that he was exactly the same as she left him, only with new arm candy hanging off his side. It hurt that she their breakup hadn't seemingly effected him at all, for better or for worse, when Bella spent months agonizing over him, wishing for him to come back.

Spirit Week served as a pleasant distraction. Between events and cheer practice and slaving over her stupid math homework, Bella didn't have any time to think about him. She had made the decision that night to finally move on, to get past what happened in France and to get on with her life. She needed to move on.

Bella made her way into the school with her school bag hanging lazily off of her left shoulder and her gym bag in her hand. The game later that day would be a lot of fun, even more fun if the football team somehow managed to win the game. Bella waved a few hellos as she walked past groups of students that she had met within the past week as she made her way to her locker.

Opening the door, Bella paused and groaned at how little space was inside. Had her locker shrunk since the day before or did she just pack too much? She got her backpack in with no problems but struggled with her gym bag, throwing her weight against it to get it inside with no luck.

"Vous va putain de sac!" Bella growled, pushing harder on the bag with her shoulder. Finally, the bag gave in and slid into the locker. Bella sighed in victory and pushed a few blonde strands away from her face as she began to dig around her bags to get to the books she would need for class that day, though she realistically knew no one would really be doing schoolwork on the day of homecoming.

| open |

Ryan Davies

When Ryan had walked through the doors of the school his first Monday morning, he hadn't exactly expected it to be Spirit Week. Hell, he hadn't even been sure that schools even did Spirit Week anymore since he hadn't had one since middle school. Well, to be fair he hadn't gone to an actual school since middle school, so maybe he was a bad example.

The week hadn't been too awful. He spent a lot of time in the music room, even during his lunch breaks to avoid the swarms of teenagers that made his skin crawl and his heart race. For such a small town, there sure as hell were a lot of people roaming the halls and all of them made Ryan want to hide away and never return to the school again. No one had been particularly mean to him, in fact most of the students and teachers he had met in passing were rather kind, it was just that crowds scared him and he really wanted to avoid being the new kid on the block yet again or even worse, the new deaf kid on the block.

The Friday of Spirit Week somehow topped the other four days with the abundance of school colours and the cheering students and the students anxious for the football game and homecoming. Ryan had no intention of going to the dance that evening, especially since he knew a grand total of zero people in the school, but decided that the football game may be a decent place to start.

As always, Ryan had showed up early to work on a piece on the piano he had been writing over the past week before classes to help keep him calm. Checking the time on his watch, Ryan decided that he'd better get a move on so that he wouldn't be late to his first period and went to retrieve his things from his locker. On the way there, some younger kid obnoxiously covered in sparkles stood out from the swarms of students and startled Ryan. She was really taking this whole spirit day thing seriously. Ryan averted his gaze and walked past the walking-talking Claire's ad to his locker to fetch his books.

| open |​

 

[WeirdPrincess]

[div class=container][div class=image][/div] [div class=blk][div class=title]Jasmine Hayes [div class=line][/div] [div class=lil]Guitar player[/div][/div] [div class=b][div class=lilimage][/div][/div] [div class=info] [div class=post][div class=scroll] Jasmine was definitely not looking forward to the first day of school and meeting new people all over again. She was sure she had checked the mirror about ten times to make sure her outfit and hair were okay before leaving her house. While she wasn't overly anxious, Jasmine did admit she was a little bit nervous even though nobody would be able to tell. The eyes were the gateway to the soul as they said and hers were guarded by a pair of opaque purple shades. It wasn't that sunny out for her to be wearing them nor was the sun directly shining into her eyes. You could barely see her eyes through the glass, but she liked it that way. Not because she didn't want people to know how nervous she was (though it did help) or because she hated how her eyes looked (wasn't that either), Jasmine just liked her fair share of sunglasses. She was sure she had about 20 pairs or so lying around her room.

It wasn't long before her mom had reached Westbrook High, car stopped in front of the large building of the high-school. Her heart hammered against her chest chest as the various students entered the building, realizing she'd have to do the same and leave the comfort of her mom's car. That was something she wasn't entirely ready to do just yet. "You'll be fine Jazzy, you always worry to much about the first day."Jasmine had the urge to roll her eyes, but refrained from doing so. That was easy for her to say when she wasn't going to be the one walking into a new school again for the second time this year. She knew her mom was only trying to help her, but it wasn't working one bit.

"Okay ma, I'll see you later. Love you!" Jasmine slid her backpack over her shoulder and slid out of the car, closing the door behind her. With a final wave, her mom drove off, leaving Jasmine to wander into the school. There was one problem though. She had absolutely no idea where the office was and she needed to go there to pick of her schedule. Since she had transferred mid year, she hadn't gotten her schedule in the mail like the rest of the kids did at the beginning of the school year. Jasmine figured she'd find it eventually if she wandered around enough, but knowing her it wasn't going to be a walk in the park. She had a terrible sense of direction and tended to get lost a little too easily.

Well this should be fun, Jasmine thought to herself, heaving a sigh before setting off in search of the office.[/div][/div] [div class=pos][div class="round1 round"][/div] . [div class="round2 round"][/div] . [div class="round3 round"][/div] [div class=stats]mood: Nervous | mentions: N/A | interaction: Open
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[Soap]

Grace

"So... you're leaving? That's surprisingly early."

Grace was in the middle of folding clothes she'd thought about burning more than once or twice. She didn't want any part of the hospital anymore-- and her clothes included. The blonde shrugged and placed the grey shirt inside of her bag. "I'm good to go." That wasn't all true. It took begging upon begging to be allowed to go back to school. With months of therapy scheduled, Grace didn't let them find a reason to make her stay.

Hell, they even tried getting her to use a wheelchair. A wheelchair. No. Definitely not. So they came up with a new plan.

Crutches.

That's fine. She used crutches before. When she was like eleven but still. Besides, it's not like she can't walk. She can. It's just... a little difficult to keep on her feet for so long. "Let me guess, you're practically bouncing to get back to your old life. Cheer captain and boys await." Evie placed a hand over her heart and sighed, "They wake up so fast." Grace snorted at the brunette's attempt of a joke. Evie wasn't so bad to keep around.

"You do know I'm a lesbian, right?"

"So?"

Alright then.

"You know what I just realized? We never talked about what you're in here for. And I'm guessing it's not a coma." Grace sat down on the edge of the hospital bed, eying the smaller girl suspiciously. It didn't seem like Evie taken too kindly to her question, but that was quickly covered up with a grin. "A broken heart." The brunette pouted and put her hand through her own shirt, mimicking a heartbeat. While it was meant to be a joke, Grace couldn't help but feel there was truth to her words.

--

"One moment, Miss Jackson." A nurse pulled her to the side of the doorway, and of course, Evie was just suddenly standing next to her. "I thought you were leaving." Her words brought a roll to Grace's eyes. Wheelchairs were protocol. Even if you were leaving. Why? Well, Grace had no clue. Maybe it had to do with all the lawsuits Kate was pulling out of no where. Yeah, she found out about that too. "I am. I'm just... waiting." Again. She couldn't wait until she was out of this horrid, ugly, gross, gross hospital. "It's gonna be so peaceful without you here." Evie stated, crossing her arms.

"You do realize you're extremely mean. " Grace said, it wasn't even a full second before Evie spit something back at her. "You do realize you're a pushover." Grace was so not a pushover. What? Just because she had the tendency to be a little nicer to others? That was just being polite.

"He's not gonna be here for another thirty minutes..." The look on Evie's face was the exact definition of mischief.

--

Racing around the halls with wheelchairs probably wasn't something most patients should do. But... technically, Grace wasn't a patient anymore, now was she? She might've felt a little bad for the kid. She was lonely. Grace didn't see her outside of her own hospital room, but there definitely was something more to her. They sat in their respective wheelchairs as they ate practically flavorless hospital icees. "You didn't answer my question y'know." Evie said. Grace looked up from the cherry crushed ice to face her. "Are you excited to go back?"

Was she?

"... I think I'm scared."

--

Goodbyes were said, Grace left the hospital and it was her first few days back home. The car ride was a little unsettling to say the least. But she still hadn't remembered much from the night, so it wasn't traumatic as everyone else made it seem. Her stare lingered in the vanity mirror before her. It didn't feel fair that she missed the first day of Junior year, or... the last four months of her life. But she was putting that all behind her. But what if--

"Grace."

She flinched slightly and adjusted her shirt lower. Only now noticing her mother in the hallway. It was almost an understatement to say how clingy Kate has been this past week, while it's to be expected. Grace just wanted to be left alone. "I've been calling your name for the past ten minutes, are you sure you're okay to go today? We can wait another--" No, Grace wasn't about to miss anything else. "Nope! I'm totally good, Mom. All good. Just... distracted." Kate didn't seem particularly convinced, but she let Grace know Sawyer was outside and surprisingly didn't mention anything else about her well being. Great. Perfect. Unbeknownst to Grace, a text was sent to her ex girlfriend, letting her know to keep an extra eye on the blonde.

Not long afterwards, Grace muttered a hello to Sawyer and clicked in her seat belt. Staying quiet for most of the ride while her mind wandered. She wasn't supposed to go to homecoming later today. Everyone else thought it was best to take one step at a time, but forget that. Who wanted to do that? "I want to go to homecoming." Grace blurted out, lowering the radio before turning her attention towards Sawyer.

"And... I think we should break Evie out to go too."

KingofAesir​

 

[Winona]

Beau

Ryan may have thought that he averted his gaze from Beau, the most beautiful sparkle-infested blonde at this school for blondes, but she had caught his eye staring at her. And why wouldn't he be? Not only did Beau sparkle so much that she had blinded a few kids on her way here, but no one could even begin to match her state of beauty.

It was obviously the biggest reason she hadn't been allowed on the cheerleading team, because who would want to be outshone by one Beau Bisley? And of course, everyone was outshone by her.

The boy that had made brief but deadly eye contact with her wasn't... well, he wasn't hard on the eyes, but he wasn't great, either. Not like any of Beau's previous boyfriends that had literally been the sexiest things on the planet, but he had still shown interest in Beau, and it would be cruel of her to avoid her fans. So instead she walked up to the boy, leaning attractively against the locker next to his while he dealt with his books. Maybe he didn't even have a date for Homecoming.

"Hey there, bae," she said with a wide grin. "As you probably know since I'm so popular, I'm Beau Bisley." Beau held out a hand that was certainly covered in a bit of glitter from her overly glittery outfit for a handshake.

"So hot stuff, what's your name?"

geminiy

---------------------------------------------

Drake

He was nothing, if not helpful, and when Drake saw a girl that looked very lost walking by in some nice purple shades, well, he couldn't just stand idly by, could he? Plus, Drake... needed this. Something to distract him, even if it was just introducing himself to a new stranger and taking her to the office, it was at least something to get his mind off of his thoughts. I know -- what a surprise, Drake was actually thinking for once. It was all he'd been doing for the last week.

The jock shut his locker door, but not before grabbing his own shades -- the bright pink ones, mind you -- and slid them on his face before he took off after the girl. He had to jog to catch up with her, but soon fell into step beside her. Drake offered a friendly smile. "You're new, right?" Drake asked, even though he knew the answer to that. Despite Westbrook not being a super small school, Drake prided himself on knowing everyone's name and being at least acquaintances with them.

"I'm Drake Martin. Basically the professional greeter of this whole school since like, they don't really do anything to help out the new kids." Drake said with a laugh, although he was sure that she had already figured that one out. Poor new girl. There were benefits to never moving city or school -- Drake had never been lost a day in his life.

Well, not physically.

"So what's your name? Where are you from? What brings you to Westbrook?"

WeirdPrincess​

 

[lion.]

Ronnie "Blue Nile" Kane
​

It was a time to be alive, and nothing made Ronnie’s Friday more alive than his truly thoughtful daddy dictator.

“You’re late,” his father briefed him when he began to descend down the helical stairs donned in a poorly buttoned Dolce & Gabbana parrot print shirt with belted dark jeans. Falling in line was never a Ronnie’s ordeal, and never would it be. His deadshot eyes discolored by the three a.m. logic of hitting a joint zeroed in on his polyester suited-father who appropriated himself on the lavish, oval-rounded, tufted couch. Mid-typing, his father’s fingers became idle as he waged his attention to his son.

“Really?” Ronnie emphasized, in a malicious fabrication of surprise, looking around, “I really-I really couldn’t tell.”

“Ronnie, your father is right,” a third, sweetly syrup, and familiar voice adjoined. As expected, the supporter of all of his father’s doings arrived. Bedecked in pearls and a silk robe, a mug of what was positively Madagascar vanilla black tea warmed her hands. “And Ronnie, what are you wearing? It is Westbrook Spirit Week-”

There she went again, trying to make him fit into a place he forsakenly and hellishly did not want to be a part of.

“I know that mom,” Ronnie retorted, “I’m sure wearing one color would have made hell of a difference."

“Ronnie! Excuse you.”

“We both know dad has enough money to put me back where I belong, but instead he wants to be a dickhead and wants to make me go to this public school,” Ronnie seethed, going to the foyer and picking up the keys to his all-white Rolls Royce Dawn.

“I’m going.” He slammed the door behind him.

Dialling speed on his car, his thoughts grew quieter. The noxious texts he was receiving this week from his friends back from private were now silented, and with the hum of the engine and plain-sighted roads backfogged with trees, his thoughts originated back to the lock-out and the dark-haired brunette. Her matchstick fire of a personality wasn’t too far from people he would befriend. Hell, this week wasn’t even curbed that bad. So, by not agreeing, he agreed that maybe he was going to be okay.

Except, when he arrived in the very pit of students and lockers, he was very wrong.

Scaling back his rosewood dyed hair with an eroding hand, he was rogue in the historic clothing of golds and blues. In the presence of aerial footballs and glitter banners, Ronnie’s attention flickered to that of someone brushing past him breezily, and what do you know? There she was. A Marginal rebel.

By her hair alone, it was evasively clear. She was a redhead, and by all stereotypes and judgments, they were always outlaws.

“What’s the rush, Caroline?” Ronnie decided to joke, “Or are you Annie?”

They were all named the same anyways.

“You’re looking like you have a vendetta against this school, but I don’t blame you.” Pivoting on his feet, he changed direction, remotely catching in step with the redhead. “Name is Ronnie, by the way.”

Winona

 

[KingofAesir]

Sawyer
The first few minutes we're spent in relative silence. Sawyer's phone playing music through the speakers filled any awkward silence that might have existed. Not that there was any anyway. Sawyer could tell that Grace was busy in her head, thinking about something. She had resigned herself to figuring that it was just about going back to school for the first time in months. She wasn't going to push Grace for any kind of answers to anything. Dr.Kirk had specifically told her not to press Grace too hard just yet. As much as she might want to try and get Grace to tell her how she was feeling, she would listen to the doctor. They were the ones who knew best after all. So Sawyer just sat quietly and let Grace do her thing. She would tell her when she was ready.

Ready seemed to be sooner rather than later as Grace just randomly blurted out what she was assumedly thinking about. Sawyer did a double take, taken aback by the sudden declaration and the thing that came after it. Take Evie? Sawyer could've laughed. Grace wanted to literally kidnap Evie from the hospital. That had to be all kinds of illegal. Evie's parents could like sue them or something right? Lord knows Sawyer's family didn't have enough money for that. But taking Grace to Homecoming? Sawyer could probably swing that.

"Okay, hold on. Let's take about six steps back." Sawyer chuckled, "You literally just got out of the hospital, are you sure you're ready for that. That's like a lot of people and stuff." She turned a corner and waved at an older woman walking her dog, "I mean, I'll take you. But I need you to be sure you're ready for that."

As for Evie.

"And as for Evie. Grace we can't kidnap a kid from the hospital. Besides, that would be like taking a demon to Jesus' birthday party." She laughed at her own joke, "Why do you want to take her anyway?"

Soap​

 

[lion.]

Red​

Red’s life in Westbrook was a pipe dream. Pedalling on his chromatic bike with wind tasting his tongue and jazz palpitating into his ears by earplugs connected to his phone, the city was slowly fading away. Racing off the pavement of his house with his sneakers half worn, he’d clumsily wave to Mrs. Janice, his elderly neighbor whose wrinkles and back perked up as he passed by. She would return to her watering can that glistened down the plants with dribbles of water, and Red would take that cue to lift himself off his seat and cycle faster. There and now, he smelled aroma of yeast and bread on his way to school, and other times he often heard the sound of robins bantering amongst themselves.

One time, this morning, and unluckily, a car honked at him.

“Sorry!” Red yelled, “My bad. I’m really terrible at this. I know!” Steering up a curb, he embarrassingly tried to simper at the driver.

"Vous va putain de sac!"

Red heard a foreign phrase independently from the throwdown of piano, drum, and saxophone resounding in his ears. His eyelids swatted quickly, and he removed one of his earplugs out of his ear. His mouth felt dry as he stared stupidly at the pretty blonde in front of him.

“Do you need-” Red propelled out his palm.

“Would you like some hel-”

“Hi. I-”

He could speak. He could! It just wasn’t coming out…

Red Donovan felt like an idiot stuttering over his words as he stared at the blonde as she rummaged through her bag that she managed to shove into the locker.

Take your time to listen to your own stupid, Red.

Her heedfulness appeared to be in her books, the supple method of how her fingers skimmed the widths of her books meagering in wandering study. Red, who decided to support the theme by wearing a dark blue, blinked some more. Now, he was starting to look like a creeper.

“Hey, there.” He internally cringed at his fluky greeting. “I’m Red. Odd name, I know. But, I was sort of born with it because my mom was birthing me…”

“That was not the point. I was going to ask if you needed help,” he added with a forethought, “Like you already did shove that heavy bag into the locker because you’re pretty, and strong and you can do it...but even if you couldn’t you’d still be pretty and strong…”

“Homecoming, though. Exciting times.”

geminiy

 

[geminiy]

Ryan Davies

He thought he had avoided the confrontation, avoided the headache that would be caused by staring into the void of glitter and pink. But no, as if the universe was taunting him, the little mound of sparkle showed up beside him. He hadn't even seen her walk over, it was like she simply appeared beside him. Clearly this kid was some kind of being sent to torture poor Ryan. In no way had he intended to open up dialogue between the two, it was simply impossible to avoid glancing at her.

All he wanted was to get his stuff and go to English but no, apparently that would be much to simple. Instead, he had to focus and attempt to hear out what the kid was saying. She was leaning up against the locker beside his, her tiny body weirdly spread out as if she were on display. It was hard to Ryan to focus on her quick moving lips when every single ray of light was bouncing off her jacket and bow, making her effectively a lighthouse. What was she drawing in, if she were a lighthouse? Crazies, that's probably what.

Ryan had to focus, truly focus, to understand her words. Bae? What in the ever loving hell was a bae? Then she said her name and Ryan's jaw almost dropped. Did she say her name was Boob Isley? No, that was impossible. Her parents might hate her since she was allowed to leave the house looking like a beauty pageant's wet dream but surely they had some ounce of respect towards their child enough not to have named her a slang term for 'breast'. And how could she be so popular if everyone had to yell "Boob!" to get her attention?

As her hand shot out to greet him, Ryan had to stop himself from flinching. If he were to even so much as touch her, he would be covered in glitter for the rest of the day so he avoided her touch. Spirit Week was fun and all but taking a gold sparkle shower wasn't exactly how Ryan wanted to start his morning. Her next words caused a lump to form in his throat and an embarrassed blush to flush his cheeks. Oh no, did she just call him hot stuff? Why on earth would she call him "hot stuff"? Who the hell says "hot stuff" anymore?

"R-ryan," he managed, looking around for an escape route. He needed to get away from this girl before she got the wrong idea. It hit him, suddenly, like a tonne of bricks square in the stomach. He had just spent the last few moments staring at her lips, reading them, and his cheeks were flushed as they always do when he's embarrassed. Ryan quickly got the memo that this girl was really bad, no monumentally, horribly, atrociously bad at reading social cues. If he wanted to avoid this girl trying anything, he needed to get away and fast. "I, um, I need to get to, um, to English class."

| Beau Winona |

Isabelle Dupont

Bella was so involved with finding her books that she hadn't noticed that someone had walked up to her until he spoke. And it wasn't until he spoke that Bella realized that she had just cursed out her gym bag in French in the middle of the hallway while attempting, albeit succeeding, to shove it into her all too tiny of a locker. She realized that she must have looked like a total idiot, cursing to herself and aggressively shoving things into her locker. And now this guy who seemed like a total sweetheart was there. How much of her whole bag shoving escapade had he seen?

The boy introduced himself as Red and then proceeded to follow it up with its origin story, though he cut himself off as he stumbled through his next words. Bella listened as she continued to rummage through her locker, finally managed to pull free the stupid textbook she had been trying to get a hold of. She was just about to close her locker when Red said something that stopped her in her tracks. Did he just call her strong? Bella had gotten her fair share of 'you're pretty' comments throughout her life and to be honest, she never thought that 'pretty' was much of a compliment anyhow. But strong, that was a new one. And hey, if this guy still thought she was pretty after she had just aggressively shoved her bag into her locker in the most unladylike way possible, he must have meant it.

The corner of Bella's mouth curled up in a semi-smile at his compliment. A small breathy laugh accompanied the grin. Red was cute with his little rants and Bella got the feeling that maybe he didn't like that about himself.

"Well, I think Red is a lovely name. Very unique and fun," Bella said as her smile grew on her face. She went to close her locker door and the happiness drained from her face as it refused to close. Bella groaned once more before she took a deep breath and shoved her small body against it shoulder first, the door finally giving in and the latch clicking shut.

Bella finally turned to look at Red fully, taking her time to take in the details of the face of the sweet guy who probably thought she was a total loon by then. "I'm Isabelle Dupont, but you can call me Bella if you'd like." She introduced, transferring her Spanish textbook and binder into her left arm and shaking Red's hand with her empty right. "And I'm sorry you had to witness all of that fun stuff with my locker. Nothing seems to want to cooperate with me this morning." She added with a giggle, elbowing her locker.

"I'm excited for homecoming, I've never actually been to one since we didn't have homecoming back at my school in France." Bella explained, her previously serious expression from her war against her gym bag melting away to her typical soft and cheerful expression. "Though I have no clue how I'm going to have the energy for it after the game this afternoon. I'm on the cheer team."

Bella focused in on Red again, trying to place if she had ever seen him before. It was quite possible that they had come across each other in passing in the busy hallways of Westbrook High but she was fairly certain she'd remember a face like Red's. "I haven't seen you around before. Are you new too? My sister Jackie and I moved here not long ago from France, we started in September."

| Red lion. |​

 

[mogy]

Noah Stewart

​

Noah was a very light sleeper, which meant that he kind of felt and heard things while sleeping. Of course, he wouldn't remember word-to-word conversations or any light shakes or touches, but he could definitely feel somebody cozying up to him while in the middle of a lock-in. In this case, that somebody was none other than the oldest of the Vaughn siblings, Chase. Noah and Chase had been getting along quite nicely, and Noah considered the jock to be a friend.

Whatever happened during the lock-in was all okay because people love contact, and when two people sleep in the same sleeping bag, they are bound to have a little bit of it, or in this case, they are bound to have a little cuddle session while sleeping. But, there is no harm in friendly cuddles between two teenage boys sharing a sleeping bag. And of course, Noah didn't complain because he didn't exactly dislike it. Cuddles were the best.

For some reason, Noah couldn't stop thinking about it, and the sensation of cuddling with Chase had been stuck in his mind, sometimes drifting back into the unconscious, but almost always coming back to the surface here and there. He didn't know why, but he wanted it to stop because he needed to focus on his schoolwork if he wanted to get into a good college, seeing his track and field scholarship was kind of not in the picture any longer.

It had been spirit week, and Noah didn't have the spirit to be alive any longer because it was Friday. Everybody loves Friday, but school still wasn't over, and he spent the whole week walking around with his crutches which meant he was right about done with life.

It had been the 'dress in your school colors' day, and Noah was wearing some blue and yellow combination which probably looked horrible, but he literally didn't care. He was walking through the hallway when he noticed the girl who saved him, Jackie, looking like she had just received some big news.

"So, who died, and why were you informed via letter?" Noah asked, obviously joking. He had only realized in the middle of the sentence that somebody might have died and that this was the way she was finding out, which would prove to be very awkward and uncomfortable, but uh, Noah hoped for the best.

Interactions: geminiy (Jackie)
Mentions: a z u l a (Chase), mogy (Noah)​

 

[WeirdPrincess]

[div class=container][div class=image][/div] [div class=blk][div class=title]Jasmine Hayes [div class=line][/div] [div class=lil]Guitar player[/div][/div] [div class=b][div class=lilimage][/div][/div] [div class=info] [div class=post][div class=scroll] Jasmine had been so absorbed into finding the office that she didn't hear the guy coming up next her, flinching in surprise by the sudden sound of his voice. Normally she wasn't like that, but being in a new and different environment put her slightly on edge. She'd get use to the place and the people eventually, which hopefully wouldn't take all that long. "Is it that obvious?" Jasmine chuckled, turning her head to face the stranger and his very bright pink shades. "Nice shades." She had to look away for a minute to keep herself from laughing at the site. His choice of shades clashed dramatically with the rest of his look and it was probably the funniest thing she saw so far.

"That's an interesting title you have for yourself. The school might as well appoint you to helping out the newbies." She though it was a little weird that the school didn't have anyone helping out the new kids, considering how big the school was. At her old school, they always had someone aiding the newer kids to help get them situated. Though it wasn't always the... best. It was whoever the school picked and they randomly picked a different student each time instead of leaving it to one person. Or even a welcoming committee, but she doubted people would have willingly signed up for that.

"I'm Jasmine. Jas or Jazzy for short." She would have shook his hand, but it was a little awkward trying to do that while walking and she didn't want to take the time to stop. "I'm from California, moved here because I have some family out in Maine." Her story was simple, nothing to complex or out of the ordinary. The only exciting thing about it was that she had lived close to the infamous city of L.A, though she didn't understand the awe over the city. It was nice and all, but got boring once you knew the area enough. Plus, it was way to loud and overly crowded for her liking. You did always meet the most interest and strange people around there though. Maine was a nice change of scenery and she was looking forward to seeing how it would pan out.

Jasmine did have to know one thing before anything."Are we headed in the right direction to the office?" She at least wanted to know if she was headed in the correct direction before she forgot.[/div][/div] [div class=pos][div class="round1 round"][/div] . [div class="round2 round"][/div] . [div class="round3 round"][/div] [div class=stats]mood: Nervous | mentions: Winona | interaction: Drake
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[Soap]

Raven

Raven had to admit, she did pretty good for the whole school spirit kinda thing. Not that she ever looks terrible, but the brunette was convinced she could make the ugliest of colors look good. Mason was walking her towards her locker, as usual. It's not like they ever... planned all this out. The more time they spent together, the more it kind of became like a silent thing between the two? Like, they were just close. Maybe that's how it goes whenever you start living with someone.

But the duo was practically attached at the hip at this point-- if you said that a year ago, Raven would've laughed in your face. But now? Now everything was different. And she means everything.

The brunette furrowed her brows in confusion, while an amused smile to her face. "You were thinking about whether or not I writing a piece on the game?" She questioned, shaking her head before deciding to answer his question anyway. A shrug rose to her shoulders. It's not like Raven didn't want to. It's just, she was getting so tired of writing the same exact things over and over-- she wanted to write something that... well, meant something. "Unfortunately, yes. Homecoming is something everyone in this school moans about. There would be riots outside of that little old room I pretend is my office."

It was odd. Last year Raven was heartbroken over some redhead who didn't even spare another glance at her, when she should've just been staring at the other boy who was vying for her attention. Look, no one ever said Mason and Raven were the perfect love story, couple, or whatever they were. But maybe there was a chance they could be-- something more than just... Mason, and Raven. Alright... that made more sense in her head.

But Raven decided to let her heart do the talking.

"So... did you want to go together tonight? We could make a thing out of it... If you want."

Gosh, Raven was always so calm, cool and collected. Ha. If only she felt like that on the inside.

Winona​

 

[Twin Fantasy]

Charlie McAllister

Today was a day. It was important, he'd made it important. A day. He had brought no cards, could not play his Les Paul, did not prepare an acapella ballad or poem or anything like that. He hadn't prepared, and he wanted to throw up. His guts were full of twitching insects, chittering and singing. He was hardly ready.

But he had to.

Charlie had failed to wear his school colors, he was cold and grey and his eyes were wild. He wandered the halls, he searched, he plowed through collections of people, he ran and ran and he saw. Zander. The warm center of the cold, ugly world he lived in. Something whole in a place that was empty. Had he fallen too hard? Was he too fast? Perhaps. He was blind, and vulnerable, like a newborn cat.

"Hey! Zander!" He breathed, running over. "Can we, uh... talk? Just- really quick?"

// Winona //​

 

[Elf_Ruler]

The week for Tatum had been a strange one, the week itself had been fun especially with all the themes. She had avoided Colby the next couple days after the lock in unsure of how to handle the encounter. They had kissed twice, and she was at a loss of how to handle him and so she did what she did best and that was to avoid. She instead met up with Lulu on Monday to go over the details of homecoming because it was fast approaching, and she wanted everything to go smoothly otherwise she would never hear the end of it. So, she got coffee with the redhead and honestly, she really liked Lulu. The girl was sweet, and she made Tatum feel calm which none of her so-called friends had done for her. Brayden had been stressing her out, Ian was upsetting her, Ash wasn’t really her friend anymore, and Colby was confusing to say the least. Of course, Tatum wanted to become better friends with Lulu and have someone with a sweet personality in her life. Maybe she would feel less anxious and sad? Unhappy? Some other mood? Tatum hadn’t cared she just knew she liked Lulu.

When Tuesday had rolled around she had finally met up with Colby, she had still felt awkward but they had talked about everything and she seemed more comfortable with him though she still wasn’t sure what they were but they both liked each other so that was a good thing right? She had even won the sparring match they had planned which left her feeling fairly cocky because she had beat someone bulkier and taller than her.

However, with it being Friday she was pretty hungover from the night before at JJ’s house from the impromptu sleepover that JJ had demanded. It hadn’t been terrible, but Tatum had wanted to die just a little. She was trying to play it off well and had her water bottle full of Pedialyte and it was awful. She wished she had bought the flavors, but the store had unflavored left and she wasn’t sure if the Pedialyte was worth it or if she should keep the hangover. She had made her way to her locker constantly tugging at her uniform which felt a little more snug than normal and she had heard that Grace was to be returning soon. She was a little worried that Grace would ask for her captain spot back, and as much as Tatum wanted to give it to her, she knew Grace probably wasn’t strong enough to have the title back. Plus, she knew Coach would probably say no.

Mention(s): Soap PenguinFox 0k_mang0
Interaction(s): Waiting
--

Kyle had been away from Westbrook for too long, he had gone a vacation with his family and then he had managed to get super ill from accepting a dare to eat some old frog leg and he hadn’t been able to return back to Westbrook until now. He had returned during spirit week and he enjoyed it. Though he could tell his teachers seemed less than happy with him being back and he couldn’t understand why. He was a fun guy in class, making jokes and just enjoying his time. They were at school way too long to be boring and to not enjoy themselves. They were teenagers and they deserved fun and teachers just forgot what it was like to be young. He felt the need to remind them what it was like and so all week he had been enjoying himself in class with his friends and his teachers. He got kicked out of class a couple times and sent to the library but that’s because Westbrook teachers were lame and had a stick up their butts.

When spirit day arrived, he was decked out in his Westbrook colors, his hair colored both blue and gold, his face painted half blue and half gold. He had a giant foam finger and he was ready for the homecoming game. He was of course shouting chants trying to get his classmates in on the spirit and he wasn’t paying any attention until he felt his body collide with another. He looked down and saw the small brunette cheerleader, JJ. “Hey JJ. Let’s go Wolves! Woo!” he raised his foam finger in the air and had a huge smile plastered on his face.

Soap
--

Cam had been working hard the whole week for his homecoming proposal. Of course, he wanted it to be good, he really liked Milos so that morning he had managed to break into the boy’s locker with a little help from the front office when he explained what he was doing. So, he had decided on his method for asking out his ray of sunshine. He had requested the help of Gia and Ryder for his plan and all he needed was for them to be around. He had already gone to the end of the destination for Milos to find him and now all he had to do was wait for Milos to find his clues and then him. He could only hope that the boy would say yes to him.

--

Brayden had enjoyed the entire spirit week thus far and was quite proud that Tatum with approval from the school had gotten all the themes approved. It was a great time and he had been trying to talk with Bella, but life had been cruel, and he never got a chance. He hadn’t gotten to talk with her at the lock in and all he had wanted was to make sure she was okay. He cared about her even though he had just met her. So when he arrived at school on Friday he was making it his goal to talk with Bella. He passed by Tatum gave her a squeeze on the shoulder and then kept going on. He was not going to be distracted today. It was homecoming and he wanted to know if Bella was going. He knew she had to attend the game, all the cheerleaders were in their uniforms so all he had to do was look for the uniform and he would find her.

It didn’t take him too long before he saw her at her locker with another male. He seemed nice so he figured he was probably only going to interrupt them a little when he approached the two of them, “Hi Bella. Sup Dude.” He gave the male a nod, “Brayden. Hope I’m not interrupting anything” He reached to shake his hand. He really did hope he wasn’t interrupting these two because he didn’t want to be known as an asshole at Westbrook. That’s all he had been known as at his old school and he had caused so many problems. Now, he was trying to turn over a new leaf and be a better guy and it took a lot of effort for him.

geminiy lion.
--

Gia had agreed to help Cam so she held her scrabble piece in her locker so that way she wouldn’t lose it. She liked Cam and Milos and they were both so nice and cute together. She wanted them to go to homecoming together and so she was super excited for Milos to get his pieces and clues. As she had arrived to school, she had dressed him a cute yellow top with a blue jacket. It wasn’t much but she never knew how to do school spirit. She wasn’t one to go all out though she had seen a boy with his face painted so it seemed like some people went all out for spirit week. Gia didn’t like that much attention it was just a lot to handle so she liked being a little more subtle in her approach to spirit week. She was excited for the game and the dance. She had her dress picked out and she had never been more excited for a dance.

She felt a presence and turned to see Milos. He had found his first clue which meant he was to her now. She reached to the top of her locker and handed him a small O and then looked at the letter. She wasn’t sure what it said.

‘Today is the day of homecoming football find the yeety boy who is quite tall’

Gia knew exactly who that meant. She had heard Cam talk about Ryder and how he was one to yeet people she just hoped Milos would figure it out. She was quite excited to witness the whole endeavor. Milos deserved something sweet and cute, he had been nothing but friendly to everyone he met so she hoped he liked his proposal.

Winona a z u l a

 

[Twin Fantasy]

Shawn Orozco

Shawn was trying to take a clean day. It hadn't worked, he'd inhaled something soft and white before leaving the house. His eyes fluttered a bit. He looked princely in the mirror, through the lens of coke and no sleep. He wanted to go out. His mother and father were in a blinding, heavy cloud of hallucinogens, holding hands after ascending on peyote. In his loneliest nights, Shawn wanted to see gods, too.

Instead, the only thing he could ascend were a couple flights of stairs.

He wanted coffee. He had a job tonight, one of those jobs, and he needed a pick-up that wasn't gonna kill him in a few years. His eyes were blank and stupid as he swerved Ol' Shitpiece into town, feeling like his mind was melting. Blood was dripping on the steering wheel. He crammed a tissue up his nose. The air was cold, but his skin was on fire. That bag was definitely cut with something. People like him don't even belong outside, but he was already here, so he may as well get a coffee.

The line seemed like it went on forever. The cars were moving in slow motion, everyone took hours to order what they wanted. His mouth moved half-speed when he asked for what he wanted, and still the barista had the gall to ask him to repeat himself. His skin prickled, his palms clung together with sweat.

Cappuccino with an extra shot. He couldn't stand in one place while waiting for it. When it arrived, he couldn't leave fast enough.

Shawn was tempted to go home immediately. But as he was getting back in his car, he caught a glimpse of... someone he knew. Jace West, yeah. He figured he may as well strike up a conversation since the lock-in was a bust. He took a deep breath, attempting to look a little less like he was high on coke. His weakest moments were at times like these, when he was so high you could just do anything and he'd laugh about it.

"Hey." His voice sounded a bit nasal. (Tissue still lodged deep within his nose, red at one end and white at the other, like a koi fish.) "Uh, Shawn. That's me. You're the, the dude with the missing hat, yeah?"

Great intro, idiot.

// Winona //​

 

[a z u l a]

Alaska

Much to her surprise, the lock-in hadn't gone as badly as she imagined it would have. In fact, she actually had a great time. Who knew that being locked in a room with all the people she hated would end up being a fun night? Though, a certain blond haired musician might have had something to do with that. She had spent most of the night with Ian, playing games and whatever stupid activities the school had put together for them to do through the night. They'd spent a lot of time with Ash and Ryder, since Ash and Ian were so close and well...she wasn't exactly sure what was going on with her brother and his ex but from the way they couldn't stop grinning and touching each other she assumed that maybe ex wasn't the right word to describe Ash anymore.

However, as fun as the lock-in had been, this was Westbrook and nothing could stay good for long. The stupid Jolly Wolves, who she thought had been done, had posted Ian's suicide note for the whole world to see. Even though Ian had told her about his struggle with his mental health, it was another thing entirely to read the suicide note he'd written last year. It made her want to murder whoever this Jolly Wolves was, Ian was the kindest person she'd ever met and he didn't deserve any of this. They'd been spending a lot of time together lately, he seemed so miserable now that the whole school knew his secret. There was a spot down by the beach that they usually ended up walking to, talking about whatever Ian wanted to distract himself with and sometimes straying out into the water if the weather was warm enough.

She'd been spending so much time with Ian that she hadn't been spending much time with her other friends. At the lock-in she'd spent some time with Drake and Stu, but besides that she really hadn't seen her friends much lately. Especially Sawyer, she'd been spending so much time in the hospital with Grace that pretty much the only time she saw her was in the hallways at school and the few times she'd gone to visit Grace. So, Alaska had gotten to school a little earlier than usual and decided to go see Drake before class started. He had been her homecoming date last year and she needed to make sure he saved a dance for her this year, it was tradition at this point.

"Drake!" She called, walking as fast as her short legs could carry her to catch up with her much taller best friend after his sudden summer growth spurt. He was talking to a very pretty girl she'd never seen before, which wasn't entirely surprising since she'd been gone for six months. "Oh, hi. I'm Alaska." She spoke, realizing she'd interrupted her friend's conversation in her excitement to see him.


Interactions: Drake Winona
Mentions: Ian PenguinFox , Sawyer KingofAesir , Ash Winona​

 

[lion.]

Red​

“April in Paris,” Red confided to himself, his lips reciting the title of a song softer than the reach of clouds. France oil-pasteled in his mind with its ripe blossoms and getaway rowboats, pink-toned cobblestones, and clear nights. Observing Bella in her cheer attire, it made sense. Complete sense. She seemed like a French-type of girl, someone who lived life like there was no tomorrow even when the tomorrow winked at her in the morning. In effect to her friendly handshake, his face sprightly chanced a flustered smile that dabbed a sheen in his eyes.

What the heck was he supposed to do? Shake it? Squeeze back? Jiggle it?

“New? Yes, yes. I actually am from New York City and well sometimes it feels like I’ll always be there. Brooklyn pizza? Out of this world.” Red lightheartedly exclaimed, “Maybe, I can ask my mom to bring you some through her co-workers. I can totally do it too, but Maine is a few hundred miles from New York and that would be a lot of biking. A lot of biking.”

Did Ava have to suffer through this too?

His face twitched subtly as he toyed with the straps of his backpack. Watching her from the tender corner of his eyes and never really knowing how long of an eye contact to share with the French expresso whirlpooling in her thick irses, his gaze swung forth and back to the boring front of the Spanish textbook.

She was just so perfect at no definition of perfect. And, so nice. But, heck, the only french he knew was oui, oui, oui.

“I’ll be there,” he abruptly announced, “Like at homecoming and the game, and I’ll look out for you as a friendly stranger. Hope you break a leg out there. Not literally, it’s the you know, figurative language type of thing?”

"I hope I didn't jinx it," Red continued, with a slipping grin, "I really have terrible luck. Not right now, though."

Just then, someone introduced themself to their conversation. He was taller, and when he shook hands with him, he was sure that he hit the gym. Moreover, he looked like he belonged here.

"Nope, you aren't interrupting anything," Red quickly spoke, "I have to go to class anyways. See you later, Bella!"

geminiy

 

[geminiy]

Jacqueline Dupont

She couldn't believe the words that she had been reading. MIT. Jackie could never have believed that they were practically offering her a spot if she wanted it, and a scholarship on top of all of it. When she was growing up, Jackie was the kind of kid that dreamed about building rocket ships and flying to space or finding and curing wild diseases. But after her dad passed away and she moved into the role of practically raising Bella, those dreams went out the window. Of course her marks stayed up but she had simply come to the conclusion that community college or no college at all after high school. But with that envelope from MIT in her hands, it was like her world had just opened up.

Noah was a welcome distraction. If Jackie had been left alone with that letter for any longer, she probably would have imploded in on herself.

"Oh it was my great aunt Aline, she passed of a stroke a few weeks ago. That side of my family is terrified of technology." Jackie said, her facial expression completely straight. She might as well have some fun with the whole situation. "I'm totally kidding, no one died. Well, no one that I know of that is. It's just a letter about some math competition my teacher wants me to enter." She attempted to dismiss, placing the envelope in her open backpack inside her locker. Jackie wasn't quite sure why she had deflected and lied about the letter's contents, she had just spoken before her brain kicked in. She was proud of herself for even being considered by MIT but the idea was also terrifying. Besides, she wasn't even sure if it was a practical option.

Jackie looked Noah over and a grin popped onto her face. "So I'm guessing that leg of yours is feeling better? I'm glad, that break was pretty awful. Who knew someone's ass could be so damaging?" Jackie said, grabbing her chemistry textbook and binder. "This afternoon Mason is on the field so let's hope there's not another repeat of the whole thing."

Jackie closed her locker door and hugged her books against her chest. "Speaking of which, are you going to homecoming? It seems that the dance is all anyone can talk about today. I don't really get the whole thing, why is a dance so important? On my way in this morning, these two girls were panicking because they don't have dates. Why can't they just go with each other?"

| Noah mogy |​

 

[geminiy]

Isabelle Dupont

Bella listened to Red speak, the gentle smile still playing on her lips. He seemed sweet, the way he started with a simple phrase and spiraled into a story as if that had been his intention all along. It was rather interesting to listen to him talk, as bizarre as that sounded in Bella's mind.

"New York City, the Empire city! My parents vacationed there before they had my sister and I, they loved it there. They always said they'd take us but we never got the chance." Bella said, her eyes lighting up at the thought of visiting the sprawling city. She was always fond of big metropolises like NYC, spending many of her earlier years moving in and out of Paris. Something about the crowds and the lights and the white noise felt like home. "And hey, maybe you can show me how to make that pizza and I can show you how to make pastries sometime. Us newbies have to stick together." Bella said playfully, patting Red's shoulder with a wink.

She was happy to hear that Red was going to the festivities happening later that day. Bella remembered her first few days at Westbrook, the crowd of students filled with nothing but unfamiliar faces with no names to call them by. With the passing time, Bella was beginning to recognize a few people. The cheerleaders, Zander, Brayden, and now Red. Although she had made a promise to her younger self a few months ago that she would not get comfortable in the unfamiliar town of Westbrook, she knew that that promise was rightfully broken. For the first time in her entire life, Bella felt like she had people around her that cared, truly cared.

"I'll keep my eye out for you during the game, though I'll be a bit busy. If you're lonely and see this girl with dark hair, freckles, and an 'I can and will hit you' expression, that's my sister Jackie, you can hang with her. She's not nearly as scary as she looks, trust me." Bella offered, knowing full well how much Jackie really didn't like entertaining her friends. Nevertheless, if Red showed up looking like a lost puppy, surely her big sister instincts would kick in. "And I'll try not to break a leg, that happens too much around here."

Bella felt her heart crack when Red mentioned his bad luck. "Hey, don't put yourself down like that. You're not bad luck. If you were, my morning would have gotten a lot worse, not a lot better like it actually has."

The mood was lightened when Brayden's face appeared in Bella's view. Did her heart skip a beat? Of course not, that would be too cliche for someone like Bella. But as much as she would deny the gentle fluttering in her stomach, she was truly happy to see him.

"Brayden, hey!" She called out, the grin that had fallen off her face lighting up once again. Bella stood by, watching as the boys introduced themselves to each other. Red quickly excused himself to go to class, barely giving Bella time to say goodbye to him. Her eyebrows furrowed as he walked away. He didn't have to leave, it was only Brayden. Maybe it was a good thing, after all she did have to ask him to homecoming.

"I'm so happy to see you. Sorry we didn't really get much time to talk at the lock-in, a lot happened." Bella explained, trying not to give in to the rolling feeling of dread that crept into her body when she thought of that night. "Oh, and before I forget, I meant to ask you if you wanted to go to homecoming with me? I know it's kind of last minute, I meant to ask you during the lock-in but things kind of got in the way. So my offer still stands if you'd like to come with me. I totally get it if you already have a date though, someone so handsome as yourself is bound to have all the ladies knocking down your door to go with you."

| Red lion. | Brayden Elf_Ruler |​

 

[PenguinFox]

The lock in really couldn't have gone better for Ian. Ash pushed him to ask Alaska to homecoming and surprisingly he found the nerve to do it. Even more surprising; she said yes! He wasn't entirely sure whether she intended that yes as friends or something more, but he was just happy to be able to spend that night with her. She was such a sweet, funny girl and he was growing to love every minute with her.

The rest of the lock in Ian spent with Alaska, Ash and Ryder. It was a fun night and while Ian tried to stay more of a background character he still enjoyed himself. It seemed like Ash might be back with Ryder, though he couldn't confirm anything. He was ecstatic for his best friend if that was the case. It seemed like things were looking up for both of them. Ian noticed a couple times throughout the night his eyes lingered on Alaska, without even realizing it. He caught himself on several occasions just looking at her, probably grinning like an idiot. Really the only complaint that could have been said about that night was that someone went through his bag for some reason. It didn't seem like anything was taken, so Ian wasn't really concerned.

After the lock in the Evans boy was riding a high that he didn't think he could come down from. He was wrong. The universe was quick to slam Ian back down to Earth, sending him straight into a new kind of hell. That Jolly twitter, the one that had almost sent Ash over the edge, had returned; apparently under a new branding now. They were back and just as senselessly cruel as before. Somehow they had gotten a hold of the note he had written, or at least a picture of it. This seemed an incredibly unlikely feat seeing as very few people knew the real cause of his accident, and the actual physical copy of that note was currently sitting on Ian's dresser as a sort of reminder. It baffled him as to how they could have gotten it, but the how's didn't really matter because they did, and they didn't keep it to themselves. It spread like a fire over twitter; within moments the whole school knew that his accident, wasn't an accident.

Ian didn't really remember much after that. It was all dark in his memory banks and seemed to be constantly fading but never disappearing, like a bad dream. He remembered closing his eyes for a long time, his airways tight from choking back all of the emotions. He logged out of twitter and other social medias and turned his phone off and just laid in bed staring at the wall. Sierra had been in a panic and was pounding on the door, but it was locked and Ian didn't feel like talking. His sister eventually called Ash knowing the two were close. Ian only remembered unlocking the door for Ash, but nothing afterwards. He assumed she talked with him, or perhaps just sat with him in silence for hours holding his hand. He couldn't say for certain. All the world had become black and white and dull and what was the point of remembering it all? Everything was just so numb.

That's how the next few days went. Ian just went through the motions. Ash seemed to be distancing herself from him for some reason. She was still there for him of course, and she made sure to tell him that dozens of times, but her physical presence was missed. Alaska was there for him, but Ian felt guilty about her having to be burdened with him. She should've chosen to want to be around him, but now...well now he wasn't sure if she was just hanging around him because she was worried for his life. Wasn't exactly a reason Ian wanted her to have to spend time with him. He had to admit though...throughout this nightmare of a week his time with Alaska was the only time he really felt anything. She was a great distraction from everything. They even found a spot on the beach where they could walk to and just sit. It was calming for Ian and he was glad to spend as much time there as he could. He didn't typically say much, but Alaska never forced him to say anything. When things were really bad and he could feel a panic attack setting in he would slowly lean into her, their shoulders supporting each other. It was a small gesture but it helped keep Ian somewhat grounded.

It was now Friday and Ian hadn't changed much. He barely said a word to anyone and kept his head bowed at all times. He couldn't stand the looks of pity everyone was giving him. He just wanted to leave this place. Maybe even go back to California, go back to being a wannabe rockstar with no name. He was currently staring into his locker vacantly, mind completely numb and struggling to remember what he even needed in there. The thought of slamming the door shut into his skull to knock himself out crossed his mind but before he could actively consider the pros and cons of this Ash approached him. He put on a smile for her but with how close they were she probably could see right through it. He struggled to maintain eye contact with her, gaze going anywhere but to his friend. Looks of pity from strangers was bad enough, but from his best friend? His heart couldn't take that.

Ian shrugged at Ash's words. "It might not be a date. I still haven't asked her what she considers it, so for now we're just friends. God I hope they don't vote me." He wanted to doubt anyone would vote for him considering the far better options, namely Drake, but he had a feeling that at least a small percentage of people were going to vote for him to 'give him a win'. He didn't need that though. He didn't want that.

Finally Ash asked the question that Ian knew was coming, that he dreaded. How was he doing? His hand moved up to his shoulder. They had started itching and burning again since the Jolly thing and he knew that was a bad sign, and he hated lying to his best friend, but he hated worrying her more. "I'm fine." he said quietly, his tone devoid of all emotion. His voice had a slight rasp to it from lack of use and his green gaze was focused intently at Ash's feet. He couldn't do this much longer. He wasn't strong enough anymore. He might have never have been. "What about you? Haven't seen you as much." he had a couple of theories as to why Ash seemed to be somewhat avoiding him but he wouldn't jump to any conclusions. Hell it could even just be in his imagination. His mind was exactly trustworthy at this time. Winona Mentions: a z u l a

 

[Winona]

Drake

Introducing himself to a stranger usually went one of two ways. Either horribly where they would give him one of those bitchy disgusted faces and ignore him, or like this. Pleasantly, with easy-going smiles, and very little awkwardness between the two of them. Drake liked when it went the second way better than when it went the first way. He probably helped that for once, Drake wasn't super annoying -- sometimes, he was jittery, his fingers tapping on his thigh, and his words coming faster than his brain could keep up.

"LA to Maine? Quite the change." Drake said with a grin. Going from a city that was full of sun and warmth to Maine, where it was almost always cloudy and either rainy or snowy couldn't have been fun. Drake knew that everyone in Westbrook wanted to get out -- except for him. He actually quite liked the city, even if it hadn't done much for him.

He was about to say that yes, they were headed in the direction of the office, when Alaska popped up beside him. A huge smile spread across his face as he looked down at his much shorter best friend. It was weird getting used to be so tall when he used to almost be eye level with Alaska. Now, Drake's neck would start to hurt looking down at her.

"Laska," he said, wrapping her up into a quick hug. It was nice to actually have his best friend back in Westbrook, and Drake intended to make up for all of that time they had been apart. "I actually needed to talk to you about something." But not in front of the new girl, and Alaska seemed to actually be in a good mood, and Drake wasn't sure he wanted to upset her...

"Later. We'll talk about it later. This is Jasmine. I was taking her to the office."

WeirdPrincess a z u l a

-----------------------------------------

Ash

Her best friend was the opposite of fine, and Ash couldn't help but feel guilty for not being there for him as much as she needed to be. Ian had been there for the whole summer, so why couldn't she muster up the courage to be there for him in the same way, when he obviously needed her? It made her thoughts drift back to last year, when her and Grace had gotten into the fight that had briefly ended their friendship. Grace had called her selfish, saying that she was never there for her.

And now, Ash was doing the same thing to Ian.

And nothing would've been... weird if Jackie hadn't said something at the lock-in that started making Ash second guess everything that she did. Every movement, every conversation, every touch. If a girl that barely even knew them thought that there was something up, then what would the rest of the school think? It was bad enough that she heard people call her a slut, but for people to think she had feelings for her best friend... it was too much for her to handle right now. Granted, getting back with Ryder had stopped most of the slut comments. Dating Westbrook's finest yeeter definitely had some serious perks.

But... fuck it. Fuck whatever they thought.

Ash had thought that Alaska might be able to handle this. Alaska and Ian obviously really liked each other, and she had been hoping that her companionship would help to keep Ian out of that dark place. It had been stupid of her to put so much of that on Alaska's shoulders, though, knowing that Alaska constantly battled her own demons.

"So, we're doing this." She said. Ian couldn't even look her in the eye, and it broke her heart. Ash bit into her bottom lip for a moment, looking down at the ground between them, and then moved her gaze back up to Ian. "You're not fine." Ian knew he wasn't fine, and Ash knew he wasn't fine. And she wasn't going to leave him alone until he talked to her about. And, well, she had been at the short end of the evil Twitter account more than once, so she knew how Ian felt... almost.

Ash hesitated for a moment, looking around, and then took Ian's hand in hers, pulling him away from the locker and closing it before she dragged him down the hallway to one of the classrooms that was empty this early in the morning. There was no homeroom, so the lights were still out, and it was perfectly empty.

She pulled Ian into the room, closing the door and flipping the lights on before her attention turned back to him. Ash knew that, for her, when it came to breaking down... in public was the one place that she never wanted to do it. All she had wanted to do when her secrets were presented to the school was to shut herself up, alone, and lose herself in various highs... typically until someone or something pulled her out of the haze. But Ash didn't want to see Ian stoop that low.

For once, she was going to be the strong friend in this relationship.

"It's okay." It wasn't. Ash knew that, Ian knew that. But she tried to keep some level of optimism between them as she stepped forward until she was close enough that Ian couldn't avoid her gaze. "It'll be okay. I know you don't think you are, but you're probably the strongest person I know. What happened was... horrible. Absolutely horrible. But you're not alone. Alaska still likes you, your friends are still, I'm still here. You'll get through this, just like you get through everything, okay?"

She tried to smile, but the worry she felt for Ian made that hard. "So we can either talk about what you're feeling, or we can just stand here and hug it out if you want." Hugs were good.

PenguinFox

-----------------------------------------

Zander

He had been focused on his books when Charlie came up, and Zander's face instantly lit up. So far, Zander had made plenty of "friends," but there were only two that he considered like actual friends. Charlie and Bella. So yeah, of course his face lit up with a smile and his shoulders relaxed when Charlie came up next to him. There was nothing more to it, just that, well... Zander liked being around his friends. Friends that didn't judge him like they had at North Chester.

"Of course we can talk." Zander said with a light-hearted laugh. "Are we going to talk about your sore lacking of school spirit?" He made a light tsking sound, shaking his head in disappointment. "You know, I think I'll forgive you this time for the lack of blue and gold. Only because gray looks really good on you."

He was joking, of course. Normally Zander would also be wearing the same sad shades of gray and black, but he liked the idea of wearing something to show his support for a school that had shown nothing but support for him. Even if it was just a dark blue hoodie, it was still something. Plus tonight was Homecoming, and Zander was excited.

Even if he was going alone.

Twin Fantasy

------------------------------------------------------------

Mason


He was... quiet for a moment when Raven asked.

Not because Mason didn't know if he wanted to go with her -- it was all Mason had wanted. It was more because he was shocked that she was asking him, because Mason had been pretty positive that Raven still hated his guts. Or at least didn't think about him in the way that he thought about her, but hearing her ask that left him dumbstruck. He was trying to think of the best way to come up with a way to say yes without sounding like an overly excited ten-year-old girl that had just had their crush ask them.

It was probably a good thing that they had just made it to Raven's locker, because it gave him something to lean against. Mason had never had a girl ask him out -- er, well, Adriane technically had and that had ended with him being a single dad at the ripe age of fourteen, but Raven was ten times the girl that Adriane was. Fuck, Raven was ten times any of the girls in this godforsaken city. She could've had absolutely anyone in this school, in this town, in the world, and she chose him.

Mason felt like he had won the lottery.

"Yeah... yeah, I would love to." He tried to play it off casually, but a smile lit up his face. And not that little partial one that so often adorned his face -- no, he had an actual, fully fledged smile right now. A rarity on the usually angry jock. "I was going to ask you -- seriously. I wanted to have something cute planned out for you, but... I'm not good at doing cute things. And Drake was too busy with his new dad and sister to help me out with anything." He practically spat the words dad and sister, like they burned his mouth.

"But I promise that this will be the best night of your life." Mason had to make it up to Raven. When she had come back, he'd been with a cheerleader, but had broken that off soon after. He knew that he'd betrayed Raven's trust -- something that he had already barely had, and Mason didn't want anything getting in the way of it again. He now leaned off of the locker, the excitement of going to a dance with a girl that he actually liked and didn't want to just fuck starting to get to him.

"I'll get you one of those flower thingies. I know a guy... kind of. A corset or something, yeah? And if there's time before the game, maybe I could take you out. For dinner." Mason had been saving up some money. Granted, it was for the deposit on a new two bedroom apartment he was looking at, but spending it on Raven was a worthy cause.

Soap

------------------------------------------------------

Jace

The world did indeed hate him as much as he hated himself.

Because now there was one of Westbrook's drug lords standing in front of him. Shawn Orozco. Jace had never really talked to the guy -- they ran in different circles back in high school, and now they definitely ran in different circles out of high school. The most interaction Jace had ever had with him was when he kicked him out of the school lock-in, and maybe a school project way back in the day. When, you know, Jace didn't have trouble leaving the house. Or getting out of bed.

"Jace, yeah." He mumbled, remembering the extreme lack of Beanie Bro love atop his head. His beanie was his prized possession for more than one reason -- this one particularly important because it had been a gift from Stu. Jace had always wanted a little brother, and it was nice to have a sibling that he actually felt close to. Elise had always pitted Jace and Ash against each other so much that both siblings had often harbored a hatred for each other, although that had faded following their mother's brief disappearance. But now it was just... distant and weird, even if they had spent most of the summer together.

Jace should've just gone to his college in LA. He had already contacted the acceptance board, asking them if it was possible for him to come back for the next school year. Jace was impatiently waiting for an email back, but god... god, he hoped it was a yes. All he was doing was drowning here -- he hadn't even picked up a guitar in months.

"Shawn, right? The drug dude."

Beautiful, Jace. Really.

Twin Fantasy

----------------------------------------------------------

Milos

He took the little o from Gia. It was easy to know exactly what all the letters would say, but it was the fun of the whole thing. Running around the whole school looking for silly little letters that Cam had laid out for me, and now he had Gia to at least go through it with him. Er... if she was willing to, of course, but the next clue left Milos puzzled.

The smile faded from his face, instead replaced by a small frown as he leaned against the locker next to hers. "A tall yeety guy? That is not very helpful." He said, speaking his thoughts aloud. The only person that he knew that hung around Cam was Parker, and Milos wasn't the biggest fan of him -- although he'd never admit that to either Cam or Gia. "That describes the entire football team." And Milos barely even remembered all of their names -- or even knew their names! He was too busy with theater to worry about the jocks that liked to throw people through tables and walls or break the gays with their asses.

He looked towards Gia once more, his smile returning. "I am guessing you know which yeet boy he means?" Milos asked. "You should help me find the rest of the clues. Please." Milos tried his best to give the best puppy dog eyes that anyone could give, but he felt bad while doing it. He didn't want to force Gia to help him, but...

Milos was also deadly afraid of talking to people, especially people that were described as yeety.

Elf_Ruler

--------------------------------------------------------------

Beau

Oooh. Ryan. Now that was one sexy name for a... not so sexy man. But imagine the ship name possibilities when the two of them became official and took the school over by storm. Bean, Ryau... okay so the names weren't great, but she'd have plenty of time to work on them. Plus her and Ryan would be a thousand times better than some of the other couples that she saw roaming the halls, or heard of on Twitter. Like stupid Grawyer, or Ryton, or Alaskian. Eww to all of those wannabe couples.

They had nothing on Beau and Ryan. And maybe Boah had been the pinnacle of her existence like a week ago, but she was pretty sure that Noah was gay, and Beau was not interested in being his beard to hide his gayness. So Chase could have that ridiculous boy, and Beau would be way happier with her not-beard Ryan.

"English? OMG, I'm going there, too!" Beau grinned and followed after him, looping her arm through his and looked up at him, batting her eyelashes in a totally sexy way. She also was totally not going towards English, but it gave her an excuse to cling close to Ryan, her sparkly arms wrapping around his arm in love.

The best part of Ryan? He was so much taller than her, and tall guys were hot. Everyone at her old school had been shorter than her which made dating, like, totally super hard and depressing and basically impossible. But Ryan had that like, super tall but quiet mysterious boy thing going on, which was super hot.

"Are you going to Homecoming tonight? We should totally go together."

geminiy

----------------------------------------------------------

Ava


She looked at the boy that showed up at the locker beside her, gave him a glare and a look of disgust, and then turned back to her locker. Ava shuffled through her things, expecting the guy to leave if she didn't talk to him, but alas, she couldn't be so lucky. He was asking her name, both of which were so far off it wasn't even funny. Ava knew this guy's game. He was cocky, thinking that the world should bend to his will, and that Ava would bite if he asked her name.

Well not today, Satan.

She grabbed her books out of her locker and slammed it shut, not bothering to even glance at the guy before she started down the hallway. Ava figured that would be enough. He would ignore her now, and go on his own way, and Ava would never have to see this dumb boy's pink head of hair ever again. But again, she wasn't so lucky.

He followed after her.

If this was a video game, a simple upper cut would eliminate her enemy, but sadly Ava couldn't upper cut in real life. She was simply too weak, and of course suspension wasn't good.

They walked for a few more steps, and he kept speaking. Of course she had a vendetta against this school! It was run by cheerleaders and jocks, the preps of the world that would one day be serving her as she relaxed in her mansion and laughed at their dumb faces. Because being pretty and throwing a ball could only get you so far in life. That stuff wore off but you know what never did? Brains. It was one of the reasons she had stopped attending stupid dance classes when she was young.

This boy -- hadn't he said his name was Ronnie? -- had gotten half of the memo. That jocks were nothing but stuckup assholes, but he'd failed the second portion by being an obvious wannabe drug dealer. You could see it in his eyes, in the way he walked, and the way he talked. He was nothing but a druggy bum, and for some reason he was annoying Ava.

Finally, she stopped walking to turn and face him.

"Less that I have a vendetta against this school, and more that I have a vendetta against people like you." Ava said, finally snapping. Anything to get this leech to leave her alone. "Stereotypical. Cliche. Let me guess, daddy never gave you enough attention so you had to seek it by dying your hair the favorite color of a six-year-old girl? And then you probably started shooting up drugs and selling drugs because 'no one gets me,' and 'I totally need money.' At least, those were your excuses, but it was really just to get even more attention from your dad and your classmates. But you're new, right? I mean, you have to be because I'm pretty sure I would recognize your Strawberry Shortcake wannabe ass."

"Look I'm not interested in your crybaby getup, so why don't you find someone else to annoy that'll actually bite on this sorry excuse of a personality?" Ava asked, smiling as she spoke.

lion.​