Realistic or Modern Westbrook

[DrabberRogue]

Jace was ecstatic as Ash excused herself to go do something else. She'd agreed to keep hanging out even after they were done with the project. It was the best outcome he could have hoped for. Well, not the best, but one of the best outcomes to be sure. He did disagree with her on one thing, though. There was no way Jace was about to go into a presentation without preparing for it, and his plan was still incomplete. So once she was out of sight he just pulled the presentation back open, continuing to look over it for the next few minutes.

Once he was confident in what he'd come up with he finally put away his laptop and went looking for something else to do. Of course he could've played a computer game, but he'd spent just a little too much of the morning sitting down. It was time to find an alternate source of entertainment. People, in other words. It was time to find people. Now there were plenty of people in the halls of Westbrook, although admittedly much less now due to the mass suspension, so Jace had no shortage of faces to choose from. Many looked to be having a sub par day, however, or were caught up in conversation with someone else. So it was surprisingly difficult to find someone who looked ripe for approaching. There was one though.

A rather pretty girl, tall and blonde, with an athletic build befitting of someone on the basketball team. Usually she was surrounded by a flock of her friends, being fairly popular, but at the moment she was alone in the hall. It was a weird sight. Jace was pretty sure there was some sort of natural law that mandated she have at least one person with her at any given moment. So, naturally, he decided he might as well satisfy that law before something broke. Also she just dropped a few of her books, so there was that.


Serena let out a heavy, annoyed sigh. Of course she'd dropped her books. She prided herself on her grace, her posture, and here she was just dropping her stuff all over the floor. Common sense told her that no one was watching, that no one cared. Still she couldn't look to check. It was so damn embarrassing to look clumsy like that. Making sure to keep her composure, the normally graceful girl knelt down, beginning to gather up her-

"Hey Serena!" Okay, someone had definitely noticed. She almost jumped as a boy's friendly face practically materialized inches from hers, accompanied by the playful tone of his voice. A combination of proximity and embarrassment made her face turn hot, prompting her to quickly look back down at what she was doing.

"Hi Jace." She replied, a nervous laugh coming out with her words. It looked like he'd just stopped by to help with her books, burgundy gloves working to pick up as much as possible before she could get to it. Actually Jace probably wasn't trying to race her. Where as most guys had some sort of chivalrous inclination to help her with her stuff, this particular 'knight' was probably just using it as an excuse to approach her.

Yes, Serena knew the walking espresso that called itself Jace. In years past she might have even called him a good friend. A complete weirdo, sure, but a friend nonetheless. They'd kind of drifted apart over the past couple years though. Over the summer between his 8th and 9th grade it was like he'd just lost interest in the things they used to do together, and as a result neither of them really saw fit to hang out. Thinking back on it she thought herself kind of stupid for thinking the guy actually had a crush on her.

"You okay?" Jace asked, she didn't even have to look up to hear the dripping humor in his voice. Serena had seen enough Jace to know where this was going. "You're not getting distracted again are you? Who is it this time?" She'd called it, she knew the tease was coming, but it still made her face turn red. When was this jerk gonna let her live that down?

"Shut uuuuup!" Serena couldn't help but react to him the same way she always did, defaulting to a playful whine of protest. She lightly punched the shoulder of his dumb blazer before abruptly standing up with about half her stuff. Back in 7th grade, as the older Jace's time in middle school grew to a close, one of the jocks on the football team had caught her eye. Back then when she crushed she crushed hard, to the point where she actually got super distracted when she thought about him. Needless to say it was a terrible idea to let Jace find out. Honestly, it was like that boy never forgot anything. "Not like you'd be any different, Rose." Okay, so calling Jace by his last name never actually seemed to embarrass him like she wanted it to, but still!

A familiar, mischievous laugh answered her as the boy rose with the rest of her books in tow. What a monster, making fun out of a poor girl's embarrassment. She was grinning, though, and he was at least semi decent enough to hand her the rest of her books. A fully decent man would have carried them for her. He quickly changed the subject though, moving on to less embarrassing topics. It was actually kind of nice. The two of them managed to catch up on a year's worth of rarely speaking, chatting as though they'd never stopped.

It was when the topic turned back to crushes that she spotted something a little weird. Not as weird as Jace, but still out of place. Serena was in the middle of pressuring the irritatingly vague boy to tell her who he had a crush on when she caught glimpse of a certain blonde cheerleader passing by on the wrong side of the window. "Hey... Is that Ash?" She wondered, a faint tone of valley girl disdain creeping into her voice. If the rumors held any weight, that girl would sleep with any guy who offered a bottle of booze and half a pint of affection. "What's she doing?"

"I dunno..." Jace's voice wandered into her ear as she watched. "I'ma go find out. Catch ya later Serena!" Before she knew what was going on the boy was already jetting off towards the nearest door, grinning and waving over his shoulder. What a dork. Serena shook her head, instantly dismissing the idea of following him. She didn't really want to talk to Ms. Make-Out-With-Another-Girl's-Boyfriend-On-Stage at the moment. Besides, she had to get to class.


Jace broke into a jog once he was outside, his long legs catching up with the cheerleader without too much effort. "Hey Ash!" He called, a grin springing right back onto his face as soon as he was in talking distance. For a moment his piercing gaze studied the weirdly shaped bundle in her hands before shifting to meet her pretty eyes. Meanwhile he made sure to match her pace, walking alongside the girl to... wherever she was going. "Did your locker get moved outside or something?"

Winona

 

[Winona]

Mason


Well yeah, Mason was only doing it for the cash. He thought that was pretty obvious, but if he'd get the rest once Kanen was clean, then maybe he wanted to know how hard that would be, if at all possible. Mason didn't flinch as Kanen yelled at him, and took his anger out on the car's mirror. Why would he have? This wasn't new to him, and it certainly didn't scare him. Instead, Mason just rolled his eyes, listening to Kanen's stupid little rant, and waited for him to calm down.

"Of course I'll fucking help you," he grumbled, although was bringing an addict to his apartment with Ari really the best idea? This would just push Adriane's point -- that his home wasn't fit for a toddler -- and make her push for keeping Ariana more, which was obviously not something that Mason wanted. But hey, he couldn't just leave Kanen on the side of the road to go back to drugs, whether Adriane would hate what he was doing or not.

"My house isn't the best, but Drake's gone so there's no heavy drugs, just a lot of alcohol but my mom mostly keeps to herself in her room with that shit. You'll just have to stay in my room and take Drake's bed until he comes home." Which yeah, Mason was desperately still waiting for. Despite what he had told Belle, Mason was fucking scared. Of course he was -- how could he not be? His little brother was missing with a band of drug addicts, and Mason couldn't do anything.

But right now wasn't the time to worry as Mason pushed those worries away, instead focusing on the task at hand. Getting Kanen clean. Given Mason's track record with helping people do this shit, he wasn't exactly expecting to end up with a clean, sober Kanen. "You already toss all the drugs and shit out of your car?"

High5ives

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

Ash


She'd been hoping that no one would notice her on her walk to the dumpsters at the back of the school. Of course, with her luck this year, Ash should've known that she wouldn't be nearly so lucky. At least it was just Jace that came up beside her, making some joke about her locker being outside, and Ash couldn't help but smile at him. What? Maybe it was a little funny, and maybe she was starting to enjoy his company and his weird sense of humor.

"No, I'm just throwing this away for a friend." Ash explained as she held up the very strange package made of t-shirt and rubber bands. She didn't offer any more of an explanation, and why would she? Jace didn't need to know what laid inside the package, and Ash didn't really want to think about the needles and drugs that were hidden in the cloth.

"What are you doing? Did you finish practicing for the big presentation? All ready to wow the crowd and all that?" Yes, Ash had made sure that she made it back to school in time for the history presentation. Mostly because she hadn't wanted Jace to be forced to deliver it alone, and partially because Kanen had pissed her off enough for her to be fine with coming back to school.

Finally, Ash had made it to the dumpster. She opened up the top, dropping in the package and was glad to be done with it.

DrabberRogue​

 

[Moonshadow]

June
​

She looked back at Shawn as he talked about himself. It was weird how they bumped into each other, it made her relax a bit listening to him. “I see...” She said at first and looked down at the bottle. “Hm. I think we should head back. I think I got all the relaxation time I needed.” Which was none, but she didn’t really mind at this point. She patted Shawn on the shoulder. “I’m sorry we never met before. You’re honestly a really cool person.” She smiled a bit, her mean attitude falling to the ground in front of them and June effectively stepping on it.

“I think I’ve realized something too...” She wanted to change. She didn’t like how she was feeling she wanted to change it. Everything seemed to be coming together slowly. As if everything was building up to this epiphany. The idea of change. She wanted things to change so badly, but she now realized the world only laid out the resources. It was she, who needed to use them. She looked over at Shawn and paused. “Maybe... I should drive. I’m not the best, but at least I won’t cause cops to pull us over.” She said walking to the driver side and looking over at him with a small grin. At least she was happy in this very small moment.

But, she was going to change. She just needed a certain person to start.

Twin Fantasy

 

[High5ives]

“I took care of it. There’s nothing in there.” Kanen declared. He did opt to leave out the fact that his job required him to constantly be around drugs, so throwing away his stash really wasn’t that big of a deal. That was probably going to be the hardest part of this whole ordeal. There would always be the temptation to slip back to addiction, and it would be far too easy to get what he needed.

Kanen stood up straight and looked up at the other boy. “Where the fuck is your brother if he’s not at the house?” Kanen asked. Obviously he had a lot to catch up on around here.

Winona

 

[Winona]

Mason


Well, at least Kanen had started the process. He narrowed his eyes at Kanen when he started asking questions about Drake. "Answer my fucking questions, and I'll answer yours. You don't need to know what's going on with Drake." He snapped, especially since what was happening with Drake was basically the same as what had just happened with Kanen. The only difference? Kanen wanted to get better, and the only way Drake would get better was when he stopped breathing.

"Nice ass car." Mason said, turning his attention towards it to try and distract from any conversation about Drake. "Did your work give it to you? What about a place to stay?" He realized that he had just assumed Kanen had no place to sty without asking, and maybe wherever he was staying would be a whole lot better than Mason's house. Hell, anywhere would be better than his shitty apartment with his even shittier mother, and the drug addict neighbors.

High5ives​

 

[High5ives]

“I’ve got my shit covered.” Kanen stayed. In reality, he was planning on coming back and basically taking over his stepmother’s place, but seeing now that it was up for sale, Kanen realized that probably wasn’t going to work. His next choice would just be any cheap motel, preferably one without security cameras on every corner. For business purposes. If Kad to host any unexpected visitors from Boston, he wouldn’t want cameras watching everyone arrive and leave. If not a hotel, there were dozens of cheap apartment complexes scattered across Westbrook. Some of them were in a bit of disrepair, and they were all unfurnished, but it’d be a place Kanen could really make a home for himself.

Kanen didn’t ask anything else about Drake. Mason had snapped quick enough to make it obvious that it was a sensitive subject. He didn’t mind avoiding the matter, focusing his attention on the car, just as Mason had. “Lets go for a drive. Be like the old days with joy rides in my dad’s car.” Kanen suggested. He didn’t give Mason a chance to say no, immediately tossing the car keys in Mason’s direction and stumbling around the vehicle to the passenger side.

He didn’t even bother picking up the broken mirror. Kanen had forgotten about it almost immediately. He was beginning to have trouble focusing on anything. It’d be a bad idea for him to drive himself anywhere. He’d probably end up with his car rolled into a ditch somewhere and his face on the news again.

Winona

 

[Winona]

Mason


Right. Joy rides. Mason rolled his eyes as he caught the keys and walked around to the driver's side. It had been a while since he'd actually driven -- well, like a month or two. Ever since the June and Georgia incident, which just served to make Mason mad once more. He tried to forget about the anger that welled up in his chest as he got into the driver's side, pulling out his phone and messaging Carter. "Fine," he said as his fingers moved across the screen. "But if I'm going for a 'joy ride' with you, Carter is coming." She'd probably want to leave school, anyway, and would probably be happy to see Kanen.

And, well, Carter was his best friend. And with something like this, maybe he wanted to have some kind of backup. Mason waited, looking down at the screen, until Carter had agreed to meet up outside of the school. Perfect, and Mason let out a breath of relief as he dropped his phone back into the pocket of his jeans.

Mason put the car into drive and pulled out into the road, only lurching once or twice before he remembered how to drive and the rest of the ride to the school was more or less smooth driving. Well, if Kanen had wanted smooth driving or not running stop signs, maybe he should've been the one to drive.

He still said nothing as he came to a stop in front of the school, putting the car into park to wait for her.

Dazzle High5ives​

 

[Dazzle]

Carter


Carter was tapping the end of her pencil against her leg, begging for any kind of distraction from the force of homework, when she felt her phone buzz.

Twitter
Direct Message from BetterRivera: Wait outside the scho...-

That was weird she thought to herself as she slid the notification open on her phone, was there a problem with Drake? Carter hadn't heard from Mason all weekend, which wasn't unusual after such a big fight with his brother, but a twitter message that was a little off.

Carter packed up her bag and made her way to the front doors, luckily for her Nona was still handing out detentions and suspensions so she would completely miss Carter walking out the front doors of the school.

Carter began to wonder how Mason was even getting back here so quickly, he had been suspended hadn't he, he wasn't supposed to be on school grounds. Not that she thought that would stop him, but why would he even be coming back to school. She watched as a Sliver Audi pulled up to the school, she ignored it at first watching for Mason to walk across the street.

"Wait a minute...." Carter started walking over to the strangers car. "Mason? Why the hell are you driving this douche mob-" Carter stopped mid sentence looking to see who was in the passenger seat. "Kanen?" Her eyes were wide, confused and shocked barely covered all of her emotions. "To be honest I thought you were dead, or in jail. Or both." A smile formed at her lips. "Glad to see I was wrong."

"Where are we off to then?" She said opening the back door of the car and sliding into the seats. "I doubt they'll miss an extra student" Realistically so many students were suspended she doubted that her teachers would even notice that Carter was missing, and would just assume that she was one of the many. Hopefully they wouldn't call her mom.

Kanen and Mason were her best friends growing up, and her mother hated them both almost equally, probably Kanen just a bit more, but that just made her want to be closer with them in the long run. Even if her mother found out she had already given up on controlling Carter at this point.

Winona High5ives
​

 

[High5ives]

Kanen just kinda grunted when Carter got in the car, suddenly feeling too sluggish to move. He was happy to see her though, even if he didn’t show it. It’d been a long time since Kanen had even spoken to Carter, and honestly, that was basically entirely all Kanen’s fault. Just another item to add to a long list of regrets. Carter asked where they were going, Kanen just shrugged. “Just fuckin’ drive man.” Kanen said, lazily pointing his arm forward. “Better yet, lets get some fuckin’ hot dogs. Sauerkraut and everything. Want that shit loaded up.” He grumbled, leaning back in his chair and pulling his hat down to keep the sun out of his eyes.

Admittedly, it was strange having Carter and Mason in his car again. It was like the old days, before everything really went down the shitter. Sure, things had never been good at home, but they were better at least. Driving around town late at night with his two best friends in the car had always been Kanen’s release. Now, Kanen felt foreign here, yet oddly familiar.

Kanen’s mind roamed, just thinking about the past. Good memories mostly. Late night adventures, long car rides beside the coast, spending all night just chasing parties. Your average high school shit. Kanen was quiet until he started laughing to himself. “Hey, you guys remember the first time we smoked pot in my dad’s old mustang?” Kanen asked with a big goofy grin spread across his lips. “We used like a dozen cans of air freshener because I was afraid I’d get caught or some shit, but then the car just smelled like a fuckin’ gas station restroom for a week.”

Kanen laughed some more. His dad has been furious, he’d drank a lot that night when Kanen came home, but even still, it was one of Kanen’s favorite memories. The ass beating he’d recurved was well worth it. God, Kanen wishes he just go back to then, when marijuana was a big deal to him. Back when Kanen still had some of his innocence and youth. What he’d give to go back...

“Or you guys remember when we tried to get into that college party our sophomore year, and those frat assholes...” Kanen trailed off. He couldn’t remember what exactly had happened that night. Maybe a year of heavy alcohol and drugs intake had ticked wih his head a little more than he thought...

Winona Dazzle

 

[Winona]

Mason


"That's what I said!" Mason said to Carter, turning around in the seat long enough to look at her for a moment. "I was like fuck, he's not dead or arrested. He's doing great for himself." Sarcasm dripped from his words at the last statement as Mason turned back around, glancing at Kanen as he just gestured in front of them and said to go wherever and then mentioned food. Okay so yeah, food sounded great and now that Mason had all that cash, well... food wasn't a luxury.

He started driving off towards the nearest food joint, glancing over at Kanen as he started remembering the dumb shit they'd done. And yeah, maybe a smile crossed Mason's face as he remembered the good old days. Back when they all had some sense of childish happiness, and Mason could actually stay out past eight without having to, oh, you know... find a babysitter. Fucking hell, when had life got so confusing? And why had he let himself and Kanen have such a falling out?

"Of course. I smelled like air freshener for days after that, too." Mason said with a grin. And it wasn't a lie. He now hated the smell of air freshener after having it cling to his clothes for days. And then he was laughing lightly as Kanen went on, and then a frown crossed his lips at the mention of the high school party.

"Right. Because those fuckers thought that they could keep alcohol from us, and hit on Carter." What? Carter was too good for college assholes, and Mason would go down fighting to try and stop people he didn't approve of from hitting on her. She'd beat up Adriane, and Mason would beat up her dates. Fair and square.

Dazzle High5ives​

 

[Dazzle]

Carter


"Food sound great right about now." They hadn't been all together in a long time. Mason and Kanen basically hated each other the past few years, she wasn't even sure how they had gotten into this situation together, but she wasn't going to be one to question it. They all had so many memories together, that she was sure she wouldn't ever forget.

"Oh my god, my mom was ready to murder me when I got home that night." Carter started to laugh thinking about the cliff her mother was about to jump off of. "You guys let me go home high to that psychopath." Her mother never really blamed Carter for coming home high, she blamed the friends she chose to hang out with. All Carter's mom wanted from her was for Carter to become a stereotypical ballerina child with perfect manors and never got into trouble. Obviously she was the exact opposite of what her mother had expected from her. "She tried to ban me from ever seeing you guys again after that. Obviously that didn't go over well."

That college party was the first time Carter had been actually hit on, she was very confident in her self, but never really had any guys approach her before that night. It left her a little uncomfortable to begin with, so she had been grateful that Mason had stood up to most of them when he noticed that she wasn't into it. "Hey, its not my fault I'm hot." She smirked, winking in the rear view mirror. "Plus I'm totally the reason we got in, you two wouldn't have ever gotten in without me there." Carter laughed under her breath.

Carter scooted over a seat so she was behind Kanen and wrapped her arms around the seat in front of her and his shoulders. "I'm really glad you're not dead. Just in case I didn't say that yet." Quickly pulling her arms back before he would get upset.

Winona High5ives ​

 

[Maree]

Belle Taylor

Mood: Confident| Interacting with: Zach, Grace, Sawyer |Mentions: Dazzle KingofAesir Soap

Belle playfully hit Zach's arm as he called Grace a hard ass. "I'm sure you being a pain isn't helping my case" she teased. It was kind of nice that he already had faith in her. Either she was coming off as pretty confident or the cheer teams standards weren't that high. She really hoped that it was the first one. It could also be that he was just being a charmer but she also hoped that wasn't the case.

"Thanks for letting me do this. I have a routine in mind" she said. Being out of practice for so long she didn't want to throw herself into a difficult routine. It just wasn't worth the risk without making sure her forms were still flawless. So a medium difficulty dance with maybe one or two tricks would have to do. She let them lead the way to the gym as she still had no clue where anything was. The gym itself was pleasantly surprising and a pretty decent size. The only thing she wasn't really fond of were the school colours. Maybe they would look cute when they were plastered on a cheer uniform.

Belle gave herself a minute to stretch while she found the song she wanted. This was going to be fun. She plugged her phone in and got into position while it got to the part she wanted. Then she began to move her body to the beat following a dance she had made for her previous squad. It was meant to be a duo number. Were some of the moves a little sexual? Maybe. But she liked to think that as long as you were stripping it didn't really count. Dance is a form of art and it was just wrong to put limitations on it. On the last beat, she dropped into a split keeping eye contact with Grace just for good measure.

She pulled herself to her feet and joined Zach's side again. "How was I?" she whispered, giving Grace a minute to think it over. Personally, she felt great about it. She just didn't want to sound overconfident if she hadn't done as good as she thought she had.
​

​

code by Ri.a

​

 

[High5ives]

“Well that makes one of us.” Kanen responded, reluctantly letting her have her little half-hug. When Mason and Carter talked about the night at the party, Kanen felt like he should’ve been able to remember it. Mason sticking up for Carter sounded right, but Kanen just couldn’t remember it ever actually happening, at least not at that party. It was kinda upsetting, there was probably a shit ton of other stuff Kanen couldn’t remember either. With Mason and Carter talking about the events of the night, a night he didn’t fully remember, Kanen almost felt like he was left out of an inside joke.

Kanen tried to remember another story, but he felt like he just couldn’t focus on anything. “Do you guys remember when-“ Kanen’s eyes lit up as he started talking, then he was quiet again. Whatever Kanen had remembered, he’d lost it. His train of thought just couldn’t keep straight, regardless of how much Kanen tried.

“The um...the time we...” Kanen tried, sitting up a little bit in his seat and leaning forward as he tried clinging to fragments of memories. It was like watching a slideshow of a someone else’s life. He could get bits and pieces, but he just couldn’t stay on one idea long enough to really remember anything. All he could really hone in was the dull throbbing that pumped in the back of his head, a growing headache that Kanen wished he could just sleep off. Unfortunately, he was too restless to sleep.

He latched on to something. Some football practice where he and Mason were getting chewed out for not taking things seriously enough. “You remember practices? Coach getting pissed ‘cause we kept ignoring his play calls and doing our own shit?” Kane asked, turning to look at Mason. His eyes were beginning to gloss over and his pupils were heavily dilated. Kanen wasn’t really all there. No matter how hard Kanen tried to act normal, he couldn’t hide the shaking in his hands, or the occasional muscle spasm in his chest. He could feel the dull ache in his head spreading down across the rest of his body, but he didn’t complain. This was bound to be just the start.

Winona Dazzle

 

[Winona]

Mason


He glanced back over his shoulder towards Carter, rolling his eyes when she mentioned being hot. Obviously it was true, but Mason wasn't going to feed Carter's ego, so he didn't respond, instead glancing over at Kanen to see how he was doing. It was easy to see how confused he was, and was it just Mason, or did he look actually upset? It was strange to see Kanen anything but drunk or high at this point, and Mason had to wonder what had gotten into him.

After all, with this kind of car and all the track marks, it was easy to put two and two together. Plus it wasn't like that thing he'd seen on Twitter didn't make it even more obvious. Kanen had to actually be in the mafia, doing something with drugs. It wasn't a surprise to Mason that his old best friend had gone down this path, but he was still disappointed all the same.

Mason pulled into the parking lot of a local burger joint, putting the car into park but not making any move to get out quite yet. He glanced back at Carter, and was sure that she could see the worry in his eyes before he looked back at Kanen. "Hey dude, do you maybe want to skip the eating out thing? You look like shit. We could just head back to my house and chill."

High5ives Dazzle​

 

[DrabberRogue]

Ash being vague about exactly what she was throwing away made him somewhat suspicious. He glanced at the t-shirt again, quirking an eyebrow. Just as he was about to ask another question, however, the girl moved changed subjects to their presentation. His favorite subject for that morning. "Oh yeah, definitely!" Jace replied, a confident tone to his cheery voice. "I've got it all laid out. Now I'm just burning time until class."

Everything was nicer with Ash. Even the chilly November air somehow got better than it already was. Jace took a deep breath in of the refreshing atmosphere, breathing it back out in a satisfied sigh as they approached the dumpster. Again the strange bundle in her hands was brought to his attention. Why would someone randomly throw a bunch of t-shirts away? Why get Ash in particular to do it. Of course she was amazing, obviously, who wouldn't want to get her help with something. Still it was weird though.

"So... How'd you get from putting stuff in your locker to throwing away someone's shirts?" He asked, his inquisitive gaze lingering on the dumpster for a couple moments before shifting back to the cheerleader. What was it with super popular girls and being weird in the morning? First with Serena alone, dropping her books, and now with Ash heading out to one of the most remote places to throw trash away.

Winona

 

[a z u l a]

Alaska

The one good thing about having a lawyer for a mother was that she was never home, which meant that Vola would never even know that Alaska had violated all of the rules of her grounding to drive to Boston for the day. Not that she cared, she would've done it either way, this just meant one less lecture to listen to. She was excited and nervous and anxious to get this whole trip started, unable to sleep all night wondering if what she was doing was wrong. Kanen had left for a reason and they were going to go bug him for what? Closure? It had been over a month since he'd left and she'd moved on with her life almost immediately, but little Neck Tie was so excited that she couldn't change her mind now.

By 8 a.m. she was pulling up to the blond boy's house, barely putting the car in park before a blur of blond hair was racing to her passenger door. "Good morning." She smiled, for once not angry to be up so early in the morning. The two had never really spoken, but they had something (or someone) in common and she sensed they might get along just fine. Today was going to be a good, at least she hoped. No matter what happened once they were in Boston they would at least know what had happened to Kanen, even if it wasn't good.

They'd made it almost two hours into their drive when Stu told her to stop the car, the brunette almost swerving off the freeway at the sheer panic in his voice. Once she'd safely maneuvered them to the nearest rest stop so that she could focus on Stu without killing them both, he explained that apparently they'd driven all this way for nothing because Kanen was back. She didn't know how to process the information, leaning her forehead against the steering wheel as she tried to figure out what to do now. It was somehow nerve-wrecking to know that he was in Westbrook, driving to Boston had seemed exciting, but now reality had struck and she realized that this had been an awful plan in the first place.

"Let's get some lunch and figure out what to do now." She sighed, unbuckling and grabbing her waller before heading into the rest stop to find the cafeteria. before she could even consider what she wanted to eat Stu was already booking it to the McDonald's line, and she found herself laughing at his enthusiasm for the hamburger joint.

"So, you're from Britain right? Do they have McDonald's there?" Alaska asked, curious as to what could possibly have created such fondness for chicken nuggets.​

 

[Winona]

Ash


Despite her best attempts to drive conversation away from the t-shirt, Jace still came back around to it. Well, she had to admit that she would've been equally curious about it had their roles been reversed, but she was annoyed nonetheless. Why had Kanen had to ask her to get rid of the package of all people, especially at school? And then tell her to be sneaky about it and not say anything, when she was at a place surrounded by curious students who only asked questions.

Well, at least it was now thrown away, so Ash didn't have to be worry about someone opening it or... something. All she had to do was field Jace's overly inquisitive questions, and then she would be done with this. So Ash just shrugged as if it was no big deal. "Just a friend cleaning out their locker, and I was throwing out some things."

Okay, maybe the worst excuse in the history of excuses, but it was out there and Ash had no other answer. God. She was going to yell at Kanen when she saw him again for putting her in this position, although... well, let's be honest. Ash knew that she wouldn't yell at Kanen. He'd have to do something absolutely unforgivable for her to ever yell at him, because once again, for some stupid reason beyond even Ash's comprehension, she really did care about him.

DrabberRogue​

 

[Soap]

Grace

Rolling her eyes at Zach’s statement. She wasn’t a hardass! She’s just... really supportive and pushes people to try their hardest sometimes... what’s wrong with that? “Let’s see what you got.” Grace said with a smile she actually managed. Despite this mornings ups and downs, she was genuinely kind of excited for another person on the team, or considering her on the team. Grace would probably let her on if she was just adequate... what? She seemed really nice! Nothing a little practice can’t fix. Right?

“Sorry. I’m sure you’re not really interested in...” Grace gestured towards the gym and took a seat on one of the nearby seats, waiting for Belle to do her routine. “But it shouldn’t take too long.” Taking her notebook and looking through multiple routines she should probably start changing, maybe JJ was right, and most of this was... well, boring. “We should practice in the gym more often.” Although being distracted by Sawyer probably wasn’t the best thing, Grace was sure her team didn’t need her thoughts... wandering somewhere else.

Raising an eyebrow when the music started and looked up to actually pay attention, twirling the pencil in her hand while Belle started dancing, she was actually good and... Oh. Okay. So, it wasn’t like... um... the usual routines but that was okay. This was more... It’s safe to say it’s not boring. Grace shifted uncomfortably at the thought of Sawyer beside her while she was watching Belle dance... well, to be fair! Not watching, watching. Grace technically has to pay attention. Being in charge and all that.

Grace being Grace would deny if ever asked about Belle’s rather... attractive routine... it was good. She’ll leave it at that. Sighing quietly in relief as the song came to an end, glad that... that was over, unfortunately she thought too soon, wishing desperately that she hadn’t made eye-contact when she finished her number, her movements with the pencil halted making it to the floor with a small thud, which sounded incredibly loud echoing into the now soundless gymnasium. Averting her gaze from Belle while she went to go talk with Zach, unbeknownst to her knowledge, a slight tinge of pink on her cheeks as she leaned over to up the pencil and mumbling a ‘sorry’ mostly to herself, she cleared her throat.

Ignoring all and any thoughts of the girl across from her, and extra hars to ignore her girlfriend beside her, absentmindedly doodling infinity symbols into her notebook, while she thought about letting Belle onto the team, clearly she was more than adequate, and didn’t need much tuning up or so— not in that way. Rubbing the back of her neck as she was extremely aware of Sawyer’s presence. It’s fine. Sawyer wouldn’t think anything of it.... this is what cheerleaders did! Not as sexual, no, but... it wasn’t like Grace was exactly opposed to getting her opinions on upcoming routines— also not in that way. Please. Belle was... whatever she was. Grace could merely be appreciating fellow cheerleaders, dancing, and well, girls in general. But to Grace, they all had nothing on Sawyer.

“Uh... what’d you think?”

...Really?

KingofAesir Maree Dazzle

Idk what this is sorry. It sucks enjoy love you all. ​

 

[DrabberRogue]

The girl's answer was, well, weird. Kind of amusing too. Like really? She came all the way out to one of the most remote places in the school just to help her friend clean out a locker? Jace snorted at the thought, an amused smirk coloring his face as he turned to start walking back inside. Assuming of course that Ash was going to do the same. He didn't really see any reason to keep standing around in the cold.

"Why come all the way out here then?" He asked, following up with a new question. "You know there's trash bins around, like, literally every corner in this school. Right?" His voice was more teasing than questioning at this point. It was kind of funny to him to think that the girl actually forgot she could just use a normal bin for the job. They were just t-shirts after all, right?

Honestly, and Serena called him weird. At least he didn't go out of his way to take the least convenient route to dispose of someone else's odd locker trash. If t-shirts could even be called trash. He'd have asked why her friend even kept a random bundle of shirts in their locker, or why they wanted to throw the things away in the first place, but in all honesty those were among the least out of place parts about the situation. Best to limit himself to just one line of questioning. Wouldn't want to annoy Ash, after all.

Winona

 

[Dazzle]

Carter


Carter hadn't really noticed how off Kanen had been when she got in the car. She had been so excited to be with her two best friends again, they had all been reminiscing on the good old times. Kanen almost seemed unable to focus his own thoughts, she felt the atmosphere in the car change. Kanen had barely even reacted to her little hug, she usually would of been more annoying about getting a decent hug and made him hug back.

Carter leaned forward so she felt with 'the boys' in the car. "I can go in and grab food for you if you want, and then we can head back to Mason's." She looked over at Kanen, he didn't look good. "You've probably had a long day, maybe we should just lay low?" Carter raised an eyebrow at him, she wanted to reach out and try to bring him back to the car, he just seemed lost in side of his head, but she didn't want to run him out of the car. They had just gotten him back, she wasn't ready to loose him again.

Winona High5ives

Zach


Zach smirked as Belle asked how she did, shocked that she already felt so comfortable with him since they had only just met him. "Great" He whispered back before looking at Grace. Who looked a little more flustered than usual.

"I think she'd bring something new to Westbrooks' team." Zach smiled looking down at Belle. Westbrooks' cheer team was good, but nothing like that. They were more traditional, and less dancey than what Belle just did. Zach wasn't even sure how he ended up in the gym watching Belle's audition, but he was glad he didn't miss it. Belle's choreography could add a lot to the team, however the added distraction at games might be a small problem. "You gotta let her on the team Gracie." Zach smirked crossing his arms.

Soap Maree ​

 

[Winona]

Ash


Oh goodness, he really did ask a lot of questions. And here Ash thought that if she just answered a few of them, he'd stop asking them, but... he kept coming back with more and more. And Ash was just having to dig a deeper hole for herself because as she was now learning, she was a terrible liar. Of course she had to figure that out at the worst possible time -- and yes, Kanen was undoubtedly getting an earful about how annoyed she was about this, even if it was for a good cause.

Ash shrugged. "It was a lot of trash. Figured it would be better to just come out here." She said dismissively and hoped that Jace would stop asking questions about the very suspicious wrapping of t-shirt and rubber bands. Maybe someone would just swoop in and rescue her from this awkward talk as she followed after Jace.

"So what do you want to do the next time we hangout? Maybe more than just kicking a rock around and talking?" She asked with a little joking grin as she elbowed him in the side. What? Ash was eager to pull herself away from all talk of the drug package, and maybe this would get his attention away. Hey, he'd seemed interested and excited earlier to hangout, so surely it would drag his attention away from this. Or so she hoped. And prayed.

Once they got to the school, Ash was eager to get back inside. It was cold, and her jacket did little to keep her warm. She pulled open the door, stepping inside and then waiting for Jace to catch up.

DrabberRogue

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

Elise


An all day conference in honor of Shakespeare's various productions might not have sounded like the most exciting thing to most people, but to Elise, she was like a child in a candy store or... something equally stupid. She had been looking forward to this day for weeks, and had barely been able to sleep the night before as she went over her paper once more. Finally, Elise had managed to get a few hours of sleep, and now had been attending the conference with Martin.

She had been in the middle of a heated discussion about changing up the wording of Shakespeare's scripts to make them more "readable" and "accessible" to young people these days. Elise had strong opinions about the matter, and after arguing by referencing several various lines and the importance of teaching young performers about how important these original play scripts were, the discussion was brought to an abrupt halt for everyone to attend lunch.

Elise was now sitting at a table with Martin, and was hardly even touching her food. Instead, she was still loudly explaining her reasoning. "Can you imagine if we just... changed The Constitution or something to include swag and what not? Imagine how offensive that would be." She angrily stabbed a bit of her salad with her fork before continuing to angrily talk about it. "I think those professors need to go back to school and relearn what is important in this industry. It's not the young people, I'll tell you."

At least later she would be able to participate in a discussion about various methods of work. That was always Elise's favorite part of the whole conference, and it often included acting out some parts.

Dede​

 

[KingofAesir]

Sawyer

Sawyer did not like Belle. Maybe that was kinda mean but, let her be. The whole weird glove incident was one thing, but sitting here while her girlfriend gawked at this new chick was a whole new ball game. Okay, maybe gawked wasn't the right word but it was sure as hell close to it. Sawyer knew absolutely nothing about cheerleading or dancing or really anything that wasn't basketball or hockey, but god damnit if she wasn't going to sit here and looked as unimpressed as she possibly could. In truth, Belle was honestly pretty good but Sawyer had a raging jealousy streak and when you mixed that with anger management issues...well, you got this.


Sawyer's arms were crossed tightly over over her chest and she was practically biting through her tongue to keep from being mouthy. Zach said something about bringing something new to the team and her tongue biting completely failed her in that moment. Maybe Sawyer didn't know anything, but Zach sure as hell didnt either.


"You sound like a girl, Zach." Sawyer kind of joke grumbled at him, making a face as she reapeated his words in a comically deep voice, "I think she'll bring something new to the team." She kind of chuckled and leaned forward on her elbows. She looked ridiculous staring at Belle like she was some kind of expert. The slightly narrow eyed staring only lasted a second before she leaned back in her seat again and kind of shrugged. Channeling every single intense cheer tryout movie scene she'd ever seen for her next words. She had no idea what she was talking about, but when had she ever cared what came out of her mouth before?


"She's okay." Sawyer bit at one of her fingernails with a hint of a fake smile, "Up to you, Captain." She offered a wink and returned to her layed back position with part of her bottom lip pulled between her teeth in slight annoyance.

Soap Maree Dazzle​

 

[High5ives]

Mason mentioned just going home and Kanen quickly shook his head no. That was a mistake. Naseua hit him like bus, and suddenly Kanen felt like the world was spinning out of control. He gripped the handles in car for a moment before he felt the urge to vomit coming. Without any warning, Kanen swung his door open and hung out. After vomiting so mich not even an hour ago, Kanen’s was basically just dry heaving, his whole body lurching as it tried to empty whatever else could possibly be left in his stomach. Kanen couldn’t tell if it went on for ten seconds or ten minutes, but when Kanen’s body finally let him relax, he practically collapsed back into his seat, closing the door again.

He sat there for a moment with his head drooping down in an almost limp fashion. He couldn’t quite remember what they had been doing until he looked up and saw the burger joint. “Does this place have one of those...” Kanen paused for an uncomfortabley long time before finally finishing his sentence. “...the drive through?”

Kanen just hurt. His throat burned, his muscles ached, his head pounded. He just wanted things to stop. Without even really thinking about it, Kanen opened the glovebox where he’d normally have a stash of shit, when Kanen found it empty he was immediately pissed. His shaky hand slammed the compartment closed. “This is fucking stupid.” He thought out loud. “You don’t even think I’ll get clean, do you Mason?” He snapped, naturally picking a target in the car.

Logically, Kanen didn’t have any reason to be mad, but nothing about any of this was logical. It was all one big fucked up mess. Kanen was physically and mentally stressed, and his only way to cope right now was to just snap. Sure it wasn’t a healthy coping mechanism, but it was all he really knew. “Man, you’ll probably take your money, go of someplace nice like...” Kanen paused again. He couldn’t even think of anywhere to go. It was so frustrating. “Go to fuckin’...” Kanen tried again, and like before, he came up blank.

“Fuck!” He yelled, hitting his dashboard with his fist. He was silent for a moment before he waved his hand. “You know what, get the fuck out of my car. You can walk home.” Kanen continued. Of course he didn’t mean that, but Kanen had a tendency to isolate himself when he was pissed. He’d done the same thing since he was a kid.

Kanen was still just a kid. Some eighteen year old kid trying to convince the world he was all grown up now...

Winona Dazzle

 

[Maree]

Belle Taylor

Mood: Confident but kinda annoyed| Interacting with: Zach, Grace, Sawyer
Mentions: Dazzle KingofAesir Soap

Belle was very aware of the looks she was getting from Sawyer. But they just confirmed what she already knew, she did great. Jealousy was not an attractive trait. It just highlighted the flaws within a relationship, being attracted to other people while being in a relationship is totally normal. It was kind of sad to watch Sawyer and her lack of trust she had of her partner. Grace seemed nice. They were definitely going to become good friends. It wasn't like Sawyer could forbid Grace from allowing her on the cheer team anyways.

Zach, on the other hand, was being a total sweetheart. How could you not like a guy who talks you up a little? She was about to thank him when Sawyer felt the need to open her mouth. She had to resist the need to roll her eyes as she mocked him and tried to put her down. "How long have you been cheering for Sawyer?" her tone made it sound like an innocent question. But the look she gave the girl said differently. When the other two weren't paying attention she looked her up and down making it known to her that she was less than impressed. This girl was obviously not a cheerleader. Just a sad jealous little girl who got off on trying to make others feel small. She didn't like people like that.

"I thought what you said was sweet Zach. I did choreograph a lot of routines at my old school, a few of them we won titles with" she explained. The last part was mainly included to shove in Sawyers' face that she didn't know what she was talking about. It felt nice to dance again. It would feel even better if she could do it as apart of a team. Did they do competing or were they just sideline cheerleaders? Eh, she would find out later. "Forgive me if some of the moves came off as suggestive. I've been apart of a quite controlling Christain school for a while"

​

code by Ri.a

 

[Soap]

Grace

Grace hid an amused smile when Sawyer had mocked Zach, clearly he was just trying to be supportive... or maybe he liked Belle, either way. He wasn’t wrong. “Well, something new just might be what I need.” No, she didn’t realize how that sounded. Taking note of Sawyer’s opinion, looking towards them both and hesitating before deciding to answer Belle’s question. “Oh. She’s not a cheerleader, just... someone else I can depend on.” Glancing over and giving the smallest of smiles to her girlfriend.

Sure, Sawyer didn’t know a lot about cheering, but that didn’t really matter to her. Usually... Ash was the one who did cheer tryouts with Grace, she’d said it before and would say it countless times again. She trusted Ash’s opinion more than... well, anyone else’s.

Distracted momentarily while her mind wandered to her best friend, Grace was still upset about the musical, but they always make up. That’s just... them. What was so important that they couldn’t talk? Coming out of her own daze and tuning back into the conversation. “Oh! That’s really cool actually.” She wasn’t surprised Belle had won titles beforehand. It really wasn’t a matter if she was going to let her onto the team or not, it was a given. “No, no. Don’t apologize. It was definitely something different... but I really liked it. Good form.” Unsure if it was clear or not Grace decided to elaborate.

“Uh. That kind of means you’re on the team, so... welcome.” She said with a genuine smile. An idea popped into Grace’s head and she was definitely okay with it, the cheer team could probably use some spark to it. “Maybe we could spend some time and come up with some routines? Might be fun to try and change things up a bit.” She offered. Maybe it was a little too quick to already start planning, but the cheerleader was excited, leave her be.

Grace nudged Sawyer with her elbow and raised a teasing eyebrow in her direction.

“Not as disastrous as last time hmm?”​

Dazzle KingofAesir Maree​