Realistic or Modern Westbrook

[Winona]

Ariana

For a few minutes, she was happy just sitting on Stu's lap and drinking her juice box.

But then she got bored. First, Ari started off by leaning against his arm, which didn't budge. So then she leaned against the other, and wow, that sure did make a fun game! So soon, Ari was leaning back and forth, slamming into Stu's arms over and over and disrupting his game. She started giggling because wow, this was a really smart idea.

Of course, as she was slamming back and forth and laughing away, Ari happened to squeeze her juice box a little too hard. As luck would have it, the squirt of liquid surpassed her face, but... did hit Stu directly in the face.

"Oh no. Sorry, sorry." She tried twisting around in Stu's lap to apologize, with her arm leaned on the keyboard of the laptop.

Dede​

 

[Winona]

Mason


He stopped dead in his tracks.

Of course this was about Ari.

Mason was quiet while he waited for Sam to get everything out. She was right -- of course she was right. But telling people about Ari wasn't exactly his forte. What was he even supposed to say now? He let her words wash over him, and slam into him, until she finally seemed to be done. Mason waited for a second, an eyebrow arched to silently ask if she was done speaking, before he started.

"Would you have gone on a second date with me? No. I doubt you would have." Mason responded, crossing his arms defensively over his chest. "Look, no, I didn't bring her up. That's not exactly something you can just bring up on the first date, or in the first month, when you're fucking seventeen. You're only sixteen. I mean, for god's sake, you were still in middle school when she was born!" Okay, okay, maybe Mason was starting to go onto a tangent, but god damn it.

"I don't know what this is, either, but I know I don't want to fuck it up." He hesitated for a moment, helplessly shrugging his shoulders while shaking his head ever so slightly. "I know what I want this to be, and I don't want it to be like anything in the past. I don't want to just fuck you and act like nothing happened. I'd actually like to have a real relationship with you."

And part of having a real relationship was, of course, mentioning Ari. But fuck, that was the hardest thing about getting into any relationships. "But I can't just bring Ari up to every girl I date. I have to wait, to make sure that they're not going to leave her." Like June had, when she moved back to her mom's hometown.

Gomenesigh​

 

[Soap]

Raven

Raven regretted asking the question almost immediately, her grin had faded and her eyes grew emotionally cautious. She was waiting for a simple 'I don't like Valentine's Day, or... I'm in track.' Or some shit. She was expecting that she did rehab! Of course she did. It was obvious and Raven believed herself to be the dumbest person alive at this point. And before she knew it-- she was being grabbed and held.

She never usually did hugs but more often than not-- Raven felt like she was the most hugged person in this damn school and she'd be lying if she didn't need one after this whole month. But this wasn't about her, clearly the girl was having some traumatic moment, and while Raven was the one to always stray from emotions, she wasn't going to leave her like that. They fell to the floor and she held the stranger tight. Blinking away tears before they fell as her own emotional trauma decided to come to light. "Hey, it's okay. You're okay." She spoke to Jasmine, but truthfully it sounded like she was trying to convince herself of that fact.

She never had experience with panic attacks, or... whatever was happening with Jasmine, but she was trying her best. She held her for the next few minutes and as much as surprised she was, Raven didn't want to pull away. And she couldn't figure out who was helping who at this point. "Jasmine, listen to me." Raven pulled away the slightest and grabbed her shoulders tightly, a hand lifted to her chin to meet her eyes.

"It's just us. Whatever you're afraid of right now, whatever is making you so afraid to even breathe; It's fake. It's in the past. It's not here. You're okay."

Raven wasn't, but Jasmine would be. She'll make sure of it.

​

 

[DrabberRogue]

What was that crackling noise? Mic issues were a minor pet peeve of Jace's, the way some people had all sorts of random background noise when they spoke. They made it a lot harder to decode the already cluttered noise of chatter coming in through his headphones. He tried to focus through it though, the game was starting. Now Jace was by no means the best Fifa player. He'd only picked the game up a couple weeks prior after all. However as with most games he'd gotten pretty good at it pretty quickly, to the point where he was far from the worst player in the match. If anything he was one of the better mid-fielders, often managing to be exactly where the team needed him, and-

Good god what was the British kid doing? Jace swore under his breath as his friend and teammate lost the ball again, forcing him to have to shift gears and play defensively. This time he wasn't able to stop the ball from getting past him, however. Luckily the goalie knew what they were doing and stopped the other team from scoring, but he was still a little annoyed about it. Not to mention the little girl sounds that kept periodically piercing his ears. Was some little kid trying to get at the guy's controller or something? Unfortunately he didn't have his mic in, so he couldn't ask. Jace wouldn't dare let his hands leave the controller while the game was still on.

For a moment the loud sound of a dropped book pulled his eyes away, the boy's icy blue gaze shifting back to where the girls were sitting. Several tables away. Looked like Sawyer had dropped whatever she was reading and invoked the ire of the librarian. Honestly, that woman looked like she'd been mummified. Where'd the principle dig up that fossil anyways? Not that it was Jace's problem. While normally he'd have loved to sit and watch whatever situation those three had gotten into, he had a game to play. So he quickly focused back down on the screen, taking a moment to reorient himself before getting right back into the action.

Wait-

His phone buzzed. Something Ash posted? Whatever, it was probably more drama. He'd go look through it once the game was over, or something.

Dede

 

[Dede]

Tom

There are certain fundamental, mathematical, universal truths that can’t be disputed -- and the fact that Bowbow looked like a lemur is certainly one of them.

Unfortunately that was where the older kid's genius ended. The rest of his insults were derivative, uninspired, plebeian, call them what you want. Points for trying I guess. Bowtie nearly snoozed off listening to him rambling, and it soon became evident that the big guy wasn’t much worth his time or intellect.

Tom scoffed a little. For the record, his bowtie was not “ridiculous”. Rather, it was a thing of exceptional charm and beauty, and the camo green matched perfectly with his red plaid shirt. Anyway why should he take clothing advice from a tattooed monster with the fashion sense of a billy goat?

His sister was clearly attracted to him, though. Sure, this was pathetic to watch. But Tom was smart enough to know that if she succeeded, he would automatically gain a new bodyguard, so he wasn’t going to stand in the way of that happening. He whatever’ed his way out of there and bade his obnoxious sister farewell with a roll of the eyes.

He was standing by the lockers, perfectly bored, and another boy happened to be standing there too, like he was looking for trouble or something. He had thought Teo was a loser but boy -- he hadn’t seen anything yet.

Tom looked awhile at the scrawny life form in front of him, with a hint of both disgust and pity in his eyes.

‘What’s your problem then?’ he hissed and shrugged dramatically at the lame locker boy. ‘Well? Quit staring at me you spastic bumcheese.’

High5ives Winona mikaluvkitties

 

[Soap]

Caleb

A genuine smile came across Caleb's face, and he pretended to look mildly offended and a laugh escaped him; Caleb wasn't even sure when was the last time he ever laughed. "Hey! Look, keep your nicknames to yourself okay?" He smiled and his gaze lingered on her longer than deemed appropriate. He shook his head out of the daze that was Tatum and focused as she threw the ball.

He held back an amused smile in an attempt to be polite as she didn't make her mark, so maybe he didn't give her any good advice. But he was enjoying their time together nonetheless and no baskets had to be made for him to appreciate that. "Okay, okay. Maybe not the basketball world. But I'm sure you're good at other things." He took another ball from the rack and tried again, this time trying his hardest to impress the girl he didn't even know.

The ball went in and a satisfied sigh escaped him. "See! That's a good reason why they haven't kicked me off the team yet. I think I was just missing a lot because..." because? She probably made him nervous but he wasn't going to admit that. He quickly decided to change the subject and did very well if he said so himself. "So, what else do you do Like... for hobbies. I mean, instead of poster ripping." His gaze averted from hers and suddenly the basketball near them was extremely interesting as he rolled it with his foot.

Elf_Ruler​

 

[Daniel Reaving]

Jasmine

She shook in the girls arms. Her breath shaky and strained as she sat there her eyes held tight as she whimpered a little. Trying to fight off her own mind. Thankful for Raven for every second she had to deal with this. When raven gently grabbed her shoulders and pulled away a little Jasmine was reluctant to loosen her grip on the girl but did just enough to look her in the eyes. Her own still wide open and tears gently slipping from them as she focused in on ravens comforting words. Leaning forward again she placed her head gently into ravens neck and curled up against her as she shivered in fear. “I-i-I’m Sorry.” Was all she could whisper out to the sweet girl. She was truly indebted to Raven. She didn’t want to put all this on the girl. She hated having to and yet here she was. Curled up in Ravens arms having an episode after so long. It took another minuet before she could speak again. “I.... I’m a-sorry Raven.” She whispered quietly as she clung to the girl. Held onto her so tight it felt like if she let go that she would magically be brought back to that day.
Soap​

 

[Soap]

Maisie

At least the agreed with the snow being cold... what was going on with them? Why were they being so weird around each other. Well, maybe Maisie had the smallest clue to why she did. Because that's what happened when you like... liked someone right? You'd get nervous? "No! I mean, yes. Of course I want you-- I mean, to. Yes. I want to hang out with you." If it wasn't obvious, Maisie's nervous. A hand reached up to play with those terrible tacky cat earrings she loved so much.

She furrowed her brows in slight confusion. Of course his brother wouldn't be joining them; She knew that, he knew that-- Could Aaron be upset because he wanted Casper to join them? Did he not want to be alone with her? She let him ravel on about him while her mind wandered, her thoughts finding every insecurity. "Yeah, I'm almost envious." She opened her mouth to ask if Aaron actually wanted to spend time with her, making sure he wouldn't feel 'trapped.' And that's when the announcement went off.

They would have to stay in the school... overnight? Well, so much for their plans.

"So... I guess that means we're not going to be doing much of anything together, huh." Disappointment flooded her tone before she tried her best to cover it up, resulting in a voice crack.

mikaluvkitties​

 

[Gomenesigh]

Samantha Gilly

interactions: Winona

Sam immediately opened her mouth to answer his question, but quickly closed it. He was right, of course. She was only sixteen. If she had found out about the fact he had a kid, she probably wouldn’t have given him a second chance. Even now, the information was almost too much to handle. What was she supposed to do? Help raise a kid? She still considered herself to be a kid. And what exactly did he mean “leave her?” Sam hadn’t even met her yet. Surely Mason wasn’t wanting her to help raise the kid.

She internally groaned. If he had really only wanted sex, it would have been so much easier. She did like Mason, but things were now so complicated. Who knew getting on Twitter for less than five minutes would cause so much chaos? She sighed and ran a hand through her hair.

“Look, I’m sorry. I know I got mad and was a little harsh. That’s just kind of a big something to find out about a person. Not that you really owed me any information or anything. And… I’m sorry for the other thing I said, about the rumors and stuff.” And she really was. She hadn’t planned on any of this coming out, not now and not ever. She wasn’t exactly the best at talking about things like this or personal things in general. Growing up in a military family that moved around a lot made it difficult to ever really get close to people, even her parents, and now with her father gone, things were just getting worse.

“I’d like that too. An actual relationship. There’s just a lot to process right now. I do want to talk about it.” She looked around to the hallway they were still standing in. Students half walked and half ran around them, but no one seemed to pay them any particular mind. Still, somewhere a little more private would probably be better. “Can we go somewhere else and talk. though? This isn’t exactly the best place.”

coding by ychotic

 

[Soap]

Raven

She didn't know what to say, but she shouldn't of been sorry. Raven just shook her head. She hardly knew Jasmine it was so easy to tell that she needed help. And Raven means real help, like a psychiatrist, or... something. It was obvious that she went through way worse things then whatever Raven had in the past, and if she read her so easily; Did people see Raven like that too?

The thought alone made her stomach turn.

She never wants to be pitied. Ever. But that didn't stop her from feeling it for Jasmine. "No reason to be sorry. It's okay." She wasn't going to pry on whatever had gotten her so distraught or what caused the attack in the first place. She just stood with her until she was ready to let go.
Daniel Reaving

​

 

[Elf_Ruler]

Tatum couldn’t help but roll her eyes with a smile still on her face, Caleb was the sweetest guy she had hung around in quite a long time. He was everything she had never been around when it had come to males and she had regretted every other guy she’d spent time with, “I can’t keep the nicknames to myself. Give me some time and I’ll give you a proper nickname.” It was nice that he didn’t make her feel bad for how bad she was at making a basket, “I’m okay at some things,” she mentioned as she watched Caleb make the basket. He was trying to show off and she smiled at him feeling her do small flops something she hadn’t felt in years. “There’s probably other reasons why they keep you around.” She was about to make a comment when she realized he had said because. That caused a smirk to grow on her face, but she didn’t push him to tell her what he was about to say.

When he had turned the conversation back to her, she started to feel herself build up her walls, “Umm, I guess I like to knit and in middle school I used to play tennis, but I don’t know what my hobbies are.” As she spoke, she looked away from Caleb, it was uncomfortable for her to talk about herself while sober. She started to play with the hem of her shirt trying to seem like she wasn’t uncomfortable, “Caleb?” she started to question and then shook her head trying to think of a different question, “How long have you been playing basketball?” she needed to change the subject. She had wanted to ask him why he was being nice to her, but she didn’t know how to ask him without making the situation more uncomfortable, so she had chosen to change the subject entirely while she still kept playing with her shirt.

Soap

 

[Dede]

Neck Tie

OK, so this might actually work. Ari was behaving so far and as of yet there was no sign of rebellion from her. This gave him some time to settle into his game, which he did.

Neck Tie was in a focused mood. The ball was being passed nicely from one side of the field to the other, tiki-taka at its best. He won a few tackles up the pitch which gave his team some attacking momentum. But the score was still level, and the game was delicately poised by half time. His team was coordinating their play over their headsets:

‘Come on, Happy Meal, pass the damn ball,’ said IFARTED666.

He passed the ball back to the attacking midfield as instructed. It was all going very well. . . until Ari started moving sideways on his lap.

First Neck Tie tried to sway along with her, but his thumb slipped from the thumbstick and he sent a wayward ball flying right to the opponent’s feet.

‘Dude what are you doing?’ SirDerpALot hissed.

‘Stop giving possession away cheaply, retard,’ said AnakinSkywanker98.

‘OK. . . I’m sorry, I’m sorry,’ Neck Tie stammered.

He wiped the sweat off his forehead. It was just one bad pass, right? He’ll just make up for it the next time he got the ball, he thought. But then Ari started giggling and laughing away some more.

‘Dude shut the baby up. . . We’re trying to focus here.’

‘Ari. . . shhh. . .’ Neck Tie pleaded with the toddler on his lap.

To make matters worse, Ari reached for the controller in his hands and push a button. Neck Tie tried to shield the controller from her, but he ended up just giving the ball away again cheaply. Their opponents happily capitalised on his mistake and they went and scored a goal on the other end of the pitch. There were shouts from his teammates galore.

‘DUDE!’

‘What the hell man?’

Neck Tie was silent. He rubbed his sweaty hands on his shirt.

‘Oh my god, Happy Meal, you’re a complete idiot.’

‘Dude you S U C K at this game.’

‘-- You should go play Fortnite or something --’

‘Or Minecraft.’

Now the team was on the brink of disaster. Suddenly a ball came flying out of nowhere at Neck Tie in a forward position. He managed to slip past the defender, and the goalie, too. It was an open goal that couldn’t be missed – his golden opportunity to score the important equaliser and redeem himself once and for all.

Right that moment Ari squirted juice in his face and the boy went blind. Neck Tie fired a shot and it missed the open goal in a spectacular fashion. The team promptly erupted in anger.

‘KID, WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING?’ SirDerpALot yelled through the microphone.

‘OH MY GOD, HAPPY MEAL.’

They played on from there and ended up losing a disastrous 2-0 and getting relegated.

‘. . . I’m sorry. . .’

‘That was our league game, dude,’ said IFARTED666. 'What the fuck?'

‘Happy Meal, UNINSTALL. THIS. GAME.’

‘. . . I said I'm SORRY!’ Neck Tie shouted back, his voice breaking into a sob.

‘. . . Dude, is he crying?’

There was silence.

'Is he still there?'

‘He’s probably gone to get his mom,’ said SirDerpALot. The team laughed away in the lobby.

Neck Tie snapped back: ‘I can't, cos haven’t got a mother, have I?’

Now he cried into the microphone. Oh no, what was he doing? He was bawling in front of all these strangers, and sobbing into the back of Ari's little head and hugging her for moral support. Yes, he was a complete mess.

Winona DrabberRogue

 

[Daniel Reaving]

Jasmine
Jasmine refused to let go of Raven. Still shaking as it all finally started to go away. The flashes, the sounds, the sensations. Almost as quickly as they had hit her they where mostly gone. Reminding her of just how easy it was to have an episode. It almost taunted her and she hated it more and more, but as her mind cleared her thoughts turned to Raven. She felt terrible, unwillingly forcing her issues on to the girl. Raven probably didn’t even know what happened.

Jasmine hated the idea but knew at the very least Raven deserved an explanation as to why. Why they where curled up together on the weight room floor, why jasmine was clinging to her as if she would die if she let go. Slowly Jasmine lifted her head after a few moments of silence. Sniffing a little and quickly whipping her eyes as she kept them locked on the floor. Taking a hesitant gulp before she started. “I-I’m sorry Raven..... for dragging you into this. I-I was doing so well until now.” She said softly as she glanced up to Raven then back down to the floor. “I.......I L.....lost my leg 8 months ago.” She said clearly having trouble explaining it all to her. Going silent for a moment before taking a deep breath in.

“I-I lost it to a shark of the coast of Australia while surfing...... I spent 6 months in the ER before being sent back home to Hawaii but... I wasn’t fixed. The sight of the ocean alone sent into an episode..... so I moved here to live with my cousin.” She explained quietly to the girl as she leaned in again and gently pressed her forehead to the girls shoulder. “I’m sorry.” She whispered yet again. Still feeling terrible for bringing her into this. She mentally beat herself. If only she was strong enough to overcome this fear.
Soap​

 

[Winona]

Ariana

Why was Stu crying?

Oh, because he didn't have a mommy?

"You can have my mommy." Ari suggested. After all, sharing was caring! And Ari's dad had always taught her that sharing and caring were very important things. Plus, there was plenty of her mom to go around.

She then set her juice box down on the keyboard, but leaned against it, causing the juice to squirt all over the keyboard. Ari looked at that, crying, and angrily smacked at the laptop screen... causing it to crack.

Woops.

Dede DrabberRogue
​

 

[Winona]

Bowbow

Maybe his harsh insults would have driven away a girl of lesser stature and confidence than herself, but Beau knew that this was all just a cover-up. He must have been a very heartfelt individual deep down inside, hiding his true emotions behind a fake attitude of being a dick. It was so romantic. OMG. What if she could be the girl to get through that cold exterior?

"Later, loser." She smirked at her brother, and tightened her grip on her new sexy bad boyfriend. "So I'm Beau and like, don't worry, I know you're only saying those things because you're afraid to open up."

This was just like the romance films that she was always watching. God, if Beau had known that this would be the day she met her Prince Charming, then she wouldn't have worn her big yellow hair-bow. She would've gone with something more romantic -- like a red bow or a white one with hearts, or maybe even--

O. M. G.

It was Valentine's Day.

"Bae, we even met on Valentine's Day! OMG, you're so romantic. I love you so much." She squealed.

Dede High5ives​

 

[High5ives]

Kanen
Jesus Christ. She was as a dumb as a rock. How much more obvious could Kanen be?! He wasn’t the least bit interested! Even after the Bow tie kid left, she stayed latched onto his arm. Who the hell does that!? She had known him for what, five seconds? She didn’t even know his name and the little brat was already latched onto his arm like a disease. What kind of immunization do you need to get rid of annoying? Kanen sighed, wiping his face with the hand that wasn’t being clutched by the hell spawn.

The men’s restroom was his only salvation here. “You know what? I need to take a shit.” Kanen grumbled, pulling his arm free from the girl walking into the bathroom before she objected or caught hold of him again. He was free of her now, but he was more or less trapped. The tiny windows weren’t large enough for him to squeeze through and even if they were, it was too damn cold out there.

The only solution here was to wait. She’d get bored and leave eventually right? Right?! Kanen took a seat on the bathroom counter and just started scrolling through his phone.

Tick.Tock.

Winona​

 

[DrabberRogue]

It admittedly got on Jace's nerves that their team was losing, especially considering it was due to how 'Happy Meal' kept messing up. Or rather how the little kid in the background seemed to be making it hard for him to play, judging by how loud they sounded. Honestly, who played ranked games in those conditions? At least he figured it was a ranked game, or the equivalent of that. Or something. Okay look, Jace didn't play sports games very often.

The irritated attitude creeping into his head wasn't helped by the constant insults starting to pour out of their teammates. He hadn't played with most of them before, and was almost as annoyed with them for being toxic as he was with the British kid for giving the ball away. Jace kept himself from hurling insults at either though. Not that he could, considering his mic wasn't in, but still. He didn't like doing that sort of thing.

Granted he also didn't care nearly as much about the result of the game. Sure he wanted to win, but he wasn't as attached to whatever consequences came from winning or losing. It sucked to lose, especially since it was due to someone else not pulling their own weight, but it was just another match to him. Besides, Jace wasn't totally bereft of blame. He definitely hadn't been the top performer on the field, and had made several nasty mistakes over the course of the game. Something that was probably overlooked by their teammates due to Happy Meal's catastrophic failures.

Speaking of which, they were starting to lay into the British guy a little too hard. Like way too hard. It was unpleasant to listen to, like if someone had decided to voice act a bunch of Westbrook girls screeching at each other over Twitter. Speaking of which... His phone was blowing up again, notifications scrolling down the screen and pushing up whatever Ash had posted. Some girl he wasn't following had apparently become very attached to that mafia guy. Was this a joke? At the very least it got a small smirk out of Jace, coaxing his humor to the surface. However he didn't get to appreciate it for very long as the Fifa situation escalated to critical mass.

The whole lobby went silent at Happy Meal's outburst, with even Jace just staring at the screen of his laptop for a few moments. Well shit. That just got way too serious. Taking in a deep breath and letting it out in a heavy sigh, the boy made a quick decision in response to the unwelcome tension that had fallen over the chat. Loathe though he was to engage with anything dramatic, he reluctantly put his fingers to typing, sending a DM to the now crying 'Happy' Meal.
'Hey, you should probably back out for now. Work this out later.'

With that sent, and hoping his one friend on Fifa would follow his advice, Jace turned to the closest source of something entertaining he could find. Twitter. He needed something to distract him from what had just happened, if only momentarily.

Dede Winona

 

[mikaluvkitties]

Casper​

The announcement came over the PA system, and Casper looked up, fighting the urge to cry. The only thing worse than going home later was not going home tonight at all. At least his mom would know why he wasn’t coming home.

His head swivelled back to the people near his locker as things intensified, and for a second he was worried something would happen in front of his locker, something that might make actually getting to it difficult, but then they began to disperse, and Casper couldn’t help a small smile.

Of course, then one of the boys- The younger one, without the tattoos- began to approach him, becoming even more of a nuisance, and his eyes widened. He looked away hurriedly, biting his lip as he did, but after a second, with the feeling of eyes on him, he looked back to the boy, fighting the urge to fidget.

His eyes searched this newcomer’s, and he wished he were seeing something else- anything other than that usual look that he could never quite describe.

The newcomer spoke, and Casper quickly looked towards his locker.

“I’m just…” For a second, he was quiet, lips pursed as he looked for the words behind what he wanted to say. “Waiting to be able to get to my locker.”

More a mumble than anything, he added, eyes dropped, “You’re kinda in front of it…”

Dede​

~`*`~​

Aaron​

Aaron nodded in agreement as Maisie spoke, still not quite looking at her. Something had sounded a bit off, but for the life of him he had no idea why, and besides, he had more important things to think about in the moment afterwards- Like that announcement.

He frowned, more disappointed than annoyed, and looked to Maisie. “Well, definitely not anything we had planned.” His gaze shifted lower, hands sliding into his pockets. Almost shy, he said, “We could still hang out, though…”

He didn’t know what he meant by it, or if he meant anything at all. He didn’t even know what they could do! It was school.

Soap​

 

[Dede]

Neck Tie

Neck Tie smiled weakly at Ari amid a stream of tears. She made a generous offer, but it looked like he was already getting a new mum in the form of Elise. He wasn’t even sure if he liked the woman, but his dad certainly did. Elise could be nice to Neck Tie at times, but other times she was kind of mean. He didn't know which was the real her. Anyway, she was coming to visit them at the apartment so often that she might as well just move in.

Then as he thought his day couldn’t get any worse, Ari went out of her way to spill juice all over the keyboard. And if that still wasn’t enough, she poked the screen so hard there were green and red bars running horizontally through the middle of it. Neck Tie just sat there and quietly accepted his fate, thinking what’s next? He couldn’t even get mad at the toddler. He was incapable of anger, after all, how could anyone get mad at sweet little Ari? Looking around the house, he already knew he was dead whenever Mason or whoever came home first, so what was one more broken thing?

The only thing that could save him was if the storm would blow the house apart and take him with it. He wouldn't mind that one bit.

He did pull Ari slightly away from the laptop though, and at risk of electrocution he soaked up the liquid from the keyboard with a tea towel. Now she was crying, but he reassured her everything was alright.

‘Don’t worry. It’s OK, Ari, don’t cry,’ he said while crying himself. He turned her a little sideways on his lap so they were facing each other. ‘Hey, do you wanna play something?’

He rocked her a little in his lap and poked her nose playfully, thinking he might be able to cheer her up.

Right about then, a message popped up in the corner of the screen that was still not broken. Neck Tie barely glanced at it. The name of the sender read:

AceOfRoses

At first Neck Tie just wanted to look away from the notification. He recognised the handle as one of his teammates from the last game, and he didn’t need any more abuse from them. Hell, he hadn’t even stopped crying yet. He was still hearing his teammates voices in his head, even though they'd already stopped talking.

But Neck Tie did look, and he saw the message:

'Hey, you should probably back out for now. Work this out later.'

It was good advice, which he took. The boy backed out of the lobby and closed down his FIFA window. Now he was staring at the dead pixels and the horizontal bars on the screen and thinking how he would ever pay Raven for the damage to her computer -- or explain himself to Mason. God, if he wasn't already deader than dead. . .

Winona DrabberRogue mentions: Soap R@v3n

 

[DrabberRogue]

Serena was always a little conflicted about Valentines Day. On one hand it was a great boost to her ego. It was like every flower she got validated all the work she put into herself, all the hours spent working out and making sure her makeup was perfect. On the other hand it was kind of a pain. She always got asked out at least once by boys she wasn't interested in, some of whom didn't react very well to rejection. No matter how nice she tried to be about it. Honestly, why couldn't all boys be like-

No, never mind. Not like him. Sure Caleb had seemed great when she agreed to go out with him, but that was before he started flirting with other girls. Proving that first impressions weren't always everything. That was another thing that made her conflicted about Valentines Day, though. All of the couples. It was only a few months ago that Serena had been happily in a relationship of her own, looking forward to the perfect day that would've been Valentine's. Now though? She was alone with nothing but flowers from prospective suitors she either wasn't interested in or couldn't trust.

For once Serena actually wanted to get away from the crowd, have some time to herself. Especially now that the stupid blizzard outside had forced them all to share the school with one another for the night. Just what she needed, more time for all the lovey dovey couples to rub their happy relationships in her face. Maybe at some point she'd go back to her friends and just deal with the couples, but for now she needed some time alone. Some time to do something she enjoyed. Like shooting hoops.

Actually maybe that was a mistake. The moment Serena strode into the gym her eyes fell upon the one person she most wanted to avoid. Befitting his reputation, Caleb was already hanging out with a new girl. All smiley and happy in a way she knew very well. Looked like he wasn't as torn up about her as he'd made it seem when they were at Belle's party. Although admittedly that was in, like, October. Okay, she might've been blowing it way out of proportion in her head. It had been several months since their breakup after all. Wasn't that long enough for someone to move on? Still though, the sight dredged up all those feelings she'd had when she first heard her boyfriend was cheating on her.

Okay whatever, she'd just go find something else to do. They were over, so it wasn't her business who Caleb flirted with anymore. All she had to do was leave before they noticed her...
Okay but seriously were they just going to let that ball sit there on the floor?
Like honestly! Even Jace had the decency to go get his damn ball when he missed a basket, and she had nightmares about how messy his room could get. Instead of leaving, Serena took a couple steps further into the gym to pick up a ball which had rolled near the door. Like come on, she had to do something with it. She couldn't just leave the poor thing lying on the ground while Caleb and his newest fling just ditched it for another ball. Not wanting to approach them, Serena decided she could shoot at least one hoop before leaving. So she stepped up to the three point line, judged the distance, and jumped to take the shot...

...Only for it to bounce off the rim and sail off at an obnoxious angle. Watching it bounce away, Serena let out an annoyed huff. She was supposed to just sink a basket and walk away. Instead she'd missed, and the ball was going to end up even farther away from them. She was done though. She was just going to leave, put it behind her, and let Caleb have his Valentines Day fun. So after glancing at them one last time she turned around, her ponytail bouncing from the sudden movement, and took a step towards the door.

Then she stopped. No, she couldn't just let that missed basket stand. Even if she didn't want to be anywhere near her ex and that new girl. It would bug her for like the next hour. Consigned to her fate, Serena sighed, tightening her shoulders as she quietly turned and walked back over to pick up her ball. Which meant walking all the way over to the bleachers.

Ugh. Stupid Caleb. If he hadn't let the ball just sit there then she wouldn't have wound up embarrassing herself.

Soap Elf_Ruler

 

[DrabberRogue]

Jace

After a little bit of fun on Twitter, Jace glanced back up at his screen and zoned back into what was coming through his headphones. The other guys had either left or were talking quietly over the voice chat. It looked like Happy Meal had followed his advice too, so it seemed like a good time for him to back out as well. He then followed up once he was out of the match, inviting the British guy to a voice chat before turning to fish his mic boom out of his backpack.

There was a part of him that really just wanted to drop the issue. Just close Fifa and go find something else to do, let Happy Meal have some time to himself. Jace never liked it when things got so serious, after all. However he was in a slightly better mood after reading through Twitter, and he wanted to talk to someone anyways. It wasn't like he could interrupt the brewing storm that was Sawyer/Grace/freshman girl situation, so he might as well see if he could chat a bit with his teammate. Maybe turn that nasty post game atmosphere around while he was at it.

Okay so maybe he could interrupt the Grawyer/Grace x freshman drama, and that would probably have a pretty fun result, but he was content to let it escalate on its own. Besides, it wasn't like he was too familiar with any of them. Sure it was a tragedy that he didn't know the name of that third girl, as he had to know everyone's name, but that was an issue he could handle later. So for now he just extracted his mic boom from his bag, plugging it into his headphones as he shifted his attention back to the screen. Waiting to see if Happy Meal would respond to his call.

Dede Winona

 

[Dede]

Tom

Oh, so he was standing in front of the kid’s locker. Woops. Still, he had a right to be there, didn’t he? He was a special visitor to the school. So special the headmistress was personally giving him a tour, which meant he had privileges and could stand wherever he liked.

Anyway, he moved aside for the strange boy and stood crossing his arms.

He watched as the boy fumbled with his key, taking forever to get his locker open. Have you ever seen such incompetence? Has anybody? Occasionally the boy glanced around him, and at Tom, almost nervously. His face looked like he was in perpetual fear for his life.

Tom glanced at his watch, then at his phone. How long was the headmistress going to take? This whole situation was bollocks. He had hoped to be back at the motel by now. Now he had heard something over the PA system about a storm, which was just perfect.

He sighed heavily, still watching the wimp beside him. Finally that kid had gotten his locker door open.

So Tom happened to be standing close enough to see inside the locker. What? He was curious to see an American schoolboy’s locker proper. Sure, he’d seen many locker scenes in films and all that. But this was different. Now this kid’s locker was pretty well decorated. Sitting on the edge and nearly falling off was a wallet with a picture of Casper the Friendly Ghost on it. Tom scoffed.

'Um, aren't you a little old for cartoons?' he asked.

As the boy was fumbling clumsily with his possessions, Tom reached into the locker and snatched a sheet of paper from the top of the book pile.

He held the pencil drawing up to the light and studied it.

‘Who’s this?’ he asked nosily.

It was a sketch of some boy with short hair and eyes that looked too big for his head. Granted it was a pretty good drawing, but it was still a boy.

‘Did you draw him?’

mikaluvkitties

 

[Soap]

Raven

Raven didn't know how to respond. It's not everyday a girl has a panic attack and admits it's because a shark had given her PTSD. A deep breath escaped her as she took in the information, she was never good at comforting people, she never had a lot of experience with it; because realistically, no one really came to Raven whenever they were upset. She didn't have much people who saw her that way.

Caring.

It's not like she blamed them, and she preferred it that way. That way she wouldn't have to rack her brain as she figured out what to do. Naturally, in an attempt to fix things; she focused on her witty nature. "And you chose Maine? This place is surrounded by water." Fuck. That probably wasn't a good way to start fixing things. "Sorry, sorry." A hand fell onto Jasmine's shoulder. "I'm probably not making you feel better; but what I'm trying to say is, It's okay." And it was, while she wasn't used to it. Raven didn't have a problem with it.

"Don't tell anyone, but I kinda needed a hug anyway."

Daniel Reaving



​

 

[Winona]

Keisha

Holy fuck.

Grace had said yes.

And just like that, fucking Sawyer had to ruin the moment. Keisha narrowed her eyes at Grace's ex for a split second, before forcing a sweet smile onto her face as she looked at the librarian. "So sorry, ma'am." She said, waiting for the elderly librarian to lumber away before she glanced back at Sawyer as she spoke some bullshit.

"Let's go somewhere else, maybe without rude librarians." And bitchy exes.

Keisha pushed her chair back loudly, standing up and holding a hand out to Grace to politely help her out of her chair. She could hear the ancient dinosaur of a librarian angrily grumble something about the noise she was still making, but fuck that. Keisha could care less what others could say about her. Words couldn't break bones or hearts, right?

"C'mon. I have an idea to give you the proper Valentine's that you deserve." And yeah, she was thinking up something. An empty classroom, maybe some paper flowers or something... although Keisha was actually really bad at origami. Ooh! One of the teachers had gotten roses from her husband. She'd just go steal those!

Soap @Iskolde​

 

[Winona]

Mason


Okay, this was something... right?

"Uh... yeah, sure." Mason said. He glanced around the hallway at the various students, then gestured with a tilt of his head for Sam to follow him. "Come on. One of these classrooms has to be empty." He went up to one of the doors, trying the handle and then pushed in. Just as he expected, it was empty. Mason flipped on the light and held the door open for Sam.

Once she was in, he let the door fall closed, and then headed to one of the desks, sitting down on top of it before looking towards Sam. God, this was just like the fucking time with June, when he'd told her all the bullshit about his life. What a fucking mistake that had been. And maybe this was the exact same kind of mistake.

God, he fucking hoped it wasn't.

"So obviously I'm not good at this fucking... talking shit." He sighed heavily, running a hand through his dark hair and making it a mess on top of his head. "I don't even know how to fucking start. What the fuck are we even talking about?"

Well, he thought he knew. What their relationship status really was, but fuck, Mason wasn't ready for this.

Gomenesigh​