{Private with GoodVibes}

[Lady Odyssey]

As it states in the title above, this is private between GoodVibes and I. Please do not post if you are not GoodVibes. Thank you, and enjoy reading. ;3





─Runner♥

 

[Lady Odyssey]

Elias Tyler Wilde


Monday, 4:17am


- - - - -


"I don't fucking care! I need that check by the end of the day or you can say goodbye to your only experienced car mechanic."
​

Elias stirred in his sleep, the wall muffling his father's conversation. Tangled underneath his bed sheets, he cracked open his blue eyes, tiredness sinking deep into his bones. With a groan, he lifted his eyes over to the small digital clock that rested on the night table beside his bed. Neon numbers said it was 4:17 in the morning. Fan-bloody-tastic. First day back to school, and I wake up two hours earlier than usual. Thanks, Dad. In frustration, he kicked off the sheets wrapped around his legs, mumbling swears under his breath. His father was probably drunk. Again. And probably out of money--he usually wants his paycheck a few days earlier if he starts running low on money for booze. And knowing him, he'll just spend the whole paycheck on booze, and not for the bills that are due in a week. He sighed, rubbing his face tiredly as he sat on the edge of the navy blue bed, feet dangling over the cold, dark wooden floor. Time to get ready for the first day back.
​

​

The steaming water rolled off his shoulders, easing the stiffness he gets in the early mornings. Stepping out of the shower, he wrapped a towel around himself, shivering in the cold air that surrounded him. Elias, now somewhat dry, changed into his usual attire--a flannel, a white t-shirt underneath, and a pair of his favorite dark jeans. He walked into his blue themed bedroom, glancing at the alarm clock out of habit. 6:09 am. He still had another hour until he needed to head out to the bus stop; his father didn't want to take the precious time out of his day to drop him off when it would take about four minutes. Of course, he'd probably get pulled over for driving 'under the influence', which basically meant driving while drunk. Elias suddenly was a bit glad he took the bus instead of being dropped off by his old man. Finding his backpack in the corner of his room, he unzipped it, and began to load it with notebooks (not that he'd use them), a few pencils, a calculator, and a few other things he'd need (not really), and then packed his own lunch (just a PJ sandwich), and glanced at the time. 6:58 am. Time to go.


The cold, harsh winter air slapped him as he gently shut the front door behind him, thankful his father had passed out shortly after his phone call and demanding for a early paycheck. Elias stuffed his iPod in his pocket, putting his black ear-buds in, playing his playlist of his favorite music as he began walking. It was about a half mile to the bus stop. The dead autumn leaves crunched underneath his black converse shoes, his hands stuffed in his pockets as he walked at a faster pace, wanting to get this day over with already. It had been an entire week since he's had to walk to the bus stop. A week ago, he had gotten in a fight with some jock named Brandon--served him good, too, by breaking the stupid guy's nose, and sent him to the school nurse for the whole day. Of course, word leaked out that it was Elias Wilde that had been in the fight--no surprise there, really--and he was suspended for an entire week. His father never found out because he was either too drunk to notice he was home, or he was busy at the car shop. Not that Elias really cared, either.


The ten minutes to the bus stop were spent listening to his iPod, glancing around at the woods, and trying not to shiver as he walked, crushing brown leaves in the mean time. Elias kicked a few rocks in his path, glancing upward as he reached his destination. At the stop, a few teens huddled on the bench, a few shivering and others on their phones, possibly texting their friends. He rolled his eyes, standing from a comfortable distance from them. He never did really like being around people--especially not these morons from his school, filled with even more morons. He sat against his favorite tree, arms folded over his chest as he stuffed his iPod away in his backpack, staring at the ground in boredom as he waited with the rest of the teenagers. A few dark clouds rolled in the distance as the wind began to pick up. He lifted his blue eyes towards the sky, blinking. Probably going to rain later--he liked the rain, so he almost looked forward to it. Almost. He heard it before he saw it; the squeaking of the bus's breaks as it pulled into the stop.


Elias walked into his homeroom; room 207. All eyes turned towards him, some glaring and others just simply staring, waiting for him to say something or do something. He did neither. He simply walked in silence, and sat down in his usual spot. He felt satisfied no one had the guts to sit in his spot. He crossed his arms as he watched more students poured in, along with the chatter filled with gossip and lies.

He didn't really give a damn anymore. And they all knew it.
​

 

[Good Vibes]

“...things have changed for me, and that’s okay…”


A small groan fell from Charlie’s lips as rolled over on her side, slowly trekking over to her alarm clock like an incredibly lazy roly-poly, she was going to take all the time she could. Her bed just felt so warm and so soft and she was just wrapped in this perfect little cocoon - the thought of leaving was just too painful. But she had to go to school, no way in hell could she stand being home all alone for an entire day. A real living nightmare is what that would be. So the young woman wriggled her lightly freckled arm out of her embarrassing yet most cherished Lord of the Rings blanket, courtesy of her grandma. After fumbling around for the ‘snooze’ button and knocking over nail polish and a water bottle, she finally found the smooth black button and pressed down - the song thankfully ending. And a pool of relief washed over her. But she still had to get up and get ready. The Battle of Morning Dew wasn’t quite over. ‘Battle of Morning Dew? Really?’ Charlie shook her head at her mental little mock battle on the morning, a temporary bit of shame popping into her head. The kids at school would never let her live it down of they found out about her love for the magical series. Thank goodness only Brandon and her older brother came in her room.


Now, as she pushed herself up on her bum with hunched shoulders, the true quietness of the household quickly gripped at her chest. It made her incredibly uncomfortable, it bothered her how silent the house was. Charlie pushed herself out of bed to find her daily solution, a small Crosley record player in the corner of the bedroom. It was beaten up around the corners and sometimes the record wobbled a little too much on the table, but she loved it dearly. And she loved her little record collection just as much. Charlie crouched down in front of the wooden carton that contained all her records and rifled through them, deciding with one would be best that morning all while fighting to wake her muddled mind and get the sleep from her eyes. Finally she settled on the first record she ever purchased, one of Bob Marley’s. She carefully placed it on the table and placed the needle, the first song whirring to a start. And thus began the start of her morning. All boring and minute details, such as which clothes she picked{a pair of black pants, a white shirt with a yellow psychedelic sun, and a black cardigan}, how she did her hair{a sloppy-meant-to-be-sloppy bun}, or how long it even took for her to get ready{around fifteen minutes}. After she had finished with all her trotting around and getting ready, she shut off the record player and headed to the garage to grab her car and head off to school. This was her usual morning. Always quick and routine, and always lonely. And if she had her family home with her after school or at least on the weekends, it wouldn’t be all that bad. But it was always so lonely. And it was so quiet for such a big house. Maybe that’s what made her initially fall in love with music.


Charlie had arrived at school a little later than she usually did, she had spent way too much time picking a song to play on the way and the roads were a little bit more icy than usual so she had to take it nice and slow. But she arrived 4 minutes before the bell rang, so no harm done. On the way, Kyle had texted her asking where she was, but because she was running late she told him he didn’t have to wait for her. So this was a walk to class all by herself. Quiet hellos were passed through the quad as everyone made their way to class, but conversation was light and uncommon on this kind of morning. Way too cold to just linger in the hallways, everyone was practically bolting to class. Hers, luckily, was 207. It wasn’t all too far, and it had an incredible heating system. Hastily she made her way to the classroom and pushed it open with her shoulder, her head ducked and cheeks flushed from the cold. Thank goodness it hadn’t started yet. The young woman made her way to her seat next to none other than Elias and slid onto the hard blue plastic, ducking her head to seat her bag down and pull out their workbook - the teacher gets all pissy if it’s not on the table by the time he starts warmups. Charlie was actually kind of excited about the day, they were doing this new project in photography that she had been waiting all year for. But as her mind focused on the classroom and her ears listened to the gossip and hateful words around her, she felt her stomach drop. Great. Fan - fucking - tastic. Deep inside her, she knew this was going to be a bad day.


Bad energy and snippy teenagers made her uncomfortable, made her skin crawl. She wasn’t sure what to do. Slowly, Charlie glanced over at Elias - gauging what mood he might be in. And while she wasn’t a mind reader, it was obvious to everyone what was on his mind. So she tried her best to relieve some of the tension in the air. And while the two were in no way close, Charlie didn’t like seeing anyone like this. Elias was usually a little ball of anger, but this was bad. This was different.


“Hey...long time no see,” She quietly offered a tease with a twinge of a smile on her face, not as open in case he were to immediately shut her down. Maybe teasing might not be the safest route. Charlie shifted in her seat and looked forward, fiddling with the end of her notebook with her index finger and thumb as she racked her brain with topics or ideas. And then she got one, this topic never failed. “I got the coolest Social Distortion vinyl yesterdat at Championship Records. Y’know, the one we were all looking at last meeting - with the cover art and everything. It’s great.” Kind of awkward...but better than nothing?? At least, that’s what she hoped.

 

[Lady Odyssey]

The tension in the air made him want to leave, never to return. Of course, if he did such a thing, his father would kill him. Not to mention he'd never be able to get a good job if he dropped high school. Though he did decently in academics--his best subject has to be math, so far--he had enough brains to know if he didn't get his act together, he wouldn't get a good paying job, and then he'd end up like his father, slaving away for some old guy in a car shop. The car shop wasn't horrible in payment, but his father could have been a doctor, or even a lawyer, had he stuck it out in high school. So, Elias took that lesson and has used to it to try to keep himself from losing his mind while dealing with daily conflicts and struggles in high school. And though he wanted to keep his bad boy appearance, he knew grades mattered, too. So, over the week spent home in boredom, he promised himself to at least get a B average before the year is up. It would be difficult, but not impossible.


Elias ran a hand over his desk's smooth surface absentmindedly, the heater's air finally warming his skin. He stared at his hand, his eyes skimming over all the scars he'd earned in the course of many--too many, really--fights he's been in since freshman year. His knuckles always seemed to look as if he had just been in a fight; cuts covered them, some larger than others. Other signs of brawls were all over his body: he broke his nose his sophomore year and now it's pretty obvious, he has a few stitches on his left cheek that still can be seen, and he has more hidden battle scars along his abdomen, back and arms. Most nights after fights, he would change into a set of clothes to cover his bruises with long sleeved shirts, some jeans, but he would be helpless if he had a big old bruise on his face, or a busted lip; if it came to it, he'd usually wait outside the house until his father either passed out from drinking, or went to bed, so he would remain undetected. He had learned a long time ago that his father did not enjoy him fighting. So, better not to be caught.


Empty chatter and small talk filled the room, some excited and others talking negatively over what had happened over the weekend. Gossip spread like a wild fire in the room, a few dirty looks cast from a few of the guys in the room. It took everything in him not to roll his eyes. He leaned farther into his uncomfortable seat, glancing up at the teacher, quietly swearing under his breath--he had forgotten to take his notebook out. He just hoped the teacher wouldn't notice him. Of course, not much would happen if he did notice Elias--he'd maybe get a little pissed off, scold him in front of the class, but nothing too serious. At this point in his life, he doesn't care what punishment is thrown at him; he's experienced it all. In the second semester of freshman year, he'd been sent to the principle's office about ten times, and only in that semester. But now, he's learned to be more careful to make sure the principle doesn't call his father; not only would the principle kill him, but his father would too if he found out.


While he had been lost in the labyrinth of his mind, Charlie had sat down beside him in her usual place. A few moments passed by, and she opened her mouth. He shifted in his seat to look at her. She greeted him in a quiet, almost nervous voice, and even offered a weak smile. Not sure what to make of her, he shrugged. "Hey yourself," he offered a small, fake smile back at her, not wanting to make this more awkward than it already is. Elias looked at her again, watching as her mind racked for something to say. It almost amused him. Almost. He folded his arms, nodding at her words. "Cool. That's really awesome," was all he said. Though he was listening to her, he was slowly starting to wander off in his own mind about how much he's going to dread this whole week of catching up on school work. It was a bit rude, he knew, but then again, he didn't really know her. Now that he thinks about it, he doesn't know anyone really in this school--he probably knows the principle the most, considering how much time he spends visiting her in her office over the span of a few weeks, or days.


Eli silently estimated how much homework he'd have to make up for in Mrs. Randell's class--World History, his most dreaded subject possible. He didn't mind learning history, though. He just hated Mrs. Randell. Everyone in school did, in fact. She isn't exactly the nicest, and she hands out homework almost every day, has pop quizzes at least once a week, and doesn't except late work unless there's an excused absence. All in all, she's a brutal middle aged woman that everyone hates. He and Mrs. Randell had been known to get into arguments, and she had, multiple times, sent him to detention if he had been overly frustrated with her, voicing everyone's annoyance with the stubborn lady's teaching style. He looked up at the clock as the minute hand slowly moved, one minute closer to World History. Great. He fiddled with his fingers as he tuned out their teacher, Mr. Homefree, as he began to lecture about something entirely boring and making him want to fall asleep. Glancing around the silent classroom, he confirmed that he wasn't the only one bored out of his mind--most everyone looked as if they would fall asleep at any given moment. He felt an amused smile spread across his mouth as Mr. Homefree scolded a boy, Travis, for sleeping during class, threatening to give him a detention slip.