Westbrook Season 2

[Dede]

Stu​

Stu glanced at his phone and saw that his messages had gone unread:

Beanie Bro

them

ok

me

morning sleepy head

me

I watered your damn petunias

me

now quit nagging me abt them

By that he meant he “watered” them properly, of course. With water.

He kind of wished Jace was still here, too. Instead he had to go and be an adult and do adult things, leaving Stu friendless once again. He sighed and slipped his phone into the pocket of his jacket. But it didn’t quite go in and instead fell clattering to the sidewalk. Stooping down to pick it up he narrowly avoided walking into a lamp post. God, he was barely keeping it together, and the school day hadn’t even started yet.

But it was a new academic year, and because of that he tried to stay positive. Who knows? Maybe school would be different this time round -- it might even surprise him.

Quite a few things have changed since the beginning of summer break actually, and they haven’t all been bad.

He’d grown somewhat, his voice was deeper and he didn’t look as much like an eternal momma’s boy now. He was taller, too. Tall is good, right?

He was living in a mansion. Elise’s mansion, to be specific. Dad said the commute was easier from there, but he knew it was just an excuse for the two of them to move in together. They hadn’t gotten to the stage where they shared the same bedroom yet, or maybe they had and Stu didn't know it yet.

Speaking of sharing bedrooms, he had been sharing Jace’s, which wasn’t as bad as it sounded. Jace was finally teaching him how to play the guitar, making him learn a few new chords everyday. Soon he would be able to charm all the girls, obviously.

Another thing. He was no longer blonde, on account of him losing a bet to Mason. Stu said no way Elise was going to make him repeat a year for beating Aaron up on account of Stu. Well, he was wrong. At first he hated it, but it kind of grew on him. He was thinking perhaps his classmates wouldn’t recognise him this way. Maybe, just maybe, they’d stop calling him Neck Tie.

Oh, and he’d been going to the hospital every day. Not because he was sick or anything. All the nurses knew him by name. He also had the onus of telling that one nurse that he wasn’t actually Stu Jackson, but rather Stu French.

‘Stu French. . . Aren’t you the one that got sick drinking all that vodka?’

‘No,’ another nurse chimed in from behind the reception desk. ‘He’s the one that fell into a sink and got twelve stitches.’

‘Yeah,’ he admitted shyly. ‘That was me.’

‘Which one? The vodka or the sink?’

‘Um. . . both,’ he said.

Anyway, Westbrook seemed pretty dead this morning. He'd arrived a lot earlier than anybody else. That's because he came in the car with Ash, Dad and Elise. Oh yes, one last thing. . . Elise was kind of principal now. It was too soon to say whether this was a good or a bad thing. Who was he kidding? It was bad. Really bad.

After lingering awhile in the car park, going around in pointless circles, kicking up clouds of dust, Stu glanced at the time and decided it was time to get a move on. OK. Positive thoughts. It can’t be that bad, right? It can’t be worse than showing up in a suit and neck tie.

With newfound courage the sophomore headed for the main entrance. Zen calmness. Carpe diem. Sieze the day. Let the past die, kill it if you have to. Focus on the now. Be the change that you wish to see in the world—

Suddenly he heard a fateful sound and looked up. . .

Right then a roundish object fell from the sky and struck him dead where he stood:

 

[PenguinFox]

The girl seemed hesitant at first so Parker assured her again that he wasn't technically a stranger. "Yep, my mom is his aunt." Once she accepted the ride he grinned widely. "Ah, don't worry about it. It's no trouble at all really. I've got no plans until later today anyway so don't you worry about delaying me." He watched her as she got settled into his car and put on her seatbelt. From the outside he looked like he was making sure she was buckling up, but in reality he was sizing her up. His mind was at work trying to figure out exactly how easy she would be. His eyes caught the name on her bag and he took of few moments of thinking it over in his head. Fuck he was terrible with names. Pronouncing them and remembering them.

As Parker pulled away from the curb and began the drive to her home she asked for his name. "My name's Parker." he gave a nod to her bag. "I'm guessing that you're...G-...Gianna?" he pronounced it as 'Jahn-na' which after it came out of his mouth he felt stupid. It was most likely pronounced 'Gee-anna' as was most common. Great job. Mispronouncing someone's name was totally a great way to get in their pants.

In an attempt to change the subject Parker cleared his throat and spoke up. "So, why were you walking with all those groceries? I mean like cars exist, and if you can't drive there's always uber or whatever. Or are you like a fitness fanatic?" he raised an eyebrow and glanced over at her, a smirk starting to rise, before turning into a joking grin. "..Or even worse! A hippy! Saving the planet by walking everywhere because one car makes the difference!" a boisterous laugh escaped Parker's lips. Confidence was always key. If you laugh confidently, people begin to think you're actually funny, even if you aren't. Elf_Ruler

Tallulah's grin matched Jace's as he opened the door. It was good to see him smiling. He had been through a lot over the past few months and deserved to be truly happy and not just putting on a brave face for everyone. That wasn't to say he had been through more than Ash or Sean, but when you're taking care of everyone else, who looks after you?

Jace then proceeded to slip and stumble. Lulu tried her hardest not to giggle but couldn't hold it in. She covered her mouth with her hand out of courtesy. "Sorry, I know I shouldn't laugh. You're really smooth, has anyone ever told you that?" she said lightly teasing him. As per usual Jace was wearing his beanie that was made for him. She didn't really understand what 'Beanie Bro' meant, but the fact that it was made specially for him was touching. It was a thoughtful gift and Lulu was glad Jace had someone in his life that cared enough about him to do something like that for him. Plus the embroidering on it was just darling.

"Well I thought I'd stop by to say hi. We haven't really talked just us in a while and I missed it. I've got some exciting news too!" Tallulah's eyes drifted behind Jace into the home, and her smile faltered a little. She hadn't considered the fact the he might actually be busy already, she just sort of dropped by unannounced. What if he was too busy to hang out? "Oh, um...I'm sorry...I just sort of showed up...you- you're not busy are you?" Her hands instinctively went up to the necklace she was wearing and began fiddling with it. Her last boyfriend had given it to her before he had to leave town and her hands found it whenever she was anxious; which seemed to be more and more common ever since prom night. Winona

 

[a z u l a]

Chase

It was a relief that the boy wasn't angry, and at least a little amused by his stupid joke. It seemed the Vaughn's were always injuring people, even if it wasn't on purpose. At least since his younger siblings had been in New York the amount of fist fights at Westbrook High had significantly decreased, though the drama certainly hadn't. It was nice being away from all of the constant high school drama, but he had to admit that not knowing anyone at his new school was quite lonely. Of course he still had a few friends in Westbrook that hadn't gone away to college, but he was more than looking forward to making new friends this year.

"Nice to meet you, Noah. Sorry about that again." He spoke, awkwardly rubbing the back of his neck as he tried to recover from the embarrassment of elbowing a perfect stranger in the face. "Do you go to school around here?" He asked, hoping that maybe despite the slight physical harassment he could make a friend out of this. Perhaps elbowing people in the face wasn't the best way to make friends, but Chase was willing to try anything.

mogy

Alaska

"Stu dyed his hair?" Alaska exclaimed, looking over to Sawyer with shock painted on her face. Even though she really hadn't been friends with the little kit-kat lover for long, she was very surprised to hear that he had felt the need to dye his little blonde head. Maybe it was to impress a girl. She'd interrogate him about it later, right now her focus was on Sawyer. "Well, Ryder and I are back for good so there will be plenty of fights to make up for how boring Westbrook must've been without us. I already punched Mason." The brunette joked, she'd really been hoping for a drama free year, but her first week back had already been full of drama and she knew it was only bound to get worse. She hoped that at least tonight would go okay so she could let Sawyer relax and have a good time without worrying about the constant drama.

It was nice to see her best friend smile, she almost looked the the fun, familiar Sawyer she was used to for a moment. She reached into the console between them and pulled out the bottle, grinning as she inspected the alcohol content. "Good for us is right. I missed Westbrook parties." The parties in New York had been full of stuck up rich kids, much too pretentious and boring for the Vaughns. Westbrook parties were crazy and full of drama, but it was familiar and Alaska always managed to have a good time.

"So, can I claim this as my gift for JJ?" Alaska laughed as she got out of Sawyer's car, carrying the bottle with her and following behind her friend into the giant house before them. In hind-sight, it was probably rude to show up to JJ's birthday party without a gift, but it wasn't like the two were friends. She was only here for Sawyer, and maybe to get a little drunk. She'd been bored out of her mind without her friends, she couldn't wait to see what chaos would ensue tonight.

By the time the two walked in there was already quite a few people there. The whole house was decorated in pink and Alaska couldn't help but cringe at the sight of the little dog running around in a dress. She wouldn't expect anything less of JJ. "So, how exactly do you put up with JJ?" Alaska asked, walking over to the nearest table and grabbing cups for herself and Sawyer.

KingofAesir​

 

[Winona]

Ava


Following what had happened the Saturday before, Ava had just been... confused. Confused about her feelings for JJ, confuse about what she was even supposed to do now. Ava had been doing her best to avoid JJ while she tried to work through whatever this weird feeling was. Ava had never crushed on anybody before, but she had a feeling that that's what was happening.

Fuck.

Her footsteps took her into the cafeteria, and Ava found herself stopping short, her gaze moving around the room. There was no way she could sit with JJ anymore -- not that sitting with JJ at the stupid popular table had exactly been her favorite thing. The only reason she had ever sat there had been for her, and that was absolutely pitiful.

Ava's gaze then fell on the only empty table in the room, save for one snowboard wielding punk. She looked around once more, praying and hoping for somewhere that might be a little bit better, but there was nothing. So Ava sucked up her pride, and trudged her way across the cafeteria to come to a stop across the table from Caleb.

"Do you care if I sit here?"

Soap

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

Zander

Life was awesome.

Maybe not literally, but he liked to keep an upbeat, positive spin on the world and life in general. He'd had his fair share of depression and shitty bouts in the world, so why not relax and allow himself to enjoy everything and the world once in a while? And the last weekend had been awesome, even if he had destroyed JJ's gift.

It was lunch time, but Zander was supposed to be on detention for a ridiculous misunderstanding. Their art teacher had said make something unique, so Zander had made something unique. That unique thing, of course, being a spray painted Westbrook Wolf on the wall of the gym. But apparently, that wasn't "alright" and he needed to "ask for permission."

So now he was fucking in detention.

But instead of attending detention, Zander was trying to skip it. He'd said he had to go to the bathroom, but instead he was just wandering the hallways, counting away the minutes of hell.

Twin Fantasy​

 

[Soap]

Juliette

Juliette glared towards Sawyer, grabbing a pillow and throwing it towards her head. JJ was more than qualified to say that she was a terrible kisser. While it wasn't the worst kiss, it definitely wasn't something she wanted to do again. Although, that probably was something to do with just Sawyer and not her kissing skills. Not that she'd admit to that. Sawyer was... just not her type. "Um. Total lies. You're a terrible kisser and I was vulnerable so, technically it's your fault."

She wasn't evil, and while she didn't want Sawyer sleeping in her bed, the brunette would rather she wouldn't drive. A sleepover was probably much better than a freak accident, this night didn't need to be ruined more than it already was. "Fine. But stay on your side." JJ squished a pillow in between the two, it wasn't a very small bed but personal boundaries had to be set.

"I don't sleep without TV, so I'm putting on sixteen candles." Believe or not, Juliette actually listened to Sawyer sometimes, and watching her most hated movie was a good enough punishment for almost murdering someone at her party. A few hours later and the two were sound asleep, the pillow barrier between them vanished and JJ would deny that she ever fell asleep on Sawyer's shoulder that night.

Gifts and parties were great, but in the end everyone went home, and she was all alone again. It's a good reasoning as to why she went all out for her parties. It was a night where all attention was on her, because god forbid no one smiled at the birthday girl. But now it was over and she wasn't really all that special anymore. But for the first time she wasn't so disappointed on how it ended. Maybe it was worth going through the disasters of tonight.

--

This was her last week of being Cheer Captain, and obviously, you didn't know Juliette very well if you believed she wasn't going all out. While Tatum was going through her emotional breakdown, or her sick day or whatever. JJ seized the moment when she wasn't around to argue with and added a new member onto the team... maybe without the rest of the girls knowing, but that's not the point! They needed more girls and Tatum wasn't doing anything about it.

It would've taken too long to get a say from her, and she was captain so it didn't matter. All Juliette had to say was yes and it was a done deal.

Unfornutely, the other girl couldn't auditon that day, so it'll be a small surprise for the rest of the girls at practice, maybe then they'll feel like they had a say in the whole thing. Done and done. Now when these girls are the second and third best of the team, everyone will appulad JJ for being such a good captain.

Okay, maybe she's being a little too much, but Tatum isn't living up to the role! She got captain because she planned prom. So? Is it some weird law that whoever is on the planning committee suddenly becomes cheer captain? Whatever the case was, Tatum didn't work for it and she shouldn't of got it. Juliette's going to make it known that she's working for it. Just in case something happens, you could never be too careful.

They could easily strip Tatum of whatever fake power she had, and Juliette will be there with a smile on her face as the coach assigns it to her.

Done and done.

She placed the radio onto the football field and flipped through the playbook, double checking the routines she'd been planning. Again, Tatum wasn't around so... someone had to step up, and as captain, Juliette was more than happy to oblige.

Well, practice and surprise audition.



Winona KingofAesir Elf_Ruler g3mini Pysren

​

 

[Dede]

Westbrook Wolf

​

Stu hadn’t meant to lie to Audra, but that other girl who followed him had decided to invent heroics for him on the spot, and he couldn’t bring himself to refute her, since Audra seemed so impressed by them. Plus, it was just a small lie – after all he was trying to help Mason before he got punched. And Kanen had hit him for trying to step between a fight before. So it wasn’t a deed he hadn’t done before… right? Right?

So he went home a hero, and he did what Audra told him to do, he iced his nose albeit with a bag of frozen peas. Then he checked and checked his phone waiting for Audra to text him, like she said she would. Sure enough, she did. And he texted her back, saying he was glad she came to see him on the field, even though it was embarrassing to be seen in the wolf costume. Maybe they could do something together this weekend. Or maybe at the fall festival?

Then later that night he got in an argument with Elise, who was less than pleased to learn what had happened to the school’s wolf costume. She said he was going to pay for it to get cleaned out of his own pocket, and Stu protested angrily, until dad stepped in and sided with the red-haired witch – of course he would.

The wolf was cleaned and ready for business again, just in time for the the fall festival, where he was supposed to read out the homecoming court. Speaking on the stage as Westbrook wolf wasn’t something Stu had ever done before, but since Audra might be watching, he was planning to give it his best, and preferably a least embarrassing, performance.

And so the wolf stood in front of the microphone, looking down at the crowd below. The festival had been going on for some time, and despite his costume not many had noticed him stepping up onto the stage. How was he supposed to get their attention?

‘Ooooooooooowoooohooooooooo—’ he howled. God, this wasn’t embarrassing at all. ‘ATTENTION CITIZENS OF WEST—’

There was crazy loud feedback from the microphone, and a noise blasted through the crowd. Well, that was one way to get everyone’s attention.

‘…brook.’

When all eyes were turned toward him, he recoiled a little, stuttered, and spoke a little more shyly now.

‘I’m... I'm here to announce the Homecoming Court for this year. Please come up the stage if your name is called. The first— The first pair… um…’ He fiddled with the envelope which he could hardly handle with his paws, dropped it, and picked it up again, hitting the microphone with his wolf head as he got back up. 'The first pair—'

He looked up at the crowd, and leant in toward the microphone.

‘Congratulations! Tatum Browne!’ he said. ‘and…’

The Westbrook Wolf squinted twice at the piece of paper in his paw, as if in slight disbelief.

‘Oh… um…’ he said. ‘.... and Mason.’

@ Everyone

 

[Winona]

Beau

The fall festival had been, like, a total bust. It was so stupid but no one had wanted to buy her very fashionable bows. Which was like, totally ridiculous! She'd tried to stop nearly everyone that walked past, offering them bows at the low, low price of only 9.99 but no. All of these people thought they were too good for her bows, which just made Beau stomp around and huff angrily and pout. That just drove more business away, but whatever. And then the stage caught on fire, and Beau had to quickly pack her bows up and save their lives.

What a disaster. Beau had planned to not only sell a bunch of her bows, but also get more people to buy into this business setup! Bling Bling had a great thing where if Beau got more people to sell their bows, then she would get more money, and so on and so forth. It was such a brilliant idea! She just needed five people to sign up to start getting the full benefits.

Maybe today she could sell some of her bows.

Plus, Beau knew that today was the day that the new hot Black Mill kids were going to be showing up. She was so excited, so ready to meet them. They'd been so nice to her on Twitter, even setting her up with a boyfriend and everything! Of course, there had been so many of them that she couldn't really remember which one was her boyfriend, but that didn't matter! Beau had pulled up the Twitter account of her favorite so that she would recognize him when she saw him.

And boy oh boy did she recognize that hot blonde stud muffin when she saw him. If this was an animated show of some sort, or you know... if TLC made a reality show about her life like she kept asking them to, then there would be definite hearts over her head, in her eyes, and definitely over her new bae. It was totally most definitely love at first sight.

Beau threw herself at her new bae, wrapping her arms tightly around the tall and very muscular blonde. "OMG, bae, it's so good to meet you I love you." Well.

This was going a-MAZING.

Braddington @ whoever else is around him​

 

[Winona]

Ash

She'd heard about Grace's near death experience from Jace, who had heard it from Stu. Stu, who had been here when Grace had almost passed away -- when it should've been Ash there, comforting her dying friend, but she could barely even stand in the hospital room without feeling overwhelming guilt and shame. And when others would come to visit, they would cast hateful glances her way that would leave Ash feeling even more hurt. More depressed. More like she wanted to just curl into a ball and disappear from this world. Or go to sleep. Endlessly. Forever.

"Hey, Grace."

Her voice cracked and broke as she stepped farther into the room, the sound of her shoes against the ground echoing off the cold white walls. It was so quiet, with only the rhythmic beeping of the machines keeping Grace company in this white brick prison.

Ash glanced over her shoulder -- no one was looking, so she stepped closer and closer until Ash was beside Grace, looking down at the face of her best friend. That face that she had seen every day, of every week, of every month, of every year since first grade when she'd first met Grace. Right then and there, when Ash had first introduced herself after standing up to someone bullying Grace, Ash knew that they would be inseparable. That nothing would break their friendship apart.

Well she hadn't been expecting this. An accident. Grace paying for Ash's endless mistakes.

It was all her fault. Ash wanted to be the one in Grace's bed, hooked up to machines, barely living. She deserved it, didn't she? To die? Ash hadn't done anything right in so long and maybe it would just be… better. Better if she was the one dying.

God, she'd give anything to be in that bed instead of Grace. Grace had floated through life, a picture perfect angel. She deserved to have that life that they'd always envisioned growing up. The beautiful wedding, falling in love, a family. That picture perfect, white picket fence life.

Ash reached down, her fingers brushing against Grace's fingers. She hesitated, glancing towards the doorway again, and then Ash carefully sat down in the little sliver of space beside Grace. She was gentle, slow, careful not to disrupt any of the machines keeping her friend alive as she laid down, her head turned to look over st Grace's face, her fingers intertwined with hers. There was no movement, no returning grip. Nothing. And that made tears start to build.

It was like she was sleeping. Just sleeping.

“Please don’t give up. Don’t go.” Her voice was a choked whisper, cracking and shaking as she tried to keep the tears back. “I don’t know how I’m supposed to be okay without you, alright? Just… don’t go. Please. It’s selfish, but I need you. Sawyer needs you. Your mom needs you. We all need you.”

She swallowed the lump in her throat, her blue eyes looking at every inch of her best friend’s sleeping face. Grace looked so peaceful -- like Sleeping Beauty. If only like Sleeping Beauty, it was easy to erase her curse.

“I feel so stupid.” Ash said quietly. Grace couldn’t hear her, but maybe telling someone what was going on would make her feel… something. Better. Maybe it would be a relief. “I broke up with Sean, right? And I feel so bad about it. It wasn’t anything he did. He was great -- amazing, even. Like, I stayed with him every night over the summer because of the nightmares. And it was great. I felt… safe. Comfortable. And I thought ‘Hey, maybe I’m finally over Ryder. Maybe now I can move on.’”

Her words caught in her throat, as she thought back to the first day of school. “And then I saw Ryder at school and he was with Nova and like, even though he was with her and I hadn’t seen him for almost a year, I…” she stopped for a moment, letting out a breathless sigh. “I knew I wasn’t over him. That’s so sad, isn’t it? That I had this amazing guy that I’ve never fought with and has always been there for me, but the instant I see Ryder I just… forget. All of that. I still love him.” Stupidly.

Her relationship with Ryder had never been secure, or safe. It had been a constant argument, and they had broken up at least twice in the short time that they’d been together. Their relationship had been heated, but Ash had loved every second of it, and she missed being able to call Ryder hers.

Ash wanted to tell her more, to keep talking, but it felt weird to keep going over her own issues even if Grace didn’t actually know what she was saying. Plus what else would she mention? How much she regretted sleeping with Kanen, or how she had kissed Raven and then started avoiding the brunette?

It wasn’t anything against either of them, it was just… Ash couldn’t talk to them about it. She wanted to pretend like nothing had happened between her and them, because nothing had. It was just sex. It was just a kiss.

Ash had almost brought it up to Ian, but it seemed… wrong. Uncomfortable. Even if he was her best friend, somehow it felt wrong to talk to him about who she had slept with. Plus he had done so much for her… Ash didn’t want to drag him down. Ruin him. Break him. Not like she had done with Grace.

“You’d get it.” She continued. “What I feel about Ryder, and why I can’t move on. When you look at Sawyer… I can tell that you aren’t over her. Keisha was just your rebound, wasn’t she? To try and move on, but Grace… it doesn’t work. You don’t move on. You just stay miserable and… I’m so sorry. For breaking you and Sawyer up. I didn’t.. I didn’t mean to do that, you know? Sawyer… she loves you.

“Like, granted, she punched me in the face and told me to go die, but she loves you. And… she kinda scares me, but she cares about you so much. You gotta wake up for her, okay? For Sawyer. She can’t.. She doesn’t have anyone else to fall back on if you don’t make it. So pull through for her, alright?”

Ash squeezed her hand, but there was still no response. It was just a cold reminder. “But if you can’t, if you can’t wake up for her, just… know that that’s okay, alright, Grace? It’ll be okay. As long as Sawyer doesn’t kill me first, I’ll be there for her.” Sawyer would definitely kill her first, but she wanted Grace to know that they would be fine. They would pull through for her, stay strong for her.

“I want you to wake up, but if you can’t, that’s okay. I still love you, Grace. I’ll always love you. You’re my best friend.”

Tears started to spill over now, dripping onto the pillow.

“Remember at Homecoming? Your first Homecoming -- freshman year. And you were so excited and you looked so pretty. Like a princess. You used to always want to pretend to be a princess, but finally you were. You were a princess. And remember how we ditched our dates? And we danced together to that one song. You were smiling so much, and it was… it was probably the best night of my life.”

Ash swallowed the lump in her throat and rolled over onto her side, closing her eyes. Her hands squeezed Grace’s hand harder.

“Do you remember the song? Portland Maine. I knew you really liked it, so I asked them to play it. For you. For us.”

She couldn’t stop the flow of tears now as she started to sing, ever so quietly, ever so gently, the lyrics to that song. Their song, in a way.

“See I'm just saving us some trouble somewhere down the line
This kind of town you just leave behind
And you don't know it yet, but you won't come back
And I ain't going nowhere and you know that…”

The words were whispered, shattered, shivering and hinging as her voice cracked and broke until Ash couldn’t keep singing.

“I’m so sorry, Grace. I love you.”

Soap​