Westbrook Season 2

[geminiy]

Isabelle Dupont

Bella followed Zander quietly out of the gym, her hands tucked away in the pocket of her hoodie to hide her still trembling fingers. The more she walked, focusing on the soft footsteps of Zander and herself, the more the pressure in her chest began to lighten, the more the fog that had captivated her mind began rolling away. As they exited the gym, her eyes settled upon a couple wrapped up in each others arms in a bizarrely public make out session. They seemed happy, at least in that moment, and rather... confident in their relationship, for lack of a better term.

Although she had calmed down a fair bit, Zander's question was left unanswered for a moment, her voice caught in her throat. There was so much wrong, so much she could tell him considering the last year and a half of her life had been living hell, from losing her father to the partying to the whole Victor situation. She had enough dirt on herself that she could ruin her own reputation in a few simple words. What would Zander think if she told him that she had been dating a twenty year old when she was fourteen like an absolute idiot, or if she told him that she used to drink herself to sleep every night and was rarely down from her constant high on any and every drug Victor could give her which almost caused her death? All of that was behind her, she'd been over seven months clean and didn't miss a damn thing about that life, but the very fact that she was sucked into that life at all made Bella hate everything about herself.

"I'm okay, I guess." Bella finally managed, still looking down at the floor, her hair draping across her shoulders and hiding her face from view. Part of her almost laughed at the statement. No one needed a PhD to realize things were definitely not okay. Bella stepped into the art room and hopped up to sit on the top of a desk, bracing herself on her knees. It felt good to sit, the muscles that she had been subconsciously clenching in her legs and torso slowly releasing.

A soft laugh rang through the still air of the art room as Bella shook her head. What the hell was she doing?

"I guess I'm a pretty bad actress, huh?" Bella sighed, brushing her hair away from her face. "There's just been a lot going on lately. Someone I used to know is trying to..." Her voice trailed off, the anxiety bubbling back up in her stomach. She wanted to tell Zander everything, to get everything off her chest, but she simply couldn't get the words to go. How could she unload all of her petty problems on to such a sweet guy, a guy that she barely knew?

She hadn't noticed that a few tears had begun dancing down her cheeks until she lifted her head, the air cooling the trails of moisture they had left behind. Bella raised a hand, wiping them away quickly in hopes that Zander hadn't seen her. After a deep breath, Bella pulled a half-assed smile onto her face and finally looked at Zander, though she was certain her smile wasn't fooling anyone.

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't be acting like this. I'm okay, really." Bella said, wiping away another tear that had made it through her defenses, though she wasn't sure if she was trying to convince Zander or herself. "So, um, what did you need?" She asked, the smile she had forced slipping from her lips. They were here to get something, not for Bella to have a full on breakdown with someone she hardly knew.

| Zander Winona |

Jacqueline Dupont

Jackie couldn't shake the worry that settled in her stomach for her sister. Something was up with Bella but there was nothing she could do to get it out of her. Jackie looked over as someone called Bella's name, her eyes falling upon a guy with dark hair standing beside her sister. The corner of her mouth turned up in a smile, though her arms remained crossed across her chest as she watched the two. She was happy that Bella seemed to have made a friend and Jackie silently hoped that this one wouldn't totally fuck her up.

As Bella and the boy left the gym, Jackie turned her attention to the video games. She had to let her sister work things out on her own, to give her the space that she had earned. Jackie took a controller in her hands and looked to Seb, Brayden, and Colby who seemed to be the only few people interested in playing while all the others seemed to be getting involved with other things. What could make a lock-in better then a friendly Mario Kart competition.

"You shouldn't want me to eat your dust too badly since, according to Twitter, you and I are on the same team along with Greyson and Bella, should they ever show up." Jackie teased Brayden, pulling her hair back into a ponytail. Mario Kart was a very serious game to Jackie and she took great pride in her skills. "That is, unless, you guys want to race individually until the others show up. In that case, I hope you like the look from 12th place since that's where you'll be." Jackie giggled with a grin. "Also, I'm calling Peach, she and I go way back."

| Brayden Elf_Ruler | Colby & Seb 0k_mang0 |​

 

[Winona]

Zander

He listened as she spoke, and wasn't super surprised when she tried to brush off whatever it was like it was nothing. Someone from her past was popping back up? At least, that's what he was picking up, and it made sense. It went with the whole deathly ghost look that Bella had had on her face -- and whoever it was didn't sound good. It couldn't have been a good thing for to react the way she did, but Zander wouldn't push it. Bella knew that he was there for her. That's what was important.

"Oh, I didn't actually need anything." Zander said, flashing her a smile as he headed back over to his art project that was laid out on the table still. Right now it didn't look like much -- some smudging, some rough sketch lines, but you could make out the shape of a hazy mountain. He slid into the seat in front of his picture, and picked up one of the pencils.

"Just figured you needed to get out of there." He said with a shrug, tapping the pencil against his chin thoughtfully, his gaze roaming the art project. "You looked kind of panicky. Figured we could talk about whatever was going through your head, but if you don't want to do that..." he trailed off, his dark eyes moving back to Bella. "Well, we can always just hangout until you feel better, okay?" Zander said with another smile, and then looked back at his artwork, and started sketching some more.

Zander knew that personally, he hated breaking down in large crowds or in front of people. It was part of the reason he always found himself escaping to the art room, to drawing and sketching. The artwork wouldn't judge him, and there was something soothing about being able to make something out of nothing.

geminiy

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

Milos

Everyone was calling characters, and Milos had no idea who any of these characters were.

"I call the turtle." He said, scrolling the thing over until he was on the angry turtle that really needed to have its eyebrows trimmed. Milos squinted at the screen, reading the name. "Ah, Bowser. I call Bowser." This was going to go horribly. Milos could easily count on one hand the number of times he had played a video game, and it wasn't like he was exactly in his right state of mind. There was something about being this close to Cam that made him blush harder and made it harder for him to focus.

Cam explained the controls, but there were so many, and Milos was already lost. He listened to the trash talk between Brayden and Jackie when Jackie mentioned that they were on the same team. Bewildered, Milos looked between the two, and then at Cam. "We are on a team?" Milos had not been made aware of this -- he wasn't on Twitter, so he hadn't seen any of the discussion and argument about teams, or any bets. He'd thought it was every man for himself.

Milos felt bad for whatever team he was on.

And then the game was starting, and Milos pressed the forward button. But Bowser didn't start moving right away, and mashing the button didn't help much. He watched as he ended up in 12th place.

Well, he had warned Cam that he was bad.

And then Bowser was moving forward!

.... And then he was falling off the edge of the map.

This was why Milos didn't have his license.

Elf_Ruler (Cam & Brayden) 0k_mang0 (Seb) geminiy (Jackie)​

 

[Twin Fantasy]

Pixie West

Pixie grinned widely when Dante said her outfit looked good. After all, girls do fashion better than boys, anyway. She quickly glanced at Tom, rolling her eyes and limply shaking his hand.
Her palms were surprisingly clean. She tried to keep them that way, because boys have nasty hands, and she's not a boy. Marty always had oil clinging to his palms from working on his car and it drove her up the wall.

"I feel like I look the right level of nice for every occasion." At least most occasions, she probably wouldn't be too well-equipped for a funeral. Her hands folded into her pockets as pipsqueak was now saying little bastard words again. Her gaze darted to big pipsqueak. Apparently he wears those dogfucker costumes. "Listen, feller, I don't wanna hear what yer buddy does in the privacy of his bedroom." Her nose wrinkled, and she turned back to Dante. "The English are fuckin' weirdos, huh!" Not that she didn't know so already, they invented Gorillaz and stargazy pie, so it was absolutely obvious to her from the start. "Sure hope everyone in Westbrook don't go tellin' me about their kinks." Pixie considered herself relatively vanilla, other than all the stuff Marty enjoyed, which was neither here nor there.

// mogy Dede //​

 

[geminiy]

Isabelle Dupont

Bella sat back, propping herself on her hands as her legs gently dangled off the edge of the desk, and listened to Zander as he spoke. He was there for her? He had brought her here to talk because he saw she was upset?

"You didn't have to help me, you know. You don't even really know me." Bella said, her tone unintentionally sharp. As soon as she spoke, she regretted ever opening her mouth. Her eyes fluttered shut and she remained quiet for a moment, her lower lip catching between her teeth. A sigh escaped her lungs and Bella shook her head, at no one but herself. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean that."

Bella hopped off the table, tucking her hands into the back pockets of her jeans. She didn't mean to sound harsh at all, in fact she was incredibly grateful for his help. Her words just had a way of coming out angry when she was hurt which, in her experience, always lead to more pain. She didn't want to push Zander away, he was one of the few faces Bella looked forward to seeing when she wandered the typically lonely halls of the school.

She took a moment to look around the room, gazing at student made pieces of art hung on the walls, the random splotches of paint that could not be removed from the linoleum flooring after a painting class, the smorgasbord of art materials lining tall shelving units. She had never spent much time in art classes, she simply didn't have the talent for drawing and painting and other forms of visual arts. The entire room was so organized and vibrant yet cluttered and muddled all at the same time.

Bella walked over to Zander and his art, looking down at the drawing from the other side of the desk. She traced the edge of the paper with a delicate finger, careful not to touch the actual led on the page. For the first time since she had arrived at the damn lock-in, a smile formed softly on the corner of her lips. "I never understood how someone could make something so beautiful with nothing more than a pen and paper. It's amazing."

Part of the wall that Bella had built up around herself slowly began to crumble away as her gaze flickered from the drawing to Zander. Although he was theoretically a perfect stranger, something about Bella made her trust him. She needed to tell him at least a small bit of what was going on.

"There's this guy, Victor. We used to be together back in France after my Dad... Well, my Dad passed when I was thirteen, almost fourteen. Victor, he was..." Bella paused, searching for the right words to say as she lanced her trembling fingers together. "He did a lot for me after my dad died. We were inseparable, he was the first and only person I've ever loved, though I'm not even sure if I can call it love now looking back. Things between us ended kind of badly. Victor wasn't a good person, always getting into trouble and bringing me down with him. He did some bad things to me, things that made me end the relationship. He ended up in jail and I ended up in a hospital and now here. According to a friend of mine, he's been trying to find me and talk to me. I never want to see him again, I want him to stay as far away from me as possible. He knows we're done. If he finds me here, if he comes here to get to me, I don't know what he'll do."

She hadn't realized she had begun crying again, though some of the stress that had been weighing down on her chest felt like it had been lifted. Zander was the first person in Westbrook to know anything about her past, although it was only the tip of the hellish iceberg that was the past year of her life.

She leaned up against the desk beside Zander and brushed a few stray strands of hair away from her face, wiping the tears from her cheeks on the way. She needed to pull herself together. "I'm sorry, Zander. You shouldn't be here listening to my shit, you should be out there having fun with everyone else. You deserve to be with your friends, not stuck in the art room with me."

She paused a moment, looking over at Zander. He looked so peaceful by his art, like he was built to be there. "Thank you, really. I haven't really been able to talk with anyone about any of this. My mom gets mad when I bring up his name and Jackie just worries. I'm sorry if I made you uncomfortable or something, please tell me if I'm unloading too much or if you don't want to hear this. I just really appreciate you being here. You're an amazing guy, Zander."

| Zander Winona |​

 

[mogy]

Dante Novello

​

Dante agreed with Pixie completely, like 100%. The British were fucking weirdos. Sure, she didn't know many British people, like little boy and tall little boy, were the only British people she knew, and living with the little boy, she did figure out pretty quickly that he was just a tad bit weird. Who the hell eats beans on toast?! It looks disgusting, smells disgusting and probably is disgusting. As for the tall little boy, he was a furry, and while that might be a completely valid kink, Dante didn't really get it and it was a kind of weird for her, but honestly, whatever floats his goat.

"Maybe that's what they do in the UK, but it's definitely not what people do in America, or at least I don't think people go around telling each other's kinks. Would be kind of crazy if they did that." Dante wasn't an American, which could be seen both by her slight Italian accent coming out on some words and also by her mentioning it quite a bit. She didn't really want to be associated as an American.

Interactions: Dede (Stu, Tom), Twin Fantasy (Pixie)​

 

[Winona]

Zander

All of Bella's worrying and fretting and claiming that Zander didn't have to worry about her was endearing. Really. Zander couldn't help the small smile that grew on his face as she kept talking. "Of course I didn't have to, but..." he hesitated, pausing with his pencil, tapping it against the table. "Well, at my old school, I wish more people had cared enough to listen." Sure, he had Toby, but Toby had to love him and listen to him. They were brothers, after all.

He listened as Bella actually opened up to him. It was a bit of a surprise for Zander -- he was glad that she was, of course, but he hasn't actually expected her to. She spilled everything, and Zander tried to keep the surprise and shock off of his face. Zander didn't know what he had been expecting, but it certainly hadn't been that.

"Hey, it'll be alright." Oh god, she was crying. This is why people shouldn't hang out at schools after hours. Zander dropped his pencil to the table and stood up next to Bella. "He's in France, and he has no idea where you are, right?" Zander wrapped his arms around Bella, pulling her into a tight hug. Where was Toby when Zander actually needed him? He dealt with JJ wonderfully, which meant he could probably deal with all crying chicks. Right?

At her last remark, Zander let out a small laugh. "Please, I'm new. You're like the only friend I have here." Other than Charlie, of course. Charlie, who he hadn't actually seen yet the entirety of this ridiculous lock-in. "And I'd rather be in here with you than out there talking with all those strangers." Especially the popular kids. They were gross.

He let go of her after a moment, and Zander had to admit it, he was a little taken aback by her compliments of him. Zander was decidedly not an amazing guy -- he was just a guy. All guys would help a sad girl in need, right? It was the right thing to do, and Zander had been on the crying end of this too many times for him to turn a blind eye now.

"You're amazing, too, you know that? You just don't see it yet."

geminiy​

 

[Dede]

Stu

​

Stu didn’t even know where to hide his face. A kink? This was going from bad to worse to downright embarrassing!

There was a reason why, back in Year 5, he’d hid behind that locker while Tom got beat up by his football mates, instead of stepping in to intervene. He’d felt pretty guilty about it since, but he was starting to remember what drove his nine-year-old self to abandon his friend in such a horrible way...

And now... he’d do it again in a heartbeat. Probably.

Tom still seemed to be enjoying himself, clutching his tummy as he laughed at his own jokes. Thanks to him everyone now thought Stu was a furry, and we all know how fast rumours spread in Westbrook! Stu knew he had to dispel the myth before it was too late...

‘It’s not a kink!’ he said. ‘I’m the Westbrook Wolf, actually.’

Tom leaned in toward Pixie, pretending to whisper in her ear even though his voice was loud enough for all to hear. ‘... He doesn’t even wear any clothes underneath the wolf.’

‘I do so!’

Tom giggled some more.

‘… Cos it’s hot inside the wolf,’ Stu stammered while blushing. ‘That’s why.’

‘See? ... Kinky,’ Tom said.

The two British boys started fighting, trading harmless pushes and shoves, all in good humour like they were schoolboys back in primary school. Except they weren’t in primary school anymore. Eventually Stu announced he’d suddenly remembered he had to go do something. It was true though, not just an excuse to get away... which to be fair, it also was. But he still had to drop the Swedish fish off for Audra. He’d been wanting to see her for a long time, just not with Tom present. Could you imagine?

‘I'll be back,‘ Stu mumbled then strategically slipped away. Was Tom following? No. Good.

Tom now smiled up at Dante and at their new Martian friend. What could they do now? They were going to be stuck here till morning, so the possibilities were endless. Maybe Dante would have some ideas. ‘I‘m rather hungry now,‘ he glanced at his watch. ‘My tummy‘s starting to rumble. It‘s well past time to eat. Wouldn‘t you agree?‘

mogy Twin Fantasy mentions PenguinFox

 

[a z u l a]

Chase

"You don't like BBQ chips? This is blasphemy." The oldest Vaughn said, throwing his hands up in the air as if this was the most absurd thing he'd ever heard. Though truthfully, he'd met quite a few people who didn't like BBQ chips, that was okay, it meant more for him anyways. For the most part, all of the Vaughn's tried to eat healthy because of the high-stress sports they played, but when Chase had a night off to binge his favorite shows there was no chip bag left untouched. Mrs. Vaughn had always complained about how much her kids ate, especially her tall sons.

Seeing Noah get so excited and talk so enthusiastically about his favorite snack was....cute. Was it wrong to think that his male friend was cute? He remembered how angry his mother had been when Alaska had kissed Raven in front of basically the entirety of Westbrook at the play last year. It was't like he liked Noah like that though....was it? It wasn't that unheard of to think your friend was cute. Alaska was always talking about how cute her little freshmen friend Stu was. But Noah wasn't cute in the way that Stu was.

"I can compromise that humus is great on anything." Chase nodded, stopping as they arrived in the gym where everyone had their sleeping bags set up. "Would you like some help setting up your 5 star hotel?" He asked, gesturing towards the backpack Noah was carrying, imagining it wouldn't be easy for the crippled boy to set up his sleeping bag and such with two crutches in the way.

mogy

Ryder

Hearing Ash, the most stubborn person he'd ever met, tell him he was right was quite a pleasant surprise. He'd expected her to yell, to argue, tell him to go to hell...the usual. Yet, here she was letting her guard down for once and being incredibly vulnerable with him. He'd broken her trust once, he wasn't going to make that mistake again. He couldn't lose Ash again.

When she grabbed his hand his heart started to race even more than before, it felt like his whole body was on fire as he waited for her to close the gap between them.. Normally, Ryder would have no problem grabbing her and kissing her, but that wasn't his privilege anymore and he didn't want to push his luck with Ash anymore, so he waited impatiently, his whole body begging to be close to her.

Finally, their lips met and Ryder gently wrapped his arms around her to pull her as close as physically possible. Everything just felt...right. After months of guilt and regret Ryder could put it in the back of his mind and focus on the now. He could make things right with Ash, it was all he wanted. Neither of them were perfect people, but he would deal with the arguments and misunderstandings as they came. As long as he had Ash.

"I missed you." He said, pulling away only slightly to softly stroke her hair and look down at her as he spoke, their lips still almost touching. "Does this mean you won't push me off the stage at homecoming?" He joked, laughing breathily as he hugged her close.

Winona​

 

[Winona]

Ash

Yeah, she had missed this. Her heart beat a little faster when he pulled her closer, but Ash felt relaxed. Comfortable. At home this close to Ryder, and it was like the last year of her life had just been erased. It was crazy to think that exactly a year ago, they had had this same discussion, and had decided to try dating for the first time right before Homecoming.

A whole year, and she still felt the same about him.

"What? I would never push you off a stage." She said with a playful smirk, and then pulled away from Ryder, although she kept holding his hand. "As much as I would love to keep kissing you in the hallway, I actually have to go kick ass at video games." Which Ash was horrible at, so she was still relying on her team to win most of them.

Except for Just Dance. Ash had that one in the bag.

"So we have like this team thing going, and my team has to win. Because I cannot let people like Greyson and Jackie win." Not that she necessarily had anything against either of them, but Ash didn't like to lose. At all. It was part of the reason that she had dragged so many of her friends onto her team -- people that she knew were good at it.

Or... at least better than her.

She pulled Ryder into the gym after her, her gaze roaming the room for a moment and landing on Ian and Alaska at the snacks table. From the nervous look on her friend's face, he'd finally worked up the nerve to ask Alaska to Homecoming. About damn time. Ash was going to have some choice words for him if he'd backed out.

Ash tore her gaze away from them to look over at the video game section, which seemed to have pulled quite a lot of people. She was kind of surprised, but also excited to be able to play with... some of her friends? Yeah, most of the people that were gathered around the video game area were people that she didn't recognize.

"Hey, Sebastian." She said, coming to a stop next to her friend as she looked at the screen. "Oh, this is like that cartoon Nascar racing game, right? With the dinosaur and that mustache guy."

a z u l a 0k_mang0 Elf_Ruler geminiy​

 

[Elf_Ruler]

Tatum was relieved that Colby hadn’t called her out and she took the water from him. It wasn’t like she wanted to drink it but fighting with Colby seemed like a bad call because deep down she knew she would lose no matter how stubborn she was. She gave him a small smile because things were still confusing for her because they weren’t dating but she really liked kissing him and wanted to spend time with him. She couldn’t help but think about his comment about Toad, was he flirting? No one had ever flirted with her like that, she was always the one to be more suggestive. Had she gone into a different dimension? Did she have more alcohol than she thought? She stood back for a second taking a sip of water and just watching Colby walk away.

She wished she had someone to talk about this with but Brayden was a boy so he wouldn’t understand, and Ash and she were always in a weird spot that she didn’t know what she could talk about with the other blonde if anything. So Tatum just kept sipping water and eventually made her way back to the group and sat near Colby, not saying anything because what was she going to say? Brayden had offered her a controller and Tatum shook her head, “Just play, Tay. It’ll be fun.” Tatum could only sigh as she took a controller.

She looked at all the players on the screen, “I guess I’ll take Toadette, because girls are better than boys.” She teased just a little.

She saw Ash appear and gave the blonde a small wave, but honestly, she couldn’t tell her about the kiss, she wasn’t even sure what any of it actually meant. She wanted to talk with Colby more before she talked with Ash about it because Tatum wanted to figure out her life and her interests before she talked with Ash. It was hard for her to be open with Ash, because she always seemed to say the wrong things and she didn’t want to upset her any more than she already had. Tatum knew she was being a shitty friend, but she had no clue how to be a good friend to Ash, or to anyone right now. So she just gave an awkward smile and wave.

0k_mang0 Winona
--

Brayden was more than relieved that Tatum had come ack with Colby who looked to be offering her water. At least Tatum wasn’t fighting with him so that was a good sign. He then turned back to Jackie, “I figured a free for all would be fun until the others arrived. Better than a team when it comes to being so few.” A free for all would be a good warm up for the whole gang. It was fun playing the first round of the game, but his attention got distracted when Ash appeared. He heard her talk about the game and smiled to himself. She wasn’t completely wrong, but he had never heard it described in that way.

The competition was going to be a good time, “Hey, blondie. Grab a controller. We’re gonna be taking turns because there’s too many people to play all at once. But grab a controller. I guess team competition is starting now.” He chuckled he hadn’t been expecting for everyone to arrive at the same time. It had been like they all discussed when to arrive and he had not been warned.

geminiy Winona
--

Cam smiled as he watched Milos fall off the map. He didn’t care if he lost, he placed his hands over. Milos’ and helped click and move the controls for the boy, “Not too bad once you get the hang of it.” He was aware of how close they were, but he was trying to act like it didn’t bother him even though it did. He was never one to get close to people like he was with Milos. It made his heart race and he felt like his hands were getting clammy, but he wanted Milos to have fun with the game and Cam knew how to play and could crush people in it if he wanted. He was trying to keep from being too much, so he only had his hands guiding so no one got uncomfortable. It was still close proximity for him even though they were only sitting next to each other, but it meant so much more to Cam, more than he was going to admit to the boy. He had to play it cool, at least for now.

Once he thought Milos had it figured out a little more, he removed his hands and picked his controller back up. He of course was in last place but that didn’t really matter to him at this point in time, because it was a game and making sure Milos was having a good time was more important than winning a game. Of course, if anyone asked, he was just trying to help a newbie out with a game they had never played. He would do the same for anyone, maybe. That was something he would at least tell people because he didn’t want people watching him struggle to flirt and be awkward.

Winona

 

[0k_mang0]

sebastian

Winona a z u l a​

It’s possible that Sebastian may have partially made Milos go to the edge while his Wario zipped past him. But hey, whatever it takes to win, right? He needed to show a reason not to simply underestimate Wario somehow. Throwing one of those shells behind one of the racers was his favorite strategy.

Seb greeted his blonde friend with a content smile when he heard her voice, and gave her a quick one-arm hug around her shoulders before returning his focus on his controller. “I’m gonna pretend you didn’t just call Mario Kart Nascar. But yeah, that’s what we’re playing now.”

When he glanced over his shoulder and also caught sight of Ryder beside her, Sebastian curiously raised a brow at Ash. The last time he checked Ryder and Ash were in a complicated spot… but it didn’t look like it was based on her face. She looked a bit happier than Seb remembered seeing last time.

“Everything all right, Ash?” he asked casually.

colby

Tatum Elf_Ruler , Ash Winona​

“Toadette? Oh, that’s adorable,” Colby scoffed sarcastically.

He was just sitting down, watching Mario Kart and nibbling on his fourth, fifth or sixth Wheat Thin cracker. The stress and confusion from the auditorium kiss mostly vanished – well, there was still a bit of confusion at the moment, but they could deal with that another day. Right now, he just wanted to relax and enjoy the lock-in before bedtime like a normal carefree teenager.

Brayden didn’t seem to suspect anything going on between them and he was smiling. Good. Colby looked over at Tatum, checking to make sure she wasn’t too tense. He turned to the direction where she waved, and instantly, he recognized the face before hearing the voice of an old friend that he hadn’t heard in half a decade.

“Ash, hey.” Colby stood up from his seat before he realized it. He felt slightly stunned from the wave of nostalgia rushing through him. “Remember me? Cheese Boy? I think you started calling me that in third grade.”

When he didn’t know what to say exactly, he just started rambling whatever he didn't think first, which he’d never done as a little kid because he was so quiet and cautious. Perhaps a certain small blonde chatterbox he’d met years ago inspired him in recent years. What else was he supposed to do when reuniting with someone he never thought he’d see again? Would a bear hug be okay? Wow, Ash was much smaller than the last time he saw her, about a little over a half-foot now. Puberty went crazy on him.

 

[Winona]

Ash

She glanced towards Brayden as he handed her a controller, a scowl appearing on her face at the ridiculous nickname. "Sorry, I don't play racing games." Rather, Ash didn't play games that she didn't think she had a chance at winning. But she took the controller all the same, handing it towards Ryder with a bright smile.

Ash gave Sebastian a quick hug back. Her friend seemed very distracted and into the game, but still managed to notice Ryder. Of course Sebastian knew part of what had happened with Ryder, but for the most part? She had kept it a secret from all of her new friends. It was a long, confusing story, one that Ash would rather not dwell on.

The important thing was that Ryder and Ash had made up -- again -- and right now? Ash couldn't be happier. "Oh, everything is great. However, as long as Ryder doesn't get suspended in the next week," she shot Ryder an annoyed look, remembering how he'd gotten suspended from Homecoming the year before, leaving Ash at Homecoming alone. Sure, he had snuck in and everything had been fine, but she still hadn't been happy about it. "You're going to have to find a different date to Homecoming. Well, Tatum might actually still be free."

Speaking of Tatum, Ash glanced over at the other blonde. She offered a small smile to Tatum, but didn't make any move to greet her. Things between the two of them had been awkward, and Ash didn't want to get into any kind of fight. Her fingers reached down to touch her wrist, where Tatum had grabbed her and just a week before, Sawyer had grabbed her. Even though the bruises and scars had faded, it was like she could still feel their grips, and Ash's breathing started to become shorter. Shortness of breath.

Where the hell was Ian when she needed him?

Instead of her tall best friend, a guy that she hadn't seen in years stepped in front of her.

"Colby Jack." The anxiety washed away, at least for the time being, and a huge grin grew on her face. Remember him? As if she could forget him. "Oh my god, you got like... big." He was way taller than her now -- and like, kind of muscular and hot, but of course she still recognized her old best friend. He was still the same Colby.

Ash's smile only grew as she stepped forward, throwing her arms around Colby's neck and pulling him into a tight hug.

0k_mang0 a z u l a Elf_Ruler​

 

[0k_mang0]

colby

Ash Winona , mention Grace Soap​

Calling him big would’ve triggered a That’s what she said moment. But Colby was a gentleman, he wouldn’t do that. At least not now.

“Long time no see, Ashton Kutcher West!” When they first introduced each other in elementary school, Colby asked Ash if her parents named after the actor from That ‘70s Show because of her first name. He couldn’t remember if she found that question funny or not, but hey, they still managed to become friends afterward.

The second she hugged him Colby returned it with the same energy that a bear hug should have. In that hug, he lifted her up to his height to prove that, yes, he did get bigger and more muscular the last time she saw him. And with a shorter haircut. He even shuffled a 360 spin because he was just that happy to finally see her again. The spin wasn't crazy. He didn't want to smack anyone nearby with his friend's legs.

“I know, right? Puberty was crazy,” he remarked after setting her down with ease. And there was that smile he’d missed seeing on her face. It felt like he’d only left yesterday.

In the last 4 or 5 months since moving back to Westbrook, Colby hadn’t had a chance to meet Ash again, even when seeing her in the school hallways. He heard of the car crash that she and Grace got in during prom night, the latter being in a coma since then. Yeah, it stunned him that two people from his childhood nearly died. Colby didn’t know Grace as well as Ash, but he remembered her being a kind person. He believed neither of them should've had gone through that, especially Ash.

“See? I kept my promise to see you again,” Colby said, giving her a light buddy squeeze and a pat on the shoulders. Because they were buddies. “Except I didn’t imagine it being at a school lock-in. With Mario Kart and Just Dance.”

 

[mogy]

Noah Stewart

​

As the two, Noah and his still quite newly-made friend, approached the gym where the lock-in would be happening, Noah could already see how it was packed with loads and loads of teenagers and how this could either go really good for him or how this could go extremely terrible for him. If he made loads of unproblematic friends who all seemed like good people and no fights broke out in the gym, he would consider this lock-in a good experience, but if he didn't meet any new people and just spent the whole night turning in his overly large sleeping bag, he would consider the night a complete waste of time he could've used to watch Netflix and eat some veggies, something him and Chase had just been talking about.

Thinking about it, Noah had to agree with the taller boy. Humus really was great with anything, especially his grandma's hummus. She had a secret recipe that helped her win the Westbrook Hummus Fest four years in a row. After that another lady won with a guacamole hummus recipe, ending Mildred's reign as the Hummus queen of Westbrook.

Noah had been surprised when Chase had, once again, offered to help him out because he didn't expect a Vaughn to be so nice. Chase's siblings had been infamous throughout the school as troublemakers and if Noah had recalled correctly, both of them had been in the principal's office on the first day.

"Uh, yeah, sure." Noah hesitated a bit. He knew Chase had been nothing but nice to him ever since that first time when he accidentally hit him in the face with his elbow, but he still needed to ask him about his siblings. Noah took off the backpack off his back, offering it to Chase before speaking again.

"How did you turn out so nice and helpful, when your siblings are like the troublemakers of the school?" Noah asked. He realized how that might have sounded mean and inconsiderable, so he quickly explained himself. "I don't mean to sound rude, I'm just curious." He really was curious and didn't mean to sound mean even if that's how he might have come off.

Interactions: a z u l a (Chase)
Mentions: a z u l a (Alaska, Ryder)​

 

[Elf_Ruler]

Tatum felt herself start to get stressed, she had nothing to worry about, right? Colby had made it clear he liked her but what if he liked Ash more? The way the two of them interacted Tatum was trying to keep herself distracted but it was hard when she could hear the enthusiasm from both Colby and Ash. She began to twist the top of the bottle on and off and she kept repeating the motion. Finding a distraction in anything at that moment. What if everything was a lie and she was just fooling herself on being liked especially now that she had put herself out there. It was terrifying being in the unknown, but she wasn’t dating him, and she had no reason to feel insecure about herself. Yet she was continuing to twist the lid of Colby’s bottle trying to avoid the reunion in front of her. She was happy for both of them, but she had no clue what history the two of them had and it was hard for Tatum to act like she didn’t feel like second best or even a second choice.

Tatum let herself watch as the Mario Kart tournament was occurring, but her mind had gone off into different thoughts, wishing more than anything else that she was home avoiding her feelings. Feelings made everything more confusing, and she was more than a little confused for the time being. She wished she was able to be closer with Ash but the way they were she knew that was probably unlikely. Instead Tatum grabbed her bag and pulled out her own snacks. She grabbed out her pack of Oreo’s and began to munch on them. Whenever she got stressed, she would either drink or eat and because she couldn’t drink, she began to eat. It was amazing she didn’t weigh 600 pounds with how much she ate. She was glad that in this case no one was going to judge her for eating food, because it was normal to eat even if it was going to be a whole package of Oreos on her own. That part didn’t matter, she’d eaten a whole thing of Oreos more than once.

mention(s): Winona 0k_mang0
Interaction(s): open
--

The night had gone pretty well for Gia though she hadn’t been sure she wanted to go to the lock-in though it wasn’t like she had much more going on at home, so she had shown up. She was still getting to know people and she didn’t really want to try and jump in on the conversations and interactions already occurring, so she found a quiet spot in the gym away from all the chaos happening by the games. It wasn’t much but she set herself up and pulled out her book and book light. Sure, she could’ve been more social, but she didn’t really know how to be, so she chose to go to her book. She wasn’t doing homework this reading was or her. To read about magical lands and far off places, about good versus evil, everything that made reading the amazing movie inside one’s head. Gia loved every minute she had while reading.

Every once in a while, Gia would lift her head up to see what was happening, but she really didn’t mind most of the chaos occurring around her. She could hear the laughter and joy coming from the games and she could see Milos over with Cam and she smiled. She could tell that Milos liked Cam and that he was uncomfortable with all the attention and she could understand why. She wasn’t one to get much attention from males or females so to get someone’s complete attention must be very stressful and scary, but she liked Milos and she thought he deserved to have attention on him versus behind the curtain. For now Gia was happy without attention on her, that meant she got to enjoy the company of her book.

mention(s): Winona
Interaction(s): open

 

[Soap]

Grace & Evie

Grace had actually been okay with the intrusion. At least Evie had put her mind somewhere else, less worrying about everyone else and more about herself. "I don't want anything from you, you dumb weirdo." Obviously, Evie was off her game. The insults weren't as good-- unbeknownst to her, they were probably never good. A girl can dream, can't she? "I just wanted to say hi. Does it speak?" The brunette said, her gaze examined the blonde as if she was a broken toy. "It does." Grace said, much to Evie's surprise. The small girl's face lit up with interest and she took her usual seat with a glare towards Sawyer.

"Forget about her. I honestly don't even know how you two were friends in the first place." Her words brought the smallest smile to Grace's face and her gaze met Sawyer's again, and it stood there while Evie waved Sawyer off, her elbow hitting the bedside table mistakenly. The robot on the table opened it's eyes wide, saying some gibberish in whatever language that was. "Damn it. Listen, this thing is so creepy." No, it hadn't occurred to Evie that she was hardly letting Grace even talk. It seemed she had been a bit too used to her not replying back, she hadn't even noticed her attention wasn't even on her. Finally, Grace tore her gaze away from the brown-eyed girl, cocking her head to the side as she picked up the furby. Something about it was familiar but she couldn't place what, "Who brought this? Sawyer?" Before the other blonde had a chance to reply, Evie quickly took the opportunity.

"Nah. Some boy. Brown hair, scrawny, dorky." She shrugged, seemingly disinterested in the conversation. There was quite a few people, but the only person that kept coming to her mind was Drake. Yeah. That seemed like something he'd do. "Sawyer, can't you see we're having a conversation here. You can leave now." Evie pointed towards the door, Grace quickly jumped to Sawyer's defense-- not in anyway big of course. "No." That worked. Grace felt more at ease with her here. She wasn't about to let some kid, kick her out. "Wha-- but come on, she's so--" Her words were cut short by Grace.

She picked at the fur on the blue robot. Grace felt a little better now. Less disoriented, less... afraid, maybe? It was a weird feeling. She didn't really have a word for it. But now that she had gotten used to new company, her mind traveled back to her original thoughts.

"How is everyone?"

Would it have been too forward to ask how was Sawyer directly?

Maybe not. But it'll do for now.

KingofAesir​

 

[Winona]

Ash

Ashton Kutcher. That was a comparison she hadn't heard in a while, and it earned an eye-roll from Ash as Colby picked her up, and spun her in a small circle. Usually, Ash would've been annoyed at a tall dude doing such a thing, but it was Colby and let's be honest. She couldn't be mad at him, no matter what. He was like... one of her best friends. Or had been.

Her smile only grew as she let him go, taking a step back to put some distance between them. Puberty had done good on Colby. Not only was he like tall, but he was also not half bad looking. Not that Ash would ever admit such a thing aloud, especially not with Ryder so close by. This was weird, like taking a step back in time.

"Yeah, kind of a weird place to meet back up." Ash agreed with a light laugh. She glanced over at the screen and the Mario Kart match that was going on that she most certainly didn't understand. "This is great, though, because now you get to watch me kick everybody's ass in Just Dance. I'm still undefeated." What? Those dance lessons growing up had paid off.

"We'll have to meet up somewhere later, though. Like to hangout and catch up." Catching up here, with all of their friends and strangers surrounding them felt like it would just be uncomfortable. "Just like old times."

0k_mang0​

 

[0k_mang0]

sebastian

Gia, Cam Elf_Ruler , Ash, Milos Winona , mention Ryder a z u l a​

Sebastian slightly flinched when he thought something from the corner of his eye almost sideswiped him. But it was just Ash being spun around in a hug by Colby. They weren’t wildly hug-spinning like they were in their own little Disney movie, but still, Seb thought only a big hug would’ve been enough. But they were old friends who hadn’t seen each other for years, so it was fine. Plus, Ash looked genuinely happy to see “cheese boy”.

And that distraction made him lose second place. He knew he should’ve picked up a Green Shell earlier. Or a Bullet Bill, but he’d rarely get one. Sebastian looked around, trying to find anyone free to take the controller from him. Ash and Colby were busy, and the former said she didn’t play racing games. Maybe Ryder, but he felt a bit intimidated to ask.

And then he found a freshman with dyed hair sitting on the side and reading a book. What was her name? Gia? He remembered hearing it somewhere. For some reason, seeing her almost reminded Sebastian of himself, but with his headphones or skateboard instead of a book. He would’ve sat aside from everyone else, too. But he’d begun realizing how left out he felt last year, when he had literally zero friends before meeting Ash.

“Yo, blue hair,” Seb called from across the gym, waving at the freshman girl as he stood up from his spot. “There’s an extra seat here if you want to watch the game. You can try playing with your friends, too.” He assumed Milos and Cam were her friends since he’d often seen her hanging out with them at school.

colby

with Ash, Ryder, Tatum​

“The reigning dancing queen, ready to fight for her title. I’m definitely sticking around to watch it.” Colby always sucked at Just Dance, so he had much faith in her to win for the team later. “And Ryder’s here for it, too. Hi, man.” Like with most of Ash’s other friends, Colby wasn’t entirely familiar with Ryder but knew of him and his siblings while growing up in Westbrook. He’d spent his childhood mostly as a background character, quietly observing his surroundings, sticking close to Ash and her buddies as much as possible to avoid being an easy target for bullies. Well, that wasn’t a problem for him anymore.

Colby returned his attention to Ash. “Yes. We’ll find a different place besides school to hang out. Maybe at the swing set in the old playground, the one beside the sea. It hasn’t been demolished after I broke my arm there, right?” 5th-grader Colby was a klutz. He’d leaned against a rail too much, trying to look like a cool pirate overseeing the imaginary sails, and the next thing he knew he heard a snap that wasn’t just from the broken rail and ate a bit of grass at the bottom. Ouch.

“Or Hedgehog, where I’m there most of the time,” he added. “Grandpa and I live in the loft on top of the cafe now.” Before moving to California, he and his mom lived in his grandparents' simple homey house in the middle-class suburb of Westbrook. After Grandma Florence passed away a few years ago, her husband, Jimmy Florence, sold the house and settled in the old 2-bedroom suite just above Sleeping Hedgehog. Being closer to work helped him grieve better.

Suddenly, he heard a lot of soft munching behind him. He looked over his shoulder and found Tatum with a pack of well-known sandwich cookies. Well, that was random. If she eats all of it without leaving some to share, she'd end up getting cavities later.

“Hey, you never mentioned you had Oreos. Dammit, I’ve only been eating Wheat Thins.” Really, the main reason he’d brought a box of Wheat Thins was that he assumed—no, he knew no one else would want to eat a healthy snack, and he wasn't talking about himself.

 

[geminiy]

Isabelle Dupont
Bella's body stiffened as Zander's arms wrapped around her, her immediate reaction telling her to push him away and get the hell out of there. But as she was held against his chest, some of the fear melted away into a feeling of calm, a feeling of safety. Reluctantly, Bella wrapped her arms around the taller boy's waist and allowed herself to relax a little bit more into his arms. Her breathing began to slow and the tears slowly began to stop rolling down her cheeks, the panic retreating as Zander spoke.

"The thing is," Bella began to speak as the hug broke apart. "I don't know where he is, or if he knows where we went. Just hearing that he was looking for me is bad enough, I don't know what I'd do if he ever showed up here. He'd be stupid to try to come here, though, Jackie hates him and she's scary when she's mad."

Another few deep breaths later, Bella had almost fully calmed down. The possibility that Victor would find her in Westbrook of all places was so slim to none that it was highly irrational to think that he'd ever find Bella, much less hop a plane, fly all the way to America, and hunt her down. He'd probably already moved on to his next victim, another vulnerable girl in a tough spot just like Bella had been when they first met.

She couldn't help the smile that tugged at the corner of her lips and the blush that crawled across her cheeks and nose as he called her a friend and amazing. He was the first person at Westbrook to have called her that and there was no one better to hear it from.

"Maybe we should get back to the others, they're probably wondering where we went." Bella said softly, not quite knowing how to respond to his kind words. "That is unless you want to stay here. Jackie roped me into this video game competition, you should join us!"

| Zander Winona |

Jacqueline Dupont

Jackie was off her game at first, chuckling at how bad Milos was at the game and how Cam helped him with the controls. The whole thing was quite sweet though it caught her off guard and landed her in second place. She shook her head and dramatically crossed her arms.

"I was totally going easy on you guys." She teased the other players with a giggle. Spotting Ash, she waved and offered a smile. "Welcome to the competition, Ash! I'm glad you didn't get scared and not show up. Though maybe that would have been better, you wouldn't have to face horrible defeat with Tatum. I hope your friends are planning on joining us, the more the merrier."

Jackie glanced down at her phone and decided to text Bella to make sure she was okay. The poor girl had seem kind of rattled when she left with that guy, so she wanted to double check that she didn't need to go and get her from somewhere.

| Brayden & Cam Elf_Ruler | Milos & Ash Winona |​

 

[Winona]

Milos

Okay, well.

Cam had obviously been created solely for the purpose of making Milos blush and feel flustered. Good god, did the dude really just put his hands over Milos' to teach him how to play? Milos mumbled a thanks, his face burning from the close contact. He didn't actually pay attention to any of the button maneuvers, instead he was too distracted by Cam's hands over his, the feel of him so close and oh god. There were so many people around, and that did not help Milos blush less at all.

Turtle Man slid through the finish line at 11th place.

"I did not get last!" He said with a huge grin, which was honestly a miracle. The only saving grace had been Cam's sacrifice and then one of those weird bullet faces that had sped him past.

Milos shook his head, setting down the controller in front of him, and then looked towards Cam with a goofy grin on his face. "I am not playing this game again. That was enough embarrassment for one day." He joked. "I have to try and keep the cool facade." The very idea of Milos being cool made him break out in laughter.

This was actually more fun than he'd thought it would be.

Elf_Ruler​

 

[KingofAesir]

Sawyer
Sawyer didn't want to say she hated Evie, but the girl was the most annoying person on the face of the entire planet. She shouldn't be so harsh, after all, Evie kind of reminded Sawyer of herself when she was younger. It would be bad to say she hated herself. Anyway, Evie was an annoyance at worst. But Sawyer couldn't help but feel a little angry at Evie when she called Grace an it but Grace interjected before Sawyer could say anything about it. Not that Sawyer would've ever tried to argue with Evie. She was a lost cause. Stubborn as a damn mule. They'd be fighting forever. Besides, Grace could take care of herself. Sawyer really needed to stop acting like she was some kind of damsel in distress.

Evie just started blabbering away and Sawyer kind of sighed, shoving her hands in her pockets and glancing around the room. A multitude of gallons and stuffed animals we're everywhere. It was endearing. Everyone seemed to care about Grace. That was good. She'd need people and Sawyer didn't know if she would be allowed to provide that help. Sawyer didn't know if Grace even wanted to talk to her. Her eyes were glued on a blue balloon that was slowly losing it's helium when she felt eyes boring into her head. She turned and met brilliant blue eyes. She felt her heart jump up to her throat as Grace just kind of stared at her, completely ignoring Evie's blabbering. Sawyer stared right back and felt so many words trying to claw themselves up through her throat but none came and before Sawyer could do anything that brilliant blue gaze was gone.

She was asking about the furby. Stu had brought it. Sawyer frowned as Evie explained who had brought it and found herself hoping that Grace would ask about the blanket. She didn't. She did something even better. Evie was telling Sawyer to leave but Grace was quick with a solid no and Sawyer smiled down at her shoes. She didnt want her to leave. She wanted her here. That was good enough for Sawyer.

How was everyone? Was there a good answer for that?

"I guess everyone's okay." Sawyer pulled a chair up next to Evie, "I mean, the only person I've really seen is Stu. And your brother." She paused at the last part not wanting to upset Grace, "They're all right." They weren't. After that whole near death episode, Sawyer was a mess and she was sure Stu was too. She hadn't seen him. Sawyer decided she really needed to keep up with all of them. Greyson wasn't either. He was so excited about having a sister. But Sawyer had feared seeing her dad might make Grace a a little cold to him. They'd get over it. Sawyer was sure she'd love him.

"Yeah, everyone's good. Not to many fights. Granted I spent most of my time here so I'm kinda out of the loop." She hadn't meant to say that. How pathetic was that? Sawyer had spent practically all of her time here, even skipping days of school on some occasions. She was broken.

Soap​

 

[Winona]

Zander

Oh Zander could definitely get behind playing some video games.

And Bella seemed to be... kind of better? Well she'd at least spoke to him about what she was upset about, and it kind of sounded crazy to Zander. Not in a way as in like, he didn't believe her, but wow. It was like something out of a television show -- some scary prison dude that might know where Bella was, possibly sneaking up on her at any time. The only reason Zander knew that this was serious and not some kind of funny joke by the universe was that the guy's name wasn't Edward.

Zander scoffed at the very idea of staying in the lonely art room. "Please. Mt. Awesome can wait to be finished another day." He put his pencil back down, looking at the artwork for a moment that he'd gotten exactly nothing done on this evening. First JJ had attempted to murder him, and now this thing with Bella. Oh well. He'd rather hangout with Bella and others than doodle any day -- now getting almost murdered by his brother's girlfriend? That was something he could've done without.

"Come on. Let's go." He grinned at Bella and then hopped off his stool, leading her back out of the art room and towards the gym. Zander had heard about a couple of the games that the students were going to be playing today, and honestly, he was ready. Not for Just Dance -- as getting caught by the police multiple times for tripping had proven, Zander was not very agile. Or dance-y. Was dance-y a word? It was a word now. However, MarioKart was something he'd spent years playing with Toby and their other siblings.

Zander had beaten Toby once.

Still, he wasn't great, but he wasn't horrible. He was decidedly better than a certain blushing Russian and a certain whorish blonde cheerleader, but he wasn't as good as the red-headed Queen of Gaming.

Once they got to the gym, Zander tried to not be nervous as he looked at the group around the video games. People that he didn't recognize, that he didn't know. Now Zander was a social butterfly -- he had no problem chatting up people that he met in line at the coffee shop, but when they were in a large group, even he got a little nervous.

geminiy​

 

[Elf_Ruler]

Cam had accepted his spot in last place but when he saw the smile from Milos he knew it had been worth the loss. He enjoyed when Milos got the bullet and he was glad that the game had ended because it had seemed like more people had arrived. It was good timing and Cam couldn’t help but nod, “No more racing for you.” He gave Milos a small squeeze of the hand. It was fair that he didn’t want to play it again, they were hard games if they had never been played, the fact that not only did they have to keep an eye on where their characters were but also keep track of buttons, when to properly turn, and avoid any traps placed by someone else. It was tough and Cam was glad Milos for the most part had enjoyed playing. He leaned over towards Milos and kept his voice low, “You’re already cool, you don’t need the façade.” Milos was cool in Cam’s eyes and he hoped that helped the boy.

He looked around at all the snacks that had appeared and saw Oreos. He called over to Tatum who looked like something was causing her a great deal of trouble. He had never witnessed a girl eat cookies with such force and purpose. He decided against asking for the cookies and shrugged, “I have some snacks in my bag,” he mentioned to Milos as he pulled out some trail mix, potato chips, and fruit snacks. His mom had told him to grab a variety of snacks for the night and Cam had done just that. Now, he was going to offer them to Milos at least and if anyone wanted anything, he would be more than willing to share his snacks with the others. He had no reason to not share and this was supposed to be a good time, snack and everything.

Winona
--

Gia had been into her book and was enjoying her alone time. Really, she could’ve been at home doing the same but being surrounded by people had felt like a better option than just being a recluse all the time. Sure, she had a couple friends, Maisie being her favorite of friends, but she figured she would have to talk with people or at least be around them. As she was getting into the good part of her book, she heard someone call to her, mostly because she didn’t know anyone else with blue hair. So, she looked up from her book and she didn’t recognize the male calling her, granted she didn’t know that many people at Westbrook, even though being a native. She was younger than most of the popular kids, so it made it hard for her to know the main group of them. She had talked a little with them through Twitter, but she wasn’t a big user of Twitter, so it didn’t last long.

She smiled and packed up her books, if she was invited, she wasn’t going to say no to him. Once she got in range of him, “Thanks, I’m Gia. I’m sorry I don’t know who you are.” She never wanted to be rude to anyone and she always tried her best to get know people and really understand who they were. She liked helping people and the only way to help was to get to know. Plus, this guy seemed really nice and she liked that a lot because actions always spoke louder than words. His actions were already speaking great volumes to Gia and she hoped maybe just maybe they could become friends.

0k_mang0
--

Tatum had been deep in her Oreo binge when she first heard Cam call her name and then he told her never mind. She had lost track of where her mind was wandering besides the fact that Colby had been embracing Ash and Tatum had to act like it didn’t make her feel like second best. She couldn’t let herself be second best, but her mind and her thoughts were running rampant with negativity. She knew he liked her, he even told her that he liked her so why was she feeling so much self-doubt about him being around Ash? It was a vicious cycle running through Tatum’s mind as she consumed more cookies and then she heard Colby’s voice. She had been mid cookie when he spoke, and her mouth was full. She couldn’t even chew fast enough to swallow the cookie in her mouth. Everything began to feel dry as she tried to swallow. She shrugged a little as she struggled with the cookie, trying not to let on that really she was stress eating because she only ate junk food when stressed.

When she finally swallowed the cookie she shrugged once more, “You never asked me, all you did was give me water and something else.” She wasn’t willing to say out loud that they kissed so she acted like something else was food, or something because she had been drinking. People could just assume whatever she was hiding was probably due to drinking and not due to the fact that Colby made her stomach release thousands of butterflies at once. She wanted to keep at least their moment theirs for as long as she could because eventually, she would tell someone, or someone would find out and spread it around. For now she wanted to keep their moment between them.

0k_mang0 Winona

 

[0k_mang0]

sebastian

Gia Elf_Ruler​

“It’s cool. I’m Sebastian.” After that short introduction, he scooted a few inches to give space for Gia to take an extra seat, assuming everyone in the gaming area was sitting on chairs instead of the floor because the writer isn’t sure.

“You’re a freshman here, right, Gia?” He guessed she was a freshman since he’d only seen her at school when the new year started, but had also noticed her around Westbrook a few times before then. Not many people dye their hair so colorful here. Then again, he could be wrong or partially wrong, and Gia might actually be a new student.

Seb held out the game controller to Gia after she sat down. Honestly, it had been a long time since he played Mario Kart, and he was lucky enough to not get last place. Seb was more used to Super Smash Bros., Pokemon, and yes, old Tony Hawk games.

 

[geminiy]

Isabelle Dupont

Bella giggled at the title of Zander's artwork as she began following him out of the art room. "Maybe one day 'Mt Awesome by Zander' will be hanging in an art gallery somewhere, perhaps the Louvre." She said, slipping out of the door and pausing to make sure that it latched shut behind her before catching back up with her friend.

Even though she had been told that she would be joining by her sister, Bella had to admit that she was excited. Many of her memories from her younger years involved breaking out old game systems in the basement of their various homes over the years, or in common rooms of rec centers with other military kids, and battling it out for hours. There was never any real reason to be competitive but every person made it a competition. Bella and Jackie were always competitive with each other, eventually in everything, but it all began with those silly competitions back in their childhood.

Returning to the gym, Bella felt a surge of excitement rush through her. No more being upset, no more being anxious about the what ifs and the possibilities. At least not for the rest of the night. Bella waved to the group and walked over with Zander, looking over at her friend with a smile. He seemed a little jittery, perhaps made nervous by the crowd of people that neither of them knew.

Bella took the reins on the interaction and lead Zander over to the group, a competitive smirk on her lips. "The party has officially started. Prepare to lose." Bella taunted with a laugh, her confident side now in full swing as she triumphantly placed her hands on her hips.

| Zander Winona |​