Realistic or Modern Westbrook

[KingofAesir]

Sawyer​

Sawyer smiled when Grace kissed her, finally feeling like they had returned to some sense of normality since they'd gotten here. This whole ski trip had turned out to be just the disaster she'd thought it would be. She just hoped to whatever god she could find that it wouldn't get any worse. Sawyer was so busy smiling at her girlfriend that she almost didn't notice the mention of Stu. Her eyebrows drew together at the mention of the boy. The last time she'd checked she was pretty sure they were both in agreement that he was uncool. But it seemed like he and Grace had some kind of talk. Great. While Sawyer was off fretting about telling Grace about JJ before someone else could Grace was getting cozy with Neck Tie. Sawyer was more than one hundred percent sure that Stu had a crush on her girlfriend. She had absolutely no reason to be jealous of a boy, of course, but that didn't mean she wasn't going to be a little unnecessarily irked at the thought. But, she was curious about what exactly he and Grace had talked about.

"Woah, woah. Slow down. Back up. What's this about Stu?" Sawyer questioned with a curious look on her face. Her confession or whatever it was would have to wait, she was more interested in Stu at the moment. Maybe she shouldn't be. No she definitely shouldn't be. She needed to tell Grace right now and she knew that, she was just trying to stall the inevitable.

"Never mind, I don't want to know. I need to tell you-" Sawyer was cut off by none other than the worst possible person to cut her off at the moment. What the hell was JJ doing. Damnit. Sawyer was reluctantly pulled away from her girlfriend by the arm and once they were out of eyesight, Sawyer whirled on JJ with a glare and a few choice words ready to be shot at the other girl. Sawyer stopped dead in her tracks at JJ's words. She sputtered slightly, and then laughed. I'm not gay. Right. Sawyer's chuckles died down and she offered JJ that lopsided smile that was so common on her.

"I'm aware." Sawyer sighed, "Look, I know you were like super emotional or whatever and I was being nice, and you just needed someone to lean on. It's alright." She laughed again, "But, no offense, I think you many be a tiny bit bi. Just a smidge." Sawyer patted JJ on the shoulder, "But I was in the middle of trying to tell my girlfriend about what happened before someone else gets the opportunity though. Soooo," She craned her neck to glance around the crowd again, "Fuck, where'd she go?" Great. Wonderful. This whole confessing thing was going exactly how she'd planned.

Soap

 

[Kipsy]

Jaehwa

Mood: Relaxed | Interacting with: Vanden ( Direct Timing )

When he was handed the bottle, Jaehwa wasn't sure what to do with it. Vanden had just drunk from it. Was he supposed to take a swig, too? Bringing the bottle up to his lips as he listened to Vanden's comments, Jaehwa sipped at the liquid. It was so strong he immediately pulled away and started to gag. "It's... bitter! Disgusting," he complained, hoping he wasn't the only one who didn't like it. "Why would anyone drink this stuff?" It felt like it was burning the back of his throat. His nose scrunched up and his brows furrowed. He really didn't understand the appeal. Or, at least, not yet. Perhaps once it kicked in...

Nodding at Vanden's questions, Jaehwa took in a deep breath. "Ah, well," he began, trying to ignore the sour sensation in his mouth, "my parents are... pretty normal. My mom's a neat freak, though. Like most other Korean households, we're not allowed to wear our shoes indoors. It's disrespectful to the floor." Once he'd said that out loud, he realized how silly it sounded. "We don't actually, uh, sleep or eat on the floor, but it's just... still something my parents care about. I don't get it, honestly." It was clear in his voice that he felt a bit bad about his lack of understanding. "My mother is the one who really insists upon learning culture and stuff, saying we have to honor where we came from. Hell, I'll probably even get a pyebaek once I propose to someone. Do you know what that is?" It didn't matter whether Vanden did or not, he just wanted to know if he was curious enough to want an explanation.

"At school?" Jaehwa puffed up his chest and grinned. "You're looking at the leader of the Drama Club." He deflated a bit, passing the Vodka bottle back over to Vanden. "I fractured my leg a few months ago during practice, though, and I couldn't do anything. That kinda made me... not want to socialize or really do stuff other than study." On the plus side, though, his grades were up tremendously. He was probably pretty much set. "What about you? Are you in any clubs?" It was weird, having to talk so much about himself, but he found himself comfortable here, beside Vanden. Still, he wanted to know more about the other male. "What things are you into?"

code by Ri.a

 

[Soap]

Juliette

Juliette scoffed when Sawyer had started laughing at her. This was a serious statement! "Yeah whatever, thanks for... being there I--" Her thanks was cut short by a glare at her bisexual comment. JJ shrugged off her hand roughly and rolled her eyes. What? Just because Sawyer liked girls means when she can tell when others do?

Please.

"Watch it. I'll throw your beanie in the fire." While Sawyer was looking around for Grace, her words sunk in and alarm set on Juliette's face.

"What? No! You can't tell her. She'll like, kick me off the team."

KingofAesir​

 

[KingofAesir]

Sawyer​

What a great party. Wow. Sawyer was so glad she'd come out here. She hated parties. Of course, she liked alcohol so there was always that. Besides, Grace seemed to enjoy them and Sawyer enjoyed making Grace happy so she'd found herself at more parties than she would have liked lately. Why were there so many goddamn people? Curse Ash and her popularity. Why couldn't they have just had like four people come up here and not the whole fucking high school? How hard could it possibly be to find a pretty blonde in a crowd? She was literally with her a second ago, where could she have gone in that time? Sawyer reached up and defensively pulled her beanie down farther on her head at JJ's threat. No one touched that thing. No one. Except for Grace, of course, but that was different. She shot JJ a warning look over her shoulder.

"I'd like to see you try." Sawyer stuck her tongue out at JJ and turned to continue looking for her girlfriend. Come on, there weren't that many places to hide in a crowd. Where there? JJ's next words had Sawyer turning back around again to face her. A quizzical expression graced her face momentarily. What team? Oh. The cheer team, right. Sawyer hadn't even thought about that. But Grace would never do that. Sawyer was quite certain that she wouldn't stoop to that level simply because of jealousy. Grace wasn't like that. Maybe she could see someone like....well....JJ doing that, but not her girlfriend.

"She's not gonna kick you off the squad, JJ." Sawyer reassured with a slight chuckle, "Grace isn't like that. Trust me. You'll be fine, I'll explain the whole thing to her as soon as I find her."

Soap

 

[Dazzle]

The entire ski trip had been rather mellow for Carter, compared to most drama she would usually find herself sucked into. She got to snowboard and get a drunk.. A lot.. Carter happened to fall back into her own ways with Tristan. It was always too easy, waking up the next morning with his arms wrapped around her and a pounding headache. High regret, they were so bad for each other. Too similar and in their own way. Besides probably making enemies with Nova, Ian, and Sierra it wasn't a half bad trip for her. And she was used to people hating her so she didn't really care.

Getting back to school was to say.. Not fun.. Not in the slightest. Carter had walked into Mr. Driscoles' class early that morning just to have him assign a long book report due at the end of the week. Carter groaned rolling her eyes hard as she left his class, carrying what she swore was the largest book he could of found for them to read and write six pages on. Silently she cursed him, her mother, and that she smart enough to be in honors classes. Cursing her mother once again for the pressure to keep her grades so high.

The rest of the day seemed easy compared to her start, despite a few more projects and a few homework assignments as well. She would have a few late nights in the near future, but she would have to put that book report to the top of her list. She made her way to the lunch room halfway through the day, a single headphone in her ear. At least she had survived so far, Carter grabbed a tray and made her way to her table in the corner of the lunch room. Pulling out the large book that Mr. Dick had assigned she opened it up to the first page. Taking a bite of her apple. "Fuck this." She said as she chewed aggressively on the apple.

Interactions: @Open Mentions: Maree PenguinFox txlos ​

 

[Direct Timing]

Vanden laughed at Jaehwa's reaction to the Vodka. "Oh man, don't tell me you've never drank Vodka before? You're gonna have to get used to it if you want to party." Vanden said. Vanden listened to Jaehwa's story about his mom and life at home. "Pyebaek? What's that?" Vanden had no idea really. Someone brought a stereo and blasted it. Vanden bopped his head to the beat. "Drama Club?" Vanden asked taking the bottle back. He took another swig and made a face. "It would be nice if we could've mixed this with something so it wasn't so strong. Like...7-up or whatever." He handed the bottle back to Jaehwa. "Here, take another drink. It'll put hair on your chest."

"Ouch, you broke your leg? That sucks. I broke my arm once playing football when I was thirteen. Hurt like hell. I can't imagine breaking one of my legs. So, you direct the plays and such or what?" Vanden asked noticing that Jaehwa seemed proud of the fact that he was head honcho. "Me? I just play football. That's what I like to do. Run and catch balls..." Vanden paused for a second. "Uh, that didn't come out right..." He laughed at himself. "And working out I guess...I dunno..." Vanden's thoughts seemed to have drifted to someplace else. "When I was a kid, my dad used to play Jianzi with me, kind of like American Hacky Sack, but in Jianzi the hacky sack has feathers attached to it. Haven't played that in ages it feels like. I miss playing it." Vanden was not sure why he was opening up to Jaehwa so quickly, maybe it was because he was Asian too, and Vanden could relate to Jaehwa.

Vanden suddenly felt shallow at Jaehwa's question. Was that really all he was? A football player who liked to workout? He didn't sing, or play any instruments. He didn't draw or write. He glanced at Jaewha with a frown. "Jesus. I must sound like the stereotype jock..." Vanden kicked at the snow and it went flying into the bonfire melting instantly. "And read...I like reading...gives you an escape, ya know?"

Interactions: Kipsy

 

[Dazzle]

If Madison was going to be honest, he didn't remember much of the Ski trip.. He wasn't even sure he ever got on the mountain. But he was sure he must of enjoyed it... Right? He was drunk pretty much the entire week, and was really ready to start off the new year right. Karleen was blocked on his phone again. And hopefully drunk him wouldn't undo that again any time soon. He was feeling a lot better about everything, everything always got better after the holidays. His father drank less and drowned himself in his work rather than liquor. A week away from home and his father had been exactly what Mads had needed. Mads went back to being his smiley self and made his way towards the lunch room.

Madison made his way to his normal table where all the jocks and popular kids tended to gather. Nodding his head at his teammates from the basketball team. He sat down to enjoy his lunch, and hangout with his friends sober, for the first time in over a week. Life felt good, he ate his mac and cheese in peace laughing with his friends about stories from the lodge. Even if he didn't remember most of the week, he was laughing at all of the stories even when they weren't in his favor.

@OPEN​

 

[Elf_Ruler]

Tatum had enjoyed her time at the bonfire she hadn't said much to Zach once she had starting drinking and eventually her bottle disappeared and had been passed around to others, besides that she didn't remember much of that night.

When it finally came back to going to school Tatum rolled over and groaned, she really hadn't wanted to go back or really be back at home. She loved her family but her dad was always so strict with her and no matter how much she argued and tried to get her mom on her side it always failed and her father would win. She had ignored him that morning and drove herself to school rather than taking the bus. She had tried her best to mingle with those at the bonfire but that didn't mean anything when at school. She spun her bag over her shoulder and made her way through the doors yet again.

All that was left for the young girl to do was gather her supplies from her locker. She always had issues with it even with all the tricks of opening it. So she stared at her locker like she did every morning and flipped it off before beginning her long struggle to open it. While struggling she wondered how the other two boys she had offered her liquor to were doing and if they had enjoyed themselves too.

Interaction(s): Open
Mention(s): Dazzle , Kipsy , Direct Timing

 

[Daniel Reaving]

Jasmine

Jasmine watched as her cousin blatantly just ditched her and not long after the stranger who had come to help. Glaring off in there direction jasmine mumbled some very choice words about the two, mostly about her cousin just ditching her like this alone. Still she accepted it and struggled to grab her bags. Grunting and groaning as she attempted to get up the stairs without falling though it was harder than predicted.


She had fallen back into the snow another three times before making it up the 4 stupid steps of the cabin letting out a furious growl of frustration as she dropped all her crap to the floor with a thud. Seeing a porch bench she walked over to it and sat down, bringing her hands to her temples in frustration as she sat there and tried to relax. She refused to go inside without her cousin because of all the strangers despite being unbelievably cold. Softly she shivered under the jacket as she slipped her arms through the sleeves and zipped it up before curling up on the rocking bench. Bringing her legs up under the jacket to try and warm her frozen legs just a little.​

 

[Kipsy]

Jaehwa

Mood: Relaxed | Interacting with: Vanden ( Direct Timing )

Jaehwa shook his head. "Nope, never... I tried some beer at another party and it was just as gross," he grumbled, clearly not amused. "Other than that, though, I haven't really tried a lot of drinks." It was pretty clear he wasn't a big rule-breaker. In fact, that time he drank beer was the result of him already being high off those brownies. Who was responsible for that again? He didn't even remember, that's how bad it was. "I'm not usually a big partier, but I was asked to bring the-- Oh shit, I forgot the marshmallows!" He had them in his backpack and everything, but, apparently, that did no good when he forgot his backpack entirely. "Damnit. I really wanted some smores..." He sounded like a kid who had gotten his lollypop taken away.

At Vanden's question, Jaehwa attempted to snap himself out of his depressed mood. "Oh, yeah. Pyebaek. It's uh... a weird Korean event where the bride is pelted with chestnuts and the groom has to carry her around on his back to show that he can support her. However many chestnuts she catches is how many children they will have. Or something like that." His eyes lightened. "Yup, Drama Club. We put on shows every year. You should come to one of them, sometime. It's a ton of fun." For him, anyway. He didn't know if the audience enjoyed the performances as much as he did. He sure hoped they did. A lot of work was put into those shows.

Jaehwa held up his hands, about to decline Vanden's offer to give the bottle back, but he caved all too easily. "Alright," he said, throwing his head back and downing more of the Vodka. Once again, he pulled abruptly back and scowled at the bottle. "I don't get the appeal, really." He was starting to feel a bit... odd. The burning feeling in his throat was getting easier to bear, too. Hm.

"Yeah, it was awful. I didn't want to move the entire time, but, unfortunately, you can't just live in your bed," Jaehwa sighed. Vanden bringing back up the Drama Club made him smile again. "I do. I help get everything and everyone together. Usually, it's the people behind the tech and lights that need the most amount of help. I like to think my fellow drama peers can handle things well." He paused, drinking more from the bottle before handing it back to Vanden. "Sometimes I get lead roles, though. That's my favorite part: acting."

Jaehwa listened to Vanden's side of things, his smile widening. "I used to play Jianzi once or twice before when I was really little. I just remember that I sucked at it," he commented sorrowfully. "You should teach me how to actually play." He was quick to shake his head. "Oh no, you don't sound like a typical jock, especially now that I know you like to read. That's something we have in common, although for me it's often plays. I find them easier to read, which is good because I have a very short attention span when it comes to reading and writing and studying and all that."

code by Ri.a

 

[PenguinFox]

Ian laughed shyly as he held out his arm for Ash to steady herself on. "Yeah, I guess you could say that..." he trailed off and looked around at the party. She wasn't even nearby, yet Nova still was making him nervous. "It's a little weird so don't judge me..." he scratched the back of his neck nervously. "But it did kind of happen fast." he took a long sip from his drink. He couldn't understand what was making him so shy about this. He was pretty open with Ash normally. Sure he didn't go around spilling his guts to her, but if she asked a question about him he always answered honestly. They also talked the kind of things they looked for in people before, so this kind of thing shouldn't be somehow embarrassing. Why then, when Ian actually started seeing someone, did he lose his nerve to talk to his best female friend?

"Well she's..." Ian downed a swig of his liquid courage and took a deep breath. "She makes me nervous, but keeps me calm at the same time. She is so kind and genuine which-" he gestured to the rest of the party. "-seems kinda rare in Westbrook. We've got quite a bit in common. Obviously very attractive." he realized he still didn't tell his friend his girlfriends name. "Oh yeah, her name is Nova." As soon as the name left his lips his mouth slammed shut. He was only just realizing who he was talking to, and how she may not be too happy about this situation.

Ian went silent and his eyes avoided meeting Ash's. He had no idea how she would react to this information, but given the details the answer was probably not well. Her brother has a break up and then some other guy comes in and starts dating her brother's ex just days after the break up? It was very much weird, and she probably had every right to be mad at him. For the first time since Ian started dating Nova he felt concern about what someone else thought about their relationship, and he felt terrible. He felt like a bad friend to Ash, and a bad person in general. Did he take advantage of Nova at a time of vulnerability? Looking back it sure seemed that way. He opened his mouth to apologize for...something, or maybe change the subject and hope she would still be his friend, but no words came. He finally mustered up the courage to meet her gaze, anxiety clawing at the back of his mind. Winona Mentions: txlos

 

[Direct Timing]

"Smores? I could really go some of those right about now. Hell, anything." Vanden said. He was starving. But at least he was putting something in his stomach. "Oh well, don't beat yourself up over it. Next time." Vanden kicked some more snow in the bonfire. It was cool how it was melting as soon as it got into the fire. Vanden laughed at Jaehwa's explanation. "Koreans couples really do that? Sorry, that's just kind of funny. I guess I'm to Americanized. In all fairness, I don't even know what they do in China for couples getting married." Vanden swayed to the music. He was starting to feel good. He saw how Jaehwa's eyes lit up when he spoke about drama. "I think how you feel about drama is how I feel about football and yeah, I'll come some time, just let me know when the next play is."

When Jaehwa took the bottle Vanden bent down and made a snow ball and then threw it into the fire. It hit a piece of wood and started melting. "You don't get the appeal? The appeal is to be the opposite of sober." Vanden said shaking his head with a smile. Vanden took the bottle and held it for a moment. "You get lead roles? Sweet. I'm going to start calling you Tom." Vanden took a swig again. Oh how it burned but then calmed. "Ahhh." He offered up the bottle back to Jaehwa. "You've played Jianzi? Alright, hell yeah, I'd love to teach you. Such a fun game. C'mon, take another drink." Vanden said standing up. "It's good for your health." Vanden laughed. "Yeah, reading is cool. Sometimes I think its the only thing keeping me sane..." Vanden said not meaning to admit that.

"Anyway, yeah, I bet it was no fun being laid up in bed for that long...I'd go crazy personally. I need to be outside tossing the ball or doing whatever as long as it was outside." Vanden knelt down and made another snowball. He stood up and threw it in the general direction of the bonfire but he over shot it and it hit the back of someones head not to far away. Vanden immediately ducked behind the bonfire trying to stifle a laugh.

Interactions: Kipsy

Mentions: Anyone around

 

[Kipsy]

Jaehwa

Mood: Giddy | Interacting with: Vanden ( Direct Timing )

A small laugh left Jaehwa's lips when Vanden said he'd start calling him Tom. He took the bottle back from Vanden and drank greedily, a strange feeling of ease washing over him. "I think I'm starting to get it," he said, then giggled some more. "This is definitely good for my health. I haven't felt so relaxed in ages." He took in a deep breath. "Wow. This works better than those stress things my mom makes me chew on when I get worked up." Never had he downed enough liquor to make him feel this way before. It was... soothing.

The only thing keeping him sane, huh? Jaehwa hummed out of curiosity but didn't open his mouth. At this point, he was worried that he'd say something horribly stupid. "I have a phobia of bugs, too," he said, pretty much out of the blue, "so I hate being outdoors for too long without a good reason. I can't imagine wanting to be outside that much." A shiver trailed down his spine, prompting him to once more go back to the topic of bugs. "Especially ones with wings. They're just asking for trouble." There was a pout on his face and he looked around warily as if trying to spot any potential winged-beasts. "Hopefully this fire will keep them at bay."

As he stared into the flames of the bonfire, Jaehwa smiled. "I think I'm going to be able to fall asleep nicely tonight," he said, but it came out more like a mumble. When he saw that Vanden had hit someone with a snowball, he started to chuckle. He didn't even bother trying to duck away like Vanden had, choosing instead to just stand there with a hand over his mouth, the other clutching the bottle. "You have great aim. I totally see why you're the typical jock. Mhm."

The sun had fully set by now, stars twinkling in the sky. Jaehwa took another drink from the Vodka, leaving it almost completely empty, and tilted his head back to make out shapes in the bright lights above him. That one was a bunny. Oh, and that one? A smiley face. Serenity swept over him, but there was no denying how tired he was getting. "Maybe we should head back to the lodge?" he wondered aloud.

code by Ri.a

 

[Direct Timing]

Vanden laughed standing up. He didn't look in the direction he through the snowball. "are they looking?" Vanden asked in a whisper. "Give me that bottle." Vanden playfully swiped the Vodka bottle from Jaehwa and finished it off. "What, you want to leave already?" Vanden looked a little disappointed but as he glanced around he saw that the crowd was thinning out. "Yeah, maybe you're right. We should head back." Vanden chucked the empty Vodka bottle into the bonfire and started walking in the cool night air. He took a deep breath. "Ahhh, feels so good out here Jae!" He took off in a sprint a short ways and then sprinted back to Jae. "Dude! I forgot about your leg. Here, I'ma give you a ride." He knelt down on his knees with some pain but he didn't make a sound. "Hop on my back." Once Jae was on his back he stood up quickly and then wobbled a bit. "Whoa, shouldn't have stood up that fast." He laughed. "Jaehwa, you're light. My backpack weighs more than you." He said laughing as he took off in a sprint.
Once they reached Vanden's room he stopped. "Dude, reach into my back pocket and grab my keycard." He said slowly banging his head on the door to his room. "Why don't we get some snacks and watch a movie?"







Interactions: Kipsy

 

[Winona]

Ash


She sounded great, and Ash's smile was wide and genuine. Ash was happy for Ian, she really was... until he said her name. Nova. Out of all the people in Westbrook, he had to pick her? And he even had the guts to call her genuine when Ash hadn't seen a bitch more plastic and unreal than Nova. Hell, she made JJ seem like a genuine good person. Ash would rather hang around Lexi than see Nova's lying face. And her expression said everything of how she felt about Nova.

"Seriously? You call her genuine?" She said, her laughter cold and fake as Ash just shook her head and bit her tongue for a moment, trying to control the surge of anger. "Of fucking course. She shows up here after months of not talking to my brother, breaks his heart, and then is with you in, what, less than twenty-four hours? I bet she told you the exact same lies she told Jace." Ash couldn't help herself. She was pissed that Nova had moved on so fast, and to Ian of all people. Why couldn't she just leave the people Ash cared about alone? "Now I don't regret calling her a thirsty bitch that one time. Apparently I was right."

Out of the corner of her eye, Ash caught Grace and Sawyer talking, but Sawyer was soon whisked off by JJ. She thought back to what she'd seen the night before, and decided that that was as good of an excuse as any to get away from Ian and this horrible tragedy of a relationship. "I have to talk to Grace about something important. Don't come crying to me when Nova breaks your heart like she does everyone else. All she does is care about herself." Ash said, and then pushed past Ian without waiting for a response.

"Hey, Grace. Can we... talk?" Ash asked as she came up to her best friend, her fingers nervously drumming against the sides of her coat. How was she even supposed to go about telling Grace what she saw?

PenguinFox Soap

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

Drake


Drake's eyes went wide when she explained what had happened with Kanen. He didn't want to say it, but he was pretty sure the only reason she'd been able to beat Kanen up was because he always refused to fight girls. He was a dick in a lot of ways, but at least he had the common decency to not hit girls. But Drake kept that personal opinion to himself, instead letting a look of worry wash over his face. "Well I'm glad he didn't hurt you at all. He's kind of unpredictable. And a dick."

"Mason will be fine." Drake said with a dismissive wave of his hand. "Yeah, they're friends, but like... they also hate each other? It's really weird, but they don't care about beating each other up. Plus there was this one time that Kanen broke Mason's leg. Mason had to quit the football team and he's still mad about it because he has trouble running on it still." It was a sore topic for Mason, one that he still refused to talk about. Probably because his pride had also been strongly hurt.

His eyes lit up when she mentioned the bonfire, all worries about Mason and Kanen drifting away at the idea of marshmallows, and candy, and-- .... oh, cuddling. Drake's cheeks flushed a deep red, and he hoped that Belle wouldn't notice of if she did, she would just think it was the fire or... from being cold or something. "Yes. Marshmallows and cuddling. What could be better than that?" Well, maybe some-- okay, never mind, forget he was even thinking about that.

Maree​

 

[Winona]

Mason


The ski trip had been fun, but Mason was more than happy to be home. They'd arrived home rather late, and the first place Mason had gone had been Adriane's house to see Ariana. God, he'd missed her so much and being able to see her again had felt like the best gift ever. He'd spent the whole night with her, and all of his other worries had faded. Such as the whole agreeing to move in with Belle thing which Mason wasn't exactly fond of, but.... Drake did need to get better.

It was now Monday morning at school. He'd grown kind of fond of the whole "no school" thing over the winter break, so dragging himself out of bed in the morning had felt like a chore. God, he couldn't wait for the last few months of school to be over so that he could be graduated and never look at school again. No more math, no more anything. He'd get a decent job, focus on Ariana, and all of this stupid high school drama and whatever else would be long forgotten.

While he was on his way to the lunchroom, he happened across Noah. Or... didn't happen across him so much as Mason caught sight of him in the hallway. Well, he didn't have anything better to do since he hadn't seen Carter or Raven yet this morning, so Mason figured why not talk to him? Noah was fun, albeit he could get a bit annoying after a while. But Mason was feeling nice today, so he threw a somewhat nice smile onto his face and headed forward, nodding his head towards Noah in greeting. "Hey man, what's up?"

mogy

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

Keisha


New schools sucked.

Keisha and her mother had spent years moving around and yeah, years ago, Keisha had attended Westbrook. When she was in like kindergarten, and her mother still insisted she wear stupid little bows in her hair and pink frilly dresses to school every day. God. That had all been such an abomination, and Keisha was praying that no one remembered her. Oh, who was she kidding? She'd been like five, of course no one remembered her! Keisha had left by time first grade had rolled around. All she really remembered was this little blonde girl that she'd had a crush on, but Keisha couldn't even really remember her name.

Lunch had finally rolled around, and Keisha was reminded of the worst thing in existence. She was ushered into the room alongside everyone else, and the dizzying smells of cafeteria food made her nose wrinkle up in disgust. Yeah, no way was she eating that. Thankfully, Keisha was tiny enough that she managed to slip her way in, grab an apple and a container of milk, and then slip back out of the line without anybody really noticing. Specifically the people collecting money.

With a slight grin on her face, Keisha looked around the cafeteria. Everyone was gathering at their basic places, and she was reminded once again of how alone she was. Her smile quickly faltered, and then she caught sight of an older redhead sitting by herself at a table. There were two good things about this: the girl was hot, and the table was empty. It was somewhere to go.

Keisha squeezed her way through the room and sat down across from Carter without saying anything. She placed her milk on the table and took a bite of her apple, peeking at the book that Carter was reading. "You don't look like much of a book nerd. Why are you reading?" She asked rather bluntly.

Dazzle​

 

[Dazzle]

Carter looked up from her book as a small girl took the seat across from her. She stared at her rather blandly, why had she decided that this was the place to sit. Shouldn't she know better at this point in the year? She looked pretty young so she had to be a freshman. Carter turned her attention back to her project, the rather large book that she had barely made a dent in. Carter just wanted to slam her head against a wall, but she had to keep reminding herself that she was half way through the year and would be off to college soon enough. Away from her mother, and able to do whatever she wanted.

The small girl spoke up rather bluntly receiving quite the death stare from Carter. Didn't people know you ignore the angry girl in the corner? Especially when they had headphones in. Carter furrowed her eyebrows together. "Do I look like someone approachable to you?" Carter pulled her single headphone out directing her attention to the little brunette across from her. "You do realize this is school? Where you have to, you know, get good grades, graduate, to get the fuck out of this town." Carter rolled her eyes closing her book. She was so over this book report and wasn't going to be able to focus anyways. "Who are you anyways." She crossed her leg under the table

Winona ​

 

[Dede]

Neck Tie

When Neck Tie agreed to go on the ski trip no one ever warned him about losing his virginity.

OK so it wasn’t quite as drastic as that. But being kissed on the cheek by a girl. . . That was still a big deal, right!?

Look, it wasn’t just some random girl who kissed him. It was the one and only Grace Jackson. Sure he’d been crushing on her since the first time they ran into each other, and he didn’t know that many other girls, so he was probably being a little biased. But it was hardly an exaggeration to say that she was the prettiest, sweetest, nicest girl in all of Westbrook.

He didn’t think that the kiss made them any more than friends, though. Grace was as gay as a double rainbow, and her girlfriend Sawyer was a potential serial killer who could murder people just by staring at them. He was just glad that Grace didn’t hate him anymore, and that they were friends again. That was the most important thing.

Now Neck Tie hadn’t had any signal on his phone the whole time he’d been up on Saddleback Mountain. Only when he bothered to check Twitter this morning did he realise that he’d been made the subject of a video that had gone viral. Apparently someone had witnessed his hugely embarrassing, drunk episode and had decided to immortalise it for posterity by recording it on their phone. And you could clearly see it was him because of the orange jacket he was always wearing. Oh, plus there was a close up of his face. Wait, was that blond kid Jace? Was he peeing on Jace’s slippers? Oh my God.

He didn't even remember what happened that night, only that he ended up in hospital. Now he walked past some kids in the hallway and they were giggling at him. Neck Tie started panicking. Who else had seen this clip? Who hadn’t seen it?

Then he saw on his phone that he had an unread message from Theo. Was Theo responsible for the leak? (No pun intended.) That knobhead was probably messaging him to laugh at him some more and just to pile up the misery. Neck Tie quickly closed out of Twitter, then uninstalled the app from his phone for good measure. As if that wasn’t enough, he also switched his phone off and dipped it into his backpack where he couldn’t reach it, so he couldn’t keep fumbling for it and checking it out of anxiety.

So he didn’t go to lunch in the cafeteria. Jace and Theo might have been there. Instead he resorted to filling his tummy with the KitKats from his locker. Then he slipped away into the bathroom for a pee. As ever, Neck Tie's first day back at school was off to a great start.

mikaluvkitties

 

[Winona]

Jace


This sucked. Life sucked.

Drake's stupid video posted and had gone viral, and soon everyone had seen the horrible things that Jace had done that night. And, well, drunk Stu -- but Jace cared less about that, and more about how shitty of a person it made him look. Add that salt to the already open wound from his messy breakup with Nova, then seeing her walk around with Ian as if nothing had happened, and his fallout with Theo, and... Jace was done. God he couldn't wait to get out of this stupid town.

The first day back to school proved to be absolutely terrible. At first people hadn't said anything, but then Jace had been at his locker and started hearing whispers. That was, well, when he realized that people had seen the video, and throughout the day, people's whispers hadn't stopped. Everyone had seen it, and Jace wanted to cry.

It was lunchtime, and he was now hiding out in the music room. Jace had no beanie on -- Ash had made him throw them in a fire as a way of getting over everything that had happened -- and no guitar after stupid Stu had broken his. So he was just slouched down in a seat, staring at the ceiling. Only a few more months, and he could leave.

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

Ava


She was a horrible person and an even worse friend. Ava was in the bathroom, locked in one of the stalls, because she couldn't muster up the courage to go to the lunchroom and see JJ. Or even Bryan or Lexi, because Ava would just want to punch or choke them both out. Or Chad. Fucking Chad. What a jerk he was... but not worse than her.

Ava knew that eventually, she would have to face her friend and everyone else but for now, at least she could act like nothing was wrong. Or... well, punish herself in silence by being in the stupid bathroom. Maybe she should've picked the locker room or something slightly better than this. Like the library... no, she didn't like books enough for that.

She pulled her phone out, flipping over to Twitter and scrolled through the feed to see what she had missed. Not much. After a moment of hesitation, Ava clicked JJ's profile. She looked at her pictures, her recent tweets, and Ava's finger hovered over the direct message button. But... no, she couldn't do that. So instead, she clicked away.​

 

[Soap]

Grace

Before Sawyer could get to whatever she wanted to tell her, JJ came and whisked her off. JJ? Grace didn't ever see Juliette and Sawyer being friends. Ever. But... okay. She guesses anyway.... shrugging off the weird conversation they decided to have out of the blue, Grace glanced around the bonfire.

She turned to the sound of Ash's voice and greeted her with a small smile.

She wanted to talk, perfect. So did she. She looked back to Sawyer and shrugged. Whatever she wanted to talk about, she suppose it could wait a few minutes longer. Grace tilted her head and went to a more secluded part. They really should've brought lanterns around here or something. The only thing illuminating them was the bonfire. "Okay, so... before you say anything."

"I'm so sorry."

Winona

​

 

[Gomenesigh]

It was finally the first day of school after winter break. Of course, it was also Anabelle’s first day at this school period. She had woken up several hours early, mostly just to avoid having to interact with her father. She mostly sat in her room, sitting in silence and in the darkness. Occasionally she would get up and stretch her legs while she checked to make sure she had everything she needed, which she knew she did. When it was finally time to go (About an hour before classes started), she very quickly and super quietly climbed out the window to her room, backpack strapped on as she descended the tree. As soon as she hit the ground, she put her headphones in her ears and walked to school. She brushed her black braided hair over shoulder and pulled her hood up to cover her face. It took her no more than about 10 minutes to get to school and she found it to be fairly empty. Some students were milling about, but no one seemed to pay her any mind and for that she was glad.



With so much time on her hands, she went ahead and made the rounds to all her classes where she introduced herself to her teachers in the form of giving them all notes. It detailed her medical condition of epilepsy and what to do if she were to have a seizure as well as explain that she was mute. Most of them gave disapproving looks, but it was signed by a doctor and there wasn’t much else they could do.



The rest of the morning proceeded as normal. She saw the cliques moving about in their standard groups, the bullies targeting their victims, and she got the standard introduction at the beginning of class where she awkwardly stood silently in front of the entire class while they stared at her. She saw the judgemental looks and heard the whispers, but she honestly didn’t care much. Her father had already told her they would only be here a month, two at the latest.


When lunch had finally arrived, she was more than relieved. She put her headphones back in to drown out the noise and pulled her hood back up. In the lunchroom she pulled enough change out of her pocket to get a piece of fruit and a bag of chips, which she was met with looks of disapproval from the lunch staff. Whatever. She turned and looked around the cafeteria. There were plenty of empty tables, but they were filling up fast. She really didn't want to get stuck at a table with a bunch of random kids, so she decided to wander the halls during the lunch hour (or however long it is). She had already mapped out the path to all of her classes, but she hadn't looked for any of the art rooms or anything like that. So, she headed in the general direction of them, munching on her chips as she walked.

The first room she came across she peered inside to see the music room. She immediately pulled the headphones out of her ears and stepped inside. A very rare smile lit up her face for a moment as she looked around. The last few schools she had been to barely had any kind of music department at all, much less something like this. A piano was the main focus of the room and there were some chairs littered about as well as instruments of all sorts from drums and xylophones to smaller brass and string instruments. She assumed those belonged to actual students, so she didn't dare touch any of them. It was then that she noticed the boy sitting on the other side of the room. Her smile faded and she stood awkwardly in place for a moment, her gaze sliding back over to the piano. She so yearned to play it. It had been so long since she had had any type of live music in her life. As much as she didn't want to, she carefully approached the boy, pulling out her pen and pocket-sized notepad where she scribbled a something and held it out to him. On it was written 'Would you mind if I played the piano?'

Interactions: Jace Winona

 

[mikaluvkitties]

Aaron​

The rest of the night- and, in all honesty, the trip- passed by in a blur for Aaron. He spent most of his time either alone or with Drake or Maisie, and then it was over. If he were honest with himself, he’d admit he wished it could continue on forever, but Aaron refused to acknowledge where that path led, so instead, he ignored the trip altogether.

Well, other than that video of Stu Drake had shown him. He didn’t know where Stu got off talking to Aaron the way he did when he couldn’t even handle drinking. Was it any surprise he’d encouraged Drake to post it?

Whatever, it didn’t matter now.

Aaron had decided to have lunch with Casper for the first day back to school- partially because it had been a while, and partially because he’d rather he sat with Casper than Stu did. After all, Casper was already a loser, and Stu would just drag him further down.

They didn’t talk, and after sitting with Drake regularly, it felt awkward, watching Casper draw and occasionally being offered more carrots that he couldn’t help but take.

Eventually, he said he was going to the bathroom, and he set about wandering the halls, no real intention of going to the bathroom on his mind… until he saw Stu enter it, that is.

He didn’t know what possessed him, but he followed the boy in, shutting the door behind him with purpose.

Casual as ever, he leaned against the towel dispenser, watching Stu use a urinal with disgust clear on his face. As soon as he was done, Aaron said, “I want you to stop hanging around my brother.”

Dede​

 

[Soap]

Juliette

Juliette rolled her eyes at Sawyer's protectiveness of her beanie, and well, her misplaced trust in her girlfriend. But of course, Grace wasn't Bryan. But then again... "You've only known Grace a few months, I've known her since, like, forever." Despite not actually being 'close' with the girl. JJ had just pegged her for the cliche dumb blonde.

Which... probably isn't true, but she doesn't know that.

"You never know. People can surprise you." She told her with a slight teasing tone. Her gaze fell on Zach and it's where it stood for a few moments. He was a sweet guy, more than Bryan ever could be. She wondered if he knew about the whole cheating thing too. Did Ava tell him? "I'm gonna get back at Bryan."

She looked over to Sawyer, pulling up her phone and snapping a quick photo.

"Any ideas?" Whether or not she was actually going to give her any was beside the point.

KingofAesir

Mentions: Dazzle​

 

[Dede]

Neck Tie

​

Neck Tie was too busy peeing to take heed of the person entering the bathroom. He just heard the door opening and closing, and was just hoping it wasn’t someone he knew, or someone who had seen the video clip.

It wasn’t until the person spoke that he figured it was Aaron -- literally the last person he wanted to see right now. Well, other than Jace and Theo.

Still peeing, Neck Tie glimpsed over his shoulder slightly and spotted Aaron leaning against the towel dispenser, looking all high and mighty like he always did. That kid was so full of himself it was a wonder he didn’t just bloat up from all that smug and explode and spew his ego all over the place.

Not to mention, it was all kinds of awkward having the kid just stand there waiting for him to finish relieving himself. Couldn’t they have picked a more suitable time to be having this... encounter?

Aaron said he wanted him to stop hanging out with Casper. Neck Tie thought this was a joke at first, and nearly scoffed. But he didn’t. Instead he zipped up and turned around, shooting an uncordial glance at Aaron and then nonchalantly swinging over by the sink, running the tap.

Was this about what happened at the party? If so, Aaron had some nerve coming up to him and saying this to his face. If Aaron thought he was his brother’s keeper then he was a pretty crummy one, letting Casper get drunk so irresponsibly like that. He could have poisoned him.

‘What’s it to you?’ Neck Tie finally said. ‘He’s my friend, isn’t he? So it’s his business if he wants to hang out with me, isn’t it? Not yours.’

mikaluvkitties

 

[mikaluvkitties]

Aaron​

When Stu just looked back at Aaron, not immediately responding, he began tapping his arm slowly. He was on a time limit, here- if he was gone too long, Casper would most likely come looking.

He pushed down the annoyance that threatened to boil over at the thought, reminding himself that he loved his brother, even if he was useless most of the time.

At least he wasn’t Neck Tie, who was ignoring him. He was pretty sure he’d been speaking to him. The least he could do was respond, especially if he was going to give him such a dirty look. Who the hell did he think he was?

A part of him thought that maybe, this would be going better if it weren’t in the bathroom, but probably not. Where else- When else could Aaron hope to run into Neck Tie by himself?

He didn’t want to think about how Casper might react if he knew Aaron was responsible for Stu no longer talking to him. It was better to keep it to himself.

Finally, Stu responded, pulling Aaron from his reassurances, and his mouth twitched down as he stopped tapping his arm.

“Casper doesn’t know what’s good for him, Stu, and you are not good for him. You are going to draw undue attention to him. It’s going to get him hurt. Do you think he could stand having a video like that leaked? He’s weak, weaker than even you, and if you truly cared about him, you wouldn’t want this pressure on him.”

Dede​