Realistic or Modern Westbrook

[Dazzle]

Graham had obviously made the right decision by not going on the ski trip. All the drama that ensued, yea not really something he would have liked to get into. Graham loved drama, but more in a controlled setting. Like when it was scripted drama and he knew everyone was just acting their part. No one was intentionally being mean. But even so, when he heard that Grace had broken up with Sawyer, he jumped into action. Grace was the sweetest girl in Westbrook, and the best team captain you could find. Quickly he texted Milos and made his way to the lunch room.

Graham stood behind Milos as he offered the balloon animal to Grace, Graham knew that Milos skills weren't the best when it came to balloon twisting. Almost every time Milos would attempt a dog, it would pop. But he was willing to watch his best friend attempt again, he had successfully made a dog once. "Hey Grace." Graham smiled. He wasn't really sure what to say, asking how are you was so cliche and obviously she wasn't doing great. She broke up with her girlfriend, the OTP of Westbrook, if their love wouldn't survive this drama, who's would?? Graham continued to try to find the right words. "What's ne-" Okay that was stupid too.. What new? He knew what was new.

Graham smacked himself in the head. Why would he ask something like that. "Sorry... I shouldn't have asked that." He looked over his shoulder trying to find something else to bring up when his eyes went wide. Belle was sitting there sketching, wow she was an amazing artist. He should of been used to being around her at this point, but he was so caught off guard that he quickly turned back towards Grace, a large red blush crossed his face. Graham hadn't expected to see Belle. Graham stared at the floor and quietly mumbled something about her art. Graham would be lying if he said he didn't have a small crush on the red head, like she would ever look his way though.

Graham took a seat next to Grace and wrapped an arm around her. "I like.. Know that.." He was trying to find the right words, he didn't want to make her cry. "I know you're sad.." God he was bad at this. "But like I'm here for you?" Graham shrugged his shoulders. Yea he wasn't doing this friend thing right. "Do you like.. Need anything? I'll leave school and get you better food than this?" Graham could go pick up McDonald's if Grace so wanted, even that food was more edible than Westbrook's Cafeteria.

Interactions: Soap Winona Mentions: Maree



Mads laughed a bit, "No one wants to meet Chad. He kinda sucks as a person, no one actually wants to deal with him." Madison might not of been in Westbrook long, but he learned quick. The rest of the jocks laughed along with him, seriously no one liked Chad. It was one of the first things you learned at Westbrook high. Chad wasn't a good person. That was it.

"Did the school have better food than this crap?" Mads pointed to her tray, shocked she even stomached any of it. Another thing he learned was to ALWAYS bring lunch, no question about it. Especially with trying to stay on coach's diet restrictions. Granted no one listened to them anyway. "It was nice, not as cold as here. I was happy for the new start though." And thats what he was trying to do, he fell back into his old ways during the holidays, but he was putting himself on one of 'those new year new me crunches'.

"Westbrook is pretty good about girls teams.." Mads thought she must not have gone to a very open and accepting school. "Westbrook even has a girls Hockey team." Mads thought about that time he helped Drake with his promposal to Alaska during her game. "I think they already had volleyball tryouts, but I'm sure they'd let you try out since you're new." Okay he wasn't sure butttttt, it was worth a shot. Madison smiled when she offered to play basketball with him. "You might regret that." He said jokingly, Mads loved the sport and would take any chance he got to play.

Gomenesigh ​

 

[mogy]

Noah

​

While Mason called for help, Noah’s hands were glued to the steering wheel, even though he turned the car off exactly at the moment their drive was over. He was just staring, staring right through the windscreen, into the hospital which wasn’t that far away from the car. He was still pretty shocked from the whole thing, but who wouldn’t be, right?

Soon enough, Noah came to his senses, and looked at the two boys behind him. While looking at the younger boy, Noah realized just how much Mason had changed from before. He appeared to have actual compassion and empathy, and seemed to be really good friends with the younger boy. What really made Noah think about that was when Mason reassured the kid he was going to be okay. That moment even got Noah to smile a little bit.

When Mason left the car, Noah stayed in a bit before exiting himself. The nurses were on their way, and Noah felt this huge tension fall from his back the boy was finally in good hands, and no deaths were going to be on Noah’s consciousness today. Yay!

Noah’s legs, however, felt like they were going to fall off. Probably from all of the shaking and the stress of driving. What made them shake even more was the moment when Noah saw the side of his mom’s new car.

“I am so fucking homeless when my mom sees this.” He commented silently.

Mentions: Winona (Mason), Dede (Stu)​

 

[KingofAesir]

Sawyer​

Sawyer tilted her head to the side in confusion when Jace told her about Ash telling him to burn his beanies. She let out a breath through her nose, more of a snort than a laugh. Why would you tell someone like Jace to burn his beanies? Jesus, that was literally like a whole part of his personality at this point. Ash had effectively told him to burn away part of himself. Of course, the only reason she was thinking all this was because she needed someone to blame. This wasn't Ash's fault and Sawyer was completely aware of that. But it wasn't Grace's either and she was too stubborn to blame herself, so it fell on Ash. Not quite as hard as it might had it actually been Ash's fault but it was still blame. Sawyer wasn't ever going to actually act on her blame, though. She knew Ash had just been trying to be a good friend and, honestly, that hadn't even been the reason Grace had broken up with her anyway. This was all Sawyer's fault and deep down she was who she blamed.

Sawyer raised an eyebrow at Jace's next words and even manged a slight smik, "Tell me about it, man." She chuckled slightly and let her chin fall to her knees. This was stupid. Sawyer loved Grace and she was more than certain that Grace loved her. They were literally Homecoming King and Queen for gods sake. Damn, they were weren't they? Sawyer figured everyone in the whole damn school would know by now. She had theater later that night, but maybe she should just not show. No. Fuck off. She wasn't letting go of the one thing she enjoyed because of Grace. No way in hell.

How are you holding up?

Sawyer paused at that question. It was weird. She didn't really know the answer herself. How was she holding up? Judging on her not coming to school until twelve and the permanent ghastly look she had on her face, not very well. To be completely truthful, she felt like falling apart. But should she really tell him that? The whole reason she'd come over here in the first place was to distract herself. But he was just trying to be nice she couldn't blame him for that. Sawyer could use some friends so....what the hell.

"Most people would say some shit like, I'll be fine, or something but," She turned her head to look at him and sighed, "It doesn't feel like I'm gonna be fine. So I guess the answer to your question is I'm holding up like shit." Sawyer chuckled, but it was dry and humorless. What the hell was she gonna do?

"You need more beanies, and I could do for a few more too. I know were both all sad or whatever but...do you wanna," The laugh that left her this time was completely real, "do you wanna go beanie shopping, Jace?"

Winona

 

[Gomenesigh]

​

She half waved him off. "I don't want to meet him to be friends. I just want to get in with all the right people, even if he is dick, which from the sounds of it, he is." Her eyes swiveled to the rest of the guys as they all laughed. She preferred not to think negatively of people, to have no negative thoughts of people in general, but these jocks.... they were just so stereotypical. But, she smiled anyways, knowing they were who they were.

She turned back to Mads and shrugged again. "I mean, the food wasn't too terribly bad. A lot more tolerable than this stuff." She leaned back enough to bump her food tray with her shoulder before wiggling back into a more comfortable sitting position. "But, we had such a big school, we typically went out for lunch. They couldn't keep track of all of us, so they let it slide as long as we got back to classes in time. A lot of food trucks would park outside school and that's where the good food was. Gah.." She ran a hand through her hair, her fingers lingering for a moment so she could look at the white colored locks. "Just thinking about it makes me hungry. That's probably what I'll miss the most about New York... The food."

"Ehh..." She let her head fall side to side as she thought. "I don't like sports that much. They're a lot of fun... but I like to be involved in oh so many things, I don't have the time to focus on one thing in particular." She laughed at that. Sometimes she loved guys. They always underestimated ladies when it came to sports and she loved seeing the looks on their faces when she not only beat them, but pretty much annihilated them. "Hah, you're on Blondie. Just don't be too upset when I beat you, yeah?" She smiled and winked before getting up, grabbing her bag and tray before taking it to the garbage.

Dazzle

 

[Elf_Ruler]

Tatum was pissed at the girl because all she had tried to do was be friendly towards her, and sure she had been bitchy but she had only done it in return. When she got pushed by the girl leaving she let it slide because she knew the girl wasn't worth fighting with. No one was worth fighting with, but she had deserved the push she had received. Tatum waited a few minutes in the bathroom before leaving. When she exited she sensed all the drama in the air and there were students all huddled together. That was when she listened to the gossip spreading through the hall and that was when she had heard what happened to some poor innocent kid. It made her sad for the kid that she didn't even know. She also didn't know the guy that had beat up someone else, and no one quite knew who hurt someone so badly.

Tatum wished shoe could find the person who would hurt someone so much that they had to go to the hospital and give them a piece of her mind. She wanted to make sure that this poor kid never had to face those problems again, because not one kid deserved that kind of beat down. Then again it wasn't her business and she didn't really need that kind of drama in her life. She knew she could go back to the cafeteria but all the drama seemed to be occurring out in the halls and that was what she wanted to hear. She still blended into the crowd and not many people took note of her which she didn't mind. She knew she would make more friends at some point she just had to meet the right people at the right time. That being not in the girls bathroom with a very bitchy girl.

Mention(s): Winona (Ava) Dede
Interaction(s): open

 

[Soap]

Juliette

Juliette's eyebrow raised and she glanced around in search for a girl who was looking for his company. Well, who was she kidding. Any girl would want his company. However, none caught her eye. Of course there was girls around here, but none that could ever get Zach. He was a nine at best. She opened her mouth to tell him about the lack of girls he'd ever date but thankfully he admitted she wasn't date crashing.

The brunette sighed and smiled brightly. That was probably the first genuine smile she'd had after the... break up? They never had an official one, but oh boy was it more than just over with her and Bryan.

Zach always made her smile. It was weird, nice, but weird. Her breath caught in her throat when he leaned over to pick something out of her hair. "Oh, thanks." Juliette was looking at him the only way a teenage girl would look at a boy.

Starry-eyed.

Letting at a laugh at his attempted flirts. She shook her head at his apologies. So, he really didn't know? Huh. She thought the whole school would've known by now, but JJ's just waiting for the first day back. Ugh. "No! No." Juliette rolled her eyes and sighed, meeting his gaze again. "It's so not 'too far.' I'm a single woman now." She grinned.

"I'm giving you permission to go as far as you want." Juliette's grin widened and her eyes sparked somewhat of a challenge.

***

The sound of the door was loud, but everyone was too busy counting down the seconds to midnight to notice. Hell, there probably wasn't anyone inside of the cabin. But as soon as JJ was pressed up against the door and his lips were against hers. She decided she could care less. Her hands moved to pull off his shirt in a swift motion. Admiring him for a moment while he worked her own shirt off.

Juliette had gotten impatient, with a small grunt of frustration she helped him unbuttoning her top and throwing it to the floor without a care. This was so much better than any designer blouse.

Maybe.

No, she was right, it was better.

Juliette wrapped her arms around Zach and walked forward. Making the two stumble onto the bed.

*fade to black.*
Dazzle

Caleb

Caleb's eyes darted from her to the floor. "No! I mean, of course, you're pretty but--" Oh god. He softly sighed in relief at her joke. Cheerleaders were unpredictable, so he wasn't sure if she was actually serious or not. He was more than glad she wasn't. He reached into his pocket, ready to pull out in wallet once she answered his question. He rose his eyebrows in surprise. "...I can do coffee." Caleb actually smiled. Coffee was a total thing he could do. So maybe his plan was to get her a coffee at the bookstore his family owned. It's free.

Not that he wouldn't buy her one at one of those ridiculously expensive places either. But... well... her preference.

Yeah, it probably should be her preference. A lot of people secretly complain about the coffee there. Of course, they didn't think he worked there before they gossiped. Oh well, he highly doubted a new coffee machine was something on his parents minds. His mom made good coffee. Huh. Maybe he should ask her for tips when she's... a little better maybe. His smile faded after much thought. Only now realizing Belle was talking about the salad and glanced down at the food in his plate. "Well... I don't blame you. That's why I got the fries. The pizza isn't interesting, but fries are."

He gave a nod to Grace who wasn't even paying attention and took a seat next to Belle. He usually wasn't very talkative nowadays, most of the girls saw him as a cheater. But that wasn't the case! He wasn't like... Bryan. Definitely not. "I don't give my fries out to strangers, but..." He pushed the small tray towards her.

"I'm Caleb."

Maree
​

 

[Maree]

Theo


For Theo, the ski trip has been so close to ending on a positive note. Spending new years sitting by the fire and chatting to Rae, it was fun. They had never really talked before Chace went away. It was a good thing coming out of a bad thing. Sure, he had lost one of his best friends but he gained a new one. They sat there talking about everything late into the night. When everyone starting kissing on the stroke of midnight she had kissed him on the cheek. It was caused by the alcohol they had been drinking but it was sweet none the less.

Then of all things that had to happen, he had to drive Jace home. The nerve of the boy when he climbed into the car with Ash. There were plenty of other cars he could have gotten a ride with someone else but no. After what he did he still expected Theo to drive him back down. Unbelievable. So he did what any hurt person would do, ignored him completely and turned the radio up louder whenever he tried to talk to anyone. Stu on the other hand, eh. Honestly, he couldn't care less about the boy.

Honestly, Theo was just done with everything. Not trying so hard to be nice to people was so much less drama, which was something he never thought he would say. He sat in a corner of the library eating his lunch as a girl opposite him droned on about... He couldn't remember what she was talking about anymore. Shoes? Oh, wait he remembered. Something about the ski trip. Eh, he had zoned out halfway through their 'conversation' which was just her talking. He vaguely remembered spending some time with the girl at the cabin but he couldn't say he remembered it well. Must have been uneventful or he was very drunk. He scanned the room behind her for an excuse to leave before he spotted Rae, perfect.

Without a word to the girl he packed his stuff up and left the table. She might have called after him but frankly, he didn't care that much. Rae was far more interesting than anything that came out of that girl's mouth. "Rae, wait up," he said, joining her side as she made her way past. "Mind if I join you? Westbrook is quite dull without you" he joked, smiling cheesily. If only they could get drunk and have a great conversation by the fire. Sadly he didn't think the library lady would appreciate anyone using her books as kindling. A shame really.
Interacting: Dazzle​

 

[Direct Timing]

Vanden was cutting across the track field to get to the main building of the high school faster. It was cold outside, and the sky was a bleak gray. Even with that though he was happy knowing his coach was going to take care of his suspension. I bet he would be the best dad to have. Vanden thought to himself with a smile. Vanden hummed a tune and thought about texting Jaehwa to see if he wanted to meet at lunch. He stopped in his tracks and pulled out his cell phone.

Jae, you want to meet up at lunch time?

He slipped his cell phone into his back pocket. As he was passing the bleachers he thought he saw movement underneath. He stopped to look. It was a girl. She wasn't wearing a jacket and her arms looked bruised. "What the fuck?" He asked himself. Vanden slowly made his way underneath the bleachers and when he got to her he gave her a concerned look. "Hey. What are you doing out here?" Vanden asked holding onto the shoulder straps of his backpack. Maybe she would tell him, or maybe she would freak, but either way, Vanden was going to try and help her.


Interactions: Gomenesigh Kipsy

 

[Maree]

Belle


Belle shoulders will still shaking slightly as she tried to repress her giggles. Oh, his face when he was trying to explain that she was pretty. It was even funnier because some of the other cheerleaders probably would pull a stunt like that. Luckily she wasn't that type of cheerleader. Being mean to people just for self-validation. It just didn't seem right when you could lift others up with you. That's what God would want and that's all that matters.

When he agreed to her suggestion of coffee her eyes lit up, caffeine was great. She was always ready for a coffee. "do you know any places? Honestly, I'm not too fussed. If it has caffeine in it I'm happy" she said, shrugging her shoulders. It was always interesting to see what kind of places others liked to get their coffee from. Like the cheerleaders and their fancy coffee's that barely tasted like coffee. The thought made her scrunch her nose up, she wasn't a fan.

She shuffled over slightly so that he could sit down beside her, turning slightly so she was facing him. "Well, we are barely strangers now. I think you spilling my food makes us best friends" she teased, taking a fry from his plate and popping it in her mouth. She then moved the tray so it was sitting between them instead of in front of her. Sharing is caring even if it is with slightly cold fries. "I'm Belle. It's nice to meet you" she smiled.

Belle looked over at Grace to make sure she was doing at least kinda alright. Poor thing, broken hearts are unbearable. At least she had mystery boy and Graham trying to cheer her up. "Give me two ticks you're gonna have to put up with cheer talk for a moment or I'll forget," she said, taking a scrunched up bit of paper from the table. She then proceeded to throw it at Graham's arm to gain his attention. Huh, his cheeks were pretty red, wonder what happened. "Can you pleeease tell me what you think about this? When you have the time of course. I would love you forever" she said, pulling out her best puppy eyes as she slid the notebook over to him. "It would be even more amazing if you helped me trial it later?" she asked, throwing in a playful wink for good measure.
Soap Dazzle​

 

[Gomenesigh]

Ana had let her head fall back, eyes closed as she rested. She was trying to figure out how exactly she was going to get off school grounds and where she was going to go. She didn't know the town at all, hadn't done any exploring since they had moved there. On top of that, she didn't have any kind of phone, so it's not like she could GPS places to go hang out. She had been so warm when she originally sat down, she didn't realize how cold it was outside. By the time the cold really started to seep through her clothes, she had started dozing. Almost completely asleep at this point, she didn't hear the boy walk up.

She jumped, startled by the sudden voice out in the cold. She immediately stood up, immediately pulling down the sleeves to cover her arms, and brushing the melting snow and dirt from her clothes. The initial adrenaline from the surprise was wearing off and as she pulled pulled her small notebook and pen, she was already shaking. She wasn't even sure what to write at first, looking from the pad to him a few times. In her moment of hesitation she even dropped the notebook and had to scramble to pick it back up. Finally, she scribbled something onto the paper and held it out to him. She had scribbled over it several times, trying to find the right words. The writing was sloppy and shaky, but she hoped still legible. I'm sorry, I know I probably shouldn't be out here. I was just out here... resting.

I was planning. No I was just... I didn't know how cold it was. I didn't think anyone would see me.

It's been a long day.

Interactions: Vanden Direct Timing

 

[Direct Timing]

Vanden read what was on the paper. He could kind of relate to what she was doing. Sometimes you just had to get away. He took off his backpack nodding at her and sat it on the ground. "I understand." Vanden said smiling at her warmly. He saw how she was shaking. Maybe it was from the cold, or maybe it was from fear. He didn't want to frighten her anymore than she might have been. "My name is Vanden Xie, I'm on the football team. Uh, here take my jacket." He said taking off his jacket and handing it to her. He wore only a plain red t-shirt underneath. "So, what happened to your arms? Did someone hurt you?" Vanden dared to take a step closer. He felt like he needed to help her, maybe get her to the nurse or the police officer on duty. The wind picked up and bit at Vanden's arms. He shivered once. It got really cold in Maine, much colder than the rest of the states got. "What's your name?" He asked.

Interactions: Gomenesigh

 

[Dazzle]

Sam did make a good point, all of them did put up with Chad to get to go to his parties. "You don't need to know Chad to get invited really, just know the right people." He ran his hand through his hair. "And Twitter is usually pretty informative." She was right the food really did suck here. "I highly suggest bringing your own food from now on, to avoid food poisoning." Mads chuckled, he was mostly kidding but at the same time the food was really questionable. "Thats insanely lucky, having the food trucks, I've never heard of schools doing that before." Madison wished he had gone to a school like that, but at least this way he saved money and wasn't spending it all on lunch.

"If you don't like sports, why play?" Mads didn't get it, basketball was his life, thats all he really knew. "What do you like then, there has got to be something you like more than most." He raised his eyebrows, damn this girl was confident. But you know what they said, jack of all trades master of none. He wasn't too concerned. He picked up his bag off the ground swing it over his shoulder. He didn't exactly want to leave his friends yet. But he wouldn't pass up a chance to play basketball. Throwing out his empty paper bag. "I'm up for a challenge." He smirked.

@Gomen



Zach had not expected that. Yea it was obvious they were both attracted to each other, but he never expected her to leave Bryan. And then find her way into bed with him. Zach was so in the moment, he should have said something, what he always does. Make it clear that he's not looking for anything more than what this was. He hoped JJ understood that.

This was one way to ring in the new year.

Zach made his way out of the room gathering his scattered clothes and going back to his own room without another word. Zach definitely didn't mind being JJ's rebound.

***
School

The ski trip went out with a bang, quite literally. Zach had actually had a decent time on the ski trip. Now it was time to detoxify his liver and get back into sports. He had plans of finishing off the basketball season strong, especially since he had been able to keep his grades at a constant C level. Teachers didn't believe his A+ assignments, and just thought that Ava had been doing his homework for him. Zach had gone to the gym early. Refusing to have anything to do with the lunch room, he laid low in the library.

Zach for a long time didn't care that he was held back, but for the first time he was wishing he hadn't failed so many classes in 8th grade. All of his friends would be graduating this year, and yet he was still suck in Westbrook with no other options but to stay and work his ass off to get into a college like Duke.

Interactions: open Mentions: Soap Winona



Rae hated the lunch room to begin with, too loud, too many people and now that Chase wasn't around she didn't find it worth her energy. She was back to hiding in the library 24/7, no Kerry, no Chase. And all she could think about was trying to forget about the ski trip. Okay it hadn't been that bad, but she didn't like loosing control, and drinking made her worry free. Which was probably a good thing.

She needed to distract herself, Rae seated herself in the corner of the library puling her legs into her chest resting her chin on her knees. She pulled out the assignment that Mr. Driscol had assigned, how she ended up in a senior honors class, she would never know. But at least she enjoy reading to some extent. And she hadn't gotten the toughest book he could of assigned, unlike some of the other students. Like the firey red head, that scared the shit out of her. Rae never wanted to be on her bad side.

Before she could even start the book she heard a familiar voice call out her name, quickly she looked up and saw Theo making his way over towards her. A small smile crossed her lips, she had forgotten she could consider Theo a friend, especially after the ski trip. Shit, not another ski trip remeinder. Her and Theo had fun sitting by the fire that night, but then she remembered she had kissed him on the cheek. Feeling embarrassed about that moment in time she felt her cheeks get a bit hot.

"H-hey Theo" Rae smiled. she really shouldn't have felt this nervous around him. Dropping her knees to the ground and pulling at her fingers. "How was your drive home from the cabin?" Her eyes were bright, and happy to not be alone for once.

Maree ​

 

[Gomenesigh]

​

Ana wasn't good at talking to people, not in the slightest. Even with the added distraction of having paper to write on and not having to speak outright, she had never been comfortable with it. She more or less looked down and not at him and squirmed in place, absently kicking at the snow. Already she was doubting why he was there. It was rare that people would even acknowledge her and when people did... it was never in her favor. So, when he took the time to introduce himself, she was shocked. Especially considering he was a jock. When he offered her his jacket, it was enough to make her look up with wide eyes. The shaking stopped momentarily, too stunned to even be cold. She looked back down, scribbling on the paper before handing it out to him again. My name is Anabelle. I'm new here.

No, please. I can't let you. It's too cold

Please keep your jacket. You're only wearing a t-shirt.

Even though the shaking had already come back and in tenfold, she couldn't let someone do something like that for her, especially since he barely knew her. Had offered it to her before even knowing her name. His next set of questions made her freeze, her eyes slowly going wide. She immediately looked down, hoping he didn't get a chance to see whatever expression had crossed her features. It almost seemed as things slowed down for her, although her heart did speed up. She was barely able to think, much less come up with a response. At some point she had started squeezing her pad and pencil. This was not good. This was very very bad. She was usually so careful, so aware of people around her so they wouldn't see the bruises. But it was only the first day and someone had slipped up. She shook her head from side to side, a lot more aggressively than she would have thought. She turned around, hopefully to hide the fear she was overcome with. She pulled the notebook up, trying to come up with something to write down. Even the standard response, the thing she had rehearsed over and over, she couldn't bring herself to write down.

Direct Timing

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

​

Sam was surprised when Mads followed her. She mostly expected him to stay there with his jock friends. She wasn't exactly upset, though. She threw away her disposable tray and the rest of the food left on it. "Well, the school never did it. The trucks always parked off of school property. They just didn't stop us from going out and getting that instead of the school lunches. Which I guess in a way is pretty great of them." She adjusted the strap of her backpack on her shoulder, lingering about for a bit to prolong the conversation. Another shrug. It seemed she was doing it a lot today. "I don't dislike sports, not at all. In fact, I find them to be rather fun. As long as I'm not watching them. I've always been more of a player, rather than a watcher." She shifted her weight for a moment, making an actual attempt to think on the question. "I'm honestly not too sure. I mean I kind of just like most things. There was so much to do at my other school, I could never focus on just one thing. I want to try it all." She smirked then, leaning forward to poke a finger at him. "But don't let that fool you, I'm competitive as shit and I play a good game. Just tell me when and where." She stepped back, pulling out her phone, and rocking her head from side to side as she did. "So, what's this Twitter information? I better start staying informed now."

Dazzle

 

[Direct Timing]

Vanden frowned as she wrote something new seemingly refusing to take his jacket. He read her note. He smiled at her name. "Anabelle. I like that name." He said. Her shaking was borderline violent and this bothered Vanden. He stepped closer to her. "Here, I insist you take my jacket." He slowly wrapped Anabelle in it and smiled at her. Vanden stepped back. He didn't want her to feel like he was coming on to her or anything. He just wanted to help. "There, now you'll be warm." Vanden looked to see if anyone was around. They were alone. "Look, are you ok? Do I need to get the police or something?" He asked watching her. Clearly something had happened to her, but what?

Interactions: Gomenesigh

 

[Gomenesigh]

Ana was still mid thought, trying to come up with a reason when his jacket was draped over her shoulders. It was a lot warmer than she expected. The shaking didn't stop immediately, but the jacket was definitely helping. She was thankful and that only made her confused. She was not used to kindness and she wasn't sure how to react. Her initial response was for tears to come to her eyes. Luckily, it was cold enough that they didn't spill over. She took a shuddering breath and began to write.

Everything's fine. It's just.

She sighed, frustrated that she was acting so miserably. She finally hurriedly scribbled something down and turned back to him. She kept her face down turned as she held out the piece of paper. She pulled the jacket closer around her body with one hand, trying to get the shaking to die down. At this point, she couldn't tell if it was the cold, the anxiety, or whatever else she was feeling.

It's nothing serious, I just fell. I bruise really easily. Please, you can't tell anyone about the bruises.

Interactions: Direct Timing

 

[Dede]

Neck Tie

Neck Tie sat cross-legged on the bed, deep in thought, his hand hovering over the little magnetic knight in front of him. He considered moving it to D6, which would expose his rook to the bishop on F5. But it was a poisoned rook -- all part of an elaborate trap he was setting up for Noah.

He scratched at his cheek a bit, forgetting he wasn’t supposed to touch the bandage as it would disturb the wound.

Twelve stitches. Two above a nice round number, and a personal record for him. It ran from his upper lip along his nose and nearly connected with his eye. With a little more precision and resolve, Aaron might have blinded him for life or jammed his nose into his skull. The doctor said he was lucky.

He was also missing a tooth. Not one of his precious front ones, thank goodness. But close enough to the front to be noticeable, and to give a unique boyish charm to his smile.

He snapped the knight back onto the little board. Then he glanced up at Noah, wondering if the older boy would take the bait.

Even if Noah looked back at him, he wouldn’t gain much from trying to read Neck Tie’s expression. Half his face was numbed by a local anaesthetic. He hadn’t been able to speak for hours -- although that didn’t mean he didn’t try:

‘Fifs four furn, foah. . .’

(‘It’s your turn, Noah.')

Now and again he felt a throbbing pain in the back of his head. The nurses told him to take it easy, and not to move around too much. Chess probably wasn’t helping, but what else were they supposed to do to pass time? Elise was on her way. She'd been 'on her way' for hours. Dad was out of town for some reason, and was coming back as fast as he could.

Noah luckily kept a travel chess set in his car. What a nerd. Neck Tie liked Noah. His driving, not so much.

mogy Winona

 

[Direct Timing]

Vanden read the note with a frown. He wasn't really sure to believe what she wrote was a true or not. Those bruises on her arms seemed awfully bad. He looked up at Anabelle. "I won't...but if someone's hurting you...you should tell me...or, or the school counselor." The wind stirred and blew up Vanden shirt stealing his warmth. He quickly put his arms to his torso and his teeth started chattering. "Why d-don't we go in and get out of this c-cold, Anabelle." Vanden said hoping Anabelle would agree. He wanted to get her and him back inside where it was warmer. Maybe he could escort her back to class and perhaps that would make her feel better. Vanden smiled at her. "C'mon...it'll be ok...I can walk with you back to your class."

Interactions: Gomenesigh

 

[mogy]

Noah

​

Spending time with this kid wasn’t at all bad like Noah thought it would turn out to be. It was actually kind of fun. The kid, who Noah now knew was named Stu, was a very bright and fun young man to hang out with. Including the whole shock of driving and seeing all of the blood, today wasn’t at all a bad day in Noah’s eyes. He made a new friend, and everything turned out okay.

Noah was looking through the hospital room window, thinking about some random thing that came to him, but was taken back to reality with Stu telling him it was his turn.

The knight-rook combo Stu tried to do wasn’t obvious, but Noah wasn’t Westbrook Middle School chess champion of 2014 for nothing. He saw through that little trick like he saw through some of the other little tricks Stu tried to do, but he had to admit, Stu was a very good chess player because a bad chess player wouldn’t even know how to set up some of those traps.

Noah shifted in his chair before purposefully falling into the trap, capturing Stu’s rook. He saw that the kid needed a win today, even if it was just chess. After beating Stu in the last round, Noah didn’t mind giving him this win. After all it was just a board game.

“So… You and Mason seem kind of close. Are you guys friends?” Noah tried to get some kind of small talk going.

Interactions: Dede (Stu)
Mentions: Winona (Mason)​

 

[Dede]

Neck Tie

Noah had won the last round after Neck Tie’s stonewall attack fell apart and backfired spectacularly. He was thrilled to scrape one victory back, tapping his knee with excitement as he planted the next move. Checkmate was only 3 captures away.

The boy was scratching his cheek again along the edges of the wound. The anaesthetic was starting to wear off and the itch getting worse.

He caught Noah looking out the window and he looked out with him. There were clouds in the sky. Who knew? The last time he had a room here, he had an actual view with buildings and all.

Noah asked if he and Mason were friends.

‘Y. . .yeah,’ he replied reluctantly with his head low, taking the pawn on G7 with the queen.

It was the same answer he’d given to Casper, after Casper had prompted him with the exact same question. Neck Tie saw Mason as a friend, and he was pretty sure Mason counted him among his friends too. Well, kind of sure. Maybe. Probably. Probably not.

Actually, as a matter of fact -- truth be told -- all things considered -- they weren’t friends at all. Actually, um, quite the opposite. But wouldn’t it be cool if they were friends? Mason was kind of cool, he thought, at least when he wasn’t threatening to stuff nuggets down his throat, or calling him Happy Meal, or hurling him into the ground in full view of the whole school.

‘F. . . feckmate,’ he said. ‘I mean-- f. . .fch. . . fcheckmate.’

The nurse came over with a small tray and some pills and water for him. He tilted his head back and she held the glass for him. He struggled to get the pill down and a bitterness exploded on his tongue for a moment before he could get it down.

‘How are you feeling, Stu?’

‘I’m ofay.’

She detached the clipboard from the frame of the bed and scribbled in some notes. She recorded his temperature and readjusted the bandage.

‘Your mother isn’t here yet?’

Elise wasn’t his mother, but it was too much trouble trying to explain this to the nurse, so he just went along with it. He shook his head. Elise said she was on her way, some two hours ago.

When the nurse left, Neck Tie slowly turned back to Noah.

‘I finda. . . fessed up four f. . . car, fifn’t I?’

mogy Winona

 

[Winona]

Milos


The smile on Milos's face was quick to fall away when she said the dreaded word of... dog. He may have overthought what he was capable of because a balloon animal dog was not on his list of things, but he'd really been hoping that Grace would say snake. Of course she wouldn't! No one liked snakes! He was quick to push the balloons behind him and off the table, knocking them to the ground before kicking them under it with his foot. There. Now it was like he'd never even asked.

"There, there, Grace. It's okay. We're here." Okay, this was a disaster. He was horrible at this. He should've gone with bringing her some candy -- heck, he had jelly beans stashed in his locker to snack on between classes. Why hadn't he brought those? The only problem was that all the blue ones were gone because, well, they were his favorite.

And then Belle was coming over, and Milos was feeling uncomfortable with a capital UN. As if the cheerleading table wasn't intimidating enough, and now it had Belle! He was almost scared to look at her, for fear of being dragged into her drama... or being tossed into a table. So instead, he kept his gaze on Grace. He glanced towards Belle as she passed something to Grace, something about trialing, and he frowned. "I really don't think she's in the mood right now to look at that." He pointed out.

Although Grace probably wasn't in the mood for anything but ice cream and hiding under blankets or something. "So uh, did you all hear about that kid that ended up in the hospital? Neck Tie?"

Soap Dazzle Maree​

 

[mogy]

Noah


​

Noah was glad to hear Mason had at least one normal friend for a change. Noah didn’t hate Mason’s other friends, but he didn’t think Mason hung out with a good crowd. But who was Noah to say anything? He hung out with the same crowd, possibly even an even worse one, less than a year ago.

Soon enough, as expected, Stu won the round of chess. “Wow, you’re actually really good.” Noah sounded quite surprised, but that was due to his good acting and his manipulative nature. Of course, he didn’t pretend to be surprised to achieve anything bad. He just wanted to make sure Stu didn’t know he let him win, because then, letting Stu win would be pointless. It would seem to Stu that Noah thought he was stupid and couldn’t win on his own, which wasn’t true.

Not long after, one of the nurses came in the room to check on Stu and give him his medication. Noah stood up and moved back, so he wouldn’t interfere with the nurse’s work. She seemed very kind, and Noah didn’t want to seem like a douchebag. He decided to look around the room a bit, even after the nurse left. He just couldn’t sit any longer.

Noah also couldn’t believe how irresponsible Stu’s parents were. Their son almost died, and they didn't rush to the hospital right away. Noah knew that if he was in Stu’s place, his parents would be on their way as soon as they heard what had happened, no matter where they were.

When Stu mentioned his car, Noah didn’t want Stu to feel like it was his fault, because it really wasn’t, so he reassured him. “It wasn’t your fault. You might have noticed that I am not a very good driver and that it was a very stressful ride, plus, you needed to get here fast. All of those things don’t go together very well.”

To relieve the room from the obvious pressure when the two started talking about Noah’s car, Noah decided to joke a little bit. “I hope you realize that you are now obligated to buy me at least a cup of coffee. You know.. For getting you to the hospital and shit.”

Interactions: Dede (Stu)
Mentions: Winona (Mason)​

 

[0k_mang0]

sebastian

Location: School cafeteria
Interacting with: No one (OPEN)​

His winter vacation was anything but interesting. Sebastian mostly spent his time working at his first job as a barista, and now he was on his way to save up for his first car—or something simple, like a new video game, or trips to a movie theater because the prices there are always stupid-expensive. His aunt, Lucia, liked the music playlist CD that he’d given to her for Christmas. It was the only gift he could make in a short time, better than buying only a generic greeting card. Even his New Year’s Eve was mundane, not that he minded. He worked for a short time in the afternoon, played video games at home for a few hours, ordered Chinese takeout (there wasn’t enough time to go grocery shopping), and watched different news channels broadcasting New Year’s Eve events, including the one from New York.

Then, thirty minutes after midnight, he went to straight to bed because he was too exhausted to act edgy and stay up past 5 a.m., which was when Aunt Lucia got home from her friend’s New Year house party—Sebastian didn’t question about the bright blue-and-purple feather boa and $30 dollar gift card that Lucia couldn’t remember bringing home.

After sitting down on the empty corner of a bench table, Sebastian placed his blue backpack and cartoon hotdog-designed skateboard on the seat space beside him, preventing anyone from sitting too close. He removed his wool-lined denim jacket and set it on the table surface, right above his backpack. He actually liked winter, but the weather in Maine was colder than in New Jersey. He had to start wearing extra layers, like the extra two layers of T-shirts currently under his black hoodie. Temperature raised a few degrees higher when he’d entered the cafeteria, most likely from the school kitchen, and because he just got out of PE class. He was still wearing his black track pants.

He moved his baseball-sized blueberry-almond muffin, which he and his aunt made yesterday, and a plate of fries slightly to the side before setting his geometry textbook in front of him. After his first day at work, shortly before winter vacation, Sebastian had forgotten to do his geometry homework. He didn’t want to make that mistake again, especially when he was on the verge of failing that class. With music blasting from his earphones, Sebastian drank a few gulps of his bottled iced coffee that he’d bought from a convenience store this morning, and began writing in his notebook, multitask-eating his fries and muffin. He glanced up when he heard a group of jocks across from his table howl in laughter, but didn’t pay attention to them any longer. He should’ve brought his noise-canceling headphones, but he still needed to hear the school bell.

Sebastian had been living in Westbrook for a month now, and he still hadn’t made one friend or even an acquaintance at school. He had spoken to a few classmates for a very short time, learned some of their names, but hadn’t joined any group. His “new kid” status seemed to have grown out quickly, and now he was another quietly forgotten high-school kid. Aunt Lucia wouldn’t stop asking him if he had a friend at school yet; she was always casual about it whenever she brought up that topic, but Sebastian could tell she was secretly worried about her nephew possibly being seriously antisocial. He wasn’t actually against socializing; he just didn’t want to, for the sake of looking like a bother or intruder.

After finishing his coffee, Sebastian turned towards the recycling bin that stood 7 or 8 feet away from him, and, without standing up, he one-hand tossed his iced coffee bottle in a high arch when the path was clear of passing students. It bounced on the edge a few times before tilting inside.

Damn. Kinda rusty, he tsked quietly at himself, turning back to his homework and small lunch. He hadn’t touched a basketball in over a year, so he wasn’t surprised that his skills somewhat dulled. But still, probed a tiny voice in his brain, he should’ve been able to at least make an easy swish with a freakin’ bottle and a recycling bin that was wider than a basketball net.

 

[Gomenesigh]

​

Anabelle shook her head vigorously, refusing to look up and make eye contact with him. No one could know. She could never tell anyone. They were only going to be in this little town for a month or two, but she still had to remedy this situation. But, what was she going to do? Hide from him? Avoid him? No. She just had to get him to believe the lie. That she was clumsy or stupid and had done it to herself. The wind flared up and she pulled the jacket closer around herself, completely forgetting that it wasn't even hers. She looked up just enough to see that he was even colder than she was. The t-shirt really wasn't offering him any protection. It only confirmed the suspicion when he asked her to go in. She gave a long look out, laying out her options, but eventually sighed and turned to go in. It would look especially strange if she were to bail out now. So, she reluctantly grabbed her backpack, and went back, finding the closest door inside and slipping through it, holding it open long enough to let Vanden go through as well.

The warmth inside the school was breathtaking. Literally it was so warm that it took her a moment to start breathing. She immediately took her backpack back off and shrugged out of the jacket, draping it over her arm as she started to write again.

I'm sorry you had to see that, but everything's fine. You CAN'T tell anyone what you saw. Please. Everything's really okay. I promise.

Direct Timing

 

[Soap]

Juliette

New years... was interesting. She lost a boyfriend, and gained one. Okay, well, Zach wasn't officially her boyfriend. Yet anyway. However just because she had gotten a new guy doesn't mean her old one didn't deserve to be punished for what he'd done. Right? Right. Exactly. JJ strutted through the parking lot and stopped in front of Bryan's porsche. He loved this dumb thing. Way more than her obviously.

It wasn't even that nice!

Sliver was such a boring color.

The gasps and murmurs around her only continued when she brought down her father's golf club on top of the windshield. Hm. That wasn't quite enough. She hit the car again, knocking off the rear-view mirror. This time the car alarms went off. Okay, that good enough. She smiled at the sight. "See, it's not a very nice car." She muttered to herself and almost daydreamed of Bryan's face once he'd seen the damage she'd hardly done.

She continued her way into school, passing by Lexi's locker with an almost too-bright of a grin. The word 'Slut.' Written in spray paint had been spread across.

So, maybe, ever so possibly. She might've broke into school with a certain blonde the night before. What? After Juliette pleading a little, Sawyer had given in. Lexi needed a taste of her own medicine. Of course she didn't like the Vaughns. Or well, Alaska particularly. But that didn't mean she was doing it for her. Besides, didn't the Vaughns go on vacation anyway? She heard her parents talking about them this morning before they left for a few nights out of town.

***

Juliette didn't feel like eating. Or... sitting at the table with Grace. She felt at fault for their breakup. Even though she didn't kick her off the team... Juliette kind of felt bad for them. Yeah. She actually feels things. What a surprise. She wasn't particularly keeping an eye out for a certain blue eyed boy. Or... a redhead who she desperately didn't want to see. Ava was the only one who wasn't involved in her revenge plan.

She said it before. There's no way to get back at someone who doesn't care about anything.

Or... maybe Jules just didn't want to hurt her.

She felt the eyes on her from the Jocks, and cheerleaders, and... any one who had seen the picture online. There was pity stares. ew. No thanks.

Instead of prolonging this, she passed by the cheer table. The jocks table. Shooting a sweet smile at Belle. Be friends with your enemies or something... however that saying goes. Juliette took a seat next to some random guy, pulling out her phone to scroll through twitter. She looked up for a mere moment seeing him throw his bottle and actually making it into the trash can.

"Huh. Nice shot."

0k_mang0

@Mentions: Winona Dazzle Maree
Grace

Grace didn't pay attention to Graham's terrible attempts of conversation. Furrowing her brows when he wrapped an arm around her. She wasn't going to be rude and say anything about it. She knows they care about her, but can they stop being so pushy? Taking a deep breath she clenched her fists. More than sure she was making nail marks into her palm in a desperate attempt to keep herself from lashing out at the poor boys. Grace was just getting annoyed by now.

She didn't reply to the offer of better food, it seemed to be a pattern whenever she was upset about... literally anything, she lost her appetite.

She rubbed at her head, putting her face in her hands as they continued to reassure her that they were there. Okay! She knew that. It seemed like everyone was there for her, just not the person she wanted the most. Pushing the notebook further to Graham. "She meant him, not me." It was probably bad that the head cheerleader wasn't exactly excited to get into routines right now. But can you blame her?

The blonde kept the eyes onto the lunch tray, waiting for the bell to ring so she could continue this dreadful day and get it over with.

There was one thing that decided to catch her attention.

Her head shot up, shrugging off Graham's arm off her shoulder. "What? He's in the hospital? What happened?" It was no secret that the cheerleader had started to stray away from social media. Even if the whole school was talking about it. Grace was never interested in twitter, and after the breakup she lost interest in a lot of things. But her friend's safety was never one of them.


But she figured it was WestBrook and if one student knew about it, well, all of them did. She opened twitter. Ignoring all the tagged photos and messages and went straight to the feed. Her jaw and heart dropped at the sight of the photos. Who needs school anyway? She was bound to bump into Sawyer, and she wasn't exactly excited to get reminded of that. Skipping school was the least of her problems right now anyway. Stu mattered more than high school drama.

"Uh- I have to go. Thanks... for the balloon animals or whatever." She shook her head and swung her bag over her shoulder, exiting the cafeteria. Grace wasn't paying attention and bumped straight into someone. "Oh. I'm so sorry." She took a double take and stopped in her tracks for a moment. The brunette seemed familiar but she couldn't quite place it. "Uh, right. Sorry." Grace shook off the weird nostalgia and continued on her way. If this wasn't a more dire situation she would've stayed to actually apologize and find out who she was.

It wasn't long until she got to the hospital, and she quickly made her way to the reception desk.

"Hi. I'm looking for Stu... uh..."

She realized she didn't know his last name. Oh my god, what kind of friend was she?

Maree Winona Dazzle Dede




​

 

[PenguinFox]

A completely neutral "Oh." was all Ian could say at first. Of course she still had some of Jace's things. They broke up roughly two weeks ago and most of that time was spent at the West's cabin, so it made sense that she still had some of his things. Ian's mind raced on how he felt on the matter, it was certainly a complicated situation. Nova was a kind person so she was obviously going to give the stuff back and not throw it out like some people might, and Jace deserved that kind of respect too. After all he wasn't a bad dude from what Ian knew, and their break up wasn't messy. He almost wanted to even help Nova, but that would be way to awkward of a situation for all parties involved.

As he sat there thinking about it, a realization came to Ian. He and Nova had started dating before she had even fully moved on. Sure she might have mentally moved on, but there were still physical and likely emotional traces of Jace and her's relationship. This realization brought guilt bubbling back up inside the Evans boy. His jaw clenched as his green eyes drifted from his girlfriend down to the table. Everything had moved incredibly quickly between them. She said that she had willingly opened herself up to Ian, and liked him as much as he her- but so many what if's swam through his mind. What if her emotions were just clouded from the hurt? What if she didn't like him, but the idea of him? What if she didn't want a new relationship but just to prove she was worthy of one? His teeth began to grind as he began to feel worse and worse about himself. Did she truly want this?

Questions on Nova's feelings soon turned to questions on Ian's. At first thought, yes he wanted to be with her, but a seed of doubt was planted was now starting to bloom. Did he truly want this? After all when he first saw the petite brunette he thought it was his ex, Caroline. Care had been Ian's first true romance and they hadn't technically ended their relationship. Was it possible that he was still hung up on her; and because of that, coupled with Nova's similarities to the ex in question, Ian developed false feelings for his current girlfriend. It was possible, but no, he liked Nova for Nova...right? Yes, he had to, besides Nova wasn't like Care. Care abandoned Ian when he needed support from others the most, where as Nova was willing to support him the day they met.

The brunette's voice brought Ian back to reality before he could give her any further response. He was grateful for the change in subject, and judging by the weak smile on his girlfriend's face she was too. "Got a text from them on New Year's saying 'This is our year' but other than that no." The members of Ian's band were always so optimistic, and while he tried to be as well, it seemed as though they were destined to fail ever since the incident two years ago. Ian's thoughts began to drift again, this time remembering that day and the chain of events it caused in vivid detail. His jaw tightened even further and the back of his eyes began to hurt as he suppressed the water that was threatening to well up. The blonde's mind began to go to dark places and there was nothing he could do to stop it, almost as if he were watching a movie of himself. A small but false smile formed on his face as he looked to Nova but avoiding direct eye contact. "Which song? If you mean the one I showed you I've got only another line or two. I want it to be as genuine and raw as possible so it's slow goings." Perhaps if he pretended he was fine no one would notice the pain behind those green eyes. Then no one would have to also carry his burdens. He just had to make it through the rest of the day. txlos