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Amelia was sitting on the grass near the edge of the carnival, She was very quiet right now and she seemed to be crying because of her father getting out of jail. She was petrified about it and you could see that simply by the way she was shaking as she cried. She was sitting with her legs crossed and her head in her hands, the carnival was over but she was petrified to leave because of her father. Her father scared her greatly and you wouldn't know that as no one knew the truth before she had told Kas about some of it but not all of it as no one really knows much about her father from her because she doesn't talk about him much and she doesn't remember him that well until her mother told her why he had got arrested and then memories came flooding back about it and it petrified her terribly, but she never let it show that she was scared, but now as she was shaking in fear and in her tears as she sat there and cried.
Ronin had just gotten done filtering through the crowd and was headed to the secluded gate that was the fastest route home, He was quiet like usual and his songs just happened to be in the middle of changing songs when he heard a soft sob. It startled him and he almost jumped or flinched at the noise. Ronin paused his music as he looked around for the origin of the noise. Not far away Amelia was sitting on the groud all by herself, crying. He decided to have a seat with her and see what the problem was. "Hey you," He said as he took a seat "What makes such a strong face like yours cry?"
Amelia looked up at him quietly, her eyes clouded with tears and they were red and puffy. You could see the fear in her eyes. "I may be strong but when the person that caused everything that happened me returns today, I am scared that he will be there, scared he will come back and drag me into it like he tried to do 7 years ago, he wants me to be just like him but I don't want to be, he scares me, everything that happened was his fault all his fault" her tears got worse as she sobbed quietly and her tears rolled down her cheeks faster. "I can't help crying it was all his fault" She mumbled, crying badly. She was looking up at him quietly and she tried to put on a fake smile through the tears but she couldn't.
"I know, what he has done to you and your life is unexcuseable, I totally understand where you are coming from." Ronin looked down at her and put an arm around her shoulders. "Do you have a change of clothes for tomorrow? You can always stay in one of the empty bedrooms in the house like you used to, you know that. I will have Ashley tend to you personally. You know she loves it when you come over." Ronin gave her a look of concern. He wanted so badly to help her like he had done so many times when they were younger but he felt powerless this situation. "I know it is a very touchy subject, however, Do you mind tellig me what exactly put him in jail? Or do you still not know?"
Amelia nodded quietly. "I would love to stay over and it is hard but he was a theif and a drug dealer, he was also an addict so he got arrested for that, I got told just before I came back and now I remember what exactly happened" She mumbled quietly. She let a small smile there. "Thank you for helping out when I need it, you are an amazing friend and you have been there through all of it and you have helped out the whole time so thank you for everything you have done for me through everything that has happened since my father got arrested. My mother became a drunk and I had to do it all so thank you" She smiled brightly to him, tears slowing down quietly and looking up at him.
"Of course, Its my pleasure. Now about tonight we will need to get you a change of clothes some how, shopping?" he suggested. Ronin had more money than he knew what to do with even with his investments in companies and such. He simply wanted to help a friend out and the store was right on the path back home. It wouldn't be the first time Ronin had bought Amelia an outfit and most likely wouldn't be the last because of how much enjoyment it brought him to watch her siff through clothing racks then ask his opinion about every single piece of everything. It also wouldn't be the first time she had stayed at one of the spare rooms in the Tanzini Manor, She used to come and go freely becuase her work was closer to his house than it was to hers. Ever since her mom started pitching in, she came less but Ronin was fine with that, he only wanted to help and he had played his part. Now that she was coming back he was rather excited and messaged one of the maids named Ashley, the youngest one that usually cared for Amelia when she came around, telling her to prepare Amelia's favorite dinner and to make the bed in the spare room. Ronin then got up shoving the phone in his pocket and let his earbuds dangle out of the collar of his hoodie, He reached down to pull Amelia to her feet and they started to walk.
"I do need clothes for tommorow so yes" She just smiled and took his hand and stood up and gave him a gentle smile and walked with him. She loved staying over at his but only ever did when she needed to and would never ask when she just wanted to because she didn't know how to ask him if she could stay for no reason. He had offered today and she had accepted it but this was different as she needed help. She walked with him and she was smiling brightly. "Wanna hear the news from the summer" she asked him while smiling brightly at him as she seemed really cheerful today after he had helped her. She knew she would have to face her father tommorow but she didn't want to think about it.
"Absolutely! We have a lot of catching up to do." Amelia always made him smile, their low-key relationship always pulled through at the right moments. They walked and talked all the way to one of the smaller outlets in the town to look around for an outfit for tomorrow, Ronin seemed to wander aimlessly while Amelia searched furiously and relentlessly through all the racks in the store. She called his attention every once in a while to consult him on the colors or style. He thought they all looked decent but she always sighed and put them back, at the end she had a pile of clothes to try on and she headed for the changing rooms. He sat outside and waited, he heard shuffling and hangers clanking then the door clicked open and she stepped out in a red t-shirt with a white rose on it, a white skirt and red sneakers, Ronin nodded simply then she let out a huff and went back in, a little while later she opened the door to reveal a white strapless top with a red rose on it, a pitch black skirt and white sneakers. "That looks nice." He says calmly, She just looked at him for a moment, then said "Forget it." She came back out with she wore in and grabbed the first outfit and handed it to Ronin. "Thats it~" she said. Ronin took it to the front desk and paid then grabbed the bag as he turned to walk out the door. Ronin put the bag over his shoulder so that he could carry his long pole with no serious hindrances and they continued their talk about summer adventures over the summer untill they hit the manor gate and Ashley was standing there to meet them. Ashley took the bag of clothes from Ronin with a smile then followed them up to the house. Once inside Ashley showed Amelia what room she would be using this time, as Hailee called Ronin to dinner in the kitchen.
Later that night, Ronin checked in on Amelia and she looked like she was sound asleep on the enourmous bed all sprawled out. He smilled and closed the door quietly, then made way for his room and went strait for his bed. Ronin hit the bed and was out cold within a few minutes out of pure exhaustion with the embarasment and the talking, He wasent much of a people person. Amelia, noticing that Ronin had checked on her only a few minutes before decided to get up and get a glass of water. She walked down the hall, passing his room on the way down, it was cracked open a bit and she could see him laying there, He looked really sad. She got to the stairs and called to Ashley in a hush voice to please get her a glass of water, she did and Amelia drank it then gave it back, then started walking back to her room. Amelia loved the feel of the plush carpet on her feet. She looked into Ronin's room again and saw that he was turned over and clearly sleeping. She was curious so she took a peak into his room, she couldn't really see anything so she opened the door and went in. She saw that he had little quotes all over his wall. It looked like he had wrote them, they were very mysterious and kind of, resentful. He looked at Ro who was fast asleep and just before she left, a little flash caught her eye. It was a reflection of the hallway light off a picture that was stuck under his pillow. Her curiosity got the better of her and she grabbed the picture. She smiled as she looked at the heartwarming picture of Ronin and his parents, As she went to put it back she found another one. This one was simply a school picture that would be in the yearbook. It was a picture of Lily, Just a small one, But she wondered why Ro would keep a picture of her with a picture of his parents, and why any of it would be under his pillow. Ronin shuffled in bed so Amelia put the pictures back and got out. She headed back to her room thinking about the pictures but let them go as she fell asleep.

"Beep! Beep! Beep! Be-"

Nathan nearly jumped out of his bed as his phone buzzed on, regrettably informing him to get up and face school today. Though, it didn't stop him from laying there and recalling the previous days events. If memory served him right, the Faoiláin's had invited him to essentially spend the carnival day with him, even if it went against his better judgement. Not to say that he didn't like their company, but more so he felt he kept embarrassing himself in front of them. Lilliputian things such as silence or having parts of a conversation be missed due to the Faoiláins speaking Irish occasionally. And, while there was a glimmer of happiness hidden in the memories, it was overshadowed by Nathan and how he overthought things. Not only that, but the carnival got hazy once they did bumper cars... Regardless, he does remember that he bid them both farewell and went to the community center, spending the rest of the day working out and relaxing in the pool until he was forced to leave once more. He remembered the hesitation as he opened the door, revealing his father passed out drunk on the living room couch, booze still in hand with his body facing a blank screen. As pitiful as the scene was to Nathan, it only made him let out a small sigh of relief as he hastily made his way up the stairs. No confrontation that night. In his room was his schedule placed on his computer's desk, most likely by his mom. He remembered giving a faint smile, feeling that at least one person accepted him, only for it to disappear when he realized she had already abandoned him to his father's harassment. And while he was glad that it wasn't as bad as it could be... it didn't help him that it was still a nightmare at home.

And now, as he reopened his eyes and snapped out of his trance-like state, he wondered how school would go today. Once more peering out his window in the morning, another sigh of relief was made that his father was gone. It had become a routine around the house, at least for Nathaniel. He made sure to have a semblance of a plan in his head to avoid contact with his father recently, and as he turned on the shower and waited for that brief moment for it to turn warm, his mind wandered into what he would do after school. He was going to wear shorts underneath his sweatpants, he knew that much, but he wondered if he should spend the time solely swimming or if he should do what he did yesterday and work out as well? He eventually settled with how he'd let his future self decide, for now... it was time to get ready.

Upon completion of his shower, and by extension putting on his outfit for the day, he looked in the mirror with his regular expression, which he found odd was a slight smirk. He never really felt he'd be the type to smirk, yet there he was, doing so without even trying. Just like how, after what felt like a long walk to school, he sat in the closest chair next to the door. Not because he liked that area, but more so because he could escape faster and head towards his next class.

Speaking of class, he wasn't sure what to make of the teacher so far. She seemed cheery enough, not a strict teacher like he'd had in the past. And, while he wasn't exactly sure what to put on his folded paper, he eventually decided to draw water around his name, almost like it were drifting endlessly in the ocean. Though, he added simple clouds on the top instead of a sun. Following her next step, he did a simple tear right down the middle on the second paper, and unfortunately he zoned out at her explanation at what it meant, only to come back into the conversation upon hearing they'd be playing a game that was essentially two truths and a lie.

And he was chosen to go first. His eyes widened in shock at the prospect that he had been chosen out of everyone else... The one person who didn't want to speak in front of the class. Nathaniel hated getting up in front of a large group of individuals, especially those who he'd be spending the rest of his high school years in a homeroom with. And as much as he wanted to just sit there, acting like nothing had happened and that he simply misheard, he silently sighed to himself as he stood up and walked to the front of the class.

His heart was pounding as he stared at the other students, unsure of what to say and how they'd respond. He didn't want to reveal anything that would potentially make him feel more like less of a person, and after several, short, agonizing moments, he took a deep breath and started to say "Uh... Let's see... I like to swim, I guess, I'm not much for singing, and... um... I got to live in Japan for a while thanks to my Dad."
And while he stumbled slightly due to being nervous, he did make sure that he gave a lie in there, that which was how he wasn't much of a singer. While it was true that he didn't like to admit it, he had noted to have a pretty decent voice when it came to musical standards. He also didn't appear to be that nervous, as he was trying to his best to stay calm and just wait for someone to guess the lie, hoping that it would be over with.

And riding with Blake in the middle, her new friend Meave on the other side of him? Why it was just perfect. A sugar-sweet memory filtered through sunlight and bubbly cheerfulness. The trio of them, almost touching the sky, it was a wonderful way to start off the school year and celebrate the leaving summer with a last free spirited cheer. Though perhaps it was only her who thought this way. Most kids their age were less than optimistic about starting school again. Even if it was their first year high school, school was school, and everyone was either gloomy or ecstatic. Well, she'd always be one to count under ecstatic. Especially after spending the day with friends.



Dᴀᴛᴇ: Sᴇᴘᴛᴇᴍʙᴇʀ, Tᴜᴇsᴅᴀʏ 8ᴛʜ.
Lᴏᴄᴀᴛɪᴏɴ: Going to school >>>>> First Day
Iɴᴛᴇʀᴀᴄᴛɪᴏɴs: Nathaniel @MechonRaptor and class

A pale mass of curls, carelessly sleeping with one leg over the side of her bed and an arm dangling over her head, the morning started off thusly. Soft breathy 'snores' drifted through the darkened morning just before being thrown to the wayside by the sudden jolting music of the radio by the bed. Her snores snuffled into the pillow and she hit her snooze button, rolling over in bed. But as she did so her mother's hand ruffled her hair.

And with a gentle word from her mother, Poetry got up, rubbing her eyes sleepily. But as she sat up and looked around, she began to grin slowly, dreamily at first, then giving into excitement. Rushing through her room, she pulled on her clothes. Running a brush through wild pale curls, the mass was tamed into its usual delicate tendrils, styled simple so it'd stay out of the way, and checked twice, just to make sure nothing looked funky.

Running downstairs, she almost ran over her grandmother, who was bringing down laundry. Through the hall, with shouted apologies, Poetry rushed to he kitchen table. Breakfast was waiting, and she gratefully gobbled it down. Being told to slow down didn't help. And once her teeth were brushed, hair checked once more and bag sat waiting by the door, she fell backwards onto the couch. She still had ten minutes till her dad would drive her. Poetry took the time to look her schedule over once more.


How busy....

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Finally getting to school, Poetry, who was hardly ever late, was among the few to arrive first. Mrs. Wayne's homeroom seemed welcoming enough, though the gloomy sky outside was less than welcoming. With the teacher greeting everyone at the door, Poetry beamed and handed her the Queen Anne's Lace flower she had been holding onto for such occasion.

Sitting in a seat at the center of the room, she wiggled excitedly in her seat. Examining the paper, the pale haired girl in blue and orange grinned. She did as instructed and folded one paper in half. Writing her name in scrawling letters, soon she had it decorated it flowers, birds, sketches of pretty food, stars, and colored it all with her own twenty four set of markers. Attendance was called and Poetry ignored the small giggle the rose up over her name. She was used to people finding it odd, but her face flushed just a bit, not used to the school setting. She had been homeschooled after all.

The second paper made her wince. Carefully she tore it up into neat sections, then into delicate pieces, till it was just a snow-like hill on her desk. Looking down at the torn up paper, she winced and shrank into her seat. Violence wasn't something she liked to think about, even if it was metaphorical or emotional. Hearing about the game, she relaxed.

Poetry raised her hand, letting it snake-dance up into the air when no one else made a move to guess the lie. She straightened her back and gave the boy, Nathaniel, a warm and gentle smile. Her honey smooth voice slipped through the air like a lullaby. "I believe that the lie might be that you swim," she grinned.

Beep! Beep! Beep!

There were chirps. She slowly opened her eyes and stared at the pale-white ceiling. She waited for a moment, expecting an onslaught of annoying noise from her neighbor's family to hit her then and there; The two younger children of the family raised arguments on who uses the bathroom first, and the loud fizz of the kitchen stove as Mrs. Lottie made breakfast. But then, she noticed something strange. She didn't hear anything. Her eyes glanced at the bedroom door, trying to pick out movement through the cracks. There were no shadows. No anything. It was in that moment that she finally realized where and when she was; In her Aunt's small apartment in Arrowsmith, South Dakota. Today was her official first day of high school. She was no longer in Brooklyn, New York. She had not spent the night at her neighbor's house, as she had done countless times before, when she was younger. Her mind was still fuzzy, the last remnants of a wonderful dream being chased away by the realization that she was awake again. It was a nice dream, an old memory from when she was eleven years old and spending time with her mother, but the details were fading fast even as she tried to recall them.

After taking a deep breath and wiping the "sleepies" from her eyes, Ebony sat up in bed and stretched, hitting the off button on her alarm clock. Considering how she'd taken a shower the night before, it didn't take her long to get dressed and fix her hair. She'd decided to go bare faced that day, only smoothing down her eyebrows with gel and applying light brown lip gloss on her lips. She took one last look in her bathroom mirror before heading down the hall towards the kitchen. As usual, her Cousin had left earlier to go to his morning classes, and her Aunt was still at work. The fridge was now full; Ebony had gone grocery shopping right after the carnival. She was surprised, though, when she peeked into the microwave to see a paper plate wrapped in aluminum foil, a sticky note stuck to the top.

We had a potluck at work yesterday, it read, so I made sure to save you some! Good luck on your first day.

It had been signed by her Aunt. Smiling to herself, she lifted the foil to find two fried chicken wings, a scoop of macaroni, and two slices of lemon pound cake. She made a mental note to thank her Aunt when she she got home, and dug in. By the time she'd finished, it was half past six. She'd decided to start walking at six-thirty since school started at seven. It only took her about fifteen minutes to get to school, so she knew that she would have a little extra time to wander the halls, trying to find her way around. On her walk around the school, she saw a few familiar faces, throwing a smile in their direction. As usual, she had her camera hanging around her neck, and snapped a few pictures along the way. Some gave her odd looks, but she ignored them. When she'd finally circled around and made her way back to homeroom, there were still a few minutes to spare. The teacher, Mrs. Wayne, was greeting everyone at the door. After muttering a quick "Hello," Ebony made her way in the classroom. She saw her friend, Poetry, sitting in her seat at the center of the room, so she gave her a small wave before she chose a seat in the very back of the classroom. This made it a little easier to take power naps or just simply doodle without being caught by the teacher. She watched with sleepy eyes as the other students began to pile into the room and take their seats. Then, she watched as the teacher spoke and passed out sheets of construction paper.

Ebony did as instructed, folding one paper in half and writing her name in bold, blocky letters. Using her markers, she outlined the letters in orange and drew a few small stars around the edge of the name tag. "With the other paper I have given you," the teacher said, "I want you to crumple it up, rip it, stomp on it if you want!"

With a raised eyebrow, Ebony ripped her paper into four pieces before crumpling them together and sitting the pile of mess back on her desk. She already knew where the teacher was going with this exercise, so she just nodded and tapped her fingers on the desk as she explained. Moving on to the next "game," Ebony sighed as a boy by the name of Nathan made his way to the front of the classroom. As much as she liked learning things about others, she wasn't too excited about the thought of herself having to speak in front of the entire class. After the boy spoke, Ebony watched as Poetry raised her hand and guessed that the boy's lie was that he was a swimmer. Raising her eyebrow again, Ebony looked the boy up and down. He was only a couple of inches taller than she was, and he was muscular and sturdy looking. She decided that, for that reason, maybe he was a swimmer. She came to the conclusion that his lie was that he wasn't much of a singer, but decided against raising her hand, and instead waiting for someone else to guess.

The carnival from last night had Wynona dreaming about fun and carefree times, her eyelids fluttered gently as the strong hand of her father rested on her forehead. "You up kiddo? It's already 6:00." Wynona nodded slightly, she didn't have much time to get ready. Mom had already left for work, Ryon had left a few weeks ago for college, and Effie wouldn't start kindergarten until the afternoon. So it was only Wynona's dad and her awake and this God forsaken hour. Not moving an inch, Wynona's dad took a seat at the foot of the bed. "I can't believe you're starting your first year of high school, your old man is getting old." the man continued speaking as Wynona drifted in and out of sleep. She loved her dad, but he often rambled about things.

After about ten minutes of this, he got up and flipped the light switch in Wynona's room, signaling it was time to really get up. Dragging herself from bed Wynona eventually began her day, taking a shower and other routine agendas, eventually adorning herself with clothes. She decided to wear all black today, mourning the loss of her summer vacation. A black tank top with black leggings, a black pleather jacket on top of that so she wouldn't face the jurisdiction of the dress code police. She paired it with a pair of black flats, trying to get the most of her summer and fall footwear before the snow would be knee deep.

Having no interest in breakfast, Wynona began her trot to school, it would only take her about 10 minutes tops. She decided to send a text to Lily, someone who she had connected with yesterday at the carnival and she hoped would feel the same way come this morning. She rubbed her thumb across the screen of the phone, pondering what to write, and if she should even say anything at all. She decided to go for it anyways, quickly sending a little message

TO: LILY
FROM: WYNONA

Wynona was the worst person to text with, and forget having a serious conversation via text message. You'd be better off sending a carrier pigeon. She pressed send and made her way into the school grounds. She didn't have too hard of a time finding her homeroom, the school was large and new but with a little bit of common sense you could figure out where things were pretty quickly. Mrs. Wayne seemed kind and cheerful when she greeted Wynona as she entered the room, it was a bit too early for such a returned emotion but it was appreciated none the less. Dropping her backpack next to a desk, Wynona sat down and placed her head in her hands. She closed her eyes slightly as people began to flood into the classroom.

Jolted slightly by Mrs. Wayne passing out pieces of paper, Wynona looked around to see what the others were doing before she got up and grabbed a marker from the box and wrote her name in all caps along it. She decided not to decorate it too much, knowing that it would probably end up being trashed later anyways. As the other piece of paper came in to play, Wynona crumpled it up and rip it into several large pieces. Though the idea of this activity was extremely cheesy, it did hit a chord with Wynona- knowing that it was a true statement: Once you destroy something, it can't really be exactly the same.

Brown eyes squinting as she looked at Nathan and she listened to his statements, determining which one was a lie. Another girl guessed, and was wrong. Leaving only two possible answers. The boy was too nervous to lie very well, so Wynona raised her hand after deciding it was the not singing very well that was the lie. "I bet you can sing pretty well." Wynona gleamed, as she was rewarded with the correct answer. She stood up pretty quickly, and went to the front of the classroom. She wasn't nervous about people, but she didn't know what to share with people yet either. "I uh..." she started, before quickly thinking of her three statements, "I don't have any siblings, my favorite color is red, and I play the guitar." she said, running a hand through her mess of blonde hair as she looked from face to face.

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Amelia woke up at 5:30 at Ronin's house and got changed into her white top and black skirt. She brushed her hair and put on her shoes before going over to Ronin. "Time to leave" She smiled and left quietly. She walked to school and sat in her first class, totally bored and you could see it by her expression. She wrote her name on the piece of paper in fancy writing. She heard what Wynona said and smiled before raising her hand. "You have siblings" She smiled and noticed she had got it right so she stood up and went to the front of the classroom pretty quickly. "I, well, I have worked several jobs for 7 years, My father just got released from jail after a 7 year sentence and I cannot play the flute" She said just loud enough for everyone to hear her. The lie wasn't that obvious because a lot of the stuff, she kept to herself.

She was worried as she had said things that she had hardly told anyone as she bit her lip and looked down, hoping someone would get it wrong but knowing that they would find out the truth soon because she had used them as her truths as she couldn't think of much else.

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The morning after the carnival had gone much more smoothly. She had gotten up on time, showered as planned, and this time had enough time to properly put on makeup before getting dressed. She certainly looked better today, she decided as she slid on her sunglasses. It was hard to say for sure if her classmates would notice, but it certainly added a spring to her step as she went downstairs for breakfast. Nikki grumpily stirred his cereal as Selene grabbed the bad of caramels, kissed her parents goodbye, and then headed off to the high school. It had been a bit of a mild surprise, finding the schedule in the mailbox upon reaching home, but it was not unexpected. The carnival could not last forever, after all, and one day was fine by her. She had gotten to go home with a stuffed tiger in the end and a plate of funnel cake (which she had also bought for Amelia, unsure of if the girl ever had any before). It had been a fine way to end the summer holidays and ease the new students into the school year.

Though homeroom was pushing it a tad, Selene thought as she stared at the box of markers Mrs. Wayne had left on the table up front. She shrugged, picking a deep purple marker and wrote her name on the paper with a heart added into the curve of the 'S'. If they were doing this, may as well go all the way. She wasn't much of an artist, despite having signed up for the Art class, so that would be as creative as she got. The nice thing was, though, few people were really artistic. Sure, Nikki used to be but not so much anymore. This would do, she was sure. Selene, now, didn't know much about Mrs. Wayne, but she hadn't heard the name spoken back in 8th grade when the students were all gossiping about what high school would be like. Was she new?

And this would be homeroom for the next four years. Well, time to get busy. She obeyed as Mrs. Wayne instructed the class to crumple up their papers and then try to reflatten them. It wasn't possible, though, just a reminder of the power of words. Selene knew how badly words could hurt. She still felt the sting years later. Hopefully, high school would pass by much more peacefully than elementary school had.

And yet another activity - sharing lies and truths. Selene paid rapt attention, giving a quick wave to the first two up - of course, the two she had already met but didn't exactly know personally. So Nathaniel had lived in Japan thanks to his dad, and Wynona played guitar. Interesting. Amelia was up next - and boy, what bombshells she dropped. Selene filed away the facts for later consideration, and possible planning of a brief talk with Amelia - just her sympathies, if Amelia needed anything from here she was glad to oblige - instead to try to figure out the lie. The bit about her father explained some of her behavior yesterday. So, flute or working?

Selene raised her hand. "Um, sorry if I'm wrong - but you're the same age as the rest of us. You haven't been working for seven years...have you?" She tried to keep her voice soft. After all, there was a chance she was wrong, and certainly sounding accusing then would be quite mean of her.

Selene tried to avoid 'mean'.

Oberon walked in the class, a bit after everyone else had. Today he was not tamed in his choices of clothes. No today he was completely himself. Heavy souled boots, stretching faux leather, an old ornamental belt with a chain attached to it, a wine red sweater with a black neck scarf, a coat that looked like it was from the eighteen hundreds, and even black gloves for his hands. Removing his sunglasses, he brushed his hair forwards, to fall in his face, hiding the newest addition of bruises to his face. It ached well and good, but he was rather unbothered by them and knew how to hide them at his age, less there be more additions and in less visible places next time.

He stood the in the doorway for a moment, his hidden eyes aimed on the teacher. Staying there just a moment, he then made a silent partial bow, barely even noticeable and went to take a seat by the window. His long legs were gracefully collected under his desk and the chair in front of him. Looking impassively down at the papers on his desk, he took up his pen and with an elegant scrawling hand, wrote his name in fine calligraphy. The only decor he put on it beside that, was a flourished line, that coiled beneath his name like a vine upon a gothic castle.

But when asked to destroy the second paper, he simply stared at it. Then in one quick strike, he tore it in half. Simple, violent, efficient. And the metaphor was understood. He of all people could understand the great weight respect carried. And what chaos happened upon those with little respect, either by others, or themselves. Turning his pen about in his long fingers, finally he put up a gloved hand. Slowly and with ease. But another answered instead of him. And so he put his hand back down again.

Such topics were not very good for the very first day of school. Oberon wondered just how pent up the poor pitiful girl was to so easily let out her worries to a room filled with strangers. But then again, they did say that it was easier to speak to a stranger than to a loved one. Perhaps she was that kind of person. Personally, he'd much rather keep his mouth shut. Showing weakness to the people in this room... No, he would not allow such a thing to happen to him. Not when there were vipers that hid behind kind smiles.

His head tipped forwards, he closed his eyes, waiting for it to all be done with. While this was all good information to learn about the people around him, he disliked the boring way in which he was obtaining it. After all the only interesting entertainment he ever got was that of trying to figure out others from a distance by himself. With a deep soft sigh, he sneakily put in one of his earbuds and tuned the dented only brick of an Ipod on. Softly music threaded through to him, the black bud hidden under his coat, scarf and the gloomy world outside as his only witness.

It wasn't that he wished to be rude. It was just that he hadn't had the best of mornings, and that he couldn't get much from these little introduction games played on the first day. After all, he never had friends. Merely acquaintances. That was how life had to be. Anyone who got to close might reject him for his oddities and twisted ways. And what's more, he wouldn't wish his home life onto anyone. Not even Kas or Jacob or that dreadful Ronin.

Allison rolls back and forth, groggily. A groan escapes her mouth as she stands and stretches, pulling her phone off her nightstand and checking for any possible notifications from Nicole, nothing, but it was worth a shot. Once again she was left with a note from her mother and some breakfast, breakfast rush was insane in Arrowsmith, apparently. She cracked a smile and enjoyed her breakfast before jumping in the shower whilst brushing her teeth, she wanted to save time and see if she could catch Nicole before first bell so they could chat. Chatting with her yesterday, going on the ferris wheel, it was a lot of fun. As she ran her hands through her hair, a thought struck her. She had actually gotten a girls phone number. The closest she was to a relationship in the Eighth Grade was her being called a dyke because she had subconsciously glanced over in the locker room.

Exiting the building, she brushed some hair out of her face, and started her walk towards the school. She stuck some ear phones in her phone and got ready to play some music. Allison's music taste was all over the place, some days she'd love to listen to Alternative Rock, and the next she'll freak out because it's not “real rock”. On her walk throughout the town she saw a couple of places that she'd enjoy seeing some day. There was a strip mall, a few parks, lots of fun stuff to do. Allison wasn't much of a social person back in Florida, but her ambiversion was leaning really close to extroversion recently. She really wanted to make friends and go out with people, and Nicole was her first actual experience with that.

Allison stopped at a street corner and pulled her phone out of her back pocket, setting it to Periphery's fifteen minute song, Racecar. Before placing the phone back in her back pocket, she shot a text to Nicole.

Yo, it's the first real day of school, excited? with an emoji of a winky face next to it, nothing suggestive but merely a slight flirtation.
Racecar started to end as she reached the school, she entered through the front doors and started wandering the halls, trying to find her way towards her homeroom with Mrs. Wayne.
Entering homeroom, no faces caught her eye and she sat in the back.

Clyde could only stand back and watch as these two powerhouses shot back and forth, a verbal exchange of wits and mental intimidation. It was like watching a battle unfold before his eyes, artillery being fired into the open, explosive insults shattering the ground, two sides refusing to budge in this no man's land. Then Jacob reached up and condescendingly ruffled Clyde's hair. The hair on the back of the boy's neck stood up and adrenaline pulsed through his veins. He kept his hands to himself and closed his eyes. He imagined the fight he had in the ring with another heavy weight boxer. Check hook to the jaw spinning the boy's head so hard his brain slammed against the inside of his skull. Knocked poor Perry Drew unconscious. He felt a little bad for hurting his opponent, but Perry fought hard like a true warrior.



The group disappeared leaving Clyde able to breath normally again. He hated confrontation like this. Sometimes Clyde wondered what it would be like if he lived up to the rumors surrounding him and used his strength to take control over others. If there was anything Jacob McKinnon was good for in Clyde's life, he was able to dispel Clyde's reputation as a bully. But only those who were 'in the know' were well aware of the tension between the two.



Was it that easy? Clyde did have his faults, his naughty and angry thoughts, but they were just that. Thoughts. It was difficult for Clyde to speak ill of someone and even more difficult to play the game Derek was a master of. In Clyde's eyes, Derek was a warrior of a different caliber. A boy that could brave the face of a coming storm, standing tall, mighty, unwavering in his resolve. An idol of a spoken God. It felt good to have another friend.

“I... You... Thank you.”

And that came from the heart.



The homeroom teacher seemed nice enough. But he still preferred to sit at the back of the classroom away from many of those he recognized. And unfortunately for Clyde, there were a lot of familiar faces in this classroom. He felt nervousness until the teacher began her class. She passed out pieces of paper for everyone to decorate, but Clyde could only stare at the paper with a dilemma running through his mind. He was not so creative in the visual arts. Inside his own mind he was a natural orator, perhaps a poet of sorts (though he refused to believe himself to be anything like Lord Byron out of modesty), and he enjoyed having a monologue in his mind.

So what did the boy do? He certainly did not have the courage to write what was in his mind. Instead, he drew himself. Or what he thought of himself. A spineless ugly troll sitting by itself. The teacher had them crumple the paper and flatten it out again. She said something along the lines of the effects of bullying, but the words were lost on the boy. He stared at the image and could only think about how much this paper resembled himself. Torn at the edges, unsightly, crumpled, and weakened. He did not have the heart to throw away the paper. So he stuffed it inside his pocket.

Nathan said three things, he liked to swim, he's not much of a singer, and he lived in Japan for a time. Clyde had awful perception, so he believed everything that came out of the boy's mouth to be the truth. It made the image of the guy a lot more interesting. Maybe he is a really good singer, I wonder what he likes to sing? It was a fun distraction, but Clyde absolutely did not want his turn to come. He prayed something would happen for him to go last. Maybe if he looked menacing the teacher would ignore him.

Thomas opened his eyes with a weary sigh. Yet another nearly sleepless night. He’d been laid there listening to the background noise of the TV for what felt like hours but checking his phone told him it’d only been about forty five minutes. He didn’t want to go to school today. He didn’t want to go to school ever again but what else was he going to do? He could try getting a job in some shop but he had his doubts about whether or not even that was plausible for him. He’d be deathly bored. Almost certainly even more so than he often was at school. Besides that he’d probably find it hard to keep from being fired. He just didn’t have it in him to act what he wasn’t feeling and since he was almost constantly in a somber, slightly pissed off, restless mood he had a lot of doubts about his customer service potential. It didn’t help that they apparently valued that crock of shit even more than they did back in the U.K.

Despite his reservations it didn’t take him too long to drag himself out of bed, wake Kas up, get a shower, brush his teeth, get dressed and smelling right, eat breakfast and chat casually to his mum for a few minutes. By the time he’d done all that Kas was ready as well, so they hit the road. Or the sides of the roads at least. One good thing about living in Arrowsmith is that they were never really far from anything. School was really close, being maybe a ten minute walk. With them being Londoners, the walk took maybe five minutes.

So there they sat in their homeroom, both of them having swaggered in with a mumbled greeting of morning towards their new tutor and both having picked seats near the back. Neither of them were all too happy about being there. Kas seemed to perk up a little bit at finding out their tutor was in his words “reasonably peng”, but even that wasn’t enough to put his usually easy-grin on his face. When asked to draw they both got down to it, though Thomas did so begrudgingly, still not quite ready to face the start of the schooling day. Kas covered his in elaborate graffiti like designs, his name being written in various styles, as well as a piece for the last gang he’d been in back in England. Finally he drew a rather detailed combat knife, a kind of finish to his grand design. He smiled at it’s completion. Thomas on the other hand basically just scribbled his name and spent a few minutes doing various patterns. Nothing too elaborate, just lines to pass the time. When the order came to tear the paper up he did so without feeling anything but frustration, annoyed that’d he’d been drawn into such a thing for such a simple lesson, one he felt like he’d learned many years ago. To be fair, he had. One benefit of being raised by an extremely damaged woman and an extremely damaging man, he learned how easy it was to hurt people, and how many ways there were to. If you were kind that meant you became aware of how not to hurt, or at least wary of all the ways you could.

Kas on the other hand had the opposite reaction, screwing his face up at the order, muttering “fuck that” under his breath and folding his doodle page neatly in half. Slipping it into his pocket apparently unnoticed he smiled, not that it would matter much if anyone had seen. No one was making him destroy anything he cared about. Not on his or their life.

Over the next several minutes they both watched as people played the two truths, one lie game. When it came to Amelia's turn they both had exactly the same reaction and that was bewilderment. Her openness about her damage was alien to them. In England you kept that sort of shit pretty damn close. People generally didn’t want to know and you for the most part didn’t want to tell them. Good for her they both figured, one secret off her chest was likely to help her in the long run.

---

---

"Puuurrrrr..."

Four years Lilac had been living with Mr. Samson, and yet in all that time, she had never grown accustomed to his wake-up calls. She wasn't sure if it was the overall weirdness of having to rely on a cat to wake her up, or the extreme variety in which he did so. This morning, for example, Lilac awoke to find the cat sitting next to her head, dragging his little rough paw across her face, as if to pet her. And, just like every other morning, he jumped off at the first sign of movement from Lilac.

The girl wasted no time in jumping off the bed and grabbing clothes from her dresser, taking a quick glance at the clock on the wall, seeing, thankfully, that it was still only 5:30 in the morning. She opened up the door and took a sharp left, entering the bathroom. She then proceeded to take a shower, before coming back out around ten minutes later, her hair still wet. She then entered the kitchen, greeted by the sweet smell of chocolate. She also saw her mother in there, working away.

"Hey honey!" Her mom said, not bothering to turn around and face her daughter. "You're breakfast is on the counter near the door."

Lilac moved her eyes to the counter closest to her, and found a fresh bear claw. "Thanks mom..." She mumbled, taking a step forward and grabbing the pastry. She brought it to her mouth and bit into it, her lips curling upward a little as the taste of the sweet, sugary baked good spread through her mouth. She continued to devour it with big, slow bites, until only the stickiness of the pastry remained on her fingers, which was too eliminated by a few licks. Lilac grabbed a paper towel and wiped her hands, before muttering out a silent 'goodbye' to her mother.

"Goodbye honey!" She heard her mother say as she left the kitchen. "And don't forget your backpack!" Lilac had, in fact, almost forgotten her backpack, and would have been backpack-less all day had it not been for her mom. So she quickly grabbed her bag out of her room and marched out of the house.

It didn't take Lilac long to get to school, and she arrived about the same time that most everyone else was getting there. She sauntered over to her homeroom, which her last school hadn't had, and promptly entered and scanned the rows and columns of desks she could choose from, but did so in a way that best concealed her permanent glare, as she was not wearing her sunglasses. She quickly decided that the back row would not be the best option, as it would probably look like she was trying not to be noticed, which would, in turn, make more people notice her. So, instead, she made her way to the second to last row, hoping that that wouldn't draw too much attention. She got to her seat and waited for a few minutes, before a woman, the teacher, Lilac assumed, began speaking. The woman handed out papers and gave directions, ones that Lilac didn't want to follow. But she had no choice, so, per the teacher's instructions, she wrote her name on one paper and decorated the other (though they weren't great decorations). She wasn't really annoyed when the teacher told them to rip and crumple their decorated paper, so she did so without hesitation. Then came a part of the class which she found horrifying: the get to know you activities. This class's was two truths and a lie, a game that had haunted her repeatedly in her middle school career. She did her best to shrink into her seat, silently listening to the other people's stories. And when she realized her hood was up, she quickly pulled it down, hoping that it hadn't directed to much attention her way.

---

---

After the whole encounter with Jake the rest of the carnival felt very boring to Derek. He ran into a few of his friends and told some of them what happened. He just spent the rest of the carnival walking around seeing what kind of people were going to be among his grade.

Once he left the carnival he and a few of his friends went to a park they considered their local hangout. They played football for the majority of the time, and once they decided to start playing soccer that's when Derek parted ways with his friends heading home.

By the time he was home his mother had already left for her second job of the day. The boy had nothing to do at home so he just hoped onto his measly little couch and fell asleep quick. Around five the boy woke up to the smell of eggs and bacon. He slowly sat up to see his mom cooking in the kitchen. "Ma, what are you doing? Don't you have work today?"

"I did but I called in sick today. I wanted to see my son off to his first day of school." This caused Derek to smile a little. Despite how much trouble he tended to cause the woman he still very much loved her and enjoyed every moment they spent together.

After eating breakfast Derek walked to school. It took him awhile to find his class. He actually greeted his teacher and found a seat in the back. He payed attention to each of his new classmates. A few he knew and a few he didn't. When they were instructed to write their names Derek used a normal pen to write his name. His drawing was crap. Literally. He drew a small pile of crap. He was going to stop there but then he opened the paper and wrote a short poem.

What they had to do with the second paper actually made him smile. In his eyes he was the one who had been ripped up, but he repaired himself better and stronger. The thought of the game two truths and a lie being the way he and his classmates was humorous to him. He sat at his desk as the others took their turns guessing and giving their choices. It was an interesting concept but was most likely lost on many in the class.

Derek didn't really care what anyone had to say for their truths and lie, but the current player caught his attention. It was Amelia. A girl who had a crappy background like Derek, but was kind to the richies when they didn't deserve it. Her comments were very interesting nonetheless. Derek knew she worked so he scoffed when the random girl guessed that that was the lie. He vaguely remembered a her having a father at home when they were little, but didn't know what had happened. All he can remember was the man's face and name. Derek decided to take an estimated guess and raised his hand. "You can play the flute right. That's the lie."

When his assumption was stated correct Derek walked to the front of the class. "Let's see. I play football, I play soccer, and I play basketball." To anyone who knew Derek it was obvious the lie was about him playing soccer. He hadn't played soccer since his injury, but most in the class didn't know that.

---

Well. That was embarrassing, to say the least. Sure, she'd never met Amelia before in her life, but it was still embarrassing to be wrong. And extremely concerning. Selene made a mental note to talk to Amelia about Child Protective Services - the people she thought of hiring a 7-year-old were not very good people. But she'd see how everything went first. She could give the number to Amelia and let her decide and, if nothing worsened, then maybe it was best left alone. Of course, though, if Amelia wanted to talk to her about it, she was all ears.

She didn't know too much about this other guy, the one who had guessed rightly. Had the two gone to another middle school together? Or had he just guessed too? Unfortunately, it meant another round of guessing. She tried to look him over for hints - of course, though, all three were sports. Similar builds. Sitting up front, though, had granted her a slightly advantage, even if she couldn't see entirely well. She could, however, notice the pale whitish line on the knee, visible past the shorts he wore. A scar? Alright, thinking. Probably a sports injury, or maybe a nasty fall. Hm. Well, only one was supposed to be a lie. A knee injury might not be good for basketball, but he could still play. Soccer, that could be rough on the legs, and football was rough all over. Might as well flip a coin. She raised her hand, determined to redeem herself.

"Is it soccer you don't play anymore?"

A coin flip, and she'd managed to call it right. She beamed - right, her turn. She picked up her purse and took the few steps from her desk to the front of the room.

"Hello, everyone. My name is Selene Cross." She adjusted her sunglasses' frame a bit. "I know some of you, but not all of you. I'm hoping we'll have a good four years together." A tad cheesy. Best to make up for it. "Anyways, so. I have a boyfriend, I have a doctor's note to wear these-" she tapped the sunglasses, "-indoors, and I brought in caramel candy for everyone in the room. Which one do you think's a lie?" She beamed.

Getting up was no easy task. The difficulty was partially due to the gorgeous mass of muscle she happened to have an arm thrown over, and also due to the very little amount of sleep she had gotten. The body she was pressed against was, of course, William's, and she took a second to gaze at him - mesmerised. Instead of waking the boy with a kiss, Indiana decided to leave him be as she slid out of bed completely naked. It didn't bother her to be so vulnerable, for every part of her to be visible; and, as if to display her lack of concern, she stood gazing out of the window for a second before getting ready for the day ahead.

As she usually did when she stayed the night, Indie got washed and dressed in William's en suite. It didn't surprise her that when she emerged from the bathroom again, he was gone. She knew he liked to be at school bright and early - mainly to see how high he could get before classes started. She would walk, then. Again.

Surprisingly, the blonde managed to arrive on the premises just on time. Indiana's icy gaze was just sweeping over her new class as the bell rang. There didn't seem to be very many seats alone anymore - much to her disappointment. Maybe It was a good thing, though. Maybe she could get someone to show her around. That idea went out the door as soon as she had finished regarding the class, however. There seemed to just be a bunch of introverts and 'misunderstood' kids surrounding her.

Indiana was dangerously close to just giving up hope and just walking out when her eyes fell on one familiar face. It was the boy in the shadows, the one she had stopped to stare at yesterday. Taking a second to look down at her clothing, which consisted of a ridiculously sheer black top and leather skirt that most likely broke every single dress code the school had, she strode across the class and settled herself in a seat beside him.

Instead of the usual 'hello' introduction bullshit, Indie leaned back against her seat and stared at the guy. The only part of her that moved was her mouth as she chewed her strawberry gum carelessly. It was only as the boy wrote his name that she bothered to move, shooting a glance at his paper before writing down her own name in her usual scrawled handwriting. She half-heartedly sketched smoke curling around the letters in a devilish sort of hug before sitting back again with her arms crossed. Oberon. What a strange name.

The fact that they were then told to crumple up the paper caused Indiana to raise a brow. Always one for theatrics, the blonde pulled a small black lighter and, part of her hoping that the teacher wouldn't notice, set fire to her name. It wasn't until the flames licked at her fingers that she blew it out.

She watched in sullen silence as the class moved on, now playing some 'truth or lie' game that Indiana couldn't care less about. Paying no heed to what the teacher was actually saying, Indie turned to Oberon once more and let her eyes wander over him lazily, a smile and genuine smile appeared on her lips.

The rest of the carnival went smoothly for Sadie. She was able to talk to Ro, catch up with Lily, and get to know Wynona. When it was over Sadie went to the dance studio and practiced for a few hours. She then went home and spent the rest of the day reading, texting her friends, and getting ready for the next day.

She decided to go to bed early in order to get up early again. As morning came around her alarm this time was the sunlight shining through her window. She quickly got ready as she did the day prior. She dug through her closet until she found the outfit she wanted to wear. She quickly got ready and grabbed her phone. She decided to send Lily a text trying to see if they happened to have the same class even though they would know soon either way.



She then swiftly moved to the kitchen where her mother was preparing one of Sadie's favorite breakfast meals. Strawberry Muffins. A simple recipe but they tasted wonderful. The girl savored each bite of the delicacy and put a few in her bag for lunch and a few more to share with her friends. Sadie and her family sat together and had breakfast each excited for what the day would bring. Even Micky who didn't particularly like school. When it came time to leave for school Sadie and Micky hopped into the family mini-van with their book bags and their mom pulled off towards the drop-off points.

Once they arrived at the high school Sadie looked at the building that she would be at for a large part of her next four years. She hugged her mom bye and walked towards the entrance. Once she found her room she realized she may have arrived to early but that didn't really bother her. She chose her seat to be the one right in the front dead center. She really enjoyed school so much it seemed a little unnatural at times. She knew that there would be people to call her a teacher's pet or goody two shoes but right now she didn't care. School meant time to spend with your friends and to learn new things and gain life experiences. She had that annoyingly positive outlook on life.

As her classmates poured in she was excited to see some people she knew and and others she didn't know. When the papers were passed out she wrote her name in a very pretty cursive format using a lighter pink pen. She drew a few flowers around the edges. When the teacher said to rip up the other paper she was confused but did as instructed ripping the paper into four pieces. At the start of the two truths one lie game she thought that it was definitely one of the more interesting ways a teacher could get the students to know each other.

She listened and payed attention as the others took their turns with their statements and guesses. Sadie made sure she knew what she wanted to say before she would guess someones lie. The first boy that went up looked slightly familiar. She couldn't place it though. She didn't have a clue about what his lie might be so she stayed quiet. She listened as Poetry made her guess and felt bad for her friend that she had gotten it wrong.

Then Wynona made a guess and was right. She thought the girl's three statements were all interesting, but Sadie didn't know her that well and couldn't really figure out what the lie was. She thought it was most likely the thing about her not having siblings but before she could say anything Amelia guessed it.

Sadie felt she'd be able to get Amelia's but when the girl made her statements it shocked Sadie. She was scared to try and say anything. She was now super worried for her friend. When a boy from the back made a guess Sadie looked at Amelia with a worried expression on her face. Once Amelia sat back down Sadie turned back to the front of the classroom.

As the boy made his statements Sadie was about to make a guess before someone else got it right. The girl walked to the front of the class and Sadie wondered why she was wearing sunglasses. Then, low and behold, the girl used that as one of her statements. Sadie decided she would try and get this one before anyone else could. Sadie assumed that the sunglasses thing was true seeing as if she didn't have permission to wear them the school wouldn't allow it. She thought about the candy and figured it must be true since it would be just plain rude to say something like that, and the girl standing in front of the class didn't seem rude at all. So, Sadie raised her hand and said, "Is the lie that you have a boyfriend?"

Sadie was excited that she guessed right. She had a big smile on her face. When she stood in front of the class she said, "Hi everyone. I'm Sadie Hill. I am so looking forward to these next four years with you all. So, for my two truths and a lie. I love dancing, I've lived here since I was born, and I'll make any kind of baked treat for anyone who wants one." Sadie's smile was so big at this point. To those who knew her the lie was obviously about her living here since she was born. She hoped that her friends would give the others a chance to guess it though.

---

First try. That was good, Selene hadn't intended to stay up front for too long. She didn't know this other girl too well, but she seemed nice enough. But now was time to make good on her promise. First thing was reaching into her bag and dropping a handful of the wrapped candies onto Mrs. Wayne's desk. Then, moving between the seats to give everyone else some candy. So many people seemed to desire just hiding behind their backpacks and hoods. Selene offered a smile to each of them along with the sweets. Schools could be scary, but it was always what one made of it.

She paused by two students - the one yesterday who had called them amateurs, and a boy in darker clothing. It seemed like she had interrupted a conversation. She just shook her head, put the candy on their desks, and kept going until she returned to her desk - now the only one without a wrapped caramel on it. Hopefully, no one was allergic or diabetic.

Nathaniel's gave was downward throughout his short trip to the front of the class, waiting for the right answer and pleading in him mind that it would come. Unfortunately, the first attempt failed by a girl who seemed a bit more enthusiastic than he was, and he had to shake his head no to notify them that it was wrong. A few short moments felt like an eternity... Until suddenly someone guessed it right, making Nathan give a short and happy sigh of relief as he rushed back to his chair. To him, that was dreadful, and he felt like he embarrassed himself in front of the class because of it. Even though it was over for him, he still felt the sting of anxiety that had occurred.

In his seat, he didn't pay attention to the next couple of people going, instead he simply put in his earbuds in to drown out the rest of the class period. It was social things, learning about classmates that he felt he'd be able to observe in homeroom anyway, so why spoil some of the surprises. Then again, that was just a cheap excuse for him to listen to music, but he ignored that thought as well. Instead, he looked around the room to see if any of the Faoláins from yesterday were here, and he gave a very minimal frown when he couldn't spot them. He wasn't sure how he felt about any of them right now, even if they did spend yesterday at the carnival together... excluding the sister. He supposed it was just because he wasn't used to interacting with them, and yet he felt somewhat off that they weren't here. Perhaps they had a different homeroom...




The day at the carnival was a rather exciting one for Blake. On the ferris wheel, he felt a rush of happiness as he sat next to two of his friends, one on each side of him. You couldn't find people like them anywhere else, and together they were touching the sky. And afterward, he got to try an elephant ear, part ways with them when the carnival ended, and head to the studio where he practiced some dance routines. In the end, he considered it a successful day, one that he would cherish for years to come...

---

Blake's eyes flickered as he slowly awakened today, the aroma of breakfast cooking upstairs penetrating his senses and enticing him to awaken and get ready for school. It was a much more calm way to wake up then an alarm, and while he did lose out on several minutes more of sleep, he eagerly turned off his alarm so that it wouldn't disturb the tranquility that he was experiencing in his room. Unfortunately for Blake, this peace wouldn't last for long as his stomach rumbled like a volcano, causing his eyes to widen as they stared upward at the ceiling, being the last convincing evidence to him that it was time to wake up. Pulling himself away from bed, he stretched for a bit before proceeding to get ready.

Around ten minutes later or so, and Blake was ready to head upstairs and face the day. Or rather, face the breakfast that his aunt must have been preparing. But to his surprise, he found both her and his mother there. It had been a couple weeks since Blake had actually seen one of his parents, let alone one of them helping his aunt... Or, looking at the situation, it seemed she was just waiting for food before work, similar to him.

"Sharla, hurry it up and finish already. I don't have all day for this. You should be faster with all the free time you get from lounging around here all damn day." His mother demanded, most likely in a rush to get to the hospital. Or maybe, it was a rush to get away from Blake, but he didn't know. But it made him sink downstairs, avoiding her like the plague and being somewhat grateful that she didn't notice him. Not like they ever did anyway. It was only a short wait for him, and when he heard the door slam from upstairs he knew his mom had finally left, allowing him to come upstairs and back into the kitchen. He found his aunt eating some of the souffles she had cooked. She looked up and spotted Blake, giving a smile and gesturing for him to take a seat and eat as well. And while he did so, he looked at her with a serious face, concerned for his aunt.

"You know, you don't have to take that from her." He told her, to which she looked back at him in surprise.
"I don't know what you mean." She said innocently, to which he shook his head.
"Of course you know what I mean. Ciara is always like that with you."
"Oh, she's my sister. I'm sure watching people in pain or sick all day doesn't help her much."
"But Ryan is the same too."
"This isn't like the Blake I know. It's fine, they're letting me live her so long as I clean and cook, do laundry, etc. I can take a little bit of sass from them now and again."
"Sharla, I..."
"Hush. Eat your breakfast, and I'll take you to school. Your parents are grateful for what I do, they just have a hard time of showing it."

He tried to not let that affect him as he entered the classroom, taking a deep breath and putting on his friendly smile that he adorned so well. It was just another event at home, something minuscule that he didn't need to let it get to him. Instead, he focused on the positives today. It was the first day of school! And as he took a seat, he noticed several familiar faces in the homeroom too. It got him excited for the school year, which probably made him the odd one out of the rest, but he didn't care. Today was his first day of high school, and he was going to make sure that it was a good one.
When it came time to decorate his name tag paper, he made sure to put on it the theater masks, which are also known as the comedy/tragedy masks, on it, along with various musical notes and what looked like a man dancing. It was just a simple stick figure as he wasn't the best when it came to art, but he felt that it got his point across.

And when the game started, Blake was listening to each and every response so that he could understand everyone. When it was Sadie's turn, Blake's smile intensified. He had known Sadie thanks to her brother Alex, whom he saw as an inspiration in the acting realm. They had even managed to preform together sometimes, and because of that he met Sadie. She also liked to dance too, so whenever he would meet her at the dance studio it was always a fun time.

He really wanted to spot the lie and say it, but he felt that would ruin the fun of this game. So, while he waited for someone else to respond, he also nodded at her to say that he knew what it was on the off chance no one else would reply.

---

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It was another night right after the festival where Ezera when home to chill and pull another all-nighter, talking to Amelia and watching music videos, the usual. Despite being late, Ezera could say that the highlight of the day was meeting with ones he was familiar with and meeting new interesting people he would soon call his class mates....some...he met that he would call class mates, he still had a whole school year to meet the others.

He went to sleep at his usual time, 3:30 AM, waking up the next morning to the buzzing of his phone. He went to feel around for his phone that was laying next to him, shutting it off and looking up at it. With widened eyes, he grabbed his phone, bringing it closer to his face and brought his eyes to the clock that was on his nightstand noticing that the times were not wrong. Ezera was staring at time, read 6:52 AM, making him officially late waking up. The missed call on his phone from his grandma led him to believe she was checking if he was up but he didn't have time to talk to her. She was probably already out the house.

He rushed to get himself ready. The house was quiet and both grandparents were not home. It usually took about 5 minutes to drive to his school but seeing he was going to have to run, he was probably going to miss the majority of his homeroom. Luck was sort of on his side when he noticed his neighbor, Miss Constance, who is quite nice and good looking for her age. He asked fro her to take him to school, leaving his house at 7:05 AM and making it to school at 7:12. He rushed through the entrance and looked at his schedule, leading him to Mrs. Wayne's class and cracking the door open to notice whatever exercise the class was doing. He knew he'd get noticed being late, trying to think of whatever excuse he could to explain his tardiness.

He noticed the candy that everyone had and walked right in gulping a little, holding the strap of his backpack on his shoulder, looking for a seat, eyeing the ones he know that were sitting in the crowd and smirking.

@MissCapnCrunch@RBYDark@carla6677@mskennedy615

Poetry smiled, even though she had gotten the guess wrong. Well, there had been only a third of a chance that she'd get it right. Very well, she'd try harder next time. Though if she was last, she wouldn't mind it very much. Shad had never been one to tack success on such unstable things like numbers and percentages. Knowing humans was really the only way to guess what they'd do next. And with no one human exactly like the other, it made her distrust in statistic grow even more.

If was so easy change, the mind and it's choices. One month your favorite music was pop, the next it was something a bit darker, and yet the next you favorite could be an oldie. It was just too easily changed sometimes. It was what made people interesting. Listening to the others with placcid amusement and a calm-water smile, the fae like girl grinned up at Selene who had placed a candy on her table.

She grinned at Sadie too, beaming warmly when the other girl got the answer right. Her hand snaking up into the air once more, in the fluid sort of way she always moved, she grinned brightly. "Please let the lie be that you've lived here since you were born~" she licked her lips pleasantly, "cuz I'd love to get munchin' on anything you'd make, Sadie-Girl~"

With her correct guess, she stood with that slow and easy sort of way about her. The halo of silvered-golden curls brushing her cheeks she grinned brightly still. "Alright~ Alright~" her melodic voice practically sang out with all the sweetness of a spring-time lullaby, "Two truths and one lie~ Let's see, oh, let's try~" She put her finger to her chin then swirled her hand when she thought of the prefect things to say. "Right! I almost forgot! I am Poetry Bluebell Carolina Sundance and it pleases me to meet you, like, a lot~!"

"Let's get this kickin'!" she giggled and wiggled with a fluid and almost dance-like jive.

"I live in a big house outside of town~ I live to make all people frown~ I just freak out at the sign of a clown~!"

Poetry grinned and with a nod, placed her hands behind her back. There now. An easy one that didn't get too deep, but was just as light and fluffy as the atmosphere she enjoyed. Accepting Sadie's yummy treat with a grateful grin, she nodded and sat down again.

Easy as pie. Wouldn't make anyone cry.
Just the kind of game this should be,
Two truths and one lie.



Oberon continued to turn his pen about in his long fingers, he lifted his head slowly. The earbud in one ear, hidden by scarf and hair, he kept his eyes always slowly scanning the others. Those who stood and proclaimed their lies and truths were less than entertaining. Instead he watched the reactions of their peers. Now that was valuable.

A gaze was burning into him. Gazes often bounced and glanced off of him, but they usually left when other oddities presented themselves. And among their class, there were more than a few oddities present. Actually almost everyone is class could be considered such a thing. And so, he was perfectly blended into the crowd of angsty and weirdo kids who dressed in black and always seemed to be brooding about something.

But slowly he let his lingering gaze press into the fire-lit eyes that pressed upon him so intently. She had been staring at him since they had torn their papers. Perhaps even before then. It was hard to say. He had expected her to grow disinterested in him. But instead he found her staring still.

The one called Selene placed a candy on his desk and he let a ghost of a smile touch his lips. It was kind of her. And usually he'd feel the need to give his utmost thanks for such a gift. But at the moment, he was quite captured by the intensity of this girl who stared at him with such smoldering fire in her eyes. What exactly was she thinking? And why did she stare? Oberon remembered those eyes and that gaze. She had been the one who stared at him at the fair.

Even with her sheer black top and leather skirt begging every hormonal adolescent to come and stare, Oberon was far more interested in her eyes. What exactly was she thinking? And why did she stare? Oberon remembered those eyes and that gaze. She had been the one who stared at him at the fair. He only broke eyes contact to look down at the ashy mess her burnt paper had place on the fresh innocence of her new high school desk. A thing most people pressed worshiping hand to and she had pressed her mark of ash and cinder into it.

A smile broke over those usually reserved and alabaster features of his. His sharp eyes met her capturing gaze once more. When she smile, he pushed his finger through his hair, pushing the dark shield away from his eyes. Eye covered by sunglasses. She called him 'pretty'. How little she could see of him. He was anything but.

Standing, Oberon took off his sunglasses, the angry storm-cloud bruise about one of his eyes dark and stretching over the pale skin of his face. The cut in his forehead had an raging red tone about it, shouting that it had been reopened before it could properly heal. His lip ring was a sharp spike stud of black metal in his mouth, his arched brows dark and demanding of her. Those ice-colored eyes, deeper than the darkest of caverns and even more elusive to their secrets, bored back into her with amusement.

"You lie about living to make people frown," his sharpened steel glaze sliced through the blonde flimsy thing of girl, before cutting through each and everyone of his classmates.

"I am Oberon Demetrius Grimbald," he said just as curtly as the coldness in his cutting gaze towards each of his classmates, "I care little about making friends. I dislike long chats about nothing. And above all," he looked at the girl who had fire in her eyes, "I do not indulge in dalliances that mean nothing." With that he sat down with just as much grace as anyone of royalty might, the batter boy closing those dark and dangerous eyes of his.

Guess which one was a lie, those eyes had drove into the girl who sat by him. The carefree atmosphere the flimsy fairy of a girl had set up had been disrupted by the tension, compared only to that of growing sea storm, that Oberon had set in motion. His dark eyes opened again and he looked over at Indiana with a small intelligent and curious gaze. Would she guess correctly? It was clear which was lie. It should be clear... He had every intention of entering a meaningless dalliance with her and that fire-brand gaze of hers.

Never one was he to beat around the bush.