[center][hr][hr][h1][b][color=00a99d]ATLAS STERLING[/color][/b][/h1] [img]https://img.buzzfeed.com/buzzfeed-static/static/2014-11/7/11/enhanced/webdr08/anigif_enhanced-2180-1415378287-52.gif[/img] [hr][b]Location:[/b] grimm high school [b]Interacting With:[/b] (tried to fit in mention of students he knew & failed pfft) [@Charnobylisk] jasmin [@Lady Amalthea] adelaide[/center][hr][color=a187be][i]our prom king and queen for the class of 2006 is...[/i][/color] really, there was no question about it. atlas had been planning his kingship since middle school. not that being prom king granted you any actual royal privileges in high school other than bragging rights, but what would be the point of his four-year perfect attendance if it didn't end with winning the crown? admittedly, there was always the possibility of the election being rigged. some people just wanted the promenade to get over with, so they wouldn't mind chipping in. others were stricken with hatred/fear/what have you over how atlas treated the majority of his peers, and more likely than not, figured out that what he wanted was total control. some people were rather slow to get that. [i]just pray they're not dumb enough to attend the reunion,[/i] he thought to himself cynically, the high school already in sight. just the external fence alone was enough to spark up memories. not of specific events, no; memories of people, and usually the ones he treated like scum of the earth. take, for example, [i]blowhard jazz.[/i] she was so easy that sometimes atlas liked to scour the library for her (that was the only place he ever saw her, after all). 'it's cowardly to pick on a girl,' some might say, as if atlas didn't know that. it was just goddamn entertaining watching such an ugly duckling flounder around - in fact, he wasn't sure she even survived high school. she wasn't at the prom as far as he knew, so surely she didn't receive any firsthand trauma from the little 'incident.' even still, he didn't see her at any point afterward, and that was reason enough for him to believe blowhard jazz had finally offed herself. embarrassing, but it was inevitable. maybe he'd ask someone at the reunion how her funeral went. did they decorate it like loser simone's? [i]nah, too far,[/i] he reined himself, although it was still an amusing thought. in a similar situation was that 'one asian girl,' as he liked to call her, because the only part of her name that he knew was "hi." evidently, despite being one of those he dedicated half his time to bullying savagely, atlas didn't have the head or the heart to learn her full birth name. pitiful, to say the least. she didn't stand out as much as his favourite victom jazz did, but surely being part of the [i]thespian society[/i] was another feat all in itself. sure enough, he dedicated a large percentage of his time to making hye-eun's life a living hell, or at least he saw it that way. in fact, being this self-obsessed meant he didn't realise she had an entire group of friends (or that they even had their own stereotypical clique label). throughout high school, he truly thought these kids' lives revolved around him and his tormenting. obviously, seeing as they all seemed to move on to bigger and better things, that was the wrong perception to have. he still carried it, but to a lesser extent. there were other types of people, though, from the bullied kids. some girl transferred to grimm around his freshman year from god knows where - the more cliché white prep kids liked to feed him false info like "oh sure, she's from honduras" - and immediately revealed her star power. soccer star, that is. atlas, while not a jock in the entirety of the term, still believed he was one of the best athletes that grimm could have asked for. valencia ([i]'or whatever,'[/i] he'd say) shot that dream down directly upon her arrival. he played it nice for a while, trying to get on val's good side with promises of a "soccer duo" and inviting her to his team whenever they had mock games, but she turned him down constantly. even his semi-romantic pursuit was rejected, which sent him into a spiral of loathing that lasted until even after high school. hell, on reflection, atlas realised he still felt completely bitter over it. decidedly, he'd be giving her a piece of his mind if she showed up. furthermore, the best kind of relationships he had were the ones like him and adelaide's. granted, it wasn't exactly the healthiest, because they picked on each other in turn and she called him out on his shenanigans persistently and he tended to scream at her in italian; still, it was as good as you can get with atlas. while any normal person would view their interactions as hostile and likely didn't see them as very good friends at all, atlas adored any memories he had of ada. he'd gone over their history thousands of times over since high school and warped the events so heavily, romanticized them to such a point, that now it seemed like adelaide was his only true friend. it was a one-way street. somehow, he'd forgotten the fact that he constantly berated her boyfriend and likely tarnished his own image whenever he was around her other friends. that's what kind of person atlas is, anyway. [i]is[/i], in that he [i]is[/i] still exactly the same. [color=a187be][i]...atlas sterling and ashley cunningham![/i][/color] the spotlight didn't scare him, and all of the eyes on him - fueled by anger, loathing, envy; truly, you could pick an emotion from a hat and it was likely to be somewhere in the crowd - didn't scare him. atlas took it upon himself to hold his hand out to ashley then, although he nearly forgot her presence in his euphoria. they moved to the stage, atlas in a sort of dreaming state, looking around at the faces that surrounded him... in the future, he'd distort the fuming expressions he saw into charmed ones, just as he had with the memory of ada, but no matter. the crown was on his head in moments, and perhaps it would have looked sweeter if he gazed down at his newfound queen with pride or thanked adelaide for the crown or took the microphone to make some big speech, but that didn't happen. atlas just stood basking in the warmth of his self-proclaimed accomplishment, pretending like he'd earned it. someone else's luck plagued him that night, though. as balloons delicately fell from the ceiling and he watched somewhat entranced, he had no clue they were the forewarning for what would come next. actually, atlas smelled the strong stench of iron before he even saw simone's body. he didn't get a good look at her, either; once that scream erupted from adelaide's mouth, he looked at her with intrigued eyes, as if he'd only just been introduced to the notion that this night could be ruined. that piercing sound alone was enough to kick his senses into high gear, and suddenly atlas felt completely overstimulated. it wasn't a new feeling. this was a panic attack, and the worst one by far. in his hazy vision, blurring because he was suffocating himself through taking no full breaths, he took one fleeting glance up at the bloodied netting. atlas stepped backward slowly, eyes straight ahead, and disappeared into the curtains of the stage, stumbling until he'd finally reached a backdoor. somewhere along the way, his crown disappeared. [i]you're medicated now,[/i] he reassured himself. take out the key, stop the engine. he was lined up well enough with the white lines on either side of his car after about ten minutes of perfecting his parking job. [i]plus, you know what to do if it happens again.[/i] it didn't help. he was still doubting himself. as much as atlas could appreciate an adrenaline rush, having a panic attack felt like someone wrapped a big, dry hand around your heart, and squeezed until it couldn't pump blood anymore. his body was moving mechanically, sending him to the doorway by no will of his own, and some sort of ingrained habit of checking himself in the reflection of every car window he passed was still fully functioning despite the fact that his nerves were strung beyond belief. even if he couldn't calm himself down mentally, he could take comfort in the fact that he looked far better than his high school days. more rugged, if anything. he didn't need the guiding signs to the gym. he'd memorized the layout of this school a long time ago, and despite needing that space in his head, that damn mental map just would not go away. he knew all the escape routes, and where specific people were going to be at specific times, and whose locker was whose... atlas shook off the abundance of knowledge and pushed his way into the gymnasium, self-consciously shoving his hands into his blazer pockets. the place seemed to be still under construction for the reunion, because only a few decorations were out so far. he knew the schedule planned for the class of 2006 well enough, and still found it morbidly hilarious how the school was avoiding placing them in the gym for the dance. well, why not? [i]maybe we could kill someone more interesting this time around.[/i] feeling a spike of anxiety right in the center of his chest, atlas quickly dismissed the thought, realising he was already setting himself up for failure. and if someone was putting together the decorations, it was likely to be... his gaze landed on adelaide once he'd turned another few degrees, and very quickly fell on someone else with her. as much as atlas knew ada, he was half-certain that she didn't have a sister, or at least not one that looked like this. the stranger - he decided they couldn't have attended grimm while he was there - looked faintly familiar, but not like someone he could pin down very easily. in fact, the duo he was observing now looked mildly similar to one another, what with the dark hair and tanned skin and well-defined facial features. he deduced that the new individual must somehow be related to adelaide, and, for god's sake, she looked well-off. he was almost mad at himself for not noticing her earlier. while atlas was certainly glad to see ada after their time apart - truth be told, he'd neglected his visits as of late, though they were more frequent in the years following graduation - he was more excited to have a chance to mooch off of someone else. maybe not permanently. this girl looked more of the fling type. loping over with a rather lecherous twist in his step, atlas ran his hands through his hair, touching up as well as he could in the few moments it took to reach them. [color=00a99d][b]"ada! long time, no see,"[/b][/color] he started enthusiastically, seemingly ignoring the fact that she was already in conversation with someone else when he stepped forward to give her a one-armed hug by the shoulders. [color=00a99d][b]"completely my fault, by the way... very busy... how's grimaldi going...?"[/b][/color] he trailed off after each phrase absently, slowly turning toward ada's 'new friend' all the while, very clearly not caring to hear the answer to his question. atlas smiled fondly at jazz as if he knew her well, although he still had no clue of her identity. [color=00a99d][b]"ah, [i]bellissimo[/i]; aren't you going to introduce me, ada? nice to meet you, i'm atlas."[/b][/color] he was speaking fairly slowly for someone going 100 mph. a hand floated out to take jasmin's, inviting only himself. [color=00a99d][b]"you didn't go to grimm, did you? have you been hiding a sister all along, ada?"[/b][/color] [hr]