[indent] [/indent][h3][hr][color=PaleTurquoise]Merja “Mer” Aaltonen[/color][/h3][hr][sup][i]Courtyard   ||  Tuesday Morning  ||  [@Addamas][@FalloutJack][@Savo][/i][/sup][indent] [/indent]
A familiar, scowly voice sounded after Mer asked her question, and she cringed back, turning to see none other than Alex. As someone who called her out on the daily—or as often as she was in his presence—he was someone she struggled to like as much as she respected. There were a lot of rough edges with his character, and Mer couldn’t say she [i]enjoyed[/i] spending time around him, especially since most of that time saw her struggling away with biology as he sped ahead and Joey trekked along somewhere between them. Still, he was smart, hard working, and often correct, so she couldn’t fault him, even if he had a tendency to slam her with some brutal honesty every now and then. 

His particular word choice, ‘indecisive,’ was an accusation he’d shot at her before, and it was perhaps his most common jab at her. Though yes, she’d been able to catch herself at times these days, thanks to the penchant for his accusations to leave a mental mark or two, Mer still had a hard time shaking the habit. To her, the confidence others brandished with ease seemed almost unattainable, existing only as a constant, faraway dream that she might one day hope to mature up to. But, then again, she had thought she’d naturally develop that same confidence by the time she became an Evergreen senior, and here she was at that age with none of the presumed confidence.

Alex’s next lines, though, were aimed at the boy in the tree, and they sadly contained all the barbs that Mer had come to expect of him. Cringing on the climber’s behalf this time, she glanced up, then around the courtyard, looking for some member of the school staff to appear and resolve the situation. Unfortunately, there seemed to be none available, likely a side effect of the current time.

Ava, thankfully, took the entire situation better than Mer did, even bursting out into laughter when the boy in the tree responded. She was quick to snap back at Alex, too, about his shot at the climber, and Mer sent silent thanks to her grinning friend for being the supportive voice against Alex's harsh one. That thanks, though, stopped when Ava continued, citing her own desire to climb the tree, and Mer had to take a second to process what she was hearing, mostly because she couldn’t believe anyone would want to climb the tree in question. Here they were on the campus courtyard in the early morning, waiting for class to begin, and Ava thought it’d be a good idea to climb a tree?

[color=PaleTurquoise]“Ava, no,”[/color] Mer said, touching the shorter girl’s arm. [color=PaleTurquoise]“He just suggested he might fall, and he’s taking pictures now. We should go find some staff to help him down before he hurts himself.”[/color]

Looking back up at the boy, Mer hesitated, then glanced down at the people around her, hoping someone might say something else. But, catching Alex’s eye, she grit her teeth and looked up again, cupping her hands around her mouth to help her voice carry. 

[color=PaleTurquoise]“Hi, do you need any help getting down from the tree?”[/color]