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[img]https://i.imgur.com/G40pLM9.png[/img]

[sub]An [@Altered Tundra] & [@spooner] Collaboration
featuring [color=ff8c00][b]Sonny Drake[/b][/color] & [color=CF5685][b]Julie MacMillan[/b][/color][/sub]
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After spending close to half the lunch break with Marisol and getting his full of [i]nutritious[/i] cafeteria food that was no way contaminated and was up to par with what should be fed to growing boys and girls, Sonny left in search of the unofficial Queen of Kings. 

Sonny asked around and the quest that he had hoped would only last a few minutes (at least until he reached Julie) brought him all the way to where he knew a certain southerner liked to hang out. Not far from the boys locker room, that was where he spotted who he needed to see. Surrounded by his “minions” and legs crossed as if it wasn’t obvious which way he laned, Sonny approached the ever flamboyant and unapologetically gay head-editor, [url=https://i.pinimg.com/originals/01/ce/24/01ce248f8a42b4c4e580b4a0c09efcce.jpg]Riley Jenkins[/url]. 

Sonny didn’t hate Riley but there was always something about him that rubbed him the wrong way. No, it wasn’t because he was gay. Sonny was pansexual for crying out loud. He was part of the LBGTQA+ community, but Riley was one of those people who, even to the more accepting members of the community, came off a little strong. He made Archer straighter than Max. So no, it wasn’t that Riley was gay that bothered Sonny. It was what usually came every time Sonny needed something from him.

As he reluctantly approached Riley’s table, he was greeted with disapproving sighs from those who surrounded his royal gayness. Riley was similar in tone and everything but the way he presented himself. Where his posture was slouched and casual, Riley was on the opposite end of things. He had perfect posture and always looked like he was going to be Joan Rivers’ replacement on Fashion Police.

“Mmm, well look who it is!” Riley’s southern draw masked the bitchiness Sonny knew him to have in spades. “It’s Marisol’s little dog. What’s wrong, little puppy? She send you to fetch her purse?”

As his lackeys chuckled with the same superior complex their queen had, Sonny swallowed all of the pride, the only time he would swallow mind you, and stared directly at Riley, skipping the baiting words of the others. [color=ff8c00]“Riley, can we skip the part where you bitch at me and just tell me where Julie is? [i]Please![/i]”[/color] Sonny was desperate because he was actually being nice to, of all people, Riley.

“And why should I tell you where the Queen is? Talking to you would be a waste of time.” The boy stated rather bluntly, his tone getting quite mean as he stared Sonny down.

With a sigh, Sonny started to walk away. [color=ff8c00]“You know what? Forget it. I’ll find her myself.”[/color]

“Jesus Christ, Sonny Boy! I didn’t know you were going to quit so easily.” Riley stepped down from his “thorne” and immediately, Sonny felt better about himself due to how close in height they were. Riley smiled at him. “You know we only tease cause we like you, right?” He shot Sonny a wink and pinched the teen’s firm bicep. “Walk with me!” Without saying much, Sonny gave in and allowed Riley to speak his piece. “So, why do you need to speak with Julie?” He asked.

[color=ff8c00]“Can’t I just want to hang with a friend of mine without getting the second degree?”[/color]

Riley rolled his eyes and shrugged. “I suppose not.” He and Sonny stopped in front of the Library. “If I tell you where my idol is, you have to do something for me in return.”

Of course! There was always a catch when it came to the devil that wears nothing but Prada. [color=ff8c00]“Fine. What do you want?”[/color] 

“I want a date.”

[color=ff8c00]“With me?”[/color] Sonny asked, raising his eyebrow.

Riley immediately repulsed at the thought. It was such a public display that Sonny laughed and felt the weight being lifted off his shoulder. “As flattered as I am hat you’d offer yourself to me, you're not the one I want to wine and dine me.”

[color=ff8c00]“Okay,”[/color] Sonny looked at Riley. [color=ff8c00]“If not me then who?”[/color]

“That scrumptious friend of yours. The one who is my motivation and my muse. The one who keeps me company when I’m alone at night. The one--”

Sonny raised his hands. [color=ff8c00]“Please, just stop.”[/color] He didn’t need to know the unnecessary details of what gets this gayboy hot and bothered. He knew who Riley was talking about and knew this would be harder than he thought but his sigh came with a nod. [color=ff8c00]“Fine. I’ll set it up.”[/color]

“Perfect!” He brought Sonny in for a hug. For someone who appeared dainty, Riley sure had a strength about him. He embraced for a few seconds. As the hug was released, Riley pointed to the door that led inside the library building. “She’s in there. Have fun, Jackie!”

What just happened forced Sonny to reflect on what he just did. He used Archer as a bargaining chip to get the location of where Julie was. Was it worth it? Yeah, probably but holy shit, how was he going to explain this to Archie? He knew how he felt about Riley Jenkins. Sonny knew that, even to Archer, his level of gay was too gay and now Sonny had to somehow convince Archer Diedrikson to give Riley a date. Sonny didn’t know what would be worse: Archer being livid at him or Kavan being just as mad for using his boyfriend as a means to an end.

Sonny shook his head and walked inside the library. As he walked inside, the rush of the AC hit him like a crashing wave. Compared to the timid humidity outside, it was refreshing inside. The air was chilly, which made sense because the books needed to be kept at a specific internal temperature.

As he walked through, Sonny spent a few minutes searching for Julie, he found her sitting far off in the corner of the first floor, sitting by a window. She was gazing out of it as if deep in thought, or so Sonny was assuming. Breathing in, Sonny approached. [color=ff8c00]“Mind if I take a seat?”[/color] He said to her, smiling.

A deep sigh escaped the slender redhead before she slowly turned her head still resting it on her hand. [color=CF5685]“Oh,”[/color] a small smile spread across her face when she saw Sonny. [color=CF5685]“Of course not. Please, be my guest,”[/color] she said, pointing to the chair on the other side of the table. 

Sonny sat down in the chair across from her and placed his backpack on the table (but away from Julie’s stuff), he relaxed in the chair. He noticed she was reading a book. He tried to read the title, but it was all in French, so that’s where Sonny’s attempt failed. [color=ff8c00]“So, what’cha reading there?”[/color] He asked, hoping if anything, she’d tell him what the title said because lord knows Sonny and French don’t mix well.

The girl lifted the book so her friend could see the cover better. [color=CF5685]“It’s just my French vocab 4 book… nothing of interest”[/color] she let out yet another sigh closing the book. [color=CF5685]“But to what do I owe this honor?”[/color] Julie asked, still smiling, clasping her hands in front of her. She and Sonny usually only had lunch together once a week, which is where most of their conversations played out. Otherwise, they were busy doing their own things.  

[color=ff8c00]“What? Can’t I want to hang with my second favorite redhead just cause?”[/color] He asked, acting defensively. He breathed out a sigh of defeat a moment later. [color=ff8c00]“Okay, that’s a lie. I’m in a dilemma and I don’t know how to fix it. And since you’ve always pointed me in the right direction whenever I had a problem I thought, maybe, you could help me out again?”[/color] In typical Sonny fashion, he shot her a half-grin and his eyes sparkled in the way they usually did when he needed to work the charm.

One of her eyebrows raised as he spoke. [color=CF5685]“Hmm?”[/color] Julie mused [color=CF5685]“Tell me… you know I live for a good dilemma.”[/color] the redhead let out a small giggle visibly perking up from her slump.   

With a smile, he scooted the chair closer to the table and leaned forward. [color=ff8c00]“Alright, so the whole condition about ‘you can’t take your girlfriend’ to the dance put me in an awkward spot. I was going to do what you suggested last week: I was going to take Mari to her favorite place in Miami and spend the whole day treating her like the queen and all that shit. Then I was going to top the date weekend off by taking her to the dance, but..”[/color] Sonny grumbled something not worthy of saying out loud, especially in front of Julie. Friends or not, he didn’t want to soil anything in front of Julie. [color=ff8c00]“So, yeah that’s the pickel I’m in. I have no idea who I’m going to ask and my options are growing slim,”[/color] he lamented with a sigh. While he knew who he was going to ask, Sonny couldn’t just say it. Julie wasn’t an ordinary person. Not only was she someone he considered a good friend but there was a certain process one had to take to ask her out for anything, let alone Valentine’s Day.

Julie couldn’t help but snort and laugh at the sentiment that Sonny had just displayed for her. [color=CF5685]“I’m sorry I didn’t mean to laugh”[/color] she composed herself holding up a hand. [color=CF5685]“It’s just that I didn’t really think your dilemma was connected to this stupid dance,”[/color] she said leaning back in her seat. [color=CF5685]“I didn’t take you for someone who cared about these types of things.”[/color] leaning forward again she rested her chin in both of her hands [color=CF5685]“Well… what are your options?”[/color] she tapped the side of her face with a slender finger. [color=CF5685]“You could take Stella… you guys are pretty close, no?”[/color] the redhead was wracking her mind to see if she could pick someone that would fit Sonny better than Marisol. 

Sonny groaned, laughing quite nervously and he shook his head. [color=ff8c00]“Yes, I know we are, but Marisol would have a cow!”[/color] He laughed still. 

While he knew Marisol would much prefer him to go with Stella than anyone else, such as people like Ariana or whoever, but there was also the fact that Mari didn’t like Stella. He always found that weird. Stella didn’t do anything to Mari (that he knew of). She was one of his oldest friends, but all Sonny knew for certain was every time he mentioned Stella’s name, there was an obvious grimace on his girlfriend’s face and he knew for reasons he might never know that she wanted nothing to do with Stella.

[color=ff8c00]“So, yeah Stella is a no go...unfortunately.”[/color] Sonny was disappointed because Stel was the only other person he considered before, you know, Mari got the idea to set Julie and Ry up. 

Julie pouted disappointedly, she hated when one of her good plans fell through. [color=CF5685]“Well…”[/color] she continued to muse [color=CF5685]“Why don’t we just go together then?”[/color] she said rather matter of factly [color=CF5685]“I mean we’re friends right? And Marisol knows I would never do anything with you - no offense.”[/color] she winked at him cheekily. [color=CF5685]“What do you think?”[/color] 

Her suggestion, though not surprising since he was going to ask her himself (but was leading into it), still caught Sonny off-guard. The way she brought it up and just how Julie, in such Julie fashion, phrased it brought out an unintended chuckle from the boy’s lips, causing him to cough as though he was choking. [color=ff8c00]“I-I mean, yeah that’s a great idea!”[/color] He spoke amidst his spell of wheezing. He took a few moments to get it out of his system. [color=ff8c00]“Truth be told, I was thinking of skipping the dance. It just didn’t feel right going without Marisol but now?”[/color] He laughed again, smiling at the redhead. [color=ff8c00]“I can’t explain it but I’m looking forward to getting all dressed up and escorting you to the [i]ball[/i].”[/color] He exaggerated his tone, doing his best seated curtsy, though he was unable to maintain a straight face through it.

[color=CF5685]“Great… It’s decided then!”[/color] she clapped her hands together. To think that just a few minutes ago Julie was contemplating skipping the dance altogether because she was so annoyed with the school as a whole. But now that she had a project she was in high spirits. [color=CF5685]“I hope you are aware that [i]I[/i] am dressing you right? I’m sorry Sonny but I don’t think I can trust you with... [i]that,[/i]”[/color] she said softly eying his messy tie and wrinkly shirt. 

He followed her gaze to his shirt and looked back up at her, confused. “What? Is there something wrong with my shirt?”  He asked her, glancing back down at his shirt, thinking he might’ve gotten some pizza sauce on it (he didn’t).

[color=CF5685]“Not with the shirt itself…”[/color] Julie commented as she cocked her head to the side letting her long red hair cascade over her shoulder. It was true since it was a good quality 100% cotton shirt that King’s set as a standard for all of the students to wear. [color=CF5685]“Just the way you present it sweetie”[/color] with a sweep of her hand she flicked her hair back over her shoulder, diving down into her bag. She emerged with a small notebook and a pen which she opened and scribbled in before tearing out a page. [color=CF5685]“Here is my address, why don’t you come over this weekend and we’ll get you fitted for a suit!”[/color] she slid the neatly folded up note across the table. 

[color=ff8c00]“Your address?”[/color] Sonny echoed back, opening the piece of paper torn from her notebook in disbelief. 

In the back of his mind, Sonny was thinking that he never thought he’d actually receive, of all people, Julie’s address. And then the realization settled in: get fitted for a suit. And that resulted in Sonny breathing out a slow “shit”. The plan he and Marisol had? Brilliant. Julie and Rye would make a great couple but Sonny didn’t know just how much work he was going to have to put in. At this realization and the implications it presented, it donned on him that Sonny was the Anne Hathaways, the Rachel Leigh Cooks to the fashion guru and overall beauty specialist that was Julie.

Taking in a breath, he fake smiled, which wasn’t a legit fake grin but just a ‘hide the fact you’re gonna have to put in a lot of work for this plan to work’ smile. [color=ff8c00]“Bitchin!”[/color] He laughed through the pain. [color=ff8c00]“I guess I’ll see you this weekend. Should I bring anything? Maybe some donuts? Or a batch of bagels?”[/color] That was customary right? When visiting royalty in their castle, you bring something.

[color=CF5685]“Uhm… No!”[/color] She said cheerily [color=CF5685]“We should be fine, just think about what color scheme we should go for… I’m thinking cream and pale yellow. But I’ll fix the rest”[/color] Julie chirped and patted Sonny’s hand before beginning to pack up. Before she stood up she turned back to face him [color=CF5685]“Really though Sonny… Thanks.”[/color] she said earnestly standing up. [color=CF5685]“See you later then! Bye sweetie.”[/color] And with that she turned and floated away in between the bookcases of the library. 

Sonny stuck around the library for a few minutes, reflecting on what just happened. Going into it, he didn’t know how things were going to pan out. He had no way of knowing if the plan was going to end here and Julie was going to catch onto what scheme he was in the process of hatching. Sonny went into it blind as a bat and did exactly what he told Marisol what he was gonna do. He told her he was going to appeal to the side of Julie that liked him as a friend, which what he said wasn’t a total lie. He didn’t have a date and he was going to ask her anyway, but what Sonny didn’t anticipate was just how much work this was going to be.

He pulled out his phone and sent a text to Marisol. [color=ff8c00]“Phase one is a success.”[/color] When he sent that first text, Sonny typed another. [color=ff8c00]“But I’m getting a makeover because apparently my fashion sense is wack.”[/color] Rolling his eyes, he sent another. [color=ff8c00]“From the bottom of my heart, thank you. Now, I have to get mentally prepared for what I know is going to be a long weekend.”[/color]

Sonny let a few moments pass and sent one final text. [color=ff8c00]“Okay rant over. Love you dumb dumb! I’ll see you 6th period.”[/color]

With that last text sent, Sonny just sat in the quiet of the library, head slouched and resting on both of his hands, he decided to look out the window.. It was peaceful today. Sonny understands why Julie likes to gaze out the window. There’s something tranquil and soothing about watching the students from afar.[/indent][/indent][/color]