Hey Im Jordan

CANCELLED.

_{Location: Hailey’s Room
Featuring: Hailey Green and Butler}

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Hailey didn’t much care about school anymore. Not the work part anyway; it came easily to her, and her biggest secret was that she was already done with her credits. Hailey Green showed up to school as a courtesy to her friends. Besides, completed courses looked better on a college application. Hailey Green did care, quite a bit actually, about the social intricacies of the school.

That was where the fun was, and that was where Hailey happily played her game. It was a game in which every student, willingly or unwillingly was a participant. She liked it that way; it was often her out playing many people at once, sometimes her own friends. Sometimes, she liked to muse about this, particularly the most recent move she’d made.

That move, of course, was the forcible separation of Beatrix Kingsley and Owen Lyon. It had hurt them both far more than she’d anticipated, and Beatrix was still struggling to get completely over it. Honestly, it had been nearly three months ago. Despite this, Hailey had long accepted the fact that the problem most likely was with her — she had just opted not to care.

Hailey had a problem, one that was really a chemical imbalance in her brain, perhaps caused by the innate stress given to her by her last name. Perhaps it was driven by something else, but Hailey was a control freak, and a perfectionist, to levels and points that she knew it harmed her relationships and the people around her. Even Trixie being as upset as she was stung Hailey dearly. Hailey knew she had hurt her beloved cousin, but she found herself so obsessed with her own grandiose idea of a perfect world, that she put Trixie’s feelings on the backburner.

Hailey was a Green, and Greens did not allow regret to plague their lives. She could find a way to handle Trixie’s apparent depression, but she would do so when she had an idea. For now, Hailey already had a different plan and a course of action that was well underway that required her focus. She had already dealt with the Elite; as far as she was concerned the nuisances had been forcibly ejected from the playing field, and it was back the way she liked it. No more people stepping up to try and eliminate her carefully curated social ladder.

She had one person to thank for that: the author of the Weekend Warrior. And thank them Hailey had, leaving a donation of $4500 on the website, with an attached phone number (a burner phone of her Butler’s). If she had her way, the proprietor of the Weekend Warrior would be on her payroll before the next, well, weekend. Hailey, however, was confident there wouldn’t be any wars this weekend.

There were no soldiers left.

That, however, had been a Sunday venture! It was Monday now, and she was dressed for school. It was 6:55 in the morning, and Hailey was enjoying one of her rare moments of relaxation. She was resting on the massive beanbag she kept in her room. Hanging out of her mouth was a half-burned blunt (strawberry wrap), and resting on her chest was Hana Song, her beloved puppy.

On her ears was a pair of Sennheiser Orpheus HE90s (serial number 02), playing her music. The headphones made it feel like she was in the studio with the artist, and it was quite frankly an unexplainable joy that washed over her when she was able to relax and listen to music through the headphones. It made her feel like a kid, and she temporarily forgot about her game.

I’m Wolf, Tyler put this fuckin’ knife in my hand

Hana on her chest, snoozing lightly while her owner scratched behind her ears, and the carefully rolled drug in her mouth only made things better. It helped that she was resting on her bean bag, which basically felt like a cloud. In her opinion, everyone should own one of them, whether old, young, rich, or poor. In her perfect reality, everyone would.

I’m Wolf, Ace gon’ put that fuckin’ hole in my head

Hailey closed her eyes and honestly skirted on the edge of sleep for the fleetest of seconds, before the door opened and Hana jumped up, rousing Hailey instantly. She opened her eyes and saw Butler standing there. Hailey held up a finger before she moved to take the headphones off.

And I’m Wolf, that was me who shoved a cock in your bitch

Hailey removed the headphones, and smiled at Butler, kissing Hana Song before pushing her away and sitting up. “Yes, Butler?” After she spoke, Butler made a mental note that she was in a good mood, and he focused on keeping things short enough to keep it that way.

“I made contact. She wants a meeting.”

“Our weekend friend? Did you get a name? Ah, I suppose not. Stupid question. A meeting? That’s fine, call her back — I assume you have a call back number? Of course you do, you’re my Butler. The best. Call her back, and arrange a brunch. Wednesday morning will suffice. Call ahead to the Blue Lantern, make sure it’s empty for an hour. I don’t want any distractions or any interruptions.” Hailey stood up and stretched her hands high above her head. It was one of ‘those’ days for her. Rather than be dressed in an expensive dress, with pearls around her neck, and a designer bag on her arm, Hailey was instead dressed in a flavor undeniably inspired by her father.

A dark grey hoodie with the Turtle School logo stamped on the back (not too large, she didn’t want to look like a degenerate), underneath that was a piece of old school AWE merch, celebrating the Deathadder, who Hailey’s dog was named after. She wore a hat on her head that had a reference to a classic esports team (RD, Jericho Snyder’s team), and had on tight jeans and sneakers that cost more than most houses.

“How do I look?”

“It’d be nearly impossible for you to look bad. I think you pull off the ‘street wear’ work very well, and I think it’ll be a good reminder that you have a wardrobe that reaches outside of ‘rich woman.’ I can’t see anyone complaining about what you wear — not that it would matter much anyway. Brunch will be arranged.”

“Good answer. Let’s go to school, shall we?” Hailey blew Hana Song a kiss, and led her Butler out the door and toward the garage.

CANCELLED.

_{Location: The Thomas Residence —> School
Interacting with: Echo, her Assistant}

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Kit had been a potato in front of her computer for so long that she wasn’t exactly sure how long she’d been there. It was the weekend! It was Sunday. She had time! So, it didn’t really matter to her parents, nor to her. She had pizza on her desk, er, well… she had an empty box on her desk that had once housed a medium pizza with extra bacon, light red sauce, and chicken nuggets on it.

The mini-fridge beside her desk was filled with delicious Coca Cola (cherry vanilla ONLY) and peanut butter. Kit was of the opinion that peanut butter was far tastier when chilled, and her parents had agreed without much argument when she’d asked for a mini fridge, so it was stocked to the brim with her two life bloods.

In her ears, blared the music of the evening, through expensive headphones. On her screen, was Tekken 7 (while an older game, it maintained a relatively large player base, thanks to a recent relaunch). On her desk was her beloved fight stick. She was playing Xiaoyu.

Kit had been grinding the ladder since breakfast, and she didn’t plan to stop until the game recognized her prowess. Until it officially recognized her for what she was! Until she reached the upper echelons of the community. Until she promoted to the rank she’d been working her entire life to achieve.

She would be recognized as a Tekken God if it resulted in her untimely death at the computer.

With red, bloodshot eyes, she continued to hit the same combos, before the screen froze and the new challenger splashed across her screen. “FINALLY. This takes forever! It’s not worth it.” She smashed the button on her stick in front of her, and the loading screen appeared. “PROMOTION.” She said, as the screen presented in shiny letters: Promotion Match.

This was it, this was her chance to ascend to the ranks. She shook out whatever nervous jitters she had left, and looked across the screen at her opponent Bryan Fury. She put her hands on the buttons and the match began. Maybe it was nerves, maybe she was just plain outclassed, maybe she’d been playing too long and needed rest… whatever it was, Kit was not having a good time in the first round.

It didn’t help that her scumbag opponent WOULDN’T STOP SPAMMING SNAKE EDGES. “That move’s so CHEAP, dude! STOP!” She couldn’t respond offensively or defensively, and though she desperately searched for an opening, there wasn’t one to be found. She got angry and mashed the rage art button, and when her enemy closed the round out with ANOTHER SNAKE EDGE, Kit had nothing to say, instead complaining again. “That’s so cheapppp. Why?! Why are you like this, Namco?” She was ready to punch her screen, but she had to regain her composure. This was important.

The second round came up, and this time Kit was more mentally sound. She was able to punish the barrage of Snake Edges, and the enemy realized he had to mix up his game in order to beat her. “See, I knew the whole time. Quote me on this, Bryan players are bitches. Watch this, Echo.” She said, then hit a few of the buttons on her pad, finishing off the second round. “BAGOOSH!” She yelled, grinning wildly.

Round three was about to begin and she took a deep breath. This was where it got tense, she realized. She had to win two more rounds in a row, to close this game out. She drummed her fingers on her buttons calmly, and waited for the next round to begin. Inside of her headset, the music paused and was replaced with a feminine voice (slightly accented Irish). A voice Kit knew very well. It belonged to her assistant, Echo. “Kit, I think you should get some rest… You have school tomorrow!”

“Shut the FUCK UP, Echo! No homos in Tekken!”

“Aren’t you in love with a woman?”

“That’s irrelevant, shut up!”

Fight.

This was a bit more interesting, now that she’d found her groove and was dealing with the Snake Edge spam, both players had to make their best moves. Kit, naturally an aggressive player (why did she play a defensive girl? Because Xiaoyu is fucking cute, that’s why), was on the offense almost the whole round, pushing the other player back against the wall. Now, normally a rushdown as expertly played as her own would end in a victory, but this guy… this guy was really good at blocking things.

And then he got a Snake Edge in to punish her whiffing something (LIKE A FUCKING NOOB, WHAT THE FUCK KIT?). “NO! Could this be the end of our hero!?” Fuck, fuck, FUCK. Almost instantly, the flow of the round changed, and it was Kit who was on the defensive, frantically trying to block and parry, but to no avail. She was button mashing. Nerves got her, and she lost round three.

Luckily, there were two more rounds!

“Echo, quick. Check the NORAD Santa site. Because I’m gonna need a Christmas miracle to win this, dude.” Kit was standing up now, and the screen had moved with her to match her eye height. Technology was awesome. This was it though, she wasn’t about to lose this game, not to this fucking Bryan player. “Kit Thomas comin’ in BIG on BIG Sunday.”

“Actually, it’s-”

“Shut up, Echo. It’s time to throw down.” Kit muttered, fully focused on her screen by this point. In sixty seconds, Kit would have either put the fuck up or shut the fuck up. This was honestly why she played this game, this was that hype shit. And she was gonna pop off and style on this kid if it was the last thing she did.

She either won here or she lost and the entire time she’d spent playing was for naught. She had to win! This match would be her masterpiece, by the end of it.

She wave dashed across the stage, intent this time on putting this dude in his place with her rush down. Remembering the last round, and what had left her open, Kit avoided the high crushes. Instead, she went low, and hit him with the sweep. “Eat a dick, beeeetch!” As he stumbled, Kit knew she had a 100 to 0 here if she could hit every input just right… she stared at the screen, one eye watching as the health bar dropped, with the other eye waiting for the wall to get in range… “Come onnnn. YES. See that shit, Echo? THAT’S SIMPLE MATHEMATICS! Basics! Kindergarten shit!” Kit had nailed the wallsplat, and clinched the round.

Perfect.

Final Round.

“I’m a professional, and I’m about to wipe this PRETENDER’S blood from the throne and retake my rightful place atop the mountain as a TEKKEN GOD.”

“You do know there’s a rank above Tekken God… right?”

“Shut UP, Echo. Gawwwwwd.” Kit complained, wiggling the stick as the match began. This was a match between two titans, two Tekken Gods to be, trying to prove their worth and earn a coveted spot on Mount Olympus. Both players approached cautiously, throwing out lazy jabs. Kit had to do some quick thinking. They were almost evenly matched!

It was going to be a fight to the death for the win. No rush down would work here, this had to be calculated. So Kit waited patiently, standing in place as she waited for him to throw something out. She’d take advantage of Xiaoyu’s defensive kit (haha, Kit with a kit) — this time. Her patience paid off, after eating a few low attacks, and one juggle, the opponent made a fatal mistake.

He threw out a Snake Edge.

“GET PARRIED! Fuck outta here with that cheap shit!” Kit threw him to the ground, hit a low sweeping kick, knocking his HP bar down to just under half, and as he stood up, she triggered the rage art in the tight window, and it hit. “I DID IT. You see, Echo? I got a lot left in the tank!” Kit happily clapped her hand as the victory screen played, signifying her climb in the ranks to Tekken God. Only one way left to go! Up! She sat down in the chair and let the hype begin to leave her body, resting her headphones on their stand.

Almost as soon as she did, the ‘ring ring!’ of an alarm sounded off, and Kit blinked carefully, looking at the ceiling. She hit a button and the blackout curtains on her windows peeled open, letting the early morning sunshine. “Echo, what time is it?”

“It is 7 AM Monday morning. First day of school.”

“...how long have I been awake, exactly?”

“26 hours, ten minutes, and twenty seven seconds.”

Kit spun around in her chair, looking longingly at her bed as a wave of tiredness very suddenly washed over her. “Echo, I’ve fallen ill.”

“Is that so?” Echo asked, and then, an echo (haha, get it? An echo from Echo) played:

“I got a lot left in the tank!”

Kit squinted, narrowing her eyes at the wall, knowing that Echo could see it, wherever she was. “Bitch.”

“I already drew your bath.”

Almost twenty minutes later, Kit was standing in front of the mirror, getting ready for school. Through her speakers, her music of choice played. She yawned widely and looked over at the two different outfits she’d picked out. Getting ready for her used to be simple, but nooo. Now she has to be pretty, and for what? All so some girl can never look at her. Why couldn’t she just like a boy?! Boys were simple and easy. They weren’t picky. They didn’t care if you wore red or purple or even green! Green was kinda gross, though. Or at least, she looked gross in green.

She changed into the first one, which made her look more like a punk than anything. Red and black plaid skirt, a blue flannel shirt over an older t-shirt with the Tekken logo on it. It was a goddamn classic, she bought it at EVO! She grabbed a hat off of the vanity table and grinned in the mirror, tugging on the bill as she bounced along to the music. “What’s that I didn’t hear you~ Shut the fuck up! Come on a lil louder~ Shut the FUCK up! Everybody n2gether now…” She grinned, satisfied in her outfit choices and her admittedly lazy makeup. “I look great, Echo. A little sleepy, but… well, I am sleepy.” She was genuinely happy for a moment there, before she sighed woefully, and pulled off the shirt.

She let it fall to the ground, and then she pulled off the comfortable t-shirt, then she pulled her hair out of the ponytail it was in, and unzipped her skirt. She blew a raspberry toward the mirror, and got to work…

The end result was almost a different person. Kit had done up her hair, done her makeup, and changed into a pleasant, soft, pastel purple colored dress, even going so far as to abandon her flats for a pair of heels. She was beautiful, anyone could see it…

“You look great, Kit. You’re gonna crush it.”

“I look like a fucking girl! I feel like a girl. This just doesn’t work for me, I’m gonna like… what if I need to do the splits! Or karate! I know I don’t have to do those things often, but it could happen. It could happen.” Kit grumbled, standing up from the vanity table in a huff and heading downstairs, to the kitchen where she grabbed an orange, before jumping on the bus (she rode the bus as a personal choice).

After the busride, Kit arrived at school (surprisingly on time, all things considered!) and she walked to her homeroom class, stumbling in and rubbing her eyes. She glanced at Winship, noted that the old woman was asleep, and took a spot at a desk all on her own, laying her head down in a way that she longingly stared at the prep table. For all intents and purposes, Kathryn Ingrid Thomas now looked the part of a freshman prep, which was a far trade from how she’d last looked when she was here. Maybe one of them would notice her and she could sit closer to Selena! Kit grinned. It was just a waiting game now.

Or, something like that.

She shoulda stayed home…

CANCELLED.

_{Featuring: Sean Sterling & Selena Sterling; The Sterling Twins
Location: The Sterling Mansion —> The Maserati
Interacting With: Each other}

Sean Sterling wanted to drop out.

More than ever, in that moment, did Sean want to drop out. It didn’t matter; he didn’t need an education to ‘further’ a career. He didn’t need a degree to land himself a high paying job. He didn’t even need a job, he could go the rest of his life and never work a day. He truly, seriously, and honestly considered dropping out, giving up.

It was day one, the first day of school.

And Sean Sterling, more than anything in the world, wanted to give up.

Wondering what was wrong?

He’d stepped out of the warmth of the shower, only to face the cold of January that had wafted in through the window he’d opened to keep the mirror from steaming up. Leaving the heat of his (overly) hot shower, his skin still red from the pounding of the water… to enter the rest of the bathroom, was a shock, to say the least. He was fucking cold, and it was early, and he didn’t want to be awake.

“I’ve got to talk to mom about this. This is nuts. Maybe she’ll let me study from home or something. It’s fucking seven thirty in the morning. Why am I awake?” Sean was speaking at normal volume, staring at the mirror as he did so, running a towel over his hair. “Ready to rock? Absolutely not. I’m going to go to school, and get dragged in the middle of more drama — probably somewhere kissing another dude won’t save us all. I’m better than this. I deserve better than this. A regular high school? There’s nothing left for me to learn, not here.” Sean’s face soured, as he remembered his exile from the place he’d spent most of his life.

“But I failed. And, as a failure, this is what I get.”

Whilst twin number one contemplated the meaning of life with his reflection in a bathroom mirror, twin number two was already showered and dressed for her first day back to school. Unlike her sleep-addicted brother, Selena had woken up two hours ago. Sel started every weekday with the same routine: wake up no later than 5:30, kick start her metabolism with a nutritious juice, early morning stretching and yoga with her mother, take a shower, do full makeup, get dressed, do hair, and finally enjoy a fresh cup of coffee before hopping in the car to head out.

Selena was currently in the final stages of her process, which was putting the finishing touches on her hair. Having just finished working her platinum tresses into loose curls, Sel spritzed the locks with salt spray, She scrunched her hair slightly, using her fingers to give it a fresh off of the beach vibe. Selena appraised her work and nodded into the vanity mirror. After sliding a tube of pale pink lipstick into her purse, Sel set off towards the kitchen to fetch her coffee.

Of course, one could not forget that there was a very significant change to Selena’s routine today; A change that had not been a part of her mornings in over six years. Today, in this glorious year of 2043, Selena Sterling would not be arriving to school alone. With notably extra pep in her step, Sparkles skipped up the stairs with not one, but two thermoses of coffee. “Brother dear, coffee’s ready, are you?” she called out before even reaching his room. What? She was excited! Believe it or not, Selena has emotions… they were just... turned off for a while.

By the time Selena came calling for him, Sean had moved himself from his bathroom to his bedroom, and dressed himself. He was wearing clothes that had cost an unbelievable amount; most of his ensemble cost about as much as a fucking car, which to him was just nutty. Shopping with Brynn and Selena had led to three things: one, a giant charge to his parents’ credit card. Two, a blue lingerie set for Brynn — Sean’s treat. And third, and most importantly, Sean had gotten a pretzel.

Now, he was dressed and ready to die! “Yeah, I’m ready.” He called back, walking toward the door and opening it. Sean’s jacket was slightly open, revealing that he was not wearing a Selena approved t-shirt, rather he was wearing a shirt that proudly proclaimed him to be a Rammstein fan. “Give me coffee.”

Selena’s eyes were immediately drawn to the offensive fashion choice. Honestly, she had tried so hard to dress her brother up as a proper, upstanding citizen. Yet he chose to wear this trashy band tee. However, her only protest to this offense was to sigh softly, before handing Sean his coffee mug. The shirt made him happy, and everything else he had on was Selena-approved, so this would have to do. “Great, let’s head out. Did you eat anything? Should we grab something on the way? Which car should we take?”

Sean sipped at the coffee, the glorious brew, the tastiest concoction he’d ever been lucky enough to taste, and thought about the questions she’d asked. “No, uhm… no, and I don’t care? A car’s a car, Selena.” Sean shrugged his shoulders and took another sip from the coffee. It’s warmth flowed through his veins and generated heat in his otherwise chilly body. He zipped his jacket up all the way to his chin, and a very small, very faint smile appeared on his lips. Sean was comfy.

“You should eat something.” Selena responded as they headed downstairs. Passing through the kitchen, Sel grabbed an apple out of the fruit bowl and passed it to her brother. If he ditched it when she wasn’t looking, that would be his decision, but her conscience was clear in it’s attempt to help Sean live at least a slightly healthier life than he had been the past few weeks. “You should also consider getting up a little earlier, maybe do yoga with mom and I? It’s a very refreshing way to start the day!”

The twins made their way down to the garage which was, in fact, the size of most peoples entire homes. Within the garage, there was a vehicle for practically every day of the week. Since Sean apparently had no preference in which car they chose, Selena went to her own pride and joy. Sel had received the sparkly pink Maserati as an extravagant gift for her sweet sixteen party. The custom plates read Sparkles, and she absolutely loves this car. The blonde sat in the driver’s seat — though she wouldn’t really have to do any driving of her own, unless she wanted to — and waited for Sean to get in the passenger’s side before firing up the engine.

Sean got into the passenger’s seat, munching on the apple. He’d been silently listening to her talk, but chose not to respond until the door shut. “Thank you, but no thanks. Yoga isn’t for me. Don’t worry, I’m keeping in shape. I’m just enjoying a lot of things that I couldn’t while I was at school. Speaking of school! What’s this place like? What are the teachers like? What should I be anticipating?”

“Oh, uhm, it’s just school? The teachers aren’t really all that harsh, plus you’re super smart, so you really have nothing to worry about. I imagine you’ll be back at the top of the class in no time. There’s definitely a social structure to the student body, though, which is a little tougher to navigate. Which… you also don’t really have to worry about. You are my brother, Trixie’s cousin, and Brynn has taken at least a temporary liking of you, plus you proved yourself as useful to Hailey when you showed up Owen. Owen, though… you might want to steer clear of him for a while.” Selena chattered on as the car auto piloted the sibling pair to Beverly Hills High.

“Which reminds me, I’ve been meaning to ask… since when are you the type to break up fights? Where is my mathlete brother, and what have you done to him?”

“A lot has changed. I’m still smart, way smart. But, like… I’m better, Sel. Let’s just put it at that. I wasn’t gonna just let him beat your friend’s face in, so I put it a stop to it. I’d do it again, and again and again. It doesn’t matter who’s on the other end, I know me, and… I won’t lose. I’m still your brother, Sparkles. But I’m just… different. I learned a lot while I was gone, y’know?” Sean finished the apple, by popping the core into his mouth and crunching it down. Stem and all. “Tell me about the teachers. Are they as bad as I suspect?”

Despite his direct question, Selena was still hung up on his earlier words. Why was he so confident in his fighting abilities? “I won’t lose.” What the hell was that about? She was about to try to pry further, but then figured that trying to get him to talk about his time at his other school was still a relatively sensitive subject, to say the least. Instead, she thanked him yet again. “Thanks for what you did. I know MarMar is really grateful that you stepped in. He’s a good person, sticking up for Lia like that, even though he’s never fought a day in his life.” And neither had her brother, that she knew of. Apparently, Selena didn’t know as much as she thought she did. “The teacher’s are easy. I’m excited to have Mr. McGregor again for chemistry, he’s really funny… and chem is my favorite science class so far. I think for homeroom we both have Mrs. Winship. She… basically doesn’t pay attention to us at all, and you can get away with anything you want in homeroom. Mostly.”

At this, Sean was interested. He didn’t much care about being thanked, or even really about Marshall. But at the end of her sentence, Selena had piqued his interest. “So, if I wanted to… say… take a nap in her class. You think that would be possible?” He asked, leaning forward seriously. This was important! Thank god he’d worn a hoodie.

“It’s… possible?” Selena’s lips curled up a little, as if the idea actually disgusted her. The Maserati neated parked itself in a spot of the BHHS parking lot. “But you really shouldn’t.” Sel said before grabbing her bag and stepping out of the vehicle, making her way towards their first day of class.

CANCELLED.

_{Location: The pool -> School district offices
Interacting with: The Superintendent and the School Board President
Featuring: Hailey Green and Butler
Taking place a few days before present time}

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Per usual, the Weekend Warrior was sufficient for her needs.

Really, someone else running around and interacting with all the petty riff raff of her peers did most of Hailey’s work for her. It afforded her the time she wanted to spend with her parents, rather than be at that godforsaken party, thrown by the ‘Elite,’ and crashed by her and her kind. Everything had went exactly how she’d wanted; Hailey had been confident she’d be able to set Owen off, and she’d been right there. Joy showing up and making Damian falter was just icing on an already delicious cake.

Truly, if Hailey had known it would be that fucking easy, she would have had Brynn or Ophelia dye their hair red. Maybe it only worked if the girl were a virgin though. No dice with either of her options, not if that were the case… ah, well. Joy Darling had sufficed! After all, crashing the Elite party was never going to be a solo affair, it was truly a team effort.

Trixie having to fall even further for it to happen was a necessary evil. It was unfortunate that Beatrix was proving to be so damned fragile, but Hailey really had no frame of reference. Even the ice queen could see what Owen and Trixie had before she’d stepped in and fixed the damage done by that dastardly Lyon was love. In its purest, most unaltered form, too.

Young love.

It disgusted her.

At this time, Hailey was lying in a tube in one of the many pools present inside the Stentorian Estate. This one was heated, and was her personal favorite, to the point her siblings simply hadn’t been inside of it in nearly two years. On the ceiling, a screen was present, placed there by Hailey’s Assistant, from which she was reading the Weekend Warrior. In her hand was a fruity, delicious drink; much better, she though, than anything her brother might have made someone at the fateful party.

There was only one real problem with the article. Whoever wrote the tabloid had referred to her as ‘Hails,’ which caused her to make a noise, though rather in disgust or anger, the only other human present wasn’t sure. “Pause the music,” Hailey said, and the music came to a halting stop, while she turned her attention to Butler, her, well, butler. “Butler.” She said, addressing the mountain of a man who turned his attention to her.

“Yes, Miss Green?”

“We simply must find out who writes this blog. I’d like to give them their fair pay for doing my job for me. It’s so much easier when I can lay here and watch the fires burn, rather than be an arsonist — so to speak.” Butler nodded, and Hailey moved herself over to the edge of the pool with her feet, holding a hand out, which Butler seized and pulled her up to her feet. Silently, Butler held out a towel that was accepted pleasantly by Hailey, who put it around her neck. “And now, a phone call. Henry should have known better than this; after all, he’s known me his entire life.”

“I was thinking about that, Miss Green —”

“I am one hundred percent sure that you are not paid to do that. But, very well. Carry on.” Hailey replied coolly, shaking her head to knock some of the water out.

“Understood… but, I don’t think your father would much approve of you doing this. When it was just the O’Connor kid and his friends, and that Lyon boy… that’s one thing. Involving your brother in your systematic, ahem, deconstruction, of the people who would — I think the word you used at coffee this morning was ‘defy’ you — would probably shake things a bit, as far as your parents go.”

“I am well aware of that. Mom favors Henry, for some reason. This is precisely why Daddy must never know. Mother and Mom may find out eventually, in fact, I anticipate them doing so, but so long as Daddy doesn’t, I don’t much care. This is what Mother and Mom wanted me to be. I’m sure they’ll smile.” Hailey delicately shrugged her shoulders, leaving Butler questioning why he even tried.

In time, Hailey had her phone call, and then she had her meeting arranged. Hailey Green, and the president of the school board, and the superintendent of BHHS. Butler, of course, was present — ever present. It was a bit unnerving, but Hailey Green went nowhere without him. While the giant stood by the doorway, staring at the only window in the office, Hailey took a seat across from the two older people, one a woman and one a gentleman.

Hailey rolled a coin along her knuckles as the pair she’d called together read over the blog post again. She listened to the noise emanating from the tablet, raising her eyebrows ever so slightly at the emphatic ‘fuck start her head’ from Owen, and then finally, they addressed her, the school board president (Mr. Graham) spoke first. Like a parrot though, he was nearly mimicked by the superintendent (Mrs. Sharper).

“What exactly do you want us to do? This isn’t exactly our jurisdiction — I think you should go to the police, though if this is accurate, that won’t doing anything.”

Hailey did not take her eyes off of the coin.

“Yes, Miss Green, I have to agree with Mr. Graham. There’s nothing we can do for something that was done off of school grounds…”

Hailey’s eyes still did not move from the coin, which she was carefully rolling back and forth. “Incorrect.” She replied shortly, and Mr. Graham, stared at her.

“I’m sorry? I don’t follow you.”

“Having spent all night reading your own material cover to cover; student handbook, student rulebook, and the school district rules, I would like to happily inform you that you are WELL within your rights to punish at least the two ringleaders of this operation. I would encourage you to keep it to just them. I understand if you would wish to punish Owen Lyon, but I assure you that he has suffered enough. No, no. This should be an effort to cut off the head of a snake; before it grows into something more… vicious.”

The pair looked at each other, wondering if they could trust her… the superintendent shrugged. “I’ll have someone verify.”

“You do that. I’d suggest taking Damian off of the team. You’d lose your fearless leader, yes, and I know that high school football is such a big deal in this country, but I'm sure someone even more qualified will swoop in to take his spot. You may not see them now, but you never will so long as they have to stand in his shadow… think about it. You make a statement, showing that though others may buckle at the power of the rich families, you won’t. And then, if you create another star via this removal of Damian… well, then you look like heroes.” She finally stopped with the coin, letting it fall into her palm and turning her attention up to the pair behind the desk. “As for Henry? Force him to do something he doesn’t like. Should be simple enough. After all, he did take that Parker girl upstairs -- and we can all guess how that went.”

“Well… she’s got a point. This would make some of the more privileged students stop taking advantage of their power… I say we do it. As for Henry, I think I know a few ways we can punish him. Thank you, Miss Green. You know, though…” He paused for a second, and Hailey raised an eyebrow, nodding her head to encourage him to hurry up and speak. “You and your friends were clearly there, and clearly involved in one of the more exciting moments of the night. Should we not punish you?” He asked, and Hailey scoffed.

“Absolutely not. We were provoked by an emotional young man who is failing to get over an equally emotional young woman. I think our entire situation should be overlooked by you. Plus, I’m the only reason you realize that you can go over and above in your punishments here… I think my friends and I therefore deserve some leeway…” Hailey sighed and stood up, turning toward the door without a further word. It was opened for her, and she strolled out with one final word over her should, “I was never here. And I wouldn’t let the student body know you used the Weekend Warrior for this. Blame facebook, or some other social media outlet. Have fun.”

The door slammed shut, and Hailey Green smiled to herself, casually tossing a question to her Butler. "Did I just do their job for them?"

"It appears so, Miss Green."

"Honestly, the help these days. It's a wonder anything ever gets done anymore..."

CANCELLED.

A Flashback
_{Collab with: @smarty0114
Featuring: Q & A
Location: The Car, Heaven, Dreamland}

---

Quincy was pouting. Well, she was trying too. See, it’s rather difficult to pout when you’re still pretty trashed, and about to get what will probably be, the best McFlurry in the world. But also she wanted to make out some more. She was conflicted.

Quincy was seated in the passenger seat of A Double’s car, legs criss crossed, and looking straight out the window. The pair had been sitting in an awkward, sticky silence since they’d agreed to go to McDonalds and Q wasn’t sure how to handle it. How do you say, ’Hey I liked kissing you, I hope you liked kissing me!’ Q wasn’t used to this. When she was Jennifer, boys chased her, they made the moves, not her. Q had no experience being the hunter. She didn’t like it.

While for Quincy, the silence was ‘awkward,’ for A Double, this was time alone in his mind. To think, and to plan his order. He’d realized long ago he and his father suffered from a similar issue of never knowing what the hell they wanted when they rolled up through the drive through. This time, A Double would not have that problem! Hopefully… unless he go up to the ordering window and then forgot.

The car turned smoothly, and A Double broke the silence with a question as they pulled to a stop in the line of cars at the Golden Arches, the same one that had teased and tempted him on the drive here… but it was in LA. It was busy. They had some time. So, A Double had a question to ask: “Hey, Q? ...wasn’t Raf supposed to ride with us?”

Q looked over at A Double and thought for a moment. Wait…”Fuck,” Quincy said, deadpan. Then after a moment, she burst out laughing, like forgetting Raf was the funniest thing in the world. ”Oh my God! A Dub! Did he even make it to the party?” Q asked in between gasping breaths.

“I… I dunno. I hope so, he’d go crazy over all that free food.” A Double said as they creeped forward in line. A Double didn’t think it was that funny, but they’d lost Raf before and he always found his way home! Hopefully this wouldn’t be different. “Man, I hope he makes it home. Dude, can you imagine if we misplaced one of our friends?” A Double looked ahead of them and could feel his mouth start to water an almost embarrassing amount as he noticed how close they were to the ordering table. IT WAS NEARLY TIME.

Q looked over and fought the smirk that was slowly creeping up her face, she really did fight. But seeing A Double look at the ordering station like it was the gates of Heaven was far too cute not to smile at. She shook her head and looked away before he realized she was staring at him like a toy in a store display, or the last marshmallow in the bag. Q, you had your tongue down his throat not even an hour ago. What the fuck are you being so weird about?

Q mulled over her sudden reversion to the awkwardness she’d experienced at the beginning of the night. The blushing, the giggling, the all around gushyness she’d been so far successful in avoiding since hanging out with the burners. After a moment of drunkenly debating with her inner self, Q came to the conclusion that when she’d shoved her tongue down A Double’s throat, she’d been riding the high of multiple liquors and a wonderful pep talk from Savannah. This is normal. Nooooormal. Calm down Q. Awkward is good. For now.

As Q was having a moment with herself, A Double was rolling up to the holy grail. He pulled the car to a stop, and the voice of an angel filled their car. “Welcome to McDonald’s, may I take your order?”

“YES. I mean, uh, yeah totally. Can I get five 20 piece McNuggets, four large fries, a large Sprite, two plain McChickens, two apple pies, a McFlurry with all the stuff in it, and uhm…” A Double paused and looked at Q, “Hey, Q, what do you want?”

Q was pulled from her thoughts by A Double’s question. She looked over at him, and then up at the glowing menu and then forced herself to look back at him. Last time she’d let herself look at the menu too long and she’d practically ordered the entire store. It had not been a fun morning after. ”An M&M McFlurry. And a plain cheeseburger. Wait. Make that two.”

A Double shrugged his shoulders at her rather small order, but put it through to the guy. As they rolled forward, A Double looked over at his best girl friend (girlfriend, now?), “Q, I am so excited for this food. Like, you don’t understand. It’s like the most excited I’ve ever been for food.”

”Even more excited than for the pizza buffet at Captain Cuddles? Or that time Wyatt made us those double decker grilled cheeses?” Q asked, smirking.

“Yes, because when we drove in I saw the Golden Arches, but I couldn’t stop and get fries because we were driving to the party and I knew you wanted to be at the party as fast as possible, so I just kept going, and going… But now we’re here! And I can get all the food my heart desires, and I assure you, it desires a lot.”

Q chuckled and shook her head, but didn’t argue. Someone needed to feed this boy. Sooner rather than later. ”When doesn’t your heart desire a lot of food?” the blonde asked, rolling her eyes.

“When I’m full… duh.” A Double said as they rolled up to the window where he paid by handing over his credit card, accepting his Sprite in return. At the next window, A Double was handed the food, in two giant bags. He dug inside of it, withdrawing Q’s two cheeseburgers, which he handed over to her, along with the M&M McFlurry. A Double pulled back onto the road and began shoveling in bites of his mega McFlurry, occasionally tossing a fry into his mouth.

Q would be lying if she said she wasn’t enchanted by her food. In her state, it was hard not to be. Her spoon became an extension of her arm, tossing bite after creamy bite into her mouth, a smile breaking out across her face with every swallow. The tastes were incredible, awe-inspiring, unreal. She couldn’t believe her mouth. She even reached over at one point and snagged one of A Double’s fries, giving him a quick wink as she bit into it. She wasn’t sure she believed in God, but if he was up there looking down on her and the other mere mortals, well, he was missing out on some pretty damn good earthly pleasures.

After about thirty minutes of driving and munching on fries, the car came to a stop, and A Double shut it off. It took him a few seconds, before he realized something. “Awwww, man! I forgot I was supposed to take you to my house… Well, welcome to Dreamland…” He grumbled, taking another bite of his McFlurry.

Q looked up at the modern day palace that A Double called Dreamland. It was...amazing. She got out of the car to get a better look and she still could’ve sworn she was hallucinating. ”You live here?! I...Oh my GOD!” Q shouted, her eyes wide and her grin wider. ”C’mon you dummy! Give me a tour!” Q said, euphoria from her meal spilling out into her conversation. She was too happy to think of anywhere but right here. And really, where was the harm in that?

“_{B-but, my food…}” A Double whispered.

CANCELLED.

<sub>The Timeskip

Location: The Principal's Office
Interacting with: Satan himself</sub>

---

---

There were two people in the principal’s office, and both of them had a different view on the situation they were in.

Damian had never been in this situation before. Sure, he’d been in the principal’s office before, but that was under different circumstances. Never before had he been in this place, to get reprimanded. And for stuff that didn’t even happen on school grounds! He wasn’t even sure he could be punished for the party he’d thrown, and yet… here he was.

Henry, on the other hand, had been in this situation many times before. It hadn’t always been the principal, sometimes it was his parents, sometimes it was a cop, sometimes it was a school authority figure — but, he was used to this. Sitting on the other side of the desk beside Damian, Henry knew damn well what he had to say on this matter. He crossed his arms over his chest, and gave Principal Evans a look that dared him to say something.

Mr. Evans dropped two antacids into his water, watching as it fizzed up. This whole party business was unbelievable to him. When he’d been younger, kids hadn’t needed all of that to have a good time. Yet, here the new generation was. Sitting in front of him after throwing a bash for the ages, with plenty of underage drinking, illegal fireworks, and who knows what else.

Damn kids.

“I’m sure you both know why you’re here —” He couldn’t even finish his sentence before Henry spoke up.

“Lawyer.”

Principal Evans sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose, trying again. “Mr. Green, if you would be so kind as to let me speak.” He said, sipping from the water. Henry shifted in his seat, and narrowed his eyes. But, for now, he was quiet. “Thanks to the glory of social media, the PTA and the school board have found out about the party you two threw. It wasn’t very hard to figure out who threw it, after we interviewed a few other students —”

“_Narcs.”

The principal sighed. This wasn’t going to be easy, was it? “So, we need to reprimand you, or everyone is going to go ballistic. You want my advice? Institute a no recording device policy next time. I feel bad for you kids, everything you do is plastered all over the internet…”

“Uhm, excuse me sir… can I interject?” Damian waited for Mr. Evans to nod, and then he continued, “I don’t think we’ve done anything technically wrong, as far as things go. Unless there’s something I didn’t know about in the student handbook, saying you can’t throw an off school grounds, after school hours party — with a few friends.” That was Damian’s story and he was sticking to it.

“With all due respect, Mr. O’Connor, and don’t get me wrong, there is certainly some due — you’re an excellent student — I’ve seen the snaps and tweets and facebook videos from the party you threw, and it wasn’t with ‘a few friends.’ It looked to me like most of the student body was there. But, anyway, regarding whether or not you can be punished for something like this: short answer is yes. The school board has the ultimate authority to do whatever they want, and in this situation, they want to punish the people that threw the party.” Damian listened to the principal speak, then gave a defeated nod and sigh.

“Under… stood. What’s the sentence?” Detention? Community service? Both?

“You’re off of the football team, indefinitely.” He said, and Damian’s eyes flew wide like a deer in the headlights.

WHAT. But wait, Damian! There’s more.

“And you’ve got detention every day for the next month. And you’re to help with the dance committee, as community service. After your debt to society is paid, we can talk about the football ban.” Principal Evans said, before turning to Henry. “And you, Mr. Green. You’re a lot harder to punish, since you don’t really have anything we can take away from you…” Principal Evans squinted at Henry. Henry squinted back. Take your shot, old man.

“Law. Yer.”

“You’re in detention with Damian here for the next month. For your community service, you’re going to be on the yearbook team, for the rest of the year. And every Friday until future notice for you will be in school suspension.”

“AY! That’s cruel and unusual!” Henry protested. He didn’t want to be in any extracurricular things! He had enough going on. Like, film club.

“I’ll be calling both of your parents to let them know.” The aura on the student’s side of the desk had shifted. Damian now radiated silence and death, wondering how his mother would take it. Henry, on the other hand, was furious.

“Call ‘em, dude. They don’t give a damn about the lil ol Henry that could. You gonna be hearin’ from my lawyers. That’s plural. Because I have a squadron of them. Your little school got a group of ‘em? I didn’t think so. LET’S GO, DAMIAN.” Henry snapped as the bell rang, signaling that homeroom started in five minutes.

Both students walked out of the room, Henry leaving in a huff while Damian left in a silent, wraithlike state.

---

We resume our tale now in the wake of the party thrown by Damian and his friends. It's a quiet Monday in BHHS, everything is fine — except for the punishments handed out to Mr. Green and Mr. O'Connor. The pair march toward their homeroom class, one of them with his head held high, and the other staring at the ground in a most uncharacteristic way.

It has been five days since the party. What has the student body been up to since then? Feel free to post after this with flashback posts relating to the five day gap from the party and now, or even any unfinished business at the party itself! Just be sure to notate if it's a flashback. Other than that, welcome to homeroom.

Conveniently, most of our cast shares a homeroom teacher; a Mrs. Winship. Due to her negligence (and there is a lot of it), her homeroom class is largely forty five minutes during which the students can gossip and socialize. Enjoy, because it's all downhill here fom here.

CANCELLED.

^{Collab with: @Universorum@Silent Observer@Lovely Complex@melissahart@smarty0114}

Hailey was growing impatient. Truly, she knew the blame for their tardiness was on herself; she had chosen not to leave earlier. She had known perfectly well that Ophelia and her girls would take an eternity to prepare themselves for any social outing, particularly a party. Then there was the unknown factor of Sean Sterling, the returner. Hailey had no way of knowing how efficient he would be. She should have set aside more time.

The blame was on her shoulders, yes, but there was certainly no reason for her to be happy about it. So, when she tapped her wrist and looked across the way at Ophelia, before snapping to grab the Candyland Queen’s attention away from her cell phone, Lia had just shrugged. It wasn’t her fault! Marshall was his own person…

“I’m texting him. Like, a lot. What more do you want me to do?” She said in a defeated voice, looking around the limo for help, but noted that she would find none when she realized what her girls (and Jamie) were doing.

Meanwhile, across the way, Sean — who had placed himself very close to his sister, not much wanting to interact with these people he did not know — leaned to her ear and whispered, “_{Por favor, diles que dejen de mirarme.}” He said softly enough for only her to hear. Truth be told, the two girls flanking the one who never looked up from her phone, and the boy from before… kinda made Sean feel like a piece of meat on display. It was uncomfortable, to say the least.

_{“Ellos no te reconocen. Di hola.”} Selena responded to her twin in a hushed whisper.

Ophelia shook her head and sighed, sending out one last desperate text:

GUMDROP HURRY B4 HAILEY ORDERS U AND UR FAMILY’S DEATHS

“Ahem.” Trixie purposely cleared her throat loudly to break the tension, or at least try to. New faces. Late people. A wrathful Queen. “Why don’t we… start drinking?! I mean we can’t arrive at the party without feeling buzzed. Here.” Shifting in her seat, Trixie opened the storage unit by her right leg and grabbed the… of course Hailey would only have hard liquor. Shots of whiskey it is! Gross. In a matter of minutes, with still time to spare (man, whatever they were doing, they were taking their SWEET time), shot glasses had been filled to the rim with whiskey and passed around. One for every single person in the limousine. “Hailey, why don’t you give us a little toast while we wait? For good karma!”

To say that Brynn was shook was the understatement of the year. The moment that Sean stepped into the limo, the girl’s jaw nearly hit the floor, and she tried her best not to pass out right there. Who was this blonde haired, dark eyed angel, and why had she not been in his bed before? Brynn began plotting how exactly she would seduce the boy, but was brought out of these daydreams by Trixie passing around shot glasses of whiskey. The only thing that could distract her from boys was alcohol.

Since the night had begun, Jamie had seen Selena’s brother both half naked and fully naked, survived part of a car ride with the Bitch Queen herself, Hailey Green-Locke, and was now about to take a shot of whiskey with the It Girls and the Candies. Whoever said ambition didn’t pay off, was dead wrong. As he shot back the whiskey, fire flooding his insides as the whiskey traveled down, he noted that poor Sean was the object of too many of the passengers’ watchful eyes, his own included. If that boy survives the night without one of us ending up in his bed, he’ll be lucky. Or unlucky. Who knows at this point?

Much like her cousin had just done to gain attention, Selena also cleared her throat. “Jamie already was introduced —” her eyes flicked over to the sandy-haired boy, recalling the more-than-awkward interaction that they’d had, and cringing internally for it. “— but this is my twin brother, Sean. He’s been away at a different school for a few years, but he’s back now.” Selena’s face broke into a genuine grin then, more true than anything most of the people in that limo had ever seen from her — aside from Trixie, of course. For the first time in years, Selena had something real to smile about, and it felt great. She squeezed her twin’s hand comfortingly as she introduced him, sensing his discomfort. Call it twintuition.

A toast? Was Trixie serious? Of course, Trixie would want a toast. Hailey raised an eyebrow when Trixie pulled out the whiskey — why didn’t she grab the champagne, or the wine? Hailey truly didn’t understand this woman; she hadn’t been herself ever since she and that treacherous leech Owen had broken up. Luckily for her, Selena stepped in before she had to give a ‘toast.’ Rather than respond, “With all due respect, Trixie. Let’s let introductions commence first. Plus, the Radleys will be here shortly.” She nodded in the direction of the thirst mongers, Jamie and Brynn.

Shrugging at Hailey, Trixie poured herself another burning, unpleasant shot of whiskey, because why not? It would hit her hard and fast. That’s exactly what she needed. “Well, I’m just going to help myself then.” Was she turning into a alcoholic? Oh god, she hoped not. This shit was nasty. Her eyes darted across the way to Sean and for a good, long moment, she stared with narrowed eyes at his almost perfectly symmetrical face. Examining him like she did when she met any new person. Sean… “My, my, my. You’ve gotten big.” She may have not seen her second cousin in years, but she could recognize those eyes any day. Anywhere.

Jamie shook his head at Trixie’s comment. “Oh, you have no idea,” Jamie said, louder than he’d anticipated. In fact, he hadn’t even been anticipating saying that. His face flushed crimson as he looked up at the stares he was receiving from the rest of the limo. Selena, who had attempted to take her shot precisely at the moment Jamie spoke up, noticeably choked in shock. Awkward.

A rational adult would have marked that as the point where one should stop drinking, even if it had only been one shot. But Jamie was seventeen, and believed that drinking could solve embarrassment, rather than enhance it. And so, he quietly and gently took the bottle of whiskey from Trixie, and poured himself another shot, which he quickly drank, or rather swallowed. Oh, Jesus Christ, get me through this night, I’m begging you.

After what seemed like a millennia in stasis, whilst the limo idled in the circular driveway of the Radley residence, the front door finally cracked open. Marshall exited first, pulling his sister in tow excitably. He skipped down the steps and over to the limo’s door, which the driver now held open for the siblings.

“Heyyy~” Marshall cooed enthusiastically as he entered the luxurious vehicle. His eyes quickly found her, his Candy Queen, and he was helpless but to greet her in his usual way — despite the physical distance between them. Marsh climbed over all of the passengers, his dancer’s grace making it look surprisingly easy even though he was quite tall. Once he got to Ophelia, they touched cheeks on both sides, making kissing sounds in the familiar european greeting.

Having succeeded in his goal, Marsh made his way back towards his own seat — once again climbing over all of the passengers. It was then that he noticed that one face was not like the others. Who was that boy, no, that man sitting next to SelBell? Marshall stopped and very shamelessly stared at him. There was something familiar about him, but Marshall couldn’t quite put his finger on it. But, boy, would he sure love to put more than just a finger on it.

Sean, who had declined the offered shot, cleared his throat and spoke loudly for all the occupants of the limo to hear. “I WOULD APPRECIATE IT IF ALL OF YOU WOULD STOP STARING AT ME. I AM A HUMAN BEING, NOT AN ANIMAL ON DISPLAY.” With that, he turned his attention back down to his lap, but the damage was done: not only was Sean hot, he had a deep, booming voice.

“Never yell in such a close vicinity to me, ever again.” Hailey couldn't care less what Sean looked or sounded like.

Marshall startled when the mystery guy suddenly barked out his rejection. His eyes widened, but only momentarily, before he apologized. “Sorry, hun. Just didn’t recognize you.” Following that, he went to sit by his sister. Wait, Martha wasn’t there, and the limo had already left their driveway. Panicked, he texted her to make sure she was still coming. They’d come so far, she couldn’t just bail now!

Brynn blushed a deep shade of burgundy, realizing she had no excuse, like Marshall did. It wasn’t her fault that Sean was so attractive. For the first time since he got into the limo, she looked away, deciding to bring her attention to Marshall. “What took you so long?? We’ve been waiting for ages.” She started, grabbing another shot of whiskey to help her forget about the ordeal which just took place.

Hailey let out a low sigh and tapped her knuckle on the window. It slid open for her, and she spoke to the driver, her beloved Butler, James. “Some music, please, Butler. Something soothing, preferably. Classical.” There was some sound of acceptance from the driver, and the window closed as music began to play throughout the limo. Leaning her head back against the pillow, Hailey finished her glass of whiskey and closed her eyes. “I don’t know about the rest of you, but I’m fairly sure this is on track to be the worst night of my year. Not of my life, to be sure, but certainly of my year.”

Marsh looked to his fellow Candy, Brynn, and smiled apologetically. “It takes a minute to look this good, babes. There was that, and the matter of… vampire porn.”

For the second time in the same evening, Brynn couldn’t help her jaw falling directly to the floor once again, a dramatic gasp escaping her lips. “I’m sorry, WHAT? Where, who, how, and why?” The girl tried to wrap her head around the statement, and also tried her best not to look over at Sean’s reaction. She really needed some horse blinders right about now.

Jamie looked up at Sean after he blew up, then quickly glanced back down. He hated to admit that his voice was hot as fuck. That felt wrong. He’d just blew up about being objectified and here Jamie was, objectifying him. Luckily, Marshall was here now, and he could objectify him with less guilt. As he sat in the limo, trying to avoid the tension wafting off of Hailey, he tuned into Brynn and Marshall’s conversation, right at the wrong moment. Vampire porn. Interesting, and thoroughly weird. Tuning back out, he turned to the rest of the passengers. “So, how exactly, are we gonna get in to this thing?”

“Jamie, hush.” Ophelia said, having finally pulled herself up from her phone. Ignoring almost everyone else in the limo, she turned her attention to Marshall. “Vampire porn. Go on, please, Gumdrop.” She said with a flash of the game winning smile she was practicing to use on the Elite to get them into this fucking party.

“Ehh,” Marshall shrugged as if what he had just said was no big deal. In his world, with his rather strange sister, it wasn’t all that outlandish. “It was a bit too hetero for my tastes, but, ya know. I could ship it.”

“Marshall, Marshall, Marshall.” Trixie was feelin’ good and this conversation intrigued her. She scooted closer in the direction of Marshall, leaning over, which kind of showed a bit of her cleavage, “Paint me a picture. Tell me all about this vampire porn. I want to know more. Position and all.” Was she drunk? Yeah. Definitely. The whiskey bottle was already over a halfway gone.

Marshall’s eyebrow quirked up at Trixie’s already slurred words. Invoking his maternal nature for the second time that night, he finessed the bottle from her grasp and poured a shot for himself, before passing the whiskey off in the opposite direction of Trixie. “Oh, there was a picture painted, alright. I mean, the level of detail…” Marsh’s eyes were wide as he shook his head a little, and then smirked. “But, that’s besides the point, ladies. I have a very special job for Candyland. It’s very dear to my heart, you see, because my beloved Martha is at the center of it. I have made a discovery.”

Perhaps unfortunately for Marshall, it wasn’t Candyland that spoke up. It was the witch queen. “Marshall. Don’t take things from Trixie. She wasn’t done with that.” Hailey shook her head dismissively and turned around, retrieving another bottle of alcohol — this one of pineapple rum. She opened it and leaned over to Trixie, pouring another glass for her. “Enjoy, beautiful.”

Lia looked over at this heinous display of alcoholism and internally groaned. This entire night was FUCKED. It was BONED. However, she turned her attentions to Marshall, doing her best to ignore Trixie’s apparent alcoholism. “Of course we’ll help you with that, Gumdrop. We’d be honored. Go on!”

“I have a new drink in my hand. When did that happen?” The words of her peers were going in one ear and out the other for Trixie Kingsley. Her mind was set. They were about to go to a party where Owen will be inconveniently placed in spite of her. She was not ready for that. Her solution? Drink.

The boy was just trying to help, to look out for one of his girls, who was apparently dead set on drinking herself into a coma. This… this was all Owen’s fault. His adultery broke Trixie-pixie’s spirit, and that was unforgivable. To make matters worse, Hailey was encouraging Trixie’s dangerous behavior. There was no point in making a scene about it, some battles aren't worth fighting — mostly those involving confronting Hailey Green.

“Well, great! Grayson Wells, you know the guy? Shaggy hair, on the football team, a little bit edgy looking? Preeeetty sure my sis is into him. Let’s make it happen, but, delicately. She’s my sister.” Marshall said, expressing the seriousness of the situation. If they fucked up her chances at love, he’d never recover from such a tragedy.

“That’s so exciting Marshall!! The Candies are definitely on the case.” Brynn replied, her smile brighter than ever. She loved doing this kind of thing, mostly because she liked getting in everyone’s business, but also because she wanted to see people happy. “Maybe we can get the ball rolling at the party tonight? Test the waters, see what the situation is?”

“You certainly may, but first there is something we need to do.” Hailey looked around the group, before leaning across the way to one of the small fridges in the limo, pulling out a plate. She sat back in her seat, gazing at the cupcake that rested on the center of the plate. It was chocolate, with a peanut butter frosting, and half off of a peanut butter cup sitting on top of it. She looked around the vehicle, before her attention eventually landed on Jamie.

She held out the plate.

“Eat the cupcake, Jamie.”

Jamie froze. He didn’t trust Hailey. He wasn’t one to trust easily in the first place, but Hailey was not the kind of person you easily trusted, either. His mind was racing. She wouldn’t be trying to poison him, right? That would be insane. Cool it, Jamie. It’s just a cupcake. Even if it was offered in the most ominous way possible. As the sand filled the bottom of the hourglass, Jamie reached out and took the cupcake, and then lifted it to his mouth, and took a bite. “Oh wow! Is that, peanut butter frosting? Oh, shit that’s good!”

“Thank you. I baked it myself.” Hailey smiled brightly in Jamie’s direction, seemingly satisfied. “Enjoy, it’s all yours. Once you get far enough in, there’s some peanut butter filling too — but I believe I made it far too… well, creamy. The frosting, I believe, is ace.” Hailey liked to bake, and she liked to have her baked goods judged — but all of her girlfriends were on diets (Marshall included), and Sean was… weird. It fell on Jamie to be the designated taste tester.

Happy, she turned her attention to Ophelia. “As our local wordsmith, it falls on you to convince Owen to let us in.” Hailey said.

Ophelia silently gulped, then beamed brightly, holding up two thumbs. Easy. Turn the slut up, get this shit done.

Under her breath, while deeply gazing into her glass, Trixie mumbled to herself, “Kitty…”

CANCELLED.

_{Collab with: @Dirty Pretty Lies
Featuring: A confused girl and a motivational speech giver
Location: Front of the house}

---

---

This school was fucking nuts. No, seriously, from the top to the bottom. It was disgusting to an extent. Owen was just trying to do what he was supposed to do: keep the HOT girls from getting inside of the premise, and so far he’d done just that. Now, the unfortunate side effect of his positioning was that he had to watch the interactions of newcomers and people who were already there alike.

Which meant when Shauna (fuck Shauna) was, well, herself, Owen Lyon was there to witness it in all of its glory. This also meant the ensuing shouting match between Sol and Kayleb, taking place in front of God and all of his children was there for everyone to see. Swear to God, it was like something right out of one of the shows his dad watched.

Some soap opera bullshit, screaming and yelling and bitching. Sol didn’t realize it, but her whole take on the situation with Kayleb was like… the most womanly thing she’d ever done. It was so poetically womanly to fall in love with someone, then ignore them in public so no one judged you for having a boyfriend was next level. It was like some kind of shitty romance novel his mother would have bought at a gas station.

And they did that stupid thing. The thing that made zero sense to Owen: calling people by their last name. This wasn’t a movie, dude. People didn’t do that in real life, you never knew someone’s last name, but not their first name unless you cared about them. So really, good job Shady baby. You blew your whole cover. COVER YOU DIDN’T EVEN NEED TO HAVE IN THE FIRST PLACE.

Owen didn’t get why Sol made such a big deal out of having a secret relationship with Kay. He’d been very happy with his relationship up until its rather untimely demise; even now, in a lot of ways, it was that relationship that kept him driven. Why didn’t Sol want that? He’d never understand.

Women. Honestly.

But hey, love them or hate them, Sol was one of, if not his best, friends. Which meant it was his responsibility to at least address things. God, he should have gotten a beer. But he knew that he was already emotionally volatile, and the last thing he needed was alcohol to accent that. So, here he was, about to do the friendly thing. “So, I mean, that happened. That makes you guys a happy couple, right?” Okay. He tried. Don’t expect too much from him Sol, this was his best ditch effort.

Meanwhile, Soleil had remained motionless at the spot, trying to process what had just happened and what it meant. Kay had not only just outed them in from of everyone, but she had gone the distance of telling him those three words. And he had reciprocated her feelings, going as far as to say them back and give her a moment the second he noticed she was overwhelmed.

She was at a loss for words, torn on what to say or what to do or not do.

Owen’s voice brought her back from her reverie. She turned to look in his direction with an cross between a smile and a grimace. “I mean, I guess…" Sol trailed off, moving her eyes from Owen’s face and to the floor. She began to dig the front part of her white Adidas sneaker in the patch of dirt in front of her. “See, here's the thing. You're my best bro, and I'm not going to stand here and bullshit you. But this thing with Kay? It's kind of fucking terrifying.”

“Well, it shouldn’t be. Quite frankly, it ought to make you happier than you’ve ever been —”

“He does make me happy. I swear to God he does. It's just that I feel so feminine-” she cringed at the word, never thinking it could ever apply to her. “When I'm with him. Like, I've built up all my rep as one of the guys, and I've done so well on it that people legit doubt I have a vagina between my legs instead of a dick." Sol smiled at that last comment, thinking about how Lawrence said she was ‘as close to a bro as possible without having a dick’. But her smile turned to worry in a second.

“But Kay just makes me feel like such a fucking girl dude. He can give me one single look or a smile and I'm here acting all vanilla and shit. Who the fuck does that? Like, man, he could tell me to go throw myself off a bridge, and if it meant that I would get to be with him, I wouldn't hesitate. It's so fucking crazy, the level of control some people just have in you. I just… I just don’t want to get hurt..." she admitted, feeling positively pathetic about having to admit defeat in the match against her own heart. “I mean, just look at what happened to my parents, you, the Shauna incident… It's enough to have me crapping my pants about this whole issue with feelings. I swear, I feel more in danger of getting seriously hurt with Kay than I feel when I'm up on the ring in the middle of a fight."

“Well, I wasn’t quite finished, but that’s okay… Look, everyone feels feminine sometimes. And, y’know, emotions are impossible to control — you’re human, Sol. Sometimes you just have to bow to them. Do what your heart tells you, sometimes. It’s better that way, but shit always happens and shit hurts. Just focus on chasing happiness, and when you have it — you clutch it and you never let go. If things happen and you break up… well, it’ll suck. You saw how I was. Hell, you see how I am. It’s not painless, having a relationship. But a life without them? Without love? That sounds even more hellish than the pain I’m feeling now. I’d do it all over again, exactly like I did. Don’t be afraid of what people think about, don’t be afraid of being hurt. Being hurt is inevitable, that’s part of being human, Sol. It’s what you do and how you react to being hurt that makes you who you are. Are you gonna be the person who runs away from hurt, or are you gonna be the person that says fuck it, and runs the gauntlet? Whatever happens, happens. Fuck everybody else.” Owen said, folding his arms over his chest as he stared over at Sol, shaking his head. “I get what you’re saying, but dude, you can’t run your life based on trying to have people think you’re someone, plus no one is going to judge you for being happy. ‘Cept for maybe Shauna, but she’s gonna judge you anyway. Fuck her.”

Sol had listened in silence to Owen’s motivational speech, keeping her eyes glued to the floor. The fact that Owen was still such an intense and faithful believer in love even after he had gotten his heart ripped apart by that Trixie woman really opened up Shady’s eyes and perspective to how ungrateful she'd been. Here was Kay, a guy she was sure would take a bullet for her, handing her his heart on a silver platter and completely willing to give her the world and beyond. And what had she done? Hide him as if he was some shameful secret, just because she’d been too busy caring about her rep.

What a selfish cunt.

“Huh. I never really saw it that way…" Shady mused, dragging her eyes away to face Owen for the first time in the last few minutes. “Guess I was too busy being a bitch andd giving a damn about others instead of caring about the one I should have been paying attention to all along."

Suddenly, Sol stood up straighter, determination clear in her face. Her hands were balled into fists beside her. “Well, that changing right now. I'm letting everyone know that Kayleb’s dick is mine, and that I will use your father’s lessons to punch to death anyone that fucking dares intervene."

Having said this, Soleil turned on her heel and begin to stomp away in the direction of the party, fully intent on finding her boyfriend. However, she suddenly stopped short not even a few steps away. The young woman turned her head to looked back at Owen. ““You gonna be okay there by yourself, Big O?" she asked, her usually crass manner the slightest bit softer.

Owen cringed slightly at the name, but nodded. “Yeah, I’ll be fine. What’s the worst that could happen? The night’s still young. Go get it in before the tents smell like booze and bad decisions.”

Soleil smiled at her best friend, deciding to pull yet another girl move by planting a big kiss on his cheek while giving him a quick hug. “Thanks, dude. Here's to giving fucking Shauna a real reason to judge me." With one last wink at Owen, Shady turned around and made her way to the party, getting swallowed quickly by the crowd and disappearing from sight.

CANCELLED.

_{Featuring: A Double
Location: The beach
Mentioning: HIS FRIENDS @smarty0114 @Silent Observer}

---

Look, everyone had priorities. No, really! From the top of the food chain down, everyone had their priorities. Things they wanted to focus on. Things that required effort. Sometimes, people had their priorities mixed up. They wanted things they thought they needed. It caused problems! In some instances, it caused death. Humans were just that, human. It led to priority mixups, which sometimes led to problems! Big ones, even.

Humans were weird. Emotions were weird. Lots of things humans were weird. Like, time. Ever thought about time? Humans are the only creature on earth who keep time. A dog is never late, a bird will never check its watch, animals never think about their coming birthdays. Everyone keeps a schedule, has dates, thinks about what’s coming at lunchtime…

Because of these normalities, Alan Alexander Bishop was ‘special,’ or ‘different,’ depending on who you asked.

A Double, as he preferred to be called — or Double A, if you preferred — didn’t much have priorities. Nor did he care about time. Those would be too stressful! If he had priorities, he wouldn’t be able to do whatever he wanted when he wanted to! If he adhered to the fear of running out of time, he would never spend time doing what he loved, just working.

No, A Double was raised better than that. He was born on this beautiful, majestic planet to have a good time appreciating it for just that. Beauty and majesty. Spend your time doing what you love and what makes you happy, that’s what his dad told him. So, that’s what he did. Almost one hundred percent of A Double’s time was devoted to hanging out with his friends, eating chips, and smoking weed.

This chunk of his time was for something else. He’d sent Q off to deal with the business part of this gathering, while he had taken all of his shovels and his pails, and gone off to the seaside. Now, he was chilling by the bonfire, closer to the ocean. While working on building himself a wonderful sandcastle, A Double learned two thing about himself, and one about the universe:

• One thing about himself: He was very good at digging holes
• Thing two about himself: He was not very good at building
• And one about the universe: Louis Sachar had lied. Digging holes did not build character.

And so, A Double had resigned himself to his fate. He had given up on actually building a sand castle, and had instead decided to… attempt to craft himself a seat, of sorts. Really, it was closer in size to a throne. At the edge of where the water touched, A Double had moved the sand. He’d built himself a giant chair. Just big enough to seat himself, as he watched the ocean rise and fall.

His bare feet dangled from the chair into another hole he’d dug at the front of the chair, slowly filling up with the water of the ocean. The light of the bonfire cast his shadow out along the shore and into the ocean. The boy stared out at the starry sky, clutching in one hand his bong, his other hand clicking the lighter before the bowl lit.

He cleared the smoke out and sat the bong in its custom BongHolder™ in the arm of the chair and coughed a few times, before blowing the smoke out. He dropped his lighter to the side and rubbed tears out of his eyes. A Double was made emotional by the sight of the moon over the ocean, with the stars dotting the sky — was there a prettier sight to see that night? He didn’t think so.

Where were his friends to see this, anyway!? Probably off smoking and eating Doritos… Man, that was the one thing that could make this better! Doritos, that is. Wait a second…. A Double’s hand slapped around in the sand on the left side (the bong side) of his chair, and he grabbed his backpack, unzipping it and pulling out a family sized bag of Cooler Ranch Doritos.

He tore the bag open and stuffed a handful of the tortilla chips into his mouth. Crunching and munching on them, he could feel more tears formulating. Wiping them away with his chip-less hand, A Double realized the truth of the matter: it had been maybe twenty minutes (he wasn’t sure, he didn’t keep time) since Q had left him, and he missed her. He missed them all!

“I wish my friends could see this, man,” he choked out, blinking a few tears down his cheeks, as he crunched more chips.

CANCELLED.

^{Collab with @Fabricant451
Featuring: Henry Green and his autistic daughter Parker Ashford
Location: A bathroom, all alone
Interacting with: Just each other. Let your imaginations run wild.}

---

Ever since arriving at the party there wasn’t a moment where Parker wasn’t excited and a beach house full of party goers could corroborate that. It was more than just excitement, which she certainly had in spades, she just seemed incapable of taking a moment to chill and enjoy the atmosphere. When it came to Parker, everything was turned to eleven. Had she been given free reign, there was a high chance she would wind up tiring herself out and taking a nap wherever she happened to run out of energy, but given that she was loaded up on cereal marshmallows and a decadent cupcake there was no predicting when, if ever, that energy would run out. It was good, then, that her zooming around the party, screeching like a banshee, was suddenly interrupted. One second she was running and weaving through people and the next her feet were just moving without taking her anywhere.

“HENRY!” Parker stopped trying to run when she looked up and saw the familiar face of her friend. It saved her the trouble of continually running through the house looking for him inbetween all her shouting and general verbal mischief. Her excitement and wide-eyed delight only increased when the sippy cup was given to her. Immediately she put the tip to lips and knocked it back. Ambrosia! Divine nectar of the celestials! The sweet tang of grape and sugar. The taste of grape juice on the tongue was like a shot of premium fuel to the gas tank which, oddly enough,for Parker made her stand still rather than shoot off again at record speed. “HENRY! I GOT LOST BUT IT’S OKAY SHAUNA DO YOU KNOW HER? SHE LET ME HAVE A CUPCAKE AND TOOK ME HERE! WAIT WHAT ABOUT THE BAND?”

Parker was speaking all the way towards the stairs, stopping as they started to ascend them. This was the first she was hearing of it. Or else she forgot, which was the more likely scenario. She took another sip from the cup, this one more out of anxiousness than actual thirst or need.

“THE BAND CAN’T PLAY I DON’T HAVE ANYTHING COOL TO WEAR! I GOTTA GO BACK AND GET SOMETHING!” Panic was setting in, and if it didn’t mean the cup would fall to the floor and potentially spill, Parker would’ve been clutching at her head in emphasis.

Geeze, Parker didn’t stand a chance without him, did she? As she started to freak out about not having anything cool to wear, Henry just grinned and held up the plastic bag in his hand. “Parker, chill. I got you, check it out. Even got you a hat, my guy.” He opened the bag and the contents looked like something out of an old school Michael Jackson video. A shiny black jacket inset with stones that shined in the light, a single bejeweled white glove, and the most important part of the ensemble: the black hat. “Don’t trip. I done set everything up just right for you. Here, I got you some chocolate. You like chocolate, right?” Henry reached into his pocket and withdrew the brownie from before, unwrapping it and holding out to Parker.

“You eat this, we’ll go upstairs, I’ll get you a bubbly bath a-rockin’, but I’m setting a timer so you don’t stay in too long, then you change into this shit, and you’ll be ready to SLAY THE ENTIRE UNIVERSE. This is your MOMENT, Parker Ashford. YOUR opportunity. SEIZE IT. You knock the house down and tomorrow I’ll get you pancakes. If you kill it out there, I’ll hook you up with some fireworks too.” Henry explained, before tugging at Parker to urge her up the stairs. He didn’t know when the band was supposed to play, actually… didn’t matter. He’d figure it out. Parker would happily mess around in the bubble bath for as long as possible.

Henry had a knack for coming through in the clutch; Parker wasn’t quite sure how he did it, maybe he was some kind of wizard? It didn’t really matter the how or why, just that Parker had a need and as usual there was Henry to provide. The cosmos grinned when Parker ran into Henry for the first time. Whenever Parker needed a fix of her juice, she could turn to him, it was a good system they had. The outfit definitely fell in the cool category - anything that was that sparkly definitely qualified - plus it came with a hat. Sure the hat would cover up the barrettes but that was the price one paid for cool.

Parker nodded at the outfit, then nodded harder at the brownie. Two chocolates in one day? It wasn’t even her birthday! The sippy cup found a temporary home under her arm as her still chocolate-crumb-having hands greedily dug into the brownie. She ripped off a chunk, tossed it between her teeth, and was already pulling off another piece before swallowing the first. Parker didn’t let a good thing go to waste, shoveling the brownie down in record time; of course she washed it down with another sip from the cup. “BUBBLE BATH, YEAH. YEAH YEAH YEAH!” She was nodding at the suggestion and though it seemed like the brownie might not have taken hold, the fact that her nods were slower and her words slightly lower in volume meant that whatever was in the brownies were starting to work their magic.

“LOTTA BUBBLES. LOTTA! BUBBLES!” If nothing else, she was finally done shrieking around the place. That was sure to reduce the amount of headaches.

One step at a time, they climbed the staircase, and Henry went straight down the hall to the room at the end, the locked door of the master bedroom. Henry stuffed his hand into his pocket and withdrew the key that Damian had given him, and unlocked the door, pulling Parker in behind him. Once they were both securely inside, he shut and locked the door. “Hey, don’t break nothin’ in here. Damian trusted me with the key, now I’m trusting you with the room, dig?” With that, Henry led her into the master bathroom.

He sat down on the ledge of the bath and spun the dials, letting it fill up a bit before he dumped some of the bubble mix into it. Then he stood up and went over to the drawers, digging around for a second before retrieving a bath bomb, which he held out to Parker. “You wanna do the honors, little dude?”

This place was so cool that Parker couldn’t really handle it all; the master bathroom was totally different than what she was used to - but then when her idea of a shower consisted of turning the hose on and pretending to fight a water-shooting snake, literally anything would be a step up. The brownies had to have been working, at least, given that Parker didn’t immediately start to scream in excitement. It was present, the excitement, just moreso in her expression and her frantic nods of approval.

“YES. YES! YEAH YEAH! Parker took the bath bomb, taking just a moment to admire how it looked kind of like a piece of candy, with the bright colors. She knew better than to take a bite of it but the temptation was definitely there. Fortunately, it was more fun to use the bomb as intended - which she happily did by slamming it into the bathwater. Her arm strength was such that the water didn’t get everywhere, but a few drops did manage to cross boundaries and drip to the floor. She watched with boundless excitement as the bathwater changed color - kind of like how adding milk to the bag of marshmallows made the milk turn blue and yellow. “YEAH! NO PEEKING! GO GO GO!” It was bath time for Parker, and that meant she was trying to push Henry out of the door. Bless her for trying to move the guy.

Henry moved himself toward the door, in such a way that he allowed Parker to at least believe she was pushing him out of the room. As he walked, he tapped on his phone, setting a timer. “Alright, Park. You got fifteen minutes to bath. After that, I’m bustin’ in. SCRUB. Wash behind your ears too. And wash your hair! Use conditioner. Damian’s ma got the good shit in there. Use it. Are you hungry? Do you need food? I can get you some snacks together. For when you’re done.”

“I KNOW!” Parker pouted at the listing of requirements. Her mother once gave similar rules and she had a similar response. Where Parker was concerned, being told how to clean and wash was basically people treating her like a little kid. She wasn’t! She’d been here for a lot of years! Though the mention of food turned the small pouting frown into a much more normal expression of joy. “YEAH! CRACKERS….CRACKER SANDWICHES!” There were few things better than having crackers and peanut butter after a soothing bath. She used to like the ones that had orange crackers but the wrappers changed and they were too hard to open, but any would do.

“BUT LEAVE FOR REAL NOW! THANKS, HENRY! YOU’RE THE BEST!” Grape juice, chocolate, a party, a cool outfit, a bath, and now crackers? This was shaping up to be the best party ever. Fifteen minutes, that was a long time, and Parker was going to enjoy it to the fullest. She would even try not to splash around too much, because that might make Henry mad, and after being given cool things that was the last thing she wanted to do. Music soothes the beast in mythology, but material goods, special brownies, and the prospect of food seemed to work in soothing the Parker.