Hey Im Jordan

CANCELLED.

@BrutalBx ur in of course

CANCELLED.

_{@Fabricant451 and @Universorum collab
Featuring: Hailey Green and Hana Park
Location: Hana and Hailey’s bedrooms}

---

---

Hailey’s date had been a success. She had gotten a kiss, the promise of a second date, and most important she’d scheduled fun times for the night. That was where her mind was now, and it had been ever since she’d started getting the pictures. Once her car pulled to a complete stop in front of the massive building she called home, she nearly skipped to her bedroom.

After Hailey sent her puppy out into the hall and shut the door, she subtly clicked the lock to signify that Butler was to stay out. She headed over to her bed and situated herself atop the covers, resting her head on the pillow as she scrolled through the photo messages that Hana had sent to her. She smiled to herself, pleased with Hana’s outfit — and lack thereof.

Now, all Hailey had to do was seal the deal and get Hana to be hers. Maybe it had already happened, considering that Hana had been happy to send her pictures of the lewd variety. Hailey tapped out a quick message to Hana.

‘Very, very good Hana.’

Was Hailey’s simple response to the barrage of pictures she had received. She had a feeling though, that even the smallest amount of praise from her would send Hana up the wall. And that was what Hailey wanted, after all.

Whatever nerves there might have been were removed almost as quickly as her inhibitions were. There was a brief period of hesitation between kissing the napkin and rummaging through the closet for the softball uniform where Hana wondered what she was doing - and why. But the lingering taste of strawberries, the hint of cream that stuck with her, that kiss in the car, the date, an actual honest date had all been the reason why Hana stood with her phone camera aimed at herself. She shook her head. That method felt kind of….archaic. "Confidence. She likes you. She doesn’t expect expert photography.” Hana sighed and the first message was sent.

The first few were fairly standard, but Hana rather quickly got to the racier - and lacier - variety, and was taking her precious time in putting on her softball uniform, which was still just laying on her bed untouched. It was uncanny how easy it had been taking the photos after the first bout of doubt, but she had found herself wanting Hailey to see them and she wanted to take them not just because Hailey had requested them. Hana, to her surprise, was enjoying it, and finally hearing the little chirp of a response and the affirmation that Hailey enjoyed it as well had made it all worth it.

‘I should probably get the uniform on at some point right?’ Her response came with a laughing animated emoji that she almost decided against, but she couldn’t help herself. It was cute. Almost as cute as her sending text messages to Hailey Green.

Hailey smirked as she got the message from Hana. She chewed on her index finger, thinking about her response. She could take her time with her reply, could make Hana wait… that was an option! It was a fun one, at least on Hailey’s end — but right now, Hailey knew that would be a mistake. It was too early to torture her, at least through teasingly long waits. It might scare her off.

So, Hailey flicked her fingers across the screen to throw out a reply. ‘You could, if you want. We might have more fun if you stay like that… I can wait to see my treat of you in the uniform pants in person.’ Hailey’s reply was simple, and even over text messages, she carried the confidence. Surely, Hana knew where this was going. Before Hana replied, Hailey sent another message, this one just a winking emoji.

Where it was going was about the furthest thing on Hana’s mind. She was still caught up in the rush of it all, the fact that she was texting someone like Hailey and building that confidence along with it. Sure, she often wore designer clothing to school, but she hadn’t felt truly comfortable in them and simply putting someone in a hundred dollar skirt and equally as expensive blouse doesn’t automatically instill a sense of confidence or even attractiveness. Hana’s attire at school had largely been a facade. What had she had to show for it, though? Money, sure. People knowing her name, that too. But until she had exchanged numbers with Hailey and began this texting following their first date, the most active person on her messages was her sister.

Hana felt giddy as she read the message and was eagerly drawing her thumbs across the on screen keyboard. 'It’s the off season, you’ll be waiting a while to see it in perso-hhhh.’ A blushing emoji punctuated the message which she sent off, then scrambled to get another one. 'I get the feeling you don’t want to see any of my outfits lol’ Had that been what Hailey was hinting at?

There was really only one way to find out, and Hana snapped another photo, gone was the lace and it wasn’t replaced by anything except the light breeze of the air conditioning wafting along her skin. Her face wore enough with its nervous expression and the bite of her lip, but there was only a brief bit of hesitation before that, too, was sent along.

When her phone buzzed with a few more text messages, Hailey smiled to herself and rolled onto her stomach. This was fun. Much more fun than dealing with the inner workings of her high school day in and day out. That was simply exhausting, and she didn’t get to really enjoy herself; but here, it was energizing. She didn’t have to think about her game, or the web of lies she’d setup, or anything like that. She only had to focus on the next message. Before she had a chance to respond to Hana’s cute replies, though, another picture message popped up.

Hailey stared at it for a few seconds, and took it in. Hana was more daring than she’d assumed! She thought about her reply, this time purposefully taking her time. The sooner she responded, the sooner she and Hana would spam the image away from her. Hailey rolled back onto her stomach and typed her reply after a minute longer of admiring Hana’s features. ‘Mmm, Hana. Brave ;)’ Hailey shifted herself on the bed, rolling back onto her stomach. She pulled her shirt up slowly, over her stomach. She tugged and wiggled it all the way up to her neck and held the phone up above her, taking her free hand and bringing it up to her lips in a ‘shhh’ gesture, winking with her left eye.

Hailey snapped the photo and sent it on its way to Hana, along with another text message. ‘You earned it.’

After she had sent the picture, Hana realized the significance. For one thing she was alone in her room exposed to the elements which was typically reserved for hygienic acts; for another she had sent a picture typically reserved for intimate couples to a girl she had gone on one date with. That was...this was normal, right? People did that? Her knowledge of intimacy and gestures like risque photo messages was dreadfully naive and the reality was a bit different from how she often wrote about in her little lemony fan fictions. The wait was agonizing, not because she was expecting a response or anything of the sort, but because she’d never shown that part of her to anyone. She’d never had anyone to show off to.

When the response came and Hana saw the picture from Hailey, the agony washed away like morning tide on the beach. It was worth it just to see that bit of playfulness from Hailey, like getting an extra slice of cake for dessert. Hana sat on her bed to keep herself from fainting. There was another bit of significance as Hana looked at the response again. It was impossible for the vanilla aficionado not to smile as she looked at her phone, knowing that she alone was seeing it, that no one else had or would see that picture. The wait was now Hana’s fault but she couldn’t find the words. So she didn’t use them.

Hana took a candid shot, not worried about getting her whole figure into the frame, just a shot of the slight blush, the wide smile, and her neckline - including what was just below that. It came with a caption, shakily written by Hana’s twitching fingers. 'Your pic had me like’ A bit cheesy, a bit old, but it was the perfect encapsulation of how she was feeling. A picture was worth a thousand words, wasn’t it.

Hailey smiled to herself, pleased with the reply she’d received. She half considered getting out of bed and going to Hana’s place, but she knew that was almost certainly a bad idea. Hana had someone who was living with her — an older sister, if Hailey’s memory was correct. So, instead, she peeled her shirt off and discarded it. Didn’t need that anymore. Hailey sat up and put her phone down.

She reached behind her back and undid the pesky hook that hid what she knew Hana wanted to see. She held her bra on with her hand and held down the button on her phone recording a video. Hailey smiled to the camera, and then bit her bottom lip as she moved her hand and let it fall.

‘What does that have you like?’

She hit send, and waited.

Where had the boldness come from? Hana couldn’t exactly answer that question, but something about having someone to reciprocate and someone willing and wanting her to be so bold was certainly helping. Perhaps the question wasn’t ‘where had it come from’ but rather ‘why hadn’t it manifested earlier’. That answer was much easier. Because Hana didn’t have someone to draw it out of her, slowly or otherwise, but the pure confidence that radiated off of Hailey in every regard was impossible to ignore. Hana was swept up in it. And it seemed unlikely that she would come back down to earth.

The response video was enough to give the poor girl a heart attack. This was definitely not something that just friends did, and Hana seemed to be aware of that somewhere in her mind, which was racing with hundreds of thoughts a second. But in the back of her thought was a little voice desperately trying to make itself heard. One Hana was ignoring for quite some time...and one she would ignore at the moment as well - though how much longer could she try to deny it? Her eyes were glued to the video, replaying it, and she was flush with emotion. With...something she couldn’t put into words. Something that was becoming harder and harder to deny.

'Has me ‘mirin. Has me dead. Has me like’ Three quickly scrawled texts before she, too, opted for a video response. Her video wasn’t as immediately enticing as Hailey’s sensual reveal, but it had Hana biting her lower lip before crooking a finger in her mouth while the camera of her phone shot a wide view of her figure. The emphasis, though, was on her facial expression which was damn near the universal look of someone who was thirsty for something beverages could never quench.

She sent the message, video and all, and the rush and excitement lingered. Now came the anticipation of a response, the wonder if it would be taken well. What she hadn’t expected, though, was a phone call. Her phone started to ring and in her excitement, and hope that it was Hailey wanting to congratulate her vocally, Hana answered the call. "You liked it that much?” Not even a hello, but who else could be calling her?

“You gave my shit to Butler, dude!? The fuck is wrong with you?! What are you even doing with Hailey?!”

On the other side of the line was not Hailey. It was probably the person that Hana least wanted to talk to in that moment. Henry Green; Hana’s girlfriend’s least favorite person on the planet. Before Hana could even respond, though, Henry continued yelling. “Are you fucking my sister now? What the fuck man!?”

Meanwhile, back at Hana’s queen’s bedroom… Hailey did indeed like the video. Quite a bit, in fact. So much so, that she replied with a text message this time; an almost urgent one. ‘Say the word, and I'll send a car to come get you right now.’ Amidst Henry’s yelling in her ear, there was the soft beep that signified a text message had been received, along with a vibration.

Shit. Of all the people, of all the times, why him and why now. She had been careless. Careless not to check who was calling, carelessly assuming it was just Hailey because who else would be calling her? Henry Green the master of improper timing. She should’ve just hung up, but just his voice was a mood ruiner. "You’re on speaker, Henry, watch your language.” Though her door was closed and her sister was good about respecting privacy, she still felt the need to caution Henry before he shouted from the rooftops that Hana Park sold drugs. Especially with a cop in the house.

"What do you want, Henry? You still got what you asked for, right?” Why was Henry upset? Just because it took a bit longer than expected to get him his order? Maybe he should’ve been at home before his sister had been. Speaking of, Hana’s eyes darted to the message sent to her in response to the video and not even Henry’s voice or interruption could keep her feeling that desperate call to just say the word.

"I’m not taking orders right now if that’s why you called. I’m...busy.” She was being vague, which surely wasn’t doing her any favors, and worst of all she was keeping Hailey waiting, and who knew how long that offer would stand.

“I don’t need no orders, I need to know why you’re fraternizin’ with the goddamn enemy. Did you know Hailey’s room is shaped like a pentagram? BECAUSE IT IS. SHE’S THE ANTICHRIST!”

Hailey rolled on her bed, now completely topless (and with her jeans thrown off the bed) and eagerly waiting for Hana’s reply. But it was taking forever. Hailey was almost counting the seconds, wondering what the problem was. Was it too soon? Maybe… but, Hailey could just push a little. She sent another text: ‘Silence frustrates me…’

"You’re being dramatic, Henry. Who I associate with is my business and my business alone.” Hana was rolling her eyes at Henry’s outburst, all but confirming that she was, in fact, ‘fraternizing’ with his sister. "Did you call just to see if I was talking to Hailey? You’re not my mother, Henry.”

Hana looked at her phone again, seeing the second message from Hailey. Scrambling, and cursing under her breath from the interruption that was sorely unwanted. She wasn’t going to let Henry ruin things before they had even truly managed to bloom. Hana, while still very much on the line with Henry, took a snap, a quick picture of her looking apologetic while seated on the edge of her bed. 'Sorry, annoying phone call. Will this tide you over?’ She quickly scrawled a message and sent it Hailey’s way.

"You’re not jealous, are you? That I’m speaking to other people too?”

Hailey’s response was quick, terse and to the point. ‘No. Hang up.’ She was getting annoyed, and frustrated. Her interactions with Hana had been a blissful, passionate whirlwind, but now it seemed they’d hit some kind of speed bump, and Hailey wanted it dealt with. Did Hana not understand that Hailey now took priority? It was probably some kind of business call — and though Hailey might forgive, she would never forget this. It would be dealt with, in time.

Rolling over again, Hailey tapped a few buttons on her phone, sending out a text message to her Butler. A car would be there to pick up Hana momentarily.

Henry, on the other hand, was simply having none of Hana’s shit. “I’m not jealous. I’m trying to protect you! She eats souls, I think! I’m not your mother, but I know Hailey a helluva lot better than you do, and I don’t want you to fall for her shit!”

"She does not. I know what I’m doing, and Hailey is..she’s not what you think she is. She’s...look I don’t need protecting. She’s…” She didn’t quite know how to respond, only that she was vehemently opposed to such slander. Hailey had been the shining example of wonderful today, and she had been on Hana’s mind ever since. There was a word for that. Hana tried not to dwell on it.

"I’m going to hang up unless you have a point to make, Henry. I really am busy.” Hailey’s message chimed in, and it was only out of good customer service that Hana didn’t immediately obey. But the temptation was sorely there.

“Bro my point is she’s the devil. The devil. Do you not understand that? She’s evil! The definition of evil! You’re about to sleep with fucking satan himself, dude! I warned you!” Then click. Henry was off the phone. But there was a text shortly afterward from Hailey with another simple order.

‘Be ready. You have roughly two minutes.’

Hailey was waiting for the delivery of her payload, sitting around in just her underwear. She needed to show Hana that she wasn’t to ignore her girlfriend in favor, of… well, anything, really. There were some extreme exceptions, but a phone call? Certainly not one of them.

Hana had no time for Henry’s distractions. What did he need to call her for? She may not have given the cocaine to him personally but Butler seemed reliable enough. If Henry cost her the first thing she had to a relationship, she was never going to deal to him again. When Henry was just starting to repeat himself, Hana hung up and slunk back onto her bed. The worst happened. Hailey probably hated her now. The beep of the text tone was probably some sort of message saying it was over...whatever it was turning into. And then she read it. And then she damn near fell out of her bed as she was scrambling to get dressed. She couldn’t wear the same outfit as earlier. She’d taken it off. All of it.

Hana dove into her closet, opting for something a bit more casual while still seeming fun. A camisole. A pair of shorts that didn’t even reach her knees. By the time she was dressed, Abby was knocking at her door. ”Hey, Hana? There’s a car outside and I think it’s for you? Is..is everything alright?”

Hailey worked fast. Hana unlocked her door, her hair a mess, looking exhausted, carrying her softball uniform behind her. "Yeah, just some...uh...pre-spring training...training. Captain’s responsibility. I’ll be back before dinner.” Hana was out of the apartment before Abby could even formulate a question. Abby couldn’t help but to smile. Hana was finally making friends, and as a sister Abby could not have been more proud.

CANCELLED.

@Silver CarrotAccepted!

CANCELLED.

_{The tail end of the day.
Featuring: Owen Lyon, Lil Boss, and some kids
Location: Kindergarten classroom}

---

---

Owen had a few things he did that he didn’t much talk about. For starters, he didn’t have much friends, and beyond that point even if he did have a huge friend group, he wouldn’t tell them about his classes and what he was considering to pursue as a career anyway. It wasn’t necessarily their business. As such, only one of his peers knew what Owen did for his last two periods, and that’s because Trixie Kingsley had forced the administration to give her one of his schedules, so they could maximize time spent together. She had often shown up to see him during his sixth period, with a snack, a hug, a kiss and an ‘I love you.’ But not for two months now.

And they were starting to notice.

You see, for some of the later hours in the afternoon, Owen Lyon was an aide for the kindergarten part of the school district. He drove from BHHS proper to the elementary school, where he went to the kindergarten class and just hung out with little kids for a couple of hours. Owen was a reading buddy, a castle constructor, a professional swing pusher, an excellent colorer, allowed to use the real scissors, and he sometimes let them play games on his phone. He was basically their hero.

But they had begun to notice.

Bless their hearts, they thought it was their fault, too.

As Owen put down the timeless classic he’d just now finished (Where the Wild Things Are), he looked around at the kids and grinned. “You guys wanted to hear my favorite book from when I was your age, right? There you go.” The kids nodded, and Owen slid the book into his backpack, and while he looked down, one of the kids slowly raised her hand. One he glanced up and saw it, he called on her. “Yes? What’s up?”

“How come your girlfriend doesn’t come anymore?”

Owen froze, he locked up. He didn’t have a reply, he didn’t know what to say. Why did the kids even care? How did they even notice? Geeze. “Uhm… she’s just really busy lately? She might… never come back. We’re not really friends anymore.” Owen explained, trying his best not to get emotional and to make it as easy to understand for the little dudes as possible. “We had an argument, and now she doesn’t… want to talk to me. Ever again. It sucks a lot.”

“But you made her smile a lot! That means you made her happy!” The young girl protested, and Owen could feel his heart drop. He brought a hand up to his face and rubbed at his eyes, taking a breath to steady himself before he replied.

“Yeah, that’s what I thought too. I guess I didn’t, though. Maybe things changed.” Owen said slowly. Why did this always happen to him? First A Double, now the kids? Seriously? “It’s okay, though. I think she’s happier now… without me. Really, it’s okay. We’ll be alright.” There. That should do it, right?

Wrong. Dead wrong.

The girl shook her head, “Nu-uh! I heard her say it. She loves you. And she’s real pretty! She’s probably a princess, and you know what princesses say? That love is forever! That’s what Cinderella said.”

“Yeah and Belle!”

“And Ariel!”

“Or Snow White!”

“Or Rapunzel!”

Raised by the screen. He didn’t live in a Disney fairy tale, but he couldn’t say that to the kids. He definitely didn’t want to be the person who robbed them of their innocence, that was something better saved for someone like… Hailey. Hailey would probably enjoy that. “Maybe she’s a princess, but I’m no prince.”

“I bet she thinks you are! Ask her.”

Yikes.

“I can’t do —” Owen was cut off as something was shoved in his face, a bright red flower, probably a tulip or something — Owen didn’t know flowers too well, that was more Isaac’s thing. He did, however, know the kid. Bartimaeus. Ty. Jeramie, the power couple. Their son. “Uhh…”

Luckily, the kid was already talking. “Give her this. I picked it myself. It’s the most beautifulest flower ever. It’ll make her smile for you more. Trust me. If you give her this, she’ll turn back into your princess, and you into her prince. That’s what mama would say! And she’s the smartest person dad knows. I asked him! Trust me. This flower will fix it all for you.” Owen stared at the kid for a little while, before reaching out and taking the flower.

“Thanks kid. I’ll give it a shot.” He looked at his watch and stood up. “Alright, I gotta take off. See ya later, alligators.” In response, the class chimed back, mostly in sync.

“After a while, crocodile!”

Owen shouldered his pack and, gently holding the flower by its stem in his fingers. As he walked out, he let out a long breath and stared at the trashcan, half considering throwing the flower away. But hey, maybe the kid was right. Least he could do, was keep the flower. There was no way he could hand it off to Trixie though.

Maybe Stella or Luna would give it to her for him.

---

And so day one has passed and we enter the time after school. Cheerleading and football tryouts are coming up, including the replacement of Captain O'Connor on the football team. Other than that, you're free.
Do whatever you want.

I hear Captain Cuddles has an awesome special on Mondays, because no one likes Mondays.

But pizza heals all wounds.

CANCELLED.

_{Location: Professor Savage’s Classroom
Featuring: Kit Thomas, Chae Min-seo, and introducing Professor Savage
Collab with @Fabricant451}

---

---

Kit Thomas was having a helluva day. It all started 28 hours ago.

See, Kit had been awake for that fucking long, so as far as she was concerned, she was still in the same day! But anyway, it all started 28 hours ago… when she proved to the entire Fighting Game Community that she was the cream. And you know what the cream does? It always rises to the top. Kit Thomas, was the cream of the crop.

She had gotten to the Tekken God rank! That meant that she qualified, should she so choose to involve herself, to participate in the qualifiers for the upcoming Tekken World Tour. Well rested, tired as fuck doesn’t matter she’s better than most of the game’s community.

But her most glorious day didn’t stop there! Step one of Make Selena Kiss Me was well underway and was way more successful than she’d thought it would be! She’d managed to infiltrate the Candies, now she just had to ace cheer tryouts later today and then she was going to go to their top secret Candyland meeting! Which, Kit hoped, would include snacks and a place to nap.

Now, her day was getting forever worse. She was having trouble getting through to her next class! She was gonna be late, no matter what. No matter she did, there was no way to get through these assholes, dude. She was small! Half the people that went to school seemed to be veritable giants! She stumbled through the doorway to her science class (chemistry, this semester) no less than four minutes, and twenty-seven seconds late.

Without even looking up at first, their teacher Professor (Kit had once protested to this, she wasn’t much of a professor, she was a damn high school teacher, but she insisted, and the principal didn’t take Kit’s side on this one) Savage, spoke to Kit. Yes, Savage. Kit hadn’t thought that was real either, but had finally yielded after the teacher had yielded and shown Kit her driver’s license.

“Miss Thomas. You’re late. What’s your excuse this time?”

“Look, in my defense I’m super small! It’s almost impossible to get past people in the halls! There’s like seventy-five thousand people in this school, and there’s only one route to get to different classes, man. I never stood a chance! If there wasn’t a passing period, I’d be like fifteen minutes late.” Kit replied. She’d thought that all up on the way, time to see if it worked.

Professor Savage signed and looked up from the paperwork she was on. “Well, your work is usually on point, so I guess it’s fine. But! We’re pairing up for the second half of the school year, and you’re the last one in, so I guess that leaves you with the only person who didn’t pair up with a friend instantaneously: Min-seo.”

“Who? That’s not a real name. You’re making that up.” Kit retorted, looking around the class before she eventually found the only partner-less person in the room. She squinted, and realized that Min-seo (definitely not a real name) was cute. “Oh, her. She must be new. I will take it upon myself to help her attempt science.”

“Please don’t blow anything up.”

“I make absolutely no promises.” With that, Kit went to the desk tucked away in the back of the room, and sat down beside her new lab partner. “Hey, what’s up? I’m Kit. I’ll be your lab partner for the rest of the year.”

The best thing about a chemistry class was that when it came to experiments it frequently came down to numbers; Min-seo might not have been the best when it came to words - and chemistry did have its fair share of overlong words - but numbers remained the same regardless of language. Du gae deohagi du gae still added up to four. When it came to the more experimental side of chemistry, Min-seo wasn’t quite sure how well she’d do, but measuring out liquids and mixtures and making sure they were right and on the line seemed well within her wheelhouse. When Professor Savage announced that there would be partners for the second half of the year, partners who would likely share grades on experiments and projects, Min was quite excited at the prospect. She’d never worked with anyone on a daily basis. The most she’d done was doing Parker’s homework with her and then just doing Parker’s homework by herself so Parker could go off and play but that hardly counted. The excitement carried on her face.

Up until the students paired up and left Min-seo alone at a lab table.

She understood well enough. There were friends in the class who wanted to work with each other. Min’s friends were Henry and Parker and sometimes that Fawn girl that sat with them in homeroom. But all of them were in different grades than Min-seo and in chemistry she had no friends of her own. What she had was the reputation of being a transfer student with a struggling grasp of the language and that made for a less than ideal partner. As she looked around at the different lab stations she couldn’t help but to feel a little hurt. No one had even considered her; her work would just have to be twice as good to make up for the glaring lack of help.

The slightly disappointed Korean glanced up when the classroom door opened and a late arrival stumbled in. Though Min wished Professor Savage phrased it differently, it was unfortunately the truth. Min-seo gave a small wave when her partner glanced over. She seemed...hyper? Hyper Min could deal with, she had ever since she arrived.

”Kit?” She repeated when Kit introduced herself, nodding to show she heard and understood. ”Like Kitty cat or...Kit Kat...candy.” Little devices like that helped Min remember people’s names. She pointed to herself. ”Min-seo.” After nodding she extended her hand towards Kit for a handshake of a greeting. ”I am...happy work with you. Very fun.” With her non-handshake offered hand she gave Kit a thumbs up.

Min-seo was just happy not to have to do science alone.

“Yeah, just like the candy bar! Not like kitty cat. But you can totally call me kit kat. Yeah this is gonna be totally fun. Science owns,” Kit accepted the outstretched hand and returned her own thumbs up. “Science is my jam, so we’re gonna coast through this, don’t worry. I love chemistry too. You might get to see me…” Kit leaned in closely and whispered quietly, “_{...blow something up.} But don’t tell the Prof. She’ll send me to detention or something wack. You don’t speak English too good, do you? That’s okay, I know some Korean! Well, I know like… Korean Soloq phrases.” Kit frowned, realizing that her attempt at being cultural and worldly wasn’t really very helpful, since the only Korean words she knew were things the angry natives said to her when she tried playing on their servers…

“Well, anyway. Do you like science? If you do, you should totally join the robotics club with me! Robots are so cool and like they build battle bots and have them fight in tournaments and stuff, man. We could be a battle bot team, too. They could call us Kit-seo. Wait, you’re Korean, right? Do you know any e-sports pros? I’m gonna be an e-sports pro myself. Dude, you’re Korean. You should be my gaming coach!” As she spoke, Kit reached town into her backpack and pulled her her book and notepad, sitting them on the table and finally, mercifully, giving Min-seo a chance to process everything she’d just said.

There was little Min-seo could do other than smile and nod as she picked up on every other word or thereabouts. Kit seemed excited which was a good sign, but hopefully Min’s comparatively quiet nature wouldn’t result in a barrier to entry. When Kit finally paused long enough for Min to get a word in edgewise, she wasn’t quite sure how to begin. There had been many questions, some of which she picked up on, but the most important one seemed obvious. ”I...like science...yes?” She wasn’t getting bad marks in science, she had gotten a B minus on the first test she took in a science course, but it was too soon to say how she felt about the subject as a whole.

”Coach?” With Min’s accent, she pronounced coach as ‘co-chi’ complete with a blank look and the disarming smile that had gotten her this far. ”I play games at..Henry and Parker sometimes. Very...very fun.” When it came to playing games with Parker and Henry, most times Min came in second and even then only because Parker very often didn’t manage to finish when they played racing things or other three player games.

”You..play sports?” Min was surprised when Kit mentioned sports; not that Min exactly knew the type but Kit didn’t seem to be a sports type of person. Still, Min was impressed, though it honestly didn’t take much.

Kit froze, with the sudden realization that Min couldn’t keep up with what she was saying. Now, it wasn’t Min’s fault. Learning a second language, especially when you’re just thrown into it wasn’t easy. Kit wasn’t exactly being easy, either… Then, she had an idea. She reached into her backpack and pulled out her tablet, standing it on the table. She tapped it and it whirred to life. “Hey, Echo, could you do me a favor? Pull up a blank word doc, and just transcribe whatever I say.”

As she spoke, the tablet reacted, doing what she said. Then, Kit began to speak, pointing at the tablet. “Here, just read what I say, okay? I’ll try to like, slow down too. Maybe I can try to help you out with talking and understanding English. Ask me any questions you have, okay? I wanna be helpful.” As she spoke, the words generated themselves on the tablet and Kit smiled, finally opening her chemistry book.

Initially, Min wasn’t sure what the tablet was for but all became clear. That was actually incredibly helpful and Min was optimistic that this little solution would make working together easier. Min was learning, or trying to, by the day and she was much better along than she had been two months ago, but native speakers just spoke so quickly sometimes and reading it was more palatable.

”Thank you. That is very good help. I am...learning but it...slow.” She was determined to at least sound less obviously foreign before the end of the school year, in addition to simply passing her classes and trying not to get caught up into anything...overwhelming. ”I can do math in...in reports. Math is...best. I will be helpful too. Okay!” Min smiled towards Kit, giving a single nod of encouragement meant more for herself.

“I can understand why you like math. Math is… universal? It doesn’t change. No matter where you go or who you’re talking to, math is constant. But language… isn’t. It changes, even driving to another part of LA, it changes. Isn’t that crazy? Hey, what’s your phone number? If you’re gonna be my lab partner we might have to work on projects together sometime.” Kit explained, smiling as she turned to the assigned page. “Oh, to answer your question, yes. I play sports. I like soccer, and stuff, but I mostly play electronic sports. Like, pro video games? Starcraft. I think that’s the most popular one in Korea…” Kit shrugged her shoulders and began to look over what they needed for their first experiment.

“With my help you’ll be a pro English speaker by the time you go home. If you go home! Maybe you’ll just stay forever. The states own. Have you ever been bowling? Like, to a real, old fashioned, American bowling alley. Where they give you fancy shoes. And they have really greasy nachos. It’s an experience. Trust me, this is where you want to grow up. You’re friends with Henry Green, aren’t you? He’s a baller I think. I bet he takes you on wacky adventures all the time.” Kit smiled and tapped her pen on her paper, writing in her careful, meticulous handwriting, taking notes on the subject. “So, I’m pretty good at this whole science thing… do you have any ideas for what we should do for our actual project, though? No volcanoes. Too boring.”

Min found herself nodding in fervent agreement as she read along; that was what she enjoyed about math and why she had found math to be her strongest subject even before her transfer. Before she finished reading everything, Min tore out a small section of her notebook and wrote down her phone number; Kit raised a valid point, but more importantly it was the first fellow classmate who she had given her number - that was basically like making a new friend. A science friend today was an all around friend down the line.

”Oh! Video sports. My sachon went on dates with video sports player. He was very good.” Back home, Min’s parents didn’t much like to talk about their extended family, likely because of the lack of success her parents’ siblings had found. Still, Min was at one time close to her cousin, before being relocated to Seoul. ”Bowling? No. Is it...fun?” The idea of fancy shoes and greasy nachos didn’t sound immediately appealing but maybe it was an American thing? She would add it to the list of things to try while she was here, somewhere between corn dogs and football.

”Project...I only have...boring ideas...turning gun...gunpowder to caffeine...or….getting salt out of water. Not exciting, just...science.”

“Bowling’s awesome! Wanna go maybe… Friday night? That would work for me, I’ll be free! I sometimes go to Captain Cuddles, but I can skip it for bowling honestly. We can think about our project later! Savage does this thing where she gives you like handouts, but like 85% of her classwork revolves around the project. So just worry about the homework. That’s where most of the book stuff comes in hand. BUT we can link up to work on that after school, or on weekends. I think it’s important, if we’re gonna be partners, to be partners in homework too.” Kit nodded, mostly to herself. She looked down at her notebook, where she’d copied the assigned pages and questions down, then looked again at Min, “If we can decide on a day, maybe we can switch houses and like one week you come to mine, one week I go to yours. And once a week we can get together and work on our science homework and project together! That’d be ace. What do you think?” There. Kit and Min were in similar situations: they both needed friends. And, in this instance, Professor Savage had set up a potential friendship! Sweet.

Friday...as far as Min was aware she didn’t have any outstanding plans on Friday. She did know that Friday’s were often when pizza was on the top of people’s mind. Kit seemed to really like bowling and it could be fun. Should she invite Parker and Henry? She could bring it up. ”Friday? I think...okay. It will be...fun.” Min nodded, as much as a confirmation as she could give. It wasn’t as if she needed to ask parental permission. It was the second part that gave Min a bit more pause.

”My house? My house is in Korea. I stay with Henry. But...it is...okay. I think. He is nice.” In the span of a class, Min had gone from feeling left out to making a friend to potentially going bowling at the end of the week. She was having a very good day. Her potential first American friend made all on her own. She hoped Kit was the patient type.

CANCELLED.

<sub>Collab with: @smarty0114

Location: Homeroom
Featuring: Ophelia Brycen, Kit Thomas, and Cassandra Clark</sub>

---

---

As Selena left the room, Ophelia’s gaze followed her… what? Ophelia appreciated legs, and Selena certainly had legs. While her gaze followed Selena, she noticed something else: someone else was following Selena, and once Selena had left the building, the other person again turned her attentions to the Candyland table. Ophelia looked at the younger girl and furrowed her brow, then the girl across the way buried her face in her book bag. Ophelia turned her attention to the last remaining person at the table: Cassandra. She opened her mouth to speak and then it very suddenly dawned on her that there were only two people at the table.

“...hey where’d everyone go? You know what? Doesn’t matter. Who’s that girl?” Lia asked, blatantly pointing at the young girl who’d been staring at them. “She looks like she should be here, don’t you think? I’ve never seen her before, though…” And Ophelia’s expert sense of fashion was on point as always: for all intents and purposes, the girl looked the part of the preps, or even the Candies themselves.

Cassie let her gaze drift over to the girl and looked her over for a moment. Ophelia made a point. The girl could very easily be one of them. ”Maybe she’s a freshman? She knows how to dress, I’ll give her that. Call her over,” Cassie said, chewing her lip as she analyzed this anomaly.

Ophelia thought about it for a moment, then shrugged and nodded, straightening up and staring at the girl that was sitting across from them, still hiding. Ophelia… she didn’t really wanna stand up. She picked up her blue pencil, and threw it across the room, watching it sail through the air and bop the girl in the head, and she immediately whipped her head up, and Ophelia gestured for her to come over. The younger girl slowly stood up and stared at them, grabbing the pencil and headed over to the Candy table, slowly sitting down.

“Uh… hello?” The younger girl offered slowly, holding the pencil out to Ophelia, who accepted it.

Cassie looked up at the girl and smiled, a fake one, one designed to bring the girl in, welcome her. Ophelia had taught her that one. ”What’s your name? I haven’t seen you before,” Cassie asked, tapping her nails on the table.

“What? Really? My name is Kit… I’ve been going to this class, like… you know all year? I just changed my…” Voice. Wardrobe. Shoes. “...hair?” Holy shit this was going so poorly, wasn’t it? It didn’t help that she was tired! But then two of the freakin’ Candies called her over to their table and she had to come… or she’d look DUMB. In front of Selena’s friends!

“You ought to just sit with us. You look the type, so maybe with a bit of practice and effort, you could be the type. Y’know? What do you think, Cassie?” Ophelia asked her friend, finally done surveying the girl in front of them.

Cassie exchanged a look with Lia and then turned back to Kit. ”I like her. Here, take a seat, Kit,” Cassie said, letting Kit’s name roll smoothly off her tongue, her tone sickeningly sweet. Kit may look the part, but the true test was gonna be if she could act the part.

Kit was intimidated, to say the least. She wasn’t ready for this, this was too soon, too fast, too spooky. She took a deep breath, and sat down beside them, then immediately she blazed off at the speed of sound, talking faster than Ophelia felt should have been possible. “To be honest you guys are kind of scary and like I don’t know if I should be sitting here, because wouldn’t Hailey beat me up? But I dressed up like this so that we could maybe be friends? Because I want to be in your friend group because you guys are usually pretty cool! But Ophelia is such a big deal and Cassie you’re like scary pretty and I just don’t know if I can really keep up? I only learned how to do makeup like two weeks ago! And I had my mom dress me at first because I don’t know how fashion works! I like video games. And Netflix. But I wanna be a pretty girl! And like, I want to be the girl that other girls want to…. kiss?” She finally stopped, and Ophelia blinked a few times, before turning her attention to Cassie, shrugging her shoulders.

Cassie’s eyebrows shot up, shocked by the speed at which she could formulate words. This girl had just bombarded them with honesty. This was strange. Honesty was an anomaly in their line of work. ”Well at least you’re honest. What girls do you want to kiss Little Kit?” Cassie asked, smirking at their newest play thing.

Kit was perhaps a little out of breath after her spiel, and she wasn’t sure if she should continue on with the rapidfire honesty… but in the end, maybe it was the tiredness and sluggishness of her mind; Kit decided to go for it. Instead of responding, Kit simply raised a finger, and pointed at the seat where Selena had been before leaving suddenly.

That one even threw Ophelia for a loop, and she furrowed her brow in confusion. “What? Really?” Kit nodded. “Nice. Aim high, way high. I like the moxy.”

Cassie’s smirk was replaced by a mouth open wide with shock. Selena. Now that was ambition. But hey, you can’t blame a girl for trying. ”Ophelia do you think there’s room for our new friend today after school? I like her attitude,” Cassie said, turning towards the other, older blonde. If anything, Kit was entertaining.

“For the meeting? Uhmmm, yeah, totally! Stick with us, Kit. We’re gonna get you that kiss.” Ophelia said, and for a brief second, Kit was the one who was shocked, but she slowly, carefully sat down at the table.

It was going to happen.

CANCELLED.

_{Collab: Brynn @Melissahart
Location: Homeroom ---> Vending Machines}

---

Sean was comfortable! It was exciting, he’d never been comfortable at any type of school function, not class, not training exercises… it was always keeping proper posture, giving respect to the people in charge of whatever he was doing, and being a good soldier. This was different. This was relaxing, this was comfortable.

Sean had escaped to a table all his own, stressing with his sister that he planned to rest. Most hopefully, no one would bother him, and he would get a quick nap in. Sean was currently resting his head on a book, with his phone on his desk and one of his headphones in his ears, playing the soft theme music of the TV show he was watching.

Sean closed his eyes and pulled his hood up, singing along softly. “Scooby-Dooby Doo, where are you?” He yawned, and shifted a little, getting comfortable. No, he could totally sleep like this. What was Selena on about earlier?

Brynn had just successfully finished the morning broadcast, and was slowly making her way back to Mrs. Winship’s class. Homeroom wasn’t her favorite part of the day, so she tried to miss as much of it every morning as she could. The broadcast took up a good portion of this time, which helped, but the final minutes of the period were always spent in the classroom on the outside of everyone’s conversations, Brynn having missed discussing all the major gossip about the night before. Even though she loved her friends, it always made her feel sort of out of place walking in during the end of their gossip sessions.

Strolling into the classroom, Brynn walked over to Winship, handing her the usual ‘late’ pass from the broadcast room, and made her way over to the other Candies. Before she sat down, however, she noticed a blob of a person curled up on a desk, hood over eyes, trying to nap. His blonde hair peeked out from underneath the fabric, so Brynn could tell it was definitely Sean.

She walked over to the boy and delicately tapped on his shoulder, not too much to scare him, but enough to get his attention. “Didn’t sleep well last night?”

It was enough to rouse Sean from his cat nap. With an undeniably bitter look in his eyes, Sean pulled his hood back and took out the headphone, looking up at the offender. When he saw that it was Brynn, his expression softened some. Not a lot, but some. “What? No, I just like to sleep, and Selena told me we could do what we wanted in this class, so I did it: sleep. What’d you wake me up for?”

The look that Sean was giving her made Brynn take a step backwards, nearly causing her to walk into the desk behind her. Looks could kill, and it certainly seemed like Sean wasn’t too happy with her currently for waking him up. “Wow, right to the point, I guess...” Brynn replied, opening her tote bag and rummaging through her books and pens for what she was looking for. As per her strict ‘no strings attached’ policy, “thou shalt not keep the clothes of thy suitors”, so Sean’s shirt she borrowed from the other day would have to be returned. Finding it, she grasped it in her hands, holding it for maybe a moment too long, and then extending it out to the blonde boy. “I believe this belongs to you.”

Sean stared at the t-shirt for a few seconds, then looked at Brynn, then back at the shirt. Then he looked at his phone, still playing the old cartoon. Then, he turned his head back to Brynn, his look once again sour. “You woke me up for that? Come on, man. I gave you that to keep, not so you could give it back to me.” Sean sighed and reached out, but rather than take the shirt away from her, he pushed it back toward her. Women were impossible! “If I wanted it back, don’t you think I would have asked for it…? Plus, you looked comfortable. I thought you liked it.”

To keep? No, no, no, that went against everything that Brynn stood for. No strings, no attachments, no shirts. “No please, take it back, I insist.” She tried reasoning with Sean, but when he pushed it back into her hands she sighed. Damn, this boy clearly hadn’t done his homework on her, Sel probably left Brynn’s famous kill count out of her “History of BHHS” lesson to him. She’d have to find some way to slip the shirt into his bag without him noticing. “Oh, well um… okay fine.” Brynn replied, feigning defeat.

“Okay, good. Because I don’t want it.” Sean stated, glaring at her. With his eyes, he almost challenged her to bring it back up again, but… she didn’t. Now satisfied, Sean sat straight up and pulled his hood down, letting his blonde hair be free for all to see. “Take me to the vending machine, Brynn. I’m hungry.” He stood up without waiting for a response, swiftly stuffing his phone and his headphones back into his pocket, and waiting for her to lead him out of the room.

Brynn raised an eyebrow at his request, more like demand. Did this kid have any manners? Please She muttered for him under her breath. Plus, why wouldn’t he want his shirt back? There was something off about Sean, and Brynn was going to find out what it was. “Yeah, sure fine. It’s this way.” motioned towards the door, and as he walked in front of her, she stuffed the shirt into his bag when he wasn’t looking.

Catching up to him, she led the way out into the hall, and to the left, towards a smaller hallway, where the vending machines sat. “Here ya go.” She gestured, leaning against the wall with her foot propped up behind her for balance.

Sean reached into his pocket and withdrew his wallet, opening it and looking at the bills. Then, he looked at the vending machines. “Stupid vending machine, doesn’t take twenties. Who carries things that aren’t twenties?” He grumbled, before stuffing his hands in his pocket. Finding nothing, Sean went so far as to turn his wallet upside down and shake it in frustration. The rain of bills that followed was excessive, but ultimately revealed something he wanted: the holy grail. A five dollar bill.

Sean bent down and picked up the stack of twenties that had fallen down, stuffing them back into his wallet. Then, he grabbed the five dollar bill, flattening it a bit against the edge of the vending machine before letting it go inside of the machine. “You want anything? I just want chips and a Gatorade. I really like Gatorades. They weren’t approved by my old school, so I’ve not really had them before I came back…”

“I’m alright, thanks.” Brynn replied, pulling out her phone to begin texting, but stopped when Sean mentioned his old school. This was the perfect time to ask about it. “That sounds a tad harsh, Gatorade is quintessential for any high schooler. Sounds like your old school was very different from here.”

“It was different than all schools. It was a boarding school, for a specific trade? Like, college prep, sort of. It’s hard to explain. Not important, either.” Sean explained, pulling out his Gatorade and bag of chips, He stuffed the chips in his jacket pocket and turned the lid of the Gatorade, sipping at the sweet nectar. “You wanna know something weird? Everyone just refers to Gatorades but color, not flavor name. Isn’t that strange?”

“I mean you could try to explain it-” Brynn started, but when he said it wasn’t important, she didn’t want to force the issue. The girl had seen his temper before and did not want to agitate him too much. She’d just have to ask Selena later. “Yeah, it’s really strange, I agree.” Brynn replied, looking down at her phone to see the time. “We should probably get back, the bell’s gonna ring soon. We wouldn’t want you to be late on your first day...”

Sean sipped from his drink. “I have a better idea.” He paused briefly, then he smiled slyly at her, “What if we just hooked up in a janitor’s closet instead?”

Looking up from her phone, Brynn couldn’t help but smirk, a glimmer of mischief in her eyes. “I couldn’t say no to that even if I tried.”

CANCELLED.

_{Location: The halls, near the lockers
Featuring: | A Double | Quincy @smarty0114 | @Universorum}

---

---

Oh shit, ohhh shit.

Maybe Owen was right, maybe this love stuff wasn’t all it was cut out to be. He’d said one thing, and Q had sprinted off like he’d told her she smelled funny! A Double was sweating now, and he stood up to rush after his girlfriend (hopefully she still was, anyway), but then he paused as he had a sudden realization. He was supposed to do the camera work for Rye! That was important! But Q… Q was more important. But he couldn’t just shirk on his duties! DAMN.

A Double turned his attention to Owen briefly. “Can you run Rye’s camera for me? Thanks, bye!” Without waiting for a response, A Double tore out of the classroom after Q, seconds behind her. Once he had sights on her in the hallway, he sprinted, yes, sprinted, to her side and grabbed her wrist, pulling her so she stopped and looked at him.

“Uhm… Q…” A Double realized that he was having trouble figuring out what to say… He stared at her in silence for a few terrifyingly long seconds, trying to decide what he wanted to say, and then he realized that there was only one option: action.

A Double dropped Q’s wrist from his grasp and instead put a hand on each of her cheeks, leaning down and pressing his lips against hers.

Q hadn’t gotten very far when she heard the door to her homeroom slam open, the sound of A Double following her no doubt. She was angry and scared and needed to hit something and she couldn’t figure out why. Why was it so hard for her to just take the training wheels off and go into this relationship like a normal girl? Was she mad that A Double couldn’t keep their secret or was she just mad that people knew now? Maybe the truth was, Quincy didn’t like feeling commitment to any one thing since her dad died, so she sabotages everything. That’s why she fucked with Hailey and it’s why she was fucking around with A Double.

Or maybe she just didn’t love A Double. Or maybe they weren’t meant to be. Or maybe, or maybe, or maybe. Q’s head was rushing with thoughts when A Double found her, spun her around, and this time, surprised her with a kiss. She was shocked at first, but then she realized she wasn’t under attack, and melted into it, softly returning the affection he showed her. Okay, well the kissing is definitely not the problem here, Quincy thought.

After what felt like a lifetime of bliss, Quincy pulled away and took a moment to stare deep into A Double’s eyes, before biting her lip and looking down at the ground. When she looked back up her eyes were wet as she fought back tears. ”I’m sorry, I just...I don’t know what I’m doing. And I like you and I care about you, and making out is really fun, and I’m just losing it. I don’t know how to do any of this, I’m not sure who the hell I am half the time!” Quincy explained, her voice cracking and rising as she fought back the flood of tears, her mouth spilling everything that her brain sent it’s way, stuff she hadn’t even thought about herself.

A Double nodded after she spoke. Really, his mind was still racing in a crazy attempt to figure out what to say! This wasn’t easy, which he should have suspected after Owen basically said ‘relationships suck.’ He reached up and wiped one of the tears that escaped her eyes with one of his fingers, and he gave her a smile. “You’re Quincy, duh. You’re my best friend, and my girlfriend. You’re also Jennifer, though, so it’s kinda confusing sometimes. I think in your head you’re stuck between being two people and like, it’s really hard for you to choose? Cuz, you do get to choose who you get to be, you know! You should just be who you want to be. Be the best parts of Q and of Jennifer, and make someone else. You just… uhm… don’t be afraid of it.” A Double paused and considered how to phrase his next words.

“Of, uhm, love. Don’t be afraid of it, because like… I’m not going anywhere. And, you might not really remember it, but you already… said it? That you love me. So it’s not a big deal.”

Q leaned her forehead into A Double’s chest as he spoke, her eyes trained on her combat boots. When A Double was finished she looked up at him and chuckled, a chuckle that soon turned into a full on laugh. ”You are so much smarter than anyone gives you credit for,” Quincy said, intertwining her fingers with his and leaning in to kiss him again.

When she pulled back she was grinning, a light in her eyes that hadn’t quite been there before. ”Okay, let’s do this. You like me, I like you, let’s do the whole relationship thing. I’m terrified, I want you to know, but...I want to. I need to,” Q said, smiling.

“Great! Me too. Great. Good. Now I don’t have to feel like a secret, too, which is good… I have a joint in my jacket pocket. It made me cry. So I saved most of it for you.” A Double explained, happy that they had crossed the major hump of the day, and happy to move to lighter subjects. “We should get back to class, too! Or we’ll miss the show. Owen’s doing camera work for me, cuz I had to come check on you! I was scared.”

Q grinned, the foolish type of grin that she’d experienced too much on New Years Eve thanks to all the alcohol, and was now experiencing due to the sudden family of butterflies that had taken up residency in her stomach. She liked this. She did. And yeah, she was still scared. But she wasn’t ever not going to be scared. She took a deep breath and began walking with A Double, hand in hand towards homeroom, still grinning like an idiot. ”Oh, well we’d never want to miss the show! Rye and his thrilling announcements such as, ‘Here's what garbage you have coming up this week!’” Quincy teased, smirking slightly as she rested her head on A Double’s shoulder and realized that for at least this one second, all was right in the world.

CANCELLED.

_{Location: The Lyon Residence —> Dreamland —> Owen’s Car —> Homeroom
Featuring: Owen Lyon, Troy Lyon, A Double
Interacting with: Wyatt @smarty0114
Mentions: Trixie Kingsley @Lovely Complex}

---

---

“I was thinking I might leave.”

Silence. Pure, deafening silence. What had he expected? ‘Oh, sure, son. Run away from your problems. That’ll solve everything.’ Owen took a deep breath, and rather than wait for his father to respond, he pressed on confidently. An air of confidence, whether truly there or not, was the key to having a successful conversation with someone who considered themselves above you.

“I was thinking Spain. Grandpa has a villa there, I think some time away would be good for me.”

Owen carefully watched his father’s face, eyeing how the older man’s expression shifted slightly, growing more incredulous with each word. This was going well, totally. So well. So perfectly well. Owen took a deep breath and continued his cautious pressing of the subject.

“I would go on independent study, so my schoolwork wouldn’t be interrupted. I could still graduate on time, I’d fly back for that. I know mom is really excited about that…”

Owen trailed off and looked at his father, finally giving Troy the moment he needed to process what his son had said, while they sat on the porch and enjoyed an early (very early, it was barely six) morning bowl of Honey Nut Cheerios. Troy crunched his final bite, and slowly drank the milk, eyeing his son over the bowl the entire time. Owen was dying inside; his father was one of the few people left who intimidated him into respecting them, and it made conversations like this stressful, to say the least.

“Don’t you already have a Spanish girl?” Troy asked, and Owen’s lips twisted and formed into a scowl, his eyes instantly growing darker as his father reopened wounds that were very much still healing. “Too soon, I guess? Grow up, Owen. You can’t run from your problems, and you can’t be driven by your anger and your hatred and your sadness. I don’t think your mom would let you go anyway, because she couldn’t bear to be that far away from you, but… even if she does: I’m vetoing it. You have to see this through, man. You can’t run forever, not from this. You have to see it through.” Troy smiled sadly as Owen’s expression morphed again from one of anger and frustration with his father, to one of a genuinely upset young man. “I know it sucks. I know it does. They lied. She didn’t trust you and she put someone else before you, after you gave her, well… pretty much everything you’ve got, but you have to see this through, you can’t run from this one.”

“But this isn’t fair.” Owen protested in a soft voice so unlike the strong, confident one he typically spoke with.

“Agreed. But it’ll get better. Give it time, time can heal all wounds. Maybe you won’t get back with Trixie, maybe you shouldn’t. I don’t know. We thought you two were forever, really? Like, all of us. Me, Wolfe, Izzy, your mom. Even most of the other moms did… So I don’t know what’s going to happen there. But you can’t leave without an answer, right? You gotta know why. There’s no real solution here, other than to wait and hope she figures something out on her own. You can’t go on an all out offensive, if Hailey is anything like your mom, you’ll turn into what I was in high school — and we don’t want that. High school sucked for me, and I even knew the truth: that very little of what happens in high school matters in the long run. And no, you can’t do what Gabriel would suggest and roll up on them and pop the trunk.” Troy paused and shrugged, giving Owen a chance to respond, and Owen took it before it disappeared.

“Thank you. For not telling mom and her friends. I think if they got involved, it’d get worse for everyone and I don’t want that. It means a lot, that I can trust you with stuff like that. And I’m glad you believed me, that I didn’t do that to her. Why… why Trixie doesn’t see the truth I don’t know. I’ll see it through.” Owen sat down the bowl of cereal and nodded to himself, almost as if to give reassurance that this was the right move. “Thank you. Again. I can’t stress enough how nice it is to know that I can talk to you about this and… and not have to worry about it. I love mom, but she gets too intense. Too emotional. I couldn’t tell her any of this crap, she’d lose her mind.”

Troy shrugged his shoulders and what he said was simple enough, “You’re my son. Of course you can —” What he had said may have been simple, but the reaction it elicited was anything but. Owen had very suddenly wrapped his arms around his father in a tight hug, and Troy reciprocated it (you didn’t get many hugs from teenagers). Troy gave his son a few pats on the back and they stayed in their embrace for a few seconds, before Owen pulled away. Troy stared at him for a second, before shaking his head, “You’d better get going, if you’re gonna pick up A Double.”

“Oh, shit. I did say I’d do that…” Sighing, Owen turned and headed toward the garage where his car was parked. Troy picked up his son’s bowl and called out after him.

“Hey, don’t beat on that Marshall kid too hard! Dude’s like a lil lamb!”

“Oh, fuck off!” Owen yelled back at his father as he jumped into his car. The Aventador roared to life, and Owen pulled out, heading down the long, winding driveway.

Meanwhile, in Dreamland

A Double had a bit of a love for the classics, yeah? Old video games, old mountains, old movies, old shows… just, old stuff. Like, really old stuff. Past vintage, past retro… A Double dug antique shit. Which, was why he was sitting in the living room, in front a custom built CRT TV, playing on an old Nintendo 64 that had a sticker on the back declaring it property of Westworth High. A Double wasn’t sure of the details, and he didn’t really care exactly, but his father and Jareth had stolen it from the high school they’d attended or something?

Not important. What was important was that he was in the last breaths of his PERFECT run of Super Mario 64. All he had to do was ace the final boss fight against Bowser, and all would be well. He had a stack of waffles at his side, which had been much taller before he’d started playing, but was now down to about three, well three and a half. A Double snatched up the half a waffle and crammed it into his mouth, chewing it before he grabbed Bowser by the tail and spun that motherfucker like a bat out of hell (his palm would be in pain later), and launched him into the final bomb.

“I DID IT!”

A Double looked to his left, holding up his hand for Wyatt to high five. Then he frowned when he remembered Wyatt wasn’t there. Then he turned to his right and held out his fist for Raf to bump, and then frowned more when he remembered Raf wasn’t there either! Then, he looked at his lap to give Q a kiss and… he felt his heart drop when he realized she wasn’t there either. “Man, I forgot… I ain’t got no friends here!”

A Double blew a raspberry and stood up, leaving the screen on the last letter from Princess Peach, intending fully for his friends to come over and see it, before he shouldered his backpack and grabbed another waffle, leaving the last two for Max. Then he went to the front porch and plopped down, waiting for Owen to show up so he could drive him to school. Could A Dubs drive himself to school? Of course he could, but he didn’t like driving cars very much, especially not on roads. Too many rules.

A Double withdrew from his inner jacket pocket a joint he’d rolled last night with a new strain that Ana and Malcolm had engineered. He was excited! He held it in his lips and lit it. Puff, puff, exhale. Puff, puff, exhale. Whoa… that was good. A Double took a couple more hits and then dabbed at his now misty eyes with the back of his hands, looking up to note that Owen was pulling up in his bright red Aventador.

Meanwhile, behind the wheel, Owen looked over at A Double as he walked toward the car, noticing he was crying. Now, with this dude, it could be anything, but after popping the trunk for A Double to toss his backpack in the trunk, Owen prepared himself for the worst. When the door opened, he spoke quickly. “What’s wrong, dude?”

A Double sniffle-coughed (it was really pretty goddamn ugly), and tried to compose himself before speaking to Owen, “thank God, for my reefer man. This shit g^ood,” A Double replied, his voice cracking a little bit at the end as he puffed again, before blowing the joint out and carefully storing it in his jacket pocket again, “I gots to save some for Q. This shit’s too good, man!” A Double wiped his eyes and Owen sighed as he threw the car into reverse, spinning it around so he could head out the way he came.

A Double took almost a minute, to compose himself, before finally spoke. “Can you hit the drop top? I know this thing got the robo-roof.” Owen looked over at A Double, raising an eyebrow behind his black sunglasses, before he reached out and hit the button. The cars top automatically stored itself in the back, and the boys could feel the cool morning air hit them. They pulled out of the Dreamland driveway and onto the highway… “How fast this thing go, anyway?”

“Two ten.”

“No WAY. Hit it, dude! Wait, hold up.” A Double hit the bluetooth button, pairing up his phone, and hitting play on the song.

Owen shook his head, but slowly pressed the accelerator in, the car’s engine revving up as he did so. Owen shifted the car from second to third, then from third to fourth, and kept it there for a second, coasting down the straight away at one hundred miles per hour. A truly irresponsible teenage rmove. “Early in the morning!~”

“Risin’ to the street, light me up that cigarette! You got it. Sing it, my dude!” A Double was all smiles, as Owen did indeed belt the song.

“Got to find a reason, a reason things went wrong! Got to find the reason why my money’s all gone! I got a dalmation, and I can still get high. And I can play the guitar like a motherfuckin’ riot!” As Owen sang, A Double reached out to pull the passenger side sunblind down, and a few hair ties and a pair of sunglasses tumbled out onto his lap. “Bow now, wow no— Hey, motherfucker! Quit fuckin’ with shit!” Owen hit the button to cut the music and A Double frowned, realizing he’d killed the mood.

“...is this Trixie’s stuff?” A Double asked slowly, looking over at his sort-of cousin. Owen nodded. “Why do you still have it? ...do you still love her?” Owen didn’t respond, and that silence spoke volumes. A Double chose to press on fearlessly. “...does it hurt?”

“_{Every day of my life.} It’s all I can think about. She used to like, live with me. So she has a bunch of stuff here, and a bunch of stuff back home. It’s still, to this day, cold waking up without her there. Which is stupid, because she like sucked my body heat from my body. But at least she was there.” It was Owen’s turn to wipe his eyes. He gulped, and A Double chose again to gently press further.

“Why don’t you give her her stuff back?”

“I guess I’m hoping she’ll come get it herself. Maybe then, if I have that time with her, alone, I can explain things. But it doesn’t matter. I already know how it would end: poorly. Maybe you’re right. Maybe I should give it back to her. It hurts, it burns, it stings. Don’t fall in love kid.”

“Hrm.”

Owen, noticing that he’d seemed to cause A Double to fall uncharacteristically, decided to ask a question of his own. “What’s her name?”

“Q. Quincy. Jennifer, actually. But she likes Quincy more. She used to be Hailey’s friend.”

“Right, her. Good luck, dude. I think you guys will do well together — plus, that’s not really surprising. Thought you two were already dating...” Owen pulled into his typical parking spot and put the top up, popping the trunk so they could get their things. He looked at the small pile of things belonging to Trixie that A Double had unceremoniously dumped on the seat… Owen took a deep breath and looked at A Double. “I’ll catch up. Is it cool if I sit with you guys?”

“YEAH! Totally, dude! I’ll see you there.” Immediately, A Double’s jump was back in his step, and Owen gathered the things that belonged to his ex; the woman who still had his heart. He threw them into an old bag she’d left in the trunk forever ago, and tore out a piece of notebook paper.

Can I
Trixie
I suck with words
Please
Come ba
Call me
I miss yo

Owen took a deep breath, looking down at the paper with different scratched beginnings on it, and ran a hand through his hair, before putting the pen back to his paper.

Follow your heart.

— Kitty

There. That seemed good.

Wait, one last thing. Meticulously, carefully, Owen put pen back to paper, drawing a heart beside his signature, filling it in with the blue pen he’d written it with, before deciding that was as good as it going to get.

He just had to hope her heart was in the same place as his right? In classic Owen fashion, he left the scribbled out attempts at beginning a letter there, and stuffed it into the purse alongside all of Trixie's belongings. Owen held the purse in one hand, carefully, very carefully, almost as if it were a bomb, and headed through the empty halls (class had already begun, huh? Oops.).

He stopped at Trixie’s locker… 24. 5. 12. Click. It opened and Owen carefully sat the bag in there for her to find, before closing it shut and heading to homeroom (where it seemed he was pretty much the last arrival), where he took a seat across from A Double and Wyatt at the stoner table.

Staring at the people he’d only exchanged a few words with in the past, Owen cleared his throat. “Hi, I’m Owen.” He offered, sticking his hand out for Wyatt to shake.

Underneath the table, A Double was discreetly playing footsies with Q. She had asked him for their thing to be private, but he wanted to do SOMETHING. The other couples got to be cute. This worked, for him.

CANCELLED.

_{A Collab With: @Fabricant451
Featuring: Henry Green, Chae Min-seo, Parker Ashford, and Hana Park
Location: Homeroom}

---

---

Henry was late to homeroom. While not entirely uncommon for him; the strange part was his reasoning. It wasn’t odd for Henry to just not want to come in, and thus neglect doing so. This time… this time Henry Green had visited a place he’d never been inside. Henry had went to the library.

In his arms, he carried massive books — tomes, really. One was a history book, one was a California law book, one a federal law book, and finally, the school rule book. Somewhere, somehow, someway someone had fucked up. Henry was not about to allow such a severe mark on his record, nor such a mark as the one against his character.

DATE RAPED PARKER?

Whoever wrote that blog was sensationalist scum, and he would find them. On his word, on his life he would find them. And then he would own them. Lawsuits, baby. Hulk Hogan vs Gawker. This school? This room he’d walked into? MIGHT AS WELL BE HIS.

Henry made a beeline to his table, where Parker was already sitting. Henry slammed the huge stack of books onto the table and looked at his tiny blonde friend. “I have some light reading to do.” He said, then in a hushed voice, he added. “Did Damian tell you?” Damian, of course, had no reason, nor intent, to tell Parker anything.

Parker had read the blog, of course, though in this case it was more accurate to say Parker read the first few sentences, saw how long the little bar on the side of the screen was, could see absolutely no pictures other than the advertisement about singles in the area (which she was told not to click on and she was a good listener), and then promptly went back to watching cartoons on Youtube. When she arrived at school, there were strange looks when she got out of the car along with Henry and Minsy. Normally people waved when Parker waved at them as she went on her way, skipping towards homeroom, but she was stopped this time by the school counselor. She and Parker were basically best friends - or at least as ‘best friends’ as a staff member and student could be.

But that was old at this point. Parker and the counselor had a talk, as they did every Wednesday...except today wasn’t Wednesday but they still talked and she was promptly dismissed. The whispers and weird looks only continued as Parker made her way to homeroom. Maybe it was Whisper Day?

Parker sat in the same spot she always did. The table she and Henry and Mincy shared, with her seat being closest to the window. Mincy was already there, drawing weird things in her notebook but Henry wasn’t. Nothing unusual, Henry was often the last one to sit at the table. Parker occupied her time by watching Mincy draw but her attention was snapped back to the table when books slammed the table. Both Parker and Mincy jumped but only Parker had something to say about it.

”AHH!” Her scream was third to the slamming of the books in volume, and both were tied for second as Parker slapped the table with her palm. ”HAH! YOU DIDN’T DO YOUR HOMEWORK, DID YOU? DID YOU? MINCY HELPED ME WITH MINE!” Parker playfully shoved her palm against Min-seo’s shoulder, shaking the poor girl who was still reeling from the books.

”Is this...about the blog?” Min-seo chimed in before waving her hand towards Parker like one does when shooing a little mosquito. Min-seo had read the blog, of course, though she didn’t really comprehend a lot of it. It seemed unfair or heavily biased, but clearly it had an effect.

”Is things...good?” Min-seo showed concern while Parker had already snatched one of the smaller books from the pile.

”THERE’S JUST WORDS. BOOOOORINGGGGGG.” The only one who didn’t seem to know about Parker’s ‘party foul’ was Parker herself.

“Well, Parker. I need to do some research, okay? Yes, Min, it’s about the damn blog. Things are shit. People think I took advantage of Parker! Which I WOULD NEVER DO. And, aside from that, they’re puttin’ the axe to my back and fuckin’ me over. I gotta do a whole lotta bullshit.” He shook his head in disgust, opening the history book toward the section he cared about: the Geneva Convention. “Wack ass motherfuckers think I’mma try and play possum. I’m bout to show ‘em what’s fuckin’ what. Dig?” Henry reached into his backpack and withdrew two things: a big bag of gummy bears, which he tossed at Parker, and a binder he hadn’t opened since his high school career began.

Henry Green turned to the first, blank page, and put his pencil to it. He would win this battle, or he would die trying.

Parker practically snatched the gummy bears out of midair like a dog playing fetch. Her enthusiasm over the colorful treat was halted by the packaging of the candy. Its low barrier to entry was proving difficult for Parker who was pulling at the plastic wrap; opening chips or the little orange square crackers in the red box was much easier. She couldn’t ask Henry, he was busy doing important book stuff. Fortunately, there was Min-seo who tapped Parker on the shoulder, took the bag of gummy bears, and opened it in one fell swoop before giving it back to the diminutive girl.

”THANKS, MINCY! YOU WANT ONE?”

Min-seo politely declined by shaking both her head and her hand at the same time. The other member of this unique table had closed her sketchbook now and was much more interested in this strange obsession with was certainly not any school work. ”Dig?” The colorful language spewed by Henry was often lost by Min-seo or, sometimes, taken rather literally. This was one of those times. ”Where’s...shovel?” She realized a but slowly that it was probably American slang and promptly shook her head. ”Henry...it is just...lies. Parker is…”

At this, Min-seo glanced to her left in time to see Parker happily chewing away on a rather colorful worm while having another slide around her part of the table like it was crawling through the grass.

”...Is not your...type girl. She is..little sister. Don’t believe them.” She was trying to make things better, but it might have been a futile effort. Even she had assumed Henry had gone upstairs for that purpose before being told otherwise, and the truth made far more sense given what she knew of Henry.

Henry, who was already balls deep in his second page on his notepad, turned his attention to Min-seo, letting about a deep breath. “Look, Min. I know it’s a lie, and you know it’s a lie. Everyone who knows me, or even knows Parker, knows that it was a lie. It’s not really about like clearin’ my name, or somethin’, it’s about people throwin’ dirt on me when they got no right to do it. And,” Henry leaned forward, scowling slightly, “I guaran-damn-tee that my sister was behind this somehow, or someway. my bitch sister was involved in this. She engineered my worst day ever so that she could smile and enjoy the pain of other people. Because she’s basically a witch… I’m gonna get through this, but I gotta build my case first, and hopefully nobody fucks anything before I do it. Hold up, I gotta go talk to Hana. Parker, I’mma tell you this, because if I don’t I’ll feel bad later, but don’t eat all of those right now, you’ll get sick and puke and cry and blame me for giving you worms.”

Henry leaned over and grabbed one of the worms from the bag and stuffed it into his mouth, chewing before he stood up and walked across the way, to Hana Park’s desk and took a seat across from her. Henry leaned forward and cradled his chin in his hands.

“I’m gonna need you to come through for me.”

Hana wasn’t expecting the sudden arrival of Henry; by all accounts he had had his hands full dealing with the fallout. She put her tablet aside and focused on the matter at hand. Whatever happened in response to the blog had to have really gotten to Henry to have him approaching her during school hours. Typically the ones who needed her at school were the real addicts who didn’t exactly know the definition of discrete. What else could this be about? It wasn’t like she could talk to her sister and get her to overrule whatever the school decided. Hana crossed her arms and sat back in her chair; now was the time for her to be in full business mode. ”It’s been like three days, I hope you’re not asking for a New Year’s amount of favor here. My guys are good but they aren’t magic.” It was damn near a full time job, keeping this place connected and high. Still, another decent payday had a mystical ability to make others want to work a bit harder.

”What do you need?”

Now, Henry had to think of a pleasant way to say ‘I need you to give me a kilo of Columbian bambam in discreet packaging.’ There was, of course, no easy, simple way to say that. To be honest, Henry had expected Hana to be a bit more friendly by now, after all he’d just paid her a fuckton of money to hand out pills to a bunch of addicted freaks at a party at a beautiful beach house with free food. But noooo, nothing was good enough for her. Women; honestly. Henry took a deep breath and composed himself, doing his best to maintain a level of seriousness similar to Hana’s, if not equal to it. “I need.” Henry looked around to make sure no one was looking, then leaned in, keeping this simple:

“A lot of cocaine. You know that rich white person drug? Hook it up, baby girl. I’m basic as fuck.” Well, the seriousness had lasted for the first half of his first sentence. Progress!

The party never stopped with Henry Green, did it? It wasn’t Hana’s business to ask why someone needed whatever it was they needed, dealers didn’t concern themselves with the why of the clients. Still she would have been lying if she said she wasn’t curious. Someone who drops ten thousand for party favors now needing the drug of choice for corporate lawyers nationwide? Someone was an addict. An addict with money and an addict who was in luck. ”You know going out in an overdose won’t help your current reputation, right?” Sometimes it was hard for Hana not to let a bit of her more judgmental side out. It was more thinking aloud, but what was wrong with a little banter between customer and dealer?

”I can get you an eighth or two. An extra hundred and I’ll throw in a speedball if you really wanna go out a legend. Because you did me a solid over New Year’s I’ll take 80 per gram. When do you need it?” Hana really ought to thank the dealers of the world, ever since getting into the business herself her math scores had gone through the roof.

“Like as soon as possible? Here’s $600, keep the change. I’m good on a speedball, I’ll keep myself to cocoa leaves mixed in with concrete mix and gasoline, no heroin or morphine needed.” Henry slid the money under the table and put it on Hana’s leg, before looking at his watch. “Mama always says to support local businesses, y’know? So that’s why I come to you instead of a wholesaler, really appreciate it. Also, don’t worry about me, I’m not gonna overdose. I’m like Scarface, I can snort mountains of cocaine without even blinkin’ an eye. I’m a machine. Or, something like that. Just whenever you get a chance just come to my house. The gate code is still 109853. Really appreciate it, thanks.” Did Henry need to go on a cocaine fueled rampage over this?

No, but he didn’t have any reason not to.

If it was anyone else, they were likely to get slapped. Not from doing the business angle, but because she was wearing a skirt today and the cash, while nice, wasn’t comfortable in her lap. She quickly folded the bills and transferred them from her leg to her purse as if she had done it thousands of times before. Whatever happened it couldn’t have been good. Cocaine was a hell of a drug and Henry was looking at at least seven point five grams, if her math checked out. If this was the last she saw of Henry Green at least she had the memory of earning ten thousand dollars from him. That would make for a nice eulogy.

”Didn’t Scarface die in the end? Whatever, it’s your money. I’ll swing by after school. Don’t give any to the exchange student, either. You’ll kill the poor girl.” Some people worked overtime for a month and still didn’t break ten thousand on their check after taxes. All she had to do was swing by her suppliers and she was living well. She’d be able to get the new graphics card by the end of the week. It was good to have friends in high places.

“Please, I’d never. Min is an innocent flower, I’m not gonna ruin that. Just like I never ruined Parker either. If I go out like Scarface, remember to tell them that. Henry Green didn’t fuck his friends.” Henry stuffed a hand in his pocket and withdrew a pack of spearmint gum, stuffing a piece into his pocket and giving Hana a nod before standing up and heading back to his table. Mission accomplished, more or less.