Melissa

CANCELLED.

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Bailee & AJ
Collab with @Lovely Complex
In the hallway, at the start of homeroom
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Bailee had been parading through the hallways, throwing flyers at everything that had a pulse and breathed, when she stumbled across quite the sight: Marshall Radley and Jamie Callaghan canoodling by the lockers near Winship’s room. Now, she may had been gone for nearly six months, but she knew that said certain blonde had dumped her longtime family friend, a one AJ Tyler, and left him in the dust. However, she didn’t hold that against him and thought it was nice to see him moving onto someone new.

Or so she thought.

All of a sudden a certain casanova swooped in and ruined the moment, causing one boy to run off in distress, and the other to begin screaming and yelling in anger and frustration. It seemed disaster seemed to follow wherever AJ went. Once both boys had vanished, the brunette stormed over to the offending party, visibly unhappy with his choices. “What the hell was that?” Bailee seethed, not even bothering for the stereotypical happy reunion with her friend, as this was the first time she had seen him in many, many, months.

AJ was taken aback with the sight of his lovely homegirl and her irritated demeanor. He knew the Helmsley triplets were back since the moment they landed, thanks to his bro, Brian, but he hadn’t seen any of them until this very moment. He had the honor of reuniting with the ‘sweetheart’ of the batch first. Was she actually a sweetheart? Depends on the season. Her reasons. And definitely never during his lifetime. If looks could kill, he’d be dead on the spot. On numerous occasions. But not because she had a bite that matched her bark, nah man. Bailee, and all the Helmsley Three for that matter, were bangin’ hot. She was bangin’ hot. He was surprised no one decided to tap that and make her theirs. Well, one of the reasons could be no one was up to par with her standards, and the other? They were too scared to approach her. For a tiny girl, she knew how to make big people cower. AJ, not so much.

The dynamic between the two was almost hysterical. While she reprimanded him for his ways, he couldn’t be anymore happier to see her. His lips rose into the dumbest, cheesiest grin any human being could ever make. “Bailsssssssssssssssss. Where the hell did you come from?” As bold as he was with Jamie, he pulled his friend into a bear hug. “How long has it been, a century?” It wasn’t like he was intentionally dodging her question, she was just too cute not to hug. Oh, and now he could see her cute butt.

Bailee, on the other hand, was not enthused in the slightest. Remaining stiff as a board in AJ’s strong embrace, she somehow managed to squirm out of his grasp and continued to give him the coldest look she could manage. Especially since she was not a ‘hugger’ by any means, the brunette was not pleased. At all. “Don’t you ‘Bails’ me, Alfie.” She replied, intentionally using his first name, which she knew he absolutely hated, in order to level the playing field. “Save the pleasantries for someone else, now tell me what the fuck I just saw.”

This bitch. Did she fucking call him Alfie? The happy face that once was written all over AJ, was now red with suppressed rage. With gritted teeth, holding his tongue for a moment to really digest what his childhood friend did, his form began to hunch, exuding spite and malice. Did he need to remind her who the fuck she was talking to? Regardless of their history together, there was one line in AJ’s book no one crossed and that was calling him by that name. Any other form of attack, he’d be more civil, but in this instant, Bailee Helmsley set AJ Tyler off. Making sure their eyes were locked, the boy clenched his right fist so hard that his knuckles started turning white. The halls oddly enough were now empty. They should be in homeroom now.

One final door had closed shut, the door closest to them, before AJ slammed his fist onto the closet locker to them both, inches away from her face. The slamming sound echoed throughout the hall. “Are you fucking high? You got to be the stupidest out of your siblings. Aren’t you supposed to take over daddy’s company? Neither Becca or Brian would be this fucking dumb. Do you think this is a joke? Do you think I’m a fucking joke!?” His words were loud, seething with poison, and threatening. If it weren’t for their already established bond, he might’ve snapped worse.

Although AJ normally was the lighthearted one of the group, when he got serious, he meant it. “How much do I amuse you, Bailee? How bad do you want to laugh at me? Like a clown.” To say Bailee set her friend off was an understatement. He leaned in closer to her, making sure she had a good look at his face, his arguably hurt eyes never letting go of her stare, “Then laugh, bitch.” Actually, this was the first time in Bailee’s life to use this card. She heard stories but never did she witness how AJ got. Truth be told, this wasn’t even how bad he got. There were three things you didn’t do as a friend of AJ’s. Use his first name, talk bad about his mama, or act like you have any authority over him. When AJ was loyal to you, that’s all he asked. There are ways to get him to do stuff for you, like tell you what had transpired moments ago in the hall with his ex, this was not one of those ways.

He waited.

He wanted her to laugh.

Bailee was quite a patient person in practice. She dealt with difficult people everyday at Helmsley Enterprises with the grace and poise of someone twice her age. The girl never managed to show any truly negative emotions towards clients and business partners alike. She was constructive, sure, but she never was outwardly demeaning or crude. But in that very moment, Bailee was shocked to find out that there was an end to her patience. And his name was AJ Tyler.

She tried her best not to flinch as his hand collided with the metal merely inches from her cheek, and swallowed her words through his fiery rant, but the way he spoke about her drew the line. Bailee could feel the anger swelling inside of her, and losing her cool was not something she did quite often. So much so that her next actions even shocked her.

Bailee slapped him.

Hard.

“Don’t you ever speak to me that way. I am smarter than you will ever be, and if you have a problem with that, you can tell it to my billion dollar company.” She could feel her face growing red as she berated the boy in front of her. “You need to step the fuck back. God, it is so hard to try to help you when you’re hurting other people.” She spoke in a low voice fueled with rage. She only wanted the best for him, and he made it so much more difficult to care. “What is wrong with you, AJ.”

Bailee breathed out in disbelief appalled at her childhood friend. Feeling the panic bubbling up inside of her, she tried to keep the floodgates of her anxieties from crashing in. Ignoring the bout of anger, Bailee said what she initially wished to say when she first walked over. “He dumped you, it’s over, move on.”

AJ was silent. Silent for an uneasy amount of time. He didn’t touch his cheek which had her print engraved on it, like a mark of shame, but would soon fade in time. Was he ashamed of anything he did? No. Was he even upset she slapped him? No. What he did care about was the fact that someone he’s missed, a fuck ton, greeted him with disrespect. His main friends were always gone, the Helmsley three, her, in particular, on her business trips, and Cece, the biggest goddamn tourist known to date. So that left him bothering Damian a lot to entertain him with video games. That wouldn’t be the case anymore because now his boy was preoccupied with his own Joy.

The slap, however, did help him gain himself again. He turned to face her, his eyes were narrowed, cold, hard, distant. AJ always had this customary warmth about him, but when he was upset, when someone offended his sensibilities, he was different. Unusually different.

Detached and with no trace of kindness, he flatly quipped, “When you know how it feels, then you can come talk to me. But you don’t. You don’t know how it feels to be led on. To still have a chance. To still see that he cares. How could you? The only risks you’re willing to take involves ‘your billion dollar company’.” AJ was over this. He needed to go for a drive.

Not waiting for her to give an uncaring remark, tired from her words that did cut deeply into the jock’s heart, he dismissed himself, “You’re late.” And he walked past her, his shoulder gently skimming against her arm’s skin, “If you need a ride tonight, you have my number.” And with that, he was gone.

Bailee could still feel her fingers tingling from the harsh skin to skin contact, her heartbeat loud and ringing in her ears. What a warm welcome back to school this was, getting into a fight within her second hour of being on campus. The brunette never openly showed her anger, especially to those whom she loved, so never in a million years did Bailee think she would slap her best friend. Pent up rage was a bitch, and now that is was gone, she was left feeling drained, exhausted, and running on empty.

His cold words reverberated through her head and played on repeat as he stormed off. You don’t know how it feels. You’re late. She knew he meant she was late for class, but the words took on a whole other meaning.

The fact of the matter was that Bailee was late. Six months late, in fact.

She wasn’t there when AJ needed her most; she was never there when it counted. The girl couldn’t even relate to him, getting dumped was something she’d never experienced, hell, she’d never even been in a relationship. The boy felt so distant from her, which made the situation all the more painful.

Bailee stood by the lockers for a minute or two after AJ left, absolutely dumbfounded and not knowing what to do with herself. Somewhat gaining a sliver of her composure back, she turned around and walked away. Where? She didn’t know, but she knew two things for sure.

One. She felt incredibly guilty. Two. She was certainly going to drink tonight.

CANCELLED.

_{Collab Featuring: Savannah@melissahart & Trevor@Silent Observer
Day: Tuesday Morning
Location: Mrs. Winship’s Homeroom}

Sav stepped back into homeroom triumphant after her successful interview with Damian. This was redemption; She had taken Riley’s harsh constructive criticism and acted on it, making changes that would really improve her writing. Maybe her future career as a journalist wasn’t just a pipe dream!

With a giddy smile, Savvy made her way towards her usual seat in the back of the classroom, eager to formulate the conversation that just took place into complete and eloquent sentences. Pulling out her laptop almost immediately, she furiously began typing, wanting to remember not only what the ex-captain had said, but also note his facial expressions, mannerisms, etc. Savannah wanted the reader to feel as though they were the one speaking with Damian, which meant she had a lot of heavy lifting to do on her end.

Upon entering the homeroom, Trevor scanned the sea of faces present in the room. He was a social boy, both charismatic and popular, and he could truly sit next to just about anyone this room and manage to carry on a conversation. The obvious choice would be to sit next to his best friend Damian, but given that Damian would practically be living at his house this week (and possibly longer), it might be nice to spice it up and sit next to someone else for a change. A flash of red hair visible above a laptop screen made the decision of who to sit next to instead all the more easy.

Was Trevor nervous? Absolutely. He didn’t think there would ever be a time that he could look at Savannah and not be consumed by a stomach full of anxiety-inducing butterflies, but that wasn’t necessarily a bad thing. That being said, she’d already agreed to go on at least one date with him, so he wasn’t as nervous as was around her a few days ago. Trev just had to make sure that he didn’t say anything to mess it up. Setting his single shoulder strap backpack down on the ground, Trevor sat beside Savannah. “Hey,” he greeted the busily working girl with a smile, his lip looked a little less gruesome than it did yesterday, more bruised than bloodied.

Savannah noticed out of the corner of her eye a certain redhead approaching, and as he did, she pumped herself up in her head. She wanted to impress Trevor so badly, but in order to not make an idiot of herself, she opted to just act casual and calm in his presence. “Hi, Trev—” Savvy started to speak with a genuine smile, but her train of thought and line of speech was interrupted when she looked up and noticed his clearly visible injuries from yesterday’s scuffle.

“Oh my god, your lip.” She breathed out, her hand instinctively moving towards his face to touch the wound. Realizing her habitual actions, she quickly drew her hand back. So much for being calm and casual. “Are you okay?” Sav asked, a concerned and worried look forming on her face.

“Heh, yeah…” Trev responded with a light laugh and looked down, feeling his cheeks heat up. “It’s fine, Riley and my dad made sure of that last night. Just so you know, I normally don’t… do stuff like that. What happened at practice, I mean.”

Savannah sighed, tucking a piece of hair that had fallen into her face behind her ear. “Okay, just as long as you’re fine.” She replied, wondering how his brother reacted to the incident; after all, she did tell him beforehand. In regards to the issue at practice not being a usual habit of his, Sav smirked. She would never think of Trevor as someone to get into the middle of a fight — which was what made the situation all the more surprising. “No, don’t worry, I know you’re not usually like that. I don’t know what exactly went down, but hopefully it won’t happen again. I’d hate to see you get hurt.” She said the last part without thinking, but didn’t regret saying it in the slightest.

“It won’t happen again, not if I can help it.” Trevor smiled honestly at her. He noticed the word document open on her computer. He wasn’t looking closely or anything, but it was noticeable enough out of the corner of his eye. “Are you working on a paper? Or just writing?”

Savvy smiled, looking into Trevor’s gorgeous eyes — maybe for a couple seconds too long. Darting her own eyes back to her laptop, she had to think for a second about what she was working on. “It’s my piece for the paper; the one I interviewed you for yesterday. I just was talking to Damian about it, and I got some more things to add in.” She turned the laptop in his direction so he could take a closer look if he so desired. “Hopefully it’ll be good enough for Trixie’s liking.”

“Oh, you talked to Damian too? That’s great!” The male ginger leaned closer to read the screen. It definitely wasn’t just to read the screen, he was leaning closer purely because he had a good excuse to lean closer. It was then that Trevor realized that Savannah didn’t just look pretty, she smelled pretty too. Like flowers, like walking through a whole garden full of them. He managed to scan the words that she had written so far and nodded with a genuine smile. “It looks really good. I’m awful at writing, so I’m pretty darned impressed.”

Trevor grinned and chuckled slightly. The grin faded when he remembered what Riley had told him in the treehouse. “That reminds me, Riley mentioned talking to you yesterday?”

She blushed, her cheeks turning their signature reddish tint. Man, this guy knew exactly what to say to make her all flustered. Savvy closed the laptop slightly, mostly so she could get a better look at Trevor. “Yeah, after I left your practice I went over to that cute little bakery, Heartfelt Bites, to work on the article. Riley walked in and we started chatting, it was nice!” She replied, recalling their conversation as well as the chocolate eclair she had eaten. Talk about delicious!

“Oh! Good! … Riley mentioned that he might have critiqued you a little harshly…” Trevor recalled the conversation, and the sheepish look on Riley’s face when he had admitted it. “He had a pretty lousy day yesterday, so if he was harsh, that’s probably why. I think he feels bad about whatever he said, since he told me and all. So, consider this like an almost apology from him, even if you seem okay about it.”

“Yeah he was a little… direct — but that’s okay, it’s what I needed.” Savannah replied, reassuring Trevor. “If I’m going to be a real writer someday, I need to learn how to take constructive criticism, so he shouldn’t feel bad at all.” She gave him a smile to show that she was indeed alright and that a couple of choice words about her writing wasn’t going to phase her.

“He can be a little too direct sometimes.” Trevor agreed and kept scanning the document. He stole a few glances at her in between sentences and kept grinning like some kind of lovesick idiot. In a way, he was. “It looks like it did help you out, though, Damian’s perspective is nice addition. Do you plan on interviewing anyone else on the team?” His thoughts immediately jumped to the idea of her interviewing Jacob, and that made his hairs damn near stand on end. He wouldn’t like that, hopefully she’d saw enough of him yesterday to know better.

Savannah shyly looked towards the ground and then back up at Trevor. “No, I think I have all the information I want — I don’t think it’s necessary to make anyone else suffer through an interview with me.” She laughed, recalling some of Damian’s facial expressions when she spoke to him earlier; he didn’t seem to enjoy her difficult questions regarding his suspension.

Trevor looked relieved at her response before he shook his head at her. Suffer? Was she crazy? Damian might have been uncomfortable given the situation, but it wasn’t Savannah that made him feel that way, surely. “It wasn’t suffering, it was the furthest thing from it. Damian might have felt a certain way, but you can’t really blame him there. I’m sure it wasn’t you.” Trev smiled and sat back against the chair. He couldn’t smell her perfume as much from back here, which was lame, but he didn’t have a legitimate reason to be leaning in all close to her anymore. Such was life. “When is your article due?”

“We’re aiming for Thursday — just so we can get it out before the first game of the season.” Savvy replied, realizing that the deadline was only a mere two days from now. Hopefully, she could pull this piece together, enough so that it would not only impress Trixie, but also the redhead seated next to her. “I’m crossing my fingers that I can get it done in time.” She stated honestly, unsure if it would truly happen or not.

“Sounds stressful, I wish you the best.” Trev looked suddenly shy as cheeks flsuhed pink. “If you need some kind of distraction, let me know. We don’t have to wait until Friday to go out.” Oh wow, he couldn’t believe he just said that. Damian would be so proud of his boy, he’d have to tell him!

Savannah smiled widely — did he just ask her on another date? Before they even went on the first one? She tried her hardest not to show her excitement, but some of it definitely came through in her words. “A distraction would be nice…” She replied, rosy cheeks and all.

Maybe he was actually good at this! He was certainly doing better than he thought he would. She wanted to do something… something… but what? Trevor hadn’t planned this far ahead, he was just going with the flow. He remembered seeing the flyers around school this morning about the boat party tonight. That was a good segue. “Were you planning on going to the party tonight?”

“The one that all the flyers are for? The Helmsley’s, I think it was?” Savannah let her eyes glance down to her bag where one of the flyers sat. She had been thinking of going, but wasn’t too sure, as she didn’t know if Josie would be there or not. “Yeah, I was thinking about it, sounds like it’ll be fun.”

“It definitely will be, the Helmsley’s are made of money. It’ll make the bash the boys and I threw look like preschool. I could be your ride there, and we could do something beforehand, just you and me? If you want to…” Trevor looked a little apprehensive at that. He hoped she might want to, and that he wasn’t being weird in the way that he asked. This was all very unfamiliar territory.

Savvy replied all too eagerly, “Yes,” She quickly said, but paused after realizing how fast she had replied. Taking a deep breath before she continued, Savannah smiled wider than before. “I’d really like that.” She stated, a glimmer of excitement in her eyes.

“Great!” Trevor beamed giddily, clearly proud of himself for getting this far. He quickly scanned his mind for things that they could do. He didn’t know anything about her hobbies or preferences, aside from writing, so he went with a suggestion that he would like. “Do you like ice cream? It’s one of my favorite foods, even if it’s a cheat snack.” Trev wasn’t very good at watching his diet, truth be told, and having Remy as a father didn’t help with that. The amount of time he spent in the gym and on sports teams made up for his atrocious eating habits, though.

“Ice cream sounds perfect.” Savvy replied, thrilled that she’d get to hang out with Trevor today and Friday. She hadn’t been awake for more than two hours and she was already having an incredible day. “I’ve got a killer sweet tooth.” She admitted, a small laugh escaping from her lips.

“Mee tooo.” Trev agreed with a laugh. “I usually go this place called Creamistry. Hmm… when does the party start?”

Savannah took a look down at the flyer. “Starts at 8:00, boat leaves at 8:45 sharp…” She replied, reading off the paper and then looking back up at Trevor. “Would hate to be the person who shows up at 8:46.” She mused with a laugh.

“Yeah, totally. They’re punctual people, so that’s a serious deadline.” He chuckled and flashed an award winning smile at her. “How about I pick you up at 7 then?”

Sav nearly fainted right then and there when he smiled at her, but somehow managed to keep her composure. The way this boy made her feel just by looking at her was unlike anything she had experienced before. “7:00 it is.”

CANCELLED.

_{Location: Homeroom -----> BHHS Hallway
Collab: Damian @Universorum and Savannah @melissahart}

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Savannah walked into homeroom, journal and pen in hand. She was ready to talk and redeem herself from yesterday, after her article turned sour (as deemed by Riley). Her green eyes darted around the room- he had to be here somewhere. After all, they did have homeroom together. Finally, her eyes landed on him. He was sitting in the corner surrounded by some other guys on the football team and didn’t seem too into the conversation, so she’d be the perfect distraction- she hoped.

Slowly walking over to him, she sat down at the empty desk in front of the boy and smiled genuinely, attempting to grab his attention. “Hey, Damian. Do you have a second?”

Damian’s mind was elsewhere. Last night had been a rollercoaster ride of emotions. His mom was pissed, and he knew she was pissed, because she’d called Trevor and then Remy right after… Sheesh. He was narrowly avoiding the executioner’s tax; a swing of the axe. As such, his mind wasn’t really into the conversation his ex-teammates were having, so when Savannah (right? she was redheaded. he should have had this down) approached him, he was more than happy to stand up.

“Yes, totally. Sure. Let’s go to the hall.” Damian said, before taking her arm and leading her to the hall.

Savvy was a little surprised with how enthusiastic Damian was acting- wasn’t he still supposed to be upset about the whole ordeal? Dropping her bag on a chair and following him to the hallway where it was a little bit quieter, the redhead tried to piece together the questions she had prepared for this interview. After all, she did practice in her mirror last night to make sure that this went flawlessly. She had already messed up once (‘messed up’ was up to interpretation- it was a bad article, but she did get a date out of it) and wasn’t planning on letting it happen again.

“So I’m the features editor for the Orange and Black and I’m writing an article about the upcoming Football season. As everyone already knows you are clearly missing from this season’s roster, so I wanted to take the opportunity to get your side of the story. Would you mind if I asked you a couple of questions?”

Damian listened to what Sav had to say, and stared at her for a few quiet moments, the only sound filling the otherwise dead air being that of the footsteps of their peers. Finally, Damian spoke in a quiet, soft voice. “That’s uh… that’s the school newspaper, right?” He said, carefully gauging her reaction. He really… really needed to keep up on these things. Damian had been so focused on getting in Joy’s pants, that he’d forgotten details like that. Look, when your mind is all stackin’ plates, bangin’ weights, and kissin’ girls, you forget irrelevant stuff like the school newspaper. It’s just bound to happen.

Sav let out a small laugh at his comment- he was kidding right? Nevermind that, she answered his question. “Yes, it’s the school newspaper.” She replied, brushing her red hair out of her face. She opened up her journal and clicked her pen so she was ready to write. “I just have a few things I want to ask you so your voice can be heard by the rest of the student body.”

Alright, that answered that. Yeah, Damian supposed he could work with the school newspaper. They were at least fair and didn’t blow things as far out of proportion as the Weekend Warrior tended to do. “Sure, hit me with the questions. I’ll answer them.” Damian said, giving her a thumbs up. If it were any other girl, he’d hit on her. ...well, that wasn’t really true anymore. He was an honest man now! But even if he didn’t have Joy, he still wouldn’t go for her. This was Trevor’s girl. Dude had good taste.

“Great, let’s jump right in.” Savannah stated, putting her finger on her first question for the ex-captain. She looked up at him. You can’t play nice, Sav. Riley’s right, a good reporter needs to get to the good stuff, not just go skin deep... She reminded herself of the conversation that her and Trevor’s brother had the previous evening, which was driving this interview. “The administration was extremely harsh on your sanctions and suspension from the team. Was your indefinite removal due to other factors, or strictly in result of the celebration you held on new years?” She asked, getting right down to the nitty-gritty.

Whoa, that was a rather tense question. Damian had expected stuff like ‘are you good at football?’ Yes. ‘Is the team good at football?’ Mostly. ‘Will they win without you?’ I’d say yes. Damian took a deep breath, taking his response into careful consideration. Saying the wrong thing was a definite possibility here, and something he certainly wanted to avoid. “Just the party. I’m pretty sure that the Coach is more upset about me being kicked than I am. It’s definitely not my grades, those are ace. Put that in there, in case my moms reads this.” Damian explained, leaning over to see the notes that Sav wrote down.

Scribbling down his main points, Sav moved onto her follow-up question. “There are...rumors that you didn’t plan this party alone. Why did you take the fault if this is the case?” In order to sound unbiased, she phrased things in a way that made it seem as though she was an outside party.

“I mean, I didn’t really take it alone. Henry was there. I guess, it sucks, but at the end of the day… Maybe I got a little singled out. Doesn’t really matter, the team will go on. I’ll go on?” Whoops. That was more of a question than a confident, brave statement. Damian repeated himself, “I’ll be just fine without football. Maybe the administration will change their mind, though. Who knows?”

“That definitely says a lot about your character, Damian. The fault of one over the fault of many isn’t an easy situation to be in, but I’m sure your friends value that quality in you.” Savannah stated, writing down as much as she could. She looked up at him, hoping that she wasn’t being all too harsh- she really did want him to be able to tell his side of the story, hence, her next question. “I want to give you the opportunity to speak- for you to say whatever you want to the administration. If they were reading this article, what would you tell them?”

These questions weren’t very easy, man. Maybe he would have been better off sitting in class and listening to boys talk about nothing. “I guess I’d just want to say… that I don’t really think this is fair… and maybe it’s a little harsh, but I mean I guess that’s your call to make. Not mine.” Damian shrugged his shoulders. He really didn’t have a whole lot to say on this subject. “What’s done is done, and I know they’re not gonna reverse it. Why would they? But maybe they can at least never do it to anyone else. They really screwed the pooch, as far as me and Henry go.”

Savannah gave him a smile. “You’re doing great.” She told him, hopefully instilling some confidence in the boy. This was a complete 180 from her interview yesterday, but it was the best flip it could be. “Just one last question for you…” She started and looked up at him in order to make sure that she was truly ready. “If you could change one thing that you did in this situation, what would it be?”

Well, that’s an easy question. This response didn’t take Damian anywhere near as long to say:

“I wouldn’t change a damn thing.”

Savannah smirked, writing down the one-liner word for word. Shutting her journal, she gave an appreciative glance to Damian. “I know some of that wasn’t the easiest, but I hope that this article is meant to paint you in a different light than the administration is putting you in. Thank you, Damian, I really appreciate it.” Sav stated with a smile. This was the kind of article she needed.

CANCELLED.

_{Location: BHHS (Early Morning)
Mentions: Rose @Lovely Complex and The Twins @Universorum @smarty0114}

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5:00 AM. It was early, too early, but not for a certain Helmsley.

Bailee had work to do.

She had already drunk two cups of coffee, made a trip to the nearest copy center, and had already designed and mapped out a clean cut and aesthetically pleasing Marketing plan. With only T-15 hours until the party, she somehow had to get the word out to the entire student population of BHHS, which was more than 3,000 people. For any normal person, the task would be daunting, but for the brunette, this was child’s play.

Pulling her car into the dead and empty BHHS parking lot, she gathered her belongings and made her way towards the front entrance of the building. It was the first time she had been back to the school in six month, which caused nostalgia to be extremely evident. Then again, the past wasn’t important, so Bailee just moved forward. Walking in, she mercilessly started throwing flyers around like confetti. They littered the floors of the hallway, were stuck into lockers, slipped under the doors of classrooms- she put flyers wherever she could.

Surprisingly, there were some people actually at school during this hour, evidence being a blonde girl sitting and doodling on her jeans. Bailee approached the girl and slid her a flyer. “Party of the year is tonight, come one, come all.” She motioned down to the flyer and smiled before walking away to continue her quest.

Bailee made her way around the school until she was out of flyers. Then taking to social media, she held out her phone on her front camera so she was filming herself. Filming a small video, she gave the camera her brightest smile. “Hey BHHS, did you miss us? Epic party tonight on the Helmsley yacht, The Destiny. She leaves at 8:45 PM, so don’t be late!” Blowing a kiss at the camera and pressing the send button, she posted the video everywhere: Snapchat, Instagram, Facebook, hell, she even put it on LinkedIn.

Once she had littered social media like she had the school hallways, she sent out a text to her siblings.

The deed has been done. Everyone will know about tonight the moment they step into school. You can thank me later xox

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Hey, BHHS, are you free tonight?

Come join the Helmsley's on The Destiny for a night on the Pacific that you will never forget...

Door opens at 8:00 PM

Boat leaves at 8:45 PM sharp

Don't miss out on the party of the year!

CANCELLED.

_{Location: Brynn's House ---> BHHS Parking Lot
Collab: Sean @Universorum and Brynn @melissahart}

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Do you want me to pick you up?

Brynn stared down at her phone, eyes fixed on her latest text message from none other than Sean Sterling. After last night’s Candyland events, she was even more determined to make him disappear from her life, on the account that her friends thought it’d be good for her to settle down. Since when was that a good idea? It didn’t even occur to her how she could even get hurt by this guy- she was the one in control here, and that wasn’t going to change anytime soon.

Picking up her cell, she opened the message from the blonde and began to type out a response. Should she take the ride or no? She decided yes, mostly on the account of she was terribly lazy and didn’t want to drive to school.

Sure, why not. 17 Oceanview Way, you can text me when you’re outside.

Sean Sterling was up and raring to go much earlier than normal. Maybe it was the excitement that had blossomed from the purchase of the bike. He’d already left the house by the time his sister had dragged him out of bed on Monday. He’d gotten on his bike and taken it out, giving it another go. This time, without his mother breathing down his neck, Sean was helmetless. Dangerous? Yes. Comfortable? Very. Besides, he was okay with the danger. Did that make him a bad boy?

Fuck, he was turning into a stereotype. Dressed in black, sunglasses on his head, sitting on a black motorcycle, no helmet because he didn’t give a damn. And what did he do? He asked Brynn if she wanted him to pick her up. Sean assumed she didn’t, and nearly headed off to school when he got the text back. After he’d received it, Sean stuffed the rest of the McDonald’s hash brown he’d bought for breakfast into his mouth, keyed in her address, and zipped over.

Once there, he shut the bike off in front of her home and leaned forward on the handlebars, typing out a quick message to her.

Here.

Brynn’s phone ‘dinged’ and she looked down to see Sean’s text notifying her of his presence. Grabbing her tote bag, she headed down the large winding staircase of her home, and towards the front door. Looking out of the peephole, she scanned to see if Sean was actually there, but unfortunately, she didn’t see his car. All she saw was a kid on a motorcycle, who wasn’t- oh my god. Realizing that Sean was the kid on the motorcycle, her jaw dropped. Since when did he drive a two-wheeled death machine?

Walking out to greet him, she gave him a puzzled glance. “Hi… new ride?”

Once Brynn appeared, Sean straightened up and took his sunglasses off to turn his attention to her. He nodded in response to her question. “Yeah. I got it last night because I got sick of riding around in Selena’s… princess carriage. I’ve never felt more out of place than the first time I got inside that. Besides, that drives itself and is electric. I drive this, and it runs on gas. You can just get on the back. Trust me, I know what I’m doin’ on here, so you’ll be safe.” Sean said, giving her a short grin. “I don’t… have a helmet, but it’s better without one. Just hold on tight and don’t lean against me on the corners.”

Brynn swooned hardcore when Sean took off his sunglasses and stood up against the bike. His bad boy vibes were evident, and she was all for it. Snap out of it, Brynn she thought to herself, trying to downplay the situation as much as she could. “Okay, I trust you. Hopefully, we make it to school in one piece.” She replied, climbing onto the bike behind him and wrapping her arms tightly around his torso.

“On the bright side, if we don’t make it to school in one piece… at least we don’t have to be at school.” Sean replied, flicking the sunglasses back open and putting them on his head. He started the bike and revved the engine, before kicking off the curb and pulling onto the road, zipping up to speed and cruising along. So. Much. Better. Than. The. Pink. Monstrosity.

Brynn held on tighter to Sean as they began zooming towards the school, getting a rush out of feeling the wind blow through her hair and watching the passing cars go by. This was a thrill, Sean was a thrill, Sean was hot and this added to the list of pros that she had made on his behalf.

Sean shifted the bike, and the speed kicked in instantly. This bike was fucking dope — the biggest downside was that their ride had to come to a close so soon. Within a few more minutes, they were parked in the school parking lot, and Sean looked over his shoulder at Brynn as he put the kickstand down. “See? I told you we were safe.”

Brynn laughed, resting her head on his shoulder. “It was touch and go there for a second… but like I said-“ She gave him a kiss on the cheek, “I trust you.” Brynn replied, removing her head from his shoulder and taking a look around at everyone going into school. Hopefully, none of her hookups would see this, since she had big plans for the day.

“And you should. You’re pretty much safer on the back of this bike than you are on your own two feet.” Sean took the opportunity to kiss Brynn on the lips before he got off of the bike and nodded to her. “Alright, I guess I’ll see you around. Let me know if you need a ride home, I’ll be happy to accommodate you.” Sean, on the other hand, did not have big plans for the day — unless sleeping in every class possible counted as ‘big plans,’ but he suspected it did not.

Brynn gracefully made her way off of the bike, fixing her hair quickly before looking up at Sean. “Yeah, I gotta run and do the morning show, but hopefully I’ll see you later. Maybe in a janitor's closet, maybe not.” She replied with a wink, referring to their rendezvous yesterday during homeroom.

“We’ll see what I have on my busy schedule. I’m a tutor now, did I tell you that? For some girl named Parker.” Sean explained, before he stole another kiss from her, and even gave her a wink. “Just in case I don’t see you again.” He said simply, before turning and jogging off into the building.

CANCELLED.

_{Location: The Helmsley Three Meeting Room
Collaboration: @Universorum and @smarty0114}

---

---

Brian had made sure to set up the war room before even bothering to invite his siblings in for a meeting. The table, a technological marvel, was capable of projecting holograms, and the surface of it was a giant touchscreen. He’d copied his notes to the computer inside the table, and placed copies on the screen in front of both of his siblings preferred spot, while he took the head of the table this time — usually, whoever called the meeting took the head. Alongside the handwritten, scanned in notes, Brian had opened the Weekend Warrior, highlighting the relevant parts.

In the notes, he had the basic outline of what they’d missed out on since their departure, based on what he’d heard from Damian. This included Hailey declaring Jennifer Hart excommunicado, and her shift into a burner — apparently now A Double’s queen to his king. More importantly, it included Hailey’s breaking up of Trixie and Owen, with a few different theories on why that may have happened.

In a separate window on the screen at each seat, was the video clip from the Weekend Warrior of Owen’s outburst, in its entirety. The clip was slightly edited by Brian — he’d been busy. He’d circled a few parts he considered important, including Hailey grabbing Trixie’s arm to stop her from interfering, and that stupid smile that was on her face the whole time.

The final piece of the puzzle had been pulling up a hologram of The Destiny, the family’s superyacht. The 3D model of the ship was in the center of the table, slowly rotating in a circle.

When the door opened, and Bailee walked in, Brian smiled at her, “hey, glad you could make it. Becca should be here soon, I hope. We have work to do. If you look at your seat, I think I laid everything out for you and her. At least as much as I know. I have a plan to deal with things; I guess Hailey has gone overboard while we were gone, and more importantly: the Weekend Warrior put the spotlight on You Know Who.”

Bailee approached her brother and kissed him on the cheek before circling around to her designated seat in the meeting room. “I appreciate you getting me out of my meetings for the rest of the day- They want to move up the Reynolds Contract by three weeks, which I did not want to deal with today. I’m jet-lagged as it is.” Sitting at the table and taking out her compact once again as well as her lipstick, she touched up her makeup as the two waited for the arrival of the twin that completed the trifecta. While they waited she leafed through the files her brother had presented her with and prepared herself for his master plan of redemption. She had heard fragments of the gossip from various sources, and had preemptively taken a gander at Weekend Warrior- she enjoyed staying up to date with BHHS’s journalist at-large.

“Hailey certainly did more than she should have in our absence- guess we’ll have to rectify things immediately.” She let the video play from Owen’s momentary lapse of judgment, and grimaced at his harsh words and actions. “Someone needs to get that boy a therapist.” She remarked, noting everything wrong with that situation before looking up at her brother through the hologram in the center of the table. “Or a straitjacket.”

Becca marched into the war room, ready to go to battle. Of the triplets, Becca was always the one ready to act. A bit of a hothead, she was happy that Brian had called this meeting. It meant they were making a move. ”We’re on vacation and suddenly Hailey decides to go full Stalin on the school,” Becca exclaimed, walking over to Bailee to give her a kiss on the cheek, then to Brian for the same. Finally, she took her seat, going through the files Brian had left out for her.

”I just got back from Henry’s. The Elite is on the bench right now from what I can tell. The Weekend Warrior’s article dealt a blow. Damian’s off the team, which might actually be a blessing in disguise. But, I’m assuming you both know that much. What’s your plan so far Bri?” Becca asked, looking up at her brother.

Brian smiled, and stood up, leaning onto the table. The team was reassembled, and now it was time to lay things out for them to either decline or get on board with; and if he knew his sisters, it’d be the latter. “Bailee, Owen’s crazy, but he’s still our cousin. Therapist — no straitjacket. Alright. Obviously, their original plan of throwing a party to get everyone together and make them feel welcome and like we’re all one big happy family didn’t work out — makes sense. It was a stupid plan. I don’t know what happened at the party, and frankly? I don’t care. We’re going to move past that now.” Brian tapped the hologram, then looked at his sisters again, “Phase one of the plan is pretty much the same as what they did; only this time we’ll be there. We’re going to throw a party, on the Destiny. Bailee, you have until tomorrow night to make sure everyone in the school knows about it. Yes, tomorrow night. Yes, I talked to mom and dad already. Yes, they said okay. Becca, you and Damian are hosting it. No, I haven’t asked him yet. No, I don’t care if he protests. Make him agree. It’s important that we use this to make everyone see that Hailey; I’m taking liberties here, and assuming she’s the one who got him punished, can’t break someone that easily. If Damian throws another party, this close to the last one, he looks invincible.”

He spun the ship, “A ship is a bit better for our purposes, I think. If anyone starts too much shit, we can throw them off. And we will throw them off. I’ve also quit the football team, in case you guys haven’t heard yet. Word travels fast around here, it’s pretty wild. I’m gonna be one of the co-hosts on Riley’s TV show. I’ll use that to advertise the party. I guess it’s time for me to stop lurking around in the shadows, which sucks, but whatever. I’ll cross that bridge when I come to it. Any questions, comments, or suggestions?” There, Brian had laid out phase one.

Bailee took in her brother’s words, in result, the wheels began turning in her head. When given a task, she always went the extra mile, and this situation wouldn’t be any different. A Tuesday night was risky for a party, but if there was no risk, there wouldn’t be any reward. In regards to advertising the boat celebration, Bailee loved a good, sexy marketing plan, and would make sure each and every person at school knew about it before third period. It’s what she did best, after all. “Party starts at 8:00 PM and the boat leaves the dock at 8:45 PM sharp. If you show up at 8:46 you will be waving as the Destiny sets sail and leaves you behind.” She clarified for the twins typing this all out on her tablet. Looking up at her siblings, she smirked deviously. “Do we make everyone pay an entrance fee? After all, we do have some leverage in this situation...”

Becca grinned. A boat party. Just the kind of thing to welcome the siblings back home. Show everyone, including Hailey, that they were still the head bitches in charge. ”I vote yes on the entrance fee. Why not make some money off of this,” Becca said, already planning out the party in her head. She’d have James pick up supplies tomorrow. They’d need a lot of booze, and a lot of drugs...fuck. ”Drugs. Henry said that Hana Park is with Hailey now. No Pizza Man means drugs are gonna be a bit harder to come across,” Becca said, chewing her lip. ”A Double could hook us up with weed, but the harder shit is gonna be a pain,” she explained.

Brian frowned and looked down at his notes. He saw nothing about this bit on Hana being with Hailey now. That was… unfortunate, and would make things slightly more of a struggle for them. “Gonna be a hard no on the entrance fees. We need to have as many people as possible — sorry. Besides, don’t we have enough money already? I mean, in the time I said that sentence, our fortune probably grew a million dollars. Now two. Just saying.”

“You can never have too much money, Bri. Never.”

“Well, we have enough for now. The drugs thing is fine. I’ll see what I can come up with, there might be a couple of people I can ask. See if Henry knows anyone, Becca. You’re always on his dick anyway; and if someone knows where to get drugs, it’s Henry fucking Green. He spends more time high than a normal person does sober…” He looked up at the ceiling briefly, before turning his attention back to the others. “Do what you have to do to get the party together, alright? And, apparently, Damian has a girl he fancies now? I only paid so much attention to him after he’d told me the thing about You Know Who. I was busy trying to think up a plan. And this is what I came up with. Once we’ve calmed the Hailstorm, and gotten things back to a more level playing field, we’re gonna cut the Weekend Warrior down; by any means necessary. But, I’ve listened to dad talk enough to know that Rome wasn’t built in a day. Point is, maybe he can bring the girl. She can wear a bikini; if I knew Damian, that’ll entice him. Becks, you can get the finer details of the party together — I don’t really… party. I guess I’m going to now, but I’m definitely not a planner.”

He paused for a moment, giving them a smile. “You guys in?”

Becca turned her head to face Bailee, making brief eye contact, grinning, then turning back to Brian. ”Of course I’m in, Baby Brother.”

Bailee couldn’t help but smile as well, looking over at both of her siblings. “Count me in, too.” She replied, tossing her hair behind one shoulder. This was going to be fun.

“Let’s remind Hailey and the rest of BHHS who really runs the show around here.”

---

---

Next stop for the Beverly Hills High student body? A normal Tuesday at school and then apparently, a night out on a superyacht in the Pacific ocean. Good thing Wednesday is a late start — you’ll have time to wake up from the hangover induced sleeping in you might just be suffering from.

CANCELLED.

_{It’s Bailee Helmsley’s world, and you’re just living in it.
Location: Bailee’s Private Jet ----> Helmsley Estate ----> The Helmsley Three’s Meeting Room}

---

---

“I already told you Leon, we can’t move the contract up three weeks, I have exams to take- No, I don’t care that we could possibly lose the deal, we can’t change our deadline, end of story.” Bailee argued, stirring her spoon impatiently in her coffee as she spoke with one of her business partners on the phone. Thank god TSA had changed their in-flight phone policies, or else she would have had to deal with all of this bullshit when she landed. Although she didn’t officially have the role yet, she still acted as the Chief Executive Officer of her father’s company on a day to day basis, overseeing all of the same business functions that he did, and conversing with clients, business partners, and other key players. For most 17-year-olds, this would be too much to take on, but Bailee Helmsley wasn’t most 17-year-olds.

“If they want to sign, they’ll do so in three week’s time once they can improve their numbers, and if not, they can move out of the way.” The brunette spoke sternly into the phone; her seriousness and professionalism whilst talking with people nearly thrice her age was second to none. Looking out the window, Bailee noted that they were making their final descent towards the Helmsley Estate, reason enough for her to wrap up this aggravating call. “I’m going to need to hang up now, and hopefully by the time I touch down, you will have smoothed things out.” Pressing ‘end call’ faster than lightning, a deep sigh emitted from the girl’s lips as soon as she was free of her CEO duties for the time being.

“Charlie, what’s my schedule for the rest of the day? Bailee asked her virtual assistant, slipping on her Louboutins that she had taken off for the duration of the flight as she spoke.

“You have a meeting with the Manager of Product in half hour’s time, followed by a conference call with the Directors of Inventory forty-five minutes later, and then you have...” Charlie droned on and on in his British accent, so much that it was making Bailee’s head hurt. Checking her phone as he read off her calendar, she noticed a text from her twin brother which held one word only. Meeting.

Now, the Helmsley’s took their meetings quite seriously, so seeing this message meant that her brother meant business, and this was something that took precedent over her other duties. Her family came first, and she firmly enforced this in her business proceedings. Whenever one of her siblings wanted to talk about something, she made sure she was there for them, which made the words that followed quite easy to say.

“Cancel everything, I have other immediate things to attend to. Such as figuring out how the hell I’m going to catch up on all of my schoolwork. Phone the school for me, will you, and see that things are put in order for me? And text my twins and tell them I’m just landing now.” She requested, feeling the plane meet the ground and the aircraft began to slow and roll down the tarmac.

“Yes, Ms. Helmsley, your calendar has been cleared, and I will telephone the school and notify your siblings immediately.” Bailee nodded in response, gathering her things, including her large tote bag and her state of the art tablet which held all of her important files for Helmsley Enterprises. That tablet was her world, and it went with her wherever she went. Rummaging through her purse for a compact, she inspected her reflection in the mirror, and after satisfied with her appearance, shoved it back into her bag. Sliding on her sunglasses, she handed off her bags to the attendant and walked down the stairs of the plane, where her driver was waiting to take her home.

As soon as she pulled up to the estate, Bailee strutted through the front door and down the long winding hallway towards the meeting room, where her brother was awaiting her arrival. Her heels echoed loudly in the hallway against the marble tile, but that was expected due to the sheer size of the home. Arriving at her destination, she flung the door open, tilting down her sunglasses to meet the eyes of one of her twins.

“You rang?”

CANCELLED.

_{Location: Harper Estate
Featuring: Jackson Harper (Sav’s father) and Deana Jenkins (Sav’s future stepmother)
Mentions: ….take a lucky guess @Silent Observer}

---

---

“Dad, Deana, I’m home!” Sav called out against the loud jazz music she was greeted with as she walked into the Harper Estate and shut and locked the door behind her. Delicious aromas wafted through the entryway, the smell of homemade marinara sauce filling Sav’s senses. Dropping her bag down in front of the coat closet, she slipped off her shoes and walked towards the kitchen where she was met with a sight that made her smile. Her father and Deana, her soon to be stepmother, were ballroom dancing around the kitchen and laughing like there was no tomorrow. She stood against the wall, not saying anything, but just admiring their smiles and carefree nature. It made Sav’s heart soar and a smirk come to her face to see her father so happy. It took an additional two seconds for the pair to notice the redhead watching them, and laughed once they realized how silly they looked.

“We’re practicing for the Ocean’s 17 after party- there’s going to be a live band and everything!” Deana explained, breaking away from the dance and moving back towards the stovetop where dinner was cooking. “Your father is very excited to show off his moves on Friday.”

Oh no. Savvy completely forgot about her father’s movie premiere on Friday- Ocean’s 17 was his latest producing venture- which she had promised a few weeks back that she’d attend. Mentally cursing herself, she knew she was in between a rock and a hard place. On the one hand, she didn’t want to disappoint her father, but on the other hand, a gorgeous redhead wanted to take her out on a date.

Guess she’d have to break the news to her father over dinner that she wasn’t coming to the premiere.

“How was school today, Savannah? Learn anything interesting?” Her father, Jackson asked as he set the table, the place settings gleaming underneath the light of the chandelier hanging above.

I learned how to not make a complete fool of myself... Sav thought to herself, but laughed as she gave her dad a real answer. “We talked about derivatives in Calculus today and I thought my head was going to explode.”

“Dinner’s ready!” Deana stated, motioning for her fiancé and Sav to take their seats at the table. Bringing over bowls of pasta, salad, and other sides, she presented the feast she made for family dinner in glorious fashion.

“Once again, we will be eating leftovers for the next week.” Jackson mumbled to Savannah jokingly, which received a light smack from Deana. He spooned some of the pasta onto his plate along with some salad for some greenery. He wasn't too fond of vegetables, just like his daughter, but in order to appease his fiancé, Jackson sucked it up. He was kind of a child in that sense.

“How was work today, Dee?" Savannah asked as she also took a small amount of salad for her plate, imitating her father's actions. Deana smiled, taking a sip of her white wine; she worked as a nurse at the nearby Cedars Sinai hospital and loved talking about her job and her patients.

“Today was good. It definitely had some rocky moments, but there were some highs that were really exciting. The elderly woman I told you guys about, the one who fell in the shower, she got discharged today and walked out of the hospital on her own!" Deana looked over at Jackson and saw him making googly eyes at her; he was so in love with the fact that she was so passionate about her work as a nurse. “Honey, you're staring."

Jackson laughed, taking off his glasses. “There, now you're just a blurry blob instead of my future wife. How's that?" The three laughed and began to eat, falling into silence as they savored the tastes and flavors of Deana’s homemade masterpiece. After a few minutes of eating, Sav’s father spoke again after dabbing his mouth with a napkin. “So for Friday, Savannah, I was thinking that you-” Jackson started to talk about the premiere, but Sav decided she needed to tell him now that she wouldn’t be able to make it on the account of an adorable redhead.

“Actually dad, I’m really sorry, but I can’t come on Friday.” She let her fork clang against her plate as she looked up at him apologetically. Jackson looked up from his food, a little confused at his daughter’s change of heart.

“Why not? I thought you were excited to come see the movie.” He asked, taking another bite of his pasta, and exchanging a look with his fiancé. Savannah shifted uncomfortably in her seat, unsure of how to say this to him. This wasn't the type of conversation she was expecting to have with her father so soon, but alas, there she was, telling him about the new boy in her life.

“I um… actually, have a date on Friday.”

Silence filled the room once again, except this time it was a little more prolonged. Jackson was a little taken aback and didn’t know how to respond. His daughter- his only daughter- was going on a date. He had no clue how to respond, and he didn’t know the right way to respond. So, he went with his gut and tried to keep things casual. “A date? Who’s the lucky man?”

Savvy continued eating, trying to downplay the awkwardness as much as she could. “A guy from my school. He’s on the football team.” She played with the lettuce leaves on her plate, trying to make it look as though she'd eaten more than she actually had.

“Well, what’s his name?” Jackson pried, wanting some more information than just the fact this kid ran around on a field chasing a ball. He took a sip of his red wine and waited in anticipation to hear about his daughter's potential suitor.

“Trevor Wells”

Another prolonged pause came from her father before he spoke again. “Well, that’s nice,” Jackson turned to Deana, “Pass the pasta, please?” He realized he shouldn't ask too many more questions; Jackson knew Sav was responsible and wouldn't go out with anyone who wasn't respectable, so he didn't push the issue.

“So it’s okay with you?” Savannah double checked, not knowing if her father was going to be upset that she wasn't attending, or fine with things entirely.

“Of course it is, Savannah, I’m not going to make you miss out on something for one of my premieres, I have them all the time. But, I expect for him to have you home by curfew. And if he doesn’t, I’ll know, because you know why? I have a-” He wasn't kidding. Sav's father had a movie premiere almost once a month. He worked incredibly hard on many movies as a producer, thus causing him to have a full social schedule. When Jackson started to say his signature line, Sav knew exactly what he was going to say before he said it.

“A fathers intuition.” She completed his sentence, knowing he bragged quite often about his 'gift' of knowing everything and anything Sav was going to say or do. It wasn't perfect, but Jackson did have keen senses, especially when it came to his daughter.

“-father’s intuition, that’s right. Also, he’s not allowed to come inside after the date is over because I don’t need you-”

“Dad!” Savannah interjected, a laugh escaping as she exclaimed and interrupted her father before he could delve deeper into his thoughts. That was the reason why she was so afraid of telling her dad. She didn't need him thinking about things like that, especially since she wasn't thinking things like that. Sav was a good girl and didn't plan on losing it until she met the right person. Whenever that someone decided to come along.

“Jack, honey, let Savannah do what she wants. Besides, that means you and I will have some quality time together on Friday.” Deana wriggled her eyebrows jokingly, getting a laugh from her future step-daughter. “Anyway, Savannah, when’s your next modeling gig? I want to come to one of them one of these days.”

Grateful for the subject change, Savannah grabbed her phone to check her calendar. Modeling was something she had taken up after she moved to Beverly Hills with her father. She was scouted by a colleague of his, and it became a passion of hers quickly since it was something she became quite good at. According to her agents, she had a “natural beauty” that most girls in this state failed to attain.

“This Saturday, actually. I don’t know if it's an editorial shoot or casual, but you definitely should come with me! We can get brunch and go shopping or something beforehand.” Savvy liked the idea of being close to Deana. Having a mother figure out here in California was important to her, especially since her heart hurt whenever she thought about her mother back at home. It was a tough decision to leave her to move to Beverly Hills, but Sav knew it was the right thing for her to do at this point in time.

Jackson couldn’t be happier that his daughter was making an effort to be close with his fiancé. His main apprehension for having her come out to live with him was the fact he was with someone other than Sav's mother, but Savannah was understanding and willing to make it work. “That sounds like a fun afternoon for you two, but please do try to not max out my credit card. I looked at the reciepts last time and nearly had a heart attack.”

Savannah smirked. “I promise, only if you show me the dance moves you're planning on showing off at the party... I'm dying to see them."

CANCELLED.

^{Riley & Savannah}

_{After school at Heartfelt Bites...
Collab with @Lovely Complex}

Savvy was stuck.

Having been holed up in Heartfelt Bites for the past two hours attempting to write her article, she was beginning to get frustrated, her words not sounding as good as she thought they would. If she were writing this by hand, the garbage can in the corner would be overflowing by now with drafts, but since she was on her trusty laptop, the edit history was longer than life itself.

Sav took another bite of her chocolate eclair, savoring the delicious dessert that was currently keeping her sane. She was still a little shaken up from earlier, the incident at practice engrained in her memory, but knew she shouldn’t dwell on it. It had been a long day filled with ups and downs, but as her mother taught her, chocolate was always the cure to anything and everything. A deep sigh escaping her lips, she took a sip of her coffee and continued powering through with the article.

The bell of the door ringed and Riley Wells, the brother to a lovely redhead’s desire, came rolling in with a black helmet on his head and a medium-sized delivery bag on his back, having just gotten done with his round of cheesecake deliveries for the day. All food in this building may it be served at Captain Cuddles, Heartfelt Bites, or The Underground, was influenced and catered by his father, Remy. His father could’ve been the next Gordon Ramsey, minus the anger and cursing, especially with the experience on his belt, but he chose being a father first, chef second. Some people may say settling at a family friendly place like Captain Cuddles was a waste of potential for Remy but Riley knew his father was happy. He got to see him and Trevor grow up and all three of them would patiently wait for their famed father, the money maker of the family, Jareth Wells, to return home from frequent tours and other music obligations. Their life was good and together they all could and would get through anything. At least once all things were out in the open and not left inside one’s head… festering.

Truth be told, Riley was in the dark with a lot of the happenings in Trevor’s life, as of recently, and vice versa. Especially today. They haven’t had enough time for a good heart to heart. Trevor didn’t know about Riley’s party mishap with Marshall and Jamie and Riley didn’t know that Trevor had asked Savannah out, and also gotten in a brutal fight with Jacob. But maybe before dinner they would catch up! There was no doubt that Riley needed brotherly support today — he was a mess.

After exchanging the bag and the money with the afternoon shift manager, Lacy, who usually took care of financing for his father, Riley, while taking off his helmet, sluggishly scanned the menu of the bakery that only had females working there. It definitely had a visual the moment you walked in. Only girls were hired. The color scheme was pink, red, and white. And it was super lovey dovey. Hearts everywhere. It was extremely gag worthy. Usually the girls would attract people that wanted to flirt with them. Riley was pretty sure one of the girls had a crush on him, but he just wasn’t into her like that. Speaking of that girl…

“One cappuccino and a slice of strawberry buttercream cake, right?” Jasmine beamed her dimpled smile and leaned on the counter, with obvious intention to show cleavage. She even added a wink at the end of her words, as if she knew everything about him even if she knew absolutely nothing besides his usual order. If there was one thing Riley knew, this girl had a type, which he has seen during many bakery visits. It usually involved boys that wore black and came off as ‘cool and mysterious’ (edge lords), but he also knew at her school, which wasn’t Beverly Hills High (thank god), she was always in a relationship...one after the other, with different guys. Riley would like to think he knew crazy when he saw it and this girl definitely gave him those vibes.

“Yeah… that’s right.” It didn’t help he was not good at handling encounters like this. After attempting to pay and she stopping him,’it’s on me’, like she had power in this place, he decided to find a seat since the bakery usually brought your food to you. His eyes did light up when he saw a familiar face. Savannah. The girl that captured his brother’s heart. To what extent, Riley didn’t know, but he did know his brother had been crushing on this girl for some time. Clearing his throat, Riley approached the redhead, his helmet rested between his arm and side, “Mind if I sit here? Oh, and yeah, sorry about the party. I don’t usually drink and I might have said things and done things that weren’t okay. Like call you out and totally embarrass my brother.”

Savannah was so engrossed in her writing that she didn’t notice when someone approached the table, and nearly jumped five feet when the person cleared their throat and began to speak. Realizing that it was Riley, she let out a small laugh at her panic, nearly cursing herself for making herself look like an idiot in front of Trevor’s brother. “No, not at all, please do,” She replied, clearing her papers off of the far side of the table to give him some space. Sav smirked at his apology regarding the events of the party, knowing that he had nothing to apologize for- if he hadn’t said anything, things wouldn’t have been the same. “I didn’t mind, it actually made for some good conversation.”

Gratefully, Riley took a seat and placed his helmet under his seat, sweat gleaming from his forehead. Being delivery boy wasn’t the easiest when his father was locally a big hit because of his grinds. “I haven’t seen him all day — he’s probably worried because of how bad the morning show went. Gotta’ take the punches as they come, you know?” His attention went up to Jasmine who loudly placed his drink and cake on the table, purposely side swiping some of Savannah’s papers so that it fell on the ground.

“So you like gingers. Figures.” The girl clicked her tongue with an immense amount of tude.

“What? No.” Riley bent down to pick of Savannah’s papers.

“Then you must be gay.” Hearing that, Riley jolted up, hitting his head on the table. Fuck. He had enough shit going on. His friend hated him. His other friend had god knows what going on with him that made him cry in the closet. Oh wait, Owen did scare the daylights out of him… that would definitely make someone cry. Pulling himself up, his head pounding, Riley placed Savannah’s papers back on the table and watched the girl flip her hair and walk away. Just because he didn’t want to fuck her didn’t make him gay.

“Yeah….punches...right.” Too soon.

From thinking about one altercation to witnessing another, for second time today, Savannah was absolutely shocked by someone’s behavior. What was this girl’s deal anyway? Why did she have to be so rude? “For someone who works at bakery like this, you’d think she’d be nice…” She whispered to Riley, afraid the girl would hear. “Your head okay?”

With a warm smile, Riley nodded at the natural sweetheart and lightheartedly joked, “It’s seen better days, but I’ll survive.” After grabbing his fork, Riley scooped a small piece of cake and cutely nommed it in his mouth. His face lit up. Man, this cake was the best. Too good. Giving himself a moment to enjoy his dessert, he glanced toward Jasmine briefly then back at his brother’s crush, “She doesn’t like that I’m not into her. I come here at least three times a week, which is three times too many for a girl that wants to get in your pants.” The dark haired boy shrugged, continuing to eat the cake, with incredible speed and like nobody was watching. It was like he ate cake as if it were going to run away. “So —” He put his fork down and grabbed his cappuccino. If he could, he’d ask more questions about her progress with his brother, but he didn’t want to come across as that nosey, possessive brother that needed to make sure the girl his brother was into wasn’t batshit. “— you seem deep into writing. What’s your story about?” He’d assume it had something to do with the paper.

Sav couldn’t help but laugh at Riley as he ate his dessert- he acted like a little kid who was experiencing sugar for the first time in the way that he smiled giddily as he ate. But she could agree that the pastries here were that good, and probably looked the same way as she chewed her eclair. Dabbing her mouth with her napkin, Savvy then gathered her papers and stacked them neatly next to her laptop, resembling the way they were before the waitress knocked them off the table.

“It’s actually next week’s main feature for the Orange and Black about the Football team and the upcoming season,” She picked up one of the sheets of paper that had some bullet notes and passed it over to the boy across from her so he could peruse the bits and pieces she had already thought of. “I stopped by tryouts today to do some research, so now I’m planning it all out and beginning to put it on paper- well, screen.” Sav joked, motioning to her computer.

Riley raised an eyebrow when the interview highlights were focused solely on his brother. Absentmindedly, and perhaps rather crudely, Riley said out loud, all the while still looking at the points, “Is this about the team or about my brother?” Don’t get him wrong, his brother was interesting and really did care about Football, but the article would appear bias if it only focused on one person’s opinions, especially after what had transpired this morning. “Don’t you think this should be more about how each player is going to handle losing their biggest asset? This just seems like just another glorified article about an unstoppable team. When everyone knows without Damian… they’re kinda fucked. Sorry for the cursing.”

He didn’t mean to critique her or make it seem like he knew how to find a story better than she could, but none of the students would care about this. At least he didn’t. None of the players knew what to expect this season. Why? Because they lost their captain. Their captain that unified them. How were the boys going to keep that strength? That unified brotherhood? Trevor was too nice and it showed in the written script of her interview with him. The only time his brother actually showed backbone was when he defended someone he cared about. The rest of the players? Jacob, he was too angry. Lucky? He could care less about the winning streak and probably was only there to watch everything fall. The others? They followed the leader. “I want to know what’s going on in Damian’s head. He deserves to clear his name because no one deserves what he’s going through. And it sucks he’s getting punished for a party that we ALL were at.” Riley didn’t know when Savannah’s deadline was, but what she had so far wouldn’t impress Trixie. With all this time Trixie has been spending with him trying to create projects for both his club and her’s, he was starting to realize she was a tough girl to please, which probably was a bitch for the writers of the newspaper club. Her being the editor-in-chief and all.

Savvy willed herself as much as she could to not turn crimson, but her face did not listen to her brain and thus her cheeks began to match her hair. Riley’s comments had quite a lot of truth to them- Sav was so concerned with impressing her crush and talking to him, that her resulting article lacked any real substance. The biggest thing to happen to the team in the past two years had just occurred that morning, and yet her writing didn’t reflect any of it. She sighed deeply, looking down at the ground in defeat. “I got to the tryouts with much better questions, and when Coach Moss said that Trevor was the most likely to not say anything dumb besides Damian, he looked absolutely distraught.” She admitted, “I couldn’t bear to make him feel even worse by talking more about it. Plus, I was going to talk to more people on the team but there was a little...incident that prevented me from doing so..” Sav took another bite of her eclair in frustration. “Needless to say the interview did not go as well as I wanted it to.”

“An incident?” Riley was in the dark as ever. The closet incident was haunting his mind and her bringing up the word ‘incident’ made it wash over him again. Stop, Riley. He took a sip of his coffee before continuing.

“And hey, you’re still a phenomenal writer.” He softened his expression, internally reprimanding himself for hurting Savannah. “Sorry, my brother says I can be a downright ass because I don’t know how to sugarcoat my words. But, you’re extremely welcoming and that’s a great trait to have when it comes to talking to people. If there’s one thing I know journalists have, like Trixie or… Jamie, they’re ruthless. Nothing else matters but the story and what they gain. That’s the only thing you lack and oddly enough, my brother too. But that isn’t a bad thing. You don’t have to corner or pressure someone to get them to speak. And I’m sure you’ll find the best method that works for you.”

“It’s okay, I need some constructive criticism in my life. Sometimes I’m afraid that people aren’t being completely honest with me.” Sav reassured him. It was true- she always worried in the back of her mind that people were putting up a front and saying terrible things behind her back, but this was refreshing. It kind of stung, but it was what was necessary if she wanted to be a writer. “I guess I just need to be more direct and not worry completely about hurting someone else’s feelings, even if I do care about them...” She trailed off, not wanting to say too much more about it.

“But yeah, there was a small incident at tryouts. I don’t know if it’s my place to tell you what happened…” Sav cringed thinking about Riley’s possible reaction to Trevor getting beat up.

“You have to tell me now.” For some reason, Riley didn’t think his brother was involved. He did assume things would go to shit because of Damian being MIA, but his ignorance of never thinking his brother would be directly involved or even that his brother would get hurt, because his brother was kind of his hero and never got hurt, was definitely written on his face. Hopefully the Weekend Warrior wasn’t around because his brother being in the general vicinity of ‘an incident’ was never good for anyone. That bashing site would paint his brother in a bad light and his brother probably didn’t do anything.

“Well…” Savvy tried to tread lightly, not wanting to scare the younger brother of her crush. “I don’t know why, but Jacob threw Trev to the ground during a play, and then they started arguing about something, I don’t know what, but Trevor was really angry. I’ve never seen him lose his cool like that. And then…. they got into a full on brawl, it was pretty bad.” Sav couldn’t help but wonder if it was her fault, since she had pulled Trevor aside to interview him and Jacob didn’t seem to take to that, but she doubted that was it.

Oh.

His brother was involved. A full on brawl? That wasn’t like Trevor at all, unless he was defending someone not something. Did Jacob have beef with anyone? Emotions were probably heightened because Trevor was most likely going to be Captain. That would make anyone on the team that actually cared angry, but if that was the only matter, Trevor wouldn’t have fed into the jabs. Riley knew for one he had nothing going on with Jacob so it didn’t make sense for Jacob to use him against his brother… his eyes rested on the girl in front of him. Was she already that important to him? Important enough for her brother to fight for her? All this time, he thought Trevor’s crush for her wasn’t something too serious. She was pretty and his type.

And yet, he had a feeling they cared about each other more than he expected. Was he going to lose his brother soon? “I’ll check on him.” Riley’s response was short, like he was taking in everything. A new revelation dawned on him — that his relationship with his brother was going to change soon because his brother now had someone else to go to. “Which reminds me… I need to help with dinner tonight. Thanks for letting me sit here, Savannah. You’re... sweet.” Not waiting for a response, Riley got up and left the bakery, forgetting his helmet under his chair.

She knew she shouldn’t have told him. Watching Riley react wasn’t pretty, and she knew that he was probably going to have words with his brother about the events. Oops. But something else was going on, Sav knew he just wasn’t reacting to the fight alone, she could see the wheels turning in his head. But before she could say anything else, he got up and left, clearly not too pleased with the situation. Gazing over at his empty seat, she noticed he had left behind his helmet. “Riley, wait!” She grabbed the helmet and ran out the door after him, catching him before he got too far away. “Don’t need you hitting your head a second time today.”

“Ah, yeah. Thanks. I’ll see you tomorrow, I’m sure.” Taking the helmet, he placed it on his head and gave her a thumbs up before hopping on his mini motorcycle. His dad didn’t think he was ready for a big one. He gave Savannah a final nod and then the brother to her heart’s desire sped off.

CANCELLED.

_{Location: Bleachers
Mentions: A certain redhead @Silent Observer and a rude jock @Legion02}

---

---

Savannah was on cloud 9. Her heart was still beating at a mile a minute as she sat on the bleachers, and that was a good 5 minutes after talking to Trevor. Just the thought of him asking her out made the redhead blush a deep shade of crimson and made her all giggly. Josie had left for work, leaving the girl alone to gaze at the team, and more specifically, at a certain boy. Dreamily, she looked back out onto the field, and although there were probably 50 people there, all she could focus on was red hair peeking out from a helmet in the center.

Savvy was smitten, that was for sure.

Pulling out her notebook, she began writing down some additional notes for the article, regarding the team’s winning streak, info about Coach Moss etc. Little things like that would make the article much more interesting to read for the rest of the school (even though she very well knew that most people wouldn’t even graze it). Football was huge back in Texas, but it seemed to matter a great deal more here at BHHS. Everyone was in tune with the team, and the stands seemed to be filled to the brim at each and every game. Hell, they even added a second season during the spring because it was so popular. The redhead noted the comparisons and differences in her writing.

Sav was looking forward to typing this all out on her laptop later, mostly because she couldn’t wait to listen to her interview with Trevor. Especially since she accidentally didn’t stop recording at the end and got the part where he asked her out; she’d probably play it over and over again until Friday. She couldn’t believe her luck.

Savannah let her eyes wander up to the field again, momentarily ceasing her writing. She watched as the football team ran one of their plays, easily picking out Trevor again in the sea of identical uniforms. Sav noticed him glance over in her direction, and the mere idea of him looking for her in the stands made the girl’s stomach fill with butterflies. However, it was at that very moment that Trevor was brutally thrown to the ground by another player. The girl gasped audibly, instinctively jumping up to her feet and running down a couple of steps, pressing herself up against the chain fence of the bleachers.

“Oh my god, Trevor-” She fretted, her heartbeat picking up once again. The mere thought of her crush getting injured sent the redhead into a spiral of what ifs, and she anxiously waited for him to stand up and walk it off. But he stayed down too long for Sav’s liking which made her worry even more than she already had been. Everything seemed to be moving in slow motion.

Sav let the breath she had been holding in escape from her mouth once she saw Trevor stand up, but still, something didn’t seem right. Savvy knew that a tackle like that wasn’t normal, especially in tryouts. It was when the offender took off his helmet, revealing his identity, that Sav realized that something was definitely wrong. Squinting to see what was happening, a scuffle started to become apparent to the girl as she watched her crush push Jacob back.

Served him right for what he said earlier.

The argument seemed to be getting more heated. What was going on? The redhead was absolutely frozen in her spot against the fence, darting her eyes around to find someone to break up the altercation. Coach Moss seemed to be doing nothing, and the cheerleaders were too busy running tryouts to notice. By the time Savannah looked back at the two players, she caught the glimpse of Jacob looking behind him… towards her? He then seemed to be backing away, but for some reason, Trevor wasn’t having it. It would have been nice to know what they were feuding about because it quickly became a brawl.

Fists were flying, helmets were pulled off, and Sav couldn’t help but cringe and look away, unable to bear the sight of a fight. Screams of anguish made her heart drop to the floor, making her feel so helpless from the stands. Although she and Trevor were far from being an item, and she knew that this was only the very beginning of a possible thing, she cared deeply about his safety and wellbeing. It wasn’t until she heard the whistle of Coach Moss that she looked back- Jacob was literally on top of Trevor glaring at him, and if looks could kill, her date on Friday would have been quickly canceled. The Coach seemed to be reprimanding them, which caused the two boys to untangle from each other and stand on two feet, beginning to run laps around the field.

Savvy figured that Trevor would be too worked up after the interaction, and probably wouldn’t want her watching him suffer, so she retreated, grabbing her things and walking down the steps of the bleachers. She knew he wasn’t the type to get in a fight over something, which was the most confusing part, causing her to wonder what it was he got so angry about. Plus, after what she’d seen, she didn’t know whether she should act like it never happened or check on him. Settling for the latter, she sent him a simple text.

Hey, it’s Sav. Hope you’re okay, and if you need anything, don’t hesitate to let me know!

Stopping at the base of the stairs, Savvy took one last look out onto the field. She silently hoped that whatever he was so passionate about that caused him to get into a full-on brawl, would parallel the passion she’d hope he’d feel towards her one day.