|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 Posted: Fri Nov 14, 2008 8:02 pm
I realized I was supposed to be doing ‘A Musical Divided’ and went and looked at what I’d written for that. Since THIS is what my brain liked better and what THAT was pretty much turning into (on a much suckier level), this came out. The witty remarks will start eventually, but I’ll have to find my groove first.
I was GOING to do college, since that would have made more sense in a couple ways, but then that phrase ‘stick to what you know’ popped into mind. So. Sticking to what I know—high school. I also decided to screw it and stick to what I know in the area of location and MY high school. I did change the name though, just to make it easier to somewhat understand…
Everyone will have some form of social malfunction, just so this’ll be easier, too…
Changed people’s names. In all honesty, it hurt me to do so, but really… Shale? Phell? Meryl? SEPTIMUS?? They just don’t happen people! Congrats to Erin, whose name made it into the story. You should be able to tell who everyone is, as I didn’t change last names and tried to be as unoriginal as possible in new first names. So no worries.
Enjoy, tell your friends, and… Yeah. Not a word… Just read…
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Fri Nov 14, 2008 8:46 pm
Introduction
--
In Crimea High School there are exactly four counselors. They divide the students up not by grade, but by last name. A-F, G-L, M-S, and T-Z. Erin Hildegard was being shown around the school by Ms. Belli, an Italian-looking woman with intelligent eyes and semi-casual clothes; the school’s ‘Resource Officer,’ known affectionately by the students as ‘Rent-A-Cop;’ and her new homeroom teacher, Mrs. Moore.
They were all very kind and cheerful to the junior, but Erin was sharply aware that their presence made it even more obvious to any student forty-five minutes early on the first day of school that SHE was a new student.
After another fifteen minutes of making sure she could open her locker, Rent-A-Cop and Mrs. Moore went to watch the hallways as the number of students coming in started to grow. Ms. Belli stayed.
“You’ll come and see me at the end of the day?”
“Yeah.” Erin kept her expression blank as the counselor gave her a smile and walked away. Inside though, her stomach felt like it was shrinking by the second. Hopefully she wouldn’t have anything to add to her file, already labeled with ‘survivor of domestic violence and trauma,’ at the end of the day.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Fri Nov 14, 2008 8:56 pm
Sam Darksnow was considered ‘typical’ by anyone who cared to gossip about him. He was smart as hell, but annoying as hell. He had good relations with a grand total of two people: Matthew and Mike Lingafelter. Matthew and Sam were juniors, Mike was an eighth grader, but since they spent most of their hang-out time at the Lingafelter’s, the age difference was only brought up in taunts during video games or on bad days.
No one had expected Matthew and Sam to get along, and the cynics attributed it to the Lingafelter home’s uber impressive home entertainment system.
As far as Sam was concerned, Matthew didn’t ask him to do anything he couldn’t do, understood sarcasm, and didn’t mind if he wore his shoes on the couch. These were the factors that forged their half-friendship.
As far as Matthew was concerned, Sam was a genius and a fun person to hang out with. He saw more in their friendship than Sam or an outsider did.
On the first day of school, they met up at Sam’s locker. There was nothing to say that everyone else wasn’t saying, but they said it anyway.
“My dad said if I failed anything this year, he’s going to break the Xbox with a hammer in the yard. Think I can copy your homework?”
Sam looked the other boy up and down. “If you want to buy it off me.”
Matthew groaned and threw his head back. “You know I’m broke.”
“Exactly.”
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sat Nov 15, 2008 9:29 am
Jason Eziran watched his twin sister disappear in into a swarm of her friends. He would never understand how she could have that many girls swarming around her, but that was Anna. And Jason was by no means Anna.
He noticed that Andy Waltz approached the group with his eyes set on Anna. A stray thought told Jason he should be concerned about ANY boy laying eyes on Annie like that, but Jason found himself wishing Andy luck. They’d grown up together.
Isn’t that supposed to make me more unaccepting of his feelings? I wonder if Anna would care if I decided to have a love life…
Jason was a pacifist, was sworn off violent video games, and was as uninterested in his social life as could be possible—even if being sworn off Halo would have allowed him to have a social life at all.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sat Nov 15, 2008 9:31 am
Madison Bleu shut her eyes to the noise and high-pitched exclamations.
“OMG, you’re so tan!” “Where’d you go??” “I had the BEST time!” “There was this awesomely cute guy, and I got his cell number!!” “I missed you SOOO MUCH!!”
She could feel the headache taking over her brain.
Her eyes snapped open as a clear voice penetrated the mindless babble. “Maddy? C’mon Maddy, open your eyes, I brought you coffee!”
Madison had opened her eyes to see her younger sister, kind smile lighting up her face as she held out a drink that was about ten percent coffee and ninety percent all the other stuff the Bleu sisters loved. Madison took the Styrofoam cup and gave her sister an easy smile. “Thanks, Hope, you’re a saint, I swear.”
Looking at them, you wouldn’t guess that Maddy and Hope were sisters. Sure—they had a certain way of standing, they were closer than anything, and mess with one and you messed with the other; but they just didn’t look that similar. It had only been mentioned to Madison four times, and each time she had retaliated ferociously, either with words or fists. Hope heard it more often, usually in the corner of her ears.
One with black hair and the other light brown? Adopted. Slutty mother. Witness protection program.
The sophomore ignored it, but somewhere in the reaches of her mind, she couldn’t deny the truth of it. What was her secret? Because Maddy looked exactly like their mother, and their seventh-grade-age brother Todd looked exactly like their mother too, but Hope… If it weren’t for Maddy’s steadfast belief that they were SISTERS, Hope would have been looking for answers by now.
But Maddy said they were kin, and if you knew Madison, you believed her.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sat Nov 15, 2008 2:53 pm
Pre-Meetings
--
Erin was almost missing Begnion High.
The Crimea Cougars were not the Begnion Nobles’ worst enemy, but there was still a SMALL dislike between them. Erin hadn’t realized how much more all of the Crimea kids cared about their sports teams and competitions than the people she’d known in Begnion, so she hadn’t realized how big that small rivalry could really be. Thank God she wasn’t from Daein High—the Cougars and the Knights went WAY back, in the bad way.
And of course, they all wanted to know about the Council.
In Begnion, the biggest clique was called the Council, a play on their mascot name as the Nobles. Erin disliked questions about the Council, but she answered them honestly, telling them that no, she was not on the Council, but her brother was.
That opened the floodgates to questions about why she was here, and why her brother wasn’t with her. Those questions she refused to answer.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sat Nov 15, 2008 5:40 pm
Matthew couldn’t remember why he’d chosen the classes he was in, until he remembered his father’s reaction to his lack of business classes, and he settled into his seat in the graphic design computer lab with a smirk.
He had fewer classes with Sam, but there was a small chance he might enjoy these… Eventually.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sat Nov 15, 2008 5:41 pm
Madison stretched her legs under the lab table. She was horrible at Chemistry last year—hopefully she’d do better at Anatomy/Physiology this year. Why they still sat at lab tables though, she had no idea.
It was her last class though, so once she got another speech about homework and expectations, she was free to go. She was supposed to go to the car, to meet up with Hope and go get some Reward-for-Surviving ice cream, but she got distracted by her neighbor, Sarah. “Hey, Mads, finish that painting that kept you inside all summer?”
“Wha? Oh—yeah.”
Madison had wanted to go the beach instead of a movie with ‘normal people’ one day, so she used her artist reputation as an excuse. And then kept using it, because she just never really felt like doing whatever anyone suggested. It was a weird trait.
She went to the car then, and found Hope waiting for her. “I talked to Sarah, she says hi. How was your day?”
“Fine, I guess.”
“So we’re agreed—ice cream.”
“Yeah.” Hope nodded quickly, and got in the passenger’s seat of the small, dark blue car. “Can I get sprinkles?”
“Duh. I got paid last week—you can get sprinkles AND chocolate sauce AND whatever else you feel like.” Madison beamed at her sister from the driver’s seat, and couldn’t resist patting her pocket and saying, “We’ve got CASH!!”
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sat Nov 15, 2008 7:40 pm
Erin had been taken under the wing of a senior named Selena, who beat away the questioners with sickly sweet comments about their grades or ‘personal’ lives from the year before. Since Erin hadn’t met her until sixth period, Selena had to resign herself to introducing her to all her friends the next day.
The green-eyed girl seemed to make up for this by LISTING all the people Erin would meet. “I don’t want to tell you too much about them, so you can judge them for yourself, but I think you’ll like the more artsy people, since they don’t care about popular people or the Council. Which means Madison, and Hope, since they talk about each other all the time; and Anna Eziran, even though she’s half-prep… You might like Jason better, everybody likes him well enough since he’s really nice, if quiet and kind of weird.”
Erin stared. “Wow… Aren’t you going to tell me about YOU or ask me about me or something?”
Selena blinked and her face was blank for a minute, then comprehension dawned on her face. Erin couldn’t believe anyone could have a facial expression that looked like stepping into the sunlight, but Selena proved her wrong.
“Sorry, I’m kind of a spaz, you can ask anyone. My mom says I latch onto things and don’t let go until everyone else forgets what I’m talking about. So, my favorite subject is PE, and I know that sounds like I’m a jock or stupid or something, but I just like running and letting my brain turn off. What about you?”
Erin grinned. Finally. Someone who actually made sense.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sun Nov 16, 2008 8:17 am
Meetings and Matches
--
Jason was preparing for the beginning of the end as he walked into school for the second day, which was when the actual learning would begin. He planned on going to his first class and spending the rest of the day dozing off and pretending to take notes while he was really doodling his dogs.
He had four dogs—all birthday presents from his mother or Anna. He played with them so much that he had seen some pretty doodle-worthy moments. They considered him their beloved alpha male and he filled that role with amazing dog-like ability.
So Jason had a basic survival plan, but that plan didn’t anticipate Selena Catt. She practically tackled him as he entered the building. “JASON!! HI!! What’s up, what’re you doing? Where’s Anna??”
He waved awkwardly at the unfortunate girl Selena had pulled behind her as she ran up to him. “Hi Selena, I’m fine… Annie’s getting a ride with one of her friends—the one with reddish blonde hair.”
“Oh, right I’ll get her later then… Anyway, this is Erin Hildegard, she’s your age, she transferred from Begnion High, but she’s totally not stuck up. Erin, this is Jason Eziran. He’s got, like, five dogs, and he’s a pacifist. But not a vegetarian.”
Erin didn’t understand why Selena had made that distinction, but Jason gave the older girl a nod. He noticed Erin’s confused look and cleared his throat. “A lot of people think that being a pacifist means you’re a vegetarian.”
Selena beamed at Erin, who was beginning to think that she had no other facial expression, “He’s actually a carnivore. Comes from hanging out with all the dogs.”
Erin smiled a little and then realized something. “Hey, you’re in my history class, third period!”
“Oh, yeah. That class isn’t that bad. Who do you have for math?”
“Moore. She’s my homeroom, too.”
Jason raised his eyebrows. “You’re lucky. She’s the only decent math teacher in the school, as far as teaching goes. You might not learn as much though, so if you want to take Calculus next year you’ll have to do some extra book problems or else you’ll be screwed next year.”
“How’d you know that?” Not that Erin cared about Calculus. She just wanted to know where Jason was getting his information, and Selena clearly did too.
“My neighbor’s older brother was a math genius who talked a lot.”
Selena smirked, and Erin smiled, but she noticed that instead of calling him a ‘math nerd,’ it was ‘math genius.’ Apparently pacifism ran deep, or maybe that was just from being used to the dog-eat-dog social ladder of Begnion High.
The three of them had met up about twenty minutes before classes started, and talked for about five minutes. Selena opened her mouth to say something when she spotted something else over Erin’s shoulder. She grabbed Erin and Jason and pulled them towards whatever she had seen down the hall.
“Madison! MADISON! Don’t ignore me, Bleu, I know where you live!!” The girl she was yelling at didn’t turn her head. “HOPE! Turn Madison around!!” The other, slightly younger, girl had worn a very amused expression from the second she spotted Selena. She laughed as she turned the other girl around.
Selena skidded to a halt before the two girls, the older one trying to hide her laughter.
“You are so annoying… Anyway, Madison, Hope, this is Erin Hildegard, she’s new. Erin, this is Madison Bleu and her sister, Hope. Madison’s in your grade, Hope’s a sophomore. You two know Jason, right?”
Madison shrugged and Hope articulated the answer, and Erin looked between the two of them. Madison had dark hair and was a bit taller than Hope than she should have been for only a year difference, and Hope’s hair was a light brown that bordered on blonde. Granted, their eyes were a very close shade of dark blue, but their eyes were different shapes. She raised her eyebrows, but suddenly Madison shifted her gaze so that their eyes met.
Madison managed to raise just one eyebrow, and Erin recognized the sign of a taboo topic. So the five of them talked about random topics, and Erin was left somewhat confused.
When they only had five minutes to get to class Selena interrupted the conversation, “So, you three’ll sit with Erin and me at lunch today, right?”
Jason blinked but shrugged and said, “Sure.”
Madison gave Selena a ‘you planned this didn’t you?’ look, but nodded.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sun Nov 16, 2008 2:56 pm
Sam was attempting to raise just one eyebrow. Matthew was telling him about his computer classes and even his one art class, and not paying attention to the fact that Sam didn’t care. So Sam was trying to learn how to SHOW that one emotion that just can’t be shown with BOTH eyebrows.
He finally gave up; his face muscles needed a few more centuries of evolution. So he settled for speaking. “Matthew. Matthew!”
The boy stopped talking. “Yeah?”
“I thought you only took those classes to make your dad mad. Why are you so excited about them all of a sudden?”
Matthew blinked. His emotions often ran away with his remembrance of his old emotions. It took him a minute to remember that he HAD been unenthusiastic. “Oh. Well, that was before I actually got into the classes and learned what we’re going to do. I never really thought about it, but this is like in eighth grade, that Computer Apps class? I got an A without even really trying and I NEVER get A’s, even when I DO try. But of course I’ll try, because these all seem pretty fun. I’m in two computer classes and Essentials of Art. Next year I think I’ll do Design or Photo Art…”
“Wow, that’s great Matthew. Way to go.”
“Thank you, Samuel.”
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sun Nov 16, 2008 3:42 pm
Madison leaned her head on her hand. Selena was chatting avidly with Leanne Hawks about their dating prospects for the year. She looked at Hope, who was sitting beside her. “Can I make a comment? PLEASE?”
Erin looked up from her food, “I thought you were oldest—why are you asking permission?”
Hope covered her smirk by taking a long drink out of her milk carton. Madison blinked.
“I dunno. I guess I ask her so I can remove the urge instead of actually saying whatever I’m thinking. My mom thought it up—she made Hope in charge of when I could speak. It kind of stuck.”
“What was your comment? They aren’t paying attention, so it’s OK.”
“’The only way you’ll get a football player boyfriend is if you flooded the cheerleaders’ next indoor practice with flammable gas and threw in a match,’ or something like that.”
Erin snickered and Hope snorted into her milk carton, some of the milk she’d been drinking coming out of her nose in a slightly painful way.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sun Nov 16, 2008 6:21 pm
Learning
--
From her first two weeks at Crimea High, Erin was learning that most of her classes had someone she sort of knew and sort of liked in them. Jason in her History, Selena in math AND science, and Madison in her homeroom and drawing class.
Her social life was slowly expanding.
And though she didn’t know it, Jason’s was as well. He was more eager to go to lunch and History, and considered their table members his friends, even though they didn’t hang out most days after school.
He was trying not to doze off in Psychology, second period, one day when the word ‘project’ caught his attention. The teacher started handing out rubrics while explaining. “Now, in a couple minutes you’ll draw names out of a bowl for partners. If I think you’re too close to your partner already, I’ll switch you, because that’s the point. For this project you’ll be trying to learn something about someone you don’t usually associate with. You and this person will become joined at the hip for two weeks, except for classes.”
He finished handing out rubrics and took a plastic Tuber ware bowl with small slips of paper and started letting people draw names. “Once you draw your partner you need to go over to them so that they don’t draw another person. If you draw yourself or someone who’s taken, let me know. Now, as you can see on the rubric, you need to spend a total of two hours a day with your partner. Lunch counts, and even saying ‘hi’ in the hallways counts. As long as you’re communicating. You have the rest of the period to talk; you’ll be getting outlines of what you’ll have to do beyond talking tomorrow.”
Jason felt a foreboding sinking feeling in his stomach. He was supposed to be one of the last people to draw, but before the teacher could get to him, Sam Darksnow sat in the empty desk next to him. “You’re Jason Eziran, right?” Jason nodded. “Cool… I’m Sam.”
A few seconds of silence.
Jason cleared his throat awkwardly. “So, do you want to eat at my lunch table today, or yours?”
“As long as you don’t mind Matthew Lingafelter tagging along, we can eat at yours. It’d probably be harder to uproot the people at your table, since I’ve only got one.” Sam didn’t seem concerned with the admittance of only one friend, but Jason blinked.
He decided to just take it as a gift that he could still sit with his friends and let it slide.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sun Dec 07, 2008 6:50 pm
Sam watched the expression on Matthew’s face change from gloating to worry to optimism. He had been gloating about the forced friendship thing, until he realized Sam was taking him down with him. Then his natural optimistic side shone through and he chose to look at the bright side of things—namely that Sam had somehow scored them seats at an almost all-girl table.
They went into the lunch room and after they got their food headed to a table on the other side of the cafeteria from where they normally sat. Sam sat next to Jason, with Matthew on his other side. There was only on other occupant of the table so far, a girl with bright green eyes that looked them both over with a critical air, and then turned to Jason. “Jason, wh—”
“Jace!!” The empty seat next to Jason was suddenly filled with a girl that looked a lot like him, but with a very bright wardrobe and large, unforced smile. The girl with the green eyes looked between the two boys, the girl, and then back at Jason with the air of the Spanish Inquisition.
She was cut off again by the arrival of three girls, filling up the last three chairs of the eight-seater table. They looked around and then at the first girl, who banged her hand on the table. “Not that I mind anyone here, ‘specially not you Anna, sweetie, but what’s with the group today, Jason?”
“Sam and I have to be joined at the hip for a while, so he and Matthew are going to eat with us for now. As for Anna…” He turned to his sister and Selena muttered the names of their table guests into Erin’s ear. “Why ARE you here, Anna?”
“What, I’m not allowed to sit with my baby brother?”
“You’re only older than me by twenty minutes, stop calling me a baby, Annie. I’m bigger than you and you know it.”
Madison stared. “Are you ARGUING, Jason Eziran?? Maybe even getting ANNOYED??” She turned to Hope and held out her hand, palm up, as if to collect money. “I win. He’s not perfect.”
Erin chocked on her food. “Hope bet that Jason was PERFECT?”
Hope paled and started denying it, “No, she’s just being stupid, it’s what she does!”
“Great, thanks, beloved sister.” Madison turned away from Hope with an air of fake disgust, which left her facing Matthew. She searched for a conversation topic and found one two seconds later, “Why does everyone call you Matthew? Why not Matt or something?”
He blinked a few times before responding, “I don’t know. My dad and my brother just call me Matthew, so I guess I’m used to it…”
Madison shook her head. “That’s sad, nicknames rock.”
Sam looked away from Jason and Anna, “You can call him Matt if you really wanted to. He’ll probably respond.”
Madison grinned widely, “I’ll try that then.”
Matthew’s head swung around to look at Sam in shock, and Madison used the opportunity to test it out. “Matt!”
His head swung back around automatically to face her. She smirked and threw her hands in the air in celebration. “It works!”
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Mon Dec 08, 2008 7:19 pm
Jason and Sam quickly found out that they got along well, but two hours every day got boring pretty quickly. They started dragging Matt to what Jason called ‘dude bonding,’ which consisted of halfway-non-violent video games and being freakily lazy. Luckily, the two partners hit on a good project topic the first day of brainstorming. It basically sprung from Madison’s comment on Matthew’s name and the resulting re-christening of him as Matt. They were lying on Jason’s couches when Sam said lazily, “why don’t we just do something lame about two groups joining together? We’ll give everyone at the table a quiz about someone else, and then observe them for a week or two, give them a different but similar quiz and make a poster or something.”
Jason latched onto the simplicity of Sam’s idea and the two of them agreed that that would qualify as their project for the result of being joined at the hip, even if a couple other groups would think of it and do a very similar project. They would still have to write a paper or something on the other person, but they were both mentally preparing to flub through it.
Their plan went well, and they got an A minus. Selena claimed the success for herself though, saying in a dangerous tone that without her the table would have been practically empty. No one argued.
Less than a week later, Jason was given déjà-vu when Selena came up to him in the morning, dragging another girl behind her. Unlike Erin though, this girl looked suspiciously like Selena, right down to the piercing green eyes, and unlike the second day of school, everyone was already standing around Jason, in a nice circle.
Selena made an opening for herself and the other girl. “OK guys, this is my half-sister, Sara. She’s living with me and my mom now because her mom and our dad are having serious issues. She’s a junior, she’s super smart, and she has a ten year old sister that’s staying with us too. We’re pretty much whole sisters, since Dad’s always been the unstable one of any relationship and her mom travels a lot, which means she hangs out at our place a lot.”
Sara grinned and the resemblance to Selena was startling, but there was a hard intelligence in her eyes that flooded over into everything she did and made her seem very different from her half-sister. Jason got the feeling she would make a very, very, good FBI agent.
The bell rang before any of them could really talk, and the group scattered. At lunch though, Sara somehow ended up next to Sam, who still ate at their table with Matt, filling the seat that Anna sometimes occupied. Madison and Selena sat on their other sides, and exchange shocked looks as Sara recognized whatever it was Sam was doing.
“Are those molar conversions?”
“Yeah.”
“They look more advanced than the stuff ‘Lena was complaining about this weekend—you’re in AP Chemistry, aren’t you?”
“Yeah.”
Sara’s eyes narrowed. “Give me one more one-word answer and I’ll shred you up and feed you to my kid sister.”
Sam stared at her and Madison looked at Erin, who was on her other side and had been listening as well and they shared wide-eyed looks.
Madison leaned over and muttered, “It might be too soon to say, but I think she might be Sam’s long-lost twin.”
Erin nodded, “Except they don’t look like each other.”
“Details.”
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Reply
