“Oh yeah right, how was Paris?” He asked her with genuine curiosity. He spent a lot of time there with his grandfather and would go there as much as he could. “From Instagram, it looked like a good time.” “Daniel is really the only person at school that’s known all of it.” “Still, Daniel and I are pretty good friends…” He shrugged to himself. I suppose there are things he wouldn’t tell Daniel about himself or his family either so it makes sense that this wasn’t something he would’ve told him. Or even his place to tell, if that mattered to Daniel at this point. “Most of the goals I’ve had for years ends at graduation.” Mikel did know he wanted to do something photography wise but he wasn’t really sure what yet. He didn’t really want to go to school after graduation but everyone says that opens even more doors. He has always thought of just leaving and exploring and taking photos of what makes him happy in the meantime. “There’s got to be something that you’ve thought about doing, for yourself, not anyone else?” He questioned her and wanted to know what that may be. “The future is uncertain, but that can be a good thing.” He also said to her in a calm tone.
“Really?” He scoffed but not in a bad way. "Yes, really. Why would I say it if its not true. It’s not a lie, it’s how I feel.” " He smiled to her and watched as she took pictures of him. “I am not very photogenic. I am better on the other side of the lens I think.” He told her but didn’t ask for the camera back. He didn’t trust many people with his cameras but he had a good feeling about her. " @Littlefeets
“Well, let’s just say I never thought my s-x life would be broadcast to the entire school.”
“Yeah, that’s not something that usually happens.” She genuinely felt bad for the guy, especially since anyone had the opportunity to know an intimate secret about someone they don’t know. “That little guy scares me.” She said referring to Daniel.
“My mother had a few words for me after that. Actually, my dad had a few words. My mother had a whole paragraph.”
“Wow that sounds horrible. I’m glad I’m not in your shoes-no offense.”
"Are you excited for the oh my dollar valentine?”
“No, because if I don’t get the one person that I want at the top, I’m going to be mad, but whoever gets me is going to be lucky.” She winked again. “Do you have someone that you want on your list, if you’re even filling it out.”
It was nice to be greeted with a bright smile, not something you could expect from most students here so he did the same. “I’m good, yeah, and I knew that!” Chuckling, he jokingly raised his hands in defense, glad to see she wasn’t offended by it. And he wasn’t lying, by now he remembered her name but with so much going on the moment he spotted her his mind went blank. “New girl just sounds sweet. Sorry, Sadie.” He quickly and quietly added, emphasizing her name as he softly smiled.
“I have,” nodding at both her answer and question, he looked back at his survey, quickly trying to go over everything he already answered, which was almost everything. “I do this every year but just for fun, I never took it seriously.” Giving her an honest answer, he simply shrugged his shoulders and laughed it off.
“Well it’s a good thing you can put up to three, I think both would work.”
“Yeah, but I already picked the other two,” he whispered, playing with the pen between his fingers. It didn’t matter that much and it probably looked like this whole thing was a joke to him, but he actually wanted to be completely honest with his answers this time. It was their last year and he had to make he best of it.
“Hmm…” Finally picking one of those two traits, he looked back at her, leaning against the locker and folded his paper. He could tell that wasn’t necessarily a question because how could he know? She wasn’t here for that long for him to actually get to know her, but even if she didn’t ask for help he wanted to give her his own opinion. “I don’t know, you seem calm, I’d go with that. What else would you pick?” Curiously asking, he crossed his arms looking at her with slightly furrowed brows as he tried to “analyze” her.
“I’m not good at it, that’s for sure. I try to be charming, but I just embarrass myself…” Reina nodded slightly as she listened. “Yeah, P.E. can really suck…” It wasn’t necessarily the activities themselves that bothered Reina, but she still had some issues with it. The two of them walked together to class, and they talked more as they could during class, but eventually it came to an end. That was where their class schedules differed, so they had no choice but to go their separate ways. “I’ll see you around sometime, right?” Reina paused for a moment and grabbed her phone. “Here, this is my number, don’t be afraid to text me, ok?” Reina made sure that she had her number. “See you later.” Reina smiled at her before walking back down the hall again.
After math, Ruby stood up to go to her next class. Reina gave Ruby her phone number, saying to text her. She nodded, putting her backpack on and walking into the hall after saying goodbye to Reina. “I made a friend…hopefully I don’t do anything to change that…” She said, sighing to herself. She walked to her next class, Samantha piping up and congratulating her. “It’s great that you made a friend so fast! Ruby smiled slightly, whispering “Thank you.” Then a male voice spoke, dampening her mood. “She’s only pretending to be your friend. You’re just a fvck up!” Ruby lowered her head, going to class. After class, Ruby went to her locker to gather her books. Approachable
“Ha, right?!” She laughed, happy Valerie wasn’t one of those people who would give her hell for not being perfect with English. She liked to think that she was pretty fluent in English with it not being her first language, but there were always those that made her feel like she wouldn’t ever be as good as the other native speakers. “No way english version can beat the snack version.”
“I wouldn’t say it was horrifying it was just weird af. It’s not like Calen and I are friends, we’re just in the same class. I just don’t interact with him and that’s kind of does the trick,” Valerie said. Aline nodded thoughtfully. “Oh, that makes sense.”
“Well true," she said. "I also kind of told him that when he blamed me for being a homewrecker, I told him to teach his dad a bit about honesty because I didn’t even know he was married, and I’m not even on about the fact that his son is in my class, I wouldn’t have done it in the first place if I knew he was married. I’m not a homewrecker.” She sucks in a breath, cocking her head slightly. “You couldn’t have known at the time, unfair of him to throw those… accusations at you. Sucks that you’re even in this mess.”
At Aline’s suggestion of her being a stepmother, Valerie made a face, saying, “Oh fvck no. Where do I quit?” Aline laughed loudly at this response combined with her expression, covering her mouth to try and mute the sound. “You seem like such mother material!” She said sarcastically. “I can see you now, in an apron cooking some… casserole, doing his laundry…”
“I kinda remember you but I also don’t remember seeing you around in ages, where did you disappear? Or am I just blind?” Aline chuckled slightly, shaking her head. “Not blind and yeah, I wasn’t here. My mom found out her father was dying, so we went to Brazil to be with him for his death.” She shrugged, her eyes rolling very, very subtly. “Then he died early December, so we came back in January 'cause there was no point in staying there anymore. Anyway, we were…” She paused, racking her mind for the english translation of “distanciado”. “…not speaking with them before that old man died so we’ll probably just go back to never talking to our grandmother. Until she dies, I guess.” Aline said all of this matter-of-factly, any emotion she felt towards either grandparent not shown in her facial expression.
Jezebel smiled wide. “It was fun. Paris was somewhere I had always wanted to go, so it was really great to finally see, and it was fun getting to know Candice and some of the other girls in our grade better too.” She nodded slightly. She knew Daniel wouldn’t have said anything about her and how her family was, and her and Mikel just never really had much of a chance to meet and get to know each other sooner. They both knew Daniel, and may have heard of each other once or twice, but they never knew each other before. “I’ve been planning for this year as long as I can remember. That way I could be what my mom never got to be, and she would be proud of me for once…” She shrugged with a small sigh. “I’ve never had much of a chance to think about who I want to be. I could follow my grandparents footsteps and be a surgeon, which my mom would like since I’d be successful. I don’t know if I want that though… I like things like art, and acting even, but I don’t know what I’d do, or if any of that would work out, especially if this year doesn’t work out for me in the end.” Jezebel looked down slightly with a smile, blushing slightly more. “How would I know? I can’t tell what’s going through your head.” It didn’t help her that she was used to less than genuine complements when her mother was around, but she wanted to feel like her mother actually loved her despite the lack of care, so recognizing and taking something nice being said about her for its true value wasn’t the simplest thing for her. Jezebel laughed as she snapped a couple more pictures of him. “You’re more photogenic than you think. At least I think so.” Once she was satisfied with the pictures, she passed Mikel back his camera. They weren’t expert shots, but they weren’t bad.
No way english version can beat the snack version.
She chuckled “absolutely” she replied “snack version is superior”
Oh, that makes sense.
“Yeah it didn’t bother me too much until he found out about it really” she shrugged
You couldn’t have known at the time, unfair of him to throw those… accusations at you. Sucks that you’re even in this mess.
“Well yeah, but I bet it’s also not really ideal for him to find that out it’s kinda weird when you think about it” she said
You seem like such mother material! I can see you now, in an apron cooking some… casserole, doing his laundry…
“Oh hell nah. Do I look like a casserole to you” she laughed “I’ll poison it on purpose” she said “don’t eat me out to the cops” she smirked
Not blind and yeah, I wasn’t here. My mom found out her father was dying, so we went to Brazil to be with him for his death. Then he died early December, so we came back in January 'cause there was no point in staying there anymore. Anyway, we were…not speaking with them before that old man died so we’ll probably just go back to never talking to our grandmother. Until she dies, I guess.
“Sheesh” she said “doesn’t sound fun” she added “Brazil sounds amazing though, I always wanted to visit it” she said and sipped her drink again
“Tell me what was your favorite thing you did or saw when you were there?” He asked her so he could get an idea of what they did while they were there. He assumed since Delilah was there, they most of their time shopping and hitting on French boys. He started thinking about a few of his favorite places to go to when he is there. “Ever heard of The Ateliers des Lumières. That has to be hands down my favorite place…I’ll take you there someday. It is breathtaking.” He told her with a huge smile on his face as he talked about this place that was really exciting and special to him. He went there for the first time with his grandfather when he was eleven and fell in love with it immediately.
“I like things like art, and acting even,” “I could see it. Maybe in some teenage drama, adventurous show, or something!” @outerbanks He smirked and turned around to look at her. “Of course you’d be the lead girl who all the fanboys would think is incredibly good looking,” Mikel told her with confidence in his tone. “How would I know? I can’t tell what’s going through your head.” He stood and brushed off his hands on his black pants. “I will start telling you what is going through my head then how about?” He offered to her with a smirk on his face and looked at her as she took a few more snaps of him. He knew he would probably be deleting the ones of himself because he didn’t like to see pictures of himself but he was going to let her keep doing what she was doing because he found it very cute. “Question, if I’m supposed to tell you everything I’m thinking now are you going to make fun of me if it’s something very random and sort of out of the blue?” He asked looking at her. She was only a few feet away now that he stood up and was across from her. The little bound she was standing on sort of closed the height different but not by too much. @Littlefeets
— Dominic Lucier
“That little guy scares me.”
He nodded chuckling at her calling him little. “Yeah, he can be scary at times.” He agreed with her. “I will say, if I wasn’t already out, I would’ve done way worse than I did to him.”
“Wow that sounds horrible. I’m glad I’m not in your shoes-no offense.”
“It wasn’t actually that bad. I usually tune out my mother when she yells at me and my dad was more focused on what could’ve happened to me.” He told her, afterwards listening to what she had to say about the oh my dollar valentine. “I honestly don’t have a preference, but I get what you mean. It would suck to not get someone you want.”
“What did you do to him?” She raised her eyebrow curiously. “Well, whatever you did to him, I probably would have done 10 times worse so I don’t blame you.” In reality, she wouldn’t know what she would do if she got exposed like that. “I did hear yelling in the hallway that day so maybe it was because of you. I should have went over there to watch.” She chuckled at imagining the fight. "My dad is the one usually yelling at me. Trust me you wouldn’t want to be around him when he’s mad. At least your dad was concerned about your well being, the first thing they would yell at me about is how it got around the school.’
“I honestly don’t have a preference, but I get what you mean. It would suck to not get someone you want.”
“I wouldn’t cry my eyes out over it though, i’ll just keep pursuing them.” She chuckled. “That probably sounds desperate but I don’t care. Anyways, what class do you have next?” She asked.
“My favorite thing I saw? Probably seeing the Eiffel Tower in person. Kinda cliche I know, but it was something I wanted to see.” There had been plenty of shopping and some nice cafes, but her favorite part had to be the Eiffel Tower. Jezebel smiled wide as she listened to Mikel tell her about the place he liked, and that he’d take her there someday. “I haven’t heard of it actually, but I’d like that.” Then Jezebel laughed as he talked about how he could see her in a show. “That’d be awesome if it happened. Although it sounds like I already have one fanboy.” She said with a slight smirk. “At least that way I won’t have to wonder.” She giggled at his question with a guilty smile. “Maybe just a little.” She took a few steps towards Mikel, placing his camera back in his hands with a smile. “You’re sending me those, ok?” Jezebel didn’t take pictures often, but she always kept a copy of them.
— Dominic Lucier
“What did you do to him?”
“I punched him in the face and then proceeded to kick him in the b-lls.” He explained, awkwardly rubbing his neck. “It was probably me you heard yelling. I practically signed my own death warrant, but it was worth it.” In response to her comment about his dad being concerned for his wellbeing, he said “Honestly, it was hard to keep a straight face. When my dad gets worked up, he starts flipping between English and French and his accent get stronger.”
“Anyway, what class do you have next?”
“Art.” He answered, holding onto one of his backpack straps. “What about you?”
Zion walked down the hall on their way to class, feeling somewhat excited about Valentines Day. They had no one to spend it with, so they were going to make fun of sappy romance movies with Christian. As they walked, they saw a girl that they didn’t recognize and walked over to introduce themself. “Hola, I’m Zion!” They said to her with a small wave. They had to silently remind themself not to stare at her, no matter how attractive they thought she was. “Are you new here?” They asked, hoping that they were correct and hadn’t completely forgotten someone.
Ruby had just shut her locker when she heard a voice behind her. “Hola, I’m Zion! Are you new here?” Ruby turned around to face them, having to look up at a pretty Latinx. “Oh. Yeah, I am. I’m Ruby. Did you want something?” She asked, confused as to why someone would just walk up to her like that. The person was fairly attractive, but Ruby managed not to say anything about it, much to her relief. @Caticorn - Zion
He had completely forgot that he had taken off “sick” today. He rubbed the back if his neck awkwardly as he remembered. “Ah… oops. I sort of forgot I took today off.” He laughed at himself before continuing on. “I was thinking maybe something like a rinky dink? Do you know what those are?” He asked and instead of waiting,”It’s basically a place where it has putt-putt and go carts. Along with Arcades and a ton of other stuff.” He explained. He used to go all the time to then with Mare, but It would be just as fun with Mady. “So whatcha think babygirl?”He teased, sometimes his ‘flirty’ attempts were very… you could say, cringe worthy to some.
He got his clothes together. Just some casuals clothes, if she doesn’t want to go there. They can just go somewhere else. Then a lightbulb went off. “Hey, I’ve got another proposal to you.” He grinned into the phone. “Pick up some coffee? Get some energy boost in you, so you won’t be losing too badly.” He can imagine it now. Him getting a hit in one each time while smirking to himself.
“Absolutely. Snack version is superior,” Valerie replied. Aline lightly laughed at that.
“Well yeah, but I bet it’s also not really ideal for him to find that out it’s kinda weird when you think about it.” Aline nodded, lifting her shoulder in a half-shrug. “Yeah, okay, that would be… strange… to find out. I guess his reaction was understandable in that thinking.” She wondered how she would react if she found out her stepfather was screwing some girl her age… perhaps it’d be similar to the way the guy had reacted. Aline wasn’t in the situation, however, and it was likely she’d never know.
“Oh hell nah. Do I look like a casserole to you? I’ll poison it on purpose. Don’t eat me out to the cops.” Aline laughed at her reaction, imagining the picture of Valerie as a housewife. “You’d be a great stepmom—except for the poisoned casserole,” she teased, grinning. “Nah, I wouldn’t tell the cops, I’d probably help you make it! Gotta help you escape the life of a wife, after all.”
“Sheesh. Doesn’t sound fun,” Valerie said. Aline shook her head, a slight smile brightening her face. “It was fun, actually! I missed Brazil, missed doing normal things there. The whole death thing was eh but being back in Brazil was awesome.”
“Brazil sounds amazing though, I always wanted to visit it.” Aline smiled. “You should! It’s sooo nice to visit. Maybe pick up a little Portuguese though.”
@CerealKiller - lakxjdksozgskoshsj im so sorry for taking so long
They shook their head in response to her question. “I just wanted to say hello. I didn’t recognize you, so I thought I’d introduce myself.” They explained shrugging. And I find you attractive. They dismissed the thought almost immediately to prevent themself from blushing. “Are you excited for Valentine’s Day?” They asked, curious.
Ruby nodded when Zion just said they wanted to introduce themself. “Oh, well, that’s very nice of you. No…I’ve never liked Valentines Day…I have a very hard time keeping relationships. That’s why I was so surprised when you approached me willingly. I’m not a good person to be around…” she said quietly. @Caticorn - Zion
“No, I get it. It’s a staple and something everyone has to do when they go to Paris. If you didn’t go to the Eiffel tower did you even really go?” He said to her with a little chuckle also escaping his lips. “I haven’t heard of it actually, but I’d like that.” “It’s a digital art center and just breath taking. I mean ceiling to floor art and they change it all I think annually so it’s something new every time.” He told her and was excited while talking about it. Though he used to go with his grandfather once he got old enough to go alone he would and would spend hours there. Or hours just exploring the city alone and taking his own photos of things and people that caught his eye.
”Although it sounds like I already have one fanboy.” Mikel licked his lips and tilted his head in acknowledgment of his comment and nodded. “Yeah, you do.” He smirked back to her as he ran his hands through his hair and left his hands on his head for a few seconds as he also shook it while thinking to himself. “I should probably tell you what I am thinking right?” Mikel made a clicking noise with his tongue before speaking again. “I find you intriguing. I don’t know I just want to learn more about you and look at you. This view is great and all but wow…yeah this is cheesy. Okay just be prepared,” he crossed his arms over his chest as he spoke and looked at her. “I think I could look at you and be more amazed then looking at the view of the city. One more thing.” He smiled again to her. “I would also really like to kiss you again sometime.”
He took the camera from her hands and gripped it tightly like finally a kid would after finding a toy they had lost under their bed. ““You’re sending me those, ok?”* “Sure, I guess I can.” @Littlefeets
