Eliza glanced down into the tank, then stared out over the crowd. She affected an expression of mild content. This was fine. This was normal. This was unembarassing and unexposing. It wasn't any of those things, but Eliza was nothing if not a good liar, even to herself. As Max waded back into the crowd, she caught his gaze and gave him a wink. Then, she peered down at Acacia.
"I'm ready, Ace," she said aloud, then, quietly so only her friend could here, "Get it over with."
"I dunno," Acacia smirked up at her, clasping her hands behind her back. "Maybe I'll let you hang for a little longer..."

"Give the people what they want," Eliza urged.

"If they want it, you can have someone else do the deed!" Acacia shot back gleefully.

Eliza rolled her eyes and crossed her arms, but kept smiling.

"Fine, fine, I'll do it. But only because I'm an amazing friend." Acacia shrugged as she picked up a ball. Taking careful aim, she tossed the ball at the target, but the ball whizzed past the target by a few inches. With a slightly frustrated huff, she tried again, and this time it was right on target. The drop was sudden, moreso than Eliza was expecting, and she let out a genuine yelp as she fell into the tiny pool. She managed to summon enough resolve to keep her head underwater for a moment, to reassert some level of control, and when she surfaced she did so with a smile and a cheerful wave. She could hear other students laughing and clapping - with her, or at her, it didn't matter. The world seemed bright and clear, and the attention was well worth the momentary embarrassment. She climbed from the pool and gave her Acacia a hug, getting water all over her best friend's back, and grinned.

"Happy now?"

"Hey, you got me wet!" Acacia made a face and gently pushed Eliza away. "And you look like you enjoyed it more than I did!"

"Well," Eliza said. "If I had to do it, I might as well have."

Jack rolled his eyes as he walked past two students, keying on their conversation with little interest. He thought it would be more interesting, seeing as the Japanese girl was the hidden bitch type, through and through. His bullshit detector had leveled up a lot after all the observing he and his dad had to do, and he's pretty sure he can sense when crap was being spewed. But whatever, the Jap girl wasn't anyone to worry about. He was currently more interested in the teachers, especially after witnessing all that shit earlier.

See, Jack had been reluctant to join in the picnic, but his dad raised a good point about everyone being unguarded on events like these. So he went, and like his dad said, unguarded they were. He'd arrived in the weird ass picnic just in time to see the veep and the principal drying off each other, looking inappropriately horny all the while. After the veep got dunked in the tank, Jack had noticed how quickly the two convened and scurried off somewhere, probably to flirt up a storm and maybe even get a quickie in. The other two male teachers, the giant one drinking beer and the one that was probably a psycho psychologist or whatever, weren't any better. Jack had been covertly weaving his way around the park, picking up on possible useful information to relay to his dad, when he overheard those two talking about hard-ons and fuck buddies. He rolled his eyes. Seeing students all handsy and horny was normal, but teachers? It was a little surreal to watch, because he hadn't been in school for two years and the teachers he remembered were old farts who droned on and on about anything and everything. Here, everyone seemed young and actually pretty good-looking. But whatever, he was digressing. If anything, it was probably good for him that the teachers here were brazen like this. It meant the possibility of a scandal was higher than normal. Knowing that there was a lot of Kinsey sixes was potentially helpful, as well. He'd have to tweak some of the approaches he had up his sleeve.

Jack watched as more and more people gathered around the dunk tank. After the teachers, the students started lining up to get dunked. That Herring girl was particularly popular, and she was probably the reason everyone started crowding around the tank. Even he wouldn't have minded watching her get soaked, but he wasn't interested enough to actually bother moving through the crowd. There were others playing with water guns or just chatting in small groups, but Jack walked past all of them and found himself an unoccupied spot under a tree that overlooked most of the park. From there, he could see everything that was going on without having to actually be around them. He could only stomach so many pretentious heirlings at once.

Grabbing his phone from his pocket, he began sending a second batch of his observations to his dad. -Three Hawthornes, dad. I thought there were only two, but I spotted another one. His eyes trailed over the tables were all the food were, remembering the batch of pot brownies that was among them. He'd had his fair share to know it was one after a few bites. He counted a handful who'd already taken a bite, so he was just waiting to see what happens when it kicks in. -Someone's got access to drugs, so I'm gonna follow up on that. Probably an easy way to shake Caelbury up.

Jack continued to scan the park idly, his sharp blue eyes already used to picking up only interesting activity. The teachers stopped trying to get into each other's pants, and the students were thoroughly enjoying getting each other wet. Everything seemed normal. He was about to head back to his room, convinced that things have calmed down to the point that nothing interesting would happen anymore, but then he saw him. Over there, just to the side of psycho psychologist and giant theater man, hanging out with two other teachers. Jack zeroed in on him almost instantly, and his hands automatically and deftly typed in his thoughts on his phone, knowing full well his dad needed to hear about this.

-what. the. fuck. Pierce is here.

"Well, your English sounds fine to me. Better than mine was, at least. My first day here; I don't think anyone could understand what I was saying." James offered with a small laugh, in an attempt to lighten things up a bit. In all honestly, the girl seemed pretty nervous, and he was suddenly regretting his decision to drench her with a watergun. Way to go, James, you absolute dick. He didn't let any hint of his inner contrition show, though, just 'cause he was cool like that.

He ended up just watching Yuki for a few seconds, mostly just to make sure that she wasn't just pretending to have a drink (after all, he was nothing if not a gracious host). Also because he needed to know whether she was harbouring some burning grudge against him. Which she didn't seem to be, so that was good news.

"Yeah, the dunk tank. Don't you have those in Japan?" James asked, though it did came out a bit more patronizingly than he would've liked. "I just thought that with all the crazy gameshows and shit you guys have, that, you know... You'd have seen at least one of these."

Oh crap. Was that racist? He didn't think it was. But now that he said it, he couldn't be sure.

"Anyway," James decided that it was best to quickly change the subject. At that, he began to explain the mechanics of the dunk tank; about how hitting the target would send the poor victim participant plummeting down into the water. However, with some unfortunate phrasing, it didn't sound like the safest thing in the world. "It's all good fun, really."

And then, someone else cut into the conversation. Thankfully, the newcomer was at a close enough proximity for James to see who it was without having to squint. The corners of his lips turned up into a grin when he recognized her.

"It's nice to see you too, Jules. Yes, and I'm doing splendidly, thank you for asking." James replied with a mocking civility, right after he managed to school his features. Though the shit-eating grin returned after just a few moments. Shaking his head, he placed a hand over his heart and pouted, making a grand old show of getting his feelings hurt. "You wound me. You wound me with your cruel, cruel words. And c'mon, it's just water. At least I didn't add food colouring to it. Wait. Why am I explaining myself to you? I don't have to explain myself to you."

At her comment about his glasses, James just snorted derisively. "Well, yeah, but where's the fun in that? ...I feel like I'm getting a whole lot of negativity from you. Live a little!!"

---

"Oh! Right. Well, it's been alright, I suppose?" Seth replied, though his tone of voice wasn't at all convincing. Truth be told, he really hadn't had the best week. As usual, his dad had been a massively butthurt and refused to even pick up his calls. But he wasn't about to unload all his troubles on someone he'd known for barely a week. He was pretty sure that it'd be a violation of every rule of basic social etiquette. "I mean, it's pretty much the same thing every year, isn't it? Just with new students. Anyway, what about you? How was your week?"

When Celia complimented this hibiscus tea, Seth's expression broke into a guileless smile oddly reminiscent of an excited five year-old. Finally, he didn't botch something up. Then again, it'd be pretty damn hard to mess up throwing a couple of petals into the water to boil.

"Really? I'm glad you like it!" Seth said, perhaps a tad too earnestly. He just couldn't help it. It wasn't often that someone found something he made or did to be worthy of praise. And, since the recipe was something that his mother had taught him, he was especially proud of it.

Seth blinked when the other mentioned the fact that he almost jumped out of his skin just a minute or two ago. Okay, so he was a little jumpy today. To be honest, he really wasn't quite sure why. Maybe it was because he hadn't drank anything alcoholic the past week. He simply didn't have the time. Was alcohol withdrawal even a thing? He vaguely recalled reading something online concerning it, But the specific details had been long since purged from the recesses of his mind.

"Yeah, sorry." Seth murmured sheepishly with a slight chuckle, rubbing the back of his neck. Not getting enough sleep, I think. It's nothing."

Meanwhile, his gaze once again flickered over to the dunk tank. As the sun continued to beat down upon them, the idea of getting dunked became more and more inviting. And it was only a matter of time until it was their turn. "Agreed. I estimate ten minutes tops until we have to get dunked."

========================================================================================
♦ August Marco ♦
========================================================================================

It seemed like when Jacob saw his roommate, he completely forgot he was having fun. August felt a twinge of guilt when Jacob rushed out of the tank, quickly wrapping himself in a towel and fleeing the scene.

In all honesty, August was a little bit aware of his own insecurities. He did his best to make people laugh, pulling off stupid stunts and pranks. But when push came to shove, he never really felt like he fit in anywhere besides the pool. He knew there were going to be people who didn't like him. There were people he didn't like, either. But it still irked him when people wouldn't even give him a shot, like Jacob seemed to be doing. Sure, August knew he was a pain in the butt, and maybe a little annoying, over-confident, cocky..... Okay, whatever, he tried to be a cool guy, but things just didn't seem to work out in his favor.

He hung around to watch a few more victims of the dunk tank. Eliza Herring, looking as perfect as always, was dunked by Acacia. She received a large applause (of course) when she hit the water with a little yelp, and even more when she climbed out and displayed her bikini to the eager crowd. August smiled and rolled his eyes. She sure knew how to work a crowd! If she didn't dislike him so much, August would definitely agree with his classmates when they said she was one of the prettiest girls on campus. He just wasn't going to openly admit it and somehow have her hear about it.

August looked over his shoulder and noticed Jacob wolfing down a steak. Does he always eat like that? And why the hell did he still feel guilty? Jacob volunteered to get dunked! It wasn't like he shot the guy's puppy. Besides, Jacob had a grin plastered on his face, which was kind of rare.

His curiosity sparked when Jacob's towel fell off and August noticed the marks on his back. Scars? Huh, wonder how he got those..... He wouldn't ask, because his gut told him that was a bad idea. It looked like Jacob had been trying to hide them.

After a moment, August realized he was sort of staring, so he turned away and went to get something to eat. The hamburgers looked great, but so did the steak, and those hotdogs..... He ended up taking one of each. After taking a handful of potato chips, he found a spot a short distance from the crowd and sat down in the grass to eat his feast.

"I wish I wish with all my heart..."

"TMI bro, TMI." Alli made a face at Jay's comment about Hayden accompanied by a slight grimace. "Never let Hayden forget sunscreen, especially when we go to the beach." She neatly sidestepped the fact that he mentioned herself going into the dunk tank, which was rather easy considering Jaycen's anecdote.

She glanced up at the dunk tank, noticing Eliza Herring up on there. That girl certainly had a way with the crowd, all of the guys were practically running over each other to get a closer look. She chuckled lightly to herself, finding the scene rather amusing. Right as the girl got dunked, Alli turned to Liam and winked, before redirecting her gaze over to her best friend.

Confidently, she sauntered over to Jaycen, wrapping her arm around his waist. "While I'm flattered that you think that I appeal to high school boys... I'm not going to be forced by anyone, because I'm going to be forcing you."

"Ready to be dunked, Jay Pup?"

---

"Forcing me into something?" Jaycen mused with an arched eyebrow and sly grin, "I don't think that's quite possible, Alli-Cat. But, you don't have to force me into anything; I'll gladly step up to the plate. Just lemme go grab my trunks."

It was by far not one of his better ideas. His figure, inside the front seat of his Ford F-150 trying to get undressed and redressed was like trying to get through the doggy door as a child and expecting not to run into any complications. The horn must have honked a thousand times—it was enough to leave a dull ringing in his ears. But, Jay somehow managed, finally able to slip out of the truck with everything intact and just a few shoe prints here and there. He wasn't the type to complain about making a mess of his car, but damn did he make a complete hazard in there. Ah well, it was fixable.

Jogging back to the party in a pair of swimming trunks and a towel over his shoulder, he gave Hayden a quick wave before passing Eliza to get to the dunk tank. Stripping off his shirt he gave a look around before simply tossing it aside and climbing up onto the board with the largest, goofiest smile he could muster. To a regular person, a dunk tank was just simple fun and a way to get cool on a hot summer's afternoon. To Jay, it was currently the best idea in the world and that was quite evident in the way he lightly bounced in place as he anticipated the sudden fall into the water. Of course, he didn't trust Alli to be able to hit that target 'cause he figured her accuracy wasn't typically the best. Sure, she could mop the floor with him in anything in regards to gymnastics, but Jay had the upper hand when it came to this. But, he'd hold his judgement for when she actually threw the ball. Last he remembered, she missed his hand entirely when throwing him a beer bottle a few nights ago—broken glass and beer would forever stain his perfect, white walls.

Jaycen grimaced at the thought.

"Hey, Alli-Cat!" he shouted through cupped hands, "Just remember, if no one dies, then you did good. Doesn't matter if I fell in or not, as long as you don't kill anyone."

"Just for that, I'm going to kill someone. Mainly you Jaycen. You are so dead." Alli threw Jaycen a disgruntled look as she grabbed the balls in her hands. She couldn't deny it though, she probably would end up killing someone with her bad aim... There was a reason why the sports she played usually didn't involve throwing a ball. They tended to end up with some sort of casualty.

First try! Alli lined up her aim, and simply let the ball fly. Of course, the ball veered far to the right, nearly hitting Brenden in the head. However, Brenden grabbed the ball out of the air and tossed it back to her with an easy-going smirk.

"Congrats," he shouted again, with a grin, bounding up and down again in excitement, "Great way to welcome the new guy!"

Catching the ball in her hands--she can catch, okay?--Alli glared at Jayce. "Shut up." She hissed before trying again, this time sailing high over the target. Wow. This was embarrassing. And Jaycen looked extremely excited to be dunked, there was no way that Alli could betray his anticipation.

It was time to take a different approach. Abandoning the ball, Alli stalked over to the target, and slammed her first into it, effectively dunking Jaycen without the use of projectiles. The moment Jaycen fell into the water, Alli was leaning on the tank, her arm outstretched with her hand pressing down firmly upon his head as if she was trying to drown him by keeping him under.

"Wow. You really do suck!" Jaycen said in the minute amount of time he had before plummeting into the water with the largest smile.

The whole holding him under the water would have worked, had Jaycen not at least five times the strength Alli had. Planting his feet on the bottom, he simple stood and gave Alli a smug look, partially goading her to try again. Shaking his head, he turned and clambered out, nearly landing on his face in the process. At the sight of one vice principal, he immediately straightened and gave a dismissive cough and then a wave in his direction, only to wipe the sheepish look off completely and replace it with a very snide and knowing expression.

"Hey there, Hotshot," Jay drew out, holding out the towel he retrieved, "How 'bout you be a doll and dry me off?"

"Shove it," Hayden growled, shooting him an exasperated look as he turned his attention away from his phone.

"Aw, come on, Hot stuff," he joked, starting to dry himself off as he walked up to Hayden, "I guess I gotta be more than an all-star quarterback, eh? I always pegged you as having some kind of authority fetish."

"Did I not tell you to shut up?" Hayden gave a sigh as he rolled his eyes.

"I get it, I get it. Gotta be a stickler for the rules for all the kids, especially after you just got all cuddly with their principal."

"Oh my God, will you stop?"

"Hey, I just saw the end bit, but I'm sure you didn't hold out any, eh?"

"Stop being an ass, Jay. You aren't any better, you know it."

"Oh, ooooh, really? I at least buy my date dinner and a drink before I go dragging 'em off into the nearest corner for a quick fu—"

"Jay, this is a school picnic."

"Don't be a hypocrite. You trying to sex up the new guy is much worse than me talking about it."

"I can't handle this. Can you go play with the dogs or something? I've got stuff to do."

Jay's immediately perked up at the mention of Hayden's dogs. How long had it been since he'd practically rolled around in their ball of fluff?

"You didn't tell me you brought your dog," he said in mild disbelief, quickly finishing dying up, "The hell, Hotshot?"

"You didn't ask. They're somewhere, I dunno, just don't kill yourself or them. I think Acacia brought some frisbees too," Hayden waved him off, settling back down on the nearest picnic table as his eyes wandered back over to where Brenden was.

In an instant, Jay was scouring through the campus with the disk in his hand and Cecelia's dog in tow after sneaking the teacher's dog from behind her whilst she flirted with the other literature teacher. He'd snatched a ton of hot dogs, stuffed 'em in his pocket before running off with the frisbee and dog. Hayden would get the hint that the picnic needed more delicious meats; at the moment, Jaycen was much too preoccupied with filling up his time with a bunch of slobbery canines.

"There ya' are," he mumbled, smiling brightly at the relaxing pair of bodies under the shade of a tree, not too far from an equally relaxed looking Jack Riley.

Offering his best smile, Jaycen gave the kid a wave and pointed at the two bodies directly behind him. "Don't mind if I have a little fun with your friends over there, eh?" he asked, giving a soft whistle to wake the dogs. Without waiting for a response, Jay bounded off with his newly reunited pals, waving back at Jack to thank him before completely immersing himself in the trio of dogs.

When he finally finished his delicious steak, Jacob found he was barely sated. How was this possible?! He was a twig, and a single steak and a soda hadn't filled him. Huh, maybe this was a good sign. Again, Jacob couldn't help but chuckle a little. Nah, no way he was gonna start gaining weight. It didn't particularly matter, of course. He didn't need to gain any weight, and even if he tried, it probably wouldn't happen. Getting up, he made his way back to the food, grabbing a hamburger, making sure to put an ample amount of ketchup on the patty. He preferred his hamburgers heavy on the ketchup. Just a personal thing, really. He was hoping Mr. Hawthorne wouldn't take it as a personal offense. He just liked ketchup a lot.

As he made his way back to his seat at the table, Jacob noticed something that chilled his blood. His towel. On the ground. He simply stood there for a few moments, Making his way over to the table, he hastily put the plate holding his burger down, scrambling to get the towel back. And then he stopped again. This was probably bad. He was making a big deal out of people seeing his back. His scar-ridden, ugly ugly back. Calmly wrapping the towel around his back, he sat down and quickly ate his burger. Okay, this was probably a good time to go get changed back into uniform. It might be hot, but risking another incident with his back was unacceptable. When he finished, he got up and returned to the locker room, making sure to throw out his plate on the way. And he was still a little hungry.

While he was in the locker room, Jacob leaned against one of the lockers, sliding his way to the ground, laughing a bit. Why the hell was he laughing? He'd just exposed his oh-so beautiful back to the school. It was something he always dreaded doing, and he had good reason to. Sighing, he stood up and managed to dress himself in record time. It helped that his uniform was mostly prepared, since he'd already worn it before.

Making his way back to the picnic, he felt a bit better now that his body was covered again. Making his way over to the only person he knew he could actually talk to regularly, Jacob took a seat, looking up at his new companion. "Hey there, Colonel Kirschenzweig. How was your summer? I haven't gotten to talk to you for a while. I kinda missed you." Kinda was an understatement, and he knew they were both aware of that. Forcing a lopsided smile, Jacob looked around at the picnic going on around them and sighed.

"Oh, just go screw yourself."

Yuki just managed to not roll her eyes at James' question. Ah yes, the insane Japanese stereotype. Were Americans so desperate for entertainment that they were too stupid to actually look at how much the 'insane' Japanese activity didn't dominate everyone's lives? Obviously not. Just because Yuki is Japanese doesn't mean that she watches anime 24/7, or that she's some sort of cheap whore. And she most certainly does not like tentacle porn--thanks a lot, Stereotype Song. Fuck you. Worst song ever, and to top it off, it was catchy. Ugh, it was stuck in her head now.

"You all think that the Japanese are crazy, but if this is what Americans do for fun... I'm beginning to think that the stereotypes should be reversed!" Yuki giggled, blinking up at James with her wide eyes. There was the stereotype that Americans were daredevils--either that or they're all obese--so she guessed that this was somewhat true. Yuki had to admit though, the people who were getting dunked seemed to be having a lot of fun. The teachers were very... open about everything in front of their students too. She had trouble wrapping her mind around that, even though she had very friendly teachers back in her home country.

Just by looking at everyone and their interactions, it was fairly simple for Yuki to determine where people stood on the social totem pole. Now all she had to do was learn their faces, learn their names, learn what classes they were in, and their deepest darkest secrets. Fairly simple, right? Shouldn't be too hard. But Yuki wasn't really good at names, so that actually might be kinda hard. She should really work on that.

Wren's phone rang just as Eliza had propped herself up on the dunk tank, forcing her to miss the actual dunking process, much as she wanted to join in cheering for the older girl. The familiar ringtone that played in a loop indicated that it was her manager calling, and that in turn, meant that this was not a call she could, or ever would, ignore. Digging out her phone in her satchel, she tried to maneuver quickly through the growing crowd, but she struggled to push against the flow as everyone started to gather around the tank. When she'd finally gotten free, Wren sat herself on a bench some feet away from the bustling area and accepted the call. She was immediately greeted by a familiar wail of excitement then a string of incoherent babbling, in a manner that she had come to associate with 'more work.' It could only mean that her quiet days-off were numbered and she didn't mind it one bit.

The call lasted all of ten minutes, but she came out of it three months busier. Photo shoot next Thursday. Some interviews the following week. Her manager also wanted her to get ready for possible pickups or reshoots, which were most likely for some of the fight scenes she had to do. There were also a dozen more things, all listed in her calendar already, which she was expected to review and accept later tonight. Suffice it to say, she was busy and she couldn't be happier. It would actually worry her more if her manager wasn't trying to fill in as much of her schedule as was allowed by law.

Wren had half a mind to run back to her room and start relearning the choreography for the fight scenes. There were some moves she would definitely want to perfect this time around. She could start prepping for the interview, as well. Last time she had accidentally let her snarkier side free, and she'd taken some of her fans by surprise. She wouldn't want a repeat of that. And then she could maybe even start a seven-day detox regimen so she'd have that healthy skin glow right before the shoot. Good thing she hadn't eaten any of the picnic food yet!

As more and more concerns crowd her thoughts, Wren frowned. She felt suddenly restless. There was a weight on her shoulders that came out of nowhere, like a strange sense of overwhelming trepidation, and she knew from experience that it wouldn't go away until she feels like she's been productive. Wren stood and started walking back toward the path that led to the dorm, stopped after a moment, then turned around to sit back down on the bench with childish resignation.

No, today's picnic day. Wren had to tell herself. She promised her mother she would make room for work-free days, and this was one of them. Can't work today. Can't work today. She repeated it like a mantra, but her thoughts were too quick to drift to the coming weeks and what she needed to do to prepare.

Wren groaned in frustration. She was going nowhere with this endless fretting, and it was just giving her a headache. Jumping up from the bench, she looked around for her roommate, knowing she could help distract her for a while, but she couldn't find her through the crowd and she currently hadn't the energy to wade through them. She was in all honesty tempted to scream for Julie, because she wasn't thinking straight and she'd apparently forgotten about the magic of mobile phones. Luckily, she spotted a familiar figure sitting on the grass just a few feet from her, feasting on practically the whole potluck.

"August Marco," she called out, smiling as she approached him. If anyone could help her loosen up a little, it would be the infamous prankster. "Know any cures for a raging workaholic?"

Jack stared at his phone expectantly, fingers tapping against the screen restlessly. His dad was usually quick to respond, no matter what time he texted him. The man was glued to his phone 24/7! When his phone finally buzzed, playing a ringtone instead of beeping once like he expected, he had to admit he jumped a little. Ah, shit. He didn't know why he was so jumpy, but he'd also never inadvertently come across one of their past targets before. There was no precedent, no protocol, and he had no freaking idea what to do.

His eyes darted around, scanning the vicinity for anyone who could possibly overhear their conversation. Seeing no one within earshot, he accepted the call and greeted his dad with as casual a 'hey' as he could manage, although he was sure some of his panic colored his voice.

Instead of his dad's gruff voice greeting him back, he heard a bark of laughter, one with that slight maniacal lilt that meant he was extremely happy. His brow quirked reflexively as he tried to figure out what the hell was happening. Did he just score another 50k story? He thought for sure his dad would freak out, considering he was just a few yards away from a man whose life they've ruined. Sure, Pierce can't kill him out in public (and y'know, he wouldn't know who he was), but he'd rather not take his chances.

It took his dad a few seconds to compose himself. "Fuck, that's pretty good. This is what Pierce's been up to since then?" There was another bark of laughter, and his dad rambled on about how 'those who can't, teach.' Jack knew his dad liked it when he sees the results of his work. Each entitled asshole brought down to ground was a victory, and their misery was a reward. Still, of all the people they've targeted, it seemed that the football star was the one that his dad had hated the most. He never knew why.

"So, how is the fucker doing? Miserable in his dead-end job?" His dad was excited, and Jack had to smile. He liked it when his dad can be happy. God knows he suffered enough as it is.

"Can't say right now, but he fucking should be." Jack stood to get a closer look at said target, but as he scoped out the picnic area, he realized he was no longer there. "I mean teaching after having an amazing career—"

Jack didn't notice the approaching figure until he had spoken. He stopped midsentence, swallowing nervously while trying to pretend he was busy... leaning against a tree. He could hear his dad asking what happened from the other end, but he ignored him for the moment. Shit, he was going to die now, isn't he? Or he'd end up with his first kill, because he sure as hell won't give in without a fight.

When Pierce raised his hand, Jack had been ready to defend himself. He didn't expect the man to merely wave at him and be on his way, taking with him a couple of dogs. Wait...that was it? Jack's eyebrow quirked again as he watched him leave, feeling a little stunned. His dad heard Pierce's voice and had been barraging him with questions for the last minute, but for some reason, he got really irritated at how calm and content he had seemed.

"He doesn't look very miserable right now" was all he could tell his dad.

In inceptum finis est

---

Monday

Beginning of the school day

---

---

It had been a hectic morning.

It was now after the mandatory all-school assembly, and Brenden Aldrin allowed himself a sigh of relief. The Student Council conducted most of the meeting, informing the student body of the rules and expectations, announcements, all that fun stuff. That left the principal with the daunting task of giving the traditional ‘welcome back’ speech. Despite the fact that he met everyone at the picnic, this was the first time he would present himself as a professional. Nerve-wracking again, and he hated speeches. He looked down at the worn piece of paper he had read from. One fleeting glance at it was enough to see how much work he had put into composing it. There were words added in and crossed out, eraser smudges everywhere, and the paper itself wasn’t as crisp and clean as it could be. It was kind of pathetic actually, stressing over a simple speech.

It was over now. In a remarkably child-like gesture, Brenden folded his speech into a paper airplane. With a delicate flick of his wrist, the paper airplane glided gracelessly through the air before it crashed into the wall and fell into the recycling bin. Score! His lips turned up into a wry smile. A grown man in his thirties, tossing paper airplanes around. Yeah, seems about right.

Leaning back into his chair, Brenden grimaced at the work he had to do. It was the finances that scared him the most The large sums of money was simply terrifying and unbelieveable. That’s what he got for working at Caelbury, he supposed. As someone who grew up into the middle class, he had trouble comprehending exactly what was expensive, and what was cheap for these wealthy people. He would have to get Hayden’s help later.

For now, he took a sip of his coffee--black, with absolutely no sugar or milk. First days at school were always stressful in some way, shape or form. He might as well prepare himself.

---

---

Despite it being early in the morning, Acacia looked as fresh as a daisy. During the assembly, the Student Council President was bright, chipper, and most of all, awake as she conducted her part. She was probably one of the very few people who was energetic at 7:30 AM. A morning person to the core, Acacia knew it to be one of her strengths.

To a person who doesn’t know Acacia’s sleeping habits, it may seem that she’s roused by the birds that flutter through her window like a Disney princess. The reality is much more boring. Unless she goes to sleep at an extremely unreasonable time, Acacia’s internal clock wakes her up at 5:00 AM. She seldom sleeps in, and is always tip-toeing around by 6:00 AM. It’s really convenient because it gives her ample time to get ready, relax, and do whatever she wants to.

It wasn’t always a good thing though.

As a child, Acacia no doubt annoyed her family members because she would be up at 5:00 AM, dashing through the long hallways of the Hawthorne Manor. Toddler Acacia would burst into the rooms of her older brothers and sisters, climb onto their beds and demand to be entertained while bouncing up and down. This got even worse on the holidays, the anticipation and hype waking her up even earlier. On the mornings of Christmas or her birthday, Acacia would be up at the crack of dawn, enthusiastically shouting, laughing and singing up and down the stairs. This continued until she was old enough to realize that people really like their peace and quiet in the morning.

Acacia wasn’t running around the halls from excitement, but she certainly felt that emotion. The first day of school was always thrilling to the overachiever, and there was a bounce in her step as she entered her first period class.

Her first day of her senior year, the beginning of the end, has begun.

---

---

”Don’t fall asleep, don’t fall asleep, don’t fall asleep…”

If someone could read minds, they would be overwhelmed by Alli’s sheer attempt to stay awake. It wasn’t that the assembly itself was boring--let’s face it though, assemblies are usually boring no matter what--it was just way too early. She pinched herself, bit down on her lip, stifled yawns, sang screamo songs in her head… Somehow, she managed not to nod off.

Unlike a certain young Hawthorne, Alli Kendrick is not a morning person whatsoever.

Alli is a person who can stay up until the sun rises without any problems. Mornings however, are the bane of her existence, they’re the cruel things that break her away from her soft, comfortable, warm bed. She has her alarm set an hour earlier than she actually has to wake up, setting it to go off every 15 minutes. She periodically attempts to wake up, but she always ends up hitting the snooze button, and rushing to get ready when she really does get out of bed--falling out of bed is the more accurate description here.

It’s also incredibly difficult to rouse her. If you ever have a sleepover with her, you’d better try every trick in the book that you can think of, because she will not be getting up earlier than she has to. Whacking her with a pillow works with about 60% effectiveness, while blaring a trumpet in her ear has so far, had a 99% success rate. Due to this fact, Alli has been a victim of the ‘hand in the lukewarm water’ trick, and the ‘shaving cream and the feather’ trick a multiple of times. And don’t even get me started on when she’s drunk, that’s a whole different story.

And after months of getting up gloriously late, she has to wake up early again? Everyday? This was just plain torture. Sometimes, Alli really has to wonder why she became a teacher, and why she didn’t get a job that allowed her to work at night, and sleep all day. She’s pretty nocturnal, and the school day is messing up her sleep schedule. She’s currently operating on many cups of coffee, and even considered taking 5 hour energy, but that would probably cause her to crash, and that was an absolute no-no.

She really hated the first day of school.

Not only was it a rude wake up call from the warm haze of summer, there was absolutely nothing to do. Awkward introductions, talking about the syllabus, rules, and expectations… Boring, boring, boring. Raking her hand through her long hair, Alli stared down at her mostly blank lesson plans for the day, having no clue what to do besides the standard, boring first day talks. She should really ask some other teachers about that.

Tapping her pencil nervously against her desk, Alli glanced up at the clock. Students would be coming in any minute now, and she had a mental panic for about a second or two. How should she greet them? At her desk? By the door? Hiding in the closet and jumping out at them? In the end, she just remained at her desk, but still, she couldn’t completely quell her nerves.

Ugh. She really wanted alcohol right now.

---

---

「ここ、どこ？」

Translation: Where am I?

Yuki was lost. She was hopelessly lost. Why was this building so big? Where were the hallways so long, with a lot of twists and turns? Why were there so many classrooms? Where did that door lead? Why are there so many stairs? Where am I supposed to go?

She stared blankly at the map in her hand, first trying to comprehend where she was. What floor was she on? What wing of the building is she in? Maps were not her strong point apparently, which is ironic because in Japan, she could understand the intricate subway maps in a split second. It doesn’t help that the entire school was something she’s not used to. Well, she’s in a different country, what did she expect?

Gripping the strap of her backpack tightly, Yuki tried again. She walked up to a nearby classroom, and saw the room number. It took her a while to find it on the map, because again, this building was huge! And the maps was really big because of it. Now, apparently she’s on the wrong floor… But she would have to locate the stairs first.

This wasn’t a very good start….

---