[IC] Rosefell High.

[Sugar and Spite]

_Outfit
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"August twenty-sixth. Eight A.M. Last first day of high school," Aria repeated to herself for the millionth time as she pulled in to the school parking lot.

It was a grounding technique. Aria had a habit of repeating small facts to herself to shove anxiety causing thoughts from her mind. Being her first day of Senior year, the young woman had a lot to worry about. College applications, what was going to look good on her transcript, cute girls, and so much more. Would Rosefell try and do something special for it's graduating class this year? Unlikely. Fortunately for Aria, that was a challenge she could face. She and Jenna had spent the last week organizing the lake party for Friday night. If the schools administration team wasn't going to make their high school life rememberable, it was up to the students to make it that way. Drama, fights, and tears were more than common at Rosefell high, but something told Aria a certain something about this year would be special. Rather it was the fact that she was somehow managing to be in a good mood or if the prophecy would come true, only time would tell.

Though it was relatively warm outside with the forecast calling for it to be eighty degrees today, Aria was dressed in black jeans and an over sized gray sweater for the day. Her clothing choice would be something that someone was bound to comment on - as it always was. Through the years she had gotten used to it, and even though it was already relatively warm outside the young woman had made no changes for today's planned clothing choices.

Putting her car in park, the young woman grabbed her book-bag and breakfast crunchwrap from the passenger seat before climbing out. Met with the familiar stench of despair and wasted dreams, Aria began to make her way through the crowd of students arriving. With no particular destination in mind, she found an empty crimson colored picnic table to call her temporary home. This was also an old routine that Aria had. Breakfast from Taco Bell, eat it at the picnic bench, say hello to a few friends and then dash off to home room. Old habits die hard, right? Maybe she would try and change some things this year.

As the last of the buses arrived at 8:10, people started making their way into the building. Aria sent Jenna a text to remind her to let everyone she knew about the party. Aria had also sent texts to Lana, Hope and Eli to spread the word. She wanted to open the school year with a bang, and you couldn't do that if no one showed up to your party. It was meant to be a Junior and Senior only affair, though she was sure a Sophomore or two would sneak in. At this point, she didn't really care. She needed to finally make her presence at Rosefell more known than it already was. Everything about this year was going to be great - even if she had to fight tooth and nail to get it that way.

Once the buses were unloaded and the stuffing of the face had commenced, the intercom came on with a loud screech that was sure to catch everyone's attention. You would think that after twenty years of being the principal, Mr. Henderson would figure out how to use the intercom system. Some things just never changed.

"Attention all Rosefell Juniors' and Seniors'. Please report for your mandatory welcome back assembly in the auditorium at eight thirty sharp. Thank you. That will be all."

Another screech for the sign off.

Aria couldn't help but roll her eyes. She hated the welcome back assemblies. What clubs and programs would be cut this year? The blonde sighed as she took another bite from her food. Was going to a school that constantly cut programs, clubs and more better than going to a school full of rich assholes who's moms and dads bought them out of trouble? She really didn't know at this point.

[Infinite Cosmos]

>>Texting the Knights, getting the school year started. @HaleyTheRandom@Hey Im Jordan@Pyxis@ayzrules@KZOMBI3@spooner@Bee

The alarm goes off. Rich rolls over and checks the time. "Eh. Its 8 am already...? Shit, I guess I gotta go get ready for school..." With an audible 'Hng', Rich got out of bed and dragged himself into the bathroom to get ready. There wasn't anyone else at home at this point in the day to take up the precious real estate so Rich had the whole room to himself. Of course, Rich was just being dramatic, calling it 8 am. In reality it is closer to 7:30 than 8. He had plenty of time to get himself ready, but it never seems to be enough anyways.

Walking out of the bathroom, hair as unkempt as ever, Rich half stumbles back into his room to pick out his outfit. "What is the OOTD then? Its the first day after all." He did a quick scan of his closet and dresser drawer. The outfit he chose consisted of skinny, dark denim, a colorful t-shirt with geometric block patterns, and of course some sunglasses with red lenses. Rich then glanced over to a corner of his room. His old, black, Jansport was just sitting there, zipper undone. "Backpack, nah. Fanny pack, yes." He whispered to himself. Clipping on his fanny pack, containing pens, his cell phone, and other teen necessities, Rich slipped on his white Chuck Taylors and hopping in his car, at exactly 8 am...

Pulling into the parking lot, Rich chuckled to himself, watching the 'rat race' of students filtering into the school. They may be freshman, or seniors. It didn't matter. In Rich's eyes, him and his friends ran the school, and being a senior he is definitely going to walk the halls as if that was a fact. Grabbing the red bull he had taking previously from his family restaurant, he turned his car off and stepped out. "Ah. The nerdy one is already here. Damn." Rich said, a wispy chuckle followed as he made his approach towards the school.

Just as he approached Aria, the school PA system come on with a screech. The principle announced that everyone had to pack themselves into the auditorium like sardines for the welcome back assembly. Great. Sighing, Rich said "Well. Good morning Aria, I guess we'll have to chat more after this stupid ass assembly. I'll see you around." Rich turned and waved slightly as he walked away.

"Well, lets get this year on the road then..." He reached for his phone and sent the Knights a message in their group chat

-Yo, you guys in school yet? Apparently we have this assembly or whatever...-

[Hedgehawk]

New year. Back to school. Once more unto the breach. One last hurrah. It didn't matter how you looked at it though, Jordan was still stuck in this shit hole for another year. Final year maybe, but still, another year. At least he was a senior now. It was his time to shine. He had been living in the shadows of the more popular cliques over the past year, now was the time to pull out in front. Sure, his journey to the top had caused some issues. You have to break a few people to climb after all.

Jordan was currently walking to school. He lived a good distance away and a car would help. However, his parents were slightly concerned about him being behind the wheel. Something about being too distracted on his phone to focus on the road. If anyone asked however Jordan simply drove his car to a parking lot nearby and walked the rest of the way. He didn't want his fictional car to be trashed by the trash of Rosefell after all.

It was just after 8am when Jordan arrived on site. He was dressed with a simple combination of an orange hoodie and light blue denim jeans with enough holes in them that it was almost more hole than Jean. He wore simple black and white converses and finished it all off by wearing large square sunglasses that were way bigger than they needed to be. Taking a second he stopped and pulled out his phone, flipping through twitter and checking a few things, and writing a new tweet.

Twitter Post

Start the year on a high. Walk in like you own the place and keep going. It was clear that Jordan had no intention of stopping what he had started last year. And the tweet was more of a pep talk to himself before starting the day as opposed to a declaration of social war. It was during this time that the intercom system came to life and the announcement about the assembly came through. That was about just about a good enough reason to actually move and enter the school.

Entering at the back of the bus crowd, Jordan surveyed the scene as he moved forward. He had ten or so minutes to kill quickly, so he made his way over to the picnic benches. Quite a few had been occupied but he had managed to spot one at the back that was free. He began to walk across to the benches, his back up straight, head held high. No need to be slumping it around. On his walk across he came across two of his fellow students: Aria and Rich. Though at this point Rich was already walking away.

"Morning Aria." He commented with a wide smile as he walked past her and sat down at the bench behind her. He finally took his sunglasses off and placed them into his baby blue rucksack. No need to wear them now he had actually gotten to school. He pulled his phone out once more and began surfing the net, keeping an eye on the time, concerned about being late.

[Bee]

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One last year of this. Just nine more months until she was free and out of this place for good. Surprisingly enough, her last first day of high school ever didn't keep her up. The first day of school had always been one to keep her up on the night before, wracking her mind with various implications and scenarios as to how the year would play out. It didn't exactly help that Samantha had stayed up until 4 AM the night prior playing League of Legends. On the bright side of things, Samantha was pretty well rested for once. She was as perky as she could be given the situation at hand. It was true that in a matter of weeks (or even days), all of this was going to wear off and everyone was going to be at each other's necks and wanting to slit their own throats. On one hand, she was glad to see the Knights again, and not have to jump through a multitude of hoops to get each other to hang out in person. Playing League and voice chats in Discord weren't the same as being there in person and enjoy each other's presence.

Sitting in her Volkswagen in what was probably the longest red light of her life, music was playing at a comfortable volume in her car. She was a little annoyed, as she was probably sitting at that light for over two minutes. "Come on..." She grunted, propping her arm up on the door to hold her head up. Samantha's brown eyes glanced over to the clock every so often. With every minute that passed, the anxiety in her grew. Samantha HATED being late, especially when it was out of her control. She was not about to be late on the first day, even though it was just some stupid assembly at first. The text tone on her phone went off, prompting her to quickly pick it up to give her something to do as the red light continued to be red.

It was a text from Rich Brian, much to her delight. Holding the phone in one hand, she started to tap away at her phone. "bro i am at the world's longest red light. save me 😭😊🔫" Right as soon as she sent that, the light miraculously turned green. Almost as if someone or something was controlling this green light and waiting for the right time to turn the light. Samantha didn't pay much mind and she immediately forgot just how long she spent that that particular light. Sighing a breath of relief, Samantha took her foot off the brake pedal, letting the car roll forward before she took off and made her way to school at last. At least there was still music playing. It made the wait much more bearable.

Coming up on the parking lot, Samantha quickly pulled in, feeling the shock go through the car as she went up the driveway. Good thing about being a senior was that she had her own spot. Pulling into the spot that was covered by a tree, she slammed the lever into park and turned the car off. Reaching over to the passenger seat, Samantha pulled her backpack over to her as she stepped out of the car. Slipping her rather comically large backpack on (seriously, it was like the backpack was wearing her). Watching everyone make their way onto campus, Samantha held her phone close in her hand and started to walk onto campus. Hopefully some of her friends were there already.

Stepping onto campus, she could already see the likes of Aria and Jordan, both of whom she wasn't entirely interested in interacting with. One she knew next to nothing about, and the other... well if she even looked at him, he probably would've spread a rumor about her before she even stepped into the assembly. Rich Brian was around, but she wasn't entirely sure where he had wandered off to. Much to Samantha's surprise, and to her relief, she was actually pretty early to school. The assembly was still quite a bit away from starting, meaning she could wander to group up with her homies, to avoid sitting with randos in the assembly.

Samantha could soon spot the rather signature haircut of Rich Brian, along with his fashion. The dark denim paired with the shirt definitely pointed to it being Rich Brian. Looking around to see if she could see Artie's giant ass or Jules or Daze, she then walked at a brisk pace to Rich Brian. "Riiiiiiich! She yelled, trying to get his attention. At the same time, she pulled her phone up, heading into the group chat as she continued to walk over to him. "i found rich! come meet up with us so we can sit together during the assembly."

[twannyman]

Hendrik Bakker

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It was 6am in the morning when a faint buzzing sound arose from underneath Hendriks pillow. A few groans and seconds later, the greenish eyes had once again opened up to the world around Hendrik. Getting up from bed a little later, grabbing a pair of light gray jogging pants, a blue sport shirt from his closet. Hendrik went through his usual morning ritual of brushing his teeth, refreshing his face and grabbing a quick scoop of nuts. Then he grabbed himself a bottle of water and his earbuds and put on some music. It was time for his early morning jog.

It was around 6:30am once Hendrik was done streching and doing a slow warming up. It was time to crank up the pace a little. So slowly and surely Hendrik would pick up the pace, until he was a a normal jogging pace, well atleast for him. A short fifteen minutes later, very slim rays of sunlight would cover the trees in the park. A very slight breeze going through the leaves, all with all a very calming sight.

Without really realizing another twenty minutes had passed, thus Hendrik's set alarm would ring from his phone. Time to return home it would seem, Hendrik always knew how to pace himself to not overburden his muscles, and as every active athlete he understood the value of cooling down. Which was exactly what the plan was for the way back, a cooling down.

Once home, both his parents had already left the house, most likely out on another "Business Appointment." Hendrik always felt like their parents used it as an excuse towards each other. Luckily for Hendrik, this made sure he had become quite skilled at some chores, cooking for example. So before grabbing a shower, a few slices of bread had been grabbed from the fridge and laid out on a plate.

Then it was time for a shower, another part of the usual morning ritual. After a short ten minutes, Hendrik had finished and was again in front of his closet, thinking what to wear. In the end, a white shortsleaved blouse, with a nice set of shortened gray jeans with his usual sneakers was decided upon. Having finally made a decision, it was time to make some scrambled eggs with cheese, put it on the slices of bread, and well have breakfast.

It was only around 8am when Hendrik grabbed his schoolbag filled with school supplies, stepped outside and went into the garage to grab his bike. He really did enjoy cycling towards school, not only was it a really easy way to slip in some extra conditioning exercise, it was also an easy way to clear his mind if his parents decided to have another fit in the morning. On the way to school he would run into a few familiar faces, people he would see around the supermarket he worked at, or other fellow morning joggers, nothing to spectacular.

Hendrik would arrive at the schoolground around 8:15am, he would drive up to the bikeracks, doing his best to avoid the stream of people from the last bus, which had recently arrived. After parking his bike Hendrik spotted some more familiar faces and did his round of smalltalks, before heading over to the general welcome back assembly

[Manzanilla]

♢ ━ ━━ ━━━ ━━━━ ━━━━━ ━━━━ ♢ ━━━━ ━━━━━ ━━━━ ━━━ ━━ ━ ♢

By 6 am, the Scott house was already in full force. His foster father, John, was already waking up everyone in the house while his foster mother cooked breakfast in the morning. It usually took the whole house an hour to fully wake up, get ready, and head down for breakfast. By the time Min Jun made his way down the stairs, he could already smell the strong coffee and bacon. Adapting to such a lively house had been a bit of a hassle. The Scotts were a lively folk that spoke a little too loud and laughed a little too hard, but they had welcomed him and his sisters.

Breakfast was eaten shortly after a prayer then the kids were ushered away. Kyle, the oldest, had work a city over, so he was always the first to go. John always left shortly after talking to the girls of the family and wishing the, well. Then it was Mary who dropped off all the girls while Min Jun drove in his old run-down mustang he had repaired with the help of John and Kyle. Driving in the old scrap beat taking the bus or riding a bike down to school, besides the car, wasn't too bad. It just needed a paint job and some new seat covers. Just ignore screeching breaks, Min Jun would have to get to those later.

Min Jun wasn't nervous about school. Not one bit. That is what he kept telling himself as he almost mounted a curb while turning right on the parking lot. Okay, maybe he was a little bit nervous. Just a little. He had already parked when he felt his phone vibrate in his pocket. After pulling it out, he saw the group chat already being spammed by Samantha. It was surprising to see her on time and awake after seeing her online past 1 am.

To: Knights
From: MinMin
Eeyy, I just got here. Save me a seat!

With that text, Min Jun climbed out of his car, locked it manually, and began to make his way into the school. There were a few familiar faces he could already see. Hendrik and Aria were two of the people in his year. He didn't talk too much. He knew of Aria because she was in sports but much much about the former. Jordan, who had just greeted Aria, was a face he wasn't too happy to see. They had talked a bit before last year ended, but he couldn't shake the feeling that the guy was looking for something. Whatever- Min Jun gave the guy the nod of "we cool" as he walked past.

"Hey," Min Jun approached Samantha and Rich, a smile on his face. It had been some time since he had seen the two of them in person. While they constantly talked over the phone or Discord, it was so much better to see them in person. He gave Rich a bro hug followed by a normal hug to Sam. "You two looking hot as ever. Any of the others here yet? Bet the twins are gonna be late."

After his brief greeting Min Jun turned around to look for any of the other Knights- and more importantly for Hope. The main source of today's anxiety. He had spent all summer trying to get a present ready for Hope to impress the guy. Ever since they had started talk Min Jun had the urge to get closer to him and get to know him better. Ever since he heard that Oliver- the guy with the funny accent- was close to Hope, he had started talking to him. Min Jun just really wanted to see Hope.

Did he look okay? Was his hair parted correctly? Did his breath stink? Was his lazy eye too noticeable? Fuck, why was Min Jun so nervous? He kept tapping his fingers over his phone while he waited for the rest of the Knights with Sam and Rich.

[Aeolian]

Date: August 26 | Time: Morning | Location: Hope's Studio Apartment
Interactions: (Phone call with Uncle Sebastian), (Reply text to Aria), (Text to Oliver), (Text to Steph)

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Hope woke up much earlier than he normally would have this morning, his small body curled up in a fetal position under the covers as his brown eyes gave way to the darkness of his small studio apartment, a night light off to the corner creating a muted glow. It was enough for him to see the surroundings of his one-room (minus the bathroom) abode. There wasn't a whole lot, not even a couch. It wasn't much, but it was home. His eyes lagged behind his early morning intentions as he hung off the side of his bed, a low sigh escaping his pink lips. It was still dark out as far as he could tell and the clothes he planned to wear for his first day of school were sprawled out on this small dining table. His eyes were shut again because even the night light was too much. He hummed a bit to himself as he laced his fingers into his hair and gave his scalp a good scratch before taking the hair tie off his wrist with his teeth and expertly weaving it into his hair to form his signature bun. He rarely ever left his hair down.

Groggy, he shuffled his school clothes off to his bed and then retrieved and wrapped a black kitchen apron around his delicate frame that read ALL THIS...and I can cook?. Hope smoothed out the apron with his palms and gave the corners a timid tug. It was a gift from Oliver Atkinson, one of his best friends. Hope was appreciative of the gift. He was always overly appreciative of the things people did for him, especially when they didn't have to. Oliver always joked about them getting married, especially since people always confused them for a couple anyways whenever they were together. This apron was one of his latest attempts at a marriage proposal, and Hope couldn't help but chuckle softly at the thought, bemused by Oliver's antics and thoughtful consideration.

About 30mins later, the sun was starting to peek through the window and the wafting smells of delightful homecooking permeated the studio. Hope seemed pleased with the progress so far, stirring the contents of a pot with one hand while drinking tea in the other. He retrieved his phone from the countertop and sent a quick message to Oliver as another pot on the stove began to bubble and froth.

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^{Text to: Oliver}
You're probably still sleep, but I just wanted to confirm if you still planned on stopping by my flat so we could go to school together? It's okay if you're not really up to it. I'll see you there either way.

P.S. Don't eat breakfast. :)

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After an hour had passed, Hope was bent down to the floor and pulling some type of meaty substance from the oven, his face scrunched as the steam choked him. He was carving it into little pieces and placing them into a bento box when his uncle suddenly called from Paris.

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^{Phone call with: Uncle Sebastian}
Uncle Seb: Morning Hope.
Hope: ...
Uncle Seb: Hope?
Hope: ...
Uncle Seb: Hope you there?
Hope: Yes Yes! I'm sorry Uncle, I'm just a little distracted. Is everything alright?
Uncle Seb: Oui!
Hope: *Soft Chuckle*
Uncle Seb: *Chuckles* Just checking in on you. You start back school today Oui?
Hope: Aaaah! Yeah...
Uncle Seb: *Silence* You don't seem to thrilled. Nervous?
Hope: Maybe? I don't know...I've just got a lot of my mind I guess. But...I don't want to hold you hostage to my silly teenage angst...*Silent*
Uncle Seb: *Chuckles* Look, I've met a lot of teenagers and you're probably the least angsty of them all. You can tell me if something's bothering you.
Hope: *Silence* It's okay...it's nothing.
Uncle Seb: You sure?
Hope: *Low grunting noise*
Uncle Seb: Okay okay. I can take a hint.
Hope: I'm sorry...
Uncle Seb: Hope. It's okay. You'll be fine. Right?
Hope: *Nods head with a low grunt*
Uncle Seb: Bien. Now I gotta go. Talk to you soon ok? Hang in there little buddy. You know your parents would be very proud of you.
Hope: *Smiles faintly* Bye Uncle...
Uncle Seb: Bye kiddo.
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The sudden mention of his parents hit him, tears forming and cascading down his flushed cheeks. He wiped at his eyes with his sleeves, but continued on with crafting the bento boxes, not leaving himself any time for momentary grievance. A faint grin rested upon his countenance as he peered longingly out the window. But now, all was said and done and the bento boxes were fully prepared and ready to be delivered, delivered to his friends of course. There was one for Oliver, one for Steph, one for Alex, and one for Aria. And then there was a peculiar Bento box that stood out from the others. It was rested in a separate bag and was filled with Korean food. A note rested on its surface. This one for Min Jun, the cause of his concern that he couldn't muster to bring up to his Uncle. Hope really didn't want to bother him with his own problems.

But truthfully, Hope had been feeling really bad when the much taller student suddenly began ignoring him over the summer. He had convinced himself that he had said something egregiously out of place and offended the guy, eventhough they hadn't really talked much at all at that point. And when they had, it was safe to say that it was pretty awkward. Why had Min Jun started talking to him anyways, Hope thought. And why was he always acting weird around him? This feeling of self-doubt tugged at him immensely. Maybe the bento box would amend his transgressions, whatever they had been. Hope looked at Min Jun's bento box one last time, glared at it, and then quickly made it disappear within the bag so it couldn't cause him anymore concern for the time being.

The sun was in bloom now and Hope had gotten fully dressed, having performed all the rudimentary morning hygiene rituals beforehand. His outfit was unequivocally unspectacular and he was perfectly okay with that. He replied to Aria's text, which prompted him to hurriedly send a quick text to some of his other friends as he waited to hear back from Oliver. If his friend didn't arrive soon, he'd have to leave without him. The first day was about to commence. At this point, students would certainly have already started filtering into Rosefell's walls.

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^{Reply text to: Aria}
A party at the lake? Isn't that kind of a safety hazard? Hmmm....

But...maybe if we get enough people to join the cooking club before Friday, we can prepare something for it. I think that'd be a great way for students to bond.

Also, I made you lunch :) So no taco bell please lol

^{Text to: Steph}
Good morning Stevie! I think I'm heading to school with Oliver, so I'll see you there soon yeah? I've made you lunch by the way. :)

Love you.

______________________

Hope didn't text Alex. He had relinquished himself to the idea of seeing him at school and not bothering him with an early morning text message. But his nerves jittered as he thought of Min Jun again. Maybe he should bring it up to Oliver, about what happened. Hope pondered on it as he waited.

[Sugar and Spite]

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"LET'S GOOOOOOOOO," Morgan shouted into her headset at approximately seven thirty that morning. She had just gotten her thirtieth straight kill in a online game of team death match in Halo Reach. Her twitch stream comments was going crazy as the comments flooded through. Then again, thirty straight kills was practically nothing for Morgan. This was just a warm up. She threw a frag grenade a good distance in front of herself right as an opponent started shooting at her. She rushed, jumped over his head, quickly turned around and promptly broke the pixelated persons neck with her assault rifle. Game over. Another win for the Blue Team.

"Sorry guys! That's all the time I have for this morning. Tune back in at nine tonight Eastern Standard Time to see me demolish a bunch of angry forty year old men in Call of Duty." With a heartwarming smile and flashing a peace out sign at the camera, Morgan ended the stream and turned off the console. She laid her headset and control on her desk before grabbing her backpack off the bed and heading downstairs.

"I was wondering if you'd ever join me for breakfast," Richard said, a smile across his face to let her know that he was just joking. Pancakes, bacon, and over easy eggs," the man said, pointing towards the small kitchen table where the food sat.

"Do we have any leftover pizza?"

"Child, I just cooked one of your favorite breakfasts. Get the hell in there and eat it before I fight you," he said shaking his head and laughing as he poured two large glasses of milk.

Making her way to the table, Morgan placed her bag in the chair beside her as Richard sat the glasses down on the table.

"How late did you stay up last night?"

"Like until two in the morning. I fell asleep, got back up around five, took a shower, got dressed and all that. Then I played some Halo."

"I thought we agreed that you'd try and keep a normal sleep schedule."

"For kids my age, that is pretty normal. I gotta keep my views up. I got fifty new followers just this morning," Morgan insisted.

"Mmmmm.... I see. Finish your breakfast. It's almost time for us to get going."

Her stomach full, Morgan tried her hardest to get her hair up into a bun before she had to leave for school. Sadly, her hair refused to cooperate just like normal. With a defeated sigh, Morgan brushed her hair, then grabbed her bag, keys, and student ID before heading out the door. Richard met her at his car for his mandatory daily good-bye hug, but didn't actually say good-bye until he had the chance to judge her clothing of choice.

"That same old band t-shirt, eh? Don't you think those jeans ripped just a little to much?"

"Relax," she said, climbing into her car. "My outfit is cute, comfy, and breaks zero rules. Now I gotta go." With a wave good bye from Richard as he pulled off, Morgan buckled up before pulling away from the house herself.

The drive to school took around fifteen minutes. The back to school traffic was hectic, just as one could expect. With her playlist going from one great song to the other, one of her favorite songs by T-Pain came on. Moving her head to the beat of the song and mouthing the lyrics, Morgan pulled into her designated parking spot before removing the aux cord from her phone. With her bag over her shoulder, phone in hand, Morgan locked up her car before heading into the building. She smiled and waved as she went, exchanging how are you's and laughs as she went. Entering the auditorium, she took a seat in the second row from the door - making her one of the closest people to the exit and furthest from the stage. Unlocking her phone, she began to scroll through her social media accounts while waiting for the assembly to start.

[Hellion]

"Coffee, Mister Bellamy?" Principle Hendersen held a small, white, generic paper cup in front of him which was filled with whatever they considered coffee at the school.

"Alex." The young man across from him responded with a half smile. "And-uh, no thanks."

"Sure thing, son." The other shrugged, tossing the black liquid into the nearby wastebasket. "So hey, thanks for coming in a bit early this morning. It was great having you here last year taking photos for the yearbook -which came out great by the way- and all the events happening around the school. I gotta say, the staff here love you for making us look good. Even Miss Petree, who seems to have a thing for your work." The man chuckled to himself, while Alex gave an obviously cringed expression, knowing exactly what was implied.

“Uh…yeah, so...can I go?” Alex said, his nose still crunched up as he motioned toward the exit with both hands.

The older man cracked a cheesy grin, with a slightly odd chuckle, before continuing. "Aaaanyway, yeah you know the drill. We just need some stock footage of students coming in, a few candid ones, and then when the assembly starts, get some nice shots of the staff on stage. Of course, before we can use images of the kids, we’ll need parents permission if they’re under eighteen, etcetera, etcetera…” He said before taking a drink of coffee and nodding. “I’d really like to spruce up the school paper, the video announcement content, and even the website...poor thing has been so neglected.

Alex nodded and gave a half-hearted smile while musing at the fact the principle still keeps wanting to work on that sorry excuse for a high school website. From what he understood, the video monitors inside the school halls that were supposed to showcase “RoseFell High School Current Events” haven’t worked for a couple of years, at least some of them anyway, and the content that was published was fairly stale. And then there’s the school paper, which was probably the saddest state of affairs, because really, who the hell reads newspapers?

“Well, at least there’s the yearbook to look forward to.” Alex shrugged, looking down at his digital SLR Canon, and making a few adjustments, moreso out of boredom, anxiety, and probably a few other things thrown in.

“Damn right, sport.” Principle Henderson said with a mocking slow motion punch to the kid’s shoulder, as though he just gave a most excellent pep talk. “Alright, I’ve wasted enough of your time. Scoot off and do something creative!”

Holy shit, it’s about fucking time!

“Awesome, thank you Mister Henderson, for your...continued encouragement.” Alex nodded with a straight face, but as he turned on a heel for the opposite direction, couldn’t help but crack a smile and almost bust out laughing while heading through the exit doors toward the main corridor.

Freedom at last.

It was about eight o'clock, and students were pulling into the parking lots and slowly making their way through the main entry and toward the Auditorium. In a way, Alex loved this feeling, it was a rush, really. Sure, most students really didn’t want to be here, but at the same time, the energy could be felt nonetheless. That energy totally translated into each and every photograph that was taken. There was a dynamic that you couldn’t fake, which made it worth the time.

Alex usually kept himself off to the sidelines, as he didn’t need to be bumped, or crowded by anyone, especially while he was working in his craft. His typical wardrobe were in the realm of blacks and grays from Old Navy, a button down shirt with the sleeves rolled up, a pair of stone washed jeans, and black Adidas. He blended in with just about anything, leaving plenty of others sticking out like a sore thumb with their wild outfits, hair styles, and bling. He liked it that way. Every-so-often he peaked out over the top of the camera to compose an image in his mind’s eye, before looking through the viewfinder to frame a shot. Some of the kids smiled, others waved and goofed off, and then of course there were the handful with obscene gestures just because they could. A tall redhead with an elegant light yellow toned sundress and jean jacket stopped in front of the camera with the most gorgeous of smiles, standing there for a few moments staring at the young photographer, which made Alex a bit uneasy. He didn’t like the attention.

“By the way.” The girl started to walk away. “The lens cap is still on.” She smirked as she continued down the hallway.

“Whaa…?” Alex’s face had a confused expression, and the thought of actually having the lens cap on all that time made him borderline angry, until…

“Gotcha!” The redhead yelled from down the hall at the same time Alex realized the lens cap was, in fact, not on.

Fucking high school.

A few minutes later brought him outside the front entry near where the faded red picnic tables were situated, and a few students had already sat down for a variety of reasons. He first recognized the blonde -shit, what was her name again?- sitting and finishing off some kind of sandwich. He’d never actually formally met her, but people hear things about other people in a moments notice. Still, she seemed like an okay person.

Oh yeah, and then Jordan, who was sitting at one of the other tables way too focused on his phone to even notice the few pictures that were taken of him. Alex remembered that "drama queen" all too well, especially from all the times he wanted to be in just about every picture for the yearbook last year. No doubt he hasn’t changed, but it usually takes more than a single summer to change anyone.

Wow. The summer had gone by faster than Alex hoped, and the one regret he had was not being able to spend enough time with Alana. They both really hit off last year, well, later in the year anyway. It was kind of a slow burn thing with them, because both were about as shy as could be, and social interactions were sparse. But, they got over that hurdle about mid-year, and spending time with one another was something Alex looked forward to almost exclusively. But, the summer came, and both of their families had their own plans for trips and activities, which didn’t include either one of them being together.

But there was that kiss. A single kiss one fairly cool evening in July that Alex would never forget. God he missed it, and hoped there would be more to come before next summer came out of nowhere.

[BleedingLover]

---

_{Location: His residence ► Hope's flat
Currently Wearing: ❖
Interactions: Hope (via text and in person) | Minty (via text)}

---

Oliver’s eyes opened just as soon as his alarm started blaring from his mobile phone that laid close enough for him to hear it. With a groan, he reached out and tapped the button on the screen that turned the alarm off. He rose up from his bed and rubbed the sleep out of his eyes with his index finger before he was wandering around his room, rummaging through his closet to look for something to wear on the first day of school. He looked at all of his clothes but nothing seemed to blend together or worked for him.

Nothing.

He rolled his eyes upward because wanted to look his best for today was the day to make the ultimate statement. Today was the first day for the rest of the year that will make or break a person. Oliver wasn’t really one for making statements but it just seems like a day that he needed to start. He continuously rummaged through his clothes then heard his phone ding, which he walked over to check out and seen it was from Hope. Ah, that boy right there was someone special to him in a friendly way, of course. Although, most people do think that they’re dating but it's purely platonic what’s going on between them. His eyes scanned the message then his eyes widened because he completely forgot about going to school with Hope today.

Oliver's palm met his forehead as he cursed under his breath then typed a reply towards Hope.

To: Hope

sure! I am actually almost out the door and headed your way now.

and i’ll try not to. ❤️

When he sent that message out, he tossed his phone to land onto his bed then ran his hand through his locks of hair before he went back over to his closet and just picked something out. With a shrug of his shoulders, Oliver just went with it and went to shower, brush his teeth and dab on some cologne before racing back to his room to change into his attire for the day. He decided to post a message on Twitter then grabbed his backpack from his bag and exited his room. His parents were already on their way to their respective jobs so the house was pretty much quiet but at least he could really skip breakfast. Oliver grabbed his skateboard from the wall it was designated to then headed out the door, making sure it was locked before he started to skate over towards Hope’s flat.

Twitter Message

He had arrived at Hope’s flat and slowed his skateboard down then kicked it up, which he grabbed and tucked underneath his arm. Oliver sort of knew that Hope was going to flip out because he had no helmet, no pads or anything worthy of his safety. He walked up to his door and knocked on it two times then took a step back as he looked around and waited for Hope to open the door. Whenever the door finally opened, he’d smile brightly and walk inside after greeting Hope.

❝Hey, dude! I hope you made something good for breakfast because I am starved.❞ Oliver muttered to himself as he laid his skateboard down then his backpack before he wandered towards the kitchen, trying to avoid a lecture from Hope because he felt as if one was coming on. He pulled out his mobile phone again because he totally forgot to send a text to someone.

To: Minty
morning! catching a ride with hope to school but save me a seat at the assembly?

see ya’ soon!

When he sent that message out, his eyes would trail up to meet with Hope’s as he smiled then inquired. ❝So, what’s for breakfast?❞

---

[SamaraJayne96]

_____________________________

Outfit

_____________________________

"Hey."

It was 7 in the morning at the Whittaker house. The first day of a new school year. With eyes closed and hands resting on her knees, Sage sat crosslegged in the middle of the Persian rug that lay on her bedroom floor. Thick blue smoke rose from an incense burner nearby as the scent of Nag Champa permeated the air. Gentle ocean waves could be heard emanating from her bluetooth speaker making the area a sacred oasis. A relaxing escape from the hectic world residing beyond her four walls. She had woken up about an hour earlier, around 6 a.m., like she did every morning. Making sure to practice a little bit of yoga before showering and getting ready for the day.
In the middle of her daily meditation, a voice called out waking her from a hazy trance. Peeking one eye open, Sage immediately saw her black cat Bageera lounging at the edge of her bed. His multicolored eyes were staring at her. Unmoving and steady in their gaze.

Oh. My. God.
Did... did Bageera just talk to me?
Has it finally happened? After all these years...

"Bageera?" Sage murmured incredulously, her jade eyes wide and staring at the feline in cosmic wonder.

A snicker interrupted her reverie, the sound coming from the entrance to her room. Feeling a slow blush creep across her face, Sage turned to see her little sister Mae.

"Dude. Forreal?" Mae spoke with a rare half-smile on her black-painted lips. Her cornflower-blue eyes accented with thick winged eyeliner squinted with amusement.
"Did you really think Bags was talking to you? What are you on? Can I have some?"

Biting her lip, Sage looked down at her chewed nails in embarrassment. She knew that she was quirky, borderline a total weirdo, but that didn't mean she liked parading her eccentricities for the world to see.

"Hey. I can dream can't I?" She responded quietly looking up to meet her sisters' gaze.

Mae had arrived at the Whittakers almost three years ago. Like Sage, she was an orphan and had kindly been taken in by their foster parents Nigel and Shakti. Dressed in all black, from her a-line haircut to her chunky gothic boots, Mae stood tall with a vivacious attitude that Sage envied. An obvious Scorpio. With hands on her hips Mae shook her head, her pale face still displaying that sarcastic smirk she always wore. She was 14 years old and today was her first day of high school much to her chagrin.

"That's all you ever seem to do." She frowned crossing her arms at her chest.
"Anyway, I was sent over to summon you. Breakfast is ready, so get your butt in gear." Without another word, Mae winked before turning her heel and closing the door behind her.

With a heavy sigh, Sage hesitantly stood up and walked around the room to gather her belongings. A worn beige messenger bag covered in doodles and various buttons hung on the coat rack near her window. The buttons depicting various cliches like: "Save the World!" or her favorite, "Earth without art is just 'Eh.'" After taking her cellphone off her charger and sliding it into her back pocket, she was ready to tackle whatever life had to offer. Before heading downstairs she noticed Begeera stand and stretch into a yawn before lazily making his way at her side.

"Good kitty." She crooned as she kneeled to scratch his back.

Sliding down the railing Mary Poppins style, Sage entered the dining room with a graceful air that only she could demonstrate. Almost magical. She smiled for a moment, pausing to glance around the newly renovated kitchen and the beautiful family she was so fortunate to have. Her mother Shakti was over at the counter cleaning up the mess she had made while preparing breakfast. To her delight, Sage noticed that the meal was one of her favorites, fruit salad and oatmeal. Nigel sat at the table along with Mae and Ian. Being a college professor, he was busy multitasking in an attempt to grade a few papers while simultaneously munching on a cantaloupe.

Mae seemed to be doing the same thing intermittently glancing at her phone with interest.
"Amber and her brother are taking me to school today." She sniffed without looking up.
Amber was her sidekick and best friend. Usually, Shakti would take Mae to school like she did with Ian, but Amber's brother did get a new car recently so it made sense.

Shakti wiped her hands on a small towel before walking over and sitting down next to her husband.
"I suppose that would be alright... I was looking forward to seeing you off on your first day, but I understand what it is like to be at your age." She spoke with a slight Indian accent, a smile forever at her lips.
"Just please be safe and make sure to call me if you need anything."
Mae nodded, still glued to her cell.

"Good morning family!" Sage grinned, practically skipping to her seat next to Ian.

Ian was the newest member of their misfit family. The Whittakers had taken him in only a year ago and he immediately seemed to fit in. Almost effortlessly. Being five years old he was obsessed with exploring space and learning about all the planets that inhabited our galaxy. Recently he expressed that his dream was to become a spaceman and be the first person to visit Jupiter.
Taking a moment to ruffle his curly brown hair, Sage smiled fondly as she watched him play with his favorite toys. An alien was currently hurling a few grapes at the mini astronaut taking refuge at the other end of the table.

"Good morning sweetheart." Nigel responded smiling up from a stack of papers. His British inflection strong and unyielding.
"Ready for your big day?"

"Always. Finally, my last year of torment."
She finished her breakfast quickly, almost inhaling her food.
"Unfortunately I have to leave early... I have to swing by the post office before school."
One of Sages' passions is art. Her favorite forms are painting, sketching, and sculpting. Due to her popular profile on Etsy, she was able to occasionally sell a few of her pieces. A means to add to her savings in which she was extremely grateful for.
After grabbing her lunch from the fridge and saying goodbye to her family (including Bags), Sage exited the kitchen and walked towards the garage. By the back door were a few of her paintings already boxed and ready to go to their new home. There were three in total. It was going to be a challenge to juggle that and her messenger bag, but she was up for it. More positive than ever.

Wincing, she noticed that her bike had a flat tire.
Probably from the broken glass I ran over the other day." She noted with a frown.
I guess today I will be taking the skateboard."

Resting her precious AirPods in her ears, she gathered her things and rolled out of the garage. Slightly bobbing her head to the reggae beat her music provided.

♪Cos if we're really that intelligent then tell me something
Why are we the only ones who pay to live on this planet?
I said the animals and trees, they don't pay nothing
The birds and the bees they nah pay no renting♪

Stopping by the post office she took a moment to smile and greet Mark, one of the managers that worked there. Having known her from how frequently she stopped in, he always seemed to have a friendly demeanor.
"Have a good day kiddo!" He shouted with a wave.
Sage flashed him a peace sign as she passed the building, in a hurry to get to school on time.

After about 20 minutes she arrived at Rosefell High. As she neared the school with every passing moment she felt her usual positive persona fade away. Because of her negative, borderline traumatic, experience with the foster system, Sage seemed to build walls around the people she did not know very well. Instead of acting outgoing like she did with her family, at school she shrank into herself turning into an isolated wallflower. She weaved around people she recognized but didn't know. All the while staring down at their feet in an attempt to avoid eye contact. Slowing to a stop, she kicked up her board before hooking it in the crook of her arm.

"Attention all Rosefell Juniors' and Seniors'." A disembodied voice announced over the speaker system.
"Please report for your mandatory welcome back assembly in the auditorium at eight-thirty sharp. Thank you. That will be all."

I was going to put my things in my locker... But I guess I shouldn't be late.
With a shrug, she made her way over to the auditorium noticing that she was one of the first students to arrive.
Always good to be early.

She sat in one of the middle rows but at the very right end. One of her biggest triggers is feeling caged. She didn't want to have people on either side of her if she could help it.

---

***If you would like to view pictures of Sage's family, I went ahead and edited my Character Sheet.***

[AlteredTundra]

_{An @Altered Tundra & @spooner Collaboration Post featuring Ludvig & Camila}

Ludvig yawned widely as he walked out of his front door, thankfully his father had already left for work so he could avoid the endless request for him to try out for the football team. For some reason, his dad had not let his dream of having a football star as a son go. Even though Ludvig had as much athletic prowess as a blind sloth.

He quickly glanced at his watch and saw that it was only 07:10. Meaning he had time to go get coffee. He threw his backpack in the backseat as he started the car before driving in the direction of his best friend’s house. On the way over he stopped by the coffee house where he had worked just 7 hours before. After popping in and ordering a muffin and a cappuccino to go he soon arrived at the DeLuca residence. Putting the car into park, Ludvig pulled his phone out to send a text to let Camila know he was waiting outside.

---

“First day of school back in Columbus,” Camila muttered as she remained hidden from the outside world. Her blankets covered the majority of her body, though part of her auburn hair caught the sunlight from her bedroom window.

She had been awake for some time now. Whether excitement to see all of the friends she had left behind, as well as those who she didn’t know yet, or if it was anxiety taking root, filling her mind with thoughts about scenarios that might not even happen. Whether it was the approaching dread she felt in the pit of her stomach or the sense of nostalgia sprouting, Camila wasn’t exactly sure nor was she ready to hop out of bed.

She kept glancing at her phone, using it as the sole reason for her not being up and about. Truth was, she definitely was nervous. It was a strange feeling for her but one that she found herself experiencing often. Ever since she had moved away from Columbus and had to settle into new surroundings in Staten Island, she’s always felt nervous about new locations. Of course, she loved being back home. She wasn’t in her old home, but she was near it and she was near Ludvig again. Plus, some of her older friends that maintained contact with her.

So it wasn’t like she had any reason to feel like this, yet as she sighed, scrolling through her InstaFeed and seeing all of her friends from Staten Island posting about their Junior year, even tagging her, saying they missed her and wished she was still in New York with them, she was feeling conflicted.

“Rise and shine, Camila!”

Her father came bursting into her room, door slamming open, blanket swiftly pulled off her bed, and exposing a sixteen-year-old whose eyes hadn’t adjusted to the forced light in her eyes and she closed them immediately.

“Dad! What gives!?” She complained to him, eyes still closed.

“C’mon Camila! It’s your first day of school back! You can’t be late, not when you spent so much time with Ludvig!”

She sighed. This wasn’t how she wanted to start the day, but it couldn’t be helped. “Ugh, fine.”

“Very good!” Stephen smiled at a still sleepy Camila. He turned around and walked towards the door of her bedroom, but then he stopped halfway out. “So get ready. Breakfast will be ready soon!”

“Yes sir!” She gave him a sarcastic salute and propped herself up. Camila knew she had to push whatever uneasy thoughts were on her mind out. Regardless of what was on her mind or how she was feeling, she knew that she had to put on the bravest face she had and remain optimistic. She was capable of doing that much.

For the next twenty minutes, she showered, brushed her hair to perfection, and picked out an outfit. Her mindset had changed and her mood was back at its usual focused, centered self. Just as well because she was faced with probably the biggest decision of her life: what to wear.

First impressions were everything to her. While it was a fact that some of those at Rosefell wouldn’t care nor would it be their first time seeing her, it’s been over three years since anyone last saw her (save for Ludvig). Back then, she was a flat-chested ginger who was a little too nice and somewhat shy, but now she’s different. She has more confidence than she did when she last lived in Columbus and was a little more sure of herself in a lot of ways.

So, while some might think this to be not important and a little minuscule to other important issues in the world, Camila DeLuca was trying her damndest to decide what route to go for her first-day outfit. “Should I wear pants? It’s not that hot outside, so maybe I could get away with it.” She held up a pair of red, half-leather pants to see if she was feeling it. A moment later, she shook her head, putting it back in the closet. “Maybe a leopard print skirt?” Looking at it, she shook her head again. “I just don’t know!”

She ran her hands through her auburn locks, screaming mildly, though the panic was anything but.

A few minutes later, she received a text from Ludvig and he said he was outside. “Oh that’s perfect timing!” She smiled and ran out of her room with her robe on. She heard her father complain about how she wasn’t dressed -- which she ignored for the time being -- and ran to the door, gesturing Ludvig in.

“Camila Violet! Why aren’t you dressed?”

Oh great, there he went using the middle name.

Cami rolled her eyes. “Don’t worry daddy, Ludvig is just going to help me with something and I’ll be ready. Promise!”

“Oh fine, but hurry it up! Your breakfast is getting cold and you’ll be late if you don’t make it fast!”

“Yes, I know, Dad!” She rolled her eyes as she saw Ludvig walk up to the door and she opened it for him.

The blond boy squinted up at the house as he got out of the car and slowly made his way towards the open front door. He plastered on a smile as he had learned to do as of lately “Good morning Mr. DeLuca, how are you, sir?” Ludvig greeted as he offered a small short wave.

Stephen smiled at the young man. “As well as one can be in the morning.” Stephen sized up Ludvig and half-chuckled to himself. “Are you excited for the new school year, Ludvig?

“Yes sir. As excited as one could be I guess…” he offered a small thin-lipped smile. Excited was the last thing Ludvig was feeling about going back to school, but at least he would get to go back with Camila by his side.

Stephen laughed, appreciating Ludvig’s sense of humor, though he saw his daughter desperately wanting to get Ludvig away from him, so he nodded, allowing the two teens to go to her room. “Remember, the school won’t wait for you two slackers!” He joked mildly as they left for her room.

A small chuckle escaped the tall boy as Camila dragged him upstairs towards her room, eyes widening when he saw the clothes spread out on her bed. “Well…” he began. “I see you’re having a hard time deciding what to wear for your grand entrance to Rosefell.” He turned to look at her with an amused face. “Uhm let’s put this in the… no pile.” he said picking up a heinous leopard print skirt. “You’re not a 40-year-old lady are you?” he turned and grinned at her. “What are your other choices?”

She laughed, though couldn’t help but playfully roll her eyes at his reaction to her 80s throwback. “That was for a costume party before I left the Island. I just couldn’t bring myself to part with it.” She sighed, her mind briefly reflecting on that party. A moment later, she would hang it up and return to the three choices that had her scatterbrain this morning. “So I’m equally divided between this white blouse with this multi-colored mini-skirt, my red jacket with a black blouse and red pants outfit, and.” She paused, pulling out another outfit that had a spaghetti strap top and black pants. “There’s also this one,” she sighed. Her indecisiveness was gonna be the death of her.

Ludvig cocked his head to one side biting his lip in thought “Well… is it cheesy that we kind of match if you wear that?” he said pointing at the white top and skirt combo. He turned to her and wiggled his eyebrows “You know walking in together and all?”

“You have a point there.”

“I always do” he pondered.

Camila was half-deep in thought, her eyes dividing their attention between Ludvig and what he had on and the outfit she found herself being drawn to the more she looked at it. It wasn’t before long that the redheaded girl was fixating on just that one outfit. Given it was too hot outside for that much polyester, so as stylish as it was, her red-on-black-on-red one would have to go back into the closet and the same could be said for the one she had just pulled out.

Nodding in approval, she smiled at Ludvig. “Then it’s decided! We’re gonna walk into Rosefell, matching and in style!” She grinned at her best friend, slipping off her robe, unveiling her undergarments.

“And I do have to s-” he started to say as he turned around seeing his long-time friend in her underwear. He cleared his throat and shuffled around a little. They had known each other for so long and it had never been anything but platonic between them but still, Ludvig was still a bit awkward seeing someone he has known for eleven years in just a bra and panties.

She wouldn’t do anything to cover up, though she found it amusing how quickly Ludvig tensed up as soon as her robe came off. She shrugged it off and slipped on her skirt as it slid up her legs. It was a little tighter than she remembered. “I’ll have to get this refitted when I get the chance,” she noted aloud, reaching for her blouse, though she caught Ludvig’s glance. “Sorry, is this too much of Camila for you?” She giggled.

It took the boy a moment to regain his composure and he shook his head to center himself. “Maybe just a bit… Just put the shirt on Cami!” he laughed looking at his watch “Crap! We need to book it if we want to be on time!” he said gesturing for his best friend to speed up.

Shit

She panicked. As much as she wanted to keep teasing him, the Good Lord was telling her it was time to move along. So she quickly put on her blouse, which just like the skirt was a little tight on her. It was supposed to come down to just above her waistline, but due to the size of her bust, it was a few inches of Waistline City. She wanted to complain about it, but again, pressed for time.

She stood in front of the mirror in her room, making sure everything was aligned perfectly. She grabbed a hair tie from her nightstand and put up her hair in a neat ponytail. She made sure it was perfect. “Well, how does it look?” She asked Ludvig, desperately seeking his approval.

He was almost halfway out of her bedroom door when he turned around and surveyed Camila. A warm fond smile lit up his face “You look perfect.” he said grabbing her arm dragging her out of her room.

“Yeah that’s what I thought so too,” she muttered under her breath and her face gleamed with a bright smile. She quickly picked up her school bag and purse from her bed, grabbed her circular sunglasses with a golden rim, and followed Ludvig out of her room. “All righty, let's be on our way. Daddy’s probably gonna be mad that I didn’t eat breakfast, though.” she had just a mild worry. He worked so hard on it, so she couldn’t help but show some concern.

“I have a muffin in the car, you can have it!” Ludvig said as they got down the stairs. He turned his head and yelled into the house “Have a good day Mr. DeLuca!” before he bounded down the porch stairs and headed over to his car and unlocking it.

“But I made breakfast with all the fixings!” Stephen whined, looking at a halfway-out-the-door Camila.

“I’m sorry daddy! Time got away from me. I’ll make it up to you after school! I promise!” She blew a kiss at him and followed Ludvig’s suit, getting into the passenger side of Ludvig’s green Volvo station wagon. “So many memories in this car...” She commented fondly, leaning back into the worn-out cushion of the seat.

“Yeah… I can still remember when grandpa bought it for me.” he paused a moment. It was still too painful to think about his grandparents so he caught himself before he spiraled downwards as he usually did nowadays. A small sniff and a nervous smile later they were on their way towards school. “So you nervous coming back? Have you told anyone besides me that you’re back?” he asked drumming nervously on the steering wheel trying to change the subject from him almost crying a few moments ago.

She saw that he was desperate for a topic change, so she happily would oblige with very little hesitation. “No, you’re the only one. I mean, I’m not trying to keep my return a secret. Anyone who follows me on Insta knows I’m back. I’ve just been so swallowed in getting reused to Columbus and unpacking, that I haven’t had the time to reach out to anyone. I doubt they’d recognize me if they saw me.” Camila tried not to ramble on, but maybe she was a little nervous but that wasn’t the only thing she was feeling right now.

She lamented on just everything, trying to find the right feeling. “Nervous isn’t the word I would use, though. I’m excited to see who will recognize me but also, I’m worried nobody would. I don’t know if you remember since we kept in constant contact since I left, but I was pretty flat when I left,” she laughed, remember the summer she left was when she blossomed like a beautiful, busty butterfly.

A scoff left the boy as he gave Camila a quick side glance before returning to the road. “Yeah well, most of the people have changed since middle school babe. And besides, if they don’t remember you we’ll just have to make sure they notice you know.” He said as he pulled into an empty parking spot. He turned his car off and pulled the keys out and pocketed them before turning to face Camila. “I’m really happy your back…” he sighed before pulling his friend into a warm embrace.

She clung onto him for dear life, enjoying the tight embrace for as long as she possibly could. “I’m happy too! I’ve missed you and Columbus, even if it’s the same, dirty town as always!” She laughed, finally releasing Ludvig after a long minute.

As she got out, grabbing her bag from the backseat, something -- or rather the lack of somethings -- caught her immediate attention. “Lud, I think we’re a little late. There’s hardly anyone around.” She surveyed the parking lot and saw all of the various cars.
“Huh?” he asked as he retrieved his backpack straightening up looking around.

Suddenly, a voice came from the intercom.

"Attention all Rosefell Juniors' and Seniors'. Please report for your mandatory welcome back assembly in the auditorium at eight-thirty sharp. Thank you. That will be all."

When they finished, she looked to Ludvig. “Say, Lud, what time is it right now?” She asked him.

Rolling his eyes he checked his watch “It’s… eight, ten. We have some time!” he said putting an arm around his friend as they walked together towards the main building. Looking around he saw some of their fellow students milling about. Coming closer he spotted his fellow blonde Aria sitting alone at one of the red picnic tables. “Good morning Aria! Breakfast of champs again I see!” he smiled eyeing the TacoBell wrappers strewn about the table as he sat down he gestured to Camila to do the same. “Aria, this is my good friend Camila! She just moved back from New York!”

Upon seeing Aria, Camila’s heart had nearly sunk at how drop-dead gorgeous she was. Of course, she couldn’t let anyone know that, so she put on the bravest, fake smile she had. She had to or else the obvious attraction she felt towards the blonde would be seen as such. “Hey, nice to meet you, Aria!” Camila smiled politely at the blonde.

[Hedgehawk]

Jordan continued to look at his phone as he looked through all the social media channels, catching up on the comings and goings of all of the people in the school. Like it or not for Jordan, social media was the way he interacted with the world. Summer break was actually his worst nightmare. Unlike other popular people in the school, Jordan didn't exactly have a group of friends that he interacted with outside of school. In fact, thinking about it further, Jordan was struggling to think of anyone he would call a friend rather than a confidant or a potential target. That one thought lingered in the consciousness of his mind a little too much, drawing a sigh from his lips.

The Columbus Ametuer Dramatic Club only met once per week, even during summer break and the school didn't bother trying to host a drama summer school, cause why the hell would they?, most of Jordan's days were spent on his own. Both his parents were still hard at work; father at meetings, mother in the study typing away with a massive 'Do Not Disturb' Sign plastered on the door. So while he wouldn't show it to the outside world, he was glad to be back. For him this was his safe space. He knew the score here. He had managed to control some of his environment here. It made him happy.

However, right now… Jordan was being watched. After being in the limelight as much as Jordan was, he had picked up on ques to tell if he was being watched. More specifically in this case, someone was looking at him through a lens. The corner of his left eye had that dull spot of light that suggested light was bouncing off something it shouldn't be. Turning on his camera he twisted it to the side and observed casually through the screen. His suspicion was confirmed: Alex was pointing his camera at him, trying not to be seen. Putting his phone down, Jordan did a couple of simple poses for a few seconds: Head down, thoughtful contemplation, smiling. The usual you would see in a cheesy magazine. Afterwards he checked his phone one last time, time was advancing it would seem.

Getting up, he slung his bag back over his shoulder and slid his phone back into his pocket. It seemed more people were arriving. While he would have loved to try and get some new gossip to start the year off right, he also didn't want to get caught in the mad rush to get to the assembly. So he decided to cut his losses and make his way to the auditorium. On his way he decided to walk past Alex, giving him a pat on the shoulder with his hand as he did.

"Make sure you put one of them somewhere prominent eh?" He spoke, walking past. He didn't stop though, still walking as spoke. "Would hate to have to speak to the principal about outsourcing photography due to Quality Issues" With that, Jordan was out of view and heading towards the auditorium, where upon arriving he would grab a front and centre seat.

[Sugar and Spite]

_Outfit
________________________________________________
________________________________________________

Watching as people walked into the school and mingled outside, it was nice to see so many people rolling their eyes in disgust at the announcement of the assembly. Aria knew that she wasn't alone in her hatred, but it was always warming to see that so many people agreed. She sat at the table while eating her breakfast watching for familiar faces as they passed by.

The first she recognized was Rich. Dressed like someone staring in an 80's sitcom right down to his cherished fanny pack, the young man wasn't someone that Aria particularly cared for, nor was opposed to. If she had the chance though, he would not be the first one she was was going to talk to on her first day back. Thankfully he was signaled away from her safe place by the announcement. When he stated that they would have to chat later, she simply nodded in polite agreement while stuffing her face hole again. She'd do her best to avoid said conversation later.

The next was Jordan Ross. While they had never been friends, nor enemies, Aria had heard to keep the boy at a distance. His greeting was nice enough so she gave him a smile and wave in reply as he sat down behind her at an opposite table. Then along came Samantha, a rather tall guy who's name she couldn't quite remember, Ahn, Morgan and Sage. While she wasn't close with any of these people, it was nice to see familiar faces. Maybe with any luck she could establish more of an actual relationship with some of her classmates at Rosefell this year. As her phone buzzed, she took her phone out of her pants pocket to see a text from Hope. Reading his request of no Taco Bell, she laughed lightly. He knew her better than that, but hopefully he wouldn't be to disappointed that she had already gotten breakfast this morning. She'd have to save his gift for lunch.

Sorry love. I already stopped before I got your text. I'm sure whatever you made is fabulous though, and I'll be sure to save it for lunch. <3

Putting her phone back in her pocket, Aria was pleased to be greeted by Ludvig and and unnamed stranger as she took a sip of her drink. Both of them look dressed to impress, and were matching. Since when did Lud match with people? Introducing the stranger as Camila, Aria finally turned her attention to the other girl. Pretty girls had always been her weakness, but there was just something about the beauty of red heads that couldn't be explained.

Please ruin my fucking life, she thought before pulling herself back into reality as to not stare and seem like a creep.

"Oh come on Lud. You know Taco Bell is practically my religion," she said smiling at her friend before turning to the girl. "Camila! That's a pretty name. "I have to admit I don't know that much about New York. Maybe you could tell me about it sometime," she said, cleaning up the empty wrappers off the table and putting them into the now empty Taco Bell bag. "What on Earth made you move from New York to Columbus?"

[AlteredTundra]

_Outfit

Camila really did miss Staten Island, but she would be lying if being back in Columbus wasn’t without its benefits. The first was obviously being back in the old neighborhood with all of the usual hangout spots, her friends she left behind (which currently extended to only Ludvig), and the familiar stench of the Columbus air. She might’ve had fresh air from the sea on the Island, but nothing quite compared to the nostalgia of musky inner-city fumes, or at least Camila was weirdly fond of.

Another benefit was sitting in front of her, drinking the last of her drink from Taco Bell. Camila was feeling all sorts of thoughts and none of them were so dominant as the butterflies swirling around in her stomach the moment she saw Aria. Her long legs, the goldilocks aesthetic, those blue eyes that rendered a confident Camila helpless. Every sign that pointed towards everything all her wet dreams could cook up in a perfect scenario and she couldn’t do a damn thing about it. No matter how incredible the attraction was, Camila had to resist herself. It was the forbidden fruit in the garden that she could not eat regardless of how tempting she was.

“It’s true Columbus isn’t New York, but I have missed this place,” she admitted, smiling at the blonde. “I didn’t really get to experience the city life that much. I lived at Staten Island for the better part of the past couple of years.” Camila crossed her left leg over the other, eyes casually falling on Aria’s. “I love the Island, but Columbus is home. It’s not the best at times, but it’s where I feel the most welcome.” Her voice had a hopeful tone and she took a glance around her. “What about you, Aria? Were you born here as well?”

[Hellion]

Over the next twenty minutes or so, Alex had at least several dozen images of students and faculty swarming in from the main corridor, front parking lot, and picnic area, which was probably enough considering he’d have to sort through each file later for quality. But he enjoyed it nonetheless, especially getting a chance to really flex all the Canon’s features. The camera itself was relatively new, something gifted to him by his parents, since they both knew the photography passion was a lot more than a fleeting hobby.

Artistic endeavours came and went for the young man: a drawing here, a painting there, and perhaps even the odd sculpture, but photography was something of a challenge accepted with open arms. He studied everything he could from as many online resources as possible, and even took a summer-long class two years ago, which really inspired his pursuit. And it helped too, that a few friends from last year’s art classes were a source of motivation, including Sage, who was probably the most gifted artist Alex had known in a long time. She had a way of sparking creativity in the most mundane of subjects, and really helped him to think outside the box.

“Make sure you put one of them somewhere prominent eh?"

Jordan’s fleeting voice snapped him out of his brief reverie, and Alex couldn’t help but smirk at the comments, shaking his head as the “drama queen” strolled by like he owned the place. Which he did, in his own head, of course.

”I’ll make sure you’re headlining the entire year, buddy.” The photographer jested, making the decision to start heading toward the auditorium not too far behind Jordan.

---

“Wow.” Was about all that he could mutter, noticing that within no more than a half hour, did the place fill up with so many new and familiar faces.

Alex casually walked the floor near the front row, getting a few wide shots, close-ups, and even a nice panoramic of the entire seating area, and he was pretty sure the same group of kids that gave him the middle finger did the same in another shot earlier. Funny how pictures have a way of coming around to bite a person when they least expect it. Alex couldn’t help but smirk at the silliest of thoughts. And with that, he made his way up the steps that lead toward the back stage where he’d kept his bag full of different size lenses and a tripod, which he would need to set up soon.

“Mister Bellamy, great, you’re back! I need a favor, son...” Principle Henderson seemed to come out of the shadows like a Nosferatu, lowkey spooking the young man as he was rifling through the camera bag. Alex cringed every time the man referred to him as “son”, but thankfully he wasn’t facing the other to show his disgust.

Mister Henderson continued.

"Turns out our IT guy, Brian, is running late this morning, and, well, I hate to ask you for more, but…"

Okay, let's pause, because this was about the time where Alex was asked to do something outside his area of expertise and perhaps even, his comfort level, especially when the old guy pretended to feel bad for asking anything.

"...I'll need your talent manning the video camera, at least until he arrives and can take over."

"Well" Alex signed, and turned around. "Sir, you see, I'm-"

"Perfectly qualified? I know, that's why I asked you!" The principle did another one of those slow motion, at-a-boy punches to the kid’s shoulder like they were becoming super besties. "But seriously, Mister Bellamy, you're the only one I can think of at such short notice, and I'm sure you'll do fine. Yeah?"

The principle stood there with that lingering, yet pathetic expression, as if Alex didn't help him out, the entire assembly would collapse in one fell swoop. The guy had been acting strange today anyway, but it could just be attributed to all the logistics going into the first day of school. So, how was a student supposed to respond to their Principle, but with a…

"Sure, no problem, sir." The young man nodded, regretfully, but forced a smile nonetheless.

"Thanks a bunch, sport, I'll make sure to-" He was cut off mid-sentence by one of the teachers calling him over for help with something, and with that, he stepped away, leaving Alex to wonder just why the hell he even agreed to any of this.

Back on the main floor of the Auditorium, Alex made his way up the stairs that ran along the center of the stadium seating, toward the ten-by-ten section near the top that was typically designated for camera setup. Unfortunately, a lot of the rowdier students would sit along the top as well, so most likely he would be dealing with a handful of assholes. Lovely. He shook his head, staring at the shoddy wiring job, with cables running in every direction and not properly tied together or moved out of the way. He knelt down to at least clean up the cables and cords so he didn’t end up tripping over anything.

He just wanted to make it through the assembly and get the hell out of there as soon as possible.

[MissCapnCrunch]

He approached her completely in the nude on horseback, the sand coming up in puffs of smoke as the hooves danced along the beach line "Oh Tiffany Nancy Ashford, you are the only woman for me- it is true!" the man spoke, his oily and overly defined pectorals glistening in the sun. Reaching up to the mysterious man, he opened his mouth to speak once more, "DING DING DING. IT SIX O'CLOCK." Tiffany pulled back in disgust, as she woke up from her odd dream. She felt warm as she removed part of her blanket from her body revealing her legs to the crisp air. Her eyes remained closed for just a few moments more. She disliked getting up a few hours before school but knew that if she didn't give herself a few hours to get ready that she would be late to school every time. The young blonde started to doze off again before her phone buzzed alerting to her that she notifications.

Starting to wake up slightly she spent the next thirty minutes going through her phone. At the end of this routine she was more awake, and ready to start her day. Slinking around her room she gathered an outfit for the first day of school; a striped lightweight long sleeve shirt, a denim above the knee skirt, and a pair of yellow flats. She would pair this with a jean jacket, something she had gotten into as of recently. Eventually she made her way to the bathroom to find that it was already occupied.

"TAYLOR!" the young girl called, pounding on the door.

There was no response.

Tiffany began pounding and kicking on the door as the voice of their mother could be heard from downstairs. "Tiffany! Leave your sister alone, and don't you dare keep pounding on MY DOORS!" Tiffany rolled her eyes, and her younger sister opened the door with a mischievous smile on her face. Tiffany narrowed her eyes, as she went into the bathroom and got ready to shower. The water was freezing, a result of her sister spending probably thirty to forty five minutes in the shower. Trying to get done with the frigid shower as fast as possible the teen quickly finished her morning routine and got dressed. She wondered if anyone would notice that she cut her hair over the summer. She spent a good half hour placing curls into her shoulder length hair, a pity that they would most likely fall before she could even make it to school.

Coming down the stairs she would be met with her mother and younger sister. Dad would still be asleep, not having to go in until mid day. Her older sister now lived on her own at the dorms, and was sorely missed. "Get some breakfast Tiff." her mother would call over her oatmeal, and spiked cup of coffee. Taylor, Tiffany's younger sister would be smothering a poptart with butter and chowing it down. It looked fairly good, she would have to admit as she fixed a similar meal for herself.

Removing the faux berry blasted sugar filled pastry from the toaster she proceeded to smother it with butter and move to their small dining table. The three women were not very interactive with one another, besides the union in the occasional yawn that would escape. Lifting the meal to her lips she quickly realize her mistake as the butter fell off and landed directly onto her lap.

"FUCK!" Tiffany exclaimed. Picking the butter up with her fingers and flinging it onto her plate.

"Tiffany Ashford! Language!" her mother scolded as her sister giggled, not moving her attention from her phone. Tiffany huffed, "It's not my fault! This butter is so slippery it fell right off my poptart and onto my skirt. I'm not going to be able to wear this today or EVER again!" she said, tears starting to well up in her eyes. The dramatic antics of the girl caused no reaction from Nancy. She had been used to it for years now and ignored the outcry.

"You just want to see be a loser for the rest of my life!" she yelled, excusing herself from the table and stomping upstairs back to her room. She slammed the door as she sniffled. The only people that would understand were her girls as she hastily took off her skirt and threw it into the laundry pile. She texted her best friends; Steph and Melissa.

MY DAY IS RUINED! 😭 I CAN'T STAND IT!!!

She sent it to the group text with a huff as she picked out a pair of skinny jeans to make up for the situation she had dealt with. Sitting on her bed for a moment she waited until her Mom was calling that she was off to work and could either take the ride now, take the bus, or find another way to school. She after using the silent treatment for a few minutes would tell her Mom that Mel had plans to pick the girls up so they could arrive at school together. The conversation didn't last longer than that as the house became quiet again; the sound of Dad snoring in the master bedroom the only real noise in the Ashford household.

Waiting for the girls to come pick her up for school, she gathered all her things and head downstairs to watch some early morning cartoons.

[ayzrules]

 

The morning of the first day of school, Steph groaned out loud as her alarm went off. All she wanted to do was sleep - obviously, sleep was good - but thanks to a stupid thing called school, she had to get up early. Although really, six-thirty AM would be considered pretty late, once cheer season started in earnest. Morning practices were always brutal. Yet, despite the fact that Steph had already endured three years of practices at times that should have been, like, illegal, she still hated mornings.

...It wasn't like Steph was a night owl, either. She just liked to sleep, okay??? Jeez.

Resigning herself to the horrible fate of getting out of bed, Steph pushed aside the covers and grabbed her phone, scrolling through a few notifications that had come in overnight. She scanned social media, flicking through Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, and Snapchat, before finally hauling herself onto her feet and flinging open her closet.

After a few minutes of deliberation, Steph settled on black denim shorts, a floral pink spaghetti-strap tank top, and a white cardigan, mostly because it was guaranteed to be as cold as like, Ant-fucking-arctica, in the school building (despite the fact that it was probably like ninety-something degrees outside). She took a minute to brush out her hair and post a selfie on Instagram before getting dressed, her mind already racing ahead to the super cute pair of boots that she was going to wear with her outfit.

Steph kept the makeup on the lighter side - after her usual layer of foundation and concealer, she did a bit of mascara, and eyeliner, and a pretty shade of bubblegum-pink eyeshadow to complement her nails (which were, very predictably, painted pink), finishing off with some lip gloss. After she settled on a matching earring and necklace set (the necklace was a simple gold chain with a cute square-shaped pendant, and the earrings were gold hoops that she got for her fifteenth birthday), Steph took one final look at herself in the mirror, and, deciding that she was satisfied with her appearance, grabbed her backpack and headed downstairs.

Her parents were getting ready for work when Steph plopped herself down at the table, grabbing a box of cereal from the pantry as she did so. Steph checked the time - she still had a little bit before Melissa got there to pick her up - so she ate slowly, going through her phone at the same time. Kevin, her brother, appeared a short while later, looking like the slob that he was. Steph rolled her eyes and ignored him.

As she scrolled through her notifications, Steph noticed a text from Hope, and quickly tapped it open. Steph, like, absolutely loved Hope; they'd been friends since middle school!

Good morning Stevie! I think I'm heading to school with Oliver, so I'll see you there soon yeah? I've made you lunch by the way. :)

Love you.

Awww, that's so nice of him! Steph thought, smiling as she hurriedly tapped out a reply:

HOPE!!! That's so nice of you!!!! 💖💖💖 I'll see you later for sure!!!!!! I can't wait for lunch now!! 🤗

It wasn't long before Steph finished her cereal. She waited for Melissa to arrive, occupying herself with sending Snapchat streaks in the meantime; she had a 290-day streak that she was pretty proud of, all things considered. There was no way she was going to break it!!!

[KZOMBI3]

physical & mental abuse take place do not read if offended

The night before the first day of school had played out just about as well as Lance could have expected. It wasn't as if things were really that outta the ordinary from every other day that summer. Skate with the gang, hang out with the twins and Artie, swing by the Saints - maybe tag a couple of walls and then head off to work at the family's pizzeria where he would take an absurd amount of time closing up with a one JK Moore. The usual.

At least that's how the day had begun and, in all honestly, started to end.

After a quick closing session between him and JK transpired, resulting in her taking off at near break neck speeds after a text rang out from her phone, Lance locked Paulie's up for the night and began his journey home. The whole way there he was thinking back to his sexual encounters with JK at the shop. She had offhandedly mentioned that high school hell was picking back up the tomorrow - which normally would offer little to no comfort to most students. The same couldn't be said for Lance Constantine. He relished in the change of scenery, preferring to spend as little time within his family home as possible.

Once he stepped through the front door's threshold he was greeted by angry shouts and things being thrown. Rolling his eyes he wondered what it had been this time to set the old man off. Not realizing that it could have been him this time. Though hindsight is 20/20 and there is a part of him that should have seen it coming, now that he has time to reflect on it. His father had stormed through the house on a warpath directly to his son who was still at the front door, shrugging off his backpack carrying his daily essentials.

"Hey dad what's-" though the words didn't seem to get very far, cause in that moment a clenched fist was swung at him, making contact. Stumbling back into the door with such force, Lance wondered if there was a dent in it. "The fuck you think you're doing?!" The harshness that laced his father's voice hit him along with the heavy stench of scotch. It would be the third time something from his father hit him that night.

"What! did you think I wouldn't find out?! That I wouldn't piece together that my own fucking son joined up with a gang? A bunch of burnout losers!?" His verbal berating of his son seemed to only encourage his rage instead of alleviating it. Glancing around as he was literally cornered Lance couldn't place any of his siblings.

They must be out for the night. Maybe Vivian took them out to dinner...

His thoughts were interrupted by the third heavy contact from his dad, causing Lance to double over and clutch his side. It didn't hurt as bad as the one to the face, but it would definitely leave a bruise there for the guys to see in gym. "No son of mine is going to strive to be a fuck up! You will not be a part of this, this wannabe biker gang and you will not fuck up your brother's senior year! Got it?"

Ah, so that's what it all boiled down to. Fucking things up for Artie. The golden child. Their dad's ticket outta his shitty mess of a life.

Lance continued to stand there while his dad began to wind down from his rush. It was almost like he had forgotten what just transpired. Like he forgot Lance was even there. Which suited hi just fine in all honesty. After his dad finally stumbled to his own bedroom and presumably passed out, Lance got to work in picking up all the pieces of random broken objects from the kitchen his wonderful father had left for him. Once the cleaning was done and it looked like nothing happened, he was satisfied, climbing the stairs two at a time before going to shower and then passing out himself. However, before actually succumbing to the sandman, Lance made sure to set an alarm early enough to get the hell outta the house before anyone woke up, shooting a text to JK to pick him up in front of Paulie's in the morning.

No sense in worrying everyone for nothing...

[SamaraJayne96]

High School Auditorium

---

^{August 26th, 2019 | 8:21 p.m.| @spooner @Infinite Cosmos @Bee @Hellion@Pyxis}

“Sammmmmmmmmmm!!!!” Rich replied. He was sure glad to see a friendly face. Sure, they’ve gamed throughout the summer, talked through Discord, among other things. But, physical interaction was scarce and definitely appreciated. As he was approaching Sam, Min Jun came onto the scene as well. “Hyung!” Rich said to Min Jun. Returning the bro hug, Rich chuckled at Min Jun’s comment. “Well, as one of our resident Instagram models, you’re not too shabby either. Of course, Sam, you look great as ever. There is no need for me to comment on that further.” Rich said to both Min Jun and Sam. Scanning around, he isn’t noticing any other Knights around yet. “Well, doesn’t look like anyone else is here yet. I’m going to head in first, check out the scene. I’ll try to save you two a seat.” Rich said, smiling before walking away.

Entering the auditorium past the faceless crowd, Rich scanned the gathering crowd, trying to make out whether or not if he notices anyone. He did not. Not particularly anyways. It looks like Bellamy is getting a talking to from the principle. He sure started early, Rich thought and chuckled inwardly. Adjusting his sunglasses and fanny pack, Rich continued his strut, weaving between the crowd. Then, he noticed that Alex was being tasked with not only taking still photos, but also the video of the opening ceremony as well. Perfect opportunity to make a statement. As he past what he deemed an angle that the camera would capture, Rich would proceed to Milly Rock, for all to see. His friends would expect this, those who don’t know or like him would scoff at his outrageous behavior. As he did so, he noticed a face in the crowd. Sage Whittaker.

With a small grin, Rich made sure to make his way up to sit right next to Sage, knowing how she hates being crowded. “Whittaker! Good to see you back! How was your summer? Spend your days covered in paint and smelling of...sage?” Rich said, in a low enough voice where his words were only heard by Sage and those within 2 feet of the two, which at this moment, there were none.

Sage had been on her phone texting her best friend Aramintah when Rich arrived. Lost in thought and completely unaware of the impending doom headed her way.

Jumping at the sudden whisper in her ear, Sage had dropped the cellular device she had been holding. Pressing her lips into a thin line, she balled her hands into fists to refrain from muttering a slew of curse words that would make Samuel L. Jackson blush.

Why me? Why today? Is this all just some cosmic joke to you??? She thought loudly as she glared up at the ceiling of the auditorium.

Taking a moment she leaned forward in her seat to check and see if there were any cracks on her screen.
Sure enough, there was one. Right down the left of the glass rectangle.

Perfect. There goes my earnings this week. She thought numbly.

An unfamiliar emotion began to stir within her chest. Having been passive aggressive her entire life, it was extremely rare for Sage to become angry. With a heavy sigh she scooped up her phone and turned to face him.

She had met Rich during freshman year in gym class. At the time physical education was a mandatory elective for those in 9th grade. Otherwise Sage would have avoided that subject like the plague. The class itself was everything she despised. Things that included forcing kids to interact with each other and build teamwork, along with high-intensity exercises like basketball or track. Sage was more of a swimming, yoga, or rock climbing enthusiast. She hated running.
Like with most girls in their age group, Richard decided to flirt with Sage when the class was forced to run the mile. The whole time he had kept his pace along side her in an attempt to get the hippie's attention. Noting his arrogant nature along with the huge ego he sported, she decided to let him down in the nicest way possible. A HUGE mistake on her part... She was so passive he didn't seem to take the hint.
After that Richard had started teasing her every moment they were in public together. Calling her an "art freak" or mocking how poorly she lifted weights. It was only when they were alone and away from others that he would apologize and act as though they were old friends. His Jekyll and Hyde act was really bothering Sage and had caused the zen mindset she tried so hard to maintain to slip momentarily. Due to her frustration and confusion there was never a time that she wasn't annoyed by him.

Despite her hostile feelings towards Rich, she noted the pun with a slight smirk twisting at the corner of her mouth. Humor had always been her Achilles heel. Her biggest weakness. That icy mask that she tried so hard to perfect around him cracked slightly, but within seconds, the mask repaired itself and seemed to strengthen. Instead of answering him, Sage decided to remain silent. Silence was golden. However with his huge ego, she doubted he'd notice her lack of response.

“Me? I had a bangin’ summer. Games, parties, making bank on Twitch with the rest of the gang, and general debauchery. Not like you would be interested anyways. I would have invited you, but again, you can’t be at parties painting the crowd and dusting the folks with fairy dust or whatever, right?” Rich babbled on.

An obvious coping mechanism to cover his nervousness around her...

Courage flared throughout her being. Red hot rage took over her senses, mimicking the burning intensity of the Sun. Whether it stemmed from irritation or exasperation she didn't know. All she did know was that she didn't want him here. And for once she was going to stand up for herself. For once she was going to be aggressive.

"Listen Richard..." Sage began, feeling slightly uncomfortable talking to someone outside of her social group. Bracing herself, she continued on figuring that honesty was the best policy.

"It's not like I would have gone to your shindig or whatever you call it. And let's be honest, fairy dust is way too rare a commodity to waste on something as insignificant as a..." Unable to find the words to say, she paused momentarily only to notice how her hands seemed to be talking as well.

"Whatever. Honestly, this hot and cold attitude that you got going on is really starting to get on my nerves. I would really just appreciate it if you left me alone. I'm stressed enough as it is without you coming onto me."

With a slightly shocked expression, Rich leaned back a little from Sage. "Yikes man. I mean, for one as claiming to be all about peace and love, you definitely just went off there. You sure you weren't reading things like Popular Mechanics and tending to a crew of oil rig workers during summer? Geez. I just wanted to come over a say hi to an old friend. And look, you've even dropped your phone. Looks like it cracked too. Looks like now you'll fit in with the rest of the girls around here, with their cracked phone screens and Ugg boots..." Rich said, sarcastically trying to defuse the tension as usual.

Freakin Ugg boots? Why would I want that garbage?

"And what do you mean hot and cold attitude? Like...." His voice got even lower. "I mean. I thought I made it known to you that I care about you." Why did he lower his voice? The auditorium was rowdy enough, it was not as if anyone would hear him. No one he really cared about anyways. So what if a junior happens to filter by and hears it? If Rich catches any rumors he did not intend on spreading, he will shut it down immediately, or he will find someone that can.

Sage felt the color drain from her face. Now that the heat of the moment was over, her sweet cinnamon roll persona had returned and was absolutely horrified. Immediately she wanted to apologize for sounding so rude. Despite her true thoughts coming to light; the last thing she wanted to do was hurt anyone's feelings. She remained silent however, determined to get her point across. He really did bring out the worst in her.
Crossing her arms she frowned at him. Refusing to let him see what his words had done to chink her armor. She wouldn't be able to act this way for much longer though... She felt her resolve slipping. An urge to be passive and let others walk all over her.

Not going to lie, this one kind of hurt. Richard thought.

He has always cared about Sage. It started off in a friendly way in freshman year. Sure, he had his appearance to look after. Sage was not someone he would consider to fit in to his social group. But, he always found her intriguing. A breath of fresh air that everyone needs from time to time. With this brief interaction, Rich is starting to wonder if he should cut his loses and truly stick to whatever social stigma his group of friends have of only going after and dating the 'popular' girls in school...

The sound erupting from the auditorium as more students piled in was a cacophony of chaos to the ears of Alex. He had, for the most part, kept to himself, kneeling down every so often to pick up some trash in that small area where the video camera, tripod, and a few other pieces of equipment were sitting. The wires were about as tidy as they could be, when, for whatever reason, a conversation that didn't seem too far off from his position, caused his ears to burn. A word. No...a name. Sage. Still knelt down, Alex peeked up over the equipment in the direction of the voices, and noticed her sitting there with -what hell was his name, Rich?- who the kid new was notorious for being quite the asshole.

The contorted and uneasy expressions on Sage's face were enough though, to realize that whatever details were being chatted up, the girl didn't really want to be in the conversation. But could he blame her? From what little Alex remember last year, he had a thing for Sage, at least, he remembered her complaining about him on more than one occasion. Either way, she didn't look very happy at all.

"Fuck." Alex mumbled, still partially hidden behind the equipment and wondering when his legs will push him back up to a standing position. He wanted to step in, but was it his place? I mean, he couldn't catch every piece of the conversation due to ambiance, but he latched on to enough to know perhaps at least intervening with a quite "hello" was needed. With a heavy sigh, he stood to his feet, and walked around the seats and over to where Sage and Rich were sitting. He was really pushing the envelope of his comfort zone, as well as possibly breaking up a conversation he shouldn't be. But what the fuck ever...

"Hey guys." Alex motioned his hand in a half-wave, and gave a smile. "Crazy as fuck in here right now, eh? And here I am, having to screw around with the video equipment. Lucky me." He gave a bit of a nervous laugh, adjusting the collar on his button shirt, but the idea was to move the attention to him, if even for a brief moment.

Noticing that Alex had made his way over. Rich shuffled back a little, still staying within conversation distance. "Oh hey Bellamy. How was moseying up with Henderson earlier? I noticed you handling the camera there earlier too. Hopefully you caught my sweet dance moves. I want to be Rosefell famous, ya know?" Rich said, his usual smile and attitude returned to him. He is not going to let anyone else see the softer side of him. There were only a few, among an even more selective few, that were allowed to see it. Sage being one, at least occasionally. "Anyways. I think it is about time I get outta here. The Knights are probably waiting somewhere. Bellamy, make sure you catch me and the Knight doing what it is that we do, which is run this school. Whittaker, don't take life too seriously man, otherwise no amounts of Impossible Whoppers and whatever hippie shit you're into will help you." He put on his most confident smile and gave Alex the 'I fucks with you, but only a little' nod, and he gave Sage a wink as he made his way back down the bleachers to look for the rest of the Knights.

What an eventful start to the school year already... Rich thought.

As Rich disappeared into the crowd of incoming students, Sage could not help but shake her head in agitation. She exhaled a sigh of relief that she did not realize she had been holding.

"I... I don't even know what to say to that." She groaned outwardly all while rubbing her palms against her eyes. As if somehow she could wipe away all the stress this day had already given her.
Finally, remembering the reason Rich had walked away in the first place, she turned to face Alex.

A little while back, the school offered a summer creative coarse for any art geeks that wanted to participate. Naturally, Sage and Minty jumped at the opportunity. Anything art related had the two of them at the edge of their seat. The teacher running the class at the time thought it would be a good idea to pair students together in an effort to exchange different perspectives and gain inspiration. Of course Sage wanted to partner up with her best friend. A natural choice since the two had always been a dynamic duo. However... the teacher thought otherwise.

"You cannot obtain new ideas from someone you talk to every day. I've already gone ahead and assigned everyone partners." Peering down at the clipboard she held in her hand, she smiled before continuing.

"Sage, you go over there. You and Alex can exchange ideas." She pointed across the classroom. The gesture a way to dismiss her student without having to argue any further.

Casting a quick glance over her shoulder at Minty, the bohemian gathered her belongings and made her way over to the new kid in school.
She had seen him in passing before. Tall, handsome, and quiet... Probably as quiet as Sage if not more. The gossip going around said that he was a fairly talented artist. Especially in photography. There was an air of mystery about him. Something that made her curious. Something she couldn't quite put her finger on.

"Hello..." Sage squeaked as she took the seat next to his. Immediately she felt her social anxiety start to kick in as she flipped open her sketchbook. It was rare that she spoke to others... especially someone as intimidating as Bellamy.

"My name is Sage. How are-" She suddenly stopped speaking and cut her introduction short.

For a moment, her obsession with worldly culture caused the wallflower to forget her fear. Eyes wide with excitement, she absentmindedly leaned forward to lightly brush his left arm with her index finger.

"WICKED tattoo!" She grinned. There on his arm was a single image. A nordic rune of sorts. The tattoo looked to be homemade and simplistic in design. Despite that, it was actually pretty cool looking.

"It means..." She paused, her face scrunching in thought. Desperately with squinted eyes and pursed lips, she attempted to drag back a piece of information from her days spent practicing with rune stones. Not her favorite method of divination... But pretty interesting all the same.

"Oh yeah! It's the Wayfinder? Right? I think?" The statement came out as more of a question. As intelligent as Sage was, she never had absolute faith in her memory recall. Probably due to the occasional pot she smoked for 'artistic inspiration.'

"The compass. So the traveler can find their way through the storm?" She waited for confirmation before continuing on.

Alex arched an eyebrow at the girl, clearly a little unbalanced by the barrage of words being hurled his way in a short amount of time. And it was early. Either way, he gave her a friendly enough smile before responding, and looking down at the Vegvísir that was inked on his forearm years ago.

"To be honest." He started in a low voice, almost as though he was reflecting on the image for a moment. "I hadn't put much thought into it. I mean, the work itself yes, but the idea behind it, really wasn't all that profound." He shrugged, looking back up at Sage with the same smile. "Sorry."

He certainly hoped that his response wasn't off-putting, but the young man wasn't about to fabricate some elaborate story for the sake of it. "But, thank you for the compliment otherwise." He nodded to the other.

"I see." She said leaning back in her seat, honestly a little disappointed.

"It's pretty symbolic in a way if you think about it. Kind of like a reminder to keep going during rough times. To remember to stay true to yourself in the midst of chaos."

Stop talking. You're being weird again. Her inner critique screamed at her.

An idea formed in her mind as a small smile made its way to her lips. After picking up her pencil, she leaned forward and began drawing the outline of her project.

"You have just given me the BEST inspiration! Hmmm... Maybe I will get something out of this class after all."

A half hour passed by as she sketched out her thought for the next painting. It was only a rough draft, but the image had a lot of promise already. The students in the class had plenty of time throughout the week to perfect and finish the ideas they come up with today. Satisfied with her work, once she was finished she nudged the sketchbook over to Alex to show him an image of a tall Nordic Viking on an old fashioned boat.
He stood at the healm, both hands grasping the railing during what seemed to be a hurricane. The sky above matched the scenery around the warrior. Heavy dark clouds met with a thick curtain of rain. Lightening accented the sky showing that Odin was not too far away.
However, in the middle of the sky clouds parted to show a clear patch of a starry night. In its center was a full moon, and layered over the moon was the symbol of Vegvisir.

"It's a start..." She said, starting to feel a little sheepish. Her insecurities began to take over and once again she doubted her talent. Noticing all the flaws she had made.

That, and the fact that she had opened up to Alex so quickly. But when the muses take hold of her it was almost impossible for Sage to reel in her excitement. If a topic were brought up that she was passionate about, she loses herself when talking or even thinking about it. There were many times when she got in trouble for this very same issue due to daydreaming in class. In a way... art was one of her reasons for living.

A pair of cornflower blue eyes brought Sage back from her memory. Much to her horror, she realized that she had been staring at the photographer this whole entire time. Almost as if she had been caught in a trance from reliving the past.

Fuck I'm so lame. Way to be weird dumbass. While thinking this she stared down at her feet as a way of summoning some semblance of courage. An effort to say something. Anything.

"Um... Happy first day of Senior year!" Her face froze.

HaPpY fIrSt DaY oF sEnIoR yEaR? Cringe.

"No doubt!" He elicited a bit of a laugh in response. Sage had always been a bit strange in social situations, but then again, so was Alex. Did two awkward moments make a right? Who knew really, but it was still nice to see a familiar face and someone he considered a friend. "Honestly, it's been a pain in the ass since I got here, but I'm adjusting. Henderson has me working the video camera during the speeches." He motioned his hand toward the area where the equipment was set up. "So...we'll see how that works out."

"I wouldn't worry about it. I'm sure you will do great! You always do." She murmured, still reeling from the awkward feeling in the pit of her stomach.

Speaking of Principal Henderson, he noticed at the left of the stage, the man himself was tapping his watch, indicating that it'll be time soon. Alex let out a sigh and rolled his eyes while simultaneous waving back. "Hey, sorry, I-I gotta run, but maybe we'll catch up later?" He said with a half-smile, as he began moving back toward the top.

"Definitely! See you around." She smiled waving at his retreating form.

Sage sat back down in her seat and leaned forward placing her head in her hands. She elicited a loud groan that sounded half banshee and half dragon. The students within her vicinity whispered among themselves, giggling at her expense. Furthering the assumption of how odd the little hippie seemed to be.