[IC] Meadow University

[AlteredTundra]

_{An @Altered Tundra, @HaleyTheRandom, & @Ejected Collaboration
featuring Ramona Martin, Nathaniel Blake, & Jasper Delamar}
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Jasper was definitely starting to feel a little out of it now. One one hand, alcohol made her act out and go along with bad decisions more willingly than she was sober. (A miraculous feat, truly). On the other hand, it made her calmer, and forced her to sit on her ass. Jasper was caught somewhere in the middle, currently unable to feel her face. It took her a moment to understand and process what Mona had said. Watching as she bounced away, Jasper didn’t realize what exactly Mona had said until her friend was halfway towards the lake.

Her spark reignited, Jasper winked at Nate before beginning to walk away. Grabbing the bottom of her shirt, Jasper pulled it off and tossed it on the ground, showing off the black bra underneath. Once she reached the edge of the lake, Jasper promptly removed her shoes. Too drunk to deal with her shorts, the girl gently eased into the water, before turning to smile at Mona.

”The water feels amazing,” she sighed.

"Hell yeah," Mona said with a grin as she waved her arms around in the lake; the water had now stopped right above her waistline, and she no longer cared whether or not her hair got wet. "I hope you're prepared to get wasted tonight, Nate!" Mona yelled loudly as she gestured towards the boy who'd been just a tad too slow to beat Jasper into the lake. "There's three more tequila shots with your name on them!"

“Oh I am so game!”

Nate didn’t like to brag about it, but he was a little slow on the uptake. When the obvious was written in neon letters, he still had trouble seeing what was so clearly right in front of his eyes. So one could imagine just how long it took him to figure out just how much of a handful (no puns intended) these two were. But he wasn’t a quitter -- at least, not anymore! Even before he himself realized it, Nate’s shirt was gone, his wallet and phone tossed onto where the shirt had landed and Nate rushed into the shivering cold lake, immediately feeling just how freezing it was despite it being rather warm outside.

He stood rather close to the two ladies, hiding as much of his shivering body as he could, which even then it started to simmer down. “Yeah it is amazing!” when it’s not being unfriendly to my balls That last comment was for his own benefit.

Laughing as the alcohol continued to take over her body, Jasper splashed the two of them before diving into the water. Mona couldn't help but let out a high-pitched shriek as droplets of the cool water came splashing onto her face.

Shit that’s cold!

Nate stood there for a moment or two, coming to terms with just how refreshing that splash was despite how shockingly cold he found it. After that, he soon shot back with a splash of his own as he brought both of his slender arms up and raised up a mini-wave of lake water, hurling it directly into Jasper’s cocky face.

"Oh, so it's like that, huh?" Ramona said with a mischievous grin as she used the hair-tie on her wrist to put her locs into a quick bun. "In that case... I've got something for you both!" And without another word, Mona lifted her own hands and sent a wave of water towards both Nate and Jasper when she'd finally resurfaced. It was after then that she also decided to pull Nate by the shoulders in a successful attempt to dunk him underwater; afterwards, she retreated with her arms up to block whatever was coming next.

”Oh you guys are so on,” Jasper said, wiping her wet hair from her face. Sending another splash towards Mona, Jasper grinned at Nate once he resurfaced. ”Careful Mo. Don’t drown the poor guy.”

Nate’s long arms dangled above the water, fingers extended and his wrists moving around in the air, desperately reaching for something to latch onto while Mona had held him down with a surprisingly large amount of physical force. Around the same time Mona’s hands left his shoulders, Nate’s hands latched onto…something. He couldn’t tell exactly what they were but he grabbed them as if his last breath depended on it, not realizing that his legs were able to push him up and he immediately took advantage of this sudden realization.

Coming up from under the water, Nate’s breath was like it was the first breath of air he had taken ever. It only took him moments after the fact to see clearly - well, as clear as one could with the limited light of the moon - that what he grabbed onto wasn’t what he thought it was and, though somewhat delayed, he retracted his hands from Jasper’s chest and blushed. “I’m so sorry! I could have sworn that was your hands. I mean, they were soft like arm fat..I’m not saying you have it but like..” Okay, this was the part Nate never succeeded at. Apologizing when flustered was always a no win zone for Nathaniel Blake.

Jasper couldn’t help but laugh once again. In all reality, the young woman was more than accustomed to people grabbing her boobs at random times. Rather the people grabbing them meant to or as a joke, she didn’t know most of the time. What she did know, was that she didn’t really mind whenever it happened. Shaking her head as she smiled, Jasper watched as the young man's face switched through fifty different shades of red. Quickly deciding that she would like to see just how red Nate could turn, Jasper stood on her tiptoes and wrapped her arms around his neck before planting a drunken kiss on him. Releasing Nate and returning back to her normal height, Jasper shoved him back into the water before he had time to respond, causing Nate’s mouth to open as if he was going to say something and the noise of him screeching before bubbles of what was clearly him screaming from below muting his voice..

”Too much?” she asked, looking at Mona.

With wide eyes, Mona watched as her friend planted a smooch right on Nate's lips. And once the boy had been shoved back under water, she burst into yet another fit of laughs and shrugged her shoulders. "Hey, why not? But girl, all I know is if he wasn't already in love with you before, he definitely is now."

Jasper pursed her lips in a thoughtful response. Shrugging her shoulders as she waited on the boy to resurface, she stood there, her arms crossed. ”I mean… he is a little cute?” Mona pondered this statement for a few moments before simply nodding in agreement.

As though he was caught in a time loop, yet again Nate arose from the depths of the shallow part of Lake Meadow and gasped for what - again - felt like his famous last breath and again, he was wheezing due to the lack of airflow. “I’m okay!” He grinned, breathing heavily. “...I think.” He inhaled a few times to make sure everything was fine. Aside from a few deep coughs that should have resulted in internal bleeding, he was fine. After he took just a moment, he blinked at the two. “So, yeah that kiss! Wowzers!” Nate chuckled. “Best kiss I’ve had since high school!”

Jasper rolled her eyes, returning back to her usual bitchy self. ”Oh shut up. Freaking nerd.”

Nate’s gaze stayed on Jasper and moved to Mona for a quick second as if searching for an answer in her eyes but he found nothing. So, as those blue gems returned to her round face, he spoke. “Sorry, did I say something wrong?” He asked, blinking in confusion.

"Uh, of course not," Mona said as she approached the pair and gently patted Nate on the back. "Sorry for almost drowning you, bud. But, hey! What do you two say to getting out of this cold ass lake and getting some more to drink? Especially you." Her last couple of words were directed towards Nate, who could probably tell from the look on her face that there was no way he'd get out of his 3 tequila shots. Boy, was she determined.

Jasper shrugged her shoulders. ”I’m down.” She began to make her way out of the water before she turned back to Nate. ”And nah man. You didn’t do anything. I’m just like… reaaaalllyyyy fucking drunk.” Stepping up onto the bank, the dark haired girl did her best to try and find her missing shirt. ”Does… anyone know where my shirt went?”

He was last out of the bank and Nate surveyed the surrounding area. Under the moon, he was afforded limited light, so he couldn’t necessarily find her shirt. “Wait…” He looked to the shirtless Jasper. “Didn’t you take it out in the lake?” He asked her, unsure about the whereabouts of her shirt, shaking his head quickly. “Well, nevermind that! Until then, you can just wear my shirt!” He squatted down and picked up his blue polo shirt covered in dirt. “I know it’s not your style but it’s gotta be better than nothing, right?” He chuckled with a grin.

”Nah, I don’t think I did…. Maybe? I dunno.” Still looking around, Jasper gave Nate a small smile when he offered her his shirt. Shrugging her shoulders as she took it from him, the girl attempted to shake off most of the dirt before slipping it on. The shirt was just a little bit too big for her, but that was fine. Spotting Mona, Jasper smirked at her friend before asking her a question. ”You really think he’ll survive another three shots?”

“Of course I can!” Nate proclaimed as he hiccupped. At least I think I can… The thought came as he felt a little woozy. He couldn’t tell if it was due to the booze or the repeated dunks he took in the lake.

After shooting a hesitant glance at both Jasper and Nate, Mona simply shrugged her shoulders and continued on to fix her skirt. “Well, I guess there’s only one way to find out.”

And it was at that moment, Nate truly was in for a long ass night.

[Bee]

---

The man had looked at Camilla a little funny, before walking off and disappearing into the crowd. Well, that could've gone much better. But, he must've had something or someone much more important to deal with. Camilla wasn't going to be too salty about it. This was a party! Even though it was hard to find someone to hang out with for the time being, she was still determined to make the most out of the party and not waste her time here. Most her friends were preoccupied, sure, but that didn't mean that she wasn't able to have a good time. Hell, maybe she'd run into a stranger back at the drinks table and drink it up there.

Making her way back to the drinks table, she was hoping that she'd at least run into someone she knew, that someone had somehow wandered away and was free for Camilla to tag along with. However, much to Camilla's dismay, there wasn't really anyone like that. Thank god there was some liquid courage nearby, because once she had just a bit in her system, she was going to be chatting up quite a storm. Arriving at the drinks table, she found the strongest alcohol she could get her hands on. Vodka it was - and boy was she pouring a lot of it into her cup. She didn't even like the taste, but if it got her drunk faster, then so be it.

"Bottoms up." She said to herself, downing quite a bit of vodka. Shuddering and coughing a bit from the Russian concoction taking her by storm, she shook her head. It might've just been her mind playing tricks on her, but she could already feel a bit of a buzz coming on. "Alright, let's do this." She said, wandering off into the crowd to see if she could find someone to hang out with for the rest of the party.

[Otterpop]

Alaric knew that Theo had been aggravated by Cass, he figured that the ginger would just silently fume and glare at the other guy from afar. He didn't expect him to just tackle Cassian, he had to admit though that he had it coming with all the snarky remarks he was throwing out. He noticed Mac start to go towards the boys and reached out to grab her arm in order to stop her, last thing he needed was to have her take an elbow to the face because these two idiots weren't paying attention. Alaric wasn't expecting much from Theodore and just as he expected the red-head was flung off.

A crowd of people had begun to gather around them, Mac started to tell them to leave and soon everyone had trickled back to whatever they'd been doing before the fight had started. The blonde watched as Mac did just as he thought she'd do. Theo might have thought he was being a hero in going after Cassian but really all it would do is piss his female friend off. She didn't need anyone defending her, Mac could handle herself just fine.

Alaric watched as Mac stalked off in a huff, turning sympathetic eyes towards Theo. He just sorta shrugged, "Sorry dude." It was really all he could say and went off to follow Mac. As he walked through the crowd of people he noticed a few stragglers climbing out of the lake, one of which one he took notice of quickly. God Jasper was a sight to see...why didn't she have a shirt on? His eyes narrowed as he watched some geek offer his shirt to her. He wasn't sure how he felt about all that, he'd have to look into later though because he had to go catch up to a steamy Mac.

[Inertia]

_{An @Altered Tundra & @Inertia Collaboration
featuring Theodore Bonfamille & Connor Kennedy}

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“Man, I can’t figure her out.”

Theodore felt like shit. His head was pounding, neck and shoulders felt sore as shit, and he was pretty sure a few of his ribs were bruised. In what was probably his second most idiotic idea ever (the first being when he consumed the mystery drink thanks to his best pal), Theo was left in the eye of the shitstorm that all started because Cassian Lee couldn’t take a hint. He just had to keep on pushing Theo until the point of no return and now, as royally fucked up things were, the cherry that topped it was Mac.

Fucking Mac.

Never in Theodore’s life had he felt such an intense, not to mention simultaneous, confusion and anger when it came to someone like MacKenna Diedrickson. She was an absolute bombshell, but hell be damned that he understood her. In his mind, what he thought he did was noble. It might have been macho and maybe on some level, he did it because he hated Cassian and not because he wanted to defend Mac, but for her to react how she did was, well it was confusing. Cassian was rude to her and disrespected her without a moment’s hesitation, so Theo came to her defense. Yet, after it was all said and done, Theo was still given the third degree.

As he exhaled, wincing from what was obviously internal pain, Theo glanced at Connor with a weary expression, one that was the visual definition of ‘I’m so done’. “I’m ready to blow this joint.”

Holy hell. Everything exploded around Connor in a blink of an eye and the situation escalated in the worst way possible. The brawl ended quickly, quicker than Connor could react to. The blond was the last person that’s allowed to be judgemental but he’ll be damned if he thinks Theo handled it well. Connor simply shot an apologetic look towards Mac at her final words. With a sigh, he held his hand out towards Theo.

”Man, that wasn’t how I saw the evening unfolding.” Connor fished out his pill bottle, offering the Bonfamille a few. From experience, he’s seen Theo lose it but never to this extent. The whole situation reminded him of a few things in his past. ”Jeez man, what happened back there, Theo? I know Cassian can be a bit much at times- well, most times, but he’s mostly all bark.”

As he stood up and walked a few steps to a nearby table, he grabbed a handful into a bucket of melted ice and Theo downed two of the pills that Connor offered him with a handful of ice-cold water. He shook his head from just how chilly it was and winced with every motion his neck made. “I don’t know man. I just...lost it,” he sighed, turning back to Con. “All I know is that piece of shit Cassian Lee pushed all the right buttons and got what he wanted. Not only does he have the judgemental Lola Russo on his side, now even Mac is less to me and more towards him.”

Connor initially planned to just sleep in his car after the party, let the drunkenness fade. However, his mood to party has all but disappeared. As expected of the Great Bash. His mind drifted to how childish Cassian was acting, nearly playground-level insults. What was worse was how Theo reacted. He sympathized with him, if he was still his old self the situation might’ve played entirely the same. Lastly, Connor couldn’t help agreeing with what Mac said.

There was an awkward tension that filled the air; the gawkers pretending to be occupied were giving them both leery glances. Connor had sobered up quickly, what little buzz he had going was entirely gone. ”Don’t worry about that. Mac probably went away with worse opinions of both of you.” He said sharply. ”Fuck what Cassian and Lola think of you right now, worry about yourself. Are you alright? Do you need me to drive you home or to the hospital or something?”

“Yeah, don’t worry about me, bro! I’m a little banged up but I can walk.” Theo might have felt immense pain in his upper body but he wasn’t seeing stars, which he was thankful for. “But what I will need your help getting my ass away from these annoying ass onlookers who DON’T KNOW WHEN TO MIND THEIR OWN BUSINESS!” Immediately after he shouted, all of the progress he made to find himself comfortable and in a place where he wasn’t wincing every five seconds went out the window.

Theo waited for the pain to subside and when he wasn’t wincing as much, he stepped a few feet closer to Connor. “Since I royally screwed up your chance to be my wingman, I’m giving you a different job! You’re going to be my escort and your first job is to get me from this cabin to campus without me dying.”

Connor winced at Theo’s sudden shout at the onlookers. Seems like he’s still letting it all out. The blond tossed his prescribed paracetamol bottle at Theodore. ”Keep it. Seems like you need it more than me. Just don’t tell my private doctor.” He half-joked, trying to lighten up the somber mood. ”Come on, lean on me. We’ll head back to campus. The party’s a blowout anyway.”

The blond fished in his pockets, surprised to find a ping pong ball there. The duo was pretty far from the beer pong table now. ”One sec.” He threw the ball, with another high arc it cut through the air and strongly landed into the cup. ”I’m telling ya, Theo, that was an easy win...” Connor said as the cup shook violently, threatening to fall over. He didn’t look back as it stabilized itself. With a chuckle he let the redhead lean on him again.

Theo couldn’t agree more and he walked with Connor, pushing through those who tried to get a piece of the person that Cassian Lee showed mercy to (their words, not Theo’s). “So much for this being the biggest party of the year,” Theo murmured, it being the last thing he said while at the party. This was when he and Connor disappeared into the darkness of the woods, disappointment on their minds and a gentle reminder that hype is often just that.

[AlteredTundra]

---

_{Location — Meadow View Auditorium
Time — 8:00 AM}

---

As the minutes timed closer to eight in the morning, the set time when a special assembly was announced (as well as being known for weeks now), the staff had met prior to the third years rolling in. They met behind closed doors and in the office of Emilia Beaumonte. When they all had gathered -- or at least those of the head of the major departments -- a wide variety of topics were brought up but none were prioritized higher than what came to the attention of the Head of Campus Security, Frank Robinson.

Frank was someone who took his job seriously. Unlike most who enjoyed the scenery a bit too much for their own good, Frank was a by the books kind of guy. As a former Meadow Police Officer who had been one of the toughest, yet surprisingly just, officers of MVPD’s recent history, he applied that to his job at Head of Campus Security. He took great offense when rules were broken and took it personally. At the same time, when rules were broken and he didn’t know about it, that’s an act of war to him.

For five years straight, he tried to stop this so-called “Great Bash” from happening and every year he managed to at least know about it and stop it from going all night but this year was different. The kids were getting craftier and Frank didn’t find out about the party until one of his officers brought a recorded fight of two students and a Youtube video, which now has over 50K views on Instagram, that was a bunch of cellphone recorded videos of the party.

So naturally, he brought this to the Headmistress’ attention. If you thought he took it personally, the Headmistress, though when the talks happened it wasn’t clear on how this affected her, when it was all said and done, she assured the muscular man that she would handle this in her own way.

Fast Forward a day and she stood solo against a podium centered at the central platform of the Meadow Auditorium that normally held assemblies (not to be confused with the theater and arts center where plays and the like were held).

As the third years started to arrive, their whispers became louder and louder. The ever professional and stone-faced Headmistress simply waited for all of them to be seated. Some appeared to be more energetic than others, making it apparent that about half the students who now sat and filled up almost every seat in the first seven rows, were clearly morning people while others looked like they barely slept the night before. Knowing what she does about some of them, she probably knew why a large percentage of the young adults she saw were running on low.

But she wasn’t going to lead with that. Emilia was a lot of things but she wasn’t about to make them feel worse. She had to lift up their spirits and to do that, she would begin with what she had planned on saying long before the news about their unsanctioned party came to light.

Emilia lifted her hand up, signaling them all to quiet it down and she began.

“It is wonderful to see you all here! I do apologize if this is just a tad earlier than any of us would prefer, but thank you for arriving on time. I wanted to take a moment to congratulate you Juniors. You have done what most in this world aren’t able to do for one reason or another,” she paused, her smile gracing them all as she surveyed the students left to right. “You have reached your third year of college! Be proud of this accomplishment. You are here and that much closer to getting your respective degrees!”

As she let that sit with them, she saw some faces that barely react and others that brushed what she said off as the usual rhetoric. And that was fine. She understood these young people couldn’t possibly appreciate the little things of what they have accomplished.

“Take a moment and congratulate yourself!” She clapped for them, hoping some would follow suit (some did).

After the moment passed, Emilia allowed them to sit in silence for nearly a minute. When that minute was up, her resting stone face soon turned frigid and her gaze matched it plenty. “And while I am most pleased with how far you all have come, there are a few among you who chose to celebrate your accomplishments in a way that disrespects those of you who abide by our rules, that disrespects the faculty, and that disrespects the prestige of not only this university but the entire Ivy League.”

As she spoke, she sighed that, if one really was paying attention, you could just feel the disappointment emanating from her. “I can’t express how dissatisfied I am with how you chose to behave. Of course, it brings me great joy that you could find reasons to enjoy your accomplishments, but what you did and…how you chose to make a mockery of everything Meadow University stands for pains me beyond anything anyone here can begin to comprehend.” She took a moment before continuing, inhaling and exhaling slowly. “And this is why it pains me, but because the few decided to break so many rules and because they thought they were so much better than you, as of right now, everyone who sits in this room is placed on Academic Probation until further notice.”

And that, as they say, was that. Emilia left the podium, left the platform, and left the students to sit with that. Whether they accept this new normal or try to appeal, this was going to be their life until they proved they could follow the rules of the university.

[fledermaus]

_{a collab with @metanoia}
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In an ideal world, Nate’s memory of the bash would be foggy and the amount of alcohol he consumed would’ve been at least half what it was, not to mention the accidental groping he did courtesy of his sloppy hands and Jasper’s larger-than-usual-bust. But, of course, none of those things happened. He remembered it all and was so hungover that he didn’t even remember Sunday nor did he remember getting to his dorm. The memories from the Bash, however? Yeah, those were as clear as day.

And how he wished he didn’t remember because every time he had thought back, it had been like he was experiencing his own ‘Nam flashbacks. Pulses of light that pounded through his head like a hammer on an anvil. Water - so much water and more shots than he could count on his hands and feet. All of this came as he tried everything he could to focus on Headmistress Beaumonte’s speech but she was speaking so loudly and her voice resounded in his head like someone had forced him to listen to Friday over and over again.

As she soon congratulated everyone, he heard clapping. It was loud and booming and made him think of thunder. And Nate winced. “Owww!”

His head hurt and Nate sunk lower and lower into his seat, hood up and sunglasses hiding the fact he could barely see what was in front of him. With how little attention he was paying the headmistress, he didn’t hear her say what prompted some near him to curse and give the old lady up on the stage a lot of boos, which again…”Ouch!”

Nate blinked slowly, looking to his left and it was then he just noticed who was sitting next to him. He pulled off his shades so he could get a better look and suddenly the light blinded Nate for a few seconds and blinking only made it worse. “That was a bad idea,” he muttered. A couple of long moments later, Nate could see again and he saw his friend, Millie Jean! “Oh hey, Mills!” He looked at her with a slight smile that masked a lot of chronic pain. “When did you get here?”

Millie Jean looked at Nate curiously. She had immediately spotted him and sat next to him once the assembly had started. It was better than sitting with a stranger, and while she hadn’t said anything to Nate, she had assumed he noticed her. ”I’ve been here, Nate. Did you have a hangover or something? Oh, wait...did you go to that bash thing?

Millie Jean had heard about the Bash, but she decided against going to it in order to study. She had to keep her grades up for her scholarship, not that it matters now since she’s on probation. Like everyone else, she has seen the video, and it is safe to say she’s incensed over it. If she was going to be put on probation, she might have gone. Well, maybe not since that would mean close quarters and many people she doesn’t know.

“Yeah, I went to that party..” Nate looked down with an expression of slight disappointment on his face. “Best worst thing I’ve done since..well, I think ever.” He thought about if that was true or not. Maybe it was a lie, but the best-best worst thing he did was so long ago that he was certain Millie didn’t care. Besides, maybe his misdeeds of the past could wait because as Nate took a quick glance around and still the other students seemed pissed. So, Nate leaned close to Millie (though not too close for obvious reasons). “By the way, did you happen to catch what the Headmistress said? It seems to have caused quite a piss storm and I was...trying to listen but yeah..”

Millie Jean scowled at the general direction of the Headmistress, more angry than she has been in a while. “Yeah, we’re all on academic probation ‘cause of fuckin’ Cassian and some other guy.”

Millie Jean knew Cassian, being on the swim team together. They weren’t friends, and he intimidated her a bit, but a part of her was upset enough to confront him after the assembly if she sees him.

“You’re joking, right? Please say that this is a joke.” Nate couldn’t help but stare at Millie, hoping there was a punchline on its way, but the longer he did that and the equal amount of time that passed, he knew it wasn’t, which honestly made it even worse. “Aw man! This seriously tanks!” Nate physically assaulted the armrest of the chair he sat in and soon pouted. “Wait, you said Cassian Lee was part of this?” The name rang a bell. He might’ve come across the guy a couple of times or knew people who were close with him but Nate didn’t know him well enough to pick him out of a crowd. “What does he have to do with us getting academically grounded?”

“He got into a fight with some guy and a bunch of people recorded it.” Millie Jean told him, leaning in slightly so he could hear what she was saying without being overly loud, “The head of security saw it and snitched, I guess. I’m freaking out, Nate, how is this going to affect my scholarship?”

Millie Jean sighed to herself, wiping her sweaty and quivering hands on her jeans. That was it, wasn’t it? Underneath her simmering anger, the type of anger she doesn’t feel often, she’s scared that she will lose her scholarship. Maybe the Headmistress will make an exception for the scholarship kids, since this wasn’t their fault? Millie Jean hopes so, because she can’t afford the scholarship otherwise.

“Let’s just get out of here, Nate.” Millie Jean says to Nate, standing up as the other students start milling out. “We can get something to eat and you can tell me all about the Bash.”

Nate saw how concerned she was and stood up, smiling at Millie Jean. “Yeah, let’s hit the cafeteria. After this, I have my eyes dead-set on some vending machine snacks. There’s a few of them in the courtyard near the cafeteria. We can talk there!” Nate threw up his hood. The young male was wearing pajama pants. Not the kind that were embarrassing but the navy blue with white striped kind and his jacket was just an ordinary, Meadow University hoodie.

As the two exited the Auditorium and walked silently (for the most part) about five minutes west, Nate kept thinking about the Bash and how he pushed himself a little too far and did things he normally wouldn’t ever, but there was something about Jasper Delamar. Or maybe Mona? He couldn’t tell which one liked him more, or which one he liked more. Both seemed to be pretty into him and maybe that was the strangest thing. He’s never had more than one chick be into him or spend enough time with him to do the things that they did. Definitely peculiar but maybe that’s what he’s been missing from the college experience. The past two years he flew under the radar but, like John Cena, his time was now.

“Oh finally!” Nate was brought out of his own thoughts when he saw the vending machines. “Pick anything you want. I’m buying whatever!” He told Millie Jean, holding out about a dozen $1 bills in his left hand.

“Ooh, look who’s rollin’ in that dough, though.” Millie Jean joked, grabbing a crisp bill from his hands and getting a Butterfinger. “Thanks.”

Millie Jean unwrapped her Butterfinger and stared at Nate, trying to put her finger on what was off about him. She could only assume his spotty inattention has to do with either his hangover or something that happened at the Bash. “Okay, spill, what happened at the Bash? I’m dying to know.”

“One moment.” Nate used the remaining eleven dollars to get his fill of junk food that he knew his body was craving. Several minutes later and a lot of button-pushing, bending over later, he had accumulated three 12oz Dr. Peppers cans, four bags of BBQ Sun Chips, and a ham and cheese sandwich that he knew was full of bad fats but it was one of his favorites. “Okay! What do you want to know?” He asked Millie, taking a seat on the floor against one of the vending machines with a pile of junk food and liquid candy in his lap.

“You keep spacing out,” Millie Jean points out, taking a seat with him and her single butterfinger, “Just wanted to know why. Did something happen or…?”

“A lot of things happened,” he clarified, cracking open one of his cans of Dr. P and took a hefty sip. “But specifically, I, uh..” He stopped himself as he felt his face getting a little warm. “Well, I mean, I didn’t mean to do it but it was so wet in the lake and I was dunked and I just reached for the first thing my hands could grab onto.”

Millie Jean’s jaw dropped and she let out of a squeal of what could be either shock or amusement. In a scandalized whisper, she said, “What did you grab? Please tell me it was some guy’s ahem.” She let out another chuckle, eyes swimming with mirth.

“What?” He fixated his eyes on her, staring blankly at Millie for a long moment as lips were pressed against the Dr. Pepper can. After taking a moment to realize what Millie implied, he set the can down, profusely shaking his head. “Oh no! I didn’t grope some dude’s junk!” He felt he had to state that with as much conviction he could. “I just kind of…_{grabbed Jasper Delamar’s tata’s.}”

All of the laughter left Millie Jean as she stared at him in shock. “You what? I know it was an accident, but holy fuck dude. You gotta send her an apology or something.” Millie Jean put her hands on his shoulders and shook him back and forth to punctuate her sentence. “Ask her on a date next time, dude.”

“I know, I know!” He took another sip from the can and belched. “But you have to understand that they kept dunking me into the water and I panicked. Plus, I didn’t know they were her boobs. I literally thought they were her shoulders. But I guess shoulders aren’t that squishy and pillowy,” he said, thinking about that for a moment. “But what should I even say? ‘Hey Jasper, sorry for accidentally grabbing your titties. Maybe we can hang later?’” He laughed but honestly this whole situation petrified him to the point where he hadn’t even thought about the food in his lap.

“Okay, okay, don’t panic.” Millie Jean put her hands out, as if to calm a wild beast, “Okay, how about you text her and say, ‘I’m sorry about accidentally groping you at the Bash, it was an accident’. That seems innocent enough, right?”

He nodded and took out his cellphone. He brought up the text app and typed the message exactly how she said it. “How does that look?” He glanced at Millie who was hovering him like a flying saucer.

“It looks good, I’m sure Jasper will forgive you, right?” Millie Jean said encouragingly, “I mean...you apologized. Okay, let’s just send it and put this all behind you, bud.”

Millie Jean is straddling the line of thinking this is hilarious and being mortified on Nate’s behalf. She only hopes that Jasper is willing to forgive Nate, as she doesn’t think he could handle it if not and might die of embarrassment. “Maybe add ‘breasts’ somewhere in there. Or ‘honkers’.” Millie said jokingly, hoping to get at least a little bit of a smile out of Nate.

He knew what she was trying to do. And it worked. Amid the dread he had been feeling, her suggestion got him to laugh and grin ear to ear. “You’re a real pal. Ya know that, right?” As Nate spoke, he heard a bunch of phones go off in the courtyard, some of them with interesting text alerts. “Wow, so many people are--” Nate blinked for a moment. “Wait, why did everyone get a text alert as soon as we sent out the message...” For as slow as Nate was, even he could piece it together. “Oh no, Millie. You don’t think..”

“No, no.” Millie said in growing horror, “Check your message! Check! Who did you send it to?”

This could not be happening. Millie Jean will feel terrible if her suggestion backfired on Nate. It’s all her fault, isn’t it? She’s the one who told him to apologize. Of course this would happen, they have the worst luck ever!

As if his life depended on it, Nate frantically went through his recent messages. He clicked on it and looked for the recipient. “All contacts,” he said out loud. “Oh, is that all--WAIT WHAT!?” His voice elevated at least three octaves and every amount of feeling of panic he thought he was done experiencing just went into overdrive. “Shit. Shit. Shit. Shit.”

[Inertia]

_24~

_{Location: Dorm -> Meadow University}

Connor's phone lit up the dark room, buzzing endlessly; soon a groan came from the moving lump of mattresses. "What the hell." He mumbled to himself. With half-lidded eyes he saw a cascading wave of notifications from Instagram. There were even text messages from people he knew on a friendly basis. His brows furrowed, spotting a message from his brother, Gerard. In short it was something about disappointment and the 'viral Instagram video'. The blond swiped the message from his brother away. Instagram? He barely used it, mostly for memes and following a few people from campus. Sure there were a few photos here and there but nothing that would explain the sudden amount of tags.

That was answered relatively quick as he opened the Instagram video. The video had fifty-thousand views, already semi-viral for their university. It was the fight between Theodore and Cassian. Connor found himself in the video standing slack-jawed as the two men fought each other. "Fuck. Who the hell recorded this?!" He sent off a text message towards Theo, asking him if he'd seen the video. Another notification pinged about an assembly that's going to be held in an hour or so. With a sigh he got up for a shower to prepare for the day.

---

Connor noticed people shot him glances whilst whispering among themselves as he passed them in the halls. It was likely due to his close association with Theo but he did not like all this extra attention heaved on him. He pulled his hoodie down, a weak attempt of moving around incognito. A jittery chill ran through him as he trod down to the auditorium; the whole scenario reminded him the isolation he felt in high-school. Yup, he definitely hates it. He found a corner seat, away from as many people as he could. The ever stoic headmistress began her speech.

Soon it was announced that everyone was being punished for the actions of those who attended the Great Bash. What kind of archaic, bullshit punishment is that. Connor thought angrily. A few other students whispered loudly among themselves with a few gasping in surprise. The blame was clearly gonna rest on Cassian and Theo, most likely Theo since he instigated it. As for the blond, he was slightly indifferent on the probation; though he'd obviously prefer to not be kicked out of the university since his parents will likely get on his case again.

Walking out of the auditorium he felt a few eyes on him. Ugh, this isn't going to be fun. Connor wandered aimlessly around, he didn't have any classes till much later so he had free time. He spent his time thinking on how this probation would affect the students, particularly Theo and the like. As he went through the comments on the video he received a message from Nate; a sort of friend/acquaintance. It was about him grabbing Jasper's 'things' at the party. He typed up a reply- 'Wrong person there Nate, don't think I got groped during the bash.' and sent it before realizing that Nate had sent that message to ALL of his contacts.

"... Alaric's not gonna like that." Connor said nonchalantly, unwrapping a sandwich he procured from the cafeteria.

[Otterpop]

After the whole Theo and Cassian shenanigan Alaric tried to catch up to Mac, he didn't expect her to be such a slippery snake though and ended up losing her in the crowd of wasted college students. His party mood had been shot and the blonde just decided to ditch the dirty woods in favor of the comfort of his own bedroom. For the rest of that night he drowned himself in liquor and weed, ignoring anyone who might have tried to knock on his door or talk to him. At some point he blacked out and the rest of the night had been forgotten.

~

The most annoying sound ever woke Alaric up, his hand shooting out from underneath his comforter and fumbling around for his phone. "It cannot be morning yet..." the boy grumbled, squinting as he looked at his phone.
He had a million text messages from people, half of them he didn't even know. After opening several of them it turned out to just be the same thing, a video of two idiots going at it during the "Great Bash". He could see himself in the video, standing off to the side with a bottle of alcohol in hand. "Oh that's just fucking perfect." At the rate the damn thing was spreading Alaric had no doubt someone in his family would show the video to dear-old dad. Awesome.

As he just laid there going through his phone a new notification popped up, an assembly or something was going to go down in an hour. Alaric knew it'd be about the party, school was too damn uppity to let something like a viral fight go without any consequences. Honestly this day could not get any worse.

~

Apparently it could, was this old hag really throwing Academic Probation at all of them? Alaric could already feel a headache beginning to say hello and sitting there listening to students around him panic wasn't really making it better. He wanted a drink, one that was strong enough to knock him on his ass for awhile. Completely done with the day already, Alaric got up and walked out of the auditorium. He shoved his hands into the pocket of his jacket and began to head back towards his dorm, he thankfully didn't have any classes till later which meant he could smoke something before hand.

He didn't get vary far though, just to one side of the courtyard before he heard a cascade of ring tones go off all at once including his own. He could have waited until he got back to his room but curiosity got the best of him and Alaric pulled out his phone. It took his muddled brain a moment to comprehend the message he was reading. Questions came to mind: Who was Nate again and why did he have his number? Why was he touching Jasper, even if it was an accident? Lastly, he needed to find out what he looked like so he could have a little...chat with him.

Jealousy and anger were not emotions Alaric usually felt unless it involved his father, but today was an exception. Things were starting to pile up, a possible lecture from his father and the academic probation was enough to make want to drink till he passed out but now knowing someone was trying to move in on the girl he liked made him want to punch something...hard.

Shoving his phone into his pocket Alaric took a deep breath, where was one of his peppy pals when he needed one?

[Ejected]

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Given the amount of alcohol she'd consumed the night before, it would probably come as a great surprise to many to see how energetic and alive Mona seemed to be that morning as she made her way across campus to attend the eight o'clock assembly. As usual, Mona had gotten up at around six-thirty to prepare for her morning exercises; she'd decided that it would be best to simply head to the assembly following her jog around campus. Mona did feel slightly off as drew closer to the auditorium, her feet pounding the pavement and her lips mouthing the lyrics to the song that blasted through her earbuds. Although she didn't have a killer headache, there was a slight churn in her stomach as she pushed on. There weren't enough painkillers or Martin family remedies in the world that could change that.

But as she finally stepped foot into the crowded space and began her search for an empty seat, it was pretty obvious that she felt a lot better than how some of her classmates looked. Mona's eyes instantly landed upon Nate as she walked down the aisle; he sat with a girl she barely recognized, and Mona could tell by the look on his face, as well as his current outfit, that he was in a hell of a lot of pain. Part of her felt slightly guilty for pushing the young man to drink as much as he did. Maybe then he wouldn't be in the state he was now.

Ramona took the first empty seat she could find, which happened to be closer to the front of the room; she sat in between a guy who still reeked of alcohol, and a girl who could barely keep her eyes open long enough to see the Headmistress signal for their silence, let alone sit upright in her chair. With one of her earbuds still pumping neo-soul into her ear, Mona passively listened as the Headmistress began to speak. She clapped along when instructed to, and nearly fell out of her seat when it was announced that they'd all been placed on Academic Probation. "You've gotta be fucking kidding me," Mona said, mostly to herself as the room erupted in a cacophony of conversation. "She can't just do that to the entire Junior class... right? That's bullshit." When Mona realized that her two seating neighbors weren't paying her any mind, she quickly stood from her chair and followed the rest of the crowd out of the auditorium.

Mona's first instinct was to pull out her cell phone and send a quick message to Junie, but as she furiously typed and made a beeline for the cafeteria, a sudden text message from Nate made her stop in her tracks. "Groping me at the bash... huh?" Mona said, trying to comprehend the message that was displayed on her phone. "Nate, are you still drunk or something, dude?" Mona was prepared to type out a response, but it was in that moment that Mona also noticed that she wasn't the only one in the courtyard who'd received a notification. Her eyes widened as she realized that the message was sent to all of Nate's contacts.

"Yikes."

"I reaaaally hope you don't have Ty's number saved in your phone, Nate..."

[Sugar and Spite]

______________________________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________________________

Ty's night had gone out with a bang - literally. Junie had quite a few tricks up her sleeve, and Ty had absolutely zero problems with it. Whatever had been going on between them had finally started to reach a peak, and the young man was more than grateful for that. Giving her the option rather to dine out or eat in, Junie had chosen to eat at his apartment. Getting to work on their meal, Ty was happy when she joined in to help slice the fruit. For the first time in his life, Tiberius was having a movie scene moment - and he loved every moment of it.

After Junie had left, Ty collapsed on his bed, exhausted from last night and ever so slightly hung over. There was a dull ache in his head, and he was surprised to say that his back was actually sore. Sure, he had had a few girls scratch his back from time to time, but Junie? It was like the girl was marking her territory or something. After a quick shower, a glass of water, and a few Advil, Ty was ready to face his day.

He went to the assembly, shrugging his shoulders as he realized that they were on academic probation. So what? It was bullshit and he would just transfer.

Once he had entered the court yard, Ty felt his phone buzz with a notification at the same moment everyone else's phone seemed to go off. Opening the message, he read it before realizing who it was from. Nate? Boobs? Party? It took Ty a second to put the pieces of the puzzle together. As the feeling of protective rage swelled inside of him from his head to his toes, Ty looked around the courtyard for Nate. Once he spotted the other man, Ty marched over, his phone clutched in his hand as his eyebrows nit together. Spotting the much shorter Millie, Ty gave her a polite nod.

"Morning Mills." Raising his right hand to grab Nate and yank the other young man around by the shoulder to face him, Ty slammed Nate up against the snack machine, pinning his right forearm under Nate's chin. "Mind telling me what exactly you did to my sister and why you're messaging half of the goddamn school about it?" he growled.

[AlteredTundra]

If Nate had to describe exactly what he was feeling right now, it might be a mixture of panic, some more panic, and, yep you’ve guessed it: Panic.

That was his truth right now. As soon as he realized just exactly what happened, he turned to Millie Jean nigh immediately and double, triple, quadruple, and quintuple checked. Every time he did, it was the same: sent to all contacts.

“Okay, just wanted to make sure,” Nate said, pocketing his phone.

On some level, he remained in a state of disbelief, thinking that something that was initially meant to be an act with the intent of seeking forgiveness couldn’t have blown up so royally and gone out to everyone he had in his contacts. The sheer amount of people in his contacts was one thing. Nate had some old friends and friends of his friends in there, some of which he hasn’t talked to since the first day of college and some who were in a group project of his. Truth be told, Nate was a hoarder and was a forgetful one at that, so those who he hadn’t talked to or even seen in a really long time got the confusing text.

As he tried to center himself, he leaned against the vending machine, aiming to slide down to relax and take a breath. Moments before his legs would gradually let him do that, a force that hit like a hurricane came at him in the form of Tiberius Delamar’s surprisingly muscular forearm, pressing against his windpipe, pushing a short breath out of him, causing the young man to cough and feel a slight stinging pain as his back recoiled against the machine behind him.

In a glance that was forced on him, Nate met Ty’s gaze and he saw pure red emanating from the young man’s eyes, the raging fury in his eyes matched the screeching ferocity in his tone. “Oh, hey there Ty, I can explain--” Nate was cut off by a small amount of pressure on his neck, which was just enough to paint a clear picture that Ty wasn’t in a mood to fool around. “Okay, okay! I know how this looks,” Nate said, coughing and trying — and failing miserably — to free himself from Ty’s hold. “It wasn’t supposed to go out to everyone. It was meant to be sent to Jasper and only Jasper. I swear!” In a rare move, Nate tried to keep his explanation to the point. “But something happened, the wrong button was pushed, and, well…” Nate looked down.

[spooner]

MacKenna sat yet again inches away from her mirror adding the finishing touches to her makeup when her phone vibrated on the table. Lazily she tapped on the screen so that she could see what it was about. It was a campuswide announcement that called all of the junior class in for a mandatory assembly. The girl rolled her eyes at the thought. It was almost like she was back at her old high school where it felt like faculty held assemblies for whatever small occurrence.

“What is this about?” the dark-haired girl mused as she brushed her hair up into a high ponytail. And as if the world listened to her question the answer came zooming into her phone. This time when it vibrated it was a notification from Instagram someone had tagged her in a comment under video post.

“@diemac isn’t that you?”

Mac’s jaw dropped open as she watched the small clip of Teddy jumping Cassian. And there she was in the background looking frantic… with a bottle of vodka in her back pocket. “Fuck… my life” she whispered.

Bursting through the auditorium’s wooden door MacKenna stomped away from the crowd of young adults filtering out towards the courtyard. This was a disaster! Academic probation? What will that mean for her scholarship?! Fuck she was in trouble. Her phone was vibrating like it was something that belonged in the box she kept under her bed. Obviously, the faculty had sent out an e-mail about the situation because her father (the more neurotic one) was blowing her phone up with text messages telling her to call him this instant. And she knew better than to ignore him, there was no doubt in her mind that he would come up here and drag her back to Florida himself if she didn’t tell him what was going on.

It took about a half of a signal before Archer Diedrikson answered the call.

“MacKenna… what am I looking at here?”

“Oh hey, dad nice to hear from you too! I don’t know…”

“Uhm don’t give me that Mac! Probation?! For a party and a guy?!”

“I didn’t even do anything dad!”

“Uh the video of you with a bottle of vodka in short-shorts says otherwise now doesn’t it!”

“Oh… you’ve seen that…”

“Please MacKenna, what do you think I am an elderly old wizard who doesn’t know what social media is?”

“Yes?”

“Look… I’m no stranger to a raging party around school grounds. I grew up with Marisol for god’s sake. But you got to be more careful about these things, this is your future we’re talking about. So from now on, I want daily updates from you! Got it?!”

“Go easy on her…” her other more calm dad’s voice could be heard in the background.

“You shut up! Am I clear MacKenna?”

The girl stood stomping in place in frustration trying not to scream right out in the hallway.

“Am. I. Clear?” her father repeated.

A frustrated breath escaped through her nose before Mac answered “Yes.”

After a short talk with her other father Kavan where he calmed his daughter down as he always had to do when Archer had riled her up, MacKenna finally hung up and entered the fresh air in the courtyard. She bought a small lunch and sat down at the table with the first person she recognized.

“This is some bullshit, Connor!” she lamented as she slapped her trey on the stone table making a loud smacking noise certainly getting the blond boy’s attention. “I mean… who the fuck? Who the fuck was the shitforbrains that posted a video of the great bash on Instagram?!” she continued on with her rant while ripping the wrapper of her chicken salad wrap viciously and taking a bite.“It’s like MU law and common knowledge that the bash is off limits on social. Right?!” she asked chewing as she pointed at Connor with her lunch. "I won't hesitate to hunt a bitch down!"

[Inertia]

_{Your soul~}

_{Location: Cafetaria}

Connor flicked through the pictures and videos of the bash. Idiots, the lot of them. He grumbled internally. Taking pictures and videos... atleast leave your goddamn accounts private or something.

Every other minute he would swipe away one of his brother's message or call attempt. His brother seemed to be awfully persistent today, for good reason likely but Connor didn't want to deal with that at this moment. The day was already overbearing, so he'd prefer not to pile on any additional stress. With a final, weary sigh he finished off his sandwich as a familiar figure approached him.

"Oh hey, Mac." Connor greeted her before flinching as she slammed her tray onto the table. "Er- academic probation, right? My annoying-ass brother has been pinging my phone nonstop."

"It had to be one of the freshies, this didn't happen during the last 'Great Bash'." The blond never thought he would ever see anyone eating 'angrily' but there Mac was. Connor had to stifle his laughter as it gave him flashbacks of how his childhood pet gerbils ate food. "Couldn't agree more. Can't say I'm really digging all this extra attention I'm getting. Do we even know who took the video originally?"

"How'd your parents take the news?" Connor asked idly, ripping a can of soda open. He took a sip before continuing. "Not well? Also, hah, did you get the text message from Nate? Think he groped Jasper during the Bash'. Nate's gonna start a fight right after the probation."

"Ah, speaking of the bash, sorry bout' what happened that night." He choked on his words. "I would've stopped er, Theo, if I knew he was that pissed off. Gotta say that Cassian didn't help but... nah that's just an excuse, sorry."

[Venus]

_{An @Amore & @Rosalia Collaboration
Featuring Cassian Lee & that bitch Lola Russo}
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When the time came for Emilia to finally step back from her podium and exit the room Cassian was among the group of students who groaned out loud. Perhaps his reasons weren’t the same as theirs but right now he could empathize with him. Apparently, it wasn’t enough that his head felt like it was going to explode and his swim coach was waiting to pounce on him at practice tonight after learning how much he had drank, but now this information?

She’s going to kill me

Eventually he followed suit behind the crowds of people out of the auditorium, his eyes scanning the crowd for a familiar face, he would’ve taken any of the people he knew and.. mostly liked. Luck has it his eyes landed on a furious looking blonde bombshell who had stormed out and disappeared from his apartment that Saturday night, after not quite getting what she wanted.

There’s no way she was still…

“You look as peachy as ever. Getting in touch with your lawyer to sue ‘queen’ Emilia?” His voice was relaxed, and he leaned against the wall beside her with his arms loosely crossed against his chest.

Although Lola had clearly heard Cassian speaking to her, she chose to act like the grown up she was and pointedly ignore him. She continued to angrily tap away at her phone instead, and even went as far as to begin her trek away from the immediate auditorium surroundings without so much as a glance at him. No matter how much she thought about it, the blonde still struggled to understand how he had the balls to even look at her after the humiliation he’d put her through.

Cassian let out a sigh and was half tempted to let her walk away, playing these games was never his cup of tea, but Lola was his friend... and this was his job, or something. So he pushed off from the wall and quickened his pace to catch up with her. Being a good seven inches or so taller than her allowed him to easily match her pace once he caught up, and fed into his nonchalance when addressing her. He might have caved in and chased after her, but he wasn’t going to acknowledge her pouting, at least until she acknowledged him.

“So you want to take a stroll around the courtyard. Seems redundant. Why don’t we sit down and chat.”

“I’m not interested,” she answered curtly, still refusing to move her eyes away from her phone screen and tearing across the university’s courtyard. It didn’t take a genius to realize Lola was still very much upset about the events that had transpired between them after the party, and had no plans to ever forgive Cassian for it.

“Can’t you play nice while I’m chasing after you? Lola, slow dow-“ Cassian grumbled, cutting his words off sharply as he planted his feet in the same moment he grabbed her bicep. Despite her attempts to power walk through the courtyard to get away from him, he was able to momentarily cease her movement and then continued what he was saying while standing somewhat nearer to her, “On the contrary to how I may come off, I don’t go about my day with the intentions of pissing people off… Well, save for Theo-- he deserves to have his fragile feathers rustled… but definitely not my friends. So stop being a brat and just talk to me, Lola. Why are you walking in circles to get away from me?”

If Lola had been annoyed before, it was nothing compared to how furious she felt when Cassian grabbed her by the arm and forcefully turned her in his direction. How dare he lay a hand on her?! “You think you can just make a fool out of me and then come around acting as if nothing happened?” she hissed, jerking her arm away from his grip and looking like she was ready to gauge his eyes out. “Come on, Cass. I thought you were smarter than that.”

“Make a fool out- what?” Cassian’s confused expression almost broke out into a grin as he connected the dots and had to pass off a rogue chuckle as a cough into his hand before continuing in an even tone. “Lola, are you serious? You’re mad at me because I didn’t sleep with you? Come on.” This time he couldn’t help but conceal the slight upward shift at the corner of his lips. Truthfully he was amused, usually girls were appreciative to not have a drunk asshole trying to sleep with them but here was Lola, wishing him dead with just her narrowed eyes.

If Lola had been upset before, the blatant amusement painted all over the smug bastard’s face didn’t help matters. At this rate, she was honestly taking internal bets as to how long it would take her to crack. “It’s not that you didn’t sleep with me, Cassian Lee-” she began to explain through gritted teeth, her usual cool and collected composure now hanging by the thinnest of threads. “It’s the fact that you led me on and then fucking turned me down because you’ve got some ugly little tomboy in the back of your mind!”

Cassian could see that she was angry, hell the whole courtyard could see it on her face if they looked at her, but there was just something humorous about the situation. And even despite the risk of Cassian looking like a “genuine asshole” he couldn’t hold back the laughter anymore. Not quite doubled over, he let out a good, hearty string of laughter and shook his head in disbelief, where the hell did girls like Lola even come from?

The crisp, hard slap across his face that could have rang across the courtyard was drowned out by the sea of upset students exiting the assembly. But it seemed that not even Lola’s physical gesture of rage was enough to phase him, because Cass was still looking as fresh as he did before. Instead of releasing her anger, his unphased expression only served to fan the flames.

“Fuck, Lo, I’m sorry for that, truly-” Cassian choked back the last of his laughter, ”It’s rude of me to laugh like that when you’re obviously on the verge of morphing into the green-eyed monster, but me leading you on? How did I lead you on? You were banging my best mate in our flat all last year.”

Of course, Lola decided to follow his example of ignoring what he was right about and focusing on whatever else he had said instead. “Hmmmm, let’s see-- ” she began, pretending to think for a second as she raised her fist in the air and lifted a finger for each sin Cassian had committed against her. “You took me back to your place, you kissed me, you had your hands all over me groping me everywhere, you took my clothes off, and when I’m down on my fucking knees is when you suddenly change your mind?! You don’t think that’s fucking humiliating?!”

“You weren’t on your knees-” Cassian started but quickly moved on from the unimportant detail while Lola’s death glare intensified, “Lola, I was drunk. I wasn’t trying to humiliate you, I was being responsible. Being told ‘no’ isn’t the end of the world. Do you really think we should be sleeping with each other when we’re honestly interested in other people?”

And there it was.

The blonde could only shake her head and let out a dry, sardonic laugh. “I knew it,” Lola growled coldly, in both satisfaction and rage. “I fucking knew it.” It was as if something had snapped inside of her. The boiling anger that had been coursing through her veins just moments before slowly turned into ice, filling her with a wrath of steel she’d never quite felt before. An odd sense of calm seemed to settle upon her, and it reassured her that the steps she’d taken on her way to a well-deserved revenge had their merit.

“Knew what, Lola? That I’m interested in someone? It’s not like I’ve actively tried to hide the fact. But great deductions, Nancy Drew: you’ve cracked the case.” Cassian replied with a good deal of sarcasm, his arms drew across his chest a signal that he was getting tired of the conversation. With how the rest of the day was sure to go, Cass was growing increasingly disinterested in Lola’s tantrum.

The young woman snorted, and even cracked her first smile since this whole conversation with Cassian started-- an eerie grin with pitch-black eyes as lifeless as a shark’s.... That dangerous calm before a raging tornado. “Then I guess all that’s left to say is that I wish you the best of luck on your little safari adventure,” she said with a small shrug, seemingly about to turn on her heel to make her exit but stopping herself to face Cass again instead. It was time to drop the parting grenade.

“I just hope you’re both able to find the time to spend together, you know? With how upset the headmistress was to put everyone except me on academic probation, how furious her daddy must be about the probation maybe messing up her scholarship and how livid your swim coach is after I sent all of them that saucy little video of the party, I’m not really sure there’ll be enough time to spare for you guys to enjoy yourselves...” she trailed off, her grin now turning into a triumphant beam.

“Nooooo, you wouldn’t.” Cassian’s face dropped as seconds passed by without her admitting she was all talk, but this was exactly something she would do. Then her words really sunk in and images of his coach holding him under the water to kill him drained the color from his face, “God, how did Blake put up with you?” Cassian grumbled before stalking off, he needed to find out from a trustworthy source if this was truly his last day to live.

“He knew better than to fuck with me!” Lola called out after him, waving at Cass’s back and watching with evil glee as he hurried off in the opposite direction, probably to do some damage control. It was a hard lesson to learn-- not just for him, but for Mac and anyone else to dare get in the way of her goals. Yet it was a lesson that would stick with everyone else for the rest of their college careers.

They should all know better than to fuck with me.

[Sugar and Spite]

Jasper woke up to a splitting headache, her six-thirty alarm doing nothing to help the pain. This cause Jasper to throw her phone out the wall. Unfortunately, this did nothing to stop to stop the sound emitting from the stupid electronic device. Begrudgingly, Jasper got out of bed, picked up the phone and turned off her alarms right as a wave of nausea hit. Running to the bathroom, she promptly threw up in the toilet before flushing and brushing her teeth. Instant headache cure. After her shower, she felt like a brand new woman.

Bits and pieces of last night sparked into her memory as she got dressed. A message alert of the assembly prompted Jasper to make her way to the auditorium.

As the headmistress spoke, Jasper didn't clap when told. Instead she sat there, anger boiling at the surface. If looks could kill, Emilia would have fallen over dead. Snatching her bag up from the chair beside her, Jasper stormed out of the auditorium, preparing to call her brother and rant about the news. As she unlocked her phone, she recieved another text at the same time it appeared a lot of other people did.

>Sorry for grabbing your boobs.

Holy fuck Nate, really? she thought. Preparing to write a response, Jasper did a double take at who the message was sent to. Roughly eighty contacts?!

"Dead. A dead man. I'm gonna kill him."

Marching around the courtyard as she looked for Nate (she didn't have her brother's height advatage) Jasper found her target right after it appeared her brother did.

"Oh, leave the boy alone would you Ty," she said, smiling sweetly at the boys. "Wouldn't want you to break his wind pipe would we? You know - probation and all that." Putting her hand on her brother's shoulder, Ty released Nate and straightened his own jacket. It took only a split second for Jasper to take her brothers spot, repinning Nate to the snack machine. While she wasn't as tall as her brother, Jasper was still a force to be reconged with.

"What the fuck Nate," she growled, glaring up at him. "I knew you couldn't handle your booze, but you can't send a text right either?"

[LovelyComplex]

^{Collab with @spooner as Julie Macmillan}

Morning after the party...

As splendid and eventful her night was, all good things do come to an end. Eventually. Her’s ended after a nicely cooked breakfast. Pancakes with a plentiful amount of fruit and a side of bacon. How thoughtful. Junie couldn’t help but think she was dreaming, but that would be silly since neither of them got a wink of sleep. While yes, she wanted to spend more time with Ty, and even join him in the shower, she also needed him to keep wanting more.

After kissing him goodbye, letting it linger to the point where it seemed they may go for another round, she pushed away and playfully waved farewell. Leaving Ty’s dorm, purposely having left her shoes behind, yes she was barefoot, Juniper Macmillan pranced off to her sorority. A walk of pride.

Yes!

They finally did it. There was so much she needed to tell her dear twin. As she walked, her phone buzzed. Digging it out of her bag, she opened the notification to see a video from the party. When she saw who was involved, she shrugged, completely uninterested. Yes, her baby Cass was part of the trouble, but he was a big boy and needed to learn from his mistakes. He should’ve known better.

As long as Mona was safe from the nosy bitches of Meadow, she could care less what went down. At least she hoped Mona wasn’t involved in anything too bad that it would go viral like this fight. Junie was sure it was only a matter of time this would come bite them in the ass, like Ty did last night. To her. But that's neither here nor there! She was on cloud nine and that's all that mattered.

When she entered her house, her sisterhood, ALL of them, minus Lola, which was to be expected, were waiting for her, with the expression: well?!?!?!!?

Pretending to be forlorn and sad, she pouted and forced herself to tear up, “He, um, rejected me.” The girls gasped at the same time and then came rushing to her to cheer her up and offering whatever they could. Do you want a mani-pedi? Hey I’ll make us mimosas! Let's watch chick flicks all day and eat ice cream! Here do you need some lush balls? I’ll go buy the chocolate and ice cream!

Letting this go for far too long, Junie laughed out loud, “I’m kidding, bitches. Let’s just say, we were each other’s company. All night long.” And that was immediately rewarded with screaming, jumping, squealing, and dancing.

“WE NEED TO DRINK TO THIS!”

---

Monday at the assembly…

Was this really happening right now? She wasn’t even at the party during that stupid fight! Would her mother kill her, or let this pass? Honestly, part of her believed that her mother would be on her side because this was complete bullshit. Academic probation, really? All for what? A stupid fight? If Meadow was as prestigious as they claim to be, they would’ve had it off the internet by now! This was an act of malice and a declaration of war. She would not allow being made a fool by two idiots and an old lady that had a stick up her ass. They would pay.

Hmpf.

With a death glare, the fiery redhead watched Emilia leave the podium. What a fucking coward. Couldn't even consult the kids and get the full story. There was absolutely no justice at this school. Maybe Junie should’ve traveled abroad just like her sister! To be blamed for others' stupidity was infuriating and revealed more about the school than the students themselves.

Storming out, leaving her friends behind, she muttered, “Yeah, I’ll show you an appeal.” Making her way to the courtyard, Junie speed dialed her mother and impatiently waited. Listening to the ring back tone, she noticed an unread message… from Nate.

What?

Opening it, she read what he said, which made her scoff in revolusion. Of course Jasper would go after someone so easy. She couldn’t handle a little competition. That was glaringly obvious. How did Nate get her number anyways? Ah, that’s right. They were paired two years ago in a fundamentals of visual design class. Quickly, she replied ‘congrats’, and then perked up when her mom answered:

“Juniper! My sweet little flower. You’re finally calling me back” Julie Macmillan’s chirpy voice rang from the phone’s receiver. “How are you darling?”

Sighing heavily before responding to her mother, Junie fretted with concern, dropping the anger, and letting all the dramatic sadness fill her up from head to toe, “I could be better, mommy. It’s just, ugh, this school is punishing me for someone else’s mistake!” There was no point in dragging out the conversation when she knew her mother would be absolutely furious when she found out the big news.

In addition, Junie was not ready to tell her parents about Ty yet. So, knowing her mom would get inevitably impatient as well, Junie went straight to the heart of the matter, “There was a fight at a party and I wasn’t even there for it. I left because it was so boring and now we’re all on academic probation because of it.”

There was a moment of silence when the only sound coming from the other end was the bustle of Julie’s office. “Okay… so let me get this straight.” She started calmly. “They are jeopardizing your education because they can’t be bothered to do their job?” Julie queried. “Or did something else happen at this party that would make them do this?” She asked before letting her daughter answer her first question.

“Someone recorded it. It wasn’t only the fight. It was a combination of students being immodest, feral, and without morals. Good students too, like Mackie. To them, this jeopardizes everything Meadow stands for. We have to prove to the school that we meet the criteria. If we fall below what they consider a ‘good academic standing’ they could expel us. And that’s just not fair, mommy. I had ONE drink and then went back to my sorority!”

The last part was a lie.

While she feigned complete innocence to her mother, glad her moment with Ty in the lake, where her nipples were showing through her dress and her legs were wrapped around him… indecently, did not get recorded, Junie’s eyes found two familiar faces arguing, with little to no regard to their surroundings. Casually, she trailed close behind them to eavesdrop.

“Mhmm...” her mother said knowing details were being kept from her. “If you really have nothing more to tell me baby. Let me do what I do best okay? Just keep a low profile as of now.” Julie’s voice was laced with annoyance and determination.

“Yes, mommy. Of course! Thank you so much. With all my heart, I love you.” Once Julie returned the love, bidding her blossom farewell to show the wrath of the Macmillan name, and evidently hanging up, Junie was able to focus more clearly on the two fighting.

“It’s not that you didn’t sleep with me, Cassian Lee-”

Oh snap!

Pretending to still be on her phone, she stood in place, listening to all the tea. Lola Russo was her housemate, but they never had opportunities to get to know one another. It didn’t help that the beautiful woman challenging her friend preferred the company of Blake over anyone else. Who could blame her? He was hot. When Cassian tried to defend his case of not leading Lola on, a chortle escaped her thin, pink lips. She didn't let it go on for too long, and as a reaction for her own abrupt and obnoxious laugh, Junie looked away. Uh-huh. Okay, Cassie.

When she did so, she saw a bunch of students wide eyed and staring at the not-so-happy-not-couple. Rolling her eyes, Junie approached the group and hissed, “Mind your business, and go study.” After pretending to hang up the phone officially, she crossed her arms and gave a ‘try me’ look to the nobodies. When they walked away, she noticed Ty, Jasper, and... Nate. Eek. Instead of dumbly gawking at her almost boyfriend, she turned to look back at Cassian and Lola, only to see her foolish friend storm away and her fellow sorority girl sorta, maybe, win the battle?

Curiosity getting the best of her, Junie scurried her way to Miss Russo. Dropping her phone in her bag, she softly and politely asked, “Is everything okay? I’m sorry if Cassie hurt your feelings, he can be, to bluntly put it, a dumbass.”

[Venus]

_{A @metanoia & @Rosalia Collaboration
Featuring Joey Hart & Charlotte Diedrikson}
▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃

“What!?” Joey exclaimed. Sitting near the back and as close to the exit of the auditorium as she could manage, Joey sat in her seat, bearing witness to such a travesty that it made her physically ill on top of actually being physically ill.

It’s true, Joey wasn’t feeling like her best self. She barely talked to anyone for most of the day yesterday but that was mostly due to how weak she felt after getting back to the sorority house. She didn’t know if it was the mild heartbreak of seeing Lottie and Kieran, the indigestion from a 3AM snack that didn’t agree with her or the remnants of the effect of the E that she stupidly took, thinking it was a good idea and that it would make her feel better. In the moment it did, but the moment passed and for over 24 hours, Joey immediately regretted it.

Sitting there, yeah she was trying to stomach the news of academic probation. She shared the sentiments of those who thought it was unfair, an abuse of power, and just flat out rude. But then you had some who, similarly to Joey, were too hungover from the Bash to register exactly what happened. And the truth was, as much as she was feeling all types of nauseous, Joey had bigger things to worry about. Of course she had seen the video and of course she knew that Cass and Theo probably were most to blame, but she didn’t want to cast the blame solely on them, not when she was at the party too and especially not when she indulged in some of the illegal activity the Headmistress explained. Besides…

buzzbuzzbuzz

Inside her striped shirt front pocket, over the left side of her chest, Joey felt a strong vibration from her phone. She ignored it for the time-being but then she felt another and then another. It was at the point she checked it just so she could shut it off. Before that could happen, however, she read the message quickly. It mentioned Jasper and it seemed to come from that cutie Nathan Blake. Joey also realized one, little discrepancy. “Nate, he didn’t…” She giggled, though part of her did feel bad. He was probably in for a world of hurt, especially if a certain twin brother found out.

Joey wasn’t sure if she should feel terrible for not caring enough about Nate’s ordeal or not, but she thought about it more and pocketed her phone, moving her legs along to the courtyard, taking a seat on the cool, refreshing grass under a pine tree. Her legs were brought halfway to her chest and Joey fooled around on her phone, face-timing with her twin brother. “Brad, hey! What time is it for you?”

“A little after five,” Brad said, smiling at Joey’s weary face. “You look like hell.”

Joey laughed. “Gee thanks,” she said, shaking her head with a smile. “You don’t look so hot yourself,” she teased, partially sticking her tongue out of her twin.

It had been nearly nearly two years since Brad had enlisted in the Navy. Joey hadn’t graduated from the English boarding school she was shipped off to after their sweet sixteen and he was already off to their form of basic training. So, really, the only chances she had to talk, let alone see Brad, was on the off chance his shore leave was near wherever she was staying at, or their bi-weekly facetime chats. She treasured these moments and anything else was non-essential.

“So, what’s going on?” Joey asked. Before she got an answer, she happened to look up and there was Lottie, walking over. Rolling her eyes, she sighed and glanced down at her screen. “Sorry, I’ll have to call you later.”

“Oh,” Brad said, disappointed, “Well I’ll be free for the next five hours. Nothing to do here. Talk later then!” Brad waved and kissed before the call ended.

Joey stayed seated but brought her legs closer to her and balanced her phone in her lap and looked up. “Hey,” Joey said, half-smiling up at the petite blonde that towered over her.

“What the fuck is up with that?!” Lottie cried out as soon as she’d reached her girl, jerking her head in the direction of the auditorium they’d just left and plopping herself next to Joey. “They can’t just put everyone in probation! Do they even realize what that means for the athletes and the artists?! And, like: how do they even know if I was at that party or not?! For all they know, I was watching Netflix in bed with you the whole weekend! Or at least that’s what I told Dad, anyway. He wasn’t happy when we talked, but after I swore up and down I hadn’t been near that party he told me he was looking into it. And you know when DA Diedrikson says he’s gonna look into it, whoever’s in his way better be in for a war.”

Her smile lessened, though it still held its u-shape. She had spent most of the time Lottie did complaining glancing at her phone, checking for messages, so a lot of what the blonde girl had said went in one ear and out the other. She caught the last of it, though and found herself nodding, if not slowly. “Yeah, I’m sure,” Joey said, her head lifting itself up and resting against the cool bark, its rough surface providing a weird, relaxing calm for Joey’s rising annoyance. “So what’s up?” She asked.

When you knew someone as well as Lottie did Joey, it didn’t take long to notice the signs when something was bothering her. The body language, the lack of enthusiasm and intentional disinterest in what was being said… It was textbook ‘Joey is annoyed’ behavior. The question was what, out of all the million reasons she could have, was the main reason for her annoyance.

“I guess I should be asking you that,” the blonde said curtly, her cheerful manner giving way to a cautious curiosity. “What’s up with you, J? Everything okay?”

“Oh, I’m fine. Couldn’t be better! Absolutely peachy!” She wasn’t able to pull off sarcasm like most would. When she attempted it, it sounded more like someone putting on their best, fake impersonation of a person successfully using sarcasm. When she did it, the blanket that she typically put over herself to hide her true feelings was nonexistent. She looked at Lottie and asked, “Why do you ask?”

Uh oh. This wasn’t good. “Oh, I don’t know, maybe because of how you’re acting right now?” Lottie quickly shot back, her eyebrows knitted together in a frown now. She didn’t appreciate the tone Joey was taking with her. She was her girlfriend, and they were supposed to be open and honest with each other.

Joey rolled her eyes, not bothering to turn her head around to hide it from Lottie. And since she wasn’t doing anything to hide how she really felt (aside from outright admitting it), she put her phone in her pocket and stood up. “Sorry but I have to pee,” she said, abruptly walking away and to the nearest women’s bathroom she could find, which happened to be a lot closer to the auditorium than she thought and she went inside.

“Don’t apologize, because I’m not leaving you alone until you tell me what’s up,” Lottie called out after her, hurrying away after Joey and taking guard outside the door of the bathroom stall she had occupied. “I’m still here, Jo. I’m not going anywhere, so you might as well just tell me what’s going on or we’ll be here all day.”

Her ruse didn’t work. She didn’t have to pee, but she knew Lottie knew that she had a weak bladder, so that excuse was an easy one to rely on. She was just going to head in the direction of the bathroom and go somewhere else, but when she saw Lottie had started to follow her and was hot on her trail, she had no choice but to actually go inside. “You’re going to be waiting a while!” Joey shouted from inside the stall. “I drank a lot of water this morning.” Another lie. She didn’t feel like talking and just wanted to be left alone but Lottie, the Persister, didn’t get the memo.

“I’ve got all the time in the world, pumpkin!” the short girl insisted, crossing her arms in front of her chest and making no motion to leave the bathroom. There was no way she would be letting this go anytime soon. Charlotte knew that the longer whatever was happening festered inside of Joey, the worse it would be when things finally exploded. “You can talk and pee at the same time, you know. Your mouth doesn’t stop working when your bladder does.”

She sat on the shockingly clean toilet seat, repeatedly tapping her left foot while she considered all of her options. Lottie not leaving made her anxious and knowing she wasn’t going to leave wasn’t doing much for the bottomless pit-like feeling she felt in her gut. The longer she sat there, the more she remained fixated on a singular image: the sight of Lottie with Kieran. It played back like it was the only thing she could see. The result of that was her current mood. And it festered. She didn’t want to feel like this nor could she explain why.

But in a moment that flew by her, so did the stall door and Joey rushed out, passing Lottie by and stopping in front of the sink. She glanced up at the mirror, turning her head slightly to the right and gave the blonde as much attention as she could muster. “Why are you even here, Lo?” Joey asked. “I thought for sure you would have been clinging to Kiki any moment you got the chance to.” She remembered exactly how desperate Lo was to see Kiki, so her being here now, even after Joey had excused herself, didn’t make a lot of sense to her. “Or did you guys get enough time together in the cabin and now you want to be with me?” She asked bitterly.

“You can’t be serious…” Lottie muttered in disbelief, slowly shaking her head before turning to stare at Joey. Out of all the possible things that could be bothering her girlfriend, this was possibly the last one Charlotte was expecting. And the more she thought about it, the dumber it sounded. “That’s why you’re mad? Because I wanted to spend time with Kiki after months of not seeing him, and even after the however many times we hung out during the summer?”

“It’s not because you wanted to spend time with him or even that you spent the summer with me,” Joey said, facing Lottie, hand positioned on the edge of the sink. “It’s that you didn’t even bother asking if I wanted to spend time with him as well!” Joey shouted, her voice cracking. Echoing. “Instead, you just went up and left me without so much of a goodbye.” Her hand gripped tightly on the edge of the white sink.

“Are you listening to yourself right now?!” Charlotte yelled back, the absurdity of this whole argument making her scoff. What in the actual fuck was happening right now? “You’re pissed at me because I didn’t say bye to you, Joanna?! Seriously?! Are you jealous of Kiki or something? Because I’ve been hooking up with him for three years now without it being a problem! Why is this suddenly all a big fucking deal?” She had no idea what had gotten into Joey, but whatever it was needed to go now.

Joey wished she could tell Lottie the reason why. She wished that she had an answer that made sense, but the soul-crushing truth was she didn’t because even Joey didn’t know why. Yes, it was true that she had literally no problems with her and Kieran, well until a couple of days ago. Even them talking about him didn’t strike a chord, but something changed the moment she ran into Kieran’s arms. For nearly two days (when she was thinking about it), she tried to come up with a reason as to why she was so angry, why she felt so betrayed, and why she had kissed Jade for (mostly) all the wrong reasons.

At the end of it all, she couldn’t and that’s what frustrated her the most. That’s why she’s been moody and it’s why she couldn’t bring herself to look Lottie in the eyes. She knew her girlfriend was right. She knew it and it irritated her even more. Moments before speaking, she let out a defeated sigh. “What’s the point in telling you? It won’t change anything,” Joey said quietly, though still loud enough for Lottie to hear her.

As much as Charlotte wanted to stay angry at Joey, there was no way her girlfriend’s crestfallen expression and defeated tone didn’t tug at her heartstrings. She hated seeing her hurting, hated making her sad, and hated knowing she was the reason behind it all. “Baby, what’s going on?” Lottie asked the platinum-haired girl in a kinder voice, reaching out to cup Joey’s face in her hands and basically pleading with her eyes for an answer. “Tell me what I’m doing wrong so I can fix it. I love you, okay? You know I don’t want to see you like this.”

When Lottie’s hand came to caress Joey’s cheek, she immediately slapped it away and stepped back about a foot and a half. “Then don’t! Go see your precious Kiki instead!” Joey’s venomous words came out and she knew they stung harder than anything Joey had said in a long time.

The spite in Joanna’s words hurt Charlotte harder than any injury she had ever suffered in her life, even as an athlete. The blonde could almost hear her heart shattering in her chest, filling her with a pain she’d never thought possible. For the last three years, Lottie had devoted her time to making her girlfriend the happiest, most spoiled girl she could be. Here she had been: making sure her JoJo was loved and cared for in her highs and lows, in all circumstances, unconditionally. And this is how she was paying her back? By pushing her away and hurting her with harsh words-- all over an unsaid goodbye?

Nope, not happening. Not on her watch.

Although her eyes were full of tears that were quickly streaming down her cheeks, Charlotte icy resolve was definite. “You know what? I’m going to do just that,” she said coldly, walking past Joey with squared shoulders. She was about to reach the exit when she turned to face the girl one last time. And even when she knew what she would say next was probably the last nail in the coffin, Lottie knew it needed to be done for her own peace of mind. “I’m done with you, Joanna. I’m done with all of this nonsense. After all that we’ve been through, I don’t deserve to be treated this way, and I’m not going to put up with it. I’m going to crash at Mac’s for a few weeks, or at least until I get the living part figured out for the rest of the semester. I’ll get my stuff from your room after practice and be gone before you’re back.” And with one last sigh, Charlotte turned on her heel and walked away.

Wait. Don’t go. I’m sorry.

Joey’s voice betrayed her. Her timing was too little and way too late for it to matter; and when it set in, so did she onto the ground. She gripped the sink until the shortness of her arm fell down, smacking on the tiled floor. There she sat, cold and alone. She craved comfort but in solitude, the only one to comfort her were fractured memories and a broken heart barely holding itself together.

[spooner]

Bastíen Bonfamille sat in the front row with his legs crossed pretending to listen to what his headmistress was saying. Of course, he already knew about the plan for his whole year being put on probation. Seeing as his family has a lot of people on the inside of management of MU his parents got the play by play of what was going to happen almost as soon as the video had been sent to the officials. The tall boy was not worried about his future at the school, what were they going to do? Kick one of the most lucrative walking advertisements for Meadow University? Not really.

As soon as they were excused Bas stood up stretching his long legs and yawning. He had spent most part of his weekend doing damage control with his parents. His brother being the focal point of the video that started all of this had Adelaide and Thomas in full out panic mode. But after a couple of calls and a lot of strings being pulled the Bonfamille triplets were promised that they were safe. Of course they were… they always were.

Smirking amongst his panicking peers Bas just calmly snaked his way through the crowd in the courtyard. He had his sight set on going to the music building to just spend the rest of the day working on one of his newer pieces. But before he had the chance to make the right turn he heard the final hiss of a heated conversation. Flicking his eyes to where the argument was held he witnessed his good friend Cassian stomping towards him, away from the girl Blake had been simping around for the last few years looking almost too pleased with herself.

“Getting into trouble again Cassian?” Bastían asked his smirk widening into a grin. He put an arm around him as they walked together. “Well more trouble than what you already put the whole junior year in” he continued letting out a soft laugh. “You and Blake gunning for the same girl again?” Bas continued to pry.

“By the way… let me take this moment to apologize for my brother’s brutish actions. Rest assured our mother has been giving him hell all weekend long” he said patting Cassian’s shoulder.

[Sugar and Spite]

This was beyond bullshit. Who did this fucking school think they were? Fiona didn't even attend the party, yet she was still on probation. What kind of bullshittery ----

Lost for words, the dark haired girl exited the auditorium, her resting birch face becoming more and more noticable as she went. Cassian and that other dude could both suck her dick. She wasn't going to have two years of her degree thrown away because two stupid boys - boys, not men - decided to get into a fight over who knows what. If Fiona had it her way, she'd be raging at Cass right now. In the meantime, she should probably get to know the other guy in the videos name.

Instead of drawing any more attention to herself, Fiona sat down at one of the tables in the courtyard. Digging around in her bag for her notebook, the young woman began to study. On the off chance she would get to stay at Meadow, she should wouldnt want to fall behind on her classes.

[AlteredTundra]

When Theodore had gotten to the Bonfamille Manor in town, it wasn’t quite yet sunrise but it was late. He didn’t know if Bas or if Mads had gotten home okay but he had all the confidence in the world the two could take care of themselves. Lord knows when he sat down on the couch and laid on his side, he wasn’t in any position to double-check.

He woke up close to dinner time the next day and still felt like shit. His head pounded like someone took a hammer to it, or a hammer-like fist and it physically hurt him when he brought his left hand to touch one of his cuts.

Thinking it couldn’t get any worse than it was right now, Theo immediately was proven wrong as he reached for his phone on his nightstand and checked for any messages. There were a few but none appealed to him enough and made him open his eyes faster than he ever had done than when he saw a text message with an Instagram link. He tapped the link and it brought him to a video.

“Please don’t tell me..” Theo’s voice trailed off into silence, hating himself immediately. “They caught the entire thing,” he mused, seeing just how...aggressive he was. In the deepest part of his gut, he felt something twist as though he was disgusted with the red-haired boy he saw because that wasn’t a man he saw tackling Cass. That was someone less than.

Halfway through the video, which wasn’t at the part where Theo got kicked in the chest, a pain that was still fresh, his phone went off. He scowled when he saw who it was.

Begrudgingly, he answered. “Can you save the lecture?” Theo said, eyes closed as he laid back on his bed. “I already know why you’re calling, mother. And I know why you’re about to give me the third degree. Just save it.”

Adelaide Bonfamille didn’t speak for nearly a minute. Theo knew she was considering her words. He knew her to be precise and not one to beat around the bush, not when it came to him, at least. Always the direct one. Even as much as he hates to admit it, that’s one of the few things they have in common. They are often direct in how they act. For better or worse, Theodore and Adelaide possess that same fire in their souls.

Finally, as he heard her cough, she said, “I hope you’re proud of yourself, Theodore.”

“Oh, I’m just beaming with pride, mother! I sure love getting recorded and everyone seeing me lose a fight. Yeah, I couldn’t be happier!” He spoke with such sarcasm that how his mother sounded, the way she breathed, he knew she rolled her eyes.

“Are you done?” She asked with restraint but clearly not in the mood for his sarcasm.

“Yeah, I suppose so.”

“Good.” Adelaide cleared her throat. “This is an absolute travesty, Theodore. What on Earth possessed you to think this was a good idea?”

“Honestly?” His rhetorical tone was met with silence, so he continued. “I don’t know what you want me to say. Do I regret it? Well duh! This entire ordeal was recorded and I know everyone knows it was me. Hell, you even recognized me and you’re hardly around to know if I still have my red hair anymore.”And there it was. Direct and finally getting to his point.

“What do you mean ‘I’m hardly around’?”

Theo went to open his mouth, thinking he was going to say it. And his voice half-cracked itself, but in the end, he betrayed himself by opting for silence instead of the truth. “Forget it. I’m tired, my head hurts, and I don’t have time for this right now. Besides,” Theo said, sighing, turning on his left side, settling into a comfortable position. As he yawned, he said, “I know you have that big concert in an hour. I wouldn’t want to make you late for it.”

“Theodore, wait--”

He cut her off as he hung up with her and shut off his phone. He knew she wasn’t going to be particularly happy with him and he knew it would reach him eventually, but Theo didn’t care. He didn’t have the mental energy to spare for the likes of Madame Adelaide Bonfamille. He didn’t even have it to spare for his siblings. He only wanted to sleep and sleep he did.

It had been five minutes since Theo left the assembly. He didn’t stick around for the aftershow. As soon as the showstopping bomb was dropped, though he wasn’t exactly thrilled, the young man shrugged, caring not to focus on it right now.

There was a lot on the oldest Bonfamille’s mind. A lot of bad (for the most part). His part in that video that went around, how he acted against Cassian, and how ugly he might’ve appeared to a lot. By now, he was certain everyone knew who was in that video. Even if the Headmistress and all of those who worked for her didn’t know, everyone else had to know — or maybe it was his own worst thoughts that wanted to think that.

As he walked through the courtyard, deep in his thoughts, Theo was late to the party when he came to a stop at one of the many tables spread throughout the spacious courtyard. As he sat and checked his phone, he saw a group text that was still getting replies. His initial reaction was curiosity. Once he figured out the original sender was, he laughed.

Theo and Nate weren’t exactly close and given that some of the replies ranged from downright cruel to supportive, he couldn’t imagine he was having any fun. Even still, Theodore wasn’t close enough to really care about what Nate was going through, well, not enough to help the guy out.

As he shifted his body halfway out, the right leg on the outside of the table and his left still in, this gave Theo a better view of who was around. He saw some familiar faces. He caught Joanna Hart and that Charlotte girl walk off west and he saw Jasper Delamar storm off somewhere as though she was ready to beat someone up. Everyone was going somewhere and then came someone Theodore knew but not really.

Dark hair swayed in front of him and she probably didn’t realize it, but she absent-mindedly took a seat opposite of him. If he recalled, her name started with an F or something like that. The fact she didn’t acknowledge him prompted Theo to speak first. “Hey, you’re Fi--” He tried to remember her name, “--Finna?” No, that didn’t sound right. “Salvador, right?” At least he remembered her surname.