[IC] Rosefell High.

[BrutalBx]

---

It had happened in some form of slow motion or bullet time or whatever you wanted to call it. Enrique in his usual blissful ignorance had rolled in front of some fancy car but luckily for him, he had snapped free from his daze with enough wearwithal to jump up off of his skateboard, allowing it to roll underneath the approaching vehicle. The lothario lost his footing and stumbled knee first onto some nearby grass but quickly popped back up to his feet, he had an image to protect after all.

This sense of self awareness lasted all but three seconds as Rico quickly pulled his guitar case from his back and laid it gently on the ground as if it were a newborn babe. He popped open the lid to check on his beloved six string; he caressed its sides searching for scratches, he tuned it thrice to make sure it was as it should be and he plucked a few strings in hopes none had snapped. Thank God everything seemed to be fine, he kissed it lightly ”Gracias a Dios, estás bien, querida” Exhaling his anxieties of a damaged guitar, his lifeblood, from his body, the romanced closed up the lid again and turned his attention to the SUV that nearly wiped him out. He didn’t recognise it and despite the amount of reality altering chemicals he normally pumped into his body after sunset, he still retained a solid memory and he definitely didn’t remember this SUV; must be a Liberty kid.

Within seconds, a young woman jumped out of the vehicle and was at his side. “Oh my God! I am so sorry! My aunt is a terrible driver-- _{but you already know that, clearly…} Are you okay?! Did she actually hit you anywhere?! God, Uncle Warren’s gonna have a field day if he finds out...”

Enriqure looked up from his blessed guitar and caught sight of his would be assassin. Had he actually died? Was this the big show in the sky? Cos this girl looked like she just stepped off of a cloud made of miracles. Soft tanned skin, a body that was in point and that hair, like a beautiful flower lost on a snowstorm. And the dress, Lord have mercy she nearly killed him twice in sixty seconds. Here was yet another angel amongst the many of Rosefell for Rico Suave to love unconditionally. Yet there was something familiar about this girl, something he couldn’t quite put his finger on. Had they met before? Surely he would recognise such a creature? Maybe she was simply a witch that had entered his dreams?

Before he could speak and question La Bruja about her hotter version of Freddie Krueger type magical abilities, the pair were soon joined by dude bro Hunter Quinn; a constant joy in the mariachi’s world. “Jesus, Rico. You okay, bro? Looks like you let your guard down. Almost met your maker there.”

The relationship that Hunter and Rico shared began as ten years olds when Enrique first arrived in Columbus from Mexico. As part of a buddy system, he wound up with the baby Quinn as his partner. It was Hunter that gave Rico the lay of the land and helped him get settled into this new world. After a while as all friendships do, it fizzled amicably and their worlds diverged as their lives drifted onto different waves. Fast forward to Rosefell High, sophomore year and a homecoming party of legendary proportions. There was a dancer, some weed and Hunter wanting to get his dick wet. Insert Rico, his guitar and the art of seduction and an hour later Hunter was in the back of the car with a naked dancer and his friendship with the Mexican loverboy had been rekindled and a bromance was born.

Enrique put his hand on his friend's shoulder as a sign of solidarity but also just steady himself somewhat. ”It’s all good, brother man. Cero miedo. I didn’t meet my maker but I did meet this vision in lavender” The smooth operator turned to face the young woman. ”Please, mi amor; don’t apologise. I was the one in the way. Though now having met you, I’m kind of glad I was. I’m Enrique; this is Hunter. You must be new here, sorry to welcome you in such an uncivilised fashion, let me fix that” With a smile bright enough to melt the polar ice caps; Rico took the strangers hand and pressed a soft kiss to the top of the dreamweavers ring finger.

”No me quitaste la vida pero ciertamente me dejaste sin aliento”

[Grimoire Gaming]

_{Feat. dialogue from Spike, Caspian, and Sean}

Rosefell High had blossomed with life in the time that Cael had spent washing up in the bathroom. The halls were filling up with faces new and old, and Cael was particularly enjoying the two in front of him. Just after he had gotten done introducing himself to one of them — his tourist for the day, Christian — he was approached (and interrupted) by Spike. As Spike often does.

“Cael, my man! It’s good to see you, sorry to interrupt. But, where’s the gremlin? This lovely girl here has her as a tour guide.” Spike asked, and at least he acknowledged the interruption.

“Oh, hey, Spike.” Cael responded, breaking his gaze from the two handsome Liberty newcomers just long enough to glance at Spike. “Rae? I last saw her around the corner, she was actually going to find you. Olivia, right?” He confirmed, looking to Liv now and waving politely. “Sorry I can't be much help, your guess is as good as mine as to where she ended up. Can I still have a lollipop, though?”

“Damn, okay. Thanks, and duh you can. Here.” He placed way more lollipops than necessary in Cael’s hands, “I’m sure these boys over here would love something to suck too.” Spike said nonchalantly and left Cael standing, wide-eyed and blushing in front of Caspian and Christian from that remark.

Caspian kept silent, from when Cael came in, beaming with extra elation, more so than at the cafe, to when this newcomer slid in on his skates. Rosefell was filled with such eager personalities. Raising an eyebrow to Spike’s comment, Cas couldn’t help but feel amused at seeing Cael’s reaction, how his cheeks reminded him of a delicate champagne pink. It was cute, really. Personally, he didn’t know how to feel about the sexual innuendo, but he did feel rewarded and it was all because of this boy he didn’t know. He was nice to look at.

“Uh... ha ha…” Cael ran his non-lollipopped hand through his hair awkwardly, causing some remaining glitter to flutter around. “That would be Spike, our mascot. Yes, that’s his real name and, yes, he is kind of always like that. Sorry… about him.” He gestured to the pair with the spare heart-shaped lollipops for each of them to take. “He means well, I think.”

Having perused the different colored lollipops in Cael’s hands only for a second or so, Caspian intently reached for a red one. His cold fingertips inadvertently skimmed Cael’s skin. Momentarily and while the boy in the glasses grabbed his chosen heart-shaped candy, there was a fleeting glance, where they locked their eyes with one another. Cas’ dark gaze was deep and strangely intense. He, who had such a calm expression on, displayed the eyes of someone who sought connection and whose stare drew you in closer, without him needing to say a single word. After gradually retracting his hand and bringing his attention to the lollipop, Caspian unwrapped it, placed the wrapper in his pants’ pocket, and right before he put it in his mouth, the heart inches away from his lips, he gave a quiet “Thanks,” in response.

As if on cue, Sean showed up to break the air of awkwardness. He was dressed in cosplay which wasn’t unusual for Sean, but was garnering quite a few sideways glances from the new Liberty students. “You and Rae were the ones who set up the decorations right? They look great!” Sean said jovially as he walked over to where Cael stood and gently patted his friend on the back for his work before beaming at both Caspian and Christian. “I’m not your tour guide, but it’s still nice to meet you both. The name’s Sean, and I got a rose for you if you’d like to have one.”

“Awe, what gave me away?” Cael asked, wiggling his now once-again glitter coated fingers and shaking his head, causing a fresh sprinkling of blue sparkles. “Hah! You should see Rae though, she’s definitely got it worse. But thanks!” Cael smiled as Sean offered Christian and Caspian faux roses with a flourish. “No rose for me, Boogie?” Cael asked Sean with a signature pout.

“Not today, but maybe tomorrow there might be something for you and Rae to thank you for all the work you both did to help out.” Sean answered with a wink, though he was definitely hinting at bringing in some of their favorite foods tomorrow for lunch. “It might not be a Boogie's feast, but I can make a good picnic lunch so we don't need to be in the cafeteria tomorrow.”

“I guess that is… acceptable.” Cael replied with a smirk. He then looked to his Liberty tourist now, “Now then, before any more of my friends have the chance to either insult or woo you, do you want to start the tour?”

Unfortunately for Sean, Caspian was distracted and didn’t grab a rose or introduce himself. Cas wasn’t one to be rude, but he also didn’t expect Alina to come in this very moment. He couldn’t ignore his best friend, who sounded tired and disheartened. Seeing her brought back the memories of when he got out of his first therapy session, not too long ago, and she somehow knew he would be there. He recalled the rush of emotion that washed over him and how his tears just streamed out of his eyes. Aside from Calypso, she was the first person to see him cry. “Just one moment, Alina.” Before dismissing himself from glitter central, he decided to clear his throat and leave a compliment for the barista boy, “I… like the banner. It’s… nice to look at.” Gazing from Cael to Christian, Caspian waved goodbye and gestured for Alina to follow him somewhere away from the crowd.

The compliment struck Cael more than it ought to. He hadn’t heard Black Eye Coffee — err, Caspian — say that many words at once before. Let alone for something so… nice. “Thanks,” He muttered stupidly, feeling his cheeks grow even warmer. Doing his best attempt to shake away the butterflies, Cael turned his sights back to the other hottie, Christian. “Right, well then, shall we?”

[AlteredTundra]

---

After he made certain that Rico hadn’t lost his mind, Hunter shook his head at how quickly Rico was acting like himself. From the outside, it might seem like he hit his head at some point in his life, but this was just how Enrique Nunez operated. Whether it was a fight, his guitar breaking, or nearly getting ran over, for as long as Hunter knew Rico -- which was a long time compared to how long he’s known his other best bros at Rosefell -- he knew his friend was fine when he started putting on that frequently annoying charm of his.

And as he watched Suave Rico take control of Enrique, he not only saw the way he took the girl’s hand and kissed it, but spouting a smooth as fuck line in Spanish. If it weren’t for Rico teaching him some Spanish, Hunter would emulate visible confusion in any Spanish-speaking conversation. And at times like these, he wished he didn’t understand any words or phrases from that language.

With a heavy sigh, he approached Rico from behind, patting his friend firmly on the shoulders, and smiled at the girl with the colorful hair and awfully short dress. Even he couldn’t help but allow himself the benefit of a prolonged look. Remember Niki, Hunter! He had to firmly remind himself.

“Right,” he made a mental note and backed off, walking a few feet away. “I’ll leave you to it, then, Rico,” he said, turning around. He gave the colorful girl one more look, giving her a light wink. “Adios amigo~”

Hunter stood at the entrance for a few moments, seeing the colors of the banner. He muttered something under a breath, which was directed at the Liberty High colors. He didn’t care to linger about and stepped inside the familiar halls. No amount of the cheap Febreze knockoff that the janitor used could cover up the scent of aged gum and dried up shit. In a bizarre way, that smell brought a small smile to the boy’s face.

He kept walking until he saw a crowd gathered around where he assumed the nametags were gonna be. A few feet away from it on his left, he saw another one of his friends and he immediately laughed at the name tag. “Why hello, Colin! It really is a pleasure to meet you,” he said with a gutty laugh and Colin Gallagher just flipped him off.

“Fuck you, Quinn!” He nastily replied.

The two boys, who stood at equal height, laughed and smiled. They greeted each other with a clapping handshake, and a pound hug, shoulder pumping and each patting the other’s back.

“So what’s up, bro?” Colin asked, returning to his slouching posture against the lockers behind him.

“Just got to school. Ran into Rico moments after he almost ran over.”

Colin had about ten seconds of hard laughter that forced him to cough a few times. “Shit, poor Freako!” His laughter continued but, as he stopped, Colin blink-stared at Hunter. “Wait, you said almost?”

Hunter nodded. “He’s a lucky guy. The chick behind the wheel stopped before he met his maker.” Hunter began thinking about Rico’s comments after. “But you know Rico. When he saw a pretty girl, he was more focused on that than he was about how close he came to death.”

Colin snickered. “Well was she?”

“Was she what?”

“Hot! Surely you looked, too.” Hunter shrugged and Colin hit his shoulder jokingly. “Yeah, you did. Describe her man! I need the visuals.”

After a few seconds of uncertain hesitation, Hunter caved. “Pink hair, pale face, a dress that would probably get her suspended if this school cared about decency. And her hips man -- she’s got them Kylie Jenner hips.”

Yeah okay, Hunter might’ve taken in more than he should’ve. He honestly felt guilty about how much of that pink-haired pixie’s body he took in, especially with Niki in his mind. His stomach tightened up as if to physically remind him that what he did was a bad thing.

He heard Colin let out a whistle and stroke his chin with a smirk. “I’ll have to be on the lookout for this chick. Might have to introduce myself.”

“Bro, aren’t you with Spice?”

Hunter’s question didn’t seem to matter to Colin as he gave his friend a shrug. “Hey, what Steph doesn’t know won’t hurt her. Besides, not like she’s innocent of fooling around with people too, ain’t that right?” From the way Hunter glared at him gave Colin enough reason to cool it.

“Yeah, whatever man. Anyway, I gotta find my name tag. I’ll hit you up later.”

“Lit!” They bumped fists and gave each other a quick pound hug. “Be sure to bring me some of your dad’s powder. I’m almost out!” Colin called out as Hunter gave him a thumbs up.

[The Man Emperor]

Eleazar Nikolavich Diaz-Sapohznik

"Where's your sister?"

Eleazar stood in front of his mom, a little unsure about the answer that he had mustered for her question. He was tasked with accompanying his younger sister Alessia to school everyday, as it was, as his mother put it, 'his prime directive'. The pendulum swung thrice before Eleazar broke the rather awkward silence that he and his mother shared in the dining room.

"She…" Eleazar stammered, scratching the back of his head. "Uh… left before I finished preparing my stuff…"

"Oh, that girl…" Felicita shook her head in annoyance. "She's as impatient as ever, no? She wouldn't even wait for you to come along with her to school… aren't your classes at the same time?"

"Actually, there's something else." Eleazar put on his signature black jacket from the coat hanger near the door before picking up his cane. "We're merging with another school that closed down for some reason today. Liberty High, I think. They're rich kids, mostly."

"Now that's odd." Felicita nodded slowly. "Okay. Do you have your lunch with you? How about your phone?"

Eleazar pulled out his lunchbox from the bag, shaking it in front of her. "I have everything, mom."

"Alright. Go say goodbye to your dad."

Eleazar nodded and quickly sprinted towards the bakery, which was a family business that had sustained them for the last twenty years. His father was the one running it, and he worked along with one assistant. Not enough was usually earned every day to pay a bunch of employees, so he usually had one or two teens working part time jobs. Their jobs were quite basic; put the bread in the bags, take the payments, give the change. The lives of this family were not glamorous, but they were not dirt poor either. They were somewhere in between.

"Dad, I'm going now." Eleazar said as he walked near the ovens where the bread was being formed from dough and yeast and whatever toppings/fillings they wanted.

His dad, who had taken to being called Nicholas after all of his years in America, turned from his work and handed him a paper bag filled with conchas. "Alright sonny, take care. Your sister had gotten ahead of you half an hour ago…"

"Okay dad." Eleazar then sat on the driver's seat of his electric tricycle, which was a quaint little thing that was clearly suitable for getting around in short distances, like the metres that he had to cover from home to school. Alessia was probably already there anyway…

---

After chaining up his electric tricycle on the parking lot, Eleazar quickly got in. There were noticeably more people in here, as the merging had begun. He imagined that quite a number of Rosefell students didn't like that these bourgesie Liberty High-ers were coming in here… but, if anything, if he was able to befriend a few, he'd get buddies that were rich… which was a win-win in any scenario. They'd get a homie as sweet as a cake, and his pizza cravings would be readily satisfied.

Either way, he found himself walking towards a table, filled with stickers with 'Hi, my name is' followed by a blank. It was another of these events, it seems. He would just put one on with his name written on it. Eleazar walked with a noticeable limp, as his left leg had been injured a year or so back in a football match.

It wouldn't be long before he found a familiar face, as he saw Cael Crawford along with Spike and a boy he did not recognize. Probably one of the newcomers.

Speeding up a little, he would walk up to them with a more or less sober expression. He did, however, lighten up when he got close to Cael, as he just hugged him from behind and used his shoulder as a chin rest. Typical demeanour from him to a friend. Eleazar did remember the time when Cael had fallen for him… but that was a long time ago. Right now, he was a friend. "Well, well, well, look at who the egregious tides of time and circumstance had brought into this... humble institution." He extended a hand to Christian, though not before taking his glove off. "Eleazar Nikolavich, at your service. I assume you're one of the newcomers from the… uh… what was it again… Liberty, right. Liberty High." His memory was a little spotty; he had little sleep last night due to playing Dungeons and Dragons with his… international friends. "You lot are welcome in this place, I guarantee that you will have a lot of fun here. And make new… um… friends. And stuff. You know what I mean… hehe. Heh." At that moment, he just pulled out a Concha and began munching on it. "Just ask... us if you have questions. And stuff."

Awkward…

[AlteredTundra]

_{A @metanoia & @GhostMami Collaboration
featuring Hunter Quinn & Niki Zabrecky}

---

Hunter waited behind the line, patiently but also getting his phone out as he checked to see if Niki had replied. They didn’t, but maybe they were busy. He didn’t want to bug them too much, but that guilty feeling in his stomach persisted and it only got worse the more he thought about how easily describing that pixie’s body to Colin came to him. He was back in his natural habitat and the safety of summer was gone, which meant he couldn’t hide behind a screen anymore.

He pocketed his phone and rubbed his forehead. The crowd cleared away and Hunter politely squeezed past some people. He looked down, trying to find his nametag. “Ah, there it is,” he commented, reaching for his nametag. He still couldn’t get over the goofiness of the kind of nametag the school chose. But at the very least, he wasn’t going to make a big deal about it like Colin did.

Hunter smacked the red and white nametag on the right side of his jacket. And then as he brought his head up, he thought he saw a ghost. He was having the worst out of body experience as the familiar face he spent the entire summer staring at, simping over, being everything that wasn’t Hunter Quinn, walk towards him.

And like a coward, Hunter turned away, facing the opposite direction. He didn’t care how cowardly it was nor did he give a damn about what people around might’ve thought. They were here. Niki.

But why? Are they from Liberty?

No, they couldn’t be.

But then again…

Okay, just keep it calm, Hunter. It’s not like this is the end of the world or anything; only that it was. His lives were blurring together: Wade and Hunter couldn’t be separate anymore.

He tried to calm himself down and practiced a few breathing techniques he read online. Deep, three-second breathes. Rinse and repeat.

It was working. Hunter was walking away from the edge in his mind and his heartrate wasn’t going a million per second. It was still high and his chest felt somewhat tight, but at the very least, he regained some form of control over himself.

But now what? He was calm now, but that left the little task of his next move. He could try and walk away while facing away from them. It was a pussy move, but at least he wouldn’t have to face them -- at least not yet.

Yeah, that’s a solid plan. I’ll just do that!

Moments into a step, Hunter heard his name being called. Usually, it wouldn’t make him freeze, but that voice made every bone in his body stop moving, muscles froze, and his heart and stomach all sang in a symphony of butterflies.

He smiled and he couldn’t stop it. Niki had always called him Wade, but hearing Hunter flow from their mouth and into his ears was something he longed to hear but was understandably afraid to let it happen because Wade was a secret and someone unknown to the masses, but Hunter? Hunter Quinn was one of the Rosefell Knights. Hunter Quinn was best friend to Rico and Spike, football player, a hothead asshole.

But now the barrier was gone. His Berlin Wall fell as his legs allowed him to move and he turned around, facing them. Video and pictures be damned, Niki was without a doubt the most gorgeous person he’d ever laid eyes on. Pixie, Minty, even that busty redhead Juno -- none compared to Niki.

“Heyy…” His voice came out slow and delayed and a waving gesture matched. His smile was awkward and reminiscent of a grimace. He had no other words, no romantic comment, no line stolen from SPike or Rico. Hunter had only the tight feeling in his stomach that limited the availability of words.

Having been turned slightly away from the sign-in desk to go find Fiamma, Niki only heard Hunter’s voice. Wade’s voice. It was unmistakable. Niki had spent nights over the summer with headphones in, laying in bed, listening to voice memos that Wade had left them on repeat. They knew that pitch, that timbre. Nik felt their blood freeze up in their veins as they stopped dead in their tracks.

Were they hearing things now? Was this a new symptom to report to Dr. Halstead? Something to do with their anxiety? Niki’s grip tightened like a vice on the straps of their backpack as they fought against their rapid breathing and increasing heart rate.

Look around you… find 5 things you can see.... 4 things you can touch… 3 things you can hear… 2 things you can smell… 1 thing you can taste…

Niki ran through the steps of coming down from a panic attack. Grounding themself in the here and now. Just turn around and face it, like a child afraid that there is a monster under the bed, there is never actually a monster there. Niki gripped their backpack straps tight and turned on their heel to confirm —

Time stopped. Niki froze, eyes wide as a deer caught in the headlights of a semi-truck. The truck wasn’t stopping. There ARE monsters under the bed! Niki’s mouth hung open for a moment before they managed to utter out the faintest whisper in disbelief: “...Wade?”

“Y-yeah..” He forced himself to smile. Hearing his name, that middle name of his that brought him so much joy and serenity during the summer, was now a vulnerable weak spot. He was conflicted, to say the least, but in the midst of all of this, just seeing them was almost enough to make him forget it. Almost. “I mean, yeah, it’s me.” His voice was almost as low as theirs was.

Nik hadn’t realized they had managed to speak until Wade responded. Watching in awe as they realized the boy they were secretly in love with, was standing right in front of them. Actually here, not a figment of their imagination. Not a symptom of anxiety. Not a text on a screen. The flesh and blood version, live, and staring back at them expectantly.

“Hey…” Niki echoed back Wade’s earlier greeting, with just as much awkwardness as he had said it. It was then that a second wave of anxiety crashed over Nik. This was unfamiliar territory, they had no idea how to do… this. What was this? Dating?! Boyfri— girlfri— special friend.

“Hi… uh…” If Niki’s grip tightened any further, they might snap the straps of the backpack entirely. “This is… a lot.” They admitted, biting at their lip in response. They were used to being so open with Wade, but this was different. It felt so much more vulnerable.

“Yeah..It really is,” he found himself saying, scratching the back of his head. “You were the last person I expected to find here.” He felt like he was going around in circles, but honestly, that’s because he was.

Hunter felt like a fish out of water who had not only been flopping around on the deck, but was kicked in the tailfin for good measure. In the hours he spent texting NIki and joking around with them, flirting, feeling happy and like himself, that painful realization of ever meeting them never seemed like that because he assumed it would be on their terms.

“But I guess the universe had different plans,” he said with an awkward laugh.

“Same… yeah.” Niki replied with a weak laugh and loosened his grip slightly. Their hands were clammy with nerves. In the process of looking anywhere but directly into Wade’s eyes, Niki caught sight of his nametag. Hunter. No way, that was… more than just the universe having plans. That was uncanny, unbelievable.

“Your name…” Niki murmured before a flicker of realization came to light in their eyes. All of the joy and excitement and lust came crashing down like a wrecking ball, weighing heavy in their stomach. “You… lied.” The accusation was laced with pain, betrayal, and confusion.

“Why?” Niki had asked the question, but already had taken a step back away from Hunter out of fear of the answer. They took another step back until they felt that their back was literally against a wall.

When their voice had came out sharp, Hunter wanted to explain, but every half step he took, Niki took a giant one back. So he put his hands up in surrender, looking around to make sure nobody was giving him any looks. “I didn’t lie to you, I promise. My name really is Wade, but so is Hunter,” he said, but it didn’t seem to do any good. “ I was born Hunter Wade Quinn,” he clarified, hoping it would be enough to make Niki feel like he didn’t intentionally withhold information from them.

Niki processed what Wade— Hunter was saying. The brick wall behind them was giving them little else options other than to stand and listen, when all they wanted to do was bolt and smoke the fattest cigarette. So this is what it felt like to be a caged bird.

“Oh… okay.” Niki nodded slowly, trying to understand. Niki technically didn’t go by the name on their birth certificate either, maybe it was just something like that. “So… you don’t like your first name, then?” They asked, doing their best to steady their breathing.

Hunter found it difficult to answer it as plainly as a yes or a no response would, because it wasn’t that simple. He wished to God that it was because that would mean he could ease Niki’s mind. If he could, then maybe Niki wouldn’t look at him with a panicked expression on their face. But the truth was he couldn’t. The truth was it wasn’t that simple.

As he took in a breath, he said, “It’s not that I don’t like my name. It’s that...here -- at Rosefell, I mean -- people know who I am. They know who Hunter Quinn is. They know that I act a certain way, but Wade? He’s unknown. I can be who I want as Wade and I like who I am as Wade. But now..” He partially looked away from Niki, once again checking if anyone was paying any attention to him or Niki.

And there it was, crashing down like a pile of rubble on top of Niki. Hunter was ashamed of them. Hunter didn’t want his friends to know that he liked the trans freak. Steeling their emotions behind a wall that Niki didn’t know they were capable of, aside from the time they had to do so with Caspian, they cleared their throat.

“Well then. I think I’m going to go… outside, for a bit.” Niki stepped to the side and looked up to face Hunter once again, facial expression blank. “I won’t be needing that tour, by the way. Niki… is a shortened form of my dead name, Nikolai.” Without waiting for whatever response Hunter Wade Quinn might cook up next, Niki turned, and quite literally fled. It was time for the cigarette now.

[spooner]

Many of the Rosefell students did not return Richie’s attempts at pleasantries, in fact, most of them just returned his smiles and nods with scowls and eye-rolls. It seemed like fitting in would be an uphill battle. He looked to his best friend for some support, but he seemed to be in some deep thought so the blond just continued on.

Just as they reached the front doors of the decrepit building, the sound of screeching tires could be heard all over the schoolyard. Richie turned to see what had made the ruckus, his blue eyes widened in shock and mild horror as he saw his mother’s car and in it: his mother and cousin with horrified look plastered on their faces. It seems like they had almost hit a student on their way to park.

He opened his mouth as if to say something but nothing came out, he wanted to go over and yell at his mother, but he also didn’t really want to let people know he was part of that mess. Why in the world was his mother driving?! Anyone would have been a better ride for his cousin. He reminisced back to all of his near-death experiences while being driven to lacrosse practice and how he made his father promise to never let his mother drive again.

He turned back around choosing to ignore it and hoping the situation would resolve itself somehow. Instead, he patted Marcos on the back signaling to enter the building. As they did he noticed that the inside matched the outside, the paint was chipping from the walls and the floor was scuffed from the thousands of students that had walked on them. Richie shot his friend another concerned look before continuing on towards the table cluttered with papers and nametags. Behind the table, a tired-looking member of the faculty stared back at them and asked “Name?” in a monotone voice.

“Uh… Richard Diedrikson” The blond stated smiling turning on his charm. Even though it went over the older woman’s head it seemed as she just nodded quickly and threw over a tag with his name and a photocopied map of the school.

“You can sit over there and wait until your guide comes and picks you up… next!” the graying lady gestured for him to move out of the way. Richie shrugged and headed to the bench that she had pointed to as Marcos got what he assumed to be the same treatment that he had just gotten. He looked down at the sticker that bore his full name. His eyebrows knitted together. The more he saw it he didn’t like how it looked, he started digging around in his book bag until he found a pen. With it, he scribbled over what was written on it and wrote instead “Richie. D”. He figured it wouldn’t matter… it’s not like he would introduce himself as Richard anyway.

[Sugar and Spite]

______________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________

Standing against the wall, Christian didn’t really mind the glitter that was getting all over his clothes. It took a lot more to get him in a bad mood than happy dust.

As he stood there, Christian did his best to come up with ways to find out who exactly his tour guide was. Social media was a good start, but what if Cael didn't have social media? What if Cael was a nickname? Pulling his phone from his left pocket, Christian sighed. A Google search was as good of a start as any. Opening up the browser, Christians search was interrupted by a some-what familiar voice.

The voice belonged to none other than Caspian Grey - a familiar and slightly friendly face that Christian knew from Liberty. All in all, Caspian was a quiet guy who appeared to stay to himself. Due to that, he and Christian never really had the chance to bond. But never mind that.

”Yeah dude. No problem. Say, have you --” Christians voice trailed off, lost in thought as he continued to watch students come through the door. ”Have you found your guide person?”

Caspian didn’t have time to respond before their conversation was interrupted by a purple haired boy with delicate features who pronounced himself as Christians guide.

”I… didn’t realize how loud I had said that, but hey man! Nice to meet you,” he responded, reaching his hand to Cael.

As the two of them shook hands, another young man took his opportunity to join the group. Offering Caspian and Christian a rose, causing Chris to laugh.

”Nah man. I’m good. Thanks though. Just not a fan of flowers.”

At that moment, Christian spotted two familiar faces: One belonged to Alina, the other to a blonde vixen standing a bit away with a guy in a mascot costume. The same blonde he had spent nearly all year staring at in class last year. When Liv’s eyes met his for a split second, Christian felt his face turn hot, causing him to be the first one to break their eye contact.

Spike's announcement came over the intercom shortly thereafter, causing Christian to laugh.

”Are all of the announcements around here like that?” he asked Cael, a grin on his face. Taking the green lollipop from Cael, Christian stuck it in his pocket for later. As Christian was getting ready to accept Cael’s invitation for his tour, yet another person joined their party. Resting his chin on Cael’s shoulder, the elf-ish looking boy was sure to let Christian know to ask for help if needed.

”Noted bro. Now Cael… about that tour? Maybe you could show me where my first class is!” he said cheerily.

[AlteredTundra]

_{Outfit: Torso ♦ Skirt ♦ Flats}

When she entered the halls of Rosefell, Miki’s first reaction was to puke, but she had been in unsavory situations before and she has taught herself the useful skill of stomaching the vilest substances known to man. If she could go to Cleveland, she can endure this...this place.

As her heels clacked and clacked against the dirty floors, the chatter of those around her, the too-90s-for-their-own good trash clung to each other like parasites. There was nothing attractive about this school. It didn’t matter to Miki if their attempts to make the superior species from Liberty feel at home by hanging a banner made with cheap paper, great value paint, and glitter faker than a Kardashian ass. It was made by trash and thus it didn’t amuse the Queen of Liberty.

She kept to a walk, squeezing past those who came too close, side-stepping people who tried to talk to her, scowling at those who couldn’t take a hint, and avoiding two guy leaning against a locker, talking about someone. She wanted to get as far away from this place as she could, but she couldn’t.

Besides, she had to get that God-forsaken nametag so she could know exactly what was gonna be her new kingdom. Talk about a downgrade.

Miki waited in line, heard an entire conversation between two people. Niki, whose name sounded familiar but not enough for her to care and Hunter Quinn. She knew him from the Rosefell and Liberty games, but again, the amount of energy it took for her to care was better spent on her phone.

She sent a few text messages. One to her father who was checking up on her and a couple to her cousins. The time spent made her miss her turn and as she looked up, she bumped into a brick wall of a man.

“Um, excuse you!” She blurted out, almost pouting and huffing in the arrogant, entitled way only someone like Miki Park could.

Deciding to let it go, Miki just let that person walk by and she claimed her tag. She didn’t bother speaking to the teacher who stood opposite of her. She just took the tacky blue nametag, wrote her name in perfect cursive, and turned around. To her surprise, she saw a familiar face.

“Richard, I didn’t realize that was you!” She flashed him a delighted smile, moving her tiny legs and took the seat next to him, crossing her legs when she sat. “Why are you all alone? Where are your boys?” Miki asked, ever the curious nosey one.

[Melissa]

_{@LovelyComplex@spooner@Melissa@metanoia}

Here they were, in this cancerous cesspool, and Marcos Kingsley had to make the best of this unfortunate circumstance. Make this school year his bitch as his sister put it. With dull eyes that mirrored a look his older brother, Noah, would give others countless times, the look of sheer boredom, Marcos followed behind his friend to the entrance.

So much for the group walking in together. Clearly, Aiden had other plans. Why couldn’t they, as a trio, pick up Fi together? They never started the new year separated. This was already a nuisance and now Aiden being the selfish man that Marcos knew his friend to be, was changing things up. Changing how things were since they started high school. Marcos hated change.

At first, Marcos didn’t see this as a big deal, but the closer to the door they got, the more of the idea of Aiden picking up Fi alone sank in. The more weird it seemed. Since when was his best friend ever eager to do something like that?

His annoyance was swiftly interrupted by a loud screeching. When he turned his head to see what had just happened, a random kid rushed past him causing him to only see the color of lavender at a distance, before following the shadow that rudely ran in between him and his friend to get into the door.

Taking a couple of deep breaths in, not wanting to do something uncharacteristic, he left the mysterious girl be and as if Richie knew he needed one, Marcos was patted on the back which not only comforted him but also informed him that it was time to enter the gates of hell. The first thing to hit his dark gaze was the tacky decor than shortly after, his focus set on the stench of this place. It was a lot worse than expected. As if their minds were in sync, Marcos and Richie looked at each other, in disbelief. This was actually their reality.

When a name tag was offered to him, the handsome dark-haired jock laughed, “You seriously think I’m going to wear that?”

“How else will your tour guide find you?” The older woman spoke softly, trying her best to speak with authority, but it was clear her eyes were wandering.

“They won’t.” Crumpling the name tag, Marcos tossed the garbage back on the table and just when he was leaving, heading where Richie was waiting for him, Miki, the primadonna of Liberty high, his prissy friend, slammed right into his chest. No apology or anything. “Seriously, Miki?”

Once he saw how she glared at the teacher, he knew exactly how his friend was feeling and could relate. Letting it go, knowing well enough she would give him a headache with her loud mouth, Marcos hooked his thumbs on his pants’ pockets. Sure enough, she went straight to the place he needed to go: where Richie was sitting.

Meanwhile Richie had been staring at his phone deep in conversation over texts. But when he heard the kerfuffle he flicked his eyes upward just as Miki had made her way over and Marcos had stalked off on his own. Miki knew full and well that he hated being called by his full name, but he let it go with just a grimace and a sharp intake of breath before flashing her a bright smile.

“You know Miki… I don’t really know how I ended up alone. Aiden is out in the parking lot picking up Fi, for some reason. And uh.. Prince charming found something over there that’s more interesting than me” he jerked his thumb over to where Marcos was standing talking to someone that was obscured by his tall frame. “But it seems that we are in the same tour group… lucky us!” he finished with just a hint of sarcasm.

Miki sighed. “I really hate not being told everything beforehand,” she said, pouting, “But I’m glad at least one person I know will be with me.” She patted Richard on his shoulder. “I can’t tell you how much I wasn’t looking forward to being dragged around by someone named Ellie. I’d say that was a good name, but it’s someone from Rosefell--”

She cut herself off to avoid sounding like a broken record, and glanced over at Marcos.

“Oh!” A sudden realization came to her. “So that’s who I bumped into.” She giggled, amused at how long it took her to figure it out.

Marcos had caught sight of someone he didn’t expect to see. Someone that could immediately turn his frown upside down. The cute waitress from the Yellow Rose Diner. She was holding a sketch pad and waiting in the section labeled for ‘tour guides’. With no hesitation, he strolled to the girl with the bright disposition that he found just as attractive as he found Fiamma. It was those naive, innocent eyes that got him. “Hey, Ellie! I didn’t know this was your school. It’s, um, nice. Looks like we’re in this merge together, huh? How’ve you been? It’s been too long since I’ve had a good grand slam.”

Ellie found herself standing against the wall clutching her sketchbook in a bit of a daze. She had only made her way inside a few moments prior as whilst waiting at the picnic table for Lilith, she got a front row seat to a show she didn’t ask to see. The brunette caught sight of her ex, Rico, already turning on his signature charm in front of a pink-haired Liberty girl. Granted, she did almost see him get hit by a car (which is what most bitter ex-girlfriends dreamed of), but it was watching him look at that girl the way he used to look at her that made Ellie sick to her stomach. She hightailed it out of there quickly, not needing to see what happened next.

It didn’t help that the last time she saw Rico, it was when she broke up with him, citing that his self destructing habits were tearing her apart and that they were just not on the same page anymore. She couldn’t help but wonder if she was completely over it or if she had just been telling herself that for the last three months… regardless, she wasn’t expecting to see him so soon into the first day, which is what especially threw her off guard.

A deep voice pulling her out of her fog, the last person Ellie expected to walk up to her was Marcos, a boy that she had grown to know due to his frequent visits to the diner that she worked at. Easy on the eyes, as well as surprisingly easy to talk to, Ellie had enjoyed his company for many shifts at work, but never put two and two together that he was a Liberty student until this moment. Surprised to see him, her mood shifted quickly. “Marcos, hi! I didn’t know you’d be here.” The brunette greeted, trying to shake off any indications that she was previously distracted by her thoughts. She laughed as he tried to play off his comment regarding the state of the school as genuine.

“‘Nice’ is a word you could use to describe this place, but I usually settle for something along the lines of ‘adequate’ or ‘good enough’. It gets the job done though.” It was no secret that Rosefell was well… not all roses. With barely enough money in the budget to adequately pay teachers and fund curriculum programs, appearances were not what the school board cared about. Ellie didn’t mind- all that mattered to her was getting a diploma and getting out of there. “Yeah, I haven’t seen you around. Where’ve you been these days?” The girl asked, a small smile forming on her face.

Marcos genuinely smiled as he listened to Ellie talk and defend her school (which was totally fair, and very much something she’d do). When the ball was back in his court, he admitted, “Every Labor Day weekend, my friends and I go on a trip and spend it like it’s our last days on Earth. When I came back, I had to balance my time with Serena — my doggo — and my mom, who's been a bit more… aggressive these days with getting her sons involved with her business.”

“Sounds like a fun trip, you guys must have had a great time- sorry about your mom though.” Ellie replied, having recalled Marcos mentioning his family previously at the diner.

Taking a brief pause, Marcos nodded at her response. She was honestly too sweet, but something about her voice did soothe him. When she was done, he shook his head, “No need to apologize. I love her, so I’ll go out of my way for her.” For a moment, he played with his ring on his left hand, pinky finger, subconsciously, before continuing. “That’s Richie, by the way,” he gestured behind him to where his best friend and friend were standing, “The guy I’ve talked to you about. The one that keeps me in check. I’d introduce you to Aiden, but he’s busy taking care of a Mouse.”

Out of habit, Marcos surveyed Ellie’s outfit. This would be the first time he saw her in something that wasn’t her diner uniform. He got so distracted at seeing a familiar face, that he forgot to appreciate the whole picture and how much effort she put in making a good first impression. He felt the urge to compliment her, but the last place his eyes rested on was her chest where her name tag sat. She had crossed out the word ‘Eleanor’ and wrote Ellie over it. Not letting his eyes linger too long in that area, he grinned, “Eleanor, huh? Looks like Richie will be in good hands today.”

The brunette let her eyes follow to where Marcos motioned and- oh my god. Standing there was the blonde that had smiled at her in the parking lot, the one who she still didn’t believe was real- that was his friend Richie? The one that he had talked so highly about in the diner all of those nights? Ellie began putting together the pieces in her head, nodding absentmindedly to show that she was still somewhat paying attention. If Marcos was easy on the eyes, Richie was even easier. The light seemed to hit his hair just right to give it the look of golden threads.

And then something else clicked. Those boys that Christian had mentioned before… what had he called them? The Golden Trio. Three guys with stunningly good looks and lots of money… they were them. But Marcos was nice? Chris had said they were assholes. Ellie tried to keep her facial expressions from revealing how she was feeling on the inside, attempting to comprehend all of this information. And then he threw another curveball at her- she was supposed to tour Richie around. Jesus christ.

“Mhmm,” The brunette nodded in agreement once more, a tad bit flustered at the thought of talking to such a guy and still staying focused enough to not trip over her own two feet. On top of that, she also had the other student to guide as well. “Yeah, yeah, I guess I’m showing him around today.”

Richie's eyes followed the small frame of Miki as she stood up and walked away towards Marcos without so much as a word. He rolled his eyes and sighed standing up and walking over after her. He nodded his head towards his friend as if to say Sorry, I tried to stop her. Then he looked over at the girl Marcos had been talking to, it took a little while but then he realized she had been one of the only people who had acknowledged him out in the school yard. He smiled warmly at her and was just about to introduce himself but was cut off by Miki.

”Marcos!” Miki’s squeal-like voice etched a path for her into the conversation that he and Miss Plain Jane were having, who went completely ignored by the Queen of Liberty. ”What are you doing all the way over here and subjecting yourself to the company of the--” She gave the only other girl a quick glance. “--Less fortunate? You should be with me. Or literally anyone else.” She flipped her hair once and glared at the help for a few seconds before turning her nasty expression upside down and smiling at Marcos.

“Be nice, Miki.” Marcos exasperatedly sighed. “Ellie. Miki. Richie. Richie. Miki. Ellie,” he moved his hand with the pinky ring back and forth. If there was one thing Marcos had no time for, it was getting Miki mad enough to throw a tantrum. Plus, if he tried correcting her behavior it would only end with her giving him an ear full. They had similar interests, and she was a good friend, to those that she deemed fit, but she was undoubtedly a brat and it was impossible to change. Thank her parents for that.

That being said, even brats deserved friends. “I know her from Yellow Rose.” He gave Richie a knowingly gaze, since he’s told him about the waitress on numerous occasions, and then continued onward with Miki-damage control, “Miki, you wouldn’t be caught dead there, but they have amazing food and great service.” He winked at Ellie.

She gave Marcos a death glare, and took in a breath for nobody’s benefit but her own. ”So, this is Ellie.” Watch as Miki pretends to be shocked. Also watch as she swallows the first thing that came to her, the first thing she wanted to say when she realized the most plain-sounding name belonged to the most plain-looking girl. She held out her hand, bent slightly like a princess -- nay, a queen -- and forced herself to smile for …Ellie “Miki. It’s a…” Miki was having difficulties at the moment; bear with her. “--Pleasure to meet you, Ellie.”

Richie let out a scoff as he stepped forward from behind Miki “It really is…” he gave Miki a disapproving look, way to reinforce the stereotype that was already put on them. He turned back to Ellie “Hi I’m Richie. I’m just going to go out on a limb here and guess that Ellie is short for Eleanor” His eyes shot down to her blue name tag with her full name crossed out, then they flicked to his own tag with the same thing done. “It looks like we already have things in common,” he noted with a wider smile looking Ellie right in her eyes.

Ellie was briefly taken out of her trance by Miki’s abrasive nature and harsh choice of words. Now, the brunette had certainly dealt with her fair share of difficult people in the past (you’d be surprised how some people acted sometimes when you messed up their order or neglected their table) so putting on her best customer service smile, the girl clasped Miki’s hand and shook it. “Nice to meet you too, welcome to Rosefell.” Ellie replied, putting her arm back down at her side.

The girl then turned her attention to Richie, the eye contact alone probably enough to make any girl go weak at the knees. But, she stood her ground and looked down at her name tag as he glanced at it, mentioning the similarity to his own. “You’d be right- I just go by Ellie but I guess the administration seems to have an aversion to nicknames today.” The brunette replied with a small laugh. “Marcos has told me a lot about you, it’s great to finally put a face to the name.” Ellie commented, a genuine smile returning to her lips and replacing the fake one she had put on for Miki’s sake. Yeah, an attractive face. The girl thought to herself.

After checking the time on his wrist watch, Marcos grumbled to himself, knowing he should let his friends go about their business and enjoy their tour with Ellie. Personally, the tour was a waste of time, but he knew Richie would go through with it out of politeness and Miki? She enjoyed belittling someone so yeah, she probably would go with it too until she grew bored. Patting Richie’s back, Marcos announced his departure, “Ellie, now, take good care of these two okay? I wouldn’t want to take away from this amazing tour you prepared, so I’ll leave you guys to it.”

Ellie silently wished Marcos would stay to act as a buffer, but knew he couldn’t since he had his own tour guide to find, which meant she was on her own from this moment forth. “I will, don’t worry.” She reassured him (as well as herself) before turning back to Miki and Richie. This was sure going to be some tour. “Alright, shall we?”

[KatKook]

---

_{A @Bee and @KatKook collaboration.}

---

——————————————————
_{Rosefell High}

Jo was practically jumping up and down at this point, she was so bouncy and ecstatic about finally meeting her friend that she could not contain her happiness. Jo was not the type to hide her emotions anyway. She looked Samantha in the eye before quickly wiping the tears of Joy in her face. The empty feeling in her arms suddenly kicked in and she knew she had to.

"Ah dammit! I need to hug you again." Said Jo, moving in, slipping her arms under the Sam’s and wrapping them around her, it was not as tight as her first hug with her but she still felt really nice doing this.

Jo then looked over at Dee who was taking his leave and quickly gave him a quick pat on his lower back and said a quick goodbye as he made his way out. The excitement of meeting Sammy was definitely a little too much to handle but Jo made that very clear already.

"So, how you been?" Asked Jo, Jo would love nothing more than to know everything going on in Sam’s life. There should be no reason they should be apart any longer. "I see your stream’s been treating you right!" Said Jo, followed by some inaudible cursing about the weird and rude people in her chatroom.

”It’s good to meet you, DeShaun.” Samantha smiled, before he replied with an indication of his departure. ”Bye, DeShaun! See you around.”

Samantha was taken a bit aback by Jo’s enthusiasm, not that she minded of course. It was very welcome to the streamer, who was very rarely met with this sort of enthusiasm from people at school. Another hug had come along for Samantha, which wasn’t as strong as the last time, surprising Samantha -- she never knew how much she preferred the stronger hugs up until now.

”I been good.” Samantha scratched her head, looking over to Joanne, ”At least, as good as I can be for the first day of school, at a new school.” Samantha chuckled, before Joanne brought up the stream. ”Yeah, the stream’s doing great. Can’t complain very much about it! Still got my loyal viewers.” Samantha nodded, before taking a quick glance behind Joanne to see people walking onto campus.

”What about you? How ya been?” Samantha asked, before starting to walk forward, ”Walk with me.” Samantha said, walking slowly to let Joanne catch up.

Jo had to get that stupid smile on her face, she shook her head to snap her out of it, she moved a little to stand by her side, nodding at everything she was talking about that was stream related. Then she was asked the question of how she was doing. Besides the deep thought of thinking that her mum might not even make it to see her graduate she was doing really well for herself.

"I’m actually doing great! The cafe’s doing really well, the music I posted online is getting some views, my arm hasn’t hurt in awhile, it’s the good life!" Jo exclaimed, quickly jogging to catch up before following Sam’s pace to walk with her.

The thought then hit her, the Liberty student she was paired up with was not the one she was with right now, it was some other person and that settled not great with her. But Jo being Jo, she did not want to ruin the mood.

"Oh! I forgot to ask, who’s your partner for this whole Liberty-Rosefell thing?" She was hoping they were someone she is friends with, Jo would not entirely like it if it was some prick who made Sam’s life a living hell. She would not hesitate to break some bones if that was the case.

”You finally get your arm checked out?” Samantha asked curiously, ”Pretty sure having a healthy arm is important for a basketball player to have. But, hey, I’m glad you’re doing great!” Samantha chuckled, continuing to walk further on campus.

Samantha had forgotten that she was going to have to be given a tour by someone, who unfortunately was not Joanne, much to Samantha’s dismay. ”Oh, the tour?” Samantha asked. ”I don’t know… some dude whose name that starts with an S? Lemme check.” Samantha pulled out her phone and opened up her email application to search for the email.

”Some dude named Sean Bergara? You know him?”

"Yeah, it really just needs to not get hit by excessive force." Replied Jo when Sam asked about her arm, "Hey, ball is life." She cannot believe she just said that, "I mean, it’s a way of life- no wait… I mean… Uh- It-it’s something you have to incorporate in your lifestyle so you’ll be the best you know." Saved it.

As Sam explained some guy with an S, Jo started thinking who it was, thoughts raced in her minds to see if this was even someone she knew, someone in Rosefell starting with an S? That is- Sam then said Sean Bergara and Jo’s face calmed down and gave a quick nod.

"Oh Sean? Okay yeah! You’ll be fine, he’s cool, bet he’s wearing something-..." People then started walking pass them holding face roses and speaking about a guy dressed as Tuxedo Mask. "Something tells me you’ll meet him real soon."

Totally oblivious to the Tuxedo Mask running around campus, Samantha turned around to Joanne. ”Oh? What makes you say that?” It sounded a bit ominous, but knowing Rosefell, anything was possible.

”By the way, are you showing anyone around? Maybe we can sneak off and pretend like you’re my tour guide or something.”

"Just a feeling." Said Jo after she shrugged, Jo then looked down the halls before leading Sam to the table with the name tags on them.

"Yeah I signed up, hoping I would get you, but I got a guy named Aiden Howard. You know him?" She asked before they arrived at the table. She then quickly asked the guy for her name tag and once she got it she slapped it on the ride side of her chest.

”Aiden? Nah. Don’t really know him all that well.” Samantha shrugged, as she also grabbed a name tag from the guy. Samantha held down the sticker on the table, writing down a cute little “Samantha <3” on the name tag before sticking it on her shirt. ”I wonder how we’re supposed to find our tour guides? Maybe if we stay here long enough they’ll eventually get to us.”

"Well, I bet if you go down that way," Jo said pointing down the hall, "You might end up catching him, he’s a little hard to miss." Jo looked then turned back to Samantha, examining the little heart on her tag and scrunched up her face before smiling ever so brightly at it. "As much as I really don’t want to let you go, I think we’re going to have to split if we wanna see our partners."

”Oh? Is he like... wearing something totally obvious?” Samantha asked, looking down the hallway Joanne pointed down, before turning to look at Joanne upon learning they may have to split.

”Ohh…” Samantha made a little frowny face, reaching her hand out for Joanne to grab, ”Find me during lunch? We can go grab a bite to eat.”

"Obvious? Big time." Replied Joanne, she looked up at Sam and gave her a heartwarming smile, she nodded and moved to hold the side of her shoulder. "Absolutely, lunch it is, here’s hoping this Aiden guy doesn’t want to have lunch with your ol’ pal Jo, see." She replied. Man, she really needed to lay off the 60s-70s movies.

Jo then awkwardly looked Sam up and down, before rushing in and giving her the same tight hug when she first saw her. "I don’t want you to go." After that hug she took a step back and started walking backwards towards a different direction, she kept her eye on Sam the whole time. "Don’t you forget about me!" She continued walking back, looking back every now and then to see if she’d hit anyone. "I'm going to leave you now because, I know that you are busy on this, the day of your daughter's wedding." Quoted Jo, she really needed to lay off quoting The Godfather because people keep giving her weird looks. With that she turned around and went to go look for this Aiden.

---

[CosmicComet]

---

The morning had only just started, but there was already a whole hell lot of things going on. First of all, the blondie she'd saw chatting up Juno was firstly referred to as DeVito by the redhead until her name made itself known. Judging from what she'd seen so far, she didn't think it would take very long at all before she and many of the other Liberty High students would learn his name. Emily had returned Juno's warm smile when she remarked about the mutual delight of being able to see each other again. She'd didn't often preferred to go by a nickname, but the way the redhead called her Ems was so surprisingly pleasant to hear that she had gradually taken a liking to it. Yeap. Not more than a couple of minutes after that very thought crossing her mind, a brunette came over to the blond and referred to him as Spike. Spike huh? Well, he did look like a Spike. Not like she knew exactly what Spikes were supposed to look like, but if anyone had to look like a Spike, this guy sure did. The only way he could look more like a Spike was to have his hair done up in a whole lot of tiny spikes.

Now that would be the ultimate Spike look. She was probably getting ahead of herself her, but what's new? It started to get more and more crowded all of a sudden. Seems like this Spike dude is really a popular dude or something. Yet another girl made her presence known around the blond as he found himself surrounded by more females. This one had extra silky hair and was angry at something, or she may just always look like that, but it didn't stop her from pushing his head in like it was some inanimate object getting in her way before extending her body in to retrieve what looked like a beverage from the dude's car. Shampoo commercial girl then turned to apologize for some reason before she choked on her drink upon the gaze of Juno's beauty. That was understandable. The redhead was beauty, there was no doubt there.

Silky hair referred to the third girl that came as Lil, and Emily took this time to try and remember as many names as she could possibly fit into her memory. Names were important, yeah? Another guy then briefly rolled back the group, referring to Spike as a walking potato. She didn't exactly knew what that meant, but she was intending on finding that out. The accuser was almost then caught in an accident with another car. Oh, my. The day had barely started, and this morning was already filled with action. As if there wasn't enough girls around Spike as it is, another one joined the fray. A new blonde. From the way she carried herself, Emily guessed that she was important. From the way she announced her presence and offered her help to the newbies, she definitely had to be. This Spike was really something else.

Once Spike left, the crowd dispersed, and Emily too took this time to get her bearings as she fished out her phone from her jacket pocket to look up the email from the school to see who she was to be attached too. It appears that she had been matched up to someone called Melissa. She didn't know who that was, never really mixing around with the lot from Rosefell High before today. Unbeknown to her, Emily had already met Melissa in the crowd, the one she referred to as the "important" one. The latest arrival caused her to glance up from her phone. Jackson. It had been a while since she has seen him as well. "Hey Jackson. How's life treating you?" Moving forward, Emily stepped into through the doors and into the entrance of Rosefell High. The banner and signage in blue and silver caught her eye immediately.

There were many things in Liberty High that she loved, but the colors were not one of them. The blue was alright, but she had always found the silver gaudy and outputting. If there was one thing Rosefell got right, it was their colors. She much, much preferred the Red and Black. Red was fiery and passionate, and black looked great with pretty much everything. Moving past the plethora of decorations that must have been oh-so-carefully prepared for the special opening day today, Emily headed to the sign-in counter where the school staff awaited the new Liberty High students to pick up their name tags and wait for their guides. Stepping up to a staff and presenting her name, she was given a old-fashioned looking name tag with her full name clearly printed onto it. Sticking the tag onto the top left of her jacket, she briefly looked around to see if there was anyone else that could possibly be Melissa waiting for her. Unable to find anyone, Emily asked the tired-looking older lady with the graying hair about the whereabouts of her guide. "Hi, have you seen Melissa around anywhere?"

The older lady gave her a look of exhausted annoyance that seemed to suggest that she jolly well waited here until her guide came and not a single question more. She didn't need to see to know who made the announcement that suddenly came on. Those words, that tone, that way of speech. It had to be Spike. It had the same kind of crazy energy just like the kind she had witnessed out earlier back at the parking lot.

[Venus]

A @Venus & @Melissa Collaboration
Featuring Fiamma Giannulli & Aiden Howard
▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃

The time Fiamma had spent alone in the safety of her vehicle had been anything but boring. After the initial anxiety about the first day had dissipated somewhat, she’d decided to put her time to good use and to retouch her makeup. She had just finished adjusting the sun shield windshield cover when she glanced at her rearview mirror and caught sight of her very own Prince Charming sauntering confidently (then sprinting) in the direction of her Fiat.

It took every fiber in Aiden’s being to not break out into a sprint towards Fiamma’s car that sat across the parking lot. He had to remember that all eyes were on him, especially Marcos’ and Richie’s, so he had to play it cool, calm, and collected as he made his way over. Every slow step that he took pained him, but as soon as he saw his two friends disappear towards the decrepit main building of Rosefell, he booked it the rest of the way to the Fiat.

A very uncharacteristically loud, high-pitched squeal of excitement escaped from Fiamma’s throat and echoed across the small vehicle. Aiden Howard looked every bit as perfect as he always did: with his shaggy blond hair in that sweet spot between groomed and unkempt, his sun-kissed skin glowing after the trip with the boys, and his preppy casual outfit as impeccable as always. The butterflies in Fiamma’s stomach that had been dormant during his absence were now going off in a frenzy, her heart threatening to burst out of her chest. With her hands now shaking for all the right reasons, the redhead moved her belongings from the passenger seat and to the backseat to make space for the young man, while wrestling with the overwhelming urge to get out of the car and jump straight into his muscled arms.

He arrived at the passenger’s side door within seconds and scooted into the seat next to his love. Not wasting another second, Aiden’s hand instinctively found the back of Fiamma’s head and pulled her in towards him, their lips meeting passionately. He smiled into the kiss and let it linger before drawing away and gazing into her eyes. “Hey, baby.” The blonde boy smirked as the two were finally together once again after a long week apart.

It never failed to amuse Fi just how easily Aiden was able to disarm her. It only took one look from his jewel-colored eyes, one kiss from his honey-sweet lips, one phrase with his masculine voice… And she was done. Just like that. Melting into a big old puddle of warm feelings at his feet.

Today wasn’t the exception. The second Aiden’s lips were on hers, the redhead’s racing heart finally settled back to its regular pace, and her body slowly drifted into that blissful sensation of peace her prince charming always brought to her. She allowed herself to get lost in the kiss for as long as he allowed it to, and felt her heartbeat speed up again when he drew away and allowed his eyes to bore into hers. But when he greeted her, Fiamma didn’t bother with a verbal response right away. Instead, she cupped her boyfriend’s face with both of her delicate hands and pulled him back into another deep, passionate kiss.

She would’ve thought that, after five weeks apart when she’d attended that string camp, they’d learned to deal with the time zones and love at a distance. But it was just like the saying: absence makes the heart grow fonder. And the time they were separated had only served to solidify Fiamma’s love for Aiden, while fueling the craving to be between his arms once again.

It was only after the heat on her cheeks became feverish that Fiamma finally pulled away from her boyfriend’s lips. “Hi,” she said breathlessly, her flushed face breaking out into a radiant, beaming smile as she ran her fingers through his blond hair. “God, I’m so glad to see you. I’ve missed you so much.”

Aiden smirked as Fiamma went in for another kiss- hell, he would have taken her right there in the parking lot if the whole student population of both Rosefell and Liberty was not surrounding them. But, he showed an immense amount of restraint and relaxed back into the cushioned seat as he glanced at his girlfriend who was simply glowing. He loved it when she blushed and he loved it even more knowing that it was because of him that pink graced her cheeks.

“I missed you too- The Hamptons were a blast but I sat there most of the time wondering what you were up to. I wish you could’ve been there.” He replied honestly, taking her nimble hand in his and stroking the back of it with his thumb. The blonde boy let his eyes run over his beautiful girlfriend. Over the past eight months he had memorized nearly every feature of her face- every freckle and every curve- but nothing was better than seeing her in person in front of him. But today, something was new, and he tried not to break out into a laugh as he pointed it out.

“Now where’d you get this?” Aiden asked, leaning forward and grasping the diamond cross necklace between his thumb and index finger.

"Oh, that old thing? I stole it from a shady pawn shop during my Vienna trip while my parents distracted the salesman. I think your recklessness is starting to rub off on me, babe," she joked with a small laugh before shaking her head and telling the truth. "It was a gift from my parents. They gave it to me this morning as a 'beginning of senior year gift' or something like that. Said it would be a nice replacement for the lost purity ring…" she explained, smirking suggestively at her boyfriend.

Aiden couldn’t help but laugh at his girlfriend’s attempt to sound a tad bit rebellious- Fiamma didn’t have one bad bone in her body and he knew that all too well… which is what he loved so much about her. The blonde inched closer to the redhead, a devilish smirk curving into his cheek. “Right, right, you know cause you’re still...” He let his lips find their way to her right ear, whispering ever so quietly to finish his sentence “pure.” The boy moved away quickly, relaxing back into the passenger’s seat with a chuckle before she could have the chance to react in a way that was anything but.

A shiver ran down the redhead’s spine at the feeling of his warm breath tickling her ear. Aiden knew exactly how to push her buttons-- which he used to his advantage at times like these. "You are such a tease!" Fiamma whined loudly, playfully shoving her boyfriend’s shoulder. "But I'll get you back-- you just wait for it…” she warned Aiden, glaring at him for a few seconds before she giggled sweetly. “And speaking of getting stuff, would you be the sweetheart I already know you are and get me the baby wipes from the glove compartment? I think I accidentally stained my skirt at breakfast.”

Aiden threw his flustered girlfriend a flirtatious wink as he laughed at her reaction, “Oh I know, and you love it.” He stated all too knowingly, having figured out every trick in the book by now that got Fiamma going. With a sigh at the pivot in discussion, he nodded at the redhead’s request and leaned forward to grab the packet she needed. But as soon as he pulled the handle of the glove compartment, what was revealed was not the baby wipes, but instead a neatly wrapped box with a ribbon bow. Confused, he looked over at his girlfriend. “Did your parents get me a cross necklace too? Come to think of it though, it’d definitely make my blue eyes pop...”

No matter how hard she tried to keep a straight face and give Aiden a scolding look, there was no avoiding the way Fiamma burst out laughing at his comment. It took the better part of a few minutes until the girl finally regained control of herself, wiping off the tears and taking in deep breaths. “Oh God… You know what? They actually did. They also told me to let you know they expect you at church at 9 o’clock sharp this Sunday for your abstinence pledge ceremony. It’s going to be great.”

Aiden’s face paled, “I’m out.” He stated simply before turning to open the car door and make a break for it.

His panicked reaction made Fiamma snicker. “Just open the freaking box, Aiden,” she almost demanded with a smirk, jerking her head towards the box and nearly holding her breath with anticipation.

The blonde hesitated, but after a moment reached into the glove compartment and lifted out the box. He nimbly ripped off the wrapping before lifting up the lid to reveal something that was definitely not a cross. Sitting inside on a small cushion was a handsome leather watch with gold detailing. A surprised expression forming on his face, he glanced over at Fiamma. “And what would this be for?” Aiden asked, not having expected his girlfriend to get him such a nice gift.

“Well, I know how much you like the Rolex your parents got you for your birthday last April. But I also know you don’t like to wear it except on special occasions because you’re afraid of getting it damaged in some way. So when my cousin Mika and I were walking around downtown browsing through the stores and I saw this watch on the window display, I knew immediately I had to get it for you,” Fiamma explained softly while she took the watch out of its box and carefully placed it on Aiden’s wrist. “Now, you have a nice watch to wear for special occasions and a nice watch to wear every day. And since I couldn’t take you to Vienna with me, I thought this was a neat and useful way I could bring a little bit of Vienna to you.”

As he listened to his girlfriend describe the story behind the gift, Aiden couldn’t help but grin widely. It was moments like this where the blonde haired boy felt so fortunate and lucky to be dating someone (even if it was in secret) as compassionate and caring as Fiamma. She didn’t even have to think of him while she was away on vacation or go even so far as to bring him back something, which made the watch all the more special since she kept him in mind. To a boy who always felt like he was second string, that meant the world. He leaned over and pressed a gentle kiss to her cheek. “Thank you my love. It’s perfect, absolutely perfect.” The boy replied, admiring the watch now sitting on his left wrist, showing it off. “How does it look?”

“It looks just… Perfectly splendid!” the beaming Fiamma declared in a fake British accent, imitating the little girl from one of the Netflix series they had binged together over the summer. Well, tried to at least. There was only so much binging you could do when your attention was constantly being called away from the TV screen by your incredibly attractive and very enthusiastic boyfriend.

Aiden laughed, as that was the only line or real thing he remembered from the show. He had been preoccupied with…. other things. In the back of his mind, he hoped that Richie and Marcos wouldn’t notice that he now was wearing a fancy watch, and prayed that they didn’t ask any questions about it either. Speaking of his two friends, he looked out the window in the direction that they had walked in. “We should probably get going, they’re gonna start wondering.” Aiden stated in a paranoid manner, back in the mindset of keeping things completely secret and hidden after a relaxing summer of just being content in his relationship.

The happiness and excitement that had been present in Fiamma’s face was washed away in an instant as a dark rain cloud settled over her. The summer spent together in complete freedom had been liberating-- a breath of fresh air for a couple so suffocated by their regular routine. But now that Fi had a taste of how things could be if she and Aiden were public, going back to hiding and sneaking around was already proving to be a challenge.

The young woman let out a long, sad sigh. “Do we have to go in?” she genuinely asked, her pink lips puckered up in a sad pout while she looked up at Aiden with the puppy dog eyes that she knew brought him to his knees. “Why can’t we just ditch this whole stupid tour thing? I’m sure we can find our own way around the school. It’s just... I haven’t seen you in a week, and my parents aren’t home, and all I really want to do is spend some time alone with you…” she trailed off, tightly hugging her boyfriend’s muscled left arm and resting her head on his shoulder.

Aiden knew exactly what Fiamma was trying to pull as she threw him the pouty face, and anticipating her doing it until he agreed to whatever her bidding was, he raised an eyebrow back at her and shut it down. “You know we can’t do that, Fi. I bet the guys are already suspicious as it is.” The boy replied, trying to be the responsible one for once. “As much as I’d love to have you all to myself, It’s the first day of school and we really need to be there. I’ve really got to kick it into high gear if I want to get offered athletic scholarships and you know that.” He pressed a light kiss to her forehead. “But both my parents are MIA so we can go to my house after school and spend the whole night together, I promise.”

As much as she hated it, Fiamma knew Aiden was right. This wasn’t the time to act rebellious. Not only was it a terrible idea to attract attention to themselves in that way (with both the faculty and their parents), but it would probably set off unnecessary alarm bells in their friends’ heads. That is, if they weren’t going off already, with the amount of time they’d been in the car… Fi pushed away the thoughts as quickly as they came.

“Ugh… Fine,” the redhead sighed in resignation, snuggling closer to her boyfriend and kissing his cheek. “Guess I’ve already got a ton of homework to do at Niki’s place overnight...” she snickered, making fun of the bogus excuse she always gave to her parents in order to be able to stay at Aiden’s place. If it had worked all throughout the summer, there was no concern that it wouldn’t work now too.

“That’s my girl.” Aiden smiled at Fi, matching her kiss on the cheek by his lips tenderly meeting her forehead. “Just means we have something to look forward to at the end of today.” He winked cheekily before getting his things together and checking his reflection in the mirror in the sun visor. It was hard to focus on going to class when he had a whole night with his girlfriend ahead of him, but he knew he needed to get down to business and fast. Taking a deep breath, he looked back over at the redhead. “You ready, love?” The blonde asked, moving to open the passenger side door.

“Wait!” Fiamma suddenly cried out, reaching out to grab the arm of Aiden’s that was seconds away from opening the vehicle’s door. As soon as his attention was back on her, Fi grabbed him by the jaw, pulled his face towards her and passionately locked her lips with his. She didn’t stop until her lips were hurting.

After she pulled away, the redhead took a second to stabilize her pulse and breathing while admiring the young man beside her. “I love you,” she told Aiden, looking up at him with the sparkling, loved-up doe eyes of a young woman who was nothing but crazy about him.

“I love you too. Now get you ass out of this car before we start fogging up the windows…”

[BrutalBx]

---

“If he wasn’t proud then he wouldn’t be powerful”

---

Without realising it, DeShawn felt himself tracking his finger up and down the large scar on his left arm. The story behind it was not one he had shared with anyone during his brief time at Rosefell. Not Hunter. Not Melissa. Not even Lilith when they were off the faces on some great grass. It was the story of how he got to this place, why he had traded the mean streets of Baltimore to the somewhat less mean streets of Cleveland. When one asked, the football players answer as to why he now lived with his aunt and uncle was simple; his daddy was locked up and he needed a place to sleep. The truth to the matter was that there was much more to that particular tale and it had yet to be shared. Maybe he was too proud? Yet if he wasn’t proud he wouldn't be powerful. This place had quickly become a home to him but he had yet to truly find his place amongst the people and now with this influx of Liberty kids, Dee’s journey was either going to become a hell of a lot easier or a hell of a lot harder; only time would really tell.

He glanced down at his watch and noted the time; unlike many of his fellow Rosefell Knights, DeShawn did not like to act or play the fool. He treated people with the respect that he deserved and right now, he had a duty to one of the Liberty kids, to show them around and give them a warm welcome. Alina Zebrecky. Time to go a-hunting. Over to the left, the big man could see his boi Suave getting his flirt on with some pink haired temptress from TikTok and he nodded his head in support. ”My man” A lot of people didn’t realise because of the boys general positivity that Rico had been pining for one Ellie Roberts all summer. It was somewhat nice to see the Latin Lover get his game back.

DeShawn decided it best to begin his search by the name tag table in the school but before he did that, there was one little piece of business to attend to. Making his way through a few parked cars, number 44 of the best D-Line in High School football found himself standing behind a blonde haired bombshell barking orders at her new underlings. He brushed his large hand beneath the hem of her cheerleader skirt, resting it on Melissa’s smooth leg and dropped a whisper into her ear.

”You look fine as hell today, Queen. You get bored of ruling with an iron fist, you know where imma be at girl”

The connection with Melissa probably wouldn’t last beyond high school; hell knowing her it probably wouldn’t last past the first semester but that was fine; they both knew what it was and he wouldn’t lose any sleep if they broke it off that day. She had her goals and he had his and when they stopped being of use to each other that would probably be the end of it. It was a shame since there was something there that he got to see, probably more closely than anyone else had ever had. He got to see the Melissa underneath the cheerleading outfit, literally and figuratively. Beyond the Queen of Thorns, there was actually a good person in there.

Leaving Missy to her kingdom, Dee made further steps towards the school; giving out the usual pleasantries and greetings to friends, fans and teachers alike. That was one thing he missed about home, they didn’t talk so much. Walking through the halls, he scanned name tag after name tag in search of his new “buddy” but had yet to find her. It didn’t help that he dwarfed everyone in the school by a mile and having to look down to people constantly was a pain in the neck, literally. That being said it was very difficult to lose Big D in a crowd. Not only was he the tallest and probably pound for pound strongest kid in school, he was also one of the few kids of color and so far; he was lucky. The systemIc racism he dealt with at home had yet to rear its head at Rosefell. Yet now with these incredibly privileged Liberty kids arriving, there was all the potential in the world for that to change.

Almost as if he could hear a ticking clock in his head, DeShawn was already ready for the day to end. It’s not that he hated school, quite the opposite in fact he quite enjoyed it. It was just the first day of school that he hated. The awkward introductions and the even more awkward greetings from those known to you that you haven’t seen all summer. He had to put this out of his mind however so that he could make Alina’s first day the least amount of crazy as possible. Assuming she was a part of the sea of Liberties; Dee grabbed a name tag and quickly wrote his name on it. Surely this would be enough effort to find her? He positioned himself against a locker like it was the top of a mountain and prepared himself to receive his guest, whenever she decided to cross his path.

[Sugar and Spite]

____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________

As Lilith stood there watching the current scene unfold before her eyes, she didn’t space out on the fact that Minty had called the red haired girl Juno. Lilith didn’t expect herself to recognize Juno after all these years, and she was right. Puberty had hit Juno like a ton of bricks - and Lilith meant that in every good way possible.

Rico nearly being run over was enough to break Liliths train of thought. Fortunately for the young man, the driver of the vehicle attempted to swerve out of the way. The last thing that Lilith wanted this morning was to watch someone die. The next thing on the list of things not to do today was playing nice with Melissa.

Gross.

Spike freaked the fuck out, hopped in the car and sped away. Meanwhile Melissa was… well, she acted in natural Melissa fashion. Her attempt to be nice wasn’t fooling Lilith, however. Hopefully it wasn’t convincing to anyone else either.

A tall kid walked over, greeting Juno and Emily. He practically had the words ‘I’m from Liberty High’ stamped across his forehead. Lilith wasn’t impressed.

Hunter spotted Rico nearly dying, dragging himself over to join the party as some freakishly pretty Greek Goddess climbed from the murder mobile. This crowd of people was growing fast, and Lilith had to figure out a way to worm herself out of it - quickly.

As Spikes voice crackled over the intercom, the young woman rolled her eyes. Walking over to Juno, she tapped the girl on the shoulder.

”Sorry,” she said, grimacing briefly before forcing a smile. ”I’m Lilith - your tour guide for the day. I know you’re catching up with your friends and observing all of the stupid shit Rosefell has to offer, but I really need a joint right about now and was wondering if you’d like that tour of the school or not?”

[spooner]

_{@spooner@Melissa@metanoia}
________________________________________________________________

“So that’s why I don’t recommend any of the vending machines. If you’re in dire need of a snack or drink, just check the expiration dates first.”

Ellie was trying her best to give a fully comprehensive tour of Rosefell to Richie and Miki, which not only included the official academic locations, but also referenced the unofficial good, bad, and the ugly. These were tips about what days to avoid in the cafeteria, places where each clique tended to congregate, teachers who’s good side you wanted to be on and more. Her goal was to be honest with them about what they were getting themselves into, and if she could save the two of them from a few bad experiences or situations, the brunette would consider that a job well done. At least that’s what she would have wanted if she were attending a new school.

“That’s the library,” Ellie gestured to the double wooden doors on their right as the three of them passed by, glass paned windows looking into a lackluster variety of novels and textbooks with tables and chairs in between. “Ms. Bennington the librarian tends to be a bit… harsh, so just don’t talk loudly or chew gum in there or she’ll kick you out.”

Miki felt extremely underwhelmed by the tour so far. The vending machines seemed to be as basic as one might expect from an underfunded school such as Rosefell and the Library equal to it on the disappointment scale. But she didn’t have any interest in either of those. “What does this school offer in terms of extracurriculars? Or is your school so poor, that it can’t even afford that much?” It might not seem like it, but Miki was being nice when she asked her question.

The brunette girl sighed, the topic a sore subject amongst most Rosefell students. “We do have a few extracurriculars, but the majority of the funding goes towards the sports teams we have. Football comes first and then basketball, but the rest are underfunded like soccer, track and field, and even the cheer team.” Ellie explained, waving to some of the kids she knew as they passed by them. “As for the arts- which is my wheelhouse- the school gives us the space and the classes, but we’re expected to provide our own supplies. It’s similar to when any student-run club wants to go to a competition or trip, they have to fund it themselves.”

The girl stopped in front of the Nurse’s office, motioning to it with a flair of her arm. “Great place to take a nap in the middle of the day- just say you have a headache and they’ll let you spend the rest of the period there. However, I don’t suggest going to them with any real injuries or serious medical concerns.” It was an ironic comment, as her own mother was a school nurse, but Ellie knew that they selected more qualified nurses for the younger kids as opposed to the older ones thinking that the teens could better fend for themselves. Which was false.

Miki glanced at the nurses office for a quick moment, grimacing at the state of it, then she turned away, going back to what Ellie said about the cheer team. “If I’m truly going to attend this school on a daily basis -- for a year -- there’s no way the cheer team will be underfunded. Daddy will hear about this!” She declared, smiling at her surprisingly-helpful tour guide. “I think I was wrong about you, Ellie. You might have the looks of a plain jane, uninteresting girl and you even speak like one, but you provided me with some valuable information.” Without warning, Miki pulled Ellie into a forced hug that lasted for three seconds, no more and no less. “Thank you.”

Richie who had silently following along with the tour tried to keep a happy face as he nodded along to what Ellie was showing them. Though inside he shared most of what Miki was spouting but not wanting to step on any toes, he kept his mouth shut. An opinion he definitely did not share was that Ellie was plain, from where Richie was standing she looked very interesting, from her outfit that she obviously meticulously had picked out to the way she carried herself. She for sure was interesting. “Yeah! Thanks for this really, now we don’t have to get lost in this… uh… quaint labyrinth.” He chuckled quietly more to himself than anything. “So you’re into art? My sister is at NYU and living her artist dreams, we could probably donate her extra stuff that she left behind… if you’d like.” he mused.

Ellie wasn’t sure whether to feel insulted or flattered by Miki’s words, but didn’t have the time to process as she was pulled into a tight and uncomfortable embrace. The brunette remained stiff as a board, completely taken aback by the previously harsh girl’s sudden change in demeanor, and was thankful that she was released from her clutches a few moments later. God, where was Lil when you needed her? “Uh… you’re welcome.” She managed to muster, glancing around awkwardly trying to and switch gears, but was brought back by Richie’s smooth voice.

“Yeah, I’m into art- I’m trying to go to art school after graduation. Not sure if it’ll happen though, but a girl can dream!” Ellie explained, her eyes lighting up at the mention of her future aspirations. Anyone who knew the brunette was aware that she worked her ass off at the Diner and the after school program in order to save up for tuition fees to fund her education. She had the skill to easily get into any school of her choice, but it was financial aid and scholarships that would determine her fate. At the mention of donating his sister’s spare supplies, Ellie raised her eyebrows in shock.

“Wow... that’s so generous. You totally don’t have to, but I’m sure a bunch of the art students here would really appreciate and benefit from that.”

“Honestly I don’t think that she’d even notice” Richie shrugged his shoulders. “And I think that dad would love to get it out of the house anyway.” he added with a wink and a smile. “And speaking of the cheer squad, I think I saw the captain outside commanding some poor dude. So I guess you’d have to fight for the top of the pyramid Miki…” he mused and turned to face the high strung princess.

Ellie tried her best to keep her composure and not swoon as Richie winked at her, a barely noticeable flush tingeing her cheeks. “Well then, that’d be great.” The girl replied, offering the boy a smile back before realizing who he was talking about as he flipped the subject. “That would be Melissa...” The brunette laughed before providing Miki with more context. “Melissa Elliot: captain of the cheer squad, top of the Rosefell food chain, and queen of thorns. If you want to be a cheerleader, you’d be smart to impress her and not step on her toes. She can be… finicky.”

Miki could only stare at Ellie. It was the kind of stare that verged on glaring -- the kind that shot daggers at the poor girl. Miki was short, but she had the poise and potential of someone far greater and the fact that Plain Jane Ellie implied that she would have to impress Melissa was, at best, laughable. “Honey please,” she said with a hairflip, “if there’s anyone who’ll have to impress, it’s that Poor Man’s me you Rosies call a queen.” Her words came out sharper than she intended, but she meant every word. “She thinks she’s hot shit. And maybe all these years of surrounding herself by people who affirmed that notion is why, but she hasn’t had to deal with me on a regular basis. I’ll prove the only thing hot about the Queen of Thorns is the hot air that leaves her less-than-stellar lips whenever she decides to speak.”

Although her advice was from a genuine place, and she had every good intention by trying to help the new student out, Ellie found herself dry mouthed and caught off guard as Miki tore into her and ripped Melissa to shreds. The brunette was not expecting such a visceral reaction, one that came from a place of pure elitism, so she struggled to find the proper words to respond with. “Um… I, uh…” She stammered, trying to form a coherent sentence after being on the receiving end of such fiery tenacity. The girl’s previously tinged cheeks swelled with more heat, simply embarrassed that she had suggested such a thing moments ago. After taking a small breath, her lips finally enunciated words. “Well… good luck with that. I doubt Melissa will give up her crown very easily.”

”No self-respecting queen would. But it’s okay because I enjoy a good challenge. It’ll make for a satisfying victory when I utterly crush her until all of her rose petals are burned.” Miki stood firm in her stance regarding Melissa, but even she had the self-awareness that her attitude just might be too much for the poor girl. ”I suppose that’s enough. I think I’ll take a rain check on the rest of the tour, though.” She offered Ellie the most sincerest, apologetic expression she could muster. “Thank you for showing me this much, though. Truly.” Miki brought in Ellie for another impromptu hug and took off into a strut away from the two.

The Rosefell girl was convinced that she had just witnessed the rebirth of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. How could someone be so cruel and conniving one moment and sweet as candy the next? After only spending a short time with her, the brunette determined that Miki was easily worse than Melissa, way worse. At least she was on the dark haired girl’s good side... possibly? As the future queen strode away, Ellie exhaled the breath that she didn’t realize she had been holding and turned to Richie, a confused expression gracing her delicate features.

“Is she always like that?”

Richie turned his head sideways as he watched Mike saunter away before looking down at Ellie “You mean dramatic beyond compare?” he gave her another smile “Yes.” he crossed his arms over his chest as they both stared after Miki’s shrinking figure. “Anyway, I have AP Chem this morning, you wouldn’t know where the lab is would you?” he asked with that famous Diedrikson eye-sparkle.

The brunette tried to hold back a laugh, but couldn’t help it as Richie summed Miki up in the few words that seemed to fit her to a tee. “Hopefully neither of us will be around for the blood bath that will be Melissa and Miki’s first meeting…” The girl commented before the blonde haired boy inquired about the location of his first class. “Ooh, AP Chem… someone’s a smarty pants eh?” Ellie teased with a smirk, surprising herself as her demeanor shifted to one that was a bit more playful. “]“I’m headed towards there anyway, I’ll show you.”

“Smarty… pants?” Richie whispered to himself “I don’t know about that… I just need a science class to get my dad off my back, ever since I quit lacrosse he’s been on me to focus on school. Says I have a family name to uphold” he offered an empty laugh, even though he was the one who enjoyed school the most out of the golden trio, he’d much rather take an extra shift at The Spirit to focus on his passion. “And chemistry was the one thing that seemed interesting enough!” his voice pepping up again.

The brunette motioned for the boy to follow as she pivoted and began to walk in the direction of the Lab in question. She was admittedly not going towards the science wing (her first class was English), but she didn’t mind. Besides, he was nice to look at, and if walking him to class meant that she got to spend a few extra minutes with him... it was a win in her eyes.

[GirlOnMarz]

▂▂▂▂▂▂▂▂▂▂▂▂▂▂▂▂▂▂▂▂▂▂▂▂▂▂▂▂▂▂▂▂▂▂▂▂▂▂▂▂

"Rosefell is going to eat them up like how you're going to up this bagel! Tada!"

Of course, JJ accepted Joanne's bagel with a grateful smile before quickly ripping the two halves apart and taking a large, ravenous bite, as if trying to demonstrate what she were saying. "You are literally the best," he intended to say, though it came out as slightly unintelligible due to the amount of bread that had been packed into his mouth. JayVaughn had almost completely finished one half of his bagel while passively listening to Jo talk about one of her Liberty friends when he suddenly felt pressure on his right shoulder. For someone so much smaller than he was, Jo sure did have a whole lot of strength. He and Dee were both instantly brought down to Joanne's eye level, and JJ couldn't help but pause his chewing to listen to what she had to say. And it was only after taking note of the serious glint in her eye that the boy swallowed and offered her an innocent smile in response.

"Sleep with her?!" JJ said in a hushed voice, his tone mockingly wounded and his brows furrowed. He'd even placed his unoccupied hand over his chest for the added dramatics. A quick look at what he interpreted to be a horrified expression on Dee's face almost made him break character, but he quickly covered his laugh with a cough and continued. "Well color me offended. Who do you take me for, Jo? Spike?" JJ agreed to Jo's conditions anyhow, figuring that although he was officially banned from trying to charm his way into the bed of this mystery girl (if he even wanted to), it didn't mean that he wasn't allowed to flirt with her entirely.

Therefore, JJ followed behind Joanne and Dee with a content smirk on his face. He stuffed his half of a bagel back into the bag as he watched Jo Lynn wrap her arms around who he assumed to be "the best friend." "Hi, I'm Samantha," the friend—Samantha— said once she'd turned her attention to Dee and JayVaughn. She then extended her hands towards them both. JJ, feeling Jo Lynn's eyes practically boring a hole through his forehead, made the split decision to simply shake it rather than do what he'd initially planned. "It's great to meet you guys!"

"I'm JayVaughn, but everyone usually just calls me Jay or JJ. You may call me whatever you like, beautiful," And while his cheeky grin never faltered, the boy couldn't help but take a quick glance in Jo's direction to gauge her reaction. "Any who..." he said, returning his hands to his pockets, "I'll let you two catch up... I'm gonna head inside and start playing tour guide. Have fun!"

After offering them both a nod, JJ turned and began his walk towards the entrance, dapping up any familiar figures he saw on his way there. And it wasn't until after JJ had lazily scribbled his full name on a red and white sticker and placed it on his jacket that he refocused his attention to the bagel he'd neglected to finish. It only took a second for him to pull it back out of the paper and sink his teeth into the warm bread.

"Mmm. God bless Jo Lynn."

[NeoAJ]

_{@LovelyComplex & @NeoAJ}
▂▂▂▂▂▂▂▂▂▂▂▂▂▂▂▂▂▂▂▂▂▂▂▂▂▂▂▂▂▂▂▂▂▂▂▂▂▂▂▂

Without Callie, the hustle and bustle of this new school was getting to Caspian much faster than it would have with her around. Seven minutes ago Alina had asked him how he was, with such low-spirits, and in that time span he met a boy in a tuxedo and a mask, he took in the sight of the boy that served him coffee weekly, and he was thrown off by an energetic boy with a dog’s name. This school had a strong sense of identity and it washed over newcomers like a tsunami.

Keeping silent, he directed his ex-girlfriend and best friend to follow him. Those next minutes he didn’t answer her. He looked ahead to find a private place where they could talk. In his peripheral vision, he caught sight of a vacant bench in an empty hallway. From the looks of it, it seemed like the art hall and the lack of funding was blaringly painful. The art on display wasn't in proper exhibit cases and frames. Instead, some were taped on the wall and the sculptures were on a cheap, fold-up table.

How unfortunate.

Taking a seat on the bench, he patted it for Alina to sit. Then, and only then, he would speak, “Alive and well, Al.” She knew him well enough to know how particular he was. He wouldn’t go any deeper until she sat. Caspian Grey was a private boy and if you wanted to get him to say anything of importance, you had to absolutely make sure no one else was in ear shot distance. Even now they weren’t for certain if people were near, but it was private enough for a casual conversation. Casual was good for him. School wasn’t a place to show vulnerability, especially a school where half of the student body were complete strangers.

The quick tour of the place that Alina got while following Cas’ whims did not inspire confidence in the place to be one that had what anyone from Liberty really needed. Or wanted. It was… sad. Callie wasn’t even here to take potshots with her. But, her spirit definitely needed Alina to be here for this poor boy.

Knowing that Cas was never one to share too much if he thought there was a chance others could hear, Alina took the seat next to him on the bench and sat as close as she dared without making herself uncomfortable. There were a whole lot of things to unpack and she wasn’t sure if they were going to be done here or need some more time. “I think you’re doing better than me then, if that’s the case. Are you… all right with all this? This is a far cry from Liberty.”

“You’re not wrong. This place does need some tending to,” Caspian’s gaze followed the peeling paint of the wall in front of him. Shaking his head, he looked at his friend’s deadpan expression with optimistic hope in his eyes. Something Callie was more known for than him. “My sister would call this a beautiful mess. As he took a brief pause, his dark eyes surveyed how tired looking Alina appeared. He could only imagine how much she must be thinking about when it came to him and Niki. How worried sick she was. He worried her, and that was entirely his fault. “I can see her thrive. All she would have to do is laugh and this would be a changed place.”

Sighing to himself, he crossed his arms and leaned back in the bench, contemplating all the work he had ahead, “What other choice do we have than to be alright?” Wasting his time and energy being upset at a sudden change in his situation was not in his planned schedule. He only had time to make the most of his situation and to clean up the school as efficiently and effectively as possible so that his sister could return back home where she belonged.

“Your sis would have been all over this place from the start, that’s for sure. Hell, I’m still not sure whether or not it was her that snuck in and did up all the decorations in the main lobby,” Alina offers, forcing a chuckle as she did. “I…”

She was still struggling. There were thoughts of wanting to confront him and just yell at him for the way he handled Niki in the summer. How he let himself stay buried in his own shit and let Niki hang to dry. Left Alina to try and deal with the repercussions of everything that happened even before Callie was forced to leave. There was a soft anger there, but it was tough to tell who it was pointed at. Caspian, or herself.

And those tears that fell in her arms made it very hard to fully blame Cas. It just made everything very confusing. And there was no one Alina could ask for clarity.

So she kept stalling for now. “I don’t really know how I’m going to handle it. Niki is pretty adamant about me joining a club or something, but I don’t know. I doubt this place can even afford paint.” She stares at the wall in front of the two. “Actually, now I know they can’t.”

“I was thinking…” Caspian hesitated, taking in the woes of his friend. He knew she wanted to say more, but he also knew he didn’t give her a setting that would allow her to ‘talk’. They weren’t necessarily the most sociable individuals. So, add a public bench, some rowdy students not too far away, and it becomes an unlikely scenario for them to talk about their summers. When the time was right, they would talk. He would make sure of it.

Since she brought up possibly joining a club, he too will put his curiosities on the table. “... I was considering running for school president.” The thought of him in such a limelight position made him anxious, but he believed if he wanted to make changes for the school, fast, he needed to be part of the team that could make that happen. “Or any position on the council, really. I—” he subconsciously tapped his foot in thought, “— I need to help this school, Alina.”

Clarity definitely wasn’t coming here. Not with this sudden announcement. In all the time that she had known Cas, one thing Alina was certain of was that he wasn’t one to put himself in such a prominent position. Even adjacent to such. But that need he emphasized, in regards to the previous point of conversation, it had to be Callie. It had to be for Callie, anyway. She would have been that kind of person, instantly inserting herself into the situation to try and improve things.

That used to be me...Could I? …No…

“If that’s something you really, REALLY feel you need to do Cas, then you know I’ll help you as best as I can,” she assured him. “I don’t know how. I don’t know who I would even talk to, but I can try to help you. But…”

Help with what? You can’t even get him to talk about what happened! What is wrong with you? You’re going to let him make a fool of himself. Who in this school is going to vote for him? Probably some stuck-up queen bee bitch already buzzing around that position. This is going to be a mistake. He needs to know. He needs to know so many things! Freaking just-

Something derailed Alina’s self-destructive train of thought.

Caspian turned his attention from one Zabrecky to the other. Niki. They were exiting the building down the hall. The sound of the door abruptly opening in a relatively quiet area caught both him and Alina off guard. His foot tapped faster. If he didn’t seize this chance to get to the bottom of why Niki was ignoring him, he may never have another opportunity. He could hear his sister cheering him on and tell him he let this go on for far too long already. Turning back to his best friend, he whispered more to himself than her, “I want to try, at least,” before clearing his throat, “I need to go.” With his eyes, he gestured back to the exit, signaling his friend that he’d like to talk to her sibling. Privately.

Nothing about this damn school was helping Alina. At all. She didn’t even get the tour yet and now in addition to Cas dumping more things to worry about on top of her brain, her sibling comes tearing through into the room. That just raises further confusion. It seemed like Cas wanted to take the initiative and have the talk with Niki on his own.

“I…” she starts, then sighs and stops. ”Go. It’s fine.” She pulls out her cell phone. “I need to check my messages anyway.” It was subconsciously a message to both Cas and Niki that the second something was up, she was the lifeline. A text away. It would give her something to do. Besides look for DeShawn, anyway.

Briefly, Caspian watched her. Although his expression lacked emotion, his eyes said enough. He worried for her, just as much as she did for him. Not wanting to let his lingering gaze make her uncomfortable, more so than she probably already felt by their intimate proximity, he shook his head and stood up, “Thank you.” Not wasting another moment, he paced himself down the hall and to the exit. Before pushing it open, he closed his eyes. Inhale. Exhale.

Once more, the noise of the door opening and closing resounded in the hallway.

Alina was alone.

Maybe this is what I deserve. This is what I’m good for now. Just being left here by myself. I can’t help Niki. I can’t fucking talk to Cas. Christian and Billie are god knows where. Callie is gone. This is just it, isn’t it? This is my life. Destined to be abandoned and left as this useless husk…

...I gotta get out of here.

Not wanting to spend another minute in the depressing corridor, Alina grabbed her stuff and bolted through the doors that Niki entered through. Whatever was on that side couldn’t be worse than what was left for her here. Maybe there was someone else she could yell at.

Hah.

[Kiki is Anxious]

He was creative to say the least, and for that he earned a semblance of respect. DeVito winking back almost got a laugh from her, this was by far the weirdest way she has handled being catcalled at school, and from not wanting to burn bridges out in the open might have even found a new person to add a little more entertainment to her life while she still had very little responsibility on her shoulders. Though that’s assuming a lot of things to fall into place.

Like getting over his catcalling habits, or maybe him learning not to do that? Both unlikely, but stranger things have happened and for much less.

Things were happening quickly, as all first days often end up, time passing by in blurs. More people joined her beside Emily. Namely, a familiar face that she at first didn’t recognize, the name is lost in a sea of bad memories she had been trying to suppress for years to no avail. Obviously someone from the wicked mister years of middle school, but who exactly eluded her as she listened to the new girl talk to DeVito—

Spike.

A playful smile lit up her features as she watched the guy in question have his air of mystery, if you could call it that, was stripped away in seconds by someone who actually knew him. It was a welcomed distraction from trying to delve deeper into the dark times of her school life to grasp the dated information of the person who had joined them.

Thankfully more people would walk into the circle that Spike had created with just one catcall, mostly made up of girls. Two now, looked very familiar, but only the most recent one had jogged her memory as soon as she faced her after having a conversation with the male. Who was obviously close enough to them to know their drink order, and for them to be comfortable with how close they were.

Armintah Goh, the same girl she knew way back when the worst of their worries was what colored crayon to use for their drawings. Her name coming from her being proof enough alongside how she was just like an older version of her younger self. It didn’t go unnoticed by her that she had finally named the mystery girl, the name ringing many bells. Some of them being alarms, not that it was entirely from her.

”M-Minty?”
If Minty had checked her out, it was definitely lost to the redhead, who had done the same. Though she was more upfront with how blown away she was with how her old friend from back in grade school had changed into the beautiful young woman that stood before her now.

”Oh my god, you’ve—We definitely should catch up. You have art right?”

Juno doesn’t have much time to answer the queen bee who had cut her way through the other students to their group, and immediately made it known that she was the topmost tier of the student body for Rosefell’s hierarchy. Melissa left little room to ask questions or interject more than that and possibly might have been the straw that broke poor DeVito’s camelback, cause he was quick to skedaddled away from the growing group of females. Though not before some poor guy nearly got murdered by a woman she thought was banned from driving….

‘That poor guy-’

Spike’s car horn going off made her jump slightly and back into what felt like a wall, but the voice of Jackson quickly put her at ease and settled the growing anxiety, as he came to stand beside her. It was a relief that it was just one of her close male friends, though they hadn’t known each other as long as some of the other friends around her currently. Her expression relaxing into a jovial expression as she stood upon the tips of her toes to wrap her arms around him in a hug, her arms resting briefly behind his neck as she quietly greeted him back.

”It’s been too long, Jeong-hae Oppa.”

It took all summer to actually be able to pronounce that, but it would be worth it in the long run, she hoped at least. Pulling away to give him a bright smile, a mischievous gleam in her eyes as she quickly added, ”We should have another marathon soon.” Glossing over the small joke as she straightened herself back to standing beside him to hear the announcement from the speakers going off. Spike’s voice being played out for everyone to hear with little tidbits of information being shared, only after ending the first time did he chime in a few seconds later with a small message addressed to her with his moniker for her.

‘A well-earned point for Spike and Ike..’

Lilith soon spoke up, awkwardly or maybe Juno was just projecting that onto her, and asked about the tour. Pressing her lips into a thin line, a part of her hated how easy it was for her eyes to wander and land almost immediately on one of the two faces she didn’t want to see. It definitely affected her answer.

”Yeah, we should probably do that. Can’t use the being new excuse if I’m late since they set up the tour buddy thing.” Juno answered, her smile slightly falling as she looked back to Lilith and took a spot by the girl’s side, sending apologetic waves to her friends that were still there. ”You already know I’m Juno, but it’s nice to meet you, all things considered.”

Learning her new school should be a good enough distraction.

[KatKook]

---

"You can't just do that."

---

——————————————————
_{Rosefell High}

There was surprisingly not a lot going on in the bustling school of Rosefell academy, or at least enough that Jackson cared. He looked back at his car every now and then to see people look at it and take pictures, though it was pretty obvious that his car was not the only these Rosefellians are doing that with. He let out sigh and kept looking in the direction of his car before he heard Emily's voice asking how he was doing. Jackson had no reason to hate Emily as of right now, so the least he could do was be courteous and nice (well, as nice as Jackson can possibly be to someone he has not shared his woes to) to her. He then gave her a quick bow of acknowledgement and answered.

"I'm fine, summer's been hectic-" he then took a look around, "and this school might be just as." He stated, he looked down at Juno then back to Emily, "I see you're doing fine as well." Jackson, hoping for a response and then ending their conversation right there, after all, he was never one to keep a conversation and that was because he bad at it when he is not talking about his passion or his troubles.

Jackson gave her a quick nod and before Juno turned to him, he blinked a few times to see what type of greeting Juno was going to give him. Was it going to be loud? Is she going to slap him in the butt? Well, he'd let her. Is she going going to playfully punch his shoulders? Is it a hug? Is it going to be a greeting that will involve the acknowledgement of makeup on his face to hide the slap mark? Or- Juno's arms wrapped around his shoulders, she was struggling a bit, tiptoeing to even reach his height, now the same arms wrapped around his neck for a moment making it look like an intimate moment between a couple, before she let out the words that he would think about for the rest of the week.

”It’s been too long, Jeong-hae Oppa.”

Jackson blinked a few times to make sure he had heard that right, and once Juno pulled away he knew that what he heard was exactly correct. His face flushed a lightpink, his ears were the shade of a ripe tomato, he folded his hand and pushed it to his face, holding one side of his cheeks with his index and middle finger and the other side with his thumb held upwards.

"Y-Ya!! O-Oppa?!" He exclaimed, Jackson had never been so animated before, he was a bumbling mess, his head looking from another place to another over and over again. He moved, like any flustered person would, his hands did not stay still, his poses changed every few seconds, he truly was a mess. "Y-You-... S-So... Waaa..." he groaned in disbelief and shook his head, putting his hands to his hips, "(Kr) So unruly this one..." He then turned to her, trying to clearly hide how red his was at this point, "W-Who-Who-Who..." She moved his hands to sides of her shoulders and continued, "W-Who taught you that?" He asked, letting out a sigh, he felt his heart race and was trying to slow it down. He took a deep breath, "Juno, you can't just say that, you're going to kill me." Said Jackson.

Juno then requested another marathon at some point and Jackson approved, he needed to collect himself before he went to go find this Rico. He took a few breaths, gave Juno a wave followed by a few goodbyes to Emily and everyone else there, though he did not care too much for the latter. He then took a few steps away and towards the school to go find this Rico guy, he has no clue what he looks like but hopefully he is the least Rosefell looking kid here.

"Can you just appear in front of me?" He mumbled to himself, he brushed his hair back, and let out a sigh. Thank the heavens Juno put him a good mood, because this Rico person sounds like he might piss him off fast if he wasn't.

---

[Kiki is Anxious]

“I guess that is… acceptable.” Cael replied with a smirk that Sean matched with a beaming smile, rolling his eyes at the behavior knowing full well that he loved his cooking as much as their smaller friend who had a bottomless stomach.

Granted it took a lot to really damper his mood or hurt his feelings, something that might shock a few since he was the guy handing out flowers the first day. Well, he was offering flowers, and the new male he definitely could see Cael watching with what had been affectionately labeled as the fae gaze. Not that Christian, the only guy he knew the name of so far from Liberty, didn’t get looked over by his pastel haired friend. Something was definitely was in the water there, this amount of eye candy was a little suspicious.

Maybe he had spent too much time with Rae over the summer.

”Nah man. I’m good. Thanks though. Just not a fan of flowers.” The man of the hour was at least a good sport with letting him know that flowers weren’t his thing. He laughed along with Chris, no hard feelings to be had before gently nudging the guy with his arm.

”I get what you mean. Hope the rest of your day goes well.” Sean started off with a small wave of his hand as he began backing away, looking briefly at the clock. He couldn’t stay there much longer, not if he wanted to find his own tourist to guide and still be able to give them a good tour.

”For first days this one might be a doozy.” His last words for the trio, soon to be squad of four from the familiar face of another Rosefell student saddling up to Cael who was in his own conversation.

Spike’s announcement chimming in over head from the speakers that got a hearty laugh from him at his antics. Especially at the mention of DeVito, feeling as though he missed the context for it but still was amused by it none the less. It wouldn’t surprise him if he inadvertently quoted the famous man without meaning to.

Turning another corner to check one of the other name tag places, he was pleasantly surprised by the sight of Jo moonwalking her way away and quoting The Godfather like a legend. Even if her delivery was a little awkward, it was pretty solid. If she wasn’t so busy, it might be fun to have her participate with the Drama Club once in a while.

His brown eyes soon settled onto the girl she had been talking too, well the back of her, and put his best foot forward. Not aware that she was his Liberty Tourist, but was amicably walking up to her all the same.

”Wel-“

His hand held the rim of his hat so he could tip it when he had gotten close enough, but to his surprise was quick to find out that the girl he had been walking up to was the very same Samantha he was paired with. Thankfully the fake rose he had been reaching for was close to the real one that was meant for her and he could cover up the beginning of what would have been a less in character welcome without skipping a beat.

”-l it would seem that lady fortune is smiling on me to have found you here. I’m sorry that I couldn’t have gotten to you sooner to start our tour. It’s an awful thing to make a beautiful girl wait.” Holding out the real rose with his gloved hand, Sean was bowing slightly with his free hand coming up gesture at his name tag with a smile on his face when he straightened up.