Westcliffe - 8.45am Fall was in true swing. The temperature was dropping, leaves were changing and the landscape was changing. In a months time, winter would take its full grip and finish the transformation of the landscape. The morning frost had truly taken hold, covering the less covered paths with a thin layer of white.
The only school in the small town was located just off the main high street, down a small one way side road that tucked it neatly behind a few shops. Given the small size of the town, it only needed a single school to cover every possible grade. Even then every class comprised of multiple grades in order to cut down on the number of teachers required. The school was just opening and students were slowly making their way to classes. Given that the budget for the school was tiny, it was more of a daycare centre than an educational establishment.
Emily Dawson talking about nothing and everything was as familiar to the students of Westcliffes one and only school as the morning bell. This time, she was one of the first, if not the first, student to arrive to class. Other times she would arrive quite late, having gotten distracted by one thing or another.
On this chilly october morning, the redhead with a chin length bob, died blonde halfway down, had become obsessed with basic arts and crafts. Extremely basic arts and crafts someone might see at an elementary school. Considering not even the youngest were excluded from Emily's conversational machinegun fire, she may have even learned something of it from one of them. And learning it from them had spiralled her gleefully into late night youtube binging.
She had a stack of unsharped pencils six layers high. "Now, the trick-" she said to no one in particular. "Is to balance them on a flat surface. Sounds obvious, right? But this desk is actually a little unbalanced. So if it rolls, that's bad. That means you can't even get the pencil stack one pencil high. Then it's not a pencil stack- it's just a bunch of pencils. So that's why I put my history textbook under the chair. That way the desk is even. Took me a while to figure out it's center of gravity, though."
Then she was using colored paper to make little paper kites. Diamond shapes constructions of paper with two triangles toward the bottom, making it look like a stubby legged cartoon figure. "-and that's why a confederation of internet providers is actually a pretty good idea. A democratization of power among smaller local providers would encourage competition- maybe. Or it could just be smaller internets. I dunno! Wouldn't a Westcliffe Phone Company be so cool, though?" Before anyone could answer her, she held up one of her paper kites.
She raised her voice so that people would pay attention to her. On some level even Emily realised the utter inanity of her words and kept them low, just above a 'talking to herself' voice. But when she thought she had something cool, she wanted to share it."Look, see? This one's Denise. That one's Henry, Delilah, and there's Eli." There were about fifteen paper kite figures on her desk she had made. Almost everyone in the class had them.
They were color coded with colors that Emily thought matched their personalities. And they all had cartoon faces, with big, expressive eyes, cute noses, and single lined mouths. The Denise one was purple. She had a mischevious smile, thick, furrowed eyebrows, and a bandaid on her cheek. The Violet one had make-up on. Her eyes were half-lidded, one perfect eyebrow raised, and she had a small smile on her face.
All of them were smiling, infact, just in different ways. The biggest smile was probably Ben's paper kite, his eyes closed and tilted up like he had just heard or told a hilarious joke. Eli's wasn't looking forward, he was looking off to the side. And his eyes had thin lines drawn under them, like he had just rolled out of bed. A good natured smirk tugged at the side of his lips nonetheless. Lowell's had a pitch perfect recreation of the teethless smile that usually rested on his sharp features. Said sharp features were represented by cheek lines. Emily herself had a light blue paper kite, eyes big, wide, and sparkling. The drawings were simple for Emily was no artist, but very expressive and accurate. At least, accurate to what people projected, not what was deep inside. There was a genuine earnestness in all the cartoon faces that may not match the person they were created for. In Emily's version of reality, though, everyone was themselves, and everyone was happy.
Whenever one of the students got close enough, Emily would extend her hand outward to give them their kite figure. "Basically Orson Welles convinced, like, a bajillion people that Martians really were attacking the Earth. People sure were easy to trick back then, huh? Does anyone wanna join the Journalism club? I'm still the only member so I'm looking for a club president. I don't really wanna be president but I could be vice president." Emily asked, not even looking up to see if anyone was responding. Her sharpie seemed to have run slightly dry. She shook it back and forth before studying the tip of the pen closely. She leaned down, sniffed it, and then blinked in rapid succession, recoiling. A few moments later she was back to drawing, this time attempting to capture the likeness of their teacher.
Violet's earrings dangled; their tear-drop hearts brushing against the edges of her jaw. She tucked her hair behind her ears, trying to ensure not a thing was out of place. She had shown up to school early, given she never sleeps anyway and prefers to walk to school. It's a little less than a mile from the DeWinters estate, but Vi still could never get the timing right. Somedays, she arrived early and others- terribly late. Thankfully, the cold air got her up earlier than usual. She smiled as she entered the classroom. It was a small, demure smile that oddly matched the same expression that Emily was drawing on the kites. Her perfectly manicured eyebrows sat asymmetrical with one above the other, tentatively perched. Her nails clacked against the desk as she went to sit down in her usual spot. Second row, deadset in the middle. She was dimly aware of Emily's presence in the room, given her mutterings. Violet decided to avoid her at first, moving around her in order to get to the front. V was not ready to talk yet, and she definitely needed another few minutes of silent coffee-sipping to feel like being social.
Sitting back, she took a slow sip of her coffee, enjoying the taste. Her eyes shut. How come she could sleep in any place that wasn't her house? It was odd and incredibly frustrating. Especially when she's supposed to be a top student and also the school's socialite. At this point, she was so used to being in desperate need of energy, she made her own. And also drank copious amounts of caffeine. Violet was notorious for matching her Monster energy drink to her outfit. However, that wouldn't make an appearance until lunch. Instead, she let her stomach be warmed by the coffee. It had been a long, lonely night. More so than usual. Nightmares and odd visions had plagued her, and she ended up falling asleep resting against the tree in her garden. That was why Violet arrived at school early. It was also why she needed to drink her caramel macchiato in peace.
After ten minutes of sipping her coffee and taking a cat nap, Violet was ready to turn on the charm. Taking a deep breath or two, as her therapist taught her to when she felt overexcited, she sat up and began to rummage through her purse. She found her phone and her AirPods case, putting her headphones away, and closing the music tab she had open. She enjoyed flaunting her wealth casually, so she carried her most recent iPhone with pride. It wasn't that she wanted to brag; she wanted respect. Getting up, she moved to the desk in front of Emily and sat atop it, perched perfectly on the edge. There was no one else of interest at school yet, so she thought to warm up to the girl first. It had been awhile.
"Hey, Emily. What're you up to?" Violet smiled, serenely with her eyes slightly low-lidded.
It was the rising rays of the October sunrise peaking over the trees and streaming in through his window that woke Eli Redgrave from his fitful slumber with a stomach churning start. He had been dreaming again. It had been one of those uncanny dreams that everyone has, set in an impossible mix of familiar people and places, all taken from different places and times of a person's life, but twisted and made strange. Even still, you know what places and people are meant to be. Even if the layout is all wrong of the places is wrong. Even if you know all people are all dead.
It had been nice.
Eli shifted beneath the covers and placed a pillow over his mop of messy curls to block out the light. He tried to find his way back to being asleep. Back to that dream world where everything made sense, even if it was all wrong. But no, he guessed he was awake now. The pillow shifted to allow his dark brown eyes to peer out into the slowly brightening room.
It was a mess. It was always a mess. The light crept over mounds of unwashed laundry that littered the floor, collections of half drunk glasses and mouldering plates accumulating on every raised surface. A series of fist sized holes on the drywall beside his bed. The window was bare, no curtains graced the rail that sat above it. When did that happen? Did he tear the down curtains? Why did he tear the curtains down? Still it gave him a nice view of the sunrise.
There's something mournful about autumn sunlight. Even the sunrises. Its almost as if the knowledge of the shortening days, the dying of the year, taints it. So even though its supposed to be a hopeful, happy thing, a new day, you can't help but shake the underlying sadness. No more than sadness, terror. The underlying terror of another sunrise of another dying die.
Wait, sunrise?
"Shit."
School. He was going to be late.
Eli leapt out of bed into the chill air of the unheated bedroom. He grabbed some clothes from the floor that didn't smell to badly worn and threw them on as quickly as possible. He went to open the door and as he did so caught sight of a pattern of mottled bruises that ran up his forearm. Can't go into school like that. He turned back to the floor of his room until he found a shapeless grey pullover that would hide the marks. Better.
Out of the bedroom door and down the creaking wooden stairs (always remember skip the third from the bottom because its too loud) and into the the hallway. Through the archway that led into the sitting room to his left he could hear snores and the white noise of the T.V tuned to a dead channel. Uncle Hank was still asleep. That was good.
Instead of going left he crept along the unvarnished boards to the back of the house, where the kitchen was. There was a door between the kitchen and the sitting room, it was safer. The kitchen smelled of cigarette smoke and of the scummy stagnant dish water that still filled the sink. From the number of fresh empty bottles stacked along the sideboard Eli judged that his uncle should be sleeping soundly for sometime yet.
He opened one of cupboards to pull out a half empty box of some cheap own brand cereal, leaving it otherwise bare. He rinsed a bowl and a spoon beneath the cold tap and filled it with his breakfast. From the rusting refrigerator Eli retrieved a carton milk, but as soon as he went to pour it he could smell the tell tale sour stench that it was long gone off.
"Shit."
He ate his cereal with water instead.
When it was gone, Eli snuck back into the hall to retrieve his bag. He was about walk out of the back door onto the rotting back porch, when something peaking between the empty beer bottles caught his eye. A carton of cigarettes, only a few gone, his uncle must have bought it on his way home last night. He hesitated at the door.
Eli knew he shouldn't, if his uncle realised, he would be mad and that was not a good thing. On the other hand, if that bastard had bought milk instead once in a while, maybe I wouldn't hate him so much. He reached into the carton and took a handful of cigarettes and shoved them into his backpack, save one.
On the porch he stuck a match against one of the faded and leaning white washed posts. He cupped the flame to the cigarette that dangled from his lips. In weed choked driveway there sat his uncle's truck and his own ride for this morning, a rusted and dented mountain bike. Eli mounted up and took another drag on the cigarette, puffing smoke into cold autumn sunshine.
It was only a few miles into town. He wouldn't be too late.
She wasn’t used to it. For Denise, her New York mornings were a tad chaotic; a stark comparison to the last few days. The stillness and quiet was somewhat unnerving simply because it left her alone with her thoughts. But as with most things, it was only a matter of time before she got used to it. Of course, by then, she’d probably be heading back to the city. That would be her luck.
"Honey, breakfast's ready!"
That was her Auntie Helen calling her downstairs. That too was something she wasn't used to. She did eat home-cooked meals as Lydia, her parents' personal aide, cooked more often than not. However, here, nobody paid her aunt to prepare a meal, and Denise loved this new, yet familiar, ambiance. She got up from the guest bed, that which was surprisingly comfortable. "Be down in a sec!" She looked around for a minute, not being able to find the clothes she had picked out the previous night. Denise knew for a fact she had prepared her outfit. It was her first day of school and she did not want to be late amongst other things. She wasn't going to be that individual. "Damn, where are my clothes?" Denise cursed under her breath, slightly worried that her grandmother may be listening in on her even though the door was closed. But she really respected her and valued her opinion. She always did whenever she was around her. "There you are!"
She had looked inside the closet and found them there amongst some of her other belongings, but the girl could have sworn she had hung them behind the door the previous night. Denise simply shrugged her shoulders, hurrying up the process so she could go downstairs. It would be her first morning there without her parents, though they were barely present back in New York so it didn't make much of a difference. Eventually, Denise emerged from the bedroom and headed downstairs to meet her relatives. She was hungry, there was no denying the fact, but her smile faded when she entered the kitchen. Her aunt's smile faded just as quickly.
"I'm sorry, I thought I'd change it up today with your parents being gone and all." Helen grabbed the small towel that was draped over her shoulder and began wiping down the counter space in front of her.
"Oh, it's fine," she forced a smile, "I'm just lactose intolerant." Denise was hungry, but there was no way she was eating that grilled cheese before school. She couldn't blame her aunt, it's not like she knew. "Listen, don't worry about it. You can have the extra grilled cheese and I'll just grab something on the go."
"Oh honey, are you sure?"
Denise smiled, walking up to her aunt and giving her a quick kiss on her cheek. "Absolutely. See you after school!"
Denise didn't give her much of a chance to respond and walked towards the front door. Her grandmother usually joined them for breakfast and she would have said her goodbyes to her as well, but she figured she was busy.
Once she closed the front door, Denise put in her headphones and began walking to school.
"There! A another perfect art piece" Ben say in pride as he looks at his new art piece, the graffiti art shows a toy monkey but the cymbals has spikes on them. Ben has been doing graffiti art ever since he was in middle school, he and his buddies would around town and making great art, sure he still do it in the town of Westcliffe but instead of cops leaving be, this town cops would spray it down, that why he would take a picture of them, that way, he wouldn't repeat the same art piece again.....Ben sometimes wonder how everyone is doing back home. The thoughts of nostalgia have been halted however, when Ben hear footsteps of the town cop "Hey! You!" "Shit!" without hesitation, Ben quickly put his hoodie on and dash through the cop!
Ben past through many stores and many people, trying to outrun the cop but with him being like in mid fourtys and Ben being young, he can outrun him no problem. After a few minutes, Ben look back to see that the cop is no where to be found, it looks like he lost the copper "Still got it, Ben. Still got it" Ben say with relief.....Oh shit, is today Monday? Does he have school?....Ben groans, of course he does, how come this town time zone so damn fast? Ben guess he have no choice, he either skip he and deal with the yelling from his parents or go to school and deal yelling from the teachers....Ben sigh "Off to school I guess..." As he took one step to go to school, a kid on a rusted bike zoom straight pass him, almost running over him or his foot "Hey! Watch where you are riding, you asshole!" Ben yelled at the biker, this is going to be a long day.
In terms of charmer to charmee, Violet warming up to Emily was like using a flamethrower to light a firecracker. Emily saw Violet enter the room while she was drawing and stacking pencils. As Violet approached, Emily initially assumed the heiress was going to walk right past her. She went to grab her Violet paper kite to try and hand it to her as she passed. But much to her surprise, Violet decided to stop by and have a chat.
"-one hundred percent caffeine power can trigger a fatal overdose, even in small amounts. That's true for most things. If you eat too much salt you dry up and if you drink too much water that's called drowning. Kinda morbid, huh?" It seemed that Emily had noticed Violet's coffee and had latched onto it. "Teens should really only be drinking 100mg a day, and-" At this point her mutterings were cut off by the heiresses perfect entrance. Her mouth gaped and she looked up at the blonde with wide eyes.
"Oh...hi, Violet! What...what am I up to? I'm..." Her hands grasped for a paper kite, finding Violet's...violet colored image. "I'm up to my ears in paper kites, that's what!" She laughed, snorting at her own 'pun.' She looked Violet up and down, taking in everything the heiress probably wanted her too. The wealth and the aesthetics and the everything. Needless to say, Emily was impressed. Her own outfit was a light blue hoodie, a few bracelets, and jeans with holes in the knees. Her own phone was a clam shell that flipped open with satisfying clacks.
"Did you want yours? I made it special." She held it out at arms length, lining up her drawing with Violet's actual face. She giggled proudly when they saw that they matched. "Sorry if you don't like the smell of sharpie. I didn't think to not use sharpie, I should have used dry erase markers instead. But the good news is the paper kite drawing won't ever ever fade." She explained.
Violet smiled, oddly charmed by Emily's antics. It would be very easy to make fun fo the odd-ball for her constant spewing of factoids, but Vi was feeling nice today. She had her morning coffee, and she had enough odd occurrences last night to enjoy Emily's. She listened to the facts about caffeine, remarking to herself mentally about how she should probably not to drink her afternoon Monster. Setting her coffee down on the desk, Violet delicately flattened out her pants and pulled at her sleeves. Once everything was in check, she looked out of the corner of her eye to see the paper kit. Turning to look at it closer, she plucked it out of Emily's hand.
"Oh that's cool, girlie." She studied the kite closer, seeing that Emily got everything right, down to her makeup. It was actually pretty remarkable, given how much detail Emily captured in such a small space. For once, the genuine side of Violet peaked through, and she took a second to joke with the other girl. "Thank you so much, this is lovely. I love the sharpie," she smiled.
Setting it in her lap softly, Violet looked at Emily's desk and saw there were more paper kites. "Did you make one for everyone in class?" To say that Vi was touched by the drawing was an understatement, given it brought out the curious side of her that rarely made an appearance. Usually, Violet was only tolerant of others, maintaining a certain amount of separation and coldness. Instead, she leaned closer to Emily, trying to get a closer look at all the little drawings.
Ben finally made it to school safely without any cops seeing him, they don't know every shortcuts that Ben use regularly. As he approach the school, he spots some familiar faces, all of them, including him, are now seniors, while everyone is sad that their high school year is almost over, Ben however, is happy. He always want to get out of this sleepy town and go back to his old one, hell, he could travel a bit, see everything, become a artist....And hoping to get sweet money from it.
"There you are" Ben groans as he hear a familiar and yet annoying voice of his younger sister, Luna, who is a junior "Where were you this morning? I was about to wake you up but you were gone" "Awwwww, little Luna taking care of me now?" Ben says jokingly "As you much know, sis, I want to school pretty early this time. I thought I could I walk around the school, you know, seeing this place one last time" Ben lie and Luna knows it and she knows what he been doing "Let me see your hands" "......No." Luna then grab Ben wrist and try to pull them out of his pocket "Let me see your hands!" "No! Stop it! This is assault! Assault!" As two battle it like it the weirdest version of tag of war, students watch the siblings as this is a regularly thing, the Ruiz siblings are going at it again. Luna finally pull Ben hand out and see it cover of paint "I knew it! You were graffitiing again!" Luna angrily yell, Ben shush her up "Shhhh! Shut up, you don't want me to be arrest in front of the school and ruin your reputation now, do ya? And don't worry, I wore my hooded, they didn't see my face" Ben say "Still! That bad! And you know th-" "Go tell mama and papa for all I care. This is my last year and after this is over, I am out of here. Enjoy your next year while I drink with the boys back home" With that being say, Ben angrily walk past his sister and into class, just waiting for this day to end.
As he walk into the classroom, he spot some students that he kind of remember, DeWinter Heiress, Violet Heiress and the class blondie, Emily Dawson. It seems that the girls are talking about caffeine and then talk about paper kites, he doesn't get girls sometimes but at least Emily paper kites looks good "Did you made one for me?" Ben casually say to Emily, class hasn't start, so Ben is just going to talk to some sort of friends
The walk to school wasn't all that long, well, compared to what she was used to in the past. On the way there, Denise decided to grab a hot chocolate. Not the most filling of breakfasts, but if it didn't hold her until lunch then she'd simply find something else to snack on. She crossed the street to walk onto the school grounds, and once she was safely on the sidewalk she stopped. New school, new faces, new problems... Deep down, Denise wondered whether she had made the right choice by "running away"; it was something she found herself wondering every now and then. She pulled out her phone and scrolled down the contact list, biting her bottom lip. Not one person she could consider a close friend. Aside from family members to include some distance cousins, she practically had no one. The one friend who'd been through it all with Denise prior to her getting mixed with the wrong crowd stopped talking to her, and rightfully so.
Denise sighed, putting the phone away and grabbing the printout from her bag. She took a good look at the building and found it much smaller than she was expecting. She figured the class listed on the paper wouldn't be all that hard to find. With that thought in mind, she made her way inside.
As predicted, it didn't take long for the girl to find the room. She stopped at the doorway for a moment before walking inside, having picked out a spot near the wall. Avoiding any sort of eye contact, Denise quietly made her way to her seat, hoping she wouldn't have to stand in front of the class and introduce herself the same way she had seen new students do so in the past.
The bike ride to school had been somewhat frenetic, through largely uneventful save for when Eli had almost ran over some other kid wearing a hooded sweatshirt who had unexpectedly stepped out in front of him. He hadn't got a good look at his face, but had heard what sounded like angry yells emitting in his wake. Westcliffe wasn't a large town, he probably knew who it was, and they probably knew him, they were probably in the same class. Oops. I should probably try to not accidentally kill one of my classmates. Especially not this time of year... He set that grim thought aside, and pedalled harder.
He rode along the 'quaint' tree lined main street of Westcliffe, past the handful of mom-and-pop stores that had been run by the same families for generation on generation, finally stopping in front of the old schoolhouse. He chained his bike to the gently rusting set of cast iron railings that lined the school's grounds and considered taking the time to sneak one last cigarette, before disregarding it, and heading inside.
Eli went to his locker first, he kept an emergency pack of breath mints in there for mornings just like this. As he fumbled with the lock, his eyes involuntarily drifted to the locker two doors down from his own. The name tag on it still hadn't been changed. Even after a whole year. Almost two now.
Alex.
He couldn't remember how many times they had stood here, talking and joking as they prepared to head into class together. He missed his brother all the time, but in that moment it wasn't sadness that hit him, but rage. Rage with a sudden intensity he was totally unprepared for. Two years. Two years! How could he have gone and left him for two years with that fucking bastard?! He had relied on him. He had depended on him... they had depended on each other.
Unless. The thought slipped into his mind unbidden, like a serpent. Unless, he didn't choose to leave, and someone took him away from me. He shook that vile secret from his head, took a deep breath, and headed into class - wearing a smile.
It had made it in time, class hadn't started yet. He walked in to see a knot of his fellow classmates gathered around Emily's seat, amongst them Ben Ruiz and Violet DeWinter herself, heiress to the 'noble' and 'venerable' DeWinter dynasty. Eli had a natural dislike of DeWinters, but amongst the clan he supposed he disliked Violet the least, despite her being somewhat stuck up in his opinion. He liked Emily, she was weird and more than a touch naive (despite being older than him), but she was nice and almost kinda... cool, he guessed? Ben was fun, if at times something of an idiot. He instantly recognised the hoodie that Ben was wearing.
"Goddam it señor Ruiz, if I knew it had been you, I wouldn't have swerved earlier, I would have run you straight down y'know?" He playfully slapped Ben on the arm with a wild grin. As soon as he finished he turned to Violet and offered her an overly dramatic and sardonic bow. "Good morrow to you, Miss DeWinter, we are eternally grateful to be graced by your graceful presence. And Emily, my oh my, isn't someone popular today?"
Eli glanced around him after he had spoken. He hated himself for doing it, but his eyes went automatically to Alex's empty seat, the one near the back of the classroom by the wall. But this time, it wasn't empty. Eli was so surprised that for a moment he thought it was Alex, just sat there as if nothing had happened. But no, it wasn't Alex, of course it wasn't Alex. There was a girl sitting there, about their age, with long blonde hair. He didn't know who she was, which was weird, since Eli knew pretty much everyone in Westcliffe.
"Damn guys... I know I've been off for a few days, but what did I miss? Who's she?"
Before waiting for Emily's response, she looked at Ben. "It seems so," she said with a small smile. It was demure but sweet enough to seem genuine.
Violet looked at the kite one last time before looking behind her to see the subject Elijah was discussing. "That's the new girl. Denise." She said it casually like it was old news to her. In a way, it was. Vi was always in the know about things of this nature. Hilda had mentioned to her that Mrs. Covington was inviting her granddaughter to come to stay with her. After a little bit of digging, Violet became very familiar with the girl's past, particularly that they were of somewhat similar economic status. Still, she held no ill will toward Denise and she was dimly aware of how obvious it was that she was spreading rumors. So, she added, "Though, that's just what the random internet nobodies say about her."
Vi made eye contact with Elijah. "She's a rich girl from New York, perhaps here because of some sort of disciplinary problem. Maybe drug abuse? Who knows." So maybe she had no basis for that last suggestion, but a few rumors wouldn't hurt Denise. Besides, she didn't need anyone on-upping her place as the revered heiress. "You know, Eli, if you were to come out from that rock you live under, you might be able to keep up." Though she tried to simply tease the boy, given she was a little sweet on him despite their family's histories, it came out snarky.
Looking back into Eli's eyes, she continued. "Not to mention, all you have to do is ask the girl who she is and be friendly." This time, Violet managed to be a little softer in her tone. She was attempting to be friendly, though it was obviously not her specialty.
Swiveling on the desk, she turned towards the general direction that Denise was. "Hey there, you, new girl- what brings you to this podunk town where the most interesting element we bring is our murder rate per capita?" She opted to not joke about the witchy rumors, though she would in the past. It was only now as weird things began occurring in a higher frequency that she began to question the validity of those rumors. Though, perhaps it would've been better to mention that, given present company. She looked at Eli out of the corner of her eye, clearing her throat a little. Though Alex wasn't found dead, she was aware that going missing at the Festival is not the ideal way to run off.
"Wait...That was you? Shit, sorry that I swear at ya but gonna watch where you are going, psicópata. I was almost flat like a pancake" Ben say to Eli with a chuckle. He and Eli have been friends ever since he and his family move into Westcliffe, He was hesitant at first for making new friends but he and Eli hit it off pretty well. Ben have been with Eli after his brother, Alex, disappeared one night of the Halloween Festival, He and Eli never talk about it but he does get the feeling that Eli does want to say something, Ben guess that he coping mechanism was being a bad kid like him, after all, the two wants to leave Westcliffe more then anything, even though they have their different reasons.
Eli then ask the group who that new girl was, that new girl was name Denise Coven....Conan?...Cronen? Ehhh doesn't matter to Ben, she is just the new kid in town and probably a new murder victim. Ben chuckle to Violet remark toward Eli "Yeah, I also hear that she is living with her aunt and her grandmother" Ben added, he does have to admit, words spread like wild fire in this Halloween loving town. "Yeah Eli, all we have to do is ask the girl who she is and be friendly. But let's be honest, she's way out of our league...And by our, I mean you" Ben joke to Eli with a chuckle as he sit down on his desk but that chuckle turns into awkward silence when Violet mention murders and looking at Eli.
"Guys, I think you'll find I am the friendly one. Unlike the gossips and outright liars I find myself surrounded by! Eli pointed at Violet and Ben respectively as he feigned mock outrage and rolled his eyes. He was only joking, but there was some truth to it in his eyes, especially in Violet's case. Repeating rumours of someone you hadn't even met yet? That was hardly friendly in Eli's eyes, he knew the destructive power that rumours held, especially in a small town like Westcliffe. He was still dealing with plenty of his own.
The other things she said hurt as well, 'come out from that rock you live under', like Violet understood how someone like him lived. Miss Violet DeWinter, heir to the rich and powerful DeWinter dynasty, who had every want and need catered for since she was just a child. Immaculately dressed, expensive coffee in hand. In that moment he hated her. Hated everything her and the DeWinters stood for. Even though they were supposed to be 'friends'.
Breathe.
He didn't want to make a scene, like he had he the early days when Alex had disappeared. He didn't want to let them know it got to him. He didn't want to seem weak. He was fine by himself, he was just fine.
There was an awkward lull in the conversation after Violet called the new girl, Denise over. Ben's chuckle died down, and Violet herself coughed and glanced at Eli. He caught her eye in return, and offered her something of a small, sad smile. When he spoke it was soft, but serious.
As Ben had asked for one of Emily's kites, the blond girl obliged. Violet answered for her, so Emily only nodded quickly. At least for a moment. She felt the need to re-iterate. "Uh-huh, I did." She handed it to Ben.
"Hello, Eli!" She waved quickly, responding friendily. "I am popular today. Everyone is standing around my desk. I should make paper kites more often." She glanced down as she completed the last one. Her voice became lower as she started talking to herself. "Probably not. Diminishing returns. Nobody wants three paper kites of their own face, right? Maybe I should try origami...origami just means 'paper folding'. Doesn't sound as interesting or as exotic, I guess, if we just called it paper folding. I wonder what kind of English words Japanese people use to sound foreign and interesting?"
As she spoke, Denise showed up. She murmered to herself, eyes widening, as Violet saw fit to pick on Eli. And she was saying unkind things about Denise, aswell. Emily wasn't sure what to do about it. She murmered to herself about origami for a few more moments.
"...Per capita, the murder rate of Westcliffe is nine times the national average. But our crime rate per capita is one fourth of the rest of the nation. W-weird, huh? But, I, uh, disagree about it being the most interesting thing. I think our festivals are really something neat. They're really well put together. The whole town shows up! Our biggest one, the Halloween festival, is only 12 days away." She explained. Perhaps she was saying these things for Denise's benefit, or perhaps she just couldn't help herself. She bit her lower lip. They were talking about crime rates, and now Emily had brought up the Halloween festival. She didn't want to upset Eli, or anyone else. But there was really only one thing to talk about, now. Every year someone disappeared.
"E-every..." Emily shut herself up, biting down hard on her lower lip. "D-d...mmh..." Fingers clenching, she forced herself onto another subject.
"H-hey, Denise. I m-made you a paper kite. It has your face on it." She said in a whisper, reaching out from her desk. She waggled it in the air, beckoning Denise to reach out and take it. Eli's paper kite had also been pushed towards the edge of Emily's desk towards the young man.
Vi swallowed hard at Eli's words. She knew what she had said was unkind; part of her wanted to push his buttons. It at least kept his interest, though even she couldn't deny she was acting like a little boy on a playground. Would Eli's parents say she's just being mean because she likes him? If so, Violet would want to punch either of them. While it may be true, it's not like it's okay. She's just not at a place where she can really work to change things.
"Sorry..." she mumbled, turning her eyes downward. Eli's words and Ben's addition to the awkward silence forced her to confront the faux pas she just committed. She tried to clear her throat again. "I didn't mean to..."
This was always where Violet got herself into trouble. Being blissfully unaware of her cruel remarks made her plow through conversations, letting her come out on top. Today was not the day for her to do this, however, and it only made her falter. The "DeWinter Heiress" persona was off for today, and how ironic was it for a Redgrave to bring it out?
Focusing her attention on Emily and hoping to move past her little moment, she looked at Denise's kite. "Aw that's so cute!" was all she said. Needless to say, it was hard for Vi to recover from such a thing.
He could see Violet was trying to make things better. She was thoughtless, yes, but Eli knew she wasn't a bad person deep down. It didn't mean it hadn't hurt though. He just wished he could handle it better. Why couldn't he, after two years? He thought he had been getting stronger, getting tougher, but maybe he wasn't. Maybe he was just as weak as he had always been.
In the background Eli could hear Emily stumble her way through the crime statists of Westcliffe followed by a brief discussion of the festival. He didn't mind, he knew it was probably her way to deal with moments like these. Fill the silence with words.
"It's okay, I know... I just... Never mind." Eli turned away from Violet and noticed the the kite on the edge of Emily's desk. He reached out and picked it up. He looked at his likeness, the tired eyes glancing off to the side, the smirk. It looked evasive, apt. "Thanks, Emily."
Eli stepped away from the group and walked further back to where he seat was in the room. As he passed the new girl, Denise, he briefly spoke to her.
"Anyway, nice to meet you Denise, I'm Eli. See you around, yeah?" With a small wave of his hand, Eli took his seat and waited for their teacher to begin.
The awkwardness in the classroom has die down when Violet went quiet, to be honest, Ben doesn't get the big deal of rivalry between Redgraves and DeWinters. All they do is fight over mines, mines! Were mines back then danger hazard? Like cancer and explosions and stuff from what Ben hear in history class, it seem that old rivalry have been pass down to Eli and Violet, Ben wouldn't be surprise if one of these days, those two would kill each other.
Ben then look at Emily desk and see some of the kite, a one that looks like him, he smiles at it and at Emily. He doesn't know Emily that much but she's pretty cool, Ben and Luna mom did say to treat people who are different with kindness, like his cousin Lucas. Ben watch as Eli introduced to the new girl, Ben realize, he didn't introduced to her and as class is about to start, he should make it quick....And charming "And I am Ben Ruiz, called me later, Yorker~" Ben say to the new girl with a wink, still got smooth moves, Ben, still got it.
The High School teacher would come into the room and beckon everyone into their seats, and thus a whole new day of learning had started. The day went by fairly quickly and uneventfully and the end of the school day was no upon them. They group had the entire evening to themselves.
The town was fairly quiet today. With the festival so close now, many had began to prepare, as well as gossip and murmur. There we those who were taking bets on who would disappear or get murdered this time, and everyone gave Violet a wide berth or were overly nice, scared she might call down the curse on them.
Once school was let out, Vi walked home solely to drop off her things. The physical movement made her body temperature rise, so she took off her sweater. Her shoulders were a tad cold, but all that mattered was that she wasn't stinking up her clothes by sweating. She knew how her dad would feel about that.
Walking up the steps of the manor, Violet went to open the large, antique door when Hilda opened it for her. She was in her maid's outfit, even though Vi had told her years ago it wasn't necessary. Most days, Hilda ventured to wear regular clothes, but when she didn't, V knew why. Her father had finally left his cave for more than three minutes, which mean everything had to be perfect. It also meant she'd have to gracefully shoo away any of his guests. Particularly if they were his creepy business partners.
"Come on, girlie. I have things to do and you need to vamoose," Hilda said to her as she pulled Vi inside.
Hilda was always looking out for Vi, and she appreciated the extra assistance in hiding from her father and whoever was over today. The maid shooed her upstairs, saying, "Get your stuff in your room and grab whatever you need to head out." She grabbed Violet's hand, placing her father's credit card in her hand. "Go crazy," she winked.
Violet smiled, a little more evil than necessary. "My pleasure." She didn't have the heart to tell Hilda that she already had Mr. DeWinter's American Express in her purse. She supposed she'd just have to rack up a charge on both... though perhaps not in town.
Everyone already knew of Violet's wealth. It was pretty moot to flash it unless she were to go into one of her favorite little boutiques. Mentally, Vi made a list of things she could do as she put her things in her room. On her bed, her cat named Louis sat. She scratched his head, plopping a little kiss on his forehead. Putting her father's credit card and a small paperback copy of Emma by Jane Austin in her purse, she slung it across her shoulder and folded her sweater over it and through the strap. Making her way out of her room, Vi stopped for only a moment to reapply her ruby red lipstick and to tuck one side of her hair out of her face. Then, she shut the door behind her and snuck down the stairs. From the front door, she saw her father just around the corner. Next to him, in the parallel loveseat, balding Mr. Gooseneck sat. Making a faux gagging face, Vi opened the door and left with a clack.
The town was quiet, and she noticed that everyone was avoiding her. When she went into the small coffee shop, the cashier simply pushed the money towards her instead of handing it to her. Violet narrowed her eyes, turning into a snake. She felt ten feet tall.
"It's just a fucking rumor." She didn't mince her words. "At least I'm not working a good-for-nothing barista job where shit like this happens," That's when she took the sugar dispenser and dumped it all over the floor. She dropped the container on the ground, hearing it clang. "It's almost like I'm just an heiress who's capable of a tantrum," she said with a calm smile though her eyebrows were arched like a queen's.
"Now, thanks for the cappuccino. Have a lovely day!" she said with a sickenly sweet tone as she set a hundred on the counter, hoping the money would make up for her tantrum. The bell rang as she left the shop.
She felt her cheeks inflame. Every year, the adults of the town treated her like this. Like she was some sort of deadly creature who had the touch of a monster. Perhaps it was an actual curse that she carried. It didn't stop Violet from seething. She was already an outsider due to monetary reasons, now there's this whole murder rumor that follows her every Halloween. It was bad enough that any sympathy she had for prior victims was moot and useless. Everyone was going to see her the way her family was built to be seen.
Sitting on a bench surrounding the fountain, Vi tried to calm down and sip her coffee. She opted to observe the town from afar, people-watching instead of participating.
