AlteredTundra

cancelled.

Okay, that means I'm out.
It's now 3 pm PST & 6 pm EST - which means it's midnight over here... that means all discussions on lore & chit chat will take place while I am in my bed... (single parent with full time day job)

Guess I'll have to go look for a European version of the Guild... #sad

@Dutchess Sarah

It honestly depends on the time people are active. I've been in chats where all the good shit happens early morning for me. Sometimes people can't sleep, so they chat on discord. It's not always a set time for things.

So, I don't think you'll miss out on that much. Plus, uh, we are also a bunch of insomniacs so there's a lot of random spurts of chit chat activity.

Meadow University

_{A @metanoia & @BitchTheFuck Collaboration
featuring Theodore Bonfamille & Fiona Salvador}

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Fiona could have sworn that she sat down at a table by herself, but as luck would have it, it no longer appeared that way. Looking up from her textbook, Fiona found herself looking at a familiar, handsome face. One whose name she didn’t know, but yet…

”Fiona, yes,” she said, reaching out for a handshake. ”Salvador works too.” The Universe is being the funny thing that it was, Fiona realized in that moment where she recognized the young man sitting across from her from. ”You’re Theo, right? The second part of the reason why my scholarship is in jeopardy?”

“Half the reason, but yeah,” Theo confirmed, reluctantly nodding. If this was what his life was going to be like now, he might have to prepare himself for it. At least, for the time being, it seemed Fiona wasn’t thinking about clobbering him. He could think of a few that might actually do it if they had their way. “If you want to hit me, try and aim for my left cheek. It’s the side of my face that’s not as bruised up,” Theo laughed, hoping a sense of humor might earn him some forgiveness. Then again, he didn’t know if Fiona was the type to hit first and ask questions later.

Unable to help herself, Fiona smirked at his comment, putting her hand back in her lap. ”No worries. My GPA is decent enough, I don’t play any sports…. And I don’t think the probation would threaten my music. At least not in any way that I can currently think of.” Brushing her hair behind her ear, the young woman continued to speak. ”I didn’t mean to just… force myself into your personal space or whatever but now that I’m here…. Mind telling me the story of how the fight started? You don’t have to. I’m just curious and have nothing else to do until class starts.”

How exactly would he explain the series of events that led to him and Cass throwing hands? It wasn’t like there was an easy way to say ‘well I got jealous and attacked someone for messing with this girl who isn’t my girlfriend but someone I have a crush on’ and not paint himself as the villain in this story. And maybe he was. His temper and inability to keep said temper in check led to a domino effect that currently has him regretting all of his choices that night. Of course there were other things on his mind but how he could’ve prevented himself from tackling Cassian Lee to the ground was at the top of his list.

“Well…” Theo’s voice trailed off as he hummed thoughtfully, biting his raised right thumb. “The short version is I got jealous of a situation that may or may not have been what I thought it was. The long version is a bit more complicated,” he admitted.

Nodding her head as she pursed her lips in thought, Fiona just shrugged her shoulders in a somewhat understanding matter. ”Believe it or not, I understand. Not… personally, but my younger sister tends to have some problems with the whole jealousy thing as well.”

Theo didn’t want to laugh, but one escaped his lips. “Sorry. I’m just trying to picture my own little sister, who is really just a few minutes younger than me since she’s one of two twins I have, but she’s…” Theo had to find the right words to describe Mads. “She is an uptight, stuck up, literal princess who, thank whatever God exists, didn’t inherit the temper I have.” Theo laughed again, but now he was thinking about what his little sister would look like when she’s trying to be angry. “Suffice to say, she is nothing like me in that regard.” Theo hated when he rambled on but sometimes he couldn’t help it.

Laughing herself, Fiona shook her head. ”No need to apologize, really. As it turns out I’m sort of the calmest kid. Apparently, my parents both used to be real fiery back in the day, and my siblings seemed to inherit that more than me. Billie, most of all. Nick just ended up with dads uh…. Playboy ways.” Not able to focus on studying at the moment, Fiona closed her book before putting it back in her bag. ”Siblings are funny, huh? I kinda helped raise mine in a way, so I just hope they both turn out to be decent at least.”

He forced out a laugh, wondering what it was like to have siblings younger than you that also didn’t share your same birthday. The longer he remained on that train of thought, the more it became apparent to him that Theo didn’t exactly feel like having two younger twins was necessarily a bad thing. Mads was a pain and she could be clingy, but there was nothing about her he would change. He felt the most protective over her due to the fact she was the most innocent of the three. Bastien was moody and he could usually be an easy target, but Theo knew he could handle himself. But Theo would be remiss if he didn’t worry about his pianist of a brother. His mouth was often the reason why Theo was like a hawk watching over him because it led him into situations not even Bas could anticipate.

“That’s all one could ever hope for,” Theo mused, cracking a smile as he fell on Fiona’s eyes. He wasn’t sure why now he was just noticing, but Fiona was incredibly...hot. Regardless of whatever he felt for Mac, or if whatever chances he had still existed, he was a single guy and Fiona was easy enough to talk to. Not to mention, they both understood the double-edged sword of being the oldest. “If you’re still interested, I can tell you how I got my scars. Might be nice telling it to someone who doesn’t want to bash my brains in.” And right, Theo didn’t know who would befriend or foe, especially when they figure out the not-hard-to-grasp mystery of the angry ginger.

”I mean, I have no reason to be mad at you, I guess. We have whoever leaked the video and the administration to be mad at. Whoever leaked the video has it coming though, let me tell you. But yeah. No worries about me wanting to beat you half to death or anything. So uh… go for it!” she said enthusiastically.

Fiona had the tendency to ramble on, especially when meeting someone remotely new. Her parents had taught her that first impressions meant everything, and to say that the lesson had stuck with her was an understatement. Sometimes talking could be a bad thing, sometimes it could be good. It was still too early to tell with Theo.

So Theo did. He told Fiona about his entire experience at the Bash. He mentioned he arrived with his two siblings and unintentionally left them to their own devices as he almost went to talk to Mac but instead went to his immediate right where his best friend, Connor, was at. Theo explained that Connor was a hell of a wiz with computers and did all of the IT work for his website. He would go onto mention how he played a few games of beer pong with Connor and how they were joined by Mackenna Diedrikson and Alaric Sterling and how it was originally supposed to be just a 2v2 game of Beer Pong, but then Cassian Lee showed up and the domino effect that followed resulted in Theo tackling him, in Cassian getting his licks in before being taken off by that Lola Russo bitch.

“And, that’s basically it,” Theo said, rubbing his temples with his left index finger and thumb. Just talking about that whole night, at least of what he experienced, reminded him of the giant headache it became. “That's the reason why we’re all on academic probation and why, to most when they figure it out, I’ll have a matching set of bruises all over this damn body of mine.” He laughed but given some of the people at this school, with one command, certain people could make that happen.

Fiona listened patiently, taking mental notes as Theo talked. She heard familiar names, but no one she was to close with. Of course she knew of people's reputations around Meadow, but she wasn’t about to sit here and silently judge them for it. Despite that fact, Fiona couldn’t ignore the fact that he was the one that jumped Cassian - and not the other way around. Knitting her eyebrows ever so slightly, Fiona simply nodded when Theo was done baring his soul.

”Well, whatever Cas did exactly to earn getting jumped - I’m sure you had a good reason. It honestly sounds like a huge mess, and I’m kinda glad I didn’t go now - no matter how much Dee begged me.”

In his heart of hearts, Theo wanted to say he was justified but retrospect provided a lot of perspective. He regretted doing it in front of Mac, but not actually giving Cassian a piece of his mind. That, at the very least, was something Theo didn’t feel any inkling of guilt for. “Well, I’m sure there will be plenty of opportunities for you to make bad choices and regret some of them.” He laughed, feeling his phone vibrate in his pocket. “I mean, if there will ever be a time to take chances with what we should or shouldn’t do, now’s the time, right?” Theo said, glancing at his phone for a quick second. He saw he got a text from Shi, which he read a moment later.

And that’s when he had just remembered something important.

“Shit,” Theo cursed, smacking his forehead. “Hey, so sorry to do this but a friend of mine is waiting for me at the bean and I completely forgot. But uh, thanks for not jumping my bones for all of this.” The ginger smiled at Fiona, standing up. “We should definitely hang out more often. I’m staying at that obnoxiously-large manor in town. Bonfamille Manor on top of the hill.”

Checking her phone for the time, Fiona quickly stood up herself. After gathering her things, she turned and smiled at Theo. ”Don’t worry. Whenever I get the urge to make one of those extremely bad decisions, I’ll be sure to come toss rocks at the windows or something. Maybe you can talk me out of it. Or encourage me. Either way. In the meantime - I gotta get to class.” Giving him a small peace sign goodbye, Fiona turned on her heel. Getting a few steps away from where Theo stood, she called out to him one last time. ”See ya around, Red!”

𝓢𝓪𝓵𝓮𝓶 𝓦𝓲𝓽𝓬𝓱𝓮𝓼' 𝓘𝓷𝓼𝓽𝓲𝓽𝓾𝓽𝓮 {A Harry Potter Roleplay}

Well, since we're reserving shit, I'mma just drop mine here:

Vanessa Morgan || #e0115f

𝓢𝓪𝓵𝓮𝓶 𝓦𝓲𝓽𝓬𝓱𝓮𝓼' 𝓘𝓷𝓼𝓽𝓲𝓽𝓾𝓽𝓮 {A Harry Potter Roleplay}

Palm Beach Royals: Senior Year

Feeling the beats, Sonny and Julie matched each other’s movements accordingly. The muscle memory was smoother than he initially gave it credit for. Either that, or being around Julie made him not care about how he danced to such a degree that he didn’t realize how terrible he looked. Sonny never claimed to be a good dancer; even when he was actively trying to improve, he never had it, but maybe that’s what happened when you threw caution into the wind and started to have fun.

Because that’s exactly what Sonny was doing. Was it because of Julie? Yeah, maybe. Or maybe for the first time in a while, he was able to let loose and just enjoy himself.

But alas, like all good things in life, Sonny’s moments of assemble-ing while Julie pirouetted him due to her slightly superior height had come to an end on the note as the somewhat upbeat song was replaced by something less groovy. It was a song Sonny had heard on the radio a few times and knew it was trash because of what it meant for some. See, Sonny was more of a hyperactive dancer and slow dancing was the bane of his existence and that’s exactly what Pillowtalk demanded. From people like Chanel, who was on the dancefloor already assuming the role of a leader, Sonny expressed himself with his tongue out, emulating one who was about to vomit.

Sonny leaned to Julie. “I’m gonna get us a couple of drinks. Be back in a few!”

Sonny was about two feet into moving his legs over towards the refreshments table when he caught the sight of his two best friends over by the DJ booth and holding each other in an intimate way no more than a few feet away. The way they looked, the way they were so close, and how...effortlessly they moved, Sonny had nearly forgotten about the drinks. He just watched them dance, watching Rye lead Marisol across the dancefloor like she was the beauty to his graceful beast. Like it was…

Sonny shook his head and whatever thought crept up into his mind, he pushed it out nearly immediately, forgetting about the drinks, forgetting about whatever refreshments he thought he needed and instead went back to Julie. He took her hand, smiling. “I suppose we don’t have to stop dancing and I always wanted to try slow dancing, so how about it?” Sonny was speaking rhetorically, though he would wait for Julie to accept his offer before he would try his best to take her in a different way than even Sonny thought he was capable of. If he was going to fail at this, then he knew Julie would simply take the lead. He trusted her but moreover, he wanted to try and get closer to his best friends and slow dancing across the dancefloor was as good of a way to do it.

Palm Beach Royals: Senior Year

A @metanoia & @Rosalia Collaboration
Featuring Santiago Fernandez & Stella Lambert
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When Santiago’s Lambo started to move, something that Stella immediately noticed was how smooth it drove. She had never been in one before. Despite growing up pretty well off, her parents weren’t that wealthy and they personally weren’t the types to buy one. The closest to one she had been was seeing the person driving her to the country club show it off around school.

She chose to remain quiet for the most part during the drive. It wasn’t that Stella couldn’t talk about what had literally just happened. She could talk Santiago’s ear off, use him as a quality venting space, and maybe get some advice if that’s what she was in the mood for (it wasn’t). She didn’t do that because she didn’t want to think about it. She didn’t want to focus on the negative that was Chrissie or how her cousin was becoming a bigger pain in her rear than — hell, than Santiago was, which even then he never made her cry so much in her life.

Oops, guess she let that one slip.

Yeah, Stella was a wreck, but she didn’t want to think about any of that, especially with how terrible she’s been handling the Chrissie drama. She wanted to block it all out for tonight. Nothing brought her greater joy than knowing she and Santiago were in a good place and that she might even be able to have some fun with Carter (if she was lucky).

“Hey, listen.” Stella saw they were approaching the Country Club (the lights stuck out in the post-sunset evening like a sore thumb. “I’m sorry I’ve been so quiet,” Stella said, somewhat frowning at Santiago. “And I’m sorry you had to hear all of that back at the house. There was a lot going on. Chrissie got on my last nerve and--” She stopped herself. She felt the knot in her stomach start to tighten, signalling her she was near the point of doing exactly what she told herself she wouldn’t. “--And, I just didn’t want to lay that on you or give my cousin the benefit of ruining what I hope is an amazing evening with my new friend!” As they came to a stop at a red light, she gave Santiago a warm smile, hoping he knew that she meant every single word.

Santiago tore his eyes from the road ahead and turned towards Stella with a soft smile. “Hey, don’t worry about it, Stella,” he reassured her in a surprisingly gentle tone. “Families fight all the time. Sorry I was quiet all the way here, though. I figured you wanted some space. I didn’t want to make you feel any worse by saying the wrong thing.”

Stella shook her head at his last comment. “Oh no. you could never. I mean, not anymore.” Oh there she went, foot in mouth again. “What I mean is now, you’re the only person right now who is making me smile,” she clarified. “In this god awful time of my life, the time spent with you has brought me more joy than, well a bag of sour cream and onion potato chips. And I love sour cream and onion potato chips!”

The young man couldn’t help but chuckle at her words. It was nice to know that she was on her way to being her usual cheerful self. The silence that had reigned between them along the way had been a tad unsettling. “As good as it feels to hear that I make you so happy, I’m glad you don’t smell like the chips. Lils used to love them too, but ever since she got pregnant even the tiniest whiff of ‘em makes her throw up. Funny how that happens, huh? How women get pregnant and suddenly something they used to love eating makes them stupid sick all of a sudden…” he rambled, his eyes now back on the road.

There was something comforting about how Santiago talked about April. Always she saw him as the kind of guy that was macho and obnoxious, but she truly was starting to see him in a different light and it always seemed to happen when he talked about April. And that was something Stella found truly endearing about him. How sweet he was, how down to earth he was. Everything that had been thought about him wasn’t accurate. The more time Stella spent with him, the more she was starting to see that.

After a few moments of silence and the country club practically within sight, Stella’s voice cracked as though it sounded off before anything coherent formed, causing her to cough. “I meant to say it before,” her voice was raspy and she coughed a few more times. “Do you happen to have anything to drink?” She asked him, coughing every other word.

Diablo smacked his head against the steering wheel. “Shit, yeah. Sorry about that, I meant to ask you earlier. Go ahead: open up the glove compartment and pick your poison. I’ve got water, ginger ale, juices, sparkling water... No alcohol, though. Reformed man with a kid on the way and all that,” he joked with a grin.

Stella half-coughed, half-laughed and grabbed the small, 8oz bottle of apple juice. She twisted off the cap and drank about a third of it before coming up for air. “That’s much better!” She could talk again! “Now, where was I?” She thought for a moment. “Oh right! With all the family drama that happened, I wasn’t able to tell you, but I bought you and April some gifts for the baby!” Stella told him with a gleaming smile on her face.

That brought a genuine, thankful grin to the young man’s face. “Oh yeah?” he asked, playfully raising his eyebrow before letting out a small laugh. “Damn, Stella: that’s really sweet of you. Lils is gonna love to hear that. We really do appreciate it.”

“I just hope you guys will like it,” Stella said, slightly nervous. She pushed a strand of hair behind her ear, smiling at Santiago. “I can give it to you guys tomorrow or tonight even if there’s still time when we get back to my house.” She looked ahead for a brief moment, noticing the cars in front of them starting to move and that’s when she saw the green light.

“Fine by me,” Santiago answered, turning his attention back on the road. He let some silence fall between them as they finally reached the parking lot of the country club before he eventually blurted out, “I’m going to propose to her, you know? Not tonight, obviously, but definitely before summer ends.”

The brunette remained silent, trying to register exactly what she just heard; even as she did, it still didn’t click with her brain until it was about twenty seconds later. “You’re going to do what now?” She asked, turning her entire body as much as she could to face Santiago. “It sounded like you said you said you were going to propose to April…” Stella had a bad history of hearing things that weren’t actually said and thinking they were true, so hopefully Santiago would forgive her if she needed him to repeat himself.

The young man couldn’t help but chuckle loudly at his date’s disbelieving expression. “That’s exactly what I said. What, you have that little faith in me?” he teased, not waiting for her answer before adding, “I mean, I wouldn’t blame you. But I’m dead serious, Stell: I want to propose to April.”

She laughed, though felt guilty for jumping to the wrong conclusion. “No, it’s just--” She stopped herself. She was focusing on the wrong details. Stella took a breath, studying Santiago’s face and seeing a familiar expression of nervousness, one she often saw on her own but there was also a conviction she rarely saw on her own (though it existed somewhere). That gave her all of the proof she needed. He was as serious as she had to imagine he had been about anything else. “So you’re really--that’s amazing! Does anyone else know?” She inquired.

Santiago shook his head. “Nah. Haven’t wanted to freak anyone out with the news,” he confessed, turning over to look at her with what was probably the most open, honest expression he had ever given someone outside April, Max or his family. “And I feel as if I start saying it to people, everyone will be trying to tell me what to do, or pull me in all sorts of different directions. I don’t want that. I wanna be able to do things on my own terms and at my own time, you feel me?”

“I totally understand.” The scary part was she knew exactly what it felt like to want to tell someone something without another someone doing that for her. She knew the feeling all too well that it twisted her stomach whenever she thought about how Chrissie robbed her of telling Carter what she wanted to tell him. “You want to make sure when she hears it, it’s from you first and not planted in her head by someone who might twist things.” She took a moment to pause, shaking off the rising, almost boiling current of anger threatening to come to the surface. “Don’t worry, Santi! Your secret is safe with me!” And when she said that, unlike a certain drama queen who was faker than American cheese, she meant what she said.

Diablo gave Stella a bright smile. “Thanks, girl… For the gifts for Mila, the company-- everything. Sorry I just went ahead and dumped all of this on ya like that, but I really appreciate you listening to my ramblings,” he chuckled, scratching the back of his neck like he always did when he was nervous or embarrassed.

Stella gave Santiago a smile as she grabbed her clutch. “Of course! You made me forget all about that awful fight I had, so I needed it just as much as you seemed to have.” She offered him a smile. “So should we go in now? I think any more time spent sitting and my butt will get too numb for me to walk,” she laughed.

“Yeah, sure!” he responded, finally killing the engine of the Lambo. He exited the car and quickly made his way over to the passenger seat to help Stella gracefully step out, and once the doors were closed and safely locked behind them, the two made their way past the country club’s doors and into the already bustling ballroom.

Palm Beach Royals: Senior Year

_{A @metanoia & @spooner Collaboration featuring Jackson “Sonny” Drake & Julie MacMillian}
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As far as awkward conversations with the parent of a girl who wasn’t his girlfriend, Sonny liked to think he was rather successful in how he handled himself with Julie’s impressive father. He didn’t wet himself, so that was a plus (although, he couldn’t say the same about his armpits). Thankfully for Sonny, he always kept an extra box of wet wipes and his mother knew him too well because they were exactly where he kept them in his truck.

The remainder of the car ride to the country club went a lot smoother and was a lot dryer (thankfully). Sonny and Julie were, if nothing else, proof that boys and girls could be friends without it feeling weird or with the possibility of sexual attraction. Even if he wasn’t in a relationship and wasn’t as close to Marisol or as terrified of her, he still wouldn’t feel anything like that for her. Regardless of the nature of the date and regardless of his true intentions, Sonny genuinely didn’t feel that way for Julie. Nothing about her screamed girlfriend potential for him.

Julie MacMillan was a lot of things and one of his good friends was at the top of that list for him.

So he did what he did with all of his good friends: Sonny jammed to bad dad rock with her. She might’ve judged him but hearing her laugh at how great Creed was at being more cliche than a 2000s kids wearing a shirt with a flame design, it was worth it.

When he pulled into the parking lot, Sonny didn’t want to walk miles down, so he chose to park close enough to the entrance but not too close.

“With arms wide opeeeeen!” Sonny sang at the top of his lungs without the benefit of the slightly-better vocals of Creed’s Scott Stapp. “Sorry,” Sonny apologized, laughing, body turned slightly to the side as he looked at Julie. “Be honest: you had fun jamming to Creed, didn’t you?” He joked but there was a part of him who was curious.

The redhead just giggled as Sonny finished the song. “You have the voice of an angel.” she covered her mouth as another fit of giggles bubbled up inside her. “Oh jamming… is that what that was?” she said as she opened her passenger-side door stepping out gazing up at the country club. “You ready to go in?”

Sonny got out as well, rounding around the back of the Audi TT, joining Julie on her side of it since it was closer to the entrance. Smiling at her, Sonny said, “Yeah, let’s go!”

As the two walked in, Sonny felt like the dance committee really outdid themselves this time around. They always knew how to decorate and make use of the Country Club, which Sonny often felt was oversaturated but that was beside the point. Unlike the last dance, he was at that was held at the Country Club, the Valentine’s Dance was held in the ever-expansive ballroom inside. The space was being taken advantage of as Sonny noticed decorative wallpaper that fit the mood that Valentine’s Day was often associated with, a bright, LED light-filled disco ball in the center, providing an unsurprisingly romantic atmosphere.

Sonny glanced around the room and he saw Jasper and Ariana in the back by one of the tables with heart-shaped balloons and he saw Kavi and Chrissie already making use of the dancefloor, which was to be expected. What wasn’t expected was seeing the usually-macho-looking Kavi Salvador, the king of masculine energy, wearing a striped, pink shirt.

Laughing, Sonny turned his attention to the beautiful redhead next to him. “They sure didn’t spare any expense, did they?” He said to her, eyes wandering around some more, taking in more sights of the decorations.

“No… but then again they shouldn’t with what our parents pay.” She smiled as she also looked around the room taking it all in. She looped her arm into Sonny’s and steered him in the direction of the refreshments. “You think anyone has spiked the punch yet?” Julie queried, lifting up the ladle and pouring two cups for herself and Sonny.

She offered her date one of the cups and took a sip. “Nope not yet.” She almost sounded a little bit disappointed. “So anyway, do you know when Marisol will get here?” She strained her neck to see if she could spot her. “Who did she end up going with?”

As he mirrored Julie, he would also mirror her disappointment when his lips just tasted generic punch. He glanced quickly back at the table and noticed that Jasper and Ariana were joined by a third person, someone Sonny had seen around and knew he wasn’t so great of a person, which meant now the punch would be spiked. Typical. “I think she and Rye should be here in no time!” Sonny said, raising his cup to his lips for another refreshing sip.

“Oh?” She raised an eyebrow when Sonny mentioned who Mari was taking to the dance. “Well, do you want to wait for them on the dancefloor?” Julie asked, extending her arm towards the already dancing couples. “Show people that Mrs. Dramboui’s ballet classes helped us after all these years?” she laughed.

Sonny wasn’t the best dancer. Julie knew that. Kavi and Chrissie when they weren’t all about themselves knew that. And Ariana Mossos way in the back knew it too. Everyone had at least a small bit of knowledge about Jackson Torvald Drake Jr’s horrendous dancing ability, yet when Julie asked him, Sonny did nothing to halt it. With their cups resting on the beverages table and both of Sonny’s hands taking Julie’s, Sonny got into a groove. Thankfully the song that was playing had a good beat, so he was able to find a rhythm. His legs moved as though he retained some muscle memory from those times when he and Julie were a lot younger in ballet class but more importantly, Sonny fixated on Julie’s smile. She usually had a soft, regal-like expression that was rarely expressive but he happened to notice all of her pearly whites showing, so Sonny knew he must’ve been doing something right.

Meadow University

@Melissa LOVELOVELOVE HIM! _{his face claim is 10/10}

Naturally, Nolan is accepted!

Meadow University

@TootsiePop Love Dee! She's accepted!

Palm Beach Royals: Senior Year

_{Collab by Chrissie @TootsiePop & Kavi @metanoia}
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The only thing Kavi wanted to do was not be brought into the middle of whatever shit other people, especially those who were his friends. It put him in an awkward spot and he couldn’t do anything but just sit there and listen to one of them bash the other. It was an exhausting process and something he felt very uncomfortable going through.

But Chrissie couldn’t help it. He knew how she was. In just the past week alone, he had spent hours with her. Whether it was on the phone or at school, he started to understand why she acted the way she did. Why was she so dramatic all of the time and why she had this certain flair about her. Perhaps he wasn’t completely accurate but he deduced that she loves to hear herself talk.

Kavi wasn’t a stranger to this. He liked to hear his own voice too. It was something they both had in common — well, that and a love for tart fruits.

As he turned right on Oak Drive, Kavi figured something else about Chrissie.

She doesn't need me to respond to keep going, Kavi thought. He found comfort in that for obvious reasons.

He didn’t want to tune her out. He wasn’t that guy anymore, but when everything he heard was about Stella, he figured it was best to let her continue on. Still, it was finally at the point where he needed to interject.

“Can you believe that shit?”

Nearly half of a mile away from the Country Club, Kavi purposely slowed at a yellow light so it would turn red by the time he came to a gradual stop. He took in a slow breath and said, “You look, well hot!” Kavi acknowledged her impressive dress, taking a respectable amount of time to scale her head to thigh and back up again.

While that wasn’t the response she wanted, Chrissie would accept it wholeheartedly. “At least you noticed. It takes what? Two eyes? To see this!” She ran her hand from her cheek, down her chest, to her hip, “That bitch really thinks she’s the shit now that she’s had a Paris makeover.”

Raising an eyebrow, with a sudden and abrupt thought, the drama queen took out her phone and went to scan her socials, “I should block her, right? She totally deserves it. I got her on everything. Snapchat, Facebook, twitter, insta.” Bringing her fiery gaze from her phone to her date, she growled, “Well?”

Why is it always me? Kavi lamented at his current situation. Regardless of what he does, no matter if he did something to deserve it or if it was one of those rare moments he was innocent, he always was placed between a rock and a hard place. Whether it was Ariel and April, holding strong for his sister while their parents fought, or being fucking arrested, it was always him.

As he considered his next words carefully, which was rare for him because he always said the first thing that came to him. He knew the longer he waited to speak, the worse it would be for him because Chrissie would just keep going like a broken record. So, with a sigh and knowing his only option was to make attempts at diffusing this pink bomb, Kavi said, “If that’s what you think you need to do, then I guess you should!” Kavi offered her a half-smile. It was all he could manage. He just wanted to move on to something less mentally exhausting.

“Too agreeable.” Rolling her eyes, she went to her phone and closed the Instagram app, “I’ll wait. See if she does something stupid tonight.” After placing her phone back in her clutch, she crossed her arms and looked out the window, finally going silent. She didn’t say anything more, either because she was out of things to say or waiting for him to add to the conversation. Whatever it was, the silence was a sign for something.

When Chrissie’s voice came to a full silence, he thought it was gonna be something he’d welcome. After minutes of her ranting about the infinite amount of ways Stella changed and how she didn’t like it, the silence only seemed to make the wait for the light to change green even worse. It was agonizing. So much so that he sighed and turned up the volume on the car radio. He spent about ten seconds going through the stations, listening to only a second per station until he looked at Chrissie. “Do you wanna maybe give it a shot? I’m a horrible DJ,” he laughed.

Tilting her head, to his old fashioned ways, Chris decided to take it upon herself to connect her phone to his Bluetooth. Spending a minute deciding on a song, she picked something from her musical playlist. Take Me or Leave Me from Rent filled the car and seconds later, with a quick finger motion, it was blasting. It was a duet song about a lesbian couple at their breaking point of their relationship, giving each other an ultimatum to make amends or leave. Maureen being a flirt and Joanne being a control freak, it makes sense it would be hard to compromise.

The version that played was straight out of the movie, with the dialogue before the song: “You know what, Miss Ivy League.” She matched Maureen’s script, word for word, spot-on, while looking at Kavi as if he was Joanne. “I can’t take much more of this. This obsessive, compulsive, control freak paranoia.”

Though, assuming Kavi didn’t know Joanne’s part, she immediately changed personalities, “What?!”

“I didn’t pierce my nipples because it grossed you out. I didn’t stay at the king club last night because YOU wanted to go home.” Chris-Maureen complained.

“You were flirting with a woman in rubber!” Chris-Joanne scowled.

“THERE WILL ALWAYS BE WOMEN IN RUBBER FLIRTING WITH ME!” Beat. “Give me a break!” And then, the song started. When she sang Maureen’s part, she made sure she was confident to a fault, bold in a sultry way, and shamelessly right.

While Chrissie certainly embraced everything the highly catchy song she put on seemed to present, Kavi tried to keep his focus on the road. The country club was in sight and heaven forbid if he should attract any unwanted attention. But as he kept driving, coming to a stop at yet another red light, Kavi took advantage of the motionless vehicle to watch Chrissie, her energy was infectious and probably for the first time, he saw her smile. And seeing her like that made him smile. He would even make his best attempt at whatever passed for seated dancing. His shoulders popped and locked and he just snapped his fingers to whatever bug Chrissie passed along to him.

Because she was being passionate and focusing on the emotion in the song, Chris was no longer thinking about Stella. “Take me for what I am, who I was meant to be. And if you give a damn, take me baby or leave me.” She was pleasantly surprised when Kavi started being cute and joining in by doing a jig.

Honestly, musicals were healing and the only medicine she needed. Once she sang a little bit of the competent, organized, and dedicated Joanne’s verse, and the car started moving again, she raised her arms up in the convertible to feel the wind, raising the volume of her own voice, hoping the whole world could hear her sing. She had no shame. Without a doubt, this showed how fearless she was, how fun she could be with when she wasn’t in a mood, and how much of a star she was growing to be. Shiny and bright, like a diamond.

”Sing it, girl!” He cheered her on, the lyrics missing him by a mile but the energy in the car - and soon the parking lot of the country club - was high and positive.

From where they began this car ride, with both of them feeling frustrated. Kavi’s source was obviously constantly thinking about Ariel and Chrissie was frustrated (that’s putting it mildly) with Stella, but as soon as his date took the reigns of the music selection, he had to admit there was something endearing about Chrissie. She wasn’t perfect and that was something Kavi could relate to.

As he pulled into a spot relatively close to the entrance, Kavi threw all into the wind and turned up the volume to near-deafening levels. The volume paired with his BMW’s impressive sound system, not only would the beats of the song be heard, but the vibrations of the bass would be felt. “Now that’s more like it!” He grinned, repeating his same dance moves from before but he put some feeling into it this time around.

Having not seen Jasper and Ariana parked a bit away, and being closer to where the chaperones were standing, Chrissie hopped out of the car and brought her playful eyes to the teachers, specifically one, a math teacher who her best friend was in love with, “That’s it.” She pointed in that general direction and sauntered around the front of the car, “The straw that breaks my back.”

She opened Kavi’s door for him, “I quit.” Leaving the door, and her date, she sang louder than the volume, which was fucking high, and started skipping to the teachers, “Unless you take it back.” Her dark gaze stopped at Mr. Russo’s face, as she smirked, “Women, what is it about them? Can’t live with them or without them!”

For the last chorus, she gave her teachers a show (‘take me for what I am’), like the theater girl she was, and then walked backwards when it was coming to an end (‘take me, baby, or leave me), “Guess I’m leaving.” Beat. “I’m gone.” Heavily breathing, but completely ecstatic, she turned her attention back to Kavi and offered her hand for him to grab and join her, “You ready to party?”

With one hand, Kavi grabbed his jacket and her clutch and with another, he was whisked out by Chrissie’s pull. He wasn’t able to stop smiling. “Oh, I’m ready to party! Are you ready to party?” Kavi found himself shouting, not caring who else heard him.

“Well, duh. I wouldn’t have asked you if I wasn’t ready.”

After staring at her for a long moment, Kavi sighed and laughed. “Then what are we waiting for?” With a smirk, he led her towards the entrance in a half-jog.