Ejected

Ejected's Test Thread

_{"Welcome to Brentwood, where the graduation rate is pretty shitty and the dining hall food is even shittier!"}

What Are You Listening To?

Project Untamed

^{(FC: Diggy Simmons; Dialogue: #751B27)}

It shouldn't come as much of a surprise to anyone that Dwayne was spending his Friday afternoon lifting weights in the gym. With iconic hip-hop tunes blasting in his ears, Dwayne rapped along to the music as he did ten reps. He'd only been in the gym for a little over twenty minutes, mostly looking to pass the time until he could take another trip to the courtyard.

It wasn't until after Dwayne had finished his set that he remembered hearing about some party that was supposed to be happening that evening; It was Zakya who'd told him about it earlier during class. Usually, Dwayne would've decided to miss out on the party; after all, he didn't really consider himself much of a party person, much preferring to stay in his room and read a good book or something similar. But he figured he'd at least make an appearance at this one, even if it would only be for a few moments. It was rare that something "exciting" happened at San Agustin.

Five o'clock rolled around a lot faster than Dwayne had anticipated. It was around that time that he left the gym and made his way towards his bedroom, figuring he should take some time to prepare himself for the party. The young man entered his room with his heart set on a long, scalding hot shower. He didn't leave his room again until he was dressed and ready to head to where the festivities were taking place.

Project Untamed

^{(FC: Zolee Griggs; Dialogue: #DE563C)}

The news of the party that was scheduled to take place that evening had spread around the student body like a wildfire, thanks in part to Zakya and her inability to keep a secret. The young woman couldn't help but feel a twinge of guilt as she walked down the hall towards the dormitory kitchen, eventually passing by a small group of girls who giggled and spoke loudly among themselves, raving about finally being able to get their hands on some booze. It only took Zakya shooting a certain look in their direction for the girls to cease their whispering and speed off towards the stairwell.

Zakya's guilt momentarily subsided once she reached the kitchen entrance and came to the realization that she had yet to pick out something to wear. "Shit," the girl said under her breath, rolling her eyes as she pulled open the door and made a beeline for the stocked pantry. "Pop-Tarts and juice it is, then..." And after carrying her lunch back to her bedroom, the young woman took only five minutes to scarf most of it down before she got to work.

After spending a few moments trying to decide between an over-the-top or casual chic look, it only took a little over thirty minutes for Zakya to finally decide on the outfit she'd wear to the party. As anyone would've expected, she decided to go with the more over-the-top outfit: a bright green, two-piece skirt set and lace-up sandals to match. Although she knew that she'd only be standing in the middle of some hot, over-crowded dorm party getting white girl wasted on Hypnotiq, she figured that she might as well look good while doing so.

It was soon after then, when Zakya accidentally tipped over the rest of her cranberry juice that something strange happened. As the dark purple liquid began to spread across her desk and spill onto the carpet, the young woman nearly tripped over her own feet trying to find a towel or napkin in order to clean her mess. And it was as she began wiping the table down with paper towels that an unpleasant memory began to seep into her mind.

"Look at the mess you made, you fucking dork! There's literally cranberry juice all over the table."

An oddly familiar face looked down at Zakya as she tried her hardest to clean up the spilled juice with the napkins from her lunch tray; after a while, however, all she seemed to be doing was pushing the liquid around the table, making the situation worse. Zakya could feel her cheeks burn as she continued scrubbing, only to screw up yet again by flinging the slightest amount of juice in the angry girl's direction. The girl moved out of the way in just enough time, letting out a startled grunt in the process.

"Fuck. You're lucky this shit didn't get on my air forces. My mom just bought me these yesterday."

"I'm... I'm sorry." Zakya heard her own voice croak out.

"I'm sorryyyy," the angry girl said mockingly, before turning around to laugh with one of her friends. "Don't be sorry, be careful. Maybe you're not worried about messing up those busted ass shoes you always got on, but that doesn't mean that I'm on the same time." After the girl finished speaking, she took a napkin from her own tray and quickly swiped it through the cranberry juice, getting more than a few drops on Zakya's T-Shirt. And despite the rage that had begun building up inside of her, Zakya did nothing but stare at her shirt in horror.

"Bro, Delia, just leave her alone..." One of the girl's friends tried to step in as the rest of them doubled over in laughter.

Delia. That was her name. Delia Thomas.

"Nah, Tam. Why did we even let her sit with us? I don't care if she's Kayla's little sister. You know she can't hang... ain't that right, dork?" And then she started laughing again.

It was then that Zakya gave up on trying to clean the table; she figured the janitor would be able to finish the job. But as the sound of laughter continued to ring through the air, the young woman could feel herself growing angrier than ever before. And without taking the time to think it over, she grabbed hold of the napkin she'd held before, wound her arm back, and tossed it directly onto Delia's crisp, white sneaker.

A second later, the girl felt a fist coming into contact with her jaw. And after throwing a few punches of her own, trying her hardest to ignore the throbbing in the right side of her face, everything suddenly went black.

With a dropped jaw, buggy eyes, and sweaty palms, Zakya sat straight up in her bed in a heart-pounding state of emergency. After a split second of massively intense panic, however, it suddenly dawned on her that she was still in her bedroom. A quick glance at the clock told her that she'd been asleep for a little over two hours. Her bottle of cranberry juice sat in its same spot on the desk, and her outfit lay in a crumpled heap under her legs. She'd fallen asleep.

It was all a dream.

Project Untamed

^{Starring Dwayne Freeman and Mr. Matthew Tiller}

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After spending a little over two months at San Agustin, the school library had quickly become one of Dwayne's favorite places to visit during the day, in addition to his little area in the courtyard and the fitness center. It was during his visits that he'd stock up on reading material for the week, and this trip was certainly no different. The young man sat on the floor in between the shelves near the back of the library, his legs crossed at the ankle and his eyes glued to the very first page of Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison. On the floor next to him was a stack of four more unread books, ready to be checked out and carried back to Dwayne's bedroom. Reading always brought him peace and comfort, which he decided that he needed a great deal of following the scavenger hunt that had taken place earlier.

"Invisible Man, huh?" A voice suddenly rang out from above him, causing Dwayne to momentarily tear his eyes away from the page and refocus on the source of said voice. He was slightly surprised to see that it was none other than Mr. Tiller, his statistics teacher. He stood about two feet away from him, his hands buried deep in his pockets. "One of my favorites. Has been since I was forced to read it back in high school. This your first time giving it a look?"

Dwayne couldn't help but feel a tad bit awkward as the older man spoke to him. After all, it wasn't like he'd had many conversations with the man outside of the classroom. Hell, Dwayne barely spoke to any of his teachers unless it was to answer a question or two, and even then it wasn't like he'd volunteered. "Uh, yeah..." Dwayne said slowly, looking back down at the book that sat in his lap. "I think I started it a few years ago and never got around to finishing it."

"Ah, I see..." Mr. Tiller responded, before clearing his throat and finally getting down to business. "So how was the scavenger hunt? Your team came in... third place?"

"Fourth, actually," Dwayne said, nodding his head as he did so.

"Doesn't seem like you're too disappointed about that."

"I'm just glad that it's over," Dwayne responded with a shrug of his shoulders. Truth be told, he couldn't care less about winning the scavenger hunt, nor did he care about whatever prize the faculty had planned on giving to the winners. "Congrats to whoever did win. I'm sure they wanted it a whole lot more than my team did."

"Not too happy with who ended up on your team, huh? Don't tell me you've made some enemies already."

"I wouldn't call anyone here my enemy..." It was then that Dwayne started to get a weird feeling in the pit of his stomach as Mr. Tiller spoke. What was with the sudden interest in him, much less who he considered to be an enemy? "What's with the third degree? Kinda starting to feel like I'm being interrogated or something." As he spoke that last sentence, Dwayne couldn't help but let out an awkward chuckle. Mr. Tiller let out one of his own as he leaned against one of the shelves, this time taking his hands out of his pockets and folding his arms across his chest.

"Something like that," the man said jokingly. "I'm just curious to see how well some of my students did, that's all... Did you have fun at least?

Raising a curious eyebrow, Dwayne simply shrugged his shoulders once more. "It was ight."

Realizing that he probably wasn't going to get anymore out of the boy about the scavenger hunt, Mr. Tiller decided to shift gears, this time asking about how Dwayne liked the school so far. And, per usual, Dwayne kept his response as short and dry as possible. "It's a decent place, I'm not complaining. The book selection in here could be a little better, though." And after saying this, the young man tossed Invisible Man into the stack with the others, deciding that he'd choose one more to keep him occupied for the rest of the week.

"Well, I'll let you get back to your browsing, then..." Mr. Tiller said after a few moments of silence, to which Dwayne simply nodded his head and flashed him a tight-lipped smile.

"See you in class."

What Are You Listening To?

Project Untamed

^{Starring Zakya Washington and Ms. Trina Andrews}

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"Why am I not surprised that I've found you in here, of all places?"

Trina Andrews had been a lover of the arts since she was a little girl, despite being persuaded by her parents to pursue more "practical" job options as she grew older. Whether it was playing an instrument, belting out a ballad, or performing a dance routine on the big stage, Ms. Andrews had an affinity for it all. It was because of all of this that posing as a San Agustin music teacher wasn't as hard as she initially thought it would be. It came naturally to her, because in her mind, she wasn't really acting. At least, not completely.

It didn't come as much of a surprise to Ms. Andrews when she spotted one of her more talented pupils in the very same music room she used to teach her lessons. Zakya Washington was seated at the piano, her back facing the older woman and her eyes glued to her sheet music. She'd been there for a little over an hour, singing to what she thought was a sea of vacant seats. Trina had been watching from the back row for around ten minutes before finally deciding to engage. Zakya only slightly turned her head for a brief moment to flash her teacher a quick smile before returning her focus to the music.

"Well, you do know me better than anyone, Ms. T," Zakya said, the corner of her mouth turning upwards as she scooted to the edge of the bench. "I'm working on our assignment for class. Just tryna to take my mind off things, I guess. You know how it is."

"Ah," Trina said, nodding her head knowingly as she took a seat next to Zakya. "I take it that you're still a little bummed about coming in third place?"

"Bummed?" Zakya exclaimed, shooting her teacher a funny look as she momentarily placed her hands in her lap. "I'm not bummed, I'm pissed. I really thought we had that in the bag! I mean, we could've gone about things a little better... and quicker, but... all that work and all I get are some fucking stickers? Yeah, whatever." As Zakya spoke, she couldn't help but think back on when she, Sam, and Hana finally finished their final challenge, only to be informed that they hadn't been fast enough to win the prize, whatever the Hell that turned out to be. And as she stared down at the stickers that lay at the top of her tote bag, she couldn't help but wish that the prize wasn't as grand as the staff had made it out to be.

"I understand," Ms. Andrews said, offering Zakya a reassuring smile before continuing on. "So you feel like you would've won if you had different teammates?"

Letting out a deep breath, Zakya shrugged her shoulders and said, "I dunno... probably not. I mean, it's not like they were bad teammates. Sam was a good leader, even though he didn't really contribute to a lot of the mental challenges... Hana handled those, which was fine since she was the worst at that whole basketball thing. I guess I just kinda blame myself." Of course, Zakya was saying what she believed to be the truth. While Sam easily knocked out the physical portions of the scavenger hunt, Hana took care of anything that required them to actually think. "I'm an athlete, sure... but not the same kind of athlete that Sam is. And in case you didn't notice, I'm not really the smartest person at this school... Everyone knows that. Pretty sure my only decent grade is in your class."

"I'm sure you tried your best."

"Well, obviously my best wasn't good enough."

The two sat in silence for a few brief moments, Zakya staring down at the piano keys and Ms. Andrews waiting for the right moment to speak again. Ms. Andrews was the first to break this silence.

"Well, maybe we should stop talking about the scavenger hunt, huh? Why don't you tell me about something more... positive?" Trina spoke with a more upbeat tone this time, trying her best to shift the mood of the conversation. "Like how are you liking the school so far? I'm sure you've made a bunch of friends! And I don't know... maybe you have your eye on someone?" As Ms. Andrews spoke those last few words, she gave Zakya a playful nudge in the arm. The young woman responded by bursting into a fit of giggles, her cheeks turning slightly red.

"Okay, I am not talking to you about my love life!" Zakya said between laughs. And once she'd finally pulled herself back together she said, "The school isn't all that bad. The food is good, the people are okay... I know a lot of people, yeah... but I don't know if I'd consider anyone other than Erica a real friend. I think I might come off a little too... strong for some people. Not that I care, I mean... It's who I am."

"I see... so everything's going pretty well for you then, huh? For the most part, at least."

"Ehhhh," Zakya said, letting a long, dramatic pause follow soon after. "They could be better, you know... if the staff would finally green light a Grease production." And then they were laughing again.

"I'll see what I can do, Zakya," Ms. Andrews said with a light chuckle as she stood from the stool and readjusted her blazer. "But until then... try to keep your head up, okay? You're capable of a lot more than you may think." It was after Ms. Andrews had started towards the exit doors that she pulled a notepad and pen from her back pocket and began to jot a few things down. And before walking out completely, the woman turned to her student one last time and gave her another piece of advice.

"Try going down an octave. Your lower register is actually quite impressive."

And then she was gone.

Project Untamed

^{an @Ejected, @HaleytheRandom, and @Kitty Collaboration
Starring Zakya, Samuel, and Hana}

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"I follow you all the time and copy your every move, but you can’t touch me or catch me. What am I?"

Zakya's eyebrows furrowed as she read aloud from the sliver of paper to the rest of her teammates, her mind suddenly drawing a blank when trying to solve the riddle. Just when the young woman had thought that her team had found a pretty nice rhythm and were pushing through these challenges fairly quickly, the staff member in the Arts Building had informed them that for their next task, they'd be solving riddles. Of course, she'd still held out a little bit of hope, wishing that the riddles wouldn't be anything too complicated. But as she stared down at the words in front of her, she couldn't help but feel disheartened. "Uh... any ideas?" The young woman said weakly, shooting quick glances at both Samuel and Hana.

The scavenger hunt was something that Sam neither approved or disapproved. All he knew was that riddles made his head hurt. ”I… have no idea. A stalker?”

Pondering the riddle, Hana ran through possible answers. A few sticking out to her as possibilities but none she was sure of. It didn’t help that when it came down to stressful situations like this where picking from multiple possible answers was necessary. Her indecisiveness came out. Especially as Hana narrowed it down to just two answers plus the one Sam suggested. Hana’s brow was furrowed as she looked to her teammates, one of her hands playing with the hem of the sleeve of the other arm. “Stalker is possible. But also reflection maybe. Or maybe shadow. Like in the Peter Pan movie.” Hana suggested just loud enough for them to hear. As far as Hana was concerned, one made more sense than the other but she wasn’t going to be the one to decide if she could help it.

"I mean... all of those seem like good answers to me." Zakya said, her voice filled with uncertainty. "But which one do we pick? Stalker makes sense, but then again... stalkers can touch or catch you, can't they? We should go with reflection. Or... shadow." It was then as Zakya looked to Sam for his input that she started feeling a subtle pain arise in her chest. Though she wasn't planning on showing it just yet, she was starting to panic.

”Reflection and shadow both make sense. But your reflection doesn’t really follow you, ya know? Like you kinda have to force it to be there in like the mirror or water or something. I’d say the best bet is probably shadow.”

"Okay. Let's go with that, then. Final answer, shadow." Zakya said, shooting a look at the faculty member close by. And after nodding his head, signaling that the answer was correct, the staff member handed Zakya yet another slip of paper. The young woman took a deep breath before reading this riddle aloud. "I am the beginning of everything, the end of everywhere. I’m the beginning of eternity, the end of time and space. What am I?"

The first thought for the answer that came to Hana’s mind was ‘nothing’. But the more she thought over it the less it made sense. Eternity didn’t truly begin with nothing and time and space were endless. No. The riddle had a simpler answer than that. Riddles almost always seemed to have a simpler answer than what one's mind originally comes up with. But the simple answer of this riddle eluded her. Was it possibly something more visual looking at the riddle itself? If it was, Zakya had a better chance at figuring it out first until Hana was able to properly visualize it.

Why did the challenge have to be riddles? Out of all the ‘mental’ challenges there could be, why the one that was going to make Sam's head hurt the absolute worse?

Because the staff hated them. That’s why.

”I… I remember there was something like this I had to solve in middle school once or something. I bet the answer is something like a letter? Those seem to be a decently common theme.”

It was then that Zakya offered the boy nothing but a blank stare in response, her brain slowly trying to process what he'd said. It had made perfect sense, sure. But the more she tried thinking about what the answer could be, the more frustrated she became; why did they have to end up with such a stupid challenge? Solving riddles? Zakya let the slip of paper fall to a table nearby as she began massaging her temples with the tips of her fingers. "Hell if I know," the young woman said, letting out a deep breath. What was wrong with her? Why couldn't she figure it out? At the rate they were going, another team was destined to beat them; Surely she'd be the reason why they'd lose and miss out on the grand prize.

It wasn't long before Zakya lifted her head once more and shifted her gaze back to Hana. "Come on girl, please tell me have some good ideas. Something like what Sam said... a letter?"

A letter? The answer could be a letter. Wait. Hana closed her eyes as she visualized each word in her head. The Everything, everywherE, Eternity, timE, spacE. It made perfect sense. “That makes perfect sense. The answer is a letter. The answer to the riddle is E. The first letter of everything, the last letter of everywhere, the first letter of eternity, and the last letter of both time and space.” Hana looked to Sam and smiled. “You were right. It’s a letter.” The girl then turned to the faculty member, “Final answer, the letter E.” Hana answered before awaiting to see if they were right. The faculty member nodded and handed the final paper to Zakya.

"Okay, so by the looks of this... our next challenge is in the gym." Zakya said, quickly unscrambling the letters that revealed their next destination; she was very thankful that there were only three letters this time, so she didn’t have to rely on Sam or Hana to come up with the answer. "Come on! We still have a chance."

”I’ll race you guys there!” Sam called back at the girls as he began to speed off.

Hana began running after him knowing full well she was gonna be the last one to get to the gym. Just because she enjoyed walking and hiking did not mean she was good at running. As she ran though, she worried about what sort of challenge would be in the gym. Probably not one she would be good at.

Zakya was the last to start running, but sped past Hana in less than a couple of seconds; though she wasn't fast enough to catch up to Sam by the time they'd reached the gym, she was thankful that all of her time spent on the treadmill paid off and she wasn't nearly as out of breath as she probably would've been a few months ago. The group arrived just in time to see a basketball rack in the center of the gym floor, and Zakya's eyebrow raised in curiosity as she quickly scanned over the rules for the challenge. "So, we have to shoot ten free throws as a team. But each of us has to get at least one before we can move to the next challenge..." To be honest, Zakya had a whole lot more faith in herself when it came to shooting hoops than she did when solving riddles. Of course, she didn't have some Michael Jordan level basketball skills, but how hard could it be to make a couple of shots?

Okay. Sports. Sam could do this.

Though not as much of the Jock Type as Theo, or the fastest like Sol didn’t mean that Sam couldn’t hold his own when it came to physical activity. Basketball was a pastime that he liked to use to help clear his head. Feeling down? Shoot some hoops. Your ex got you fucked up? Shoot some hoops.

”This’ll be a breeze for me. You guys manage to get one, and then I can shoot the rest or something so we can get this over with?”

Being last to arrive just as she predicted, Hana took a moment to catch her breath. It didn’t wear her out too much but she still needed a moment to rest before being able to focus on the next task. Once she was good, Hana joined the rest of her team only for her face to pale. They had to shoot free throws and everyone had to make one shot. Sports were not her forte. She honestly rarely ever came to the gym as it was.

Hana could feel her heart begin to race as she stared at the basketballs. There was no way she was gonna get one of those to the basket, how do you even properly throw one? Swallowing her anxiety and clearing her face of any signs of the nerves she felt, the small girl turned to her teammates, “I’ve never thrown a basketball before. I don’t know how to shoot a free throw?” She slowed her words down as they felt odd on her tongue and she was unsure if she was using the terms correctly. Her horoscope had told her she would learn something new today. This must be what it was talking about. Hana had to learn how to at least make one free throw.

"Here, I can show you how!" Zakya said, not hesitating to grab a ball from the rack and stand at the free throw line. As the young woman expected, her first shot did not go in, and instead bounced off the rim and began rolling off to the left side of the gym. "Hm...Second time's the charm?" Zakya said sheepishly, shaking her head as she reached for another ball and prepared to shoot once more. This time, however, she succeeded, more than likely by luck. And once she did, she let out an enthusiastic squeal, clapped her hands, and turned towards her teammates.

"Okay, one down... nine more to go," Zakya said as she tossed a ball to Sam and another to Hana. "You're up."

The ball slipped through her hands and Hana raced after it as it began bouncing away. Eventually catching up to the ball, Hana grabbed it and ran back over to the free throw line. From there she tried to do as Zakya did but looked extremely awkward and missed the shot completely. Hana frowned slightly before going and grabbing another ball. Trying to copy Zakya’s movements once more to get the ball in the basket, only to once again miss the shot completely. She continued to try another ten more times before slight frustration got to her and she used her hidden frustration to give the ball a bit more power. To her surprise the ball went in the basket, most likely pure luck. Smiling happily she practically skipped off to the side proud of herself for making the basket even if it took a little bit. Now it was up to Sam to finish the last eight off.

Sam watched as the girls made their shots. Zakya had managed it fairly easy - a slightly surprising fact. She had sunk her second shot easily, leaving Hana up next. Giving an encouraging nod or smile as needed, Sam stood to the side as Hana tried again and again to make the basket. Tempted to suggest that she take a small break, Sam watched as she finally made her shot. Shooting her a smile of congratulations, Sam stepped up to the line.

In one fluid motion, the young man had made his first basket with ease. Turning to look at Zakya he asked ”Did you want me to keep going, or do you wanna make another few shots?”

Zakya had been watching with her arms folded as Hana tried to make her shot, internally screaming each time she missed. To say that she was relieved to see the ball go through the hoop after what seemed like a dozen tries would be an understatement. “Please, just keep going,” Zakya said, letting out a deep breath, “You have a better chance than either of us, and the quicker we get this done, the better.”

Simply shrugging his shoulders in agreement, Sam continued to pick up the balls from the ground as he made each shot. Both luck and skill were on his side, allowing them to finish the task pretty quickly. ”All right guys. Is that… was that the last thing, or did I miss count?”

“That was all of them!” Hana glanced to the staff member for confirmation, the staff nodding to confirm they were done and giving them the next piece of paper. “We should be close to being done, right? What’s next?” Hana refused to take the paper from the staff member and let one of the others take it and take the lead. She simply waited for the next instruction, ready to do whatever was needed next.

“We should only have one more left, and by the looks of this we’re headed to…” Zakya let her voice trail off for a brief second as she looked down at the scrambled letters. “The Lecture Hall.” And without wasting another moment, Zakya began to lead the way towards their final challenge, a slight pep in her step as she did so. She wasn't sure if their group had moved fast enough to win the scavenger hunt, but she was determined to continue going as quickly as they could to increase their chances of winning the grand prize... whatever that turned out to be.

"Come on," Zakya called out to Sam and Hana, "Let's win this thing."

What Are You Listening To?

Palm Beach Royals: Senior Year

As Chanel carefully made her way out of the girls bathroom and back to the main room, the young woman couldn't help but feel slightly disheartened after her conversation with Chrissie. But instead of thinking about it any longer, she made a beeline for the refreshment table to seek out the spiked fountain once more. What better way to cheer herself up? As she took a few sips from the plastic cup, Chanel couldn't help but search the crowd for her friends; it didn't take her long to spot Carter and Stella at the other end of the table. It was then that one of Chrissie's earlier statements came echoing back in Chanel's mind. "I hope those two get together," she'd practically screamed, and judging by how comfortable the two of them looked together, Chanel came to the conclusion that her hopes had actually come to fruition.

"Well I'll be damned," Chanel said to herself with a half-smile as she watched the duo for only a second more.

It was after Chanel had finished off that final cup of punch that the room suddenly began spinning. And after deciding that drunkenness and high heels didn't mix well, the young woman suddenly kicked off her shoes, kicked them next to an empty seat, and plopped down. It was then that Chanel decided to call herself an Uber, not wanting to take Sunshine away from having a good time. Instead, she sent the girl a quick text message saying that she'd pick up her things the next day; of course, there were many typos but she made sure to get the message across as best as she could.

Chanel also sent a quick text to Julie and April, telling them just how much she loved them before bending over to grab her shoes (and nearly puking in the process), standing from her seat, and stumbling towards the exit. Tiffany was two minutes away from her location, and Chanel hoped that she wasn't the type to try and carry on a conversation. The young woman was leaving the party a little earlier than she'd intended, but decided that the feeling she'd experience after crawling into her warm, king-sized bed at home would be worth it.