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Hawthorne
Jul 12, 2014 22:44:32 GMT -5
via mobile
Post by HburgEagle44 on Jul 12, 2014 22:44:32 GMT -5
And the video.... HOLY CRAP
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Post by tonilous on Jul 13, 2014 1:23:04 GMT -5
Hawthorne Warning Signs
A hurl of indignant wrath later, the students at South and Main parted the way as Charlotte made her way down the hall.
"Bailey!" her imperious tone penetrated the music blasting into Bailey's ears and she turned around in the hallway to find Charlotte storming up to her. The musician blanched but held her ground. She waited until Charlotte reached her before resuming movement, presumably to a more crowded place with more witnesses so Charlotte would be unable to murder her.
"Tipton?" Charlotte demanded. "Her name was—"
"Ah…I suppose it's my turn to tell the story now…?" Bailey sighed deeply, knowing the time had finally come. "It's not like I actually lied to you or anything—"
"But you couldn't have told me that you share the same last name as the notorious 'second soloist'?"
"I was accelerated, I'm in Adams for a reason—look, Jane is my sister. When we came to this school, she landed in Jefferson, I landed in Adams. I told you, I mostly know the Adams side of things and she knows more about the—"
"But Jane isn't here," Charlotte crossed her arms over her chest, walking with her. "And you clearly would know her side at least? She tells you everything I'm sure, and you obviously know more about what happened than you let on, or you wouldn't have kept this from me," Charlotte added, trying to keep up with her.
"Last year was good while it lasted, Charlotte," Bailey explained, looking a little distressed. "I wanted to make sure repeats of the ending didn't happen and I thought I didn't have to tell you that…minor detail." She led Charlotte out to the courtyard, and handed her some music sheets. "Here."
"What's this?"
"Pentland and Gregor want those trying out for lead for Parents' Night to do that song, just that one song. Thought you might want it."
Charlotte stared down at it for a moment, marveling, and then looked back up at Bailey. "You're not getting off the hook with this."
"Charlotte!"
The two of them looked up to see Damian running towards them. He saw Charlotte with Bailey and groaned. "You caught her."
Bailey wistfully raised up her wrists to mimic someone who was handcuffed. Charlotte glowered at her. "You couldn't take five minutes to tell me that Bailey was Jane's sister?"
"I figured someone would've already dropped the name to you," Damian said apologetically as he came up to them.
"And to be perfectly honest, taking a look at past Piper rosters in the book would've—" Bailey quailed under Charlotte's withering gaze at that point, and turned to Damian for help.
"Okay, don't shoot Bailey, she's just trying to help with…whatever's left of all this," Damian explained.
"That's why you've been doing all these things?" Charlotte asked Bailey. "Is this why you said those things to me? That you wanted to make sure everyone was happy this time?"
Damian turned to Bailey, who just shook her head as she said, "I was just…trying to keep everything together, you know? What happened last year it—it just burned the life out of everyone and I hated it. Everyone all around me just sniping all the time and falling apart and as it is right now…" she sighed. "And all of you—you're my friends. You think I want you guys to mess yourselves up again? Especially you, Damian? As it is, Pentland's pretty mad at all this drama and you and Darren have basically punched each other out—"
"All right, I get it." Damian sighed.
"I just…" Charlotte shook her head and looked at Bailey with a questioning stare. "Jane is your sister and she's so heavily involved in all this. From what I hear, Darren had…hurt Damian and her. If that was true, then…why are you looking after me, Damian, and Darren? I thought maybe you'd hate Darren for running her out of the school."
Bailey smiled faintly as she sat down on the courtyard steps, Charlotte and Damian sitting with her. "…I should. I could. But all that hate ruined everything already—I just don't want to add to it anymore. Don't you guys ever get tired of it? I know I am." She shrugged. "Besides, Jane doesn't hate anyone, including Darren. From time to time, she asks me to check after the people she left behind here. That includes Darren, apparently."
Damian smiled a little. "Yes, that…does sound like Jane."
"My sister knows last year was a mess and things happened, and that they all had their faults, and all she wants is for things to quiet down. And you know for a time, she, Damian, and Darren had been close." Bailey paused. "She and Damian had been close."
I'm Charlotte. And this is Hawthorne Academy.
When I came to this school, I knew next to nothing about how it worked.
Now, I think I know more than I want to know about the students who live in it.
Weird habits, eccentricities, troublesome histories—
The secrets just come running out—and I start to wonder sometimes if I know too much.
They became friends easily.
Jane, as it turned out, lived some doors down on the second floor. Her parents were both working, enjoying high positions in society as a couple of diplomats who hopped all around the globe. Jane and her sister Bailey, who was in Adams House, were left alone except for the few times the parents would be in the country or the state, and then demanded their full attention.
Damian gradually eased himself into Jefferson life (although the others sometimes wished he'd talk about something other than his gargantuan crush, Emma Watson—to this day, Damian maintains that he does not have a crush). It was Jane and the others who suggested Damian should become a Piper, just like the others were.
"We know you could sing! And you said you were in school plays and performances," Patrick pointed out one day during Study Hall.
Damian just stared at him. There were more Pipers in Jefferson than in any other House. Sometimes, they would simply start singing, and everyone came out of their rooms to listen. "I've sung in school, a couple of plays, I play guitar and piano, but I'm not sure if I could keep up with the Pipers. As it is, the schoolwork is killing me!"
"We can help you with schoolwork," Diana retorted, even though Damian knew the argument was ridiculous. Diana's GPA was one of the best and when she was working, even Patrick let her. The schoolwork placed on Damian to catch up was substantial and Diana couldn't be expected to share that load.
"Or I can," Jane had suggested. "And we've heard you sing. You're amazing."
This was true. Damian had let his guards down enough for Patrick and Jane to one day walk into their dorm room after practice and hear Damian strumming the guitar as he sang along. They had listened, transfixed, as the boy just sang with a voice that Jefferson was prepared to contest was worthy of a lead position.
"Damian," Jane gave him an intent look. "Is this about Darren?"
Diana and Patrick rolled their eyes as Damian suddenly looked like a hunted rabbit. Jane threw up her hands and fell back on the bed. "Come on! You can't be serious."
"Jeffersons are not intimidated by Adams, McGinty, ever," Patrick said directly.
Damian didn't hear much about Washington House, other than the students there were friendly to both Jeffersons and Adams and that they were reasonably quiet by comparison to other houses. He was surprised that Patrick was there, but he seemed so partial to Jefferson House that everyone guessed it was only a matter of time until he moved dormitories. He certainly hung around with Diana enough.
"I'm not auditioning," Damian said with finality.
"Fine," Jane shrugged. "Don't. Pity. You're pretty good, after all and…Darren seemed to want you in his little crew. If you were in Pipers, you'd—"
Damian's glare increased in wattage, but the girl with the bright eyes refused to be deterred. She elbowed him. "Come on! If it makes you feel better, I'm auditioning for that same reason... except I want to be more than friends with him."
Now everyone in the room gaped at her. Jane shrugged, staring. "What? I did. I think he's hot." Damian snorted back a laugh.
"I have no idea what you see in that guy," Patrick grumbled. "He's moody and he does whatever he wants. And he gets what he wants."
"And he wants someone who can sing," Jane answered casually with a grin. She dropped the subject and elbowed Damian. "What do you say? Give it a shot. Hey, the worst Mr. Pentland and Ms. Gregor can say is 'no', right? They're having auditions next week after Sean transfers out—"
"We would like to repeat that the incident with the pudding and the cafeteria ovens was a complete accident," Lucas declared.
"We sent Sean flowers and get well cards and wish for his speedy recovery," Logan replied with a big smile. Everyone rolled their eyes.
"And Damian wonders why Adams hates us," Diana mumbled. Another explosion rocked Jefferson from the laboratory. In the hall, there was a yelp and the sound of art materials clattering to the ground.
"I'm okay!" Grace yelled from outside. "I'm fine!"
"Hi Grace!" Damian called.
"Hi Damian! Hope you join the Pipers!" she went on with whatever she was doing.
Everyone returned to matter at hand, and all eyes turned back to Damian.
"I'll…think about it," Damian said finally.
-8-
Jane and her sister Bailey didn't give Damian a moment's peace after that. Bailey was already in the Pipers, and they hounded Damian in the corridors, slowly breaking his resolve.
"I'm telling you, it's a great idea!" said Jane, grinning at him. "Please, Damo? Audition with me! Come on!"
"If you want to join because you think it'll get Darren to like you—"
Bailey, her headphones around her neck, started to laugh. "It's true, he does like people who sing." he said. "When I heard about that, I told Jane immediately. I knew it'd convince her to join."
"Well, it's not convincing me." Damian responded. "I just want to keep a low profile for now, all right? And besides, you like him. I don't. He's intimidating."
"This isn't about territory, it's about the chance for you to become on top of the food chain for once!" Jane ran up to him. "Damian, you told me that your last school sucked, okay, because your jocks and cheerleaders are psychos, and no one really cared about the fact that you could really really sing. That must've been heinous, and did wonders for the self-esteem, fine, I get it. But it's not like that here and you should feel what it's like to be on top for once! The Pipers are crazy popular—you might as well give it a shot! Let yourself be appreciated for this really amazing thing you can do!"
"Damian, how about this," Bailey grinned. "Just give it a try. You don't get in the Pipers, okay, cool. You get a low profile. No one will really care—I mean, with all the people trying out, this is just routine. But if you get in…you get to feel what it's like to be one of the popular guys in school."
"What do you say?" Jane grinned. "Wanna go see what it feels like on the other side?"
Damian hesitated. Jane shrugged. "You realize, if I can't convince you, I will have Patrick, Diana, and the Twins convince you."
"Convincing means…progressively break down my sanity until I say yes?"
"Pretty much."
"All right. Fine. I guess I can prepare a little," he added, before the sisters could celebrate too much. The bell chimed over the corridors, an announcement ringing over the halls.
All students, please proceed to Orion Hall for the Dean's Address. Prefects, please gather your House members. Day students, please proceed to the hall directly. The Pipers are also requested to please proceed to Pipers' Hall immediately. Thank you.
"Ah. We better get to that," Jane murmured, looking around.
"I'm off to round up the other Pipers—see you, Jane, Damian." Bailey grinned, slipped on her headphones—if she wasn't talking to someone, or in class, it would always be over her ears, as though she were permanently dependent on music to breathe.
"We better go find Ryan," Jane said, naming the current Jefferson prefect.
"You go ahead, I have to put this—" and Damian held up a thick sheaf of paperwork, "—on Murdoch's desk. Or I might have to do it all over again.
Jane smiled sympathetically and patted his shoulder. "I get what you mean. Okay, see you in front of South and Main." Damian watched her go and smiled.
He would never forget his old friends, but with Erin having run off, Minah disappearing, and Shane (as he heard) heading off to Colorado to study in the Walcott School, Damian had felt alone. If it weren't for Jefferson, if it weren't for the students in it and Jane…
Murdoch wasn't in his office when he looked in. He started to feel a little apprehensive—he had to find him before the assembly, but he did hear that he was head of Adams House, so maybe an Adams student would know where he was right now.
A flash of gold beamed at him as he raced past the coffee area. It didn't fail to catch Damian's eye. Bailey was talking to Darren, who was sitting with a cup of coffee in hand, and a folio of music sheets open on top of the table. Bailey did say she was making the Piper roundup.
"—and they want you to sing lead again—" Bailey was saying, but Darren looked unruffled and unconcerned as he continued studying the sheets.
"I really don't mind," Darren replied to her, rolling his eyes a little. "No one who duels me wins in the vote and so everyone seems content having me sing lead…"
"You just seem like you're doing a whole lot of stuff," Bailey said carefully. "You study in a whole lot of advanced classes, then you're one of the leading members of the fencing team, the tennis team is trying to draft you, you have the responsibility of singing lead for the Pipers, and rumor has it that George and Professor Murdoch are trying to boost you to being prefect next year!"
"I don't want to be prefect. It's more work."
"Then suggest to Pentland and Gregor that you need someone to take your lead spot for a while?" Bailey suggested, but she quailed under Darren's glower. To say that the idea displeased him was a vast understatement. "Just a suggestion."
He really takes the Pipers seriously… Damian noticed. His feet were treacherous things, and he found them leading him towards Darren's direction. He and the blond hadn't actually spoken since that odd run in they'd had long before. Darren remained one of the most respected students in school—mainly because he was the lead singer and everyone counted on him to deliver.
You should feel what it's like to be on top for once! Let yourself be appreciated for this really amazing thing you can do!
Damian found this a complete one-eighty from his school, where the theatre and art freaks were shoved to the end of the food chain to be swallowed up by "greater" mortals.
When he broke out of his reverie, he saw that he was standing near Bailey and Darren, and the both of them were staring at him. "Uh, hey again?" Bailey said, but not unkindly and looking curious at Damian's spaced-out expression.
"Are you all right?" Darren asked, looking at him.
Taken off-guard, Damian coughed and his mind raced for something to say. And unfortunately, the first thing that came out of his mind was: "Hi. I…I want to audition. For the Pipers."
Bailey looked positively baffled, but nevertheless rather pleased. Well that was easy.
As Darren made a blink of surprise, he said "…then, why are you coming to me? You should see Pentland and Gregor."
Damian fidgeted momentarily, hands trying to express and failing. "Oh. Right." Yes, why didn't he think of that… Maybe he just wanted to tell him? Trying to get to where he stands now?
At that, the taller boy started to smile. He rose from his seat. "Come on." He closed the folio and tucked it under his arm, and he left the coffee cup on the desk. He smiled at Damian, slipping a warm hand over his shoulder for a moment in encouragement before he began walking towards the doors.
Damian, speechless, looked at Bailey, who only shrugged helplessly and allowed the tall lead singer to take them both out of the room and towards the direction of Pipers Hall.
"What are you doing?" Bailey asked, staring at her fellow Adams.
"He wants an audition, let's give him one."
"Now?" Damian demanded, wondering if the taller boy had lost his mind, of if he was losing his own for that matter. "We can't do that!"
"Oh I don't very well see why not." And with that, Darren gripped Damian's arm a bit tight and pulled him down the corridors in a brisk stride. As a reflex, Damian jerked his arm back. Then Darren stopped in his walk. He turned to him. "What's wrong?"
"You, uh…"
Darren simply smiled, "It's all right." Instead, he kept his distance and gestured down the hall. His hand did not reach forward to grip Damian's arm again.
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Hawthorne
Jul 13, 2014 2:15:09 GMT -5
via mobile
Post by HburgEagle44 on Jul 13, 2014 2:15:09 GMT -5
Good, good...
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Post by tonilous on Jul 14, 2014 5:12:56 GMT -5
"Are you okay?" Damian asked his friend, who sat in silence, carefully picking up the fragments of a camera lens that he'd been carefully saved his money for in months.
Jude glanced at him with a smile. "Yeah."
He was lying. Damian and Minah looked at each other, and Minah lowered her eyes quickly, slipping off her cracked glasses. Damian turned to where Jude was thoughtfully touching the cut on his lip as he continued to play with the lens' remains.
Jude had been grabbed—for taking photos during the team's game, and the jocks got pissy after one sickening mistake that nearly cost them the game was captured on film and hit the school paper. Minah—did they need a reason to also thrash the other person who happened to be walking with Jude when they found him?
The camera would survive, but the lens was ruined.
"We can…get you a new one," Damian told him, taking his hand, even though he knew that Jude would never allow them to do such a thing, no matter how much money Damian's parents had. And that buying a new lens wouldn't erase the fact that he had carefully saved up his money for months and all his efforts were obliterated in two seconds and one brainwave of a discriminating jock.
The incredible grip Jude returned onto Damian's needed no words. It wasn't even about the lens anymore. He just needed to get through today. Like any other day.
That was what all of them relied on each other for.
A lifeline. Desperate to stay on board while the storm tossed the ship, pitching the waves—hands clutching and praying not to fall overboard.
-8-
Damian looked up to see Darren pushing through a pair of oak doors, and he was swept into Pipers' hall, with Bailey running off to see the other students at once. He was released immediately as he took stock of the people within it—a small fleet of students who had already begun arranging themselves depending on their vocal range, with the more familiar faces from Jefferson House looking up in surprise at the sight of him. He looked at the corner and was surprised to see Jane there, quietly filing the music sheets in the corner. She spotted him and smiled faintly.
Darren went directly to the two adults standing by the piano: the woman with the long platinum blond hair and the ankle-length dress, and the tall man with dark hair, both looking down at music sheets. They both looked up with smiles as their lead singer approached with a grin and began to speak to them.
Damian stood worriedly for a moment until Patrick and Diana collided with him, nearly knocking him off his feet. "Hey, buddy!" Patrick grinned brightly, arm draped heavily over his shoulders. "Fancy seeing you here!"
"You weren't thinking of, I don't know, auditioning, were you?" Diana beamed at him, so terribly smug that Damian rolled his eyes.
"All right, fine," the newcomer responded, grumbling. "I may…have been coerced into it…by the Tiptons…"
"And yet you walk in with Darren?" Patrick smirked. He then narrowed his eyes suspiciously at Damian. "You two best friends now or something?"
Damian stared at them, eyebrow raised. "What are you talking ab—"
"Damian?" came the kindly voice of the pretty music teacher that Damian recognized immediately—she was the one who he had as a music teacher yesterday. Arabele Gregor walked up to him, Darren at her side, and said, "Darren says you'd like to audition?"
"Ye-es…" Damian said carefully, looking at her, then at Darren (who smirked) and back again. As he did, the other music teacher approached—the tall and brown-haired William Pentland. The Pipers all spoke very highly of him. This man smiled and said, "Well, we don't officially have auditions until next week…"
At his words, the singers saw Darren turned to him immediately, those eyes turning a little intense as they did. Clearly he wasn't pleased, but Pentland ignored him and said, "…but our lead singer seems to prefer we give you your opportunity right now."
Damian stared at Darren with an expression that questioned his sanity. The taller boy only smiled coolly at him and replied, "I told them I was fairly sure that you would be all right."
"What gave you that idea?" Damian stared.
"Well, if you wouldn't be, Patrick, Diana, and the twins wouldn't be plotting nonstop about somehow roping you into the group as soon as humanly possible."
Damian gave his two friends dagger looks while they assumed expressions of angelic innocence. "Ah, so Damian comes highly recommended…" Miss Gregor looked amused.
"Yes," Patrick, Diana, and Darren said at the same time, making Damian blanch.
"Well I don't see why we couldn't spare a moment or two…" she gave Pentland a look. "What do you think, Will?"
Many of the Pipers now looked expectantly at Pentland, and Darren's hazel eyes continued to almost glower—without actually doing so—at their choir director. Damian, desperate to look elsewhere other than the scrutinizing gaze of the male director, spotted a guitar among the instruments at the rack nearby. Pentland seemed to consider this, glancing to where Damian was looking, and then asked, "Damian, do you have a song ready? Perhaps a piece you think will…certainly catch attention?" He smiled a little. "We are making an exception and I imagine you have a worthy performance?"
Diana looked a little apprehensive now, but Pentland's eyes expressed nothing but kindness. He wasn't a particularly hard man but he had his own set of standards and sometimes it was hard to predict how he would take to some things.
Damian's eyes remained on the guitar.
Let yourself be appreciated for this really amazing thing you can do!
And an idea came to him. With a strange smile, an answering glint in his eyes, he looked back at Pentland and Gregor. "I was wondering if I could use that guitar for my audition."
Gregor smiled a little more. "Of course you may." She calmly gestured for him to go ahead and take it. At this, the Pipers immediately hurried to their seats, looking forward to this sudden audition. Darren took a spot on the couch directly across, clearly very interested as he leaned forward.
Pentland and Gregor patiently stood by the piano again, watching as Damian selected his instrument and moved forward. Bailey, clearly interested as well, helped out by pulling a seat out for the newcomer. Damian shot her a grateful look and then found himself receiving the undivided attention of the entire Piper troop.
His confidence wavered at this moment—and for one horrendous second, he entertained the thought of telling them he couldn't do it and maybe come back next week when he was more certain of himself.
And then his eyes locked onto Jane's.
The girl smiled at him. Not a smirk, not a sneer—a smile. An actual smile. Waiting patiently, and even encouraging.
Damian took a breath and nodded to Pentland and Gregor, and began to play.
-8-
"It turns out," Bailey said, arriving back next to Charlotte and sitting back down on the steps, "that Darren was expecting all this. I don't know how, or why, but I think he was somehow secretly hoping that Damian would want to at least audition for the Pipers." He smiled a little. "And he wanted to see Damian's mettle. He heard that he was a little…distant. He wanted to see him put to the test."
Charlotte accepted the cup of coffee the other girl handed to her. She turned to her boyfriend. "I guess we have Darren to thank for getting you properly into the Pipers?"
"Well, only partially," laughed Damian. "You know I love singing, and I might have auditioned with or without his involvement. Only, it wouldn't have been pushed as fast. Darren gets his way, as you well know. If he wanted me in the Pipers, he would have it done immediately. And I guess it helped that my audition was unusual."
"It was an original song," Bailey grinned. "We were really surprised."
"Don't You?" Charlotte smiled. This part of the story, Damian had already told her before. Damian had mentioned auditioning with a piece that he wrote in an attempt to bring something else to the table and let the Pipers see exactly what he could do. It worked—because they never had a singer-songwriter before, and they certainly liked what they heard.
"That one," Bailey laughed. "Well, I saw the whole thing, the audition I mean, and I can tell you, I felt a little queasy when I saw how Damian and Jane stared at each other during that audition. I think it was something about that song."
Damian looked positively mortified, but Charlotte felt a small swell of pride, nevertheless, having heard that song from Damian before. He had performed it for her, and she thought it was wonderful. If Gregor and Pentland didn't draft him for that song, they would've been delusional. But when Damian had sung it to her, it made her blush sixteen shades of red when her boyfriend leaned closer and closer.
Of course it would've gotten Jane hooked. "Tell me he wasn't doing that flirty thing he does when he sings?" Charlotte begged.
"Charlotte, come on!" Damian exclaimed as Bailey burst into laughter and replied, "Sadly, he did a little bit. I told you, he and Jane kept looking at each other during that performance. I really really think that that's where the two of them actually started…putting the moves on each other."
"Just to be clear," Damian said matter-of-factly, "I did not 'put the moves' on Jane. I don't think I was actually emotionally prepared to do that at the time."
"But you liked her, and you made it obvious," Charlotte raised an eyebrow. "Her advances were…well-received?" She grinned.
"Damian might as well have written it on a banner." Bailey sighed dramatically and Damian elbowed her, turning red. "What? You were crushing really hard! Even Gregor and Pentland could tell. We found it excruciating that you wouldn't even properly tell Jane that you liked her until after you'd been in school for two months. Especially since Darren was also obsessed with her! We almost felt sorry for Darren then!"
Charlotte smirked a little. "So it was Darren who chased her, too…?"
"Among other things."
The three of them looked up at the sudden voice to see a tall, limber figure, moving at a pace that could almost be called languorous, strolling up to them. Charlotte, for a moment, was unable to recognize her by sheer lack of luster alone. And then she realized that it was Juliet.
Even Bailey looked a little surprised, and she was the one who lived in the same House as Juliet did. The actress was a far cry from her usual self—certainly not like the way she looked back during the Fair. She looked tired and pale, and she lost some weight, and she bore evidence of sleeplessness. But that smirk remained the same. "Congratulations, Damian. For those first two months, you effectively made all of Adams House loathe you for making things so much harder for the rest of us."
Charlotte expected Damian to react rather strongly to this, but Damian only responded sounding concerned. "While that should've told you guys how big of a bad idea the friendship between Darren and I was going to be—"
"—it did—"
"—are you all right?"
"People have got to stop asking me that question," Juliet sighed, rubbing the bridge of her nose with two fingers, looking exhausted and exasperated. She lifted her brown eyes and motioned for Charlotte to get up. "Come on, Summers."
"Excuse me?" Charlotte raised an eyebrow.
"I heard that they were giving you a really long storytelling session. I imagine Darren's side remains a little foggy, so I'm here to clear matters up."
"Can't Darren do that himself?" Charlotte remarked as she rose, nevertheless.
"Of course he can. But he'll most likely downplay his madness and believe me, it's more interesting to hear it from someone who's experienced the dramatics he put us through."
That might have been enough reason, but Charlotte saw another expression flash at her from Juliet: the universal, "I need to talk to you" look that people transmit to other people who were holding an invisible axe over their heads. And after having to go through that once with Fitzpatrick, she decided to get this one out of the way as soon as possible.
"Don't worry, I promise to look after your little Alice," Juliet said sarcastically to Damian's worried expression. "I'll make sure to bring her back before break ends."
"See you in class," Damian told Charlotte, who nodded to him. He then gave Juliet a long look before the actress led Charlotte away. Bailey was surprised that Damian even let this happen at all—but whatever it was, it was more surprising to her to see that Damian also expressed some concern over Juliet's questionable well-being.
It was a concern that Charlotte echoed as soon as they were some distance, heading towards the direction of the Library. "I heard about what happened to you after the Fair. You apparently got sick."
"Yeah…" Juliet sounded different now—distant, and tired.
"And you wouldn't let Darren in your room. Congratulations, you've effectively caused him to show me first hand exactly what he does when truly aggravated."
Juliet smiled a little and Charlotte wondered why the actress found it so amusing when Darren went off the deep end. The blond lead singer not only remained truly vindictive when spoken to in the halls and in class, but he was also completely mute during the Piper meeting. In addition, the fencing team lived in utter fear that day as Darren brutally demolished each and every one of them in practice matches. It took Damian's presence to diffuse the infuriated prefect in a match.
Damian looked indifferent when Darren swatted his saber away with such force that it flew out of his hand. Instead of looking stunned, Damian's silent stare at Darren seemed to demand to know what he thought was doing. That sent the still incumbent (and still very annoyed) Prefect out of the fencing hall. Darren had taken his medication soon after and he was more or less sedated by the time Juliet sprung from her hideout.
"Is Darren still the Prefect?" Charlotte asked.
"Sadly, he still is." Juliet looked more amused now. "It's driving him crazy, but the truth is that Adams is still torn at the vote. None of them want to make the decision. Partially because no one wants to handle what he's supposed to do for Parents' Night. That, and Murdoch seems to strongly want to keep him in the title at least until after that night."
"Why?"
"He wants Senator Wright to see his son still Prefect until then. I don't see why he bothers—his father never comes to Parents' Night. Stepmom does, though. Interestingly enough, Darren seems to care about her coming to school. She's a nice lady—a little slow, but she does seem to really care about him. "
Charlotte almost smiled. "You know him pretty well."
"Three years of being his friend, you get to know him whether you like it or not…" Juliet shrugged a little. "Your parents?"
"My parents are actually planning outfits for the event," Charlotte rolled her eyes, but her tone was affectionate. "When they heard it was formal, they decided to go all out so as not to embarrass me. That worries me—I think I may have to step in."
Juliet smirked. "Worrying about your parents embarrassing you? Classic."
"Well not all of us can be offspring to glitterati like Travis Armstrong and Dolce Larson," Charlotte retorted coolly. "My parents are all right, thank you."
"That they are…" Juliet shrugged. "Unfortunately, I don't have the privilege of parental humiliation on school grounds… The only red carpets my parents will be seen on are ones for awards shows and premieres."
Like Darren, Juliet's parents were divorced—and it was a very public and messy one. Like anyone well-versed in Hollywood scandal, Charlotte knew all about it. Dolce, the beautiful actress, and Travis, the talented director. Common enough match, but it went down in flames before Juliet even hit pre-teen. The divorce was catastrophic, with both sides fighting over money, property, and who got to keep the talented little daughter. Dolce won out in the end, and got to keep Juliet, but Travis maintained a strong hold over Juliet's movie career nevertheless.
Charlotte wondered if Darren and Juliet got along in that matter—because they had troublesome family lives. The Wrights' divorce was also very public, and also happened while Darren was still in elementary school. Cordelia Wright put up the barest minimum of fuss in the whole matter, however, and left Darren entirely to Senator Wright. That, she supposed, was where Darren's problems began.
"Your parents don't come to see you? At all?" Charlotte asked.
"No," Juliet replied almost cheerfully. "Never have, never will. Too busy. Happens all the time. Besides, they don't need to know what goes on here. Thank god for it. They don't know anything."
Charlotte got the message immediately. No one in Juliet's star-studded life knew thats he pined hopelessly over the temperamental senatorial son who also happened to be one of her few friends in school.
"So what happened with Darren during that time, Juliet? Did you already like him then?"
Juliet's laugh was almost friendly—if it didn't sound so patronizing at the same time. "I've liked him since my freshman year."
"And you just…watched him go after Jane?" Charlotte had a hard time believing that someone as spoiled as Juliet would simply sit back on her heels and let it happen.
But Juliet looked at her as though she was monumentally unimpressed. "You mean to say you've never liked someone you knew that you had absolutely zero chance with and so just let him go?"
That hit home. Charlotte glared at her and Juliet smirked in return.
-8-
Derek wasn't comfortable in using the term "obsessed" to describe what Darren was going through those two months when Jane still hadn't officially, verbally confirmed that she reciprocated the glaringly obvious interest that Darren was giving her. Obsession bordered in something dangerous and as far as they could see, Darren was simply focusing his energies on Jane some of the time.
Whatever he saw in the girl, it was lost on his two friends, who had to watch him find ways to get under Jane's skin in an attempt to elicit some kind of response. And when Darren wanted something and he didn't get it, his mood got bad.
Again and again, Darren returned to Adams House when he found himself being dodged by the girl who, while clearly rather taken by him, seemed to not want to remain close to him. Almost afraid. And Darren had no idea why. He made everything clear enough, but Jane, whatever her reasons was burying herself away from Darren's advances for the time being.
Adams students looked up when Darren swept back into the House one day after class, his expression looking a little sinister. Those who knew better cleared the way. Derek and Juliet carried on with their chess game. Darren strode into the common room and found the two of them. When he stood over them and he received no acknowledgement from either, his mouth curled into a sneer.
With a deft move, he picked up a single white piece and made the checkmate, heavily slamming the piece onto the table—some pawns clattered to the ground—and Darren swept away to the window with his cloud of gloom.
Derek made a choked furious noise as he glowered at his friend for interrupting their game. "What's the matter with you?" he demanded. "You've been prissy all week!"
He was ignored by the blond who pulled out a book and pretended to read, glaring at the pages. Juliet only looked bored and exasperated. "Is she still scared of you, Dare? Maybe it's because of these wonderfully thoughtful gestures of yours!"
"This is about Tipton again?" Derek looked annoyed now. He stalked up to Darren and snatched the book from the blond boy's hands. Darren looked up with a glare, and worse when Derek slammed the book closed and then threw it back at his chest. "Look, why don't you just put us all out of our miseries and date the girl? There's no one in the school who would stop you."
"Except every occupant of Jefferson House. And I would if she stopped running from me," Darren snarled through his teeth as he threw the book away—it narrowly missed Juliet's shins.
Juliet rolled her eyes and looked at everyone else in the common room. One of the students, who had been smirking at Darren's behavior, turned pale as Juliet's eyes landed on him. The actress sneered and said, "What's the matter, Cy? Relishing the fact that for once, Darren has someone dodging him? But I suppose you'd be really familiar with getting avoided like the plague considering that it only happens to you every single time you try to get a date."
The boy glared at her, slammed his books closed, picked up his coffee cup and left the room. Juliet turned to the last students in the room, who didn't wait for a prompting—she ran off immediately after her friend.
Derek was still trying to mollify their friend. "Look, you said it yourself. She's a little skittish."
"Gets along well enough with the Jeffersons, though," Juliet smirked. "Maybe it's just Darren in general."
"Oh shut up, Jules," Darren glared. "You're not helping."
"And it's not like everybody can't see that she's already crushing hard on you," Derek looked irritated now. "Just let her get used to you."
"It's been two months," Darren sounded tired, fingers pressed to his eyelids.
"It's definitely you, then," Juliet grinned. "Because D and I hated you for the first two months. Oh, wait a minute—we still do."
"Get out of here!" Darren yelled at her as he threw a couch pillow at her. Juliet set her mouth in a line and strode off to the other side of the common room as Derek shoved Darren lightly and said, "Come on, lighten up. You see that's your problem!" He sat in front of him. "You push too far! Have you tried being nice to her?"
"I got her into the Pipers after we got Damian in! And the fencing team! And I even talked to Murdoch to raise her grade up!"
"You give her stuff to make her like you!" Derek snapped. "You're trying to buy your way into her attention! That doesn't make you nice, it makes you a politician on campaign! And I have a hunch that's not exactly what Tipton's looking for."
At the term "politician", both Darren and Juliet winced. Even Derek knew he tread on thin ice on that one, but that was the best way to get Darren's attention to the fact that he was doing things wrong.
Color soared into Darren's face now that he recovered. "And you're suddenly an expert on these matters?"
"Look, just try to…do small things," Derek said, trying to explain and navigate them out of dangerous waters. "Try to be nice. Considerate even! Take it easy on the girl!"
Juliet piped up from the other side of the room, "Just hang out with her for no reason."
"Another one of your 'helpful' ideas?" Darren asked sarcastically.
"Seriously." Juliet rose and walked to him, her tone calm and frank. "Just hang out with her for no reason and just talk. Show her you're a human being, that's all it takes." She slowly walked up to him and held out a pair of tickets. "Here."
Darren looked at her suspiciously for a moment, then took the slips of paper. "What are these?"
"Storybooks," Juliet said sarcastically. "Why don't you read them and see?"
They were concert tickets. Derek looked surprised. "Where did you get those? That was sold out eight weeks ago."
"I'm Juliet Larson, I get anything I want," Juliet said sarcastically. Except… But she looked at Darren with impenetrable calm, mastered by many years of faking in front of a massive audience. "Now why don't you act like a normal human being for once and then, when you think it's okay, simply ask her out on a date and save us all the trouble of having to listen your incessant whining? You might actually properly fall in love and vice versa!"
And she simply strolled out of the room. Darren glared at her as he watched her go. Derek glanced over to Juliet's exit for a moment before looking at Darren, who said, "Not that she has room to complain about people whining, but she has a point. Tipton isn't going to fall all over your feet no matter how many times you push it."
"Like you expect girls to do with you?" Darren smirked at his best friend, though not unkindly.
"Hey, I work hard at getting their attention!" Derek grinned brightly. "You should learn how it feels for once."
"You mean these past two months wasn't hard enough…?" Darren groaned.
"Hey, you're the one who fixated on her," Derek threw up his hands. "You could've gone after easier game, but no, you had to go for a Jefferson. You're interested in Jeffersons way too much, Wright. Especially now since you've managed to become 'best friends' with the Jefferson's White Rabbit."
Darren seemed to smile more at that. Everyone knew that nickname now. And it was the first time the Twins had bestowed such a high-ranking title onto anyone. They seemed random, choosing who got to be what, but Darren knew the Twins since junior high. Nothing was random—when they thought enough of you, they'd name you.
Darren was the first character, apart from themselves, that they named—one afternoon, in Brightman manor, when they were all twelve years old, Darren's father being "celebrated" for his campaign, and all three blond boys plotting his demise via whoopee cushion prank.
The Knave. That was what they called him. Or rather, they accepted that name for him, because Darren had decided for himself. And then the Twins began "adopting" all the rest of the characters—but only during high school.
They never chose willy-nilly. They waited patiently for someone to come along who had whatever it was they were looking for. "Why do you think they named him White Rabbit anyway?" Derek asked, steering the topic away from Jane. He had his own name—and he didn't take it too well. King of Hearts. It would've been all right, given his playboy nature, but the King was second fiddle to the Queen. It was though they say that Derek would always be second place.
"Why do you ask me?" Darren muttered. "They're not normal. They never have been since I met them. I think it's all psychological."
"But you know them better than the Jeffersons do and that's saying something. Do you think maybe their calling Damian the White Rabbit is a hint to his personality or something? Next time you hang out with your new buddy, ask him."
"It's probably just because of the pocketwatch he has. For all you know, they call Juliet the Cheshire Cat because she keeps appearing and disappearing off to those stupid shoots. Your problem is that you over think."
"And your problem is you don't make the effort to think past yourself," Derek sniffed as he got up. "Now do as we say and try a little harder so we can all have our peace. Whatever it is you see in that girl, if you think she's worth the effort, then it's worth doing it right."
It wasn't until Derek was at the door when Darren said, somewhat more to himself than anything, "…she's worth the effort of doing right."
Surprising. And a little pleasing. Give Darren a little challenge for a while and keep him occupied. Who knows? Maybe Jane did inspire some kind of change in the normally cold boy. Derek turned to the hall and found Juliet waiting. He smiled at his friend. Juliet didn't smile back when she said, "…had those tickets for eight weeks."
"Why'd you give them to him, then?"
"Because I'm sick and tired of hearing him whine when the answer was so obvious. Would it kill him to consider the other girl's feelings for five seconds?"
"You're not exactly the image of selflessness either, Jules, save for that stunt there."
It would be the first of many. "Oh shut up, D."
A/N: Hi! For the next week or so, I am going out of town to spend time with my best friend. It is for certain that I won't be updating every single night, but I will try my best when I can. The updates will be considerably shorter though, so bear with me. :) Thank you and happy reading!
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Post by tonilous on Jul 14, 2014 5:34:58 GMT -5
"Darren and Jane started going out then," Juliet sighed from where she sat at one of the benches outside the library. "After two months of dramatics and whining in his room, with only us to rant to, and making everyone else's lives miserable, he finally took our advice and acted like a human being around Jane."
"Jane was already pretty much smitten, though?" Charlotte replied easily. "But I thought Jane had a thing with Damian...?"
"Well everyone knew that, but it wasn't going to be much use if Darren kept pushing this attitude of his. The I'm-pretty-much-running-this-whole-show nonchalance. And he wonders why he can't get any closer to Jane than obvious flirting in the hall. She just ducked the looks Darren gave her. Even you weren't impressed when she acted that way the first time." She paused, and then, "Yeah, everyone thought that, too. Damian was head over heels in love with Jane and I guess he let her go with Darren because she made him happier, at that time."
Charlotte nodded. "And no, I was warned early on about Darren. I decided to see for myself exactly what he was like before making my mind about him."
"Well, you had the advantage," Juliet replied, leaning back with a smirk. "Everyone knew Darren's colors by then. Jane was too blind and didn't listen to anyone except Damian...and Damian was new so he couldn't have warned her."
"But you knew?" Charlotte raised an eyebrow.
"I have a vastly different view of Darren compared to the Jekyll-Hyde thing you Jeffersons have going, so you shouldn't compare my viewpoint about his "true colors". Besides, you said it yourself—you had to form your own opinion."
Charlotte considered her for a moment. "And then what happened?"
"Darren and Jane saw each other a lot more, and people saw them together a lot more—and heaven forbid that a Jefferson and an Adams should get along so well, but when you see them together, they looked…well they were really good together." Juliet smiled dimly. "When Darren comes back from going out with her…he's actually happy."
Charlotte turned her gaze down to the earth beneath their feet, splatters of sunlight broken by the leaves in the tree branches overhead. "…So they…really did like each other then, didn't they?"
Juliet nodded. "Yep. They did. God forbid Derek and I say it in front of Darren these days…but we really thought that Darren was really in love for once. And I guess he was. He's had his share of flings, but we haven't seen him the way he was with Jane."
"And Jane..."
"We don't doubt Jane loved him back," Juliet said so matter-of-factly that it was surprising. "We could barely stand it. We didn't know how this was happening, but it was. No one in Adams approved, but they're not saying that to Darren's face. Jefferson was still hedged on it, but I suppose while Jane was happy, so were they. The two of them were almost sickening to watch for a while." She looked at Charlotte. "Kind of like the way you and Damian are like now."
There was a hidden note, just audible, behind the calm in Juliet's voice—Charlotte recognized that. Envy. So she shook her head. "It's still all your fault."
"What?" Juliet turned to her.
"You refuse to tell Daren how you feel. I was right, wasn't I? You can't leave. You're still here. You're stuck here, Juliet. So why don't you just tell him?"
"It doesn't work as well for me as it does for you, Alice." The last word was laced with some venom. "Because he still has feelings for you. He's learned to look past his own wants now, because of you. He's letting you go because he feels that strongly about you."
The scoff that followed was hollow, bitter as the coffee grounds that Adams liked so much. "…I hate you and Jane more than I hate anyone in the world right now. Because for the life of me, I can't see what the two of you had that he fell so hard—hard enough to fight himself, to force himself away from his own destructive tendencies. And no one else can say the same."
Silence. Charlotte swallowed. Hearing this from someone of Juliet's stature, it made her see the actress very differently suddenly. The glowing Juliet on TV was nothing like the person next to her, who was, for lack of a better term, fragile. "Why are you like this?"
"Like what?"
"You're not usually like this. You don't show people this side of you."
"I get tired of keeping up appearances. Sometimes I'm just as mad as every other hormonal teenager on the planet." Juliet glanced at her and snorted, shaking her head. "This is ridiculous. …you know how people say that your friends are supposed to be the ones who know you best? I feel like because of what you already know, you know me better than most people in school and that almost makes you a 'friend' except that we both clearly can't stand each other for long periods of time."
Charlotte smirked. "And you just said you loathed me."
"That too. But as much as I would love to push you into the school pool for being such an ingratiating diva—"
"—takes one to know one—"
"—you're still the only person I can safely talk to. As far as safe goes."
"Were you really sick, Juliet, after the Fair?" she finally asked. "Because you seemed perfectly all right when we talked in the hall. And then you came down with your 'illness'." She raised an eyebrow.
"That's different," Juliet muttered. "It's not about Darren."
"Because we can't have people accusing you of being overdramatic, now, can we?"
Juliet didn't laugh, or smirk or even smile. Her face still looked white and her hands shook. "What?" Charlotte asked. "What's the matter with you?"
After a moment, Juliet glanced at her and then seemed to change her mind. "…no, forget it. …maybe I shouldn't. You don't really have anything to do with it."
"With what?"
Juliet gestured numbly. "This…thing I have. I just…" she let out a breath. "I'm dying to talk to someone about it. And I'm sick of hearing Derek's opinion on the matter because he's the only one who actually knows—"
"Maybe you can tell Darren?" Charlotte said, explaining like one would to a two-year-old. "Considering you're friends and all."
"I can't tell Darren anything. That…puts him in more risk than I'm prepared to take."
She sounded serious—this all sounded a little too serious. Charlotte turned fully to her, frowning. "You might as well tell me, you got this far. And I already know your other big secret. Clearly I haven't told anyone. Yet."
"I swear to god if I hear this hitting E! or The Inside Edition, I'm going to ruin every chance of Broadway you have in the future, Summers. I can do it, I swear to you."
"Threats are unnecessary," Charlotte said calmly, clearly not intimidated by her. "Besides, my talents are such that they're obvious even to the blindest producer. I'll be all right."
Juliet actually laughed. She wanted to shove Charlotte off the bench and into the school fountain. She can't stand this little pixie diva but "Alice" was sadly the only person she could actually turn to right now who might make a lick of sense in the haze of terror that was creeping up on her since the incident at the steps.
Derek had been blind with fury after he finished cleaning the blood off the steps. He had dragged the shell-shocked Juliet out of her state of paralysis and declared every intention to tell Murdoch or someone that a lunatic had left a message. Someone close. Juliet protested against him desperately. That whoever it was, she or he was just trying to get attention, or was just trying to scare or shock her—that this had happened before—
Derek just exploded. But they don't break into your private school at the dead of night! They weren't close before. They were never this close. All of Juliet's strength went out once she finally convinced her friend to let it go, just for now. A few more days. Until Juliet could find a way out.
If she could even find a way out.
Then she was "ill". He couldn't leave her room, she couldn't bring herself to. She couldn't sleep at night. Derek continued insisting on telling someone. Or Darren. Juliet used everything she had to convince him not to.
Collateral damage. That was she was worried about. If the person was close, she didn't want to aggravate the situation by inciting panic. These people got angry, after all…
Until she was sure no one would be hurt in collateral damage if she really left…
Until she was sure, at least, that she was the only one who would draw all the venom…
"Hey, Juliet," came a breathless voice that made Juliet and Charlotte jump. Charlotte, who had been growing increasingly pale as Juliet told her what she couldn't bring to tell anyone else in Adams House, looked up to see a boy with a nervous smile. The boy's eyes widened a little as he held up his hands, looking alarmed. "Um, sorry—I was interrupting, wasn't I? Sorry. I was just…uh…" He spotted Charlotte. "Uh, hi."
"It's okay," Juliet seemed to breathe out at the sight of him. "I just… I'm jumpy these days." Juliet rose and Charlotte saw her change back into the Hollywood brat that she was. "What are you doing here, fanboy?"
Fanboy…? Charlotte blinked, but her eyes were glued to the other boy's hair.
Juliet then stopped and her jaw dropped in horror, with only a sharp, short laugh that belied mild amusement. "Adam, what the heck did you do to yourself?" Juliet gasped as Charlotte stared.
Adam stood looking awkward, scratching the back of his head. "Uh…"
His now blond head.
"You colored your hair?" Juliet stared at him, just a little horrified as she picked at a lock of pale hair.
"And he's definitely fried it with some serious chemicals," Charlotte's expert eye surveyed the damage, wrinkling her nose a little.
The Washington boy turned crimson, fidgeting. "I was just trying it out, all right…? I just…wanted to see how it would look." He paused as Juliet glowered at him. "I…may have fallen asleep while I was waiting for it to set in."
Juliet dropped her face into her hand, looking embarrassed as Charlotte remarked, "Any longer and you would've been platinum."
"I was just…wondering if you'd had some lunch in you yet, Juliet," Adam said, looking a little flustered with haste and with his situation. "I heard that you were sick and I figured you should eat when you're sick and you look…" He trailed away awkwardly.
"Someone's looking after you everywhere," Charlotte said to Juliet curiously, but she simply stood up, adding to Adam, "You're not interrupting. Juliet was just rambling."
"Oh?" Adam now looked confused. Then he looked at Juliet expectantly.
Juliet flashed Charlotte an expression that clearly meant, Ah, what a rotten life a superstar must lead… "Well, I think I'll hang out with Adam here and be worshipped for a while. I suppose I'll have to thank you for listening to me ramble on." But she turned to Adam with a glint in her eye. "And you. Come with me. We've got to do something about that hair and even it out or something, I can't be seen with you in your condition." She grabbed Adam's hand and dragged him off.
"Why me anyway?" Charlotte asked suddenly, as Juliet began to walk away with the strange boy. There had to be a million other people Juliet could've told her situation to, so why her? Juliet glanced back at her and smiled that famous smile of hers.
"Haven't you realized it yet, Alice? You're the only one sane in Wonderland. And I guess that's why trouble finds you."
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Hawthorne
Jul 14, 2014 11:10:04 GMT -5
via mobile
Post by HburgEagle44 on Jul 14, 2014 11:10:04 GMT -5
That last line. Perfect.
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Post by tonilous on Jul 21, 2014 0:47:54 GMT -5
A/N: Hi! I'm sorry for the delay.
My best friend and I had a wonderful time together and I'll definitely miss her. I'm back now, however, and I have an amazing amount of posts in store for you!
"I guess it means she trusts you for some reason," Grace whispered to Charlotte as the two of them walked back to Jefferson House after Piper practice. Behind them, Damian and Darren spoke to each other in low tones as well, and while it sounded as though they were having a close discussion, it also didn't sound like an argument. Darren was following the Jeffersons back to their House, meaning to continue the story.
"She's actually wrong, if she thinks I'm still sane after living with all of you all this time," Charlotte replied, eating an apple.
"Well, you won't tell me what you two talked about!" Grace looked a little irritated. "Then maybe I can put what she said to a better context." She paused, peeling her orange carefully, and added, "Was she really acting strange?"
"Yeah," Charlotte took another bite of apple. "But strangely we got along."
"Mm…" Grace looked worried. "You see my stepbrother asked me to tell him if anything weird happens to Juliet while at school."
"Clark?"
"Yes. They're in the same TV show, so I guess they're friends? Well, anyway, Clark called me out of the blue to ask me if I noticed anything weird with Juliet. I guess he knows something."
If Hollywood gets involved with that psycho stalker Juliet was talking about, there's going to be a huge mess in this school. Why does everyone notice except for Darren…? Charlotte glanced back to where the tall blond Piper was having an intense discussion with Damian, but kept their voices low. They still weren't hostile, but Damian looked a little distressed. Darren glanced up and caught Charlotte's eye. He smiled.
Charlotte smiled faintly back and turned back to Grace, who eyed them and said, "…are you sure that he's…he's not going to stand between you and Damian anymore?"
"He's definitely going to get it from me again if he tries something else after all this…" Charlotte grumbled.
"Seriously now. We're all still worried!" Grace started choking on a section of orange and Charlotte, without so much as calling attention to it, whacked her soundly on her back and the piece of orange popped out from Grace's throat. The smaller girl looked relieved.
"Damian said so. Darren says…he's ended it." Charlotte lifted her head nonchalantly. "…I suppose it's just a matter of getting over it now."
Grace smirked at her. "Now if only everyone else were so fortunate as to have two boys fighting over them so passionately—"
"While it does wonders for my egotism, it's not all it's cracked up to be," Charlotte grumbled. "Do you want to swap places?"
"You don't want to be where I am," Grace sighed.
"You're right, I think I don't."
Charlotte felt Damian grab her back. "Wait!" Damian suddenly said, staring at something ahead. Surprised, Charlotte stared at him and then back at Jefferson House. She saw immediately what Damian was talking about.
Shane was standing by Jefferson, hands shoved into his pockets, looking confused and apprehensive. Grace's eyes lit up for a moment…until she saw that Shane wasn't alone. Minah stood nearby, leaning against one of the pillars and reading under the warm glow of the lights from the building.
Damian hissed under his breath. "I forgot… I was supposed to see them today and meet the group for dinner." He looked at Charlotte. "And you're coming with us."
"I am?" Charlotte raised an eyebrow.
"They want to draft you as our new fifth," Damian smiled wanly, squeezing Charlotte's hand. "You know, of the…Fabulous…Five…" he trailed away as Charlotte stared, and then he hurried on with, "I tried to talk them out of it, you know, you didn't need any more complications—what?" Damian stared as Charlotte started to laugh, and laugh hard. He grinned a little himself. "What's so funny?"
"Nothing—!" Charlotte smirked. "All of you. You're all insane."
"Yeah, and I'm starting to think you might be too," Damian remarked but his eyes were bright. He looked at Darren. "Looks like I'm telling the story tonight, Darren."
"Seeing as how we just finished talking about my side of it…I suppose that's all right," Darren replied calmly. Charlotte could read the tell-tale signs of someone who was mildly sedated. He really was trying. Trying. He wasn't perfect. But he tried.
Damian looked at him differently now than Charlotte had seen him look at him before. The hostility and whatever fierce hatred he had previously was scarcely there. Damian said to Darren, "I'll try to tell it with as little bias as possible."
"It doesn't matter," Darren replied easily, with no discernible tone. "It's done now. I suppose this is good night then—you can tell the Twins, Patrick, and Diana to get out of their paintball sniping points over at your upper floors."
Instant distress from the Jefferson balcony, and the sound of rifles being hastily withdrawn clicked upstairs. "How did he even—?"
Charlotte satisfied herself with a glower in that direction for now, but when she turned back, Darren was already walking away. Damian saw where Charlotte's gaze was and said, "Something's really bothering him. I can tell. Something about the way he's talking. It's like he's thinking about something else."
"You seem to know him a lot better than you let on," Charlotte remarked.
"Which, I guess, makes us each other's perfect enemies…" Damian smiled faintly. He looked at Grace now. "Grace? Are you…?"
"I'm fine." Grace's response was automatic now, and had ceased to mean anything. "I'm dying to get in our room and rest, Charlotte. It's been a really long day."
Whatever Grace had in mind, if she even thought she could manage sneaking past them, it was pointless. Shane's eyes flew to her the moment she presented herself. Minah looked up when she heard their footsteps and calmly closed her book, smiling.
"Hey Grace," Shane said quickly, going to her the moment she reached the three. "I'm sorry I haven't—did anyone already—" He glanced to Charlotte and Damian.
"It's fine, and yes, I've been…told the gist of it." Grace smiled that way again—the one where her eyes didn't change.
"Hello," Minah said with a smile, walking up to them as well. Her glasses glinted mutely in the evening light. "Hello, Charlotte, Grace." She nodded to them.
"I'm sorry, I forgot that we were supposed to go out and have dinner with the guys today," Damian said, looking at the both of them. Minah only shook her head and answered, "Erin guessed as much, so we came to get you."
"Can we duck inside for a minute?" Charlotte said quickly. "I want to get changed out of uniform."
"You better do the same too," Minah laughed to Damian. "Erin says that if she sees you in that uniform one more time, she'll turn into a debutante."
Damian laughed and nodded a little. "All right, I think I get it."
"Where exactly are we having dinner?" Charlotte asked.
"I think I'll go ahead inside," Grace said suddenly, looking at the four of them.
"No, wait." Shane's hands glued themselves onto Grace's, looking at her. "Wait—do you—do you want to come with us?" he said hopefully, looking for a chance to explain some more.
Grace blinked, a little startled. She looked around at the four of them. And then her eyes rested on Minah again, tall with kind eyes behind the glasses. Minah caught her gaze and smiled again.
Grace smiled faintly back and quickly turned away. "No, I…I'm really busy with my exhibit. I think I'll stay in. Thanks anyway—you should have fun." She slipped away from Shane's hands and headed for Jefferson, where the Twins stood curiously at the doors.
"Grace—!" Shane would've moved forward, but Minah caught his arm back and shook her head. "But…!"
"Shane…" Minah whispered carefully. "Let her go. Don't force it." Shane looked up at Minah, then back at where Grace disappeared to, and then just nodded. He stepped closer to Minah silently, staring at his feet.
"I…think I'll go change." Charlotte blazed into Jefferson after her friend not sure if she wanted to shake her or yell at her for running away yet again.
Jefferson was in chaos—yet again—the moment she walked in. "Hello, Charlotte," Charlie said almost cheerfully when Charlotte and Damian walked in. He was probably in element in this madness. "Damian, your brother—"
"I know, I know…" Damian said as the Twins hurried past him, still carrying their paintball rifles ("Aren't those supposed to be banned?" Charlotte demanded, and was ignored). Satoru came whirling down the steps, holding a Tupperware container with a biohazard sticker stuck onto it.
"Chaz, can I put this in the fridge?" he yelled.
"Is it chemical?"
"No."
"Is it flammable?"
"No."
"Does it blow up?"
"No."
"Does it contaminate things?"
"No."
"Then why does it have a biohazard sticker?"
"Uh…I…don't want people eating it…?"
Charlie looked deadpan. "…we'll pretend I believe you. Carry on." He turned to the common room. "Lucas! Logan! If you shoot Diana with that rifle, I'm setting fire to your comic book collection!" Charlie looked up at Charlotte and Damian at the top of the staircase and yelled, "Curfew! Don't forget or I'm locking you out!"
"Yes, mother…" Damian smirked as he followed Charlotte into the second floor hall, knowing Charlie never locked anyone out.
"And whatever you do, don't—!"
"It's been defiled!" came a hysterical howl from upstairs as Charlotte cried, "Why are there even fifteen containers of this stuff in the hall?"
"…touch Noel's salt shipment…" Charlie finished lamely before trying to rein in the Twins as a volley of paintballs rattled the common room.
Pow!
Another explosion rocked the dorm (first floor this time, so whatever it is that Satoru had must've done it) just as Charlotte rushed into her room and quickly shut the door as though trying to escape from the jungle of the hall. She let out her breath. She wondered for the life of her why she imagined having a life at Hawthorne would ever be 'quiet'.
She looked up and saw Grace pacing her white (and still paint-splattered) side of the room. "What was that?" Charlotte demanded.
"Drew experimenting."
"Not that…" Charlotte snapped as hasty knocks came at her door. Charlotte picked up a fire extinguisher, opened the door and handed it to Drew ("Thanks, Charl!") and slammed the door shut again without so much as looking away from Grace. "I meant you and Shane out there! I thought all this time, you wanted answers! He wants to talk to you, so let him explain!"
"I chickened out." Grace said shakily, flailing. "Minah was standing right there!"
"So what?"
"I'm not her!" Grace finally burst out. "I'm nothing like her! Have you seen her? She's tall and good looking and she looks like she couldn't break a dinner plate if she dropped one—and—and—!"
"This ought to be good," Charlotte muttered as she looked at her friend, arms crossed over her chest expectantly.
"And…" Grace crumpled into a chair. "…before I came upstairs… I saw Mimah hug him."
"And?"
"I can't do that!" Grace yelled. She looked worked up now and she paced as Charlotte rolled her eyes and headed to the closet. "Don't you get it? I'm not like you! I can't be like you and Damian, walking around holding hands and being so completely utterly sure of yourselves! Easy as breathing! Every time I see the two of you, I keep wondering why I can't have things like that! All because I can barely even bring myself to touch Shane's hand because I always freak out about every move I make around him, if it's even right or if I'm even supposed to or—!" she choked. "I can't reach out and just hold him like Minah does—and she's the one who up and disappeared for over a year!" She sank back into the chair. "I let Shane do as he likes around me because I trust him but when it's my turn, I…I choke!"
Grace threw herself onto the bed, facedown again. "Minah can give Shane what I can't—reciprocation and initiative. How is that…in any way…normal?"
"The choke part."
Grace looked up to see Charlotte standing over her, already pulling on a jacket. She was smirking a little. "You think you're the only one in the planet who suddenly closes up in panic when they come near the person they like?"
"You don't," Grace mumbled. "Minah certainly doesn't, it seems."
"I'm not you, Minah is also not you, and you're not either of us. And consider that when you think about how it's you who Shane seems to really like. Still does, actually, if his behavior outside was any indication. What exactly, may I ask, are you doing wrong, then?"
And with a last burst of hairspray, she slipped out the door and left Grace to her thoughts. She immediately saw Damian, already changed, approaching her. "How's Grace?"
"With any luck? Coming to her senses." Charlotte smiled and said, "After this, can we please please do something far away from this hysteria?"
Damian took Charlotte's hand and pulled her a little bit closer—just in time to keep her away from the door as a second blast rocked the floor—and nodded. "I can use a little bit of time away from this asylum too once in a while. That and…" he looked at Charlotte intently, "…I have to talk to you about Parents' Night. Since…I'm meeting your parents again and…you're meeting mine."
"You look nervous."
"I'm very very nervous." Damian moved a hand through his hair. "After all…the last time parents got involved, that began my problems with Darren…"
"When did the "best friend" period end, anyway?"
"It didn't actually end with the incident I'm talking about. I'm just saying that when his father got involved with Darren and Jane, I started to learn how…volatile Darren was. That was around the time Jefferson was going crazier than usual, because Patrick transferred in at last, and at the same time, Jefferson received one more person."
-8-
"If you smile any harder, the entire top of your head is coming off."
Jane elbowed Diana in the ribs, still carrying Damian's box of things as she set it down on the bed. Damian had begun packing his things, even though Diana told him not to. His transfer had been fixed and he had the option of rooming with Patrick instead.
"Are you that happy now that you're going out with Darren officially?" Patrick asked Jane as he helped Damian track down all his textbooks.
"You should see Jane when Darren shows up at Jefferson's doors. She drops everything and goes to see him," Diana smirked mercilessly, and Jane resisted the urge to throw something at her friend.
"Is he the reason for the image switch?" Patrick asked curiously. "When did you start fixing your hair like that?"
"Like what?" Jane asked, self-consciously touching her head of brown curls, which, while usually unruly, was now heavily straightened. Patrick pretended to rap his knuckles onto Jane's head and pretended to make a metal clanging sound. Jane swatted him off, turning red. "Leave it alone."
"It's…definitely new," Diana grinned, prodding at it.
"What are you doing?" Patrick asked, wide-eyed.
"Just…trying to look a little more put together, that's all…" Jane mumbled, stuffing books into the box.
"Don't tell me you're trying to get "a little more put together" for Darren, please Jane, don't tell me…"
"It's not!" but color soared into Jane's face. "I just figured… seeing as how…you know, people think a bit more highly of me now—" and here Patrick and Diana grinned at her, "—I could clean up a little, you know?"
Damian walked in the room, holding an even greater amount of books in his hands. "Quit that for five seconds, we told you, the books can stay, you can still study here," Patrick grabbed the books out of Damian's hands.
"My grade point average doesn't want me to stay," Damian grumbled back. "Hanging around the both of you will ruin all my concentration."
"That's not true," Patrick protested. "Diana's got one of the best GPAs in Jefferson!"
"It would be the best GPA in Jefferson if we didn't drive her nuts all the time, and now that you're here—"
"Are you kidding? I need the distraction. I'm not some grade-obsessed Adams. No offense," she added to Jane "Darn it, it's hard to say nasty things about Adams guys around you. Why'd you have to go and date one?"
Jane just smiled remembering the practice with Darren yesterday. Darren had played music on the piano and started singing along to it and Jane knew that the song was for her.
"Aaand we've lost her." Patrick rolled his eyes, looking grossed out.
At that instant, someone came pounding at the door and it flew open to reveal Drew looking wildly elated. "Come on! Charlie and the other upperclassmen are freaking out—check out the new kid! He won't let anyone near him!"
"New kid…?" The four students in the room came running out to the railing that overlooked the entrance hall and saw the junior and senior students crowding by the door and the Twins hanging over the staircase rail looking as wide-eyed as a pair of children at fairgrounds.
This was for a very excellent reason. The new boy—being given a large berth by the older students—was standing at the door wearing a heavy trenchcoat, surrounded by his luggage that were still being brought in. The baggage consisted of suitcases and massive trunks that looked like the ones pirates usually unearthed out of beaches. The pale, dark-haired boy was staring at Ryan, the prefect, and Charlie, the unspoken leader of the junior students
"I don't understand," the new boy said coldly, but his eyes looked frightened. He was holding what looked like a sprayer of water. Around his feet was a white line of powdered substance, which still trickled from a small canister at his other hand—it was salt.
Ryan looked around a moment before saying, "Uh…look, freshman—"
"Noel."
Ryan looked at the sheet in his hand. "This says your name is Thomas."
"Thomas Noel Montgomery," the boy bristled as his butler continued to dump stuff around him, completely unperturbed by his charge's behavior. "If you call me Thomas or any variation thereof, I swear I will get my crossbow out."
"Okay, take it easy." Ryan stepped forward. The water sprayer immediately got raised to his face as the boy backed half a step further behind the salt line. The Twins looked deeply interested.
"Got ourselves a really crazy one here…" Charlie stared. "Burkhart's going to be thrilled."
"Shut up, Amos!" Ryan almost yelled and Charlie just rolled his eyes and shrugged. What a pain. Another Jefferson who was just that little bit further off the deep end.
But it gave Damian an idea. His eyes landed on the Twins, who now looked at him. Damian quickly went past the others and whispered to the both of them. After listening carefully, the Twins smiled.
Ryan looked up as the Twins shoved forward among the ranks, so far forward that they just nearly tripped over the new boy's salt line. Noel eyed them with marked suspicion, medallions and sprayer raised. "…doppelgangers…?"
"Hello!" they said cheerfully.
"What are they doing?" Jane hissed to Damian, clutching onto his shoulder.
Damian grinned. "I don't know—but maybe it takes two people who can speak crazy to calm the new guy down?"
"What's wrong, new guy?" the towering Twins asked, smiling down at him and clearly unafraid of the water sprayer aimed at them. "What are you so scared of?"
The response was automatic. "This place is completely unprotected against any and all malignant beings alive, dead or undead. I can't be too careful especially in an ancient prep school."
The students stared.
"You came prepared, huh?" the Twins were more amused now.
Noel narrowed his eyes and kicked one of his trunks open. The students around him took another wide-eyed step back at first, and then moved a little closer to inspect the collection of weapons and instruments that the trunk contained. They weren't guns—they were arrows, spikes, crystals, bottles with questionable contents and even an actual sword and shield (but the blade wasn't sharp and the shield was a miniature), encrusted with runes and rust.
"What…the…?" Patrick and Diana stared.
The Twins were sold on him immediately. "Most excellent, little Knight," they said, as they observed the 'weaponry'. "You'll fit right in."
"Pardon?" for the first time, the boy looked surprised, looking up from behind the sprayer. Later on, Noel would explain that it was the first time in his history of education that he was told that he would "fit in".
Jane laughed and shook her head. "Oh man…"
"You named him already…?" Ryan asked, looking long-suffering, knowing what was going to happen next. He had succeeded the long-suffering Peter, who the Twins attacked the very day they set foot into Hawthorne.
"Would you like to see our collection of weaponry?" the Twins asked politely, hands behind their backs, holding nerf guns.
Noel slowly lowered his sprayer a fraction. "You…have weaponry…?"
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Hawthorne
Jul 21, 2014 1:50:13 GMT -5
via mobile
Post by HburgEagle44 on Jul 21, 2014 1:50:13 GMT -5
Looooooove Noel's introduction.....
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Post by tonilous on Jul 21, 2014 2:15:26 GMT -5
As mayhem erupted in Jefferson House once the Twins officially started attacking the newbie—who was currently running around the second floor screaming his lungs out and flinging salt and holy water everywhere, other Jeffersons ducking for cover—Diana knocked at Damian's door, with a cheeky smile. "Hey. Your boyfriend's here."
Damian looked up from the window where he was talking on the phone and rolled his eyes. "I know, Shane. Shut up, I don't have a girlfriend." He looked embarrassed. "Yeah. Take care out there. Bye." He hung up and tucked his phone away, looking up at Diana. "What?"
"Darren's waiting outside."
Damian smiled faintly, feeling a twinge as he usually did when Darren got involved. From the very beginning, Jane had liked both Darren and Damian, but it steadily became obvious that Jane was far more interested in Darren than Damian. Jane was reasonably civil enough with Damian but her attentions seemed mainly diverted towards Darren. He was the only one she ever actually flirted with.
After that, it got awkward, especially when Darren suddenly became best friends with Damian. Everyone except Patrick and Diana knew how Damian truly felt about Jane. It was because Damian was often with Jane as this happened, and Patrick and Diana saw a riot of emotions going past his eyes when the girl would excuse herself. Whatever it was, Damian refused to let it be too obvious, though, and remained incredibly supportive.
That's why it was awkward.
"Damian!" Patrick's voice prompted him, tearing him from reverie. "Damian, you're keeping an enemy waiting downstairs. I will throw you down there if you don't get moving."
"Right!" Damian glanced at himself in the mirror, then down at his clothes. Jane had been out visiting family so Darren and Damian had both decided to grab a bite to eat. "Do I look all right?"
And then the next thing he knew, Patrick was hurling him out the door. "Clean cup! Move down!" he yelled loudly into the noise in the hall.
Damian fell into the Twins, who caught him by the arms and cheerfully went hurtling down the hallway. "Move down!" and they tossed Damian forward into Diana, who was standing by the top of the stairs.
Diana caught Damian's arm and grinned. "Move down!" She pulled Damian down the staircase, passing Grace, who smiled and waved at their progress.
"Move down!" Charlie called up to the others as he caught Damian the moment Diana released him. Charlie was the one who yanked Damian along and then threw him forward in the entrance hall, sending him stumbling all the way out—
—and into a powerful pair of arms.
"We're not in that much of a hurry, but it's nice to see you too," Darren said.
"Hey," Damian said quickly, hastily getting himself together as he straightened up. "The people in my dorm are insane, that's all."
"Bring him back in one piece, Knave," the Twins threatened—all too seriously—from inside.
With the ease of someone with a great deal of practice, Darren ignored them as he walked out towards where the car he called for was waiting. "I take it that I was just in time. Jefferson seems to have gotten a live one in there." Darren grinned and looked back towards where Jefferson House was still engaged in some serious bedlam.
Darren rolled his eyes. "I'm starving, Wright. Where exactly are we going tonight?"
"I was thinking of having pizza this time," Darren answered, entering the car.
"How romantic. I promise I won't tell Jane," Damian mumbled sarcastically. "I guess it doesn't matter as long as it doesn't involve you having anything you're allergic to again," Damian grinned.
"Please, like I want you to see me like that again," Darren shook his head with a laugh. "I'm not about to bring us both running to an emergency room. Jane almost killed me the last time."
"Yeah, your Adams friends seem to still think I'm responsible for that."
"Don't mind them," Darren rolled his eyes, looking irritated, remembering Derek and Juliet's reaction when they heard he and Damian were in the ER. "They like sticking their noses into my business."
They went out for a bite to eat more or less regularly—Darren from time to time, complained about the swill they serve in the cafeteria (some of the best school nourishment Damian had seen in his life) and preferred eating out with his friends when they could afford to do so.
It was in the middle of dinner when Darren got the call. The conversation had changed between Jane and the other Jeffersons, to what they planned to do after high school. While Damian intended to go to a school with an excellent focus on music and take it from there, Darren seemed to literally have no plans—even though it would seem that his way was mapped out towards Political Science, he certainly wasn't all that willing to let go of singing. Damian thought it was strange that he would be geared towards—
That was when the call came. Darren had glared at it the moment it appeared on his screen and that was the first sign. He seemed both surprised and furious at the sight of it. Damian had never seen such a reaction on him, and had to ask. "Who is it?"
"No one important," Darren snapped as he pushed it to the side of the table. But his mood remained bad as the phone continued to vibrate. Whoever was calling refused to stop, and it just kept on. Darren's mood worsened as it continued.
Finally Damian just said, "Pick up the call, already. Whoever it is isn't going to stop."
"Unfortunately not," Darren snarled, picking up the phone and taking the call furiously. "It's really nice of you to grace me with your attention for once! What did I do now?" the boy snapped at the caller with such venom in his voice that Damian was startled.
Darren's expression only worsened. "What are you—I haven't done anyth—" Whoever was on the other end was yelling, more furiously than Darren was being. Darren rose and stormed right out of the restaurant and Damian immediately followed.
He found Darren outside engaged in a heated battle. "I don't care!" he snarled into the phone. "You're not blaming this one on me, I've been in freaking Northampton all this time—" color soared into Darren's face suddenly. "So what? I went back to New York with Derek and Juliet, we were there for two days, we didn't even do a thing, Michelle can tell—!"
Damian stared at him. Darren only got angrier. "No. You heard me, no, I haven't—it's not like you actually give a rat's—! I don't have to listen to this!" he hung up and literally flung the phone away the way Damian only ever saw done in movies.
Concerned, Damian went up to him and touched his arm. "Darren—"
With a sudden swing, Darren swatted his hand away angrily, Damian's wrist turning red. "Just leave it alone!"
"What's the matter with you?" Damian asked. "Who was that?"
"Well what do you think?" Darren snapped, towering over him angrily. "Not that it's any of your business, but it's my father doing what he does best—being a complete and total piece of—"
Damian stood staring at him in shock and Darren seemed to realize exactly who he was talking to. With great effort he tore away from Darren and walked a short distance off in a storm of frustrated fury. He looked up at the sky as though demanding answers from it that it could never actually give.
Damian rubbed his wrist and walked to him carefully, looking his friend over in concern. "Darren…"
The taller boy held up a hand, as though to stop him from going on or saying anything further. He was visibly controlling himself, and in the end, that hand lowered. The shorter boy sighed. "Hey. Come on."
Darren looked at him for a long moment and shook his head. "…I was just…"
"Let's just go back. Jane might be back, too."
Darren stood up and didn't say anything.
-8-
"I'd never seen him angry like that before," Damian said as he sat on his bed later that night. Jane was lying at the foot of the bed with sheet music. She was a Piper now, and she seemed dedicated to the task. "D'you have any idea what all that was about?"
For a moment, Jane gave him a long look. "You really haven't heard? I thought if he hadn't told you, you'd hear about it. It's not exactly a secret."
"Our dorm atmosphere isn't exactly conducive to discussions about Adams," Damian responded.
"That, and clearly, you're not that into politics," Jane grinned as she sat next to Damian. "You don't know that his father is Senator John Darren Wright? They do have the same name. And the same temper."
Damian looked at her. "His father is who—?"
"Yes, that one," Jane sighed. "The one Darren got into some hot water when he proved having a…temper of his own. No one outside of Adams knows anything about it, but… my sister told me that Darren did something back in Manhattan. Only Derek and Juliet know the whole story, but whatever it is, it was really bad. We haven't gotten that far into our relationship yet, so I don't really know everything about him. Anyways, Darren and the Senator haven't gotten along, like, ever… But whatever Darren did to make his dad angry that time, it was the last straw. He sent him packing here, pretty much exiled him."
Jane gave a small smile. "Would you have rejected being his friend if you knew that he and his dad have problems?"
"No…" Damian stared at the ceiling. "I have problems with my dad too, you know. I know what it's like." He paused before adding, "I just wanted to know. So I wouldn't have to tread that line again. You should have seen how angry he got, Jane. I'm surprised you haven't yet."
"Darren gets upset easily," Jane admitted, leaning against Damian. "But you shouldn't take it too personally. Some people have a short temper, that's all."
Damian smiled and leaned against his friend sadly. "…well it's obvious you know more about him than a lot of people."
"Of course I do," Jane smirked. "When I have a crush on someone, I try to find out all I can!" She grinned at Damian.
"You're insane," Damian laughed, pushing her off the bed into a laughing heap on the floor.
"No, you both are," Diana remarked from where she was doing math homework and getting frustrated about it. But she smiled at them. "You both have awful taste in dudes, friendship wise or not." This only made the two of them laugh harder. Diana rolled her eyes as Jane got up and draped herself on her, still laughing.
"Don't worry, Diana," Jane said happily, hugging her. "When Patrick finally has all his crap moved in with Damian, you two can talk about how much you both secretly love each other, Damian and I will do the bonding time."
"Nah, I have the feeling you both will need us," Diana grinned, used to the jab by now. "Hey, someone's going to have to keep up with your crazy."
The door blew open and the Twins came running in. "Run!" they yelled gleefully as they leapt over the couch in the room. "Run! The new guy's after us!" They erupted into laughter and dived behind the couch as Noel came running in carrying one of the Twins' paintball guns, shooting like there was no tomorrow.
-8-
"Charlotte? Can I talk to you for a minute? Alone?"
Charlotte looked up and saw Shane looking at her, apprehensive. Erin, Becca, and Minah continued to talk amongst themselves over the dinner table, but Damian looked up. Shane glanced to him for a moment, and then turned his worried blue-gray eyes back to Charlotte.
"Please?" he asked.
Charlotte glanced to Damian, who looked up at his brother and asked, "What's wrong?"
"I just have to talk to Charlotte about something," Shane said, looking at him with would-be innocent eyes, but his brother had already seen the concern. Damian sat still, looking up at him. "If this is about Grace, I'm fine hearing it. She's my friend too."
"Charlotte knows her better, she's her roommate…" Shane murmured sadly.
Minah looked up from the table. Shane blanched and looked down quickly at Charlotte, touching her elbow. "Come on, please? It'll be really quick and it's going to get really awkward really fast if we talk here."
Charlotte sighed and rose, nodding to Damian. "I'll talk to him. I also promise not to hurt him unless he says something particularly stupid."
"That'll be nearly as soon as I talk," Shane sighed.
Charlotte caught Shane by the elbow and pulled him out of the restaurant and into the cold night air outside. For a moment, Shane seemed to try to collect his thoughts in an attempt to make the least ridiculous way of saying what he wants to say.
So Charlotte curbed it. "What did you want to explain to Grace that she didn't seem to want to listen to earlier?"
"Is she angry with me?" Shane immediately asked.
"She's having problems dealing with the fact that you and your ex are incredibly close."
"She's…well if you're being technical about it, she's not actually my ex—" Shane blanched at the judging expression that Charlotte bestowed on him. "I mean…yeah, I'm not helping my case, am I."
"She's aware that the last time you and Minah had seen each other, no actual 'breaking up' had happened. Minah just disappeared. And from the conversation over at dinner, it looks like Minah didn't have a choice."
Shane winced. Minah had been set to North Carolina and had more or less been locked away there, until her school there sent her and her schoolmates to the same San Francisco book fair that she ran into Erin and Becca in. Officially, Minah was on the run even though she sent a message to her parents about leaving with her friends. No one knew she was in Massachusetts save for her old friends. She was knee deep in some serious trouble now, but the quiet girl belied nothing in her countenance.
"Parents' Night is going to be incredible," Shane muttered bitterly. "I'm not going back to Colorado until that's over because I'm going to explode on dad for the first time, I think I actually will. He can't just go around threatening—"
"Shane." Charlotte stared at him. "What did you want to ask me about?"
"Does she hate me?" Shane asked.
"No." Charlotte rolled her eyes. "You have to stop asking other people that every five seconds and ask her yourself."
"I'm too afraid the answer will be yes if I asked her."
Charlotte patted his shoulder. "Would it help if I told you that she's shying away from you because you haven't even made up your mind? I can tell at this point that you're torn between Minah and Grace."
Shane groaned and fell squatting onto the walk, hands buried into his curly thatch of hair. "I hate this! I mean on the one hand—and then on the other—Charlotte, I'm not a bad person, right? Am I completely evil for even having this problem?"
"It just got confusing," Charlotte responded with a deep sigh. "Happens a lot around here. Things getting complicated really fast."
"…I wish I was like you."
That made Charlotte look down towards him. Shane was staring miserably at the pavement. "…Damian says…you're always so confident. Even when things got so rough at your old school…you knew who you were, when you set your mind to something, you did it. You made your own decisions." He threw a pebble away. "…I wish I was more like you."
Charlotte smiled a little, feeling strangely affectionate at the younger boy. Sighing, she laid a hand on Shane's head. "Well not everyone can be like me."
"What would you do?" Shane asked, looking up at her with worried eyes. "If you were in my place, what would you do?"
"That's pointless. Because the question is what you should do, not what I should do. What I choose to do has nothing to do with you." Charlotte squatted down carefully and looked at Shane. "You don't love both of them the same way, Shane. You can love them both, but not the same way. And if you can figure out which one you love which way, you have your answer."
Shane stared back at her, still a little anxious, and murmured, "…was that…how you figured out Damian and Darren?"
Charlotte turned away from him, looking distant and thoughtful. She carefully stood, brushing her pants off. "No." She glanced back into the restaurant, where she immediately caught Damian's warm gaze. "…there just wasn't a doubt in my head that it was Damian, between him and Darren." She smiled back at her boyfriend. "…it was always Damian."
Shane smiled faintly, looking out into the shadows. "Damian told me that…you were different from when it was with Jane. With Jane, he felt like he was always on his guard. Like…trying to pick your way through a swamp. But with you…it felt easy. It just felt…like seeing you smile was all he needed." He stared. "…is that how it's supposed to feel like?"
It was the way he said it. Charlotte, surprised and a little pleased, now turned to look at him again. "Shane…" she said, as she headed for the door, a curious smile on her face, "…why do I get the feeling that you already know your answer…? And you're just worried about how it would affect the other one?"
When Shane glanced up at her, Charlotte smiled and disappeared back into the restaurant.
-8-
When Charlotte and Damian returned to Hawthorne, it was late. They were pushing curfew as it was, and they had to hurry back to Jefferson. They had just barely made it in as Charlie was preparing to lock the House up. He didn't seem too upset to see them—at least they had come on time and through the doors. It was considered normal for Jeffersons to break in by way of the windows when they were out way too late.
Damian gave her a goodnight kiss that lasted too long. The way he held her made Charlotte look up at him curiously. In response, Charlotte touched Damian's wrist. After a moment's pause, she said, "…is it really so hard for you to think about what happened then? Because we haven't even gotten to the bad part."
"No." Damian smiled, keeping Charlotte close against him. "Everything just reminded me how…insanely lucky I was…that I came down those stairs when I did. That you touched my arm when you did, and asked me what was going on."
Charlotte smirked. "You're being melodramatic."
"No, I'm crazy about you." Damian grinned. "Hey, you have to admit, that's as lucky as someone gets," he laughed. "A hundred students were running down those stairs, but it was me you stopped."
"My taste is impeccable," Charlotte replied with a smile.
"Apparently so," Damian laughed.
"You have to admit, all this is helping you and Darren get along," Charlotte told him pointedly. "It only looks as though you would like to stab each other, and not throw each other in the path of a school bus."
"Well, you did want us to…work all this out. Progress is progress, I guess." But Damian leaned close and whispered, "But I still don't want him near the both of us for awhile."
"I'm sure." Charlotte smirked at his proximity.
Damian kissed her gently again. "See you tomorrow."
"Your story isn't finished."
"I know." Damian smiled at the door. "But we have time."
-8-
It wasn't until Jefferson was silent, after Charlotte closed the door to her room, finding it still completely lit and Grace asleep on her schoolbooks, that Han finished a riveting Starcraft battle and sank his head down onto his hands. He rubbed his eyes from under his glasses before sighing, feeling tired and leaning his head back, feeling it crackle. He felt stiff and maybe he should rest even for half an hour.
…that was when he saw the movement.
It wasn't often that Hansel Westwood took a really good look at his screens during the boring nighttime when everyone was asleep. He usually only looked through them when Jefferson was carrying out another crazy plan that night, or if the Twins expressly requested him to.
Tonight, one of his bugs picked up something strange, and he just happened to look in the right time.
The same way Charlotte just happened to glance out a second-floor window as she went out to get a glass of milk, the one facing Adams House, at the right time.
It was a shadow of movement—that had just fled Adams House.
Charlotte's mind flashed.
I have this stalker…
She went running down the stairs, feet thumping and sounding hollow on the wood steps.
How they get into the school, I don't know…
Noel wasn't unaccustomed to the sound of activity outside in the halls past curfew, but this felt different. He rose, picking up his holy water sprayer, and headed out his door, going through the hallway. He reached the upper landing just in time to see a body clothed in silk pajamas—too fashionable for a lot of the students to bother with, and too tall to be the smaller fashionista—vanishing into the entrance hall.
"Charlotte…?"
…but they left me a "present" the other day…
Han frowned at the screen, seeing something in the trees at Adams House. Was it someone calling in another prank that he just didn't know about?
But he couldn't zoom in any closer, or even get a good look at it. He looked up at the Jefferson cams just as Charlotte vanished out the door. Where's she going?
I want to tell someone, anyone…
Charlotte was running across the grounds, looking around for any sign of movement, hoping to spot whoever it was. Being once at the receiving end of an actual death threat, things like the ones Juliet described were taken seriously in her book. If no one knew…if that was that stalker again…someone should tell Adams House that they paid another visit.
…but I…I can't. Because…
"Charlotte?" Noel didn't like it when people went around willy-nilly during the nighttime. Who knew what malignant undead beings ran around this old private school at this time of night?
He looked around outside Jefferson and saw his friend running towards Adams House. "Charlotte!" Oh man, I better get her before a vampire does or something and Damian freaks out. He ran.
…because what if they're too close? What if…
Han saw Charlotte's figure enter his "Adams bug's" field of view. He started to feel a little apprehensive, looking into what few bugs on the grounds he had. There was just something wrong with this picture. What was Charlotte doing at this hour?
…well if she knows where I am and where I stay…
Charlotte looked around for anything unusual in the silence.
The steps were empty. The trees looked quiet as she wandered around them. The lights were on at a number of windows in Adams House. The occupants were usually up late. There was just no way anyone would be stupid enough to do anything. Not even Jeffersons went this early to prank someone.
…there's no telling what else she knows…
"Charlotte!"
The hand that grabbed her arm nearly made Charlotte scream and she turned around to see Noel's startled expression. "What are you doing here?" the panicked sophomore hissed.
Charlotte let out a sigh of relief and swatted at his arm with a glare. "Don't scare me like that!"
"Me?" Noel stared, and he looked annoyed. "You're the one running around past curfew, like you don't normally do?" He gave Charlotte an all-too-suspicious look. "…you're not coming here to see Darren, are you? Ow! Ow!" Charlotte had started to hit his arm again and he squirmed away.
"No, I was not!"
"I was just asking!"
"Go back to the dorm," Charlotte grumbled, pushing him back to the direction of Jefferson. "Let's go. There's nothing here."
"Oh, were you out hunting?" Noel asked, perking up and looking a little interested. "What were you tracking?"
"Nothing you should know about. Go? Now?"
"Hey, I'll have you know that I'm good at tracking down things that wander around school at night! I totally nearly caught that rodent that was rooting at Charlie's flower beds in the greenhouse!"
"Go, Noel."
"Did I mention that the chapel bell is haunted by this dead girl who got brokenhearted by one of the guys in this academy twenty-five years ago?"
Charlotte rolled her eyes. What was she even doing out here. So she saw something outside. Big deal, the students in this school could barely be constrained by curfew, it was probably some Adams who was coming late from seeing some girl. It was probably Derek for all she knew.
This all was temporary insanity. Clearly it was rubbing off on her. Maybe if she got some sleep, all these secrets rapidly unraveling around her would stop getting to her this badly.
…and who else they could get to.
Noel took Charlotte's lack of response as a sign that she was getting really annoyed and just fell silent. No one in this school really understood the actual danger that some of them could get into by not being prepared enough against malignant forces beyond their comprehension.
It ranged from bad luck to pure evil, and sometimes it could be really hard to tell the difference if the rest of the school wasn't so bent on being stranger than they already were.
Noel glanced up for a moment at the direction of the block of buildings to South and Main, and for a moment, he blinked. He had thought, for a moment, that he had looked up just when a light went out at the Hawthorne Art Hall, and that unsettling, fleeting image of blond hair.
But the rest of the building was cold and empty, and only the Twins wandered about everywhere that was locked, so maybe they were in there, wreaking havoc or making some interesting "redecorations".
Either that, or even that Hall is haunted. But then again, what else was new in this school…?
Besides, if it was the Twins, he expected to hear about it in the morning.
-8-
At school the next day, the hall was full of students bustling to get to class and arguing over what tests they were having and what they were taking up for the day, who did what, where and when, and various other mundane things that he couldn't be bothered to deal with.
Parents Night approached. Everyone was too busy. It was easy to slip in and out of the throng.
There. Him.
He spotted the girl immediately—it was hard not to. The girl was a little luminescent as opposed to the rest of the students in the hall. Maybe it was the way she stood or walked and moved. People knew her—who didn't know a star?
He followed the girl peaceably, biding his time waiting for her to become alone.
She looked pale today, as though she didn't get much sleep. Pity. He had wanted to meet her in her best condition. The girl was stopped, from time to time, by people she knew in the hallways, or those who simply needed to talk to her for one reason or another.
He hurried on the down the hall, seeing that the girl would be alone soon, looking a little tired. Of course she would be, if he was starting to put two and two together. It really was something to think about.
Just what did she already know? What had she said to other people?
And more importantly…was it time to act, and make sure everything stays quiet?
He saw her stop, put down her books and telltale coffee cup on the table, possibly waiting for those who were apparently her friends. He walked to her, as she arranged her books, stepping up behind her. He felt a slick of amusement as the girl jumped when she turned and found him there.
"Hello, Charlotte. I'm Adam. Can I talk to you for a minute?"
The Jefferson diva smiled. "Sure."
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Post by tonilous on Jul 21, 2014 2:21:42 GMT -5
Hawthorne Purgatory (Part 1)
(Washington House: 2 days to Purgatory.)
Danny Abbot grinned from outside the door, his uniform neat as usual, Washington badge gleaming on his shirt collar. "Hey, new guy! Come on. Our Prefect calls for a meeting."
"Right," Adam nodded immediately, understanding the rules of Washington House perfectly well. "I'll be right out, give me a second."
Danny nodded and stepped back. He walked down the hall, nodding at some students who emerged from their rooms, heading downstairs to the meeting room. They greeted him as a sign of respect—Danny was to be the new prefect next year, once Felix graduated.
As Danny glanced back down the hall, he saw Adam emerge from the room he just left. He did find something odd about the new boy who had his few moments of almost startling intensity. Danny pushed the thought away for now. He might be rooming with him soon anyway. Adam had been lucky—everyone else had roommates or had a single in Washington, and so the new one had his own room for a time. However, Danny might end up rooming with him in an attempt to get the new boy to become a little more talkative. He seemed nice enough…and Danny hadn't had a roommate since Patrick moved to Jefferson.
Adam jogged down the steps along with some of the other students. Spencer Willis stood waiting at the landing, keeping count of the students.
As Adam passed him, he looked up. "Hey! Clavell, wait!"
Adam turned back to him, and saw Spencer picking something up off the floor. For a moment, the dark-haired boy tensed as their Prefect's best friend picked up the head of a rose from the floor, having fallen out of his pocket.
Spencer grinned and held it out to him. "You dropped this."
"Uh…thanks." Adam nodded awkwardly and grabbed it from him—much too tightly; he felt it crush in his hand as he pocketed it hastily. He gave Spencer a searching glance.
Spencer only smiled, oblivious. "Planning on giving it to someone special?"
It was now that Adam began to smile.
"Yes. Someone very special."
I'm Charlotte. And this is Hawthorne Academy.
Purgatory.
Defined as:
The popular student term for the one night a year that their esteemed parents, family members, guardian ad litems and/or lawyers come to school to get updated about their achievements, what has happened in the year, and what to expect.
The one night a year which can rival the stress levels of finals, when all the students are expected to show off the very best of their skills and abilities, with certain notable ones taking center stage.
The one night a year that is prepared for by means of all the wrong stress-relievers.
The one night where all plans, no matter how well thought out, can and will go wrong.
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Post by tonilous on Jul 21, 2014 3:34:14 GMT -5
Charlie narrowed his eyes. "I'm only going to ask this once."
The Twins looked bored.
Diana glanced off out to the windows, as though wondering if anything interesting was there.
Patrick picked at his nails.
Noel rolled his eyes.
Grace tilted her head and blinked innocently.
Charlotte raised an eyebrow.
Damian simply cleared his throat.
"Which one of you…let that animal loose on Adams House?"
And there followed the most amused bout of silence in the world.
(Jefferson House: 1 day to Purgatory.)
"I'm serious!" Charlie was almost yelling as the Jeffersons around them continued to gear up for the party they planned to hold that night, with the main conspirators seated on the couches and chairs, looking deeply, deeply amused for people who supposedly had absolutely nothing to do with the latest in the bout of pranks. "Which one of you did it, come on!"
No one was actually sure when it began. Both sides had their own ideas, but Charlotte was pretty sure that Jefferson had to be the one that needed the outlet first and started it all.
It was nearing Parents' Night when the first salvos were fired. Adams House members were completely unable to leave their house one morning. The front door and side doors were sealed tight with some kind of adhesive so thick that it was virtually impenetrable, having seeped well into the bolts. The windows were sealed the same way. It required Darren, Derek and two other varsity boys to smash their doors open again.
While this would normally be chalked up to typical Jefferson shenanigans, all the Adams were pushed to certain breaking points that required them to now retaliate in a similar fashion. Jefferson House nearly throttled Han for letting it happen—"What, I was busy trying to fix a security bug in my servers at the same time!"—but they came back to find their laundry covered with what was, according to Noel, the scummy black pond water from the old fountain near the greenhouse. Charlotte and Grace were positively horrified at the condition of their clothes.
It was a declaration of war. And it was somewhere around the time that all of Adams House, their books and notes, were drenched in water after their sprinkler system went off—around the time that Jefferson House occupants found the tires of their cars all without air—that Charlotte ondered if they were all just collectively out of their minds. Maybe Jefferson was just a little more upfront about it.
"This is getting ridiculous," Charlotte had declared one morning when she found the Adams occupants angrily trying to retrieve all their shirts, ties and blazers from the trees around their house.
"This is actually warming up," Damian had corrected her as Jefferson was evacuated yet again as someone had thrown a beehive into their common room.
"What are they going to do, just keep doing this to each other until someone gives up?" Charlotte demanded.
"It's been twenty-five years," Noel made a face, clearly on high defensive, remaining in his constant state of suspicious alertness. "I don't think anyone is giving up anytime soon."
This was relatively true. This went on to the point that Jeffersons and Adams traveled in packs in the hall for safety, shooting each other looks that ranged from loathing—directly after a hit—to amusement—prelude to retaliation.
The Administration wasn't thrilled. They put up with this with as little menace as they could, having been used to this kind of thing for a while, but when the attacks started happening in more public areas that could've potentially hit day students and teachers—a group of Adams who frequented one of the tables in the lounge put down their coffee and books and the entire table went out from under them—they called for the Prefects.
The order: A ceasefire on the battle.
According to Lowell, "If you must put your efforts elsewhere other than their rightful place in your academics, put them into adequately preparing to at least meet your parents and families' Herculean expectations." Jefferson and Adams were to put aside their hostilities (or at least dial them down a little); Washington was tasked to also keep down their madness and at the same time hold the two battle lines apart. If further incidents happened, the Prefects would be personally held responsible—and all the students knew that the Prefects, all of them, can become unpleasant when it was their necks on the line.
But that never actually stopped anyone from trying to retaliate, if they could get away with it.
Which was why Charlie now had all the conspirators gathered in the living room, especially following yet another incident in Adams, a mere day before Purgatory.
"Charlie," Diana said expansively, a very mild smile on her face, "what makes Adams think it's a prank by us? These sorts of things can happen!"
"An actual goat does not simply wander into campus, especially into a dormitory with keycard locks on every door," Charlie crossed his arms over his chest, glowering deeply.
"It was a goat, Charlie, not a dragon," Damian said simply in a noncommittal tone.
"It ate someone's Advanced Calculus notes!" Charlie shot back.
"They could copy those from someone else…" Noel narrowed his eyes.
"They were Darren's Calculus notes!"
"You're telling me that he didn't have that coming in any way, shape or form?" Patrick raised an eyebrow.
"Patrick—" Charlotte gave Patrick a pointed look and the other boy just threw up his hands.
Charlie hissed as he let out his breath, rubbing his eyes, and he looked exasperated. "Darren's been a prime target for the past forty-eight hours. It has to be one of you. No one else usually has the balls to repeatedly assault him."
"Excuse me?" Charlotte raised an eyebrow. "Prime target?"
"He nearly slipped down one of the staircases and would've nearly broken his neck, not to mention a stepladder nearly fell on him that might have concussed or decapitated him, and someone apparently slipped him a candy bar with peanuts in it—!"
"Peanuts?" Grace whispered in askance to Damian, who glanced at her and answered, "He's allergic to a lot of stuff, but with peanuts he'd go into anaphylactic shock. He had a near miss one time."
"Those weren't pranks; he was careless!" the Twins blinked.
Charlie glowered. "Darren may be a little dense, but he's not nearly spastic enough to actually endanger his life—that's Grace's department. No offense," he added to the curly-haired artist, who just waved it away with a shrug.
"We're also not actually trying to kill him or anyone!" Patrick responded, blinking. "If anything, you should be asking if someone's out to get him or something!"
Charlotte looked up at this, a strange, unwelcome thought passing through her mind. Of course it was ridiculous—it had to be. This wasn't some slasher movie or anything. That kind of thing was just way too unbelievable. Simply because no one could know. No one could possibly know. The only way Charlotte even knew anything was because she was told. Confirmed.
…no one was trying to actually…hurt Darren…right?
And much less…
…it being someone like a psycho stalker…
…who somehow knew that his object of affection was in to a certain Prefect—
Charlotte shook her head. This is ridiculous. It's Jefferson madness. This is not a bad slasher flick. Everything is fine. It's just the madness getting to me.
"Charlotte?" Damian closed his hand over Charlotte's, looking at her. "You okay?"
"Fine," she answered much too quickly, smiling at him. "Just thinking over stuff for Parents Night."
"Exactly," Charlie pointed to her with a nod. "This is exactly what I want to talk to all of you about. I don't even care anymore which of you did it, because I'm pretty sure it's the twins."
Lucas and Logan gave him shocked and hurt expressions but their blue eyes twinkled, giving them both away. Charlie went on. "Our focus has to go back to Parents Night. You all know that considering the stuff Adams House pulls on us, I'd be the last person to actually stop you. I mean, I was the one who volunteered to find us all the feathers for that last thing we pulled on them." Snickers sounded from the students. "But it will be Purgatory soon and this is just going to cause us all to lose focus. All of you are Pipers. Shouldn't you be getting ready for performances?"
Noel coughed loudly. Charlie rolled his eyes. "Fine, all of you are Pipers except Noel. But you're not out of the fire, here, Montgomery. You think Burkhart isn't going to tell your mom about the stuff you've pulled this year?"
"I haven't pulled anything! All that I do is for the safety of the people in this house—I am the reason all of you are not angering malignant supernatural entities left and right here—!" Noel protested as the others just groaned and threw pillows at him.
Charlie took a deep breath to calm himself and said, "All right. People, I don't care anymore what you have to do. I just want us to get through that night in one piece. Remember last year?"
All the students winced. Charlie grimaced and nodded. "Yes. Let's not forget the incident with the chandelier, and Burkhart's car, that big mess with Grace's mother, Diana's mother, and Michelle Wright, and the spectacular incident that had a chunk of the Jefferson House budget going to renovations for the fencing hall!"
Charlotte looked confused. "What exactly—"
"We don't talk about that anymore," everyone chorused at the same time.
"I never want to see buttercream again for the rest of my life," Patrick groaned.
"Whatever," Charlie grumbled, pacing in front of them. "Purgatory is a day away. One. Day. I don't know about you, but we've already messed up the Valentines' Fair and Lowell's ready to deliver some serious thunderbolts after this war we've got going with Adams. Believe me, I am one of the last people to hold you back in that matter, but we're on the red here. Purgatory sucks for everybody. Can we just make it through this one thing without a hitch?"
"Charlie, relax," Damian replied, staring at him. "We all know that. Everyone knows that. It's going to be all right. Nothing is going to happen. After all the trouble we made last year and all the trouble everyone got into, I don't think anyone would be stupid enough to do something bad with all our parents around."
"Yeah, they'd have to be really crazy to do that…" Noel snorted.
Everyone turned to look at him. Noel looked back at them and then shrugged a little. "Well…more than us, I guess."
Charlie sighed and rolled his eyes. "Well…whatever, then. As long as we're all clear on that. Oh man, I hope nothing bad happens this time around. For once. Han?"
"Yeah?" the nearby speaker crackled.
"You and Damian—can you please look out for these clowns for a bit? Prefects are having another meeting."
"I am not their babysitter!" the hacker sounded panicked. "I can't watch them right now! Look, I don't even care that I've been banned from using security cams all over school. Fine, I can deal with that. But I have a raid to get to. Do you understand the magnitude of that?"
"Oh just shut up and do it, Han?" Charlie dragged a hand down his face. "Anyway like I said, there's a meeting. And assuming that Darren hasn't burst a blood vessel with rage with the whole goat prank, I'm expecting him to be there too. Which means that all of the prefects will be unable to keep an eye on you guys and I expect you all to not kill each other while I'm away. Okay?"
The others just smiled at him. Charlotte's hand shot up, waving her fingers in the air, "Excuse me, may I?"
"What is it, Summers?" Charlie asked.
"If Darren is going to be at this meeting, does that mean that he won't be participating in the Duels this afternoon during Piper practice, thus removing himself as competition for the rest of us who would like to earn a lead for the Parents' Night performance?"
At that, everyone gave her a look of incredulous surprise. Charlotte blinked right back at them. "…what?"
Charlie sighed deeply. "I don't know, Summers, but I guess he's not."
Well that was one less top Piper to worry about, Charlotte decided. She had always been rather competitive—that was hardly a secret—and Parents' Night called for two solos and a duet. Charlotte was going to be one of those soloists no matter what as Henry and Ellen would be coming to see her. Her only real competition would be the Twins, Damian, and Darren—Grace didn't even want to compete at this point, thus eliminating one of the favorites already. If Darren was out of the running, that left Damian and the Twins. She and Damian were still on rocky ground, approval-wise, but in this situation, it's most likely that if they could get away with a lead, it would have to go to one of them if the Twins were given the favor.
Charlotte glanced at Damian. So her boyfriend was also her competition. Damian grinned a little at her. "I know that look," he said. "It's you sizing up the enemy."
Charlotte colored only slightly. "Well it's a huge event and it involves certain important personages—"
"Charlotte—relax. I know. You or me, I don't mind. I'm still sticking by you, lead or no lead." Damian squeezed her hand and didn't look bothered by the idea of Charlotte going for the kill in the duels at all. The others just rolled their eyes.
"Can you guys stop being so mushy? It hurts the rest of us who are still without a Shakespearean-level romance," Patrick complained.
"If I recall, you guys were the ones who were so desperate to get us together," Charlotte raised an eyebrow.
"We question our sanities on that matter."
"I question your sanities daily," Charlie grumbled. "All right, you guys? I'm going now. Please, please be good? Just once. Just once. Because I swear, if I take the fall for the next thing you guys are going to pull, it's off with your heads. For real."
The Twins burst into laughter as Charlie strode off, grumbling. Everyone, the conspirators, and the assorted students in the halls, stared after him for a moment, waiting until they heard the front door open and subsequently close.
A full two seconds of silence happened.
"Come here, Diana!" The Twins finally pounced and Diana immediately dived out of the couch, ducking Patrick's arm. Grace grabbed the back of Diana's jacket and then crashed to the ground when it slipped from her fingers—Damian leaped from the couch and tackled Diana down—who then squirmed out of his grip and raced out of the common room. Noel yelled and dived down with Charlotte, getting out of the crossfire as the others scrambled to grab Diana back.
"Get back here!" Patrick yelled, chasing her upstairs, the Twins leaping over banisters and going up the stairs two steps at a time.
"Stay away from our room!" Charlotte declared imperiously as she followed her boyfriend, Diana, the Twins, Patrick, and Noel up the second floor, Grace struggling to get up and scramble after them.
The other Jeffersons immediately fled the way as Diana went charging down the hall. Patrick raced ahead of her and threw herself into the doorway of her room, blocking her way. "Oh no you don't—"
"Seriously, Diana!" Charlotte groaned as the bedlam went down the hall—Noel rushed into his room and disappeared into it, the sounds of at least five locks clicking. "The sooner you just give in, the sooner it'll be over!"
"I told you, I'm not hiding anything!" Diana yelled. Charlotte groaned and walked into her room, Grace following her. Damian seemed to hesitate for a moment and then followed Charlotte into the relative peace of the two fashionistas' dorm room.
"You ready for Parents' Night?" Grace asked casually as she headed to her side of the room. "Your parents are coming, aren't they?"
"Yes, they are…" Charlotte smiled.
"Is that the reason you haven't stopped practicing for the past three days?" Grace grinned. "You should take it easy, you don't want to wake up tomorrow morning without a voice—"
"Don't even suggest the possibility, Grace—" Charlotte rolled her eyes and looked at Damian, who was sitting at the couch. "How about your parents? Are we expecting your family?"
"Uh…" Damian glanced for a moment at Grace, who threw up her hands and flopped onto the bed.
Grace sighed. "Say it, Damian—my life can function properly with or without Shane McGinty."
"No it can't," the other two chorused, smirking.
"Just because it hasn't, doesn't mean it won't," Grace protested.
"Shane is coming with mom," Damian replied, leaning back on the couch and sighing deeply, looking worried. He looked at his hands for a moment, wringing them. "So is my father."
Grace and Charlotte looked up. Charlotte immediately moved to him, sitting next to him, a little surprised. "So your dad is coming…"
"Yeah…" Damian nodded. He looked pale and anxious. "He didn't last year. I didn't think he would this year either. He and I…we haven't really talked all that much in the past year but…but I guess since Shane's accident he, uh, probably decided to take the command in my life again."
"Damian…?" Grace sat up, looking a bit worried. "Does your dad know that you and Charlotte are…"
Charlotte looked from her friend and then back to Damian, and found her boyfriend giving her an expression of open apprehension. She felt Damian's hands tighten on hers and Damian broke eye contact. "They—they know I'm attached. And…dad was quiet. But with him, quiet is hardly a good sign." Damian suddenly rose and started to pace, exhaling. "That's why they…they wanted to meet you. I told you they wanted to meet you."
Charlotte stared at Damian, waiting—but Damian just continued pacing the floor. The girl sighed, impatient. "You have to stop. You're going to drive yourself nuts. I understand that you're worried, but he's not actually going to stab me—"
"He threw Minah out of the house physically!" Damian protested.
"He'll be surrounded by quite a few witnesses to assault this time."
"I don't want you anywhere near my father," Damian answered, distracted as he continued to pace, deep in thought, and possibly various bad images. "My mother, maybe, but if my father even approaches you—"
"I have to meet him sometime, Damian," Charlotte answered, frowning. "And there'll be no choice this time around. I'm not going to spend the night dodging him, just so you know."
"I don't want him to say anything to you or worse: do anything to you! Especially after what happened with Minah!"
Charlotte smirked a little. "Believe me, your dad is not running me off."
Clearly, Damian wasn't convinced. And considering that he knew what his father was like, Charlotte couldn't really blame him. He knew that not all kids like him were fortunate enough to have a father like Henry.
"I can handle this," Charlotte told her boyfriend emphatically. When Damian didn't listen, she frowned. "You said I was meeting your parents, and meet your parents I will. I'm not afraid of them, Damian, and you shouldn't be either."
Damian glanced at Charlotte, still not looking thoroughly convinced, and Charlotte only returned him a look of the same obstinate manner that really made it difficult for anyone to argue against her. When she had set her mind to something, it was very difficult to turn her to something different, if it were even possible at all.
This was, of course, one of the things that Damian loved her for and could really find no fault with. Damian sat down on the couch next to her, and Charlotte could see that while Damian still didn't approve, he was willing to give it a try. "All right," the Piper finally said. "But you promise to stick with me, and let me lead the talking."
He reached out and took Charlotte's hand. "…I want to face my father too. I want to fight for the right to be with you. All this time, after all the things that happened with me and you and Darren and…" he shakes his head. "I'm tired of being at the risk of losing you." He sighed and absently laid his head on Charlotte's shoulder. "Can't I just keep you and be happy?"
Charlotte smiled a little at him, and turned a little red as Grace giggled from the bed—they had forgotten she was there. She glowered at her little roommate, who just shrugged and gave her a "what, it's my room too!" expression.
The door nearly flew off its hinges as the bedlam outside took possession of the room. Charlotte quickly ducked away from the Twins and grabbed her music sheets from the coffee table just as Diana went leaping over her head, the Twins following suit—Damian scrambled to keep Charlotte down and out of harm's way.
"Diana!" Patrick yelled, diving for her and missing as Diana jumped over one of the chairs and sought shelter near Grace's bed—the artist ducked out of the way—before evading the Twins who pounced on her again.
"I said it's nothing! Geez! Come on, get off!" Diana fought the twins off, clearly very embarrassed.
"We just want to see what you're hiding!" Lucas said cheerfully, going around and around Diana like an over-excitable puppy, the girl trying to get out of his reach
"The sooner you give in, the sooner this'll all be over!" Logan told her in an equally cheery tone, grabbing Diana's arm to keep her still as Patrick grabbed the other one.
"Let go!" Diana protested, panicking as Lucas began to search in her pockets.
"Just let them do what they want and they'll leave you alone," Charlotte sighed, frustrated at the noise around her as she pored over the music sheets, trying very very hard to pretend that this wasn't happening. It seldom worked, but it was worth a shot. Grace, now standing at Charlotte's side of the room, just laughed.
After an instant, Lucas crowed success. Diana cried out as Patrick and Logan wrestled her far away from Lucas so she couldn't retrieve it. Logan shoved Diana into her best friend, who was now grabbing at Diana's wrists, before he joined his twin.
"Did you find it?" Damian grinned, hovering around them. "What is it?"
Lucas made a choking noise and his twin made an identical sound, the two of them frozen, staring at something in Lucas' palm.
Patrick shoved Diana off and ran to the twins. "Let me see!"
"Give it back!" Diana yelled.
The tall twins kept their hands up to keep Diana from possibly reaching what they found, and Grace staring up at it, now looked aghast. "Oh my—"
Charlotte rose from the sofa, eyes wide. "Is that—?"
"Give it—!" Diana leaped up, face dark red, and grabbed the tiny gray box that had been popped open, something twinkling within.
"It's a ring!" the twins screamed, jumping up and down as Damian and Patrick looked absolutely stunned. "The Hatter has a ring!"
Grace materialized at Diana's elbow, making the other girl jump nearly about a foot. "Does this mean what we think it means?"
"The way all your brains work is questionable so I can't be sure…" Diana narrowed her eyes.
"Then so we can all be sure," Damian said loudly, staring at his friend, "…is that an engagement ring, Diana…?"
Diana looked down at the ring in her hands, and then to her friends, who all stared at her expectantly. Even Noel was peering from the doorway, sprayer in hand, eyes narrowed and waiting for confirmation of some kind. Then Diana's eyes landed on Patrick, her best friend, who was looking at her with quiet expectation. Then she looked back down onto the ring and sighed.
"…yes?"
The uproar that rose from this could've blown the ceiling and everyone simply started talking at the same time—mainly asking if she was serious, in varying degrees of amusement and incredulity. Diana winced and gestured for them all to calm down and be quiet.
"Look, you guys—you guys, calm down!" she bellowed, glowering at them. "There's nothing wrong with Jordan giving me a ring!"
"This is not A Walk to Remember!" Patrick pointed out. "You're both acting like Jordan might…go…at any minute! You shouldn't think like that! He's still got a way to go!"
"You don't know that…" Diana mumbled.
"I can't believe he asked you!" Grace exclaimed, beaming down at the ring happily. She seemed to observe it with a practiced eye. "A Harry Winston, Diana? Really?" She grinned.
"Shh!" Diana hissed, as though merely talking about it made her panic. "He didn't really propose. I mean... we talked about it, obviously. And I know we're both young... It was just a thought, nothing official...I'm trying to make a decision here."
"You have a ring, you've obviously made one," Charlotte raised an eyebrow.
Diana threw up her hands and flailed around—just narrowly missing Grace—before flopping down onto the couch. "Look. I just—It's a thought, okay? Just a thought. I just…I really…" And then she looked up at them with an expression that seemed to wish she could explain. "I really really love him, guys. I really do. I know it sounds silly, and stupid because we're so young but… It doesn't feel like I'm being young and stupid with him. I feel like all I ever want is to wake up next to him every morning for the rest of my life."
Prepared as they were for wild declarations of love coming from overly smitten Jefferson House members, they were still surprised by the way Diana said it: quietly, simply—words that fit only in romantic movies and sappy love letters—said without malice and directly as though stating fact.
The conspirators all looked at each other. The Twins grinned and looked at Diana, immediately plopping themselves onto the couch on either side of her. "Well you know you can't actually get married…" Lucas pointed out.
"But…I suppose a bit of a ceremony…" Logan conjectured, "in the name of true love and all that…wouldn't hurt, right?"
Diana looked at them, and then to the others, who were now starting to grin. There is a slow build of laughter and cheering in the room and then she found herself being covered in blue blazers, congratulatory, from the people in the room. Diana heaved a sigh of relief. Sure the idea was crazy, and sure in all likelihood it was still foggy on happening, but knowing that her friends had her back certainly helped.
Diana lifted her eyes to where Patrick stood, and found her best friend nodding to her with a small, sad smile. Patrick had been tense and testy as Parents' Night approached. And Diana wondered why Patrick had remained quiet and only ever told her that everything was fine.
It was as though their previous situation had reversed. This was not lost to the other Jeffersons, who now watched as Patrick clapped Diana on the shoulder in an encouraging gesture, and then then turned around and left the room.
"Patrick!" Diana said, getting up.
"I just have to go talk to someone!" Patrick yelled back as he vanished.
"Yeah…" Diana muttered, watching him go. That was always what he said. "…but you're supposed to be talking to me."
Charlotte frowned and looked at Damian, who looked at his two best friends with a perplexed expression. "Well he has been a little distant," Charlotte remarked. "Did they fight?"
"Not that I'd know about—Patrick hasn't even stuck around long enough to have some kind of argument." Damian sighed. "He only looked distressed. If you ask me, he should be talking to Diana if he has a problem, or any of us, but no one in Jefferson could account for it, and with Parents' Night coming up…" He only sighed deeply. "I think I've had enough to think about for one day."
And that was when Shane McGinty walked into the room, wearing the uniform of Hawthorne Academy, and a huge smile on his face.
Every eye in the room widened as they gaped at him in shock, the younger McGinty grinning broadly as he dusted his sleeves off. "Well?" Shane exclaimed, beaming widely. "What do you say? Looks pretty good on me, don't you think?"
"Oh my god…" Charlotte dropped her face into her hand and looked at Damian who was staring at his brother in horror.
"Shane…" the older McGinty said very slowly, hoping it would ask the query on everyone's minds as saying it out loud might foretell the Apocalypse, "…what…did you do."
"Is—is that yours?" Grace stammered, staring at him.
"Well…" Shane sighed dramatically with a sigh, "You know I've grown to love this place a whole lot…so much potential here, you know…for a quality education, getting a little socialized, grow emotionally and all that…plus I'm here half the time, and—"
"Shane!" Damian snapped, staring at him.
"Easy there, White Rabbit, it's not too late," Shane grinned, throwing himself onto the couch and propping his feet on the table—pulling his feet back down as Charlotte made to swat at his arm in warning. "I happened to be asked by a nice man named Mr. Pentland and a nice lady named Ms. Gregor if I would consider transferring into this school. More to support you of course, you've had it rough these past weeks—"
"Shane!"
"All right!" Shane threw up his hands. "Not yet. But I have the paperwork. I just need the folks to sign off. Which means…"
"One signature and you're a Hawthorne student," Damian exhaled, closing his eyes as though he were trying to accept the magnitude of all this.
"Yes, that's right," Shane smiled.
"And Walcott is just letting you spend all this time away from school?" Diana snorted.
"Hey, as far as Walcott is concerned, I'm undergoing a serious process of self-searching and rehabilitation," Shane remarked importantly. "And I technically am! I think it's safer for me to be somewhere close to Damian!"
"Is it safe for Damian to have you somewhere close?" Charlotte raised an eyebrow—to which the younger McGinty flung himself to the older one, engulfing him in a smothering hug.
"But you love me, don't you, Damo?" Shane whined with a big grin, hugging his brother with enough force to crush a car. "You love me as your adorable little brother and you're going to take really good care of me, right?"
Damian, who may have been contemplating becoming an only child, now just sighed and said, "Well…the folks still have to sign off on it. Good luck with that. They still love you, after all."
"That's not true, Damian—I think Mom and Dad may be easing up a little after my whole near-death situation," Shane smiled at his brother. "Hey, maybe they'll even want to meet Charlotte!"
At this, both Damian and Charlotte winced as they were reminded of the previous discussion they had. "They do want to see Charlotte, Shane…" Damian told him.
"Don't worry, you two," Shane beamed grandly at the two of them. "I'll be there to totally back you up. It'll be fine! Besides, I figure most of the heat will be going my way."
"What do you mean?" Charlotte frowned.
Shane looked at her and then sighed. "With Minah here…I figure…I should talk to dad. I might not get another chance. I'm going to confront him about what he did to her. I can't let him get away with hurting the people most important to us, Damian—"
"Okay then!" Grace suddenly exclaimed, looking a little flustered and making everyone jump. She was hastily grabbing her things. She didn't really need to hear this, she figured, no one had to hear this, she wasn't even involved anymore. "I'm going to go—I'm going to go—paint or—set up, something." She strapped on her messenger bag and quickly ran past the surprised group.
Almost too predictably, her foot snagged something—the carpet? Her own feet? Grace never needed an actual hindrance to be sent sprawling sometimes—and she flew forward with a gasp—
—And found herself in Shane's protective grasp, keeping her from hitting the floor. As usual. Grace's startled brown eyes looked up to a pair of blue-gray ones that looked down at her in concern.
Grace wasn't sure if her heart was pounding because of what just happened, or the proximity. Her body tensed at Shane's hold.
Shane stared back at her, his eyes with an expression of pleading for a moment, but he only whispered, "Wisely and slow…they stumble that run fast."
And at that, Grace flushed deeply and tore away from Shane, hastily flying out the door before anyone else could utter another word.
Shane could only stare in surprise as Grace fled his presence, and for a moment, he looked rather at a loss of what to do. It couldn't be that he hadn't thought about what it would mean, to transfer to Hawthorne. It would mean being in closer proximity to Grace. He'd be running into her all the time. But at the state they were in…
But in reference to his words, everyone in the room now demanded in varying degrees of amusement at Shane: "Where did that come from?"
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Hawthorne
Jul 21, 2014 9:43:46 GMT -5
via mobile
Post by HburgEagle44 on Jul 21, 2014 9:43:46 GMT -5
They're all insane. I love them.
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Post by tonilous on Jul 23, 2014 2:36:02 GMT -5
"Psst! Montgomery"
At first Noel didn't look up, because he didn't recognize the voice that had called his name in such a strange way. He was walking down one of the side paths, headed to the library during a free period later on in the day.
"Noel!"
When it repeated, he stopped and looked around curiously. There was no sign of anyone in this particular path but him. Blinking, he looked upward. "God?"
"No! It's me! Down here."
At that, Noel quickly jumped away from the ground he was stepping on, giving the earth a very apprehensive expression, fearful that he might have stepped on a dwarf or worse. "Um…"
"Oh for heavenssakes."
And that was when the blonde girl popped up from the bushes nearby, nearly scaring Noel half to death as he jumped again. Glowering, the hunter wannabe snapped, "Laura! What are you doing here? I thought Felix sent you to stay in a hotel until he can figure out what to do with you."
"I can't just waste away in some hotel until Parents' Night! There's too much to do around here." Laura Bancroft brushed herself free of leaves and other debris. Then she looked around and gasped. "Quick! Hide!" She grabbed his arm and tugged him down, sending the boy tumbling into the bushes.
"For the record," Noel grunted as he scrambled to his hands and knees, "If we get caught like this, I did not touch you, I would never even consider touching you, and it was your fault entirely that we are in a bush at some secluded area of the school!"
"Shut up!" Laura elbowed him sharply, staring at something intently. Noel glared and tried to see what she was looking at. And he spotted a lone boy walking, coming from the direction of Washington House, and approaching them. Noel blinked as recognition dawned on him and he recognized the slim form of Adam Clavell, seemingly empty handed.
"What? We're spying on him now?" Noel hissed to Laura.
"There's just something wrong with him, I promise you," Laura muttered.
"You're crazy. And if I'm saying that—"
"You can't tell me you didn't notice how creepy he's been this past week! I saw you!"
Noel grumbled. "Well according to my apparently 'unreliable' senses, he smells like flowers, and some weird metallic smell. That's weird enough for you?"
"Shh—look."
Adam seemed to look around for a moment as though wondering if he'd been followed. The two in the bushes stared, hardly daring to breathe as the boy walked on. When he got closer to them, so close that Noel was sure that if he extended a hand out the bushes, he would be able to touch him, he saw that his hands were littered with band-aids. He wasn't quite so empty-handed either. In his left hand, he had carefully cupped the head of a rose.
He kept walking. Laura turned to Noel and would've said something, but Noel gave her a warning look. He waited until Adam was really out of earshot before Noel asked her, "What happened to his hands?"
"He plays around with roses a lot. I guess it's the thorns…?"
Noel rose now and brushed himself off importantly. "Well? Aside from his guy's apparent fascination with flowers, what exactly is wrong with him?"
"I just…" Laura crossed her arms over her chest and grumbled. "It's the way he sneaks around everyone all the time. I heard from the other Washingtons that he doesn't want anyone coming near his room—"
"So he's private. So am I."
"—and then all those roses—"
"With that argument, he might as well be Charlie and his gardening hobby."
"—I don't like him—"
"Well I'm not exactly fond of you either."
"—I don't trust him—"
"I definitely do not trust you."
"—and he's bleeding all the time!"
That piqued Noel's curiosity. "Pardon?"
Laura sighed. "The other day I saw blood on the front carpet in Washington. I know what blood looks like, Montgomery, I've seen Felix make it home enough times all messed up from some gang fight—"
"Whoa, Felix used to be a hoodlum?" Noel grinned immediately, looking a little impressed. He had usually found the Washington prefect too straitlaced, but this put things in a different light. "So he isn't that nice all the time?"
"Focus!" Laura nearly yelled, snapping her fingers in front of his eyes. "And it's the way he seems to be really, really into Juliet Larson."
Noel automatically rolled his eyes. He was one of the conspirators, after all. He was a Jefferson, and a Legacy Jefferson, especially since his Uncle Ford apparently was once a Jefferson prefect. He didn't particularly like the Adams, especially not the famous actress. "She's a movie star. He's a fan. Juliet probably has six million of those."
"He keeps bugging everyone about her!" Laura protested.
"Everyone?" Noel looked doubtful.
"I saw him talking to Charlotte," Laura insisted. "He talked to her about Juliet. Ask Charlotte if she noticed anything remotely creepy about the way he keeps talking about Juliet. Go on!"
"Fine, if it makes you feel better, I'll keep an eye on him or something," Noel sighed as he walked off, heading towards the library again. He really didn't have time for this, there were demons to exterminate, but she was certainly going to keep bugging him until he'd proven that Adam was either innocent or a complete and total psychopath. Sure, he was also getting that creepy vibe from Adam, and if it would make that girl stop freaking out, he'd salt the guy if he had to. But there were far, far more important things to take care of…
Then again…
Noel immediately dived behind the cover of another bush. He couldn't recall a day when he'd been gladder for all the shrubbery in the school gardens that he had once thought was the school's plot to attract more woodland denizens. He pushed some of the foliage aside to get a good look.
Was that…Charlotte?
-8-
The Jefferson Alice was not pleased. She was definitely not pleased about this. She strode towards the library, looking around to make sure she wasn't being followed. She felt like a spy from the old movies—with the coat and the bag—except far more fashionable in the dress sense. She was wearing Vuitton for heavenssakes.
But that wasn't the problem here. The problem was that she was supposed to be elsewhere right at this moment—possibly headed to Pipers' Hall and maybe getting a bit of rehearsal time in. A star is not made by slacking off especially when the competition is rough. She could be rehearsing her duel piece for the Parents' Night performance—especially after she told Henry and Ellen that she was very confident in her chances to get a spot in the lead and they could watch her perform.
But no.
She was on her way to the library—at the beck and call of the only other diva on campus.
"Let's make this clear," Charlotte said without introductions the moment Juliet appeared like someone who was also feigning as a stereotypical spy, "and I'm saying this because we both know it's a little bit true—we're not friends, exactly—in fact you voiced out exactly how much you hated me prior to this."
"I still don't really like you very much, yes," Juliet raised an eyebrow.
"Yes, there you have it so why am I here again?" Charlotte crossed her arms over her chest.
"You're the only one I can talk to!" Juliet shot back.
"You have two supposed best friends!" Charlotte retorted. "Both of whom should be far more aware than they currently are about your situation and how bad it's getting!"
Juliet glared at her in the way that only a diva could when pressed to the wall. "I can't tell either of them exactly how bad it's getting! Derek already wants to tell a teacher or the cops and as far as I'm concerned, nothing truly bad has happened to me—"
"It won't stay that way for long, Juliet!" Charlotte shot back. "Believe me, I know. They don't just stay threats; sooner or later, something is going to happen and—"
"Things have already happened," Juliet grumbled, sinking down onto the steps of the library with a groan.
Charlotte stared at her. "Excuse me?"
"Look there's…there's another reason I don't want to tell Derek or Darren." Juliet looked at her, hands shaking slightly. "I think…I think that person knows about me and…Darren."
"There is no you and Darren." Charlotte raised an eyebrow—and yet she felt her pulse quicken. She remembered the talk that Charlie had given them earlier. It was starting to come back, that horrible speculation that she told herself that she would not entertain.
"There isn't, thanks for rubbing salt in the wound." Juliet glared at her. "But…I just have this feeling that Darren is getting into trouble because of me."
"What do you mean?" Charlotte asked, even though she already had her own suspicions.
Juliet rolled her eyes and gave her a withering look. "Don't act dumb, Summers. You and I both know that all of Jefferson is celebrating the fact that the Knave has gotten some serious comeuppance in the last few days. Nearly falling off stairs and falling stepladders? Fine, I could chalk that up to the shenanigans of Tweedledum and Tweedledumber over there, but even I know that they wouldn't slip Darren the peanut butter seeing as how it could actually kill him."
Charlotte exhaled slowly. "You don't know that. Because…because how would your stalker even know these things? He or she couldn't possibly know anything about you liking Darren that way! Even if he or she had some sort of connection into this school—no one but…me, and Derek, and you. Which, by the way is ridiculous, because I think Darren should be made party to this information."
Juliet just buried her head in his hands, fingers embedded into her brown hair. She couldn't even respond, and Charlotte, who was expecting a verbal joust of better magnitude than this, sighed and sat down next to her. "All right. Spill it, you."
"Spill what."
"There's more to this. There's got to be a reason you're freaking out like this."
"There is no reason," Juliet grumbled. "The guy I'm desperately in love with is my best friend who happens to currently think of me as lint and he's probably getting targeted by a psycho stalker while I'm sitting here talking to you, the object of his single-minded determined affections. Oh yeah, everything is fantastic, Summers, how was your day?"
Charlotte smirked a little. "Well, I'm sitting with a famous movie star whose one weakness I've found and she's spilling her heart and soul out to me. I think that makes up for the rest of the day even if it falls down to pieces."
Juliet groaned. "And I'm giving you the biggest ego trip ever given by a rival ever."
Charlotte cleared her throat and brushed some nonexistent lint from her coat. "I'm not your rival, Juliet. If there's anything I've made apparent by now it's that I'm not interested in Darren romantically."
"Doesn't matter." Juliet glanced at her directly for the first time. "He loves you."
The Jefferson Alice turned to look at her with an appraising expression. Charlotte knew what it was like to like someone and not say it—but she didn't actually reach a plane where half the concern was that if you said it, the person in question gets shot, or so Juliet seems to think. It was in this moment that Charlotte remembered that Juliet was just a teenage girl, just like everyone else, and the fact that she may have made a few million in the box office didn't actually change that.
Juliet hated that weakness, and she made it evident. It didn't stop it from going away.
Charlotte sighed and leaned back on the steps a little. "If you think about it…it's really sad that I'm the only person you can talk to like this. Your friends are going to be furious that you didn't come to them."
"You ever thought that maybe it's because I wouldn't mind so much if you got shot for knowing too much?"
Charlotte glared at her. Juliet just snorted and laughed hollowly. "Yeah, I forgot I shouldn't make jokes like that around you… Darren told us not to crack those around you, for some reason. But seeing as how you seem to empathize with me, I suppose you had your own share of death threats."
Charlotte sighed, glancing at the sky. Somehow, it seemed so long ago—and maybe it was because she was in the company of people who swore up and down to look after her. And maybe it was because she talked to Fitzpatrick that night, and made it clear that while they may not be crazy about each other, the boy wouldn't do her harm. He was, just like everyone else, as confused as they were, struggling to find a spot to fit in and holding on tight when you think you have a grip on something.
Charlotte looked at Juliet and said, matter-of-factly, "I think Darren has a right to know. If he's your friend like you said he was—he'd want to know. Wouldn't he?"
Juliet stared back at her. "Would you take a bullet for Damian, Charlotte?"
"Excuse me?"
Juliet stared out into the grounds, silent. After a moment's contemplation, she looked at Charlotte again. "Maybe you're right. Maybe this is all in my head. You know, some teenage diva who's read too many action and suspense scripts. Can't tell the difference between a movie and reality. Maybe this is impossible. Nobody could possibly know. But…if there's even a fraction of a chance that I'm right… if there's a chance that I'm right and that someone is tipping my stalker off…" She exhaled. "Darren wouldn't take it lying down. He'd go nuts, he'd get angry, he'd email blast the entire faculty—"
She glanced at Charlotte. "He'd try to do something. Keep me away and all that. Because he's that kind of a friend. And then the stalker would know. They'd know what he was doing. And just like that—"
Charlotte didn't know why she'd jumped suddenly when Juliet snapped her fingers. Maybe it was the way the sound cracked through the stillness they were in, like a sudden gunshot.
"—they'd take him out." Her brown eyes stared into Charlotte's green ones with a steely expression. "I know how dangerous these things get. I've had two castmates to whom this happened before. And you know as well as I do that things can reach a boiling point quick. I'm not prepared to let Darren get hurt over me."
At this, Charlotte had to admit that she didn't expect this kind of a passionate response from the actress. While in some ways it was also an overreaction on Juliet's part, it was rather telling in an important way: "…you really are in love with him, aren't you?"
"If I didn't make that clear enough to you—"
"Not a lot of people can say in all seriousness that they'd take a bullet for someone they liked," Charlotte clarified pointedly.
Juliet stared at her and then sighed deeply. "…aaaand you think I'm an overreacting idiot."
"No, I think you're not reacting enough." Charlotte rose to her feet. "You're being quiet at the time when you're supposed to talk. Get up."
"Why?"
"You need to get this out of your system. Get up." She took Juliet by the arm and hauled her to her feet. "When I have a rival, or so you call yourself to me and me to you, I like my rivals to be the best. Now come prove it to me, Juliet. Be the diva we both know you are?"
The actress gave her a raised eyebrow and let Charlotte lead the way.
-8-
Noel straightened up from the bushes, watching the two walk away. His face was contorted in a mix of emotions that looked confused, disturbed, and clearly trying to work out exactly what he had overheard.
He stared at the two of them walking off.
Charlotte and Juliet are friends…?
But…they don't actually like each other…?
They actually talk…?
Juliet is in love with Darren who's in love with Charlotte who's in love with Damian?
Is she crazy?
Well then again, considering Juliet in general—
—then they'd have to all be crazy—
But of course, there was the major nagging fact:
…Juliet has a stalker…who's getting into campus…
He stepped back, staring to turn back towards Jefferson House, trying to take this all in.
Charlotte knows. She knows everything. And she's meeting Juliet in secret to talk about it. Juliet doesn't want to say anything because whoever's threatening her has some kind of contact in this school. And when unstable people like that are pushed, they can go crazy.
He should know—he had his own issues that led to some unsightly scenarios. Old memories of candles and blood and failed resurrection rituals that landed him more than once in a psychiatrist's couch. All because he was desperately trying to—
Noel shook his head. Now's not the time to go into dark places that his mind didn't wander to anymore. There was something much more important at stake.
Is that why Charlotte was running out of Jefferson the other night? Did she see who that stalker was? Did she have some idea…?
There was only one way to really find out if anyone or anything was actually out there that night. And much as he hated the idea, even Hunters had to use their connections. The Twins had to be told—because only the Twins had the leverage to get Han involved. Han would know if anyone actually was out there that—
"Hello."
Noel yelled and nearly jumped a foot into the air. Adam stood there, smiling at him. Noel clutched at his chest, swinging at him with his other hand. "What the matter with you? Don't just pop out like that!"
He was of course overlooking the fact that he did roughly the same thing to his friends on a nearly daily basis. But Adam didn't know that. He simply smiled.
"Who are you?" the Washington boy asked with a perfectly presented smile. "Why are you haunting the bushes?"
Noel caught himself. This boy wasn't supposed to know him—everything he knew about him was from Laura's ranting and ravings—and so they hadn't even actually met. Clearly, this guy didn't know who he was dealing with. So he pulled himself up to his full height and looked at him directly. "I'm Noel Montgomery. From Jefferson House."
"Oh…" Adam started to smile a little. "I've heard about you."
"Really?" Noel cracked a grin.
"Yeah, the lunatic in Jefferson House who throws salt and holy water everywhere and calls everyone demons."
Noel winced a little. "Ah…yes, that would be me. And you, Washington?" he gestured to the badge.
"I'm Adam Clavell," the other boy easily responded. "You know people don't really like it when you snoop on other people's business…" He gave him a direct look.
"What gave you the idea I was snooping?" Noel retorted. "I happen to have been hunting, and there's a difference."
"Not to me." He stepped closer to Noel, who immediately jumped back. Adam's eyes never left him, as though he were studying him, but he smiled, so it didn't look nearly as startling as when you only looked at his eyes—which unfortunately were what Noel was focused on. "Juliet has a big problem right now and her privacy is very important. She doesn't need people like you prying into her business for their amusement."
Noel's eyes narrowed as he faced him. "Okay, one, it's not for my amusement. And two…" he gave him a surprised expression. "…you know about Juliet's problem?"
"She told me," Adam replied simply. "I'm her friend. Well…not quite her best friend but it's not like she can—"
"—tell her best friends right now, yeah, she said that." Noel blinked. He uncrossed his arms from his chest. "So…you've known all this time and you're looking after her?"
"I look after Juliet in the best way that I can…" Adam admitted, nodding. "I owe her a lot, you know. I have to protect her. I won't let anyone hurt her."
"Oh." Noel blinked again. So…is this why she's been acting so funny…? Laura was just jumping the gun, then…?
"What did you hear?" Adam asked, looking curious.
"Just what you already know, I guess." Noel shrugged. "I think she should tell someone that she's got a terrible stalker after her. So she could be protected."
"Hmm…" Adam nodded. "I know. But don't worry, I can protect her."
"You and Charlotte aren't going to be much help if that psycho flips out."
"So Charlotte knows everything too…?" Adam smiled.
Noel stopped himself. That strange smile really—it just really unsettled him and he didn't know why. He felt like he should be remembering something that Laura said but right now, all he said in response was, "Oh, well—I don't really know. I think they're friends though. Do you think she should tell Charlotte so she can help?"
Adam just smiled. "I have it under control. Don't worry."
Noel smiled back, but it looked more like an uncomfortable grimace. "Well. I have to go. I have hunting to do. None of the people around here have the common decency to look out for the undead and otherworldly beings that could potentially destroy Parents' Night as we know it." And he strolled away in rapid steps.
"Noel?"
The hunter stopped. He didn't turn around. "What?"
Adam smiled, unseen, behind him. "Don't go blabbing around right now, okay? It'll upset Juliet, and that could ruin everything."
"Well…duh. I don't want a panic either. That's ridiculous." Noel scoffed, meaning to be offhand. And then he walked away quickly. He walked as casually but as quickly as possible. He kept walking and walking, until he passed one of the buildings.
And then, when he was sure he could not be seen, Noel ran. He bolted towards Jefferson House as fast as he possibly could, praying desperately to whoever was listening that he was so very very wrong, and that for once, he was just that lunatic in Jefferson House.
-8-
William Pentland looked up when Charlotte and Juliet walked into the room. "Oh. Well hello, Charlotte. And…Juliet, how nice to see you." He was surprised to find them together, and he couldn't remember Juliet ever setting foot into Pipers' Hall in spite of being a talented singer.
"Hello, Mr. Pentland," Charlotte beamed at him, walking up to the teacher who was fixing music sheets on top of the piano. "I hope you don't mind if Juliet and I have a little practice right now? Would that be all right? I really wanted to get some practice because I like to be in top shape for the duel for today."
"Always above and beyond the call of duty, Charlotte." Mr. Pentland smiled. "I take it that you're really gunning for this one…especially after the ban was lifted."
"Oh believe me, Mr. Pentland, I'm going to be a part of that main event tonight," Charlotte replied with a smile. "My parents are coming—all our parents are coming, actually. And I'm determined to give them a great performance."
"I don't doubt you will, Charlotte," Pentland replied with a smile. "Well—if you manage to compel the others into giving you the vote—it's yours. We did have that deal." He now looked up at Juliet. "And…are you here to join the Pipers, I hope, Ms. Larson? We could use a voice like yours."
Juliet pushed up her sunglasses and gave him a smile that looked blissfully fake. "Unfortunately not, Mr. Pentland. Choirs are definitely not my thing. Although Charlotte is clearly trying to convert me." She glowered at the other girl, who ignored the withering look from behind the dark glasses.
"So!" Charlotte smiled. "Since Juliet was having a bit of a terrible day herself, I thought we could both use a little musical therapy."
"Oh?" Mr. Pentland looked at Juliet with a surprised expression. "Is something wrong?"
"Nothing is wrong, Charlotte exaggerates." Juliet glared at the lead singer again. "The way she often does with regards to her talents."
Charlotte narrowed her eyes at her, but Pentland just laughed and stepped away from the piano. "Would you mind so much if I listened along? Or do you not want me to hear your piece before the duel, Charlotte?"
"That's all right, Mr. Pentland," she replied as she went over to the piano very easily, sitting smoothly onto the bench. "The piece we're doing now isn't my performance piece."
"We?" Juliet demanded, but Charlotte grabbed her by the sleeve and had her sit down.
"I had the advantage of being able to purge through music and something tells me you haven't made the most of that. You need this," Charlotte said firmly, looking at her. "And…maybe Darren could use it from you too…?"
Pentland glanced up from the table at the other side of the room.
Charlotte glanced at Juliet and started to play the piano carefully. In spite of the fact that the song really hadn't been played on this instrument, Juliet recognized it. She'd listened to it enough times herself.
Charlotte took a breath and started to sing the first verse.
I've made up my mind, don't need to think it over
If I'm wrong I am right, don't need to look no further
This ain't lust, I know this is love…
She gave Juliet a look, and the actress sighs, staring at the keys and took a breath herself. Why not. At this point…what could it hurt? There really wasn't anything else she could hold onto. Maybe she could take a page out of the Pipers' book—the way Damian, Charlotte, and Darren did it.
Darren always said he could feel through music. Maybe Juliet did need to do this to understand. She began to sing.
But if I tell the world, I'll never say enough
'Cause it was not said to you
And that's exactly what I need to do if I'd end up with you…
The two of them sang in unison as Charlotte's talented fingers drew the music out of the piano, their voices soaring through the Hall.
Should I give up or should I just keep chasing pavements
Even if it leads nowhere?
Or would it be a waste even if I knew my place
Should I leave it there?
Should I give up or should I just keep chasing pavements
Even if it leads nowhere?
Charlotte glanced at her unlikely so-called friend and smiled. Juliet didn't look up, sighing as she watched Charlotte's hands play the piano…seeing someone else's hands. The sight of someone playing the piano was always a specific memory to her. She didn't play herself, but…she had sat next to someone who could enough times.
That someone, sitting in his room at Adams House, was also absently playing the piano. He felt alone, and numb, and when he did, he ran to the solace of the music that he loved so much. Darren wondered in this distant gray of his mind, if he really stopped singing lead for the Pipers because he was bored…
…or if it was because singing the way he did got too hard.
With Damian…and Jane…and now…
Darren glanced to one the photographs tacked on the board over his desk. He didn't have a whole lot, unlike Juliet and Derek who almost wallpapered with them, but they counted. He took down the one from one of the Pipers performances. His eyes, as always, flew to Charlotte first. They were standing close to each other in this one, and they were both smiling.
Darren smiled faintly to himself and sighed as he sat back down, staring at Charlotte's smile. He swore he would stop. He was determined to. It was best for everyone. It would make it easier for Charlotte…and for him. Or so it was supposed to be.
He sighed and began to sing.
I build myself up and fly around in circles
Wait then as my heart drops and my back begins to tingle
Finally could this be it?
Should I give up or should I just keep chasing pavements
Even if it leads nowhere?
Or would it be a waste even if I knew my place
Should I leave it there?
It was strange how they echoed each other's sentiments, the boy in the room, and the girl sitting at the piano. Charlotte continued to play, smiling a little at the girl sitting next to her. She let her take the chorus now, seeing as how she could relate to it better now. She was only mildly aware that Mr. Pentland was listening to them with a curious expression on his face.
Juliet didn't notice anything at all as she sang, not knowing that the boy back in the dorm was singing the same thing. Both of them sang, together, but not to each other.
Should I give up or should I just keep chasing pavements
Even if it leads nowhere?
Juliet stared at the keys, watching Charlotte's hands move, wondering if one day she'd ever get to sing it to the one she thought of. "Should I give up or should I just keep chasing pavements, even if it leads nowhere?"
Darren smiled a little, a hand moving down the photograph, admiring Charlotte's laugh in the photograph. "Or would it be a waste even if I knew my place, should I leave it there?"
The both of them sang with everything they had—because only in music were they brave enough to dare feel like this, brave enough to say it, because they knew that it was too late to speak those words without the buffer of the music to catch their fall.
"Should I give up or should I just keep on chasing pavements?" Juliet sang.
Darren lowered the photograph, closing his eyes. "Should I just keep on chasing pavements…?"
-8-
Charlotte stopped playing when she saw Juliet's hand fly up to reach behind the sunglasses—as though to wipe something away. "…Juliet?"
"Yeah," the voice didn't even crack. She had such a perfect mask. Juliet glanced at her slightly, but it was hard to tell behind the glasses. "What? You stopped?"
Charlotte frowned and stared at her. "I had to."
"Yeah well…" Juliet got up and brushed herself off. She coughed to clear her throat. "That's—I have to—I have things to do. This was—uh…thanks, Charlotte, I guess." She immediately headed for the door as though to be in this place was suffocating.
Charlotte sighed, raising her eyes to the ceiling a little. She was running again. She always ran. She heard the door to the Hall slam and she leaned with her elbow onto the piano, pressing her temple onto her knuckles. Mr. Pentland came up to her shortly, smiling faintly. "Hey…want to tell me what that was all about?"
"I would, Mr. Pentland…" Charlotte replied as she swept her bag up again, getting to her feet. "But everybody has their secrets. I just had the misfortune to hear about his."
"Ah…" Pentland nodded slowly. He understood that, definitely. He watched Charlotte depart towards the doors. "Charlotte?"
"Yes sir?" the girl turned to him, blinking.
Pentland walked up to her again. "While I may not know everything that's going on…I know that you're not a popular character to Adams. For what it's worth…I'm glad that you're helping him out like this. Not a lot of Jeffersons would. In fact, I'm glad that it seems that you've been changing a lot of these students, perhaps for the better."
"What do you mean, sir?" Charlotte asked, a little surprised and smiling faintly.
"Well…" Pentland sat at the piano now, taking the spot where Charlotte previously sat, "…I know that things have definitely not been easy for you. The…eccentricities of the students in Jefferson, getting caught up in the issues of the Adams…" he laughed softly. "You really had no obligation to do some of the things you've done. I know Darren is medicating himself by your influence, I know that you're able to mellow out the Twins, you boosted Grace's confidence, you're supporting Patrick and Diana, and most of all, you've…well, you've really bloomed with Damian. And now you're also helping Juliet. You didn't have to do all those things, you were looking to come here and probably live a less…exciting kind of life." Both he and Charlotte laughed at that. "But I think you might just be the best thing to happen in this little Wonderland…'Alice'."
So Mr. Pentland knew of the metaphor that's been tossed around school and Jefferson. Charlotte smiled a little more, pulling up the bag strap. She looked at Mr. Pentland. "Can I be honest, sir?"
"I welcome it."
"When I came here, most of I expected was to be treated like everyone else. To be…considered equal by the others and not ignored or…persecuted for who I am as a person. A chance to be seen for who I am." Charlotte smiled a brief moment. "And then basically just carry on with my plan of becoming a singer and a star. Damian happened to mention that the Pipers were rockstars." She laughed a little, glancing around the Hall. "I just didn't exactly expect…a little family to go along with it."
Charlotte looked at Mr. Pentland. "I imagined I'd be friends with Damian, but I thought that I was leaving my family behind. From Huntington, I mean. They were family. And it hurt to leave. I wasn't one hundred percent certain that the students in…this school, all in blazers and their slacks…would really get me as much as they did." She smiled faintly. "I…it turns out I had nothing to worry about."
Mr. Pentland smiled at her, and Charlotte laughed a little. "They apparently are far…far worse than I am. And…they go above and beyond the call of duty for each other…including me." Charlotte nodded slightly, remembering how they had protected her when they thought Fitzpatrick was a threat, when they gave her the best New Year ever…even from the very beginning, when they took the room of a girl they hardly knew and furnished it entirely to make her feel at home. "…I can't say it's an unwelcome change."
The music teacher smiled at her. "…well, I'm very glad to hear that, Charlotte. We're glad you like it here. And we're thankful that you're here for the rest of them too." He laughed slightly. "Heaven knows those students need someone as level-headed as you to keep them all marginally sane."
"Well," Charlotte smirked. "As long as they don't drive me crazy too, we'll be all right. I can only help them as much as I—" She stopped, looking out the window.
Mr. Pentland blinked and turned, but he only saw shrubbery from where he sat. He looked back to Charlotte. "Charlotte?"
Charlotte stared out the window. From the tops of the shrubbery flanking the windows, she saw Juliet running past, glasses pushed up. And she ran into a boy, one that Charlotte recognized immediately. The boy seemed to be asking how she was doing, and then put an arm around Juliet to lead her away. Even from this distance she can identify a head of dark hair that had been chemically-fried into blond, and then hastily repaired into a more even blond color.
"Adam…?"
That guy was just everywhere…
Charlotte stared for a moment, lost in thought.
"What are you doing here, fanboy?"
"Hello, Charlotte. I'm Adam. Can I talk to you for a minute?"
"Mr. Pentland," Charlotte suddenly said, painfully aware that she was about to go into a complete non-sequitur, "Do you know Adam Clavell?"
Pentland stared at her, surprised. "Adam…Clavell?"
"Uh…new boy from…Washington? Just, figured you'd know him." Charlotte shrugged.
"Washington…" Mr. Pentland looked puzzled. "Huh. Well I did hear that name. I think I heard Danny talking about him. Having been assigned to be his school buddy, I think, because he's being too quiet? I suppose Felix can talk to you about him; he's the prefect. Why the sudden curiosity?"
"Oh he's…he's helping Juliet out too. Thanks, Mr. Pentland!" Charlotte replied, smiling quickly and hurrying out of the room. "See you later at the duels!" She strode quickly through the doors just as Miss Gregor was coming in with a stack of papers. "Hi Miss Gregor! Bye, Miss Gregor!" was all Charlotte said as the flabbergasted music teacher narrowly missed being run over by her.
Gregor watched her go, surprised, before bursting into a laugh. "What in the world was that all about?"
"Well Jeffersons hardly slow down." Pentland replied with a smile. "I suppose the Jeffersons must have rubbed off on Charlotte more than we thought. Let's only hope that some of her composure rubs off on them too."
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Post by tonilous on Jul 23, 2014 3:18:44 GMT -5
Charlotte ran towards Jefferson, looking over the heads of the other students to see if she could spot a familiar face. She hoped to spot Charlie—because if she found Charlie, she'd likely find Felix with him. The prefects, with the exception of Darren, tended to stick together and gripe about their stressful lives as both prefects and graduating seniors.
She saw the harassed-looking Jefferson prefect walking down one of the paths with a bunch of other seniors who were looking to get away from the madness of the house and get some actual work done. "Charlie!" Charlotte called, catching up to him. "Felix!"
The prefects groaned before Charlotte even reached him. Charlie stood looking down at the newest Jefferson with a frown. "What did the Twins do now? I don't see anything on fire so—"
"No no—Felix?" Charlotte asked. "I need to talk to you."
"Well…I was headed back to Washington House anyway…" Felix glanced at Charlie, who just nodded but looked perplexed at the expression on Charlotte's face. "What do you need to talk about?"
Charlotte stared at the Washington prefect, and then glanced at Charlie, who also looked at her expectantly.
There were moments where she really wondered if the madness really was getting to her. For the past few days, she had been back and forth about this issue. It would've been a lot easier if things weren't connecting together. But as the days passed, they just seemed to point more and more to a certain direction that Charlotte really wasn't comfortable about looking to. Because that was insane even beyond the bounds of the standard she was now used to. Because there were still so many missing pieces.
There was still a chance she was wrong and everything was just a hallucination.
But then there was that nagging thought that maybe…she was right. And if she was right—this was worth looking into, wasn't it?
She groaned inwardly. Maybe she needed Damian for this. She needed someone to talk about this with her at this point. Why she was even doing all this for an Adams—
"Charlotte?" Felix prompted.
"I need to talk to you about something private and I understand that Washington specializes in keeping secrets." Charlotte raised an eyebrow at the prefect.
"Whoa, whoa," Charlie frowned, looking down at her. "Hey, if this is serious, I want to be in on this."
"I just need to talk to Felix first." Charlotte glanced up to her own prefect. "No offense, Chaz, but you have enough on your plate. I want to make sure of what I'm thinking before I bring it up with you. And besides…" Charlotte nodded to the direction of Jefferson House, where people outside were starting to look up as though hearing an ominous noise. "…you have something to deal with."
POW!
An explosion rocked the house—completely blasting off one of the second floor windows, unmistakably Drew and Satoru's room. The fire alarm went off again and there was a round of applause from everyone in the vicinity. The Twins, who were wandering down below, held up placards that said, "10" as Drew and Satoru came to the balcony, bowing to their audience and waving like beauty queens.
Charlie dragged a hand down his face and Felix laughed, patting his friend's back. "Easy there, Chaz. Stay calm. You need them alive…"
"I'm growing old. I can literally feel myself aging years for every second that I remain prefect in that house," Charlie mumbled in a suffering tone. "See you later at the Prefects' Meeting, Felix."
"Come on, Charlotte." Felix smiled, nodding to the direction of Washington House. "Let's leave the carnage to your prefect."
"Spare Damian, I need him for later," Charlotte grinned at Charlie, who was already trudging towards the smoking windows of the House, Drew and Satoru peeking outside with scorched goggles and looking positively delighted at the results of their latest experiment. When they saw Charlie approaching, the Jeffersons immediately evacuated the area, avoiding his path in fear of dismemberment.
Before Charlotte looked away, she saw Noel looking at her from the window. He gestured desperately for her to come inside, but Charlotte didn't understand why. Then Noel caught sight of the approaching Twins, and seemed to completely forget her, running to them immediately.
-8-
"Whoa! Easy, little Knight!" Lucas and Logan chorused amidst laughter as Charlie continued to scream at Drew and Satoru and threatened to cut off their experiment privileges inside the dorm—what little they had and everything that they weren't supposed to have at all. The sophomore had barreled straight at them the moment they arrived at the staircase of Jefferson House.
Noel stared up at the Twins and said, "I need you to convince Han to let me in—I have to talk to him."
"Ever since you threw salt and holy water all over his servers, Han isn't exactly very generous when it comes to letting you back in his room," Lucas said calmly, smirking.
"We don't think he'll be very pleased to let you in again especially after all your claims that he's some sort of alien who needs perpetual contact with his mother ship," Logan added.
Noel was clutching at his brows, exasperated and clearly reaching his wits' end. "Fine! Okay, whatever—I'm a freak, I get it!" He exhaled. "But can you please please just do this one thing for me? I need you to please tell Han if he has a video of the front entrance of Adams House. The night Charlotte went out not too long ago. I'm sure he'll know what I mean."
The Twins blinked. "Charlotte went out? In the middle of the night? To Adams?"
"Not really—but it was late." Noel rubbed his eyes. "You'd know, wouldn't you? You guys were out there that night!"
The Twins looked at each other, and then back at him, completely confused. "We were?"
"Yes!" Noel replied, looking at them in surprise. "I saw you! Well…one of you. In the art hall that night! You were there—you're the only people who break into places that late into the night."
"I think we'd remember," Lucas smiled calmly. "Especially if it was the art hall. We haven't been to the art hall—we don't want to mess with whatever Grace is preparing over there."
"Yes, she doesn't need us being even more hyper when she herself had to redo some of the décor three times after she knocked them over," Logan smiled the same way.
Noel stared at them, completely perplexed. "What…? But that's…" He remembered seeing someone in that Art Hall. He really did. Someone had been watching from the windows. Someone with blond hair. How could it not be the Twins—no one could break into—
Noel shook his head, swallowing hard. "Look, I don't care if you think I'm insane, if you think I'm finally off my rocker."
"Way past that point—" Lucas nodded.
"Left that mile marker way back…" Logan agreed.
"Don't worry though—"
"We passed that marker right with you—"
"We put it there."
"And poured the cement over it."
Noel flailed at them. "But can you do this for Charlotte at least? Don't you like her? I just want to make sure she's all right—I think she could be getting into some kind of trouble."
The Twins stared at Noel, gazing at him as though trying to gauge him. Even they could tell when something was wrong. Damian's voice sounded from above. "What's this about Charlotte?" he asked, coming down the staircase, his brow furrowed. "We're supposed to practice together, have you seen her—?"
"The Knight is saying something about our little Alice being in trouble," Lucas said, glancing to him before looking back at Noel.
"Wait—Charlotte's in trouble?" Damian stared at him, his eyes immediately expressing great concern and trained on Noel. "What's going on?"
"How do you know she's in trouble?" asked Logan, looking at Noel.
All three Juniors stared down expectantly at that lone Sophomore who was at the foot of the stairs. Noel stared at them, looking at the concern and borderline fear in Damian's eyes, and the Twins who seemed a little disbelieving.
Noel sighed deeply, lowering his eyes…feeling alone. And powerless. "I…I don't know yet. I just have…things going on in my head. I just have this…" and he braced himself, "…this feeling—"
The other boys groaned. "Noel—dude—"
"I know, okay, I know." Noel sighed. He waved it away, running his hands through his hair, pale in the face and looking a little lost. "I just need you guys to ask about that feed from Han. Indulge me in my madness like everyone else indulges you."
And with that, Noel trudged away, heading outside, feeling like the boy who'd cried wolf too many times. Which was a really bad situation to be in now that he feels that he's finally scented blood.
Damian was confused, not used to seeing Noel this way, and he could tell even the Twins were looking a little disturbed. He looked to the doppelgangers and said, "Do as he says. Ask Han about…whatever he wants you to ask. I'm going to look for Charlotte."
The Twins looked at each other again, looking rather confused now, and intrigued. "I think—" Lucas began, but Logan was already nodding. "Yeah, me too—"
The two of them ran quickly upstairs, heading up to the third floor. But they did stop for a moment, but just a moment, to glance to the door where the sound of bickering was coming from, where Diana and Patrick were proving that there was some trouble in paradise.
"I don't understand," Diana said, looking at her best friend in concern, following him around his room. Patrick continued to just fix his schoolbooks. "You have to tell me things, Patrick! You can't just walk around brooding—you really think I won't notice?"
"I can't tell you," Patrick replied, still not looking at her. "It's just—it's not good for you to know."
"You never acted like this on the other Parents' Nights."
"Because my sisters came during those times." Patrick threw his iPod into his bag.
"So this is about your parents?"
"Diana—stop pressing it, will you?"
Diana planted herself right in front of her friend, frowning. Patrick wasn't leaving the room without an explanation. "No. You're going to tell me."
Patrick dropped his bag and sighed in exasperation. "Diana, geez, for the love of—Look, whatever I'm dealing with right now, clearly you don't need to be a part of it or I would tell you!"
"No you wouldn't! Because I know you, Patrick!" Diana stared at him, searching his face. "I know you! You keep saying I'm the one who never talks when I need help but if you look back on us being friends, you have never yet asked for my help for anything serious other than next period's Physics homework! You always have this way about you where everyone thinks you're okay and nothing is wrong and that you like to help people because you're awesome and you are. But you can't just expect me to watch while you clearly have a problem so big that you don't talk to me."
Patrick sighed and turned around, walking back into the room, throwing up his hands. "We can't argue like this—I can't beat you, you've got higher grades in debate."
"Which is why you beat me using sneaky methods!" Diana protested. "You think I don't know that you talk to Danny about this…thing that you have? You don't even talk to Damian or Charlotte or Grace or the Twins—no, you talk to Danny. Your old Washington roommate. You had to go all the way to Washington! Do you realize how horrible that makes me feel especially after you helped me deal with my issues with Jordan?"
"Washingtons know some things about me that you guys don't." Patrick sighed, sitting on his bed and burying his face in his hands.
Diana stared at him. "Even me? I know everything about you except what your problem is!"
"You…do not know everything about me," Patrick replied despondently. "There's one…little thing that you don't exactly know about."
"And that's what bothering you for Parent's Night."
"Yes."
"Then for heavenssake, tell me!" Diana said, throwing her arms open.
"I can't!" Patrick shot back. "Just let it go, Diana!" he got up and started digging through music sheets. "There are some things about me you don't get to find out because I'm not quite prepared to see how you'll react to me! I don't want to see the look on your face when you find it out!"
"There is nothing about you that I would ever freak out about, you know that!" Diana protested. "I didn't freak out when you said that you had a favorite Power Ranger to this day!"
"Hey!" Patrick turned crimson. "That was only because you agreed with me that the White Ranger will always and forever be cool!"
"And he is!"
"That's right!"
Diana flopped down onto the bed, smiling at her friend. "Now will you please tell me what it is that's bothering you? Is it your parents? I've never met your parents, can you believe that? We've been friends going on three years and I've never met your parents. Only your sisters. Just two of them, haven't met the younger two. And your uncles. It's always uncles. Why do you have so many uncles?"
"My family is very tight and they like to look after me." Patrick dropped books next to Diana's head on the bed and sighed. "Look. I can't tell you right now. But I need you to tell me that you're not going to freak out and…start treating me differently when I do tell you."
"Which is when, exactly?" Diana demanded.
"You'll…you'll get it when you see my parents or…basically the whole gang of them over here tomorrow night," Patrick grumbled. "Fussing. Making a big deal of everything. And possibly ready to toast me when they see my report card."
Diana rolled her eyes and stretched on the bed. "Thank goodness. I thought you were upset about the whole Jordan-engagement-thing. You didn't look particularly happy when I told you..."
Patrick grabbed a spare pillow that had fallen on the floor and threw it right at her face. "That's another story, Di." He trailed off, still pacing his room.
At this, Diana sat upright, hugging the pillow that he had thrown. "What?" She took Patrick's face into consideration and said, "I know it's a reckless decision but I never really gave him a solid answer just yet. I mean, your opinion matters a lot to me, Patrick."
Patrick bit his lip, deep in thought. "We can talk about it some other time, Di. Now's not the time, okay? It's just... I have to think about a lot of things. If you're happy, I'm happy, okay? I really am. I'm just... confused right now. We'll have this conversation some other time, I promise. I feel like we need to." He sighed, "We just need to get through Parents' Night first, okay?"
Diana nodded and flopped back on the bed again. "Okay." There was a growing silence in the room so she added, "Hey, don't I always have your back?" Diana smiled up at Patrick, who looked upside-down from where she lay. "Relax. It'll be fine."
Patrick stared down at her and sighed. "…we'll see about that."
I have to go to Washington House.
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Post by tonilous on Jul 23, 2014 4:00:58 GMT -5
Charlotte had never been to Washington House before. She had never quite had an errand that would lead her to cross its threshold. As a matter of fact, she didn't know anyone apart from Patrick and Charlie who had actually been inside that House. While the Twins regularly spread their havoc on Adams, Washington was left well alone. Charlotte found herself following Felix past the hedges, the great marble columns and towards the double doors the moment she said to the prefect that she wanted to speak to him about Adam Clavell.
Felix had gotten an odd expression on his face, but he had nodded and said that it was better if they talk indoors.
The Washington House area was surprisingly quiet, and by far the one with the most aristocratic air among all the Houses Charlotte had seen. Not to mention the students thought highly of their prefect. Each and every single one of them greeted Felix politely as he passed.
"Talk about King of Switzerland…" Charlotte muttered as she followed Felix indoors, looking up at the high ceiling. As expected, it was different from Jefferson's Tudor old world and Adams's sophisticated classic—everything in Washingtons was neat and white, marble and stone, and Charlotte had to say: "Mamoreal?"
Felix laughed. "I see that the Brightmans have influenced you enough. I suppose it's apt…considering they call me the White Queen even though I beg them daily to stop." He led Charlotte to a large, airy common room, where the only other occupant was currently ensconced in a cushioned chair, reading a book—and not at all dressed in uniform.
"Wait here," said Felix. "I need to get Spencer and Danny." He went out of the room, and Charlotte looked around at the surroundings. Washington had an otherworldly serenity that she almost found alarming when placed in sharp contrast of Jefferson's energy—everything looked neat, elegant, and peaceful.
"Oh hello."
Charlotte looked up as the other person in the room addressed her. And to her surprise, she saw a tanned young woman sitting there, her warm brown eyes looking up at her, brown hair falling in waves over her shoulders. She was dressed simply, in brown slacks and a soft pale blue sweater.
"Hi," she said, getting up. "Merril Portman. You must be Charlotte. Hear a lot about you. Amazing voice."
"Well…" Charlotte smiled, preening a little and shaking hands with her—she was rather tall and looked a little too thin for her size, but she had a kind smile.
Merril laughed. "Washingtons gossip a lot, if you can believe it." She tugged at her sweater, where a Washington pin rested.
"Oh." Charlotte said in complete surprise. She hadn't seen her around school all too much. "Well in that case, it's nice to meet you."
Merril smiled. "Likewise."
Felix returned at that moment with Danny next to him. "Oh hey Charlotte!" Danny smiled.
"I see you've met Merril," Felix smiled. "Merril, do you have any idea where your boyfriend might've secreted himself into?"
Merril sighed but looked amused. "I'll try calling Spencer, but I think he might be in the library attempting to catch up to the heinous senior workload."
Charlotte raised her eyebrows and followed Felix out of the common room, with Danny smiling next to her.
"Merril has one of the highest GPAs in Washington House." Felix said, "Hawthorne's great for her and everything, but she wants to be transferred to the sister school, Dobry Hall, with the rest of her siblings. It's her preference, but right now, the board won't really let her. We have no idea why."
"She sounds incredibly capable," Charlotte stared.
"She is," Danny laughed. "She's like our mother around here."
Felix now looked to Charlotte and said, "You wanted to talk about Clavell."
"Yes," Charlotte replied, feeling a little worried. "Haven't you noticed anything strange about him?"
"Like what?" asked Felix, carefully studying her.
"Well…" Charlotte hesitated for a moment, trying to get her thoughts together. "I need to know that what we talk about will not leave this room. It's really important because I was told this in confidence by someone whose privacy is already compromised half the time."
"Let me guess. Juliet Larson?" Danny asked.
"How did you—"
"If you want to get Adam to talk, you usually have to start with Something Damaged, that TV show, which then segues into Juliet Larson and how apparently she can do no wrong," Danny smiled faintly as he sat next to Charlotte. "She's Adam's hero or so it looks like it. Which I find a little weird, considering how close they are right now."
"Laura hasn't stopped trying to warn me about him," Felix sighed. "She's still snooping around school, but she's thoroughly convinced that Adam is up to something."
"Like…what…?" Charlotte asked carefully, hands growing a little cold.
"She wouldn't say. I guess she has nothing concrete. That's what she does; she likes to think she's a little Sherlock Holmes." Felix rolled his eyes, but felt a little curious that a Jefferson should come speak to him about an Adams. "But in all accounts Adam looks perfectly ordinary, if not a little reclusive. She hasn't really made sense about it, so I hoped you would clear something up. Did you find out anything? Did Juliet say he was bothering her?"
"Juliet hasn't said anything. I just… hear me out for a bit." Charlotte let out her breath and hoped this didn't sound as crazy as she thought it did.
-8-
The final preparations for Parents Night were being prepared late that afternoon in Hawthorne Academy. Clubs everywhere were active, making sure that everything they were to present or to display were in order and worthy of their critical parents.
The Pipers had yet to convene—many of them had to help their own Houses first in preparing for the big night. Charlotte leaned over the piano again, but she wasn't playing it. Patrick had come to Washington House just as the meeting ended and found her there. It looked like more than one person came to Washington to find a little clarity. Patrick and Danny walked with her as far as the music room, but the two departed elsewhere, with Patrick looking anxious to talk to Danny.
Leaving Charlotte by herself, trying to get her thoughts calmer in the music room. The sheet music was resting on the stand untouched. She was trying to take deep breaths.
She had this terrible feeling. She couldn't explain it.
A warm form sat next to her and embraced her gently. "Hey. I was looking for you everywhere."
Charlotte smiled faintly, only raising her eyes. "Hi, Damian."
"What are you doing here by yourself?" her boyfriend asked, resting a chin on her shoulder and looking at her.
"Just…thinking."
"I'm Adam. Can I talk to you for a minute?"
It was really strange to know that what you were thinking seemed ridiculous. And at the same time to be tugged by the sickening, unmistakable feeling that you were treading a thin line.
"He's quiet, that boy. But…he really doesn't seem to be doing any harm. Maybe you're right…he's being protective over Juliet because he's being a fan."
There was a feeling, they said, that people get sometimes when something bad was going to happen. She had never quite felt it before—a lot of bad things blindside her. Or maybe it was because she was determined to keep moving forward, catastrophe or no catastrophe. Or maybe things were the way they were supposed to be.
"Sure. Yeah, what did you want to talk about?"
"What…exactly…did Juliet tell you?"
"Charlotte?" Damian asked.
"You know…there's this scene in Romeo and Juliet where…Romeo takes pause and says that he had this feeling or this…ominous sense," Charlotte replied. "…I have that feeling."
Damian stared, squeezing her hands and staring into her eyes. "Is there something wrong, Charlotte? Because…you're not the only one acting strange. I really think I should know."
Charlotte stared at their hands.
"It would be an invasion of privacy to search his room, you know. And…there are just some people who are quiet. We can't judge him solely on that."
"Charlotte…?"
"I don't know what it is." Charlotte looked at him, blinking. "I just have this feeling. I guess maybe…all the stress is getting to me. Preparations…the performance…having to sing for everyone…meeting your family…"
Damian immediately pulled her close into a tight embrace. "Listen…if this is about my dad…"
Charlotte closed her eyes.
"I'm her friend. You can tell me. I already know that she has a stalker. Is she all right?"
"No. She's not all right."
"Maybe it is. And other things." Charlotte shook her head. "Stress. Is getting to me, that's all. Making me think of things. Maybe I'm just a little tired."
"You've gone a long way down the rabbit hole, Alice," Damian smiled a little, looking at her affectionately. "Do you remember when we just started?"
Charlotte smirked a little. "You mean, when I first saw you late for a very important date…? Or when I really fell down here with all the rest of you?"
"I won't disregard this, still. I'll…try and see if I can distance Adam from Juliet for the moment. It might be good for him to go for new things. Will that help, Charlotte?"
"Yeah. I think that would work…thanks, Justin."
Damian laughed softly. "A little of both." He looked at Charlotte's hands, then at her face, and her eyes. And then he smiled. "I think we've come a little too far for me to lose you to anyone. Or anything." Damian tilted his head a little, leaning a bit closer. "…let me be here to help. Tell me when you're having trouble. If it's about my dad, or something else. I don't want to run again like I did before." He smiled a little. "I want to be here with you."
Charlotte smiled at him, squeezing her hands a little. Damian's hands felt warm and supportive—and an endless comfort. She warmed immediately. It felt as though the cold things she was thinking of earlier seemed to be so far away. Besides—Felix said he would handle it.
"Tell me what's wrong?" Damian asked, smiling faintly.
"No it's…" Charlotte laughed a little. Maybe the Washingtons were right. She was just looking too far into this. Everything was fine. It was all fine—and this was not supposed to be what she was focused on. She didn't have to make a big deal out of this. She had a lead to win, and a performance to do. It was time to focus on the game.
"I think my stress is causing my normally vivid imagination to go on a hyperdrive. Which is terrible, you realize—stress can't be good for my complexion." She rolled her eyes.
Damian laughed. "You, with the intense skin regime? I seriously doubt that." Charlotte laughed and Damian smiled at her. "So!" the tall Piper said, "What did you have in mind for the duel?"
Charlotte groaned. "There are so many songs I wanted to try. I've been back and forth with them over and over. All of them work."
"Very confident on your chances, I see," Damian grinned.
"I don't see a reason why I shouldn't be," Charlotte replied, smiling.
"Ah, then maybe I should shake my competition a little," Damian laughed. He moved up to the keys and prepared to play. "Something…to kill that dreary mood we had earlier. I do rather like seeing you smile." He winked at her.
Charlotte flushed a little and pushed him lightly, but she sat closer to him. "Is this what you're singing for the duels?"
"It might be…" Damian grinned as he began to play. "Want to help me out a little in the chorus?"
"Mm…" Charlotte gave him an amused albeit mistrustful glance. "I remember the last time you had to 'involve' me in one of your duel songs. We'll see."
Damian laughed and continued playing, a light tone on the keys, clearly urging some happiness towards Charlotte, and began to sing,
You're better than the best;
I'm lucky just to linger in your light—
Cooler than the flip side of my pillow, that's right…
Damian nudged her, and Charlotte started to grin a little, rolling her eyes again and shaking her head at her boyfriend's incorrigibly optimistic song choices. Damian grinned and continued, moving a little to the music.
Completely unaware,
Nothing can compare to where you send me—
Lets me know that it's okay…
Yeah, it's okay, and the moments where my good times start to fade…
Damian nudged Charlotte again with a very hopeful look on his face, and Charlotte laughed a little, nodding slightly as she joined Damian for the chorus.
You make me smile like the sun, fall out of bed,
Sing like bird, dizzy in my head,
Spin like a record, crazy on a Sunday night—
You make me dance like a fool, forget how to breathe,
Shine like gold, buzz like a bee,
Just the thought of you can drive me wild—
Oh, you make me smile…
The way Damian smiled and just lit up around her was enough—Charlotte found herself laughing, smiling next to him. How Damian managed to make her smile and pull her out of the dark, she wouldn't know. But she did know that it was wonderful.
And as for Damian, he saw Charlotte smile again. And almost always, that was all he really needed. He had loved that smile the moment he saw it, and he didn't know what he had to do to keep Charlotte smiling beautifully, but whatever it was—he would do it.
Damian grinned at her, pulling Charlotte off of the bench and sweeping her into his arms in a dance, twirling around each other—hands clasped as they sang to each other.
Don't know how I lived without you
'Cause every time that I get around you—
I see the best of me inside your eyes…
You make me smile…
Charlotte groaned a little at Damian's exuberance—that energy that really just compelled her to be a little brighter, happier, the way people in love were—and just smiled, Damian grinning back at her, pulling her closer.
You make me dance like a fool, forget how to breathe,
Shine like gold, buzz like a bee
Just the thought of you can drive me wild…
Damian rapidly stole a kiss. Charlotte, a little stunned, gaped at him for a moment and then pushed him off, not entirely displeased, as her boyfriend burst into laughter, chasing her around the room.
You make me smile like the sun, fall out of bed,
Sing like bird, dizzy in my head,
Spin like a record, crazy on a Sunday night—
You make me dance like a fool, forget how to breathe,
Shine like gold, buzz like a bee,
Just the thought of you can drive me wild—
Oh, you make me smile…
Charlotte ended up around the piano just as Damian slid back onto the bench, singing up to her and smiling brightly. Giving in, Charlotte smirked and sat back next to him.
Oh, you make me smile…
Oh, you make me smile…
As the song trailed off, Damian looked at Charlotte with that grin of his—so infectious that Charlotte couldn't help it. She leaned forward and gave him a kiss, squeezing his hands.
"…thanks."
"Hey…anytime." Damian smiled back at her, squeezing her hands in return, and leaning in for another kiss just as the doors opened and the rest of the Pipers came in, all chattering and oblivious.
"All right!" Mr. Pentland said, clapping his hands for attention. Charlotte and Damian fled the piano bench to head for the seats as Miss Gregor reached the piano with the music sheets. "Let's not waste any time. We've got a long practice ahead of us."
Charlotte and Damian did not unlink their hands.
It felt like everything was going to be all right.
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