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 Posted: Fri Jan 28, 2011 7:57 pm
With the Final bell and an inward cheer, Castille practically ran out of the Meadowview doors. Tests days were never good days and her brain felt like it was going to melt out of her ears. She inhaled the wintery air, wet with the rain showers that had rolled in last week. She twisted her backpack to her front, unzipping the back pocket to pull out her umbrella. She unrolled it and opened it against the shower, bumping a couple people on accident. Colored polka dots with a white background. She walked down the steps, holding the umbrella slightly back so she could see.
The crowd of freed students rushed passed her, laughing and talking. Castille withdrew her Ipod from the recesses of her black jacket pocket and put the red earbuds in. "Sugar Chocolate Waffle" blasted on through to her ears, and she winced and turned it down to a normal level, letting the Japanese music distract her as she walked down the road.
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Posted: Fri Jan 28, 2011 8:25 pm
Nathan Darrow had long ago, at least in his reckoning, quit school and he still considered it one of the best choices he could have made. Sure, he didn't have a chance at college or a 'good' job, but what did he care? He didn't even have a bad job, so the idea of getting a good one didn't matter to him. So far, he had slipped by without needing a job of any kind, whatsoever.
He was just wandering around town, as he was wont to do, looking for trouble with no goals in mind. No one expected him to be anywhere, and that was just the way he liked it. Soggy cigarette hanging from his lips, he puffed on it listlessly as he shoved his hands into the pockets of his jacket.
He probably should have dressed more weather appropriate, but it was too late to worry about that now. He wasn't going to walk all the way back to the apartment for a hood, after all.
Thinking about the rain, he wasn't paying attention to the people moving by him. He ended up shoulder checking someone on the way, distantly hearing some music as his instincts kicked in and he shoved the person away from him like it was their fault, though it certainly wasn't.
Both of theirs, maybe, or mostly his, but he didn't care.
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Posted: Fri Jan 28, 2011 8:34 pm
Castille turned the corner, looking down at her Ipod as the song changed, and she scrunched up her nose at the title, running her thumb around the white circle until she found another song appropriate for a walk home on a rainy day. The people were starting to thin out, going their separate ways with calls of goodbye. She kicked aimlessly at a puddle that was forming in a shallow rut in the sidewalk.
Her umbrella bounced sideways and she felt someone run into her, and then she was shoved. She tilted sideways, taking a few steps into someone else before turning and looking at the person who ran into her. Yanking her earbuds out of her ears and glaring at the guy, she thought -What the hell!?- as her anger flared, but she didn't say anything. Then she took a closer look.
"Hey." she said to the guy, who she now recognized as the guy that walked her home a few weeks ago.. "What are you doin around here?"
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Posted: Sat Jan 29, 2011 9:28 pm
Nate was ready for an argument when the girl glared at him like she was about to snap. If it had been a guy, he would have been ready for a fight. But since she was a girl, he didn't think he'd be punching anyone today. Or at least not right now.
He eyed her sharply, but his antagonistic expression fell when she spoke and seemed to recognize him.
It didn't take him long to recognize her. Not really, anyway. He remembered her as that really happy chick he had bumped into one night, and had walked home. She offered him the scarf, hadn't she? Or maybe he was mixing up his aggressively happy people. Either way, he knew they had met before.
That didn't keep him from squinting at her.
"I'm walking here," he said, scoffing. "Do I know you?" He tried not to grin at her, folding his arms over his chest, cigarette now in his fingers rather than in his mouth. Not like it had been a very effective smoking device, considering the damp weather.
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Posted: Sun Jan 30, 2011 10:21 am
He didn't recognize her? Now she was taking a closer look while straightening her umbrella and jacket. No, it was definitely the guy she met in the park.....Name was something that started with an N....
Nate? That sounded right.
So he was either purposefully "forgetting" her, or he really didn't have a mind for faces. Either way, Castille was still a little miffed at being run into.
Castille rolled her eyes at the "I'm walking here" Some people were just so sarcastic! Well fine, if he was going to go that route, then she would play along too. She crossed her arms as well, saying "Well while your walkin here, you mind watchin out? I know I'm short, but that means you gotta learn to look down every once in a while, cuz I'm not growing anytime soon!"
Her stomach fluttered with a bit of nerves, as it did every time she said something that wasn't exactly 0 nice and amiable, but she managed to keep the smile that said "I'm not really mad" put away. She WAS mad. But she still hoped that he wouldn't get upset over what she had said...
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Posted: Mon Jan 31, 2011 12:03 am
Nathan looked at her, still doing his best not to look familiar with her. It was hard to hide his reaction, though, as she reacted to him and spoke. He snorted, shaking his head.
"I'm not going to go out of my way to keep an eye out for short people who can't be bothered to keep their eyes open. You could have seen me coming from a mile away, I'm not exactly short, am I? How do you miss a walking tower, then blame that tower for not seeing the ant coming by?"
He grinned broadly at her.
"I'm not going to look down, no. Too proud for that. You're the short one: you look up." He nodded his head, crossing his arms over his chest and nodded his head, watching her keenly. She had been happy before, bubbly even, the last time they had met. It was a good change to see her getting annoyed. At least to Nate, who preferred the people he was hanging out with to be irritated and angry.
"No, I do remember you. You're that picture chick, with the camera."
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Posted: Mon Jan 31, 2011 4:10 pm
"How can you be too proud to look down? Isn't that a requirement of looking down at someone? And If I spend all my time looking up, I might walk by a $100 bill and never know. Or a priceless jewel. You never know what people drop."
She switched her stance, crossing her legs. "Well it's good you remember me, because otherwise this was going to be a very awkward conversation. Although picture chick definitely isn't my name."
This guy seemed to like to push people's buttons, she thought. Why on earth would you spend your days making people annoyed? She realized that he had managed to get through to her, and she inhaled deeply, letting her anger go away. If he was going to try and bug her, then she was going to make damn sure he failed.
"So, did you just get out of school too?" Castille asked brightly. She eyed his lack of uniform, instantly doubting he was even in class.
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Posted: Mon Jan 31, 2011 5:24 pm
Nathan looked at her.
"You look down on someone only when they've bumped into you. The rest of the time? Not my problem. And I don't need to scrounge the streets like you apparently do," He grinned at her tauntingly, finally tossing his useless cigarette away and reaching into his pocket for the last of his pack.
"Right, I'm sure you have a name, but yeah. Picture chick was easier."
He watched her, looking calm, putting the cigarette to his lips and searching for his lighter with one hand while he shielded the cigarette from any potential rain or damp air danger.
He scoffed at her question, shaking his head.
"Nah, I don't go to school. Haven't for a while. I was just walking by."
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Posted: Mon Jan 31, 2011 5:43 pm
Her temper flared again, but Castille stamped it down, ignoring the snarky comments. Instead she eyed his clothing, saying "Yeah, you definitely don't."
Again, a flash of nerves. Why did that happen every time?
"Why not go to school? Nowadays, kids with degrees earn twice as much as people without them. Plus it's kinda of a social taboo to not have even a highschool diploma. People tend to look down on you."
She stepped to the side, so the breeze would send the cigarette smoke away from her instead of into her face. She wasn't going to say how she thought smoking was atrocious, she figured the conversation was already quite strange. She chalked up her irritability to school day, and she figured Nate was having a rough day as well.
"Are you having a bad day or something?" She asked, twisting her umbrella.
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Posted: Mon Jan 31, 2011 8:44 pm
"Yadda yadda," Nate said, yawning theatrically, "you sound like Tony. I don't need two people yapping at me about how important it is to have a degree in some bullshit topic that, you know, probably won't have anything to do with the retail job you get, anyway. So." He shrugged dismissively.
He had never been a good student, despite being bright enough. He never put any effort in, coasting through as the teachers pushed him along until highschool, where it became obvious that it wouldn't work. It was pass, or be held back. Instead of being held back for years, and for a few other personal reason, Nate just decided it was better to be done with school then.
Retired early, as it were.
He watched her, shaking his head slowly.
"No worse than usual," he said, when she asked him if he was having a bad day. He gestured vaguely with his hand. "The weather hasn't been great for paintball or whatever. But other than that, just a normal, boring day in this stupid city."
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Posted: Mon Jan 31, 2011 9:44 pm
She frowned, inwardly growling at the kid. Her family spent much time telling both Castille and her sister Kaylee that education was an important thing, something that both of them took to heart....mostly. While Art and English came easily to her, Castille had a heard time with math, a fact that consistently brought her GPA down.
"Well, to each their own." She said, smiling again and waving a hand, "We all put stock it different things."
She leaned back, looking up at the sky past her umbrella. "Yeah, it's been pretty gross the last two weeks. It's difficult to shoot in this kind of weather." She then looked quickly back at Nate "Pictures, I mean. Paintball isn't my thing." She shifter her backpack off of one shoulder, feeling the books inside lean into her volleyball uniform.
"Who's Tony?"
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Posted: Fri Feb 04, 2011 8:24 pm
Nate grunted indifferently, agreeing that everyone had 'their own'. Whatever that meant, he supposed. But he would let her think what she wanted, about him and about education, and he would continue to think what he wanted.
He put his hands in his pockets.
When she said shoot he eyed her, but remembered she was Picture Chick quickly enough. He nodded his head, grinning.
"Paintball works in all weather, really. Some'll get washed off, or it won't stick as well, but the pellets still work pretty well." He wished he had his paint gun on him now, to show her, but he hadn't brought it. Walking down the street with it sometimes raised questions, particularly during school hours, or when it just got out.
When she asked about Tony he shook his head.
"My dad. I just meant you were giving me the same crap he does about school or whatever," he turned to walk, motioning for her to follow him if she wanted to keep the conversation going. He didn't want to stand around on the sidewalk talking, especially in the damp.
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Posted: Sat Feb 05, 2011 8:28 pm
Castille started to follow him. To where, she wasn't sure. But for some reason, Castille felt like he wasn't going to lead her to the depths of hell or something. Or try and rob her.
She placed her Ipod back into her pocket. She could have easily listened to her music and held a full conversation, but some people felt that it was a sort of rude to do so. She then looked down, twirling her umbrella slightly and mentally counting the number of steps it took her to cover one square of sidewalk.
"So why do you call your dad by his first name?" she asked, still counting.
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Posted: Sat Feb 05, 2011 9:31 pm
Nate wasn't really leading anywhere, just walking for no reason, in this direction or that. It didn't matter to him: he just preferred walking and talking to standing around and talking. Action, even slight, was better than none at all.
He shoved his hands into his pocket, cigarette hanging from his lips once more.
"Because..." Nate said, trailing off like a person who either didn't want to talk about it or didn't have a good explanation might. He looked thoughtful, but grumpily so, not wanting to think about it and not sure why he should answer her. It wasn't really any of her business, but then again, it wasn't like he had a really good reason not to.
After all, if he acted like it was important, then she would think it was and he wanted her to think it wasn't. Because it wasn't.
"I haven't known him long. He wasn't around when I was a kid and I don't really think of him as my dad. Not really a big deal. He's in the same boat." Not true. Tony called him Son all the time.
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Posted: Fri Feb 11, 2011 4:02 pm
"Oh, I guess that makes sense." She said, looked up at the sky as it was starting to break. The rain was slowing, so she brought her umbrella down and shook it a few times to rid it of remnant droplets of water. She then swung her backpack around to the front, placing the umbrella in the largest pocket.
Castille didn't really understand not having a parent around. True, her parents divorced when she was in 2nd grade but they had worked together to raise Castille and her younger sister. At least until her father remarried.....
She mentally shook herself form the unpleasant thoughts, looking up at Nate and saying, "Well at least he is around now! Your lucky you found him! Some kids have to go their whole lives without a parent..or worse, they have to go their whole lives knowing both of them."
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