|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 Posted: Thu Oct 08, 2015 7:27 pm
Rumor Has It
Frowning slightly, she shifted her gaze to the sheet. "Yeah? I trust him. He's a good guy, if you get past the ego."
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Thu Oct 08, 2015 7:31 pm
Rumor Has It
"Mm," was her small noise of approval. But the grin on her face implied much much more.
Of course, nothing had happened except a D- on the test she was supposed to get a D on (Chel wished they would give her more ******** time. By the time she'd read through one problem, people were already half way done).
"S'a good thing you trust him, y'know? Leave a guy like that alone and someone might really do something.." Then Chel let out a howling laugh and went back to drawing in her notebook.
---
Ds get Degrees?
Chel held out her test like it was a puppy she'd murdered. A D- wasn't really an improvement and they had agreed upon a D. She wasn't even sure why she was so disappointed in herself over this grade. She'd gotten plenty of F's in her lifetime- hell a D was a step up honestly.
But the disappointment of not hearing the guitar lingered. Maybe it was because this was the first test of the year she had actually tried putting an answer down for a few of the questions. Not a drawing in sight, just as promised. "So. Yeah," she said with a cowed tone, leaning over the table and looking like a dog with her tail between her legs.
"Did you hear that rumor that we're ********? Shitheads will talk about anything." At the very least they'd taken a step further to studying in his room now instead of the dining room table. Chel learned better when she didn't feel like she was sitting at a desk in school and all of the posters actually made her more comfortable; it was almost like home. Just a less shitty version of it.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Thu Oct 08, 2015 7:46 pm
Rumor Has It
She paused, made a note on the sheet, and then looked up, growing confused as to why the girl was bringing up something like that. Was she just messing with her? Jack had been a little more agitated lately, sure, but that could just as easily be tests and sports. And he wasn't avoiding her, at least, not as far as she knew...
"He doesn't like clingy," Lina said. "So I try to give him his space. He's been kinda stressed lately."
---
D's Get Degrees?
He studied the test while laying back against his pillows, long legs over the side of his bed. There was effort in it that wasn't there before, at least. Still, a D- wasn't a D, and he had to follow the rules, even though he did actually feel bad.
"People are ******** stupid," Jack agreed as he flipped the pages, unperturbed. There was still a redness in his knuckles from when he had punched James earlier, though. It had escalated too quickly for him: one moment snapping at him for perpetuating the rumor, the next they were brawling in the locker room for no discernable reason other than everything was just pissing him off too much. He'd been lucky to walk away with only a few marks hidden by his clothes. (James couldn't reach his face, poor b*****d.) If either of his parents had seen--nah, ******** them too. It was easy to hide.
"At least some of this is starting to stick," he said bracingly as he put the test down and cracked open the book. "I'll find some sample problems that're similar to the ones you had the most trouble on."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Thu Oct 08, 2015 9:34 pm
Rumor Has It
Chel had been contented to continue ignoring Lina and the worksheet they were supposed to do, but the damn girl kept talking. Her own fault for starting a conversation, she supposed.
Still, the niceties were grating her on. "More than one way to relieve stress. Call me f'I'm needed," she told Lina with a wink. Then the bell rang and she got up to leave.
---
D's Get Degrees?
"Stupid and ********>," Chel chimed back with an "I'm clever and made a joke" tone to her voice.
Chel saw the knuckles though, wondering if there wasn't a bit more to the story. It managed to make her feel bad, at least. "Sorry about that." She gestured to the knuckles before looking back at her book somewhat shyly. "We can meet at the tutoring center. Y'know, show people we're actually just studying."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Thu Oct 08, 2015 10:01 pm
D's Get Degrees?
He snorted in response, which was close enough to a laugh these days. "It's whatever," he shrugged off as he sat up. "Probably should need some more in the center, though, you're right." Anything to stay a little bit longer out of the house.
His phone went off again. A worried text from Lina, as they hadn't talked all day, even physically. He wanted to squeeze the phone until it broke.
"Not really in the mood today, so...I don't know. I'll see you in the center on Tuesday, I guess."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Thu Oct 08, 2015 10:09 pm
D's Get Degrees
"I didn't come all this way just t-" She was quieted when she saw the look to the phone, the expression. "Something happen?"
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Thu Oct 08, 2015 10:37 pm
D's Get Degrees?
"No," he replied stubbornly. "I don't know." Papers rumpled underneath him as he scooched off his bed, in a sudden need to move. "You know any place nearby? We can keep going there, I just need to get out."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Thu Oct 08, 2015 10:49 pm
These Old Bones
Chel said nothing and judged naught. She knew the stress of needing to leave a place, needing to distract, needing to be somewhere else. It was ingrained into her bones, etched into every part of her fibers.
Which was perhaps why Chel, on arm, led him to a graveyard near his house. She'd brought the papers just in case, but didn't intend to use them. They were a means, not an end.
What was strange was how light the conversation felt with Jack, and she wondered if it was just perhaps his popular-boy charms working over time, but she actually found him a little attractive by the time they reached the gate; or at the very least she felt like she wanted to know more which was a significant step up.
It was originally just going to be a walk past the graveyard on the way to the music store down the block, but then Chel said you wanna go in? and of course Jack wanted to go in and that resulted in two teenagers hopping the fence to a private graveyard, resting on one of the pompous large stones marking who-even-cared's grave.
"You know I thought you were one of those prissy prep types. You're alright though, bluebird," she told him, pulling out a cheetoh from her bag and tossing it to him, wherever he was situated. "A lot cooler than I thought anyways."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Thu Oct 08, 2015 11:48 pm
These Old Bones
He had only sat in a graveyard a few times before--not for lack of interest but for lack of time and reasoning, and for lack of his own vehicle in some cases. It was harder still if Lina was around, because while she did understand his strange attraction to the places, graveyards in the end still made her melancholic more than anything else--and God, he was a little tired of dealing with those episodes on top of everything else.
So there was no second thought about hopping the fence and invading someone's private property. It wasn't like they were going to trash the place.
He seemed to unspool an inner knotted ball as they sat there. The cheetoh was a delayed reaction, plucking up rather than catching.
"Thanks, I guess?" He nibbled, not feeling hungry. "It's exhausting to keep that sort of face up."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Fri Oct 09, 2015 12:12 am
These Old Bones
"So don't," Chel said simply, putting her arm around him in a way that implied she was sharing a secret. "Be like me an' just stop givin' a s**t~"
Her hands wove into his hair for a moment, just a friendly gesture, but perhaps with something flirtatious to it. "You're cooler when you ain't- when you aren't putting up a front."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Fri Oct 09, 2015 8:31 am
These Old Bones
He gave her a sidelong glance as a small shiver went up his spine. Maybe she was just pandering to him, but he supposed he didn't care where the compliments came from; it was better than getting pitied.
"It's not a switch you can just flip on or off. This is what I've built myself up to be," he said. Lina was all about smiling even when she was sad; he supposed birds of a feather. "My parents are stressed enough without more s**t."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Fri Oct 09, 2015 10:02 am
These Old Bones
Chel watched his face and in response began to comb through his hair lightly, leaning closer than before. Maybe ...
"I get that," she murmured in response. She knew all too well the stress of a parental burden, changing yourself to adapt. "I do."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Fri Oct 09, 2015 10:48 am
These Old Bones
He didn't so much as blink as she drew closer, at odds with himself: inwardly retreating, outwardly drawn in. (Don't, don't, don't.)
"That why you're hiding your accent?" he asked in a murmur as well, licking his lips unconsciously. It was cold, frozen even while they sat on a stone slab.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Fri Oct 09, 2015 11:07 am
These Old Bones
Chel watched his reaction, surprisingly unable to gauge where he was at. It was the first time it happened; a totally blank face with nothing for her to read in it. It scared her. She made a decision.
"Yeah." The hands dropped. She unwove herself, moved to get up. "Don't wanna be the country bumpkin. Been that a lot." It perhaps begged the question what other things she's been.
She was already standing, gesturing him to follow. "Don't act so into me. Lina's a nice girl. She really likes you. You make it any more obvious and you'll lose her- and hon I'm not the kind of person you leave Lina for."
It didn't matter if he was actually attacted or not. He could take Chel's ramble as a taunting joke or a serious warning; in the end it was always his choice.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Fri Oct 09, 2015 11:38 am
These Old Bones
His reaction was again delayed, maybe due to the weather, maybe due to his state of mind. He seemed to break a thin layer of ice off as he got to his feet, the cheetoh now long forgotten as it was dropped. Jack kicked it off into the grass.
"Who says I'm into you?" he argued as he crunched it underfoot like it had been a cigarette, eyes down. "You starting to believe the rumors now too?"
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Reply
