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 Posted: Sun Nov 08, 2009 11:14 pm
One could gauge the mood of Elke by her expression with utmost accuracy. She had never heard of hiding her feelings; she didn't care for lying with her eyes. Sure, she might flirt, but that wasn't a lie. She did like a lot of the boys she gave coy glances to! Just, none of them could ever possibly ever equal up to the boy she was waiting for now. The expression on her face was a nauseatingly adorable look of pure infatuation - a crush, you might say, but she would protest.
It was LOVE, you see, pure and true love from the deepest part of her adolescent heart. And, interesting socially, her love was Avery Roth, senior basketball star. Sophomore linguist photographers did not date senior basketball stars. But somehow it'd worked out, and Elke was so incredibly happy! Ave was totally, totally the perfect boyfriend. (As if anyone could be anything but the perfect boyfriend.)
So it was that she had finally escaped from Giselle Petrova's history help session with her ears intact to haunt (if 'taking lots of pictures of people as they passed' could be called haunting) the first floor study area. Of course she knew where her Ave's room was, but to wait for him there would be totally clingy! Plus, he was coming from practice and she didn't want to crowd him, she knew that he might not like it, depending on how practice had gone.
AND, she didn't want to be waiting there when he might not recognize her because of the new hair color. Her mother had said it was all the rage in France--Elke totally wished that Madeleine Arma had sent a little more dye a little faster, though. Her new (new?) ID totally had her still with red eyebrows! Ffft.
She totally hoped he liked the cookies she'd made for him, though. It'd been hard to leave one of her tins outside the door when the homeless needed them! But she had done it. And then there'd been that scary woman and -- Elke shuddered, and settled into her chair to wait as quietly as she could, fidgeting with her hair. Ave would like it! Of course he would! She got up, peered out the door, then went back to her spot.
It wasn't like he was late or anything, not yet...
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Posted: Sun Nov 08, 2009 11:37 pm
Being somebody in a school where everyone was a somebody did kind of go to your head, he'd admit, but Avery didn't fancy himself much of a showboater even still. The fear of letting his team down was just to great to keep playing at his best--or trying to. It wasn't that he needed someone on the sidelines cooing and cheering for him (at a practice no less), but...
He'd be lying to himself if he made claim he hadn't recognized the pattern his game took when Elly wasn't there versus when she was. In her absence, his shots were just a little more sloppy, his speed a hint less nimble, his mind a bit more in the clouds and a bit less on the court. True, nothing could keep him from what he loved, but there was so much more he loved other than the game.
Avery was a fool in love, and why was the age old question: Why do fools fall in love?
To think the answer unfounded was ridiculous to him. If you wanted to baffle him, ask instead why he wouldn't love her. She was generous, smart, beautiful, and every other redeeming quality under the sun. Over the past year, he had come to live in a world he viewed with rose-colored glasses.
Behind those glasses were eyes that were blind to all but one person.
Practice hadn't been his best, all things considered, but he wasn't as down on himself as he may have been other days. Couldn't have told you why, he was just in a better mood. Perhaps it was because the day was going to get much better. It had to.
One shower and lunch consisting dominantly of cookies later, Avery was strolling to the study room with a bouquet in hand. Yeah, he brought his girl flowers for no reason. Wanna fight about it? No? Good.
"El--" Woah. Blue hair! "-ly?"
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Posted: Sun Nov 08, 2009 11:57 pm
He walked in and Elke put down the camera--a rare occurrence and one that always heralded sugary-sweet couple time. She practically threw herself out of her chair and forward until she stood right in front of her boyfriend - not close enough to crush the flowers, but close enough that she could pull him down for a kiss. (It wasn't that she was that short, she just kind of liked to, you know?)
"Do you like it," she asked anxiously, her smile more nervous than before, "I know it's a little bit odd but I asked Giselle and she said it looked all right -"
Then she stopped and her smile brightened. Of course he would like it, wouldn't he? It wasn't their appearances that made the relationship (even though they looked totally cute together, she had to admit it, everyone had to admit it and that prom thing coming up, they'd be even cuter together). Plus, it made her look very tan and her eyes were much more green.
So really it was an okay choice.
She pulled Avery over to the table she'd been sitting at and smiled at him sunnily. "How was practice," she asked as she played with her camera - screen open, screen closed. Screen open, screen closed. She really was nervous about her hair.
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Posted: Mon Nov 09, 2009 12:17 am
There was paradox in play when Avery looked her new style over. The catch was while he appraised her honestly, he honestly could not have felt anything she did was ugly if he tried. Had she walked in bald with sixty tattoos, he could have answered her, "Most people couldn't pull it off, but it looks great on you!", without lying. Avery was not the saint of truth Elke was, but in her company, he tried to be. It was part of living up to her standards.
"It looks great," he acclaimed after only two beats of his stolen heart, tone and expression showing nothing but a strong endorsement of her new look. "These won't match your hair anymore, though." He held up the dozen red roses--yeah, they cost an arm and a leg and died a week later, but what did he care?--thinking it was not very boy-ish for him to take note of such things.
He sat down with the kind of relief one like him deserved. After practicing for hours, standing the shower, walking around with no downtime whatsoever it was nice to finally be off his feet.
"Practice?" he echoed, followed by a snort and a ruffle--very, very slight ruffle--of her freshly colored hair. "Fine." Could have been better, but it was okay, and that was what he knew she wanted to hear. The first thing he'd learned about Elly was that the upside was the only side in her world. He did his very best to always play along. "Where were you?"
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Posted: Mon Nov 09, 2009 8:29 am
She looked pleased when he complimented her hair, her smile becoming more like a grin. Avery's opinion meant a lot to her of course; she didn't know what she would have done if he'd said he didn't like it. Well, yes she did: Dye it back! Right away! Maybe Giselle would help.
"No, they don't match anymore," she acknowledged, taking the flowers and tracing the petals of one of them. "But see, they look even redder now. It's totally awesome." Elke looked up at Avery with another smile and asked, "Did you get your cookies?"
That reminded her of a story, but first she had to answer his question. "I wanted to be there," she assured him, her eyes very wide and sincere. "I would have been too but Giselle told me if I didn't get help with History today, I couldn't get it before the big test, and I gotta pass that test or maman will scold me." Elke lived in mortal terror of her maman's scoldings. Besides, she wanted to do well! It was hard enough keeping up in math, but history kicked her a**.
(Sometimes she wondered if she should be in Barren Pines at all. But it really wasn't worth worrying over; they'd accepted her, hadn't they?)
"So," she started, "So I went to take cookies to the shelter for that city food drive, right? And this lady tackled me and took the cookies! That was rude." Elke frowned, all righteous indignation, but then her smile came back and she said, "I guess she must have been hungry. At least it helped someone, right?"
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Posted: Mon Nov 09, 2009 2:11 pm
"I did. They were your best yet." Avery set his hands back on the table because, on rare occasion, he managed to keep them on a surface that was not Elly's hair or arm or hand when she was around. Sometimes. Not for long.
Trying to keep the frown off his face--he was concerned she might mistake it for being a reaction to her and not his own behavior--a hand reached out to pat hers, then grasp it and give it a comforting squeeze. "It's fine, Elly. I was just asking because I'm interested in your day."
Phew. Saved his a** with that one.
"Mhm?" He followed along the story, echoing the noise of confirmation a few times within it's duration. A surge of protectiveness hit him like a train, and he gnawed on his bottom lip. How did he react to that? She wouldn't be happy with him if he threatened to a punch a homeless woman. "Yeah. But you're okay, right?"
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Posted: Mon Nov 09, 2009 2:52 pm
"I'm glad," said the bluenette, though it was quite clear to anyone that knew her that saying she was glad was like saying the sky was blue or that grass was green or that people breathe air. Being glad, for her, was the equivalent of an element's natural state. Just, when she mentioned it, the gladness was a little more obvious than usual.
Elke eyed Ave's hands. It was just not fair to tease her like that, she thought, because she liked holding his hand. Or leaning on his shoulder. Or any number of things, but it all added up to - She smiled again and carefully intertwined her fingers with his. This was how it should be, totally. "Oh, okay, but I'll be there next time, promise! The test's tomorrow so I'll have a lot of time to spend with you." And next time she'd make Giselle help her at the basketball courts. It wasn't like basketball was super distracting... except when Avery was playing. And sometimes when he wasn't.
But only sometimes! Sometimes it wasn't distracting at all!
"'m fine," Elke informed him, "She was scary, but she didn't hurt me." She studied him for a minute, and then said quite solemnly, "No, you cannot punch anyone. She probably needed those cookies, you know." A peck on the cheek, and then: "Plus, making so many means I'm even better at cookies now." If Fallon ever let anyone near the oven, anyway, girl was Scary.
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Posted: Mon Nov 09, 2009 3:47 pm
Avery didn't look to startled by her revelation. By now, his reactions were predictable. He was predictable. More and more this was becoming obvious to him. Of course she'd pick up on what he was thinking after a year of going steady. Overlooking it would have unnerved him more.
Smooth talking: Active.
"I wasn't going to do it," he assured her. The basketball star would say nothing about wanting to, because he had, if only for that briefest of impulses. "I'm sure she did. I just wish she would have gotten them through means other than aggression. It makes people in her position look badly and might make other people who can help them hesitate because of that reputation, you know?"
Deactivate.
Oddities and unspeakable mysteries around the school was the one subject he didn't know how to approach so professionally well-spoken. No one did, right?
Sometimes Elly's optimism was frustrating. She was the closest person to him and he wanted to talk about this with someone, but he knew she'd have known of it and turn the topic around to be about kittens in no time. Time to test the waters.
"Elly, do you like this school?"
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Posted: Mon Nov 09, 2009 4:48 pm
Elke leaned her head against his shoulder, completely mollified by the explanation. She had been a little worried. What if Ave wanted a scholarship or something? Punching some poor homeless woman would look really bad on his Permanent Record! And no self-respecting girlfriend would ever let her boyfriend do anything to hurt his permanent record when it was important.
She thought she might explain it, so she said, "That's good. You have to take care of your record, you know, Ave."
They sat in agreeable silence for a few minutes, then he asked: Do you like this school?
"Of course," said Elke, "Ave is here. So is Giselle, and most of my friends." Then she paused to think about it, and then said uncertainly, "but sometimes, it seems like I've been here for a very long time and there was never anything other than Barren Pines, but there must have been, right?" She looked up at Avery, her green eyes somewhat uncertain. "Why do you ask?"
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Posted: Mon Nov 09, 2009 9:13 pm
The way she said it was just so simple. Words like that provoked another onslaught of sick feelings caused by nothing but his own paranoia. Things just weren't adding up around here lately. They weren't following the right pattern to make sense, to be normal. How did some of these kids gain access to this school, even with their talents? Some of them couldn't even pass their classes!
"No, you're right. --I mean, yeah, you're right. There would have to have been." Right? Right. "I guess I've just been thinking too much. Forget I said anything."
Or was it none of them were thinking enough?
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Posted: Mon Nov 09, 2009 9:36 pm
"Avery," said Elke, her tone a little confused and hurt. She would never forget anything he said, she had promised herself a long time ago. Elke Arma did not break promises, no matter what!
She straightened so she could see his expression. Her green eyes were wide, brows furrowed; she was worried about him. The next few words fell exactly into her normal pattern of behavior: "What's wrong? Let me help."
This was not negotiable; she'd pretend to back off, maybe. But she'd keep worrying away at the problem until she made Ave feel better. That was her responsibility. Her honor to help the people close to her feel better, and who in the entire world was closer to Elke than Avery? She practically needed to help. "Are you unhappy at Barren Pines?" The wording was like a psychiatrist, but Elke made it... personal, sort of, with a lowered tone of voice. "I mean, it's kind of creepy, like with the... blood thing..." She shuddered. "And some people-" like Sue! "-are really mean sometimes, but it's a good school!"
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Posted: Tue Nov 10, 2009 2:36 pm
Oh, come on. Not that voice.
Some girls gave the puppy eyes. Others had to settle with what he knew only as the "whining puppy tone". Elke? She had mastered both, and to his chagrin, she could combine them without much effort. Knowing full well he was going into a losing battle unarmed, Avery leaned back in his chair and flicked the braid over his shoulder.
Finally, he chuckled and rubbed her shoulder soothingly. "No, Elly, I'm glad to be here. It's a great school, great opportunies, great everything. I really do think I was just reading too much into it. So don't worry about it, okay? And I mean really don't. Don't act like you aren't when you are." She was not the only one who knew the other well enough to make claims like that.
As an after thought he looked at suspiciously, "Who's really mean?"
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Posted: Tue Nov 10, 2009 3:44 pm
She waited, all wide-eyed, for his answer; when it came, her smile wasn't as concerned as before. (Still, she wouldn't forget that question anytime soon.) "All right," she said, the pleading look going away, "I won't." Elke probably meant it. Probably.
Oops. Shouldn't have mentioned the mean people. Now Avery would - right. Yes, he'd want to know who was mean. But she wouldn't say, it was something she could handle her self. Plus, she didn't exactly remember why Sue was mean. That meant it wasn't worth mentioning.
Her look got shifty, and she glanced around the room as though composing her lie before saying, "Um. Nobody? It's fine." She nodded, then - with a pleased smile - set her head against his shoulder again, one arm over his shoulder.
"I love you," said Elke after a moment. "Really."
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Posted: Tue Nov 10, 2009 8:22 pm
"It's not--"
Not fine. That's what he would have said, but then she decided to do something only Elly could do: throw him off his game. Avery came back down to Earth and noted this was an odd tactic for her to try. Traditionally, wasn't it the men who said that to get out of trouble?
Ah, well. He couldn't loom over her like an over-protecting parent all of the time. But he did worry. She was the kind of girl that could get into a lot of trouble with the wrong people; types who didn't mind taking advantage of a good heart.
"I love you, too." He smiled down at her in a heartwarming boyish way. "Let's go do something this weekend, hm? We'll have a big date somewhere."
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Posted: Tue Nov 10, 2009 9:20 pm
Elke giggled. It made her smile every single time she managed to distract him from whatever she didn't want him thinking about. The whole "Sue" thing would just make him unhappy, anyway, and that was something to avoid no matter what. Definitely something to not do.
And her evasion had won her a date! Maybe she should avoid his questions about her problems more often... or maybe not, she thought, since trust was a big part of a relationship, or so her maman said and she should know, since maman and papa had been married since forever ago. And she did trust Avery! She just didn't want to trouble him. That was also important - not troubling someone when you didn't need to.
She could deal with Sue, after all.
"Okay," she agreed enthusiastically, "What should we do?" They could go see a movie, or - or - any number of things.
Which brought up another question. She lightly tugged on his braid, putting on her serious face. "Ave, are we going to that inter-school prom? Do you think it will be allowed?"
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