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 Posted: Wed Nov 11, 2009 9:14 pm
Serenade had finished her practice early; much earlier that she thought she would have. Although she would have pushed herself to continue playing, or practice another song, she wasn't in the mood. She was disappointed, upset, morose, and the cause of this was herself. She felt like a failure. And so, she had picked up her books, shut the piano she had been practicing on and shuffled out of the piano hall glumly.
Her first thought was to return to her dorm room and curl up under the blankets for comfort. However, there was a desire to find someone, someone she could talk to, someone she could lean on. A certain someone then popped into her head, and Serenade turned away from the direction of the dorm halls and headed towards the tracks.
If she was lucky, he would still be there training. She didn't mind if she had to wait for him to finish; Serenade liked watching Jude run. She was always amazed at how fast he could sprint around the track; boys always seemed to have the uncanny ability to run faster. Serenade herself had never been good at anything to do with sports. Of all the teachers in the school, Serenade was actually terrified of the gym teacher; she treated them all with respect they deserved, but Mr Collins was just plain scary.
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Posted: Wed Nov 11, 2009 10:47 pm
It just so happened that "Mr. Collins" to her, "Anny" to Jude, was on both their minds that afternoon. Jude refused to be scared of what he considered a bully, but that didn't mean he wasn't afraid. He was. Afraid of this school, afraid of the unknown and, mostly, afraid of what he was becoming. Accusing oneself of going insane sounded dramatic, but here, it was appropriate. Things were getting out of hand.
Unanswered questions had always served as a comfort, but now, they were a plague. There was Andrew Collins. There was that girl, Hero. There were a few others, too. People he felt this pull to, this connection with, but yet there was no history between them other than their ties at this damnable school. This life-sucking, curse of a school. With every bitter thought his strides became a bit faster and a little less careful.
Who was Hero? Jude moved faster.
Who was Andrew Collins?! Jude moved faster.
Who was he even?! Jude moved faster, too fast, and the collision with the track was enough to make unfortunate observers like poor Serenade, who had come in at just the right time, wince at the sight of the fresh blood smear across the pavement.
Jude righted himself somewhat unsteadily and turned around, shaking off his arms. He was bloody, but fine. They were just scratches. They would heal. Hitting the showers seemed an ideal decision, but before he could, something caught his eye. --No, someone.
"Ser!" he called in surprise. Wouldn't she be practicing at this hour, too? "What are you doing out here?"
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Posted: Wed Nov 11, 2009 11:09 pm
For Serenade, her life at Barren Pines was everything she knew, everything her life revolved around. Getting into the school had been a delight to her; it showed that someone appreciated her talent enough to admit her in. And everyone she knew, even vaguely, from Twilight-obsessed Frankie to Jude, who was like a brother to her, seemed nice enough. Her life had gone through such a routine in this school that she barely questioned all the blank gaps.
She arrived just in time to see Jude suddenly fall, skin scraping against the rough track and she couldn't stop herself from letting out a small squeak of horror, making her way towards him in concern. "Are you okay?" She called out, eyebrows furrowed in worry. Her gaze slipped to the ground and she shuffled her feet awkwardly. She wasn't even sure if she should talk to him about her problems when it was clear he had some of his own; she had never seen him this preoccupied before. It was a while before her eyes snapped back up to look at him and she managed a small smile. "You know, you should get going to the nurse's office."
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Posted: Wed Nov 11, 2009 11:14 pm
His steps more sturdy and his voice now aimed for the outside world instead of his mind, Jude shook his head and wiped his bleeding arms off. His hands then became stained, defeating the purpose entirely, but he didn't seem bothered by it.
"Nah, I think I've had enough of this staff for a while," Jude told her. No malice leaked into his voice, an emotion so foreign to him before, but for once he did feel. Preoccupied? She didn't know the half of it. He was not too distracted to keep from thinking of other things. She looked fine, so he guessed she was, but something wasn't adding up. Why come out here when she had things to do?
"Don't you have practice today?" And before she could answer, he went on, "Is something wrong?"
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Posted: Thu Nov 12, 2009 1:03 am
"Did you get into trouble?" She asked, shifting uncomfortably at the sight of the blood and wondering why he had refused. "You should really get that cleaned. What if it gets infected?" She gave him a pleading gaze; hopefully she could persuade him to at least follow her to get a first aid kit. Not that she knew where to get that sort of thing, perhaps a towel would suffice?
"Um..." Her eyes shifted away from him again, a tell tale sign that her thoughts were indeed elsewhere. "I ended it early. I...just...I don't know. I feel out of it today."
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Posted: Thu Nov 12, 2009 2:21 am
Trouble? God, if only it was just that. Suffice to say, after backhanding one of the aforementioned staff, Jude was in big, big trouble. But he was also sick of dwelling on something he couldn't change, and it was more in his character to look in front of him rather than behind him, so he waved his hand as if that alone warranted the dismissal of the subject.
"Feel out of it?" he echoed. To Jude, everything was on the surface. He did not look deeper into people, nor did he know how. Not gullible enough to believe the sky was falling, but certainly enough to buy into a distorted truth. If that was her answer, that was her answer. Who was he to believe any differently? "Even so, you can't go around skipping your duties if you're not actually sick."
Yes, the self-proclaimed best class skipper in all of the school was standing on the track preaching to his most feminine of friends about the same thing he did every day, often all day. It took a palm against her forehead to sedate his curiousness on the matter of if she was or wasn't ill.
Judging by this alone, she wasn't.
"Maybe you just need downtime. We could go get ice cream or whatever."
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Posted: Thu Nov 12, 2009 2:46 am
"M'sorry." Serenade muttered, looking abashed and forlorn. She honestly did feel utterly terrible at ending practice early, and vowed that she would make up for the lost time tomorrow; she would extend her practice session. She had always prided herself in doing her best and most in what she did. She might not be truly be sick in a doctor's terms, but emotionally, she did feel sick and tired; she was stuck in a rut. "I'm just not good at figuring out the emotions one is supposed to put into a love song."
She managed a smile. Ice-cream sounded good. "That sounds fine with me. If you don't mind?"
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Posted: Thu Nov 12, 2009 3:06 am
In a gesture more affection than comforting--any harm he had done unintentionally was lost on him this time--Jude reached out and ruffled the girl's hair. It was a common thing for him to do, not just with her, but other female students. If he didn't do it, it was because he reminded himself to resist the impulse to. "Love is fleeting, so maybe the song should be too," he offered. Serenade would have to figure out if he was actually getting at something or just talking to hear himself speak.
"Of course I don't," the young man rambled. He'd have said something if he did, thoughtlessly so. "Although, I should probably clean up some before we go. If I walk in like this, I think they'll call the cops. Or at least an ambulance." The actual damage was none too impressive, but with how the blood was smeared, it looked more devastating to the untrained eye.
"I'll meet you at the front door in ten minutes?"
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Posted: Thu Nov 12, 2009 7:10 am
Serenade didn't mind the affectionate gesture one bit, and smiled; Jude was like a big brother to her. Still, considering her personality, if it had been anyone else, she wouldn't have thought too much of it or batted an eyelid either. All these explanations about love however, were confusing her more than helping her; first it was Miss Johnson, and now it was Jude. Urgh, why couldn't she have experienced something like it before so she understood?
"You should." She emphasized this thought with a nod. It puzzled her though, why as to people would overreact to such things; it was probably those silly rumors about monsters again. She had never seen one, so she didn't believe the stories. Serenade's mind refused to take in this mindless chatter that sounded like it belonged in a television show.
" 'Kay." She agreed. "I'll rush back to my dorm room and leave my things there in the meantime."
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Posted: Thu Nov 12, 2009 2:41 pm
Jude emerged from his dorm less than the allowed ten minutes later. The scratches were an angry red, but the blood was gone, and what remained looked more like he had been mauled by a feral cat than faceplanted on the track. They stung, but he'd live. Having a high pain tolerance was part of being a man to him.
The running uniform had been discarded in favor of more comfortable, casual wear. A plain t-shirt and ripped jeans; the later not to make any sort of fashion statement, but rather just because most of his wardrobe was torn in some way. Simply put, he didn't take good care of his stuff, and clothes fell into that category.
Once he'd found Serenade, he picked up his pace and carelessly slung his arm around her shoulder. Public opinion didn't matter to him, but he doubted anyone would suspect them of dating, anyway. At this school, everyone knew everyone, and they knew their business. Part of Jude's business was that he took on little sisters, but girlfriends? Not so much.
"Alrighty. Did you think about what you want to get?"
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Posted: Thu Nov 12, 2009 11:19 pm
Serenade had changed out of her school uniform as well, into a white flowing dress which modestly covered her knees and ballet flats. She wasn't exactly fond of heels; the boots she wore in school weren't so bad as she had gotten used to it. The girl still preferred wearing flat-heeled shoes despite this however.
The notion of Serenade dating anyone would be a shock to many of their schoolmates; the girl didn't seem at all interested in romance. The reason why she had been recently turning her attention towards it was because of music's sake only, though that wouldn't surprise anyone at all. She flashed him a deft smile as his arm fell on her shoulders. "I was thinking mint. I like that they put chocolate chips in it! And you?"
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Posted: Fri Nov 13, 2009 2:48 pm
Jude was a simple man with simple tastes, so he didn't even have to think about it. "Probably vanilla." Ice cream wasn't a favorite of his, but he didn't mind it now and then. The atmosphere and freedom from school going out to get it was more appealing to him than the cold frozen treat.
He put his arm around her shoulder as they walked--lucky for her having washed up more than just his cuts before he came out of his dorm. Didn't want to get sweat all over a pretty little thing like her, eh? "So, how is every little thing?"
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Posted: Fri Nov 13, 2009 10:31 pm
"I'm helping out backstage for the play." She had searched her mind to talk about something else other than her piano practice, and Nia, Princess of Love had thankfully popped into her mind. She had been mildly disappointed that Miss Johnson wasn't using anything musical for her play, but she liked the teacher; she had attempted to be as helpful to Serenade as she could. Besides, it would be nice to watch the production blossom as rehearsals went along. "I'm er...what did she call it, the assistant to the Head of Public Relations. Who's um...ah, yes, Hero. The one who's always with Aurelia." Personally, she had always found it strange that they called each other so formally when they were undoubtedly close friends. A pause. "What does the Head of Public Relations even do?"
"Also...uh...Jude?" Another image had popped into her mind, causing her to shudder at the memory. "Is there something...happening in Barren Pines?" Honestly, the monster she had encountered in Fallon's room had terrified her, and there was doubt lingering in her as to whether it was real or not.
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Posted: Wed Nov 18, 2009 8:32 pm
Hero? Hero?
Oh, God help that poor woman. She was just fated to marry him, wasn't she? Opportunities to embarrass her just popped up like he was growing crops that fed off her shame rather than water. "They never shut up, basically," he answered, sounding all too confident in his response. If it was Hero's job, that had to be the qualifications. No one shut that crazy broad up.
Except him, of course.
Hearing his name, he glanced over at her with an easy, "What's up?" Sooner rather than later he wished he hadn't asked. It wasn't just him, he realized with mixed feelings. Not insane, not alone. That was good. On the other hand, it meant they really were in all the danger he thought and so much more.
Jude stopped and turned to the smaller girl, placing both hands on her shoulders. "Hush and listen to me. I need to go take care of something, but I want you to try and stay away from that school as much as possible, alright? I know you can't forever, but as much as you can."
Nothing was said after that because there was no time for it to be. Outings and ice cream forgotten, Jude made a run back to the very school he'd just insisted she keep away from.
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Posted: Thu Nov 19, 2009 2:47 am
Never shut up? Serenade simply stared up at him in confusion; did that mean they had to keep talking? She was terrible at holding up her end of the conversation, really, unless it was someone she was familiar with. And Serenade hadn't really known Hero Barrett enough besides her name. She hoped that as an assistant, she wouldn't have to talk.
"Wha...?" Was the only thing that spilled out of her lips as large pink eyes widened by skepticism stared into his as she struggled to come to terms with what he had said. Had he experienced what she had saw as well? She hadn't had the time to ask him for he had dashed away, and the girl was left standing there with a hopelessly lost look upon her face.
"But Jude..." She murmured, even though he wouldn't hear her answer. "I go to that school." How could she keep away from a place that she practically lived in? And then she sighed, putting a foot forward to continue her stroll, deciding to get the ice cream herself. Please say everything will be fine.
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