Blake Holsey (IC/Open)

[United Islands of Polis]

Christian McGraw

After getting affirmation that Peter was 17 was a good thing, eliminating 2 of 3 age restrictions but as Megan caught the question she pulled out a fake ID which looked really convincing, as to how she got a hold of that was far beyond Christian's grasp to think "If I had one of those I'd be grounded" Christian taught as he internally laughed in his mind.

"Well she can pull off the look to be twenty one, so I guess that works, as long as you're responsible enough I'm okay with it." Christian replied back at Peter's question. After saying his piece he simply waited for the next decision of the group.

[Elejamie]

Peter Kowalski

Upon hearing that Christian was also fine with seeing It, Peter was quite happy that they all reached a conclusion. Again, he didn't really know these people that well (although he knew Megan more than he did Christian) but since he didn't know where Yuki or Logan were, he thought that this would be better than just going it alone. After all, to him, watching movies at the cinema is an experience enjoyed by two or more people. Whether it be MSTing a bad movie and hoping you don't get caught, discussing it after to see what everyone thought of it or just having someone to come along so you don't feel lonely. Granted he has gone to the cinema by himself a couple of times but he didn't really like; not because of the fact that he had no one to go with but, rather, because it felt weird breaking his routine (which wasn't really much of a routine, more of a preference) just to do something. At least he liked the movies he watched alone, which made up for it.

After a second or two, he realised he had to speak. After all, he had taken his keys out, pretty much letting them know that he intends to drive even though he wasn't sure if he said that he was driving. "So, now we're decided on a movie, my car? I mean, you two are prolly going to have to decide who's sitting in the front, riding shotgun if you want that term. You-you two can decide however you want; rock-paper-scissors, flipping a coin, gladiatorial combat. Whichever you two think is the best one." He paused briefly, just in case he needed to tell them anything else. Which he realised he had to do. "I mean the downside is you'll both have to put up with my rap music and it's not really a fashionable ride but it'll get us there. It's got a full tank so you don't need to worry about gas money. And I managed to get the door sorted out after that whole incident, although I do recommend being careful with it because I'm not going through that again."

[Imperial Esplanade]

Megan Carrollton

Megan looked Christian up-and-down and grinned. "Hm, I can probably take him in gladiatorial combat." Before offering a playful chuckle. "Though I wouldn't mind riding in the back." Meg then pauses shortly after, caressing the back of her head, and in clear contemplation as to what Peter was referring to regarding an 'incident.' "Well it seems as though you have quite the story to tell on the ride to the movie theater, bud." Megan says, chuckling once more and crossing her arms. "Don't worry, boys, I'm responsible. Usually." Ending her statement with a slight smirk. "Alright, well I'm ready when you are."

[White Bluff]

Mickaël

Mickaël hung his head like a child would if their mother got on to them, he quickly mummbled an apology, he slightly looked up to Aaron, "next time your with him d-do you wish for me to stay a-away Mon A-amor?" He asked timidly. He had felt Aaron's growing discomfort with him, he had hoped that Aaron would have started to fall for him by this point in the week, but it had not happen. But Mickaël had a plan to change that after the game when their at their dinner with Ed and Jeffrey. He hoped he could recruit one of the two others to help him woo Aaron, but for now he had to deal with it.
He timidly pulled out some food for Aaron, "I made this for you... if you get the chance to eat it I guess..."

Aaron would thank him for the food, telling Mickaël he'd eat it later. After a few minutes of slightly awkward chatting, Aaron put the head mask on and ran out on pitch at the right time.

Now
Aaron couldn't stop thinking about Mickaël as he did his job as the game went on. He was worried how to tell him he didn't like him in the way the french boy liked him. He was okay with friends...
The thing that got him was how disapointed he could get. Aaron hated it when people were sad because of him. He was known to do things that he didn't personally enjoy to make others hsppy.
There was a point though.

Mickaël

Mickaël slowly made his way to a spot next to the fence, he sat there and watched Aaron more then the game, sports bored Mickaël and the only reason Mickaël was at this game was for Aaron. He would cheer but only cheer when Aaron did a stunt or stuff like that, he didnt care which team won as long as Aaron was happy. He then got the idea to ask for help from Jeffrey or Edd, he texted Jeffrey first, 'Hey Jeffrey....this is Mickaël. I was wondering if you could help me with something.'
He sent the text and hoped that they could help him, he didn't know what he would do if Aaron rejected him for good.
I can't let that happen...Please...if the is a God...help me...

[Stryker]

Evelyn Cross

Evelyn was amazed her parents hadn't taken her out of Blake Holsey yet. It had taken a lot of talking, convincing, and speaking with several different teachers,administrators, and board members to convince them that Blake Holsey was stable and its Principal. Simon was a genuinely nice person, but the school itself was very cynical and unless he could adapt he would be caught unqualified and lose his job, something she was surprised he hadn't lost already.

But Jon and Simon were in the past. The first week at Blake Holsey was...different than anything she was used to. Very vibrant, diverse, and vulgar student body. But thankfully she had her roommate Skylar Light. The overly optimistic and naive girl who hero-worshipped their arguably unqualified Principal. Skylar was easy to manipulate. A couple of kind words and conversation mixed with an apology here and there for any sudden snapping and Skylar would be fine. The blonde was depending on Social interaction, which Evelyn provided, and Skylar provided her with an...she didn't know whether or not to consider Skylar a friend. Evelyn wasn't intending on manipulating and blackmailing her for some massive scheme, though Skylar likely thought they were friends, and Evelyn wasn't going to correct her.

The first week had gone by smoothly enough as there was an aftermath and fallout of those who got in trouble, mainly the "Queen Bee" Cheer Captain Emilia Stedham. While Evelyn had no intention of going into a power grab scheme similar to Game Of Thrones,(In fact, her alretbs didn't even pressure her to run for Student Goverment, a fact that surprised her. Perhaps they expected her to do it on her own?)Emilia was a walking cliche who filled the void of power in the socially desperate student body. She didn't care about Emilia, but if for whatever reason she was targeted she would fight back. She wasn't afraid of some self entitled pretty girl and her posse. Evelyn knew how to spin a story, and besides it likely wouldn't matter because after the disaster of the first day they were likely going to crack down on troublemakers very hard.

Soon enough Friday had arrived, and she decided to stay in the Dorms, because God she detested football games. Most sports really. Not the sports themselves, just the games. Just way too many overhyped fans running on pure caffeine cheering for some jackasses throwing a ball around. Team spirit was good, but Evelyn was more of an Orchestra Student, not a Marchin Band one. Besides, she disliked the petty rivalries and favoritism over sports. Simon had implied during his...emotion filled speech that he didn't like cliques, so she assumed that Blake Holsey wouldn't obsess itself over its sports team. But apparently they were pretty good, so they didn't have to worry, even though several times varying "Jocks" had hit on her with a variation of three words:"Up", "Tight", and "Ass", usually a combination of the words or all three. They all had the same level of success: None, because she rudely brushed them off.

So now she was at Blake Holsey, because her parents were somewhere and had for whatever reason decided to actually let her enjoy the Dormitories. So now Evelyn was practicing her violin, because she had nothing better to do, and wasn't interested in social interaction. And so she obsessively practiced and played until her fingers hurt, because she couldn't fucking memorize it or she messed up because her hands started to hurt. And she couldn't fail. Not again.


Her parents did not tolerate failure.


Evelyn liked jazz. It was so strange and foreign, but at the same time so soothing and spiritual. She considered herself a virtuoso of the violin and piano and could play out her emotions through it, but jazz was a different kind of calm, a different genre of soul. And she loved it, and hated that she could never truly explore it because she needed to focus on the god damn violin and piano. The piano was at her house, because it couldn't fit in her Dorm Room, otherwise ahe would've been made to play it every day too.

She had zoned out of it while practicing, until she messed up, moving too fast and causing the violin to make an awful, though minuscule and overal unnoticeable sound the ruined everything. She screamed in frustration as she threw the string roughly onto her soft bed, and while Evlen was smart enough to keep it safe in her rage, she was disappointed that more damage wasn't caused. She punched the bed, but that didn't satisfy her either, so she slammed her closed first on the desk, enjoying the noise it made and how surprisingly good it felt to have a strong reaction push back. She yelled "Fuck!" ,several more times as she hit her desk again. Cussing was such a stress reliever, and she was glad she could get away with it.

But now her hands hurt, and she realized she couldn't play the violin, and she cried and she hated herself for it because this was her life now, crying because she couldn't play something she didn't want to in the first place becuase she knew of the consequences if she didn't.

Evelyn hated feeling sorry for herself, and she hated crying, so she steeled herself up and marched off, because she couldn't stand being in that room anymore with the violin, passing by several students whose names she didn't know but had met. One of them was the daughter of a Senator but didn't really act like one, then again she didn't know how a Politician's child would act so she didn't care. The Senator's Daughter-sorry, Megan was speaking with some other boys about going somewhere, and she wondered which one of the males was trying to flirt with her or if they were all purely platonic. And God she wished she could have some friends to have drama with. All she had was Skylar, the hopelessly positive girl who would never cause her problems. There were other people, but she wasn't close with them, and she doubted she would be.

After awhile, she left and found a secluded spot away from School, and there she could cry in peace as she truly realized how hopelessly unhappy she was.

[Corrian]

April Chetwynd
"Not a ton, really. It's just a nice little park with a view of the sound" April said, although currently all they were in was the forest part, and hadn't quite made it to the waterfront walkway part as of yet. There was a beach, but it wasn't particularly a good one. The forest was rather nice for a forest in the middle of a city, though. "Just a good place for a decently peaceful walk within the city" She commented, her voice sounding like it was wandering, which seemed to be because she was taking in the scenery, as she hadn't been here since the last school year. And never here with anybody but herself until now. It felt nice, honestly, walking with someone else.

Eventually they made it to the part where it was alongside the water, and the sun seemed to just be fully beginning to go down, making a rather nice sunset off across the water, though it was beginning to fade due to it moving into full darkness. April stopped and admired the view for a moment, but then turned to Seth, smiling at him lightly.

"We could walk along the waterway and chat if you want, or we could sit on one of these benches and admire the view. Your choice" April said to him, smiling softly.

Cassandra Goldberg
Cassandra was simply passing the days time like she usually did, going about life and just doing whatever you do to go pass the time through boring, repetitive life where it felt like there was really little to do worthwhile, besides go party and do what she was doing right now. Which was smoking, and not too far outside the school, though hidden enough that school officials are less likely to actually see her.

While she was sitting there, to her surprise, someone actually spoke to her. Someone else who had decided that going to football was boring, from the looks of it. She could respect that, if that was truly the case for why they were one of the few still actually here, among the boarding students. As he approached, she pulled her headphones down around her neck like she does, the music still blasting from it in some audible fashion. At first, though, she thought he was going to be the annoying cliche type with the whole cigarettes thing, since she didn't know how many times she was told that cigarettes were bad for her and all that and how little she really gave a shit. But it seemed like that wasn't really the case. In fact, he quickly asked for one, and pretty much said that maybe killing yourself with cigarettes was the point. Shrugging it off, she handed him one, then lit it for him as he would likely have needed, though she still didn't really say anything yet.

Cassandra found his looks rather interesting, really. She wasn't entirely sure what to think, but it wasn't like she was bothered or anything. Just different. Not like she was particularly normal in the dressing department or the looks department herself. At least she never thought of herself as particularly normal looking. Even if she could find some peoples choices of style and looks strange and not understanding it, she wasn't one to really judge that much. Well, in that case, anyway. She was quite judgmental about a lot of things as a whole. And even if she was, she didn't have any sort of weird judgments about Astier's looks, anyway. She seemed to like it, in fact.

"Let me guess, you're here avoiding the football nonsense as much as possible" Cassandra commented, saying no more than that at the moment, only giving a brief glance his way and otherwise staring off forward and letting out a puff of smoke.

Ella Birkett
"I am sure you can make the tryouts" Ella said to Logan reassuringly, giving him a bright smile, trying to give him a self-esteem boost. "Certainly better than I could right now, and that's not just because I don't play any sports" She chuckled, seeming to also give a light hearted personal jab at her current state of affairs. May as well make the most of it instead of letting it drag you down too much. That answer of hers pretty much worked for everything else that he had said on the matter of the tryouts, so that was about all she said on the subject.

The more they talked, the more things she thought of putting onto her "list", and going out boating into the Puget Sound was now one of those things. Maybe she could go whale watching. "I will keep that thought in mind" She said, referring to the boat thing, and just smiling thoughtfully for a moment before the next thing. When he asked her about if she go the address for the party, she pulled out her phone, started it up, and showed the text that she got with a smile. "Yup, I have it right here" She stated simply.

Minor Characters
Elaine Walton
"I guess you could say that, yeah" Elaine said, giving a nervous, slightly embarrassed look towards Casey then away, trying not to have a stupid smile on her face. But it wasn't working, and she couldn't stop smiling. She heard Casey say that she agreed he was cute, and that just seemed to make her more embarrassed. And then she suggested to her that she go and talk to him at some point, and she turned away more so from Jamal for the moment then. "Oh, I don't know about that" She said, clearly just super nervous at that idea. She did smile genuinely when she said she would keep her little secret, though. "Thank you" She commented simply.

Casey hadn't even needed to inform her t hat Jamal had actually looked back at them, because her own gaze kept glancing over his way anyway, even with her trying not to be obvious, so she had seen herself that he had apparently noticed the girls watching him. She of course looked away to pretend like she wasn't looking when he looked, but ended up glancing back again anyway, her catching him looking her way for an extended period of time as well. She wasn't sure why, but figured he was just curious about the girl watching him. Her mind and heart were racing. She felt her chest pounding, and her mind was thinking a mixture of "Please don't come over here, please don't come over here, please don't come over here", because she knew she would likely embarrass herself, and hoping that he would actually acknowledge her. In the end, she just ended up blushing and looking away again, trying to do anything to distract herself.

[Korhal IVV]

Aaron would thank him for the food, telling Mickaël he'd eat it later. After a few minutes of slightly awkward chatting, Aaron put the head mask on and ran out on pitch at the right time.

Now
Aaron couldn't stop thinking about Mickaël as he did his job as the game went on. He was worried how to tell him he didn't like him in the way the french boy liked him. He was okay with friends...
The thing that got him was how disapointed he could get. Aaron hated it when people were sad because of him. He was known to do things that he didn't personally enjoy to make others hsppy.
There was a point though.

Mickaël

Mickaël slowly made his way to a spot next to the fence, he sat there and watched Aaron more then the game, sports bored Mickaël and the only reason Mickaël was at this game was for Aaron. He would cheer but only cheer when Aaron did a stunt or stuff like that, he didnt care which team won as long as Aaron was happy. He then got the idea to ask for help from Jeffrey or Edd, he texted Jeffrey first, 'Hey Jeffrey....this is Mickaël. I was wondering if you could help me with something.'
He sent the text and hoped that they could help him, he didn't know what he would do if Aaron rejected him for good.
I can't let that happen...Please...if the is a God...help me...

Office

"A message, man.", Edward whispered as he woke from his stupor. "Oh great... You are too damn shooked already.", he said as he looked upon his friend of 5 years, fast asleep with a blanket covering his entirety. "I could read this for you right now instead...", he whispered to Jeff's ear.

No response. Eyes closed. Nothing.

"Pfft. What could wake you up...", he muttered. He thought for a moment.

"Ah yes.", he grinned slyly. "He wakes up the moment he hears Justin Bieber. Hehe..."

With that, he took his own phone, browsed through Youtube, and found the appropriate song to wake his friend up. Ramping up the full volume, he pointed the speaker at the left ear, disgorging what Jeff considers a sound of heresy. Within a few seconds, he woke up annoyed, and sleepily said, "What is this heresy, man?!"

"I need you to wake up because you have a message. From the frenchie."

"Oh. I see."

As he read the message, he couldn't help but wonder what Mikael needed help with, but he had a good guess what. He sent a reply.

"Well. What is it, then?"

[White Bluff]

Mickaël

Mickaël slowly made his way to a spot next to the fence, he sat there and watched Aaron more then the game, sports bored Mickaël and the only reason Mickaël was at this game was for Aaron. He would cheer but only cheer when Aaron did a stunt or stuff like that, he didnt care which team won as long as Aaron was happy. He then got the idea to ask for help from Jeffrey or Edd, he texted Jeffrey first, 'Hey Jeffrey....this is Mickaël. I was wondering if you could help me with something.'
He sent the text and hoped that they could help him, he didn't know what he would do if Aaron rejected him for good.
I can't let that happen...Please...if the is a God...help me...

Office

"A message, man.", Edward whispered as he woke from his stupor. "Oh great... You are too damn shooked already.", he said as he looked upon his friend of 5 years, fast asleep with a blanket covering his entirety. "I could read this for you right now instead...", he whispered to Jeff's ear.

No response. Eyes closed. Nothing.

"Pfft. What could wake you up...", he muttered. He thought for a moment.

"Ah yes.", he grinned slyly. "He wakes up the moment he hears Justin Bieber. Hehe..."

With that, he took his own phone, browsed through Youtube, and found the appropriate song to wake his friend up. Ramping up the full volume, he pointed the speaker at the left ear, disgorging what Jeff considers a sound of heresy. Within a few seconds, he woke up annoyed, and sleepily said, "What is this heresy, man?!"

"I need you to wake up because you have a message. From the frenchie."

"Oh. I see."

As he read the message, he couldn't help but wonder what Mikael needed help with, but he had a good guess what. He sent a reply.

"Well. What is it, then?"

Mickaël

Mickaël sat there for a few minutes, wondering if he should recruit them to help. When he got the text back he swallowed his pride and texted back, "Look you two spend alot of time around Aaron...and I...I know I'm broken, but I've never felt this way about anyone before, and I was wondering if you would be willing to help me get Aaron to like me back....and help get him to go out with me... I know its a long shot but please I'll do anything to repay you...please I'm begging."
He hesitated to press the button to send it but he did, and now he waited, hoping to whatever God there was that Jeffrey would be willing to help.

[Korhal IVV]

Office

"A message, man.", Edward whispered as he woke from his stupor. "Oh great... You are too damn shooked already.", he said as he looked upon his friend of 5 years, fast asleep with a blanket covering his entirety. "I could read this for you right now instead...", he whispered to Jeff's ear.

No response. Eyes closed. Nothing.

"Pfft. What could wake you up...", he muttered. He thought for a moment.

"Ah yes.", he grinned slyly. "He wakes up the moment he hears Justin Bieber. Hehe..."

With that, he took his own phone, browsed through Youtube, and found the appropriate song to wake his friend up. Ramping up the full volume, he pointed the speaker at the left ear, disgorging what Jeff considers a sound of heresy. Within a few seconds, he woke up annoyed, and sleepily said, "What is this heresy, man?!"

"I need you to wake up because you have a message. From the frenchie."

"Oh. I see."

As he read the message, he couldn't help but wonder what Mikael needed help with, but he had a good guess what. He sent a reply.

"Well. What is it, then?"

Mickaël

Mickaël sat there for a few minutes, wondering if he should recruit them to help. When he got the text back he swallowed his pride and texted back, "Look you two spend alot of time around Aaron...and I...I know I'm broken, but I've never felt this way about anyone before, and I was wondering if you would be willing to help me get Aaron to like me back....and help get him to go out with me... I know its a long shot but please I'll do anything to repay you...please I'm begging."
He hesitated to press the button to send it but he did, and now he waited, hoping to whatever God there was that Jeffrey would be willing to help.

"Oh.", Jeffrey spoked in a hushed tone as he read the message. "Uhm... I don't know if..."

He was interrupted by Edward who seemingly came out of nowhere. "Well. What is- oh... Great.", he said slowly and droopingly. "I think you know what he means?"

He looked down, "Uh. Yes. He wants aid in wooing the local furry here. If we were to help... That would be... Strange."

"Guuuyyyyssss!!!,", Azrael bubbled as he burst into that respective section of the office. "I am done with what you had me to do while you slept."

"Eh...", Edward replied groggily. "Someone wants aid in wooing a love interest.", he said as he brandished the message towards Azrael.

"Eh? And what about it?", he inquired.

"They are both males.", Jeffrey answered rapidly. "And what will I tell?"

"Better yet, don't reply at all. If you ever meet in person and he asks if you recieved the message, tell him that you had a low battery and you got no charger because I am using it.", Azarel said most enthusiastically. "Conveniently, your battery is at 10% and I am using your charger. No lies told."

"But-"

"And you got zero balance left on your SMS."

"Oh... Great."

"I guess I will take my break and wander around for a bit.", Edward snapped in as he began to walk towards the door. "I am sure you missed each other after... 5 years, right? Have time alone, speak the unspeakable and the crazy." He then walked out of the door and wandered towards... The stadium. He searched for a certain furry.

"So how was 3 years?", Azrael asked soon enough. "I, for the most part, missed the graham balls you used to sell in class."

"And the cheese sticks you sold for double the price of my own merchandise.", Jeff answered with a hint of amusement. "Not to mention you."

"That's so niiiiiceee!", Azie laughed. "And I remember the time when you proposed to Janella... And she said no!"

"That is past and I have left it behind!", insisted the other. "I now fancy someone else!"

"Who?!"

"Secret! You will know soon enough!"

"Gah! If there is none there will be retribution!"

"I dare you!", and at that, laughter ensued. Azrael then gave a tight hug, and said something more. "Missed so mucchh..."

Stadium

Meanwhile, Edward walked amongst the cheering fans in the stadium, and took out his camera. Clicking a few pictures of the event, he was doing just another part of the job, but in truth photography was Jeffrey's job. Edward did it in his stead to ensure a quality reunion will take place.

As it all went on, he tried to avoid the steeling glances. And yet, he somehow bumped into Mickael.

"Oh. Hi.", he muttered weakly.

[Saint Romulus]

Evelyn Cross

Evelyn was amazed her parents hadn't taken her out of Blake Holsey yet. It had taken a lot of talking, convincing, and speaking with several different teachers,administrators, and board members to convince them that Blake Holsey was stable and its Principal. Simon was a genuinely nice person, but the school itself was very cynical and unless he could adapt he would be caught unqualified and lose his job, something she was surprised he hadn't lost already.

But Jon and Simon were in the past. The first week at Blake Holsey was...different than anything she was used to. Very vibrant, diverse, and vulgar student body. But thankfully she had her roommate Skylar Light. The overly optimistic and naive girl who hero-worshipped their arguably unqualified Principal. Skylar was easy to manipulate. A couple of kind words and conversation mixed with an apology here and there for any sudden snapping and Skylar would be fine. The blonde was depending on Social interaction, which Evelyn provided, and Skylar provided her with an...she didn't know whether or not to consider Skylar a friend. Evelyn wasn't intending on manipulating and blackmailing her for some massive scheme, though Skylar likely thought they were friends, and Evelyn wasn't going to correct her.

The first week had gone by smoothly enough as there was an aftermath and fallout of those who got in trouble, mainly the "Queen Bee" Cheer Captain Emilia Stedham. While Evelyn had no intention of going into a power grab scheme similar to Game Of Thrones,(In fact, her alretbs didn't even pressure her to run for Student Goverment, a fact that surprised her. Perhaps they expected her to do it on her own?)Emilia was a walking cliche who filled the void of power in the socially desperate student body. She didn't care about Emilia, but if for whatever reason she was targeted she would fight back. She wasn't afraid of some self entitled pretty girl and her posse. Evelyn knew how to spin a story, and besides it likely wouldn't matter because after the disaster of the first day they were likely going to crack down on troublemakers very hard.

Soon enough Friday had arrived, and she decided to stay in the Dorms, because God she detested football games. Most sports really. Not the sports themselves, just the games. Just way too many overhyped fans running on pure caffeine cheering for some jackasses throwing a ball around. Team spirit was good, but Evelyn was more of an Orchestra Student, not a Marchin Band one. Besides, she disliked the petty rivalries and favoritism over sports. Simon had implied during his...emotion filled speech that he didn't like cliques, so she assumed that Blake Holsey wouldn't obsess itself over its sports team. But apparently they were pretty good, so they didn't have to worry, even though several times varying "Jocks" had hit on her with a variation of three words:"Up", "Tight", and "Ass", usually a combination of the words or all three. They all had the same level of success: None, because she rudely brushed them off.

So now she was at Blake Holsey, because her parents were somewhere and had for whatever reason decided to actually let her enjoy the Dormitories. So now Evelyn was practicing her violin, because she had nothing better to do, and wasn't interested in social interaction. And so she obsessively practiced and played until her fingers hurt, because she couldn't fucking memorize it or she messed up because her hands started to hurt. And she couldn't fail. Not again.


Her parents did not tolerate failure.


Evelyn liked jazz. It was so strange and foreign, but at the same time so soothing and spiritual. She considered herself a virtuoso of the violin and piano and could play out her emotions through it, but jazz was a different kind of calm, a different genre of soul. And she loved it, and hated that she could never truly explore it because she needed to focus on the god damn violin and piano. The piano was at her house, because it couldn't fit in her Dorm Room, otherwise ahe would've been made to play it every day too.

She had zoned out of it while practicing, until she messed up, moving too fast and causing the violin to make an awful, though minuscule and overal unnoticeable sound the ruined everything. She screamed in frustration as she threw the string roughly onto her soft bed, and while Evlen was smart enough to keep it safe in her rage, she was disappointed that more damage wasn't caused. She punched the bed, but that didn't satisfy her either, so she slammed her closed first on the desk, enjoying the noise it made and how surprisingly good it felt to have a strong reaction push back. She yelled "Fuck!" ,several more times as she hit her desk again. Cussing was such a stress reliever, and she was glad she could get away with it.

But now her hands hurt, and she realized she couldn't play the violin, and she cried and she hated herself for it because this was her life now, crying because she couldn't play something she didn't want to in the first place becuase she knew of the consequences if she didn't.

Evelyn hated feeling sorry for herself, and she hated crying, so she steeled herself up and marched off, because she couldn't stand being in that room anymore with the violin, passing by several students whose names she didn't know but had met. One of them was the daughter of a Senator but didn't really act like one, then again she didn't know how a Politician's child would act so she didn't care. The Senator's Daughter-sorry, Megan was speaking with some other boys about going somewhere, and she wondered which one of the males was trying to flirt with her or if they were all purely platonic. And God she wished she could have some friends to have drama with. All she had was Skylar, the hopelessly positive girl who would never cause her problems. There were other people, but she wasn't close with them, and she doubted she would be.

After awhile, she left and found a secluded spot away from School, and there she could cry in peace as she truly realized how hopelessly unhappy she was.

Skylar Light
The week had gone pretty good so far, even though the first day hadn't been...a bit disastrous. Somehow no one had been fired(But she had heard rumors Abaven had disappeared) and Skylar wasn't going to get caught up with the past, so she moved on, giving the utmost respect and helping out her teachers and the stressed out Doctor Kent, her role model who was suffering the consequences of his actions by talking about a student's mental illness in front of the school. She had nothing against him after that, but she thought that the Principal would need some space to think and clear his mind as he decided what he'd do. His adult friends would offer better advice than a teenager.

The rest of the week had been fun. She made a lot of friends and joined a lot of clubs and groups, but she never really got that close with Evelyn, her roommate. She could never tell what was up with that girl. Sometimes she was the most polite and respectful girl in the school, sometimes she was a stressed out workaholic snarking off everyone one,and other times she was downright rude and condescending. It was strange, but Evelyn usually apologized for for her actions, and Skylar wasn't one to hold a grudge. Besides, she might have a little...crush on her roommate. At least an attraction. But it was unlikely anything would happen between them as sometimes Evelyn seemed almost no asexual and likely had no romantic interests. If she did, she didn't share it with her.

Despite her best attempts, Evelyn had shown no interest in going to the football game or afterparty, though Skylar had intentions to going to both. So while preparing to leave to the game she was going back to their Dorm to pack some things in her room and was going to try and convince Evelyn to go one last time, but the girl in question was too busy playing a wonderful song on her violin, and Skylar simply watched her, getting lost in the moment and staring at Evelyn just a little too long...

But suddenly Evelyn had snapped and cursed as she threw aside her violin and punched her surroundings, breaking down and running out of the room, not even noticing her. Shocked and stunned, Skylar stood there for a few moments before she decided to run after her roommate. Screw the game, it could wait.

She trailed after her friend, bumping into the same people Evelyn had, muttering "Sorry" as she moved between them, not asking for me their help. She knew Evelyn wouldn't like a crowd following her.

She saw Evelyn break down and cry, and she just stood there in silence for a few minutes to let Evelyn cry. Because sometimes you just needed to let it all out. After a few minutes, she walked no next one Evelyn and sat down next to her.

"Why are you crying Evelyn?" Was all she asked in her softest, kindest voice as she looked at the confusing girl that was her roommate.

[Stryker]

Oh great. Little miss perfect Skylar Light was here to cheer her up. The perfect girl everyone loved, the one who had no problems, the one who love the rparents that loved her back, the one who could see the world and do what she wanted.

"Do you what to know why I'm fucking crying Skylar?" She snapped. "Because my parents are making me and molding me into the perfect daughter that they want. I play in all the orchestras they want, when they want, because I have to. I don't have a choice. I can't escape. I'm trapped doing whatever they want me to do, and I am so...indoctrinedand petrified by the thoughts of failing them and facing the consequences that I break down and cry the moment I mess up playing the fucking violin!" She ranted, getting up and pacing as she cleared her eyes.

"Your words won't Fucking help. No matter how how hopelessly optimistic and naive you are, no matter how perfect your life and your family is, it's not going to change. You think I want to be like this? A stressed out workaholic on the verge of snapping like a rubber band on a daily basis?! And to make matters worse, I'm on my period. Do you know how much I hate having my periods Skylar!" She yelled, losing herself further into her rant, not caring about the fact she had screamed she was on her period. She had to let it all out.

"Just..leave me be Skylar." She said, sounding defeated. "Go to the football game and the party, meet all your wonderful friends and have a great time. You don't want to help me. I don't think you can. Just go. I can handle myself and my own problems. I've done it before without your help, and I can do it again. So. LEAVE!" She finished by yelling at her roommate, towering over the girl as she looked her into the eyes, mustering as much anger as she could.

"Just...leave. Please." She said again, souding broken, even though deep down she knew Skylar would stay. And she didn't know if she wanted her to or not.

[Imperial Esplanade]

Sophia Taylor - Audrey Harte - Eric Stevens (Pt. 1)
Flashback Scene: Tuesday, September 5th (After School)

Sophia Taylor was excited she had discovered that there was a Guitar Center near BHHS in suburbia Seattle, and had convinced Audrey to bring her there by offering to buy a spare lamp for their room (which, by now, is rather void of properly-functioning lamps) along the way. Sophia grinned, slightly eager in anticipation, as they had pulled into the parking lot. "You want to come in too? Can't promise I'll only be a minute, it's like a kid in a candy shop for me." Audrey just smiled in response and got out after parking the car. "Of course! Can't let some creepy stoner dude try and get with my best friend! " "What, you don't think I can handle myself?" Sophia says with a chuckle, opening her door and stepping out onto the ground from Audrey's vehicle. "Fair enough. But inside is probably more exciting then this brick wall that I would be staring at." Sophia glances back at the wall, shaking her head. "You'd be a goner if electronics were ever fried by something like an EMP blast." "Are you kidding me? I can keep myself entertained! I can draw a face on a coconut and he can be my best friend." Sophia grabs the handle on the door to Guitar Center, pulls it open, and steps to side to let Audrey in. "Am I really being replaced by a coconut?" "You insulted me Sophia. Carl the Coconut wouldn't ever do such a thing." "Well I'm sure Wilson the Volleyball wouldn't either." Sophia said, giving Audrey a playful wink as she still held the door open for Audrey. "Thanks dude. So. What are we here for again?" As Audrey looked around the store was rather large as the store had drums of varying kind along with keyboards and any instruments that could stand by themselves. Another wall had guitars, ukuleles, and bass guitars. Sophia nodded her head as she made her initial gaze around the store. "Well, I couldn't bring my guitar from Louisiana, so I wanted to check out what the prices were for a new one here. I also wanted to get a look at, perhaps, an electric piano. Doubtful I'll buy one now, however, so I'll just be browsing those." Sophia then pointed toward the side of the store with drums. "Perhaps another day, but eventually I'd like to get one of those too." "Alright cool. I got Graves' homework I'm avoiding, so take all the time you need. I like him he's a pretty cool. Really smart. But damn his class his hard. Doesn't help that my mind and math don't work well together. " Audrey and Sophia now find themselves at the electric piano/drum and rhythm section. Audrey being the wanderer she is finds herself away from Sophia (as she begins to respond) and finds herself in front of a demo drum set up for people to try out. Audrey not knowing exactly what she was doing. Sat down and picked up the sticks and quietly, as quiet as drums can be, starting hitting things and thus causing the staff to come over and began teaching Audrey how to not seem totally incompetent - if that was even possible. "Graves? Audrey, like I told you before, you are always welcome to ask me to help you with class! You're a smart girl, you just need someone to spend more time with you to break the material down in a way that is easier for you to remember. You keep saying that 'your mind and math don't work well together,' but I know for a fact that you are capable of excelling in that class! I promise that you just--Audrey?" Sophia glanced around, noticing that Audrey had managed to slip away at the very last second. "Oh mother of monkeys..." Sophia said as she was unable to find out where Audrey had suddenly wandered off to, and simply decided to browse around some of the keyboards that sat nearby a row of drums - rather distant from where Audrey had decided to make an attempt at being a musical virtuoso, though with a bit less of a desirable effect. Sophia, upon hearing it, decided to temporarily head toward the opposite side of the store - grimacing slightly as the noises only seemed to have denoted a regression as opposed to a progression in ability. 'I've got to teach her, for my own ear's sake' Sophia thought to herself, as she began to look at some of the guitar options.

Eric Stevens, meanwhile, found himself at the same guitar shop. As it had been the closest one to the school and thus was the lucky winner that got to receive his custom ordered guitar. He went to the front counter and asked for it but the cashier said it wasn't up in the front of the store but sent another worker to check the back. As he waited he found himself wandering over around the guitar section as he waited. As he did, Sophia slowly made her way down one aisle, and then another, before coming to a stop before a guitar that seriously caught her eye. 'Wow, that's it.' She thought to herself, reaching out to grab it. Sophia glanced around, seeing only Eric (though not quite knowing who he was) wandering in the same aisle as she was. Sophia, with the guitar in-hand, slowly starting to strum a couple of cords and churn out a sort of a lovely-sounding melody. Her face lit up with a sense of joy as she started to play with the guitar, as it had even sounded as wonderful as it had looked to Sophia. Eric was used to the sounds of a music store. It was usually first timers trying out new instruments to see what they like and all that. The drum playing taking place near the front of the store was no exception to this. Though in the row he heard some smooth sweet melodic chords from a teenage girl much like himself in age. He turned to Sophia and listened and watched as she played, and smiled when he saw her face light up. He waited for her to look at him then spoke with a smile of his own. "Now that. Was something I actually enjoyed hearing. I came back here to get away from the front while I wait on my guitar." Sophia glanced toward Eric, whom she instantly thought was at least mildly attractive, and offered a slight smile as he spoke to her - apparently awaiting his guitar. "Thanks. Well, I suppose I ought to apologize too, actually." Sophia turned her head to look toward the drums section. "I dragged my friend to come along, and she's apparently taking a rather significant liking to the drums." Sophia then turned back toward Eric, slowly put her guitar down into her lap, leaned forward a bit toward him, and reached up to slide some of her dirty-blonde hair behind her shoulders. "So, what sort of a guitar are you buying, if you don't mind me asking?" Eric chuckled at her apology and smiled. "You don't have to apologize. Believe it or not, I've heard worse." Eric glances to the front, chuckling. "Not THAT much worse but hey at least she's attempting to learn something new. I can at least applaud her for broadening her horizons." Eric looked back, pausing to take a better look at this girl who he now realized was rather quite cute, though he at this time was more focused on just having a friendly conversation with this new girl. "Oh gosh no. I don't mind at all. It's not an acoustic, which I do have at home, I'm getting a custom Les Paul. Here I have a picture of it." Eric scrolled quickly to find a picture of it and showed it to Sophia. "Wait, did you just say a custom Les Paul?" Sophia said, shaking her head as she clearly was not anticipating that response. Her eyes widened even more as he showed Sophia the pictures of it. "Wow. That's... amazing!" Sophia slowly stood up to put her guitar, the one that was a relatively meager $400, back on the rack. "Clearly you've been playing for a long time." Sophia said, briefly contemplating asking how much it had cost Eric for the custom guitar - but ultimately deciding against it to avoid any chance of offense. "Yeah I guess you could say that." Eric said humbly. Eric thought about saying what age he started off playing at. Which was around 4 or 5 years old but decided against it. "I'll just estimate of 10 years or more. What about you? When did you start? " Sophia smirked, looking away from Eric for a moment and toward the wall of guitars. "Mmm. Well, I took guitar lessons when I was around ten. Piano when I was six. I recently also took drum lessons, though I never really gone through it to the end. This was all back home. I'm from Louisiana originally, and now I go to school out here." Sophia said, looking back toward Eric. "And Louisiana just so happens to be where my guitar is at, hence the reason why I'm here." "Huh. Louisiana all the way to Seattle? That's a bit of a drastic change. I was actually born here. Well, Mercer Island which is about 30 minutes away from here. This was the closest store that would receive my guitar, so that's why I'm here. But, excuse me, where are my manners? I'm Eric Stevens. Welcome to Pacific Northwest, further welcoming to Seattle, Washington!" Eric stuck his hand out for a handshake as such a thing was customary in first meetings and introduction "So, anyway, you started young too, huh? And you never got sick of it?" "Sophia." She said, extending out her hand to accept his handshake and to give one of her own. "Sophia Taylor. Pleasure to meet you, Eric." Sophia said, providing a gracious smile. "And yeah, I've just always been fond of music. Thought about taking a bit of a period of brevity regarding lessons, because they're not particularly easy, but... I've kept at it. Continual practice, repetition. That's what they say, at least, and it's worked for me." Sophia said, glancing back to the guitars on the wall and placing her hands on her hips. "I've been there. Half of my life has probably been in practices for various things. Though, that's human nature I guess. Practicing. Learning. We are always learning. Whether we realize it or not. " Eric noticed Sophia looking back at the guitars and couldn't help but make a comment. "You should get it you know."

Sophia bit her lips, pausing as she contemplating what he had said, and sighed. "Truthfully, Eric, I really want to. Don't think I will though, only because I probably can't afford it. Or, at least my parents wouldn't be too happy with me spending so much money on a guitar when I have one back in Louisiana." Sophia then looked back at Eric, offering him another smile with a slight blush as her eyes met his. "I can always come back. Budget things out and then get it for a Christmas gift for myself. I'm a patient person." "Patience is a virtue. It makes it that much more exciting when you finally get it. Though, if you need a guitar and a few things, I have plenty of extras just laying around my house that I don't use anymore. So you could have one of them if you wanted." "Hmm." Sophia said, reaching up to rub her chin as she contemplated the offer. "Well, if you can't find any usage for them anymore, I'll be sure to find plenty of it for you!" Sophia said as she brought her hands back down to her hips. "Thank you, Eric. Mighty generous of you!" "Yeah no problem. I could give you my number, then we can get-together later." Eric said, pausing, and chuckling as he felt the need to clarify. "Uh. For. You know. For the guitar." Sophia chuckled, smiling a bit, and nodded her head in agreement. "Yeah, sure. I'd like that!" Sophia responded with a grin. Moments later, Sophia slipped her hand into one of her pockets to take out her phone. She pulled up her list of contacts, opened up a tab to create a new contact, and handed it to Eric to fill in. Eric took the phone, filled out his number, and handed it back to her. Just as he was about to say something else, a staff member in front of the store called out his name signaling that his guitar was indeed there and was ready to pick up. "Well. I guess that's my cue. Just send me a text when you're ready to get the guitar." Eric paused a moment then smiled "It was nice meeting you Miss Sophia Taylor." Sophia, taking back the phone when he was done, looked at Eric just as he was about to say something else - though nodded as Eric made a request for a text later on in the day. Sophia smiled in response, once again slightly blushing even as her dimples caved-in to its' full effect. "Nice meeting you too, Mr. Eric Stevens. Talk to you later!" Eric turned around and was walking back to the front counter, where he stopped and took a chance at stealing one more look at Sophia. Now arriving at the front of the store, Eric had taken them up on their offer to try it out. He quickly tuned it up a bit and plugged it into one of the extra amps that the shop had lying around. When everything was finally set up, Eric played the first minute or so of the song Europa by Santana. When he was satisfied he paid the cashier and then walked out the front of the store and left. Audrey, on the other hand, had given up on the drums and had just finished the process of some guy giving her his number the 'old fashioned' way which was simply writing it on a piece of paper. Sophia, though, watched on as Eric started to walk away, still smiling a tad bit, and then looked away shortly after he seemed to have turned the corner. Sophia had looked across the wall of guitars, just as Eric was glancing over at her one last time, and then she slowly got up after an arrangement had been made regarding a guitar, she had decided to make her way back toward Audrey and to see why the raucousness had slowly come to an end. Sophia stopped, grinned, and let out a chuckle as she say Audrey surrounded by employees - one of them trying to hand her a piece of paper with his number on it. "I see you've been making friends." She says, walking up to Audrey and the assembled gathering around her. Audrey enjoyed the attention of the guys, and thus flirted with their egos while Sophia was doing Sophia things. She hadn't realized that bad drumming and a pretty face could cause this much of a commotion, though finally she had spotted Sophia coming towards her - and so Audrey instinctively left the group of guys to join her roommate. "Well, I wouldn't go as far to say friends. More like guys wanting a piece of me. I guess bad drumming and a cute face is enough to set them off. So did you find something?" "I would threaten them if they even tried to touch you, but I doubt I could be all that intimidating." Sophia said, glancing back toward the guys that were looking onward toward the two after Audrey had left them. "I did. Well, sorta? I think." Sophia looked back toward Audrey, biting her lip and contemplating what she would say next for a brief second. "I got this guy's number and he offered to invite me over to pick up his guitar. For free too." "Sophia, darling, you are about as intimidating as a baby rabbit." Audrey said as Sophia seemed to be thinking about what she would say next. "Huh that sure seems nice of him. Was it that cute guy who was playing that guitar near the front store a minute ago?" Even when surrounded by plenty of potential suitors, Audrey seemed to always be aware of her surroundings. Especially if said surroundings included a guy as cute as Eric Stevens. "Yeah, probably." Sophia darted a look across the store toward the front to see if he had already left or had moved elsewhere within the store. "Yeah, him. He was coming here to buy a customized Les Paul guitar." She paused for a moment, glancing back at Audrey, continuing on with the assumption that Audrey wouldn't know what that meant. "Basically a really nice and expensive electric guitar. He said that he has an assortment of guitars that he doesn't use anymore, and is letting me have one." Sophia looked back to Eric as he stepped out of the store with his new guitar. "His name is Eric. Now. Before you say anything, we're just friends."

Audrey noticed Sophia looking at something toward the door, so thus of course Audrey had to look as well. What she saw was, of course, Eric - the boy she saw playing guitar earlier, walking out of the store. "Uh. Yum! Yeah, he seems relatively normal. I say go for it. Better then those guys talking to me. Some of them smelled like pot. Wait. He didn't smell like drugs or alcohol did he?" Sophia looked back at Audrey, and offered a simple pat on her shoulder. "Of course they'd want to talk to you, you're gorgeous. And yeah, he seemed normal. Though you'd really think I'd know what drugs smell like even if he had them?" She responded with a slight chuckle toward the end. "Fair enough. Are you ready to leave then? Before those guys mess themselves staring at the both of us?" Sophia looked toward the assembled staff members, now eyeing up the both of them, and then sbe looked back to Audrey. "Well, I think at least two of them already had made a mess of themselves." Sophia said with a chuckle. "Anyway, yeah. Let's go." Sophia turned around and started to make her way toward the door to exit the store, offering a smile and a wave to the male employees standing behind the registers, the ones who had been gawking at the two, and wishing them a great as she passed them by and made her way back to Audrey's car. Yet as Sophia was nice about the men staring them, Audrey wasn't so nice. As soon as Sophia had walked out, Audrey turned around and stuck her tongue out as she flipped them off with both of her middle fingers. After her little while later, Audrey opened the door to her jeep and climbed in. "So. When and where are we meeting this guy?" Pulling out her phone, Sophia started to scroll through her contacts to search for Eric's number. "Ah, here it is. Texting him now." She glanced back at Audrey, shaking her head. "I'm pleasantly surprised you didn't say or do anything mean back there. Proud of you." Sophia said as she was making her text, obviously unaware as to Audrey's antics back in the store.

Hey Eric, this is Sophia Taylor. I'm wondering if you were free at the moment and if it were possible for me to swing by to pick up the guitar now?

Audrey grinned widely. "You know. Sometimes you just gotta lettttttt it gooooooo. Leeettttt it goooooo!" Luckily for Sophia's ears Audrey's singing was much better then her attempt at drumming though as soon as it was started it was over as Audrey and smiled. "Thank you. It's hard to keep a woman like me under control sometimes. It's all about self control." Sophia sighed and rolled her eyes as Audrey decided to break out into spontaneous singing, offering a smile moments later. "Yeah, says the one who impulsively starts to sing." Eric was a little ways down the road when he received a text message from a number who introduced itself as Sophia Taylor.

Yeah totally. I'm on my way there now. The address is 4041 W Mercer Way, Mercer Island, WA.

Sophia's phone vibrated seconds later, causing her to glance down. "Got a text. I think it's from him. Yeah, it's Eric. Um... 4041 W Mercer Way. Mercer Island? Any idea where that's at, or do you want me to pull it up on GPS?" Audrey gave Sophia a blank state and spoke plainly "Dude. I got into the city yesterday. You really think I know how to get there? Unless you wanna just drive around and hope to eventually get there, I would recommend pulling it on my handy dandy GPS right here." Audrey smiled as she pointed to the GPS symbol on her touchscreen radio. Sophia shrugged her shoulders. "Yeah, well I don't know what you know, girl, but I would be so down to explore this city a bit!" Sophia said with a chuckle. Moments later, though, Sophia leaned forward to start tapping in the address. "But it's probably for the best if we use this thing and...... it's a half-hour away." "30 minutes away? Jesus! Why the heck was he all the way over here then? Alright, we can explore after we make the long-journey to this attractive dude's house. Hopefully he isn't luring us into a house in the middle of the woods to kill us. That would totally put a damper on my day." Audrey said as the navigation started and she turned out of the parking lot onto the hustle and bustle of the Seattle streets. "Only if you've been a naughty little girl and you find yourself with the man downstairs." Sophia says, grinning. "And which downstairs would you be referring to?" Audrey asked with a suggestive wink. Sophia perked an eyebrow and shook her head. "Hmm. Well, I gotta admit it. Well-played there." "So Sophia, since we are driving to the end of earth to get you a stupid guitar from a hot guy, why don't you select some tunes for us? It's the least you could do to make yourself useful." "Hmm, alright. One second. Let me go through my library and...... wait for it..... wait for it.... and.... here we go. Figured it would be appropriate." Sophia says, grinning widely, as she plugs in the auxiliary cord to start playing 'Jesus Take the Wheel.' "Oh. Ha. Ha. Good one."

Audrey and Sophia would go on to madl small talk as well as listen to Sophia's music as they have now started driving on the bridge to Mercer Island. "See, I didn't even know Seattle had islands. That shows how much I know." "Look at the size of these homes! Holy guacamole!" Sophia exclaims, looking out of her window in awe at the mansions they pass by. "Do you really want me to look? I assume you want to arrive alive for your brand new boyfriend, hun." Audrey, though, did steal a glance toward where Sophia was looking at, and she was very impressed. She hadn't seen that many nice homes all together in a long time. "YUUUUUUGE. You didn't tell me your boyfriend was a millionaire Sophia!" "Oh, boy! Look! That one is a flippin' ginormasaurous-rex!" Sophia says, pointing across the opposite side of the car toward Audrey's side, to a house that they are passing by. "Oh, and we're getting close. Turn left at the next corner and we ought to be there in about a couple of minutes." "Ginormasuarous-rex? Sophia, you seriously have the weirdest vocabulary I've ever did hear darling." Audrey turned left, and followed the road till it took a sharp left down which would've sent them back where they came from if it weren't for a relatively steep hill. The other option was to go straight and drive off the cliff and into the water below or turn right and go deeper into the island. Audrey stopped momentarily. "Straight, right." Audrey said teasingly with a smirk on her face. "Well then, this is awkward." Sophia says, glancing back-and-forth between the road making its' sharp turn and the cliff on the other side. "Left it is, apparently." Sophia said, equally teasingly. Audrey took it nice and easy as they were greeted by a nice amount of trees along the street they were headed down. "Sure is pretty so far." Audrey seemed to have spoken too soon, as a large detached-garage was now to their left and huge mansion to its' immediate right. Parked next to the garage was Eric's Maserati Granturismo that he was currently driving to and fro from school next to his blue BMW M4. "So is it the garage or is it the house we are going to? I kinda want to tour both!" "There is not a single weird phrase in my vocabulary that is worthy to say in response to this." Sophia says, as her eyes widen at the size of the house, detached garage, and fancy cars. "I can ask about a tour, but I can't make any promises." Sophia says, gripping the car door handle and opens it after they stop in front of the house. "Technically, we're still just strangers to the boy." "Ask! Ask! Ask! I mean, did he not give off the super-richy type vibe?! If not then WOOOW did YOU luck out! If you did get that vibe, then you may just be a gold digger, Miss Sophia!" Audrey said as she stopped the vehicle and started to climb out. "No, he gave off a normal person vibe." Sophia said, glancing back to Audrey - outright ignoring the gold digger part, then turning back to the garage door to follow a string of sounds. To the left, the garage door was left open and the sound of the guitar in Black Dog by Led Zeppelin flooded to the outside. Audrey looked toward Sophia. And motioned toward the garage "Hmm, you're boyfriend I assume?" "C'mon, let's go." Sophia said, rolling her eyes, but walking with a slightly more noticeable greater pep in her step as she makes her way to the garage - stopping by the opened door to give a light knock. Audrey followed, shaking her head, but followed along a with a little pep in her step as well as she was quite excited to meet this guy Sophia had just happened to run into at the store. "Do you know how awkward it would be if this is the wrong place?" Audrey asked as Sophia knocked on something, hopefully loud enough to gain his attention. Eric, who had now finished, coincidentally turned around to see two young girls - one of which was Sophia Taylor from Guitar Center, and the other seemed to be the friend that tried, but failed, to play the drums. "Oh hey! You found it!" Sophia glanced back at Audrey, giving her a wink as Eric had greeted them. "Who knows, it might be a twin." Sophia said, jokingly, but quietly enough so that only her and Audrey would have heard. Sophia then looked back to Eric, offering a smile. "Hey Eric, quite the neighborhood. Heck, quite the house!" Sophia slowly stepped forward, approaching Eric, before stopping about halfway to point back to Audrey. "This is Audrey, by the way. She's my roommate and best-friend." Sophia said with a slight tint of sarcasm to it. Audrey turned to Sophia and smiled slyly. "Ooh, so now we are official, hmm?" Then, Audrey turned toward Eric then smiled and waved. "Hi! Nice to meet you. Sorry if I hurt your eardrums earlier in the store!" Eric let out a light laugh then smiled as he said "Believe me, Audrey. I've heard worse. Much worse." In regards to Sophia's bewilderment, he didn't take it to heart as much - primarily because he had heard this line from nearly everyone he invited over, but he still accepted it none the less. "Thanks! Yeah, it's a bit different from other neighborhoods. The people up the hill can be kinda snotty sometimes, but as you can see - we are kinda on our own down here." "Well I like it, it certainly seems like a lovely home and a lovely neighborhood." Sophia said, flashing a smile, before looking at Eric's guitar. "I take it that is the Les Paul you've sought after? Looks nice, and it sounded even better from the driveway!" "You heard that, huh? I just couldn't help myself. As soon I was get my hands on a guitar like this, I just gotta play! Well, until I can hardly play without passing out. Speaking of playing... If I recall correctly, you, Miss Sophia Taylor, are in need of a guitar!" "That would be correct." Sophia said, slightly nodding her head in affirmation - only to straighten herself out once more. "Though we're not in any particular rush. I'm sure Audrey would agree with me when I say that we'd love to hear you play your new one a little bit," Audrey let a small quick nod in agreement as Eric looked toward her, somehow giving her goosebumps by just making eye contact with Eric. "Of course!" Eric grabbed his new guitar off its stand and slung the guitar strap around his chest and straightening it up so it's ready to play. As he did this, Audrey leaned over to Sophia and in a low barely audible whisper said this "He's such a cutie! Look at the size of his arms!" Eric now was ready and turned to the two girls "Do you have any request?" Sophia couldn't help but chuckle as Audrey leaned over to whisper into her ear, Sophia slightly blushing as well in agreement to her point. "Shh! Control yourself, Audrey." Sophia whispered back, only to turn to Eric who had asked for a request. "Oh please, carry on with what you were playing before. I found it to be quite melodious. If you were finished with it, though, maybe 'Layla' by Eric Clapton. My father's always loved listening to Eric Clapton." Sophia said with a grin, still standing with Audrey by her side just a few yards away from Eric.

[Imperial Esplanade]

Sophia Taylor - Audrey Harte - Eric Stevens (Pt. 2)
Flashback Scene: Tuesday, September 5th (After School)

"You're father has great taste then, it's probably one of the first songs I've ever learned." Eric then walked over to his computer. Quickly did a search for the backing track. "Gotta get the whole experience right? " Eric said with a wink to both Sophia and Audrey as he started it up and launched into the song letting the groove find him and letting it take over as he seemed to be putting his heart and soul into every note. His eyes met Sophia's, and he let out another small smile as he played the last note of the song. "Wow. I--I think you're amazing! I mean, you. With that guitar!" Sophia said, smiling, and now more than just lightly blushing after Eric and Sophia looked into each others eyes and Eric offered a grin. Sophia, in fact, slowly began to chuckle at her own awkwardness following the moment they had. "Seriously though, that was amazing." "Like I've said, I've been playing for more then ten years. Practice makes perfect. Now, Sophia, it's your turn." Eric motions her to step toward his collection of guitars, ranging from electric guitars to acoustics, all on various range of price and rarity hanging on the wall. "Pick your poison." Eric said, standing up right next to Sophia, just in case she needed help in reaching got the higher-up guitars. Eric then turned to Audrey, offering a smirk. "I'll let you see one too, if you promise not to play it like you played those drums." Sophia looked back to Audrey, offering a smile and a friendly pat on the back, and then looked over the collection of guitars. Sophia continued to gaze around, with Eric by her side, before stopping before an acoustic guitar at the very top that looked an awful lot like the one that was at the store. This particular guitar seemed to be a bit more worn and used, but looked as capable as any other. "I think I have chosen." She said, crossing her arms and looking back toward Eric. "You just had to pick the one at the very top didn't ya?" Eric joked as he stretched his arms up to get it. The rim of Eric's shirt rose up as his arm stretched up above his head, exposing part of his lower back, which was quite muscular, as well as his abs - depending on if you were standing in the right spot. Luckily for Audrey, she was indeed as Eric stretched. Audrey couldn't help but stare at Eric's body, and then covered her eyes in embarrassment if, and when Sophia, saw her. Nonetheless, Eric had gotten the particular guitar down and handed it to Sophia. "Your weapon, my lady." Sophia glanced back to catch Audrey blushing and covering her eyes, to which Sophia simply shook her head. "A most wonderful one, at that. Thank you." Sophia responded, smiling, and running her fingers through the cords to make a melodious sound. "Now. Do you, our wonderful and gracious host, have any requests for a song you'd like to hear?" "Me? No, I shall let you take us alongside your own self-guided musical journey on this one. Play something that you can put emotion behind. Music is meant to make you feel something. Make me feel something. Whatever that song is, I want that one." Sophia nodded her head, and she started to strum the cords of the guitar. Not only did she intend to play it, she intended to treat them with a little surprise - a bit of singing too. "Very well then. This is one of my personal favorites. 'Hold Us Together' by Matt Maher." Sophia wasn't quite the most gifted of singers, for sure, though her talent would most certainly surprise those who were not quite expecting a singing voice. Sophia slowly eased into the song, focusing on each word with a bit of heart and passion, and she smiled widely throughout the song - particularly in the chorus: 'Love will hold us together. Make us a shelter weather the storm. And I'll be my brothers keeper. So the whole world will know that we're not alone.' Toward the end of the song, Sophia blushed once more and softly strummed the strings of the guitar a few more times to denote an end to the song, then slowly stopped playing altogether and looked around at Audrey's and Eric's reactions. "Dude! That was so good!" Audrey said in exclamation. Eric nodded his head in agreement and then said the following "Audrey's right. Great guitar playing. Beautiful voice. Really, it would seem that my guitar is in great hands." Eric walked over to a fridge and dug out a soda. Then glanced over to the girls and motioned to a couple couches and chairs. "Make yourselves at home, girls. May I get any of you a drink? Plenty of soda and waters in here to go around!" Sophia smiled, looking over to Audrey. "You're too kind." Then looked over to Eric, after his commentary, and slightly blushed once more, playing a bit with her hair. "Thanks." Sophia said, getting up and moving over to a sofa that Eric had motioned toward, and sat down in it with the guitar in her lap. "I'd just like a water, please. Thank you." Sophia paused for a moment, glancing over to see if Audrey was moving over to the sofa too, then looked to Eric. "So, have you always lived here?" Audrey seemed frozen in place after Eric had asked her to sit down, but eventually she broke free of the spell and sat next to Sophia. "Yeah, whatever you're drinking would be great!" She said to Eric then leaned over to Audrey and whispered once more to Sophia. "He's so dreamy! I SUPPORT this choice!" As Audrey said this, Eric dug in the fridge for the drinks that were requested, and then handed the soda to Audrey and the water to Sophia. Eric then sat down, leaning back on the couch opposite of the two girls. "Oh yeah. Seattle/Mercer Island born and raised. My great grand parents on my dads side moved to the Seattle area and started a car dealership that eventually took off leading to." Eric gestured toward the house, cars, and the garage surrounding them. "All of this. My dad has been in charge of the business since I've been born. Moving isn't really in the question. Unless it's a house across town. Which we've moved from Northern Mercer Island, which is where my grandparents lived, to here. Style difference. Plus more privacy. What about you two?" Sophia shakes her head while Audrey continues to gawk at Eric as he turns away. "Play it cool, Audrey, play it cool!" Sophia whispers back, turning to see Eric handing drinks to the two of them seated on the sofa. "Well, I'm from Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Born and raised. I decided to come out here for boarding school, to get a feel for life outside of my hometown, and I'd say that it's been a good decision for me so far." Sophia said, offering a sincere smile, and turned to look at Audrey as a cue for her turn to speak.

Audrey regained her composure as Sophia nearly had to knudge to her to speak, as Audrey simply couldn't seem to break her awestruck gazing upon Eric. "Oh! Yeah, I'm from Asheville, North Carolina. We did move a lot because my dad is in the military. But when he got back or like before he left he always takes me and my mom on a special trip. Though, I've never been to Seattle before they sent me to boarding school. I'm glad they did though. New experiences. And I've probably met THE coolest girl ever. " Audrey said as she smiled at Sophia. Eric listened very contently then spoke seeming impressed. "Wow. From Louisiana and North Carolina. Alllllll the way to Seattle. That's some major change. Did you guys drive here? I assume one of you had to based on that awesome looking jeep in the driveway." Audrey chimed in "Yeah that's mine! It took foreveeeeeer. Well worth it though." "My parents didn't exactly trust my car to last the ride all the way to Washington. It's a pretty beat-up car with a ton of mileage, so I flew to Seattle." Sophia paused glancing to Audrey, grinning at her, before looking to Eric. "My family is just like yours, not ever one to move around and being established within a certain neighborhood. Parents actually still live in the same house I grew up in, and I don't see them moving out anytime soon either. Nearly all my aunts and uncles live pretty close by too." "Flying is always nice too. Takes far less time and you can read and such on a plane. Something I hope you don't do while driving..." Eric said as he turned to Audrey. "Not me! I'm always focused. Especially when it comes to driving!" She said in response. Eric took a sip of his drink and nodded. "Good. Good. Well. You two have seen the inside of my studio/garage thing. After talking to you, as if I needed to, you seem to be good people and won't try and rob us. So, I say we take a walk inside... if you don't have anything better to do, of course." "Oh, well that's very gracious of you and I'm sure we'd love to take a look." Sophia said as she glanced over to Audrey, and recalled her practically begging Sophia in the jeep to tour the house. "If the garage is of any indication, I already know we'll be certainly impressed." "Well, let's get to it then! I'll try to be as cheesy as possible and pretend I'm on MTV Cribs or something like that." Eric got up and dumped the few drops of his drink into a sink along the way, and then used a can crusher to crush said can then into a recycling bin. Eric then began to walk toward the front door, but before he go too far, he turned and went toward his cars. "These are my two 'whips' as my generation likes to say. Uh. I guess that's pretty much a major benefit to my dad owning a car company. I pretty much get to drive whatever I want. The blue one is a special blue color I wanted on a BMW M4 and the other is a Maserati Grandturismo." Eric opened the car doors and let them sit and look or do whatever they wanted. After they would finish looking at that he would lead them to the front door. Audrey would say in a low voice "If he has a dog. That seals it. You've GOT to marry him." Sophia looked inside of the car, nodding her head. She wasn't quite the car enthusiast, thus perhaps not nearly as impressed as one ought to be at the sight of such beautiful cars, yet she maintained a wide smile out of respect to Eric's interest in cars, and even took the opportunity to sit inside one of them - touching the steering wheel even. "Wow, it's beautiful." Sophia said, looking at Audrey and grinning in marvel. She stepped out of one car and looked at the other, the Maserati, but simply preferred to look rather than touch the car that sounded even more expensive, to Sophia, than even the BMW. When they were finished checking out the rest of the garage's contents, Sophia glanced over to Audrey as she whispered to her back. "Yeah, well watch him be allergic to dogs." Sophia quipped back. "Still, he's just about perfect already." Audrey said has Eric led them to the front door of the house. "It's a bit overkill for four people but, good for entertaining I suppose." He opened the door, and when they got within 10 ft of the door, the scurrying of two dog feet could be heard on the wooden floor. Before another step could be taken, two dogs rushed around the corner to greet Eric home. One was an Australian Shepard and the other one, if looked at closely, resembled what was known as a Cheagle (a Beagle- Chihuahua mix ). Audrey nearly jumped for joy when she saw the two dogs and didn't hesitate to pet them. "Oh my gosh! They are soooooo cute! Can I pick this little guy up?!" Audrey asked desperately. "Of course!" Eric said back "He loves the attention." Audrey bent down to pick up the dog, and gave a sly glance at Sophia.

Sophia buries her face into her hands, trying to contain her laughter, as Audrey plays with one of the dogs and shoots a glance at her. 'OF COURSE, he WOULD have dogs...' Sophia thought to herself. Sophia, after somehow successfully containing herself, looked down to see one of the dogs making a beeline straight for her, seeking to greet her. "Hey buddy!" Sophia exclaimed, bending down and reaching out her arms - only to be tackled by the dog who immediately took the opportunity to land a few licks on Sophia's face. Sophia reacted by laughing rather jovially. "Oh my gosh!!! I love him so much!! Such a good boy. Yes you're a good boy!" Audrey said while snuggling the dog. "What is this cuties name?" Audrey continued to single the dog while she looked at Audrey "I miss my doggies so much now!" Eric leaned down to pet the dog that was lapping in Sophia's face and then spoke as he looked into her eyes. "This guy is Beethoven and he's an Australian Shepard. The other one is Muddy. Named after Muddy Waters, the musician, and he is a Cheagle." Eric stood up and smirked, turning to glance toward Audrey. "You can carry him around if you want Audrey, and Beethoven will just follow around. There is much to see!" Sophia successfully slowly crawled away, as Eric leaned down to pet Beethoven - distracting him just long enough for Sophia to do so, and she got up on her feet. "Yeah, I would to have a look!" Sophia exclaimed, slowly walking over to look at Muddy, the dog Audrey was snuggling with. "She might actually steal you, ya know?" Sophia whispered to the dog with a grin on her face before turning to Eric. "Alright, well show us the way!" Eric continues the walk as he says, almost knowingly, what girls do. "There shall be no talks of puppy napping, by the way!" As they continued past the front entrance they were met by two double doors that opened up to a modern open concept and foyer of some sort that had a set of stairs leading down and a glass/plexiglass barrier so no one accidentally fell down the hole in the middle of the room which the stair case occupied. There was a large window opposite of where they were at that looked out onto Lake Washington. "This is the grand entrance. Central hub of Stevens Manor! To the left is a living area of sorts. To the right, a dining room for feast of great size!" Eric said charmingly and jokingly. "Now which way do your hearts desire to travel?" "Shall we start with the living area for now?" Sophia asked aloud, then leaned forward to Audrey to whisper once again. "And save the dining room for dinner tonight." "You really want to stick around and explain why two random girls, that just met Eric, want to eat his food? And I thought I was the dumb one." Audrey said as they followed Eric into the living space. "It's the smaller of the living areas and is mainly used for, I'm not even sure. We use the one downstairs. It has a tv, so, ya know. The view is pretty nice though." Eric said as he walked over to a sliding glass door and opened it. The deck was made of stone tile and the deck furniture was gray at the base with with white cushions followed by blue and white pillows. "Another party entertaining spot overlooking Lake Washington." "I thought you, of all people, would appreciate the date night pun." Sophia said sarcastically, looking to Eric as he explained the party area overlooking the lake. "My goodness, it's so beautiful out here. I love it!" Sophia exclaimed, eyeing the scenery as the glass door opens and feeling the slight breeze whipping against her skin. "Not gonna lie, kinda considering moving in. Puppies, the lake, the beautiful house..." Sophia said aloud, turning to Audrey, giving her a wink. "Of course, only if my wonderful roommate would agree to such terms. On a serious note though, wow. I love it." "No complaints here! You had me at puppies!" Audrey said as she held the dog which was now lapping at her face.

"Alright, well you certainly have a lovely outdoors area." Sophia said, chuckling and watching the dog lick all over Audrey's face, turning with a slight blush once more to Eric. "I'd love to read out here if I lived at this house..." Sophia said, letting out a slight sigh, and turning to face the lake - leaning forward slightly onto the deck's railing. "I suppose so, huh?" Eric said letting out a small smile. "I know, I'm probably the luckiest person in the world for being born into a family like this. Most of what I want can just be handed to me. That's why I started playing guitar. Skill? Money can't buy that. Well, I guess lessons..." Eric leaned forward next to her on the railing while Audrey was seemingly rather content playing with the dogs, spending quality time with Sophia. "So, reading huh? What a nerd." Eric said light-heartedly. Sophia smirked, her eyes still trained onto the glistening water before her even as Eric took up position next to her. "And I haven't even told you about my aspirations to work at NASA, yet." She said, finally turning to give Eric a slight wink before once more looking back out to the lake. "Yes, reading is something I like to do to help escape the craziness of the world at times. Haven't always been a voracious reader. In fact, I used to hate it when I was a little heathen child." "NASA huh? Wow. Much more of a respectable career path then me throwing a ball to a whole bunch of overpaid hype beasts, if I may admit." Eric took a second to look out at the lake and then continued. "Yeah. Craziness of the world? That's a bit of an understatement sometimes. But you? A heathen child? Is that even possible?" "Be as it may, they're just aspirations." Sophia glanced over to Eric, chuckling, and moving her hand to rest on top of Eric's. "Well. That's easy for you to ask when you didn't have to raise me as a kid. Now, I guess I'm just an older, bigger heathen child." Sophia said with a humorous chuckle, moving her hand back in front of her, holding onto the railing. When Eric felt the touch of Sophia's hand on his own, he couldn't help but grin at this small touch by someone of the opposite sex - that wasn't his family. As Eric was about about to reply, the glass door that they had previously entered was now opening and out walked Mr. Stevens. "There you are! I saw the Mas was in front of the garage and the dogs didn't come greet me!" Mr, Stevens looks at Audrey loving on the dogs and laughs. "I see why now. Seems like they are rather preoccupied!" Eric turns to face his dad and gives him a firm shake, and a hug, as is customary in the Stevens family. "Hey dad, I just came to get something and invited some friends over. This is Audrey. And that nerd over there is Sophia Taylor." Eric said with a playful smile. "Hello, I guess I'm officially the nerd!" Sophia said with a grin, extending out her hand to the father of Eric Stevens, and glancing over to Audrey. "Geezum, Audrey, you have dog slobber all over. you.." Sophia said, glancing down to her friend who had been playing with the dogs the entire time. "Hello Nerd. I'm Mr. Stevens but you can call me Daniel. Dan. Danny. Whatever works." Eric's father said as he shook hands with Sophia. "Not sure how smart you can be though.. you are hanging out with this nincompoop of a boy after all." Daniel said as he laughed. Audrey set the dog down and smiled. "Totally worth it, Sophia. Nice to meet you Mr. Stevens!" Audrey wiped her hands on her pants, then shook hands with Mr. Stevens. "Well, I've come across worse tomfoolery before." Sophia quickly quipped back, smiling and kneeling down to softly pet the sweet dog that ran up to her after being set down by Audrey. "Hey now, don't expect me top what she did to you." Sophia said, chuckling and pointing her thumb at Audrey after she shook hands with Mr. Daniel Stevens. "Well, I'm glad Eric has such good company. Though I would love to hang with out with you all, I don't want to make Eric seem boring in comparison to me. So tata for now!" Eric just shakes his head and starts to follow the dad inside. "The tour continues!" Eric said as Audrey and Sophia presumably followed him. He causally walked through the rest of the house when they eventually reached his bedroom. Which is remarkably clean. "The most important room of the house of course. My bedroom." The room was decorated with a hodge-podge of football and music memorabilia. "Now that I've trusted you know where I sleep, please don't try and watch me sleep. That's just weird. Flattering to think you'd want to, but creepy if you actually did." "I like your father." Sophia said with a grin after Mr. Daniel Stevens walked away, allowing the girls to continue on with Eric's guided tour of his home. "Woah. Is that...?" Sophia slowly walked toward a football with a Saints fleur-de-lis, as well as subsequent signatures of the players and coaches from the 2009-2010 Superbowl season. Her eyes widen and her jaw drops in amazement as she stares at the football, even recognizing a name or two. "He's a pretty fun guy. I'm sure if you start hanging around me more, you'll get to have more fun." Eric said as they were walking to his room. Once Sophia entered the room her jaw nearly fell off at the sight of his signed 2009-2010 Super Bowl signed ball of the winning New Orleans Saints. Eric laughed as he said "Careful! Don't drool too much! Then I would just have a ball with really expensive smudges on it." Eric reaches for the ball, and carefully hands it to Sophia. "I'll be checking you both when you leave for any potential puppy smuggling or Saints football memorabilia theft!"

Sophia Taylor was almost hesitant to accept holding the ball, and simply sat down on the bed with the ball in her lap - looking down at it. "How'd you even get this?!" Sophia asked, looking up to Eric with a clearly shocked facial expression. "Anyway, I'd probably the worst thief in history. I tend to lose sleep just when I accidentally keep someone's pencil..." Sophia said, chuckling as she looked back down to the football. "When you're dad is as huge of football fan as you are. You tend to go to extremes. I have every Super Bowl signed ball from 2010 and on. Including the Seattle Seahawks whooping up on Denver. And also the heartbreak of my life. Seattle vs Denver. My father has actually done business with Tom Benson before, so this one was actually a gift." Eric sat next to Sophia on the bed, then looked towards Audrey. "Then checking for puppy smuggling it is then." Eric's father Daniel yelled Eric's name and Eric got up to see what he wanted. "This shouldn't take too long, I'll be right back." He said as he walked out the door. Sophia looks over to Audrey, shaking her head. "I still don't think someone can just be this perfect." "Ooh someone likes him! Maybe, he's secretly a psychopathic killer. That would strangely make sense." Sophia rolled her eyes at Audrey, shaking her head. "I'm pretty sure you started it. But I have to admit that you've been right about him so far." Audrey looked around the room, while Eric was away and Sophia was still seated on his bed, and came across a duplicate photo of one that Eric had in his dorm room of Victoria and Eric together at the State Fair. "Whoa whoa. Found something. Come check it out." "Hm?" Sophia slowly pushed herself off the bed, reached back to flip her hair back to run behind her back once more, and slowly walks over to Audrey who had spotted a picture of Eric with Victoria. "What is it?" "Did he mention a sister...?" "I don't think so." Sophia said, leaning in to take a look at the photo. "Could be anyone. Friend, cousin, ex-even..." Sophia then glances back to the door, before turning to look back at the picture. "If it was an ex, I don't think the picture would still be up. At least, I hope not. Do they look similar? I mean both are blondes but..." Sophia squinted her eyes as she looked at the picture. "Does it matter? I mean, if it does, I think we ought to hire a private investigator to find out for us." She said with a chuckle, denoting obvious sarcasm. Audrey put the picture and looked at Sophia once more. "By private investigator. Do you mean you want me to stalk his social media and try and find out who this mystery girl is?" "I was kidding." Sophia said, grinning. "Although, I'm sure he would be happy to add us on social media if we asked nicely." "I hope he has hot pictures of him at the beach." Audrey giggled. It was at this moment that Eric had reentered the room to find the two girls talking "Sorry that took so long." "Well, I'm sure that---" Sophia paused half-way through her sentence, glancing to see Eric stepping in and hearing his apology. "It's cool." Sophia said, glancing down at her wristwatch, and then looking up to Audrey. "We've got plenty of time to kill. About an hour before we have to leave for that thing anyway, to be exact..." "Sweet, I can stay for an hour. Then I got other crap to do. Uh, where do you girls wanna hang out? We can go back to the garage, sit out by the lake, or just chill in here." "Well, it's gorgeous outside. I say let's hangout outside!" Sophia then glances to Audrey, then glances back to Eric. "Can the puppies come?!" Audrey's ears perked up at the mention of puppies and looked at Eric. "Of course they can! If you can drag them away from my dad that is." Sophia grins widely and lightly, gleefully, claps her hands in response. "YAY!" The trio of friends headed outside into the nice September air of Seattle and played with the dogs in the yard for a bit. Then afterwards, when the dogs got tired, had numerous conversations about various things. Mostly pertaining to Sophia and Audrey's lives more so then Eric's. He listened intently and before long he looked at his watch and it just happened to have already been an hour.

"Aww man!" Sophia said, glancing down at her phone to check up on the time, almost simultaneous to Eric's looking at his watch. "The time has really flown by, it's almost 7:00 already." Sophia then sighed, looking over at Eric to offer a smile. "Thanks so much for letting us come over, but it's getting to be about that time we head out." "Oh no problem!" Eric said happily. "I'm glad I ran into you two at the store today. Even if I'm a little more deaf now." Eric says as he shoots a glance at Audrey. Sophia got up from the grass, reaching down to swipe away a couple of leaves that happened to fall into her lap while the three of them were chatting away and enjoying each others' company, and grinned to Eric while she stretched her arms out widely. "I'm so happy to have met you, Eric! We should totally hang out again soon!" "Definitely!" Eric said as he too got up from the grass and then wrapped his arms around Sophia, engulfing her in a hug. The hug was a relatively quick one, but it was a hug nonetheless. Audrey smiled as well, hugging Eric, but then punched him hard on the arm. "That's for being mean!" "Please don't hurt him!" Sophia said, pausing. "Or yourself!" Sophia then chuckled, after having watched the affair. As the group had said goodbye Audrey and Sophia presumably saw themselves out and got into Audrey's Jeep and left to go back to school. Sophia shook her head, watching Audrey throw her might into the punch, but knowing it likely felt like nothing against the far bigger, and muscular, Eric Stevens. Sophia, along the way, remembered to grab the guitar, doing so quickly before running with it back to Audrey's jeep. After climbing back inside, Sophia turned to wave to Eric, smiling noticeably wider than she had before, then looked to Audrey. "That one was meet-up with a complete stranger that went very well." "Yeah! He didn't lock us in a basement, chop our faces off, and hung us on the wall! That's always nice." Sophia looked up, pausing for a moment, and let out a slight chuckle."There are a lot of other possibilities in-between being murdered and being given a free guitar by a cute, rich guy whom you've suddenly become friends with and has adorable puppies and has given you a tour of his massive, beautiful house by the gorgeous lake. You know that, right?" "Well, that totally wasn't a rant and rave about Eric. You're totally into him!" Sophia shook her head. "But, was anything that I had just said false?""Fair enough. And he's sooooooo rippppedddddd!" "That, Audrey, is called raving about someone." Audrey just sticks her tongue out before quickly moving on to a new subject. "Whatever dude. Do you wanna see a movie this weekend? The premier is Friday but I wanna go to the after party for the game." "There are a million other things I'd rather do than be at THAT party." Sophia said, with a sigh and a shake of the head, but then looked back to Audrey. "But, yeah! I can find something to do over the weekend. Maybe that Saturday night." "You have to go! What better way to enjoy the high school experience and get to know our peers?" Contemplating for a moment, Sophia looked out the jeep window and let out another audible sigh. "Yeah, well from the things I've heard, I think I'd be better off staying behind." Sophia glanced toward Audrey. "The only way, and I do mean the ONLY way, I'm going to that thing is with you, and only to be your designated sober friend who keeps you out of getting into trouble." Sophia said, then looking out back out of the car window. "Otherwise, I just have no desire to be there." "Wow don't be positive at all or anything. And hey now. I don't go looking for trouble!" "I never said you did." Sophia said, shooting a grin as she looked back to Audrey. "And that would make my life so much easier on Saturday if you end up dragging me into this thing..." Audrey rolled her eyes playfully. "Yes mother. I'll be on my best behavior." "Good." Sophia said, turning back to face the front, though quickly glancing one last time at Eric's house - letting out an audible sigh while doing so. "Well, I don't know about you, but I'm bummed having to leave this for a study session of all things..."

[Imperial Esplanade]

Sophia Taylor - Audrey Harte - Zoe Lee - Robert Kerstetter
Pregame to Opening Kickoff

Sophia simply rose an eyebrow and let out a slightly confused chuckle, unsure if Rob was attempting to hit on her or if he was just simply re-stating a rather obvious fact in a semi-sarcastic tone. "Yeah!" She said with a grin, eagerly willing to transition to talking about the stadium. "Oh, well stadiums at the high school level aren't quite this big, but Tiger Stadium at LSU is one of the biggest stadiums in the world. Easily fitting about 100,000 people in it. There's also the Louisiana Superdome, which is pretty big. Not sure how many people that place can hold, but it's a lot. I've been there a few times." Sophia, upon Rob's realization that Emilia had been giving her a bit of a death-stare, glanced back uncomfortably to the cheer captain and then glanced back to Rob. "I--I think I had seen her before, though I am not entirely sure who she is or why she is even looking at me like that." Sophia glances around at the people around her. "She might also be looking someone else." Rob indeed held his hand out for Audrey to shake but Audrey just simply stared at. She debated whether to just be nice because this was Sophia's friend or just let her true opinions ring free. She couldn't do the first choice so she just chose something near the middle of the two. She then looked at Rob and made eye contact. "I'm a germaphobe. No handshakes." She then turned her attention immediately to the field as the pair of Rob and Sophia conversed. Her ears perked up and couldn't help but to interject when Rob mentioned something about another girl. "Huh. So while checking out my friend you decide to check out other girls too? Interesting. Typical." Rob's handshake offer was rejected by Audrey as she confusingly stated that she was germaphobic, and refused to shake his hand. Finding it a bit odd, Rob just took it in stride as he put his offer down. Then Rob went back to his conversation with Sophia about the stadiums. "Well, that is certainly much, muggee bigger than the Scotiabank Saddledome back home then." Rob replied. "Its about the size of this stadium crowd sized. About 19,000 people." He continued to explain as he conversed with Sophia, not realizing at the time that his statement about the body paint on Sophia was interpreted entirely differently by the pair of girls. As Sophia explained that she had seen the brown haired girl in the cheerleader uniform before during school, but was not sure who she was or why she was doing that, making a guess about the people around them being the target of the stare, Rob looked around him at the people in front and behind him and visibly shrugged his shoulders. "Might be. But she seems to be aiming directly here for some reason." Rob replied, his tone carrying a figure of puzzlement. And also, Rob heard Audrey's comments about checking out Sophia then talking about another girl and checking her out, and Rob sort of realized his comments were taken around the wrong fashion. He turned around to Sophia. "And if I said something about the paint in the wrong fashion, I apologize. Just pointing it out." Then turned to Audrey. "I wasn't hitting on your friend, or checking out other girls, I was just saying something about the body paint Sophia was wearing and wondering why that girl is staring at us." Rob then aimed a finger, discreet enough for her to see it at the general area where the girl was to give the idea. Sophia chuckled and shook her head, looking on as Rob pointed her finger toward Emilia. "It's fine, don't worry about it." She said in an attempt to keep the situation from escalating further, yet glancing down at her phone to check what time it was and to see if Eric had replied to any texts - hoping to inquire if he wanted to meet up with them afterward. "The football stadiums can get pretty big. Trust me." "Oh. Yeah. I'm sure. Can't just ignore a stupid cheerleader looking towards you. Have to make a comment about everything. The body paint. The cheerleader. Everything." Audrey went back to watching the game as the coin toss was about to happen. Audrey turned to see Sophia looking at her phone. "Still nothing?" Rob become confused and a bit weirded out at the sudden flippant and confronational words that she said and after thinking about the words, tried to decipher it and respond to it, to put it into his own words and make sense of the entire thing. He turned to Audrey again. "I was just making a reasonable observation. Dunno why how that got that...." Rob, sort of being confused by the end of his statement, turned back and sat back in his stadium seat. Sophia sighed, reaching up to rub her forehead, while the two seemed to start getting into a bit of a testy exchange over something especially petty in her own mind. After Rob sat down in his seat, Sophia glanced around to the pair surrounding her. "C'mon you two. We're here to have fun." Sophia then looked out to the field, shooting a look to the field and the football players standing around on the sidelines. "And fun we will have!" She said enthusiastically, though discreetly taking her phone to text Audrey.

What's up? You're never this way.

Only for it to buzz shortly after sending the message, receiving one from none other than Zoe Lee.

Hey, I'm here. Decided to come anyway. Where you guys at?

Sophia looked up to Audrey, seeing the empty spot next to her, and then looked back down to her phone.

Near the front row. Text me again when you're in the stadium and are walking up the stairs!

The stadium speakers crackled to life and the the booming voice of local Seawolves fan Jeremey Spivy came ringed through out the crowd. His voice was smooth and deep and was one that sounded like it was meant for radio and or narrating movies. "Good evening ladies and gentleman and welcome to the first home game of your Blake Holsey Seawolves! The Seawolves suffered a rough lost to Kennedy Catholic last night but are looking to get on track tonight vs the undefeated team of Archbishop Murphy. We now ask everyone to stand. Gentleman please remove your hats and place your hands over your heart as the national anthem is played by your Blake Holsey Seawolves Marching band." The stadium was at a dead silent and then melodious sounds of the marching band filled the stadium and played with such emotion that Audrey started to tear up at the thought of her dad and his service to this country. And as soon as the sweet song of American pride was finished and the applause had died down the band launched into the much more happy tune of the schools fighting song. The band had finished and now marched out to form two massive lines that were on either side of the large football helmet tunnel and as the team rushed out the band again broke into the fight song as the football team took the sidelines and the team captains for each time met on the 50 yard line. "Your captains tonight for the Archbishop Murphy Wildcats; Linebacker Brannon Hillson, Quarterback William Bradley, and Tailback Mario Murrel. Before we announce the Seawolves captains we would like to welcome 3 time state championship winning quarterback, transferring over from Mercer Island, Eric Stevens to his first home game of the season. I think he's the spark this team needs to take them to that next level. Just last night that seemed to be the case as he threw for over 600 yards in one night. Hopefully he can continue to find that success here tonight and get his first win in a Seawolves uniform. The Seawolves captains for tonight's home opener are as follows; quarterback and safety Eric Stevens, tight end and defensive end Grant Allen, and tailback Joseph Bridges. The Wildcats have won the toss and have differed. Seawolves will have the ball first after the kickoff."

Sophia cocked her head to the side, hearing about a 'Eric Stevens' from 'Mercer Island,' and she immediately looked over to Audrey with her eyes dilated and her jaw slowly dropping. "You. Think. He's...?" Sophia asked, unable to even complete the sentence, but knowing that Audrey doesn't need her to in order to comprehend what Sophia was asking. "There's no fricken way..." Audrey's face was complete in udder shock "Explains why he didn't respond. Unless there's two Eric Stevens from Mercer Island that just so happen to be our age!?" Rob just stared at dumbfounded confusion at the reactions that Sophia and Audrey were going at the mention of the QB being Eric Stevens. He didn't really get was going on and frankly it was still confusing to him so he just continued to look on, trying to process what was going on without making any comments again. Sophia slowly turns her head to look at Rob, after her instinctive reaction to hearing Eric being a student at BHHS. "Oh, sorry. He's some guy we met and, well." Sophia paused, shaking her head, darting to look at Audrey. "How did we not know he went to our school?!" She had asked, abruptly, clearly still a bit shocked over that fact - then looking back at Rob. "He's another good guy. Happy to know he'll be around campus too." She says, reaching over to pat Rob lightly on the back. "And the guy you met is the Quarterback of the football team?" Rob asked, sort of surprised by the revelation. He took a moment to think about it as Sophia patted lightly on his back while explaining he was a good guy and was happy about him being on campus. "That's good." Rob replied. "Where did you meet him outside of school? "A good guy?! He's the best! We met him at the music store and he invited us over and gave Sophia a guitar she picked out? Oh my god he's such sweet and generous! Oh oh and he has two dogs named Muddy and Beethoven and they are soooo cute! Gah. Just. The best. Perfect." Audrey was obviously out of breath so she took a second and regained her composure then turned solely to Sophia. "And did that guy just say 600 yards in one night...? Or has my hearing deceived me?" Sophia chuckled, closing her eyes, and shook her head as Audrey went on her obsessive spiel about Eric. Sophia thought him to be rather attractive as well, of course, but she thought of Audrey's outburst to be rather humorous. "Goodness. Have you picked out a ring for him yet?" Sophia said with a grin on her face. "No, but honestly if my wedding ring was just a ring pop I would still melt. Sophia you should try and get together with him. You have a better chance then I. You have actual musical talent. Not...Whatever you call me and drums." Sophia, meanwhile, couldn't help but to laugh following Audrey's "ring pop" statement, and looked back out to the field as Audrey made her suggestion. "Don't worry, girl. You'll get better at it. I won't let you fail if you put the effort into it." She paused and glanced over to Rob. "Did the PA really say he threw for over 600 yards? Goodness gracious, didn't even know that was possible." "Yeah, I think the PA really did say that." Rob replied to Sophia as the stadium was moving with all what was going around, the crowd on the away stands and the home stands being pumped for the game that was about to come. "600 yards? Even if I know absolute nothing about football in general, that seems to be a yard number where would be good stats in the pros. I think." "Nothing?" Sophia asked, cracking a smile. "Well that's something we'll have to remedy, isn't it?" Sophia then looks over to Audrey, squinting her eyes a little and transitioning to a rather neutral facial expression before grinning once more. "Good news is that I foresee another trip to Mercer Island being made in the future." "The only sport I really even know by heart is hockey, and that is the result of me and my family on the chesterfield watching the Calgary Flames on TV play every week when the season is on." Rob replied to Sophia, while having a thoughtful expression on his face. "I do know of Canadian football, but from what I saw its very different from the one practices down in the states. You probably have to remedy that." Audrey grimaced at the cringe filled statement of Robs as she rolled her eyes and visibly got pissed as she she said mockingly to Rob specially. "Oh I'm sorry i forgot when two people are turned towards each other having a conversations that must mean you can interrupt. I would expect you of all people to know basic manners. Aren't like Canadians supposed to be super nice and polite? Cause right now you're proving that statement wrong." Audrey turns towards Sophia, seeming more relaxed and a smile painted on her face, and commented on her seeing another trip to Mercer Island. "Uh. Duh. Make it like near near future. I miss the guy already. Oh ! And the dogs! I loveeee loooove looooove his dogs."

Sophia sighed and sank in her spot on the bleachers with her eyes looking at the ground for a brief moment, unsure how to respond to Audrey's impatience and frustration with Rob. This didn't seem to be going well, certainly not as Sophia had hoped. Sophia gulped, but then looked back up to Audrey who grew genuinely excited about the prospect of a return to Eric's house. "Yeah..." Sophia said, cracking another smile, and then looked over to Rob to see how he was doing - darting her eyes up to see Zoe standing just next to him, shaking her head. "Damn Audrey. I don't even know what shit that was about, but... That. Was. Savage. I like it." Zoe said, sticking her tongue out playfully at Audrey. "Hey Sophia! Hey Audrey! Hey.... who the fuck are you, dude?" Zoe said, aggressively tapping Rob on the shoulder and giving him a perplexed look. Rob was taking it all in about what Audrey and was still perplexed and confused about what she said about interrupting when Zoe came into the picture, asked the two girls who the hell he was and tapping Rob on the shoulder. As a response, Rob turned around to meet Zoe and greeted her. "I'm Rob." Rob matter of factly said to Zoe. "I'm with Sophia, and she invited me to the game." He put on a friendly demeanor as he said this to Zoe, but in his head he was still confused at why Audrey was being so flippant at him. Was it something he did? Said? Both? Rob tried to work it out in his head as he went into thought mode. "Awwwww" Zoe said, smiling widely, "Pleasure to meet you, Mr. Rob!" Zoe said, extending her hand. "May I pass by to sit next to them?" Zoe said, pointing on the far side next to Audrey, she then looked back at Rob. "Touch me though, and it will be the last time you felt your penis aroused again!" Zoe pauses, after making the threat, covering her mouth. "Sorry. I just came back from writing a paper on feminism." As Audrey watched the exchange between the two she seemed rather disinterested until Zoe said something about if Rob touched it would be the last time he would be aroused. Audrey chuckled as she couldn't help it, and she said the following. "Yeah you gotta watch out with this one. He already was checking out Sophia's body paint. Then while that was happening he saw a cheerleader walk by and checked her out too. Because the girl was 'staring' at Sophia. Why was the girl staring at Sophia? Beats me. I don't know why a girl would randomly stare someone down. Unless the girl is gay and is checking her. But regardless. That's what Rob's excuse was." Audrey said humorously while laughing all the while. Sophia shook her head, scratching the back of her head. "It's alright. I really don't think Rob meant any malice." Sophia then looked to Audrey, shrugging her shoulders, before whispering to her. "What's going on, Audrey? I know you well enough to know something is up. Talk to me." Audrey shifted uncomfortably at Sophia mentioning something was wrong. Though she managed to straighten up only to shrug her shoulders in response and whisper back. "Nothing... I'm fine.. promise.. let's just watch the game .. did you get my Pepsi from the snack bar? " Audrey said realizing that she was rather parched after all this had gone down and thought it was wise to drink something before she said anything more. Sophia listened to Audrey give some sort of an excuse, and while she hardly believed it - Sophia felt it wise not to press the issue while they were in the front row of a packed football stadium. Sophia looked down, after Audrey inquired about the Pepsi, and nodded her head. "Yeah I did, here." Sophia reached under her seat to hand Audrey the bottle of Pepsi she had bought, then reached back down to grab the wrapped-up burger she had gotten for herself. "Want some pretzels, Rob? I had gotten it for me, but I'll be happy to let you have it. I'll also be happy to cut this burger in half if you're hungry." After asking the question, Sophia turned to Audrey once more. Not wanting to press the issue, Sophia just simply reached a hand out and gave Audrey's shoulder a soft squeeze. "You wanna know what I think? I think we should make masks of Eric's face and wear them to the next game." Sophia said, grinning, in her attempt to lighten up Audrey's mood. Audrey let a small sigh and then smiled once more. "Yeah because you totally didn't go far enough with the body paint." Audrey says as she motions to the mess next to her. She then took a moment to think and chucked lightly. "Not like Texas Chainsaw Massacre though right? Because I'm not THAT crazy." "You were threatening to replace me with a coconut as your best friend..." Sophia shot back, chuckling. "There's a difference between Carl the Coconut and slicing someone's face and wearing it as a mask. If you can't see that then maybe YOU'RE the crazy one." Audrey says as she sticks out her tongue. "Well that's a morbid take on what I said." Sophia said, sticking her tongue out back at Audrey. "Hey. You left it all out there. All I had to do was to say it.. " "I'll take some pretzels. Sure." Rob replied to Sophia, after Audrey's final bit, and having a bit of a stomach rumble himself - finding some pretzels being a good thing to eat for a small snack. Although, Rob was still thinking heavily about what the hell just happened a few minutes ago with Audrey lashing out at him, and the events that transpired since.

Meanwhile, Zoe stood by crossing her arms and shaking her head. "Alright, dude, move your cock. I want to be next to my favorite pair of twats at this school." Zoe said, grabbing Rob by the arm as she tries to maneuver herself around him. Zoe then pauses and looks up to Sophia. "Oh shoot! I forget Sophia doesn't like poopy words!" Zoe said with a giggle, leaning in to Rob. "So don't make Sophia cry, else I will snip your penis off and feed it to the dogs!" Zoe exclaimed loudly, before cracking a smile once more and looking back to Audrey and Sophia. "Okay, sure." Rob exclaimed as he moved out of the way of Zoe along the walkway as she grabbed his arm as she moved past him, then sort of threatened to do whatever to him if he made Sophia cry. He gave a obvious nod as a affirmation as she moved past, and the encounter was over. Rob was even sidewinded even more with what was going on, and considered half-jokingly to write some sort of quotations if he had the time on what happened. While Zoe was making her way over, Sophia handed over the pretzels she offered to Rob, and she glared at Zoe as she made her loud threat to sever Rob's genitalia. "Zoe!" Sophia said, as Zoe smiled proudly, then sighed and looked to Rob, shaking her head, silently mouthing the words "I'm sorry" to him about everything thus far. After a brief moment of slightly awkward silence, Sophia decided to change the subject to a topic that Rob would, perhaps, prefer talking about. "So you were texting me earlier about how you like playing guitar, eh? Might invite you and Eric over for a jamming-session. Audrey's clearly got the drums." She said with a grin, only to be distracted by an obnoxious roar as the game had officially begun. "Yeah, I was. I got the guitar in my dorm room." Rob replied to Sophia as she asked him about the text messages they sent on their phones. "A jamming session? With Eric? Sure!" Rob happily accepted Sophia's offer. "At least I get to dust off my band skills at least. Bit rusty." The crowds murmurs had grown to an overbearing roar as the kick was off and away heading towards the guys whose number was painted on Sophia's belly, that guy being Andrew. The kick went high and far and was barreling right towards him. The blocking was setting up. Perfect conditions for a good return. The ball had now arrived at Marks... and it fell right between his arms. Marks had muffed the punt, and it had to be recovered by Joseph at the one yard line. Audrey rolled her eyes and then turned to Sophia. "Isn't that the great and wonderful Andrew?" "Oh shush, you. Be nice." Sophia said in response to Audrey.

(OOC: Credit to New Flattnerk and North Daecon for helping put together the above collaboration post.)

[White Bluff]

Mickaël

Mickaël sat there for a few minutes, wondering if he should recruit them to help. When he got the text back he swallowed his pride and texted back, "Look you two spend alot of time around Aaron...and I...I know I'm broken, but I've never felt this way about anyone before, and I was wondering if you would be willing to help me get Aaron to like me back....and help get him to go out with me... I know its a long shot but please I'll do anything to repay you...please I'm begging."
He hesitated to press the button to send it but he did, and now he waited, hoping to whatever God there was that Jeffrey would be willing to help.

"Oh.", Jeffrey spoked in a hushed tone as he read the message. "Uhm... I don't know if..."

He was interrupted by Edward who seemingly came out of nowhere. "Well. What is- oh... Great.", he said slowly and droopingly. "I think you know what he means?"

He looked down, "Uh. Yes. He wants aid in wooing the local furry here. If we were to help... That would be... Strange."

"Guuuyyyyssss!!!,", Azrael bubbled as he burst into that respective section of the office. "I am done with what you had me to do while you slept."

"Eh...", Edward replied groggily. "Someone wants aid in wooing a love interest.", he said as he brandished the message towards Azrael.

"Eh? And what about it?", he inquired.

"They are both males.", Jeffrey answered rapidly. "And what will I tell?"

"Better yet, don't reply at all. If you ever meet in person and he asks if you recieved the message, tell him that you had a low battery and you got no charger because I am using it.", Azarel said most enthusiastically. "Conveniently, your battery is at 10% and I am using your charger. No lies told."

"But-"

"And you got zero balance left on your SMS."

"Oh... Great."

"I guess I will take my break and wander around for a bit.", Edward snapped in as he began to walk towards the door. "I am sure you missed each other after... 5 years, right? Have time alone, speak the unspeakable and the crazy." He then walked out of the door and wandered towards... The stadium. He searched for a certain furry.

"So how was 3 years?", Azrael asked soon enough. "I, for the most part, missed the graham balls you used to sell in class."

"And the cheese sticks you sold for double the price of my own merchandise.", Jeff answered with a hint of amusement. "Not to mention you."

"That's so niiiiiceee!", Azie laughed. "And I remember the time when you proposed to Janella... And she said no!"

"That is past and I have left it behind!", insisted the other. "I now fancy someone else!"

"Who?!"

"Secret! You will know soon enough!"

"Gah! If there is none there will be retribution!"

"I dare you!", and at that, laughter ensued. Azrael then gave a tight hug, and said something more. "Missed so mucchh..."

Stadium

Meanwhile, Edward walked amongst the cheering fans in the stadium, and took out his camera. Clicking a few pictures of the event, he was doing just another part of the job, but in truth photography was Jeffrey's job. Edward did it in his stead to ensure a quality reunion will take place.

As it all went on, he tried to avoid the steeling glances. And yet, he somehow bumped into Mickael.

"Oh. Hi.", he muttered weakly.

Mickaël

Mickaël looked depressed, sad, and lonely when Edward had bumped into him, he simply looked up at who he had bumped into, his eye lit up a little bit, "Ed! D-Did you guys dicide to help me?" He pauses to think for a bit, "then again....you could have came here to tell me no...which is probably the case..." A few tears rolled down his already red cheeks, "what chance do I have with Aaron....but please if I could persuade you to help me, like I said in the text, I know there's something wrong with me, and I know that it's selfish, but I have never felt this way about another human being in my life...when I met him I felt this energy go through me, and I dont know if I could go on with life if I saw him with anyone else other then me." He got down on his knees and begged Edward, "please Edward, I will repay you however you want, I pay for your food, I'll give you an interview for what ever reason, anything....just please help."

[Korhal IVV]

"Oh.", Jeffrey spoked in a hushed tone as he read the message. "Uhm... I don't know if..."

He was interrupted by Edward who seemingly came out of nowhere. "Well. What is- oh... Great.", he said slowly and droopingly. "I think you know what he means?"

He looked down, "Uh. Yes. He wants aid in wooing the local furry here. If we were to help... That would be... Strange."

"Guuuyyyyssss!!!,", Azrael bubbled as he burst into that respective section of the office. "I am done with what you had me to do while you slept."

"Eh...", Edward replied groggily. "Someone wants aid in wooing a love interest.", he said as he brandished the message towards Azrael.

"Eh? And what about it?", he inquired.

"They are both males.", Jeffrey answered rapidly. "And what will I tell?"

"Better yet, don't reply at all. If you ever meet in person and he asks if you recieved the message, tell him that you had a low battery and you got no charger because I am using it.", Azarel said most enthusiastically. "Conveniently, your battery is at 10% and I am using your charger. No lies told."

"But-"

"And you got zero balance left on your SMS."

"Oh... Great."

"I guess I will take my break and wander around for a bit.", Edward snapped in as he began to walk towards the door. "I am sure you missed each other after... 5 years, right? Have time alone, speak the unspeakable and the crazy." He then walked out of the door and wandered towards... The stadium. He searched for a certain furry.

"So how was 3 years?", Azrael asked soon enough. "I, for the most part, missed the graham balls you used to sell in class."

"And the cheese sticks you sold for double the price of my own merchandise.", Jeff answered with a hint of amusement. "Not to mention you."

"That's so niiiiiceee!", Azie laughed. "And I remember the time when you proposed to Janella... And she said no!"

"That is past and I have left it behind!", insisted the other. "I now fancy someone else!"

"Who?!"

"Secret! You will know soon enough!"

"Gah! If there is none there will be retribution!"

"I dare you!", and at that, laughter ensued. Azrael then gave a tight hug, and said something more. "Missed so mucchh..."

Stadium

Meanwhile, Edward walked amongst the cheering fans in the stadium, and took out his camera. Clicking a few pictures of the event, he was doing just another part of the job, but in truth photography was Jeffrey's job. Edward did it in his stead to ensure a quality reunion will take place.

As it all went on, he tried to avoid the steeling glances. And yet, he somehow bumped into Mickael.

"Oh. Hi.", he muttered weakly.

Mickaël

Mickaël looked depressed, sad, and lonely when Edward had bumped into him, he simply looked up at who he had bumped into, his eye lit up a little bit, "Ed! D-Did you guys dicide to help me?" He pauses to think for a bit, "then again....you could have came here to tell me no...which is probably the case..." A few tears rolled down his already red cheeks, "what chance do I have with Aaron....but please if I could persuade you to help me, like I said in the text, I know there's something wrong with me, and I know that it's selfish, but I have never felt this way about another human being in my life...when I met him I felt this energy go through me, and I dont know if I could go on with life if I saw him with anyone else other then me." He got down on his knees and begged Edward, "please Edward, I will repay you however you want, I pay for your food, I'll give you an interview for what ever reason, anything....just please help."

"Text...? What text??", Edward only asked initially, as he was trying to hide his awareness of the aforementioned message. "Jeff ran out of battery power and has no charger to use. But..."

Then Mickaël went on to beg and beg, enumerating what he feels for Aaron. He even went on to the lengths of whatever price he was willing to pay. "He is obssessed...", Edward thought. "He will stop at nothing. And he even kneels... Just for that."

He let out a small sigh, and got down as well. "Hmm. I... Will see what I can do about it.", he relented, as he knew that Mickael will probably keep begging till his mouth was parched red; he had little choice and was just riding with it. "But no promises from me. No one but Aaron has control over what he feels. Whatever decision he makes is... His." At this same moment, he just couldn't help but pity the poor soul before him. Enthralled to his own emotion, he has made another human being the object of adoration. And of the same gender as he is, it seemed.

"For now, get up, will you?", Edward said as he pulled Mickael up from the ground. Putting his hands on Mickael's shoulders, he went on. "But again, I know what it takes to maybe make a person realize some things. And well.", he then unexpectedly hugged Mickael. "I'll do what I can."

However, in his mind, things were different.

How am I supposed to sort this out... Damn it...

[Texan Imperium]

Doctor Simon Kent
The week following the first day had been...hectic. To say the least. Before he could even really deal with the aftermath of what had happened, a Cheerleader named Emilia Stedham had organized the bullying of Aaron Hunter, the "Furry". While Simon did think that his choice of attire could be seen as strange, organized discriminatory bullying was still bad, so he took the necessary steps. After Jon, he realized that sometimes you can't be lenient. Technically Emilia herself didn't dump the bucket of ice water on the poor student, so the ones that got the worst punishment were the "Jocks" that had followed her orders. He did what was needed, and worked with their respective coaches. If they got removed from their football teams, that happened, if not, they still suffered consequences. After his entire speech he was likely going to regret, he was not going to tolerate bullying. Emilia, the new "Queen Bee" of the School had been very vague, quiet and unanswering in regards to his questioning. But Simon had let her off. It was only the first day after all. But he had warned her not to become the stereotypical cliché Head Cheerleader who bullied students. "If you think you have the power to terrorize the school body, you're wrong. If something like this is done again, you'll lose that power. Simple as that. But I believe in second chances, so I'll let you off. This time."

But what had happened with Jon had dominated and controlled his thoughts the entire week. Talking about the mental health of a student in front of the entire school body, as well as explaining the actions of it in detail were generally considered a controversial action to take. One that he regretted immensely. He could've kept it silent, done the Assembly, and maybe it wouldn't have been such a disaster. But there was no going back now.

Unqualified. Unprofessional. Unprepared, Try hard. Kid diddler. Unable to process his actions. Too emotional. That's what he had been called all week. And sometimes he agreed with them.

The School Board had been furious with him. Superintendent Hayes as well. He had been very close to losing his job,, and for one dark moment, he really wanted to. It had taken a lot to convince him he was still qualified to be a Principal. Somehow he hadn't been fired, but his actions were known to the public, and Simon would not be able to shake his reputation. Especially among the student body. Some students had liked his speech and talked to him about various issues they had, about mental health sometimes. Others had argued with him, Others just ignored him and gave him looks that said "Why did you have to be Principal?". And it hurt, knowing they were right. Simon had let all kinds of students with issues into Blake Holsey, and it seemed that would be his undoing.

He had asked a lot of people for advice. Kendra had kindly told him to "Quit being a little bitch and move on." But others were a bit more courteous. Matthew had been the harshest. "Do you know what people of you Simon?" He had asked exasperatedly. "They think you're an unprofessional emotionally unqualified try hard who wants to be a father figure for the school. But that's not going to happen. You're going to have to get used to that."

"You can't please everyone. You put yourself in the spotlight. It's up to you to deal with it. What you did was a right thing to do. But maybe it wasn't the right thing to do. I don't know what I'd do in your place because I'm not you. You have to deal with controversy yourself. It'll be a learning experience that will either make or break you." Were the wise words of Vaughan.

"You know what overwhelming means Simon?" Lucia had asked. "Well yes." "That's what you are. Do you know what underwhelming means?" Simon had responded yes again. "Find somewhere in the middle. Be whelming."

"Kids just aren't as trusting these days Simon. They think you've got a secret agenda, are trying too hard, or a kid diddler. Maybe all three. And you can't change that. You're trying to be the perfect role model, trying to be the hero, trying too much to get involved. You just need to tone it down. It's becoming unprofessional. You can still be a hero, Simon. But you need to realize that you can't be THE hero." Wise words from his friend James.

He had spoke with Autumn for along time about what he had done, what had happened.

"I replay what happened with Jonathan in my mind. And I pushed him away. I tried so hard to be the hero, to be the savior to pull someone out of the darkness they didn't want to escape. I thought that by bring happy and positive, I could change the minds of anyone. But I can't. He was so hopelessly pessimistic, and nihilist. He was the opposite of me. And Ii tried. I tried so hard to save him, but the harder I tried to pull him back the more he pulled away. It was the Newton's Third Law! And then what I did afterwards! I told the entire school about what happened! I painted myself as the hero even when I failed, and I abused that opportunity to... to preach my own thoughts and ideologies. No sane or normal person would have done that. They would've, I don't know, not tell them! And I...I'm not qualified to be a Principal." He said with a defeated sigh as Autumn patiently listened to his rant.

'You did the best you could Simon. You didn't give up until the end, even when he tried setting you on fire and threatened to duel you. And that's more than some people can ever hope to do. Maybe what you did during the Assembly was unprofessional. But you still have your job and all the experience you've gained from it. A long time ago, you told me that how we deal with tragedy defines ho we are. So how are you going to deal with this? Or you going to give up, stay the same, or better yourself and move on?"

And he decided he was going to pick the third option.

His reputation was still destroyed, but he couldn't do anything about that. But he could try to repair it. No one had wanted to go the Pep Rally, but Simon was going to redeem himself. And so he did. Simon could be enthusiastic, and he knew how t get the crowd pumped up. The marching band helped, the cheerleaders helped, the sports teams helped, the clubs helped. They all did. Even if half the school hated going, he saw the gleam and happiness in the eyes and faces of the other half, and that's all he need. Because sometimes, you couldn't please everyone. And he could live with that.

The School Board had asked him to explain to his actions with what had happened on the first day. They had asked if he believed he done everything In his power that he could've. He said "Yes." They had asked if he regretted his actions. He said "Yes" again. They had asked if they still believed he was qualified to be a Principal. And to the annoyance of the Board, he had smiled and said "yes." They had asked if they he thought Abaven Jun should stay at Blake Holsey. He had said "No."

The exact details of Abaven leaving were vague, and Simon kept them that way. Was he fired? Did he resign? The world may never know.

He had wanted to attend the Football game, but Autumn convinced him he needed to relax. Otherwise he would "Get in the mode" where he took School Spirit to the max. So instead he decided to take the night off. He had already prepared for the various conferences and meetings he would have on the weekend with various officials and parents. It was late at night when he and Autumn left to the Beach. Enjoying the sands and waves as they walked and talked along the shore, without a care in the world.

And Simon thought that perhaps he could bounce back after all.

[White Bluff]

Mickaël

Mickaël looked depressed, sad, and lonely when Edward had bumped into him, he simply looked up at who he had bumped into, his eye lit up a little bit, "Ed! D-Did you guys dicide to help me?" He pauses to think for a bit, "then again....you could have came here to tell me no...which is probably the case..." A few tears rolled down his already red cheeks, "what chance do I have with Aaron....but please if I could persuade you to help me, like I said in the text, I know there's something wrong with me, and I know that it's selfish, but I have never felt this way about another human being in my life...when I met him I felt this energy go through me, and I dont know if I could go on with life if I saw him with anyone else other then me." He got down on his knees and begged Edward, "please Edward, I will repay you however you want, I pay for your food, I'll give you an interview for what ever reason, anything....just please help."

"Text...? What text??", Edward only asked initially, as he was trying to hide his awareness of the aforementioned message. "Jeff ran out of battery power and has no charger to use. But..."

Then Mickaël went on to beg and beg, enumerating what he feels for Aaron. He even went on to the lengths of whatever price he was willing to pay. "He is obssessed...", Edward thought. "He will stop at nothing. And he even kneels... Just for that."

He let out a small sigh, and got down as well. "Hmm. I... Will see what I can do about it.", he relented, as he knew that Mickael will probably keep begging till his mouth was parched red; he had little choice and was just riding with it. "But no promises from me. No one but Aaron has control over what he feels. Whatever decision he makes is... His." At this same moment, he just couldn't help but pity the poor soul before him. Enthralled to his own emotion, he has made another human being the object of adoration. And of the same gender as he is, it seemed.

"For now, get up, will you?", Edward said as he pulled Mickael up from the ground. Putting his hands on Mickael's shoulders, he went on. "But again, I know what it takes to maybe make a person realize some things. And well.", he then unexpectedly hugged Mickael. "I'll do what I can."

However, in his mind, things were different.

How am I supposed to sort this out... Damn it...

Mickaël

Mickaël's eye lit up as Edward said he'd help, he hugged back quickly, "Merci, Monsieur! Thank you so much, I'm in your debt!" Hesmiled for the first time in their conversation, "and, oui, I know it will be Aaron's choice but with a wing man like you there's no way he could say no. I have every confidence in you, Ed. And if need be recruit Jeffrey too." He laughed a bit and turned to the field and watched Aaron run around and do mascot things with a smile, finally you and I shall be together, Mon Amor. He turns back to Ed, "and do you and Jeff still plan on joining us for dinner after the game?"

[Saint Romulus]

Oh great. Little miss perfect Skylar Light was here to cheer her up. The perfect girl everyone loved, the one who had no problems, the one who love the rparents that loved her back, the one who could see the world and do what she wanted.

"Do you what to know why I'm fucking crying Skylar?" She snapped. "Because my parents are making me and molding me into the perfect daughter that they want. I play in all the orchestras they want, when they want, because I have to. I don't have a choice. I can't escape. I'm trapped doing whatever they want me to do, and I am so...indoctrinedand petrified by the thoughts of failing them and facing the consequences that I break down and cry the moment I mess up playing the fucking violin!" She ranted, getting up and pacing as she cleared her eyes.

"Your words won't Fucking help. No matter how how hopelessly optimistic and naive you are, no matter how perfect your life and your family is, it's not going to change. You think I want to be like this? A stressed out workaholic on the verge of snapping like a rubber band on a daily basis?! And to make matters worse, I'm on my period. Do you know how much I hate having my periods Skylar!" She yelled, losing herself further into her rant, not caring about the fact she had screamed she was on her period. She had to let it all out.

"Just..leave me be Skylar." She said, sounding defeated. "Go to the football game and the party, meet all your wonderful friends and have a great time. You don't want to help me. I don't think you can. Just go. I can handle myself and my own problems. I've done it before without your help, and I can do it again. So. LEAVE!" She finished by yelling at her roommate, towering over the girl as she looked her into the eyes, mustering as much anger as she could.

"Just...leave. Please." She said again, souding broken, even though deep down she knew Skylar would stay. And she didn't know if she wanted her to or not.

Skylar had just been sad as Evelyn had snapped and slowly broke down. Period or not, she could feel his girl's pain. And she was right. They were opposites. Skylar wasn't exactly a spoiled rich brat, her parents did keep her in line,(And that same sentence applied to Evelyn as well) but survived couldn't imagine being on Evelyn's end. She was always used to being able to express her thoughts and ideas with her parents. She was used to being happy. And she coudnt imagine being Evelyn, she probably didn't have a childhood and matured far more quickly than one should. And now she was a teneger going through the emotional puberty. Of course she was bound to snap. And while she could forgive Evelyn, she was mad for hurting her feelings, and she wasn't going to give up on her roomate.

She grabbed Evelyn's shoulders pulled her closer so that they looked eye to eye(And Skylar stared just a little bit too long at her lips) before she slapped her across the face. "Quit being a cunt Evelyn. We've all got problems. Your's are far worse than mine, I'll admit that. But like it or not I'd rather not have to deal with you having temper tantrums all the year. So you're going to chill the hell out, calm down, and you know what? We're going to a party later, because you really need to wind down. But we've got several hours to kill. So we're going to do something YOU want to do. Something you find relaxing. You do have a hobby outside your complaing about your parents right?"

It was a long shot, assuming Evelyn wasn't intent on pushing her away, but if it worked she could really reach out to her. And she hoped that the uptight grip was willing to loosen up for her own good. "If not Im dragging you to the football game, and I know how much you despise those." She added with a little smile.

[United Islands of Polis]

Christian McGraw

Upon hearing that someone was offering to drive Christian was relieved since they wouldn't have to play "Ring around the Rosie" in deciding, he was going to say something until Megan made her comment, laughing a bit in a playful manner "I'll tell you now I know 2 kinds of Martial arts, but you are welcome to test thy luck." Christian said in a joking manner.

"Sure, we'll use your ride, probably a lot more comfortable than what I have and since she's fine with the back I'm also fine with being seated anywhere, front, back or roof." Christian joked. Upon hearing something about an incident he tried to remember if he hit anything with his Humvee's door, but considering he said something about not going through it again odds are it wasn't Christian's fault.

"I'll just get my other jacket from my ride then we can go." Christian said a she waited for everyone to start moving, then all of a sudden two girls ran past, one of them bumping into him before going onwards "Careful now."

[Elejamie]

Just as soon as Megan said she won't mind sitting in the back, Peter felt a bit relieved since it meant that they wouldn't have to waste that much time deciding who'd be sitting where. Granted they both said something about his "gladiatorial combat" comment, something off-hand he said just because he couldn't think of a good third thing they could do and ended up going for some random third choice. However, he looked up a little bit as he wondered how it would go if their banter was anything to go by. He then had a slightly disgusted expression on his face as he wondered why he was thinking about it, especially since he hardly knew the two. He shook his head to clear his head of the thought and decided to add on to the whole conversation. "Winner has to clean up after them." Peter said, chuckling a little bit as he spoke just to make sure they know he wasn't being serious.

And then, at some point after mentioning the so-far-unnamed incident, Peter turned round to face Megan's general direction, catching a glimpse of her rubbing the back of her head. At first, it was Peter trying to force himself to make eye contact with someone, only for it to fail quickly. But now, as he saw her doing that, he started to wonder. Was it just a coincidence? Or does she not know about the whole thing in the library, where he managed to stand up to Emilia after she tried and failed to flirt with him in an attempt to prevent him from knowing she had no insurance? And, just as he thought about that, he then went on to wonder if he should tell them about it or if they'll find out about it by themselves. Eventually, he shrugged and looked at the space between the two people and spoke again. "Well, I'll prolly tell you about it some time. If-If you want me to. It's quite interesting, shall we say."

Eventually, after Megan said that she was ready, Christian mentioned that, before he needed to go, he'll need to get his jacket, presumably from his Humvee. Peter paused as he tried to remember if he left the lead for his iPod in his room, as there wasn't really any point in connecting his iPod to the stereo if he had nothing to connect it to. That and he wanted to be sure that he would be able to play music that he'd like, especially since he doesn't know what radio stations in Seattle played his sort of music and if anyone of them would be playing anything good throughout the trip, as he didn't really want to keep changing stations because Future, Young Thug or Charlie Puth was playing. Fortunately, he remembered that he left it in his glove compartment when he came back after he went to get some petrol. He then nodded at being pleased to remember that and then said "Alright, we should be a-"

Then, midway through his sentence, Skylar bumped into Christian as she ran past the trio after Evelyn. While Peter tried to move out of the way so he wouldn't be bumped as well, it wasn't really that effective and Skylar slightly brushed against him. Although he didn't like it (since he didn't like being touched by anyone outside of family or, should it happen, really close friends), he decided not to complain about it since it was more than likely an accident. He did, however, let out an annoyed noise that was a bit similar to Marge Simpson's growl, albeit quieter and softer. Rather than dwell on it, he decided to just decided to start the sentence over. "Alright, we should at the car when you're ready." And that that point, everyone started moving towards the car park, Christian heading over to his car and Peter and Megan over to his Dodge Shadow.

[Stryker]

Oh great. Little miss perfect Skylar Light was here to cheer her up. The perfect girl everyone loved, the one who had no problems, the one who love the rparents that loved her back, the one who could see the world and do what she wanted.

"Do you what to know why I'm fucking crying Skylar?" She snapped. "Because my parents are making me and molding me into the perfect daughter that they want. I play in all the orchestras they want, when they want, because I have to. I don't have a choice. I can't escape. I'm trapped doing whatever they want me to do, and I am so...indoctrinedand petrified by the thoughts of failing them and facing the consequences that I break down and cry the moment I mess up playing the fucking violin!" She ranted, getting up and pacing as she cleared her eyes.

"Your words won't Fucking help. No matter how how hopelessly optimistic and naive you are, no matter how perfect your life and your family is, it's not going to change. You think I want to be like this? A stressed out workaholic on the verge of snapping like a rubber band on a daily basis?! And to make matters worse, I'm on my period. Do you know how much I hate having my periods Skylar!" She yelled, losing herself further into her rant, not caring about the fact she had screamed she was on her period. She had to let it all out.


"Just..leave me be Skylar." She said, sounding defeated. "Go to the football game and the party, meet all your wonderful friends and have a great time. You don't want to help me. I don't think you can. Just go. I can handle myself and my own problems. I've done it before without your help, and I can do it again. So. LEAVE!" She finished by yelling at her roommate, towering over the girl as she looked her into the eyes, mustering as much anger as she could.

"Just...leave. Please." She said again, souding broken, even though deep down she knew Skylar would stay. And she didn't know if she wanted her to or not.

Skylar had just been sad as Evelyn had snapped and slowly broke down. Period or not, she could feel his girl's pain. And she was right. They were opposites. Skylar wasn't exactly a spoiled rich brat, her parents did keep her in line,(And that same sentence applied to Evelyn as well) but survived couldn't imagine being on Evelyn's end. She was always used to being able to express her thoughts and ideas with her parents. She was used to being happy. And she coudnt imagine being Evelyn, she probably didn't have a childhood and matured far more quickly than one should. And now she was a teneger going through the emotional puberty. Of course she was bound to snap. And while she could forgive Evelyn, she was mad for hurting her feelings, and she wasn't going to give up on her roomate.

She grabbed Evelyn's shoulders pulled her closer so that they looked eye to eye(And Skylar stared just a little bit too long at her lips) before she slapped her across the face. "Quit being a cunt Evelyn. We've all got problems. Your's are far worse than mine, I'll admit that. But like it or not I'd rather not have to deal with you having temper tantrums all the year. So you're going to chill the hell out, calm down, and you know what? We're going to a party later, because you really need to wind down. But we've got several hours to kill. So we're going to do something YOU want to do. Something you find relaxing. You do have a hobby outside your complaing about your parents right?"

It was a long shot, assuming Evelyn wasn't intent on pushing her away, but if it worked she could really reach out to her. And she hoped that the uptight grip was willing to loosen up for her own good. "If not Im dragging you to the football game, and I know how much you despise those." She added with a little smile.

After Skylar had snapped and slapped Evelyn across the face, Evelyn had stayed silent and obedient on instinct. But Skylar had been kind. She refused to leave her. She wanted to hear her thoughts and ideas. She wanted to do what Evelyn wanted. And it took her a few moments to process that.

"I...there's a Jazz Club I enjoy going to. I'm not sure if it's your thing, but I enjoy going there. Its...calming in a way classical orchestra music isn't. You're going to have to drive us there though. Sorry about that. Is it fine with you?"

The emotional unstable Evelyn seen moments before had been replaced by a smiling, shy, humble Evelyn Colleen with hope.

[Imperial Esplanade]

Megan Carrollton

"Sounds good, see you in a bit." Meg responded, looking on to Christian as the group temporarily disbanded to head their separate ways. Moments after Peter began to lead the way to his car, Meg glanced down to pull out her phone - feeling a vibration, and seeing it was a text from her mother. Meg quickly shot off a reply, assuring her mom that she was off with friends after admitting that she was skipping out on the football game. Unlike many kids and their relationship with their parents, Meg was glad to have a strong connection with her parents. Sure, they had their ups-and-downs, but Meg always thought of her mother (who is in Washington, DC for rather obvious reasons) as her strongest advocate. Her father? Probably the biggest goofball she had ever known, yet equally loving and proud of his children as his other-half. Meg didn't bother to mention that she was going with a pair of boys to her mother, at that those whom she had just met, out of concern of worrying her mother. Meg didn't think either of them were malicious in intent, but had been taught by her mother to practice a bit more vigilance with strangers than what she has displayed thus far. She trusted in the fact that they were strangers to each other, more than anything else, and didn't want to approach the new school, and its' student body, with an overbearing sense of fear and anxiety. Meg just wanted to have an enjoyable evening, with decent people, and she didn't feel as though the football game would have provided that sort of thing - thus was placing her bets on these two guys, whom have seemed rather cordial and equally-interested in the prospect of entertainment thus far.

[Elejamie]

As they were walking to his car, Peter wondered if he should speak to her, so that the journey wouldn't seem as boring. But the downside was that he couldn't think of anything. He could ask what she thinks about the school so far but he wasn't really sure how far that conversation would go or if it would lead into anything. He could ask if she's made any friends here but he realised that, if she asked him the same thing, it would probably hit a bit of a dead end; Yuki and possibly Logan were probably the closest things he had to friends, he hadn't really spoken to Megan before or after that art class they did, he didn't speak much to Alex after the assembly/pep rally if at all and the less said about Emilia, the better. He could even ask more about her - where she came from, what her family's like, if she has any aspirations after she graduates - but he wasn't exactly sure where to start or, again, if they'd get much mileage out of it. Or he could ask if she's put off by him not really making eye contact with her or anything else like that but not only did he realised she'd be OK but she might understand his situation. Fortunately, since they were getting near the entrance to the school, he didn't need to worry about coming up with something to say. Besides, when he looked down at her briefly, she seemed to be texting someone and he felt it would've been a bit rude if he disturbed her.

Not long after they made it outside, the two made it to the car. Peter moved to the passenger-side door and pointed at it, getting ready to explain what that incident he talked about earlier was. Granted, there wasn't really any point but he figured he might as well explain it now, just in case it popped up later on. "This erm... this was the incident. Basically, someone opened her car door a wee bit too fast and dented it a bit. Luckily, I let my insurance people know that it happened and all that stuff. And it was an accident, so I wasn't really mad." He paused for a second, for some kind of dramatic effect, then carried on speaking. "That wasn't the incident. What was was when I had to set up a meeting to exchange insurance information. You know, thought it would be easy, just call the insurance peoples and tell them what had happened, et cetera. Except she, er... she-she wasn't exactly um..." Peter paused for a second as he struggled to find the right word. Once he found it, he continued. "She wasn't exactly helpful, shall we say. Like, going off on tangents, flirting with me, so on. Prolly because she had no insurance and didn't want me to find out. And when I found out what she was doing, she didn't exactly respond politely. I didn't help ease tensions because I ended up being all snarky and that but at least I apologised later on. She told me she'd get some later on, which I guess is a small comfort. The door's been fixed now, so it's not that big a deal anymore, but that is what happened, that was the incident." Another brief paused happened before Peter spoke again. "Hope that clears things up while we wait for him to come back."

[Saint Romulus]

Skylar had been honestly very surprised by Evelyn'a sudden shift in personality. And she saw Evelyn look so hopeful, with such honest emotion, and Skyalr wondered when was the last time Evelyn felt like that. Probably when she was a kid.

"Well then uh...let's go! I like Jazz too, but I mean I don't know the layout of this city that well, and I have no idea where any of the Jazz Clubs are, so you'll have to tell me where they are, but still!"

The duo then went to Skylar's car, and began to drive off as Evelyn gave her directions. And Skylar wondered if Evelyn even had a car. And is she did, was she allowed to use it without her parents permission. Probably not, considering how fidgety Evelyn was being.