#(something my mom herself did as a kid because skirts were still mandatory for school)

[akolnoix]

while reading lolita i coped by drawing dolores having happy kid moments. like reading comics

[kosmosian-quills]

Dire Diagnosis

A little something for @cirianne set in her Street Magic universe. A young Lilly Atwood is learning of her magical abilities, and the life of her and her family is about to change forever. This was a lot of fun to write, honestly, I love Gwen and the kids. Enjoy!

POV: Gwen

This hour, this hour right now, is the one chance at peace, quiet and relaxation that I am permitted before everyone returns home and delves the household into chaos.

I’m laid down on the sofa haphazardly, not quite caring about how one of my feet are hanging off the edge of the cushions. I’ve closed my eyes, simply enjoying the silence, not even focussing on a single thing outside of this deep breath I’ve taken after all my work today.

I’ve been for the groceries, I’ve done the laundry, I’ve cleaned the house and I’ve prepared dinner – all I need to do is heat it when Charles returns home later – but I need to pick Max up from kindergarten shortly, so I should enjoy this moment while it lasts. At least the twins can make their own way home alone. Is there anything I’ve forgotten to do so far?

No, Gweneth, absolutely not.

I should not think about this at all, I should be proud that I’ve got a little while to myself for now, I shouldn’t think about this. I need to relax -

Brrrrrrring, brrrrrrring, brrrrrrring!

I should have known it would be too good to last.

I groan in frustration as I make my way to the phone on the edge of the coffee table, briefly looking at the numbers. 12:04, Oakbank High School. I do a double take on the numbers before I accept the call, it’s entirely unusual for them to call home. Not rare – there have been occasions where I have been asked to pick up one of them when they’ve been sent home ill, or Peter has been acting up and needed me to speak with him and his tutors.

Peter, that’s what this is about. What has that boy done now?

Just a few weeks ago he got into a fight with some older students over something trivial, and I had to go speak to him there. He was sporting a split lip and a black eye, and I had to listen drowning in shame to the mother of the older boy insisting that my son apologise to hers. Peter had insisted that it wasn’t his fault. The older boy had been shoving him in the locker room and this time he ended up ripping his schoolbag, so he only did what he thought was a suitable punishment.

Peter’s a good boy, really, but the school could not simply overlook the fact that my son was the one to get violent here. I tried to stick up for him, I did, but the other boy’s mother would never let me get a word in edgeways. She was out for his blood, and I just sat there. I think I let him down that day, we had sat in silence in the car journey home and he simply locked himself away in his room when he got home. He wouldn’t listen to me when I tried to talk to him, and Charles didn’t fare much better when I told him what had happened.

I feel my chest tighten at the possibility of another incident with Peter, this time worse than before. I picked up the phone, slowly and carefully. “Hello, Atwood residence?”

“Good afternoon, I’m calling on behalf of Oakbank High School’s Nurse’s office, am I speaking to Gwen Atwood?”

The nurse. One of them is simply ill. I release the breath I had been holding in and continue to talk to them.

“Yes, can I help you?”

“I’m afraid we need you to come in, urgently, and collect Lilly. It’s serious, and we need you here as soon as possible.”

The fear that had been expunged from me came back to my lungs with a vengeance. I felt the blood drain from my face, and I was barely coherent. Something’s happened, something serious, Lilly has been hurt or injured or worse -

“What? Has something happened? Is she okay?”

“I’m afraid I cannot discuss it over the phone, how soon can you be here?”

I arrived at the school in record time, and was instantly led to the nurse’s office. There were three people inside, aside from my daughter, sat with her knees together and her hands clutching at the hem of her skirt, just above the knee. The moment I entered the room, she looked up at me – her face was pale, her green eyes wide with terror and tears streaming down her face.

The other three adults looked like the nurse, the Principal, and some other well-dressed person of importance, but I don’t know who he is.

She shot to her feet and wrapped her arms around my waist within seconds. “Mom,” her voice was raspy and weak, but she looked physically okay. I had expected her to be covered in cuts or bruises or blood or a sick combination of all three, but the only thing wrong with her here that I can see is how upset she is.

“What’s happened? Are you alright, Lilly?”

“I’m afraid, Mrs Atwood, that your daughter will not be attending our school anymore.” The Principal stated matter-of-factly. “Effective immediately.”

All of the air was sucked out of my lungs the moment he said that. Lilly, being expelled? No, absolutely not. I can’t believe this. She’s never even so much as had detention before. She’s a straight-A student, she works hard and tries hard and has good relations with her teachers, just what is going on here?

“What do you mean? Please tell me, what’s happened?”

The nurse was the next one to speak up, her normally gentle voice and calm demeanour suddenly filled with seriousness and… somehow, a little cold.

“You’re aware that the Council requires all students to undergo mandatory regular blood tests four times a year?” I nodded slowly in response. “Ma’am, your daughter is affiliated with magic. It’s not showing yet, but she will do in the next few months, and I’m afraid that the school policy on the matter is removal from public school.”

I look down at my daughter, who is trembling like a leaf and clutching at my coat, not looking at me directly, before I finally found my voice.

“Lilly? No, no that’s not right. How, why, why would it just be Lilly? She has a twin brother, surely he’d be…”

“A lot of progress has been made on the discovery of magic in young people, Mrs Atwood, but I’m afraid that the fact remains that we don’t know everything. Your son simply doesn’t show any signs of magic, we’ve even tested him twice with another sample to be safe. Your son shows no signs of magic at all.”

The person beside the Principal, the well-dressed one, spoke this time. “The decision stands, Mrs Atwood. I’m here to explain what happens now, because she cannot continue her education here, for her safety and the safety of others.”

Lilly. A mage, I can’t believe this, I honestly wish I was dealing with Peter’s disciplinary issues right now. I wish he had been in another fight. I would rather face that than face this.

Mages are dangerous, they’re nobodies, they’re evil things who only seek to cause harm, that’s why it’s so important to educate them.

But not Lilly, Lilly is and always has been a good girl, she doesn’t deserve this!

“You can’t, please, she’s just a young girl –“

“They all are, ma’am, but you have to understand that we need to ensure she doesn’t harm herself or others,” they reached into their suit pocket and handed me a card, “as you can see, I am a liaison for the Council in the Discovery of Mages. I’m here to make sure her transition is as smooth as possible for the both of you.”

“How… it can’t be true…”

“I’m sorry, ma’am. I’ve had this same conversation with hundreds of mothers like yourself, and as rare as magic is, it’s real and it has awakened in your daughter. You understand that we cannot simply ignore this, it has to be reported.”

---

“Are you mad at me?”

Lilly broke the silence first, looking at me with her wide emerald eyes. Her voice had wavered, she sounded like she was going to cry, I caught that tremble as she ended her question.

“Of course not,” I didn’t look at her, mainly because I was still driving. I couldn’t take my eyes off the road for too long, “why would you think that?”

“Because it’s all my fault.”

“No, sweetie, of course it’s not your fault –“

“It is, Mom! I’m, I’m just like those monsters that keep making trouble. I’m just like them!”

“Lilly –“

“Dad always said he hated what mages are, they’re troublemakers and they need controlling and punishing for their crimes. Dad’s gonna kill me!”

I couldn’t take this anymore. Her sobs were breaking my heart. I punched on the hazard lights and pulled into the side of the road, slowing to a halt and turning to my daughter, leaning over the gearbox and handbrake to pull her close to me.

She’s crying into my shirt so heavily, she sounds so utterly terrified that I can feel her shaking as she sobs into me – I feel like I’m a truly terrible mother. There’s nothing I can do to stop what will happen to her soon – she’ll be taken away to one of the academies for her education, and the thought of her leaving home like this is truly awful to think about. I

“Listen to me, Lilly, I love you so much, and none of this is your fault. Do you understand?” I asked through my own tears, wiping them away quickly with my fingers. “Your father loves you, and you know he does. He is not going to kill you for this, because he knows you’re not like the others.”

“I’ve, I – I’ve heard th-things, M-Mom…” she mumbled, “ab-out the acad-demies…”

“They’re just rumours, Lilly,” I tried to sound reassuring, but I knew that the weakness in my voice did nothing to establish confidence in my daughter, “you’ll see Uncle Jason when you’re there though, you know it’s his job to look after the students.”

“But what if, if they’re not rumours, Mom? What if they’re real?”

I didn’t have an answer to that, and I couldn’t even do anything more to reassure her. We just sat there in the car for a while, and I wanted to keep her there forever, to not make her go through such an ordeal.

But I must.

[luminescencechatoyant]

Summary Ellie is nothing like her on screen character, neither is Pete Dunne.

Word Count 2594

everything that sounds like its made up, it probably is. If its really all rights reserved to the company's mentioned, Tyler is 21 BC I forgot how young he was until halfway through writing oops

ekayyla, tumblr.com

Ellie was nothing like her on screen persona, her character was the nicest, sweetest character Ellie had ever seen on the WWE and Ellie wasn't. Ask her friend and she'd describe her as an arsehole, Ellie just liked to think she was closed off. She didn't like people and if she didn't have to talk to them, she wouldn't - simple as that, not hard to understand really.

She hadn't come to the WWE to make friends, she hadn't started wrestling to make friends - she wrestled because she had terrible anger management and her therapist told her to. That's what she told people anyway, truth was she absolutely admired Lita growing up. All she ever wanted in life was to be as badass as her and not take anyones shit. Growing up in an countless foster homes, she was meek and quiet and never spoke unless spoken to, until she realized she didn't have to.

She talked back, she argued and if they still didn't see her point, she fought harder. She fought for everything other kids had handed to them, she fought to be respected. And who else was a highly respected but still badass woman? Lita.

She'd met her once when a particularly nice foster carer had noticed how much she liked to watch wrestling and bought meet and greet tickets. Ellie cried when the mother told her, she cried and she bawled. She was so happy.

So she met Lita, told her how she grew up in foster homes loving her and Lita smiled, hugged the tiny nine year old and signed her shirt with a stay strong, ellie scribbled on the front. She loved that shirt like she loved her foster mom, until the Alabama bush fires took her shirt and her foster mom. Ellie didn't smile for a year afterwards.

Abusive foster parents and a rough childhood left Ellie hostile to the world, she fought when she could, girls and boys behind the school, behind the diner on the corner near her house, anywhere.

It wasn't until she was fifteen that the school therapist suggest she find an outlet for all her anger, she tried soccer, football, hell, she even tried dancing. Nothing worked until the therapist told her about the new wrestling school opening up on the better side of town.

Ellie hadn't watched wrestling since she lost her foster mom and she spiraled out of control, standing on the steps of the wrestling studio had her heart hammering in her chest and hands shaking like a leaf. It wasn't until another girl near her saw how nervous she looked, took her by the hand and gently guided her into the gym.

Maria had been a few years older than her and already wrestling for a few years until her parents had relocated to Ellie's small town. Whenever her panic attacks would flare up or Ellie needed a hand with moves, Maria was there with a guiding hand and a calm voice. Whenever Maria had boy problems or girls were harrasing her, Ellie was at her back or standing by to give out hugs, something she didn't particularly like doing but it was Maria and she deserved her hugs.

So on Ellie's 16th birthday. Maria and her parents surprised her with a party and a certificate of adoption. She cried, hugged Maria and her parents, hugged the few people that came from the wrestling gym and cried again.

Eight years later, Maria and Ellie debuted on NXT and not two months later, Maria was the new NXT Womens Champion and Ellie had yet to be pinned. She'd had plenty of count-outs and disqualifications but she still hadn't been pinned until she'd aligned herself with British Strong Style.

Trent Seven, Tyler Bate and Pete Dunne were absolutely lethal in the ring and out. Seven and Bate were two of the most welcoming people she'd met in the company, her personality just clicked with theirs right from the start.

Pete Dunne was nothing like his on screen persona, yeah he's an arse, but hes never standoff-ish like his character. Ellie would rather describe him as sweet, since she'd met him he'd done nothing but try to get her to open up to him. He'd bring her coffee in the mornings and drop her home when Maria couldn't, it had taken her three weeks of being an arse for Maria to slap her around the head and tell Ellie not to be so rude.

She tried not to from then on, she thanked Pete for the coffee, invite him inside for a cup of tea after he'd drop her home and eventually it evolved into more. On free days, she'd invite him over to watch a movie and they'd cuddle on the lounge.

Pete started to ask her over for dinner, her and Maria were invited to nights out with the boys, gym sessions were mandatory and afterwards the boys would share their vegan pizza.

Ellie couldn't help herself, she started to fall for the Bruiserweight with a heart of gold. It killed her to watch him dance with girls when they went out, but she did, she turned around with a smile because all she wanted was for him to be happy. If it wasn't with her, fair enough it wasn't with her - but he was happy and that made her happy.

"C'mon love," Trent's voice echoed through Maria and Ellie's apartment, "If you don't hurry up we'll miss our booking!"

"Bowling lanes don't wait for wrestlers!" Ellie snorted when Tyler yelled out, he'd taken the joke baby of the group literally - It was a rare sight not to see him joking around.

"I'm coming! Don't get your knickers in a twist." Nora bounced down the stairs and waved her arms extravagantly when she hit the bottom, "Ta-da!"

"It took you that long to get dressed..." Trent hesitated, "...into that?"

Nora glanced down at her shirt and jeans with a frown, "I think I look fine."

"Pete likes it when you dress up." Tyler, the non stop voice of wisdom, spoke from where he was slouched on her coach.

"We're going bowling," Nora said plainly, Trent flicked any eyebrow up with out a word, "Fine, fine! I'll get changed."

She walked down five minutes later with the same shirt on, only tucked into a leather skirt, "Happy?"

Trent nodded with a smile, "Let's get out of here."

"Finally!" Trent sighed, rolling off the couch and hobbling out the door like a old man.

"You're nineteen, you bloody drama queen!" Trent snorted and followed him out the door.

It doesn't take them long to get the address Pete texted through and when they find their lane, Pete and Maria have cold beers waiting for them. Tyler downs half of his in one go and throws himself into a chair, Ellie rolls her eyes and slips into the chair next to Pete.

"Thanks guys, how was the meet and greet?" Ellie asks as she sips her drink.

"It was great," Pete's eyes flick up from Ellie's leg, "The fans were amazing as always."

"Oh, El -" Maria jumps in her seat and starts to dig through her bag and Pete gets up to start the game, "- there was this one little girl that wanted me to give you this."

She hands over a tiny bead bracelet with ELLIE ROCKS spelt out on it. Its bright yellow and doesn't match her outfit at all, but she slips it over her wrist anyway because her fan made her this. They poured their heart into it, she snaps a photo to upload twitter later so she can find the parent and send her a shirt.

"Your turn love!" Pete hollers from the point screen and gesture at the lane.

"Don't laugh at me, guys," she says as she slips her bowling shoes on, "I haven't bowled in years."

"You'll do fine, " Pete says as she grips the ball uncertainly, he see the uncertainty on her face and smiles softly, "Here, I'll give you a hand."

His large hand comes to rest on her elbow and straightens it while the other one sits on her lower back, a glance back at the group shows none of them paying attention but when she look back at Pete his face is inches from hers. Her breath catches when his eyes flicker own to her lips but then he steps away and she's left reeling.

"All you gotta do now is throw the ball down the lane." Pete tells her, his voice low, and then turns to sit with their friends.

She turns her back to them and stares a the lane, what the fucking fuck? She shakes her head and swings her arm, closes her eyes and just hopes for the best. The ball slams into the wood with a loud crack and not a second later sinks into the gutter, her second go is not much better and she turns back to the group with a shy smile.

"Told you I was no good -" she stops and eyes her friends, they're obviously trying to hide their laughter and Pete's face is bright red, "...what are you laughing at?"

"Nothing, hun." Maria stands up to take her go and whisper into Ellie's ear as she passes, "Pete was a bit too interested  in watching you bowl."

She dumbfounded for a moment before she realizes that Pete was sitting directly behind her, he had a perfect eyeful of her being over. She stifles a giggle at his slowly fading red cheeks and pats his hand, "Get a good look, Dunne?"

He frowns as Seven and Bate laugh loudly, ignoring her in favor of his beer. Ellie watches as Maria bowls a strike and lays her head on Pete's shoulder, "Sorry for teasing."

Pete shifts and drops his shoulder for her to lean on more comfortably, "All good, love."

"Were you really staring at my are?" Ellie asks as she traces pattern on Pete's bare arm that's resting softly on her  thigh.

"...yeah."

"Pete!" She laughs and nudges his arm off of her, but he catches her hand and bring it up to his lips.

He brushes a soft kiss against her knuckles and stares evenly into her eyes, "Its a very nice arse, love."

"Pete!" Trent hollers, "You're up, mate."

Pete drops her hand into her lap and moves to take his turn, Ellie watches him walk away until Maria plops into the open seat. "What was all that?"

"C'mon," Ellie pulls maria our of her seat and towards the bar, "I need another drink."  

"Wait, what happened?" Maria stumbles behind her and watches as Ellie's head slumps into her hands at the bar.

"I have it so, so bad for Pete." Ellie groans from behind her hands.

"Well, duh."

Ellie glances up at her from between her fingers and snorts, "I shouldn't even surprised that you already know."

"Is it that obvious?" She sighs as they collect their drinks.

"Yeah, I mean-" she hesitates, "I don't know if Pete knows but he's usually pretty clued on when it come to these things. He knew Peyton and I liked each other before we did."

"El! Its your turn!"

Ellie sighs and orders another round for the boys, the waitress is quicker with these ones and they carry them back to the boys. Pete's eyes follow Ellie as she sets the drinks down and grabs her ball, she swallows nervously and glances back at him, winks slowly and bends to take her shot.

She bowls a strike and turns back to the group smugly, "Someones gonna catch up."

Tyler rolls his eyes, "She's gonna be a sore winner, isn't she?"

"Always is, kid." Trent barks a laugh when Tyler's face falls.

They keep bowling until Tyler wins, smugly throwing his arms up and parading around with a toy wrestling belt he'd smuggled in for the winner. Ellie laughs and gives him a high five because she may be a sore winner, she's not a sore loser.

They wander over to the arcade and avoid the sea of children surrounding the kids toys. Ellie laughs as her and Maria fail spectacularly at Dance, Dance, Revolution, pouts childishly when Trent's demolishes her at buck hunting-

("Its not fair, you cheated!"

"...its buck hunting, El. How am I possibly able to cheat at it?"

"I don't know but you did, anyway.")

And laughs like a hyena when she beats Tyler's record at PacMan, who vows to never leave the machine until he beats her record,

(Trent and Maria pull him away five minutes later.)

Ellie wanders around the arcade until she finds Pete lazily throwing basketballs in the back of the arcade, she's stopped for a moment when she sees his arms flex in his singlet. She leans up against the side and tries to keep her eyes from ogling his arms, it doesn't work very well but Pete hasn't complained yet.

"I bet you I can sink all of these balls." Pete wages as he stuff another token into the machine and watches the balls drop.

"What's the wager?" Ellie's asks and settles on the seat of a motorbike game next to him.

"A kiss." He says, she eyes his face and sees not one trace of humour.

"Here?" She glances around, "Pete, there's kids everywhere."

"We'll find somewhere."

He's dead serious and she figures it can't hurt, he won't sink them all. "Fine."

Oh, how wrong she was. As soon as the words left her mouth, Pete turned and sunk the first ball, followed by the second, then the third and another after that. She can't watch, she closes her eyes and listens to the swish after swish until the buzzer sounds and she's jerked out of her seat. She briefly notices the 30/30 on the machine before Pete pull her from the arcade, hurries out of the building and has her pressed against the side of the building in minutes.

His lips press against her roughly, leaving a scorching trail of heat when they brush. Their teeth knock, their lips bite and hands grab everything they can, hers are grabbing his shirt, his are sliding down to her thighs before she's lifted and pressed against the wall harder. Rough hands press under her shirt and along her ribcage, she arches into his touch and -

"You have to return those shoes! They're property of the - oh."

- flinches away as the shoe loan worker swings around the corner. Pete drops her quickly and she blushes as she fixes her shirt. The shoes are pulled off and Pete and Nora are left standing in the shadows with socks on.

"Go home, kids."

They mumble apologies and flee to Pete's car where Nora pulls their shoes out of her bulging bag, she laughs airily and leans against the hood of Pete's car. "Well, that was fun."

Pete smirks and arches an eyebrow, "Fun? I just had a heart attack!"

"Don't be a wimp." She laughs and runs her hand over his shoulder. He catches her around the waist and draws her closer to him, pressing her between him and the car.

"Do you want to stay over tonight?" He asks as he brushes his lips against hers.

"Hell, yes."