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staliasjeronica · 3 years

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Riverdale S5 Ep11 Thoughts *Spoilers*

thoughts under cut to keep tag from being cluttered :)

- Oh yeah I forgot that Chad was blackmailing Veronica about the dirty dealings in her company even though it’s not her at all (unless it’s just been so long and I’ve forgotten but she’s my baby and I feel like I would’ve remembered but-

- Hiram and this dumb prison is one of the worst things for this show it’s a constant plot of people escaping and it’s so annoying like sure Hiram owns it and he was in the jail but no one has, like, taken him back to jail…??? Hiram is a fucking disease smh

- “back to remote learning” why didn’t you just stay that way though… like even right now in covid schools are opening back up and kids are complaining because it’s still not safe so like… just… go back to it??? I’m so not built for this world fasdhfkahf

- Veronica and Smithers 🥺🥺💞💞

- the way Veronica hugs Archie is so cute bc she’s so tiny but like she always gives her all and Archie is just 😐 never giving anything ahjfsdfsh it’s quite sad you can tell how done KJ is with Varchie lol

- “I really hate that I’m dragging you through this.” … what about constantly pulling him into your mob boss father mess that the writers refuse to allow you to escape from?

- “until you and Chad are officially done, I think we should keep our distance.” Varchie bones!!! you just KNOW that Archie has been looking forward to this because that man is whole heartedly in love with Betty and has been since forever and that while Chad prolongs the divorce papers, Archie will not be waiting for Veronica considering he doesn’t want her. Varchie = bones we love to see it!

- now who tf would join Penelope Blossom’s ministry… no one, realistically.

- can Cheryl stop being given the craziest and usually most boring plots ever please...

- Not someone holding a gun to Tabitha literally don’t hurt Riverdale’s best girl weirdo

- these bitches really haven’t aged huh…. poor Veronica though being robbed but like they stole some watches or something and the opal like that’s all you take..?? okay-

- Fangs 💞💞💞💞💞 also rip to him having to work with his ex tho

- STOP HAVING ARCHIE GO TO HIRAM WE’RE TIRED

- You know considering the whole reason why Hiram is still here as the villain and ruining Veronica’s life/growth to keep her in his plots al because Mark is a big soap opera celeb and apparently brings in money, you’d assume they would give him GOOD shit instead of everything he’s gotten. If they hadn’t of hired Mark can you imagine how much better off the show would be if they didn’t have to keep him around bc of his status????? God why-

- Reggie’s always there for Veronica muah…. oh fuck me I guess fjasjkdf

- “I work for one Lodge and it’s not you.” lmao okay??? you acting like that’s a flex, and that you’re working for the better Lodge who literally left you to die after the Serpents thought you shot Fangs so-

- MARTY BEING WHY REGGIE IS WORKING FOR HIRAM…….. YOUR DAD IS ABUSIVE LET HIM HANDLE HIS OWN DEBT??? God both Veronica and Reggie are always fucked over when it comes to their parents huh

- don’t you just love when they make characters act ooc for a plot ahhhhhh it’s totally fun to watch and totally not frustratingly annoying

- “FOR OLD TIMES SAKE.” 💞💞💞 we love Veggie even though they made Veronica act ooc and hurt him back then and they weren’t given an actual chance.

- “don’t be such a Betty” now why is Betty so surprised she only ever had fun when she was with Archie, when she’s with Jughead all she did was do what she wanted and order him around so likeefjhakdfh

- “he shouldn’t really be my problem anymore.” BUGHEAD BONES YASSSSS

- I know it was just a sound they used but like that squish sound when Darla kicked Tom’s face… did she like smash his face in damn what is this The Walking Dead?

- see the problem with them randomly bringing characters/parents in when they need them is that they’re never around so like no one really cares… like they could have utilized the parents so much (and Skeet and Marisol never would have left) and it would have been so much better than random appearances that make them look incompetent and awful parents because they’re never there during all the other times their kids need them. but we have to see the two toxic parents that won’t go away constantly??? literally what the fuck

- Betty calling Jughead’s writing cringey wbk she’s never liked his writing she was just stroking his ego bc she was his gf and had to be supportive lmaoo

- why are these 60+ year old men beating up Jughead like for why???

- so they just forgot that Tom was checking in on the convict huh gotta love dumbing down characters for plot!

- Fangs with his switchblade muah

- jealous Tabitha muahhh over a password

- “wait THE BETTY?"

- Cheryl looks so good

- Find meaning in his death… girl didn’t you not care that your husband killed your son over the illegal maple stuff I forgot the plot but it was something illegal and dumb

- “drain the vein” …...

- Reggie helping muah

- Why is Archie acting like an ass? like sure he doesn’t know that Chad is abusive and toxic but c’mon fucker you cheated on her and never apologized and you don’t even wanna be with her in the first place so why are you acting like you’re personally hurt sit down

- God Archie really hates Veronica huh… I don’t even blame him considering the shit she’s brought him into time and time again.

- Jughead was kicked like maybe five times yet he was fine falling out of a two story window and the serpent imitation but now he needs antibiotics..? plot convenience!

- literally don’t remember anything about Doc tbh or him talking to Donna and Bret like—

- ever since Negan people are obsessed with bats with barbed wire.

- also! yes please kill Hiram <3 I know they end up saving him bc of the opal but c'mon

- they searched basically nothing for five seconds wow such great detective work you guys!

- we know you just want his manuscript Jessica

- Cheryl with her rainbow skirt how cute!

- “daddykins” girl you’re like 25

- Veronica acting like she cares about Hiram fjsadhkfhas these guys thinking that they’d kill Hiram even though they need him lol

- bad bitch Ronnie we love her even though she’s gonna have to save her father to save others and get her opal </3

- not Veronica calling Archie first and not Kevin considering Kevin’s dad is there…. this is the pandering va fan service bs we have bc it makes no sense and it’s so forced

- Fangs knowing Archie rides with tools in his truck mmhm that’s a little sus idk how but archiefangs agenda coming through!

- no one would actually believe that Jessica ashkjdfsj and they take this bait…??? you gotta be joking lmao

- Jug got to help doc this time 🥺😭

- …. tell me why when he said boyfriend I immediately thought of Reggie I hate myself for wishing fahsdjkfsafj

- okay as cheesy and corny and awful the fight scene is since they posted a clip of it, them working together is so refreshing and nice we love leader!Veronica bc she’s so good at it. but the show only cares for Betty which is funny since she’s an awful detective fbahsdjfj

- my god enough with Jason’s body!!!!!!!!! you burned his body please let him stay dead let his body rest

- okay but the back and forth from Betty and Jessica is so good like I wish we could get that kind of rivalry drama type stuff all the time. too bad they refuse to let Veronica act like a normal person and get angry at being cheated on and such :/ when will Veronica slap the fuck out of Betty

- he’s not a blameless victim but Betty take responsibility for how awful a person you are PLEASE

- THE VOICEMAILLLLLLL Jughead only speaks the truth! it’s weird that he only realized what we all knew about Betty after but whatever, finally he gets upset like damn. also jeronica crumb he’s the only one to ever include Veronica smh ALSO Cole acted the fuck outta this voice mail muah

- the way Betty just sits there uncaring… she really is a freak huh god when will someone punch her in the face and take her ego down a million notches she’s so annoying

- “that’s darkness.” …?? what?

- the way bh’s relationship parallels jughead’s with Jessica though. the unhealthy habits, the bad energy, etc. except Jessica left it and Betty didn’t and it turned Betty into whatever the fuck this is. I miss s1 Betty :/

- so when will they sue Jessica for drugging them? mmhm probably never

- poor Tabitha being the only one who cares about jughead tho

- oh no I forgot there was a random musical number…

- you’re gonna have Betty and Tabitha act like THAT and not put them together so rude

- when will Cheryl be free from her mom. is was like turned on by abuse or something sigh why do the toxic (and most boring!) parents get plots and screen time and everyone else doesn’t...

- Veronica would be able to do Moree than pepper spray but whatever only Betty is allowed be “badass"

- fangs being fangs ugh so sexy my babyyyyy

- Trevor Stines is so attractive it’s a shame they only bring him back for five seconds to traumatize Cheryl over and over again though </3

- wow varchie in a pop’s booth what season is this again??

- god it’s so upsetting how amazing varchie would have been as just friends…

- the way he smiled at Veronica was so contradicting to the blank, “please don’t” expression when she was telling him she was gonna get divorced as fast as possible. why can’t he just admit he doesn’t want to be with her!!!!!! my god they’ve put off barchie long enough just let them be together so their characters can finally act in character and stop being so awful and annoying

- “this cause” what cause you fucking weirdo

- not Hiram threatening the mayor he could literally be your downfall if we had good writers fjasdkjfasf

- jughead how would you have killed him with a small wooden basket

- I like doc so much but I know we’ll never see him again until we randomly need him seasons from noow

- Betty wasn’t hit by the drugs until after the message though… how would she not remember? it didn’t seem to be doing anything to Betty until the bunker

- hopefully since they’re friends now Tabitha can make Betty act like a decent human being <3

- the way Tabitha looked at Betty please stop doing this to me...

- maybe we can finish that dance!!!!!!!!!!!!!! jabitha rising bughead dying we love to see it!

wow that episode felt like it was two hours long but thankfully I finally finished it… don’t have many actual thoughts but anyways hope you enjoyed my live blog of my thoughts!

#Riverdale #Thoughts #Spoilers

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aion-rsa · 3 years

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Riverdale Season 5 Episode 2 Review – Chapter 78: The Preppy Murders

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This RIVERDALE review contains spoilers.

Riverdale Season 5 Episode 2

“So now we have a preppy murderer on the loose…”

The most valid criticism about Riverdale over the course of its now five seasons is how the series constantly drags out its ongoing mysteries, only to frantically race to wrap them up. Due to the pandemic, what was initially intended as last season’s big resolution episode just played out before our eyes and it was….kind of meh?

Let’s examine the wrapping up of these various plots from most to least successful, shall we?

As I speculated in last week’s wrap-up, Jellybean was revealed to be the Auteur (with an assist from her friends). This is actually oddly sweet, as the Jughead/Jellybean relationship hasn’t been heavily explored in this show. There is much dramatic mileage to be mined from the fact that these siblings have been separated for most of their lives and when they are finally reunited it is against the backdrop of everything from murderous games of Dungeons and Dragons knock offs to my personal favorite, the town’s Maple Syrup Blood Feud. Sure, the argument can be made here that Jellybean’s lack of realization of how hurtful these demented videos are is straight up psychotic — she definitely seems to be more on the road to becoming a serial killer here than Betty. Yet there is a pure motive behind them, that of a sister who wants to keep her cool brother around that is actually touching.

That said, there are contrivances aplenty to be had with this denouement. Primarily, why would she recreate Archie’s confrontation with the Black Hood? Correct me if I’m wrong, but there wasn’t actually security footage of this incident, therefore Jellybean and her friends couldn’t have staged such a dramatic recreation. Plus, Veronica works at the Chok’lit Shoppe non-stop, so surely she and/or Pop Tate would have mentioned to Archie that a bunch of kids were recreating his worst trauma. With Riverdale, a deluxe cheesburger-sized suspension of disbelief is the order of the day. But this is pushing it.

The second most interesting storyline that played out here unsurprisingly involves Cheryl. From her horror that the graduation uniforms aren’t crimson to her touching scenes with Toni, the character continues to explode energy whenever she appears. There is something hilarious about her utter indifference to her mother poisoning most of her family that makes her all the more endearing. It’s going to be fascinating to watch her attempt to redeem the Blossom family name. But if anyone can do it, Cheryl can.

Next up comes the not-shocking-at-all reveal that Charles is not the stand-up guy we are supposed to think he was. Remember, this was teased early in the fourth season when we saw him lovey dovey with Chic during a prison visit. Since then it’s been a lot of wheel-spinning and I have to admit that I was surprised that he was actually an FBI agent at all given how much subterfuge is always going on within the Riverdale town limits.

This episode introduced the subplot that Jughead’s former Stonewall Prep classmates were being murdered, raising the gigantic question of who cares? Charles believes his motives behind the killings are born of nobility. Narratively speaking, he’s not much of a serial killer though. In fact, Hermosa cold-bloodedly executes more people than he did in this very episode.

It’s another example of Riverdale trying to stick the landing but instead coming down on its knees. If the preppy murders were happening for weeks, somehow piggybacking off of the mayhem the Auteur was creating this all would have been much more effective.

Circling back to Hermosa for a second. Mishel Prada continues to deliver a delightfully cold performance as Veronica’s sister, here tonight helping to mastermind yet another takedown of Hiram Lodge. Maybe this one will stick, as the final episode of Katy Keene showed a future version of Hiram who has taken up residence in New York City, seemingly focused on smaller scale intimidation that his usual Riverdale antics. At this point the pendulum has swung so far back and forth on the character that it’s hard to feel any concern about him either way. With any luck we will see a new iteration of the character following the series’ impending time jump. Otherwise it’s just business as usual for Hiram, and that is beyond stale.

All of this brings us to Archie. Typically this poor kid’s storyline is the least interesting of the lot. It’s a nice touch to show how Fred’s death is at the core of his ongoing ennui, and K.J. Apa is at his best when he shows Archie spiraling. Yet there was never a doubt that Archie wouldn’t write the letter asking the judge for leniency towards the kid who caused Fred’s death. At his heart, Archie is a good kid, and he would have down the right thing without having to involve the problematic Uncle Frank.

Next week: Graduation time, and a glimpse at Riverdale’s future.

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Riverdale Rundown

• Mary offers Archie some “camo-mile” tea. Whether or not this pronunciation is an actor’s choice or yet another of Riverdale‘s goofy fake productions remains a mystery that even Betty and Jughead couldn’t solve.

• Kevin and Reggie do not appear in this episode. And that is not okay.

• Farewell weirdo Blossoms, we hardly knew — and definitely didn’t care about — ye.

• Hermione announces her plans to divorce Hiram and, hilariously, become a cast member on The Real Housewives of New York City in this episode. This development was originally written when Marisol Nichols was planning on leaving Riverdale, however she will in fact be back after the upcoming (and heavily publicized so its not exactly a spoiler) time jump.

• I straight up Haw Haw-ed at Charles’ economy brand adoption of Dexter‘s serial killing ethos.

• I know there just wasn’t time to show Alice’s reaction to finding out about Charles due to everything else that was happening in this episode, but I would have much rather seen that subplot play out on screen instead of more Archie angst.

• Dramatically it would have been really involving to have Archie confront Jellybean about how utterly fucked up her actions towards him were. Furthermore, her accomplices were kids Archie helped at his community center. There is some real narrative meat to be chewed on there, and hopefully we will see this mentioned in next week’s episode.

• Real talk though, Jellybean and her friends should definitely pursue Hollywood careers. Their skills are legitimate.

• “Are you kidding me Betty, what isn’t wrong?” It’s always so jarring when Archie shows some self-awareness, isn’t it?

• Next week’s episode apparently will focus on the gang’s final days at Riverdale High. Even though school is a massive part of Archie comics, it always feels super weird when the series focuses on it given how heightened the Riverdale reality is.

The post Riverdale Season 5 Episode 2 Review – Chapter 78: The Preppy Murders appeared first on Den of Geek.

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#aion-rsa #Den of Geek

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garyrennell · 4 years

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a real question because like I’m having an internal debate right now: rate them (I know, I know) from would date to never in a million years - all the LIs + Dicky 😂

alright😂💕 all the LI’s omg i see you girl👀 this is obvs based on my personal taste haha and i’ll put a little explanation at the side of each LI🙈 so, according to the tiers you sent me on pm:

would date in a heartbeat:

Gary: i mean, tank man is 1000% my type. even though he’s a dumbass, he has such a big heart and is a huge softie🥺

Dicky: although he’s grumpy af and mean af, he’s also my type😂 i love his chaotic energy and (i don’t wanna spoil anything because this man ain’t canon) i adore how protective he is💙

Henrik: i guess dumbass energy is my type lol. mountain boi is sweet, honest and all over the place. i totally rate that✨

would think about dating:

Bobby: he’s sooo sweet and i like his humor, pranks and jokes🌚 i didn’t put him on the previous tier just because i’m not sure if we would last a long time🥺 just because i see baker boi as the ultimate bff before anything else.

Carl: i like that he’s smart and a weirdo👀 and, kind of as the same as Bobby, i didn’t put him on the top tier because i’m not sure if we would last, but for different reasons🤷🏻‍♀️ computer boi doesn’t have too much banter and takes some things too seriously.

Noah: librarian boi is the type of quiet and calm person i’d consider dating, but the same as the other two on this tier, idk if we would last😕 i’m too into dumbass chaotic energy lol.

neutral date:

Graham: just for a date, yeah, why not. crab boi is fit and has good banter, but totally gives me big bro vibes so🤷🏻‍♀️

Ibrahim: he’s a sweetheart and we know for a fact that he puts a lot of effort in dates💅🏻 but i’m too into cheeky and flirty guys, so just one date is fine for me💙

Kassam: yassss, i’d totally go on a date with music boi, but i’m not a sarcastic person so i feel that i wouldn’t catch some of his comments and i’d have a hard time keeping up🤦🏻‍♀️💕

Elisa: that girl is smoking hot omg🔥 just one date with her because i’m not sure if i’d date someone who’s in the influencer world🤔

Arjun: dog boi is cheeky af and i like that, but sometimes he’s too forward for my taste😕

dating never crossed my mind:

Elijah: his pretty boy and model aura is not my type🤔 he’s super hot and really nice, but just not my type. i’m too into rugged bois.

Marisol: i like how resolute and determined she is, but she’s just not my type of girl😔 i’m not too into the “every girl for herself” thingy.

never in a million years:

Jakub: -1000% my type lol😂 and oddly not because of his looks, but because of his personality. i don’t think, like, he’s straight out mean, but he’s toooo confident and dumb haha. i’m sure he’s fun to be around tho👀

Felix: oh boi oh boi. honestly, it’s not for his looks either, not even for the clammy hands😂but because he lies a lot😔 obvs he’s not malicious, but the fact that he tells the girls he’s a dj when he’s not or ups his numbers to make an impression throws me off🤷🏻‍♀️

Rocco: i mean, without knowing what he did to the girls, i’d probably consider him for one date😕 but giving that he let his insecurity get to his head like that and in that point he just cared about staying in the game just no🤦🏻‍♀️

#sorry it took me a long time to answer sis i’ve been soooo busy omg #this blog has been running on queue haha believe me or not #and thanks for the question sis #you’re a star #this is my personal taste obvs #asks

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thegirlwiththeglasses-3 · 5 years

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Marisol Fuentes Definitely Does Not Have a Crush on Mikey Gutierrez: A Case Study

By Marisol Fuentes (Negatory), Grace Aung (Affirmative), Mr. Gabriel Iglesias (Affirmative), Walt Smit (Affirmative), Lorenzo [REDACTED] (Affirmative)

Additional assistance to Ms. Fuentes by Gabriel Iglesias and Abigail Spencer

Purpose of Case Study: To determine whether or not Ms. Marisol Fuentes is crushing on Mr. Mikey Gutierrez.

Procedures: Structure examples by writing down specific dates, then an honest, impartial account of the events that have transpired. No opinions permitted.

Working Hypothesis for the Negatory: Ms. Fuentes does not and has never had a “thing” for Mr. Gutierrez because she is far too busy to consider getting into a relationship, so she has never allowed herself to look at anyone in that manner, and even if she did, Mr. Gutierrez is almost comically ignorant of the most basic facts and possesses little to no desirable qualities one would look for in a significant other.

Working Hypothesis for the Affirmative: Ms. Fuentes has been into Mr. Gutierrez literally since the first day of freshman year, as says everyone who lays eyes on them. The only reason she doesn’t know about it is because she’s so focused and driven regarding everything in her own life, as it is highly stressful, so she hasn’t had time to think about her own feelings.

Important Dates:

Beginning of Study: Wednesday, February 1st- 7:35 am

End of Study: Monday, March 4th- 2:35 pm

Final Meeting Between Affirmative and Negatory (Presentations): Wednesday, March 6th- 2:36 pm

Formal voting procedures and a conclusional committee will be held three weeks from the completed report date, to be determined after the complete case study is typed, proofread, and submitted by an independent source, also to be determined. The committee is as follows:

Member One (Chair): Principal Paula Madison

Member Two: Mr. Tony Ochoa

Member Three: Ms. Abigail Spencer

Faculty Supervisor: Mr. Gabriel Iglesias

Evidence (Impartial)

Wednesday, February 1st- The Classroom Incident

Submitted by Marisol Fuentes, Negatory

It’s a simple, normal Wednesday. Marisol’s made calls for only five hours instead of six before school starts because it’s not every day she aces a math test like the one she aced yesterday. She got an extra one percent, so she can sleep a little more than usual. She steps into class with a little spring in her step, tossing her backpack next to her chair and giving Mr. Iglesias a wave, which he returns without looking up.

Mikey’s not next to her yet, which is fairly normal considering his penchant for being late, although Marisol strongly suspects it’s not completely his fault. She stretches out in her seat, flipping Walt off after he teasingly pretends to hike up his shirt into a crop top. Yeah. Today is a good day. Grace tosses her the extra apple she pretends she packs on accident, and she leans back and closes her eyes lazily for a couple extra minutes.

The bell rings in what feels like ten seconds, and Mr. Iglesias sweeps around the room in his normal dramatic ways until he gets to the door and closes it. “Good morning, settle down!,” he shouts over the vague buzz. “Let the undercurrent cease!”

Marisol combs her fingers through her hair as he starts attendance. She does her usual hand raise when she hears her name.

Something feels-odd in a way. It’s just a little different from her productive little spot of morning bliss. She can’t quite put her finger on it, but it is extremely disconcerting.

“Mikey?,” Mr. Iglesias calls. Marisol instinctively turns to watch Mikey crash and burn like he does every day during attendance because he always answers with some weird Fortnite taunt or something-but she stops cold. Mikey’s seat is completely empty.

In reality, things proceed as usual, but Marisol is stuck on Mikey’s empty spot. He’s never been this late before. It’s usually a few minutes before or a few minutes after the bell. She can’t remember a day where he’d been absent, either, and she never is because she wills herself into having perfect attendance at least for this class, so she would definitely know if he’d ever been out before.

It takes Mr. Iglesias starting to perform the character of Mary-Todd Lincoln to snap her out of her weird dissociation. She shakes her head like a dog shaking off water and starts to take notes about the importance of the role of first ladies within the presidency. But she keeps having these thoughts, harkening back to things Mikey had said the last time they’d discussed Lincoln, or his complete flame out during the infamous oral reports last summer. It’s not only memories, too, it’s stuff that she could say to him to make him laugh, or maybe a new mnemonic device they could use to study for the next test.

The bell rings, and Marisol blinks to find most of the other kids filing out and Mr. Iglesias standing over her desk.

“Are you okay?,” he asks suspiciously. “That was an awful lot of daydreaming for one class, especially for you. Are you sleeping?”

“Yeah, yeah,” she answers, starting to gather up her things. “I’m okay. Just an off day, you know? Thanks for not calling me out on it.” “Sure thing,” he nods. “And Marisol?”

She turns on her way out. “Yep?”

“Word of advice,” Mr. Iglesias says, smirking. “If you really don’t want the entire class knowing that you somehow reciprocate that thing Mikey has for you, I’d suggest making sure you can function when he’s not here.”

Marisol can feel her cheeks redden. “I was fine,” she protests. “I was a little groggy.”

“Sure, fine, okay,” he agrees. “If you’re denying that, maybe next time you shouldn’t write notes with his name all over your notebook. Mikey’s out sick today. His mom called. He’s fine. Text him and tell him that joke you wrote down at the top of page 3. Stir the pot a little. See what happens.”

Her face is now tomato red. “I don’t like him!,” she yells as she throws the door open. “I can miss my friend!”

His laughter follows her down the hall, all the way to her next class.

(The next day, Mikey is back in his desk, and early for once, with a smile and about three large oranges to play catch with Lorenzo when Mr. Iglesias isn’t looking. When his name is called on roll, Marisol elbows him when he almost falls out of his desk trying to deep dab. He leans over and doodles a small flower on her paper, but if you look closely, he’s really just drawn a penis. Marisol calmly writes ‘Oscar for principal’ on his worksheet in retaliation. They are now even. At least until English next period.)

Friday, February 15- The Sleep Out Incident

Submitted by Marisol Fuentes, Negatory

In Marisol’s very humble opinion, the annual ‘sleep out’ is a way to punish all of the students in the school. It’s always a complete mess organizationally, nobody ever has exactly what they actually need to function normally, and the teachers mostly just sit there and watch as the students destroy the environment and do the exact opposite of appreciate being with their schoolmates.

Marisol has spent the last two sleep outs sitting alone in her tiny tent, selling solar panels and doing her work in peace as her classmates push each other to the brink. But this year, she will not be doing that. She will not have her little slice of alone time before the stupid sing-along and the stupid friendship circle and the waste of time that is the scary story session. She also won’t be sleeping alone this time.

Because Mr. Iglesias’s class came in last in the fund-raiser, they have been forced to sleep on the roof without tents. Marisol will be subjected to all the nonsense for a solid thirteen hours.

Case in point, she thinks to herself as she watches Walt chase Lorenzo around, using his sleeping bag as a giant butterfly net. She does enjoy her group of weirdos immensely, but this is a lot for one day.

“Mr. Iglesias,” she calls. “Can I just sit up here and not go to the campfire?”

“No, because if I’m suffering, so are you,” he yells back. “Stop running on the roof, idiots! You’re gonna fall off and die!”

Great. An evening watching Mr. Ochoa make a fool of himself in front of Ms. Spencer and Principal Madison host an event to the nines, which she usually enjoys, but she’s already so annoyed and keyed up, she doesn’t know how she’ll enjoy it. “Stepford!,” Marisol hollers across the roof at him, because she knows nobody will understand how truly gorgeous that insult is but the two of them.

Mr. Iglesias whirls on her. “You take that back this instant!” There’s an announcement from the field that Capture the Flag is about to begin.

He takes a deep breath and snags Mikey’s bedsheet, which Rakeem seems to be using as a cape. “Never mind. This isn’t over. We’re finishing this after we kick the honors students’ collective asses. Also, everyone quit stealing stuff just to annoy me!”

Walt halfheartedly returns Mr. Iglesias’ wallet to his pocket, just as Lorenzo returns his vape. Marisol sends both of them a look that says she won’t tell, and reluctantly descends the stairs to go spend two hours pretending to care about some random scrap of fabric.

^^^

Following the gratuitous game, the entirety of the stupid campfire (although she enjoyed Mikey’s little yelp when she grabs his shoulders during the story about the man with a hook for a hand they tell every year), and the group discussion that’s supposed to make them see each other in a ‘different light’ that never does, Marisol relishes the chance for quiet. She crawls into her sleeping bag and falls asleep.

For around an hour.

It turns out the roof is deceivingly cold. And full of gravel. Both of these are highly counterproductive to getting any restful sleep and true to form, Marisol can’t fall asleep anymore. She reaches for her phone. 2 am, reads the ruthless display. She flops over in her sleeping bag, onto her stomach, and notices someone else sitting a few feet away, looking up at the stars.

She shoots a look to her right-Walt and Lorenzo sharing a blanket. On her left, Grace sleeping with her glasses on and Rakeem twitching his feet in his sleep. And one empty pile of blankets and twisted sleeping bag belonging to a certain someone belonging to the Fortnite club.

Marisol grins to herself. She wraps her blanket around her and pads over to where Mikey is sitting.

“You can’t sleep?,” she asks, easing herself down into the pile of gravel next to him.

He oddly doesn’t lose it, which she chalks up to how late it is. “No,” he says, turning his gaze to her. “It’s stupid we have to do this. Did anyone actually come up here and consider the fact that this is uninhabitable because it’s the roof?”

“That’s a big word,” Marisol teases. “Did you read the dictionary for summer reading again?”

He snorts and sifts some of the gravel through his hands. “No, that’s the one thing I picked up from Mrs. Ortiz yelling at me about my desk yesterday because she made me look it up.”

She laughs. “That’s easily the loudest I’ve heard her yell since Walt tried to start the vape train in third period. It was an achievement.”

“Thanks,” Mikey jokingly bows to her. “It’s my pleasure to entertain you as we fuck Shakespeare over.”

“That’s a complete understatement. Lorenzo pronounced ‘Juliet’ as ‘Jules’ today. It was ridiculous.”

They both break into giggles. Marisol bumps shoulders with him and smiles.

“So why can’t you sleep besides, you know, everything?”

Mikey sucks in his cheeks. “You’re gonna laugh.” “No, I won’t laugh,” Marisol says stubbornly. “I promise, if I didn’t laugh at you when Ortiz dumped your desk on the floor, I won’t laugh at you now.”

He stares at the ground for a second. “Okay. So I share a room with two of my younger brothers, and I kind of find it hard to sleep without the noise. One of them snores a little and the other one breathes loud, and it’s just-comforting, I guess. Go ahead, make fun of me.”

“That’s kind of sweet, Mikey,” she grins. “Uh-I can’t sleep either. I’m cold because I sleep with my sister and without her, it feels freezing.”

“Hey,” he says after a beat of silence. “Uh-you can totally slap me in the face if you want, and I’ll never speak of this again, but lots of people are accidentally, like-sleeping really close together, like look at Rakeem and Grace-” “Oh, no”, she interjects. “That is clearly on purpose.”

“But-like, you’re cold, and I need noise, and-well-”

That’s when it occurs to Marisol exactly what he’s talking about. There’s a little rush of heat through her core that she pushes aside for the time being. The offer seems almost kind, and Mikey is very seriously blushing.

She makes her decision quickly.

“I won’t tell anyone if you don’t,” she says, trying her best to act nonchalant and rising to her fee. “Are you coming?”

(Marisol settles her head firmly on Mikey’s chest. They both sleep just fine, and nobody says anything to them in the morning because they’re way too busy teasing Walt for his morning wood. Just as they’d sworn to do, they never speak of this again, but she can feel that something has changed. Mikey calms down a little around her, and touching shoulders becomes their weird little thing. It’s almost disturbingly comforting, but true to form, Marisol doesn’t decide to figure her shit out. She just chooses to not think about it.)

Sunday, February 24th- The Science Fair Incident

Submitted by Mr. Gabriel Iglesias, Affirmative

The first thing Marisol says when she walks into the gym on the morning of the science fair is, “Is this room spinning?”

The second thing is “It’s really hot-no, it’s really cold in here.”

And by the time the entire class is looking at her with extreme concern, the third and final thing is, “I’m gonna throw up.”

With that single warning, she pukes directly onto Mikey’s shoes, swaying on her feet for a second before successfully losing consciousness against him.

Predictably, as in Gabe’s experiences, high schoolers tend not to be incredibly mature when it comes to someone getting sick in class. He elects to follow the traditional ‘teacher vomit checklist’. First, check for sympathy pukers. A quick scan reveals no immediate signs. Grace quickly volunteers to notify Jim the janitor, leaving him available to check in on Marisol, and make sure that Mikey is surviving as well.

He turns to find Mikey rather maturely removing his shoes and gently helping Marisol over to the bleachers, where he props her up, sitting next to her so she can lean on him. Gabe is very surprised by this sequence of events, but he gets less concerned when she wakes up slightly, still really sleepy.

Mikey looks to see him approaching. “Hey,” he says. “She’s really of out of it. I don’t know what we should do.”

“What about your sneakers?”

He shrugs. “I have a lot of siblings, so it’s not like that hasn’t happened before. I’ll just hose them down on the way home.”

Marisol stirs again, then sits upright and makes a very very bad face. Thanks to Walt putting a trash can next to his project so he can destroy it as soon as possible, she doesn’t throw up on anyone. Gabe thinks about helping, but Mikey is already holding her hair back and telling her that it’s okay. She finishes and slumps backwards, leaning into nothing. When she realizes Mikey isn’t sitting next to her anymore, she makes a highly affronted noise and hauls him back in by the sleeve of his shirt. He looks like he’s made the honor roll.

“Head hurts,” she groans. “Too bright.”

Gabe sits next to her. “What hurts?”

“Head,” she whispers again. “Shaky. Cold. Stomach hurts, too.”

Without being asked, Mikey drapes his sweatshirt around her shoulders. There has to be something going on that Gabe doesn’t know about, because he is acting incredibly mature and not freaking out because Marisol is touching him.

“What about the science fair?,” she breathes, reaching out a quavering hand. “I worked so hard on that project, it would have beat Whitney’s-”

“You can’t go up there like this,” Gabe tells her openly. “You’re sick.”

“Am not,” she argues. “I can do this. I don’t want to let anybody down.”

“I know you don’t want to miss it, but you need to rest! You definitely have a fever and chills, and you’re shaking.” Marisol throws off the hoodie and stands up defiantly. “I have to present today! It’s make or break for my grade!”

“I know you want to do this really badly,” Gabe says carefully, “but I really think you need to go home.”

“Great,” she says frostily. “Thank you for your opinion. I’m going to go give my presentation-oh, oh, dizzy, oh my god.” She sways dangerously once again and he’s easily able to guide her down onto the bleachers once again.

“Let me try,” Mikey offers. “Just gimme a sec, okay?”

What the hell, Gabe figures. He walks a few paces away, giving Lorenzo a very annoyed look when he tries to hotwire whatever kind of villainous supercomputer Grace has constructed, let him give it a shot. He already knows how it’s going to turn out, so there isn’t any real risk involved before he’ll have to step-

“We figured it out.”

Surprised, Gabe turns to see Mikey standing there. “You did?”

“Yeah. I’m gonna go on with her. I’ll do most of it, because then we can show how easy it is to follow, and if she needs to take a break she can. Carlson’ll probably say it’s innovative or something.” “You got it that fast?”

Mikey shrugs. “Well, yeah. Duh. It’s not that hard.”

And with that, he goes back to sit with Marisol, bumping her shoulder once, which makes her smile a little for some reason. “If it gets too much, just tap on my hand,” he’s gently telling her. “You can take a break, or be done. It’s gonna be fine.”

She murmurs something quietly, which makes him laugh. “He tries, you know that.”

Gabe doesn’t know whether to feel completely insulted that he apparently doesn’t know how to talk to Marisol, dumbfounded that Mikey somehow does, or impressed at his handling of the situation. He goes with somewhere in the middle of all three.

Pride is added to the mix when Marisol and Mikey finish first. Ms. Carlson calls it ‘incredibly creative’.

(Directly after the ceremony, she collapses again, and because Gabe is done being scared for her safety, he calls an ambulance. It turns out she has appendicitis. Her surgery is scheduled for one day later. Mikey is in class that day, and he looks sicker than she had. Everybody leaves him alone for most of the day, and the second someone calls Gabe to let him know it was successful, he knows exactly who to forward the news to. Mikey instantaneously relaxes. His signature hoodie is still missing. It can be found in the picture of Marisol post-surgery, hanging over her hospital gown.)

Tuesday, February 26- The Druggie Incident

Submitted by Grace Aung, Affirmative

Grace had figured that it would have been easy to convince everyone else they should visit Mari in the hospital after school, but she had been so very wrong.

“Hospitals depress me,” said Walt.

“Those places have too many cameras,” said Lorenzo.

“ImalreadygoingtomorrowandItalkedtoherlastnightbye,” mumbled Mikey, blushing crimson.

“No,” said Rakeem. “Not even for you, Gracie.” (Only Rakeem and her mom are allowed to call her Gracie, just like how only she calls Marisol ‘Mari’.)

So Grace goes alone to the hospital after she finishes taking the short answer part of her English midterm. She checks in to get her visitor badge and heads to the second floor ICU, room nineteen.

A nurse stops her outside Mari’s room. “Are you here to see Ms. Fuentes?”

Grace nods.

The nurse winks at her. “Before you go in there, you might want to get your camera ready. She is still processing the anesthesia.”

Grace gets out her phone and turns it to video. Mari is sleeping when she gets in. The TV is on and turned to the Smithsonian channel, which is showing a space marathon. She looks really peaceful, and considering that the last time she saw her, she was burning up and puking in a high school gymnasium, it’s an immense improvement. Marisol snuffles a little and turns her legs over to the left. Grace digs her laptop out of her bag and hacks YouTube algorithms for awhile.

Some quiet giggles erupt from the bed about a half hour later. Grace eagerly scrambles for her phone, setting her computer safely inside her bag. “Hey, Mari, it’s Grace. How are you?”

Marisol turns over to her other side to face her visitor. Her eyes are glassy, and to use Walt’s favorite phrase in a sentence, she is “tripping balls”.

“My face feels weird,” she slurs. Grace immediately starts recording, because something in her head clearly knows this is gonna be good.

“Hey, girl,” she says, gently touching her wrist. “How you doing?”

“Tired. Doesn’t hurt anymore. Doctor said I don’t have an apple anymore, but I want an apple.”

“They gave you the really good drugs, huh,” Grace observes idly.

“You’re Grace,” Marisol realizes. “I really like you and I don’t think I tell you enough. You’re, like, the least annoying person in that classroom.”

“Thanks, sweetie, I like you a lot too. How’s the scar down there?”

“Good,” she mumbles, twisting her fingers in her hospital gown. “They cut me open and put me back together. Like in SpongeBob that one time. I wanna be SpongeBob when I grow up.”

“Oh, honey, I do too,” Grace says, finding it very hard to stifle her giggles behind her hand anymore, so she decides it’s time to switch the subject. She digs in her bag and finds the card and the other crap people sent to Mari.

“Here,” she says, handing her the piece of paper they spent an entire class period on. “That’s from everybody. We drew Mr. Iglesias’ favorite poster for you, and then we signed it. Nobody else could come though.”

Marisol nods slowly, looking over what she’s been given. Grace gets the distinct feeling she has absolutely no idea what she’s looking at and a little bit of a scary idea that she can’t read it.

“Walt sent this...thing he made out of Juul pods and hot glue, and if you don’t mind I think I’m just going to throw that away. No one would want that. Rakeem sent this note that says he misses you and your help during class, which is great, except he wrote it on notebook paper that he also doodled a basketball on, and Lorenzo apparently just signed his name on that as well. Great. Even in times of crisis, they’re minimal effort.”

Mari wriggles a little in her blankets as her blood pressure cuff activates. Grace suddenly notices a beautiful vase of flowers next to her bed.

“Who sent those?,” she asks.

“Rita,” Grace hears faintly from the other side of the bed. “She’s realllly pretty and sweet.”

“I got you one of those ugly stuffed animals,” she sets it on Mari’s chest. “I just thought you’d like a little something to hold onto in here.”

She doesn’t get a huge response, but she does see her hug it close to her chest as the cuff releases.

“Oh, and Mikey said he was coming sometime tomorrow, okay? He had Fortnite club after school today. He said you’d understand.” Marisol gets a big grin on her face. “I know. He’s the best. I like him a lot too, but you can’t tell him.” She leans closer. “Do you wanna know a really big secret? I like like him.”

Grace stops. “You like him? Like boyfriend like him?”

“Yeah. You can’t tell him. He can’t know that I wanna kiss him all over his stupid face and hold his hand and cry on him during movies.”

“Why can’t he know? I think he’d definitely feel that way too.”

“He just can’t. It’s stupid. Feelings are dumb,” she pouts. “I can’t make me not like him and I don’t like that.”

(The nurse pokes her head in and signals to Grace that she needs to do some work on Mari, so she says her goodbyes and leaves in a hurry. Late that night she texts her, do u remember what u told me today? Mari’s reply is instantaneous. No. Then, right after that, yes.

Please promise that you won’t say anything. I shouldn’t have told you that.

i won’t, Grace texts back. but maybe u should.)

Wednesday, February 27- The Hospital Incident

Submitted by Marisol Fuentes, Negatory

Marisol turns over onto her side and lets out a big sigh of annoyance.

The hospital is the worst, most boring place imaginable. It is incredibly dull. Literally nothing is happening because the ‘gastrology’ wing is not exactly a hub of activity. The nurses and doctors have been nice and everything, but she is chomping at the bit to get out as fast as she can.

The anesthesia finally has stopped affecting her, so she’s been allowed to brush her own teeth and hair and shower on her own for the first time in three days. Nothing has ever felt that good. She’s expecting the rehab specialist in about an hour so she can start to walk.

Marisol has spent the majority of her stay alone. It’s not that her family hasn’t visited, they just can’t stay long because jobs are a thing and her sister needs to be taken care of too. A surprising amount of school people have come; Grace came after school yesterday and brought her a card and a cute stuffed animal, Ms. Spencer and Principal Madison gave her a nice bar of soap and a cup of hot chocolate from the shop right by her house and joked about how desperate Mr. Ochoa looked on Monday, and of course Mr. Iglesias has been there as much as he can and secretly Skyped her in class today so she could at least hear what the lecture is about. She’s lucky to have so many people who care that much.

Speaking of people who care quite a bit about her, she looks up to see Mikey standing there looking incredibly awkward and like he’s about to jump out of his own skin.

“Hey,” he says, walking in and putting his stuff down next to her bed. “How-how are you doing?”

“Decent,” she answers. “Hard not to poke at the stitches, I can’t walk, and the food sucks.”

“Sounds pretty standard.” He eases himself into one of the chairs lining the walls and scoots it a little closer to the bedside. “We miss you in class.”

“I miss you guys too,” she admits grudgingly. “Even Walt. It’s sort of lonely in here. And kind of unnervingly beige.”

“I thought about bringing you flowers but I decided that would probably be weird,” Mikey blurts, “so I got you some soup and this weird mint chocolate thing that Grace swore up and down you liked. I-I hope that’s right. I got the soup recipe off the internet so I wouldn’t, like, kill you with my mom’s idea of food.”

Marisol eagerly sits up at the mention of food that’s not medicated or ‘healthy’ in any way. She makes grabby hands at the chocolates and to a lesser degree the soup.

“Oh, real food,” she practically sings out as he carefully hands her the containers. “You are the literal best. Thank you.”

Mikey blushes a little at the compliment and slumps back on the chair. “You’re welcome. I just figured you could use something that wasn’t Jello, you know?”

She gratefully takes off the top of the soup, because she hasn’t had lunch yet anyway, and to her surprise, it actually smells good. She rummages through the ever-present pile of plastic utensils on her bedside table to find a spoon and takes a taste.

“Dude,” she says with her mouth full, “Whoa. This is really good! I didn’t know you could cook!”

Mikey’s grin of omg-she-likes-it is slightly overshadowed by his mumbles of “neither did I.”

“Well, the internet is truly an amazing place,” Marisol observes between sips of soup, careful to not spill any on her incredibly fashionable hospital gown. “You ‘used your resources’. Mr. Iglesias would be so proud of you. He’s been trying to get you to do that all year.”

Mikey laughs and starts to make another joke about the things he says to the class constantly, but her IV drip chooses that exact moment to officially run out and starts to beep loudly. Her nurse comes streaming into the room, and she quickly realizes they are slightly but clearly leaning towards each other.

“We can get that drip out of there now! You finished all the meds.” Cheryl, who couldn’t have been nicer in any way, tactfully chooses to ignore or just straight up doesn’t notice the weird as hell vibe in the room. She calmly disconnects the IV line and wraps the area in gauze. Marisol manages to suppress her yelp of pain as the needle comes out.

“And who’s this? I don’t think I’ve seen you around,” she asks on her way out. The awkwardness ratchets up several notches instantly..

“Hi, I’m Mikey. I’m a friend. Nice to meet you.” They shake hands.

“Wait. Mikey? Like, the Mikey?”

“As far as I know, there’s only one,” he answers, a very strange look on his face. Marisol can feel her face going very red very fast, and frantically gestures to Cheryl to stop talking. Thankfully, she seems to get the message and backs off the subject, but still smiles at her teasingly behind Mikey’s back. Mikey in question is positively cherry red, and is clearly trying to move on and pretend that never happened.

With the IV disconnected, the nurse disappears, and leaves behind a silence that’s even more awkward than it was earlier.

“So,” he scuffs part of his sneaker on the ground, “When are they letting you out of here? I kinda miss you annoying me every day and telling me my study habits are trash.”

“Tomorrow afternoon,” she says, sitting up again. “I’ll be back at school on Monday if I have my way, and those days off work weren’t easy to get.”

There’s yet another pause. Mikey is staring at the ground still, and things just feel...off.

“Okay, this isn’t working,” Marisol cuts in. She picks up the box of mints from the table, scooting to one side to give some space. “Come up here and pretend to like these with me while we watch the same NCIS reruns I’ve been watching for three days. This isn’t normal, but we can act like it is, just like movie Fridays at Walt’s house, minus the weed soaked into the couch. Cool?”

His signature grin instantly appears on his face. “Cool.” He toes off his shoes and climbs onto the bed with her, bumping their shoulders together once again. The memories of the science fair and the sleepout flood back.

“Sorry I puked all over your shoes, by the way,” she adds in as she picks the wrapping off the box of mints. “That totally sucked.”

“Nah, I just hosed them off,” he says casually, stretching. “Good as new.”

Marisol realizes during that interaction they’ve somehow shifted even closer. She quickly snatches the remote and turns the channel to the never ending NCIS loop, pretending that it hasn’t happened. It works well enough.

(“You know what does totally suck?,” Mikey says after a few minutes. “These mints. These suck.” She jokingly pokes him in the ribs, acting affronted that he doesn’t appreciate her great taste in candy, and starts to laugh when he puts an arm around her shoulders and drags her in. Then he leaves his arm there. Then Marisol puts her head on his shoulder. Then she falls asleep. Again, they don’t talk about it.)

Monday, March 5th-The Cherry Pepsi Incident

Submitted by Mr. Gabriel Iglesias, Affirmative

Mondays during finals are the worst, Gabe thinks to himself as he sits at his desk, quietly watching the shenanigans that conspire before first bell. Sleep deprivation and all of the weekend issues catching up with his students always hit them like a ton of bricks, leading to some of the strangest behavior one could see in a high school.

Case in point, Rakeem picking up Lorenzo’s backpack and chucking it towards a poster of Teddy Roosevelt because he thought Teddy was looking at him weird. It lands directly on Grace’s head. She doesn’t even acknowledge it as she simultaneously drinks from two extra-large coffee cups. Walt has his head on his desk and is deliriously whispering the chorus from that stupid baby shark song.

Gabe figures that Mikey will be at least thirty-five minutes late, given that his track record with all things final or midterm have not been ideal, but Marisol isn’t in her seat waiting for the test to begin. Just as he starts to get up for the traditional ‘hallway check’, Marisol strolls in late, and right behind her, Mikey strolls in early.

Hell hath frozen over. Holy crap.

Neither one of them seem to be any kind of tired. Mikey actually has his backpack. Marisol is smiling.

Who are these space aliens and where are Gabe’s usual students?

“Morning, Mr. Iglesias,” Marisol calls cheerfully over the relentless noise of the room. “Happy finals week!”

“What’s got you all bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, Ms. “No, I’ll Sleep When I’m Dead, My Grades Are More Important Than My Emotional Well-Being”?”

“I just feel confident about the test, that’s all,” she continues, crossing to put her stuff down at her usual spot. “Mikey helped me figure out this thing where I can prop up my notebook while I work cashier at the drive through. And I actually slept last night. So there’s that.”

Gabe sees the impending accident in slow motion. He suddenly realizes that an empty bottle fo cherry Pepsi has fallen out of Rakeem’s bag following the impromptu game of catch earlier. And that Marisol is walking directly towards it. Carrying a travel mug of coffee. And a large stack of papers.

“Watch out, Mari!,” Grace shouts suddenly. “You’re gonna slip!”

It’s too late. Her foot lands directly onto the bottle, which spins and slides across the floor. Marisol looks down in shock as one of her legs slides out from under her and she pitches backward, falling towards the carpet as Gabe watches helplessly.

Her stack of papers lands on the carpet with a slight flump, and she tries desperately to keep a grip on her coffee. He averts his eyes, not wanting to witness the inevitable injury-but it doesn’t come.

She hasn’t hit the floor because Mikey Gutierrez, knight in teenage armor, has caught her just in time. Between the relationship dynamic discussion between Walt, Lorenzo, and Rita last week and Rakeem’s rather dramatic dance proposal to Grace, why in the hell has his classroom become some kind of a romantic comedy?

They’re now making incredibly intense eye contact, so Gabe coughs loudly. They spring apart almost instantly and freeze like that.

He comes close to saying something stupid about it, but literally no one has noticed anything happening because of the small fight happening in the corner between Lorenzo and his shoelaces. Walt is no longer in his desk. Mikey and Marisol are blushing and making weird eye contact alternately.

God, Gabe hates Monday finals.

(Marisol aces the final. Mikey gets a B. After the test, Gabe visits Marisol at her locker. He doesn’t even say anything, he just stands there. Marisol turns the color of her high-tops, slams her locker door instantly, and shouts, “shut up!” before stomping away. When he asks Mikey about it, he just turns white and stares at the floor. Gabe has forgotten that high schoolers are all pretty much puddles. Whoops.)

Tuesday, March 6th- The Intervention Incident

Submitted by Rakeem Rozier

Rakeem admits that he isn’t super good at expressing his feelings. That’s just sort of a weakness that he needs to work more on. It’s why he and Grace work so well together, because she didn’t talk for a long time, and now that she does, it can get a little harder for her to say what she feels. Sometimes they can say stuff without saying stuff, and that’s why Rakeem likes to be with her. It makes more sense.

They made sense right away, and it was fairly easy for both of them to figure out they wanted to be together.

This is why Rakeem does not understand whatever is going on with Marisol and Mikey. The two smartest people he knows, and yet they can’t figure out that they’re completely gone for each other. And to make matters worse, Marisol is so deep in denial that she’s been making them participate in this stupid study to prove that she doesn’t have any feelings when she really does.

To sum it up, Rakeem is only here because Grace asked him and she said please. He’ll do anything for her, except set foot in a hospital or talk to a clown.

‘INTERVENTION’ is written in large block letters on the board. Everyone in class has been arranged in a circle, and now they’re just sitting there. Waiting.

Like he said, Rakeem will do anything for Gracie.

Marisol walks through the door about fifteen minutes of absolute silence later, holding her phone. “Hey, where’s the emergency? Did someone fall on the tacks Lorenzo glued to the floor?”

“Mari,” Grace intones quietly. “Have a seat. We need to talk.”

Confused, she sits right across from Rakeem-and sees the intervention declaration.

“It’s gone too far,” Walt says solemnly. “You have to end it.” “She doesn’t even know what you’re talking about yet, dude!,” Lorenzo hisses out of the corner of his mouth. “Let Gabe do the intro, and then you can get all emotional and do your thing, okay?”

Mr. Iglesias, who is sitting in a high school sized chair, turns to Marisol. “Okay. So when you proposed the idea of having the entire class participate in a study behind Mikey’s back so you could prove once and for all that you operate above having feelings and that you don’t like him, it seemed like it would peter out in a few days because, well, it is a terrible idea and a really good way to hurt Mikey’s feelings. But it didn’t, and you were serious, and now we have to end it. Now, Walt.”

“You have to end it. It’s gone too far,” Walt pipes up, looking way too proud of himself.

Grace pipes up next. “You need to stop obsessively researching and just talk to Mikey, all right? He likes you, and you clearly like him, and you told me you did when you were high as hell on that anesthesia, so I know you know it.”

“The whole thing is unnecessarily complicated and you gotta just kiss ya boy, girl,” Lorenzo chips in. “Also, Rita couldn’t make it, but she said to tell you to get yourself some of that.”

Marisol looks shell-shocked. “I-I can’t,” she says quietly. “I can’t tell him how I feel. You’re right. The study is over. I’m sorry. It was a dumb idea. But I can’t tell him.”

She gets up and walks out of the room, leaving her backpack and her phone on the chair.

Rakeem’s time has come. “I got this one, y’all. Gracie, you man things here.” He finds her sitting directly outside the door against the wall. “Hey, lady. Why are you being such a downer? Your boy likes you, and he couldn’t be more obvious about it.”

Marisol laughs shakily and rests her head against the wall. “It’s so stupid.”

“Pretty sure it couldn’t be any more stupid than what they tried to do in there. You can tell me, because who am I going to tell?”

“I’m just no good with this stuff,” she confesses after a second. “Math, no problem. Working three jobs, no problem. Dealing with all of my crazy family, I’ve got this. But the second I even think about this, I get scared out of my mind. That probably sounds weirder than anything you’ve ever heard.”

“I’m not good with this stuff either. It’s real scary whenever you open up to someone like that. But if it’s the right person, you can trust them with it. Gracie’s the first person I’ve talked to about stuff like that, and it gets easier. You just have to be as brave as you can, and you’re pretty much the bravest person I’ve ever met.”

Marisol thinks about it for a second. “So I should just-try? Even if it’s really stupid and incoherent?”

“Nah, Gutierrez’ll understand, even if it’s not really understandable. He gets you, ya know?”

When he looks at her again, she has a comically large smile on her face. “You know what to do, don’t you?”

“Yeah,” she confirms, standing up. “I know exactly what to do.”

(Grace gives Rakeem the nicest hug when he goes back in and whispers, ‘nice job’. He can see Marisol power walking in the exact direction of the computer lab. Huh. Maybe he’s better at this feelings stuff than he thought.)

Friday, March 9th- The Rain Drop Dance

The Rain Drop Dance is stupid. But Marisol has so much riding on tonight she doesn’t have time to worry about being sprayed with a stupid hose by the Student Council during the stupidly inevitable “rain dance” or being forced to pose for stupid pictures with a stupid umbrella.

Currently, she’s pacing the floor in Mr. Iglesias’s room, waiting for Mikey to get there. She hasn’t heard from him since she texted him an hour ago and told him where to meet her. The thick stack of paper in her hands is getting stiff with sweat.

Mikey steps through the door. “Hey, what’s up? You wanted to show me something?”

Okay. Go time. She can do this.

“Yeah. Here.”

He takes the report and starts to flip through it with a highly bemused expression on his face.

“Marisol Fuentes most definitely does not have a crush on Mikey Gutierrez: a case study,” he reads aloud. “What? What is this?”

Time to come clean. “So a few months ago everyone was teasing me about liking you, and I swore that I didn’t. And to prove it I made them all do this, where I tried to prove that I didn’t like you, and they tried to prove that I did. It was dumb and really wrong of me to do it without telling you, and a dick move to be this anal about being right all the time while I was that deep in denial. So, I wanted to tell you that I’m sorry.”

“Apology accepted. It’s all fine,” he assures her, the tiny hint of disappointment in his voice clear. “This is in depth, you really go all out-wait, in denial?”

“Um, look at the last page,” she says quietly. “The conclusion.”

Mikey takes a couple of seconds to read it to himself, and a gigantic smile spreads across his face. “Seriously? Are you for real?’

She nods. He gives her a high five. “Dude, you like me? That’s...whoa. That’s a lot. Oh, obviously, I like you too, duh. You like me. Holy shit, you like me. The most amazing girl in the world likes me!”

“Okay, I’m not amazing.”

“You wrote a whole report about me! I’m gonna read the whole thing later. After we dance to Umbrella with umbrellas.” “I’ll do it, but only for you. And there’s absolutely no chance you’re reading that.”

(Conclusion: Marisol Fuentes most definitely has a big, fat, stupid crush on Mikey Gutierrez, and she is not at all afraid to admit it.)

This report has been saved on Marisol Fuentes’ desktop and will never be shown to anyone again. The original hard copy given to Mikey Gutierrez during the Rain Drop Dance has disappeared, and although he denies it, it is most definitely hidden somewhere undetermined in his basement.

There it is! Deadlines are my enemy, so it took awhile. I hope you enjoyed this awful sweetness. Also, STREAM MR IGLESIAS ON NETFLIX!!! It’s funny and comforting and diverse and talks about real world issues.

Something based on Stranger Things 3 is hopefully up next. Find me on AO3 as TheGirlWithTheGlasses. There may be some crossposting happening soon as well.

Thanks for making it all the way through the intensely sugary hellscape! See yall next time :)

#Mr Iglesias #marisol x mikey #rakeem x grace #rita x lorenzo x walt #welp this took forever #i am definitely projecting onto marisol #enjoy this stupid rom com feelings soaked drivel #mari and mikey remind me of me and my person and it shows #i regret nothing #send help #must stop tagging

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nlrpgs · 4 years

Text

the event hall is decorated beautifully as a standard award show would be designed. the lights dim. a spotlight shines on eli, evian and charla as they walk onto the stage and to the mics at the center. eli smiles to the audience before announcing, ❝ losers and weirdos !! are you ready to RUUUMBLEEE ?? too bad, because this is an award show . tonight we will be presenting you the first EVER neamies !! ❞ evian follows next, ❝ and guess what? everyone gets an award! you get an award, you get an award, even the dude standing in the corner there, you get an award!!! ❞ charla is last as she reads from her cue card in a robotic tone, ❝ so sit back and relax because there are a lot of them. smile. ❞ she didn’t smile as she was just here to read the meaner awards.

ooc: the event will take place after the award ceremony at the after party, so your characters can react to what award they won ! on top of that, the neamies page will be posting graphics for each winner you can reblog to your character page, if you’d like ! if you’d rather see the list now, you can follow the read more and see the master list of the awards !

avery: himbo award

nat: edgiest gorl award

daph: best comeback award

phil: you’d never guess his dad award

nadia: almost broke my nose award

yerim: most likely to take your nads award

alex: snacc award

honey: ambassador of safe sex award

evie: uwu award

kat: best joth award

astrid: wildest johnson award

pax : forever bachelor award

charla: stalker award

levi: worst sister award

dante: decent brother award

oliver: one with the plants award

jae: biggest plant murder award

nara: strongest gORL award

sophia: damn you, you rich bitch award

crystal: the babie dont cry award

thorn: evie almost deded award

seph: weather boi award

julia: most oblivious award

elijah: most likely to fuk w ur lov lyfe award

rosie: best masochist award

peter: boomiest boomer award

romina: will make u her guinea pig award

ilsung: let me finally try your muffins award

kyu: ghosting award

hershey: most deaths award

mina: babie award

kato: iNfLuEnCeR award

hana: loser award

knox: edgiest boi award

noire: best hungover look award

luna: you are what you eat award

cam and julien: package deal award

chaeri: best toot award

jiah: boss bitch award

aro: always smiling award

alexis: emo award

jacob: not the diner owner award

dia: best peen artist award

caspien: very specific chair needs award

evian: no ragrets award

cain : daddiest award

leo: best drunk award

elio: brawn not brains award

van:named after a sneaker award

ryeo: pour one out award

ahreum: meanest flip award

juniper: galaxy mind award

marisol: best lighting tech

vara: baddest tats award

margo: best sugar momma award

petra: best dental hygiene award

ria: mother of all our problems award

persephone: mother of selfies award

hades: father of all eboys award

dionysus: father of dramatic entrances award

#nl;event

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trashforeverythingdotcom · 5 years

Text

Wanderlust

Disclaimer: I’m a newb, and I’ve only seen the Netflix animated series because I don’t have any Castlevania games and, therefore, haven’t played any of them. But I kinda sorta really want to now, lol. The gif isn’t mine, I found it on google images 😔👉👈 also, I was gonna make this an Alucard x reader type of thing but umm… it ended up not being like that cause Aurora’s a cute name, don’t @ me, hah. Crazy, I know. Although I ended up making this an OC x Alucard, if anyone sends a request and stuff I wouldn’t mind making imagines and stuff 😔👉👈 Wow, this came out hella shitty, awesome. Let’s get it, y'all. 😤😤😤 I’m using too many emojis, can I be reported for that? Do I need to put a word-count? I see everyone do that, so I’m gonna do that because I wanna be cool and hip. It’s my way of making up for the fact that I’m writing a lame-ass/unoriginal fanfiction :)

Warnings(?): Cursing, a little Area 51 joke, and stupidity. Stupidity has a recurring role in this fic. It shouldn’t even be a warning, it’s a whole character. It’s the star of this story, okay?

Word Count: 2,528 (at least it’s pretty short)

Chapters: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

A/n: You’ve been warned, proceed with caution 😔

It was a 12-hour-long flight from Florida to Romania and Aurora was hating it. She was bored out of her mind watching other people that were also either bored out of their minds or tired or both. What made matters worse for her was the fact that she didn’t even have the window seat. Her identical twin sister, Marisol, claimed it the moment they’d gotten their plane tickets months ago when they decided to go to Romania to celebrate their eighteenth birthday. The trip seemed like a great idea since their birthday was in July and neither of them started college until the coming spring. Marisol’s justification for taking the seat was that she was older. Older by five minutes. They’d both argued for quite a bit before their mother told her to just go with it and let her sister have the window seat.

She rolled her eyes at the thought of it as she stared at her beloved ‘older by five minutes’ twin sister. “Take a picture, it’ll last longer."

"Oh, fuck you.” She answered quickly, rolling her eyes once more. She crossed her arms and legs and turned her body back around so that her backside was leaning back into her seat.

She heard rustling noises and a loud sigh coming from beside her. “Let’s switch seats.”

Aurora scoffed, “what, the window seat isn’t good enough for you anymore?”

“No, it’s great, but you keep eyeing me like last night’s dinner and I want it to stop. Therefore, I hereby forfeit this marvellous window seat for the sake of my sleep and sanity. Mainly sleep. I can’t sleep knowing you’re being a weirdo.”

Aurora smiled and practically jumped out of her seat immediately, shoving her sister to the side as she took the seat that she wanted since the beginning. Even though she was very happy at the moment and thought nothing could bring her down because she’d be looking down at the world below; a voice sounded from the speakers that were built into the air-plane. The voice informed them that they’d be landing in ten minutes and requested that they turn off their phones. Her head snapped to look at her sibling who was visibly amused by her reaction. “You’re such an ass.”

“At least you get to see the touch-down from the window seat.”

Once they’d both gotten off the plane and gone through customs, Aurora made it known to her sister that she was going to use the restroom. Apparently, Marisol needed to go too, because the moment she said that, Marisol told her she’d come with her as they both made their way into the ladies’ room. Aurora entered the first clean stall, and her sister entered the one next to that one. When she finished relieving herself, she stepped out of the stall and walked over to the sink to wash her hands.

Aurora had this habit of checking herself out wherever there was a mirror. Whether she thought she looked good at the moment or not made no difference, she couldn’t help but peep and nitpick the little things that were out of place at the time of the viewing and fix them. In this case, it was her long, black curly hair that thought it’d be cute to act up in public. Luckily, her baby bangs weren’t being an issue. Then again, they were pulled back and held in place with bobby pins.

Aurora rubbed her hooded icy blue eyes with her pale white fingers. Her long, almond-shaped nails that were painted black almost scratched the sensitive skin in the process. Moving her fingers upward, she slid them over her thick eyebrows to brush the hair back into place.

With a sigh, she then turned to view her side profile. She was a bit chubby, but the mustard-yellow crop top and shorts she wore complimented her body well and weren’t too tight or too loose on her. And her backpack was a decent pick. Cute and convenient. She managed to stuff two extra outfits in there along with her mp3 players, a hoodie, her chargers, her headphones, and some personal products like tiny bottles of body wash, shampoo, and conditioner. She then proceeded to make faces as she pulled her phone out to take mirror selfies. Considering this was a public bathroom, it was pretty clean. The airport cleaning staff must’ve been on top of their game.

Marisol did the same thing after washing her own dirty hands; wetting her hands and running them over her own long and curly black hair before pulling her earrings out of her bag and putting them back on. “My ear was irritated when we got on the plane. Hopefully, it’s fine now,” Marisol explained to her sister. She fixed her v-shaped bangs and stepped back a bit to admire her own figure. Fixing her sweatshirt and pulling her sweatpants up. Although they were technically identical twins, they were different in size. This made it easier to tell the difference between the two of them. Aurora was always the thick one, while Marisol was always the thin one. “Get in. I’m sure mami’s gonna want some proof that we’re still alive.” Marisol ordered as she held her phone up. Being bossy was one of her personality traits. The camera app was open and the rear camera was being used. They quickly took a picture and separated. Immediately after that, Marisol got closer to the mirror to analyse her facial features. “Ugh, I think I have bags under my eyes. Thanks a lot, Rory.”

Cue yet another one of her legendary eye rolls, “so it’s my fault you couldn’t sleep?”

At this rate, her eyes were gonna get stuck.

“Well, you were lookin’ at me for extended periods of time that made me feel very uncomfortable.”

“It’s your fault for taking my seat.”

And those two argued for quite a bit until Aurora noticed something odd: one of the bathroom stalls was emitting purple light. “Lani–” she called, only to get interrupted by her loudness. Lani was a nickname her family had given Marisol since she, as a little girl, thought Mari was too typical.

“Lani.”

“What? What is it now? What do you want? Why should I–”

“Look.” Aurora pointed. Now the other girl was intrigued.

Marisol, being Marisol, thought it’d be smart, a real Albert Einstein move to walk toward the suspicious area. And Aurora made it a point to call her out for it. “Lani, I don’t think that’s such a good idea. There’s a reason why people die in horror movies. They run to the danger rather than from it. What if there’s a bomb or something in there? Why don’t we go tell the security, huh?”

Marisol didn’t listen to her, no surprise there. Instead of listening to her sister, she stepped right into the bathroom stall and disappeared, the purple glow got brighter when she passed through. The brightness lowered a few seconds after Aurora herself had approached it. Needless to say, the teenager was freaking out. Marisol wasn’t much of a magician or a prankster, that she knew of, so how the hell did she manage to just- just… poof?

“Ha ha, Lani, very funny. Cool. You can step out now.” She was feeling uneasy as it was and the period of silence that followed her comment only served to make things more unsettling. She decided to go for the tough mom act in hopes of luring her out. “Marisol Noelani Romero-Văduva, you’d better step the fuck out or else. I’ve just about had enough of your shit.”

“Oh, fuck it,” Aurora muttered before mirroring the other seventeen year old’s actions.

It was pitch black, that was all she could see. Why was that? If her eyes were closed, she should’ve at least been able to see a red colour because of the bright lights inside the building. And it was cold. Very cold. She felt as if she could die of hypothermia, it was that cold. And she could feel the goosebumps all over her body; on her arms and legs. She didn’t think airports could be this frigid.

Aurora was able to hear three distinctive voices get closer and closer to her. “Is she dead?” She heard a woman ask. Or, at least, she was assuming it was a woman since the voice sounded like it belonged to a woman.

“I don’t think she is,” said a man, his voice oddly calm. It was quiet for a short moment before someone else spoke.

“Who cares? Lots of people have been dying these days, let’s just go and get this Dracula business over with,” the man’s voice boomed, ripping through the forest.

“You’re so rude,” the woman spoke again.

“What do you expect from a useless drunk?”

“At least I’m not a blood sucker.”

“Wow, what a great comeback. Are there any more?”

“Yeah, I’ve got some good ones I can shove up your ass, if you’d like.”

Aurora groaned and opened her eyes, sitting up almost as soon as she did so. She looked around, it was awfully dark and she could hardly see anything until her eyes adjusted to the poor amount of light. “What the fuck?” Was all that came out of her mouth.

“Well, that’s definitely not what I’m used to hearing women say when they wake up.”

“As if you are ever anywhere near any woman when they are just waking up.”

Aurora ignored their bickering and reached into her pocket, pulling out her cell phone. Yes, it was an android. A One Plus 7, to be specific. She dragged her thumb in the shape of a v on her black phone screen so she could turn the flash-light on and see better. Finally, she pointed it at the rag-tag group of friends that were surrounding her; they groaned, feeling the sting of a bright white light being pointing directly into their eyes.

“Who are you? Where am I? Why did you guys kidnap me? Why are we in the woods? And why are you dressed all weird like you’re going to comic con or some shit?” Aurora interrogated, though she wasn’t in much of a position to interrogate anyone since she was still on the ground beneath them.

“Comi… comma… what?” The brunet mumbled to himself quietly.

“We didn’t kidnap you. We found you here. And I think we should be asking you why you’re dressed like that. Aren’t you worried?” The woman trailed off as her eyes glossed over Aurora’s figure. In her opinion, Aurora was showing way too much skin for her safety. Her yellow crop top and denim shorts weren’t modest in any way. “And what’s that thing you have there?” She questioned, her eyes stopping right at the weird girl’s hand as she pointed at the phone clutched tightly in it.

“Yes, what is that? A lamp?” The blond man asked, again, his voice calm and soothing to the ear considering the given situation.

“Is no one going to acknowledge the fact that she’s showing more skin than a prostitute?” Everyone ignored the brunet’s comment, everyone except for the person the comment was addressing.

Aurora glared at him, “I think I’m dressed like a normal teenager. We’re not in the ’50s, dude.” She used her phone’s flashlight to look in her bag and grab her hoodie, closing it right back up again. Even if it wasn’t going to be enough to get warm, it was a whole lot better than nothing. She thought as she snaked her arms into through the sleeves.

“Either way, shouldn’t we keep moving? The night creatures are out and we’ve got things to do as it is–”

“Night creatures?” The seventeen-year-old scoffed, “what is this, 1475?”

“1476, actually,” the tall blond casually corrected the girl.

“Um… No, sir. Y'all must be hella delusional. It’s 2019, sweethearts.” Mrs. Generation Z turned her phone’s screen back on to show them today’s date. “See? July 5th, 2019. My birthday’s in like, thirteen days, I wouldn’t forget today’s date. So yeah.”

“Alucard, do you know what this might mean?” The woman asked the blond man, her voice dripping with excitement. “Time travel! Time travel is possible!”

“I’m sorry, what?” Aurora blurted, genuinely confused.

“Think about it,” the woman ignored her as she continued to voice her theory. “With all that we’ve seen in our lives, don’t you think time travel is very much possible as well? I mean, if magic exists, don’t you think–”

“Listen, these dumb-ass millennial fuckers haven’t stormed Area 51 yet, and we’re not so technologically advanced that we’d accidentally time travel to different eras from the inconvenience of an airport’s public restroom.”

“It could very well be possible. Belmont, do you think they’d have anything about this phenomenon in your family’s library?”

“If it exists, then yes, I’m assuming it’d be there. Another good reason to keep moving.”

“Yes, let’s go.”

The three of them began walking once again, facing the direction of their destination. They walked a few paces before one of them realised Aurora wasn’t moving from her spot. “Why are you just standing there? Come on.” The girl laughed, head straight over to the girl before she looped her arm around hers and pulled the girl with her as she ran back to the two men that walked ahead of them. “My name’s Sypha. I’m a speaker. Those two idiots are Alucard–.”

"I prefer not to be called an idiot, the only idiot here is that obnoxious vampire hunter,“ the tall blond interrupted, not bothering to look back at them. "And my name is Adrian. Fahrenheit. Tepeş.”

"Yes, Adrian, also known as the idiot that would prefer not to be called an idiot. And the person next to him is Trevor Belmont.“ Sypha continued.

"Hello,” ‘Trevor’ greeted with a grin, walking backward when he did so before facing forward once more.

“Ah… Okay… It’s nice to meet you all… I’m Aurora Romero-Văduva… You guys can call me Rory or Nina if you want…" She trailed off. That was when she realised she’d forgotten something very important. The very reason why she’d stepped into that glowing bathroom stall.

“It’s nice to meet you too.”

There was a tsunami of awkward silence as the group walked until Aurora decided to curse rather loudly. “Shit!”

“Rude!”

The teenager ignored her. “While you guys were doing whatever it is you guys were doing, did you happen to see someone that looks exactly like me but like, skinny?”

“No…?”

“Oh great, fuck me gently with a chainsaw and call me Heather. Fucking hell. I just keep getting royally fucked in the ass, don’t I? At least take me out to dinner before fucking me in the ass.“ She ranted, her hands motions were as intense as the words that were spewing out of her plump pink lips. She gasped audibly, her eyes widened and her right hand clasped itself over her mouth. "Holy shit, my mom’s gonna kill me.”

“Are you sure you’re not a Belmont?” Adrian asked teasingly.

Being the quick and brainy vampire hunter he was, the Belmont did not hesitate to bless the group with a witty response. “Oh, shut the fuck up.”

#Castlevania #Alucard x oc #adrian fahrenheit tepes #alucard castlevania #hector x oc #hector castlevania #timetravel au #castlevania netflix #why am i doing this #i don't know #but i'm doing it anyway

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