#feels like every art project I do is always just “uh oh I've never done this before I hope it works out okay”

[neverendingford]

hardwood comb project

I forgor to buy a lighter colored wood for the spine/core so I can't keep working on it tonight cause all I've got is the walnut.

[ellieswaifu]

first of all i just want to say i LOVE ur writing and i've been wanting to request this AND i think you're the PERFECT writer for this, so there's this sound on tiktok where's the guy says "i'll do anything to fuck you." and the girl replies with "you're so sweet, but no." can u PLEASE write a smut fic from THAT with confident!ellie and the fem!reader who's playing hard to get? omg i need to take a break from tiktok istg

study date | ellie x f!reader

summary — you and ellie are paired up together for a class project.

word count — 5.14k+ (HUHHHHH)

genre — college!au, smut, fluff

warnings — mdni pleasee, slow burn ?, ellie is horny, smut; rough sex, top!ellie, pet names, praising, oral (f!receiving), strap-on sex, semi/light choking idk, hickeys, overstimulation, multiple orgasms ;) not proofread, this is filthy guys beware

a/n: : > i decided to do it as a college!au fic if u don mind bc i felt like ellie would hav more confidence in that au— i always feel like ellie is always so angsty in tlou LMAO ;-;

rules | m.list

You were always a work of art to Ellie. Beautiful, smart, and always so nice to everyone, and she wanted to ruin you so bad. Everyday, she can’t help but stare at you and undress you with her eyes. On her lucky days, you wear short skirts and all she does is gaze at at your legs and thighs, watching how the fabric sits comfortably on your ass. She thinks your thighs would be so much prettier around her head.

And of course, you never fail to notice her stares. For some particular reason, whenever the professor calls on her, she always seems so distracted, so inattentive. That is, when you turn to glance at her, her attention is always on you.

You know who she is. Ellie Williams. She’s in school trying to get some science degree you don’t know too much about. She’s also popular with the ladies, no doubt; she’s got the brains, the looks, the confidence. God, you practically write a whole book about her huge ego. Reason being that no girl has ever rejected her. She had a different girl in her bed almost every week, always falling for her ploy. She’s basically got a ninety-nine percent success rate.

And the last percentage she was missing, was you.

Ellie always greets you with a flirty smile on her face each morning before class starts, complimenting how you look each time, and as always, you always choose to ignore her charms.

It’s frustrating for her; how someone as stunning as you hasn’t been in her bed yet. Oh, the things she would do just to have you scream her name, laying in her bed with your legs spread just for her, all hers to enjoy. It drives her crazy each day, seeing you in class in your pretty, little outfits. She wonders who you’re trying to look good for. She imagines it was her.

“Ellie, can you repeat what I just said?”

Ellie snaps out of her trance and turns to look away from you. She meets the professor’s gaze, smiling sheepishly as she leans back in her chair.

“Uh, well,” she scratches her head and at the board, where the powerpoint shone in big letters. “Project?”

The professor rolled his eyes and started repeating said project briefly for everyone to hear again. Ellie pays attention this time, listening how he explained that the project will be done in pairs and she sighs. She always wishes she’d be able to do one of them with you, but all year, the professor’s been pairing her up with some nerdy kids she could care less about.

The professor shows the last slide of the powerpoint, where he shows the list of pairs who’ll be working together. Ellie can’t help but groan, preparing herself to read some unfamiliar name right next to hers.

But, to her surprise, it’s your name that was spelled out.

Ellie reads it over and over again, double checking multiple times just to make sure that she wasn’t imaging things, that she wasn’t hallucinating. She stares at the board until the professor shuts off the projector, almost saddened by the fact that she wanted to look more.

She turns her head to look over at you, and you meet her eyes in surprise before turning away quickly to avoid her gaze. She smirks as she stares at the back of your head, thinking about all the ways she can convince you to come to bed with her. She can’t let this opportunity go to waste.

When class ends, Ellie sits back in her seat and doesn’t move and inch, just watching you pack your books, folders and papers back into your bag slowly before standing up.

You stare at the board only for moment, contemplating what you’re about to do next. Turning around, you look over at Ellie, sitting in her chair with her eyes already on you, seemingly waiting for you. A sigh leaves your lips as you walk over to her desk, causing her to lean forward a little bit as she taps the bottom of her pen against the surface.

“Hey, babe,” Ellie greets you, her lips curving into a small, devious grin. “Study date? My dorm? Preferably on my bed?”

“Library, Ellie,” You correct her, rolling your at her and tightening the grip on your bag, “Four o’clock.”

She smiles at you, “Yes ma’am.”

You nod, looking at her for only a moment. Her gaze intimidates you almost. You’re not going to deny that you’re attracted to her and was clearly showing interest in you. If you were every other girl, you probably would’ve given in to her acts of seduction, but you were you, and you weren’t planning on giving in just yet.

Ellie watches the fabric on your ass as you walk away with a faint sway of your hips. It’s almost like you knew you were driving her crazy to the point where she can’t stop thinking about you.

When you’re sitting in the library this afternoon, right on time, Ellie arrives about fifteen minutes later.

The library was quiet with occasional light chatter and the windows were wide and big, suppressing the sunlight behind these grey curtains. It was a clean, modern library with tall shelves filled with a vast amount of books and you’re sitting at a table with a book in your hand, tapping your foot against the floor impatiently, clearly waiting on your late partner. With another smirk, Ellie walks up to your table and sits right across from you.

“What’re you reading?” Ellie rests her head on her arms, leaning over the surface of the clean wooden table.

“What do you think?” you say, not even giving her a glance.

Ellie stares at you then looks towards the stack of textbooks right in front of you. The corners of her lips tug into a small smile before pulling out a notebook out of her backpack and grabbing one of the textbooks you picked out. Ellie wasn’t a bad student or a delinquent or anything. She pays attention to her studies at the right time and does her work ethically.

As time passes and as the sun begins to set, Ellie drops her pen onto her notebook with a tiny thud, curling her hand into a fist before stretching it out. Her green eyes land on you as she rubs the tattoo on her arm.

You’re still reading and writing notes in your flimsy notebook with an old mechanical pencil. For a second, Ellie just stares. No sexual thoughts or anything. Your eyes focus on the words in your book, eyebrows furrowing slightly when you stumble upon something you don’t quite understand and your nose scrunches up a bit sometimes, she notices.

And all Ellie just thinks about is how pretty you are.

“Staring isn’t gonna get any of this research done, Ellie,” you say, this time with a smirk on your face, not looking up from your book.

“I know,” Ellie reassures you and continues to study you.

She can see the heat rise up to your cheeks, flushing them in a soft pink and she would say it might’ve given her butterflies. You’re hiding your face from her, feeling a little embarrassed under her stare as the need to get away from this shyness comes up in your brain.

“I need another book,” you say, standing up immediately.

“Oh, I can come with—“

“No, it’s okay,” you shake your head immediately. “I can get it. Stay. Stay right there and don’t move.”

You almost feel like you’re talking to a puppy and luckily for you, Ellie listens and doesn’t stand when you walk away, disappearing into the vast array of book shelves.

Standing closely in front of a bunch of books you don’t even need, you stare at the bindings and book spines that were lined up against each other.

Ellie drives you crazy. You find it quite maddening how the smirk on her lips fit her so well, along with that undeniable charm. You almost want to give in. Let her do whatever she wanted to you. All for her. It’s driving you insane.

You jump slightly at the feeling of something pressing against your back. Immediately, you recognize that it’s Ellie as she places her hands softly at you waist, playing with the shirt that’s tucked into your skirt. You can feel her warm breath on your neck, her lips grazing your skin only slightly.

“I think you’re in the wrong section,” she whispers.

You tense up a little, your grip on the shelf tightening slightly, “What are you doing, Ellie?”

“Just helpin’ you out,” she says.

Her voice gives you goosebumps and you almost, almost just want to lean back a little and the back of your head on your shoulders, letting her do whatever she wants. Fuck.

“This isn’t really helping,” you breathe out.

You can feel a breathy chuckle escape her lips on your neck, as if she knows you’re lying. Her hands travel painfully slow down from your waist to the top of your thighs, giving them a small squeeze before playing with the hem of your frilly skirt.

“You know,” she starts, as her mouth gets closer to your ear. “I’ll do anything to fuck you.”

Fuck. It was a miracle you didn’t give right then and there, but you were so close in doing so. Turning to face her, you wrap your arms around her neck and she smirks, thinking she has you wrapped around her finger.

“Anything?”

Ellie nods, hypnotized by the way you’re leaning in slowly at an agonizing pace. She can feel your breath on her lips and starts leaning in towards you.

“You’re so sweet, Ellie,” you whisper slowly, a smirk tugging at your lips, “but, no.”

Ellie’s smiles fades away quickly as you pull away from her, walking back to the table. You can feel her gaze on you as you walk. Rejecting Ellie made you feel like you could do anything at that point.

When Ellie takes a seat in front of you once again, a little embarrassed, she can’t help but stare at you. Your nose is back inside your book but this time she can you unable to suppress a smile. She’s not going to lie when she says it wasn’t attractive the way you walked away from her. Fuck, you’re so attractive. It only made her want you more. She wanted you in her bed so bad. And she couldn’t even explain it herself.

Two weeks has passed since the two of you have come to meet at the library everyday after all of your classes. You’ve noticed that Ellie was actually a diligent worker and does her part for the project.

You’ve also learned to enjoy her company; mostly consisting of a few jokes here and there, complimenting you each time she gets a chance, and of course, the occasional sexual comments that would never actually go away— not that you’d like them to. Sometimes she’d take a nap, resting her head on top of her tattooed arm, and you can’t resist the urge to watch her for a moment, observing her features.

Then in the evening, when it usually gets dark after you guys finish studying, she walks you back to your dorm building.

You like Ellie. There was something about her that was just so attractive and you couldn’t quite figure out what it was.

But, today, Ellie arrives at the library with a phone pressed to her ear, chatting away with some other person you don’t ask about. She acknowledges you with a simple smile before continuing her little talk.

You find it pretty hard not to eavesdrop when she’s literally sitting right in front of you, taking her laptop and books out while the phone is still against her ear.

She’s talking to a girl, you notice, and it sounds like they’re talking about some party that’s going down tonight. You stop typing on your laptop, giving their conversation your full attention, not that you can even hear the other side. You can’t help but feel a little jealous, wondering if that girl she was on the phone with was going to be her date or something.

You pinch the bridge of your nose and sigh, “Ellie.”

“Hm?” She looks up at you in concern before realizing how loud she’s been, “Oh, sorry. Uh, hey, Dina. I’ll see you later. I’ve got some work to do.”

Ellie bids her friend a small goodbye as she looks at your face, noticing how your eyebrows are furrowed and the light clicks of your keyboard had ceased. She wonders what it was that was bothering you. Did she annoy you when she was on the phone? Or perhaps, are you jealous? She hopes you’re jealous.

You spend another couple of hours at the library until the clock hits thirty minutes past seven. You can’t get your mind off of the phone call she had. You barely got any work done because of it. Jealous. That’s what you were, and you just accepted it, thinking that there was nothing you could do.

Ellie was popular— had many girls chasing after her already. You don’t know how to compete with that. Even if she told you she’d do anything to fuck you. You wondered if she’d just forget about you, if and after that happens. You almost don’t want to be jealous. It was practically eating you a live.

But, fuck, you don’t want her to be with someone else right now.

The sky was dark and the night was cold. You’re walking on a large sidewalk on campus with Ellie right by your side, walking you back to your dorm room. She had on a large flannel over an oversized shirt and You take a few glances at the person right next to you. She was scrolling on her phone nonchalantly, not saying a word.

Eventually, the two of you reach the front of your dorm building. Ellie puts her phone into her pocket and smiles at you, prepared to wave you a goodbye before you walk into the building.

To her surprise, you don’t move an inch.

“(Y/n)? You okay?”

“Y-Yeah, yeah,” you nod your head vigorously. “Um, what are you gonna do?”

Ellie stares at you curiously, putting her hands into her pockets, “Well, there’s a party someone’s throwing tonight. Not sure who, but I told my friend I’d stop by…”

Friend. You don’t want to think into it too much but you can’t help yourself.

You’re staring down at your shoes, already thinking to yourself that this was a bad idea. You can practically feel Ellie’s gaze on you as you shuffle to find he right words to say.

“Is everything okay, babe?”

You nod again, blushing at the little name she called you.

“Okay… I’m gonna go now,” Ellie smirks at you. “Goodnight.”

It takes you a second to snap out of your trance, watching Ellie step away from you. She’s not far, but she feels like she is and you can’t help but think about the outcome of her going to that party, meeting a girl, going home with that girl, taking her to her bed. No, you don’t want that.

You want that to be you.

“Ellie!”

The girl immediately turns around with a smile, walking back towards you. She still has her hands in her pockets along with that playful smile that’s been on her face this entire time. Ellie swears her heart is beating faster than it normally does. She’s excited.

She knows. She knows what you want. And she wants to hear you say it.

“What’s up?” she asks you, leaning down to your eye level.

You look into her eyes and all of the fear and nervousness you felt goes away in a matter of seconds and finally, you open your mouth to ask, “Can I… Can I stay with you tonight?”

Ellie can hear her heart pounding in her chest. She almost felt like she was dreaming. She takes your hand and tightly interlocks them with yours, eyes not leaving your face. The way you pinked your cheeks and licked your lips has her imagining all the things she would for you.

“I’m not sure I heard that,” she says, a soft and playful smirk donning her lips, “Say it again for me?”

Oh, were you so unprepared for what she has in store for you.

Ellie drags you all the way to her dorm room, which is at a whole other building, pulling you past her door. She pushes you softly with your back pressed up against the surface of her door, arms at either side of your head.

You can feel her warm breath against your lips as she leans in slowly, watching you close your eyes immediately, waiting for her lips to touch yours. You’re adorable, she thinks. But, that moment only lasts for a second before she’s thinking about all the ways she’s going to have you screaming on her bed.

“Are you sure?”

Ellie stares at you with a look of seriousness, realizing that she wants you to confirm your decision before going any further.

“I’m sure,” you say, gently wrap your arms around her neck and smile softly. “Are you?”

“Why wouldn’t I be?”

“Don’t you have a party to get to?”

“Fuck the party,” Ellie stares at your lips; the only thing she has her mind on was fucking you until the sun comes up.

Tucking your hair behind you ear, Ellie places a hand at your waist, untucking your shirt roughly from your skirt. She looks up at you before she does anything else before hungrily pressing her lips against yours. The kiss is soft but eager. Her hands run up and down your waist, frustrated with the fabric separating her from your bare skin as she swipes her tongue at your button lip, practically begging you to let her in. You open your mouth wide and your tongue immediately meets hers, a muffled moan falling into her mouth.

Her rough hands travel down under the fabric of your skirt, playing with the hem of your panties. Fingers pressing against your clothes cunt, Ellie moans into your lips as rubs against the wet fabric.

“Fuck, (Y/n),” she groans, lips trailing down you jaw and your neck, leaving soft, pink bruises on your skin. “I wasn’t lying when I said that I’d do anything to fuck you.”

Before you can even register what happens, Ellie drops to her knees, face to face with you skirt. She looks up at you, making sure you’re watching her as she pulls your panties slowly down your legs. She slowly litters soft kisses on your thighs as she feels your hands drop onto her shoulders, gripping at them slightly.

“Ellie,” you breathe.

“Yes, baby?”

You shiver at her voice, “I– I need you.”

Ellie presses a smile against your inner thigh and pulls the fabric of your skirt over her head. She pulls your folds apart with two fingers before delving right into her meal. Ellie’s tongue traces your clit hungrily with before traveling down to slip her tongue inside of your hole.

Your moans fill the room and Ellie can’t help but groan into your pussy, the vibrations helping you feel more than just her slick tongue. Ellie eats you out voraciously, trying to edge you on as close as possible. You taste so good, so sweet to her and she quickly becomes obsessed with your taste. Her tongue licks up and down your slit, lapping at you clit before going back inside your leaking hole. Your moans and whines let her know how well she’s doing.

Your hands have a tight grip on her hair and you love the way she groans when you pull on it slightly. Your pussy and dripping right on her tongue and she can’t get enough of how you taste. You taste so fucking good. Your pretty pussy is driving her insane. All she can think about now is fucking you to the point you can’t even remember her name.

“Ellie, fuck!” you moan, the back of your head pressing against the door.

Ellie can feel you tightening around her tongue as she brings her fingers up to play with your clit. The overwhelming pressure makes you feel dizzy. Ellie’s hand are squeezing at the fat of your thighs, silently telling you to let go. Your moans ringing in her ear as she listens to you get closer and closer to your climax.

You come on her tongue, whining her name as your legs shake against the sides of her face. Ellie pulls away from you and smiles, a small but clear shine right on her chin.

Before you could say anything else, Ellie slowly pushes her middle finger right into your pussy. The gasp you let out drives her insane, causing her to add a second finger into your dripping cunt. Your legs started to tremble and shake, sensitive from coming only a moment ago, almost like your legs were going to give in at any moment.

“You take my fingers so well, baby,” she says, pressing her thumb on your clit and rubbing it in slow circles.

Ellie’s fingers pump in and out of you at a unrelenting pace as your grip on her shoulders tighten. Her stares at the way your pretty pussy drips for her, obsessed with the wet squelching sounds it’s making. Fuck, it looks so perfect.

You gush right on her fingers the moment you hear those words come out of her mouth, at the same time when she hits that right spot inside of you, leaving you trembling against her door. She brings her fingers to her mouth, sucks on them, drunk on your juices.

And you’re slipping— your back slides slowly down the smooth surface of her door only for a second before Ellie reaches to grab your hips to stop you from sinking.

“We’re not done yet, babe,” she says against your skin, leaving kisses on your neck.

She brings her mouth up against your lips again and kisses you with fervor. You can taste yourself on her tongue as she pulls you away from the door and onto her bed, your back against the mattress.

Ellie climbs over you and smiles. She has you in her bed, finally, and she’s practically bursting with joy on the inside. She stands at the edge of the bed, right between your legs and pulls her shirts off along with her pants.

You stare at her, her abs on display with some scars on her skin as she moves to pull your skirt down your legs slowly. Once your skirt was off, she starts unbuttoning your shirt, opening it up like you were a present; present being you and your body.

“You’re breathtaking,” she lets out, staring at you making no sudden movements.

You’re a little embarrassed under her stare until her hand grazes your stomach slowly up to where your bra was. Reaching from under you, Ellie unclasps your bra and pulls the garnet away from you with a content sigh.

To your surprise, Ellie steps away from the bed and goes to the corner of the room where her drawer is. You prop yourself up on your elbows and watch her curiously.

“Ellie?” you call out. “What are you doing?”

She digs through her drawer for a moment before pulling out her big, black strap on. Your breath hitched as soon as she started walking up to you. Ellie watches your face, watching your eyes widen and start to panic.

A hand caresses the side of face for a moment, before traveling down slowly from your draw, wrapping it around your neck softly.

“You’re fucking perfect,” she says, hypnotized by the way your body looked underneath her.

Her strap presses against the lower part of your stomach. You’re a little intimidated you the size but you trust Ellie. You watch her grab her cock slowly, resting thick and ready in her hand as she observes your face.

“Spread those pretty thighs for me,” she says and you swear you could come right then and there with the sound of her voice and the sight of her seconds away from fucking you into oblivion.

You spread your legs apart for her and she steps closer, the underside of your thighs pressing against her legs. She massages your soft thighs with an innocent smile on her face as you look down between your legs, seeing her strap laying on your stomach. You feel nervous. And she can sense it.

“Don’t worry, babe,” she reassured you. “I said I’d take care of you, didn’t I?”

You nodded as you watched her as she dragged her the tip of her strap up and down your sick pussy. She pushes the tip into your cunt but not enough until she pulls back entirely.

"Mmm, I want you to look at me when I'm inside you,” she says, bringing her hand up to play with your nipples.

“Ellie,” you breathe, moaning her name before you can even feel anything.

“I’m here, baby. Look at me,” she whispers slightly, watching the way you look up at her face.

Ellie smirks at the way you prepare yourself for her strap. Your hands are already gripping at her bed sheets and your eyes giving her the green light to push into you.

Her thick strap slides in easily with a squelch as Ellie eyes your moaning face, watching as you roll you head back against her bed. Your back arches slightly, feeling the girth of her cock filling you completely. The sight of you was enough to make her come.

Ellie waits for you to adjust to the size, groaning impatiently. And as much as she wanted to give you time to adjust, she wanted to start thrusting into you at an aggressive pace. Ellie moved only slightly inside of you and you moaned and whined at the small action. Her heart is beating fast and wonders how loud you would be when she actually starts moving. Fuck, she was impatient and she told herself to wait, to wait for you to adjust, to wait for you to tell her to move.

But she can’t.

“Baby,” she warns you, rubbing your thighs with her hands. “I’m gonna fuck you now.”

Ellie thrusts into you right after those words leave her mouth. You gasp, hands pulling on her bed sheets as she drills her cock into you. You cry out her name, watching Ellie clench her jaw at the sight of her cock glistening each time she pulls out as some of your wetness drips on to her bed. She’s obsessed with the way your sucking her inside your pretty pussy, thrusting way too hard into you.

Your eyebrows turned up in pain as your mouth hangs wide open, whining and moaning as Ellie fucks you. Her thrusts are hard and fast, giving you no time to take a deep breath. All Ellie could focus on was the way you moan for her, tits bouncing up and down, and your pussy sucking her strap inside with wet noises. Fuck, it was all driving her crazy.

Ellie tilts her hips to an another angle, hitting a spot that makes you scream and attempt to squirm away from her. Her hands grip onto your thighs and pulls you down on her cock, combining it with her unrelenting thrusts, successfully making you scream for her.

“Pretty girl,” she calls you, “Are you gonna cum?”

You struggle to speak, unable to stop moaning so you nod your head vigorously and call out her name over and over as she thrusts into you over and over. You feel her thumb press against your clit, rubbing it in fast circles as you thrash around, screaming into her pillow.

And she can feel it. She can fucking feel it. Ellie knows you’re about to come— it gets a little hard to thrust into you, your pussy tightening around her strap.

Fuck, you’re taking her so well.

And after a couple more thrusts, your body twitches as you gush around her strap. You shudder on her bed, trying to catch you breath, but Ellie doesn’t stop. She keeps going, fucking you through it as you squeal against her, so sensitive from the previous orgasm. You gripping her shoulders before wrapping around to dig your nails into her back as she groans.

“E-Ellie, p-please, I–“ you babble, an attempt to try and tell her to slow down a little bit, but you don’t finish your sentence and decided to take whatever she was giving to you.

She’s so distracted by the way you look when she fucks you, the delicious sounds your pussy is making. Her cock drills in and out of you mercilessly as she listens to your whines. Fuck, you look so pretty like this.

“(Y/n)… Come for me again, baby, please, fuck,” Ellie groans, hips speeding up as she rubs your clit again.

You melt at her touch, whining at the stimulation on your bundle of nerves. She fucks you hard, thrusts knocking a little breath out of you. Ellie leans down, her elbows at each side of you head as she pistons in and out of you, your face right in front of hears. She can’t help but think that your whines are the prettiest thing she has ever heard.

Her last thrust pushes you into oblivion as your back arches, front pressed against her torso while you release, making a mess all over her strap once more. You are sure you left scratch marks on her back with the nails you’ve been dragging all over her skin.

Her forehead laid against your shoulder and smiles, the side of her face pressing against the skin of your neck as she listens to you catch your breath. You’re still twitching and trembling, legs still spread wide as Ellie lead in between them. She keeps her strap inside of you comfortably, not moving an inch.

Ellie feels your hand tracing the tattoo on her arm as she pulls her head back to look at you. Her free hand tucks a some of your hair behind your ear before bringing her thumb over to trace the bottom of your lips.

“Fuck, (Y/n),” she breathes. “I think I’m in love with you.”

Ellie is obsessed with you and the way you look under her. You’re so beautiful. She doesn’t even want to think about pulling away from you and finding someone new.

“Don’t be ridiculous,” you laugh, thinking she said that as a joke.

But if only you knew how serious she was and how the only one she wants now, is you.

a/n: i’m srry this is so long for like no reason LMAO but i hope u liked it :-) also i have a sub!ellie smut coming!! vv excited

[agustdiv1ne]

candy hearts — TEASER

♡ READ HERE ♡

pairing: choi yeonjun x reader

genre: childhood best friends to lovers au, fluff, angst

wc: tbd (projected to be 10k+)

summary: spending valentine's day with your best friend had become a sort of tradition for ever since you were seven years old. despite the twists and turns in your friendship as both of you grew up, the one thing that never changed was the box of candy hearts that he placed in your hands every year.

warnings: tbd, none in this snippet

TEASER

tuesday, february 14th; age 12

you leaned your head against your palm as you zoned out in your last period class. science had never been your favorite subject, even less so given that your teacher had been informally dubbed the school's wack job. 

as the day had dragged on, you realized that the holiday wasn't as widely celebrated in middle school. the so-called 'special' day was reserved solely for the few couples on campus, most of which had been dating for only a couple weeks. you bet most would be broken up by next month, the typical cycle for immature, hormone-riddled relationships. 

but back to your science class.

you felt your eyes nearly roll into your skull as your teacher excitedly explained the concept of genetics and punnet squares. what a riveting topic to listen to for an hour on valentine's day. however, you couldn't focus on his boisterous ramblings when your mind was chock-full of bitter thoughts of how your best friend had decided that he couldn't be seen with you at school. 

okay, maybe not back to your science class. you were too distracted, too bothered, to concentrate.

because while yeonjun had promised to not leave you behind in middle school, it grew exceedingly obvious, as the year went on, that he had lied straight to your face. this holiday was only a painful reminder of that fact.

you couldn't entirely blame him, though, the vast sea of middle school causing you to slowly drift apart from each other as you both tried to find where you fit in. he had made new friends easily, the shy boy you once knew emerged from his shell, countless peers recognizing him for his impressive talents in baseball, in dance, in singing, the list could go on. he was good at everything that he tried his hand at, and by the middle of seventh grade, he had become the campus' golden boy. even the eighth graders knew him!

this came with a cost, however, and that was leaving you, his best friend of five years, behind (for the most part, at least).

you had found your own friends, of course. you had to, or else you would have been deemed a loner, and no one wants to be a loner in middle school. it was uncomfortable, having to talk to people you had never interacted with beforehand. despite this, you had found yourself a little group through your art class: yeri, chaeyoung, and yuqi. they had welcomed you into their trio easily. though it felt weird to have friends other than yeonjun for the first time, you were happy. well, uh, besides the whole yeonjun thing.

with only one class with him, it was easy to not speak to each other during school. your hangouts were now confined to after school, when he wasn't surrounded by his new friends and could make time for you. you never tried to talk to him about it, scared that he'd twist your words and it would destroy what semblance of friendship that remained between you. honestly, you wished that you could go back to elementary school, when things were easier, when you could talk to him at school without worrying about the consequences of doing so. 

yet you knew it wasn't that easy. this wasn't elementary school anymore.

your eyes subconsciously trailed over to the boy in question. you were supposed to hang out with him after school, but there was always that one insecurity that rattled around your mind:

what if this was the year that he finally blew you off? for good? 

you shook your head, going back to the worksheet your teacher had passed out as you were distracted by your thoughts. punnet squares, okay. one parent with a dominant and recessive gene, one parent with two recessive genes. now fill in the squares…

"hey, y/n."

your head shot up from at the sound of his voice. eyes wide at the fact that he was speaking to you at school. it had been months since he had last done so.

"oh, hi yeonjun. what did you need?" you sent him a tight smile, not that he noticed. twelve year-old boys were never most observant.

he placed a box of candy hearts, the same thing he gifted you every year, on top of your desk. it was blank, no message or name in sight.

"i wanted to give you this before i forgot and it got crushed in my backpack." his voice quietened, almost as if he didn't want anyone to hear what he had to say next, "we're still hanging out after school, right? like we always do?"

you nodded, and he shot you a small smile, "great, thanks."

he walked away. as soon as he sat back down in his seat, his friends were punching at his shoulder, teasing him, asking him if he was dating you. you could hear it all from where you were sitting, but you wished you couldn't after what he said next.

"me? with her? no way, we're just friends. i could never see her like that."

you never truly realized how much he truly meant to you until you no longer hung out until after school, but this? this hurt. it made your chest ache when you saw his borderline disgusted face at the insinuation that you were dating each other. what was so bad about you for him to have that reaction? was it your hair, your face, your acne? you found yourself mentally paging through every possible flaw you saw in yourself until the bell rang, signalling the end of school. 

yuqi walked up to you at the front of campus, immediately spotting the forlorn look on your face, "hey, you good?"

"uh, yeah, i guess. listen, i have to go meet up with yeonjun. catch you later?" you asked.

"yeonjun, huh? are you sure you're not dating him?" she smirked, and you rolled your eyes, your mood worsening even more.

"we're just friends," you spat, turning away from her, "he'd never like me like that, anyway. i have no chance with him. i'll see you later, yuqi."

the further you walked, the worse you felt about how you spoke to yuqi. she didn't deserve to deal with the brunt of your wrath, it was uncalled for. you wanted to run back to school and apologize, but you were sure she had already been picked up.

you'd have to make it up to her tomorrow.

as you neared the supermarket a few blocks down the street from school, you could see yeonjun waiting near the entrance, his foot tapping against the sidewalk impatiently. his bike sat next to him, which explained how he arrived much earlier than you.

"took you long enough," he teased as you approached, but you didn't answer, only sending him a half-hearted smile in return. his grin fell, eyebrows now furrowed. oh, now he noticed how you were feeling? typical. "you okay?"

that was the second time you had been asked that now. you wanted to say no, you definitely were not okay, that it hurt to hear him say those words earlier, that it hurt that you couldn't even talk to him during school. you wanted to tell him that you felt abandoned, you wanted to tell him that he broke the promise he made a year ago, that ever since the first day of seventh grade you felt left behind. you wanted to ask him why he even bothered hanging out with you when he couldn't bother even speaking to you at school.

but you didn't.

instead, you plastered an artificial smile on your face, trying to make your voice sound a little more energetic than you felt, "yeah! i guess i'm just tired. science wasn't exactly fun today, y'know?"

"tell me about it," he laughed as he walked beside you, easily accepting your excuse without prying. you wished that he would have pried. "he's the weirdest teacher i've ever had, i can't believe he hasn't been fired yet."

"right?" you replied as you walked down the aisle full of candy. you picked out one of the overpriced boxes of heart-shaped chocolates before walking up to the register. you tried to hand some of your money to the lady helping you, but yeonjun swatted your hand away.

"nuh-uh, you're not paying for this," he argued.

"but-"

"no."

you visibly deflated, scrunching your nose at him in distaste. he simply grinned at you in response.

"ah, young love," the cashier sighed as she took yeonjun's money. your heart clenched, thanking her before you two walked outside again, the air cool against your skin, the sun glaring into your eyes, the weather the complete opposite of your mood. you glanced over at yeonjun. you wondered why he hadn't protested when she said that. you didn't ask.

his hand found yours, dragging you around the corner behind the building. your heart raced, skin heating up slightly at the contact. your reaction couldn't have meant anything. no, you couldn't like him like that. you were friends, nothing more, nothing less.

as you sat next to each other behind the supermarket, unwrapping and eating the chocolate that he had bought you just a few minutes ago, you realized that you really couldn't deny it anymore: you were in love with choi yeonjun, your best friend, and you couldn't do anything about it.

hope y'all are excited :) if you would like to be tagged when the full fic is posted, please send me an ask!

→ © to agustdiv1ne. do not copy, repost, steal, and/or translate.

[kenmasgameboy]

PIPSQUEAK

a kuroo x gangmember!reader

summary;

" you like to cause a bit of trouble, pipsqueak?"

" pipsqueak? seriously?"

Life for you got turned upside down after your first year at Nekoma high. Realizing it was too dangerous, your parents sent you back to live in Miyagi and attend Karasuno with your old friends. Kuroo Tetsuro, the Police Chiefs son, comes into contact with you in the most unexpected way possible, bringing trouble wherever you both go.

—————————-

Prologue.

      High school was never that interesting to you. Though, you'll admit that it was a good way to help the days pass. You always found different games to help.

At first, games to you meant sneaking out of the house, slashing tires, almost getting arrested, going to parties. You had a bad reputation. You had been mixed up with all the wrong people before at your old school. But now you were going to turn your life around. Even if that means that now games to you would mean studying. Kind of.

         The closest you'd probably get to your new life would be getting in trouble for minor things at school. For example, falling asleep in class was a specialty of yours. Truly, an art form. Waking up to that sweet slap of a ruler against your desk was better than any alarm clock you'd ever hear. The rush in your chest, the heat to your cheeks, the sweaty palms. Incredible. But that is it. You promised your mother that this year you would be making her proud at Karasuno. You wouldn't be hanging out with those "thugs" as she liked to call them. You would keep up, maybe pay attention, and maybe make some more real friends.

       The truth was that school never felt like a real challenge to you. Sure there were plenty of difficult subjects that made you feel stupid but you always kept out of the drama, minded your business, and kept your head down. It was fine. There really was a target on your back now that you were the new girl at school though, and you had adjusted week by week meeting new people and reuniting with some old ones, too. But ultimately you decided the social system just wasn't made for you. There wasn't really a good place for you to fit in, or maybe it just wasn't comparing to the kind of family you made before.

      Today was one of those days where your motivation was at its peak, you were taking good notes. Studied for a quiz, been overly diligent. Then that sweet beautiful sound of the lunch bell rang, you pulled out your food, grabbed your skateboard, and left the classroom in a bit of a hurry. As you were leaving you started to hear a conversation:

      Dude, don't worry, I have it completely handled. Watch...

      "(Y/N)!" Narita, your classmate called for you once you exited the room and into the hallway. He stood next to Ennoshita who looked like he would explode any second. You knew Narita, him and Ennoshita were in Class 4 with you and you really didn't have that many real friends at school but you wouldn't mind calling them that. They were some of the friends you were reunited with from middle school, they were a big comfort to you when you transferred in.

      "Hey, how's it going?" You slowly walked over, trying to find your excuse to leave and take a nap without seeming impolite.

      "Great, good. Thanks, yourself?" Narita answered for him and Ennoshita. He also seemed in a hurry for some reason but was much worse at covering it up.

      "Pretty tired, but uh, for the most part—" You started but your sentence didn't last long.

      "You should come to my party! Uh— Our party. We're having a party it would probably wake you up. It's in Tokyo! I mean—" Narita came in strong.

       "Nice, buddy. You really do got this handled." Was all Ennoshita followed it up with, "Gotta go, see you guys in class."

       "A party?" You laughed a little, just because these guys were anything but the partying type. You started walking and Narita was following you like a hawk, "Don't you guys have volleyball practice or something?"

        "Yeah, of course. But not this Friday night! I mean technically we do but we'll be done at 6:30. Party can start at 7:30." Narita followed up, "All the volleyball guys will be there, too. We have a summer training camp in Tokyo starting on Monday so this is kind of the only day we can get everyone together. We already had our friends from Nekoma invite pretty much everyone they knew."

       "N-Nekoma, huh?" Your smile wavered, "That sounds like it'll be really fun for you guys. Thanks for the invite, but I don't really know anyone on your team. Plus, I can't get to Tokyo by 7:30." You said, declining as well as you could without making your answer too suspicious.

       "Well, yeah about that. Um, by 'it's in Tokyo' what I meant to say was Tokyo guys will be there. They're volleyball players, too, actually." He explained, rubbing the back of his neck and adjusting his satchel, trying his best to act cool and lean against the vending machine you were using.

       "So, it's a Volleyball mixer with you guys and a bunch of guys from Tokyo but it's not in Tokyo? Where is it, then?" You asked for the elaboration, kind of liking this dancing way to get to the point.

        "Yes, well and other schools in Miyagi, too. It's a lot of schools, I mean I'm talking Nekoma, Fukorodani, Aoba Johsai, Johzenji, Date Tech, Shiratorizawa.. maybe.. Inarizaki.. and more.. again maybe. But it's at Kinoshita's house. Which is still kinda far, but it has a pool! His family is loaded and they'll all be gone this weekend." Narita finally got to the point.

        "Sounds like it'll be a good time for you guys. I'm happy for you, sounds like you've made a lot of friends from other schools." You cheers'd your milk to him and started walking again to find a place to eat.

        "No, no. Girls will be there, too. It's kinda the whole point."

        "You really have to work on your pitch." You said plainly.

        "Please, I need your help (Y/N). I was put in charge of getting girls to come to this party." Narita begged, you couldn't help but let out a laugh at his desperation. In all your years of knowing him and being in the same classes you had never seen him talk to a single girl who wasn't in a group project or something related to it.

        "Why you?"

        "It was either me or Tanaka."

        "Oh, then definitely you are the better choice." You agreed, having known just from the previous stories he's told you. "Interesting proposition. I'll think about it."

       "You'll think about it and say yes?" He tried, "Every time I talk to a pretty girl I feel like I'm going to throw up, I can't talk to groups of girls and invite them to a party. But you're likable, more well known now since you're the new girl."

       "First of all, rude that I don't make you want to throw up. I'm pretty, sometimes."

       "Fair."

        "How about, I'll say yes if you tell me who it is you have a crush on, which girl you most want at this party then I'll help out." You offered. Narita thought for a minute as you started eating your lunch.

       "Fine." He nodded, "This is my duty to my boys." Then he leaned into your ear and whispered the name of the prettiest and smartest girl in your class: Ichika Yua. Ichika was going to be a tough sell.

       "Alright. A deals a deal. You've given me a secret and I will do what I can do. How many girls do you need, anyway? Are we going for a 1:1 ratio or..?"

       "No, these guys need a much higher chance I think. Let's try a 4:1 ratio."

       "Yeah, actually you're gonna take what you can get."

       "Yes, ma'am."

        "Now give me the rundown on your team. I don't really know any of them and I need to know for my pitches I have to do this week. And don't think because I'm doing some work means that you can slack off okay. I really only know 2nd-year girls, if you want 3rd year or 1st you have to go to them. You need to try too. Also, will there be alcohol?" You listed off your demands and were straight forward. Narita made a slow nod,

        "Oh, I almost forgot. Do you know any girls from Nekoma who could come?" He asked you the dreaded question.

        Yup, you were originally supposed to spend your high school years at Nekoma High School. When you were entering high school your dad got a job offer in Tokyo, forcing you to move out there after middle school. Then after everything happened, your Mom knew it was too risky to let you live out in Tokyo still and she shipped you back here to go to Karasuno and live in a small apartment by yourself. You have family friends who come to check on you and your parents visit when they can. It's not horrible, at least now you get to come back to streets more familiar.

      "Um, I think the girls I knew from Nekoma aren't exactly the girls you want at a party. Besides, you should just ask your volleyball brethren to ask some girls and pull their weight. Or are they too pretty for you to talk to?" You teased Narita and knocked his head.

      "Hey, girls are girls." Narita held his head from where you knocked it.

      "Sure, if thats the case then the next time you see me I better be seeing some chunks."

     You and Narita continued to eat lunch together that day. Until you realized you only had a limited amount of time left and had to use the bathroom before class so you excused yourself. You skated away around the outside of the courtyard with a bun in your mouth and around some of your other classmates, waving.

        "Dude, uh. Who was that?" A guy with an aggressive appearance walked up to Narita, having walked past a few minutes before but stayed just to gawk.

        "Huh? (Y/N)?" Narita clarified, innocently.

        "(Y/N)... wow. What a beautiful name." Tanaka sighed in simp, "Is she our year?"

        "Yeah, man. She's in my class. You never noticed her before? I'm surprised she was the talk of Karasuno guys for like the whole first week of this year." He laughed. "She is technically new to Karasuno this year. But she's from Miyagi, I've known her since grade school."

        "My babe sensor has been reserved for Kiyoko only recently. Trying to be loyal." He humphed, "You guys a thing?"

       "What? No, no." Narita laughed, "No, we've just been friends for a while. She's helping me get girls to come to the party on Friday."

       Tanaka jumped up with optimism, "Yes! This is going to be the best party of our high school lives!"

       "I hope so." Narita rubbed his neck to try and tame his nerves again.

       "(Y/N).." Tanaka sighed again, "You know who's gonna go nuts when they get a look at her, right?"

       "I know."

———————————-

next

Thank you so much for reading!! Please let me know what you think and keep reading!!

[thegeminisage]

hey liz i've been thinking a lot about story structure lately and i wanted your take on how you decide what structure your stories will have? i know there's that "you have to do what your story needs and tells you to do" thing but these bitches dont ever tell me anything they just multiply so. thoughts? - bma

(as an aside, i don't know whether involving medium would change many things but it may be worth considering. mainly i think medium is just a matter of arrangement and that the story would be for most intents and purposes the same no matter how you choose to tell it. i guess you could argue that structure is arrangement in itself and intrinsically tied to medium but i sort of feel like it is secondary arrangement, if at all? like if you consider time as an element to outline -- the time IN the story (how things happen to your characters) is not necessarily the time you’re telling the story IN (how you are telling your reader that things are happening) aka internal chronology doesnt equal your work’s pacing? or should it??? does this make sense? i dont think so. i am sorry.) - bma :|

NOOO dont be sorry ur making total sense

i think there’s 3 thots to unpack here (medium, structure, & chronology) & i’m gonna start with medium bc it’s easier. im also putting it behind a cut bc it’s gonna get just stupidly long and rambly. i’m sorry in advance if it’s not helpful to you, i have a lot to say for someone who has never taken even one single class on writing and as a result doesn’t know jack shit (there’s a tl;dr at the end dont worry)

about MEDIUM: 

so like ok i’m just some goof-off with a HS degree who writes fanfiction but In My Very Super Qualified Personal Opinion, i don’t think that most of the time medium is intrinsically tied to STRUCTURE of the main storytelling arc...i think the art of storytelling itself is distinct from the medium you choose to tell the story IN. this post puts it better than i ever could but basically for me, i feel like the story itself is sort of the raw, malleable concept, and the medium you choose to tell it in is how you convey the information??

like in a book, you can say “she forgot her keys” and in a film you have to show her smacking her forehead, heading back into the house, and swiping her keeps off the counter. you can’t TELL in film, you have to show. similarly i regret every day i cannot perfectly describe a facial expression with words when i see it so clearly in my head. for audio-only podcasts that are dialogue heavy out of necessity you have different limitations than you would for, say, animated music videos with no dialogue at all. games allow for more interactivity and exploration while sacrificing accessibility, tv shows allow for more length while sacrificing, uh, a big hollywood budget...medium affects the kind of story you can reasonably tell which is why some stories are better suited to one medium than another. i think trying things in other mediums is a good way to stretch your storytelling muscles but with enough skill nearly any story could be told in any medium. i think when trying to decide on a medium you just gotta weigh the pros & cons and what you feel comfortable with/what you think would be most effective/what would evoke the strongest reaction

re: structure:

firstly “do what the story tells u to do” is a little silly like...the story isn’t sentient. come on. that’s like “i can only write when the writing gods inspire me” there are no writing gods! inspire yourself! it’s all in our weird messed up brains! ok anyway.

this is, again, just how i do things, and i am 700% self-taught so take it with a grain of salt, but when i sit down and start blocking out a story from scratch i don’t...actually consider the big structure at all! sorry if that’s not helpful to you. i like to make a list of everything i want to happen, and then put it together in a few different orders to see what looks best. and when i’m finished, whatever i have just like...IS the structure i go with, with perhaps minor tinkering to make it flow more smoothly. (i think this might be in the same spirit as “do what the story tells you” with less bullshit and more Agency Of The Writer.)

for long and more complex projects, i actually usually have several lists - one list of stuff that is, for example, the Action Plot (the kingdom has been cursed, i’m tracking down my serial killer sister to bring her to justice, i’m running from djinn who wanna kill my dad, i’m trying to bring my dead not-boyfriend back to life). then i have another list for Character A & Character B’s romance or whatever. and maybe a even another one for solo character development (magicphobic prince learns to love magic, former werewolf hunter figures out his family is a cult, half-demon learns to embrace his own nature). and as many lists as we need for however many Main Characters and or Plots/Sideplots

how i order the lists: individually first. don’t mix them together to start with. when deciding the order of an individual list i like to, for example in a romance arc, use escalating intimacy. “A and B have dinner together” is naturally gonna go way sooner than “A and B kiss” or “A and B talk about A’s angsty backstory” because that’s more satisfying. draw it out, good/important stuff last, dangle that carrot so we have a reason to keep reading! for singular character development, it’s basically a straightforward point A to point B...if i want my guy to start hating magic with everything he is and end up being very comfortable with it, i have to put “reluctantly uses magic to save his own life” WAYYY before “casually using magic to light torches and reheat his cold stew.” 

the tricky part for me is when i’m done with these lists and then i need to mix them together To Pace My Whole Story. (this is usually why i wind up with a rainbow colored spreadsheet.) i don’t like to put too many things too close together because then the pace feels uneven. even if my Action Plot is only a thinly veiled excuse for romance and character development, i still don’t want to focus on a romance for 30,000 words and then go “and oh yeah in case you forgot Serial Killing Sister is still coming for your asses.” the more sideplots and major character arcs you’re juggling the harder it is to get an even distribution, which is my main concern always

and like, generally, whatever i have when i’m finished...is my structure. (sorry.) 

i don’t know much about the classic 3-act or anything like that, but i usually can divide them up into 3-5 big arcs based on story turning points. sometimes i take a scene out of one arc and put it in another because it fits better and i like for my shit to be organized, but usually by the time i’m finished with all that, that’s what the final story is mostly gonna look like. (there have been a few exceptions when i realized i needed extra scenes/changes while i was MID-DRAFT and let me tell you that murders me EVERY time. it happened on the merlin fic i’m currently posting and that was like my own personal hell.)

this is also where thots about chronology come in:

i think time CAN be an element of this if you WANT it to be, but it doesn’t HAVE to be. if you want it to be, i would consider it just another “list” like character development or the romance arc. 

i usually plot without considering Time very much...to me, it’s all down to the events you want to show, and however much time it takes is the byproduct. if you want to show something from a character’s chilhood but then tell the bulk of it when they’re adults, that’s one thing. if you want to show a scene from their childhood, teenhood, young adulthood, etc, that’s a different kind of pacing?? i usually do it this way so i can regard time like wordcount: it takes as long as it takes. 3 days or 3 years, a 1.5k drabble or a 100k epic...overall, my LARGEST CONCERN is that even distribution. in the same way that i don’t want one chapter to be 30,000 words when the rest are 10,000 words, i personally am not a fan of huge timeskips offscreen

(because this where i think someone’s own internal chronology DOES matter...this is just a personal preference, as a reader i have a hard time really comprehending, say, a year timeskip or a 10yr timeskip when all i did was turn one page. like, a year is such a long time. i can’t even begin to describe how different i am now to how i was a year ago. it’s the same for character development. time IS development and as a writer i’m not really comfortable having that take place offscreen - for main characters, at least. it’s just too jarring. a little prologue with something happening 10 or 20 years ago is usually fine, but for the most part, i’m not a fan. ...i can do one chapter per year a lot easier than i can do two chapters in childhood and the other 8 in adulthood. of course you can play with this a LOT with nonlinear storytelling, which is a whole other very cool thing, and someone skilled in their work can keep me sucked in no matter what, but imo if you don’t want to risk throwing your reader out of your work it’s better to keep things steady)

HOWEVER sometimes time IS an element u wanna consider outside of just making sure your shit is evenly distributed...if your heart is moved to tell a story in a specific timeframe, over a year, or from solstice to solstice (this was almost the timeline for my merlin fic and then i changed it), for the first six months of a friendship, or even a huge journey in the span of a single day (toby fox had a lot of success with this one lol).

i think it can help to choose a start and end point for your chronology the same way you do for character development (prince goes from hating magic to being ok with it, story takes place from ages 8 to 25, or from new year’s eve 2038 to 2039, whatever) - that way you can keep your distribution even, if that’s a thing you want to do...even if you have a lot of skips you can still note what happens offscreen to make it work better in your head? like, if you just make it another List, another column on your spreadsheet, when you’re in the early stages of organizing you can be conscious of it and make sure it’s playing into the story the way you want it to

anyway these r my thots im SOOOO SORRY this is so long lmao. brain machine broke today which is why i had to ramble more to explain myself. the tl;dr in case ur brain is melting out of ur ears & u didn’t sign up for an essay:

imo medium is totally distinct from storytelling tho ofc some stories are better suited to some mediums

structure? i don’t know her. i plot w/o regard to structure and then if it looks funny i mush it into a more structurally sound shape

my main concern when structuring anything, including time, is an even distribution of Events and a steady rate of escalation

structure to me is just what i have when i’m finished plotting. i’m sorry one day i’m gonna take a writing class

internal chronology matters to me personally because i have a little bit of time blindness but maybe not to everyone, i know many very successful stories where they disregarded that entirely to no ill effect

writer’s block isn’t real! everyone just needs more rainbow spreadsheets

thank u for asking I HOPE i didn’t make you regret it too badly lmao and that at least a little of it was helpful!! 

[astromedea]

Times Like These

⚝ Synopsis: A student transfers to Aliraei K’s school and claims to his classmates to be interested in her.

⚝ Genre: romance

⚝ Note! (synopsis needs revision)

<<previous | chapter 2 | next>>

I'm getting nervous each step I near their classroom...

I stopped in front of the door to their classroom. I can hear their voices faintly in the background. They seem to be in the middle of classes with sir. Is it really okay to just stop the lecture...? Nah this is just me wanting to hand out the papers to sir when he gets out.

Okay, Ali. Just knock, open the door, excuse yourself and hand out the papers. Easy. It's also good that sir is in the middle of lecturing because if that's so, he wouldn't have time to chit chat and would probably just tell me to put the papers on the desk. Yes, that's right. Okay. Don't worry now. Here goes nothing...

I knocked the door thrice, I observed immediately how everyone had gone quiet, and I opened the door, peering myself in.

"Um sir? Here are the papers you asked for yesterday." I showed to him the 5 sheets of paper I have on my hand.

"Ah Ali! Thank you, you can put the papers on the table please."

I opened the door fully and head straight to the table. I didn't know what would make me uncomfortable more, the unexpected utter quietness I was receiving from the class right now or the loud bunch of teasing.

Before I could step outside, sir calls out to me once again.

"By the way, Ali, are you feeling better now? Lia said you weren't feeling so good yesterday."

"Ah I'm fine now sir. Lia gave me medicine yesterday and I took a day off in the afternoon to get some rest."

"Oh that's good to hear! Do you think you're available later then? After your classes I mean."

"...I think so." I don't like where this is going.

"That's great then, do you mind if you could tour around one my students in the campus then? He's a transfer student here so he might need a guide to familiarize around the place."

I KNEW IT WASN'T GOING TO BE GOOD.

He pointed at someone in the class with a smile. I tried my best a while ago not to look at anyone in the class but now that sir was pointing, it should mean I had to and so I did.

I looked at where he was pointing at, and it was a guy with equally dark hair and eyes who were looking directly at me. I felt my heart skipped a beat from that little eye contact we had before he broke it up immediately and looked up to sir instead.

"That's Warren, he's what I was referring to. So, is it okay? I can't ask any of my students because after classes, they have to tend to the garden for a clean up."

"Wait we do??"

"Ah no! I had plans today!"

"Sirrrr whyyy ahh"

"Oh sorry, I forgot to mention that to all of you." The class whines more and sir directs his attention to me again. "So, is it okay?"

No it's not sir, definitely not.... *sigh* it's not like I have a choice.

"Yes sir, so after classes? When will it be after classes for them, sir? We might have different after class schedules."

"Ah you guys have the same schedule so it's fine. You're just going to wait for each other. So, who amongst you will go to which building—"

"I'll do it sir." I answered that way too quickly. "Our buildings are a bit far from each other so he might get lost on his way there, so I'll be the one to go here and wait instead."

It would be bad if he went to our building, then people even in my strand would tease the heck out of us.

"Okay, is that fine with you, Warren?"

"Yes, sir."

"Well, that's settled then. Thank you for accepting, Ali. You can go back to your class now."

"No problem, sir. I'll be going now then."

I finally stepped outside and right after I closed the door, I could hear the loud cheers coming from the room. Well at least they weren't like that to my face.

-> -> ->

"No way?? And you accepted?? I knew you'd be interested in him too! Finally my best friend's going to have a boyfriend ahh!"

"Geez why are you guys so eager for me to have one when you guys don't even have one yourselves."

Everyone looked away. It's not like they didn't have one before though. Ke liked someone who was in a different school, they dated for a while but recently they had broken up. Rhie was dating someone before too, the relationship lasted longer than Ke's and by longer, I meant a whole year. They had to break it off because he went to a different country this year. She loved him dearly but even so, she'd still have crushes with random guys now and then. While Pryce had ended his only this summer.

I swear these people are having no luck with relationships this school year.

"*sigh* It's not like what you think. I only accepted because I didn't have a choice. Sir was the one who asked me."

"Well, just good luck with that then. By the way, should we just go on ahead without you after classes?"

"Wow some friends are you... yeah whatever. I can take care of my own."

-> -> ->

As what we've planned, I went straight towards the Arts and Design building. I didn't really mind going here last time since I only have to pass something but now that I'd be here waiting after classes, that just meant that the students here will all be out of their classrooms seeing an unfamiliar face hanging around their building!

Ugh this is such a drag but whatever. I just hope their classes end sooner so we could get this over with—

"Hey."

I looked at my side to see Warren approach me. I don't know if it was just me but he looked a bit uncomfortable.

"Hey, so let's go? Let's start at the left and just go around from there to back here. We could also stop by the gate in the end if you want."

"Ah no, I'm going back here."

"Oh okay." Hmmm. "Let's go then."

Just as we had planned, we went around campus and I told him all of what places are. Although it was after classes already, there were still students around and every time we would walk by them, they'd always turn their heads and look at the unfamiliar student.

"Woah I've never seen him before." "A transferee? His uniform looks like from senior high." "Oh yeah! Arts and Design! I recognize it." "He's a senior then? Oh my gosh he looks so good."

Although their voices would whisper, I could understand exactly what they were saying. I noticed that he didn't seem to mind what the people were saying, huh, must be used to it.

"And this is our building, STEM. You see, it's a bit far from your building." No one's here, right?

"Huh isn't there a nearby clinic here? It's pretty far away, although it's near our building and a couple more. This section of the area still has lots of students, do you guys always have to rush all the way over from here to there?"

Huh, I didn't know that would be any of his concern.

"Well, they are planning to put a clinic actually. It'll be by the faculty building or could also be by this STEM building, I'm not too sure though, if you want the correct info of that, I can contact someone to ask."

"Ah no, that's fine. I was just curious."

"Are you interested in the school's layout?" He is in the arts and design strand so that could be the reason why he was curious.

"Oh uh actually I just noticed. I asked my classmate where the clinic was yesterday so it just brought up in my mind again today."

"Were you sick? Or do you worry to not find any nearby clinics because you're in need of a check up at all times?"

Why am I so curious...?

...Why is she so curious?

"Ahaha... I'll come clean after all. Well I heard from your classmates yesterday that you were sick and was about on their way to go to the clinic right after they passed your group's project. I asked my classmate where the clinic was and seeing as how far it was from your building, I uh... was curious how the students were handled if they were sick yeah! Haha... that's just all there was to it."

"Oh I see." If I didn't know, I would have assumed you were worried about me, what with that expression you have on your face right now. "Well it is a pain for a bunch of students who are in this section to be far away from the clinic but we can manage the difficulties. Sometimes the teachers even help the students with their motorcycles if they were around."

"Hmm okay, that's a bit reassuring to hear."

"So, shall we proceed then?"

"Sure."

🡢 🡢 🡢

"We're near the gates now, the campus isn't too big but it is considered to be spacious. Was the tour tiring for you?"

"No, it's fine."

"Okay, you won't really get lost here if you were to walk around alone. Advice if you did forget where you walked, just follow the path then you'll eventually get back where you came from. You can see from afar where the edges of the paths anyway and the campus is just like one big oval, where the path just wraps around it. So you'll be fine."

"You sound really experienced in touring people. Are you normally the one that tours the new students around the place?"

"Nah believe me when I say this is my first time. I guess I just went in this school for so long that I know what exactly to say right now haha."

"Alright, you're going back to your building, yeah? I'll be going now—"

"Wait!"

"Hm?"

"...I wanted to talk to you about something... Do you mind if I talk to you for a bit?"

...

"Sure, what is it?"

"Oh uh, I was wondering if we could talk about it some place else... I don't want anyone hearing about this this so..."

...

"No problem! It's not too far from here but there should be a vending machine and a place to sit peacefully, we could grab a drink while we're there too."

"O-okay."

"What do you like to drink? My treat for the new student."

"Oh no, it's fine. I'll just buy my own."

"Okay."

I stepped back from the vending machine and waited when he was getting his drink. When he was done buying his, we sat down on the seats that I talked about earlier.

"So um...—"

"Hold on. I have something to say to you as well actually. If you don't mind me asking first."

"? Go ahead."

"You... How did you know my name? You don't actually like me, right?"

⁑ Enjoyed reading? Continue to the next chapter or go back if you missed something here! ⁑

⚝ Ch 1 <- Ch 2 -> Ch 3

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[andersonstreetproject]

Anderson Street Chats with Zo!

We're really big Foreign Exchange fans here at Anderson Street. To us, there isn't a more exciting and entertaining R&B collective out. This past weekend, we got to chat with an integral piece of the group, Zo!, who will be coming to Philly's Pubb Webb with FE vocalist Carmen Rodgers. He will be performing in support of his newest album SkyBreak, which was released last summer and was highly acclaimed by one of our favorite Neighbors. We talked to Zo! about touring and performing with FE, how the loss of his father inspired the album, Philly being a terrible place if you are on a diet. Check it out below.

A lot of people know you through Foreign Exchange (affectionately known by fans as FE). How long have you been with the band?

I’ve been musical director of The Foreign Exchange since 2008 so it’s almost been ten years. I’ve been a part of all but the first FE album. I think it was, lemme see, Leave it All Behind, Authenticity, Love in Flying Colors, I was either playing on or co-produced a song or two or both. Whereas this last one, Tales From The Land of Milk & Honey, I actually co-produced with FE the entire album. My role was a little bit larger on this last one.

How does your music differ from the band?

Well my albums are usually more compilation style whereas it’s producer based.  You know it’s my music behind. It could be nine or ten different vocalists on the project at one time. Whereas FE is mainly Nicolay being the producer and Phonte being the songwriter and singer.

One thing I do like about your work and also FE, is the amount of life that you guys have. It’s a fun record. I always feel like when people think of R&B and Soul music they think about the sadder songs as opposed to the life that the music is rooted in. Can you talk about the feeling in your music and how you would describe it?

Well I blame the late 90s for what you just talked about. It was definitely moving toward the things that was actually gaining a lot of popularity. Like the songs about being cheated on, songs about you gotta get the hell on, this person ain’t worth a shit. You know it was all of those songs and we don't want to hear that all the time. Breakup songs are interesting and all that stuff and I even have one on SkyBreak, which was a change for me but a lot of times when we are just making music. 

I actually just tweeted this today: Creativity keeps me sane. And it’s true. The relationship I have with music is an emotional one. It’s a spiritual one. And that’s how I create. I create so that it’s raw and unfiltered. If I were to release this just as an instrumental album, it would still be able to touch people, without the lyrics. I try to set my bar kind of high on that end so that when Phonte comes and he wants to write on it, it only makes it better.

We usually write just from a feel good standpoint because of the live show. The live show and how we present it to our listeners and present it to new listeners. We just wanna make it so that we have a show so that it’s undeniable - the energy’s undeniable. I really want to translate my love for what I do and my love for music and my love for making people feel good through music in my performance and in my output.

I’ve met Phonte and I’ve interviewed Eric Roberson a couple of times and I mentioned to both of them that the two of them need to teach other R&B artists how to put on a show. Mainly because a FE show and an Eric Roberson show are unlike anything that I’ve been to on an R&B concert tip. You’re laughing, you’re joking, you’re creating a feel that I think has been lost.

You know I've been to a lot of shows where it’s kind of “oh and ok and this song is” and then they play the song “and this song is.” And to me that’s not really a show, that’s almost like a listening party. You really want to make it a show make it entertaining. And of course afterwards that’s where we interact with our fans --  what if this is the last time we come back to the city? We want to make sure we give the fans the full experience. I always say that I’m a fan first and if I go to a show and I see the performer come out, that’s sometimes worth the price of admission where the show is almost secondary. We make sure our fan base isn’t a Beyonce fan base where it’s just half the world. It is very much a community. When we go to shows and see people we go “oh that’s so & so.” We know them by name. Usually they’re regulars and we’ll see them on social media. We interact that way. It’s very much a community that we’re trying to build slowly and honestly.

I’ve been to 3 FE concerts and And the most shocking thing I’ve noticed is the amount of men at an R&B show. I’ve never seen anything to like it. I just wanted to ask why you think that is.

It’s a show where they can feel comfortable. And what I mean by that is, if you go to the typical R&B crooner show, you don’t know what’s going to happen. A lot of those shows are for women. If you go to a FE show, you know that Phonte isn’t coming out there with his shirt off. I’m not going to be coming out there pouring water on my chest. Nicolay is not going to be coming out there passing out roses. You know what I’m saying. It’s very much a community. We involve both sides and I think that’s dope.

Every year we asked a few of our followers to share their favorite albums of the year. One of our favorite Neighbors Skye chose your album. Tell us about SkyBreak. 

SkyBreak was done through a very painful part of my life. During the recording process my father passed. I wanna say we really got started seriously not too long after that. But after that is when it really went down, which was tough. After that happened, I really didn’t get in the studio for another month. I just didn’t feel like it. It’s one of those situations where folks would be like he’s looking over you and you gotta take that momentum and go in the studio. And I was like I don’t feel like going in the studio. So once we got back in and started working, we were done with the majority of the album being finished in a two month period.

That’s what inspired the title. I remember going to Phonte and saying I got a title. I’m trying to remember what the title was that I had but it was the same concept about my father entering heaven and that’s basically what a sky break is. A sky break is an opening so that you can enter which is the same thing depicted by the cover art. Kind of walking to the light / out of the darkness sort of thing. It was just a tough time. I mean last year was just a tough year with that. I mean all of the firsts that he missed all that kind of stuff. Eventually I did put it in the music. Eventually once the shows came, I put it in shows and dedicated a song to him, the “For Pops” joint which is second to last on the album. I think that even with it being what it is recorded, it’s my favorite material to date to perform. I think that it translates very well live. I’ve heard more than a few people tell me that they like the live version even better. I feel like I’ve done my job when that happens.

The album doesn’t sound mournful. How did you push yourself to create a sonically positive body of work?

The attitude I try to keep around his passing, especially around my immediate family is to look at it as more of a celebration than a mourning. He was was always super supportive of me and my music. Both of my parents have always been. I just really looked at it as a way to make something to celebrate his life; his support of what I’m doing.

What do you like about Philly in comparison to other cities?

One thing I like about Philly outside of performing, y’all are a foodie ass city man.

Ooohh yes we are!

Y’all love y’all food man. And I gotta make sure I’m pacing myself every time I’m here. Cause y’all gotta lot of goodness man. A lot of food goodness that can throw me completely off track from goals I’m trying to accomplish.

What’s the place you gotta go to when you come to Philly?

I don’t have one yet. I really don’t have one yet. I’m trying to think of spots that I’ve been to. I remember eating pretty good at Johnny Brenda’s last time we were there. I’ve been taken to Jim’s a couple times on South Street.

You gotta go to Max’s. Have you been to Max’s yet?

Nah unh uh. Y’all remind me of Memphis. Everyone in Memphis got their got their BBQ spot. You go to Philly, everyone got their steak spot. What’s the other spot? On the tip of my tongue. t’s one of the only spots where I eat their macaroni and cheese. I’m a mac & cheese snob. It’s almost like a diner type of spot.

Silk City?

Silk City! That’s it.

So what do you have planned for Philly this time?

We will have our touring crew from Detroit a crew called Collective Peace, who has been doing all of our shows with us. Collective Peace shares the same mindset as I do because we’re all from Detroit. We go in. We go hard. If you’re kind of expecting the Neo Soul or lighting incense on the stage type of feel, we ain’t doing that shit man. We’re pretty much going up and we’re putting our foot on the gas with the first song and having fun.

Zo! will be performing at Pubb Webb this Friday, March 3rd. Tickets are still on sale.

Also, stream Zo!’s latest album SkyBreak on Apple Music, Spotify, and Tidal.