#for I don't know what reason in middle school my math teacher went on a long tirade of how a proper hand kiss is done

[andry-di]

[thepenultimateword]

Skin Crawl

CW: Bugs, Bug horror, bullying

Hero scrubbed uselessly at the permanent marker, but even with the rubbing alcohol stinging their nose and their shoulders sore from vigor, an outline of obscenities stubbornly marred the top corner of the desk.

Hero sighed, leaning back on their heels. How did they even get roped into this? They’d only pointed out the spattering of language to their teacher so that they could punish those responsible. They hadn’t been volunteering to clean up the mess themselves. But the teacher had seemed so pleased with their willingness to help…how could they have refused?

They glanced to the back of the classroom where their dark haired classmate leaned way back in their seat, feet kicked up on their desk, book held open directly overhead.

“Are you…going to help?”

“Sure,” they waved without looking away from their page. “You can go if you want. I’ll do the rest.”

Hero straightened their aching back. “Will you?”

It came out a little snarkier than they’d intended, but Villain wasn’t exactly known for their work ethic. They were always coming to school late, staring off, or ignoring assignments. Unlike Hero, they hadn’t volunteered for classroom cleanup.

Villain cocked their head to the side, raising one dark brow. “How many times have you cleaned this classroom?”

“Well, just this once—“

“How many times have I cleaned this classroom?”

“How am I supposed to know? I don’t count all the times you mess around—“

“Oh yes, you do. You have that cute little book with all the tallies.”

Hero’s face burned.

But for some reason, Villain didn’t sound angry, just…making a point.

"Go on, open up to my page. Tell me how much experience I have staying after school."

Hero shouldered their backpack with a huff. "Ok, I get it. Just...make sure you drop the classroom key at the office when you're done. I don't want to lose the staff's trust because of you."

"Yes, master," Villain said and went back to their book.

Hero hesitated. Part of them still didn't trust their classmate to continue where they'd left off. Could this be a ruse to get them in trouble? Or maybe they just wanted Hero out of their hair and didn't care about the consequences.

Or maybe you need more faith in people.

Ugh. That was hard when everyone in this school had proven untrustworthy. Even the friends they'd made from the 'good crowd' hadn't lasted past the first month of the school year. None of them had what it took to stand up against immorality. They'd rather turn a blind eye and cut ties with anyone who might stir up the hornet's nest.

Whatever.

They grabbed their notebook off their desk and whisked out of the room. Now, what misdeeds had they borne witness to today? They flipped open to the middle of the boo; they might as well report these to the office before heading home.

11:45am--Caleb stuck gum on the inside of his desk sticking together the pages of the math textbook

11:50--Kayla texted in class for half an hour straight and did not complete any of her schoolwork.

12:30--An unknown underclassman with red hair shoved a smaller boy at lunch and took his place in line (please identify).

12:45--Taylor C. was making out with her boyfriend in front of the east stairs between classes, blocking off the way for anyone needing to use them. She also used some choice language against a well-meaning student who asked her to refrain until they left the grounds.

12:48--Victor verbally harassed an underclassman girl in the hallway despite her repeated refusals for acquaintanceship; he did not respond well to outside interven--

Hero's notebook hit the floor with a loud smack.

For a moment all they could do was stare at their empty hands in shock, then they lifted their gaze to the sneering, chiseled face in front of them.

"How many times did it make it into Book Golden Rule now?"

"Only once today, Victor," Hero said, bending for the book. Victor snatched it just before their fingers could brush the spine. At about the same moment, someone kicked them behind their right knee. Hard.

Hero gasped, collapsing onto the sneaker-smudged tile.

Victor flicked casually through the pages, stopping at his own tally sheet near the front. "Wow, my infraction rap is growing. You must be obsessed with me or something. Kinda gross but I guess you can't help it."

A chorus of laughter sounded over Hero's shoulder, and suddenly they were surrounded on all sides. They defiantly looked into the perpetrator's faces, memorizing identities: Caleb, Rick, Renna.

"Just give it back," Hero said dryly. "You're only making this worse on yourself."

Victor laughed now. "Really now? Your self-righteous ego is so big you still think you've got the upper hand here?"

"Not physically obviously, but anything you do to me, I'm just going to add it to my report."

Victor stared Hero dead in the eyes and slowly tore the notebook in half.

"I'm going to beat you so soundly, you won't even look at me without peeing yourself. You're going to look away from everything I do because all you'll remember is the pain of this moment.

"I'd never turn a blind eye for my own personal--"

The words scattered as Victor's fist met their mouth. Before they could recover he hit them again. And again. And again. A cleated food hit them from behind, sending a stab of electric agony up their spine. Dangerous. This wasn't just a scuffle. They wanted to seriously hurt them!

The next punch threw Hero on their back. They'd never been one for envy, but suddenly they wished they had one of those combat powers, super strength, invincible skin, knife fingers, anything actually useful for defeating evil!

Army boots smashed over their fingers.

Hero screamed.

"Shut them up!" Victor snarled.

Caleb's shaved head bent over them, and something knit and strongly scented of sweat was forced between their teeth and far enough in to make them gag. They spasmed but movement only made Caleb lean in harder. They couldn't breathe!

Where was the principal? Where were the teachers? Someone had to be hearing this? Someone here had to care?

The boots hit their ribs and tears gathered in their eyes.

"Aww, the wittle baby is cwying," Renna said. She balanced one foot on the center of Hero's chest and slowly leaned in her weight. "How does it feel when someone steps on you?"

Hero wanted to say that exposing someone for cheating wasn't crushing anything deserved, but there was too much sweater down their windpipe.

"Hey."

The group jolted and some of the wight lifted. Hero's vision was blurred, but between Victor and Rick's shoulders, they made out unkempt midnight hair and lanky limbs. Villain.

"If it isn't Psycho," Victor practically purred. "You want to get a few blows in too? Go nuts."

Hero's screaming insides twisted. They cared more about facts than rumors but they'd also never been this helpless in front of their dark classmate, as alone and outcast as they were but for totally different reasons. Villain supposedly had a penchant for macabre experimentation. Students said they had a devil in them. That they ate the raw innards of animals to feed it and placed curses on anyone who messed with them. There was even a rumor that they dissected a kid who made fun of them in class. Hero always found that one ridiculous, the student probably just moved away. But now, pinned and gagged and Villain getting closer they were having doubts.

Villain stopped directly in front of them. "Let the angel go."

Victor gaped for a moment. "Are you kidding? They write you up almost as much as me. You think all those after-school detentions come from thin air?"

Villain only slow blinked. "I'm giving you 5 seconds to get out of here before I do go psycho. Unlike angel, my problem-solving is more physical."

"Get out of here," Victor said waving Villlain away before back toward Hero, though the rest of his crew looked a little more nervous.

Villain shrugged. "Suit yourself."

Their mouth opened wide, cavernous. The inside might have actually been black for all Hero could see. Though something almost seemed...to move.

The first centipede dropped on Renna's boot.

"What the..." She kicked it off, lip curled in disgust. "Did you just throw--" As she turned back, she let out a splitting scream. Everyone whirled. Caleb lost his grip on the sweater gag, and Hero finally managed to roll to the side, coughing and spitting. When they raised their head again a mass of black centipedes scurried across the floor, swarming the group's shoes and wriggling up their legs. The great arthropods dropped in heavy droves from Villain's lips, some crawling down the sides of his face and neck in rapid desperation to get to the floor. Through it all Villain was still and unflinching though their eyes danced with dark amusement.

"You freak!" Victor shrieked slapping off bugs--all four perpetrators were already littered with angry bites. "You're possessed! You're--"

He cut off as a low buzz gathered in the back of Villain's throat, this time the bugs emerged as a cloud, a swarm of wasps, as black and large as the centipedes.

"Forget this!" Rick cried, taking off at top speed Renna and Caleb were close behind. Victor looked like he wanted to curse them out but all he managed was a rude hand gesture before taking off after his posse.

The centipedes followed in a dark wave, cutting a path on either side of Hero. Villain let them go, though a deep inhale sucked the wasp swarm, and a few stragglers on their shirt, back down.

Hero stared. Villain stared back. Hard black eyes evaluating. Hero's breath caught in their chest, which was probably for the best. It hurt to breathe right now.

“You know it’s being an insufferable goody two shoes that keeps getting you in trouble," Villain finally said.

Hero rose achily to their feet, brusquely wiping their face with a stifled sniffle. "Yeah, well...no one asked you." Tears threatened to spill full force over their lashes, so they began quickly gathering up the pages of their shredded notebook. "I'm going to have to add a tally for physical violence in school. I can't be biased."

Villain barked an incredulous laugh. "You're really something else, you know that?"

"And you have centipedes living in your stomach."

"Not sure if they actually live there, more like they materialize there when I want them."

"And how'd you figure that out?"

Villain smiled. "You mean you don't commonly dream of centipedes?"

Not really an answer but Hero snorted, catching themself with a wince on the wall as they did.

Slender fingers gripped their shoulders. "You should sit down."

Hero obeyed without argument. They probably looked completely pathetic right now. Tear stained, bruised, shaking. They'd always sworn it didn't matter how many people disliked them as long as they had their dignity. So much for that.

Hero ducked their head between their knees.

"Why'd you help me? Victor's right. I get you in trouble almost daily."

Villain slid down on the floor next to them. "Yeah. But being a massive pain in the butt doesn't mean you deserve to get beaten up. Besides, some of the things they do need to be exposed. And...it's impressive that you're not scared to do it."

Hero didn't fully know how to respond. That someone needed to care? That obviously when five students screaming at the top of their lungs didn't even crack a door there was a problem? Yes, they'd realized early on that putting things on paper was the best way to get results, but it wasn't like they were completely without ulterior motives either. Did choosing to confront the bad for self-serving motives make them any better than those who turned away? Villain had called them angel. But they were far from it.

"Is it a power?" Hero said, shoving away the thoughts and pointing at their mouth instead.

Villain nodded.

“Cool.” They couldn’t help the note of awe.

“Really?”

Hero looked them head on. “Yeah. I guess it’s unconventional, but you took on four people and won without moving an inch. That’s a real power.”

"You don't think it's disgusting?” For the first time Villain looked something close to vulnerable. Like Hero’s reply had thrown them off so much they’d forgotten their nonchalance. “It doesn’t make your skin crawl?"

"Not really." Hero looked up and down the vacant hallway. They wet their lips, took a deep breath, and shed their skin. They’d done it in the mirror enough times to know it was disturbing. It wasn’t the sort of shapeshifting that happened in glamorized movies. It was messy. Sometimes bloody if they went too fast. They looked at Villain with a mirror of their face. “That make your skin crawl?"

Villain grinned. "Not really."

A beat.

“So that’s how you get the dirt on so many people.”

Hero flushed and shed back into their own skin.“Most of the time yeah. They usually cover things up if they see me.”

Villain’s eyes roved them up down, hard and cutting and dark, like black diamonds. “Amazing.”

Hero shrugged, trying to pretend that gaze was not cutting them to the core. “It’s not a useful power. I connive against evil. I don’t beat it. After graduation I want to try for Allegiance Academy but…well you saw. What hero team would want someone who can’t even fight? Even with combat classes I’d never compare to the big powerhouses.”

Villain didn’t respond.

Great. Hero opened up to much. They’d gotten whiny with a practical stranger. They’d gotten Hero out is tight spot, not asked for their life’s dreams and woes

“Don’t hero teams need reconnaisance?” Villain said

Hero blinked. “I guess so.”

They’d never really thought about it before. That wasn’t the sort of role that showed up on the news. It wasn’t the thing that got peace prizes or admirers. But…maybe that was fine. They’d always craved power for the sake of being accepted into the academy and eventually chosen for a team, not for the sake of attention. Besides they were used to being alone; they were fine with it.

"Well, I better finish that cleaning," Villain said, pushing to their feet. "I wouldn't dare risk another infraction."

"Villain," Hero said before they got too far.

"Hm?"

"Thank you. For the help. You're...good."

Villain crooked a smile. "Never been called that before. Probably won't again. But I appreciate it."

With that, they were gone.

Perhaps Hero didn't need to be alone after all.

8 years later…

Hero straightened their silk tie in the rearview mirror, a silvery ribboned thing they normally wouldn't have gone for but couldn't say they disliked. Though maybe that was because it suited this face. Round, prim, pink-lipped, nothing like their own drab, haggard countenance. They swore each time they returned to their true skin it looked worse.

They quickly double-checked their current contours with the photo in their glove box. "So, this is our target's lover?"

"Remy Navarro," their earpiece crackled. "They've been together six months, and they are very involved in this villain's inside plans. We're thinking 24 hours tops before you come across something big."

Hero stepped out of the car and began weaving their way through the menagerie of fine-dressed gala members. "Ok, well you rushed me into this, anything else I should know before I find this criminal overlord?"

Their teammate hesitated at the other end of the line. "Just don't act surprised about the legs."

"Legs?" Hero said. "As in, they look weird?"

"As in. there are extras."

"Excuse me? I'm really beginning to think I didn't get a proper debrief."

"It was an unexpected opening. We had to take it. Anyways you're good at improvising."

Hero dodged around a cocktail tray. "I appreciate your faith in me, but I'm better at improvising when I've had a week to carefully study my subject's personality and mannerisms. I mean what is my personality? Are they an affectionate couple?"

Silence and then finally, "You'll be fine."

"Are you kidding me? Other Hero! Other Hero?"

They'd dropped the line, hadn't they? Hero sighed, stuffing the earpiece into their pocket. Sure, they'd do better without distractions, but this was verging on insanity. Other Hero had better gather more info on their new identity before tomorrow.

They stopped in front of an intricately carved set of double doors at the tops of the stairs. The private quarters of the newest villainous boss their team had begun tracking. The assignment was a rush job so all they had was a blueprint layout and the supposition that tonight's gala was prepared as a cover for something big.

They rapped quietly on the wood before immediately easing the door open. Lovers would be comfortable enough to do that, right?

A tall figure turned as they entered. Long midnight hair fell over dark-clad shoulders. Dark, hard eyes stared out of an even harder face. And yes, there were extra legs, though not the kind Hero had been expecting: they were black, rigid, clawed things sticking out from their sides, almost like those of an insect. Meanwhile, a pair of pitch-colored moth wings folded on their back, the tails gliding on the floor like drapery.

"Took you long enough," the villain said. A black centipede crawled down their cheek and settled like a parrot on the villain's shoulder.

Hero froze on the threshold, desperately trying to connect their dropped jaw back to their brain so they could snap it shut.

It had been years since they'd seen this dark figure; their jaw seemed even sharper, their lankiness had turned to elegant slenderness, and the bug parts were new, but Hero recognized them immediately.

Villain.

Master Taglist:

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[toshidou]

oddly specific british hcs . . .

characters // the 141 (simon "ghost" riley, john "soap" mactavish, kyle "gaz" garrick, john price)

an // don't ask me what this is, because i really don't have an answer for you. my brain just spat this out at me mid walk and for some reason i decided to post it here. i am so sorry.

Simon "Ghost" Riley

He's scared shitless of Year 7s, despite knowing full well that he was one of those little bastards when he was a kid. Not much puts the fear of god into him, yet something about a group of little shitheads who think they own the world has him crossing to the other side of the street at the sight of them.

Got suspended from school one time for stealing one of the dildo's from the RE classroom and supergluing to the seat of the kid who tried to bully him.

Got good grades at school. Not because he put in the effort, but because he stole all the exam answers from his teachers desk and spent the night before the exam memorising it all. "Work smarter not harder" was his motto.

Once got lost in a Primark. He was only looking for some cheap sleep wear, and ending up somewhere stuck between rows of Disney clothes and screaming children on leashes.

Has an unhealthy obsession with Monster energy drinks, he once drank so many in a row he went temporarily blind in his left eye. Still drinks them to this day.

John "Soap" Mactavish

He once had a full on mental breakdown in ALDI because the cashier was scanning things too quickly and he couldn't keep up.

Has started several fights in pubs because someone insulted Iron-Bru, both Simon and Price have had to drag him out of nearly all of them kicking and screaming garbled Scottish insults.

Used to dip his sherbet dib dab in dirt as a kid.

Once got in trouble in maths class for spelling "80085" on his calculator and laughing so hard he pissed himself.

The only time he laughed that hard again was when the Queen kicked the bucket. Price looked nothing short of disturbed.

If one more person comes up to him and yells "DISGUSTANG" in an exaggerated and shit Scottish accent, he's going to commit serial arson.

Kyle "Gaz" Garrick

Went to private school, and gets bullied for it by the entire 141 as soon as they find out. They rib him even harder after they find out he was head boy.

Got invited to a night out in London by one of his rich acquaintances from school, which ended up being The Box. That night single-handedly gave him more PTSD than any mission he's ever been on.

Has personal beef with Percy Pig after he almost choked to death on one, and to this day he will never live it down that Ghost had to give him the Heimlich.

Has an unhealthy addiction to the Spice Girls. Sometimes he forgets he lives on a military base and still sings "Wannabe" at full volume in the showers. He's had to swear Soap to secrecy on numerous occasions.

His favourite Spice Girl is Scary Spice.

Captain John Price

His biggest guilty pleasure is listening to Take That. He'd first heard them first thanks to his mother being worryingly obsessed, and started mockingly singing along to their songs on brief phone calls from his barracks after he'd first joined. Little did he know that soon he too would unironically love their music. And yes, he cried when Robbie left the band. It's a secret he's taking to the grave.

Hates Waitrose with a burning passion, he once threw a fit over the price of a packet of peanuts and scared the middle-aged woman and her baby two aisles down.

Saw Gaz choking on a Percy Pig, and then proceeded to buy him every available Percy Pig related merchandise for Christmas.

Loves vinegar on his chips from the chippy, and when he found out the smell makes Soap gag, suddenly he loves his chips drowning in it.

[royrockstone]

✂️ & 🎓 for ken, rome, & shivvy <3

hiii thank you for asking <33

hc + 🎓 for an education-themed headcanon

ken

i think kendall was always a very good student because he had to be for logan, i don't think that's a controversial take. i think teachers never really liked him because he monopolized class discussions, was not above name-dropping his daddy to the administration, and just generally had a sweaty-forehead vibe of desperation and effort that was sad and unpleasant to look upon

rome

incurably mediocre student, below average in math and science. i've played with the idea that he had teachers who were charmed by him and his class clown antics, but i think there were other teachers who had like a sadistic hatred of him (and not jsut in middle school) in that way adults sometimes do to children and convinces children there must be something deeply wrong with them. i also think there were books that roman skimmed in school that actually left a pretty profound impact on him (or at least the way the teacher talked about them did) like he would never admit it but Austen does something for him...

shivvy

definitely effortlessly a better student than ken. like picks things up faster, probably did really well on the debate team (which begs the question what format of debate did she do all my former speech and debate kids sound off), never visibly struggled in any subject. i dont know if we ever learn what college she went to? like in the prop auction was there a diploma for her? im team shiv4yale to contrast with ken going to harvard, but i could also see her going to brown because that school is probably the world's capital of pretending not to be rich for clout.

hc + ✂️ for a hair-themed headcanon

im going to do these all in one clump because i have similar thoughts about all of them--

all three of them have had breakdown/sudden self-reinvention haircuts (romans bad fash haircut, shivvy's amy dunne bob, ken's monastic buzz) which is sooo--

i think there's a certain asceticism (dare i say eating disorder-coded?) that goes along with haircuts for all three of them-- like cut away the excess, start fresh, be sleeker, be different, be unburdened, be made new. i think shiv in particular would get a haircut as a replacement for some other emotional outburst (ed-related or not) that she would feel is embarrassing. i could see roman wanting short hair for the same reason he likes tight clothes- there's like an agony/ecstasy to being so bare, where you feel clean and defined, but also painfully exposed and naked.

[marcholasmoth]

OSRR: 3167

today was the first good day this week.

tuesday morning marked "this is the longest week of my goddamn life" and every day since then has been worse. every day. it's been overwhelming and exhausting and tiring on every level, leaving me drained beyond reason and with only a desire for sleep.

today started much the same, but physical therapy helped. the work day was the same as the other days. but it was shorter. i talked to the head of the math department and we talked about maybe me working at the school as a professor for some of the classes that need teachers. so that was good. she's going to consult with other teachers and department heads for what they do when they have someone who's fully qualified and capable of teaching a class but doesn't necessarily meet the certification that comes from being an accredited university. so more on that later. i'm still trying to find a job in DC, but it's a little less pressing at the moment. which is nice. it'll probably take me a year to find a job.

after work, i picked up joel, we went back to the house, i set a few alarms, and i passed out for a couple hours. i had a wild set of dreams. i don't remember them, but i vaguely remember getting struck by lightning in one of them? i don't know.

but i got up to my alarms and headed off to a painting workshop where we learned how to paint in the traditional ukrainian style. it was so much fun! we painted little ornaments and they had snacks and a couple tables of things that they were selling as a fundraiser for the organization. it was a great time and everyone was really nice and i was happy to be a part of it.

i also didn't realize until i was just standing there doing nothing that i didn't have to stay. i wasn't part of the organizations putting on the event, so i didn't have to stay to clean up. i could just leave. so i did.

i went back to the house to gather my belongings before heading out again. joel and lisa and a few others had left for the weekend already by then, so i was glad i gave joel a hug before i left for the workshop. i gathered my laundry and pillows and stuff and i put it in my car and i went and got myself dinner at olive garden. as someone who doesn't eat much during the day except for dinner at night, eating a shitton of calories in one go is my normal, but not necessarily good. i would much prefer to eat throughout the day. but i don't remember. and i'm usually broke. so i don't.

anyway.

i blasted basshunter on the way home and showed my sister the stuff i got and stretched out my neck on the floor for ten minutes. it was nice to hang out at my sister's without having to put on my shoes again and drag my ass across town.

i'm in bed now, im exhausted, im ready for sleep. don't know what i'm doing tomorrow, but my back already hurts.

i'm kinda gonna miss the joel cuddles in the middle of the night. it's okay though. it's only a few days.

[fanficwriter284]

Chucky: Story Of My Life

All right let's get this shit over with. Alright so let's start off with the basics I was born in Hackensack New Jersey, My parents were Lukas Ray and Julia Ray. My dad's German/Austrian and my mom was German and French. When I was a baby we went back to Germany for some reason and lived there till I was 5 or 6. Then we went back to the United States and I didn't speak English. My parents spoke broken English but primarily spoke German.

On the plane ride, I was scared and nervous since I didn't understand a word people said. School was a struggle at first. Like a month before I started school, my parents tried to teach me English. So when I went to class I had no idea what my teachers were trying to tell me so, when the teacher tried to get to know me and the only words I knew were Yes, No, and Ok. So when they asked me questions all I said was Yes and No. Till they eventually caught on and realized that I didn't speak English, so I needed to do special classes. The only subject I knew how to do and was actually good at was math. Eventually, I could hold a conversation and semi-understand English.

Home life was shit. Had a fuckin alcoholic as a father and a mother who was never really there. Always working. Whenever she was there me and her got our asses beat by my father. Or whenever she would walk in on him beating my ass she would just watch horror and didn't do much to help. Most she did was clean off my cuts and that was about it. Normally to calm myself down I would draw or paint. In art class, the teacher always told me to sell a few pieces. Eh, I sold a few but I really never stuck to selling them. At school, I played the piano and guitar, and I was considered to be quite good at it I guess. As I got older I became more distant from my classmates and I just never really liked people.

Let's see ummmm. Oh In the 4th grade that's where I met Tiff. Ok, I'm not going to lie but at first, I hated her. She always followed me around and never left me alone. Till me being the asshole that I am I snapped and told her to fuck off. Then I actually felt bad. I know right. ME of all people felt bad for hurting some person's feelings. Anyways, I went and apologized to her. We became friends and Blah Blah Blah! You know the rest of that story. How I killed my dad and all that jazz. My mother committed suicide leaving with that monster. I got put into the foster system, which sucked. And I got put into a foster home with a woman named Mary Hiddle. I was a jerk to her at the beginning but eventually, me and her eventually grew close. BUT things went downhill and she lost her job. So we had to move to Chicago and lived with her mom. Later she eventually got back on her feet and she adopted me. Then we moved back to Jersey, where Tiff and I reunited and eventually started dating! Uhhh am I forgetting anything? Oh yeah, Eddie. We met Ed when we were in the 9th grade I think 10th maybe eh I don't remember. Around that time and we befriended each other. We did some fun shit and had a good time. I was doing college classes in middle school and I didn't pay for anything since I had good grades and I did sports so that was cool I guess. But my Mom got sick and we found out she had cancer. So....uh....yeah.....She eventually passed away after 5 years of battling cancer....and uh...I don't know what else ta say.

Ok what else???? Uhhhhhh.... Oh! Eventually, me and Tiff moved in with each other. Yes I know it's supposed to be Tiffany and I for proper grammar and shit but I don't give a damn so deal with it. Anyway, We had the time of our lives and went on killing sprees. It was some of the best years I had. Then life turned upside down. Getting shot and killed and becoming a doll and all that good stuff. Eh, I won't bore you with the details, you already know what happened. And now I'm happily married and have two kids. You know with me there's never a dull moment.

[hergifs]

Damon, Elena, and Jeremy in TVD 517: Rescue Me

Damon: The clock's busted. What am I paying my PTA dues for? I am gonna file a complaint. Elena: Is that why you're here? Damon: You left me in charge of Jeremy when you went off to Whitmore. I've had this on my calendar for months. Elena: So no other reason? Damon: Why? Is there something else you want to talk about? Oh, come on. Don't pretend like you're not still tingling from this morning. Elena: Can we just focus on Jeremy, please? Damon: Right, well, speaking of hypotheticals, if Jeremy was running around with another girl, would you wanna know about it? Elena: What are you talking about? What girl? Damon: Bonnie's little witch trainee, Liv. I saw her and Jeremy sharing a top shelf bottle of inhibition killer at the grill this morning. Elena: Jeremy wouldn't do that to Bonnie Damon: Again, need I remind you that he once had an affair with a ghost. The only thing missing was a sappy love song and a pottery wheel. Elena: He learned his lesson. Jeremy's not a cheater.

(Finally, the teacher enters the room) Mrs. Douglas: Okay. Sorry to keep you waiting. Bad news first – Jeremy's missed 11 days of school, he's started three fights, and he's been caught cheating in math class… twice. Damon (sarcastically): Cheating? That is so not like him. Go on, please. Mrs. Douglas: I'm sorry, you are Elena's… Damon: Ex-boyfriend – ex, right? Elena: Can we not talk about that right now? Mrs. Douglas: Actually, it's relevant. Most problems in school are rooted in problems at home. Jeremy's in desperate need of a stable living situation. People who care about giving him that, more than their own needs– Damon: Someone's in desperate need of a less judgy counselor Elena: We do care, we really do. We'll.. we'll do better Mrs. Douglas: I hope so, for Jeremy's sake.

Elena: Just because Jeremy's a bad student, it doesn't mean that he's cheating on Bonnie. Damon: You're making excuses for someone you love. That's what you do. The worse the behavior, the more you try to defend it. Elena: And you keep trying to make this about us. Damon: Yeah, because you keep trying to make it about anything else! Elena: You know what? Fine. But don't pretend you came here for Jeremy. If you wanna talk about last night, talk! Damon: Here's the thing, Elena, I don't know what to say, or do. or think. All I know is that right now… (Damon pushes Elena's back into the lockers and lowers his voice) Damon: I want to rip your clothes off right here in the middle of this hall, and throw you into one of these classrooms and kiss every square inch of your body, while a bunch of people that drive minivans listen wishing they were us. That's probably a bad idea, right? (Elena takes a minute to think about her answer) Elena: Right Damon: Right (The bell rings) Damon: See you in class…

Elena: ENOUGH! (Elena picks shards of wood from her chest) Damon: Hardly. She was two seconds away from killing you and I wanna know why. So, I'm going to rip this nasty rag out of your mouth and if I hear so much as one syllable of hocus pocus, one of us is going to break your neck. Spoiler alert: It's gonna be me. (Damon pulls the rag out of her mouth) Damon: Talk. (Liv looks up and Damon, but says nothing) Damon: Alright (Since she won't talk, he starts torturing her again) Elena: Damon, stop! Damon: You don't get to tell me what to do anymore. We broke up. Remember? Elena: This is exactly why we broke up. Please tell me you understand that. Liv: Oh my god. Just kill me already. Damon: Tempting, but not until you talk. Liv: She's the last female doppelgänger. After tonight, there might only be one male doppelgänger. And it that happens, the travelers will come for you, Elena. To use you. The witches can't let that happen. Damon: If it's between you and this psychopath, Elena, you know what I have to do. Elena: If you do, then what? Am I suppose to hate you, or resent you? Or forgive you? Damon: Well, that's your choice. The only way you're going to get to make it is if you're alive. Please tell me YOU understand that! Jeremy (from offscreen): Are you freaking kidding me? Damon (under his breath): Oh god. Jeremy: If you want to kill Liv, you're going to have to kill me too.

Jeremy: What are you waiting for, Damon? Go on. It wouldn't be the first time you killed me. Elena: Jeremy Damon: She tried to stake your sister, you idiot. She's going to do it again. Jeremy: No, she won't. She's gonna help keep Elena safe. I will make sure of that. Damon: How? You can't even get a passing grade in penmanship! (Jeremy turns around and looks at Elena) Jeremy: Trust me, I won't let anyone hurt you. Elena: Jer, after all of the things you've been pulling at school, how can I trust you? You haven't exactly been making good decisions. Okay? Jeremy: How do you expect me to care about school when this is my life? I mean, take a look around, it's not like I can bring my teachers a note, saying "Hey, sorry I missed class today. We were under doppelgänger invasion." But I know what I'm doing. Please. Liv knows more about the travelers than she's letting on. (Elena takes a minute, rolls her eyes and starts to leave) Elena: Let's go, Damon. Damon: Oh. Ugh. You can't be serious! Elena: I trust him, okay? And right now, I really need you to trust me.

Damon: Penny for your thoughts? Elena: I'm thinking Ms. Douglas is right. Damon: The guidance counselor? And how would she know about the crap we're dealing with? Elena: She spelled it out for us, Damon. It's not that we're bad for each other, we're bad for Jeremy. Damon: Jeremy's whole life is bad for Jeremy. You wanna fix Jeremy? Put him on a plane and get him out of town. We did what he wanted, remember? Against my better judgement, I might add.

(From the corner of his eye, Damon spots Jeremy getting ready to leave) Damon: The man of the hour. Where are you going, little Gilbert? Jeremy: Matt and Tyler said I can stay at their place for a little while. Elena: What? No, Jer. You don't have to do that. Damon: Put the bags down, we'll talk about this in the morning. Jeremy: No. We won't. I should've moved out a long time ago. Elena: Jeremy, I-I know things have been a little crazy lately, but.. Jeremy: And you know that they are always going to be crazy. And I need to figure out how to deal with crazy on my own. Right now, this is what's best for me… for all of us. I'm not asking for permission. Elena: Okay. I'll call every day and I'll… I'll make sure to stay more involved.(Jeremy hugs Elena, picks up his bags and leaves)

Damon: Something tells me you're not packing for our honeymoon. Elena: I'm going back to campus. Damon: You realize that you leaving doesn't solve anything, right? I mean, especially now that Jeremy's free and clear of our "horrible influence." Elena: It's not about Jeremy. It's about us. It's not just that we're bad for each other, it's that when we're together, we do bad things for each other... And I can't live like that. Damon: I'll drive you to Whitmore. Elena: If you do that, then I'm going to spend the whole car ride thinking about your hand next to mine and even though I'll try, I won't be able to stop myself from taking it. Or from letting you kiss me. And we're never going to get to where we need to go, we'll just end up back here, where we started. That's why I need you to let me go. (Damon walks over to Elena and puts his hands on her face) Elena: No, Damon… Damon: Shh. (Instead of kissing her on the lips, he kisses her on the forehead…)Damon: Travel safe.

[askthesorcerersupreme]

Speaking from experience, some schools let you get around the foreign language credit... Mine offered a 5 credit test to seniors who were struggling, I had been held back once already due to credits, and I just couldn't for the life of me get a single good grade in foreign language. All of the assigns I did good in were purely participation based. I couldn't remember what words meant what, I couldn't pronounce them, and I couldn't spell anything. Two credits from that test went to foreign language and the rest went to math for me. Not to mention, highschool is the only place where American kids need these credits to pass, so you have no reason before highschool to actually do well enough in the class to even get a D, and college doesn't require it either. They had a foreign language class in my district as early as 5th grade, but it did nothing for me as I had no incentive to memorize it and I didn't even get to pick the language I learned because of how elective works before highschool, I got put in the music class I wanted but not the other electives I wanted because the teacher I got stuck with got Spanish and Gym as the other two electives for her class. They say middle school is supposed to prepare you for highschool, but it doesn't, it actually hindered me and many students like me because of how drastically different highschool is set up from all the previous years of our education. I don't know what Dr Strange's highschool experience may have been like, but if it was anything like mine then he could have avoided learning any Spanish or French on purpose, or maybe his school only offered one, like my school only offered Spanish but I knew from prior experience that I did better with French and German than Spanish, but I didn't have an option

(Answering both of these.

So I looked into it. Most colleges and universities require their students to have taken at least two years of a foreign language, so in turn most high schools are required to offer the classes.

Everyone I’ve talked to, even across multiple states, have been required to learn a language in order to graduate high school, so I assumed it was the same across the other states as well. The more ya know.)

[okamikami1996]

Chapter Three- Disabilities and School

I'm going to say two words and almost all of you will probably not even need to read this chapter: Middle School. Let me say two more that will probably have half of you running for cover: Girl Drama. One word: hormones. Last word: disability. I'm pretty sure most of you already know what I'm getting at: my failed middle school career.

My family may have had a little-- or maybe a lot-- of trauma from the response to my 504 plan in elementary school, to the point where we didn't even try in middle school. We were too afraid of disappointment. So we shut up and allowed ourselves to suffer in silence. My school placed me in algebra. If you've read chapter two and how I have dyslexia, I'm pretty sure you already know that math was not going to be my favorite subject. My first year of middle school I flunked my math class. God awful. Math became not only my worst subject, but my least favorite subject. It also became another thing that was wrong with me. My ego was the equivalent of an egg that had been dropped, had cracks, but had somehow managed to retain its ovular shape. My math teacher saw I was trying-- and God knows I was, lunch periods, asking questions, getting tutoring, trying to get seating that was away from chatterboxes, asking for more information-- he gave me a C, instead of the D that my grade most certainly was. My mom had me retake the year. Guess what? I got an A. Weirdly, it didn't give me that "Oh, I actually am smart feel", instead I felt like I just got lucky. Self worth was almost a zero. I wanted people to accept me as I was, but it isn't that easy. I should have understood that, but I think I was desperate for someone to like me despite having four disabilities: I told people that I was ADD, I told them I was bipolar, I told them I took medication. It didn't go well. I still had friends, thank god. However, if I'm being honest, I'm not sure how healthy some of the relationships were. Two of my friends thought I was an attention hog. Can't blame them, how many disabilities did I have? How hard was it to have them? How many boys bullied me? To them, I probably was fishing for attention. It's kind of like Trump says: "There's no such thing as bad publicity". Maybe that's what they thought I was doing?

I had another friend who argued with me about whether it's sadder to get a puppy and watch it get sick and die, or have a dog your whole life and have it die. How many times did I tell her that I thought both were sad? I also had a super amazing friend who stayed with me from the 5th grade. She was literally my saving grace up until high school when we went to different schools. Middle school was mainly a development of extreme depression that was kept hidden by my friend group. In all honesty, I was lucky to have a friend group at all with how disabilities and taking medication was seen at the time.

I was taking 90 mgs of Abilify (no idea if that is how it is spelled) and 900 mgs of Seriquiel (no idea if that is how this is spelled either). For any of you who don't know: these are dangerous amounts of drugs to take. Like really, really dangerous, and my doctors probably should have lost their licenses. The reason behind my taking so much drugs was simple: if 60 mgs don't work increase it to 90 mgs. Yeah. According to them this was the only drug to treat bipolar disorder we HADN'T tried.

High school was absolute hell. My friends all went to the other high school, and I went to the new charter school. Fun, right? I had learned more or less what a shit idea it was to announce that I had disabilities. Well, just being depressed for now reason was no better. Or not being able to hear people. Let me be straight, Da Vinci Charter Academy was a school that valued group projects. We had no choice but to talk to each other and communicate. Everyone at the small community school thought I was just being difficult. That I was faking not being able to hear. After a few failed attempts at taking direction for my peers I was cut out, even if I asked for them to write it down.

"Nevermind." That is all I got back. Finally, I closed myself off. Completely from everyone at school. I'm pretty sure high school was also when I began to hide away in my room all the time. I began to see kitchen knives and stand in front of them for ten minutes just trying to get myself to kill myself and be done with it. I had an impulse I could not control where I would blurt out, "I hate myself and I deserve to die". I almost blurted it out in the middle of a lecture more times than I can count. There would be times where I was actually happy and laughing with my family where I would all of a sudden just say, "I hate myself and I deserve to die". I ruined a lot of happy moments with that. It was an impulse that I could not control. I couldn't go to therapy, my first and last therapist, Susan, was a mistake my family could not afford to repeat. So we just followed what the doctors said and added more drugs. I was numb to almost everything but my own pain. I didn't trust people, I couldn't take compliments. There was a boy who tried to hang out with me, but I told him to just leave me alone because he was friends with the boys who hated me. Imagine walking up to a table or being invited by another girl and have the group stop talking when you came to sit down. Imagine trying to join the conversation that started back up and have everyone just be silent. Imagine having people tell you to just "go the fuck away" when you came to talk to them. By year two, I didn't speak to anyone unless I had to. I had to constantly remind myself that my classmates were not to be trusted.

I had a teacher named Mr. Milsap who was pretty nice to me. We had moments of awkward silence when I answered questions, but I really liked his class. Loved it. I surprisingly don't remember very well when I got my 504 plan reinstated. I should, but I don't. I know it had to be in the second year of high school, when I was so depressed and miserable at school that I was literally barricading myself in my room so I didn't have to go to school, that my mom had enough. She thought that the kids would at least stop leaving me out of conversations if they knew I had a hearing disability. I was against it, at first. Terrified of what would happen if everyone knew I had a disability. We held a meeting. I had to sit and listen to teachers compliment me on my strengths. That was torture. I had a physical aversion to being complimented, like I needed to leave the room right away if someone did. It was painful to be complimented. I remember my teacher Maestra Rameriez was the teacher who I owed the most to. She was a woman who never treated me inferior to other students despite my butchering of the Spanish language in class and my endless need to repeat things. She was the most accepting of my 504 plan. If she ever reads this, and knows who I am: thank you so much, you have no idea how much you meant to me in school.

Mr. Milsap was not. In fact, he argued against it the whole time. I remember nothing after the first part of the meeting when the teachers all went around the table and complimented me. I do remember almost word for word the conversation afterward where my mother spoke to me about her less than spectacular impression of Mr. Milsap. I only know that he was the only person to argue against my 504 plan through her retelling. I don't think I actually remembered even as we drove home that day. After that, my time in his class became terrible. God awful. He would often yell at me randomly in my TA class with him. Then, there was that project. We were told to give a presentation on how someone had discriminated against us. I used my hearing disability. I had been given hope, finally. It was true, the kids no longer left me out of conversations now that I had a 504 plan. I thought maybe this would further turn the tables. At least twice a week I took the project into Mr. Milsap until he told me I was sure to get an A. Full credit. I got I C. Why? According to him, I went five minutes over the time limit. Two grades lower because I went over the time limit?

That may have been it for me for a while. I didn't talk anymore in that class, or not as much as I had been. My ego had been shot again. I was still majorly depressed. I could tell you good things about people who constantly bullied me or spoke rudely to me, I don't think I could have told you one good thing about myself. I was a wreck. I was constantly fighting with my mother, a few times I almost ran away from home during my nightly dog walks. I lived for the most part like I was dead. I graduated high school went to a community college, and got hit with something much, much worse: rheumatoid arthritis.

[yung-n8v-teacher]

reflecting on november & december

so,,,,a major thing happened since my last update,,,

a part of the teaching program i'm in is that i have to transition to different classrooms each trimester. the first trimester (where a LOT of reflection happened) was spent in a sixth grade classroom. the second trimester (which we're now in), i'm in a first grade classroom.

TALK ABOUT A BIG JUMP !!!! — my cohort members all transitioned to a grade above or below where they were for trimester 1, but i'm the only one to go from middle school to lower elementary.

why/how did this happen? the principal, based on the few times she has seen me lead the after-school program, said that she thinks i can teach in any grade level and wants to see what i can do with the first graders. crazy reasoning, but i guess i can do this,,,,

the transition was supposed to happen on november 5th, but that didn't happen for me. my first day that i was supposed to be with my first graders didn't happen until a day later because i had coverage/subbing to do in 8th grade. i went from the biggest babies in the school to the second smallest babies in the school. what a jump,,,

the plan with the trimester two transition was that the associate teachers were supposed to observe for a week before taking over a small section in the new class, but I couldn't even observe because I got tasked with coverage again and when I wasn't covering, my first grade class had a sub (that wasn't me), so they weren't acting like their normal selves. one of the non-normal days with them, i was leading the whole day because i got last minute coverage. (what a day that was,,,) i did not have a full, normal week with the first graders until the beginning of december. (isn't that crazy???)

while the transition has been very, very gradual, i feel a bit more confident and comfortable with the little ones than i did at the start. i even went on a field trip with them!!! (i was very exhausted when i got home that day,,,) a part of gaining more comfortability with the first graders was doing my two-day teach with them. two days where I was the lead teacher and not the associate. what a time that was. it went a lot better than I expected it to go. while i had to be a little strict at times, i survived, they learned and they don't hate me. i don't think people that small are capable of hate, but it's nice to know that they still ask/give me hugs whenever. (the hugs are probs the best part of transitioning to first grade; the worst part you ask? the sickness and germs. i spent all of trimester one and some of trimester two, not sick then after a week with the little ones, i was so congested and fighitng for my life against this awful cough.)

so much has happened, and i can't believe i made it to december. while things seem fine and dandy, lets get into some tea,,,

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

tea

a couple of the first grade teachers are leaving at the end of the year, meaning there will be some lead teacher positions up in the air [while i don't want to stroke my very small ego, i can't help but wonder if the principal put me in first grade for my classroom transition to potentially hire me as a lead teacher for first grade (if they want to hire me for first grade, i most likely won't take it)]

i heard through the grapevine, and it's all but confirmed, that there will be a new 8th grade classroom that they are adding to the school which means they need to hire two 8th grade lead teachers and one of those teachers could potentially be me and the other would be my emotional support yt guy (i'm manifesting we get hired, but i don't want to jinx it) [i feel like that meme with shane and ryan (the ghoul boys) about the dots connecting b/c my potential co-teacher got asked by the principal about how he would feel teaching 8th grade ela, and i have also been doing so much coverage in 8th grade math, science and coding like it's insane (i've been getting this much coverage in 8th grade b/c i'm the only associate teacher with any experience teaching that stuff (insert crying emoji))]

i had my feelings mansplained to me by the director(?)/program lead of the teaching program i'm in — asking how i'm doing in second grade (she got which grade i'm working in wrong) and how i've been doing on a personal level. i told her that i've been a little frsutrated and panicked about first grade b/c it didn't feel like something i could do, but i can recognize that i've been making progress and that i can feel myself growing as a teacher. she then turned it around on me by saying that "i can't focus on the negatives" (when did i say i was doing that??) and that "you have to see this as a growing experience and know that you're to be so much more knowledgeable after it" (like thanks for showing me that you were listening to what i said by being able to say it in your own words) — she then got on me b/c i was only "half there" for the pd sessions that she leads and saying that it's a noticeable pattern (i've been checked out of the last two pd sessions b/c i come straight from teaching and the topics were dumb and repetitive — ALSO WHEN DID TWO TIMES OF SOMETHING HAPPENING BECOME A PATTERN???) [the two pd sessions that i was "half there" for were: one, how education is a cog in systemic racism (where i had to listen to a yt co-worker basically say the definition of racism in discussion and the program lead add nothing of substance to the rest of the pd other than saying, "we need to be mindful of our biases" like bitch, WE KNOW)]; the second pd session was acting out scenarios about how to give redirections in class as if the entire cohort hasn't had multi-day coverage before and as if we don't talk about how to give redirections with our mentor teachers almost daily [this shit had me heated]

[rantgical]

So I had a nightmare. Couldn't really fall back asleep afterwards, I mean I can but didn't really feel like I got any more rest ya know?

The details are blurry now but I woke up crying which is not something I often do. I do remember what the nightmare was about.

I was taking a test, I think it was a math test, and the supervisor was my old math teacher from middle school. At one point she left the room (or maybe just turned away?) and the guy in front of me started immediately talking to his friend who was sitting behind me. Like he actually got up and started waving his test around, comparing answers with them.

I remember he was waving his test paper in front of mine and I got annoyed because I couldn't see my test so eventually, I think I yelled at him. Couldn't remember what I yelled but right after I did the teacher came back and yelled at everyone to get the hell back in their seats.

So I thought, great that was the end of that. But a moment later she came up to my desk, grabbed my test paper and ripped it in half. After that is when the details got really blurry but I remember her saying something about me breaking the rules?

It wasn't downright because I 'cheated' because honestly dream me did not look at the test paper that was obscuring her view.

But looking back on it, the part I found weird was after that I cried and begged her for... something, a new paper? A second chance? Can't remember. But it was weird because irl I never beg for anything and I'll sure as hell never cry and make a scene in a classroom full of people, and then I woke up.

After thinking about it some more I figured the reason dream me was so out of character was because that nightmare resembled something that actually happened when I was actually in middle school.

There was a math test I took then that had really unclear instructions because the teacher wasn't here and the supervisor in her stead didn't know shit. So, being the smartass sixth grader I am, I scrawled a note on the top margins of the page, above the school logo and the box where you put your name, that said (and I quote) "The instructions for this test was unclear so just mark whichever one is in the correct spot okay?"

And that's what I handed in. Doesn't seem too bad right?

Apparently that was a big no-no because a week later the teacher came in and she was fucking pissed. She called me to the front of the class and basically asked what the hell I was thinking. She read out the message to the whole class and started going on about how you're absolutely not supposed to write on the top margins of exam paper and how even the teachers take care not to write anything there and how what I wrote was disrespectful, yada yada.

I don't know how embarrassing it actually is but sixth grade Regi was mortified. So I apologized, promised I won't do it again, sat back down, and that was the end of that right? wrong.

About an hour later, someone from the class next door came into mine and said that she wanted to see me. So I went to the class next door and then in front of that class, she gave the exact same spiel she gave in my class about how I was super disrespectful because I wrote on the top margins of some fucking piece of paper.

So now I've been embarrassed (I won't say humiliated because that's a strong word even and I'm sure it felt more embarrassing than it actually was) in front of two classes. Can't remember at what point I started crying but I remember sitting outside the classroom during break time and either crying or brooding even when everyone else lined up to go back inside after break time.

I remember telling my parents and they got way angrier than I thought they would and they actually came to see that teacher the next day (even though I said it was fine and they didn't have to do that) and then for the third time she said she wanted to see me but this time it was to sit me down and say she didn't mean to humiliate me in front of two classes (she said other things too but that's the part that stayed with me and also the fact that she never explicitly apologized).

And then that was that. Life moved on. The end.

So why did something that happened when I was like 12 come back to haunt me 8 years later? Probably because that whole ordeal was heavier on my psyche than I initially thought it was (does it count as trauma? I don't really know, I don't wanna say that it is and risk making a mountain out of a mole hill) and well yea that sucked. I couldn't sleep after that so I'm gonna be tired for the rest of the day and I have to go to work feeling like this.

Anyway good morning.

[dravid-writes]

Team Playmates 3 Draft - Prologue

"And here is yours, Jamie."

Last in line due to my last name which I definitely have, I take my graded test from my math teacher. "Thank you." I check the score. 26/30. Oof.

"Have you ever been told you're a pleasure to have in class?"

I nod. "Quite a few times, actually."

"That's no surprise. You're so mature for your age!"

"Well, I'm 13, I need to be ready for adulthood."

The teacher laughs for some reason. "Well, have a good day!"

"You too!"

It's a quick walk to the cafeteria, and soon I'm sitting at a nice, empty table, away from all the noisy chatter and angry arguing. I eat the sandwich and crackers I packed with my parents. They're fine. I miss the days when my parents would pack my lunch for me, and I'd open my lunchbox to find a fun surprise of cookies, or chocolate milk. Lunch is boring these days. But hey, that's life. It's not like a movie with non-stop fun and surprises, where every middle school cafeteria inevitably becomes a battlefield for an awesome food fight.

Suddenly, a paper bowl of applesauce flies across the table in front of mine and strikes directly in someone's face. There's exactly 2 seconds of silence before absolute chaos erupts, everywhere I look someone is flinging peas or spraying a juice box!

I run for the exit, then turn around and grab my food, THEN run for the exit! But just before I manage to escape the carnage, a plate of mushy jello splats into my shirt, staining it. Utterly humiliated, I hurry to the bathroom to clean off, before someone sees me and thinks I was involved in that high-calorie brutality...

I managed to make it through the rest of the school day with no further embarrassment, hiding the stain on my shirt whenever possible. It's a huge relief when I finally get to go home to change, and I run toward mom the moment I see her car.

"There you are!" mom says. "How was your day, Jamie?"

"Uh, good."

"That's great to hear!" Then she suddenly hugs me!

"M-mom, we're in public!"

"Oh, sorry. You're growing up so fast... I bet you'll be helping us pay the bills soon."

I smile and roll my eyes, getting in the car. The drive is fairly quiet, until...

"So I noticed your shirt got stained. What happened? Did something explode in chemistry class?" mom jokes.

I giggle. "No, no. There was a food fight at lunch... I-I wasn't involved in it or anything! I just couldn't get out fast enough."

"Oh, I know you wouldn't get into trouble like that. I'm just glad you've got a stain instead of a bruise."

"Yeah... Sorry about the shirt. I don't know if jello is hard to get out, or..."

"Don't worry about it, it's not your fault. I'll have that shirt fixed up in no time."

"Thanks mom. You're the best!"

I got home, changed my shirt, and finished my homework before dinner as usual. For dinner, dad made spaghetti, which I'm very careful to avoid staining my clean shirt with.

"So Jamie," dad says, "how was school? It's Tuesday, so you had physics, right?"

"Yeah! We had some reading to prepare for the lab next week, but we finished early, so the teacher played a video that talked about... wormholes... and, um, space-time, and dimensions... It kinda went over my head," I admit.

"Sounds like something to look forward to. You're smart, I'm sure you'll figure it out in high school. You'll be a great scientist someday, and you'll get to say stuff that goes over my head!"

"Thanks. I'll try my best!"

The evening goes on as normal; dinner ends, I help clean up, and then it's off to my room to read and play games and stuff. But through the window, out in the forest, I see something... glowing? It looks like an animal, but it darts deeper into the woods before I get a good look...

I have to see what it is. I head out, across the street and into the forest, looking for the strange glowing... thing. Walking deeper into the woods, I can only wonder what it could have been; I don't think there's any bio luminescent animals around here, certainly not any that big or bright. Was it just a person with a flashlight? But it was pretty low to the ground... It couldn't be anything dangerous, right? I hope not, it looked pretty small, and no dangerous animals ever-

There! With careful steps and held breath, I approach the distant glow. It looks like... a rabbit? A glowing rabbit? But there's no such thing as bio luminescent mammals! What in the world..? As I watch in wonder, the rabbit hops away again, down into a burrow dug under a tree. It's a bad idea to approach wild animals... but I need to get a closer look.

I tip-toe over to the burrow, which still glows from inside. I crouch down, trying to peer inside...

And I trip.

I fall face-first toward the burrow, but while it was far too small for me to ever fit through, I somehow find myself falling into it! Down and down I fall into the glowing depths, until it becomes so bright that I can't even see!

[celiaelise]

So Tuesday I had a phone interview with a local theater company for a visual "teaching artist" position (apparently they are trying to uplift all forms of art in addition to theater) ...but after hearing more about it, it sounds like a public school district is just somehow outsourcing teaching positions, and for some reason this theater company is the one facilitating that?

Like, the positions described to me were basically just "art teacher at either an elementary or middle school." Which I sometimes feel is what I would like to end up doing, but I don't know that I'm ready for it now.

Plus I think the setup is really weird and sus?? Like, this seems like a way for the district to get their hands on teachers without having to pay them as much or give them benefits or anything. It would admittedly be significantly more per hour than I've ever been paid before, but, while I haven't tried to do the math, I'm sure it's much less than what "regular" teachers make.

Also I don't even have a degree???? Which on one hand I guess it would be cool to be able to get the kind of job I (might) want while circumventing the college requirements, but I'm not sure it's in everyone's best interests if the schools are trying to worm their way out of proper qualifications.

Oh yeah, and they said it would be up to me to make the curriculum? Which I'm going to be honest I really don't want to do. Especially for an hourly job which I'm almost certain will not allot me extra hours for prep. And that's another thing that has me wondering why the theater is getting involved at all? If not to promote their specific values and mission and stuff, then why are they organizing it? Like, they said if the in-person interview with the board members or whoever from the company went well, then I'd have to interview with the principal from whichever school??

Which idk if I'm even going to get that far; they said they already had two potential candidates who were interviewing today, and I said I couldn't today, and they weren't sure when they would next be available. And they basically said if things go well with the people today that they might just disregard me. Also they asked me to create lesson plans for the interview? Which, again, I don't really wanna do, especially unpaid. I could probably throw something together if I tried. Might even get kind of into it, which is annoying, when my own natural enthusiasm usurps my determination to only put in as much effort as I'm getting paid for.

Anyway I'm gonna ask my mom about it, cause she actually works for the district. Not anything to do with the educational side of things, but she's high enough up the ladder that she gets a lot of info regardless.

[cyanidefilledcandy]

Decided to try the ballet class again and actually made it through the entire session this time! 😄✌🏾

Truthfully though, I am struggling....and I don't mean physically (though that IS another annoyance and a big reason I couldn't finish last time). It's mostly mental though.

A big part of it is concentration and memorizing the moves, which has always been an issue when it came to me and ballet, but the older I've gotten the worse it has become. (And yes. Even when I started up again in my early 20s, it had gotten a LOT worse.....and in everything; not just ballet. So it's not something I can simply chalk up to age.) I don't know why, but it's like when she's explaining things and giving advice, it's like my mind just kind of blanks out completely. I can't even say it's wandering because there's nothing else on it besides how I'm trying to listen and it's just like my brain isn't processing any of it. :/

I saw a post on Reddit once and someone mentioned Brain Fog as a symptom of mental illness, you never hear about. And I know if it sounds cliche' these days, but honestly.....I felt so seen. And not alone. And not.....dumb.

A huge huge insecurity of mine is appearing stupid. I know for a fact that I'm not (in fact, when the [redacted] cult tried to recruit me, they mentioned my high IQ). But as a teen, I started getting depersonalization really badly, where I just always felt like I was in a dream. After my grandmother passed away, it's like my mind had woken up or came back to reality, but now it was in a constant fog.....a fog that's continued to day and has only gotten thicker. A fog where I forgot basic grammar and math rules, even though I legitimately used them everyday. A fog that causes me to stutter and forget words while speaking (why I've always preferred writing to speaking). A fog that straight up made me forget how talk a couple of times (and no that's not an exaggeration....I literally could not form words. A fog that got so thick to the point where a few years, I literally could not form thoughts.... something I still haven't fully recovered from.

Sorry. I went kind of on a tangent there....but it's so frustrating that this constant Brain Fog is keeping me from doing the things I love; not just dance, but drawing. Writing. Crafting... And I don't know what to do about it. I don't even know the cause, if I'm being completely honest. I've wracked my brain trying to at least get to the root of why, so that MAYBE healing is possible, but....

Another big factor is just my frustration in myself. I'm not an absolute beginner in ballet, but I've felt that way ever since I've started taking ballet as an adult. My teacher would go through simple steps and phrases and I just felt like a moron because I'd either forgotten what they were or just couldn't find them in my brain at all.

I know in reality, I've only done three years of ballet....and even that's pushing it...

It was an elective class (in place of PE) at my middle schools. 30 minutes to an hour a day, sometimes 5 days a week....sometimes only 3. And we never stayed on ballet long (maybe a month and half each school year) because my classmates were more interested in modern/hip-hop. So in truth, those three years, I was not properly trained to say I am knowledgeable in ballet.

I know that logically.

However, my Perfectionist nature hinders me as always....because I feel like I don't even know the basics. Because I feel like I should be able to get through a beginner class with no issue. Because everytime I make a mistake, my mind screams at me "This isn't hard! Why don't you know this?! It's a fucking plie'! You should know how to properly do one by now! You could do this a decade ago with no problem! What the actual fuck?!"

So, I get frustrated and immediately want to quit. (Have always been someone who would rather not try, than to try and fail. Like literally if I thought I would fail a test in highschool, I literally would just not even try and accept a flat 0 than to try and fail.)

And then also, I'm frustrated with myself because I'm over 30 and should be above all of this. It's like I'm going backwards in life. Even as a kid I understood that perfection wasn't a thing, in art, beauty, or anything else. And though I had my moments (such as having a full crying fit the first time I got a B on a PROGRESS REPORT), I've definitely gotten worse.

Besides my stomach (which though self conscious, I still fully accepted), I've never given a damn about my looks or what others thought of it. Now it's constantly on my mind.

I used to draw and draw and didn't give a damn because I liked doing it. Now, I'm terrified to even pick up a pencil because I know it's not going to be what I picture in my head.....and I'm just going to fuck up the perspective. Or the coloring. Or not get the pose exactly right. Or....

I'm just so sick of letting fear and brain fog holding me back from my creativity. I miss moving and creating. Doesn't have to be perfect. Doesn't have to get a ton of likes or comments. I just miss doing things. And with dance.....it used to be the one thing I could do where I legitimately didn't care about my body size or how I looked. I would dance randomly in the grocery.

I just want to get back to being that person.

*sigh* This wasn't where I was intended this blog post to go... (Word vomit, I suppose.)

......my point doesn't even make sense anymore, so....fuck it....

I just want to get out of this fog in my head and back to moving and creating without thinking. 😕

[darkdevasofdestruction]

Just A Smile ~ Billy Hargrove x Reader

Just a smol, cutesy Billy imagine 'cause I'm in the mood, and the smile in this gif below is making my heart leap.

"Students, you have a new student. Her name is Y/N L/N and she comes from Y/C. Please welcome her appropriately and make sure she feels like home. It's not an easy thing, moving away from your home on your own." the kindly teacher spoke, squeezing the girl's shoulders at she looked around. "There's an empty seat in the 2nd row in the middle, right in front of Billy. Go there." the woman encouraged the foreign new-comer, and with a timid nod, she slowly stepped to her new desk and sat down, slowly raising her bag and opening it, trying as much as possible not to draw attention or make any noise as she got her notebook and pen out.

For the duration of the class, Maths, as it was, the girl didn't pay much attention to what was going on, only focusing on finishing the exercises given by the teacher. It wasn't until she called out this Billy who was sitting behind her, for not paying attention and asking what the end result was for the 3rd exercise.

Hearing that, Y/N got a coloured pencil and circled the result in her notebook, making some big arrows for him to see, and dragged the notebook closer to the edge for him to see.

"Uh...Exercise 3, huh...Ah yeah, the annoying one. Multiply this and that, divide the bracket, blah blah, you get 7,3 or something. Right?" Billy's confident voice shocked the teacher, but said nothing except for nodding her head and letting him sit back down.

When the class was dismissed, the newcomer shyly turned around to the boy she helped. "Do you have a rubber?" she asked softly, but for some reason, he snorted in amusement. "Rubber? Yeah, a few, in my wallet. Why?" he asked teasingly. "Why do you have them in your wallet? ...No matter. Look, see these? I made them for you. But I don't want arrows and circles all over my notebook, you know? I have to get rid of them, and I only brought a pen and two pencils with me today." she explained, showing him the messy notebook, which only made him chuckle. "Eraser." he said simply. "Eraser...?" she repeated the word, dragging it a bit in confusion. "Yeah. Eraser. That's what it's called here. Eraser." he explained, an amused smirk on his face. "Okay. Eraser. Do you have one?" she asked again, correcting herself. "Hell no. I'm surprised I even brought the pen with me today. Anyway, if you ask around, don't use that word again. People will think you're looking for condoms, and that's gonna be awkward." despite not wiping that smirk from his face, there was no malice or ill-intention behind his voice. "What's a condom?" she tilted her head a bit, like a confused puppy - But this time, she was heard by the rest of the class who started laughing at her. She could only blink, smile awkwardly and get her thing, ready to leave. "Do you know your way around the school?" Billy asked as soon as she was half-way out of the room. The girl merely shook her head, looking down. "I'll find my way...Eventually." and with that, she darted off, looking around and asking for the Physics class.

Great way to start off, isn't it? Just moved here and she already made a fool of herself. As she said, she eventually found her way around the place, and finally, sometime close to evening, she finished her exhausting first day of high school in Hawkins. Fantastic.

Stretching a bit, she put her headphones on, listening to music and went back home, deciding to treat herself with a nice piece of cake and a vanilla ice-cream French frappe while doing homework. What better way of wiping away the embarrassment of the day then to do something you enjoy and treat yourself?

Thankfully, the homework was pretty easy and she didn't have to bother much, so, when the closing time came by, she was finished and went home, getting her stuff ready for another exhausting next day.

Days went by pretty fast, and, unsurprisingly for her, she was only popular at the beginning - Being the new girl from abroad, people kept interrogating her about the weirdest things, but as soon as the fade dissipated, she was no longer interesting, so she remained all alone.

Mostly.

Billy would still occasionally talk to her - Mostly to get help with certain things for classes like Biology and Maths. For some reason, he never liked those, but he was interested in Physics and Chemistry - Hence why he found himself in all of Y/N's classes. He said, at some point, he wouldn't mind being an Engineer, but he needs to get Maths - Or, at least, the more tricky things, and turn that B into an A asap, since they were in their terminal year and the graduation exam, plus the entrance exam to the University of California, are pretty tough.

She also found a few girls who are interesting in hiking and traveling, and they promised her they'd take her through the forest at some point, when they'll have more free time.

One day, her lonely house was blaring with deafening music and she was yelling the lyrics to the songs as she was dancing around the house, and she didn't hear the ringing, nor the knocking on the door, until, at some point, her dog started barking and jumping in front of it. Confused, she turned the volume down and - Realising her ears were ringing - She opened the door, revealing the boy in cause, his shirt half-unbuttoned and looking like a mess -A hot mess, but still a mess - As usual.

"Finally." he mused, looking at her slightly out-of-it behaviour. "My ears are ringing. Sorry you had to wait...I didn't expect anyone to come over. Nobody does. So...Yeah." she chuckled awkwardly, leaning on the door frame. "At least your ears, if not the door ringer." he joked, making her look away in amusement and nod. "Yeah yeah. How can I help you? I'm sure you didn't just come here to see me and have a light chat over coffee." she smiled at him knowingly. "You got me. I need some help with Maths. Again. Can you spare some time and some of that magic coffee you make?" he asked, only to see her look down and bump the door open with her foot, nodding to him to get inside. "Sure. You know where the kitchen is. I'll go get what I need and come in a sec." she instructed, closing the door behind and, getting her stuff from her room, she went to the kitchen, putting everything on the table and got the caramel syrup to make some caramel latte. "Do you want me to turn off the music?" she asked, putting the glasses on the table. "Nah, it's fine. I like listening to AC/DC when I'm working." he said, earning a nod of understanding from the girl, as she sat down. "Yeah, me too. Them and Scorpions...Metallica and Iron Maiden too." she muttered, before shaking her head and signaling for him to open his books. "Never mind that. How can I help you?" she asked softly, waiting for the problem. "Here. I don't get what trick or formula to use...And then there's this theorem that I don't get when to use and why." he explained, showing her the failed exercises.

After a few seconds of pondering, she took out her pen and resolved the exercises quickly, in her notebook and showed them to him, explaining each step in great detail, and why she did each thing. Thus, she let him solve them again, on his own, while she waited and opened her book to read in the meantime.

"Do you have a date today?" he asked, all of a sudden. "A date? Why would you say that." she muttered, deadpan, not raising her sight from the book. "That dress is very pretty. Looks good on you. And your hair and make up too. I thought you were going out with your boyfriend." he said, no doubt testing the waters. "The only boy that I talk to is you, Billy. Nobody else wants to have anything to do with me. I dressed up for myself." she shrugged, unbothered. "Huh. Pity. You're beautiful." he pointed out casually. "Is that all?" she asked, raising her head for the first time since the conversation started. "What do you mean? Don't girls like being called beautiful? You want gorgeous? Stunning? That fits too." he leaning his chin on his palm, stretching a bit over the table. "Boring and overrated. I hoped I'd at least hear that I'm smart in all this. No matter. I shouldn't expect anything from dull high school boys." she rolled her eyes, going back to her book. "You're intimidating. That's why people don't go around you. They say you look too confident and unbothered by everything around you. They're afraid to approach you." he said after a while. "...Sorry my face is so scary for everyone. I got used to it. Forget it. Are you done with that?" she slammed her book shut, straightening up and taking away the notebook and looking at what he's done. "I see you got it. Good for you. Is that all you needed help with?" she asked, returning his work to him. "This weekend is the Halloween party at Tina. You coming?" he asked, getting his stuff back in his bag. "I wasn't invited." she spoke so casually about not getting any attention, that it almost weirded the boy out. "I'm inviting you." he slung the bag over his shoulder, looking at her as she leaned back on the counter and looked down. "No. But thanks, I guess. Hope you have fun for me too." she said after a while, giving him a sad smile. "Why aren't you coming?" he asked, frowning and licking his lips. "What's the point? Parties are only fun if you have friends. I don't. I refuse to go to a place full of people who gossip me behind my back and would either ignore or make fun of me for daring to step there. You wouldn't get it. You're extroverted, popular and cool. I'm the exact opposite of you." she explained, sighing, a bit uncomfortable. "I am your friend, aren't I? I'll stay with you." he stepped in front of her, poking her cheek. "California King Billy staying glued to the Mute Wallflower? I seriously doubt that. Just go and have fun, don't bother with me, I'll only ruin the night for you. I'll be very fine at home." she let out a sarcastic exhale of mock amusement. "Come on. Come for me. I am in your debt for always being nice and helping me out, and I want to be nice for once. What could go wrong? It's just a couple of hours and some booze and loud music." he said, brushing a strand of hair from her face. "I don't really need your pity of acts of charity. I'm helping you out because I can, and I would help anyone who would be nice to me and would ask for help. It just so happens you're the only one. You owe me nothing, so just stop, okay? I'm not going anywhere. I have Dostoyevsky waiting for me, begging to be read." she pointed towards the book standing on the table. "Forget Russian boy! ... Okay, look, I'll come pick you up at 8 PM Saturday night. You can decide until then. If you really, really don't want to come, fine, I'll respect your decision. But I hope you'll come." and with a final charming smile, he left her home. "And I thought the only Idiot in this house is the title of the book." Y/N grumbled, pissed off.

Unfortunately for her, weekend came by faster than expected, and she found herself dressed casually, with a book in her bag, waiting outside and looking up at the stars, very uncomfortable with her decision...But she was trying to convince herself that maybe, at some point, she'll have to get out of her comfort zone, and this may be a start.

And if she really hates it, might as well have a Spooky Night walk back home...Or running marathon, with music blaring in her headphones. 'What could go wrong?' he said...Famous last words. If anything can go wrong, it definitely will, she knew that already.

Y/N didn't realise when time passed by so fast, but a car was already there, in front of her house, and the driver was yelling at her to get in. Despite the reticence, she dragged herself into the passenger seat and greeted the boy, gluing herself to the door and trying to hype herself up.

"You're pretty." she heard him saying, through the silence. "If all you can say about me is a generic, fake compliment about my looks, then do me a favour and stay quiet. I told you that before too." she sighed softly, looking out of the window. "Fine then. I love your taste in music. How is that?" he tried again, earning a huff of amusement and a small smile. "Much better." she nodded. "I, too, love your taste in music...Considering we listen to the same bands." she pointed out the obvious. "Nice! Do I get a brownie point for that?" he asked, chuckling. "Uh...I'm not sure what that is, but if you want a brownie, I can make some. I like them too." she said awkwardly. "That works too. Hey. Imma beat Harrington's record and drink a whole keg of beer in one go. Are you gonna cheer for me too?" he asked, parking the car and getting out of it - But not before opening the door for her and extending his hand for her to take. Reluctantly, she accepted the help, not wanting to be rude. "You're going to get drunk and sick. Why is this silly thing so important for you? You're already the most popular person in the High school. Everyone either worships or fears you. You're intelligent, you're the best at basketball and you're attractive too. I don't get what you're trying to accomplish by, one, getting me here and two, getting this title." she said, crossing her arms to her chest and looking up to him with a serious look. "Thanks for the compliments, sweet cheeks. As a matter of fact, it is exactly because it's high school that I wanna get shit faced drunk and have fun. And shit on Harrington too. But that's besides the point. When are you gonna have as much fun if not now, huh? You go to Uni, you get a job, you go adulting, and there ain't much time for fun anymore. Come on, liven up a bit. I'm not asking you to do anything that you're uncomfortable with, but maybe some claps of encouragement could work." he winked at her, putting his arm around her shoulders and bringing her to the party.

After a few weird looks from the others who were already at the party, but seeing that she was with Billy, they didn't dare say anything bad about her, nor bully her - Thankfully - And instead, they just gave her a paper cup of punch and let her do whatever she wanted.

As expected, Billy was eventually stolen away, and her punch was spiked and had cigarette ash in it, always used to get people drunk. Jokes on them. She can hold her alcohol really well.

Some hours passed agonisingly slow and, at some point, she found herself in the kitchen, where she found bottles of vodka and chocolate bailey's and had a brilliant idea. To make her favourite shot drink.

However, this instigated girls to try and, after a while, she became their barman. A barman who had to participate in a drinking contest and drank most of the girls under the table.

After the 10th shot, Y/N got bored of being a bartender and went out, by the lights on the ground next to the pool and tried to take out the book from her bag, only to hear loud roars from the boys nearby. Apparently, Billy was going to attempt his silly title so, as promised, the girl got up with a groan of annoyance and made way in front of the crowd for him to see her. "Go, Billy. Clap clap. Now you can get shitfaced drunk." the girl spoke mockingly, doing a lethargic clap before giving him the keg hose.

Of course, it was messy, but with what sounded like a war cry, the boy got the hose and began chugging down the beer down his throat. Y/N could only look at the display, half-horrified and half-impressed by something so stupid, but the other roars of victory, she thought, were even more stupid.

Alas.

Giving him thumbs up, she turned around to go back to her illuminated spot, but her plans got completely erased when Billy, in a drunken disposition, picked her up and jumped in the pool with her.

They swam back up to the surface, and the girl wiped the water from her face, looking at the boy with a weirded out expression. "Are you happy with what you did?" she asked, unsure of what to even think at this point. "Hella!" he laughed very, very drunk. "Okay, enough drinks, let's get you out of here before you spontaneously drown. I'm going home." she said, dragging the boy out of the pool with difficulty. "Jeez, you're heavy..." "Then I'm coming home with ya too!" he exclaimed, leaning on the girl who could barely stand on her own feet because of his weight. "Wonderful! What a day!" she sighed, getting him in the car and driving getting him in the bathroom. "I'll go get some dry clothes. Use the towel to dry yourself a bit...Or something." she saw him stumbling to the ground and threw the towel at his face while she went to her room to change and get her damp hair in a bun.

When she returned to the bathroom, he saw the boy half-naked, and she could only roll her eyes at him, who was puking in the toilet and looked blanche like a ghost. "I'll go get you some water and painkillers." she said, doing as expected and then sitting on the ground and holding his hair back. "Was I cool?" he asked after a while. "...I guess." but seeing his pout, she rolled her eyes and nodded. "Yeah, fine, what you did was pretty impressive. Are you happy now?" she asked, patting his back. "Yeahhh." and after puking again, he leaned his head on the toilet seat. "Can you kiss me?" "No." she refused at once. "Whyyy?" he whined like a baby. "You just puked. That's disgusting." she replied simply, earning a nod. "Yeah, true. But when I'm sober?" he asked again, like a child. "No." she refused again. "But why now?" he looked very sad. "Because you smoke. It makes me vomit. And no matter how much chewing gum you take or how much perfume you use, you and your breath still stink." she explained without the least bit of holding back. "Hmm...True...And if I stop smoking?" he asked again, only to see her look down. "No." she said again, after a few seconds. "Why? Do you hate me?" he asked again, ripping himself from the toilet. "Because you don't love me." she managed to speak. "And I don't like wasting my time, nor do I like being used. Been there, and I'm not going back there again." she explained simply. "Not to mention...You know nothing about me. And I know nothing about you either. What's the point?" "Hmm...Gimme a chance. And if you don't like me, I won't bother you again. I promise." he slurred after a while. "Why do you bother so much? Is it because I'm the only one who refuses you or what?" she scoffed simply. "I dunno how to be a nice guy...So I try to be a cool guy. You deserve better. But I can't not like you. You're, like, super brilliant and mega pretty, and you're fun and I heard you playing Metallica at the guitar...And I wanna play with you ... And I wanna go back home to Cali with you. And swim together. And maybe go hiking too, dunno. I like you, even though you don't like me. I did since you helped me out with Maths that day." he said, making the girl look at him with an unreadable expression, before sighing and rubbing his back. "If you don't forget everything you said tonight, I'll give it a shot. But get better first and sleep. If you promise not to vomit everywhere, I'll let you sleep on the bed." she said, getting up. The boy threw his fist up in the air, cheering loudly, only to then puke again. "...It's gonna be a very, very long night." and with that, she sat back down on the floor.

That night, they played 20 questions, the boy got better, eventually, and at some point, he saw the girl fell asleep, leaning back on the bathtub while talking to him. When he was finally okay-ish enough not to vomit everywhere, he picked her up and put her on her bed, tucking her in and he went to sleep in the living room on the sofa.

From then on, until late Spring, the boy's behaviour didn't change much, but he seemed to have matured. While, sure, he was still Keg King Billy, the most popular guy in Hawkins, the big jock rockstar...He stopped smoking, he would carry her bag or books whenever they'd go to class, he stopped skipping ( for the most time, at least ) and he took better care of his work ethic.

He would ask Y/N out on cafe dates or for ice cream, would occasionally speak about life and such, would have sleepovers at hers, cause his father was still the biggest prick on earth and Billy didn't want her to have the misfortune of accidentally meeting him...

Since the Halloween party, she was known as the Bartender Queen or Vodka Queen, since she made the best mixes, and drank her competitors under the table while remaining as stoic as ever, so at least, her time in Highschool was much easier. From the scary, mute wallflower, she was now some mysterious queen, for they saw the elegance and class she held with every move.

Spring break finally arrived, and Billy invited her and some of her closest friend to go on a hiking trip. They got a grill, tents, sleeping bags and everything they needed, including an axe for the wood and bigass speakers to blare music around.

The trip to the spot they chose to camp was filled with fun, jokes and singing, and the setting part was pretty difficult, but also not too shabby either. In the end, evening came by, Tim was busy doing the food - hopefully not too drunk on beer, some of the girls already started drinking, and Billy and Y/N went to get some wood and water from the river nearby. If they wanted that cool camp fire, they needed a lot of branches and logs, right?

"Hey." the boy finally said after a while, making the girl stop in her tracks and look at him with a teasing smile. "Oh, hey, I didn't see you here, stranger! What brings you here?" she said making him chuckle softly. "How are you?" he asked, reaching his hands out to hers. "What do you mean? I'm...Okay? I'm as okay as always, I guess. What's going on, are you okay?" she stumbled over her answer, a bit confused. "Nothing, just checking. You don't often go out with so many people, just wanted to make sure you're not overwhelmed or something." he muttered with a quick smile, leaning down to kiss her forehead. "W-Well...I guess I'm better than before now. Thanks." she felt her cheeks warming up, making her look away. "Come on, let's grab the stuff and go back." she said, chuckling nervously. He didn't say anything and just followed the girl, holding the water buckets while she held some more twigs. She never really wanted to let him carry anything of hers, she didn't want to bother, but if he was so nice, who was she to refuse.

However, as soon as they approached the camp again, they heard laughter and some drunken gossips. Y/N hid behind a tree, listening and signaling for the boy to be silent.

"Can you believe that new comer is already all over Billy?! I mean, I get it, she's cool, but she's not Billy's type! He should be with someone hot like me!" one of them said, making Y/N try to stifle her chuckling. "Right?! Just because she's smart doesn't mean she's the queen of the universe! So what if she can hold her booze? With what right does she take Billy away from us?!" they were so drunk that Y/N could barely keep herself from not bursting into laughter. But Billy wasn't so amused. "Why are you laughing? They were insulting you!" he protested, making the girl shake her head. "I mean...At least they didn't say I'm boring! Trust me, I've heard worse. And... They said I'm cool and smart. I'll take that." she shrugged nonchalantly. "Honestly, you -- ... Hey, how petty are you?" he asked, smirking mischievously. "Considering I have the pride and ego bigger than the universe...I guess you could say I can get petty if I want to. Why?" she asked, looking up at him. "And...Did I make you fall in love with me?" he asked again, a bit more carefully. "Unfortunately, yeah...You did make me blush just earlier with that...Cutesy thing you did. What are you planning, problem boy?" she asked, a half-smile on her face. "I'm going the kiss the hell out of you in front of everyone, and if anyone ever open their mouth about you, I'm just going to kiss you more." he explained his plan, leaning down to her level. "Huh...Huh...Not bad. Well, I guess I did leave you in the dark for half a year already. Fine, you win, I did fall for you and I am petty enough to kiss you in front of everyone, despite believing that things like these should be kept in private. Good thing we have les than 2 months of school anymore, so I don't really care anymore. Come on, let's go." she leaned a bit and stole a playful kiss from him, and with a chuckle at his shocked expression, she hurried to the camp and put down the branches and after taking out her guitar from the tent, she plopped on a log, crossed her legs and started strumming it with a hum.

Realising the song immediately, Billy also fetched his guitar and began singing with her the lyrics of "Still Loving You" by Scorpions, the band they cherished so much.

By the end of it, the boy looked at her, and cupping her face, he kissed her passionately, leaving her breathless...And the others very shocked and jealous.

Achievement complete.

Sooner than later, most of them preferred to go inside the tent, from various reasons, while the two lovers remained outside, leaning on each other and looking up at the sky.

"I have to say, together, we make quite the fanatic team. Nicely done." she praised him, her voice soft and gentle, not wanting to disturb the calm of the atmosphere. "I've been thinking about kissing your for half a year. It was definitely worth the wait." the girl could only roll her eyes and shake her head at his childishness. "Oh, come on, don't be dramatic. On another note...I think you have the most beautiful smile I've seen in my entire life and I know I want to protect it at all costs.." she said, looking at him. "Me?" he blinked in shock. "Mhm. I mean...Not that stupidly charming smirk you make whenever you try to get something or seduce someone or when you win something. I mean this one that you're having right now. The one you have whenever you look at me...And don't think I haven't noticed you looking at me all this time. I'm not blind." she chuckled lightly, poking his cheek. "How did you know that? I'm sure I was subtle." he frowned a bit in confusion. "Because I was looking at you too." she gave him a smug smirk, shocking him. "Since when are you so bold? I was supposed to seduce you, not the other way around." he protested immediately. "I never said I couldn't. And, as you see, I'm quite good at it too. So...What do you think there is to be done about this situation~?" she gave him a provoking kitten smile. "I think I want to kiss that smile right now." he smiled sweetly at her, earning a nod of mock-approval from her. "Brilliant idea." but she didn't give him time to react, for her arms were already around his neck, pulling him closer to her and peppering him with tons of gentle kisses.