#remembered i have to go see my geography teacher at break time tomorrow

[helloidkwhatimdoing-0]

I'm fine and then i think about my responsibilities and I let out one long scream and then i go back to normal

[myaquariusheart]

26/3

Hey, I've been AWOL. I'm currently on placement two and a lot has happened. The PGCE is going well even though the first placement was not easy it was my fault and has let me develop a lot. although I'm still finding it difficult to wake up on time and get to school early. I'm currently rotting Royas brain and making her chill and watch a YouTube video on mice that she needs to keep an eye on. She was enjoying it until she started biting my phone and I disturbed her. It's currently Ramadan and it is been good as well as stressful. Since we have been back from Umrah a lot has gone on. We've been mourning and there isn't a day where I don't think about Bubu's death and honestly, I think about it every day. I miss her and regret not keeping in touch as much as I should of and even cherishing the time we had as selfish enough I thought we would all be growing old together and we would all bring our children up being best friends. we can still do that but a piece is missing. It also makes me think about life and death more, and how easily life can be taken away. I'm always deep in thought and usually lie awake at night thinking Allah could take me any time and I should live each day but who's to know. Life, we only have one chance at it. I'm currently watching Gone Girl because I've actually never seen a Ben Aflek movie and I probably should as he's JLO's man. So far it's okay, his wife has gone missing and she's an author or writer or something. I'm going to finish this degree soon and I can't wait. there's so much paperwork to do with all of this and it's hard to keep up. I have an essay as well it's not done yet, but I'm just hoping it doesn't count toward our final grade. After the easter break, I have my formal observation with L and B and I am really nervous but I just need to crack down on the behavior of the class and the content that I'm teaching. just need to remember some simple things like don't talk until the class is quiet and all that kinda stuff so it's easy but I'm sure when someone is watching me it is more nerve-wracking. the last Geography lesson I did there was about 3 teachers in the classroom and I was so nervous but at the end of the lesson R said the lesson went really well so I was happy, she even said it in front of the head teacher but I doubt ill get a job there. I have been applying to some abroad like Abu Dhabi and Dubai but I need to take a professional picture soon so I can upload it onto my CV. unfortunately, I have been super ugly lately but I'm going to speak to the hairdresser tomorrow, my hair is still short but it's growing. really slowly though, I'm thinking of going back to orange or brown, I do not want to go back to black hair, it is too hard to change and dye over. We'll see, I'm kinda over this color now, I always feel like it doesn't compliment me and then a few months down the line, I'm going to look back on my pictures and then regret it. Look at me talking about stupid irrelevant shit that doesn't matter if I'm a good person or not, just superficial but i guess if I don't look good I don't feel good, but even when I do look good I still don't feel good. I don't know why I'm feeling so low and insecure lately. I and T have been hitting the gym but with everything going on its been really difficult as iftar is at 6 and that's when T gets to the gym. After Eid I'm sure everything will be back to normal.

[amazingphilza]

study buddies :: cc!multiple x reader

fluff , platonic , gender neutral ! some headcanons if the mcyts were trying to help you do hw :D

cc’s included in order: tommyinnit , tubbo , ranboo , wilbur soot , philza , technoblade

tommyinnit

i feel like he’s the type to be in a long discord call with you whilst you both try to finish your work

mans uses the screensharing feature like there’s no tomorrow

“y/n watch my stream on discord and help me guess the answers”

“tommy no! i haven’t even taken a film class before”

“your guess is good as mine”

“just cheat and google the answers!!!”

“fuck you”

he actually just wants your attention because he’s bored out of his mind doing homework

five minutes later of asking you to help him guess questions he’s like

“hey y/n”

“what now?”

“let’s play bedwars”

“oh my god shut up!!!”

if tommy has to speedrun something before a deadline, it is a whole different story tho; he will be so focused on completing that he won’t hear what you’re saying

if you’re struggling in math, you’re on your own

“math is shit, only numbers i need is my primes and youtube analytics” says tommy any time you complain about math

besides the fact he isn’t good at solving math problems, you can’t even read his handwriting if he did try showing you how to do a problem

“okay, y/n, it’s simple, just look” he says in his kareninnit voice and everything

you’d be like “is the variable a G or a 9??”

“fuck you that’s a 4!!!”

tubbo

i don’t know if tubbo ever talked about school before but something about him makes me think he’s actually pretty good at math

like he can explain a few things when it comes to math / algebra

CODING GO BRRRR

no geometry or calculus though, anything past algebra will go bad

if tubbo is doing homework with you, he will definitely tune you out

“hey tubbo can you help me on this question?”

you don’t get a response until like 20 minutes later

“oh yeah, what was it y/n?”

like now you answer? i just got the answer myself after so long, forget you smh

“oh nothing tubbo, nevermind!”

but you’re still grumbling in your head because if he answered just a bit earlier you wouldn’t have gone through the work of finding the answer online

i can also imagine if you’re taking chemistry tubbo is like ;

“oh you’re taking chemistry? let’s make some bombs!” /lh

tubbo would definitely pull an all-nighter with you to finish your projects together

if you had a group project, he would make you do the writing part while he does the drawing part

“we definitely aced this project”

“of course we did, if i made you draw we would’ve ended up with stick figure diagrams”

“TUBBO. THE FUCK?”

ranboo

okay i know ranboo said he isn’t a theatre or band kid (unless im wrong and forgetful) but i feel like he’d be somewhat educated in the topics nonetheless

half the time he’s great moral support, helping you stay motivated !

the other half is him making fun of you

“i cant believe you’re failing, that is so sad, can’t be me”

“it’s literally an honors class, ranboo! it’s supposed to be hard!!”

“taking an honors class willingly? also cant be me AHAHA”

i honestly can’t see ranboo going to school like i know he’s a minor and said he had zoom calls before and plays volleyball but like did i miss something? has he dropped out yet? like something about ranboo does not scream “student” /lh

besides that, i’m not sure what subject he would actually be good in,,, but something about nutrition/health sciences,, he knows a few things

don’t get me wrong, i don’t think he actually likes the subject but somehow remembers what he learned from the class

also gives me the type of energy of the type of person to take a first aid class to be a certified person to do cpr on someone just to kill time during his lunch breaks for a while or something

“i am a certified cpr person”

“my life in ranboo’s hands? oh god please no”

you two would probably joke about the ‘bad’ people in your classes or talk shit about your schools than actually doing anything homework related ngl AHAHAH

“you think your school is down bad? mine went back to campus full time after like 6 months into quarantine because they were running out of money”

“what the hell y/n? your school is a scam, drop out”

“arghhhh i knowww”

“i bet i make more money than your teachers combined AHAHAH”

wilbur soot

he doesn’t seem like the best person to ask for help for homework but can info dump you on very specific historical events + a bit of geography

i kinda see him as the person you can ask to proof read an essay for you and would help it improve immensely

who needs a thesaurus when you have vocabulary boy wilbur?

i dunno if it’s an american thing only or at all, but if/when you get to studying hamilton in your english class, he will get so fucking excited

“no wilbur it isn’t fun! imagine listening to lin-manuel miranda rap ‘alexander hamilton’ at the white house from like 2009 on repeat for over an hour whilst trying to write an analysis about it!! it was so distracting”

“well clearly someone has a personal problem with mr lin-manuel. if i were you, i’d be singing the whole thing”

is this last bit personal and complete spite from my freshman year english class? yes. i do not care? no. /hj

unrelated but i actually scribbled nice guy ballad lyrics and other songs on my english scratch papers in freshman year but anyway

probably isn’t the best person to be in a call to do homework with but wilbur doesn’t mind you ringing him occasionally sometimes

i dunno i can just see him easily get bored of the silence or something but also doesn’t want to bother you too much

but he is genuinely proud of you whenever you tell him you aced a big test you were studying for :D

philza

this man’s bad advice is as bad as him trying to help you on any subject

he’s an old man so /hj

but like honestly, he hasn’t been at school for so long, phil can probably only help with the most basic things when it comes to school

if you have a wack teacher that makes you collect data through surveying people, phil would be one of the best people to ask! straightforward and won’t take too much of your time compared to other people ahem,,

statistics things ! sobs

if you ever complain a lot about your classes and contemplating dropping out and stuff, he will def scold you hard

“ugh phillllllllll can i just like,, never go to school again?”

“do not drop out”

“argh fine, i won’t just ‘cause philza minecraft said so”

honestly if you get a high score in a big test like your sats/gcse’s (whatever you’re taking from wherever you are) he’d probably order you a small meal or something to celebrate :D

like how phil bought ranboo bought him food to his house, it would start as a joke but when you get your test scores back he’s like “YOOO GOOD JOB Y/N”

expect a left meat pizza coming to your house .

technoblade

like wilbur, techno is also helpful when it comes to history!

def knows a decent bit of literature too

besides that i don’t really see him being that helpful

even if he was supposed to be an english major

he will just get mad at the school system for teaching you useless things

“being in school is good but why do you need to know how to know if something is a triangle or not? i can obviously see with my eyes that it’s a triangle”

“i dunno! ask the person that made up geometry”

“just look at a kaleidoscope and be over with it, it isn’t that hard”

“that isn’t how it works—”

“bruhhh”

if you’re looking for the person to call while doing homework, he is not the person /lh

it’s either like 0 or 100 with techno

he can just completely not say anything and ignore you or go on a full rant about whatever class or homework you have

if you have an essay you need written, it will take a lot of bribing but he might take the opportunity if you are rich

“techno i’ll paypal you $10 please help me”

“no. i can make 10 times that amount in 5 minutes if i just started streaming right now”

“techno i don’t have that kind of money! pleaseee”

“no. instead of complaining, you can use that time to actually start you work”

“you’re the worst”

then you speedrun the essay and get an A just to spite him

[simpsiren]

sticky notes: the story

mark lee x reader

introduction 

main masterlist

description. you use sticky notes to get into contact with your soulmate.

genre. soulmate au, high school au, strangers to lovers au

warnings. nonee

a/n. so some people requested for a full story of this so here it is! i really liked making this because the concept is just so cute cudndn oh and i did include the same idea as what i did in my previous post but i had to change it a little so that it would fit the plot. this is a really really long ff since its a slow burn typa thing so please try to stick with me on this one HAHA anyways enjoyy! :D

“you actually believe that?”

you lift your head up from your notes to look at soyoung. she nods her head and hum eagerly. you rub your temples from seeing her respond. “i do believe soulmates exist. but sticky notes to talk to them? what’s social media for then? and how is it even scientifically possible?” you question soyoung, bringing your eyes down as you continue to do your homework.

“that’s the beauty of soulmates, ray!” soyoung whines. you shake your head. “you’re dumb to believe it without confirming the information with other relevant sources.” you mutter out bluntly. you hear soyoung letting out a ‘tsk’. “here you go again being a history student. i swear im glad i never took it.” you scoff and slam your pen on the table gently.

“excuse me, woman! at least i dont have to memorise the whole textbook and only having 5 pages of content coming out in the exam.” you stick your tongue out playfully to tease soyoung. “i cant get over the fact that valcanos didn’t come out eventhough i memorised so much for it.”

the both of you laugh, knowing that the two of you can never stop debating on whether history or geography is the better subject.

“ray complete your homework at home. we cant stay in the classroom for long you know?” soyoung stands up to get to her seat, which is 2 rows down yours since you were sitting right at the back. you liked sitting at the back. it allowed you to always be able to use your phone in case you get bored in class. you still cant believe that your teachers think you’re a good and obedient student. you figured they only assumed that due to your high grades.

you sigh “that’s true.” you turn around to grab your back that was hanging in your chair and start packing your materials. once you were done, you grab the class key and walk over to soyoung’s seat, waiting for her to finish packing. you notice soyoung has finish packing and went to switch off the lights. you allow soyoung to step out first before you close the door behind you and lock the classroom door.

you and soyoung walked down the hallway silently, you were looking out the window to watch the sunset while soyoung had her eyes on her feet. only your footsteps could be heard as almost everyone has left the school grounds except for some teachers who were working late. the school normally closes at 7pm and you’re walking out at 6:50. to break the silence, soyoung opens her mouth to start a conversation.

“okay if you dont believe me why dont you try it yourself? like write a simple introduction to your soulmate.” you raise an eyebrow as you shove your hands into the front pockets of your mom jeans. “why dont you do it?” you fought back as you huff. soyoung bites the inside of her cheek as a moment of silence passes for her to think of an answer.

“because i believe it. and you do not. so you should try it.” you smacked soyoung’s arm, making her flinch back and shouting a loud ‘ouch’. you roll your eyes, knowing you didn’t hit her hard and she was just overreacting. “brilliant excuse,so. but if its going to make you stop talking about it, i might as well.” soyoung face lit up as she jumps happily and starts skipping ahead of you. you laugh and pull the handle at back of her bag to keep her explosion of excitement to the minimum.

“you owe me brown sugar milk tea. large.” you taunted. soyoung waves her hand lazily. “i’ll buy you one after school tomorrow. but you better update me during math.”

you wanted to say how you could just text soyoung to update her, but you remembered the fact that soyoung’s mother took away her phone since she didn’t do well for this year’s midterms. although to you, soyoung’s grades were decent. unfortunately for her, soyoung has to live up to her asian mom’s high expectations. the thought of this made you want to frown, but you showed a bright smile regardless as the two of you finally made it to the school gate, waving to each other and bidding farewell before walking down opposite paths.

once you arrived at home, you took out your phone from your back pocket. you saw a notification from your mother saying that your parents would be home late. you shrug your shoulders as you walk to your room. “as always.” you breathed out.

you did your normal routine of showering and eating leftover dinner that you needed to heat up at the couch while you completed one episode of the anime series you were so hooked on. you continue watching but with the amount of homework you have, you might finish them all by midnight if you dont slack.

you turned off the tv and washed your plate before heading into your room. as you close the door behind you, your eyes immediately went to your desk, which was pretty messed up since you had a test to study for yesterday that you completely weren’t prepared for and had to squeeze in as much information as you can. hence, the scattering of notes and textbooks.

you stroll over to your desk and sat down. you take out your homework from your back which was beside the desk. looking at the stack of homework, you groan in despair as shove it to the back of the desk till it hit the wall. “ah fuck it! im just going to ask kun for help.” you admitted your defeat depsite thinking you would be able to gain some energy from your dinner. you also thought about how you’ve done your homework in the morning plenty of time so i shouldnt be a problem unless kun doesn’t offer his help.

you jump to your bed and lay down, bringing your phone out and immediately start scrolling through instagram. as you swiped your finger up to look at the posts of the people you follow, you stop at one. a picture of a couple who met through the sticky note theory. or so they claim. your thumbs hover over the screen as your eyes look up to the ceiling, starting to remember what soyoung asked to do to get your bubble tea.

yoy tap your index finger on the side of your phone as you constantly started to think whether you should do it or not. you’ve heard the rumours. but are they even true? the more you thought about it, the more intriguing the idea got. but at the same time, you also thought of how stupid it sounded and was probably made to fool people.

after contemplating and having in a debate in your head that felt like forever, you finally place your phone down beside you and take a deep breath. “ill do it.” you groan to yourself, letting curiosity take over your other feelings.

you gather up your strength to stand up from your bed and walk over to your desk. you push all the papers and textbooks aside, grabbing a yellow sticky notepad from your stationery organiser. you had other colours too like pink and purple, but you figured that you should go with the classic.

pulling out a random pen that was laying in between the pages of one of your textbooks, you tilt your head to the side as you start thinking of what to write, unconsciously biting the end of your pen in the process.

you bite the side of your cheek and shrug, deciding to go with the plan of writing whatever that comes to your mind.

um hi? i dont even know if you’re going to see this. its funny, really. i heard a rumour that you can communicate with your soulmate through sticky notes. it’s probably just fake news and im writing to a nobody. that would honestly be embarrassing but it’ll be like love letters.. to myself(?) or my soulmate. write back? haha

you read over what you wrote an endless amount of times, thinking if you should make changes. you groan and immediately stick the sticky note onto your wall, giving up on giving second thoughts about what you call this ridiculousness.

you went about your night, forgetting you have left the sticky note on the wall. as you were on you bed scrolling through tumblr at 2 in the morning, you hear something. it sounded like a piece of paper had fallen from your desk.

unable to see in complete darkness, you turn on the flashlight from your phone and walk around your room, trying to find whatever it is that fell. it didn’t take you long to find a small yellow sticky note that you accidentally stepped on.

you pick it up, remembering that you wrote on the sticky note and thought that it was yours. however, once you were able to get a closer look, you noticed that the words on the sticky note have changed. so has the handwriting.

holy shit. i dont know what is this. but apparently a sticky note appeared on my wall saying i have a soulmate. my friends told me i should write back because of some rumour. so here i am trying. hi im mark. i dont know your name, but hope you’ll tell me once you recieve this. you’re in luck because apparently the rumour is true. im just as crepped out as you are.

you froze in your spot. your fingers shaking as you read the note again. you scratch your head. being too tired and unable to think straight at 2 in the morning, you place the sticky note on your desk and went back to bed to play with your phone. you soon forget about the fact that your soulmate has replied to your message that you have written on your sticky note.

as you got ready for the next period which was math, soyoung immediately runs over to you, dragging the chair from the desk beside you and taking a seat. you flinch a little when you suddenly see her close to you. 

“so did you try it?!” soyoung asks, her voice filled with enthusiasm . you brushed a few pieces of hair behind your ear, nodding your head as you take out your textbook from under the desk. “did you get a reply then?” 

your mind started to take you back to the mysterious encounter that you had last night. “mhm.” you reply simply. “though the only thing i remember because it seems to be the only relevant information is that the person’s name is mark.” soyoung gasped loudly, making you crease your forehead as you watch her overreacting again. 

“your soulmate’s name is mark then.” soyoung concludes, folding her arms confidently as if she made a great discovery. you laugh, rolling your eyes sarcastically. “isnt it obvious?” soyoung frowns fakely. 

your mouth gapes open as you hit soyoung’s arm lightly. “buy me my milk tea!” you demanded with a wide smile. soyoung places her notebook on your table and nods constantly. “i will you addict.” she groans. you happily say thank you as your teacher comes into the classroom and class began. 

“what are you going to do about it now though?” as you recieved the question from soyoung, you kept silent for a moment, giving time to think of an answer.

 “ill write something back? i dont know.. ill have to read the letter again when i get back home.” you whispe to soyoung. she nods in reply as the two of you payed your attention to the front again. it surprised you that soyoung was paying attention but you only assumed that she wanted to do better in class and shrug your shouders, writing down the notes youve missed while talking to soyoung.

as for you, your concentration in class dipped slightly because now, the thing that is occupying your head the most is the thought that the sticky notes theory might actually be real and you cant say its not possible anymore, making you even more shocked than you did last night.

lucky for you, today is the only day of the week where your class ends the earliest, along with two other lower ranked classes. you and soyoung quickly pack up to go to the mall to get your reward. after soyoung buys you your drink, you and soyoung went your separate ways.

after about 30 minutes of taking the bus and walking, you finally arrived at home. you place your drink on the living room table and proceed to place your bag in the room and head for the showers.

once you were done showering, you walk out of the bathroom to head to your room while drying your hair with a small towel. opening the door, you enter and went straight to your clothing rack. just when you were about to grab a shirt from the hanger, you heard the same noise last night. another piece of paper has fallen on the floor.

you turn your head and look down. this time, you found another sticky note right in front of your feet. the colour of the sticky note changed from yellow to a light blue. you tilt your head as you pick up the stick note from the floor, finding it odd as you wonder how the colour of the sticky note changed.

you take a deep breath before reading it, noticing that the handwriting was similar to the one you read last night. a little messier, but still readable.

hi again.. im not sure if you’ll recieve this since its the afternoon and i know people are busy with work or school. i skipped school today so haha. um i just wanted to write to you, despite me not knowing a single thing about you. its odd really. its like i feel the need to write something to an unknown identity that people assume to be my soulmate. i still dont know your name, so i hope youll reply soon. take your time and take care :)

- mark

“skip school? what is he, a bad boy?” you scoff to yourself. you try to take in whatever’s on the note, but another thought comes to mind. you walk over to your desk and saw that the yellow sticky note with mark’s reply was still there. you find everything about this weird and just odd in general. a lot of questions sprouted, but you didn’t want to think of it since you were afraid you would complicate your thoughts and just throw yourself into a stress hole.

you continue to dry your hair with one hand while the other held onto the light blue sticky note. you bit your lip and gulp. after letting out a long sigh, you place the sticky note next to the other one and changed into your clothes, as well as bringing your drink from the living room table to your room, placing it on the desk as you sat down.

you take out your pencilcase from your bag and brought out your fresh new black pen that you just bought at the school’s stationery store. the previous pen you had was full of ink till soyoung was dumb enough to drop it, spoiling the pen and was unable to be used again.

peeling off another yellow stick note from the stack at the edge of your desk, you were about to put your pen on paper when you realise you dont even know what to write. what do you say to this person you barely know about? you continuously tap the edge of the pen against your desk as you take a sip of your drink. you look over to the two sticky notes with the messages that the person has left. its funny how you have to think so hard just to write a short message.

hey again. i actually ended school early today. my name’s raven. but my friends call me ray. i honestly don’t know what to say to you. im still dumbfounded over the fact that you’re my soulmate and we’re here communicating over sticky notes. the world really does work in a strange way. if you dont mind, i guess i want to know how old you are and you’re education status?

you held out the sticky note in front of you and sigh in satisfaction. why? it’s because of your neat handwriting. it was always a trait of yours that you deeply appreciate. you place the sticky note on the wall and advert your attention to the other sticky notes, placing them on the wall beside the new one you have just written.

“will this drive me insane? i might end up with a whole wall of this.” you say to yourself, rubbing your face with your palm before going to your bed and laying down, wanting to have your evening nap.

“this is awesome!”

“no its scary.”

mark and his group of friends stared at the sticky note that has a message written with beautiful handwriting. mark flinched when he felt an arm on his shoulder, turning around to notice it was chenle’s. “when did you write your previous sticky note?” renjun suddenly asked. mark tilts his head as he tried to find an answer.

“less than an hour before you guys came i guess?” mark shrugs, standing up from his desk and taking a seat at the edge of the bed beside jaemin and haechan. “this raven girl is your soulmate then.” chenle walks towards mark and stands in front of him. mark nods slowly. the room grew silent again with everyone having the similar thoughts.

“you know what would be funny?” haechan smacks mark’s thigh, the sound making everyone turn their attention to mark and haechan. “what?” mark asked with a sigh, running a hand through his hair.

“why dont we prank her and say you’re a sugar daddy and live in a mansion?!” everyone gave yuta weird looks, making haechan laugh hysterically. “are you crazy? do you think i want to chase my soulmate away?” mark scolded haechan, smacking him hard on the chest, resulting in haechan’s back falling onto the bed.

“you’re always asking for a beating i swear.” renjun comments, walking towards haechan and balling his hand into a fist and acting as if he was about to attack. jaemin laughs to try and calm them down. “kids let’s not fight.” jaemin announced, looking over to jeno only to find him standing there watching quietly.

“go ahead, mark. you should write something. we cant keep her waiting.” jeno finally spoke up, grabbing the sticky notepad and a random pen from mark’s table and passing it over to him.

mark stared at the blank paper while the others were talking about what to have for dinner. it didn’t take him long to decide what to write. when mark starts writing and began to be in full concentration, everyone crowds around him to see what he’s writing.

sup raven! i wont call you ray since we aren’t friends yet. im still shocked. like the possibility of things like this being possible is just another possibility that can possibly happen. but anyways, to answer you question, im a high schooler from dream high. im in my third year. its kind of awkward for me while im writing this since my friends are reading every word im taking down. i guess i should ask you the same question back then. hope to hear from you soon.

“will you guys stop being nosy?” mark groans, standing up and pasting the sticky note on his wall, along with the other sticky notes he received from you. “you didn’t have to say that we’re here.” haechan retorts. mark rolls his eyes. “jesus..” mark mutters under his breathe. “anyways, yall are paying for dinner since you guys bribed me to write back.” mark sticks his tongue out playfully and runs out to the living room. everyone follows suit.. except for jeno.

jeno slowly walks towards the wall and leans forward to get a closer look of the sticky notes, specifically the two others beside the new one that mark just wrote. “raven? why does that sound so familiar? the handwriting...” jeno brings his finger up and lightly hovers them over the uniquely written words. it looked like calligraphy, and retro looking. jeno felt as though he had seen it before somewhere, or knew someone who wrote like that.

jeno snapped out of his deep thoughts when jaemin called out to him, making him walk towards the door and glancing at the sticky notes once more before joining the others in the living room.

you were currently video calling your friends when you heard the crackling of a piece of paper. of course you knew what that meant. you peered down the the floor from your bed and reached your hand out to pick up the sticky note. “ray?” doyoung called out to you when he noticed your face wasnt on screen. you lay back down on the floor and brought your phone up to show your face.

“what was that sound earlier?” lucas asked, currently sounding hyper. “the mysterious mark sent me another sticky note.” you reply sarcastically, waving the sticky note to the camera to let everyone look at it. everyone nodded their heads at the some time, some letting out a long ‘ah’ as well. “read it out loud!” yuta shouted.

“the fuck no!” you shouted back. you stared at the sticky note, but didn’t bother to read it. you thought of doing that once you’re done video calling them.

“how was today for you guys?” you asked, wanting to know how they’re doing.

“its tiring! we had dance practice, then we have to do recordings for our new albums. we barely get any sleep.” ten whines, his tone filled with stress. you laugh loudly. it made everyone frown and pout. you sigh. “pursuing your NCT world domination is never easy.” you commented, highlighting the word ‘world domination’ with a change of tone.

everyone lets out a long sigh and started to complain one by one, making the whole video call chaotic for almost 10 minutes. you could only smile and shake your head.

after about an hour or so of talking about basically everything and catching up with each other, everyone decided that they should end the call here since it was beginning to get dark and they needed to start practice soon. you bid your goodbye to them once more and ended the call.

you now adverted your attention to the sticky note. reading the letter, you raise both eyebrows. “dream high? that’s not far from here..” you mumbled to yourself. you started to think about everything you know about dream high. you know it’s was about an hour’s journey from where you live. it wasnt really well known either. the overall vibe of the school was mediocre.

however, you felt like you were missing something. something about that school is somehow related to you. you just couldn’t think of an answer despite squeezing all thoughts that you have in your brain. you groan and stood up from your bed and to your desk, proceeding to wanting to write a reply to mark.

hey. sorry if you get this quite late. i was busy video calling my friends. to answer your question, im a third year as well from jookin high. i would ask for your number so we dont have to do this all the time but my friend would scold me saying “but you’re removing the fun out of it.” but anyways, mark aka my soulmate, tell me about yourself, to start off.

you stick the note onto the wall, looking at the row of messages you’ve had recieved so far. you found it weird how the first time you’ve sent the note and got a reply back, it was on the same sticky note, just different handwriting. but you had to write on a new sticky note to send a new message only to get the same sticky note with a different message in return.

you only see his answers lined up on your wall. you started to wonder how this mark guy looked like. is he good looking? what are his hobbies? his attitude towards school? you really wished you could just text him through instagram and not have to go through all this trouble. but that option would earn you a large smack on the back by soyoung and your really didn’t want that.

“do we really need to be here now? like now?!”soyoung whined, while pushing the cart and following behind you while you tossed some packets of frozen bacon. you stopped walking and turn around, nodding your head intensely. soyoung groans and took out her phone, proceeding to use it while still pushing the cart.

you walk around the supermarket, trying to find the ingredients listed on your notes in your phone. it was the weekends and you’re parents were going to be away for a business trip for a week so you thought of inviting soyoung over and making home cooked meals as a bonding session for you two.

after about 30 minutes of gathering the ingredients and having soyoung constantly screaming and fangirling over tiktok edits of jaehyun from NCT. one note: she has yet to know that you know them and that they’re your friends. you figured that it would be best to not let anyone know so as to avoid any situation that would put your friends in a tight spot, since well they’re idols, you were looking for one last item that you had trouble finding.

“soyoung help me! stop watching tiktoks!” you groan, snatching soyoung’s phone away and shoving it in her back pocket. soyoung rolls her eyes lazily and the two of you proceeded to scan the different isles and shelves, looking over every item.

while you were too concentrated looking at the bottom shelves, you felt that you have bumped into someone. you squat down, letting out a soft ‘ouch’ before standing up and looking to see who you bumped into.

“wait. jaemin?” you furrow your eyebrows as you tilt your head, pointing your finger at the guy in front of you. “raven!” you noticed that it was jaemin after all, and both your faces lit up and the same time, grinning widely at each other.

“uhhh..” soyoung says out loud, you and jaemin turn your heads to face soyoung who was behind you. “oh! this is jaemin. we used to be neighbourhood friends before he moved out 4 years ago.” you introduced jaemin to soyoung. jaemin nodded and gave her a bright smile. soyoung only shrugged her shoulders and took out her phone. you turn your attention back to jaemin.

“why are you even here? dont you live quite far?” you ask, your fingers interlocked behind your back. jaemin nods, running a hand through his hair.

“well yes. but we came here to find something that only this supermarket sells.” jaemin replied back, his warm smile never leaving his lips. you smile, reached your hand out to ruffle his hair, laughing softly afterwards. “we? who’re you with?” you stared at jaemin with eyes of suspicion. jaemin started pinching your cheeks, making you whine and begging him to let go.

“with my friend, ray chill. im still single.” jaemin pulled away and folded his arms, pouting. “im sure you’ll find one soon.” you reached out to ruffle his hair and give off a wide smile.

while you and jaemin were catching up and being in your own world, soyoung got too bored of watching the two of you and decided to walk around the supermarket, leaving the cart behind you.

just as she was looking at the drinks isle to get her favourite sweet drink, she sees someone picking up a bunch of bottles one by one and placing them back on the shelve. out of kindness, she decided to help, picking up a bottle and placing it on fhe shelve before looking up to face the guy, who had a straight face while looking at her.

“i was just trying to help. im soyoung.” soyoung smiled, reaching her hand out and waiting for thr guy to greet back. he looked at her but doesn’t respond, proceeding to pick up the last bottle that was seen on the floor. “im jeno.” jeno stands up and nods his head to greet soyoung. soyoung nods back, walking down the isle to grab her drink from the shelve. “have a nice day.” soyoung says before leaving the isle and disappearing out of jeno’s sight. he only shrugged in response and went to do his own thing.

“you met who?!” haechan asks as he takes a sip of his ice cold water. everyone had their heads turned to jaemin, who raised an eyebrow at everyone’s weird expression. “i met my old friend raven. what’s so shocking?” jaemin asks back casually, picking up a few pieces of fries and dipping it into the sauce before shoving it in his mouth.

“dude that’s the name of mark’s soulmate!” haechan screams, making everyone flinch due to the loud noise. “i highly doubt it. there’s plenty of girls in the world with the name raven.” jaemin protests with his mouth full and chugging down gulps of coca cola.

“i mean that’s true. jeno you were with jaemin, right? dont you suspect anything?” renjun starts to question jeno, who was silently playing with his phone. looking up at the others, he gulps.

“i didn’t know he met his friend. i was picking out drinks. i just met a girl named soyoung.” jeno shrugs, taking a bite of his burger. mark scratches the back of his head, now starting to think of the fact that jaemin might have met his soulmate. though he also thought about how that could not be totally possible.

“nah i dont think its her. like really ‘raven’ could be anyone.” mark says, siding with jaemin. haechan tilts his head in awe. “jaemin do you know what school she’s going to?” jaemin only shakes his head.

“i lost all contact with her when i left her neighbourhood. plus we were young. i barely knew her honestly.” the living room falls silent, everyone trying to think of a conclusion to this.

chenle groans, standing up from his seat and slamming his hands on the table, gathering everyone’s attention as their heads shot up. “instead of pondering as if yall are solving some crime, why dont mark just ask her through the sticky note god dammit?” chenle pinches the bridge of his nose.

everyone’s mouths gape open as the room was suddenly filled with ‘ah’s all over. chenle shakes his head. everyone was now looking intensively at mark. mark furrows his eyebrows. “okay guys hold up ill grab the stick note.” mark stands up and takes one bite of his burger before going into his room for awhile and coming out with a sticky note and a pen.

jaemin noticed jeno being silent the whole way. and althought thats normal since its jeno’s nature and personality to not be so outspoken like the others, jaemin could sense that jeno was off and seem to be in deep thoughts.

and jaemin was right. jeno couldnt stop thinking about jaemin’s encounter with ‘raven’. the name sounded so familiar. he tried to recall every girl he has came into contact with during his life. why did he feel like the name was tied to the handwriting he saw on the sticky notes?

“jeno.” jaemin nudged him in the shoulder. jeno mumbled a soft ‘oh’ before turning his attention to mark just like the others. “she didn’t send me a reply after my last one though.” mark says, looking up.

“its fine. she probably didn’t see it. just write already.” chenle says in anticipation. mark shakes his head. “calm the heck down its not like we can get an answer immediately.” mark rolls his eyes and began to write.

hey raven. um i know this may sound weird. but have you gone to a supermarket and met a guy names jaemin? im not a stalker i swear. its just that he’s my friend and apparently you know him. though i dont think that such a coincidence and come by just like that. hope you hear from you soon.

jeno stared at the sticky note that mark proceeded to place at a random wall of the living room while everyone continued to eat and chat. his thoughts finally linked and a imaginary lightbulb appeared on above his head when he finally realises why he was so drawn to mark’s soulmate.

you were focused on wanting to solve a math question when the sticky note above your desk’s wall had fallen in front of you, revealing a new message. you place your pen down and let out a sigh, remembering that you hsve forgotten to write a reply and that mark probably sent you another one.

you tied your hair in a messy low bun before picking up the sticky note to get a closer view. you blink your eyes rapidly as your eyes furrow in awe. what the note said really shocked you and made you freeze in your spot. jaemin is friends with your soulmate? there’s no way.

you sat there for awhile as you constantly read over the words, still in shock with your moutb hanging open. you just couldn’t believe it. was it really what it seemed to be? another thought came to your mind as well. the thought of just who is this friend of jaemin’s? could it be mark? was your soulmate literally in the same place as you yet you never knew?

you grab a fresh new piece of sticky note and proceeded to write a reply after staring at it for so long and thought that it was finally time that you do something.

okay what you wrote really was weird. jaemin’s my old neighbourhood friend. its such a coincidence how you know him. i guess the connections are there. so haha yeah. damn. im very mind blown right now.

you take a look at your handwriting again, smiling to yourself. “i really do love my handwriting.” you mumble under your breath. you stuck the sticky note on the wall and resumed doing your homework, hoping that mark would reply soon.

while the boys were immersed in the horror movie they were watching on friday night, everyone turned their heads to each other when they heard the noise of a piece of paper falling onto the floor. in unison, everyone turned their head to where the noise came from and seeing the sticky note that fell.

jisung grabs the controller and pauses the movie. “we’re watching a scary movie and creepy stuff like that happens?!” jisung asks, stuttering out of complete fear.

mark decided to be the brave one after seeing everyone’s terrified face and stands up to pick up the sticky note, going back to take his seat on the couch soon after. “d-does that always happen?” mark shrugs. “well duh. that’s how i know she sent a reply. it wouldn’t be this scary if we weren’t watching a horror movie.”

everyone’s heads once again gather around mark as he read the note out loud. everyone gapes their mouth open, some covered their mouths while jeno could only stare at it in disbelief. “i guess we’ve confirmed its her.” mark breathes out, placing the sticky note on the table.

jeno reaches out to grab the sticky note to have a look. the unique handwriting that he suspected would belong to you really was yours. out of anger, he tears the sticky notes into two. everyone had their eyes widened at jeno’s sudden shocking action. mark snatches the now torn note back, looking down at them before facing jeno.

“what the heck was that for?!”

“dont talk to her anymore. she’s trouble.”

everyone lets out a sigh in unison except for mark, looking at everyone’s weird reaction. “what do you mean trouble? and why does it look like you all know something except me?” mark furrows his eyes as everyone exchanged glances continuously for a moment.

“she’s just not someone you should be with. that’s all.” jeno stands up and walks to his room, slamming the door shut and produring a piercing noise. the room was silent for awhile until mark speaks up.

“what am i missing here you guys?”

no one replies.

“we’ve been friends for a year and you guys are all keeping secrets for me?” mark scoffs in disbelief, pinching the bridge of his nose.

“we arent in the position to tell you. its jeno.” jaemin murmurs under his breath, looking down on the ground just like the others.

marks keeps silent and stands up from the couch, the palm the torn note was in is balled into a fist as he goes into his room as well.

haechan sighs. “jeno has to tell the truth. he’s been holding onto that grudge almost forever now.”

everyone nods their heads in agreement. “if not, he’s going to live in despair now that he knows she’s his best friend’s soulmate..” jisung adds on. 

everyone could only silently hope that things could go well. 

after that day you’ve sent a reply, you havent heard from mark since. you dont know why. due to your lack of information on him, it felt as if he disappeared into thin air. although only a week has past by, you felt concerned and somewhat worried for him. did something happen to him? what made him cut off his connection with you? its not like you did anything wrong. 

out of pure desperation, you decided to skip school today. youve never skipped school before, and you felt so rebellious and bad. why did you do this? so you could go to dream high and meet mark in person. youve had enough of the sticky notes. you just wanted to see how he was like in real life, not having to think about it through notes. 

with a little help from jaemin by texting him on instagram, you knew that mark’s class should be ending by 4pm, and you were there at 3:50 in the canteen where jaemin told you to wait. funny how the security guard lets a student from another school come in with a pass or anything.

you slowly start seeing groups of students going down the flight of stairs that lead to the canteen which had a path leading to the front gates. some eyes glanced at you as they notice someone who doesnt belong at their school, you couldnt care less though. your thoughts were only filled with mark. how he looked like, how he would carry himself. your anticipation was the only thing you felt.

you wore your headphones yet you could suddenly hear a lot of squealing and shouting. you look up, turning you attention to the stairs. a large group of girls crowding around another group of people, who you assumed to be guys. you scoffed, thinking about how there’s always that one group of good looking guys all girls seem to go crazy for. you watch as the group of guys push through the large crowd.

once you got a closer look, you tilt your head to the side. you slowly bring your headphone down from your ears and let them rest on your neck, getting intrigued by how the girls were getting so crazy, even more crazy than the ones from your school.

“its mark! he’s so cute!” 

you widen your eyes as you heard the word ‘mark’. you stood up from your seat, peering your head up to find which one is the girl referring to. you only see two guys walking. one smiling sheepishly while the other kept a straight and cold face. just which one is mark?

suddenly, you felt an arm grabbing yours and pulling you back. you jump out of fear and turn around noticing it was jaemin. you calmed your breathing as you look at jaemin. 

“meet mark under the block nearby. its too hectic here for you to talk to him.”

jaemin dragged you out of the school grounds and to a secluded block where only a few students where walking past and left you there. you were lost in confusion but decided to trust whatever jaemin was doing, sitting down at a random bench.

“jaemin told us to meet him here where is-” 

“raven.”

“what?”

you immediately stood in front of the two guys you saw at the canteen as you notice a familiar face. you werent able to get a clear look at them before, but now you realise that you knew one of them. “jeno..” you look at a different direction a you tried avoiding his gaze, though you knew you couldnt, forcing yourself to meet his eyes.

mark looks at the both of you, utterly confused as his attention shifts from you to jeno constantly. “this raven?” mark points at you, tilting his head. you nod slowly as your turn your head to face mark. you observed his body up and down. he was good looking, just like jeno.. yet his aura told you that he was way more outgoing and open than jeno. 

“you look...”

everyone was silent.

you gulp in nervousness. “im busy. bye mark.” before jeno could go, mark pulled on his arm to bring him back to stand beside him, earning a glare from jeno. the one you could never forget. “stay. i know something happened. you were always quiet whenever we talked about this girl. and i also know you all kept something from me.”

you slowly turned to jeno. you could he was annoyed whenever he looked at you. you felt it through his eyes, and it was terrifying. jeno took a deep breath in, folding his arms and placing his weight on one leg. 

“if you remember clearly, chenle told you that before we became friends with you, we had a fight and didnt talk to each other for a long time. we didnt tell you this, but it was her who caused it. she brought chaos into our group. everyone forgotten about it clearly, but i cant. after what she did.. i cant forgive her.”

you opened your mouth, wanting to reply but your words were somehow stuck in your throat. you didnt exactly know what to say or do in this awkward situation.

“it.. it was a long time ago jeno, please. my feelings for you were real, even if we werent meant to be. i dont know how many times you need me to say sorry.” you pleaded, biting your lip as you waited for jeno’s reaction.

jeno sighs and runs a hand through his hair as he lets out a huff of rustration. “then why did you leave? you left me stranded, and because of you, i almost left my friends becaused i lived in agony since i missed you so much. i almost pushed everyone away.” you shivered as jeno’s voice started to raise. 

 you also glanced at mark, who still kept his confused expression on his face. through his gaze never left you as you felt his eyes scanning you body up and down. 

“you two used date?” mark asks. you nod in reply.

“we were kids. we didnt know about all this soulmate stuff. but now..” 

“you know what? be together. im not going to leave my friends just because of my pent up grudge and feelings. i cant control fate either.” 

years had now past since you met mark. it really was fate. the two of you became close in no time and now.. you were fianally married. you couldnt be more happy to be with mark. who you were destined to be really was made for you, and you only. and to think this all escalated due to a note you sent out in pure curiosity.

you still remember what happened with jeno after that day, despite the lack of interaction between you two, jeno was open enough to accept you as his friend again. you are now living a happy life with mark, and always being able to hang out with his group of friends. today was no different. 

“haechan get the chilli sauce!” you hear mark shout as you smile widely, feeling his arm snaking around your waist to pull you close. having a barbeque was a great idea to celebrate jisung’s birthday. 

you soon see haechan with the bottle of chilli sause, placing it on the table where everyone gathered around the table which had jisung’s birthday cake. “before we do anything with the cake, let me announce my wish.” jisung announces proudly. you raise an eyebrow. “you cant say you birthday wish out loud!” you scolded jisung, but everyone laughs.

“his wish is something we all know.” jeno says, winking playfully at you. you tilt your head in confusion when you suddenly feel mark’s arm leaving you waist. you look over to mark who was shoving his hand into his pocket as if to find something.

you were completely clueless when mark nods towards jisung, to show some kind of signal. “i wish for mark and raven to get married!” jisung shouts. 

you gaped your mouth open in shock when mark pulls out a small box, opening it in front of you to show a ring. you cover your mouth in disbelief. “did you guys really-”

“please marry me, raven. my sticky note soulmate.” you hear everyone clapping s a tear of happiness drips from your cheek. you quickly wipe it away as you heard the nickname that mark gave you. “we wouldnt normally do this but it was jeno that suggested this.”

you look over to jeno who had a soft smile on his face as he nod his head. looking back at mark, you grin widely as more tears started flowing out. “of course ill marry you, you dork.”

[headheartbellarke]

LUNCH | Juke

PAIRING(S): Julie Molina x Luke Patterson 

WARNING(S): so much fluff

WORDS: 2,995

SUMMARY: First day of middle school, and eleven-year-old Luke Patterson with lively eyes, a contagious smile and a head full of musical dreams decides that the girl that sits at the table in front of him during lunch break is the most beautiful person he’s ever met, other than his mama, of course.

(lmk if anyone wants a tag!)

READ ON AO3!

SIXTH GRADE

      First day of middle school, and eleven-year-old Luke Patterson with lively eyes, a contagious smile and a head full of musical dreams decides that the girl that sits at the table in front of him during lunch break is the most beautiful person he’s ever met, other than his mama, of course. He spends the rest of the day thinking about the way her eyes light up like Christmas lights when she laughs, or the way she absentmindedly hums the tune of Love Story by Taylor Swift, or the way her hair looks so beautiful against the afternoon sun. His friends, Alex, Reggie and Bobby, notice him staring at that girl – and they tease him, and Luke denies everything, rolling his eyes, but the blush spreading across his face quickly proves him out to be a big, fat liar.  His friends all flash out toothy smiles, and encourage him to go talk to her, and Luke promises that he’ll do so, the next day.

    Next day rolls around, and he tells Alex and Reggie and Bobby that he’s going to sit next to her in Literature. And he almost does, believe me – but, at the last moment, he decides against his better judgement and sits behind her, next to Bobby who boos at him. He rolls his eyes and decides to just stare at the back of her head instead, promising himself that he’ll do it tomorrow. He’ll sit next to her tomorrow, and he’ll have an actual conversation with her. He watches Julie raise her hand and answer a question, and he thinks, tomorrow.

    Tomorrow comes with a geography test, and he sits in the front, next to Alex, and says, “I have to study, and I think I’ll be very distracted if she’s around!”, but he’s still distracted, this time turning back towards her every five minutes. Tomorrow, he says again. Alex pinches the bridge of his nose.

    Tomorrow, the day tomorrow, the day after that – it all passes away, Luke making up one excuse after the other. Finally, a week later, his friends have had enough, and Reggie slips Luke’s notebook in Julie’s bag when she’s not looking.

    It has the intended effect. Julie finds Luke at lunch, him sitting with his friends, and gives him a shy smile, tucking a strand of hair, that’s escaped from her braid, behind her ear. Luke looks mortified, seeing his notebook in her hands, and Reggie elbows him, and he finally comes to his senses.

     “H-hi!” He manages to croak out, suppressing a thousand emotions inside.

     “Hi. I believe this is yours? It was in my bag; I don’t know how it got there – maybe Miss Walker accidentally gave me yours and I didn’t notice? Or maybe you dropped it. Accidentally. In my bag. That doesn’t sound like it’s possible, but it is. One time, my best friend, Flynn, she dropped her water bottle, her new water bottle in Tyler Vishwakumar’s bag – we searched for it for hours, and at the end of the day, there’s Tyler. With the bottle. How crazy is that?” Julie lets out in one breath, huffing when she finishes. Her face has tinges of red on it.

     “You’re rambling.” Alex points out.

    Reggie widens his eyes. “Oh, are you nervous? People ramble when they’re nervous. Why are you nervous? Now you actually look like you’ll yack in a bowl. You’re almost making me nervous!”

    Julie must have looked horrified by then, because, well, she was talking to the four cutest boys in her grade, and one of them has been obsessively staring at her for the past week, too – she wasn’t the one who noticed – it was her best friend, Flynn, who did.

     “Will you sit with us?” Luke mumbles out. His friends all grin, proud of him. Julie feels little butterflies in her stomach, and says, “Can my best friend sit too?”

    Luke nods furiously. “Absolutely.”

    Julie grins.

***

JUNIOR YEAR

       “Julieee!” Luke drags out the ‘e.’

     “What?” Julie whispers, annoyed. They’re currently seated in their chemistry classroom, and Luke is utterly bored.

     “I’m bored.” He announces.

    Julie rolls her eyes. “You promised Emily that you’d focus on Organic Chemistry.”

     “I know, I’m the one who promised it.”

     “Then, focus!”

    Luke huffs. “We already went through this, remember? Last week when I kept pronouncing acetone as ace-tune.”

     “We went through what acetone was. Mr. Miller’s teaching reactions – we’re supposed to go through it tomorrow.”

     “Good thing I have my tutor, then.” He pokes Julie’s cheek. Julie’s eyes nervously dart to the front of the room, where their teacher still has his back to them, balancing equations on the whiteboard.

    She sighs. “You are so annoying.”

    Luke bats his eyelashes, feigning innocence. “Who, me?”

    Julie shakes her head, a quiet laugh escaping her.

     “Hey, I was thinking we could finish that song that we were working on last night.”

     “Sure.”

     “Cool, I have some ideas. I’ll tell Alex, Reg and Flynn to sit somewhere else so that we can work in peace, alright?”

    Julie’s eyes widen. “Wait, at lunch? I thought you meant that we’ll work on it tomorrow when you come over.”

    Luke shrugs. “Told ya. I’m inspired.”

    Julie shakes her head. “I can’t at lunch.”

    He checks what his teacher’s doing (still scribbling) and narrows his eyes at his best friend. “Why? It’s not like we do anything –”

     “I promised Nick that I’d sit with him.” Julie blurts out.

    Luke raises his eyebrows, widening his eyes. “Nick?! You still have that crush on him?”

    Julie blushes, trying to hide behind her hair, and trying to hide the fact that she never actually had a crush on Nick. Well, she did, kind of. But that crush wasn’t as big as the one she has on the boy sitting next to her.

     “Uh, no. He asked me, and I couldn’t say no!”

    Luke purses his lips, feeling his heart deflate a little. “But we always have lunch together! Ever since I asked you to sit with us that day in sixth grade, remember?”

     “Well, we’re all growing up. Alex already sits with Willie on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Soon enough, all of us would have new schedules like that –”

     “No, Jules. I won’t. I’ll always sit with you guys.” Luke persists.

    Julie shrugs, her posture falling a little. “Well, you say that now. What would happen when you like someone, and they ask you to sit with them?”

    But I like you! Luke thinks to himself, a blush immediately covering his cheeks. He pushes the thought away. “I… Even if I did, I’d still sit with you guys.”

    Julie raises her brows, not convinced. Luke desperately wants to tell her that he’s already sitting with the girl he likes, scratch that, has been in love with since middle school. He desperately wants to tell her that he’ll always sit with her, even if she falls in love with Nick or something. He desperately wants to tell her how much she means to him, how she’s his best friend, how he always wants to spend every moment with her, how she’s his family and how much he appreciates all that she’s done for him: from always being his shoulder to cry on, to always saving the last, chocolatey part of her ice cream for him.

    Instead, all that gets out is, “Fine. Sit with him. I don’t care.”

    Julie hangs her head. “Luke, come on, don’t be a baby –”

    He raises his eyebrows aggressively. “Oh, I’m being a baby?” Suddenly, he feels an anger in his chest, the same intensity as his feelings for her. “You’re choosing that… that lacrosse playing, academically great, and pretty much perfect… weirdo over m– us. You’re choosing him over your best friends. You’re breaking this group apart!”

    She purses her lips, annoyed. It’s things like these that makes her mad. He has no right to be mad at her whenever she hangs out with other guys, especially when the only reason she is doing so is because she wants to get over Luke himself. “Stop it, Luke. I’m sitting with Nick today, and it’s my decision.”

     “Fine. We’re done, then.”

    Julie scrunches up her face. “What do you mean, done?”

    Luke rolls his eyes, trying to hide the fact that he absolutely hates fighting with her. “I mean, I’m done with you. I can’t look at you anymore.”

     “Oh, come on, Luke! You’re making a big deal out of this for no – hey, where are you going? Luke! Get back here!” She whisper shouts as he walks to the front of the classroom and takes a seat next to Alex, who is sitting at the very front. Alex looks at him, and then at Julie, and whispers something in Luke’s ear, patting his back. Julie watches as he shrugs off Alex’s hand.

    She sighs, feeling like absolute crap.

***

       “Luke, stop it. Please.”

     “I’m not doing anything!”

     “You’ve been staring at Jules and Nick since they got here! It’s creepy, dude!” Flynn whisper shouts.

     “I am not!” Luke whisper shouts back. Flynn breathes deeply, her eyes narrowed, and lips pressed in a thin line. The boy in front of her challenges her stare.

     “OK, guys, stop.” Reggie says, banging the lunch table. The trio are currently seated in their usual table – although, their group lacks Alex, who’s sitting outside with his boyfriend, Willie, and of course, Julie.

    Reggie turns around in his seat to check what’s Julie doing. “Guys, they’re just talking.”

     “Soon enough they’ll be making out.” Luke crosses his arms.

    Flynn scrunches up her face. “What is it with you? Why can’t you just tell her that you’re in love with her –”

     “I am not –”

     “Yeah, you’re really not fooling anyone right now, buddy.” Reggie shrugs.

     “Why does everybody think that I’m in love with her? I’m just mad that my best friend is choosing some knockoff Clint Eastwood over me!”

     “What?” Flynn asks, confused.

    Luke closes his eyes and sighs, annoyed. “Why does no one get it?” He points to his head. “It’s because of his hat – the cowboy hat!”

    Flynn stares at him like he’s grown a third head.

     “The good, bad and ugly? Come on, Flynn. It’s a classic!”

    “Right, Luke.”

    Luke sighs deeply. “I hate my life.”

***

       “I even miss her stealing my ketchup, dude.”

     “It’s okay, dude. I’m here for you.” Alex pats his friend’s head, who is sitting beside him, his head resting atop his arms which is atop the lunch table, dramatically.

     “And she took Flynn, too. I miss her rapping about sandwiches.” He says, but his voice comes out muffled.

     “I thought you hated that. I remember you called her a broken radio.”

     “Not now, Alex!”

    Alex bites his lip, trying to hide his smile.

    Reggie leans across the table and grabs Luke’s arms. “Listen, Luke – wow, you’re really muscular! That’s not the point, okay. Listen – I wanna eat my pizza in peace, without you whining about Jules. So, please. Just tell her that you’re in love with her.”

    Luke lifts his head and opens his mouth to deny the last part, but he remembers the time he told Alex and Reggie how much he loves Julie after him and Julie had spent the entire day together at the beach, and she had even gone swimming with him – she is absolutely terrified of water – just because she wanted to cheer Luke up. (Bobby had left their band that week – Sunset Curve, tell your friends, or rather, not – to sign a solo contract with a label. Luke had been pretty pissed. And sad. Mostly pissed, though.) (Oh, wait. Ex band. Luke’s now in a band with Reggie, Alex, and Julie – Julie and The Phantoms. Tell your friends!)

     “No regrets, Luke, right? Isn’t that your catchphrase?” Alex says. Luke sits up. Alex continues, “What if you eat a really bad hotdog and die tomorrow, Luke? Then you’ll never get to tell her how you feel.”

     “No one dies of a bad hotdog, Alex.”

     “That’s not the point.”

    Reggie pipes in. “What’s the worst that could happen?”

     “Uh, she could never talk to me, again?”

     “At least she’ll know. And, come on, everyone at this school knows you guys ooze chemistry.”

    Alex scrunches up his face. “You should never say ooze again, but, yeah, I agree. Everyone can see the way Julie looks at you.”

    Luke sighs, and a sudden burst of confidence takes over him. No regrets.

    He pushes his chair backwards as his friends cheer him. With his chin held up high, he walks over to the table where Nick, Julie and Flynn are seated. When he sees her, he feels a pang in his chest – they haven’t talked in a whole freaking week.

    He reaches their table and the trio look up at him, Nick and Flynn offering him smiles. Julie just stares at him, an unrecognizable expression on her face.

    Luke clears his throat. “Julie. Hi.”

     “Hi, Luke.” She breathes out, suddenly feeling nervous. She’s never felt nervous around her best friend before – he’s one of the very few people around whom she is completely comfortable. Maybe it has to do with the fact that they haven’t talked in a week, and Julie misses him so, so much. They’ve never gone this long without talking, and in the past week she’s realized just how deep she cares about him, just how intense her love is for him.

    They stare at each other for a while, neither of them daring to break the silence that’s suddenly engulfed the table.

    Flynn looks between them. “Guys?”

    That breaks Luke out of his trance, and he feels like throwing up. His stomach is in knots, and he suddenly feels hot and breathless. “I –”

    No regrets.

    No regrets.

    No regrets.

    Julie starts speaking, “You wanna go outside? We really should talk. Shouldn’t we? I mean, I think so. I don’t think we’ve ever gone this long without speaking. Have we? Uh, the last time we didn’t speak, which was for two days, was when you broke my favorite clip. Remember? I think that was in –”

     “I’m in love with you.”

    Instinctively, Julie’s eyes widen, and she looks at Flynn, who has the same expression on her face, except that a large smile is blossoming on her face. She notices Alex and Reggie walking over to their table, and Nick, oh god, Nick – he’s currently pursing his lips, looking between the two of them.

     “What’s going on here? You guys look really weird.” Reggie says.

     “Luke here just told Julie that he’s in love with her. Julie. Julie, you should say something.” Flynn nudges her friend.

    Julie shoves her hands in her jeans pockets and stands up. “Uh, I – I – need to… the washroom. I need to use the washroom!”

    She runs of the cafeteria, five pairs of eyes following her.

     “Luke, go after her, you idiot!” Flynn slightly shoves Luke as he nods frantically, running after her.

    As the remaining members at the table watch the two of them run off to god-knows-where, Flynn rests her head on Alex’s shoulder as Reggie says, “That was awkward.”

    Nick nods. “Very uncomfortable to watch.”

    Alex, Reggie, and Flynn simultaneously look at Nick, them forgetting about his presence. Alex opens his mouth to provide an explanation, but Nick swats his hands. “It’s okay. I figured out that she’s into him yesterday. Everyone can see the way they look at each other.”

***

       “Julie! Jules, please!”

    Julie stops at the sound of Luke’s voice. She still feels queasy as she turns around to face Luke in the basketball courtyard where they’re currently standing.

    Luke walks up to her, hesitation evident in his every step. “Hear me out, please. I might die of a hotdog today.”

    “What?”

     “Nothing. Look, Julie, you’re my best friend and I really don’t wanna lose our friendship, but I can’t hide what I feel for you anymore. I’ve been in love with you since middle school, and I’ve tried, so hard, to fight it, but I can’t. You’re the smartest person I know and you have the most amazing voice, and you’re the most beautiful girl in my life and you’re the nicest and I really should have written this before or something. You – I can’t even imagine my life without you, Jules. There’s no one else that I wanna sing with onstage, or write songs with, or bake cakes with on Christmas eve or have a dance party with or… you get the point. Just, please, don’t shut me out.”

    Julie’s eyes soften, and she whispers. “That was all over the place.”

     “I know. I should’ve written it first.”

    She smiles and takes a step closer to him. “Do you remember the song that I wrote last year? Perfect Harmony? The one you found in my dream box?”

    Luke nods, his heart clenching. It’s about Nick, he thinks to himself.

     “It was about you.”

     “What?” He feels his heart beat faster.

     “It’s you, Luke. It was never Nick or anyone.” Julie takes Luke’s trembling hands in hers.

     “Really?” He whispers.

     “It’s always been you, Luke.”

     “Two worlds collide when you’re with me?”

    Julie nods.

     “I set you free?”

    She nods, again.

     “I’m your brightest burning star?”

    She blushes.

     “I put rhythm in your heart?”

    She laughs, “Luke!”

    He laughs, too, untangling a hand from hers to tuck a curl behind her ear.

     “I’ve been in love with you ever since you asked me to sit with you that day at lunch, Luke.”

    He smiles, feeling completely euphoric.

     “We wasted so much time, Jules.”

    She shrugs. “Probably.”

     “Will you go on a date with me, Jules?”

     “I would love to.”

    He cups her face in his hands as Julie looks at him like he put the stars in her world. He leans forward, and so does Julie, and their lips meet halfway in a kiss that’s long overdue.

***

[autistic-studies]

7 sep 2020 — 1/100 days of productivity

So. I decided to start the productivity challenge. I have actually no idea whether or not I’ll be able to keep this up with post as I’m very bad at remembering daily to-do things, but it’s worth a shot. I hope it will help me to be aware of how each day goes and to evaluate and learn from them.

Before school I:

Listened to the first half hour of Swing Time by Zadie Smith. A book we are required to read for my english class. I listen to an audiobook as executive dysfunction and sensory issues are very present at the moment and I find audio easier.

Read ahead on the material for Geography so I knew what would be talked about in class, making it easier for me to follow the lesson.

Today I had a day with spread out classes. I had two spare hours which also connected to three (!) breaks — covid made the school change things — so I went to my grandparents as it is close and I needed a quiet place for a bit to work and eat lunch while time passed (see picture). There I did:

My math homework.

My history homework.

My geography homework.

I negotiated with my history teacher and I didn’t have to his class so I would have a chance to recharge, but I did have to go back for Philosophy. I planned to do more after that class at home but I guess the exhaustion of the weekend and today came crashing down on me and I grew more tired the longer I was home. I ended up going non-verbal and I decided to skip practice. I hate that I wasn’t able to do any more productive things at all, but sometimes it is like that. I try to work and read ahead for when days like this happen so luckily the damage is not a lot. I just don’t like ‘wasting’ time like this. Things to do and new knowledge to learn.

My mom helped getting my bag ready for tomorrow and I still need to shower today but right now I am in bed with some poetry waiting for me to finish this post. So here is my first entry of the challenge. Be kind to yourself. You need it.

[averyonelovesjack]

wrapped around your finger ~ jack avery

requested: yes

hi babe!! I love love love your writing and I was wondering if you could write about jack being like the nerd/shy guy at school and the reader is like the total priss and runs the school but she really likes him and he’s never gotten the hint but they finally tell each other they like the other?? thank you!! :)

summary: the very bright jack avery is tutoring queen of the school, y/n, but is unable to see the true feelings that rest behind their relationship.

warning(s): cursing, studying

word count: 1428

My highlighter ran over the small words that were printed on several pages of notes. My binder was jam packed and practically fell off of Jack’s bed by the time I was finished writing everything down. 

“we’ve been studying for like forever,” i whined, throwing my head in my hands and closing my binder, “i think it’s time to call it quits for the night.”

“you feel 100% prepared for tomorrow’s ap geo test?” Jack asks me, watching me put my things away before he was finished helping me study.

“no, jack, but i’m never going to be 100% prepared. But my brain is jam packed with notes that aren’t going to help me with anything other than this stupid fucking test tomorrow,” i send him a look. He looks down and I wait for a response.

“it’s eight, are you staying for dinner?” Jack stands up. It’s been about six months since my AP Human Geography teacher recommended Jack as a tutor for me. He’s been in my grade since we were in middle school, although our groups usually didn’t cross paths. Although I had high potential and usually got good grades (other than this bs class), my group of friends didn’t exactly reflect that. And Jack and his friends did. After the first week alone, Jack and I became more than just a tutor and the person he was tutoring. It was a friendship, I like to think. He knows a lot about me and I think I know a lot about him.

He’s a very sweet guy and he’s cute and smart and he’s the perfect guy, other than the fact that he can’t take a hint for the life of him. It’s been about a month of me having real feelings for him and no matter how much I flirt with him, he seems to just ignore the fact that I potentially fell for him, “i can’t tonight. i told joyce i’d meet up with her for some dinner.”

“oh, have fun,” he gives me a forced smile.

“she’s not that bad,” i tell him, my eyelashes batting.

“she’s a grade-A bitch, but sure,” he tells me, laughing a little bit, “i’m serious, have fun.” 

“rain check?” i ask with a hint of a smile.

“yeah, sure,” he looks down, “good luck on the test. you’re going to be fine.”

“thanks for helping me,” i tell him, “and thanks for offering to help me with my biomed tomorrow night. i know it’s more of me than you signed up for, but i really appreciate it.” 

“it’s no problem, really,” Jack smiles, “you’re much better than other students i’ve tutored.” 

“i’m a complete imbecile when it comes to this dumb ass history class,” I tell him.

“Madeline threw a book at me and Josh screamed at me because i taught him more than what was on the test,” he shares the horrors of being a tutor.

“well they’re assholes, don’t mind them,” i remind.

“easy for you to say, you’re friends with them. you can just ignore them when they’re assholes. i’m being paid to help them,” Jack stands up to walk me out.

“it’s not like i’m any closer with them than i am with you,” i tell him.

“Yes, but you’re friends with everyone at this damn school,” he smiles a little bit.

“that’s not true, not everyone,” i respond.

“y/n, you have everyone at this school wrapped around your damn finger,” he told me, with a laugh hinted, “it’s fine. i’ll see you tomorrow,” 

I sat down at my lunch table with my food in my arms and my friends to my sides. Daniella sat down next to me and started looking at me strangely.

“what?” i question.

“why were you talking to... jack earlier?” she looks disgusted, something i don’t understand.

“because he’s nice and he’s been helping me with my work,” I tell her.

“ohhhh, so he’s giving you the homework answers? i knew that being friends with nerds would be helpful,” 

“no, i mean that he’s tutoring me,” i answer, “he’s a great guy.” 

“he’s a nerd. have you ever even heard him talk?” Daniella questions.

“yes, i’ve heard him talk. You’re being a bitch, you know that? there’s more to this school than popularity, you know. we supposed to be getting an education here.” 

“that’s rich, coming from you. you could have any guy in this stupid school, and you chose jack. and especially when you have this whole fucking school wrapped around your finger,” She told me and I looked at her.

Jack said the same thing to me. Am i really that terrible? 

I sat down on Jack’s bed, a lot running through my mind. I was supposed to focus on studying for my biomed unit test tomorrow, but instead, all i could focus on was jack. a little bit about what he said and how danielle said the same thing. and of course, he didn’t mean it in a bad way; he’s too kind to ever say something in a rude way, but the way danielle said it, it made me question it. 

“-and the pituitary gland releases adh, which stands for...” i snap back into what Jack had been telling me.

“sorry, i was distracted. can you repeat that?” i blush, looking down at my notes.

“yeah, are you sure you’re ok? you seem a little off today,” he sends me a friendly smile, “you’re not going to remember any of these facts if you’re distracted,” 

“yeah, i’m fine,” i say, “it’s been a long few days.”

“we can take a break,” Jack closes the notebook, “what’s on your mind?” 

“i don’t know,” i shrug, “what did you mean yesterday? when you said that i had the whole school wrapped around my finger?”

His face dropped, “n-no, y/n, i didn’t mean to upset you.”

“no, it’s not you,” i tell him, “i mean, yes, you said it, but not in a mean way. and then danielle said something too.”

“well i can’t speak for danielle, because she’s a terrible person. no offense, but she’s an asshole to me,” he responds, “but i just meant that you have a lot of friends. it’s not a bad thing, it’s a good thing actually.” 

“am i a bitch?” i ask, sort of out of the blue.

“y/n, are you kidding?” jack asks, “i don’t know how you act with other people, but you’re nothing but kind to me. since we started working together, you always find a way to make me feel like i’m not some smart kid who stands in the background. you’re not a bitch,” 

“you’re just being nice,” i answer, “someone who’s kind doesn’t become friends with someone like danielle.”

“you know what, stop worrying about danielle. you have better people in your life who you can be friends with; she is definitely not worth your time,” 

“like you;” i give him a smile, “you’re a better person to be friends with,”

Jack smiles, “you don’t want to be friends with me. it’s sweet, and i’m glad that i can help you, but you don’t want to be friends with me.”

“oh, shut up,” i tell him, “why wouldn’t i want to be friends with you?” 

“we’re in two completely different worlds, y/n,” he reminds, “it doesn’t matter that you think that i’m nice or that i think you’re kind; we’re in two different worlds.” 

“well maybe i don’t want to be in that world, maybe i want to be in your world,” i tell him, “and maybe i want to be more than friends.” 

“y/n, what do you mean?” Jack looks at me, unsure of what i’d just admitted.

“jack, you’re smart and you’re sweet, and you’re fucking hilarious, but you can’t take a hint for your goddamn life!” i tell him, “i like you. like a lot.” 

Jack smiled to himself, looking down at his hands, “you can’t, no, you don’t.” 

I leaned in, pressing my lips softly against his. Instead of pulling away, like half of me believed he would, Jack pushed against me. He kissed me back, his hand resting on my cheek. 

It was a few seconds before we separated and Jack looked at me with that beautiful smile of his, “so you actually like me? this isn’t just a dream?” 

“no, it’s not a dream,” i laugh a little bit, “i really like you.” 

“well, i really like you too,” Jack smiles, “even if you do have this school wrapped around your finger.”

[blub-blup-bup]

Chapter One

"How was your day at school sweetie?" Inko Midorya asked. She stepped out of the kitchen and walked over to her son. "I'm almost done with dinner."

"That's good, I'm starving. I had to skip lunch to help Uraraka find her necklace." Deku said, his stomach agreeing to the promise of food. Inko sighed and patted his head.

"Your not going to grow any muscle if you keep skipping meals, darling." By the way Deku looked, skipping meals were becoming a habit. His studies and training have kept him from eating. She worried that he'll fatigue and wound up hurt.

"I know mama. I've just been so busy, I don't really have time to eat." Deku walked into the living room and set down on the couch. He was exhausted from school and didn't feel like standing up at the moment.

"Well, how about tonight you eat two portions instead of one? Sound good?" Inko asked, walking over to Izuku and giving a kiss on the head. She headed back to the kitchen after receiving a lazy nod.

Time passed slow, it was practically killing the boy. He didn't want to wait for food but knew his mom couldn't cook any faster. His stomach complained every second, sending pain and growling loud. He swear he heard his mom giggling after a particular loud growl.

"Mom, is the food almost done?" Izuku asked.

"Now, now. Don't be so impatient." She said. "It's got a few more minutes left, see?" She pointed to the clock on the microwave, which gave no indication of how much time was left. Izuku sighed and rolled onto his side. He grabbed the remote, turning the T.V. on, and flipping through random channels. He ended up stopping on a news program, which was reporting a break-in at the number one hero's, Endeavor Todoroki, agency.

Deku paid close attention as they went over potential suspects and showed viewable evidence. Midorya was curious as to who would want to break into the agency. It could have been the league of villains, but he had a feeling they weren't responsible.

"Dinners ready. Come get it while your still alive, you starved boy." Inko joked, setting the table.

Midorya reached for the remote, when he saw a black figure in the corner of the screen. It stood behind the reporter, seemingly staring into the camera. It sent a wave of shivers down the boys spine. He grabbed the remote quickly and paused the program.

"Momma, can you come here for a second?" He asked.

Inko walked over and placed a hand on his shoulder. "What is it. New All Might merch?" She questioned. Deku shook his head and pointes to the paused figure. Ms. Midorya inspected the screen. She wasn't sure what she was looking at, seeing as how Izuku's finger blocked half of the object.

"Someones standing where the crime took place. Mom, we gotta tell someone." He shuffled through his pockets and pulled out his phone.

Since Deku moved his hand, Inko could clearly see the figure. She pulled her sleeve over her hand, using it to wipe the screen.

"What are you doing?" Deku asked, seeing his mom wiping the screen.

"Well, I was making sure it wasn't just a spot on the screen. I don't want to waste someone's time." She replied, putting her sleeve on normally and turning to her son. "Take a picture of it real quick." Deku obliged, pointing his phone to the screen and snapping a picture.

"Why do we need a picture?" Inko grabbed the remote and pushed play. The room filled with loud banging and screaming from the t.v. The two stood in horror as they watched people run away from the exact spot the figure stood, only a few moments ago.

"Oh no. What happened?" Inko said, worried about all the children she could see, and hear, from the screen. "Where are the heros?" She asked, watching as a child was thrown across the street. Inko had to turn her head, the scene hit too close to home.

Midorya pulled his mother into a comforting embrace. "I'm sure they'll be safe. I can see a few not allowed to use their quirks. The heros are taking action." Deku assured, gently rubbing his mother's back. She turned to look back at the screen. It showed the underground hero, Aizawa Shota, holding off the attacks. The villains that were able to leak through Aizawa's defence, were immediately faced with the voice hero, Present Mic.

Inko sighed and turned off the t.v. "We should eat dinner while it's still warm." Her enthusiasm from earlier was gone. Midorya nodded and followed his mom to the dinner table. They ate in silence, not having much to say.

Dinner went by and Inko shoed Midorya off to his room. He was to do his homework and get some rest. Of course, like the respectful child he is, Midorya started his homework as soon as he entered his room. It was simple homework, seeing as class was simply taking notes and answering a few questions.

Deku was half way done with his science work, when he received a message from Todoroki.

____________________________________________

Todoroki:

Hey, is it alright if I borrow your notes tomorrow? I dropped water on mine.

Sent at 8:54pm

Midorya:

Sure thing. I'll make a copy so you can keep them.

Todoroki:

Thank you and there's no need to make a copy. I'll do that myself.

Midorya:

How you going to stop me through text?

Todoroki:

Midorya.

Midorya:

Fine. I'll just make an extra copy for myself. See, not for you. It just so happens that the extra copy, for myself, are to be given to you.

Todoroki:

Fine. Since I can't stop you, go ahead and do if you want. Just make sure it doesn't bother your schedule.

Midorya:

Okay. See you tomorrow, Todoroki-Kun.

Todoroki:

Alright. See you tomorrow.

Seen at 9:03pm

____________________________________________

Midorya turned his phone off and grabbed the notes out of his bag. He set it to the side of his desk, so he would remember to do it later. Getting back to work, Deku's mind filled with many thoughts about scientific knowledge.

A knock on his door disrupted him, as his mom walking into his room. "Hey, sweetie. I wanted to tell you that there were no casualties in the attack. A few were injured but they will survive." Inko said, walking over to him and patting his head. Midorya gave her a relieved smile.

"That's good. I'm glad they're all safe." Deku said, turning back to his work. "I wish I was there to help." A thought crossed his mind but he shook it away, knowing there was nothing he could do. He didn't want to deluded his head with impossible fantasies. Just because he had All Might's quirk, didn't mean he could suddenly preform heroics much larger then the man himself.

"Impossible hope."

He knew it was useless to get there and save everyone, but he used it as inspiration. It sounds odd but Izuku liked to use situations he had no control over, and strive to grow into a hero that could at least save one person. He wanted to save everyone and to achieve his goal, he needed to start by saving one.

"Izuku?" Inko asked, gently shaking his shoulders. "Izuku, sweetie, your zoning out again."

He snapped out of his head and gave her a smile. "I'm sorry. I got distracted with my thoughts." He apologized. Inko stopped shaking him and patted his head. She told him it was okay and warned him about zoning out in difficult situations. She left soon after.

Izuku sighed and looked at the pile of work still on his desk. Giving a quick glance to his All Might themed clock, Izuku began finishing his homework, writing a copy of notes for Todoroki, and rewriting them in a neater style. He didn't want to hand Todoroki notes he couldn't read.

All finished for the night, Deku stood up and stretched. He walked over to his door, heading out into the hallway and looking for his mother. He found her sitting in the living room, folding clothes and watching the news. Izuku smiled and set next to her, grabbing a shirt and helping his mother fold the laundry.

"Izuku, you should be heading to bed soon. It's been a long day." She told him. Deku nodded and held his mother in a hug, laying his head against her. "I'm so lucky to have a child who tolerates hugs." She whispered loud enough for Midorya to hear.

"I know, I'm just so amazing." Deku couldn't help but laugh at his own joke.

"You silly goose." Inko chuckled, pulling out of the hug. "Off you now." she said, ushering Deku back to his room. The boy simply obliged, he didn't need anyone to tell him to sleep, just standing was a workout at this point.

"Night Night, Momma." He called out over his shoulder as he walked away. He could hear Inko's response when he turned into his room. Deku shut the door behind him and immediately flopped down on his bed, already getting lost in dreams.

[To Be Continued]

Word Count: 1,539

Chapter Count: 1/21

Time Count: ≈35-40mins

Author's Note: My Human Geography teacher got quarantined. :))

[spacefires]

IB Survival Guide: PART ONE

As someone who’s been through the IB program and finished with horrible mental and physical health, here are some tips and tricks so that you guys don’t end up like me :)

Disclaimer: subject specific tips vary for SL/HL students, go to the bottom of the post to see what HLs and SLs I took

IAS

Please please start your IAs early! Split it out across multiple days! Honestly each section takes around 30 minutes for IAs

GET ALL YOUR THOUGHTS ON THAT PAPER AS SOON AS POSSIBLE FOR ANY IA.

Even if it’s the worst rough copy in the history of the planet, get all your words on there, THEN start editing, formatting, and adding pictures. Trust me, this is much less stressful and your final copy will probably be much cleaner

Science IAs- START YOUR EXPERIMENTS EARLY get as many trials as you can in!

Be sure to talk to your teachers about ideas for your papers beforehand!

Geography/English/French IAs- start early for these too. If you’re like me and you have “oh shit” moments when you suddenly get really good ideas half way through your work and have to restart, starting early for these is a good idea. Especially for geo, writing the IA is relatively easy, spreading it out over 4-5 days works well.

Peer editing is always a good idea, people may catch things you didn’t

EEs

CHOOSE A TOPIC YOU LIKE- Interest plays a big part in how well you do, choosing a topic I was interested in made me not mind spending so much time on my EE

Choosing a topic you don’t like may increase your chance of leaving it to the last minute

START YOUR EEs EARLY and have at least 3 drafts. I split mine up over the course of 4 months, and came out with an A on my Geography EE.

Like the IAs, do one section a day, for example, start with introduction, then methodology, etc. etc.

DO NOT LEAVE YOUR EE TO THE LAST MINUTE PLEASE

I highly suggest doing a geo EE because even if you don’t have results you’re okay, you just have to explain why there was no correlation

Geo EE protips: have lots of pretty handdrawn maps, you can have an ok data analysis and still get a good grade, have good methodology, 

discuss your EE with your supervisor often, make sure you udnerstand what you’re studying

EXAMS

Oh boy this is the scariest part of IB for any student

REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW as much as you can!

Study each subject for at least 5 days!

DO AS MANY PRACTICE EXAMS AS YOU CAN

Seriously, doing practice exams helps you get used to IB’s way of asking you things and you have an idea of what to expect

Do the practice exams guys

Just do them

If your school has mock exams, study really hard for them so you get an idea of how you need to study for the actual examsLook back on mistakes you’ve made on tests/mocks

While studying, focus on your weak points, but don’t ignore your strong points-- forgetting things is easy

SLEEP EARLY DURING EXAM WEEK 

Being refreshed and ready to go is important because youll be able to focus better and your brain will work better-- I did this and it was good

If you’re allowed to take snacks into the exam, take snacks into the exam (but not loud snacks, gummies and stuff)

take water into the exam but don’t drink a lot of water-- pee breaks are a waste of time

if you need to pee during an exam try to hold it in

just try to avoid having to pee

ENGLISH/FRENCH EXAMS:

You can study for your English Lit and French A lang lit exams in like a day if you’re not too keen on getting above a 5. Be familiar with the material

Memorize 5-7 important quotes-- preferable really short ones

Even if it’s not mandatory to memorize quotes, sticking quotes in is an asset

Spend 10-20 minutes planning your essay out, get your ideas down on a paper before writing your essay

Remember: quality over quantity, even if you have lots written down, it’s your ideas that get you most of the marks

Use highlighters, highlight important words, quotes, etc in the passages you’re given

annotate your passages

Have a colour coding system for your passages when you highlight, each colour should be an important point, but have 3-4 main important points, so 3-4 colours (this helps with planning as well)

If your prompt is like, discuss 2 OR MORE something something, discuss only 2, it’s easier, and you waste less time planning/writing, and you can have more ideas

SCIENCE/MATH EXAMS:

Practice problems are good, on top of practice exams

Understand the material!!!!!!!!!!! Memorization is not understanding!!! IB asks a lot of questions that require application

If you suck at calculus, try to understand it better and don’t be like me and assume there isn’t going to be a lot of it.

Seriously study the calculus @all you SL students

Study the calculus

GEO EXAMS

Yeah for this you need to memorize really well, see how well you know the material by going out on walks pointing at things and seeing how you can relate it to what you’ve earned

Study from multiple sources for geo, sometimes there are details that are missed

Memorize lots of case studies and stats!!!!!!!

memorize graphs and maps too, drawing them to support your points in your answers shows how well you understand the material

STUDYING

REVIEW OH MY GOD REVIEW E V E R Y T H I N G as much as possible throughout the year!!!!!!

Tips to force yourself to review:

Take shitty notes in class

This way you have to retake good notes-- wow you’re going over material that was previously taught!

Make cheatsheets! Even if you don’t use them during tests, cheatsheets are a great way to have all your material on one page and ohmygod look at you you’re reviewing your notes again to condense them!

Flash cards work too

Find a way to enjoy writing notes--  for me, I like using fancy pens and highlighters, that way I looked forward to doing it

Find a study environment you like! A cafe, the library, the park, even a different part of the house

Changing your study environment can also help you focus-- a change of scenery helps sometimes and you won’t get bored!

Talk to yourself

Seriously just explain concepts to yourself talk to yourself hearing yourself say it makes the info sink in better

Make really weird mnemonics idk it worked for me

Group studying can help for courses that need discussion in order to better understand concepts-- Geo, English and French

Explaining things to people also helps

Do your homework kids-- even if your teacher doesn’t check it, always find time to do your homework

Do things based on a level of priority

example: I have a test and a big project worth lts of marks due tomorrow (I would focus on the project, but still study for the test enough to have a good grasp of the material)

I know tests don’t count for IB but this is what your teacher bases your predicteds off of, so study hard for them kids. It is also a method of review

Most teachers understand how students can get extremely stressed out with the amount of work we get, if you need an extension for a non-IB related thing, you should be able to ~politely~ ask them

Time management is key, set up schedules for yourself

If you’re studying something you hate, go hard at it for a limited amount of time, then go and study for something you like, or take a brain break

TAKE BREAKS MAN

seriously taking breaks while studying is good

Use apps like forest to keep you focused

reward systems are good too, I do it with chocolate (one piece everytime I finish a chapter)

TOK

 lol good luck

The essay and the presentation are tough-- but you can do it.

The nice thing about TOK is it’s mostly a thought dump, so dump your thoughts before organizing them into an essay

Discuss TOK things with your friends a lot-- you’ll understand better, trust me, you’ll also get good ideas for presentations and stuff!

Get an interesting topic for your TOK presentation ok

discussion is the best advice I can give you guys

TOK is a special course

be prepared to get very angry because all your thoughts will contradict each other

existential crises are fun

That should be about it for Part 1 really, this is mainly academics based, I might add to this as time goes on.

If you have questions!!!! I took Chem HL, Bio HL, Geo HL, English Lit SL, French A Lang Lit SL, and Math SL, and did my EE in Geo. I’m happy to help any young ones out :))

Good Luck all you IB Students! You guys are brave, you can do it :)

[yoursweetlittlesixteen-blog]

can u write imgaine about ringo and the reader sort of like a highschool au where the beatles and reader are all friends?

Of course! This happened to me not too long ago, I just didn’t have the boys come to my rescue. I hope you enjoy! xx

Prompts are open, everyone. Send some ideas in! 

As my eyes flicker around the bustling halls, the sound ofstudents chirping and chiming echo in my ears. A boy leans against locker, hisgaze set on a pretty girl only a few feet away. Small groups of girls walk together,giggling in pride at their silly gossip. A few footballers talk and laugh aboutgod knows what. And there I am, silent, wrapping my arms against my many books.I am completely focused on watching each move of my peers until my ears tune into the familiar sound of a particularly rowdy group of boys approaching me frombehind. 

“y/n!!!” they yell.

I turned around to see my four leather clad friends, John,Paul, George, and Ringo sauntering towards me. I smile, “Hello, boys!”

John is the flirt, always going out of his way to impress mein some sort of way. Paul is cheeky and has the “innocent” act down pretty well…though he is definitely quite the opposite. Once you got to know George, he wasa laugh and rather confident, but he was the best listener of the group.Lastly, Ringo. Sweet Richie is the gentlest. He’s sweet and funny, and knowshow to take care of gal. 

John strides up to me and proclaims, “WELL let me grab thosefor ya, doll,” as he makes a show out of the fact he’s taking my books. Paultraipses over and places a sloppy kiss on my cheek. “Mornin, love,” he giggles asI roll my eyes. Next, George hops over to me, laughing, and opens his mouth tosay something, as John throws the books he had just taken from me intoGeorge’s arms. He frowns. Richie steps up meekly and asks, “Hey… ‘ave a lot of homeworklast night?”

I clear my throat, slightly distracted by his blue eyes, “Ugh…yes! A few days ago, in English, Ms. Kelly assigned a 50 problem quiz and twoessays. I’ve been working on it through out the week, but… you know anythingabout Geography?” I joke. Richie responds gently, “Well yeah, if ya need any…”

“TA HELL WITH THAT!!!” John cackles, at the top of hislungs, causing Paul and George to erupt with laughter. I start to giggle andlook at Richie, apologizing for the boys’ interruption. The bell’s ring cutsoff the the hyenas’ laughter. They are ping pong off to their respectiveclasses as I call after George, “You forgetting something?”

“OH SHITE!” he scampers over to me and delicately places mybooks in my arms like they’re a small puppy. I laugh and shoo him away, as Islip into my English class. Ms. Kelly talks of nothing important. We do somereading, she gives a lecture, and reminds us that our 50 problem quiz and twoessays are due tomorrow morning. With this, the bell rings one final time, andschool is out for the day! 

Kids, anxiously awaiting their arrival home, file into thesterile looking hallways. Many of them, books in hand, hop on a bus. Luckily, Ilive only a few blocks away from school and walk home with Paul, George, Ringo,and John, as we all live on the same street. We all joke around and mess about.It’s our little time to de-stress after school. As I get to my door, Iplayfully yell after them, “You better do your work tonight, ya here?” Theylaugh as they prance away.

I empty my bag full of papers and work onto my bed. Sittingmy stack of books next to my pillow, I plop onto my cozy bed ready to finish myquiz and essays I had already worked so hard on. Grabbing my stack of papers, Isieve through them looking for the test and my mostly finished essays. Notseeing it, I look through the pile again just to make sure I hadn’t missed itlike a fool! This time, panic sets in. If it’s not in the stack, where could itbe? I leap off my bed and make a break for my bag. My panic ensues even more,as I discover my bag is empty. I practically tear my room apart, looking forthese papers. I inform my parents, I frantically run back to the school andsearch, but nothing. My quiz is officially gone.

As the thought of failing creeps into my mind, tears fill myeyes, as I walk down my street, defeated. I walk through my front door,ignoring my parent’s hopeful questions to if I found it, and rush to my room.  As soon as my door is slammed shut, I burstinto tears, collapsing on my bed. The sun is down now and there is simply noway I can 1) find a new test, and 2) get it done by tomorrow.

When I feel that ALL HOPE IS LOST, I hear a slight knock atmy window. I look in that direction to see sweet Richie peaking his head intomy room. I hear him faintly say, “Can I come in?” I nod, as I hurriedly wipetears from my cheeks. Richie folds into my room, collapsing on my floor. Igiggle, quietly, as he hops to his feet and brushes off his pants. I look athim with concern, remembering my missing quiz, as he reluctantly steps close tomy bed.

“…I saw you walking down the street, lookin rather upset.What’s wrong, love?” 

Everything was silent. I couldn’t seem to hold it in, “Ilost my test!” I burst into tears. Richie scurried to my side, and sat down onmy bed, wrapping his arm around me and running his hands through my hair. “Shhh…”he comforted me. “Ya know you’ve always been such a good student? All the lads,including me, ain’t got anything on you. No matter how hard I try, it seems Iwon’t ever get an A+. You’re just naturally clever.” He waited for a second,sat me up, and looked directly into my eyes, “It may seem like the end of theworld. But in the grand scheme of things… it’s just a test.”

I smiled and Richie wiped a tear from my cheek. His blueeyes were glowing with hope, as he placed a gentle kiss on my forehead. Withthis he hopped off my bed and rushed to the window, “I’ll be back!” Then, Iwaited, for what seemed like forever. An hour or so later, I see Richie peakhis head into my room once more. This time, I hear voices coming from belowhim.

I scoot to my window as Richie plops in and I hear, “RINGS,we’re comin on up!” I see Paul begin to climb the the tree that leads to mysecond story window. Behind him are John and George, holding books, papers, andpencils. When they are all finally piled into my room, Paul states, “Alright…y/n, we heard you were in distress.” 

“Ringo,” John sneers, “I had a date… this better be good.”

George hits John’s arm and says, “Come on lad… we’re here tohelp y/n. She’s worth missing a date for.”

I smile, as I notice Paul and Richie setting supplies up onmy bed. Richie turns to me and says, “Right. Well we’re gonna ace this test.” Hepulls out an empty copy of the 50 problem quiz, as my eyes light up. “I know it’snot filled up,” he says, “but I do know a little about Geography.”

I run to the Richie and wrap my arms around him in a gianthug, “This is perfect! How did you do it?!”

“Me charm…” George cheekily grins.

Ringo elaborates, “George’s mum sometimes goes to the pubwith Ms. Kelly… he managed to get an extra copy.”

We all laugh at the idea of George’s mum in the pub with ourschool teacher. That entire night, we worked together to re-answer those 50questions, and re-write the two essays. The end result turned out to be betterthan the one I originally completed on my own. And when a few weeks later thelads had to take the test, they got an A+ too. 

[ownfutures]

Putting Happy In The Middle...

Well for the first time in my working life, I won’t be returning to school at the start of September. In fact, for the first time in my life since I started school at five years old I won’t be returning to an educational establishment after the Summer!

This time last year I made the decision to, not just leave the school I had worked at for the previous 15 years, but to leave teaching itself.  I trained nearly 20 years ago as a secondary school English teacher and over the years have taught English, Media, Film Studies as well as had brief forays into RE, History and Geography when delivering a ‘foundation year’ to year 7. I have been Head of House, Head of Year, in charge of Key Stage 4 Strategy, Head of PSHCE, Acting Head of English and along side those for 10 years, Head of Careers.  Teaching itself was always my passion though.  

I remember how excited I was as an NQT to be given my own classroom!  I spent days over the Summer putting up displays, hanging cut outs of broomsticks and cauldrons from the ceiling (I was teaching The Witches), buying stimulating posters out of my own money.  I got my first tutor group to bring in photos of themselves to put up on the tutor display board.  We surrounded these with details about each child – hobbies, family, likes, dislikes. I would probably be breaking some GDPR rule if I did that now!  I volunteered for every school trip, going to Flamingo Land three times in three days!  I attended every play, concert, sporting event that I possibly could - it was important to me that the children knew I supported them in and out of the classroom

Even as I became a more experienced teacher I never lost my love of teaching or being with the students. I loved being creative; taking Year 9 students to the art room to make paper mache models of the island from The Tempest so they could write quotes on the models to help remember them for the KS3 SATs. Making a fool of myself so the children realised teachers are human by taking part in the staff steel band and ‘Staff Club Seven’ tribute act.  I never resented planning at home, I just took it as part of the job and something I had always done. And I was a good teacher.  Not just recognised through observations, although they were always good or outstanding, but from what my colleagues, the children and their parents told me.

Somewhere over the years though my priorities gradually shifted.  I got married and found myself with a teenage stepdaughter.  I had a daughter of my own, now nearly four.  As my priorities shifted so did the governments. Ironically, I taught two subjects at polar opposites of the government’s focus – English which is a high status subject which you MUST pass – and Media, an arts option, given so little status that in 2018 it still wasn’t graded at 9-1.  Two subjects which I believe should be taught creatively, imaginatively to develop a love of literature and the media in the child.  Unfortunately my experience was that this ability to be creative was replaced by a focus on results with no care about the journey.  

I started to resent the time I spent planning as it was taking me away from my family.  Sunday used to be my planning day but now I hated that it meant my husband got to do things with my daughter and stepdaughter while I stayed at home.  Or I could go with them but have this nagging, guilty feeling at the back of my mind that I should have been getting on with school work.   Attending school plays and sporting events meant making a choice between that and picking my daughter up from nursery.  At work targets were constantly changing and the burden of responsibility for the students’ results felt more and more unrealistic.  I was dreaming about school every night.  Feeling sick every Monday morning and even when I wasn’t physically at work I had it at the back of my mind all the time.

So I decided to put Happy back in the middle.  

I literally did this. One day during last year’s Summer holiday I wrote Happy in the middle of a big piece of paper and mindmapped everything that made me happy.  Family, friends, teaching, flexibility, time, helping people, home all featured. Targets, results, money, ambition – none of that did.   I had to take notice.  

With my husband’s support we talked through what I really wanted to do.  I told him that I loved doing the Careers aspect of my job; helping students think about their futures, organising events, planning and teaching employability lessons, running careers week. I said what I would really love to do is set up my own company going into Primary Schools delivering careers lessons and planning and organising careers events.  He told me to go for it and Own Futures was born.  

I spoke to my Headteacher when I returned in the September and explained what I wanted to do.  I said I would stay until Spring Bank to see my Year 11s through and that it was about my priorities changing - nothing to do with the school, which was true otherwise I would just have changed schools. The head couldn’t have been more supportive.  I spent the next few months doing research, developing my website and starting marketing. I got an accountant and a business bank account and let all my contacts know what I was doing.  Their support was, and still is,  fantastic.  

Spring Bank arrived and I taught my last lessons at school.  I didn’t feel sad or nostalgic in any way which tells me this was absolutely the right decision for me to make.  I still think teaching is an amazing profession, I mentored a SCITT student in my last year at school and I love the enthusiasm and dedication she has, it reminds me of me twenty years ago and is what the profession needs.  I went to the year 11 Prom after I had left but no longer resented the fact that it was taking me away from my family. It was a choice I made to go not something I had to go to.   I will be able to attend my daughter’s nativity in December without worrying I won’t be able to get time off.  

None of this is about the school.  I had 15 amazing years there and have loved the vast majority of my time in teaching. This is about me realising I wasn’t happy because I had changed and having the courage to do something about it.  There are times when I feel scared however not as scared as I would feel if I was going back to teach next week.

Own Futures is doing really well.  I have delivered sessions at both primary and secondary schools and have more booked in from September. I feel incredibly proud of the fact that I’ve taken the first tentative steps in building my own business, based on my love of teaching, working with young people and developing the talent of tomorrow.