#wtf do i even reply to this besides a key smash???

[virtualgirlafterdark]

I want to finger you with my magnetic claws~

The magnets alone would mess with my internal signalling and leave me an agreeable mess...not to mention the fingering or claws.... ><

[baahsu]

Quick guide on how to comment on fics

I keep seeing these posts about how people don’t give feedback on fics, about how people are too shy to comment, about how they never know what to say, yada yada, and I got tired of them. So, if you’re interested, here’s a quick and not-really-that-good guide/tutorial thing on how to comment on fics 😊

First things first, if you’re too shy AO3 allows you to comment without being logged into your account (ff.net too, but idk how it is in other sites), so there’s that solved. Don’t feel pressured to comment tho, do it only if you feel comfortable enough.

Now, to what matters, “I never know what to say, the right words never come to me”, fear not! I’ll (try to) help you with that!

Talk about your overall reaction to the fic

Go all off with compliments, say it was cute, funny, interesting, intriguing, lovely, heartwarming, heartbreaking, wonderful, that it left a bittersweet taste in your mouth, that it made you question life. Say you were really surprised by how good it was, that the plot was different from everything you’ve ever seen, that it was better than you were expecting and why that is. Say that you were happy to see a fic with xxx theme/au or xxx ship or xxx character and that the way everything was written was all you could’ve ever asked for, it was incredible and fantastic and wow you’re completely in love with it.

Comment about the plot/characters

Talk about how creative the universe the author created was, or about how real it felt if it was a canon setting. Say it was easy to get immersed in the story and in all its elements, how you could imagine everything happening right in front of your eyes. Say you were impressed by the plot twists and small details that connected to each other and were brought up again ten chapters later, say how much work it must’ve taken so it’d all make sense in the end. If the story deals with more heavy subjects compliment the author on how well they handled it without romanticizing anything.

Mention how the author nailed the characters’ personalities or, if they were out of character, say you found it different yet interesting, that you didn’t expect it but still liked it. Say you could connect or relate to a character, that you understood their actions and that their emotions and struggles were well conveyed and how realistic they all seemed. Say the characters were cute, funny, annoying, precious, lovely or frustrating and explain why.

Say you were amazed by the dynamics between two characters, that the way they were written is exactly how you imagine they’d interact with each other. Say you loved how whipped and in love and soft they were, or, if we’re on the other extreme, that you loved (or not) how much they hated and despised each other.

Make theories

In multi chapter stories try to predict what will happen next, piece events, cliffhangers and characters’ actions together and try to guess what their next step will be or what kind of plot twist will come into play, try to imagine what the author is planing based on what they’ve written so far, maybe they’ll reply to you and give you some more hints and ten chapters later you’ll realize you were right (or completely wrong lol).

In one shots say it if you weren’t expecting the route the author took, detail what you thought would happen instead. Say you were pleasantly surprised by xxx and xxx events and that they were really fitting with the story and you could’ve never thought of them. Or, opposite to that, say you predicted everything correctly and present the clues you gathered throughout the story to get to this conclusion, say everything was well written and you were impressed with it all (and impressed with yourself too because wtf you got everything right omg!).

Scream about a sentence/scene

If a sentence, or two, or ten lol, stood out to you comment about it! Copy and paste it and scream you heart out. Say it was hilarious, that it made you roll on the floor laughing, that it made your heart flutter, that it made you smile like an idiot because it was te cutest thing you had ever seen, or that you cried like a baby for ten consecutive minutes, in fact, you’re still crying and you can’t stop because the scene that followed was even more heartbreaking or heartwarming. Say the sentence was very witty, that you liked the sarcasm, that it was just as expected from that character to say something like that. Say a whole passage of the fic made you scoot to the edge of your seat in fear of what was to come, or that it was so adorable it made you blush or scream, or that it made you feel like hitting your head on a wall because it was the most frustrating and angering thing you had ever read. Show the author your reactions to what they wrote and don’t be afraid of commenting about every single sentence of the story if you feel like it.

Compliment the author

Comment about the most “technical stuff”, about how you liked the flow and pace of the story, how the author’s style is amazing, how the metaphors used were on point, how you liked that the scenes were separated by dates or seasons or characters or that despite it having a non linear story telling you were still able to piece it all together, because it was really well written and easy to follow. Say the author is great at conveying emotions and that their descriptions are fantastic. Mention the details and references and inside jokes you saw and liked.

Give suggestions/make criticisms/ask questions

Found a grammatical error, a character’s name written wrong, a misuse of a foreign word? Tell the author about it. Sometimes even after spell checking 12865 times and checking google for information they’ll still miss something. Just don’t be rude and say something on the lines of “lmao how can you not know how to write this”, not everyone writes fics on their mother language, and besides, people aren’t required to know how to write everything, mistakes happen.

Something that was written was offensive or disrespectful or based on wrong/false information? Give the author a heads up. But don’t fight rudeness with more rudeness, be polite and explain why what they wrote wasn’t right (but first consider if it wasn’t written from a character’s point of view for the plot’s sake only).

Ask questions about something you didn’t understand or that were left open. “Why did character xxx did what they did?”, “but what happened after that xxx scene?”, the author may reply saying they wanted to leave it up for interpretation, or they can write you two extra paragraphs full of details about the universe they created ;)

Thank the author for posting/say you can’t wait for the next update

“Thank you for posting this”, “Thanks for sharing this story”, “Keep up the good work”, “I can’t wait for the next update”, “I’m really excited for the next chapter”, “I look forward to more” are good ways to end your comment, they show you appreciated the story/liked it well enough to keep reading it.

There’s not really a right way to comment and you don’t need to comment on everything you read. You also don’t need to follow all the topics I mentioned, if any at all. Talk about the things you liked in the story and why you liked them, write a whole essay full of details or just a couple of lines, use caps lock, exclamation points, random key smashes! As long as you’re polite any comment will be appreciated!

[babylon-bitch]

Just Friends (part 19)

The day has finally come, it’s a bitter sweet moment. I’m excited to go home and see Luke, but I’m also really sad to be leaving my family. My brothers and Evie have gone back to University and Anna and Mark are flying out next week.

We all said our goodbyes this morning, there were some tears and confused children. They didn’t have a clue that we were going back home.

Where is home? We come from England so does that make it home? Or is my home back in australia home?

I’ve just come off a 23 hour flight, the flight got delayed for a while. I just did my makeup quickly in the car, we are like 10 minutes away from our house. I probably look awful right now, even if I did do my makeup.

I’ve got a black hoodie on with the hood up, my hair in a shitty attempt of a bun. I’m in all black representing my mood. My arse is so fucking sore from sitting down for a long time.

“Harper, why have you done your makeup if you are going to sleep?” My mum tiredly asks.

“Ah shit yeah, well I only put concealer, mascara, and blush on.” I realise.

Pulling into the driveway, I quickly jump out and stretch. Looking up the road at Luke’s house. All lights are off, understandablely because it is like three or four in the morning.

Everything seems so peaceful at night.

“Come on.” My dad nags.

“Sorry I was daydreaming.”

Walking through the familiar door and go straight to my not bothering with my bags.

Taking my shoes off and not bothering to take my clothes off or makeup, I flop onto my bed that I oh so missed and think back on the whole trip.

Luke and I had an argument, then confessed our feeling for each other. We kissed, then made out, got rudely inturrupted and awkwardly played it off, next day, almost fucked, again, got interrupted, made out in the elevator, and then that was the last kiss, besides a kiss on the cheek.

We then flew back to England for Christmas. Where I spent loads of time catching up with people. Christmas was fun, excitable children were funny to see, had the Christmas lunch/dinner (linner), spent the rest of the evening playing games and I spoke to Luke.

The next couple of days were the build up to new years day. We didn’t do much, just ate and hung out.

That was about it, it was a very chill visit.

Sleep taking over my body as I think about the memories.

An annoying sound of my alarm goes off and I go to turn it off with my eyes closed until I smash my wrist at the corner. “SHIT.” I shout and groan.

Immediately opening my eyes, I see blood seeping out of it already. My bedside table has a really sharp corner, and I have blood on it from similar accidents like this.

My mum burst through the door, confusion plastered on her face. “Are you alright?” She quickly asks.

“Yeah, I just stabbed myself. Again.” I sigh.

“We really should get you a new one.” She says more to herself than anyone.

“Well, as I’m wide awake now, I should get up.” I shrug.

Going into the bathroom and cleaning up my wrist. Putting a plaster on the cut, I walk out and rub my eyes.

It’s like 10 or something so I get dressed. Forgetting about the Australian heat, as I’m sweating in a hoodie and jeans.

Changing into a black t-shirt crop top and some light blue/grey shorts, slipping on some black vans. Doing my normal makeup routine and hair routine I’m all ready.

Jogging down the stairs and make my way through to the kitchen. “Morning.” I chirp.

“Why are you so happy?” My dad chuckles.

“I’m excited to see my friends.” I grin.

Speaking of which I should probably text them. Going onto the group chat and I start texting.

I’m home, your life just got better now.

M: one of my favourite bitches is back!

Me: ✌

A: welcome home.

E: ‘ello Gov'nor

C: I’m Batman

Me: wtf

L: here’s Johnny!

Me: the only normal hello I got was from Ash ???

M: just injecting some fun into your life.

C: okay, how about we meet up later and say a proper hello

E: and I’ll act as if I care about how you are 😄

Me: fuck you Evie

I chuckle and put my phone down. “Thanks.” I smile as my mum places a bowl of porridge in front of me.

My phone starts to ring as I’m about to take a bite. Looking at the caller ID, I see its Luke. “Hey.” He speaks.

“What’s up?” I smile even though he can’t hear me.

“Do you wanna meet up before seeing the others?” I hear the smirk in his voice.

“Did you even have to ask.” I lightly chuckle.

“True, my parents are out.”

“I’ll be over in half an hour or something.”

“Looking forward to it.” He says.

“You better have a plan, if the boys come over or something.” I warn.

“I can think of one whilst I wait.” He tells me.

“Okay, bye then.”

“Bye.” He repeats.

A while later, I’m all ready. I’m mean I was already ready, but I ate breakfast then watched some YouTube for a while. Oops.

“I’m going to Luke’s.” I call to anyone as I walk out the door.

Walking down the driveway and up the road, or down the road, depends how you look at it.

Knocking on Luke’s door because I forgot my keys as I was in such a rush.

Couple of moments later the door opens. “Hi.” Luke grins and pulls me into a hug.

“How’ve you been?” I ask as he closes the door.

“Good, missed you though.” He answers.

Luke takes my hand and leads me up the stairs and into his bedroom. “How much did you miss me?” I question.

“A lot.” He whispers as he places his hands on my waist. “So fucking much babe.” Luke whispers in my ear.

“What did you miss most?” I question as I wrap my my arm around his neck.

“Your body and lips.” He smirks.

“Yeah?” I breath.

“Uh huh.” He says looking down at my lips.

We look into each other’s eyes, for reassurance and just to see if we’re both okay with this.

Luke connects our lips together, the taste I’ve been craving ever since Dubai coming back.

Our lips moving perfectly together, starting off sweetly and becoming hungrier for each other by the second. I tangle my fingers into his hair making him groan slightly.

Luke pushes us towards his bed, lips not breaking apart. Luke pushes his body up against mine, his hands trailing down to my hips and giving them a little squeeze. We pull apart and I look up into his blue eyes, breathes mingling. “I love you.” He blurts out.

“Love you too.” I immediately reply back with.

Luke pushes me down onto his bed and he crawls on top of me. He presses our lips together and slides his tongue in.

I pull back and start kissing up his jaw earning a moan from him and I smirk against his skin.

“Harper.” He breaths out my name.

Luke takes control and kisses down my neck, he sucks on a spot and I moan out and I feel him smirk. “You wanna do it without a interruptions this time?” Luke warily asks.

“Yeah.” I peck his lips.

“Sure?” He raises his eyebrow.

“Shut up and just fuck me.” I grow impatient.

“Eager are we.” Luke teases.

“Well yeah, if your going to unbutton your shirt agonisingly slowly.” I whine.

I watch as he straddles me and unbuttons his flannel shirt. “Thats better.” I grin.

I repeat him by taking my shirt off, revealing my black bra. “Again, I have to say, damn Harps.” He chuckles.

Soon enough we are both naked.

Do I need to explain what happened next?

***

Luke rolls off me as we come down from our highs, breathing heavy. “Shit that was good.” Luke says.

“Agreed.” I tell him.

“Round two?” He jokes and I laugh.

“Idiot.” I tease.

“Wait what was that?” Luke places his hand on my arm.

We listen quietly and here knocking. “Get dressed quickly!” I order.

I put my underwear on that was discarded earlier. I look up and see look staring at me whilst putting his trousers on. “Stop staring and get dressed.” I scold.

“But your pretty.” He whines.

I fight a blush and carry on putting my clothes on.

Moments later I’m all dressed and Luke is just sorting his hair out. “Ready?” I question.

“No.” He drags out in concentration.

“Hurry up.”

“The quiff doesn’t do this on its own, plus your the one that fucked it up.” He tells me.

Once he’s done he takes my hand and walks us downstairs. “Harper! The hickeys!” Luke whisper yells.

“Fuck! Hold on.” I say as I reach into my bag for some foundation.

“Here.” I rub in the foundation on the hickeys. The foundation strangely matches Luke’s skin tone.

A couple knocks later, we are all covered up and there is no evidence.

Luke opens the door and everyone walks in. “About fucking time!” Michael groans.

“Harper!” Erika shrieks as she hugs me.

“Fuck Erika!” Calum says as he sticks his finger in his ear.

“Missed you.” I giggle as I hug Erika back.

“What took you guys so long?” Ashton questions in annoyance.

Luke looks at me fighting the urge to smirk. “We were in the garden.” Luke covers.

“Yeah.” I add.

“Whatever.” Calum mumbles and pulls me into a hug.

We all hug and greet each other, I’ve missed them all. To be honest I wasn’t gone that long, but we are pretty much always together. “I loved the song you did with your friends.” Calum smiles.

“Thanks. It was nice catching up with them.” I think back on the memories we had together.

“How come you never told us about them?” Erika questions.

“They’re criminals, and if I ever told anyone about them I would be brutally murdered by them. No, but your faces, we aren’t exactly that close, I mean we text at least once a fortnight or month. Their old school friends and I don’t see them often, I can’t really be close to them.” I admit.

“Oh, tell me a fact about them.” Michael says.

“Um okay… Delilah the one playing the guitar, err, is bisexual, and Laura is claustrophobic.” I tell them.

“Cool.” Ashton giggles.

“Anymore friends you’ve been hiding?” Luke jokes.

“Probably.” I shrug.

“What?” A confused Michael asks.

“I’m not losers like you, who only has a couple of friends.” I chuckle.

“Rude.” Calum purses his lips.

“What do you want to do?” Erika asks.

“I’m hungry, so does anyone wanna get food with me?” Luke offers.

“Sure.” Ashton gets up from his seat.

Soon enough we are all on our way out for a place to eat. Everyone is a few steps in front of Luke and I. “I mean we still got interrupted, but not entirely.” I admit.

“True.” He says as he puts his arm over my shoulder.

“Love you.” I smile as I look up at him.

“Love you too.” He chuckles and kisses my head.

A bit later, we’ve found a place to eat. We walk in and go into a booth, Luke and I sitting next to each other. “11 o'clock.” I whisper to Erika.

“What?”

“Your eleven.” I whisper yell.

“Again, what? It like 1.” Erika stupidly says.

“You’re an idiot.” I facepalm. “Look at the table diagonal to us.” I explain.

“Oh.” She drags out.

There is a table full of young girls giggling and taking pictures of us.

***

It’s just Luke and I, we are at his house, just messing around. “Your so cute.” He adores.

“Right back at you.”

I jump up and sit on the kitchen counter, taking a sip of my juice box.

Luke walks up to me and spreads my legs apart, stepping inside. He places his hands on my thighs and I place my forearms on his shoulders, looking down into his blue orbs. “Follow me.” He softly speaks.

“Where?” I question.

“Just follow me.”

Luke takes a step back and I jump down. He intertwines our fingers and drags me out of the house.

10 - 15 minutes later Luke takes me to a place we used to come when we were younger. Another one of our secret places. “Shit I forgot about this.” I chuckle.

It’s a huge empty field with a perfectly rounded sycamore tree in the middle. It’s so pretty here, we used to spend hours laying under and climbing that tree. Luke takes my hand and drags me over to the tree.

I lay down and Luke copies my actions.

After 10 minutes of silence Luke speaks up. “Harper?”

“Yeah?” I hum.

Luke presses his lips against mine, very tenderly and passionately. He pulls me on top of him, lips not disconnecting.

I peck his lips a couple of times and he just smiles as I do.

Rolling off him and back onto the grass. “Do you wanna be my girlfriend?” Luke blurts out.

I look over at him, and he is staring at me, anticipation written all over his face. I smile and kiss him.

I kiss him for a couple of moments. “Of course, I love you.” I answer and his face breaks into a huge grin.

“I love you too.” He grins and pecks my lips.

God it feels good to hear him say those words.

“Ya know, I never would of thought I would be dating my best friend.” Luke chuckles.

“Me either, but, I wouldn’t want it any other way.”

“Agreed.”

Luke hugs me and kisses my shoulder. I get up and start climbing the tree. “Coming?” I question.

“Last time I did, I almost fell out.” Luke mumbles as he climbs up and sits on the branch with me.

We are quite high up, a beautiful view of the sunset.

The amount off accidents that’s happened in this tree. I fell out once and broke my collarbone, Luke fell off a branch and broke his arm. I’ve fractured a finger as well.

“If I break a bone or at least injure myself, even scratch myself, I’m blaming you.” Luke warns.

“Okay, but still to this day, I’m still blaming you for breaking my collarbone.” I shrug.

“I didn’t do it!” He denies.

“Then who did? A ghost?” I give him ‘the look’

“No, you fell out of a tree.”

“Because you pushed me!”

“I can do it again if you want.”

I just flip him off and continue to look at the sunset.

“I know it’s not the most romantic way, but I couldn’t wait any longer.” Luke sighs.

“What?” I furrow my eyebrows.

“The way I asked you to be my girlfriend.”

“Oh, no it is romantic. You took me to a special place of ours, I’d much rather have this over a dinner or something. I’ve never really been into romantic stuff anyway.” I reason.

“Your special.” He smiles down at me.

“Wouldn’t want to be any other way.”

***

We stayed there for a while, now we’re all at Michael’s house, playing table tennis.

Not really keeping a score just playing and talking, when one gets bored another will play.

I’m quite tired, jetlag and all that. I’ve got my head rested on Luke’s broad shoulder and his arm is wrapped around my waist. “Anyone got a lighter?” I ask.

“Why do you need a lighter?” Ash asks.

“Because I like blowing things up.” I shrug.

“Here.” Erika chucks me a lighter off of the table, I don’t know who’s it is.

It’s nearly emty, just right. Standing up, I walk out of the garage door. Throwing the lighter down it explodes.

“Well that was underwhelming.” Calum laughs.

“Yeah.” I say. “Well I’m going to go home, I’m tired and hungry. See you guys later.” I tell them.

“Harps!” Michael whines.

“Sorry, but talk to me when you came off a 23 hour flight, then stayed awake most of the day.”

“I’ll see you tomorrow then.” Calum smiles pulling me into a hug.

“Bye.” I say as we pull back.

We all hug and say our goodbyes besides Luke. “Bye.” I smile.

Luke looks behind me and pecks my lips quickly. “Bye.” He grins and hugs me, kissing my shoulder as we pull back.

“I’ll text you losers later.” I tease as I pick up my long shoulder strap bag and putting it on my shoulder. 

“Bye.”

Luke’s pov

I watch as she walks off, her bag hitting her thigh as she walks.

I’m so in love right now.

“You two seem close.” Ashton wiggles his eyebrow up and down.

“Shut up, we’re just friends, honestly.” Fuck that hurts to say.

“I swear I heard kissing going on when they hugged.” Michael claims.

“No you didn’t.” I deny, trying to hide a grin.

“Look at his smile! They totally did.” Calum laughs.

“We aren’t anything more than friends, you probably heard me kissing me her cheek or something.” I dismiss.

“Whatever you say Luke.” Erika teases.

“I’m gonna go home because you guys keep teasing me.” I say like a child.

“Aww bye mummys boy!” Ashton calls.

I flip him off as I walk off.

She’s been gone not even ten minutes, and I’m craving her already.

Today’s been a great day, duccessful too.

I was so worried she was going to say no when I asked her out, because it took her a good few seconds, before she did anything.

When we were in the kitchen I couldn’t wait any longer, so I did the first thing that came to mind. I didn’t think it was very romantic, but she thought differently.

I’m not into all the romantic stuff, nor am I very good at it

[areswriting]

a x e : xx

Jason and Sophie crane their necks to look at Elise, who holds a broken plastic fork between her fingers.

“Babe?” says Jason, reaching out to touch her face. He pushes her fallen, choppy hair behind her ear. “Are you okay?”

“I think she’s a little shocked,” Sophie says. We all look at her to see her smiling, pointing her intact fork across the table at Elise. She turns the utensil on herself and looks at Jason. “The reason that voice sounds so familiar is because it’s mine.”

Jason’s mouth falls open and he turns his attention to me. “I thought you said you two weren’t together—”

“Please,” says Sophie, wrapping her arm around mine. “We all know you don’t have to be with someone to, well, you know.”

“But you said…” Jason’s voice trails as he stares between Sophie and I, his eyebrows knitted, his mouth still hanging open.

“Come on, Jase,” Sophie sighs, exasperated. “It’s not like you went and told Abe the very moment you and Elise had sex.”

My eyes dart to Elise, who looks at Sophie with a resentful glare.

“That’s because we haven’t,” Jason says. I look at him. His entire face is red, and he looks only at his half-eaten dinner.

“Aw, Elise, I’ve never known you to hold out,” Sophie says sweetly.

“Some of us don’t drop our underwear the second a boy looks at us, Sophie,” Elise says.

“Yeah,” says Jason. “Some of us want to wait for the right moment.”

Now it’s my turn to look down, ashamed.

“That’s sweet,” Sophie says, and surprisingly she sounds sincere. “I think the important question is, who recorded us.”

“I mean, that is creepy,” Jason says. “Do you guys have any idea who is might be?”

I shrug, while Sophie says, “It could be anyone.”

Then it dawns on me—there are two names written all over this.

▲ △ ▼ ▽

I leave dinner early and head straight back to my room, my eyes focused on my phone. After a few seconds of scrolling through texts, I find the thread I’m looking for—but instead of sending a message, I hit the phone icon and the line begins to trill. Once, twice, three times before you’ve reached the voice mailbox of 802-555-9811.

I end the call with haste and start typing a message.

I know it was you who sent out that recording.

Hi, I have no idea what you are talking about.

Who are you? How are you spying on me?

Lol, ok I know I’ve been mysterious but trust me, Abram, I’m not lurking in the shadows spying on you. I’m hundreds of miles away.

Why should I believe you?

Because I think deep down you know that I’m not to blame for whatever happened?

I set my jaw. As much as I want Sylvia—or whoever she is—to be responsible for the recording, a big, growing larger by the second, part of me somehow knows that she isn’t. Even if all she has ever done to me is lie, I know her, and this isn’t her style.

But it could be someone else’s.

I thumb through my contacts until I find Ellie and I press the call button with more force than necessary.

Ring.

Ring.

Ellie’s face appears on the screen and she’s rolling her eyes. “Kai, if you’re calling about Brody—”

“Ellie, I need you to be honest, did you record Elise and me…indecently?” I ask.

There is a long pause that is followed by laughter. “Do I look like Gossip Girl to you? What are you talking about?”

I study her face for tells—but I’m looking at the girl who once said; it isn’t staking, it’s called fierce journalism. She doesn’t have tells.

“I know you are angry at me over Natasha—”

“First off, don’t say that name,” Ellie says with a look of disgust. “And second, I was angry, yeah, but I’m not anymore.”

“Look, you and I both know that you’re vengeful, so if you could just admit that this was your way of getting back at me—”

“I don’t know what the hell you’re talking about, Kai,” says Ellie, “I haven’t seen you since you and your brother Mason—”

“Jason,” I correct her.

She rolls her eyes. “Since you and your brother Jason were here after Thanksgiving, and the only time I’ve seen you and Elise together was during that facetime call back in December.”

I go from pacing to sitting on the edge of my bed, defeated.

“What happened?” she asks. “You look worried—and is your lip cut?”

“I took a high stick at practice,” I lie. “And someone recorded Elise and I...”

“Save the gory details, I think I’m picking up what you’re putting down,” she says.

“They sent it to everyone at school,” I say.

“That is pure genius,” Ellie says fondly. “I mean—that’s terrible for you, but that’s one way of getting information on there. You have no idea who it could be?”

I shake my head. “I thought maybe it was you, you’re the only person smart enough, and had a reason to.”

“I can’t believe you think I’d actually do that to you!” Ellie says, offended.

“I can’t believe you have the audacity to think you wouldn’t,” I say back. “You made YouTube videos bashing our English teacher in the ninth grade for giving you an A minus on a paper.”

“Touche.”

▲ △ ▼ ▽

A tall girl with long, curly, strawberry blonde hair eyeballs me as she walks through the classroom. Mr. Grant greats her as she passes him and slides into the seat beside mine.

“We haven’t met yet,” says the girl after she pulls a Tootsie Pop out of her mouth. “I’m Dominique Wesley.”

“Abram,” I say, watching as she suggestively places the sucker in her mouth, then against her cheek.

“Oh, I know who you are,” she says brightly. “I think everyone does after that video. I also think that we should get together sometime.”

“Excuse you.” I look up to see Sophie glaring down at the girl beside me. “That’s my seat.”

“I don’t see your name on it,” Dominique replies. “But there are a few empty seats in the back just waiting for you.”

“I’m going to give you five seconds to get up before I—”

“Before you what?” says Dominique, “Finally move and leave Abram and I to our conversation? I’m not going anywhere, babe. But you probably should. Class is starting soon.”

Sophie’s cheeks are the color of her hair and she turns her nose up at the girl before walking around us and to the back of the classroom.

“Where were we?” she says, tilting her head. “Oh, right, you were just about to ask me out.”

I laugh because I don’t know what else to do. Girls never gave me this much attention before and I honestly don’t know what to do with it.

“Did I say something funny?” she says, eyebrows raised.

I shake my head. “No, I’m just trying to figure out why we never met before. Are you new?”

“I was taking pre-calc last semester, but I had to take it with the other freshman,” she says, rolling her eyes.

“You’re—you’re a freshman?” I say, eyes wide.

She sits up and smiles proudly. “I’ll be fifteen in March.”

My breath catches in my throat and I feel dirty enough to need a bath in bleach.

“Wow, ok,” I say. I swallow hard. “It’s uh, impressive that you’re already taking Calculus. I think I was hardly passing pre-algebra when I was fourteen.”

“I’m extremely advanced for my age,” she says, smirking. “And not just with schoolwork.”

“All right, everyone,” Mr. Grant says. “Quiet down.”

The room falls silent as he takes his place in front of us holding a stack of papers. “We’ll be having a pop-quiz today. I know, I’m awful, but the good news is, you’re free to go when you’re done.”

He counts out enough quizzes for each row of students and hands them out, face down. “You can start once you get yours and you have until the end of the period to finish it.”

I flip my paper over and get to work on the first of ten questions.

I’m only on the third question when I hear a pair of heels clicking, and I look up to see Sophie making her way to Mr. Grant’s desk. I glance around the room to see everyone else hard at work, while Sophie hands her quiz off, completed.

She winks at me as she walks across the front of the room, quietly opening the door. I want to ask how she managed to cheat—then I realize just how much everyone seems to underestimate her; she didn’t cheat. She is just scarily intelligent.

Fifteen minutes later I find myself on my feet, offering my paper to Mr. Grant, who takes it with a smile. I feel several pairs of eyes on me as I walk to the door, but I don’t dare look back—because I don’t want to see that little girl put anything else in her mouth.

▲ △ ▼ ▽

(texts Brody & Abram)

dude why is ellie so petty?

she brought me coffee to school, saying it was a peace offering. well she put salt in it instead of sugar and when i took a drink and spit it out she said oh, was that salt im sorry it was an accident, kinda like how you accidentally kissed Natasha

lmao bro she’s the queen of petty she always has been

I’m following in those petty ass footsteps because here I am passive aggressively drinking it and looking at her from across the cafeteria.

i didn’t raise no bitch. You drink that bitter AF coffee ♥

i am. wyd.

Just got out of calc, about to find somewhere to baptize myself in bleach.

did you hook up w a bootleg looking girl or st?

no dude worse i got a semi talking to this hot girl in my calc class she was deep throating a sucker and then says lol i’ll be 15 in march omg fkin gross

omg right these children are out here catfishing us in real life wtf what happened to young girls having snuggle teeth and acne?

idk but I honestly feel like I need to go to church and apologize.

lol i miss you man.

Miss you more pookie

I wasn’t gonna tell you but I’m too excited not to. I’m gonna come to your game on Saturday.

I’m mid key smash when I feel someone sit beside me on the fountain. Locking my phone, I look up and I immediately scoot away from the girl who looks at me like I’m a four-course meal and she hasn’t eaten for days.

“You know, I’m impressed with how fast you finished that quiz,” says Dominique as she crosses her legs toward me. “Maybe I need some tutoring.”

“I’m sure Mr. Grant wouldn’t mind helping you if you’re having problems,” I say and I lean farther away from her.

“I’m not interested in his help,” she replies, smirking. “I was thinking maybe you could help me.”

“Abram—oh.” I look over my shoulder to see Elise rounding the fountain, her lips pinching into a thin line as she studies the girl beside me. “Never mind, I would hate to interrupt.”

I stand and grab my backpack. “You’re not—I was actually looking for you.”

She glances back at Dominique. “Are you sure, because you looked pretty cozy—”

“Please, save me,” I whisper against Elise’s ear.

She pulls away and smiles back at Dominique. “Sorry, sweetie, but he isn’t available right now. You can try again later—maybe once you’ve hit puberty?”

“I think she already has,” I say as Elise urges me away from the fountain and my dignity.

“Oh my God, Abram,” Elise snaps. “That girl is like twelve.”

“I know,” I bite back. “She was trying to show me how many licks it takes to get to the center of a Tootsie Pop earlier.” I can’t help but cringe as I think about it, and I will myself to think of something else.

“I think she probably want to know how many licks it’ll take from you,” she says, rolling her eyes. “You seem to have a fan club now.”

“I think I’ve had one since that party—”

“God, shut up!” she says, walking in front of me and throwing her arms out. “What makes you think I want to hear about that? Or any story about you with any other girl?”

I stare at her, eyebrows creasing together. “Oh, but it’s okay for you to flaunt your relationship with Jason in front of me?”

“I don’t do that, Abram—that’s Jason. Besides, that’s different, I haven’t—we haven’t—we’ve barely even kissed!”

“So that makes it fair?” I say.

“I didn’t say that—”

“But you’ve implied it plenty of times,” I say. “Did you just want to fight with me? Is that why you were looking for me?”

“No, but I wasn’t expecting to find you with some freshman skank!” she shouts. “I thought you had standards—but I guess if you’d be into Sylvia, you’d be into anyone.”

I laugh dryly and shake my head. “Obviously I don’t have standards,” I say, holding my arms out toward her. I regret the words as soon as they leave my mouth, but I’m too angry to say sorry, even after her face falls. “Because if I did, I wouldn’t put up with your neck-breaking mood swings.”

Her lips part, but words are forestalled—because I’m not done yet.

“You know what? Never mind—forget that I was looking for you. I’m going to go find Sophie, because at least she is constantly a bitch and doesn’t lead me on!”

Without giving her a chance to respond, I walk away.