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#k 12 sleepaway school
millionaire-waltz · 6 months
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˚。⋆୨୧˚ beaming love into me ˚୨୧⋆。˚
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deep-fried-egg · 5 months
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Talk to me after school (k-12 dupe)
Cry baby k-12 x fem! Reader
Warnings: transphobia, sexism, they’re legal adults at the end guys I didn’t make toddlers kiss, murder, trying to poison someone, abuse, body image issues, anorexia
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10k+ words
I woke up in my all pink room to the sound of my alarm blaring in my ears, as I sat up I thought 'Wait, what was my dream again?' I get out of bed as my thoughts continue. 'I remember feeling trapped in rising heat and there were plastic or… cardboard cut-outs all around me? And my gums roots were pushing out my teeth and the voice of a thousand angels said to me, "It's temporary."
'Maybe that should be my new mantra as I step into what will inevitably be the worst years of my life.' I walk over to my calendar and I draw a red heart around the wretched day that it is. The first day of hell.
'Ah yes, off to a world in which girls are only to wear pink dresses and boys blue pants. Well, I dyed my uniform and embroidered flowers on the sleeves.' I open my walk-in closet door. 'Speaking of, I should probably change into my uniform right now… Nah, that shits itchy. It can wait.
I step into my bathroom and I look into my mirror as I brush my half black half pastel rainbow streaked hair with my jade green hair brush with a golden heart on the back. 'Oh yeah, and in my dream, you know when the air below me was sucking my teeth out of their sockets, I noticed that my front two teeth stayed and the gap between them just kept getting larger and larger… How's that even possible? I know, right?' I squirt toothpaste on my baby blue toothbrush and I brush my teeth, after a few seconds I spit it out and I place the brush back on the counter as I step out of my bathroom and I head through my room into the kitchen.
'I wish my mom wasn't passed out right now and could at least drive me to the bus stop…' I grab my "alpha bites crunch" cereal and a bowl. I shook the box to get cereal out but instead I was surprised by my spider, Phillipe. "Phillipe? What are you doing in there? Don't scare me like that" I exclaimed as I watched Phillipe crawl on the dining room table.
'What was that angel's name again? Was it Lily or Layla? No, I think it was Lilith.'
Kindergarten. Wheels on the bus
The pink school bus with a blue interior picked me up at the stop and I chose to sit next to my best friend Angelita but it quickly got way too loud in the bus. I watched the bus driver drink from a flask as he continued driving to the sleepaway school.
"I feel so sick…" I spoke to Angelita. "I can't believe we have to do this." she responded. "Do you think we'll make any friends?" I asked as I looked at her in her brown eyes, "I hope so, but at least we have each other."
"That's true." I said with a sigh.
I heard the girls behind me laugh at each other before a pink paper airplane got thrown directly at my head. I turned toward the dyed blue boy who threw it before Angelita picked up the paper airplane and she read the text within before she turned around and yelled at them, "Real mature!"
"What does it say?" I asked, before she could tell me I leaned over and I read the neat handwriting on the paper. It read: "Gap toothed bitch."
I frowned after I read it, but my sadness only got worse when the kids behind me started mocking me…
"Awww does the bunny rabbit need some tissues?" Kelly, my blond bully with shoulder length hair and blue eyes teased.
"Its okay, don't listen to them. They're just plastic bullies." Angelita tried to comfort me but the kids behind me were too loud. Their bullying was getting to me. They were all standing up and saying "Wah wah, Cry baby." which was definitely making fun of my name, Cry Baby.
I silenced all of the hate in my mind so it wouldn't get to me anymore than it already did.
'This… Is K-12.'
-
All the chatter simmers down as the bus gets to our stop. Me and Angelita watch everybody file out of the bus and into the clean white school. We wait until everyone is out before we get up and leave the bus.
As we walk into the dark blue doors of the school a big bell on the very top of the school rings, showing that it's almost class time so me and Angelita push open the doors that were 2 times the size of our 5 year old bodies.
First grade Class fight
As we walk through the halls, littered with statues and paintings of ghosts and mystical creatures of the unknown I strike up a conversation with my friend.
"I don't know why people are so scared of death." I said nonchalantly. "I agree!" She replied, "It's just another part of life."
"You start in the womb, and you end in the tomb."
Angelita laughed as I said that, but then she asked me a question that made me think. "Wait a second… Where is everybody?" I hum in response, I didn't know either.
I changed the topic of the conversation, "I don't know if it's just because it's cold in here… but I'm getting kind of a… creepy chill down my back." I said. "I love it!" me and Angelita said in unison.
The second we turned around some ghost in a white victorian style dress and her hair tied up walked straight through the right wall to the left wall behind us. We turned around just in time to catch a glimpse of the ghost, we sped up the stairs after that.
"What even was that!?" Angelita yelled, "Scary." I replied before sighing. "What's the room number again?" Angelita spoke quietly this time, "222…" I nodded.
We looked in front of us before reading the room numbers in unison.
"221…223…" Then we looked at the door in front of us, "222…" We stare at each other then we enter the room. Officially becoming students at the worst rated school in the country.
-
The teacher immediately scolded us when we entered the room. "Class! Would you like to inform Cry Baby and Angelita of what rule they did not follow today?
"When the bell rings you must be in your assigned seat." the entire class said in a bored tone.
"Are you deaf?" The teacher asked, "Sit down!"
"Sorry Ms. Daphne." Both me and Angelita said at the same time before we rushed to our seats and we sat down.
As soon as we sat down the announcements started going off so the entire class stood up, except for one boy. Henry.
"All rise" Ms. Daphne said as she walked around the room with her ruler pointed towards the class.
The teacher glared at him before speaking, "On your feet." Ms. Daphne insisted.
The pledge started, "I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States Of America…"
"I'm being generous with you boy." Ms. Daphne warned, "Last chance to stand and show some respect." She finished while glaring at Henry.
"with liberty and justice for all." The pledge ended.
Henry shook his head before stating, "You hear that? Liberty and justice for all? Thats bullshit." Henry said before scoffing.
Ms. Daphne stomped over to her desk and she pressed a button which called the detention crew over to escort Henry out of the room.
The door slammed open and identical men with shaved brown hair and full beards wearing gray full body uniforms stormed into the room. "Grab the boy!" One of them yelled before they picked up Henry from under his arms, near his armpits and they started dragging the young boy out of the room.
"Get off of me!" Henry yelled while kicking, trying to escape the strong mens grip, "I didn't do anything!" His voice slowly faded away as they dragged him out of the room and slammed the door shut.
I was scared by this so I stayed quiet the rest of class until Brandon, my crush, turned around and tapped my shoulder asking for my eraser. Of course I handed it to him as soon as he asked.
Kelly saw all of it. She saw her boyfriend since kindergarten tapping my shoulder and asking me a question. Of course she got jealous so she wrote me a little note on a piece of pink paper.
She threw me the note in a crumpled up ball, it landed in front of me on my desk. She giggled to her friend as I opened it. The note read: "You at recess” And a drawing stick man dead in front of a grave right under that.
I crumpled up the paper again and I threw it back down on my desk before I continued drawing on my piece of paper.
-
Soon enough it was nap time and the desks were moved to make room for little, uncomfortable mattresses and sleeping bags on the floor.
I tucked myself in but not before nodding at angelita, mutually agreeing to use our powers to make a little fort. I crawl around until I find my friend.
The fort looks a little more like a cave as the tunnels are thin, but it's cozy.
Finally, we found each other. "There you are!" Angelita whispered with an excited tone in her voice.
"How do they expect us to sleep in there?" I complained, sitting down on the mattress in our little fort.
"I don't know…" She said before yawning, "I am kinda sleepy though."
"Well, wake up." I began, "I got that thrown at my head." I said as I tossed Angelita the crumpled up note.
As she uncrumpled the paper her expression slowly turned to one of shock. "Who drew this?" She asked, "That girl kelly…" I sighed, "I think she's trying to rip my head off or something."
"Well what are you going to do?" My friend inquired, "You've gotta defend yourself."
"I can't defend myself! I don't know how to fight, I just, I don't even know how to do th-" Angelita cut me off by slapping me across the face. Hard.
I put my hand over the place she slapped, "Ow!"
"Hold it together girl." She replied, I scoffed at her before she continued, "We are capable of doing whatever we want." She stated before using her powers to start a flame in the palm of her hand, she held it in front of me.
I shook my head in disagreement, I produced water in my hand to put out the mini fire she started.
"I can't, that's cheating!" I commented which made her sigh and bring her hand back to where it originally was.
"Do you really think we would have these abilities if we weren't supposed to use them?"
"I don't know. I just feel like I'd have an unfair advantage."
"Well, I don't know. Why don't you call your mom and ask her what she thinks you should do?”
"My mom?" I asked, to which she hummed in agreement. "No, it's okay… She's… Probably sleeping right now and honestly I don't think she'd even pick up the phone."
Angelita used her powers to produce a white dial-up phone out of nothing, she placed it on the mattress in front of me, she picked up the phone and she handed it to me.
I sighed then took it then dialed the phone and I called my mom.
"She's not going to pick up."
"Let's see"
-
It's now recess time, I would be lying if I said I wasn't absolutely terrified for my safety so I decided to sit on the grass with my friend and wait it out.
"Did you see what she was wearing?" I heard Kelly say, obviously I was going to snoop on this conversation… I mean it's juicy and I'm only human.
"Like, it was embarrassing for everyone, and like, I told her! I was trying to be helpful, I gave her advice, I was like 'That's ugly!'" I got distracted from the conversation Kelly was having when Brandon, Kelly's boyfriend, sat next to me.
I turned my head and I looked him in the eyes with a big smile before tuning back into Kelly's conversation.
"And she just… She took it like personally, she was getting all mad about it. I was like I'm helping you.-" I watched as one of Kelly's "Friends” tapped on her shoulder. "Hey, Kelly?” The girl asked, "Stop!” Kelly slapped the girl's hand away. "Don't interrupt me.”
I see one of the girls that was with Kelly pointing at my little group so I act like I was just talking to Angelita and Brandon and not listening to their conversation, but it looks like they were just pointing out the fact that Brandon is with me.
"Are you even listening to me?" Kelly asked her friends before looking where they were pointing, making her look directly into my eyes as I talked to her boyfriend.
Kelly stormed towards us, pushing people out of the way so she could get to us faster. People gathered around us as she punched me directly in the face so i'd be on the ground. When my back hit the ground she sat on top of my legs, keeping me down, and she punched me in the face multiple times.
The kids all around us were chanting 'FIGHT!’ as she was doing this, obviously it got to her because she pulled a dagger out of her dress pocket and she held down my arm and cut it open on the inside of my arm right above my elbow.
I couldn't take the pain anymore so I activated my powers as Angelita told me to do, the leaves started floating because I made both me and Kelly float.
Kelly screamed “What are you doing?” as I did this. She was terrified, it was working. She looked around and she yelled again, “Put me down you freak!”
I used my powers to extend my braids and choke her with them, she grabbed my braids as they were all she could hold onto.
I saw Angelita looking up at the scene while smiling because I'm finally defending myself, but everyone else was gasping and covering their mouths in shock.
When Kelly gasped for air I finally let her go. It was perfect timing too because the vice principal came out and almost saw what happened.
-
It turns out I wasn't sneaky. The vice principal was dragging us by our ears to her office.
"Who would've thought that young ladies like would-” She started to scold us but Kelly interrupted her, "My mom spent good money getting these ears done!” When she said that the vice principal let go of our ears. "You have really blown it this time! Sit down!” After we heard that, me and Kelly sat down. “I mean it.” The woman whispered.
‘I shouldn't have lost control like that.’ I thought, ‘She's not a bad person, she's just… Projecting her insecurities on me.’ I thought, I rested my chin on my hand as I sat.
Soon I got bored and I used my powers to see what's happening in the principal's office…
I saw a woman with short blue hair sitting, waiting for the principal to talk to her. Actually, I believe it was Ms. Harper.
The principal sat in front of her, taking a puff from a cigar before speaking.
"You said you're… Dressing as a woman now?” The principal asked.
"Yes, I'm transitioning.” Ms. Harper replied, "Transitioning…” The principal laughed before continuing, "You know I can't let you influence the children with this ridiculous behavior.” Ms. Harper gasped as the principal spoke.
“And from now on you want us to address you as…?”
"Ms. Harper, correct.” The vice principal laughed at her, “The kids really connect with me, I love my job and I'd really love to stay! But I need to be my most authentic self! I AM a woman!” Ms. Harper said, the principal frowned at this and he exclaimed, "Mr. Harper you're fired!”
-
I came back into reality and I saw Kelly staring at some kid that was eating glue by the handful, his hair was spiked up into two horn-like spikes and he was hunched over next to Kelly.
I look away from the disgusting display and instead I watch the kid next to me open a clear bottle of pink pills.
"What are those?” I asked him, and he immediately replied. "He forces us to take these pills. Each color is a different dosage. I'm on pink, which is the lightest dose.” He swallows the pill without water.
"Why is he forcing medication on everyone?” I asked, "...To control us." The boy said with a small smile. "So we can’t leave.” He finished.
The kid next to Kelly continued to absolutely destroy the glue, he was sucking on his fingers, making loud mouth noises. "That's disgusting!” Kelly exclaimed, the kid frowned and put the glue container down.
Fourth grade Nurses office
After the show and tell in my last class I had to go to the nurses office, but the nurses were not exactly healing my wounds. Instead they were cutting my hair and drugging me up… I knew this school would be bad but I never thought it would be this bad.
But luckily my guardian angel Lilith saved me and angelita from the torture that we faced in the nurses office.
"Wait! Why are you leaving us here?” Angelita asked the angel, I added onto her statement, "We need to come with you…”
Lilith smiled at us and she spoke, "Continue on, And live your truth.” She paused, "Do not hold fear in your heart.” Lilith finished.
"Please, we don't want to die here…” I mumbled.
"You've had many bodies before this, and you will continue to have more.” Lilith stated, "You're immortal.”
"But we're exhausted…” Angelita whispered.
"We don't want to feel this anymore” I agreed
"We must feel the physical pain of this world, because the only way we can truly learn is through experience.” Lilith said, I pouted, "Please…” I said in a shaky voice.
Lilith turned away from us and she walked back into the door she came out of, that door sunk into the ground.
-
I sighed as I walked through the hallways with my best friend, I looked at all of the statues and paintings on the walls.
“Oh no…" Angelita said, “I'm going to be late for class." She sighed. "Who cares at this point.” I laughed.
"True” She agreed
“I'm so exhausted…” I complained to her, she nodded and said, "Same.”
Suddenly beautiful music played by an orchestra came into hearing rage. "Do you hear that?” Angelita asked, “I do!” I excitedly said as I walked with Angelita towards the sound.
Angelita pointed towards a huge, fancy looking door. “It's coming from over there!” Angelita said excitedly. We walked towards the oud music and we pressed our ears against the large white door with a golden door handle.
"Should we check it out?” I asked, “Yeah!” Angelita responded, “Okay…” I said as I put my hand on the door handle, preparing to open it. Angelita put her hand on the door handle too and she spoke, “Okay count on three… One, Two…Three!” We opened the door to see a big luxurious ballroom with what looked like almost a hundred ghosts of all shapes and sizes slow dancing with each other.
We looked around the ballroom for a few seconds until… I sneezed. I ruined the entire moment with just one sneeze. The music stopped and the ghosts let go of each other and turned to look at us.
Angelita waved at the ghosts, "Hello! You all look… Ravishing!” She said, “Bewitching even." I added, it only made the ghosts madder as they yelled and ran at us with their arms reaching towards us.
Both me and Angelita ran behind the doors and we hurriedly pushed them shut with all that was in us. As soon as we closed it we heard clawing and knocking against the door so we decided to leave.
“We should get to class!" I said
“Y-yeah…” She stuttered, still in shock because of the events that just occurred
“See you!
"Yeah, see you later!”
fifth grade. Drama club
"Tragedy, and comedy. Two sides of the same dramatic coin!” My drama teacher said as I walked into the theater. "And we are going to be exploring both in this play." He put his hand on his hip and he watched me try to go to my seat.
“Even the late comers." He said sternly as I sat down. Everyone turned towards me for absolutely no reason. I guess they're just nosy. They turned back around when the teacher started speaking again.
“Alright everyone, please turn to your scripts, turn to page 2 and find the role to which you've been assigned.” His accent really shone through as he spoke this sentence, this guy is extremely animated.
When I saw my role I raised my hand, "Right, so about that… Um… Is it possible to get assigned a different role? Maybe one that's not so domestic? Like a film director, or the president of the United states?” I asked, he shot down my question with this answer, “A harlot perhaps?” Everyone laughed at his joke but I didn't. I just sat in my chair with a frown.
The boy in front of me turned around and just added salt to the wound. "President? What a joke. Your kind are too soft and too sensitive to handle a man's job.”
"Having a larger capacity to feel and express emotion are one of the many qualities that make us SUPERIOR to your kind.” I replied with a smile.
-
When the time came to perform the show I ended up putting a clothes iron to the boy that said that thing to me a couple weeks ago's face. I then yelled at the audience that was obviously being brainwashed with those pills that the boy was telling me about so I made an attempt to snap them out of it.
"You're being brainwashed! Can't you see what's happening? Open your eyes!” The guards that my teacher had watching the show grabbed my arms and tried to pull me off the stage.
"Get off of me! Get off!" I yelled as they pulled my arms.
"WAKE UP!” I yelled at the audience before using my power to push the security guards off of me which also caused the kids to snap out of it.
They all ran out of the theater, including Angelita, so I came with them. I opened the door to the principal's office and everyone ran into the room and to his desk. They fought off the nurses and the rabbit-men (Men with rabbit heads, obviously.) and they all went around the principals desk, grabbing him and ripping his limbs off.
I smirked as I watched them tear his body apart with just their hands. Afterwards the janitor swept his torn off body parts away and into the garbage disposal.
Sixth grade Strawberry shortcake
I met a girl earlier named Y/n and I was about to play tennis with her but we had to bury the principal first. Luckily me and my best friend in the whole world were almost done so I can hang out with admittedly the cutest girl I've seen in a while.
We saw her writing in her green journal while walking along the path that extends from the school to the playground.
y/n pov:
"Y/n! Wait up!” Cry baby yelled as she ran up to me, Cry baby's hair was tied up into buns, I think it makes her look cute. I honestly don't know how she didn't realize that I like her yet since I've always been incredibly clingy towards her ever since we met.
"Did you find a place to dump the principal?” I asked, Angelita nodded and Cry baby responded to my question, "Yeah, just did it. Done deal.”
-
We sat on the pink and blue tennis court in the middle of the courtyard with our rackets up, me and Cry Baby hit the ball back and forth while Angelita read a magazine called "TEEN QUEEN" on the sidelines.
Suddenly Angelita said something slightly odd, "Did you guys know that there are actually 2 holes down there?" I was confused so I asked, "You didn't know you had a butthole?” which made Cry Baby giggle.
"No! There's two separate holes.” Angelita said, "Are you sure?” Cry Baby asked and Angelita just said "Mhm!”
"Then I think I need to go to a doctor!” Cry Baby said, but I wasn't paying attention. I was focused on the fact that when Angelita blew a bubble it encased the ball in a bubble and it's now floating away.
"Hey! Hey guys!” I exclaimed but neither of them were paying attention to my words. They were still talking about the earlier topic. "Hey guys!” I repeated but nope. Still nothing.
“Oh! I get it now! So one hole you can pee out of and another-” Cry Baby began but i just tuned their conversation out. "Why does nobody listen to me?” I whispered to myself, "Guys the ball is floating away!” They finally heard me and they turned around to see that the ball literally was floating away.
“Oh!” Angelita exclaimed before quickly getting up and chasing the ball with Cry Baby. I ran after it with them too, "The ball!” I laughed.
“I feel like we're going the wrong way.” Cry Baby said as she tried to find the pink tennis ball with us. Luckily it popped, but it didn't fall towards us. Instead, it fell in front of a boy that was reading a book.
He picked up the ball and he handed it to us when we ran over. He seemed nice.
Cry Baby pov: (Again) Also, seventh grade, Lunchbox friends
I opened my eyes to see a sky full of beautiful shining stars and the voice of Lilith all around me. I spoke to her, Lilith said, "What's wrong my dear?” As I laid on the dirt ground, holding back tears.
I sighed, “I just don't want to do this anymore…” I whined, “I don't wanna feel this pain and I dont wanna be here on Earth…” I frowned as I watched the stars flicker in the sky. "Please just take me with you…” I paused, “I just wanna be up there!” I listened to my voice echo as I spoke.
"The greatest power we will hold is that of acceptance. Any storm you face will transform itself into a crystalline rainbow in divine timing.” Lilith spoke, afterwards i closed my eyes and I stopped my daydream.
-
"Hey, you there?” Y/n asked as she grabbed my arm, I just said "Yeah.” As I continued walking up the spiral stairs with her and Angelita.
Angelita clutched her stomach as she walked up the stairs with us which only made us confused. “Are you okay?” I asked my best friend as she headed up the stairs.
“Ugh… I feel so sick… Like this is the worst stomach pain I've ever experienced.” Angelita said then she knelt down on the last step.
Both me and y/n saw the blood on the bottom of her skirt and it became clear what was happening. She finally got her period. Me and () looked each other in the eyes and we said, “Ohhh…” In unison.
-
We opened the door to the bathroom and Angelita started to complain. “Ugh! Why right now!?”
“I mean it had to happen at some point."" Y/n pointed out. We walked up to the tampon machine and I spoke.
“It says there's one tampon left… Do either of you have any change?” I asked, turning towards them.
"No…” They both said in unison, so I channeled my powers and I opened the machine with my telekinesis.
"Yes!” Angelita whispered as it flung open. “It's empty.” I said in a disappointed tone of voice as I looked at Angelita. I slammed the door closed then spoke again, “Whatever… Who knows what kind of crazy shit is in them anyways!”
“I mean yeah… Toxic shock is real but… Tampons should be free.” Y/n frowned.
"What do I do now?” Angelita said with a sigh, I looked around for something but then I just said, "Toilet paper.”
Angelita made a disgusted face before just heading into the stall and going with it.
After about 3 minutes y/n got bored and decided to speak, "You good in there?” She asked Angelita to which she responded, "Yeah.”
"You sure?" She asked Angelita.
"Yeah, I'm almost done." Angelita responded
"Do you need me to get you another roll of toilet paper?
"That'd be great!”
I leaned against the wall next to the stalls as we waited for Angelita to finish up, then I said "We're gonna be late to class Y/n.”
“Ugh… Empathize with me a little!" Angelita yelled at us from inside the stall, “I'm sorry” I said as I tilted my head back, making my head hit the wall.
Angeita came out of the stall with a sweater around her waist, "Cute sweater!” Y/n said to Angelita when she saw her, "Where'd you get that from?” She asked.
“I just whipped a little something up.” I couldn't help but laugh at that. "What! I wasn't gonna walk around looking like I sat in raspberries all day.” Angelita said before the bathroom door opened and one of the nurses came in. Angelita started washing her hands as the nurse spoke to us.
The nurse bumped me with her shoulder and she scolded us, "Get back to class!” She paused before saying something under her breath “You little bitch.” She slammed the stalls door closed and we left.
Y/n pov.
"Hey guys… I don't know how long I can go with this toilet paper. It's so annoying… It keeps moving around down there.” Angelita sighed after she said this.
"Well good thing you don't have to deal with it much longer!” Cry Baby said with a big smile. "Thank the goddess…” Angelita replied as she smiled back at Cry Baby.
( Back in the bathroom with that one nurse)
She looked down, noticing that she just got her period, "Shit…” The nurse said before checking the pocket on her shirt only for no tampon to be there. “Are you serious?” She then reached for the toilet paper roll only for it to be empty from Angelita.
I arrived in the lunch room with Cry Baby and Angelita and after we got lunch Angelita and I sat at a lunch table, since Cry Baby was way behind us in line she just got to the front. I was watching her get lunch when Kelly came up to her and pulled her away. 'That's weird…’I thought, but I just turned around and talked to Angelita about random things.
Cry Baby pov:
While the blond girls were talking to me, I just got up and walked away from them since I seriously feel no need to be popular.
I came back to the group with a new girl, Magnolia. She had powers like the rest of us so I knew she would end up fitting in. I walked with her, arm in arm, to meet back up with my REAL friends. I would never choose those plastics over what I know is real.
"Hey!” I said as I approached my friends, I smiled as Y/n spoke, "Thank god you're back!” he walked the rest of the way up to me “I thought you were busy becoming a plastic carbon copy” She pouted at me and I smiled harder at her cuteness.
"This is Magnolia, say hi.” I introduced my friends to the new girl, “nice to meet you ladies” Magnolia spoke as she activated her powers, turning her eyes pitch black. Then she deactivated them in just a couple seconds though because our group was pretty… Secretive with our powers.
"Welcome!” Y/n said excitedly as she hugged Magnolia tightly. I looked over to the popular girls to see that one of them had powers like us. She was unpeeling an orange with her mind so it was pretty damn obvious that she was one of us.
"Holy shit!” I said, the girls looked over at Fleur, “Is she… One of us?” Y/n asked, I sighed and I replied to her "Yes but… How do we go up to her?” I asked, "She's sitting with Kelly.” I pointed out.
Magnolia smirked as she came up with the perfect idea, She looked around the group before suggesting something. "Food fight anyone?"
We all hummed in agreement and y/n rapidly nodded, “I like this girl."" She commented which made all of us giggle.
We turn around and I take a step forward as Angelita grabs her pink lunch tray and she hands it to me. "What, do I just throw it?” I asked before I grabbed Angelitas pb&j. "Pretty sure that's how food fights go down.” She smiled as she watched me nervously throw it at a girl across the lunch room.
“Ow!” She exclaimed as the blue boy sitting across from her got up.
"FOOD FIGHT!” He yelled and everyone in the lunchroom threw food at each other, "You're fucking kidding me!” Kelly complained as she got under the lunch table with her little plastic minions.
I laughed and I got under the table with my friends too. “I gotta get in on this!” Angelita yelled as she grabbed some floor spaghetti. "Not with this hair. I just had wash day." Magnolia responded.
We watched Kelly run away from the scene with her group. "She's leaving with Kelly!” Y/n pointed out, I sighed in defeat. "Let's go after them!” Angelita suggested but Y/n quickly tried to convince us otherwise, "Yeah. Let's just start a parade.”
"Cry Baby I think you need to do this alone.” Y/n said, I thought about her words for a second… She was right. I do have to do it alone. “Okay… Wish me luck!” I said as I got out from under the table.
“Aright, good luck bitch!” Y/n yelled to her. "So barbaric…” I heard her whisper as I left.
“If you don't put that floor spaghetti down!” She scolded Magnolia right as I entered the bathroom where Fleur and Kelly were.
I snuck into the stall next to them so I could listen to their words… What Kelly was saying to Fleur honestly broke my heart. She was telling her that her body wasn't perfect enough, that she needed to only eat oranges from now on so she wouldn't gain weight… It was devastating. I knew I had to do something about this.
I waited until Kelly was done yelling at Fleur, right as I was about to come out I heard more yelling. But Fleur was talking to herself. She was yelling horrible things about her body into the mirror
Eighth grade Orange juice.
This has been happening for a year straight. I want to help Fleur so bad but every time I try Kelly gets in the way. Everyday I went into the bathroom with them and I heard Fleur trying to make herself throw up in the stall next to me, luckily today I got my chance to help.
I came up to her after Kelly left, I finally took the chance to speak to her without anybody else in the room with us. I tried my best to give her some advice, "Wanna know something I learned about bodies?” I asked her, “They don't define us.” I looked in the mirror with her then I continued, "We aren't our bodies. They're just temporary.” I looked in her eyes as I spoke this to her.
“I know it seems impossible but try not to expect shallow people to love you. They don't even have the capacity to understand how amazing you are.” I turned towards her before finishing what I was saying, “And we all have to learn how to love ourselves without the approval of others.” I finally heard Fleur talk to me after this.
“I know... It's just extremely overwhelming when everyone around you is making you feel like you're not good enough!” She frowned at me, “As if you're not deserving of the same kind of love if you're different.” She looked down at me since I'm much shorter than her, Fleur stands at 6 feet tall and I'm only 5'2.
“Everyones deserving of love.” I told her, “Everyone.” I repeated. I hugged Fleur from the side and I looked in the mirror with her.
-
There was still chaos outside the lunch room. Everyone was fighting… People were running out into the hallways, people were hiding under tables… It was bad.
I stepped out of the bathroom with Fleur and Angelita yellout out to us, "Cry Baby! Over here!” Fleur followed me as I hid behind the lunch counter with the rest of my friends.
"This is Fleur.” I introduced everyone to her and Fleur waved at them.
The girl next to Kelly tapped her shoulder and Kelly scolded her. "What did we talk about!? Don't touch me!” The girl sighed "Sorry… Yeah I know… Sorry… But isn't that Fleur over there next to Cry Baby?” She pointed to us behind the counter, Kelly turned around and she groaned.
“It's crazy out there!” Angelita yelled to us since it was so loud that we could barely hear her.
“I know, it's literally chaotic!” I yelled back.
I stopped smiling when I saw the rabbit men. They were the security guards of this school, basically they were bun with rabbit heads.
I saw the principal's son follow suit. "It's Leo!” I heard someone whisper, “It’s the principal's son…” I said to myself in disbelief.
“Who started this?” He asked the kids in the lunchroom, “It was that bitch Cry Baby!” Kelly yelled to him, the rabbit men dragged me to detention with them.
-
I sat in detention with my wrists tied to the desks, the nurses occasionally coming in and giving me a shot in a big needle to chill me out and to control my powers so I couldn't escape.
I ended up being able to use my powers through trial and error, I controlled the principal's son's mind and I made him release me from detention by loosening the restraints. I couldn't use my powers for too long though because the old dose of my meds were still going strong. I was able to get out though and I met up with my friends outside of the detention room.
9th grade Y/n pov:
I snuck around the unusually empty hallways, looking for Cry Baby's locker, number 22. I was carrying a note I wrote just for her that was expressing my feelings of love for her… Of course I forgot to sign it though.
When I found Cry Babys locker I quickly stuffed it in there, I looked around the halls and I tried to act natural when I saw that Cry Baby, Angelita and Magnolia were coming my way.
“Okay guys…” I started to speak to my friends but I saw Cry Baby start to go through her locker so I started paying even less attention to what was happening than I was before. I anxiously watched Cry Baby find the letter as I let Angelita take over for me.
The letter read:
I caught a sparkle of light in your eyes that day. I bathed in it, was transported to heaven's gates by it… But I fall at my feet. My words shall only be composed. I can't speak, my inner voice calling my outer self weak.
Admiring from afar, secretly, Y/…
Suspiciously, the last part was crossed out… it looked a lot like the beginning of y/n’s name though, weird.
"Yeah… Sorry.” She started to fold the letter back up so I continued to talk. “Your job is to manipulate the spawn of Satan himself into letting you into his office so we can hijack that loud speaker and get everyone out of here.
Magnolia looked at the note in Cry Baby's hand and she motioned to it. "What's that?” She asked, “I think it's a love letter!” Cry Baby said in an excited tone of voice, “A love letter? From who?” Magnolia asked as if she didn't already know, she was the only person I trusted enough to ask since I knew Angelita would just tell Cry Baby about my secret.
“I don't know, it doesn't say." Cry Baby giggled with Magnolia about the love letter from me. I think she liked it…?
“Alright guys, back to the plan. We already got rid of the principal so that just leaves Leo. We lock him in his office, make a run for it…” I fidgeted with my notebook as I spoke, trying not to look suspicious in front of Cry Baby. “And then we set the place on fire…?” Angelita asked with an unsure voice, "Yes! Exactly.” I responded.
“I don't know about that guys…” Fleur mumbled, she never did take risks like this, it makes sense for her to be hesitant. “I agree. Fire is too cliché.” Cry baby agreed, that settles it. If she thinks it's cliché we aren't doing it… but what other choice do we have?
“I mean you’re right… But at this point what other options do we have?” I asked, which ended up settling it. We're setting the place on fire during senior prom.
10th grade Cry Baby pov: High school sweethearts
I was with my best friend Angelita, walking through the garden before I pulled out one of my blunts and offered it to her, she took it and I lit it for her before she took a big inhale. We both needed this so we'd calm down after a long, stressful school day.
“I hope we don't get caught!” She said as I took the blunt straight out of her mouth and took a drag.
"We should be fine.” I dismissed her worries. We listened to birds chirping as we walked through the beautiful garden, down the gravel path in between bushes carved to look like rabbits.
I handed the blunt to Angelita as I spoke, "Do you ever wonder who we were to each other in a past life?” I asked, “Oh for sure! We probably had hundreds of lives together.” She agreed.
“You could've been my mom.”
"Yeah, or we could've been…”
"Conjoined twins?” We said in unison as we pointed at each other.
“And our parents sold us to a fucking freak show!” I joked with her, "That would explain a lot…” She took another drag from the blunt, "That would.” I responded.
“It's crazy how many medical benefits Mary Jane has.” I sighed before taking the blunt from Angelita, already feeling the weed kicking in, I'm definitely getting calmer.
“I know, and no one gives her any credit!"
"We don't deserve her.” I jokingly pouted as I spoke this sentence which made Angelita giggle. "Wow…” Angelita whispered as we passed a very impressive carving of a rabbit in a bush.
"Speaking of magical plants…” I pointed at the bush and Angelita skipped toward it but I stayed on the gravel path. I watched her admire all of the details intricately carved into the leaves, she touched the tail before jogging back towards me.
-
I opened my leather-bound notebook at the end of the hallway, I could hear someone mumbling at the end of the hallway but I didn't care about that. It's definitely someone just being weird because they think they're alone.
As soon as I looked up I saw the old principal's son Leo speed-walking towards me… Shit… What does he have to say?
"Hey.” He said as he sat down next to me, "Hi…?” I responded with a confused tone in my voice.
“Are you okay?” The boy asked, obviously since I sounded so confused (And admittedly slightly annoyed.) I nodded as an answer to his question since I didn't want to talk to this bitch.
“You sure?”
"Yeah what's up?"
“Um… I… I was looking for you because I wanted to ask you… I would like you to go to the dance with me." I managed to give him a fake smile which felt disgusting to do.
"Really?” I tried to sound excited about him asking me to the dance, I already had my eyes on someone…
"Why?” I asked him, I really did want to know. "Well, I don't know if you got my note but…"
Wait… He wrote the letter? With that poetic touch I just assumed it must've been written by a girl… Damn.
Well, you know what they say! Keep your friends close and your enemies closer.
"You mean a lot to me…” He said before I cut him off, “I’d love to go with you.” I lied, luckily I'm a good actress.
“Okay! That'd be great!” He said as he got up and left me alone again in the hallway.
12th grade Recess Y/n pov:
Finally, senior dance. I get to put the plan in motion… Me and my group of friends looked around the ballroom as we took in the intricate details of the gorgeous room.
"Ladies, this place looks beautiful doesn't it?” Everyone hummed in agreement, “It'll make some beautiful ashes.” I finished.
“I'm really nervous… Should we really be doing this?” Fleur asked, she was always so nervous about our little plans. “It'll be fine. Tonights the night.” Angelita comforted her friend
"Just stick to the plan." I told Fleur since I knew she'd probably go off of the plan in some place. "I made it. It's meticulous, you'll be okay.”
I watched as Cry Baby entered in her beautiful ball gown, she looked around at her surroundings, as i watched her I accidentally spilled my punch all over the floor so I just ignored it.
"Wait… Why is she here?” Fleur gestured towards Cry Baby, which made everyone in our group look over at her in curiosity, Cry Baby was just wandering around the ballroom but she looked gorgeous as always
We walk towards her as a group but Angelitas date stops her for a second, “Angelita, Don't you want to dance now?” He asked, Angelita made a disgusted face at the blue boy and she scoffed.
"Don't you want to fuck off now?” The boy walked off sadly after she said that to him, but luckily another girl started talking to him afterwards.
"There is no way in hell you had enough time to get rid of leo.” I confronted Cry Baby, she looked at me confused, "Yeah, shouldn't you be up there?” Fleur asked, "Where…?” Magnolia asked, "The loud speaker!” I yelled at Magnolia in an annoyed tone of voice, she was already sick of being the leader.
"Yeah, why aren't you up there?” Magnolia asked Cry Baby which just made her sigh.
“Okay… So… I got asked to the dance by Leo.” Cry Baby explained to us which just made us more annoyed.
"What?!” Angelita exclaimed at Cry Baby's statement, I just got jealous on top of the anger.
"Seriously? You let that MONSTER manipulate you?” I shouted which seemed to make her have to hold back tears.
"Well…” She trailed off but Fleur interrupted her. "Even I didn't abandon ship this time! And trust me… I wanted to.”
“I thought we were actually going to get out of this place for good.” Magnolia crossed her arms as she spoke and she frowned at Cry Baby.
“Look,” Cry Baby sighed, “I'm sorry.” I tilted my head at her as if I'm questioning her words. “I am!” she looked at Angelita as she spoke, we could tell that she actually felt bad for doing this to us.
We look away from her since we genuinely don't believe a word she's saying.
"Seriously!?” Cry Baby exclaimed, she looked up at the LED covered ceiling before continuing, "Look, I guess I was just-” Cry Baby began only to be interrupted again but this time by Angelita, "Being selfish.” Angelita shook her head at the shorter girl in front of her after she spoke but that just made Cry Baby walk off and slam the drink she had on the table next to us. "Forget it."
"Wait!” Angelita yelled trying to get her attention but I grabbed Angelitas arm and I told her, “No, it’s fine. Just let her go.
We turned to each other to continue talking about our plan until we heard the loudspeaker come on with a loud high pitched ring, causing us to plug our ears.
“Good evening, and welcome to K-12’s 150th school dance.” Leo spoke, breathing down the damn microphone.
“This isn't part of the plan…” I whispered to Angelita as the crowd cheered and applauded.
“Now, before I let you all get back to dancing all night… quite literally… I would just like to say just one thing. Cry Baby, I know what you’ve been up to.” The group looked at each other in shock.
“I’ve been watching you… For a long time now… And did you all think that you could just kill my father, get away with it and have your nice little dance?” We heard him panting into the microphone at his desk in anger.
“Yes…?” I commented, making Fleur quietly laugh at my comment before getting serious again herself.
Leo laughed then finished his statement over the loudspeaker, “I don’t think so seniors… Not tonight.”
Angelita’s date ran over to the large white doors, trying to shake the door handles but they didn’t budge.
“The doors are locked!” The blue boy yelled right before Leo got back onto the loudspeaker.
“So dance… DANCE!” An oddly comforting song played through the speakers, replacing “Tip Toe Thru’ the Tulips with Me” by Tiny Tim. Leo laughed as we were all forced to dance to the song, then he yelled “DANCE!” Yet again.
I was too young to see the truth
In my grandma's lap, I'm drowning in her perfume
Too naive to even care
'Bout the words she whispered while she brushed out my hair
“Whats happening?” Angelita asked me, “I don’t know… What's going on!?” I yelled.
“I mean… I can't stop!” I heard Magnolia say to Fleur, We all looked at the other dancers swaying, spinning and twirling around the ballroom.
"We've gotta do something guys!”I spoke to my friend while I involuntarily danced with Angelita.
“I mean… I love dancing but this is ridiculous!” I grabbed angelitas hand and I continued to dance with her to the beat.
People gonna say
"If you need a break, someone'll take your place"
People gonna try
To tell you that you're fine with dollars in their eyes (just remember)
"We need to find Cry Baby and stop this now!” Magnolia shouted to us over the music, Fleur just seemed like she was silently panicking so she'd obviously be no help.
Don't let them fuck you, honey, no, oh
Don't let them try (ooh)
Don't let them hurt you
Baby, just say, "Recess, I'm tired"
Sittin’ in my room looking at all I’ve done
Everything I wanted has come to fruition
I should be happy, but I can't get out my bed
Stressin’ ‘bout the voices screamin’ inside my head
“My powers won't start! I've lost control!” I panicked as I desperately tried to start my powers
“Yeah, I can't use mine either!” Magnolia commented.
"Where is she…” Angelita cried as her legs and feet started to hurt from all of the dancing. "God, my legs are KILLING me!” Angelita added.
Fleur looked back at us with an understanding expression.
Don't let them fuck you, honey, no, oh
Don't let them try (ooh)
Don't let them hurt you
Baby, just say, "Recess, I'm tired"
Leo watched as we danced with each other, he kicked his feet up on the desk and smiled in twisted satisfaction but his attention was torn away from his many monitors when a woman he's never seen before entered the room.
"Hello Ms?” Leo said with a confused tone of voice as he looked at the beautiful young woman. Instead of responding she strutted over to him at the side of his desk.
"Hey, I'm Laura Leigh. I'm here to apply for the… Assistant position.” She smirked at him as he weighed his options.
He stumbled over his words before he got it together "Yeah… The assistant position.”
Leo turned down the volume of his speaker so he can focus on the woman in front of him.
After a while of making out and hands in places they definitely SHOULDNT be in a principal's office, 'Laura’ spoke to Leo again.
"Y'know, I've always had this fantasy…” Leo glanced up at the woman above him, "And what's that?” The woman continued speaking after the interruption, “Of being intimate in a really confined space.” He smiled at Laura, "Really?” He picked her up bridal style, "Well you are in luck…” He set her down before he opened the door to the walk in closet which was conveniently placed right beside them.
Ï had a dream like this once…” He fidgeted with the collar of his shirt, "Me too.” The woman said before she… Shapeshifted into who she actually was, Cry Baby. She locked him in the closet before turning off the music in the room where her friends were locked up but luckily no longer dancing.
"Hey!” He banged on the door, "Hey! You bitch! Let me out!” Leo eventually gave up and sat on the ground, realizing what just happened.
“Everybody, evacuate the school immediately! Go! Now!” Cry Baby spoke into the loudspeaker which was still on before running into the ballroom and opening the doors so everybody could leave and finally escape from the sleepaway school.
"She's safe!” Angelita sighed in relief before grabbing my hand and running out of the room.
"C'mon Everybody! Let's go!” I yelled as everyone cheered and ran out of the huge honestly beautiful room… But not kelly. Kelly hesitated for a minute, just standing there in the middle of the ballroom decorated in the most beautiful fairy lights.
"Hey, Let's go! C'mon!” Fleur waved Kelly over to the group of young adults who were finally escaping literal hell.
Kelly raised her skirt just above her heels so she could run off with the group of students escaping.
The blue boy was in the front of the pack of students escaping down each staircase of the school, once they finally got out they ran across the distractingly green and lush lawn in front of the school, if they didn't know about the abuse that used to take place in there they would have been tricked into thinking that it was a great place to be!
When we were finally outside of the horrible institution I stopped Angelita, Fleur and Magnolia since I realized that Cry Baby wasn't following us. I looked around the yard shouting the name of the young lady whom I love so much, I couldn't lose her when the school was lit ablaze… If that happened of course.
I ran back into the school so I could find her. The girls tried to stop me but I ignored them and I just ran right back into the place.
I saw that Cry Baby opened the windows to the balcony when I passed the room that she was in so I ran into the room but I didn't go onto the balcony with her. I saw her looking around to see what she could do to escape and destroy this place all at the same time.
"What do I do… Oh my god… What do I do…” I heard her whisper, I stared at her, which kind of seems creepy… you have to know that I obviously didn't mean it in a creepy way! I was just thinking about what to do since I was unsure!
“Okay… Think… Think…" She slapped the stone railing in frustration when she didn’t come up with anything, but of course that hurt so she pulled back with a pout.
I ran onto the balcony with her so I could help her make her decision.
"Hey!” I yelled while I was still panting from the run it took to get to the top story of the massive school.
“Oh shit!” Cry Baby whispered when she flinched from the surprise of me being here.
"You NEED to go downstairs!” Cry Baby pointed towards the door.
“I'm sorry… I didn't mean to startle you.” finally caught my breath and I stopped panting.
“I'm here to help.”
"Look, I appreciate that but I-” I sighed and I cut her off, "Well… I'm the one who wrote the love letter.”
Cry Baby looked up at me in shock before she looked down at everyone running out of the school's doors.
“I knew a girl wrote that…” She whispered to herself with a smile.
“Okay, well… How do we destroy this place?” Cry Baby asked me as she turned around to face me. "Please… I don't know what to do. Do you have any ideas?”
“Uh… I can't think of anything right now… um…” I thought back to the time Angelita accidentally made a bubble and encased the entire tennis ball which made it float away.
"Oh! I've got it! Do you know how to blow spit bubbles?” I asked her, she looked at me with her brows furrowed, "What? Now isn't the time for that!”
"No! I mean… We could put the school in a spit bubble so it'll float away! Y'know… with our powers?” I glanced back at her hoping for a response.
“Okay… Well… Let's try it.” I heard Leo messing with things in the closet, looking for a key so I hurried with the bubble.
“Are you ready?” Cry Baby asked me, “I mean no I haven't really done this before so…” I replied, Cry Baby grabbed the railing since she was panicking a little bit, "Y/n! This is serious! We have to try this okay?” She started getting annoyed with me, “Okay, okay…”
We started blowing the spit bubble, making it not pop with my powers, I looked over at Cry Baby to make sure she was blowing a bubble with the same haste as I was.
This feels oddly intimate, I mean we're blowing a spit bubble to save the students of our school… alone…? I mean… If you get it you get it.
I saw our friends staring at the bubble we were blowing that was the size of half of the school at this point. I know we can do it… I am quickly getting extremely dizzy though. I hope i dont pass out before we are able to finish this mission.
Eventually the bubble picked up the entire school so we stopped blowing it and we made a plan to get out of the floating school now.
"Oh shit… We don't have too much time until we're too high up. We need to jump! Right now!” Cry Baby grabbed my hand but that didn't help my anxiety at all.
"But if we jump we'll die!”
"The fear of death is irrational right now Y/n! Either we die in a couple minutes, or we attempt to live right now, okay?” Cry Baby said before she took off the back part of her dress that drags on the ground and she grabbed my hand again.
"Now!” We both jumped up onto the railing, we hesitated for a minute before jumping off.
A lot of thoughts went through my head as I fell… Was I going to live? Would this be the end of my life? Right when I turned 18? I hope I don't die from this. If I do, at least the other students lived.
When my body hit the ground I closed my eyes tight… But I didn't feel any pain? I don't think anything broke either.
“Oh… Oh god… What the fuck just happened!” I turned towards Cry Baby as I laid back on the grass, facing the sky.
I saw the school bow up with a puff of pink smoke when the bubble popped, Cry Baby smiled widely at me after the large explosion happened, then she leaned over and kissed me on the cheek before running over to our friends, after a couple seconds I followed her.
“Il y a du sang partout…” Angelita spoke with a smile. "What does that mean?” Magnolia asked, “It means ‘There's blood everywhere.’ I don't really know french… It's just something I picked up as a kid. I had a French nanny." She smiled at Magnolia before greeting Cry Baby with a little wave.
We watched as Lilith's door came out of the ground with a loud rumble, the door opened to reveal the angel herself. Lilith stepped out and I looked over at Cry Baby as she yelled, “Oh my god it's Lilith!”
I listened to her cutely giggling before I followed her to the door, I watched Celeste, Fleur and Angelita run into the door but both me and Cry Baby stayed.
“Are you coming?” I asked with a gesture to the door, Cry Baby just looked around before grabbing my hand and leading me into the door… But when we stepped foot into what turned out to be a Portal everything went to black.
A/n do you guys want me to continue this but with them in the portals universe? Let me know!
Tag list: @melissaeilishortega @ashs-trashblog @adam-malkov @osnapitzmel1 @powwowsworld @amburntfreeman @fortythree-or-43 @jensortega813 @czalzver @paladinncleric @cursedashes also @mindyswhore because she wanted to see
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letdibtravel · 3 months
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YO!!!!! Put Dib in K-12 Sleepaway School from K-12 a film by Melanie Martinez.
K-12 Sleepaway school j think, Melanie martinez
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strawberriesandyerims · 2 months
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discord rp servers that are in the works/made
K-12 (Melanie Martinez)
Creepy pasta
Hazbin hotel/helluva boss
just dance
Harry potter
percy jackson
Winx
equestria girls
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auxiliarydetective · 2 years
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▶OC: Honey
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Full Name: Honey Penelope
Age at introduction: unspecified
Gender & sexuality: demigirl, sapphic
Nationality: US-American
Ethnicity: White (unspecified)
Fandom: K-12 (film)
Faceclaim: Isolda Dychauk
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Honey is the mute daughter of Miss Penelope, a teacher at K-12 Sleepaway School. She communicates mainly through her empath powers, like changing her cold necklace into honey to form words. Along with Crybaby and her friends, she tries to stop K-12's oppressive system.
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Character tag: (x)
Love interest(s): none
Ship tag: none
Fic link(s): none (yet)
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Taglist:
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expfcultragreen · 8 days
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In some ways hogwarts had the right idea by being a 10 month sleepaway combat training school but it shouldnt have houses and should be k-5 / 6-8 / 9-12 split with multiple, administratively integrated campuses
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Crybaby/K-12 Sleepaway School Original Character
Notes: I challenged myself to make a moodboard/aesthetic of an O.C. out of images available for free on Unsplash.
Picture/Subject Credit: Jasmin Chew via Unsplash.
Coloring Credit:  altar.psd by wildfireresources
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thereadingmoon · 3 years
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I don’t care who’s not ready to hear this, but the only way the School for Good and Evil remake can avoid that gritty, grungy, certified Teen™ House of Anubis/Riverdale/Fate vibe is if the production team takes notes from the movie K-12.
Think of that surrealistic pastel academia, pretty flounces, and aggressively heteronormative coding with undercurrents of the shaky balance of morality, shady school authority, and socially-acceptable malice. Am I talking about the School for Good or the K-12 Sleepaway School??
Yeah, they can keep that grittiness for the School for Evil, but if you think about it--
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thewonandonly · 4 years
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class fight | k.dh
k-12 | students!various x female!student!reader
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as a new student in a completely new school, y/n l/n meets odd characters at her new sleepaway school, k-12
—November 13, 2019, 8:30AM
It’s been a month since you were settled into K-12, the sleepaway school your family had sent you away to. Despite your reluctance at the beginning, you're enjoying it. The teachers may be a bit wack in the head, and you believe even a few of them were doing drugs – but other than that, everyone has been nice to you. You’ve made a few friends, Yuta (luckily) becoming one of them. So far, the one you’ve been close with the most has been Jennie. She was under similar circumstances as you, being forced to go to the school. With her around, school life just felt easier. That is until you had gotten into fourth period. That was the class with the wacked out teacher, and you could swear she was pitting you and the girl on the bus that was watching you like a hawk – you learned her name was Dahyun, and she was one of the most popular girls in school at the time. Her hair was always twisted up into a pouf before her long hair rested on her shoulders.
Sighing softly, you stepped into the room, looking between the last two empty seats at the humiliating small desks. A seat in the further back, with a group of people you hadn't met or a seat beside Yuta at the table with his soccer friends and teammates. The answer was indisputable. Walking up beside Yuta, you smiled at him, “Hey, ca-”
Before you could even say a word, Dahyun had taken the seat at the table almost immediately, her group of rat tailed friends at the table to beside his. “Hi, Yuta.” She smiled, resting her chin on her palm. He responded politely, before turning back to his conversation. Dahyun sent you a sharp look at you before you began to walk to the back of the class. Sighing softly, you sat in the back before the teacher started class.
Dahyun seemed cozy next to Yuta. And she was definitely comfortable in the seat. However, the same could not be said for Yuta.
When the lesson started, Yuta was quick to turn to the teacher to get away from Dahyun’s line of sight. It was obvious he didn't want her to be there. And lucky for him, the teacher had called on her to turn in the attendance sheet. Dahyun gracefully stood up, and sashayed her hips to bring in Yuta’s eyes, but he only turned his eyes to his friends. Groaning, Dahyun left the classroom with a harsh slam to the door.
Yuta turned to look at you, smiling his healing smile, slowly waving you over. And you complied, happy he even enjoyed your company. “Hey.” You smile softly when you sat in the seat beside him, “Sorry, I didn't know Dahyun sat here.”
Yuta chuckles, “She doesn't, but that doesn't matter to her.” As soon as the teacher settled with her substance, everyone was free to do their own thing. And by their own thing, that included throwing papers, pens, and erasers, across the room. Chuckling, Yuta bowed his head, smiling.
“Y/N, would you mind going to find where Dahyun is? She should've been back by now.”
Sighing softly, you get up, “I’ll be back.” You mumble to Yuta, walking out of the room after grabbing the hall pass. You looked around every corner, through every window and opened every door. She had to be somewhere. You looked into the office windows and couldn't see her. “Where is she…” You sighed, deciding to return to class.
Opening the door, you hung up the hall pass and turned back to your seat.
Only to find Dahyun sitting there, your items pushed to the ground and scattered. Yuta had his brows furrowed and he was jumped out of his seat. Dahyun turned to look at you after the door finally closed.
You walked over to your items in shame, sighing as you began to shove them into your bag.
“What's wrong with you?” Yuta growled to Dahyun, and she only gave a cheeky smile.
You continue to shove the items into your bag when you mumble, “Leave it, Yuta.” You stood up, throwing your bag over your shoulder, looking at Dahyun sharply, “You're lucky nothing got damaged.”
Dahyun giggled with her friends, letting out cruel whispers about you. Sitting in the seat in the back, crossing your arms, you watched the board while everyone settled to whispering about the event.
The relief of hearing the bell ring, dismissing to recess couldn't be more of a god send. You stood from the seat and walked out of the door to meet up with Jennie by the door, who was talking to another classmate of hers. “Hey.” You mumbled, tense as Dahyun bumped shoulders with you.
“Hi.”
“Hey, Y/N, you okay?” Jennie asked softly, “Dahyun again?”
“God, yes… She pushed my stuff to the ground and I think some stuff got wrecked.” You sighed, “Let's just go to recess.”
Recess was the time students used to finish homework they didn't finish the night before, or to finish the chapter they had to read. It was a 45 minute study hall period for some, and for others, it was a period for picking fights and lighting fires underneath other's asses.
As soon as you sat down with Jennie, and Seulgi - Jennie’s classmate, Dahyun walked up to the table and leaned her hands against it. “You’ve got a lot of nerve to act like you're so pretentious.”
You scoffed, jutting the inside of your cheek with your tongue, clenching your jaw. You tried to ignore her as best you could. Jennie and Seulgi both began to try to defend you, only for it to fall on deaf ears.
Dahyun flicked your ear, “I’m talking to you.”
You shot a look at her before turning away again. Indulging in fighting at this time could definitely end up in expulsion from the principal. But, Dahyun didn't seem to care as she pulled your hair.
Furious, you stood up from the table and pushed her hand away, “Leave me… alone.”
“Aw, is baby getting angry?” Dahyun chuckled, “You know, anger really isn't a good look on you. Maybe I should get another person's opinion.” She pretended to look around, “Yuta!”
You glare at her, pushing her, “Stop messing with me, and stop acting like you hold some upstanding status her.”
“Y/N, let's-”
You shrug Jennie’s hand off. “I won't deal with your stupid bullying anymore.”
“What are you gonna do? Hit me?” She pulled an artificial pout, chuckling.
You hit her. You didn't mean to, you really don't know what came over you. You shook your hand after the impact. “Fuck…” You sighed, rubbing the knuckles. A stray student who caught the action began to call then entire recess to come see.
Dahyun’s mouth was agape and her nose slowly began to bleed. She held her finger to her nose, wiping off the blood.
“Y/N, come on…” Seulgi tried to pull you away before anything else could advance.
Dahyun wiped her nose with the back of her hand, “You hit me.”
“There's more where that came from.” You growled, “Now, leave me alone!” You began to walk off, deciding to head to the tennis courts to get away, until Dahyun tugged you by the hair.
It advanced from there. You remember you throwing a punch, then Dahyun, then Jennie and Seulgi trying to pull you off. Yuta watched from the circle around you two, not sure how to stop it. Your lip was busted and your cheek was beginning to swell, but Dahyun got the luckier side of it all. She didn't seem to have a scratch on her, apart from the bloodied nose.
And before you could throw a nice, heavy swing at her, the teachers and security guards came running out, pulling you off each other. The circle was broken up by the teacher and Jennie and Seulgi held tight behind the security guard. The security guards locked both your wrists and Dahyun's behind each of your guys respective backs at you were dragged away from the playground.
You caught a glimpse of Yuta, the soccer ball under his arms and he sent a discarded look at you before turning away.
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girlmeetsliv3 · 5 years
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K-12: Kindergarten
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~ Inspired by Melanie Martinez’s K-12 ~
No one said school was easy nor that it was a fun place. However, Tentoria academy was not a place for the faint of heart, mind, or soul. It’ll be a miracle if you survive your first day - not to mention 12 years. Oh well. Battles to the death, demonic summoning, and interdimensional travel is all part of growing up…right?
Word Count: 1857
Release Date: October 14, 2019, 7 pm (GMT-4)
It was a rather peculiar dream even for you. Granted your five-year-old standards weren’t too high, but it was different from your usual dreams: those were plagued with death, cryptic messages, and content that might have another other child screaming for their parents. You had tried before, but Mommy was always passed out after taking several sips from her special sippy cup and Daddy was never home. This dream was too bright, cheerful with clouds that contained bright rainbows, and sweet music that traveled through your ears. It also smelled sickeningly sweet like the way you felt after eating too much cotton candy after going to the fair by yourself. It was a bit scary for you. That everything was so happy and joyous. You felt it wasn’t going to last. “You need to get going soon.” You turned around to see a beautiful woman decked out in a gold silk dress and braids falling down her back. “Who are you?” you asked, in awe of how pretty she was - almost like an angel. Instead of answering she simply smiled, crouching down to be at eye level with you. 
          “Wake up you’re going to be late.”
           You heard the alarm clock, the metal stick rapidly clashing into the bells in order to emit a dreadful sound. The second your eyes peeled open the clock flew from its position on your bedside table to halfway across the room. You immediately sat up, glancing around the room to see what could have caused such a thing. Was that me? Your eyes focused on the clock, now laying on the floor, and willed it to move. You concentrated so hard that your head began to hurt, it was all a little too much for your small brain to handle. Knowing it wouldn’t do you any good to remain in bed, you stood up walking towards the giant calendar on your wall. Under today were written the words: ‘first day of hell.’ Grabbing your red crayon on the table beside you, a heart was drawn around the words. Your suitcase had been packed the night before, Mommy has been in a good mood, and your uniform was neatly ironed for you to put on. The uniform consisted of a pink frilly dress with white stocking and closed shoes for girls, while it was a light blue collared shirt and blue shorts with dress shoes for boys. You didn’t like pink and the dress was a bit boring, so when your mommy had given you the money to go out and buy the uniform you had bought a purple one instead. One with pretty flowers embroidered into the sleeves. 
           Opting to prolong putting in on and sealing your fate, you went to the bathroom to brush your teeth. Recalling that one dream you had where you opened your mouth and all of your teeth fell out as a red thick liquid filled your throat. You had it after seeing grandma take off her teeth during dinner one night when she didn’t want to talk to Mommy anymore. You counted to up to one hundred and twenty before finishing and going back to your room. You got dressed, grabbing the backpack and suitcase before heading to the kitchen. Mommy was asleep on the couch, drool falling from her open mouth onto the pillow. So you made yourself some breakfast, cereal with milk, before walking to the bus stop. You wanted to say goodbye to her before you left, but she would only be upset that you had woken her up. The walk to the bus stop wasn’t long, only fifteen minutes of you walking at full speed. Thankfully the sun wasn’t out yet or it would’ve been a lot worse. 
           From the distance, you could see someone else standing at the bus stop. A bright green suitcase with heart and unicorn stickers practically everywhere. “Rosé!” The young brunette turned around with shock in her eyes before she recognized your figure running towards her at full speed. Rosé was your only friend in town, her parents were much nicer than yours, but she had once told you that her parents hadn’t really wanted a second child. So she was the scrap compared to her older sister. “Are you excited?” She asked her voice high and squeaky something that happened when she was nervous. “Not really.” Both of you stayed quiet after that, neither knowing what was the right thing to say. It was when the bright white bus filled with screaming kids inside approached that the two of you locked hands. “Do you think we’ll make friends?” you asked, your hand turning white from how tight your grip was. “Hopefully, but we have each other and that’s all that matters.” The two of you exchanged a kind smile, as the bus pulled in front of you and opened its doors. The two of you grabbed your stuff and hauled onto the bus where only two seats at the center remained open.
           It seems no one had paid much attention to either of you prefer to talk loudly amongst each other and make obnoxious noises. That was until you felt something hit the side of your head, and you saw a paper plane fall onto the ground. Picking it up, you opened it before handing it to Rosé. “What does it say?” She sounded it out before turning around and screaming at the boys in the back, “Real mature.” Everyone began to laugh, but from the way you felt all their eyes on you, it wasn’t because of a good thing. Then they all began to chant a specific word, one you had heard your mother say to you when she was upset at you. “Freak.” The words seemed to trap you until you felt the familiar feeling of tears strolling down your face. “Aw does the little crybaby need some tissues?” One of the girls further down asked in a mocking tone. All of her friends laughed before one of them whispered back. “She probably has some in her bra.” Rosé comforted you as best as she could, but with the incessantness of their bullying, it was difficult to. The bus driver was viewing everything from the rearview mirror but didn’t see a point in stopping it. Wasn’t in his job description nor payroll. 
           Eventually, they stopped, getting bored and seeking entertainment in other ways. A child’s attention span wasn’t very long anyway. The bus had left the city and was now entering a highway, after a while, you saw a sign that read: Tentoria Academy K-12 Sleepaway School. The only time you would get to see your parents from now on would be on the weekend, which wasn’t a big deal since you barely saw them whilst you were at home. The bus slowed to a stop as it picked up the final kid, a young boy with chubby cheeks and a bright smile. The second he stepped on with his blue backpack with small frills on the ends, you felt your heart flutter. “Oh my god, Y/n. You’re blushing.” Rosé poked fun at you. Your stomach hurt and your heart began to race, but it wasn’t because of what you ate. Nor was it due to the way the other kids treated you; it was all him. Tentatively you stood up and opened your mouth to greet him when you were interrupted. “Jimin!” A taller boy pushed past you and embraced Jimin, the two of them laughing. 
           “I thought you weren’t going to come.”
           “Duh, loser. How could I not?”
           The two boys engaged in a playful banter completely ignoring the world around them. Dejectedly, you fell back into your seat. A full-on put had formed on your lips and the space between your brows wrinkled. “Are you okay?” You nodded at Rosé, simply staring outside the window. You hadn’t even arrived at school and already you hated it, wishing something anything could happen to stop the bus. Your prayers were answered when the bus driver suddenly turned on the road, causing the bus to start spinning uncontrollably. Screams from both you and your peers were so high, they practically shattered the glass windows. Thankfully they didn’t, for when the bus spun so much it broke through the railing and went straight into the lake. Those windows were the only thing that prevented your imminent death. The bus driver was passed out a large gash on the side of his head. You glanced around frantically as Rosé tried to get the door to open for everyone to swim out. The school bus was drifting to the bottom of the lake, the pressure keeping the doors jammed. “We’re gonna die here!” One of the girls screamed out. “I don’t know how to swim.” echoed another. 
Rosé and you looked at each other before grasping each other’s hands. You both closed your eyes and softly began to pray. “I wish this bus would float. Float so high it went up to the sky.” You don’t know how or why the two of you were speaking those specific words, but they felt right. So you kept repeating them. Repeating them until it was practically second nature to you both, then you both opened your eyes. At first, all you saw was white, so much that you assumed you were in heaven. Once you saw the dewdrops forming on the glass you realized something else - “They’re clouds,” Rosé spoke awe clear in her voice. Everyone else had gathered trying to look outside. The bus was floating so high above that it was difficult to make out the things on the ground, slowly though it was going down. No one dared speak, it was as if it was a dream and everyone was afraid to shatter it. The school bus got closer and closer to the ground until the wheels hit the solid pavement and it caused such turbulence it made everyone fly from their seats. It even woke up the bus driver. Coincidentally, it seems you had been dropped off right in front of the school.
It was rather large in size. A pearly white with high arches and accents that instantly drew you in, but something felt off about the place. It was too picturesque and beautiful, something was bound to go wrong. Nice things always turned sour fast. Everyone hurried to get off the bus, while Rosé and you lingered behind; waiting until everyone had gone inside. As you climbed down the steps, you hesitated a bit before stepping on the ground. Feeling that once you did, you might never be able to go back. Rosé gave you a slight nudge which encouraged you to take that final step. “Everything will be fine.” You said, mostly to yourself. “Of course it’ll be. What’s the worst that could happen?” Rosé was trying to be strong, but you could hear the nerves in her voice. She’s right. What’s the worst that could happen? So the two walked together until you reached the giant school doors. You entered feeling prepared for whatever might come your way.
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royallyjoon · 4 years
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detention
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a percy jackson k-12 au
all credit of the song and film goes to melanie martinez and her producers✨🖤💛
Nico opened the doors to Mr. Geryon’s class, calmly walking in despite the multitude of accusing stares. No, he was not late, nor was he trying to draw attention to himself. They simply felt as though his very existence was disturbing to their presence.
He’d dyed his uniform sleeve bands and the “K-12” on his chest black, and spent most of his days in black jeans and boots. The silver skull ring and earrings he wore probably didn’t help either, but he finally felt comfortable in his attire.
His friends embraced his style, and the teachers didn’t care, so why not?
He took his seat in the front next to a blonde boy doodling something in his notebook. As he placed his bag by his feet, Nico felt the boy’s eyes on him.
Ah...will he be like everyone else? He thought to himself.
He saw how curious the boy was, glancing over at everyone whispering and pointing at Nico.
“I’m not a bad guy,” Nico smiled. “so don’t treat me bad. What’s your name?”
“I’m Will Solace,” the boy blushed as he introduced himself.
“Nice to meet you; my name is Nico di Angelo.” He replied.
The two shook hands.
“I’ve never seen you in this class before,” Nico stated.
“Oh, that’s because I transferred from Mrs. Dodd’s class,” Will replied. “I felt like she wasn’t really interested in teaching for the sake of teaching, but more so for the pay and the principal. I wish I could teach myself the material, but I found it really difficult, so I wanted to see if Mr. Geryon was any better.”
Nico nodded in understanding. “Unfortunately, Mr. Geryon cares even less about us than Mrs. Dodds...”
He hesitated on saying the next part, but he recalled what Percy said to him a few weeks prior.
If you don’t try, you’ll never know.
“I-” Will was turning his head to look at his notebook when Nico blurted. He whipped his head back around.
“I...if you want, I could try and help tutor you...my friends say my grades are pretty decent.” Nico murmured in embarrassment.
Will broke out into a grin. “Really? I would appreciate that so much, thank you-”
“Are you sure you want that freak to tutor you, handsome?” Some random girl called out from the back. Nico had forgotten that the minute he stepped into this room, he lost all sense of respect from his classmates.
“Yeah, he’ll probably take you to his dorm room and sacrifice you to his father,” another boy snickered.
Nico turned red and turned away from Will, lowering his head to his desk. The girl in the back bounced up to Will as if she had done nothing wrong as the teacher walked into the classroom.
“I could tutor you,” the same girl from before drawled, drawing a line on Will’s chest from his collarbones to his naval. “Trust me, I get better grades without even trying.”
“A false testament, Ms. Terry.” Mr. Geryon slammed his briefcase onto the teacher’s desk. “You had the lowest score on the last test out of everyone in your grade. So if you would please take your seat so that I can teach my lesson and be done with you all. The sooner, the better.”
Terry, or whoever she was, walked back to her seat rightfully mortified.
“I’d like to take you up on your offer,” Will whispered back. “How about tomorrow after school in the library? I can wait for you by the nonfiction section.”
Nico smiled. “Sure. We’ll start from the beginning.”
They turned around before Mr. Geryon singled them out for talking. The whole class, Will could barely focus on the lesson.
For one thing, he had an undeniably cute guy sitting next to him. For another, he had no idea what was going on in terms of material. He spent most of the time drawing tiny sketches of Nico, hiding his notebook from the other boy.
When the bell rung, Will packed all his pens away and threw his pencil case in his bag. But when he looked up, Nico had already disappeared.
——————————————————————————
Will walked through the hallway, telling a classmate about his crush.
“Jake, you don’t understand! He’s so cute!” Will gushed.
Jake laughed. “Don’t shoot those heart eyes at me, man. Who is he?”
“His name is Nico.” Will replied.
Jake paused. “Nico?” He asked incredulously. “Nico di Angelo?!”
“Yup.” Will said, popping the “p”. “Why do you say it like that?”
Jake grabbed Will’s arm and dragged him to a corner of the hall, looking from side to side to check that no one was listening. “Dude, he’s one of those freaks. He hangs out with Percy Jackson and Grover Underwood. They have weird, special abilities. I heard their eyes glow in the dark or some shit like that.”
Will’s eyes widened. “Where on earth did you hear that?”
“From Malcolm...he’s in Percy’s class and he saw him fight Drew Tanaka over Jason Grace. He literally lifted her in the air and then threw her back down.” 
“They call him the ghost king. Nico hangs with a dangerous crowd, man. I’d be extra careful if I were you.”
The bell rang and Jake ran from Will waving him goodbye. The blonde lifted his hand halfheartedly, mind still reeling from the information.
Special abilities? Like...
——————————————————————————
Will traipsed across the campus greens, mulling over what Jake told him. “He seemed more than normal to me,” he muttered to himself.
He walked past the principal’s grave and came across his favorite grove of trees. He often came to this part of campus because it was closer to the lake and the quietest space available around this time. WIll spent at least an hour or two here, doodling nature.
Today, however, as he happened upon his space he found none other than Nico di Angelo sitting cross-legged on one of the granite benches in the grove. He appeared as though he were meditating. His eyes were closed and he held his palms over his knees and sat with his back straight.
Will ducked behind a nearby tree before Nico could hear his footsteps. He set his backpack and sketchbook on the ground gently, peering at his classmate.
Nico opened his eyes. He stared out into the open air, nodding his head at something in the distance. 
“Maybe he’s listening to music?” Will thought but when he glanced at his ears there were no headphones present. 
Nico’s mouth moved as he gazed into the empty space seriously. He seemed as though he was actually talking to someone.
Will stared at him some more. He breathed in deeply and concentrated, allowing his blue eyes to glow brighter and brighter. 
“Woah,” he said softly in amazement.
Nico was shrouded in a cloud of darkness, but the gloom was not clinging to him in a way that was suffocating. No, it was the exact opposite. The cloud stood assuredly around him, accentuating his every move. At the top of Nico’s head lay a crown made of bones and jewels. The sparkling gems contrasted with the dull osseous matter wonderfully, standing out in the black mess that was Nico’s hair.
When Will looked into what was empty space before, he choked down a gasp.
Standing across from Nico were a number of spirits, all but one kneeling in his presence. The one standing is who Nico was currently having a conversation with.
Jake was right, Will thought in his momentary panic.
The ghost said something to Nico. He smiled at the air before tensing. His head whipped in Will’s direction just as the other pressed himself flat against the tree.
He stuffed his sketchbook into his bookbag, crawled through a space in the underbrush and ran off to the library.
Nico got off the granite bench, thanking the spirits before dismissing them. He approached the tree where he swore he saw someone just moments before. During further inspection, he couldn’t find anything and turned to go to class when a flash of white caught his eye.
It looked like a torn piece of paper, caught between the leaves of the underbrush. Nico gently untangled the branches and retrieved the paper.
The drawing held what looked like half of a flower, with the initials “W.S.” in script at the bottom of the page.
Nico smirked and folded the paper, tucking it into his pocket for tomorrow.
————————————————————————
The next day after classes, Will tentatively opened the door to the library.
Their sleepaway school’s library was quite large and homey. It contained red leather, plush seats resting by an unlit fireplace. The wooden tables and chairs adorned the bookcases, filled with old, religious books as well as more recent YA fiction.
Will spied Nico sitting at a table near the back of the library by a fireplace. It was adorned with fairy lights, a favored section for bookworms to cuddle up and get lost. There were bean bags on the floor, but Nico felt that it would be more appropriate to sit at a table for a study session.
“Hey,” Will whispered his greeting, cheeks immediately beginning to flush as he thought back to yesterday.
“Hey, how’s your day so far?” Nico replied. He had a black mechanical pencil behind his ear and the front of his hair tied back in a skull hair clip.
Will physically fought the urge to melt.
“It was okay, just filled with the normal mindless chatter from people around me.” He said as he sat. “How is yours?”
“Great, now that you’re here.” Nico grinned.
Will scoffed and pulled his books out his books. “Alright, Professor di Angelo. Don’t start flirting with your student now.”
Nico chuckled lowly. How does he get his voice that deep, Will panicked as he got out a pencil.
The two quietly chatted in their corner. Will thought the library would have been busier, but it seemed as though every time someone headed towards them, they would drift away with a misty look in their eyes.
He found that Nico was a pretty great teacher, and with the sharing of notes the two quickly caught up to that week’s material.
“I understand! Wow, I had no idea Professor Geryon’s material could actually make sense.” He gushed. “Thanks so much for tutoring me.”
Nico smiled, thankful his efforts proved successful. “Ah, it was nothing. We could stay study buddies, if you’d like...?”
“Like? I’d love.” Will replied.
Nico took in a deep breath. “I hope you won’t change your answer...”
Will’s brows furrowed in confusion before he saw Nico pull out a tiny slip of paper and handed it to him. His expression balked at the sight of his own signature.
“A hyacinthus, correct?” Nico said.
Will nodded wordlessly.
They sat in awkward silence as Nico heavily examined the table. “So...you saw me?” He asked.
“And you saw me...” Will confirmed.
Some more quiet.
“It’s a beautiful drawing-“
“I didn’t mean to disturb-“
The two blurted out sentences at the same time.
“No, sorry, you can go first.” Nico said.
“I usually draw in that grove because I find it inspirational and quiet...I didn’t mean to spy on you.”
Nico stared down at the table unmoving. “Did you see everything?” He whispered.
Will nodded.
Nico junped up from the table, stuffing books into his bag.
“Wait, where are you going-“
“I have to go.” Nico blurted. “I have a friend thing to go to-“
“Mr. Solace and Mr. di Angelo.” A low hissing voice appeared before the two.
The apparent shield that had been around them dissolved, and other students looked on as Mrs. Dodds approached the two, whispering and pointing.
“Oh my God, look at them.”
“Who would willingly hang out with that freak?”
Mrs. Dodds nodded at Nico, something like respect in her eyes. “I understand that the two of you are catching up on school material but there is no need to make such a ruckus. Two days’ detention, Mr. Solace.”
Will spluttered in indignation. “Mrs. Dodds-“
“It’s not his fault, Mrs. Dodds. I was the one trying to leave in such a hurry.” Nico muttered, staring at the floor. He tightened his grip on his bag strap.
“Then you can join him, Mr. di Angelo.”
Nico looked up, engaging in a glaring contest with the homeroom teacher. She eventually won out. Nico rolled his eyes and left the library.
Will sat alone at the library table, more confused than ever.
—————————————————————————
“So you jumped up and left?” Percy asked Nico, munching on a blue brownie.
When he’d heard his friend needed emotional support, the boy rushed over with brownies and ice cream. Nico sat on his half of the room, decorated with black, purple, and gold.
His roommate hadn’t returned from sports practice but promised to attend the comfort session as soon as possible.
“I didn’t know what to do,” he said miserably. “He probably saw me talking to air, looking like an idiot. I couldn’t handle the rejection...so I left. Like an even bigger idiot.”
Percy mused quietly, wiping his hands on a napkin. The door to the room opened and Jason Grace stepped in, sweaty from practice.
He smiled at Percy and dropped his equipment on the floor next to his bed before draping himself over Nico. “Ah, the woes of teenage love.”
Nico groaned. “You reek, go take a shower.”
Jason grinned and winked. “You love it and you know it.”
Percy scoffed. “We really don’t. Hit the showers, Grace.”
The three made an unlikely group of friends but each knew that if they were having trouble with anything they could go to the other two for help.
Once Jason was showered, they laid on the floor with a Disney movie playing in the background.
“Now Mrs. Dodds gave us detention for tomorrow and Saturday.” The smaller raven grumbled.
“It’s not like you guys are going to be the only ones there.” Jason said, scarfing down all of Percy’s brownies. “Mrs. Dodds loves handing out detention slips like an old man handing out Hershey bars.”
“She won’t give anyone a chance to talk to each other, either. Keep your head down until you’re ready to talk to him, and just nap or do homework or something.” Percy added.
Nico nodded, more prepared to face the next two days with his friends’ advice.
—————————————————————————
It turned out that both Percy and Jason were wrong.
Mrs. Dodds had managed to not give detention to anyone else. Not only that, She placed Nico and Will directly next to each other, took their phones, and the proceeded to leave the room to “make a call” (read: eat her after school snack).
Nico shifted uncomfortably. He avoided Will’s gaze at all costs and focused on trying to finish the homework Mr. Geryon had assigned.
That is, until a piece of paper slid onto his desk.
When he glanced at Will, the blonde had his head buried in his sketchbook.
He unfolded the slip of paper.
It was a letter with a sketch of a chibi Will with closed teary eyes and prayer hands and an amazingly descriptive drawing of two blue eyes at the bottom.
They were bright. Almost impossibly bright, in a way Nico didn’t think could be reflected on paper.
The letter read:
Dear Nico,
I’m sorry if I upset you by watching you. I found you meditating and at peace, and honestly I was going to draw you. But then I saw you smile and start talking to the air. But it wasn’t the air, was it?
It’s okay. I don’t know who was there, but I can tell that it was probably someone important. It was pretty cool to see your crown in midair, to be honest.
I don’t find you weird or repulsive or any of the other insults that other kids keep throwing your way. They don’t know you, and they have no right to judge you just because of your abilities. From what I can tell, you’re a great person to be around.
So, if you would still like to accept the offer, I would love to still be your student, and maybe more in terms of friends, and someday maybe more than that?
Sincerely,
Will
P.S. You’re an awesome Ghost King.
——————————————————————————
Will sat with his heart pounding. Every second Nico spent reading the letter threw him deeper into the dark, twisting hole that was his anxiety.
Soon he heard snorting, then giggling.
It was the cutest sound Will had ever heard.
“So you...were like me...this whole time?” Nico said between laughs.
Will nodded. “I was curious...I normally don’t pull the eyes out in public but I felt that there was something special about you.”
Nico smiled. “I’ll take you up on your offer, Solace. You can keep being my student, and I’d be happy to be friends...and more.”
Will pumped his fists in the air in victory. “Yes!”
He faltered as Nico took his left hand. The raven pushed a ring onto Will’s finger, sterling silver and decorated with tiny purple and blue gems.
It was still warm from Nico’s hand.
He pulled Will’s hand towards his lips, softly kissing the back. “To us,” he said.
Will blushed furiously. “To us.” He returned.
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millionaire-waltz · 9 months
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be the manic pixie dream girl that you fucking oughta be.
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deep-fried-egg · 6 months
Text
Here’s a little snippet of my new ficcc
Warnings: transphobia, sexism, period talk, cursing, 13 year olds talking about genitals 😭, this is basically just k-12 except it’s a r insert
4k+ words
@jeonkio05 won 😣
I woke up in my all pink room to the sound of my alarm blaring in my ears, as I sat up I thought 'Wait, what was my dream again?' I get out of bed as my thoughts continue. 'I remember feeling trapped in rising heat and there were plastic or… cardboard cut-outs all around me? And my gums roots were pushing out my teeth and the voice of a thousand angels said to me, "It's temporary."
'Maybe that should be my new mantra as I step into what will inevitably be the worst years of my life.' I walk over to my calendar and I draw a red heart around the wretched day that it is. The first day of hell.
'Ah yes, off to a world in which girls are only to wear pink dresses and boys blue pants. Well, I dyed my uniform and embroidered flowers on the sleeves.' I open my walk-in closet door. 'Speaking of, I should probably change into my uniform right now… Nah, that shits itchy. It can wait.'
I step into my bathroom and I look into my mirror as I brush my half black half pastel rainbow streaked hair with my jade green hair brush with a golden heart on the back. 'Oh yeah, and in my dream, you know when the air below me was sucking my teeth out of their sockets, I noticed that my front two teeth stayed and the gap between them just kept getting larger and larger… How's that even possible? I know, right?' I squirt toothpaste on my baby blue toothbrush and I brush my teeth, after a few seconds I spit it out and I place the brush back on the counter as I step out of my bathroom and I head through my room into the kitchen.
'I wish my mom wasn't passed out right now and could at least drive me to the bus stop…' I grab my "alpha bites crunch" cereal and a bowl. I shook the box to get cereal out but instead I was surprised by my spider, Phillipe. "Phillipe? What are you doing in there? Don't scare me like that" I exclaimed as I watched Phillipe crawl on the dining room table.
'What was that angel's name again? Was it Willy or Layla? No, I think it was Lilith.'
Kindergarten. Wheels on the bus
The pink school bus with a blue interior picked me up at the stop and I chose to sit next to my best friend Angelita but it quickly got way too loud in the bus. I watched the bus driver drink from a flask as he continued driving to the sleepaway school.
"I feel so sick…" I spoke to Angelita. "I can't believe we have to do this." she responded. "Do you think we'll make any friends?" I asked as I looked at her in her brown eyes, "I hope so, but at least we have each other."
"That's true." I said with a sigh.
I heard the girls behind me laugh at each other before a pink paper airplane got thrown directly at my head. I turned toward the dyed blue boy who threw it before Angelita picked up the paper airplane and she read the text within before she turned around and yelled at them, "Real mature!"
"What does it say?" I asked, before she could tell me I leaned over and I read the neat handwriting on the paper. It read: "Gap toothed bitch."
I frowned after I read it, but my sadness only got worse when the kids behind me started mocking me…
"Awww does the bunny rabbit need some tissues?" Kelly, my blond bully with shoulder length hair and blue eyes teased.
"Its okay, don't listen to them. They're just plastic bullies." Angelita tried to comfort me but the kids behind me were too loud. Their bullying was getting to me. They were all standing up and saying "Wah wah, Cry baby." which was definitely making fun of my name, Cry Baby.
I silenced all of the hate in my mind so it wouldn't get to me anymore than it already did.
'This… Is K-12.'
-
All the chatter simmers down as the bus gets to our stop. Me and Angelita watch everybody file out of the bus and into the clean white school. We wait until everyone is out before we get up and leave the bus.
As we walk into the dark blue doors of the school a big bell on the very top of the school rings, showing that it's almost class time so me and Angelita push open the doors that were 2 times the size of our 5 year old bodies.
First grade Class fight
As we walk through the halls, littered with statues and paintings of ghosts and mystical creatures of the unknown I strike up a conversation with my friend.
"I don't know why people are so scared of death." I said nonchalantly. "I agree!" She replied, "It's just another part of life."
"You start in the womb, and you end in the tomb."
Angelita laughed as I said that, but then she asked me a question that made me think. "Wait a second… Where is everybody?" I hum in response, I didn't know either.
I changed the topic of the conversation, "I don't know if it's just because it's cold in here… but I'm getting kind of a… creepy chill down my back." I said. "I love it!" me and Angelita said in unison.
The second we turned around some ghost in a white victorian style dress and her hair tied up walked straight through the right wall to the left wall behind us. We turned around just in time to catch a glimpse of the ghost, we sped up the stairs after that.
"What even was that!?" Angelita yelled, "Scary." I replied before sighing. "What's the room number again?" Angelita spoke quietly this time, "222…" I nodded.
We looked in front of us before reading the room numbers in unison.
"221…223…" Then we looked at the door in front of us, "222…" We stare at each other then we enter the room. Officially becoming students at the worst rated school in the country.
-
The teacher immediately scolded us when we entered the room. "Class! Would you like to inform Cry Baby and Angelita of what rule they did not follow today?
"When the bell rings you must be in your assigned seat." the entire class said in a bored tone.
"Are you deaf?" The teacher asked, "Sit down!"
"Sorry Ms. Daphne." Both me and Angelita said at the same time before we rushed to our seats and we sat down.
As soon as we sat down the announcements started going off so the entire class stood up, except for one boy. Henry.
"All rise" Ms. Daphne said as she walked around the room with her ruler pointed towards the class.
The teacher glared at him before speaking, "On your feet." Ms. Daphne insisted.
The pledge started, "I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States Of America…"
"I'm being generous with you boy." Ms. Daphne warned, "Last chance to stand and show some respect." She finished while glaring at Henry.
"with liberty and justice for all." The pledge ended.
Henry shook his head before stating, "You hear that? Liberty and justice for all? That's a lie." Henry said before scoffing.
Ms. Daphne stomped over to her desk and she pressed a button which called the detention crew over to escort Henry out of the room.
The door slammed open and identical men with shaved brown hair and full beards wearing gray full body uniforms stormed into the room. "Grab the boy!" One of them yelled before they picked up Henry from under his arms, near his armpits and they started dragging the young boy out of the room.
"Get off of me!" Henry yelled while kicking, trying to escape the strong mens grip, "I didn't do anything!" His voice slowly faded away as they dragged him out of the room and slammed the door shut.
I was scared by this so I stayed quiet the rest of class until Brandon, my crush, turned around and tapped my shoulder asking for my eraser. Of course I handed it to him as soon as he asked.
Kelly saw all of it. She saw her boyfriend since kindergarten tapping my shoulder and asking me a question. Of course she got jealous so she wrote me a little note on a piece of pink paper.
She threw me the note in a crumpled up ball, it landed in front of me on my desk. She giggled to her friend as I opened it. The note read: "You at recess” And a drawing stick man dead in front of a grave right under that.
I crumpled up the paper again and I threw it back down on my desk before I continued drawing on my piece of paper.
-
Soon enough it was nap time and the desks were moved to make room for little, uncomfortable mattresses and sleeping bags on the floor.
I tucked myself in but not before nodding at angelita, mutually agreeing to use our powers to make a little fort. I crawl around until I find my friend.
The fort looks a little more like a cave as the tunnels are thin, but it's cozy.
Finally, we found each other. "There you are!" Angelita whispered with an excited tone in her voice.
"How do they expect us to sleep in there?" I complained, sitting down on the mattress in our little fort.
"I don't know…" She said before yawning, "I am kinda sleepy though."
"Well, wake up." I began, "I got that thrown at my head." I said as I tossed Angelita the crumpled up note.
As she uncrumpled the paper her expression slowly turned to one of shock. "Who drew this?" She asked, "That girl kelly…" I sighed, "I think she's trying to rip my head off or something."
"Well what are you going to do?" My friend inquired, "You've gotta defend yourself."
"I can't defend myself! I don't know how to fight, I just, I don't even know how to do th-" Angelita cut me off by slapping me across the face. Hard.
I put my hand over the place she slapped, "Ow!"
"Hold it together girl." She replied, I scoffed at her before she continued, "We are capable of doing whatever we want." She stated before using her powers to start a flame in the palm of her hand, she held it in front of me.
I shook my head in disagreement, I produced water in my hand to put out the mini fire she started.
"I can't, that's cheating!" I commented which made her sigh and bring her hand back to where it originally was.
"Do you really think we would have these abilities if we weren't supposed to use them?"
"I don't know. I just feel like I'd have an unfair advantage."
"Well, I don't know. Why don't you call your mom and ask her what she thinks you should do?”
"My mom?" I asked, to which she hummed in agreement. "No, it's okay… She's… Probably sleeping right now and honestly I don't think she'd even pick up the phone."
Angelita used her powers to produce a white dial-up phone out of nothing, she placed it on the mattress in front of me, she picked up the phone and she handed it to me.
I sighed then took it then dialed the phone and I called my mom.
"She's not going to pick up."
"Let's see"
-
It's now recess time, I would be lying if I said I wasn't absolutely terrified for my safety so I decided to sit on the grass with my friend and wait it out.
"Did you see what she was wearing?" I heard Kelly say, obviously I was going to snoop on this conversation… I mean it's juicy and I'm only human.
"Like, it was embarrassing for everyone, and like, I told her! I was trying to be helpful, I gave her advice, I was like 'That's ugly!'" I got distracted from the conversation Kelly was having when Brandon, Kelly's boyfriend, sat next to me.
I turned my head and I looked him in the eyes with a big smile before tuning back into Kelly's conversation.
"And she just… She took it like personally, she was getting all mad about it. I was like I'm helping you.-" I watched as one of Kelly's "Friends” tapped on her shoulder. "Hey, Kelly?” The girl asked, "Stop!” Kelly slapped the girl's hand away. "Don't interrupt me.”
I see one of the girls that was with Kelly pointing at my little group so I act like I was just talking to Angelita and Brandon and not listening to their conversation, but it looks like they were just pointing out the fact that Brandon is with me.
"Are you even listening to me?" Kelly asked her friends before looking where they were pointing, making her look directly into my eyes as I talked to her boyfriend.
Kelly stormed towards us, pushing people out of the way so she could get to us faster. People gathered around us as she punched me directly in the face so i'd be on the ground. When my back hit the ground she sat on top of my legs, keeping me down, and she punched me in the face multiple times.
The kids all around us were chanting 'FIGHT!’ as she was doing this, obviously it got to her because she pulled a dagger out of her dress pocket and she held down my arm and cut it open on the inside of my arm right above my elbow.
I couldn't take the pain anymore so I activated my powers as Angelita told me to do, the leaves started floating because I made both me and Kelly float.
Kelly screamed “What are you doing?” as I did this. She was terrified, it was working. She looked around and she yelled again, “Put me down you freak!”
I used my powers to extend my braids and choke her with them, she grabbed my braids as they were all she could hold onto.
I saw Angelita looking up at the scene while smiling because I'm finally defending myself, but everyone else was gasping and covering their mouths in shock.
When Kelly gasped for air I finally let her go. It was perfect timing too because the vice principal came out and almost saw what happened.
-
It turns out I wasn't sneaky. The vice principal was dragging us by our ears to her office.
"Who would've thought that young ladies like would-” She started to scold us but Kelly interrupted her, "My mom spent good money getting these ears done!” When she said that the vice principal let go of our ears. "You have really blown it this time! Sit down!” After we heard that, me and Kelly sat down. “I mean it.” The woman whispered.
‘I shouldn't have lost control like that.’ I thought, ‘She's not a bad person, she's just… Projecting her insecurities on me.’ I thought, I rested my chin on my hand as I sat.
Soon I got bored and I used my powers to see what's happening in the principal's office…
I saw a woman with short blue hair sitting, waiting for the principal to talk to her. Actually, I believe it was Ms. Harper.
The principal sat in front of her, taking a puff from a cigar before speaking.
"You said you're… Dressing as a woman now?” The principal asked.
"Yes, I'm transitioning.” Ms. Harper replied, "Transitioning…” The principal laughed before continuing, "You know I can't let you influence the children with this ridiculous behavior.” Ms. Harper gasped as the principal spoke.
“And from now on you want us to address you as…?”
"Ms. Harper, correct.” The vice principal laughed at her, “The kids really connect with me, I love my job and I'd really love to stay! But I need to be my most authentic self! I AM a woman!” Ms. Harper said, the principal frowned at this and he exclaimed, "Mr. Harper you're fired!”
-
I came back into reality and I saw Kelly staring at some kid that was eating glue by the handful, his hair was spiked up into two horn-like spikes and he was hunched over next to Kelly.
I look away from the disgusting display and instead I watch the kid next to me open a clear bottle of pink pills.
"What are those?” I asked him, and he immediately replied. "He forces us to take these pills. Each color is a different dosage. I'm on pink, which is the lightest dose.” He swallows the pill without water.
"Why is he forcing medication on everyone?” I asked, "...To control us." The boy said with a small smile. "So we can’t leave.” He finished.
The kid next to Kelly continued to absolutely destroy the glue, he was sucking on his fingers, making loud mouth noises. "That's disgusting!” Kelly exclaimed, the kid frowned and put the glue container down.
Fourth grade Nurses office
After the show and tell in my last class I had to go to the nurses office, but the nurses were not exactly healing my wounds. Instead they were cutting my hair and drugging me up… I knew this school would be bad but I never thought it would be this bad.
But luckily my guardian angel Lilith saved me and angelita from the torture that we faced in the nurses office.
"Wait! Why are you leaving us here?” Angelita asked the angel, I added onto her statement, "We need to come with you…”
Lilith smiled at us and she spoke, "Continue on, And live your truth.” She paused, "Do not hold fear in your heart.” Lilith finished.
"Please, we don't want to die here…” I mumbled.
"You've had many bodies before this, and you will continue to have more.” Lilith stated, "You're immortal.”
"But we're exhausted…” Angelita whispered.
"We don't want to feel this anymore” I agreed
"We must feel the physical pain of this world, because the only way we can truly learn is through experience.” Lilith said, I pouted, "Please…” I said in a shaky voice.
Lilith turned away from us and she walked back into the door she came out of, that door sunk into the ground.
-
I sighed as I walked through the hallways with my best friend, I looked at all of the statues and paintings on the walls.
“Oh no…" Angelita said, “I'm going to be late for class." She sighed. "Who cares at this point.” I laughed.
"True” She agreed
“I'm so exhausted…” I complained to her, she nodded and said, "Same.”
Suddenly beautiful music played by an orchestra came into hearing rage. "Do you hear that?” Angelita asked, “I do!” I excitedly said as I walked with Angelita towards the sound.
Angelita pointed towards a huge, fancy looking door. “It's coming from over there!” Angelita said excitedly. We walked towards the oud music and we pressed our ears against the large white door with a golden door handle.
"Should we check it out?” I asked, “Yeah!” Angelita responded, “Okay…” I said as I put my hand on the door handle, preparing to open it. Angelita put her hand on the door handle too and she spoke, “Okay count on three… One, Two…Three!” We opened the door to see a big luxurious ballroom with what looked like almost a hundred ghosts of all shapes and sizes slow dancing with each other.
We looked around the ballroom for a few seconds until… I sneezed. I ruined the entire moment with just one sneeze. The music stopped and the ghosts let go of each other and turned to look at us.
Angelita waved at the ghosts, "Hello! You all look… Ravishing!” She said, “Bewitching even." I added, it only made the ghosts madder as they yelled and ran at us with their arms reaching towards us.
Both me and Angelita ran behind the doors and we hurriedly pushed them shut with all that was in us. As soon as we closed it we heard clawing and knocking against the door so we decided to leave.
“We should get to class!" I said
“Y-yeah…” She stuttered, still in shock because of the events that just occurred
“See you!
"Yeah, see you later!”
fifth grade. Drama club
"Tragedy, and comedy. Two sides of the same dramatic coin!” My drama teacher said as I walked into the theater. "And we are going to be exploring both in this play." He put his hand on his hip and he watched me try to go to my seat.
“Even the late comers." He said sternly as I sat down. Everyone turned towards me for absolutely no reason. I guess they're just nosy. They turned back around when the teacher started speaking again.
“Alright everyone, please turn to your scripts, turn to page 2 and find the role to which you've been assigned.” His accent really shone through as he spoke this sentence, this guy is extremely animated.
When I saw my role I raised my hand, "Right, so about that… Um… Is it possible to get assigned a different role? Maybe one that's not so domestic? Like a film director, or the president of the United states?” I asked, he shot down my question with this answer, “A harlot perhaps?” Everyone laughed at his joke but I didn't. I just sat in my chair with a frown.
The boy in front of me turned around and just added salt to the wound. "President? What a joke. Your kind are too soft and too sensitive to handle a man's job.”
"Having a larger capacity to feel and express emotion are one of the many qualities that make us SUPERIOR to your kind.” I replied with a smile.
-
When the time came to perform the show I ended up putting a clothes iron to the boy that said that thing to me a couple weeks ago's face. I then yelled at the audience that was obviously being brainwashed with those pills that the boy was telling me about so I made an attempt to snap them out of it.
"You're being brainwashed! Can't you see what's happening? Open your eyes!” The guards that my teacher had watching the show grabbed my arms and tried to pull me off the stage.
"Get off of me! Get off!" I yelled as they pulled my arms.
"WAKE UP!” I yelled at the audience before using my power to push the security guards off of me which also caused the kids to snap out of it.
They all ran out of the theater, including Angelita, so I came with them. I opened the door to the principal's office and everyone ran into the room and to his desk. They fought off the nurses and the rabbit-men (Men with rabbit heads, obviously.) and they all went around the principals desk, grabbing him and ripping his limbs off.
I smirked as I watched them tear his body apart with just their hands. Afterwards the janitor swept his torn off body parts away and into the garbage disposal.
Sixth grade Strawberry shortcake
I met a girl earlier named Y/n and I was about to play tennis with her but we had to bury the principal first. Luckily me and my best friend in the whole world were almost done so I can hang out with admittedly the cutest girl I've seen in a while.
We saw her writing in her green journal while walking along the path that extends from the school to the playground.
y/n pov:
"Y/n! Wait up!” Cry baby yelled as she ran up to me, Cry baby's hair was tied up into buns, I think it makes her look cute. I honestly don't know how she didn't realize that I like her yet since I've always been incredibly clingy towards her ever since we met.
"Did you find a place to dump the principal?” I asked, Angelita nodded and Cry baby responded to my question, "Yeah, just did it. Done deal.”
-
We sat on the pink and blue tennis court in the middle of the courtyard with our rackets up, me and Cry Baby hit the ball back and forth while Angelita read a magazine called "TEEN QUEEN" on the sidelines.
Suddenly Angelita said something slightly odd, "Did you guys know that there are actually 2 holes down there?" I was confused so I asked, "You didn't know you had a butthole?” which made Cry Baby giggle.
"No! There's two separate holes.” Angelita said, "Are you sure?” Cry Baby asked and Angelita just said "Mhm!”
"Then I think I need to go to a doctor!” Cry Baby said, but I wasn't paying attention. I was focused on the fact that when Angelita blew a bubble it encased the ball in a bubble and it's now floating away.
"Hey! Hey guys!” I exclaimed but neither of them were paying attention to my words. They were still talking about the earlier topic. "Hey guys!” I repeated but nope. Still nothing.
“Oh! I get it now! So one hole you can pee out of and another-” Cry Baby began but i just tuned their conversation out. "Why does nobody listen to me?” I whispered to myself, "Guys the ball is floating away!” They finally heard me and they turned around to see that the ball literally was floating away.
“Oh!” Angelita exclaimed before quickly getting up and chasing the ball with Cry Baby. I ran after it with them too, "The ball!” I laughed.
“I feel like we're going the wrong way.” Cry Baby said as she tried to find the pink tennis ball with us. Luckily it popped, but it didn't fall towards us. Instead, it fell in front of a boy that was reading a book.
He picked up the ball and he handed it to us when we ran over. He seemed nice.
Cry Baby pov: (Again) Also, seventh grade, Lunchbox friends
I opened my eyes to see a sky full of beautiful shining stars and the voice of Lilith all around me. I spoke to her, Lilith said, "What's wrong my dear?” As I laid on the dirt ground, holding back tears.
I sighed, “I just don't want to do this anymore…” I whined, “I don't wanna feel this pain and I dont wanna be here on Earth…” I frowned as I watched the stars flicker in the sky. "Please just take me with you…” I paused, “I just wanna be up there!” I listened to my voice echo as I spoke.
"The greatest power we will hold is that of acceptance. Any storm you face will transform itself into a crystalline rainbow in divine timing.” Lilith spoke, afterwards i closed my eyes and I stopped my daydream.
-
"Hey, you there?” Y/n asked as she grabbed my arm, I just said "Yeah.” As I continued walking up the spiral stairs with her and Angelita.
Angelita clutched her stomach as she walked up the stairs with us which only made us confused. “Are you okay?” I asked my best friend as she headed up the stairs.
“Ugh… I feel so sick… Like this is the worst stomach pain I've ever experienced.” Angelita said then she knelt down on the last step.
Both me and y/n saw the blood on the bottom of her skirt and it became clear what was happening. She finally got her period. Me and () looked each other in the eyes and we said, “Ohhh…” In unison.
-
We opened the door to the bathroom and Angelita started to complain. “Ugh! Why right now!?”
“I mean it had to happen at some point."" Y/n pointed out. We walked up to the tampon machine and I spoke.
“It says there's one tampon left… Do either of you have any change?” I asked, turning towards them.
"No…” They both said in unison, so I channeled my powers and I opened the machine with my telekenisis.
"Yes!” Angelita whispered as it flung open. “It's empty.” I said in a disappointed tone of voice as I looked at Angelita. I slammed the door closed then spoke again, “Whatever… Who knows what kind of crazy shit is in them anyways!”
“I mean yeah… Toxic shock is real but… Tampons should be free.” Y/n frowned.
"What do I do now?” Angelita said with a sigh, I looked around for something but then I just said, "Toilet paper.”
Angelita made a disgusted face before just heading into the stall and going with it.
After about 3 minutes y/n got bored and decided to speak, "You good in there?” She asked Angelita to which she responded, "Yeah.”
"You sure?" She asked Angelita.
"Yeah, I'm almost done." Angelita responded
"Do you need me to get you another roll of toilet paper?
"That'd be great!”
I leaned against the wall next to the stalls as we waited for Angelita to finish up, then I said "We're gonna be late to class Y/n.”
“Ugh… Empathize with me a little!" Angelita yelled at us from inside the stall, “I'm sorry” I said as I tilted my head back, making my head hit the wall.
Angeita came out of the stall with a sweater around her waist, "Cute sweater!” Y/n said to Angelita when she saw her, "Where'd you get that from?” She asked.
“I just whipped a little something up.” I couldn't help but laugh at that. "What! I wasn't gonna walk around looking like I sat in raspberries all day.” Angelita said before the bathroom door opened and one of the nurses came in. Angelita started washing her hands as the nurse spoke to us.
The nurse bumped me with her shoulder and she scolded us, "Get back to class!” She paused before saying something under her breath “You little bitch.” She slammed the stalls door closed and we left.
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scorpiusgurl · 5 years
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My Thoughts onK-12
I watched the movie with a friend as it first premiered. I was skeptical, of course, but I enjoyed on a personal level. It was a fun movie, with important messages as metaphors that are amazingly put out
(SD: I am not a critic, just my opinions)
1) I personally love that the songs served more purpose in the narratives and that it speaks for more than just school (another thing I wanna get on), it talks about what’s happening right now
2) I feel like K-2 Sleepaway School represents society as well. It kinda reminds me of what JD said in Heathers, “That schools was society itself”
3) I like the subtlety of the characters growing by having different hairstyles in different scenes
3) BEN
My son. MY BEAN
When I first saw him I that he was way cuter than Brandon, if that was his name. I really thought he was sweet and I knew he was gonna be important to the story. Y’all need to talk about Ben more.
4) I also liked that Crybaby never really slut-shamed Kelly
5) I also, noticed in Melanie’s song, she happens to use this deep voice effect in them. I wonder if there’s a particular meaning to them.
6) Lilith, or which I like to call Hot Elf Jesus. I have heard about her before, but I did not she would actually make an appearance for the movie. I wonder what the sequel will be like
7) I personally like the movie, it may was bit cringey and fast paced, but it’s her first movie and I like the passion and effort she put all into it. I believe they shouldn’t be so much criticism on it for her first time, cuz there’s a lot of work that was put into and it’s better on having that, than half ass her shit
8) Her outfits were just amazing. That’s all.
I might post another post about the characters then what I think of the songs
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nanoartd · 5 years
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Análisis Objeto Digital: K-12 film
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K-12 es una película surrealista, humor negro y musical inspirada en el lowbrow o Surrealismo Pop​, fue escrita, dirigida y protagonizada por la cantante y compositora Melanie Martinez, fue publicada el 6 de septiembre del 2019 en su cuenta de Youtube. Se realizó a través de rodajes y edición de vídeo, mismos en el que Martinez fue participe en la mayoría del tiempo. Cuenta con un álbum completo, del mismo modo perteneciente a la artista, mismo que se grabó con anterioridad al film, aparece en el transcurso de toda la película, cada canción representando a cada uno de los temas que se van mostrando.
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Aquí es donde nos cuentan la historia de dos amigas, Cry Baby y Angelita quienes asisten a una escuela con un sistema escolar opresivo, el cual recibe el nombre de K-12 Sleepaway School. Algunos de sus alumnos, incluyendo a nuestras protagonistas tienen poderes que los ayudarán a sobrevivir. Buscan acabar con este beligerante condicionamiento patriarcal de la escuela en donde todos los alumnos son controlados mentalmente con el objetivo de seguir reglas y terminar dormidos para siempre.
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Principalmente esta pieza muestra la serie de problemas de los jóvenes en la actualidad, representada en personajes bastante bien personalizados y con un ambiente y atuendos más infantil e inocente. Entre estos problemas abarcan temas como la bulimia, el acoso escolar, el patriarcado, entre otros problemas comunes en espacios escolares. Mismos que en el transcurso de la historia tienen lugar como una escena musical, en donde nos muestran el desarrollo del problema, la inconformidad de los alumnos y una manera de resolverlos, algunas veces muestran el asesinato de personajes como representación de “Matar el problema”. 
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Representa cada uno de estos problemas de una manera objetiva y con elementos atractivos visualmente lo que la hace una pieza interesante y a mi parecer bastante estética y conveniente para el público actual en donde en más de una escena, los adolescentes se sienten identificados. Siempre da un mensaje positivo a la audiencia y una esperanza de que todo tiene solución. La paleta de colores elegida, cada personaje, escenario y combinación de elementos la hacen más atractiva y llamativa.
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hannahberrie · 6 years
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Everybody Talks | Chapter 13: Into the Woods
Fandom: Stranger Things Pairings: Mileven, Lumax  Rating: K WC: 13,562 😵 Summary: When Will invites the group on a weekend camping trip, everyone gets a lot more surprises than they bargained for.
[AO3] Chapter Selection: [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12]-13-[14][15][Epilogue] 
El is crowded with her friends in the A.V. Club room when Will brings up the idea.
“Are you guys busy this weekend?” He begins, glancing at everyone curiously.
Mike is crouched in front of the TV, trying to get it to turn on. Dustin is hovering beside him, snacking on a 3 Musketeers bar, and trying his best to instruct Mike on what to do, even though Mike claims he already knows what to do. Max and Lucas are seated in two of the desks, with Max’s legs draped across Lucas’ lap.
It’s Monday after school, and they’re all in here to see the boys’ final cut of their Homecoming video. El is seated on top of the third desk, near the back of the group. She finds herself torn between eyeing Mike (because he looks really cute whenever he’s focused), or eyeing Max and Lucas (because she can’t help but wonder: are they dating now? It’s kinda unclear. El’s pretty sure that Max would tell her if they were, so they’re probably not, but first it was holding hands during movie night, and now Max is totally acting even weirder than usual around him).
Despite all the clamor, when Will poses his question, everyone stops what they’re doing to turn and look at him.
“I dunno,” Dustin shrugs, “I mean, whatever we do, we’re probably going to be together anyway.”
“Why?” El asks Will, intrigued.
Will, seated in the fourth desk, hesitates before continuing. “Well, I was just wondering if you guys wanted to go camping?”
“Camping?” Lucas frowns, confused.
“That’s kinda random, Byers,” Max nods, eyeing him.
“I know,” Will blushingly admits, “It’s just…I don’t know, it’s kinda dumb.”
“No, what is it?” Mike asks concernedly, “You can tell us.”
Will gives Mike a grateful smile before turning to look back at the rest of the group. “Well,” he begins, “Jonathan and I kind of have this tradition. On the last weekend of October, we take a camping trip to the woods, you know the big forest out by the Quarry? And we like, set up sleeping bags and build a campfire and roast marshmallows and…I dunno, it’s just always a lot of fun.”
“And you want us to do that with you?” Mike offers.
Will nods.
“Let me get this straight,” Max cuts in, removing her legs from Lucas’ lap and sitting up straighter, “You want us, a group of teenagers, to go spend a night in the forest, alone?”
“Yes?” Will hesitates.
“You realize that that’s like, the set-up for every slasher movie ever?” Max points out, “Friday the 13th? Madman? Sleepaway Camp? You’re basically asking to get murdered.”
“Those are just movies,” El frowns.
“I dunno, Max has a point,” Dustin shrugs, “It sounds kinda risky; we’d basically be tempting the horror fates.”
“I know,” Will patiently replies, “But…I mean, we’ve been doing it every October since our dad left, and this is the first year that Jonathan’s not going to be here since he’s at NYU now.”
Everyone falls silent at that, looking a little guilty.
“I dunno, it was a dumb idea,” Will hastily continues, slumping back in his desk, “Just forget I said anything.”
“No!” Mike frowns, “Let’s do it!”
“Really?” Will asks hopefully.
“Yeah,” Max nods, looking a little embarrassed, “It could be fun, I guess. And if a serial killer does come after us, we could always use Dustin as bait.”
“Why me!?” Dustin protests, looking offended.
“My dad has a lot of old camping stuff,” El offers, ignoring Dustin and Max’s bickering, “If we need anything.”
“Okay!” Will replies, starting to look more excited. “I mean, if you guys really want to.”
“We really do,” Mike assures Will before turning back to fiddle with the TV.
“But wait,” Lucas suddenly pipes up, looking concerned, “Isn’t the homecoming dance this weekend?”
“No, that’s the football game, you dweeb,” Max huffs with an eye roll, “The game is this weekend, the dance is next weekend.”
“Why do you know that?” Dustin snorts.
“Why don’t you?” Max snaps back defensively, “You’re the ones who made a whole video for it!”
“But do we care about going to the football game?” Will points out, looking puzzled.
“No,” Dustin snorts again.
“Speaking of,” Mike segues, “I finally got the TV to turn on, so we can watch our video.”
“Finally,” Max sighs, “Let’s see this thing.”
“Full disclaimer,” Dustin prefaces, “It’s kinda super boring, because it’s about football, but in our defense, we did the best we could.”
“It’s not boring,” Lucas counters, “I mean...it kind of is, but it could be worse.”
“I think it’s fine!” Mike insists, “Let’s just watch it and see.”
“Have you guys not watched it or something?” Max asks skeptically.
“This is our first time watching the final cut,” Will explains, “We just finished it today.”
“It’ll be good,” El assures them, “I know it. You guys are all really talented.”
Mike glances over his shoulder to smile at El thankfully, and El feels her heart flutter in response. It’s not fair how he manages to look insanely cute even when his face is still a little bruised and he’s wearing the most basic of hoodies.
El watches Mike as he inserts the tape into the VHS player under the TV, hurries to the back of the room, and turns off the lights. As the tape clicks into place and begins to whirr inside the player, Mike comes to sit beside El on the top of the desk.
This, of course, causes El to blush like mad. It’s a pretty small desktop as is, so having Mike squeeze in beside her means that they’re seated rather close to each other. It’s not like she minds this, or anything, but she’s still adjusting to being this up close and personal with Mike on a regular basis.
Ever since they spent Saturday afternoon eating waffles and watching cheesy soap operas at her house, things have felt a little different. El’s not quite sure what it is, but something has definitely changed. They’re more comfortable around each other (for the most part), and El notices that Mike’s been casually gazing at her more often, like before school, during lunch, during Biology, right now...
“Aren’t you supposed to be watching the video?” El whispers, giving him a teasing smile.
Mike flinches and nods, looking flustered. “Uh, yeah,” he admits, turning to look back at the TV.
El has to bite down on her lower lip to stop herself from giggling. As she turns to look toward the screen, she does her best to pay attention to the video, and not the fact that Mike currently smells like Ivory soap (a fact that, while albeit slightly strange to point out, is nevertheless pretty distracting).
El doesn’t know too much about sports, but from what she can tell, the video is constructed well. There’s plenty of footage from the games, the transitions are nice, and she can tell that the boys must have worked really hard on it.
When the video ends, Mike leaves El’s side, turns on the lights, and goes to retrieve the tape from the VHS player. “And that’s pretty much it,” he summarizes, glancing at all the members of the group as he stands before them.
“So, what do you think?” Dustin asks, turning to look at Max and El, “Did that not just like, blow your mind?”
“Oh, it did,” Max nods, “But not in the way you probably wanted.”
“What do you mean?” Lucas frowns.
“Isn’t this supposed to be a video supporting our school?” Max asks incredulously.
“Obviously,” Dustin scoffs.
“Then why did you dweebs put in so many shots of the other teams scoring on us?”
The boys pale and turn to look at each other worriedly.
“We did!?” Mike exclaims, looking panicked.
“But the crowd was cheering!” Will pouts, “Doesn’t that mean we scored?”
“That means that the other team’s crowd was cheering,” Max replies, “Not ours.”
The guys exchange collective groans of defeat.
“It’s a small mistake!” El offers encouragingly, “I didn’t notice!”
“Still,” Mike sighs, “We’re gonna have to fix it.”
“But Mr. Coleman wants it turned in by Wednesday!” Lucas laments. “That gives us less than two days!”
“I’ll help you geeks fix it,” Max huffs.
Dustin eyes her. “You know about video editing?”
“No,” Max admits, “But I know how to tell the difference between winning or losing, which you guys obviously don’t.”
The guys nod reluctantly, all unwilling to argue with that.
“Let’s meet after school and work on it tomorrow,” Mike instructs, “It’s already getting late. We’ll work on it tomorrow, finish it up on Wednesday, and then we can start planning for the camping trip.”
Everyone else nods in agreement before rising out of their seats.
“I can’t believe I’m gonna have to help you nerds,” Max gripes as she grabs her backpack and skateboard.
“If you’re helping them make the video,” El nonchalantly responds, “Does that mean you’re in the A.V. Club now?”
Max pauses to crinkle her nose in disdain. “Please, no,” she groans.
“Too late!” Lucas smirks, giving her a light nudge, “You’re one of us now, Mad Max.”
Dustin bursts out laughing at this, which only causes Max to look more annoyed (though, to be fair, El is certain that Max’s annoyance falls under the “pretending like she hates something even though she secretly likes it” category).
Max exits the classroom while bickering with Lucas and Dustin on whether or not she’s a nerd like them (according to Dustin, since she has the highest scores at the arcade and she’s seen 2/3 Star Wars movies she is; according to Max, Dustin can shut up).
Will grabs his backpack and moves to follow them, but first stops to look at Mike and El.
“Thanks for agreeing to go on the camping trip with me,” he says, smiling shyly, “I know it sounds dumb, but...it really means a lot.”
“It’s not dumb,” El assures him.
“El’s right!” Mike nods, “If it’s something important to you, then it’s important to all of us.”
“Still,” Will insists, “I just wanted to say ‘thanks’.”
El and Mike both give Will reassuring smiles before he continues to head out the door.
“See you tomorrow!” Will cheerily calls back over his shoulder.
“‘Bye, Will!” Mike calls back.
And just like that, they’re alone.
There’s an awkward beat of silence as Mike and El exchange nervous smiles. Even though they’ve been more comfortable with each other since Saturday, this current newfound privacy came quickly and by surprise.
Thankfully, Mike, as usual, has something to talk about.
“Did you see that Troy was back in school today?” He asks. He moves closer, sits on top of the desk that Max was previously seated in, and positions himself so that he’s facing El.
“Yes,” El nods, “We have Biology with him.”
“Right!” Mike blushes, looking embarrassed.
It was true, Troy had returned to school that day. He was sporting an arm cast and a surly glare, but other than that, he’d kept to himself. El caught him looking her way during Biology class, but all it’d taken was one cold glare from her to get him to snap back in the other direction.
“I don’t think he’s going to bother us,” El remarks.
“Yeah, all thanks to you!” Mike beams.
“And you,” El reminds him.
“I guess,” Mike shrugs, “But it was mostly you.”
El doesn’t feel like turning this into a debate (mostly because she knows that Mike would never give it up), so she chooses to give him a soft smile instead.
“Speaking of all that,” Mike continues, “I kind of have an idea.”
“An idea?” El frowns.
Even though they’re completely alone, Mike still glances around the A.V. Club room before leaning in a little closer. “I think the camping trip might be a good time to tell everyone,” he says, voice low, “About your...you know.”
Her powers.
El glances down at her hands before looking back up at Mike. “Why?”
“Well, just think about it,” Mike explains, “We’re gonna be completely alone in the woods, so you don’t have to worry about anyone overhearing you. Plus, both Max and I will be there to help you explain everything.”
“That’s a good point,” El nods, though with slight reluctance.
While they watched soap operas and ate waffles on Saturday, they’d also discussed ways that El could reveal her powers to the rest of their friends. It had to be just right, Mike pointed out, so that their reaction wouldn’t be like his reaction. But after finishing off two boxes of Eggos and learning that Jessica’s sister, who was thought to be dead, is really alive and having an affair with Robert, her long-lost half-brother, Mike and El still hadn’t come up with any plan. The subject was eventually dropped in favor of discussing how “totally insane” soap operas were (Mike’s words, not hers).
El knew that she was going to have to tell her friends, she just didn’t think it was going to be as soon as this weekend.
“Do you think you’re ready?” Mike asks concernedly.
El sighs and shrugs her shoulders. “I don’t know, but...I think I should get it over with.”
“Yeah,” Mike nods, “I think so too.”
“You’ll help me?” El asks, glancing up at him.
“Yeah, totally!” Mike assures her, “I promised you! I’ll make sure that they don’t freak out like I did.”
El gives him a small, relieved smile as she feels herself relax. “Thank you,” she murmurs.
Mike smiles back, nods, and leans forward in his seat to give her a quick little hug.
Before he can move away, El grasps him tighter and holds the hug longer, not wanting to leave his arms. She nuzzles her face into his shoulder, taking in both the scent of his Ivory soap and of the fabric softener that lingers on his hoodie.
Safe.
On Tuesday, everyone stays late after school to finish the video. The time is mostly comprised of Max teasing the guys, Dustin getting offended, Lucas not-so-subtly drooling over Max, and Will and Mike trying to keep them all on task. Even though El doesn’t know much about film editing, she still hangs around to give moral support (and to pass out lots of caffeine-filled sodas for stamina). They finish the video around 8 pm, and when they’re done, they’re all pleased with the final product.
“If this doesn’t get on the news,” Max says after they drop off the finished tape at the main office, “I’m gonna torch Mr. Coleman’s car again.”
“Because that’s a reasonable reaction,” Dustin replies dryly.
Since they finish editing the video early, they get to spend Wednesday solely focused on planning their upcoming camping trip. Though El’s excited, she can’t help but worry. While everyone else already got their parents’ permission to go on the trip, El has yet to ask Hopper for his, mainly because she’s almost 100% certain that he’s going to say no. He’d just met Mike, and while Hopper had admittedly treated him well, El can’t help but feel like she’s asking for too much too soon.
When she confides these concerns to Max after school, Max offers to help El ask Hopper, a proposition that El readily accepts.
Since Hopper is still on duty, the girls decide to visit him at the police station. While El doesn’t spend a lot of time there, the secretary, Flo, is always super nice, and Max always gets a kick out of messing around with the handcuffs, badges, and other police equipment that Hopper now says are ‘Off Limits.’
As the two girls walk down the sidewalk with their skateboards under their arms, El shares the details of her planned confession.
“So, you’re going to tell all of them?” Max summarizes.
El nods.
“And this is all Wheeler’s idea?”
“Sort of,” El frowns, “But...I want to do it. I don’t want to lie to my friends.”
Max nods. “Yeah, that makes sense.”
They walk in silence for a moment before Max speaks up again. “Well, I got your back, okay?” She assures El.
“Thank you,” El smiles gratefully, before reluctantly adding, “But it won’t matter if I don’t get my Dad’s permission.”
“Why wouldn’t he give it to you?”
El gives Max a wary look. “He made me keep the door open when Mike was in my room. I know he won’t be happy about us going to the woods, alone.”
“But you won’t be alone,” Max points out, “The rest of us will all be there.”
“That’s true,” El admits.
“Plus, if your Dad wants, I’ll make sure that you and Mike are never alone together. I’ll be your personal third wheel.”
“But then Lucas will be lonely,” El teases.
The late-afternoon air is rather chilly, so when Max gives off an exaggerated, indignant huff, her breath fogs into a wispy mist. “What?!”
El holds back a smirk, instead keeping her expression innocently inquisitive. “I thought you liked him?”
“No!” Max fervently exclaims.
“You were holding his hand during the movie. You sat by him on Monday.”
“So?! That doesn’t mean anything.”
El can’t hold back her smile any longer. Max likes Lucas so much, it’s completely obvious. She can try to deny it all she likes, but El sees right through it.
“Are you dating him?” El asks, studying Max’s reaction closely.
“No,” Max answers, rolling her eyes dismissively.
“Do you want to?” El smiles, giving her a light nudge.
In a rather out-of-character reaction, Max actually blushes and seems a little flustered. “Maybe,” she mutters.
El opens her mouth to gasp excitedly, but Max quickly moves in and clamps her hand over it.
“Don’t!” Max hisses, “You can’t tell him, or anyone!”
El nods, still smiling elatedly.
Max likes Lucas and Lucas likes Max and they’re probably going to date and everything is perfect!
She’s about to voice these elated thoughts to Max, but then she realizes they’ve finally arrived at the station. Her thought process shifts to the main task at hand: convincing her Dad that allowing her to spend a night in the woods with her friends is a good idea.
Flo greets the girls when they enter and cheerily guides them back to Hopper’s office.
“Hey, Hop!” Flo calls out as she knocks on the closed door, “Your 3 o’clock is here.”
“I don’t have anyone at 3 o’clock,” Hopper grumpily replies from inside.
El and Max have to bite down on their bottom lips to keep from giggling out loud.
“Well, I got two people here who really need to talk to you,” Flo continues, smiling at the girls.
“Send them in,” Hopper sighs.
Flo gives the girls a wink before walking off. El and Max give her appreciative waves before El moves forward, turns the doorknob, and steps inside.
Hopper is seated behind his desk, surrounded by empty white mugs, miscellaneous documents, and a couple untouched apples (El doesn’t know why Flo insists on giving Hopper apples every morning — he never eats them and El just winds up throwing them away after they start to rot). When Hopper sees the two girls walk in, he’s surprised at first, but his expression quickly relaxes into a warm smile.
“Hey, kids,” he greets, putting his feet up on his desk.
“Hi, Dad!” El smiles, trying to stay calm. Her dad is so much more intimidating when he’s in full uniform, and as she and Max sit in the two chairs in front of his desk, she can’t help but feel like one of the suspects in his cases.
“What are you two doing here?” Hopper asks, glancing at them, “Is something wrong?”
“Nothing’s wrong,” Max shrugs. She slumps back in her chair and puts her feet up on the desk, mimicking Hopper’s pose.
“Really?” Hopper asks flatly.
El forces herself to smile, though she feels like crumbling. What if she’s the only one who can’t go on the trip? Would they go without her?
“I…uh…have to ask you something,” El states, trying to sound as confident as possible.
“Okay,” Hopper replies, eyeing her cautiously.
“I want...I want to go camping.”
“Camping?!”
“...With my friends.”
Hopper blinks at her, confused.
El takes a deep breath and without further hesitation, proceeds to spill out the entire plan, from where she’d be going (the woods near the quarry), how she’d get there (she would skate to Will’s house Saturday morning, or Hopper could drive her, if he really wanted), how long she’d be gone (they’d hike Saturday afternoon, camp in the evening, come back Sunday morning), and who would be coming with her (Max, Mike — yes, that Mike — Dustin, Lucas, and Will).
When she finally finishes, she’s slightly breathless from talking so much. As she stops to catch her breath, she crosses her fingers under her seat, hoping that her dad will be understanding.
There’s a minute of silence has Hopper processes all this information. As it starts to settle in, he takes his feet off his desk and furrows his brow.
“Let me get this straight,” Hopper finally says, leaning forward, “You want to spend a night in the woods, alone, with a bunch of teenage boys?”
“Not just teenage boys,” Max pipes up, “I’m gonna be there.”
Hopper eyes Max, most likely dwelling on the fact that that’s not the most comforting news.
“It’s for Will!” El pleadingly continues.
“Byers?”
“Yes. He used to take the trip with his brother, but now he left for college.”
Hopper nods. “Yeah, I know. I know the Byers. I…I went to high school with their mother. We were pretty close.”
Max snorts. “What, did you like her?”
Hopper and El both turn to look at Max indignantly, Hopper especially.
“Max!” El hisses, hoping that her chances of getting her dad’s approval weren’t about to be thrown away like one of Flo’s daily apples.
“I did not like her,” Hopper huffs, though he looks slightly flustered, “I’m just saying I know her, so I know her boys. Will’s a good kid.”
“He’s Mike’s best friend,” El adds quickly, “Well, one of them.”
“Is that so?” Hopper remarks. He keeps studying El, but El can’t read his expression.
“If it makes you feel better, I can be your eyes and ears the entire time, Chief,” Max offers, “I’ll make sure that El doesn’t get into any Mike-related shenanigans.”
El, cheeks burning, throws Max a dirty look. She’s not sure if that statement is going to help or hurt her chances of getting permission, and with the stoic look on Hopper’s face, there’s no way for her to tell.
It seems to work though, if the way Hopper proceeds to smile is any indication.
“I’m not that worried about Mike,” Hopper admits.
“Why not?” El frowns, not liking his tone.
Hopper hesitates. “Well, you know, he just seems kinda...”
“Like, the biggest nerd ever?” Max finishes.
Hopper hesitates again, but then nods and shrugs. “Yeah.”
Even though this is pretty much true, El can’t help but feel offended on behalf of Mike. “He is not!” She insists.
Hopper and Max only exchange knowing looks.
“He’s not!” El huffs, slumping back in her chair.
“He seems like a nice kid,” Hopper amends, sounding like he’s trying not to laugh.
“He is,” El grumbles.
Hopper gives her a small smile before stopping to think.
He’s deciding.
Another minute passes, though it feels more like an hour. El keeps her fingers crossed as her heart pounds in her chest.
Please, please, please, please!
Finally, Hopper gives a sigh and replies, grudgingly saying, “I guess you can go.”
“Really?” El replies, breath hitching.
“Only,” Hopper warms, holding up a finger, “If you promise to behave.”
He turns his finger to point it at Max. “You’ll keep an eye on Wheeler?”
“Totally!” Max nods.
“Okay.”
El leaps out of her chair and leans across the desk to give him a hug. “Thank you!” She beams, heart soaring.
Hopper returns the hug, patting El on the back. “Don’t do anything stupid, okay?”
“I won’t, I promise.”
Hopper nods and relinquishes the hug. “Alright, kid,” he replies, “You better get going, I got a lot of work to catch up with.”
“Okay!” El nods.
She and Max both prepare to exit the room, but just as El reaches the doorway, she remembers that she almost forgot one of the most important parts.
“Dad?” She asks nervously, turning to face the desk again.
Hopper glances up at her. “Yeah?”
El swallows. She’s probably asking for too much at once, but if she doesn’t do it now, she’ll miss her chance.
And so, tone mild and hesitant, she voices her next request.
“Can I have $5?”
It’s Thursday afternoon and El is standing in the parking lot of Bradley’s Big Buy with the rest of her friends.
“Alright, did everyone get the five dollars?” Mike asks, standing in front of the group.
Everyone nods, digs into their pockets, and retrieves a bill to show him.
As El shows off the $5 she was able to get from Hopper, she can’t help but smile. Now that she’s been given the all-clear from her dad, she feels as if she can finally allow herself to be excited.
While they were planning the trip on Wednesday, Dustin pointed out that they were going to need food for their travels. Will wholeheartedly agreed, mentioning that he and Jonathan always had a great time making s’mores. Lucas worried that they wouldn’t have enough money to afford food, so Mike proposed that they all ask their parents for just $5, that way when they all put their money together, they’d have a lot.
Mike’s so smart like that, El dreamily muses, smiling at Mike as he continues to say something. What he’s saying — she’s not sure, but he looks really cute saying it. He’s wearing a blue collared sweater under his windbreaker, and El is probably enjoying the sight more than she should. As she continues to gaze at him, she takes note that his wounds from the fight have finally started to heal. While he still has scars and a few bruises, he doesn’t have to wear the band-aids anymore, and his face looks less discolored overall.
She snaps out of her lovesick daze when she realizes that Mike is now yelling at someone. She flinches, startled, and glances over her shoulder to see that Dustin and Lucas have climbed inside a shopping cart, and Max is pushing said shopping cart in figure-8’s around the parking lot.
“Holy shit!” Dustin and Lucas gleefully exclaim as Max zooms around.
“Stop! We’re gonna get kicked out!” Mike exclaims, irritated. “What are you guys even doing?!”
“We wanted to see how fast I could push them!” Max calls back as Lucas and Dustin cheer her on.
Mike sighs and frowns, but El and Will both give him comforting smiles.
“I’m sorry,” El smiles sheepishly, even though she knows that she really has nothing to do with their friends’ antics.
“It’s not your fault,” Mike grumbles.
“Don’t worry,” Will reassures them, “I know what will get them over here.” He turns and cups his hands around his mouth, but even when he proceeds to call out to the others, his voice still isn’t very loud. “If you guys don’t stop, we’re gonna get sugar-free marshmallows and whole-grain graham crackers!”
The shopping cart comes to a screeching halt.
“What?!” Dustin and Max snap, sounding disgusted.
Sure enough, that does the trick.
Five minutes later, they’re hurrying down the aisles of the grocery store together. Will pushes the cart, reading off a shopping list that he composed, while the rest of the group darts around, listening to his instructions.
They get a little bit of everything: cereal, juice boxes, water bottles, hot dogs, trail mix, potato chips, cookies, and, perhaps most importantly, plenty of supplies to make s’mores.
When the time comes to check out, they all step up towards the register and place their $5 bill into the hand of the slightly confused-looking cashier.
The money they have left over, while not much, is given to Mike. The group, despite Mike’s humble protests, insists that he should keep it so that he can start saving up for a new bike.
“Thanks, guys,” Mike blushes as everyone grabs a shopping bag and heads out the door.
“This is gonna be the best trip ever!” Dustin exclaims.
“You know, I’ve actually never been camping,” Max admits.
“How?!” Lucas gapes.
Max shrugs. “I dunno. It’s just not really something my family does.”
“Well, I’ll have to teach you then,” Lucas states, gently nudging his arm against hers.
“Fine, whatever,” Max replies with an eye roll.
El has to clamp her mouth shut in order to not giggle out loud. They like each other and it’s so obvious and—
“Are they like, dating?” Someone mumbles into her ear.
El is startled, but when she looks over her shoulder, she sees that it’s just Mike.
“Not yet,” El whispers back, eyes shining with mischief.
Mike smirks back with a small shake of his head, as if he can’t believe they aren’t together yet.
As El smiles at him, heart fluttering, she can’t help but feel the same.
El and Max both decide in advance to dress down for the camping trip. They agree to ditch the eyeshadow, hairspray, and leather jackets in exchange for softer, more comfortable attire.
When Saturday morning comes, El borrows one of her dad’s flannel jackets, which is more than enough to keep her warm, even if it is really large on her. She also decides to keep her hair natural. While she’s slightly worried about getting teased by the other guys, the whole point of this trip, at least from her standpoint, is revealing her true self to them.
Plus, it had felt amazing when Mike ran his fingers through her curly hair, so maybe, he’d like, do that again.
Hopper offers to drive her to the Byers’, which is a little surprising, since El knows he has a lot of tough case files that he’s supposed to be working on. Nevertheless, she accepts the offer gratefully. Skateboarding while also lugging a sleeping bag and heavy backpack was not a feat that she was looking forward to.
When they pull up at Will’s house, everyone else is waiting outside in the front yard. There’s an older, pretty woman with mussed brown hair talking to Will, her hands on his shoulders. She’s short, Mike’s taller than her, but she still stands out amongst the clamor of jabbering teenagers.
“Is that Will’s Mom?” El asks, turning to glance at Hopper as he pulls the car to a stop.
El’s never seen her dad look anything close to shy, but that’s the only word she can think of to describe the way he’s glancing over at Ms. Byers.
“Yeah, that’s Joyce,” he nods, hastily averting his gaze back towards El.
El eyes him. He’s acting so weird. “Do you want to talk to her?”
Hopper gives a gruff, indifferent sort of huff.
El rolls her eyes. “C’mon,” she says, stepping out of the car.
Hopper composes himself and follows El. As they approach the group, her friends turn to greet them excitedly.
“You’re here!” Mike beams.
“Finally!” Max grins.
“HOLY SHIT! Your hair!” Dustin squawks. “What happened?!”
“Dude!” Lucas snaps, punching Dustin in the arm, “Shut up!”
“I think it looks nice,” Will states, giving Dustin a disapproving frown.
El feels her cheeks start to burn as she shyly tucks a curl behind her ear. “Thank you.”
“Yeah, it does,” Dustin quickly adds, rubbing his arm, “You look great!”
Joyce steps forward to give El a warm hug. “You must be Eleanor,” she says, pulling back to examine El’s face.
El nods shyly. “Yes.”
“Will’s told me so much about you,” she continues, “More than your dad has, anyway.”
Hopper, who’s been hovering on the sidelines this whole time, flushes pink at this. “‘Hello’ to you too,” he grumbles.
Joyce gently pulls away from El and moves to stand in front of Hopper. Her smallness compared to Hopper’s largeness makes for an interesting contrast, to say the least. Will’s Mom has to crane her neck way back to even make eye contact with Hopper.
“Hopp,” she smiles.
“Joyce,” Hopper smiles back.
Will’s Mom steps forward to give Hopper a hug, though her face only meets his upper torso.
El frowns, still a little confused as to how weird they’re acting. She turns to glance at Will, hoping for an explanation, but he looks just as puzzled as she does.
As Hopper and Joyce begin exchanging pleasantries, El steps closer to her friends. Everyone’s sporting bulging backpacks, bundled in warm coats, and carrying a sleeping bag under their arm.
Max is wearing a beanie with a large pom-pom on the top. The pom-pom bounces around as Max tilts her head to the side, and El has to force herself to not laugh at how funny it looks. “I’m pretty sure your dad likes Will’s mom,” she comments, eyeing Hopper and Joyce.
Will’s brow furrows in confusion, but he shakes it off, instead turning his attention back to El. “Is that a camera?” He asks, motioning to El’s torso.
El glances down where indeed, she has her Polaroid camera hanging around her neck. It’s kind of a bulky thing, but she loves using it to take photos of her and Max whenever they hang out. “Yes,” she nods, smiling at Will, “I wanted to take pictures.”
“Me too!” Will enthuses, pointing to the camera hanging around his own neck.
El’s eyes widen curiously as she leans in to look at Will’s camera. It’s different from hers; it has a bigger lens and more buttons to work with.
“It’s a 35 millimeter Pentax MX,” Will says proudly, “It’s Jonathan’s old camera; he let me have it when he got a newer one.”
“Where does the picture come out?” El frowns.
“It doesn’t, you have to develop it,” Will explains, “I can show you sometime, we have a dark room in the school for it!”
“We should get a picture of all of us,” Mike smiles, “Before we leave.”  
“El could use an updated one,” Max mutters wryly.
El gives her a warning look, but thankfully, no one else seems to have noticed her comment.
“Good idea!” Will nods. He walks over to his mom, gently tugs on her arm, and asks her to take their picture.
As Will walks her through how to use the camera, El and the others drop their things and huddle together. El and Max stand in the middle with Mike and Lucas at their sides, respectively. Dustin crouches in front of them, and as soon as Will hands the camera to Joyce, he runs over to crouch beside Dustin.
As Mike wraps his arm around El’s back, she shivers, and not just because the morning is a little cold.
“Alright,” Joyce announces happily, peering into the viewfinder as she aims the camera at the group, “Smile!”
Everyone smiles, leans closer together, and the camera flashes. The flare leaves El’s vision dotted with colorful splotches for a moment, and she has to blink several times to get them to go away.
“You all look so cute!” Joyce gushes, causing Will to blush.
“Mom!” He bashfully whines. As he runs over to get his camera back, everyone else picks up their backpacks and sleeping bags again.  
“We should probably get going,” Lucas reminds them, glancing at his watch, “It’s already after 11 o’clock.”
“Yeah, and I wanna eat the snacks,” Dustin chimes in.
“You already did!” Max snaps.
“Uh, no!?”
“Uh, yeah? Someone opened the box of Fruit Loops!”
“Oh, yeah,” Mike hesitates, “That was me.”
“What?!” Max exclaims.
“I got hungry!” Mike defends.
“El,” Max gripes, “Tell your boyfriend to stop digging into all our food like a weirdo.”
“He’s not my boyfriend!” El insists at the same time that Mike stammers, “I-I’m not her boyfriend!”
Max, Lucas, and Dustin all exchange doubtful stares just as Will rejoins the group.
“What’d I miss?” Will asks, glancing at everyone.
“Nothing new,” Dustin snickers, “We’re just ready to go.”
Hopper and Joyce step forward to wish the kids goodbye. As Joyce fretfully lists off a series of reminders for Will (all of to which Will replies, “Yeah, I know Mom”), El moves in to hug her dad goodbye.
“I’ll see you tomorrow,” Hopper mumbles, patting the back of her head.
“Tomorrow,” El agrees.
They pull away, Hopper gives her one last smile, and El waves goodbye.
“Let’s go!” Lucas says eagerly.
“Hopefully we won’t get murdered,” Max jokes.
As they enter the forest that surrounds Will’s house, their feet crunch against the fallen leaves and their backpacks brush against protruding tree branches. Even though the morning is cold, the sky is a clear, vibrant blue.
“We won’t get murdered; there’s no serial killers out here,” Will sighs as he takes the lead.
“Other than Mike,” Dustin snorts, “He totally killed all those Fruit Loops.”
Everyone but Mike gets a good laugh out of that, Max especially.
“Wheeler’s a cereal killer!” Max cackles, shaking from how hard she’s laughing.
“Yeah, I got that,” Mike replies flatly.
The camping site isn’t too far from Will’s house — it only takes a little over an hour until they’re there. Will leads them to a small, secluded clearing. Trees stretch on for miles, their branches curving over the clearing, almost protecting the stop. Sunlight filters through the branches, causing the ground of the clearing to look like a mosaic of light and leaves. In the distance, El can make out the rocky bluffs of the Quarry’s edge. The air is tinged with the faint scent of clean, crisp freshwater, musky oak trees, and sticky sap.
“Well, here we are!” Will announces, motioning around the clearing, “This is the spot Jonathan and I always come to. It’s right by the Quarry, and there’s plenty of firewood, and—“
“Isn’t this place right by the kissing rock?” Max interrupts, looking around the forest skeptically.
Will pauses and frowns. “The what?”
“I think she’s right,” Dustin nods, “I mean, I’ve never been there, but I heard it’s in the woods right next to the Quarry.”
“It is!” Max nods, “I’m pretty sure it’s like…a 5-minute walk from here.”
“What’s a kissing rock?” El asks, brow furrowing in confusion.
“It’s this big boulder by the edge of the quarry where all the kids at school go to like…kiss,” Lucas explains, blushing.
“Where all the lame kids go,” Max corrects.
“I mean, I guess we’re by it then?” Will pouts, “I dunno.”
“It doesn’t matter,” Mike huffs, setting down his things, “It’s not like any of us are gonna—“
His voice trails off, and El suddenly realizes that he’s glancing at her. When El sees that he’s doing this, and Mike sees that El sees that he’s doing this, they both look away from each other quickly, cheeks crimson.
“Whatever,” Max sighs, shrugging the entire conversation off, “Let’s just unpack.”
Everyone else nods and proceeds to do so.
It takes the entire first half of the afternoon to set up camp. Will designates that they leave the center of the clearing for building the fire, so everyone else sets up their sleeping bags in a radial formation around it (first Lucas, then Max, then El, then Mike, then Will, and finally Dustin). After the sleeping bags are rolled out, the group proceeds to hike into the woods in search of sticks and stones for the fire pit.
The forest floor is covered with a thick layer of dead leaves, and El has to kick them all out of the way to find the stray twigs and sticks hidden beneath. As she bundles sticks into her arms, she tries to formulate a way to reveal her powers. She wants to tell them at just the right time and place, but there doesn’t seem to be any organic way to work it into the conversation.
By the time they finish gathering enough supplies to make the fire, it’s already late afternoon, and El’s mind is still as blank as ever.
“Okay,” Will says as soon as they return to the clearing, “We should probably get the fire going.”
“Already?” Lucas questions.
Will nods. “It’ll keep us warm, and it’s kind of hard to start one once it’s really dark out.”
El’s pretty sure that they’re all eager for a heat source right now, so Will doesn’t need to tell them twice to help him build a fire pit. They follow his instructions eagerly, setting up a circle of stones in the middle of their clearing and placing a pile of sticks and dead leaves inside.
“Great, so, how do we get it started?” Mike asks once they’re done.  
“We’ll just use some matches,” Will shrugs. He gets up, goes to kneel beside his backpack, and starts digging through it.
“Can we make s’mores?” Dustin asks, “I’m really hungry.”
“Those are for after dinner!” Lucas disputes.
“Says who?”
“Says…I don’t know! Rational people!”
“We could have s’mores for lunch,” El points out, “And then again after dinner.”
“Yes!” Dustin beams at El, “That sounds like the best idea ever.”
“You guys are gonna get a stomach ache,” Mike smiles wryly.
“It’d be worth it,” Dustin insists, “I wanna eat nothing but s’mores for the rest of my life.”
“What about baloney sandwiches?” Max counters dryly.
“Those too.”
“Hey, guys?” Will calls out, still rummaging through his backpack, “Did you guys take the matches?”
“No,” Mike frowns, “Why?”
“I can’t find them!” Will says worriedly, turning to look back at the group.
“Are you serious?” Lucas groans.
“I’m sorry!” Will frets, starting to shake a little. “I think I forgot them!”
“Hey, it’s okay!” Mike insists. He rushes over to Will’s side and gently places his hand on Will’s shoulder. “It was an accident!”
“An accident that’s gonna leave us cold and hungry,” Lucas mutters under his breath.
“What should we do?” El asks, trying to remain calm.
“We could try to start one without matches!” Dustin offers, “You just gotta rub two sticks together! I saw someone do it on TV once!”
“If we wait for that to happen, we’ll all freeze to death,” Max snorts.
“Well, do you have a better idea?” Dustin snaps crossly.
“Uh, yeah? It’s going back to Will’s house and getting the matches!”
“But that’s like, an hour long walk!” Mike points out, “Plus another hour back! That’s two hours!”
“I know,” Max huffs, “I’ll do it.” She walks over to where she’d set her things down, picks up her backpack, and slings it over her shoulders.
“But it’s dangerous to go alone!” Lucas hesitates.
“Then come with me,” Max shrugs.
“Me?”
“Didn’t you go to karate camp?”
“Karate camp?” Lucas echoes, confused.
“Remember?” Max raises an eyebrow. “Jennifer’s party? Dustin told me you spent all of last summer at karate camp.”
Dustin and Lucas exchange quick glances. “Right!” They both exclaim, nodding quickly.
El doesn’t remember any of this, but she’s pretty sure the boys are lying. Either way, the whole situation is pretty amusing, and she can’t help but snort into her palm.
“Then let’s go,” Max orders, already starting to walk off, “I wanna get back before it gets dark.”
“Okay!” Lucas nods, grabbing his backpack before hurrying after her.
“You better not die!” Dustin calls out after them, “If this really is a horror movie, one of you probably isn’t going to make it back!”
“Dustin!” Mike scolds.  
“What!? I’m just stating the facts!”
“You’re being dramatic.”
“I’m sorry,” Will mumbles woefully, “This is all my fault.”
“You make a mistake,” El reassures him, “It’s not that bad.”
Will only pouts in response, still seeming pretty resentful of both the situation and himself.
Mike turns to glance at El, looking pretty helpless.
El racks her mind, trying to think of a way to cheer Will up. “Why don’t we take some pictures?” She offers, motioning to both of their cameras.
“Of what?” Will asks curiously.  
El shrugs as she glances around their surroundings. “Everything.”
Will hesitates, seemingly unsure, but then El raises her camera. “Like you!” She smiles, snapping a picture of Will and Mike.
“El!” Mike exclaims, looking frantic, “I wasn’t even ready!”
El catches the polaroid as it slowly prints out of her camera. “I know,” she smiles teasingly, slipping the photo into her pocket.
Will smiles back, looking more excited. “Okay!” He nods, rising to his feet.
Time passes by quickly as Will and El explore the clearing together, snapping pictures of everything. The weirdly-shaped knot on a tree trunk, the dandelion peeking out amongst the dead leaves, the squirrel sitting on a tree branch. Mike and Dustin follow them around as they work, pointing out all the potential subjects of interest (including themselves).
Before long, the two hours has nearly passed. The sun is a little lower in the sky and the air has grown colder, but they’re having too much fun to notice.
At least, they are until they’re abruptly interrupted by the sound of a high-pitched, terrified scream. It echoes through the trees, causing some birds to fly off with a frightened squawk.
“Shit!” Dustin hisses, eyes wide, “What the hell was that?”
“Someone screamed,” Mike replies, balling his fists.
“Was that Max?” Will asks worriedly.
“I’m not sure,” El frowns, “It didn’t sound like her.”
“Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god! We’re gonna die!” Dustin exclaims, clutching the sides of his head, “I knew this would happen! I told you, we’re tempting the horror fates and now we’re all gonna get picked off one by one and—“
Dustin’s interrupted by the sound of twigs snapping.
There’s a collective gasp as they all jolt in both surprise and fear.
Someone’s coming closer.
El takes a deep breath and prepares to raise her hand. This isn’t how she planned on revealing her powers, but she’s more than willing to do so if it means keeping her friends safe.
As it turns out, her determined gallantry is for naught. Moments later, Lucas marches into the clearing and everyone breathes a sigh of relief.
“Son of a bitch, Lucas, you scared the shit out of us,” Dustin says, slumping his shoulders.
Lucas doesn’t reply. Instead he looks annoyed. Really annoyed. He drops his backpack onto the ground with a grumpy huff, not really making eye contact with anyone.
“Did you get the matches?” Will asks hesitantly.
“Yes!” Lucas snaps, sounding just as irritated as he looks.
El doesn’t know why Lucas is so upset, but moments later she gets her answer when Max rushes into the clearing. She’s holding a box of matches in one hand and a metallic, sharp-looking object in the other.
“C’mon, Lucas!” Max laughs, “Are you still pissed off at me?”
“Yes!” Lucas scowls, crossing his arms.
“Wait, what happened?” Mike questions, glancing at both of them.
“When we were walking back, Max thought it’d be funny to hide behind some bushes and jump out at me!” Lucas snaps bitterly. “She snuck off, and I thought she was hurt or something, but no! She just wanted to scare me! With a knife!”
“It was funny!” Max counters, “You screamed like a girl!”
“You had a knife?” El frowns.
“It’s not even a real knife!” Max defends, “It’s from my old Michael Myers costume.”
“Why did you bring it?”
“Just in case,” Max shrugs.
“It doesn’t matter!” Lucas replies brusquely, “It wasn’t funny!”
“I thought it was!”
“Well, you thought wrong!” Lucas dismisses.
With that, he storms off again, disappearing amongst the countless trees that surround the clearing. He leaves both a tangibly awkward silence and a worried-looking Max in his wake.
“Here,” Max mutters surly, tossing the box of matches to the guys.
Mike, Dustin, and Will exchange uncomfortable glances, but ultimately decide to turn their attention back to the main task at hand: starting the fire.
El, on the other hand, walks over to Max, not wanting to leave her feeling upset. “Are you okay?” She asks gently.
“Not really,” Max grumbles.
“It’s ok,” El murmurs, placing a comforting hand on Max’s shoulder. “It was just a prank.”
“I didn’t think he’d get so mad,” Max mutters, not looking directly at El.
El pauses. Even though she doesn’t want to hurt Max’s feelings, she ultimately decides that it’d be best to tell her the truth.
“You pretend to not like things, even though you do,” El states, making sure to keep her voice low.
“That’s not true!” Max protests.
“It is,” El nods, not bothering to waste time further arguing this fact, “I know it. But Lucas doesn’t. He doesn’t know that you teasing him so much is good. You tease him because you like him, but I think…he might think you’re doing it to be mean to him.”
Max’s head droops as she silently considers this.
“I think you should be honest with him,” El advises.
“Be honest?”
“Tell him how you feel.”
“Like…that I like him?” Max gulps, looking terrified.
“That you don’t hate him.”
“Oh.”
El watches as Max shuffles in place, contemplating what to do.
“I guess you’re right,” Max finally admits. She drops her backpack, tosses her prop knife onto her sleeping bag, and turns to smile gratefully at El. “I’ll go talk to him.”
“Good luck,” El smiles back, giving Max a reassuring hug.
Max nods before darting off, running off in the same direction that Lucas had.
El’s smile falters as an uneasy feeling starts to churn in her gut. As she turns to rejoin the others, she can’t help but feel incredibly guilty. Here she is, telling Max that she needs to be honest with Lucas, and yet, she still hasn’t managed to tell her friends about her powers. She’s a giant hypocrite.
Will has the beginnings of a small fire going. There’s a faint trail of smoke streaming from the fire pit, and the sound of crackling leaves fills the air.
“Wouldn’t it be awesome if we didn’t even need matches?” Dustin comments as Will gently blows into the glowing embers.
“What do you mean?” Mike frowns, eyeing Dustin.
“Like, if I had superpowers,” Dustin elaborates, “Like Pyro.”
“Pyro?” El blanches, wondering if that’s some kind of codename. Does Dustin know? How did he figure it out? Did Mike or Max tell him? No, they wouldn’t, not without telling her that they’d told him—
“From the X-Men comics?” Dustin offers.
“Oh,” El flushes. Even though she feels slightly dumb for rushing to judgment, she’s still left rattled. She just doesn’t know how to tell them. It has to be as normal as possible, with seems highly improbable. She almost wishes that it was a serial killer that’d walked out of the trees, and not Lucas. At least then she wouldn’t have to use any words.
Even though El’s trying to remain outwardly calm, Mike seems to notice how anxious she looks, because he suddenly gets up and walks over to her.
“Do you wanna talk?” He whispers.
El meets his eye and nods gratefully. “Please.”
“Okay,” Mike murmurs before turning back to Will and Dustin to announce, “We’re gonna be right back!”
“Sure you are,” Dustin snorts.
Mike rolls his eyes indifferent and doesn’t reply, instead grasping El’s hand and leading her off down a forest trail.
El blushes as their fingers intertwine, but she accepts the comforting gesture gratefully. “I’m sorry,” she mumbles as soon as Dustin and Will are out of earshot.
“For what?” Mike asks concernedly.
“For being so nervous,” El answers, “I just..I don’t know how to tell them. I don’t want to just blurt it out.”
“You don’t have to be sorry for being nervous,” Mike reminds her, “I would be nervous, too.”
El nods, grasping Mike’s hand a little tighter. She remembers how shocked Dustin had been upon seeing her hair this morning. If curly hair had been enough to make him shout HOLY SHIT, she could only imagine how learning she had powers would make him react.
“Well, there’s no pressure to do it right now,” Mike points out, “We can wait until the night, that way you’ll have more time to think about what you want to say.”
El glances upwards, towards the sky. The blue sky is already beginning to fade. The days feel so much shorter as November draws closer. Waiting until the night still doesn’t give her much time.
“It’ll be okay, I promise,” Mike assures her, giving her hand a squeeze.
“Okay,” El murmurs.
It’s not until El pauses and looks around that she realizes they’ve walked a pretty good distance away from the camp. They’ve exited the wooded area and are now standing on the rocky terrain that surrounds the top of the quarry. There are large boulders scattered about, and El realizes that one of them is probably the kissing rock.
Oh.
El feels herself flush pink as she cautiously turns to glance at Mike. He seems to be thinking the same thing, if the way he’s flushing bright red is any indignation.
El bites her lip shyly, and Mike turns to meet her gaze. “Maybe we should—“ He begins.
“Yes?” El asks hopefully.
Mike swallows, still blushing like crazy, but then his gaze moves to something just beyond El’s shoulder. “Holy shit!” He whispers, eyes widening.
El pales. “What?”
“Look!” Mike says, still whispering. He uses the hand that’s not intertwined with hers to point behind her, and El cautiously turns around to look.
She spots two figures sitting on a large rock about 20 or so feet away. At first she can’t tell who it is, but then she spots that silly pom-pom hat and the long, vibrant red hair tucked underneath it.
Max. Talking to…Lucas. Their heads are ducked low together, deep in conversation. Since they’re so far away, El can’t make out what they’re saying.
“What are they doing?” Mike murmurs.
“She was going to say sorry,” El murmurs back, “For scaring him.”
“Oh.”
El hesitates, unsure of whether or not she and Mike should leave. She can’t help but feel like they’ve walked in on something, even if Max and Lucas are just talking.
She’s just about to voice this concern to Mike when suddenly, without any hesitation, Max shakes her head, cups Lucas’ cheeks in her hands, pulls him towards her, and presses her lips to his in a firm kiss.
El hears a gasp, and she’s not quite sure if it’s from her or Mike. Maybe both of them. Either way, her brain seems to have stopped working, because she’s instantly overwhelmed with surprise, happiness, and excitement all at the same time.
“She kissed him!” El whispers gleefully, turning to beam at Mike.
“I can see that,” Mike replies bashfully, averting his eyes away from the still lip-locked couple.
El bounces in place excitedly, squeezing Mike’s hand in order to keep herself steady. “On the kissing rock!”
“Where all the ‘lame’ kids go,” Mike jokes, pitching his voice higher in what is apparently his best Max impression.
El giggles as she gives Mike a gentle, chiding nudge.
A beat of silence passes as they both turn to steal one more glance at Max and Lucas.
“We should probably go,” Mike whispers, motioning his head in their direction.
“Yes,” El nods, still beaming.
Mike, still clutching her hand, pulls her back into the woods. As they hurry back to camp, El just can’t stop giggling. She’s just so happy for her best friend that there aren’t even enough words to express it.
By the time she and Mike reach the clearing, the sky is a rich ochre and a few crickets have begun to chirp. Dustin and Will have successfully gotten a fire going, and the flickering flames cast dancing shadows against the surrounding trees.
El and Mike release each other’s hands and come to sit beside the fire, both grinning from ear-to-ear.
“What’s so funny?” Will asks, eyeing them suspiciously.
“Nothing!” El smiles.
“Ugh, ew, I don’t even wanna know what you guys just did,” Dustin frowns, wrinkling his nose. “It’s probably going to ruin my s’mores appetite.”
“It’s not like that,” Mike insists, throwing Dustin a look.
“Uh, huh. Whatever you say, Mike.”
Thankfully, neither Dustin or Will presses them for any further information, and instead focus on setting up the fire for hot dog roasting.
15 minutes later, Max and Lucas rejoin the group. As they step into the clearing, El studies them carefully. If she hadn’t seen them kissing with her own eyes, she never would have guessed that they had. Their expressions are neutral and they’re not holding hands or anything. Lucas’ cheeks look a little more flushed than usual, but that’s about it.
“What took you guys so long?” Dustin asks as Max and Lucas come to sit with everyone else.
“We just talked for awhile,” Max shrugs, grabbing a roasting stick and a hot dog. She comes to sit beside El, face completely unreadable.
“How did your talk go?” El quietly asks, making sure to keep her tone nonchalant.
“Fine,” Max breezily murmurs back. “He’s not mad anymore.”
“That’s not surprising,” El mutters under her breath.
“What?” Max asks, sounding confused.
“Nothing!” El quickly amends, “I’m glad you talked.”
Max eyes her warily but ultimately turns her attention back to the fire pit. “Me too,” she says, and even though El knows Max’s trying to hide it, there’s no missing the faint smile pulling at the corners of her lips.
“—And with that, the creature gave off a final screech, dragging his last victim into the night,” Dustin concludes dramatically.
“How the hell is that a scary story?” Max snaps.
“Because the dog turned into a giant, killer lizard!” Dustin defends.
It’s long after nightfall. The forest is pitch black and the only light comes from the crackling fire.
After the hot dog roast and the seemingly endless, completely delicious s’mores feast, Max suggested that they all tell scary stories. They all gathered around the campfire, seated atop their sleeping bags, faces illuminated by the glow of the warm flames. Max had kicked things off with a story about a deranged killer with a hook for a hand that stalked the forests of Hawkins. After that, any story would have really paled in comparison, but Dustin’s tale of a boy adopting a dog that secretly turned out to be a lizard seemed especially weak.
“Lizards aren’t scary,” Max snorts.
“They can be!” Dustin insists. He turns to glance at the rest of the group for validation. “Right?”
“Not really,” Will yawns, looking a little sleepy.
“Well, it was a killer lizard,” Dustin reminds them.
El is trying to focus on the stories, she really is, but her mind is still elsewhere. She feels like she’s not actively engaging with her friends, but rather, waiting on the sidelines, praying for a way to work her confession into the conversation.
“Killer lizards are still just lizards,” Lucas says, shaking his head, “They’re not scary.”
“What about Godzilla?” Dustin points out.
“You didn’t say it turned into Godzilla,” Lucas counters.
“What do you think, Mike?” Dustin asks.
“Honestly?” Mike shrugs, “When you said killer lizard, all I could picture is that newt Mr. Clarke had in the terrarium back in 8th grade. With like…little fangs.”
The conversation is going nowhere. Nowhere near telekinesis, at least. El realizes that she probably gave up her perfect chance when Dustin had mentioned the X-men, and instantly hates herself for it. She had her opportunity practically handed to her, but she’d freaked out and given it up. She could be such a knucklehead…
“El?” Dustin pleads, turning to her, “Please tell me that you think my story was scary. You’re my only hope!”
“Now you’re quoting Star Wars?” Max smirks.
“Now you’re recognizing Star Wars?” Dustin smirks back.
“I am not!” Max insists.
“You literally just did!”
“Are you even gonna let El answer?” Mike huffs.
They’re all growing a little louder, and little more heated, and all the commotion is making El’s head hurt.
“Does El need to answer?” Max snorts, “Literally nobody thought that story was scary.”
“And your hook-hand story was?” Dustin glowers.
“Uh, yeah!”
“Uh, no! Having a hook for a hand isn’t scary!”
“Yes, it is!”
“Captain Hook has a hook for a hand!” Dustin points out, “And he’s from a kids’ movie!”
“Can you guys please stop fighting?” Will pleads, “It’s getting kind of late.”
“Dustin is the one who keeps on arguing!” Max insists.
“Am not!” Dustin argues, “It’s not my fault her opinions are wrong!”
“Your opinions aren’t facts, Dustin!” Lucas retorts.
El doesn’t know what comes over her. She just wants everyone to stop arguing over their dumb stories, and her head hurts, and she’s just so frustrated and tired of trying to wait for the perfect moment that’s probably never going to come. And so, before she can’t stop to second-guess herself, she just blurts it out.
“I’m a telekinetic!” She bursts.
That shuts everyone up quickly.
Mike and Max’s heads snap over to El, looking startled. Will sits up a little straighter, suddenly looking less tired. Lucas and Dustin both freeze, eyes wide.
“Wait, what’d you say?” Dustin asks, cautiously.
“El?!” Mike hisses, sounding confused. Since his sleeping bag is located next to hers, he’s able to reach out and grab her arm in a protective manner.
El gently shrugs him off with a shake of her head. Even though she’d initially pleaded for Mike’s help, she now knows that she needs to do this on her own. She needs to come to term with her abilities once and for all, no more hiding, no more secrets.
“I’m a telekinetic,” she repeats, keeping her gaze locked on her friends, “I have superpowers.”
Lucas, Will, and Dustin exchange confused glances. They look at Max and Mike for some sort of explanation, but Mike and Max only have eyes for El. They both give her encouraging nods, silently showing their support.
“Wait, are you being serious?” Lucas questions, looking hesitant.  
El nods solemnly.
“A telekinetic?” Will asks slowly, “Like…you can move stuff with your mind?”
El hesitates. The easiest way to get them to understand is going to be by showing them. Taking a deep breath, she raises her hand, points it at the fire pit, and uses her powers to raise one of the burning sticks into the air. As it hovers before their eyes, spinning slowly, flickering embers crackle off the stick and drift off into the cold night air, extinguishing with a faint whisper.
After several seconds, she relinquishes her hold on the stick and allows it to fall back into the flames.
“Holy shit,” Lucas breathes, looking floored.
“That’s so cool,” Will whispers, eyes wide with wonder.
Dustin, shockingly, still hasn’t talked. He seems to be responding in the same way that Mike did: stupefied, unadulterated shock. His jaw is hanging open, his eyes are nearly bugging out of his head, and for a moment El worries that she might have broken him.
“H-how?” He finally manages to stammer.
El proceeds to give them an abridged version of her history, starting from growing up in the lab, escaping with Hopper, becoming his legal daughter, and finally joining their class in the 6th grade. She explains how her powers work, how she was the one who saved them at Jennifer’s party, how she broke Troy’s arm. By the time she’s finished, she’s left emotionally exhausted and slightly out-of-breath, but satisfied all the same.
“Oh my god,” Dustin whispers, still frozen in place.
“That’s so COOL!” Lucas exclaims, “Like, holy shit!”
“Right!?” Mike beams, “El’s amazing!”
“Wait, you knew?” Will asks, looking surprised.
“She told me last week,” Mike nods.
“And you didn’t tell us?” Lucas exclaims, sounding a little offended.
“I told him not to,” El cuts in.
“Why didn’t you tell us sooner?” Will asks curiously.
“Because,” El mumbles, suddenly feeling a little sheepish, “I…I didn’t like being different. I wanted to be normal, like you guys.”
“Us? Normal?” Lucas jokes.
“You know what I mean,” El smiles wryly, “I didn’t want to be a freak.”
“Well, you’re definitely not a freak,” Dustin beams. It appears that his mouth has finally started working again, as he proceeds to ramble quickly and excitedly. “You’re so awesome! Like, the coolest person ever! You’re like a wizard, or a superhero, or Yoda!”
“Or a mage,” Mike adds affectionately, giving El a playful nudge.
“Yeah!” Dustin gushes, before pausing and adding, “Oh my god, I’m so sorry I that ever called you our enemy, and a murderer, and a Drow!”
“What?” El frowns.
“Nothing!” Dustin hastily backtracks. “I just…uh..I’m really happy you’re our friend.”
“Me too,” Will nods, “And not just because of your powers. You were always nice to us, even when we judged you at first.”
El flushes pink, unsure of how to react to the unexpected slew of compliments. “I’m happy we’re friends too,” she murmurs, ducking her head shyly.
“Just so you guys know, we can’t tell anyone else about El’s powers,” Mike pipes up, “We have to keep it a secret, just between all of us.”
“Of course!” Will nods.
“I’ll never tell anyone!” Lucas agrees.
“Never!” Dustin insists.
El feels her heart swell with happiness. The feeling of finally feeling accepted not only by her friends, but by herself, radiates within her, leaving her warm and bubbly inside.
She reaches out to grasp Max’s hand. Max smiles and blushingly grabs Lucas’ hand. Then Lucas grabs Dustin’s, Dustin grabs Will’s, Will grabs Mike’s, and Mike finally closes the circle by grasping El’s free hand.
As they all grasp each other’s hands tightly, huddled around the warm light of the fire, no further words need to be said. They’re friends, but their bond isn’t like everyone else’s. Their friendship isn’t the kind that’ll just dissipate after high school or over a silly argument. It’s the kind that’ll keep them all connected for years to come, through good times and bad times, through whatever toils they’ll have to face.
El isn’t sure how she knows all this, since she can’t see into the future, or anything, but as she smiles at each of them, she knows that it’s true. She can hear it in her heart like a whisper, like a promise, reminding her that this moment is one she’ll remember.
It’s the start of the rest of her life.
The night is calm and the forest is still. Off in the distance, the reverberating hoot of an owl echoes through the trees.
El’s not sure what time it is, but she knows it’s late. Everyone else is nestled inside their sleeping bags and the fire has died down to its last glowing coals. Consequently, it’s cold. Very cold. Despite her sleeping bag, flannel jacket, and thick sweater, El feels the chill settle into every pore. It makes it hard to sleep, and while El definitely doesn’t regret coming on this camping trip, she’d be lying if she said she didn’t miss her warm bed and soft quilt.
She flips onto her side, hoping that maybe if she moves around a little, she’ll be able to keep warm.
It doesn’t work.
El sighs and flips onto her other side. She’s now facing Mike, who’s bundled up inside his sleeping bag less than a foot away from her. Since he’s situated so close to her, she’s able to make out his features in the faded silvery light of the moon. As she shuffles around, she sees his eyes flutter open.
“Mike? Are you awake?” El whispers, even though it’s pretty obvious that he is.
“Yeah,” Mike whispers back, locking eyes with her.
“What time is it?”
Mike shuffles a bit around before he manages to pull his arm out of his sleeping bag. “Like, 3 am?” He whispers, eyeing his watch.
“Oh.”
“Can’t sleep?”
El shakes her head.
“Me neither.”
“It’s just...it’s pretty cold,” El murmurs, shivering slightly.
“Yeah,” Mike agrees with a quirked smile, “I guess that’s what happens when you go camping in the fall.”
El nods and wraps her sleeping bag more tightly around herself. Even though she doesn’t want to look like a dopey weakling in front of Mike, she can’t stop her teeth from chattering.
“You look really cold,” Mike murmurs concernedly.
“I’m o-okay,” El lies, “I j-just need to f-fall asleep.”
Mike looks her over for a moment before his cheeks start to flush red. “Maybe,” he begins, voice cracking a little, “You could, like...uh...”
“W-what?” El shivers.
Mike smiles nervously. “Like...come over here?”
Now El’s the one blushing bright red. “N-next to you?”
“There’s room,” Mike explains, looking flustered, “And you’d be warmer.”
That’s definitely true. El’s not even next to him yet, and already she feels incredibly warm (mostly from blushing so much, though).
“Okay,” El whispers with a small shrug.
“Really?” Mike whispers back, sounding like he’s trying (and failing) to not seem too hopeful.
El nods.
With shaking hands, Mike moves his hands down to unzip the side of his sleeping bag. El quietly wriggles out of her own, crawls over to Mike, and snuggles up against him.
As Mike zips the sleeping bag closed again, El instantly feels enveloped in warmth.
Mike slides over so that El can rest her head on the pillow with him. As she wriggles upwards to do so, she can’t help but feel flustered, being pressed this close to him.
She rests her head on the pillow, shyly meeting Mike’s soft gaze. Their faces are only inches apart. As El studies his face, she can feel his warm breaths as they faintly brush against her skin.
“Hi,” she whispers teasingly.
“Hi,” Mike whispers back with a smile.
El falls silent, content with just enjoying the sight of him beside her. As she gazes at him, Mike wraps an arm around her back and starts playing with her hair. He runs his hands through it idly, almost mindlessly, and it takes everything within El to not melt on the spot. She’d give up anything to just spend the rest of eternity in this moment, snuggled beside Mike, his fingers nestled in her curls.
She gives off a contented sigh before she’s able to stop herself. As she relishes in this moment, her vision starts to seem a little hazy. Nevertheless, she does her best to take in every last one of his features: his warm, chocolate-brown eyes, his ruffled dark hair, his pink, though still faintly bruised lips, and of course, his freckles.
The sky above them is glittering tapestry of stars, way more stars than what El’s used to seeing in town. As she examines Mike’s face more closely, she realizes that the freckles on his cheeks remind her of constellations.
She’s definitely losing her mind.
“What are you thinking?” Mike murmurs, twisting a strand of her hair around his pointer finger.
“Your freckles are like stars,” El mumbles, not caring how insane she must sound.
Mike doesn’t say anything, he only nods, but it seems like he gets what she means. Either that or he’s just too nice to call her out on how weird she is.
The longer El gazes at him, the more she feels drawn to him. She wonders if it’s possible for people to be made up of magic, even if they don’t have superpowers. Mike has to be. The way he makes her feel is unlike anything she’s ever experienced before. Surely, if his cheeks are dotted with constellations, then his insides must radiate with stardust.
She’s getting pulled closer into his embrace, deeper into his orbit, and El realizes that she’s tired of wasting time. Her eyes close as she carefully leans in and presses her lips to his cheek.
It almost feels like the first kiss she gave him, only this one is far better. The first time, he’d just laid in bed, lifeless and cold. Now, while still a little cold, El can hear his breath hitch in awed wonder and feel his eyelashes flutter against hers.
It’s an intoxicating feeling, and El, feeling emboldened by his awestruck reaction, moves her lips down to press them against the corner of his mouth.
It’s not a kiss, not quite — her lips land more against his jaw than anywhere else — but it’s close. Very close. Close enough to make Mike’s breath hitch in another faint gasp.
Maybe the gasps aren’t a good thing though.
El pulls back to examine his face, suddenly worried that she might have overstepped her bounds. “I’m sorry,” she murmurs, looking a little embarrassed.
“Don’t be,” Mike murmurs back, shaking his head ever-so-slightly. His eyes seem almost glazed over, like he’s somewhere in between waking and dreaming. His fingers curl more tightly in her hair, slowly pulling her closer to him.
El feels light-headed, but in the best of ways, like she’s floating. Like the only sense of gravity she possesses is the force that’s pulling her closer to Mike, slowly narrowing the gap between their parted lips. Just a couple centimeters closer, and—
“Oh my god,” Dustin’s voice grouses, “Are you guys making out?”
Mike and El jump apart as quickly and jerkily as is they’d both been hit with an electric shock. Since they’re both still stuck inside the sleeping bag, they don’t manage to get that far apart, and only wind up accidentally elbowing each other instead.
“DUSTIN?” Mike yelps, “You’re awake?”
“No, Mike, I’m clearly asleep right now,” Dustin replies dryly.
Oh, god. Dustin’s awake and he’s heard everything, including that El thinks Mike’s freckles look like stars. She instantly wants nothing more than to jump off the edge of the Quarry.
“We weren’t making out!” El blushingly insists. She’s thankful it’s dark out — at least Dustin can’t see how humiliated she looks right now.
“You better not be,” Max suddenly pipes up, “Because the first teenagers to get it on in a horror movie always die first.”
“W-what!?” El stammers.
“MAX!?” Mike again yelps.
“Mike,” Max mimics in a whiny voice, “I couldn’t sleep over the sound of your mush-fest.”
“How many people are awake?!” Mike demands, sounding mortified.
“Like, all of us,” Lucas admits.
“Yup,” Will concludes.
“You’ve all been listening this entire time!?” Mike exclaims, “And you didn’t say anything?!”
The rest of their friends all shuffle inside their sleeping bags as they make an indifferent sort of mumble.
“Oh my god,” Mike mutters.
Oh no, no, no. This is officially the most embarrassing thing ever.
“Great,” El mumbles, turning to bury her face in the pillow.
“You guys are pretty cute,” Lucas snickers.
“And you guys are pretty much hypocrites!” Mike grumbles.
“How?!” Lucas counters.
“If this was a horror movie, El and I wouldn’t be the first people to get killed off, it’d be you and Max!” Mike explains bitterly, “‘Cause you guys totally made out on the kissing rock!”
As everyone falls silent, the sound of chirping crickets fills the air.
“Wait...you guys kissed?” Will asks.
“Um,” Lucas hesitates.
“Fine!” Max snaps, “We did! It wasn’t a big deal!”
“It wasn’t?” Lucas asks worriedly.
“I mean,” Max pauses, sounding flustered, “I guess it was.”
“Oh my god,” Dustin groans, “I mean, I’m like happy for all of you, but you guys seriously need to get a room, like, right now.”
“A room? In the forest?” Will questions.
“Lucas and I aren’t the ones being all weird! At least we understand the concept of privacy!” Max gripes, “Instead of trying to get to second base in front of literally everyone.”
“We thought you were asleep!” El insists.
“We weren’t trying to get to second base!” Mike adds.
“Because you were already there!” Max counters.
At this point, El knows that she wouldn’t need to cuddle Mike for warmth, her entire body feels like it’s been engulfed in flames. “Let’s just go to sleep,” she pleads, “Please.”
“It’s pretty late,” Will agrees with a yawn, “We should try to get some rest.”
“Fine by me,” Max sighs, settling back down into her sleeping bag.
A beat of silence passes as everyone tries to settle down. Unsurprisingly, the silence doesn’t last long.
“Wait, so are you and Lucas dating now?” Dustin asks Max.
“Dustin!” Everyone snaps.
“Jesus!” Dustin exclaims, “Sorry! I’ll go to sleep!”
“Thank you!” Lucas sighs.
As everyone finally falls silent, El wonders if she should go back to her own sleeping bag. Maybe Mike is too embarrassed to do this anymore.
But to her surprise, Mike doesn’t push her away. Instead, he draws her closer to him, gently tucking her head under his chin and wrapping his arms around her protectively.
Her ear is pressed against his chest, and as she cuddles Mike back, she listens closely to the steady, pounding rhythm of his heartbeat.
As embarrassing as that entire interaction with her friends was, a small part of El is relieved that they’re not afraid to tease her. Even though they know that she still has powers, they’re not treating her like some strange oddity, or someone to handle with rubber gloves.
To them, she’s still just El, and as El drifts off to sleep in Mike’s embrace, she realizes that that’s the most comforting feeling of all.
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