Stoneybrook Ayr

That's it, they've GRADUATED!

The students sat in their seats, playing with their navy and white caps and gowns. Some turned to wave to friends and family, some whispered with classmates sitting near them, and some slouched in their chairs, ready for the ceremony to start.

It had taken four years, some felt like the time had passed in no time at all, others felt it had dragged out forever. All the winter lodge trips, boy toy auctions, homecomings, proms, dances, parties. The trips to Disney World, California, Australia. The hook ups, the break ups, the scandals. This class had been through a lot together, and this was it. The end. Graduation.

"Prom!" Amelia read happily, locking her phone and looking up at Kara happily. She knew Kara would think she was crazy for being happy about Prom, and Brock and Ty probably would too.

"It's so close. Just another sign that we are almost out of here!" she said, shaking her whole body happily.

The students arrived at the Lodge mid-morning, and just like every other year, hot chocolate and cookies were waiting for them.

Marty was so sure his mother was going to leave on Christmas that he didn't know why he was surprised when he got the note less than a week after New Years. It was on the table. Written in her swirly cursive and scented of lavender. Even as he picked the piece of notebook paper up, he was thinking how cliche it was that it smelled like lavender. He knew his dad hadn't seen the note yet, so he put it back on the table and rooted around in his pocket for his phone.

Instinctively, he started to text Sheila, but changed his mind quickly.

clarissa is gone, he texted Robert. the b!tch left

She hadn't specified if she took Rachel with her, but Marty suspected Rachel would have told him, and he saw her pink sneakers still standing by the kitchen door. That cheered him up, but not enough to refrain from digging around in the fridge looking for a beer.

When he couldn't find any, he texted Robert again, even though he hadn't responded to his previous text yet.

heading to o'tooles

The only seedy bar in town had the blindest bartender. He believed every single fake I.D. he ever looked at. It was the perfect place.

Amelia hadn't been hanging out with Ty as much since that night. Not because it was awkward, but because she had slowly realised she didn't know how she felt about him anymore. The fact that she'd thought back to it a lot, and him, and the way he kissed her and touched her... That made her uncomfortable.

Instead of going to Ty or Kara's or Miranda's, Amelia found herself walking around the mall alone. That was, until she sat down to decide what to do next, and someone from school sat next to her.

Click the pic and come on in!

( Read more... )

Amelia and Kara were meeting up with Ty and Brock at Brocks place, and it was the first time Amelia would see Ty since that night. She said she wasn't nervous, but she was kind of worried about how he'd act, or how it would be to be around him. She hesitated before knocking on the door, and turned to Kara.

"How do I look?" She couldn't resist asking.

Amelia had gone to Ty's at night more times than she could count. But she had never, not once,  felt like she did right now. She was going there for a reason, a purpose. And that purpose was about to change things. She wasn't one of those soppy girls who thought your first had to be someone you loved, or that she'd feel any different after. But it was kind of a big deal, and that made her nervous.

She knocked on his window like she did when she didn't want his parents to know she was there, and waited, playing with her hair.

"Firstly," Amelia said, putting her lunch tray down next to Kara's, and slipping into the chair, "what happened to you last night? And secondly, I have news."

Amelia had woken to a massive crash, and a loud string of cursing.

Her Dad was home, and it wasn't pretty. Without thinking, she grabbed her jacket and boots, and snuck out her window. She knew better than to stick around. She did what she often did on nights like this, and made her way to Ty's. she rapped gently on his bedroom window, hoping she didn't wake his family.

A few days after her encounter with Robert, Kara had asked Amelia to meet her at Pizza Express to talk about it. Okay, Kara mostly wanted to complain, but that was beside the point. She'd offered to buy Amelia's pizza, so she figured that made up for it.

They were sitting in a booth and had just received their piping hot slices of pizza, when Kara decided to dive right into her troubles. "So, I swear, the basketball team must have some sort of bet to see who can drive me insane. First RJ and now Robert?" True, Robert hadn't actually expressed interest in her, but having a conversation with him was enough.

Amelia had texted Miranda to meet her in the usual spot as soon as the bell rang for lunch. She saw her friend coming, and gave her a grin.

"Every winter I swear I'm gonna give up smoking," she said to Miranda, in reference to the cold weather outside. She pulled her hand out of her pocket where she was keeping it warm, bringing out a carton of smokes.

"I need to ask you something."

"I'm thinking of doing it," Amelia said to Kara, putting down the magazine she was reading and rolling over to look at her friend.

"I don't want to die a virgin, and the only reason I've held out so long is because guys suck," she said moving one arm up above her head.

"What do you think?"

"I need cash," Amelia said flatly, ashing her cigarette against a railing, looking at Ty. They were in Ty's normal hidden smoking spot, and even the fact they were away from school wasn't helping Amelia's anxiety.

As soon as Amelia saw the announcement about school being cancelled the following day, she grinned. For once her d*uchebag father wasn't home, wasn't even in the state, and she didn't have to worry about him. She'd decided to take advantage of it, and invite some friends over. Ty, Brock and Kara had all managed to come, and Miranda might be coming later. Still, the three of them were enough to make Amelia happy, and very happy she was as she passed out some refreshments.

"Here's to no school tomorrow!" she said, holding up a plastic cup.

The drive back home from Stamford was significantly quieter than the trip there had been. Both Amelia and Kara had just finished their interviews at Hooters, and all Kara could do was go over and over hers in her mind, hoping she'd made a good impression and answered the questions satisfactorily. She hoped things wouldn't become awkward between her and Amelia now. There were plenty of positions since the restaurant was just opening, so it wasn't like they were both competing for one spot, but what if one of them was offered a job and the other wasn't? Would it create hard feelings?

Needing to break the silence so the drive wouldn't seem as long, she glanced over at Amelia for second, before returning her eyes to the road. "So, how do you think your interview went?"

Amelia's Dad had actually managed to make his first sale of the week yesterday, which in most families surviving on commission, would be a cause for celebration. In the White family, it was something that kept Amelia out of the house as much as possible, as her Dad spent a fair chunk of his commission on gin. 

It was stuff like this, Amelia thought grimly, that made her want the job at Hooters that Kara had suggested. That, and she knew she could bring in the tips. 

She didn't bother knocking on Ty's front door, she'd hadn't really done that since eighth grade. She found her way to his room without seeing any of his family, and knocked on his bedroom door.

TO: melia_white
FROM: kmauricio
SUBJECT: ( new job possibility? )