Characters of a Minor Sort (jesschars) wrote in btvsal, @ 2010-11-15 20:45:00 |
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Current location: | Regan High School |
Current mood: | happy |
Entry tags: | jamie thompson, place: la, ~zane mchugh |
Discussing Life Plan
Who: Jamie and Zane
Where: Regan High School
When: Wednesday 10/13, Lunch Time
Jamie herself was sitting on the bleachers at the football field, working on a story that she'd had in mind. It was actually probably going to be a short story based *very* loosely on her Watcher, Ethan, and some of the things that he had said about his life either in passing or had specifically told her. While this was a story that she wouldn't publish, mainly because she understood that Ethan had problems with his former 'employers' as it were, if she didn't write out stories when she thought of them, they would drive her nuts until she got them written down. She enjoyed writing it, though. Maybe she would show it to him when she was done. She set down her pen and notebook and picked her apple out of her bag, taking a bite of it and then grabbing her bottle of water and taking a sip of it.
It was a wonder that Zane was anywhere near the football field during the lunch hour. Didn't she spend enough time there catching a practice now and then, and during games cheering on her brother Donovan. The attraction could be that the stands were pretty much deserted at that time of day. Better sitting there to eat lunch in the open air then cooped up in the cafeteria. After a brief call home to check on her son, Zane, her camera hanging by the strap on one shoulder, made her way up into the stands barely noticing the blonde already there eating her lunch.
When Jamie heard someone come up, she looked up and, seeing Zane, gave the girl a slight wave before going back to her lunch. You tended to come out here if you wanted to be alone or at least if you wanted a quiet lunch. Jamie had wanted a quiet lunch, but she didn't know what Zane wanted.
Zane had been in the stands wanting the same Jamie was looking for. To have a peaceful lunch. Giving a light wave and smile in return, Zane settled herself in the bleachers one bench down from where Jamie was sitting.
"Thought I was the only one who came out here to get away from the rowdiness in the lunch room." The aspiring photojournalist commented casual while she unpacked her lunch from the brown paper sack.
Jamie smiled at Zane when she spoke to her. "Nah, it's kind of hard to think when there's all that screaming going on," she said to Zane. "Plus, it's kind of likely to accidentally get hit by a taco during a random food fight." Regan High School had a lot of those, unfortunately.
"Food fights which traditionally tend to be started by the jocks." Zane stated. She had to wonder sometimes how exactly her and Donovan shared the same bloodline. "Some guys don't have the brains of a gnat."
"Yep," Jamie agreed with a nod. Honestly, she was agreeing to both parts. Sure, she dated a jock, although now he was a college jock, and he was adorable, but she was sure he had started a food fight or two in his day. Just because he was still pretty smart just made him the exception, not the rule. "Luckily there are a few out there that can at least be trusted with a potato gun."
"A very few." Zane had to admit, and sadly her brother didn't quite fall into that category. "I sometimes think that the helmets that the footballers wear does nothing to protect what brain cells they happened to be born with."
"Maybe their brains get shaken around a little too much in those things," Jamie joked, smiling at the other girl. She was almost positive that she had read that somewhere before, that helmets can cause that, but maybe she was just imagining that.
"So much for the hard shell offering much protection where the brain is concerned." Zane commented back to the blond. Zane wasn't sure if that was a scientific fact, but she'd be willing to go with it.
"I'm Zane, by the way. Zane McHugh." The aspiring photographer offering an introduction after eating a little bit of her sandwich.
"I could just be making that up," Jamie said with an apologetic smile. "Then again, it *would* explain a lot about many football players, wouldn't it?" She let out a slight giggle.
"I'm Jamie Thompson," she said, offering her hand to the other girl to shake.
Zane set her sandwich down and gently wiped her hand on the pant of her leg before reaching over to shake the other girl's hand. "Nice to meet you, Jamie."
"Nice to meet you as well," Jamie said back to her. She took another sip of her drink. "So, what year are you here? How long do you have until you can get away from this place?"
"I stuck here for another two years." Zane told her. There were times she wished she was the older McHugh instead of Donovan, that way she'd be graduating when June finally came around and her brother would be the one attending Regan High for another two years.
"Hmm...lucky me then. This is my last year," Jamie said with a slight grin. "Then again, I only moved to LA last year, so I didn't have to suffer through a freshman or sophomore year here as well."
"Lucky you." Zane smiled. "I sometimes wish that this was my last year at this school. And this is coming from someone who actually suffered through freshman and sophmore years." She said mostly teasingly.
Jamie made a face at the thought of being stuck here for another year. "Now I'm feeling extra lucky at the idea of being stuck here for even longer," she said. "So, what are you hoping to do when you escape this place?"
"Travel or," Zane started with a reach for her camera, which she held up slightly, "get on the payroll of a major newspaper." Of course that probably would come after a year or so of college. But at least she had some kind of life's goal in mind aside from raising her son.
Jamie nodded. "College as a creative writing major for me," she said. "Then hopefully I'll start a career as a horror writer of some type." That was her plan, anyway. Writing was at least something that she could do around while doing the 'being the Slayer' thing.
"I've heard that's a hard field to get into, or at least be successful in. Who's know maybe you'll be the next Stephen King." Zane said offering up a little bit of optimism to the other girl. If she was looking to become a writer Jamie had to be at least halfway decent in her writing and creative thinking, didn't she.
"It is, but I'm being hopeful," she said. "I'd just be happy to make a somewhat decent living at it. It's frankly just about all that I'm good at." Other than killing vampires, and she wasn't terribly GREAT at that, it seemed.
"At least it'll be something we enjoy doing." Zane pointed out. Jamie with her writing and Zane with her photographer. Having a passion for your work was always a positive thing.
"I hope that will keep me going when I'm slowly starving to death because I can't get anything published to save my life," Jamie joked. At least she knew her odds. She just didn't care.
"Don't some magazines accept short stories?" Zane wasn't sure how much that would pay, but at least it would be some income until the girl found herself with a best seller. Zane tended to see the good rather then the bad.
"Yeah, that's kind of my contingency plan to make sure that I don't starve to death while trying to write the next great American novel," Jamie said. "Don't mind writing for magazines. They just don't pay as much as a full novel would."
"They probably pay more then what a freelance photographer just starting out would make." Zane opined before eating a bit more of her lunch, which was washed down with a drink of from her water bottle.
Jamie nodded. "Very true," she said. "Once you get your name known I'm sure that you'll make way more as freelance, although magazines would be jumping all over you to get you to do pictures just the same."
"That's the plan. Though getting started to try and reach that goal is going to be the toughest part. But I'm sure we'll both succeed in our career goals." Zane said sounding optimistic for the two of them.
"I thunk that's where the phrase, 'it's all about the journey, not the destination' comes in," Jamie said with a smile. She just hoped that her own journey would be a good one.
"Well, whatever. I'm sure we'll both be successes in our own rights." Zane smiled back to the girl.