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.

Sheila had a plan, and it looked like it might pay off. She'd decided to have a party. She and Marty had been broked up for a couple of months now, and Prom wasn't far away. Court would be announced any day, and Sheila wanted Marty to take her. But she knew she couldn't ask him. That was too simple. So she'd thrown this party, and gotten Robert to agree to bring Marty. In return, she had promised that Kara would be there. The tricky part was that Sheila knew Kara wouldn't just come if she'd asked her. So Sheila had to approach Amelia, the girl Marty had cheated on her with, to bring Kara along to the party with her. It wasn't the easiest thing she'd ever done, but hopefully it would be well worth it, she thought, looking around at the tons of kids already in her living room.

Kara's dad was back in town. She'd found that out rather abruptly and unpleasantly when she'd entered the apartment after school to find him sitting on the couch, watching TV and drinking a beer. He'd smiled at her and asked how her day was — like he hadn't been gone for months. In return, she'd thrown her bookbag on the floor and stormed back out without saying a word. She hated when he did that; showed up without any warning like nothing had happened. Why hadn't her mother given her a head's up? Kara was going to give them both an earful when she got back.

Needing to cool down and get her mind off of things, Kara headed to King Kone's and ordered her usual "people suck" special — two scoops of chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream in a waffle cone. Sitting down at one of the small two-person booths once she had her cone, she took out her phone. Her thumb ran over the buttons on the keypad a few times as she debated whether or not she should text Amelia and ask her to join her. She decided against it, though, not wanting to ruin her friend's day as well.

The jingling of the bell above the door as someone entered caused her to look up — and then slowly sink down in the booth. It was Robert. Although she'd given up trying to get him to leave her alone, she didn't actively seek him out, either. If he saw her, he'd probably join her, and then they'd get to talking and Prom was bound to come up. It was all most people could talk about. Kara didn't want to think about it right now, though. Maybe she could slip out unnoticed once he was up at the counter. Or... not. He'd just spotted her, so there went that plan. Naturally. She gave him a half-hearted wave.

"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.

TO: brewster_robert
FROM: kmauricio
SUBJECT: (no subject)

Here's my cover of For No One by The Beatles.

If you show this to anyone, I will end you.

Happy Valentine's Day.

Kara
ATTACHMENT: fno-tb.mp3

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.

The drinks are flowing, the guests are mingling, so lets party like its the end of the world!

Robert had never been this confused about a girl before. Even Savannah. He'd thought about kissing Kara, and her running out pretty much all day. He'd seen her once, and hadn't known whether to ignore her or smile, so he'd done both at the same time which probably looked like a grimace. After he saw her the second time, however, he decided to text her. He'd gotten her number from Mari after some lane story about needing a piano player for a family thing. It took him all of English, but he finally wrote up and sent his text:

I'm sorry. Robert.

Sitting in the music room Monday after school, Kara half-hoped Robert wouldn't show. Maybe he hadn't even seen her journal entry, or maybe he hadn't figured out the hidden message. The odd thing was, she had no clue why she'd posted it, or why she wanted to see him again. She'd pretty much gotten him to leave her alone, then she had to go and ask him to meet her. Why?

Maybe it wasn't too late. Maybe she could leave now and avoid having to try to explain the reason she'd asked him to come, a reason she herself didn't even know.

She'd just stood up, preparing to go, when he appeared in the doorway. Sh!t, she thought, as she slowly sat back down.

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.

"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."

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.

Robert was one of the last to leave the Gym after practice. His hair was still wet from the shower, and he didn't feel like going straight out into the cold, so he decided to detour through the school to get to his car. As he was walking passed the music room, he heard playing coming from inside. He walked over to the open door, and stood listening for a few minutes, as a girl with her back to him played.

"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?"

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?"