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Post by Deleted on Aug 19, 2013 2:58:02 GMT
| LET'S BE ALONE TOGETHER Okay, so maybe detention isn't Harper's idea of 'fun after school', but he thinks it's better than having to deal with bullies off of school grounds. They're bad at school, and even worse off school grounds.
He trudges towards the detention room, a little mad about detention, but slightly more relieved about it as well. Maybe he'll make some friends in detention, he's seen a lot of movies like that, maybe it'll actually happen for once!
He pushes the door open and glances around the room, the teacher who was put in charge has already arrived along with a few other kids. He releases a relived sigh knowing that he's not the only kid in detention, that would've been really embarrassing.
He walks towards an empty desk and along the way, finds his feet tangled up in each other causing him to fall face first the floor. A bright red blush spans across his face and he scrambles to stand up and brush any particles of dirt and dust off his bag.
He can hear some of the kids snickering at him in the background. His blush darkens and he keeps his eyes trained on the ground. As soon as he takes his seat, the teacher in-charge starts to speak.
The teacher explains their rules for detention, talking is allowed luckily and Harper releases another relieved sigh and forces down his blush. He'll be able to make friends for sure.
He turns to the person sitting next to him and pushes his mouth into a rather awkward (and unattractive) smile.
The person will be okay with him right? They won't hold it against him that he tripped right? Oh, but what if they do? Anxiety starts to sink in and before he realises it, words are finding their way out of his mouth.
"People call me Harper but you can call me, tonight."
Harper can feel the temperature in his cheeks go up as it sinks in what he's just said. He attempts to stutter out an apology but his brain is too far out of it to think of something normal to say.
"Your father must be a drug dealer, 'cause you're really dope."
And in that moment, Harper wanted to disappear into nothingness. |
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Post by Deleted on Aug 19, 2013 3:29:49 GMT
Jamie is a good kid – he isn't really sure why he's in detention. Drumming his fingers on the desk, a nervous twitch, he remembers it. His knife is confiscated, Primo won't be happy about that. But it was only self defense. And he hadn't actually done anything with it. Maybe he could get some sleep here. He crosses his arms and slumps forward onto the desk, chin resting on his arms, staring at the row of desks in front of him, at the backs of the other students heads. At the boy who trips. He doesn't really think much of it – Jamie is none too graceful himself, too distracted to see where he's going sometimes. The boy takes up a seat beside him, but Jamie just closes his eyes. When he speaks, he raises his head, sits up straighter. He glances to Harper with a tilt of his head – who me? – glancing around hoping that it isn't him. He's never been sure what it is about him. He doesn't know why there's a girl in his class calling herself his girlfriend, and he doesn't know why this guy keeps using pick up lines on him. Jamie wants to say that he doesn't want a boyfriend – he wants a nap, but he'd never dare. "S-sorry?" He stutters. @nan02 |
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Post by Deleted on Aug 19, 2013 4:22:22 GMT
| LET'S BE ALONE TOGETHER "S-Sorry?"
Harper feels horrible, he feels like he's going to die. Actually, he really wants to die right now, at least he wouldn't have to deal with this right now. He'd be dead, done, over with, no more dealing with bad pick-up lines and awkward encounters.
Death would be pretty bad at fourteen though, so he reconsiders his wish to die. He just wants to disappear and reappear somewhere else, far far away from here. Yeah, that definitely sounds better.
"No, I should be the one to say sorry! I didn't mean to say those things, it's sort of a habit, um," He explains. "You probably think I'm really weird right now, it's ok, most people do. That's why I'm here in the first place after all, ahaha, bullies you know? Now I'm rambling I'm sorry, oh my god."
Harper feels even worse after his apology and has an urge to bury his face in his hands, but he resists the urge. He pushes down all embarrassment he's felt and musters up the courage to speak without a pick-up line and without rambling.
"I'm," He starts. "I'm Harper, I'm sorry about before, really sorry, what's your name?"
Harper prays to Creation that he hasn't messed up his chance to make a friend. |
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Post by Deleted on Aug 19, 2013 4:55:11 GMT
He just stares, blinks occasionally but probably not as often as is normal, while Harper draws out an apology. Jamie has never been particularly talkative, and he listens to people talking at him like it’s a day job, so he doesn't stop him. Jamie doesn't think Harper is weird. Not compared to the people he calls his family. Jamie is straddling the line, but Harper definitely hasn't crossed it. "It's… okay…" He says slowly, flatly. He isn't sure what he's done to get the other worked up, and he's even less sure what to do to placate him. "Jamie." He says. "And it's fine. Really."@nan02 |
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Post by Deleted on Aug 19, 2013 11:43:25 GMT
| LET'S BE ALONE TOGETHER "It's… okay…"
Harper smiles, a real one this time, not an ugly forced one. He feels a little nervous now because this person -
"Jamie. And it's fine. Really."
- Jamie has said it's okay!
Harper feels the need not to get his hopes up, but he can't help but do exactly that. It's not often someone tolerates his words, let alone says they're okay. It's something new to him, and hopefully
"Are you... are you really okay with it," Harper asks hesitantly. "Like, you're not going to hit me or something?"
Harper doesn't allowed himself to be swallowed up in negativity and attempts to look on the bright side and hope that maybe Jamie will like him, maybe he'll want to be his friend, maybe he's not annoying the boy to death.
Harper keeps his silent prayer to Creation going. |
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Post by Deleted on Aug 19, 2013 17:20:45 GMT
Harper is smiling at him, and it's not the sort of thing he's used to. Not that he isn't used to smiles – people smile at Jamie all the time – he's just not used to smiles being a good thing. When he asks if he's going to hit him, Jamie has to stare a bit longer to make sure that he's serious. That he's not going to slap him on the back and say he's only kidding, because he has to be. Then he shakes his head slowly. Does Jamie look like he could throw a punch? He can barely keep his head up. "No…" Jamie may be a weird kid, but he's not a violent one. Growing up with his cousins has left Jamie with near endless patience – with bullies, with abuse. He'd never retaliate, probably not unless his life was at risk. He shrugged. "Why would I?"@nan02 |
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Post by Deleted on Aug 19, 2013 18:40:57 GMT
| LET'S BE ALONE TOGETHER ""No… Why would I?"
"Um well, it's the normal reaction I get from people," Harper says. "Sometimes they'll say they're okay with me and just, y'know, slap me across the face on a whim? I get it a lot from girls."
Harper's words take a second to sink in and he forces himself not to blush at the implication he's made with his words.
"I mean not that you remind me of a girl or anything, y'know, it's just - I'm sorry." Harper stops himself before he digs himself further into a pit of bad situations.
"So, um, Jamie -"
That was his name right? Harper felt the urge to want to disappear starting to build-up again, but he forces it down again. He won't mess this up.
"- what are you here for?" |
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Post by Deleted on Aug 20, 2013 4:18:49 GMT
Jamie listens, rapt. Well, he wouldn't know much about normal. Not compared to the well-rested, bright-eyed teenagers he's surrounded by. Harper seems to be giving his own words more consideration than Jamie is, backtracking before Jamie can even form a thought about anything he's said. There isn't even time for any more flat assurances before Harper has jumped to the next matter of business. For a moment, his brow furrows, a bit of genuine confusion crossing his face. Then his thoughts stumble out at the next stop, and he looks up at Harper. "I had a knife." He says, no real sentiment in his tone. He lifts his hands, index fingers pointed, spread to the length of the blade. "Didn't do anything with it." He said, not offering any explanation. Jamie wasn't the kind of person to pull a knife, unprovoked, and it took a hell of a lot of provoking to get to that point. But Jamie hadn't explained himself to anyone. He was well-behaved, getting off with a detention and a phone call home. And Primo wasn't the type to care about Jamie's behaviour. Boys will be boys he would say. Jamie dropped his hands to his lap. "You?" He asks with a tilt of his head, though his tone is apathetic at best. @nan02 |
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Post by Deleted on Aug 21, 2013 0:32:33 GMT
| LET'S BE ALONE TOGETHER "I had a knife."
Harper turns his attention to Jamie's fingers and attempts to imagine the knife he had. For a second, fear flickers through his mind, but then he takes another look at Jamie and re-thinks that fear.
"Didn't do anything with it."
Harper admits to himself that Jamie's reason for being here sounds a lot more interesting than his.
Then again, if he keeps a knife on him while he's at school, he has to be at least somewhat interesting. Most people don't risk being caught, Harper knows not even some rebels have the guts to keep a knife on them.
Yet Jamie acts as if it's nothing to him.
Harper finds it strange, but a cool kind of strange.
"You?"
Harper cringes at the memory, and goes a little red in the cheeks from remembering what went down.
"Um, well, these girls from a class over, called me out and said they wanted to talk to me, so I went with them, it was the polite thing to do after all," He says. "And um, they started getting into my personal bubble, you know, personal space? And um, I got really flustered and, uh, I ended up saying some - "
Pick-up lines. Harper goes a little darker at the thought.
"- Things, I regret and uh, a teacher caught us and the girls said I was harassing them so, um, here I am."
Harper forces his lips into another awkward grin, attempting to make his cheeks return to their normal colour at the same time. "It's not a very interesting story, heh." |
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Post by Deleted on Aug 21, 2013 2:55:03 GMT
He nods. "Mine either." Jamie doesn't see the big deal about the little switchblade he keeps in his pocket. He feels uncomfortable without it. A bit, at least. He doesn't make a habit of using it, but Primo gave it to him and he carries it around everywhere. If anything, his uncle will be upset that he had it confiscated. But everyone in his family carries weapons, though he doesn't say that. Harper seems embarrassed – Jamie is past that point, though Jamie hasn't really ever been bullied by girls. Girls either keep away from him or… the exact opposite (this one he is not sure how or why). Jamie's gaze wanders the room, lingering at the dirty blackboard at the front of the room, the smears of chalk forming patterns, shapes, figures – his eyes dart back to Harper. He looks him over – he's vaguely familiar. "What grade are you?" He doesn't sound very interested in his own question, but since they are making small talk he goes along with it. @nan02 |
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Post by Deleted on Aug 21, 2013 3:33:26 GMT
| LET'S BE ALONE TOGETHER "Mine either."
Harper opens his mouth to object, but closes it before words can come out. He regrets not saying anything, and regrets opening his mouth in the first place. He probably looked really stupid. He tells himself that he needs to stop doing things without thinking or else he's going to have a lot more regrets than he needs to have.
"What grade are you?"
"Oh," Harper says. "Ninth grade, what about you?"
Harper thinks to himself, does Jamie look familiar to me? Nothing clicks, so he assumes he needs to pay more attention to his surroundings, or Jamie just isn't in any of his classes. Both are plausible, so Harper just figures Jamie is older than him.
Though, he does kind of hope Jamie is in the same grade as him. Friends in the same grade are always nice after all. |
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Post by Deleted on Aug 21, 2013 15:06:28 GMT
Maybe he's just familiar because Jamie has been staring at him for the past few minutes, but then he says he's in the ninth grade. He supposed he wouldn't know either way. Jamie keeps to himself – he sits at the backs of the classrooms, never speaks up, and catches naps when he can. He's not a proper student, but he isn't stupid either – he gets by enough that the teachers leave him alone, usually. The other kids are a different matter. If Harper seems nervous about this whole encounter, Jamie can't tell. He can, but he doesn't think much of it. Maybe he's just perpetually nervous, like himself. "Ninth." He says, and his tone is so detached that he might as well be mirroring Harper's answer. But he means it. @nan02 |
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Post by Deleted on Aug 21, 2013 19:41:31 GMT
LET'S BE ALONE TOGETHER, WE'LL BE YOUNG FOREVER "Ninth."Harper's eyes light up immediately. His hopes weren't hollow at last! A friend, a friend in his grade! Harper's face breaks into a big grin. He doesn't know if he's ever been so happy before. Well, he probably has, but he feels really happy right now so he doesn't let anything get him down. "You're in the same grade as me, that's cool!" Harper says. "What electives are you taking? Who are your teachers?."Harper feels like he's being too pushy and his energy fades a little bit. He doesn't want to make Jamie dislike him, oh no, what if he's already annoying the boy? "Wow, oh man," He says. "I'm sorry if I'm being overbearing or pushy, I just, not a lot of people talk to me in our grade."LAIKA OF GS! |
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Post by Deleted on Aug 21, 2013 23:15:22 GMT
Harper looks strangely thrilled by this revelation of them being in the same grade. Jamie supposes it's nice. He doesn't really have any friends at school. He has his cousins who are also his bullies, he has Pippa whose exuberance exhausts him. Harper seems more…normal than that. Jamie's idea of normal is a bit skewed. But he sounds excited, as if Jamie is someone of importance, as if he's honoured to have him in his grade, and he's not sure if it's flattering or suspicious. A bit of both, maybe. He shrugs. Nobody talks to him either, but he'd been home schooled up until recently, so it's not a big change. Of course, he doesn't know anybody. He hasn't made any new friends either so far. "It's alright." Jamie says. "Me neither." At least Harper had caught him on a relatively normal day. At least he's not hallucinating. Then he'd probably see why nobody talks to Jamie. @nan02 |
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Post by Deleted on Aug 23, 2013 3:26:26 GMT
LET'S BE ALONE TOGETHER, WE COULD BE YOUNG FOREVER "It's alright."
Harper exhales a breath he didn't know he was holding. It's a relief that he's not bothering Jamie. He bothers too many people as it is with his rambling and pick-up lines. "Me neither."
Harper is rather shocked Jamie doesn't get talked to. Harper gets the sense that Jamie himself isn't all that into starting conversations - or maybe just isn't into talking at all, but he can definitely see reasons why he'd want to talk to Jamie. "Really? That's," Harper says. "Surprising, you seem pretty cool and all."Harper mentally high fives himself for making it sound like he's not some fanboy. Which he's not, he just, really likes Jamie, a lot, platonically. It's hard not to really adore your first friend ok. JAMIE MARTINELLILAIKA OF GS! |
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