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Post by Jeremy Stephen Evans on Oct 9, 2012 16:21:13 GMT -6
 The first few months at St. Helena's were really no better or worse than the years Jeremy had spent at Shawnee County Public High School -- that is, if you didn't count the fact that Jeremy was crying most of the time whenever he wasn't in class. Some nights, he was so upset that he couldn't sleep. He had joined some clubs, even tried to be social in class, but that didn't help take away the dark circles under his eyes or the mornings when he would come to class with puffy, red eyes. His status as an orphan, and the fact that he really had no other blood relatives at all, was starting to become ever clearer to him, and the fact that he was a ward of the state of Oklahoma was not making things any easier. Although he had survived two suicide attempts, nothing could compare to the kinds of feelings that he had now. He had never felt so lonely in his life.
But things were going to change today, as he had been invited to the Beta Club's latest social. It was all the more exciting because they said they were going to have ice cream there, and since Jeremy and his father were very poor back in Oklahoma, he didn't get to have ice cream very often. Most of the memories he had of eating ice cream were from when he was very little, and he and his beautiful, redheaded mother would eat rum raisin at three in the morning when they couldn't sleep. Jeremy wanted to look especially nice for this social, and make a good impression on his fellow club members. As he tied the knot of his necktie -- which he learned how to do from a man on YouTube -- his heart did not feel heavy, and he even managed to smile. He thought about how he and his mother would always eat the ice cream first and spit the raisins out so they could eat the raisins last.
When he reached the classroom where the social was taking place, Jeremy looked up and smiled, his eyebrows rising. The lights of the room, the mingling of the students -- this was Beta Club, and the fact that all of these A-plus students were together in a room made Jeremy feel less like an outcast. He may not have known everybody, and he was certainly not going to be the life of the part. But for some reason, his anthropophobic tendencies had softened, and for once, he actually felt somewhat comfortable. With his hands clasped politely and humbly behind his back, he looked over the ice cream table, trying to find a cup with some rum raisin in it. When he found it, he took the cup and muttered a quiet "thank you" to all those in the vicinity that might have had a hand in preparing the ice cream or the social itself.
At a quiet table, Jeremy sat down by himself, his knees locked together perhaps out of anxiety or most likely just because of habit. He stabbed his spoon in the ice cream and began to eat, making sure to sort out all the raisins, just like he and his mother used to do.
DATE: October 5, 2010
TIME: Around 4:00 pm |
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Post by Victoria Camilla Welsh on Oct 10, 2012 9:49:02 GMT -6
(( what she wears ))
One thing that Victoria actually happened to enjoy at St. Helena's was their Beta Club, and after her final class for the day, she ran back to her room in order to get ready. They somehow still hadn't given her a roommate for the year, which she couldn't say she didn't mind, so she had the entirety of the space to herself in order to get ready. They were having an ice cream social this evening, and although it depended on the day whether she liked certain sweets like ice cream or not, she was excited. Despite the school being otherwise droll and dry, the school work could be challenging, and those who succeeded in getting a university-desirable GPA deserved to be celebrated in their efforts. Sorting through her closet, she picked out a navy dress of hers from last spring, when her father received an award at University of Washington for some of his research. It was one of her personal favorites, and she smiled as she slipped it on.
She wasn't much for makeup, so it didn't take long to get ready, but Victoria took her time in order to make everything perfect. Smearing mascara under her eye, she snarled and beat her fist against her thigh in frustration. After a few minutes of calming down, she reasoned not to wash her entire face, because that would probably make her late, and she dabbed the spot with the corner of a paper towel until it was clean. She nodded approvingly, and grabbing her bag, she bounded down the hall, making sure the door was locked behind her on three different occasions, one after the other.
The social was in a classroom, and most other people were dressed in similar, semi-formal attire. The Beta Club was meant to be impressive, and most of the people in it tried to do as such. Victoria pulled a piece of hair behind her ear: she was slightly intimidated, she had to admit, with the amount of people that were there. It wasn't more than twenty, perhaps thirty, students and teachers mixed about, but it made her heart race when she considered how hard it would be to get into school. Still, this was a night to enjoy, and she wasn't going to let the competition ruin it for her; and besides the point, they weren't even all in the same grade to begin with. Her heels clunked underneath her as she made her way to a table, waving and smiling to numerous colleagues and doctors that had shown up. She wondered if her father would come, but she remembered quickly that he was teaching that night, and she went on to the assortment of cups on the starch-white tablecloth.
Looking about, vanilla-chip flavored ice cream in hand, she tried to find a seat. A lot of people were standing, so it wasn't hard, but she found herself fixated on a table pushed to the side. There was a boy there, dressed smartly in a suit, and she couldn't help but admire that. He seemed focused intently on his own tiny dish, and before Victoria could even think, she was walking towards him. As she got closer, she realized it was Jeremy, this kid she sat across from in Creative Writing, and smiled. "Hey Jeremy," she introduced. "I didn't know you were in Beta!" He had always seemed so sweet, yet incredibly timid, in class, and it was a comfort to know someone like him was in the same activity. her anxiety before eased, and she eyed the chair next to him. "Do you mind if I sit here?" She placed herself down anyway, staring absently at her food.
She remembered that he'd come in the other day, his eyes puffy and red. No one had asked if he was all right, which she found appalling for a school that held it self so highly in the mental health community, but found herself annoyed that she didn't live up to her own standard. She thought about asking him currently if he was all right, because he'd seemed so upset, but felt it would be out of place; he seemed so happy now. So instead, she asked, "What flavor is that?" Victoria wasn't the best at casual small talk, and found it rather boring, but she was trying to get better and, perhaps, make friends with him. If he was usually like how he appeared that afternoon, he certainly needed one.
Edit: Template edited by the admin for stretching the board. |
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Post by Jeremy Stephen Evans on Oct 14, 2012 1:29:34 GMT -6
Spoonful after spoonful of the rum raisin ice cream was almost starting to make Jeremy homesick, but not necessarily in the most obvious way. He did not long to return to the home he had just come from. He longed for a different time, when his mother was still home and his father never laid a finger on him. He longed for the small-town family life in the little rural town in the middle of Oklahoma, when times were simple and the love was strong. And most of all, he longed for his mother. He easily felt like a mama's boy, but somehow, if he could just have his mother in his life, he knew that things would be so much better. Sometimes he wondered if she was out there, somewhere in the world, and if she might be thinking of him. Maybe, wherever she was, she, too, was clustering her uneaten raisins in the corner of her ice cream bowl, filled to the brim with rum raisin -- just like Jeremy was doing right then.
When someone spoke his name, Jeremy quickly looked up, surprised. And soon after, he suddenly felt very comfortable and, albeit, quite happy and satisfied that someone he knew was there. He smiled broadly, a smile that went all the way up to his eyes. "Hello, Victoria!" Victoria was a lovely young woman who was in his Creative Writing class. And to be honest, he was just thrilled that someone actually knew his name and cared enough to address him by it. Most of the time, at his old school, nobody even bothered to learn his name. Most didn't even bother to apologize when they ran into him in the hallways or locked him into his locker. Victoria wasn't like that at all. She was a kind young woman who was definitely going places. "No, I'd love it if you sit with me!" And he was excited that, for once, someone didn't think of him as an abomination, a total freak, or someone to be avoided. He rubbed his eye with one of his hands and smiled again, relieved to be in the presence of someone he might just be able to call a friend.
"Oh," he replied, looking into his cup of ice cream and then back up at Victoria. "This is rum raisin, it's my favorite." He leaned over slightly and peaked into Victoria's cup. "What do you have there? Is it good?"
[Ugh, sorry for late reply!] |
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Post by Victoria Camilla Welsh on Oct 15, 2012 20:27:15 GMT -6
(( it's totally cool, I was kind of late on replying as well! ))
Sitting down, Victoria poised herself on the edge of the chair. She liked knowing someone in Beta Club because, as much as she enjoyed it, she couldn't say that she had many friends. A lot of the other students thought she was just some annoying kid trying to act like an adult, which caused them to be a bit hostile with her from time to time. There was also the time when she panicked about plans changing at a meeting, when she had missed one while being sick the previous year, and that wasn't much help either. They didn't like her being rigid, and she didn't like how many of them were very disorganized. Jeremy seemed to have it together though, minus his sadness from the other day, but she could understand. Her father always told her that many of these kids, who were mentally ill, were that way because something happened to them when they were younger. Maybe something happened to him and it made him cry, who knew, but that night was something to enjoy, so she thought it was better to avoid the subject.
He seemed excited about her sitting with him, and she asked her what flavor she had. "Oh, it's vanilla chip." She toyed with her spoon at the moment, not feeling like eating just yet. "I've had it before, and it's pretty good. I'm not one for super sweet things, minus an apple danish from time to time." She giggled at herself. "And I must say, that I think you're the only person I've ever met who likes rum raisin. It's cute." Smiling on the surface, she wondered why she'd said that. Things had been strange this year, her being so comfortable and almost... flirty around boys. She wasn't trying to be... Or was she? Her heart sped up, and not knowing what to do, she dove into her tiny cup too fast, and ended up with a brain freeze.
Squeezing her eyes, her nose crinkled and her shoulders twitched from the cold. "I'm sorry," she pressed. "Er, brain freeze." She shook her hands back and forth to say that he shouldn't worry, and the pain subsided. Laughing at herself, her head went back and forth. For someone who was planning to go to Harvard or Yale, she really was dumb sometimes. She thought back to an hour before, and almost wished she had a roommate, someone that was slightly illiterate, but wasn't too crazy. Someone who could give her advice on makeup and boys, so she wouldn't seem so desperate when she wasn't trying to be. She had other things to focus on – school, the idea of college – so what had gotten into her suddenly? The music played over them, and some people danced. She really did wish that she had a girl to talk to, and that's what was starting to freak her out.
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Post by Jeremy Stephen Evans on Oct 22, 2012 22:15:45 GMT -6
When Victoria explained that the flavor she selected was vanilla chip, Jeremy pushed his lips together a little and said, "Oooo!" with a smile at the end. The variety of ice cream flavors in the world was so wide, and there were probably flavors that they might never get to try while being grounded in America. Though one particular flavor Jeremy never quite understood was bubble gum, and how it had bits of bubble gum in it. It was like it was asking the kids to swallow their gum and have it stick to the lining of their stomach for years on end. Jeremy was happy that Victoria hadn't picked a flavor like bubble gum, but then again, he was such a kind person that he wouldn't have judged her anyway if that's what she had chosen.
"Ooh, I love danishes, especially with cream cheese." The fact of the matter wasn't that Jeremy had some kind of sugar deficiency. He wasn't a diabetic, nor was he disallowed to have sweets on a regular basis while at home. The fact of the matter was that his father could never afford it, if the man even did any shopping at all. And it was a hard thing to think about, to remember coming home from school and there was no food in the fridge, only day-old corn flakes left in the cupboard. "Yeah," he said, glossing over the truth with the hope that he could seem more like Victoria, "I don't eat sweets much either."
It was then that Victoria had referred to him as "cute," and even though Jeremy was quite sure of himself that he wasn't into girls that way, he couldn't stop himself from blushing. He wasn't open about his sexuality, but maybe it was just that nobody had ever called him cute before, or even complimented him on his possible adorable qualities. It was a novelty for him, and he was really quite enjoying it -- so much that, with his tomato-red face, he let out a small giggle and said, "Thank you. ...I think very respectable young women often choose chocolate chip," he added, trying to give her a compliment in return.
When Victoria then started to squinch her nose a little, Jeremy gasped slightly, his eyebrows rising as he muttered, "Oh no!" But luckily, the brain freeze went away quickly, as they often did (and if they lasted much longer than that, there must have been a real problem). He smiled sympathetically at Victoria and said, "I hate it when that happens. ...You know, I usually find it helpful to hold my tongue to the roof of my mouth when I get a brain freeze. It doesn't make it go away completely, but it helps take away the shock and the pain, y'know..." He shrugged with a smile. "One of my science teachers at my old school told me that once. ...And he... He also told me that, if you have a cavity filled in one of your teeth, and you put foil on it -- the reason it hurts is because the filling in your tooth and the foil react together to make an electric charge, and it's actually like a small battery. Isn't that neat?!"
No. No, that is not neat. It's just dumb. Shut up and eat your ice cream.
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