Episode 2: "Amara"

[Aubs]

Previously on Skins..

Nate: DimGray
Cole: Orange
Amara: Crimson
Jamie: DodgerBlue
Ford: Brown
Elias: Purple
Britney: HotPink
Christian: Yellow
Salome: Tomato
Clyde: Teal


“So I was wondering if you all were up for going to Ford’s costume party on Halloween? I heard his parents are gonna be out of town this weekend.”

All the teens geared up and stepped out onto the scene to Ford’s Halloween party. As they all mingled with other students.. and each other, things soon turned up in little too no time! Before most of them knew it, an eventful night turned sour upon them ending their night behind a jail cell.

“Wait, don’t tell me.. you’re still?”
“No, I’m not. I’ve.. I’ve done it.”

In a surprising discovery, Nate found out his best friend since childhood hadn’t lost his virginity after all. Soon after, he vowed to help out his friend whether Cole wanted the help or not.

“So how’s the hunt?”
“The hunt for what?”
“The hunt for a man, girl. Remember when I was over your house last week and we talked about you liked someone and was going to do something about it?”
“Uh, no.”

Amara started her hunt for a boyfriend. Though the tomboy seemed quite hesitant to make a boy notice her, it was her sexy costume that caught the eye of future prospects. Maybe things for her weren’t going to be so hard after all..

“Every girl is allowed to dress slutty at least once in their lives, boo.”
“WOW! Who knew Mar was packing?”
“I- I didn’t..”
“Me either, man.”

While Elias tried to mask his emotions from his home life, he managed to find a girl who he wouldn’t mind bringing in to his closed life.

Daaaaayyyuuummm. That girl is fine.

“I’m Salome,”
“I’m Elias. Nice to meet you, Salome.”
“You too.”

As the party continued and people began to split off, the tables were turned on Cole sooner than he’d thought. A simple game of truth or dare crossed boundaries and raised questions.

“Cole, don’t be such a pussy- Come here. They wanna see a kiss? I’ll give you a fucking kiss.”

And a kiss he gave, as everyone gasped and hollered at Nate and Cole’s small make out session, Cole ran as quickly out of the room as he could; almost as quickly as an ever jealous Britney rushed out of the room to ruin the party for everyone.

I kissed my best friend!! The worst part... I liked it.

“Hi, police? I came to my boyfriend’s Halloween Party, and I just found out there’s a lot of drugs. The address is..”

Too bad not even she could escape fast enough from the authorities.

Meanwhile, as Jamie finds Cole unconscious with his pants unbuttoned on the ground after a rendezvous with another guy, the two manage to escape before things get heated.

And speaking of heated! Alone in the basement, Amara and Clyde’s sexual tension skyrocketed, leading Mar to take total control.

“I uh.. I,”
“Just shut up and kiss me already!”

Overall, the PARTY was awesome, extremely awesome!

[Aubs]

I fly with the stars in the skies
I am no longer trying to survive
I believe that life is a prize
But to live doesn't mean you're alive

Don't worry about me & who I fire
I get what I desire
It's my empire
And yes, I call the shots, I am the umpire
I sprinkle holy water upon the vampire

In this very moment I'm king
In this very moment I slayed Goliath with a sling
This very moment I bring
put it on everything, that I will retire with the ring
and I will retire with the crown, Yes
no I'm not lucky I'm blessed, Yes
clap for the heavyweight champ, Me
but I couldn't do it all alone, We
Young Money raised me, grew up out in Baisley
Southside Jamaica, Queens and it's crazy
cuz I'm still hood, Hollywood couldn't change me



shout out to my haters, sorry that you couldn't faze me
Aint being cocky, we just vindicated
Best believe that when we done this moment will be syndicated
I don't know,
this night just remind me of
Everything they deprived me of
P-p-p-p-put your drinks up
It's a celebration every time we link up
We done did everything they could think of
Gr-Gr-Greatness is what we on the brink of

[Aubs]

The day had gone fairly great for Amara. As she walked into a shoe store to purchase a pair of tennis shoes, “Moment 4 Life” by Nicki Minaj blasting in her earbuds of her iPod, she sat down on a bench inside the store to gather her thoughts. For the past couple of weeks, she couldn’t exactly say there were many eventful things, sans the Halloween party three week’s back. After dressing sexy, something that was out of character for her, getting attention from other boys, getting completely trashed, and getting arrested there was probably one thing that she couldn’t seem to get off of her mind.. well, one person that was: Clyde.

He was a good kisser and that’s it.. I think. Mar thought, standing up out of her seat to look around the store more. She analyzed pairs of shoes that caught her interest, while attempting to get her mind off of a boy she had no intentions of hooking up with again. It’s not like there’s anything wrong with him. He ain’t ugly or anything.. He’s just not my type. She lied to herself.

Amara had never had a type. In fact, she couldn’t exactly recall ever having had a solid boyfriend period. And before you drew conclusions, yes Amara had had sex before. Sex wasn’t something that was hard for her to get; finding someone who was mature enough to be in a stable relationship was. Amara wanted a guy to be as aggressive with her out of bed as he was in. It didn’t help that not many were able to satisfy her when it came to things other than the penis variety.
God, why can’t I fucking get that kiss out of my head? It wasn’t like outstanding or anything! It was just a damn kiss! As she sighed to herself, her phone rang. Pulling it out of her jacket pocket, she noticed it’d been her older brother, Deshaun. Deshaun, being the oldest of Amara and her other older brother, Khalil [the middle child], would constantly keep tabs on his siblings for their Grandmother. In a way, he played the father figure in her life, though there’d been times she wished he would butt the hell out of her business. As much as she hated to admit it, she was still a teenage girl who wanted her own privacy.

“Wassup?” Amara spoke into the phone, as she paused in her place and stared into space.
“Nothin’ much, what’s good with you, sis?” Her brother replied with a question. Amara couldn’t hear much in the background of where he’d been, but she assumed he had been home. He’d either been there or at work anyway, as he hardly ever went out anywhere.
“I ain’t doing anything. Just at the store, looking at some kicks. You coming to my game tonight?” Amara reached for shoe from off of the shelf. Looking over toward the cash register, she waved for an employee and pointed to her shoe. “Can I get this in an eight?”

“You got a game tonight?”
“Yeah, I told you and ‘Lil about it like the other morning..”
Deshaun didn’t respond, causing Amara to automatically know the answer.
“Come onnnn bro, you got work again?” Amara grunted on edge, feeling displeased. “You haven’t been to any of my games this-”
“I know, I know, but one of us has to fuckin’ pay the bills.. and put shoes on yo feet.” He said agitated.
Amara couldn’t say anything. In fact, she hadn’t said anything. She knew it hadn’t been her place to complain about her brother always having to work, but with her still in school, her grandmother retired and not receiving government assistance, and her brother Khalil attached to the streets, there had to be someone who provided for them after all. She wasn’t exactly keen to working herself. There was too much fun she needed to have and work wasn’t going to be able to provide that.

“I’mma try to make it to one of them eventually though, alright?”
Amara sighed. “Okay.”
“Win for me tonight.”
She lightly let out a small laugh. “You don’t even have to tell me twice! I got it in the bag!”
“Love you, brat.”
“You too.” Amara hung up the phone and put it back into her pocket as she glanced over to see a man walking over toward her with a box. She grabbed the box, went over to buy the shoes, and finally left the store. Walking further down the street, she pulled out her phone once more and dialed Jamie, her best friend.

“Hey, it’s Amelia Earhart and I can’t make it to the phone right now.. I’m flying over the Pacific Ocean! Ha-ha! Leave a message!”

Amara rolled her eyes at Jamie’s machine’s message. “Hey J, it’s Mar.. I’m not even gone comment on that lame ass message for your answering machine, so I’ll just say- uh.. call me when you get this message. Bye.”

[GnomesAteMyCake]

"Are you sure you don't mind doing this, Jamie?" Cole asked quietly, his arms folded across his chest, as if he were hugging himself in an attempt not to fly apart at the seams. The teenager had lost a little weight over the past two weeks; he appeared more gaunt in the face, his skin somewhat of a sickly colour with large bags under his eyes due to the lack of sleep he'd been getting.

Not that there was anything wrong with him (as far as he knew. But then, wasn't that what he was checking...?), no...it was more the stress; a constant worrying that was eating him from the inside out because of the fucking party. It was all he could do not to have numerous breakdowns through the course of a day, not to just lay down, pull his hair out and scream... because he'd never been confused like this.

He'd never not known what he's done like this.

"Of course I don't mind," Jamie replied, smiling at her friend and patting his shoulder since she couldn't take his hand; it would've taken wild horses to pull off Cole's grip on himself. Looking around the doctor's clinic, she made sure none of the other patients were paying them any attention before she spoke again. "I would've come with you the next day if you'd asked. Why did you wait so long, Cole? It's been two weeks; I'm sure there's nothing wrong with you, but wouldn't it've been better to check straight away? What if-"

"Jamie, please. Don't tell me 'what if's,' it'll only make it worse. I don't want to think about what I could have...I didn't want to think about it at all, I just want to forget it. But...I guess I've got no choice, huh? If I can't remember what happened, I need to know..."

~~

"Cole! Are you okay? What's going on?"Blinking blearily at the sound of a female voice, Cole flinched visabley at the gentle touch on his shoulder as the owner of the voice tried to shake him into full consciousness. "Jamie?" he slurred, the world surrounding him pulsing in and out as he tried to keep his eyes open, but the constant motion proved too much and the boy had to close his eyes again, his head pounding.

"Fucking hell, Cole..." Jamie muttered, putting her arm around the skinny boy's shoulder's and pulling him to his feet, her eyes clouding with worry as he mumbled fearfully and tried to pull away."You've been drugged....Oh Cole, what did they do to you?"

"S'name....Jake...brought uh'drink...kiss'd me...wouldn't stop..." Cole mumbled, trying again to get away from the girl beside him but her grip was deathlike. A look of sadness on her face, she pulled the two of them towards the back of Ford's garden, the sound of the police loud and all the more threatening now that she knew that her friend beside her was pumped with Rohypnol or worse. She was lucky that he remembered a name...but what had happened to him?

[Aubs]

While walking further down the sidewalk, Nate saw Amara from out the corner of his eye across the street. “Mar!” He shouted aloud, waiting for a few cars to drive past the street before he himself crossed and approached his friend. He appeared calmer than a few weeks back at the party, more than likely because he hadn’t been trashed and out of it. He patted his friend’s back. “How’s it going? Didn’t get a chance to talk to you much at school today, everything cool?” Despite being as arrogant as he was, Nate was always able to treat Amara like a sister. Maybe it was because she was able to take him on in a fight and he was afraid, or that he truly cared for her it was something that was quite interesting between the two of them.

“Nah, I’m doin’ alright.” Mar replied openly, smiling at her friend. “I’ve been busy just getting ready for my game tonight and everything.” She removed her hat from off of her head and put it inside of the bag with her shoes; her hair blowing rather wildly in the fall breeze. “Have you talked to Jamie today? I’ve been trying to get in touch with her all damn day- but I didn’t see her at school and she ain’t pickin’ up her phone either. I’m almost inclined to show up at the bitch’s door and force her to answer.” Amara smirked and looked over to Nate.
“No, but now that you mention it, I haven’t seen Cole today either.” Nate spoke out silently, shifting his eyes over at Amara. “Have you talked to him?”
“Nope, after ignoring my calls for the third time a few weeks back I figured he didn’t want to talk to me. I can understand why he wouldn’t want to talk to you though.”
Nate grimaced. “Why’s that?”

Well you did kiss him in front of everyone and make him look like the asshole when Britney showed up in the room. You just pushed him off like any other ho you’ve been with- Amara thought to herself, opting to take the silent route instead. She had too many issues going on with her own affair to dabble in someone else’s. At least until she settled her’s down. “Well- you know,” was all she bothered to comment back with. To her, there seemed to be more than what met the eye with Nate and Cole. It was weird and juicy in the same instance, here these two had been best friends for all their lives and then suddenly there was some strange attraction [allegedly~] that neither one of them would talk about. She would have been lying if she said she hadn’t wanted to know more. A train wreck was bound to have happened in a matter of days. No wonder they haven’t been seen together since! She and Nate sat down at a bench, a large sign next to them labeled ‘bus stop.
Finally deciding to speak out, Nate did. “It was just a kiss, Mar. You know I like to get touchy feely whenever I get a few drinks in me.”
Amara laughed. “Just a few? You were all over that boy as if you were the Big Bad Wolf and he was Little Red-”
“That’s not the point though. Cole’s my bro, there was nothing more to that kiss than a drunk bastard wanting the room to stand still with all the attention going his way. Why does there have to be more than that?”
“I don’t know- things just got serious the minute Cole rushed for the door.”
Nate realized what Amara had said. Why had Cole ran out of the room the minute Britney had rushed in? It was surely something that’d made him think about the situation more than he normally would have. But even then, “What’s that got to do with me?” the kiss hadn’t meant anything to Nate, who would continue to brush it off until everyone got it in their heads.
“I guess.. like I told Jamie, I could care less if you two are fucking behind our backs, I have my own problems to worry about.” Like why can’t I get this stupid fucker Clyde out of my head! Arghhhh!
Nate, giving off a concerned look glanced over at Amara. While he’d been glad the conversation was off him and Cole for once, he was truly wondering what seemed to trouble his friend. “Problems? What problems? Is everything-”
“Everything is cool! I said it's cool, damn! I’ve just been thinking a lot about stuff..”
“Like?”
Amara rolled her eyes at Nate and looked away. “Alright, so I kinda did something really stupid at the party and now I’m kind of like.. thinking.”
Nate groaned. “Get to the point already.”
“Ugh... I kissed Clyde at the party and now I want there to be more, alright!”

The two friends sat in silence for a while. Neither one of them said a word to the other, continuing to sit there for minutes upon minutes as the bus approached with only Amara actually getting on. As she went to take her seat, she felt her phone vibrate in her pocket. Getting it out, she answered it.

“You and Clyde?! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAA!!”

Amara sank in her seat, ended the call before it could begin, and looked out the window for the remainder of her ride. Her phone continued to vibrate with Nate’s calls and text messages, but she couldn’t take them. She was never going to hear the end of this..

---

From: Nate.
To: Amara.
Msg: LMAOOO! r u srs?! u & brainiac?! rotflmao! rly Mar? rly? XD

---

“Hey, it’s Amelia Earhart and I can’t make it to the phone right now.. I’m flying over the Pacific Ocean! Ha-ha! Leave a message!”

“Bitch, you got one more time to answer this damn phone before I come lookin’ for yo ass! At this point, it's more than obvious that you're ignoring me for some reason. Stop, okay, stop! I need to talk to you..”

[Aubs]

Amara got off the bus and walked home. With each step, she observed her surroundings. Kids happily running about, without a care in the world, playing with each other as if there were no tomorrow as their parents watched them from their porches. If only it were as easy as going back to that, but even as much as people wanted to go back to their childhood the true answer was that it never was going to happen. It was far more complicated than that. Life was more than games, though Amara would have been lying if she had said she didn’t want to go back to that time in her life.

Finally arriving at her house, she took her key out of her pocket and opened the door. The loud creaking sound of the door, made the ever silent house move with noise. Walking further in the house, she looked around for someone when she heard the voice of her grandma. “Khalil, that you in there?” She spoke out from the kitchen, prompting Amara to peer inside.
“No, it’s me,” Amara voiced as she entered the room and set her bags against the wall. “I just got home.”
“Oh, Amara.” Her grandmother, Claudette, replied as she turned from her cooking from the stove to see her granddaughter in the doorway. “What took you so long to get home?”

“Whatchu mean?”
Her grandmother scowled. “Child please, you know what I mean.. Where were you?”
“I went to buy me a pair of shoes for my basketball game tonight.” Amara admitted, backing down some to be respectful of the woman in front of her. In situations where she was being confronted by her granny, Amara knew not to come off in a negative disposition. Although the woman was in her seventies and retired, she held a firm hand on ruling her household.
“Buying shoes, with what money? You don’t got a job.” Claudette spoke out, saying the obvious.
“I don’t think it matters, but DeShaun let me-”
“DeShaun gave you money, when we got so many damn bills to pay?! To buy some goddamn tennis shoes at that?!” Her grandmother shouted over dramatically. “That don’t make no sense at all, why the two of you think that money is running on trees.”
“I didn’t say that.”
“You don’t have to say it, it’s more than obvious in yo actions! Goin’ out to buy shoes when we need the money for food or some other thang, it’s selfish.”
Amara sighed. “That’s not why I did it though. I thought-”
“Whateva you thought you thought wrong! Never in my life would I have thought I raised such selfish kids, but now that I think about it.. I did. Ya momma was selfish, you and DeShaun seem to be greedy with money, the only one of y’all who has his head on his shoulders is Khalil.”
Amara felt tears fall down her face. That’s some bullshit! Khalil don’t do shit! She wanted to say aloud, but could only say the words to herself. She would never admit it, but she was afraid of this woman. Anything her grandmother could say was liable to reduce her to tears. As much as she appeared to be strong in front of everyone, in front of Claudette she was brought back to the times where she was a defenseless little girl who needed to mind her place.

“What the hell you cryin’ fo?”
Amara wiped her eyes and flinched. “Nothing,” she said as she shook her head.

“Weak ass.. Who you puttin’ up a front fo, huh?"
“Nobody.”
“Always tryna act like somethin’ you not. Hanging out with them white kids, kissin’ girls, you think it ain’t gone catch up to you one day? A girl’s place ain’t playing no basketball. Girl’s is supposed to have class and be in their place.”
“What?” Maybe in your day, but things are different now! Amara thought, looking away from her grandma at this point. She couldn’t take the abuse anymore, but she knew that it had to end soon, right? She certainly didn’t hate her grandma, but did it hurt
“I hear things about you,” Claudette revealed. “As much as you don’t know it, yo life’s an open book. Everyone seems to be talkin’ about you.”

“But is it the truth?” Amara reached down to grab her bags and quickly rushed upstairs for her room. She couldn’t take it anymore; she needed someone to talk to.

---

“Hey, it’s Amelia Earhart and I can’t make it to the phone right now.. I’m flying over the Pacific Ocean! Ha-ha! Leave a message!”

Amara sighed, tossing her phone over at the bed. Where was everyone when you truly needed them? There was still one person she hadn’t tried though as much as she hadn’t wanted to though.

“Hello, Clyde? It’s Amara,”

[Wendy Ann Beckett-Jolina]

Britney hadn't spoken to Nate since the party, and at that point, she didn't give a shit that he'd kissed another guy. If anything, their short time apart had made her fall even deeper for him.

Given the circumstances, it was just her luck that she'd come face to face with her boyfriend as she was dragging Christian around to shop for some necessities (a new Gucci handbag was a necessity, wasn't it?). There was no thought to it at all when she practically tackled him, kissing the guy quickly before speaking in a rushed tone. "Oh my god, Nate, I'm so sorry! I totally overreacted the other night... Baby, you're still not mad at me, are you?"

"Of course not, Britney. You know I could never stay mad at you."

Not when you're wearing shorts that short.

Giving a sigh of relief, the blonde relaxed in his arms, cuddling her face in his neck. "Thank god. I really missed having you around, babe. Not to mention my bedsheets did, too..." At this statement, she smiled coyly, obviously hinting at more than openly stated.

[Gafe]

Baptista: What, will my daughter prove a good musician?
Hortensio: I think she'll sooner prove a soldier!
For she hath broke the lute to me.
I did but tell her she mistook her frets,
When, with a most impatient devilish spirit,
"'Frets' call you these?" quoth she. "I'll fume with them!"
And with that word she struck me on the head,
And through the instrument my pate made way,
And there I stood amazed for a while,
While she did call me "rascal fiddler,"
And "twangling Jack," with twenty such vile terms.

...What?

Baptista: What, will my daughter prove a good musician?
Hortensio: I think she'll sooner prove a soldier!
For she hath broke the lute to me.
I did but tell her she mistook her frets,
When, with a most impatient devilish spirit,
"'Frets' call you these?" quoth she. "I'll fume with them!"
And with that word she struck me on the head,
And through the instrument my pate made way,
And there I stood amazed for a while,
While she did call me "rascal fiddler,"
And "twangling Jack," with twenty such vile terms.

Frustrated, the boy threw the book to the ground where, on impact, it raised a cloud of dust. Clyde let himself fall on the bench. It wasn't exactly comfortable, what with all the thick splinters pushing into his clothes, but it sure as hell was more comfortable than having Shakespeare in his head.

That man was a freak of nature.

Clyde knew some of his plays. He saw there were words in them. He could read the words. But the whole thing didn't make an ounce of sense. None at all. He sighed rather loudly, as if he could vent his frustration entirely through his mouth. How was he expected to turn in a paper on one of his plays for the following day if the whole thing was beyond human levels of understanding? That was academic abuse.

Under the November sun, he turned his head sideways, getting a few crumbs of dried paint in his hair. He wasn't exactly in the nicest park in town but it was the closest to his house. He could see other people in the place, some walking dogs, some exercising, and a few children in the playground. None of them doing anything work-related. Except for him. In such instances he could see why his nicknames persisted. It wasn't like it was his fault though. His lack of close friends left him with no other choice than study in weekends such as this, what with his elder brother hogging the TV and video games.

Clyde sighed again, calmer but still frustrated.

His pocket started to vibrate. Clyde wasn't one of the people who personalized a ring tone, much less used one. He found it uncomfortable when his phone rang and everyone turned to look at him.

Wondering who the hell would want to talk to him on a weekend, Clyde fished his phone out. A name in italics occupied the whole screen: Amara. He froze. Memories of the party three weeks back crept into his mind. Or rather, a sole memory of a sole event. A nice, full-lipped memory.

Then he remembered what had followed. Arrest. Custody. Punishment. Scolding. His parents had given him hell for a week straight. Whatever trust they'd placed on him they'd taken away. His brother, a more social individual, had never been in a situation as degrading as that. The comparison by his parents was inevitable. And he'd hated that. It'd been hard on Clyde, who had no way of finding comfort of any sort.

And he knew that, as much as he'd enjoyed the, ahem, quality time with Amara, if she hadn't kissed him he would've left the party before the cops arrived. In the weeks that followed, both Clyde and Amara hadn't seen each other too much at school. He could bet that, int he deepest recesses of their minds, they were trying to avoid each other.

He let the phone vibrate in his hand. Four times. The icon of a ringing blue mobile phone played behind Amara's name. In the end, Clyde couldn't allow himself to not pick up.

"Hello?"
“Hello, Clyde? It’s Amara,”
"Oh, hey, what's up?
"I was wondering. . . could I talk to you?"
"I - uhm - I actually -" the boy's mind struggled for an excuse, trying to avoid talking to Amara, a classmate that had called him a myriad of names since middle school, who'd never cared much about him, who was independent and strong yet sexy. Who had kissed him in the best party he'd gone to, which'd turned into the worst night of his life. A third sigh, "- I mean, sure, Amara, what's wrong?"

[Eva]

OOC: This would have been submitted earlier, but when I was working on it I left for a few minutes, and when I came back I had forgotten I was working on it and closed the tab. Sorry for having retinis pigmentosa/staples in my head/a premature baby/pierced labia (whichever excuse works best for you personally).


IC:

Jamie tried to give Cole her best smile, but the situation didn't exactly give her the energy to make it as strong as she wanted. Whatever had happened to him, Jamie was the one who had found him, and it was her job to make sure everything turned out fine...or as close to fine as she could make it. Cole and her were never best friends, but they were close enough that Jamie was genuinely worried about him and wanted to help. Even if that meant wasting time sitting here. Jamie looked over at Cole. She gave him another pat on the shoulder and stood up. "I'm gonna go to the bathroom." she said. Jamie stretched and made her way out of the waiting area.

After finishing her business and washing her hands, Jamie decided to check her phone. Several messages and voice mails from Mar, none of which she had the time to read. So she started to text her friends.

To: Amara
From: Jamie
Message: Hey boo can't listen to your vms right now, w/ cole can't tell you where, text me back cuz I know somethins wrong. ttyl

Jamie slid her phone back into her pocket and walked out of the bathroom.
She sat next to Cole again and sighed. "The one good thing about having to wait so long, Cole, is that at least we can assume they're spending all that time getting everything 100% right. That's what I'm telling myself, anyway." she said, trying to lighten up her friend's mood. Not that this would be easy, or even possible, but Jamie wasn't a 'not try' kind of girl. "I wonder if there's a doctor here who can check mental problems. Because I watched a season one episode of Torchwood and for a while I actually thought it was good."she said, turning to face Cole. She wanted him to laugh, at least a little bit.

[Aubs]

When Amara heard the phone pick up and Clyde speak into the other line she felt her heart flutter some. Standing in the middle of her bedroom floor, she walked over to peer outside of her window as she listened to him breathe. It was weird of her to do, but something about it made her if she dared to say it.. happy. It was almost as if he hadn’t had to have been in the room for her to have pictured him there. After a few seconds of silence, Amara finally spoke out on her end.

“I was wondering. . . could I talk to you?” The words just seemed to naturally form themselves, something she’d been grateful for. If there was anything that she couldn’t have at a time like this it was to have embarrassed herself while talking to someone who caught her fancy. She could just imagine how Clyde’s expression would have been. Knowing of how he reacted to situations, his reaction should have been photographed. He certainly didn’t seem to be expecting a call from Amara of all people; especially after they’d practically ignored each other each day since the night of the party. Okay, so maybe I could have been a little more ladylike and approached him about maybe- God, I don’t know what I want for him! I don’t even know why I’m fucking doin’ this! She walked from glancing outside of the window to her bed. Slowly taking a seat to lay back against the headboard while ruffling the bedspread some to make herself more comfortable, she listened into the phone to await Clyde’s answer. There was only one problem though..

“I - uhm - I actually -” was all he managed to utter back along with a few sighs, causing Amara to grunt aggressively. What the hell you mean, “you actually?” Do you or don’t you want to fucking talk to me? What’s so damn complicated about it? Who else could you be talkin' to right about now, bookworm? had been what she’d wanted to reply back with, but she held back her attitude. She was positive he could sense it from his side of the line, as if it wasn’t impossible to do so by now as hostile as she was.

Luckily, he hadn’t turned her down completely- yet. “- I mean, sure, Amara,” he spoke with a slight emphasis on her name. “what’s wrong?”

Amara paused. “Huh?”
“Is everything alright? You doing okay?”
“I didn’t know somethin’ had to be wrong for me to call you-”
“Well- I- uh-” Clyde spoke with a stutter. “We haven’t actually spoken on the phone any other time before. I didn’t even know you uh- I didn’t think I’d get a call from you anytime soon.”
She heard shuffling and a loud slamming sound on his end. He was right, she hadn’t exactly forced herself to talk to him any time before. But neither had he. “Yeah- maybe I kind of do see where you're comin' from. Mah bad. But anyway, sometimes you got to expect the unexpected.” Amara voiced with a slight pep in her voice. She flirtatiously giggled back, seeming to get quite awkward doing so. This hadn’t been much of her forte any time before. She figured it was what girls were supposed to do. “I just wanted to call you to ask what you had planned for tonight?” -kissed any girls lately that compare to me? she thought, laughing to herself.

Clyde went silent. “Huh?”
“What are you doing TONIGHT? There wasn’t anythin’ else to that statement,” she of course lied through her teeth. “That was as straight to the point as I could be. But anyway, I wanted to invite you to my basketball game at school tonight. I could use the support and you should definitely get out more.”

[Gafe]

If there was something Clyde was grateful for then, that was mobile communications. As the boy tried to maintain a conversation with Amara, whose "I didn't know somethin' had to be wrong for me to call you-" had been characteristically aggressive, his words seemed to clutter in his throat. He could only cough them out. And, as he tried to knit up a response in the moment, he shifted his wight excessively to his right, lost all sense of balance, and ended up falling from the bench. Thankfully, Clyde had the good sense not to curse out loud, but Amara was bound to have heard the shuffling and the slamming sound. If their conversation had been face to face, the embarrassment would've been great enough for Clyde to wither in the spot.

You're such a moron, he reprimanded himself.

Not only that, but by having a conversation through their phones they were effectively hiding behind masks of sorts. As the conversation progressed, Clyde's expressions ranged from confused, to worried, to apologetic to more confused. He would bet any amount of money that something similar was going on with Amara on the other end of the line. Her tone of voice was whip-lashing at times and reasonable at others, and there was the giggle. Where had that come from? Their phones were saving them from shame they'd share if speaking to each other personally.

Such thoughts were vanquished from his mind when their talk took an unexpected turn. "I just wanted to call you to ask what you had planned for tonight?" The question seemed incomplete. As if there had been more to it that Amara had purposefully silenced. There was definitely more. Clyde was unsure of how to answer to an incomplete question which, even if complete, was entirely stupefying. Involuntarily, a perplexed "Huh?"
The girl's reaction was as violent as it was immediate, “What are you doing TONIGHT? There wasn’t anythin’ else to that statement.” Oh, so that had really been the whole question after all. Or was it? There was actually more, “That was as straight to the point as I could be. But anyway, I wanted to invite you to my basketball game at school tonight. I could use the support and you should definitely get out more.”

So that was it. Color Clyde surprised that Amara actually seemed to give a shit about the boy's social life. Fact of the matter, though, was that he had been invited somewhere, nevermind that it was only a sports game, it was an in-vi-ta-tion. His instant reaction was to reply with a negative answer: the situation was entirely unheard of!

Yet he realized that deep down he truly felt like going. Sure it was at school, and sure he'd be picked on for being on school grounds on a Saturday (something along the lines of him being a bookworm who never left for home), but there was a hint of something on how Amara had asked (behind all the verbal explosions) that compelled him to go. And screw it, there was no way in hell that he wouldn't finish the assignment on "The Taming of the Shrew" anyway. Most important of all, though, Amara wanted some sort of support, if she was calling him of all people (him!) it meant she really wanted people to be rooting for her, Nate, Jamie and all the guys would no doubt be there for her; Clyde would bolster the numbers. He genuinely felt like being there for her.

"Sure, Mar, count on it! I'll see you there, I-I promise." He spoke into the receiver, referring to her with a nickname for the first time.

At first, there was silence from her side of the line, which was broken with a seemingly more relaxed voice. "Great. You better be there, got me? Starts at seven, sharp. Don't be late, bookworm," Amara said, with a trace of humor in the words. After these words, however, she hung up. The end of the conversation had been almost as sudden as the beginning.

It was the first time after talking to Amara (which meant, in the past, verbal abuse) that Clyde felt something resembling chuckles blooming from his throat. It felt nice.

There was a slight problem, though. Clyde was still grounded from the party three weeks back. No more parties for two months and no going out with the obvious exception of classes. He grinned. He could always claim to have lost the book for the assignment, which only a trip to the school library could fix. The school library in the school grounds. The school grounds where the basketball court was.

With the grin still in his face, Clyde pushed himself up from the floor, not even bothering to dust himself off. He thrust his phone back into his pocket and headed away from the park. His Shakespearan book left to its own devices in the brittle grass. Since some time ago, Clyde felt happy again.

Thank goodness for Graham Bell.

[Aubs]

“Come ladies, we got this! We got this!” Amara shouted across the building as the squeaking sounds of sneakers scuffing against the basketball court. She ran as quickly as she could from side to side, the other girls passing the ball from one to another. This was a moment she lived for. The ball suddenly landed inside her hands; it was officially her time to shine! As though it’d been like life had paused with the ball in her hands, Amara took a quick glance over at the stands.

“Go Mar, you can do it!”
“Come on Mar, take it to the hole!”
“You got it, girl! Gooo!”

Amara felt the corners of her mouth turn upward as she looked over at her friends cheering her on. Although she felt bad that her family hadn’t been there to route for her, she looked at it in a way that spoke volumes to her: her friends were her family. No matter which way she saw it, they were there for her in her time of need and it meant a lot to the girl who felt that family was truly everything.

Alright girl, this is yours. She thought to herself, while dribbling the ball past a few girls from the opposite team. With each girl that came at her, she pivoted left, juked toward the right, and sprinted as quickly as she possibly could to her side of the court. She felt herself getting into a rhythm with the ball, as if she’d been a rapper feeling the beat through the 808 drums. Life was in the palm of her hands. She was the sole controller of everything. Nothing was out of her reach. Come on Mar, you can do this! Moving past a large forward, she rushed toward the basket and threw a lay-up into the basket; scoring her team two points.

“WOOO!” The crowd cheered in unison, Amara running back down the court with her confidence at an all time high. In typical baller fashion, she gloated by striking a sudden pose and being a total jokester. She was in her absolute element.

[danicake]

The cool autumn air still nipped at Lola Dalisay’s legs as she stepped back into the lobby of the gym, her loosely hanging windbreaker being her only form of protection against the cold. She had gone outside just a few minutes before the game officially started for a quick cigarette break. It wasn’t exactly the most responsible choice, seeing as she’s the current captain/choreographer of the dance team, but Sawyer, her co-captain, could take over if they, for some reason, needed her presence in the next ten minutes. Besides, a good luck smoking session wouldn’t hurt. Her eyebrows had furrowed as she felt pinpricks roll between her thighs as the wind hit and the cigarette was down to the butt, and she felt tiny sparks graze her fingertips. No use in it anymore. She gave the evening sky one last glance from behind the gym and welcomed the change in temperature. If central heating didn’t warm her up, the sweat and body heat would.

She heard the cheers immediately and felt herself get energized. Sports weren’t exactly her forte, but with an adequate amount of guy friends and a girl friend that was in love with it, Lola became just as enthusiastic as anyone else. Plus, when halftime came, she got to show off her moves. Briskly and smoothly, Lo reached her place among her fellow dancers, in front along with Sawyer to lead any sideline routines. “Hey,” she casually greeted as she shed her jacket, and all gave a chipper response because even if they didn't like her, they still felt obligated to play nice. All except her co-captain.

“Real nice of you to keep us waiting,” Sawyer muttered.

“Speak up, darling,” Lola responded, raising her voice to be heard over the crowd. “I couldn’t hear the malice in your voice quite enough.” She joked…but not really. “Besides...” she went on, feigned innocence in her eyes. “Can’t a girl have a bathroom break?”

Sawyer whipped her head in Lola’s direction, her blonde curls swaying slightly. “Oh, please, tobacco queen. I can feel myself developing lung cancer just sitting next to you.” She fanned her nose for added effect.

“Touchy…” Lola sighed.

“Go Mar, you can do it!”
“Come on Mar, take it to the hole!”
“You got it, girl! Gooo!”

Lola instinctively turned to the owners of the voice and felt calmer inside. Finally, people she could sort of relate with. She had to admit, it was rather endearing of them supporting Mar like they were. Even Cole, who was too often wrapped in his little shell, was fired up. But it wasn’t like she could expect anything less… Laughing at their fervor, she turned back to the floor, just in time to watch Amara score and, well, showboat.

Abandoning her team once again, Lola climbed a few bleachers and traveled to where the group was sitting. She made herself comfortable by straddling the bench in front of them, although the metal chilled her exposed legs. “Hiya,” she chimed brightly, resting her elbow on the nearest leg, which was Ford’s.

“’Sup,” Ford nodded.

“Hey!” Jamie called from the other side of them.

Nate was too busy eyeing her body. Essentially, their uniform was a red long sleeved leotard with the sides cut out, tiny black shorts, and black jazz shoes. “Nate,” Lola lifted his chin, tearing his eyes away from her breasts. “You’re too obvious.” Lola taunted as if giving him a gentle scolding. She found him very easy to read if you just look at him good enough. Yeah, and he thought he was clever. A lot of girls around him got all gushy and giggly and stupid. Take Britney Loftin for example. Unfortunately, she never fell out of the 'stupid'.

But they were pretty much on the same level – mindless sex, mindless fun, mindless everything… Anyone in their way could suck it, fuck off, or fuck 'em, if they so choose. Lola was still a lover, after all.

“How can I not be when you’re sitting up here doing your Lola-thing?” He shot back coolly while eyes looked on her hungrily. Lola raised an eyebrow. “You know what you’re doing.”

“Yeah, how can you?” She shrugged contentedly while Jamie rolled her eyes at the banter. “But I swear I’m innocent.” She was just being her natural self.

“Ha,” Ford snorted. “You wouldn’t be innocent if the Virgin Mary appeared to claim you as her second lovechild.” The group chuckled.

Suddenly Lola looked lost. “Virgin who?” All of their heads turned to give her a strange look. “I’m kidding.” She laughed. “Anyways,” she went on, straightening up. “I say…if we win, we go for drinks…And if not, well, we go for drinks anyway!” She turned back to the game. A loss didn’t seem likely. Mar was pretty much in the zone tonight.


OOC: Eek, here's my excuse for a starter. >.< I just sort of picked a color, Aubs. Obvs, you can change it if you want.

[GnomesAteMyCake]

Cole smiled weakly at Jamie, appreciating her attempt to set his mind at ease. "Come on Jamie, it isn't that bad," he answered softly, looking around the room and eyeballing the other people as if afraid they all knew the reason he was biting his fingernails, waiting for the doctor to call him in. "There's worse stuff on tv."

"Collin Ashton?" Jumping at the sound of a man calling his name, Cole swiveled in his chair to look up at the doctor. He was slightly shorter than the teen, with thick black hair and an infectious smile. His cheeks were covered with stubble and he had a clipboard in hand. "If you'd like to follow me, Mr. Ashton. Your friend is welcome to come if you don't mind discussing personal details in front of her," he said in a quieter tone as Cole shakily stood up and approached him.

"It's cool Cole, I can wait out here," Jamie said softly, beginning to lower herself back into her chair but Cole shook his head.

"Come with me," he said quickly, his eyes wide and desperate, showing the fear he felt clearly at being alone with the doctor. Jamie blinked a few times before smiling encouragingly and following the two males into the doctors room.

The doctor gestured to two chairs before seating himself behind his desk, steepling his fingers and staring at Cole over his hands. "My name is Gerard Masters, but please just call me Gerry; Dr. Masters sounds too much like a supervillian for my tastes." Smiling at the two teenagers, he wriggled the mouse of his computer and began typing. "So how can I help you today, Cole?"

"Uhh..." the nervoud brunet started, looking at his hands before firing a glance at Jamie, begging for her help. She shrugged at him, causing him to sigh before running a hand through his hair.

"I was...at a party a few weeks back. I just wanted to get checked out."

"Okay. Is there anything specific you'd like to be tested for?"

"...Everything."

"I'm afraid you'll have to be more specific, Cole. That's a very broad subject, and it depends a lot on what you did, such as whether you had full sexual intercourse with someone you don't know. Is that what happened? Everything in here is completely confidential, so I can promise you I won't be going behind your back to tell your parents."

Cole hunched his shoulder's as Gerry spoke, his spine curling as he became smaller and smaller in the chair. Jamie watched him, chewing her lip as she reached out to run his shoulder. Standing, she exited the room quietly, knowing that Cole wouldn't speak when she was there, although she knew everything that had happened; it was more a pride thing for him.

"Cole?" Gerry prompted gently, pushing away from the computer and focusing on the boy. "You do know, don't you?" Cole sat still for a few moments before shaking his head the smallest amount. "I see. So you're unsure on whether you've had sex with someone. Well, we can check you for most STD's, all we'll need is to take a blood sample, you'll answer a few more questions and- Cole?" The doctor cocked his head before pushing himself out of the chair and rushing over the boy's side, placing his hand on the shaking shoulder of the teen. "What's wrong, son?"

"I...I-" Cole stammered, his eyes flitting to the doctor's face before looking away, his face stained with tears and self-digust. "It...w-wasn't a girl."

~~

"You got it, girl! Gooo!" Cole hollared some hours later, clapping loudly as his friend flew down the court. He'd never missed one of Mara's games since they'd become friends; none of them had. He figured that because her family never came, it gave her the push to do well, but he'd never asked. It wasn't his place. Overall, he was having a good time, the meeting with his doctor (Gerry, he told himself firmly in his head) far from his mind. He had the doctor's personal number in his mobile, should he ever need to talk, and that was a load off his mind.

The only problem at the moment was the fact that his best friend was sat next to him, apparently having paid no thought to the party. He didn't expect it to mean anything to him, but seriously, not mention it at all? No, "hey dude, crazy party right? You know it was nothing, yeah?" if he could just get some closure from him, Cole knew he'd be able to get his thoughts in order. He might not be right still, but it had to be an improvement to this....constant confusion.

Cheering along with his friends as Amara scored a basket, Cole shouted a hello to Lola over the noise of the crowd, but the greeting trailed off at the look that Nate was giving her. A hungry look that he'd seen aimed at loads of girls before and never given it a second thought....but after being on the receiving end, it was a little...weird to see him give it to someone else.

The two flirting over his head sure was annoying though. It was bad enough that he was stuck next to the boy, but to have him just speak over him like this? Rude.

Pulling a cigarette box out of his pocket, he stood up appruptly, making Lola lean back, a surprised look on her face. "Sorry, Lola. Cig-break," he said shortly to Nate, not meeting the teen's eyes properly before walking from the court, tapping a cigarette out and placing it between his lips, fishing in a pocket for a lighter. He'd been meaning to quit....funny how shit can change stuff like that.

[Aubs]

“That’s a great idea from a sexy girl,” Nate spoke out, complimenting Lola’s appearance as the two of them smirked at each other. He had to admit it, she was a great looking girl; more so than a lot of the girls he’d fooled around with before. She had a sassy confidence to her, which had by default given her more points than anyone else. In a way, she’d could have been a female version of himself. The shit I would do to her. She just doesn't know.. He thought to himself, as he placed a hand on her lap and carefully caressed her leg sensually as everyone else paid attention to the game. If he could’ve had the easy access that a skirt provided, he would have gladly given her a ‘hand’ in every sexual sense of the word. He could feel himself getting hotter with every word she’d spoken. She just seemed to have that natural seductive charm that was surely able to captivate any guy, but Nate just wasn’t any guy. No, he knew the tricks of the trade. Although he could see right through this girl, he couldn’t help but want to fuck her as badly as he could.

Stop fucking around with me! He laughed in his head. He wanted it; craved it. But within the seconds that he was going to ask her to follow him to the washrooms for a quickie [one that would’ve been a damn good one at that], Cole stood up and interrupted his thoughts causing his eyes to trail after his friend as he walked away. The past couple of weeks, Nate and Cole hadn’t been as close as they normally were. There seemed to be a rift in their friendship and all the fingers pointed to Nate. Stemming back to Ford’s Halloween party, when the two of them has kissed in front of their friends during a spin the bottle game, Nate hadn’t seemed to think much of it other than him being fucked shitless with all the alcohol he’d consumed that night. But something after that incident had bothered Cole. But for what reason?

I should go see what the hell is up with him, He thought to himself, standing up as well. “I’mma go take a couple puffs too, be are be.” Nate announced to the group as the crowd grew louder at every goal their school’s team had made –headed by Amara of course. Nate ran down the bleachers, rudely bumping into a few people as he went down, and made his way outside of the gym. Turning left immediately, he saw Cole over against the building brick wall, smoking on a cigarette and jittering from the cold breeze.

When Cole saw Nate’s face he brought himself to look away in the other direction as if he hadn’t seen him at all. What had become of the friendship of two guys who’d known each other from their adolescence? Nate had to get down to the root of it, himself.

“What’s up man, haven’t spoken to you in a while. It’s like you’re ignoring me.” He lightly chuckled, shivering from the cold himself as a gust of wind brushed past him. He took out a cigarette from his pocket and realized he hadn’t had a lighter on him, not that he had anyway, he was always mooching off of someone else’s. Cole reached into his pocket and took out his lighter and handed it to Nate.
“Thanks man,”
“No problem . .”

The two stood in silence with each other, not really knowing what to say. This wasn’t helping the either of them, but Nate decided he’d finally take the initiative and say something. “Are you alright, dude? You’ve been all over the place lately, bro and I was just curious as to whether or not there was something I could do to help?”