@andreaberklxy

“Yo, who is that?” Hebrew said to his buddy, nodding in the direction of a girl sat at one of the cafe tables by herself. They were being loud and obnoxious as usual when she’d caught his eye, and Hebrew settled down only to point her out to his friends. 

They gave him a rundown, what little they knew of the girl, and before long he was up and striding towards her. He took pride in the suspicious glances he received as he moved - seeming to get them every time he did so much as get out of his seat. Last time he was in a scenario like this, he ended up getting expelled. It was fun times; he hoped this would be as exciting of an encounter.

“This seat taken?” he smiled sweetly when he finally approached. He held out a hand for her to shake. “I’m Hebrew. I just transferred back here.”  

It was easy to get high in the middle of the school day when you had an off period, and Andrea had safely make it to and from her dorm before the time was up. While she normally would’ve gone to the library, she opted to head to the cafeteria, grab an empty table, plug her headphones in and sit and read. IT was the safest option, and the one that would make her head hurt less.

The cafeteria was always a lot, especially when anything but sober, but Andrea found herself a table and sat, doing her own thing. She hadn’t even noticed the guy approaching her until he was right there and speaking, though she didn’t hear the first part.

She pulled her AirPods out of her ear, looking confused. “I’m sorry, what?” she asked, looking up at him. “I know who you are, Hebrew. We had English together freshmen year.”

Finley didn’t think he’d ever be happy to be back at school and yet here he was, thrilled. After screwing things up with Kaylee which had just seemed a given and her moving back to New York he’d been pretty mad at the world anyway and then he’d managed to get a really bad case of tonsillitis and it felt like forever since he’d been in class. Just about back to normal the male felt an odd sense of nerves as he made his way down the corridor on his first day back, unsure of the last time he’d been off school for nearly three weeks. As soon as he spied a familiar face though his lips pulled into their familiar smirk. “I’m back, fear not order is resorted!”

Andrea had been busy, that was for sure, and for that she hadn’t gotten much sleep that weekend. It was just a lot of smoking, taking Adderall and doing work and just trying to keep up with her work. Doctor’s appointments were just making her life hell, and she was tired from the precautious chemotherapy she was doing. She jumped at the sound of Finley’s voice, not paying much attention. “Wow, my life has suddenly gotten better,” she said sarcastically. 

“Sorry, just pretend I’m not here, trying to get some photos for the yearbook,” Kaylee waved her hand, crouching down and taking photos of the carnival. “But if you could like, smile a little more, pretend you’re having fun- okay, don’t flip me off,” She muttered, rolling her eyes at the person standing in front of her camera, before she put it back in the bag slung across her chest. “Why so grumpy? You should go get a corn dog, it’s hard to be mad when you’re eating a corn dog,”

“Not fair. You know I love extra butter.” Teddy pouted as she took the cotton candy. “You’re gonna share that with me, and if you don’t Christmas is going to be hell for you.”

“Give me the extra dollar and we’ll call it even,” she smirked. “Oh please, I’m your favorite cousin. As if you’ll get Faith or Naomi something better than what you’re gonna get me.”

“Okay, so I got popcorn and cotton candy,” Andrea smiled. “You can have the cotton candy, because I paid for extra butter on the popcorn.” She handed her cousin the cotton candy, smirking. 

Andrea was on her break from the ticket booth, sitting on a bench and scarfing down whatever was in this sandwich--she tasted cheese, and maybe some kind of meat, but honestly there was just so much cheese. She was hungry, that was for sure, but could feel the cheese on her chin. “Hey!” she Called when Henry passed her. “Can you grab me a napkin?” she pointed to the table right behind him.

finley: one day i’m gunna be wifed up.  finley: and you’ll regret missing out on this. 

“Define fun. The last person who asked me to do something wanted me to break into the swimming pool,” Kaylee grumbled, rolling over and covering her face with a pillow, groaning dramatically. “We’ve done nothing because I’ve been up late every night studying, not that it makes a difference,” She sighed.

“I mean, not that,” Andrea shook her head, sighing as she ran her fingers through her hair. “Kaylee, come on. I told you I’d help you.”

“Can we do something fun this weekend?” Andrea looked over at Kaylee from her spot on the other girls bed, sighing. “I feel like we’ve done nothing since we got back to school.”

‘I mean, yeah if you find math interesting…” kennedy mumbled looking to his assigned partner. “Come on, we just need to get this done.

“I already finished it,” Andrea pointed out, handing him her sheet. “Here. Copy from mine.”

“Maybe.” he conceded, a sheepish grin on his face. “- So, what to you is worth remembering?”

“Hmm,” Andrea paused. “Someone who actually prefers the Cold War to Imperial Russia. What a loser.”

finley: why would i not message a pretty girl like you?

“Do you think you’d remember if you had seen me around?” August laughed. “It’s a pretty big school. It’d definitely take me a lot to remember.” He dropped his hand from their shake, and let it sink back it into his uniform slack’s pocket. 

“Maybe I’m not just not privy to like, who’s worth remembering or whatever.”

“I don’t forget face,” Andrea shrugged her shoulders. It was true, she could still clearly remember every doctor and nurse that had treated her when she was a child, as if she had seen them yesterday. “That’s because you haven’t been here since freshmen year.”

“Well, that’s subjective,” she smirked.

“You could tell.” he said, more observation than a question. August knew it was probably painfully aware that he was new here, despite the fact that he was finally starting to get settled. He’d made his peace with it.

“I am new yes, but I’m also August.” he smiled sweetly, and offered a handshake to the girl.  

“Well I’ve never seen you around,” Andrea caught herself, biting the inside of her cheek out of nervousness before licking her lips. She didn’t want to make him feel weird or anything, but she knew most people at Redwood. Except for him.

“August,” she smiled, shaking his hand firmly. “It’s nice to meet you. Welcome to Redwood.”

“Maybe, but it’s such an old story. Poison, bullets, drowning. We all get it.” August sighed, in opposition, but still beside himself with the conversation he was having. 

The last time he’d had a debate like this was with his mother, and a long long time ago at that. “— What’s your name?” he asked finally, realizing he hadn’t yet caught it. “We haven’t met before.”

“Just because it’s old doesn’t mean it’s bad. I mean, the amount of Romeo and Juliet stories--in history and in fiction--are astounding, and yet they still sell and still get people’s attention,” Andrea shrugged.

She paused, feeling her cheeks heat up a bit. “Uh, Andrea,” she nodded, offering her hand. “You’re new, aren’t you?”

“I’m absolutely one of those snobs.” he laughed. “The only bearing he had on the modern world was the fact that he died. Completely useless until his assassination, and completely boring until the USSR rose.”

“I wouldn’t say that’s something to be proud of,” Andrea smirked. “Please, Rasputin is such a key figure. He has such a hold on the Tsarina, it was unprecedented.”