RISER

Is that [DYLAN SPRAYBERRY]? Nah, its only [BO ALLEN]. [HE/HIM] IS/ARE [21] AND IS A [FRESHMAN] AT [ASU]. [BO] IS/ARE KNOWN FOR BEING [BRAVE, LOYAL, RIGHTEOUS] BUT SOME PEOPLE SAY [HE/HIM] IS/ARE ALSO [RESERVED, QUIET, RESENTFUL]. [HE/HIM] HAS BEEN IN ASHTON FOR [4 MONTHS] AND [HE/HIM] ARE [SINGLE]. [HE/HIM] IS/ARE PLAYED BY [PAU]. 

TW: Parental death, Military

“Yes, I have sponsors.” Aaron confirmed with a small nod. “I’ll have to send some emails and see what people are willing to do.” He added knowing that it wasn’t a bad idea. “Well, there is nothing wrong with that. We all are living at our own pace.” He added knowing that he had things a lot better off than most people.

“Yeah, that sounds like a good plan. Get some free stuff or whatever. That’ll make it easier.” It was the trade, he knew that much, goods in exchange of making sure that branding was put out there for all fans to see. Bo didn’t think he could lead that life, that pressure. He had enough demons to deal with to add the trolling, bullying internet community as well. “Yeah, I guess. Try being a Freshman at 21... it fucking sucks, I’ll tell you that much.”

“Yeah, I guess so.” Esme replied letting out a small chuckle, although not a very convincing one. It wasn’t as if she had much to laugh about these days. Another person she cared about was missing, and now people were tormenting her about it at school. She shook her head at the boy not wanting for him to worry about it. It wasn’t as if it was anything he did to have her in the negative mind space that she was in at the moment. “I am fine, I guess I was just a little distracted. Which I suppose is probably the last thing I should do in this town. I just have a lot on my mind.”

Bo remembered their conversation from the auction and Esme’s sister. Even if he had been gone for a little over a week, he knew the town was going through it all over again, dealing with yet another unresolved missing person case. Everyone was on edge and they should all be careful. He tried not to make a big deal out of it so when he spoke again, he tried to play it cool. “I’m just done here anyway so, if you want, I can go grab my things and walk with you. Two are better than one, right?”

Shawn let out a small laugh at everyone’s reactions. “Don’t worry, I play lacrosse I’m used to getting hit- trust me” he said, knowing it was a contact heavy sport at times. His smile grew when the kid said they needed a new quarterback, “You’re in luck- my dad taught me how to play when I was young so I’m actually not bad” he said before nodding, “I’m Shawn, it’s good to meet you man” he said, picking the ball back up and heading back over to the field with him

“Sold. You’re on our team, come on.” Even if some of the guys were actually in the varsity team, they were all just mainly fooling around and having a good time. For Bo it meant he got to decompress a little, especially after an entire week back at the base undergoing drills and trainings. Coming back to Ashton with everything that was going on in town didn’t make it all much better either. Football was his escape. Shawn looked familiar too. He was sure he’d seen him at the auction but he’s not sure they’ve ever talked. There’s not much talking during the game either, mostly play calls and rivalry challenges on the field. “Well, you’re not that bad... you should consider joining the league. I mean, they’re on the school’s team so that’s pretty legit but, we also have a flag football league. It’s a new thing. Might be fun.”

“It might take more than 30 minutes to tell you everything” she said, obviously exaggerating but she really did have a lot to fill him in on. “Yeah, poor Ethan.. I hope he’s alright, wherever he is. I’m sure they’ll find him, you know?” she said optimistically once she saw how the new disappearance affected her friend. She put her hand over on his shoulder, giving it a short squeeze before she left her hand on his upper back, lightly rubbing his back with her nails. It wasn’t much, but she always used small physical affections to try and comfort her friends, especially Bo. Her cheeks turned a bright red color when he brought up Jamie, “I was kind of hoping you wouldn’t have seen that” she said before laughing, “Isn’t he so cute though?” she beamed, since she really did like Jamie. “Okay so I was dancing with Jamie, we kissed obviously- I mean who wouldn’t kiss him, he’s gorgeous. And then at some point I saw my brother sticking his tongue down my bosses throat” she said, her face turning more serious. “So him and I got into a fight, I have not talked to him since because I’ve been waiting for him to come apologize to me and he just…hasn’t yet” she sighed. “Typical Carter, I don’t know what I expected” she tried to brush it off, even though it clearly bothered her a lot. “And then I did a dumb thing because I was upset and I kind of….might’ve kissed Oli a little bit. I actually tried to sleep with him, and he rejected me, so that was cool” she said, wincing because she knew he was going to react to that part. She decided to save the rest of the story for after his reaction so she didn’t overwhelm him with information.

“We’ve got time.” Bo assured her between chuckles, biting his lip as he tried to pay attention to the road while his mind, just like Cam, moved to Ethan’s disappearance. “Yeah...” He mumbled, mostly, still not sure what to make of all the missing people. He had only been in Ashton for a handful of months and though it had all been some sort of urban legend once, it felt real now that it happened to someone he had actually exchanged a few words with at some point. Her touch was comforting, though. Bo didn’t mind the physical contact. He was used to being one of those guys who could just rest his head on his girl friends laps and they’d just run their fingers through his hair until he fell asleep on the school gym’s bleachers during PE. “Well, Oli pointed right at it so...” He shrugged, looking at the passenger seat with a quirked brow. “Obviously.” Bo echoed her own words as she continued, nodding. “So Carter being... well... Carter... got it.” He continued, chuckling. Even if he didn’t know him well enough himself, Cam had filled him in enough. His brows arched in mild surprise when she did admit on kissing Oli, lips parting a little when she said they almost slept together, and when Cam mentioned Oli rejected him, Bo couldn’t help but burst in laughter. “I’m sorry.” He tried to stop but couldn’t, shaking his head. “I feel like I’m the third wheeler in this relationship half of the time but at the same time, I don’t get it. I really don’t.” He definitely had a lot to catch up with his roommate too, not just concerning Cam. “I don’t even know where to start... but, um. Okay so, Jamie is cute. Is it serious? And also, you know Carter is probably expecting you to come apologize instead so neither of you ever will unless one of you decides to stop being so proud. Remember, Cam, when they go low, we go high! And, I guess... I mean, Oli... I don’t want to take sides here but... I mean, it’s Oliver. He’s my best friend. You just said you kissed him because you were upset and you tried to sleep with him. Are you really surprised he rejected you if you came at him for that reason?”

Doing her daily jog to clear her mind, Rosie had her headphones in and the music was keeping her going, even though she really wanted to just stop and go to the bakery to get a bear claw. As she looked over for a moment, she saw a ball coming at her, her arms raising as she miraculously caught it. She couldn’t help but slightly be impressed with herself, looking down at the ball in her head. “Yeah, I’m good. Here. I’m just happy my hands decided to protect my head,” she smiled softly at him. “Do you play on a team?”

Bo laughed a little apologetically as he bent to pick up the football that the woman had just barely missed, shaking his head. “Not officially.” He answered, turning to face her. His eyes moved over her just to make sure she was okay, shrugging. “Good reflexes there, by the way. I used to. Play on a team, I mean. But it’s been years since then hence why I almost hit you. I’m sorry.”

Hailey smiled seeing the caller ID on her phone and picked up immediately, walking out of the noisy cafe. “Hello there,” she was saying when Bo started to speak already. She chuckled, “Risking getting kicked out of the library just to call me? That’s cute. I think you deserve to rewarded for this and I know just the place to put you out of your misery.”

“I mean, I’ve gone through much worse than just getting kicked out of the library by some mean librarian who hates on people for simply breathing a little too much but, yeah, definitely not looking just for a chat.” Bo laughed, shaking his head as said librarian came after him. He tried to apologize between laughs but he knew it was a lost cause. “Oh? Are you gonna share now or is it gonna be a surprise? Pick you up?”

 For some very strange reason, Verity found herself yet once again running through the park. It had been a few stressful weeks, and even though she was never going to admit it, it helped clear her head from everything that was going on with her family right now. Her mother was in hysterics over her dad getting remarried, while her dad was trying to push for her to come over an help out, which was never going to happen. She was lost in her own thoughts and music when she suddenly felt something grace her feet gently. She stopped, looked down on the ground before she went to pick up the football. Removing her earplug, turning to see whom it belonged to when suddenly Bo appeared. She raised an eyebrow at her, before quirking her lips into a teasing smile. “I am fine. But you really need to practice on those throws.” She said before handing the ball over to him. 

Bo couldn’t help but laugh in spite of himself as he jogged to meet the girl and retrieve the football. It had been a bad throw and that was all of him. “Yeah, that’s kinda what I’m trying to do... it’s been a long time. I’d even try to play it out as if it had been intentional so the guys there don’t hate me for missing the shot but I think they know my arm is shit right now. You’re my first casualty, though, so it’s not too bad.” He joked lightly. “I haven’t seen you since the auction. Everything okay?”

Wren had been sitting in the park, sketching for the drawing class she had that semester. It might not be directly related to interior design, but she knew that sketches were important to her major, so the class made sense to her. She had been focused on her drawing when she just barely caught something out of the corner of her eye and flinched away, the ball glancing off her shoulder before flying off to the side and landing near the bench she was sitting on.

She was rubbing her shoulder when the man ran up and she gave him a small half smile. “It’s alright, it was an accident.” she said, “It’ll probably bruise, but I’ll live. It’s not a big deal. Trust me, my brother’s done worse, I’ve ended up with a black eye twice from a ball getting away from him while he and his friends played.” she said.

Shit, Bo cursed to himself as he approached the girl, his eyes narrowed as he tried to focus on the spot the ball had hit her. “I, uh, I think we might have some icy hot spray, if we’re lucky but... I can try and find you an ice pack. I’m so sorry!” He repeated again, feeling bad for hurting her, accident or not. “We forgive a lot of shit when it’s our siblings doing it. I’d be pissed if some stranger gave me a black eye.” He shrugged a little, his eyes then moving to the sketchbook. “I hope I didn’t make you mess that up too... that looks pretty cool.”

Braxton had been slightly relived when he found out that Bo was going to be out of town for a few days. He had never liked the idea of his brother being in the army, but with everything going on in Ashton at the moment. He had to admit he felt better knowing he was out of town, as it just felt safer that way. Braxton had been just as surprised as the receptionist had sounded confused when she announced that his brother was here. He had not expected for him to show up unannounced, and was trying his best not to read into it too much, but it didn’t stop him from slightly worrying. He looked up once he heard the familiar voice speak from the door to his office. “Bo, hello. Good morning.” He said, standing up a little to great him. “Please, come in.” He said, gesturing his hand towards the small sofa group he had inside his office. “No, please take a seat. Don’t worry about those guys, I am sure they will just run a background check on you and it’ll be fine.” He teased him. “How have you been? How was training?” He asked as he took a seat opposite. 

Bo didn’t get why Braxton felt the need to leave when he did. Instead, he had held the grudge against his brother for so long that he didn’t even know how to fix it. He found it hard to talk to Braxton even when he wanted to. This was one of those tries. Bo wasn’t sure how far it’d get before he’d just close off again so he took to the seat his brother showed him to and looked around the office, taking it all in. Fancy, he thought. At least compared to anything he’d ever been appointed to himself. “Yeah, it was more of a background check than I ever got when I enlisted so that says a lot about the US Army...” He joked, shrugging. “It was fine, just exercising a lot. Nothing comes close to the real thing so, you know, this was nothing. How about you? Busy? Have you, you know, heard anything about that Royce kid?”

Cameron was excited that she was still getting to go on her fake date with Bo. She’d missed him when he was gone, especially since she’d had a long string of ups and downs throughout the week that she would’ve normally gone to talk to him about when he was around. She smiled when he said he thought she was going to like where they were going too, “Don’t tell me where we’re going- I love surprises” she said, wrapping her arms around him since she was definitely a hugger. “Besides it doesn’t matter where we’re going, I already know I’m going to love it because I’m going with you” she said, kissing his cheek before she let out a laugh at his next comment. “Oh yeah- it’s been a tough week. I guess I should start from the beginning, huh?”

“I won’t, I won’t!” Bo laughed, shaking his head as Cameron asked him not to tell her where they were going. Honestly, he really didn’t have a whole lot of ideas from which to choose when it came to planning this date. He was sure Cam would’ve picked some sort of black tie event for them if he let here, and he would do that too if she wanted, but after a whole week of drills and training, he just wanted to relax a little and this was the perfect excuse. Even without having bid on the date, he would’ve asked her, except maybe, he would’ve also made Oli join. Bo scrunched his face playfully the moment Cam leaned in and kissed his cheek, rolling his eyes with a laugh. “I mean, we still have like half an hour on the road so, you better start spilling.” His face sobered a little as he turned his eyes back to the road. “I mean, last thing I heard before leaving was Ethan Royce...” Up until that moment, he had not really met any of the missing people. Even if he wasn’t friends with Ethan, he knew who he was. Everything suddenly became all too real. “And you... my friend... were making out with one Jamie O’Brien at the dance floor so. Please do share.” 

Shawn was just out at the park with his lacrosse stick, practicing to get his mind off everything that had been going on in his life and in this town. His friends- the very few of them he actually had- were all too busy to hang out so he just went alone. He was mid drill when he got slammed in the back of the head by a football. “Oh- fuck” he said, moving his hand to the back of his head as he turned around, seeing Bo coming toward him. “Yeah, yeah man I’m fine” he nodded, shrugging it off before picking up the ball to hand back to him. “Y’all have room for one more?” he asked, being familiar with some of the guys since he was also an athlete and went to a lot of their parties, even though he was still in high school.

Everyone’s cringe was almost too loud and yet not loud enough to drown the guy’s reaction the moment the ball hit him. Bo was a little worried. The last thing they needed was to get in trouble but, also, he didn’t feel good about hurting someone like that either. He seemed okay enough, though, Bo giving him a once over before looking over his shoulder at the team. “I mean, I guess we’ll need a better quarterback if you’re up for the job. Clearly I’m not it.” He offered with a shrug. “I’m Bo, your new cornerback. Let’s go win us a game here.”

Esme had decided to go on a walk to get out of her dorm as it had been weeks since she’d gone anywhere other than where she absolutely had to go. To say she was exhausted of the disappearances and everything else would be an understatement at this point. She was tired of the looks people gave her, and of them whispering, but logically she knew she couldn’t hide out forever. As she passed through the park she noticed people playing football and a knot formed in her stomach. She should have gone another way.

Since she was lost in her thoughts she almost didn’t see the ball flying towards her until it was too late. Thankfully it narrowly missed her but she found herself stopping for a moment to process what happened. Esme noticed Bo coming towards here and shook her head. His question was a loaded one but she knew he only meant about the ball. “Yeah, I’m fine. Thankfully it missed me so there is no real harm done.” She responded, sending him a weak smile. “Which is great because the last thing I need is a black eye or something.”

It was very much like Bo to miss his throw so erratically but he had been hit as the ball was just about to leave his grip, causing the misdirection. Everyone stopped, half cringing, following the ball with their eyes until they saw it miss the girl entirely. He recognized her easily now that he had made it a little closer, an apologetic smile playing on his lips. “Good thing I missed target there too then, right?” Bo offered, half joking as he moved to pick up the football. Throwing it back towards the boys, he turned his attention to Esme. There was something off but he wasn’t sure what. “Are you sure you’re okay? Do you need to sit down for a moment or something?”

“I guess that is fair. It’s not a thing that a lot of people need to worry about. A party does sound tempting though.” Aaron mused figuring that it might as well have some fun to celebrate everything. He’d worked hard lately and he surely deserved it. “I’ve been working at it for a few years now, so it’s really nice that it’s paying off now.”

“You could always hit some sponsors, too. For the party. Do you have sponsors?” Bo asked with a shrug as he threw some more ideas out there even though he wasn’t very familiar with any of it aside from what he knew through his roommate. “That’s pretty cool. My job is definitely nowhere as lucrative. I mean, I don’t really have a job but... what I do for a living I guess.”

I'm a get up off the ground, don't run and hider

Hey pushin' comes to shovin'

Baby I'm a fighter

When darkness comes to town, I'm a lighter

A get out aliver, of the fire, survivor

Location: Lockhart Park

The cool, crips air and the changing of the leaves meant a lot of things to different people but, for Bo, it meant football season. If he ever wrote a list of things he missed from life before the military, it would be there at the very top. He wished he was okay with just doing this, hitting the park every now and then with a couple of friends from ASU’s football team and practice with them but, in truth, he’d kill to be in uniform with them. He couldn’t. He wasn’t in the right mindset yet. He knew that much.

Playing quarterback, he threw a long pass that completely missed its target, running back to avoid a tackle while his eyes followed the ball. He winced loudly, watching it go straight towards a passerby in what felt like slow motion. Bo jogged towards them, his hands up to apologize. “That was my bad! Are you okay?”