* JONES !

Cam frowned at Bri’s words before shaking his head. “I guess, technically, I’m not a football player anymore,” he shrugged. It was weird to think about, but football season was long over and there was no chance he would ever play on a team again. Maybe it was more bittersweet than weird. He nodded, trying hard not to laugh at the image of his dad failing at a rubix cube. He agreed with her, it was definitely going to be hilarious. “Do you want me to give you a hard time about it?” He asked, raising an eyebrow. Bri and Jaz… And their relationship drama never failed to make him shake his head. It wasn’t like he was a perfect example either, but still, they had a lot going on. “Are you two back together or what?” Steering clear of his cousin’s relationship drama would have been easier if Cam just wasn’t so damn nosy. “Dylan and I aren’t dating,” he mumbled out as he sat up, trying to avoid the wrath of his mother complaining about his lying around on her couch. “I feel like everyone thinks that we are and we’re not officially anything.” He let out a deep sigh, before shaking his head and turning his attention back to his cousin. “Being a senior is awesome. Some parts of it are weird. I’m ready to graduate and start over somewhere new, but I’m going to miss so many people.”

“i know you still know how to catch.” bri scolded lightly, head tilting downward in his direction. rubix cube discussion long behind them, she shook her head, “no, please don’t give me a hard time about it. i don’t really even know what’s going on there.” she admitted, rubbing her eyelid with a finger, as if thinking about that situation as a whole was both making her tired and giving her a head ache. “officially though? does that mean....there’s a chance you will?” bri asked, “or there’s a chance at least? or is it too close to graduation?” she listed her questions, grabbing a pillow from the couch and hugging it into her. “luckily you’ll be home for all the holidays and stuff.  face time is a life saver. i’m sure it’ll be like you aren’t even missing anything.”

Sunday dinner was one of those things Cam was going to miss the most next year. Sure, Jaz or Bri could FaceTime him in, but he knew that it wouldn’t be the same. So, he was determined to enjoy these moments as much as he could while he still could. He laid back onto his couch, frowning as the rubix cube his cousin tossed in his direction hit his chest. “Ouch,” he mumbled out with a slight laugh. He looked over in the direction of their parents and shook his head, before beginning to fiddle with the cube himself. If Bri didn’t figure it out, he probably wasn’t going to either. Maybe they’d let Jaz give it a try. “Why would you be in trouble, dummy?” He asked with a chuckle.  “My dad is making some sort of a casserole and my mom is in charge of making sure it turns out edible. I decided to sit it out.” He let out a yawn before reaching out to place the cube on the coffee table and then grabbed a pillow to stick under his head as he turned on his side. “Seriously though. Why would you be in trouble, cuz? What nonsense have you been getting into lately?”

“aren’t you supposed to be a football player? don’t ow! catch better!” bri stifled her laughter as she watched him set the rubix cube on the coffee table, “we should make your dad try it after dinner, even if he can’t get it, i bet he’d make it fun.” she commented casually, she’d rather do that than play trivial pursuit, but brianna didn’t see any reason to complain. trivial pursuit quickly left her mind though as she defended, “i’m not in trouble...i’m never in trouble.” she said, “i just thought maybe you’d have something to say about chad and i at candyland.” a sheepish admission, but bri wouldn’t lie. “glad to hear you don’t though.” a genuine smile slipped onto her face, “your support means everything.”  the sweet remark was quickly swept under the rug by a question of her own, “like i said, i don’t get into trouble...you on the otherhand...” she teased lightly, a true sign she was a bit more comfortable in her typically meek skin. “how are you? how’s dylan? sports? schoolwork? being a senior oughta be much more interesting.”

​

zoe’s locker had become a meeting spot of sorts throughout her tenure at william mckinley high school. it wasn’t a surprise to find theo, or eli, finn, & otto, or the cheerios posted up at her locker on any occasion, so when she saw the shoes pause from behind the locker door, a small smile appeared on her face. school really fucking sucked, but her people had always been the shining part of her day - they always made it better. when she didn’t instantly recognize the voice, the smile on zoe’s face faltered and she hesitated. if this was another jv cheerio coming to her for advice, she was about to raise hell in the middle of the hallway. with a quick breath and a close of the door, zoe turned to face… bri? “hi,” she greeted warily in response to cam and jaz’s cousin. “are you, like, trying out for the team? pretty bold to make people bond when you haven’t even hit the courts with us.”

JUST AT THE TONE of zoe’s ‘hi’, bri instantly felt the need to begin explaining herself. “oh, no uh, it’s probably not smart for me to do any sports or anything, since...yknow.” she chuckled awkwardly as she spoke in reference to the injury she had sustained. “um anyhow, i just figured it could like, maybe be something fun to do. i’d love to um...” as she made eye contact with zoe’s firm stare, she could feel her resolve crumbling, and it was painfully apparent in the way she was speaking, “spend some time with the team this season? maybe instead of some of the guys and stuff, so i guess i was sort of just guessing, maybe a group activity could be fun.” although choppy, she had certainly got her point across, but still, bri couldn’t stop the word vomit flowing from her mouth. “did you know that group activities actually really increase sportsmanship and likelihood of winning? it’s actually very healthy, so um...” she swallowed dryly as she repeated for the umpteenth time, “i just figured it could be fun...if you were....down.”

WHO @zoepuckerman​ and bri jones. WHEN weekday. WHERE zoe’s locker.

WITH SPRING SPORTS, just around the corner, bri decided to take some initiative and use her position as a TA to her advantage. she was used to putting her energy into football, or basketball, or hockey, but with a severe lack of female friends that weren’t related to her, she figured maybe she’d put a little more effort in towards girls teams. for the spring, bri set her eyes on tennis. if anyone would be able to reinforce her ideas for the team, it would be queen bee zoe puckerman. nervously, she approached the blonde at her locker and offered and awkward little wave, “hey zoe, i was wondering if you had a second to talk?” she greeted, meek. hoping the other girl was actually into it, she nervously issued her pitch, “i know you’re signed up for the tennis team and i just wanted to ask if you think that it would like maybe we weird if we got all the girls together to do some conditioning or team bonding before the season starts?” 

“well consider your birds positively stoned.” he said with a cheesy smile. he paced around the perimeter of the dance floor side by side with bri, taking sips of his drink. he smirked at bri’s follow-up question. he missed that look on her face…the one that meant things weren’t awkward. “that depends…” he paused, gently elbowing her. “can i take you out somewhere? would that be weird?” he asked, stopping dead in his tracks. “i just figure you’ve been really busy managing sports and stuff. You deserve a night dedicated to you.” he shrugged.

IF HADN’T BEEN FOR THE PREGAME, or the fun atmosphere of breadstix, maybe bri would’ve pondered the question a moment longer. maybe she would’ve seriously weighed the pros and cons of stepping back onto the metaphoric dance floor with chad. instead, she nodded near immediately, and flashed him a smile, “really? yeah! yeah! that’d be so awesome, and super fun i think if you’re not too busy with warbler stuff.” she cleared her throat and tried to seem more laidback about the whole thing before awkwardly inquiring what was itching at the front of her skull, “is...is this like, a date?”

Nodding to Bri’s statement, Jett couldn’t help but feel a little self conscious at his attempt at the craft at hand. It wasn’t that he was particularly messy when it came to this, he just didn’t exactly pay close attention to what he was doing. Looking over her shoulder, his stomach dropped as he saw who the valentine was to. Oh boy, he would love to see Theo’s face when he looked at that particular gift. Smiling, Jett turned his head to look at his work of art and chuckled. Glueing the piece of paper down, Jett signed his and Bri’s name to the bottom before placing it with the other finished products. Looking over at Bri before grabbing another piece of paper, Jett nodded. “That’s very cool. Chad seems like a good guy. I can’t really say I’m super close with any guys from Dalton, but I’m sure he’s great if you accepted,” a broad smile spread across his face as he shoulder bumped Bri slightly. “Yeah, no I’m not going. I think that by the time I was ready to search for a date, everyone was already taken. I’m just gonna stay in and play video games to pass the time,” Shrugging with a little bit of disappointment, it was easy for Jett to dismiss his love life and say that things just never really went his way, but in all honesty, he just didn’t go for anyone. Couldn’t hate the players in the game if you didn’t even try. “It would be super fun to go stag and all, but couples only,” Sighing heavily, Jett handed one of the finished products to Bri before squinting at it. “Does that look lopsided or am I going blind?”

BRI COULD ONLY OFFER A CLOSE LIPPED SMILE TO JETT at the mention of chad being a good guy. her history with him was a long and complicated one, but she didn’t exactly want to get into it, and she most certainly didn’t want to bring the mood down. so instead she nodded and agreed, “yep, it should be fun.” next, she moved on to assembling candy’s valentine. bri was 99.9% sure that she’d toss it in the trash, but she’d rather give the girl one instead of tossing it out. trying to take extra care, she drew a lace pattern around the perimeter and wrote candy’s name in bubble letters before signing from bri + jett. “i heard lj is sneaking people in the back if you wanna go. aren’t you guys close?” bri suggested. video games sounded fun and all, but she wanted jett to know there were still ways for him to make his way in. the sentiment was quickly brushed over as he asked her about a potential lopsided valentine. turning her head a little and squinting in unison with jett. “hm.” she began, examining it. “i think it is a little bit, but maybe winnie won’t mind a lopsided valentine?” 

TO: BRI

FROM: JAZ

MESSAGE:HAPPY VDAY CUZZO! I LOVE YOU!

Sammy was just kicking in the Main Quad - waiting for the other Destiny’s Boys to show up. He was definitely ready to show out with this number. Because he knew potentially they could have an entire audience—probably even half the school out there watching them. “Bri Jones… I’m looking for a Bri Jones.” Sammy called out, making sure everyone got quiet. He started doing a serenade of her name. “Bri….” He started to hum his own instrumentals as a warm up to them getting ready to perform. “Ms. Jones.” He soulfully continued to sing her name. His voice was smooth like milk, while he turned his harmony into head voices, to low rumbles, to high hums. He was putting on a show, because now they had a few more eyes on them than they expected - so why not give Bri something extra and over the top. 

Trace mostly just nodded along enthusiastically as Sam did his thing. Once he was done, the oldest of the three pulled out his ever trusty megaphone and called out. “Bri, this is you officially receiving a Vocal Valentine from your favorite cousin!" 

Julien was the last to show up, which was not uncommon for him. He had started making his way down the main steps of the quad as Trace and Sammy approached Bri, who was sitting at one of the many tables. Just as Trace made his loud announcement through the megaphone, Jules slid down the railing of the stairs and landed at her feet just in time. “And,” he said breathlessly, wide smile in tact, “Jaz wanted us to tell you: Happy Day Cuzzo! I love you!” 

Sammy’s harmonizing slowly turned into the opening vocals for ‘Love On Top’ and his boys joined in with him. Letting Julien cue the instrumentals. "Bring the beat in.” He heard Julien say and the instrumentals kicked into full gear throughout the main quad. Destiny’s Boys started up their routine in full synchronization. This truly made Sammy happy, performing with Julien and Trace - watching the awe and looks on everyone’s faces. “Sing it, Trace.” He encouraged with enthusiasm, as they all started to move closer towards Bri. Letting Trace lead the song - he took to backing vocals and harmonized with Julien, perfectly, and shot many smirks, smiles, and winks at Bri. This was about her and her moment, she should feel like the Queen B of the school at that moment. And the boys would sing to her as if they were her own personal ensemble. 

With the number of times they had performed love on top this week, not even the chill out in the quad could deter the trio from doing their thing. It was similar choreography to their prior performances, but it was just as much fun as it had been the first time they did it. Oddly enough, it was a little disheartening to know their time with Love On Top was limited, so he was sure to go all out for Bri. 

If Julien was able to deliver an upbeat and engaging performance for someone like Austin, he made sure to go twice as hard for someone he actually liked like Bri. Love on Top was a bold song choice, but they’d performed it so many times this week that Julien felt confident that they’d at least be able to put a smile on her face with their rendition. As he sang, Julien moved through the choreography with easy but occasionally stepped out of it to tease Bri a little by nudging her arm of playfully pinching her cheek and singing directly to her. 

As the song came to an end - the entire quad was singing and clapping along. As they should, because they were awesome. He turned his head towards Bri to gauge her reaction and how she was taking this all in. He was sure he threw a few extra notes, runs, riffs, and whistles into the song and let everyone know what the Destiny’s Boys were about. As the song started to fade. He struck a song ending pose on one knee and pulled the rose up to Bri. Looking over at his boys to say something charming as always. 

Jett thoroughly loved love. The special little butterflies, the first kisses, the flushed cheeks. There was just something about all of that combined that just created a whole atmosphere of anticipation. It was common knowledge, however, that he had never had a boyfriend or girlfriend. There wasn’t a lack of trying, people just never tended to stay interested or involved or other people got involved. Jett didn’t mind, he was better able to focus on his music, on his schoolwork, and on his relationships with his friends. It was a simple life, but someone had to be the guy they went to to make out with at parties. Picking his head up, Jett smiled slowly. “You have such a good thing going right now, that I’m actually really nervous to mess this up,” he spoke before picking up some construction paper. “Okay, so pink and red, but how do you feel about purple?” he spoke before quirking an eyebrow over at her. “I know it’s not a typical Valentine’s day color, but it’s cute and it’s some people’s favorite color,” taking a pair of scissors, Jett began to cut up shapes in the paper. “Who are you going to Candyland with?” Jett started placing the pieces together to see what actually looked good, he didn’t wanna disappoint Bri. 

“OH I’M SURE YOU’LL DO GREAT.” bri confidently assured jett, keeping her eyes focused down at the valentine she was currently finishing off with her name at the bottom. this time though, she paused to add a little ‘+ jett’ so in full it read to: theo from: bri + jett. as she slid theo’s valentine over with the others, bri pondered jett’s proposition of purple. her mind was quickly made up though as he made two incredibly valid points. smiling over at him, she nodded, “i think purple is great.” bri told jett with an encouraging tap on the shoulder before returning to her work. digging through the candy hearts, she tried to find one where the statement was bold and clear, which, at this point, was becoming a struggle. eventually she found one and clued it to a purple piece of a paper per jett’s suggestion. at his question though, she shyly answered, “oh, chad asked me to go with him.” a small smile came to bri’s face as she momentarily paused her work. sure, their last fight had been pretty bad, but maybe things would be alright this time around. now gluing the heart down, she asked jett, “are you going?”

WHEN: a weekday morning, off hour.

WHERE: wmhs cafeteria 

“SO I’M GOING TO CANDYLAND.” bri explained as she carefully worked on cutting her red construction paper into a tinier rectangle, then gluing a candy heart in the center. it was cheesy, and very elementary school, but there was still something sweet to her about handing out valentines the old fashioned way-- like when they were kids. “and my goal is to give everyone there a valentine in addition to the winter sports athletes. oh and like, some random friends!” she further laid out her plans as she uncapped a sharpie and printed ‘to: sterling’ at the top of the sheet. bri’s off hour would likely be better spent working on that D she currently had in french, but she’d much rather be doing this. after finishing off the valentine by signing it, ‘- bri’ at the bottom, she slid it over to the side and looked at the person next to her, “do you wanna help or are you just here to keep me company?”

“I was being like, totally serious,” Winnie reiterated, lowering her head and nodding. “Okay. I don’t like hang out around Rocky and Austin because I think they’re like fun to be around,” Bri definitely wasn’t like Winnie, but she had always thought it was quite sus that Bri was just always hanging out with other guys. Winnie did it, sure, but it was always for some sort of gain and she could at least admit that she slept around. Bri was just so weird about it. “No,” Winnie audibly laughed, covering her mouth with the back of her hand. Austin definitely had no romantic bone in his body, that was simply a fact. “I asked him like over text. I’m not gonna show up like completely dateless,” she explained, wondering why she was even entertaining her conversation with Bri. Maybe it was because at some point they were friendly, even if Winnie was still a bitch to her. “Chaddy? So BJ’s back to boyfriend #1? Not surprised,” she said blankly. “Are you ever gonna like give up on the Sister Wives life?”

DESPITE HAVING SPENT A GOOD CHUNK of time as winnie’s friend, most of the time she didn’t always get her. there were a good number of questions bri had for the blonde like, why would she choose austin? especially after admitting there wasn’t a romantic bone in his body? it just didn’t click for bri, but she wasn’t going to dwell on it and she wouldn’t dare voice these concerns. now cozying up against a locker, she frowned a little, “well are you at least looking forward to it? what are your plans for the night?” she asked, honestly. bri figured, that was the easiest, most polite way, to say-- what’s the point in going if you aren’t going to have a good time? giving up on trying to understand the innerworkings of winnie clarington-smythe’s mind, she shrugged modestly, “i think maybe we’re just going as friends? i don’t know! he asked and it sems like it’ll be a fun nigh, so why not?” bri admitted, standing back up now, “i’m not a sister wife...” she murmured, brows furrowing as she looked at winnie. although she didn’t say it, the look was written all over her face, ‘you think i’m pathetic don’t you?’ 

CHAD: of course 😁

CHAD: i hope your square dancing has improved cuz uhhhh....

BRI: oh are we going to be square dancing at breadstix?

BRI: i hate to admit it, but i'm a little rusty.

Candyland might as well have been Winnie’s favorite holiday. She wasn’t the kind of girl who fell in love with any boy who crossed her path. In fact, she had a hard time believing she could even love someone so Valentine’s Day and Candyland seemed to be something she wouldn’t enjoy, but there was nothing Winnie loved more than having eyes on her and the color pink. They went hand in hand and Candyland was the perfect place to do that. When Bri approached her, the blonde let out a dramatic sigh. It’s not like Bri fell into unpopularity post-injury, but she was like a sad, weak puppy. Winnie didn’t want to be included in that and Bri had tons of friends, was it really a big deal that Winnie had essentially ghosted her? “Good, because I’m like not gay,” she started defensively. Things had only recently died down about the Muckraker saying that Eli and Winnie were dating, which she was happy everyone took with a grain of salt to begin with, but it didn’t stop comments here or there. “But I’m like going with Austin,” a pause. “Obvi,” Winnie grabbed her textbook for her following class and shut her locker, her hand still pressed against the door. “Spit it out, Jones. I like don’t have all day,” she said, her eyes wandering to anyone who was walking down the halls until she finally made eye contact back with Bri. “Who are you taking? Or is it like subject to change based on like who you’re sucking off next week?”

“COME ON, WINNIE.” bri said quietly, gripping the strap of her backpack a little tighter. so not to come off as annoyed, or angry, or that she found winnie’s very pointed...joke upsetting, she flashed a meek smile, “you know i’m not like that.” she added, finally dropping her backpack strap as she did, and letting it hang freely off her shoulders. “you and austin though that’s...” obviously many people didn’t like austin, and while the hockey captain hadn’t been more aggressive to her than usual, after the stories she had heard there was naturally some disdain. never the matter though, if winnie was excited, so was she, “that’s so fun! how did he ask you? was it all romantic?” bri probed, still hoping to maybe gain some insight into this whole chad situation and if it was normal. then with another small smile and a more definitive nod, she finally  answered, “but um, chad asked to take me, so, we’re gonna go together.” 

CHAD: if you'll have me :)

CHAD: i know our last fight was the worst.

CHAD: i want to make it up to you and show you a good time. no strings attached.

[10 minutes later]

BRI: sure! sounds fun!

BRI: i appreciate that (: