[ spoopy cluttered ]

Cameron was a gorgeous girl, flawless in Maddie’s eye—well on the surface, but underneath she knew better. So when the girl tried to talk to her or regurgitate words really, she cracked a crooked grin “You know slapping -ist at the ends of words doesn’t mean that it describes a situation any better.” However the other girl was partially right, Maddie was happier with her puzzle but it wasn’t like the two ever hung out enough. So, with a sigh she slid over her puzzle and offered her the open chair at the booth.  “Sit and eat with me.” her offer was dry, but still continued “I figured we could catch up or I could teach you something about vocabulary….” 

“Vocabulary, hm, that’s uh, elitist,” Cameron replied with mock assessment, even putting her finger on her chin for ‘reflection’. Admittedly, she was proud for carrying over the rhyme scheme. “Talking doesn’t get people far,” she continued, oomphing slightly as she landed on the cushion of the diner booth, facing Maddie front on. “Sure your power is stuck in your skull and all, but in my experience, action tends to nudge people bit faster, gets things happening more too. So, I think I’m fine, right?” Picking up a menu, and beginning to run through it, it wasn’t a habit for Cameron to thank people for their invitations and getting straight to her point — food — was a grand example. “Let’s get something going, how are you?” she insisted. “Always unfair how we never know what you’re thinking when you’ve got a database or whatever of everyone.” It was useless to mention, but it was the point Cameron had.

Rinsing his mouth from the copper ribbon that tainted his tongue, Logan glanced back up at the girl through the mirror. A figment of his own making stood behind the intruder, causing Logan to avert his gaze, once more. He needed to get a hold of his nerves. Shutting the faucet, He continued past her, merely shrugging at her disdainful tone, “probably not.” His answer devoid of feeling and character. With minute trebles quivering his limbs, he went to unlatch his locker, only to find that it was no longer secured. At first, he paid it no mind, but when he went to open it, his eyes fell on the particular lock at his feet, misshapen and melted. Logan hesitated for a moment, he considered picking it up and investigating what had actually happened, but he could feel a string of water hitting his back. It was getting out of hand, and he quickly retracted his hand from the lock and pulled out his backpack instead.

His voice wasn’t completely chilling, however it still put her on edge. This setting was already uncomfortable and vacant enough, yet this guy had managed to amplify it even so. Not even the context of his half-dressed nature. Sitting cross legged on a bench, Cameron eyed his movements — odd even around here and considering who she usually was with — and had to try really hard not to stop laughing when he picked up the lock she’d been messing with. It did slightly cross her mind that being in the presence of someone in a state as fragile as half-naked was fucked up, but it didn’t stay for long unlike herself. There was always the question of how much she could push the limits of freely using her powers. Simply releasing them in far away places like abandoned warehouses or parts of town wasn’t good enough. There was so much more thrill in trying to sneak it in to oh-so-ordinary everyday Bellbrook. 

“God, if I hear Hamilton one more time…”

Hearing frustration from the resident queen of dramatics wasn’t a surprised. But a specific word caught Cameron’s attention, causing her to lean back from behind her locker door to see and reply to Chelsea.

          Jenny’s left leg bounced up and down as she waited for her Physics class to come to an end. The monotone voice of the teacher was beginning to get to her, and she found herself losing interest for the subject the more she stayed in his class. She also found herself drifting off to sleep for a short moment every now and then. Unfortunately, it was too late to drop the class, and she wouldn’t let some teacher ruin the subject for her. Although, he was walking a very fine line on that. At last, the bell rang, indicating lunch time. Finally.

My fucking god, she thought to herself, admiring the horrendous mess the cafeteria managed to whip up every single time. If she wanted to eat junk food, a trip to McDonald’s or Taco Bell was easy enough. The school trying to serve such shit was so out of question, yet they insisted with their sad attempt at capturing the student body’s attention. Seeing the imitation of fish fingers only made Cameron disgusted, and wanting to eat healthy—for once. But begrudgingly, this was a system she was bound to, notwithstanding academic minimums, there were also nutritional minimums she had to abide by within these hellish four walls that called itself high school. 

The sound of streaming water resonated against the walls of the empty locker room. With his listless drift and measured movements, it was expected to see Logan still lingering behind as the rest of the athletes filed out for their first period. Sighing deeply, the silence was comforting as was the ruthless heat beating down against his naked form; staining his fair skin, red. He leisurely took his time in the shower, letting the steam coagulated in the hollow space and distort the mirrors. Ten minutes passed and he finally cut off the water supply, not caring that he would be missing Calculus, as he had already decided he wouldn’t be attending any classes before lunch.·

The male locker room wasn’t a bad place, if she really thought about it. Not that she liked it, but sometimes spending time here for certain exchanges wasn’t too bad of a deal. It seemed like the school invested more in this locker room as opposed to the one she was usually forced to use. The aroma was less of a stench here in comparison, and even furnishings seemed nicer and more open. Not to mention, the differing colour scheme bugged her. It felt like a whole new world to be in a place with actual school colours, instead of fading pastel browns. Now that she realised that today was not the day her deal was to go down, the pyrokinetic realised her memory hadn’t quite served her well. But then the showers turned on, she heard the squeak of a knob turning. Perhaps this was a sign of sorts, and she was right. No harm is sticking around. 

“What’s up,” Cameron asks softly, biting her own lip. 

“Hello.” Her smile is wicked – genuine, but w i c k e d .

It was laughable that this girl had culture to share. “Hold up, hold up, hold up, Miss Hooting And Tooting,” Cameron attempted to interject, as her mouth curled into uncertainty. While Cameron had no doubts about Heather’s capability with dealing with things, involving herself in such was another issue. Participating was not Cameron’s strong suit. “Let’s clarify exactly what makes this ever so special? And more importantly, if it’s worth my time.” 

    Maddie sat at a far corner table at the Pink Flamingo nursing a large chocolate shake, while she was working a crossword puzzle. Nothing glamorous or eventful, but she was hoping to get some time away from the craziness of the town—yet once someone entered the dinner her mind ached, causing her to look up and their eyes met. 

It was that time of the month and cravings were creeping ever more present in Cameron’s life. You know what, Cameron thought to herself, fucking waffles, that’s what I need. Being downtown with loose clothing and sweatpants didn’t happen too often, but no matter how mercurial and extra furious she was with hormones, the most she could destroy right now was a plate of carbs. Upon seeing someone familiar and probably more miserable than herself at this point, she relayed her thoughts to the other girl. 

Cameron’s thoughts of disappearance - funeral pyre, forever fire - had Arthur thinking about his own forseeable future. Leaving the town had never been an option for him, oddly. One would expect that he would leave for university, do something bigger, but Arthur couldn’t see himself anywhere outside Bellbrook. Sure, there had been idle dreams of traveling: New York, Paris, all those cliche as hell cities, but he always saw himself growing old here. It was like the person he was, Arthur Hyeon, only existed in this particular town. He pushed the thoughts away, a corner of his mouth curling up into a lopsided smile. “Fine, fine. You know, there are always alternatives to threats, but that would require you to be nice, right?.”

“Keying someone’s car is so...retro. Arthur, does a car pipe welded shut tight sound enough?” She said, not even twitching at the implication of suffocating someone. “Sounds nicer. If the fucker takes my phone, then they damn well deserve whatever I conjure.” Using magical lexicon was always an accidental slip, annoying but sometimes she wondered if it came with the power and all. Rubbing her hands, she pressed her lips in concentration for listen for the familiar buzz and default ring tone — who had time to select or set up a custom one? — to signal her reunion with it. 

@pyrokinxsis

“Found it!” Whether or not it was a choice to laugh at Veronica’s corny reference was impossible to fathom at this stage, but any amusement was worth revelling in.  Despite all the destruction and mayhem she was used to committing, it was nice to be reminded how useful her ability could be. The ‘lighter’ settled in the arm of the chair and extended her arm. Waving it around like a magic wand was too much, and definitely too reminiscent of middle school, but simply nodding her head wasn’t as theatrical. 

“Depends on your definition of redeeming,” Rachel answered, ready to bait her along. Rachel chose not to acknowledge the last bit of her comment. Cameron can judge her all she wants-what mattered was that Cameron was here asking for her help. That’s the thing about information, it only becomes useful once you add value to it and Rachel was curious to know what Cameron, resident asshole, valued. It wasn’t hard to determine from her body language and tone that Cameron saw her as a last resort. “Who do you want to know about?” 

Gripping tighter onto the cup, bringing down below the table to heat it up between her hands. She wasn’t careless enough to let the other girl see her hands glow orange for that. “You know,” Cameron began, elongating the last word to spare time for careful wording around her. That was a challenge. “If I give a name, and you can dig something real nice in there, then I’ll be grateful as fuck and we can all move on.” She placed the cup on the table, the cardboard’s thud on wood highlighting her words. “Sounds like a great deal from my point of view.” Of course, that’s what Cameron wanted her to believe no matter how weak it probably was.