shine bright

"Probably, but who cares, just give it a go — fondue’s more fun after you’ve run someone down with skiis anyways."

"I think that's something that is definitely debatable. And I'll let you into a little secret, I'm actually more worried about making a fool of myself right now, than I am of hurting someone."

"Ski week? You know, it’s not all about skiers on these mountains - snowboarders need some recognition as well.”

"Do they not get that much recognition? I don't know, it's probably due to the fact that less people snowboard. I for one, am not good at either, so I'm really not in a position to say anything about it."

"Hm." Ivy nodded with an amused smile, fairly certain that he was lying. "That's funny, because I tend to spend quite a lot of time in the library. In fact, I'm surprised we aren't library buddies yet," she said, sarcasm dripping off her words. As Riley held the flask out towards her, Ivy threw it a suspicious glance before taking it from him to sniff it. She found it hard to believe that he was genuinely studying chemistry during his spare time; even she wasn't that dedicated to her studies. "What do you need essential oil for? A new beauty regime? I heard it's good for your hair and skin." With a small scoff, Ivy placed the flask back down on the table and turned to take a seat on one of the neighbouring chairs, grabbing a book from his pile of textbooks on her way.

He smirked at the silent victory that came with the comment ignored and glanced back at the apparatus. “Don’t let my repeated violations of school conduct code fool you, I’m actually quite the nerd,” he said blandly, kneeling to the level of one of the conical flasks to check it. She hadn’t directly asked what it was that he was doing, and so he decided it’d be better to let the thought of it being school work continue to hang in her head. A lie by omission: his favourite kind. 

"Right, I can see that from the extensive hours you spend in the library studying," said Ivy, sarcastically. While she liked to keep an open mind, she was finding it hard to believe his words. Nevertheless, she was willing to give him the benefit of the doubt. "So what exactly are you studying? You must be pretty passionate about chemistry to be experimenting outside of class. I'm not even sure it's safe to be doing this without a teacher supervising." Her eyes flitted towards the door, sure that Riley was breaking at least two rules.

"IVY! Oh, so it’s not just me! This year is going to be awesome - especially since I heard there’s a skiing trip in our future! Well, tell me your top three then. Hm… I hope the tennis team gets to internationals again, and I want to go to Africa to help build a school this summer."

"Tennis and Africa. That sounds like a pretty solid goal. Oh well, I'm just aiming to be more organised and to stop taking ages to write essays. Writing really isn't my forte. And I was considering taking up a sport too because I pretty much just sit around all day."

Various chemistry textbooks opened on folded pages, papers in disarray and several brightly coloured highlighters: this was the trail that led to one Riley Andrews stood in front of what appeared to be a steam distillation set-up, deep concentration riddling lines across his brow. Looking up at the voice, he raised an eyebrow. “So why did you try the handle? You know — since there aren’t even any teachers around.” He repeated her words back to her, only with a much more smug inflection. 

Ivy rolled her eyes at his words, choosing to ignore his comment as she walked towards the table he was working on. He did have a point, but it wasn't something that she was going to admit to him. "I didn't know you were the type who actually bothered with studying," she said, changing the subject as she swept a quick glance over his set-up. "Not gonna lie, you seemed to be the type who didn't care about school at all."

"Happy New Years everyone! I can’t believe it’s 2015. This is going to be the best year yet; I can feel it! So, what’s your New Years resolution?”

"SOFI! Happy New Year to you too! I've been getting that feeling too, so we must be right somewhere. I have far too many resolutions though, it'll be hard to stick to them you know. How about you?"

Katherine nodded, smiling. “I’ve heard word through Asteria Daily. It was about time they decided to let us have a bit of fun here.” A loose laugh fell from her lips. “I don’t think anyone is either. Most of them just go for the food, freedom and secret sex.” 

"Oh god. I need to get onto that because I'm part of the Asteria Daily crew..." Ivy trailed off and let out a short laugh. "Secret sex huh? The food and freedom I get, but the sex? You could do that here if you were really that horny and it'd still have to be secret."

Listen. It’s none of my business and it shouldn’t be, but can you just stop humming that annoying song all day long. I’m tired of hearing it and you’re not making things any better. So if you’re trying to make my head blow up, it’s working.

I'm sorry- I'm sorry, I'm really really sorry. Frozen has stuck been in my head all day and perhaps that's due to the fact that I watched it twice in the past week. Blame it on the whole winter mood thing. I'll stop humming though, or I'll try to at least.

"Hmm, nothing like pastries to keep me in the holiday spirit. Who knew that Christmas ending could be so saddening?"

"At least you still have New Year's Eve to look forward to. By the way, can I have one of those pastries? They look way too good to pass up."

At the sound of the other girl's voice, Ivy looked up from her computer. "There's going to be a ski trip?" She asked, surprised that she hadn't heard a word about it beforehand. "Let's just hope there won't be too many casualties on the tracks. I can't exactly say I'm an expert at skiing myself."

Stripper seems like much easier money, in my opinion.

I'm not sure I'd do well as a stripper to be honest.

Whatever…

No, they're not. They're both going to be busy with work and stuff. What about you?

[Cole pressed his lips into a thin line, crossing his arms over his chest and despising the grin that had formed on her lips.] Yeah well it sounded like it.

Okay you know what, whatever. Let's just drop it because I can sense that this won't go down well.