𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐈𝐍𝐅𝐋𝐔𝐄𝐍𝐂𝐄𝐑 .

( ZION MORENO, 22, TRANS WOMAN, SHE/HER ) —Is that JULIETA HERRERA? A JUNIOR originally from SAN FRANCISCO, CA, they decided to come to Ogden College to study MARKETING. They’re THE INFLUENCER on campus, but even they could get blamed for Greer’s disappearance.

character inspo — marimar montoya (the inheritance of orquidea divina), timothee greywick (wicked academia), tristan caine (the atlas six), heather (crave)

location:  gen ed lecture hall building closed starter for @julietaxherrera​

The feeling of having forgotten something wouldn’t leave him, so KJ walked almost heedlessly away from the gen ed lecture hall building, only to eventually come to an abrupt halt, his eyes widening in horror as he now felt the actual weight of his bag, no laptop and its weight tangible. “Shit,” storming back in, the power went out just as the door closed behind him. “Hello!?” Making his way through the dark, his phone emitting the faintest light as he didn’t want to use his flashlight immediately, KJ eventually reached the end, almost bumping into Julieta. “Shit, hey. Are you alright?” He switched to his flashlight function, holding it towards the ground as to not blind her. “I think I forgot my laptop over here, would you mind helping me search?”

     “ i mean, we can just grab a couple of snacks from the convenience store and call that dinner. i doubt we’d be getting any more nutritional value from over here… ” they comment, looking around at the barely edible plates people were not so enthusiastically carrying around. his eyes land back on julieta, “ alright, let’s go — cheap fast food ? my treat ? ”

          “That sounds just as horrible. No offense.” She looked around the room at all the students not caring if they were sitting here eating gross food. “That sounds like afternoons at my uncle’s house as a kid.” She didn’t want to spend her money on a nice fancy dinner, but she also didn’t really know where to go. “Let’s just grab something from the grocery store. I’ll call my grandmother and ask for a recipe. Can’t turn out any worse than this and if it does, I’ll grab fast food for us.” 

despite being a place with tons of connections and money, the food was subpar. it was almost insulting, considering how much money existed in the endowment and from their tuition. places of the same tier had infinitely better options and they were stuck with…this? julieta was making some good points. “ugh, you’re right.” they sighed, now pushing their plate to the side. “you know…i have a car?” alethea offered with a shrug up at julieta. “i’m more than happy to ditch this shit hole for something worthy our time and money?” 

      “ i don’t think anyone really enjoys eating food that tastes like it was dunked in a tub of warm water before it was served. ” link agrees, eyeing the burrito on the plate in front of them. he did come to the cafeteria with julieta when she had asked them to, but he opted out of eating — he promised himself that that they’d only eat there when they got absolutely desperate, because it was teetering on inhumane. “ you wanna go dine and dash somewhere fancy instead ? i think we deserve a little treat. ” he suggests, toying with his camera, going through the pictures he took this morning. 

          “I have no idea but some people don’t seem to mind it.” She looked over at a group of students who seemed like they were enjoying whatever crap they were eating. “Okay nevermind. Those people are eating cereal.” That didn’t count as actual cafeteria food. “I don’t want to dine and dash somewhere fancy,” Julieta responded. “Can’t we just go to a normal place? Or even the grocery store. I’m sure if I begged my grandmother she’d walk me through one of her recipes.” Even if she did call, her grandmother would never do that. Still, she could dream. “Besides, what is there to eat around here?” 

— Porra! — He cursed, looking at the food in disbelief and regretting eating at the dining hall. — I mean, not to shit on someone’s work, but what the fuck, dude? Where’s even the flavor? Where’s the spice? I’m not talking about pepper, you know? There are a lot more spices than pepper, but sometimes I feel like pepper is the most daring thing some people can put in their food. 

          “Exactly,” she mused, looking at the food in front of her with a disgusted look on her face. “I honestly think this school has awful food.” She ought to go to the grocery store and grab some stuff to make both of them something. At least then she could put some real flavor and spice into it. “I have some spices back in my dorm if you ever want to come over. I’m sure you also have some stocked up too.” Julieta looked at one more gross looking burrito. “Okay, that’s it. Do you have a car? We’re going to the store.” 

“Not bad. This way you can control your own narrative,” she raised one eyebrow, “so all other rumors might just look like another blatant lie.” Dulce poked her straw into the milkshake trying to break up ice cream that has yet to melt. “That’s even worse, isn’t it?” Dulce lifted one eyebrow. The conversation seemed to turn sour and Dulce wasn’t in the mood to make an enemy. “Fine, tell me then. What do you do in your free time?” She skipped the entire conversation to focus on more positive things. Having Julieta as a friend wouldn’t hurt, though having her as an enemy wouldn’t either, but that wasn’t her goal here. “We could go out sometime.”

CLOSED STARTER for @julietaxherrera​​​ LOCATION: Second Floor, Waverly Dorm

When in doubt, work out. That was Kit’s motto whenever his body was thrumming with nervous energy he couldn’t get rid of. Dressed in gym shorts and an Ogden College lacrosse tee, he closed the door to #203 behind him and moved to pocket his keys. Though in his haste, he missed the slit in his shorts, shaped metal falling to the floor. Crap. A grunt left him as he bent over to snatch it off the hardwood. When he pulled back to stand upright again, he caught his next door neighbor leaving their room as well. Not Rhia. But someone he’s seen a lot of in photos. “Hey. You’re that Julieta girl, right?” The one who had a post where Greer was seen in the background of. He’s been meaning to speak with her, well aware of the talk going around about her enrolling at Ogden. It would have been the topic of conversation this semester had Greer not gone missing.

          Julieta couldn’t just stay in her dorm. She felt trapped and while it was tolerable when she had a friend over or if Rhia was there. So whenever she was supposed to be alone in her room, she would end up going somewhere else so she wasn’t by herself. Grabbing a few things from her room, she figured she might as well make a whole photoshoot out of it. A bunch of items in her bag, she was ready to go. What she didn’t expect was for someone else to exit their room at the same time. Julieta hadn’t met everyone at the school or even on her floor. She was trying to branch out some, though she ended up sticking to her smaller group of friends. So many people wanted something from her. “Yes, that would be me,” she said with a smile. Friendly, but not overly friendly. With everything going on, she really had no idea who was supposed to be friend or foe. Greer was on everyone’s mind these days and she really didn’t want to be tied to any of that drama. 

the burrito hadn’t seemed appetizing, but alethea needed to eat something. and though their mother had worked hard to give them a refined pallet, alethea would admit to very few that her favorite food was french fries and mac & cheese, much to her mother’s horror. they glanced at the plate as julieta scoffed at it and gave a shrug. “some might, but i’d rather not starve.” poked at the burrito and sighed. “the coffee is terrible here too, rounds out the whole college package.” she pointed toward the cup in julieta’s hand. 

ˋ°•*⁀➷☼  

       Unable to help herself - a nosy busybody deep in her heart, Minnie’s eyes glanced to the offending tray; almost feeling bad for the student now subjected to the judgement. Almost. Minnie, unfortunately, was in full agreement with Julieta, and her lips twisted sideways in a rueful smirk as she accepted her salad & crouton pack, stepping down further towards the variety of juices. “That’s why you register as vegetarian. Fresher food, better selection, extra serving of fruits… and, hey, if all else fails, a size large salad on the rough days.” Of course, each evening, she found herself eating half her weight in comfort snacks in the privacy of her own bed; but that was then, and this was now. And right now, she looked like a Queen of Health, with her hearty leafy greens & mountain of peaches with little cherries peppered throughout. “Pretty sure the burritos are poisonous, too. Usually, I just order delivery from Qdoba on days like these.”

          She wasn’t picky about what she ate, but Julieta was picky and judgmental about her country’s food. Not that Julieta really was from Mexico. She’d been born in San Francisco. Still. Her family was Mexican. Her grandmother had told her that her parents had met in Mexico. She didn’t know anything else though. “No offense, but the vegetarian options look like they’re just as poisonous.” Okay so maybe they didn’t look that bad in comparison, but still, she was allowed to be dramatic about this sort of thing. “I could never survive off a vegetarian diet anyways. I need meat. And like my grandmother would be so upset with me. Like she’d never be able to make barbacoa again.” She watched another burrito walk by. “Oh, they’re absolutely poisonous. I can’t tell you for sure, but that looks like it was tossed in a dumpster before being served. I’m going to have to go to the store and make something myself. Maybe call my mother for a family recipe or something. Make a party of it.” 

***

Milo leaned an elbow against the brick wall next to him. His phone in one hand, the other casually raising a protein shake to his mouth as the woman near him started complaining about the food, his green eyes scanned the surroundings and shrugged his shoulders. “They’re not back there because they were winning any cooking competitions,” he said. Then added in a flat tone, “learn to cook and make your own food.” Hypocritical of him to say so, because he didn’t know shit about cooking, and he often complained about the food in the dining hall. He didn’t eat here however, unless he was that desperate- and perhaps very wasted. Terrible food was great for hangovers.

          “More like they’d be on Kitchen Nightmares.” Mostly she was complaining about how they called the burritos actual food when they looked gross and soggy. Her complaining about the food had nothing to do with her own talents in the kitchen. Sure she could go out and buy things to cook, but that required first a car and the time. “I can cook my own food. However, I’m allowed to judge shitty Mexican food.  As a Mexican woman, Americans have no idea what authentic Mexican food is. My grandmother didn’t come here for this blatant disrespect of our country’s food.” She was only here for a bowl of cereal as a snack anyways.

Julieta’s words made sense, and yet Mari was ever so slightly disappointed, wanting more of the other girl. Even if it was a game, even if she would deny any desire that had arose from it, it was…someone. Someone who wasn’t Greer. Her lips parted against Julieta’s again, the only agreement that was needed, Mari’s hand reaching up to cup the other’s jaw when she heard a bang on the door, signifying the end of their time. Mari pulled back, eyes meeting Julieta’s with  a sudden feel of sobriety, self-consciousness for what people may was happening. “Guess it’s my turn,” she said, the words strangely breathy as she stepped back, untangling herself from Julieta. 

          There weren’t very many minutes left of their seven minutes anyway. She didn’t really want to get caught with her pants down this early in the school year. And especially not with someone the dean was related to. All it took was one call to find out the truth about what actually happened at UCLA and she did not need that getting out. “Wel, I guess call me if you ever want to continue that.” She tilted her head to the side. “Actually, probably best we don’t do that again.” And she looked in the mirror to make sure her hair and makeup still looked decent. God forbid Mari wasn’t out of the closet and her makeup gave away the fact that they actually had made out. “Good luck,” she said, moving past the other woman as she exited the bathroom. 

In an attempt to stay as far away from the cops as possible, Derya opted to remain in her dorm, isolated from everyone else. This was about Greer and nothing and no one in Ogden would get her interested in what was truly going on. Sitting in her dorm room, Derya browsed through her phone, ignoring all Ogden groupchats and local news related to Greer or what has leaked to the press so far, if any – again, she didn’t look. The sudden knocks startled her and she was immediately up on her feet, opening the door with some hesitance. Seeing Julieta changed Derya’s previous confusion into complete worry. Was she seeking refuge? “Julieta, hey,” she looked just as beautiful as the last time they’d seen each other and she couldn’t look away. “What? Why? You of all people.” Not because of Julieta herself, but the fact that she was new in Ogden confused her. Gently grabbing Julieta’s shoulder, Derya moved her along, into the room, so she could close the door. “Hey, I’m sure it’s gonna be alright. They’re probably just inviting a bunch of people, then the next bunch and so on…” Realizing her hand was still placed against Julieta’s arm, Derya awkwardly lowered her hand, “What could they possibly want?”

“That makes two of us,” her lips outstretch into a large, exaggerated grin. “Maybe we can see who accidentally injures a stranger first? Not that I want that to happen, of course. But it sounds pretty likely right about now.” She leans back, expanding her distance between the table, preparing to stand on her own two feet. An act which prompts hesitation; a realisation that she’d spent the entire day doing anything other than rest. “Or I could be about to walk into an ambush. A Julieta sneak attack.”

          “Oh good. Then I won’t feel like an absolute klutz while playing,” she grinned with a little laugh. Julieta was worse at pool when she was drunk, so thank goodness she wasn’t right now. “Okay, yeah that sounds like a plan because that’s totally going to happen.” She nodded. Julieta looked around the place. There were not that many people here, so hopefully no one would get close enough to the two of them to actually get injured. “No, no sneak attack. I couldn’t even play digital sports. My uncle would bring over video games and I’m very bad at anything that requires hand/eye coordination. Bet you’re better than me at anything.” 

“Definitely good for content, it’s really cute,” Maeve added with a small shrug. The redhead enjoyed posting on social media and she did have some followers but it wasn’t a priority, which was why Greer and Julieta had more followers than her; they put in the effort and were actually… Popular. Meanwhile Maeve spent a lot of her time on school work. a little outfit of the day never hurt though but she was mostly about the aesthetic. A small nod of her head, she thought there could definitely be more to Julieta’s transfer but didn’t ask more about it, for now, but closed the chemistry book in front of her. “You don’t have a car?” The privilige might shine through in the moment but a lot of people had cars, even if they were trashy. Still, it did put a smile on her lips, head tilting to the side while she put her books back in her puse. “Well honey, I do. So, let me know if you ever need a ride.”

          “Well thank you,” she said with a smile. Her social media was important and even if there were a ton of rumors around why she had even decided to come to Ogden in the first place. She really didn’t care what people said about her. Well, that wasn’t true. Julieta carefully curated what people said about her because it was easier that way. As long as she controlled the story and rumor or lie about her that came out could be just that: a rumor. And if the truth ever did come out, then she could play it off like an ugly rumor. Controlling the story was the key. She was very good at all this marketing stuff. “No, I took the trolley everywhere back home since it was easier and better for the environment. Cars are like super bad for the environment.” She didn’t mind bumming ride off people or walking places. “Maybe another day, I actually have a class to get to.” 

TIME: afternoon

STATUS: closed for @derya-sahin​

          Julieta didn’t have that many people she trusted here at Ogden so far. She had friends of course, but not anyone she trusted. As soon as she’d gotten the call from the cops, she’d called her mother. Her mom phoned their lawyer and from there Julieta was spiraling. It wasn’t like she knew Greer at all. Just that photo was coming back to haunt her. Maybe she shouldn’t have told the cops about it. They probably wouldn’t have known about it otherwise. The one person at Ogden that she did trust was Derya. So she knocked on the door to her friend’s room. “I’m like really sorry to bother you, but I...” Julieta trailed off. “The police called me for a second interview.” 

Dulce just huffed at Julieta’s explanation. “Real classy. I mean you don’t seem to care anyway, but just ignore the outsiders. They’re not even worth anyone’s time at this point. Too many students around here think they’re hot shit, but are wearing last seasons Louboutins while spreading those rumors on social media. Fucking a professor seems to be a classic, not really creative, don’t you think?” Especially because anyone could be the target of such a rumor. “You made friends yet? I’m glad. Anyone I know?” Dulce took a sip from her milkshake, “maybe I can tell you one or two things about them, J.”