Placing her hand in Tabitha’s, she pulled herself up - promptly smoothing out the creases in her dress. “Have I ever mentioned you speak my language?” Drinking or ‘going loco’ wasn’t something she did too often, but her day had been awful - and that merited a letting go a little, so the day wasn’t a total loss. “You truly are amazing, and I will find ways to subtly get back at anyone who says otherwise. Avoid the blame that way, and people need to be reminded to be nice after all.” 

Typically, rolling up to the shops was far from Lock’s favourite chore - but there was something about the sudden splashes of orange and black, coupled with cardboard cutout witches and ghosts thrown up in every storefront, hanging from the ceilings, that made topping up the family’s groceries not only bearable, but appealing. Halloween was the one holiday where he was willing to turn a blind eye to the fact everyone who could was taking advantage of the occasion to make money and instead just revel in it, for the sake of nostalgia if nothing else - though he was still far from giving up on celebrating, it had been the one night of the year that he’d always been able to look forward to no matter what other bullshit was going on around him as a kid, and it was that exact attachment that made him nothing short of furious when he took a glance into the person in front of him’s shopping basket at what they’d stocked up on for the night. “Jesus, is that really all you’re handing out?” he scoffed with a slight shake of the head, making sure to nudge their shoulder to grab their attention. “It’s like you’re aiming to make kids miserable.”

@sunnysidestarters

❝ OW-- WHAT? OH. ❞ taffyta delicately pulls one air pod from her ear and holds it in her cupped palm, turning halfway to glance over her shoulder at her assaulter. ❝ i’m sorry-- ❞ she says, the way she does that lets you know she’s the furthest thing from sorry possible, ❝ --did i miss something? ❞ she gives lock a reproachful look before glancing down at her basket, which holds two measly bags of candy corn, and nothing else. she can’t deny it’s a glum picture-- but it’s also not what it looks like, and it’s definitely not his business. still, the accusation is stinging; halloween is taffyta’s f a v o r i t e holiday. nothing in the world beats the all-night sugar rush, especially the one you get from trick-or-treating along bavaria street, where every house gives out full-sized candy bars. AND, while taffyta is many things ( and most of them awful ) she’s not the type to take candy from a literal baby. “this candy corn isn’t for eating, dumbass--” she starts, her eyes squinted in irritation. ❝ if you must know, i’m making a garland with it. you know, like, for decoration? ❞ taffyta rolls her eyes, before adding--  ❝ listen genius, my family gives out the candy you have wet dreams about-- so, like, nice try with the baseless accusations, but, uh, maybe don’t go around accusing strangers of not caring about children. that’s pretty fucked up.❞

“Gee I wish I could help you. But I just don’t know who set that trap there.” Despite her words, the grin that spreads on Shock’s face and the mischief in her eyes give her away. Clearly she’d set the color bomb to blow whenever anyone moved the small box that was set up. Sadly there was no real solid proof she’d set it to detonate or even placed the prank there to begin with. All that could be pinned to her was the fact that she was there when it went off and was clearly trying not to laugh at the other’s misfortune of setting it off. “Look on the bright side though, that outfit was hideous. Now you have an excuse to get rid of it.” @sunnysidestarters

❝ these. shoes. were. gucci.” every uneven space between her words feels like the calm before a storm-- taff herself stands, ( save her lips ) still as a statue, her hands balled into white-knuckled fists. it’s not really the fact that her shoes are ruined, or that she was wearing white-- it’s the humiliation that chokes her with anger, one that affronts her shame. ❝ what the actual fuck. ❞ 

              “ FOR PEOPLE LIKE you, it always is, right ? “, audrey stated matter-of-factly. bitch is a l w a y s in for a BITCH, is it not ? the blonde’s insult didn’t upset audrey in the slightest – this was her work attire, and she knew it wasn’t fancy or anything. but it served its purpose. that is all she cared about – it was nothing but working clothes after all. “ ugh – i w i s h. “, she replied, overly dramatic as she let out a sigh. “ that would save me money and damn, their shit is quality. “. when the girl questioned the nickname she’d used, audrey couldn’t help but have one corner of her lips curl up. “ b l o n d i e. or is that colour fake as well ? “, the girl asked, tilting her head to the side.

“I did. I was looking through the library’s lost and found when I found it.” Seeing the other give the faintest of smiles made Shiloh feel a lot better for calling Taffyta to return her book. She’d initially been hesitant as she was worried about bothering the other and tried to tell herself the other would come back for it. But a part of her felt bad just leaving without even trying to return the book. “I hope this was helpful I didn’t even think if you might be out of the class by now or not.” She laughs a bit at the thought that the book might be old for the other.

DESPITE A NOTORIOUS LACK OF remorse for others, taffyta feels a little bad about how rude she’s being. sometimes, she can’t help the way she acts-- and, more than that, she rarely cares enough to try. ❝ oh, i wasn’t, ❞  she sighs. ❝ in class, i mean. but-- you know, like -- was this all? ❞ she taps her manicured nails across the cover of the textbook, clearly impatient.

☁*·ﾟ LIFTING HER HEAD, camila looked at the person standing in front of her. for months now, her father was trying to come up with new types of candy to sell at the store. she’d been trying to gain intel from the citizens of sunnyside but was struggling quite a bit. and that was exactly how camila found herself walking around the town with a clipboard in her hand. she made boxes for everyone’s names and was writing down their favorite flavors in the boxes. practically bouncing up and down, she started asking them a bunch of questions. “serious questions! what’s your favorite flavor of sweet things? what shape do you like your candies in? do you like them coated with things? tell me all of your favorite candy opinions!”

@sunnysidestarters

CAMILA’S ENERGY OFTEN CLASHED with taffyta’s-- which is to say, cam had way more energy, at any given point in time, than taffyta could ever even manage. sometimes, taffyta found that energy exciting, maybe even inspiring-- today, she found it  e x h a u s t i n g. she sipped lazily at an iced matcha latte, her expression eclipsed by monster-size miu miu sunglasses. once taffyta had finished her sip, she pursed her lips in displeasure. ❝ camila, shouldn’t you already know these answers for me? ❞ she sighed like she was really disappointed. ❝ and anyways-- look, i told you i could help you brainstorm before-- but i don’t know that this is, like, the most effective method. like, what if everyone has a different candy opinion? how is that going to help? ❞

Taffyta’s response was the only valid one in Marie’s mind, even though she knew most of Sunnyside would disagree. Not that Marie was surprised, with how put together the blonde always looked, she assumed Taffyta would know the importance of good hair. “I learnt my lesson - never be polite when it comes to haircare. From here on out, I’m sticking to my trusted hairdresser and never letting anyone else come near me, because today was… Straight out of a nightmare.” Or what passed as a nightmare to her. Yes she took her appearance much too seriously at times, but she didn’t truly understand that. Taking the other’s hand, she placed her free hand over her heart. “You are just too sweet.” Though her mood increased at the mention of wine. “I could definitely use some wine. And you don’t need to make her cry, seems like a total waste of your energy when you could be doing something amazing instead.” 

IN TYPICAL THEATRICS, taffyta shook her head and put a hand to her cheek, as if the compliment was too much. ❝ well, you know my motto, ❞ she said, smirking as she rose from the bench. she shrugged the strap of her purse up over her shoulder and crossed her arms over her chest. ❝ so, i parked a block from here, ❞ taffyta starts, nodding in the general direction. ❝ we can go back to my place and go loco. ❞ she jingles her keys and grins at marie, offering her hand to hurry her up off the bench. taffyta could probably brand impatience and peer pressure as subtle and fun, if it were possible.

              AUDREY HAD SUSPECTED that the blonde had taken her for someone else – for one, the brunette didn’t think herself very special. surely there were plenty gals around with a similar looking back. the girl was about to wave it off when the blonde threw her comment her way. “ what, that greasy look is already out of fashion again ? “, she asked, rhetorically. “ fucking hell. “, the girl continued, feigning disappointment. as if audrey cared a lot about fashion or trends. in all honesty, she had simply run out of time that morning to wash her hair. “ it must’ve gone out of fashion around the same time that b i t c h did. “, audrey replied, lifting a brow as she smiled at the blonde. “ i’m not surprised your friend didn’t show up, güerita. “.

❝ mmm, you’re wrong-- bitch is still very in. ❞ taffyta taps a manicured finger to her chin, like she’s really, un-ironically considering the insult, before she tacks on, ❝ i’m not surprised you wouldn’t know. it looks like you shop in salvation army’s dumpster. ❞ the friend comment that audrey makes is perhaps too low a blow for taffyta to deal with, albeit deserved-- all the same, she chooses to ignore it entirely. the only thing worse than being a loser who gets stood up by a friend, is having to try to explain being a loser who gets stood up by a friend to other people. it’s bad for image, anyways. ❝ what did you call me?? güerita?? ❞

“I realize it was rather odd for me to call.” Shiloh responds, standing next to the chair across from Taffyta instead of immediately sitting. “Oh don’t worry about me. I’m not much of one for coffee.” Not unless it was drowned in flavors and sweetener that is. She dug into her book bag a moment and pulled out a large text book, placing it on the table across from Taffyta. “I only called because I found this text book with your name in it in the library. I hope that’s not a weird reason to call. I just wanted to make sure you got it back, I’m sure it’s important for your school work.”

whatever taffyta had been expecting from this impromptu interaction– her sociology textbook had not been involved. she gives it the blankest of stares, before sliding it from shiloh’s end of the table to her own with surprising reluctance, opening the front cover in search of proof.  ❝ oh wow. ❞ she finally manages, with the tiniest of smiles. ❝ this totally is mine. you found it in the library? ❞ taffyta wracks her brain for the last time she was in the library at all– or the last time she’d been to her sociology class. 

“It’s not my fault.” Marie protested instantly, being rude without notice was far too rude for her liking, but it couldn’t be avoided that day. “I went to the salon and they asked if I was okay with a trainee doing my hair, which… Like I wasn’t, but they need to learn somehow so I agreed. Only they made it… awful.” She spoke, her tone akin to speaking about a tragedy and not a bad haircut. “Of course I couldn’t leave looking so bad, so they had to start over… So I was late.” In true dramatic fashion, she flounced down onto the seat. “All I wanted was some coffee, though now I kinda want something stronger.” 

taffyta’s mouth drops into a little ❝ o ❞ of horror as marie tells her story, each twist and turn more terrifying. by the time marie is finished, taffyta has perched herself on the edge of the bench next to her, one hand delicately covering her mouth, like she’s just heard something as bad as news of winnie’s disappearance. she waves her other hand by way of dismissal. ❝ ohmygod, don’t worry about being late. your excuse is valid. ❞ taffyta proffers her half-drank chai in perhaps the friendliest gesture she’s ever made to anyone. ❝ here, you can have a sip. your FIRST mistake was letting a tech do your hair. i barely trust professionals... you’re too kind-hearted, marie. if you don’t learn to say no, you’re going to get stuck with way worse than bad hair. seriously. ❞ taffyta stands, extending a hand to help marie off the bench. ❝ do you want to go back to my place? i have wine. or i could make that trainee girl cry. you know i will. ❞