If life is a stage, let's hope it's a comedy.

How late was it? Too  much, the party had died out and well, he was on his own. And that definitely sucked. So… Yeah. Whatever though, Gabriel didn’t want to end the night in a slump anyway, besides, the week was still young. Right? Now his feet had brought him far from his cabin and back to the beach again the weather was amazing, the stars, bright shiny jewels lit his way, the ocean ahead, going on forever and ever, the gentle rhythm of the waves lulled him into a sweet sense of calm.

His cigarette (yeah… perhaps it was a bit stronger than that), was long gone and unfortunately he didn’t have another.  Gabriel had been on his walk for a while, in drunken stupor, but still living the good high, just savoring the moment, shoes in hand, the waves caressing his legs. Christ, the water, it felt fucking awesome. What if? He left his trunks at the cabin. I’m a freaking idiot… And yet was it really a problem? No way. The ocean kept calling to him and who the hell was him to say no. Not a soul in sight and who cared anyway. 

He found a spot on the beach, one that he deemed safe, as far as he knew and stripped himself off the white attire he had worn at the party, he left everything there, a messed up bundle on the sand. For a few moments, he just let the oceanic breeze caress his bare flesh before a mad dash brought him to the water. “Whooo…..” 

Christ the water was a mazing, he swam against the weaves, enjoying the warmth that the ocean had collected during the day, letting the feeling sink in. How long did he stay? Definitely he couldn’t tell, but then again, did he care? Not at all.

Life was great again. At least until the  hangover tomorrow. When he felt it was finally time to go and get a couple of hours of sleep, he walked lazily on the sand toward his clothes. Just. They weren’t there? Fuck. Maybe he had forgotten where he left them? Or perhaps the current had dragged him away and he just hadn’t noticed. No way he recognized the lifeguard cabin a few feet away. Fuck… His cottage was the farthest away from the sea. Come on Gabriel, no need to panic yet. 

Steps on the sand. Fuck...

Peraps it was time to panic. At least a little.

Looks like GABRIEL LORUSSO is here for HIS** JUNIOR** year as a FILM student. HE is 21 years old & known to be PLAYFUL, ENERGETIC, IRRESPONSIBLE & TEMPERAMENTAL. They’re living in MORIS, so if you’re there, watch out for them.

Heya I’m Mik and here is Gabriel in short. I’ll expand this a bit in the upcoming days, but I wanted to get something running.

Nodding his head, Oliver could see where the other was coming from. He would be pretty bummed if he couldn’t be in the dance club. Though he enjoyed playing sports for fun, he never really was one to join a team. He’d much rather stick to his games.

“What subject? If it’s math, I can help.” Oliver gave the other a smile. “Well it’s gotten better since this morning. I had to walk to school as my tire for my motorbike was flat.”

“English Literature man” H shook his head. “And Yeah I know…”  He lowered his eyes again. “The athlete that sucks at schoolwork, I got totally original problems.” He chuckled. “Whatever…”  

“Sorry to hear that man. If you need some help changing the tire or something let me know ok?” He continued. “I mean, I was about to bum you a ride, but I guess we can jog back home together or something after practice...” He smiled.

“I mean, besides you absolutely gotta let me give it a try one day. Just one short ride maybe?” Truth was, Luke was a bit jealous of Ollie’s motorbike, after all bikes were cool and there was pretty much zero chances that he was going to own one in any foreseeable future. Besides, he barely knew how to drive, having practiced a few times with his parents ride, a noble vehicle that was probably older than he was, but that still somehow  miraculously worked, so yeah there was that too.

“I’m sure most people around would agree with you, that’s really the only thing to do for fun on the weekends, everything else seems so repetitive,” she pointed out with a roll of her eyes. ‘they usually end up being pretty fun though so can’t really complain about that.”

“I don’t know how you haven’t yet,” her crowd was one that never missed a party, so if there was something going on, they would definitely be there. drinking was one way to help ease her mind, she didn’t usually get too belligerent or anything but it was nice to feel the warm buzz from the alcohol.

“Jealous of what? being in a relationship?” how long would it even last this time? she and zeke were on and off so often that it was hard to keep track, “if you want to be in one i’m sure you could find some willing participants,” she told him. “i dont recommend going back to your ex though, that’s just drama.” definitely hypocritical advice on her part.

“have you heard that apparently they found some of their stuff? i wonder what’s going on..” the whole situation was rather strange, she hoped it would be sorted out soon.

“better hope you don’t end up on some kind of sex offender list, you’re lucky you didn’t get arrested. imagine having to explain that one,” she shook her head.

“I wouldn’t say i did anything crazy, played some beer bong, danced a little, drank a lot,” addy shrugged her shoulders, “just the usual.” looking over at him she shook her head. “no i didn’t uber on my own, zeke and i went to his place.”

“Yeah right? Can’t wait for the summer to finally be here, I mean, at least then we can all go for a swim or something.” He smiled. “You know? I got my lifeguard license this year, so yeah, finally I’m gonna have a summer job that doesn’t suck. All day at the beach baby.” He smirked. “Yourself? I mean, got anything planned for spring break or something?” 

“Well that’s something that definitely needs to be fixed.” He chuckled between breaths.

“Yep… I mean, sure I hope… I definitely don’t like being alone you know?” He frowned. “I mean I have my friends, sure… but…” Yeah it sucked, besides, the heartbreak was still too fresh in his mind anyway. “I guess you’re right.” He lowered his eyes, truth was he had hoped that things would work out again with Kel, but well, by now, the seventeen years old had figured out that he needed to move on, the did belong to different worlds after all.

“They did?” He raised one eyebrow. “Where? You know if they got anything out of it? Fuck I hope they are alright.”  Not that the fact that they had found their things actually gave him high hopes though, after all if they had left on their own will, why leave stuff that for sure could be useful once they were on their own.

“Definitely.” He nodded, a hint of fear dancing in his eyes, yeah that scenario would have definitely  turned something that so far has only been a mild discomfort into a life ruining situation. Although, well, the deputies probably remembered how it was to be teenagers too right? So yeah probably even if someone caught him that way the chance of actually getting on a list were kinda slim.

“Just the usual.” He echoed her. “Went to his place? Whohooo baby.” He teased.

it was a sweet offer for him to suggest that she could call him whenever she needed. not that she didn’t trust him or anything, but she knew just as well as she knew he would know that her calling him for anything would be so weird. it was going to be struggle as is for the two of them to just make some what of a friendship work. kelsey had a hard time enough to be nice to those she cared about. but she was going to try regardless. it wasn’t luke’s fault that kelsey was a bad girlfriend to him.

“really i appreciate it, but we both know how awkward that conversation would be.” the redhead said nudging him with a laugh. “i thank you though for trying to be there still or at least trying to make this friendship work. i just figured for the sake of the both of us it would be easy to try to be nice to each other.” she said softly. “i dont hate you, luke. i know i wasn’t good to you… and i am sorry for that.” she admitted.

then she laughed, “yeah well hopefully you wont be grounded too much longer. maybe they will feel bad about grounding you and give in.” she laughed once more. then her laugh stopped and she nodded, “yeah that whole thing is so scary. like what if it was one of us taken?” she said with a shiver.

“Yeah just a little bit awkward you’re right.” He grinned, giving her a playful smile. “And yeah, I guess we can both do our best right… Besides, we are struck in the same school for while anyway… I for once, don’t think I’ll leave until college.” Well, assuming that he could find a college that would take him, otherwise… much likely Paradise Hill would be his home for a very long time.

“And I…” He frowned, truth was, he didn’t know what to reply to that. “And I definitely don’t hate you either.” Well, he had actually, when the heartbreak was still very much fresh, but then again, he couldn’t bear himself to do so for long.

Luke laughed, albeit it was perhaps a laughter more subdued than his usual ones. “Yeah, but I mean they were kinda right… you should have seen in what shape I got back home.” He smiled. “They won’t stay mad for long anyway.” He added confidently, after all Luke was an only son and even if mom and dad couldn’t spoil him due to the perennial lack of money, his parents still were extremely permissive with the seventeen years old.

“Well, we don’t know if they have been taken… maybe they just ran away or something.” He mused. “But why? Besides, I mean there were four of them, it’s like, they can’t vanish in thin air, I mean someone must remember something.” He frowned, himself, though, he couldn’t and he was sure that plenty of students were in the same condition that night.

Oliver looked at the other when all the papers fell on the floor. He did notice the grade on one of the papers, but Oliver reached down and helped the other guy pick up the papers. “Long day for you Benson?” He asked, handing over the paper with the ‘F’ upside down so no-one could else could see.

Luke frowned, giving Ollie an ashamed look, now it was not like he was an A student or anything, never been in fact, but then again… Yeah…

“To be honest, yeah it sucks.” He shook his head and rushed to hide the incriminating paper back into the folds of his book. “I mean, a few more like this and the coach has said that he won’t be able to keep me on the team.” Yeah perhaps wasn’t the worst consequence of his declining grades, especially for his ambition of eventually going to college, but of course the team was definitely the top priority for the seventeen years old.

“Whatever I can fix this.” He shrugged, assuming he could find time between training and taking odd jobs to help out mom and dad of course, but well… “How about you man? Better luck with your day.”

she was glad that the alcohol had taken over her inhibitions , otherwise she would have done the smart thing and walked away a long time ago. “ look , can’t you give me another dare – to like , make out with a stranger or something? ” she asked , looking around and giving those who surrounded them a pleading look. but it was no use. “ fuck.. ” she whispered to herself , shaking her head before she began jumping up and down to gear herself up. her hands called into fists , before she took up a run and grabbed his hand as they both entered the freezing cold water with a splash.

Luke didn’t reply to her last minute objection, he just shook his head and grinned playfully. ‘Too late I’m sorry.’ He thought, but truth was, he wasn’t sorry, not to the slightest.

“Hey Manners.” He teased playfully, turning again toward her to grin at the girl before going back to face the ocean.

“One, Two, Three…” He dashed toward the sea, hand in hand with his reluctant companion. He did his best to suppress a swear when their feet entered the water, but then again, running made thing easier and besides, he didn’t want to look like a pussy in front of all the drunken students that were looking at their stunt. As soon as the water was deep enough, the young man used the running start they had collected to jump and then dove down into the water with another, drunken “Whohooo…” Shouted at the top of his lungs. When he re-emerged, he looked toward Saffie.

“See, it wasn’t so bad…” He smiled. And actually now that they were almost fully immersed, it really wasn’t that terrible, in fact, the young man felt like it was almost warm, compared to when he was exposed to the oceanic breeze. He swam, making a lazy circle around Saffie. “By the way you look great.” He tossed casually.

“you and everyone else around here. that will be a nice break, some time off is much needed. do you have plans to go anywhere or anything?” she inquired glancing over at him. she looked back at the water and then over at him once again, “im sure it would be fine, it’s not like it’s crazy cold out and you’d end up with hypothermia. if youve got the urge you may as well go for it. it’ll probably be refreshing.”

“Yeah exactly right?” He smiled, yep, it was weird spending the winter dreaming about summer and then back again? Well maybe... “Not really.” He lowered his eyes, it would be cool to actually go somewhere, but that kinda required money so... yeah... There was always the chance of course that one of his rich 'bros would invite him somewhere, but well, whateve he kinda needed the extra few bucks he could make during the summer anyway. “I took my lifeguard license this year though, so I'm planning to be on a beach until we go back to school.” He smiled. Yeah it was a good plan, besides, girls digs lifeguards right?

“Yeah it's not too bad, been there done that at the night of the party.” Another smirk, well, how much alcohol did he had in his body at the time however, that day not so much, besides, yeah his parents won't be exactly happy if he came back home after a swim in the ocean, again.

“Anyway what are you doing here yourself? Did I interrupt anything maybe?”

“Didn’t know that you wanted to get your ass kicked,” he said with a laugh as he turned his attention to the other, “But fine, let’s spar, no face or groin attacks,” he said as he tightened up his gloves. He ignored his question about if he was alright because the answer was he didn’t know.

“You sure man? My bet is that it's not gonna be my ass to get kicked.” Luke teased his friend, with a smirk and all the playful bravado of a seventeen years old boy. “Sure works for me.”

He nodded, grabbing a pair of gloves for himself from one of the lockers and spending a few seconds to warm up, not that he exactly needed it, as after all he had been training until not long before.

As soon as they got in place, the young man begun circling around Jason, trying to study his 'opponent', not that exactly much was at stake of course, but truth was, Luke was a sucker for competition anyway. “So I have been hearing that you got pretty busy at the party right?*” He tossed casually.  

as she felt the cold night air on her skin , she shuddered and wrapped her arms around herself again. she really didn’t want to do this , but she also wanted her peers to know that she wasn’t an angel or a coward - that she had guts and well , was a normal teenager. if she was honest , their constant chanting was irritating the hell out of her and she wanted this all to be over. if she wasn’t wasted though , she would never even have the guts to get this far. she watched as he undressed himself , she brushed a hand through her hair that she regretted wanding now that it was going to get completely soaked. hearing the words ladies first , a smirk spread across her lips as she motioned a hand towards the water. “ go on then…. ” she joked , a laugh escaping her lips.

Luke kept shifting the balance on his feet, not because it was cold of course, not at all, he was just getting ready for his dive. Yeah definitely. And was he exhaling a small cloud of steam between breaths? Nah, must have been his imagination.

He was about to tease Saffy again when he saw her hesitation, but he could do nothing, but burst into laughter at her remark. “Fair looks like I did play myself.” He replied between chuckles.

“Together?” He suggested, offering her his hand as well as a coy smile. “What do you think? Shall we?” He chuckled, before turning to face her, his gaze sinking for a moment into her own, like to silently ask if she trusted him.

Meanwhile, the chorus of teasing restarted again, but Luke did his best to ignore them, focused as he was on her for the time being. 'Come on, Luke you can do this.' He thought, taking a deep breath, before rushing toward the water with a powerful. “Whohooo....” Hopefully, with Saffie now holding his hand.