Stuff I started at 19 that I really hope I'm not still working on by 21
Contains snippets of oneshots and updates I've started God knows when.
So, planning on finishing stuff and actually finishing stuff...two entirely different animals. I'll probably finish the multi-chaptered fics I've already started (eventually). The oneshots on the other hand are kind of up in the air, so if you're pulling for a certain one, let me know.
Demi/Selena - Set in the 1930s where Demi is totally a Tommy gun wielding gangster. (762) - COMPLETE
Keep the Change, You Filthy Animal
She and her Mama have always gotten by alone, just barely, but they have. They're fine with that. Selena's never been the kinda girl that wanted or needed the finer things. She doesn’t mind working at the flower shop all day with meager wages, because her Mama’s been working at Minnie’s Diner since she was a girl, too. Maybe, it means her Mama had her too young, and she did, but Selena likes to thing it’s got more to do with them being hard workers.
Not even the stock market crashing changes much of their lives. Business gets pretty bad, but they’re no strangers to going to bed with growling stomachs. They’ve long since learned to talk themselves to sleep over the sound of their own hunger. Things get worse, though. More people lose their jobs and not even the government can help them all.
Selena doesn’t think they’ll be able to get by much longer until Mr. Teefey strolls into Mickey's. When her Mama comes home that first night, tired and smiling, Selena's sure it's the happiest her Mama's been in a while. No matter how many times Mama calls her Daddy a lazy, good-for-nothing, scoundrel; Selena knows she misses him or at least the idea of him. She never says it, but Selena knows. It’s clear in the way her Mama sighs at the sight of other families, whole families, before she starts talking about how we’re better off.
Sometimes Selena doesn’t think so. Especially when they start feeling faint from hunger and Mama keeps looking worriedly at their near empty money tin.
Mr. Teefey, Brian as my Mama calls him, changes things. Her Mama says he's the handsomest man she's ever seen and the last thing she expected was for him to take a shining to her.
Brian says he works at some Mickey-Mouse radio station, but Selena's not sure she believes him. Lots of places have been closing down and money's scarce these days, has been since the stock market crashed a few years back. Logic tells her that he can't make an honest living at a Mickey-Mouse radio station and afford the finely pressed suits he always wears. Not to mention all the flowers, food, and tokens he's always bringing into their tiny apartment.
There is something honest about him, though. Selena's sure the way he feels about her Mama is the only honest thing about him, so she says nothing, even with the inkling suspicion that he's involved with all sorts of unsavory characters. Ignorance is bliss, and if ignorance is going to keep him looking at her Mama with stars in his eyes and ruffling her hair, like her Daddy never did, then it's worth it.
..............
"So, Sel, you still suspicious about that Brian character your Mama's seeing?"
Selena sighs at the gentle prodding. It's all she and Jen have been talking about, since the moment she brought up her suspicions. The topic should have been exhausted considering the long hours they spend in and out of the Waverly Flower Shop, but she doesn't stop thinking about it, which naturally turns the topic to Brian. "It's not like I don't approve, Jen. He's just," she pauses thoughtfully, pulling her lower lip between her teeth.
"Too good to be true," Jen finishes solemnly.
Before, she can answer the telltale sound of the front door opening and the answering bell chime resounds in the shop.
Selena straightens at the clack of heels and a shiny polished boot. As the couple ventures further into the store and her eyes start to really take in the customers, she smoothes her worn dress self-consciously.
These two are far from the sorts of folk that usually venture into this part of town. Usually, their customers are somewhere along the lines of young men buying flowers for their sweethearts or wives, or mothers flowers to spruce up their house, but always, and she means always, people that have to scrimp and save for a bouquet. The two people in front of her are certainly used to the finer things.
Clothes new and pressed, clearly tailored, go well with the young man’s, a handsome dark-haired fellow, watch, and the string of pearls along the girl’s neck. They look like the sort of people she sees in the pictures, not customers in their humble shop.
Surprisingly it’s the girl that steps up to the counter, offering Selena a smile with lips painted a violent red, and she feels her mouth drop.
The girl looks even lovelier up close.
Demi/Selena - In which Selena is a Catholic school girl, (even if I haven’t written her in yet). (322)
Play that Record
As the first group of skirt clad students make their way into Barney’s, Demi gets why Joe insisted that she and Nick take the afterschool shifts. She never got it before. Up until about a year ago, he and David Henrie had always taken the night shift on weekdays.
That she understood.
Nightshifts were slower; you could easily get away with doing nothing. Hours could be wasted sifting through shelves of music without any worry about customers. It’s like being paid to listen to music, which is sort of unbelievably awesome and as good a job as it gets in high school.
Then Joe fills in for someone afterschool and after that, he and David wind up taking the afterschool shifts as often as possible until that’s their fixed shift.
She remembers the way he looks as he boards the bus to go off to university and do grown up things, he claims, even though the fact that he actually says ‘grown up things’ makes him seem a whole lot younger than his eighteen years. He keeps wiggling his eyebrows at David and they both keep laughing and patting them on the shoulder, like it some secret joke.
Now as skirt clad students wander in one right after another, filling her vision with legs and knee socks, and good God, ties and dress shirts, she gets the joke. Before, this moment it had never occurred to her that a slightly rundown music store would be the perfect place to hang out after the Catholic school up the street let out and she guesses it didn’t occur to Joe or David until Joe filled in that one time.
Nick slumps down against the cash register, mouth agape, eyes darting through the store. “We are going to owe Joe and David for the rest of our lives,” he mutters absently.
“I’ll tell you one thing, it definitely beats McDonald’s,” she replies.
Demi/Selena - Track star Demi and Selena the journalist and/or school photographer. (247)
Racing Like a Sprinter
Demi’s running.
It still surprises her that it doesn’t get boring. Running around a track half the afternoon during track season and even when it’s not track season. Maybe, it’s the adrenaline, pumping through her veins, like the oil in a finely tuned engine, making her go impossibly faster, increasing the urge to beat her latest record. Or, it’s the feeling of weightlessness that kicks in when her legs are about ready to fall off when just seconds ago, her legs felt like lead weights.
The feeling’s incredible, but sometimes, especially when things get rough, before she even started track, she thinks about why she started running, for the escape.
Even if she always winds up coming back, that temporary bliss of leaving all her problems is irreplaceable.
Things, like where the heck Nick Jonas is when he should be trailing along behind her, sort of fade into the background.
Or, at least it does until she hears his voice as she rounds the curve of the track; instinctively she looks back, and promptly stumbles on her feet. Feeling like she’s falling in slow motion as she registers that Nick’s back there talking to a girl, some completely gorgeous girl, Demi doesn’t recall seeing around the school.
Demi decides, fighting the urge to gag at the taste of dirt in her mouth that she’s really got to stop running from problems like her grades and nuisances like classes, because clearly she’s missing out.
Music with Mitchie (516)
Chapter 2
It took a sleepless night at a hotel with Mitchie wriggling excitedly beside me, but eventually she fell asleep, her head flopping tiredly onto my shoulder. There was still another couple hours left until we arrived, so not long after Mitchie’s excited energy gave out; I felt my eyes begin to droop.
Mitchie’s rhythmic breathing ghosting across my neck must have lulled me to sleep, because when my head cleared again, I could feel Mitchie’s hand drumming a beat on my thigh. A mesmerizing beat, which seemed to accompany the distant pulsing of drums and electric strings. My heart began to pound harder in my chest, following the rhythm set by the not so distant camp as I opened my eyes.
The first thing I saw was my girlfriend leaning forward in her seat, grin so wide I could make it out perfectly from what I could see of her profile. A smile that had nothing to do with how good she looked and everything to do with her mood reached my lips as I sat up, giving her waist a light squeeze.
She turned to me immediately, smiling impossibly wider as she pressed a soft kiss to my cheek, mindful of the other inhabitants in the car. “Hey,” she whispered softly.
“Hey back," I replied, gently bumping our noses together and trying not to think of how similar to Justin and Juliet we were acting. The not quite kiss was kind of their trademark, but I suppose we were better off like them at the moment. Mitchie related rules were about the only rules I wasn't willing to break considering they affected my Mitchie related privileges.
“You know, if you two weren’t so adorable together, and Alex wasn’t more bearable with you around, Mitchie that would be nauseating to watch,” Justin muttered with a smile that took away the bite from his words.
“Sorry, Justin,” Mitchie mumbled, blushing prettily. “I’m just really excited. You two are going to love it there. I did. Plus Alex is finally going to meet some of my friends.” At that she gave my thigh another excited squeeze as she shifted in her seat. How she had so much energy after staying up most of the night too keyed up to sleep, I wasn’t entirely sure, but Mitchie was full of surprises.
“It’s alright, Mitchie,” Justin chuckled, reaching over me to pat Mitchie on the shoulder. “Besides we’re almost there, so soon I’ll be able to ditch you two.”
“Yeah, but you won’t,” I retorted. He raised a brow. “Justin, you don’t know anyone there. If you ditch us, well, I doubt you’ll find people of your little alien club here. Good luck making friends.” Justin’s eyes narrowed as his lips slipped into a pout, and I grinned at his silent surrender.
“Alex, be nice,” Mitchie reprimanded gently.
As I looked away from both her and Justin, I caught sight of the crowded camp. The grin at my lips must have said what my lips didn’t, because Mitchie squealed suddenly, signaling that she too had seen the camp.
Nightmare Before Christmas Crossover (503)
Chapter 15
Dad had stayed true to his word. By the time I’d found the will to move a despondent Paul Jonas Sr. had been exiting my new prison after sealing the windows with deep, red bricks and cement. Then the following morning, Nick had knocked at my door, looking like he’d rather be anywhere else in the world than at my door, but he waited quietly as I screamed and ranted and finally just got ready for work, like I’d been doing so for years.
As it turned out even Taylor was being escorted once she got over her post intoxication bout of ‘illness.’ The four Jonas brothers had actually been pulled from their regular duties to watch us and it was ridiculous. I’d known everything with Demi would have been brought out into the light eventually, but I hadn’t thought they’d be this severe.
I probably should’ve expected it though, because I’m pretty sure Santa’s daughter isn’t supposed to be on the naughty list. Actually I could still recall Mom reminding me as a child that as his daughter I needed to set the standard for kids all over the world, even if they’d never meet me. Scrutinized even by those who couldn’t see me, would probably never know of my existence, but they counted anyway.
Counted more than how miserable I felt; as sad as that was. Not even Taylor’s attempt at simultaneously cheering me up and apologizing by painting a rather crude figure of Demi on my blocked out windows could get me to crack a smile, even if I had forgiven Taylor easily enough. How could I blame her for speaking up, even if she hadn’t been in her right mind, when all she did was speed up the exposure?
I couldn’t.
When she’d gotten me alone the next day, spewing so many apologies they slurred together, I’d just accepted it, even if she hadn’t forgiven herself.
A week had passed in a painful blur. Aching throughout the day at the thought of when night fell, it wouldn’t mean a night out with Demi. Something that had been deemed completely inconceivable the minute she kissed me, the minute I gave into the pull she’d always had on me. That pain got even worse when I thought of how Demi was feeling.
Halloween Town was our designated meeting place. When I didn’t show up again and again… I couldn’t imagine how conflicted she’d be, knowing she couldn’t just show up here and ask about me at the risk of blowing a cover she didn’t know was blown. Not knowing if I’d changed my mind overnight.
…
The room’s pitch black, the darkest of blacks with no moonlight to stream in through the window, when Taylor barges in with all four of the Jonas brothers in tow. Even Joe who’d shaved his head to match Taylor’s handiwork, which made him look less ridiculous, but even less like Joe.
Flashlights illuminated the room as Taylor marched her way to my bedside.
Rachel/Quinn - Someone’s homeless in New York. (248)
Until You’re Heard
It starts when she takes Maddie to that new ice cream shop. The place is nowhere near their apartment, but apparently anyone who’s anyone has had the ice cream there. Quinn wonders if she was ever this ridiculous for mere seconds, before admitting, silently, because there is no way her daughter is going to hold this over her head, that yes, she was that ridiculous.
Her eyes flicker attentively through the streets, because it is New York and she’s being led around by her seven-year-old daughter. For all she knows, Maddie’s friends could’ve suggested a shortcut, and she’d really like to avoid the cheesy horror film, even if it is still broad daylight.
Movement in an alley catches her eyes, but the dark-haired figure in the alley stays hunched over, hands folded over their knees and head bent. A wave of sympathy runs through her and she remembers the feeling, the sense of being open and vulnerable. She had Finn and later Puck back then, but clearly this woman’s got no one.
As she helps Maddie along with her sundae, her mind wanders to the figure in the alleyway, and stops at her hands, tiny and delicate and familiar. Quinn shakes off the feeling of recognition, because seeing a familiar pair of hands is completely absurd. No one she knows in New York is living on the streets, so she beats down the urge to go back and get a look at the woman’s face.
Cat/Jade/Tori - Part Two of Schemes Gone Awry - Title pending (202) - COMPLETE
Jade’s all too aware that her plans have a tendency of failing, miserably, but this one’s simple. It consists of avoiding Tori and Cat, like they’ve got Swine Flu, and maybe, clinging to Beck, like a fly on wallpaper. It’s so painfully simple, she’s positive even she can’t screw it up.
The next time she’s in school, it’s clear she’s not the only one with avoidance on their agenda, because whenever she catches so much of a glimpse of Tori, the girl usually flying around the corner Beck is…understandably confused, because he never gets a far a raising his hand in a wave or finishing the girl’s name, before she pulls a Houdini. Last week, Tori was all but hanging off his arm, but now she won’t even share a hallway with him and spends class looking straight ahead.
That plan she had to get Tori far from Beck works, but unfortunately it works, like the Monkey’s Paw, a double-edged sword. Tori wants nothing to do with Beck for the moment, but Jade, though she’ll deny it, wants a whole lot to do with Tori…and Cat. She feels sick, a feeling that grows when Beck wraps an arm loosely around her shoulder.
So, planning on finishing stuff and actually finishing stuff...two entirely different animals. I'll probably finish the multi-chaptered fics I've already started (eventually). The oneshots on the other hand are kind of up in the air, so if you're pulling for a certain one, let me know.
Demi/Selena - Set in the 1930s where Demi is totally a Tommy gun wielding gangster. (762) - COMPLETE
Keep the Change, You Filthy Animal
She and her Mama have always gotten by alone, just barely, but they have. They're fine with that. Selena's never been the kinda girl that wanted or needed the finer things. She doesn’t mind working at the flower shop all day with meager wages, because her Mama’s been working at Minnie’s Diner since she was a girl, too. Maybe, it means her Mama had her too young, and she did, but Selena likes to thing it’s got more to do with them being hard workers.
Not even the stock market crashing changes much of their lives. Business gets pretty bad, but they’re no strangers to going to bed with growling stomachs. They’ve long since learned to talk themselves to sleep over the sound of their own hunger. Things get worse, though. More people lose their jobs and not even the government can help them all.
Selena doesn’t think they’ll be able to get by much longer until Mr. Teefey strolls into Mickey's. When her Mama comes home that first night, tired and smiling, Selena's sure it's the happiest her Mama's been in a while. No matter how many times Mama calls her Daddy a lazy, good-for-nothing, scoundrel; Selena knows she misses him or at least the idea of him. She never says it, but Selena knows. It’s clear in the way her Mama sighs at the sight of other families, whole families, before she starts talking about how we’re better off.
Sometimes Selena doesn’t think so. Especially when they start feeling faint from hunger and Mama keeps looking worriedly at their near empty money tin.
Mr. Teefey, Brian as my Mama calls him, changes things. Her Mama says he's the handsomest man she's ever seen and the last thing she expected was for him to take a shining to her.
Brian says he works at some Mickey-Mouse radio station, but Selena's not sure she believes him. Lots of places have been closing down and money's scarce these days, has been since the stock market crashed a few years back. Logic tells her that he can't make an honest living at a Mickey-Mouse radio station and afford the finely pressed suits he always wears. Not to mention all the flowers, food, and tokens he's always bringing into their tiny apartment.
There is something honest about him, though. Selena's sure the way he feels about her Mama is the only honest thing about him, so she says nothing, even with the inkling suspicion that he's involved with all sorts of unsavory characters. Ignorance is bliss, and if ignorance is going to keep him looking at her Mama with stars in his eyes and ruffling her hair, like her Daddy never did, then it's worth it.
..............
"So, Sel, you still suspicious about that Brian character your Mama's seeing?"
Selena sighs at the gentle prodding. It's all she and Jen have been talking about, since the moment she brought up her suspicions. The topic should have been exhausted considering the long hours they spend in and out of the Waverly Flower Shop, but she doesn't stop thinking about it, which naturally turns the topic to Brian. "It's not like I don't approve, Jen. He's just," she pauses thoughtfully, pulling her lower lip between her teeth.
"Too good to be true," Jen finishes solemnly.
Before, she can answer the telltale sound of the front door opening and the answering bell chime resounds in the shop.
Selena straightens at the clack of heels and a shiny polished boot. As the couple ventures further into the store and her eyes start to really take in the customers, she smoothes her worn dress self-consciously.
These two are far from the sorts of folk that usually venture into this part of town. Usually, their customers are somewhere along the lines of young men buying flowers for their sweethearts or wives, or mothers flowers to spruce up their house, but always, and she means always, people that have to scrimp and save for a bouquet. The two people in front of her are certainly used to the finer things.
Clothes new and pressed, clearly tailored, go well with the young man’s, a handsome dark-haired fellow, watch, and the string of pearls along the girl’s neck. They look like the sort of people she sees in the pictures, not customers in their humble shop.
Surprisingly it’s the girl that steps up to the counter, offering Selena a smile with lips painted a violent red, and she feels her mouth drop.
The girl looks even lovelier up close.
Demi/Selena - In which Selena is a Catholic school girl, (even if I haven’t written her in yet). (322)
Play that Record
As the first group of skirt clad students make their way into Barney’s, Demi gets why Joe insisted that she and Nick take the afterschool shifts. She never got it before. Up until about a year ago, he and David Henrie had always taken the night shift on weekdays.
That she understood.
Nightshifts were slower; you could easily get away with doing nothing. Hours could be wasted sifting through shelves of music without any worry about customers. It’s like being paid to listen to music, which is sort of unbelievably awesome and as good a job as it gets in high school.
Then Joe fills in for someone afterschool and after that, he and David wind up taking the afterschool shifts as often as possible until that’s their fixed shift.
She remembers the way he looks as he boards the bus to go off to university and do grown up things, he claims, even though the fact that he actually says ‘grown up things’ makes him seem a whole lot younger than his eighteen years. He keeps wiggling his eyebrows at David and they both keep laughing and patting them on the shoulder, like it some secret joke.
Now as skirt clad students wander in one right after another, filling her vision with legs and knee socks, and good God, ties and dress shirts, she gets the joke. Before, this moment it had never occurred to her that a slightly rundown music store would be the perfect place to hang out after the Catholic school up the street let out and she guesses it didn’t occur to Joe or David until Joe filled in that one time.
Nick slumps down against the cash register, mouth agape, eyes darting through the store. “We are going to owe Joe and David for the rest of our lives,” he mutters absently.
“I’ll tell you one thing, it definitely beats McDonald’s,” she replies.
Demi/Selena - Track star Demi and Selena the journalist and/or school photographer. (247)
Racing Like a Sprinter
Demi’s running.
It still surprises her that it doesn’t get boring. Running around a track half the afternoon during track season and even when it’s not track season. Maybe, it’s the adrenaline, pumping through her veins, like the oil in a finely tuned engine, making her go impossibly faster, increasing the urge to beat her latest record. Or, it’s the feeling of weightlessness that kicks in when her legs are about ready to fall off when just seconds ago, her legs felt like lead weights.
The feeling’s incredible, but sometimes, especially when things get rough, before she even started track, she thinks about why she started running, for the escape.
Even if she always winds up coming back, that temporary bliss of leaving all her problems is irreplaceable.
Things, like where the heck Nick Jonas is when he should be trailing along behind her, sort of fade into the background.
Or, at least it does until she hears his voice as she rounds the curve of the track; instinctively she looks back, and promptly stumbles on her feet. Feeling like she’s falling in slow motion as she registers that Nick’s back there talking to a girl, some completely gorgeous girl, Demi doesn’t recall seeing around the school.
Demi decides, fighting the urge to gag at the taste of dirt in her mouth that she’s really got to stop running from problems like her grades and nuisances like classes, because clearly she’s missing out.
Music with Mitchie (516)
Chapter 2
It took a sleepless night at a hotel with Mitchie wriggling excitedly beside me, but eventually she fell asleep, her head flopping tiredly onto my shoulder. There was still another couple hours left until we arrived, so not long after Mitchie’s excited energy gave out; I felt my eyes begin to droop.
Mitchie’s rhythmic breathing ghosting across my neck must have lulled me to sleep, because when my head cleared again, I could feel Mitchie’s hand drumming a beat on my thigh. A mesmerizing beat, which seemed to accompany the distant pulsing of drums and electric strings. My heart began to pound harder in my chest, following the rhythm set by the not so distant camp as I opened my eyes.
The first thing I saw was my girlfriend leaning forward in her seat, grin so wide I could make it out perfectly from what I could see of her profile. A smile that had nothing to do with how good she looked and everything to do with her mood reached my lips as I sat up, giving her waist a light squeeze.
She turned to me immediately, smiling impossibly wider as she pressed a soft kiss to my cheek, mindful of the other inhabitants in the car. “Hey,” she whispered softly.
“Hey back," I replied, gently bumping our noses together and trying not to think of how similar to Justin and Juliet we were acting. The not quite kiss was kind of their trademark, but I suppose we were better off like them at the moment. Mitchie related rules were about the only rules I wasn't willing to break considering they affected my Mitchie related privileges.
“You know, if you two weren’t so adorable together, and Alex wasn’t more bearable with you around, Mitchie that would be nauseating to watch,” Justin muttered with a smile that took away the bite from his words.
“Sorry, Justin,” Mitchie mumbled, blushing prettily. “I’m just really excited. You two are going to love it there. I did. Plus Alex is finally going to meet some of my friends.” At that she gave my thigh another excited squeeze as she shifted in her seat. How she had so much energy after staying up most of the night too keyed up to sleep, I wasn’t entirely sure, but Mitchie was full of surprises.
“It’s alright, Mitchie,” Justin chuckled, reaching over me to pat Mitchie on the shoulder. “Besides we’re almost there, so soon I’ll be able to ditch you two.”
“Yeah, but you won’t,” I retorted. He raised a brow. “Justin, you don’t know anyone there. If you ditch us, well, I doubt you’ll find people of your little alien club here. Good luck making friends.” Justin’s eyes narrowed as his lips slipped into a pout, and I grinned at his silent surrender.
“Alex, be nice,” Mitchie reprimanded gently.
As I looked away from both her and Justin, I caught sight of the crowded camp. The grin at my lips must have said what my lips didn’t, because Mitchie squealed suddenly, signaling that she too had seen the camp.
Nightmare Before Christmas Crossover (503)
Chapter 15
Dad had stayed true to his word. By the time I’d found the will to move a despondent Paul Jonas Sr. had been exiting my new prison after sealing the windows with deep, red bricks and cement. Then the following morning, Nick had knocked at my door, looking like he’d rather be anywhere else in the world than at my door, but he waited quietly as I screamed and ranted and finally just got ready for work, like I’d been doing so for years.
As it turned out even Taylor was being escorted once she got over her post intoxication bout of ‘illness.’ The four Jonas brothers had actually been pulled from their regular duties to watch us and it was ridiculous. I’d known everything with Demi would have been brought out into the light eventually, but I hadn’t thought they’d be this severe.
I probably should’ve expected it though, because I’m pretty sure Santa’s daughter isn’t supposed to be on the naughty list. Actually I could still recall Mom reminding me as a child that as his daughter I needed to set the standard for kids all over the world, even if they’d never meet me. Scrutinized even by those who couldn’t see me, would probably never know of my existence, but they counted anyway.
Counted more than how miserable I felt; as sad as that was. Not even Taylor’s attempt at simultaneously cheering me up and apologizing by painting a rather crude figure of Demi on my blocked out windows could get me to crack a smile, even if I had forgiven Taylor easily enough. How could I blame her for speaking up, even if she hadn’t been in her right mind, when all she did was speed up the exposure?
I couldn’t.
When she’d gotten me alone the next day, spewing so many apologies they slurred together, I’d just accepted it, even if she hadn’t forgiven herself.
A week had passed in a painful blur. Aching throughout the day at the thought of when night fell, it wouldn’t mean a night out with Demi. Something that had been deemed completely inconceivable the minute she kissed me, the minute I gave into the pull she’d always had on me. That pain got even worse when I thought of how Demi was feeling.
Halloween Town was our designated meeting place. When I didn’t show up again and again… I couldn’t imagine how conflicted she’d be, knowing she couldn’t just show up here and ask about me at the risk of blowing a cover she didn’t know was blown. Not knowing if I’d changed my mind overnight.
…
The room’s pitch black, the darkest of blacks with no moonlight to stream in through the window, when Taylor barges in with all four of the Jonas brothers in tow. Even Joe who’d shaved his head to match Taylor’s handiwork, which made him look less ridiculous, but even less like Joe.
Flashlights illuminated the room as Taylor marched her way to my bedside.
Rachel/Quinn - Someone’s homeless in New York. (248)
Until You’re Heard
It starts when she takes Maddie to that new ice cream shop. The place is nowhere near their apartment, but apparently anyone who’s anyone has had the ice cream there. Quinn wonders if she was ever this ridiculous for mere seconds, before admitting, silently, because there is no way her daughter is going to hold this over her head, that yes, she was that ridiculous.
Her eyes flicker attentively through the streets, because it is New York and she’s being led around by her seven-year-old daughter. For all she knows, Maddie’s friends could’ve suggested a shortcut, and she’d really like to avoid the cheesy horror film, even if it is still broad daylight.
Movement in an alley catches her eyes, but the dark-haired figure in the alley stays hunched over, hands folded over their knees and head bent. A wave of sympathy runs through her and she remembers the feeling, the sense of being open and vulnerable. She had Finn and later Puck back then, but clearly this woman’s got no one.
As she helps Maddie along with her sundae, her mind wanders to the figure in the alleyway, and stops at her hands, tiny and delicate and familiar. Quinn shakes off the feeling of recognition, because seeing a familiar pair of hands is completely absurd. No one she knows in New York is living on the streets, so she beats down the urge to go back and get a look at the woman’s face.
Cat/Jade/Tori - Part Two of Schemes Gone Awry - Title pending (202) - COMPLETE
Jade’s all too aware that her plans have a tendency of failing, miserably, but this one’s simple. It consists of avoiding Tori and Cat, like they’ve got Swine Flu, and maybe, clinging to Beck, like a fly on wallpaper. It’s so painfully simple, she’s positive even she can’t screw it up.
The next time she’s in school, it’s clear she’s not the only one with avoidance on their agenda, because whenever she catches so much of a glimpse of Tori, the girl usually flying around the corner Beck is…understandably confused, because he never gets a far a raising his hand in a wave or finishing the girl’s name, before she pulls a Houdini. Last week, Tori was all but hanging off his arm, but now she won’t even share a hallway with him and spends class looking straight ahead.
That plan she had to get Tori far from Beck works, but unfortunately it works, like the Monkey’s Paw, a double-edged sword. Tori wants nothing to do with Beck for the moment, but Jade, though she’ll deny it, wants a whole lot to do with Tori…and Cat. She feels sick, a feeling that grows when Beck wraps an arm loosely around her shoulder.