The Wasteland Chronicles i
rating: r (overall)
genre: au, highschool
pairing: amber/krystal, amber/min, key/chanyeol, onew/min, (and others)
length: chaptered
word count: 1538wc
summary: in which youth is wasted on the young, via drugs, sex, alcohol, rebellion, and love, of course.
The Wasteland Chronicles
A story by Yoonis
i. Amber
For the fifteenth time during lunch, Amber’s phone vibrated in her pocket. And for the fifteenth time, she ignored it. She had to admit, Onew had always been persistent, even when they were kids. For the same amount of time that they knew each other-which meant practically all of their lives-Onew was also always the first to apologize. But that was because he was always fucking up.
So, there she was, stuck in a stuffy back aisle of the library, smoking her cigarette while coughing and waving away the cloud of cancer gathering around her. The smoke mixed with the dust, and Amber’s eyes were watering a bit, but it was just the dust. It was just the fucking smoke and dust. It had nothing to do with Onew and his fucking stunts. Then her phone vibrated for the sixteenth time and Amber just wanted some peace and quiet. So when she answered her phone, she said exactly that, “can’t I just have some peace and fucking-“
“It’s me, bitch.”
“Key.” There wasn’t really anyone like Key. Key called everyone bitch, but you could tell the difference between the way he called her bitch and the way he called everyone bitch. That one word alone and the intonation of it also dictated 90% of his mood 100% of the time. The ‘bitch’ that he just said implied that he was sick of this whole thing between her and Onew because it was the same shit as last time and could Amber just pick up Onew’s calls so that they could talk and have this over and done with so that Key wouldn’t be wedged between them like a child of divorce? “I can’t deal with him right now.”
“He said he didn’t mean it.”
“He never means it.”
“He said it was dark. He thought he was kissing Jia, not Min.”
“Why does he need a second pair of lips to spew his lies?”
“Because you won’t listen to his first pair.” Key added, “bitch.”
Amber flinched when the ember from her cigarette kissed the space between her index and middle finger. She dropped what remained of her cigarette, frustrated because it was from the pack she was saving for occasions like this. She blamed Onew for that, too. She grabbed the book closest to her and dropped it on the cigarette to kill it. If she was going to burn anything down, she’d rather go to jail for committing arson on Onew. Just his room, though. His parents didn’t have to die for creating such a monster. “I’m not the one being difficult here.”
Amber clipped the phone between her shoulder and cheek, listening to what she could of Key’s response, some of it lost in white noise because of the poor reception. “-you know how Onew is.”
“I do know how he is. And he knew that I liked Min.”
“He said it isn’t his fault if Min tricked him. He thinks Min liked him better anyway.”
Amber stood up, back pressed against the wall, brows drawn together. “Key, you fucker, is Onew there?”
“What.”
“Is Onew listening to this?”
There was bickering, and perhaps the sound of something hitting something, and then a poorly executed imitation of Key’s voice saying, “no, bitch,” who was clearly Onew, and Amber wanted to knock their heads together. Except she didn’t want to see either of them, let alone touch them. Unfortunately, she was a student and they all planned their schedules to match one another because they were friends forever and all that bullshit. “Amber, I told you she was bad news, didn’t I?” Onew seemed to have given up on the ruse, choosing to speak as himself.
Amber dropped the call and turned it off, taking the battery out and distributing both pieces to either side of her uniform skirt pockets. Her hair was already unruly from having raked at it more times than the characters of The OC did, and she could not believe that she just compared her life to a prepubescent drama on a network that she could no longer remember because it had been a while since she moved to Korea from America. And for fucking what.
“… for my friends…” Amber answered herself pathetically, stare trained at the spine of a book that read Hypnotism: How To Trick Your Mind And Not The Other Way Around. Amber pulled the book out, deciding that she was going to hypnotize herself into forgetting about them, but as she rounded the corner of the aisle, she slipped into the next one, remembering that she didn’t just have Key and Onew. She wandered to the center of the aisle, fitting the battery back in her phone and activating it.
After the ignoring the first three messages, she scrolled through her contacts list and realized that yeah, she had a fuckload of acquaintances that she would much rather prefer hanging out with than the company she had now. There was Chanyeol, who was cool as long as he wasn’t sleepy or hungry or with Key, but the problem was that he was always with Key because they were going out. And connected at the hip. And probably at the crotch. “Ew,” Amber remarked, scrolling down once again.
Jonghyun. “Probably training.” Amber sighed, scrolling again.
“Taemin,” she read and pressed the call button.
“Josephine!” Taemin chirped from the other line. Amber scowled. Taemin insisted that Amber go by her second name Josephine because, according to him, it was a lovely name, and it was in The Bible. Suddenly, Amber was reminded why she never called Taemin.
“Hey, Taem.”
“You getting all your ducks in a row?”
“What?”
“You know. We talked about this the other night at the party.”
Drunken flashes clobbered Amber’s sobriety with excerpts of their conversation. She was stoned, Taemin was stoned, Amber needed a drink, Taemin said she needed Jesus, something like that. During that party, Onew kissed the girl Amber was supposed to ask out, so her conversation with Taemin was the last thing on her mind. But she went on like it was the first because he sounded so sweet. “Right. Kind of. Except Onew fucked all my ducks.”
“Woah, Josephine. Language. I’m in a chapel, for Chrissakes.”
Amber remembered that though Taemin was a youth for Christ, he didn’t agree with using the lord’s name in vain being an especially punishable sin. He thought that it was an honor to God to use his son’s name in times of despair, and in turn, times of absolute happiness and euphoria. Like winning the lottery or during an orgasm.
“Sorry. Wait, you aren’t here? At school?”
“I have practice.”
“Will you be here for Psychology?”
“Can’t-“ Taemin stopped speaking and Amber heard him send a muffled greeting to someone who must have been passing him by. “I have choir.”
“All day?”
“No, after this, I have dance.”
“Do you ever go to school?”
“When God clears up my schedule and permits it, yeah.”
Not that Taemin’s attendance could tarnish his spotless class standing. He was pretty much in competition with Onew for the top of the class. That quarter of the school year, however, Amber remembered it was Luna.
“So, what’s this thing about Onew and your ducks?”
“Usual. He’s such an anus, Taemin.” Amber turned the hypnotism book in her hands. “I’m thinking about forgetting all about him.”
“Has he spoken to you?”
“He tried calling me several times, but I don’t wanna talk to that prick. Let’s go out later, when you’re done.”
“Okay, I’ll call you. We could meet at…”
Amber barely heard the rest of what Taemin was saying when she turned her head, thinking that someone was watching her. Her eyes landed on a girl with straight, raven hair that ended at the small of her back. It was parted like twin curtains at the center to frame her small face, pale, gradually adopting a flush across her cheeks. Amber had never seen her before. And judging by the way she wore her uniform so proper, she was either running for student council or she was new. Amber favored the latter.
The girl continued to stare at Amber over her shoulder even when they were both clearly discomfited by each other’s stare and presence. What did this girl want from her? Did she have a question? Was something in Amber’s short bob or in her teeth? Should Amber check?
“Krystal.” A separate voice from the opening end of the aisle snapped both of them out of their staring contest. The raven haired girl snapped her head around and faced another female also in uniform, and there was a resemblance between them both that Amber immediately distinguished, except the other looked just slightly older, and her hair was blonde.
“Let’s go,” the blonde commanded in English.
Krystal, at least Amber assumed that was her American name, complied with her head down, hair further hiding her face. In a matter of seconds, she was at the blonde’s side and they were out of sight.
“Josephine? You there?”
Amber was still concentrated on the girl’s wake, blinking. “There was a girl…”
“A what?”
“She was beautiful.”
*masterficlist | tumblr | twitter | comment here to be added
--so i've been watching a lot of 'skins' lately, and this is the result. this is chaptered, and the other couples will be determined throughout the fic.
i will be TAGGING THIS FIC so check the TAGS if you're interested in UPDATES. you also have to the option to TRACK THE TAG, so you're notified in you INBOX every time i post a new chapter to this story. :)
genre: au, highschool
pairing: amber/krystal, amber/min, key/chanyeol, onew/min, (and others)
length: chaptered
word count: 1538wc
summary: in which youth is wasted on the young, via drugs, sex, alcohol, rebellion, and love, of course.
The Wasteland Chronicles
A story by Yoonis
i. Amber
For the fifteenth time during lunch, Amber’s phone vibrated in her pocket. And for the fifteenth time, she ignored it. She had to admit, Onew had always been persistent, even when they were kids. For the same amount of time that they knew each other-which meant practically all of their lives-Onew was also always the first to apologize. But that was because he was always fucking up.
So, there she was, stuck in a stuffy back aisle of the library, smoking her cigarette while coughing and waving away the cloud of cancer gathering around her. The smoke mixed with the dust, and Amber’s eyes were watering a bit, but it was just the dust. It was just the fucking smoke and dust. It had nothing to do with Onew and his fucking stunts. Then her phone vibrated for the sixteenth time and Amber just wanted some peace and quiet. So when she answered her phone, she said exactly that, “can’t I just have some peace and fucking-“
“It’s me, bitch.”
“Key.” There wasn’t really anyone like Key. Key called everyone bitch, but you could tell the difference between the way he called her bitch and the way he called everyone bitch. That one word alone and the intonation of it also dictated 90% of his mood 100% of the time. The ‘bitch’ that he just said implied that he was sick of this whole thing between her and Onew because it was the same shit as last time and could Amber just pick up Onew’s calls so that they could talk and have this over and done with so that Key wouldn’t be wedged between them like a child of divorce? “I can’t deal with him right now.”
“He said he didn’t mean it.”
“He never means it.”
“He said it was dark. He thought he was kissing Jia, not Min.”
“Why does he need a second pair of lips to spew his lies?”
“Because you won’t listen to his first pair.” Key added, “bitch.”
Amber flinched when the ember from her cigarette kissed the space between her index and middle finger. She dropped what remained of her cigarette, frustrated because it was from the pack she was saving for occasions like this. She blamed Onew for that, too. She grabbed the book closest to her and dropped it on the cigarette to kill it. If she was going to burn anything down, she’d rather go to jail for committing arson on Onew. Just his room, though. His parents didn’t have to die for creating such a monster. “I’m not the one being difficult here.”
Amber clipped the phone between her shoulder and cheek, listening to what she could of Key’s response, some of it lost in white noise because of the poor reception. “-you know how Onew is.”
“I do know how he is. And he knew that I liked Min.”
“He said it isn’t his fault if Min tricked him. He thinks Min liked him better anyway.”
Amber stood up, back pressed against the wall, brows drawn together. “Key, you fucker, is Onew there?”
“What.”
“Is Onew listening to this?”
There was bickering, and perhaps the sound of something hitting something, and then a poorly executed imitation of Key’s voice saying, “no, bitch,” who was clearly Onew, and Amber wanted to knock their heads together. Except she didn’t want to see either of them, let alone touch them. Unfortunately, she was a student and they all planned their schedules to match one another because they were friends forever and all that bullshit. “Amber, I told you she was bad news, didn’t I?” Onew seemed to have given up on the ruse, choosing to speak as himself.
Amber dropped the call and turned it off, taking the battery out and distributing both pieces to either side of her uniform skirt pockets. Her hair was already unruly from having raked at it more times than the characters of The OC did, and she could not believe that she just compared her life to a prepubescent drama on a network that she could no longer remember because it had been a while since she moved to Korea from America. And for fucking what.
“… for my friends…” Amber answered herself pathetically, stare trained at the spine of a book that read Hypnotism: How To Trick Your Mind And Not The Other Way Around. Amber pulled the book out, deciding that she was going to hypnotize herself into forgetting about them, but as she rounded the corner of the aisle, she slipped into the next one, remembering that she didn’t just have Key and Onew. She wandered to the center of the aisle, fitting the battery back in her phone and activating it.
After the ignoring the first three messages, she scrolled through her contacts list and realized that yeah, she had a fuckload of acquaintances that she would much rather prefer hanging out with than the company she had now. There was Chanyeol, who was cool as long as he wasn’t sleepy or hungry or with Key, but the problem was that he was always with Key because they were going out. And connected at the hip. And probably at the crotch. “Ew,” Amber remarked, scrolling down once again.
Jonghyun. “Probably training.” Amber sighed, scrolling again.
“Taemin,” she read and pressed the call button.
“Josephine!” Taemin chirped from the other line. Amber scowled. Taemin insisted that Amber go by her second name Josephine because, according to him, it was a lovely name, and it was in The Bible. Suddenly, Amber was reminded why she never called Taemin.
“Hey, Taem.”
“You getting all your ducks in a row?”
“What?”
“You know. We talked about this the other night at the party.”
Drunken flashes clobbered Amber’s sobriety with excerpts of their conversation. She was stoned, Taemin was stoned, Amber needed a drink, Taemin said she needed Jesus, something like that. During that party, Onew kissed the girl Amber was supposed to ask out, so her conversation with Taemin was the last thing on her mind. But she went on like it was the first because he sounded so sweet. “Right. Kind of. Except Onew fucked all my ducks.”
“Woah, Josephine. Language. I’m in a chapel, for Chrissakes.”
Amber remembered that though Taemin was a youth for Christ, he didn’t agree with using the lord’s name in vain being an especially punishable sin. He thought that it was an honor to God to use his son’s name in times of despair, and in turn, times of absolute happiness and euphoria. Like winning the lottery or during an orgasm.
“Sorry. Wait, you aren’t here? At school?”
“I have practice.”
“Will you be here for Psychology?”
“Can’t-“ Taemin stopped speaking and Amber heard him send a muffled greeting to someone who must have been passing him by. “I have choir.”
“All day?”
“No, after this, I have dance.”
“Do you ever go to school?”
“When God clears up my schedule and permits it, yeah.”
Not that Taemin’s attendance could tarnish his spotless class standing. He was pretty much in competition with Onew for the top of the class. That quarter of the school year, however, Amber remembered it was Luna.
“So, what’s this thing about Onew and your ducks?”
“Usual. He’s such an anus, Taemin.” Amber turned the hypnotism book in her hands. “I’m thinking about forgetting all about him.”
“Has he spoken to you?”
“He tried calling me several times, but I don’t wanna talk to that prick. Let’s go out later, when you’re done.”
“Okay, I’ll call you. We could meet at…”
Amber barely heard the rest of what Taemin was saying when she turned her head, thinking that someone was watching her. Her eyes landed on a girl with straight, raven hair that ended at the small of her back. It was parted like twin curtains at the center to frame her small face, pale, gradually adopting a flush across her cheeks. Amber had never seen her before. And judging by the way she wore her uniform so proper, she was either running for student council or she was new. Amber favored the latter.
The girl continued to stare at Amber over her shoulder even when they were both clearly discomfited by each other’s stare and presence. What did this girl want from her? Did she have a question? Was something in Amber’s short bob or in her teeth? Should Amber check?
“Krystal.” A separate voice from the opening end of the aisle snapped both of them out of their staring contest. The raven haired girl snapped her head around and faced another female also in uniform, and there was a resemblance between them both that Amber immediately distinguished, except the other looked just slightly older, and her hair was blonde.
“Let’s go,” the blonde commanded in English.
Krystal, at least Amber assumed that was her American name, complied with her head down, hair further hiding her face. In a matter of seconds, she was at the blonde’s side and they were out of sight.
“Josephine? You there?”
Amber was still concentrated on the girl’s wake, blinking. “There was a girl…”
“A what?”
“She was beautiful.”
*masterficlist | tumblr | twitter | comment here to be added
--so i've been watching a lot of 'skins' lately, and this is the result. this is chaptered, and the other couples will be determined throughout the fic.
i will be TAGGING THIS FIC so check the TAGS if you're interested in UPDATES. you also have to the option to TRACK THE TAG, so you're notified in you INBOX every time i post a new chapter to this story. :)