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Post by Melanie Perreault on Jan 30, 2018 21:02:06 GMT -5
Chapter 1: I Don't Look Like That
Freshman Melanie Williams wasn't thrilled as she looked at herself in the long mirror on the bathroom door of her sister's dorm room. Not because she didn't look good, because she absolutely did. However, she didn't feel like herself. It looked like someone else staring back at her and it was largely to do with the fact that she'd somehow let herself be talked into getting a makeover from her older sister Bethanie. “I don't look anything like me,” she frowned, leaning in a little closer to the mirror to examine herself, the differences screaming out to her. “Don't be ridiculous, Mel,” Beth said, waving her hand dismissively. If it wasn't the millionth complaint that the younger girl had made during the hour she'd just spent helping her get ready, she might have taken it more seriously. At this point, it was just more words coming out of her mouth. In her own mind, she was doing the younger girl a great service and the constant whining was not appreciated. “You just aren't looking properly. You're trying to see the differences.” Maybe the Senior was right. If she stopped purposely looking at everything that Beth did different, she could still see herself shining through. It wasn't even that she didn't like it, it was just weird. She felt like a miniature version of her sister and for years that was something that she would have enjoyed, but now she wasn't as keen on it. It was funny, that she'd spent so much time admiring Beth that now that she had the chance to actually be like her, she didn't want it. She loved her older sister, she really did, but she loved the person that she was too. They were vastly different people, or so she told herself. But if she stepped back and looked at the similarities, they were already very alike. Both of them stood at approximately the same height, give or take an inch. They each had bright blue eyes and noses that were maybe a little too large for typical beauty. Their straight white smiles were very much the same and each of them had a passion in dance that overwhelmed all else and left them with a similar body shape – toned, but still feminine thanks to the C cup breasts they'd each been blessed with. There were other similarities too, past appearance. They each had strong wills, could be a bit bossy and were confident individuals. Each was a smart girl, although Beth had an alarming way of hiding it behind a level of ditziness that not everyone saw through. It could be said that each was loyal and hard-working. Neither one of them was really rebellious, they each respected their parents and were, for the most part, fairly accepting individuals. Yes, there were many things that Melanie shared with her older sister. But as younger siblings tend to do, especially at such an age of exploration, she wanted to look past that and focus on the things that were different. Beth kept her hair long and (currently) golden blonde, she tanned frequently and she was never seen without at least a foundation of make-up. Her nails were frequently manicured and she dressed with a style that took time and money to keep up. She maximized accessories to their fullest potential and could make several outfits out of any of the clothes she owned. Not to mention, she was a total sap and had a tendency to be over-emotional. Honestly, the eighteen year old cried over anything and everything. To top it off, she was a complete romantic and had an annoying habit that Mel liked to call 'chick-flicking' every part of her life. Mel, on the other hand, dyed her hair frequently and liked to experiment with different cuts. Currently, she'd left it shoulder length and two-toned. The top layers were an ash blonde, so light they appeared white, and the bottom layers were black. She almost never bothered with make-up, not even to hide the freckles that were dashed across her nose and cheeks, save the eyeliner and mascara that she smeared on to make her eyes stand out. Most of the clothes she owned were jeans and t-shirts and of all of her clothes she could usually make about one outfit with any given piece and she just had them on rotation. In contrast to her sister, she wasn't sure that the whole 'true love' thing even was real, also she had a bad habit of overusing swear words and not acting very lady like. “I just wish you had let me help you pick out your dress,” Bethanie interrupted her internal comparison. “I like this one,” Mel insisted stubbornly. True, her make-up might scream that she was a lady, with the muted colors that enhanced without screaming, but her dress was something that showed exactly who she was. It was bright red with white polka dots, a cut-out neckline and an overall vintage feel. She'd paired it with simple red flats and had, despite Beth's protests, left her hair hanging straight down save the white barrette that pinned back her bangs. “Of course you do.” She sighed and shook her head, clearly disappointed in the choice. “I'm just saying, if we'd gone shopping together I could have gotten you something even better.” What she meant was something more like the dress that the older girl wore. It was a light pink with a sweetheart neckline, strapless, with jewels that sparkled on the bodice. A white sash on the waist allowed a fuller skirt to complete the dress, although it was a couple inches shorter than Mel's dress, which showed off Beth's long legs. Paired with the silver four inch heels she wore, her blonde hair cascading in perfect curls down her back and the necklace that'd been a gift from Sam, she could have been a model for the dress. “I'm happy with my choice. Besides, I don't see why you even bother getting dressed up, you and Sam are already engaged.” Her eyes flashed down to the rock on the other girl's left hand. Beth looked down at the sparkling ring as well and smiled for a moment. She'd gotten engaged to Samuel over Christmas and the diamond that now graced her finger was hard to miss. “Just because we're engaged doesn't mean I have to stop looking good.” “I always thought your 'hard work' of dressing up was to attract a guy. Not to keep him after you got him.” “Mel, Mel, Melanie. Once you have a boyfriend you can't just let yourself go. He's not going to be happy if you're all sorts of beautiful to begin with and then just stop trying. So yes, I dress up for Sam like I did when we first started dating. And no, we likely aren't actually going to stay at the dance-” “So what you're saying is that you dress up and spend all this time getting ready so that you'll look good as he pulls the dress off to fuck you?” A deep sigh came from Bethanie as she narrowed her eyes slightly. “That's not what I'm saying. I like to look good. Not just for Sam, but for me. And maybe, someday, you'll understand that feeling.” “Doubtful.” Before Beth had a chance to respond, there was a knock on the door. Given that they were in Beth's dorm room, it was pretty clear who the door would be for and who would be behind it. Mel watched as her older sister's face lit up and she hurried over to the door, opening it to reveal none other than Samuel Foster on the other side. He wasn't really dressed up, but at least he showed the proper appreciation for Beth's dress, taking his time to look her over and then pulling her in for a kiss. Pulling away briefly to talk to her, “You look beautiful.” Mel might not be a fan of all the true love non-sense that Beth often spouted out, but the way that her sister beamed proved that she was at least very in love with the college Junior. In love or not, it didn't make her any happier when Sam's lips pressed back against Bethanie's eagerly. Clearly the two had completely forgotten her presence as he pressed her back against the door and her fingers tangled into his hair. Rolling her eyes, she grabbed her bag and started toward the door, clearing her throat. “Yeah, I've got to go, so could you two put this on hold until I leave?” She wasn't sure they even really pulled away from each other, but at least they did move past the door and she did hear Beth call to her. “Have fun at the dance! Dance with someone cute!” “Yeah, yeah, make sure you use protection! You're too young to be parents!” The door slammed behind her and she was mildly disturbed by the knowledge that it was almost certain that her sister would be in the middle of having sex by the time that Mel even made it to the Valentine's Day Dance. Oh well, maybe the dance would hold some level of excitement and her Valentine's Day wouldn't turn out to be a complete bust. Walking into the gym, she didn't have high expectations.
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Post by Melanie Perreault on Jan 30, 2018 21:02:49 GMT -5
Chapter 2: It'd Be Nice to Dance at a Dance The first thing that Mel noticed when she walked inside were the completely tacky dance decorations. One would think that at a high priced boarding school, they'd be able to spring for some better theming, but she was pretty sure that the tacky paper hearts and streamers that hung from the ceiling and decorated the tables were not any higher quality than what she would have found at East Grand Rapids High School. In fact, most of the set up was the same as any old high school. A song by Bruno Mars blasting through the speakers and shades of pink, red, and white assaulted her eyes. The school had a very limiting dress code for this dance, where girls and guys alike had to pick a dress or shirt of white, red, or pink. She knew that it was an attempt to make things look nice, but she'd rather everyone have the freedom to wear what they wanted. Looking around, she tried to spot anyone that would be worth talking to. Jessica, her best friend, should show up at some point but she knew that she was meeting the mysterious Porter for the evening, so they wouldn't be able to hang out for long because they'd want to do date stuff. Not catching sight of the other girl, she made her way over toward the punch bowl. Lame, that she should resort to such things so early, but she was thirsty and she'd want to have it before it got spiked. Taking a glass from the table, she realized that it was too late for the spiked front already. The dance had barely even started and yet someone had spiked the punch. Deciding that it didn't matter, she took a few drinks out of the glass, still looking to see if she could catch sight of her best friend. Like usual, the energetic blonde managed to sneak up on her somehow. “Why do you Yanks always have to spike the drinks? Do you just want everyone to get spiffed?” She too had grabbed a cup of punch and had taken a drink out of it. Mel laughed and turned to look at the Australian who stood a few inches shorter than her. For someone who was so loud, she always managed to sneak past people in a way that was remarkable. Her blue eyes sparkled with mischief and she actually looked good, like herself. Her make-up was bright and colorful without being trashy and it offset her white dress perfectly. It flared out at the bottom and hugged close to the other girl's modest curves. Still, white didn't equal boring and with the cut and embroidering that was present, she looked fantastic. “It makes it easier to get lonely people laid,” she answered her best friend, taking another drink. “Is that why you're so intent on downing the glass?” “Ha ha. Funny. No, I probably won't drink another and it's not that strong to begin with,” she shrugged. “Aren't you supposed to be meeting up with Mr. British Angst?” Jess chuckled at the name, given that it was a fairly accurate way to describe the guy that she'd been having run ins with for the past half a year. They'd finally decided just to go on a date due to proximity. Or, as Jess claimed, fate was pushing them to go on a date. Honestly, she didn't even think he was that attractive. His dark brown hair was a bit too long for her taste, falling into his brown eyes and he had a near permanent scowl on his face from what she'd seen. If there was a plus side to his looks, it'd be his strong jawline which only added to his angsty vibe. “We're supposed to meet in ten minutes,” the writer replied, glancing at her cell phone. “I'm actually surprised he even agreed to this.” “Dances don't seem to be his thing,” Mel agreed. Nothing seemed to be his thing actually, but if Jess was attracted to him and wanted to go on a date, more power to her. “Yeah, but I'm sure we'll have fun.” Jess took another drink of the punch and frowned, setting it aside. It clearly wasn't in her taste buds. “What about you? Meeting up with any hot guys? You look like it.” “Only because Bethanie insisted upon playing Barbie with me.” “Aww come on, you look hot! Speaking of your big sis, where is she?” “Samuel came over just as I left, so I'd imagine they're not coming.” “Oh I'm sure someone will be coming, all right.” She winked. Melanie shook her head but couldn't help but laugh. “Eww, Jess. Come on, I don't want to be thinking about my sister in that situation.” They chatted for a few more minutes before Jessica headed over toward the door to meet Porter. She watched from a distance as they greeted one another and Jessica smiled, laughing at something that he'd said. It was a bit of a surprise that Porter could say anything funny, since it seemed to her that he barely spoke and when he did it was more angst than anything else. Then again, she'd never seen him trying to flirt, so maybe that had something to do with it. It wasn't like she could creep on them all night though, so she went to take a seat at an empty table. All of her other friends were here with dates and she wondered if her time would have been better spent on the internet. Once she'd used to be a large part of an internet community, but once she'd started going to Gordon Parks' Academy, she didn't exactly have time to do all her work, have a social life and be active online. Now she just popped on whenever she had absolutely nothing to do, or when she was in extreme procrastination mode. Even being on a forum that she had spotty activity on recently would be better than sitting here alone as couples danced all around. She decided that she'd leave after the next song was finished, but was surprised as a Junior that she knew to be a dance student approached her. “Melanie, right?” he asked. He was an average looking guy, with dark hair and hazel eyes but she'd never talked to him before and wondered why he was talking to her. “Yes?” “Would you like to dance?” A Taylor Swift song was starting, a song that people could slow dance to and one that she recognized; Beth was a huge Swiftie. The request caught her by surprise. “What?” “Would. You. Like. To. Dance?” He mimed dancing and she couldn't help but laugh. “Alright,” she said, standing up and taking his hand. “So, what's your name?” “Travis.” He pulled her closer, although his hands stayed on her waist and there was still a respectable distance between them. “It's your first year here, right?” “Right. And your third?” “Good memory,” he smiled, but looked over her shoulder. “Enjoying the dance so far?” “Sure, having a blast.” The answer was filled with sarcasm, but somehow he missed it. “That's good.” He was distracted, looking around for something or someone. “I'm no expert, but aren't you supposed to look at the person you dance with?” she finally asked after a minute of him not paying attention to her. Shaking his head, he looked back at her and gave a smile that was so obviously fake it made her want to gag. “Right, I'm sorry. So, you're Bethanie's sister, right?” “Yes.” “Do you think she'd dance with me if I asked her?” Un-fucking-believable. “She's engaged.” “I know, but I dance with you and no one else was... so, do you think that she'd dance with me? I'm sure I could change her mind.” Melanie stared in disbelief and it took her a moment to answer him. “You asked me to dance so that you could get a pity dance from my sister for it? ARE YOU KIDDING ME RIGHT NOW?” He had the nerve to look confused at her anger, holding his hands up. “Hey, calm down. I was just asking, your sister is smoking hot. I'd love to get closer to that.” “She's engaged to be married. To a Junior in college who could probably kick your sorry ass if I told him about you.” “So... that's a no on the dance, you think?” “Oh my f-ing God. She's not even here!” “She's not?” He looked so upset about it it was ridiculous. She wanted to smack him across the face. “No!” It wasn't like her to get so upset, but she threw her hands up in annoyance. “She's with her fiance.” “Do you think there might be a chance that she'll swing by?” She was so done at this point. Not caring if she was going to make a scene or whatever else. It was bad enough that this guy had only asked her to dance to try and hook up with Beth, but he also couldn't seem to get it through his head that he wasn't going to get to her at all. “NO! She's not coming to this stupid dance. She's busy having sex with her boyfriend. Get it? They're hooking up, shagging, shacking up, doing the nasty, knocking boots, fucking, whatever else you wanna call it, right now! She's getting screwed by her fiance at this very moment and she doesn't even know who you are!” “But... I danced with you. Doesn't that count for something?” That was it, the final straw. Her hand raised up and smacked him clear across the face before she could even think twice about it. Leaving an angry red mark on his cheek. “Miss Williams!” Oh great. Turning, she saw her history teacher standing behind her with her arms crossed over her stomach. Of course now the teachers would close in. “Yes?” she asked, trying to appear innocent. “Do you have anything to say for yourself?” “Umm... Happy Valentine's Day, Mrs. Meyer?” Unfortunately, she didn't seem amused. If only the excuse that the guy was an asshole could get her out of trouble. However, that wasn't likely and judging by the raised eyebrow that she was currently getting and the overall unhappy turn of her mouth, she wasn't getting out of this. “Miss Williams, violence is not tolerated on the grounds of this school. And your antics have earned you a date with me. Let's call it detention.” Cringing, she sighed. “Pick me up at 5?” “I'm glad you've kept your sense of humor, you'll need it through your two hours of free period on Friday, while you're writing an extra essay on a topic of my choosing,” Mrs. Meyer informed her. Personally, Mel thought she was just bitter that she had to spend the day chaperoning a dance instead of with her husband. But saying that probably wouldn't help her case. “Can't wait. Can I leave now?” “I think that would be for the best.” Throwing one last glare at Travis, Mel grabbed her bag and made her way out of the dance. Stupid Valentine's Day. No one liked the holiday anyway. At least when she got back to her dorm she'd be alone and be able to take off her dress. Maybe she'd even spend some time on her favorite online forum. The internet was the best date a person could have for Valentine's Day anyway. At least no one there would ask about hooking up with her older sister.
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Post by Melanie Perreault on Jan 30, 2018 21:03:24 GMT -5
Chapter 3: One of Those Days As it turned out spending the weekend indulging in online competition to fulfill your ego and a sense of duty due to nostalgia actually wasn't the best way to spend time. Mel had realized it on Sunday when she'd woken up and connected the dots that she'd done zero homework in the time where she'd been trying to win some housepoints for her house on a forum that had once controlled a large portion of her free time. Therefore, she'd practically had to pull an all nighter to get all her homework done. Because of that she'd woken up with ten minutes to get to class and had to pull on the first clothes she came across. Which happened to be the t-shirt that she'd worn last Wednesday and the jeans that she'd been wearing for the past four days. On the way over to the school she threw her hair into the messiest of messy buns and had to run to get from her locker to her first class. The first half of her day went as terribly as one would imagine a day would go with such a start. She'd slept through part of English class, skipped three questions on her math test and during dance she'd forgotten an entire set of steps. To make matters worse, she ran into Beth in the halls who took one look at her appearance and shot her a look that said a million times of 'I told you so'. Her sister had warned her before she came to the Academy that if she tried to spend her weekends online, it'd end badly for her and that if she put everything off, it'd end badly for her. For once she'd just like to not have Beth be right about everything. To continue with an even more perfect day, after lunch was language class. Language class was Melanie's least favorite class by a landslide. Even more since they'd switched from Spanish to French. Spanish wasn't that easy for her, but at least she had a tiny bit of background and understanding. French, on the other hand, was terrible. The language made zero sense to her, with the rules and the genders and all the weird ass sounds that were supposedly 'easy' to make. Whatever. Today there was a quiz and she was pretty sure that she failed it. She was more than sure actually because the first half was all about genders and the second half was a listening section where a tape was played and you had to answer questions. Given her French understanding, she'd bullshitted more than half of that section. After that, she had to start on a translation which took up the rest of the hour. By the time the bell rang, she was hopping out of her chair in happiness, ready to sprint out of the class. Her dreams were crushed though as she heard Ms. Bähr speak over the ringing. “Miss Williams, Mr. Perreault, can I see the two of you?” Melanie was more than a little confused by the request, especially since Olivier Perreault would have to go at the same time. Olivier wasn't someone she'd ever spoken to before, although she did know who he was. It was hard not to. He was technically just another student at the Academy, a theater student. The difference was that, he was from France and of course that sparked interest in him. He had an accent when he spoke and was pretty much the stereotypical Frenchman with his ego. That being said, there was no denying that he was attractive either, so maybe it was sort of warranted. Standing at around 6' he hadn't quite entirely grown into his looks yet, his ears were a little too large and he was still a bit too thin, but it was easy to tell that once he did he'd be mega hot. Blonde hair, sparkly blue eyes and a smirk that even she couldn't deny was sexy. However, being stuck-up and kind of a tool did outweigh being sexy. In fact, she could tell that as he walked up to the front of the class, he was realizing who she was. No surprise that he didn't have any idea. He did give her a look from the side of his eye, clearly wondering why in the world they were both called up there. “Miss Williams, I'm afraid your grades as of late are not cutting it,” Ms. Bähr informed her, jumping straight to the point. This still did not explain the presence of French guy. “Now, you need to pass this class to graduate and that means your French grade needs to improve significantly in a short amount of time.” Melanie stayed quiet, waiting for her to explain what was going on here. If she wasn't so tired from staying up all night trying to get all of her homework done, she probably would have put two and two together much quicker. Apparently Olivier had no problems doing just that as he groaned slightly. “Ms. Bähr, you've already given me extra assignments as it is and I don't really need extra credit in this class,” he spoke quickly, almost pleading in his tone. Somehow, the obvious still eluded Mel. “Mr. Perreault, I am well aware of the assignments that I give you. That being said, I am the one who sets them and given that we're learning your native language, you have little to complain about even with more challenging assignments,” she lectured him in only the way a professor could. “That being said, I'll make some adjustments to your current assignments so that you'll have the time to tutor Miss Williams.” “Wait. Hold on. Did you say tutor?” Finally she got where this had always been heading. “I do not need a tutor!” “Your grades suggest otherwise, Miss Williams.” Ms. Bähr looked a little surprised that she'd just caught on. “I'm just going through a rough spot! I'll get it back on track! I don't need a tutor!” She was never going to hear the end of this. Failing French to the point of needing a tutor that came from France? It didn't get much more pathetic. “I disagree. Mr. Perreault will be helping you out for a while, until I see a real improvement in your grade. And since this is now a part of your grade, Mr.Perreault, you'll be graded on how much Miss Williams here improves. I'll also require a minimum amount of time per week spent in the library to know you're together and studying, so you'll need this card to be signed by Miss Richards.” Ugh, a time card to be signed by the librarian. How awesome. And there was clearly no way of getting out of this. Huffing, she took the card and stuffed it into her folder. Allowing herself to be waved off by the professor along with French guy, who didn't look pleased at all. “So, I guess we're working together,” she commented walking to the door with him. “I guess so.” “I'm Melanie,” she added, figuring that he didn't know. “Olivier.” Even his name was French. Which.. okay, he was from France so that made sense but still. “It'd probably be best to get this done during free time on Friday, so I'll meet you in the library then.” “Umm, I can't during free time this Friday,” she trailed off uncomfortably. Bad enough that he was going to think her an idiot for not speaking French and now it just had to go and get worse. He stopped walking and turned to look at her, really look at her, outside the classroom. “Look, I don't want to be stuck doing this anymore than you do, but we don't really have a choice. Might as well take it out of time that was likely to be spent doing homework anyway.” She tried to ignore other people that were looking at the two of them, clearly wondering why they were in conversation together. Olivier, after all, was highly sought after by the girls in their grade and she was practically a nobody when she wasn't known as Beth's younger sister. The worst part was that Beth wasn't even extremely popular, just extremely pretty. Life was so unfair. “It's not that, I'm busy.” “With what? A date? You'll have to cancel, trust me I'll be missing dates for this and if I have to, you have to.” At least he didn't seem to find the possibility of her having a date to be so outlandish as some others seemed to think. “It's not a date. I've got detention.” “Detention?” She could see the disbelief written across his face. It didn't even need saying to know what was going on in his mind. A girl with detention during free time on Friday and failing French? How in the world did she belong at a world class boarding school? Actually, she was beginning to wonder that too. “Yes, detention,” Mel answered, her voice strong as she held her head high. She'd get it all over again if it meant she could slap that jerkwad once more. “How about we just meet up tomorrow during study hall and figure it out then?” He didn't seem thrilled, but what other choice did he have? “Alright. See you there.” He turned to walk away, pausing for a moment as if deciding something before turning back to her. “Oh, Melanie?” She'd already been turning to walk away at that point and was completely confused by what he could want. “What?” “Your shirt is on inside out.” Of course it was. Of course it was.
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Post by Melanie Perreault on Jan 30, 2018 21:04:18 GMT -5
Chapter 4: A Gryffindork... Ahem- Gryffindor “So, you're getting tutored by French guy starting tomorrow?” Jessica asked that night at dinner over the lasagna that they were both currently enjoying. For some reason, she'd been interested in the topic, although Melanie couldn't begin to understand why. It was mostly just embarrassing to think that she even required a tutor. “Yes. I don't even see why it's necessary.” Mel shoveled another spoonful of lasagna in, although she knew that she'd probably have been better off going with the fish option. Being involved in dance meant keeping a pretty healthy diet. She was just so annoyed today that she didn't care. “Well... you have to admit that your French isn't exactly... parfait,” Jess pointed out. “Still! It's not so terrible that I have to be tutored by the guy that actually comes from France. It's embarrassing. Plus, he thinks I'm some kind of freak because I have detention on Friday during free time on top of my less than 'parfait' French performance,” she rolled her eyes as she stabbed into her lasagna with a little too much force. Jess cringed slightly, clearly feeling guilty that she hadn't been there. “Sorry about that.” “Don't be, you were busy having a good time with Porter.” “I still wish I could have been there to help punch him in the face.” “It's fine. Besides, if you had been, you wouldn't be going on another date,” she reasoned. Though she was actually still surprised that there was another date to be had. “That's true,” the writer allowed. “To be honest, I'm surprised that the date went so well to have another. He doesn't seem like the exciting type,” Mel supplied. In fact, the only thing that he'd shown any interest in, so far as she knew, was getting laid and it wasn't like Jess was about to give it up. “He's just... got some rough corners.” That was saying something. Rough corners was even a little too kind. The guy seemed like a huge gray rain cloud followed him around, but apparently there was reason for it. Not that she was one to catch up on gossip or anything, but from the talk it seemed that it might have to do with his home life. There were rumors all over that he was abused or a runaway or an orphan. No one knew the truth, but some of the stories could explain his manner of acting. If Jess knew something about what it was, which was sort of doubtful, she kept it to herself. Fair enough, it wasn't like she had anything more than mild curiosity toward what Mr. British Angst was hiding. She didn't worry about Jess with him, it was obvious that she could take care of herself and if Mr. Angst even tried anything sneaky, the other girl would easily put him in his place. --------- The next day during study period, Mel sat with her laptop open, waiting for her French – cringe – tutor to show up. He was taking a while though and she got a bit distracted by her favorite internet site. Well... if he was going to be late there was no harm in her trying to get something done for the good of her house. Especially since there was a challenge that was just to make a song devoted to your house, so she started typing one out, not realizing that French guy came up behind her. “Does that say Gryffindork?” She jumped so high that she hit her knee on the underside of the table. Turning a light shade of pink as she quickly minimized the page. “What? No?” “What are you doing?” he asked, eying her and the closed browser window as he took a seat next to her, setting down the French book and his laptop bag. “I happen to be a part of a website and I was doing something for it.” “A website where you're a Gryffindork? Is that a Harry Potter thing?” “Okay, one, don't pretend you don't know about Harry Potter. Everyone knows about Harry Potter,” she said, holding her head high. “And it is a Harry Potter website thing. The seventh anniversary has just come around and I was doing something for my house.” “You've been a Gryffindork for seven years?” he questioned. “No! But the seventh birthday of The Hogwarts Experience is important to me and yes, I'm a Gryffindork. Gryffindor! Gryffindor! Not Gryffindork,” she hastily corrected. “Anyway, this website used to be really important to me and I want to be involved with the seventh birthday celebration.” “Alright, so let me get this straight. You're failing French, you've got detention on Friday and you're still spending your time on this 'Hogwarts Experience'?” These were valid points and she blushed a bit, uncomfortably pushing a strand of bright purple hair behind her ear. “Can we just get to work on the French?” she questioned. “Did you also dye your hair purple since yesterday?” Clearly he was unimpressed with her use of time, probably thinking her time management as the reason why he was stuck working with her. “Just some streaks. But I wrote part of my essay while waiting for it to be done,” she argued. No need to tell him that the purple was in honor of the seventh birthday of the website. It'd be crossing a line. “Is it too much to hope that you worked on your French?” he asked, clearly expecting the answer that she gave. “Well alright. I don't even know how good of a French teacher I'll be, so we might as well get this over with.” Well, that sounded promising. As it turned out, he wasn't too fantastic of a teacher, but maybe it had something to do with how terrible she was with French. God the language was difficult. Would it have been too hard for them to use some hard and fast rules? Apparently, was what she was discovering. Not to mention, it was just all around frustrating for both of them given that she could not make the sounds that she was supposed to be making. It wasn't her fault though! French sounds were just so difficult and there weren't that many like them in the English language. She did make a little bit of progress and finally they were able to call it quits as study period ended. They even got their card signed by Mrs. Richards. The librarian seemed a bit too happy that they were leaving, in Mel's opinion, but what could be done. “We should probably do some work in the dorm rooms,” Olivier suggested. Technically, dorm buildings were off limits to members of the opposite gender, but it never really stopped anyone. And she was sure that he had more than enough experience, even in half a year, in sneaking into the girls' dorm building. “Okay, when?” she asked, figuring his schedule would be a lot harder to work around than her own. After all, besides hanging out with Jess, she didn't have too much of a social life. Well, unless you counted dance practices but those weren't exactly social even when they were spent practicing with others. “Thursday night,” he answered after a moment of thinking about it. As an afterthought he added, “If that works for you.” “Yeah, it should be fine.” “On Thursday I'll get your dorm number.” He stood up and grabbed his bag and books. Giving a slight smirk before he spoke again, “I'll leave you to your Harry Potter stuff until then.” “How thoughtful of you.” Mel rolled her eyes. Honestly, she was pretty sure that he was pretending not to be a huge fan, no one really disliked Harry Potter. Unless they were some sort of religious nut who believed that it was worshiping Satan. Watching the way that Olivier the French Guy checked out a girl he walked past on the way out, it was pretty clear that he was no religious nut. And she made it a goal to crack him into adding that he was a Harry Potter fan as well. Sometime In between all the French learning, it was going to happen. For now she packed up her stuff and decided that she'd mix in some housepoint opportunities with the actual homework that she had to get done. Though, she resigned that she'd probably do less than she wanted to, given the amount of homework she had to get done and the fact that dance practice did have to happen at some point. Making her way out of the library, she wondered what happened in the lives of people who weren't interested in the internet and who could learn French without difficulty. The only thing she came up with was the fact that they probably didn't run into closed doors while in the middle of pondering things. Unlike her. And, of course, there had to be a group of people around to see her walk into a closed door and drop everything. “Oh fuck my life,” she muttered, gathering everything up and hoping the rest of the day went better as the group laughed behind her. Then again, it wasn't like it could go much worse. Actually, it was probably better not to tempt fate with that idea.
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Post by Melanie Perreault on Jan 30, 2018 21:05:01 GMT -5
Chapter 5: Openly a Hot Girl The next week and a half or so went by without major event from Mel. Detention came and went and was every bit as miserable as one might expect when it was spent writing a history essay on a boring subject. Jessica spent more time with Porter and Bethanie was too busy with anything to pay her any mind. Not that she really minded, it gave her time to get some stuff done and catch up on classes where she wasn't quite where she needed to be. Surprisingly, she'd also met with Olivier three times. True, none of the sessions were very long, but she was happy that he seemed to be taking this just as seriously as she was. Maybe more so, she had the idea that it'd probably be an embarrassment to get anything less than perfect when you were technically getting graded just on the basics of your native language. They'd found, from the couple of times that they'd worked together, that it was easier to do in the dorm rooms. There was less to be distracted by and strangely, less to be self conscious about. Sure, she was always worried about making an idiot out of herself because she was butchering Olivier's native tongue. After the first time though, it was clear that he expected her to be bad and had helped her again until she started saying things properly. Now, French was still crazy as hell. Don't get her wrong, but she was starting to be able to at least expect the sounds that would come with the words. Even if those sounds had no place with the way the words were spelled in any logical person's mind. She'd even done well on the French quiz that they'd had in languages, so that was a plus. It felt nice, to mostly understand what was going on for the current unit. Today was another day where Olivier was supposed to come over and help her out and she had to say that she was actually looking forward to it. Over their last few sessions, he'd helped to make it more fun and they'd actually began to talk outside of the typical conversations that they'd had to have about French stuff. What she'd learned was that he was nicer than she'd originally imagined and despite everything, they seemed to have some stuff in common. Which had been unexpected to say the least. In fact, she almost looked forward to their little French learning sessions, weird as it was. Not that that was information that she felt inclined to share with anyone else. Grabbing her laptop, she worked a little on the science lab that was due in a few days while waiting for Olivier to arrive. Getting a few questions out of the way before he heard a knock on the door. As she was in the middle of answering the question about chemical compounds, she simply yelled in reply, “Come in.” The door swung open and revealed Olivier with his backpack, looking at her questionably when he noticed what she was up to. “Are you on that Hogwarts Express thing again?” he questioned dryly as he walked over and took a seat on the end of the bed. “No, I'm not,” she answered, rolling her eyes. “And it's called the Hogwarts Experience, not the Hogwarts Express.” He waved his hand in dismissal, clearly not caring about what it was really called. “So what are you doing?” “I don't think it really matters,” Mel stated. Which was true, she could spend her free time as she chose, even if it was mindlessly surfing the web watching cat videos or something. “But, I was working on my science lab.” For a moment he looked mildly surprised and then a little worried. Maybe he had forgotten to work on his own science lab. Either way, the look passed fairly quickly and then he was moving on. “Ready to work on some conjugations?” “No.” She was never ready to work on conjugations, they sucked. “Too bad,” he replied, flipping open the book to where they'd last left off and diving right in. After about thirty minutes of torture that was supposed to count as learning or something, they agreed to take a break. Especially since she had to go to the bathroom. It didn't take her long, but by the time that she came back, she noticed Olivier examining the pictures that she had pinned to the small cork board above her bed. There were quite a few tacked up there, pictures of her with friends, mostly her friends from Grand Rapids, although a few with Jessica as well. Many of them included silly faces or obvious posed pictures. Including one photo strip from one of those tacky photo booths from the mall, that she and Jess had taken right before Christmas break. There was one of her with her mom, the two of them sitting together at the kitchen table, Mel's homework spread across and the two of them clearly working on it together. It dated back just a couple of years and it had been about the time that her mom had decided that she wanted to go back to college. Another showed her with her and her dad, this one was very old, she was just five or six in the picture and he was helping her learn to ride a bike. Her mom had been clicking away the camera and caught the exact moment he let her go on her own, the fright and excitement as clear on Melanie's face as the pride and nerves on her father's. Finally, there were two different pictures that were of her and Beth. One was from when they were young, she was about 4 or so and Beth was 8. The two of them were each in dance costumes and in the middle of the routine that they'd made up themselves to put on for their parents. That had been one of the many years where she'd so looked up to Bethanie with an almost religious like reverence. Where she'd wanted to be just the same as she was and in the picture, her head was turned to make sure that she was copying Beth exactly. It was a good memory. The other had been taken this past summer on the beach. It'd been a day just for the family, which had been really rare since Beth started going to the Academy. Her hair was already the same bleach blonde that it currently was, although the darker color underneath hadn't been added yet, but it was wet from swimming and droplets of water still covered her skin. Beth, of course, looked amazing next to her, her hair a golden blonde that remained dry because she'd refused to put her head under the water. The older girl was also a golden tan, off setting the soft pink bikini she wore perfectly. Meanwhile, Mel looked washed out with her super pale skin, the dark blue bikini that she wore not helping the illusion in the slightest. She liked it though because despite Beth's beauty, they were both genuinely laughing. A joke, one that she couldn't even remember now, had made them both burst into laughter at the same time and now the moment was immortalized on her wall. Beth complained that she didn't look good in it, that her nose crinkled too much when she laughed and wondered why Mel couldn't have put up one of the many posed pictures that they'd taken together in the same day. She didn't care though, that was the one she liked best, even if she didn't look the greatest ever in it. Besides, Beth seemed so prone to seeing the little faults that she almost never noticed in her older sister. It occurred to her that despite how beautiful she was, she was as insecure as Melanie, but that thought seemed crazy. Olivier's gaze was held on the beach picture and Mel cleared her throat to get his attention. “You know, it's rude to stare so openly at a woman's chest,” she informed him. “It's a picture,” he countered. “Besides, you have no clue what I was looking at.” “Sure, it's really not hard to imagine,” she said, gesturing toward the picture. “I mean, hot girl in a bikini? You're right, why would you possibly have interest in looking at that?” “You're pretty confident in yourself to just openly call yourself a hot girl.” She frowned, glancing at the picture and then back at him. It was clear to her that he'd been looking at Beth – who wouldn't? The girl drew attention to herself so easily with her looks, but somehow he thought she'd been talking about herself. Which, objectively, she'd never consider herself to be hot. Pretty, non-traditionally, sure, but never hot. Hot was for girls like Beth, who were put together. “I meant Beth...” For a moment he paused, as if caught off guard, but then a smirk flashed across his features. “So you did notice where I was looking. No denying your sister is good looking.” “It's not hard not to notice. Everyone always looks at Beth, she's always looking at her best.” “I don't know,” he shrugged, glancing back at the picture momentarily. “There's something about her that seems.. shallow.” Suddenly, Mel was defensive. No one got to talk down about her sister, only she did and she didn't even do it that often. “She is not shallow. I mean, sure, sometimes she acts a little ditzy, but that's not a crime. She's really loyal and caring and maybe a bit too emotional.” Olivier looked slightly amused by her reaction. “Okay, fine, not shallow. But it seems like she tries too hard to be pretty, it takes away from the appeal.” Now it was Mel's turn to be surprised. He hardly seemed like the type to care if a girl's beauty was real or 'fake'. Not that Beth's beauty was fake, she was a very beautiful person, but sometimes she had the same thought. That in trying to look good all the time, she took away from her natural beauty. There was a few moments of silence while this idea soaked in. “Is it different in France?” she asked, suddenly changing the conversation. “No, everything is exactly the same, but in French.” Sarcasm heavily dripped from his tone. “Oh you know what I mean.” “No, I don't. You're kinda crazy, in case you haven't noticed,” he smirked again, taking a seat on her bed and lounging back. “I can't figure out what goes on in that head of yours.” Her face showed how unimpressed she was with his comments. Smart ass. “I mean, is day to day life different.” Instead of answering her, he narrowed his eyes slightly and examined her. “Have you ever been to another country, Melanie?” “Sort of? I don't know.” She shrugged as she tried to figure out if it counted that she'd gone to Toronto for a school trip or the cruise that her family had been on when she was little. “You don't know if you've been to another country?” he laughed, a condescending sound. “I've been on a field trip to Toronto, Canada and my family's been on a Caribbean cruise a few years ago. We got off on the ports of call,” she snapped back, her face flushing a light pink in annoyance. “So, no. You've never really spent time in a place that's not America.” He didn't seem surprised by the knowledge. “Is Michigan different from Missouri?” “Well.. yes, in some ways.” It was difficult to explain. All the differences were small, for the most part, but they were noticeable to her. “And if Michigan, of all places, is different from Missouri...” he trailed off, looking at her pointedly. “You could at least shed some light on the differences,” she grumbled, her arms crossing over her stomach. “Look, you really wouldn't understand,” he said and in such a way that she found herself believing that he might be telling the truth, somehow. “You can't ever know how vastly different and similar two places can be until you experience them both for yourself. If you really want to know, you'll have to go ahead and travel to France and see for yourself.” “Okay, so, which do you like better?” Curiosity raged through her as she looked at him expectantly. “That's not really your business and the break is over.” And suddenly he was sitting up again, gesturing for her to come sit down. “You've got French to learn.” Glaring darkly she reluctantly took her seat, wondering why, she even ever sometimes liked Olivier at all.
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Post by Melanie Perreault on Jan 30, 2018 21:05:48 GMT -5
Chapter 6: Should We Be Doing This? Melanie headed into the pool area from the dressing room, a towel wrapped around her waist as she waited. It'd been another two weeks of tutoring with Olivier and once more, somehow, she felt like it'd be cool to spend more time with him. Even outside of tutoring. They'd decided to go swimming, since it had been a while for Mel from the last time that she'd been free to just swim around in the water. Plus, it didn't hurt that Olivier was probably going to look hot in his swim trunks. She was wearing the same dark navy bikini from the picture that hung on her corkboard, even though she knew that it wasn't the most flattering of the swimsuits she owned. Her hair pulled up into a messy bun, a few strands falling out and around her face. Tapping her foot against the ground, she waited for Olivier to join her, wondering what could possibly be taking so long. He was a guy, he should have beat her out here by a mile. So when he came out a few minutes later, she raised an eyebrow and looked pointedly at him. Trying to keep herself from staring a little because he definitely looked hot. “What could have possibly taken you that long?” “Perfection takes time,” he responded with a smirk. “Okay, sure,” she answered sarcastically, setting down the towel and taking off her flip-flops. “So, perfect one, are you ready to get this show on the road?” He didn't answer right away and when she turned to look at him, he immediately met her eyes but not before she could see where they'd been lingering previously. “Yep, I'm ready.” “Geez, act like you've never seen a girl in a bikini before, why don't you,” she rolled her eyes, not really taking it as anything more than a teenage guy with wandering eyes. She had curves, nothing more to it than that. Heading over to the deep end of the pool with Olivier trailing behind, she jumped off the diving board in a cannon ball, sending water splashing behind her. When she surfaced and looked over, she saw that she'd gotten him wet as well and he wasn't looking too impressed. Instead of mimicking her earlier behavior, he did a fairly impressive real dive off the board. She had to admit that she was a little impressed with it, but when he resurfaced she splashed him instead of showing it. “Show off.” “Admit it, you were impressed by it,” he commented, clearly confident. “Was not,” she argued, sticking her tongue out, making her way toward a more shallow area where she could stand evenly on her feet. “Not everything you do is impressive.” “Is so!” He seemed insulted that she'd think otherwise. “Is not!” “Is so!” “Is not!” “It completely is!” “Oh yeah, prove it,” she challenged, crossing her arms over her chest, not noticing that it just created more cleavage until she saw his eyes flit down momentarily. “Fine, I will!” He moved closer to her, suddenly standing in front of her. Close enough that she was completely aware of the small amount of space between the two of them. Her breath caught in her throat for a second as she stared at him. “And how are you planning on doing that?” Her voice wasn't as strong as she would have hoped, a little shaky as a sense of anticipation built up in her stomach and she stared at him. His eyes moved between her lips and her eyes, making his intention clear. Her heart pounded in her ears, her eyes darkening with lust as she held his gaze as best as possible and then, suddenly, his lips were on hers. Kissing her eagerly, his arms wrapping around her waist and her own finding their way around his neck. She couldn't tell if he was the one pulling her closer or if she was doing it herself. All she knew was that her body was pressed against his own, sparks flying as she found herself wishing that she could be closer to him. After a few minutes he pulled away, leaving her to catch her breath. He looked a little disheveled and seemed to have a bit of difficulty catching his breath, but there was a smirk present on his face. “Told you.” “Oh shut up,” she replied, pressing her lips back against his own. Their lips met heatedly and she found him starting to move the two of them backwards, the side of the pool pressing against her back suddenly as she found herself pressed between him and the hard surface. Her fingers tangled into his blonde hair, pulling at it slightly as he bit her bottom lip. A pinch of pain mixing with the pleasure. She couldn't think, or breathe, or do much of anything but kiss him back with all she had. When it felt like her lungs were going to explode, he pulled his lips off of her own and started trailing opened mouth kisses down the side of her neck. She gasped lightly, gripping a bit tighter to his hair as his hand moved down to her chest, massaging the sensitive skin roughly. Every inch of her felt like she was on fire and all she wanted was more of it, to be even closer to him and to feel every inch of his body pressed against her own. “Should we be doing this?” she questioned, her voice a lusty whisper. “Do you want me to stop?” His lips moved to her pulse point, sucking at the skin. “No.” The answer was a raspy whisper. “Good,” he growled against her neck, the fingers on her waist holding her tighter against him. Her legs wrapped around his waist in an effort to gain more closeness and she grinded her hips against his own, sending shocks shooting through her and causing him to let out a groan. The sound of which sent shivers down her spine, making her wonder what other noises he could make. “Oli,” she gasped, knowing that she needed him. "Oli, please." “Melanie,” he replied, trailing his kisses back up her neck to her ear. His warm breath making her feel all the more hot. “Melanie... Melanie...” And then his voice was shifting, higher pitched than before and he was shaking her. She was confused, suddenly. “Melanie!” Her head shot off the library table, surprising Jessica who had been shaking her. Her face flushed and eyes wide as she looked at her best friend, who was looking at her with a mild amusement. It was only a few days since the time that she'd been studying with Olivier and he'd given her a sarcastic response about France. “Nice of you to finally join us in the waking world.” “Oh shut it,” she mumbled, trying to fix her hair. Running a hand through it to put some order in it, glancing at the clock to see that she'd slept through all of study hour. Her notes lying in front of her on a crumpled piece of paper that she was embarrassed to see had some drool on it. “I tried to wake you sooner, but you were determined to just keep on sleeping,” Jess informed her, gathering up her books as Mel did the same. “Figured you could use the sleep.” “Thanks,” she answered sarcastically. “You know, Oli would probably say I could use the studying more.” “Oooh, Oli,” Jessica teased. “Getting comfortable with him, are we?” “No!” Mel denied, trying not to think about the very vivid dream she had just had and just how comfortable she'd been in it. The over-reaction did nothing to help Jess, who giggled and looked at her with clear disbelief. “Uh-huh, suuuuuuuure. Do you like him?” “No, I don't like him,” she told the other girl honestly. At least she didn't think she liked him. “I mean, not like like if that's what you're saying. He's pretty cool though, when we just talk.” For whatever reason, Jess still didn't seem to believe her as they walked into the hall. “Pretty cool? I'm sure he'd be thrilled with that description.” “Can we just drop it?” Mel asked while they trekked toward their lockers. “Talk about something else?” “Like what you were dreaming about?” The blonde waggled her eyebrows suggestively. “You seemed pretty intent on staying asleep, must have been cause there was something interesting going on in dreamland.” “Okay, something else?” There was no way she'd be telling Jessica anytime soon that she'd been sleeping with her French tutor in her dream. She'd never live it down and Jess would make inappropriate comments for the rest of their lives together. “So it was a dream about having a naughty then?” The amount of interest she had in this was ridiculous. “No.” They were almost to their lockers, so hopefully after that they could get to class and drop the conversation. “You liar! It was a naughty dream! Who was it with?” “There was no naughty dream!” Mel insisted, opening her locker, which was only two away from Jessica's. “There so was, just admit it! I'll let it drop for a while if you own up to it,” she offered as she traded books for her next class. “Okay, fine, I was having a sex dream,” she replied a little louder than necessary in exasperation. “Are you happy now?” “A sex dream? Huh?” A very familiar voice came from behind her and she cringed as she turned to see Olivier, stopped behind her. “Are you checking up on me or something?” Mel rounded on him, a light pink on her cheeks. “Don't you have better stuff to do?” “I was just walking along, it's not my fault you had to shout to the world that you're having sex dreams about me,” he shrugged. “They're not about you!” Maybe she spoke a little too quickly, but she was lucky that her blush didn't deepen as grabbed her books out of her locker. Slamming it shut. “Then they're not really worth having,” he said seriously, heading on his way without another word and making Mel groan in annoyance. “I swear I hate him,” she told Jessica, glaring at his retreating form. “Stupid, arrogant Frenchman.” Jess only laughed at her as an answer and smiled, clearly enjoying this. “Come on Mel, we've got to get to class. If you're lucky, you'll stay awake in this one so that arrogant French guy won't have anything to say to you.” “Whatever,” she said, heading with her friend to their next class where she sat and tried to pay attention to what was going on but ending up finding herself glancing over to where Olivier sat. Wondering why it was that she'd even dreamed of him in the first place and what it was that made him seem appealing. Not that it mattered, since she was very sure nothing would ever happen between them.
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Post by Melanie Perreault on Jan 30, 2018 21:06:26 GMT -5
Chapter 7: Jackson the Charming For the next two nights, Melanie found herself waking up from more inappropriate dreams involving Olivier. Luckily, she didn't really have to deal with him in classes and they weren't having a tutoring session until today. She'd also been blessed to have a roommate that was hardly ever around because she slept over at her boyfriend's apartment in the city much more than she ever slept in their dorm. If she hadn't it would have been awkward, given that whenever she woke up from the dreams that she had about Olivier, she found herself flushed and breathing heavily. Jess had been bugging her about knowing more about the dream, but she wasn't feeling like talking about it (them) just yet. Sure, Jessica was her best friend at the Academy and probably the best friend that she'd ever had in general, but there were just times when she didn't need to know everything. After about the tenth time the other girl had asked, she came back and asked if she wanted it to be about her. Since she was Jess, she came back, and told her that she was very flattered but that Mel knew she was involved with Porter and it'd probably put a strain on their friendship but that she was certainly a very attractive girl. The fact that Porter and Jessica were starting to have what resembled a real relationship. In fact, during lunch, he actually came to sit with them. Which was weird during the few moments where Jessica was still getting food and it was just Porter and Mel at the table. “Hey,” she said, nodding a bit awkwardly as he sat across the table. “Hey,” he answered, his voice the same low and British mumble that she'd only ever heard. His dark hair fell into his eyes and his poker face was strangely concerning for Mel. Only a few moments later though, Jess was at the table, taking a seat next to Porter and directly across from Melanie. “Afternoon!” “So, Mel, gonna tell me about those dreams yet?” Jess demanded after taking a large bite out of her hamburger. “Dreams?” Porter asked, not really looking interested. “Definitely not,” Mel answered, glaring at her friend. Why would she even think to bring that up with Porter here? If she wanted to talk about sex dreams with her boyfriend, it was a conversation the two of them should have in private. “Melanie has been having dreams about doing the naughty,” Jess informed Porter, who nodded and looked at Mel with a bit of interest. “Thank you, Jess, for being such a great listener,” the dancer snapped sarcastically, picking up the roll from her lunch tray and chucking it at the writer with a fair amount of force. Bitch. “Any time,” she stuck her tongue out at her friend before turning to Porter. “So, what did you want to do tonight?” He shrugged as he took a bite of food. “I told you, I'm up for anything.” Jessica rolled her eyes as she took a few bites out of the baked potato chips that sat on her tray. “And I told you, I wanted you to pick. If I pick we're going to see a chick flick. How do you feel about Nicholas Spots?” “It's Sparks,” Mel threw in for her best friend. Clearly, Jess wasn't so huge on the romance movies as she wanted Porter to believe. Not that she was either, but Beth was obsessed. The desired effect was still achieved though and Porter cringed at the idea. Looking over at Jessica for a moment, he seemed to be trying to figure something out. Only he looked more like he was trying to solve a math problem than a personal one. “Bowling,” he finally said, turning back to his food. Immediately Jess brightened up and smiled. “I love bowling! This is going to be so spiffy! Did I ever tell you about the last time I went bowling with my mates?” As Jessica began to chat animatedly about the last time that she'd been bowling, Mel finished her meal, nodding along with her bestie at the right parts of the story. By the time that she was getting finished, someone else had approached the table. It wasn't anyone that Melanie recognized, nor did Jess seem to know him. Instead, when he came up he looked immediately to Porter. “Hey, man,” the stranger said, giving the typical 'bro nod' toward the other guy. His voice was nice, a warm tenor with a Southern tang to the speech. “Erm- hey.. mate,” Porter responded, sounding a little forced and a little bored to boot. He shared a look with Jessica that Melanie didn't understand, but seemed to have some meaning because suddenly her best friend was looking at the stranger with a great deal of interest. “This is Jessica and Melanie. Jess, Melanie, this is Jackson.” “It's nice to meet you,” Melanie said politely, examining the guy a little closer although she tried not to be too obvious. Jackson looked to be about a Junior, which would make sense if he knew Porter, and stood at around 6'1” or 6'2” at her best guess. His dark skin contrasted nicely with the soft yellow t-shirt he wore and she couldn't help but notice the arm muscles that he was sporting. He had dark black hair that was cut short and warm brown eyes, along with an easy smile that was straight and white. Overall, he was a very attractive male. “The pleasure is all mine,” he assured her, flashing her another grin. “Well thank you,” Mel smiled, unable to keep from feeling a bit charmed by him. Who wouldn't be? “So, Melanie, I was wondering, are you doing anything tomorrow night?” Jackson asked, although he seemed like a pretty calm and relaxed guy there was a hint of nerves present in the way that he spoke. Which made little sense to Mel because who would be nervous about her? “No, I'm free,” she replied. Actually, it was kind of sad that she had no plans for Friday night when it was only a day away. Beth had recently told her that she was too anti-social and now she was beginning to wonder if it was true. “Great, because I was wondering if you would like to catch a movie and dinner with me?” For a moment she thought about it and figured that there was nothing else she'd rather be doing. Besides, going on a first date at the Academy would be a good thing and Jackson seemed like the perfect kind of guy to do so with. “That sounds fun,” she told him, feeling excited by the idea. “When and where do you want to meet up?” “How about right outside your dorm building at around 6:30?” He seemed really pleased by her acceptance to the date, which made her feel better. “Alright, I'll see you tomorrow.” “See you.” Melanie watched him leave and wondered somewhere in the back of her mind how this had happened and feeling really glad that it had. The second he was out of ear shot, Jess turned to her and smiled, clearly having expected this. “You said yes!” she exclaimed happily. “Well, of course, he seems like a nice guy, he's good looking and charming. Why would I say no?” Mel asked, looking at her like she was crazy. “Well... you know,” she gave her a look that clearly said she should know. “No. I don't know?” “That French kid,” Porter filled in before Jessica had a chance, making the girl pout. Mel looked at Jessica in shock, wondering what in the world she'd been talking to Porter about and why she thought that it was okay! “No! I would never turn down a nice, hot guy because of Olivier. We're not even friends.” “But you-” she started, about to launch into her crazy theories about Melanie and Olivier. “No buts. There is nothing going on there. He's tutoring me because I'm a terrible French student and he's actually French. Nothing else.” Grabbing a hold of her tray, she stood up. “Though, if you'll excuse me, I do have to get going.” “Got a meeting with Olivier?” Jess asked, clearly not letting this whole crazy business go even though Mel had literally just agreed to go on a date with someone right in front of her. “I have a tutoring session,” Mel spoke slowly, hoping that it would help her friend understand. At this point she didn't even know why she bothered answering anything. Turning to go dump her tray. “Don't tell him about your date though! He'll be jealous!” Jessica called after her. Mel snorted to herself as she walked out of the cafeteria and made her way toward the library where she was supposed to meet Olivier. True, it wasn't for another twenty minutes, but the last thing that she wanted to do was go ahead and sit through Jessica's crazy questioning about what was 'going on' between her and Oli. “He'll be jealous,” she repeated aloud to herself, mocking Jess' accent a little. The very idea was laughable and she shook her head as she tried to imagine it. Olivier jealous over a date she had with Jackson. There was no way in hell that he'd be jealous, he'd have no reason to be. Honestly, sometimes Jess just wasn't the brightest crayon in the box, no matter how much Melanie loved her.
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Post by Melanie Perreault on Jan 30, 2018 21:07:11 GMT -5
Chapter 8: News Travels Fast Melanie was only alone in the library for around five minutes, during which time she'd started working on her math homework, before her solitude was interrupted. Given that there was still time left to lunch it was extra surprising when someone sat down in the chair next to her. “So, I hear you've got a date with Jackson Baker,” Bethanie said, looking at her sister with interest. Of course, she looked as put together as always. The cream colored blouse and white skirt she wore just highlighting her tan skin, her eye make up much more subtle than Mel's own dark and dramatic overuse of eyeliner made her blue eyes pop just as much. It scared her though, that her sister could find out something like that only ten or so minutes after it happened. How did she know already? Who would have even told her in the first place? “Yeah...” “Tomorrow night? I heard you guys are doing dinner and a movie,” Beth seemed to be after more details although it was pretty apparent that she knew almost everything. Her sister could be such a gossip sometimes. “Yeah.. Okay, but all this happened like twelve minutes ago. How do you already know all of this?” she questioned, wondering belatedly if she really wanted to know her sister's gossiping methods. Maybe it'd be better to be out of the loop on this one. “He asked my permission before he asked you, silly,” the older girl stated, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. “I wasn't sure you'd say yes though. There seems to be talk of you with that French kid. Oh, and it's already up on the gossip site.” Since Mel had gotten to the Academy, she'd had little to do with the 'official' gossip updates of Gordon Parks' because she wasn't one to makes news or one who cared to follow it. Often times the things posted were downright mean to the people involved and it always seemed to be ruining someone's day. But yet, people loved tweeting at whoever ran the twitter. Personally, she just thought it was someone who had a little too much love for Gossip Girl and tried to live the life of the characters by pretending to be on the show. Whatever the case, there wasn't much that went on in the school that didn't get put up; fights, hook ups, break ups, speculation. “See, look.” Beth pulled out her cell phone and showed the notification – only a person like Beth would have notifications for gossip – which alerted her of a new post from GPAgossip. GPAgossip: Looks like Melanie Williams is giving up her crush on Olivier Perreault in favor of southern hottie, Jackson Baker. Smart move, since Olivier isn't likely to give Mel the time of day anytime this century. Rather than argue the fact that she most definitely did not have a crush on Olivier, no matter what everyone else kept saying, she decided to focus on what she thought was the weirder part of the situation. Everyone knew the gossip site wrote what they wanted, fact or not – although still had many, many true stories from what she could tell. “He asked you for permission?” she repeated incredulously. “Like, what? He just came up to you and was all, 'Hi, you don't know me but I think your sister is smokin' and I'd like to ask her on a date. Is that okay with you?'” Beth rolled her eyes and gave Mel the look that meant she should be quiet. It wasn't exactly a look she appreciated but she had a feeling that her sister was about to do some explaining. “That is not at all how it happened. If you must know, I can tell you exactly what happened. So, Jackson is a friend of Porter's-” “A friend?” she interrupted, clearly not believing it. There was no way that they were friends. The interruption earned her a glare from her sister, who never liked being interrupted in the middle of a good story and apparently this was one. “Okay, okay, an 'acquaintance' of Porter's.” There were real air quotes used around the word before Beth continued to plunge ahead in her story. “Either way, obviously he saw Porter starting to hang around with your Australian friend Jessica and then, by association, you hanging out with Jessica as well. So he had Porter ask Jessica if you were available or not. She took a few days to get back to him because apparently she thought that you might be having feelings for that French kid-” Alright, now she'd fight about this. For goodness sake, there was no reason for anyone to think she had any feelings at all about Olivier. Well, except maybe the sex dreams that she'd been having about him but those were all lust based, nothing to do with who he was as a person. “I do not have feelings for him!” she said for what felt like the millionth time. “And I don't know why everyone thinks I do when it's so clear that I don't!” All she got in response was an icy glare from Beth for once again interrupting her in the middle of a story that she was clearly not finished telling. “Anyway,” she began sharply, almost daring Mel to try and butt in again. “After she told him that you were free, he approached me. He's a dance student, you know, so I'd seen him around before in our mixed classes but I've never actually worked with him. However, he's also been so pleasant and everyone who works with him always seems to be in a good mood, not to mention the fact that he's a fantastic dancer and so strong. You wouldn't believe the muscles the kid has on him...” It was somehow wrong for her older sister to oogle the guy that she was going to be going out with, even if he was closer in age to Beth than Mel. “Okay, Beth, you have Sam. I'm sure he wouldn't love to know that you've been checking out the muscles on other guys.” This time she didn't seem as upset that she'd been interrupted and instead shrugged. “It's not like I really check him out. Besides, Sam knows that I'm very appreciative of his body. Let me tell you he might not look like it but he's got some-” Mel held up her hands to cut her sister off. “No. I don't want to know about what he has. Just get back to the part where Jackson approached you.” “Fine, fine. So, Jackson approached me and said that he was interested in asking you out on a date but he wanted to make sure that it was okay-” “He checked to see if you were okay with me going on a date with him? Like I need your approval to date someone or something?” She wasn't sure how she felt about that. It seemed so old fashioned and underhanded. Why should anyone care what Beth thought when it came to dating her? “Oh stop being so offended. It's the respectful thing to do. He's real gentleman, you should be touched that he cared enough to think about what your family wants for you. It's a rare quality and so romantic,” Beth sighed and looked contented. “Yeah.. no. It's so old-fashioned of him. I'm my own person, it's not like your approval or disapproval will make me date or not date anyone,” Mel said, wrinkling her nose. “So you don't care what I think of who you date?” Somehow the answer to this seemed dangerous, even though it was the truth. Sure, she loved her older sister and respected her, but if she really liked or disliked someone, she would date them if Beth thought it was a good idea or if Beth thought it was a terrible idea. It was her life. “Did Sam ask me for permission before asking you out?” she asked instead. “No, but you weren't here. Also, you're my younger sister, not my older sister.” “So? Would you have turned him down if he still asked you after he asked our parents and they said no?” The answer was pretty clear, especially knowing how things were turning out between the two of them. “It's still different,” Beth muttered, although it really wasn't. “But fine, point made. I'm just glad you said yes, it'll be good for you to get on a date.” Somehow, with Beth's approval, this date seemed less appealing than it had before. Looking up at the clock, she saw that there was only a few minutes until class was going to be start and Beth still had to grab her books and get to class. “Yeah. The warning is about to ring, Beth. You should probably get going. Don't want to be late.” The golden blonde sighed as she looked at the clock, clearly wanting to continue on with this conversation. “You're probably right,” she said reluctantly. Standing up and smiling at her sister. “Do you want me to come over tomorrow and help you get ready for your date?” Even the hopeful look on Beth's face was not enough to convince her. The last thing that she needed was to be dressed up like a Barbie doll on her first date with a guy. Who knew what sort of impression that would give? “No, no, I'm going to be fine by myself.” Beth hesitated, clearly wanting Mel to change her mind. “Are you sure? It'd be no problem at all for me to help.” “No, thank you,” she answered firmly. “I want to get ready on my own.” “Well, you'll call me right? To let me know how it went after?” “Sure, I'll call you,” she agreed, mostly to make her leave. But also because the smile that lit up her face was kind of rewarding. “Great! See you later, sis!” Beth exclaimed, happily rushing out of the library just as the warning bell rang. Only a few moments later, Olivier was occupying the seat that Bethanie had been sitting in. “Did I just run into your sister?” he asked. “Maybe, she did just rush out of here,” Mel said with a shrug, putting away her math notebook and getting out her French one. “Girl talk in the library?” He sounded amused. “Something like that,” she replied dryly as she flipped open to the page where her notes had left off. “Anything important?” He seemed more curious than usual by his tone, but when Mel looked up at him his face portrayed nothing but the same mild interest he ever had about anything that wasn't related to him. It was official, she was now just flat out imagining things. For a moment she considered telling him about her date with Jackson and the weirdness that was him asking Beth for permission to be going out on a date with her. After a brief hesitation she decided not to. Not because of Jess' 'advice' about him being jealous, but because she knew that it just wouldn't be of any interest to him. There couldn't be any other reason besides that. “Nope, nothing important at all.”
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Post by Melanie Perreault on Jan 30, 2018 21:07:53 GMT -5
Chapter 9: A Proper Goodnight Kiss When Jess offered to come over and help Melanie get ready the next day, she accepted. Mostly because she knew Jess and knew that it meant the other girl would just sit around and talk to her while she got ready while occasionally giving a few suggestions, unlike Beth who would have to control everything. So at around 5:30, Jess showed up after Mel had showered and blow dried her hair. Honestly, she didn't think she needed an hour to get ready, but it was better safe than sorry. For now, she sat down with Jess on her bed and just talked. “I can't believe you knew he was interested and didn't even give me any sort of hint that it might happen,” Melanie said, telling her what had really been bothering her with the whole situation. “I didn't want you to be over thinking it,” Jess shrugged, clearly not seeing the big deal. “Besides, I didn't want you to go all wonky because he'd been asking around about you.” “You have to admit that it's weird!” Mel insisted. Why did no one else see it? It wasn't like Porter had been asking around about Jess. “It's not weird, you're over thinking this.” She lounged back, adjusting one of the pillows so that it was more comfortable. “Jackson seems like a nice guy. He just didn't want to ask you out out of the blue and get rejected. Can you blame him for that?” “No... I guess not. I just.. isn't risk supposed to be part of it?” “There was risk! No one could promise that you'd say yes. It's just everyone thinks you're having a naughty with Olivier. He wanted to make sure you weren't.” “Ugh! This again?” She ran her hand through her hair and groaned. “Where did everyone get that idea in the first place?” “You two spend a lot of time alone together,” Jess pointed out. “He's my tutor. Of course we have to spend time together.” It was like she had to have this same argument every day of her life. “It's not just that though. I don't know Mel, the way you two sometimes look at each other. It's just...” she trailed off, unable to find the words. “It's what?” Melanie demanded, tired of people not saying what they meant. “It's like there's something going on and those looks are usually so well timed that no one else is supposed to see. They're just... longing, almost.” “Longing? Longing? You think I'm longing after Olivier? Or that he's longing after me?” She actually laughed aloud at the idea, although it sounded a tad strained. Probably because there was some longing on her half. But that wasn't really her fault. That was the fault of her crazy hormones that were attacking her just because he was an attractive guy that she was in proximity with. Nothing more than that and if he ever looked at her in that way, it was because he was a teenager guy and she did happen to have a good amount of cleavage. “I think you all need a hobby is what you need. Or some glasses. There's absolutely nothing, I repeat, nothing, going on. Including longing.” “Alright, alright. No need to get cheesed off,” Jess surrendered. “The whole thing just seems a bit suss to outsiders. Though it'll probably let up now that you're dating Mr. Southern Cowboy.” Melanie couldn't help but laugh. “Mr. Southern Cowboy? So is that his code name now?” “Sure. We've got Mr. British Angst, Arrogant French Guy and Mr. Southern Cowboy.” She grinned and then suddenly looked thoughtful. “We're certainly collecting a wide variety of flavors in the blokes we've gotten to association with.” Again, Mel burst into some laughter. “I guess you could say that.” She hadn't thought about that. But given that they were at a world class boarding school, it made sense that there would be some variety in students. “Ooh, what if he shows up tonight in a cowboy hat? I hear that they're considered formal in the South!” Jess seemed way too excited by the idea and Mel couldn't help but burst into giggles as they considered the different possibilities of what it would mean for him to show up 'Southern formal'. Which of course led to conversation about what British formal should look like and what French formal should look like. Until they realized she had exactly fifteen minutes to meet Jackson downstairs and was still sitting in her pajamas. Walking over to her closet she pulled out a black skirt and a light blue blouse with a beaded design around the bust. Pulling it on, she grabbed out a paid of wedge white sandals that she figured would match well enough. Running a brush through her hair before adding one of those bows that Beth had gotten her as a birthday present. “You look hot,” Jess said with a nod as Mel added on some eyeliner and mascara. “Jackson should be impressed.” “Oh shut up, he won't be impressed if I'm late,” she commented, looking at the clock and grabbing her purse and jacket. “So that means we need to get going.” “Keep your knickers out of a bunch.” The writer didn't seem to mind being hurried along, at least, and quickly made her way over to the door along with Mel. “Don't forget your key.” She was about to tell off the other girl for being sarcastic when she realized that she actually had forgotten her key and grabbed it off the nightstand, locking the door behind her as she walked out. “Just remember, if the date stinks, give me a text and I'll come up with a rescue plan.” “Thanks for that,” she shook her head and waved goodbye, heading down the stairs and out the front door. Not sure why she was surprised when she noticed that Jackson was already waiting. Although he was not wearing a cowboy hat or cowboy boots, he was dressed in a button down shirt and some nice blue jeans. “Melanie, you look great,” he greeted her with a smile. She returned the smile and gave him a hug in greeting. “Thank you. You look nice, too.” “Are you all ready to get going?” he asked, offering his arm out to her when she nodded. Which she took and began walking with him. The movie theater wasn't too far from the Academy. “Thought about what you'd like to see?” “Uh, I didn't really come to any definite answer. I figured that when we got there we could talk about it based on what was playing soonest,” she shrugged. Also, most of the movies out right now were rom-coms and that just wasn't her cup of tea. “That's a great idea,” he said. “So, Melanie, tell me a little bit about yourself.” “Oh...” This was the worst question ever. How could she talk about herself? She did nothing interesting. Like nothing. It made her realize just how boring she was. “Well... I'm 15 and I'm from East Grand Rapids, Michigan. As you're already aware, Bethanie is my older sister and it's just the two of us. My parents are really great and I get along well with them.” “What do you do in your free time?” The most dreaded of all questions. What did anyone do in their free time? It was free time! No one had to do anything. “I dance and hang out with friends,” she answered, figuring that it was good enough. “What about you? Tell me about yourself.” “Okay. I'm the oldest of five, with three younger brothers and two younger sisters. I come from Montgomery, Alabama and I'm 17. My parents have been married for 22 years and I also get along really well with them,” he listed off. “And in my free time, besides dancing, I like to play different sports, but basketball is my favorite.” “Ever been snowboarding?” “I've never had much chance,” he chuckled. “Alabama isn't exactly a state where it snows. Why?” “I like snowboarding,” Mel answered. “My family usually goes on a skiing and snowboarding trip up north every winter. It's one of my favorite times.” “That sounds nice,” Jackson said. “Although I'm not sure I could do it. From what I understand, skiing and snowboarding is pretty tricky and I'm not sure I'd have your talent.” She laughed and shook her head. “Trust me, no one is a natural. At least, not that I've ever seen. I was just lucky I got started as a child, but many of my friends are terrible at it. It's so fun though, you should really try it sometime.” “Well, maybe I will,” he agreed. “If I get the chance. Got any fun stories from the slopes?” Melanie launched into a tale of the first time that she'd decided she was ready to try a black diamond course even though her mother had warned her that she wasn't and how she'd ended up being unable to stop at the end, causing her to go through the wooden fence and give her a scar she still had on her knee to this day. It took up the rest of the walk to the theater and she finished up just as they were walking inside. Looking at the movie times, she turned to Jackson who was studying the different options. “Wanderlust looks like it might be interesting,” she said. “I'm not sure,” Jackson replied, glancing at the poster. “I heard it wasn't all that good.” “Okay, how about Safe House?” He looked surprised by her pick, glancing at the movie poster that screamed it'd be an action flick. “Are you sure you'd be okay with that?” She gave an eye roll. “Trust me, I'm sure. Better than a romantic comedy.” “Well alrighty then.” He paid for the tickets and the snacks, which were limited to two small boxes of candy since they'd be going out after that. When they entered the theater they found it fairly empty and Jackson led them to the back, making Mel think that they might not actually spend much time watching this movie. The thought filled her with more nerves than anticipation. However, as it turned out, they did spend the whole movie watching the screen and Jackson didn't try to make a move on her once. All he did was hold her hand and watch the movie. It was oddly disappointing that he didn't even try one thing despite the fact that the room was practically empty. Once it was over, he turned to her. “That was a good movie,” he commented. “Yep,” she agreed. “But I am sooo hungry.” “Well then let's get going,” he smiled, leading the way down the stairs and outside. She had no clue what to expect as for dinner but was pleasantly surprised when he led her to a Red Lobster, which was one of her favorite places. They talked some more over the meal and she learned more about him. The fact that he hoped to someday work as a professional back up dancer, what his favorite moves were (The Fast and the Furious and Semi-Pro), and a very humorous anecdote of a time when he was a child and got trapped in his friend's shed during hide and go seek. Conversation was easy and she told him more about herself, her plans to travel the world, her amazement of all the different places from which Academy students came and even some stories about growing up with Beth. There was never more than a few moments of silence during the dinner that weren't spent eating or drinking. It was good talking to him and she was having more fun than she'd originally imagined. After he paid the bill, which she insisted to at least cover tip because she wasn't used to being treated like this, they started on a walk back toward the Academy. Although they took a slight detour, walking through the park instead which was nice and the conversation continued readily. Leaving Mel feeling like she could talk to him for ages without ever running out of things to say or without getting bored of hearing him. By the time that they did make it back to the Academy it was later than she'd earlier anticipated and yet, she still didn't feel like leaving. She had no clue how to stall it from stopping though and figured that the evening would have to come to an end at some point anyway. “I had a really fantastic time with you, Melanie,” Jackson told her, pressing a kiss to her cheek. A sinking feeling of disappointment filled her as his lips brushed against her skin. She'd been expecting a proper goodnight kiss. But then, why should she let his lack of her giving one be the last word on the matter? “I had a great time too,” she told him, smiling and standing on tip toe to press her lips against his own. He seemed a bit surprised by the gesture, but nonetheless, he returned the kiss. A soft and gentle kiss, clearly a first kiss between two people. Not earth moving, no fireworks or anything, but pleasant and she stood in the embrace for a few more minutes before he pulled away. His hand on her cheek, lightly brushing against her face. “So, can I call you tomorrow?” “Yeah,” she said, giving a wide smile. “I'd like that.”
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Post by Melanie Perreault on Jan 30, 2018 21:08:35 GMT -5
Chapter 10: You Just Called Me a Hufflepuff Jackson called on Saturday, which went against what was supposed to be a guy law or something about when guys actually called relative to when they said they were going to call. And they agreed to hang out that day, going out for some ice cream and a walk around the city. He knew it a lot better than she did, so she just mostly followed along and learned more about him. Learned about his friends and his relationship with each of his siblings, about what subjects in school were giving him trouble and even a little bit of his dating history. When it was her turn to talk, she spoke about her life back in Michigan, about what it was like to have a changing relationship with her older sister and the overwhelming despair she sometimes felt when she stopped to think about how much more work she still had to do this school year. They made a few jokes and she found that he had an easy sense of humor, much like most else about him, he seemed to be a pretty relaxed guy. And of course, there had been a bit more kissing. It was all innocent stuff because he was pretty insistent that they not rush into things. Which also went against what she had heard guys were supposed to be like. But it was still nice. No fireworks or anything had shown up, but kissing him was pleasant and enjoyable. On Sunday, they didn't spend any time together because they had too much homework to get done, but ended up texting back and forth for a good part of the day. She'd thought she'd get tired of it at some point, but she liked talking with him and it was amusing. Besides, it broke up the monotony that was studying. However, when she was meeting with Olivier for tutoring in the evening he wasn't as amused. “Put your phone away, your wasting my time!” He'd snapped at her after the third time that she'd taken it out. “Geez, get your panties out of a wad.”She'd replied, which hadn't set well with him. For whatever reason, he was in a bad mood and they ended up cutting the session early that night. Nor did they have any off topic conversation that day. Instead, he'd seemed to be more serious about teaching her French than he'd ever been before. It'd been weird, but Olivier was always a mystery. Who knew what went on in that head of his? And even if someone could somehow find the ability to read his thoughts, they'd probably be in French anyway and it'd be zero help at all. Her limited French knowledge could only get her so far. Monday came and went without much happening except for the fact that Jackson joined them during the second half of lunch. Jess made her obligatory comments to try and make things awkward but they just rolled off of Jackson without issue. It made even her impressed at the end of it and more fond of him. On Tuesday though, she had another meeting with Olivier during study hall. At least when she got there he seemed to be in a better mood, which was something. Dealing with a grumpy Frenchman wasn't on the top of her list of favorite things to do. Not in the slightest. They dove right into their work with Melanie doing a surprisingly good job. Clearly the extra time that she'd been devoting to learning French was actually starting to pay off. So good that by the time they'd reviewed everything they'd finished early. To her surprise, he was the one who started the small talk after that. Usually she was the one who would get off topic and while he would go along, it was clear that he wouldn't start it. Then again, they'd never finished early because she was excelling at her French either. Maybe that had something to do with it. “I see you kept your cell phone away this time,” he commented. “Trouble with your new hero Harry Potter boyfriend, already?” “Harry Potter boyfriend?” Her nose wrinkled as she looked at him and wondered what drugs he was on. “He looks zero like Harry Potter.” “I didn't mean in looks, but isn't that the type of guy you're after?” “Okay, I have no clue what gave you that idea but you are completely wrong,” she shook her head. “No one wants a boyfriend like Harry Potter. He was a shitty boyfriend. Plus the kid was always so angsty.” “So why do you like the books if you can't stand the title character?” He cocked an eyebrow at her as he pushed back in the seat, leaning on the back legs. “I didn't say I can't stand him,” Mel corrected. “He does get annoying at times, but that's part of it. Part of the story. Not everyone is sunshine and rainbows and with all the shitty stuff that happened to him, it wouldn't be right if he was just happy all the time. But don't pretend you don't know all of that.” “What?” He really did look genuinely confused. “Oh come on. There isn't a person in our generation who hasn't seen or watched Harry Potter at least once unless they're afraid it's going to make them into a satanist,” she pressed. “So stop acting all high and above me just because I like it more than some people. You've got to have at least seen the movies or something.” For a moment she thought that he was going to deny it, but he surprised her again when he nodded. “Alright, you caught me. I read the books while growing up. Of course, I read them in French so things are a bit different.” This caught her interest, having always wondered how things got changed in such major stories, especially one with so many made up words. “Like what? Do the house names change? Is Hogwarts still the same?” Again, he looked as if he was debating getting into this conversation. Apparently, for whatever reason, probably boredom, he decided to go ahead and do it anyway. “Not really. In French the name is Poudlard. Then the houses are: Gryffondor, Poufsouffle, Serdaigle, et Serpentard.” It was amazing and super weird to consider that. “Huh, so let me guess.. you're a Poufsouffle?” Although she couldn't match his pronunciation perfectly, she thought that she did a good job and she kept a straight face as she waited for his reaction. A look of disgust flashed across his face as he studied her own, trying to see if she was kidding. “You just called me a Hufflepuff,” he said the word as if it were a horror. “I knew it! You are a secret Harry Potter snob!” she exclaimed smugly with a wide grin. If he didn't care at all, he would be fine with being called a Hufflepuff, but clearly he'd already figured out which house he identified with. Not that it was hard to figure out, in some ways he was like a French Draco Malfoy, only nicer and hopefully not planning on joining a secret league of evil wizards aiming to help a dark wizard rule the world. Even if he did turn out to be good in the end, she wasn't sure she'd be able to forgive him. Her exclamation got them a look from the librarian and Miss Richards actually came over to the table and pretty much kicked them out if they were done, although she did sign their time sheet ahead of time. When they were in the hall, she leaned up against the wall and looked at Olivier, who was standing in front of her shaking his head. “I should have known you were trying to trick it out of me,” he mused. “Got any secret fan site memberships you wanna share?” she taunted. “No, I'm not crazy obsessed like you. I just like the story, that's all.” He ran his hand through his hair and did that thing where he looked 'too cool' to be having this conversation. “Sure, sure,” she answered, clearly showing that she didn't believe him. “Don't worry, your secret is safe with me.” She even gave him an exaggerated wink. “Did you just wink at me?” He smirked as she nodded. “And here I thought you were a good girl. But there you go, flirting with people while you have a boyfriend.” “I was not flirting with you.” “Why don't we ask your boyfriend and see what he thinks about that?” The worst part was that Olivier seemed serious. “Well, he's not here, so we can't ask him,” Mel replied, a little too hastily. There was just something about telling Jackson anything about spending time with Olivier that she didn't like. It just felt.. weird. Of course, then her phone went off with the texting ringtone that was Jackson's. “Speak of the devil,” Olivier muttered, watching as Mel pulled out her cell phone but didn't look at the message yet. Instead, her eyes flashed to him and for a moment an uncertain look flashed across her face. It was gone almost as soon as it had arrived though and when she opened the text, he walked away without another word.
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Post by Melanie Perreault on Jan 30, 2018 21:09:12 GMT -5
Chapter 11: Who the Eff is Heather? On Saturday, after the rest of a long week, it was decided that a date night was in order. Somehow, Porter and Jessica had been talked into a double date. Actually, Jess had thought of the idea in the first place and Porter had protested all the way up until Friday when Jess finally whispered something in his ear that had him begrudgingly agreeing to the idea. The best plan they'd come up with was dinner and then roller skating. Unsurprisingly, Porter had the enthusiasm of a person going to the dentist when the group met up outside the buildings. Honestly, Mel was surprised that he'd shown up at all. Even the idea of him roller skating was an amusing one. He stood silently, not even offering more greeting than a nod of the head to Jessica. Jackson, on the other hand, was happy to see both of them and walked over to Mel to give her a big hug. “Good evening,” he said, pressing a kiss on her cheek. “You look lovely.” She pressed a light kiss against his lips and smiled in return. “Thank you.” Turning to see what was happening with her friends, she noticed Jess was poking Porter, telling him that he'd better cheer up or he wouldn't be having any fun at all for the next few weeks. He'd muttered something that Mel couldn't catch and luckily, for him, it seemed that Jess either didn't catch it or was deciding just to ignore him. “Ready to get this show on the road?” Mel asked the couple, who nodded. As they walked toward TGI Fridays, Jackson told an amusing story about his day wherein which he was in science class and he and his partner misread the instructions on the board and didn't realize it until they noticed that their mixture was nothing like all of the other mixtures around. Luckily, their mistake had been one that didn't cause any threatening reactions, but did cause it to overflow and stain their hands light blue. Something that Mel hadn't even noticed until he held up his hands to go along with the story. “What about you, Porter?” Jess asked as soon as Jackson had finished. “Got any spiffy stories?” “It was class, I learned, I followed instructions, nothing particularly amazing happened,” he replied. In fact, he hadn't seemed at all amused by Jackson's story. Maybe because he'd been there when it happened, but it seemed more likely that it was just because he didn't find it funny. Come to think of it, it seemed that Porter had a dislike toward Jackson. True, it never seemed like Porter particularly liked anyone, but this was more than that. Like apathy toward the guy wasn't enough but that he genuinely had something that he disliked about him, although she had no clue what that could be. Maybe someday she'd ask him, if she ever thought he'd answer. “So boring,” Jess sighed to which Porter shrugged. “I don't see you hurrying to tell your tales,” he pointed out. “Some days are just like that.” According to Jessica, Porter could be talkative and funny, but Mel had only ever seen it in the briefest of fashions and she wondered if maybe it had something to do with her. She'd ask Jackson how he was in class, but she had the idea that it might be groups of people in general that brought out Porter's apathy. Luckily, it was only a few minutes until they reached their destination and headed inside. Jackson gave their names to the hostess, who led them to a table right away. She noticed that both Jessica and Porter were looking around the place in interest. “Do guys have Fridays in Australia?” he asked the couple. “I always wondered what it was like down under. You never talk about it, Porter.” “Maybe because I'm from England,” Porter said, in clear annoyance. Then muttering under his breath, “Bloody, fucking wanker.” Jessica didn't seem too impressed either by the mistake. “We clearly have very different accents,” she pointed out. “And we live further away from each other than the States are from either country.” “I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to offend either of you, I guess it's just hard for me to tell the difference in accents,” Jackson apologized profusely. “Or the fact that I've been saying I'm from England for three years,” Porter muttered, glaring darkly at the other guy before turning back to his menu. “It's okay,” Jess said after a moment, although she didn't seem all that pleased still. “We do have Fridays at home, but I've never been to one.” Porter didn't seem inclined to answer again and Mel didn't blame him that much since even she'd known that it was really England where he hailed from and not anywhere near Australia. She'd assume though, from his appreciative look around the place, that he'd never been to one either. When the time came to order, she got herself a burger with an order of fries, even though she was more than well aware that she probably shouldn't and that it'd come back to bite her in the ass later. It was what she was craving though. To make up for it, she only ordered a water as a drink and chatted some with Jessica and Jackson as they waited for their food to get there. There wasn't any particular topic of conversation, mostly just about school work and projects that were coming up. Porter only made the occasional monosyllable remark and she had the feeling that he was still upset about the whole England mix up. Once the food arrived, conversation halted as everyone took their time to just eat and enjoy. At that point, Jess got a real conversation started with Porter and Mel was surprised to find that he could talk and did have some quite sound opinions on different things. Jackson made some small talk with her but nothing too lengthy. Jackson and Porter took care of the bill and Mel and Jess took care of the tipping. When they were finished, they stood up and made their way to the exit. Just as they were leaving though, they ran into a couple that was walking in and the whole group stopped. It was Olivier, with a very pretty girl. She was petite, maybe 5'3” if she was lucky, with a dark tan and long, straight, black hair. Her big brown eyes were a soft color and framed by long, dark, eyelashes. The skirt she wore was shorter than anything Mel had ever worn outside of recitals and her heels were a couple inches higher than she'd ever want to take a stab at. Objectively, she was beautiful. It was hard to keep her attention on that girl though as her eyes flickered toward Olivier, who looked great when he was actually trying to dress up. She'd been so focused on him, after her brief, initial observation of the girl that she was with, that she didn't notice both Jackson and Porter staring at the girl in surprise. “Heather?” Jackson questioned, disbelief coloring his tone as his eyes too flicked between Olivier and the girl. “You know Heather?” Olivier asked, raising an eyebrow. But there was something off about his surprise, it wasn't genuine enough. “Jackson?!” Heather had a high pitched voice, the kind you'd expect from a child, and it was so sweet sounding that it almost made Mel sick. “It's so good to see you!” “Who is that?” Mel asked Porter as the small girl smiled widely at Jackson. “Heather,” he responded unhelpfully. “Who the eff is Heather?” Jess looked over the other girl and wrinkled her nose. “That's really something you should ask Jackson.” He seemed reluctant with it though as if he'd rather just state what was really going on and Mel just wished that he would. “Oh come on,” Mel pleaded, watching as the two started doing some small talk and catching up. Though she couldn't stop her eyes from trailing over to Olivier, who was watching the scene with almost a detached interest. One of the times she glanced at him, she caught him looking right back at her, but he quickly turned away after that. “I can't help you,” Porter said firmly. “Well it was nice running into you,” Heather told Jackson. “But I've really got to get going. I hope we can talk again sometime. Maybe we could even do a double!” She gestured between herself and Olivier and him and Mel. “Yeah,” Jackson replied, though without his usual good spirit. “Maybe.” When they walked away, Jackson stood and watched for a moment longer and had this look on his face that Mel couldn't describe properly. But when he turned back, it was gone. “So, let's get going to the rink,” he said and started leading the group away, walking a little faster than usual. Mel trailed behind with Jessica, the two of them whispering between themselves about how unhelpful Porter was being and what exactly had happened between Jackson and Heather. They were surprised, therefore, when Porter stopped them as they were walking over to the rental counter. “I can't tell you what happened, but you should know well enough that nothing at the Academy ever stays a secret. Truth or not.” And then he turned away as if he'd said nothing and walked up to the counter to get some rollerblades. If it were possible, the light bulb would have flashed over Melanie and Jessica's heads at the same time. “Jackson?” Mel said as he grabbed the skates from the person behind the counter. “Yes?” He still seemed to be distracted. “Jess and I are going to run to the bathroom, we'll be back soon,” she informed him, quickly grabbing Jess' hand and pretty much dragging the other girl over toward the bathroom. Once they were inside, Mel pulled out her phone and pulled up her web browser. “I can't believe I'm doing this,” she muttered, shaking her head, as typed in the address to the school gossip site. The page loaded far too slowly for Mel's taste and when it did she was surprised that already the story on the top of the page was about Jackson and Heather. Exes Jackson Baker and Heather Woods run into each other on their respective dates. We thought Jackson was getting over his beautiful ex with a new relationship, but it looks like he's still pining hard after the girl who broke his heart Seeing the link over the last three words, she clicked on it next and saw a story come up from almost a year prior. Heather Woods finally dumps Jackson Baker to the curve. Given that she's been seeing other guys for weeks, it was only just a matter of time until it happened. “She cheated on him and he's still in love with her?” Jess exclaimed, whistling. “Wow that's fucked up.” “We don't know that he's still in love with her,” Mel said defensively, although she wasn't sure who she was trying to convince. “Anyway, let's go. I don't want the guys to wonder what's taking us so long.” “Are you good?” Jess asked in concern, looking over at her best friend. “Do you want me to tell him you aren't feeling well?” “No, thanks. I'm fine,” Mel waved it off, giving a smile. Even though it was clearly a lie, Jess let it slide for the moment and she was very thankful. There was something unsettling about the information that Jackson even had been involved with Heather, but unfortunately, she feared that it wasn't for the reasons that it should be. Yes, she was certainly jealous of the older girl, who was beautiful and apparently very wanted by the male gender. However, she wasn't sure if she was more jealous about the fact that she'd held Jackson's heart, and possibly still did, or the fact that she currently held Olivier's interest.
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Post by Melanie Perreault on Jan 30, 2018 21:09:52 GMT -5
Chapter 12: Make Me The next few days were just uncomfortable for Melanie. Although Jackson tried to pretend that nothing had happened at all, Melanie wasn't as good at that. It was just difficult to try and act like she didn't know anything about Heather and he still hadn't come forward and explained anything about her. She hadn't asked, because she didn't want to seem like she was prying and she was hoping that he'd come forward on his own and just fess up about his past with Heather. Instead, all that had happened was that he made an off-handed comment to her about how weird it'd been to run into Heather and Olivier. At that point she'd been tired of not saying anything and had asked how he'd known her and he shrugged and said that it wasn't important. It was in the past and there was nothing to it now. But, Mel couldn't help but wonder, if that were really the case, then he shouldn't have a problem just fessing up to what their relationship had really been. She'd even been confused enough to go to Bethanie and ask for help. Which had been weird because it meant having to go to Sam's apartment and she wasn't entirely comfortable with that. She'd only been over once before and she texted Beth to ask if it was okay if she came over. It'd taken the other girl a little too long to answer, making Mel think that the yes she'd eventually received had to be bribed out of the college student. At least when she'd arrived, Sam opened the door to let her in with a greeting before heading straight to the kitchen, where he was apparently working on dinner. Beth was waiting in the living room, sitting on the coach with her hand resting on the coffee table and a few bottles of different nail polish sitting out. “Come on over,” she nodded, for lack of being able to gesture. “Now, what is going on?” Mel took a seat next to Beth, her nose wrinkling at the smell of the polish. Pushing that out of her mind, she plunged into the story of what had happened on Saturday. “What do you think I should do?” Beth, who'd been focusing on her nails during the whole story and only nodding occasionally, finally looked up at her and had to be more perspective than she'd wanted. “About Jackson or about Olivier?” A surprised look crossed her face and she quickly shook her head. “About Jackson, of course. Why do I need to do anything about Olivier?” The older girl rolled her blue eyes and gave her a look that clearly stated she didn't believe her. “Are you even upset because Jackson is in love with Heather? Or are you upset because Olivier was out on a date with her?” “I'm not Olivier's keeper. I'm not even his friend, really. I don't care what he does or who he does it with,” she answered, maybe a bit too forcefully for the conversation. “Of course I'm upset about Jackson though. How can I date someone who is pinning after another person?” Beth brought her hand up to blow lightly on the top coat that she'd applied to her pale pink nails and stayed quiet for a moment, a look crossing over her face that Mel wasn't really familiar with. There was something suddenly serious about her as she set her hand down flat on the table and when she looked at Mel, she looked past her for a moment toward the kitchen. “Talk to Jackson.” “Talk to him? You mean demand him to tell me that he's in love with someone else? That's a smart plan.” She laughed shortly without humor. Honestly, Beth sucked at advice. Why had she even come here? “Melanie Blair Williams, listen to me,” Bethanie said sharply, though she kept her voice down. Something was behind her eyes that Mel couldn't place. “Stop making assumptions about Jackson and talk to him. He is a good guy and he will tell you-” “Good guys don't date other people when they're in love with someone else,” Mel pointed out. Surprising her, Beth was still serious. “Talk to him and stop thinking you know everything, Melanie. If you want to have a relationship, be honest but don't accuse.” “Okay, sure.” She'd tried to tone down the sarcasm, but it was hard, Beth was supposed to give her something that she could work with and all she had was 'talk to Jackson'? She didn't want to talk about this with him, it'd just be weird. “Don't screw things up by not talking, you won't forgive yourself for it,” Beth sighed and shook her head. “I don't know why I'm bothering, you aren't going to listen to me.” For some reason the way her sister was acting was just really pissing her off at this point. Yes, she'd come here for advice, but now Beth was treating her like she was about to screw everything up. “You know, I came here for your advice,” she snapped, standing up. “So don't try and act like I never listen to you!” “I didn't say that,” Beth replied tiredly, clearly not rising to the attempt to start a fight. “You implied it!” Mel gathered up her things and stormed out, not sure where she was heading or what she was doing, but just knowing that she had to go out and get some air. When she got outside the apartment building, she realized that she was only a few blocks away from the park and that it was still going to be light for long enough that she wouldn't feel bad doing some running through it, it'd probably help her out some. Part of her knew that she'd been frustrated with Bethanie unfairly, mostly due to the fact that she'd right away called out the idea that she might have some feelings for Olivier that weren't just in a platonic nature. But she'd also been wrong to think that she wouldn't be upset at all about Jackson, they were in a relationship. How could she doubt that she'd be upset about his possibly being in love with another girl. And then she just tried to act like she knew everything. Like she'd ever had problems with Sam, the two were practically a golden couple without issue. Jogging through the winding trail in the park, she started to cool down, her temper ebbing away and making her feel bad about how she'd acted. In her distraction she wasn't giving much thought to where she was headed, just going wherever the path took her. Finding herself completely not paying attention as she thought she heard someone calling her name, turning slightly to look behind her but continuing to run anyway. It was a bad idea and she realized it as soon as she collided into another person, crying out as she fell forward and brought the person down with her. “C'est quoi ce bordel!” Hearing the angry swear, she looked up and saw the one person that she really didn't want to see at the current moment. Though of course it was Olivier, the world only had 55 people in it, after all. So of course, if she was going to run smack dab into someone it had to be the guy that everyone was accusing her of harboring feelings for. It couldn't be like some random person or even Jackson - although, maybe it wouldn't have been the best thing to run into him at the moment. “Okay, I might not be great at French, but I'm offended by that,” she informed him, frowning as she quickly moved away so that she was no longer laying atop of him. Sure, she had no idea what he had said, but she could guess pretty damn well that it wasn't polite in the slightest. “Melanie? The fuck were you doing? Did you go blind or something?” he asked angrily, sitting up and brushing himself off. “And it should figure that you'd know that sort of French.” “I just wasn't paying attention,” she said, trying to will herself not to blush or anything as she chose to ignore the last comment. “Well that much is damn sure.” “Hey! You didn't exactly stop me either, so you couldn't have been paying too close of attention to what was going on,” Mel shot back, refusing to feel like this was all her fault when Olivier didn't say or do anything until afterward, meaning that he wasn't paying attention either. For a moment he was silent as he stood up and brushed the dirt off himself. “I wasn't the one who was running and looking behind me,” he replied, offering his hand to help her up. “So you were running and looking in front of you and you still ran into me?” She grabbed his hand to help herself up. “Ran into you?” he repeated in disbelief, not dropping her hand once she was up. “Now you're just being crazy. That that back.” She laughed and shook her head. “You ran into me as much as I ran into you, so I won't take it back.” “You're a liar and I expect an apology.” “Oh yeah? Well, make me,” she demanded, not realizing that she'd moved closer. “Maybe I will!” he replied, taking a step closer to her. And suddenly, she felt like she was in a dream again. One of the many dreams that she'd had before about Olivier and being closer to him. This could have been a scene out of one of them but she was certain that this was real because it was more intense. Her heart didn't just pound, it flew and her stomach twisted in excitement and anxiety in equal measure. The air between them felt charged and she was aware of the space that separated them to an unhealthy level. She finally realized that he hand was still wrapped around her own and the touch made her tingle. Their eyes met and it made her feel exposed but excited in a way that she couldn't explain. Like nothing she'd ever felt before. For a moment, she thought that they might kiss. It would be easy to do so, with the small space separating them and the tension that she could feel, almost demanding to be acted upon. The moment seemed to be straight out of one of those cheesy romance novels Beth had a tendency toward and for once she wished that she was more bold. He moved closer to her and she felt like she was going to explode, feeling a bit surprised when instead of pressing his lips against her own, he instead moved his lips to her ear. The feel of his breath against it giving her shivers. “You still owe me an apology,” he said, his voice low. Hearing what he said, she jumped backward and glared darkly, dropping his hand. “I wouldn't expect it!” she exclaimed, trying to push away the sinking feeling of disappointment as she saw the smug look on his face. “You're not getting it, now or ever.” “Well that might be true, seeing as if I'd kept it up your heart might have burst from the excitement,” he smirked, looking annoyingly unruffled from the encounter. “Oh whatever, like you have any effect on my heart,” she spat. “Now get back to your run or whatever the hell it was that you were doing and leave me alone.” “Keep telling yourself that.” He seemed way too pleased with himself, though for what reason she had no idea. “Bonne nuit, Melanie.” “Screw off,” she replied as he started walking away, fighting between the disappointment that nothing had happened and the relief that nothing had happened. And still wondering what in the world was going on in her life and most importantly, who was she supposed to talk to about all of this crap?
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Post by Melanie Perreault on Jan 30, 2018 21:10:47 GMT -5
Chapter 13: What's Going On? On Wednesday and Thursday, Melanie purposely avoided Jackson as much as possible. She texted him a couple of times, mostly to say that she was busy and wouldn't make it to lunch or that she had too much homework to hang out. When he asked if anything was wrong, she told him that everything was fine. It wasn't just Jackson that she avoided though, it was also Olivier. Which was much trickier given their common class schedule, but she somehow managed. Avoiding Jackson didn't make her feel good, but she just didn't know what else to do. After her meeting with Olivier in the park, it was hard to ignore the fact that she just was obviously more attracted to him than she was to Jackson. The problem was that she did like Jackson, especially his personality. Where Olivier was full of himself and a bit hard to handle, Jackson was humble and easy going. Olivier had more of the playboy vibe going on, where Jackson was the perfect gentleman. They were so different and it was obvious who the better choice was. And yet, even with Jackson, there was a part of her that still really was attracted to and curious about Olivier. Jess had been prodding, trying to figure out what was really going on, but she hadn't wanted to tell her. For one thing, it'd mean admitting that there was at least the feeling of attraction toward Olivier and then she wasn't sure if she'd be able to keep the fact that she'd had those dreams about him out of the conversation and it'd just blow up way larger than anything she wanted to deal with. Not that it was easy to keep Jess at bay. Her best friend was the master of getting information out of people and it required a lot of time and energy to keep her silence. Possibly more than it was worth, which was why she'd almost just given up a couple of times and admitted what was going on. For the most part, it seemed that Jess was thinking it all related back to Heather and tried to talk her out of being worried about Heather by saying that Jackson liked her and Heather was the past and he was too much of a gentleman to do anything with her. Those talks hadn't exactly been the biggest help because it just made her feel worse about the fact that she was even acknowledging her attraction to Olivier when she was with Jackson, especially after he'd just been cheated on the year before and it had broken his heart. True, she'd never actually be the person to act on that attraction because she was above that, but it still was no good. Friday night she was hauled up in her room, doing her best to ignore everyone and just get her shit done. Ignoring Olivier also meant that she wasn't getting French help, but luckily it seemed that all her work with him had helped enough that it wasn't a huge deal. Sure, she wasn't doing perfectly, but she found herself understanding everything at least to a moderate level and was sure that she'd be able to retain this information properly for the next test. The only problem was that thinking about it made her think of Olivier. She wondered if he even cared that she wasn't approaching him anymore, or that she'd canceled their French lesson. Even though she knew that she shouldn't care, it was hard not to do just that. For some reason it bothered her to face what was likely the truth, that he didn't give a shit about the fact that she wasn't around. In fact, if anything, he was probably happy because it meant an opening in his time line where he could go out and spend time with girls like Heather, or Heather herself. “Ugh!” she groaned, pushing her French book away and taking her head in her hands. Now was not the time to be doing this. Olivier didn't matter to her because he was who he was and they weren't involved and she did already have a boyfriend. What he did or who he did it with was none of her concern. While trying to convince herself that all of that was true, a knock came at the door, interrupting her thoughts. It was unlikely that the door would be for her roommate, since everyone knew that Cassidy was almost never here. Which meant that someone was here to see her and she just wasn't sure that she wanted to deal with talking to anyone. It crossed her mind just to pretend that she wasn't there and not answer the door at all. Those plans were quickly crushed though as the knock at the door came once more and this time was accompanied by a voice. “Come on, Mel! I know that you're here!” There was still the option of pretending that she was in the shower or something and later replying to the text message or call she was sure to get and saying just as much. However, that seemed a bit too cowardly. And so she somewhat reluctantly got up from her desk and made her way over to the door, opening it up and finding Jackson waiting on the other side. For the most part, he seemed to be okay but it was easy to tell that there was annoyance bubbling under the surface. “Can I come in?” he asked, a bit of an edge present to his voice. “Uh, sure,” she answered, moving aside and suddenly feeling a bit nervous about how this interaction was going to go. “Why are you avoiding me?” He turned to face her as she shut the door. “I'm not avoiding you!” Why her first instinct was to lie, she had no idea. Jackson didn't seem impressed though and his face set in a hard line. “Don't lie to me, Melanie.” The tone that he took made her angry. Yes, she was lying to him, but it wasn't really his business if she was if there wasn't anything that would hurt him about it. “I'm not lying to you!” For a moment, a look of disappointment flashed across his face, but it was suddenly replaced with annoyance. “I'm not stupid, Mel!” “I didn't say you were!” she shot back, anger flaring higher. One of her biggest pet peeve was people putting words in her mouth. “Then stop lying to me and acting like I don't know the difference! It's easy to see that you're avoiding me and I want to know why!” He looked like he was trying to calm himself down, taking a deep breath. “What is going on?” “Nothing is going on! I just didn't feel like being around anyone, okay?” She crossed her arms over her stomach, trying to stop being so defensive, but it was hard when she was still so upset. “I thought we were dating, Mel. I thought you could tell me things,” he said the words gently, but something about them rubbed Mel the wrong way. “Okay, no. You don't get to try and guilt trip me into talking to you about something I don't want to talk about!” she snapped, feeling manipulated. “I'm not guilt tripping you! I'm not trying to make you feel guilty! So unless you have something that you need to feel guilty about..” he trailed off. “What exactly are you implying?” she asked sharply, her eyes narrowing. “I'm just saying there's a lot of rumors going around and with those pictures...” What pictures he was talking about, she had no clue, but right now she was pissed off. “Rumors? You're upset with me because of a bunch of rumors? You think that I'd just go around and what, cheat on you or something? I am not Heather! So get your head out of your ass and realize it!” The second she said it, it was pretty apparent that it was sort of a low blow. His face freezing for a moment. “How did you find out about Heather?” he asked, his voice softer. “You're not the only one who can find out rumors,” she answered, her tone still cold. If he was hurt, good. Shouldn't go around accusing people of cheating when it was clear that they didn't. It was a pretty big accusation, even if he'd left it unspoken. There was a long moment of silence and he really did look more hurt than anything else. The sheer amount of pathetic it was almost made her feel bad, but she didn't think that he had anymore right to it than she did. He wasn't just accused of being a cheater. She hadn't assassinated his character. Made accusations that couldn't be taken back. “I think it'd be best if we took a break,” he said, finally. “Fine by me!” she replied, opening the door for him to walk out. “I'll talk to you later,” Jackson told her, heading out the door and shaking his head. “Yeah, sure,” she muttered as she shut the door behind him. Right now she was still so angry about everything that it didn't matter to her that their relationship had just ended. Picking up her pillow, she screamed into it and wished that everything in her life wouldn't have to be so fucking messed up all the damn time. At the end of the day, it probably would have been best to pretend that she'd been in the shower after all.
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Post by Melanie Perreault on Jan 30, 2018 21:11:35 GMT -5
Chapter 14: Mind Your Own Business The next morning – if you could call 3 in the afternoon morning – Mel woke up and felt terrible. Part of her realized that what had happened was her fault, but there was nothing that she could do about it now. It was weird though, while she was upset about the break-up, she somehow felt that she should be more upset. Maybe it was because there was still lingering anger about the idea that he thought she'd cheat on him. Either way, she wasn't entirely surprised when she got a text from Jess asking if she was okay with the break-up. To which she replied yeah, but she wanted to be left alone for at least today. It was obvious that the other girl wasn't too high on the plan, but had respected her enough to agree to it with the threat that she'd be around on Sunday for sure. Although she could tell right away that it was a terrible idea, she couldn't help but open her laptop and go to the GPAgossip page. Her story wasn't front and center because apparently something had happened with some girl Felicia who was in Beth's year and that was the latest drama. Instead, she typed her name into the search bar present at the top and looked at the most recent entry. Jackson Baker and Melanie Williams are over. In a super short relationship the freshman proves she's no better than his ex. Not that Jackson would be interested in used goods anyway. All things considered, it wasn't as bad as other things were that had been published on the site. In fact, it was probably one of the nicer stories. She should have left it there, but instead she clicked on both links. The first took her back to the story about Heather cheating on Jackson, but the second took her to a story that she'd never seen before. Shank alert: Melanie Williams and Olivier Perreault out in the open. Must be too much for Mel to have thought both of her guys were interested in the much prettier Heather. Too bad Olivier is just looking for a quick thrill. Included with that were about four different pictures from the park of her and Olivier. They were all taken at angles that it made it look like anything could have been happening. One of her laying on top of him, one of their hands which were held together as they stood up, one of the two of them where they'd just been talking and the final one of the two of them were Olivier had been speaking in her ear. Clearly these were the pictures to which Jackson had referred. And yes, they painted her in a bad light, painted them in a bad light, but that still wasn't an excuse for the way that he'd been acting. At least now she knew what had been said about her, which was something. Closing the laptop, she went ahead and showered, considering going to do some dance practice afterward but ultimately deciding against it. Instead, she got online and decided to do some stuff for her favorite forum, figuring that at least she'd put a start toward her house winning this year. Besides, no one ever complained when people made an effort. After about an hour of doing things she got a little bored and pulled up Netflix to stream some episodes of different shows that she enjoyed. Right now she felt like watching one of the chick-flick shows that she'd originally been interested in because of Beth and pulled up a season of Gilmore Girls to start a mini marathon from season 1. By the time she'd finished five episodes, her cell phone started ringing and she was sorely tempted not to answer it. In fact, she did put it to silence the first time that it rang but only a few minutes later it rang again and she figured that it was best if she just answered it given that she knew her sister was on the other line. Not that she really wanted to talk to Beth right now, but she also didn't want to deal with her sister being annoying and doing something stupid like coming over here because she was ignoring her. With a heavy sigh she pressed the answer button. “Yes?” No use to bother with the pleasantries. “Is it true that you and Jackson broke up?” The older girl jumped right in, her words so fast that if she hadn't had years of talking with her then she might have been lost. “A little behind on your gossip game, sis,” Mel responded dryly, hoping that this conversation could end quickly and painlessly. It was kind of surprising that it had taken Beth so long to call. Somehow, she'd expected that Beth would have called yesterday or early this morning. She'd probably been otherwise 'occupied', getting banged by Sam. “But why did you break-up?” This was the problem with Beth, she always had to know things and never answered other people's questions. “Why do you even care? What difference does it make to you?” Maybe she shouldn't have answered the phone. She was still annoyed and it already seemed like Beth was getting on her nerves. “Wow, tone down the attitude a little,” Beth said, the distaste obvious in her voice. “Of course I care about what happens to you, you're my sister.” “So why don't you just let me tell you things in my own time or not tell you them in the first place. I don't see why you have to know everything all the time.” It was hard not to full out snap at her sister. “Because, you can't just go around ruining good relationships! Especially not by cheating on a perfectly good guy with some-” Mel sucked in a breath and felt white rage build up in her. “You think I cheated on him? You think I cheated on him?” “Well, no. I'm sorry, that was badly put. I don't think you physically cheated on him,” Beth hastily corrected herself. “You don't think I 'physically cheated on him' what does that even mean?” Now Beth was being a bitch and making up fake shit. “It means that you're clearly attracted to him sexually and I think you've been showing that interest toward him even if you don't act on it.” “That's bullshit, just so you know.” Mel was so tempted to hang up on her right now. “Look, Mel, I get it. That French kid is attractive but you can't go around ruining good relationships because of a pretty face. Besides, you are not ready to be having sex anyway, so your interest in him is pretty much moot.” This, for some reason, proved to be her breaking point. “Fuck you, Bethanie. Don't go around and act like you have any say over what happens in my life! He broke up with me because he thinks I cheated on him, which I'd never do in the first place but he's too stubborn and idiotic to see it! And as for my sex life, it's mine! Stop trying to be all high and mighty about it either because while you might have waited to be dating Sam for a while before you 'actually' had sex with him, everyone knows that he was in your pants way before that and he wasn't the only one. You're not better than me and what I chose to do with my body is none of your goddamn business. And after everything that happened between you and Sam last year, one would have thought that you'd know better than to make accusations about cheating so fast because you nearly screwed over your whole relationship doing just that! So, in the future, just mind your own fucking business.” Before Beth could get a word in edgewise, she hung up and turned her phone off. Anger raging through her with no regrets. Who did Beth think she was trying to tell her what she could or couldn't do? Especially about her sex life (which was currently nonexistent). Well screw her. If she wanted to go out and have safe sex with someone, it was her own damn business. Glancing at the clock she saw that it was after 9 o'clock and decided that she'd go out tonight. Looking at the calendar she realized that it was St. Patrick's Day and figured that it'd be all the better for going out. More chance as to running into someone that she knew or into someone in general that at the very least she'd be able to have some random makeout session with. Heading to the bathroom first, she brushed her teeth and her hair and put on some basic make-up before deciding that she wanted to make a bigger statement. Years of sharing a bathroom with Bethanie, who was always trying to give her make-up tips came back and she followed all of them. Stepping over to her closet, she pulled out what was either a short dress or a long shirt that she usually paired with leggings. Tonight though, she just pulled it on as was and left her long legs out. The shirt or dress or whatever it happened to be was white with green horizontal stripes and she pulled on some strappy sandals to match. Grabbing a clutch, she took her keys and locked the door and vowed that when she came back she'd have done something tonight and if Beth didn't like it, well all the better.
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Post by Melanie Perreault on Jan 30, 2018 21:12:17 GMT -5
Chapter 15: Green Beer is a Thing Once she'd gotten out of her dorm room and off of the Academy grounds, Melanie struggled to figure out exactly where she should be headed. A club? From what she'd heard at The Hurricane they weren't the greatest at carding people to make sure they were at least 18, especially not when they were hot girls and from the looks that she'd gotten from some people she knew that she was more than well dressed. It would have been almost easier to try and make a hit on one of the few guys that she ran across on the school grounds, but somehow she really wanted to go out and just experience somewhere people would be getting drunk and having a good time. The other idea that crossed her mind was the Beaumont Club where she knew they were also a little lax about security, but that place was more of a pub atmosphere and she wasn't sure that she'd fit in with her current wear. So, ultimately, she decided that The Hurricane it was. Besides, she'd heard comments from some of her classmates that they'd be there tonight and that was as good of news as any. After making that decision, she hailed a cab to the place. Technically, she didn't know where it was, so walking would have been a bad decision and she didn't really want to walk all the way there in those shoes anyway. When they arrived, she payed the cabbie and looked at the line to get in. It was fairly decent sized, but she went ahead and got in it anyway. From what she noticed, the way most girls who were under 18 got in was by being flirtatious toward the guy card checking and when it came her turn, she pulled the same trick. Figuring that it probably didn't hurt that her cleavage was fully visible from his angle either. He waved her through though and that was the important part. Because soon she was stepping forward into a world that she hadn't ever experienced in person before. The flashing lights and loud music playing were a bit overwhelming to begin with. Tables were scattered about here and there although many had nothing but drinks on them because a large majority of people were dancing – did that count as dancing? – out on the floor. There was also a lot of green everywhere, which looked very out of place but somehow still fitting. Most of all, there were many different green drinks that seemed to be around. Including several tables that had pitchers of what looked to be green beer. Apparently that was a thing. For some reason she'd just always thought it was something done on movies and not in real life. Oh well. Now that she was here, she just didn't know where to go or what to do. Part of her thought she might be making a mistake, but she quickly quieted that part of her mind. No. There was no mistake being made. This was something that she was going to do and she was going to have a good time and Beth could just stick her judgmental attitude somewhere else. Luckily, fate was on her side and she ran into a girl that she shared a few classes with only a few moments later. “Melaaaaanie!” Her voice seemed a little skewed and it was weird that she hugged her. Clearly she'd been drinking something, though how she had no idea because she was very underage. “You came! Come wi-with me.” Shrugging, she figured that she had nothing better to do and followed Cindy back to the group of people that she was sitting with, who had a pitcher of green beer on the table and were mostly older. All older, actually, no one in their grade was present. Still, when Cindy presented her to the group she went ahead and smiled at everyone and gave a greeting. “Want something to drink?” One of the guys sitting there offered. He had to be 18 or 19 by the looks of him, maybe he'd been the one to get the drinks. Or maybe he knew someone even older to get them. For a moment she wondered about it. Did she want something to drink? Drinking hadn't been something she had a lot of experience with, but if there was any time to start learning, St. Patrick's Day was probably a good start. “Sure,” she said, watching as one of the guys grabbed a plastic cup and poured her her first glass. The second she tasted it she cringed a bit. This was disgusting. How could so many people be drinking it? Quickly she sat the glass down and shook her head. “No thanks.” Cindy giggled. “Never drank before, Mel?” “Maybe again when I'm more interested,” she replied, deciding that it probably wouldn't be for a long time. Good thing too, she was still many years away from being legal to do so and getting hooked would be a bad idea. “Hey, wait, you're the girl that's involved with that French kid, aren't you?” One of the girls suddenly spoke up. “You look prettier than normal, so I didn't recognize you.” That was definitely an insult instead of a compliment. “Uh- thanks. But no, we're not involved.” “Are you sure? Because he's standing right over there and I'm sure he'd be interested in seeing you.” Mel couldn't help it, she turned to look and sure enough about 50 feet away, Olivier was standing and talking to another guy. He had some green drink in his hand and he looked good in the green shirt that he was donning. Then again, he looked good in pretty much anything. All this time she'd been telling people that she wasn't involved with him and that there was nothing going on, but if he went over there it'd be proving all of that to be bullshit. And yet.. she wanted to. She wanted to go ahead and see him, to talk to him and maybe try and figure out what the hell went through his head on a daily basis. Did that make her a bad person? If it did... too bad. “Oh, what the hell,” she muttered to herself, giving a departing nod toward the group and making her way over toward where Olivier was. Despite everything, she found herself confident as she walked over and got ready to talk to him. Only when she reached about 10 feet of him did he finally take notice and she couldn't help the surge of pride when he did. It was easy to tell his eyes swept over her body, lingering on the curves that were clearly visible in her skimpy shirt dress. And she actually smirked when she heard him quickly dismiss himself from the conversation. A little too quickly to be cool about it either, but when the other guy glanced back and saw her he seemed to understand. “Melanie?” he questioned, his eyes trailing down her body again. “What are you doing here?” “I felt like coming out,” she answered with a shrug. “Is that a problem?” “No, that's not a problem,” he shook his head. It was clear to see that he'd been drinking a little more than just the glass that he'd been holding. “I just uh- didn't expect to see you out here tonight.” “Life is full of surprises.” Which was more true now than ever. Who'd have pictured her out tonight and approaching him, while completely sober. She gave a sly smirk when she noticed that his gaze had once more lingered downward. Normally, this would have bothered her, but she'd dressed to be noticed and she was certainly getting her wish. “Got something you'd like to say to them?” Almost instantly his eyes were back on her face, looking at her with a strange expression for a moment but then transforming into the guy that she'd known from the start. “I heard you and Jackson broke up.” “That's the story,” she said. “Why were you listening?” If she hadn't been paying so close attention, she wouldn't have noticed the small step that he took forward. “I think you're interesting,” he replied simply. She felt like they were in some sort of game and she wanted to play along, even though she had no clue what the rules were or what they were even playing for. So she took her own small step closer to him. “Do you now?” Another step. “Yes, I do.” One more step and they were practically face to face. Her heart started acting funny again, pumping loudly. Luckily the music was so loud there would be no way that he could possibly hear it. “And.. why is that?” His eyes moved from her own down to her lips and back. Time felt completely frozen and so did she. But she also felt like screaming at him to just do something already. Which was why when his face started moving closer to her own, she met him halfway. The strangest feeling came with it. Things were different than anything she'd ever imagined and yet, somehow, a feeling of familiarity lingered on inappropriately. He tasted like his drink, but also a ghost of cleanliness. Perhaps mint or something. His lips moved against her own roughly but eagerly, sending shivers through her. A hand went on her waist and pulled her closer to him. Everywhere she felt him, like every inch of her body got enjoyment out of this. Strangely, though she felt like she couldn't breathe or think before, now it felt like everything was sharpened. Sure, she couldn't think of anything that wasn't him but there were definitely thoughts going through her mind right now. What she wanted to do, what he felt like and tasted like and everything else that was related to this moment. Anything outside of their bubble didn't matter. He pulled away and started to make some comment and she just didn't want to hear it. Nothing was going to ruin how great things were going and if he just wanted to brag about how irresistible he was to the female population it could easily ruin things. “Shut up,” she commanded, pressing her lips back against his own. It didn't matter that they were in the middle of a crowded club, or that anyone could see them and put it up for the world to see. Screw everyone else, she was doing something that she wanted and no one was going to take it away from her. Besides, who were they to judge anyway? She wasn't in a relationship anymore. Her lips moved with his own, feeling his tongue run across her bottom lip and instantly opening her mouth to his touch. Letting them fight for control as her hands tangled into his blonde hair and she pushed herself closer to him. His right hand stayed firmly grasped at her waist, trying to press the two of them together as much as physically possible, but his left hand moved down her body and gripped at her ass, making her gasp into the kiss. When they finally pulled apart they were both breathless and when she met his eyes, she saw them darkened in lust. “Wanna get out of here?” he asked, the invitation clear. Taking a couple of deep breaths, she thought it over for half a second and nodded. “Yes.”
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