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writinginstardust · 4 years

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Halloween

Pairing: contains Kaliis Gilwraeth x Aurora Jie-Lin O’Malley, Tyler Jones x Finian de Karran de Seel, Scarlett Jones x Cat Brannock

Request: @window-sill-reeader asked “ What if Halloween wasn't a thing in the future and aurora gets really excited for it but nobody else knows what it is so she force's everyone to wear homemade Halloween customs and throws a Halloween party for the crew. ”

Warnings: swearing, suggestive things, prepare yourself for Finian’s costume

A/N: Okay so it’s mostly general on the relationships but follows Auri so tends to have more focus on Kalora, then Tylian because I am trash and literally have to put it in everything, and then some very background Scarcat. Um, I had a lot of fun writing this and coming up with their costumes (shoutout to some of the guys in aurorafiles for helping with your suggestions). Anyway, happy halloween! and I hope you enjoy this!

Word Count: 2328

“What are you doing?” Kal asked as he walked into the common room and found Auri surrounded by piles of fabric.

“Making Halloween costumes,” she replied simply as if that explained anything to Kal.

“Hallow-what?” Auri stopped her sewing and looked up at him.

“Wait. Has no one ever explained Halloween to you? I thought Tyler or someone would have at least.”

“No. I have never heard of this Halloween.”

“Well, looks like I’ve got some educating to do.” She cleared some space on the floor beside her and patted the spot. Kal came and sat beside her. Before she could start explaining, however, the rest of the squad wandered in.

“Hey guys, what’s u- what are you doing?” Tyler looked quite taken aback when he noticed the mess of material that had taken over the entire space.

“She’s making Halloween costumes,” Kal supplied. That didn’t seem to clear anything up for the rest of the squad either and Auri frowned at their puzzled expressions.

“It is October right?” She asked.

“Yeah…” Tyler looked deep in thought when he answered, like he was trying to figure out a particularly difficult astrodynamics question. “Halloween, you said?”

“Yep. What, do you guys not celebrate that anymore?”

“I’ve never even heard of it,” Cat said and most everyone else murmured agreements.

“I read something about it once but I can’t remember anything about it.” Tyler seemed irritated by his own lack of knowledge.

“I believe Halloween is an old Earth festival that took place on the last day of October,” Zila piped up. Of course she’d be the one that knew. “It’s origins were in ancient folklore and it was considered to be the day the veil between the physical world and spirit world was thinnest. In modern times it was more an excuse to dress up, typically in scary costumes, and receive candy from neighbours.” Everyone stared at her in surprise for a moment. Zila really did know everything.

“Yeah that’s about the gist of it,” Auri admitted.

“Sounds weird. I’m in,” Fin said, an excited glint in his eyes. “What do we do?”

“Well everyone celebrates- celebrated differently…”

“Tell us.” Kal smiled encouragingly and Auri explained everything. All the traditions she’d heard of anyway. Pumpkin carving, trick or treating, the parties, the decorating, the costumes, the movie marathons, the haunted houses and ghost tours. Everyone looked beyond excited by the time she was done.

“That sounds like so much fun,” Scarlett exclaimed. “Why don’t we do that anymore?”

“I don’t know but we’re bringing this tradition back,” Cat said. Auri was positively beaming. She loved Halloween and was over the moon that all her friends seemed so excited about it.

“Okay so what are the rules for costumes?” Tyler asked.

“There are none. Some people do scary, some go as their favourite characters, animals, memes, objects, celebrities, nurses, princesses. Literally anything. Some people go all out and some just throw on a short skirt and some cat ears. It’s really up to you.”

“Oh I am going to have so much fun with this.” Finian’s eyes were gleaming and Tyler shot him a nervous look.

“I think telling him about this might have been a mistake.” And Auri had to admit, Tyler was probably right. Still. It would certainly be interesting.

“Don’t worry goldenboy. You’re going to love my costume.”

“I definitely don’t want to see it now,” Cat grimaced.

“I second that.” Kal spoke for the first time in a while. “I’m not sure what to wear myself.”

“Don’t worry,” Auri said with a grin. “I’ve got you covered.” Well that was that, then. If Auri had already decided on something like this, nothing was going to sway her.

“Ooo!” Scarlett suddenly jumped up from where she’d been perched on the arm of a sofa. “We should tell everyone else about Halloween and have a proper party!”

“Oh my god, yes!” Auri jumped up as well. This might just turn out to be the best Halloween she’d ever had.

A week later saw the squad and half the legion taking over one of the huge training rooms, dancing and drinking in their homemade costumes. Auri was pleased to see that a lot of people had put real effort into their outfits, though none more so than Scarlett. She’d truly gone all out and embraced the Halloween spookiness and her horror makeup was concerningly convincing. Cat was watching her from the spot she’d claimed against the wall by a plastic skeleton, drink in hand, obviously pining. Auri hoped maybe Cat would finally do something about that tonight or that Scarlett might finally realise. For someone so good at reading people, she was incredibly clueless about her best friend.

Cat looked good. Auri didn’t usually look at Cat that way but even she had to admit the girl was killing it in her retro Top Gun style pilot outfit tonight. Surely Scarlett would take notice of that. Plenty of other people were. Her thoughts on the Cat/Scarlett situation were abruptly cut off when Kal rejoined her with two cups of who knew what.

“Is this living up to your expectations?” He asked as he handed her one of the cups, his cloak brushing against her with the motion.

Auri was very proud of her work on their costumes. She hadn’t even had to think about what they were going to go as. Frodo and Legolas. There was no way she was going to pass up the opportunity to get Kal dressed up as her favourite elf and well, she was short with dark hair and a love of Lord of the Rings. Obviously she had to come as Frodo. And she’d put a lot of effort into making their costumes look good.

“It’s even better than I’d hoped it would be. Everyone really got into it.”

“They certainly did.” Kal surveyed the room, a smile on his face at how well it had all turned out. At how happy it was making Auri.

“Think we have the best costumes?” Auri asked him.

“Yes. Although Scarlett also looks- Great Maker…” Auri turned to see what had shocked Kal so much and nearly choked on her drink. Finian had just walked in. And he’d certainly had fun with his costume, as promised. Auri wasn’t sure whether she should regret mentioning the existence of slutty nurse costumes or not. On the one hand, it was hilarious. On the other, she could happily have gone the rest of her life without seeing Fin wearing such a short dress. And just where the hell had he managed to find fishnets?

“Hey, have you guys seen Fin?” Tyler, dressed in a very tight spandex superhero costume, walked up to them then, already a bit drunk and clearly not having noticed where their eyes were trained yet. Auri didn’t have speech back yet and lifted her hand, wordlessly pointing in Finian’s direction. Tyler’s eyes followed her finger and he let out a strangled noise when he finally laid eyes on the boy.

“...Fuck...me…”

“Funny, I always thought it would be the other way around,” Scarlett teased as she came over and joined them.

“Yeah, usually...” Tyler said absentmindedly before realising he was talking to his twin sister about his sexual preferences and that was not a conversation either of them wanted to have. “I mean…”

“Just stop talking,” Scarlett cut him off.

“Good idea.”

“Happy Halloween!” Finian yelled when he neared the group, eyes raking over Tyler, very clearly enjoying the sight.

“Yeah, I think it will be,” Tyler breathed, eyes still trained on his boyfriend. Scarlett and Auri both groaned in disgust.

“Get your mind out of the gutter or get out of here,” Scarlett warned him. Tyler thought about it for a moment but the longer Finian looked at him like he wanted to eat him alive, the more he wanted to leave and let it happen.

“Okay, looks like we’ll be off then,” Tyler said. Finian was grinning when Tyler took his arm and pulled him away from everyone, disgusted noises following in their wake.

“Maker, I hate being around them sometimes,” Scarlett bemoaned.

“I don’t know. They’re kinda cute,” Auri tried to defend.

“I’m not sure you would be saying that if you had walked in on some of the things I have.” Kal shuddered at some of the memories.

“Is that not why knocking was invented?” She asked.

“Knocking doesn’t make a difference when they’re doing it in the halls and common room,” Scarlett pointed out.

“Point taken. It’s nice they’re both happy though.”

“I suppose.”

“So...what about you?” Auri seized the opportunity to broach the subject of her and Cat. “Anyone making you happy yet?”

“Not at the moment.” Her eyes flicked over to where Cat was standing though and Auri didn’t fail to notice. She exchanged a glance with Kal who nodded slightly, encouraging her to continue.

“You should go for it, you know.”

“Hmm?”

“With Cat.”

“What!?” Scarlett’s eyes widened.

“How have you not noticed she likes you too?”

“Even I find it rather obvious,” Kal backed up.

“Oh.” Scarlett’s eyes returned to Cat who was looking her way as well. She offered her a smile and raised her beer in acknowledgement. Scarlett waved back quickly before turning back to Auri as she spoke again.

“Go get her.”

“Okay,” Scarlett said absently and walked across the room without another word.

“Everyone owes me big time for putting an end to all that pining,” Auri said as she turned back to Kal, now able to give him her full attention like she wanted.

“We do. And what is it I am to owe you for this?”

“A kiss,” Auri suggested with a small smile.

“I think that would be a fair price.” He paid it then and there, leaning down to lightly press their lips together for a moment before pulling away again. His smile was all kinds of fond and Auri felt it warm her from the inside out.

“You know, I think it would be okay for you to pay everyone’s debts. Don’t you?”

“I do think that would be acceptable.”

“Do you wanna get out of here then?” She asked.

“Are you sure you don’t want to stay at the party a bit longer? You were very excited for this tradition.”

“We can have another one next year. Besides, there’s another Halloween tradition I want to introduce you to.”

“And what tradition might that be?” He asked, intrigued. Auri grinned.

“The one where you ‘watch’ horror movies and make out when it gets scary.” Kal’s eyebrows shot up but he was smiling, clearly pleased at that idea.

“I think that sounds like a very good tradition.”

“Me too. Come on.” She took his hand and started tugging him towards the exit. “Let’s go.”

“Do you not wish to say goodbye to the others?”

“They’re already gone.” And looking around, Kal realised she was right. Tyler and Finian were very conspicuously absent from the party - there was no way you could miss them in those outfits - and Scarlett seemed to have slipped away with Cat almost immediately after she’d left them both. Neither of them had any idea where Zila was but she probably hadn’t stayed for long in the first place.

The light in the hall was blinding and they stopped in the doorway for a minute to let their eyes adjust. They immediately wished they hadn’t when a few feet down the hall they saw Tyler and Fin kissing very enthusiastically. How hard was it to wait until they reached one of their rooms?

“Will you two get a room?” Auri said pointedly. Thankfully they stopped and turned to her to apologise. Well, Tyler did. Finian didn’t look the least bit sorry. “I got Cat and Scarlett to get it together by the way. Feel free to thank me.” She grinned, knowing how much both girls’ pining had been driving Tyler mad.

“Oh thank the Maker,” he breathed out. Something flashed in Fin’s eyes in response to Tyler’s words and tone and Auri decided she definitely did not want to know. “I owe you one.”

“Don’t worry. Kal’s got it covered.” Tyler waggled his eyebrows suggestively at that and Auri managed to only blush a little.

“Would you like me to pay his debt now?” Kal asked.

“Yes, please.” She stood on her toes as Kal leaned down and again captured her lips in a soft kiss. He lingered for longer this time and Auri let him. She wasn’t going to be the one to end this. A throat being cleared is what finally did.

“What was that you told us about getting a room?” Fin asked, a smug smirk on his face. Auri rolled her eyes at him.

“I wasn’t groping my boyfriend’s ass, unlike you.” Fin and Tyler just shrugged as if there’d been no problem with what they were doing. “Just find somewhere private before you start taking each other’s clothes off. Please.”

“We’ll try,” Fin assured. Shaking her head, Auri took Kal’s hand again and started walking down the hall.

“We’re going to bed. See you tomorrow. Stay safe!” She called over her shoulder.

“You too!” Tyler yelled back while Fin wolf-whistled.

“Yes Pixieboy! Get i-”

“Shut up Fin.” Tyler stopped him before he could finish whatever he’d been about to say. Thank god for Tyler Jones.

“I get where you and Scarlett are coming from now,” Auri sighed when they rounded a corner. “They are not cute.”

“They certainly aren’t. But you are.” Auri’s cheeks flushed at that and she bit back a grin.

“So are you Legolas.” Kal frowned down at her.

“I would not say I am cute.”

“I would.” She leaned up to kiss his cheek quickly and he couldn’t help but smile at the action. “Come on. You’ve still several people’s debts to pay.” And, when they reached Auri’s room, pay them he did.

Tag Lists: (send an ask if you want to be added!)

Everything: @wonderfilledness @writingbychelle @ad-astraaaa @moderngenius94

Aurora Cycle: @aurising

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skepticalcatfrog · 4 years

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Aurora High School (Introduction Part One)

Introduction Part One Introduction Part Two Masterpost

Summary: After starting their junior year in high school, the Jones twins find themselves meeting new people, setting them on a track towards new friendships, new romances, new heartbreaks, and many new adventures.

Pairings: (Eventual) Scarlett Jones x Finian de Seel, Tyler Jones x Saedii Gilwraeth, and Aurora O'Malley x Kaliis Gilwraeth

Word count: 4,708

Author's Notes: This is the new project I've been raving about! I've been very into this book series lately, and I was feeling inspired. However, this won't be like my other two projects, so it won't be in the regular rotation! Instead of being a chaptered fic, this is going to be a series of oneshots that gets developed as people request ideas. I do have some more ideas up my sleeve, but I will be accepting requests very soon!

Important Author's Notes: This story contains a character who uses a wheelchair. I did do some research, but since I don't experience it, it's virtually impossible for me to be an expert on this topic. If you are more knowledgeable about this than I might be, and you notice an inaccuracy, please let me know what it is and I'll try to fix it!

It was a Friday in October. October was one of the best times of the year in the opinion of one Scarlett Jones. It was after September, so everyone had already gotten used to being at school. But it wasn't quite December yet, so you could go outside without having to wear eight jackets. Plus the slightly warmer fall months were some of the best times of the year for fashion, and Scarlett would know. She had plenty of experience in that field. The amounts of people wearing scarves and sweaters increased tenfold, which could be a good thing or a bad thing depending on the rest of their outfits.

But the fashion habits of her classmates didn't really matter, despite the fact that she could go on and on about the topic. What mattered slightly more was the fact that her brother was desperately trying to get her attention as they approached the school.

"Scar? Scarlett?" Tyler waved his hand in front of his sister's face.

"Hm?" She quirked an eyebrow. "I wasn't listening, what was that?"

Tyler rolled his eyes and adjusted the way his backpack was resting on his shoulder. "I was saying that I need you to tell Coach de Stoy that I can't make practice tonight. I've got too much work to catch up on, and I don't want to fall behind this early in the year."

"Yeah, yeah, we get it. Mr. Tyler Jones, star player on the football team, passing all his classes with flying colors." Scarlett nudged her brother, not hard enough to hurt, but just hard enough to be a little annoying. "Careful, or you'll make everyone feel bad about themselves."

"Oh shut up." Tyler smiled, standing up a little bit taller to look for someone in the crowd of people flooding through the front doors. When he spotted her, he raised his hand high above his head and waved.

Cat Brannock slowed down her walk to fall into step alongside the twins. Somehow, despite the cool and cloudy weather, she was still wearing a short sleeved shirt that showed off the tattoos on her arms. She had the most tattoos of any high schooler Scarlett had ever seen. But they were very well done, so she could understand why her friend wanted them to be visible. Cat had skipped the 5th grade, so she was a senior even though the Joneses were juniors. She was already looking towards college. Neither of the twins were looking forward to her leave. It would be weird to not have her around all the time, the three of them were rarely very far apart since they'd met in kindergarten. But they couldn't really do much to stop her from going, after all, college was what she wanted.

"Hey, kids." Cat smirked. "Let me guess, Tyler's fretting over his errands and Scar's making fun of him for it?" She gestured to each person as she mentioned them.

"Just the daily routine." Scarlett winked, linking elbows with her friend.

Cat laughed. "Do you two ever get tired of doing the same shit every day?"

"Never. Routines are what lead to mastery." Tyler said proudly.

"Just say 'practice makes perfect', Ty." Scar shook her head. "If you try to get too fancy with your words, no one's going to know what you're talking about."

"That's easy for you to say, no one ever knows what you're talking about." Tyler retorted. Scarlett stuck her tongue out at him. "It's not my fault that-"

Tyler was cut off by a girl bumping into him. She'd been very absorbed in whatever she was doing on her phone, so she didn't see him coming. The shock of bumping into someone made her look up, giving the rest of them a better look at her face. The first thing you'd notice about her would be that she had a streak of white dyed in her otherwise black hair. The second thing you'd notice would be that one of her eyes was dark brown, and the other one was really light blue. Almost colorless. She hugged her notebooks close to her chest.

"I'm- I'm sorry, I wasn't looking where I was going. I should've been watching." She apologized sheepishly.

"Don't worry about it, it's fine. I should've been paying attention too." Tyler shrugged.

"Oh… thanks." The girl looked slightly confused, as if she expected someone as intimidating-looking as Tyler to react less calmly. But despite his appearance, he was practically the human embodiment of a golden retriever. "Well, I should really get to class."

And just like that, the mystery girl was gone. Scarlett couldn't help but notice that she'd never seen that girl before. It wouldn't have been surprising if she just didn't like to be the center of attention. Or maybe they just didn't have any of the same classes. Either way, Scar would be lying if she said that she wasn't intrigued.

A few minutes later, Scarlett and Tyler were sitting at their desks in the first class of the day while the morning announcements droned on in the background. Scarlett knew the girl who did them every day. Her name was Zila Madran, she'd been Scarlett's tutor in freshman year. They still talked occasionally, but they ran in very different circles, so they didn't see each other often. Eventually, the announcements ended, and the second bell rang. The first bell was always more of a warning, like 'okay, you'd better at least be in the building'. But the second bell was the 'get your asses to class' bell. And if you were still in the hallway after the second bell, then you were screwed.

Scarlett was fully prepared to fully zone out and stare at a guy across the room for the entirety of class, until of course Miss Mystery walked in. She looked like she was going to just sit down at a free desk and call it a day, but the teacher stopped her.

"Ah, Miss O' Malley! I see you've found your way here. Class, this is the new student, Aurora O' Malley. She will be joining us for the remainder of the year." The teacher explained. "Please make her feel welcome."

Oh, so she's a new kid. Scarlett thought to herself. That's why I haven't seen her around before.

Frankly, Aurora looked quite embarrassed after the surprise introduction. Maybe Scarlett had been right about her not enjoying the spotlight. Whatever the case, that was the last interesting thing that happened for the entire rest of class. The rest of it was spent going over poetry… or was it a play? She wasn't paying any kind of attention, it could've been fractions and decimals for all she knew, despite the fact that they were in English class. She didn't need to know about Shakespeare and all of his friends, it wasn't like she was ever going to meet them. She had better things to do anyway.

Time ticked by slowly. Scarlett was sure she almost dozed off once or twice. She was only fully awake again when the bell rang, then she practically jumped out of her seat. It only took her a minute to put her notebook and pen back into her bag, but by the time she'd finished, Tyler was already talking to Aurora. Scarlett listened in on their conversation.

"I was just wondering if maybe you could show me around?" Aurora asked. "I know we don't know each other too well, but you're the only person I've talked to all day, and I get lost really easily around here."

"Sure. This place is like a maze to anyone new, so I'd be happy to show you the ropes." Tyler nodded.

"Well that was fast. I didn't even have to tell you that you get to skip two class periods." Aurora smiled.

That had Scarlett's interest piqued. It wasn't that she didn't like school, but she was feeling especially done with the world that day. A two-period break sounded like exactly what she needed. "Do you mind if I tag along?"

"Oh, um, sure." Aurora nodded. She looked back at Tyler. "You know her, right? I saw you guys walking together this morning."

"Yeah, I know her. This is my sister, Scarlett." Tyler gestured to his sister.

"Nice to meet you." Scarlett smiled. "I like your hair, by the way."

"Thanks." Aurora looked a little surprised at the compliment, but not in a bad way. It had done a good job of breaking the ice.

The next two hours were okay, if not slightly boring. Scarlett had severely overestimated how fun this would be. She was at least glad that their absence from class was officially excused. That was the bright side. The first place they went was the multi-purpose lab, which was used for most of the science classes. Next, they went to all of the important classrooms. Math, Social Studies, the works. Then on to the important but less necessary rooms, like the auditorium, the cafeteria, and the gym. They only briefly went over the principal's office, figuring that she had to have been there already. Just as they were finishing their tour, the bell rang to signify the end of period three. Students began flooding out of classrooms.

"And I guess that's all we have time for." Tyler clapped his hands once. "Welcome to Aurora High School."

"You know, I just realized how weird it's going to be to go to a school that I share a name with." Aurora glanced at a nearby banner that had the school's name on it.

"You'll get used to it eventually." Scarlett tapped her on the shoulder.

For a moment, things were looking up. Their little tour was over and done with, there were only six periods left in the day, and Scarlett had gotten to miss math and a study hall, one of which was one of her least favorite classes. But that little bit of optimism was quickly shot down. As the three of them rounded a corner, everything exploded into a burst of noise and motion. Faster than you could blink, a fight had broken out. It had to be about four or five guys, all beating the absolute shit out of each other. It didn't take long for a crowd to gather. Tyler took it upon himself to see what was going on. He pushed through all the people to get to the center of things.

"Hey! What's going on here?" Tyler barely had time to finish his sentence before he got decked in the face. Apparently this group didn't take kindly to people trying to mediate things.

Aurora gasped as Tyler was dragged into the fight. Scarlett felt for her. It was only her first day, and things were already going wrong. That must not have made her feel too good. Her mismatched eyes darted back and forth as she tried to keep up with all the flying fists. Scarlett suspected that she'd never seen a real fight before. She looked nervous.

"I'll… I'll catch up with you later." Aurora decided, turning around and speed-walking away. Scarlett watched her leave.

When she turned to face the action again, she saw Principal Adams making his way through the crowd. Three of the guys had fled the scene, leaving just Tyler and one other boy to take the blame. She didn't know who the second guy was, but he was taller than Tyler, which wasn't the easiest thing to be.

"What do you two think you're doing?" Adams crossed his arms.

"I'm sorry sir. I was just trying to stop the fight, I swear." Tyler's shoulders sagged. The other boy stayed eerily quiet, but still stood tall, seemingly not as ashamed of himself as Tyler was.

"Yes, well, joining in on the fight isn't really stopping it." Adams shook his head. "I'm afraid I'll need both of you to pay a visit to my office." He looked around at the rest of the students. "The rest of you, get to class. There's nothing to see here anymore."

It took a minute for everyone to leave, but eventually they did, until the last one left was Scarlett. "Ty, do you want me to come with you?"

Tyler nodded. Whenever possible, if they had to face a potentially scary situation, they would do it together. It had been that way since they were little kids. At that point, it had become a reflex for them to ask if the other needed support.

"Alright Miss Jones, you can come, but I will need to talk to these two separately. You weren't a part of the fight, so you don't have to be a part of the punishment." Adams told her. He began walking away, and the three of them followed.

A moment later, they found themselves in the waiting room of the principal's office. Tyler and the other boy sat next to each other on one end of the room, and Scarlett sat next to a different boy on the other end. Tyler mostly just stared at the floor, but he would occasionally glance at the guy next to him. This dude was very tall. Even Tyler was pretty intimidated, and that was completely unrelated to the fact that he'd just been beaten up by this guy. He had long black hair and dark blue eyes. He looked like someone straight out of a fantasy novel. And apparently, he was also very attentive, because he noticed Tyler looking at him.

"Is there something you wanted to tell me?" The boy asked. His voice was deep and serious, and he had a faint accent that Tyler couldn't quite place.

"Oh. No, not really." Tyler offered his hand. "I'm Tyler, by the way."

"I am aware. My name is Kaliis, though my friends call me Kal." The boy answered, not shaking Ty's hand and instead opting to ignore it.

"You put up a real fight back there, Kal. Do you do sports?" Tyler asked him.

"I don't participate in school sports, no. I take fencing lessons outside of school." Kal said.

"Cool." Tyler nodded appreciatively. "But if you ever wanted to join the football team, I'm sure we'd be able to find a spot for you."

Kal smiled, but just a little. It was barely noticeable. "My sister would kill me if I joined the football team. She thinks all of you are buffoons."

"Wow, harsh." Tyler laughed. "But hey, no harm no foul. Do you have any paper I could use?"

"I don't. Why do you ask?" Kal raised an eyebrow.

"I'll write down my number, maybe we could hang out sometime." Tyler looked around for a second, then got up to grab a napkin and a pen. He wrote down his name and phone number, then handed the napkin to Kal. "There you go."

"Thank you." Kal folded the napkin up and put it into his pocket. They both looked up as the door to the principal's office opened.

"Tyler Jones? Kaliis Gilwraeth? You can come in." Adams gestured for them to follow him, and they did.

Scarlett had been eavesdropping on Tyler and Kal's entire conversation. It seemed like Tyler had made a new friend, which was good. And also strange, given the fact that they'd met during a fist fight. But good nonetheless. However, when they vanished into the principal's office, she became eternally bored. She turned to look at the boy next to her. He was busy scrolling through the homepage of some website on his phone. She couldn't quite tell what it was, so she looked up at his face instead. He was quite possibly the palest person she had ever seen. It looked like the sun had never touched his skin. His hair was a light, light blond to match. The only thing that threw off his whole snow prince vibe were his eyes, which were such a dark brown that they almost looked black. She couldn't tell the difference between his irises and pupils. He wasn't the most impressive guy she'd ever seen, but all things considered, he was a little attractive.

"Whatcha doing?" Scarlett asked, leaning towards him and resting on the arm of her chair.

"Checking notifications. I've been in here for a hot minute and Adams still hasn't found time for me." The boy shook his head. "I guess two guys beating each other up is more important than little old me."

"Well what are you in for?" Scarlett brushed her hair out of her face.

"Someone locked three teachers' car keys into their cars. They assumed it was me because I kept leaving class." He shrugged.

"I'm going to take a wild guess: it was you, wasn't it?" She smiled.

"Oh, yeah, totally." He laughed. "Frankly, I would've been intimidated if it wasn't. I like to think that I'm the only guy in this whole school who can pull off a stunt that awesome."

"How did you do it?" Scar crossed her legs.

"You ask a lot of questions. This isn't an interrogation, is it? Did Adams put you up to this?" The boy smirked. He switched the tab on his phone to a time killer game.

"Don't worry, I'm not a secret agent. I'm just curious." She said coyly. The boy's smile dropped. He looked genuinely surprised that anyone would actually want to listen to him, which made her feel kind of bad. But she would've felt worse if he was actually looking at her instead of at his phone. "Anyway, what do you do around here? Outside of this room, I mean."

"I'm on the tech crew for the school play. I used to go to robotics club too, but I dropped out after I realized that I was making everyone feel bad about themselves." And just like that, his sarcastic facade was back up.

"With what, your skills in robotics or your charming personality?" Scarlett retorted.

"Why can't it be both?" He pointed out.

"It can be both when you tell me what I'm supposed to call you." She countered. "I'm Scarlett. Scarlett Jones."

"Touché." He turned off his phone for the first time since they'd started talking, and looked up at her. The moment he saw her face, his eyes widened and he sputtered like a broken engine for a moment before finding his words. "I'm single. Are you Fin?"

Scarlett tried her absolute best to hold back a laugh. This was something she'd witnessed many times before. He'd been trying to ask if she was single, but had failed miserably. "I'm actually not Fin, but I think you might be."

"...Oh." Fin realized his mistake. He shook his head a little to get himself back on track. "Yeah… Yeah, I'm Fin. Finian if you want to be fancy about it. Or Finian de Karran-de Seel if you're mad at me."

"I'll try not to be mad at you then, because that's a mouthful." Scarlett nudged his shoulder with her own.

Fin shrugged. "Yeah, it's hyphenated. It almost never fits on the line when I have to write my name on an assignment."

Scarlett smiled. "I'll tell you what, how about I put my number into that phone of yours, and I'll text you later?"

"Sure." Fin was quick to open up his contacts and hand over his phone.

"Do you have a habit of handing your phone to complete strangers?" Scar asked, typing in her name and number. The phone looked very new, and very expensive. There was no denying that.

"Not always. But one time I gave my phone to one of my cousins expecting him to give it back right away, and he didn't give it back for eight days. He's older than me, so I couldn't really do anything about it, but my mom and aunts got mad at him." Fin rambled. "He's kind of an ass, to be honest. Not to mention that I owe him a favor from one time when he washed the dishes for me. He's been holding it over my head for weeks. And I borrowed twenty bucks from him, so I owe him that too."

Scarlett handed his phone back to him, and just as he finished talking, the door opened. Tyler and Kal stepped out. Fin looked them over and let out a low whistle. Scarlett decided to do a science experiment, and glanced at him. He was checking out her brother. She made a mental note of that.

"Have you been chatting it up out here, Scar?" Tyler asked.

"Maybe." She stood up. "Don't worry, he didn't ask me out."

"You say that as if I would assume that he did." Tyler smiled. Scarlett conducted another experiment, knowing that Ty's smile had quite the fanbase. Fin was leaning back in his chair, eyes slightly widened. Yeah, he was definitely checking out her brother.

The door to the principal's office opened a second time, and Adams poked his head out. "Finian de Karran-de Seel?"

"Well would you look at that. I guess our time together has come to an end." Fin started to go towards the door. "But I'll see you around, hopefully."

Scarlett hadn't noticed before, but when he moved, she saw that Fin was in a wheelchair. She hadn't taken the time to really look, so she'd just assumed he was sitting in the same kind of chair that she was. She'd assumed that he was just wearing gloves because he liked them. Evidently, she was wrong. It was honestly pretty interesting, and she had plenty of questions, but figured that it would probably be best not to ask them. They'd only known each other for about fifteen minutes, it wasn't necessarily time to get super personal.

"Yeah. I'll text you later." Scarlett waved to him, and he waved back.

Then she, Kal, and Tyler left the office. As soon as the door closed behind them, Tyler let out a sigh of relief. "I'm so glad we're out of there. I don't know how much longer I could deal with Adams' 'disappointed' look."

"What'd he say?" Scarlett asked.

"He said that he was not mad, only disappointed, and that the two of us should have known better." Kal explained briefly.

"We got off with a week's worth of after school detention, starting Monday." Tyler frowned.

"Who would've thought! Star student Tyler Jones, in detention? Unbelievable." Scarlett pretended to be indignant.

"I know, it's not-" Tyler caught on to her sarcasm. "Oh, okay, I get it. But don't expect my sympathy if you ever get detention for a week."

"I wasn't expecting it anyway, you absolute child." She tapped him on the shoulder.

"Scarlett, you are three minutes older than me." Tyler said, gesturing with his hands out of frustration.

"Yup, three very long and important minutes." Scarlett nodded. "I'm glad you're with me on this one."

"I feel like this is not a conversation that I need to be a part of." Kal decided.

"Yeah, probably not, but we still like having you around." Scarlett winked jokingly.

The three of them walked down the hallway together, parting ways only when they had to go to their separate classes. Tyler had gym, Kal had math, and Scarlett had social studies. It was one of the only classes that she actually enjoyed going to. It might seem strange to some people, considering the rest of her personality, but history had always fascinated her. She liked learning about different conflicts and how they were solved. That was why she joined the debate team. She liked arguing when she knew it wasn't for real, and she was very persuasive.

Periods five, six, seven, eight, and nine crawled by slowly. When your day had been as exciting as Scarlett's had, anything less interesting was boring. After social studies was art. Then lunch. After that was science. And finally, gym. She hated going home after gym, because her hair and makeup would always get messed up, then she had to go on the bus that way. She wished that Coach de Stoy would let them take a few minutes after class to get cleaned up, but instead the class always went right to the bell. It was annoying. Plus, then she had to run to the bus every day, which was like a second gym class.

The bus ride home wasn't very eventful, thankfully. Usually there would be at least someone in the back yelling, or playing their music too loud, but not that day. And frankly, it was very refreshing.

When Scarlett and Tyler got home, they took off their bags and jackets and hung them on the hooks by the door. It was quiet for a moment, but not a long moment.

"Welcome home, you two." A voice called from the living room.

"Hey, Adams." The twins responded in unison.

They'd been living with Principal Adams since their father died when they were kids. The two had been close friends, and since their mother wasn't around, he was the next highest choice. The Joneses were also the only ones with permission to call him by only his last name. They usually tried to keep school and home separate, except for a few rare occasions. That day was one of those occasions. Upon walking into the living room, Tyler got another one of those disappointed parent looks. Scarlett took this opportunity to sneak upstairs.

"Tyler. Why, exactly, did you think that trying to intervene in a fight was the right choice?" Adams asked, putting down the book that he was reading.

"I don't know, they were really hurting each other! I had to do something!" Tyler raised his voice a little.

"You don't need to get upset with me. I'm not upset with you. I'm just worried about you." Adams clarified. Tyler pulled up a chair to sit across from him. "Sometimes you do have to try to help. But you also have to pick your battles."

Tyler sighed. "I understand."

"Good. That's all I needed from you." Adams picked up the book again. Tyler put the chair back and went upstairs to his room.

He sat down on his bed and picked up his phone from where it had been charging on the nightstand all day. He never brought it to school, it was a distraction. Upon opening it, he saw that he had a message from a few hours ago.

Kal G: Hello. This is Kal.

Tyler added him to his contacts and slid the notification away, then moved on. He opened up the chat he had with Scarlett.

Tyler J: Adams gave me a talking to.

Tyler J: I thought the talk today at school was enough, but I guess not.

Scarlett J: Is he mad?

Tyler J: He said no, but I think he is.

Scarlett J: Maybe if we get out of the house for a while, you'll feel better?

Scarlett J: Fresh air could be good, we should go to the park.

Tyler J: Could we invite some friends?

Scarlett J: Yeah, you text some people and I'll text some people.

Scarlett J: Meet me downstairs in 5?

Tyler J: Got it.

Tyler hit send on the last message, then switched chats. He sent messages to Kal, Aurora, and Cat.

Tyler J: Scarlett and I are going to the park, want to come with?

He got responses from each of them in no time.

Kal G: I am free for the rest of the day. I will have to bring my sister though, if that's alright.

Cat B: I bet I'll get there faster than you.

Aurora O'M: Can you tell me which one? If so, I'll be there.

After quickly responding to each of them, he got up and put his phone in his pocket. He speed-walked down the stairs and grabbed his sweatshirt. Scarlett was already waiting for him, having donned a light jacket and scarf. She was using her phone camera to reapply her lipstick when Tyler came down. After a final touch-up, she zipped her phone into her jacket pocket and smiled at her brother.

"Ready to go?" She asked.

"Ready." Tyler nodded. Then, they were out the door and on their way to the park.

Taglist: @taco-taco-belle

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