Skateboards and Numbers, Man.

[wewerechildrenwerenotnow]

[derekwhitecalf]

rowanaatami​:

Rowan nearly laughed at “attend to.” That wasn’t something she’d dealt with ever. No one attended to her. Except Derek, now. She did appreciate the help however bizarrely it was offered.

“A roaring fire can’t be a secret.” It certainly wouldn’t be one for a very long time. “And guests are fine as long as we keep a respectable distance from…it. There’s been one accident tonight, we don’t need another one.” She felt for Poppy, having to deal with such a conflagration and an ill sister to boot. The hospital didn’t need any more visitors.

“I haven’t called them. Should I call them? They seemed so…confused as to what their role should be I wasn’t sure….” Now that she said it out loud, the whole thing sounded silly, “I’ll let them know.”

She put her phone on speaker so she could text Tee quickly. Gabe knows more, but there’s been a fire at Noah Nixon’s house.

“I dunno. Depends on the position of the fire.” He wasn’t sure if anyone still lived anywhere near Nixon land. The only reason he knew where it was was Noah’s mom was an avid knitter but didn’t want to be caught dead going into a shop. He’d been making deliveries there ever since he got his mountain bike. 

Derek contemplated the question long enough that Rowan found the answer before he spoke. That happened to him a lot. “Yeah. Seems wise. This shit is what we make of it, right?”

“I’ll round my people up and I or we will be there in five. No marshmallows I imagine?” He paused. “Sorry. That was mean. I’d consider it for anyone, really. Promise.” He ended the call to avoid further embarrassment. Usually, he was immune to it, but something about having Rowan on one end of the call and Mia looking at him with those big soft focused doe eyes on the other made him self conscious.

He turned to Mia and Jordan. “So. Guys. Field trip to watch Noah Nixon’s house burn down? No pressure. Contained burn. Perfectly safe.” He sat down to prove his point. All casual and stuff. 

@rothmia

[wewerechildrenwerenotnow]

So the brightest minds in New Ham are bickering about guinea pigs, the government can’t decide how long they should take to read things, and some people want to know where Noah is. Others want to know why the fuck they should care.

But hatchets can be buried, peaces made. Secrets forgotten, people disappeared. Nothing helps like a party.

It’d be a shame if something was to happen to it. 

So press play and go.

[rowanaatami]

Rowan considered the blaze in front of her. The council members had walked off, presumably to deal with something else. She was grateful she’d steered them away from drawing a huge scene. There was just no telling where people’s emotions would take them tonight. 

It would take Derek longer than five minutes to reach here, but that was the kind of lie that Rowan was okay with. She was grateful to have a moment alone with nature. The chaos of the past half hour had set her heart racing and this was the perfect chance to bring it back down. 

She picked up her phone and found his contact easily. The temptation to just voice note him was strong, but she was building community these days. That meant she needed to talk to people. And maybe, possibly, not suggest they do something bold and then leave when they reacted. (That was a problem she’d solve some other time)

She brought the phone to her ear and waited. When it clicked, she spoke. “Hey, if you’re not busy, I could really use your company. I promised the council that I wouldn’t be unattended in front of a controlled fire. They suggested you be my company. I didn’t mean to volunteer you. If I need to find someone else, I can.” 

@derekwhitecalf

[derekwhitecalf]

Derek was searching for a handle on the moment, as Tommy Lee Jones so aptly put in the 1997 arthouse film Men in Black. He’d never been particularly averse to darkness. His extended family’s home only had power about half the time anyway. But there was something eerie about the cavernous rink, the slowly growing panic in the kids around him. Jordan wasn’t showing those signs though (no more than his usual “how best can I help you?” energy that it had taken over a year for Derek to fully trust), and Mia had that effortless floatiness to which he could only aspire. He was still searching for an angle when his phone rang. The Mighty Ducks theme. Which meant it was...

“What’s up, Ro?” Rowan was usually pretty unflappable too, but there’s was some strange sound behind her. It gave her voice a tinniness. The explanation was even weirder than he expected. Well, he supposed that was one way to fight the coming dark. “Huh. Yeah, I can attend to you, I guess.” 

He eyed Jordan and Mia, who were still sitting at the facepaint table. “Is this a secret thing or can we all just... chill at the fire? ‘We’ meaning two extra people. Who may or may not come. But I don’t want to be impolite or whatever.” He paused. “Wait. The council like Tee? Tee’s gotta be freakin out, huh?” Tee was usually freaking out, but this was an actual good reason. 

[wewerechildrenwerenotnow]

Name: Derek Whitecalf Face Claim: D’Pharaoh Woon-A-Tai Played by: Lil Birthday: November 26th Family: Bobby Whitecalf (Father - Michael Greyeyes), River Whitecalf (Mother - Cara Gee), 11-year-old sister Willa Friends: Jordan, Adrian, Blair, Rowan Romances: Brief committed relationship with Del Hobbies/Clubs/Social Circle: Mathletes, Art Kids, Skaters (Stoners Adjacent),  formerly Robotics

It’s never healthy to frame your life around rejection. Derek knew that. Kinda. But he didn’t particularly try to frame his life around anything. He didn’t hang his identity onto any of his extracurriculars (math, art, skateboarding, weed, all equal). He had certain obligations at his parents’ textile business, but that wasn’t his world either. For a brief time, Del Seraven had been his world. But he wasn’t theirs. So that ended. It was good. It sucked. But it was good.

So he tries to not frame his life around rejection. He’s really really good at math. He got offers from MIT, CMU, and Stanford but is picking Stanford for… reasons. It was supposed to be nice to start fresh. But sometimes, something comes along that doesn’t even let you start.

Follow Derek here!