whiz kid

"I BECAME GOOD AT PRETENDING. I BECAME SO GOOD THAT AFTER A WHILE THE LINES BLURRED BETWEEN MY TRUTH AND FICTION. AND SOMETIMES, WHEN I DID A REALLY GOOD JOB OF PRETENDING, I EVEN FOOLED MYSELF."

[ericbellamy-blog1]

karenxbell:

You. Such a little word, and yet it caused the redhead’s mind to truly go blank for a moment. Not in the way she was so used to pretending, but in genuine surprise. His question left her little time to recover, the nail polish bottle slipping from her fingers onto the bench beside her. “Um,” she let slip, momentarily flustered as she reached up to tuck a red curl behind her ear. “You mean like, out out? Like date out?” The cluelessness in her voice was thick, but for once it wasn’t entirely false. “Because, I’d like that. But if you’re talking like, go out bowling with a bunch of people in a totally casual way, that’s rad too. Yeah.”

    “i don’t.” it was a quick fire response, immediately off his tongue with no second thoughts. he had asked her on a date and that had nothing to do with a group of people going bowling or for snacks, he needed to make sure she knew that. people couldn’t say much about eric in terms of charm or wit but he was always honest, his words some of the few that were not riddled with mystery and doubt in those early years of whittemore which would soon become cloudy memories to most. a fraction of their lives that they no longer identified with. “i mean you and me, stepping out, whatever you wanna call it.”

his eyes were calm and level, no embarrassment crosses his features -- because? he wasn’t embarrassed. he wondered if karen would ever understand that he knew far more about her than the appearance that she put on but he would never let those words leave his lips, he knew too well that sometimes people enjoyed their charade as much as he enjoyed sitting on his pedestal of intelligence unquestioned because he was a novelty, just something that passed the hours, passed the time, a person that could deflect the real questions about this big old place with a state school title and nowhere to go, “you’re a smart girl, karen, i’m sure you can figure this one out. i’ll call for you later.”

he stepped away and eric had no idea that day or in the many days that followed that one day he would meet a red headed woman that would make him almost forget about karen bell and her supreme intelligence... and that woman would be his own daughter.

[wandasmaximoff]

[sylviafrench-blog]

“You know what’s stupid? New Years Resolutions. Honestly, if people want to change their lives they should just do it whenever it’s convenient.” She was only mildly serious, “Plus, I can’t think of a good one. Is karma going to come after my ass if I don’t have one?” Superstitious was one thing she was not, but it was always interesting information to have. A conversation piece to save for later, people liked conversation pieces. And Sylvia liked talking, to get information out of people that would be of use for her later. Once you got someone talking it was easy enough to keep it going. Turning to the other person she gave a slight smile. “You come up with anything good?”

[ericbellamy-blog1]

      “woah, woah,” eric waved away her thoughts as if he was highly offended. there was something about sylvia that always struck him as strange, the only girl of nine children and yet she was the one that was the most boisterous. he always imagined harry and vince would be crying on the sidelines if it ever came down to a physical fight with the girl. “uh, obviously,” his tone was exaggerated, “be whittemore’s resident genius. i might have to kill a few people first but i’ll get there.”

[ericbellamy-blog1]

karenxbell:

The fair girl’s red lips tilted up in a lazy grin at Eric’s joke, a slight laugh escaping her. “Didn’t think you were such a fashionista, Mr. Bellamy.” Reflecting on his earlier response, Karen looked up at him. “What were you thinkin’ about?” she hummed, gesturing for the boy to sit down beside her on the bench. Avoiding assignments. In a way, he wasn’t wrong. There were several assignments she’d simply decided she could survive not doing, and had tossed the assignment sheets into the garbage can once returning to her room. The only one that seemed of particular importance had been started and completed on the 1st, written well enough to earn her a grade that would ensure at least a C overall in the class. “You betcha,” she simply replied, her gaze directed at the boy, nails momentarily forgotten.

       “you,” it wasn’t a lie, was it? that was what he was thinking about at that exact moment as his darker eyes skimmed over her once more, the talk of her mismatched nail polish forgotten -- it would not come up again. there was something about her red hair that captivated him, something about the way he knew there was so much more inside of her that he would never get around to figuring out if he let on that he knew. “makes sense,” he agreed, although, they both probably knew full well in their own right that it made no sense whatsoever. eric imagined there was some greater narrative, some explanation, but it was one that he was not lucky enough to understand, “do you want to go out with me?”

[ericbellamy-blog1]

carriesinclair:

Carrie endured the cold more often than necessary for a good breath of fresh air. Her cheeks and nose had become rosey with the chill, but she did not care with her determination to at least finish the chapter that she was so focused on in her book. She found reading to be one of the best escapes that life offered. After all, what was better than quite literally putting yourself into someone else’s point of view and discovering their world? If only it were literal how easily she delved into the depths of the worlds of fictional characters.

Startled, Carrie closed her book upon hearing the voice and looked up to meet his eyes. She let out a soft breath, the air taking it and turning it into a white fog before her face. “Just getting some fresh air,” she replied, giving a slight smile and tucking her book down onto her lap.

     eric had liked reading once, maybe as a child it had been fictional stories that he could get lost in but now he felt lost in his own and all he read was encyclopedias and dictionaries, textbooks, things that he could absorb into the whirring machine that was his mind. that was what everyone wanted from him, for him to master his mind, impress them in front of a crowd of judgemental old faces. maybe carrie would of known about that, “oh,” was his simple reply, nothing hidden in the simple word, no extra thoughts. he stood there for a few seconds, his gaze fleeting around the courtyard, a strangely troubled expression now on his face, “heard anything weird lately?”

[ericbellamy-blog1]

karenxbell:

Acetone. ‎C3H6O. A solvent used for plastics manufacturing, as well as the primary ingredient in nail polish removers. Additionally used for degreasing wool and degumming silk. Recognized to have low acute and chronic toxicity. 

Karen studied the purple liquid in her hand, cotton rounds beside her on the wooden bench. Somewhere in the black hole that was her purse could be found three bottles of nearly identical nail polish, as well as a shimmery glitter color she usually saved for special occasions. A huff escaped her full lips as she continued to harshly scrub at the chipped red polish on her nails, wishing she had decided to simply suck up the chemical smell that came with doing her nails in her bedroom. She would have gone to the common room, except she knew that in higher concentrations the chemical could cause headaches, and that was the last thing she wanted to bring to the table. The girl didn’t realize someone was approaching until she heard their voice, looking up from her task and giving a quick grin to the speaker. “Hi, Eric. I’m just paintin’ my nails,” she shrugged, continuing to scrub at the polish. “What are you up to?”

        “walking, thinking,” he shot back, his gaze glancing to the purple nail polish that the girl was holding in her hand, his gaze not questioning at all. “didn’t think purple was the colour for someone of your complexion,” he joked, knowing already that the red head would barely respond to his comment with anything but dim laughter. karen was smart. he knew that. much smarter than him, something eric was not afraid to admit for he knew he was not the smartest of the whittemore kids even if he was the only one even if his brain was filled with the most general knowledge -- a complete collection of pointless information and a few secrets. “guessing you’ve just been avoiding assignments?”

[ericbellamy-blog1]

howardscross:

Howard’s temper was a strange thing. A luck of the draw, really. What set him off one day would fly right over his head the next. It was unpredictable but it kept life interesting. If a Whittemore student ever needed things to be more interesting, consider that looking on the bright side. He shot the approaching boy what could only be described as a scowl, probably leading himself to come off a little too incriminating for someone that was looking over a fast food menu. “What I’m doing is none of your fucking business.”

       for most people this would of got sirens and alarms ringing in their skull saying ‘please leave howard cross alone’ but for eric it was more intriguing than ever. he didn’t understand the mood swings and much less did he understand how people were so honest about their emotions -- especially when all those emotions were usually negative too. howard was truly a puzzle, not one he wished to solve, eric wasn’t good at putting pieces together but he was good at observing human behaviour, “wow, are you this angry over pizza? did someone make the wrong delivery?”

[ericbellamy-blog1]

helenofmark:

A helpless shrug left Helen as she looked up at her company. “Yea, and you know what they say about people who talk to themselves. They could be a crazy so watch out.” She laughed along lightly with their joking around, it was nice that even though the situation was a bummer a smile could slip out of her. “Ew, you really think the germs play by your rules?” She made a fake disgusted face and shoved Eric playfully, but then found herself blushing lightly and laughing awkwardly from his last comment. “I ah, actually was going to visit your house too. I just wanted to have everyone from mine to have first dibs y’know? Of course, now they won’t have any dibs… but it was a nice idea.” She nudged a cookie on the cold ground aside and gave Eric a quizzical brow raise. “ So are you going to eat everything that I dropped on the ground? Just want to know if I should even bother cleaning up.”

      “ah, best bits saved for you,” eric understood the premise. he too would probably decide to keep some of his best bits aside for his house -- or rather, just for himself. in fact, had eric taken cakes to a quiz panel then he would of probably ate them all by the time he got the chance to offer them to someone else. sharing wasn’t always caring. “well, if you insist then i guess i can extend the 3 second wall, i heard this place is pretty clean anyway,” total lie. it didn’t really matter, eric knew that the amount of bacteria exchanged every time he accidentally touched his mouth after the toilet flush before washing his hands was probably worse than germs he was getting off 3 seconds on the ground was probably worse. plus: he’d probably eat anything. chewing he looked at the girl, “you know me, you’re asking stupid questions.”

[ericbellamy-blog1]

      quiz master. quiz master. quiz master. answer the damn question, eric. you have to know the answer.

    it was a new year but the memory of his latest encounter on the panel still filled his mind, like a living nightmare and waking hell combined, he was no prisoner to his mind, a spineless fool at times but nothing more. the world had not unlocked the genius that would be his undoing, somewhere just beneath a panel door that was waiting to be lifted by a combination of strange events -- life.

     the air was cool, his jumper rolled at the sleeves, a breeze against bare wrists that were marked with indistinguishable red lines, the marks of a rubber band snapped too many time. the human condition was a curious thing, splintered in so many places and confusing as hell but eric had found that his studies on himself had taught him that people could be manipulated into whatever the world asked of them. these were thoughts that were kept to himself, a side project that had little to do with his reputation as one of whittemore’s whiz kids. leaves trod beneath his shoes as he approached a person sitting on the courtyard bench, “whatcha doing?” 

[helenofmark-deactivated20190917]

Helen thought it would be nice to stop by a bakery nearby and pick up a couple of treats for those residing in Kenilworth as a way to start the new year right, but what was supposed to only be a few ended up being more then intended since she started to think of how unfair it would be for the others not to enjoy any. The boxes of goods were stacked to where she could hardly see two feet in front of her on the sidewalk, which wasn’t very favorable considering the winter conditions. Of course, with just her luck and being in a bit of a unnecessary rush her worn in sneaker slipped on an ice patch in the walkway, which made her take a quick slip and fall onto the hard ground. Most of the baked goods didn’t survive the fall and were now sprawled around soiled from the accident Helen had created for herself, and all she could do was take a moment to look around with a distressed frown as she imagined all the people she wouldn’t be able to surprise now. “Dammit, dammit dammit dammit. How am I going to- Look at this mess…Y’know what it’s fine Helen. You’re okay. Let’s just clean it all up, and get another batch.” She threw her gloves off and nudged an empty box aside with her foot, a frustrated huff steaming from her as she tried to push herself to get up and fix her disaster.

[ericbellamy-blog1]

      blase. his normal mood. headphones joint to his new red walkman tucked into the pocket of his blazer, his prefect badge scuffed even though it should of been in pristine condition, only three days old. hazelnut eyes still fresh from the morning, light reflecting in them that had not yet been diminished by a world of cruel science and spineless choices. his song cut out, headphones pulled out of his ear abruptly as he stopped to avoid toppling over the girl in front of him and all of her baked goods too. 

     “talkin’ to yourself, aye?” a dig that ended in a laugh, nothing meant by it. he was dropping into a crouch before she could even respond, a donut picked up from the floor, “3 second rule.” he was already taking a bite out of it, gross perhaps but not unusual behaviour from the boy, nothing that would surprise a resident of whittemore anyway, “what’s up in kenilworth? you’re not bringing any of these over to the yellow house even though i’m there.”

*acts clueless but actually knows what’s going on at all times*

[stevensyeun-deactivated20210216]