fight like a girl; @hayden-osborne - Tumblr Blog

scvannahw:

savannah barely bristled—she knew it was meant as an insult, she just couldn’t help but start laughing at how ludicrous that suggestion was. “oh- that’s funny,” she complimented, brushing her hair over her shoulder. perfect loose curls, perfect highlights, perfect makeup. never too much, never too little. savannah knew she looked good. always. “thanks for that, i needed a laugh.”

Hayden wasn’t the most popular person in Fairview, she would admit to that much. Still, she was confident, if not certain that she wasn’t quite as insufferable as the girl she was faced with now. She watched her for a moment or so, waiting for the facade to drop and for Savannah to reveal her human nature and assure Hayden that she was just messing around but no, it appeared that she was deadly serious, much to Hayden’s surprise. “That’s ironic, seeing as I think you’d find that you’re probably the punchline of a lot of other people’s jokes,” she informed her company rather bluntly. “So, we’re good, or whatever? Cos you owe me for that,” she insisted, rarely one to do anything for others without repayment in turn.

#savannah w.

ofstewcrts:

maybe she could have taken the opportunity to inform hayden that reversing slowly in a parking lot was being a good driver, but the fact that hayden had spooked her proved she hadn’t checked her blind spot as she backed up. plus, as if hayden cared, as if lucy cared enough to spend the better part of her afternoon trying to lecture her. instead she rolled her eyes and followed her niece’s lead, getting back in the car. “ yeah, my foot up your ass– put your seatbelt on, please, ” she retorted, giving the back of her shirt a light tug to encourage the movement, before attending to her own seatbelt.

brows furrowed at her choice of words but she stayed quiet and waited for what followed. it’s not like anyone else was in the care to hear it. and when the announcement followed lucy’s mood changed entirely, “ oh fuck yeah! hell yeah! ” she exclaimed, easily excited by the news. the last week had been a little bit of hell, more stressful than usual with an impending algebra exam. the change of schools was never easy, and lucy was well aware that hayden was even more susceptible to that unease. her focus around the sides of the car as she backed out of the spot, taking a better look since the spook hayden gave her. “ absolutely she will, no way she’s gonna forget that, it’ll be like eating her own shit, ” she said, “ but, oh my god– i just had the best thought, ” she cast a glance to hayden for a second before eyes were back on the road. “ if she fucks it up again you should just start saying a random name to correct her, it will annoy the shit out of her. it’d totally annoy the shit out of me. ”

“Seatbelt on,” she repeated, clicking her seatbelt into place as she was told. She spent a lot of her time mocking Lucy, purposely irritating her and trying to get under her skin in whatever way she could manage it but she also spent a decent amount of time listening to her, following instruction and even being helpful on occasion. Carrying the groceries, for example, was something she was good at because she liked flexing her volleyball biceps on people and rummaging through the groceries for her favorite snacks.

She grinned at that, her whole face lighting up as her aunt encouraged her and celebrated her wins, even before they had been officially confirmed. For all Lucy knew, Hayden could end up with an F once the test was graded but for the time being, that didn’t matter. They were sharing a moment, a good one. “I could tell her it’s pronounced Crayden” she suggested with a devilish smirk on her face, one that served to guard the hurt that lingered behind it. Crayden was the moniker she’d been given as soon as it surfaced that she was a person of interest in a case of violent assault against one of her teammates. As she so often did, she made sure that she was obnoxiously unaffected by it on surface, almost proud of the fact that anybody thought she was capable of such horror. Beneath that, however, she was wounded by the cruel and scathing words of her peers, terrified of the police and nervous about her future, if she had one at all, whenever she stood toe to toe with the authorities.

#lucy s.

scvannahw:

“oh, this… sucks,” savannah announced, staring at the pictures she’d had the nearest person take on her phone. how did some people survive without knowing how to angle an iphone properly?

“could you take a few more? like, from higher up and with your hand-” on second thought, after seeing the dumbfounded look on their face, she interrupted herself: “actually, i’ll just do it myself. timer cam is a wonderful invention.” when she finished posing and was satisfied with her product, she looked up to find her non-helper still standing there. “um, you can go. i made it work.”

Hayden wasn’t a particularly helpful person at the best of times and if there was one thing that could be said with confidence about the teenager, it was that she did not take criticism well. “Maybe you’re just not that photogenic” she suggested obtusely, without a moment of hesitation. The gravel in her voice made it abundantly clear that she hadn’t taken kindly to Savannah’s reaction and if she still had the other girl’s phone in her hand, she would likely have thrown it onto the nearest rooftop. “Even the latest iPhone can’t fix that,” he assured the other girl bitterly. Not that Hayden would know anything about the latest iPhone. Her own phone was out dated, the screen so cracked it was barely functional.

if you could be anyone else, would you?

I think I’d make a pretty good president. Like, I wouldn’t wanna body swap with crusty ass Biden but if I could just trade his shit for mine. Big house, big pay check, get to boss people around all day. I’d wear a dope power suit that cost like, a million taxpayer dollars.

#Anonymous

Have you done anything recently that you hope nobody finds out about?

You think I’m the shy type? I don’t give a shit what people know about me. If they don’t know shit, they make it up anyway.

#Anonymous

What's your favorite memory with your family?

My favorite memory with my family? Shit, maybe it was literally anything before my parents up and left me and my brother to starve. Like, take your fucking pick, they weren’t the perfect mom and dad but they were a hell of a lot cooler when they were actually around. Sorry I don’t have a disney movie moment answer for you, I don’t really have a lot of those.

#Anonymous

parkerhessman:

“In— incel..?” Truthfully, not a word he’s heard before but Parker tried to imagine the letters filling in the blanks for the sake of it. Though admittedly he was very distracted by Hayden making herself welcome to the seat opposite his. He didn’t consider himself company she was open to entertaining. “Uhh…” It was five letters, alright, but they weren’t the 5 letters he needed judging from how messed up the rest of his words would be if he’d written it in. His pen hovered over the puzzle as he looked up. “Points for effort but it’s not the right fit. Thanks for the suggestion though,” he told her. It likely fell on deaf ears if the attention Hayden was giving her phone was anything to go by. Predictably, Parker jumped when her phone met the table in a careless toss. “Co—coffee? Um.” He took a moment just to blink, honestly he was still waiting for his heart rate to settle. “Ye—yeah, sure.” He wasn’t swimming in dollar bills but he had enough to spare for a coffee. Besides, considering how often a housewife from the Lane would catch him here and offer to get his drink, this was probably just the universe evening things out. Parker plucked a crumpled fiver from his shirt’s pocket and held it out for Hayden. The exchange felt strange, especially since they’ve barely spoken 5 words to each other despite his friendship with Lucy, but teens were teens he supposed. “You’re, uh, probably hungry then, huh? You can have the rest of this muffin if you want.” He slid the plate closer to Hayden. “I used a knife to cut it in half, I swear.”

“Uh-huh” she uttered lazily, not really listening to Parker as he offered her a feeble thank you. If he stuttered one more time, Hayden was convinced she’d forfeit all semblance of self-control and just roll him for the contents of his wallet and bail. For a moment, she wondered how the fuck Lucy managed to get along with this weenie and then remembered that her aunt was kind of a loser too. Anybody that got excited about mitochondria had something to answer for, she considered. “Dope,” she chimed with pleasure, thrilled that the ruse had worked so easily. It was as close to gratitude from Hayden that Parker was going to get, it seemed. “Nah,” she insisted as she stood, “I’m on a low carb, low sugar diet,” she informed him plainly and though the volume of sugar free energy drinks she consumed on a weekly basis was likely to cause her to grow a second arm in the near future, she still considered her nutritional choices to be pretty healthy.

She returned to the table with an iced coffee in hand, double shot, no syrup and oat milk, it was less than 50 calories by her calculation and it was likely to keep her up all night too. “So is this just what you do? You come here to sit by yourself and do sudoku or whatever?” she questioned, leaning back in her seat and propping her feet up on the edge of it. “Are you stalking someone?” she asked as she took a sip of the near toxic concoction he’d paid for at her request, deciding that he totally seemed the type.

#parker h.

#wisteriahonesty

ofstewcrts:

in some ways, after the last ten years of her life it was a lot harder to spook lucy. in other ways, it was a million times easier. a loud thud followed by a shriek as she backed out of a parking spot was up there with things that easily spooked lucy. not only the two now young adults she’d raised but all the middle schoolers she taught flashed before her eyes as she tugged the handbrake before throwing herself out the door with an accompanied chorus of repeating oh shit, oh fuck, oh shit.

until she saw familiar figure crouched beside the car– the same car that drove said familiar figure around pretty much whenever she wanted. then any whisper of concern wiped from her features. “ jesus christ, hayden, ” she said, observing her niece, “ i’m gonna fucking kill you– really funny joke, asshole, ” she drawled sarcastically

“Not with the car, if you were moving any slower you’d literally be traveling backwards in time,” she assured her aunt, though the scientific logic behind her comment was perhaps a little flawed. Not that it bothered her much, as made perfectly evident by the shit eating grin on her face. She opened the passenger side door and shoulderd her backpack onto the floor with all the grace of an elephant on roller skates, “Did you get me anything cool from the Kroger?” she asked, her voice slightly muffled as she stuck her head inside the cabin, searching for any evidence of treats.

“Hey- speaking of murder,” she spoke in an insensitive manner, unaffected by Rose’s death as far as anyone could tell, “I totally killed that algebra test today, no sweat,” except there had been sweat in the days prior when Hayden had realised she was totally unprepared. Late nights, extra assistance from Lucy and a recent graduate from the school, YouTube tutorials and even a Q&A with her teacher the previous afternoon. “Fucking cunt of a math teacher still calls me Hayley like, at least twice a week though. Maybe she’ll start remembering my name after she has to tell everybody I topped the class this week,” she spoke with confidence, though it was unlikely she had actually received the top score.

#lucy s.

After wasting her after school hours loitering around nearby stores, Hayden smiled devilishly to herself when she recognised Lucy’s car in the Kroger parking lot. Nearby Lucy had abandoned a shopping cart after filling the trunk with groceries for their shared household and was climbing into the driver’s seat, presumably before heading home. Instead of catching up with her and catching a ride with her aunt, Hayden crouched behind the aligned bay of cars, making sure she was hidden from Lucy’s field of view. Skulking beside license plates and dusty trailer hitches, she made her way up to the familiar vehicle and waited for her aunt to start backing out of the space.

When she did, Hayden delivered a heavy thump to the metalic side of her aunt’s car before letting out a shrill cry, making it seem like Lucy had struck something or more specifically, someone with the vehicle as she reversed.

@ofstewcrts

#lucy s.

parkerhessman:

“59 across, uncool dude… uncool dude?” Parker repeated to himself in frustration. “5 letters for uncool dude… Loser?” He envisioned the letters filling in the blanks, not dare writing it in yet because he liked to complete his crosswords in pen. “No… that would fuck everything up.” He gave it another second’s thought. “Lemon?” Every other word he thought of was only four-letters. Nerd. Dork. For all the names he was called in high school, you’d think he’d have a better repertoire of words for ‘uncool dude’. “Why do I fucking do this to myself?” He wondered aloud as he skipped 59 across for something else.

“Incel,” Hayden offered, entirely unaware that it was a portmanteau and even less aware that it was made up by the internet and hardly a genuine entry in any respectable dictionary. Still, she was under the impression that she was helping, as she dumped herself in the seat opposite Parker and dedicated a majority of her attention to the cracked screen of her cell phone. A moment or so later, she dumped her phone on the table with a purposely careless thud, frequently enjoying the way the suddenness of her actions startled or shocked people. “Hey, can you buy me a coffee? Lucy forgot to give me lunch money this morning,” she lied through her teeth, she’d skipped lunch and the money still sat in the zip pocket of her volleyball bag.

#parker h.

unforunatcs:

wishful thinking, noah mused as he offered a small chuckle matching hers. “yeah, pretty sure you’re their target demographic,” he joked, “they have a weekly segment on how to be an edgy teen. tuesdays at 5.” he vaguely remembered telling that joke to his own son before, which makes him feel like the two would get along. (at this point, noah wondered what hayden must’ve gone through to turn out so jaded already. if it’s anything as heartbreaking as cael –– well…) there’s something he feel like he should help fix, but he hadn’t put his finger on it yet. maybe he should just mind his own business, he thought briefly. “i mean, sure, no point,” he answered, his somewhat cynical attitude peeking through, “but, hey, sometimes it happens. against your will. like, i’m sure there’s a beating heart somewhere in all this, right?” he waved a hand as if to gesture to her. “sometimes it does its own thing… kinda annoying if you ask me.”

“Maybe I should send in my resume, I could be their lead,” she didn’t actually have a resume, nor did she have any idea what sort of roles a news team could offer, other than the people that read shit out in front of a camera but the sentiment remained, she thought as she joked with him in return. The glower that naturally decorated Hayden’s face shifted for a moment, clearly Noah’s words had resonated with her in even the slightest way. She thought about her parents for a moment then. They had recently been declared legally dead, issues death certificates by the State of Illinois and everything. She’d been resolved to not give a shit about it, to remind herself that nothing had actually changed, it was just a dumb piece of paper that entitled her and her brother to their inheritance. Yet, try as she might, her heart still ached when she gave it enough time and thought, despite every effort she had made to stop it. “Just Monster Energy drinks and CLIF bars, actually,” she offered facetiously in response, somewhat copying Noah’s waving hand gesture at herself. “Speaking of which, I dumped an empty can of Monster in the Walgreen’s parking lot, if you wanna pick that up too,” she informed him, pointing down the street in the direction of the local store.

#noah c.

tencbrarum:

There’s a holiness to it , no beauty to be recited by willfully blind poets , to be worshipped by the boy-centered media . Only rage , only corrosive anguish , spreading through their hard , youth-ridden bodies like rust underneath all the lacquer and perfume . There’s not enough glitter & sparkle to cover up all this bubbling self-loathing and fury and hunger that steers their soul in all the wrong directions , the wakening beast of girlhood , interrupted and stifled , again & again , begging to be let out . Addie smiles , teeth like wolf , buried under glossy pillows - leaning close , too close , breaking through the intimacy reserved for familiars and lovers , like she sees something recognizable . “ Takes more than a pretty face to make me beg , no offense. ” the wind chimes on the rooftop , carrying them off to the deepest Maracaibo Lake climes, or wherever a storm is brewing then . The gentle music’s sundered by a hard slap against her face-down phone , just across Hayden’s arm .

Hayden’s tongue ran across the surface of her teeth as she steeled herself. The closing gap between her and Adelaide made it all the more easier to deliver her that single, fateful push but it also made it easier for Hayden to smell her perfume. Or maybe it was the smell of her shampoo, her body lotion or a combination of each. “None taken,” she assured her and it was true enough, Hayden was difficult to offend, there were few things that could hurt her even a fraction as much as her parents’ abandonment had. She was easy to bait, perhaps but difficult to wound. She followed Adelaide’s motion, laying eyes on the phone, finding herself just a little annoyed that it seemed to maintain the older girl’s attention better than Hayden did.

“Why did you come here?” she asked vaguely, whether she meant to the roof or to the party or to Fairview in general was anybody’s guess but it was only Adelaide’s that really mattered.

#adelaide m.

tencbrarum:

POSSESSED BY AN ANCIENT RHYTHM , dainty feet are bond to an eternal chase , lost in a fever dream of everblooming femininity ; unchained from gravity and restrictions , what flourishes violent , primal , effortless graceful ; like a drunken angel diving down the empire state building , her tiny , moldable body pirouettes and leaps across the ledge , teetering between life and death with the carelessness only youth can hold . each beat , a lightening . the soul begs to be unleashed from this mortal coil ; it climbs through the gap between her freckled thighs , through hidden crevices along her neck & throat , and through protruding ribs that stretch through the paleness of her doughy girl - flesh . limbs sway & bend , free and unkind as a natural disaster , beautiful and cruel - clashing against the night sky , birth and rebirth , dragging itself through the floor & back into the air —– she is a puppet on strings , and only feels the impact & weariness of it all when it all comes to a halt—— the swan falls in a short breath , black mane down bony shoulders , waiting to be popped like buttons by boys who would be forgotten too soon , and a cheeky , dimpled smile that reeks of expensive alcohol and prideful galore .

“ are you gonna push me , hmm ? ” boldly , she taunts , dares – purring like a cat , propping down to slither those feather fingers around the meddler’s shoulders & pat it , gently , like a consolation . “ you should never wait so long for anything . you’ll miss the best things in life . ”

Hayden’s nails tapped the surface of her glass as she watched Adelaide glide gracefully along the rooftop ledge. Jealousy made her shoulders tighten, the muscles of her stomach coil and formed a crease in her brow as her gaze remained trained on the older girl. It was only when she addressed her directly that Hayden became aware that Adelaide knew she was there. “Just say the word,” she offered, taking half a step forward, toward the ledge. It was tempting, she thought, to push the girl over the edge and flee the scene, so she’d never have to look at her perfectly taut quads, the contours of her back muscles, the elegance in her movement; elegance Hayden had never and would never possess herself. Who would blame her? Who would even suspect that she was there, watching the older girl instead of mingling with the rest of the partygoers? She doubted anybody had even noticed she was there, doubted even more they had noticed when she wasn’t. “You don’t even have to say please,”

#adelaide m.

unforunatcs:

noah blinked twice, not sure how to approach the hostile girl in front of him. “uh, hey hayden…” he started, his grumpy mood fading away as his dad mode kicked in. noah couldn’t help but feel a hint of concern as she went on, elaborating on a rather nihilistic view of the world. (there’s always somebody to pick shit up. yeah, it was also scary that a teenager had him pegged so well.) “well, i don’t know if you’ve heard on CNN this morning, but CLIF bar wrappers are actually single-handedly destroying the planet. nothing else,” he said sarcastically, hoping to come off more relatable and less didactic, “but, yeah –– i mean the world is fucked, but the little things still add up.” noah met her shrug with a shrug of his own. “and, look, sorry if i pissed you off with my comment. not great at the whole ‘think before you speak’ thing.”

She snickered at his suggestion, as ridiculous as it was, it had managed to amuse her at least a little, “Do I look like the kinda person that tunes into CNN every morning?” she asked, raising an eyebrow inquisitively as the words left her lips. She woke up in the morning, rolled on to her side to check her social media notifications and then scrolled her TikTok feed until Lucy pounded on her door, reminding her that if she didn’t haul ass, she’d miss her ride to school and have to walk. On days when she had training, she was a little easier to scrape off of her mattress but no less grumpy about it. She shrugged her shoulders, “I don’t care,” she assured him, it was her default approach to most things. Unphased, unaffected, never bothered, rarely interested. It was easier to mask her vulnerabilities with ambivalance then with anything else. “People say shit all the time- most times they mean it too,” she reminded him, “No point in taking it to heart, right?” she offered, wondering if he was the kind of guy who did take things to heart easily or not.

#noah c.

holdenwhittaker:

Whether it was from being in the advertising business or because of his observant nature, Holden always paid very close attention to the subtle changes on people’s faces to anticipate their reaction. The mention of her name made her feel a certain way. Curious perhaps? It was not like they had met before this and yet he already knew her name. Truthfully, Holden made it a habit of learning names and details of the people who lived in the vicinity. “Yeah well, flowers are like people. Different types. Different types of maintenance. Beautiful, poisonous, you name it. They bloom, they die, some never bloom at all.”

“I think people are pretty dumb too,” she assured him, though she considered flowers to be marginally more useless than the people around her. She even liked a few of them, a couple of the girls on her volleyball team, her aunt, her brother. She could have liked Rose too, she considered, if given the chance. She cupped a rose in her hand then, careful of the thorns that armed it, “What kind of flower are you?” she asked, wondering aloud. He was obviously more self-reliant than she had initial assumed, so she wondered what else he could manage to surprise her with.

#holden w.

ashwrths:

“Excuse me?” While Emily wasn’t usually taken aback by Hayden’s blunt manner, she was given the circumstances. Her eyes narrowed as her gaze turned cold, blue eyes glaring at the younger girl. “That happens to be one of my best friends you are talking about. Everyone grieves in different ways. Some of us don’t have the luxury of falling apart, some of us have families that we need to stay strong for. Be thankful your only concern seems to be some math test. And what does sus mean? You do remember you are talking to a woman in her 30s don’t you? Talk like a normal person please, if you mean suspicious, say suspicious. I don’t have time to decipher your gen-z babble and all of the new catch phrases and shorthand you all use.” She wouldn’t even give the girl satisfaction of commenting on her other words. Someone else wind up dead? It was a long shot seeing as how this was the first incident of its kind in years. They were normally such a quiet street. And things that didn’t fit that outlook were simply put to rest. “

“Who is your best best friend then, if it’s not Rose? Sorry- if it wasn’t Rose,” she asked curiously, picking up on the specific language, whether Emily had intended it or not. A moment later, Hayden’s jaw tightened at the mention of grief. Yes, she knew a thing or two about the grieving process, in fact, it had been a fairly significant part of her life since her parents abandoned her as a child. The trauma had resurfaced recently when they had been missing for long enough for the state of Illinois to issue legal death certificates. The thought made her stomach twist in knots but she wouldn’t dare mention it, not even to her aunt Lucy, “So you did know what I meant,” she noted, “Why ask the question if you already know the answer? Besides, out with the old, in with the new- isn’t that a saying from your century?” she knew the woman wasn’t that old, not much older than her aunt, she was confident but it didn’t stop her from taking jabs when and where she could. “You gotta keep up with the times or else you’ll get left behind,” maybe Jane didn’t taint her own vocabulary with nonsensical lingo and dumb trends like Hayden did.

#emily a.

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