fully alive

Leila Sharpe. Seventeen. Senior at Redwood Academy. Born in the bay area But New York raised.

[lovelydisneys]

[leilastory-blog]

@jakechm

[stronger-thanyouseem-blog]

Julian chuckled and nodded. “I hadn’t until the beginning of the year, it’s a huge change… especially with the weather and everything. I had to get a bunch of new shorts.” He admitted. He couldn’t really get away with wearing jeans in September here. “I mean now jeans are fine but…” He shrugged. “Oh, uhm… she got hit by a car, but yeah she’s gonna be okay.”

[leilastory-blog]

Leila was about to comment about skirts and jeans and other wardrobe things, San Francisco temperatures vs Connecticut weather vs here, when she heard what Julian had to say about why he went back home. She got hit by a car. The phrase brought back certain memories Leila was just...not dealing with. It was that time of year for the first time. A lot of things reminded her of the accident. Leila repeated the wording to herself silently. She got hit. So she was a pedestrian, like Shawn had been. “I’m glad she’ll be okay. She’s lucky...” Leila said shakily as she moved her coffee to the side. “Did the driver stop? How fast was he going?" She managed to add.

[stronger-thanyouseem-blog]

“Oh god that’d be awful.” Julian said with a laugh, trying to imagine it. He didn’t think he’d be able to adjust to the schedules that often. “Oh, uhm… There was a family emergency, and my mom ended up in the hospital… so I went home to visit.”

[leilastory-blog]

“Glinda-mom is the worst at adjusting, honestly. She’d never been to the west coast before we started dragging her out here.” Leila explained, before she heard her name and quickly got up to fetch her coffee before returning to the table. Then Julian explained why he’d been gone and she frowned. “Oh god, what happened? Is she okay now?”

[leadyfm]

“So blow it off.” he shrugged. Jake had finally abandoned pretending to actually work, opting instead to close his notebook and push it off to the side. That way, he could lean even more forward on the desk; closer yet to Leila. Truth be told that wasn’t even a part of his strategy, he just wanted to get a rise out of the girl. “Come to the race track with me tomorrow.” he offered. “Lunch’s on me. It’s s’posed to be a good race. What’ve you got to lose?” Jake’s eyes darted once towards the teacher to make sure she wasn’t looking, but for the most part he was maintaining pretty good eye contact with Leila. He was determined to get the girl to believe him. Believe his bullshit, that is. If Jake could just get her to doubt the fact that he was a total asshole all of the time, he’d have the bet on lock.

[leilastory-blog]

Leila watched Jake move his notebooks and lean forward, and she smiled playfully at him as she leaned in forward a little bit too. But, as a guy nearby loudly sucked his snot back up his nose, Leila remembered they weren’t the only two in the room while trying to hide her disgust at their classmate’s noise. “Race track? Like cars or horses?” She asked, stalling for time while she tried not to show the worry she was feeling. Going to the race track with him meant getting in his car, and she didn’t know him that well. He asked what she had to lose, like he had no idea what she had lost getting in someone’s car before. And that was fair because he had no idea because she certainly didn’t advertise that part of her past here at Redwood. But then she remembered there was another way around this, where she didn’t get in his car and still got to the race track. “Can I drive? I just got a new car...new used car, I mean. She’s in good condition. And I haven’t gotten to drive her much.”

[adelaidekcnes-blog]

           "OBVIOUSLY.” Despite her mood, a soft smile left Charlie’s lips as she eyed the other girl before scrunching up here nose. “I think Harry Potter, is the one thing most of us who love it will never out grow.” She stated once again, trying to ignore the irritation she felt at the other girl’s fear. It wasn’t that she was heartless, it was simply the fact that she didn’t understand what there was to be afraid of. It wasn’t like she was awfully big, in fact she was quite small for her age and she couldn’t throw a punch to save her life so she wouldn’t do much damage even if she wanted to. “My Hogwarts house according to Pottermore is Gryffindor. Although to be quite honest I always thought of myself as a bit more of a Hufflepuff.”

[leilastory-blog]

“I totally agree.” Leila said as she dropped her defenses a little bit more. She couldn’t imagine being fifty and saying she was ‘too old’ for Harry Potter. It was going to be like Star Wars and Indiana Jones...some kids got it, it was an iconic series, but it was totally an older thing with people her age talking about going to the midnight movie release when they were kids. “We kind of grew up with them. I mean, I was nine when the last book came out. And twelve for the last movie. But we went to elementary school with them.” She reasoned. “Pottermore put me in Slytherin, but I’m a Ravenclaw. I don’t think I have a slytherin bone in my body.” Did lying about who you were count? Probably...although maybe not if it was because your dad told you that you had to. She brushed that thought off.

[stronger-thanyouseem-blog]

“I hate time zone changes, I only got four hours of sleep last night.” Julian complained as he took a big drink of his coffee. “And I’m pretty sure I still smell like fries from my shift last night.”

[leilastory-blog]

"I know what you mean. I live on the east coast and I have family here in California and the time change in a nightmare.” Leila agreed, waiting for her coffee to finish as she sat across from her friend. “So why’d you leave in a hurry, anyways?”

[cvcilyjackson]

“Look, I don’t care if this is your usual study spot or whatever, I got here first and it’s the only table left with an outlet. I’m not moving. Go do your fuckin’ history homework or whatever somewhere else. In the words of Shrek, this is my swamp.”

[leilastory-blog]

“You don’t need to be mean about it.” Leila recoiled a little bit, biting her lip slightly. She looked over at the plug, and then the electronic he had plugged into it. “But uh...that plug’s been broken since I got here. I’ve seen it light up before.”

[dylanespinosa-deactivated201608]

She isn’t paying attention to where she’s walking. Her eyes are glued to her new phone, clutched in her hands as if it’s made of pure gold. An Android something or other. She’s still not used to it. Her old phone was an early generation Razr, with a keyboard and a vertical flip screen. This one has too many features. Receives way more text messages than she’s used to. She’s reading through what’s quite possibly the longest text ever (a novel and a half from Jazmine) when suddenly, her shoulder hits a wall. Or rather, a person. The impact causes her to stumble a little, looking up like a startled deer trapped in the headlights of a semi.

“Sorry. That… that was um…” She trails off, averting her eyes back down as she licks her lips. Because fuck, this is awkward, and she can’t seem to ever raise her voice above a mumble, which would be super helpful in this sort of situation. “… My bad.” 

[leilastory-blog]

Leila’s thoughts were in a million places. The character she was playing in drama class, the song she had the chords to perfectly but the lyrics just weren’t coming to mind, the choreography for musical theater and trying to pick a topic for her English essay. Her feet were on the ground as she mentally listed all of this and tried to figure out where to start once she got back to her dorm when suddenly something - or rather someone - bumped into her shoulder. Leila suddenly jumped out of her thoughts, looking up to see a girl who was walking in the opposite direction had been the cause of the collision. But then, Leila had been just as at fault since she’d bumped shoulders with the other girl too. 

Rubbing the area right above her arm, she turned to apologize but the other girl had beaten her to it. Once she finished, though, Leila shook her head. “No, I, uh...I wasn’t looking where I was going. Sorry...” She insisted quietly, although her voice was louder than the stranger’s. Was this what it was like for other people to talk to Leila? “Are you okay?”

[eddyxstne]

‘‘It’s nice to meet ya Leila…’‘ He trailed off awkwardly. Keeping a fixed but light smile plastered across his face. ‘‘Oh, that makes sense then. I don’t really get around this place much….I usually eat lunch out front on the green.’‘

[leilastory-blog]

He was almost as awkward as she was, Leila noticed. “Do you want to take a seat?” She offered him. That was a thing people did if someone came up to their lunch table, right? “I don’t blame you for eating outside. It’s nice here in December. They’re getting hit with snow back where my moms live.” 

[leadyfm]

“I want to study something, but it’s not your answers.” Jake joked, setting his pencil down. He wasn’t sure why he was so set on this turning out in his favor, he barely knew Leila. But the male would be damned if Alyx won out anything over him. ‘Listen– what’re you doing after class?”

[leilastory-blog]

“That was so cheesy.” Leila rolled her eyes teasingly, turned more so that her legs were in the aisle and her torso was twisted a little to face Jake. If the teacher was going to react, they would have done so by now. She hadn’t taken the time to question why he was so determined to get her to say yes to him, so nothing seemed suspicious to her. When he asked what she was doing after class, she shook her head. “I usually have drama class, but the teacher had an audition and you know that nobody is going to listen to the student she put in charge. So...if you have a better suggestion.”

[s-muses]

Adriana lifted her shoulders in a shrug. “I dabble.” She explained. “Thanks.” The girl laughed as the other rambled. It was nice for the shoe to be on the other foot for a change. “No worries. Painters have a certain– touch and I’m not just saying that because I paint.” The brunette grinned, grabbing the picture she had printed out. “This is what it’s supposed to look like when it’s done.” Adriana noted as she showed the girl the picture.

[leilastory-blog]

If this girl’s idea of dabbling was to recreate a painting on her ceiling, Leila wasn’t sure she wanted to know this school’s idea of serious artwork. “I can’t wait to see it when it’s done.” She settled on, genuine in her statement. The other student began talking about a ‘touch’ and Leila thought back to Julian’s before pursing her lips together. She didn’t get a chance to come up with something to say to get out of saying anything about that before the other girl was walking towards her with a reference picture. Leila blinked at it in surprise. “You can recreate that!?” She asked, surprised!

[thelivfoster]

“Yes you! You’re the only one in the room.” Liv laughed. “Because I’ve seen you around campus before and I don’t even know your name. What better way to that than over pizza? Everyone loves pizza. Well probably not as much as I do.”

[leilastory-blog]

Leila looked around...when had everyone left the library? She’d been so busy with her project. This girl did seem nice enough, and as Leila’s mind came out of school work and back into reality her stomach began to remind her that she had skipped lunch today. “I could use a break from the cafeteria food.” The somewhat new student smiled.

[adelaidekcnes-blog]

          CHARLIE TILTED HER HEAD watching the other girl through narrowed eyes, her expression only softening as she noticed the girl take a couple of steps back. Which in turn made her sigh in slight frustration. “You’re still doing it.” The brunette’s voice was softer despite the obvious annoyance that was reflected on her face. “Survival tip? Don’t look at people like they have the potential to eat you, and they wont. Looking at them like they are the incarnation of Voldemort himself will only irritate them further. In other words, don’t treat someone like a threat and they won’t react threatening.” Another sigh left Charlie’s lips as her expression softened clearly the girl seemed sincerely afraid. “Basically? I’m not out to get you. I swear, it’s all right to breathe.”

[leilastory-blog]

LEILA DIDN’T KNOW WHAT to do with the information that was being presented at her. She wasn’t trying to show fear, but she was scared. And someone shouldn’t be frustrated at her for being afraid. She bit her lip in worried thought as she tried to figure out how to react, but as she turned the words over in her head a small smile escaped her lips. “You’ve mentioned Voldemort twice now...you’re a Harry Potter fan?” She tried that angle, though she was still a bit timid.

[leilastory-blog]

text//princess leila

Birdie: oh. sorry about your roommate!

Leila: Uh...I'm trying to say you can run from the evil tree branches here. Cause I have an extra bed.

[leilastory-blog]

@lucylou: @leilastory idk man i just think they'd be friends

@leilastory: @lucylou it's a cute image...

[leilastory-blog]

@lucylou: @leilastory i feel like they wouldn't tho cause mermaids are like, one with the sea and much different than humans in that way

@leilastory: @lucylou but the point of mermaids is to lure people away and humans kill coral just by touching it so should the coral really trust anyone it meets is looking out for it?

[leilastory-blog]

@lucylou: @leilastory ok but c'mon like coral and mermaids?? they gotta be close

@leilastory: @lucylou what if coral mistakes mermaids for humans that want to destroy it?