the love club.

lauren 'lo' clarke. 9teen. student. sister of delta delta delta. playlist connoisseur. your clothes are soaked and you don't know where to go, so drop your chin and take yourself back home and roll out your maps and papers, find out your hiding places again. the only problem that i've got with the CLUB is how you're severed from the people who watched you grow up - when you're a member, go on your great ADVENTURE again and we'll be waiting at the end.

[loclvrke]

FREYA.

Pink glitter stuck to her cheek, leftover remnants from her party makeup the night before, Freya was just escaping a bad date. She had cackled like a child as the man had attempted to go home with her from the bar, prancing off like an escaped deer as he slid his arm around her waist, pulling away and shaking her head. “Sorry. I think I see one of my friends over there. Text you later,” she had told him, heading back towards the bar booths, Freya quickly sitting in a random booth and huffing, brushing locks of blonde hair out of her face. “I told that guy we’re friends. Help me out? I can’t talk to him for another minute. He started saying all the things he wanted to do to me and my eyes glazed over. Like someone replaced my brain with a fat head of lettuce,” she complained, her now former date still eyeing the blonde suspiciously as he looked at his phone, waiting for his Uber to arrive. “Just keep talking until he leaves. He’s kind of obsessed with me. Thought he was going to yank out a lock of my hair and clone me at one point.”

"jeez.” lo muttered, clearly a little startled by freya’s sudden appearance -- while the blonde rambled on, lo chanced a glance at the boy she was seeking refuge from: cute, sure, but the kind of cute that spoke to not much else happening. there was also something a little ugly to the look on his face, so lo inclined her head in freya’s direction with a miniscule shrug. sure, i’ll play your knight. “oh- cloning, though. what a weird fucking concept -- imagine if it was widespread and easily accessible! what kind of world would that be? it’d be a real trip, if you ask me.”

[loclvrke]

BLAKE.

she stopped being so careless as time past by, but every now and then, she’d end up being a bit spaced out. like today. she somehow lost her car keys and realized it later on when she got to the parking lot, searched for them in her bag, and noticed it was missing. passing by through the place she was retracing her steps and before she knew it, she softly took a hold of someone’s arm to ask, “do you mind if i ask you a favor?”

“huh?” lo gently tugged her arm free of the other girl’s grasp as she tried to recall the question, blinking owlishly all the while: fuck, she’s tired. when it finally registers, she sheepishly grins at blake and says, “sorry-- yeah, of course. what’s up?”

[loclvrke]

LYANNA.

“Great! You do have a fake ID right? Never mind, we won’t need one,” she said, mind already racing with possibilities for an outing. “Beyond amazing. Her husband is like mega rich, so he was able to plan a pretty kickass last minute wedding. We didn’t sneak into any clubs, but we had a bachelorette party that was the kind of thing you’re not allowed to talk about the next morning if you know what I mean.”

"don’t tell me, you woke up married in vegas?” she jokingly questioned, unable to stop herself from snorting in laughter. “kidding, but seriously -- vegas for a bachelorette party is ace.”

[loclvrke]

GEMMA.

“It is, but I think you can handle it,” she teased the other as she continued filling out paperwork. She looked over at the snake, tilting her head a bit as she considered the name. “Definitely a good name. Mushu it is!” she declared, grabbing a piece of tape and writing the new name on it before placing it on Mushu’s temporary home. “Wanna help me measure him?”

at gemma’s agreement, she couldn’t help but smile, clearly pleased that the girl had declared her suggestion fitting. “oh, i’d love to!” she said, searching the nearby supplies for the measuring tape - it took her a few moments, but she eventually brandished it victoriously and waved it around, “walk me through it?”

[loclvrke]

BRITTANY.

“no, you’re too nice. seriously.” brittany let out an audible gasp upon seeing lauren’s notes. she took a moment to just stare in amazement. “you are a goddess. how did you even do this? they’re beautiful.”

lo couldn’t help but smile at brittany’s reaction, though it fell slightly at her question; that was... a heavy answer, to say the least. with a shrug, lo deflected with, “i just like being prepared.”

[loclvrke]

DEAN.

dean tucked his sister under his arm, guiding her toward his car. “yeah, i do too.” honestly, if it had been an option he and lo probably would’ve left school a long time ago.

“thank god.” she said softly, leaning into dean’s side as they walked. “tell you what, we could just not come back after pizza.” a joke, obviously -- neither dean nor lo were about to abandon their studies, but god. if only.

[loclvrke]

RILEY.

yeah. if you want me to, i’ll be there. with bells on and all. laughing softly, riley tilted her head backwards and looked at lauren with excitement in her eyes. ❛ ahhh! yes! thank you, thank you… and honestly, i think you’re going to love it. i mean, i think we could definitely do it. we’re badass and – ❜ taking a deep breath, riley nodded. ❛ i think we definitely need together it done. we need to do everything we can to make sure we’re safe. ❜

she couldn’t help but smile at riley’s obvious excitement, despite her own discomfort with the subject matter; she’d always found it easier to get over her own concerns when surrounded by other people who felt otherwise, and riley was certainly that. “i take it you’ve been thinking of this for a while?” lo hazarded a guess, eyebrow quirked in curiosity. “no judgement, obviously -- major props, but you seem pretty passionate about it. it’s nice.”

[loclvrke]

ROXANNE.

“i think i’ve came to the conclusion that it’s because i’m blonde.” she shrugged, with a little laugh. 

lo furrowed her brows, marvelling at the perceived lack of thought behind the nickname. people were weird. “honestly, would it kill people to have some creativity?”

[loclvrke]

RILEY.

❛ definitely needed to be taught a lesson, ❜ she agreed to that, smiling over at lauren. honestly, though - sounds like you can teach most of us a little something about defending ourselves. a gentle laugh fell from the brunette’s laugh and she shook her head. ❛ uhh, ❜ she said and her cheeks turned into a soft pink. ❛ i don’t know about that, ❜ she said and shook her head, blush creeping up on her face instantly. ❛ will you go with me? if i decide to do it? ❜ she questioned the other female, hoping that she could get as many people with her as humanly possible. 

lo tilted her head at the question, wondering if there was a nice way to say no way in hell. it just-- made everything a little too real, in the end. “um...” but then, training could be a way to work out some of her frustration -- would stop her from snapping at the next professor who oh-so gently reminded their classes that work was still expected to be submitted on time, with no care for the trauma they were all working through. “yeah.” she conceded after a long moment, heaving a sigh. “if you want me to, i’ll be there. with bells on and all.”

[loclvrke]

BRITTANY.

“maybe i should become a librarian. i want to be able to say i can terrorize poeople,” she mused. “i am. got any good study tips?”

“you are way too pretty to be a librarian. and too nice.” lo retorted absently as she flicked through her folder, dispelling a hushed sound of victory when she found what she was looking for. “study tips, no. obsessively extensive notes, yes.” lo tugged at the plastic folder holding well-over three pages of notes for just one lesson as she grinned, a touch embarassed. “i might have an issue.”

[loclvrke]

LYANNA.

“Usually, but no one’s really being themselves lately. Wouldn’t blame them if they suddenly wanted to back out of all the drama. Studying? Gross, I need to take you out for some fun now that I’m back.” She said, playfully nudging her. “Other festivities. My cousin’s boyfriend of like two weeks proposed to her out of the blue, so we spent the week in Vegas for her wedding. It was pretty fun, actually.”

lo couldn’t exactly refute lyanna’s observation, but she couldn’t bring herself to acknowledge it -- honestly, this school needed a whole legion of therapists to deal with the trauma their students were repeatedly inflicted with and nobody seemed fucking interested, did they? "ooo, i’d love that.” she grinned, poking the other girl’s arm in retaliation for the nudge. “wait, a wedding?! in vegas?! that sounds amazing. oh-- did you sneak into any clubs? vegas seems like it’d be batshit.”

[loclvrke]

DEAN.

“of course it is. campus food is shit, have you not figured that out yet? i’m disappointed.”

“obviously i know it’s shit.” lo scoffed, considering her options here -- but it was dean, so honesty was really the only valid approach she could take. “i just-- hate being here right now, so i’m making sure. come on, move your butt.”

[loclvrke]

ZACK.

“I got pretty far. It was really… freeing. Makes me wanna do it again someday. Properly. With some friends or something. Just go wherever we want and come back once we get it out of our system.”

“maybe you could during the next break? that way, there’d be no bad consequences for anyone. less to stress about when you get back, right?”

[loclvrke]

GEMMA.

The redhead nodded in agreement, walking past Lo as they entered the clinic. “Yes we will. And make sure he’s all healthy before we do so,” she added with a smile. She waved to the person at the front desk before heading right on back. In the back of the clinic, she got a clear box out and placed the snake inside before grabbing some forms and began filling them out. “Wanna help me think of a name for him for now?”

lo was quiet as she trailed behind gemma, barely able to stop herself from smiling, clearly a little awed: while this wasn’t what she was most passionate about, she couldn’t deny that she’d long-grown attached to the idea of becoming a vetenarian and spending the majority of her life around animals. gemma just made it look so effortless. “big responsibility,” lo observed, looking down at the snake and considering her options as gemma kept herself busy with the paper. “maybe mushu? like, from mulan? it’s the same red and- i don’t know, seems fitting. maybe.”

[loclvrke]

AJ.

“i know right?” aj replied with a small laugh, she liked the fact that the other had tried lightening up the mood a bit more especially with all that had happened. “yeah, i think i do, but it’s not all that bad.” she admitted with a small grin. “that’d be great, thanks.”

lo hummed in acknowledgement and after a long moment, produced a sleeve of tylenol, handing it to aj before coming to a weird realisation, “oh god, i’m mother-henning you, aren’t i? how embarassing.”

[loclvrke]

LYANNA.

“I can’t blame you for that,” she admitted with a sign. She was still at that stage where none of it felt real, but she knew that even if the next victim was someone she actually cared about, she probably still wouldn’t react. “I feel kind of lucky to have missed out on the whole shit show, but I also just feel kind of out of the loop, ya know? Anyways, what’s going on with you, then? Anything good?”

"you should try asking a kappa girl, they’re usually all over this kind of stuff.” lo offered, shrugging -- or that awful gossip blog that’s suddenly popped up, but gossip blogs seemed like something the typical college-goer would be interested in, no? “just studying, as always. how about you? what kept you away from the festivites, anyway?”

[loclvrke]

BRITTANY.

“why is she the actual worst?” brittany rolled her eyes, resisting the urge to throw a rude gesture at the librarian. “less power trips but more distractions. at least here i can pretend i’m trying to keep up with my work. or even better, actually try.”

“i think it’s in the job description: must terrorise poor students in the library.” lo snorted, then considered brittany’s situation -- after a beat, she offered, “you’re doing bio too, right? maybe i can help.”