I’m A Shut Up, Sit Down

That annoying, leggy sophomore who's on the way to steal yo' girl. Paul, 16, Fenwick. Track, timpani, softball, robotics, proud Nokia 3220 user. Will snatch your French fries. Will not brush my hair.

[softavasilva]

literally the gayest way to seat 

[onesmolpaul]

jacerhawthorne‌:

“Oregon,” Jace corrected with a small smile. He could just imagine the feeling of never finding a family and constantly feeling like an object being tossed around. That’s how Jace had felt at first in the system and he wasn’t sure if he ever would have gotten over that if he’d stayed. The fact this person wore a smile on her face and seem to be as positive as someone in the situation could be made him count his lucky stars. He had to be grateful for his family as much as he was inspired and sympathetic to another foster kid.

“It’s really Jae-Sung, but Jace has always been easier… especially with a lot of younger siblings.” He smiled again. Her surprise to hear about his family had Jace chuckling a bit after. “Yeah, he’s great,” he said, as genuinely enthusiastic as he could. Anything to encourage her. “He went from odd job to odd job as soon as he aged out so that was really hard at first but… making connections and working hard eventually got him promoted somewhere great. He bought his own apartment completely on his own at 21. He’s the manager at a local art depot now which is great since he loves art. So all in all, not bad.”

“Hey, um, by the way, I do tutorings and stuff whenever I’m not partying hard,” he said as a clear joke, making a bit of a face before smiling. “-if you ever want something like that. Or just to… hang out.” He couldn’t wait to tell one of his closer friends how he’d finally stepped out of his comfort zone to ask something like that. If he had to befriend anyone on his own though, he was glad it was a fellow system kid. 

“Oh, cool. Never been, is it nice?” Paul asked, trying to keep the awestruck and innocent side of her at bay, never feeling comfortable with letting that vulnerable side of herself show too soon (or at all). It had always been Paul, 16 going on 28. Never that kid who would trade a hard scavenged meal for a hug.

She nodded, “That’s a cool name, man. Mine’s Pauline, but if you ever tell, I’ll deny it and break into your dormand steal all of your left shoes and socks.” She added with a chuckle, scooping up more icing from the cake. “You have many siblings?” She asked, keeping the cool facade but inside so very intrigued about Jace’s life. “That is... amazing. I mean, I could keep saying it forever. Where’s his TED Talk, I’m sure it would be very helpful to the lot of us, lost rascals.” Jeez, Paul knew it would be very reassuring to know that someone that wasn’t just a local urban legend had made it out of a horrible life like hers. It sure would have made it easier when she had to make decisions like exchanging a winter coat for school supplies. 

Paul looked up at the older boy, unable to keep the genuine surprise from her face. “Really? Hang out?” She cleared her throat, “I’m kind of a nerd, but sometimes I do get stuck with English assignments, I don’t know if you’re any good with those.”

[onesmolpaul]

nicodigiovanni‌:

“Yeah.” Nico shook his head though; the heat would have been fine if the seventeen years old hadn’t just lost the girl he cared about so much.

“Deal. I can keep my little scav safe.” He chuckled, then clenched his fists and made a couple of punches in the air. Like he was fighting an invisible foe. Yep life after the apocalypse would probably suck and yet who knew, maybe it would have been cooler to fight scavengers and mutants rather than heartbreaks and math.

“Yep.” He nodded, as he surrendered the idea of putting the shirt back on, yeah it was stupid and anyway Paul didn’t mind. “I mean…  It’s just freezing your ass or sweating your balls off, something in between would be nice.” Then again, it would be so easy to fix this if they just have somewhere to swim off the heat.

“It stunk.” He furrowed his brows. “On so many levels… Our room was close to rotting meat, I got-“ He hesitated for a moment, but then decided just to give in. “Ella dumped me and I spent the rest of the night fighting the hangover. So yeah fun times.”

“How about you? You girls got any luckier?”

Paul copied him and struck a ridiculous pose, ready to take over the post-apocalyptic world with Nico by her side. Now, the whole idea of Broadripple surviving a zombie fallout seemed incredibly interesting...Would anyone even last? Paul was pretty confident in her own survival skills, even with her puny size. “And I’ll make sure you still get your protein to keep those guns always ready to fire. Can’t risk the rest of your teammates trying to gang up on us.”

“Agreed. I know we’re complaining about the heat and all, but then we’re gonna get ten minutes of okay weather; which will probably be when we’re cooped inside praying or something, and then it’s gonna start snowing again.” She wiped her brow with the collar of her shirt. “Are you from this state or from somewhere better?”

“So everything started going funky? You’d think those giant-ass fridges would to their job better.” She frowned in sympathy, “Oh, no. That sucks, man. I’m sorry.”

Paul shrugged, “Not really. We had to sleep in the chapel, with all the creepy statues and saints and echoes...” She shuddered.

[onesmolpaul]

christianstgerard‌:

Being at the zoo is awesome. Sure, it’s a billion fucking degrees, but he’s slapped sunblock on his face and got a hat on (backwards) so basically nothing can stop him. He hits just about everywhere he could, excitedly going from one place to the next with whatever student he can get to tag along with him. Of course, that is until they get to the pot-bellied pigs. Like, it’s cute as shit and super awesome. Chris gets to say hi to all the little grunting porkies and even hang out with some of them, at least like the little baby ones. He’s got one little dude in his arms, and maybe he misgendered it or something because soon enough, the smelly fucker shits all over his lap.

“What the fuck--” He’s quick to lean away from the piglet, instantly overwhelmed by the growing mass of steaming ass sludge that shoots out of the once-adorable little fucker. He whips his head up, eyes bewildered at the zoo-keeper who stares at him just as wide-eyed and shocked about the matter. Louie, or so he was told before he took hold of the piglet, is taken away and Chris is ushered out of the pen and to the closest nun in charge. “What do I do?” He asks desperately, terribly grossed out by the state of his cream-colored joggers. “It stinks and it’s like, seeping through my pants and stuff!” His face is twisted into a look of utter disgust, chest puffing up and down rapidly in his panic before he results to whining childishly.

To his misfortune, the sister just does the sign of the cross hurriedly and tells him to stay put  while she figure this out and gets help. Help? He thought she was the help! He turns to the closest student. “Dude, what the fuck. You gotta help me,” he begs, unstable to stand the hot brown mush splattered all over his lap.

Okay, but how awesome would it be to be a wildlife rehab biologist? With an always active brain. Paul was the kind of teenager who changed what she wanted to be when she grew up at least three times a day. At least. So after spending 40 minutes staring in enrapt fascination as a zookeeper cleaned a porcupine’s quills and shoveled pounds of waste from several cages, Paul’s mind was set once again. She was gonna learn all the biology, the zoology, the ethology, the whatever so it could be her inside an exhibit, giving a disgruntled siberian lynx a bath. Or a treat. Hell, even cleaning piss, if it meant it was the closest she could get to the animals. 

With her agriculture club hat worn ironically-unironically around her neck (seriously, who didn’t even own a hat?) and a stripe of sunblock down her nose, Paul had already done three laps around the entire zoo (it wasn’t that big) and she was having the best time. Even with the merciless sun beating down on them, turning her pale skin into what would surely be a pink mess later that night.

She’s making her way back to the Himalayan bear because if that massive Winnie Pooh is finally awake she will lose it, when a horrible stench wafts into her nostrils, accompanied by the uncharacteristically agonized voice of her best friend. “Chris? What the fuck, man?” She exclaims in horrified bewilderment as she takes in his miserable appearance. “How did you manage to do that?” 

Letting a beat pass as her brain works a billion miles a second, she grabs him by the wrist and tugs him to the nearest bathroom. “C’mon, bro. It¿s not the end of the world. You’re lucky it’s a hundred thousand degrees out here... Are you wearing briefs? Please tell me you’re wearing any kind of underwear or else...”

[onesmolpaul]

nicodigiovanni‌:

“I wish…” He replied instinctively, quickly realizing the mistake though. He didn’t want to get caught moping, it would ruin his reputation. Yet it seemed like the only thing he could do these days.Domenico chuckled when he it was Paul though. It was weird, they were pretty much just a year apart or so and yet she reminded him of his little sister. It was kinda of endearing and truth was her enthusiasm was something that Nico envied a bit. 

“I mean, just getting ready to fight the raiders when they inevitably come for us.” He grinned and flexed his muscles, trying to look playful and shake away the gloom. “I mean you never know after the fallout.” He continued. Broadripple would look fine as a setting for a post-apocalyptic game wouldn’t it? Maybe more resident evil style though than fallout. 

“You know Mad Max style.” Yeah probably, the school would be way more fun that way.

“Scouting the perimeter yourself?” He cleared a bit of the sweat from his brow while his gaze scanned the area to check for where he had left his shirt. Not that he minded it, of course and he would have rather staid bare-chested given the heat, but well people could get the wrong impression if they saw them and he definitely didn’t need more gossip ruining his chances. If he had any. God why the hell he kept collecting exes… 

Paul raised an eyebrow slightly. She had been around the older boy enough to know that his entire demeanor seemed a little quiet. But she didn’t wanna press, she never did. She’d rather have people tell her things on their own terms. “I mean... This heat can make anyone a little emo.”

“Oh, for sure.” she nodded eagerly. Zombie fallouts were some of her favorite things to think about, being as weird as she was. “I can totally see you as an apocalypse soldier. As for me, I’d totally be a scavenger. I’m ready to run for my life and steal shit to survive. You be the muscle, I’ll get us provisions. Sounds good?”

She flopped on the grass, relishing the slight cool feeling on her legs. Squinting up at Nico, she nodded. “It sucks, because I hate being indoors but this heat makes it bad to be outside. So I’m kinda hoping the hellfire dies down a little so I can hang here before going back to the dungeon.” She started braiding some pieces of weed she plucked from the field, “So, how did the lockdown treat you? Where did they keep you prisoner?”

[onesmolpaul]

nicodigiovanni‌:

@onesmolpaul

Nico was alone at the field, now it wasn’t totally a rare sight as the young man tended to push himself hard with training and frequently ended up as the last one to leave after practice or to even go alone to blow off steam. Generally though, he would not be alone, he would drag along Chris maybe, fuck if he was desperate he would even train with Damian, they weren’t exactly friends, but at least they had that dedication in common and of course Ella, but well… He didn’t actually felt like having company these last few days. 

He had trying smoking away his problems, truth was, while it had worked at first, it felt… it felt weak. He wasn’t a guy who runs away from his problems, that was for the losers that he sold his shit to, not for him. In fact, sure weed relaxed him, but the idea of smoking alone he was pretty much just depressing. At least by training he was using something actually useful. Right? 

It was almost dusk though and he was getting tired, he had ditched his shirt as it was hot as fuck and if anyone had anything to say about that it was their problem not his. Still he was about to gather his things when he heard footsteps getting closer.

Sixteen years and Paul still wasn’t sure how she felt about heat. Sure, she liked shorts weather and any kind of climatic conditions that would make it acceptable for somebody to play with a hose. Or water balloons. Or a pool if there was one. And you couldn’t forget water guns. But Paul guessed she liked everything within reasonable measure. Winters that wouldn’t freeze you to death and summers that wouldn’t fry you after two seconds out in the sun. Massachusetts of course, had both of those extremes. It felt like reasonable weather had lasted like two weeks. And uniforms felt inhumane to wear, the expensive, preppy fabric adding a billion degrees to the already sweltering heat. It was so bad that Paul had dug out her almost brand new skirts from the back of her closet. They were uncomfortable to run in, but lifesavers now. 

Refusing to miss the cooling sunset breeze, Paul had wandered out into the field. For once, not running. She wanted to lay down on the grass and just chill out for a bit. She spotted a familiar person and approached them. “’Sup, DiGiovanni. Trying to die out here in this atomic summer of hellish doom?”

[corvigae]

Me, jumping from one hyperfixation to the next:

[onesmolpaul]

ecllas‌:

@onesmolpaul

As much as Paul told Ella that science was fun and exciting and cool, Ella couldn’t see anything that was even remotely fascinating about chemistry. Sure, explosions were cool enough, but for how long it took chemistry to get exciting, the build-up just didn’t feel worth it. She wished she could just let Paul do all the grunt work she found so interesting and stick around for the fun parts. Like conducting experiments and watching solutions fizzle over. But that would be shitty. Plus, she’d asked Paul for help. The least she could do was at least try and be an apt protege. The keyword being try. “So W stands for…Tungsten?” she blew out a breath of air through her lips and dropped her cheek into her hand. “That just feels like a trick,” Ella tried to flash Paul a playful smile as she scrawled the element down on a notecard, but it was hard not to feel a little stressed out. She was supposed to have the table memorized weeks ago and she was still screwing it up. It wasn’t even for lack of trying. She’d spent hours studying ( or at least trying to stay focused on her studying ) and she still confused Zirconium and Xenon, let alone how many protons were in the nucleus of an atom or how to solve the equations in her pre-lab.

“How do you even remember all this stuff?” Ella asked. It was impressive that anyone could keep all the steps straight or remember the charge of an element with ease. There would be times where she’d try her hardest to pay attention in class, color coding her notes and minimizing the doodles and fragmented scraps of poetry clustered in her margins, and she’d still walk out of class without remembering a single thing that came out of Dr. Bernard’s mouth. “Don’t get me wrong, it’s crazy cool that you can, but how does it not drive you crazy?”

Paul was surrounded by paper cranes and other amorphous creations made with notecards and post-its she had been stealing from Ella (and from the library). She just had to keep her hands occupied or else her brain just wouldn’t work. And then her friend would most definitely not pass her Chemistry tests. And she herself would most likely not be in an institution as Broadripple Academy. She was sure that at some point during her admissions interview she had said something along the lines of “...Running and science, is all I got going for me.” But then she put her money with her mouth was, and voilá. With her tie wrapped haphazardly around her neck like a scarf and hair as tussled as she helped her friend study. Plus, the whole tutoring thing was making her own academic level raise higher and higher, to the point where she could teach upperclassmen things that her year hadn’t even started covering. But it was the effort it took to maybe score herself a full scholarship to a good university she’d never be able to afford in her current situation as ward of the state. It always came down to that. She nodded, flicking the crane aside. “Yes, W. Oh, it’s a mess and it makes things harder than they’re supposed to be. But the W stands for wolfram which I think was tungsten’s original name? Who in their right mind changes an element’s name from something awesome like wolfram to freaking tungsten, amirite?” She blew out a dramatic breath, “Maybe knowing what the W stands for will help you remember it’s lame-ass tungsten, El. And if it does then we can go over all the tricky ones like lead which is Pb because its name in Latin is plumbus. Which just sounds like another useless organ like the appendix.”

She shrugged, “I’m a huge nerd, so I guess remembering stuff comes from like actually wanting to, not having to. Like how people remember all the names and plots of their favorite movies and shows. I barely remember what I had for breakfast this morning but I remember fucking plumbus.” She chuckled, taking another piece of paper, “But it’s doable. I believe in you. We can come up with the perfect mnemonic device, you’re crazy smart, Ella.”

[onesmolpaul]

kitsnovak‌:

“hell. yes.” god, kit was so ready. he’d be scared of looking like a total dork, if he didn’t already know how much of a dork paul herself was. he was silent for a moment as he tried to get the hang of the game, but he died within about thirty seconds. still, it was a very nostalgic thirty seconds. “well that was anticlimactic,” he joked, but still started another game. fuck, this was addictive. 

kit scoffed, not looking up from her phone. “yeah, but if they picked on someone their own size, they might end up losing, and i don’t think their fucking egos could take it.” plus, he knew it wasn’t just teenage aggression that made people like nico do what they did. it was the fact that people like him could justify tormenting people like kit, because society had repeated, over and over, that people like kit were less worthy of respect, of basic human decency. on some level, kit was dehumanized, and that was a pretty scary thought. 

he looked up at her as she spoke, and given his thought process, paul’s anger was… comforting. even if kit didn’t want it to go anywhere. when he realized she was staring at his wrists, he pulled his sleeve back down. “i don’t want you to get mixed up in all this,” kit insisted. he’d just needed to tell somebody, maybe have a good laugh about it. paul making a big deal out of it only made it seem… worse. like he couldn’t deny how actually awful it was. “and- and besides, if they find out you were retaliating for my sake, i might get in worse shit for it.” kit may have been a privileged boy from an incredibly rural state, but even he knew that snitches got stitches. 

Paul leaned against Kit, watching as he played the game. “Dude, how are you so excited about this thing? I’m sure the iPhone Galaxy 1000 has something that remotely resembles Snake?” 

The sophomore’s expression was turning more and more sour by the second, muscles clenched in repressed anger. “So, then what? You’re supposed to take it so their egos can be appeased? I think not, Kit.” She sighed, feeling like a hypocrite for all the times she had chosen to hide instead of sticking up for herself or others. “If the dumb nuns spent a little less time losing it over us knowing the freaking Exodus and more time worrying over not raising Catholic assholes...” She clenched and unclenched her fists.

She looked away from the reddened skin. “Listen, I get it. Okay? I grew up dumpster diving and being a drug mule to earn my dinner. I know a thing or two about codes of honor and talking to bros. I got a good rapport with the jocks, just...” She gulped, her voice softening. “Let me help.”

[onesmolpaul]

jacerhawthorne‌:

Jace’s brows furrowed and he nodded earnestly at the idea that they should be allowed to pick. A wince and another nod signified his agreement and how difficult it was to think about the horrible people foster homes could have. One of his first had been terrible but the woman had fortunately been found out before he was there very long. Jace, for all intents and purposes, had been a very lucky system kid and he was well aware of it. 

He smiled at her as she chuckled, but felt a little sheepish at the way she had worded it. It made it seem like she was not a success story and he knew that could not be easy. “I got really lucky,” he admitted again. “In the system anyway.” No child was ever lucky to have lost the chance to have their parents. Jace wasn’t exactly keen on getting into what had happened to his parents but, as much as he loved the Hawthornes, he had never stopped feeling regretful for what had happened to the Ri’s.

“I’m Jace,” he introduced himself with a smile after she did. “Hey, well… it’s only a matter of time before you get to kick it independently, free from the system, right? It’d be… It’d be really cool if I could introduce you to my family though. We’re all former foster care kids except the youngest, even our parents. My dad actually never got adopted before he turned 18 so he knows how it’s like.” He cleared his throat. “Anyway, yeah, it was pretty weird seeing her again but a really good weird. She’s great. And foster kids gotta stick together I think.”

Paul smiled softly at him. After so much time, the jealousy would wear off. Sure, it was still present whenever one of her friends got “whisked” away by a family. But it was mostly a sense of quiet resignation, a tight-lipped smile, a desperate hug and a promise to write. If anything, after a decade of being returned like a faulty gift, Paul vowed to never see them again. Because she had that skip in her step, but it was all thanks to her own efforts of staying positive. There had been times when looking at herself in the mirror showed almost no glow left in her own eyes. “That’s good, man. Really good. I’m happy for you. ‘S always good to find ones that got away.” Another bite of cake. “You from Massachusetts?”

“Nice to meet you, Jace. That’s a cool name.” The sophomore tried to ignore the knot that kept inflating and deflating in her throat. Things had surely escalated quickly. Paul had been alone most of her life, the thought of turning 18 and being now legally alone felt terrifying. She didn’t want that. The thought made her freak out. Her eyes widened a little, “A family of success stories? Dude, that’s so cool.” She felt herself blush and she had to look down at her lap, “I assume your dad’s doing okay? ‘Cuz... Y’know, that’s... That’s motivating.” She nodded eagerly, “For sure. I just didn’t think there were many of us around here.”

[onesmolpaul]

nicodigiovanni‌:

Domenico grinned as she tried to snatch their makeshift ball, keeping it under control for the first few moments, his smile died just a little when the much more agile and likely a lot less high Pauline did in fact manage to snatch it from him. Quite easily all things considered. Now it in a real game, well Nico would have likely done his best to get it back, maybe even commit a foul if he knew that the referee wasn’t watching, but well that day the two were just having fun.

Instead, the young man chuckled. “She has almost saved the game, but look, what is going on?” He narrated again, he turned and make an attempt to grab back the pinecone, but it was all a feint, instead, Nico playfully snatched Paul herself and begun tickling her. “Di Giovanni is doing an incredible foul, ladies and gentleman.” He grinned, not before taking a deep breath, now usually this kind of exchange wasn’t going to be enough to make him even barely winded, but well there was always the too much booze issue…

He laughed for a few more moments before dropping his embrace. “So looks like you are the MVP.” He grinned at her.

 “Anyway, what are you doing outside? Not much of a party type?”

Paul was a little caught up in her dribbling, tongue poking out in concentration when the narration on Nico’s account changed unexpectedly and she looked up in confusion, trying to figure out what was happening. “Huh?” she exclaimed, pausing with a leg mid-air, preparing for a kick, when a pair of strong arms swiped her effortlessly from the ground. She squealed and started laughing as he started tickling her, trying to catch her breath. “Fuck, nooo... DiGiovanni, put me down!” She kicked playfully, trying to regain her ground. “Biggest foul... He’s gonna get banned from ever even seeing sunlight ever again! “

As she was put back on the ground, she shook her messy hair out and chuckled once more.  “You’re crazy, man. And yes, I’m always the MVP.“

She shrugged,  “Eh, there’s so much fun you can have when you don’t drink and everyone else is shitfaced. What about you, dude?“

[onesmolpaul]

jacerhawthorne‌:

Jace laughed, a genuine laugh. “No, no, trust me, they want a kid who’s social, happy and isn’t quiet and hiding alone in rooms ninety percent of the time they want to get to know him. Plus, energetic puppies are fun puppies.” He grinned. “But okay, to be fair, I understand.” Jace pursed his lips and shrugged. “Can’t be easy for any of us…. It takes a lot for people to find family. Everyone involved has to like each other. I was just really lucky the Hawthornes are amazing and took a chance on the weird, quiet kid. I’ve been with them since I was 7.”

“— I still remember the system though. In fact. I was in it with someone else at school.” He eyed the other curiously. “What about you?” Jace resisted the urge not to frown and look like he was about to be super sentimental and sympathetic to the other’s plights of foster care and adoption. He would be genuinely sympathetic, of course, but he’d always been far too afraid and awkward to ever really show the full extent of his emotions. Jace usually just wanted casual talks but when it came to orphans like them talking about their past, it wasn’t always so casual. Nonetheless, he knew he wanted to know more about the other student. Only orphans understood other orphans as well as they could.

Paul smiled sympathetically at the boy, understanding his plight. As he obviously put it, he was talking about himself and the proof was in the pudding: he had been adopted and Paul still hadn’t. “It sucks that they get to be picky, huh? We should pick them. God, the monsters that are allowed to foster sometimes... Like, please have a better filter for your applicants, government or whatever.” She nodded, “The system’s fucked. But I’m glad it’s not fucked up for all of us. Gotta love a success story. Especially from a fellow weirdo.” She added with a chuckle.

Her eyes widened, “You were in the system with someone from Broadripple? Like at a foster home or how? Are you friends? How weird is it? You don’t have to say any names, it’s just... I can’t imagine running into somebody like that here.” She rambled. God, it would be chaotic. And probably embarrassing. Other kids hadn’t really liked Paul growing up and finding them at Broadripple would surely be a nightmare. “Me? Uh...” without wanting it to happen, Paul’s shoulders slumped and her legs stopped kicking. “I guess I’m still on the market. Had some close calls but it didn’t work out in the end. I have to go spend two nights every month at the group home to check in and whatnot. I made it here because I’m good at Physics and at running,” she chuckled weakly, brushing a strand of hair behind her ear. “So that was cool. But no luck with the other thing, yet.” She cleared her throat, trying to chase the negative feelings out of her voice. “I’m Paul, by the way.” 

[onesmolpaul]

ofkatherinebishop‌:

Katherine thought about the formula for a moment. Two negatives make a positive but two wrongs didn’t make a right. She was evidently trying to process it all as she stalled for a moment or so, a pensive expression tugging at her features until she realized she was making a face. “I don’t think so,” she decided finally, if bad and bad made good, she was due for a whole lot of good in her life in her opinion but instead, she’d managed to vomit in the chapel and receive a stiff handshake from Damian after embarrassing herself in front of him. “It’s not like this is the first bad thing that’s happened all year,” she commented. She could come up with a whole list of her own personal tribulations if necessary but she was trying to stick to the common issues the student body had faced that semester, death and decay and all, “Has anything good happened?” she asked with a raised eyebrow as she attempted to come up with an answer for herself, “Bad smell- no, dead bear- no, the rabbit thing- that’s not good either, they shut down the farm, that’s shit,” she relayed one after the other without drawing breath in between. “Mmm, don’t think your formula checks out- unless we’re going to wake up to like, a free trip to Mallorca tomorrow to say sorry for putting you in sleeping bags you guys, hope you like tapas,” she shrugged her shoulders, fairly certain that would not be the case.

“What do you mean?” she asked curiously, had somebody else been causing trouble that night? She sat up a little, thinking about the comment as she filed through a mental catalogue of her classmates. She could only imagine what kind of trouble Dylan Thompson was getting himself into while their house captain, Sofie, was here in the Chapel monitoring the girls. Jay hadn’t mentioned anything however but then again, Jay’s definition of ‘trouble’ was very, very different to Katherine’s. 

Paul blew a dramatic sigh that ruffled her shaggy locks and shrugged in defeat, “Psh, you’ve got a point.” Because following the mathematical rule she had just pointed out, a bunch of goods also kept giving you goods. And sure, Paul wasn’t exactly and angel straight from heaven, but she was nowhere near a demon either and it would have been about time that all her goods gave her better goods. But maybe her better good was her acceptance into BA. Then it was honestly about damn time for some more good stuff. Not dead bears and power outages. She bit her lip anxiously as Sofie listed all the terrible things and grimaced, “Okay, just focusing on good juju from now on. Got it.” It was definitely worth a try. “You think there’s a good equivalent of turning the crosses upside down? To boost the good Catholic juju? Y’know, besides leaving them in their preferred, upright position.”

She shrugged again, hoping she had more information to share. Or any at all. “No, I mean... I feel like teachers should cut us some slack for the situation we’re in. And maybe they should focus on figuring out what the hell is happening in the school that they work at. Instead of policing us, y’know? I’m sure it’s only a matter of hours, if not minutes, before the parents start flipping out over their precious angels’ well being.”

[onesmolpaul]

3damianfitz‌:

In truth, Damian doesn’t enjoy disciplining members of his house. If possible, he’d prefer if they could just perform perfectly at every single occasion so that he’d never have to have a stern word with them ever. But that’s wishful thinking. Obviously. This tedious exchange has barely even begun and Damian already doesn’t like the way Paul seems even smaller than she normally does when she speaks to him.

“It’s…” Well, it’s not fine but it’s not as serious as it could be since the deed as been undone. “It’s fixed. So there’s no need to worry. If you could just… avoid,” is his word of choice, “doing things like that, especially right now, it would be really appreciated. A lot of people are unsettled enough.” Like Kat. “We wouldn’t to startle them further. Night’s hard enough as it is,” he explains kindly. He wouldn’t want to make a difficult evening even more miserable by giving Paul too much of a hard time.

“It was indeed… ‘sucky’ with terrible timing,” he quotes her, to show that he listens to what she says when she tells him things, “but at least you’re aware of that and the behavior has been put to rest before it could spiral into something worse.” He can’t imagine the mayhem Sofie would have to deal with if he’d left and the girls started noticing upside down crucifixes on the walls. That wouldn’t have been fun for her. Or any house captain having to deal with that type of situation. No matter, it’s been dealt with, and they can move on to more lighthearted things now.

“How are you?” Damian then asks, genuinely wanting to know. Paul is one of the younger ones of his house after all. He has a terrible time trying not to baby her. “The transfer from your dorm to the Chapel went alright? Do you have everything thing you need?”

Paul listens intently at his words, clinging to each one in preparation for anger or any kind of escalation. Yet, there’s none. Damian is as kind as ever, firm and reasonable. Because he’s nothing but right. She sags a tiny bit in relief as she finally looks up at him and he does not look mad. Or even disappointed, which would probably be worse. “Yes, chief. Absolutely,” she states eagerly. Because Paul Smith will not be a pain in her captain’s side. She can be mischievous but never to the point where it draws too much attention and jeopardizes the things she’s been working so hard on. i.e. her stay at BA. She fidgets with her hands, nodding along with his words. “Yeah, yeah... I didn’t mean to cause a panic. I just didn’t think. I have so much energy always and these chapel walls are so solid and it’s dumb but it feels cramped and it would be cool if somebody put tiny blindfolds on all the saints and stuff because I feel in some weird aquarium with all of them watching us.” She rambles some more, because she’s hella anxious.

The question makes her bounce where she stands a little bit more. It’s so weird when people ask about her wants or needs. When she knows she cares. So weird being a blip in someone else’s radar and not just the ward of the state street rat in the old pajamas. “I’m...” she scratches the back of her neck, “...wishing I could go outside and run a couple of laps? Or like offer my spot here to a member of the Sacristan Club because who wants to sleep in a church?” She cracks her knuckles, “I should have brought my hoodie but these sleeping bags look warm enough and did the girls who caused this even get to eat their paninis?” She bounced from topic to topic as her brain buzzed. “How about you? Will the captains even get some sleep tonight? Do you have privileged intel on this mess? Can you tell me? I’m the best secret keeper you’ll ever meet.”

[onesmolpaul]

nicodigiovanni‌:

Inside was getting f*cking hot. With all the students packed in, the alcohol, the dancing and other shenanigans, Domenico had  decided that he needed a breath of fresh air before he could go back to the festivities.

He grinned when Pauline threw him the pinecone as if it was a soccer ball.

“Season top scorer Di Giovanni with the ball!” He shouted playfully, like if he was doing the part of a match’s commentator

He brought the makeshift balls with him with a few kicks, now of course Nico was high, but it was not like he was too drunk to forget how to play his favourite game. “Di Giovanni is headed toward the goal box!” He progressed his commentary and gave another short kick and brought the ‘ball’ close to Pauline, but still in his control. “He is ready to kick, but Smith is there to intercept him.” He smirked and playfully challenged the girl to steal the pinecone.

Paul rolled her eyes yet played along, running along their new imaginary soccer court. “Top scorer my ass,” she muttered playfully. She sprinted dramatically up to the older boy, pretending to shoulder-check and dodge nonexistent rivals. “Smith has had her sight set on him the whole match, she knows he can be a force to be reckoned with...” She managed to sneak under his arm, swiftly stealing the pinecone yet stumbling a little. “Classic David and Goliath move, Smith has turned the match around. Anything could happen next!” She yells through a chuckle, now narrating the game herself and dribbling the “ball” from foot to foot, waiting for Nico.

[onesmolpaul]

jacerhawthorne‌:

Jace was still unsure whether or not to trust the other’s judgement so he just offered a sheepish smile and nod in return for her reassurances. No matter how generally nice she seemed, she was also still too energetic and reckless looking than was good for his nervous disposition. It was therefore the fact that she claimed she didn’t drink or smoke that surprised him quite a lot. He swore he’d seen her dancing like a lunatic only a few minutes before and had immediately assumed she was just as inebriated as the rest of them. Jace started to consider the fact maybe he was jumping to conclusions too quickly.

The consideration became all the more potent when he was struck with bias at the mention of a social worker. That was definitely something that Jace could relate to and immediately made him feel more trusting. Or, at the very least, open and friendly. He smiled. “I haven’t seen my old social worker in ages but she used to tell me sorta the opposite. She’d say people would always like my ‘quiet and calm nature…’ Honestly, I just think she’d just wanted to make me feel better that in the beginning my adoptive parents were disappointed they didn’t feel like they were connecting with me.”

Paul almost choked on her cake at the admission of another BA soul having a social worker. She knew there were surely others like her but the school was such an alien place most of the time that she tended to forget that they weren’t all just walking around with their secrets and backstories proudly displayed for the world to see. 

She took a tiny step closer to him, to hear him better and there was already excitement running through her veins like when she had been first introduced to Louisa and found out the things they had in common. She chuckled lightly, “I swear, there has to be a Bullshit 101 class in the Social Work major in college. That’s why they all say all that crap.” She cleared a spot on the table to hop on and sit next to where he was standing. “But your social was kinda right. It’s fucked up but I feel like we’re always judged like puppies. People always want the calm ones...” She pointed at him, “...And don’t want the crazy ones.” And she pointed towards herself, a slightly bitter tone peeking out in her voice.

[onesmolpaul]

kitsnovak‌:

kit shot paul a grin, settling next to her on the tree stump. “holy shit, is that snake? fuck yeah.” paul was the only person he knew that still had a phone that ancient, and it was kind of incredible. kit used to play snake on his mom’s phone when they were waiting at the doctor’s office; he couldn’t find the game anywhere anymore. except, apparently, on paul’s phone. 

that grin turned to a grimace at her comment. “yeah…” he muttered, debating whether or not to actually tell paul what happened to him. if there was anyone at this party who looked like a living scarecrow, it was easily kit. unconsciously, he pushed his sleeves up, revealing the red rope burn on his pale wrists. 

“pretty sure i was the, uh, the tribute,” kit said, unable to think of the word. “it wasn’t the lacrosse team, though, which. thank god.” alex was on the lacrosse team, and kit knew that, if he had been the one to tie him up, he never would have been able to escape. also, he was quite glad it wasn’t paul; if nico could hang him up that high, kit didn’t even want to think about where someone as small as her would end up. 

“Yessir! In the digital flesh,” Paul piped back at Kit, scooting over on the tree stump so he could sit. “Knock yourself out, this thing only needs to be charged every three to five years,” she added, handing her phone over to him.

“I swear I will never understand,” she said with a huff, shaking out her unruly mane, “It would be a thousand times more fun if they messed with someone their own size and...” She trailed off, having looked down at Kit’s exposed skin, noticing the unmistakeable marks and not really hearing him admitting the truth anymore. Immediately, she shot off the stump, looking at her friend incredulously, “What the fuck, Kit? It was you? The kid on the pole?” Small fists clenched in anger as she tried to process the injustice. “Who was it? I swear to whoever we’re supposed to worship in this school, I will end them. Are they runners? Swimmers? They will wake up with no eyebrows and a hell of a rash, just tell me who they were.”