all that and a bag of chips

Awesome gymnast with the added ability to phase through solid objects.

[phasesofcourtney]

Asking a Friend // Courtney & Dex

[phasesofcourtney]

ampedupdex:

Breakfast after noon was one of Dex’s favorite things, it was stress free, easy time with his bro Dillon, and his only concern was landing a marshmallow in. With each one poised on his thumb he would flick it upwards, towards , but they both kept missing every time. Dillon said something about doing a better job of throwing. “Do a better job of catching?” he flicked another marshmallow, and- although it nearly made it, there was still no score.

Out of nowhere, Dillon, looking like he was having a spazz attack with his head, decided to again be the loudest person in the room. Big surprise, His brows knit together and he blocked one of his ears, “Yeah, okay, whatever.” Maybe while Dillon was gone Dex would actually eat instead of playing with his food. Although he knew that wouldn’t happen he still fancied the thought.

A voice startled him as he was taking a bite, food splattering across his face. He wiped his hand across his face, tuning to face who he knew would be Courtney. He had the urge to smile, beam as brightly as he could,  as he usually did when he was around her– but he wouldn’t let tat happen. Suppress it, don’t look like a doofus, just don’t- don’t even wince.  “Heeeeeeeeey….C-court”Okay well, you still looked and sounded like a doofus, so good job I guess. “Good morn- afternoon? Yeah, that.” You are so good at this. “What’s up?”

Courtney smiled at Dex, trying not to see like anything was up. She wanted to seem like the topic came up in normal conversation. She didn’t want it to be too obvious that she had been planing this all week. To start things off, she started a casual conversation. She asked him about his day, how classes and homework were going. She listened closely as she talked, made sure she had open and receptive body language. She wanted him to know she was interested and listening. Patience was key

But Courtney never could wait for anything. 

During a very brief silence between Dex’s talking, Courtney couldn’t hold it in any longer. The anticipation was killing her. 

“Dex, I have something to ask you!” Courtney stood up, hands firmly on the table as she spoke. All of the confidence she had in the mirror this morning suddenly dissipated and there were only nerves. In a flash, the whole world moved and Courtney was falling. Her hands went straight through the table followed by the rest of her body. As her faced phased through, she gasped and was able to materialize before she fell through the floor completely. Unfortunately, that ment she fell face first into the tile of the cafeteria. The stinging pain was quickly taken over by embarrassment. She tried to keep herself calm before she started to cry and lost even more control. 

[phasesofcourtney]

Early to Rise // Courtney and Jaina

[shockfullofwaves]

Jaina fumbled, but managed to hold all the books. Studying was dumb, studying was a huge problem, and studying was especially inconvenient when you were supposed to be snoozing the morning away because it’s a weekend. “Court–” Jaina was about to launch into another complaint, but it turned out that a million and one things happened in the few moments that Jaina retreated into her head. 

Well, that was a guess, since she had only caught a flash of movement, and then Courtney was holding back tears. 

In a panic, Jaina dropped the books and went to her friend, very visibly uncomfortable. “He? Who–” Oh, right. “I’m–he so didn’t. Right? Like, who–” but there was no consoling Courtney, and Jaina knew that they were going to die. Die, of course, meant get caught, but it felt a lot more like an actual death sentence. “He–probably forgot how to see, so it’s fine, who cares–wait, wait whoa–” Jaina peeked and saw Dillon there as well, a big smile plastering itself on her face.

“Oh man, this is gunna get crazy.” She waved wildly before before losing her balance (she’d been standing on the books,) and tripping right onto Courtney. “Crap–” she rubbed her bottom. If River and Cybil didn’t already know, then Jaina swore they would now. “God, Court, be quiet, what the heck…” she told her friend, wincing a little as she moved off of her. “Don’t cry, this was your idea.’

[phasesofcourtney]

Courtney, with tears streaking down her face, gave Jaina a nasty look. “No! This wasn’t my idea! I wanted to study!” She snapped at her friend. Normally, Courtney didn’t use harsh language and wouldn’t use that tone with anyone but she was frustrated and embarrassed. She whipped her face and stood up quickly and gracefully. She grabbed Jaina’s hand and pulled her to her feet.

She peeked back around the corner and saw that Cybil and Henry were started to get up. “We need to go.” She said. While she was very curious where they were going and wanted to keep following, Henry could probably hear them. 

She put her hands on her cheeks and tried to calm down. She wanted going to be able to look at Dex for at least a month, maybe more. “All i wanted to do was study.” Her eyes started to fog again and she started to breath heavier. “I didn’t want this to happen.”

 She was terrified that Cybil would think that this was her intention and that it would rune their friendship. Cybil and Jaina where like, her best friends, and she didn’t know what she would do if one of them hated her. 

[phasesofcourtney]

Asking a Friend // Courtney & Dex

It was mid day and Courtney stood in front of the bathroom mirror, turning side to side, making sure the outfit she had picked out was good. After a big smile, she frowned, grabbed the hem of her shirt and pulled it off. She threw it onto the pile of rejected outfits that she had already gone through. None of them were good enough! They were too frilly or too flashy! She needed something cute but casual, but not too comfortable looking that she looked like she was going to lounge about all day. It needed to be perfect. 

For a moment, she thought about rummaging through Jaina’s top, try and find a nerdy shirt to wear, but she decided against it. If this was going to work, she needed to be herself. She had seen all the movies and knew bad things happened when it all starts out with a lie. And besides. He knew her. He knew she wasn’t into all of that stuff, so it wouldn’t work out.

Finally, she settled on a light pink top and nice, black skiny jeans. She looked nice enough for the occasion, but casual enough that it didn’t seem too try hard. And the top had small, cute skulls on them which she figured would work in her favor. 

It was a weekend so the cafeteria wasn’t too busy, so she spotted Dillon and Dex almost instant. Of course, Dillon had Dex trying to throw Marshmallows into his mouth and he missed almost every one. Boys. Courtney sighed and got behind Dex so Dillon could see. She motioned for him to leave and it took a few head jerks, but finally the light bulb went off. He told Dex, rather loudly, he had to use the bathroom and he left. 

After a few moments of breathing exercises and quiet words of encouragement to herself, she walked up to Dex and sat across from him. “Hi Dex!” She smiled wide, like normal. Everything was normal. Nothing out of the ordinary here!   

[phasesofcourtney]

Early to Rise // Courtney and Jaina

[shockfullofwaves]

Life really wasn’t fair, but Jaina had to learn to deal with it anyway. Amidst Courtney’s amiable chatting, Jaina fought an oncoming headache and just did as she was told. Her movements were slow and sluggish and her responses had reverted to grunts and moans, as the tiredness caught up with her after that burst of energy that gave her the ability to make jokes. So much for fun, she thought.

After being dressed up by her roommate, she followed her. Jaina didn’t really remember ever arriving at the library, but it must’ve happened somehow because before she knew it, she was there, looking for books by Courtney’s side.

There was a thump, some voices, and Jaina moved just as Courtney did, to see what was going on. She gasped at the sight, ducking under the shelves for cover. “You brought me to spy on them, didn’t you?” She hissed, narrowing her eyes at Courtney. “I shoulda known.”

[phasesofcourtney]

Courtney’s eyes widened and she shook her head feverishly. “No I swear this wasn’t my intention!” She whispered loudly and harshly. She didn’t mean to stumble upon them. She knew it looked back because well, Courtney liked to check up on her friends a lot, make sure they were doing okay. Part of her was happy this happened but most of her was upset that Jaina thought that and that her foot was still stuck. 

“Just hold these!” She shoved the books into Jaina’s hand, flustered. She used both of her hands to assist her foot out of the Floor. She then fell foward, but thanks to her gymnastics training, she was able to catch herself quietly, not attracting Henry or Cybil’s attention. When she looked up, she locked eyes with Someone across the Selves. It was Dex. Her fave turned bright red and she quickly scurried back behind the book shelves and held her face. 

“Oh my god he saw me fall!” She whimpered, getting ready to cry. She didn’t even have time to process the fact that Dex and possibly Dillon were spying on Henry and Cybil. Only sheer embarrassment washed over her. “Jaina he saw me fall.” She started to breath heavily and tried not to start to sob. 

[phasesofcourtney]

Early to Rise // Courtney and Jaina

[shockfullofwaves]

Courtney knew the morning routine well enough. Before Jaina noticed, her friend snatched away her glasses, cleaned the lens, and they were back on her face before she could curse in Klingon. “Yeah, yeah,” she muttered, sitting up. It was always different. One day it was yoga, the other day it was pilates, the last few weekends it was Courtney getting her bag stuck in the door.

“Not this one, I want the R2D2 one–” but with a look from Courtney she quickly knew that she was not allowed to wear the shirt one more time. “Whatever,” she said gruffly, taking off the sleep shirt and putting on the plain green tee while Courtney’s back was turned.

“Who cares who is at the library? Or where the other two are?” Jaina yawned and absentmindedly began picking in between her toes. “Like I said, weekends are for sleeping. Doesn’t matter if it isn’t healthy. I’m a self-proclaimed doctor and right now I’m saying that it is healthy. Screw the M.D.s!”

[phasesofcourtney]

Courtney smiled at her in a nice clean shirt that she personally thought looked great on her! She got her and Jaina’s books together. “You Missy are not a doctor! You are a student here at Huxley Academy and you have a project due soon so chop chop!” She clapped twice and helped Jaina off the bed. 

She got them ready quickly and scurried off to the Library. Courtney was going through the books, picking stuff out for both her and Jaina when she heard a dull thump coming from the tables behind the bookshelf they were at. She peeked her head out and saw Henry flat on his back. She gasped and went to help, but her foot got caught in the floor. 

“Oh darn.” she whispered, trying to get her food free. 

[phasesofcourtney]

Early to Rise // Courtney and Jaina

[shockfullofwaves]

Jaina was pretty sure she’d died and went to hell. First of all, it was bright, and even if heaven had a monopoly on the whole bright-thing, this was terrible. Secondly, it was hot. It was quickly getting sticky and she was getting sweaty and seriously, only Satan would wish such a fate on an innocent human being. That, or, well–ah, there we go, Jaina thought. Satan, or Courtney.

The sounds of One Direction’s warbling filled the room and Jaina was pretty sure it had to be enchanted with some sort of magic, because no matter how much crap she piled on her head to drown out the music, it came through clearly.

Jaina hurled everyone off of her body and yelled for Courtney to turn everything off. “What the hell, man?” She screamed, rubbing her temples. The music was finally shut off and the fan was turned back on and Jaina was finally back on Earth instead of some godforsaken realm where demons ran free and liked to torture people. Oh, wait–Jaina glared at Courtney. “It’s a weekend, Court. What did we say about weekends?”

[phasesofcourtney]

“They are for sleeping, I knnoooow.” Courtney sighed, grabbing Jaina’s classes and cleaning them since they were always dirty, and then handing them to her. “But this is different!” 

She started ti rummage though Jaina’s clothes and threw her a few clean things should could wear. There was no way she was going to wear that same tee-shirt three days in a row.

“Cybil and Henry are already at the Library and Mr.’s Barton and Xander are no where to be found!” She looked at the clock and huffed again. They had already wasted so much time. “We need to go and not sleep all day. It’s really not healthy to sleep this much Jay!” 

[phasesofcourtney]

Early to Rise // Courtney and Jaina

[shockfullofwaves]

Jaina loved sleep. It was a fun and relaxing pass-time. Sometimes she could dream, other times she just rested, but all the time–she drooled. But–she did not care. Who cared? She was resting. She was in a blissful state of–Jaina groaned and swatted at whatever was poking at her face. She turned over, and continued her thoughts. A blissful state of dreamland where–now, there was a voice. Once more, she rolled over and finished the move with a rather sophisticated secret attack: putting her pillow over her head.

But, this did not stop her attacker. No, they just kept on. Jaina was sure this was death.

She breathed in deep and snored loudly, sitting up quickly and almost hitting her head on the ceiling. Jaina’s eyes opened one at a time and she wiped the saliva off of her face with the back of her arm, snorting again and sucking in the run off from the night. “Wh…” Words did not properly exist so close to her wakening. 

Jaina rubbed her eyes and motioned for her glasses, them being thankfully handed to her. She put them on and the first thing she looked to was the clock. “No,” she said, and promptly fell back into bed and pulled her blanket over her head.

[phasesofcourtney]

Courtney huffed and made a face.

“Jaina!” She whined and shook her some more. She honestly didn’t know how she was still tired. She felt that Jaina had already wasted so much of the day and as her friend, she wouldn’t let her waste more.

“I don’t want to have to do this.” She warned her and when Jaina didn’t move, she moved into more advanced tactics. The lights were flicked on, the curtains were pulled wide open and the fan was turned off. There was no way that Jaina was going to sleep in and miss out on a great study opportunity.

“We have to go to the library and start our projects. The faster we get them done, the less we have to worry about them okay? Come on!” She went over to the radio, plugged in her phone and started to play One Direction, hoping the “Annoying Her Awake” method would work.

[phasesofcourtney]

Early to Rise // Courtney and Jaina

To Courtney, the morning was already half over. It was dawning on ten o’clock and she felt like she hadn’t done anything all day. Cybil was studying and Dex wasn’t anywhere to be found. Being completely unproductive put Courtney on edge and she had to start doing something soon or she’d start accidentally phasing though things. She couldn’t think of anything to do alone so she figured she’d wake Jaina and they would get a head start on their project. Although she knew she wouldn’t be too happy about it, she gently shook Jaina awake. 

“Jaaaainaaa.” She whispered, nudging her. “Wakey, wakey.” she spoke a little louder and nudged a little harder, poking her cheek and overall annoying her awake. “How can you sleep this late? The day is almost over.” 

[maelstromborn]

Courtney nodded along as Jaina spoke, only ever interjecting with minor questions here and here,”There’s no age requirement to be RA?” well, if the dorms went floor equaled grade, Cybil figured no, but it didn’t hurt to ask- and it isn’t as if she would want o be either way, she would like to at least start with roommates. Cybil had more questions to ask, but there was no reason to start an interrogation with Jaina.

Cybil almost felt as though Courtney would bounce away, but her laughter was infectious and soon enough she was giggling too “Oh! That’s a great idea we totally should!” They had given us a tour, if that, earlier on in the week, but it would be much more fun to explore it on their own. “I thought I had seen a little area by the fountain, we could start there!” She turned to Jaina, “You know whats there? Oh wait- dont tell me, it should be a surprise, shouldn’t it?”

[shockfullofwaves]

Jaina didn’t get a chance to answer any question through all the back-and-forth chatter between the other two girls. It was like a tennis match, Jaina’s head whipped from Cybil to Courtney and back again to see the shot right back towards the other girl. She was grinning, and Jaina felt a small spark of hope (at least, she was really gunning for it being hope and not her starting to spark up a storm,) within her–maybe the two girls would be her friends–maybe they’d even be best friends.

“We could explore,” she nodded enthusiastically. Jaina knew her way around, and she was eager to give her possible new friends the exclusive backstage tour around The Real Huxley Academy. “Girls, girls–I’ll show you things you wish you hadn’t seen. Coach Bertucci has these gross bunions–I’ve gotten good money from people wanting to see that freak show…”

[phasesofcourtney]

Courtney made a face at Jaina’s comment. The last thing she needed to see was the gym teacher’s feet. “I think I’ll pass on that one.” She giggled, knowing that Jaina was mostly joking. “But let me know how it goes.” 

With all the talk of exploring and looking around started to really excite Courtney that she almost couldn't contain it. 

“Lets go now! We don’t have much to do for the next hour or so, how about we look around?” She asked. She wanted to grab them and run around, but with how new they were with each other and how unpredictable their powers were, it could go very wrong. She started to bounce on the balls of her feet a bit, keeping herself as contained as she could. 

[maelstromborn]

Jaina and Courtney’s presence were reinforcing what the latter was saying. Not being alone. That sounded lovely. “Yeah, we’re supposed to be getting room assignments later today I believe, and then moving in the rest of the week.” Cybil was already tired of the large room, this was already a big change for her and she didn’t want to keep moving around.

“It’s, what is it again? Rooms of two?” She was pretty sure it as two, but still made a point to sound inquisitive. “You’re already in your room assignment right?” She followed up Courtney’s question with one of her own. 

[shockfullofwaves]

“Huh? What–” the two other girls were asking too many questions for Jaina to keep up, but she sort of liked the attention. She, so far, had no friends. And sure, that was mostly–definitely–her own fault. But still! Jaina smirked licked her lips before finally answering the two blondes: “Uh, no I don’t got a roomie yet,” she told them. “Rooms of two, sometimes three depending…” She scrunched up her nose and held out a hand, counting off of her hand.

“If you wanna be an RA, you get to be by yourself, which I hear is pretty cool?” Jaina counted on her second finger, “Two roommates, bed on each side, unless you’re three, then its a bunk and a top bed whatever thing? Yeah.” Jaina paused. “Uhhh… Floor for each kinda age. General curfew thing… Uhm…” She’d never really been allowed to talk for so long she was a little freaked out by it.

[phasesofcourtney]

Courtney nodded as Cybil spoke, thinking about how her questions were so great. This school was defiantly for the best and the brightest! Her head bounced back and forth as they talked. She hung on Jaina’s every word, soaking in the information about the school and rooming, despite to start soon. She hoped that one of these lovey ladies were going to be her roommate. 

“Oh man, I’m so excited!” She almost started to jump up and down but had to take a breath and clam herself. “I mean, it’s going to be really nice here. After we actually settled in we should explore the school a bit.” She smiled, giving Jaina a light touch on the shoulder, “I know you've been here a while but you can pretend!” 

[maelstromborn]

Cybil had simply nodded to Jaina’s statement, nodding as Courtney came and sat next to them. Cybil couldn’t help but be surprised at the compliment. “Oh! Thanks! I do think yours is pretty cool tho!” Really, it could in handy and it at least seemed more manageable. 

The session was soon over that they were free to do as they please u[ until the next one started. Cybil, quick on not being alone, decided to stick with the girls she sat next to. Courtney and Jaina. “That was- not what I was expecting,” but then again, none of this was.

[shockfullofwaves]

Life was wierd, like all the time, Jaina thought. Actually, she was pretty damn sure. Though she’d known that people like her and her classmates existed, it was a different thing to be pushed away from what she used to think was ‘normalcy’ and shoved into a school to learn to–learn to what, exactly? Jaina smiled at the girls beside her, “Not at all, really,” Jaina muttered lowly, just so the two blondes could hear her.

She stood up and dusted off her sweats, “Knowing you’re not alone, though,” she said, mostly to yourself. “Kiiiinda frickin’ sweet, though,” Jaina tucked a lock of her hair back behind her ear, and looked to the blondes. “You guys still in the big, room thing? No real rooms yet, right?” She felt as if her tone of voice was awkward–Jaina was not good at making friends, but everyone had to start somewhere, right?

[phasesofcourtney]

Courtney smiled at the two girls she hoped to call her friends soon. They both seemed really nice and just as lost as she was. The brunet, Jaina, was right, Knowing she wasn’t alone in this big, scary fight to control this weird powers was comforting. Her parents had been very supportive but she still couldn’t help but feel like a freak around them. Here, everyone was a little freaky. 

“Yeah, i wish they would just put us in a room already. I’m really excited to meet my roommate!” she said, trying not to get too excited, remembering what happened the last time she got too excited. “What about you?” She asked Jaina. She had recognized Cybil but Jaina was a new face. 

[maelstromborn]

Cybil shot Jaina an apologetic smile. She felt bad for getting her in trouble, especially when all Jaina was doing was comforting her. What Jaina said did make sense, so it did help, if only a little. She turned back avoiding eye contact with the teacher, (as she could already feel her glare) focusing her attention on whoever was up next.

It was a girl, short and blonde and acrobatic it seemed. While her twirls were impressive on their own it was what she did to the dummy that was amazing. She seemed to just pass through it, without ever touching it. Cybil’s mouth opened up in confusion before realizing what just happened. 

Oh man, why couldn’t Cybil do that, that seemed so much more useful, and it looked pretty cool to boost. Cybil held her head in her hands and pouted as the girl bowed and went back to her seat. She would probably have to get used to this feeling, the feeling of wanting someone else’s power over her own. Hopefully she wasn’t the only one. 

Cybil gave the girl, Courtney, that was the name they call out, a thumbs up and a smile as she rushed back to her seat. She then turned to Jaina with a look of fascination before catching herself. Cumon Cybil, everyone’s is here for a reason.

[shockfullofwaves]

It was terrible how many cool powers were housed under one roof. Granted, the roof probably was insured for a million dollars, and the rest of the house? Had to be more. For a second, as she watched Courtney, she wondered how this place could exist, how such a haven could be real, when there was so much going against people like them out in the world.

She, much like Cybil and seemingly like Courtney too, couldn’t control her powers. They were a mystery to her, they were powerful, and she was scared of them—scared of herself. Scared f what she was going to become. But—she put those thoughts aside, pushed them away and watched Courtney phase through the target dummy.

Jaina gasped and let out an appreciative laugh, clapping her hands once, loudly, to show how impressed she was. “Holy crud,” she stage-whispered to Cybil. “Cool. As. Shit.” Jaina told her, turning to the other blonde. Jaina was literally surrounded by people who were amazing in so many other ways than she was, and it sucked a little, but it also ruled.

[phasesofcourtney]

Courtney was getting looks and thumbs up and all these positive kudos. Part of her was loving the attention, but another part felt bad. She felt like a bit of a fraud, making it look like she knew what she was doing when in reality, she had no clue. She considered herself lucky for actually phasing. 

As she sat back down one girl turned to her ans told her her powers were cool. She could feel her face getting really red and she giggled like an idiot. She remembered her. She was one of the first to go and she though her powers were amazing.  “Not as cool as yours!” She spoke in the most quiet voice she could, but it was hard. She was nervous and excited. “I mean both of you are just so cool!” She looked back and forth between her and the blonde girl sitting next to her. 

[maelstromborn]

Cybil sat down slowly, keeping her hands close to her so as to not accidental do anything else. Maybe she wasn’t dismissed but she didn’t want to go any further. “Huh? What?” she just realized Jaina had said something to her. “No yeah, I’m fine, I’m good” she gave a weak smile. 

"Just- not what I expected is all." she turned to look at the other students, seeing who would be next. "Really hoping this isn’t a weekly thing" she said, mostly to herself but she was sure Jaina could hear. 

She finally got the confidence to move again. lowering her hands onto her lap and letting out another sigh of relief. Calm down Cybil, nothing bad happened. This is what you’re supposed to do, right?

[shockfullofwaves]

Jaina gulped, watching Cybil carefully. All the people in that school— every at least, the majority— were present because of one main reason: their parents. Either they were afraid of them, they wanted them hidden away, or they just were sick of dealing with them. Which happened to Cybil, Jaina didn’t know— but she could imagine. “Seems like you’ve got a grab-bag there, then,” Jaina said in a small attempt at humor.

She looked at her, gnawing on her lips, and reached towards her in a half-hug, trying to jostle up a smile. “Probably not. Actually,” Jaina paused, “that’d make no sense, can’t make that much progress in a week, it’s like…” She shrugged, letting go of Cybil, “I’m just trying to make you feel better, hah—” she cut herself off as the instructor looked over, signalling Jaina that she needed to shut up.

After clicking her tongue and winking at the instructor (this was followed by her hands waving around in apology), Jaina sat down, her hands guiding Cybil down as well— just in case she was weak. “Listen,” she said in a whisper, “not being in control isn’t like, a big deal or whatever. That’s what, uh, we’re here for right?” She tried not to let her doubt into her voice— Jaina herself didn’t think she could control her own powers. 

[phasesofcourtney]

When Courtney first came to Huxly's, she didn't know what to expect. Her powers were pretty passive to say the least and there was this girl just how who could set things on fire and fly. If she wasn't nervous before, she was now. She was completely and utterly dull compared to others. 

Her name was called and she took a deep breath before standing up. Just like any other performance, she told herself. This wasn't any different from a gymnastics meet, only she actually had to phase through something this time. 

The problem was Courtney couldn't do it by will. Only when she wasn't thinking about it or paying attention it would happen. Her body would to it as a natural respond to danger. She wasn't sure how well it would work if she were doing it on purpose and  hoped what she was about to do wasn't going to go bad. 

She got up in front of everyone and faced the new dummy they set for her. She backed away a few feet to give herself room and closed her eyes. She started off into a trot and did a pretty symbol round off back hand spring ending in a full twist. 

Once the move was landed, she looked behind her. The dummy was behind her but she wasn't sure if she had phased through it. She looked at the other students and judging by the looks on their faces, she certainly had. She may have even heard a few "holy crap"s. Suddenly aware of her surroundings, Courtney did a little bow and quickly shuffled back to her seat 

[suammetuit-deactivated20150628]

[rickgrimeshappens]

[gyllenhaals]

[phasesofcourtney]

Elle Fanning for W Magazines “Best Performances of 2012” Photographed by Juergen Teller