"the princess"

i prefer the term 'ambitious', but i guess 'heartless bitch' works too

[princesswellington]

Just Business To Hide My Business (Flashback) || Amelia & Thad

[thaddeusvance]

Thad tapped his foot impatiently as the woman in front of them took her sweet old time, ordering some kind of latte while chit-chatting with the cashier. Talk about bad customer service. If they all would just hurry up, then Thad wouldn’t have to be stuck in this painfully awkward conversation with a girl he went to school with.

"Um, I haven’t." he said hesitantly, feeling weird about such a random topic coming out of her mouth. It was obvious that she was as uncomfortable as he was - which didn’t take much, given the circumstances. "Cephalopod? I have no idea what that is. What does it do?"

Finally, the woman in front moved along, granting Amelia to take first in line. “Here, let me buy you your drink,” he said, courteously. From the look on her face, Thad could tell that she’d had a long day. “You look kind of stressed out. It’s the least I can do for enduring a conversation with the least interesting person in Hopeview.”

[princesswellington]

Alright. So much for an intellectual chat about modern achievements in science. It was her fault for expecting as much. "Nevermind," she waved him off. She started to try and think of a simpler (and boring) topic to bring up, such as the weather, when Thaddeus beat her to talking by offering to buy her a drink. So he was a gentleman. Well, that certainly didn't hurt.

"Oh no, you don't have to," Amelia declined, although his offer was enough to curve her lips upward. What kind of girl could turn down an offer of food with a frown, after all? "And I wouldn't say you're the least interesting person in this town. At least not from the way that my cousins can't ever shut up about you. Not to mention the rest of our school."

Amelia usually wasn't the type to find self-criticism appealing, especially from a boy like Thaddeus Vance who had a seemingly perfect life. But Thaddeus's words intrigued her. From what she had heard about him, he had no reason to call himself boring. If Thaddeus Vance of all people was considered to be the least interesting person in Hopeview, then what did that make Amelia? She was, after all, a self-proclaimed nerd and stickler for rules. The most interesting thing about her was kept a secret from everybody else. 

Usually Amelia had no problem with her boring life. The lack of excitement in her life at the moment would pay off would one day put her on Times's list of Top 10 Most Successful People in ten years--at least that was what Amelia usually managed to convince herself of. But today was different. Perhaps it was the fact that she had spent the first half of her day in the skating rink, or the fact that she was just tired of being the goody-two-shoes and relying on the future to make up for it. Whatever the reason, Amelia herself was surprised by the words that escaped her mouth next.

"I should be the one apologyzing. I'm the textbook definition of boring."

[nick-callaway]

"You keep at it; you’ll get there—eventually. 

You’re right, my apologies. I’ll leave the sassing to you, Amelia. I really hope you’re joking not only because that’s weird as hell but also because I really don’t wish to hear about my best friend’s fetishes in bed. I get the point.”

[princesswellington]

"I'm kidding, I'm kidding, sheesh. I'm not the only one who's slacking in the sarcasm department.

So what about you Noah? Any special gal pals you'd like to talk about?"

[noraainsley-deactivated20141222]

Dakota was so consumed in her work, at first she didn’t hear the girl. Not until she caught on to her tone, and what she was saying. Feeling a surge of annoyance at her need for commentary, she met he face — which seemed familiar, but she gave up on trying to connect everyone long ago. 

"I don’t see how it’s your problem, or why you feel the need to give an opinion on things when quite frankly, I couldn’t give a damn what you think.” 

[princesswellington]

Dirty look, snarky attitude, and that I-hate-the-world attitude? Once the girl opened her mouth, it was impossible for Amelia to not recognize her as the infamous girl who tried to kill herself. She was named after a state--Nevada or Dakota, or something.

"Just trying to offer you some friendly advice," Amelia said lightly. "It's just a shame that you're ruining that book like that. No need to kill any more trees, you know?" She almost added 'you don't have to kill everything'. But this was the girl who had tried to kill herself. Who knew what she would do now if Amelia went and insulted her like that. Amelia shifted on her feet--it felt weird holding back her words for once, especially insulting ones.

[nicholas-scciora]

If you wanna be technical, it hasn’t been winter since school starter

[princesswellington]

"No, not winter--summer. Wow. It is definitely time for you to go back to school."

[nicholas-scciora]

You might like it but there’s an equal number of people who like and don’t like school as well.

[princesswellington]

"Sure, sure.Whatever. You've gotta admit, though. Summer is getting a bit old now."

[noraainsley-deactivated20141222]

For the first time in a long while, Dakota found herself actually trying to study — or more so, decipher how the hell algebra worked. Years of being moved around, constantly attending new schools and having to deal with being the new kid time and time again, rendered her falling behind. Red meant she was still trying to figure it out… unfortunately, she’d highlighted everything.

[princesswellington]

Despite it being summer break, Amelia often found herself seated in her favorite chair at the town's library. She was already done with her summer homework, but a bit of light reading never hurt. Plus, it was free air conditioning and the chances of running into someone, forcing her to pretend to enjoy socializing were low. What more could she ask for?

As she roamed the library shelves looking for a book, she passed by another girl she vaguely recognized from school. Normally she would've just walked away, but when she saw what the girl was doing, she just had to stop. "The point of highlighting is to only mark the important things," Amelia informed her in a wry tone. "That's a text book, not a coloring book you have there."

[nicholas-scciora]

Really, who wants to start back up?

[princesswellington]

"I do. Sorry hun, but I can't join in your sob fest. I actually enjoy furthering my education. Although I gotta admit, the idiots I have to share the building with are a buzzkill."

[nicholas-scciora]

Please tell me I’m not the only one not excited about school tomorrow

[princesswellington]

"You aren't the only one not excited about school tomorrow."

[princesswellington]

Just Business To Hide My Business (Flashback) || Amelia & Thad

[thaddeusvance]

As of late, Thaddeus Vance’s life had been one of complete bliss. Kind of.

On one hand, things with Kingston were going surprisingly well. They’d been secretly dating for almost six months, and he couldn’t remember a time where he was as happy as he was now. Figuring out that he was gay was somewhat stressful for him personally, but Kingston had made it all easier. It seemed like the Golden Boy had a way of doing that; making him feel accepted and loved like he’d never felt before.

On the other hand, there was the sneaking around. It was hard to disappear from his family for hours and hours without a constant, sufficient alibi. It was also hard to go around pretending that he was something that he wasn’t - a thing Kingston and him argued about quite often. Thad just wasn’t ready to come out - he didn’t know if he would ever be ready. Was it really worth the hatred of his father, the changing opinions of everyone in town?

It was today that Thad found himself walking into the local coffee shop, trying to clear his mind and think of something that could make all of this easier. ROTC could only be an excuse for so long - it was bound to run out, eventually.

Looking around as he stepped through the door, he spotted Amelia Wellington. The two of them didn’t know each other that well, but they were both relatively high up on the social food chain. He didn’t really want to make conversation at that moment, but knew that it was unavoidable considering he’d be getting in line right behind her.

"Hey, Amelia." he greeted awkwardly, shoving his hands in his pockets. The woman in front of her ordering couldn’t have been moving any slower - this was going to be one hell of a conversation at the rate she was going. "How are you?"

[princesswellington]

"I'm doing great, thank you," she answered in a tone too forcefully polite and slightly scathing to be considered genuine. She didn't ask how he was, because that would only protract their conversation. Not to mention the fact that, quite frankly, she couldn't care less. She already felt like she knew a bit too much about this boy for someone who never had an actual conversation with him before.

Another awkward moment passed, and the woman in front of her still hadn't finished ordering. Amelia huffed out an impatient gust of air and reluctantly turned her attention back to Thaddeus. At least if she started the conversation, she would be able to choose the conversation topic. "So. Have you heard about the new cephalopod-inspired camouflage material developed by the researchers from University of Houston and Illinois?"

There. Not only was that a great conversation starter, it was also served as Amelia's usual 'let's see if my conversation partner is a total idiot' test. Whenever she had to talk to someone new, she made sure to start by talking about a somewhat advanced topic, so that she would be able to gauge the person's intellectual level. This tactic of hers had served her well over the years, and it had no reason to fail her now.

[lineofisla]

"Ouch, that was a low blow."

"It’s been so long, I thought we needed our own space. Work things out, you know."

[princesswellington]

"Oh, please. Like you haven't been on the receiving end of my sarcastic one-liners practically your whole life."

"Uh-oh. That sounds like a break up gone wrong. Babe, don't shut me out. I'll love you five-ever."

[bobbylamonte]

That doesn’t seem very appealing, if I’m being honest.

[princesswellington]

"...It wasn't meant to be. Come on Lamonte. Believe it or not, that thing inside your head is called your brain and you're meant to use it. Mind blowing, I know."

[lineofisla]

"We’re related by blood either way."

[princesswellington]

"Unfortunately."

"Kidding, kidding.So how are you? I haven't seen you in like, a whole twenty four hours."

[lost-lovett]

He could tell when he was frightening someone. Any ex-con can sense fear from a mile off and if you wanted to ‘deal’ with them, fear was not a good starting point. Her’s may not have been the dictionary term of fright, but he sees it. Damn there could hear it in her voice. Not that he could blame her; she was, in effect, arguing with “the town psycho.”

Darren had no issue continuing to do so, no problem making her fight to keep that “shallow bitch” mindset afloat, as long as things didn’t fall into the category of trading blows even though he had already planned the climax of this encounter. “Don’t flatter yourself, sweetie. You’re not enough skin and too many bones to be worth that kind of heat.” He smirked, humored she thought he meant something sexual…even though he did.

Now it was time for payback.

Darren looked down and observed what she was eating. “Nice food you got here. Cornerstone of any nutritious lunch.” His fingers touched the table and played with the silverware. “Mind if I have a bite?” He asked rhetorically, picking up a fork and chopped it the way you do with pancakes. After putting it in his mouth, he chewed it slowly and methodically, making sure to savor every second as he stared Amelia dead in her eye.

"Mmmh, this is something tasty. Hey you," He called out to one of the several diner patrons staring dumbfound, "You ever try this? Want a bite? It’s good." The individual just shook his head slowly. "Well the next time you decide to stuff your face, try this. Me, I can’t usually eat this because my aunt is on a diet—which pretty much makes me on a diet." He licked his lips, facing back to Amelia.

"Mind if I have some of your tasty beverage to wash this down?" Once again, rhetorical.

[princesswellington]

She snorted at his dig towards her looks--as if she should be offended that a criminal didn't find her attractive. If anything, she was glad. That eliminated a lot of possible problems.

As Darren leaned in towards her, her first instinct was to scream. But Amelia had thrown enough tantrums in her early days to know that loud words didn't do anything--but the correctly chosen words did. Amelia knew her options: fight or flight. Since fight obviously wasn't the correct answer choice here, considering who she was dealing with, she chose the latter. She pushed her plate towards him and stood from her seat, her head held high as she took particular care to anunciate her next words. "If you like it so much, feel free to finish it off for me. And I wouldn't be complaining about your aunt if I were you. You should be grateful that she's feeding you at all, after what you did."

And just because she was Amelia Wellington and she had to get the last word in, she clutched her water cup and flung the contents towards his way. "And there's your beverage."

[nick-callaway]

"Wow, you’re really not very good with that. Don’t worry, I won’t tell.

So much vivid detail, I really got insight into the romantic lives of Thad and Amelia there. I’m alright, I guess. Been keeping myself busy with work and stuff. That’s probably because you haven’t. It’s been too long.”

[princesswellington]

"Hey, I'm getting there.

And don't you sass me mister. I'm supposed to be the sarcastic one here. Oh I'm sorry, I didn't realize you wanted all the mushy little details. I'm sure you'd love to hear about our hot and heavy bedroom adventures. You know, I never knew that forniphilia was an actual fetish. My beloved Thaddeus has opened my eyes to so many new things."

[lineofisla]

I have neither of those things.

[princesswellington]

I think I need to reconsider our friendship.

[thaddeusvance]

Chemistry is…not fun. I don’t see the humor in it.

[princesswellington]

"You poor, deprived child. Don't worry Vance. As your fake girlfriend, I will make it my life mission to get you a proper sense of humor. Just wait and see--soon enough you'll be cracking chemistry jokes left and right."

[delia--vance]

"You can’t tell him that I told you anything though. He’d try to kill me."

[princesswellington]

Of course not. It'll be our little secret.