#chapter 1: brian's missing

[heatherwheeler]

@juliiewest:

the atmosphere of any room after searching for brian was suffocating. any emotion other than solemness was unacceptable. heather seemed to drown in the heaviness of it all, and had been feeling the urge to smoke more than ever. however, she couldn’t smoke in such plain sight; which meant that she couldn’t smoke at all. all of her time was spent searching for brian, and all of her go-to spots had been infiltrated by screaming adults. she understood the circumstances, but it still bummed her out. 

heather had decided to search with her best friend, julie, instead of the student council group today - just to take a break from pretending for the day. the pressure she received from anyone but julie to be fake was overwhelming. plus, the search didn’t seem so long with her partner in crime by her side. the pair had decided to go back to julies house afterward just for comfort. heather had been pretty weary of being alone since brians disappearance, and had been spending an increasing amount of time at julies house. “that was intense, huh?” she asked, turning over in the bed to face her friend. when speaking of brians disappearance everyone was very careful with their words. heather was dying to get her genuine feelings out, even if just once. 

[heatherwheeler]

mary hawker: motherly/sisterly figure. heather spends a lot of time in marys office, kind of escaping from the outside world. they have a special bond, the kind that heather would’ve wanted with her own mother had she been alive. mary also fills the big sister role for heather, and helps steer her in the right direction. mary is family, blood or not.

david goode: romantic interest. heather is interested in david, and he seems interested in her as well. he fits into her ‘perfect’ life scenario, and would honestly enhance her image. they’re currently still developing.

kevin shah: friend interest. heather is interested in a friendship with kevin, subconsciously to get her closer to kelly. he doesn’t seem quite interested, but she’s working on him. he’s very interesting, and deep down heather would probably get along with him perfectly if she would just be herself. 

[heatherwheeler]

@principal-hawker:

“there must be something that you can do!” it was taking everything in heathers soul not to trash mr.hawkers office. progress reports had been handed out only twenty minutes ago and here she was complaining about something as always. it almost seemed as though this was their routine. every semester of every year heather would saunter into his office, waving her progress report or report card around demanding a grade change. 

this semester she had received an eighty-nine in calculus, instead of the ninety-three that she deserved. heather had this habit of calculating all of her grades prior to them being handed out. she would sit for hours multiplying and dividing to come up with what should be her averages - so when something came back amiss... she just knew. “She’s shorting me. i haven’t gotten lower than an ‘a’ in her class this year..” she continued, biting her lip and choking back tears. 

she worked her ass off to make straight a’s. her entire life depended on these grades. this class could very well be the deciding factor in which college offers her a full ride, and she needed that scholarship to get out of devil’s knot. there was no way that she was going to lay down and accept a grade that she didn’t deserve knowing that she worked day and night to ensure that she did well. 

[heatherwheeler]

heather stared at herself in the bathroom mirror, sweat lightly dripping down her neck and into the back of her sweater.  her brown hair was swooped up into a messy bun with a school colored ribbon holding it into place. kelly had called this practice into fruition last minute. her teammates had scrambled friday night to get the word around and it seemed as if each household had a phone ringing at the exact same time. ‘hello mrs, or mr. such and such, is various team member there? could you let them know that we have a mandatory practice tomorrow at twelve? thank you, goodnight,’ or at least thats what heathers aunt had told her when she trudge through the door that night. hands full of books, and a look of exhaustion in her eyes. track practice had run long; which then prompted her study group to run even longer. 

“fuck her,” heather had mumbled - kelly on her mind as she slammed her bedroom door. nonetheless, heather laid out her school sweatsuit, and trainers. her alarm clock set to ring at eleven in case she slept in. however, heathers eyes shot open at eight am, her calculus test on monday seeming to have moved into her mind. she had to study. before she knew it eleven-thirty had rolled around and she had lost track of time. the numbers taking precedence in her mind over any other task that could possibly come up. she had rushed to get dressed, and jumped on her bike to make it to practice on time. of course, she was late. 

heather had to do thirty push-ups for being late, and run half a mile. afterward, she had excused herself to the restroom. to be pissed in peace, and also to get in a smoke. someone form the team did inevitably seek her out to come participate in the pyramid, and she put on her best smile as she joined her teammates once again. they were outside practicing until four. it was freezing. it seemed as though the entire time was sniffling, and sneezing once they left. 

she didn’t find out that brian was missing until her aunt came on, asking about the neighborhood boy that had gone missing. “missing?” heather had asked, her breath caught in her throat. “let me call julie,” the phone slippery in her now sweaty hands as she dialed the familiar number to the west’ residence. “julie, did you hear about brian?” she asked, voice shaky as she awaited the response of her best friend. 

[heatherwheeler]

@maryhawker:

mary hawkers office could be considered heather’s safe space. she spent a lot of time there when she was supposed to be in class, hell, when she was supposed to be anywhere. mary was honestly the older sister that she never had. blood couldn’t make them any closer.

it was a thursday afternoon, specifically lunch time. this fact is important, because kelly had called another lunch hour practice. “it is freezing cold outside... who is giving her the right to do this?” heather groaned, as she stepped into marys office - shutting the door behind her. “i mean, we practice every single day. if we don’t have it by now, we just won’t have it.” she continued, flipping herself into one of the chairs and looking at mary. if anyone knew the immense pressure that heather was under it’d be her. they were seemingly cut from the same cloth, and were literally the same person. heather felt so lucky to have mary in her life to step in and take on the role of an adult. having no parents, and a narcissistic aunt was almost as overwhelming as her everyday life. she welcomed the presence of someone supportive.