#human!charlee

[nottobecrossed]

Quiet in the Library

The library at her school is daunting.

It’s a lot bigger than her old school, with several floors and several rooms and several departments. It was like its own university of books. But Charlee liked it, despite its overwhelming presence. She loved books.

When she got the notice that she had gotten the job to work in the library on campus she had been ecstatic. Not only was it supposedly a cushy job, with good pay in an air conditioned building, but it also gave her free access to all the texts in the massive building. It was great because the materials for her degree in children’s education were limited in comparison to the number of students, so she could squirrel them away while she was at work. Plus, she would probably spend most of her semester, or year, in the library again…..

But, first things first, she needed to check in with a Mr. Hale and let him know she was ready to work and so he could get her acquainted with the systems as well as in there’s. His office should be around here on this floor somewhere…..ah! There it was!

“Mr. Hale?”

[nottobecrossed]

Like Bonnie and Clyde

"Don't slouch Charlee. It's horrible for your posture."

Charlee straightened up immediately at her mother's stern, quiet reprimand. She doesn't mean to slouch. She just doesn't like standing up straight because she's so tall. She's taller than most girls, near eye to eye with a lot of men. Beanpoll, the kids in her grade school used to call her.

"I swear. Lord knows I try. I try so hard to turn you into a lady. A girl your age with your complexion should have suitors lined around the block. But you just fight me tooth and nail. For heaven's sake stop slouching!" The older Lewis woman hissed.

"Sorry mamma." Charlee apologized, straightening again. She knew it wasn't her mother's fault. Charlee was the one who couldn't listen. And Vivian always got angry when they had to go to the bank to draw from their already meager savings. The Depression had hit their family hard.

"Alright everyone, this is a robbery!" 

The double doors to the bank burst open and man with guns come barreling in. The small crowd screamed, and Vivian pulled Charlee hard to the ground when they were told to get on the floor. Apparently, she couldn't even duck and cover right.

[nottobecrossed]

Summertime sadness

Charlee beamed as she pulled her car up to the Sierra Summer Camp. She loved working here as a counselor in summer, had since her senior year of high school, and enjoyed every year. She liked being outdoors, liked all the sunshine and fresh air, liked the kids. It was great.

“Charlee!”

The college junior looked up from her trunk as she pulled out her luggage for the summer as another recurring counselor, Sarah, came up to her.

“Hey Sarah,” she greeted with a smile, hauling her backpack onto her shoulders, “how are you?”

“I’m good. Have you heard the news?”

“What news?” Charlee asked curiously. She was pretty sure she had read all the mailed and emailed material from the camp in the spring. Had there been something else she hadn’t heard about?

“The counselor set up changed this year. Its co-ed teams this year.” The redhead told her, running her tongue lecherously across the front of her teeth.

“C-Co-ed?” Charlee asked. No, no, she definitely hadn’t heard about that….

“Yeah, something about breaking gender stereotypes and gender equality, or whatever.” Sarah said as they headed for the main office to check-in and get their assignments. “I just hope my partner is hot.” The other girl grinned and gave a little skip.

Charlee didn’t say anything. She just hoped they ran out of boy counselors before they got to her. She wasn’t the best with boys…. 

[nottobecrossed]

In these Ancient Times

“Come on! We’re going to miss the opening fight!” Axis, Charlee’s older brother complained, shorting down the steps that led to their family’s box at the girl.

“I’m going as fast as I can.” Charlee insisted, fists full of her chiton skirt so she wouldn’t trip on the light blue fabric.

“I’ve seen you run Charlee! You’re faster than this! You just don’t want to see the games!” Axis insisted, turning his back on her to head further up the stairs.

Charlee turned her head down with a pout. That wasn’t true. But….it’s wasn’t exactly a lie either. She didn’t like the games, like the rest of her family or other citizen patriots. She didn’t like the blood, or the violence, or watching the animals get killed. She didn’t like any of it.

But the Gladiator fights were very popular among the people. From the plebes to the elite, from servants to soldiers, and most importantly her father.

“There you are.” The patriarch of the family ‘greeted’ when the last of his children arrived. “Where have you been?”

“Someone was dragging their feet.” Axis accused, near glaring at his sister, who ducked her head.

“Bah! Never mind that.” Their father said, waving his hand as if to literally brush the argument and Charlee away. “Axis, I was just telling your brothers about the fighter I spoke of last week. His name is Kol.” And just like that, Charlee is again ignore and quietly sits down beside her mother, thanking a servant when they pour her water.

“You shouldn’t embarrass your father like that.” Her mother chastised quietly, sipping her wine and plucking a fruit from the bowl in front of them.

Her quiet ‘yes mother’ is near drowned out by the sound of trumpets and drums. The games begin.

[nottobecrossed]

College AU [closed starter for backtobetaderek]

‘This doesn’t look right at all…’ Charlee thought with a moan as she looked at her surroundings and then at the map again. Yep, she was lost. Totally lost was she.

Charlee sighed out loud and put her map down with a frown. She honestly should be able to read a simple map. She was a college sophomore after all, at a university and everything. But her old school was nowhere near this big, being a private institution, so the sprawling grounds of her new school was a little daunting.

And it wasn’t like she had had a tour or anything. Hell, she had barely made it to check-in for her dorm room on time. Her parents had been against her transfer to a public, non-Christian school, to the point that they had originally refused to help her move her things to the new school. They said that it would lead her to sin and ruin. But, given that the tuition for this school, as ‘sinful’ as it may be, was half the price of the other school, they eventually came around enough to at least help her move; even though they complained about everything from the long drive to the smell of the campus.

But, Charlee had loved it. She wanted to branch out and make more of her college experience than just with books. She loved her parents but they were….stifling. Was it wrong not to like you parents? And either way, it wasn’t like they could stop her. They were the ones dumb enough to have her college trust fund transferred over to her completely when she turned 18. She guessed they thought she would never leave.

The brunette girl took a deep breath, ran her fingers through her hair, and stood up from her bench. Dwelling on the past wasn’t going to get her anywhere, namely the bookstore, so she pulled out her map again and started following the tiny blue path on the paper with focus. Up until she literally ran into someone.

“Ow! Oh no, I’m so sorry!”

[nottobecrossed]

This Place is Driving Me Crazy

Charlee was walking through the halls of Julius Memorial Hospital on an apparently warm sunny afternoon. She had only seen outside from her window, so whether that was really the case or what she called a 'sunny day of lies' was to be determined. Rhonda, one of the nurse, said it was cold out. Lies.

She had been here for a while, so a lot of the staff knew her, and knew she liked to wander. Unlike some of the other patients, they don’t generally stop her. She's been determined to be mostly stable, for being in a psych-ward, and if she wasn't causing trouble and it kept her out of her room and not trying to kill herself, they didn’t mind really anything.

The teenager stopped in the hallway, hearing someone yelling, and took out her sucker, stolen from the children's wing because they have the best candy, before popping her head in the open door. “Hey, if you’re looking for a nurse there’s a call button by your bed.”