about me: my name is isabella and i don’t really have any nicknames. i’m studying media studies and poli sci!! i plan to go to law school one day!
i also have a bookstagram: isabellas.library_ if yall want to check it out 🤷♀️
favorite color: pink obv
default google font: times new roman or cormant garamond, i love how clean they look
mario kart character: princess daisy
favorite hawthorne: nash, easily
series: a good girl’s guide to murder, the inheritance games saga, riordanverse, classics, the folk of the air, lynn painter books, the selection, grishaverse, boys of tommen
favorite books of all time: the great gatsby, the hate u give, the beauty that remains, the outsiders, the final gambit
favorite movies of all time: dead poets society, west side story, how to lose a guy in ten days, crazy rich asians, little women, do revenge, beautiful boy
music: gracie abrams, role model, tate mcrae, taylor swift, harry styles, olivia rodrigo, sabrina carpenter, shawn mendes, nostalgic music from the 2000s-2010s era, billie eilish
hobbies: writing, reading, watching movies, dancing, listening to music, and i actually really like school, especially taking notes; it’s therapeutic for me
book bfs: wes bennet, nick stark, ravi singh, jameson hawthorne, percy jackson, cardan greenbriar, johnny kavanagh (love joey but i dont have the mental strength 😔)
I’M SO GOOOOD. i’m the managing editor of my college’s magazine now 😏😋 and i have just been so busy AND I HAVE WRITER’S BLOCK so thats a little rough 😔
Jameson makes me so sad because wdym your whole life you believed the only way that you would be deserving of being loved was if you were special in a way? (That’s why the “ordinary” part cut him deep. It was NOT about ego or being better than his brothers. In their house being ordinary meant that you’re not worthy, not deserving of love, of care, of attention of affection, of approval.) That you’re not as intelligent as everyone else and have to make up for it somehow. And how you should make up for it was to push your body beyond its limits and ignore the physical (and mental) pain, to push past limits not one else would dare cross or else you will never be enough. That he lived his whole entire life only knowing that and as he grew up realized how messed up and horrible it is and that recognition led to self loathing because it feels like that’s how he’s “destined” to be and he’s struggling to escape the way tobias programmed his mind… that he lives with that fact and the self loathing, he never seeks help or opens up to anyone even his own family leading to self isolation and keeping the people who care about him at arms length. And it all comes from a place of self hatred and loathing, he sees bits of ian, skye and tobias in himself (the three people responsible for his deepest wounds) and he hates it, he can’t escape it. That the one person he decided to be better for, to keep safe is now in danger , and it’s because of him. Confirming his biggest fears that he’ll always be what tobias shaped him into..
THIS MAN RIGHT THERE HAS NOT CRIED SINCE HE WAS 10. Or before that even. Let that boy cry his heart out.
I’M SO GOOOOD. i’m the managing editor of my college’s magazine now 😏😋 and i have just been so busy AND I HAVE WRITER’S BLOCK so thats a little rough 😔
Synopsis: Avery Grambs, the Hawthorne heiress, had been adjusting at her school pretty well. That was until she ran out of excuses to opt out of a certain activity and they were still pestering her to *shudder* join a sport. The Hawthornes take it upon themselves to help her choose her calling.
AN: Ignore any illogical or grammatical errors. Also, it's not proofread
Heights Country Day was everything Avery could’ve imagined. If you ignored the snobby rich kids, education wise? It was a pretty awesome school with its modular scheduling and ridiculously successful alumnus.
One thing Avery couldn’t get behind was that each student was required to play a sport. Avery Grambs did maths and physics, she didn’t do something like … sports. Unfortunately for her, no one seemed to understand her problems.
“So you mean I cannot change schools then?”
Alisa sighed over the phone, “Not without a reason. What happened? If there is a problem, it can be handled.”
Avery shook her head, “No, no problem. It’s just they have weird compulsions there.”
“It’s only a few years, Avery. Besides, we need stability currently. It’s good for your image.”
Alisa wasn’t budging. Not unless there was a security threat. And even if there were, Oren would’ve handled it effortlessly.
When Avery had first joined Country Day, due to the shooting and some other minor injuries, she had been excused from sports. But now, Dr. McGowan had called her in a few days prior to discuss sports selection.
Avery knew she couldn’t escape it now.
Country Day offered a range of options to choose from.
“So there is tennis, hockey, soccer, football, track, baseball, swimming, lacrosse, fencing, badminton, polo too if you are really that good, and next we have-” Xander began when Avery had asked him what sports they offered over lunch break.
“Wait,” She raised her hands, interrupting him mid sentence.. All these names at once were overwhelming.
Xander stopped talking and pulled out his phone, “Here, I’ll show you the list.” He opened his student portal and went to the “Sports” section. There were two green ticks; one against Badminton and the other against Track. The third highlighted sport had a progress percentage in front of it.
As he read through the options, Avery realized with a start, Country Day offered all kinds of sports.
Avery cleared her throat slightly to get Xander’s attention, “You are on your third sport…every is to change sports once in a while?”
Xander shook his head, “No no. It’s just once I mastered one sport, I moved to the next.”
Typical Hawthornes.
She resisted the urge to snort.
“What about the others? What did they do?”
“Well, Gray did fencing and swimming. Nash only did one sport: golf. And Jamie used to do Lacrosse before shifting to Soccer last year.”
Avery mentally ticked off the aforementioned names from her nonexistent list.
“And Thea does field hockey,” he began casually.
Avery understood a hint when given one. If Thea did field hockey then Emily would’ve most likely done the same- or more like the other way around.
Field Hockey was out of question then.
“Xander,” Avery sighed, “I want a favour.”
And Xander Hawthorne, the guy who kept offering her lemon scones, took that favour very seriously.
────── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ──────
It soon became clear to Xander of what kind of person Avery was when it came to sports. The brilliant heiress and physical activity didn’t bode well.
“We just have to find your true calling,” Xander intoned, as he led her through half the estate on foot with Oren trailing behind.
It was Saturday and they’d been trying to find her “true calling” since Friday. And so far they’d try his current sport: baseball and track. And it had gone something like this:
School Running Track, 4.45 PM, FRIDAY.
Avery stood in a tracksuit, hair in a ponytail, already dying inside as Xander stood beside her with a stopwatch.
“This is simple now. All you have to do is run. Fast.”
She gave him a flat look, “We shouldn’t waste time on this. I can run but not daily as a sport.”
Xander waved his hand dismissively, bringing the whistle dangling from his neck to his mouth, “Run the whole track when I blow this and I’ll time you.”
Avery opened her mouth to argue but decided against it.
“ON YOUR MARK! AND GO!” Followed by a shrill whistle.
Xander had given her the innermost circle to run in. Which was the shortest. Yet, she still felt sluggish almost halfway through.
The situation played out like this that he had to jog over to where she’d stopped right in the middle, sitting on the ground. She didn’t bother asking him her time for half the track she’d run and seeing how he pocketed the watch when he approached her, it was probably a wise move.
“Maybe Track isn’t for you.”
Oh sweet Xander, NO sport is for me.
School’s Baseball Field, 5.15 PM, FRIDAY.
The field was empty. No student fancied staying back on a Friday. Nobody except a forced heiress and her overjoyous and optimistic friend.
Xander was convinced she could pull off baseball.
He stood before her, bat in one hand and a ball in the other.
“We’ll start with the bat.”
He pitched. Threw slow balls. Painfully slow, yet she still swung before or after the ball had passed.
After failed attempts, he made her pitch.
Her aim was good. She just didn’t have enough arm strength.
They left the school by 5.30 PM. And Xander Hawthorne didn’t believe in giving up.
“We are here!” Xander’s voice boomed, snapping Avery back to the present. She pushed back the haunting memories of Friday and a sense of dread filled her as she saw the pool.
“No swimming,” she said before Xander could say anything.
“You didn’t even try!”
“No.”
“So we crossed half the estate on foot just for you to say no. My feet demand justice.”
“It wouldn’t have happened if you told me where we were going,” She retorted, crossing her arms.
“Avery.”
“Xander.”
“PLEASE!” It turns out he was not above begging her to try it out.
He leapt forward, falling to the around and grabbing her right ankle. "PLEASE COME ON, AVERY!!"
“God! Fine!”
“THANK YOU AVERY. I LOVE YOU SO MUCH.” Xander let go off her foot that he’d been holding on to prevent her from leaving and got up, “Go get changed! Your instructor will be here soon!”
“Wait. Instructor?!”
It appeared that helping her find out a sport was a full Hawthorne Affair.
Grayson Hawthorne was going to teach her to swim now.
Just great.
────── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ──────
Swimming was an actual improvement compared to track and baseball. Grayson had instructed her as she did laps, measuring her time.
Oren stood in the far corner. Maybe he had too much faith in Grayson that if Avery were to drown he would jump in to save her with his suit on. No hesitation.
By the fifth lap, her arms were sore and her skin getting prickly with each passing minute.
“Should we call it a day?” She called out to Grayson who was noting down the time on his phone.
He gave her a nod and helped her out.
His comment on her performance seemed borderline formal polite to ‘You-are-good-but-not-good-enough-for-the-swim-team’ Although he didn’t say the latter.
────── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ──────
“What are your thoughts on soccer?”
Avery had been in her room reading a novel that Libby had recommended that Xander came to her with a new proposal.
The first thing that came to her mind was Jameson.
“I can save us from wasting your time. I’m no good at soccer.”
Xander grinned from ear-to-ear, “Don’t worry. You won’t be wasting my time.”
Xander had tried out Track and Baseball with her. Grayson took care of swimming. And now Jameson Hawthorne would teach her soccer.
────── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ──────
Avery didn’t think she’d ever get used to the Hawthorne House having practically everything. And yes, it had a soccer field.
Jameson stood amidst the field in shorts and jersey with number “7” and “HAWTHORNE” at the back. He waved at Avery, giving her a cheshire cat grin as she approached him.
“This was unnecessary,” Avery told him as soon as she stood toe-to-toe with him.
Unnecessary was the custom-made jersey with number “6” and “GRAMBS” and shorts he’d very generously arranged for her.
“It’s a good look on you, heiress,” he said.
“It's a waste of resources,” she countered.
He didn’t answer and lightly kicked the soccer ball her way, “There are three rules you have to follow. One, Keep your eyes on the ball. Two, don’t let the opponents take it from you. Third and last, do not touch the ball with your hands.”
He nudged the ball her way once more forcing her to kick it away from her.
She did.
It flew in the other direction.
Jameson ran after it and she chased after him.
Just like that, it was game on.
Soccer with Jameson would have been the only game she’d played for an hour.
Well, she did play some soccer. They were stuck in the dance where they’d get too close while chasing the ball and end up forgetting the ball. He would lower his head, hovering over her and she would grab him by the front of his jersey, bringing their lips together.
No strings attached.
The sun was setting when Xander found them tangled and asleep on the field, the ball abandoned somewhere very far.
Xander who had a microphone in hand crouched and put it right next to Jameson’s ear,
“WAKE UP LOVEBIRDS!”
The scene that followed was comical.
Avery, who had her head on Jameson’s chest jerked upward, scrambling off of Jameson when she saw Xander right in front of her.
Jameson apparently was immune to Xander with a microphone and stretched languidly, rubbing his eyes lazily.
Xander shot Avery a disappointed look, “I should have never trusted you guys alone.”
“It’s not what it looks like,” Avery explained hastily, trying to tame her wild hair which had come out of their ponytail, courtesy of Jameson.
Xander tsked, “How did soccer go? Assuming you guys did play soccer.”
“It went okay,” Jameson stifled a yawn, “Need work on the direction, other than this there’s nothing that can’t be improved.”
Avey stared at him, “Is it true or influenced because I kissed you?”
He gave her a very Jameson-Hawthorne smirk, “Who is to say? Join soccer heiress. I’m the captain of the team, you would be well protected.
Avery tried not to think of his words. Because if she did, she wouldn’t be able to control the blush creeping to her cheeks.
“Well, we are making some progress!” Xander deduced, “So Soccer it is?”
Avery shook her head in negative.
Soccer with Jameson would be a disaster.
He was trouble.
“No. No to soccer too.”
────── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ──────
The last sport they tried was tennis.
It was a hot Sunday and they were in the outdoor court of the Hawthorne House. Avery could spot two of the Hawthorne brothers at the side benches. The tallest Hawthorne was standing on the other side of the net.
Xande started with the basics,
“The ball comes. You see the ball. You hit the ball.”
“If it were only that easy,” Avery murmured.
After failure at freestyle and near-misses, Xande broke the practice into smaller drills. She was sweating, frustrated, and already plotting the exact number of excuses she could invent to never do this again.
“It’s white people thing,” he said seriously, patting her hand like she was some fragile creature, “you’ll get the hang of it.”
Avery blinked at him. “Excuse me?”
“You’ll see,” he said, tossing another ball. “Focus, swing, fail, repeat. That’s the Hawthorne method.”
The drill where they had removed the net and placed cones to practice freestyle racket movement and aim precision.
Xander’s words of wisdom, helped her focus:
“Um- think of it as specific angles. Ball bouncing back at an angle. The momentum. The velocity.”
Now, this was a language she was fluent in.
Thirty minutes in playing after aggressive practice, Avery and Xander had finally engaged in a constant match with the sound of racket hitting the ball didn’t fall.
Playing Tennis felt good somehow.
She was actually getting good at this.
“I might actually change sports now, heiress.” Jameson whistled at her impressive shot that Xander couldn’t take.
“Don’t even think about it, Hawthorne.” Even though she had aimed her next shot right at him, he caught it effortlessly in his hand, much to her dismay.
────── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ──────
By evening of Sunday, her muscles ached so much so that Jameson offered her a piggyback ride back to the house which she accepted without any resistance. A plus point of it was whenever he made a comment about her and sports, she could just pull his hair in revenge.
“Thank you, Xander,” Avery said as the House’s front doors came into the view.
Xander turned around, walking backward facing them, “No worries, Aves. You were natural at it anyway.”
“I’m not talking about the sports. Thank you for not giving up on me,” she added. It was weird to be on this level with Xander.
Jameson was 6’1 thus that made her taller to as she was still on his back.
Xander smiled at her, “You are family, Avery. We don’t give up on family.”
There was a heavy promise in the air.
“There is one thing you can do to repay me-”
“Yes, I will advocate for scones in front of Max, don’t worry.”
AN: Shoutout to that one fanfic on AO3 that forced me to write my version of avery and sports. I know I said I won't return till June, but I just couldn't resist this. I want to assure yall that I have read your reqs in my inbox and I intend to get around to doing them after exams. Also, this fic was set somwhere in in og triology, but the character development might not match the timeline as I have it mixed up. So it might not make sense or seem weird but it is what it is. I hope you love reading it as much as I loved writing it. Happy reading!
guys ... lyra kane is not going to like you better because you're defending her honor ... neither is jameson hawthorne ... this is because they are both fictional and cannot do shit ...
but jlb isn't going to approve of death threats either ...
so shut the fuck up, apologize and move on with your life.
still a jamie girl and hear me out—that does NOT mean that i’m not a grayson girl—i just feel like jameson is acting like grayson in tig. like thats literally it. and yes he’s being overdramatic but also alice hawthorne, unless i’m mistaken, held a knife to his throat and threatened his and his girlfriend’s life so lowkey i’d be terrified too. not trying to go to bat for this man because HES A FICTIONAL CHARACTER BRUH but also grayson is not a martyr and needs to stand on his own two feet—and that has nothing to do with his siblings and everything to do with this man’s trauma pretending to be healed and just manifesting itself in a different way. both of them are kind of upsetting me rn but at the same time i can’t actually fault either of them bc all they did was switch places??? like??? idk feel free to comment opinions RESPECTFULLY because i’m interested in hearing other points!
dont know if ive already said this but your theme is so cool i love it sm
hows your day been?? xx
this is so cute thank you i appreciate it!!!! also its been good! i was a camp counselor at a camp that was tragically lost to the floods in central texas which was not so great, but other than that ive been good!!! thats why i havent been active tho im sorry 😭😭😭
