This Is The Beginning

[Jake Wallace]

The people ahead of him steadily took form to resemble people he knew-or people he had seen, rather. There was that kid Jeremy, who had kind of a gay nickname was an all-around good guy (but Jake wasn’t one to talk-after his peers had accused him of peeing like a girl, they never ceased calling him “Homo” or “Queer” whenever they saw him). Jeremy, or Flick, as he was known, was someone Jake had had on his Get To Know Better list for a year or so. And he had seen that chick Lainey around, who was there, probably making fast friends with Jade Delanvers and her boyfriend, Seth. Jade was a true S&M dominatrix if he ever saw one. He was actually surprised sometimes when he didn’t see her wearing leather chaps or holding a cat o’ nine. But he did get along with Jade, most of the time. Her boyfriend Seth was really the one who was put-upon. Jake often told him to stop fighting and either do the deed or cut loose-become a free man. If Wynne was in the vicinity at the time, he would usually add a “Like me” to the end of the phrase, just so he could see her annoyed look, pull her to him, and shove his tongue down her throat in a way that was maybe more crude than romantic.

He did a lot of things that were probably more crude than romantic, but that was one of the things he loved about Wynne. Her back would get all stiff and she’d get all fidgety and uncomfortable, at which point Jake would realize the delicacy of her self-esteem and shout in her face, “You’re not fat, Private!” or “Loosen up, babe! How d’you expect to make any money tonight all tense like this? You gotta be limber, Spanky!” And then shove his tongue down her throat in a way that was maybe more crude than romantic.

Jake was kind of aware that Wynne was self-conscious to the max, but he thought it was kind of cute. When he kissed her for the first time, she kept touching her hair and then glancing at him before he finally took both her wrists and stuck his tongue down her throat in a way that was maybe more crude than romantic. Okay, that time he didn’t shove his tongue down her throat. He didn’t even pull away, look at her for a second, and then burst into a song like “Party Like A Rockstar” just to scare the shit out of her. That time, he was pretty good about the whole thing.

Jake was so loud around Wynne because he was one of those annoying people who wants everyone to know he has a girlfriend by dragging her through Central Park, stopping people, and asking them if they could tell that they were dating. He was one of those people who would rather make out in public than in private, just so that people would shout, “Get a room!” Wynne, although, was not. Jake just didn’t know how to deal with her self-esteem issue, but never really talked to her about it because he thought it was kind of cute.

Steadily, he began to realize the volume of his thoughts about Wynne. He liked thinking about Wynne, but he was always kind of embarrassed when he caught himself thinking about her this much, as if someone had caught him doing homework or something.

A voice from behind made him jump about a mile. It was a girl’s voice, so naturally, his first instinct was Wynne. And his second instinct was Act cool! mainly pertaining to his guilty, I-Smoked-Pot-Last-Night conscience. Almost as quickly as he had jumped, his mind realized that the voice was not Wynne’s. He relaxed, and instantly felt guiltier that he had hoped the girl nearest to him wasn’t his girlfriend.

“Ubbbph. I dunno. There’s-no Team meeting, I guess…”

His voice trailed off. It was Hadley Chase, who was now standing in front of him in a sort of aggressive way. Aggressive, but-again, his conscience rose-sexy. Hadley was a sophomore, and the fact that she was friends with Blair Banks made Wynne hate her. Jake didn’t have a problem with her, though, but mainly steered clear of people Wynne didn’t like, because Wynne was about fifty times smarter than him and probably realized something that he hadn’t noticed yet. Right now, though, he was pretty sure he saw something in Hadley that Wynne didn’t. Not in a sexual way (…probably not, anyway), but for a second, Jake felt there was something he had to know about this girl. He couldn’t put his finger on it.

“But-oh. You…wouldn’t know, right? About the Team meeting?”

He hadn’t meant to sound snobby about it, and instantly fell back into his could-care-less-ness. He grinned sheepishly and combed his fingers through his hair.

“But why would you want to? I’m uh…”

Something caught his eye. Walking fast, head down, was The Love Of His Life. Predictably, there was a book in her hand, but instead of even looking at him, she walked straight to Jade and company. He glanced at Hadley again, and put a hand on her shoulder.

“Listen, that’s my girlfriend, and I smoked pot last night and I really don’t want her to know so if you could just keep that under your bonnet that would really be appreciated. Maybe later I can make this up to you by letting you come with me when I buy more from Jason-you know Jason Reynolds? That guy, tall dark and handsome, perpetual boner? Yeah. So I’m going to go over to my girlfriend and…stick my tongue down her throat in a way that’s probably more crude than romantic, and pray that she’s not quite smart enough to realize that I smoked pot last night. I should have taken a shower. Bye.”

He patted her shoulder, and set off at a jog towards Wynne. He didn’t really know why he let fly a stream of personal effects to Hadley, but whatever. Hopefully that made up for ditching her in mid-conversation, like an asshole, to shove his tongue…well, you know.

He galloped over to Wynne, who was sitting down next to Jade, and pushed her onto her back.

“Goooooood morning sunshine!”

And then, he stuck his tongue down her throat in a way that was probably more crude than romantic.

[Wynne Westwater]

Wynne glanced back over at Jade. She knew how to act around Jade.

RULES:

1. Never start a conversation with Jade. Allow her to start it.
2. Never compliment Jade. If you’re a girl, she’ll think your making fun of her; if you’re a guy, she’ll think you’re coming on to her.
3. Always listen to what Jade says, because she won’t repeat it.
4. Never ask “Oh, Jade, are you feeling okay. (or) Jade, How are you today, (or, and this is the biggest one) Jade would you like to discuss how your feeling today. If you ask any of these questions, you’ll either get a black eye or your head will explode.

If Jade wanted to talk, then she would talk. If she didn’t then leave her the hell alone! Wynne, being a fast leaner, figured it out fast and Jade learned she could actually stand being in Wynne’s presence.

Wynne remembers when she first met Jade. It was her second year at Hawthorne. Wynne was carrying a bunch of books into the building and a rude senior came and knocked all the books out of her hands. He laughed at her while she was picking them up. Jade, only a freshman stomped over and gave the guy a black eye. They had been friends since.

Wynne had been on the team a year before also. She was the brain in the team. She never really did any fighting. Only, mostly, undercover work. She also did most of the research, last year. She felt it an honor that they asked her, personally, to come back to the team again this year. A feeling of accomplishment always filled her body when she thought about it.

Invisibility was her power and she loved it. The last 2 years, she had been learning how to control it. She had pretty much figured it out but sometimes she loses control. When she is in a stressful position, or if she just doesn’t want to be somewhere, she sometimes, just starts to disappear.

Her thoughts were broken when she saw Jake touching Hadley. She swallowed and stuck her nose in her book. Hadley and Blair. She couldn’t stand them! Why? Because they reminder her of those people in 9th grade. She didn’t want to associate with that kind of person. It felt worse now because the love of her life was talking to her. She was jealous. Wynne got jealous easily but she couldn’t help it, it was who she was.

She smiled a little when she saw Jake walk away from her but quickly looked back down at her book. She didn’t like to admit to Jake that she was jealous. That would only make him flirt with random girls more. He liked to see Wynne Squirm. She didn’t understand why but he did.

Jake made Wynne smile. He’s immature behavior and carefree way of life was puzzlement to her but she loved him for that. Half the stuff that came out of his mouth, she didn’t understand but that was okay. She loved him anyway.

She felt herself being pushed down and closed her eyes. When she opened them again, she saw him face looking down at her. She was about to say Good Morning but that was when he stuck his tongue into her mouth. She pushed him off of her and sat back up. She smiled, just a tiny bit.

“You know, you don’t have to do that every time you see me.”

[Jake Wallace]

Free! Yes, he was free. Fireworks went off in Jake’s head. He was home free home. The little people in his mind pitched a fit, started parading down the main avenue of his brain, throwing fistfuls of pot into the air, and lighting them on fire, and making clothes out of hemp and tattooing “LEGALIZE” on their chests and making money and spending it all, all, all, on pounds of sweet, loving, relaxing grass.

“Yes, I do, though. Because if I don’t lick your hot, sexy face whenever I feel like, then people around us, like Jade, might forget their we’re in love.”

Jake stuck his face in Jade’s when he said, “In love.” He knew it wouldn’t flatter her at all to be reminded that there were happy people on the planet. People who were in healthy, loving relationships, and who enjoyed kissing and cuddling and even touching. He actually really felt bad for Jade and Seth, but respected the fact that it wasn’t his job to decide if their relationship was DOA. Sort of. In any case, Jake quickly lost interest in harassing Jade and went back to Wynne, kissing her neck and collarbone in celebration of her faith in his innocence.

“Hey Wynnie? Why don’t you take this fricking thing off. It’s sunny, and it’s nice out,” he said, tugging on Wynne’s conservative jacket. “Show me your sexy arms, Wild Thang. Or else I at least get a peek down your shirt.” He grinned and kissed the side of her nose, then rolled once away from her and put his hands behind his head. He had been physical enough with Wynne in the last five minutes and figured she could use some space.

“So what’s going on with Team? Was there a meeting today? Did I miss it?”

He said conversationally, rolling his eyes over to where he had stood with Hadley, clearly oblivious to the fact that his interaction with her had made his girlfriend uncomfortable. Right now, though, he didn’t care. He didn’t really listen to the answer given to him about the Team. He had ask just to hear his own voice anyway.

Wynne was talking, and Jake was only half-listening. Suddenly, though, he remembered something.

“Shit!” he cried, sitting up straight and throwing his arms over his head. “Fuck! I fucking forgot…!” Cursing and muttering under his breath, Jake pushed himself up and began to run back in the direction of his dormitory. He came back too late last night-he hadn’t even bothered trying to meet the one AM deadline. The punishment for not making curfew was at least two detentions, and Jake already had one from one of his teachers for not completing an assignment. God damn it! It was only the second week of term! Maybe they didn’t notice…maybe they let it slide.

Nope. Fuck.

There was a note, a red one, on his door. Jake didn’t even bother reading it. He crumpled it up, muttering “Fucking hell…stupid assholes…fuck that…” and opened the door to his dormitory.

[Ehhh that stank but whatever. I’ll have to carry this on in the like Dormitory section but I don’t have enough to post about…maybe I will, or I’ll wait until something happens that’s *worthy* of my posts…or if I feel like I’ll just come back to Wynne/Jade/Seth/etc.]

[Wynne Westwater]

-pokes-
I'll reply back tommorrow!
-nods-
When more people have posted!
-smiles-

[Jade Delanvers]

Can't post for JAde until Jam and the Seth have posted.

*noddles*

*will post promptly after the aforementioned persons though*

[Lainey Carson]

[Sorry that took so long. Wasn't sure what to write about.
Dialogue sucks.
Sorry again.
*Shrug*]

Lainey raised her eyebrows. Jade’s outburst affected her, made her angry. She could feel something boiling deep in the dark recesses of her brain— and that couldn’t have been a voice? She blinked a few times, confused. She could have sworn she’d heard someone say something to her, but it wasn’t a voice she recognized. And it sounded like it was coming from inside her head. Weird. She glanced around, looking to see if anyone had addressed her, but they all seemed to be too interested in themselves. She shrugged, forcing the ‘I want to strangle her’ feeling back down. For a second there she had felt her hands get warm, like she’d been lying in the sun for awhile. And for a second, her vision had turned yellow-scale. It had something to do with her powers—the last time she’d used them her hands and eyes had glowed yellow.

As more people arrived, she began to feel a feeling she wasn’t very used to. Lainey had always been the center of attention back at her old school. People had wanted to talk to her first. Here she was, at a school with other monsters just like her, and she had already soared above the rest by using her powers for just one week and already making the team. She had expected attention, people desiring to stand next to her and ask her questions. She wasn’t stuck up, although she reminded herself she probably sounded like it. This was just a whole new situation here. Things weren’t going her way, and she could deal with that.

It was like a game. The other team had just checked one of her teammates’ sticks and the ball had dropped to the ground immediately. After a scramble of people scooping up the ball and being checked again, a girl on the other team would finally get the ball and cradle out of the traffic. This was when Lainey would act, running up the field after the girl, catching up and putting herself in perfect body positioning. She’d tell the closest player to jump into the double team, the girl would get flustered and frustrated and end up dropping the ball. Lainey would get the ground ball, and sprint up the field. After a give and go, she would end up scoring. Bam—hero, MVP, audience cheering. Sure, she was lagging behind right now, but she would turn it around—had to turn it around. There weren’t any other options. She wasn’t going to let Jade get her down. If this was a war of words, Jade would undoubtedly win, but if they turned it into an actual fight, Lainey had a good chance of winning that one, even with just one week of using her powers. Even if Jade ended up to be a better fighter than Lainey expected, she’d never let her win. She had too much will for that. As she compared Jade and herself silently, she thought that sometimes she could be a little too competitive.

But only sometimes.

And it didn’t really matter anyway. Jade and Lainey’s obvious dislike for one another would never escalate into a fight. They were forced to work together; they were a team. And even though she’d rather see Jade gone, if she was ever in trouble, Lainey would help her out. But for now, Lainey wouldn’t talk to Jade. They’d just ignore each other. She was fine with that. There were seven other people on the Team to be friends with. What’s one loss?

Lainey looked at the new people. Wynne: conservative, neat, and intelligent. Lainey had heard that Wynne was the only returning member from last year. Mazel-tov. Wynne looked fragile and slender, not like she had a lot of fight in her. But she knew better than to judge someone from how they looked. People tended to surprise you.

Wynne looked like she was friends with Jade and Seth already. Hopefully, she wasn’t mean or rude. Lainey watched, amused, as Jake Wallace kissed Wynne sloppily. Wynne didn’t look annoyed, she acted like she was used to it. The kind of gross public display of affection that was definitely not as romantic as Jake probably thought it was. But as she watched Wynne and Jake together, although they were complete opposites, they seemed to fit very well. They looked like they really loved each other. And comparing Seth and Jade to Jake and Wynne was silly—the latter weren’t as fake as the former. She silently hoped that Seth and Jade were fighting or having relationship problems.

Not because she wanted him, just because Jade was a bitch.

Seth deserved better. Plus, it would be easier to deal with Jade if Lainey had some how one-upped her. She watched Seth interested for a few minutes, then fiddled with a strand of blonde hair. Across the way, she saw Hadley Chase, the girl who Jake had been talking to before he came over. She tilted her head and wondered what all these people around her could do. What were their powers?

They had to be something special if they were on the Team.

She looked around at the couples around her, feeling very fifth wheel-ish. These were supposed to be her new friends. These were the kids she was going to spend a lot of time with for the next year. Jake seemed like he was a lot of fun. He had a sense of humor and an aura around him that was reckless and wild, kind of like herself. At least she’d been like that back at Hartford. Now she seemed introverted and quiet. Hardly. And Lainey desperately wanted to say something to her new teammates, but what? She’d never had to think this hard about what to say to someone. Choosing wisely, she looked at Jake and Wynne.

“You guys seem…comfortable with one another,” she said, trying to choose the right words and say it in a way that made it obvious she was kidding. “How long have you been together?”

Lainey, what’s up with you these days?

Good question.