bigmandiego

[bigmandiego]

"Ah. I see," Diego said, as Ollie went over what had happened at New Years Eve. He'd been evasive about it before. He hadn't explained why he had seemed so … disturbed by the whole situation. Really, there was probably more to it, but he got it now. "That is pretty weird, but even if that is true and you aren't just being paranoid about it all, there is no way the Dean could possibly know. He wasn't even there. Frankly, there is something shady going on and he deserves to be looked into. I'm sure it was bound to happen one day." He wasn't naive enough to think that people always got what was coming to them, but he was naive enough to hope so.

Ollie grimaced, his teeth pressing together as he looked at Diego. "What if I did though?" he said, leaning in closer to him. "Bro. You don't get it. I sent the Dean's name in on New Years Eve when G asked us who we thought had to do with all this shit. I said the Dean, and the moment we got back guess who was arrested?" He wasn't crazy to make that connection right? He wasn't being overly egotistical and self centered. Well, not more than usual. It was crazy that it happened immediately after. "I mean not that I regret it, I'll be honest. Put him behind bars." For as long as was possible. "But like… I don't know, bro." He shook his head a little bit, clicking his tongue. At the very least, and maybe more likely but Ollie didn't see it this way, it was a crazy coincidence. "You're right though," he finally said, with a sigh as he flopped down backwards onto Diego's bed, "when people want to cover things up they're not going to make a big deal about it. Hopefully he at least stays away for a few months." Until they were gone, that was all he needed.

[bigmandiego]

Diego was more interested in stirring his drink and watching the ice melt than actually drinking it. His eyes moved from the glass over towards Jesse as he heard him speak, looking around to see if he was speaking to anyone in particular, then back at him when he realized that he wasn't. "Not zero," he said, shrugging his shoulders. He didn't think anything happened last year at the Spring Fling, but maybe that meant it was more likely to this year. "Something has to be happening soon, right? Just logistically that would make sense."

WHERE: spring fling. WHO: open.

"What are the chances," Jesse drawled as he felt rather than saw the presence of someone else, "that tonight ends in absolute fuckin' disaster?" The hint of a wry smile curled at the corner of his mouth. If G had taught them anything, it was that no event was complete without something going horribly wrong. "Maybe it's fucked up, but I kind of hope it does. If it's gonna be my last spring fling, at least make it memorable."

[bigmandiego]

The look Diego gave Milo was a hard one, steeling, and unwavering. As if he cared what someone like Milo had to say about him at all anymore. "If that's what you think then get the fuck out of here. If I'm so fucking exhausting do both of us a favor," Deigo said. Not the first time he was kicking Milo out of somewhere either, but for Milo's sake he hoped it was the last. "And you're lucky I don't make it official and kick your ass out of the house completely. But if I see you around here again, I will. Unsurprisingly you don't have many people around here -- or anywhere -- advocating for you. So it wouldn't even be difficult. Let's not let it get to that point, huh." He said, grabbing the last of the lawn chairs, turning his back on Milo to finish cleaning the yard on his own.

"Cry about it," Milo said flatly, looking very unimpressed with everything Diego had to deal with. As if it was any worse than the rest of them. He grabbed some more lawn chairs slamming them down a little too hard onto the rack they were using to put them onto. "You're always such a victim, aren't you? You've suffered so much. Oh, poor fucking Diego didn't get threatened and blackmailed while he was on his super lonely study abroad trip. You're the one that suffered. You're the one that everything bad happens to." He tossed some more chairs down before turning to look at Diego. "No wonder Greer couldn't stand your ass. I need a fucking break after talking to you for twenty minutes. It's exhausting being around you."

[bigmandiego]

Diego paused a moment as Monty asked what the Valentine he recieved said. He knew the Valentine hadn't been about Monty, he was pretty confident in the guess he'd sent was correct after all was said and done. More than confident really. But was Monty trustworthy? And really did it matter? He would be okay with telling Ollie, and imagined whatever information he gave him would eventually trickle down to Monty. "It said that someone was threatening Greer over ending her relationship," he said, "your guess is as good as mine over which one." Apparently there had been a lot of them. "What about you? I know I'm not the only special person who got something delivered personally."

Definitely batteries, Monty thought to himself, too nosy to not glance over when Diego was chucking the packaging into the trash bin alongside him. His gaze ticked up to the other's face, taking a beat before shrugging at the question. "For someone like you? Not really." Of course Diego Fuentes was calm under pressure. Of course these taunts from G were little more than hollow threats. Of course he'd have family lawyers at the ready, should things get sticky. What could he possibly have to worry about, genuinely? If he hadn't been invited to have a personal hand in Milo's exposure last spring, then Monty might've wondered if students like him and Diego had anything on the line at all. "What'd your valentine say?" he asked, curious if he'd share.

[bigmandiego]

He looked over at Ollie, eyes moving over his clearly anxious exterior, and giving a deep frown. "Hey," Diego started, "listen, I know that things are … really crazy, but it's not like any of this is your fault. If the Dean does come back he's not going to have it out for you, he's probably not even going to act like he was gone. That's the thing about sweeping things under the rug." That was how it made sense to him. And besides, it wasn't like Ollie was the one who was responsible for the Dean's arrest. "Don't let this make you start over thinking about everything. I know how you get," he added, nudging Ollie with his elbow.

The Dean was probably tenured. Did deans of colleges get tenured? He felt like probably, and that the Dean probably was. And he also agreed that the school seemed to want to keep passing all this over. So, in his opinion it felt like unless they really found something solid on Dean Zuko he could very well be back. "Hopefully," Ollie said, "if I'm here when he comes back … Man, I don't know." He felt like he was responsible for the Dean being taken away (which was likely a lot of ego) and he felt like the Dean would know about it (which was likely anxiety). "I guess we're out of here in a few months so it probably won't effect us." He paused and shook his head. "I hope," he added again.

[bigmandiego]

He made a motion towards the door, leading the two of them out of it, and out of the administration building before he started explaining what happened. The last thing he was going to do was let someone overhear him confessing the second he was done. "So, after I sent in my guess to G about who that stupid secret was about, they sent me on a little task? They said to go down into the storage where the leftovers of the Dean's things were being kept and look around there for something to do with Greer." If you wanted to call them leftovers. Kind of seemed like all of his stuff was still down there, or maybe he just didn't think very highly of the detective work happening.

"I didn't find anything specifically from Greer, but I did find some correspondence between the Dean and Penny," he swiped his phone on so he could bring the letter up. "It was about the letters that we got from Greer last year?" Had Mari gotten one? He assumed she would have so he hoped he wasn't presuming with 'we' and she knew what he was talking about. "Apparently Greer dated them, and then gave them to Penny to deliver at a later date."

Mari had been hoping that giving Diego some help wouldn't come back to bite her in the ass. With her luck lately, it certainly seemed like it might, but she had certainly been paranoid enough that it would. But she also wanted this all to end. And if this would help with that, whatever it was Diego was doing....then there was no way she could say no. When he came back to the room, she had let out a sigh, though really, it was only part of the worry, considering she still didn't really know what had happened.

She was fiddling with her phone, alternating between glancing at it and flipping through some of the papers from the council meeting they had been going through as she waited for the rest of members to filter out of their meeting room, her eyes darting back towards Diego every so often until it was finally just them. Her eyebrows slowly raised up on her forehead at his words, a slight look of confusion on her face. "What do you mean?" she asked. "What did you find? What did you even do?"

[bigmandiego]

"Ah, thanks," Diego said, taking the glass with a grin and tilting it to her in cheers before downing it. He managed not to grimace too hard, either from the shot or the question. He chuckled a little and shook his head. "Definitely not the normal college experience, that's for sure." The first couple years had been alright. "It feels like any of our petty drama from the first couple of years was so quaint, now." And High School really felt so nostalgic. He could understand the desire to return for reunions. Would he be? … Yeah, he probably would. "So, if you could go somewhere else, would you have, or do you think this was all worth it? I think back about going to Columbia regularly now…"

with: @bigmandiego where: spring fling, halfway through the night

Heni extends the shot in his direction, in a manner that seemed to indicate it was more command than offer - much in the same way that everything Heni said had that very same undertone of demand. "For you, for almost making it through this hellish college experience." Once her hand has been relieved of its contents, she uses it to brush her braids behind her shoulder. "Can you believe it's been almost four years? How wild is that? It feels much longer."

[bigmandiego]

He wasn't surprised to hear that Cara hadn't had much interaction with Penny. They didn't exactly roll in the same groups of people. Edward maybe, but Cara? "I found a letter between her and the Dean," he explained, shaking his head in a uncertain way. "After the whole thing G was threatening us to do, they sent me to go through the Dean's things and I found a letter between the two of them. About…" Diego trailed off a moment, biting down on his bottom lip. He truly didn't know if Cara had even heard anything about the letters at all. "Last year, did you get a letter from your sister? I did. Did you ever hear about that? That's what Penny was writing the Dean about. I was just wondering if she was secretly a family friend I never knew about, or something."

There was some movie on, but it's not like Cara was paying attention to it as she scrolled through her phone, multiple things to coax Diego's attention to her on the tip of her tongue, though she was trying to wait long enough that he wouldn't just immediately dismiss her to go back to whatever he was working on. He had said he wouldn't be long, and yet, they were still there. She was, yet again, considering just what to say when he spoke, though the subject was definitely not any she had considered. She paused, her thumb hovering over her phone screen before she turned to look at him, one eyebrow arched up. "No," she said slowly, setting her phone down. "Why do you ask?"

[bigmandiego]

"Yeah, you're probably right," Diego said, shrugging his shoulders. He wasn't one to enjoy putting more money into Amazon's pocket, but he was a sucker for convenience. Unfortunately. So, he had already weighed his options and he hadn't gone to a gas station. He took the package, tearing the cardboard off of it and tossing it into the trash can. "No, not really," he said, shrugging his shoulders. "I got a more interesting valentine than I thought I would, but other than that it's been fine. I'm happy to get first hand news, even if it's bad, rather than a text from Heni a week later. Is that really so hard to believe?"

Monty's nose scrunched up at the mention of a charity gala -- and then he full-on frowned when Diego said that he'd ordered batteries. "Really? That's it?" He blinked back to the package and gave it a shake, as if that'd reveal a contradicting clue to its true contents, or maybe scare Diego into telling him to be careful, but Monty didn't know him to be a liar. "You know you can pick up batteries from, like, any gas station, right? You're feeding the machine, dude." He passed the package over while strolling towards the nearest trashcan, flicking envelope after envelope right into the bin with little more than a cursory glance at each sender. It was a second more before Monty glanced back to Diego, genuinely curious and only a little snide when asking, "Regret coming back yet?"

[bigmandiego]

He never really got the feeling that Link was holding something over Greer's head either, but they could have easily been hiding something from her that they didn't want her (or maybe anybody) to know. Couldn't they all relate just a little bit? Not just him… "Well," Diego said looking over at Mari, and shaking his head, "at least G isn't asking me to guess what this person's motivation was. Just that they wanted to do it." Maybe it was really just as simple as wanting to end Greer's relationship because they were interested in one party or the other. "Luckily G never really said it was my task to guess why, just that it was happening. It's complicated enough I really shouldn't make it any more complicated then that." He motioned towards the direction of his dorm building. "I'm going to try and sleep on it. Maybe it'll make more sense in the morning. I'll see you later, Mari. Yeah?"

Mari gave a few nods of her head in the affirmative, not entirely recalling what the details were of everything last year with Milo and Link and all. Besides the whole turned out she and her roommate - and Diego, she supposed, the realization coming to her now that he was walking directly beside her - had been sleeping with the same person. A fact that made it a bit hard to focus on everything that was going on with other people. "I never got that impression, to be honest. That Link was holding something over Greer's head. But...again, it's obviously there was more going on with Greer than she let most of us know, so maybe she was just good at hiding it," Mari said, somehow able to prevent the words from turning totally bitter as she spoke, though her voice did quiet to a soft murmur. "And again, the fact that I was prompted to talk to them about it...makes me think there's more there. Couldn't tell you why either." Maybe it was that simple, and maybe it was more about the fact that Greer hadn't been in the happy relationship she had portrayed. Mari's stomach practically knotted as she thought about it, wondering if, yet again, this somehow came back to her. There had certainly been enough that had been dangled over her head to make her worry. "Or maybe it has something to do with why your roommate was really pulled out of school for a few months there," she said after a moment. Anything to point the finger away from the other side of that relationship.

[bigmandiego]

Diego was quiet, listening as Ollie questioned why Penny was doing these things. What it all meant with regards to Greer. Had Penny been on Greer's side, or was she not? Then he turned to look at Ollie, raising his eyebrows. "I guess it depends," he said, "is he tenured? Is he found completely innocent? What's the policy here at Ogden on stuff like that? It's absolutely possible he could be reinstated if nothing is found. I really would hope not, but… Yeah, it's incredibly likely that is something that could happen. Especially with how much the school keeps trying to sweep this all under the rug. But because it's so close to the end of term it may not matter until next year. We might be gone by the time that happens."

He laughed a little bit, reaching up and patting Diego on the shoulder. "I promise you I've been here the entire time and it doesn't make that much sense to me either." Maybe he was just not smart. Maybe he cheated on his IQ test. Maybe he should turn in the mensa membership and get it over with. "He could know what is going on with Greer," Ollie said, shrugging his shoulders. He'd always been a big 'the dean is behind this' person. That or the dean was G, whichever fit the narrative at the time. "All the texts between Penny and Greer seemed like they were on the same side in all of this, so I don't know why she's been sending him information about things Greer was having her do." He shook his head, and let out a deep breath. "Yeah, I don't know. None of this makes any sense… But it does prove that the Dean … knew something. Maybe more than just knowing something too." Ollie was quiet for a moment as he frowned. "Do you think the Dean is going to come back? Like… what if the police don't find anything on him and he's allowed back?"

[bigmandiego]

Diego frowned over at Milo, but he was right, wasn't he? He hadn't been here for any of that. He'd only heard about it second hand, and sometimes not even in person. Getting a quick text from his mom that Greer had been presumed dead was a large reason why he wanted to be here now. "I'm not trying to gaslight you," Diego said, rolling his eyes. "If you think I haven't had to deal with any of this just because I haven't been physically present that is completely wrong. You've been here to talk to people, I had no one to talk to. So, give me a fucking break, bro." No one had had it easy, but apparently no one was willing to admit that either.

"You're joking," Milo said flatly when Diego insisted he had been here. His eyebrows furrowed at his … former friend, and he shook his head. "Are you serious right now? Yo you really believe that?" Because there was no way. "When were you fucking here? You weren't here when Ida died. You weren't here when Sam was arrested. You weren't here when me and Heni were hurt, and in the hospital. You weren't here last entire term for G's stupid bullshit games. You weren't here when Greer was announced dead and her case closed. You weren't here for any of it!" He gave an annoyed 'tsking' sound. "No one asked you to put your life on hold. Keep your head down and stay out of it. Just don't try to gaslight me that you've dealt with anything like the rest of us."

[bigmandiego]

"Oh, who really knows the lore of why the Greek system works and what it does?" Diego said in a joking way. He knew. He absolutely knew. You sort of had to to become a member. It was one of the things you were rigorously tested on during pledging. Yes… Tested. They didn't do hazing… That's what they said anyway.

"It's a shelter for families that services the state," he explained looking over at Lola, "more local then like … Good Will or whatever. It works with people who are homeless, or displaced, or lost everything in fires. Things like that." Diego waved his hand. "Have you ever seen Clueless? At the end where Cher is doing the charity stuff and giving the shelter caviar, and her skis? Some of the stuff the guys gave me feels a little overkill, but I'm sure they'll appreciate it." He hoped.

"So, correct me if I'm wrong," Lola begins, with the gravity of someone who is about to say something that barely even scrapes being a joke. "But it almost sounds like the charity stuff is there to offset the yelling."

She starts walking, slowly adjusting her pace so that they fall into step with each other, heels clicking against the asphalt of the parking lot. "What's the charity anyway?"

[bigmandiego]

"I'm not going to any spring break parties while in the city," Diego said, raising his eyebrows. "I'm going to a charity gala my mom is holding that will probably be mostly attended by elderly ladies. But that's not really the same thing." Thankfully. Though what someone planned and what happened wasn't always the same thing. He might end up going to some friend of a friend's party, maybe it was even likely, but he wasn't planning on it.

He stood back while Monty looked around in his mail box, and smiled when he came out with the package. Diego reached his hand out though it was kept away from him, and he gave a look that very clearly said the most judgmental 'really?' possible "Batteries. Like I said, I'm a very boring person."

With Diego's glance, Monty's smile widened further, exhaling a huffy little breath before his eyes were rolling away. He had half a mind to quiz him on all the European countries he'd visited before, but somehow, he didn't feel much like giving Diego a hard time right now. Instead, he just shrugged, reaching for his mail slot while retorting, "Next you're gonna tell me you're not even going to any spring break parties while in the city." Even Monty was certain he'd hit up some townie celebrations.

His mail cubby was bursting with envelopes once he finally got it open, wrestling out the stack in his fist. He hummed, fingering through the first few items before glancing back with a bright, "Ah!" Monty reached deeper into the cubby, pulling out a square little package and wiggling it in Diego's direction, not yet handing it over. "What'd'ya order?"

[bigmandiego]

He considered the question. Maybe he considered the question a bit longer than a 'no, of course not' would necessarily need. "My dad's a lawyer," Diego said, shrugging his shoulders. And not a fine upstanding lawful citizen sort, more like a -- if you're planning on getting involved in something shady be prepared sort. "I never thought my roommate, or Ollie's friend would ever go to jail either," he pointed out. "It looks like you never really know."

Diego chuckled a little, giving a sheepish and evasive glance away. "I would never use the soup spoon for dessert. But I did once use a regular fork to eat a cake with." True story. "I think we're all college students, and have all done something stupid we probably regret. Whatever G has on everyone doesn't have to be serious, does it? As long as it's something that person wants to hide."

"Plausible deniability." There's mirth to the words, the syllables stitched together with a thread of humour that belied the seriousness of the subject matter at hand. "Do you really think I'm going to jail?" That had to be the thing, right? Otherwise, she couldn't see a reason why he would not possess at least the tiniest sliver of curiosity. Was it not part of the human condition, to long for an understanding of the things that were unknown to us? It certainly was for Anya.

"So you're telling me you have something to hide?" An eyebrow raised. By the readiness with which he'd practically admitted it, she could not imagine it was earth-shattering. Perhaps it was a testament to her own shallow perception of the world, but Anya had a hard time believing any of Ogden's inner circle were hiding something that would pass as a secret outside of the Upper East Side. "Did you use the soup spoon for dessert or some shit?"

[bigmandiego]

He opened his mouth to say that yeah sure he could send Ollie the picture he'd taken, though he was continuing on. And then seemingly realizing something, and then saying he shouldn't even keep it on his phone. Yeah, that actually made a lot of sense. If the cops suddenly wanted to look through everyones things he really shouldn't have this on there. Granted, he would not be allowing the cops to look through his phone unless they had probable cause, but you really never knew these days what could happen. "Here," he said, simply handing the phone over to Ollie to make it more simple.

"I just don't understand what Penny could have been doing," he said after being quiet for a moment. "What's the point of sending the Dean this? Does he know what is really going on with Greer? Does he know more about this situation than we thought?" Diego shook his head as he lapsed into thought. "None of this makes sense. Is it just because I've been gone for so long?"

Ollie leaned back onto the bed, propping himself up on his elbows as his legs hung off the side, kicking back and forth. "Huh…" He said, face scrunching up a little bit, "that wasn't what I expected to hear at all." Granted he hadn't known what to expect, but a letter between Penny and the Dean telling the Dean about the letters Greer had sent… No, he didn't get it either. "Yeah, it does feel like more questions, but hopefully more questions leads to more answers. Can you send me that pic? Do you mind?" Ollie asked trying to give Diego his very best puppy dog eyes, while not trying to be too obvious about it. "Uh I mean actually if you do maybe make sure it's encrypted. Through safe channels -- actually you probably shouldn't even keep that on your own phone…"

[bigmandiego]

Diego laughed as he attempted to hula hoop at least ten times in a row this time. He didn't think he was doing badly, in fact he thought he was getting better and better. "Yeah, that's fair," he said, the moment he stopped concentrating he had to grab the hoop before it hit the floor. If you came to vent out some of your frustrations hula hooping likely wouldn't do it. "I'm sure if you go to the gym where the boxing club meets they'll have a bunch of things for you to hit. Maybe even a person who would be into being the thing getting hit too. I don't know if they'd be okay with the kicking part of kick boxing though."

"please do not insult the art of ballet by implying it shares any skills with hula hooping." the sneer was audible in beck's voice, and it would have more effect if she wasn't pathetically failing to keep her hoop aloft as she spoke. "ballerinas can't move their hips like this. you should see us do hip hop." beck had received her first failing grade after failing to turn in her feet in hip hop 101. "if you see me pulling a karen with the manager after this, mind your own business. i was really looking forward to punching things tonight, and there's so little to look forward to these days. don't you think?"