#(we played it during computer class when the teachers didn't look too)

[flash-from-the-past]

Lazy Expert

[alien-girl-21]

I was bored and started thinking about shit that happened when I was in highschool, and one thing lead to another and so this happened

Joker out as things guys in my highschool did (+ bonus käärijä)

(yes, these all happened)

• Called himself the "math messiah" —Jan

• Starting a human pyramid on the back of the class just because —Bojan

• Playing with tazers like light sabers —Bojan and Jure

• Making a tunnel of people and having one person run through it while everyone else threw their backpacks at them —they all organized it

• Play fighting a little too hard and breaking a window —Jance

• Throwing someone in the small, mounted cabinet in the classroom to see what was inside, and thus, breaking it —bokris

• Playing charlie charlie in the school lab table —Bojan and nace

• Directly staring at a chemical reaction we were told not to look at because it might blind us —Jure

• Calling that same chemical reaction the 'expecto patronus' spell —Nace

• Improving a song about the national independence because they forgot to make an actual presentation about it and had just brought a guitar with them —(bo)jan²

• Organized freestyle rap battles in the middle of class (brought a speaker to listen to the beats better) —Bojan

• Organized wrestling matches in the free periods —Bojan

• Participated in said wrestling matches —everyone else

• Hit the vape the second the teacher entered the classroom and coughed up all the smoke in shock, making the teacher think there was a fire —Kris

• Being the goalie for a football match while blindfolded (no one else was) —Jure

• Performing a rock cover of the school anthem at 8 in the morning in a school assembly —do I even need to explain?

• Tripping on the field and creating a domino effect that made like 30 people fall as well —Kris

• The second a fight broke out in the gymnasium (there really wasn't a fight), he picked up his gf bridal style and sprinted out the gymnasium screaming "WE'RE NOT DYING TODAY BABE" —Nace (the gf is jan)

• Ran off a protest we were doing to buy empanadas —bokris

• Answered the question "how do you write sol?" With "s-o-l" in guitar class —Kris

• Got so attatched to the egg baby project thing that when a football crushed it he actually cried a bit —Bojan

• Somehow made an oil paint concoction that never dried in the almost two months we were painting with oil paints —Jure

• Sprinted out of class to go play pokemon go at the school entrance —Nace

• Almost made the woodwork class explode because of faulty wiring they made —Bojan, Jan, and Jure

• Used to exchange school jackets because they missed each other (they swore they just didn't look at which jacket belonged to who) —jance

• His flirting technique was to say that he was the same zodiac sign as the girl he liked even if he wasn't —Bojan

• Was trying to do the splits and a primary school kid ran up to him and kicked him in the balls —Jan

• During a very important test (like very fucking important) tried to cheat in the biology section by searching what a cell was on google, just for the text-to-speech to start reading the definition in max volume —Bojan

• Accidentally used baking powder instead of flour when baking cookies in cooking class —Bojan, Jan, and Nace

• Went off to every table in the cafeteria and stole every hot sauce to add more to his fried chicken because 'it wasn't spicy enough' (more of the same hot sauce did not make it more spicy) —Jan

• Lost 300$ worth of food because the same cafeteria closed down the day after he put money into his account —Nace

• Brought a gas mask to class when there was a cold outbreak in the school —Bojan (still got sick)

• Got the wifi password of the art supply store near the school and used it to play minecraft on his phone —Jan

• Used to bring USBs with call of duty on them, installed them on every computer in the computer lab and played with his friends in class —Bojan

• Smuggled a toaster and blender into the school, got bread, cheese, ham, strawberries and milk delieverd to the school and made sandwiches and smoothies for the class (you had to pay though) —Jure and Kris

• Daily breakfast would consist of: a bottle of the same brand of cheap energy drink bought in the kiosk for like 2 months straight —Bojan

• Played a gay character in a play and was so good at it that teachers had a sit down with him to ask him if he was actually gay —Bojan

• Brought alcohol to an alcohol-free party organized by the school, said to not show anyone just to show everyone the bottle of alcohol —Jan

• Actually did the 'this shot's for you, babe' on a basketball game (his final pe test) and failed it —Bojan

• Used to ask girls to pluck his eyebrows weekly in the middle of class because he wanted them to look good —Kris

(+ bonus jere bc i just had to)

• Confidently saying the capital of Colombia is Ecuador in the oral geography test —Jere

• Tried to hide a basketball under his shirt (basketballs were banned) and when questioned about the bulge in his shirt, replied with "I'm pregnant" —Jere

• At a patty organized by the parents of pur class, got drunk, went to sleep on the floor and ended up being used as a bench by like 3 girls —Jere

[ecoamerica]

Apply or nominate: https://ecoamerica.org/american-climate-leadership-awards-2025/

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[xtrablak674]

This is My Life

Trevor Brown

7E1

Feb 28, 1986

J.H.S. 135

INTRODUCTION

"Hello!" I'm here to tell you about myself. I'll be telling you about things I like, and things I don't like. I'll also tell you about past achievements. After all of that you and I shall peer into my crystal ball and see what's in store for me in the future.

CREATIVE PAGE

My full name is Trevor XXXXX Brown. My father tells me he had nothing to do with naming me, he said my mother and her sisters did the naming. I was born in XXXXXXXX Hospital, although home was in Peekskill. That's upstate New York, in Westchester County. My father and mother's full names are Robert XXXXXX Brown and Mary XXXXX Brown.

Now you know a little about me, but don't turn the page yet I will now tell you about my earliest recollections of preschool. It was a great school, the teachers were polite and weren't disrespectful to the students who went to their school. The school was <adjacent to> a large white chapel, that was a church on Sunday. This church looked large from my size. It was fun when we went outside and played on the swings and sliding boards. Preschool was nice but that was a long time ago so lets move on to elementary school.

Uriah Hill Jr. Elementary was and still is a good school. This school has been around longer than you. I know it's at least 40 years old. I know this because my babysitter's son is 44 years old and he went to Uriah Hill too. I also made alot of friends at this school, because of different plays and music concerts.

C o n t . CREATIVE PAGE

This school didn't have many programs when I was there but they did have six computers and Day Camps during the summer. Every once and awhile the music teachers would get together and have a music programs or concert. These programs sometimes had something to do with the season or holidays. These concerts usually consisted of the school band whose players were in the fifth and six grades. The glee club was made up of the fifth and sixth grades and last but not least the 3rd and 4th grade chorus. These programs usually ran about two or three hours, and every time there was a big crowd.

When ever there was a play I tried to get the best part, but if I didn't get the best part I would get up on the stage and show off the character I was playing. This happened the time I played the caterpillar, when the 5th and 6th grades did "The Trial of Alice and Wonderland" from the book "Alice In Wonderland". I had to have six arms and show them off while I was dancing. It seemed like I did every dance step in the book, because that crowd was really cheering when I got through with my little dance. This night the school was nearly jammed with teenagers. These teenagers had come because they saw me in my costume. I had attracted a lot of attention.

I looked forward to spending the sixth grade at Uriah Hill because the Senior trip would be a visit to Boston, Massachusetts.

I didn't make it there because "Tragedy Struck!!!" My mother died!!! Shortly after that I moved to the Bronx and have attended three school's since being here They were Our Savior Lutheran School, P.S. 89, and now I am attending Whalen Junior High School.

THINGS I LIKE

I love acting. I like acting so much because I am so good at it. I keep a straight face, emphasize my words and put facial expressions where they're supposed to go. I just don't know why but Ive just got a knack for acting. I'm constantly being asked to act in different plays and skits. My most recent part was "A Visit from St. Nick " I really bought down the houses down with shaking my belly like a bowl full of jelly. I act a lot with the Video class I'm in at J.H.S. 135.

I have been very fortunate to have traveled extensively with my traveling partner. My first trip on plane was to Milwaukee, Wisconsin when I was 8 years old. I've also been abroad when I went to Europe I visited London, Paris, Brussel and Amsterdam.

When I see famous landmarks and historical places, it makes me proud to know that I was in that place in person.

In London I visited Madame Tussaud's Wax museum, Big Ben, and Stanford-Upon Avon. Stanford-Upon Avon was the birthplace of William Shakespeare. I also visited the house he was born in. As we were leaving England we boarded the ferry at the White Cliffs of Dover. We rode the ferry across the English Channel to France.

In Paris, the sights I saw were the Eiffel Tower, Arc de Triophe, the Loure, which is the home of the Mona Lisa. At the Cathedral of Notre Dame I stood in the center of the city of Paris.

Brussel is famous for its' beautiful lace. I saw a lady weaving lace.

At Delft I saw how "Delft Blue pottery is made. The Manneken-Pis attracted a lot off attention.

Amsterdam is a city with about 160 canals and 1,000 bridges. At Anne Frank's house I went behind the bookcase and found the secrets of Anne Frank's world. There are not many windmills left in Holland.

I have also traveled a great deal here in the United States.

Things I Dislike

I dislike sleep-away camps. My reason for disliking camp so much is because the counselors "rough-up"" on the campers. They also read your letters.

I absolutely can't stand people smoking in my vicinity, especially when it's in my room. I've posted a no smoking sign on my room door and I dislike the fact that it 1s not respected. My schoolmates have told me that my clothes smell like cigarette smoke. That's one of the reasons why I dislike people smoking around me. I hope our mayor bans people from smoking in certain areas like I think they have done in New Jersey.

I think that my room is nice and neat, so why should I have to clean it up? My coats are on the rocking chair, my shorts are on the red chair, and my socks are on the floor. I known where everything is so why should I clean up and mess up that great filing system? Naturally, some people disagree with me that this is a good way to keep my room.

My Achievements

These are some of my achievements. I really don't think much about them because it took such little effort to get them. The Cub Scout badges were-like a piece of cake to get. I met the requirements for the Bob Cat badges after studying one night. Each Cub Scout had to get the Cub Scout and the Wolf badges. The Arrow Head badges took a little more effort to get because there were more of them than there were of the others. I earned all of them.

The Baseball medal that I got was no sweat at all, everybody got one even if their team was the number one loser or the number one winner.

Winning different places in the school's poster contest were fairly simple for me because I was one of the best artist in the school.

Another of my great achievement includes our quartet singing "Didn't It Rain" on the radio. My two brothers, my friend, and I made up the quartet. There were a couple of times I was on television singing with the Mt. Lebanon Baptist Church. Oh! I must tell you this. I was in the newspapers several times. Many times I was in the news because I won the school's poster contest. A fishing trip on a very hot day earned me the honor of having my picture in the newspaper.

Then there were other occasions when there were write-ups about me in the paper , all good.

Future

Another day another dollar, better get back to my Robotic Factory and see what my Vice has for me to approve. This part time lawyer and part time toy factory president isn't easy. With the stocks I bought in Cindy's Hair Shoppes and Isods money is really rolling in.

My grandmothers nursing home has a private spa, private swimming pool, and a private gym. She is living the good life. My kids visits her now and then. My! I've come a long way from Whalen Junior High School, Bronx High School of Science, and Harvard Law School.

[This paper I wrote in junior high school thirty-eight years ago is very insightful, this was only two years after I had found my mom dead and moved from my childhood city to the Bronx with my grandparents. Clearly there are things that are at the top of my memory that have long since faded. This is the one thing I love about having an archive of your life you can look back and recall details that have long eluded you.

My recollection of preschool was excellent, I was in the Head-start program, which was part day care and part school. This is prior to kindergarten meaning I was about four years old and I can still recall this sandbox table they had that I loved to play with, just the mention of the swings and slides took me outside the building behind the church. I thought our memories weren't as formed at this age, but I can recall my mom dropping me off and how I look forward to spending time there.

The details of the extra-curricular activities I was involved in is amazing! I used to always think due to my childhood trauma and subsequent depression, that I had forgotten a lot of my past but reading this I can see that that just isn't true, from my participation in the glee club, choir, and Cub Scouts I was extremely busy as a kid. I was also surprised at all the press I got in my city, which was more like a town, including singing on the radio!

I have to wonder how my seventh grade teacher felt about my extensive traveling not even having been a teenager for more than a year. I bet she hadn't even traveled as much as I did and she was a college-educated whyte woman.

The most surprising items were on my dislike list, I didn't realize that that summer camp was such a negative experience for me, clearly it was something I had strong feelings about. The only thing that I remember is that I didn't know how to bathe myself because my mom was a helicopter mom and bathed me way past the age where I should have probably been doing it on my own.

I had mildew in my luggage because I knew nothing about how to hang wet clothing to dry out. I have vague memories of playing dodge ball, the pool, the lunch hall and the bunk area. I wouldn't want to do summer camp again, which I never did. #FuckThoseMovies

My future choices were an interesting an amalgam of being an attorney and a toy creator its a perfect dream for my adulthood. Not that I am a fan of the law or anything, but I do love to debate and argue points, and toys are still very much a part of my life, I think it would have made a lot of sense for me to help create toys for children and the kids that never grown up.

There are clearly some omissions, my traveling partner was my grandmother, and even though I don't overtly mention her I do take her care into consideration nearly with art imitating life I was the one to care for her up unto her death at home, she was never put in any fantasy facilities or otherwise.

I also have kids. Now this can be an entire journal entry into itself, because I think at this age I was probably still wrestling with what society expects of you versus what you want to create for yourself. My life has turned out differently then I envisioned it as a child, but no less successful traveling a path that is less traveled and bucking what folks expect me to do versus what will make me happy.

Photos by Brown Estate]

[lawlietscaramels]

I'm gonna put a cut in because this is a personal (non-fandom, not particularly personal personal) post and it's very long lol. it's about the many many electives I've done thanks to the school system where I went.

my P-10 school changed principals a lot but when I was in year 5, and from year 6-10, we got to do either two or three (changing principals) electives per semester. as a result, I've done classes in:

Japanese (actually, we had to do it from year 1 to 6, and year 7 and 8 you had to have a language. I did it from year 1 to 10)

Drama (year 5, 7-10, except for the last semester of year 9 because that semester they split year 9 and 10 classes but they still put on a play with the year 10s. I'm still bitter I missed out on that. But it was insanely helpful for my anxiety. I've never had stage fright or been afraid to act, oddly, but I used to be terrified of public speaking. even one on one. I literally could not talk to boys for a period.)

Photography (I'm pretty sure I did at least two semesters. Actually, it's come in helpful for my art.)

Psychology (second semester of year 9 and I think all of year 10. It was so fun but I missed out on the crime unit and they got to look at dead bodies because the teacher taught us like adults if we behaved like adults.)

Computer science and robotics (separate electives, I put them together because they were taught by the same teacher. I would have enjoyed the subject matter if it was taught better.)

Coding (out of school, actually, but still on school grounds...)

In year 5, we didn't get to pick the electives, our whole class just did the same ones. Because we didn't have individual timetables until year 7. I put drama in the above section because I continued it, but the other three I did that year were...

Art (the teacher sucked. I hated the class actually)

Food tech (most places have hospitality but we just did food OR textiles. in this one, we alternated between cooking and doing food theory)

Woodwork (HATED. it was so loud and smelt really shitty and also it was very stressful. The machines in that room could cut off a finger. I was 11.)

Also, in year 10, they let us pick which sciences we wanted to do. I got to do:

Cosmology (best term of science all through P-10. I loved the teacher too.)

Forensic science (we actually happened across a real (minor) crime during the unit)

Genetics and Disease studies (again, same teacher, different electives. The classes were interesting and I got to write ethics essays but there was too much biology.)

Finally, the honourable mention, creative writing. I tried to get in every year and it was full, except for the ONE year I got in, where not enough people joined to run the class. I did get to participate in the one day school program "Write a Book in a Day" from year 8 to 10, and in "Camp Sojourner" in year 6, which was a week of writing after school, led by my teacher at the time. He also organised a monthly Sojourner magazine for short stories that I contributed to throughout year 5 and 6.

so, yeah. interesting fact about me.

[leechyboi]

I don't have a good start to this other than "this was horrificly traumatizing as a child".

About a decade ago, my 9th grade Social Studies teacher, gonna just call him Mr. F, he didn't just have the typical approach of "show a documentary that takes a week to get through and we write our little 9/11 letters" thing. No, this round pink kettlepot of a man was utterly *obsessed* with 9/11. He had posters hanging on the walls in his classroom of the towers, "never forget" on a banner in big red-white-and-blue letters stretched over the whiteboard, his computer desktop had a picture of the WTC burning as the wallpaper, he always wore this gaudy enamled pin on his sweater he'd wear over a dress shirt which just made him even sweatier. He had a constant wide-eyed fear in his gaze that was only rivaled by the anger in his voice and the smallest provocation or perceived slight against his authority would incur him full on *screaming* at you. Nobody wanted to have him as their teacher.

So we didn't just do the school mandated 9/11 course. We watched documentary after documentary for the first two and a half months of the school year. Every. Single. Day. We had to have seen every piece of footage from 9/11 that was available at the time. Every survivor testimony, more than once being played right off of YouTube. All of it in as graphic detail the projector could display in the dimly lit blue bricked room with *none* of it censored for the class full of children.

I was already having nightmares from this, having to do writing exercises like "what would you tell your family and America if you were on the plane" and getting yelled at for crying during class because I'm writing a croak note to my late father (this class made me cry alot, shockingly) but the 9/11 obsession only lasted about two months into the year or so. Around mid November Mr. F switched gears from the daily 9/11 videos to pulling out ***the god damn Qur'an.*** We started learning about the Muslim religion and culture, and not in a genuine "here's the interesting history and beliefs of these people to humanize them in the light of this horrible tragedy I've been showing you for the last few months" kind of thing either, Mr. F really leaned into what was clearly disdain for the Islamic people. He would make comments on how the way we dressed or acted would be illegal in the middle east and they'd chop off our hands or we'd be whipped for certain things. More than once I was confused on worksheets being graded poorly because there was some kind of merit to a passage we had to read and criticize. Atleast twice a week we would hold mock stonings of the girls, having the boys throw balled up paper at them, and we had exercises where we'd stand opposite sides of the room lined up by gender and the girls weren't allowed to talk. The stonings were also a punishment for people he found annoying or disruptive, so I was usually standing up there every other day having paper thrown at me, and eventually had to sit on the girl's side of the room because he didn't want to hear me speak. And don't worry, 9/11 was still being brought up regularly, with the weird way Mr. F would say "themmm" in reference to it just dripping with animosity as he held his leather bound Qur'an with his grubby little hands. He genuinely believed that some sort of large scale terrorist attack was going to be led by anyone of Islamic descent on America.

Eventually after I had broken down crying in front of the class too many times I had finally convinced the my IEP counselor to get me in a different class, and barely was able to scrape by the other half of the school year since he didn't teach anything remotely resembling the curriculum (still don't know wtf an Anglo Saxon is). When I last lived in NJ a couple years ago he still was teaching, and still was fucking fanatic about 9/11 according to my friend's little sister, although looking at my old school's website now he's not there anymore so he hopefully got fired for being fucking insane. There's no real moral or resolution here other than I still have anxiety about terrorists kidnapping me or attacking public transportation sometimes, as wildly unrealistic as that is.

okay me & my brother are learning this isn’t as common as we thought and so in honor of the special day

[alba8688]

Chapter 18

Word count:4807

Warnings :18plus minors DNI

Eddie pov

You would have thought because I was in New York on vacation with my girlfriend.I wasn't going to Be in school but right there I was wrong she still managed for me to do school being miles away .

What can I expect when my girlfriend is a teacher ..

Saying it  like that gives me the Hibbie jeebies.

So, She even had uncle Wayne call the school for me to have online classes while I was over here.

Supposably saying  I was sick.

but I was ok with that for sure it meant I didn't have to set foot in that hell hole we call school.I mean I can be at home while still at school. That is so awesome .But still not cool at all.

"Dani!!!"I whine while waiting for my English teacher to send me the work I am supposed To do.

"Eddiieee!!" She mímick me ,she was sitting next to me, sending the substitute the work for the day .

"Baby I want to cuddle ." I pouted

"That's not metal for you Munson." She looked at me and smiled, "but I could cuddle ."

"Yeah ?" She got me all excited ,I was about to turn off the computer when she stopped me .

"We can cuddle when you're done with your work ."

"You wound me Sweetheart ." I fell back to the couch like I fainted .

"Stop being such a drama queen, Edward ." She told me and got up, closing her laptop and left me alone to die of boredness .She left me alone to my misery .I should die this morning .

———————-

Liam stopped by today with great news telling us  that his mother agreed for them to see Nathan while We were staying here in New York. She agreed to every weekend of this month .I don't know how he did it .

Maybe he sold his soul to her but whatever he did it worked .

She even let him stay the night as well and now Dani and Liam were Happier than ever and I was happy for them too .

But Somehow I felt there was something evil behind that lady being too nice and I hope I wasn't wrong but still ,today I would be calling Robin to talk to her dad .

I know he could help us .Because he has help me and uncle Wayne especially when uncle Wayne had to get custody of me when I was younger .

Before I started my next class I decided to call Robin .But first I thought of what I was going to tell her .Without revealing our little secret .

After I had practiced what I was going to say I dial Robin's number .

R:"Hello ."  Robin answered

E:"It's me Eddie ." I said nervously

R:"Of Course it's you Dingus I have your number saved ,what's up ?"she sounded cheerfully as always .

I could hear a bunch of noise in the background and of course she answered her phone during school .

Probably walking to her next class.

E:"Umm I need a favor for a friend ."

R:"ok what's going on ?"

I try my best to explain everything that was going on to Robin with Nathan and she said she would give me a call back when her father got home. I didn't tell her who my friend was because she said that she didn't like getting involved in her dad's business and I was glad for that .Because I didn't have to tell her that it was our history teacher .i hung up the phone and saw that it was almost time for my next class .So I got ready taking out my textbook and whatever else I needed. And when I was done with all this Cuddle time.

Online classes were the easiest thing for me honestly especially because I didn't have to see the faces of Jason and his goons.At first when Dani said that  was going to take online classes I didn't know how I was going to do it because I didn't own a laptop never bought one because I didn't have the money .Dani Offer to buy me one but I decline she already spend so much so I decide to use some of my savings to get me one .

So two days ago Dani and I had gone computer shopping looking for a laptop for me i didn't want nothing fancy just something where I was able to do my work ,but it was hard there was so many types of computer I fell in love with one it was beautiful and the sales person said I could play games on it it was just like Dustin's computer but the one I saw was a laptop it was a gaming laptop but it was way over my budget .But it talked to me and I decided to take it and when it came time for us to pay Dani kept insisting she will pay for it for me but i denied telling her she had already done enough paying for the whole trip plus I told her I had some money save up .

So yes I got myself the gaming computer and I couldn't wait to show Henderson so we can play together online but wait I don't have internet at the trailer ,But Dani has internet in her apartment ..

That same day Dani took me to see all the places she loved in New York and afterwards my feet were killing me.

Why did we have to walk everywhere ?

When it came time for dinner Dani wanted to lay once again but I didn't feel right. I mean I wasn't used to a girl paying for my stuff. I usually am the one paying for everything and now here comes Dani who wants to pay for Dinner and for trips .She is so independent .I mean I love that about her but I also want to be able to spoil her .

I have nothing against that but I have never met a girl like her. She always tells me that we have to be equal to each other .I love her way of thinking honestly.

———————

My online classes just resulted in me doing assignments the teachers will send me .

Dani  helped me with some of my work so I was able to finish them on time .

She wouldn't give me the answers but she would explain in a more easier way for me to understand .She even gave me homework from her class which I thought wasn't fair because I was her boyfriend .She chuckled when I told her that.

"Sweetheart, that's not the way it works ." She teased me then leaned into me pecking my lips "in School im Miss.Henderson." She bit my bottom lip sliding down my neck slowly. She knows how easily I get turned on by her and is like she is doing it on purpose while I'm doing homework .

She then moves her lips up to my earlobe, biting it and nibbling it "So do your homework." She whispers seductively and walks away leaving me with a huge boner .

"Dani !!" I whined ,I heard her giggle from the kitchen.

But she wanted to play the teasing game but if she only knew I could play it better .

Suddenly my phone rang but it wasn't a normal call, it was  FaceTime and guess who it was .

"Hello ." I answer not turning the camera on

"Eddie, how are you feeling ?" A worried Dustin asked.

"Cough ,I'm ok ." I did my best to do a sick voice

"Turn on your camera ,everyone is here, we got worried when we heard you were sick ." Shit what am I gonna do now ?

I pretended to cough again and walk to a more close area because this apartment had windows everywhere; it was mostly windows than walls .

I walk to the room passing Dani who was laying down in bed half naked wearing only panties and one of my shirts .

She saw me and lifted her shirt up for her panties to show even more .

"You fucking kidding me sweetheart!!." I whisper yell.

She patted the bed and I sat next to her not turning the camera on .

"Eddie, are you still there ?" Dustin shouted

"Yeah I'm here ." I responded ,Jesus Christ

Danielle you were going to be the death of me .

"Well we want to see you !!" The boys shouted

Fucking he'll what do i do?

So I just turn on the camera not showing my face but the ceiling .

"Eddie, where are you?" Dustin ask

"My room." I lied ,I was bad at lying and I knew because I would start panicking .

"Yeah ,sure, don't lie to me, that ceiling doesn't look like your room." Dustin raised a brow .

I look up the ceiling how the fuck can he tell how my ceiling looks.

I turned my head to the side and Danny wasn't there anymore.

Where the fuck did she go ?

I continue talking to the boys for a little longer. They all ask me questions of how I'm feeling and when I'm going back to school.

Henderson was the one that kept asking me the most weird questions .

Saying why my room looks so different,and how exactly did I feel .He even told me he went to visit me at the trailer but uncle Wayne told him I was asleep.

Uncle Wayne was the best for covering for me .

Henderson even mentioned Dani was in New York for a job thing .I have no idea why he told me that is not I care .supposably.

The door from the restroom opened and I almost choked on my saliva coughing this time actually coughing not fake coughing when I saw Dani .

She walks out wearing this black lace bra pair with the same underwear more like those pieces you see in a Victoria's Secret magazine .

And fucking fuck she look hot .

My mouth fell open looking at her walk this way , moving her hips side to side and laying down next to me .

"Eddie, are you ok?" One of the boys asks and I just nod looking at Dani who is laying down next to me looking at me with those eyes full of lust .

Her hand moves to her Breast then slides down in between her legs  and she starts to gently rub circles on her clit ,she covers her mouth muffling her moans .

What the fuck was she doing ?

"I gotta take my medicine bye Henderson." I hung up the phone so fast and placed it on the side table. I didn't even let poor Henderson speak ..But I'll deal with him later .

Now I have something important to take care of and that something important being my sexy ass girlfriend ..

Now my focus was Dani who was giggling as she stood up putting her two fingers in her mouth tasting herself, sucking them clean.

"Sweetheart, are you trying to get us caught ?" I tell her

"No." She says innocently battling her eyelashes .

Then she crawled on top of me and pushed me down in bed leaning down to kiss my lips .

She licked my bottom lip asking for entrance and I didn't have to think twice in letting her in my mouth.Her tongue entered my mouth and I tasted every single part of her mouth in mine .

Dani started moving slowly back and forth on my clothed cock and fuck it felt good everything she did felt good without thinking I let out an embarrassing moan.Then Suddenly she stood up out of nowhere and I instantly missed the feeling of her on top of me .She then pulls down my boxers all the way down to my ankles and I push them off .Then she crawled back stroking my dick slowly .

"Fuck !!" I grunted

She look at me and smile and lower her mouth down to my cock and then swirl her tongue around the tip and fuck that felt amazing .

She pushed down my length taking everything she could inside her mouth while giving it gentle strokes with her hand.Danielle Henderson Owned me right now she had me moaning like know-one ever had before and honestly I didn't care I was loving every second of it.I grab a fist full of hair on my hand and move her head up and down my length .She watched me with teary eyes but wouldn't stop her motion.

And fuck she look sexy as fuck pleasing me.

"Shit oh fuck Baby stop ." I grunt "I don't want to cum yet ." I tell her

She smiles at me and stands up over me positioning herself on my cock and slowly lowers herself down my cock, both moaning in unison by the sensation.

Fuck she drove me crazy the things she made me feel where out of this world .I don't know how much I could take watching her bounce on my cock.I grabbed her ass, squeezing it tightly helping her move faster up and down my cock Dani wasn't holding back she was being very vocal today and that shit was driving me crazy yes I've heard her make those beautiful noises for me but today she was out of control and I was loving it.

"Eddie, I'm.." She moan trying her best to make a sentence but wasn't able to because her orgasm hit her out of nowhere coming undone all over my cock her arousal dripping down my balls  and I got to tell you that fucking felt amazing her walls tightening around my cock squeezing it tight making me come inside of her hard .

I don't know what it was but it was one of the best orgasms in my life .

She leans down to peck my lips .

"Fuck Dani what was that ?" I said breathlessly trying to catch my breath.

"I just love you ." She kisses my lips passionately with me still inside of her .I could feel myself getting hard again and i hear her giggle

"Someone's ready ." She says and I guess it was time for round 2.

She smiles in the kiss and continues kissing me and I flip her around in all her fours smacking her ass .

What a fucking perfect view I had .

I took my cock in my hand and teased her entrance with my tip ."You want this ?"

"Yes." She responded

"Yeah you want my cock baby ."

"Yes ,Eddie please ." She begged and who was I to deny my queen I gave her what she wanted .

"Baby you don't know what you do to me."I tell her But I could fucking die in her arms tonight with the way she made me feel .

——————-

That week we had so much sex that I didn't know how my dick was still working right now .And if she wasn't wearing that thing in her arm not to get pregnant I would be so worried right now because I came inside so many times that I lost count.and for sure she will have gotten pregnant .

Today was the weekend finally no school time to rest for school work and we were also taking Nathan to the zoo.I was pretty excited and also nervous because I wanted to make a  good impression on Nathan .I wasn't trying to replace Liam I just wanted him to like me .If you would have told me a year ago that I would be trying to impress a 5yr old I would have laugh in your face because I'm not good with kids and look at me now brushing my damn hair so it be a mess wearing a hoodie so I won't be cold and practicing what I'm going to be saying to him without a bad word on a sentence .

Why was I so nervous to meet a 5yr old !!!

I mean I was also nervous well not nervous I don't know how to feel about this one because

I didn't like the fact that Liam was going with us, I was doing it for Dani and her son .I know i'm going to have to see him more now that I know they have a son together .Even though it was weird for me knowing that Dak had a son an actual son and she never told me about him .

I'm not mad at her it's understandable her wanting to keep it a secret .Maybe she thought I wasn't mature enough to handle a kid I mean come on I'm still in high school a 20yr old in high school well about to turn 21 but I'm still In high school !!!!

I needed to calm down before heading out to the zoo. I didn't want to stress Dani out more than she was .

————-

When we arrived at the zoo Dani ,Nate and I waited for Liam to arrive .The whole time that we were waiting Nate kept staring at me. He wouldn't keep his eyes from me .

Maybe I had something in my face .Or was it because I was holding his mom's hand!

"Hi." I heard a small little voice said .

I look down to see Nate looking up at me smiling .

I looked at Dani then at Nate .Maybe he was talking to his mom but Dani was busy on the phone talking to Liam.

"H-hi." I stuttered

"What's your name ?" Nate asked me

"M-my name !" I say pointing to myself .

Nate just nods yes

"Eddie ." I responded

"Eddie,I like how you dressed." He smiles pouting at my hoodie .

"Y-you like my outfit ?" I smile a big toothy grin. A kid has never liked my outfit ever. They are always too scared of me but Nate likes my outfit and Holy shit !! He just held my hand .

"Dani?" I whispered, trying not to scare Nate away and maybe he would let go of my hand .

"Yeah baby ." She answered, looking at me .

I signal with my eyes to Nate who is holding my hand.

"He is holding my hand ." I mouth

Dani punches her brow and looks down at Nate and seeing Nate holding my hand brings a smile to her face then it fades away when she hear Liam's voice calling her name .

Yup the moment was ruined.

Nate ran up to his dad  and jump into his arms .Liam seem so happy seeing his son I've never seen this side of him I've only met the asshole part of him but then again the moment was ruined when Liam and Dani started arguing of who was going to pay for the entrance.So to stop the arguing I decided to paid while they where busy arguing with each other plus I still had some money saved up for the road trip I was supposed to take next summer.

"Come on." I tell both Dani and Liam after paying for the tickets ,Nate runs up to me and holds my hand .I smile at him and start walking inside the zoom.

Which by the way was fucking huge .

I didn't even know where to start .

With my free hand I try opening the map I was given at the entrance and scan it carefully.

Holy shit this zoo was big I didn't even know where to start .

"Where do you want to go ?" I asked Nate who was already looking up at me .

"Wherever you want to go ." He tells me sweetly.

"Ok, let's see here." I tell him looking at the map trying to figure out if to go left or right .

"What ?" Liam asks, standing next to me while I look at the map .

"I paid already ." I tell Them closing up the map and I just let Nate guide me ,he seems to know where to go .So I'd follow my tiny tour guide to wherever he was taking me ..

I was excited as much as Nate was but I wasn't gonna show it.I was trying to keep my cool in front of Liam. I didn't want him to think I was immature or something.

Well maybe I was .

But I wasn't gonna prove him right was i?

"Eddie, look at the Tigers!!" Nathan said, pointing excitedly to the tiger exhibit where two tigers were playing or maybe fighting or where they were ??

We both stand watching the tigers like two kids. To be fair Nate is a kid. I'm just well excited .

———————————————-

I was snapping pictures like crazy all day of all

The animals and Nate and Dani and some of Liam with them .I mean I can golpéate him he wasn't being an ass right now .At the moment .

We continued walking, watching all kinds of animals and also we made a quick stop at the gift shop .

I got super excited when I saw the penguins. They were so cute. I mean they were just penguins, they were whatever doing their penguin thing .

"Are you having fun ?" Dani hugs me from behind.

"Yeah ." I reply looking at the penguins jumping into the water .

"It's our secret baby ." She whispers standing next to me .

"Huh?" I ask her looking at her with a raised brow

"My metal head likes penguins is our secret ." She pecks my lips

I scrunch my nose and peck her lips .

"No I don't ." I chuckled

"Eddie !!!" Nate runs to me "Did you see the garafes? 🦒."

The 3 of us chuckled because we actually understood what he meant .

"No take me ." I tell him and he grabs my hand leading me to see the garafes as he calls them.

—————————-

After the zoo we all Went to get some Pizza which Liam decided to pay for everyone which I couldn't complain about.I mean free food tastes better .

After our exciting day we all headed back to the apartment to watch Madagascar which Nate had chosen to watch .Because he said that the movie was filmed in the same zoo we were at and who was I to tell him that the movie was a cartoon and they didn't really film it there .

So when started the movie started Nate came and sat in between Dani and me .The biggest smile grew on my face when he held my hand on his .I could hear Dani and Liam whispering of how Nate has never been like this with anyone .and I could swear I heard Liam said that I was a good guy .

Nathan fell asleep on my lap halfway through the movie and I felt special that he liked me .

He actually likes me .

Dani looked down at Nate and at me "he likes you." She says softly "I like him too ." I peck her lips

"Thank you for not running away."Dani pecks my lips once more ..

My phone rings interrupting the moment .I groaned and pulled away and looked at the number and it was Robin so I answered fast.

"Hey Buckley ." I answer

"Hey Eddie, my dad wants to speak to your friend. Is she there with you ?" She ask

"Yeah she is here ." I look at Dani and at Liam

"Yeah they are here." I replied I passed the phone to Dani and Liam Who put the phone on speaker and started Talking to Robin's dad telling him everything about Nathan and what Liam's mother had done .

He told them that it would be a hard case because they had signed the custody papers but if they had enough proof and Liam's dad was willing to confess that could help them a lot .

While Dani and Liam  talk to Robin's dad I pick up Nate gently and take him to bed to  the other room..I lay him gently in the bed and take  off his shoes and  cover him with the blanket.

I didn't even recognized myself right now fucking a kid to bed .I mean never in a millions would have I thought u would be doing this .i always  thought i would suck at being a dad I mean i know he is not my son .But he was Dani's son and i hope that one day he would accept me .

Before leaving I turn on the nightlight we had bought for him today at the zoo and close the door to the room.And walk back to the living room with Dani and. liam.I never thought I would say that in a sentence because I hated that guy .But here I was going to the zoo with him, Dani and their son .But I did all of that for Dani because I love her .I don't know what that guy has against me well I do but I never did anything to him .

While Dani and Liam talked to Robin's dad I  decided to catch on some of my homework.

Which wasn't too much .But I wanted them to have their privacy .

After they hung up ,Dani came looking for me.I was in the room doing homework at least that's what I told her but in reality I was researching how to be a dad .I wasn't going to tell her that because I didn't want to embarrass myself .

"Hey baby." Dani coo sitting down next to me in bed

"Hey sweetheart how did everything go?" I asked her closing my laptop .

"Well it was good I guess there's a lot of things that need to be done it's a long process but we got a case ." She smiled weakly .

I pulled her close to me and kissed the top of her head "everything is going to be fine sweet girl ." I coo

"I'm sorry Ed's." She said softly

"Sorry for what?"

"For not telling you about Nate ." She choke on her words

"You have nothing to be sorry about, sweetheart,but I'm not gonna lie. I was a bit surprised and I also panicked ." I paused and sat up straight with my back against the headboard.

"Why scared ?"

"B-because I was afraid Nate wanted to like me or that I was going to suck at being a f-father figure ." I said the last part almost as a whisper .I couldn't believe I had said that to Dani. What if she didn't think I was a good father figure too.

"Ed's baby really ?You thought you wouldn't be a good father figure for Nate ." Dani's voice sounded so squeaky so I turned to look at her and she was crying .

"Hey ." I jumped to bed and held her tight in my arms .

"Ed's y-you want hiccup to be Nate's hiccup dad too?" Dani cried .

"Sweetheart I love you so fucking much and I would do anything for that little boy in there."I pouted to wall that separated abates room from ours .

"Like making our trip short and going back to Hawkins ?"

"Even that sweetheart ."

I didn't mind that our trip was gonna be cut short ,but I know it meant Dani and Liam weren't gonna be able to see Nathan for awhile again .

Or at least I was hoping that His mother would let him stay with Dani for a while in Hawkins .

We had to go back to Hawkins so Dani and Liam could take whatever evidence they had to Robin's dad plus he had to go over the case .

———-

Around 10pm Liam left saying he was gonna go home and rest because tomorrow morning he was going to talk to his mother .

After a long day Dani and I went to take a shower together and after that we went to lay down in bed ,her head resting on my chest and my arm around her rubbing her arm softly with my thumb.

"I really hope we can get Nate back ." She says softly

"We will sweetheart." I kiss the top of her head

"Thank you Eddie ." She looks up at me

"For what ?"

"For sticking here with me today ,I-I know you don't like Liam ."she tells me

"I did it for you Princess and trust me when I tell you that I'll do anything for you ."

And I would do anything for her .If she asked me that she wanted a star I would get it for her .I cringe thinking that it was actually me thinking like that but I didn't care for Dani I could be as sappy as I could be .

————-

After a while Dani fell asleep ,I stayed awake thinking of  everything that has happened since we arrived here in New York, like finding out she had a son ,then what I told her in new years I couldn't believe I actually promised to Marry her one day ,I think I was really going crazy for her .

I hated the word marriage ,now I wanted to spend the rest of my life with her and Nathan .

Love really made me change.

Next chapter

[dream-diary-of-a-random-person]

Where is He? - 10/6/2023

In my dream last night, I was in a language arts class and we were watching a period-drama movie. After a while, the teacher suddenly switched what movie we were watching. The teacher was looking on her computer for our answers that we were supposed to put in online, and told me I needed to finish mine. I opened up the Chromebook that was in front of me, which had a long nonsense word typed in. It was part of the name of the movie, however I couldn't remember the rest.

Apparently in the movie that was currently playing, Sweet, Cap'n, and Cakes from Deltarune were supposed to make an appearance. However, and argument began about what one of their names was. Some said "PP" and others "BB" dude to what and how it had been written on a whiteboard in the front of the class. I tried to tell one of the girls that it was "Sweet" but she didn't seem to really care, despite the argument still going on. Around this time, I decided to just not do the assignment for the other movie since I still couldn't find it.

I then realized...I had graduated already. And I didn't need to be there, so I closed my Chromebook, stood up, and went out the classroom door. No one stopped me.

When I was in the hall, my high school marine biology teacher began to follow me and ask what I was doing in the hall. He also said some other things, seeming to think I had gotten in trouble and had been sent to the principle's office. Once we reached the front of the school, I planned on going out the doors, but a bit square hole in the wall leading outside was what I ended up exiting through. Though, the hole seemed to teleport me to a kinda "hilly" place with some trees not too far in the distance. Seemed like a small woodland area.

My marine biology teacher was still there, talking to me. I then became slightly lucid, turned to him, and asked, "Where is Gundham? Do you know him?" My teacher was quiet for a moment, and ended up telling me a string of letters beginning with "F S," to which afterwards he said, "F S only." He repeated the string of letters as well as the "F S only" a few times before he eventually stopped talking to me (and presumably faded from the dream).

I soon came across a fence and hopped over it, though I fell backwards and my vision went dark. I got up and began to walk in one direction. During this, I heard my inner-monologue voice telling me that Gundham was up ahead. However, I still couldn't see, and I soon woke up.

I sat up, picked up my little notebook dedicated to writing down notable dreams, and got a pencil and began to write down the letters my teacher had told me. However, as I wrote, it was kind of hard to move my hand, and some of the letters were illegible.

I then realized I was still dreaming, and woke up not long after.

Notes: - I believe the string of letters to be "F S R T T Y D" or "F S R D D Y T" - Me asking about "Gundham' refers to Gundham Tanaka from the Danganronpa series (this isn't the first time I've looked for him in a lucid dream).

Additional notes (CW for insect death): - I had a few other dreams last night I vaguely remember. - In one of them me and a friend had gone to a zoo that was more like a pet shop. He had opened a few of the "tanks" that had snakes so he could pet their heads, which they seemed to enjoy. I managed to find a giant African millipede that had escaped its enclosure, so I let it crawl on my arm. Dude to the friction of all its legs moving, it began to heat up my arm to almost burning, so I had to put it down. I decided to put it in a tank that had another (though seemingly dead) millipede in it. I didn't notice a snake was inside, which attacked the millipede after I put inside. It made me sad, but I tried not to think of it too much. - I had another portion of a dream where some seeds I had planted in some pots in my basement had sprouted. - In another dream, me, my brother, and my dad were searching stores to find a liquid-based battery that was used to power car headlights since his had died while we were driving at night. Going 80 miles per hour in pitch black darkness was not the funnest dream to have. - I'm pretty sure earlier in that same dream me and my family had gone on a road trip. I remember us passing some old temple-looking buildings. One had two large stone skulls outside.

[notenoughspace]

Visual intelligence is very important. As the production of images changes and becomes faster with the computer and the internet, there's still a value to slowing perception down and studying things in detail. Learning about art is a perfect context for that kind of heightened seeing. This isn't about nostalgia for older ways of seeing, nor about pitting the accelerated looking of the computer against slow looking, but about promoting the value of slow looking.

You can promote slow looking through a close analysis, literally spending too much time looking at one thing. In art there are all kinds of techniques for doing that, but it really comes down to paying close attention and giving a close reading to whatever it is you're looking at. Hopefully the experience you get from paying close attention—in, a museum, for example—will key you to the fact that looking can be a pleasurable activity in any context.

Talking plays an important role in this kind of looking. I don't like art therapy, but I do think that in talking about art there is an element of psychoanalysis. When you tell someone what you're seeing, you learn more than you would if you hadn't put those thoughts into language. So it helps to talk to someone about art—and to listen.

To sharpen your visual sense it's important to look at painting and photography, but one of the best ways is to watch a lot of films—and to watch a lot of different kinds of films—because they give you twenty-four images per second.

LOOKING AT ART

I don't remember a time when I didn't look at art. It's always been a part of my life. I got seriously involved with art after I was kicked out of my art class in junior high school. I'd produced a drawing that my teacher found offensive, and I was put in a detention class for smart kids who were considered delinquent or something. We could choose two topics to study during that time, and we chose music and art. A great teacher, whose name escapes me right now, took us to the Ford Amphitheater to listen to free jazz and took us to the Pasadena Museum, where I was introduced to the work of Carl Andre, Marcel Duchamp, Joseph Cornell, Ellsworth Kelly, and Claes Oldenburg, among others. So it was an act of defiance—or maybe just an unconventional idea about drawing—that put me in contact with a bigger art world.

FORMATIVE EDUCATIONAL EXPERIENCE

CalArts, where I went to art school, was very open. Students' practices were not defined by a single medium. We were allowed and encouraged to do whatever we wanted. About five weeks into my first year I told one of my teachers that I had yet to receive an assignment. He said that there would be no assignments, because when we got out of school we wouldn't be fulfilling assignments. We would be working for ourselves, so why not start to work for ourselves now? They considered us artists, not students, and I carried that idea with me when I started teaching in the early 1980s. And I still do today. Another CalArts idea came from our teacher Douglas Huebler. Whenever we presented him with an idea for anything—an artwork or an artists' program or a film series—his answer was always, “Why not?” (He'd often follow it by saying, “It might not be good, but why not?”) CalArts really had a “why not?” attitude.

Sometimes people wait for the good ideas, but good ideas aren't the only things that produce good art. Sometimes, just picking up a bad idea and seeing how it works can produce something of value. So if you're sitting around waiting for inspiration or a foolproof idea, you're losing a lot of time.

So many young artists I meet don't seem to have understood that they're going to spend their whole lives as artists. They're in a hurry because they feel that if they're not a success right out of the gate they're going to be a lifelong failure. I encourage you to think in a much longer arc, to take it easy and do it for the long haul—not to have a preconceived idea of what success is in relation to a durational framework. Some artists are successful early on, others later.

Sometimes students also have misconceptions about what success is, mistaking the social aspects associated with success for actually making a successful artwork. To have a gallery, to have a big studio, and to make money isn't necessarily to make good art. Don't confuse those two things. I encourage you to think more historically and consider what your contribution to art could be, not about what your art practice can bring you in terms of material things.

ISSUE OF MEDIUM

Picking one primary medium and working strictly within it is unnecessary. It's not that it isn't an option, but it's one option among many. Especially today, artists are working in so many different media and disciplines, there's no reason to limit yourself to one. However, once you've chosen to work in a specific medium, it's important to know the history of that medium, its materiality, and how it functions technically. And as a late modernist artist I would say that it's very important to reflect upon your materials and the history of those materials.

I work primarily in photography. When I started, I really only intended to make a couple of works with it. I was interested in photography but not in being a photographer, and I certainly didn't think I was going to spend 35 years making primarily photographic works. Having said that, my idea of photography isn't confined to the idea of the camera and the print. I think of photography as an institution in which the print or the visual artifact is only one element in a network of other ways of signifying things.

So I consider the presentational devices—the framing, the mounts, the titles, the architectural situation, and the history of the institution presenting the show, the advertising, the posters, the catalogue, the essays in a catalogue—as all being an extension of the photographic institution. So then you have architecture, you have offset printing—the production of different kinds of language—which I see as being coextensive with the photographic surface.

I don't like to stand behind the camera or in front of the camera; I like to stand beside the camera. I figured out pretty early on—or I came up with the idea—that the camera is actually not the only agent involved in the production of meaning. There are also chemical designers, optical designers, and industrial designers. There are economic and social issues. So I try to move around the photographic program and occupy different positions at different times. Even though I didn't get assignments in art school, I do treat myself like a commercial photographer: I give myself assignments. I become a product photographer, or I become a photojournalist, and I pick a subject as though it were a journalistic assignment.

IMPORTANCE OF COLLABORATION

When it comes to dealing with galleries, my advice is not to hustle curators and dealers. Hang back and talk about other things. This isn't your only chance to show these people that you're interesting or to pull your slides out of your pocket. Instead, try to communicate the idea of collaboration. Often, young artists view curators, galleries, editors, publishers, etc., as a kind of service industry for them. But in the production of a show the curator and the essayist and the editor are actually your collaborative colleagues. You can't do everything. Ultimately, it's still an art-centered model, but the people you're working with are helping you achieve something that you can't necessarily do alone.

I've also been lucky enough to collaborate with some interesting artists. Two artists working together, or an artist and a writer—when it works, it produces a third element in the constellation, almost like a third person or a third subjectivity. In my best collaborations I think I emerge as another kind of artist. This isn't the place to name all the artists with whom I've worked, but my collaborations with people such as Albert Oehlen, Jeroen de Rijke, and Willem de Rooij, Mathias Poledna, and Martin Kippenberger have been really formative for me. For those reasons I strongly encourage young artists to collaborate.

WHAT AN ARTIST SHOULD DO EVERY DAY

Brush your teeth. And whatever you do, don't avoid the dentist for 35 years.

PAYING ATTENTION TO OTHERS

Pay attention to what other artists are doing. It gets harder and harder as the amount of art being produced keeps growing, but it's super important to know what your colleagues are up to. To be able to think about the present historically, you have to look at as much as you can right now. There's a more social aspect to it as well, which is that, if you expect people to pay attention to your work, you need to pay attention to theirs. If you don't care about your colleagues, they're going to be equally ungenerous to you. As artists become older and more successful, it's a very natural thing for them to withdraw and see fewer people and to look at less art. But artists such as John Baldessari and Ed Ruscha continue to go to galleries every month, getting to know younger artists and constantly looking at other people's work.

Young artists, especially, should be involved with each other. It's important to work together and try for things that might not at first seem achievable. You'll be surprised by what you can accomplish. And once you've found your community, be cool with those people, because you're going to know some of them for the rest of your life—which is a good thing and a bad thing. I was very fortunate in that regard. My colleagues at art school were Larry Johnson, Stephen Prina, Mike Kelley, John Miller, and a whole bunch of other really great people, who are still my friends and colleagues today.

ART HISTORY AND THEORY

It's important to study art history and art theory, but a distinction has to be made between making art and studying art history or theory. The practices of artists I find most interesting are those who think through their art or think through their materials and produce something like a theoretical model through their immersion in those materials and ideas, as opposed to taking ideas developed in philosophy or theory and then illustrating or applying them to the production of art. It's important to absorb as much information as possible but then to think through your materials. That doesn't mean just to think in terms of technique or to think visually but to really try to figure out the dimensions of your materials. Making a painting, for example, is different from writing. Language is a very different medium from paint.

READING

In my personal reading I find it's important to go beyond the realms of art history and art theory. I don't have a lot of time to read, so when I do read it's normally for information that I want to put to use in a project. Having said that, I've just had a long discussion with somebody about Thomas Bernhard's The Loser, which is a really fantastic book about a failed pianist whose entire life unfolds in the shadow of Glenn Gould's success. I think a work of fiction based on the moment one man realized that he was never going to be as good as Glenn Gould is a great book to give to aspiring artists.

MORE PRACTICAL ADVICE FOR YOUNG ARTISTS

1. No Plexiglas 2. No electricity 3. No humor

I don't like to throw rules at people, but if you follow those guidelines you'll be more likely to produce good art. Some of it's just practical. Plexiglas doesn't age well, so if you put it over something you've made, it's going to go milky and will get fine scratches when it's cleaned. Also, plastic is less optically precise than glass, so use glass in framing.

Electricity—again, it's just practical advice—is something that a lot can go wrong with. If you have a sound component in your work, for example, the minute you leave the installation the person at the front desk will turn down the sound, which means the sound level will never be where you want it. Twice, I took an hour-long train ride to see a friend's film installation, and twice the projector wasn't functioning—and these visits were two months apart.

The last rule—no humor—is so obvious I don't think I need to address it. Also—and this makes four rules—you shouldn't make anything you can't carry through the door yourself. This will ensure that everything is human scale and has a relationship to the body.

ASSIGNED READING, VIEWING, AND LISTENING

Reading:

– Betti, Laura, ed. Pier Paolo Pasolini: A Future Life. Bologna, Italy: Associazione Fondo Pier Paolo Pasolini, 1989.

– Buchloh, Benjamin. Neo-Avantgarde and Culture Industry: Essays on European and American Art from 1955 to 1975. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press, 2000.

– Anything by T. J. Clark

– Anything by Thomas Crow

– Kelsey, John. Rich Text: Selected Writing for Art. Berlin: Sternberg Press, 2011.

– Kruger, Barbara. Remote Control: Power, Cultures, and the World of Appearances. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press, 1994.

Kruger turns her eye to many things not considered art and deals with them as complex cultural objects, addressing them on the same level as she would an artwork. Her critical voice opened lots of doors for artists. And she's a great writer. Her language is just fantastic.

– Miller, John. When Down Is Up: Selected Writings. Frankfurt-am-Main: Revolver Verlag, 2001.

I guess it's obvious that a lot of what I read is artist's writings. Young artists should be exposed to as many different ways of being an artist as possible. Every artist I've mentioned uses language in a very different way. Realizing that you can adopt many voices is another thing I try to promote in my teaching.

– Robinson, Julia, ed. John Cage. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press, 2011.

– Stemmrich, Gregor and Gerti Fietzek, eds. Having Been Said: Writings and Interviews of Lawrence Weiner 1968–2003. Berlin: Hatje Cantz, 2004.

There are two artists I turn to when I need to refocus and think about what I'm doing. One is Marcel Broodthaers, and the other is Lawrence Weiner. This book is an invaluable studio tool. Weiner's writing is very open and general, but it allows me to focus my thoughts.

Viewing:

– Bresson, Robert, dir. Au Hasard Balthazar. Cinema Ventures, 1966. Film.

– Godard, Jean-Luc, dir. 2 ou 3 Choses que Je Sais d'Elle (2 or 3 Things I Know About Her). The Criterion Collection, 1967. Film.

– Any Buster Keaton film

– Marker, Chris, dir. Sans Soleil. Argos Films, 1983. Film.

Listening:

– The entire recorded works of the Melvins

The Melvins are one of the most intelligent rock bands of the last 30 years.

– Anything by Sun Ra

[akakeiiji]

— Haikyuu characters as things that have happened to my friends and I

↳ a/n — this was so self-indulgent and fun to write, i suppose i just really really miss my friends huhu. my friend group consists of 14 people and most of us have known one another since grade school so we have had a lot of memories together, both good and bad, so here is a compilation of a few of them that reminded me of hq characters

— Bokuto Koutarou

He was tossing a can of sardines to his friend to catch but he ended up throwing it too hard so his friend dodged and the can instead hit the school's flat-screen tv subsequently destroying it all while his teacher was in the room

— Akaashi Keiji

He wasn't paying attention when trying to join his zoom class and he accidentally joined the zoom call meant for teachers right when they were having a staff meeting, he didn't realize right away and stayed there for a good five minutes before the teachers started asking why he was there

— Oikawa @ Iwaizumi

He wanted to confess to his crush but because of quarantine he couldn't do it in person so he had to resort to doing it via text, however, instead of doing it through DM he ended up sending his confession to their group chat where every one of their friends could read it

— Yamaguchi Tadashi

He thought that he was going to fail an exam so he started crying in the middle of it and his teacher felt so bad that he gave everyone a 30-minute extension

— Daichi Sawamura

He and his friends were tossing a volleyball towards one another in a circle on the floor in their classroom and he ended up receiving too violently making the volleyball fly up and break the light fixture in the room

— Kageyama Tobio

He tried to ding dong ditch his neighbor because his friends dared him to but he ended up tripping in front of the gate as he was running away and got caught

— Sugawara Koushi

He tried to help his classmate during a test by showing her his paper before realizing that the head teacher was right behind him, they both got caught and their parents were called in the next day

— Atsumu and Osamu Miya

There was this one area in the city that didn't allow those under 18 to be out after a certain time and one night they ended up getting stranded there so they hid in some bushes in front of a closed McDonalds until their mom found them and took them home

— Suna Rintaro

He was looking at random photos in the computer lab and the teacher presented his computer screen on the television as he unintentionally clicked on a meme about penises. Everyone in class saw the photo and he was forced to stay behind after class

— Tsukishima Kei

He posted something on Twitter ranting about how hard his exam was only for a classmate to take screenshots of it and send them to the teacher who made the exam, they then called his parents because the tweet contained one (1) swear word and threatened to remove him from the honors roll

— Hinata Shoyo

He was watching a new movie at the cinemas and when the entire theatre was silent he started ugly crying and wailing because his favorite character just died making everyone in the cinema start laughing at him

— Kenma Kozuma

He was playing in co-op and when he joined a new world he was wondering why the host wasn't starting the game yet, after waiting for a good five minutes he started messaging the other players telling them to start already only for him to realize that he was  actually the host the entire time

— Lev Haiba

He fell asleep in the middle of a zoom class and woke up only when he and his teacher were left alone in the call, he ended up panicking and told her that he just forgot to leave the call because he was in the bathroom

— Kyotani Kentaro

He ended up making his teacher cry in the middle of class because they thought he was being mean to them but he didn't even do anything?? He just asked them a question and started crying??

— Yuji Terushima and the rest of Johzenji

They almost burnt their hair off while trying to style it for a school dance, they ended up losing track of time and almost didn't make it to the venue on time because they didn't know how to use the curling/straightening irons properly and were only using outdated youtube tutorials as their guides

— Goshiki Tsutomu

He impulsively let his friends cut his hair in the middle of class and they ended up cutting his bangs too short and choppy, he had to suffer the rest of the school year with that hairstyle

— Kuroo Tetsurou

He was so desperate to talk to his crush that he tried starting a conversation by talking about calculators, just calculators, nothing else

— Sakusa Kiyoomi

He accidentally drank half a bottle of baby cologne before realizing that what he was drinking was not in fact water

— Nishinoya Yuu and Tanaka Ryuunosuke

They both needed to poop really bad during lunch so they went to the school infirmary and they each pooped there while the other stood outside making sure nobody would go in as the other was finishing their business, in the end they considered a solid bonding experience <3

— Ushijima Wakatoshi

Someone tried confessing to him by handing him a paper with the words "I like you" written on it but somehow he still didn't get the message despite the person repeatedly shoving the paper into his hands

— Asahi Azumane

He got separated from his friends while they were out and got lost, he then started vlogging his experience when some dogs scared him, he ended up falling onto the asphalt road from shock and broke his phone

[astrojoy]

True story time for people who are or have dealt with social anxiety :P

⚠️ Currently I've conquered some social fears now. Do I have panic attacks from time to time? Yes and I also still have some moments of social anxiety. But I've become more comfortable with social interactions than I used to be! ⚠️

Rn I'm in 12th grade, graduating in a few months. This story took place in 7th grade middle school. I sat in the back of the class during this. Social anxiety not as bad as it was when I was in elementary school, but still pretty bad. Basically we had state testing for the end of the year per usual. During these exams they gave out pieces of hard candy at times. Well of course I don't like to make noise during a quiet classroom (thinking it would bring attention to me) so I waited until the testing was fully finished. Once finished, everyone was free to talk and play games on the computers and etc. Quiet/reserved as usual, I just stayed in my lil corner and was typing out a story I was making for fun on my chromebook. Then I wanted my candy 🥺🥰. So of course CHOMP CHOMP 🤤 right? Well while this extremely interesting action scene was going down. I sat in silence listening to the different conversations boasting around me until I heard a group of class clown talking. They said a joke from the front of the classroom that took me off guard and I started laughing to myself. Then sudden-

Oh no

I can't breath.

I looked up frantically. The candy was lodged in my throat. I couldn't speak even if I wanted to. However. ✨social anxiety✨ I didn't want to get the teacher. I didn't want attention or to embarrass myself. The only thing I could think of was being embarrassed. Shouldn't life be more important?

I quickly fast walked out of the class in silence. Of course, who wants to run and cause attention? 🤪Once I got in the hallway I didn't know what to do. 15 seconds had probably gone by. I quickly started beating my chest trying to dislodge the candy (NOT A SMART MOVE BTW DON'T DO THAT. IT CAN POTENTIALLY GET FURTHER LODGED IN THE THROAT. I WAS SIMPLY LUCKY AND DIDN'T KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT CHOKING HAZARDS AT THE TIME) It took like 7 hits to my chest to cough it out and onto the ground. I looked up and noticed someone looking down the hallway and turned my face the other way in embarrassment so they wouldn't notice me. I then of course breathed and got some water from a water fountain to help my burning throat. Then I grabbed a paper towel and grabbed the candy and threw it away (don't wanna leave a mess). Then I stood there in disbelief. The fact that I'd much rather die than try to get help just hit me. I didn't know what to do. I was confused. Should I tell the teacher about this incident? Why would I? Well I should tell them why I left class without a word, I think that was disrespectful of me 😟, and then I should ask to get more water (my throat really hurt and I didn't want to be out of class for too long without notice)

I walked back inside, no one looked my way and were in their conversations still phew. I told the teacher quietly what happened and why I left. I told him sorry for leaving without an explanation and asked if I could go get more water. My teacher looked surprised and worried. Full of shock. He didn't even know I left. His desk is quite literally near the door 💀 With a slightly stern face he told me to never do that again and etc of course (I'm sure he would have gotten in a lot of trouble because he wasn't paying attention ig) and then he let me get more water (he was one of my favorite teachers besides my band teacher. He was funny and slightly laid back)

Once everything was done and I sat back down in my seat I began thinking. What if I would've passed out and people would have seen me? How many people would judge me or be weirded out? How much attention would I have stirred up? I don't want to die in front of all those people that's embarrassing

😶

Dear 7th grade me,

GIRL- WHO CARES HOW PEOPLE WOULD HAVE JUDGED YOU- YOU ALMOST DIED? WTF????

But that's what brings me to the end of my story,

social anxiety feels like trash :)

[bisexualhobi]

oh hell yeah snsd paved the way yeah they really did bro they really did. like i know a lot of people came here in 2017 or during quarantine, so let me tell you how things were in 2008. i know that boa and tvxq started it in japan but i lived in the SEA, and it was the mostly the second gens that started it here. back in elementary school where no one actually knows kpop and suddenly, suddenly they all did. initially there was a resistence and dismissive responses, such as why are they wearing such short pants, why are the dances so meaningless (in my culture a dance HAS to have meaning so it took a while until people are accustomed to that), but it was not that long, those 2nd gen sound has such an addictive quality that i think is vital to make people not care about anything else.

it was gee that personally started the hallyu wave in my school. over recess we were begging our teachers to let us play the music in the computer, and after that we just jamming to it and learned the dance in the class. after that there's other snsd tracks like genie and oh! and run devil run, also we started to listen to other groups as well, this "multis aren't true fan" bullshit is nonexistent, almost. there were bigbang and wonder girls and 2ne1 and shinee (+ a lot of people here know shinee and ss501 after boys over flowers, that drama was a major hit, i'm telling you). i remember the boys really loving 2pm's hands up and just jumping and popping on it in the hallway. literally no one knows what are they singing but it slaps, and who cares anyway if we don't understand, we listened to english songs without a clue, too. when a comeback happen one of the friends with internet at home will Inform the class so others could check it out. i read sunday newspapers religiously too so i won't miss a comeback, even if i have to wait for two weeks for a school work that requires visiting internet cafe to finally check the mv. we did so without shame too, i guess not too much stupid things has happened.

around 2012 and 2013 people were a lot more welcoming about kpop groups, and a new wave of groups came up, there were exo and bap and yes, bts. the grip 2nd gen has is really strong, though, around these year snsd also came to my country and outsold some 10000+ ticket for one night. i have a whole meltdown about not getting to see them.

bts went over here as early as mid or late 2013.. i think. i remember someone scribbling "2 kool 4 skool" badge on a school table and asking my friend how the fuck did "bulletproof scoutboys" become "bts" in 7th grade. so like... to the (especilly white) btspoppers, your boys have always been popular, lol. you don't elevate them or shit. they don't need saving. instead they have to dumb themselves down so they could penetrate your thick caucasian skulls. and they don't start shit here. snsd and other 2nd gens did. thing would be a lot more difficult for them without snsd doing the introduction and heavy lifting. but of course, asiawide accolades means nothing, right? of course any asian group needs Enlightened White People approval to truly be seen as popular -_- sorry for the rant i'm really upset with how armys behave towards snsd lately. like know HESTORY, dammit. i have never seen so many people being proud of not knowing a fundamental group? honestly if anyone said "i've never heard about them" about say, snsd and bigbang, that's just makes me not going to take their opinion seriously, lol. ah, here comes the newbie sprouting opinions after knowing one album of one group. better leave them alone.

me reading this whole message... anon thank you so much I had the loveliest time reading it bc you are SO right. and it's really interesting to read your perspective as an SEA resident of what kpop looked like back then.

"instead they have to dumb themselves down to penetrate your thick caucasian skulls. and they didn't start shit here. snsd and 2nd gens did. things would have been a lot more difficult for them without snsd doing the introduction and heavy lifting. but of course asian accolades mean nothing right?" THAT PART. mic drop

[weirdthoughtsandideas]

So I used to take theatre classes as a child and up to I was around 17, and I just randomly thought about some stuff.

- When I was 9, I tried to write my own script, it absolutely sucked because I was 9, and I didn't like it very much and wanted to change stuff. But my theatre teacher was like "no this is so good <33" and I was like "No I wanna change it :(" but she said no, and then we put it up as a play and I was really internally like "this was not in my vision" Like as we were young, our teacher wanted to encourage us to come up with our own plays, but god... - We have come up with our own plays a lot, and they have gone from that to kinda good. From 6th to 9th grade, I went to a school that was just a normal middle school for the most parts, but they also had a focus on theatre, dance, art and music. You were obligated to take one of these as an "aesthete choice" and I chose theatre, obviously. We were always a pretty small group who had chose that, and in seventh grade we were literally like 4 kids. This is when we came up with a play called "To buy or not to buy a game" and was about a dad who didn't let his kids buy a video game, and then they bought it anyway and there was some plot with an old man stalking them because he claimed it was his game. The "funny" thing was that the kid who played the dad had a heavily finlandswedish accent. Also the old man had a danish accent. Basically the boys playing them loved doing accents, so... yeah. I can't confirm exactly how accurate these accents were, but the audience laughed so much and we had the time of our lives. - Now, I have been in different theatre groups in my time. Both as an activity I did after school and during 6th-9th grade, in school (note: In Swedish high schools/upper secondary schools, you get to choose a school with a programme that focuses on a certain thing. So after 9th grade, I was planning on going to a school that had the theatre programme, only to find out that the school had removed the theatre programme and focused more on musicals and like, art. I love musicals and I love art, but with theatre I did plays and drama and the kids who did art literally gave me a bad vibe when I visited the school. So anyway, I chose a programme that focused on culture and language, and it was a great choice because I learned a lot and got a lot of friends, but I also went back to taking theatre after school. Anyway, back to the story). In all of my years, there has always been a kid that just have never showed up or just decides to leave super close to the premiere of our play. One time a kid left 4 days before we were gonna perform a play, so we had to fix and change so much because of that. Ugh. This was in 9th grade too, so we were like 15 years old as well.

- I just wanna say that our plays in the later years were buckwild. So we got a new theatre teacher in 9th grade, who also teached the group I was a part of in high school. She always put out the wildest of scripts. Like... I am just gonna name the plots of some of these:

One is called "Sannas Sanna Jag" and means "Sanna's true self" and is about this girl named Sanna who tells her life story on a computer, while all of us other actors basically are her aswell, but we are acting. So I was for example "number 7" and my roles in the story was: A sheep, a kid who got abused by a janitor, a church member, a blue rabbit who rapped, a future child and a clone. I was also gonna do a fakeout where I would tell the audience that the show was over and then say "No, wait! No, there's more!" and I remember that I almost once forgot to say the no, wait part lmao. Anyway, all of us are "Sanna" (we were all dressed in black and white so we looked like one and the same) but we play a bunch of other roles, while there were three "main" Sanna's: Sanna who tells the story, Sanna in the story and Sanna's true self who fucks shit up. Sanna's father is abusive and her mom is a conservative christian. During the rapping rabbit scene, I rapped in a blue rabbit suit about how Sanna's dad put her cat in a bag and then killed the cat by "hitting, and hitting, and hitting..." Seeing the audience react to that scene was the funniest thing ever. Except when we performed it for the 7th graders, they didn't react at all. Anyway, I barely remember more of the plot because so much more happens but anyway Sanna's true self burnt down the church and then now she's fleeing the country or something

Another play is about a group of high schoolers who are on a hike with their gym teacher and the gym's assistant. On the hike, everyone gets lost. Some boys are trying to summon Satan, the teacher and assistant get high, a boy is super in love with a girl but she is only interested in non-straight boys so he has to pretend to flirt with a boy to get her approval. Also there's a gang of popular girls, and I played the ditzyest one of them. I had a famous line where I said everything in life is better with a soda streamer. Also my character and my character's best friend were the first ones who got out of the forest and we had a deep conversation about if we would die for each other or not.

The last play I ever did was one that was kind of a "in-between classes" play where we just follow a bunch of students on their breaks. I played a character who was a fucking bitch because she thought she was better than everyone else because she read 1800s novels and always had something snarky to say for every situation. Like, every single character had like, a problem they had to face. One character was pregnant, one character had done an abortion, one character was seen as a dork but in reality he had a lot of responsibilities because his mom was a single mom and he had to take care of his little sister a lot, there were sisters who bickered, one girl who needed to be perfect because she was afraid her foster parents wouldn't want her anymore otherwise, one girl who was tired of her best friend... and then there was my character who just had a good life and basically mocked everyone else. My best role to play ever. In one scene, a boy who had a crush on me literally called me an ass for letting him make a fool out of himself and I was like, giving him a pep talk, saying he wasn't a fool, but I also kind of teased him at the same time. It was a fun scene. I need to find that script again, I hope I still have it at home.

So I have a lot of stories too - like one time a theatre teacher I had when I was like, 10, told everyone else that me and another boy had been kissing each other, because we both needed to use the restroom and came back at the same time (very uncomfortable to hear when you're 10). That theatre teacher also told us weirdass stories from her life and we were all CHILDREN who maybe shouldn't have gotten to hear all of those stuff...

I eventually stopped doing theatre simply because I was starting to find it less enjoyable - many kids who were younger than me started and lots of the kids my age stopped, so I just kinda... yeah.

But I still have a lot of memories! I can tell y'all some more another day, or if you ask about it.

[supergay-supergirl]

The Dragon Girl & the CatChat Algorithm

or, the autistic zari tarazi fic we all deserve (under the cut cause it's 1746 words)

read my autistic lena luthor fic here

i'm pretty happy with this one :) enjoy

From a young age, Zari Tarazi knew she had what it took to be famous.

She liked making things look pretty. She fumed when her parents or her baby brother messed up the way she’d lined up the shoes by the door—in the right order to make the row look even, even though they were all different sizes. She didn’t get why, when assigned to design book jackets on Photoshop in third grade, all her classmates chose the ugliest distributions of positive to negative space possible. Surely they knew. Surely they’d also figured out that with a simple custom package, you could make Photoshop automatically align your objects for you, then unalign them slightly so they looked the best to the human eye. Why else would they ignore her day in and day out, or make fun of her project when she showed it to the class, saying she always tried too hard?

When the other kids ganged up on her during recess and yelled taunts at her (“Zari, Zari, why your clothes so sorry?”), in her head, she cited efficiency. It was a waste of time to look for something new when the same worn-out jacket had fit her since first grade. It was a waste of money to buy the trendiest graphic tees when all they did was scratch her chest. Later on, she would say she'd had a keen eye for entrepreneurship and a business sense beyond her years.

Her parents and teachers called it something different. An ugly word. Kids yelled other things at her, things that made her maman clench her knuckles and curse them out in Farsi. But that word was reserved for conferences behind closed doors and late-night whispers when Zari's parents thought she was asleep. She blurrily recalled a different word—one with too many letters, that sounded in her parents' accents like a sneeze gone wrong—but by the time she was old enough to understand what it meant, it had solidified into that word. The one adults kept from her unless they needed something from it. She learned to hate it.

The first time Zari held a phone was the day Behrad was born. From that day forth, she was obsessed. In a different life, she might have picked up computer science. But in this timeline, she already had one viral video on the internet, and being the natural-born star she was, she decided to capitalize.

Algorithmic marketing became a buzzword in the Tarazi household. Zari’s parents helped her assemble a camera and lighting setup in her room; Zari took care of the rest. Articles said that viewers liked consistency, so at first, she filmed every video in front of the same wall, with different-colored fairy lights indicating different topics. Then she read that viewers liked to feel like they were being allowed access into the creator’s life—especially when that life was different from her own. So she started vlogging from the kitchen and the living room, explaining Persian food and traditions, recording her aunties and uncles on holidays, all with the barely-teeth smile and perky voice her therapist told her to use. She introduced new settings and characters gradually—first her maman in the kitchen, then her baba playing the setar, then her baby brother, learning to walk and sounding out his first words.

Her Internet name came from the articles, too. People were already calling her "the dragon girl" on YouTube and TikTok. It was recognizable. It was visual. It was catchy. And it was a face she could put on when she needed to—human enough to act normal, plastic enough that it didn't bother her when she lied.

Les-lay first approached her when she was thirteen years old. They set up a meeting at the organically-sourced Noonan’s in a neighborhood richer than the Tarazis’, and they discussed.

"I'll get straight to it," Les-lay said when they sat down, which Zari thought was ironic. "In the last few months, your CatChat follower count has risen faster than anyone else under 18. As a member of D.C. Entertainment, LLC, I would like to represent you as your publicist."

D.C. Entertainment was the foremost media agency in the eastern half of the United States. Zari had researched them extensively in the past, then again when Les-lay reached out to her. Les-lay herself, fresh into college, was only an intern, but that was expected. The company wouldn't want to spend too many resources on someone so young, who might pivot and choose a different career as she grew up.

But if they knew Zari at all, they would know that she wasn't that kind of person.

"I'm interested," she said.

Les-lay looked taken aback. "You don't have any questions?"

"Is there something for me to sign?"

The contract was eleven pages long. Zari read the whole thing, her finger patiently tracing beneath each line while Les-lay fidgeted across the table.

"Does that woman know?" Zari overheard her baba whisper late that night.

"Don't tell her," her maman said. "We don't want her to think that Zari is…"

She stopped listening after that.

-

Les-lay was the one who suggested that Zari take acting classes. "Your little socially awkward thing was cute for a little while, but you're growing out of it. People don't want to follow a teenager who acts like an eight-year-old."

She didn't mince words. It was both Zari's favorite and least favorite thing about her. Before Les-lay, she would have denied that such a thing could exist. But, like Les-lay pointed out repeatedly to Zari's parents, this was a learning opportunity for her, in more ways than one. To be honest, she didn't need to take classes in math and programming and other things she could just look up. Having an online presence, minding how she appeared to others, felt like an unexpected saving grace. The schoolyard taunts vanished, replaced by a worldwide adoration of her online self.

So cute!!!

Love u Dragon Girl! From Iran <3

Your channel gives me the confidence to embrace my culture and be myself. Yesterday I made halva for the first time using your recipe. Thank you, Dragon Girl!

So who cared if she'd lost the bit of coding she used to know, or if her favorite jacket was collecting dust in the attic? She had a career. She was famous. People loved her. She had everything she'd always been told she would never have, and she had barely just turned sixteen.

"I want to come out on my channel," she told Les-lay over chai tea at Noonan's.

Les-lay choked on her tea. When she managed to catch her breath, Zari was leaning forward slightly with her lips pursed and her eyes open, waiting for an answer.

"Don't look at me like that," she said. "And why am I only hearing about this now?"

Zari narrowed her eyes. She added a touch and a half of annoyance to her tone. "Because I only told you about it now." Duh.

Les-lay took a long draft of tea. "So, you're gay?"

"Bi," Zari said, "and it's not a big deal. I just thought it might help my ratings." All the biggest celebrities who had come out in the past few years had immediately rocketed to the top of trending lists for weeks, if not months. Zari could only assume the same would happen to her.

"Z," Les-lay said, "you're not a thirty-year-old white man playing teenagers on TV. You're… you."

And although she knew Les-lay was referring to her gender, her ethnicity, everything other that she intentionally put on display to draw people to her channel, that word reared its head in her chest.

"What is that supposed to mean?" Zari kept her voice light, but the tension in it suggested murder.

Les-lay let out a long, suffering sigh. "I don't really have to explain this to you, do I?"

With effort, Zari shoved her Dragon Girl mask back on. "So is that a yes or a no?"

"No. Very much no." A pause. "It's 2026, Z. Nobody needs inspiration to be themselves anymore. They need marketable, accessible content in the form of 50-second videos on CatChat. That's how you'll make your mark."

She was clearly lying, but Zari wasn't supposed to point out liars anymore. So she drew her lips into the fakest smile she could muster. "Understood."

She never brought it up again.

-

Much later, her maman once asked if Zari ever resented Behrad for being… normal. She didn’t. Being a multimillionaire businesswoman and bad bitch seemed a lot better than being a pot-smoking Wharton dropout, regardless of how she’d gotten here. And Behrad had issues of his own, a lot of which probably came from being Zari’s brother. But sometimes she wished he understood a little more—that she couldn’t just go with the flow, that she’d had to piece her life together bit by meticulous bit, while he could smoke around and flunk his way out of school and remain completely and totally fine.

Which brought up the question: how the hell was he fine?

She didn’t get it until she met the Legends.

To be fair, they'd had a rocky start. And Zari still sometimes felt like an appendage to the team rather than a part of it. But they weren’t restricted like the people Zari knew. When all your crew members hail from wildly different times, places, and backgrounds, social mores go out the window, and you end up with a team that evolves, breathes, and sticks together all on its own.

D-list superheroes, Sara called them. The Legends had left dead-end lives and dystopian wastelands. For them, it wasn’t a hard decision whether or not to stay on the ship.

Zari had thought it would be harder for her, but it wasn’t.

Because what did she have at home, really? A publicist who hooked up with the boyfriend she’d pushed to propose a few weeks earlier? Parents who tried to fix her, even while they loved her? Millions of adoring fans who only liked her when she was the person they wanted her to be?

Despite their different backgrounds, the crew of the Waverider was united by one thing: they were losers. They'd tried so hard to live up to others’ expectations and never figured it out. Eventually, each one of them had decided it wasn’t worth it. And that was how they stopped being losers and started being Legends.

[shy--cookie]

The teacher...

The teacher... the bad one.

To keep his identity a secret (and in case one of my classmates or school finds this) he will be referred to as, MU. MU was the freshman/junior teacher at my school until he retired 2 ish years ago. In the first post and in the tags I already talked about things he did wrong architecturally but there were a lot of other things wrong with him.

ARCHUTECTURE (tags from post with some explaining)

With the way the school works your first year and few months of the next year (until the new freshmen came in) you would work with MU to learn the basics of CAD and Hand Drafting and to see if you wanted this to be your career path. If you got a bad teacher when you went through the different career paths it was very unlikely you'd pick that career. The other career I wanted to do I didn't pick because the way they went about it and all the teachers were lazy and didn't care and the one who taught the thing I wanted to do was an azz and only cared about himself and bragged about his past experiences (seemed like the person who would take credit for others work and says he got to where he is in life through his own effort and not the connections he had). When I went through all the career paths MU was out for a while so I didnt meet him till after I chose CAD. If I wanted to I could've switched out but I liked CAD and had already decided that it was what I wanted to do.

PERSONALITY

Would help when you didnt need help, ignoring those who did need help, and talked about his family or a job did years ago when helping you but you had to pay attention to his story or he got mad (so you couldn't work while he talked). Never told good jokes, got mad if you talked to someone while you worked, if a bunch of kids were in one area helping eachother (upper classmen helping lower clansmen) MU would separate them, and wanted to be called "Sir" at all times. One time during a lockdown drill (school uses the new system where you either stay put, run, or attack) we barricaded the doors and hid in a corner with anything we could use as a weapon. MU stood in the middle of the room (class has a long window that opens to the hallway) and stared at where we were hiding, made eye contact with the "intruder" as they passed by the window, went over to where we all were, sits on the floor, and calmly says "he saw us." Chewed gum all the time and his desk was behind the computer I sat at so I'd have to listen to his chewing the entire day. Made this face where he squinted his eyes when looking closely at something and chewed his gum louder with his mouth open.

MUSIC

During the day there would be music playing and if it was above a certain number of decibels (too fast) or just a little too loud he would have it turned down or the song changed because it would increase his heart rate (we listened to classical music). He also used to write music when he was young and owns a guitar. So, he'd randomly turn off the music and start playing and singing during the day (he wouldn't help you during this time and got upset when approached)(it was mediocre country music). MU hated when kids wore earbuds, airpods, or had their phones out so we couldn't listen to our own music. Wouldn't even let us listen to music on our iPads that the school gave us.

SEXIST

MU was VERY sexist, not just nicer or easier with punishments (just didnt get punished) but all Mu's favorite students were only girls. Sucks for me cause I'm a girl and was his #1 favorite. There were female students he didn't like or hated but it was few compared to the guys who almost all of them he hated. Always talked to female students and would check up on them throughout the day even if they didnt need help (ones he didn't like got ignored or pushed to the side).

TEACHING

In school we do a thing called a related where we all sit around a table and the teacher shows us what to do for assignments on the projector while the students all watch. If you didnt pay attention the entire time, or just weren't taking notes, he'd get mad and send you off to do the assignment yourself. If you fell asleep you got sent to I.S.S. (In School Suspension) or the principles office. Kid fell asleep during one of our first relateds and was targeted until the day MU retired. If you were struggling with an assignment on the computer he'd do the entire assignment for you to "show you how to do it", then undo everything and leave you to figure out what you have to do. Not easy to do when he didnt teach you the different commands and some kids got more in depth explanations or told what command they needed to use while others got told nothing or chastised the entire time. If MU didnt like you then you had to rely on your classmates, who he didn't like talking to you, even yelled at favorite students when they tried to help.

GRADING WORK

Would turn in work and have things marked wrong, turn in the assignment again with only the date changed and get it backed marked correct or some things marked wrong that were right or some marked right that were wrong. Could do an assignment and know the entire thing was basically wrong but he would mark it as correct. Had a printed out grading sheet that we had to update everytime we finished an assignment and the next week he'd print out a new one updated with what notes we left on it. Often marked assignments as missing or incomplete for weeks even when you marked it as done and re-turned in the assignment. 2 kids had all there assignments done but he kept marking the last few as missing even after they told him and showed him in person the completed assignments.

OTHER THINGS

MU had a stance that he did when he would approach me to talk to me while I was working to get my attention (I didn't like him and he made me uncomfortable so I'd ignore and try to avoid him). I would be in a chair and he'd put one hand on the desk next to me, other on the back of my chair, and turned the chair towards him so I would be cornered and forced to face him.

Tried getting me to go to after school help on Thursday (other kids and the other teacher would be there but he creeped me out) to get some of my work done but I'd try to avoid it. So, one time I said I was busy after school (some thing at church but it was later in the day) and he said to confirm he would call my mom. Called her and said she thought it would be fine if I went and wanted me to start going every week from then on. Saying she said, "school comes first." That last part was a lie, my family is very religious (her parents are pastors) and in our house God comes first, not school, not work, not your spouse, God. That one line bothered me so much I asked everyone in my house (even her) if that's something she'd say and everyone agrees she never would.

When MU was handing out a paper that our parents needed to fill out he asked me and this other girl if we needed ours in spanish so our parents could read them. This was my second year in CAD and earlier that week we turned in our infographics forms (we do this every year at every school I've gone to) that specify our nationality, language(s) we speak, and language(s) spoken at home. Not Spanish, don't speak Spanish, parents aren't Spanish, parents don't speak Spanish.

There are probably other things that I'm still forgetting but this has gotten a bit long. But that's basically everything wrong with him.

@castielcouldbeasecretdentist

[theravencawsatmidnight]

Them Video Games . Pt 1

A very special Non Fandom fic that i care deeply about. I wrote this a few years ago around E3 Time and ive since rewrote it and turned it into a fic with Suna. But this is the rewrite and the one i adore. Its not the full thing because its too long . So ill call this Part One for the time being. I hope you enjoy the read.

W! Nsfw ish. Mentions of body insecurities. One slur. Slight incesty vibes.

I hope you enjoy this as much as me and @squeaky-ducky do. And i hope you fall in love with Toshi like we have 💞

It was early morning and the sun was creeping up to start the day . The sunlight made its way into a medium sized room . It was full of gaming posters. God of War, Overwatch, Tomb Raider and Final Fantasy. The room also had a large desk riddled with games and systems . Ontop sat a big screen tv with little figures in front of it. A dresser was also in the room that was full of figures and had a stack of gaming guides. An alarm was going off … for a long time.

The door to the room opened and a tall boy came in. He was tall with a small build . He was wearing a tank and some jeans . Quietly he went over to the bed to see a small girl asleep with the blanket kicked off . She was wearing Spyro panties and a video game tourney shirt .

The boy leaned down slightly shaking the girl.

“ kiki… kiki…”

Sleeping

“ MISHIKO” he shook her fast waking her up in a panic . He laughed standing up. “ time for school.”

Kiki sat up with a grumpy look on her face and the boy chuckled.

“ but Maaaax” she whined

“ cmon . Or i take the ps4 outta here”

“ nooo!!!!” She jumped outta bed hurrying to the restroom.

Kiki was in the shower trying to hurry to get ready for school, Max went downstairs checking his phone , he sighed up at the stairs when he heard the shower turn off and a door close.

Kiki hurried to get dressed . She pulled on a Playstation shirt and some shorts along with sneakers and rushed downstairs with her backpack on to see Max waiting by the door. He smiled at her and the two got in his car. Kiki was quiet during the ride, she was squeezing her pack looking out the window.

“ do I have to go..” she asked looking over.

“ yes, you do, why don't you see about joining the video game club ?” He pulled into a parking space.

“ I don't know…”

“ adam is in it you know. All you gotta do is ask Toshi to join”

She squirmed before getting out and Max got out too looking over at her.

“ i .. I don't know who that is..”

“ ah well. Uhhhh.” He came over to her side of the car and crouched down pointing to a black Mazda. A tall japanese guy got out holding a backpack that he slung over his shoulder. Max pointed at him and Kiki fell into him shaking her head fast.

“ hes .. hes..” she wiggled.

“ I promise he's nicer then he looks”

Kiki wiggled and they both heard the bell.

“ have a good day kiki” he hugged her and kiki whined when he let her go. They both went into the school but went opposite ways .

Kiki went into her math class to her seat and sat down holding her shorts , she watched more kids come in . Most didn't look at her , or talk to her. Most kids in her grade thought she was a hermit . Class started and Kiki took her book out to take notes and solve problems . She was mostly thinking about video games though. New strategies , new skins, new loot boxes.

“ Mishiko..” said the teacher

She jumped looking up to see everyone looking at her.

“ please pay attention and solve the problem…” asked the teacher. Kiki wiggled in her seat and answered the problem nervously . The teacher nodded in response.

She was right . The kids turned away and Kiki tried to relax.

Max was in class with his friend Adam . He also liked video games and enjoyed football. They sat next to each other to. The teacher instructed the class to work among themselves and Max turned to Adam.

“ i told Kiki about the club , I even showed her Toshi.”

Adam chuckled down at his books .

He was a big kid. Mostly muscle for football and athletics. “ ill ask her again but I don't know man. She seems shy, I wish she would though. No one will join cuz Toshi is so good” said Adam

Max tapped his pencil on his desk and sneaked a peak at his phone. He had a text from Gina. He grinned and elbowed his friend.

“ cover for me?” He asked and Adam agreed rolling his eyes. Max left class and went down the hall to see Gina waiting for him along with another girl . Kera.

They pulled him into the bathroom and into a stall and started to kiss him all over . Toshi was in the computer lab studying up on some game for the first bell . He did not have a first class but came in anyway to study. He leaned in to his hand watching the monitor , blowing air at it. “ almost time for E3.. “ he clicked on an article reading it about the event . He always went , he loved it . But he always went alone. He read the article and some girls came over to try to talk to him . He glanced over.

“ ohayo.” He said

The girls giggled at each other.

“ we were wondering .. if you wanted to join us for some fun?” They smirked.

“ nani?!” He was not amused

“ you know what we mean..”

“ nani?!?” Louder

The girls rolled their eyes leaving and Toshi smiled going back to his article.

The bell rang and Kiki hurried out of the classroom into the hallway. Toshi logged off and got up going to the hallway . He walked a strut almost, but a lazy strut. He was tall. And he took small steps when he walked. Never in any rush. Kiki was hurrying past all the kids down the hall when she passed him. He noticed her shirt and looked back when she passed him and raised an eyebrow then faced forward again. He shrugged his shoulders smiling and strolled into class.

Kiki made it to her class and tried her best to not be noticed. The class was english and the teacher was talking about an upcoming field trip to a museum . She handed out the paper and Kiki read it over. It was in a couple days . The class went on and one of the boys in her class looked over at her a few times. He nudged his friend and he looked up.

“ how come she never talks?” He asked

“ kiki is a video game hermet thats why”

“ yeah all she does is come to school and go straight home” said another kid.

“ I heard she's into freaky stuff too like video game characters” said a girl.

Kiki squeezed her book trying to block them out.

Max emerged from the restroom panting and zipping his pants. The girls came out and waved goodbye walking away. Max leaned on the wall panting and looking around.

“ to be fair. They asked me first” said Toshi. Who was leaning on the corner wall. Max jumped in his skin looking over the corner to see Toshi leaning on it.

“Well.. uh..” Max leaned on the wall next to Toshi.

“ ill take it i guess. Don't gotta work for it.” He said

“ you Americans are interesting. “

“ nab one Toshi you won't regret it”

“ looking for the right one.”

“ good luck” Max said rolling his eyes.

A bell rang and the two made their way to lunch. Kiki rushed out of the room and to the lunch room . Quickly she got her food and went outside to eat alone . She sat down with her back against the brick school and started to eat. Max went outside and sat down with his sister and the two ate their food. She leaned on him sighing and Max smiled down at her .

“ I have a field trip tomorrow..”

“ oh yeah?”

“ yeah just a museum.. “

“Just a museum .” He mocked chuckling and Kiki giggled pushing on her brother.

“ maybe uh.. ill ask .. friday...”

“ I think you should , it will be good for you”

Kiki wiggled around and Max pulled her up hugging her. He squeezed her tight for a minute. Kiki squeezed back whining. He stroked her hail till he realized and let go quickly.

“ c'mon ill take you to class”

Kiki nodded following her brother.

The day went on and eventually school was over. Kiki was waiting by Max’s car for him and Toshi was walking to his car with Adam. Adam waved and Kiki jumped fumbling her backpack trying to wave back. When the two got in the car Toshi looked over Adam and out his window.

“ .. whos that by Max’s car?” He asked

“ oh that's his sister Kiki. Her real names Mishiko though”

Toshi looked closer and noticed her playstation shirt.

“ she's like a huge video game nerd too” he added.

“Hmm..” he drove off.

Max hurried out of the school with some books and greeted his sister. “ sorry , I needed to get some books from my english teacher.”

Kiki smiled and got in the car and so did Max. He drove home and the two watched tv on the couch till Kiki nodded off. Max looked over and slowly moved his hand to her thigh squeezing it. He rubbed gently.

Toshi was up late playing video games and browsing leaderboards. He only had boxers on and bandages around his chest and back . His room was full of trophies and video games. His bed though took up most of the room . He sighed at the boards till he noticed a “KiKi” in the overwatch top 3. He was number one of course . But this girl was number 2., his phone buzzed and Toshi put his controller down to read it.

“ im skipping tomorrow want to come over around 9?”

Max.

Toshi replied and picked his controller back up.

Max looked at his phone and stopped rubbing his sisters thigh to roll his eyes at the text.

“ はい”

“Christ just say yes..” he rolled his eyes putting his phone down and looking at his sister.

It was the next day and Max was dropping Kiki off at school, she looked up at him and he hugged her tightly.

“ your fine. I promise” he assured her.

“ you'll be here at 6?” She asked nervous

“ 6 sharp “ he rubbed her head.

Kiki nodded getting out of the car and boarding the bus. Max drove home and saw Toshi's car already parked. He was leaning on it looking at his phone when Max pulled in.

“ no Adam?” Asked Max getting out of his car .

“ as if Adam would skip school”

The two went into the house and just laze around all day .

“ so i didint know you had a sister Max” Toshi said looking around the house.

“ oh yeah. Kiki. I thought id told you before. She's a sophomore”

“Nope.. didn't know”

Toshi got up going to the kitchen for a drink and Max scratched his lower chest feeling aroused. He sighed at himself trying to think of something. He slipped up to his room trying to fight back the urge. Toshi heard him go upstairs and put his drink down following quietly. He leaned on the wall listening to the door.

“ ughn.. kiki i miss you..” he heard and Toshi peered in but it was too dark to see. He assumed what he was doing and leaned in the doorway .

“ so do you do that all the time or just when she's not here” he smirked .

Max jumped and Toshi flipped the light on to see Max with a hand in his pants.

“ Toshi!!!! God damn it….” Max looked down and away. “Dont tell anyone…”

“ i wont. You should see our porn”

“ WHAT?”

Toshi shrugged his shoulders smiling and strolled out of the room down the hallway. “so where's her room”

Max ran after him grabbing his arm. “ you can't just walk into her room!”

“ but Adam said she's a gaming nerd i wanna see her set up”

“ whats a set up?”

Toshi rolled his eyes opening the door flicking the light on. He peered in and had a grin on his face. It was nice. Playstation and Nintendo, big tv. Stack of games .

Max closed the door and Toshi smiled going back downstairs. Max followed and felt embarrassed still.

“ how are you.. not grossed out?” He asked.

Toshi was feeling his bandages on his back trying not to scratch.

“ because You aren't hurting anything.” He looked over. “ you do you. But I do wanna meet her”

“ she's supposed to ask to join your club at school”

“ mmmm yeah?” He smirked

“ just let her join Toshi…”

“ oh it's not that easy..”

Kiki was on the bus looking out the window. The museum was okay… mostly they listened to lectures about art and sculptures. She was not very interested. The other kids did not bother with her either . She just wanted a friend…

The bus pulled up to the school and Kiki got off running to her brothers car getting in. He smiled and petted her head driving home. Kiki hurried inside and Max grabbed her pack pulling her to him.

“ i'm gonna miss the new loot boxes!!” She whined struggling and Max smiled squeezing her.

“ yeah yeah. Dinner first” he let go going to the kitchen with Kiki following.

Kiki sat down and Max brought their dinner over . They ate their food and Max looked at her a couple times when she was not looking. When they finished Kiki raced upstairs and Max slowly made his way to doing the dishes.

Kiki stayed upstairs for a couple hours playing her video games . She liked to play with all the lights off and the curtains closed. She had just finished opening her last loot box . She rubbed her eyes yawning and looking around. She was lonely . Kiki picked up her phone and looked at her contacts. Just Max and Adam.. she sighed putting it on her night stand. The clock on her tv said 10 pm . Slowly she got up and left her room to not hear the tv on and the lights were off. She knocked gently on Max’s door .

Max was in bed with some music on when Kiki knocked. He yelled for her to come in and she peaked.

“ Max.. can i hang out here… maybe..”. She quietly asked.

Max sat up looking over. He was in pj bottoms and a white shirt

“ yeah.. of course you can” he said quietly

Kiki came in holding the bottom of her shirt blushing and Max’s heart rate increased as he watched her come over. He held his arms out and Kiki hurried into them . Max laid down hugging her and he turned his lights down. The two snuggled while they talked.

“ so.. when do i ask.. to join the club” she asked holding her brothers shirt.

“ well they are there during the off periods , lunch and after school for a bit” he rubbed her back gently.

“ if i eat fast i might ask then…”

“ don't rush yourself Kiki . I can wait for you after school”

“ okay..”

Max held her tightly and let out a big sigh.

“ kiki..”

“ yes?” She looked up but it was dark so she could not see. He stroked her hair for a minute.

“ im just happy you can come talk to me…”

Kiki rolled to her stomach to lay on and hugged her brother tight.

“ me too.. I love you'' Max ``

“ i love you kiki..” he squeezed her and the two listened to music all night.

It was morning and Max was shaking Kiki to wake her up . She whined rolling off of Max and hugging his arm. He sighed watching her and reached over to rub her butt gently.

“ cmon wake up. You can sleep in tomorrow” he said

Kiki whined opening her eyes and sitting up.

“ what are you gonna do today?” He asked trying not to look at her thighs.

“ ask.. about the club..”

“ yes you are” he pet her head smiling and Kiki slid over him and went to the shower. Max waited till he heard the shower and slipped his hand in his pjs groaning.

Once everyone was ready the two went to school. Kiki was a nervous wreck the whole day. Would Toshi let her join? She was so paranoid that she did not hear the other kids in her classes talking about her.

The final bell rang and Kiki hurried out of her class and to the upper classes hallway. Her legs hurt since she was on the bottom floor. She peeked into the hallway to see Juniors and Seniors making their way to the stairs. She jumped when some of them said hello and complimented her gamer shirt. She spotted Max and ran over and he hugged her smiling.

“ just go down the hall, last door on the left Kiki”

She nodded fast still hugging and some of the seniors chuckled as they passed.

“ cmon you can do it” he slowly peeled her off of him.

“ ill be at the car” he petted her head and followed some of his friends.

Kiki held her shirt looking around the now empty hall and closed doors . Slowly she walked down the hall to the only open door. It said Computer Lab on the wall . She could hear talking and button mashing along with some music.

Kiki peaked in to see Toshi and Adam playing a game on a computer . She tried to sneak in but she bumped a nearby chair making it squeak. She jumped hugging the wall and the boys looked over. Adam jumped up and hugged her.

“HEY KIKI!!!” He squeezed making her whine and try to get loose. “ are you gonna join finally?!?”

“ augh let go!!! Adaaaam!!!” She whined till he let go .

Kiki held her chest looking at Toshi . He was… she slumped into the wall and Toshi smirked going over and leaning down till he was eye level .

“ you must be Mishiko…”

Her heart jumped. No one ever called her real name..

“ yes i.. I wanted to.. join” she said quietly

He smiled looking over over. Now he knew why Max liked her so much. She was cute and tiny.

Toshi held a controller in front of her face.

“ beat me in Overwatch and you can join. Three outta three”

Kiki grabbed the controller grinning . Toshi smiled at her standing back up and the two went to sit down in front of the computer. Toshi leaned back in his sit looking over at her. She didn't look nervous in the slightest . She had on a Ubisoft shirt and blue shorts with sneakers and thigh highs. He smiled at the thigh highs and Adam let them know it was starting soon.

A half hour later Toshi’s controller was in half and on the floor. The screen said “WINNER. KIKI & JUNKRAT” the chalkboard had three tallys on it for Kiki. Toshi was very … very silent. Kiki was shaking and looking at Adam but he looked just as surprised as her. The sound the controller made made her jump and look over at Toshi. He was huffing heavily, the bandages on his arm looked like they were being strained from his fist . Kiki slowly set the controller down and slowly got up. She should leave… he's angry… this was a bad idea…

Toshi whipped out of his seat in front of Kiki putting his hands on her shoulders sitting her back down.

“ …...how……” he ordered.

“Wah!!!” She jumped hiding being her hands. “ I WATCH A LOT OF STRATEGY STUFF IM SORRY. “ she whined through her hands. “ I can replace the controller…!!!!”

Adam was about to intervene but Toshi stood up and looked at him in disbelief. Adam nodded very fast. They both looked down at Kiki . She was hiding behind her hands with her knees touching.

Toshi stretched smiling.

“ ahhh…. baka… you can join” he chuckled

Kiki peaked through her hands up at the boy.

“ but to repay me your gonna come over tomorrow.” He smiled down at her and Kiki nodded fast and left in a flash

It was just Toshi and Adam in the computer lab. Toshi slowly picked up his broken controller and Adam quietly packed up the system. Toshi squeezed the controller again making Adam look over.

“ uh ..Toshi..” Adam said quietly.

“Well well well….” he threw his pack over his shoulder walking out of the room . His steps were heavy down the hall and down the stairs. He was on his way to the last floor when he stopped to look out the window. Kiki was running to Max’s car . He grinned and kept walking .

The car ride was quiet , she must of beat Toshi .

“ sooo.. what game was it?”

“ Overwatch…”

Max nearly missed the light .

“ you beat Toshi in Overwatch?!?”

“ yes!! He broke his controller and … told me to come over tomorrow”

Max pulled up to the house not saying anything. Kiki got out running inside and Max dialed Toshi

Toshi was already home and looking at the broken controller in his hand when his phone rang.

“ ohayo” he said

“ so what exactly do you plan to do with my sister tomorrow?”

Toshi made his way to his room to lie down. He ginned looking up at his ceiling.

“Friendly gaming Max. I'd never hurt your little sister”

“I swear Toshi if you try anything”

“Nani?!?”

“I mean it !”

“Uh huh.” He hung up smirking.

It was the morning of the next day and Kiki was still asleep. Max was awake in bed, he did not sleep much, he was caught up on his sister going to Toshi’s house. He trusted Toshi, he wouldn't try anything. Right?..

Max’s phone buzzed , he rubbed his face lifting his phone up to look at the text.

“She can come over whenever. I'm awake.” -Toshi

“Don't try anything.” -Max

“🤷🏻” -Toshi

Max groaned putting his phone down hugging his pillow. He heard Kiki after a while going down the stairs and the door opening.

[foxhouten]

My Least Favorite School Question

Remember on the first day of class, your teacher would go around the room and make you introduce yourself and say something unique to you? It's such an easy assignment: simply say your name and something you like or something interesting you've done. Couldn't be simpler. It terrified me. The idea of standing up in a classroom, saying my God-given name, and repeating one single, inconsequential fact about myself was so intimidating it gave me momentary anxiety. It's not a trick question. I know my own name and I know what things I enjoy. But having to repeat those things in front of others seemed somehow impossible. However, when the question was asked during one of my college courses, I was ready. You see, I attended Webster University, a school that prided itself on its small class sizes. While that was great for, you know, actual learning, it sucked for the quiet kids who just wanted to blend into the background. That wasn't gonna happen. So, on the first day of one of my Webster courses, the professor asked that we each take turns standing up (why the fuck was that necessary? There were like 20 of us in there -- were you worried someone wasn't going to be able to see?), saying our names, and listing a fact about ourselves. This simple task would have petrified a different Dan, but this Dan -- a college Dan -- was armed with a plan: I would copy off some other kid. So as each student took turns standing up (again, why?), saying their names, and listing a fact, I paid close attention. Not because I actually gave a damn, but because I wanted to see which answers were easy enough to steal. The sixth or seventh kid to go, we'll call him John (because that was his name), stood, said his name, and told the class that he enjoyed hunting. Boom, I had an answer. I was going to steal John's hunting thing. Had I ever been hunting? No. But could I believably pass as someone who enjoyed hunting? Also, no. But we'll get to that. I was around the 12th or 13th person to go, a suitably far enough distance from John that my 'hunting' answer wouldn't cause any raised eyebrows. So when my turn came, I stood (WHY?), said my name, and said that I enjoyed hunting. I sat down, part of me worrying that I'd hear a chorus of hushed whispers, classmates wondering aloud why my hunting answer sounded so familiar. And then I remembered that everyone in my class was 19 years old and didn't give a shit about any of this. Thank goodness for teenage apathy. Within minutes, as other students took their turns, my nervousness dissipated. Eventually, as the class wore on, I forgot all about my silly hunting answer. But when the class ended, guess who hadn't forgotten: fuckin' John. My backpack slung over my right shoulder all cool like, I was exiting the classroom when John stopped me. John: Hey man, I'm John. You said you like hunting, right? Okay, so at this moment I had a choice to make: either just confess that I didn't actually like hunting and walk away, or lean into the bit. I chose the latter. Me: Uhh, yeah. This should be the end of it, right? Nope. Not for fuckin' John. J: Cool, me too. What do you hunt?

Let it be known that while I'm not a hunter, I do know what types of animals are typically hunted: deer, rabbits, maybe cows? But in that moment, faced with a line of inquiry I was not expecting, my nerves got the best of me and my mind went blank. I couldn't think of a single plausible answer. And then my brain fixed on a computer game I had played in grade school: Oregon Trail. Hunting played a part in that game, and I remembered what type of animal I loved hunting while playing it. So, I said it out loud. Me: Buffalo.

Yep, for real. I legitimately told this kid I hunted buffalo.

John looked at me perplexed before laughing, assuming I had made a joke. I quickly caught on and laughed, too. He then told me that he hunted deer, so I quickly agreed that yes, I too hunted deer. Cool, end of this weird conversation, right? Nope. Fuckin' John still had more questions. J: So what do you hunt with?

Okay, what the fuck's going on?? Is this guy trying to set up a play date or what? What do I hunt with? I didn't know how to answer that. Apparently, as I've since learned, there is rifle hunting and bow hunting, so I guess I should've chose one of those answers. But not knowing that at the time, I replied with the best answer I could come up with: Me: Guns. Guns, plural. Like I was fuckin' Annie Oakley wandering the woods with a couple six-shooters, blasting deer. Again perplexed, John said he hunted with a rifle, the type of which I couldn't care less about. Noting the conversation was wearing thin (observant are you, John??) he concluded the conversation and walked away. I dropped the class the following week and signed up again the next semester. Happy hunting, John!