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nancydrew65 · 6 years ago

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SKAM Austin Season 2 Episode 8 Thoughts

Well, the tone of this shifts dramatically during my reaction to the last clip of this episode. I am so tired of getting my hopes up for a remake to change problematic scenes from OG and then redoing them exactly the same. It is exhausting and just hurts.

Pretty Easy

Grace is taking her SAT! I couldn’t tell if she was on the section with all the bubbled in answers or if she was on the second section and hadn’t put in any answers. I mean, even if it was the second option, it wouldn’t be the end of the world. Luckily, you can take the SAT as many times as you like.

This clip really resonated with me because I was also taking the SAT at the exact same time Grace was. One of those days where the clip matches up exactly with your life.

That effect where Grace got a flashback to Clay when Kelsey touched her shoulder was really cool. But I wished they had also had it in that clip with Daniel earlier in the week, for consistency.

Kelsey is just blabbing on and Grace could not be more uninterested. This clip really serves to highlight Grace’s disconnect from the world around her. I wish Kelsey noticed how badly Grace is doing; unfortunately, all she comments on is how she thought Grace was avoiding her because of the whole Daniel situation. I feel like the past two weeks has been me screaming at my screen for Grace to tell the girls.

Not Tired

It is 3 in the morning and Grace cannot sleep at all. She pulls out her to-do list and goddamn are there a lot of things on there. She’s had to deal with that long-ass list plus possibly being sexually assaulted?? How is she surviving?

So, Grace gets the wonderful (crazy) idea of organizing the kitchen. At some point Eve walks in, wondering what the hell is going on. She tries to persuade Grace to go back to bed, but when that doesn’t work, she pitches in to help Grace, humming a little song.

I think this is my favorite scene with Eve so far in the show. In other clips, she has kind of been annoying or a little rude, even when she was trying to offer help. But in this scene, she is calm and realizing that clearly something is wrong with Grace, does not push her to talk, but just helps her.

Too Extra

Ooh, I have the same sweater as Grace except mine is more of a mustard color! Wow, I’ve been really syncing up with Grace this episode.

Grace once again finds a way to avoid Daniel and goes to sit with the girls. I actually found the scene with her and Daniel interesting because she is not really paying attention to what he is saying and just going along with it. But then he calls her out on it, saying she doesn’t seem like her normal self and we see her trying to correct her response, in an imitation of how she usually is. One of the saddest scenes her I think because it is such a subtle way of showing her trauma.

Oof, Grace bumps into Shay and Shay goes off on her. It is obvious Shay is taking out her anger towards Megan onto Grace. Tyler is a decent dude and pulls Shay away before anything more can happen.

The girls discuss Jo’s love life and support her bold message to the guys she’s been talking to online. Go, Jo!

Then, the conversation turns to Prom. All the girls are confident that Zoya will be elected to Prom court, but Zoya has reservations.

Then Hunter comes walking up. Apparently he told Zoya he would beat up whoever wrote “terrorist” on her locker. The girls encourage Zoya to ask him to Prom. I am still suspicious of Hunter. His first line has never left my mind. If he hadn’t made such a rude statement (I know it was supposed to be a joke, but still…) then I could probably get behind him.

I am so glad they are addressing Ramadan!! Last year, none of the remakes mentioned Ramadan even though multiple remakes were airing at this same time. This year all the remakes have stepped up their game. SKAM Austin, DRUCK, SKAM España, and SKAM NL have all mentioned Ramadan.

Aw, and Grace can’t handle the talk anymore and walks away.

Night

Grace wakes up at one in the morning from a nightmare, I suppose, or perhaps a flashback. Instead of trying to go back to sleep, she starts writing her submission for the essay competition.

Day

Grace is on a writing streak! She is pounding out that essay like there’s no tomorrow. She has written sufficiently more than Noora wrote. Given that we also didn’t get a scene of Daniel writing on the computer, I’m guessing she will write the essay all by herself? I hope so!

Daniel stops by Grace’s house with soup. OK, that is really sweet. I know I am hard on him, but Daniel has been very kind and supportive these past few weeks. I only hope he continues to be once he finds out what happened.

Grace looks like a cornered animal when Daniel shows up.

Hmmm, I don’t know how I feel about this scene. I mean, obviously Grace was not doing OK and Daniel being there eventually calmed her down and she was able to get such much needed rest. On the other hand… Grace was literally yelling at Daniel to get out. This is a scene where a young woman is clearly telling a guy to leave her alone and he completely disregards her. And SKAM Austin portrayed this as Daniel knowing what is best for Grace and so him not paying attention to her is alright. In a broader context, this could be a potentially dangerous message to broadcast. It completely disregards the whole “no” means “no” policy. I think maybe if Grace hadn’t been so clear in not wanting him to be there, the scene would have worked for me better? I don’t know. But Kennedy’s acting in this was superb. I felt all her hyper energy and her anxiety.

Not There Yet

The conversation in the bed started out great, and then turned really confusing to me. Grace sounded like she was angry that Daniel had read her essay without her permission, but I guess she actually wasn’t? And Daniel sounded like he didn’t like her essay, but then he commented that he liked her honesty.

Grace says she has to tell him something, but she isn’t quite ready. Daniel calmly accepts that, thank god. And they say “I love you” to each other, aww. Remember that, Daniel, when you fund out what happened.

Something Happened

I let out the breath I had been holding for two weeks when I saw this clip. Grace can finally begin her healing process.

I think adapting this scene to prom dress shopping was really great - especially as it is the perfect segue into talking about sex.

Wow, I really loved how they had that moment with the shopkeeper looking at Jo and Megan, thinking they were going to steal something just because they are Latina. That hits close to home for me, as a Latina. I have been fortunate to avoid many similar experiences because I am white-passing, but that kind of thing happens to my friends all the time and it sucks.

That was a good little scene with Kelsey, talking about how she wants to be strong and beautiful. She really wanted to buy that pantsuit, but when she saw the price tag, she quickly put it back. Nice nod to OG Vilde who struggled with money problems.

I find it sad that Kelsey thinks she won’t have as much fun at the dance, just because she doesn’t have a date! You will have so much fun with your girls, Kelsey! I would rather go to the prom with Megan, Zoya, and Jo than with Daniel.

And Hunter rejected Zoya. Apparently she was too “different” for him, but he was down to hook-up with her. I knew he was an asshole. I love how quickly the girls go to insult him.

Then the conversation turns to sex, Grace starts getting these awful flashbacks and she has to run out of the shop.

I thought this retelling of the scene was very interesting. In OG, Noora kind of drops a bomb on the girls, saying she thinks she was raped. In SKAM Austin, Grace slowly describes the events leading up to the sexual assault and she leaves it very unclear that she might have been raped. I think both scenes worked in their own way. I liked how slow this one was, but it also had its disadvantages, mainly weird cuts to the other girls’ faces where they had no expression because they were just listening. Those shots were so awkward and I kind of wish they had focused on Grace the whole time because Kennedy’s acting in the scene was so heartfelt and beautiful.

I love how the first things out of the girls’ mouths were “It was not your fault”. That is something all sexual assault survivors need to hear.

The girls go to the hospital with Grace and the whole beautiful montage ensues.

Want My Cousin Back

Grace and Eve are watching a movie when Daniel sends a text tp Grace. Eve asks if Grace has told him yet. So, apparently Grace told Eve about her sexual assault off-screen.

Eve being a little detective on Grace’s behalf is wonderful.

Grace seemed so defeated when she talked about not remembering anything beyond the girl’s green nail polish. I can’t imagine being in that situation and not even knowing what happened. It is too awful for words.

Eve’s little pep talk seemed to do the trick to awaken Grace’s spirit. I know I give Eve a hard time, but she has been amazing and supportive in this episode and I really appreciate that.

I loved her comment about how she was going to kick Clay’s ass. I’m like, girl, you are tiny!! But it’s the thought that counts.

Daniel

Well, fuck this.

I didn’t realize how much I had gotten my hopes up for this scene until I watched it last night. Daniel had been very kind to Grace up to this point and was there for her when she was going through her panic attack. Out of all the remakes, this was the one where I thought they might change up his response to finding out about the whole Clay thing. But I was so wrong.

First off, it doesn’t even make sense that Daniel found out because Grace hadn’t even confronted Clay at this point. It was Noora’s confrontation of Niko that prompted him to lie to William. I don’t know why Clay told Daniel right now.

It is so sad because Grace is finally smiling again and hanging out with the girl squad. Daniel just has to ruin everything.

I didn’t know how they could make this scene worse, but somehow they managed to. Grace told him, she fucking TOLD him she blacked out and didn’t know what happened. And he STILL walked away from her and shrugged her off. I can’t tell you how many comments there were on the SKAM Austin website that were along the lines of: “This was better than OG” or “I can’t believe people aren’t trying understand Daniel more”. I am so pissed off now that I can’t even gather my thoughts into something coherent and pointed. So, I am just going to add an excerpt from @lightsandlostbells tumblr post about this same scene in SKAM France that addresses this: “Fuck this narrative that is constantly putting a guy’s boner feels and manpain above the female lead’s agency, rational concerns, and mental health. Fuck this narrative that is constantly encouraging us to empathize and understand an entitled dude’s emotions and actions, including sexism and violence, while the same entitled dude shows little empathy or understanding for a potential rape victim, a girl whose self-image was damaged by him telling her she wasn’t attractive enough, or a girl who rejects him romantically. Fuck the double standards of women having to understand and empathize with men when they are behaving like assholes but men not having to empathize or show compassion to women, including when they are victimized, by putting aside their own feelings for a goddamn minute.” All credit goes to her for this post. If you want to read the whole post it is here: https://lightsandlostbells.tumblr.com/post/174851088104/skam-france-210-and-211-reaction

General Thoughts

I don’t have any more energy for this. I could comment on all the wonderful things that happened this episode like Grace finally telling the girls, but it is all overshadowed by Daniel’s awful, inexcusable behavior. Sorry, for the rant. Actually, not really. Because I should not have to apologize for commenting on shitty behavior from male leads that is completely unnecessary for the story and straight-up damaging for young viewers to watch and hold up as their ideal love interest.

#skam austin #skam remakes #skam reaction

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neon-schmetterlinge · 6 years ago

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11 questions answered and asked (Skam edition)

Rules:

Always repost the rules!

Answer the questions given to you by the one who tagged you!

Give 11 questions

Tag 11 people!

Thank you for tagging me and the fun questions, @fille-lioncelle! 😘 (also sorry it took me forever to actually do this rip)

If you could change one thing about the OG/each remake you’ve seen, what would it be? just one thing?? oh God... og: Yousef stays in Oslo for the finale Druck: let Mia talk about her sexuality instead of beating around the bush the whole season

Do you speak any of the languages it’s been (re)told in, and if so have you watched it? What was it like? If not, do you wish you did? yes, German - and it’s been really fun to watch it and immediately get what they’re talking about for once! especially when it comes to all those almost untranslatable slang terms like “Gesichtsgulasch” and “was kackst du mich so von der Seite an” - wunderschön

Do you have a favourite season? Which one? season 3 (surprise, surprise)

Do you watch any of the remakes? I only really follow Druck, but I watched the first season of Skam NL and the first few clips of most remakes (I keep telling myself that I’ll catch up on some them soon, though)

Do you think there are things the remakes have (notably) improved on? kudos to Druck for making Alex a likeable character because it made s2 a lot more enjoyable. and yay for a wlw main!

Are there characters you wish had gotten more attention in the OG/remakes? definitely the Balloon Squad, also I feel like we know almost nothing about Eskild even though he’s such an important character (have we ever learnt what he studies??)

Do you (still) follow any of the OG/remake instagram accounts? I still follow some of the OG accounts, mainly because I’m just too lazy to unfollow them (and what if they suddenly start posting again) I only follow a couple of the Druck characters because everytime they flood Insta with content it lowkey stresses me out

Do you like the cabin episode from OG s2? haven’t watched it in a while but what’s not to like about an episode with so many iconic moments :D

How many jackets is too many jackets for one character? fun fact: I just took three jackets with me on vacation because I couldn’t pick just one, so my answer clearly is that you can never have enough jackets! I’m sure Isak would agree ;)

What’s your favourite party happening in any of the Skams? so many parties to choose from! maybe the Abiball because that’s something I wish we would have seen in the og

Do you think you’d have been/would be friends with any of the characters in your teens? If so, who? probably og Eva. and I would have wished to be friends with Sana but thought I’m not cool enough for her

My questions (all of them for the og and remakes):

Do you have a favourite running gag/inside joke?

Which character without an Instagram account should get one? What do you think it’d look like?

Which bloopers make you laugh the most?

Which character would you choose as a study partner?

Do you prefer watching the clips in real time or watching the entire episode/season once it’s out?

What did Even do with that bun he got from Vilde at the kosegruppa meeting? (he’s holding it in one shot and it’s gone in the next one)

Which character gives you the most wardrobe envy?

Do you have a clip/episode that’s your go-to comfort watch? Which one?

Who out of the cast would be the most fun to make and eat disgusting cheese toasties with?

If you could wipe one clip from the face of the earth, which one would you pick?

Is there a specific set/location you’d like to visit or have already been to?

trying to tag some people who I haven’t seen do this yet: @thegirlnooneknows5, @lovedeven, @canonicallyanxious, @greathalesonfire, aaand maybe you wanna have a go at these question too, @fille-lioncelle? :)

#as always feel free to ignore this #and it's theresa/koedder-du btw in case you're wondering why a random druck blog is tagging you #tagged

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overthemoonwithme · 6 years ago

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top 5 characters from remakes?

Do you mean as a whole? That’s tough and probably will change a lot but rn its:

1) David (druck)- David is such a charismatic character. How do you not love him? He’s mysterious, but has so much of depth, which is something a lot of Evens miss out on. I love everything about him. His art is easily my favourite of all the Evens. I love how he lights up when he talks about Detroit. I mean that smile- Matteo was right. He’s warm, he’s patient, he’s kind and so resilient. I just love him a lot.

2) Mia (druck)- Mia was the “Noora character” that I was least sure of at the start but now she’s easily my favourite (closely followed by Nora and maybe Liv, but I haven’t seen enough of nl). Actually, I don’t know if she’s a character I “love” per say; I relate to her a lot. Her experience with bisexuality- in terms of how the people around her talked about it- was so close to mine. Her struggles with feminism vs feeling like the “nag” in the group, wanting to be the girl who always makes other girls feel supported but feeling actually left out/unable to do so because of self-isolation, her opinionated and stubborn behaviour- a lot of these things are technically my flaws, but its great seeing it in another character whom I like and respect. She feels like a flawed version of season 1 Noora, which is exactly what I wanted to see in a Noora character as well.

3) Eva (skames)- She is EASILY the best version of Eva, and I say that with great difficulty because I had such a huge crush on og Eva. When skames started, I couldn’t stand her, but I realise that’s because we were seeing things from her perspective and her self-hatred was just that influential. She’s everything I wanted for Eva after season 1. I like that she’s still the “life of the party” without being an alcoholic/joke. I love the effort she puts into her relationships with Ines and Lucas. It makes me so happy that she’s not just following the “Jonas character.” She’s also such a good ally. I think with Lucas it’s pretty obvious, but I liked that when she saw that Cris was uncomfortable with the labels she quickly changed the subject. Urgh, I love her. Also her new hair is everything.

(the next spot would’ve been for GerJonas but I hated the direction in which they took him last season and I was really hoping for a more radical character. Jury’s also still out on Cris and Amira, and I feel like the more I watch of skames, the more I’ll love them)

4) Daphne- I need to just say that I haven’t been following season 4 actively so if she said racist shit I’m out. Of what I have seen I love Daphne. She’s actually the only girl squad member I really really loved from france. She’s just so genuine and lovely? I love her bubbly personality, but she’s also really sharp and witty?? Her character development has been so great. Also SUPER gay. Basile who?

5) Jo (Skam austin)- I love Jo so, so much. She’s single handedly carrying the whole show, and that is REALLY something for any Chris character (besides Cris) because of how little material they get. She’s so adorable, she’s smart, she’s funny, badass, and kind?? I love her. I wish I saw more of her but I really don’t like Grace (or atleast didn’t at the start of the season- I’ve definitely heard some good things).

#I was going to do some more but wow this was long #(I realise the general trend here is I thought I’d like this character the least but turns out they’re my fav)

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vexedtonightmares · 5 years ago

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- mystery of love: chapter one -

skam nl season three week one: you’re new right?

*a few brief notes before we continue: new chapters will be posted every friday. original characters are faceclaims, i wanted the work to be as visually cinematic as possible which is also why i’ve also incorporated songs into the ‘clips’ as a reference to where they would be played in the show. tws will be given when necessary at the beginning of chapters. this will not follow the exact season 3 storyline laid out in og like any other remake, i hope you like the changes. there’s a good possibility no one will read this, but if you do you’re awesome and thank you for feeding my wish fulfillment.*

ao3 link here

ZATERDAG 23:56 - Do you want to get out of here?

- now playing: super rich kids by frank ocean -

The party was raging all around, but Lucas couldn’t really be bothered to be a part of it. All he had to do was get these beers back to his friends, then they could lock themselves in the bathroom and get high and forget any and all troubles lingering in the corners of his mind.

He cast his eyes around the room, not looking for anyone in particular, but catching sight of people he knew regardless. Isa was dancing in the middle of the room with Janna, and he couldn’t help but smile at their ridiculous dance moves. Things hadn’t quite been the same between them since everything that happened with Kes, but it was a new school year, maybe they could work things out for real.

Liv was talking to Engel near the corner of the room, and Lucas briefly wondered where Noah was. Last he’d heard Noah decided not to move to Berlin and was attending a university nearby, which pleased both him and Liv. Lucas didn’t know Noah or Liv very well, but he’d always liked Liv, and if she was happy with Noah and he was happy with her, he supposed that was all anyone could hope for.

There was a girl standing right by Engel and Liv trying to catch his eye and Lucas ducked away before they could make eye contact, praying she wouldn’t try to follow him. He just didn’t have the energy for that at the moment, didn’t have the energy to pretend.

Finally, he made it to the bathroom, slipping inside stealthily and shutting the door with extreme caution, so as to not alert the girl from the other room if she had followed. Kes grinned up at him in a way that, a few months ago would have had his heart beating rapidly, and Lucas handed him a beer. If his heart still beat a bit rapidly when their hands brushed, he ignored it.

Jayden was there in the bathroom as well, along with another boy Lucas didn’t know very well but Jayden had been hanging out with since the start of the year. Sander, was his name. He seemed nice enough, and he brought weed, so he was good in Lucas’ book.

“Dude what took so long,” Kes asked after Lucas distributed the beers and joined the three of them in the bathtub. He shrugged, shaking his hair from his eyes. It was getting quite long now, longer than he’d had it since he was a kid, but he found he didn’t mind it. Kes, thankfully was growing used to short and nonverbal responses as of late, so he just scooted over to allow Lucas more room and passed him the joint they’d been sharing.

Lucas took a long drag, staring up at the ceiling as he exhaled, smoke drifting up higher and higher until it spread out and disappeared completely. There was a metaphor in there somewhere, he was sure of it, but then again he’d never been the best at identifying metaphors. That was why his focus was in science, not literature. He liked the idea of literature, but there was so much analysis it zapped the enjoyment out of it.

“Easy there, I barely know you, who says you get to hog all the weed?” Sander snapped, reaching over to pluck the joint from between his fingers. Lucas blushed a bright shade of red and dipped his head down, shaking his curls back in front of his face.

“Sorry,” he said. He wasn’t sorry, because there wasn’t really anything real to be sorry for, but apologizing just made him feel better about most things.

Sander raised his eyebrows and grinned. “So you do speak?”

Lucas looked up at him with narrowed eyes. “What?”

“Those are the first words I’ve heard you say all night. One might think you’re not having any fun.” Sander smiled at him with a grin to wide for his face so it was hard to tell if he was teasing in a good natured way or not.

He was right, though. Lucas really wasn’t having any fun, but he knew better than to say so. He simply shrugged again and quipped, “Maybe I haven’t had anything to say because you haven’t said anything worth responding to.”

Kes choked on his beer, covering his mouth to hide a laugh, and Lucas relaxed. Sander’s grin grew even wider. “Remind me why we haven’t hung out much until now?”

The teasing had been good natured, then. Noted. “I had no idea who you were until a month ago,” Lucas said, and Sander nodded.

“Right back at you.” He passed the joint back, ignoring Kes and Jayden’s indignant scoffs as he reached over them. “Well here’s to friendships formed in ex-girlfriend’s bathtubs.”

Lucas tried not to shift uncomfortably when reminded that they were in Isa’s house, and Kes didn’t react at all, so maybe they were in the clear. It was a good sign that they were even there, at Isa’s house, and that Kes and Isa weren’t trying to make each other jealous all night. Lucas doubted Isa would have stooped to that level, but he knew Kes had been searching for something to fill the Isa shaped void in his heart for a while there. Maybe he’d realized he didn’t need to focus so hard on filling it.

The door opened with a bang and all four boys looked up at once, Lucas passing the joint over to Kes hurriedly. Kes looked at him amusedly and he rolled his eyes, looking back at the intruder. Shit, it was the girl from upstairs. Maybe she wouldn’t recognize him? But no, of course he couldn’t be so lucky, he saw the light in her eyes when they met his.

“Sorry, I didn’t know this bathroom was occupied,” the girl said with a blush, tucking her hair behind her ear. She was pretty, really pretty, and Lucas wished more than anything that he was interested in her the same way she clearly was into him, if her red faced glances his way were any indication.

“No problem,” Sander said with another grin. Lucas wondered if it was a front or if he really was carefree enough he smiled that easily. He held out the joint to her. “Do you want a hit?”

She ducked her head. “I’ve never— I’m not sure I’d do it right.”

“Lucas can show you,” Jayden chimed in, and Lucas had to resist the urge to glare at him. From Jayden’s perspective, he should be celebrating having this girl’s attention.

“I hope you’re Lucas,” she said, looking him in the eye. Beside him, Kes let out a low whistle, jostling Lucas to get out of the bathtub. He did so, and in doing so, he forced himself to become the other version of himself, the one that loved this attention and was grateful to have a beautiful girl looking at him like that.

He smiled at her, hoping it didn’t look forced. “I hope you’re not disappointed,” he countered, hating himself for it.

She dropped her eyes but grinned nonetheless. “You look like Troye Sivan,” she said.

Normally, he would have taken that as a compliment, but he really couldn’t do so here without admitting he knew who Troye Sivan was, so instead he stayed silent and held out his hand for the joint and raised it to his lips once Kes passed it to him, taking a slow drag and maybe showing off a little bit. If he was going to perform, may as well go all in.

“I’ll tell you what,” he said, “If I teach you, you tell me your name so I can know you a little better.”

“I’d give you that without the lesson.” Her voice was breathy and light, and he felt sick.

“Well I need some incentive, don’t I?” he teased. Maybe she would get bored of this banter and he would be in the clear.

Instead, she raised one of her eyebrows. “Why don’t you teach me and then we’ll see about that incentive?”

He smiled again at her, taking the joint back from where he’d tucked it behind his ear. The whole time he taught her how to smoke it, all he could think was that he hoped the boys were convinced. None of them had said a word and he was too anxious to look at them on the off chance they knew he was faking everything.

Unfortunately, he was a good teacher, and the girl smoked the joint in a way that told Lucas she’d only been pretending it was her first time. He couldn’t really blame her, he’d done a great many things to catch Kes’ attention in the past, many of which he wasn’t very proud of. He could tell she’d been hoping he’d shotgun with her, but he needed to get way more drunk before he decided to do that.

“My name’s Sofie,” she said, fluttering her eyelashes at him. Or maybe she was just blinking, he really didn’t know.

“Lucas,” he said, holding out his hand, even though she already knew that.

She clasped his hand lightly, pulling him closer. “Well, Lucas, how about that incentive?”

For the record, he knew what the “incentive” was before she even leaned in. But whatever, she was pretty, she seemed nice, and all of his friends were staring right at him. What was he supposed to do? Say “No thanks, actually, I think I’m into guys”? Yeah, right.

It wasn’t a bad kiss, as far as kisses went. He put his hands on her waist as she wrapped her arms around his neck, because girls liked that or whatever. He felt a pat on the back and broke away a moment to see Sander, Jayden, and Kes leaving the bathroom. Sander plucked the joint from behind Lucas’ ear and saluted him, Jayden whistling as he passed by.

As soon as they were gone and Lucas was alone with Sofie, he dropped his performance for the most part. He was sure she could sense a shift, because she frowned almost immediately. “What’s wrong?”

He forced another smile and shook his head, trying to clear his mind. “Nothing, nothing,” he assured her, even though the true answer was more like everything, everything.

That seemed to satisfy her, though, because she leaned back in and he obliged her, kissing her the way he wanted to be kissed by someone he actually liked. There were no fireworks, no spark, but he’d long given up on finding that with anybody. If he had to coast through life like this, so be it, it was what he deserved for the shit he’d done, particularly to Isa and Kes.

“Do you want to get out of here?” she asked breathlessly, bright blue eyes shining even in the dim light of the bathroom.

“Um, sure,” he responded, completely unenthusiastically, but she didn’t seem to care. Hopefully there would be some sort of distraction upstairs that could come between the two of them.

He held her hand lazily, guiding her out of the bathroom and back upstairs where the party was still in full swing. He nearly ran directly into Engel, who had a concerned look on her face.

“Lucas! Have you seen Isa?” she asked hurriedly, looking over his head as she spoke.

Sofie gripped his hand tighter and he almost laughed. Yeah, she should definitely have been worried about Engel stealing him away. “Isa? No, not for a while…” he answered, realizing she’d asked a question. “Why?”

Engel bit her lip and looked back towards the door. “The police are here, there was a noise complaint or something.”

He had hoped for a distraction, and this would have to do.

“Shit,” he said, more worriedly than necessary. He dropped Sofie’s hand. “I’ll go ask Kes if he’s seen her.” He was going to do nothing of the sort, but neither Sofie nor Engel needed to know that.

“Thank you so much, I don’t want to talk to them because I’m a little tipsy and…” Engel was still talking, but Lucas stopped paying attention. While Sofie’s attention was on Engel, trying to console her, Lucas slipped away, maneuvering around the house and all the people in it until he made his way to Isa’s bedroom, thankfully vacant, and slipped out through her window.

He honestly couldn’t believe that had worked as well as it had.

“Excuse me?” a voice said behind him.

Or maybe not.

He turned slowly, trying to look like he was definitely not a little bit drunk and high. It was probably a failed attempt, but at least he tried.

“How old are you?” the officer asked, looking him up and down.

“Seventeen,” he answered automatically, because it wasn’t a crime to have a drink at that age. The weed was another issue, and he prayed she didn’t smell it on him.

She narrowed her eyes, as he’d expected. “If you’re seventeen why did you sneak out the window instead of the front door like everyone else?”

He shrugged. “I wasn’t sneaking, it was just less crowded, and I was already in the room with the window.”

“Mhmm,” she hummed, clearly unconvinced, “And what’s your name?”

“Ralph,” he said, the first name that came to his head, “Ralph Hansen.”

“Ralph Hansen,” she repeated, and he nodded. She looked him up and down again. “Wait here.”

As she turned to walk away, Lucas weighed his options. One, he could try to run for it, though he didn’t know how far he’d get. Two, he could wait there for her, which was probably the stupidest option. Three, he could—

Lucas gasped for breath as the wind was nearly knocked out of him and he suddenly realized he’d been picked up like a rag doll and thrown over someone’s shoulder, someone who was running. He lifted his head and saw Kes and Jayden running and laughing to his right, so he could only assume Sander had picked him up.

He coughed, trying to regain his breath. “Sander? You can let me down.”

“You’re oddly light,” was all Sander said in response, keeping him slung over his shoulder. It was only when they were far enough away that none of the police would look for them that Sander finally let him down.

“Thanks,” he said, out of breath even though he hadn’t been the one running. “I owe you one.”

“I’ll take payment in the form of Shakespearean sonnets,” Sander said.

“Um, ok,” Lucas agreed, because what else could he say?

“Try saying that ten times fast,” Jayden was saying to Kes, doubled over to catch his breath, “Shakespearean sonnets, Shakespearean sonnets, shapekeriskan smomnets, shakira in a prom dress, asthma and a rhombus…”

Kes started laughing again, which made Lucas laugh, and suddenly all four of them were clutching their lungs, laughing so hard tears fell from their eyes. Maybe the night hadn’t gone exactly how he’d hoped, but at least it ended with him laughing with his best friends, not in the arms of some girl he could never love the way she probably deserved.

Kes threw his arm around Lucas’ shoulders and the four of them started to stumble their way to the bus stop, moon guiding them overhead. It had been quite the night.

- now playing: 8teen by khalid -

ZONDAG 10:22 - You got home late last night.

There was no hangover when Lucas awoke, which was always a good sign. He hadn’t drank that much the night before, but he never knew when a decent sized hangover would strike. There wasn’t much reason for him to get out of bed, so he stayed there, light falling in waves across his face from the half closed curtains over his bedroom window.

It was moments like this, in complete solitude, with the sunshine streaming in and the bare white walls of his room fresh and clean, that he didn’t mind being in his home. Most times, though, he hated it here, wished he was anywhere else. Guilt roiled around in his stomach every time he had that thought, but he couldn’t deny it was true.

Maybe if his dad wasn’t the way he was and his mom wasn’t as absent as she was, things would be different. But they weren’t, so he suffered in silence.

Sometimes it hurt, physically, to know that his mom was hurting so deeply inside and he couldn’t do anything about it. She was bipolar, but she didn’t have episodes very often anymore and when they did come he knew what to do, so that wasn’t even an issue really, there was more to her absence than that. It was like she stopped wanting to care, or try, but it wasn’t a depressive episode. There came a point earlier that year when she stopped greeting him after school, then stopped talking to him altogether. At first he’d been petrified he’d done something wrong, or that she found out the secret he was hiding, but later he started to think maybe his dad had something to do with it.

He’d left the two of them during Lucas’ mother’s last manic episode, but he still came around often enough to leave an air of tension over their household at all times. He’d never known how to respond to Lucas’ mother’s episodes, and he wasn’t the most tolerant person in the world, so Lucas wondered if maybe his mother had just heard how useless she was so many times that she’d started to believe it. He himself had heard all sorts of things from his father over the years, but now he was better at blocking them out.

He opened his phone to find a bunch of messages from his group chat with the boys and rubbed his eyes as he started to read them.

Kes: sander, you still have the weed right?

Sander: yeah, why?

Kes: cops found some at isa’s and she thinks it’s mine x_x

Jayden: lmaoo bro

Sander: yikes, well you can tell her it’s not ours for sure

Kes: sweet thanks

Jayden: why isn’t luc responding? luuuuuuuc

Kes: he’s probably still asleep

Sander: it’s half past ten?

Kes: not all of us wake up at 5 am for no reason

Sander: i detect shade

Kes: you would be: correct

Sander: 🖕🏾🖕🏾

Kes: :)

Jayden: shut up guys i wanna know about lucas and the girl he pulled last night 👀

Sander: he didn’t pull a girl, we pulled him away from the cops

Jayden: you know what i mean

Jayden: are you still talking to her luc?

Lucas didn’t know why he’d expected anything different. He hadn’t been talking to Sofie, but, as he exited out of his texts and moved to Instagram, he did see he had a new dm request. The username was sof_heide, which could really only be one person, but he played dumb and clicked on the user’s profile just to be sure

He groaned, he would deal with her later, but if he put off dealing with his friends, they would just get more persistent.

Lucas: morning

Jayden: there he is!

Kes: details…?

Sander: ^^

Lucas: there’s not much to tell. after you guys left we made out a little bit more and we were gonna go bad to her place, but then the cops showed up and we got separated

Kes: sorry dude :/

Lucas: it’s not a big deal, she’s not the only girl in the world

Kes: too true ;)))

Lucas: anyway, i gotta go, my mom needs me. see you losers at school tomorrow

Kes: 😘😘

Jayden: i miss you already 😪

Sander: you guys are so weird

Sander: but i’ll miss you too 🥺🥺🥺🥺

Lucas rolled his eyes and shut off his phone, tossing it onto the opposite side of his bed. Some day. Some day he wouldn’t continually lie to his friends about his life. Today was not that day, but he promised himself it would be soon.

- now playing: idle town by conan gray -

By the time Lucas made his way into his kitchen for breakfast, his mom was already sitting there, staring out the window with a cup of coffee in her hand. He poured himself some cereal and sat across from her, shooting her a small smile that she didn’t return.

“Morning,” he said.

She looked at him, finally. “You got home late last night.”

“I’m sorry,” he said, ducking his head.

“I’m not mad, I was just stating a fact.”

“Ok.” He didn’t know what else to say. That’s how it always was these days. His mom didn’t seem to want to be his mom anymore, she just existed to acknowledge his existence every once and awhile, make vague comments, and drink her coffee. He knew it wasn’t her disorder talking either, because he’d lived with her almost eighteen years and knew more about her than he knew about anyone else. This detachment, it was new to them both.

“I saved the new season of Stranger Things,” he said, even though he’d watched it already with Kes ages ago. “We could have a lazy day and watch it together?”

His mother looked him up and down. “Don’t you have homework?”

“It’s the beginning of the year, I don’t have much yet,” Lucas explained. He’d already finished most of it anyway, schoolwork came easily to him.

She hummed, looking towards the window once again. Lucas followed her gaze, resting on a bird eating out of one of the bird feeders out in their yard. “I have some things to do. You can go ahead and watch by yourself.”

“Ok,” he said softly, turning his attention back to his cereal. It tasted stale and dry, which was fitting. His whole life was stale and dry, and even though he was aware of this, everyday he hoped for something different. It hadn’t happened yet, but he didn’t know when was appropriate to give up hope. Maybe he should have already.

He and his mother sat the rest of the time he ate in silence, and she didn’t look back at him once, even though he watched her nearly the entire time. Sometimes he wished he could be like Liv or Jayden and just live with a couple roommates instead of dealing with everything going on at home. But he would miss his mother too much, even if she was pretty mentally and emotionally absent as of late.

There was really no winning, but when had Lucas ever won a decent hand at anything in life.

MAANDAG 13:17 - Here’s to the culture club!

- now playing: wild by troye sivan -

Lucas was eating his lunch, ignoring his friends, which was pretty common as of late. He didn’t want to talk about girls, and he definitely didn’t want to talk about Sofie, so it was better if he just pretended to listen to the point that the three others forgot he was even there.

He let his gaze wander around the room and at snagged on a boy standing at the other end of the room talking to someone. Lucas had never seen him before, was he new? He was… Lucas didn’t have a word other than beautiful. He didn’t look like the kind of person who belonged in high school, he looked like the type of person who belonged on magazine covers and film screens. Lucas found himself smiling as the boy smiled at whoever he was talking to, and wishing he could have been the one to make him smile.

“Hello!”

Lucas was jolted out of his daze by Engel standing in front of their table. He saw Kes and Jayden exchange glances, while Sander grinned up at her. “Hello!” he said, with the same amount of enthusiasm.

Engel smiled wider. “How are you guys? Good Monday?”

“As good as Mondays can get,” Kes offered, looking around her. Lucas was sure he was looking for Isa, not that he’d ever admit it.

“I have a proposition,” Engel said, still smiling softly in a way that seemed to come naturally to her. Lucas actually liked Engel and the other girls a lot, but he knew that his friends thought Engel could be a bit much sometimes.

“We’re listening,” Jayden said seriously, and Sander shoved him in the side.

Engel continued, unperturbed. “We— and by we I mean me, Isa, Liv, and Janna— are starting a culture club! Our experiences in Tallinn were so enriching, and we wanted to create an opportunity for others to experience something like that, so we created the culture club! We’ll do fundraisers throughout the year, and at the end of the year the whole club will go on a trip to the culturally enriching destination of our choosing!”

As far as clubs and ideas went, this wasn’t the worst one he’d ever heard. Honestly, even if it was, Engel probably already knew they would all say yes to her anyway. If they’d been at her sad excuse for a Tallinn fundraiser, they would be there for this too. Plus, getting a vacation out of it was an upside.

She looked at them eagerly, awaiting their reactions, not even noticing when Isa, Liv, and Janna joined her. Isa was glaring at Kes, which probably meant that she didn’t believe him when he said the weed the cops found wasn’t his.

“We’ll be there,” Kes said, looking pointedly away from Isa.

Engel smiled wider, looking at her friends smugly. “Awesome!”

“It starts at 18h. Please try not to be late,” Liv added, looking at Jayden specifically.

“Anything for you Livvie,” he teased, blowing her a kiss. Liv flipped him off as Isa laughed beside her, placing her head on Liv’s shoulder. Sometimes Lucas wished he was Liv and Ralph’s roommate instead of Jayden. Ok, a lot of times.

“18h,” Isa reminded them, pointing at each of them in turn, “If you’re late we’ll…” She paused, trying to think of some punishment.

“We’ll guillotine you,” Janna offered.

“We’ll guillotine you!” Isa finished, then looked up at Janna in shock. “Wait, no, what the fuck? Where did that come from?”

Janna wiggled her eyebrows and the two of them busted out laughing. Engel looked like she both wanted to smack the two of them and join their laughter.

“Seeing as I’m in the business of avoiding the guillotine, I promise I’ll be there on time,” Sander said, grinning at Isa brightly. Lucas glanced over at Kes to see how he was reacting, but he wasn’t paying attention to Sander. Lucas prayed to god Sander didn’t have a thing for Isa, because he really couldn’t deal with any more Isa and Kes and other people's drama. He had enough to deal with already.

“Thank you,” Isa said, giving him a nod.

“I’ll be there on time as well,” Lucas felt the need to add, realizing just then that they were the first words he’d said the entire time they’d been at lunch. No one else seemed to notice though, thankfully.

“If Luc’s there, I’m there,” Kes said with a grin, fist bumping Lucas over Sander’s head.

“If all my friends are there, I’m there,” Jayden joked, earning him not a fist bump, but a light shove.

“Will there be snacks?” Sander called out, but the girls were already walking away, moving onto the next group of people they could invite to join their club. Lucas tried to look for the boy he’d seen earlier, but he was gone. Maybe he’d never been there at all and Lucas’ brain had just been so bored it had conjured up the most beautiful boy he’d ever seen.

Whatever the case, Lucas tried to tune back into the conversation, pasting a smile on his face and pretending that his mind wasn’t elsewhere.

“Here’s to the culture club!” he heard one of them exclaim, and sighed. Vive la culture club and all that!

WOENSDAG 9:39 - I think the word you’re looking for is egotistical.

He’d really hoped that this year he’d get a biology teacher who knew what a bra was. The last time he’d pointed this out to Kes, Kes had just said that ‘wasn’t very women’s rights of him’, so he hadn’t said anything since. Not that he didn’t support women’s rights, obviously he did, but he didn’t really want to see his fifty something year old teacher’s nipples during science class.

Physics was one of his favorite classes regardless, he’d always much preferred science to literature or history. Most everything in science was absolute, and he appreciated that. Even if things weren’t absolute, there was always a theory to test, an experiment to try. There were answers, more often than not, answers that didn’t lie in symbolism and bullshit.

What was a better way to distract from personal things he couldn’t control than to focus on the things he could? He could get good grades if he studied and worked hard enough and he could have fun nights out with friends if he didn’t overthink every invitation. When everything felt out of control he liked to think about the future, about all the things he’d do when he wasn’t the mess of a seventeen year old boy.

Like being out and proud, going on dates with boys or hooking up with a person he was actually attracted to, not one he thought would impress his friends. He’d tried to hook up with a few guys in secret through Grindr, but he’d always been scared to go all the way with people he knew didn’t actually care about him in the way he craved. Late at night he’d let himself fantasize about finding a boy he liked, who actually liked him back. It went without saying that those fantasies stayed fantasies.

He was so zoned out staring that he didn’t register when Isa sat beside him until she cleared her throat.

“Hi?” He hated himself for being so awkward around her, especially when she’d gone out of her way to make sure he knew she forgave him.

“Hello,” she said, adding nothing else.

He looked around the room. “Not that I’m mad you’re sitting by me or anything, but why?”

She usually sat with Janna at the front of the class, and he usually sat with Jayden. Jayden was a terrible lab partner, but at least he didn’t have to be partnered with someone random.

“Kes told you about the weed?” she asked without further preamble. Ah, so that’s what this was about.

“Ies, I swear it wasn’t us—” he began, but she cut him off.

“That’s what Kes said too.”

He sighed. “Well then you should believe us. You can ask Jayden and Sander too.”

She considered him carefully, narrowing her eyes. “I believe you,” she decided.

“Thank you. Then…?” He gestured, wondering what else she needed.

“I need you guys to actually show up to Engel’s meeting.”

Lucas smirked at her. “I thought the four of you came up with the idea together?”

Isa laughed, leaning back in her chair. “Please. You know very well that Janna and I were hungover, Liv was distracted by Noah, and we all agreed because none of us were really listening. That doesn’t mean we don’t care or anything though.”

“Of course not,” he agreed, raising one eyebrow, and she shoved his shoulder.

“Shut up.”

“I didn’t say anything.” They smiled at each other and it was like everything was back to how it was a year ago. Lucas really had missed hanging out just the two of them.

“Perfect!” their teacher said, and both of them shot their heads to where she stood in front of them. “Lucas, Isa, you can be partners then.”

Isa looked like she was about to argue, then glanced at where Janna and Jayden were bent over in hysterics over god knew what. “Ok,” she said, which surprised Lucas to the point that he didn’t argue either.

When the teacher handed out their worksheets, Isa just shrugged and nodded to their friends. “I figure with you I’ll actually get some work done.”

“You figure correctly,” Lucas confirmed, pulling his worksheet within readable distance. “Oh, this is easy, it’s just on Newton’s laws of motion.”

“Right…” Isa trailed off, looking at her worksheet like it was a foreign language. Lucas grinned and folded his arms on top of the table.

“I forgot how shitty at science you are.”

She glared at him. “Shut up! There’s got to be a subject you’re not great at.”

“Nope, I’m perfect.”

“Now that’s definitely not true. Maybe you need to brush up on your vocabulary, I think the word you’re looking for is egotistical,” she countered, placing her head in one hand and grinning sarcastically at him.

“You’re a menace, Keijser,” he said, mostly because he meant it. She was a menace, but one he would happily endure.

She scoffed, then looked at him pointedly. “Right back at you, VDH.”

“VDH?” he raised his eyebrows.

“Van der Heijden takes so much effort,” she complained.

Now it was his turn to scoff at her. “It’s a pretty standard surname.”

“Doesn’t mean it’s not way too much effort to say out loud.”

He stuck his tongue out at her, and she returned the gesture. They were children, is what they were, but they were still doing better than Jayden and Janna, from the looks of it. Those two were an unlikely pairing, but one that made sense at the same time. The things they’d get up to if they became friends… Lucas didn’t even want to know.

He turned his attention back to Isa. “I fear we’ve created a monster.”

She tore her gaze from their friends and nodded soberly. “I was thinking the same thing.”

A small grin, the quirk of a lip, and then they were laughing like they used to before it all went to hell. Maybe hell was relative, after all. Lucas hoped so.

- now playing: maybe by half alive -

VRIJDAG 18:00 - You’re new, right?

- now playing: true affection by the blow -

The music was turned up loud enough in Lucas’ headphones that he could ignore everything else going on around him, just the way he liked it. He was wondering what the odds were that he was the only one of his friends to show up, but then he figured Kes would probably be there no matter what. Jayden probably would be too, now that him and Janna were best friends or whatever. Isa and Lucas had been very thrown off by this development, even though they were technically responsible for it.

Lucas walked into the room at on the dot, surprised to see Jayden, Sander, and Kes already seated. He was usually the earliest of them all. At least he wasn’t late, it seemed no one had come yet except for the girls and the boys. Isa gave Lucas a wide grin and a thumbs up when he walked in, and he smiled in return, taking a seat beside Kes.

“Why was Isa so happy to see you? I just got a nod,” Kes complained, leaning back in his chair.

Lucas shrugged. “I let her copy my physics worksheet earlier this week.”

“Ah, that’ll do it,” Kes agreed, interrupted by the arrival of a few others. Lucas watched them all walk in and silently swore to himself when he saw Sofie accompanied by a few friends. Her eyes lit up when she saw him and she beelined towards the four of them.

“Hey, Lucas,” she said, smiling shyly.

He forced a smile of his own. “Hi.”

“Did you, um, see my message?” she asked, biting her lip. Her friends giggled around her and Lucas died a few times internally.

He decided to play dumb, so thankful he hadn’t accepted or acknowledged her message request. “Um, no?” he furrowed his brows for believability’s sake.

“On Instagram?” she clarified, smile dimming.

He shrugged apologetically, sensing his friends eyes on him and knowing exactly what they were thinking. “I’ll check later, my phone’s dead right now,” he promised, and her smile sprang back into place.

“Great,” she said, “Um, I’ll leave you guys be now, then. Talk to you later.”

As she walked away Lucas finally relented and looked at his flabbergasted friends.

“Dude!” Sander said, blinking in disbelief. “A girl that hot messages you and you don’t ‘see’ it?”

“I didn’t see it!”

Sander rolled his eyes, clearly not believing him. “I don’t get you, man. You nearly go all the way with her the other night and then pretend like you don’t know her a week later? Don’t string her along if you’re not interested, but if you are, go for it.”

“This is literally the second time I’ve talked to her! I’m not stringing her along, I barely even know her,” Lucas argued, voice a hushed but somewhat irritated whisper.

“I’m just saying.” Sander looked at him pointedly, and Lucas rolled his eyes, facing the front of the room. Once he did so he was stunned in his seat. He blinked a few times to make sure what he was seeing wasn’t a trick.

It was the boy from the other day, standing in the front of the room talking to Engel. Lucas couldn’t make out what they were saying, but when he smiled that same smile from the cafeteria Lucas nearly combusted on the spot. He was in trouble all right.

The boy turned then, and Lucas didn’t have time to look away, causing their eyes to meet for a brief second. Maybe it was just him, but he swore a light sparked in the other boy’s eyes. But then he looked away again, returning his attention to Engel before making his way over to the seats and sitting a row behind Lucas and his friends.

Lucas refused to turn around, even though he wanted to more than anything. He thought of how embarrassing it would be to be caught staring, and kept his eyes forward.

“Welcome to the culture club, everybody!” Engel said, and Lucas focused closely on her words to keep his mind off the boy behind him.

“I’m Engel,” she continued, “And this is Liv, Isa, and Janna. We started this club because we all went to Tallinn at the end of last school year, and the experience was so enriching for all of us that we wanted to share the opportunity to do something like that again with others! Um, we’ll be putting together fundraisers throughout the year to save up for our new trip, and every week we can focus on a different culture to learn about and make food from that culture…” Engel’s voice was a bit shaky, and she looked at Liv gratefully when she put a hand on her shoulder. Lucas wondered how many times she would say ‘enriching’ over the course of the meeting.

Jayden raised his hand, and Engel nodded to him with a smile. “Where are we going for our ‘cultural trip’?”

“Oh… um, that’s a good question!” Engel laughed nervously, and Liv took over.

“We’ll vote on it at our last meeting before the holidays, that way we have enough time to consider our options and enough time to plan all the details,” she explained.

Engel nodded gratefully. “Exactly! Since this is our first meeting, I figured we’d separate into small groups and exchange stories of what cultures we come from, and then we can share as a group!”

Lucas discreetly checked the time on his phone. Not that he had anywhere to be, but he did want to get home and make dinner for himself and his mother, just in case she forgot to eat again. He should call her just to make sure she knew why he was going to be home late. By the time he looked back up, Kes, Jayden, and Sander were already in the middle of a conversation. About girls, not culture, but whatever.

“Hey, I need to call my mom really quick, so I’m going to dip out for a second,” Lucas said to Kes, standing from his chair. Thankfully Engel wasn’t paying attention, and at Kes’ nod Lucas was able to slip out of the room undetected.

He went to the bathroom for privacy and typed in his mom’s number, pacing around while he waited for her to pick up. The phone rang, and rang, and rang, and Lucas was finally forced to give up, swearing and tossing his phone to the ground, probably not the best idea. He was so caught up in his frustration that he didn’t realize someone else had entered until they spoke.

“You look like you could use a joint.” Lucas scooped up his phone (thankfully unbroken), face red with embarrassment. Then he looked at the intruder and blushed further. It was him.

“Sorry, I was just— it doesn’t matter,” Lucas tried to explain, rubbing the back of his neck.

The boy smiled, not the same way he had earlier, this one was a subtle uptick of the corner of his mouth, and pulled a joint from behind his ear, holding it up to Lucas. “Is that a yes, then?”

Lucas found himself smiling as well in the same sort of half serious half teasing manner. “Do you do this often? Go around handing out joints to strangers?”

“‘You see I usually find myself among strangers because I drift here and there trying to forget the sad things that happened to me,’” the boy said, raising one eyebrow.

“Um…” How did he respond to that.

The boy sensed his discomfort and laughed, lighting up the joint right there in the bathroom. “It’s F. Scott Fitzgerald. The Great Gatsby?”

“Oh, yeah.” Lucas had read that one a little while ago, but he definitely didn’t remember it well enough to quote it. “Thought I recognized it.”

“Liar, you did not.”

Apparently he wasn’t as good at bullshitting as he thought. “I have read it,” he promised.

“You should read it again,” the boy suggested, passing the joint after taking a long drag.

As Lucas raised it to his lips he found it impossible not to stare at the boy’s lips, blushing as he realized this. It wasn’t his fault that this boy had an ethereal look about him, like he came from another world entirely. Lucas wondered if the world he’d come from was better than this one. “I’ve never seen the point in rereading things,” he admitted, and the boy snatched the joint back so fast Lucas didn’t have time to react.

“Your weed privileges have been revoked,” he said with a scandalized expression.

“Oh, they have, have they?”

“How else are you supposed to truly comprehend a piece of literature, take in all the nuances and details you missed the first time, appreciate the work fully if you only read it once?” the boy gesticulated wildly with his hands as he spoke, looking like Kes when he was on one of his political tirades.

Lucas thought about it a moment, then shrugged. “I guess I’ve never thought about it like that.”

“Same goes for films,” the boy continued, pointing at Lucas with the joint before taking a quick drag. “If you watch them once how will you understand it to its complete potential? You’re too busy taking in the plot to see the cinematography and how it interacts with the soundstage, or how the actors move about the space, what kind of world has been crafted so masterfully for your entertainment.”

“Because I definitely watch the Fast and the Furious for the stellar cinematography,” Lucas joked, reaching for the joint only to have it pulled out of reach once again.

“Tell me you did not just say that.”

Lucas shrugged like, so what if I did? “Are you pro or anti Fast and the Furious?”

The boy considered this. “While I can understand the cultural impact of the franchise,” he began, “I just really don’t think it’s something to use as an example when talking about masterful cinema.”

“Do you always speak this eloquently?” Lucas wondered aloud, earning him a raised eyebrow and weed privileges.

“It’s the writer in me, I suppose,” the boy answered, accompanied by a shrug.

“Writer, huh?”

Another shrug. “Maybe.”

There was a beat of silence where the two of them just looked at one another. It was comfortable, was silence supposed to feel this comfortable with someone you’ve only just met? “You’re new, right?” Lucas asked when he worked up the nerve to break the silence.

The boy nodded. “What gave it away?”

“The fact that I’ve gone to school with everyone else here for years and I’ve never seen you before.” It was partly a lie, but he couldn’t very well say he’d seen him Monday and hadn’t stopped thinking about him since.

The boy laughed, resting his hands back on the counter. “That’ll do it. Yes, I’m new. I transferred here for my final year.”

Lucas nodded, not saying what he was thinking. It was odd that he’d transfer in his final year, but not unheard of, Lucas supposed. “Well, I’m glad you’re here,” he said before he could stop himself.

“Oh, yeah?” the boy grinned that beautifully bright grin, and Lucas found himself nodding again.

“Yeah.”

The door banged open and Liv walked in, looking back and forth between the two of them in surprise.

“Liv?” She looked at him. “You know this is the men’s bathroom?”

She crossed her arms, looking at him pointedly. “You know you’re not allowed to smoke on school grounds?”

“Sorry, that was my fault,” the boy cut in, extinguishing what was left of the joint and smiling at her apologetically. Liv narrowed her eyes at him, but accepted his apology with a shrug.

“You’re just lucky I found you, not Engel,” she said, and Lucas cracked a smile, silently agreeing with her. Her face turned apprehensive. “The meeting wasn’t horrible, right?”

“Not at all. It was great,” Lucas lied. In truth, he hadn’t spent much time at the actual meeting, though it had run a bit boring while he was there.

The boy nodded along with him. “Such a good idea,” he added.

Liv turned her attention back to him and placed a hand to her temple, shutting her eyes and grimacing. “I’m so sorry, I haven’t properly introduced myself. I’m Liv.”

She held out her hand and the boy took it, smiling sincerely. “Kaz,” he responded, eyes meeting Lucas’ for a brief moment as if he was speaking directly to him. Kaz. It fit him perfectly, a name that seemed a bit harsh and cacophonic on the outside, but was really quite beautiful at the same time.

“Well, it’s great to meet you Kaz. I’ll see you around? Preferably at the next meeting?” she asked hopefully, and Kaz laughed.

“I’ll be there,” he promised, looking at Lucas.

“I’ll be there too,” Lucas found himself saying, ignoring Liv completely.

Kaz. Lucas really wanted to know him, and he got the feeling that Kaz wanted to know him too.

- now playing: boys by charli xcx -

+ meet kaz

#skam nl #skam #skam nl fic #lucas van der heijden #season 3 #mystery of love

60 notes · View notes

nancydrew65 · 6 years ago

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SKAM NL Season 2 Episode 3 Thoughts

This episode really hit me hard. There were a lot of things in it that I didn’t expect. Also two seven minute clips!

You’re Such a Cliche

I feel like every episode I get a little reminder of how much I love SKAM NL. They used a song by Aurora! For those who don’t know, Aurora is a young Norwegian singer. She is fantastic and such a beautiful performer. You should really check out some of her live videos. If you couldn’t tell, she is my favorite artist, and I am so happy whenever a SKAM remake includes one of her songs. I literally jumped out of my seat when I first heard one of her songs in SKAM Season 3 Episode 10. (Yes, I really memorized the episode her song appears in). Also, cool to use the song “Churchyard” as the date ends up being in a church.

I love how Liv is just in a T-shirt and sweats, like she is not putting any effort into this date at all.

Ralph and Esra are the dynamic duo I never knew I needed in my life. I love their chemistry and how they play off of each other. Lol, at them trying to join Liv when she says she is going to the movies.

Liv and Ralph fight over who answers the door, and Liv literally shoves Ralph into a table. It is glorious.

Liv takes Ralph’s jacket out of spite. They really are like siblings.

Noah doesn’t take Liv to a place with a pretty city view. THANK GOD! I mentioned before, I didn’t think that would work because Liv’s apartment already has a great view, so I am so happy they changed it. Instead Noah takes Liv to a beautiful, old, abandoned church.

Noah approaches Liv with his flashlight, accidentally shining it in her eyes and she responds by holding her phone’s light directly in front of his eyes. She can be so petty and I love it.

Noah’s “Echo” was so cute. He is really growing on me.

Noah challenges Liv on her definition of cliche. I think that was actually very interesting because the character of William really was the definition of a cliche, and for Noah to spin that as something “true” was cool.

Liv asks him if he thinks she is a cliche, which I thought was kind of weird. I have never thought that any of the Noora’s were written to be interpreted as a cliche.

Noah lists what he thinks Liv is like, which of course, as we know, is what Liv is like. I guess it’s supposed to be a moment of “Aha! He understands her”, but like, when has Noah ever had time to figure all this stuff out?

Liv asks if he trusts her, and Noah responds: “I don’t know you.” Wow. I honestly think that is one of my favorite lines that a William has ever stated. Most of the Williams have a very arrogant attitude and pretend they completely understand Noora. There is a kind of humility in Noah’s line. He acknowledges that he doesn’t know her fully. I thought that was rather beautiful.

And just as Liv starts to open up, Noah receives the phone call. LMAO at that ringtone. I laughed so hard when I heard the frogs.

There is a nice, long moment where Liv is left alone in the church, waiting for Noah and you can see the moment where she decides to leave.

I know a lot of people were speculating beforehand what the phone call was about and I am very happy to state that at the very least, the entire fandom was on the same page about it being impossible for Noah to get in a fight.

Have You Heard it Already?

Janna and Isa have been hanging out a lot this season and I love it.

By the way, I love Liv’s shirt. Fits her character.

Kes looks like such a nerd in this scene. I don’t know if that was intentional, or… ?

Engel always wants to protect people, but she goes about it in such a clueless way.

Isa is in denial that Kes went down on a girl. It doesn’t have the same impact as the OG scene though because in the cabin episode it was pretty obvious that Kes was about to go down on Isa.

I’m slightly disappointed we didn’t get Kes’ walk of fame because I think he was one of the Jonas’ that could have actually pulled it off. (Unlike Marlon from SKAM Austin, cough, cough).

But in its place, we get the slo-mo of the senior girls which more than made up for it. And damn, all those girls were gorgeous.

Janna finally puts her foot down about Engel talking about that “weird-ass artist”. Not gonna lie, it’s my new favorite description of Noah.

And then the bomb dropped. Apparently, a lot of people guessed what happened, but I was not one of them. Noah’s mother just died. As in probably on Sunday night when he was on the date with Liv. That is such a drastic change from OG, and I hope to god, they follow through on it. Like really change the storyline to accommodate for that massive change. This really changes the whole dynamic of the season because Noah will be dealing with this horrible loss. I am very interested and intrigued to see where this goes.

We can see the knowledge hit Liv as she realizes that was probably the phone call Noah got on their date. I love how kind and caring she is; she immediately texts him to apologize and see how he is doing.

A lot of people were commenting on this scene and saying, “Oh, well finally Liv feels bad.” And I was like, yeah, I would feel bad too if that happened, but Liv had no way of knowing what happened to Noah and she had every right to leave that date.

Indeed, I Think You are More of a Tiger

Esra and Ralph crashing the girls’ nail outing which is just like them.

Also, I know I say this a lot, but the aesthetics of SKAM NL are so great. The pink in this scene really stands out.

I have to say, I think the girls are being rather unfair to Engel. She basically organized the whole benefit herself. She deserves some credit and respect for that.

Liv checks her phone to see if Noah has replied. He has not.

She also pretends to have a sore throat in order to get out of singing. I think she is feeling low after she got rejected by the record studio.

I love the little banter between Engel and Janna. I wish we got more of those moments because Janna and Engel have been friends for quite some time.

Isa asks Liv what she is doing when she keeps looking at her phone, and Ralph pops his head out of his private room and asks if Liv is checking her phone again. Ralph knows what’s up.

Tallinn, Here We Come

Engel is dressed up like a traditional Estonian dancer. She looks so cute.

Wow, there is basically no one there. Ah, but we see Jayden, Kes, and Lucas, so they came to support their friends. That’s actually pretty nice of them.

Esra and Ralph come storming in, soaked to the bone from their bike ride. Engel quickly shushes them before continuing with her speech.

Everyone is bored out of their minds, watching the Estonian dancers. Everyone, that is, except Janna and Engel. My loves.

Isa finally pulls Liv aside and confronts her about her weird behavior. At first, I thought Liv would tell her all about Noah, but instead she confides about the record deal. I actually liked this because it showed what was really important to her: her music.

Isa, correctly, tells Liv that just because she got rejected by the label, it doesn’t mean she can’t sing.

Isa tries to push Liv further because she knows the record deal isn’t all that’s bothering Liv, but then Engel basically forces Liv to sing.

Oooh, and we get a moment where Isa sees Kes making out with another girl.

Liv starts singing, beautifully as always. Everyone joins in and it’s quite the uplifting scene.

Later in the evening, Ralph graces us with a stunning rendition of “Part of Your World” from ‘The Little Mermaid’. I didn’t know he could sing that well! That falsetto, though.

Liv finally gets a text from Noah. It says: “OK, no problem”. How curt. But I don’t really blame him; he has to be dealing with so much right now.

Esra turns on a song and she, Janna, and Ralph start dancing in a ridiculous, let lovable fashion. I love these three.

General Thoughts

What an episode! This week was a wild, emotional ride. Tbh, I never know when to upload these reactions because I never know when an episode ends, and a new one begins. That is really my only complaint about SKAM NL. Besides that, I really loved this episode. I know a lot of people were hoping for Noah to appear again at the end of the episode at the benefit or for Liv to go find him at the church. But personally, I enjoyed not seeing him. I think it really builds up that tension and also… it’s realistic? I mean, Noah’s mother just died (she was probably sick for a while, but I know from personal experience, even if you know it’s coming, it is still awful). Also, I want this season to focus more on Liv as a person. Don’t get me wrong, I actually really like Noah, but Liv’s season is supposed to be about Liv. I think a lot of remakes don’t really understand that and like to hype up the Noorhelm aspect of the season. I think the best remake that handled a Noora season as her own while still portraying a (reasonably) healthy relationship with a William was DRUCK. I hope SKAM NL follows in its footsteps, and so far, it really has. So, cheers to the next episode. I honestly have no idea what is going to happen!

#skamnl #skam remakes #skam reaction #shit. this was an emotional episode #and it's only episode 3 #what is going to happen next?

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