#but the psat is over so maybe

[webslingingslasher]

Crush

Genre: fluff

Word count: 6k

Summary: you like peter, he doesn't get it. until you confide in spider-man

i hope you guys like this, i've been really really busy at work but i'm working on my other fic i promise.

You didn’t know Peter Parker was Spider-Man. 

To be fair, no one really knew. Tony Stark knew because he knows everything, May knows because she walked in on him in the suit, so did Ned, and MJ found out on her own, because, well, she knows everything. So enter in you, a girl who moved into the city and got into a smart kid school. Almost immediately you befriended MJ, you sat next to her in English and noticed her head stuck in a book. You leaned over into her space, you saw her tense up and smiled at her eyes peeking at you through the corners.

“Hi, I’m Y/N. I’m new here and I want to die in a falling elevator, what about you?” 

MJ peered at you and smirked, she stuck out a hand to shake yours.

“Hi, I’m MJ. I’m old here and I’m still trying to decide.” 

You two have been friends since. 

“No, you’re not getting it Ned! I dare you to ask Betty, that is if she’ll still talk to you.” Peter grinned at his friend and laughed when Ned threw a spork at him. Ned and Betty were in their usual weekly dispute, usually something dumb but slightly significant. 

“Are you just mad I have a girlfriend that gets mad at me?” Ned teased back. He did feel like he had the upper hand, being honest he always thought Peter would have all his firsts, well, first. But Ned was collecting the firsts while Peter kept to himself. 

Peter scoffed at the assumption, “No way man, If I was a boyfriend I would never pick a fight. I’d be a good boy and listen.” He hummed and shot his eyes to yours, you were already looking at him. 

“Right, Y/N?” He shot a wink at you and you froze, was that real? Was he actually talking to you? 

Peter Parker is beautiful. You’re not sure when you liked him, actually you think you always have. The second you met him you felt pulled to him, you couldn’t stay away from him. Subconsciously you walked the longer loop around the school to peek at him at his locker, and you always laughed at his jokes, and you made constant eye contact when you weren’t staring at his mouth. 

His brown curls laid over his forehead, you remember last week he was talking about getting it cut, and you frowned at him and said ‘absolutely not, if anything you should grow it longer’, you can’t help but notice it hasn’t been cut yet, and he is looking more tempting by the day. Maybe two more weeks and you could have an excuse to run your hand through it, tell him you noticed it was in his eyes and you were just helping. 

Even MJ knew, you think Ned and Betty have an inkling. When the four of you were together they loved to talk about Peter, except they would only praise him. He has the ultimate wingmen even if he didn’t know it. And speaking of not knowing, he had no clue you were into him. It’s not like you’ve been straightforward but you also didn’t hide it. You always made flirty comments towards him, and he would usually smile shyly and brush it off. 

“How did you think you did on Mr. Tusks test? I think I did fine.” He once asked during a passing period, you made a show of looking him up and down, “Oh trust me, you’re fine.” Peter rolled his eyes and then asked if you had heard about Kayte and Brendon. 

“Can you do me a favor?” Peter asked while you and the rest of the group met at his house for a study session before PSATS, looking over at you from his shoulder at the kitchen table. You stepped closer and grabbed his bicep, “Trust me, I’d do anything for you, Peter.” MJ let out a quiet ‘oooh’ and Peter flushed, he cleared his throat and held up some crumpled paper. “Can you throw these away for me, please?” 

You wrapped your hand around the paper in his and let your fingers rest against his palm for a moment, you looked in his eyes and pouted. “Aw, that’s all?” He looked at MJ for help, she instead looked at you and smirked with a slight nod to her head. You met her with a similar smirk and walked away to the trash can. 

Then that time at the movies you hopped around Ned to steal the spot next to Peter, “Dibs! If anyone is gonna get cuddly with Peter it’s gonna be me.” You pushed Ned’s shoulder to prove your seriousness when his jaw dropped open, he sputtered but then slunk to the seat next to you. Peter joked to ease the tension, “There’s enough of me to go around,” you looked at him and smiled, “but most of you is mine, right?” Peter went to respond but the lights dropped and the trailers started. 

You almost thought he made a move, almost. 

During the movie he lent into your ear, his warm breath sent goosebumps down your spine. “Hey.” You turned your head and almost stopped breathing, his face was right against yours, if he lent up half an inch your lips would meet. You wondered if this was the moment, all the flirting was for something. “Yeah?” You whispered back, you looked between his eyes and mouth, he caught you looking at his lips and watched you lean in a tad closer. “Can I get a sip of your slushie?” 

His grin was highlighted in the blue light of the theater screen. You grumbled and thrust the plastic cup at his chest, “Not how I imagined swapping spit with you in a movie theater, but I guess it will do.” Peter nodded absentmindedly while his attention was on the screen, and you might have maybe, just for a second, thought about punching him in the ribs. 

And right now he was asking you if he would be a good boyfriend. 

“Are you kidding me Parker? You’re the definition of boyfriend material.” You matched the grin he gave you and he shot a HA! At Ned. 

“Told you! And when I finally find a girlfriend I’m gonna be the best boyfriend.” He made a cocky grin at Ned that let him know he won the fight. Your ears were ringing, did he just say? He couldn't have. No way he’s that dumb. 

You slap your palms on the table and narrow your eyes at him, “What do you mean find a girlfriend?” 

“Oh! You know, when I finally have a chick that’s into me.” He shrugged, so casual. Did he think you were just playing around? 

“When you have a chick, into you.” You repeated the words slower and watched him nod his head and take a sip of chocolate milk. 

MJ hid her snort under a cough, you turned to look at her, silently saying ‘is he for real right now?’ and MJ gave a look back that said ‘oh i think he is.’ 

You kissed your teeth, “and tell me Peter, how the fuck would you know when a girl is into you?” 

His eyes widened for a second, “Uh, I dunno. I think if she likes me she’ll make it known.” 

You laughed dryly, “Or she can make it known and you’re just totally oblivious.” 

Peter thought for a moment and hummed, “No, I think I’d know.” 

You looked at MJ with a wide mouth.

“Okay. Fuck this, I’m out.” You grabbed your backpack off the table and stomped out the cafetera doors. 

“Did I say something to make her mad?” Peter missed the look MJ and Ned shared. 

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Peter couldn’t help but feel guilty, he didn’t know what he did but he’s almost sure he made you upset. And he would normally never interfere with Spider-Man but he’s the one that saw you tossing pebbles and crushed cans at a brick wall down an alleyway. So he had to make sure you were okay, just doing his civilian duties. 

“Fucking stupid, oblivious, what does he want me to do? Fucking show up at his house naked?” You mumbled to yourself and kicked a cardboard box, sending it into the side of a dumpster. 

You heard something drop behind you, spinning to the sound you were met with the masked vigilante seen across the city. You had never seen him in person, not even a glimpse when you were walking around. You were starting to believe he was a figment of people's imagination.   

You narrowed your eyes, you didn’t know or care why he was there. 

“Fuck off, Spider-Man.” You turned to throw another rock at the wall and watch it bounce off, just like all your attempts with Peter. That frustrating prick. 

“Bad day?” 

He didn’t leave and he just brought a shit storm apun himself. 

You spun to face him again, “You have no idea.” 

“Tell me about it.” Maybe you would slip why you were pissed at lunch. 

You looked him up and down and tapped a finger on your chin, “Do you take hits?” 

“Like punches? I mean I try-” 

You cut him off, “No. I mean if I tell you to beat someone up would you do it?” 

Peter’s eyes widened in the mask, but then collected himself. 

“Maybe, it depends why you want them beaten up.” 

“Because he deserves pain.” You threw another rock. 

“Who’s he?” Peter had a feeling it was himself. 

You groaned and rubbed at your eyes, you paused to think of the story and decided to tell the whole thing to make sense. 

“Are you like a therapist or something?” 

“What do you mean?” 

“Like patient doctor confidentiality. I can tell you anything and no one knows?”

Peter thought to himself, he had never viewed himself that way but he sees how some may think of him like that. Just a random guy to dump their shit unto. 

“Sure, yeah. I won’t go screaming from the rooftops about your bad day with ‘he’.” He used air quotes around the ‘he’ and smiled when he made you laugh. 

“Alright, cool.” You nodded and paused after rubbing the bridge of your nose, then finally looking into the white masked eyes of Spider-Man.

“You brought this on yourself. Okay look, I’m new here right? Moved here from Manhattan, and got into this, like, super smart kid school.” You watched the masked face nod. 

“And I met this girl on my first day and she’s super cool and she tells me she’s gonna introduce me to her friends, and I was super excited to make friends, right?” You watched him to make sure he was listening, “And sorry for the next part, if you’re like a thirty year old guy just understand I am a horny teenager and you were once me, okay? Okay.” 

“So I met her friends, Ned and Peter. And let me tell you, Peter? Wow! Look, I’ll level with you. I’ve liked dudes before, maybe even kissed a few, who’s to know?” Peter froze for a moment, did you just hint at what he thinks? 

“But, Peter? I have literally never wanted to hump someone's face until I saw him.” 

Peter coughed then cleared his throat, his cheeks felt on fire. 

He knows you’ve always said things to him, he knows it was flirty but he didn’t realize you were being serious, cause he was him, and you were you. Peter never had that aha moment where he realized you were in fact flirting and did like him like that. He now wants to curl in shame because of the way he’s blown you off for so long, he doesn’t know why he thought you were always playing around with him, especially now. Because you only ever told Peter, you wanted Peter. 

Peter feels really dumb right now watching a girl he never thought he could pull, in distress because he is in fact, not pulling her. 

“I don’t know how to explain it but I felt so pulled to him, I hadn’t known him for twelve seconds and I wanted to know everything about him, you know? And I’ve tried everything, man. I don’t know how much more clear I can get, I mean I flirt with him all the time. Like, all the time. I literally told him I wanted to make out with him at the movies and he was just like… But can I get some of that slushie? I wanted to kill him and then myself.” 

You noticed the wide eyes on the mask but held up a hand to continue. 

“And today! My god I really thought he got it, get this, the fucker,” You exclaimed the fucker. “This fucker looks at me, dead in the eye and says ‘I’d be a good boyfriend right?’ and I was like ‘Oh my god, yes. You are literally perfection, look at you. So handsome, such baby, I will die if I don’t kiss you.’ And he goes, and I cannot make this shit up, ‘when I finally find a girlfriend I’ll be the best boyfriend.’” You mocked his voice, well not Peter’s, but a general man's voice. 

“Oh.” The first response you’ve heard from him yet. 

You laughed bitterly. “Oh, I’m not even at the part that made me fly off the wall.” 

Peter knows what you’re talking about. 

“At this point I just thought he was his normal little dumb self but when he said that? Game over. So I said, ‘how the fuck would you know when a girl is into you?’ just like that too, and he goes,” You paused to laugh again and shake your head, “‘I think if she likes me she’ll make it known.’ How fucking disconnected is he from reality? I wonder what it would be like to be in his head, really. Just a fuckton of open space huh? Anyways, I just told him that maybe she is making it known and he’s just not paying attention and he goes, ‘hmm, nope. I’d think I know.’ I couldn’t take it and just walked out.” 

You finished up your rant, “So, in conclusion. Fuck Peter Parker, but also, I want to fuck Peter Parker. It’s hard being 17.” 

For the first time Spider-Man was speechless. He didn’t know how to navigate this because he wanted to take your side but also didn’t want to throw Peter under the bus. When he noticed you were waiting for a response he let out a ‘Wow.’ 

“Well, wow.” He was still trying to find words. 

“I know right? I told you, you brought this on yourself.” You sat against the brick wall and pulled a quarter from your pocket running it across your knuckles. Spider-Man moved to sit next to you. 

“I know you say you’ve been forward but maybe he thinks you’re joking, or maybe he didn’t see it like that because he thought you wouldn’t like him like that.” 

“Babes, you have no idea how much I like him like that.” 

“Right. I mean, maybe give it another shot, you never know.” He shrugged his shoulders, who knows? Peter may even ask for a date next time you talk. 

“Oh, you think I’m giving up?” You raised an eyebrow at him. “No way, if anything this makes him even more attractive. Who doesn’t like a good chase? I will tell you my next method was just popping up at his place like, you, me, lets fuck, right here, right now.” 

“Chasing is only fun if you catch them in the end. And I doubt this Peter kid would ever give into that method, you’d scare the shit out of him.” You sighed and thought about it. “You’re right, he would respect me too much. It’s gross how much I love that.” You watched the quarter roll across your middle knuckle and held it tightly. 

You leaned a cheek against the hero’s shoulder. 

“Don’t beat up Peter Parker. He’s a sweet boy, just a little unaware.” 

“Although, if he doesn’t wake up to smell the bacon next time we talk I’m sending you a smoke signal and his address and I won’t let you leave until I see blood.” 

Peter let out a big laugh, “Deal.” 

You stood up and brushed off your butt then reached a hand out to help Spider-Man up. 

“Thanks for talking me off the ledge. Here’s a tip.” You tossed the quarter in your hand towards the red glove. 

Peter nodded and gave a two finger salute, “Just doing my job ma'am, I am the friendly neighborhood Spider-Man after all. I’ll look around for you, I hope I get a Peter update soon.” 

You smiled at the hero once more. 

“Me too.”

You watched as he took off and started to walk home, not even twenty minutes later a text came through. 

hey, sorry if i made you upset at lunch today. 

It's fine, I'm sure you’ll make it up to me. 

yeah, i’ll show you how sorry i can be.

And hell if your breath didn’t hitch. Did he just flirt with you? There is no way in God’s green earth did he just send a text like that not knowing how you’d take it. Did he finally wake up and smell the roses? Did the behavior at lunch kick in a thinking cell? 

Either way, you couldn’t wait for school tomorrow.

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Walking in the doors you rubbed the palm of your hand over your cold nose, the temperature was slowly reminding you summer was over and the nips of frost and changing leaf colors proved it. You were excited for fall and winter, you would have friends to go to a halloween party with, maybe even get to wear a couples costume with Peter if it worked out for you. You would trickle into thanksgiving and then have a whole season for cookies, movies and snow fights. A part of you couldn’t help but think about Peter's eyes sparkling in the christmas lights. 

Peter’s head darted up at you the second you walked through the door, his teeth nibbling his bottom lip. He wasn’t sure what to say, or if he should say anything. Does he wait for you to say something? Does he walk up and ask you on a date?

Either way you were about to walk past him, you looked preoccupied, in your own world. You were nibbling on your thumb nail, lost in your thoughts about Peter, and the weather, and Peter, and snow, and carving pumpkins with Peter, and the way leaves would crunch under your feet, and then floated to central park and walking hand in hand with Peter, and kissing Peter under a tree, or maybe he’d take you to rockefeller plaza and ask you to be his girlfriend there, and you just know in your heart Peter would always give you extra whipped cream on your hot chocolate. 

You were so lost in thinking about Peter you didn’t see Peter. 

Not until he jumped in front of you. 

“Hey!” He smiled and it made your eyes go hazy. 

“Peter.” You let out dreamily, still stuck in daydreams where he was yours.

“Whatcha thinking about?” His grin gave away he knew, but you know he didn’t.

“Would you give me extra whipped cream on hot chocolate?” 

“Oh yeah. I’d even throw in some mini marshmallows and a cinnamon stick. Or do you like peppermint more?” 

You fawned at his response, he was so gentle it warmed you. 

“Would you carve pumpkins with me?” You looked at his locker. 

“Why not? Seems fun.” He tapped his fist against your shoulder.

“I would need your help, cause I’m good at getting the guts out but the actual carving part hurts my hand because I have to use so much force. So I could draw a design and you could cut it for me, cause you're way stronger than me.” 

“Why are you good at getting the guts out?” He poked a finger at your elbow to get your attention back on his face. 

You bit your bottom lip and changed topics. 

“Have you ever walked through central park?” 

I mean, if Peter thinks about it he’s spent a fair amount of time there, but he’s not roaming around. He’s swinging around or stopping crime or running after someone, so he guesses not. He’s never walked through the park and enjoyed it, he thinks he did it a few times as a kid but he can’t remember the last time he went. 

“As a kid, I haven’t been in a while.” 

“I think it would be really pretty to walk through it when the leaves all change.” 

“I love the feeling of the leaves crunching under my feet.” 

“Me too! As a kid I used to build leaf forts and just roll around for hours.” You smiled brightly at the shared feeling. 

“We could go sometime, just say when. We could even get the group together.” He winked playfully but dropped the grin when he saw the disappointment flash in your eyes when he added the friends part. You didn’t want a group trip, you wanted a Peter trip. 

“Or it could be just a you and me thing, I think I could use some one on one time with you.” Peter retracted his earlier statement. Your eyes lit up at his suggestion, “really? You do?” 

“Yeah, of course. I love talking to you.” He smiled and watched you bite your bottom lip as you stared at his. 

“Anything fun happen yesterday? I didn’t see you after lunch.” Was he possibly hinting at you talking about him to him? Yes. 

“Uh,” You trailed and thought about telling him, scared if you said too much he’d ask details. 

“You know, I started to believe Spider-Man was a mass hallucination, turns out he’s a real guy. Kinda cool.” 

Peter raised his eyebrows, “You suddenly came to that belief yesterday?” 

“Well I mean, you know. He was like, there. And was like, hey.” You gave a general response and shrugged your shoulders. 

“He was just there and said hey?” He slowly repeated the words back. 

“Hey! He promised he wouldn’t talk about what we discussed and I will promise the same. We had a nice conversation about someone close to me and he gave me a little pep talk.” You defended your stance. 

“Like patient doctor confidentiality?” He was having a little fun here. 

“Exactly! It was true alleyway therapy. I even gave him a quarter for his troubles.” You crossed your arms and grinned, it was funny how good you felt after talking to him yesterday. Maybe exploding emotions on a third party stranger was good. 

“Sounds like you have a crush on Spidey.” 

You narrowed your eyes at him, “If he was here right now, and heard that coming from your mouth? He would have a fucking field day, I promise you that.” 

Peter raised his eyebrows in coyness. 

“From me? Sounds like he knows something, was I maybe the close person you had a conversation about?” 

Your cheeks felt warm, you were on the spot. You always hinted at your crush on Peter but you were kind of pussy to outright say it so you hoped he would catch on and ask you out. But now you didn’t know how to react, you had said too much and backed yourself into a corner. 

You opened your mouth to play off a response when the bell for first period rang out, you let out a breath of relief and smiled at Peter. 

“Saved by the bell.” 

--------------------------------------------------------------------

You were begging Spider-Man was out, looking around where he had dropped down yesterday. 

Things have progressed with Peter and you promised him an update, it was just about keeping him in the loop. It had nothing to do with getting to fantasize and romanticize you and Peter’s interactions. 

Jumping in excitement you saw him standing on the corner of the same building you were hiding behind yesterday, hands on his hips with his head turned the opposite way. 

“Spider-Man!” You whisper shouted. 

“Hey! Spidey!” You raised your tone some. 

“Yo! Spider-boy!” You picked up a pebble and threw it up the building. 

Getting his attention the hero looked behind him then pointed at himself with a thumb, “me?” You rolled your eyes, “yes, you. C’mere.” Watching him jump down and land in a squatted pose you couldn’t help but think about how fucked up your ankles would’ve been if you tried it. 

“Peter update, bitch. I don’t have another quarter on me, so this will have to be on the house.” 

“I kept it.” He handed it back to you and you thought about how if Peter did that you would be putty in your shoes. 

“I think he was flirting with me. I think. I don’t know, he’s so coy. I love him.” You sighed and held a hand to your heart. 

“And I am so sadistic, I’m using him as a pawn in my sick games. I’m asking him questions that I’ve already answered in my head about him and when he gives me a response it’s better than I imagined.” 

“Maybe he was flirting, or trying. Something tells me you make him nervous.” 

“Am I intimidating? I don’t want him scared of me, I want to mash my parts with his.” You pouted and thought if you were making him uncomfortable. 

“First, gross.” (Not really, he also wants to mash parts.) 

“Second, I don’t think you’re intimidating. I just think you are much more forward than him.” 

“Oh no. Is that a problem? Do I keep doing what I am, or should I let him do this? Am I over stepping? I’ve never had a boyfriend, is he supposed to pursue me? Have I done everything backwards? Oh god.” You covered your face with your hands and missed Peter's eyes growing wide and his panicked arm movements. 

“No, no, no, no. You’re fine, you’re good. It’s good. You can make the first move, totally okay. I just meant you’re expecting him to ask you out any second and I think you need to make it more noticeable rather than joking.” 

“Ew! Gross! I will not walk up to that man and tell him I wanna smooch.” 

“Oh, C’mon! You basically already have!” 

“Nope. Not happening. You’ve helped me make up my mind, I will wait for Peter Parker to make the next move.” You tossed the quarter back to him, “Don’t worry. You’ll see me again.” 

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“Woah, wait.” MJ stopped in her tracks and spoke her next words carefully. 

“You told Spider-Man about your crush on Peter?” Her voice was smooth and quick, MJ almost felt panicked for you, because you didn’t know what you just did. 

“Yeah?” You didn’t get the big deal, not like Spider-Man knew who Peter was anyways. 

“What did he say?” MJ was pulling at the thread.

“That I should be more clear, or less intimidating, or something.” 

“He said you were intimidating?” MJ narrowed her eyes. 

“Well kind of, when I said that he kind of back tracked but-” 

MJ cut you off when he locked eyes with Peter coming down the hall towards you, he tilted his head in question, he knew that look and he wasn’t sure why he deserved it. She grabbed Peter’s forearm and tugged him next to her, your eyes went wide. You didn’t need to understand why MJ decided to bring Peter into this conversation, you just needed to end it. 

“Peter, do you think Y/N is intimidating?”  

His eyes saw your subtle head shake at her, an unvocal way of telling her to shut the fuck up. 

“Uh, no. Not at all. Why?” 

MJ waited for you to talk but you stayed silent, you would definitely spill if you tried to navigate the conversation. 

“Because, the Queens nightly hero thinks she is.” Her tone was bitter, who knew MJ was this defensive over you. 

“He said I was too forward, MJ. Drop it.” You pleaded to get out of this alive. 

“Too forward, imagine that, Peter. Imagine confiding in someone about a crush and they say you’re too forward.” 

You felt your knees hit your ankles, Peter would connect the dots. You told him you had a conversation and MJ just admitted it was about a crush. 

You started to dryly laugh, not allowing Peter a chance to answer that. 

“Not a crush! Nope! Don’t know where you got that theory.” You darted your eyes around looking for an escape. 

“No?” Peter questioned you. 

“You know MJ, she lives in her own world. Never said anything about having a crush on someone, definitely not you.” 

Peter had to play into this, your turn to squirm. 

“Who said I thought you had a crush on me?” 

Your heart couldn’t beat any louder than it was at the moment. 

“No one did.” You flashed a nervous smile. 

“No, I think you just did.” 

You breathed heavily out your nose and looked harshly at MJ like ‘wtf? Why did you do this?’ 

“I just didn’t want you to think I have a crush on you.” 

Peter pouted, “Why not? I think it would be cute.” 

It was your turn to sputter. 

“Cute? It would be cute? Cute how? Cute, that's adorable or cute, let's date?” 

You didn’t miss MJ’s look of ‘wow. Subtle much?’ 

“Depends. Do you have a crush on me?” 

“Do you think I have a crush on you?” 

Peter hummed and pretended to think. 

“Sometimes.” He shrugged his shoulders. 

“Only sometimes?” 

“I’m confused. Do you want me to think you have a crush on me or not?” 

MJ raised her hands and slowly started to back away. 

“Depends. How would you react?” You cautioned. 

“Probably how you want me to react.” 

“And how do I want you to react?” 

Peter smiled and leaned in close, you held your breath for a moment. Was he about to kiss you? Is that how you want him to react? Yes. 

“You tell me.” 

Then he straightened himself and winked as he walked away. 

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Peter just had to wait for an opening, not that you would take long to give him one. You couldn’t keep it in, it was second nature at this point.

If there was any way he could ask you out casually then you needed to make it a bit clear, as much as you said you wanted it he couldn’t imagine the flip of “he doesn’t notice anything” to “hey, wanna go out?” 

 Peter was trying to set himself up for one of your comments and you tried your best to keep a poker face but when he said that? Game over. 

“I think I have a shot, she totally likes me.” 

Was he talking about you? He better be, because if you were walking into his house for the regular Friday movie night and he was talking about another girl you would actually lose it. You had just got there, still waiting for MJ and Ned to show up when he greeted you with his words. 

“Who likes you?” 

“Kendra! During math she was holding up her highlighters trying to match one to my shirt. It’s pretty obvious right?” 

“No.” 

“No?” 

“No. You can’t be serious.” 

“I am! I told you if someone liked me they would make it obvious, and I’m pretty sure she did.” 

“Oh fuck you Peter! You’re the actual worst, I sit here all fucking day saying things to you, about literally wanting to be all over you and a girl with a fucking highlighter collection is booted to top of the list?” 

“I mean, what am I? Chopped liver? I have been pining after you for months, and all it took was a highlighter? Do you know I wear that green sweater all the time because you said you liked it once, or that I follow you around like a puppy? How about when I flirt with you, or do you even know I’m flirting with you?” 

Peter had a shit eating grin that made you even more upset. 

“Why are you so happy right now, you’re really pissing me off.” 

Peter stalked towards you until you were backed up into the wall, with nowhere to go you felt his chest brush yours, his arms caging you against the wall, your head between both of his hands. 

Save for the position, you were excited. This was going to be a new daydream scenario, he had you pinned to the wall. The only way out was through him. 

He leant in close, if you just pushed yourself up you could have his lips on yours. 

“Because, you finally admitted it.” 

You narrowed your gaze at him. 

“What is that supp-” 

He cut you off. 

With his mouth. 

On yours. 

No matter how many times you dreamed about this exact moment nothing could match the real thing. His lips were soft, his hand cupped your jaw to bring you closer to him. His body leaned in so he was flush against yours, you felt every curve and divot of him blend into yours. You grabbed at the waist of his shirt, begging for him not to leave his position of being on your mouth. 

Instead he opened his mouth to deepen the kiss, the feather touch of his tongue on your lower lip sent your head into a spiral, the boy you had been obsessing and pining over the past few months was moving with your movements, you gasped into his mouth and he squeezed a hip with his hand and you in turn pressed your hips into his. 

He pulled away and placed a kiss to your jaw, then neck. 

“Was that the reaction you wanted?” 

Your eyes stayed closed but you nodded, scared if you opened them the illusion would disappear. 

“I kissed you with my heart and soul baby girl, can’t a guy get a response?” 

You whimpered at the pet name. 

Then a knock at the door, the curtain dropped. The other friends were here and it would go back to pretend this didn’t happen for a few hours. The front door was being opened from the outside, you had your head turned to the right to watch it open. Peter still had you pressed into the wall, he placed an arm out to hold the door shut. 

“I’m not done yet.” 

He leant in for another one, and another. 

And another. 

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“I was beginning to think you forgot about me.” 

You did promise Spider-Man an update, but it’s been a busy few months. Christmas was just around the corner and Peter and you have been busy. Between dates and seasonal activities you haven’t had a moment to track down the hero and catch him up to date. 

First it was Halloween and you did get your couples costume. (and he helped you carve your pumpkin.)

 Then it was Thanksgiving. (and he walked through central park with you.)

And recently you’ve both been busy with present shopping and baking. (and he gives you hot chocolate with extra, extra whipped cream.)

 “I know, I’m sorry. I’ve been too busy being a girlfriend.” 

“Girlfriend?” 

You squealed. “Yes! He totally set me up and I was all like, ‘How do you not know I like you?’ and BAM! He just started kissing me, I was seeing fucking stars.” 

“Peter Parker finally smelled the bacon, huh?” 

“Yeah. He’s really awesome. I know we were friends before but it’s gotten so much better now he’s my boyfriend, I don’t even know how to describe it. I think it’s because everything I feel for him is reciprocated times ten by him.” 

“I think it’s because you love him.” 

“Or because we’re mashing parts.” 

You laughed at his reaction. 

“Gross.” (Not gross. He fucking loves mashing parts.)

“But yeah, I think it’s mostly because we love each other.” 

“I’m happy for you, I’m glad I can stop looking for smoke signals now.” 

You grinned at the hero and had to fight back the urge for a hug. 

“Thanks, if it makes you feel better if I knew who you were under the mask I’d buy you dinner.” 

Sirens blaring broke the reunion. 

“It’s alright. I have a feeling you’ll know soon.” 

“Hm, sure. Have a goodnight, Spidey. I’ll see you around.” 

“You too, Y/N.” 

Then he swung off, it left a grin on your face. 

Until. 

‘How did he know my name?’ 

[chai-lemonade]

Small rant because I am PISSED at Collegeboard.

I’m transgender and was finally able to get my name changed (not legally, simply as a note in my records and my birth name made invisible to others) in my email and school system; which is connected to Collegeboard as I take numerous AP classes and the PSAT (and eventually an important SAT.) I received about 5 different emails congratulating me for being BrAvE eNoUgH to add a preferred name to their system, all of which used my deadname to congratulate me. On Changing My Name. It felt ironic, so I just laughed it off.

Than the problems began.

I take my PSAT a few months ago, and when scores come out, I’m unable to access it. Period. I went back and forth over the course of 20 emails, giving over my information and communicating just to be told at the end that it was never an issue they could help me with and that it was a “login issue” and that was somehow my fault. That maybe I was just misremembering my password despite the fact that I could get into my account.

I called, and was told the same thing. I was eventually able to get my guidance counselor to physically print out my scores because that was the best she could do for me (still couldn’t access them through my account!) I scored within the top ten percent in my state and have a 3.9 GPA, which qualified me for a recognition program that gives out important scholarships (which I need any I can get or else I’m not able to go to even an in-state part-time college) as a First Generation College student.

I got an email notifying me of this, and when I clicked the link, I was immediately blocked through my account from the page, saying i was never invited to confirm my eligibility. I try again, same thing. I meet the requirements, but it won’t even show me the page. Once again, I realize that making two minuscule changes that shouldn’t have affected anything have blocked me from ANOTHER important thing for college. It has been a year since I changed my name and I am still unable to access anything through Collegeboard and have received zero help for the numerous times I’ve reached out.

While it’s not explicit transphobia, it is still a BLARING issue of bias programming; for a company that set aside the time to make code to send an email when you change your name, I absolutely should not be experiencing such major issues that are continually blocking me from important opportunities due to changing my preferred name in the system. I don’t know who else this has happened to, but I don’t think I’m the only one.

Sort out your bugs and stop forcing trans kids to jump through a million hoops to access basic features on your website and still be excluded from important opportunities before sending out your automated emails for pride.

[11queensupreme11]

im a senior in high school and after i graduate, i'm gonna move out for college and while i was rereading, i just realized how badly this whole thing has ruined percy's life. it just dawned on me how horribly uprooted she was from everything she knows. she was still in high school, probably needed to prep for psat/sat, get ready to move out etc, only for all that to go away cuz now she's been isekai-ed to a new world and has a bunch of yanderes after her, she will NEVER get that normalcy back 😭

EXACTLY!!!!

percy's not much of a planner like anthonius, but she did have SOME sort of idea of what to do in her future (especially now that the war's over and she regained the hope that she could actually make it to adulthood-)

she had all these hopes and dreams! she was still in tenth grade (a sophomore in high school)! she just passed her driver's test! she got her first actual part-time job that wasn't exploiting her for being a child! she needed to prep for her psat! she wanted to graduate high school and attend a community college for the first two years to save up on money, then transfer to a university that would hopefully take her and her shitty record! she was still a little tenth grader who didn't quite know what to major in, but that was fine cuz she still had years to go until she needed to make her decision! 😭

THERE WAS SO MUCH SHE WANTED TO DO BUT NOW IT'S BEEN SNATCHED AWAY FROM HER 😭😭

there's no way she's ever gonna get that normalcy back even after poseidon starts to care for her. there's no way he's gonna let his precious daughter attend a mortal high school. moving out for college? absolutely not! moving out in general cuz she's older now and it's about time she left the nest? NEVER HAPPENING! getting a job? don't be ridiculous!

what is she gonna do now? her plans for the future won't happen. is she just gonna remain with her father forever? get forced to marry someone and have kids? she had so many options back in the pjo verse, but now they're all GONE.

and the worst part? it's when she gets yoinked back to the pjo verse. you'd think that's a good thing but by then she had already accepted her place in the ror verse and started to make a life for herself there, only for it to be snatched away AGAIN. after she regains her memories, she's gonna be devastated cuz it's like starting all over again. she missed her friends and family, but she misses her loved ones back in ror verse too!

plus, she's been gone for two years now. she should be in her senior year of high school, ready to graduate, but she can't because she missed so much. there's no point in starting over, she'd have to settle for a GED but that'd make her chances of getting into college harder because she has no diploma, AND she has a terrible school record and super suspicious background. she could always attend new rome university, but she's kinda getting sick of the gods ruining her life at this point. maybe she should just run away to alaska??

of course, she's not aware that the yanderes are plotting to get her back and they're not afraid to kill the people she loves too, which again, only ruins her life even MORE than it already has been 💀

[loving-n0t-heyting]

one bit of striver giftie bs i still have a chip on my shoulder abt from hs is the national merit scholarship i cant rid the feeling i got cheated out of. did really well on the psat, enough to qualify for commendation in junior year. most likely was enough to qualify for semifinals, too, except i had been i-cant-believe-its-not-expelled from hs by the time those would have been handed out, bc of the craziness. so i never got anything out of it

maybe this is not such a bizarre thing (being mentally healthy enough to finish hs) for the nmsc to be implicitly selecting for. same as with not getting into a fancy college. maybe im totally misremembering my scores, and wouldnt have qualified for finals or semifinals anyway. i wound up getting into a very fancy grad programme in the end, which ought to be enough to soothe my ego, nor did i wind up needing the merit scholarship for money. and dwelling on these sorts of feathers in ones cap over concrete intellectual contributions is obviously a perverse reversal of means and ends. but still. if i was going to crash and burn eventually i might at least have had youthful glory days to look back on, no?

[jmtorres]

oh man i'm gonna have to unfollow dimension 20 shit

fantasy high: junior year the actual episodes are giving me some academic trauma flashbacks but like I know that's happening and I've braced

people in the d20 and fantasy high tags asking if xyz is really how high school works in america is going to completely murder my brain

my personal history:

gifted kid

undiagnosed adhd

perfect PSAT

too many AP classes

got into state schools but not the schools i wanted

should have petitioned to graduate early (i had all the credits except gym) and instead barely went to class senior year due to aforementioned undiagnosed ADHD. (i could have had a gap year! i mean I wanted a gap year even after senior year but my parents thought i was too immature to au pair in France or whatever. maybe? but if they'd let me, then it wouldn't have been my academic future i was shooting in the foot)

failed most of my classes senior year of high school i think?

went off to college with none of that addressed on the strength of that fucking PSAT score

completely bombed out of my freshman year of college

diagnosed with (but not actually treated for) depression

proceeded to bomb out of several more semesters at multiple institutions

took a decade and a half to get a bachelor's degree

had to ask my college to overlook my GPA and let me graduate despite the many classes i'd failed due to adhd and depression

AFTER i got the goddamn degree, sought mental health treatment

it's been over two decades since high school and a decade since college and I STILL have nightmares about being sent back to high school because i fucked everything up

"is high school/junior year/applying for colleges/etc really that stressful in america" YES IT FUCKING IS, EVEN (maybe especially?) IF YOU'RE REALLY FUCKING SMART. ADULTS EXPECT SO FUCKING MUCH OF YOU BUT DON'T THINK YOU'RE RESPONSIBLE ENOUGH TO MAKE DECISIONS FOR YOURSELF

(nothing I have heard in intervening years suggests it's gotten any easier for today's teenagers. I'm so sorry.)

[chocotonez]

huening kai/gn!reader “goodnight”

a/n: writing this while waiting for my ow acc to merge TT, it’s being so weird with the queue order…Also!! If you’re an American student good luck w PSATs!! Remember to do your best and drink water :)

warnings/genre: fluff, domestic, and like one suggestive joke

••••

“Baaaabeeee!” Kai called, before practically crushing you by laying all his body weight on top of you. You let out a strangled groan, reaching over to plug in your phone.

“I take it you’re ready for bed then,” you commented, as he giggled and pressed a quick peck atop your head.

“Aaa, you’re so cute!”

“I didn’t do anything?” You commented quizzically, pulling him off of you. “Do you want this side of the bed or the wall?”

“The wall of course, it’s easier to hold you that way,” he squished your cheeks. He usually babies you, and you tended to reciprocate that behavior, however on a Friday night after an exhausting week you didn’t have the energy to coo and gush over him, at least not out loud. Kai didn’t mind however, considering himself lucky when you got all sleepy and cute! He thought you as so adorable in the moment, with glazed eyes and red cheeks from all his meddling.

“Are we gonna go to bed or are you just gonna keep touching me like this?” You chuckled, pulling the covers over the two of you before squirming out of his grasp to place your head on his chest. He almost instantly wrapped an arm around you, poking your nose and chuckling.

“Would you rather I touch you in a different way?” Heat rose to your cheeks as his quick response.

“Maybe tomorrow if you’re lucky.” It was his turn to blush, as you laughed and just poked his stomach. “Turn off the lights, let’s go to bed.” He lifted you up so you were on a more consistent level with each other, darkness falling over the two of you. One hand was over your waist, stroking your back soothingly, the other under the side of his head so he could admire your features more comfortably. You were tracing his bicep with one hand, the other laying limp after being crushed by him.

“Mmm, scoot over, you’re crushing the plushies,” he pushed you over to the edge of the bed, holding you even more tightly than before. “I love you.”

“I love you too,” you laughed, pressing a soft kiss to his lips. “Night, Kai.”

“G’night.” You closed your eyes once more, drifting off into slumber, but you didn’t miss the soft peck that landed on your forehead before you fell asleep.

[maria021015]

SPOILERS AHEAD FOR CHAPTER 40!

Zaida tugged her small duffel bag further up her shoulder, shifting from foot to foot and tapping her painted nails against the plastic buckle on the strap as she waited on the asphalt outside of the large yellow school bus. The fact that she was here and ready to go to the cross country meet after the night they had all experienced felt entirely malapropos - ‘out of place’. Yes, Scott wasn’t the only one studying for the PSATs. The excited chatter of students around her only stood as a reminder of how different her life was now. Whilst they had all been getting an early night’s rest, she had been up crying almost until dawn - out of grief, or anger, or fear, she wasn’t sure. Maybe it was all rolled into one overwhelming flurry of emotions.

Allison hadn’t left her alone last night until Xander had returned home, finding the two of them on the floor of his bedroom. Zaida had been clutching those incriminating photos and Allison had been waiting for her to break, but it did not come until the huntress went home. Xander hadn’t even found it within himself to be mad at her for showing up at the mall against his orders when he saw what a mess she was. He’d simply held her as she finally cracked and the floodgates opened. Once again she was that little girl who had lost her parents, clutching to her older brother like a liferaft in the flood. They hadn’t talked about what happened until the early hours of the morning when she had calmed down. Xander’s revelation that he had taken ownership of her ice attack, effectively stepping into Deucalion’s line of sight, had only added guilt to the cocktail swirling uncomfortably in the pit of her stomach even now. Duke had come for her mother. Now he would come for Xander, and this time he had a whole pack of alphas behind him.

She had no idea where her brother was now, or if he was even still alive. Was he being hunted - the way Deucalion had hunted her mother for years? Would it take that long for her to see him again? Would she ever see him again?

Zaida was wound up so tightly within her thoughts, like a thousand strings binding her limbs and trapping her in the storm of anxieties, that she didn’t notice she had company until Stiles repeated what he had asked her for the third time that morning. “Zaida?” His thick brows furrowed in concern. “Are you sure you’re alright to come?”

Ah. So he’d heard about what happened at the mall - likely through Scott who was standing just beside them both with an uncharacteristic pallor to his tanned skin, and a morose expression weighing down his entire posture. Xander had told her that he’d taken the boy home, and about how he’d been borderline catatonic with shock. Now that she knew the full story of what had happened after she and Allison had left, she couldn’t blame him.

“Yeah, I’ll be fine.” She brushed off Stiles’ worry, too wrapped up in her own mind to even start to read into it as she usually would in the hope that it might mean something more.

“Did you see it too?” He prodded lightly, attributing the haziness behind her usually sharp hazel eyes to the fate of Derek Hale. Zaida had only discovered the man was dead about an hour ago, and whilst she never warmed up to Derek in the way Scott had, she did feel a stab of grief within her that was dedicated towards him.

“No,” Her voice came out in a horse, scratchy sound. “We left before it happened.”

“It’s a good thing you two showed up, otherwise last night would have gone a lot differently.” Isaac drawled, hands shoved into his pockets as he strolled over to join them. Anger was sheathed in every stiff muscle of his form.

“Scott said Xander took him home. Did you know he was there?” Stiles continued with his usual inquisitiveness, ignoring Isaac’s presence in favour of his concern for her. She usually found his questioning nature endearing, but right now it only served as a reminder of what she would rather block out entirely.

The boy must have read her reluctance to answer in the way she faced away from him with her jaw locking because he reached out to pull the loose strands of hair away from her face. In a way, it was as if he was drawing back the curtain to reveal the truth that lay behind it. He could see it in the way her concealer was laid thicker beneath her eyes but didn’t quite hide the puffiness beneath the skin there. He could see it in the red veins that reached their spidery fingers across the whites of her eyes, betraying her lack of sleep.

“What happened last night? There’s something you’re not saying.” He approached the subject in a much softer tone, and when her eyes flickered to meet his, she found the dam that she had built around her mind crumbling, the water now flowing through the cracks only to continue to weaken the integrity of the structure. A glassy sheen blurred her vision and she focused on her breathing, tearing her gaze away from the boy who always managed to break past all her defences. Two in. One out.

“I tried to use my ice attack to get to Deucalion, but it completely backfired.” She cleared her throat, trying to fight off the dryness that crackled through her voice. Two in. One out. “He blocked them like it was nothing and…he recognised what sent them. He knew there was a water nymph there and…he came straight for me.”

“But he never got involved at any other point - he let his pack do all the fighting for him.” Scott pointed out the strangeness of his particular efforts with her.

“Then why would he go for you himself?” Stiles asked rhetorically, not really expecting an answer, and certainly not the one she was about to give.

“Because I’m exactly what he’s been wanting for over five years.” Her breathing became slightly shaky as she spoke about what had happened in a roundabout sense. It was the only way she could bear saying it right now in front of all of them. “Deucalion always wanted a nymph in his elite alpha pack, he spent years hunting one. When he couldn’t have her…well, you know how the saying goes.”

“No one could,” Stiles finished, muttering under his breath as he stitched together the dots seamlessly. “He’s the one that…”

“Xander knew I wasn’t going to listen to his warning and he showed up just in time to see what happened,” Zaida interjected, not wanting to hear the words that she knew were about to come out of his mouth. From Isaac and Scott’s surprised expressions, they had understood perfectly, and there was no further need to talk about it. Two in. One out. “Allison and I left, and Xander took the fall for me. Deucalion thinks it was him, so he’s gone AWOL for a bit.”

Their only option to keep both of them safe was for Xander to go off the grid for a while, drawing the attention away from her.

“The alphas are out hunting for a nymph, and upon figuring this out you decided to show up today? When the alpha twins - who kicked Isaac and Scott’s asses last night, at the same time - are about to show up?!” Stiles whisper-shouted in his outrage, amber eyes growing impossibly wide. “You’re too smart to not have thought about that, so what? Do you have a death wish?!”

“The twins have no idea Xander and I are connected and none of the alphas know he took custody of me. They probably think I’m somewhere else with other family.” She relayed the thought process both she and Xander had gone through that night when deciding what to do.

“‘Probably’?” Stiles repeated in an almost frantic manner, his hands flying around expressively. “We’re betting your life on a ‘probably’?”

“Xander’s ‘confession’ means I am now irrelevant. That leaves me somewhat safe. It’s rare enough for one child of a nymph to directly inherit the power - two is unheard of.” Zaida explained further. “I’m staying with Lydia in the time-being and Xander is burying any evidence that might connect us to each other, or to the apartment.”

After they had strategised, Zaida had packed up all of the things she thought she’d need from her room, and Xander had dropped her off at the redhead’s house, abandoning the apartment in the hope it would never be discovered. Lydia was half-asleep when she’d answered the door but had woken up completely when she saw the state of her friend, ushering her inside. The two of them barely slept and Lydia had held her as she continued to cry until she had nothing left to give. Come morning, Zaida covered up the evidence of last night’s events with more make-up than she would usually don. Though apparently, it wasn’t enough to escape Stiles’ keen eyes.

“‘Somewhat’ safe?” Stiles continued to freak out. “Why am I the only one who sees what a bad idea this is? You should be hiding out in an off-map bunker, on an island, in the middle of the ocean, surrounded by Mountain Ash, and covered in wolfsbane! Not on a small bus, in close proximity with the murderous, merging, monster-werewolves from the very alpha pack that are looking for you!”

“They have no idea that they’re looking for me!” Zaida exclaimed in a hushed tone, her frustration growing whilst every word that came out of his mouth was building her already-high levels of stress even higher.

“Oh my God!” Isaac rolled his eyes at them in exasperation and Scott looked too weak to bother. “Would you two shut up, please?”

“Oh, I’m sorry, did you have something helpful to add for once?” Stiles rounded on the beta sarcastically with narrowed eyes. “No? Yeah, I didn’t think so.”

“How about you all shut up, because the twins just got here.” Scott finally spoke up, his head tilting as his advanced hearing picked up on the rumbling of a motorbike engine. “Or…one of them, at least.”

At Coach Finstock’s arrival, they all filed onto the bus. Isaac split off from them to sit with Boyd towards the middle of the vehicle as the rest of them continued on towards the back. Zaida took the last row, dumping her duffel bag on the empty seat beside her as Stiles and Scott took the seats just in front. It left her in the perfect position to glance back unnoticed at the grey Mazda that was set to follow along just behind them.

It wasn’t until the huntress had shown up at Lydia’s house in the morning that Zaida found out Scott had seen Derek and The Brute - apparently, his name was Ennis - fall from the mid-ground of the mall down to the lower levels, killing them both. The information had only solidified Lydia’s gut feeling that something bad was going to happen. Hence, both Allison and Lydia had insisted upon tailing the cross-country bus to keep an eye on all of them. Surely enough, as soon as the bus pulled out onto the road, that grey Mazda was a few cars behind them.

[saltygilmores]

Thoughts While Watching Gilmore Girls, Season 2, Episode 11 ("Secrets & Loans"), Part 1

Read my previous commentary here. I wouldn't call this episode 100% midseason filler. Maybe like 80%. Rory and Lorelai get into a fight which is something new and different but all of the other events in the episode are pretty inconsequential. I've seen the show a few times and had zero memory of this episode. Rory wears cute pajamas, Lorelai interrupts Sookie & Jackson's sex games, Dean throws a basketball at Rory.

Rory has the most enviable pajama collection.

Me stepping onto my porch, breathing in the chill winter air, and sitting down to come up with a thousand more creative ways for Dean Forrester to die. Since this episode's theme is insect related, maybe a swarm of something could descend on the Forrester household and carry him away. Kirk Job: Pest Control.

Louise bemoans the absence of Jeremy, who hasn't returned her calls since they had sex in the school's supply closet.

Rory meanwhile remains unfucked and unfazed while she enjoys her favorite meal, the Prison Cafeteria Special, two slices of plain white bread with nothing in between. The Chiltoners are taking their PSAT's. Not very exciting stuff.

Paris attempts to pry Rory's test scores out of her which leads to a not at all sexually tense exchange of words with Paris trying to gauge whether or not Rory is "the type of person who finds happiness in looking at a sunset". Can we compare the way Rory looks at Paris versus the way she looks at her boyfriend?

Like night and day. If at the end of the day “team (whoever)” just means the person who should be Rory’s endgame then I’m Team Paris and not Team Jess. To escape the termites, Lorelai flees with Rory to Sookie's house where Lorelai does what she does best, interrupts a sexual encounter, forcing Sookie to shove Jackson into a closet in order to spare Rory the trauma of witnessing their unholy sex games.

The running tally on jokes about sex & closets are at least three total in this show with two of them in the last 5 minutes.

Quick, which Gilmore Girls character is she talking about?

Yeah, Lorelai definitely interrupted some kind of kinky sex game. Anyone else think Sookie has a pretty crappy kitchen for a professional chef?

Let's pause for an Ancient Technology Break (ATB) Lorelai says that if Paris and Emily were to ever share the same room the world would implode, which led me down a pointless ADHD sidequest to find evidence of Paris and Emily meeting on the show at some point, I immediately thought of Season 6 Episode 5 ("We've Got Magic To Do") only to find that Paris stays in the kitchen at that goofy DAR party the whole time while Emily is outside, but I'm counting it. Any experts want to weigh in? I've mostly blacked out seasons 5-7 anyway. Anyhoo, Rory fucks everything up at FND by blurting out that Lorelai doesn't have enough money to remedy her termite problem, so Emily tries to cut her a check, so Lor's pride is hella bruised because she told Rory she didn't want to ask for money from her parents, and now she is reaaaaal mad at Rory. Angry at Rory on a level I have not seen in the last 1 and half seasons.

Just spitballing here but with Stars Hollow love of shindigs and The Gilmores I don't see why SH couldn't throw together another fundraiser, you know, like "Save the Gilmore House" or a "Squash A Bug Festival". Kirk could do an interpretive dance in a termite costume while people pitched dollar bills at him. I guess that would hurt Lorelai's pride though. Just gotta say Lauren Graham's "angry" acting is sooo extra, it's so over the top sometimes that it's funny. Sure her angry confronation with Rory in this episode is no "Teach Me Tonight" (that's just around the corner, actually, and I will NOT be watching it), but she's getting ready and warming up her vocal chords.

Dean thows a basketball at Rory's head and misses but she is unfazed.

Something something, swarm of angry insects, carrying him away to their lair to be sarcificed to their Queen, etc etc.

Okay Deano, the next time someone tries to throw a basketball at her when she's not looking I'm sure she'll try her best to sound more sane when she questions why they did it.

Basketball=not acceptable. Disgusting Lay's salt & vinegar chips=This is still acceptable. This poor girl cannot sit on a step and read without someone throwing something at her. Rory explains to Dean that she got into a fight with her mother and as usual he is full of loving and helpful advice and was totally listening to her and not thinking about Battlebots or stocking cans of corn or Naked Lorelai the whole time. Or whatever he daydreams about.

D: I was just trying to say that with all of the amazing, wonderful qualities that you and your mother share... Number 1, PROJECTILE VOMIT, number 2, the only quality you admire in both of them is that you want to see them both naked at some point. "You and your mother tend to dig your heels in. You'll make up." is his helpful contribution to this situation, and Rory is super duper appreciative.

Sadly he was talking about a basketball and not his genitals, which would have spared the world from him reproducing.

Sometimes I hear things on this show that floor me because they are so unbelievably dirty, I can't imagine how they ever slipped past the censors and made it onto this squeaky clean WB network show in the year of our lord 2001. Lorelai is getting desperate to convince a bank to give her a loan. Michel first suggests Lorelai perform a lap dance, then when she shoots that down he says "Women in Thailand do this thing with a pingpong ball that is a real crowd pleaser." Yes, I know what he is talking about. If you don't, google at your own risk. Or just use context clues. Whatever you prefer.

Dave's father works at a bank huh?

I like you guys, my dear readers, so I don't know why I'd constantly subject you to the horrors that are Dean & Rory's dry sandpaper makeouts. I guess I just don't want to suffer alone.

LMAO, they really tried to make the "Keep Thinking What You're Thinking" Jess and Rory Kiss In Front of Luke's Diner happen with Dean and Rory first. That was hilarious!

Rory questions Lane's decision to join the cheerleading squad, which makes total sense because Rory loves it when people pick on her for enjoying the things she loves, like reading, being a virgin, or eating French toast with her bare hands. Rory asks Lane why she never told her she joined the squad, and it's because Lane is very wise and knew Rory would be a judgemental bitch about it. And welp. She wasn't wrong.

I don't know Janie Fertman, but I'm appointing myself her defense lawyer and declaring my client innocent, because if Rory hates her then I know her only crimes were likely being too pretty/ popular/ sexually experienced/ and or/ getting in the way of some boy Rory had a crush on. In other words, Jamie got the Shane treatment. Ran out of space, part 2 in the next post, you know the drill.

[yisanged]

Not really a vent just blabbering about school. per usual. hi

we're supposed to meet with our counselors for scheduling soonish. i'm Unsure. i've heard over and over that junior year is the year that you really want to lock in and take rigorous classes even if it's kind of hell because it's the year colleges care about the most but like i'm kind of doing that right now and it's really miserable. can the colleges not cope with me suffering sophomore year and then steaming through the next two with middling or less amounts of struggle. i scheduled such a low number of classes (5) on the sheet that i feel weird about it but my excuse is that i'm hoping my last couple periods are free so i can flex out to go to my lab early for ap research because a lot of research kids do that. but if my schedule doesn't work out that way then i'm just some loser junior who's slacking and is only in 5 classes. maybe 6 if they stick me in that semester long financial literacy class that's required to graduate like gym or health. and like 4 of them are ap classes and the other one is just band which i might end up taking for honors i'm undecided. but i feel like i'm not doing enough. i could take ap econ but that's something i have to decide now because it's a popular class that fills up fast i won't be able to add it on last minute at the begining of the year next year. but i would feel bad about signing up for it and then dropping it to flex out or something. plus junior year like i'll be worrying about doing well on the psat to maybe earn a scholarship and studying for the free act test they offer juniors at our school and studying for the biliteracy seal test in korean and also trying to stuff some volunteer hours in there. you need like 100 something to get into national honor society i've heard although i don't remember from where so i might be making that up. 200 hours to get special cords to wear at graduation. i currently have 0 LOL. and i'm planning on doing scioly and speech and debate both next year i think so i'm gonna be going pretty hard on stuff not really in school. but i'm worried that colleges won't care about that and will just be mad that i didn't take enough aps or something. i lowkey want to go to one of those big prestigious colleges guys. my dad got his undergrad in like the second best school in korea and his masters in the first best and my mom got her undergrad in like a pretty big one too and her sister went to the best girl's college and my dad's sister and her husband are both lawyers from the best uni in the country. and my dad literally thinks it's so easy like he's told me that it wouldn't be that hard for me to get into harvard completely believing it. like i get that it was soooo easy for you dad but maybe it's a bit different for me here. crazy to think about i'm sure. so i want to do as much as i can in high school. but also like. i don't want to kill myself guys. quite the conundrum

[fastidionysus]

407 - weaponized

previous - next

As we listened to the tape, I tried hard to continue my focus on the voice. It was an explanation of the directions to assassins. The voice spoke on how payment was electronic, and visual proof was needed to prove that a hit had been completed.

None of us knew what wire transfer was, and we didn’t know why someone would go through the trouble of making a list like this.

Scott thought for a moment, then started packing up the money.

“Woah, woah, what are you doing?” Stiles started panicking. Scott then explained that it was getting late, and we had a psat to take in the morning.

My brother tried to keep the conversation going with how much money it was.

“Well we still have to talk to Peter” Scott tried.

“And Derek and Lily” Stiles gestured to me.

“The money isn’t mine” I shook my head.

“All five hundred dollars are Peter’s” All of us made a face.

“Okay, so maybe we should proceed with caution” Stiles reasoned, then started listing all the things wrong with the man.

“What are you saying?” I whispered before we all heard footsteps and panicked, trying to hide the money.

The door swung open and there stood a damp Malia, telling us that they found Satomi’s pack, but all the ones they found were dead.

-

I stood against the lockers, staring down at the floor as I heard a faint conversation from my friends.

“Provide for me and Lily” I heard Scott’s voice more clearly as his hand snaked around my waist.

I instinctively placed my arm around the boy as well and nodded my head in agreement.

“It’s three hours. We can survive three hours” I heard Kira say as Scott turned to me making a face. I nodded my head slightly and gave him a smile before we were called into the testing room.

We had to place our fingerprints onto the book, then take a pen and paper, give away our cell phones, then sit down.

I sat behind my mate and next to my brother as everybody else filed in until the man up front started speaking his directions.

“You may now open your test booklets and begin” I saw Scott’s arm reach behind himself as I reached forwards to give his a squeeze.

“Good luck” I whispered into his ear, then sat back into my seat.

I started reading the paper and felt good with how much my brain was working until a thud fell on the floor. Sydney had fallen, and Ms. Martin seemed alarmed at a mark on the girl’s arm.

She made sure to tell the proctor that nobody would be leaving the room, then took her phone and left. Stiles and I gave each other a look.

“I think she found something” I whispered to the boys.

“Her heart rate is going crazy, she’s scared and-” I got cut off by the woman yelling outside the classroom. We all jumped out of our seats to see the commotion, but was ushered inside, reassured that everything was okay.

We all went back inside until a voice rang in my head.

“I need the number of the CDC” Ms. Martin asked as Scott and My heads snapped towards each other.

-

Soon enough, a bunch of men in Yellow hazmat suits arrived and started setting up in unoccupied classrooms.

Scott took my hand and led me to Ms. Martin, who was helping Sydney get settled in a tent. She explained that nothing should be wrong then left the room. Scott tried to calm the girl with her injuries, but she was more worried about the test.

“With something as crazy as this” I paused and placed my hand on the girl’s leg.

“They have to let you take it again” She smiled with a hopeful look as me and Scott left the room.

“Dad’s probably here” I leaned into Scott a little bit.

“You think I should call him?” I questioned towards the boy.

“I’m sure Stiles already has” He reassured me.

The boy’s movements then slowed down, and he gripped onto his side before falling to the floor. I caught him by instinct before hitting the ground as he looked up at me with blaring red eyes.

“We gotta get you out of here” I placed his arm over my shoulder and helped him to the locker room.

Once inside, he immediately let go of me to race to the sink while I locked the door and placed a silence spell on us. No one outside could hear in.

“Scott you gotta breathe” I rushed over to him and placed my hand on his back. His breathing slowed for a moment before a knock resounded in the air, and with it, Ms. Martin’s voice. My hands left the boy in shock as my head looked towards the noise. I then looked back at Scott to see that his fangs had come out now, and he looked to me in worry.

“It’s gonna be okay Scott” I hugged him and smoothed down his hair” “We’re gonna be okay” I continued as my eyes flashed red briefly. I cursed myself internally as Ms. Marten went away, probably thinking that she had the wrong bathroom.

I’m not sure how long it was before we moved to the lockers and Stiles knocked on the door.

“It’s me Lily” Stiles spoke.

I placed a kiss on Scott’s hairline before racing to the door to let the others in.

Scott and Malia were having trouble controlling their powers, but they couldn’t just hide in the locker room.

“We need a vault” Stiles spoke.

“The Hale vault” Scott added, and all heads turned to me.

“I thought you were Stiles’ brother” Malia asked. My head panned across the room.

“I was adopted” I answered absentmindedly.

“Is there a way in from inside the school?” Scott asked. I nodded in reply as we all started walking towards the door. I turned back in surprise to see my brother falling to the floor, making sure to catch him.

“You’re getting sick” He looked to me and Kira.

“You all are” My eyes flashed red at that moment. Scott placed his hand on my back comfortingly.

“I don’t feel sick” Kira tried, but was shown her test answer sheet, where all her answers were slightly askew. The virus was hitting her neurologically.

“We gotta go quick” I made a face.

-

We all raced to the basement and I beelined for the entrance. I started moving a shelf which the boys quickly helped me with. I moved in front of the lock to open it with my powers, but only sparks flew out of my hand. I tried once more but just made myself frustrated.

“I can’t do it” I looked towards Scott” The boys thought for a minute before eventually convincing Malia that any claws could open the door, and Scott and I didn’t have control. She agreed to open the door, but only if we told her the truth.

We all knew what was going on inside of our heads but what she was worried about, was not her question.

“I know I’m on the list” The plan then carried on as we wanted, as she was lower on the list compared to the rest of us, and that’s all she wanted to know.

The girl moved past us as Scott and I gave each other a look, until the door slid open and the five of us moved in.

-

Kira and I were pacing the room while Stiles held Malia and Scott hugged himself sitting down. Conversation then started while I zoned out and walked across the shelves, memories crossing my mind.

“Lily”

“Lily” A hand reached out to me. I turned around to see the boy looking back at me.

“Can you hear anything outside?” He questioned, as I tried for a moment.

“Yeah” I replied, as him, Stiles, and I walked towards the door.

“They’re looking for us” I whispered as the boys looked to me.

“We have to send somebody out there” We all looked back at the girls lying on the floor. The three of us then went into an argument about how we should tell Malia the truth.

“As someone who WAS Malia at some point” I glanced at the girl.

“I would’ve wanted to know” Stiles gave me a sorry look.

“I should go” I spoke to the boys.

“What? No”

“No way” Both boys spoke at the same time.

“This is an assassin’s work” Scott spoke.

“You’re the highest on the list” Stiles added.

“But I’m also affected the least out of all of us” My eyes glowed red for a moment.

“I’m a hybrid. I’m stronger than I used to be” Both boys looked to each other in disbelief.

“I died and came back to life” I tried.

“If that doesn’t show resiliency, I don’t know what does” Stiles thought for a moment before hugging me tightly.

“Stay safe” He whispered.

“Always” I squeezed him tightly.

“Too tight, too tight” He pushed away from me and gave me another small hug before walking away.

“You have to come back to me” Scott whispered. I could see that tears were welling in his eyes.

“I will” I placed my hand on his cheek.

“I promise” He pushed his forehead into mine.

“I just got you back” One of his tears fell onto my face. I tilted my chin up to give him a kiss, before walking towards the door turning back to see it close and keep my friends safe.

-

I rushed to find anyone, and found Ms. Martin, trying to find Mr. Yukimura. He said that he was okay and helping other students. I started to walk away until I noticed coach. He was the only adult that got sick today. Us and him.

I made my way to his office, trying to find anything that would’ve connected all of us. It took some scrounging until I noticed all the stamped papers, and the ink on his mug. The inkpad. Our fingerprints. My instincts told me to stand up as I was met with a man. Our proctor.

“I was wondering how he got sick” He chuckled.

“I was also wondering where your friends are” I started fiddling with his pistol.

“You could say I’m greedy. But I want more than just the illusive” He took a step forward.

“Lilian Hale” He pointed his gun towards me.

“If I’m right, you should be as strong as me now” He urged me to walk in front of him.

“But I have a gun” He pushed the gun against the back.

“So I’m stronger”

“This virus isn’t meant to kill a human” He paused.

“Or a hybrid” We stopped walking.

“So why don’t you tell me where your friends are” I spoke some fib while my eyes glowed red for a moment.

“I’m going to count to three, then I’m going to kill you” I turned around slowly.

“You really need the money that bad? Enough to kill some innocent kids?” I questioned.

“Oh” He chuckled.

“None of you are innocent” He placed the barrel against my forehead as my frustration grew untimely.

I grabbed the pistol from his hands and swung my leg under his to knock him to the floor, then aimed the weapon at him.

“You’re not gonna kill me” He teased. A gunshot then rung in the air, and his body fell fully to the floor.

I looked up at the office doorway to see Mr. McCall standing there.

“What?” I whispered as he gently took the gun out of my hands and explained to me about a cure. It should be in a jar in the vault.

-

I raced to the basement and started banging on the door. I still couldn’t open the door.

“Shit” I stood back and placed my hands in front of me. The heartbeats inside of the room were slowing down, getting louder. I closed my eyes and focused. I didn’t die for nothing.

I opened my eyes to see a drop of blood fall onto my hands. My nose was bleeding. I groaned out in frustration and pain as a portal finally opened in between my hands and I expanded it to step inside of the vault.

“Lily?” Scott whispered out. My head snapped towards him in worry.

“We’re gonna be okay” I climbed up the shelf to find the jar and shattered it onto the ground, creating relief for everyone.

I raced over to Scott and held his face in my hands as his breathing mellowed out and I could see his vision clearing. His hand reached for my cheek and I smiled slightly.

“I told you I’d come back” He chuckled slightly before hugging me tightly. I looked out of the corner of my eye to see Malia walking away. She read the paper. She knew she was a Hale.

[insomniacademic]

06 | 19 | 23 | 𝙪𝙥𝙙𝙖𝙩𝙚

summer of '23 has an oddly romantic sound to it. three weeks in and everything's pretty great so far. i went to new york with my parents, and damn everything they say about the city life is true. i'm learning swimming this month and i'm taking driving lessons this week so its been pretty busy.

i think i'm gonna be using this page as an accountability diary from now. seeing how my last endeavour of 30 days of productivity failed (read: miserably), i'm gonna start all over again. maybe start off easier on myself because one of my biggest flaws is inconsistency.

so, a condensed layout for this summer: □ finish algebra 1 coursework by july □ prep for ap classes and psat this year □ go for a swim/to the gym every day □ practice music daily + guitar basics □ complete drivers ed:: lesson 16 by end of summer □ advance on spanish + german every week □ start an online course (music, life, english)

[changxlingfae]

@redhoodiskra answered: 🃏

Things have finally settled in Beacon Hills. They've survived and life as started to go back to normal. At least as normal as things can get when one was a nature wizard with friends who were werewolves. Stiles was walked through the library when he saw Bex sitting by himself, reading something. He paused and watched him for a moment.

Stiles didn't know what exactly Bex was, but he knew that he was somehow a part of this were community of not humans that were trying to just stay alive. And while over they years, the druid may not have been the nicest to him, he was still an ally. So Stiles went up to his classmate and offered a quick smile.

"Hey... the pac.... me and my friends are going to hang out tonight near the edge of the Preserves? There's this cool place that looks over Beacon. I was wondering if you wanted to come?"

Bex looked up from his book, and had to double check. He wasn’t sure Stiles had ever really had a conversation with him. There were a few group projects along the way, maybe a chat or two that came from having the same teachers and same ridiculous gym class with Coach Finstock. They’d been there through the odditites of Beacon hill High, and maybe they talked while all the classmates began dropping like flies during The Incident during the PSAT.

But actually talking?

He checked over his shoulder and nope. No one. Plus Stiles was really parked in front of him. “You mean, like Scott and all them? Do they know you’re inviting me?”

[starsdailyjournal]

Star's 1st day!

So today I went to school, the ush, and when I go there I didn't see my friend Lily. We're like super close even tho we only started talking this school year because we went to the same middle school and were now on the same bus. I always thought she was was cool and funny but she was never in any of my classes but now that shes on my bus we hang out a lot. We mostly hang out while waiting for school to start infront of the school and after school while we wait for the bus and on the bus. But outside of that when she has something to smoke we walk to the forest near our house and sit by the creek and smoke till we can't anymore. She's super cool and nice but she has diving first period which is at another school so she's barely ever there in the mornings and I just sit with my other friend who leaves for orchestra 30 mins before my first class so I basically just spend the morning akward and alone in the crowd. Sadly (and thankfully) lily got a concussion so she can't go to diving for a while.

Turns out she was just late and we chatted for a bit and I told her how this guy I liked last year forgot about me and she laughed at me which was kinda mean and made me sad because I would never do that to her. And I told her how I felt sad abt not being able to talk to him before and idk it just sucked but I didn't say nun.

Lily and me don't have any classes together so after walking with her friends that I don't know to my first period I just did my work. I like math so I'm glad it's my first period but this cute guy sits next to me and I looked rlly bad today so I wanted to cry but not that much.

It just sucks that I have to let people see my disgusting appearance everyday even though I don't want to yk?

That guy didn't say anything to me bc we arent friends but whenever he does I don't even say words back I just nod my head or sumthing. It's bc my voice is a bit fucked up from smoking since 6th grade so I have to cough before I start talking which is an inconvinience I have made an instinct to ignore. In my next class I studied for my oral spanish test since theatre tech doesn't matter. In my 3rd period class I talked to my friend but I kept talking and I think she was getting rlly annoyed at me so I stopped. I still have to finish the notes for that class. I had lunch after that and it smelled so good I wanted to cry because I felt so fat for enjoying the smell of the food (today was a very crying mood). Me and my friend from 3rd period watched gravity falls till lunch ended and then we walked to english. I went to english and hated every second of it despite it being one of my highest grades. after that I went to the PSAT dry run and started a practice test that I was doing kinda good in. After that I went to biology and took the test and got a 100. after that I went to spanish and took the oral exam and I got paired with the cute guy from my first period. My heart was lowkey racing bc I didn't wanna fail but also bc his voice is soooo fine too.

After that I went to my last period class and prayed lily got her cart so we could get baked but she didn't. I walked to the front of the school with lily and her friends, behind them while they were talking to her. I followed lily around and talked to her and her friends till the bus came

ALSO there was a fight and me and lily didn't see it but we say the guys getting caught and one of them had a shit ton of blood running down his neck!! And we saw a video and it was two edgars fighting AND AT ONE POINT THE OTHER EDGAR GOT ONTOP OF THE ONE WHO WAS BLOODY AT THE END AND BC HE WAS SAGGING HIS BOXERS WERE ON FULLLL DISPLAY LEMME TELL YA.

On the bus me and lily watched insta reels and I asked her if she wanted to go to the creek without smoking n she said no.

I'm sad that kaiden didn't remember me, he was the last person I knew was interested in me and now I aint even got that goin for me. Maybe I just got ugly over summer or sum which would make sense bc I gained some weight but I'm only eating like 300 calories a day now so hopefully I lose it soon. I hope I'm pretty by my birthday.

[tartrazeen]

I'm gonna say one critical, late-to-the-party thing about Big Brother: apparently Taylor was the first black woman to ever win - after 24 seasons - and... possibly also the first woman to win ever?

It's telling that she had the deck immediately stacked against her when she joined, but it's more telling about the type of person she was to be able to win:

had to maintain a high enough moral high ground for someone else to notice that she was a victim of bullying, and that it was one-sided enough to have to make a public point of defending her

had to actively convert people's baseless first opinions of her

came in as a pagent winner and a Miss Congenitality winner

used those same kinds of skills so well that she won the Miss Congenitality of this show

above all, got lucky with that particular season's twists, which gave her enough of a lifeline to actually be able to participate

And she had to maintain all of this FOR MONTHS. 24/7 viewing too. She was on everyone's radar from the beginning, and the reason she got to the final two was because someone else - after ALL OF THAT - still looked at her and thought, "lmao ez gg" and picked her over the other one. Again, that's a testament to how well she was able to navigate that environment, because she would've had to actively put that idea in Monte's (I spelled it as Monty before 😭) head, but... idk, it's just a little... maybe not disrespectful, because again, that was directly to her benefit, but at least excruciatingly obvious in hindsight.

It's just a fun game! I totally agree!

But wow. The fact that the only reason this woman won was because she was the absolute best of the best...? I'm sure there are a lot of psat winners who more or less coasted their way to victory, but I can't help but realize Taylor wasn't able to let a single second go to waste when she arrived. Before she arrived. She had to work ten times harder than everyone else, and I wouldn't be surprised if the show took it as a, "See? Black women can win. They just need to be relentlessly perfect at all times and put up with an endless barrage of bullying without ever defending herself in an 'unseemly' way until the others finally get bored enough of that to start feeling bad about it instead. SIMPLE."

Love that she won. Hate how hard it was for her.

Anyway BRING ME SEASON 25, LET'S DO IT.

... is that out yet? I haven't checked at all lmao

[no-vamos]

Hi👋 tumblr

It’s been a while since I blogged

Mostly bc I’ve been doing quite well

I really like my bf

Like really really like him

I might be falling in love

It feels too early to call it love though

We’ve been dating a little less than a month and even tho we’re texting on average 2.5 hours a day I don’t get a lot of irl alone time with him and that makes me kinda sad

We share an interactive class now and that’s been fun

Anyways back to the falling in love comment

He’s been indirectly making comments that he wants us to lead to marriage

Idk phrasing it like that feels weird but I’m not dating to date I’m dating to marry

And he’s made comments reiterating that he’s not gonna break up with me when I go to college and I’m not gonna break up with him when I go to college bc I like him too much

And I’ve said before that I don’t want to get married until I’m at least 22 and he was like I’ll keep that in mind

And he’s today he’s washing dishes for a wedding being held at our church and we were talking about it once and he was like isn’t it convenient that we both go there

And just ahdbkwjqkfka he makes me feel wanted you know

And last night we both nerded out over house design and talked about our housing preferences

And like how many kids and what pets and like he wants to be an architect so he’s into this stuff but I like it to and just

He’s so fucking smart he got a 1420 on the PSAT and I’m like what the actual fuck but he never makes me feel dumb and I feel like we stand pretty equally in intelligence and just

We’re both Mennonite and he’s just

Ugh I made a comment being like all I want is religious financial and emotional stability and he was like my goal is to have those like

For me

And just that makes me so happy

He makes me happy

I’m going to his house on Wednesday and it won’t be for very long bc his family is leaving for PA after lunch but we’ll hang out a bit and just

Maybe I’ll try to kiss him idk

I haven’t had my first actual kiss

You know one with real intentions behind it

I’m still a bit physically awkward around him but we’re getting there you know

I feel comfortable around him and will continue to feel comfortable around him

Like I can feel it

I’d like a future with him

I really would

His dad only ever dated his mom and he makes comments being like it worked out well for them maybe it will for me and like

Me too love me too

[187days]

Day Twenty-Eight

Okay, today I was less of a mess. This is good. 

It was an early release day, and there were some meetings mid-morning, so classes were only forty minutes long. I still gave a test in APGOV, which my students maybe thought was a bit mean, but it’s meant to be given in a short time frame (twenty multiple choice, three FRQs). And I always give it on this early release day so that the seniors don’t just skip (which they often do on half days) and so I can see how they handle the time pressure. 

Some of the handled it very well, some of them did not, and I think it’s because they haven’t had a lot of experience with it. The good news is that no one really crashed and burned, and even if they had, my tests aren’t weighted heavily enough to do irreparable damage to anyone’s grade (and they can be retaken). But I know some of them are accustomed to higher scores- like, maybe they got a B when they usually get As- and I know some of them found this test to be very stressful even if they did well on it. So next week (because tomorrow is a teacher workshop day) we’ll discuss some ways to be more efficient test-takers, and in the future there will be more opportunities to practice. 

My World students and I discussed the annotation they’d done about Islam, watched a video clip about the daily life of a Muslim imam (my Block 3 students had a good two dozen questions after that, so we had a lengthier discussion, which was cool), read their books, and that’s all we had time for. 

Midway through the morning- so between my two sections of World- students reported to their advisories, and then the 9th and 10th graders went to the auditorium for a meeting with The Principal and Dean 1 while the 11th and 12th graders (my advisees are 12th graders) went to the gym for a meeting with The Head of School Counseling and Dean 2. They wanted to go over some information about PSAT and SAT testing, scholarship applications, parking privileges, plans for student-led class meetings in the future, etc, etc... It only took about twenty minutes, and everyone was respectful and polite.

Later, at lunch, two of the department heads asked how the meeting had gone, and laughed when I said it’d been fine. I thought that was weird, but I guess maybe it was less fine behind the scenes? Or the planning didn’t go smoothy? I honestly don’t know. 

Not my circus. 

After lunch, we gathered in the library to do some professional goal-setting. Then we discussed those goals in small, interdisciplinary groups (Mr. F, Mrs. R, Mr. Z and I formed a group because cacophonous friends stick together). We ended up having a lot of extra time, so we also discussed some of the students we have in common. We were sharing ideas and information, so it was a productive use of the time.

Following a short break, we had a meeting with our school safety coordinator to go over updated fire drill procedures. We were asked also for our thoughts about implementing ALICE drills in the future. Was I a bit salty? Yes, admittedly. I told my colleagues who were talking about buying tools to break the windows that I would rather buy new books and pencils, if we’re throwing money around. I did try to offer some constructive remarks, too, though (shooting nerf guns is unnecessary and the efficacy is unproven, we need to clarify the process for communicating information, the PD should utilize the officers who are familiar with the school if they’re involved in drills). 

The meeting ended early, so we were left to our own devices for the last forty minutes or so of the day. I did my some grading, and got materials ready for next week. More meetings tomorrow.