#english like my teacher taught /nothing/ i swear

[green-mountain-goose]

so somehow when i did french, my least favourite subject last year, i never ever fell asleep and yet got the lowest grade in it by far lol, but i fell asleep in like, english, biology, physics the most and yet got like the best grades in those? make it make sense idk

[alessiathepirate]

Detroit: Become Human

PIANO LESSONS: Markus x fem!reader

Summary: She always wanted to learn how to play the piano and luckily Markus was there to teach her.

Notes: English isn't my first language. I apologize for any mistake I may have made while I wrote this short story.

I'm in my DBH era again -- this man is soo beautiful!

To V. <3

Warnings: swearing

•••

By the time Carl Manfred sat at the table, his daughter was already practicing playing the piano. He just smiled at that, being happy that she listened to him and took his advice - it's never too late to learn new things.

"Thank you, Markus." Carl said after Markus put the plate in front of him. "Now why don't you go and see if my daughter needs help?"

So Markus was soon standing next to her, not saying a word until she finished playing the song. The same song he taught her when she asked him if he'd like to help her learn how to play the piano. The very first song he taught her to play.

After she finished the last few notes she turned to look at him, her lips forming a wide smile.

"You're getting better and better." Markus complimented.

"Thank you." she said, her cheeks turning pink. "I have a pretty good teacher."

Markus smiled too, suddenly experiencing an unsual kind of peacefulness and happiness.

She made some space for him on the chair, letting him sit down next to her, their legs touching.

Markus quickly looked up more simple songs to teach her that morning, and after he found a suitable one, he played the first few notes, looking at her face to see if she's familiar with it or not.

"Imagine." she said after figuring out what he was playing. "By John Lennon." she looked at him with a raised eyebrow. "You're not teaching me these, because my father told you to, right?"

"No. I'm just teaching you simple ones until you're ready for something more complicated." he explained.

Markus was about to show her the first few notes once again, but slower, when she noticed his torn shirt. Her eyes were immediatelly full of worry, her hands gently touched his arm, turning him toward her so she can take a better look at the damage. She touched the torn material, then her left hand was on his chest, fingertips lightly touching the area, making sure he wasn't hurt.

She was so gentle.

She was always gentle when she talked to him or touched him, as if he was a real human being. And sometimes, when Markus was spending some time alone with her, he felt like it too.

His Thirium pump was pumping the blue blood faster through his body at her touch and his LED turned yellow.

"What happened?" she asked, her voice was quiet.

"Just some protesters, you have nothing to worry about." Markus's hand touched hers and pulled it away from his chest - her touch alone could make him overheat sometimes.

"Of course I have things to worry about!" she explained, her voice suddenly becoming loud and angry. "God damn idiots!"

Markus just looked at her.

She rarely ever cursed - her father didn't let her and always scolded her when she did. But that time Carl stayed quiet.

"You're not hurt, are you?"

"No." he said. "They just threw me around a bit, but I'm okay."

She swallowed down the next few curses.

"I'll buy you a new shirt." she stated. "A normal one. Not this Cyberlife bullshit. We can go tomorrow afternoon."

Markus didn't protest. He knew he should have, but he didn't. He enjoyed her kindness - and he especially enjoyed it when it was directed toward him and him alone.

"Thank you."

"It's nothing, really." she turned toward the piano again. "So... John Lennon."

"Yes." Markus looked at it too and gently took one of her hands. "The first chord is C."

She let his hand lead hers, her finger pressed down the said chord.

"Then a C major 7, an F..."

They went on and on, until she had a small part of it memorized.

Markus kept his hand on hers, his LED turning yellow every single time she looked up at him with a smile. When she messed up she giggled - and Markus smiled.

He loved her laugh.

Carl ate breakfast in silence, watching them from afar. At one point her daughter rested her head on Markus' shoulder as she watched their intertwined fingers.

And Carl knew...

He knew they'll end up falling in love - maybe they already had. He just hoped he'll still be around to witness the development of their relationship.

Carl felt at ease knowing that when he'll be gone, they'll take good care of each other.

[bqstqnbruin]

Nico Hischier Teacher AU

Hello here's another one (I am so bored waiting for my school year to start and I still have a week and a half send me suggestions if you have them)

Teacher AU Series

Warnings: swearing

WC: 808

__________

“Ugh, fuck me.”

“Last night wasn’t enough?.”

Blake playfully smacks Nico on the chest, pulling a laugh from him. They rub their face, letting out a groan that matched the pitch of Nico’s alarm that had woken them both up from the sleep they finally got. It felt way too early to be waking up, but that was more due to the fact that they and Nico had been awake until at least three am the night before. “Thank god it’s a dress down day.”

Nico rolls out of bed, Blake following suit. Fridays had so much potential to be a teacher's favorite and least favorite days of the week; it was almost the weekend, but the students were more insane than other days, they could dress down thanks to enough teachers annoying admin about it, but it made dressing back up for the next Monday even worse.

“What are you wearing today?” Nico asks, wrapping his arms around Blake’s waist. 

“One of the school sweatshirts, probably,” they say, trying to break free to get ready despite Nico’s kisses trailing down their neck. “We have to get ready if I want to head back to my place and grab my stuff before school.”

Nico pouts, stepping back from them. “We could just drive in together.” 

“We both know that the students will never shut up if they find out we’re dating.”

“Mmmm,” he hums, his arms back around them like they never left. “The math teacher and the English teacher dating, how scandalous.” 

“Stop it,” they tease, grabbing the sweatshirt with their school logo on it and throwing it over their head. “I’ll see you at school.”

Nico pulls them in for a kiss, whining when they pull away and practically run out the door with their bag. 

Getting to school was a fight, trying to get through traffic of multiple other campuses before reaching the one they taught at. It was Friday, they just had to get through Friday. 

First period went by without issue. The students were being a little weird while Blake was texting, but that was nothing unusual for a Friday. It was the pre-weekend anticipation that they were feeling. 

The students acted weird all day, Blake sending a text to Nico only to have him confirm it was more than just the Weekend Weirdness. Last period finally came, the longest day seeming even longer because of the students.

“Teacher Garner?” one of their students pipes up right before the last bell was supposed to ring. 

Blake looks up from their computer, Piper, one of the quieter students in the class standing in front of their desk, the rest of the class silent behind her. “What’s up?”

“Are you and Mr. H dating?” 

Blake could feel the color draining from their face. They had discussed at length together that they were not going to tell anyone at work that they were together, that they had been together, for nearly a year and a half now. Part of it was because they didn’t want the students to pry in their personal lives, the other part because they simply didn’t think it was anyone’s business. They weren’t breaking any rules, they just didn’t want people prying. “Why would you ask that?”

“You’re wearing his sweatshirt,” Piper says, pointing to Blake’s arm, where Nico’s last name was stitched into the bicep.

“Oh, we must have switched ours when we took them off at the faculty meeting the other day. You know how hot the library can get,” they try to pass it off, the bell ringing before Piper can say anything else. The students behind her were quietly laughing, filing out of the room as Blake told them to have a good weekend. 

They hid out in their room, hoping they could leave as soon as the pick up lines were out. 

“Hey,” Blake hears their classroom door open, Nico poking his head in. “Are you ok?”

Blake makes a face, trying to figure out what they were feeling. “You heard?”

“As soon as first period ended, I had students in my room asking me about you.” 

Blake felt their heart race, thinking back to them texting Nico earlier in the day and him not mentioning that. “And what did you say?”

“We must have switched sweatshirts at the faculty meeting.”

Blake let out a sigh of relief, both of them unknowing saying the same thing to their students. “We spend too much time together.”

Nico smiles, looking behind his shoulder to make sure the door was closed before reaching for Blake’s hand. “I don’t think we spend enough time together.”

“And how do you propose we fix that problem?” 

“I think we should finally move in together.” 

“Imagine what the students will say when they see us driving in together.”

“Let them talk all they want.”

[deejayrockz]

PAIRING — teacher!wilbur x teacher!reader

SUMMARY — the grumpy geography teacher gets teased about his slightly obvious crush on the english teacher across the hall.

NOTES — grumpy x sunshine trope, shy!wilbur because i said so, fem!reader (use of miss when referring to reader).

EXTRAS — i am in love with this idea so badly ohmyggoodd, written at 2am so might be sloppy my bad 💔 short little drabble i had, might expand on it tomorrow

Wilbur, or Mr. Soot as his students know him, was currently in his room, sitting in the most uncomfortable teachers chair you could ever imagine. The class he currently taught were silent, as they usually were for him, heads down working on some past paper he had found for them to complete.

Wilbur has never quite understood how teachers had enough time in the day to come up with fun learning ideas for their students, but he never dwelled on it long, as he enjoyed waffling on about different countries and places. His students didn't quite enjoy it (they made that clear after multiple students had called him the 'boring teacher').

"Mr. Soot?" He heard your voice from the doorway, causing his head to lift up, looking at you with a sort of calm expression. This was rare to see on his face, as it was usually flat with the odd smile every now and again.

"I believe these are yours," You walked closer, seeing the printed papers he had sent off just a few minutes ago, in your hand, "English printers are broken, had to use the geography ones, hope I wasn't too much of a bother."

You could never be a bother. Not to him, atleast. Wilbur had decided he had simply admired your teaching skills, nothing more, nothing less.

"You weren't, thank you," He muttered. He could feel his cheeks tingle slightly as your hands brushed when he took them out of your hand and placed them on his desk.

The minute you left he heard small snickers from his students, arguably causing his face to heat up more. He sighed, which had just made the students giggle a little more. He wouldn't deny the embarrassment he felt after realising the whole class had now believed that he and the sweet, caring english teacher had something going on.

After what felt like the most painful and excruciating 10 minutes of his life, the class had finally ended, leaving him alone in his classroom for break. Well, he was alone. Until you decided that those very embarrassing 30 seconds you spoke while in his room weren't enough.

"Hey, Mr. Soot," You smiled, walking into his room and perching yourself on one of the empty desks. He sent you a smile before forcing himself to look away, paying insanely close attention to the paper he was marking.

"Hey," He replied, looking back up at you from his desk

"You seem lonely." Your legs swung back and forth as you crossed your ankles together, leaning back on your palms.

"It's nice, prefer the quiet." Will leaned back in his chair, twiddling with a pen he had in his hand.

"So, you wouldn't enjoy keeping me company during lunch and breaks?" You raised your eyebrows, tilting your head in a mocking manner. He scoffed, as if you were joking. You weren't.

"Don't you usually have students in there?"

"I do, but they wouldn't mind an extra person. Besides, I much prefer talking to someone my age than some 15 year old," You smirked, standing up from your seated position on the desk, and making your way out.

"It'll be nice for a change, I promise," You smile at him and he swears his heart skips a beat. That shouldn't be normal. Should his heart be moving so quickly? He was forced to not send himself into a deep spiral of possible medical problems he could have wrong with him, as the bell had gone off, signalling third period.

Fourth period, with a class of year sevens that had just had a geography lesson, was arguably the worst. It was lunch next, and they were all hungry, tired, and usually annoyed from their last lesson. However, today seemed a little different. They seemed almost relieved, as if their last lesson wasn't so bad.

"Hey, Miss, did you see Mr. Soot today?" One of them had asked, as you paused from writing the date on the board.

"Yeah, I saw him earlier, why?" You turned, facing the smiling eleven year olds in their seats.

"Did you see how happy he was?" Another had asked, "He was standing up, moving his hands around, he even smiled more than three times, that's a new record."

"Oh, right," You smiled, going back to teaching literature as your class kept cutting in to babble about possible theories. A new girlfriend. A baby. God, they even suspected he had a wedding coming up, but that was quickly shut down by another student, claiming (and i quote), "He wouldn't have the guts to get down on one knee."

It was rude, but you let out a small giggle anyway, as did the rest of the students. After a long lesson of gossiping about the geography teachers possible love life, with a side of english, the bell had finally rung, dismissing the students to lunch. If you told everyone you heart didn't almost explode when a certain teacher had come into your room and sat down next to you, ignoring the small side eyes he got from some year 11s eating their lunch with you, you'd be lying.

"Mr. Soot, I thought you preferred eating alone? That's what you told us when we offered you join us," A student had asked, brushing their hands on a small napkin they were forced to clean the table up with after they ate.

He simply shrugged, tugging his chair slightly closer so he fit right next to you. Your knees almost touched. It took everything in him to not give you a slight nudge on the knee, fearing he'd stretch the teacher/co-worker boundaries too far. Those fears of his, however, were soon revoked, when you had moved your leg over to slightly graze his as you sat.

"I've been told by some little birdies that you were extra chirpy third period, any reason why, Mr. Soot?" You teased, placing the empty salad tub on your desk, planning to throw it out later. His face had been tinted a small pink ever since your knees brushed and he had started to realise just how pathetic he was.

26 years of age and he was blushing over some knees touching together. God, he needs to get his act together.

"I don't know what you're talking about," He muttered, smiling when he heard you laugh. Atleast you found him funny.

"Sure, Will, sure," You smirked, standing up and ruffling his hair as you walked past, presumably to go fill up your water bottle in the hall.

He didn't usually enjoy being called Will by co-workers. It always felt too personal. He had never fully had a bond close enough with one of his coworkers where he liked being called Will, but it felt different coming from you. The way it slipped off your tongue so easily would make anyone believe you had been friends for a while. A while as in two maybe three years, not two maybe three hours.

He had known of you, especially when you first joined around a year and a half ago, with all the students gushing about how patient you were with them, but he had never really bothered to get close enough to have a full conversation with you.

"Sir, are you and Miss dating?" A different student had asked, causing small giggles to arise from the few girls sitting around her.

"Uhm," He pursed his lips, feeling insanely awkward, "No, definitely not."

"Awh, I was starting to think we had something," You pretended to frown, patting his shoulder as you came back into the classroom. You were obviously teasing, but it still didn't fail to make his cheeks heat up a tad bit more.

"Shut up," He smirked, looking back down at the papers as the girls had laughed. The blush that coated his cheeks was most definitely noticeable, as you poked at a dimple he had on the left side, causing him to swat away your hand with a roll of his eyes.

Maybe some company during lunches wouldn't be so bad after all.

[carlossainzwho]

do you get deja vu?

yep, it's part two time!

pairing/s: carlos sainz x ex!reader

warnings - swearing, not proof-read (sorry to my english teachers) and sexual references. (i sound like netflix help)

note - i'm really sorry you've had to wait so long for a fic!! this is part two, you can read part 1 for a little more background before reading this one. i really hope you enjoy! please reblog/like for support, it really makes me smile!!

car rides to malibu strawberry ice cream one spoon for two and trading jackets laughing 'bout how small it looks on you (ha-ha-ha-ha, ha-ha-ha-ha, ha-ha-ha-ha)

long long car journeys with carlos were the best, blasting out billie joe and queen all day, all night.

going to the same ice cream shop in mallorca

to get the classic ice cream

strawberry

with chocolate sauce

stuffing it all in carlos' face

ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha

feeling cold

wind blowing

exchanging your denim jacket for carlos' much thicker one

he looked funny

and handsome

and

he was hers, she was his

oh, ain't it funny

ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha

watching reruns of glee being annoying singing in harmony i bet she's bragging to all her friends, saying you're so unique, hmm

glee

making fun of his name

carlos science, carlos heinz tomato ketchup

singing 'smooth operator' till your throat hurt

but now rebecca's the one doing it with him

tight black dresses

at clubs

getting drunk

leads to

making out

leads to

the bed

So when you gonna tell her That we did that, too? She thinks it's special But it's all reused That was our place, I found it first I made the jokes you tell to her when she's with you Do you get déjà vu when she's with you? Do you get déjà vu? (Ah), hmm Do you get déjà vu, huh?

no amount of

kissing her

hugging her

fucking her

could change how he felt in his head

he knew

carlos knew

he did all that with y/n

with rebecca snoring by his side

he knew that the jackets

the singing

glee

he did it all before

with

someone

else

Do you call her Almost say my name? 'Cause let's be honest We kinda do sound the same Another actress I hate to think that I was just your type

rebecca, y/n

rebecca.

y/n.

they both had kind of similar accents

search her up

rebecca donaldson: model, actress and carlos sainz's new girlfriend!

y/n was nothing

she meant nothing to carlos

I'll bet that she knows Billy Joel 'Cause you played her "Uptown Girl" You're singing it together Now I bet you even tell her How you love her In between the chorus and the verse

how many more times should she say

how much she missed him?

through the singing

crying

laughing

he was there by her side

but now y/n knew

that carlos was singing and crying and laughing with someone else

Strawberry ice cream in Malibu Don't act like we didn't do that shit, too You're trading jackets like we used to do (Yeah, everything is all reused) Play her piano, but she doesn't know (oh, oh) That I was the one who taught you Billy Joel (oh) A different girl now, but there's nothing new

y/n drove past mallorca

past the same ice-cream shop

that sold the strawberry ice-cream

the wind blowing

clutching onto her denim jacket

the one that would never fit carlos

now he's doing all that with someone else

but she doesn't know

that

it was all y/n

and now

he probably seemed funny

and handsome

not long ago

he was hers

she was his

but not anymore

ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha

taglist: @styles-sunflower @marsinout @queers-of-marybelltownship @alonsogirlie @hoeforevery1 @charlosgoggles @albonsluvr

hope you loved it! so sorry it took long :(

[solar-salem]

“ Labels. ”

This includes - Griffin , possible Briffin

Pt 1 / ?

Tw - Vance

"I'm Griffin Stagg, I'm thirteen and in high school, because I'm fucking smart." A snap came from the teacher. "Mr Stagg, keep the language appropriate." Griffin groaned and rolled his eyes.

As he looked among the class, he could make out a smile from Vance and Robin, the main reasons why Griffin started cursing. "So, this was technically all their fault." Griffin thought to himself.

"I'm in this class, english honors with two idiots that don't even know how they ended up in this class. I was forced to study with them and was forced into their group of friends. They have taught me terrible things." Sarcasm filled the room, Vance hit his head against the table and Robin just rubbed the bridge of his nose.

"I also really like labels."

"Okay, Mr Stagg. You can go sit down now." Griffin looked at her. "Can I?" She stared at him. "Mr Stagg, I will write you a detention." He rolled his eyes and went to his seat. He looked at Vance and Robin.

"Nailed it, cunt." Griffin raised a brow. "Are you being sarcastic? Or generally just don't know how to make someone feel good?" Robin punched Vance's arm. "He meant it."

Sure he did, Griffin wouldn't know. He just decided to trust Robin, he didn't have any reasons not to. Might as well. "Uh, study group at lunch?" Robin nodded. "Uh, my friend-" "Bruce?" "Shut up cuntwad, but yes. Bruce will be sitting with us."

Griffin looked at Robin. "Qué?.... Sí. Finney will be with us. Sorry Grif---" Griffin glared at Robin. "---fin. Griffin. Sorry Griffin." Vance slowly turned his head towards. "Pussy." "I can't, he's like my son cabrón. Don't wanna upset him, puta."

‿︵‿︵‿︵‿︵‿︵‿︵‿︵‿︵‿︵‿︵‿︵‿︵

Lunch, the most dreaded time for Griffin. Vance would be busy with his boyfriend and so would Robin. Especially because they finally got together. Griffin was just.. Alone. He didn't have someone. He could talk to Billy, but him and Billy were always together.

Griffin sat down, his book in hand. He opened it and started to skim through the pages. Billy came and sat down next to him. "Hey Griffin." Griffin looked up from his book and smiled slightly. "Hey Billy." Billy got slightly closer to him and looked down at his book.

The book Griffin had was absolutely littered in labels. Stuff that was for history, math, science, english. Even his damn Latin class. "Jesus Christ, Grif. I swear there's more than last time." Griffin shrugged. "I need my labels."

Bruce looked at him. "Uh.. What happened to, I don't do labels?" Griffin stared at him. "I've already told you assholes that it was meant for sexuality." He didn't say that though. He just sighed. "I didn't mean it in this way, I need my labels because I have one notebook for all of my subjects."

Griffin closed his book and put it away. "If you have nothing nice to say, don't fucking say it assholes. Pretty sure you learn about that shit in the first grade, fuck. Maybe even kindergarten." Billy and Bruce went silent. "Fuck yeah, tell em Griffin!" Vance chimed in.

Griffin rolled his eyes and got up. "Griffin, where are you doing?" Billy pouted. "Uh, I dunno. Just away from here." He mumbled.

That was definitely the worst trait of Griffin. He was stubborn, stubborn as all hell. He also just didn't open up about his feelings. "Are you upset?" "I don't know, am I?" Or "If you say so."

"Can I come with?" Griffin sighed deeply. Yes, he considered Billy his best friend but he was so damn clingy. At least that's how Griffin saw it, Billy just wanted to hangout with his best friend. "Can you?" Billy glared. "May I?" Griffin smiled and nodded.

‿︵‿︵‿︵‿︵‿︵‿︵‿︵‿︵‿︵‿︵‿︵‿︵

"So, why are you so upset today?" Billy started as he walked along the pathway. "I don't know what you mean, I'm always like this Billy." Griffin stated back. He really was, a sarcastic, stubborn, know-it-all, thirteen year old.

"I didn't act like that when I was thirteen.." He mumbled back. "Yeah? You're only two years old than me." "Barely!" He quickly responded. "I just turned fifteen you ass." "Mhm, sure."

Billy stopped and looked at him. "You were at my party." Griffin looked at him. "I know, I was fucking with you." Billy blankly glared at him. "Okay man, you ass." "You love me."

Billy looked at him, he looked forward and shrugged. "Let's go, oh. Wanna hang after school? I was gonna go chill with Vance but he is gonna try and beat his high score today at Grab 'n go." Griffin nodded slightly. He was gonna spend the day reading, or studying. Whatever he felt like. "Sure, Billy."

‿︵‿︵‿︵‿︵‿︵‿︵‿︵‿︵‿︵‿︵‿︵‿︵

END OF PT ONE 💪

[aloneinthehellfire]

Chapter 1: The Girl

Raining Hellfire (Eddie's Version) | Part One

Word Count: 3751

Warnings: swearing, mentions of bullying, eddie's a little angsty but we already know this, fluffy fluffiness

[A/N: Me? Upset about RH ending and needing something else to fulfil that empty gap in my heart?

For real though, I thought it would be really cool to release the RH chapters set in Eddie's pov to give us a little more insight into his life and thoughts as the series progresses. If you guys find this boring, of course just let me know as I have other exciting projects lined up I just really wanted to fill in the time by bringing our beloved Eddie back to us one more time.

Okay enough chatting. Eddie lovers... this is for you.]

The Girl

Paired With RH1: Chapter 1: Flickering Lights

It’s the seventh day on the eleventh month of 1983 and Eddie Munson could safely say that this year… had not been his year.

Between his regularly scheduled ‘freak’ consequences and Wayne’s pay-dock, Eddie was having a miserable time trying to survive in the hell that is Hawkins.

In fact, he had been so overwhelmed with trying to chip in on rent that he had to extort to, well, illegal measures. And thanks to the Munson name, he was pretty good at it. Not that it was something to take pride in.

He was falling behind on work, rapidly lowering his grades by simply becoming too distracted. When he wasn’t dealing, he was keeping the trailer liveable. And when he wasn’t doing that, he’d be trying to keep his DnD club afloat in the sea of jocks trying to tear it down. It didn’t seem like a lot, but Eddie always struggled focusing on the real world. It’s why he loved Dungeons and Dragons so much; he could control a universe of his own making, maybe even be a hero from time to time. Nothing he’d ever achieve in his mundane existence.

So today wasn’t any different. It was a Monday which meant he had a scheduled English Lit class to attend. But, after Tommy H.’s oh so kind portrayal of how he would be able to strangle Eddie with his own hair if he kept growing it out, he surprisingly didn’t feel up to it.

He did is best to act like he didn’t care, but he seriously needed a break from the constant harassment. And his hair wasn’t even that long anyway. It certainly suited his face much better than that damn buzz-cut.

Checking the hallway for any teachers that might catch him, Eddie was relieved in the fact that he’d be working on his next Hellfire campaign instead of listening in on some boring lesson about Romeo and Juliet representing true love or whatever poetic bullshit they were tryna sell.

At least he would get some peace and quiet-

“OW!” Eddie rang out in a slightly higher pitched voice to usual, stumbling back and bracing himself against the wall. He clutched his head, blinking against the force that sent stars into his vision.

In his absolute haze of assuming the rest of his day would go smoothly, he ended up crashing straight into a reminder that this year absolutely sucked.

“I’m so, so, so sorry.” The person said hurriedly, wincing as they grabbed their head.

Eddie removes his hand as he groans to get a better look at whoever blazed straight into him.

“Well yeah I should hope-” His breath hitched as he looked down at a girl.

Now, normally he’d just shrug it off and try to be gentlemanly like Wayne always taught him. Which, always ended up with some snide remark like ‘ew, never in your dreams’ and he’d be on his merry way, too busy to care what someone thought.

And then he caught sight of this girl.

She sported a denim vest that instantly made him curious, covering what he assumed was some kind of graphic tee but he couldn’t get a good look at it. Once she removed her hand from her face, he saw just how prettyshe was. No, not pretty. Beautiful. She looked a little sheepish, mostly dazed, but he could only assume it was from the recent head injury. Eddie thanked whatever god was working in his favour that out of all the students in the school, he was lucky enough to crash into you.

It took him a second to snap out of his daze and he cleared his throat, extending a hand.

“You alright?” He asks quickly, but you just stare up at him, eyes wide. Instead, he starts waving his hand in front of your face. “Helloooo?”

“Sorry?” You blink, eyes shifting from the rings on his hand and he smiles.

“I asked if you were alright.” He reiterates. God, you really had his heart tightening with the way you tuck your hair behind your ears, smiling.

“I, uh, yeah. Well, um, yes.” You rambled, attempting to pick up your books hurriedly and avoiding his eyes.

Eddie crouches down in attempt to help. After all, he was partly to blame for this collision.

“As long as you’re sure.” He laughed, handing you a book. When you look up at him again and tentatively take the book from his hands, he almost swoons. Those eyes of yours were easy to get lost in.

Both of you slowly stood with you attempting to shuffle your books into a more comfortable manner. Eddie simply places his hands into his pockets, observing the way you tried to busy yourself, avoiding his eyes with a soft frown.

And then it hits him like a god damn truck carrying tonnes of bricks.

No one in this school liked him, much less girls. You looked nice enough, striking out from the way other girls dressed in this hell of a school, but he’s been fooled many times before. You looked like you wanted nothing to do with him. Jesus, you were actively avoiding him right in front of his very eyes.

He was stupid to even be thinking anything different.

“Look-”

“Don’t worry I won’t tell anyone.” He cuts you off, crossing his arms. It was sad, really, that he had to go day by day pretending to be stronger than he actually felt. It was a self-preservation tactic that always kicked in when he figured he was gonna get called a ‘freak’ again.

“What?” Your eyes are wide again, taken aback.

Eddie rolls his eyes. “I get it. Avoid the freak or you’ll be thrown from your little group.”

“I…” Your brows furrow. It was cute. No, Eddie, he thought, stop it. “...what?”

He leaned in, looking around the hallway for any potential friends you might have lurking in the background before speaking.

“I get that you and the other clearly superior beings don’t like people like me or, well, just me. And seeing as I’ve never seen you around before, I will spare you the traumatising experience of having to admit that you and I bumped heads.” Eddie’s voice was low, a sound that always felt alien to him. Hopefully that’ll show whoever is most likely hiding around the corner that he couldn’t be messed with.

“I’m not with them.” You were shaking your head now, and his eyes fell to your journal.

He could only see your first name, but his eyebrow raised, confirming his thoughts. Of course it was the one girl that ended up ‘gossip of the year’ that he bumped into.

Freshman year was filled with horrible rumours, none that he ever believed since they were almost always started by Tommy and Carol and debunked days later. The one about you, however, wasn’t proved wrong over the years. No one knew exactly where you came from, or what you did to end up here in Hawkins, and you’ve never denied anything. In fact, he could only assume they were right.

“Ah. Y/n. I’ve heard quite a few rumours about you.” Eddie clicks his tongue, still on the lookout for Carol and her minions.

“What?” You seem startled, but he’s used to actresses by now.

“Hm. Yeah, you’re the one that’s trying to fit in with all the other pricks in here because you didn’t make it at your last school. So please, don’t use me as your way to prove your shallow heart to your glorious leaders.” He took a step back, raising his hands and cocking his head, waiting.

He expected a comeback, some kind of slur against him or at least a shrill laugh followed by a chorus of your friends revealing themselves. Or maybe a slap, considering everything that just spilled out of his mouth. What he didn’t expect was your face to drop, knuckles whitening as you gripped tightly onto your books. Pursed lips replaced your soft smile, lowering your head in attempt to hide yourself. The once sweet confusion now laced with hidden anger.

“Fuck you.” You said with teary eyes, barging past him and his eyes widen. Shit.

“Wait!” He yells after you, immediate regret setting in as he watches your form disappear down the hall.

Eddie wanted nothing more than to follow you, but he knew that route led you straight to the girls’ bathroom. Instead, he stood with a dumbfounded look on his face, heart racing.

How did he assume so wrong?

The rest of the day had him conflicted.

Why should he care how you reacted? Would you have even cared if he was the one upset?

As Eddie wanders towards the benches hidden behind the school, he finds himself thinking about you yet again. Ugh. It was frustrating, knowing that there was no possible way to get you out of his head despite making the worst impression ever. He wasn’t even sure you’d give him a second chance.

And, in an incredibly freaky turn of events, he sees you sat upon the bench in the distance, placing a pair of headphones over your ears before casually laying back with your legs dangling down.

Eddie pauses. You look like you wanted to be left in peace, and his presence would surely disrupt that. But there was also this nagging part of his brain that made him realise this could be his chance to make things right.

Adjusting his leather jacket, he takes in a deep breath and heads towards you. He ignored that anxiety that built in his stomach, pushing it away just as he approaches the bench, hands locked behind his back as he swung back and forth on his feet to wait for your attention.

He can just hear the music blaring from your Walkman, your foot mindlessly tapping along to the beat. Eddie realises there’s no way you’re gonna notice him anytime soon.

“Hello?” He nervously calls out, with a little wave. Nothing.

Eddie huffs, realising that the longer he stood here unnoticed, the creepier it was.

“Yoo-hoo?” He lurches his body forward before stepping back and straightening himself, voice a little louder this time to ensure you’ll hear him. Yet again, nothing.

Maybe this was his sign to leave you be. Unluckily for him, he never really listened to that voice that told him to stop making a fool of himself.

In a moment of definitely not thought through decision-making, he strides right up to you and gently slips the headphones off of your head.

As he stands there holding them, he feels his face go red. Why the hell did he do that?

“What the hell?” You sit up straight, squinting against the sun that blared behind him.

Eddie laughed nervously. “Sorry, I did say hello but your music was too loud- wait, what even is this?”

He held it up to one ear, hearing a slow beat of a song he would never willingly listen to himself. He managed to catch a snippet of the song.

I hope that it won’t end, though

Alone-

“None of your business.” You say, snatching the headphones from his hands. Your eyes drift to the rings on his hands, a wave of acknowledgement washes across your face.

“Keeping it to yourself. That’s cool, very mysterious.” He said with a chuckle, attempting to diffuse the situation before it got any worse.

Your face warps into that of anger yet again, glaring at him.

“What do you want?” You ask defensively, pushing down on your Walkman and the faint melody comes to a sudden halt. You clutched your Walkman before stuffing it back in your bag, and Eddie realises you’re about to leave.

“Hey!” He said, waving his arms to stop what you were doing, “I just wanted to talk. About earlier.”

He crossed his arms against his torso, looking at the ground. This was his one shot to actually prove to you that he wasn’t a bad guy. Apologies weren’t his strength at all, but was going to try his best.

“I didn’t mean to be dick to you. Or insult you. I just…” He paused, walking around the space as he thought of what to say, “I get pretty guarded when I speak to someone. You spend so long as ‘The Freak’ that you get used to being treated like ass and I wasn’t in the mood for it today.”

“I-” You began, setting your bag down.

“No,” Eddie shakes his head as he continues his short pace, fingers nervously tapping against his chin, “I was an idiot and I insulted you. Which wasn’t cool of me at all, I don’t even know you and I was just as much of a judgemental asshole as the rest of them so I’m so very, very, sorry.”

As you stared up at him, he tried not to notice the way the sun made your eyes shine, Eddie held his breath in anticipation. As a rookie at this apology business, he wasn’t even sure it was worth your forgiveness. Maybe he’d just have to try harder. Or avoid you for the rest of high school. Whichever was easier.

“I like your rings.”

Your words caught him off guard. His head whips up to you as you seem to only just recoil at the statement you just blurted. And, when you started rambling, he couldn’t resist a grin spreading across his face. You looked cute when you were flustered.

“Sorry, I just didn’t know what to say and I didn’t want there to be this awkward silence because, like, the more awkward it gets the more I want to be silent but then that just makes it more awkward and I…” You notice his amused expression, “I was rambling wasn’t I?”

“No, no it’s fine, it was cute.” He blurted. The colour rushed to his cheeks and he tried to laugh it off, but it was only making things weirder. You simply lower your head to smile before meeting his eyes again.

“I’m sorry too.” You shrug, fiddling with the bottom of your vest. “That’s what I wanted to say… that I was sorry. I get it, the whole people treating you like shit thing. I get that too…”

Eddie tried his hardest to listen to your every word, but his eyes began drifting down to your lips. God, even they were pretty. Everything about you was just perfect.

Once your lips stop moving, he quickly shifts his gaze and looks at you, your expectant stare. He hadn’t listened to whatever question you must have asked.

“Huh?” He manages to say. God, he hoped you didn’t notice his earlier fascination.

“That thing you said, about the rumour. Do people really say that?” Your voice goes quiet and you anxiously nibble on your bottom lip. Eddie makes sure to revert his eyes from your mouth as he quickly shakes his head.

“No, no, no…” He comforts, shifting to sit atop the bench beside you and bringing his hands in front of him to twiddle the rings on his left hand around, “Well, not exactly.”

“What do they say?” Your question was expected, but Eddie felt a twinge in his gut to have to be the one to explain it to you. He didn’t want to be the cause again of the sadness your face could show.

You raise your eyebrow at his silence. “Seriously tell me. At least if I know I can prepare myself for when Tommy and his band of walking cliches come for me.”

Eddie sighs, shifting in his seat. You had a very good point, at least. And he was happy to know that you felt exactly the same way about the high school royalty that he did. You deserved the truth.

“I haven’t heard much,” He finally says, tilting his head towards you, “But I heard people say all sorts of crazy stuff when you first appeared. Something about you being sent away because your parents didn’t want you. And one about you only being friends with that Wheeler girl because you wanted in to the hoard of wannabes.”

“Oh.” That’s all you say, and his stomach drops.

“I don’t believe them!” He raises both his hands, and you smile at that.

“No, don’t worry it’s… fine. At least I know now.” You quickly added. As he looked at you, he knew for a fact that those rumours were far from the truth. He could see that you were someone who prided themselves on individuality rather than association.

Which is why he didn’t tell you the other rumour he heard. Maybe it was just his heart protecting him just in case it was true. But he wanted to protect you just a little longer from it.

“Anyway,” Eddie quickly changes the subject, “I never got to formally introduce myself when I made the most awful first impression in the world.”

He gets up to stand in front of you, bowing so theatrically that you began to giggle, making his chest flutter.

“Eddie Munson, at your service.” He returns from his bow, flipping his head back, and extends a hand towards you. He figured he could keep the joke running long enough to keep seeing that smile on your face. “And you are?”

“You already know my name.” You laughed, shaking your head.

“Shh, pretend I don’t, I’m trying something here.”

“Okay, I’m Y/n, it is a pleasure to make your acquaintance, Eddie.” You take his hand, and your touch burned his skin in the best way.

“Pleasure is all mine, Y/n.” He pretended to kiss your hand, figuring that kind of contact was way too soon,before gently dropping it and sitting on the grass in front of you.

Eddie stretches his legs and uses his arms to prop himself up, cocking his head in curiosity at your response.

“No last name there Y/n?”

“Not something I use very often.” You shrug as if it were merely a passing fact about you, but Eddie could sense how uncomfortable you felt about it. “I’m thinking of dropping it completely, like Madonna or Prince.”

Rather than pester, he nods away with a warm smile. “I like it, make a statement.”

“Exactly.” You grin, and Eddie knows for sure he did it. He actually did something right for once.

“So… if you don’t mind me asking…” Eddie felt a little shy to be asking you this, but he couldn’t help but be curious. He wanted to know everything about you. “Why do Tommy and Carol hate you so much?”

You give him a little shrug, assessing words in your mind. “I guess Barbie and Ken didn’t like that I wasn’t into wearing pink.”

He chuckles at your comment, shaking his head.

“When I first moved here,” You continue, scrunching your nose at the word ‘moved’ like it was painful, “I ended up at a party some girl was advertising to me in a store. I didn’t know anyone so I wanted to make friends, try and start a new life.”

Something flashes across your face before you’re suddenly smiling, avoiding his eyes. “Basically made the wrong impression. Didn’t fit into their world. That sort of stupid stuff.”

“Thank god.” Eddie replies and you raise your eyebrows. “Imagine actually having to pretend you care about ‘daddy’s getting me a new car’.”

He mimicked an extremely girly voice that had you laughing as your face twists in disgust.

“Ew, don’t even joke about that.”

The conversation continued for a long time, exchanging opinions on certain teachers, mostly laughing at how no one really understands that high school isn’t forever. But he was lying if he said he didn’t understand them now. If he could sit here under the filtered shine of the sun blaring through the trees with you forever, he’d give up anything.

After a while, a wave of comfortable silence fell across you both, your eyes drifting to look into the distance with a peaceful expression. Eddie couldn’t stop staring at you. You were like some sort of goddess, sat in the natural glow of the sun rays.

A slight shift in your demeanour wouldn’t have been noticeable if Eddie wasn’t so mesmerised by every little thing he could possibly observe about you.

“What time is it?” You asked, looking at the watch on his wrist with a smile that shone through your attempt at tightened lips.

Eddie peels his eyes away for a moment to read his watch, nodding. “It’s about… 5.”

“Oh shit I’m late!” You suddenly gasp, grabbing your bag and hopping off the bench.

Eddie finds himself on his feet, following your movements. Here’s your chance, Eddie, he tells himself, slowly closing the space between you.

“For what?” He questioned as he looked down into your eyes. It took everything in him not to lean down and take your lips in his. Was it too soon?

“I was meant to be meeting Nancy to study like 20 minutes ago!” You exasperate before scrunching your face in the most adorable manner. “My god, I think she might actually kill me.”

“Ah well, that sounds… fun.” He smiled, leaning against the bench. You were intoxicating up close.

“Yeah, I can’t wait for her to scream at me about hydrogen atoms.” You smirk, adjusting the strap of your bag as you stepped away from him. Eddie lowered his head, silently cursing to himself. Of course she wasn’t gonna kiss you, you idiot, she probably doesn’t even like you-

You stopped yourself much to his surprise, turning back to look at him. “Thank you. For coming to apologise. I’m glad you did.”

“Me too.” He smiled again, grabbing part of his hair to cover his face in hopes of hiding how red his cheeks were burning, “Now go, I would hate to find that you were brutally murdered by a science book.”

You laughed, saying a quick goodbye and sprinting toward the bike rack in front of the school.

Part of him wanted to just grab your hand and pull you back to him as he watched your form become smaller and smaller the further you were from him. It was like you gave him life when you were close to him, made him feel the best he had ever felt.

Eddie couldn’t believe that he was already this head-over-heels for someone he barely knew.

Huh, Eddie thinks to himself, smiling, maybe this year has only just begun.

Chapter 2: Resident Freak ->

[I wanted to tag everyone who was involved in RH but wasn't sure if you'd be interested in basically re-reading everything again so let me know who wants to be in this tag list or if you guys think I should scrap this completely? Even so, can we all agree how adorable Eddie is in RH1. Crying.]

[beep-beep-robin]

thank you @spectrum-spectre and @unclewaynemunson for tagging me!

15 questions, 15 people

1. Are you named after anyone?

not directly, but my middle name (tabea) comes from some biblical figure according to my parents (the irony)

2. When was the last time you cried?

sometime last week? been having a lot of ~talks~ with my parents that really take a lot out of me lol

almost cried yesterday at the end of if we were villains

3. Do you have kids?

nope!

4. Do you use sarcasm a lot?

i feel like i do but then people use sarcasm on me and i‘m fully lost

so i‘d say my own specific brand of sarcasm lmao

5. What's the first thing you notice about people?

nothing in the facial area bc i‘m sorry but if i don‘t know you well i will probably avoid looking at your face in case you wanna make eye contact 💀

i‘d say someones voice, or the way they smell (that sounds so creepy but i swear it‘s not meant to be lmao)

6. What's your eye color?

blue!

7. Scary movies or happy endings?

sucker for horror movies over here

8. Any special talents?

i do have small things i‘m thinking of rn but idk how to word them lol so i‘ll just say no, not really

9. Where were you born?

austria!

10. What are your hobbies?

spending time with my cats, watching tv, doing stuff relating to my special interests, making candles, photography, reading

11. Do you have any pets?

two cats! my absolute babies

12. What sports do you play/have played?

no specific sport i guess but i used to ride horses as a kid

also was in a course that taught us circus stuff and did ballet for a bit

13. How tall are you?

1,62 cm (too lazy to convert it rn sorry)

14. Favorite subject in school?

english all the way. not to brag but i was better at it than our teacher in highschool 😭

15. Dream job?

idk. something i can afford not to work fulltime in and still have a personal life i guess?

tagging anyone that wants to do this <3 sorry idk if this is acceptable in a tag game but my anxiety is v high today and tagging people makes it worse djdjek

[meeda]

With all the weird conservative scare mongering about sex ed in public schools I’m curious about what other people’s experiences with that are. Because I remember they first introduced sex ed to us in 4th grade where I went to school. It was a one day presentation lasting just an hour or two, with nothing too explicit and it mostly had to do with puberty (anyone else remember the “just around the corner” song from the video?) but we also went over parts of the body and feelings of attraction. It was all very age appropriate and they had seperate presentations for the boys and the girls.

They did this again in 5th grade, this time with more focus on reproductive organs and secondary sex characteristics, as well as pregnancy. Boys and girls were still taught separately. My teacher also did this thing where she had us write down any questions we were too embarrassed to ask in front of the class and then ask her in private later after the presentation. I asked her how exactly a baby was made and she gave me a very scientific and technical explanation of how it works. Honestly i think most of it went over my head because i was eleven and already forgot what a sperm is and i was too embarrassed to ask her to elaborate further. But props to her for handling my question really well.

I didn’t get another sex ed talk until senior year of high school and by then i had already lost my virginity but that doesn’t mean there wasn’t more to learn! This time the presenter was my English teacher who was a very outspoken feminist and my role model at the time. It was her idea to bring sex education to my class. This time we weren’t separated by gender, and she brought props. Like condoms, pregnancy tests, menstrual cups, she even demonstrated how to put on a condom using a banana. she also put one on her arm and said “ladies if you encounter a man of this size, run.” She taught us about consent and boundaries and how to avoid unwanted pregnancies. But probably most importantly above all… she taught us the potential dangers of pregnancy. She talked in excruciatingly great detail about the many things that could go wrong in labor and even made us watch a birth video?? I’m not going to go into detail what she showed us but it was lowkey traumatizing and several students had to step out of the classroom. I stuck around so did most of the girls but there was this look of horror on all our faces and i swear every girl’s legs were crossed lmao. Honestly I’m surprised I still want kids to this day having seen what i did.

I forgot where I was going with all of this. Post cancelled.

[alizardwrites]

Teenage Dream

There was one bizarrely perfect day in my life. It took place over a decade ago. Engraved into my memory, it is made rosier and rosier every year that passes. The sky, bluer. The laughter, louder. When leafing over my life, this day stands out from the rest like color against black and white. 

It wasn’t one sublime incident that defined this day. It wasn’t the day of my first kiss or an unforgettable prom. It was rather a series of tiny moments that somehow fell into a perfect line. It should have been nothing special. I was a junior in high school in Nevada. I was feeling particularly untethered because the past couple of years had been spent hopping between continents and states. I was going to school in Korea, then suddenly I was enrolling in high school in California, and now I was in another school and could see the Las Vegas Strip from our football field. The world revolved so quickly around me.

This perfect day, it was summer and the sky was high and beautiful as it often was in that desert city. My new friends and I were draped over the courtyard furniture after school. Preparations for a club award ceremony were happening that I had not been invited to, but my friends were going and they urged me to attend anyway. I happily helped them set up tables, chairs, balloons, and sprinkled whatever tattered decorations came out of the storage closet around the cafeteria. At some point, my friends asked me to sit atop a folded table as they pushed it across the courtyard. I remember smiling until my face ached as I tried to keep my balance. There is a faint memory of names being called out on a speaker, clapping, cheering. My stomach was probably sweet from absent mindedly picking at the cookies and brownies on my paper plate throughout the afternoon. We took many pictures that I later made a Facebook album for, and dare not delete after all of these years. Afterwards, we went to karaoke at Steven’s house across the street. About ten of us sat one on top of the other on a couch too small. We all shared one mic and I think we sang every single song together as a group. We botched Bohemian Rhapsody and couldn’t stop laughing as we grasped at each other to catch our breaths. Everyone seems to be brimming with life in this snapshot trapped in my memory. A room full of young people who did not know they were young people. 

I sat in the backseat of my mom’s car the next day looking up at the same blue, cloudless sky thinking how I never knew it was possible to fall in love with a day. Every time I replayed it, my heart swelled up. I was still religious back then and it crossed my mind that maybe heaven might be something like this played over and over again. It had been so long since I had felt like a part of a whole. I had often thought that perhaps I had already missed my windows to reach typical teenage milestones or make lifelong friends from all the moving around. And a part of me was still recovering from the shock of eating lunch alone in bathroom stalls at that school in California. It was just that the small moments of that entire day somehow so perfectly aligned within me. My friends, they each added pebbles onto a pile, and by the end of the night I had gone to sleep carrying a mountain on my chest. I remember making a record in an old notebook the next morning of the exact clothes I wore, as if that might have been the secret equation to my perfect day.

Sometimes when I feel empty, I retrieve the memory from a dusty corner and roll it around in my mind like a marble. Over a decade has passed. Fragments are left and the years have eroded even those, yet I still feel the warmth of that summer day like a cup of tea against my chest. I swear I can smell that desert heat and still feel how the muscles moved on my face that night.

Our English teacher the next year taught our class something that, looking back now, was carefully timed and relayed to prepare us for our imminent launch from the nest. She asked us if we ever thought Greek gods might have actually envied humans. Everything in our short lives was made so much sweeter, so much more precious because of our mortality. The gods with their infinite time did not feel the ferocity with which we loved fleeting things. How dearly we hold onto memories and feelings, ever anticipating that maybe one day we might stumble upon something similar and be able to experience it all over again, or know better to do it differently. Some days I am pained thinking all those faces that filled the cafeteria are no longer there, and what I wouldn’t give to live, or even watch, that night again. We were allowed by chance to befriend each other those few years within those school walls, and I was allowed that one day where all the pieces of my life just fell so impossibly in place. This is my fleeting memory that even the gods envy.

I wore a hand-me-down black band shirt with red letters. Light blue shorts from Old Navy. An assortment of bracelets on my wrists, one of them a rosary. I wish I could remember my socks and shoes.

[wawerrell]

Vaughan Mazursky, the Czarina

Those souls brave enough to phone the lady who ruled over middle schoolers with an iron fist probably found it disconcerting to hear that Vaughan Mazursky’s voicemail greeting was a low-quality recording of ABBA she had made by holding the receiver up to the stereo: "Mamma mia, here I go again!" In that musical limbo before the beep, former students might be forgiven for pondering the absurdity of having to reconcile the piped-in Swedish ballad with scenes of remembered terror from GAWA: the Czarina charging, at almost a 45-degree angle, toward the disobedient student’s desk, gaining momentum and fury as she closed the distance. Personally, my thoughts waiting for the beep hovered not over her classroom by the Ashley but over the land of ABBA — Stockholm in particular: I had come to deeply love my captor.

Outré incongruities were the A’s and T’s, C’s and G’s of Ms. Mazursky, who was nothing if not surprising, contradictory, weird, and beautiful. After all, one does not become the Czarina by having even a single fleeting worry about what others might think.

Ms. Mazursky died this morning, threading a cosmic needle: she held on just long enough to see her Democrats succeed in Kentucky, Ohio, and Virginia — and left just early enough to avoid the Republican debate.

No teacher ever challenged me in the precise way the Czarina did. So unabashedly herself — it was the Czarina who, just a few years ago, broke the indecisive lull on the dancefloor at my sister’s wedding, rushing out after just a few chords of Marvin Gaye — Ms. Mazursky had no patience for artificiality, conformity, or normality. Her mere existence gave weird kids the permission to be themselves. Indeed, so far removed from the normal and typical was she that she frequently ignored normal, typical things like bells and closed doors. Sharon Tate had fewer unwelcome guests than Dr. Slayton, whose classes the Czarina — more often than not halfway through a sentence before the door had fully opened — routinely annexed with talk of NCAA shakeups or political shakedowns.

Thinking of her as I look out at my own students writing essays, I am grateful that among the most critical skills she taught generations of eighth graders was how to distinguish between reliable and unreliable sources, invaluable for navigating messy global affairs. Such a practice feels extra handy today, though, because it can be hard to distinguish between fact and legend upon hearing any Mazoo story: Did she once extol the value of Hammurabi’s Code as a classroom management device? (Yes.) Did she swear us to silence while she went to the copy room only to hear us talking upon her return and proceed to ask each student, one by one, to swear, on their mother’s life, that they had not violated the silent sanctum of the Czarina? (Also yes.) Had she indeed pioneered the medically inadvisable no-water-only-TAB diet? (Probably yes.) Did she antagonize a Soviet tank to spark a revolution? (Absolutely yes.)

A rule of thumb I’ve found helpful over the years is a simple substitution: if the story still sounds feasible after having swapped out “the Czarina” for “the Trunchbull,” then, with few exceptions, the story is probably true.

Teaching us the poetry of the Enlightenment, Wesley Moore began with a stunning visual: Alexander Pope clocked in at four-and-a-half feet of bone-crunching fury. In short, as it were, we sophomore English students should imagine Alexander Pope as an Augustan Vaughan Mazursky. But, while Pope was many things, to my knowledge he never insisted that flocks of middle schoolers swear an oath of undying fealty to serve him as his boyars, never arranged his social and academic schedule around the ‘Hoos, and — despite his fair share of quirks and eccentricities — did not grow up in the splash radius of a nuclear power plant.

Vaughan Mazursky, the Czarina of Porter-Gaud, did.

More than anyone else, Ms. Mazursky taught me that the political is personal. Uninformed or unexamined political belief was not ideology, she taught us, but instinct. (She did go on to explain that, because many of us were genetically undifferentiated from the apes of Borneo, instinct was, in fairness, the closest we could get to an actual ideology.) When I thought that I could skate by on cruise control as a fellow liberal, the Czarina put an end to any such illusion. For Latin, I had made a poster of politicians I admire — in a reactionary, teenaged kind of way, I decided to paint with too broad a brush — the Czarina ripped it from my hands, took a sip of Diet Coke, pointed out Ted Kennedy, pointed at me, pointed back at Ted Kennedy, and, squinting up at my face, said: “Werrell, you dingbat. He killed a woman. Read a newspaper or open a book before you decide to admire someone.”

Politics was the backbone of her life and of her classes. George McGovern, sun-faded and looking down from the bulletin board, was the perpetual teacher’s aide in the classroom, part of each conversation: “Well, George, how about that?” A few years later, she emerged from Senator Obama’s speech cistern yard at College of Charleston and landed on national newspapers, arms triumphantly up and looking like she was in a montage from “Rocky.” 

Despite the urban legends generations of eighth graders shared with younger students, I feel like I can confidently say that Ms. Mazursky never killed any student — though even that would not curtail my admiration for her.

[sillylittlestoryblog]

Angel Torres x reader

Notes: hey guys. I waited like over two weeks but because almost nobody else is interested in writing some nope fanfictions, i’ m gonna do it. Be aware, my writing is Not Good. And if your also waiting for nope ffs pls Write some. I look at these tags daily!!!! These characters deserve some love! Maybe if I‘m not totally depressed again, I’m gonna write another one.

Warnings: english isnt my First Language, blood, spoilers, some swearing

„Fuck“

Dust and sand had mixed with your tears. Once again you rubbed your eyes and looked up.

No matter how many times OJ had told you that you should not look up.

Jean Jacket was no longer visible. In front of you was only a cloudless sky. In another context it would have been the perfect day. Blue sky, nothing but space.The sun was shining in the afternoon heat. But right now you only felt fear.

Slowly you began to stand up. Your ankle hurt. You remembered that while running you had tripped over one of the wires. Weeks ago you wanted to help the Haywood siblings to remove the wires behind the old barn. But there had always been too much to do at the horse ranch. It had only been 6 months since Mr. Otis Haywood had died in a strange way. It was still unexplainable. He had taught you to ride as a child. He was a kind man and a good teacher. His children always following him around, trying to help as much as they could. You remember OJ standing on the edge of the gate laughing. You hadn't really been very skilled. Emerald, who was only two years older, was standing next to him. She knew how difficult some horses could be. She started cheering you on. While her big brother just rolled his eyes.

Even today, the two had a similar dynamic. Em was loud and cheerful, she loved to play pranks with you on the other farm workers, but especially on her brother. Often you would stay with her long after work hours and you would cook together and sing loudly in the kitchen to Mr haywood's old records. She has always been your friend but you two got really close after what had happend with her father. She talked about it, when it was just the two of you sitting on the porch drinking a glass of wine on a Sunday evening.

Her brother was different. OJ was quiet instead. Most of the time he watched situations rather than get involved in them. He was the silent observer. But never in such a way that it was uncomfortable. He was more like a protector watching over you. A big brother. It was difficult for him to open up. He didnt really talk about what happend. But you could see it in his face, he was thinking about it all the time. And when we all found about Jean Jacket. He didnt want to run away. He wanted to face the animal that killed his father. And he was gonna protect his horses, his home, his friends and his sister. That's why he was so annoyed at first that you and Em wanted to be part of the whole Jean Jacket plan. He thought it was too dangerous. But the farm and the horses were his whole life. And it had always been a second home to you, so it was clear that you would do anything to make the plan work.

You freed your foot from the wire and took a closer look. It was smeared with blood and your pants were torn open, but it probably looked worse than it actually was. You could still feel your foot. It hurt when you started standing up. You tried to move slowly. The house in front of you still red and bloodied. The remnants of the previous nights lay around the porch. You tried not to look too closely, the fear of catching parts of your friends on the roof above the door was to big. You had not yet been able to think further about what exactly had happened. The crazy movie maker that was Antlers Holst had run right into Jean Jacket's arms. That was the last thing you could consciously remember. After that you ran and woke up unconscious next to the horse paddock. A horrible feeling spread in your stomach. "What if... no. I can't even think like that."

Angel was safe. You were sure of that. No one had as much useless knowledge about alien attacks and UFOs as Angel. If anyone could survive something like that, it would be him. You couldn't think anything else. Tears welled up in your eyes and the nauseating feeling spread throughout your body. It almost felt like your throat was closing up. Angel couldn’t be hurt. You wouldn’t know what to do. Last night you had been talking to him. He was afraid and still he didnt think twice about helping you. You wished you could have just grabbed his stupid face and gave him a kiss. Maybe this could have been the last chance to do so. But you were too nervous. The handsome man with his way to goodlooking smile would never be interested in you. And maybe he was dead now. You didnt see him after all that happend. Jean Jacket could have eaten him. That was the new life you had to make sense now. The guy you had a massive crush on got eaten by an alien that looked like a fucking eye. You were sure you wouldnt find a support group for something like that. You started crying even more. The tears were running down your cheeks. He needs to be alive. Everything around you started spinning. You were ready to puke but instead you collapse in front of the Haywoods door.

Its about two Hours later when Angel finally reaches the house. Its already dark outside. The aching pain in his Body is distrecting him from his enviroment. He doesn’t remember what truly happend. Stuff was laying around and he was trying hard not to trip over it. A small Body was laying on the Front portch. He would recognise this face anywhere. It was in his mind and in his dreams for the last weeks. He wanted to shout your name but his voice was to croaky. He reached the porch and sat down next to you. His hands were cold and sprinkled with his own blood. He reached up to your head and started stroking your hair. He let out a rough chuckle. Even though you just fought an alien and survived you still looked really nice. You always looked nice. And pretty. He had thought about telling you before the whole plan, but somehow he was too nervous. Normally he was outgoing and loud,often annoying the people around him. He really liked talking and so he was doing it most of the day. But every time he spent alone with you he didnt know what to say. He was suddenly quiet. His mind was racing at the same time trying to come up with the perfect thing to say. And his hands where fidgeting with the nearest object. You were also smart and interested in the things he was rambling to OJ and Em about. And sometimes you looked at him. It felt like you could truly see him. Looking through him, into his soul. Finding his deepest darkest secrets but not being able to look away. Angel knew he adored you the first time he saw you walking towards him. And now here you where laying in his arm. But not exactly in the way he had dreamed about it. Your hair was soft against his chapped fingers. He saw your eyes open.

„ hey, are you alright? Can you hear me?“

The first thing you saw where his bleached hair and that handsome smirk. His arms where wrapped around you, securing your weak body. One hand was caressing your cheek the other was holding you tightly against his chest. His body was covered in bloody wounds and cuts. It was probably hurting him holding you that way but he didnt really seemed to care.

„ i thought i lost you.“

You started crying. He was alive.

„ that stupid fucking filmmaker. He could have gotten you killed.“

Angel was trying to hold it in, but started quietly crying too.

„ I am alright. We both survived. We will be alright.“

Tears where running down both of your faces. Your hand was touching his cheek. You were leaning into him. His eyes were darting to your mouth. And before you could really think about it your hands where both cupping his face and he closed the proximity between you too. It was a short and soft kiss. You were pressing your foreheads against each other. Softly mumbling with closed eyes and a lowered voice.

„Yes. I think so too. We will be alright, Angel.“

[yippeecahier]

I don't normally post about politics, but the Texas primary election ballots are straight up wildin' y'all.

Part of the problem is that Texas primaries are segregated based on declared political party. You won't see these crazy-ass propositions on the Democrat ballot, only on the Republican one. They are pandering to the extremists in the Republican party to get these to pass without showing them to registered Democrats. If these show up on the election ballot later because they passed the primary I swear to God I might riot.

These are from the Sample Texas Primary Ballot for Republicans and are unedited. I encourage you to fact check me and go look for yourself. When I read these out loud to my (former Republican) family, they could not believe these were on the actual ballot and thought I was reading clickbait about it until I showed them I was reading off a printed sample ballot because these are so wild. ID's added in English on the Alt text of each image. My opinions in quotes under each.

UM?? NO NATIONAL GUARD ON PEOPLE'S PRIVATE HOMES AND RANCHES ALONG THE BORDER PLEASE.

Without ANY taxes how will government function?? Also public educators need these to have retirement because we don't contribute to or pull from Social Security?? Only Texas Teacher Retirement System?? Funded by their own incomes which come from property taxes??

Im sorry,, if you support no government having a say in private business,, private businesses should be able to decide for themselves if COVID-19 vaccines are needed to operate safely and fire people who won't do it... also Texas public schools require vaccines so that students who are immunocompromised can safely attend public school!! And Texas refuses to fund schools that offer online options to public K-12 students!! What about THEIR rights to a free and appropriate public education??

Also holy shit I know CRT has become the bogeyman?? Its not taught at all in K-12 schools?? Just read the History TEKS?? Thats literally all Texas schools have time and funds to teach?? Directly to the STAAR standardized test?? Which doesn't mention this at all? And then promote teaching American exceptionalism?? American exceptionalism is literally what is wrong with our society today?? But tbh if you support parent choice in education, if I'm a theoretical parent I should get to choose if I teach my kids Marxism if I want to lmao

They really want to completely ban abortion after fertilization even though we have the worst maternal-fetal death rate in the country and among the worst in the world, and we already have 40 foster children in the system to every available foster home... also, "God"? And the Bible says nothing about this? Separation of Church and State where??

Holy shit?? If someone is qualified you should give them a committee chairmanship regardless of party affiliation?? This is not a war between Republicans and Democrats and you're not a traitor if you try to compromise or reach across the aisle??

I thought y'all support parent choice?? Only when it supports your narrow minded views, huh? /nbh They really want to legislate helping/supporting trans kids illegal.

In addition to eliminating property taxes, y'all want to kick public schools while they're down and send what meager funds they have from the state to private schools? Also I only forsee this as ensuring the rich kids with rich parents get good education to further increase the gap between rich and poor.

HELLO??? SEPARATION OF CHURCH AND STATE????

Anyway, they're all wild.

If you're in Texas and you haven't declared your political party and agree that these are batshit insane propositions, please declare "Republican" so that you can help me vote these down.

When the election rolls around after primaries, you can vote for whoever (even Democrat), and honestly they're less likely to toss out your vote if you're a registered Republican on the outside of the envelope/ballot.

TL;DR If you're in Texas please vote in the Republican Texas primaries to ensure that Texas doesn't become more of a Trumpist dystopia

[cosmiclove-heavenstruck]

Midnight Quidditch Games | Harry Potter

Pairing: Harry Potter x Gryffindor!Reader (written with a female reader in mind, though the gender is not stated)

Wordcount: 3800 words

Warnings: none, just fluff and friends-to-lovers

Summary: Fred and George come up with the idea of hosting illegal Quidditch Games for all four houses every Friday night. Harry convinces Reader to play with him and they end up on the same broom.

a/n: No Voldemort Au, set in Harry's fifth year. English is not my native language, so there might be spelling/grammar mistakes. (Based on a headcanon by @/ murphcooper on tumblr)

Friday was my favourite day of the week, and there were two reasons for that: One, it was the start of the weekend, and two, we played Quidditch.

Up until fifth year, the most I had to do with the popular wizarding sport was cheering at the official school games for the Gryffindor team and attending the Quidditch World Cup in 1994. Then Fred and George came up with a very illegal, yet very exciting and fun idea, which was to host unofficial Quidditch games in the middle of the night that any student could attend. Whether it were First Years who could barely fly, or simple people that never made it onto their house's team, anyone was welcome.

The twins had planned it the first two months of their sixth year together with Quidditch fans from the other houses and had created lists for every common room, which wouldn't be readable by the teachers or Filch.

“It's illegal! What if something happens? What if someone gets hurt, how do you want to explain that to Dumbledore, or worse, to Professor McGonagall,” Hermione argued as soon as Fred and George had prompted their idea to us one Sunday evening.

“I'm disappointed. Do you really think we would work that sloppy?”, Fred asked.

“The house elves are in,” George explained. “Which means free food and free healthcare, all in one!”

“Awesome,” Ron said, and he should be proven right.

The only rules to attend were the duty to remain silent and to come in your pyjamas, just for the sake of it. Gryffindors and Ravenclaws would be playing against Hufflepuffs and Slytherins, Lee Jordan would be commenting as always and because Madam Hooch wasn't available, Hermione would be our judge. This was decided unanimously.

The first two games had occurred at the end of November, and they had been a complete mess. We had to raise the number of players on each team so everyone who wanted to play fit in, which led to three Keepers, six Chasers, four Beaters and two Seekers for each house. Furthermore, there had been a dozen of first years who couldn't fly yet and who had to be taught by voluntaries.

Those first two Friday nights I had spent with Lee, Hermione, Luna and Dobby on the commentary stand, cheering and eating chocolate biscuits. Once in a while, I had thrown a biscuit in the air for Harry to catch.

Because of the bone-chilling cold and pitch-black darkness brought by the Scottish winter, Fred and George had invented glass bulbs which carried bright orange, warm fire and hovered over the Quidditch pitch.

With the first Friday of December approaching, the excitement grew bigger and it was basically the only topic during every meal. Now that the rules and positions had set and the First Years could fly, we were awaiting the first serious game – as serious as playing Quidditch in pyjamas with Hermione as a judge could be.

“You have to play, too,” Harry said to me during lunch on Friday. My friends had tried all week to persuade me to play instead of only keeping Hermione company, while I had constantly declined.

“Yes, come on,” Ron agreed. “We know you can fly, you played with us this summer.”

“No, no way.” I shook my head and pulled the pumpkin juice jug closer.

“Why not?”, Harry asked, covering my glass with his hand. I raised my eyebrows, but he only grinned, which made my stomach tingle. But I glossed over the unwanted feeling and shoved his hand away.

“Because all positions are filled. And besides that, I would be a terrible Chaser,” I answered. “Or a terrible anything, really.”

“You could play as a Seeker,” Hermione suggested and poured herself a drink. “You're good at noticing details.”

“But Harry and that boy from third year are playing as Gryffindor Seeker,” I reminded her, cutting my toast in half.

“You could fly with Harry,” She said plainly. I stared at her with wide eyes. I should had known the moment I had told Hermione about my not-so-tiny crush on Harry that it had been a bad idea. Now she did what I should had expected: Trying to set me up with him.

“No, I – no.”

“But I wouldn’t mind,” Harry said. “And if you don't like it, I can drop you off at the stands again. Come on Y/N, say yes.” He nudged my shoulder, looking at me with sweetest puppy eyes. I couldn't say no to him, he knew that. I sighed.

“Fine.”

A content smile lit up on his face. “Brilliant.”

Around half past nine, we made our way out of the castle and down to the Quidditch pitch. Harry, Ron, Ginny, Fred and George, as well as a dozen other Gryffindor students had their brooms shouldered, following me and Hermione through the dimly lit corridors.

“I solemnly swear that I am up to no good,” I whispered, tapping the Marauders Map, which soon revealed Hogwarts’ grounds, ink lines flowing over the parchment. Filch was strolling around in his office, and so was Snape. McGonagall’s ink dot hovered in the East tower of the Fourth Floor. “Everything’s clear, but keep quiet,” I informed the others.

Hermione linked her arms with me.

“How are you?”, She asked, a knowing smile on her lips.

“Shut up. What was that at lunch?”

“Oh, come on, I just said what you were thinking. Everybody knows you have a thing for each other,” She said, and I quickly turned to make sure Harry was still talking to Dean and Ginny. Hermione chuckled. “I made a bet with Ginny that you will kiss after catching the Snitch together,” She added.

I swirled back around. “You what?”

“But Ginny thinks you'll snog in a broom closet afterwards.”

Before I could reply anything, Harry had caught up with us.

“What are you two whispering about?”, He asked, leaning closer so I could smell his deodorant.

“Nothing,” I said and was glad that the darkness hid my tinted cheeks. Hermione let herself fall back, leaving Harry and me alone at the front of the group.

“You're a terrible liar,” He said.

“Says you. Remember last year when we had detention with Snape –”

Harry wrapped his left arm around my shoulders, pulling me unintentionally closer, and placed his hand over my mouth to stop me from talking any further.

“You promised you'd take that to the grave.”

I grinned and pulled his hand away, though his arm stayed around me.

We made it out of the castle without any inconveniences, thanks to Peeves, who – on orders from the twins – created some chaos in the trophy room and distracted McGonagall.

We were the first to reach the pitch, and Harry unlocked the door under the stands with the key on the necklace around his neck, which led to the changing rooms and the spare brooms. Fred and George had stored the fire bulbs under a loose floorboard and were now freeing them so they could fly over the pitch. Hermione directed her wand towards the sky, sending out a Muffliato Charm, then winked at me and climbed up to the commentary stand with Lee.

In the meantime, the other houses arrived; the Hufflepuffs were followed by a tiny body of house elves carrying fast food on tablets over their heads. They spread over the stands, consorting with the students watching the game and providing them with hot meals and drinks.

“Welcome back everyone!”, Lee's voice echoed over the pitch and the crowd cheered. “And also welcome to everyone new here who wants to play or just likes to break the rules.”

“Hello from me too. We have some new players I want to introduce,” Hermione continued. “Marina Florence playing Keeper for Slytherpuff, Arthur Mitchell deputizing for Gryffinclaw’s Chaser Demelza Robbins, who is currently stationed in the hospital wing, and Y/N playing Seeker for Gryffinclaw together with Harry Potter.”

“That's ridiculous! Since when are we playing in pairs?!”, Draco yelled out of the crowd of Slytherin players.

“Since I'm making the rules, you daft idiot!”, Hermione called back, and laughing echoed over the field. Ron's language was clearly leaving a mark on her. “Now get on your brooms, everyone!”

“Make sure you don't slip off your broom in those silk pyjamas, Malfoy, ” Fred snickered loudly, and Draco held up his middle finger.

Slowly, the huge crowd of players on the pitch flew up into the air, positioning themselves on the right spots. I turned to Harry, who climbed on his broom. That was the part I had avoided to think about all afternoon: How would we fly on that thing together?

My heart drummed so loudly against my ribcage it was a miracle he couldn't hear it. We were friends, I reminded myself. And I would not ruin this friendship for the sake of some stupid feelings.

“Come on, Y/N,” Harry said, stretching out his hand. I grabbed it, and he helped me to climb onto his Firebolt, so that I was sitting in front of him. His fingers gripped around the broom stick, not very far from where I had placed my hands.

“You alright?”, He asked and I nodded.

“Brilliant,” I said, and he chuckled. He then wrapped his left arm around my waist before he kicked us off the ground and the Firebolt shot through the cold night air. My back got pressed against his chest, his knees squeezing my thighs, and out of shock, I held onto his arm around me.

I hadn't flown since last summer, and even then it had only been on Ron's old broomstick a few feet above the earth. This here was the complete opposite: Harry's Firebolt was a hundred times faster, and it barely took us three seconds to be the ones flying the highest over the stadium.

“I got you, everything's fine,” Harry said somewhere close to my ear as he had noticed my hand clenched around his arm, and a warm shiver ran down my spin. I looked down on the Quidditch pitch.

“It never looks that high when I’m down there,” I said.

“Are you afraid of heights?”, He asked, but I shook my head.

“No.” Not with you. I could feel his heart beating against my back and absently stroked over his hand on my waist, until Hermione's voice ripped me out of my thoughts.

“Okay, I want a fair game and no injuries, is that clear? And show some respect to the youngest players! Now ready, steady, GO!” With a wave of her wand, the trunk with the Quidditch balls snapped open and the Quaffle flew high into the air, followed by two Bludgers. For a short moment, I saw the Golden Snitch, then it rushed off into the darkness.

“So, what do we do now? Any secret strategies?”, I asked.

“No,” Harry answered, placing his chin on my shoulder. “We just wait and watch.”

A tingling warmth spread through my body at the subtle touch. Gently, Harry steered the broom around the pitch, while the others beneath us played.

“Katie wins the Quaffle – passes to Montgomery – Rick close to score, come on – YES, Gryffinclaw scores 10 points!”, Lee bellowed and loud applause erupted. “And Slytherpuff in possession – Blaise with the Quaffle – Josephine Gordon from Hufflepuff takes over, excellent Chaser that girl, and rather attractive – OW, I'm just stating facts!”

Hermione had smacked Lee on the back of his head.

“Anyways, Blaise in possession once again – now First Year Conan Ivory – Smith overtakes – and he scores. Ron, look at the Quaffle, not at Hermione – OW! – But Gryffinclaw still leads – Ginny overtakes – fights off some Slytherins – hey, careful Harry, Bludger coming your way –”

Harry quickly leaned over me and the Firebolt dropped a few meters, dodging the Bludger rushing over our heads. George (or Fred?) darted after the ball, calling a quick “Watch it, lovebirds!” at us, and hit the Bludger towards a Slytherin Chaser.

The other twin was close behind, shouting “Less snogging, more seeking!”

“Shut it!”, I yelled. For Merlin's sake, did everyone knew about my crush? Was it really that obvious for everyone except Harry? Not that I wanted him to find out – he would be embarrassed, he didn't think of us as anything other than friends.

Harry's arm slipped from my waist and he cleared his throat, but a broomstick did not provide much space, wherefore his chest was still pressed against my back and I could feel his rather fast heartbeat.

“Do you, uhm... want me to drop you off?”, He asked.

“Oh. Uh, no,” I said, trying to turn so I could face him, “I like it, but if you want to –”

“No! No, I just thought...” Harry’s eyes danced over my face like they had never before and we were quite close.

“ – Applebee has the Quaffle - and that's a score! Sixty to sixty!”, Lee called, and Hermione blew her silver whistle. I ripped my eyes off of Harry and looked down to the commentary stand. “Now, we’re gonna have a short break, because Dobby thinks you're gonna starve otherwise. All the first and second years are asked to go back to their dorms, because it's almost midnight – don't complain to me –”

Harry carefully steered his Firebolt back to the ground where he landed near Ron and Ginny. I climbed off and was glad to be spared an awkward conversation, because Ginny grabbed my arm and pulled me to the side of the pitch. The sudden loss of Harry's warm chest made me shiver.

“Now, have you ever thought about making out in a broom closet?”, She asked, a mischievous grin on her reddened face. I rolled my eyes at her.

“Hermione told me about the bet, so don't even try! No one's gonna make out in a broom closet,” I said.

“Except you and Harry,” Ginny replied. I opened my mouth to talk back, but was interrupted.

“What’s going on with you and Harry?” Cho had caught up to us, snatching a plate with fish and chips from a tablet an house elf carried through the crowd. “I have watched you, it's adorable, honestly.”

“First off, there's nothing to be adorable,” I said and stole a fry from her plate, “and second, you are supposed to watch the Snitch, not us.”

“So is Harry, but he only has eyes for you.” Cho smiled and tapped my nose with her finger. Ginny giggled and ate a piece of fried fish. In the same moment, Hermione breathlessly jogged up to us.

“What – were – you – waiting – for?”, She panted. I furrowed my brows.

“Huh?” Hermione sighed and shook her head.

“You were this close to kiss him, why didn't you do anything?”

“Is my love life this much more interesting the Quidditch game?!”

All three girls answered “Yes” in union.

“But he doesn't feel the same way for me!”, I argued. “We are friends –”

Ginny grabbed me by the shoulders and turned me around. “Do friends look at each other that way? I don’t think so.”

Harry stood a few feet away with Ron, Seamus and Dean, though he seemed not to listen to their conversations and instead stared over at us. At me. When he realised he had been caught, he waved shyly and almost spilled his pumpkin juice. I waved back at him before turning to the girls again, all of whom were looking temporising at me.

“Oh, I – I don't know. Even if you're right, I can't just kiss him out of nowhere on his broom.”

“No, you gotta snog him in a broom closet so I get my Galleon,” Ginny said smugly, and Hermione nudged her with her elbow and looked at her watch, before blowing her whistle again.

“Everyone back on their positions, break's over!” Then Hermione shot me a serious look. “Get the boy, we're all done of you pining over one another. Ron can get the other boys to crash somewhere else, if you need the dorm.”

“Hermione!”, I gasped, but she was already rushing back to the commentary stand.

“Good luck,” Cho said, and Ginny winked. I glared at them before making my way over to where the Gryffindor boys stood. I saw how Ron said something to Harry, patted his shoulder and flew off.

Harry turned to me, smiling. His hair was even messier than usual due to the wind, and he had put on a black hoodie over his pyjamas. He looked cute and hot at the same time, and I couldn't quite believe that he was supposed to like me back.

“Do you want to – or?”, He asked.

“Yeah,” I smiled and he got on his Firebolt, making space in front of him for me.

“Good. I mean –” He cleared his throat as I climbed on his broom. The next second, we were high up in the air, his chest against my back again.

“Okay, guys, game's on again! Go!”, Hermione shouted and waved her wand at the Quaffle, which flew upwards and was caught by Ginny instantly.

“And we're back – Katie passes the Quaffle to Valentina – She flawlessly dodges a Bludger – Back to Peters, almost made it onto the Ravenclaw team – and he scores! SEVENTY TO SIXTY.”

I took a deep breath and leaned back against Harry, watching the game unfold. He propped his chin back onto my right shoulder, like an unspoken routine.

“I think I'm gonna play again next Friday,” I said out of the blue.

“Really?”, He asked, sounding surprised. I smiled. The crowd underneath us cheered.

“Yes. If you save me a place on your broomstick.” I turned to look at him, and he smiled brightly at me. We were as close as earlier, maybe even closer. I held my breath, until I noticed something small and golden buzzing through the air behind Harry, illuminated by one of the fire bulbs.

“There!” I pointed at the Golden Snitch, and Harry's head spun around to assure himself.

“Do you trust me?”, He asked.

“Of course,” I replied. Instantly, his hand was back around my waist and he yanked the Firebolt around.

“ – Seamus throws the Quaffle to Dean – Dean passes Nott – and he scores! NINTHY TO EIGHTY FOR GRYFFINCLAW! And Potter seems to have spotted the Snitch, Draco, Cedric and Cho close behind – Come on, show them what that Firebolt can do!”, Lee's voice roared from somewhere deep down, but my eyes were glued onto the Snitch: It whirred through the ice cold December air and up to the left ring of the Slytherpuff team.

Malfoy had almost caught up to us; even though the Firebolt was the fastest broomstick on the market, it was obviously slower when carrying two people instead of one.

The Snitch twirled around the pole, then dropped down and headed for the floor. Harry followed, and now we where almost vertically flying downwards. Because of the sudden shift of direction, I swore loudly and clenched my hands tighter around the broom.

“I won't let you fall, I promise,” Harry called over air rushing past us.

“I know, but a warning would have been nice!”, I yelled back, and he chuckled.

The weight of two people on one broomstick also meant that we got dragged downwards way faster, which meant we were outdistancing Malfoy. The Golden Snitch took a sharp right turn and now buzzed two meters above the ground to the other side of the pitch.

“You have to catch it!”, Harry yelled.

“WHAT? No, I can't –”

“Yes, you can! I have to steer!” And hold you. But he did not say that. I swore under my breath and carefully loosened one hand from the broomstick, stretching it forward. The Snitch was inches away from my fingertips and I pushed myself up, Harry's grip around my mid tightening. The silver wings touched my fingers, I stretched my arm further and in the same moment my hands clasped around the tiny, golden ball, we fell forward.

“ – And that doesn't look – Oh, Potter and Y/L/N are on the ground. I can't really see, if someone caught the Snitch –”

As one tangled mess, we landed on the frozen lawn, rolling over one another and stopping with Harry half on top of me. My whole body ached and I would definitely get bruises from the fall, but that was something I could worry about later. I caught the Snitch!

“Shit, sorry, fuck. Y/N, are you alright?” Harry's face hovered over me, a bloody scratch on his cheek. I grinned happily and held up the golden ball.

“Yeah, more than alright.”

“Y/N caught the Snitch! TWOHUNDRED AND FORTY TO EIGHTY! Gryffinclaw wins!”, Lee bellowed and the crowd cheered and applauded loudly. Harry held out one hand to help me up, and I took it.

“I'm sorry, I know I promised, but I couldn't hold you any longer and –”

“Shut up.” I wrapped my arms around his neck and kissed him full on the lips. My hands found their way into his raven hair, and he hugged my waist, pulling me so tightly his fingers almost touched his own rips with the opposite hand. I kissed him, and he was kissing me back; it felt like someone had lit a firework in my heart, and for one marvellous moment, we were the only two people in the whole wide world.

Then the other players landed on the field, and we broke apart, catching our breaths. We were both grinning, and I felt drunk from the cold night and catching the Snitch and kissing Harry.

The raven haired boy bent down to kiss me once more, this time softer, and he intertwined our fingers before leading us over to our friends, where Ginny flicked a Galleon into Hermione's open hand.

“Took you long enough,” Ron said, who had both his and Harry's broomstick shouldered.

“Well, they got around in the end,” Cho added, leaning against Cedric, his chin propped on her head. “Sleepover at the Ravenclaw dorm?”, She added, and we all nodded in agreement.

While Fred, George and Lee collected the fire bulbs and Quidditch balls, and the house elves cleaned up the dirt with a snap of their fingers, we made our way back to the Hogwarts castle:

Ron alongside Hermione, followed by Seamus and Dean arm-in-arm, Cho with Cedric, one arm around her waist, Ginny carrying a tired Luna on her back, and lastly, Harry and me, holding hands.

“You know, I'm glad I agreed to play with you,” I said. Harry smiled.

“Yeah, me too.” He pressed a kiss on my cheek. In spite of the shivering cold, I had never felt more warm and comfortable than in this moment.

[charles-and-camilla-fanfictions]

Afternoon Escape

They went down to breakfast hand in hand and very late, creating a few sidewards glances and mutterings. Charles pretended not to look but he couldn’t not. Her face was flushed pink and her skin was glowing. She looked so beautiful, he could hardly see straight. Andrew was being extremely chivalrous, helping her down the last step, pulling out her chair for her, pouring water into her glass. If he didn’t know better, it looked like they’d spent the morning making love to each other. It caused more than a few sympathetic glances in his direction but he found he didn’t care. He was looking forward to the end of this holiday. To seeing her again on her own. To the parties they went to and left together. To the nightly telephone conversations. As wonderful as it was to see her every day, it wasn’t enough. Having her there and not being able to be with her was too difficult. Tomorrow, he would arrange to be different and if he ever repeated this holiday, they’d come by themselves, alone.

It was a little cloak and dagger getting on the boat. She hid her hair with a scarf to detract the inevitable attention a woman gets with gleaming blonde hair in this part of the world. And then they both walked down the rocky path to the cove and slipped into the boat. She sat opposite him at first, feeling the wind blowing her hair, untying the scarf to let it fly freely but let go of the scarf by accident. Charles caught it with one hand, smiling at her as she looked at him in shock.

“Are you going to do that with the rest of your clothing?”

“Are you going to catch it?”

“Possibly.”

“Oh, don’t tempt me. I’m not the one who will be embarrassed walking back with no clothes. You’re the one who would be mortified.”

“Darling, I never object to you wearing no clothing.”

She raised her eyebrows at him, making him giggle.

Their guide turned out to have little to no English but reasonably fluent German. That gave Charles someone to chat to about local traditions and landmarks whereas she could zone out and read her book without offending anyone.

“I swear you spoke German.”

“Not a word.”

“Surely you must have learnt at school?”

“German wasn’t exactly everyone’s language of choice in those days. Just French.”

“At boarding school, surely…”

“Darling, I wasn’t interested in learning at that age. I wasn’t like you. School was for friends and excursions and fun.”

“You went to Switzerland to that school there.”

“Finishing school? They taught me how to cook chicken and set a table.”

“You cook a very good chicken dinner.”

“I do. But it has nothing to do with school. That place was very glamorous and filled with a lot of girls just as bored as I was. I learnt nothing.”

“Then Paris?”

“Where I actually did learn French because Monsieur Boucher was a very strict teacher.”

“Which means he was very attractive.”

“Oh exceptionally so. His wife used to bring him his lunch and we’d all sigh in disappointment.”

“You couldn’t have married a butcher anyway.”

“Descendants of… anyway he was a teacher. Impassioned, impoverished, but would have made his mark on Hollywood my word… actually… the name also means executioner…”

“I’m not a big fan of them.”

“I don’t suppose you would be, Darling. But he could be Louis XXV and you’d loath the man because I dared to say he was attractive. Let me have my little crushes, Darling. I saved the big one for you.”

“How big?”

“If you fix my chair so I can lie down and sunbathe, I’ll tell you.”

It was wonderful to have so much time together. To be slightly uncomfortably in each other’s space because it felt so much better. To chatter and bicker and laugh all day. They stopped to swim and he dived off the boat, goading her until she removed her clothes and slid in with him in her bright red costume and it was so warm it felt like being in a bath. The sea was crystal clear and she put her hand in the water as the boat chugged on, savouring the feel as it whisked past. She enjoyed the picnic they shared and the tea they were obliged to try. The translations of a story their guide told and the feeling of Charles’s hand placed on her back as she lay on her stomach to dry her costume and he read her book out loud to her. As it got cooler and darker, the feel of his shirt against her skin and the familiar smell of him as she sunk against his chest filled her heart, watching the shoreline rise up from the black ink of the sea.

“He asked if we’re enjoying our honeymoon. I said we’ve been married for years and he told me I was very lucky to be so in love with my beautiful woman.”

“What did you say to that?”

“I agreed with him. I said I thank God for you every day.”

“And do you? I thought you asked for forgiveness every day?”

“I’ve stopped. How can I ask for forgiveness when I’m overcome with gratitude for my blessings. You’re my blessing.”

She kissed his cheek and rested her head on his shoulder, completely relaxed.

“Are we going to talk about what happens when we get back to the villa?”

“No.”

“Are you being an ostrich?”

“Yes.”

“Do you not think it’s going to be jarring.”

“I don’t really want to think about it. Concentrate on now.”

“We’re almost there, Darling.”

“No. We’ve got a car ride back to the villa. That’s another forty minutes with you.” But even the words made her heart sting. Counting the time down in minutes before the pretence started up again. Pretending she wasn’t in love with him. That this relationship wasn’t the most important thing in her life. That she could forget about him. Pretending to her husband that he was just some fun, a bit of excitement when he consumed her every waking thought. He stroked her arm and it made her skin ache. The knowledge that even this was not permitted. Wanting to kiss him so desperately, knowing she couldn’t. She hadn’t kissed him all day and now…

She was so quiet in the car on the way back. Their fingers entwined, stroking each other gently with a charge he knew he wouldn’t be able to shake off. The tips of her fingers pressing into his palms. Her head resting on his shoulder. This should feel exhilarating but it didn’t. They should be giggling and excited to spend the time together, looks across at each other, the occasional tacit brush against her. Neither of them felt anything other than dread.

“I can’t bare not being with you.”

He heard her words and kissed the top of her head. “Stay the night with me.”

“Okay.”

He wasn’t expecting her to agree. But it was a relief. He slipped his hand up and into her hair, bringing her face towards his. Those eyes. Those beautiful blue eyes returned his gaze with a ferocity he wasn’t prepared for and they shared one kiss which choked him with love. “I’m only happy when I’m with you.”

“I’m sorry.”

“No. I’ll take that. You’re my shot of happiness. Each time I see you. You top me up again. And life drains it away but you’re there and nothing matters as much. Nothing is quite as painful.”

“We should be together. This is so painful.”

“I’m sorry. It’s because of me we can’t. And I’m so sorry.”

“If I’d not married Andrew…”

“We just fell in love far too late.”

“You mean I did. I’m so sorry. I was so young. I thought I knew what I wanted.”

“Maybe you were right. We’d be completely different people if we’d got married then. And you’d never have seen me. You’d have been alone and lonely and I’d have left you whilst you were pregnant to go to sea and you wouldn’t have been allowed to do anything and you’d have been so stifled. It might have broken you. We needed time. And we didn’t have it. I couldn’t have asked you to wait until I was out of the navy. You’d have been thirty and still unmarried and life would have passed by without you.” Their conversation was broken by the lights from the drive leading up to the villa. He squeezed her hand and looked back at her eyes, surprised at how soft they were.

“Thank you.”

“What for?” He looked at her in surprise.

“For not blaming me.”

“It’s not your fault. If anything, it’s mine.”

She kissed him softly. “It’s not your fault. You are who you are. I love you anyway. Kiss me three times.”

“Why three?”

“Once is always just a bit of a shock. I’m not prepared. The second I can enjoy because I’m expecting it and wanting it and it’s not the last. And the last I can prepare myself for.”

“You make me laugh.” But he did what she asked anyway. She was right. The first kiss was very intense and almost hurried. The last lingered and it was difficult to pull away from. But the second was filled with every emotion he could express. He did enjoy it. Much more than the other two for knowing it wasn’t the last and without any of the tension of the first. And on that happy discovery, he got out of the car and they walked into the villa with their friends.

The welcome party was not what she would have expected. There was a tense atmosphere and they were led into an office where a member of his staff stood with her husband. Panic hit her before she could think.

“What’s happened? Tom? Laura? Are they okay?”

Andrew silenced her with a nod and a gesture to stop talking. With the immediate relief of knowing her children were okay, she calmed down. Anything else she could deal with.

“You were photographed on the boat.”

She saw Charles wince beside her.

“We need to know worse case scenario.”

“It will be nothing. Just two friends on a boat.” The immediate denial of their relationship rankled her, even though she knew it was necessary.

“Are you certain? No photo will be able to insinuate more?”

“There was nothing to photograph. We were ‘discrete’ even for friends.” She glanced at Andrew whose eyes slightly smiled at her before his face turned back to stone.

“Well I’ll put out a statement that the Prince and his friend Mrs Parker Bowles were enjoying their free time on holiday.”

“You’re not to name her.” Andrew’s voice was suddenly very stern. “Do not put my name across the tabloids. I’ll sue anyone who insinuates anything about my wife.”

“Are you sure that’s wise? People are already asking questions about the two of them.”

“Absolutely. There’s no evidence to prove my wife is having an affair with the Prince of Wales. And I’ll sue anyone who says it for slander.”

They walked back to their room together in silence, Camilla wracked with guilt. He opened the door to let her in and then surprised her by wrapping her in his arms.

“I’m so sorry.”

He sighed. “This isn’t your fault.”

“It’s not a photograph of you though.”

“Why did you start sleeping with him?”

“Which time?”

That made them both chuckle.

“The first time?”

“Because you were sleeping with his sister.”

“The next time?”

“Because you were off with someone else.”

“And this time?”

She didn’t answer. She couldn’t tell him that she’d fallen in love with him.

“I think you see my point. And I encouraged you. It’s not actually your fault.”

That eased the guilt somewhat. But only part of the guilt, and only that which she felt towards Andrew.

“What’s the likelihood of you stopping seeing him? If I asked you to please find someone else?”

She didn’t answer that one either. Just held onto him tighter.

“Milla?”

“Don’t ask me to do that. I don’t want to have to start lying to you.”

Then he kissed her and it made her cry because there was still some form of love there underneath it all and he was being so uncharacteristically nice to her and understanding. And then guilt hit her harder because he wasn’t who her heart was hurting for.

[fandommix]

The Neighbor Pt.2

Pairing: Marcus Baker x Reader

Plot: It’s Y/n and Ginny’s first day of school. Y/n is nervous as she goes to her first period class but then it goes away when she sees a familiar face in her class.

Warnings: Swearing

(A/N: Guysss I forgot to change the font when I started to write this I’m so sorry if it looks weird!! The next part won’t look as weird as this I promise 💀💀)

Mom and Austin dropped me and Ginny off at school. We both wished each other luck and headed to first period. I had English first period. My teacher is Mrs. Cambell.

I walk into class looking for a seat. I found one and sat down. A few minutes later the bell rings and who I’m presuming is the teacher, walks in.

“Hello class I hope you all had a wonderful summer. I see we have a new student in school this year. Y/n could you introduce yourself? Where are you from?” She asks. I slowly stand up so everyone can see me. I start to speak but then the door opens suddenly.

“Mr. Baker thank you for finally joining us. Right in time though, our new student is introducing herself. Y/n, go right ahead sweetheart.”

It was Marcus. My neighbor, the guy from last night. Now I know we’re the same age. He sits down at the only empty seat which just so happens to be the seat right next to mine.

“Hi I’m Y/n. I’m originally from Virginia but I just moved from Texas.” I say. That’s all I say. I’m not much of a public speaker. My sister Ginny is though.

I sit down and Mrs. Cambell starts talking about what she expects of us during the year. I couldn’t really pay attention, I felt eyes on me the whole period. I knew it was Marcus.

The period ended...finally. It felt like forever with him staring at me. I felt so awkward. I rushed out of there to go to my next class.

Half of the day passed and I thankfully didn’t have any classes with Marcus. It was right before lunch and I decided to go to my locker to put away some books. When I closed my locker door I jumped. Marcus was right there leaning against the other lockers.

“Holy shit Marcus! You scared the crap out of me!” I yelled.

“Haha I’m sorry I didn’t mean to scare you. I just wanted to talk you.” He said.

“Oh okay, it’s fine. Why did you want to talk to me?”

“Well you walked out of first period so fast, you didn’t even say hi.”

“Well I-”

I was interrupted by a girl with a bright pink jacket.

“Marcus why don’t you leave this poor girl alone and bother someone else?”

Marcus rolled his eyes and stood up straight. “See you around” he said as he left.

“I’m sorry about him he’s an asshole. I should have strangled him with the umbilical cord in the womb, I would have done a solid for humanity. I’m Maxine by the way, Max for short. You look familiar, do you have a sibling?”

I was taken aback by all the energy she has. She talks really fast. “Yah I have a twin sister Virginia but she makes everyone call her Ginny. You might know her possibly.” I said.

“Oh yah! We have the same first period. Do you wanna come to lunch with me? Your sister and my friends are having lunch together.”

I agreed to go with. I’m glad my sister found friends. She has a hard time making friends sometimes. It’s mostly because she doesn’t give any effort in trying.

At lunch Max introduces me to everyone. We all talked for a good 20 minutes and then Ginny and Max decide to go off of campus for lunch, I stay back to read. I needed some me time. Everyone else at the table left so it was just me.

Halfway through the page I was reading I saw a person sit down across from me. I look up and it was Marcus.

“Hey” I said smiling.

“Hey what’s up?” He said.

“Oh nothing much just reading, what’s up with you?”

“Nothing much just sitting here with you. You looked kinda lonely so I just wanted to give you some company.” He said with a smile.

“Oh well thanks! Max and her friends were here but then they left. Oh by the way Max told me you have a motorcycle??”

He sighed. “Yah I do...and I’m guessing you want a insta pic of you on it?”

“What? No my dad rides one. He taught me how to ride.”

He looked at me surprised. “Really!? Do you want to come over after school snd give it a spin?”

“Yah sure! That sounds really fun actually.” I said.

The rest of lunch we talked. I told him that my step father had just passed and that’s why I moved. He apologized but I told him it was fine.

At the end of lunch he walked me to my next class.

“Well, I guess I’ll see you later then” he said.

“Yah see you later. Thanks for hanging out with me Marcus. You’re not an asshole.” I said with a smile as I walked into class.

(A/N: I was watching Captain America while writing this and I kept stopping to watch cus Chris Evans is just so goddam hot. Like have y’all seen his abs...anyways, I hope y’all liked this one. New one coming on up soon so keep your eyes peeled)

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