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myloveforhergoeson · 7 days ago

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hi <3 hijacking the girl time rush au of @selangkir 's once more to help me (hopefully...) clear up my ever-growing writer's block. please enjoy :)

this is 'i got it bad' based on the title of the addison rae song of the same name though i did change a few of the lyrics to fit better! hehe

Goddamn it. I’m writing songs about her again…

The conference room of Rocque Records was the ideal place to write songs, James had discovered. If he were in the lounge or studio, the girls would always come out and bug him, if he stepped into the breakroom, the pool table Griffin installed distracted him too much, and if he dared to use Gustavo’s office, his mind was filled with visions of the night Roxy and Dak broke up.

The way that sleaze yelled at her and called her easy, the way her brilliant green eyes filled with tears she rapidly blinked away, maintaining a straight face even in the face of that monster.

But the conference room? Everyone hated meetings, so everyone stayed away, leaving it the perfect space for quiet reflection and alone time. It was even a stone's throw from the studio, so if he needed to step out and test a melody, his guitar or the grand piano were just across the hall. Though, the last time he’d played a song during working hours, Griffin had sunk his teeth into “Espresso” faster than James could even utter the word.

Looking down at the beautiful script he’d penned his newest lyric ideas in, he drew one hand down his face, pulling his cheeks as he glanced up toward the white popcorn ceiling. He was astronomically fucked. And down bad. But mostly fucked.

In the few short months since Roxy had become single, he’d tried a handful of times to ask her out, casually, just to test the waters. Coffee here, a trip to the mall there, just to make sure there actually was chemistry between them, and he hadn’t just imagined it after their dual writing session on the night of the dance.

Gustavo and Kelly always kept her, Carlota, Logan, and Kendall so busy that Roxy always had to decline.

And, there was that one time at the pool he’d finally worked up the courage to ditch the date idea and just tell her how he felt, before she accidentally cut him off, rolling into her side with a sigh and resting her cheek in her hands.

He remembered every word she’d said, locking eyes with him.

“Why am I always waiting on someone to ask me out… All it’s led to is heartbreak so far. Maybe next time, I need to make the first move.”

If Kendall were there, she would have cheered at Roxy’s statement, praising her for finally coming around to her similar point of view. She’d even boast about Jo if she could, as she did in nearly every breath since the two became official.

James had written the first line in this new song less than 30 seconds later, realizing that probably wasn’t the appropriate time to say something to her.

Now, it seemed to taunt him as he ran his finger over the purple ink one too many times.

You looked right into my eyes and it was over

It was a little rude to think that Dak and the chick from her first band had messed with her head so badly she was afraid to open her eyes and receive his love, but he’d filed her comment away as evidence of that in his mind. Since then, he’d toned down the flirting. Slightly.

“Yeah?” He’d replied, caught completely off guard by her bold statement, after shutting his book. “I like to make the first move, too, and it’s worked out perfectly so far.”

Replaying the memory in his head made him want to travel back in time and kick his own ass. Any number of things would have been better to say instead of that - telling her he was into her topping that list -but he’d chickened out, too stunned at his stupid mouth for running like that without his permission.

It always seemed to do that when he was around her.

The next line summed up their current relationship since then quite well.

I know I should walk away, but I ran closer,

‘Cause I don’t want something right down the middle

James was constantly jumping the gun when it came to relationships, Dak Zevon: Case and point. But that didn’t mean he wasn’t aware of how that usually worked out for him. In Minnesota, he’d have dates every other week, leading to good times and fast expiration dates; Since arriving in Hollywood, he’d similarly sustained nothing meaningful. He’d never been a “something built to last” kind of guy, but in the last few months, he’d wake up thinking about Roxy in the morning and go to bed dreaming about her in the night.

If that meant he’d need to wait for her to realize he was the guy of her dreams, that was just how it would have to be - Which led James to realize the first line in his killer chorus: Damn, I’ve got it bad.

At the very least, after the “Espresso” incident, he’d learned to pad his songs with filler lines much better. While the song, to him, was very obviously about his poorly disguised crush, James did better at making the lines just vague enough that they could apply to anything.

He’d even rehearsed his lies, just in case she’d ask him who it was about like she had when they’d talked about the last single during Roxy’s emergency dance practice.

Everything was perfect this time around.

“An old partner,” Rolled off the tongue easily.

Just like, “Something I saw on TV the other day.”

Or, “Logan and Camille.”

As long as he could utter out anything besides, “Who else could I have it bad for, Roxanne? You. They’re all about you,” James would be just fine.

Dropping his pen on the table with a huff, he ran a worried hand through his hair. If he kept this bottled up much longer, his perfect, natural brunette color might quickly turn grey.

Dyeing my hair every four weeks would only cause more damage than it’d be worth-

The handle on the door to the conference room rattled, pulling James from his thoughts as he jumped in the plush chair before turning toward the sound.

Barreling in came Roxy, using her elbow to push the handle down with two large drinks from the coffee shop around the corner clutched in her hands. Her eyes frantically swept the room, until they landed on James at the end of the large conference table, and the biggest grin he’d ever seen lit up her face.

“There you are!” A slight huff in her speech, like she was out of breath, caught him off guard almost as much as the fact that she had been searching for him. “This room is, like, the only place I hadn’t searched yet.”

As she padded over to him, careful to keep the drinks steady in her hands, James didn’t know where to look first; His eyes drew in about four different directions every time she entered a room, from her beautiful features to her thrifted clothing, but most often, off to the side so she wouldn’t catch him staring.

Today though, he noticed the small, gray dots on her white Buzzcocks t-shirt and the slight curl in her long locks - The same way her hair started to dry after an afternoon of being in the pool.

Painstakingly, he was able to tear his gaze away from her to glance out at the large floor-to-ceiling windows behind him.

What had been a sunny, blue Los Angeles sky that morning had turned into a miserable mess of puffy gray storm clouds rolling in from the East. Fat drops of water lazily fell from above, many landing on the large panes of glass and streaking down, down, down to the sidewalk below.

James’ chest tightened as he turned back to her.

“It’s raining,” He expertly stated as she set the cup in her right hand beside the pages he’d been writing on, even though he had wanted to say something along the lines of “You ran all the way to the coffee shop for me? In this weather?”

That would have been much cooler; The suave line he’d be able to land on any other girl… He just couldn’t seem to think straight whenever Roxy was around.

Wheels squeaking as she pulled the chair beside him, the singer fell into the seat with a huff, pushing some damp hair out of her eyes. They flickered to his songbook for a moment before immediately tearing away, gaze now boring a hole into the side of his cup.

From the sharpie scribbled onto the cup, it looked like she’d gotten his go-to, a skinny vanilla latte with nonfat milk and sugar-free vanilla syrup, and he tried to wrack his brain to remember when the last time they’d been to a coffee shop together had been.

In the Duluth airport… The day we flew out to Los Angeles?

James couldn’t dwell on it for long, not when he noticed the barista had written something extra on the cup underneath the drink instructions.

Ur cute, call me? :)

Seeing the hastily written phone number beneath almost made the cheap plastic of the cup crumple in his grasp as he reached out to take a sip.

“That it is,” Roxy casually replied, waving a hand up and down gesturing to her wet clothing. “Mr. X called Gustavo and said we were ‘x-ceptionally’ stupid if we thought he’d be driving to work in this weather so he canceled our dance practice.”

Nodding along with her words, James found himself already chewing on the orange and purple plastic straw to calm his rapid breathing. When she swiveled back and forth in the chair like that, their knees would brush every so often.

If she noticed, she didn’t mention it as she continued, “Kelly said she wanted to tell you earlier, but you were working so hard on the song she didn’t want to disturb you. Plus, I figured you were super craving something from Drinkin’ since you kept asking if I wanted to go sometime.”

Roxy toyed with the cup in her hands, spinning it a few times before gesturing to his drink and adding, “Just think of it as an apology and a thank you.”

James blinked. “For what?”

To his credit that was much better than asking “What could an angel among men like you have to apologize for?” but the thought certainly crossed his mind.

“An apology for all those times I blew you off because of work,” Roxy confessed, resting her cheeks in her hands. James might have been crazy but he was pretty sure he wasn’t imagining the splotches of pink forming in the gaps of her fingertips. “And a thank you for keeping me employed.”

When she winked, he was pretty sure his heart stopped.

Their unsure eyes locked for a few seconds too long, leaving both of them to quickly look in opposite directions. Roxy crossed her legs and cleared her throat, while James picked up his pen, pretending to bury his nose in his book.

Though the alarm bells started going off in his brain the moment the thought “show her what you’re working on” crossed his mind, James’ soul momentarily left his body, as he heard himself say, “Well, if that’s the case, what do you think of this one?”

An outside force controlled his hands, pushing the book in front of her and pushing him to lean back in his chair as she read over the notes he had for the concept of the song and lyrics. Every second she took to internalize what he’d written felt like an eternity, though he was able to take the time to selfishly take in the perfect silhouette of her face as she bent down over the page.

At one point, she’d brought her finger to the music staff he’d written, tracing her fingers over the notes he’d written down, humming the lyrics to the tune he’d created, and James briefly considered never, ever showing the song to anyone else. Letting that clip live in his memory and his memory alone was growing far too enticing…

“Are you open to collaborating?” She asked, breaking their no-talking streak and bringing the boy out of his head, and back to the present. “I’ve got a few lines I think fit nicely in the second verse.”

Before he’d even finished nodding, she reached his way to grab the pen he’d been death-gripping. James' skin burned from where their fingers brushed before slowly freezing as she quickly pulled her hand away.

As the ball-point hit the paper, she slowly spoke as she wrote out each word, “He looks like the boy-next-door from my boyband poster, but he drives like a maniac in his old-school roadster…”

The keys to the Pontiac GTO had never weighed more than in that moment, settling in his front pocket.

“Oh! And um, I was thinking” She gasped, using her free hand to grip the armrest of his chair and pull him in closer so they could both see the page. “This verse… could go… here instead!”

The way their thighs connected left a shockwave startling up his spine. A move so casual and effortless left him trying to mask how he was gasping for air, only to inhale such a strong whiff of her floral perfume he was sure he’d start growing roses from his lungs any moment now.

Something was happening; James was sure of it. The drink had been one thing, but the lyrics she’d come up with for the song were something entirely different. Was it so far out of line to think he belonged on a boyband poster hanging up on her wall? And he did drive like a maniac - Something she’d told him over and over again as he drove her and the rest of the girls through the tangled Los Angeles streets. Then she’d pulled him closer, her touch straight-up electrifying!

And her hand was shaking - shaking - before she put the pen back to the page, a slight tremor in her voice as her voice dropped to a whisper. “He’s what I want, I could just cry… He’s what I want, give me a sign…”

It was impossible to miss the way she sucked in a large breath of air through her nose, holding it in her expanded chest and her eyes squeezed shut before she let it out through her mouth.

The same breathing technique she’d use to calm her nerves before hitting the stage.

Like he’d stared into the sun for too long, James’ eyes darted back to his cup, the image of Roxy burned into his retinas as he blinked and tried to calm his own breathing. The stupid note below his thumb was doing nothing to help sort out the mess of his mind until he felt the words falling from his lips.

“You’re not going to call that barista, are you, Roxy?”

As she shook her head, James wondered how long it would take an EMT to reach the top floor of Rocque Records, should he fall into cardiac arrest in the next few seconds.

“No.”

The soft patter of rain hitting the window filled the room, along with the sound of his heart pounding in his ears. “Why not?”

Her words nearly caught in her throat. “Don’t make me say it.”

Not even a second later, Roxy’s cheeks were in his hands and James was dragging her lips toward his.

Tentative and hasty were two words he would have never thought went together, but that was before he felt Roxy’s fingers tangle into his hair, nails raking against his scalp as she tried to pull him even closer than he already was, kissing him back with just as much fervor.

Oh, James, what have you gotten yourself into? He thought, eliciting a satisfied sigh from the singer, one that vibrated through his own body. The flesh on his arms raised, sending a wave of goosebumps prickling down his skin.

They’d only broken apart to catch another breath before diving back for more before the songwriter felt the massive grin spreading across Roxy’s face beneath his palms.

Shifting one hand to the back of her neck, he used the other to push a few stray strands of hair out of her face and pretended the slight way in which she was panting didn’t rile him up in the slightest.

“What’s that for?” He asked, not bothering to wait for an answer before he brought his mouth to the corner of hers, kissing one side before moving to the other.

But she wasn’t satisfied with that alone, managing to graze his skin again, trailing a path of kisses all across his cheeks until she brought her lips to his ear, sharing, “I’m so glad practice was canceled today.”

Warmth bloomed in his chest, quietly telling him that the expression on his face was likely mirroring her own. If they were both free for the rest of the day, nothing was stopping him from taking her on a date - a proper date - that evening, but for now, all he wanted was to stay tucked away in the conference room together before getting to share Roxy with the rest of the world.

It was easy to stand, pulling Roxy out of her seat before effortlessly lifting her onto the large, long conference table. The squeal she let out from that action alone was music to his ears.

Last-minute plans be damned; They were spending the entire rest of the afternoon in the conference room if he had anything to say about it.

“Me too, songbird,” He told her in between a few more kisses, only to make her giggles grow even louder. “Me too.”

#mhm... yeah... i'm gonnga write rames falling in love a million different ways okay?... okay!#thats all she wrote fic #girl time rush au

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wulfhalls · 10 months ago

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I just wanted, if possible, to hear your thoughts on my DREAM absolute worst Dune fancast

Paul - Noah Centineo

Chani - Camila Morrone

Leto and Jessica - Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez (their acting is the same as in Gigli)

Alia - Joey King

Baron - James Corden

Rabban - Ryan Gosling (same acting as in Barbie)

Feyd Rautha - Harry Styles (wearing this outfit: https://www.stern.de/lifestyle/leute/grammys-2023--die-outfits-von-harry-styles-und-co--auf-dem-roten-teppich-33169854.html )

Piter - Owen Wilson (hw says "wow" every 10 seconds of his 5 minute screentime)

Irulan - Sabrina Carpenter

Shaddam - Nicolas Cage (makeup and outfit from Reinfield)

Gurney - Sylvester Stalone

Thufir Hawatt - Russel Crowe

Duncan Idaho - Dwayne Johnson

Dr Yueh - Ke Huy Quan (I love him sm, but the thought of him being decapitated by James Corden is sending me)

Stilgar Kynes - Pedro Pascal

Liet Kynes - Gal Gadot

Shadout Mapes - Emma Stone in Poor Things

Jamis - Joseph Quinn (with Stranger Things wig)

Hasimir Fenring - Leonardo Di Caprio (same hairstyle as in the beginning of KotFM)

Margot Fenring - Addison Raye (she's 23)

Gaius Helen Mohiam - Jennifer Coolidge

me just going thru the list nodding in approval but then u hitting me with jennifer coolidge as the reverend mother gaius helen mohiam. truly inspired. phenomenal even. remember when they used to make those low budget parody movies of blockbusters? scary movie esque dune parody with this exact cast but especially jennifer coolidge.

noah!paul: haha omg what's in that box..... omg and then what 😆😝😜

jennifer!mohiam: PAIN

#thank u for including costume choices and lil directorial notes. really brings this thing alive <3 #dune #dunetwo #asks #also can i just say. i deeply dislike joey king. badly her face makes me angry in the same way nicholas galitzines does

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hollywoodfamerp · 1 year ago

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Pack your bags, Famers! Our annual winter trip is taking place in Ireland! On February 17th, all celebrities will be arriving at the Adare Manor to kick off our trip! Named the #1 resort in Europe in 2023, Adare Manor sits on 840 acres of pristine parkland.

"It’s prestige without pretense and magic without nonsense. Above all, it is the sense of belonging. You are known. You are family. You are home."

UNDER THE CUT, YOU’LL FIND THE LIST OF ROOMMATES!

Unless we got a message from you telling us you wanted to be with a specific person or were not in the ships list - you were included in the generator. If you do not see your FCs name on this list, please message us POLITELY and let us know - sometimes a name gets missed getting put into the generator. We’re human and it happens! At the same time, if your FC is on there twice by any chance then please let us know. Again, mistakes happen. As we accept new applications and people come into the group before AND during the event, this list will be updated. Same will go for if people get unfollowed or ask to leave the group. We posted the pairings in advance so that you may reach out to your roommate and get new interactions going! Even if a mun is on hiatus, be sure to reach out to them so that you can see if you can head-canon some interactions or plan for something when they are off hiatus. All trips are to encourage new interactions and unlikely connections!

PLEASE LIKE THIS NOTICE WHEN YOU HAVE READ IT AND SO THAT YOU CAN KEEP TRACK OF THE LIST UPDATES!

Addison Timlin & Sabrina Carpenter

Akanishi Jin & Lee Sunmi

America Ferrera & Ben Feldman

Andrew Garfield & Elizabeth Lail

Angourie Rice & Chris Evans

Anne Hathaway & Jenna Coleman

Ariana DeBose & Mason Mount

Ashton Irwin & Ariana Grande

Awsten Knight & Miley Cyrus

Bae Joohyun (Irene) & Dove Cameron

Barbara Palvin & Maxence Danet-Fauve

Beyonce Knowles & Chloe Bailey

Brie Larson & Brittany Baker

Callum Turner & Chace Crawford

Camila Morrone & Jessica Chastain

Cari Fletcher & Victoria de Angelis

Carrie Underwood & Gigi Hadid

Cate Blanchett & Ellie Bamber

Cha Eunwoo & Glen Powell

Choi Minho & Kim Ahyoung (Yura)

Choi San & Danielle Campbell

Choi Soobin & Rylee Arnold

Cody Christian & Lucy Hale

Colby Lopez (Seth Rollins) & Rebecca Quin (Becky Lynch)

Danny Amendola & Olivia Culpo

Demi Bennett (Rhea Ripley) & Ashley Fliehr (Charlotte Flair)

Dua Lipa & Joseph Quinn

Emma Stone & Chris Daughtry

Ethan Torchio & Damiano David

Florence Pugh & Cillian Murphy

Gareth Southgate & Byun Baekhyun

Harry Kane & Charlie Hunnam

Harry Styles & Mazz Murray

Hayley Williams & Luke Hemmings

Hwang Hyunjin & Bang Chan

Jackson Wang & Chittaphon Leechaiyapornkul (Ten)

Jamie Campbell Bower & Jonathan Good (Jon Moxley)

Jenna Ortega & Halle Bailey

Joey King & Nick Robinson

Josephine Skriver & Aaron Taylor-Johnson

Jung Yoonoh (Jaehyun) & Lee Taeyong

Kang Seulgi & Jung Wooyoung

Kelsea Ballerini & Joe Keery

Kendall Jenner & Liam Hemsworth

Kim Hongjoong & Diamanté Quiava Valentin Harper (Saweetie)

Kim Jisoo & Christian Yu

Kim Mingyu & Sana Minatozaki

Kit Connor & Gong Jichul (Gong Yoo)

Kylie Jenner & Christina Aguilera

Lauren Jauregui & Bill Skarsgard

Leati Joseph Anoa'i (Roman Reigns) & Rosie Huntington-Whiteley

Lee Felix & Dakota Johnson

Lee Jeno & Na Jaemin

Lee Taemin & Kim Jongin

Leigh-Anne Pinnock & Alycia Debnam-Carey

Lily James & David Tennant

Logan Lerman & Jeon Jungkook

Louis Tomlinson & Phoebe Bridgers

Lucas Wong & Kim Jungwoo

Lupita Nyong'o & Tessa Thompson

Billie Eilish & Ryan Gosling

Madelyn Cline & Chase Stokes

Maika Monroe & Dylan O'Brien

Mark Lee & Lee Donghyuck (Haechan)

Min Yoongi & Kim Namjoon

Niall Horan & Matt Smith

Nicholas Galitzine & Taylor Zakhar Perez

Nick Jonas & Selena Gomez

Nina Dobrev & Sofia Carson

Pamela Martinez (Bayley) & Mercedes Justine Varnado (Sasha Banks)

Park Seonghwa & Lewis Pullman

Pete Davidson & Naomi Scott

Renee Paquette (Renee Young) & Taylor Swift

Renee Rapp & Olivia Cooke

Ross Lynch & Anya Taylor-Joy

Sam Claflin & Riley Keough

Samantha Gibb & Sydney Sweeney

Saoirse Ronan & Jack Lowden

Sarah Paulson & Jessica Lange

Sebastian Stan & Margot Robbie

Tom Hardy & Elizabeth Olsen

Tom Holland & Natalia Dyer

Tony Goldwyn & Megan Jovon Ruth Pete (Megan Thee Stallion)

Travis Kelce & Romee Strijd

Troian Bellisario & Joshua Hong

Vanessa Hudgens & Matthew Macfadyen

Wong Kunhang (Hendery) & Jensen Ackles

Xiao Dejun (Xiaojun) & Yoo Jimin (Karina)

Xu Minghao & Noah Beck

Yoo Bora & Joe Burrow

Yoo Siah (Yooa) & Kim Minjeong (Winter)

Zac Efron & Sophie Turner

Zendaya Coleman & Paul Mescal

Zoey Deutch & Dacre Montgomery

Zoë Kravitz & Lili Reinhart

#hollywoodfameevent #hfrpireland

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thoughtfulfangirling · 1 year ago

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2024 Reads

Another human invented marker of time has passed moving us from one year to the next. It's a good reason to start over my lists right?! XD 2023's list can be found here! 2024 starts below!

You Made a Fool out of Death with Your Beauty - Awaeke Emezi

Pussypedia: A Comprehensive Guide^ - Zoe Mendelson & Maria Conejo

The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek -Kim Michele Richardson

Meru - S.B. Divya

The Cadaver King and the Country Dentist: A True Story of Injustice in the American South^ by Radley Balko & Tucker Carrington

Watching the Tree: A Chinese Daughter Reflects on Happiness, Tradition, and Spiritual Wisdom^ - Adeline Yen Mah

On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous - Ocean Vuong

The Last Days of the Romanovs: Tragedy at Ekaterinburg^ - Helen Rappaport]

Pride and Prejudice* - Jane Austen

Fresh Girl - Jaida Placide

Butts: A Backstory^ - Heather Radke

The Girl Who Chased the Moon - Sarah Addison Allen

The Silent Patient - Alex Michaelides

The Blue Sword - Robin McKinley

In the Heart of the Sea: The Tragedy of the Whaleship Essex^ - Nathaniel Philbrick

A Wicked War: Polk, Clay, Lincoln and the 1846 U.S. Invasion of Mexico^ - Amy S. Greenberg

This Nonviolent Stuff'll Get You Killed: How Guns Made the Civil Rights Movement Possible^ - Charles E. Cobb Jr.

This Is Your Mind on Plants^ - Michael Pollan

The Silent Patient*~ - Alex Michaelides

Finding Me^ - Viola Davis

Wuthering Heights# - Emily Bronte

Exit Strategy~ - Martha Wells

The Girls Who Went Away:^ The Hidden History of Women Who Surrendered Children for Adoption in the Decades before Roe V. Wade - Ann Fessler

Bowling Alone:^ The Collapse and Revival of American Community - Robert D. Putnam

Fugitive Telemetry%~ - Martha Wells

The History of Wales^*% - History Nerds

The War on Everyone^% ~- Robert Evans

Searching for Black Confederates:^ The Civil War's Most Persistent Myth - Kevin M. Levin

The Great Influenza:* The Story of the Deadliest Pandemic in History [2004] by John M. Barry

Network Effect~ - Martha Wells

Zelda Popkin:^ The Life and Times of an American Jewish Woman Writer - Jeremy D Popkin

The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay - Michael Chabon

Medical Apartheid:^ The Dark History of Medical Experimentation on Black Americans from Colonial Times to the Present - Harriet A Washington

The Assassination of Fred Hampton:^ How the FBI and the Chicago Police Murdered a Black Panther - Jeffrey Haas

The Death of Vivek Oji - Awaeke Emezi

Mutual Aid:^% Building Solidarity in This Crisis (And the Next) - Dean Spade

Passin' Through - Luis L'Amour

The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store - James McBride

Never Let Me Go - Kazuo Ishiguro

Histories of the Transgender Child^ - Jules Gill-Peterson

Birdseye: The Adventures of a Curiosu Man^ - Mark Kurlansky

When I Fell from the Sky:^ The True Story of One Woman's Miraculous Survival - Juliane Koepcke

Dear Senthuran:^ A Black Spirit Memoir - Akwaeke Emezi

Emma* by Jane Austen

Lud-in-the-Mist - Hope Mirrlees

Woman:^ The American History of an Idea - Lillian Faderman

System Collapse - Martha Wells

A Dark and Starless Forest - Sarah Hollawell

The Will to Change: Men, Masculinity, and Love^% - Bell Hooks

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks^ - Rebecca Skloot

Charity and Sylvia: A Same-Sex Marriage in Early America^ -Rachel Hope Cleves

The Gay Revolution: The Story of the Struggle^ - Lillian Faderman

The Woman in Me^ - Brittany Spears

Reclaiming Two-Spirits: Sexuality, Spiritual Renewal & Sovereignty in Native America^ - Gregory Smithers

Being Huemann: An Unrepentant Memoir of Disability Rights Activist^ - Judith Huemann

The Unthinkable: Who Survives When a Disaster Strikes and Why^ - Amanda Ripley

The Writing of the Gods: The Race to Decode the Rosetta Stone^ - Edward Dolnick

Utopia for Realists:^ How We Can Build the Ideal World - Rutger Bregman

The Echo Wife - Sarah Gailey

To Believe in Women:^ What Lesbians Have Done for America - Lillian Faderman

Priory of the Orange Tree - Samantha Shannon

Tribe:^% On Homecoming and Belonging - Sebastian Junger

Freedom^% - Sebastian Junger

Our Wives Under the Sea - Julia Armfield

Nonviolence: 25 Lessons from the History of a Dangerous Idea% - Mark Kurlansky

Bridehead Revisited# - Evelyn Waugh

The Witch Elm - Tana Frencyh

Rosemary's Baby by Ira Levin

HumanKind: A Hopeful History - Rutger Bregman^

Autumn at the Willow River Guesthouse - C.P Ward

From Here to Eternity: Traveling the World Find the Good Death^ - Caitlin Doughty

A Study in Drowning - Ava Reid

The Turn of the Screw - Henry James

Gideon the Ninth* - Tamsyn Muir

See What I Have Done - Sarah Schmidt

Plain Bad Heroines* - Emily M Danforth

Tell Me I'm Worthless - Alison Rumfitt

On Killing:^ The Psychological Cost of Learning to Kill in War and Society - Dave Grossman

Camp Damascus - Chuck Tingle

The Merry Spinster: Tales of Everyday Horror - Daneil M. Lavery

The Night Gardener - Jonathan Auxier

The World of Lore: Wicked Mortals^ - Aaron Mahnke

The Willows% - Algernon Blackwood

Scary Stories 3: More Tales to Chill Your Bones% - Alvin Schwartz

The Motion of Puppets - Keith Donohue

The Legend of Sleepy Hollow% - Washington Irving

Wisconsin's Ghosts^ - Sherry Strub

Trauma and Recovery^: The Aftermath of Violence—from Domestic Abuse to Political Terror - Judith Lewis Herman

An Enchangment of Ravens - Margaret Rogerson

Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell* - Susanna Clark

Portrait of a Thief - Grace D. Li

The Five^: The Untold Lives of the Women Killed by Jack the Ripper - Hallie Rubenhold

Countrymen: The Untold Story of How Denamrk's Jews Escaped the Nazis, of the Courage of their Fellow Danes^ - and the Extrondinary Role of the SS - Bo Lidegaard

The Road to Jonestown^: Jim Jones and the Peoples Temple - Jeff Guinn

The Scary Book of Christmas Lore^ - Tim Rayborn

On Tyranny^: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century - Timothy Snyder

The Old Magic of Christmas:^ Yuletide Traditions for the Darkest Days of the Year - Linda Raedisch

Harrow the Ninth~* - Tamsyn Muir

The Hogfather - Terry Pratchett

12 Days at Bleakly Manor - Michelle Greip

Christmas Truce: The Western Front December 1914^ - Malcolm Brown & Shirley Seaton

Midnight Never Come* - Marie Brennan

Behind the Scenes:^ Or, Thirty Years a Slave, and Four Years in the White House - Elizabethy Keckley

Key: * = Reread ^ = Nonfiction ~ = Read with Empty % = Novella #= Doc book club

My goal for 2024 is for 40% of my reads to be nonfiction. I've had two years within the recent past where I managed 20% of my reads to be nonfiction, so I'm aiming to double that.

Okay, below the cut I'm putting the nonfiction books on my tbr, most of which I have the lovely people of Tumblr to thank for the recommendations!

1968: The Year that Rocked the World

The Age of Wood; Our Most Useful Material...

The Assassination of Fred Hampton

Behind the Scenes: Or, Thirty Years a Slave and Four Years in the...

Being Human

The Big Oyster: History on the Half Shelf

Birdseye: The Adventures of a Curious Man

Bowling Alone

Brave the Wild: The Untold Story of Two Women Who Mapped...

Butts: A Backstory / Evermore Recommended

The Cadaver Kin and the Country Dentist / Automatuck9

Charity and Sylvia: A Same-Sex Marriage in Early America

Dancing in the Glory of Monsters: The Collapse...

Dear Senthuran

DisneyWar

Driven to Distraction: Recognizing and Coping with...

Finding Me (Viola Davis)

The Five: The Untold Lives of the Women Killed...

The Food of a Younger Land

The Girls Who Went Away: The Hidden History of Women...

The Glass Universe

The Great Hunger: The Story of the Famine...

The Great Influenza

Helping Her Get Free: A Guide for Families and Friends of an Abused Woman

The History of Ireland

The History of Scotland

The History of Wales

How to Hide an Empire: A History of the Greater United States

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks

The Indifferent Stars Above

In the Heart of the Sea / ecouterbien

In the Wake of the Plague: The Black Death...

The Last Days of the Romanovs / Automatuck9

Manhunt: The 12-Day Chase for Lincoln's Killer

Medical Apartheid: The Dark History of Medical...

Mutual Aid: Building Solidarity During the Crisis...

A New World Begins

Nonviolence: The History of a Dangerous...

This Nonviolent Stuff'll Get you Killed / Empty

Radium Girls

The Road to Jonestown

Paper: Paging through History

Pussypedia / Bookstagram Rec

Salt: A World History

Say Nothing

Sea Biscuit: An American legend

Searching for Black Confederates

This is Your Mind on Plants

Unmasking Autism

The Unthinkable: Who Survives when Disaster Strikes - And Why

Watching the Tree / found all by my little self

We Wish to Inform You that Tomorrow we Will be Killed...

A Wicked War: Polk, Clay, Lincoln and the.. / Rose

The Writing of the Gods: The Race to Decode the Rosetta...

#tfg reads #2024 Reading List #Books #tbr #Do I usually wait until I actually have more than one book read?#Uh yeah woops haha #Ah well I was eager to get my goal written to hold myself accountable #I'm really enjoying pussypedia!#So a promising start #I also have a silent private goal of some other nonfiction I want to get to #but it's going to be especially hard so that will wait to see if I can even get started XD #la de da #silly tfg #reading #my reading index

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spicebiter · 6 months ago

Text

Reading List (Latest Update Nov. 6, 2024)

The full list of books I'm interested in reading. Spoiler before you open the read-more: This list has 500+ entries so it's a tad long.

I'm pretty much constantly adding things to all of my lists- hence why I'm amending when this was last updated to the title itself- and will update this post anytime I update the wheel I use to randomize my next choice, which usually happens after I've added or subtracted a significant number of options.

Beowulf

Norton Anthology of Theory and Criticism; Third Edition

The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams

Watership Down by Richard Adams

The Goblin Emperor by Katherine Addison

Friday Black by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah

Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? by Edward Albee

Monsieur Proust by Celeste Albaret

The Five People You Meet in Heaven by Mitch Albom

Tuesdays With Morrie by Mitch Albom

Little Women by Louisa May Alcott

The Kitchen Boy by Robert Alexander

Brick Lane by Monica Ali

The Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri

Daughter of Fortune by Isabel Allende

The House of the Spirits by Isabel Allende

Eva Luna by Isabel Allende

The City in the Middle of the Night by Charlie Jane Anders

Andersen’s Fairy Tales by H.C Andersen

I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou

Animorphs Series by K.A Applegate

Our Wives Under the Sea by Julia Armfield

Mostly Dead Things by Kristen Arnett

I, Robot by Isaac Asimov

Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood

Emma by Jane Austen

Mansfield Park by Jane Austen

Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen

Oracle Night by Paul Auster

Bunny by Mona Awad

Borderline by Mishell Baker

If Beale Street Could Talk by James Baldwin

Just Above My Head by James Baldwin

Crash by J.G Ballard

North American Lake Monsters by Nathan Ballingrud

Cousin Betty by Honore de Balzac

The Language of Thorns by Leigh Bardugo

Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo

I’m With the Band by Pamela Des Barres

The Beautiful Thing That Awaits Us All by Laird Barron

Gateways to Abomination by Matthew M. Bartlett

Simulacra and Simulation by Jean Baudrillard

The Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum

Cinderella is Dead by Kalynn Bayron

The Stone in the Skull by Elizabeth Bear

Waiting For Godot by Samuel Beckett

Memoirs of a Dutiful Daughter by Simone De Beauvoir

The Second Sex by Simone De Beauvoir

Art of Fiction by Walter Besant and Henry James

Pushkin; A Biography by T.J Binyon

The Etched City by K.J Bishop

The Cruel Prince by Holly Black

The Atlas Six by Olivie Blake

Out of Africa by Karen Blixen

In the Vanisher’s Palace by Aliette De Bodard

Wake of Vultures by Lila Bowen

Vengeance Road by Erin Bowman

The Ends of the World by Peter Brannen

My Sister, the Serial Killer by Oyinkan Braithwaite

Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte

Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte

Angels and Demons by Dan Brown

A Song of Wraiths and Ruin by Roseanne A. Brown

Sonnets From The Portuguese by Elizabeth Barrett Browning

The Shockwave Rider by John Brunner

The Serpent and the Rose by Kathleen Bryan

Helter Skelter by Vincent Bugliosi and Curt Gentry

Notes of a Dirty old Man by Charles Bukowski

Between Two Fires by Christopher Buehlman

The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov

A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess

Pontypool Changes Everything by Tony Burgess

Song of the Simple Truth by Julia de Burgos

A Little Princess by Frances Hodgson Burnett

The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett

Gender Trouble by Judith Butler

Parable of the Sower Octavia E. Butler

American Predator by Maureen Callahan

A Most Wanted Man by John Le Carre

Through the Woods by Emily Carrol

In Cold Blood by Truman Capote

The Vorrh by B. Catling

Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes

The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay by Michael Chabon

The City of Brass by SA Chakraborty

The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet by Becky Chambers

Moliere Biography by H.C Chatfield-Taylor

The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer

The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky

Journey to the West by Wu Cheng-en

Wicket Fox by Kat Cho

The Awakening by Kat Chopin

Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie

The Bone Witch by Rin Chupeco

Finna by Nino Cipri

The Divinity Student by Michael Cisco

The Black God’s Drums by P. Djeli Clark

Pranesi by Susanne Clarke

Parasite by Darcy Coates

The Meaning of Consuelo by Judith Ortiz Cofer

Swimming With Giants by Anne Collet

The Adventures of Pinocchio by Carlo Collodi

Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad

Labyrinth Lost by Zoraida Cordova

Dark Matter by Blake Crouch

Inherit the Wind by Linda Cushman

Plain Bad Heroines by Emily M. Danforth

Dreadnought by April Daniels

The Devourers by Indra Das

Fifth Business by Robertson Davies

The Child Finder by Rene Denfeld

The Red Tent by Anita Diamant

Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep by Philip K. Dick

A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens

Great Expectations by Charles Dickens

Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens

Collected Poems of Emily Dickinson

The Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion

Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky

The Possessed by Fyodor Dostoyevsky

The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

Escaping Exodus by Nicky Drayden

An American Tragedy by Theodore Dreiser

House of Sand and Fog by Andre Dubus III

The Bielski Brothers: The True Story of Three Men Who Defied the Nazis, Built a Village in the Forest, and Saved 1,200 Jews by Peter Duffy

The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas

The Man in the Iron Mask by Alexandre Dumas

The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas

Ella Minnow Pea by Mark Dunn

The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco

A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius by Dave Eggers

Nickel and Dimed by Barbara Ehrenreich

This is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone

Less Than Zero by Bret Easton Ellis

The Collected Stories by Welty Eudora

Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides

The Virgin Suicides by Jeffrey Eugenides

Introducing Evolutionary Psychology by Dylan Evans and Oscar Zarate

A Collapse of Horses by Brian Evenson

The Crimson Petal and the White by Michel Faber

The Wretched of the Earth by Frantz Fanon

What Ever Happened to Baby Jane by Henry Farrell

As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner

Sanctuary by William Faulkner

The Sound and the Fury by William Faulkner

The Faceless Old Woman Who Secretly Lives In Your Home by Joseph Fink and Jeffrey Cranor

It Devours! by Joseph Fink and Jeffrey Cranor

Welcome to Night Vale by Joseph Fink and Jeffrey Cranor

Time and Again by Jack Finney

Tender is the Night by F. Scott Fitzgerald

Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert

Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn

Everything is Illuminated by Jonathan Safran Foer

Johnny Tremain by Esther Hoskins Forbes

The Good Soldier by Ford Madox Ford

A Passage to India by E.M Forster

The Diary of Anne Frank

Lies (and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them) by Al Franken

River of Teeth by Sarah Gailey

Upright Women Wanted by Sarah Gailey

Good Omens by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett

Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman

At Fear’s Altar by Richard Gavin

Count Zero by William Gibson

The Miracle Worker by William Gibson

Neuromancer by William Gibson

Howl and Other Poems by Allen Ginsberg

The Empress of Forever by Max Gladstone

Dead Souls by Nikolai Vasilievich Gogol

Lord of the Flies by William Golding

Marathon Man by William Goldman

These Violent Delights by Chloe Gong

The Nature of Witches by Rachel Griffin

Grimm’s Fairy Tales by Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm

My Life in Orange by Tim Guest

The Library of the Unwritten by A.J Hackwith

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time by Mark Haddon

The Raw Shark Texts by Steven Hall

The Gone-Away World by Nick Harkaway

Empire of Light by Alex Harrow

The Little Locksmith by Katherine Butler Hathaway

City of Lies by Sam Hawke

The Library at Mount Char by Scott Hawkins

The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne

Bride by Ali Hazelwood

Descendant of the Crane by Joan He

Sacred Time by Ursula Hegi

Catch 22 by Joseph Heller

A Moveable Feast by Ernest Hemingway

The Complete Short Stories of Ernest Hemingway

The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway

The Final Girl Support Group by Grady Hendrix

How to Sell a Haunted House by Grady Hendrix

We Sold Our Souls by Grady Hendrix

Dune Series by Frank Herbert

Cover-Up by Seymour M. Hersh

Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse

Hex by Thomas Olde Heuvelt

The Last Cuentista by Donna Barba Higuera

Heart Shaped Box by Joe Hill

The Outsiders by S.E Hinton

The Book of Magic by Alice Hoffman

The Ice Queen by Alice Hoffman

The Invisible Hour by Alice Hoffman

Magic Lessons by Alice Hoffman

Practical Magic by Alice Hoffman

The Rule of Magic by Alice Hoffman

Rescuing Patty Hearst: Memories From a Decade Gone Mad by Virginia Holman

The Iliad by Homer

The Complete Polysyllabic Spree by Nick Hornby

High Fidelity by Nick Hornby

Songbook by Nick Hornby

To Escape the Stars by Robert Hoskins

A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini

The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini

Pigs at the Trough by Arianna Huffington

The Hunchback of Notre Dame by Victor Hugo

Les Miserables by Victor Hugo

Warrior Cats Series by Erin Hunter

The Forest of Stolen Girls by June Hur

The Mirror Empire by Kameron Hurley

The Stars Are Legion by Kameron Hurley

Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston

Brave New World by Aldous Huxley

Dread Nation by Justina Ireland

A Single Man by Christopher Isherwood

The Unconsoled by Kazuo Ishiguro

The Lottery by Shirley Jackson

Daisy Miller by Henry James

False Bingo by Jac Jemc

The City We Became by N.K Jemisin

The Fifth Season by N.K Jemisin

Nervous System: Or, Losing My Mind in Literature by Jan Lars Jensen

The Dream-Quest of Vellitt Boe by Kij Johnson

Howl’s Moving Castle by Dianna Wynne Jones

My Heart is a Chainsaw by Stephen Graham Jones

The Only Good Indians by Stephen Graham Jones

Finnegan’s Wake by James Joyce

Ulysses by James Joyce

The Trial by Franz Kafka

The Archidamian War by Donald Kagan

The Fall of the Athenian Empire by Donald Kagan

The Outbreak of the Peloponnesian War by Donald Kagan

The Peace of Nicias and the Sicilian Expedition by Donald Kagan

The Vegetarian by Han Kang

The Hunger by Alma Katsu

Girl, Interrupted by Susanna Kaysen

The Story of My Life by Helen Keller

Out of Control by Kevin Kelly

The Paper Menagerie and Other Stories by Liu Ken

Ironweed by William Kennedy

You By Caroline Kepnes

On the Road by Jack Kerouac

Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes

The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd

The Very Best of Caitlin R Kiernan

Carrie by Stephen King

Christine by Stephen King

Cujo by Stephen King

Pet Sematary by Stephen King

The Shawshank Redemption by Stephen King

The Shining by Stephen King

Thornhedge by T. Kingfisher

The Twisted Ones by T. Kingfisher

The Jungle Book by Rudyard Kipling

The Legends of King Arthur and His Knights by Sir James Knowles and Sir Thomas Malory

A Separate Peace by John Knowles

Gidget by Frederick Kohner

The Cipher by Kathe Koja

Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer

Extravagance by Gary Krist

Empire of the Vampire by Jay Kristoff

Babel by R.F Kuang

The Poppy War by R.F Kuang

The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri

False Hearts by Laura Lam

The Wide, Carnivorous Sky by John Langan

The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson

The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson

The Changeling by Victor Lavelle

Lady Chatterley’s Lover by David Herbert Lawrence

Lies of the Fae by M.J Lawrie

Carmilla by Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu

A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle

A Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula K. Le Guin

The Dispossessed by Ursula K Le Guin

The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. Le Guin

The Song of Names by Norman Lebrecht

The Raven Tower by Ann Leckie

Jade City by Fonda Lee

Forest of Souls by Lori M. Lee

The Dirt; Confessions of the Most Notorious Rock Band by Tommy Lee

Ninefox Gambit by Yoon Ha Lee

The Complete Pyramids by Mark Lehner

Solaris by Stanislaw Lem

Imperialism, The Highest Stage of Capitalism by Vladimir Lenin

Human Errors by Nathan H. Lents

The Phantom of the Opera by Gaston Leroux

The Fortress of Solitude by Jonathan Lethem

Rosemary’s Baby by Ira Levin

Small Island by Andrea Levy

A Ruin of Shadows by L.D Lewis

Teatro Grottesco by Thomas Ligotti

Six Crimson Cranes by Elizabeth Lim

Let the Right One In by John Lindquist

Stranger Things Happen by Kelly Link

The Holy Barbarians by Lawrence Lipton

The Three Body Problem by Cixin Liu

The Hike by Drew Magary

The Naked and the Dead by Norman Mailer

Sea of Tranquility by Emily St. John Mandel

One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez and Gregory Rabassa

A Month Of Sundays: Searching For The Spirit And My Sister by Julie Mars

Life of Pi by Yann Martel

Mary Reilly by Valerie Martin

Property by Valerie Martin

The Razor’s Edge by W. Somerset Maugham

Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier

A Bolt from the Blue and Other Essays by Mary McCarthy

The Group by Mary McCarthy

Angela’s Ashes by Frank McCourt

Fletch by Gregory Mcdonald

Atonement by Ian McEwan

The Rapture by Claire McGlasson

Every Heart a Doorway by Seanan McGuire

Quattrocento by James McKean

The Nanny Diaries by Emma McLaughlin

Terms of Endearment Larry McMurtry

Moby Dick by Herman Melville

The Colonizer and the Colonized by Albert Memmi

A Mencken Chrestomathy by H.L Mencken

My Life as Author and Editor by H.L Mencken

Peyton Place by Grace Metalious

The Vanishing Newspaper by Philip Meyer

Perdido Street Station by China Mieville

The Life of Edna by St. Vincent Millay

Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller

Sexus by Henry Miller

Slade House by David Mitchell

Gone With The Wind by Margaret Mitchell

Social Origins of Dictatorship and Democracy by Barrington Moore Jr.

The Beautiful Ones by Silvia Moreno-Garcia

Certain Dark Things by Silvia Moreno-Garcia

Beloved by Toni Morrison

Jazz by Toni Morrison

Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison

Gideon the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir

The Wind-Up Bird Chronicles by Haruki Murakami

In the Miso Soup by Ryu Murakami

Convenience Store Woman by Sayaka Murata

Earthlings by Sayaka Murata

Speak, Memory by Vladimir Nabokov

Reading Lolita in Tehran by Azar Nafisi

The Ritual by Adam Nevill

Under the Pendulum Sun by Jeannette Ng

The Complete Works of Friedrich Nietzsche

The Time Traveler’s Wife by Audrey Niffenegger

Ringworld by Larry Niven

Vurt by Jeff Noon

Mutiny on the Bounty by Charles Bernard Nordhoff and James Norman Hall

Twelve Nights at Rotter House by J.W Ocker

Revenge by Yoko Ogawa

Akata Witch by Nnedi Okorafor

Binti by Nnedi Okorafor

Flowers of the Sea by Reggie Oliver

Starvation Heights by Gregg Olsen

How To Breathe Underwater by Julie Orringer

Radio Silence by Alice Oseman

When the Emperor Was Divine by Julie Otsuka

Mr. Fox by Helen Oyeyemi

White Is For Witching by Helen Oyeyemi

Certain Dark Things by M.J Pack

The Secret of Ventriloquism by Jon Padgett

The Gnostic Gospels by Elaine Pagels

Haunted by Chuck Palahniuk

Complete Stories of Dorothy Parker

Dark Harvest by Norman Partridge

Bel Canto by Ann Patchett

Wolf Brother by Michelle Paver

Gormenghast Series by Mervyn Peake

Night Film by Marisha Pessl

How the Light Gets In by Jolina Petersheim

The Song the Owl God Sang by Benjamin Peterson

A Mankind Beyond Earth by Claude A. Piantadosi

My Sister’s Keeper by Jodie Piccoult

We Owe You Nothing by Punk Planet

The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath

The Unabridged Journals of Sylvia Plath

Complete Stories and Poems of Edgar Allen Poe

Witchmark by C.L Polk

Complete Novels by Dawn Powell

Selected Letters of Dawn Powell: 1913-1965 by Dawn Powell

The Overstory by Richard Powers

Truth and Beauty by Ann Pratchett

Discworld Series by Terry Pratchett

The Legend of Bagger Vance by Steven Pressfield

Brokeback Mountain by Annie Proulx

Swann’s Way by Marcel Proust

The Godfather by Mario Puzo

The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand

The Yearling by Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings

A Study in Drowning by Ava Reid

Juniper and Thorn by Ava Reid

I’m Thinking of Ending Things by Iain Reid

High Moor by Graeme Reynolds

Sybil by Schreiber Flora Rheta

The Vampire Chronicles by Anne Rice

Letters to a Young Poet by Rainer Maria Rilke

Stiff by Mary Roach

Trail of Lightning by Rebecca Roanhorse

Robert’s Rules of Order by Henry M. Robert

The True and Outstanding Adventures of the Hunt Sisters by Elisabeth Robinson

The Language Construction Kit by Mark Rosenfelder

The Planet Construction Kit by Mark Rosenfelder

The Encyclopedia of the Weird and Wonderful by Milo Rossi

The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy

Lisa and David by Theodore Isaac Rubin, M.D

The Hacker and the Ants by Rudy Rucker

Swamplandia! by Karen Russell

Empire Falls by Richard Russo

The Sunshine Court by Nora Sakavic

The Catcher in the Rye by J.D Sallinger

Franny and Zooey by J.D Sallinger

The Man Who Collected Machen by Mark Samuels

Ariah by B.R Sanders

Blindness by Jose Saramago

Shane by Jack Schaefer

Vicious by V.E Schwab

Fever Dream by Samanta Schweblin

Bhagavad Gita by Graham M. Schweig

The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold

Me Talk Pretty One Day by David Sedaris

Love Story by Erich Segal

The Complete Poems by Anne Sexton

The Complete Works of William Shakespeare

The Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon

Pygmalion by Bernard Shaw

Frankenstein by Mary Shelley

Unless by Carol Shields

City Come A-Walkin’ by John Shirley

Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress by Dai Sijie

Crush by Richard Siken

Hyperion by Dan Simmons

The Terror by Dan Simmons

The Jungle by Upton Sinclair

Oil! by Upton Sinclair

Of Sorrow and Such by Angela Slatter

A Tree Grows In Brooklyn by Betty Smith

The Flinch by Julien Smith

Chlorine by Jade Song

Beneath the Citadel by Destiny Soria

Ethics by Benedictus de Spinoza

Last Breath by Peter Stark

The Luminous Dead by Caitlin Starling

Fiddler on the Roof by Joseph Stein

The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck

Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck

City Under the Moon Hugh Sterbakov

Islands in the Net by Bruce Sterling

The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson

Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson

The Bone Shard Daughter by Andrea Stewart

Dracula by Bram Stoker

Uncle Tom’s Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe

Sophie’s Choice by William Styron

Valley of the Dolls by Jacqueline Susane

Stations of the Tide by Michael Swanwick

The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan

The Opposite of Fate by Amy Tan

Vanity Fair by William Makepeace Thackeray

Fierce Femmes and Notorious Liars by Kai Cheng Thom

Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas by Hunter S. Thompson

Walden by Henry D. Thoreau

An Affair of Poisons by Addie Thorley

Secrets of the Flesh by Judith Thurman

Lord of the Rings by J.R.R Tolkien

Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy

War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy

A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole

Sisyphean by Dempow Torishima

The Song Reader by Lisa Tucker

A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court by Mark Twain

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain

The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain

The Prince and the Pauper by Mark Twain

The Art of War by Sun Tzu

Driving Miss Daisy by Alfred Uhry

Chilling Effect by Valerie Valdes

Palimpsest by Catherynne M. Valente

Space Opera by Catherynne M. Valente

Annihilation by Jeff Vandermeer

Crier’s War by Nina Varela

A Journey to the Centre of the Earth by Jules Verne

Around the World in Eighty Days Jules Verne

Twenty Thousand Leagues Under The Sea by Jules Verne

The Last Empire- Essays 1992-2000 by Gore Vidal

Just a Couple of Days by Tony Vigorito

The Empress of Salt and Fortune by Nghi Vo

Candide by Voltaire

Galapagos by Kurt Vonnegut

Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut

Fire in the Sky; The Walton Experience by Travis Walton

Blood Over Bright Haven by M.L Wang

The Graduate by Charles Webb

The Golem and the Jinni by Helene Wecker

Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir

I Am Not A Serial Killer by Dan Wells

The Invisible Man by H.G Wells

The Time Machine by H.G Wells

The War of the Worlds by H.G Wells

All Systems Red by Martha Wells

The Cloud Roads by Martha Wells

Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood by Rebecca Wells

Prophesy Deliverance by Cornel West

Ship of Smoke and Steel by Django Wexler

Ethan Frome by Edith Wharton

Roman Fever by Edith Wharton

Leaves of Grass by Walt Whitman

Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm by Kate Douglas Smith Wiggin

The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde

A Streetcar Named Desire by Tennessee Williams

The Code of the Woosters by P.G Wodehouse

Shadow of the Torturer by Gene Wolfe

The Electric Koolaid Test by Tom Wolfe

Old School by Tobias Wolff

John Dies at the End by David Wong

A Room of One’s Own by Virginia Woolf

Mrs. Dolloway by Virginia Woolf

Bitch; In Praise of Difficult Women by Elizabeth Wurtzel

The Black Tides of Heaven by Jy Yang

Negative Space by B.R Yeager

Beneath the Moon by Yoshi Yoshitani

The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon

Tomorrow, and Tommorow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin

#spiced #reading list #when i say i have a special interest in special interests this is where that gets me #i particularly love this list because i have all of the wheel of time series and it's one of my favorites ever #but no i've never read dracula

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kwebtv · 7 months ago

Text

From the Golden Age of Television

Keep Our Honor Bright - NBC - October 4, 1953

A presentation of "Kraft Television Theatre" Season 7 Episode 7

Drama

Running Time: 60 minutes

Stars:

Michael Higgins as Matt Matthewson

Joan Potter as Sally

Larry Fletcher as Mr. Matthewson

James Dean as Jim Cooper

Addison Richards as the Dean

Peter Fernandez as Harry (Student Honor Committee)

John Dutra as Ross (student who turns in Jim)

Don Dubbins as Ed (Student Honor Committee)

Jim Hickman as Bill (Student Honor Committee)

Cricket Skilling as Tom (Student Honor Committee)

Jack Finnergan as Ben

Andy Milligan as Hines

Edith Gresham as Nurse

Betty Gibson as Marilyn Biggs

Larry Elliot as News Analyst

George Roy Hill as News Commentator

David White as Mr. Langley (the Board)

Calvin Thomas as Mr. Stone (the Board)

Rusty Lane as Mr. Wilson (the Board)

Richard Bishop as Mr. Baldwin (the Board)

Crahan Denton as Mr. Todd (the Board)

T. J. Sydney as Porter

#Keep Our Honor Bright #TV #Kraft Television Theatre #1950's #Drama #1953 #NBC #Michael Higgins #Joan Porter #James Dean #Larry Fletcher

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crazy56u · 1 year ago

Text

I'm on the tail end of a sinus infection, and was considering skipping this tonight. But I'm here, so let's go.

And Ben winds up in the middle of the Pilgrim Times equivalent of that one Super Mario 64 DS minigame.

"Hey, don't want to interrupt your girl time, but there's a fucking funeral, get a move on."

Oh shit, a cat, that means Ben is fucked.

Is this Ben's first time on the east coast?

Why do they have a moonshine still rigged up at the Project?

"Okay, I have to get back to work and pretend this didn't happen. So, if I have to show back up later in the episode, I will be pissed."

"Don't look at me, I'm not even allowed in the Imaging Chamber." Addison, I have seen the promo for this one. Shut up.

...is it bad that I think she's faking her crying?

"It's just gossip, it can't hurt you." Ben, I have some bad news for you about how the Salem Witch Trials worked...

Oh, yes, just talk to a ghost in the middle of a funeral during the Salem Witch Trials, this won't end badly...

Why does the Reverend look like James Madison?

"We're in Colonial America, lots of people died in strange ways. Some did it for fun."

"Ask yourself if it is hiding among us here today." Oh boy, here we go...

Ah, so there it is: Josiah had a cold, so they thought prayer would fix it.

Uh, you might need to double up on the funeral, guys...

...is Ben going to "out" himself as a witch by inventing CPR?

"SHE BROUGHT THE DEAD BACK TO LIFE! STONE HER!"

[Okay, Ben got accused of witchcraft, break time!]

"Okay, now you two stay there, and think about what you've done!"

"What was once a whisper and a rumor is now a fact! The practice of this 'CPR' is causation for witchcraft!"

Okay, given how quickly those three were willingly to throw her friend under the bus, I'm starting to suspect where this plot is going.

"Uh, hey, Jenn, Ben fucked up in a real bad way, get the lead out?"

"If you admit you are a witch, you will be forgiven, and we will kill you. If you don't, we will skip the forgiveness step."

"Did it work?" "Goody still dies." Fucking duh.

"You don't attend church." Neither do I, pick a new excuse.

"I've seen this movie. Didn't like how it ended. Two thumbs down."

"Look, Ben, just admit to witchcraft, and the episode ends early." ...Ben, I wouldn't bet money on that.

"Ma'am, why are you conversing with a spirit while on the witness stand?"

Oh, that's not gonna go well, you're using the guy you "brought back to life" for your cause...

BEN, THEY DON'T KNOW WHAT SCIENCE IS YET, STOP DIGGING THE GRAVE DEEPER!

...honestly, Ben, what the fuck did you expect?

"Whelp, my job is done, I damned the woman who saved my life, I'm out."

Okay, Ben, at this point, your best option is to just fake your deaths.

"The only this this town is cursed with is stupidity." "Don't say that." Ma'am, you're about to be burned to death, stop defending them.

"I don't know what to believe anymore. Everyone betray me! I'm fed up with this world!"

Sulfur: The funniest part of Salem.

Oh, great, we have someone going insane, Ben's practically alone no-

Why is Ian invoking the Devil?

"Have we learned nothing since 1692?" ... ... ...well, I mean, we did discover electricity?

"Welshire, where do I know that name?" He's the ancestor of the Welch's fruit snacks guy.

"Listen to me, Sam." The only way they will get Ben to say that in this show without Scott Bakula.

"Wanna see some real magic? I just invented pickpocketing."

Full moon, perfect night for a prison break.

Ma'am, it's almost as if you don't want to escape.

...why is the Specter of Death watching them?

Twice this season a leap has involved a shop getting looted, what're the odds...

...if this leap is how the pointy hat got added to the witch mythology...

Ben, stop invoking science, this is literally not the time...

"I'm not a witch, I'm a time traveler."

"I want to believe there still is some goodness left in this town." Yeah, but, they want to burn you, so... (shrug)

This is looking like this is the last stand, Ben...

You have a lot of fucking gall to act like you want to help now, William.

BEN, STOP TALKING SHOP, AND ESCAPE

"I fancied an apple. I wasn't helping an escape."

And that apple is gonna fuck them.

Magic, there's 18 minutes left, episode ain't over.

And here we see Addison lampshading how she's been low-key written out of the show.

Addison, I don't know what it says about you if you thought he meant literal alchemy.

And there we have the real reason why Magic was in this episode.

"Look, either I leave, you I die, I don't like it either, Elizabeth."

"Look, you and Morgan have fun, I'm shipping up to Boston."

"Look, you might not know this, but let's pretend I'm a time traveler from 2023 that has gone through his share of emotional bullshit! Life sucks, now get of that wagon!"

Watch as the "plan" involve rain, like how The Wicker Man was originally supposed to end.

I was fucking joking, but here we go.

"Addison, Ben may or may not burn today, get in the Imaging Chamber."

Well, luckily, Sam Beckett once made God make it rain, so, maybe that trick will work twice.

Ben, just stall for 7 minutes, maybe this will all work out.

"My last words are it's gonna rain, and if it ain't we'll all burn in Hell together. (turns to the sky) YOUR MOVE, GOD!"

...taking your sweet ass time, ain't you, God...

"There, it rained, that means witches aren't real."

...Ben, people only make that kind of face when they have a good pee, dial it back.

Ladies, just because it rained for a minute, it doesn't mean it didn't rain.

"Look, I know I keep defaulting to science in this, but your well is contaminated, and it's made you all insane."

And just like that, they're all friends again, just brush he attempted murder under the rug.

Look, Ben, there is still a pretty decent chance the time skip's being undone at the end of the season, so, maybe this will work itself out.

Welcome to Egypt, Ben.

MORAL OF THE STORY: Water purification is what this country desperately needs.

#quantum leap #spoilers #a kind of magic

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dearophelia · 2 years ago

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Writer's first line meme

Rules: post the first sentence of your last ten fics. If you haven’t written ten fics, share as many first sentences as you have.

Tagged by @swaps55! Tagging @vhenadahls @theoriginalladya @starrybouquet @that-wildwolf and anyone else who wants to do this!

I have...not written ten things total in the past several years so I'm just gonna go with a liberal interpretation of "most recent" on AO3.

strange is the night where black stars rise (stargate, sam, the one with hastur)

She’s thrown out of the wormhole. By sheer luck, her shoulder, not her head, slams into the stone steps. Sam protectively tucks her head down as far as she can and she comes to a rolling stop on the dry, dead grass.

waves are universal (the heaven in hiding remix) (stargate, sam/jack, the one with time travel and alternate realities)

There’s a break in the guard rotation. Now or never.

church of scars (grey's anatomy, addison, the one with ghosts; unfinished)

“Are you sure?” Jake asks. He slowly zooms the spoon of applesauce toward Paige. Their daughter claps her hands in delight and shows no intention of opening her mouth for food.

i'll find your lips in the street lights (svu, olivia/barba, the one where barba is ace)

If Rafael’s learned one thing in his time with SVU (and he’s learned a lot, far more than he ever thought possible, but he’s trying to keep this to a list of one), it’s that adults telling each other the truth solves a whole host of problems.

gonna set your flag on fire (mass effect, liv/garrus, the one with nora; on pause)

Later, when it’s all over and Nora’s sitting on the back porch of her grandmother’s house watching the sun rise over the lake, she’ll think she should’ve told James she’d take the eezo job.

in this twilight our choices seal our fate (the song in the house of night remix) (svu, olivia/ellliot, the one with too much religious imagery)

Olivia stands at the edge of the driveway just inside the yellow tape. She takes a slow, steady breath. A breath to center herself, a breath to observe the scene. There will be pictures later and she’ll stare at them long enough and hard enough to imprint the front yard on her retinas, but this breath captures the scene alive.

dropsonde (singers in a lower choir remix) (grey's anatomy, addison, addison/alex, the one with the kid; as finished as it's gonna be)

Addison stares at the pair of scuffed brown heels scattered across the entryway in front of her. She stares harder, trying to make them into something they’re not. But the living room lamps are on timers during the week and the ugly one on the end table turns on, illuminating a woman’s shirt tossed over the back of the couch and a pair of black men’s shoes toed off in the hall.

#GOD NEW POST EDITOR SUCKS ON WEB THERE'S A REASON I ONLY USE THIS SITE ON MOBILEAPP\

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konmarkimageswords · 2 years ago

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Diffusion, Volume IX

Artfully Crafted Photography Annual

124 pages, full color, perfect bound softcover

8.25 in. × 10.75 in. // 20.96 cm. × 27.31 cm.

English language, 1st Edition of 400

Nine Chapters: I. Cabinet of Curiosities // II. Transfiguration // III. Nostalgia // IV. Natural Landscape // V. Enigmatic Figures // VI. Organichrome // VII. Geometric Personality // VIII. Human Condition // IX. Sanctuary Shelter

Featuring: Addison Brown, Alan Ostreicher, Alex Delapena, Aline Mare, Allen Morris, Amaury Orozco & Sev Collazo, Amy Kanka Valadarsky, Andreas Olesen, Andy Mattern, Angela Franks Wells, Anne Campbell, Anne-Laure Autin, Antonio Martinez, Barbara Kyne, Benjamin Montague, Bill Vaccaro, Bob Cornelis, Brianna Tadeo, C E Morse, Carol Erb, Caroline Fudala, Clare O'Neill, Claude Peschel Dutombe, Dawn Surratt, Diana Bloomfield, Diana Nicholette Jeon, Elizabeth Raymer Griffin, Elizabeth Stone, Ellie Ivanova, Fritz Liedtke, Galina Kurlat, Harland Vine, Heather Perera, Heidi Clapp Temple, Heidi Kirkpatrick, J. M. Golding, James Wigger, Joseph Deiss, Joshua Myers, Joshua Sarinana, Kathleen Donohoe, Kathryn Mayo, Ken Ball, KK DePaul, Kon Markogiannis, Linda Alterwitz, Linda Barsotti, Margo Geddes, Matthew Finley, Maureen Delaney, Melanie Walker, Michael Kirchoff, Michelle Rogers Pritzl, Mike Hoover, Molly McCall, Noelle McCleaf, Rachel Wolf, Ray Bidegain, Robert Calafiore, Robert Moran, Sandra Klein, Sara Silks, Stacie Ann Smith, Susan de Witt, Tamsen Wojtanowski, Thomas Michael Alleman, Tom & Lois White, Troy Colby, Wendi Schneider, and Wendy Verity.

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snackerdoodle · 21 days ago

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books read in 2024

I post them here so I don't lose them if something happens to the note on my phone. Also because I’m nosy and fully support other nosy people.

1/10 Frankenstein, Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley

1/24 Dopamine Nation: Finding Balance in the Age of Indulgence, Anna Lembke (👎)

1/31 The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue, V. E. Schwab

2/18 A Power Unbound, Freya Marske

2/21 Bookshops and Bonedust, Travis Baldree

3/1 The Goblin Emperor, Katherine Addison +2

3/8 The Witness for the Dead, Katherine Addison +4

3/10 The Grief of Stones, Katherine Addison +4

3/10 Strangers, Taichi Yamada (trans. Wayne P. Lammers)

3/11 Own Your Space, Alexandra Gater

3/17 St. Juniper’s Folly, Alex Crespo

4/5 Mislaid in Parts Half-Known, Seanan McGuire

4/19 Wayward Lives, Beautiful Experiments: Intimate Histories of Social Upheaval, Saidiya Hartman

4/23 Catholicism: journey to the center of faith, Robert Barron

4/28 Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen

4/29 If not, winter: Fragments of Sappho, Anne Carson

5/3 Joan of Arc: A History, Helen Castor

5/7 The Angel of the Crows, Katherine Addison

5/14 Beaten Down, Worked Up: The Past, Present, and Future of American Labor, Steven Greenhouse

5/21 Witness for the Dead, Katherine Addison (hard copy, with short story this time) +2

5/25 The Grief of Stones, Katherine Addison (hard copy this time) +2

5/25 Things You May Find Hidden in My Ear, Mosab Abu Toha

5/29 Dracula, Bram Stoker

6/24 The Invisible Kingdom: Reimagining Chronic Illness, Meghan O’Rourke

6/26 I’m Glad My Mom Died, Jeannette McCurdy

7/1 The City of Brass, S. A. Chakraborty

7/1 Der Katze ist Ganz Egal, Franz Orghandl (german kids book, audio format. Listened while working. Understood some, missed some. Overall got the gist of the story.)

7/5 Museum Depots: Inside Museum Storage, Stefan Oláh and Martina Griesser-Stermscheg (read the English text, not the German)

7/6 Art Students League of New York on Painting: Lessons and Meditations on Mediums, Style, and Methods, James L. McElhinney and the instructors of the Art Students League of New York (skipped half of Knox Martin interview because he annoyed me)

7/17 Master and Commander, Patrick O’Brien

7/18 Malverina: Ich möchte eine Hexe sein, Susanna Isern

7/24 How to Excavate a Heart, Jake Maia Arlow

8/6 The Friendly Orange Glow: The Untold Story of the PLATO System and the Dawn of Cyberculture, Brian Dear

8/22 The Kingdom of Copper, S. A. Chakraborty

8/31 La bibliothèque des rêves secrets, Michiko Aoyama

9/4 Unmask Alice: LSD, Satanic Panic, and the Imposter behind the World’s Most Notorious Diaries, Rick Emerson

9/9 The Falcon at the Portal, Elizabeth Peters

9/17 Long Live Evil, Sarah Rees Brennan

10/3 Devil House, John Darnielle

10/8 All’s Well, Mona Awad

10/14 “You Just Need to Lose Weight” and 19 other myths about fat people, Aubrey Gordon

10/17 The Paris Apartment, Lucy Foley

10/22 Elatsoe, Darcie Little Badger

10/25 A Marvellous Light, Freya Marske

10/28 A Restless Truth, Freya Marske

11/7 Post Captain, Patrick O’Brian

11/10 A Power Unbound, Freya Marske

11/24 Weaponizing Conspiracy Theories, Eirikur Bergmann

11/27 Interpreting LGBT History at Museums and Historic Sites, Susan Ferentinos

12/7 The Origins of Totalitarianism, Hannah Arendt

12/11 Whose Body?, Dorothy L Sayers

12/11 Moby Dick, Herman Melville (through Whale Weekly)

12/13 How to Break up with Your Phone, Catherine Price (combination helpful and obnoxious :/)

Failed out of:

The Memory Librarian, Janelle Monae

Cujo, Stephen King (too sad ;-; can’t drive while listening to audiobooks that make me cry)

#books read in 2024 #Snackerdoodle actually makes a post #Shout out to THE PUBLIC LIBRARY which is where I get the vast majority of these

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ithinkyouhealedmyheart · 4 months ago

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Ghostwriter Ch 1

Unebtad, Unedited, Unhinged || AO3

Pairings: Kendall Knight/Female Original Character, Female Original Character/Female Original Character in the background, Logan Henderson/Camille Roberts in the background, James Diamond/Lucy Stone in the background

Characters: Kendall Knight, James Diamond, Logan Henderson, Carlos Garcia, Gustavo Rocque, Kelly Wainright, Arthur Griffin, Ronnie Clark oc, Callie oc, Addison oc,

Word Count: 6818

“Your new song got five more hits!”

Addison turned her phone around and excitedly thrust it in her friend's face. She would be bouncing up and down excitedly if she weren't sitting down. Her blonde ponytail would be swaying, and the various bags at her feet would be bunched up in her arms, rattling and knocking together. Her face lit up, brown eyes sparkling as she smiled from ear to ear. Veronica, or Ronnie as she preferred, looked up from trying to wipe mustard off her yellow pullover, haphazardly dabbing at the dark stain with steadily growing frustration.

“Five more? That’s nothing. Don’t tell me you’ve been playing it once in a while to bump up its ratings.” Callie, a natural brunette who dyed her hair black whenever her roots started to show, was sipping on a smoothie. Her black lipstick left a ring around the straw.

“What? You can’t admit that Ronnie has some kind of talent?” Addison waggled the phone in front of Ronnie’s face. The blue-haired girl squinted to read the numbers on the small screen.

“Ugh, you need a new phone, Adds. I can barely see anything.” Ronnie balled up the napkin and tossed it on the table. “Did you take a picture of your computer screen?”

“You need glasses, " Addison said, pulling her phone back. It was a white Nokia 3720 classic.

“And you need a better phone,” Callie commented.

“Thanks for your unwarranted opinion, Hot Topic.” The blonde rolled her eyes.

“For your information, that’s where emo’s shop. I’m Goth.”

Ronnie took Addison’s water and wet the napkin, dabbing it lightly on the stain. She was more occupied with trying to get rid of it. She didn’t want to walk around with a mustard stain on her favorite sweatshirt. She wouldn’t have noticed it until Callie pointed it out, nor did she know how she got it. Not really. Someone must have spilled mustard on the pretzel counter, and when she leaned on it, the condiment transferred to her clothes.

“Ugh, Ronnie, you don’t know what you are doing. Take it off and give it to me.” Addison put her phone down and raised a brow. “It’s like you don’t pay attention in Home Eck.”

“I don’t,” She remarked and hesitantly handed her pullover to Addison. “Mr. Lawrence has it out for me.”

“You say that about every teacher,” Callie scoffed and rolled her eyes. “It’s not their fault you don’t do the homework. Y’know, if you can’t handle high school and a job, you should quit the ice rink.”

“I can’t.”

“Oh, right, because you need the job.” Callie mocked.

“Hey, you’re not being cool right now.” Addison kicked her leg under the table. The goth adjusted in her seat and went back to texting on her phone.

“Whatever,” she stuck her middle finger up. “You think you’re so cool because you wear a short skirt and wave pompoms around.”

“Fuck off, you used to be a cheerleader too.” Addison rolled her eyes.

Ronnie pulled at her sweater. She might not have needed to wear her pullover sweatshirt, but it was like a security blanket. Leaning back and trying to relax, she tapped her foot anxiously on the floor. Without the extra layer, it felt so much colder than it was. Rubbing her arms, she eyes the way Addison dabbed a clean napkin on the stain. The blonde wasn’t doing anything different, yet somehow, the stain wasn’t as bad. There was a dark patch from the damp napkin, but that was about it. The stain wouldn’t crust over, but it would still have to be washed.

They were at the mall after school on a Friday afternoon because it was Friday. There was always something to do at the start of the weekend, and it was better than being at home. Ronnie didn’t have to work, nor did she have any club meetings. Callie took any chance to chill at the mall and sit around instead of going back to her parent's flower center and dealing with the elderly and senile customers. Addison avoided her boyfriend Trent because he threw a stupid house party again and drunkenly made out with some random girl in the kitchen. When they got to the mall, the shopping portion was out of the way. Addison whisked Ronnie off to all her favorite stores, and Callie stood outside like an angry guard dog whenever they went to change. Ronnie never liked to buy anything, but it didn’t stop Addison from buying her something small and slipping it into her bag when they left the store.

“Oh, you wish you could fuck me.” Callie sneered with venom, narrowing her eyes.

Ronnie wasn’t going to share her inside thoughts. She'd known something was happening between Addison and Callie for a while, but it wasn’t her place to talk about it. Whatever was going on, she hoped they figured it out before ripping each other’s heads off.

“It’s decent. When you get home, use a stain remover on it.” Addison returned her yellow pullover, and Ronnie immediately pulled it back on.

“I’m telling you, she’ll be buried in that thing.” Callie glanced at her blue-haired friend through her lashes. “I think you should dye your hair yellow to match.”

“I think you should dye your hair pink,” Addison rolled her eyes and got up. She drank the last of her bottled water and crushed the plastic.

“What– Pink? That would look so bad– I hate you.” Callie scowled and crossed her arms tightly.

“It would be nice to see some color,” Ronnie said quietly. “You could pull off green quite nicely.”

“Shut up.” Callie huffed and puffed out her cheeks. She wasn’t wearing a white foundation but sported graphic black eyeliner with sharp edges and angles paired with smokey black eye shadow.

“Who’s ready for round two of shopping? I need some summer clothes.” Addison had a bounce in her step. She picked up her shopping bags and pocketed her phone in her tan faux fur coat.

“Sure, I’m bored and feel like walking around.” Callie got up and stretched. She picked up one of the bags before the blonde could get to it.

“More shopping? You know I’m only agreeing because I have to follow you everywhere, considering you’re my ride.” Ronnie chewed on the straw of her soda. It was still half full. They had been sitting there for about an hour.

“Either way, I get to make you try cute clothes and act like you have legs and arms like every other person.” Addison smiled from ear to ear. “We could start at the other end of the mall and make our way back.”

“I’ll be holding the bags, I guess,” Callie motioned for the bags Addison had looped around her arms. She was pretending like she was being forced, but they all knew Callie wanted to hold her bags.

“Aren’t you sweet!” Addison chirped and happily handed her bags over to Callie. She wobbled under the weight but otherwise kept a straight face. The tips of her ears turned pink, and Ronnie couldn’t help but snicker behind her hand.

“We should go to Victoria’s Secret first!”

Addison bounced away, her ponytail swaying behind her. Callie followed after like a puppy at her heels, and Ronnie struggled to keep up with her taller friends. She half-jokingly considered buying platform boots to be at least able to compete with Callie, but the two were relatively the same height without her platforms. The blonde, Addison, was on a mission, and nothing could stop her. Despite her stature, she effortlessly weaved around others while strolling the mall. Callie unceremoniously bumped into everyone with the shopping bags and apologized like a shaking leaf in the wind. Ronnie shook her head and stifled her laughter, and every time the goth turned to glare at her, she couldn’t stop cracking up.

Victoria’s Secret was mainly black and pink, so Addison loved it. Pink was her favorite color. Callie and Ronnie looked out of place, standing in the store, idly looking over clothing items or standing around. It wasn’t the first store of their choice. It wasn’t a store they would choose to go to at all. Addison picked up clothing items, not worried about the price tags. As far as her friends were concerned, she had money to burn. The goth kept her eyes on the floor, and if she did look up, her face would flush a shade of pink, and she would avert her gaze again. Ronnie, although unphased, was mainly uncomfortable. It wasn’t that she didn’t like shopping at Victoria’s Secret, which she didn’t, but she could feel the perfume in the air sticking to the hairs inside her nose and coating them like grease. If she had allergies, they would be acting up, but so far, it was only a mild discomfort on top of how awkward she felt standing in the store.

Even if she were like Addison, she wouldn’t want to shop at Victoria’s Secret. There wasn’t anything wrong with the store besides the ungodly use of perfume in the air, but it never felt like a place she could be comfortable at. Maybe that was because she never felt closely tied to being a “traditional girl” in some weird way. Her father taught her about the car, she knew how to change a tire, she loved hockey and football, and pretty much any sport other than baseball. But it didn’t mean she wasn’t a girl. She wasn’t into all the shopping, glitter, and frills, but that wasn’t what made anyone a girl. Nothing else mattered as long as she felt like she was a girl.

Ronnie stopped zoning out and shook her head before she went on a tangent, but her friends forgot she was in the store. Addison approached her with her arms full of clothes and deposited some items into her open hands.

“No time to pout. Go try them on!” She ushered her friend to one of the changing rooms.

Callie was waiting idly, adjusting how she carried the bags to distribute the weight equally. There was no doubt in Ronnie’s mind that her friend's arms would be aching tomorrow, like her feet. Platform shoes weren’t the best to stand in, but they looked great and made Callie a little taller than Addison. That was what Callie wanted: to be taller. Of course, that came with a price. Blisters. Ronnie had tried wearing platforms once and got blisters after an hour or two. They have since been buried at the bottom of her closet and hidden away so she would never have the bright idea of wearing them again.

She stood there awkwardly in the oddly spacious changing room. The aspect she hated the most about shopping was trying on one item of clothing, probably because Addison always threw clothes at her without warning. If she went shopping alone, she wouldn’t mind all that much. Holding the bras in her hands, she wondered how the blonde knew her size, but she could only assume that she was guessing and picking randomly. Instead of trying them on, Ronnie sat on the ottoman in the corner by the mirror and pulled out her phone. Unlike her friends, she had a flip phone. To pass the time, she decided to text Rebecca, her project partner for this semester. The girl was practically a walking encyclopedia and would surely be happy enough to waste time with Ronnie. At least she assumed Rebecca would help her waste time and avoid having to try on and take off the clothing items Addison handed her. Unfortunately, her text went unanswered. Although she wanted to sit there and wait for the staff or her cheerful friend to ask if she was okay, she sighed and stared at the bras she hung up on the hooks across from her.

Ronnie came out of the changing rooms first, with a handful of bras haphazardly hanging off the hangers. Callie perked up but played it off by pretending to be checking something on the bottom of her shoes as if she stepped in something.

“Ugh, come on, Adds. Can we go?” Callie groaned and threw her head back. “I can feel myself memorizing cheer routines.”

“Just a second!” Addison called back. “I’m having trouble un-clipping the bra, but I’ll be out in a few seconds! I promise.”

“Why don’t you go help her?” Ronnie cracked a smile.

“Me? No– What– That wouldn’t– I can’t–” Callie’s face tinted a shade of red, and the blue-haired girl figured her gothic friend would die of embarrassment.

“Relax, I’m joking.”

“Oh- Right.”

“I’m done!”

Addison struck a pose when she exited the changing rooms. Neither girl knew if their bubbly companion would buy all the bras she had taken into the changing rooms. It might not be the first time she bought anything she could grab, but they watched incredulously as she put each item of clothing back on the rack. She turned on her heel and tilted her head cluelessly.

“What?”

“You’re putting it all back?” Callie breathed out, mouth agape.

“Yeah? Why not?” Addison blinked twice. “I already have a lot of this stuff. Trying it on was fun!”

“That makes one of us,” Ronnie murmured.

“Come on, we have dozens of other stores!”

Their shopping montage consisted of Ronnie and Callie following Addison, who felt more at home in the mall than in her house. It was the only mall for miles, and she spent much more time in food courts and clothing stores than at home alone with her brother while their mom worked. Ronnie only envied her for having a sibling just because she had someone to keep her company while home alone. She didn’t want to be forced to share her things with someone else, not because she was a greedy, spoiled brat but because there was so little of it already. Moving a lot during childhood left her with a relatively small amount of clothes, and she would go crazy if her siblings felt the need to go through her clothes and take what they wanted. In a way, she was glad her parents were older.

Waving goodbye to her friends, she thanked Addison for the ride home. She didn’t forget her backpack this time, and the car door shut with a thud. The car didn’t pull away from the curb until Ronnie was inside her house. She slotted the keys into the lock and turned as she pushed on the door. Her shoulder collided with the hard material, and she cursed under her breath. Sometimes, the front door stuck because it didn’t fit in the frame. Her dad kept reminding himself to replace it every other week but never tried. Then again, half his paycheck went to medical bills for all the doctor’s visits and prescriptions. With quite a bit of effort, Ronnie pushed the door with her entire body weight as she turned the knob. Callie and Addison from the car witnessed their blue-haired friend falling straight on her face, and the giant golden dog came to the rescue. He sniffed around while she pulled herself off the floor and turned back just as the car pulled away. It saved her from whatever comment Callie would make about it.

“It’s okay, Scout. I’m okay.” She scratched the top of his head and pulled the keys out of the lock. It took almost as much force to close the door as it did to open the door. She wondered how her dad did this every morning.

Ronnie kicked off her boots, joined the pile of shoes by the front door, and deposited her keys on the hook. As she walked through the house, she shed the layers that protected her from the Vermont winter. Her pullover unceremoniously draped on the back of the couch, followed by her red sweater. When she reached the kitchen, she was in a t-shirt and jeans, rubbing her arms as she opened the fridge to look inside. Someone had to go grocery shopping; she was the only one at home. Her grandma was at the bingo hall, and even though she could ask her to pick up milk, she wouldn’t. Seeing as they only had one car, there was nothing to do about it until her dad came home, but the closest convenience store would be closed when he came home. It wasn’t like they needed milk, but Ronnie craved cereal and did not want to eat a bowl full of dry Corn Chex. There was leftover Chinese takeout, but all that was left was shrimp, and she wasn’t in the mood for something left in the fridge for three days. But beggars can’t be choosers. Once her paycheck from Snow Dome came in, she would knock out the grocery shopping on her to-do list. Her father never once asked her to take care of the grocery shopping, but it was the least she could do with everything on his plate.

She put the shrimp in the microwave and pulled out sweet chili sauce to at least mask its current flavor. While it was reheated, she went over to check on Scout’s water and kibble. The wall between the kitchen and living room had been removed to create an open floor plan. Scout watched her curiously from the couch. He tilted his head, and his ears perked up. His bowl was half-empty, and she wouldn’t have to feed him for another hour or two. Once she was done reheating the shrimp in the microwave, she sat cross-legged on the couch, her laptop open in front of her. She was working on a new song. It had a poppy sound that matched that of Boyquake. Some of her older co-workers would play their songs during shifts. The melody was stuck in her head, and she couldn’t wait to get home to work on it, but she couldn’t just shut herself inside and write music all day. She had a social life. Granted, her only friends were Callie and Addison, but she couldn’t complain. So far, she was working on the instrumental accompaniment and trying to fit in the lyrics. The beat, at least for now, felt more like a love song to dance to. It is not a slow dance, but jumping around the dance floor. It wasn’t quite finished. She had been zeroing in on the lyrics for a couple of days, changing the instrumentals and moving stuff around. She was glad her grandma got her a new laptop for her birthday. Her old, clunky one would have exploded. Her new laptop made creating music more manageable. It didn’t freeze every time she deleted or added something. Her spiral-bound notebook lay open next to her. She scribbled down lyrics and crossed out old ones in black pen.

Thankfully, it was just the beginning of a new school semester, and her teachers were surprisingly laid back. Sophomore year was starting to look far better than Freshman year was. At least this time, she was walking into a new school year with friends who hadn’t abandoned her. She had her head held high, and nothing from her past would hold her back. Easier homework gave her more time to focus on her hobby. It might as well be the one thing that gets her into college. Music was her life force; over the years, she had written dozens of songs, some of which she performed and posted on her website. Ronnie may not be particularly famous, but that doesn't mean people don’t listen to her songs. Like a crazed animal, she periodically checked the stats of her videos and audio clips. Her dream may not have been to go to Hollywood to become a singer-songwriter, but she hoped that one day she would get noticed for the sake of helping her father. If her songs made her famous, he wouldn’t have to worry so much about his medical expenses or juggle between money for groceries or his medication. It wasn’t her father’s dream to be rich and famous. Both wanted it because at least everyone in America wanted to be like those celebrities in Los Angeles or Hollywood who could throw money at the problem without another thought. But, as far as dreams go, being famous was far out of reach, and it would take a miracle for someone to discover a teenager in Stowe, Vermont. For one, Vermont and California weren’t even remotely close to one another, and half the celebrities rising to fame were kids who happened to live in California from the get-go, went to auditions, or even practiced since birth for the role of a lifetime. As long as songwriting was a fun little hobby, fame was far out of reach. Some of her favorite songs played softly in the background, the bowl of shrimp half-eaten and forgotten on the coffee table as she typed away on her laptop, moving around and adding sounds to the recording platform. She hummed a broken tune as she worked. Scout lay on the other end of the sofa, his ears perked up occasionally, or he would lift his head but didn’t get up. His tail was tucked under his chin.

Sometime later in the evening, she abandoned her laptop and was sprawled across the couch watching a movie. The light on the porch was on, as well as the light in the kitchen, so that her grandma or her dad wouldn’t have to return to a dark home. Ronnie had changed into pajamas and draped a plush throw blanket over herself. She had bought it from Spencer’s forever before they closed up shop in the mall. It was on clearance and had Ghostface on it, so she had to have it. She was watching 10 Things I Hate About You. It was a cute movie, and she had already watched the trio of Scream movies too many times to count. It was nowhere near Halloween, and the last time she watched a scary movie in the dark, her grandma nearly had a heart attack when she went to get a glass of water. Her phone buzzed on the coffee table, but she made no move to grab it. It was only a text notification. It couldn’t be that important unless they started calling her. Unlike Callie, she couldn’t afford the fancy Apple iPhone 4. The front door opened, and she glanced away from the screen, reaching for the remote control to pause the movie or lower the volume.

“You refuse to read Shakespeare, but you watch this?” Her grandma shuffled into the room. She looked young for her age. Her skin was loose and still sagged because it lost elasticity with age, but her face was young. The small bathroom was littered with her skin care products.

“Grammy, I’m not going to read Shakespeare. I don’t need to read his work to understand the movie.” Ronnie moved the blanket, surmising she was sitting on the remote.

“Of course you don’t.” The old woman sighed and shredded her warm and fuzzy coat. The seasons were changing quickly outside. It seemed like just yesterday the weather was warm and sunny. “Did you have a good time at school? I assume you were at the mall with your girlfriends.”

“Yes, I was at the mall.” Ronnie leaned against the back of the couch. “Oh, I finished the last of the Chinese takeout.”

“Good, I wasn’t looking forward to taking it out.” She said, opening the fridge and bending down slightly. “Luckily though, Roger offered me dinner after bingo.”

“Ooh!” Ronnie cooed, her eyes sparkled. “Did he take you on a date?”

“It wasn’t a date.” Her grandma rolled her eyes and grabbed the iced coffee from the top shelf. “He’s a decent man, but I’m not seeking another romance. No one can replace Jimmy.”

“No one can replace Grandpa, but Roger likes you!” Ronnie hopped off the couch, Scout following suit and wagging his tail with a slobbery grin.

“Aren’t you a little too young to be meddling in the love lives of your elders? You should worry about your teenage love life.”

“Overrated.” Ronnie poked her head into the fridge and grabbed the half-empty 2-liter cola. “I’d rather focus on helping Dad and you.”

“Kiddo,” her grandma chastised, giving her a pointed look. “The only job you have is to go to school and get good grades.”

Ronnie focused on pouring her soda.

“Veronica.” Her grandma raised a brow. “You do know we don’t need you to help us, right?” She put a gentle hand on her shoulder. “All you have to do is focus on being seventeen, okay?”

Ronnie froze in the middle of putting the cap back on the bottle. She stared at the counter like a deer in headlights.

“I’ll—" Her grandma cleared her throat. I’ll change into jammies, make some popcorn, and start the movie from the beginning when I get back.” She didn’t wait for her to process what she said before disappearing down the hall into her room.

Ronnie stood in the kitchen. The 2-liter wobbled in her hands. She knew they didn’t need her help. She wanted to provide that help because they were the only family she had left. Haphazardly putting the bottle back, she knocked over her father’s favorite pickles container. The side of the container cracked, and pickle juice leaked onto the floor. Ronnie shuffled away, not too keen on getting her socks wet. Grabbing a handful of paper towels, she bent down and started wiping at the growing puddle. Taking the pickle container, she put it on the counter and grabbed more paper towels to clean up the sides of the container. In a panicked state, she was rushing around the kitchen to clean the mess she made. She accidentally slipped on the paper towels on the floor, which she had neglected to pick up. Her arms shot out to grab at the counter, but it was just out of grasp, so she fell on the floor. The back of her head smacked against the hardwood, and she scrunched her face up. Carefully, she touched the sore spot on the back of her head. It looked like she wasn’t going to be sleeping for a while.

When her grandma returned to the kitchen wearing the fuzzy pajamas Ronnie had gifted her for Christmas three years ago, she was surprised to find they still fit. She was startled to see her granddaughter on the floor. Ronnie got to her feet with her help and rubbed the back of her head again, wincing.

“Go sit on the couch, and I’ll clean up here.” Her grandma ushered her away gently. Scout circled her feet, worried. He whined softly.

Ronnie wrapped the plush Ghostface around her shoulders and pulled her knees to her chest. Of course, she messed up something so quickly. If it weren’t for her being so clumsy, her grandma wouldn’t have to clean up her messes. She pouted as she rewound the movie on television. Her head was throbbing, but she didn’t say anything about it. The last thing she needed was for her grandma to think she had a concussion. It was bad enough that she was so accident-prone.

“Is that a young Heath Ledger I spy?” Her grandma called from across the room. She put the bag of popcorn in the microwave. She clicked her tongue and shook her head. “He was taken from us too soon,”

“He’s the guy that played Joker, right?” Ronnie turned around. “In that movie with Christian Bale?”

“Your father says he played a phenomenal Joker.” Her grandma chuckled. “He said it was one of his favorite performances next to Adam West’s Batman.”

“Adam West?” Ronnie furrowed her brows. “Ugh, is he one of your old-school actors?”

“He was so handsome,” her grandma sighed wistfully.

Ronnie pretended to gag and turned around. The movie was fully rewound, and she paused it just as it started.

“Oh, you should have seen Adam West back then.”

“When? Dinosaur time?” Ronnie snickered.

“How old do you think I am?” Her grandma squawked, playfully smacking Ronnie’s upper arm once she sat down.

“Older than dirt.” Ronnie was parroting what her mom would say about herself. There was a flash of remorse in her grandmother’s eyes before she took a handful of popcorn from the metal bowl on the coffee table.

“Okay, okay. Play the movie.”

Ronnie fell asleep halfway through the movie. She leaned her head on her grandma’s shoulder. When the movie ended, she moved Ronnie into a more comfortable position, taking the blanket off the back of the couch and draping it over her. Cleaning up the coffee table, she noticed her spiral-bound notebook lying open. Curiously, she stole a sneak peek. Both she and her father were supportive of Ronnie’s hobbies. Her grandma was under the impression she was underselling herself and could go places if she outsourced and marketed herself properly. When she was asleep at night, her grandma and her father would listen to her music as they did the dishes or cleaned up. While she was washing the dishes in the sink, her father came home. He hobbled in like a zombie with an iced coffee from a gas station in his hand.

“Your daughter has a talent.” Her grandma rinsed the soapy suds off the metal bowl. “I don’t understand why she doesn’t want to do anything with it.”

“She’s a kid. I hardly think she cares.” Her father stifled a yawn, setting the iced coffee down on the counter. “I’m guessing I missed something,”

“Not necessarily. She’s working on new music.”

“You’ve been snooping again…”

“I can’t help it, James. She doesn’t share anything with me anymore.” The old woman shut the sink off. Her voice rose slightly.

“Mom, Ronnie’s a teenager, and teenagers… they– they hide stuff from their parents and defy authority.”

“That was your sister. She is so much better than your sister.”

“Mom,”

“What? You know what your sister was like! She made you come home from the army.”

That wasn’t just–” James pinched the bridge of his nose. “If Ronnie wants–”

“Veronica.” Her grandma corrected.

“If she wants to share something with you, she will.” He continued. “You have to let her come to you.”

“Have you been listening to those stupid parenting books?” She rolled her eyes. “At least you have to admit, things would be easier if she became famous for her music.”

“Mom.”

“Okay, okay. I admit I overstepped.” She dried her hands on the towel hanging from the stove handle. “But you can’t stand there and tell me you haven’t thought about it.”

“I haven’t,” James said unfazed. “Because she doesn’t want fame.”

“Oh, please. She’s just saying that because she’s modest.”

“I have a feeling that you did something,”

“Who, me? When have I ever done anything?”

“Goodnight, Mom.” James sighed heavily.

Ronnie wasn’t necessarily invisible to the student body. While Addison hung out with the cheerleading team and Callie spent time with the goth kids, Ronnie was kind of alone. It wasn’t like she hadn’t made an effort to befriend people, but many of the kids in her grade had transferred from the same middle school as her, so there was no way she could convince any of them she didn’t grow up to be even weirder than before. Instead of going to lunch and sitting alone at a table, she hid in the music room for the next thirty minutes. Music was her livelihood. When she was upset, she listened to sad songs. She would pull up some music to decipher her thoughts and feelings when she didn't know what she felt. Music was her way of venting out her frustrations. Other people had sports or even took it out on others, but Ronnie had songwriting. She shut herself in one of the practice rooms after grabbing the key from their band director. Pulling out her laptop to set up everything, she opened the song she was working on last night. Then, something popped into her head. Waiting for the application to save, she figured she would sing a song for fun instead of working on the incomplete one.

Scrolling through her extensive library of MP3 files, she landed on Boom Boom Pow by The Black Eyed Peas. It would make a fun warm, but then she noticed Don’t Trust Me by 3OH!3. Although she may not need something to psych her up with so much energy, its high beat and catchy tune were irresistible. As the song filled the room, playing loudly from her laptop speakers, she wanted to get up and move around. Thankfully, the soundproofing kept others from hearing what she was dancing to, but there was a sliver of a window on the door. Unbeknownst to her, a boy in the hallway stopped to look at her. He wasn’t sure if he was mesmerized or perplexed. He had a guitar case with him. They both had the same idea: ditch the cafeteria and hide in the practice rooms. Ronnie didn’t notice him until she turned around and screamed. She almost knocked over her laptop, balancing unsteadily on a music stand. She froze like a deer in headlights, and her face turned red. She was beyond embarrassed and had no idea if this boy would run off to tell someone the weirdo they grew up with was weirder than before. He ran away when she noticed him, leaving his guitar case behind. She quickly gathered her things and left the key on the chair in the practice room. Fast walking to the closest stairwell, she climbed two stairs at a time to get to her next class.

The end of the day rolled around, and Ronnie pushed past other students to get out of school as fast as possible. She needed to reach Snow Dome before anyone noticed her. Her heart was pounding as she fast-walked to her after-school job. It was pretty far, and she would be dripping with sweat by the time she got there, but she didn’t want to risk someone pointing her out and making fun of her. Going unnoticed was far better than being made fun of. Panting and heaving to catch her breath, she leaned on the door and pushed it open. Her co-workers lifted their heads, and all three had wide grins. Wayne leaned against the counter, idly chewing on grum. He pouted when he saw her. He was only a couple of years older than her and attending college part-time.

“School wasn’t fun?”

“No, no. It– was– fine.” She spoke between deep breaths. “Just excited to work.” She mustered an uneasy smile.

“If anyone bothers you, they have to answer us.” Jordin slid next to her and handed her a handkerchief. “You know that, right?” He furrowed his brows.

“Don’t treat me like a baby.” Ronnie frowned but took the handkerchief from him, muttering a small thank you.

“Your song was on the radio,” Cassidy said as she joined Wayne behind the rental skate counter. “I didn’t know you had the guts to put yourself out there.”

“What?” Ronnie’s eyes widened. “How did– Which song?”

“It didn’t have a title. All they said was that it was their local songwriter spotlight.” Cassidy shrugged. “Did you not title your songs?”

“No. I don’t title them because I never wanted to put them on the radio.”

“Well, someone did,” Jordin crossed his arms and puffed out his chest.

“Babydoll, stop pretending you’re man enough to beat someone up.” Wayne rolled his eyes. “Senseless violence isn’t a good look on you.”

“It’s also extremely out of character, dear brother.” Cassidy snickered.

“Oh, shove a sock in your pie hole.” Jordin stuck his tongue out.

“Did any of you put my song on the radio?” Ronnie asked. The three of them shook their heads.

“Who has access to your music?” Cassidy asked.

“There’s Callie, Addison, my dad, and my… grandma. But she couldn’t have taken one of my songs and put them on the radio, could she?”

“Who knows? You’d have to be close to someone running the station in that regard.” Jordin scratched the back of his neck. “I can’t beat up your grandma…” He said quietly under his breath.

“I don’t want you to beat up my grandma anyway.” Ronnie elbowed him. “It’s whatever. I’ll ask her about it later tonight.”

“It was a good song,” Wayne said under his breath when Cassidy and Jordin left to complete their tasks.

“Really?” Ronnie sounded too hopeful, but she couldn’t help it. She’d been waiting for some sort of praise on her work.

“Yeah, it could be like… I don’t know, a new pop hit…” Wayne shrugged, looking away and coughing into his hand. “Go through the lockers, yeah?” He handed her the keys.

“Thanks, Wayne!” Ronnie chirped, bounding off with a spring in her step towards the lockers.

Whenever people came to Snow Dome, they were always the most forgetful of their items in the lockers. The dark blue lockers were tucked away in the back corner beside the bleachers. At the end of the week, there was a high school hockey game, and everyone was working to get the rink ready for the students to play. It was tedious to unlock all the lockers, but she only started unlocking them in case she closed them if she didn’t find anything. Usually, people left hats, gloves, scarves, and occasionally a watch. Ronnie pulled over the lost and found cart and started dropping the items inside. It was relatively empty because Snow Dome had re-opened before the new school year began. When work was slow, the employees could slack off until it was officially closing time. Ronnie used that time to improve at ice skating, but only if all her tasks were complete. Today was a slow day. By the closing time, her feet were aching, and she wanted nothing more than to crawl into her bed and sleep. Thankfully, the bus was still running, so she didn’t have to ask her coworkers for a ride home. They were always nice about it, but she didn’t want to keep relying on them. Even though she had her license, her family only had one car. She didn’t mind riding the bus, nor did her grandma, but sometimes she wished she had a car. She wanted the freedom to drive wherever she wanted.

The porch light was on, and she was sure her grandma was home. Pulling her keys out of the lock as she pushed the door open, Scout ran up to her happily, jumping on her and trying to lick her face.

“Oh, I didn’t see a car in the driveway. I thought someone was going to drop you off?”

“Nah, I took the bus.” Ronnie pulled off her shoes and left them by the door, closing it as she stepped inside.

“How was school?”

“I have something to ask you,”

“Of course, honey, you can ask me anything.” Her grandma said in an overtly sweet voice.

“Did– Did you ask Marta to put my song on the radio.”

Her grandma’s face fell.

“You found out about that?”

“So, you did!” Ronnie exclaimed, throwing her arms out.

“I only did because you have so much talent that you’re wasting. Don’t tell me Snow Dome is where you want to work for the rest of your life!”

“That doesn’t matter. Songwriting is just a silly hobby!”

“It doesn’t have to be just a hobby. You could get discovered by some big-name producer and–”

“I don’t want to be famous!” Ronnie snapped. “Don’t you get it? I like my life now, and being famous would ruin that.”

“Honey–”

“No! Dad is the only one who understands that it’s an outlet for me!”

Ronni didn’t give her grandma room to respond. She stomped off to her room and slammed the door shut. Her grandma jumped when one of the photos came off the wall from the force. Hesitantly, she picked up the frame and was glad to find the glass only cracked. She was holding a family portrait. It was taken before Ronnie’s mother died. Caressing her thumb over the photo, she sighed and sat at the dining table. Scout whined and put his chin on her thigh, looking at her with big, sad eyes.

“Don’t look at me like that. She needs to get out of here, and this might be her only way how.”

It wasn’t like the dog would understand what she was saying, but somehow, Scout seemed to understand. He wagged his tail and perked up, smiling up at her. All she wanted was for her granddaughter to escape this nothing town and start new.

#btr #btrtv #big time rush #fanfiction #kendall knight/original character #kendall knight x original character #kendall knight/ronnie clark #kendall knight #ao3 fanfic #AO3 #romance #fluff #background romances #background relationships #ghostwriter fic #comfort after a breakup #after kendall and jo breakup #we love kelly #i love kelly

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rainydawgradioblog · 2 months ago

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From Fall Fling to THING, and the Seattle Showboxes in Between

Most attendees of the 2022 Fall Fling will remember The Moss’s enrapturing performance, complete with barefoot bassist Caiden Jackson, singer Tyke James’s charisma, and, for those at the barricade who had the chance to see it (and pose for a picture if you were me), a setlist on a paper plate. Loyal concert enthusiasts who stayed until the end will recall headliner Jean Dawson, donning a rain jacket despite the unrelenting Seattle heat—summer hadn’t given way to autumn weather just yet—and his fusion of hip hop and experimental indie rock. Perhaps the early birds at Fall Fling can reminisce over the two openers, both local groups: Kaede 01, a J-Pop/J-Rock cover band, and Aurora Ave., an ensemble whose sound is a blend of indie rock and pop with hints of jazz. The majority of audience members, however, didn’t start to trickle in until The Moss was on, about an hour and a half into the show. My group was the outlier, showing up half an hour before Kaede 01 went on and maintaining our spot in the front row until the end. As a concert enthusiast who has spent hundreds of dollars on tickets over the past few years, I was baffled that this show was “brought to students’ doorsteps free of charge,” as I now tell my audiences as a campus tour guide. As an incentive to attend the University of Washington, I’ll inform prospective students that in 2015, just two years before SZA released her debut album, Ctrl, she was an opener at the Spring Fling, playing alongside Rae Sremmurd and A-Trak. That’s right, opener! Through the Associated Students of the University of Washington (ASUW)’s Fall and Spring Flings, countless venerable artists, from Nirvana to Kendrick Lamar, have entertained UW crowds.

Aurora Ave. may not be Nirvana (yet), but their performance certainly made a lasting impression on me. In 2021, the group released their first and only album thus far under the same name as the band. They played several of these songs at the Fall Fling, my favorites of which are “Skipping Stones” and “It’s Over/Who Said.” A saxophonist, trumpet player, drummer, and several bassists lined the stage, setting the musical backdrop for the vocalist: a young woman who swayed to the melodies her bandmates played while she sang. At the barricade, I cheered for Aurora Ave. They were the first group to catch my attention with their call-and-response between instruments and upbeat neo-jazz phrases blending seamlessly with smooth soprano vocals. At the end of their set, the ensemble covered Tyler, The Creator feat. Kali Uchis’s “See You Again,” engaging with the audience and even getting a few people to sing along and wave their hands.

After a forty-minute intermission, The Moss arrived, decked in earthy tones and ready to bump the energy up a notch. An established crowd had gathered who immediately grew infatuated with the talented Tyke, Caiden, Willie, and Addison—including a girl named Cece who made her way up to the front row with me. Based on our mutual affinity for The Moss, I made a wild guess that Cece and I had similar music tastes. In the spirit of spontaneity and camaraderie, I asked if she’d come to another show with me the next night. We all remember how easy it was to let your guard down and make friends that first week of college.

“Hey, this is random, but do you listen to Arlo Parks?” I yelled between songs.

“Yeah, I love her. Why?”

“I’m actually seeing her at Showbox Sodo tomorrow and I have an extra ticket if you want to join me.”

“Yeah, I’m down!”

Well, turns out Arlo Parks was NOT performing at Showbox Sodo. Arlo and her opener Puma Blue were at the OTHER Seattle Showbox arena, The Showbox. Who let Seattle use “Showbox” to name two of its venues? Cece and I couldn’t be the only ones to mix the two up, and in fact, we weren’t. When we arrived, expecting a line of Arlo-obsessed fans impatiently waiting for the doors to open, Cece and I were surprised to find that we were alone. We didn’t start to panic yet—we’d arrived ambitiously early. Still, as we waited for guests to trickle in, only one did. I want to say his name was Wyatt, but I honestly can’t be sure. He Who Is Probably Wyatt approached us, and we soon confirmed the three of us were searching for a concert that had no signs of being found. There were no musical ties to this location: no tour buses, security guards, flashy outfits, or excited chatter in the vicinity. After waiting a few more minutes, someone Googled the concert and ascertained that we were at the wrong venue. We laughed it off and began the trek to the other Showbox.

The journey to The Showbox was a fever dream. I think we took some sort of public transportation because I can’t imagine us walking for thirty minutes, but I do remember there was a portion where we had to walk along the highway. As we strolled down the island of the highway, I could feel the rustle of cars rushing by me. Terrifying. Yet I remember feeling a buzz of exhilaration in my step, despite knowing that my company and safety net of people were two strangers: one I’d freshly met fifteen minutes before, and the other whom I’d known a whole night longer. Comforting, huh?

In a moment of serendipity, we made it to The Showbox just as opener Puma Blue began his set, and managed to weave through the crowd to the barricade. This scene of my life felt scripted; it was as if the writers arranged this elaborate concert venue mix-up just to introduce a new side character into the story: HWIP Wyatt or what’s his name. Unlike most of the attendees that night, Wyatt had come to this concert exclusively for Puma Blue and had never even heard of Arlo Parks.

“Wow, that’s dedication,” I exclaimed. “But you’ve gotta stay for her set after.”

“We’ll see,” he responded. “What are your favorite songs of hers?”

“I really like ‘Caroline’.”

“Okay. I’ll stay for ‘Caroline’.”

When “Caroline” came on, I nudged Wyatt, then disassociated completely and lent myself to Arlo for the next four minutes. I let her inflate me with her tenderness and poetry. Wyatt was in awe of her, too, and ended up staying for her whole set. In the chaos of the crowd’s dissipating congestion after the encore, “Softly,” Cece and I lost Wyatt just as we found Puma Blue at the merchandise booth, taking photos and talking to his fans.

“We met a guy tonight who bought tickets to this show just to see you, and I wanted to let you know,” I told Puma, after complimenting him on his set.

“Wow, really?! That’s amazing! I’m honored. I’d love to meet him. Is he here?” Puma said something along these lines.

“Sorry, we separated from him as everyone was leaving.”

“Well, thank you for telling me. That made my night.”

After saying goodbye to Puma, the writers were at it again. Cece and I stepped out of the venue and came face-to-face with Wyatt one final time. I couldn’t believe it.

“WE JUST MET PUMA AND WE TOLD HIM ABOUT YOU. GO BACK INSIDE AND FIND HIM. QUICK!!!” I screamed, my voice dead from singing along to Arlo’s songs.

“WHAT?!”

“PUMA WANTS TO MEET YOU. HE KNOWS YOU CAME JUST TO SEE HIM. GO!!!”

“OKAY, I’M GOING. THANK YOU!!!” He was electric. I hope he caught Puma in time.

Funny enough, I never hung out with Cece after that. I see her every once in a while around campus and think of the eventful concert experience we shared—that type of adventure bonds you for life.

…

Many concerts later, the highlights of which were Dora Jar, SZA, and Omar Apollo, and The Moss Pt. II, another concert was brought to my backyard. I often compare my hometown of Port Townsend, Washington, to Gilmore Girls’ Stars Hollow, Connecticut because of the quirky, tight-knit nature of its residents and the multitude of festivals we have. From a Wearable Arts Show to a Rhododendron Festival and an entire week of festivities in honor of Washington’s state flower, Port Townsend’s community events are a vessel for artistry. THING Festival, established in 2019 by Seattle Theater Group (STG), was my dream come true: an independent three-day music festival nestled in Fort Worden State Park, just down the hill from my house. Before relocating to Carnation, Washington, THING’s last run in its initial location was in August of 2023; since I volunteered, this was my first time properly going and not just sneaking in or listening from my house.

As one can imagine, August 25-27 was one of the best weekends of my life. Laufey, Cigarettes After Sex, and “Evergreen” by Richy Mitch and The Coal Miners were the TikTok draw-ins, and they didn’t disappoint. Mild High Club positioned their music equipment back to back, and each player sat facing their boards—my friend joked that it looked like they were playing chess. I volunteered during the majority of The Beths’ set, but my friends brought me a guitar chip that I’ve plastered on my dorm wall next to my Samia (who also performed that weekend) and Arlo Parks chips (from seeing her again a year and a half later). Thee Sacred Souls was my favorite live show that weekend. I like to boast that Josh Lane hopped off the stage and stood directly over me while singing “Will I See You Again?” In honor of “Can I Call You Rose?,” my friends and I bought Josh (humor me into thinking we’re on a first-name basis… he did sign a post-it note after the show with “all love, Josh”) a bouquet of roses and decorated the exterior paper with roses and kind messages. The security guard handed it to him, but since we were at the barricade for that show, he knew it came from us, and extended his gratitude after the show. I’ve never felt like more of a die-hard fangirl before.

Cherry Ferrari was not on my radar until my dad, upon looking at the THING lineup, recommended I check them out. This duo was the first act on the smaller stage that Saturday afternoon, and I showed up over halfway through the set with easy access to the barricade. The female vocalist was transitioning from an original to a cover of “No Scrubs” by TLC. Something about her essence felt familiar. Was it her voice? Her appearance? Her charisma and dynamism?

As she continued performing, I realized it was all three. This girl HAD to be the lead singer of Aurora Ave. But where was the trumpet and the saxophone? And how come all the songs she’d played were in a completely different style?

I dismissed the idea; it couldn’t be.

Regardless of who she was, the singer’s stage presence struck me and I happily reciprocated her energy, as did the girls to my left. When she sang another original song, they knew all the words. I was impressed. Maybe they were her friends? Like before, I started a conversation with the girls between songs.

“Are you guys friends with the singer? How do you know the lyrics of her songs?” I asked.

“We don’t know her well or anything, but she opened for our friend’s band,” one of the girls said.

“Really? What are they called? I love finding new music.”

“Aurora Ave.”

No. Way. I waited until after Cherry Ferrari had finished their set and explained what I knew.

“This is gonna sound crazy, but I thought she was connected to Aurora Ave. I swear she came and performed at UW for our fall concert but as the lead singer for Aurora Ave. Do you know anything about that?”

“Oh, yeah. The lead singer couldn’t make that show, so she was just subbing in. This is her project, Cherry Ferrari.”

“Wow. She was a substitute for that show?! She sounded amazing. So are you guys from Seattle, then?”

“Yeah, we’re from West Seattle. We’re students at Western, though.”

“No way. I have a lot of friends at Western.”

“What about you?”

“I’m from Port Townsend—I live just up the hill—but I go to UW.”

“You LIVE here? I’m jealous,” one of the girls said. She had gorgeous auburn curls.

“Yeah, it’s pretty great. We have a lot of festivals like this. I’m Julia, by the way.”

“I’m Quincy, and this is Moira,” the girl with the auburn hair revealed.

“Nice to meet you.”

As Quincy, Moira, and I continued to familiarize ourselves with one another, a voice from the crowd joined in.

“Sorry to eavesdrop, but I know the singer, Emma! We met when she performed at the Museum of Pop Culture (MoPOP) Sound Off. I’m Sylvia.”

“Wow, everyone seems to know Miss Emma!” This was me.

“Here, I’ll introduce you if you want,” Sylvia said casually. She went up to Emma—THE Emma Wang, the overlap in the Venn diagrams between Aurora Ave, Cherry Ferrari, Fall Fling and THING Festival—and they embraced. I lied before: I think this was my biggest fangirl moment. As creative women of color, Emma and I had a lot in common; I could feel our interconnectedness. Perhaps she was the manifestation of my lofty musical aspirations. This made meeting her even more intimidating.

“Hi!” I chirped. “You were fantastic.” I explained how I’d seen her at UW, and it was so cool to see her again with her own musical group in my hometown, blah, blah, blah, classic fangirl stuff. We took a few pictures with Sylvia and some with just the two of us. She asked me about what it was like to live in Port Townsend and I gave her some recommendations of things to do here if she had the time. We exchanged social media platforms before saying goodbye.

As I walked away with my new friends Quincy, Moira, and Sylvia, I continued to marvel at Emma’s talent.

“Wow, I can’t believe it’s really her. I knew it! How old is she, anyway? Twenty?”

“Oh, she’s still in high school,” Sylvia said.

“You’re kidding. She’s so talented, and she looks a lot older.”

“Yeah, I don’t think she’s even applied to college yet.”

…

Fast forward a year and a half and Emma Wang is attending New York University to pursue her music career. How full circle is it that she reached out to me when she found out I was going to the Spring Fling to see Between Friends and wanted to meet up? A celebrity wanting to hang out with ME? We spent an hour texting back and forth catching up, and she told me she had a concert at Neumos on June 21st. I bought two tickets for my best friend Elio and me within minutes and told her I couldn’t wait to support her. Two shows ago, Emma had no idea who I was, but this time, she had someone to smile at and sing “Night Before” to in the front row.

-Julia Neville

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