Survival Of The Fittest

There was way too much going on for Kaitlin to handle. Three other kids from her school had arrived- two had walked past them, one of the ones who walked past parting with something snide towards Frankie. "Can't control yourself"... What a jerk. Kaitlin didn't exactly know what he was talking about, but she could tell from his tone that he was trying to insult Frankie.

The other person, Justin Corrigan, he'd stayed with them. Him and Frankie currently seemed to be engaged in a shouting match. Kaitlin wondered why they would be so excited to see each other... Perhaps they were dating? No, wait, Justin was gay... Slightly confused, Kaitlin turned back to Rosa. She looked a little angry... maybe Kaitlin could make her day better.

"Hey, Rosa!" said Kaitlin in a high, cheery voice. "Are you here to shop for some clothes today? And if you are, you know I am too, we could go shopping together-- it looks like your sister's pretty busy.

"Oh, and you look so pretty!" said Kaitlin, looking over at Rosa. She did look pretty, even in just normal clothes. "Are you wearing any make up?! I've always wanted to wear make up, but my mom won't let me... she says make up's for whores."

Blushing, Kaitlin clapped a hand over her mouth. Oh, you screwed up now! Why did you have to go and do that... "Oh, no, I didn't mean- I'm not calling you a whore, it's just my mom...well, you know." Kaitlin shut up, and stood there, blushing. Boy... she gets a chance to talk to this girl outside of school, and she screws up on the first time. She was such an idiot sometimes!

The elder Fiametta thought about saying something to her sister, but in the end decided that there would be no point. Anything Rosa said couldn't change Frankie's mind. That wasn't really surprising, both of the sisters were very independant people, and Rosa supposed that it wasn't altogether unlikely that they shared the same sort of traits. Rosa knew she wouldn't stop behaving how she did just because somebody told her to...

Soon after Rosa started to speak to Kait...lin? That sounded about right, somebody she knew walked by. Alex Cann, urgh. The guy was in the debate club too, and Rosa couldn't stand him. He was just an annoyance, to put it plainly. It was fun to have an excuse to yell at the guy whilst they were attending the club. Alex was making some kind of self-important, smug remark about Frankie, which irritated Rosa. If anyone was going to get on her sister's case, it would be Rosa. Still, he had come and gone before Rosa could say anything.

Rosa had to force herself not to raise an eyebrow as the overweight boy addressed the two of them. Much like it had been with Kaitlin, Rosa didn't know the kid, how the heck did he know her?

"I ... uh, don't think we've actually met," Rosa said after a few moments. "I'm Rosa," you couldn't really start talking to somebody you hadn't even spoken to before about a party, even if you were both going to it. Introductions, at least, needed to be made. Not long after Rosa spoke though, somebody else turned up, although this at least was somebody that Rosa actually knew. Justin Corrigan. Justin was really her sister's friend in truth, but they got on well enough too, she supposed.

"Hi Justin," Rosa said in passing, before allowing him to speak with Frankie.

Then Kaitlin spoke up again, this time speaking to Rosa herself as opposed to her sister.

How does everyone know me? Now I feel all self-concious... Surely I don't have that much of a rep? Well okay, maybe I do. Still, I don't like people knowing my name when I can barely remember their's.

As Kaitlin made the 'whore' remark, Rosa stiffened noticeably. That was a sore, sore spot. Rosa knew that she slept around a bit, but it wasn't about sex. She just had a hard time finding somebody genuinely loving. Besides, after JJ, Rosa had been a lot more careful about who she went out with. Rosa bit her lip and blew air out of her nose slowly. She was pissed off, but didn't want to snap out at Kaitlin.

"Yeah I'm ... sure you didn't."

Rgh! Who is she to judge!?

((Edison Rossivitch continued from And The Hits Keep Coming))

Edison strode down the concourse towards the Food Court, intent on getting her afternoon smoothie. She kept up a steady stream of chatter to Olexia, who was in her typical spot, drafting off Edison's right shoulder. "I'm not really hungry, so I was thinking maybe just a smoothie run today. Unless you want something else. ‘Cause if you get some fries or something, I'll probably steal some from you. That sounds like a good idea, actually. Should we get some fries? I dunno, like I said, I'm not that hungry so maybe we should split an order?"

As usual, people flowed around the girls as they headed toward their intended target. "I swear, if that girl offers one of us a facial or something as we pass her, I'm gonna come unglued." Edison flashed the woman behind the cosmetics booth an evil glare and steered a wide berth around it.

"Oh, speaking of make-up, did I mention that she's already starting about prom? Like I don't know that it's coming up or something." Having been best friends for most of their lives, Edison did not elaborate on who the mystery ‘she' could be. Edison scowled at the memory. "She cornered me as I was trying to finish my cereal this morning before you got there, and she started going on about how prom is such a big deal and I'll be so sad if I don't go, and don't I want it to be memorable? So I made the mistake of saying that even if I didn't have a date, you and I could go together. Then, THEN, she said in this really pissy tone, and I quote, ‘Edison Ursula Rossivitch, what are you going to do when Olexia gets a life? Besides, it's not NORMAL to go to the prom with your best friend unless you both have dates.' Can you BELIEVE that crap?! I mean, it's not like I don't WANT a guy to ask me to prom, or that I'd say ‘no' if Ni…"

Edison trailed off, blushing furiously. Her gaze nervously flickered to her right shoulder, steeling herself for Olexia's question. Instead of speaking, Olexia kept rummaging through her wallet. Edison's shoulders sagged a bit in relief. Oh, thank goodness. She's not paying attention. Her relief was quickly replaced by irritation. She's not even paying attention! She's just digging around in her wallet. You know what, WHATEVER!

Wandering further into the food court with a huff, Edison scanned the seating area, spotting several of her classmates loosely grouped around a table. Frankie Fiametta was sprawled in a chair, talking to Justin Corrigan. Rosa Fiametta was talking to…someone. Edison couldn't really see the other girl's face from the angle she was at. Upon further examination, Edison recognized the look of reigned-in anger that Rosa was wearing. "I think Illario will blow a head-gasket if his sister kill someone in the mall. I know they're not our usual social circle, but I think we should go over and intervene. What do you think?"

"Oh, right, yeah. Yeah, totally."

Edison took a deep breath. "Well, okay then. But you do NOT get to bug out on me if this gets awkward." We'll see who's ‘unapproachable', Lex, she thought as she tried to make this seem as natural as possible.

"Hey, what's up?" she called as she approached the group. Grabbing a chair from a nearby table and spinning it around backwards, Edison sat in the chair and rested her chin on the back. "So what brings everyone to the mall today?"

Justin might have been more annoyed at someone else stealing his food, but having known Frankie for some time, he was used to this occurring by now. Hell, Frankie got high more often than he did, he was surprised she left him even the salad. "I would've bought you one! And, you know, you could've at least waited for me before getting high, asshole..." he feigned a shocked and offended look, crossing his arms. "I am so disappointed in you! I don't even know if I want to see you at all anymore. Really."

He dropped the joke when he heard Rosa greet him. Oh, right. There were other people here. How could he miss the opportunity to make his presence known to everyone else, as well? Especially with his party coming up and all...

"Hey, Rosa," he said casually back, taking a moment to sweep his blond hair out of his eyes, "Hey, Will." He glanced towards Kaitlin, but opted not to speak to her. Maybe it was a little rude, but whatever. He didn't know her. "Listen, I'm glad I ran into you guys," he said, pretending to be urgent, "I wanted to check if you were still coming to the party this weekend, and if you can bring any booze. My sister was home for a few days and bought us a couple of kegs, but the more the better."

In truth, Justin couldn't give two shits what anyone else was bringing - they could have an entire tub of moonshine for all he cared, he wasn't keeping track. He was mostly looking for any excuse he could find to bring the party up. Causing so many other students to get excited, to spread to the word, to talk about him gave him a huge thrill, and he was doing everything he could to make sure talk about this party never died. They'd better fucking be talking about it afterwards, too. This one was going to go down in history.

Getting a bit caught up in his fantasizing, he was brought back to earth by Frankie once again. "Be my knight is shining tights and get me the fuck out of here." Justin was happy to oblige. Besides the fact that Frankie was his friend, she was also more than winning to repay his favors with an L or two, and he was more than ready for some pot right now. He took out his car keys and shook them in her face much in the same manner he might do for a kitten. "I got your steed right here, madam," he grinned, "Let's blow this dump and go catch a movie or something." He turned back to the others, gave them an unceremonious "I'll see you guys," and began dragging Frankie out of the food court, completely ignoring Edison as she came up to greet them.

"Listen, once we get there, you are sooo sharing your stash with me..."

((Justin Corrigan continued in Attack of the Fifty Foot Cliche!))

wrote:"I ... uh, don't think we've actually met," Rosa said after a few moments. "I'm Rosa,"

"Oh yeah, heh, I didn't realize we'd never been introduced. I'm just really good with names and faces, I guess. I'm Will." He said with a bright smile on his face, a smile that only grew when he heard a familiar voice call out his name. "Yo Justin!" He yelled in response, waving him toward the little group that was starting to form. Hanging with Justin was always a pleasure for Will; even though they had only started hanging out this year, Will thought just as well of Justin as he did of some of his oldest friends.

Will laughed as Justin and Frankie teased each other; Justin was always hilarious just by being himself, a skill that Will secretly envied. As they talked about weed, Will's attention turned back to Rosa and Kaitlin just as Kaitlin accidentally insulted Rosa. Will cringed as he waited for Rosa's response. Luckily Kaitlin had sense enough to catch her mistake. Will breathed a sigh of relief as Rosa verbally let it slide, though it didn't look like Rosa was going to forgive and forget just yet. It was a lucky thing that more people kept coming by, otherwise Kaitlin might have been in trouble.

"Not much, just a bit of shopping." Will said to the girl who had just walked up to the group. He recognized Edison, though he couldn't remember if they had ever spoken to each other outside of class. Even if he hadn't known her at all, he would have still struck up a conversation with ease. "We all just kind of met up over here by chance. What brings you here?"

However, Will's attention was diverted by Justin's sudden interruption and plug for his party. "Hell yeah man! You know I'm there. I'll probably be able to scrounge up a bottle of Goose by then, if my connection comes through this week." Justin's party sounded like it was shaping up to be the biggest party Bayview Secondary had ever seen. Anybody who was anybody was going to be there. At the very least Will wanted to make a good last impression on all his classmates, hoping they would completely forget the 'loser' version of himself that he felt used to exist two years ago before his year abroad and massive change, and remember him for what he had become.

"Fuuuck yeah," Frankie just about moaned, the relief of being free from the confines of her peers very present in her voice. She eagerly snatched the keys from Justin's hands, but was just as quick to shove them back into his hands. The already abundant laziness that she possessed was multiplied quite a bit, thanks to the pot.

She tagged behind Justin as he exited the food court, though not before giving her sister a small hug. Sure, they had their problems but she cared about her sister, nonetheless. "Don't go near the glory-holes, Rosa," She teased and called toward the other students, "Peace out, bitches."

[ Frankie Fiametta continued inAttack of the Fifty Foot Cliche! ]

((Bah. I can't think of anything to do with Alex in pregame. This post is rushed and badly written.))

Alex decided to just get a cheeseburger at Wendy's and get out of there quickly. The res of the teenagers were talking about some party- and there wasn't any real reason to stick around. He rushed away and started glancing at the stores to his sides.

((Continued elsewhere... or something))

Watching as her friend took a sharp turn towards a group of fellow students, Olexia only had a brief moment to wonder exactly what she'd agreed to, before scurrying quickly to keep pace. She should have admitted that she hadn't been paying attention. Just agreeing to anything Edison put forward, without really thinking about the consequences could have some disasterous effects. Olexia winced, as she remembered the Mary Poppins fiasco her friend had convinced her to take part in, during their second grade year.

Straddling her chair, in a manner Olexia was sure the girl's mother would disapprove of, Edison off handedly inquired as to the group's plans. Peeking over the brunette's shoulder, Olexia waved shyly, indicating her own presence as well. The results were less than spectacular. Both Frankie and Justin made their escape, while everyone else seemed to be patently ignoring the newly arrived duo. Olexia felt her cheeks tinge pink. Edison always got them in the most awkward situations.

There was some talk about a party, or something. Olexia hadn't heard anything about it. Fighting down a twinge of jealousy, she kept her peace. She never got invited to parties. Not to say she'd ever actually attend one, but being left out like that wasn't any good for the girl's ego. Why should other people get all the fun? Why shouldn't she have a chance for some of those fond high school memories people always went on about?

"Party? What party's that?"

Before she could stop herself, the words had tumbled from her lips. Quickly falling back behind Edison she tried to blend in to the background. Edison could take it from there. Besides, there was already a tense atmosphere. Rosa was trying to avoid looking upset and failing rather miserably. Best not to get too involved. Edison could handle the situation, just fine.

((Chris continued from Ice Trails))

Chris was feeling a bit pekish. Well, that was a lie. In all actuality, he was starving. He hadn't eaten since lunch, which was just a sandwich and a Coke. He had some pretzels on the bus ride to the mall, but that was it.

So after taking off from the ice rink (hoping that those two guys he left behind would be all right), he took the escalator up to the food court.

He scanned the multitude of eateries available to him, all of them providing the standard American meals, the only defining characteristic being that they were pretty much all meat dishes and cooked in oil or slapped between two loaves of bread and called a "healthy alternative to a cheeseburger". He finally settled on some obscure Chinese place that he had never once seen outside of a mall food court. He got himself a big helping of moo goo gai pan and two egg rolls, found a seat, and started eating.

About halfway through one of the egg rolls, which tasted vaguely like it had been thawed before serving to him, he heard someone mention the word "party" nearby. Turning, he saw a few more kids he recognized from his school talking nearby. He recognized one of them, Justin, from Facebook. He didn't know much about him, other than him being a gay party guy. The girl with him, Frankie, was practically the definition of a pothead. Chris had never been one for the stuff, but he had no problems with its usage.

Justin and Frankie were gone in a flash, and he began to think: Do I want to go to this party?

Chris had never been invited to parties since....well, ever. Other than his friends' birthday parties or Drama Club parties held to commemorate the new year, Chris's only experience with them was looking at Facebook and MySpace albums of them, which consisted of little more than shirtless guys slutty girls completely trashed and flashing the camera. Chris always wanted to go to one of these, if only to see exactly what the cameras had missed.

Normally, he would be a bit nervous to ask about the party, and he wasn't sure his mother would let him go anyway; while he never drank much, smoked, or did drugs (all of his own volition), she was still horribly paranoid about him doing something stupid and getting arrested, killed, or infected with an STD.

Fortunately, he didn't have to worry about being the one to go up and ask. One of the girls nearby asked "Party? What party's that?" She almost immediately shrank back. Chris took advantage of not having to be the one to ask, and went up to them as well, dumping his empty food tray and double-fisting his egg-rolls. He asked "Yeah, what's this about a party?"

"Yeah I'm ... sure you didn't."

Oh, shoot... I got to fix this. But how? I can't... I don't know her! What could I say that would make her happy? Maybe I could j- No, that wouldn't work. Maybe if I-- Wait, no that wouldn't work either. Oh, shoot, I'm no good at this! ...I guess I'll just have to go by instinct.

"Well... you know, I think I'm going to go." Kaitlin grabbed Theodore, and put him inside the bag. Then she looked up, and smiled at Rosa. "I've got a lot of shopping to do... You know, my mom doesn't usually let me out."

Kaitlin didn't know why she was opening up to Rosa. It wasn't something she usually did, but something felt different about Rosa. Or was it that something felt similar about Rosa? Whatever it was, she did feel something with Rosa. From what Kaitlin had heard, there were very different... but there was something that was the same.

Liar, liar... it takes one to know one. The thought crawled to Kaitlin from the back of her mind. Was that what it was? Were they both hiding something? Maybe... Maybe they both had different ways of hiding it.

"I'd want to go with someone else, though... another girl. Someone to tell me if the clothes look nice on me, or if they suck." Kaitlin smiled again. "You can come if you want."

((Kaitlin Anderheim continued elsewhere))

Rosa playfully flipped Frankie the bird as her sister and Justin decided to make tracks. Usually, she would have a retort to that kind of remark from Frankie, but at that point, she was in conversation. Besides, it wasn't like Rosa had to have a witty comeback to every single jibe right? She didn't score points off her sister, and if Frankie, conversely did, it wasn't anything Rosa needed to know about.

Still, it also felt good to make the obscene gesture to somebody who would understand and/or wouldn't be offended. Kaitlin's remark, even if paraphrased, had put Rosa in a bad mood, and Frankie was a fairly good outlet for that. Then again, now that she had left, Rosa was going to have reign in her temper a little. Fantastic.

Luckily, a distraction in the form of Edison Rossivitch was on the cards. Edison was similar to Justin in some respects, in that she wasn't really Rosa's friend, but that of one of her siblings. Much like Justin, Rosa didn't get on too badly with Edison, but she wasn't really a person the eldest Fiametta would consider a good friend. Fortunately, the intervention gave Rosa to direct her attention at somebody other than Kaitlin and her poorly-placed remark and hopefully calm down a little.

"Frankie wanted to do something," Rosa pointed vaguley after her sister in response to Edison's question. "But as you can see, she wound up going off with Justin. So I'm pretty much just hanging around right now."

That was a point actually, she'd only really come here because Frankie had wanted to, that and to get something to eat, but did she really want to stick around when a whole bunch of people in her year were there? Especially when most of them were people she didn't even know very well. However, next thing she knew, people started asking about Justin's party left right and centre. With Justin himself gone, it pretty much fell to Rosa or that Will guy to explain.

"Justin's throwing a party this weekend," Rosa explained. "He already threw out a bunch of invites but I don't think he's made a guest list or anything," Rosa didn't really mind explaining to Olexia, who was once again somebody she knew mostly through her brother, but Rosa didn't even know who the guy who walked right up to them was.

Who the hell is that guy and why did he just randomly jump into the conversation? I've seen him around school... I think, but seriously. Who the hell?

"Then again..." Rosa added, mostly for Christopher's benefit. "If you aren't invited, there's probably a reason for it," okay, that was cruel, but it was some random kid, and it was true, kind of. Rosa doubted Justin would want the boring or nerdy people there. It was supposed to be exciting and fun after all...

Kaitlin eventually replied, and Rosa took that cue to get out of there, away from all the people she didn't know how to deal with. Sure, Kaitlin was also one of those people, but she only had to pretend to be going along with her for an excuse. Then she could just bail.

Whew. Thanks so much for getting me into that Frankie... Still, thinking of Justin's party, I wonder who will be there. What if JJ turns up? Man, that would suck. Still, I'll bet there will be at least some people I like there, even if a bunch of people without any business turning up decide to crash.

Something to look forward to, I guess.

((Rosa Fiametta continued in Looking for 'Company'))

Chris didn't exactly take to this girl too quickly. What was her name? Dandelion, Rose -- Rosa, that's it. As a matter of fact, she almost immediately got off on the wrong foot with him. All he wanted to do was ask about this party, and she has to go off on him and drop subtle hints that he's a loser?

Well, it wasn't all that bad. Chris didn't think that Justin would particularly mind him coming to the party, considering how laid back he was. Besides, there would probably be so many people at the party, they wouldn't even notice a new guy, really. The alcohol and drugs would especially make sure that their senses weren't so open to unrecognized guests.

"Jeeze, who knew you could be such a bitch to people you don't even know?" he muttered to himself. He finished off his egg rolls and left. Maybe he could find someone a bit more friendly elsewhere in this damn town.

((Chris continued in Homework: Last Resort of the Bored))

As more people came into the fold, others soon left, leaving only Will and Rosa to inform the newcomers about the party. However, Will didn't really know what to say to the newcomers. He thought it was a 'by invitation only' party, but he couldn't think of a way to say it nicely without coming off as a jerk. Luckily for him, he didn't have to say anything.

By the time Rosa finished handling the situation, it seemed that everyone was breaking up to go their own separate ways. "You guys might be able to come as well. Just see if you know anyone who's going and tag along with them." He added helpfully to the few people that remained. "I've got to be going though. Later!" With that, Will went back to his seat, grabbed his bag, and left the food court.



((William Davis continues elsewhere))

Looking around at the mostly abandoned table, Edison took stock of the situation. Well, I suppose this wasn't a total loss. We learned about what sounds like THE party of the year. And then we were not-so-subtlety discouraged from attending. Violence was avoided on all fronts so at least I won't have to worry about Illario busting a vein. However, I look like total tool, sitting here alone while everyone else practically ran away. Greeeaaat. She fought the urge to repeatedly bang her head on the back of her chair.


Turning to look over her shoulder at Olexia, she let out a sigh. "And you wonder why I don't even bother any more." She swept her arm out, gesturing at the other empty chairs with a flourish. "We're almost out of here, Lex. Thankfully, the clock is running down and we just have to make it a couple more months before we get to go away to college and start over."

Standing abruptly, Edison stepped back and spun her chair around into the proper position before roughly shoving it back towards the table. "You know what, screw the smoothie. I don't want it anymore. Let's just get the hell out of here."


((Edison Rossivitch continued elsewhere))

Olexia was almost shocked at the speed which the others vacated the area. She and Edison weren't that unpopular, were they? Chewing at her thumb, the meek blonde cast a nervous glance at her friend. Well, she had helped to prevent an outbreak of violence. Ok, maybe just a shouting match or a few harsh words, but that was still something right? Right?

"And you wonder why I don't even bother any more."

Pulling a face, Olexia looked over the empty seats and half eaten food the others hadn't bothered to finish. Certainly it didn't make for a scene that had her feeling very welcome. The fact that she hadn't known a thing about the party the group had been talking about stung a little more sharply. Doing her best to avoid the mild irritation, the nagging hurt at being left out of something so big poked at the inside of her stomach. So what, right? She didn't care. She and Edison didn't need them. Not at all. "Yeah, I guess so."

"We're almost out of here, Lex. Thankfully, the clock is running down and we just have to make it a couple more months before we get to go away to college and start over." Turning back to her friend, Olexia found a fraction of a smile. Ed always was better at thinking optimistically. Sure, things were already starting to wind down around school. People would be shipping out at summer's end and then there would be a nice change of scenery. And who knew? Maybe a fresh start was exactly what the two needed.

"You know what, screw the smoothie. I don't want it anymore. Let's just get the hell out of here." Smiling at the sudden outburst, Olexia quickly found her feet, nodding in agreement. "Yeah, right." Hurrying to follow before quickly falling into her partner's stride with the ease of long practice. Winding through the crowds, Olexia cleared her throat as a thought occurred. "Uhm…Ed? Where are we going, anyway?"

((Olexia Kovacs continued elsewhere))