=.School.= has /never/ been a {P.r.o.b.l.e.m}

[Anastasia Masters]

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[Jaedyn Westerfield]

[/color][/b]” he offered quietly, his blue eyes scanning the picture once again before flicking up to her face. Yes, ‘pretty’ didn’t cut pure art. Jayd would know; he hated when people claimed his songs were ‘pretty.’ First of all, he was a guy, and pretty was a girl thing. Second of all, saying ‘ooh that’s pretty’ sounds kind of like ‘eh, I don’t want to make you feel bad but that song isn’t awesome.’ Yeah. Exactly. ‘Beautiful’ worked; ‘pretty’ didn’t.
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[Anastasia Masters]

[/b][/color]

[ [ Sorry for the shortness, mother is telling me to get off >.> ] ][/ul][/size]

[Jaedyn Westerfield]

[/color][/b]" he grinned teasingly, reaching behind him to tug around his case. He unlatched it and removed his guitar with a habatual flair--meaning, he didn't have to think about it and the action was smooth. He strummed on the instrument once or twice, absent-mindedly tuning it. He shook his head as he raked his head for a song to sing, realizing that most of his recent ones were written for a piano accompinament, not guitar.

"Of all the times for you to catch me without a keyboard..[/b]" he teased, grinning softly before he started to play.

"So we sit at this table with our hands in our laps
And we have a few drinks and we share a few laughs
But now those days have past and they’re not coming back
It’s a shame cause that’s all that I had

"And we’ll sing out loud for hours
Until the morning that we know we can’t avoid
These nights are notable and priceless
I swear that every word I say, I mean until my dying day
It’s a shame when I wake I can’t recall a thing
It’s a shame when I wake I can’t recall a thing

"So keep things quiet until the rest of the street falls asleep
Then we’ll break out and show everyone just what were made of
So young, lets abuse our health and have a little fun
I’ll drink to that, let’s drink to that

"And we’ll sing out loud for hours
Until the morning that we know we can’t avoid
These nights are notable and priceless
I swear that every word I say, I mean until my dying day
It’s a shame when I wake I can’t recall a thing

"I’ve got some problems but we’ve got ten dollars
That’s enough to get us wasted before the night is over
These past five days I’ve been completely sober
But tonight I’m getting ripped wide open

"I’ve got some problems but we’ve got ten dollars
That’s enough to get us wasted before the night is over
These past five days I’ve been completely sober
But tonight I’m getting ripped wide open"

He finished the song, smiling warily in Anastasia's direction. He'd written it the night after he'd come so close to admitting his feelings to Portia on this very lawn. Stace was the first one he'd actually performed it for. His smile grew to a teasing one though, proving that he--in no way--wanted to talk about the drama that was going on between him and the girl he was fighting with.

Jaedyn just wanted to get back into a normal routine; he hated being so upset about the whole thing. He'd gotten all his anger and sorrow out in songs, many of them. But of course, he hadn't yet faced Portia about the whole thing. That conversation was sure to bring all of those feelings back, and fast.[/size][/ul]
[[ Knights of the Island Counter -- Dave Melillo ;; not mine ;P ]]

[Anastasia Masters]

[/b][/color] There was more behind his song than just words though. Staci knew that. You would have to be blind and deaf not to realize the drama that had been going on lately between Jaedyn and that Portia girl. Apparently Stephen DePaul had gotten mixed up in it somehow too. It would be easy enough for Staci to get thrown mixed as well, she knew that. As much as she had tried to deny it, Anastasia knew that she liked him as more than a friend. But with all he was going through, there was no way that she was going to get involved with all the drama.

Still in her head-and-arms-on-knees stance, she looked up into Jae's eyes for a few moments. She could have held his gaze for much longer, but soon she realized that that was probably going to freak Jaedyn out. All at once she moved her eyes towards the grass and flipped her legs so her was in a crossed legged position. Staci allowed a small, nearly silent sigh escape her lips and looked down at the grass. Ripping out a few stray blades of grass, she spoke under her breath. "Im sorry Jaedyn." She didn't really know what she was applogizing for. Was it that she'd held his gaze for what she thought was a moment too long? Well, not really. Maybe Staci was trying to appologize to him for what she knew he was going through.

She knew that he didn't want to get into details about what was going on between himself and Portia. Anastasia knew that simply by the smile that he'd placed on his lips the moment the song had ended. And Staci wasn't planning on pushing it.[/ul][/size]

[Jaedyn Westerfield]

Jaedyn set his guitar down in its case next to him, not really wanting to strum on it randomly as he usually did. No, Jae didn’t feel much like picking at the instrument—his hands were cold enough as it was. He shut the lid with a casual flick of his hand, not bothering to lock it just yet. He moved to look at Anastasia again, still smiling softly. “No, how you draw is amazing.” The true statement was accompanied with a slightly teasing tone, and one of his boyish grins. He really did believe what he’d said, though; hell, the best he could draw was a stick person, and even then those weren’t all that good. His trees looked like lollipops, his clouds like cotton candy-in-a-bad-way, his … ah, you get the idea.

He almost let out a sigh of relief when Stace didn’t ask about the lyrics; he knew he had to confront Portia—and soon. He had a good chunk of crap to get off of his chest, and it was getting harder and harder to breath. Thank you Maroon 5. He didn’t want to deal with it anymore; if fate really did run every one’s lives, then maybe he and Portia weren’t meant to be. He was starting to believe that more and more every day. The only problem was, he wasn’t sure if he was really over her or if he was just making himself think that way. But he wanted her as a friend … Maybe he just wasn’t ready to settle down yet, eh? After all, the boy was only sixteen.

He didn’t notice how long they’d been looking at each other. He’d actually found the silent connection quite comforting; no thoughts of him and Portia had run through his head, no complicated relationships, just his past with the girl sitting beside him. Stasia was so innocent, so … pure in his eyes. He loved that about her; how the disgusting truths of the world either didn’t affect her like it did everyone else or that she hadn’t learned of them yet. This was why he was so protective of her; like an older brother … or something. Jayd wasn’t a violent person by default, but if someone so much as laid a threatening finger on Anastasia Masters … well, things might get a bit ugly. Sure he wouldn’t last long, but—

He blinked as their gaze was broken, shifting his head to look off toward the forest. “What for, ‘Stasia?” he asked, using the nickname he’d dubbed her with when they first met. He chuckled lightly, both forcing the rush of thoughts to what she must be referring to out of his head and putting up just the slightest of walls. “You’ve nothing to be sorry for,” he pointed out, swallowing softly. He hated to keep the Ravenclaw girl out; hell, he hated to keep any of his friends out. He opened his mouth to say something more, but shut it again after finding no words to express … well, anything.

[Anastasia Masters]

[/b] [/color]Sending him a quick little smile, Staci decided to try harder "I guess I just got wrapped up in your lyrics."

She knew that he hadn't wanted to get into the meaning of his lyrics. So trying to keep things light, Staci let out one of her bright full-on smiles "Your songs have a tenancy to do that to people, Jaedyn" The sound of his full name sounded foreign on her lips. After all, she almost always referred to him as "Jae". Just like he hardly ever called her Anastasia. The thing was, calling him by his full name brought a wave of emotion over Staci. In her mind, she convinced herself that 'Jae was her friend. Nothing more.' and that they had no romantic future together, ever. And tried her best to leave it at that. But when she thought of "Jaedyn" instead of simply "Jae", all of her crush-type feelings came rushing back to her.

Shaking her head slightly, Staci pulled her hands out from underneath her and picked up her pencil. Instead of picking up her sketch book, however, she simply fiddled with her pencil.

Nope, all her inspiration for drawing trees was gone.[/ul][/size]

[Jaedyn Westerfield]

Jaedyn chuckled softly when Anastasia tucked her hands under her. “Cold?” he asked, grinning softly and rubbing his own hands together. Yes; next time, he would bring gloves as well. He paused in his friction-induced hand warming and held his hands open, giving Anastasia a pointed look, silently suggesting that she let him warm her hands as well. He couldn’t have her loosing her fingers due to the cold. God, he’d never forgive himself for something like that. ‘Stasia had too much talent to lose her fingers.

Jaedyn nodded as she explained, not really caring that she’d apologized, actually. Well, all that mattered to him was that Anastasia was there. He could be himself around his friend and not worry about more rumors starting. Plus, this was ‘Stasia! They’d been friends for … Lord knows how long. He grinned, blushing slightly when she spoke of his song’s affects. Of course, his small flush was practically invisible due to the already pink tinge the cold was causing his cheeks to turn, but just so you know. “Thanks, Stace,” he smiled boyishly, brushing a hand through his hair.

[[ -slaps self- if I had replied to this earlier, the reply would most definitely be longer … >.> sorreh v.v ]]

[Anastasia Masters]

[/i] it was a constant thing for Staci, coaching herself through interaction with Jae. Telling herself that he was her friend, her brother of sorts, and that he could have pretty much any girl in the school, so why on earth would he ever go for her? And that last part was true, you know. Jaedyn could very easily have any girl in all of Hogwarts if he truly wanted her. That's how Anastasia saw it, anyway. Jae was everything that any girl wanted. He was sweet, sensitive, he played the guitar... oh, and he wasn't that bad looking. Heck, Staci knew of three girls alone that had 'secret' crushes on Jae. Plus, Jaedyn wasn't stupid. Anastasia was convinced that he knew very well that there were some girls that had feelings for him. He wasn't a player, not by any means, but he probably just didn't know how to react to them liking him.

Hearing the chuckle from Jaedyn, Anastasia glanced at him "Don't laugh at me Jae." her tone was purely teasing, with no actual accusation at all. After all, she knew very well that he wasn't really laughing at her. "Yeah, a bit." Staci replied to Jaedyn's question. She wasn't really sure why Jae even asked, since it was rather obvious that she was. She replied all the same though. Removing her hands from underneath her, Staci placed them inside of Jaedyn's hands. While in her head she was telling herself that she was only doing it to try and calm her liking of Jaedyn, his hands were actually pretty warm. Slowly, Stace felt her fingers warm up inside of Jaedyn's.

Staci nodded her head when Jaedyn thanked her. She chose not to verbally say anything else to him about the topic. Not because she didn’t want to, more so because she felt there was no need to. Instead, she chose to pick a new topic. “So, tell me Jae. Are you getting excited for the Hollow’s Eve Ball yet?”[/color] –gasp- Why yes, Anastasia did just use sarcasm! Of course, she knew that he wasn’t really one to go to the dances that Hogwarts put on through out the year. Neither was she, but she figured she might as well ask him. [/ul][/size]

[Jaedyn Westerfield]

Jaedyn was, indeed, rather … naïve when it came to girls liking him. Sure, he could tell he was one of the more desirable boys in the school (not to be arrogant, or anything) but more often than not—contrary to popular belief—Jayd was at a loss of what to do about it. Though the boy was a romantic down to the core, his mellow personality had him wondering if the giggles and “squee”s heard when he passed fangirls in the corridors were meant for him. Was he the boy all of those girls wanted, or was it someone else?

Either way, Jayd was Jayd. He had never—would never—even thought of using his looks—his “desirability,” if you will—to what some boys would consider to be “his advantage.” That was where the romantic came in. Jaedyn didn’t want to be in a relationship just to get laid; he dated to find his true love—that dream girl defined so subtly in his songs. That being said, Jaedyn hadn’t the faintest idea that Anastasia had a crush on him. Hell, he didn’t even know that he had a crush on her. Ahh, naïvety at its fullest. Of course, he’ll come to understand his feelings for this girl only when she’s gone.

I like foreshadowing.
Do you like foreshadowing?
I like foreshadowing. ;]

Jaedyn shook his head, eyes somehow guilty yet innocent at the same time. “I wasn’t laughing at you,” he claimed, innocent pout breaking into that boyish grin. No, he hadn’t been laughing at ‘Stasia, at least not in a mean way, but he could tell she didn’t believe so. Thing was, Jayd couldn’t even think of why he’d chuckled. It was like a subconscious thing … or … something. Like, it felt so natural to chuckle, almost as if …

He grasped her hands, holding them firmly between his own yet making every conscious effort to not grip them too hard. After all, what with all the cold, Jaedyn’s own hands were going rather numb as well. He rubbed his hands back and forth, much like what he’d done earlier, letting the friction warm her hands, too. “Next time, we’re bringing gloves,” he pointed out, grinning softly. Yes; next time, he’d be sure to bring gloves when he went outside in such cold.

Jaedyn couldn’t help but grin again when Anastasia asked about the Hallow’s Eve Ball. “Why yes,” he replied, grinning through his own sarcasm. “I’m thinking of going as a tree, how about you?” He chuckled again, tilting his head down to look at their hands. Glancing up at Anastasia through a clump of golden hair that had fallen over his eyes, Jayd smiled. Oh, how he’d needed a friend.

[Anastasia Masters]

[/i] liar I've ever met."[/b][/color] That wasn't fully true, actually. Jaedyn was by far a better liar than some of the various other people that Anastasia had met through out her life. He was a heck of a lot better than her mother at lying. Of course, he had nothing on her older brother, but then, Troy was in a category of his own when it came to lying. It sometimes worried Anastasia how good at lying and deceiving Troy was. He could get away with almost anything, and he knew it. As hard as she had tried in the past, it was near impossible for Anastasia to try and change her older brother to become more like her. And there was no way that she was able to change to become like him. A few years ago, Anastasia had gone through a few months where she so desperately wanted to be closer with her brother. So desperate for that companionship actually, that she'd tried to change who she was to become more like Troy. She'd though that if she became more like him, with the smoking and the rule breaking... well, maybe he'd want to open up to her more. Not that Anastasia and Troy weren't close, they were. But there was still something between them that always kept Troy from actually opening up to her, and Anastasia just wanted to know what it was. And how she could change it.

An exceptionally cold blast of fridged wind ruffled Anastias's soft curls across her face and sent involuntary batch up goose bumps down her back. Unable to stop the shiver from going through the rest of her body, Stace tried not to let her hands shake too much. She wasn't that cold. The shiver was just one of those things that your body does when it gets extremely cold. Letting a light smile play on her lips, Anastasia nodded in agreement with Jaedyn's comment about gloves. “ ‘Kay.”

A giggle made its way past Anastasia's lips at the sound of Jaedyn actually using sarcasm. It wasn't something completely foreign to her, it wasn't as if Jae never used sarcasm, but it was a rare thing. Jaedyn had always struck Staci as more of a kind of person that took things seriously. Of course, once she got to know him better she knew better than to think that. But the sound of sarcasm on Jaedyn's lips still made her giggle. “Actually, I'm more of a shrub kind of person myself.” Removing her right hand from his for a moment, Anastasia swatted at the lock of Jae's hair that had fallen over his eyes with the back of her hand. Silently returning her hand to the warmth of his hands, Staci laughed again “But you never know, I might be really daring and show up as a leaf.” Of course, Anastasia really had no intention of going to the Hollow’s Eve Ball. She'd forced herself to go to the Welcoming Dance, and it had turned out okay. I mean, she'd met Will right? And he was nice enough. But it still hadn't been enough to remove the automatic feelings she had towards dances and balls all together. They were weird for Anastasia, going by yourself to things that were made for couples got old fast. And she couldn't help but feel out of place when she went on her own, so she'd bypassed all the dances last year all together.[/ul][/size]