1x1 | | .winter & pokemonangie

[.winter]

Charlie smiled at him as he struggled, was he has nervous as she was? She tried not to think about it, but she took the fortune and slipped it in her pocket, knowing she would put it in her battered but still working iPhone 4. Charlie nodded when he mentioned he had to leave, knowing she had to as well, she had Human Anatomy to attend. She had a high A in her class when everyone else was failing, so she didn't really care if she was late or not. Charlie smiled back and nodded when he said she wouldn't regret coming. A tight knot in her stomach turned, knowing the last party she went to, was when she just finished sophomore year. Charlie was wanted because she could dance and she was killer at playing the guitar and singing, along with skateboarding, and they all wanted Charlie to show them what she got, but she chickened out and fled the room. When she was walking to her next class, she prayed to god this would be better than the last time.

[angelonia]

Mark took all his emotions and put them into reconstructing the engine sitting before him. In time left in the school year, the class objective is to reconstruct the engine they took apart in the beggining of the semester. If it worked they passed and if it didn't, they failed. Of course there were other projects but mark focused on the engine. It wasn't anything special but with some love and care he would have it up and running in no time... he hoped. He wiped his forehead with his arm and tossed the wrench he was holding back into the too box on his arm's way back to his side. Some kids were chatting and asking the teacher about stuff but Mark just wanted to do his own thing. He plucked a small flashlight from the toolbox and used it to check inside if the engine for anything but he was just keeping himself busy. On the inside, he was elated that Charlie was going to go to the party with him but he was nervous too. He didn't want that jerk he broke up with to show up. That guy was no good. For a moment, Mark had to step away from his work just in case he punched something and he took a few deep breaths. Bro, you need to chill. Beep-boop. Beep-boop he thought. Saying something like beep-boop seemed to make the bad feelings go away.

[.winter]

Charlie had rushed off to government, which she was already acing. Her hand seemed to be set into her face like stone as she tried to pay attention to her chubby, small sized teacher reciting the lesson she had already 3 times that day, and she was always a little snappy when it got towards the end of the day, so Charlie was prepared to answer any questions that may have been called down upon her. Through the lecture of the 3 houses or senates of the country Judistial, Legislative, Executive. Charlie already knew what each had to provide and therefore was trying not to listen, her thoughts elsewhere. Had she really said yes to Mark about the party? Would he try to take her away as something fragile and pathetic or would something spark and there would be more to it than just a smash in the hallway? Was he planning on humiliating her or to actually let her experience a decent time with people her own age? Questions swarmed her mind and made her exhausted in the class, the teacher never breaking her questioning reverie. With all her luck and hope, and even fear that twisted in her stomach of making a fool out of herself, she ached for Friday to come.

[angelonia]

The bell rung like sweet music in Mark's ears. He slung his backpack over his shoulder and started to make his way to the front office to sign out for co-op. As long as he came in and kept his grades up, he could work and help his mom put food on the table. Maybe he could drop off a McDonald's kids meal to his little sister to cheer her up after their dad couldn't make it to her birthday party this past weekend. He retrieved his car keys from his pocket and absentmindedly twirled them around his finger as he maneuvered through the crowed hallway. Wow. This school really needed an expansion or some redistricting because wow it was really crowded. He waved to a few of his friends as they passed but they smiled and whispered something among themselves. For a second, he thought that maybe word had gotten around that he was going to the party with Charlie but he shrugged the thought off. It was just a party and some of those guys wouldn't even have a date. What losers.

{{ We can timeskip to just before the party of you would like }}

[.winter]

[Sure that would get things started]

The day dragged on roughly and for Charlie, a horrible state in which she couldn't concentrate. She didn't get a to hot of a grade on her Trig test, a C, and that bumped her A down to a B, and she wasn't to happy about that. The next 4 days were like a clock waiting to blow up, and every time Charlie's eyes seemed to snap her concentration and look at it, she could of sworn every heartbeat was in sync with the ticks on the clock. The same routine followed in the morning, she woke up,slipped on another hoodie and another pair of jeans, popped a poptart in her mouth, and ran out the door for the bus. The 4 days that followed were all below 30 degrees and it was always freezing, and whatever tan she had left already begun to fade into her skin. On the way to the bus and her music blasting in her ears, she noticed she hadn't spoken a word to Mark since Monday, and she hadn't even seen him in the hallways but saw him in her classroom, but she never had the courage to speak up and talk to him. Now that it was Friday, the music playing in her ears couldn't be loud enough, honestly feeling that she would throw up. What would she wear? What would she say? Would she text him and he wouldn't respond? Her breathing seemed to decrease into a seizing at the questions drowning her mind, but soon they had to come to and end as she had to walk off the slippery and stale bus steps, and the minute her white ked sneaker stepped on the last step, her whole body knocked over and slammed on the bus steps, making her head spin. "God dammit-" she hissed, the bus driver immediately helped her up, and to her horrible statement, she had just fallen in front of Mark, but he was talking to his friend right in front of the building, and she just wished he didn't see her. "Thanks-" she whispered to the bus driver, and than took a deep breathe as she walked to her fate. The party was tonight, and she didn't feel right in the stomach or in the head.

[angelonia]

The week had flown by for Mark. It was the kind of week where he was just too busy to focus on anything other than school, work and family. On Friday, Mark and some kid he wasn't particularly close to were talking about something just outside of the school. His hands resided in his leather coat pockets and he kept eye contact with the kid to be polite. However, Mark wasn't too interested in anything Darrius had to say or offer but the conversation came to a halt when the slap of a body hitting the ground reached their ears. Darrius concealed his backpack and tried to keep it cool but Mark looked around to see what had happened. His eyes caught Charlie as she was being helped up by the bus driver. "Hey Darrius, it's been nice but I gotta bust." he said as he took off in Charlie's direction. When he reached the clearly embarrassed girl, he smiled but no smile could cover the worry in his eyes. "You ok?" he asked. He kept a little distance and casually looked her over to see if she scuffed herself up too bad. It wasn't like he could offer much help anyways since his first-aid box was at home for his siblings and mom to use.

[.winter]

Charlie bit her lip as she looked up at him, of course he would come over and help her, him out of all the people in this school, and he was the one who saw her fall on her butt on bus steps. A very visible pink color flashed to her cheeks when Mark asked if she was okay, and she nodded slowly as she picked herself up from the ground, as if she was peeling her clumsy body off of something that was attracted to her. "Yeah I'm good, I'm just not coordinated." She laughed, pulling her backpack tighter on her shoulder and approached Mark. But when she saw his face, a roll of nausea washed over her stomach, knowing the party was tonight. She put a stop to the questions before they even started, but she stopped when she was about a foot away from him. For a weird reason, she thought Mark looked worried about her, but she shook it off. It was probably just her imagination. "How's your week been? I mean besides from busy." She emphasized the word busy, knowing this week she didn't get a wink of sleep or anything besides school related work. Charlie hoped she could create simple small talk, considering she needed to get a grasp on her social skills before the party tonight.

[angelonia]

"Yeah. I've been really busy with work and the PTA meeting at the elementary school took forever because some suburban housewives got into an argument. That was tight though." Mark said with a smile. "What about you?" One look at Charlie and he could tell she was nervous. If it was anything he had learned from watching his mom it's that no amount of concealer can hide sleepless nights. "That uh.. trig test was a toughie," he added as he threw his hand behind his head and rubbed the back of his neck. He hoped she wouldn't vomit. The only thought he could process was how nervous he was for this kid. She had looked practically green before she started talking but he wasn't going to ask about that. If she said she was ok he was going to take her word for it. He motioned for her to come inside with him so they could get out of the cold. He really hoped that the party wasn't going to be this cold and maybe some kid would be smart enough to bring extra wood for the bonfire. He had to take a few breaths to keep the butterflies in his stomach at bay because they were hyped up on whatever this girl did to him.

[.winter]

Charlie had to definitely agree with the busy statement, knowing through her late night study sessions and trying to form a life around her grandparents were never easy. Charlie raised her eyebrows jokingly when he mentioned an elementary school, but she got back her stomach and swallowed down the nerves, just shaking off the thought of the party for now. She would just wear something other than her normal hoodie and jeans, maybe a simple dress, or an outfit that was better than her normal attire. With a huge breath from the core of her lungs, the flush of warmth in her skin returned, but she felt like it would soon fade as she realized she was leaning on to Mark's hand with a tight grasp of her hand. When the hell did that happen? Releasing her grip hastily and suddenly, she tried to recover. "Me? Oh you know, just stuffing my brain with pointless math equations. I've been better with not that big amount of homework load. My grandparents haven't been the most precious angels either." she muttered, knowing it would be nice to get that statement off of her chest. Charlie shook her head a bit to shake off the week's drag, and it somewhat worked, shaking her butterflies in check and her thoughts. With a quick smile to him, she knew she at least had the morning before school to sort the day out, and at least talk to Mark. That couldn't be so bad would it?

[angelonia]

Mark nodded and guided her into the school and nodded as she spoke. The temperature difference between the school and outside was immense enough to release himself from the grasp of his leather coat. "I'm sorry to hear that your grandparents have been hard on you lately. I know it's hard for older people to understand how tough school is." He smiled at her and ran a hand through his hair. "My mom didn't even take trig in high school," he added. He encouraged her to follow him to a section of hallway that wasn't full of bustling students. "Did you ever get around to putting my number in your phone? Or should I ask where you live and ceremoniously whisk you off your grandparent's porch like the good 'ole days?" He asked, half joking. He took his cheap yet unnecessarily large android out of his inner coat pocket and pressed the button on the side. The screen illuminated and the time appeared, showing that they had a while before school would actually start. With this information, he looked up from his phone and at Charlie.