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Post by Elaine Rhodes on Dec 21, 2008 3:07:03 GMT -5
Elaine looked at him. "Sorry I can't work with that deal because last time you went shopping with me you said that you would never go again. this is the only color that is not black that I own." She smiled thinking about him going shopping with her last time. She had been thinking about maybe get some more later but not know that she had this deal. Elaine started to look over her books.
"But if you pass I will think about getting more clothes that are not black. Jessica I am sure would love to help me go shopping. So you pass and I will go with her." She looked at Jessica. "you will go with me right." She knew it would have been better to ask her first.
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sarah
Settled in Forks
Human
"Tell me everything!"
Posts: 71
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Post by sarah on Dec 21, 2008 16:23:17 GMT -5
Jessica smiled. "Well you know she does have a point. You shouldn't be flunking out of English," she said even though she knew he wasn't too good at it. She noticed how she tried to make eye contact with him but he always looked away awkwardly.
"And Elaine I think that's a pretty good bet. You look great in colors it's a shame you don't wear them more often," she said.
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Post by Mike Newton on Dec 22, 2008 2:34:57 GMT -5
Mike looked up at the sky, enjoying the rays the sun beat down, warming the air, and then turned to look at Elaine. "You can still make the deal," he said, "Like you said, someone else can go shopping with you. Then you'll have several colored outfits to wear all the time."
He glanced over at Jessica as Elaine mentioned the two of them going shopping. "Jess loves to go shopping," Mike said with a smirk. He knew all too well what Jess liked to do. Definitely a lot of the girlie things. Shopping included.
Mike then turned to Amber. "So how much work do I have to make this thing at least get a passing grade?" he grumbled referring to his terribly written paper. He couldn't believe he had totally written on the wrong thing and about the wrong king. How stupid could he get? Obviously very.
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Post by Elaine Rhodes on Dec 22, 2008 17:50:57 GMT -5
Elaine smiled looking at him. She then gave into his deal. "Fine if you are passing then I will were color the first moment that you are failing then I going back to black."
She looked over at Jessica and smiled. "I need to go shopping as soon as possible. Since well this is the only colored outfit I have. " Elaine really did not want to do this but she had made a deal and was going to follow it. *I am great what did I just get into. I volunteer to help a kid and now I'm in clothes I not worn in like 2 years. Here goes nothing though.*
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sarah
Settled in Forks
Human
"Tell me everything!"
Posts: 71
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Post by sarah on Dec 23, 2008 12:52:50 GMT -5
"Well then I guess it's settled. Shopping trip for colorful clothes asap!" she said smiling.
She loved shopping to no end. And maybe she could even convince Elaine to let her give her a makeover. Oooh how fun that would be!
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Post by Amber Jefferson on Dec 23, 2008 13:10:40 GMT -5
Amber listened to Elaine and Jessica as she examined the essay, trying to find some way to be kind. She hadn't really acknowledged Jessica, and didn't really plan to. Jessica had always seemed slightly distant since she had found out Amber was a foster like the Cullens, and Amber wasn't oblivious to the cold sarcasm in her voice when she greeted her and Elaine. She supposed she should say something, but she couldn't really think what. Instead, she focused on Mike. At least he treated her like one of them, rather than only slightly less of a freak than the other fosters in town.
"I'm not sure this is salvageable Mike" she said, smiling apologetically. "You know I love ya hun, but you made me promise to tell the truth, and I'm gonna have to do just that" she said in her best motherly voice. She had picked up the habit from a lady she had known in Indiana, and it always seemed to be automatic when Mike was around. "This essay is about as close to an A as I am to being selected as Miss America. But, I have a solution, as always." She leaned an arm on his shoulder as she leaned down to pick up her bag, steadying herself so she wouldn't fall off the table. Rifling through it, she found the book she was looking for and handed it to him.
"Cliff Notes, the English flunker's best friend!" she announced, grinning. "How do you think I keep all those plays straight. Read that over lunch, you'll get it done in no time. Call me after school and I'll help you change the main bits. If we edit the bits that are directly about the characters, we should be able to bluff a C for ya. It's not great, but it's a pass, and at least you wouldn't have to rewrite the whole thing."
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Post by Mike Newton on Dec 23, 2008 13:33:03 GMT -5
Mike ignored Elaine and Jessica as they made plans to go shopping. He couldn't care less about shopping, especially after having gone with Elaine that one dreaded time. He had promised himself to never go again. Shopping with girls was not fun.
Rather, he turned to Amber and grimaced. His paper was as bad as he thought. There was nothing that could be done for it. Mike sighed in frustration and took his terrible paper and the Cliff Notes book from Amber. He gave her as much of a smile as he could between the frustrated expression. "Thanks," he grumbled.
His previous thoughts of dropping out of English were just getting better and better. Amber had said that they may be able to get his paper to a C, but there were no guarantees. Yeah, dropping English was sounding really good right now. He glanced around the now full parking lot and the students passing them going to their next class, he didn't get up though. Right now he was so frustrated and disappointed that he was considering just staying where he was and forgetting about school as a whole. At least for the day.
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Post by Amber Jefferson on Dec 23, 2008 13:53:09 GMT -5
Amber smiled at Mike, feeling sorry for him. He really tried his best, and he was getting better by the day, regardless of what he thought. Suddenly she had an inspiration.
"You know what? I did the same thing back in Wyoming, sorta. We were studying Keats and were told to 'compare and contrast his first and last poems' and 'explain his attitude changes' in them. Well, I did the whole thing, found out which poems they were, did the essay, came into class...and found out it should've been Yeats. I flunked that one completely." She raised an eyebrow and gave him a nudge with her elbow. "At least yours was by the same author." She thought a moment longer and an idea popped into her mind. It was risky, but she knew it would at least help him bring up his grade.
"Tell you what" she said, handing him her paper, biting her lip as she did so. It wasn't like her to do something like this, but he needed her help, and besides, she was feeling rebellious. "You take this, change a few things so there's some mistakes, bring it down a little. I've done this play 4 times, it's not gonna take me more than an hour or two to write up a new one, or I could use one of my old papers. I'd rather see you get a good grade than be all grumpy like this, it's not good. If anyone asks, just say I tutored you. It's the truth, and it'd explain why it sounds like me."
Amber was amazed at herself. If it was odd for her to be so rebellious, it was even more so to come up with a story so quickly. She was normally a model student, always doing exactly as the teachers said, not wanting to risk getting in trouble, but working at the hospital was making her come out of her shell and it seemed that that was having some unusual side effects. She put an arm around Mike's shoulders, giving it a quick squeeze. He was a good friend, and she hated to see him so down, especially over something so ridiculous as an essay.
"For Pete's sake, Mike, don't let it get you down like this. Anyone can make a mistake like this, and for what it's worth, if this was Henry the 8th week? You'd have aced it. This is really good, and I mean that. Besides," she added, sticking out her tongue, knowing what she was about to say absolutely had to cheer him up, if only a little, "Think about it. Tuck this away for a couple months and hey presto! You have a homework-free week coz you've already got it done!"
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Post by Mike Newton on Dec 24, 2008 3:44:28 GMT -5
Mike laughed doubtfully as Amber talked about a similar mistake she had made. He couldn't believe that though, Amber was pro at English. Or at least it seemed that way. But he guessed that everyone had a bad streak sometime in every subject, Mike just happened to be having a bad streak in English throughout his entire high school and grade school carrier. He wondered if college would be this bad, he internally cringed at the thought.
He perked up a bit though as Amber handed him her paper, his eyes widening in shock. "No, I can't steal your work," he tried to argue, "I'm sure you worked long and hard on that. I'll just try to redo mine and deal with the C." But he grasped the paper anyway, he looked it over and it was several pages longer than his horrendous paper had been. The idea was tempting, but he still felt bad about it. Mike listened as she explained what they would do so it didn't look too suspicious, it sounded too easy, certainly an idea like this would be noticed. Should the risk it? It wouldn't be the first time Mike had done something like this, but Amber was ten trillion times better than Mike was, usually he only copied someone's work if the other person had only slightly better work than he did.
As Amber put an arm around Mike, he smiled up at her. He was starting to like her company and the friendship they had created. She wasn't like other girls, she was cooler. He remembered all Jessica had ever talked about was herself, the latest fashions, and the latest town gossip. Amber was definitely a good friend, better than some of his guy friends.
"Who says I'm down?" he tried to deny, covering his glum mood with a fake smile. He didn't want to be such a pain.
"I guess you're right, whenever we do Henry the 8th I'll already have the work done," he said with an actual smile.
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Post by Amber Jefferson on Dec 24, 2008 9:21:48 GMT -5
“I say” Amber said, a stern look in her eyes but returning his smile. She had always had a knack for reading people’s feelings, it came from having to be aware of any problems before they came up, and sometimes, like now, it came in handy. She could tell he was trying not to let her see the mood he was in, but he wasn’t doing a very good job. If there was one thing Mike was truly terrible at, it was lying, at least to other people his age. With teachers though, it was another story. She didn't let on, but she knew that he had 'borrowed' homework before, though she assumed it was usually only when he hadn't had time to do his own, or simply hadn't been able to do it, and they had never questioned it before. And with one of the best students in the class backing him up, they surely wouldn't question him now.
“Of course you can, silly” she continued, glad he had taken the paper. She was sure that, despite his claims, he did want to bring his grades up, and hadn’t she always said she was positive she’d been put on this earth to help people? “I did work a while on it, but come on, what else am I gonna do this evening?” she laughed cynically. Most people here at school thought she was simply a loner, preferring only a few people to talk to, which in a way was true, she enjoyed the time she spent with Mike, and in an odd way, even Jessica, far more than she would have ever enjoyed being one of the popular kids. Mike, however, was one of the few people who knew the real truth. She had little else to do in her evenings besides work and homework, thanks to her virtual house arrest. Half the reason she did so well in school now was that the only places she ever went were school, home, the hospital, and on the very rare occasion that her parents allowed it, Mike or Jessica’s house, and her time outside of school was more or less devoted to her evening shifts at the hospital and whatever homework had been assigned. Frankly, it would be a relief to redo the essay, it would give her something to concentrate on.
“Besides, you know just as well as I do that I could practically recite the whole play from memory, it’ll hardly take any time at all, you’ll be doing me a favour. And anyway, you’ve already helped me with” she glanced over at Jessica, checking to see if she was listening, not sure if the girl’s obvious jealousy would be so strong as to make her angry at Amber for something so simple, but not wanting to take any chances “Math” she whispered, giggling, before returning to her normal tone of voice. “I think you’ve earned a break. And like I say, with me as your tutor, you’re bound to start sounding like me anyway.”
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Post by Elaine Rhodes on Dec 24, 2008 22:04:21 GMT -5
Elaine sat there shocked that they would be doing that. She knew that she should say something. The problem was she had no clue that she should say. *Great he cheating and I can't do nothing to stop him.* She stood up and decided she might want to leave before she said something that would later regret.
"Well Jessica I am sure that I can meet you some times soon. I need to get going though. There is a few items I need to do before school starts." Elaine then started to walk toward the school. She turned and looked back at the table. "well Amber it was nice meeting you."
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Post by Mike Newton on Dec 26, 2008 20:00:00 GMT -5
Mike chuckled a bit as Amber mentioned not having anything better to do then write another awesome paper like the one she had handed Mike. "Oh yeah, nothing better to do," he said rolling his eyes. Mike felt kind of bad about taking the paper, but knew that he needed the good grade to pass the class. He sighed as the need defeated the guilt and he tucked the paper in his binder to work on later.
Mike glanced between Jess and Amber as Amber made the comment about Mike helping her with math. He huffed a laugh along with Amber's giggles as he thought about how Jessica would react. He didn't mean to be so rude, finding the jealousy funny, but he couldn't help it. "Alright, if you really want to write another paper so desperately, I will help you by taking this one off your hands," he said with a smirk.
Mike turned to watch Elaine's shocked expression. Mike could only assume it was about the paper passing between Amber and him. 'Great,' Mike thought to himself. The last thing he needed was for Elaine to rat him out to a teacher, not that he thought she would, but he never knew. "See ya," Mike called out as she left the table. He turned back toward Amber, giving her a cynical smirk.
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Post by Amber Jefferson on Dec 26, 2008 20:25:16 GMT -5
"Well" Amber said, fighting back another giggle, "I wouldn't go so far as to say desperate, but it's certainly better than sitting around watching the washing machine all evening." It was true, if not the whole truth, but it was the most she was about to let on at the moment. Anyway, with Mike, things always seemed different. She had never had a real friend before, and it was amazing how much easier it made everything. She only saw him for a short time each day, but at least for that time, she could be a normal teenager and simply revel in the freedom the friendship gave her. He didn't know what her home life was like, and in a way, she was glad of it. He treated her like a cross between 'one of the guys' and a 'girly girl', but she knew that if he found out her secret, things would most definitely change, most likely for the worse.
She turned around as Elaine walked away, smiling at the girl and waving. "Bye Elaine! It was nice meeting you too, I'll see you around." She hoped Elaine wasn't too upset by her and Mike's obvious flouting of the rules. She knew exactly what it felt like to be an observer to things like that and have no power to stop them, but once in a while, it was necessary. Besides she thought, He did do the homework, just not the right assignment. He tried, that's the main thing. She still felt a slight niggle of guilt, but she wasn't about to let Mike know that. He needed this more than she did. Turning back to Mike, she cocked her head to one side, a habit she had whenever trying to make the peace.
"Don't worry" she said softly, resting a hand on his arm, "I know that look. She won't tell, she's just worried, that's all." Suddenly she realised the gesture might seem a little too friendly and pulled back her hand, glancing past Mike, wondering if Jessica had seen. She was so used to Mike's company, she sometimes forgot that her brand of friendship might not pass as acceptable to the other girl. Amber was a very open person, loving to hug people, often feeling that physical contact was just as important in communication as words and gestures, but she tended to forget that other people might not share her opinion. It wouldn't do to get on Jessica's bad side. Being the school gossip had its advantages where revenge was concerned, and Amber really didn't want to risk being the target.
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Post by Mike Newton on Dec 29, 2008 3:46:54 GMT -5
"You need to get out more," he laughed. It was sad, Mike could actually picture Amber sitting in front of the washing machine, watching and waiting for it to stop so she could switch over the next load. And that was really pathetic, Mike would make it a habit now to try and get Amber out of the house.
"Eh, I'm not worried," he said, smiling up at her. "Wouldn't be the first time I've been in trouble," he announced. Mike didn't think anything of Amber putting her hand on his arm, Amber was just a real good friend after all. He followed Amber's gaze to Jessica and couldn't help but laugh. He couldn't believe that Amber was worried about how Jessica would react, it wasn't like the two of them were dating, and it wasn't like the gesture was anything but friendly. He raised both of his light eyebrows and cocked his head to the side as if to say, 'Seriously?', without voicing the words.
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Post by Amber Jefferson on Dec 29, 2008 15:42:38 GMT -5
Amber couldn't help it, she threw back her head and laughed at the ridiculousness of the idea. Mike may not know what her foster parents were really like, but he at least knew how overbearing they were.
"Oh yeah, and I suppose you're gonna be the one to tell Sarah and Philip that I need more time away from home? I must admit though, it does get mighty lonely at the hospital when Dr C's on rounds, it'll be good to see ya there!" she chuckled, only half-joking. She knew that if she suggested the idea, she would be off school for a week, or at least until she was next able to walk, she didn't like to think what would happen to Mike if he tried.
She blushed slightly at his reaction to her nervousness with Jessica. She couldn't help it. All her life she had hidden everything about her past from her fellow students, because most of it would turn even her closest friends away from her. People didn't like people with a past. If Jessica took it into her mind to get angry at Amber, she was expert at getting dirt on anyone she liked. She could easily ruin the happy little world Amber had found here. Besides, she knew Jessica liked Mike, and if anything could make a girl angry, it was hitting on the guy she liked, even if it wasn't intended.
"Hey, I'm just playing it safe" she whispered, sticking her tongue out at him, knowing he thought her silly for worrying. "I *so* don't want to get on her bad side, and if she thinks I like you..."she let the sentence trail off, not sure what she could say. It was comical, the thought that she and Mike would be anything but friends, but how did you even talk about that side of things in a hypothetical way? It was tempting, pretending to feel differently towards Mike, just to drive Jessica crazy, but she wasn't sure she had the guts to indulge her mischievous side.
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