The Bonfire

[Mitsuko2†]

Melina was almost ready to skin this unnerving boy alive. How dare he even THINK of speaking to her in such a disrespectful way? No one spoke to Melina Frost that way. She'd rather get hit by a large truck than let someone so... below her.... Speak to her that way. How dare he even think that he, who had absolutely nothing, would be allowed in any way to speak to her as if SHE was the piece of filth?! She'd have his head for this.

"You little fool. You have nothing. You'll become nothing. You'll never have anything!" She screamed at Eduardo. If looks could kill, he would be so dead his own mother wouldn't recognize him. She bent down and grabbed him by the collar of his shirt. She pulled him up toward her and slapped him across the face once. Twice. Thee time. She pushed him into the sand when she was through.

"You haven't heard the last of Melina Frost. Be sure to know that you're life is going to become the new definition of the word horrible. You'll never be able to show your face in this school, OR this town again. Be sure of that." She turned on her heel and stormed away. She was quit happy with herself. She had a new punching bag. How delightful. Now.... Where in the world was Heather?

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Serenity was just about to start talking when Kara ran up to her dragging another girl who looked forlorn and helpless. Serenity smiled brightly at the two. Serenity was used to Kara asking for favors and the like. She didn't mind though. She was always ready to make new friends. Kara asked her to introduce her cousin Courtney to some guys. Not too hard.

"Okay Kara!" She said happily as Kara ran off again. She looked at Courtney happily.

"Hi! I'm Serenity Halos! You cousin and I are best friends. You're name is Courtney right?"

[laZardo†]

Eduardo didn't resist as Melina pulled him up and delivered a 1-2-3 across his face, as if she learned it from her pimp (though he didn't say THAT out loud.) He also didn't react as Melina screamed arrogantly into his face and threw him onto the sand. To him, it was all redundant babble he'd heard from all kinds of prettier and/or stronger people before. Especially that part about growing up to being nothing important, which he'd already come to accept. A tear leaked from one of his eyes, but mostly out of pain reflex as he sat up and watched Melina Frost walk off, and his face didn't cringe in sadness. He would have replied with more profanity, but he didn't, not because it would get him hurt more but because it really wouldn't have any effect on his own destiny over the long term.

He then fell back onto the sand and stared up into the sky at the moment, before adjusting his headphones back on. They happened to be playing "What Is Love" by Howard Jones, and aptly enough, he didn't have an idea what it was at the moment.

A bright red Chevrolet Camaro happened to be driving across the road lining the beach as Eduardo received more bitch-slaps-of-doom from Melina Frost. Its driver - a ponytailed redhead in a tight-fitting red dress - slowed down a bit and took a closer look at what was going on. She could have sworn she'd seen another ponytailed redhead in a sexy outfit beating up on a scrawny, defenseless kid in the dim light, and for some reason that vision unsettled her.

She shook her head and continued on her way. Renee Valenti had another, slightly more fancy party to attend to, and she did not want to be any more than fashionably late. She switched on her iPod video to Hall & Oates' "Maneater" and tried to relax.

((I hid a link in this post. 0: Click it for a surpreese.))

[OverusedReason†]

Vicente couldn't decide which one he would back up this time, though after a while he dumbly remembered that he didn't have to choose the less disgusting option. Glad with that sudden discovery, he kept watching the spectacle without dedicating it too much thought.

He didn't hate Eduardo, he was just sure that he didn't felt simpathy for him either, at least not now. I don't have to comform with everything that's tossed at me

After all his attitude seems to be the same with many, as if he expected the same behavior from everyone without making any effort to change his opinion at any time. This time he could make a quick exception, he felt he couldn't just avoid to judge him right now. He dared once again to do the same with Melina, this time more firmly. No matter how much you tell yourself how everyone deserves a second viewpoint, there are some cases too simple to be overanalized.

He drank the last gulp that was left of his bottle and decided to wander aimlessly through the crowds in search for some friendly people.

After a while he stopped dead on his steps, sighing. He remembered one of the comments the Melina girl had thrown at Eduardo. About being nothing. Then he tried to keep his pace.

[Xaldien†]

Clive had gotten to the bonfire rather late. In reality he didn't want to show up at all, as he and his father had been drinking at home, and he tends to be a wreck when trashed, but decided to show up anyway, trying to be on his best behaviour.

All of the people he's known since God knows when, all gathered in one little area, celebrating the fact that it'll be the last year together before they all disperse and go off in different directions.

"My God, Clive, the least you could do is actually hang out with him," said Siouxsie, his cousin who had just gotten out of the hospital she was in for a while. She never really told him why she was there, but she knew it had something to do with SOTF, but he didn't want to ask.

"What should I say? 'Let's celebrate the fact that we're going to leave each other soon?'"

"Better that then not being able to say goodbye at all," she said with a slightly more serious tone.

"Alright, fine, you can mingle with the others, I'm just gonna go sit down for a little bit, I'm still a little light headed."

She nodded her head and went off to the crowd and decided to try and immerse herself, and introduce herself as Clive's cousin who she was staying with for a few days to visit the family.

Meanwhile, Clive went as close to the water as he could get, and sat near the sand, and looked over to his left to see someone.

[laZardo†]

As Eduardo got himself to actually get up again, he noticed someone sitting by the water's edge, close to where he was. He was actually thankful that person didn't notice him sprawled across the sand like that, let alone how he ended up sprawled across the sand. Still, given that he didn't have anything else to do at the moment apart from massage the red spots on his face where he'd been bitchslapped, he went over and sat down at least two arms' length from that person.

===

Troy got out of his car and took a deep breath. He was in standard-rookie gangsta wear, though he had his basketball jersey on the outside, just for some sporting pride. This was his senior year after all. He started to walk confidently (and without limp) to where people were setting up the pit, trying to churn up a real gangsta greeting, though he would greet the white folks around here too. If he could help his bruthas out, it would definitely earn him some solid respect.

[Xaldien†]

Clive did not move his head to acknowledge the person in the sand, but he did know who he was, and that he was there.

"Care to explain, Eduardo, why you are sprawled out completely, in the sand?"

[laZardo†]

Eduardo turned his head briefly to find Clive speaking. He never liked Clive or anyone else, but he didn't actually hate-hate too many people anywhere. He removed his earphones and let them rest around his neck...almost like a collar...and looked out into the horizon. Nothing much to see in that direction but endless water and perhaps the last of the daylight reds and oranges fleeing to better shores.

"Eh...just life as it is," he replied in a droning tone seemingly devoid of feeling. To some it would be cryptic, but to those who had hung around Eduardo for a long time, they'd get it a lot better but not completely.

[Xaldien†]

Clive gave out a little chuckle at Eduardo's little comment.
"Someone reads too many books to say something as cryptic as thatm" he replied with a smile.

He started skipping rocks across the water... horribly.
"Could no one think of a better place to hold a party?"

[laZardo†]

((Crap. For some reason Messenger kicked me out. Stay tuned.))

Eduardo turned to see Clive smiling, and his face cringed slightly, his eyebrows forming a more powerful frown. He didn't seem to mind if it was possible in this light for Clive to see the redness on his face from Melina's rather hard bitchslaps. Still, if he could see Eduardo's injuries, perhaps it might have helped to decipher Eduardo's comment...though sometimes Eduardo did consider himself a bit of a Benjamin from Animal farm.

"There are probably so many nightclubs around here or even in San Adrian if they were up for a little roadtrip. But here..." Eduardo chuckled bitterly, "...this... is teen-TV show America. The One Tree Hill overlooking Laguna Beach in Orange County, in Ca-lee-fornia. It's perfect."

[Xaldien†]

"Yeah. No one ever wants to hit a club these days. They prefer their lives play out like an episode of of some soap opera, as opposed to Sex and the City or Queer as Folk."

He stopped skipping rocks, since he actually ran out of them.

"At least at a club you could pick someone up."

[laZardo†]

"Clubs, beach parties...they're all for the trendy and the popular. Not like they don't deserve it though. The only people who get "picked up" are the ones with enough 'bling' and 'ice,' and the girls who dress the best and carry the most trendy accessories, and perhaps the prostitutes as well. But even then they only pick the prettiest and the cleanest unless they're severely drunk."

Eduardo's hand suddenly wrapped around something it wandered to...which happened to be a stone it was covering. He got up and gave it a good flick. It skipped water thrice before finally sinking, at which he sat back down on the sand and sighed.

"Here...the difference is just the setting, that's all. They're both social gatherings...elaborate mating rituals."

[Xaldien†]

"Not all that glitters is gold, they say. It is fairly possible for someone to get picked up who isn't necessarily glamorous, full of 'bling' and 'ice' as you put it."

He found one last rock and skipped it successfuly. It skipped five times before falling in the water.

"If you really want to get something good, you go to the least likely place: A coffee shop. Coffee is a secret code for sex and conversation. Clubs and parties are full of drunken fucks."

[laZardo†]

Eddie shook his head as Clive skipped a stone with more proficiency than he just did, and leaned back a bit. He'd been to coffee shops before, but only to fulfill their natural purpose - to serve coffee. And perhaps check on an application he'd submitted a couple days earlier. Maybe a good frappuccino if he had a little extra allowance that day.

"Coffee shops are their daytime hangouts when they're not in school. But that doesn't mean that the rest aren't entitled to the scraps off the table." Strangely enough, he didn't sound too discouraged by his comment. In fact, he said it in a matter-of-fact tone that seemed almost rehearsed.

[Xaldien†]

"Let's say you take someone you like out for coffee and conversation. If it goes extremely well, you know what to expect. And then the people who are there to drink coffee, check on applications, and just hang out won't know what the hell is going on. They'll be oblivious to it."

He decided to lean back a little bit, almost lying on the sand.

[laZardo†]

Eduardo turned to Clive, looking a bit concerned, "Who is there to like? You gotta fit into the customer crowd first, and the only people who don't are the staff. How things go from there..." he seemed to trail off as he looked up into the darkening sky. The Moon was already out and there were a couple of clouds. The light reflected off of those to make them seem like wisps in the air.

"...well...that's best left to the stars."