Jessica Applerose
July 08, 2011 8:15 PM
Haven't been here in a bit. by Jessica Applerose
Jessica hadn't made many friends at her stay here so far. Her first year she'd made a few acquaintances, but she hadn't spoken to them over the summer. She was quite terrible at keeping in contact with people over a long distance. Jess wanted to change that her third year, anyhow, so she decided to go exploring a bit. She'd heard of the magical creatures hiding within the gardens, and though she didn't enjoy putting herself into dangerous situations, she was awfully curious. Maybe she'd make herself some brave friends too.Jess pushed her curly brown hair over her shoulder and kept one hand in her messenger bag, holding her wand just in case. Jess walked through, looking around carefully. She became braver soon enough and suddenly reached a clearing where a fountain was. She sighed in relief when she saw someone else sitting there. She marched over to them, determined to make friends. After all, Daddy had told her that making friends was the way to make connections for the future. And besides, being at school in another state was awfully lonely.
"Hi," she said boldly, greeting the person. She tucked a curl behind her ear and stuck out her hand. "I'm Jessica Applerose," she said. "What are you doing around here?"
Subthreads: You were missed by Valentina Bentancourt with Jess, Valentina, Ben Holland
Neither have I. by Ben Holland with Ben
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Jessica Applerose
Haven't been here in a bit.
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Jessica Applerose
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Valentina Bentancourt
July 18, 2011 10:51 PM
You were missed by Valentina Bentancourt
Valentina was feeling positively ecstatic, because the portrait of the Ballerina in the dance room had told her that her technique had improved. The Spaniard was a step closer in becoming what she wanted. She had kept the promise to her mother, she was working-out in her dancing skills and she was doing her best effort to get good grades. However, in this case, her best efforts weren’t good enough. She was having trouble with Potions (Fawcett was evil, she was sure of it, and out to get her) and CoMC, but it wasn’t a surprise. Valentina didn’t like the outdoors, very much, unlike her brother. Alex loved being outside, and if he didn’t become a Professional Quidditch Player, he was going to pursue a CoMC major. Not that he said anything about it, but she just knew. In spite of Alex being annoying, she did miss him, and the idea of her older brother getting married soon, was too overwhelming. Valentina preferred to not think about it, she wasn’t very keen on changes, especially such big ones. She was dreading the day, even when she liked Emmy, and thought she was the perfect match for Alex. The idea of her brother as a grown-up was a lot to digest.So, after a rather tenuous work-out session, Valentina grabbed a bite to eat in the Cascade Hall, while she went through some notes for her Transfiguration class. The third-year liked Professor Crosby, she was so different, and funny. In fact, Transfiguration was her best subject. It was interesting and easy to understand. The Spaniard ate some salad and after finishing her meal, she went for a stroll in the Labyrinth Gardens. She liked the place, it was silent and gave her the space she needed to mull things over, and she had a lot of things on her mind. She wanted to quit school and focus on dancing, but her parents had told her no. She sighed, because she knew she was good enough, and she could be home-schooled. She had made her points very clear, but they still had said no. It was just really unfair.
She continued walking; admiring everything about the place she was visiting. Everything looked splendid. The groundskeeper certainly did a good job taking care of them. She smiled in spite of what she was feeling. Valentina was taken out of her world when she was greeted by someone. She blinked, “Hello,” she responded in her accented English. She curtsied instead of taking the offered hand, “I am Valentina Bentancourt.” The Spaniard smiled at the other girl. “I was just thinking. How about you?” she responded to the girl’s question.
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Valentina Bentancourt
You were missed
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Valentina Bentancourt
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Ben Holland
July 19, 2011 12:43 AM
Neither have I. by Ben Holland
Ben was glad to be back at school. He missed spending time around people that were his age. He loved his siblings and all, but sometimes, all he wanted was to be with some one older than seven and younger than twenty. Preferably twelve or thirteen. It was just boring to spend all day with adults, a nearly seven year old, and a small child.As happy as he was to be back around the students at Sonora, he still loved, and missed, his family. He wasn't terribly fond of wandering the gardens, but due to the fact there was no real windows in the Teppenpaw common room, he had no choice but to take both his letters and owl out to send them off. He found a small clearing with a fountain and took a seat on the edge of the water feature.
Damon, the owl, hopped off his shoulder and perched on the fountain beside him. Setting the letters aside, Ben stroked the bird's head. He sat for a while, before tying a thick envelope to Damon. "Take it to Momma, okay? She'll send Cy's on with Mercury when she writes to her." He sent the sleek, dark bird on his way. Once the bird was out of sight, Ben turned to the sound of some one entering the clearing.
He stood up, and offered her a smile. Pulling of the cowboy hat that he had gotten in to the habit of wearing daily, he shook her hand with his with his free right hand. "Hi, Jess. I was just sendin' a letter home. Haven't talked to you in a while. How are you?"
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Ben Holland
Neither have I.
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Ben Holland
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Ben
July 19, 2011 12:46 AM
Jess
July 24, 2011 8:09 PM
Hey to both of you! by Jess
Jess smiled at the familiar face and at the unfamiliar one. "Hi Ben! I've been great." She then turned to the girl and took the offered hand belatedly, shaking it once like an adult would. "It's very nice to meet you, Valentina," she replied with a smile. "I was just walking around. I feel like I've been cooped up in my dorm for ages! This is so different from my muggle primary school so I had to catch up to the harder curriculum." A word she didn't exactly know fully yet, but it had something to do with schoolwork, she knew. She tried to learn one word each day."How have you been?" she asked Ben, sitting down next to him. She smiled at Valentina and pat the stone next to her, silently inviting her to join. "I missed Quidditch tryout," she said solemnly, a little peeved as well. She enjoyed sports as well as the outdoors, though she had paled considerably because of her time studying indoors. Even if she did live in California, she hadn't had much time to play outside. "I like your hat," she said with a smile, and raised a hand to touch it briefly.
"What classes are you both taking?" she asked. She turned her head to look at both of them one at a time, her brown curls bouncing side to side.
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Jess
Hey to both of you!
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Jess
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Valentina
August 04, 2011 9:17 PM
Hello! by Valentina
Valentina smiled at the prospect of not one, but two new friends. The Spaniard was lacking in the friend department, she was usually cooped up in the Dance Room perfecting her ballet technique. Ballet sucked her life, she was very focused on what she wanted, and she was going to get it, even if it meant being friendless for the rest of her schooling years. Valentina was aware that she needed to dedicate herself to her dancing, because she attended a boarding school, and she didn’t have dancing classes every day, like the rest of the girls she danced with. “Same here, Jessica,” she replied.The third-year Teppenpaw looked at the boy that had joined them, apparently he had been there all the time, but she had not seen him, because she had been dwelling in her own little world. Her mother always told her that being that distracted wasn’t going to help her get some friends, but the dark-haired little girl didn’t mind not having friends, but it would be nice to have someone to talk to from time to time. The only people she actually saw as friends were the girls she danced with during the summer, because they were the only ones that understood her completely. Some people thought that her need to dance was just an obsession that would pass with time, but it wasn’t.
“Hi, I am Valentina. You are Ben, right?” Valentina had heard Jessica called him that way. Those two seemed to be friends, maybe they were in the same house or year, and she hoped she wasn’t interrupting anything. She curtsied again, it was a habit now, she tried to be more informal, but she just couldn’t.
The Teppenpaw nodded and sat down besides Jessica. Listening to them talk among them. It was clear they knew each other, and she didn’t want to intrude in what seemed to be a conversation amongst friends. She waited for Ben to answer Jessica’s question before giving her answer. It was more polite, she was the one intruding.
She smiled, “I am taking everything, except Astronomy and Divinations.” She giggled at her accented English. It was something that never ceased to amaze her, how her accent didn’t go away, even when she had lived in the USA for more than 4 years. “How about you, Jess?” she gasped. “It is okay of I call you, Jess. Right?” she smiled at the other girl.
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Valentina
Hello!
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Valentina
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Ben Holland
August 07, 2011 7:42 PM
Howdy! by Ben Holland
Ben smiled at the new girl, "Hello, and yes, that's me. Ben Holland, Teppenpaw." His soft Southern accents twirled through his words as he tipped his hat in response to her curtsy. Ben wasn't an overly outgoing person, so his friends included those he met at his first opening feast, even though he had only really stayed in contact with Four. He was glad to meet some one new, like his mother was always telling him to do. This girl seemed formal, but kind.When Jess complimented his hat, he chuckled softly, "Thanks, it was a Christmas gift from Four, so I wouldn't look out of place next to his hat. I've gotten too used to it to go with out. It's a shame you missed tryouts, I'm hoping the team will do well this year." Quidditch was an easy topic for Ben, it ran through the blood he shared with James and Cy. "We're up against Crotalus for the first match, and then hopefully Pecari or Aladren. If you miss playing, we could make use of the MARS sports room." He wouldn't mind a little pick up match every now and then. In fact, it sounded fun.
He paused for a moment to let Valentina answer the question first, but she seemed to be doing the same for him, so he replied. "Just the regular second year set, nothing too terribly exciting, though I am looking forward to Charms." He liked Charms best out of all his classes. He liked the wide variety of things the subject had to offer.
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Ben Holland
Howdy!
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Ben Holland
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Jess
August 08, 2011 2:14 AM
Are we all Teppenpaws then? by Jess
Jess looked at Valentina when Ben introduced himself as a Teppenpaw. "I'm a Teppenpaw too," she told her. "What house are you in?"Then Ben started to talk and when he mentioned a familiar name, she smiled brightly. "I haven't talked to Four in a long time. How is he?" As Ben talked about Quidditch, Jess regretted missing tryouts this year. She loved Quidditch mostly because it had been a great way to bond with her Dad. He'd taught her mostly everything she knew now and it had always been a great conversation topic, especially with the boys.
"I was busy studying," she said regretfully. "My mom told me to pay attention to my studies and so I tried to devote all of my attention to that instead of the extra stuff. But I'll definitely go watch the matches! And yeah, that'd be great to use the sports room. I haven't even seen it yet!" For such an outgoing and athletic girl, Jess hadn't really been able to branch out much her first year. She turned to Valentina and asked, "Do you like Quidditch?" She had loads of friends back in California that didn't like Quidditch and she could sort of understand why. Not that it diminished her passion. If anything she tried to argue why Quidditch was such a wonderful sport.
Jess listened to Ben first as he answered her question and piped up, "I love Charms too! It's my favorite subject! I'm excited to learn summoning charms but I don't think we learn that till third or fourth year. I've been studying up on it a lot this summer."
Valentina then answered her question and she smiled encouragingly at her new friend. "Of course you can call me Jess! All of my friends call me that and we're pretty much friends now. Do you like Astronomy and Divinations? I hate Divinations and Astronomy's kind of boring. I wish we could just look at stars all day instead of learn about how to map them out." She sighed, then giggled at her slip. "I mean look at the stars all night." She looked back at Valentina. "By the way, I like your accent. Where is it from?"
Jess loved meeting people from all over at Sonora. Her muggle primary school were only kids from her neighborhood and as fun as it was, it got kind of boring. Being from England herself, though she didn't remember much of it, she had a slight hint of an English accent to her speech. She absolutely adored Ben's Southern accent and she wanted to hear and learn as many different accents as she could.
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Jess
Are we all Teppenpaws then?
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Jess
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Valentina
August 10, 2011 11:10 PM
It seems so! *high-fives* by Valentina
“Yes I am a Teppenpaw,” she said excited. And from the look of it, Ben and Jess were younger than her. That would explain why she didn’t know them, but it hardly was a very good excuse. Valentina was usually in her own little word, she hardly knew the Teppenpaws in her year. The thought she was a bad Tepp, she just didn’t have friends, she was always so focused on her dancing that her social skills were lacking. But it seemed that she had made two friends and Teppenpaws, too. This was nice. Human interaction was exactly what she needed to focus on other things, other than spats with her parents and her dancing. It couldn’t be healthy to be so obsessed about her future in dancing. Yes, it was important, but she couldn’t isolate herself from everyone else for it. She needed friends, people she could trust and talk to when needed.Valentina listened to them talk about Quidditch, a subject she hardly knew anything about. Her forte was ballet, but the little she new came from her older brother; he was a Quidditch fan and pretty good player. The Spaniard liked hearing Alex talk about the sport, the way her brother did it with so much passion, that it was hard not to be mesmerized by it. She blushed, “No, I really don’t like the sport, but my older brother plays it. He is a Beater, I think.” Valentina finished with a hopeful smile. She hoped that this little revelation wouldn’t dampen the mood they had. They were all having fun, but some people could be really passionate about Quidditch. “I am a dancer. I do Ballet.” She thought it would be nice to share that with them, even if they didn’t care about it.
The blue-eyed girl stayed silent while they talked about Charms. She didn’t have a very strong opinion about the subject, she wasn’t super good at it, but she wasn’t bad either. However, a big smile made its way to her face when Jess told her she could call her Jess and that they were indeed friends. “Okay, Jess.” It felt so good to be familiar with someone, it really did. “I don’t really know, never taken them. My father told me to stick to the regular curriculum.” Valentina had direct orders and she couldn’t disobey them.
“I was born in Madrid, Spain, but have been living in Boston for the last three years. My father moved us because of his job.” Which she didn’t know what that is, she just knew that he travelled a lot, and that he gave them almost everything they wanted. She did miss her father from time to time. “Your accent isn’t American,” she commented. “Where is it from?” she couldn’t pinpoint it, but she knew it was familiar. Valentina looked at Ben, “Are you from America?” she didn’t want to leave him out of the conversation.
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Valentina
It seems so! *high-fives*
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Valentina
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