Musings at mealtime on Cascade Hall

Jennifer Zucchero

May 22, 2006 10:43 PM

Musings at mealtime by Jennifer Zucchero

There really wasn't much interesting about oatmeal, Jennifer decided as she glanced down at the bowl sitting before her. While she was sure Stephen would disagree, if she ever expressed that particular opinion in front of him, it was traditionally rather bland. She was really was somewhat fond of oatmeal, it merely wasn’t one of her favorite foods. Yet it was bland and dull, and that suited her mood right now. If she ate enough oatmeal, perhaps she would become bland and dull once more.

A pad of parchment sat in front of her, and she alternated between glaring at it and looking dejectedly down at her bowl. It was once again time to decide what she wanted to do this summer, and she frankly just wanted to stay here and get away from her entire family. Her friends were here, after all, and she didn't have to deal with her parents and their "Jen-battles" if she didn't have to go see one or the other.

It was strange, really. When she was younger, it had gone without saying that she was her father's responsibility. Christine Noire hadn't wanted her, after all. So she had gone to see her mother once or twice over the first ten years of her life and that had been good enough for both of them. However, now that she was old enough to be useful to Christine, everything had changed.

Her mother had, while not quite throwing a fit, expressed her great displeasure that Jennifer hadn't been back to England in over a year and a half. It wasn't like she was intentionally staying away from her mother's family...alright, shehad been somewhat intentionally staying away from her mother's family, in particular her mother. Her mother had goals for her, and Jennifer just wasn't achieving them quite fast enough, in Christine's opinion.

When pondering the question of what to do over Christmas break, she had concluded that another stay in Brazil would likely suit her the best. However, her father's letters had been a bit strange lately. If she was reading between the lines properly, her father had recently
started seeing someone new. Now, Jennifer wanted her father to be happy, of course, but it would be horrendously awkward if he really was dating again when she went down there. It just seemed wrong, and she didn't want to have to deal with it on a day to day basis.

Her last option was to ask Lizzie if she could spend the summer with her and her brothers. And she loved spending time with the Lavines, she really did. But things had just gotten so strange over the last year. While she was away in Brazil, Lizzie had gotten a boyfriend. Jennifer had never met him, and the two had broken up at the end of the summer, but it was still a bit strange at times.

Her main problem, Jennifer concluded as she doodled on the parchment, was that, while everyone around her was changing, she hadn't. Everyone else was growing, getting boyfriends or girlfriends, and doing everything else that teenagers did. Yet, even though she had officially become a teen before most people in her class, she was still short, scrawny, and far too shy. And there really wasn’t much that she could do about that right now. She only had a couple of months left of school, and that really wasn’t enough time for the complete personality makeover that her mother had deemed necessary. It wasn’t even enough time to mentally prepare herself for whatever Christine was planning to put her through for that makeover.

With a sigh, she stared glumly down at her oatmeal once again. Out of the three potential evils, the lesser seemed to be going to Lizzie’s house. Making a note to ask her that the next time she saw her friend, Jennifer once again picked up the pen and pondered just how to begin the letter to her mother. Dear Mother, I have no desire to ever come back to England again, or see you for the next three years. Love, Jennifer? That just didn’t seem to cut it. So lost in thought about how to phrase the refusal to come home, Jennifer didn’t notice that someone had taken the seat across from her until a small noise jolted her back into the everyday world with a rather brilliant blush on her cheeks.
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0 Jennifer Zucchero Musings at mealtime 48 Jennifer Zucchero 1 5

Jake Santoro

May 22, 2006 11:40 PM

Happy tidings for the holidays by Jake Santoro

As a person who was the Captain of the losing Quidditch team, one would expect the boy to be depressed or at least somewhat sad, perhaps even angry; however that was not the case when it came to Jake Santoro. Jake walked into Cascade Hall with a giant grin on his face. Nothing ever seemed to phase him. Truth was, Jake wasn't at all bothered that his team lost. If they had won, he worried that the win would have gone directly to their head and they might have felt unstoppable. At least, he figured certain team members might have felt that way. At least with this loss, he knew what to work on with them.

Looking around the hall, his dark eyes landed on his friend, Jennifer. Or, at least, he considered her a friend, who knew what she thought of him. As he drew level to her, she seemed to be lost in whatever it was she was doing with the muggle stuff. Deciding not to bother her, Jake plopped down in the seat acrossed from the shy girl and grabbed some eggs. He never understood why people at the oatmeal (much like Jennifer was doing) when there were so many more delicious foods to eat this early in the morning. But that was just Jake's take on the whole thing.

Jake ate in silence for a few minutes, some random thoughts filling his head, but nothing too difficult or special. He had totally forgotten that Jennifer was across from him until he accidently clinked his goblet of juice against his plate of eggs and caused Jennifer to stir. Jake stared at her for a moment before he started laughing. She was blushing! "Oh Jennifer! Oh man! You're so funny!" Jake said as his laughter died down. His stomach hurt from laughing. "What're you doing? You seemd a bit lost in your own world there."\n\n

6 Jake Santoro Happy tidings for the holidays 42 Jake Santoro 0 5

Jennifer

May 23, 2006 7:37 PM

Amusement with Alliteration by Jennifer

Jennifer’s blush faded as she realized that it was just Jake sitting across from her. He seemed to be finding that blush completely hysterical, although Jennifer couldn’t figure out what made it so funny. Really, it was rather an embarrassing situation, to not notice that someone was sitting across from you for however long it had been. Of course, Jake never seemed to be embarrassed by anything, so that explained why he found this situation so funny.

Still, the laughter had gotten on her nerves a bit, and they were already frayed from trying to find a way to politely communicated with her parents. She glared across the table at him, and asked, somewhat sternly, “Jake Santoro, did your mother never teach you that it’s impolite to laugh at others? Or that you shouldn’t startle people like that.”

She had looked back down at her oatmeal, still glaring a little, when the ridiculousness of the entire situation hit her. Well, the ridiculousness and a bit of fear. If she hadn’t known better, she would have sworn that was just her mother who spoke. Or any of the number of female relatives she had on either side of the family. And that was a truly sobering thought.

Smiling apologetically up at Jake, she continued in a subdued voice, “Oh, Merlin, I’m sorry, Jake. I didn’t mean to get all huffy like that. It’s just been a really tiring week. But it’s probably far worse for you than it was for me, what with the first quidditch match and all. That was a really rough loss. You guys looked like you were playing really well. Still,” she shrugged slightly, “If it makes you feel better, my teams doubtlessly going to lose to Pecari in our first match, so you won’t be alone.”

Looking down at her parchment when he asked what she had been doing, she again shrugged. “I was writing a letter.” Then, seeing the myriad doodles and the lack of words actually on the parchment, she gave a quick laugh. “Or, rather, I was attempting to write a letter. I’m not sure how you do it, but somehow you always seem to meet up with me while I’m having issues with familial correspondence. I’m actually sometimes rather shocked that you’re still willing to talk to me after all I’m sure you’ve seen. As I’m sure you know by now,” she laughed again, a bit reluctantly, “I’m at my worst when dealing with my family. A bit childish, I know, but it’s the way it seems to be. So, what have you been up to recently? It seems like its been forever since we last talked.”
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0 Jennifer Amusement with Alliteration 0 Jennifer 0 5

Jake

May 27, 2006 10:09 PM

Finding fun in frivolous things by Jake

Jake's laugh subsided almost immediately and his smile faultered a bit when Jennifer reprimanded him for laughing. What was with her? She was usually so easy-going and in good humor that such a response like this came out of nowhere. "Er-" Jake started, unsure of exactly what to say. As far as he was aware, his mother never said he couldn't laugh at people he was friendly with, just that it was impolite to point at strangers. "Well, no she never said to not laugh. And, I didn't mean to startle you. You're the one who wasn't paying attention, you know." Jake replied, his voice low, but not in an angry way. He was just unsure of exactly it was that she wanted to hear from him. "Sorry."

And then suddenly the real Jennifer appeared. Her mood swings were a bit much to handle, but Jake, having grown up with four sisters was rather used to them. He shrugged off her apology plus her remark about his Quidditch loss. "No harm. My team did their best and now we know what to work from." Jake said, his smile back to its full form. "I'm sure your team will do great against the Pecaris!" Jake said with confidence. Of course, he was rather glad it was her team against them and not his own. He also didn't admit that if she did lose (a shame that would be) he was glad it would be her. For some reason he thought she'd handle it much better than anyone on the Pecari team.

Jake looked over at Jennifer when she explained about her letter. What she said was true, he had a knack for finding her when she was at her worst. Oh well, it seemed as though they were fated as such. He could remember times when he was feeling rather anti-family as well and she had been the one who came upon him. Or maybe he had found her and somehow things esculated...eh, he couldn't remember how it went. "Why wouldn't I talk to you still?" Jake asked her, truly perplexed by such a thing. "Everyone has their difficulties with their families. I mean, I'm not exactly an expert on the subject, but I do have eight siblings." Jake said as a reminder that chaos and family ran hand in hand with him.

Jake leaned back slightly in his seat as he thought about what he had been up to. Honestly, besides his Quidditch match, he hadn't done much else. "Just Quidditch, and we all know how well that went for me." Jake said with a laugh.\n\n

6 Jake Finding fun in frivolous things 42 Jake 0 5

Elizabeth Lavine

June 02, 2006 5:58 PM

Um... No alliterations here. by Elizabeth Lavine

The day was by all accounts a fairly standard day at Sonora, the only really pressing matter was the summer holidays looming in the distance. Okay, so maybe looming gave a bad connotation, because there was nothing threatening about the upcoming break. Lizzie was ready to go home and enjoy another summer with her family. She had been planning to ask Jen to come back with her, since Javon had asked about her in his last letter. Evidently, he and his teammates were excited about the idea of two up-and-coming players being back for the summer.

So upon entering the Cascade Hall, Liz's eyes immediately began their search for the Crotalus Captain. They found her seated already at a table with the Teppenpaw Captain, the one and only Jake Santoro. A smile grew on her face as she walked toward the two and the table at which they were seated. Completely undetected, she snuck up behind Jen and then took her shoulders, whispering, "Boo!"

"Hey Jen," Liz laughed jovially and sat down next to her, waving to Jake, "'morning Jake. Sorry about the game. Better luck next time, eh? So, what's for food this morning?"

She looked around the table and poured herself some orange juice and retrieved a bagel. As Liz went about these things, she noticed a look on Jen's face, like something was upsetting her. Of course, it was a subtlety that barely anyone would recognize, but Lizzie had seen it enough to know it when it presented itself.

"Jen? Is everything okay?" she asked, looking over at her friend, then turning to Jake she asked, "Is everything alright?"\n\n

0 Elizabeth Lavine Um... No alliterations here. 53 Elizabeth Lavine 0 5

Jennifer

June 09, 2006 4:24 PM

Fine, then, ruin our fun by Jennifer

Jennifer blushed again as Jake defended himself about her first comment, then sighed as she realized she was doing it again. She had spent years trying to learn how to control it, and sometimes managed to succeed at it, too, but she had realized long ago that, with her fair skin, the blushing would probably never stop, and so now she often just let it run its course.

She managed to let go of her embarassment again when Jake followed the change in topic to quidditch. Smiling a little as he told her he thought they would do well, she replied, "I'm sure that we'll do fine. I just don't know if it's enough to manage to beat them. Still, maybe I'll just get one of my beaters to knock some of them off their brooms, to see if we can even up the teams a little," she finished with a small laugh.

And then they were back to families. Jake seemed rather confused about why complaining about family would be seen as taboo. Jennifer wasn't quite sure how to explain it at first, but after laughing a bit more as Jake reminded her of just how big and chaotic his own family was (Jake seemed good at making her laugh, at least more so than a lot of people she normally hung out with), the answer hit her.

"Well, I suppose it's because you Teppenpaws are just so nice," she answered. "I guess it just wouldn't occur to you to do something like that. Maybe I've got a warped view after being in Crotalus for so long, but nobody really talks about our families, even to complain. It's just...not done, I'm not quite sure w-"

"Boo!"

Jennifer broke off midsentence as the voice broke in from behind her. She jumped a litte, but managed to bite back a slight shriek. While she was sure Lizzie would understand it, Jake had already had a field day with her blushing, and she didn't want to give him any more ammunition.

She returned Lizzie's greeting, and then settled back into her doodling, only to be startled out of it once again. "What? Oh, no, I'm fine. Really. Jake and I were just talking about families and stuff, that's all." \n\n

0 Jennifer Fine, then, ruin our fun 0 Jennifer 0 5

Jake

June 09, 2006 6:27 PM

Party-pooper, Betsy by Jake

Jake didn't really know how to go about giving Jennifer more confidence about her upcoming game. If anything, getting advice from the Captain who lost the last match probably would facilitate much confidence in another person. So, he laughed a bit when mentioning knocking out one of the Captains (he understood they were twins, but co-cpatians? Where was the fairness with that?).

At least Jennifer was laughing again. Whenever he was around her, she was either one of two extremes; she was either very quiet and sad or she was happy and chatty. Of course that just might be because he was in her company. Jake liked the flow of conversations. Growing up in a house like his, the quiet became unsettling. He liked her when she laughed.

He had been listening to Jennifer explain the difference between the Tepps and Crotaluses with how they see families when Elizabeth came out of nowhere and scared Jennifer much like Jake had done when he had first sat with her. Only, Elizabeth had done it on purpose. Jake laughed at Jennifer's startled jump, but made no other comment. "Hey Liz." He greeted Elizabeth while still chuckling. "It's alright. My team has good spirits. No worries." His attitude was always the same. He never bothered getting worked up over things that had simple solutions. Like more practices.

Jake went back to eating his food when Elizabeth suddenly asked Jennifer what was wrong. Jake glanced up and gave a startled surprise when Liz asked him what was wrong with her. Almost as though Jake had done something to her. As far as he was aware, Jennifer had been just fine before Elizabeth arrived. He gave a shrug, but then Jennifer answered. "Yeah, Jennifer was explaining to me that we Tepps are so nice that talking about families isn't such a big deal while those Crotalus keep family stuff so very hush hush." Jake said, still not quite understanding what the big deal was with it all.\n\n

6 Jake Party-pooper, Betsy 42 Jake 0 5

Lizzie, not Betsy

June 10, 2006 3:03 PM

...Well, I've never gotten that one before... by Lizzie, not Betsy

Lizzie nodded as Jake replied with his usual good cheer. That was good, at least he was positive about the whole situation. And it was only one game, afterall. However, when Jen explained about the current topic of conversation, her demeanor all made sense. So The Christine had spoken again. Liz was going to have to get all the details from Jenny later.

"Oh," she said, "Well, I suppose she is right... But no one's family is perfect. Even us Pecaris have troublesome folks. Anyway, let's not dwell on the unpleasant..."

Liz's eyes searched the hall abit, taking in all the students sitting together and chatting about the upcoming break. Now that was a topic worth discussion: summer!

"Well, Senor Santoro, where is the Spanish Clan off to for their vacation? Perhaps Spain or Mexico?" She added, trying to lighten the mood. Then, as an after thought, she said with a grin, "Jenny knows she's being kidnapped and taken to New Orleans this summer, so I've no real reason to ask what she's doing."\n\n

0 Lizzie, not Betsy ...Well, I've never gotten that one before... 0 Lizzie, not Betsy 0 5