Librarian Nicchi

November 04, 2016 6:49 PM
 
Subthreads:
6 Librarian Nicchi Fast and Furious!! (nm) 32 Librarian Nicchi 1 5


Laila Kennedy

November 06, 2016 6:22 PM
Laila had been looking forward to dinner with the rest of her friends. She was sad that Wu didn't eat with them, but she was grateful that the other fourth year had opened up to her. She hoped that one day Wu would feel comfortable enough to rejoin them, but for now she would just let it be. But she had some exciting news to share. She thought she and Dustin Newell were making progress to becoming friends and since friends seemed to hard to come by at Sonora she was excited that she had gone and made another one all by herself.

"Guys, I--" she had begun when an interruption at the table caused her to stop short.

Her happy mood diminished, however, as Joella came by their table and she remembered the incident that had sparked her and Dustin's budding friendship. She had seen Jax follow Joella behind a tapestry that hid a secret staircase. Nothing had really been mentioned since then about it and Laila had been distracting herself by hanging out with the Reinhardts whenever possible, but seeing Joella put her arm around Jax like that just brought back all the feelings that she'd had before.

Gia's reaction and the way she had switched to Greek in order to talk to Jax just made Laila feel worse. It really seemed like Gia was happy for her brother and their other friend and Laila wanted to be happy for them too. They were her friends and she felt like a horrible person that their happiness was making her as miserable as it was, but she just couldn't help how she felt.

She felt as though she were a marionette whose strings had been cut suddenly and without warning, and she averted her eyes quickly to the green beans that were on her plate as she popped one in her mouth, neglecting the silverware in front of her. Suddenly she felt grateful that she had seen Jax and Joella go under the tapestry together. It meant that she had been slightly prepared. The sting still hadn't been taken away, but she'd already cried about it so she knew she'd be able to keep it together until she went to her room later that night.

"So that explains the whole tapestry business," she said casually as though the sudden revelation didn't bother her at all. She refused to let her friends think she was upset by this. It wouldn't be fair to overshadow their happy day by her pettiness.
10 Laila Kennedy Brutal devastation is an understatement 318 Laila Kennedy 0 5

Sammy Meeks

November 06, 2016 6:33 PM
Her stomach did a backflip when Joella approached, but almost immediately, somebody burst into her abdomin and shot and mugged it in an alleyway. She was handsy wth Jax (not horribly or inappropriately or anything, but it was Jax and anything was greater than the norm) when she joined, and then Gia's incomplete question and burst of Greek was the final nail in Sammy's metaphorical and possibly literal coffin.

This was it. She was dead. Jax and Joella were dating. RIP Samantha Meeks.

“Tapestry business?” She spoke a little too soon, her voice a little too high, as she demanded more information. Laila's statement hadn't given her enough to really gain anything. Sammy had read enough teen novels and seen enough sitcoms and dramas to not have an inkling of what Laila must have known, must have seen, but she so desperately wanted to be wrong. “What tapestry business?”
12 Sammy Meeks Calling it an understatement is an understatement 310 Sammy Meeks 0 5

Joella

November 06, 2016 6:59 PM
Joella should've known it would happen. If she had been in their shoes, she would've wanted to know, she would've wanted the juicy details. But that didn't mean she was going to give it to them. She and Jax had agreed they weren't keeping secrets but at the same time it was their thing and Joella didn't know if she felt comfortable revealing too much, at least not with his friends. They were her friends too, of course, but not to the same degree.

She couldn't help the guilty smile that spread across her lips when Gia cottoned on first but then she started speaking Greek to her brother and the others stepped in.

The Pecari tried to hide her surprise when Laila mentioned the tapestry. How did she know about that?

"Busted," Joella said simply, holding her hands up to make a joke of it all before helping herself to some salad.

She hadn't realised it until now but if there was anyone in the group that she'd share her business with it was Sammy. She would have thought it would be Gia but there was only so much she could tell Jax's sister, and that wasn't in terms of things about Jax himself so much. As for Laila, well she didn't feel she knew her well enough, but she seemed to be the most clued up about what was going on.

Laila had also been the lucky girl who Jax had taken to the ball last term. Was it possible that the two of them were closer than Joella realised? Or had Laila really just happened to be in the wrong/right place at the wrong/right time?
8 Joella Guys, chill. 295 Joella 0 5


Gia and Jax

November 06, 2016 7:15 PM
Both Donovans stopped talking when Laila brought up the tapestry. Gia looked completely confused by the question and Jax looked utterly flabbergasted that Laila had even known about that. Joella joked about it though so Jax relaxed a little. It wasn't as if they had done anything wrong when they had gone into the hidden stair case. But it unnerved him all the same that they had been noticed. Like his privacy had been taken from him in some way. It wasn't, of course, but he couldn't help the feeling.

“We had a private conversation a couple of days ago and used the stairway as the place to do it.” Jax replied with a shrug. He said it more to ease Gia's confusion than anything else, but he didn't see why both Laila and Sammy seemed so troubled by the news. Or, at least, Sammy was based on the way her voice sounded. Laila wasn't looking at him, so he was uncertain of her feelings.

Gia looked at Sammy cautiously. She remembered the letter from last term and how Sammy felt. The smile she had for her brother and for Joella faltered slightly because she had just realized what this all meant for her best friend. Gia placed a hand on her friend's knee and gave it a squeeze. She hoped it was a subtle hint to her friend that she was there for her. She wanted to support her brother but she also didn't want to hurt her friend either.
6 Gia and Jax For reals. 308 Gia and Jax 0 5


Laila

November 06, 2016 7:28 PM
Laila only raised an eyebrow in response to Jax's justification. Knowing Jax, it was likely there was truth in what he had said but the way he had started when she'd first brought it up coupled with Joella's 'busted' reaction caused Laila to feel as though she had correctly interpreted what had transpired between the two.

She shrugged in response, her blood rushing in her ears so that she barely noticed that Sammy, too was having a negative reaction to the news and went back to her green beans. "Either way, congratulations!" She sent the both a happy looking grin, drawing on her memories of bonding with Dustin and how excited she was to plan and throw the Halloween party. "You look cute together."

That last bit killed her to say it, but if it made Jax happy then who was she to get in the way?
10 Laila For realsy-reals. 318 Laila 0 5

Sammy

November 06, 2016 7:40 PM
Busted? BUSTED?! Yup, this was officially the actual worst day of Sammy's life. Jax made it sound like they'd just talked or whatever, but she couldn't imagine nothing else had happened. Nobody got that close in proximity to a girl like Joella Curtis in a private place and didn't reach out for her, didn't try to hold her, didn't kiss her. The real thing busted here was Sammy's heart.

But even Laila offered congratulations and said how cute they were. “Yeah, congrats, guys!” Sammy forced out with a smile. She felt Gia's hand on her knee and knew full well what her little squeeze meant, but it didn't make the false enthusiasm burn her throat any less.

“Well, I'd better go,” she announced, standing upright and letting Gia's hand fall away from her leg. “I think I left the oven one.” Sammy was totally blank for any reasonable excuse, so she hoped using one that was obviously not true would make it play like a joke. “I'm so happy for you guys, though. Seriously. Congratulations. See you later.” She took long, quick steps away from their table, leaving behind, for perhaps the first time in her life, an almost untouched meal. All of a sudden, she wasn't very hungry.
12 Sammy For real-real, not for play-play. 310 Sammy 0 5

Joella

November 06, 2016 8:11 PM
Joella almost wished the ground could swallow her up when Laila congratulated her and Jax. What even was that about? She was definitely regretting joining the table.

"Hey, Sammy, wait," Joella started to get up to follow after her friend, glad to be provided with a reason to leave. "I needed to talk to you about the team-" she started but then broke off mid-sentence because Sammy didn't seem like she was going to wait for her.

"Oookay then," she sat back down, then it registered what Sammy had said and she looked at the others in confusion. "Wait, what did she say? She left the what on?"
8 Joella I'm lost. 295 Joella 0 5