01<@Ardweden> [Day: Tuesday, September 28. Time: 9:30 a.m.] 01<@Ardweden> [Heather and Tony ditched school after some fairly intense before school drama that resulted in Tyler getting the shit beat out of him, not that either of them know yet. They just know there was fighting and it probably involved Josh and maybe Tyler. Just the same, BAD. Tony suggested skipping and Heather agreed, and he pulled her out of a different exit.] 01<@Ardweden> [After some wandering, they ended up at Heather's favorite place to go when skipping classes: the park. It's still a little moist from the rain last night but all of the smaller puddles have dried up, and this early in the day, it's just the two of them. Tony, who doesn't seem to be a stranger to skipping classes, is looking for a good place to situate himself.] 01<@Ardweden> [Start!] 06* Heather walks into the park! She takes a seat on one of the swings, assuming it's not soaked, and glances over at Tony. 01<@Ardweden> [Tony looks at Heather, seems to mentally shrug, and drops the backpack by the set before he sits on a swing himself. Now that he's out of his element, he just looks like a freckled, soft-faced teenager with a virulent red streak going through his too-black dyed hair. He pushes his feet against the ground and swings very slightly.] 06* Heather doesn't for the moment. She just sits there, thinking, before eventually saying. "I wasn't going to skip today." 01<@Ardweden> [Tony looks at Heather for a moment, then back down at his feet. "Me neither." Pause. "You can go back, if you want. You can just tell them you're late or whatever."] 06* Heather shakes her head. "Nah." 06* Heather starts rocking back and forth, slowly. "Not like anyone will miss me," she says. 01<@Ardweden> [Tony looks at Heather again. "Well yeah," he says finally. "The teachers don't notice after a point if you skip enough. And I'm pretty sure you did." He grins. "No offense."] 06* Heather shrugs. "'S fine." 01<@Ardweden> ["It's not a *bad* day to skip," Tony continues, looking at the sky. "At least it's not raining. In another hour we can try to sneak into my place, if you want."] 06* Heather nods. "Sure." 01<@Ardweden> [Tony smiles at Heather. He breaks eye contact with her to look at the playground before he says, "What were they doing at the library? Tiffany and Tyler, I mean."] 06* Heather kicks the ground, swinging a little. "Homework. A paper for History." She chuckles. "I actually have mine in my bag, too." 01<@Ardweden> [Tony blinks. "Huh. They're doing homework together now? That's... fuck, *that* paper. I should probably actually write it."] You can copy mine if you want. 01<@Ardweden> ["... Really?" Tony looks at Heather like she might not be serious, for some reason.] 06* Heather gives Tony a confused look. "Why not?" 01<@Ardweden> [Tony just gazes at Heather for a long moment before he shakes it off. "No reason. Uh." He glances at his own backpack. "I might take you up on that, but not straight up copying. Don't wanna get caught."] 06* Heather nods. "I can help you. Change a word here or there and they won't know." I work at the library, so I can just say I gave you the same books I used. My paper's probably the same as Tyler's and Tiffany's. 01<@Ardweden> [Tony hehs. "Yeah." He looks at Heather again. "You worked on it with them?"] 06* Heather nods. "Yeah. Tiffany did most of the work, though." 01<@Ardweden> ["She's pretty smart when she's not being stupid," Tony says, thoughtfully. And then, suddenly: "How were they? I, uh... I haven't talked to Tyler in a while."] 06* Heather shrugs. "They seemed fine. Tyler's really into her. And I think she's into him, but rumor has it she's into Javy, too." She shrugs. 01<@Ardweden> [Tony snorts, relaxing a little now that they're entering conversation he's more familiar with. "More than a little. I heard they're going to the dance together."] You mean Tiffany and Tyler or Tiffany and Javy? 03* Gryfirefly is now known as Grysar 01<@Ardweden> ["Tiffany and Javy. If it's Tiffany and *Tyler*, their relationship's going to have the most epic hatefucks imaginable. Which, I mean, yeah. She loves to screw herself over, so why not."] Oh... Yeah, that makes more sense. 01<@Ardweden> [Tony looks like he's seriously considering something when there's a beep. He pulls his phone from his pocket, unlocking it.] 06* Heather waits politely whilst he checks it. 01<@Ardweden> [Tony looks puzzled, but that quickly wipes away as he pales. "Holy shit," he mutters, standing and texting whoever it is back.] 06* Heather blinks a few times. "What's wrong?" 01<@Ardweden> ["What we- this morning- hang on." Tony can't seem to complete a sentence until he finishes his text message. He does it, though, and turns his attention to Heather. "Tyler got really hurt this morning. He's in the hospital."] 06* Heather stands up, wide-eyed. "What the hell did he do?" 01<@Ardweden> ["I..." He glances at his phone. "I should have been there."] 06* Heather glances to one side. "I'm sorry." 01<@Ardweden> [Tony's gaze goes hard, and so does his voice: "Sorry doesn't cut it. But thanks." At least he's not looking at Heather. He shoves his phone back in his pocket.] You should go see him. 01<@Ardweden> [Tony folds his arms, glaring at a point on the ground. He doesn't respond.] 06* Heather looks at him. "Tony!" 01<@Ardweden> [He raises his eyes slightly to look at Heather.] I'm sorry for dragging you away from that. I was worried. But now you should go see him. 01<@Ardweden> ["The fuck do you care?" Tony snaps. "He's given you nothing but shit the better part of last year. You said yourself that he fucking exploded at you in the library last night after you helped him with his goddamn history paper, and you want me to go see him?"] 06* Heather snaps back! "I care because you care! He's your friend, isn't he? You sure seem worried enough about him!" 01<@Ardweden> ["Yeah. Hell if I know why." Tony goes to grab his backpack.] So go see him and figure it out. 01<@Ardweden> [He shoulders his backpack, not looking back at Heather, before he says, "It's bullshit, you know?"] 06* Heather blinks. "What is?" 01<@Ardweden> ["What J did to you. Total fucking bullshit. You didn't deserve any of that." Tony looks at Heather. "Come on. I need to relax before I try to see him, and I'm not gonna do it in the playground."] 06* Heather smiles. "Thanks." 01<@Ardweden> [Heather tags along to one of the many hiking trails that lead out of Ashgate proper and into the woods. It's pretty well deserted right now, and Tony heads off the trail and ducks under one of the wooden bridges that crosses a stream. There's just enough room here for two, maybe three people if they squeeze, on one side of the stream.] 01<@Ardweden> [Tony settles in like he's done this dozens of times (and maybe he has), his feet stopping just short of the water itself.] 06* Heather follows Tony in, careful not to trip into the water. 01<@Ardweden> [By the time Heather sits down, Tony's already dug out some pot and is rolling a joint. This close, she can see that his hands are shaking slightly.] 06* Heather notices. "How much of this stuff have you been doing? Your hands are shaking." 01<@Ardweden> ["Just stressed. Weed doesn't give the shakes, anyway." He finishes and glances at Heather. "This a problem?"] 06* Heather responds by plucking the freshly rolled joint from Tony and holding it to her lips. She looks at him expectantly. 01<@Ardweden> [Tony laughs a laugh that Heather's actually never heard from him before, except in his dream: it lacks any hardness around its edges. "I was gonna offer, but if you just wanna take it..." He digs out a book of matches and strikes one, lighting the joint for Heather.] 06* Heather takes a long puff. "Weed's ok. I don't like to do much of the hard stuff though. Maybe once in a while." 06* Heather doesn't even cough. Yay experience? 01<@Ardweden> ["It's not all the same anyway," Tony says, taking the joint from Heather once she's done and having a drag, himself. He lets out a stream of smoke while he hands it back.] 06* Heather nods. "I know." She takes another drag and holds it back to Tony. "But it feels wrong. I mean..." She corrects herself quickly, lest he misinterpret, "It feels like cheating." 01<@Ardweden> [Tony takes it back. "Cheating?" He seems interested, or at least curious.] 06* Heather shrugs. "I don't know. I don't know what I'm saying. Nevermind." 01<@Ardweden> [Tony looks at Heather for a while, then finally shrugs, taking another drag. "If you say so," he says, exhaling smoke in the process. He passes it back.] 06* Heather takes her turn. After a while, she asks, "Is this what you bought last night? Or was it something harder?" 01<@Ardweden> [Tony starts slightly. He looks at Heather, obviously on edge again (though not as badly as before - the pot probably helps). "Does it matter?"] A little. 01<@Ardweden> [He narrows his eyes slightly, maybe calculating something. Eventually he says, "Harder." Pause. "Why were you working on the history paper with Tyler? Tiffany I kind of get, but I didn't know you got along with Tyler."] He wasn't acting like his usual self. He was being nice. At first. 01<@Ardweden> [Tony blinks. "To both of you?"] 06* Heather nods. "Yeah." 06* Heather shrugs. "Maybe he just did it so we'd help him with his paper." 01<@Ardweden> ["... Huh." Tony apparently decides he can't deal with this news without drugs, so he has some. He passes it back to Heather. "Maybe." He clearly doesn't think that's all of it, though.] 01<@Ardweden> ["What about later? Why'd he yell at you?"] 06* Heather rubs her face. "I don't really want to talk about it. Let's just say Josh came up." 01<@Ardweden> [Tony sighs, and he slumps back against the dirt wall. "Fuck."] 06* Heather doesn't offer any more comment. She does take another drag though, having momentarily forgotten, and hands what's left to Tony. 01<@Ardweden> [Tony takes the rest - now a tiny stub - and smokes it. He looks up at the other end of the bridge, above and away from them, as he does so. He also gets dirt in his hair, not that he seems to notice or care.] 06* Heather snickers. "You're getting dirt in your hair." 01<@Ardweden> [Tony blinks, snapping out of it, and sits up. He tries brushing it out with only partial success.] 06* Heather laughs. 01<@Ardweden> [He tries again, still not removing all dirt and now messing up his hair in the process. "Did I get it?" he asks the laughing Heather. The look on her face points to 'no'.] 06* Heather is grinning. "Hold still," she says, and attempts to brush it out. 01<@Ardweden> [Tony lowers his hands, holding still.] 06* Heather leans over and brushes Tony's hair best she can. 01<@Ardweden> [Tony holds still while Heather combs dirt out of his hair with her fingers, then straightens it so it's not quite so messy anymore. When she finishes, he's blushing slightly - just a little pink around his ears. "Thanks."] 06* Heather smiles, satisfied, and nods. 01<@Ardweden> [Tony smiles back, a little lopsided. He reaches up towards Heather's face, then hesitates, remembering something. "Can I?"] 06* Heather nods. 01<@Ardweden> [At Heather's nod, Tony brushes a lock of hair behind her ear, to where it belongs, then runs his fingers through the rest and smooths it out. "You're beautiful," he says, suddenly. "I mean, really... just. When you smile, you really are."] 06* Heather smiles, "Thanks." She blushes slightly, maybe because he sounds more sincere than when she usually hears that. 01<@Ardweden> [Tony smiles back. "Thanks for ditching school with me. I've... um, I've got enough for another joint, if you want to share it before I go check on Tyler." Pause. "You wanna come with me?"] 06* Heather shakes her head. "You should see him, but... not me." 01<@Ardweden> [Worry flickers through Tony's eyes, but he nods. "I get it." He looks past Heather and continues, "I wasn't there, and I'm kind of pissed at him, but... It sounds like Tyler's yelling didn't have anything to do with you. You were just there. He's shit at saying what he actually means a lot of the time."] Thanks. Even still, I'm sorry for what happened to him. 01<@Ardweden> [Tony nods. He pulls out his phone and glances at it.] 06* Heather glances to Tony. "Go if you're worried. We can save the other one for next time." 01<@Ardweden> [Tony blinks and looks up. "Yeah." He smiles a small smile. "Next time. I'm gonna run home first; you thinking of staying here or-?"] 06* Heather shakes her head. "Nah.... I'll find something to do." 01<@Ardweden> ["Okay. I'll see you around." Tony grabs his backpack and scoots out from under the bridge, then is off.] 06* Heather watches him go for a bit before making her own way out. 01<@Ardweden> [End!]