x.Chasing Sunshine

[Penguins.]

I watch most TV online, when it's past 12 and I can't fall asleep.

Thank you! I'm so excited - as in I can't wait for next year excited.

"Exactly," she nodded her head in agreement. She sat cross legged on the chair and thought about where she might want to live, but there were too many possibilities to pick just one. "We could always make our own lists of places we like and pick out which ones are the same," she suggested. "That might actually be the best way to pick out a place, although I'm sure we'll probably have a lot in common."

Cassandra was still looking through her menu when he had asked. "I think I'll get," she paused, unsure if she was about the pronounce the dish correctly, "gebakken zeetong." She bit her lip, positive she hadn't said it correctly. "It's fried sole, and it sounds really good. And although I should probably get beer since I'm in Holland, but I think I'll pass on that and get a class of chardonnay."

"That's really amazing. Having been born and raised in a city, I've just never really seen that side of humanity. Of course it exists, but it just seems so foreign. You always get a sort of culture shock when you visit another country but it's probably the most startling when you experience a complete change," Keegan said. He saw Kara glance at her watch, and completely misinterpreted it. "Oh, I'm sorry. Am I holding you up? Do you need to be somewhere?"

 

[KERFUFFLE]

Ah, I see. I don't have that trouble (;

Senior year for you, right? That's crazy! It's weird because I still have two years of school left, even though I'm a few months older than you. Remind me why you're a year ahead again?

Brandon nodded. "It might help. But then we might have too many places still to choose from," he laughed, "And then we'll argue about why the other person's first choices are the most important." He smiled at her then. He liked the fact that they could laugh about the things they argued about, because while so many couples had a whole lot to argue about, because they didn't agree on most things, things which could be very serious, both he and Avery were the kind of indecisive, selfless sorts of people who ended up arguing why the other was more right. At worst, he knew they'd be arguing over why she thought they should move to, say, Australia, because that's where he wanted, while he thought they should move to New Zealand because that was what she had thought of first. "Still, I suppose there's no harm in trying it and seeing how it turns out."

"Well, I shan't be the one to break tradition, and I will go for a beer, I think," Caden replied, looking at the drinks list to see which beer he was going to get. A waitress came to their table, and there was the awkward moment where she spoke in Dutch, and noone knew who should say what next. Eventually, she tapped onto it and said, "Sorry. I'll try that again. Are you guys ready to order?" She took them down onto her notepad, and she nodded as she did so, as though she was thinking 'good choice' at the same time. She left, and returned a few minutes later with their drinks, at which point Caden raised his glass of beer slightly and said, "Well, thank you for inviting me. Here's to a good trip."

"Definitely. I mean, my Dad and I lived in a small town, and because we arrived with very little, the people there were very sweet to us and were very hospitable, to help us settle in. But it was nothing in comparison to what it's like there," Kara agreed with him. She quickly shook her head at his question. "Oh, no, not at all," she said to him. "Frankly, since my plans for the day have been scuppered by my friends not arriving here, I have nowhere to be, and am in no hurry whatsoever."

 

[Penguins.]

YES! Next year is senior year <3

One week of finals, and then I'm done. I only have to take 4 this year, and the only one I'm worried about is physics, so yep.

I don't know...I always thought we were in the same grade...and you're about a year older than me, right?

"Let's try it, then," Avery suggested. She got up to scour the room for those complimentary pads of paper and a few writing utensils. She sat back down and handed Brandon a sheet of paper and a pen. "We could just write down whatever comes to our mind. Order doesn't matter, of course." She smiled. It was a silly idea, but at least it was fun. Already, she a few ideas forming in her head. She looked at him, wondering if he was willing to try it out.

"Well, thank you for coming," Cassandra replied. "It's already been a lot of fun." She took a sip of her wine, relishing the familiar taste. It was nice to try new things, but sometimes a sip of her favorite wine was just what she needed. It calmed her nerves, and though she wouldn't have admitted it, Caden made her slightly nervous. Everything about him seemed so good - his work, his personality, his looks. She wasn't sure where exactly there relationship would be going and that made her more nervous than anything. "Is there anything else you wanted to do while in Amsterdam?" she asked, sounding pretty calm.

"It must be amazing, I imagine," he nodded. "Oh. Well, maybe you'd like to do something then? If you want to, I mean. I was probably just going to walk around the town. Go to a park or something and get fresh air. Sometimes a bar just feels too crowded, you know?"

 

[KERFUFFLE]

Ah well, this year in itself has been like senior year, because we can leave school after this year. I won't be, but we had a party of a last day on Thursday, which was awesome.

I had a physics final on Friday. I'm happy. I never have to do Science ever again But I wish I only had that many. I've had nine in the past two weeks, six of which were in one week. But now I only have four to go, and two of them are History, so it's fine.

I didn't realise I was as much as eight months older than you, but, yes. We should be in the same grade, but we're not, bizarrely. Speaking of age, though, how was your birthday?

Brandon took a pen and some paper from her, his pen already getting to be poised above it, ready to write down the ideas already filling his head. "Alright," he said, smiling at her, "I have no objections to the rules set forth by you, so I'd say we should start." He had a few places in mind, some of which they'd already talked about. He also had some that, after having written them down, and then thought about them carefully, he realised were perhaps not such a good idea, and crossed them out again; Maldives, too touristy, esp. of the worst kind of British holidaymakers, and also in danger of being completely submerged by rising sea levels due to global warming.

"It has been," Caden agreed, taking a sip of his beer before setting it down on the table again. He, of course, was completely unaware of the fact that he made her a little nervous- after all, he'd never done anything that was out of the ordinary to him around her-, but above all, if he'd known about it, it probably would have just amused him; he wasn't at all the kind of person who particularly took to noticing female attention, and, in fact, he was probably more than slightly shy about it sometimes, charming as he could seem. Besides, he hadn't even thought too far ahead about where their relationship was headed, despite thinking Cassandra obviously incredibly attractive, as well as a very nice person, quite unlike the stereotypical egotistical model he'd imagined, because he was quite happy just to live in the moment, rather than making assumptions about a friendship between a man and a woman. He took another sip from his glass of beer and replied to her question, "I do know that I'd like to visit a market to get something typically Dutch for my mom. And while I'm there I can take some pictures for my brother of the famously widely available 'grow your own cannabis and magic mushroom' tins, because, unfortunately, that appeals to his sense of humour, but otherwise I haven't thought of much else. What about you?"

Kara had been about to outrightly accept his invitation to do something with him, when she paused. "You have a fiancee," she said, simply, "And as much as not only would I love to go somewhere with you, but also that I have gathered you would prefer it if you weren't engaged to her, I am concerned of what she might think of it if she knew. But, if you can reassure me that it'd be fine, then, I'd like to do that a lot. And, yes, I do know. About bars being overcrowded, I mean."

 

[Penguins.]

You can leave school..? What does that mean? How many classes do you take? I only have 7 and I'm exempt from my 3 AP classes. That leaves me with newspaper, pre calc, French, and physics. 

My birthday was great! Thank you!

That's so strange...I would have sworn we were in the same grade. 

Avery had written down some of the more well known cities around the world, though she had left out New York. While she loved the city, she didn't want to spend the rest of her life there. She twirled her pen in her hand as she thought of where else she might like to live. Russia. Not sure where exactly, but it would interesting. But extremely cold, however. She continued her list, this time adding countries instead of specific cities. Japan, Australia, Greece. If they wanted to live in a traditional house, a city might not be the best option. And as she wasn't too familiar with smaller towns across the world, she thought it would be simpler to just state the country. 

"I hadn't really thought about it much," Cassandra admitted. "It might be interesting to go see that I Amsterdam sculpture. A few of my friends took pictures with it when they visited - you can climb up on to the letters, I believe. Though I don't know which letter I'd pick. C would make sense but there isn't a C." She winced slightly at his mention of the cannabis. In high school, she had had a few run ins with weed, and it had not been something she had enjoyed. Even still, there were many people she knew who dig drugs, but the whole concept seemed stupid to her. "So, you have a brother? Does he live in Boston as well?"

Keegan faltered for a few seconds. What Lucille would think of anything hadn't crossed his mind at all. Now that he thought about it, he didn't see why she would mind. He had plenty of friends who were girls, and she had never seemed to mind them. Besides, he had just met Kara; it wasn't as if anything was going on between them anyway. "She typically doesn't mind," he told her. "Truth be told, we spend more time with other people than with each other." 

Oh. I don't know if you got my message on Tumblr since I sent it from school and the wifi at school isn't the most reliable. But, the other schools I'm looking at, apart from Edinburgh, are UCL, KCL, and LSE. 

 

[KERFUFFLE]

Well, some people just go and get jobs using the qualifications that they have. Considering the market, that's not a whole lot, really, but some people do. Others go and do apprenticeships and earn money while they learn a specific skill, or, like me, you can stay on, either at a college (not the same as your kind of college) or at high school, also like me. We do up to four A Levels. I'm doing four, in Fine Art, Music, History and French

I'm glad to hear it!

I'm in Year 11, which I think is the equivalent of a 10th grader/sophomore/something like that.

Brandon scribbled down a few more places, having from the start just written down countries, because, frankly, he wasn't really sure of what cities were the best in them. Australia, Mauritius, Portugal (he was specific about this one- Lisbon), Japan, Austria (though he couldn't say why, necessarily), and, finally, Argentina. He finished and set his list before them both, waiting to see what she'd written, as well.

"I've never heard of that before, actually. It does sound interesting, though. We could visit that, definitely," Caden replied with a smile, "No C? Shame, we'll both have to pick another, I guess."As for her question about his brother he nodded at her first question, obviously, but then said, "He used to, but he's a little older than me and he's actually married now. He moved with his wife to somewhere in Pennsylvania. He doesn't do drugs- well, not anymore, anyway-, or at least not that I'm aware of. I think he's given up the party lifestyle now that he's settled down with her, and I've placed a bet that a baby is going to be on the cards soon." He and his brother were incredibly different people. Despite his wild spell during College, he had always been quieter than Caden, who honestly could not see himself living out in the sticks in Pennsylvania at all.

Kara considered his point, before breaking out into a smile again, nodding as an acceptance to his invitation. "In that case, I'd love to." She drained the last of her drink before motioning for them both to take a step outside. "Park, then?" she asked, putting on her leather jacket over her dress the evening air just starting to get a chill to it.

I don't think I've got it yet, no. But okay, I'll take a look and ask around for you. But, definitely, Janaissa will be able to help out

 

[Penguins.]

Is that the kind of college they go to in Skins? How exciting!

So you can pick whatever four you want to do? We have AP classes, which I don't think would be that challenging in comparison but we can pick as many as we want.

Oh, I see. I probably assumed your being in year 11 was like me being in the 11th grade. When do you finish school then? 2013? 

Avery added a few more places to her list. She bit her lip slightly as she read read through her list to make sure she hadn't left anything off. She added Maldives to the list, rather tentatively, though. Then she added, in parenthesis, or at least visit. Everyone always talked about how the country would be underwater in a few years since it was barely above sea level. But she had seen countless pictures of islands, and she would swear she had never seen any place as beautiful as those pictures. Something about the intense blueness of the water fascinated her - it had always been a place she had wanted to visit. After that, she read through her list one final time. Nothing else came to her, so she nodded, pleased with the result. "I'm done," she said. 

"It's supposed to be this whole tourism campaign or something. I'm not exactly sure," Cassandra replied, after taking a sip of her wine. She listened to Caden talk about his bother and then said "That sounds like my sister, actually. I mean, she's married and has a four year old now, but before all that...." She rolled her eyes - she had never actually agreed with her older sister's old lifestyle. "She used to model as well, and before she got married she was out every single night, doing something stupid. It's almost funny how drastically she's changed. She's actually a wonderful mother."

Keegan nodded in agreement. "The park sounds good," he said. After that, he wasn't sure what to say at all. He was silent for a while and took to fiddling with a loose thread on his jacket. "It's really nice here, don't you think?" he asked her after a minute or so of silence. 

 

[KERFUFFLE]

Yeah, that kind

I was a bit worried, actually, I got a letter in the post with all kinds of forms to fill in and they hadn't previously tell us that it was more restricted and that they had to fit option blocks. Luckily, though, mine all fitted. Yeah, I mean, most people do three, some do four and an incredibly select few do five. If I was choosing less coursework based subjects like Maths and Sciences I would probably have done five, but I'm doing Art and I think I'd die of stress doing five with that. That's interesting. How many did you pick?

Yeah, that's really confusing. It's because we have this thing called Reception class when we're four years old and such, it's all very confusing. Yup, 2013 indeed.

Brandon proceeded to open his sheet of folded paper, followed by hers, and scanned her choices, to see what they had in common. Of course, it narrowed down their choices, although they still had many in common on their lists, such as Japan, Australia and, much to his surprise, the Maldives. Not only that, but her list had places on it which he hadn't thought of, such as Greece and Russia, that also sounded good and interesting to him. He pointed to The Maldives on her list and turned to her. He said, "I promise, I'll take you there, regardless of whether we decide to live there or not. How does that idea sound to you?" He continued to look over her choices and said, "These look good to me. We should do a little more internet research on these places, maybe." He looked to her to see what she thought of his list.

"It is kind of amazing what effect being married to someone or having children has on people. I think he was certainly afraid of commitment for that reason, because he was a real party animal, but I guess you'd do anything for the one you love, not that I'd really know what that's like. But he's happier than he ever was then; it's a more genuine sort of happiness than just a running on adrenaline kind of happiness, you know?" Caden said, taking a small sip of his beer before setting aside to make sure he had some to go with his food. "I don't know how I stand on that kind of thing or what I plan on doing in the future, I guess it depends on how you feel with that person, for me personally, anyway." He had been sure in the past. He'd gone as far as having an engagement ring ready for his last girlfriend Maria, until she'd cheated on him. Now he wasn't at all sure he'd wanted to go through all of that again.

Kara had been lost in thought during the silence, really- she did that quite a lot, you could say- so she blinked a bit when he spoke again, before nodding in agreement. "It is nice. It always strikes me in European countries how well kept places are, especially parks and things, even in the middle of big cities. It's always such a nice environment to be in, it's probably part of what keeps me coming back." She paused for a moment before she looked at him and said, "Thanks for hanging out with me tonight, it's been fun,. Maybe being stood up was not such a bad thing after all."

 

[KERFUFFLE]

Because I won't let it die just yet <3