Afternoon Jog (tags Ashton, Mal any)

[Patch Kimball (aka DJ Fluff)]

Patch and his malamute jogged down the sidewalk, dodging other pedestrians. He rarely ran after school, preferring the early mornings when few others were awake and the air was still tolerably cool. However, after the run-in with Jasper Hastings he needed to let off some steam, and running was his favorite way to do this. He'd met Ashton Johnson half-way down the street, and as they played soccer together -- and both their fathers were coaches, although Patch's was only volunteer for the local rec youth teams -- he'd invited the other boy to run along with him.

He was soaked with sweat when he paused at a redlight, using the pause to scratch KB behind the ears. It was absolutely true that dog was man's best friend -- or at least, this dog was this man's best friend. Evan was great, and definitely his best human friend, but he also happened to spend a good bit of time courting Brittany. Brittany was cool and all, but his dog wasn't going to abandon him for -- "Hey, hey! Stop that!!" He scolded as the dog stuck his nose against the leg of the girl who had just walked up next to them. A girl, it turned out, that he knew very well indeed.

"Mallory!" He grabbed KB by the collar, trying to tug his dog away from her. "Haven't seen you since....since yesterday. It really hasn't been long enough." Although really she wasn't so bad, so far as girls went -- as evidenced by the fact she had so willingly helped with yesterday's prank -- he still had to give her a hard time. "Ash, this is pop princess Mallory. Pop princess Mallory, this is Ashton. So, Mal, how'd the vid turn out?"

The pedestrian light changed to the white walking person, and he glanced over at the other two students before crossing at a jog instead of the sprint he'd been using. "You know how Aly took things?" The few cheerleaders he'd seen had been righteously pissed about all the farm animals invading their locker room, but he had yet to hear anything about Aly specifically, and since she was rival numero uno for his best friend's girl she was definitely on his top ten people to bother relentlessly.

He glared as a car decided to make a turn almost into them. "We have the right away, asshole!" He snarled, grabbing at KB again in an attempt to prevent his dog from becoming road kill. "I hate people who try to kill me." He informed his two companions, as though this was a very frequent (and deliberate) occurence.

[johson]

Being met by Patch on a run, was one thing, the giant of a dog on the other hand was slightly off putting, though KB was a great crowd clearer. No one wanted to get in the way of the dog, though he didn't seem all that unfriendly. He'd known Patch for quite a while, so to see someone friendly and part of his team was something that made him happy. He had almost considered going to the school event, but decided against it in the end, choosing to do something to keep his father from going after him for a lack of commitment.

"Nice to meet you Mallory." Ashton said to her with a small smile, he listened to them speak about some video but wasn't sure what that was about. "Video, what kind of video?" he asked the two of them. When the car pulled out on them, and in Patch's opinion tried to kill him, Ashton was trying hard not to laugh. It would have been wrong to laugh when the boy was this irate, but it was kind of funny, not the almost getting run over part, the part where Patch was giving the driver the what for. "Murder with a car is one thing, but murder with a car as piss poor as that one, is just criminal. It should be illegal for someone to own such a car." Ashton piped up sounding for all the world as if he was serious.

[Mal Harper]

Mal was walking home like she always did. Sure she did have a car, but walking always did a body good. She put on her head phones on and turned on her IPOD as she began her walk. The video was finished and looked awesome. You could clearly see everything, but faces were a little fuzzy for a reason. Technically it could be tweaked to show everything, but for privacy reasons. Mal was trying to obey on that sense, but she had the original video. It was so funny. It included a clear shot of Bacon, peeing on Aly's shoe. Defiantly the best prank ever.

Mal was waiting for alight when she felt something, sniff her butt. Mall pulled out her head phones ready to yell at what ever guy though sniffing her butt was funny when she looked down and saw KB. "Aww KB I see you brought Patch out for a walk. Good dog." She said laughing. That was for calling her Mallory. She hated that name. Mal bent down to pet KB as Patch introduced her to a guy named Ashton.

"It's Mal, nice to meet you. So you and DJ Fluff know each other, very cool." Mal said with a smile. She could not actually picture someone like Ashton being friend with Patch, but she had seen weirder things. "Its a video of barn yard fun, from yesterday." Mal said with a laugh. "It's quite funny. I can show you on my IPhone if you want." Which was tucked into her back pocket.

Mal watched the car almost hit Patch. "You might want to Add Aly and Jasper to that list. I am sure they want to kill both of us." Mal said laughing as she watched the car drive off. At first with Ashton's comment about the car Mal was not sure if he was serious, but she decided to joke around. "I would have to agree Ashton. I think the color of that car alone should raise some red flag."

[Patch Kimball (aka DJ Fluff)]

Patch shook his head as Mallory offered to share the video with Ashton. "Nuh-uh, not on an i-Thingummy, those things are of the devil. Just because you've condemned yourself to music hell doesn't mean you need to send other people there, as well." He objected, not bothering to hide his bias against Apple's music devices. He had no opinion on their computers, as he'd never even attempted to use one, but iPhones and iPods and especially iTunes were products only a soul black with evil could have unleashed upon the market. He was perfectly satisfied with his nice little sansa, thank you very much, and unlike most of his peers he didn't have to worry about having agreed to a ridiculous and arbitrary TOS or trying to disable inconvenient DRM on any of the tracks he oh so legally downloaded -- or about trying to convince his mp3 player that the tracks he'd ripped from the new CD he bought was actually legal. If he paid for the CD, he wanted to be able to put it on any device he wanted.

"I feel like I have a list now..." He commented when Mallory mentioned Jasper and Aly. "First that Jessica girl, then cars, now Jasper and Aly....Dude, I saw Jasper this morning, though, I don't think he knows."

He turned left, continuing his jog, "Not everyone can have taste as great as....ours." He reluctantly allowed Mallory into that grouping. "Except your music, Mal, but I think you're just holdin' out on us and you really like the good stuff. I know you want to fit in and everything, but you're not doing a good job, everyone knows you're a freak, so just embrace that you listen to decent music and stop tryin' to hide it."

[johson]

Ashton grinned, "We find some place to sit down Mal, and you can show me. Though with a dog the size of KB that shouldn't be all that much trouble to find." Ashton said to her with a grin, he didn't know how much of a biter or growler the dog was, he did know that a dog that size people moved out of the way of it anyway. "Your musical tastes can't be that bad surely?" he asked Mal.

"Is Jasper still with Haley, last time I spoke to Haley, I think it was before the shooting they had just gotten together." he asked them, he didn't know why Haley was interested in someone like Jasper. How you went from popular and dating the hot stuff in the school. To dating a geek who looked like he had come of the set of some geeky sci fi show, was beyond him. But each to their own he guessed.

"Or maybe Mal listens to music she knows you hate every once in a while, to see what your do or say... music is music after all. It doesn't matter if your into classical or Jazz, or rap or rock. Good music is good music no matter what branch of the tree it comes from. Personally R&B a little bit of rock and a some rap does me just fine, it winds my little sister up I think, and I know gets on my old mans nerves." Ashton said to them.

[Mal Harper]

Mal laughed at Patch's objections to using an IPhone or an IPOD, "Oh please, I am not corrupting anyone. Now everyone enjoys the dark ages like you do." She retorted. "An IPod and an IPhone are just as good as MP3 Player. There is no difference. And both devices are used for the same means." Mal challenged Patch. She always did. It was their game. She and he would both go back and forth. Each one not willing to budge and each one always on semi opposite sides, although sometimes that was debatable. Sometimes Mal and Patch were on the same side, but both refused to admit it.

"See Ashton has good taste. Patch here seems to think punk, rock, classic rock, and anything else is not good. My musical tastes are good. Patch just hates to admit it. I am not a freak, I just know good music, where Patch enjoys music that is of different quality." Mal said with playful banter at Ashton and Patch. It was all light hearted and fun. "Truth is Patch's music is not bad. I like some of what he has shared, but I still believe rock and classic rock are better."

Mal followed Ash and Patch looking for a place to sit, "Jasper is not a geek. He is some Rich snob Brit's step sister knows. He is more a loner in my opinion. One of those guys who enjoys flaunting music. I did not think he was dating a girl named Haley. If anything I heard that supposedly he had something going with Aly. At least thats. The way it has seemed according to Brit and the rumors of the school, but who knows. Quite frankly who cares, I just enjoy filming the pranks." Mal said with a smile. "But you might mean um...what's his name...my sister is a cheerleader...she knows Haley from Silver....I think her guy is Wynn or Cameron...or something like that." Mal said with a shrug.

She listened as Ashton named off his favorite music. "Thank you. I agree with Ashton. Patch this is a good friend you have. I like him." Mal said. "I think you make an excellent point Ashton. Do you have a favorite artist or is it just a combo that you like best?" Mal asked.

[Patch Kimball (aka DJ Fluff)]

"Wait, what?!" Patch gaped as Ashton mentioned that Jasper was dating some chick named Haley. He hadn't any idea who Haley was -- possibly a Silver student, if Ashton knew her, but then again he hardly paid attention to the girls in his own school. "Jasper has a girlfriend? I didn't think anyone would be able to stand the guy...he's such an ass."

He sniffed at Mal's comments on iPods and iPhones. "If you like renting your music instead of buying it, then fine. Do what you want. I still think it's stupid." He growled, flopping onto the first park bench they came across and dragging the back of his hand across his face. If he had his druthers, everyone would recognize that iPods were nothing but a waste of money, but so few people seemed to agree with him.

"Right, because that overproduced crap the major record labels put out is any good. If you can't sing without auto-tune, you shouldn't be singing. Period." Some of those overproduced mainstream songs were quite catchy, but he would never admit that aloud, at least not in Mallory's presence. And maybe some of the indie bands he liked were also overproduced, but that wasn't the point. He had his principles, after all! "Ugh, okay, classic rock can actually be okay and isn't all overproduced." He admitted grudgingly. "But the stuff that gets play on the rock stations nowadays, it's just all kinds of meh. Give me some Radar Bros. any day."

"Seriously? Coach Johnson doesn't like rap? My dad loves that shit. It's kind of scary, actually."

He scratched KB vigorously behind the ears as he turned to Mallory. "So then, pop princess, let's see this vid."

[johson]

Ashton smiled at him, "Trust me if you ever get offered to sit in his car on the way to a game, all your get in the car is old school rock. That man doesn't listen to anything that is earlier than the year of my birth. Or at least that is how it seems, I don't think my father is meant to come across as call. That would almost certainly lead to hell freezing over." Ashton told him.

Some of the guys knew how much he despised his father outside of school, his sister was the only person in his house that he actually got on with. The day their mother had walked out on them, was the day that Ashton began to feel more pressure from his father to do the things that the man wanted. Not the things that Ashton himself wanted, Ashton had been annoyed as hell when he had learned that his father was going to be his coach. Life was hell from then on out at school, for him and his sister, they could not escape there father at school. Their one mode of escape had been shut to them.

"I'm so looking forward to graduation, I can't wait to see the back to that old gym." Ashton said to them. "So yeah lets see this video, sounds like it could be interesting." he said to Mal.

[Mal Harper]

"i agree with you Ash. My mother listens to oldies and country. She is from Nashville. So when I am in the car with her, its all country all the time." Mal said with a shiver. The she looked at Patch. "DJ Fluff you know you are all talk. I never listen to people who cannot sing live. There is no point. All the bands in my collection are filled with natural talent. Unlike your Indie bands." Mal said. She would not ever admit that patch had good musical taste or that Indie was quickly becoming one of her favorite genre's. She would forever claim that punk, rock and classic rock, were the best and would always be the best. "You know I do not listen to commercial, sell out crap." Mal told Patch.

"Well since you asked nicely Ashton." Mal smiled at Ashton, but glared at Patch. "Let me set it up. The song I used is called 'I'm a rebel'. cookies go to which ever one of you can name the band who recorded it?" Mal just smiled. It was an old Ac/DC song released back in 1980. She thought the title is what made the song perfect for the video. "You ready for some good camera skills DJ fluff." Mal did not mind sounding confident when it came to music videos, or prank videos.

She set it up and then passed her IPOD to both men so they could watch. It was not a long video. Only five minutes long. It had to be shortened, but the best parts were caught, including bacon peeing on Aly's shoe and the goat peeing on Patch's shoe and trying to eat it. It also caught all the cheerleaders reactions and seeing them run around screaming and yelling. It also had Aly saying who ever did that was dead. It was such a funny video. So what did you guys think?"

[johson]

Ashton was smirking by the end of the video, if there was one group at the school that sometimes deserved to have some royal pay back. It was certainly the cheerleaders, oh he liked any one involved in the team. That said though what the goat had done to the cheerleaders shoes and god knows what else that hadn't been caught on camera was funny.

"Aly didn't look all that pleased with the goat using her shoes as a urinal. Your not wearing the shoes that the goat you know... peed on are you. Because that would actually be disgusting." Ashton said to Patch with a look at his foot wear. "That was great, you should make sure that video gets out onto the web... the person responsible for the stunt should get praise for it. Before Aly kills them for it, it can be their crowning achievement at Gould or Silver." Ashton said to her.

He expected at some point he would get a bollocking from Aly if she found out that he wanted to see the video on line, the girl would take it most likely as he wanted to see the cheerleaders and herself humiliated. It would probably not be pleasant for him, but then he thought that it would probably be nothing compared to what the group would do to the person responsible.

"So you have any idea who did it?" he asked.