Bearing Cookies (attn Lily, any)

[Julia Warner]

Julia skipped into the cafeteria, feeling happier than she had in a very long time. Wynn was her friend again, Connor was going to play MMOs with her, her brother had finally relented on his secret, and she had cookies. Even better, she had someone to share cookies with. Sure, she probably could have attempted to find, say, Travis, but he was a tutor, so she wasn't sure if he was at Silver everyday. And even if he was, he might not always hang out in the cafeteria during lunch; after seeing how his fanclub acted around him, she wouldn't really blame him for avoiding the place.

She was very well aware that Lily was higher up on the social ladder than herself, but the other girl had accepted the offer of cookies, so she only slightly hesitated before making her way to her. "Hey," She dropped into the seat opposite, "I come bearing cookies!" She announced, scooting a ziplocked bag of cookies across the table. "Sorry about my brother and Jade, they're...I only just found out, it's a new thing. At least, it's new as far as they're telling me." Not that she had any reason not to believe this, and she had every reason to accept Jeremy's statement that he and Jade had met a month ago, as that was when he started being secretive.

She wasn't sure, now that they were sitting together, what she should talk about. She had felt perfectly comfortable at the party, but that was largely with her fellow geeks and outcasts, and Lily was definitely neither of those things, unless she was hiding something. Oh! Siblings. Siblings was a safe topic of conversation, especially as she already had a good lead in with her brother. "You'd think he'd have told me earlier, but apparently he can't even trust his sister. Siblings are so strange sometimes, don't you think?"

[Ashley Bolton]

Ashley walked over to Julia's table having seen the girl while he was queing for food, he heard the girls comments and heard people saying that a Warner a male one at that was seen kissing Jade Edwards, one of the gayest people in the school and one of the most openly gay guys apparently.

"Did you ever stop to think that maybe he wasn't sure how you would take the news?" he asked Julia as he came up behind her. "I heard quite a few people talking about a male Warner, I presume that was Jeremy." Ashley said to her as he sat down. "Somethings are just hard to say to family." Ashley said to her with a smile. "Hey I'm Ashley, my house was invaded by this girl last night, she can't be trusted I swear she said to me a couple of friends, it was more like an army of friends." Ashley said politely and with a cheeky grin on his face. "It took me nearly two months to tell my mom and dad I was going to be a dad, trust me some conversations are just hard, family bonds only go so far sometimes." he added.

"I assume his closeted, if so his going to need you for when he talks to your parents." Ashley said to her. "Which he should do soon, the whole school is talking about a kiss between the rich kid and the geek, except their not necessarily being that nice about it." Ashley said to her. "His going to need his sister now more than ever, and he needs to tell your parents before they find out about it from someone else." Ashley added.

"Cookies, your have to give me your recipe, so I can try and do them for Kai." Ashley said to her.

"So how has your days been so far." he asked cheerfully to the girls.

[lilymoore]

Lily was grateful for the morning’s lessons to get her mind away from her completely unfulfilling previous day, now occupying her time by reading a book as she ate her food. She failed to notice Julia arriving in the cafeteria, skipping happily towards her, until the girl had arrived at her table. Lily looked up with a smile, replying to Julia’s greeting. As full as Lily was already feeling, cookies were worth forcing into her stomach.

“Don’t worry about that.” Lily said in response, “When it’s somebody close to you, I guess it’s harder to spot or something.” She remembered the way the two guys had acted around one another, and couldn’t help but wonder how on earth Julia hadn’t figured it out sooner. Lily’s mind quickly turned to siblings, and the thought of Sarah sent an uncomfortable scratch down her spine, akin to nails being dragged down a chalkboard.

“Oh yeah, siblings are crazy alright. Especially when they’re in their twenties and they’d be living on the street if it wasn’t for their allowance... but then I guess that seems like a pretty tiny issue compared to what you’re dealing with.” Lily accepted, calming herself.

Lily watched on as Ashley came over and spoke to Julia, again feeling like an outsider in the situation, but began to feel awkward being so silent. “I’m not so sure about being in the closet, from what I saw earlier he got out of the closet, smashed it with a fire axe and took the first bus away from it.” Realising she had probably said too much, Lily buried her face in her book and nibbled on a cookie, letting Ashley and Julia have their quick chat.

[Julia Warner]

"So how did he think I was going to take it? Hello, my best friend is gay, am I supposed to be like, yeah, sure, Connor can like dudes, but sorry, Jere, you had better find a chick and fast?" Julia griped, very much peeved by the insinuation that Jeremy wouldn't trust her enough to tell her such important news. "Or did he think I'd try and set him and Connor up. I mean, seriously." She wanted to say that he should have known she wouldn't mind, but then shouldn't she have noticed? All the theories that had crossed her mind when Jere had started being secretive, and that he'd got a boyfriend had not been one of them.

"Hey, that army wasn't my fault!" She objected, holding up both her hands in front of her, "I hadn't met most of them before yesterday, Connor just decided to bring his entourage with him. And I'll email you the recipe, don't worry. It's super easy." She promised.

She sensed a hint of bitterness, perhaps, when Lily offered her own very specific take on crazy siblings. "Oh. That's kind of unfortunate. Wow. That's way worse than having your brother not tell you he has a boyfriend," She decided. "I just can't believe I didn't notice. I mean, he's been so aloof all month, but I didn't really know what was up. Then it's like, oh, hi, there's my brother making out with a guy in the hallway! I guy I don't know and had no idea he was hanging out with But at least he has a job, I mean, not that I do. But when we're twenty, if he can't find other work, he can always continue to be Prince Charming."

Julia had to agree with Lily's assessment of the situation, however, "Yeah, if Jere wants to be closeted, kissing guys in public is not the way to do it."

She looked over at Lily, who seemed terribly interested in her book. "What're you reading?"

[Ashley Bolton]

Ashley gave her a small smile, "It could be worse, it could be a guy you do know and detest the sight of, then you'd have to be nice to him for the sake of your brother." Ashley pointed out to her. "He may have just outed himself to the school, but he hasn't told your parents, I think he needs to do that before someone else does, and for that his going to need to know your there, he won't know how they are going to react too that." Ashley said to him with a smile.

"Just don't be to quick to judge him, or the person he was kissing, you never know you might actually come to like him." Ashley said to her. "But what a way to out yourself to the entire school, thats like Will and Grace esq." Ashley said to her.

"A book, huh any good, or is it one we should all miss, like mush romance novels, or is it like a James Patterson or Clive Cussler." Ashley asked th girl. "If I thought I could actually get some reading done during lunch at some point I would bring one with me to." Ashley said to Lily with a smiile his love for books shining through, he wasnt the usual jock by a long shot.

[lilymoore]

Lily looked up, realising she had been asked the same question twice by her companions. She quickly read to the end of her current sentence and closed the tattered paperback, thinking it was time she invested in a hardback copy.

“It’s Emma, by Jane Austen. It’s been my favourite for a few years, and no it’s not a mush romance novel. I doubt it’d really be your kind of book though, just at the moment it feels like it’s all I’ve got.” Lily snatched another cookie and took a few bites from it before placing the rest on the table. “Sometimes it’s nice to read about love stories that you know won’t end up hurting anyone real.” Lily let out a long sigh and looked over at Julia. “It seems like you don’t really have that option right now, Julia.” She turned her attention back to Ashley. “But that’s the beauty of books, if you can read a couple of pages when you get a chance, you’ll finish it eventually. It’s nice to hear someone who actually cares, most of the people I hang around with aren’t exactly the um... reading type. Not that there’s anything wrong with that. So what are you guys doing later on today?”

[Julia Warner]

"Ohh, Jane Austen, really? I have to admit, I've never read any Austen," Julia wished she could say that she was a Jane Austen fan, then she would have something in common with Lily, and Austen was well thought of in the literary world. Sadly, the lack of arcane magic or glorious cavalry charges had not inclined her to give her a try -- although, maybe Jane Austen had plenty of magic and battles and she was just uninformed. She was pretty sure she would have heard if there was anything so cool involved, though.

"Romance novels have a bad rep, but they're not any fluffier than some of those action stories," She opined. The point of romance stories was, well, romance, but that didn't necessarily make them inferior to other forms of literature, other genre fiction could be mindless wish-fulfillment, and some romance had redeeming literary qualities. It was hard to admit this, though, because it was so ingrained to be ashamed of a love of romance. But while she did not seek out romance novels as such, she adored love stories as much as any other girl -- her favorite Tolkien tale was that of Luthien and Beren, after all, and the ill-fated love of Turin and Niniel always brought her to tears. "Some of the best literature is romantic, I mean, look at Romeo and Juliet, how many different versions of that exist? Or Orpheus and Eurydice. There are so many famous couples to choose from, love is really very inspiring. As long as it's other peoples' tragic, noble love stories."

She had to agree with Lily there, all those famous love stories were emotionally captivating, but she was very glad her own life was not that interesting. No early death due to excess of forbidden love for her, thank you very much! Suddenly, with all the tragic figures of romance's pantheon in mind, her own troubles with Wynn seemed very insignificant. "Hmm, well, I think I like this guy so far, he seems pretty funny and nice, and if anyone gives Jere a hard time about him I'll just hit them. I'm sure that'll be very effective." She laughed. If she had to, she would go to the adults, but even though she knew there was potential for bullying, she thought Jere was well-liked enough that anyone who did give him a hard time would be shut down by other students.

"Let's see...." She pondered Lily's question about her plans, "Supposed to be meeting Jade's parents because Jere asked me to go with. So I get to scout out the new guy and his family, should be good and awkward for everyone involved." She took a bite of her cookie, glad that she had made so many of them, before returning, "What about you?"

[lilymoore]

Lily smiled, glad she had a chance to spend some time with somebody so enthusiastic about literature, even if it wasn’t necessarily the type she would usually find herself reading. She didn’t envy Julia’s plans for the evening in the slightest.

“Hm, nothing quite like a bit of awkwardness and discomfort to keep you on your toes, I guess.” She muttered, brushing a couple of crumbs from her shirt. It pained her to have to admit that she had nothing planned for the evening, especially to herself, after the bland day she had suffered previously.

“I’ve got plans... I mean I’ll be doing something. I’m just not really sure what yet. Might just settle down with some coffee and a book and read until I’m too tired to stay awake, unless I get a better offer that is.” Lily laughed, almost finding the thought comforting. She hated this sudden slump she was in; why she had been the student who had stood in the corridors for days begging for people to donate to the school repairs just a few weeks earlier. She needed a purpose again, sometime to do to pass the time. She wouldn’t have admitted it, but Ashley’s mention of a couple of the great writers had impressed her slightly. She was happier to admit that, even if she had never expected it, Julia had brightened her day; she just had to let the odd reference to something she knew nothing about slip past her.