Empty Hallways: Natale (open)

[Natalie Webb]

Natalie was not the type to skip class, but today she was actually considering it. The bell had rang and she had stood there watching as all the students hurried into her respective classes. Natalie didn't move. She just stood there, standing in the hall against the lockers. It was empty now. Classes were probably starting but Natalie just stood there.

Her first class of the day was Home Ec. She was partners with Zach in home ec and after hearing the awful things that had happened to him, she wasn't sure that she was very excited to show up. She didn't want to sit alone in class, partnerless. Part of her wondered if she should visit him in the hospital. She definitely wanted to, but she wasn't sure if right now was appropriator. She wasn't one of those girls who typically broke the rules. She showed up to class, did her homework.

For right now, she just stood there, trying to decide whether to head to class, late now, or to ditch out for the first time ever.

[Dena Zouvelekis]

It seemed, ever since Dena lost her single status and stated dating a very cute girl, it took her a lot longer to get ready in the morning. Because she wanted to look equally as cute for Caitlin (and it wouldn’t hurt if any other cute girl liked what she saw, not that Dena would ever do anything about it, no, not that she was now dating Caitlin) and that took considerable time and effort each morning. Also, it wasn’t helped by the fact that she was a little on the indecisive side, leading to a few changes in clothes before she even walked out the front door. Not that she hadn’t tried to look cute pre-girlfriend, of course she had, and she did love her colourful clothes, but it seemed so much more pressure now that she had another, more specific reason, for dressing up.

She eventually managed to achieve the task and get to school, after conning her father in dropping her off long after the rest of her siblings had left. And she made it in time in the end, well, on the bell. That was good enough for her. It was this rush to get to her first class, while trying to remember what her first class was in the first place, that she almost ran straight into a cute girl standing in front of the lockers. She put the brakes on immediately and managed to stop herself just inches away from slamming into Natalie. She knew her name of course. She knew the names of everyone at the school (everyone = cute girls).

“Hi!” Dena greeted cheerily, before realising it might be politely to respect Natalie’s personal space and take a step back. So she did, before trying again. “Hey! Late for class too?” she queried, now longer in a rush to get to her own, despite what her bouncing around may have looked liked.

[Natalie Webb]

Natalie had been somewhat distracted in her own thoughts, but even she couldn't miss the other girl heading down the hall. After all, the halls were quiet now and the sound of her feet thwacking on the floor as she ran was hard to miss. But Natalie merely gave her one look and didn't pay much attention otherwise. She didn't really know who the other girl was and was still sort of in her own world to try and think about whether she'd seen her around before.

And the girl nearly collided with her. Now that was unexpected. Natalie took a few steps to catch her footing as she'd sort of winced out of instinct, but thankfully didn't fall. Luckily she was wearing flats along with her skinny jeans and fitted shirt. Her hair was down, curly as usually and she pushed her hair out of her face as she looked at the younger girl, wondering how on earth she managed to run directly into Natalie when the hallway was so empty.

But she was quite cheerful, offering a greeting and all that. Natalie wasn't quite sure how to react. Most people probably would have reprimanded the other girl for the close call, but of course Natalie was too nice to ever do something like that. Always polite, Natalie offered the girl a smile. "Well, hello," she said, with her Southern twang. "Yes, I suppose I am a bit late today," she admitted. "You were in quite a rush a moment ago..." she pointed out, wondering how it was possible that someone who had been in such a hurry seemed to have all the time in the world to talk to her now. This part she didn't ask though, instead, Natalie welcomed the distraction.

[Dena Zouvelekis]

For a fraction of a second, Dena was worried she might have annoyed Natalie, given the fact that she had almost rammed her down after all. That would be enough to annoy a lot of people, and a reaction to that certainly wouldn’t be unexpected. The blonde smiled though, causing Dena to smile back even wider again, and even throw in a little wave. She was just nice that way.

“Yep.” she nodded as it was pointed out that she had been rushing. And, what had gone unsaid but was something she, and most likely the other girl was thinking, was that she was no longer rushing. “Well, like I said, late for class.” she giggled. “And though I’m not that keen on getting to class on time, I have to at least look like I’m trying to, so that’s why I rush.” She glanced around them, before turning back to whisper conspiratorially, “But no one else is around now, so I think we’re safe to stall for a bit longer.”

She realised two things quickly then. One, she had almost ran into Natalie, even if she hadn’t, so that was probably the sort of thing she should apologise for. Two, even though she knew Natalie, well, knew her name at least, the girl clearly didn’t know her. Dena wasn’t used to that, people not recognising her. It was one of the benefits of being on reality tv. Not that she minded, of course. She didn’t get all offended if someone didn’t know who she was, it wasn’t like she was famous.

“Sorry about almost knocking you down then.” she apologise sincerely, though the big grin that lit her face when she did may have made it seem less so. “I’m Dena by the way. Are you going to go to class this morning? Or are you skipping?” She smirked teasingly at this. “You rebel.”

[Natalie Webb]

"I see," Natalie said, sort of enjoying this girl's spirit. Just from guessing, she guessed that she was a freshman. After all, Natalie was a sophomore and she seemed younger, which meant freshman. She seemed like a sweet girl though, and definitely full of life and that's what Nat needed right now. She had been down about stuff and the freshman was a good distraction and mood lifter.

"It's okay," Natalie said. "I'm Natalie," she told the other girl. "It's nice to meet you." She'd never seen Dena's show as she'd never really been one for reality TV, nor for tabloids so she tended to miss out who they were on that front as well. She had however heard of the family, and if Dena was to even give her last name Natalie could probably have put it together without seeing the show. But she hadn't, so as of now, Natalie was oblivious.

"I haven't decided yet," Natalie admitted when Dena asked her if she was skipping or not. "I've never really cut before but I sort of don't feel like going," she admitted. Today they were starting their sewing projects in home ec and Natalie had promised to help Zach with it. Now he was in the hospital. Plus, it wasn't that Natalie's mom didn't have a sewing machine at home, Natalie was sure she could just work on her garment at home and finish it over the next few days. They had most of the week to complete it anyway.

"Are you going to go to your class or are you just going to take so much time that you'll miss it altogether?" she asked, wondering what the younger girl's motive was. Although, she supposed there were lots of kids that skipped class. It seemed to happen a lot around here, so it probably wasn't that big of a deal.

[Dena Zouvelekis]

“Nice to meet you too!” Dena smiled, brushing some hair away from her face. Natalie had a Southern accent, at least, that’s what she thought it was. And now she decided she had a thing for Southern accents. But no, bad Dena. No more perving on the cute Southern girl, she scolded herself, you already have a girlfriend. A very, very cute, sweet, very kissable girlfriend. She really liked her cute, sweet, kissable Caitlin. And just like that, she flipped a switch, only friendly Dena, no flirting Dena. Mostly. It was cool though, having a girlfriend. Going out on dates. Playing dress-ups. Posting videos up on YouTube, making out when they could. Just a perfectly normal relationship.

“Yeah, I’ve only cut a couple of times before, with my brothers.” she confessed. “But my sister really doesn’t like us cutting, she’s kinda like a mini-mum, but it’s alright. I know she just worries about us. But yeah, makes cutting hard. And it upsets her, so I try not to do it. Well, when there’s a chance she could find out about it. Otherwise it’s ok.” Dena giggled, liking the secrecy of it all. It was their brothers though, she knew, that Celest had to most worry about skipping class. They were really bad sometimes, but in a fun way, of course. She noticed them looking especially sneaky and pleased about something the last couple of days, but she had no idea what. She didn’t know if she should be worried or not. But that was more Celest, Dena wasn’t one to stress about anything.

She laughed against at Natalie’s question, nodding enthusiastically. “That’s a good idea. That way it won’t really be my fault if I miss class. Right?” she grinned. “I don’t really feel like going to class either, can you tell?” She glanced around again, checking that things were still clear. “Well, we should skip! It’ll be fun! Oops, I should have whispered that.” she laughed. “Want to make a run for it? It’s only one class after all, it’s not that bad. We could say it’s like a study break or something. What class did you want to miss anyway?”

[Natalie Webb]

Natalie had no problem with people who were gay, but she tended not to assume it. So any flirting that Dena might have been doing was over Natalie's head and she just took it for friendliness. She nodded as Dena mentioned about cutting with her brothers and her sister not liking it. "Wow, sounds like you have a lot of siblings," she commented. "How many do you have? I'm an only child. I always wished that I had a brother or sister," she told the other girl. She supposed there were some good things about being an only child, like she had always gotten very individualized attention, but at the same time she had gotten bored a lot, especially when she was young. As she had grown older she'd been really popular in school so she'd filled the sibling void with her friends.

"Yeah, something like that," Natalie giggled. Dena was funny, Natalie would give her that. When she suggested they both skip, Natalie stood there for a moment thinking about it. Should she? She knew it was wrong...but....maybe just once it wouldn't be soooo bad.

"I dunno," she said. "I want to...but I guess I...feel bad...and what if we got caught?" she asked, maybe it was wimpy of her to be more worried about getting caught than anything else, but that was Natalie. She was a good girl. She wasn't so terribly good that she was boring or anything, but she did tend to stay out of trouble when it came to school. Anything she did that was technically wrong usually happened off campus, and that usually involved some partying, although even when Natalie went to parties she was relatively mild. Maybe she'd drink, but never too much.

"I have home ec...what about you?" she asked. Maybe she wasn't ready to go ahead and skip, but she wasn't ready to go to class yet either. She was still stalling.

[Dena Zouvelekis]

“Well, it doesn’t seem like too many to me, but I’m used to it.” Dena giggled, feeling a little sorry for Natalie. She couldn’t imagine being an only child, partially because from the moment she had been born, she had always been surrounded by siblings. Which was exactly how she liked it, being surrounded by all the noise. When things got quiet, they got boring, and she hated being bored. It was good that things going quiet in the Zouvelekis household was a very rare occasion. And it wasn’t as though she had ever felt like she missed out on anything, especially money-wise, for having so many siblings. The show made sure of that. Plus, it had been another way of helping keep her occupied. “I have two older sisters and an older brother, they’re triplets, then I have three brothers and another sister, we’re quintuplets. So, that makes for eight of us. Guess we are a big family.”

She’d thought that because Natalie was older, that she would be the one more keen on skipping. Like, wouldn’t her classes be harder or something? But she realised, most people probably didn’t embrace the notion of skipping much. It was her brothers’ influence clearly rubbing off on her. It was bound to happen sooner or later, the number of times they pulled her along on one of their trouble-making schemes. Not that she was about to complain anytime soon, she loved it, It was always fun, and generally worth whatever trouble they got into afterwards.

“I don’t think we’d get caught. Not unless we spent the whole skipped class standing out here.” Dena teased lightly. “See, there’s no one around, we’re in the clear! We’ll be ok, and besides, it’s not like we’d be the first people to ever skip.” she pointed out. It was clear that she was clearly worried about being caught though, so Dena wasn’t going to push the issue, and besides, she could always skip by herself. It wasn’t as fun, but still, it got her out of class.

“Home ec...isn’t that like sewing and stuff? You can do that later! See, it’s a sign that you should!” Dena pointed out with a laugh. “I have English, and see, I can already speak it, so that’s another sign.” Besides, she just realised, she was actually getting really hungry. That was usually a side effect when you skipped breakfast to give you more time for trying on clothes. So a missed class to eat really was a fair trade off. “Well, if you’re going to skip, you better decide quickly, before we’re caught out here. I mean, you’re going to be late for class now anyway.” she smiled.

[Natalie Webb]

"Wow...that is quite a lot of siblings," Natalie said. It sounded sort of like that TV family...but she'd never seen that show with all the siblings. Still, with her Texas state of mind, she tended to forget that it wasn't completely out of the ordinary that someone on a TV show might have gone to her school. She had no idea that the girl she was talking, Dena, was part of that very family that she was thinking of.

"Yeah...you're right, but I probably shouldn't," Natalie said. "I'll get behind and I dunno...I guess I have a lot of stuff going on...I shouldn't get behind," she explained, thinking about her auditions and stuff. She really wanted to be a singer and if she wanted that, she needed to get herself out there. Getting behind on school work wasn't really an option. What if she ran into an agent or something...what if someone wanted to sign her...she wouldn't want to not be able to do something because she was behind in her sewing for home ec. How lame would that be...

"Yeah...I guess I'm just going to go late. Sorry for wussing out," she said to the younger girl. "Maybe another time though," she told her. "Have fun if you do skip...I promise I won't tell," she told the other girl. She pushed some stray hairs behind her ear and smiled. "Anyway, I should go. I'll see you around. Nice meeting you officially, Dena," she said, giving the other girl a wave before heading down the hall toward her house.

Wrapped