Got to be there, tags Phil, Mew, any

[Dare Madison]

Dare had to threaten to freak out to get his father to allow him to attend the memorial. That Dare was not allowed to walk yet made Maddog think he would be better off at home healing. But Finally Dare convinced him he would be fine with just Vinny to push his wheelchair. The body guard would protect him. The real clincher came when Dare found out Phil’s sister had died and he told his dad he wanted to be there to support his new friend. The whole point of putting his son in school had been for him to make friends, so he had to give in on this.

Dare arrived in nice black pants and a black button up shirt . His right leg was in a temporary cast. He had some bad ligament damage from the bullet but he had never been in real danger of permanent damage. He waited outside, hoping he would see Phil before he entered. He looked bad, there was a deep paleness underneath his tan and he felt nauseous because he refused to take his pain medications. After his mother overdosing and then recently the lead guitarist of his father’s band, Dare never touched drugs, even prescribed ones.

[Phil Lim]

She was dead. Dead! Aimee was dead. There was no way around that fact. His brain did not want to accept that it was true; there had only been four brief years without her, and now he was looking at a lifetime.

He felt curiously numb simply because he hadn’t yet processed that she was really gone, she was not going to peer out her bedroom door and loudly accuse him of rifling through her belongings as though he had any reason in the world to do so, she was not going to hole herself up in the bathroom for hours in the morning, or roll her eyes and call him lame when he talked excitedly about his roleplaying.

His parents were devastated; his father curled over into a grieving wreck, his mother for once putting aside her silent animosity towards her husband and patting him on the shoulder while tears streamed down her face. Phil had gone up to his room and shut the door, not answering calls from his concerned friends. If he had to talk about it then it would be real; he didn’t want it to be.

He went to the memorial alone. He had been greatly reluctant to attend, but felt compelled to go after several insistent text messages from both Magdalena and Mew had implored him to be present. It was easy for them, they hadn’t lost any siblings! Not that Magdalena had any to lose, but Mew had a little sister, and she was safe, she had escaped even the threat of injury. Phil didn’t wish any harm on Libby, but he did wish that his friends would stop pestering him to join them when he wanted nothing better than to mourn alone, in his room.

The pair were waiting for him by the front doors, dressed in somber blacks and greys, for once entirely mainstream in appearance. Magdalena took him by the elbow and lead him into the auditorium in silence, for which he was grateful; at least they were not going to attempt a conversation about it.

Mew was the one who noticed Dare, looking pale and drawn standing by the doors. He stopped to greet the younger man, feeling that perhaps as they had escaped the cafeteria together he deserved acknowledgement. “Umm. Hey. How’s your leg?”

[Dare Madison]

After a while Dare’s butt began to go numb and Vinny helped him to stand and lean against the entrance. He watched Phil arrive and realized that Mew and his companion were waiting as well. Phil didn’t look like he wanted company and Dare began to question his resolution to stand by his side. He stood very still as if he might not be noticed there if he became a statue. When Mew spoke, he smiled slightly and got back into his wheelchair. “It’s fine or will be, just some ligament damage. I will be on crutches for a few months, but its nothing permanent,” he answered.

Dare turned his eyes towards Phil and said softly, “I was really sorry to hear about your sister. Losing family is the worst, if I can do anything please let me know.” Dare had dealt with death before but to have to comfort someone else was something new and painful. He felt like he was intruding rather than helping and it made him feel he had been overestimating how well they had hit it off the day before.

He looked at Maggy and held out his hand. “Hi, I am Dare Madison. I met Phil yesterday and then Mew at lunch yesterday. I would say it’s nice to meet you, but under the circumstances I am not sure how appropriate that is.” He blushed not sure how to act. “I won’t keep you guys,” he said sure that they just wanted to be together without any transgressors.

[Magdalena "Maggy" Veloz]

Magdalena felt horrible. First, she had seen Aimee just before she’d been killed, and hadn’t said anything to her…though, would stopping to talk to her have made any difference? She would still be dead, wouldn’t she be? Except, Maggy had deliberately avoided Aimee just because she was miffed with the younger girl’s brother, and she felt awful about it.

Of course she and Phil had made up now, how could they not? So she would be silently supportive of him. That, however, was another thing she felt awful about: While she was standing here by Phil’s side she was secretly wishing she was over at Tyler’s, thanking him for….she didn’t know what, exactly, but his presence had been comforting there in the library. She just wasn’t sure what to say to him. She had fled as soon as the police had arrived, largely so she could go hide in the bathroom and sob, giving release to the terror she’d felt earlier. He probably thought she had been avoiding him, too, though that particular instance was more because she didn’t want him to see her break down, especially not since the danger was already past.

To make matters worse, she had seen Bree on Tyler’s arms. Ah, of course, Bree Marcus was much more Tyler’s type than Magdalena Veloz! She was pretty, popular, a cheerleader…all the things Maggy was not. She shouldn’t be thinking about him, he clearly wasn’t thinking about her!!

She turned her attentions to the long-haired boy who seemed to know her friends. “I’m Magdalena.” She gave his hand one limp shake and then quickly dropped it. “It’s ummm nice to meet you, too. Even if the circumstances could be a little better.”

[Bartholomew "Mew" Fischer]

Phil nodded distractedly at Dare; he did not want to be reminded, but at the same time he realized that the other boy was only expressing his sympathies. It would be worse if nobody said anything at all, because then he would worry they didn’t care. He wanted them to care that Aimee was gone, they should care.

“Thanks…” He replied in a distant voice, not really looking at the younger boy. He knew he should try and muster up some sort of response, but he just couldn’t bring himself to do so.

Bartholomew offered Dare an apologetic smile on his friend’s behalf. “Crutches, that’s no fun. Gonna be difficult to maneuver. Not that I can talk, not gonna be able to use my hand for awhile.” He grimaced down at the bandaged appendage. “That’s gonna make piano lessons impossible. And swim team.” He sighed. Then again, he was lucky: He was still alive, and so was his little sister.

He gaped in surprise when Dare suggested he would sit somewhere else. “What? No. Sit with us.” He demanded, “Umm. Unless you don’t want to, I guess I can’t make you, if you wanna sit with someone else…”

Well, that was just awkward. For some reason he had thought Dare didn’t really know anyone else, but he couldn’t think what had given him that impression. Had he said something at lunch, before the shootings began? Or had Phil made some comment? The time before the shootings seemed ages ago, he could hardly recall.

[Dare Madison]

Maggy seemed distracted but Dare appreciated the effort. “Crutches won’t be fun, but I will be glad to be out of the chair. They don’t want me walking until I have the permanent cast on it,” he said quietly, not feeling his own troubles should be discussed at the moment. “How long before your hand will be all right?”

Dare’s eyes widened when Mew made it sound like he should sit with them. “Well I thought maybe Phil would rather just have his good friends with him. We just met yesterday after all.” He lowered his voice. “Maybe I will just be a bad reminder of it all.” Dare was pretty optimistic normally, but the day before had knocked a lot of that out of him. It would take awhile for him to return to his normal blithe outlook on life. “But if it wouldn’t bother anyone I would like to sit with all of you.” He hoped they would say yes, he felt completely out of his element at a school where he knew no one and no one knew him.

[Bartholomew "Mew" Fischer]

Dare was clearly agitated; Mew felt sorry for him. He knew what it was like to be worried about rejection, particularly since Phil was annoyingly on and off again as to whether they were friends. He was not about to say that in front of the new kid, though, and because of the seriousness of yesterday's events it would have been downright insensitive.

"It's not your fault," He pointed out reasonably enough. The people at fault were the ones who had stormed the school with guns, and they were under arrest and awaiting trial. Supposedly it could take years before they were tried, years that would drag on painfully for those involved. But even seeing them punished wouldn't bring back the dead. Of course, if they weren't punished it would seem an infuriating slap in the face, as though the innocents who lost their lives meant nothing now they were dead.

"I don't mind, do you?" He tapped Phil gently on the shoulder, trying to get his friend's attention. The Korean boy shook himself out of his mournful reverie, and mumbled. "No, I don't care." It was not the most reassuring answer, but it was still (sort of) positive, so the red-head shrugged at Dare sadly. He couldn't expect much better than that, really; if it had been Libby who had been killed he would have reacted similarly, he was sure. Aimee had spent most of her time with her own group of friends, and Phil usually came to Mew's house instead of inviting his friends over, but it was still a terrible blow to lose her.

The four moved slowly down the aisles, filing into the first empty row they found. Phil sank into his seat and turned his attention to his hands, Magdalena began attempting to discreetly look for Tyler, and so Mew was once more left to deal with Dare more or less on his own. "Don't let this scare you off, he really doesn't mind that you're here." He whispered.

[Dare Madison]

Dare knew it wasn’t really his fault, but he had been around enough that he knew people’s perceptions of that sort of thing could be wildly different especially in a time of loss. His father had blamed himself for years that his mother had overdosed and even Dare had spent a lot of time thinking if he had been a better kid it wouldn’t have happened. He had gotten passed that, knowing it was his mother’s weakness, not his own behavior that brought her to that point and no matter how much his father had loved her, he couldn’t have saved her.

Phil’s response didn’t completely reassure him, but at least now he wouldn’t feel like he was completely intruding. And Mew was being more than just accepting. “Thanks, Mew,” Dare said as they slipped into some seats.

He noticed one boy he had met at the Viper lounge Friday night, but he was involved with someone and wouldn’t notice him. It oddly made him feel good that someone he knew was okay even if he hadn’t thought of Kian since the weekend. “Mew, I really would love to hear you play sometime after your hand is healed,” he said remembering they had talked about playing together maybe. His father had a Steinway in their loft, so it would be easy to arrange. “Who is Maggy looking for?” he whispered, hoping it wasn’t someone that wouldn’t be showing up because of yesterday.

[Bartholomew "Mew" Fischer]

At Dare's question Mew prodded Magdalena. "Who are you looking for?" He whispered, curious. He had not been privy to the bizarre courtship between the goth and Tyler Durnham, and thus hadn't any inkling who Magdalena might be looking for. Perhaps Levi? The Silver freshman sort of got along with their group, though he had his own, more age-appropriate friends to pal around with most of the time. Still, perhaps they ought to try and contact with him, just to make sure he was safe; the death of Aimee had distracted all three of them from thoughts of anyone else they knew.

Magdalena jumped, glaring at the red-head. "Nobody." She denied swiftly, wishing she did not feel jealous over Tyler's arm candy. He could date whoever he wanted, she didn't care! And with all the tragedy surrounding her friends she shouldn't care.

"Err...." Mew did not believe this at all, but he couldn't fathom why she would lie about looking for Levi. So she must be looking for someone else; he had no idea who that someone else might be or why, however, so he shrugged and turned to look in concern at Phil. He wished he could think of something useful to say, but there was nothing, nothing that would make things any different, and he contented himself with patting his friend on the shoulder before turning back to Dare. "Sure. We can do a duet." He offered.

He glanced up at the podium; the principal was standing there, looking awkward, as though he wasn't entirely comfortable interrupting everyone's private grief for his speech.

"Ack, guess we'd better pay attention..." Mew mumbled, sitting up straighter.

[Dare Madison]

Dare didn’t really believe Maggy either, but he didn’t know her well enough to really judge such a thing. He smiled at Mew’s agreement to work on a duet with him. Even though he worked more with rock, he loved classical and many other musical expressions. He had very eclectic tastes and there were very few pieces that he couldn’t find some worth in, though pop came very close. “I would really like that, you can pick the piece, just let me know so I can learn it,” he said and gave Mew his card, the same as he had Phil the day before.

When Mew sat up straighter, Dare slumped down in his seat, better able to concentrate that way, he had never been so good at mixing good posture and focusing. With the discomfort of the Principal, Dare was sure this was bound to last quite a while.

ooc: wrap or wrap to tag?