Who Said Silence Is Golden? Tae open Tag

[Taegan Buckles]

Lunch could be loud and chaotic. Not exactly the most conducive environment for thinking, unless you were someone who could work under pressure and liked the chaos and noise. Tae wasn't really one of those people. But she also wasn't one of those people who liked it so silent you could hear a pin drop. She liked some noise. A school cafeteria was definitely a place to find some 'noise'.

Tae sat at one of the tables with a notebook. Alternating between tapping her pin on the notebook and chewing on it as she sat there trying to think. She thought she might try and follow Grey's advice and try that whole thing with the words. Writing down some words and then turning them into some thing that was supposed to resemble 'poetry'. So, far she had come up nada. She was staring down at blank sheet of paper.

With a sigh and a groan she leaned forward and put her head down on the table. She was over thinking this. She knew that. But she couldn't make herself stop over thinking. The more she tried to clear her thoughts, the more her mind wandered about. Giving up she put her notebook bag into her bag and gathered up her tray and started making her way through the crowd to threw her trash away. "Excuse me..." she said as if on autopilot as she weave in and out and around people and tables.

[Grayson Shepherd]

Gray had a hard time staying awake the next day in school. After he had parted ways with Taegan the day before, he went home and his mother insisted on him making home deliveries and by the time he got home, he was way too tired to do anything but sleep. He woke up with a massive headache and went to school in a very bad mood. He went through all the motions like a zombie until lunch time.

He was contemplating on getting his own lunch outside of school but something drew him to the cafeteria. He never liked the cafeteria food so he didn't know why he wanted to go in that noisy hall just to eat something he didn't even like.

Settling on a carton of milk and a tight-sealed untouched caramel pudding snack box, he made his way through the crowded hall without noting his surroundings which was how he ended up bumping into someone yet again in one week. He was so ready to bite off the head of the person who couldn't watch where they were going until he looked up and saw Taegan. A smile carved itself on his face. "We have got to stop meeting like this." He teased as he adjusted the strap of his bag on his shoulder as the cute senior looked up at him.

[tae2]

Tae finally reached the trash after weaving her way through the labyrinth that was the cafeteria. She disposed her half eaten meal. She normal had a good appetite and enjoyed food. But school food, not so much. And sushi, seeing as how she had eaten much then when she was Grey the day before.

She had turned to make her way either back to her table or out of the crowded room all together when she bumped into someone. Or they bumped into her. She wasn't quite sure who had run into who. She went to open her mouth to say something and she never got the words out. She smiled and had to laugh a little when she saw who it was she had collided with. It was Greyson yet again.

"Aww, but why?" she smiled. "This seems to be our thing. Running into one another. Why break tradition now? But we are making progress. I didn't end up on my ass this time." She gave a little shrug of her shoulders. He seemed more lucid today. Not so wound up. He must be sober. That was nice. She found the sober version of him kind of intriguing. The high version? Was a little exhausting.

[Grayson Shepherd]

The smile and laugh got to Gray and made him smile too. "Ah so we have a thing now." He continued to tease before looking down to his milk and pudding. Her comment about not landing on her ass caused Gray to chuckle. "Wouldn't have minded picking you up again." He gave her a lopsided grin, showing her the boyish charm he possessed.

"Hey, you wanna step outside to the quad? Get some fresh air? This place is way too crowded." Gray shook his head and looked around. Contrary to high school student cliche, Gray did like school and he especially liked Gould. Though there are many of the students who fall into high school cliches like the brainless jocks, the air-headed cheerleaders, the loners and nerds and band geeks, some of the other students who populated the school were actually pretty cool even though they were also jocks, cheerleaders, loners, nerds or band geeks.

But the canteen was just too sad. The food was way bad, and with Silver students occupying the school, the canteen was even more crowded than before. With Taegan's agreeance, they moved out of the canteen and walked down the not so empty corridors out to the entrance. "Have you gotten your lunch? We could go out of school or something. Your choice this time."

[Taegan Buckles]

She tried not to notice, or let him notice that she had noticed he had a nice smile. "Yeah, I guess we do have a thing now. We might just start a new fad. Instead of guys going around belly slamming each other, people are just going to start bumping into one another."

She walked out to the quad with him. The lack of people and noise was a welcome relief. She took in a deep breath and let it out. She stuffed her hands down into the back pockets of the jeans she was wearing. She kind of walked backward and watched Grey. It still amazed her that he gave her the time of day. He wasn't a bad looking guy. He was rather good looking to be honest. Almost made her wonder if she were dreaming, or she gone into another dimension and was now in the Twilight Zone. If this was the Twilight Zone, it wasn't half bad.

"Have I eaten lunch? Define...eaten?" she smiled. "I kind of picked at it and pushed it around on the tray, does that count?" she laughed a bit. "You got some place in mind?" she raised a brow. "Does this involve more brownies?" she teased. "If so, I'm going to need to load up on some caffeine first to keep up."

[Grayson Shepherd]

Chuckling and adjusting his bag strap over his shoulders once more, Gray paid close attention to the Silver senior. She was cute and from what he had seen of her, he had a feeling she was really unsure of it and didn't see herself like that. She wasn't particularly insecure but she looked like she just wasn't confident enough of herself to be comfortable with how other people might see her.

In truth, she wasn't the type of girl Gray would ever want to intentionally hurt. Not that he would ever intentionally hurt anyone but Taegan just seemed really nice and she was someone he thought could make a really good friend. Thing was, would she want to be friends with him?

He wasn't exactly the most popular boy in school and he was also in her rival school and to top it all off, he was younger than her. Sure, he had his looks to go by but he hardly thought that a girl like her who's probably really smart, could see more than just a face on him.

Pushing aside his very depressing throughts, he looked up when she turned and started walking backwards, which he thought was pretty cute. And then that smile came on again. Was it possible that after just a day with her, he was starting to get a little crush? God, how juvenile could he be? Guys don't have crushes, Gray.

But what she said made him laugh. "No brownies today. I only had it yesterday because I stole it from my friend." He shook his head in amusement. "And that definitely doesn't count because that is the definition of picking at and pushing food around on the tray. Eating, however requires actually consuming the food you have picked at and pushed around on said tray. You know how it goes? You pick it up, put it in your mouth and chew fourty times and then swallow? That's eating." Gray pointed out, looking serious for a moment before a grin broke out on his face.

"And like I said, your choice. You didn't really eat any sushi yesterday so I'm guessing you don't like it." He raised an eyebrow with a smirk. "So today, it's your turn to choose."

[Taegan Buckles]

Taegan wasn't exactly insecure with herself or the way she looked. For the most part she liked the way she looked. She didn't consider herself ugly per say, or fat, or any of those things. But at the same time she didn't considered herself a gorgeous super model either. She was just Taegan. Nothing super special, and she was okay with that. she didn't feel the need to flaunt herself or to dress revealing. But this did sometimes cause her to fail to see in herself what others might see.

She didn't have certain types of people she befriended. She was the type that tried to be Friends or at least friendly with everyone. She didn't care what group or cliche someone traveled with, what school they attended, or how old they were. If you were nice to her then odds were she'd be nice in return. Gray had been nice even in his brownie induced state the day before he had still been a relatively nice guy. He was funny too, she could appreciate and admire that.

"You caught me. I'm not overly big fan of sushi." she admitted. "I can appreciate good food though. Don't get me wrong. I'm not one of those girls who counts every calorie and carb. I enjoy food. Pizza, Italian food, Mexican..." she shrugged. "Oh, so that's the definition of eating? See, that's where I went wrong. None of the food actually made it to my mouth." she laughed.

"My choice?" she eyed him. "My my, aren't we a brave soul." she teased. "There's a little joint down the road, how 'bout we go there?"

[Grayson Shepherd]

When she admitted to not liking sushi, Gray grinned widely. "Aha! I knew it!" He exclaimed exaggeratedly. "Okay so yeah that was a bit obvious so now you have to pick somewhere that you like to it and you don't need to consult me because I eat practically everything. Really. Try me." He spread his arms to his sides, trying to look tough.

He dropped the act when Taegan announced that she wasn't a calorie counter. He was glad she wasn't because he had never understood how girls could be so particular about food. There was a reason why treadmills and gyms were introduced. They were living in a city that had a beautiful beach right at their doorstep! There were so many ways to enjoy food yet still be healthy instead girls think that eating less can solve their weight problem.

At the brave soul comment, Gray nodded. "You better recognise. I got a stomach of steel." He patted his stomach and waved a hand to the front. "Lead the way, girl." He said with a grin. She looked happy to be in charge so he was happy to let her lead. Besides, he found it exciting that a girl would want to take the lead in things instead of just following what the guys wanted. That is of course restricted only to eating. Shopping was a different matter and that was one thing Gray would not stand for. He was a lot of things but a shopper just was not one of it.

[Taegan Buckles]

"I guess it need to be more subtle huh?" She gave a little shake of her head. She could see herself being able to have fun with this. Someone who you could kid around with and joke with. Who had a sense of humor. He didn't appear to be someone who got offended easily. Not that she made it a habit of offending people. but in this day of age of political correctness, you could never be too sure of what someone might find offensive.


"Ok, Mr. Stomach of Steel follow me." She'd take him to a little joint she had been in a few times with her dad. It wasn't really restaurant but they served food, so in a sense it was she supposed. Seeing as how he went to school here was in this area everyday he may have already known of the place.

It was within walking distance. They could be there in about five minutes or less. She lead Gray down the street. She stopped at the corner. They had to cross here. She looked at him. "Feel like being Frogger?" she asked with a smile. As she turned back to watch the flow of traffic.

The place she was headed was right across the street. It was a seedy looking little convince store, but they had great sandwiches and burgers.

[Grayson Shepherd]

"Subtlety is key." Gray lifted the corners of his lips as he followed Taegan from behind. "And hey! I could be like the Superman of food!" he exclaimed at Taegan's response to his comment on being able to stomach any kind of food. Gray found that he was very comfortable with Taegan and that hasn't happened since...a really long time.

It was a bonus that Taegan didn't think he was at all lame. Which was a potentially good thing.

When they hit a crossing junction, Taegan's question about being a very, very ancient video game character made Gray laugh. "The fact that we even know what that is just proves how ancient we really are." He responded with a huge grin. He was surprised at how easily his bad boy with a heart of gold act dropped with the quiet girl. His bandmates would think it was just 'so adorable' that their high school bassist was bringing his shy girlfriend over for a jamming session. He shook the word girlfriend out of his head and frowned slightly. Taegan was not a girlfriend. The girl and friend needed to be separate.

His inner monologue died and he realised where they were going. Seeing the store, he turned to Taegan with a puzzled look. "I must have crossed her a million times but I have never seen this place before. How is it that you know this place?"