Hello Sunshine - Dena, tag anyone

[Dena Zouvelekis]

It was so good that class was finally over for now and it was time to head out into the sun for Dena. Not that they were all bad, but there were just days when she wasn’t really in the mood for learning. She wouldn’t skip class willingly though, it would mean missing out on too many things. For instance, if she had skipped Biology today, easily the most boring class, she wouldn’t have gotten to spend all period flirting with Caitlin. You always had to look on the bright side after all.

With a sandwich she’d brought along from home, Dena stretched her legs out along the wall of the school’s fountain, both sunning herself and (discretely) checking out all the nearby Gould and Silver women. She might kind of have something going with Caitlin, but it didn’t mean she still couldn’t look, and besides, what she and Caitlin had, whatever it was, they weren’t dating. Seriously, anyway. Not that she wouldn’t like to. She spent more time than she’d admit to anyone watching the girl’s YouTube videos, and she was really, really cute. Things were just nice the way they were now, and Dena was enjoying flirting with other girls and her ‘astronomy’ too much to want to stop just yet. She wasn’t about to go and make out with other girls though. No harm in looking.

Wearing a red skirt that fell just below her knees, black flip flops that happened to be on top of all her other shoes in her wardrobe and a bright pink top, she knew she wasn’t likely to go unnoticed either. Which she liked. She wasn’t one to say no to attention. Hearing someone walk up behind her, she leaned back enough until someone came into view, albeit upside down. Smiling cheerily, she usually smiled at everyone, she squinted to see them a bit better in the bright sun. “Hi!”

[Celest Zouvelekis]

Celest worried too much really. Through the grapevine of her siblings she'd heard about Brandon's lunch detention. What did she have to do to get that boy to follow the rules? She didn't know, but whatever it was, she was going to make sure not to get involved next time. In her attempts to stop her brothers, she usually found herself getting into equally as much trouble. So as she headed down the hall to check on him, she knew exactly the room that lunch detentions would be held in. Only the room was empty. Odd.

Well, there really wasn't much that Celest could do. Not for now at least. She'd have to confront him later about it. It was no doubt that Celest was the most uptight out of the siblings. She always tried to do the right thing. She'd brought her lunch which was good because when she reached the cafeteria, the food looked painfully bad. She looked everywhere for her brothers...mostly for Brandon...because well, where else would he be? But no such luck.

But then she saw some familiar heads leaving...okay it was the backs of heads so Celest wasn't completely sure. But she tried to follow, and failed. She took a walk around outside, trying to locate who she suspected to be Brandon and Julian but no such luck. But she did find her sister sitting by the fountain, so that was something.

"Hey, Dena," Celest said sitting down beside her. "I think Brandon's up to his old tricks again," she said with a sigh. "He wasn't in detention like he's supposed to be...I suspect him and Julian and cutting." The fact that they were simply going off campus to eat and planned to come back didn't really cross Celest's mind, because in her mind they were always getting into some sort of trouble or doing something they weren't supposed to be.

[Dena Zouvelekis]

“Hey Celest!” Dena greeted brightly in return, she moved her legs away from the fountain to sit up properly, next to her sister. Who happened to look worried, which wasn’t exactly unusual for Celest, and Dena bet she could have a pretty accurate guess as to why she looked that way. And surprise surprise, she wasn’t wrong.

If Brandon was cutting detention, with Julian’s help, it wouldn’t exactly be the first time. And while she wouldn’t have encouraged that (in front of Celest or her parents anyway), Dena did find it funny. And harmless. Detention was boring, she learnt that from the few times she was burdened with that, usually because she was caught helping out with her brothers’ latest fun scheme. The getting caught she didn’t mind too much, she liked the attention, it was the sitting quietly in a classroom that she’d rather avoid. Quiet got boring quickly. Unless there was a cute girl in detention of course, but that wasn’t likely.

“You worry too much Celest!” she informed her sister, unwrapping her sandwich as she studied the contents. “Tuna...I got the wrong one. Want to swap?” Dena offered, not a fan of the fish in a can, before continuing. “You don’t have to look out for them all the time. If they want to skip and get in trouble, it’s their fault.” she shrugged, not understanding Celest’s apparent compulsion to try to keep their brothers out of trouble. That seemed impossible to her after all. And it was usually fun to go along with their plans.

“Tell you what, if it makes you feel better, we’ll get him back. Put a fake spider in Brandon’s bed or something.” she chuckled.

[Celest Zouvelekis]

Celest let out another sigh when Dena informed her that she was worrying too much. It was something that she was used to hearing...mostly from her family, but it seemed that others picked up on it too. Her teachers, for example, since she liked to go up to them after class and double check that she'd written down all the assignments correctly. And the other students in her classes, although mostly they just thought she was some studies too much freak. But Celest didn't care. She needed some sort of order in her life or she'd end up falling apart. It was really important to her.

"Yeah, sure," she said, not really thinking about the sandwich trade as she handed her sandwich to Dena and took the tuna one. "I know," she went on about her brothers. "It's just that we have enough drama without tweedle dee and tweedle dumb getting into trouble every five seconds," she said before taking a bite of the tuna sandwich. It wasn't really her favorite either but she didn't mind it.

Why didn't anyone seem to get her? It really was annoying most of the time, but at least for the most part Dena was normal. She wasn't always getting herself into trouble at least. Sure, she'd been involved with the boys' schemes from time to time but Celest couldn't really blame her for that since she'd been caught up in a number of them just trying to stop them. She'd been to the principal's office almost as many times as they had and she was pretty sure the principal didn't believe her when she tried to explain this.

"Oh come on now, fake spiders in bed sounds like something Brandon would do," Celest said in her constant attempt to be the mature one. "I don't want to stoop to his level, but perhaps we can get him back. Maybe we can tell him that we overheard them talking about expelling him or something," she said wondering if a good scare was all he needed. But somehow she doubted it, knowing it would probably only egg him on.

[Dena Zouvelekis]

Eagerly swapping her lunch with Celest, Dena bit down on the sandwich only to find her mouth full of lettuce and soggy tomato. A salad sandwich hadn’t been quite what she was after either, but it was preferable to tuna, and so she munched down gratefully on it, hungrier than she realised. She might even be so desperate as to rummage through her bag afterwards to look for any wayward fruit her mum stuffed in there. Or maybe not.

Her sister was right about one thing, they did have more than enough drama without her brothers adding to it every chance they got. Things at home were more drama filled than anyone wanted at the moment, especially since the arrival of Uncle James. She loved him of course, he was her uncle after all, but him staying meant tension in the house constantly. And less attention on her. Two things she wasn’t a fan of. It was probably perfect timing then, that their show had finished before he arrived. It was better, she was discovering since all the cameras left, not to have every detail of your life broadcast for the entertainment of millions. She wouldn’t complain about the show though, did get her noticed a lot. Got her noticed by Caitlin.

“Yeah, but if you tell them off, tell them to try to behave, you know that’s only going to make them worse. Just ignore it Celest, don’t let them know they get to you.” She wasn’t the best at being Dr Phil, but for her sister, she was giving it her best shot. It was impossible not to know that the boys antics got her Celest’s nerves, she seemed hardwired that way. It did annoy Dena at times. Perhaps mainly because it took focus off of her.

Fake spiders in Brandon’s bed seemed like a great idea, she knew how much it would freak him out after all. But it seemed like it was a joke she would have to pull off herself. “We could try, but he’d probably like the idea of that, the risk of getting expelled. Probably would think it would make him notorious.” she giggled. It was news her brother would probably find funny. Not that he would have to worry about actually being expelled, their parents would probably kill him first.

Finishing half of the sandwich, she started in on the other half, watching idly as everyone walked by. “Did you hear about Sunday? A whole group of students here are going bowling. I was thinking about going, could be fun.” And with a whole bevy of cute girls, no doubt. “Want to come with?”

[Celest Zouvelekis]

Celest finished off the first half of he sandwich still with a sigh. This was all so annoying and Dena clearly didn't get it either. No one seemed to, except her parents and that was equally annoying because Celest really wasn't trying to be a kiss up to them. She really liked keeping everything organized and when everyone stayed out of trouble. It made life so much easier that way. And it was nice without the cameras around for once. Celest had never really complained about them like some of her siblings had, but she'd never really been fond of them either. Luckily Celest had been deemed as one of the quieter of the bunch and hadn't been featured on the show quite as much, but that still didn't stop them from filming her ever move just in case she did do something interesting. Which she tried not to whenever the cameras were near.

Now they did have to deal with the whole Uncle James thing, that was true. But the cameras weren't there so they could mostly deal with that in private, however the stupid paparazzi still were very fond of their house, trying to figure out what their latest dramas were now that the show was over. They'd weren't really bothering her as much, only when she was home. Other than that they more so followed their parents, figuring they were the most reliable sources. And also it was clear that Celest was no attention whore and she was just eager to get away from it all, which was good because it made sure that she was left alone.

Celest new that her sister on the other hand, loved the attention. It was something that Celest didn't really get, as she'd always been one who preferred to be in the background of things. "That's true," Celest said, but it was easier said than done. Even though Celest always told herself that this was the last time and that she'd let her brothers be, let them sort out their own messes, she always ended up getting involved in the end. She couldn't help herself. It was some sort of compulsion or something.

"Yeah I suppose the last thing we need is to make him think he's notorious," she agreed with a nod, starting the second half of her sandwich. "Are you still going to do the whole fake spider in the bed thing? I'll stay out of it...but I won't stop you either," Celest admitted. After all, a prank like that was innocent. No one was going to get in trouble or unnecessary attention for that, especially in the privacy of their home.

"Sunday?" Celest asked curiously. "Bowling...maybe," she said. Celest had never been very athletically inclined and she filed bowling under athletics because you needed to roll the ball and keep it straight. The few times she'd tried she ended up mostly with gutter balls. "Who all is going?" she asked, not that it mattered really. Celest rarely hung out with anyone who wasn't her siblings. When she wasn't with one of her siblings she often spent time alone, reading her books and working on her fantasy costumes that she liked to make and wear around the house.

[Dena Zouvelekis]

“Yep, still going to do it.” Dena grinned brightly, the spider idea really growing on her. “But I think I’ll wait, pick the best time to do it.” She was kinda glad that Celest wasn’t going to join in. She loved her sister of course, but when it came to pulling jokes, she was always so nervous about it backfiring, or them getting in trouble, and it tended to suck the fun right out of it. If Celest had wanted to stop her, she could have tried, but Dena wouldn’t have given up that easily either. She might not have been willing to go to the same extents as her brothers did, especially when acting on her own, but at least she knew what bothered them the most.

“I don’t know. Just a big group. I think it’s mostly Gould, but everyone’s invited.” Dena shrugged. “That’s what...what’s his name, the really loud guy who’s always eating, and he wears old clothes all the time? Oh, Evan!” she exclaimed, remembering, taking another bite of her salad sandwich. “Yeah, he bumped into me in the hallway a couple of days ago, shook me and told, actually I think yelled, me all about it and said I have to go. And how could I refuse?” she giggled.

She loved bowling. Not that she was particularly good at it, but she wasn’t bad either, and he was all just a bit of fun. She wasn’t competitive, so she was more than happy to just dance around and be silly, entertain herself and anyone else around. Plus she really liked loud, crowded places, so it was a perfect fit.

“Come on, you have to go! It’ll be fun! And you get to meet new people! Meeting new people is meant to be fun.” she reminded her quiet sister. “And I won’t tell our big brothers about it, so they might not go.” she offered with a grin. “Besides, what else are you going to do on Sunday? You don’t have plans, do you?”

[Celest Zouvelekis]

Celest nodded about the spider prank. She supposed it would be a little bit funny to see Brandon's reaction, but Celest didn't like pranks so she was glad that Dena wasn't trying to talk her into joining. But then again, her siblings rarely talked her into joining. She would just end up getting roped in, in her attempts to stop it all. No one actually wanted her there because usually she was a bit of a buzz kill for the whole thing. Really, she didn't blame them for not wanting her around when they were scheming.

"Oh," she said when Dena explained the whole bowling thing. So it seemed that a lot of people would be going to this. She'd heard people talking about it all over school. It seemed like bowling was going to be the place to be on Sunday. Still, Celest wasn't sure. There was the whole part of her being a pretty horrible bowler and there was also the part about Celest not really feeling like she fit in anywhere at school. Honestly, if she hadn't had so many siblings she probably wouldn't have had anyone to talk to. So it was sort of a toss up between attempting to socialize with her peers or using the night to her advantage because if all her siblings were out it meant that she'd actually have some peace and quiet in the house.

"Maybe," Celest said. But when Dena added that she wouldn't tell their brothers, that did sort of sweeten the deal because it meant less quiet at home. So maybe she should go...try to branch out. "No...I don't have any plans," Celest admitted, but then again, she never really had plans. Everyone knew that. "I guess..." she said, but she still felt sort of reluctant about the whole thing, knowing that she'd probably end up sitting down quietly all night while her sister socialized.

[Dena Zouvelekis]

From her sister’s reluctant “I guess”, it wasn’t hard for Dena to pick up on the fact that Celest still wasn’t warming to the idea of going bowling. Which was an easy assumption to make, knowing her sister as well as she did. Dena didn’t quite get it herself, she thought that going bowling with a heap of people she knew by varying degrees sounded like a blast. Especially if Catlin was going, she would have to speak to her about that.

Still, that answer was better than a no, and Dena wouldn’t let her sister back out now. “Great!” she cheered, intent on pulling Celest out of the rut she seemed to get herself into. That was what family was for anyway. “It’s going to be fun!” she smiled, shoving the rest of her sandwich in her mouth to hastily swallow it, wiping crumbs from her lips. “You never know, you might meet other people who are into making costumes and stuff. And then you can all get together to...I don’t know, make costumes.” she giggled. Dena couldn’t quite share her sister’s love of costumes and fantasy. The only time she got overly excited about costumes was when it was Halloween, or for a costume party. Then she went all out. Celest’s ‘expertise’ really came in handy.

Scrunching up the paper bag her sandwich came in, she threw on the fountain wall beside her. “It’s going to be a great weekend!” Of course, the plans for bowling on Sunday were the only plans she had so far, and that was only part of the weekend. She liked that, she could happily just go the mall and wind up randomly talking to anyone. “Don’t feel like class this afternoon. Would like to just skip.” Seeing Celest’s horrified expression, she cracked up laughing. “Sorry, sorry, I couldn’t help myself. Don’t worry, I won’t skip, Mum.”

[Celest Zouvelekis]

Celest tried to seem enthusiastic for Dena's sake but it was hard. Celest just wasn't as outgoing or friendly as Dena. While Dena seemed to make friends easily with everyone, Celest had a much harder time of it. And finding someone else in school who shared her interests? That was unlikely. And even if it was likely, she doubted she'd meet them at a bowling event even if someone else dragged them there too.

Celest continued to nibble on the rest of her sandwich watching as her sister tossed her empty lunch bag to the side. "You're going to throw that in the trash when you get up, right?" Celest reminded. She was always reminding her siblings of the rules since they seemed to so easily forget them. Celest didn't like playing the role of mother to them all, but she couldn't help it. It was just her nature--who she was.

"I suppose," Celest said, when Dena exclaimed about the weekend. "Do you have any other plans?" she asked curiously. Surely bowling couldn't invoke so much excitement, could it? And then Dena went on about skipping class and Celest couldn't help but give her her typical Celest look which warned her not to break the rules. "You can't--I'm sure Brandon and Julian are already skipping--you mustn't make it worse," she blurted before Dena could even admit she was joking. "Sorry," Celest said. She sighed. "I'm sorry. I'll try to relax. I promise I'll try not to act like mom." It was a promise that Celest often made but never kept even though she really did try. She did try to be more carefree. It just didn't come easily to her.