Downfall

[Melodee Riker]

www.polyvore.com/melodee/set?id=5725073

It was a very odd feeling, not actually knowing what was going to happen later that day. Saturdays were the usual designated Young Republican's Club meetings, but after Philip's hissy fit over being outed the young Miss Riker didn't actually know if anyone was going to show up or not. It was, in a word, frustrating.

Whatever the case, she decided she had time to work out, clean up, and make herself presentable for anyone who showed up, if anyone did.

Lacing her running shoes onto her feet and pulling her hair back into a sensible ponytail Melodee informed the household that she was going out running. Grabbing her weights and and belting her water bottle to her side, Mel stretched and began at a leisurely jog. Each slapping step the teen aged self-starter sped up just a little.

Over the past year and a half Melodee had lost weight. Perhaps for some it would have been an alarming amount, but the teenager still felt fat, and to her eyes looked it. It was an unwelcome image and thus the teenager rarely actually looked at herself in the mirror. What she was wearing, and to check her makeup, certainly, but actually look at herself? No, not so much. Meals had become smaller and smaller until they were all but nonexistent. She'd move the food on her plate around, rearrange it, squoosh it down to make it appear as though she'd eaten something, or take the smallest possibly bites as slowly as possible and proclaim herself full later.

So far, all of this had worked. She'd lost weight and was continuing to do so. Her usual work-out routine had become more intense and already Melodee had needed to buy all new clothes. (Oh the horrors.) But still she wasn't happy with herself.

Pushing herself into a brisk job, the teenager turned onto one of the longer running trails that went through a few parks and would wind back around to spit her out by the house again. A proximately a five to six mile run. It'd be a nice way to vent the pent up frustrations and get some good exercise in to boot.

About an hour into the jog, Melodee's legs gave out and she tumbled, her breath caught in her throat and unable to catch herself, her head connected hard with the packed dirt, smearing the side of her face and causing her to see stars. Perhaps it wouldn't have been so bad if she had a proper body mass. But as it was, the Princess was down.

[Sloane Taylor]

www.polyvore.com/sloane_running/set?id=15436512

The night before had been a disaster and also an absolute blessing. After being practically outed for something even she was confused about by two of her close friends, Sloane had nearly lost her mind with worry about really having feelings for a boy she thought was just to sate the addiction she had. But afterwards when Nolan gave her a call, she was actually relieved for the first time to be away from her friends.

And that night was spectacular. She viewed all her conquests as above average, some more so than others but for some reason Nolan had topped all of it and Sloane was scared it was because this was the first time she dipped in the same pool twice. She gave him a chance to improve and he did. Things were getting even more complicated with them and this morning was going to be even more so. She was going to have to juggle both May and Nolan in the same place at the same time. The dream she had a few nights before came back to haunt her as she drove back home to change into her running outfit before plugging her ears with her MP3 player blasting Rebel Yell in her ears.

The run brought her through a maze of parks and beaches and for a moment, she was content with the hard rock music in her ears and the slight pinch she was feeling in her waist and the comfortable pull of her muscles as her whole body burned. Sloane was about to run back home when she saw a fellow red head stumble down to the ground. Not a lot of people were around to witness so no one seemed to have noticed the girl fall. Againnst her better judgment, Sloane ran to the girl and tried to help.

Sloane saw a bit of blood mixed into the dirt on the girl's face and scrapes every here and there. Pulling out her earphones, Sloane looked over other parts of the girl's body and found that she knew the girl. "Melodee?" Sloane frowned slightly as she helped her senior up into a sitting position. "Hey, you okay?" She tried wiping some of the dirt off the other redhead's face with her tank top and grimaced.

[Melodee Riker]

As though the fall itself weren't bad enough, Mel hurt all over. Her bone structure was weakening from the malnutrition she'd forced upon herself. Apparently an assortment of multi vitamins, iron replacement pills, and mineral infused water was not enough to keep a body going and all the necessary parts strong. Add to that the witness who knew her name (but let's face it EVERYONE knew who Melodee Riker was and either admired, was envious, or a mixture of the two.) The fallen, of course, couldn't be asked to keep everyone's names straight and without her planner or yearbook had no notion of who this girl was brushing dirt from the Princess' face.

God, why did she hurt so much? The tumble hadn't been that bad, had it? Her already angular features were more so and her ribs were plainly visible, though if one looked in Vogue it was clearly the fashion of the day.

"I will be," the older teen answered. When she spoke she tasted blood, had she bitten her tongue? How many calories did blood have?

It was embaressing as hell to have fallen, more so to have it witnessed by an underclassman (was she an underclassman?)

"I must have misstepped," truth, but scarrier still was that the teenager couldn't quite be positive HOW she'd misstepped or why. Her footing was usually so spot on, never mind that her now spindly legs might not hold her up properly.

Had she been able to burn all the calories she wanted to with the run, she'd barely gotten started hadn't she?

[Sloane Taylor]

Sloane tried hard to keep her up and decided the girl needed to get help. She felt stupid for not bringing anything but her MP3 player strap. She did however feel grateful she wasn't stupid enough not to bring some cash she had slipped into the arm strap. "Alright, we're going to go to that bench and I'm going to get some water and tissues. Do you need anything else?" Sloane felt slightly awkward being so helpful to a senior who most probably didn't know her since Sloane wasn't exactly as social with her schoolmates as Bree and Tyler were. Not that she minded but Melodee probably thought it was weird that she was helping her...

Shaking her head of those thoughts, Sloane picked Melodee up; considering she wasn't heavy at all, and walked over to the bench. Sitting the other redhead on the bench, Sloane reassured the other girl she would be coming back. As she ran to the nearest vendor, she asked for a few napkins and a bottle of water and ran back to the girl and went straight to tending her wounds.

"You look kind of tired." Sloane stated. She didn't know what else to say so she just kept quiet while she cleaned up Melodee's knees and face.

[Melodee Riker]

It was neither disturbing nor unexpected that someone had come to help the fallen Melodee. As far as she was concerned it was expected and wholly acceptable behavior on the younger girl's part. That it was necessary at the moment, was what bothered Melodee. She shouldn't have fallen. There was no reason, as far as she could see, for her to have fallen. Yet, it had happened. That was troubling in and of itself.

Another problematical thing was that she was tired. Very tried. The kind of tired that made a girl want to curl up in a big bed under blankets and just sleep. This, however, was not an option. There were too many things to do. Far too many things to do.

"I am a bit, but there's little a body can do about being tired when there's work to be done," the older teen said with the sort of smile a diplomat would use. Mel knew that she'd been lucky someone else had been running the same path. Someone not a creep. Someone she hoped would be able to keep their mouth shut about this sort of thing.

"I'm curious where you learned first aid, and grateful for your actions." Always best to show that one actually was grateful, without declaring oneself in the other person's debt.

[Sloane Taylor]

Not entirely sure what the correct response was to Melodee's answer, Sloane just kept quiet and cleaned up the rest of the wounds best she could. Once the bleeding stopped, and thankfully it actually did, Sloane threw the used up tissues and washed her hand with a little of the water from the bottle before sitting next to Melodee, bracing her in case she would fall again.

"The first aid is kind of imperative if you're a runner. Well, at least my dad thought it was," Sloane admitted with a slow shrug. Her father had shoved her into a first aid class when he found her passion for running and knowing her all too well, Daddy Taylor knew the cuts and scrapes his daughter was going to get after her runs so he decided first aid lessons were important. "And don't mention it. I'm serious, don't go advertising my benevolence. I'm pretty fine with people calling me a hoebag slut without morals." She said with a deadpanned tone of voice.

To be honest, she really didn't care what people thought of her as long as they weren't lies. Even if rumors were started, she would usually just laugh them off. She wasn't the type to start rumors nor one to fan the ones that have already started. Sloane just plain didn't care about anything but her own life, no matter how much it would effect another person. Yes she was selfish but since no one has said anything to her about it, she couldn't care less about it.

[Melodee Riker]

Melodee laughed. Actually laughed, it was a startling sound that had been shocked out of her by the underclassman's frank honesty and comic deadpan tone. Perhaps it hadn't meant to be comedic but it was gold and Melodee appreciated both it's uncomfortable honesty and how everyone had their preferred fronts.

It was also, in those words, that it clicked for Mel. Sloane. The name came floating forward into her mind. Or Sloane the Slut as the whispers had intoned. Careful, never know what you might catch. Or one of the nastier whispers, Makes Paris Hilton look down right virginal. Melodee had, of course, listened to these and filed them away for future use, but now: faced with a kinder reality Melodee found she would neither voice the rumors herself nor pay them heed. Everyone had their thing.

She herself was an ice queen. Just because a girl didn't date out right didn't mean she wasn't interested in boys. There were more important things on her mind, however. And as soon as she got the notarized papers (they were on their way!) she'd be the owner of Riker Publishing. Her. Her father's daughter in business.

"Your secret," Mel smiled as she gingerly tested the movement of her ankles and wrists in slow circular motions, "is safe with me. Though I have found it most useful." Perhaps Sloane the Sl- Sloane was right. First aid would be a useful tool to have. Certainly it had come in handy here, though Mel was dubious about using it upon herself, but it would LOOK good to learn.

"I am sorry I interrupted your own run, however. I know how much I enjoy the solitude of it myself, so to have trespassed on your time... I apologize."

[Sloane Taylor]

Her laugh was something Sloane had expected. Not everyone actually believed it when she told them the truth about herself. Although she doubted that her senior thought she was kidding. Even if she did, Sloane wasn't going to correct her. People had their own assumptions about Sloane's proclivity and she respected them. It obviously didn't help that Sloane was so inclined to repeat her indiscretions over and over again for people to know about it.

"Well good." Sloane gave a little smirk before leaning back on the bench lazily. Her body was starting to relax, which was going to have to change soon. She still had a lot to burn before brunch. Better work up an appetite. If she knew exactly what was going to happen during said brunch, she wouldn't have bothered exercising but she was of course completely oblivious of what was in her future. "It doesn't do for people to start spreading rumors that I suddenly grew a pair. And a heart too. Bad for business so they say." She said while stretching her tendons.

It was weird that Sloane hadn't once hit on Melodee. She never had a problem doing it before - she had done it during the shooting with those two girls in the bathroom. Oh this was definitely not good. She had to do something about it. "Well, I so do hate being interrupted while working up a sweat." She edged closer to the other girl, purposely knocking their knees together. It felt a little strange but Sloane wanted the familiarity of the act. "I could think of other ways for you to make up for having interrupted me. Other ways for me to," Sloane paused just for a moment, mostly for dramatic effect but also to lean forward so Melodee didn't mistake who Sloane was talking to. "Work up a sweat?" Without even thinking, her hand had gone to the other redhead's thigh.

[Melodee Riker]

The knee bump was ignorable but the hand on her thigh was not. Was this what everyone thought of her? That Judd was just a beard (or in her case a purse or whatever the term was for a 'cover' when it came to lesbians) when she wasn't even dating the boy!?

With a sigh and passing a hand over her weary face Melodee shook her head and picked Sloane's hand up by the wrist.

"As flattering as that is, I am not the girl for you. I'm very pro-homosexuality but it's not my lifestyle choice."

It was expected, of course, that Sloane, that anyone, would hit on her. She was after all, Melodee Riker. Gorgeous. Rich. Intelligent. Even after having fallen her allure was siren like. It did the ego and esteem wonders, however, to know that even as fat as she was folks still wanted her.

"If you would like, however, I can introduce to you to some associates of like mind." It was the best offer Mel was willing to give Sloane. In spite of enjoying the attentions. Even from the resident slut.

"I should probably limp back to the house," Slowly and gingerly Mel rose to her feet and turned to face Sloane again. "Thank you once more. Hopefully our next encounter won't be so dramatic."

[Sloane Taylor]

As expected, Melodee's refusal came and Sloane backed away the lady she was. She wasn't the type to force herself on people anyway. It just wasn't her style. It was either she was wanted or she'd try to hit on people. To her it wasn't giving up but being respectful to the other party.

"I respect your uh...lifestyle choice." Sloane grinned and leaned back on the bench with her hand propped up on the back of the bench. "I don't understand the exclusivity of heterosexuality but meh...to each her own." She shrugged blatantly.

"Oh...well," Sloane grinned at the invitation and cocked her head in contemplation. "That sounds rather promising. You're the president of the student council aren't you? You should have my number. I'll be waiting by my phone for those like minded associates." She said with a little chuckle.

When Melodee tried to get up, Sloane was immediately by her side helping her stabilise herself. "You're kind of not...fit for uh...let me catch you a cab." They walked down to the main street and waited for a cab to get over and once again, Sloane aided the redheaded senior into the taxi. Leaning against the cab door, she gave Melodee a genuine smile. "You take care and...don't be a stranger now." She nodded at Melodee and closed the cab door, waving at her before dashing off home.