Bowling! Woo-hoo! – Evan, open

[Brittany Barnes]

Brittany felt calmer when Evan pulled her aside and told her that he didn't return Hannah's affections. But even if she wanted to trust Evan, now that he knew what Hannah was after, what if she made a move and he wasn't quick enough? What if he didn't pick up on something fast enough. "Good," she said back. "But I still don't like her...I'd rather you not be her friend..." she said. Okay, maybe she was being a little harsh, telling him who he could and couldn't be friends with, but she didn't trust Hannah and she was never going to be comfortable with Evan being her friend.

Hannah still seemed obnoxious though...boasting about how she'd had lunch with Evan one day and how she still wanted his help with the bowling. Oh...Brit would help her with bowling...she'd kick her right into the pins if she had her way! Maybe drop a bowling ball on her foot... But Brittany really didn't want to make a scene...still, she decided to follow Hannah. If she was there, there was no way Hannah could make a move on Evan!

This was what Brittany was concentrated on when Ian came over to them. She gave him a quick wave, figuring she'd talk to him later. She wasn't thinking about the things she'd told him last night and while she hadn't given him a yes when he said he wanted to beat Evan up, she hadn't exactly told him he wasn't allowed to either. She also hadn't had a chance to tell Ian that she and Evan had made up...her mind was more focused on Hannah right now, so when she saw Evan and Ian go off, she figured they were just sorting out the discounts or something. No big deal.

"Evan and I go bowling a lot," Brittany said, catching up with Hannah as she looked for a ball. "Trust me, he's no good anyway," she grinned. "You should try that one...its one of the lightest we have," she said, pointing at an especially heavy one. It was sitting right next to a light one too so if Hannah took the bait and grabbed the heavy one, Brit could lie and say she was pointing at the one to the right of it. With any luck, Hannah would drop it or something. That would be funny.

"I didn't even know you were coming bowling," she went on. "I'm surprised the other cheerleaders approve of you hanging out with us. I can't imagine what Aly would say," she said, sort of threatening her with her uber popular step-sister. Brittany didn't know Hannah too well so she was sort of fishing to see what Hannah would fall for. Maybe she was super concerned with popularity and all that...a lot of cheerleaders were, so it was worth a shot. Whether it worked or not Brit figured she'd hit a soft spot at some point.

But for now she just smiled politely, as she pushed some of her hair behind her ear and turned to check up on Evan and Ian and see what they were up to.

[Alexia Dashwood-Dune]

Grabbing a dark blue number eight ball, they went back to the lane that Evan had pointed out to. "Lissa. That's cool. My name's like really long but people either call me Dash or Lexi. Or clown depending on when you got to know me," she laughed about her previous predicament even though she was clearly distraught about it. "I don't care when everyone starts, why don't we start it off? Bowling is just no fun if you have wait. Okay, what name would you like me to put in the computer? If I was here with my friend Anderson I would give him a really awesome name like Spongebob or something. I'm usually Captain something. You have a good nickname in mind?"

Lexi too realised how the tension seemed to be going on further than necessary. She liked Brittany and Evan and some part of her didn't want to hate Hannah for the sole purpose of her being a cheerleader but fighting over a guy no matter how subtle you were being was just a bit too junior high. Of course, coming from a pacifist like her, not even being able to tell Bartholomew Fischer that she liked him, it shouldn't count for squat. She thought if given the opportunity, she'd probably act the same way with Bree.

The concern from Lissa kind of made her a little pissed only because she hated being the center of attention for ANY reason. She had dressed up as a clown only to blend in since there were a bunch of people around who was in costume. But apparently clowns get noticed even in a crowd of Jack Sparrows and Elvis wannabes and purple dinosaurs. She calmed herself down enough to give Lissa a little smile. "I'm absolutely fine. Those kinds of things happen to me a lot so I don't bother with it anymore. And yeah, my clothes are fine. I didn't like the colour on me anyway." She threw in a semi-believable chuckle.

[Evan Hughes]

The excitement about going bowling was slowly starting to return now that Evan thought the whole Hannah drama was over with. First there was a Syn incident, then a Hannah drama, he would be more than happy to have his relationship completely drama free after today. He decided he liked it much better when his relationship with Brittany just involved he and Brit. He was old fashioned that way.And he especially liked it when it involved as little of Aly as possible. He knew she was a big help to them this morning, but still, Aly helping them? Something seemed off about that in general.

And so it was now a quite happy Evan who followed Ian into the manager’s little office, thinking nothing of the change of location. In fact, it was probably a good thing, the look on Jessica’s face when she first saw him, and then Patch, wasn’t pretty. It would be a good idea to lay low for a little while. Though as soon as Ian finished with him, he decided he better track down his best friend, to make sure he was still in one piece. “So what did you want to talk about mate? Something troubling you?”

Ian took a deep breath and glared at Evan. "You're the limit, you know? Brit is the greatest girl ever and rather than thanking God she chose you, you let all these girls paw all over you," he grabbed Evans collar and pulled him closer. "I ought to pound you into an unattractive mass of meat."

“Wait, what?” Evan muttered, caught off guard by Ian. What did Brit tell him anyway, he wondered, realising that her friend was currently looking more than a little pissed. “What pawing? There is no letting of pawing!” he quickly defended himself, pushing the other guy away. “I know Brit’s the greatest girl ever, course I do, I am her boyfriend after all.” he felt he had to point out. “So why are you angry with me? Brit’s not. There is no pawing.”

"That's right there was kissing. Brit was angry last night and she didn't tell me not to punch you. That southern flake was definitely pawing and I didn't see you discouraging her at all. If that long-haired kid hadn't pulled her off you, she would still be stuck to you like a limpet.”

Oh. This wasn’t good, even Evan could tell that. Suddenly bowling wasn’t seeming as fun anymore. “Not kissing, kiss.” he quickly corrected, before realising that was wrong. “Well, there was two, but I didn’t do any kissing back, I swear. I wouldn’t do that to Brit, come on. And Hannah, she’s my friend. Well, was, Brit asked me not to be friends with her, so I’m gonna try, Brit’s more important. So I didn’t do anything wrong.” Something else Ian said just dawned on him though. “Wait, she didn’t tell you to punch me though, but, did she? So, why don’t, uh, we just head back to everyone else, all’s forgiven right?”

"Two kisses? One punch for each one I think.” Ian wasn't normally violent, but his brother tended to get rather fiesty so he knew how to fight. Two fists flew towards Evan's face.If Brit had changed her mind she should have let him know, he told himself. "Okay now we can go back."

“Just....give me a sec.” Evan hissed, where he stood leaning against the back wall of the office. He really wasn’t expecting that, especially not from Ian. Out of the three guys in the band with Brit, Ian was the last one Evan would have pictured in a fight, and it naturally made him curious, why he was being so protective of Brit now. Plus, owie. He could punch hard. Really hard.

He had one of two choices as he saw it. Go back to the others, act like nothing had happened, and ignore his very sore face, hoping Ian got it out of his system. Or, option 2. Ian wasn’t a girl, so technically, Evan could hit him. So as the guy turned and walked out of the office, Evan did the only thing he could do. He charged at him, tackling him to the ground.
The door opened and suddenly Ian was sprawling on the wooden floor. He grunted as he landed. Reluctantly his respect rose that Evan had fought back. He pushed Evan off and then struggled to his feet.

“What’s it to you anyway?” Evan spat, getting to his feet himself, a little angry now (getting punched twice in the face would do that to a person) and completely ignoring the attention they were now getting, two things that were very unlike him. “It’s nothing to do with you.” He wasn’t going to be caught by surprise this time, so he held his fists in front of him, ready to punch if needed. He just hoped it wouldn’t be needed. He wasn’t the fighting sort of guy.

Ian spun around to face Evan again. "It’s everything to me. I have loved Brit for years, she is the sister I never had,'' he growled.

[Brittany Barnes]

Brittany had sort of forgotten about the boys when the door to the office flew open. She was busy trying to annoy Hannah which was much more pressing right now and while she did it, she tried to find a good ball. She knew which weight she liked, but there were certain ones that she deemed as better than others. She liked putting stickers on the ones she liked. It was a perk that she'd given herself since she worked there and all.

And there one was, she'd just picked it up when she saw Evan and Ian fighting. "Oh my god!!! Fight!!!" she yelled, letting the ball drop toward the ground, right by Hannah, although that really hadn't been intentional. In fact, she didn't even look to see where the ball landed as she ran over to the two boys.

"Ah!! Stop!!" she yelled throwing herself between them. She hadn't really heard the things they'd said to one another, but it sort of all popped into her head all at once. "Ah! I told Ian about you and Syn and I might have forgotten to tell him we made up!!" she said all in one breath, quickly turning to Ian. "Evan and I made up...we're good now!" She forced a smile, kind of a cheesy one, hoping to ease the tension between the boys as she looked from one to the other....that's when she noticed Evan's face.

"Evan...your face," she said, pointing out the obvious, reaching up to touch in gently. It didn't look too bad yet, but it looked like it was going to turn into something less pretty if they didn't get ice on it. "Ian...did you....um...punch Evan in the face for me? I probably should be mad...but it's kind of sweet. Man, if a girl ever messes with you, I'll totally punch her in the face for you," she smiled. She looked back to Evan, as she still had herself wedged in-between the two boys. "It's okay, that I'm not mad...right...oh and you guys are totally going to make up...right? Because if you don't it might be kinda awkward for me..." she trailed off into sort of an awkward silence. She wasn't aware of how intense the fight had been or how mad either of the boys were, and the fact that people were sort of staring at them, seriously wasn't helping.

[Alexia Dashwood-Dune]

She had been in the middle of writing her name on the bowling screen when she heard a scuffle behind her and saw Evan and another guy she thought was one of the Baxter brothers. He was in the same band as Brittany. She only knew that because she actually paid attention to people. And she had too much time on her hands. And she didn't have a life. Outside of swimming and track. Depressing.

Brittany's reaction was completely outrageous. At least to Lexi. Although she didn't know the nature of Brittany's relationship with the Baxter brother, it seemed kinda weird that she would actually root for him instead of getting to Evan. Shrugging, Lexi turned to continue writing her name but when she heard whispers and giggles, she turned again and saw people staring.

Now in normal circumstances, Lexi would just stay quiet and continue writing her name on the screen but Brittany had helped her earlier and so had Evan...in a way. She couldn't just let the situation become any worse with people crowding around the fighting pair. Lexi jumped on the seat she had been occupying and with her loudest voice, she yelled out to the crowd. "Free drinks on me!"

Everyone turned to face her and people cheered. Some were still hung up on the fact that she was the girl who had cheese on her clothes and some were still laughing about it but some were actually going to the food counter to get their drinks. A few thanked her and some were cheering on her name. She laughed as she dropped down to the floor to sit back on the plastic chair to finish up her name.

"Hey Brit! Evan! Can we get to bowling now?" she yelled across the bowling alley without turning to look at them, hoping they would get to the lanes so they could actually do some bowling. She was itching to play.

[Wynn Sumner]

Wynn was too anxious to meet up with the other crashers, but with the rain wearing the wig while driving the scooter was out. Instead he opted to take his backpack with him and put the wig on at the alley.

He soon regretted driving the scooter in the rain but he didn't have a choice, well he did really but one does not wear a puffy shirt on the bus unless you were aiming to be mugged. He found a good spot just under the awning of the building and grabbed his backpack and headed inside.

He found the men's room and started to adjust the wig which got a questionable look from a man who seemed to be an octogenarian. Wynn grinned sheepishly, "It...it's a surprise for someone." The elder man didn't question in.

Set now in the long hair, puffy pirate shirt tight black pants, Wynn walked almost like a model, striking dramatic poses along the way.

He saw Lexi dressed like a clown, which got him to smile. He approached her and tried his best to talk as eloquently as Danny did. "Tis a fair damsel in distress I see before thee?" He struck another dramatic pose.

[Mal Harper]

Mal showed up late with JJ in tow. You could totally blame JJ for them being late. For some reason he had this need to keep Mal all to himself. Which Mal did not mind...much. Either way, after meeting Lissa in the morning it had been a pleasant afternoon, but time for bowling, cause Mal was itching for fun and getting apartment fever. They might have shown up late, but Mal hardly cared. She knew they could join in any game.

Of course Mal and JJ had the best timing in the world and walked in right int time to find Evan tackling Ian to the ground, "Oh my god..." Mal said watching the fight. Mal watched her boyfriend attempt to pull Ian off Evan and hold Ian back. Mal never knew Ian to have such a punch or fight in him. She walked over to Brit and stood more toward Ian so Brit could deal with Evan.

"Ian threw the punches...Evan tackled Ian...Man JJ why did you have to delay us...I would have love to have seen Tweedle Dee fight Evan. No offense Brit, but the idea of these two in a fight is kind of hard to wrap ones head around.....just saying. " She admitted with a sheepish grin. Tweedle Dee was a term of endearment for Ian. One Mal knew Ian liked cause it always caused them to laugh. Well in the past it had.

Mal turned to Ian which Brit dealt with Evan. "So now I might need a new nickname for ya. Come on..lets go bowl cause...that's what we came here for right. And perhaps you can fill me on exactly why Evan deserved to have a couple of black eyes." Mal apparently had been out of it. she had no idea what had been going on. She just hoped the two boys did not fight anymore cause Brit was in the middle.

"Evan you okay?" Mal asked. She felt for Evan. poor guy. His face looked all red and stuff. Man this must have been some fight you know.

[Vasilisa Remington]

"You can put um princess on the board" Lissa said thinking after a moment. "At least that daddy calls me princess" she said with a laugh and a smile. She sat down and waited to see if anyone else would come over and join them. She did not have to wait long some guy came over and talked to Lexi. Well more like flirted and that was when she saw Mal come in with a guy. "Excuse me you two" she said with a smile and slipped away from them. She had saw the fight but did not want to say anything since she did not know anyway. And she did not get the fighting stuff, and why people encourage them. Someone could seriously get hurt and she would hate to see the party go downhill because of that.

Walking up to Mal and the guy she was talking. "Hi Mal" she said with a smile. "How are you feeling?" she asked the guy Evan. From what she heard the guy he was fighting with was his own brother. It did look like where he got hit hurt and she was teh kind of person that asked how someone was. "How about we start bowling soon maybe that can calm everyone down" she suggested. She hoped she did not sound insensative or rude that is not how she wanted to sound at all. "Mal I am on a lane with Lexi if you and JJ want to join us on ours" she said. She did feel more relaxed now with or without Mal there. She should be use to be crowds of people the way her father has people over for dinner and meetings and stuff. Of course that was different it is rarely women and just business men. Of course they are a bit creepy when they check her out and that means she leaves the room in a hurry.

Sure she was popular but she was far different from the other girls. She is friends with anyone and she find a commonality with. She wondered if anyone here did sports or anything or enjoyed watching sports. She would have to find out before the night is over.

[Hannah Bell]

Hannah nearly resisted the thin boy's tug. Who was he just just go pulling on her, anyway? She was starting to feel like Evan might be the only friendly person in the group! At least, the only friendly person who didn't seem incredibly shy. It wasn't Hannah's job to make people talk to her, but if they did they should at least be polite!

But she didn't want to cause a scene, and she didn't want to just be all over Evan constantly. Plus, it wasn't long before he ran off to his angry looking friend anyway. Hannah took the opportunity to look for balls, but there weren't many that met her requirements of weight, fingerhole size, and prettiness. It didn't help that Brittany came over, squawking about this ball or that. Hannah didn't trust her enough to pick out a decent outfit, let alone a bowling ball, and the one she pointed at was just a plain old dark blue ball with nicks all over it.

“Thanks,” Hannah retorted with a sarcastic smile. “That regular ball seems more your type, though. I know a brightly colored, loud, and fun ball would suit me a lot more.” Hannah gave the girl one last smug look before reaching out for a sparkly purple ball. The finger holes weren't too bad (one was a little tight), but it definitely passed the prettiness test. It also seemed an acceptable weight after Hannah had given it a few hefts. She tried her best to ignore Brittany, but the girl just prattled on.

“I don't need to tell the cheer squad about everywhere I go,” Hannah stated flatly. It actually had been a concern of hers that some of the cheerleaders might hear about her escapade, and she especially hoped Aly didn't hear that she maybe sorta liked a boy that the more popular cheerleader absolutely despised. “I'm sure Aly would say that I can do what I want, and that we're not all just clones, despite what the bitter, jealous girls might say.” Hannah didn't like being so directly mean to another person, it wasn't like her. But Brittany had been so mean since she walked in, Hannah couldn't help but defend herself. She didn't even try to mask her displeasure at the other girl's attitude. Brittany may try to put on a fake smile and pretend to be friends, but Hannah wasn't buying it.

A disturbance caught Hannah's attention, and she was looking in the direction of the scuffle when a loud thump startled her. She couldn't suppress a squeek, but she quickly covered her mouth as she looked down to see a very heavy bowling ball dangerously close to her foot. It would have flattened her toes in a heartbeat, which was no doubt her rival's plan. “How dare you-” she started, but Brittany had already run to interfere in the fight. Hannah followed close behind, moving next to Evan on the opposite side of Brittany.

She was interested to hear Brittany say her and Evan made up. Apparently, he didn't have the guts to go all the way through with the dumping. Hannah couldn't help but feel slightly disappointed, but she still knew Evan could do much better. Prhaps he simply needed more “persuasion.”

Red marks on Evan's face were slowly starting to turn a purplish hue, and Hannah was not pleased to see Brittany paw all over him. There was also something in Ian's eye that made Hannah think he might like it too much either. She was starting to pick up on a few of the quirks of this group. Still, no one had really made a move to help Evan's face.

“So can someone get the boy some ice? Brittany, don't you work here? Don't you know where ice should be, and you haven't gotten any yet?” Hannah sighed with exasperation, then pointed towards Mallory. “You, uh, Mel is it? Can you get some ice for Evan's face? Otherwise it's gonna swell up a bit...”

[Evan Hughes]

“I noticed.” Evan muttered as he dropped his fists, glancing briefly at Brittany before staring straight back at Ian again. He was annoyed enough that there wasn’t even a hint of his usual smile on his face, with even the arrival of his girlfriend (something that had always made him smile in the past) not able to force one from him. He knew it wasn’t Brit’s fault that Ian hit him, she had a lot on her mind, she couldn’t really be expected to remember what she told her friend and think that maybe it would be a good idea to call him up, let him know things were okay now. But still, if she had, at least it would have saved him a sore face.

He braced himself a little when she touched his face, but thankfully she was gentle and he didn’t feel a thing. But not getting angry at Brit was starting to get a bit more difficult the more she spoke. He had to remind himself that he started all this in the first place, he should have realised that Syn was going to kiss him, or do something at least. Still, he didn’t think it made it alright for Ian to punch him for it, and have Brit seem like she was pleased he did it. That was just aggravating. It took a lot to bother Evan, and this was just enough.

“Wait, what?” he asked, half in disbelief when Brit turned from her friend back to him. “It’s sweet that he punched me in the face? Well, in that case do you want me to let him hit me again? Would that be sweeter Brit?” he snapped, before sighing. “Right, sorry, didn’t mean to get angry. Not your fault.” he mumbled, not sounding too convinced of that fact. He didn’t want to mess anything else up too. It was barely ten minutes ago that Felipe got crazy on him and Patch and threatened to tell everyone about what was clearly an accident, and then this. Today could not get any worse.

It was a good point though, that he and Ian staying angry at each other would make things more than a little awkward for Brit, given that the boyfriend and the band member were likely to cross paths again often. And he supposed he couldn’t be too mad at Ian for punching him. Though Evan didn’t think he deserved it, he could see why Ian did it in the first place. But he still didn’t think it was right for the guy to get involved. “Alright.” he agreed reluctantly, still looking at Ian. “Sorry I tackled you.” He didn’t sound overly so though. “Your nose looks a bit banged up.”

He was more than thankful that Lexi chose that time to distract everyone. Free stuff would do it, every time. In fact, he would have been one of those getting excited too, if he wasn’t otherwise occupied. “Uh, coming!” he yelled out to answer her, trying to muster up his now all but gone enthusiasm to bowl again. “Just give us a sec! Bags not going first!”

Then Mal turned up, and he didn’t know if that was good or not. He really didn’t want more witnesses to his banged up-ness, but at least she didn’t get the chance to film anything. “Yeah, I’m alright, thanks Mal.” he managed his first week smile then. “It’s all good, I get into fights all the time, in this club I’m in. Just can’t talk about it, it’s the first rule. Only rule actually.” he attempted a lame joke, trying to deflect too much attention away from him, for the first time ever in his life.

He smiled again at Hannah’s arrival, pleased to see her even if Brit wasn’t. The cheerleader was the one person in their little group who seemed most concerned about him, and he was the one who was punched in the face! She made a good point to about Brit not having gotten him ice. She should know where it was, and it was her friend who punched him in the first place. And she was his girlfriend! He knew now Hannah was being nice cause she had a crush or something on him, but still, with his face starting to throb more and more, anyone being nice was appreciated.

“It’s Mal.” he corrected the blonde. “And it’s really not that bad.” He pressed his fingers to his face, attempting to prove this, but instead ended up hissing audibly, giving a sharp intake of breath. “Ok, maybe I was wrong. Ice would be good, thanks Hannah.” Just what he needed, black eyes again. He mum wouldn’t be happy for sure.