Escape! (attn: Any at Silver)

[Julia Warner]

Jeremy had been behaving oddly lately. Very oddly. Ever since that camping trip he'd seemed different, distracted almost, and she hadn't yet succeeded in convincing him to tell her what was up. Of course, that was probably due to the fact that she had not yet figured out how to ask him in such a way that he couldn't blow her off, but she was bound and determined to find out! He was always so supportive of her and her concerns, but he hardly ever told her his own. It wouldn't fit into his self-determined role as pillar of strength, she supposed, if he had to rely on other people. But he couldn't hide forever.

Not that she didn't understand about hiding, of course; she'd been avoiding Wynn since last month! And still she couldn't bring herself to talk to him, had to apologize via written word. Sometimes it was easier to say what needed to be said in writing. Maybe she should write to Jere, see if she could get him to respond through text correspondence. She still didn't know how to word her query, though. What happened on the camping trip had only resulted in him telling her about s'mores. She just needed to find a better way to ask, was all.

Tonight, of course, she planned on honoring Valentine's Day. Preferably with her brother -- and Connor, too, if she could get ahold of him. She was sure that if he'd had any sort of plans or date he would have told her, so come over and I'll bake cookies and we can watch High School Musical for the umpteenth time (he was right -- it was fun and the songs were catchy) had to be better than hanging around alone.

Wait. There. Around the corner. Was that Haley? Haley was one of two people Julia really did not want to see right now. She doubted the other girl would ever speak to her, but Wynn was in love with her and that was enough reason to avoid her entirely. She was in such a hurry to flee that she ran smack into someone in her attempts to turn around.

"Oof!" She squinted at the other person, "Omigosh, I'm sorry! Are you okay?"

[Jade Edwards RCO]

[Character Played: Ashley Bolton]

Ashley walked into school eyes bleary with lack of sleep and far less attention than he really should have at school, he had been up most of the night dealing with his son's fever, he knew he had to come into school but had taken the bus in rather than drive because of the severe lack of sleep he was currently serving, it took him a few minutes to realize he had walked past his locker and had to back track to get his stuff for the day, he was glad to have his own locker rather than sharing one with someone else.

It was as he was trying to remember what his first class was as he also tried to figure out whether he should get some caffiene in his system that he was barrelled into by someone, anger bursting through him as he landed on his backside.

Yeah he was cranky today of all days, then he realized it was a girl who had knocked him over and chuckled.

"Oof!" She squinted at the other person, "Omigosh, I'm sorry! Are you okay?"

The momentary anger was gone as he rose to his feet, "Its fine, I'm good though my ego may have taken a pounding." he said as he picked up his book bag. "You look kind of upset are you okay?" Ashley asked politely maybe some conversation would help him to keep awake.

[Julia Warner]

Julia had seen Ashley around, but she had not really spoken to him before now. She was actually a bit intimidated by him, because she was sure she'd seen him chatting with some of the more popular girls, like the one she was currently trying to avoid.

"I'm not upset!!" She denied, shaking her head so vehemently that her knit hat nearly flew off and she had to grab it to make sure it stayed put. "I'm just...avoiding someone." She dropped her voice down to a whisper, looking furtively about to make sure the other girl was really gone. Good, she was nowhere in sight, she had passed without confrontation. "I think it's safe now, though." She decided, straightening and adjusting her shrug.

"You sure you're okay, though?" She asked, scrutinizing him, "You look very...very.....tired." She realized. Okay, that probably had nothing to do with her running into him. "There's still a whole day of mushy couples to get through, you can't be tired of it already!" She admonished, but as soon as she said it dawned on her that he might be half of one of those mushy couples, so she hurriedly tried to backtrack. "Or did you stay up all night trying to come up with grand plans for the day? Should have stuck with flowers, your date might not appreciate all the effort if you end up falling asleep on her."

[Jade Edwards RCO]

Ashley looked at the girl, "Hiding from someone, well this place is almost empty so I doubt that he or she is still here." Ashley said to her with a grin on his face.

He had seen her and who he had assumed was her brother around the school and Gould during the short stay at the school, he actually liked Gould's layout better than the one they had here at silver something about it made him feel at home, to a better degree than Silver, not that he minded being here either it was just something new to live with.

"I'm fine as can be considering I have had about an hours sleep all night." Ashley said to her with a worried look. "Mushy couples are funny to watch and even harder to not laugh at out right most of the time." Ashley said to her with a grin. "I didn't sleep last night because my son is running a fevor, my mother chased me out of the house this morning, so its a lack of sleep mixed with worry for Kai." Ashley said to her. "All I know is I'd rather not be here at all today." Ashley said to her honestly.

[Julia Warner]

"Yeah, well, I really don't want to see her right now. Or ever." Julia muttered, relieved that she had escaped any obligation to acknowledge Haley's presence for the time being. "Sorry, that sounds a little dramatic." She apologized with a laugh, "Just be careful of Haley Rowan, she's a talented manipulator."

She was concerned, however, when the boy said he'd only had an hour of sleep. "What? That's not enough time to get rested!" She gasped. "I don't know how you're even still standing here!"

Her first thought when he mentioned his son was that he looked a bit young to be a teacher, but when he said his mother chased him out, then the pieces began to fall into place. "Son, huh? Don't they have, like, alternative schools for teen parents?" She quizzed. "Or is that something they'd only let teen mom's be in, I guess nobody really thinks about teen dads." She admitted. Whenever anyone discussed teen pregnancy it was always in the context of how it would interrupt the life of the mother. The assumption was usually that the father would bail. "Yeah, I wouldn't really want to be here either, if I were you." She empathized.

[Jade Edwards RCO]

Ashley winced at the term teen dad and the fresh memories that brought up about his ex. "My ex-girlfriend gave birth to him then ran as far as she could from us, I'm just starting to get child support from her family, they were rich but didn't want to take responsibility for their daughher's role in Kai's existance, I guess when your a rich kid you wan to keep your trust fund and will do what ever your parents tell you to do." Ashley said venom and pain flaring in his words, he didn't usually talk about this with his own parents and here he was talking to a complete stranger about it, he guessed it was easier to tell someone you didn't know at all except by sight.

Ashley smiled at this, "I probably could have gone to a school like that, I don't really think that was an option for me though, I am a jock I love to play football, and while I can get into college on my test results without a scholarship, it will be a lot easier if I can get a sports scholarship. Financially for my parents and for me, I've learned to live with the fact that in my life for the next sixteen years I'm going to have to make a lot of sacrifices for the mistake that I made." Ashley said to her. "If I didn't think that my son was okay at home with my mom I wouldn't be here, its hard not to worry about him when his not with me." Ashley explained.

"I wouldn't change having him in my life, it makes me work harder than most, so I can provide for myself and my son when I leave here next year." Ashley said to her.

[Julia Warner]

Julia couldn't fathom what it would be like to give birth to a child and then flee from it. "At least she had it," She commented, feeling very awkard. "That would be hard, being pregnant now. I can't imagine. And to carry a child for nine months and then be willing to give it away. I know it's disruptive but..." She trailed off.

It was hard even to pass by orphaned animals, and those weren't her own flesh and blood. She didn't want to have children anytime soon, of course, and she was sure she would be scared if she ever found herself pregnant and unmarried because a baby now would render so many of her dreams void, but if somehow it came to pass that she became pregnant now -- incredibly unlikely as that scenario was -- she was sure that she would love her baby and want nothing more than to keep it and raise it.

"It's really good that you're involved, though." She offered, impressed by what little he had revealed.

"You play football?" She eyed the boy up and down. That would explain why he was seen in the presence of the Plastics, then. "Sorry, I don't really go in for that sort of thing. Too many people at football games." She explained. "And cheerleaders. Can't say I'm a big fan of those, either."

She laughed, "So how old is your son?" She wondered. "You said his name is Kai? That's an unusual name, you're a big fan of King Arthur? Umm. I'm Julia, by the way. I've seen you around, but I don't think we've been properly introduced."

[Jade Edwards RCO]

Ashley listened to her for a moment, "Cheerleaders, if they have a brain their not so bad, if their your average blond bimbo it gets boring after a while, I like a girl I can have a conversation with, a conversation that doesn't have anything to do with hair curler's anyway. To many cheerleaders are more about the hair and the face and superficial stuff, I don't really have time for people like that." Ashley said to her as he ran a hand through his hair messing up his already untidy hair.

You could usually measure his exhaustion levels by his hair, he usually always had it styled before leaving the house, so the fact that he hadn't done anything this morning showed him to be having something of a bad day.

"I just liked the name I haven't read King Arthur or any of his mythos, Kai is two." Ashley said to her with a smile he knew that was a shock for most people, people expected him to say six months or something similar to hear a seventeen year old had a two year old son was just more eye popping. "Up until a month ago, he had never really seen the ocean, we've been down there a lot since we got here, when his ratty the whole house knows, his a good kid except when his ill then all bets are off." Ashley said to her.

"Ashley." Ashley said to her. "Nice to meet you Julia, likewise I've seen you about in the school, but even now a month on I still don't know a lot of people in our year." Ashley said to her.

[Julia Warner]

"Very true, there is more to life than looking good," Julia agreed. "It would be nice if more of the Plastics realized that." Sure, if you were a gymnast you would probably be in pretty good physical condition, which would lead to a more attractive appearance, and she didn't begrudge the popular girls' their beauty. Well, maybe a little. She may have said she didn't care, and she certainly didn't care enough to put all her effort into her appearance, but she had to admit that it would be nice. After all, people were frequently judged by looks alone, and although she griped about her intelligence and talent being ignored, she still longed for approval. She just squashed that part of her better than other people did. The approval of mortal man was not always the best approval there was, and sometimes was for the wrong reasons. Like physical beauty, which only took effort to a point. There was a good deal of fortune involved, too, so it was just plain annoying when people would take sole credit for something that was a gift.

"Two?!" Julia exclaimed; he was too young to have a two year old! But then again, he was too young to have a child, period. "That's supposed to be a difficult age, isn't it?"

And he had never seen the ocean! Now that was a new one to her. "Where are you from?" She wondered. Somewhere in the middle of the continent, like Iowa or Kansas, maybe. "Yeah, I don't know alot of people, either." She admitted, "You have an excuse, though, having a kld must take up an awful lot of your time."

She tilted her head in thought, "I guess that means you're gonna be taking care of him tonight instead of going out." She realized. She wasn't going out, either, but she certainly did plan on acknowledging the day, or she would if she could get Connor and Jere to go along with her last minute mini-party. "I was thinking of having a party...ish. With my brother and a friend. We could make a cookie run to your place." She offered, "Maybe when Kai feels better you can even share some with him." She didn't know how he would feel about having people he didn't know show up on his doorstep with cookies, or even if the two boys would go along with her plan at all. She was sure that neither of them had anything better to do, though, so she would just have to plead them into it, if it took puppy dog eyes.

[Jade Edwards RCO]

Ashley choked back a laugh, "Trust me when you have kids dodge two, stick them in stasis or something for a couple of years, I love Kai to bits but they start the emotional rollercoaster then, you get the puppy dog eyes and the ah but please dad or mom." Ashley said to her with a smile. "Its pretty intense, but I have a great support network at home, my parents get me out as much as possible, so I occassionally get a night of or a day of on the weekend, mom baby sat him so I could come to the camp out on the saturday, I couldn't make it for the sunday sadly but it was fun." Ashley said to her.

"I was born in New York, and raised there, my parents moved us here for business and to give me a fresh start." Ashley admitted. "I miss my friends and my family there, but I like it here in LA, better weather and a great enviroment to raise Kai in." Ashley said to her. "I like to think I do my best by him, but I'd be lying if I said it was easy, or that I didn't regret it from time to time, but what doesn't break you makes you stronger, and I'm still standing two years on." Ashley said with a fond smile.

"Even if my parents weren't going to a party tonight I couldn't leave Kai ill at home without me after school, but your welcome to come make a pit stop and or say hi." Ashley added to her with a smile. "You may not get quite a welcome, especially since I'll probably just want to crash tonight and get some sleep, but I never say no to company, being a single parent can be incredibly lonely at times." Ashley admitted. "Even with great parents, I gave my social life up two years ago." Ashley added.