Early Bird Rises (Peter)

[Peter Holden]

Peter's missing his home grew with every day he spent at Blue Ridge. He kept expecting it to wane away as time passed, but it only proved to grow stronger. Meeting this girl however, had distracted him, and he found himself focusing less on what he'd lost and more on what he was finding. She certainly didn't replace Kate and everything else he missed about home, but she gave an alternative to the overwhelming loneliness. He'd never been bothered by it before, but then he'd had home and Kate. Coming to Blue Ridge had taught him what loneliness really was. Going to another country and knowing the place nor the people, and just taking it moment by moment, hoping that people wouldn't hate him for what he didn't know. She had certainly turned that around for him when she found him sitting alone that day.

He did have quite a lot to thank this girl for, but it was the sort of gratitude that one couldn't put into words without sounding ridiculous, so he decided to just put his thanks into actions. When he'd first arrived, it seemed as if he'd just freeze over completely, and let no one in, even if they tried. He'd opened up for her, because she'd asked him to, and whenever he looked back on that (which he found himself doing quite often), he admired her more and more. Even if she puzzled him a bit with her blank expressions and beautiful smiles, he still felt that he knew her much more than anyone at Blue Ridge, or outside of his family for that matter, which was odd, considering how long he'd known her for.

He conjured up Kate's most recent letter in his mind. Her letters were the thread that held him to his home. She'd asked if he fancied the girl that he showed the pictures to. He quite liked that description of her, even if it wasn't quite "Washington." Although it may not have seemed like it, it was quite extraordinary for him to have showed her his pictures after just meeting her, even if she'd asked. Did he fancy her? It was hard to say, but he didn't like to label anything yet. Labels led to difficult situations, and nothing was ever as clear as its label.

Peter pulled free of his thoughts when he realized what she was doing. Surrender the ball or fall? It was the sort of decision that he didn't have long to think about (which was also the sort of decision that he wasn't fond of). Fortunately, it was an easy one, as he could hardly face more humiliation. He hopped aside a bit to avoid her foot, giving up the ball to her.

[Avery Jacobs]

Avery wasn’t used to watching or reading people as intensely as she was doing Peter. His personality intrigued her beyond belief and at random times throughout the day, the brunette couldn’t help but thinking about him in her mind stream. As much as she wouldn’t admit it, her liking of the boy was growing with every second spent thinking about him or spending time with him. She couldn’t say she’d ever met anyone like him. He seemed to be okay with her attitude, even when her real self shined through the mask she’d ever so carefully applied. The most surprising thing in her opinion was the fact he seemed to actually perhaps like who she was as well.

For some crazy reason, Avery realized if there was anyone she wanted to show her real self to, it would be Peter. He didn’t seem to be as judgmental as others, rather it seemed he had his own secrets as well. Avery felt somewhat connected to him in that way even in the few moments she’d had with him, there was no doubt she would be spending more time with him in the future. It was too late to be backing out of this relationship now and the girl realized, she might actually have to trust him. The scariest part for her, was perhaps, maybe she did want to trust him.

At the moment, there was absolutely no one the girl trusted living in the world. All her trust in her brother and father had been lost completely and the one person she might’ve trusted still was dead. Avery missed her mother more than anything else in the world, and perhaps it was the fact her family reminded her of her mother, she refused to even think about talking to them. After about two weeks, Avery refused to call or write to them, even if they’d emailed her to. She knew they knew that their opinions on what she did weren’t needed nor wanted and she wasn’t going back home for the holidays. Avery wasn’t quite sure what she was going to do for the holidays.

Avery came back to her feet as the small, playful guilt shot through her as she played that trick on Peter. She gave him a sheepish grin, feeling sorry for whoever played soccer with him next due to the fact he’d probably use that trick as well. As he surrendered the ball over, Avery easily played with it dribbling it faster and furiously as she finally shot it hard out and jumped up in the air. The ball went into the air with impact, flying a quite ways away through the two light posts. Avery giggled “Wooott! Goal!” She shot off after it, bringing it back with a dribble before she stopped it and brought it toward Peter. “You’re pretty good to have gotten it away from me.” She smiled slightly, chuckling a little “And that last trick I learned from another player. Except me, the fool, decided to be prideful and try and defy physics. I ended up on the ground.” She shook her head, her eyes away from the current situation as she remembered that day.

[Peter Holden]

Peter had a habit of connecting quotes to his everyday life, though he rarely shared them. Already, he'd connected a few to this girl and him, but another stuck out to him now: "A cat may look at a king." It was a proverb used in Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, and although Peter's connection to it in this case was a little bit off from how it was usually used as a metaphor, he still quite liked it. He, being the cat of course, and she the king, or queen. How was he supposed to stop himself from watching her? It seemed an unreasonable suggestion, with her in all her excellence.

Peter didn't really intentionally hide who he was. It was more of a precautionary measure, and really just his personality. Appear polite and pleasing on the outside and keep everything else locked up. He couldn't help but wonder how much of what he'd seen of this girl had really been her. And if she'd ever let him see what was really her. The thought intrigued him, and only made him want to get to know her better. He didn't doubt that they'd see each other again, since it seemed that they had actually become friends, which still surprised him a bit, but not as much as he'd expected.

It was hard for him to keep himself from wondering what had made her this way. He doubted that this was just how she was, like with him. Did she miss anyone from home like he did? She'd said that she missed home. He didn't even know where she lived, or if it was close enough for her to return often. He knew that many of the students were returning home for the Thanksgiving holiday, but they didn't celebrate that at home, and so he was staying at Blue Ridge and going back for Christmas. The flight was so long that he couldn't go home as often as he'd like to when he didn't have classes, but Christmas was coming up soon and he was looking forward to it.

He shook his head slightly at her trick, though he wasn't particularly bothered by it. They were just playing for fun, and now he knew the trick for the future, and could try to avoid it, but use for himself if he ever found a need to. He grinned as he watched her shoot the ball between a couple of light posts. He clapped a bit as she was bringing the ball back towards him. "Wonderful job! And thank you." It had been fun, and he was pretty happy with his own performance, considering her skill. He chuckled a bit at her story, "Yes, it's best not to try to break the laws of physics. There are usually consequences." He sobered quickly, "And you're not a fool."

He looked down at his watch, and was startled by the time. He still had to get changed and eat before his first class, and shower if he had time, which hopefully he would. He normally liked to take his time with these things, but might have to rush this morning. "I-uh-I've got to go." He turned to jog away, but spun around, his eyes wide, looking very flustered, "What's your name?" He couldn't leave without it this time. Once she answered, he turned, jogging towards the Red Ribbon House, only looking behind him to glance at her once more.

[Avery Jacobs]

Avery had been broken in a way, her spirited, young heart had been smothered into little pieces after her mother had died and everything in school had went down. It had however, eventually been fixed, but it had been fixed wrong. She was certainly not the same Avery Jacobs she had been four years ago, at the height of her life toward the downfall. Still, her life was just beginning and that was what her grandparents had realized. They had sent the moody sixteen year old to BRRA to get back on track with her life, to make sure she didn’t waste her youth.

Slowly, the brunette had been getting better caring wise, but her attitude remained as tight as ever. She didn’t give into the little tricks they’d sent, cookies in a token of kindness, though she hadn’t paid them any attention. Sometimes, at rare times, Avery did have guilt for shutting her grandparents out like she was. Her war was not with them, it was with her father and Leo. Still, Avery couldn’t help but feel annoyed at them for trying to ‘fix’ her. The brunette was quite sure she wasn’t the one who needed the fixing.

The girl’s focus returned back onto the game as Peter exclaimed out a compliment on her little goal. Avery grinned, finding it cute how he exclaimed as if it was an actual game when she shot it. Still, the girl was happy he wasn’t the type to get all moody when they didn’t get to shoot it or something as extremely sensitive people didn’t make it onto Avery’s list of liked people. The brunette bowed, the more of real, playful self shining out of her the more time she spent with the boy. “Why, thank you.” She proclaimed in a dubious voice.

Avery raised her brows as the boy commented on the laws of physics, oh how right he was. Her eyes turned curious for his sudden serious expression before chuckling a bit nervously at his comment. It had been a while since anyone had ever said anything so nice to her. The brunette sighed, unsure how to reply. Before she could form any other thoughts, the boy explained quite hurriedly he had to go and then asked for her name. She chuckled mischievously, so he had remembered. “Avery.” she said simply before turning around and dribbling the ball back in the direction of her dorms. She looked back only once to catch Peter’s eye as he was going back as well and gave him a small grin before picking up the ball and sprinting out of sight. A good run was certainly going to be needed if she wanted to get ready for school in time.