Decorating party (Tag Lauren and Ginger) on Teppenpaw Commons

Jemima Wolseithcrafte

August 20, 2017 9:08 PM

Decorating party (Tag Lauren and Ginger) by Jemima Wolseithcrafte

Final year. That was so crazy. There was a part of her that looked forward to finishing Sonora. She had a solid plan and she was, in a lot of ways, really ready to move on from sharing a bedroom with two other girls and start sharing with just one special boy instead. But at the same time, it was really hard to think about giving up their room in Teppenpaw, and about all of this coming to an end. Part of her wondered how much she'd even see Ginger and Lauren once they graduated. They had really different lives, and being the Teppenpaw girls was kind of the thing that bound them together.

Still, now wasn't the time to dwell on such things. They still had a whole year ahead, and the first day back was always a special one. In addition to all the catching up they had to do, it was also the time when they decorated their dormatory for the year, and Jemima had a great theme in mind.

"Happy New Year," she greeted her roommates with a big grin and hugs all round. "How are you guys? How were your summers?"

Once the initial flurry of chatter was over, she put forward her idea. She'd initially thought about a travel theme, seeing as they'd all be off after this, but that had seemed too sad. She wanted to spend this year making thr most of everything Sonora before they left. And that's when her great idea had hit...

"How about, for this year's theme, we have us?" she suggested. "We can include little doodles of things we've done, or things from the previous themes. And I thought maybe we could have a word cloud in the middle with all the things we associate with our friendship," she suggested. There was plenty of wall space to bring in other ideas too, which she was sure Ginger and Lauren would have. She had also brought along their first year yearbook and planned to sketch some 'then and now' portraits of the three of them, but that would take quite a bit of time, and be something to work on during the first few weeks. Some of the simpler ideas they could put up now before the feast.

13 Jemima Wolseithcrafte Decorating party (Tag Lauren and Ginger) 304 Jemima Wolseithcrafte 1 5

Lauren Song

August 29, 2017 1:22 AM

Best part of the year by Lauren Song

Lauren couldn't believe that it was already her seventh year. As a first-year, imagining herself as a seventeen-year-old was impossible. It seemed like forever ago when she started to see her magical abilities and decided to attend Sonora. Leaving Sonora was so scary, and the thought of never seeing these girls like this again was even sadder. She didn't want things to change.

She was feeling melancholy during the whole Welcoming Feast, but as soon as she met her best friends in their room she felt her spirits rise. "Hey!" she replied, hugging each of them. "Happy New Year!

"I went to Korea with my family during the summer and my dad really wanted my sister to go to school there and stay with him, so we dropped her off. It was really sad seeing her go especially cause she's the youngest, but I think she'll be happy spending so much time with my dad. She always wanted to be the only child anyway. That means it's just me and Isaac now when we're not at Sonora. My parents were really happy to see each other for the few months we were there, and it was cool visiting the touristy spots there. We try to go every summer, but I think this was the longest time we stayed."

Feeling like a whole family was special to Lauren, and though her parents lived separately, she felt lucky that they weren't divorced. She'd explained her odd living situation to her roommates years before, that her dad had to run his family's non-magical business in South Korea while her mom had her life, her family, and her work as a pharmacist in Los Angeles.

"How were your summers? Tell me everything!"

Once everyone had shared, Lauren's dark eyes brightened at the sentimental theme. "I love that idea, Jemima. I remember when I loved unicorns and dragons back as a first-year. I think rainbows were probably included in that." She grinned, feeling tears suddenly prickling at her eyes. "I can't believe this is our last year. We'll definitely stay in touch, right?"

19 Lauren Song Best part of the year 303 Lauren Song 0 5

Ginger Pierce

September 21, 2017 2:01 PM

Sorry I'm such a slowpoke by Ginger Pierce

Ginger entered the Teppenpaw seventh year girls' dorm with an odd feeling of sad nostalgia mixed with eager anticipation. This was the last year she'd be at Sonora, the last time she'd get to catch up and decorate with Lauren and Jemima. It was sad that this era was coming to a close, but she was so ready to stop have months and months of separation from Jake.

"It was great!" she enthused when the question of summers came around to her. "Jake was doing better this year, so we got to have some fun," she grinned and waggled her eyebrows suggestively though they hadn't had much opportunity to be alone long enough for much more that making out. That was the problem with living in tents surrounded by your entire extended family. Next summer, she was definitely making the case for meeting up somewhere other than California. "He came to visit and got to see my play." They both knew she'd gotten a medium sized part in the Renaissance Faire's rendition of Shakespeare's Comedy of Errors. Most of her letters had mentioned it at least in passing, though her role as the wandering apothecary had more direct interaction with the faire goers so that generally took up more of meat of her correspondence simply because it varied more from day to day. Plus, she found it funny to relate how muggles responded to her talk about real magical potion ingredients.

Then Jemima had a great idea for their room theme. "Perfect," she agreed, chiming in after Lauren. Then she gave the other girl a hug as she started to tear up. "Of course! I'll keep you updated of wherever I'll be and you just tell me when you need back stage passes, yeah? I can hook you up. Both of you," she added to Jemima, though she suspected Lauren was the one more likely to take her up on it, both because Lauren was conveniently from the same state, and because Jemima had family pressures that might make attending a muggle theatre . . . awkward.

1 Ginger Pierce Sorry I'm such a slowpoke 302 Ginger Pierce 0 5

Jemima

September 24, 2017 3:12 AM

Sorry I'm not going to be around by Jemima

"So school in Korea isn't boarding school?" Jemima asked, when Lauren said that her sister would be attending school over there in order to see more of their dad. She thought it was one of the reasons, besides making connections, that English and French parents seemed not to mind sending their children to school in the US; as all the European magical schools were boarding schools too, it didn't actually affect how much they saw them.
"My summer was good. Did the usual - time at the lake, a bunch of parties. They're ok but I already have Owen. I don't need to go out meeting people. I mean, I get to see him at some of the events but equally, I could just arrange to see him if I want to."

Ginger's summer sounded much more interesting. Jemima was glad things were going well for her and Jake, although she wondered what the wiggle of Ginger's eyebrows meant. Had she and Jake..? She wanted to ask but she wasn't sure how to talk about that kind of thing. She glanced inquisitively at Lauren to see whether she'd picked up on it too.

"Your plays sound like so much fun. I loved reading about it. It almost made me feel like I was there," she smiled. "Thanks," she added, when Ginger offered to hook them up with tickets for the next time. "I'm sorry I couldn't make this one. Maybe next time," she smiled, distressed to hear how hollow and insincere she sounded. She was truly sorry that she couldn't come, but she figured Ginger was mostly at this point offering out of politeness rather than any real expectation that she'd ever make it. They both sort of knew that they were saying it for form's sake, and that she never really would be coming.
Hopefully Ginger knew that was why she couldn't say that with much conviction - not because she didn't care or didn't want to go.

"So, unicorns... Dragons. Maybe we can have an owl, for all the summer letters we've sent. And for how we'll stay in touch, for sure," she added, managing a weak smile at Lauren although her own eyes were tearing up too.

13 Jemima Sorry I'm not going to be around 304 Jemima 0 5

Lauren

October 04, 2017 12:52 AM

Sorry for not checking it often by Lauren

"It is," Lauren replied. "But that way my sister goes to my dad during the breaks and if she ever needs anything he can send it to her. I think he just really, really missed us and she was more than willing to go with him. She barely knows enough Korean though, so I'm worried about her..."

But that was another topic for another time. Lauren wasn't super close to her youngest sister, and she was pretty sure Maia genuinely hated her and Isaac, but she would still miss having her around. Somewhat. It wasn't like they didn't see each other during summers anyway.

Lauren didn't know what to think of Ginger's description and ended up meeting Jemima's eyes. She didn't want to imagine "fun" meaning something else so she quickly put it away from her mind to keep from making a grossed-out face.

When Ginger hugged her, Lauren smiled into her shoulder. "Be prepared to send me those backstage passes," she said. "I'm totally going to drag Isaac too. He needs to get educated, haha." She took a deep breath and smiled at her two best friends. "Definitely! Maybe we can put up quotes or some fun, encouraging sayings for each other on the walls too. Owls, dragons, and unicorns. Maybe our theme this year should be a menagerie!" She laughed. "Or COMC class. I'm so glad I don't have to take COMC anymore. That classroom always had a weird smell to it."

19 Lauren Sorry for not checking it often 303 Lauren 0 5