Sophie Jamison
August 27, 2011 5:40 PM
Internal conflict! Blah! [Ryan] by Sophie Jamison
Sophie was a fighter, always had been. It was her way to seize control when it started slipping out of her hands. The could get her in trouble--like arguing with her family; that always went over well--but she never changed. She didn’t want to. Nowadays she was fighting her most worthy adversary thus far: herself.Her midterm had been better than ever, amazing even. Her father made time for her. Her family was together. It was the greatest ever. However, the third year returned to Sonora feeling…
Odd.
Something wasn’t right. It wasn’t them; it was her. She wasn’t a kid anymore, but she didn’t feel very grown up. Contradicting was she. The blonde was fourteen now, but her behavior suggested otherwise. She threw tantrums when she didn’t know how to control herself. When no one was looking, she could cry like a baby until her blue eyes hurt--not at school, of course, because Sara might see.
At the same time, some things about her were changing. She’d grown a bit, although she was still a lot smaller than most of the school. She was starting to look a lady, with curves in places she’d never noticed them before. The physical changes weren’t the half of it. Sophie fancied boys, and she had for a while now, but what boy would fancy a girl like her?
Glancing at her reflection, she supposed she was nice-looking enough. It was weird to try to think of herself as pretty. Sara was a lot prettier, she felt, with her dark hair and brown eyes. What was Sophie? Pretty Sara’s blonde-haired blue-eyed roommate. Her own looks were so cliché. She sighed and rolled her eyes away from her reflection.
These conflicting thoughts surfaced as she realized the ball thing was drawing nearer. Her crush had a date. It wasn’t her. Her back-up crush--yes, she had one--had a date. Again, not her. The Pecari really didn’t want to go alone.
With another sigh, she placed the hand-mirror back in her drawer and departed her dorm room with intent of finding Ryan. The Crotalus was her best friend, but he was also a guy, so she figured he’d be okay with going with her. She wasn’t going to twist his arm about it or make him feel like he had to go with her if he didn’t want to, but she figured being with her best friend would be the most fun.
Her child side kind of wanted to skip, but that warring maturing side told it that no, skipping was not going to happen. Her blue eyes spotted him sitting on a couch in the in-between room of MARS. It had kind of become their hang-out place. The library meant they had to be quiet; the Cascade Hall was almost always filled it seemed; and the Labyrinth Gardens weren’t really Ryan’s style, with his allergies and stuff. Sophie liked the MARS place just fine.
“Hey, stranger,” beamed the fourteen year old as she plopped down on the couch beside him. “So, have you heard about this ball thing?” Sophie wasn’t one to beat around the bush. If she had something to ask, she was just going to do it. “I know it’s totally stupid, but want to go with me? Y’know, as friends.” He probably knew she had meant that, but she added the “as friends” thing just in case.
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Sophie Jamison
Internal conflict! Blah! [Ryan]
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Ryan O'Malley
August 30, 2011 6:53 PM
That's unfortunate by Ryan O'Malley
Ryan sat on one of the couches in the MARS entry way. He had an awful lot on his mind. Midterm had been dreadful of course, he didn't really want to go home anymore. All he did was cause conflict. They wouldn't have gone to his grandparents if it wasn't for him and nobody else would have to put up with Carrie. Arabella wouldn't have gotten in trouble. Everything was Ryan's fault.And he hated himself for it. The third year just wanted it all to end but felt powerless to stop it. Except to remove himself from the situation completely but Ryan didn't know how to do that.
Then, there was the ball coming up. Ryan sort of felt odd about it. With so many more girls than guys at Sonora, he felt a bit obligated to go with someone . The thing was, would anyone really want to go with him ? Ryan was an upperclass pureblood male in a class of upperclass pureblood girls, but that was about it that he had working for him.
Plus, he never really felt on par with them. The Crotalus felt himself beneath everyone despite blood status. It was hard to feel that mattered when his mother had treated him more like some sort of insect that wandered into her house. And the former Mrs. O'Malley did not like insects.
And what girl would want to go with Ryan ? He was a loser, his sister had made that very clear over break and his mother had made that very clear to him over his lifetime. He didn't play Quidditch, in fact, couldn't fly at all. Nor would Ryan consider himself witty or charming or intelligent. Plus, according to Carrie, his ears stuck out. Why would any girl want to go to the with a socially awkward unatheletic loser with ears like an elephant?
And the thing was that Ryan was starting to get interested in girls. He actually really wanted a girlfriend, not that he had a crush on anyone specific. There were a few girls that the third year thought were cute, but he hadn't ever spoken to them and Ryan doubted he ever would have the nerve. Well, one was Jordan's sister, Alice, so maybe he'd one day speak to her in passing and it was possible theoretically that he could end up working with Kate Bauer in class but he'd probably become tongue tied.
But it would be nice to have someone, someone who thought Ryan was special. Sophie was sort of like that but he knew she only saw him as a friend and vice versa. She was kind of like his sister. Well, okay, not his sister. His sister was horrible and cruel towards him, which Sophie was not but more like what a sister should be.
Speaking of the Pecari, she was now plopping down next to Ryan. The Crotalus looked up. She was asking him to the ball. "Of course." Ryan replied, a bit surprised. He'd been sort of thinking of something along those lines, as he wasn't really comfortable asking anyone else-Ryan was pretty convinced that girls would even rather go alone than with him, except maybe prefects who had to lead the first dance, but he didn't think a fifth year would stoop to a third year, especially him. "Thank you." Ryan murmured to his best friend gratefully.
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Ryan O'Malley
That's unfortunate
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Sophie
September 13, 2011 5:28 PM
Yep, but that's teenhood. by Sophie
“Of course.” He sounded surprised, as if he hadn’t expected her to ask. That probably had less to do with Sophie and more to do with the fact that he didn’t think anyone would want to go with him. The blonde didn’t get why his confidence was so drastically low. Ryan was a great guy.Well, okay, yeah, she got why. It was because his mother was a monster. Luckily, she wasn’t in his life anymore (Go, lawyer Dad!), but his sister was just as awful. He didn’t deserve that, but being brought up on it made him think he did, it seemed.
Sophie wondered if all mothers just sucked. Hers wasn’t breathing, and Ryan’s wasn’t loving. She didn’t really know any other mothers to compare to, although there were her own aunts. Almost all of them seemed like great mothers, if the Pecari’s cousins were any example. So maybe it wasn’t all moms, but just the ones she and Ryan got stuck with.
Siblings were something weird too. Ryan’s sister hated him for no reason other than the fact that their mom did, it seemed. The blue-eyed third year puzzled often if that general hatred could have happened to her. Would her baby brother, the one who no one at Sonora but Ryan knew about, have hated her? Maybe that was better left unknown.
“Thank you.” That wasn’t just a thanks for asking kind of gratitude. That was a thanks for asking because no one else ever would kind. Oh, now he had to go and make Sophie all soft and squishy. She hated getting mushy. Nonetheless, the small fourteen year old wrapped a hug around her best friend.
“I don’t know if I’ve actually said this before,” said Sophie as she pulled back, “but you’re awesome. Like, really awesome. Seriously.” Maybe he had worried about no one wanting to go to the ball with him, but truthfully, so had she. The blonde was a pureblood, yeah, but she wasn’t girly, and she wasn’t reserved. She was opinionated and loud. What boy wanted that? Nic had asked Rachel Bauer, a girl not like her. If that was any indication, she wasn’t the “type” of many.
For now, however, she just smiled at her best friend. He was like a brother, a good one, and she was protective of him like a sister was supposed to be, not like his stupid sister was.
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Sophie
Yep, but that's teenhood.
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