Keeping a promise (Tag Eliza) on Cascade Hall

Marcus Williams

August 24, 2011 9:24 PM

Keeping a promise (Tag Eliza) by Marcus Williams

When Marcus had first heard about the ball, he had thought nothing of it. It was just another dance for the girls to go all crazy over and dress up while he had to sit around bored to death. On top of it being a ball, it was a themed ball from way back when. He was pretty sure it was when Shakespeare existed, which meant that men wore tights and stuff. No thanks. Marcus had no need to want to do anything like that. Obviously he’d go to the ball, he wasn’t really sure there was an option not to go, but he would stick to normal dress clothes and not the themed thing. The worst they could do was tell him to go change and if that was the case, he’d just stay in his dorm room for the rest of the evening.

Over midterm he had made the mistake of telling his mom and grandmother about the ball. Both of them were head over heels excited about it. Marcus wasn’t really sure why; it wasn’t as though they could attend the thing. But they chatted happily between the two of them in regards to his costume and they had asked him a million questions about the girls in his class and which one he liked the most.

That was not a conversation Marcus was ready to have with his mother, let alone with his grandmother too. They had both just giggled and waved his embarrassment away as though it were nothing. He had to think about the girls in his class and which ones he would consider to be a good date. There was Kate, Valentina, and Arista from Teppenpaw. Marcus didn’t really know them. They seemed nice though and Kate was cute. From his own house there was Sara and Sophie. Sophie was probably going with Ryan because they were pretty close and Sara was cool to Marcus. Cute too, but she was also very stiff, so Marcus wasn’t sure he could have a fun time with her. And then there were the girls of Crotalus. All of them were nice to look at. Though Renee was way too active. He was pretty sure she would last all of two minutes with him before bouncing off somewhere else and he didn’t know Daisy at all. She seemed too serious anyway. Which left Jordan and Eliza. Jordan was a lot like him, so he knew he could have fun with her, but he liked the challenge that Eliza put in front of him too. It was definitely a tough decision.

Coming back to school, Marcus had promised his mother that he’d get a date to the dance. He refused to wear tights though. So, instead, his mother and him had gone to a magical dress shop where they picked out dress robes. They were alright. It was basically a tuxedo with a cloak. He could do that. He could not do tights.

Anyway, it had been a week since school resumed and he was hearing rumors that everyone was already pairing off as dates. He was hoping to wait a little longer before asking someone to go with him, but he didn’t want to wait too long and break his promise to his mom.

Walking into the hall for dinner, Marcus paused long enough to find the person he was looking for. When he spotted her, he waltzed over to her and took a seat across from her. “Hey Eliza.” He greeted with a smile. “So, listen, I don’t know if anyone has asked you already or not, but if you aren’t already going with someone, would you want to go to the ball with me?” Like ripping off a bandaid.

6 Marcus Williams Keeping a promise (Tag Eliza) 180 Marcus Williams 1 5

Eliza Bennett

August 25, 2011 10:22 PM

This could be...interesting by Eliza Bennett

A sudden pain touched Eliza’s lower lip, and she realized she was biting it again, this time taking off just a little more skin than was really good for it. Any harder, and it would bleed. She really didn’t want that. Reluctantly, she forced her teeth back completely into her mouth – it was an unattractive habit anyway – and her fingers from a long curl of dark brown hair she’d been toying with and her attention to the food on her plate. To looking calm and unruffled.

That Female was on her mind again, bothering her. She had thought for a time that the wretched being was off the Quidditch team, but now she was playing against, apparently, her family’s wishes, which meant she was likely that much deeper into Pierce’s pocket. If Eliza didn’t cut her feet out from under her now, she might not have another chance. Next year, the staff would decide on prefects, and if That Female became a prefect…If That became a prefect, Eliza might have to do something desperate.

Truthfully, she didn’t think it would be either of them, since it was no secret that she would happily spit on That Female’s grave and That Female, in her vulgarity, would no doubt do worse to Eliza’s, and Jordan was too close to Eliza, which left Daisy Thorpe and Ryan O’Malley, both of whom were, if nothing like part of it, closer to Eliza’s faction than to That Female’s, but it never hurt to be sure. That was what Father had pounded into her head for as long as she could remember. And the only way to be sure was for her or Jordan to have the badge. That was the only way to be safe.

She frowned at the chicken on her plate. She so wanted to think about something else. Anything else. But if she didn’t think about it now, she would think about it later. These thoughts always came back. Always.

”Hey, Eliza,” she heard, and looked up, startled but smiling automatically, to find Marcus sitting across from her. She opened her mouth to reply, but before she could, he went ahead and finished speaking his piece, surprising her enough that she just closed her mouth because she wasn’t entirely sure what might come out of it.

She had been considering asking, since she didn’t think either of them would really ask a girl without prompting, either Ryan O’Malley or James Owen – Arthur Carey had been considered, too, but there was a sharp divide between her station and his, and since he wasn’t as meek as Ryan, it would be most improper and might backfire for her to approach him first – for political reasons, but this…it was strange, it was bizarre, and it was chancy, but it might just work. She thought she and Marcus could get along well enough for an evening even if she didn’t get anything out of it, and the best case scenario was that it got her half a point with Pierce – definitely not enough to change anything, but….

She felt a moment of guilt, but tried to ignore it. It wasn’t like she could just not notice he was Muggleborn and that there were politics associated with that, even for someone not very high up in the pureblood hierarchies. Maybe especially for someone like that, really.

Eliza smiled. "That could be fun," she said, but then she folded her hands on the edge of the table, unconsciously showing off her perfectly manicured nails, and leaned forward a little to discuss the really important part of this arrangement. “Are you very set on a specific theme for robes, though? My dress is red.” Then, so as not to seem too bold, she added, "Dark red." More because she looked fantastic in red but was seldom allowed to wear it than because it was one of her House colors, but if she could pass herself off as a model Crotalus who was nevertheless not a fanatic while That Female was no doubt being an offense to even what Pierce would consider good taste, then that was all to the good, too.

She had to stop thinking about this. It was going to drive her crazy, if she didn’t. It was inevitable.

0 Eliza Bennett This could be...interesting 174 Eliza Bennett 0 5

Marcus

August 26, 2011 7:55 PM

Always a Politician by Marcus

Eliza didn’t say anything for a moment. She didn’t even make an expression on her face. Marcus should have been concerned by this, but he wasn’t. He had just randomly asked her to the dance. He was sure there were probably other males that Eliza had her eyes on. After nearly three years of living in this school, Marcus was well aware of his position with the magical families. He couldn’t help the fact that his mother was not born from magic anymore than he could change the color of his skin. No matter what world he lived in, he would always have prejudices against him.

But that was neither here nor there.

He would be okay if she said no. It wasn’t as though he was expecting her to want something from him or jump up and down at the idea of going to the ball with him. He had just felt that if he went with her, he’d have fun and possibly learn a thing or two along the way. Nothing more than that. Besides, it wasn’t as though this school wasn’t full of other girls. And even if he didn’t get a date, he’d go for the food, watch some people, maybe dance a little and then go back to his room. No harm done. He wasn’t really worried about it. Maybe it would have been different if he was a 7th year and everything at that age seemed to matter. At fourteen and a third year, it didn’t really phase him any.

When Eliza smiled, Marcus knew that this would turn out okay. Mainly because she wasn’t wearing an apologetic smile that people usually wore when they were about to say something that could potentially upset the other person. Her actual response though wasn’t a yes or no sort of thing, so Marcus didn’t know exactly where that left them. Leaning forward because Eliza seemed to have to tell him something conspiratorially to him, he found himself realizing that she had actually said yes to him because she was asking him about his robes and telling him about hers. He wasn’t really sure if he ought to know what the real difference was between red robes and dark red, but he assumed that really didn’t matter. “Mine are black. The lady told me the robes were the ‘classic’ look. Whatever that means…”

His mother had been worried about the months between buying the robes and him actually wearing them. In the last nine months, Marcus had gone through two growth spurts and now stood at 5 foot 9. He liked having the height now, but his mother knew that he was going to have more spurts before he hit 21 because his doctor had told her that Marcus was likely to range around the 6 foot 3 or 4 marker by the time he stops growing. If he had one these next couple of months, the robes may not fit. They bought them anyway because there was nothing they could really do about it.

“I didn’t want to wear tights, so we went for the tuxedo look.” Marcus explained.

6 Marcus Always a Politician 180 Marcus 0 5

Eliza

August 27, 2011 5:26 PM

I think it's in the blood. by Eliza

“Of course,” Eliza said automatically to black robes being the classic look, but then had to bite her lip again to not laugh when she really heard the part about whatever that meant. He really did need to be educated about some things not covered on the Sonora curriculum if he was going to do well in this world, but that, she thought, was something to deal with another day. “It’s just a fashion thing,” she added.

She could not offend him, after all, and a smile at just the wrong moment could do that, depending on how touchy someone was. Marcus seemed to usually be easygoing enough to her, but she had seen him show a bit of an edge before.

Right now, the people she felt were part of her group were her, Jordan definitely, Nic almost surely, and maybe James Owen just because of their ability to get along combined with their inability to get along with That Female. Two pureblood girls, but not hugely important ones, a half-blood, and an Owen, whose social station was not totally unlike Pierce’s own. Adding a Muggleborn would give her a solid advantage, and if he could bring Sara Raines, who she thought might be a little iffy, over, too….

Stop it. Stop it, stop it, stop it. You cannot think about friends this way.

Still. She would need to talk to James sometime between now and the ball and see if he was coming and save him a dance if he was. It wasn’t as though there were anything improper about dancing with more than just one’s escort, after all, even if you were married, if you wanted to and it was done politely. Nic would - she wanted to smirk at the thought, but didn't - no doubt be firmly attached to Rachel Bauer that entire evening, so that would be all right, but she would have to see about James.

“I think that’s for the best,” she agreed when Marcus said why he had the robes he had instead of more period-appropriate ones. “I imagine some people are going to look very silly walking around in…tights like that. My gown’s along the theme lines, but I think it’ll still work out.” Red and black would contrast wonderfully. They would make a striking pair, she thought. The one bit of the audience that really mattered would be sure to notice them at some point, and hopefully draw all the proper conclusions from it, while she would get to be noticed, and not for being alone. Good.

0 Eliza I think it's in the blood. 0 Eliza 0 5

Marcus

August 31, 2011 9:06 PM

It must be, you're all like this... by Marcus

“Yeah, you ain’t kidding.” Marcus agreed. He wondered if there would be any males who would be wearing the correct century attire in the school and really hoped that there wouldn’t be. Although, knowing the personalities of some of these guys, maybe he shouldn’t be so surprised. Everything in this world was so different from his own. Well, he supposed this world was also his own, but he still considered himself so much more of a Muggle than a Wizard.

At Sonora, Marcus felt a bit of an outcast, even more so than when he was on the Urban Suburban program. He was pretty sure no one at Sonora lived on the ‘poor’ streets of the city. They didn’t hear gunshots at night or watch the news to see the homicide count rise. He was almost positive that they didn’t think about drop out rates due to neglectful parents and teen pregnancies or even gang affiliations. But that was the life he returned to every summer and holiday. It was the life he was accustomed to and the life he wasn’t sure how to leave. He had no complaints though. His life wasn’t a bad one. His mom and grandma kept him in line and for the most part, most of the mothers of his friends did too. But, it was still something that he experienced regularly and he doubted any of his classmates did.

Eliza was one of those who probably never thought twice about her life. She had money, which mattered in both worlds. The worst she probably ever had to deal with was breaking a nail. Her future was set for her and Marcus was still trying to figure out if he even had a future and if he did, in which world?

Still, he liked her as a friend. She had spunk and didn’t mind telling him off if he needed to be.

“So, listen…” Marcus started, trying to find the words to explain something, “I’ve got swag and all-“ He had no idea if she even knew what swag meant. But he wasn’t lying when he said he had it. Marcus enjoyed dancing and him and the other teens in his neighborhood had music in common and often threw small parties to pass the time. “You, with some Jay-Z and Lil Wayne. But, I know they ain’t gonna be playing any hip hop at the ball, so dancing might be a little bit of a challenge for me.” Marcus admitted.

6 Marcus It must be, you're all like this... 180 Marcus 0 5

Eliza

August 31, 2011 10:40 PM

Bennetts, Crotali, or girls? by Eliza

Eliza’s first impulse was to correct Marcus’ grammar – Mother would have slapped her for saying “ain’t” under any circumstances; that wasn’t proper – but she had gotten much more used to biting her tongue since last year, at least about little things that didn’t really matter to her directly, so she didn’t indulge it. It helped that Father would have thought it was rude for her to do that, too; he was very emphatic about how they had to appreciate that not everyone had enjoyed the advantages that they had, which was why they should always be kind to their staffs and underlings and people they just happened to meet, not least, if not entirely, so those people wouldn’t wish them harm.

A slight frown did crease her forehead, though, when he used a word she didn’t understand, followed by still more words she didn’t understand. ‘Swag’ sounded familiar, but she couldn’t put it in place, and ‘Jay-Z’ and ‘Lil Wayne’ sounded like men…sort of…Jayzee could be a house-elf, she supposed, in some naming systems, but that didn’t make sense, and what did these men…or beings, or whatever they were, have to do with the ball? She began to wonder if he was playing a joke on her.

Then he mentioned dancing, and playing hip-hop, and she decided to guess that he was talking about a kind of music that wasn’t what would be played in society. “That’s all right,” she said, then added, “I can teach you, if you want.” She smiled self-deprecatingly and added, "Well, show you enough to get by, anyway."

The offer felt a little bold to her, since she had never taught anyone anything before and certainly not a skill her dancing tutors had seemed to think could only be properly drilled into a person over a lifetime, but she felt sure enough of herself to think she could at least get enough of it into his head and feet for him not to embarrass himself or her at the event. He wouldn’t be as good as someone who’d started ballet at about three and then learning formal dancing at seven, but he would do for something that her ingrained pureblood sense of event importance told her was not a major occasion, not with some of the people who would be attending and most of the people who were in charge. Some of the professors were all right, she even liked some, but none of them was exactly proper.

0 Eliza Bennetts, Crotali, or girls? 0 Eliza 0 5

Marcus

September 08, 2011 9:14 PM

Purebloods, but all of the above work too. by Marcus

Marcus mulled over her offer in great detail. He knew that he needed to learn how to dance the way these rich white people did, but he felt that this school leaned more towards that culture than it did any other. He knew that this ball was in celebration of some old guy who put together this school, but what about any other ball they could have here? He knew there were some in the past and this Midsummer’s events meant that it was going to come around again. He wondered if they would all be the same or if maybe they would be like the dances from back home.

“Okay, I accept your offer to help me learn to dance your white people dances, but I want you to at least try to learn one of the dances I’m familiar with.” Marcus suggested. He would love to see Eliza and her friends trying to dance to hip hop. He was sure some of them probably had some moves once they found the rhyme of the music, but it sure would be fun to watch them try for a little bit. Dancing around in funky costumes to slow moving music did not entice that much fun and energy into Marcus, but he was going to give it a try. It was only fair that someone else give something new a try too.

“Here’s what I figure. Every year this school does this Mid-Summer event thing that doesn’t really do much for me, but I will at least try things out and see what it brings. This ball deal, not me, but I’m giving it a try.” Marcus explained, trying to be understanding. “But I doubt there will ever be a day when this school realizes that not everyone here is rich or white. Balls are for rich white people. Dances are for everyone else. And dances are what have the good music. The booty shaking dances. I want to see you all dance a little to my kind of music.” Marcus would still learn to dance to the Waltz or whatever either way, but he was hoping that some of his classmates would be willing to reach him half way. “It doesn’t have to happen in front of people or you can have Jordan or someone else learn too, but I’d at least like to see some of you try it out.”

6 Marcus Purebloods, but all of the above work too. 180 Marcus 0 5

Eliza

September 10, 2011 1:53 AM

We're just products of our environments by Eliza

“Booty-shaking?” Eliza asked, almost laughing in surprise. “Does…that mean what I think it means?”

Because if that meant what she thought it meant…There was a lot she’d be willing to do for advantage, and while this sounded distasteful, she could handle it, as long as it wasn't in public. It would still be a huge risk, but she could pay attention well enough to stop the second anyone came by wherever they met.

And his suggestion about getting Jordan involved.... A mental image came up in her head without her wanting it to, and she flushed a little at the level of detail.

“I can ask Jordan,” she said. Her friend wasn’t as invested as she had been, so she might not be willing to risk the total loss of her reputation right alongside Eliza, but she did have a daring streak sometimes. Eliza smiled fondly at the memory of that dress the night they had first come to school. “She might be all right with it.” If Eliza phrased it the right way. She paused, then asked, in case she needed to either demand something in return or back out of this deal right now, “…What does your kind of dancing involve? Besides booty-shaking?”

Because there were limits. She would really only get credit for being seen with a non-pureblood, something subconscious or whatever it was called with Pierce. If he wanted anything much wilder than what she was imagining, then he was going to have to offer more than that. A lot more. She didn’t count teaching him to dance as something that would benefit her, because it would benefit him just as much that night.

Maybe it would be different in a few years. Mother said it was as normal to be attracted to boys regardless of their station as it was wrong to do anything with one her father hadn’t approved of, but Eliza just…wasn’t. It didn’t make sense to her why she would be. Some of them were all right as people, but they usually weren’t pretty, and they were different anyway. It was a little embarrassing, which was why she didn’t talk about it, when she was one of the oldest people in the year, but it made this business for her.

0 Eliza We're just products of our environments 0 Eliza 0 5

Marcus

September 14, 2011 6:42 PM

Sadly, this is a true statement. by Marcus

Marcus laughed at her question. He couldn’t really think of the appropriate term for the type of dancing that he and his friends did. Some girls actually did shake their butts when they danced. Usually the older girls on the block. Marcus and his friends tended to keep it tame. He was sure in a few years that was bound to change, but none of them were in a hurry to grow up. They all wanted to make something of themselves. At least, at thirteen or fourteen they did. Not all of them were innocent, of course. Some of them had gone down road Marcus hadn’t even considered yet. They blamed that on the ‘Boarding School’ he was currently attending. Still, he didn’t understand why they were taking chances.

He already knew his neighbor, who was fifteen, was already having a baby. He didn’t know the specifics, but what he did know what that she was now another statistic. One out of every seven girls in his neighborhood or surrounding neighborhood became a teenage mother. They would end up dropping out of high school and the fathers rarely stuck around. Those who dropped out, only a handful would go to get a GED and even less would go to college. It was reasons like this that Marcus was okay with being at Sonora.

“Yes and no.” Marcus answered her, still looking amused. “Some people do actually shake their booties. But, most of it is in the hips. Usually we tend to keep it with the feet, arms, and shoulder movements.” Marcus explained. It was easier to show her than explain, but he’ll do that later when they actually have their ‘lessons’. “Well, I should say that my friends and I do. Some of the older kids are more risqué with their dancing, but that’s not where I’m going with this.” He informed her.

“Honestly, everyone here is so stiff with everything. Like you, for instance. I’m sure when I asked you to dance, a lot of reasons not to go with me popped into your head. All of them, I’m sure, regarding me being a Muggleborn or something along those lines. And that’s fine.” Marcus added just in case she thought he was offended or anything. “I get that there are rules. But if I can get you and your friends to just have fun. Real fun. No games. No second guessing. Just fun with dancing, than it’s sort of worth it. I don’t understand why everything has to be so uptight all the time. We’re fourteen. Why can’t we just be fourteen for awhile instead of constantly worrying about the ‘what ifs’?”

6 Marcus Sadly, this is a true statement. 180 Marcus 0 5

Eliza

September 21, 2011 8:10 PM

We'll all just have to do our best anyway by Eliza

So this thing he was proposing was less risqué than it could be. Eliza was mildly confused. The point eluded her. If someone wanted something, they usually just wanted it…Maybe he thought there was only so much he was going to get from one of the sort of people he associated her with, so he was prepared to be okay with that?

She decided not to think about it. The more decorous things were, the more she wasn’t coming out on the worse end of this deal, and that, Father always, was the real thing to look out for. There were times when it was worth giving up more than you got, because some things were more important than straightforward, simple profit, but generally, the idea was to either come out even or ahead. Maybe she could call this even.

Besides, what Marcus was talking about gave her enough to pay attention to without dwelling on things that didn’t really matter that much.

Eliza decided it was a good idea not to tell him that while yes, she had thought about how she might need to say no because he was Muggleborn, a major reason she had said yes instead was because her Head of House was the DISCUSS woman and That Female was one of Pierce’s sort. He was talking more about the whole way she was thinking, had been groomed her whole life to think by her father and had really started thinking all the time since the first day of second year, than a particular instance anyway.

“You can,” she said when he asked why they couldn’t just be fourteen and have fun without thinking of the future. “All you want. But…” She tried to think of how to express it. “Listen, I’ll turn eighteen two weeks after we start seventh year. The only reason I’m really in school is because my mother wants me married by nineteen and most people marry people they went to school with these days.”

She smiled slightly. “Not that it’s likely to happen. There’s too much competition. She’d have to bribe more people than the Careys do to stay out of jail.” Well, there was a tiny chance she might marry Ryan O’Malley now that his parents were divorced, since that was almost as bad as being new money, but since his mother – former mother? How would that even work? – was a Brockert, it really didn’t seem likely. No, he’d go to Sara, or Daisy, or maybe one of the second or first year girls. “But that’s the idea.” She took a sip of her water. “Besides," she added lightly, not as seriously. "Father spent eleven years teaching me how. That’s the first whole part of my life wasted if I don’t think about it."

0 Eliza We'll all just have to do our best anyway 0 Eliza 0 5