Do I or Don't I? on Cascade Hall

Aislinn Nicolls

October 24, 2016 10:50 PM

Do I or Don't I? by Aislinn Nicolls

Aislinn sat at the table starring into nothingness. Her homework sat in front of her barely started. The fact that she was distracted at all from school was becoming a problem. She felt like if she continued down this path, her grades would end up being lower Os rather than high ones and that would simply not do. She wanted to be accepted at a top university someday. She intended to have only the best on her transcript.

Of course, the question was what she should do about it. There was the option of telling him. If she went down that road, then what could happen? Oh, well, there was the obvious that he wouldn’t like her. There was also the possibility that he could absolutely dislike her or laugh at her. Logically, those shouldn’t have been possibilities, but that didn’t stop her heart from speeding up in terror at the thought. There was the possibility that it would make things uncomfortable for both of them. They had to share a Common Room. And next year, they would most likely have to share classes again, which would just be awkward.

On the flip side, if she didn’t tell him, she would have to continue this perpetual downward spiral. She would possibly get lower grades. She would continue to think about him. She would continue to drive herself crazy over this internal argument. She would always wonder, which she was convinced at the outcome, but she didn’t actually know. She would probably regret it for years to come just for that fact.

The struggle was real. Even if the worst possible outcome happened, there was only one real solution. Her grades were the most important and it was better to just be honest than to live an eternal torment. Therefore, she would tell him. The real question then was how she would tell him. Should she just walk up to him and tell him or would that just be weird? Maybe she should try writing him a letter.

Turning to a fresh page of her notebook, she thought for a moment before writing…

Dear John

0 Aislinn Nicolls Do I or Don't I? 297 Aislinn Nicolls 1 5

Sammy Meeks

October 25, 2016 1:09 AM

Iunno by Sammy Meeks

Sammy bounded merrily into the Cascade Hall, her stomach rumbling in a way that only human hands could satisfy...Totally kidding. It was an internet joke. No one panic; Sammy was not, repeat, not a consumer of human hands. But anyway, she was hungry. And while she didn’t think it was officially meal time yet--although there was a distinct possibility of her internal clock just being off, as she didn’t have the best sense of it--but she was hopeful to see what the Prairie Elves could “give to mama”. Her words.

As she entered, she saw a familiar face across the Hall: Sutton, her roommate (or so she thought). It wasn’t until she got closer, and had already committed to a boisterous greeting, that she realized that it was actually Aladren whose insignia she bore, not Pecari. “Hey, Sutt-...ch an idiot am I!” she changed the name in the middle of it. “Sorry about that!” she said with a sheepish grin, now all the way to the table. “Hi, Aislinn.”

Admittedly, she didn’t know the other girl very well. Actually, she didn’t feel like she knew Sutton all that well either, which was probably her own fault since she and Gia were so close and it might have made Sutton feel like an outsider. Mental note: include Sutton more. She definitely hoped they hadn't alienated or hurt Sutton in any way, both because that was a mean and bad thing to and Sammy didn't like to be mean or bad, but also because if she'd hurt Sutton's feelings, talking to her sister was gonna be suuuuper awkward.

In any case, here she was, already engaged, so she decided to keep Aislinn company, if she’d have her. “Mind if I join you?” Sammy noticed the papers on the table in front of her and looked lazily across them. “What are you working on?”

12 Sammy Meeks Iunno 310 Sammy Meeks 0 5

Aislinn

October 27, 2016 1:15 AM

Let's figure it out. by Aislinn

Aislinn had gotten no further in her letter when she was interrupted by a girl from her class. Though, Sammy had made the mistake that she was her sister, Sutton, which made sense since the two were roommates. The Aladren didn’t know the Pecari very well even after sharing classes for several years. But then she didn’t even know if Sammy and Sutton knew each other very well despite sharing a room. She didn’t think so.

Even so, the girl asked to join her. “Uh, sure,” Aislinn replied, still slightly distracted by her inner thoughts. “Oh, um, nothing really.” She tried to cover what she had written with her book, but she wasn’t sure if the other girl had seen before she had the chance. She wasn’t sure if she was ready to reveal her feelings to anyone else (other than Sutton) when she hadn’t even revealed them to the person they were about. Not to mention, what if somehow it got out to the rest of the school? She felt like that would be embarrassing for her as well as John.

But it would be nice to get someone’s opinion on the subject. She liked to try and look at things objectively before proceeding. Perhaps, Aislinn could ask theoretically or maybe pretend it was Sutton with a crush? Her sister might kill her for that one though. She tilted her head, looking at Sammy curiously, still thinking how to ask exactly what she wanted to ask. After a moment, she tentatively began, “I know someone that likes somebody else…” It wouldn’t be her fault if the other girl assumed it was Sutton. “But the other person doesn’t know.”

Aislinn folded and unfolded the corner of a page of her book anxiously. “So, they asked me for advice on what to do. I think they should tell them that they like them, but I’m not sure how. I don’t know if the direct approach would be better like just walking up to them and telling them or doing something a little more indirect. I was thinking maybe they should write the person a letter.” It was slightly amusing to think of Sutton writing a letter to a boy. She really couldn’t see her doing something like that. She thought that Sutton would be more likely to just tell the person and tell them to deal with it. Her sister could be a little off at times.

0 Aislinn Let's figure it out. 297 Aislinn 0 5

Sammy

October 29, 2016 4:03 PM

I'm here to help! by Sammy

Aislinn was a bit awkward, Sammy had to admit. She kinda wondered if that was an Aladren thing. Jax was sort of a different kind of awkward than this stammering thing Aislinn kinda had going on, but he was still an awkward dude, Sammy thought. All macho and strong and silent, but really, he was just as weird as the rest of them. Sammy herself was kind of an awkward person, she thought, although maybe being aware of it sorta lessened it somehow? Eh. Either way.

“I know someone that likes somebody else….” The Pecari couldn’t suppress her grin. Aislinn was obviously trying to be cryptic, but if Muggle sitcoms had taught Sammy anything, it was that a girl asking about an unnamed other person’s crush was totally just talking about herself. Distinctly mentioning being asked by this other person was a good trick on Aislinn’s part, so it was possible that she did in fact mean someone else (which was, in all likelihood, probably Sutton), but Sammy still thought it was more likely that there was no other person.

“I’m honestly not a great person to ask,” Sammy began carefully, replaying her current romantic failings in her mind. Most of her brain was giving up on Joella, but her stupid little heart didn’t seem to want to let go. But Lionel had beat her to asking her to the ball last year, and without that occasion to guide her, Sammy was pretty much at a loss. Her moms had told her she should basically assume everybody liked everybody until proven definitively otherwise, but the lack of evidence to Joella’s interest in girls was pretty disheartening, too.

“But,” she went on, “I think you should-.. I mean, they should,” she amended, fighting the urge to wink, “just tell them and get it out of the way. Face to face is always the best way to do things, so if they’re going to write a letter, it ought to be a request to meet up. It’s super nerve-wracking, but it’s impossible to be ignored if you’re staring them in the face, but a letter they could just not reply to. So they ought to tell them like that, I think. In person. Yeah.”

It registered in her mind that she was being a total hypocrite here, but it was a totally different matter. So she pushed down her stupid little heart’s protests and went on. “If is too difficult to do in person, the letter’s the next best thing. But telling the person is important. Otherwise it just lives you wondering forever about what could’ve been. Right?”

12 Sammy I'm here to help! 310 Sammy 0 5