#elsewhere

"Hey, Gwen!" Pam waves to her as Gwen approaches with Chuck.

The sun is just starting to head downwards, but there is still plenty of light left as it coasts down towards the tree line beyond the clearing. Soon it will be dim, but for now she can still make out a gathering of familiar teenage figures hanging around a pile of scrap wood and broken delivery pallets.

A mishmash of chairs, benches and one old long log surround the bonfire pit, which shows blackened soil, ash and remnants of many previous fires. A small pond is nearby, and the background music is cicadas and the occasional frog croak.

"Oh, Hey, Pam, how goes?" Gwen is on Chuck's side

"We got a couple weeks of summer left, so couldn't be better!" She grins. "Hey, Chucky!"

Chuck makes a bit of a face at that nickname, but lets it stand. Most of the small gathering is known to Gwen - it's a small town, and almost all of the kids are from the 'popular' or 'sporty' contingents at Carthage High, though there are some other lurkers. Is that a bit of neon green hair she sees?

"Hey Bee-Dubs! You running fantasy football again this season?" Chuck calls over, and giving Gwen's hand a squeeze, he moves over to chat with the broad-shouldered guy with a football letter jacket over his chair.

Pam rolls her eyes and scooches over for Gwen to join her if she wants. "They'll get the fire going as soon as the sun is down past the trees. How you been?"

How do I feel? What a simple question She joins Pam Not sure I know "Ever feel like you've lost all sense of time so you're eager and nervous at the same time?"

"That's deep, G. I take lit, not philosophy." Pam admits, but with a smile. "Sounds kinda like when I started at CHS. Or how I feel when my mom gets on my butt about college applications - I mean, SERIOUSLY, we're just Freshman! Are your folks riding your tail?"

"My fam is ..pretty cool. I got this one I don't like, seriously she's mean, but the rest are.. the restt are cool. I think they are curious what I'll be doing inn the future, my plans, but like you, I just don't know yet . I know I'm sticking around here though"

"I have a cousin like that, it's like, my aunt is soooo nice, how did you turn out rotten? They live downstate though so I don't have to deal with him much." Pam is paying attention, but her eyes are scanning the crowd, looking for someone?

"Glad you're sticking around. You gonna go for team captain in the fall? It would serve Kristin right to get knocked down a peg or two."

"I think I might, call it cultural pride, Lacross is our game"

"Good, and I don't know you WELL, but I get a good feeling that you wouldn't blame a 3 point loss on the cheer squad." Gwen was there for that one... Kristin taking a time out to berate the cheerleaders after missing a goal - apparently they started a chant at the 'wrong time' and broke up her concentration...

"Fft..she was such a bitch there. Honestly, the chant was fine, and if any chant, on time or not, messes with your concentration as an athlete, you migght as well hang it up before thinking you'll ever go pro. One game? A visitor informed me my face looked like her dog's shaved ass. And I didn't let it throw me. In fact, aftterwards I asked her about her dogg, what breed and such. "

"Why..... why did they shave their dog's ass? Wait - I don't think I want to know!" She laughs it off.

"You like dogs? Here, you gotta see..." Pam pulls up her phone to show her pictures of a rather poofy black and white dog. "This is Doodle, he's our labradoodle. Don't blame me, my little brother named him..."

'Ha, hey, your little brother sounds smart for his age," She admires "Oh he's a smart one I bet. Both poodles and labradors are. Lab mixed into anything tennds to make them more social. ALso cute as a button, of course. Want a picture of my dog? Hee's still a pup but getting there"

"You'd think so... but Doodle fits his name. Goofy as a lab and neurotic as a Poodle. Guess cross-breeds aren't an exact science yet! He does love to swim though. You should come over sometime, we have a pool."

Pam agrees and looks at the pictures of Ivan, "What a cute little guy... wait." Looking at the next picture, this one with some reference objects. "is that a tiny tree, or is your dog really that big??"

"He's really that big. His breed is Ovcharka"

"He'll get bigger yet soon" PROUD

A burst of laughter from the other side of the fire pit.

"Seriously, did you forget to use bleach or something and it got moldy? What's UP with that hair?!" Gwen knows that voice. A few others laugh as Kristin smirks at Katrina, who was sitting off to one side.

"Oh my god she'll never grow up" A mutter then to Pam "Sorry, we'll brag about Ivan and Doodle later. "

Kristin reaches over. "Is it a wig? Saint Patrick's day was in March..." She grabs a strand of hair and yanks."

"OW! What the HELL?!" Katrina is on her feet now, and with a jerk, she splashes the contents of her cup - orange soda, it looks like, right in Kristin's smug face!

Kristin sputters and rubs at her face, "Oh, you are going to GET it now..."

Sticky orange liquid dripping down and soaking into her letterjacket, and white top below. Well, now it looks more like a Creamsicle pattern.

Gwen steps between them, focus on Kristen "No she's not"

"Oh, come ON. Why are you always getting in my business, 2nd string? This isn't about you."

Perhaps surprisingly, Katrina argues the same! "You don't gotta fight my battle for me. She wants some of this? She can HAVE IT!" And she lashes out with her boot! A rather BIG boot for the slender girl, heavy and steel-toed, black but with rainbow laces. Kristin, distracted by Gwen, is taken for what one may call colloquially a "Shoelace Ride" as the boot crashes upward into her crotch.

Gentle reader, please note that despite common opinion, males do NOT have a moratorium on traumatic groin injuries. Whether one has an 'outie' or an 'innie', a kick to that region HURTS.

Kristin makes a strangled gasp and falls backwards.

"WOW" she blinks

Then stares

"That was beautiful" She mutters to Katrina

"Goddamn piece of shit bully-ass skank..." Katrina pulls her foot back to go for another kick.

Gwen says to Katrina "She's not worth it. " Not exactly interposing, she wants to see if reason helps "Besides, hittingg folks when hey're down is what SHE would do"

It's a near thing, Katrina glaring angrily at the downed larger girl, but then she just throws the empty cup at her, and it bounces off the ground, already empty. "You're right. I don't want to get drek on my shoes. I -like- these shoes."

"Holy SHIT. Kristin, you okay?" The guy who comes over to check on her is JB, one of Chuck's buddies, and he offers her a hand up. "C'mon, it's better to walk it off." He gives Gwen a quick grin, and says, "She should try out for soccer!" Before pulling Kristin away.

Chuck makes his way over as well. "Gwen? What was THAT all about. Oh, hi Kat!" He looks a bit worried the last time Gwen and Katrina were together was... awkward.

"Katrina was just pointing out I donn't need to fight her battles for her, and then made a great demonstration" She offers a hand to Katrina, "I apologize, I didn't mean it in a condescending way but if it came off that way, my bad"

"Yeah well, yeah." Katrina seems a bit startled by her unexpected success. "I gotta admit I did kinda hope if I got my ass kicked, you'd not let her kill me. Yeah, we're cool."

A smirk "Okay, I now have your permission to intercede in case of ass kicking. Noted. Maybe you should try out for soccer, though givenn your art talennts I hope you never give those up"

"No THANKS." Shaking her head. "Sports is for jocks. I'm more..." She starts, then trails off. "Yeah, I dunno. It ain't me, you know? If I gotta fight, I'll go for personal violence, not institutionalized murderball. You're the one who should watch out. Bitch won't hurt anyone for real in school, not and risk losing her chance at a scholarship if she's kicked off the team. But outside? Or in a game where she's got a stick that might accidently whack you?" Katrina shakes her cropped green hair rapidly. "Your funeral."

"Well, watch your own back. You just kicked her lady balls into her throat. She won't forgive that" She looks to Chuck "Lady balls is purely metaphorical, donn't panic"

a touch of humor there

Chuck laughs! "Kat, you got a big set of 'em, that's for sure."

Pam has stepped over, and moans, "UGH. What does JB SEE in her? He's such a MORON." Watching after them with a bit of annoyance.

Chuck says, "Not much except the big t-...." He STOPS, and- "ticket... to her sports games..." lame, he grins sheepishly.

Katrina ROLLS her eyes.

She snickers at Chuck's rephrase "he's not wrong. If she were flat chested and buck toothed, I suspect JB wouldn't be as quick to help" A thought as she looks at Pam "Too bad he doesn't know a real classy girl when she's in front of him"

"He's a moron." Pam rolls her eyes. "He's on Track, if he realizes what he should be running after, maybe he'll catch it. Maybe not. C'mon, they're starting the fire."

A scent of lighter fluid, a crackle, and a soft FOOM followed by teenagers cheering.

She grabs Chuck and whoops as the fire goes up

He slides an arm around her waist. "Nice." Maybe talking about the fire. Maybe not.

She gives a side grin at her guy at that

Katrina watches the flames popping for a bit, then offers - "Thanks for helping me out the other day. Saving my sculptures from Mr. Blaine's slip bucket."

She looks at Katrina "Hey, you were doing the right thin. Respect. Mr. Blaine is.. " A frown the figures miht as well be al ittle honest "He's the sort of teacher who kills dreams rrather than encourage them. "

"Yeah, fuck him. I'm gonna drop art class. It's not worth the easy A any more. It's not even an easy A anymore, honestly. Used to be you could work on anything that fit a theme? Not any more. Now it's "You paint what I say, the way I say it, and if the technique isn't right, you fail." She scowls.

"Hey.. you're not iving up on Art itself are you?" Alarm "You're really GOOD"

"Yeah, but I do CLAY. You know, something REAL, something you can feel, and build and create, and it comes ALIVE in your fuckin' hands! It's not like we can out a throwing wheel or a kiln in mom's apartment?" She laughs, angrily. "If art is going to be drawing the same three sunflowers or bowl of fruit in the same colors and same pattern as everyone else lined up in a row? I might as well just take any other elective where I can parrot back what the teacher says. There's no fuckin' POINT!"

Behind her, the fire spits and pops merrily, shooting sparks as another teen pokes at it with a stick and shifts the logs.

"What if I could find you a place that has a Kiln?" she says

She scoffs and kicks towards the fire, the dirt causing another rain of sparks that almost look rainbow hued as they fly up and fade in the color-streaked dusk sky. "Yeah, right. Just... forget it. Ain't worth it." She stomps off towards the path.

Chuck frowns, but tightens his arm a little around Gwen's side. "Sorry, she gets like this - she snaps and is all moody, then gets over it. Kat'll be okay. ...Stay with me?"

"I.. I will" she nods , Gwen doesn't like the idea of leaving Kat alone but if she needs space, rushing her could have her grow more resistant. She leans against Chuck "I just want to help. "