The end is near!

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Dani had not been looking forward to homecoming, it was just another stupid chance for her parents to get all goofy about her wearing a dress and representing her house. So far though, it had been worth all the fuss. A couple fights, a few crying girls, and a chick was one of the Kings. Not bad at all. She snuck a sip of whiskey from her flask and found her way to the dance floor for one last run around before sneaking off to the woods where she knew there would be some sort of after party.

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By the time that Alex had left the bathroom with Charlie, she was more than a little drunk. It really hadn't been her intention for them to finish the whole bottle, but that was just hot things went. Stumbling just a bit in her boots, she made her way onto the dance floor, clumsily shoving people out of her way if they danced too close to her.

When she came upon Dani, she almost walked right into her, doing a double take at the sight of her. "Well look at you," she slurred at her cousin, eyebrows raising. "If you weren't such a nasty bitch, you'd almost look good!"

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Dani was mildly horrified. It was the closest thing to a compliment she had ever received from her cousin and it was uncomfortable. "Well... well it's a god damn good thing I am a nasty bitch cause I wouldn't want yer approval anyways," she said stubbornly.

"You look a damn mess yourself," she said, taking another swig of whiskey. "The hell you been into?"

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"I never said approval," Alex quickly corrected her, tongue sticking out. She was doing better at standing up straight now that she was standing still, but she still shifted uncomfortably in her boots.

Making a face when Dani questioned her, Alex gave a weak shrug and a sly smile. "Oh you know.. just the peach schnapps," she sing-songed, giggling a bit. "If anybody is to blame, it's Charles. She practically made me do it."

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Dani, even if she couldn't stand the sight of her cousin, readied herself in case Alex took a turn for the worse. No one needed to introduce their own face to the floor on homecoming. "Well good," she said stubbornly.

"You're actin' a damn fool," Dani snorted, rocking back on her heels. "Must be a light weight if y'all are stumblin' around because of peach schnapps," she smirked.

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"I ain't even a light weight!" Alex protested loudly, looking comically shocked and holding an open hand to her chest. Except that in reality, she sort of was. She and Charlie both could get exceptionally drunk from sharing a fairly small bottle of liquor between them. "Peach schnapps is strong, who are you kidding? I suppose you drink 151 straight out of the bottle like the other dykes around here?"

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Dani snorted and shook her head. "First of all, I got me some whiskey, aint none of that 151 bullshit. It fuckin' tastes like cleanin' solution," she grinned. "And secondly, I aint no dyke. I aint the one with a little dyke-y girlfriend lettin' me on the quodpot team," she teased.

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Looking comically offended, Alex pressed her open palm to her chest. "Excuse me? I'm the best player that your joke of a team has! My father," she paused to hiccup, "was almost a professional. If it hadn't been for my slut of a mother screwing everything up. I've got extremely talented blood, but I guess the talent skipped you, Danielle."

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"Sure, if you're delusional," Dani laughed abrasively. "That's about the dumbest thing I've ever heard," she smacked her knee then snuck another sip of whiskey. "Damn Alex, I might think you were funny."

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"Anyway, my point is," she went on, rolling her eyes as her cousin tended to her whiskey. "Some of us are just talented enough to get on the team easier than others. My reputation preceded me, you know. It's not my fault you can't fly worth a turd and you're mad about the fact that the captain likes me better. She's got impeccable taste, what can I say?"

Really, Alex didn't give two shits about Quodpot, or their team. Hell honestly, she didn't even like playing Quodpot. Borderline despised it. But she was far too drunk to do anything but berate her cousin, and she did know how much the game meant to her and the rest of her teammates. They were all such a bunch of twits.

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Julian had managed to miss the entire episode of lesbian drama whilst he had popped out for a cigarette. It was only after some junior had filled him in that he was rushing off and looking for Tatum. He figured she would be upset, some people didn't take public arguments very well and he had decided Tatum was one of those. In the year they had been friends he thought he knew her well enough to know that when she was in trouble, the first thing she would do is spark up a joint. With that in mind he headed towards the woods, his wandlight leading the way.

"Tatum" he whispered. It was still quiet, eerily quiet, and if he snuck up on the red head he certainly didn't want to give her a heart attack. "You here?"

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Tatum hadn't actually been inside of the hall since the incident had gone down. She had been ready to leave, to storm out, but then Mackenzie had said those three stupid words to her and she had been frozen. Was she serious? Tatum still didn't know, wasn't sure if she wanted her to be serious or not. The redhead didn't manage the courage to move enough to escape until after the blonde had been dragged out by Hunter and Sera. She had told Rath that she was fine, which was a lie, and that she just wanted a smoke. She felt embarrassed to even look at Sam after everything, but told him that she'd be back and they could go watch movies like they planned.

That had been over an hour ago, and she still hadn't ventured back inside. Too many people had been looking at them, had seen the whole trainwreck unfold. Why did Mack do that to her? She was such an idiot. But an idiot who apparently loved her, an idiot who really wasn't as bad as Tatum tried to convince herself she was.

Perched carefully on a rock, awkwardly so in her dress, the redhead was simply smoking and staring at nothing when she heard Julian calling out to her. Which startled her, despite his best efforts, though she didn't cry out. "Jules?" she called back, keeping her voice down. It was dark and a bit chilly out, and she stayed where she was, mostly hidden under the dark on her seat on the rock. She mostly didn't want him to see her this way, knowing that in the light it would be clear how much she had been crying in between joints.

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"Tate" he replied a little impatiently. This was not the time to be playing marco polo. As luck would have it, the next clump of trees he ploughed through lead him straight to his friend. Sighing in relief and shut off the light and pocketed his wand, pulling out his cigarettes instead and lighting one.

"I heard what happened" he said awkwardly, taking a seat on the ground next to her. "It's not big deal. No one is even talking about it" he lied.

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"Everybody heard what happened," Tatum groaned softly with exasperation, settling in again once Julian's light went out. She pulled her legs up, leaning on them as she puffed frantically on the joint in her hand. She had barely even noticed how badly her hands were actually shaking, and she quickly tried to stop them, but it was no use. The joint was still he'll tightly, but the lit cherry on the end flitted around like a firefly in the darkness.

"T-There's.. no w-way the queen lesbian j-just did that to me and n-nobody is talking," she whispered back, swallowing thickly. She wanted to believe it, it would have been nice, but that just wasn't how high school worked. Even in university. "D-Do you at least think they'll like.. forget? Like s-soon?"

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"Of course they'll forget" Julian said, waving his hand as if waving away her worries. "Something else will happen in like, a week" he muttered. "Or I'll send out some more nudes to take the heat off" he joked, squeezing her knee and blowing out smoke.

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"Y-You're right, something s-stupider will happen and everyone will just.. go with that," Tatum replied quietly, though she was struggling to believe her own words. She felt a bit better when Jules gave her knee a squeeze, but not much. She didn't feel like sobbing anymore at least, unless she really thought hard about everything Mack had said.

Making a face at the mention of his nudes, she shook her head back and forth fiercely. "No! Once was enough, can't u-unsee that shit," she laughed weakly, sticking her tongue out. Despite what people seemed to say about them, he had definitely never been the Prideaux she wanted to see naked.

"People will p-probably say we're out here having a secret tryst or s-something," she half-joked, after a few moments of silence.

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"Exactly" Jules said firmly. "This place can't go a few days without someone being humiliated. Still, Mackenzie was out of line" he said quietly. "If she knew... If she knew the shit you went through.." he swallowed. "It's just not right" he finished with, growing silent.

Cracking a smile, he rested his head on her knee and grinned up at her. "Once is never enough, mon petite cherie" he joked. "Who cares if they do? It doesn't matter what anyone else says. It's just college."

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Tatum chewed her lip slightly, though she didn't move to argue. Mack had been extremely out of line, but she was pretty sure she felt that way because so much of what the blonde had said had been the truth. It had all hit home, and her chest felt a little tight again as she thought too hard about everything that had been shouted in her face in those short few minutes of confrontation. It was exactly why she avoided drama at all costs, but it usually had a way of finding a home on her doorstep.

"She.. s-sort of knows," the redhead finally admitted. "T-That I'm no good, anyway.. like, to like. It's just not a good idea, so I'm n-not somebody that like, she should want to b-be with. I told her that.. like, a h-hundred times," she trailed off, flicking ash from her joint and chewing her lower lip harder. "I can't go through it a-again, things can't be shit," she finally added quietly.

When his head rested on her knee, she managed a weak smile back, reaching down with her free hand to push his hair away from his forehead. "Once is l-like, so enough. I wouldn't have even like, been as mad if she didn't trick us all with that subject line. T-There were no cute kittens in that email anywhere," she groaned, rolling her eyes. It made her feel better to think it was just college, but it was hard to remind herself to keep thinking it. "R-Right, fuck college."

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Julian was quiet for a long time. He wasn't really good at serious talks, especially about Frankie, but he'd realised a long time ago that Frankie wasn't perfect, she wasn't even really a good person, even if she was dead now and you were supposed to act like dead people were perfect. "It's not your fault Frankie killed herself. You're acting like you're cursed or something but Frankie was fucked up before she met you, she was a bitch to blame you for all her problems. Maybe she just wanted you to feel as miserable as she did" he rambled. He felt guilty, but Frankie would never want to be thought of as some saint. "It wont happen again" he said firmly.

Smiling again, Julian shrugged. "I knew I should never have sent her them. It was just asking for trouble. Still, at least she did it in style. You wouldn't even believe me if I told you how many chicks wanted to see it in the flesh after that" he snorted.

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Tatum fidgeted with her joint more as she listened, absently ashing the end again and again without really giving the ash time to build up. Just hearing Frankie's name, knowing they weren't going to beat around the bush anymore, instinctively filled her with guilt. Frankie had been sort of shit, but she had been her shit. If the younger girl had aimed to upset her with her death, she had done the trick, but Tatum just kept on idolizing her, even in death. "I-I guess," she sighed finally.

"It's different, I know Mack might not.. k-kill herself, but I'm still pushing her away, she's still gonna wanna leave eventually cause I'm like.. why can't I just b-be who I wanna be? I'm so s-sick of acting, I'm not even a good actress," she murmured, pouting. "She's not exactly like, making it easy for me to hide in the shadows either. I l-like it better when people don't know I'm alive. Screaming in a hall full of people about how she l-loves me," her stomached clenched, "isn't really like.. discreet. She's an a-ass."

Shaking her head as Julian's insistence on the advantages of having nudes, the redhead cracked a weak smile. "Did you r-really think it was a good idea to send those to Hunter? I mean, I guess it worked out in the end if you've like, turned it into dick advertising. She sort of did you a favor? Like a free billboard."

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"She is an ass" Julian agreed, playing with his lighter. "You need to tell her that acting like a jerk isn't going to win you over. The both of you need to just be frank with each other, no matter how humiliating it is. Frankie wasn't good at talking about her feelings and we all know how that ended." No matter how much of a dick he thought Mack was being, having all of this sorted out would make everyone happier. Or at least able to get on with their lives.

"I thought she would finally be overcome with lust and turn up at my dorm" Jules sighed. "And now she's into girls? I guess I missed my chance" he joked.

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"I guess," Tatum sighed, after a few moments of silent thought. It was the same thing Rath and Sera had been telling her, to just be honest, to get it over with. She kept beating around the bush and trying to avoid it, but Mack wasn't going away and neither was the way the older girl made her feel. Despite all of her best intentions and avoiding her emotions, the feelings were still there.

"I-It is really humiliating," she murmured, chewing her lip and looking at him. "Have y-you ever talked like that to a girl? I d-doubt it, right? It's really-- I mean, it's not a normal situation, I guess.. but it's h-hard and I'm pretty weak. I feel weak, like I.. I can't do anything."

Once again, the nudes made her crack another weak smile despite herself. "I don't think she even is into girls exclusively, like.. that girl is a f-freak, seriously. I think she's into anything t-that moves. Just needs two f-feet and a heartbeat for her, h-heartbeat probably optional."

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