and she's {cruel} but she _knows_ what she's doin'

[audrey joy black]

"...So help me God, I can give the guy breakfast if I want to!"

[/color]

She finished her rant in record time, glaring at her half-brother before walking off to miss him throwing his hands up in the air in exasperation. Audrey faintly heard him call back at her to be home by four if she was going to walk back home on her own, knowing he was leaving her alone while he went off to find his own girlfriend in the early morning hours before the bell would ring and signal them to go to class. It seemed the older teen had made the mistake of scrutinizing some "hidden reason" as he put it, why she had gotten up early to make an extra plate for breakfast. Not many expected Miss Designer Clothes to know how to do anything homely, but the truth was Audrey really wasn't half-bad at cooking her own dishes. Which was just fine with Dakota, given as he ate about three full plates while she insisted she really wasn't that hungry in the morning. Her bag, which held a few notebooks and random make up thrown in, had a small bulge in it that contained a tupperware of syrupy pancakes, strawberries, a piece of toast, and a side of scrambled eggs. Halfway across the quad to the school steps (where she had texted the boy in question to inform him to "get his sorry butt there on time or else" as she hadn't told him she made him something to eat) to meet him, a larger, broad-shouldered boy stepped in front of her. Audrey sighed; being a bitch meant you couldn't sidestep your victim's angry siblings.

Vaguely wondering whether or not she could call Dakota to have him threaten to beat the living shit out of the boy so he'd leave her alone for good, Audrey placed her sunglasses to rest ontop chocolate brown locks, before eyeing him pityingly. "Yes, Jackson?"[/color] she inquired in a passive tone,"If this is about Kate's missing cheer uniform, I swear I don't know how it ended up on the flag pole... along with her bra and panties."[/color] The fair-skinned boy fumed at her words, flyaway strands of blond getting in his eyes as he shook his head at her angrily. She pursed her lips; he wasn't bad looking... but the fact he was stopping her from her current destination of choice immediately struck him off the list of potential one night stand's. "She was crying half the morning last Saturday because she woke up alone," he growled at her fiercely, his fists clenching at his sides although he knew he could never hit a girl,"She's not even gay!" Girls? Straight? Not possible.[/color] she thought lazily, picking at a loose strand of her with boredom. "Well if she misses me in bed that much, I could reconsider my rule of never sleeping with the same person once,"[/color] Audrey bit back in a drawl. "I hope you get your heart broken some day, you sick fuck," Jackson replied haughtily, turning on his heels to back to report to his sister. Audrey paused for a moment before continuing on her way before the confrontation. Wonder what stick got shoved up his ass...[/color] Or what else did, she mused; gossip was a beautiful thing.

When would people learn you don't exact revenge on Audrey Black? Honestly, one of two things would happen. Example A, Dakota would throw a fit but ultimately kick whoever's ass (or brother's, he tended to have a chivalry code of not touching girls) that was giving her any trouble, even if a good ninety-nine percent of the time she had brought it upon herself. Or option B, Audrey would take care of it herself in her own creative ways to do so. Personally, she thought, choice A was better than choice B, but where was the fun in that? Most people had their muses in life: whether it be writing, singing, dancing, sports - what was so wrong with hers? Commanding fear and attention sounded bad in almost any sort of light, but in this business it wasn't as if Audrey could afford to have a million friends anyway. The ones that attached herself to her side like a parasite usually wanting something or another, especially if it was protection from someone else... or even herself. But Audrey pushed them far, far away, preferring to be the "lone wolf" (she scoffed at the thought) than give anyone the benefit of the doubt they were safe. Which they were, until they did something wrong. And they always did. She shook her head as she reached the steps and found a familiar head of brown looking the other way; pessimism wasn't going to get her anywhere, and besides, he was different. She wasn't sure how she knew that, exactly, but she believed it with everything in her.

Lightly smacking the back of his head with her hand, Audrey sat beside him and grinned lightly. "I arrive bearing the fruits of hard labor... not really, but, you look like you could need something home cooked and not out of a cardboard box with instruction labels,"[/color] she remarked, pulling the plastic container of food and propping it on his lap. Tossing a fork his way, Audrey directed her eyes towards the sky. He would know not to thank her, these rare (and yet steadily increasing) moments of kindness she shared with him, as it only brought up the fact it was very not Audrey-like to do so. The disconcerning thing, though, was that she cared it wasn't like her. Ugh.
[/blockquote][/size]

[Ashton Cooper]

It had been Ash's phone beeping, not his alarm, that had woke him in the morning. While Ash was still not used to sending texts he had quickly gotten accustomed to receiving, always from the same person too. For the most part they were all commands, always along the lines of "do this" or "do that" or "get your sorry ass here or else". Normally he took his sweet time getting up and getting ready, nonchalantly preparing himself a simple but filling breakfast of rice cakes with cheese on top, along with a glass of orange juice. Well, maybe it wasn't "filling", but it was certainly cheap and it kept him from getting too hungry. Sure the things were mostly air (as Aud had observed) but that didn't make them any less tasty, to him anyway. Or maybe hunger made you think things tasted better than they really did. That was entirely possible. Maybe that was why his meager meals always tasted like they were feasts of some great something. Either that or they actually felt filling. But today he had no time to leisurely prepare himself breakfast and mosey on down to school just before the bell rang. Today he had to be there on time, or else, as the text had so gracious to inform her. Or perhaps it wasn't so gracious. It had woken him up and all when he would have much rather stayed in bed, asleep, until the final possible moment. But today that would not be possible, so he had leapt out of bed and rushed to school as if he had wolves snapping at his heels.

It hadn't taken him too long to get ready surprisingly. Without the necessity of eating he had far less to do to get ready in the morning. It only took him five minutes to get out of bed, brush his teeth, throw on some clothes and run his fingers through his hair before he was out the door. Unlike his peers Ash couldn't exactly afford a car, so he biked instead. It didn't exactly help him stay dry, but it cut down on the amount of time it took to get there. Besides, it wasn't like biking cost him any money which was fine by him. It didn't take long at all for him to arrive at school and park and lock his bike at the schools one and only bike rack. Thankfully it was under an overhang so it wouldn't get soaked and proceed to rust. It was the one bike he had and it wasn't like he'd be getting a new one anytime soon either. He couldn't exactly afford a new one, after all. It would take too big of a bite out of his paycheck for the month. Still, as Ash got off and fumbled with the lock he couldn't help but notice the faint beginnings of rust that was starting to grow on the chains. He frowned a little as he crouched down to inspect it carefully. It still worked fine, which meant he still had some time before he'd have to fork over money for repairs. He just needed to take care of it better that was all. Dry it off and keep it in the house after he got home from school, or something. How else was he supposed to keep it from rusting in this sopping wet place? It would only be one more little chore he had to add to the list. No biggie.

After he was satisfied with the health of his bike Ash slung his bag over his shoulder and started to trudge over to quad, taking his sweet time as he did so seeing as he'd gotten to school a good chunk of time before he needed to be. The teachers and janitorial staff were still wandering around looking more or less like they were sleep deprived. That or like they were not yet awake or prepared for the flood of students that was on its way. Some of them gave Ash odd looks, obviously surprised by the fact that he'd gotten here so very early, but Ash ignored the looks and just plodded on over to the quad. Who cared what they thought. If he was early, so what? He doubted they would want to get on the bad side of Audrey Black if they knew what she was capable of. And boy, did Ash know what she was capable of. Sure she'd never exactly use her considerable talents against him, nor did he think that she ever would, but that didn't mean he hadn't witnessed or noticed what she'd done to others. He didn't agree or disagree with her actions (sometimes what the people got was deserved) he just observed. At least she wasn't afraid to express her darker side, unlike some of the other girls. They always performed their sabotage subtly, but not Audrey. She seemed to like making sure that if she caused chaos, you would know it. At least in that respect she wasn't fake, even though she could be two faced. But two faced or no, Ash always felt like he alone could see the girl behind the sneer. There was something in her, but he didn't know what exactly, that made her seem... different. There was more to her than met the eye, he was sure of that.

Being as completely oblivious as he generally was to the world he didn't notice as the other students started to trickle and flood in. He simply tuned the world out as soon as he put on his headphones and turned his ipod on, staring blankly into space as his mind went off into a world far far away. Until Audrey smacked him over the head, anyway. He rubbed at his head as he switched off his ipod and reluctantly stowed it in his backpack before he turned to her, his expression mildly curious as he peered at the container. "But I like those. Those are cheap, and you don't have to worry about leaving the state of your food to the whims of fate."

[/color] he said with a shrug when she put the food on his lap and gave him the fork. He didn't complain though, nor did he mention a word of thanks before he tucked in. He did make sure to put a very content and pleased expression on his face though, mutely expressing that he liked the food (Man could she cook[/color]) and that he was grateful for it. Even though he was rushing to eat it, he still ate in a very particular fashion and made sure not to spill or waste so much as a crumb of the food, or make a mess of it.

After all, food was practically sacred to him.[/size][/blockquote]

[audrey joy black]

Audrey rolled her eyes, feeling the urge to smack him once more just for good measure, but instead just side checked him with her shoulder playfully. ”Doesn’t change the fact half the stuff tastes like glue, I don’t know how your stomach handles it,”

[/color] she responded matter-of-factly; her stomach most definitely couldn’t take off-brand ingredients, and the thought of eating anything cooked from microwave made her cringe inside. In fact, the only way Audrey would actually eat anything pre-processed (or from a drive-thru for that matter), would be if she was terribly hung over and needed something greasy to coat her stomach. Otherwise, it was home-cooked meals all the way; though obviously Ash wasn’t used to what Audrey was. ”I’m going with you grocery shopping one day, watch,”[/color] she shook her head at the thought, bemused; it would probably take them hours to agree on one thing. Not that she really did most of the grocery shopping, anyway; she really only wrote down what she needed for the week while Dakota went out to purchase it. It was a good system: he went out to get the supplies and did clean-up duty, and she actually prepared the food. Simple and efficient.

She was going to have to make him meals more often, she decided, watching him eat the food much like he would if he hadn’t eaten for days. Filling ones,[/color] she added to herself in silence, making a mental list of foods like pastas and grilled fish that would be easy to carry to him without being spilled. Dakota would probably give her a few odd looks, but it didn’t really matter to her as long as he didn’t open his mouth and accuse her of something stupid. Audrey repressed another roll of her eyes; wouldn’t he, and half the student population by now, realize she simply didn’t do relationships? She just happened to mess with people’s heads and occasionally sleep with them at that; it was a system that worked, for her and her other best friend. A partner in crime of sorts, as she could never see Ash committing any of the acts like she had done. Liz, though, would and had; they were like a tag team you didn’t want to cross. She was also aware her friend didn’t see why she kept Ash of all people around, but she didn’t comment or was rude about it in any way. It was a genuine curiosity that many of the student body had; the school loner and the school bitch getting along? It just didn’t seem to make sense, but Audrey figured a lot of things in her life didn’t make sense, so there was no problem in adding to it. People could gossip all they wanted, they never seemed to reach the same conclusion Audrey had: Ashton was simply a really good friend to have. It was the most basic of ideas, but no one else seemed to be able to fathom it.

Covering her mouth and stifling a yawn, Audrey tilted her head to the side as more people began to walk around campus, filing in for yet another daily dose of seven hours of hell. ”This is stupid,”[/color] she began, out of nowhere, disrupting a temporary silence,”I haven’t even stepped inside a classroom yet and I’m already sick of being here.”[/color] School: the common vice everyone seemed to have nowadays; at least those within the age range of fourteen to eighteen, those four years called high school. With very watchful eyes among the quad; she felt the stares of passerby on them both, lingering and questioning. It was only because she felt lazy at the moment that Audrey didn’t bother putting faces to names, names to future conquests. Surely, if social destruction was a sport, Audrey would be captain. No one did it better, or rather, no one really dared to try to challenge her in that aspect. Well, it was nice to have someone with a bit of fire and a spark to them every now and then, but if it was continuous it just proved to be annoying. ”No, I’m just bored,”[/color] she amended her previous comment, sounding as if she had reached some great conclusion, ”Anyone pick on you lately, Ash?”[/color] Audrey asked in such a way that Ash would surely understand in the time of their friendship; if he were to name someone, they would be next targeted. She wouldn’t be offended if Ash lied and didn’t name anyone; she didn’t expect him to go along with what she did. But if he were it would just alleviate her boredom quicker, either way it didn’t really matter.

”I swear if this place was any more black and white, I’d go crazy,”[/color] she murmured quietly; controversy was rare in La Push, it seemed. At least so far from what she’d seen. Of course, there was the antagonistic warring ‘sides’ so to speak of Forks and La Push: the long-set enemies of both werewolf and vampire. But Ash wasn’t to know about that, so she supposed life seemed even more plain to him in that aspect. Audrey hardly phased as it was, noticing the strain of malnutrition leaving her far too weak once she returned back to her human form. So, in consequence, she had never run across one of those ‘bloodsuckers’ the Pack usually grumbled about. She knew Dakota was half and half, but it was either that or dying instead so La Push’s ‘protectors’ didn’t seem to judge him for that. She noticed the Pack was like an extended family to nearly all the members, except for her. Audrey simply wanted nothing to do with it.[/blockquote][/size]

[Ashton Cooper]

Seeming unperturbed by her little shove Ash just kept on eating his breakfast, carefully mopping up the last of the syrup before he polished it off. He didn't even leave a single crumb. Waste not want not, and all that. "I have an iron stomach."

[/color] he replied in a very serious tone as he offered her back the container. "They taste good enough to eat and that's all that matters to me."[/color] he shrugged a little as he set the container next to her and crossed his arms over his chest, looking sideways at her. When it came to his food Aud always seemed to be oddly attentive. Not that he knew why of course, she just was. Perhaps it was because she was such a good cook, yes, that had to be it. No chef would allow such monstrosities pass as food. Then again, those chefs didn't work in the ready-to-eat in five minutes line of work. They normally stuck to the five-star restaurants, where price was not an issue. For Ash, it was an issue. Which was why he was determined to keep those penny pinching, tasteless scientists in charge of the frozen food department in business. "Sure. If you pay."[/color] he said pleasantly.

Spending money on frivolous things he did not need to survive was... well, stupid, at least to Ash. Then again, he thought food that didn't come out of a box was "frivolous". Obviously he didn't quite agree with the generally accepted opinion on the subject. Sure, he liked food that actually tasted like food, but he didn't have much of a choice in the matter. He had to make sure he saved enough money to pay the gas bill, the heating bill, the water bill, and enough on the side to go into his college fund. So far he was managing to get by with a little bit of wiggle room, allowing him to splurge a little and get a new pair of nice shoes. Sure he got money from the state, but it was barely enough to live on. Definitely not enough to live on and use for a college fund. Which was where his part-time job and penny pinching tactics came in. His major concern was survival, and that was that. Things like fresh fruits and veggies weren't included on the list too often, although he didn't exclude them entirely. He did need them to keep healthy. But he never bought them from the store, he just bought the stuff from the lunch line. It was cheapest there. Probably because it was awful quality, but what did he care? As long as it wasn't rotten he would eat it and he would like it. That included the frozen box dinners which Audrey seemed to absolutely despise for some reason. She hated them much more than other people seemed to for some reason. It was pretty odd. Even people with money didn't hate the stuff like she did. She was certainly unique.

Jerked out of his silent brooding by her yawn, Ash cast her a sideways glance before his gaze moved back to the people who were slowly filtering onto the campus. Generally they all looked about as awake and aware as zombies. And even though they hated the place, they still filtered in like the good sheeple they were, not that most of them intended to go on to college and get out of this dump. "Then lets go."[/color] Ash responded abruptly, purely out of the blue after her statement. And he meant it too. Seeing as Ash was the teachers little angel of a pupil (That and I can excuse my own absences[/color]) Ash would have no trouble if he cut school just this once. He really didn't feel like going to school today after all. It was just one of those days that rubbed him the wrong sort of way. However, the thought of cutting slipped his mind when Audrey changed her mind and decided that she was "just bored". Instantly his mind stopped running through the mental list of places to go, things to do, that he had in his head and went back to thinking about what he was supposed to be studying today in Chemistry. Something about emission spectras or something. "No one."[/color] Which was actually the truth. For the most part people were leaving Ash alone, now that he had the queen's bitch tagging along behind him. That was generally a deterrent for those who wanted to pick on the loner, especially when doing so meant you would face the fury of Audrey Black.

Not many people were too keen on it.

Another little sideways glance was chanced when she spoke again, but he just shrugged in response and went back to observing the crowd. "Looks more like gray and gray to me."[/color] he muttered as his gaze flicked back to his backpack. He rummaged within it for no real reason, checking that he had all his papers and whatnot, although he wasn't really paying any attention to it at all. He simply wanted something to occupy himself with, for some stupid reason. The moment he realized that he stopped, mutely zipping his back pack up again before he sat straight up and turned his gaze back onto the students milling around. They really all were nothing but gray. All the same, all following their stupid little routines, day in, day out. It made him sick. He could not stand this stupid, backwater town and he would not be sorry to leave it. The only good thing that had come out of this hellhole was Audrey. And that was it.[/size][/blockquote]