:: Backflip :: [open]

[Lindsey Hunter]

Tuesday, October 7th
Time: 1:52 PM

Lindsey Arizona Hunter had never been much of a morning person, but this morning she'd practically sprung out of bed ready to carpe diem. Granted, it had been at eight thirty that her eyes had first opened, and by the time she left her dorm it was almost ten, but hey. That was why college schedules were flexible, right? She had made sure that none of her classes were before 11:00. She walked across the campus lawn, hardly noticing the people around her. Her next class wasn't till two thirty, so Linz had some time to kill. She sighed and plopped down on a convenient bench, loosening her grip on her laptop case. Normally she would pull her phone out about now and start texting people, but at the moment her friends list was like zip. She was sort of losing contact with her childhood friends. Sure they still IMed her and she knew everything that was going on but it wasn't the same. And it was about time she made some new friends, here. She was going to be here for four years, after all.

So maybe she had gotten up early but her style didn't show it. Her hair had been brushed when it was still wet and it was about as straight as a ruler, except for the layers on the side of her head. The orange colour was slightly faded, and her bangs were bright yellow. She was wearing a white T-shirt with the sleeves rolled up. That she had decorated in arts class two years ago. Her jeans were skinny in style, a bright magenta colour that would almost make your eyes hurt. Lindsey had put on green eyeshadow, the colour extended past her eyelids almost to her hair line. Her lips were lightly glossed with a clear scented wand she'd picked up for 87 cents at Shopko. Her tennies were also eccentrically decorated, but they had come that way, except for the mismatched laces. Lindsey's style was what you'd call punk but she wasn't really a rebel. At least not more than any normal college student. If you actually took the time to know her it would make a lot more sense. But one thing was for sure, she was destined to change the world! Lindsey wasn't sure how, or when, but it was definitely going to happen.

In spite of all her declarations Lindsey wasn't really sure what she wanted to do with her life. Oh sure she wanted to be a singer, but was that even possible? It was a little late to start a career in music...right? She hadn't really even decided on a major yet. Oh sure, she said it was Forensic Sciences, but did she really want to spend her whole life doing something like that? It was all right to watch CSI but she wasn't sure if her career was down that road. Her classes this year were the most basic she could decide on, so if she changed her mind hopefully she'd still be able to credit them. Some of them were almost actually interesting, at any rate they were better than high school. It was good to feel a little freedom, even if it did mean sleep deprivation and living on Ramen Noodles. Or no lunch at all. Lindsey sighed. Ahh, well, it'd be lunch time in Chicago. Maybe she could catch one of her friends on break. She pulled out her phone and sent a quick text.

u thr grl?

Aaryn was one of the few people in their class who hadn't gone off to college, she was working in an accountant's office somewhere in the windy city.

Lindsey shook her head and stood up again, she wasn't much for sitting still. Shoving her cell phone in her pocket, the girl started walking up the lawn again, headed for no place in particular. Lindsey had a short attention span and didn't really like being by herself, if it weren't for her classmates she'd have gone bonkers already. A little bit of human contact was better than none. She was just about ready to strike up a conversation with any complete stranger who would stop to talk. Or do handsprings on the grass, maybe. That idea sounded awfully appealing, though she hadn't flipped in so long she'd be liable to break her spine. Well, that's life, right? She dashed over to the nearest tree and none too gently tossed her bag at its base. Then she ran up the trunk and over, effectively climbing up the tree and then doing a backflip. She laughed breathlessly and sat at the base of the tree. Glancing around embarassedly to see if anyone had seen her antics.

[Melissa Jameson]

Melissa Jameson had never been one to enjoy doing large amounts of work at the same time, and she hadn't expected that to change once she got to college. So, since she had been in classes all morning, she realized that she needed a break from all that fun to just relax. She glanced at her phone and saw that she had a couple hours before her next class. With a sigh, she dumped all of her books on her desk in her dorm, and donned an extra jacket. It was steadily getting cooler as the days went by and the dreaded winter was creeping closer with no regard to her feelings.

Stepping outside, the Freshman was hit with a gust of wind. She shivered and considered going back inside, but she knew there was nothing to do in there. She needed some fresh air, even if it wasn't warm air. She knew she would have to get used to it, but she wasn't overly happy about it. She figured she should just move somewhere that never got cold, like Africa. But then it would be a bit too warm. She liked it here, though, aside from that. It was a pretty nice school.

She walked through the grounds, no real destination in mind when she stumbled upon a rather strange sight. At first all she saw was a blur of orange hair. Then she noticed the girl attatched to it. She saw her run at the tree and for a split second she htought she would collide with it, but instead she managed a flip. Wow. She walked closer to the girl and figured she would say something.

"That was pretty cool." she said. Ï could never do something like that."

[Lindsey Hunter]

As Lindsey sat at the base of the tree, a girl walked up to her. Lindsey laughed breathlessly at the brunette's comment, scrambling to her feet. "Actually I was kind of hoping that no one would notice." she said. "Pent-up energy and too much practice." She'd taken gymnastics for all of a week and a half before quitting, but she and her cousins did this sort of thing every summer when they were kids. She'd thought she had forgotten how, but apparently that wasn't true.

She brushed the grass from her jeans and then offered her hand. "I'm Lindsey Hunter," she said. "Nice ta meet ya." She still tried to be nice to people when she first met them. Though her first impression with this girl may have been forever tarnished. Hey, it was possible to do worse than a backflip. And at least she hadn't landed on top of the pretty brunet. On a scale of Lindsey's most embarassing moments, this one was probably a 4.5. And she'd had some pretty good ones. Not that she wanted to talk about them, anyone knew that once a good story got out everybody harped on it for months.

One of her signature quirky smiles appeared on her face. She could never seem to smile all the way, at least without breaking into a face-splitting grin. So early on she had settled for a half-smile that her sister said looked like her lip was stuck to her tooth. But that was just Lisa. Though she was eleven years older for some reason she had always been jealous of her baby sister. Maybe it was Lindsey's charm and good looks.^^ Linz shook her head in spite of how crazy it might make her look; disagreeing when nothing had been said. Her green eyes fixated on the girl in front of her, hoping she would actually engage in the activity that some called "conversation".

[Melissa Jameson]

"Oh? I guess I spoiled it for you then." she said with a smile. She didn't think it was anything to be embarrased about. It was quite impressive, really. Melissa herself had never been overly athletic. Sure she had played a couple years of softball, but there wasn't much gymnastics involved in that. And, honestly she was quite clumsy. If she had attempted something like that she would have most likely fallen on her head. Not something she wanted to happen. She laughed at the girl's comment.

"Melissa Jameson." she offered her name as well as her hand. "It's nice to meet you too." No, her first impression had not been tarnished. Melissa was already starting to like this girl because she seemed like a fun sort of person. She seemed to have a lot more energy than Melissa ever did at one time. Maybe she didn't excercise enough. She knew that she could be doing a little moer to be in shape, but honestly she was rather lazy when it came to that. She wasn't fat or anything, so she wasn't overly worried about it. But still, she figured she should try to go running every once in a while at least.

Melissa resisted the urge to raise her eyebrow at the Lindsey's random headshake. She supposed it was something she was thinking, so she didn't call her out on it. She was experienced at looking rather retarded because she was laughing at something she had just thought of or talking to herself. She tried not to make others embarassed about the same thing.

"So, what grade are you in? I'm just a Freshman. I haven't gotten completely used this place yet. I moved here from New York, which is a lot bigger, obviously. So, it's gonna take some time to get used to the smal town. You know what I mean?" She stopped there with a smile. Yeah, she figured that it had been a bit of a ramble so she waited for Lindsey to answer.

[Lindsey Hunter]

Lindsey laughed. “Well as long as you don’t think I’m whacked I guess it’s ok.” And the look on the girl’s face said that she didn’t think that Linz was totally insane. Of course, Lindsey was like many gymnasts—she could do a few tricks but when it came to getting around on feet she was a klutz. Flipping, that she could do. But maneuvering in a crowd of people…that was just beyond her skill level.

A familiar and longer-for sound brought a smile to Lindsey’s lips. Laughter. How nice it was to hear it—finally something sincere in a world of plastic people. Introductions were made, and it was discovered that the girl had a name—Melissa Jameson. “The pleasure is all mine, Melissa,” Lindsey said. She liked making people laugh, it made her feel important. Part of her was always craving attention. Yet sometimes her attitude blew people off.

Lindsey had never been a master of people’s thoughts; in fact, she was rather oblivious to what others were thinking. Unless it had something to do with guys, or the latest catty feud—Linz was all over it then.

That fight at the gym yesterday was twisted!
You like him, don’t you?
Oh my gosh, did you hear about Jena?

At times, she could be rather vicious. But of course it was all in sport. Just another game that she played, like the whole “majors” thing. Premedicine? Did she really want to become a doctor? No, there was too much blood involved. But hey, it would look good on her résumé. Not that she ever planned to need one, if her career went as planned. Someday she’d like to be in the music business—though the chances of that were like one in a million. Besides, wasn’t that was everyone wanted these days?

Lindsey didn’t exercise that much, either, unless running out of time counted. She was a master of procrastination, and on days when she had a test, she could be found cramming till all hours of the night. But the fact that she wasn’t able to sit still for long meant that she didn’t have much fat on her. Plus it was sort of in her genes. Her mom and both her sisters were skinny too.

“I’m a freshman too,” Lindsey stated. “From Chicago. I’ve never been to New York, what’s it like?” Lindsey had been raised in a big city too, but so far she had barely noticed that the town was small—other than her flight in she hadn’t strayed far from the campus. “Yeah. How many people are there in this town anyway?” She hadn’t noticed that Melissa was rambling, honestly she wouldn’t have minded anyway. Linz didn’t have any trouble getting a word in edgewise if there was something she wanted to say. “So are you having as much fun as I am? So far I think I’ve seen only one living soul, and that would be you.”

[Melissa Jameson]

Melissa didn't think whacked was a way to describe Lindsey. Different would be a good one. But not in a bad way. Being different was a good thing in the young girl's eyes. She hated people who had to be like everyone else. It was so boring. It made her wonder how real some people were. If they were going to act like other people, it had to mean that they didn't have their own opinions. Those sorts of people were usually the ones she tried to stay away from. They usually seemed to lead you into trouble.

Her smile widened at Lindsey's words. She seemed very formal yet not formal at the same time. Not many other people her age had said into was a pleasure to meet her. Most people would use the terms "cool" or "nice" like she had used. The fact that she had been out-vocabularied by this girl almost made her feel like going to read the dictionary. Melissa often prided herself on using bigger or better words in a conversation. Maybe she was losing her edge. She might need to practice or even pay closer attention in her english class. It was the mark of a good writer, after all, to have fabulous vocabulary.

The girl knew what it was like to prcrastinate. She figured every teenager was skilled at this particular art. Especially when it came to school work. Most people would put off a paper until the night before ti was due. She had to say that she was guilty of this on occasion, but she tried not to make it a habit. Now that her classes were getting harder and her papers were getting longer, it seemed she didn't have the time to hold them off anymore.

Oh, so she was a Freshman. That was cool. It mean they had something in common. They were both new to this school. Wait, what was New York like? It was such a big place that it was hard to actually describe it without taking an hour or two. "It's...busy. She summed it up into one word. "There's always some sort of ruckus going on."

"Oh, I have no idea. It can't be over a thousand, though. I'd guess. Maybe there is. But, if so, I wouldn't think it would be much more. I wonder what it would be like to grow up in a place like that."

She laughed. "That doesn't sound like much fun." Not being in touch with many people was never fun for Melissa. She liked having friends. She did have to say that she had gotten quite a few friends rather quickly. She supposed it was just in her nature. "I'm starting to get to know quite a few people. It's kind of cool to meet so many people at once."

[Lindsey Hunter]

Lindsey was seriously glad that Melissa didn’t seem to think she was insane. Don’t get me wrong, she liked being unique, but sometimes she got tired of people who thought she was a freak. That was like one time in a million, but still. At any rate, being weird was better than being a happy plastic person. At least you had a mind of your own. Lindsey disliked those unopinionated people as well, she found it hard to carry on a conversation with someone who didn’t care about anything. Almost as bad were the people who limited themselves to one aspect of life, or one particular way of thinking. If you didn’t think for yourself, how were you going to know anything? It was like the old saying goes—if you don’t stand for something, you’ll fall for anything.

A spark of pleasure was lighted at Melissa’s smile. Lindsey mentally retraced her conversation, trying to think of something brilliant that she’d said and then forgot about. She never noticed when she slipped big words into her sentences. Most of them were subconsciously taken from her sister, Laura. She was something of a wordbrain, and she liked sharing her knowledge with the entire family. As a result, Lindsey rarely missed words on her spelling tests in junior high. Though it wasn’t as though she needed them. Sure, words like that made you sound smart, but right now she should be more interested in the difference between pericardial contusions and acute epidural hemorrhaging. Oh the joys of premed classes.

On the one hand, procrastination was a nice tool. You could have fun for as long as you possibly could before buckling down to work. But slaving over a paper at three o’clock in the morning with nothing but a dozen cans of mountain dew keeping you awake was starting to sound less and less appealing. And the longer the papers got, the more time she had to spend working on them. So Lindsey had vowed to start working on projects before the day they were due—but so far, it hadn’t been going very well. She’d managed to crack a book a full two days before she was supposed to, but once the cover was open Lindsey was off to bigger and better things. So much for planning ahead.

It was nice to know she wasn’t the only freshman in the entire school. Of course that was a silly thought, there were others in her classes, but as of yet Lindsey had seen no signs of humanism in any of them. And it was at least one thing that she and Melissa would have in common now. A smile twitched across her face at Melissa’s summary of New York. “Busy, eh? Well you could say the same about Chicago, too, I guess.” Lindsey had never actually seen close to half the city, she’d sort of remained confined to a small area. But of course all the regular landmarks were part of her résumé.

Less than a thousand people? In the entire town? Lindsey’s concept of small was suddenly redefined. Yeah, she had been in smaller towns before, but not for years at a time. Which was the idea with this whole college thing. “You’d probably know everyone and his dog,” she stated. “I mean, to me twenty thousand is small.” She shook her head at the ridiculosity of the whole thing. “How on earth did this school end up so prestigious?” The question was mostly for her own benefit.

Lindsey shrugged and redirected her thoughts. “Yeah I kind of miss all my friends. But I have a feeling I’ll make new ones soon.” If nothing else she’d start walking up to random people and talking to them. Lindsey hoped that Melissa would be her friend, though she wasn’t going to come out and ask—she’d feel like a six-year-old. And besides, what made someone a friend was different for everybody. Lindsey’d had friends that she didn’t even know their names. “If I was actually meeting people I might concur. But yeah, it’ll be nice to see some new faces.” She left it at that.

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[Melissa Jameson]

It would have been very wrong of Melissa to think of Lindsey as a freak. Everyone was freakish in their own way. People who did things different from the norm actually weren't all that few and far between anymore. The world seemed to start to realize that it wasn't taboo to not be a plastic drone. Melissa despised hollywood for making America think that everyone had to be super skinny and super gorgeous. Life just didn't work that way. Not for the rest of the world, anyway. It was just as good, and actually even better, to be pretty on the inside.

Melissa prided herself on her oftentimes higher vocabulary. She tended to slip bigger words into everyday conversation without realizing it. It was an effect of choosing writing as her career. She had to know an extensive range of words in order to keep her writing interesting. She couldn't just say the same things over and over again. It would get redundant and boring. There was no way she would be getting paid for that. And Melissa very much wanted to get paid. Though, if someone shot a bunch of words from a medicine dictionary at her, she would most definitely just stare, mouth agape. She knew next to nothing about science and medicine.

No, writing papers as three in the morning on the due date was not a particularly pleasurable experience. In the short months that Melissa had attended this school, and a few times in high school, she had experienced this. She was really trying, though, to actually start studying long before the paper was actually due. She wondered how good at that she would get before her senior year.

"Yes, I suppose they are vastly similar. Chicago is bigger that New York, though right?" New York was surprisingly small for it's population and popularity. Even so, Melissa had never fully explored its depths. There were places that a rich white girl just did not go in New York. She was smart enough to have stayed away from them.

"I know what you mean. I feel like the entire population of this town could fit into my old neighborhood. It's quite a change for me. Maybe after being at this school for a while, we'll begin to know the residents. I personally haven't spoken to any of them, but you never know." she shrugged her shoulders. If she kept venturing out into the town, she was bound to talk to someone that didn't attend this school. In fact, she was surprised she hadn't already.

"I'm not sure. Maybe the small town was part of its allure. I know I was instantly curious when I heard where it was. I'm sure there is a lot of money in this school, though. That always helps." she smiled at this. It was so true.

She nodded. "Yeah. I can relate. I miss my old friends too. But, I've started making friends already. I guess you can say we're starting to be friends. So, you don't have to worry about that so much." Her smile widened.