IT'S A MUSTACHE, GET OVER IT. {stella}

[EDGAR BROOKE]

exhausted ; adjective. a drain of strength or energy, wear out, or fatigue greatly, as a person: ( see: Eddie Brooke. )

Eddie had a routine. He got back from classes or some fast food restaurant, holed up in his dorm and did his homework, maybe watched a program or two or got on the internet, then went to bed around 9 o'clock. He was quiet and didn't bother his roommate, who was also quiet (if for different reasons). He'd have his headphones in with the music not too loud and maybe tapped his pencil a little to the beat, but otherwise, his nights were uneventful, and he preferred it that way. They were constant and something he had to look forward to.

However, sometimes his routine was messed up. Not often, and never on purpose, but still.

It stared at the McDonald's he went to after classes were over for his dinner. He could only tolerate the school lunch, really. He got a salad and some fries and a large soda. Only, he was already a little out of it from the doozy of the chemistry test he had just taken not ten minutes before, so he didn't realize that the Sierra Mist he thought he was getting was actually Mountain Dew, a.k.a the most caffienated soda he could have chosen. He hardly even noticed it when he started to drink it. Eddie ate his things and then left, refilling the soda before he did, with more Mountain Dew.

Now, people react differently to caffiene, but Edgar Brooke has a peculiar thing happen to him. He's normally very still and quiet, but he becomes jittery and clumsy. And in his mind? He can't sleep because every creative thing that could ever happen hit him like a brick. It was lucky his roommate was out that night for some reason, because Eddie didn't put his notebook away or get off his guitar until about four a.m. And then two hours later, he had to wake up.

He barely knew what he put on for clothes that morning. He didn't brush his hair, half-assedly brushed his teeth, and only because the shower woke him up just a little bit. He chewed gum all day to keep him awake. He barely paid attention but still got notes down and managed to not fall asleep. Eddie Brooke didn't even noticed Stella Hines (a plague on all of his classes now, it seemed) until history, which was the one the teacher has sat them nearby because "they worked so well together". Currently they were working on some stupid worksheet that Eddie could have done in three seconds on a normal day and on his own.

Lethargically, he lifted his pencil and wrote down some answers, barely looking up at Stella. If you couldn't tell he was tired, you had to be stupid. And Stella wasn't stupid, with all her faults and annoyances. "What did you get for three?" he asked when he couldn't read the paper anymore, but he never heard her answer, because he leaned back in his chair, head resting on the wall behind him, and dozed off.

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{outfit}
{we're pretending mcdonald's sells pepsi products ok ok}

[STELLA HINES]

The best thing about being always full of energy was that Stella Hines was very rarely tired. Sleepiness just didn’t get to her. She could stay up for two days straight if she wanted without very many repercussions. It’s not recommended, obviously. One day when her mom took her for a checkup, the doctor suggested that Stella straighten out her sleep schedule, since it was “clear that she doesn’t get very much rest.” And then she proceeded to pull all nighters two nights in a row. Stella finally passed out during dinner. She literally, and this is a very embarrassing moment for her and she pretends it never happened, face planted into her plate of spaghetti. It was just a matter of being told not to do something, that’s all.

So when she started at Baum Academy, and was given more school work than usual, Stella had a lot of late nights. Because, despite popular belief, there was a time when Stella cared about getting good grades and all that other dumb stuff. It lasted for about a week before she got sick and tired of writing essays and filling out work packets. From there on out, she decided there was no point to it. So instead, her late nights went to video games and sneaking out. What was more fun than breaking curfew? Nothing! That’s what! And so long as she wasn’t disturbing her roommates, Stella stayed up much later than is “recommended.” Because nobody’s got time for something as stupid as that.

Today, Stella Hines was wide awake and ready to take on the day. Unlike most nights, she had a full eight hours of sleep. And it’s common knowledge that people have more energy when they are well rested. For Stella… she has more energy. Probably enough to power the school for a couple of days. Throughout the day, she tended to notice Eddie Brooke, just because it’s hard not to, knowing now that his annoying face is in all of her classes. And today… today he looked exhausted. It didn’t become obvious until they were sitting by each other in History. Yep. He’d gotten no sleep last night. His hair wasn’t even brushed. It was… hilarious. Absolutely priceless. And there was only one thing that would make it better.

The sheet before her was sporadically answered. Stella always went for the ones she knew first, and then doubled back later to see what else she could get right. Glancing over at Eddie, she found herself not at all surprised that he hadn’t finished yet. … Had he just asked her what she’d gotten? Before she could even reply, he was asleep. Lady Luck was smiling down on her today! Grinning a most mischievous grin, Stella abandoned anything to do with the current assignment and went digging through her bag for a marker. YeeeeeESSSSSSS! A PERMANENT MARKER! EVEN BETTER!! Shooting a glance towards the front of the classroom, Stella found the teacher perfectly distracted by grading test.

And… the bell was going to ring soon. No! She was not going to let the end of class ruin this for her! Being as careful as Stella Hines could ever be, she reached over and delicately drew what she’d been planning to draw since their last class: a marker mustache. She twitched away every time he moved, and she was holding her breath. The second she was finished, Stella moved back and took a moment to admire her handiwork. It was totally perfect. And somehow, nobody had seen her do it. Man, Lady Luck loved her today. The bell rang as soon as she’d put her marker away and she jumped, still antsy after having to be so sneaky.

“Wake up, sleeping beauty,” she said loudly, over the rest of the students as they got up to leave. Sure, they may not have gotten along more often than not, but she knew he’d freak out if he was late to his next class, so she couldn’t just leave him there. (Besides, she had to stalk him around the school to watch everybody laugh at him, hehehe).

[EDGAR BROOKE]

Eddie was in that odd place where you can hear what's going on around you, but you're also dreaming. For instance, he could hear the dull roar of the other students talking, but he saw something very different. It was a path through a woods, and around him was a little glen with woodland creatures surrounding him, cheering on something. Bear? Wear? Tear? ....Hare? Yes, Hare. And when a bird called above the noise, something darted in front of him and on the path. He tried to move, but it was slow and frustrating, so he almost quit. But then he decided screw that, he was going no matter what, so he went a bit faster (though nowhere near the speed of whatever was in front on him), and felt pretty confident. He stopped whenever his face prushed up against a branch sticking out along the path, but kept going on and on until he heard snoring. Looking to see what it was, he turned around the corner so he could see what it was, but almost as soon as he reached it...

"Wake up, sleeping beauty."

Jolting, Eddie Brooke sat up and lookeed around, squinting his eyes at the sudden light. People were filing out of the classroom, and it took him a second to realize that history class was over and he was to get up and go to his next class. Lethargically gathering his stuff, since his nap didn't help at all, he left, ignoring Stella not because he meant to, but because he really hadn't noticed her.

When he got out to the hallyway, though, he knew something was up.

The people going to opposite way he was stared at him like he had a third eye and whispered to each other or giggled. He thought maybe they were looking at someone else, but no, it was practically everyone who could see him and he swore he heard his name a few times. What the hell...?

He patted down his hair (which wasn't too bad, considering) and nope, people continued to snicker. Having enough of this, he turned into the guy's bathroom and looked in the one tiny mirror they had.

She didn't. No. She couldn't have. They were getting along, weren't they?

Of course, she couldn't have known that was the one thing that bothered him more than anything. No, she had to know. She was his opposite. There was no way she couldn't have known because that's the only reason she would have done something like this.

Eddie Brooke really hated it when people messed with his face.

Maybe it was a weird thing, but it just bothered him to no end. But hey, he was optimistic, maybe it would wash off easily. So he turned the faucet on and tried to scrub it off a little and then looked in the mirror.

It didn't even smear.

Stella Hines. Had drawn a mustache. On his face. In permanent marker.

He was furious. Was steam coming out of his ears? Well it may have well have been because words could not describe how mad he was. He didn't care that they had that long while where they didn't argue. He didn't care that they both had annoying mothers. He was so mad he was seeing red, and oh my goodness he was going to kill her. Or at least seriously injure her. Verbally.

Trying his best not to storm like a child out of the bathroom, he turned this way and that, looking for Stella. He knew her and he knew she would follow him to see people make fun of him. He saw a flash of ginger-and-rainbow hair and darted towards it, fuming. "What is this?" he asked, pointing at his face, though he knew perfectly well what it was. He was very very angry and if you couldn't tell you probably weren't paying very good attention.

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[STELLA HINES]

Her bag was already packed and she was waiting on the edge of her seat by the time Eddie had finishing putting all of his things away. It was near impossible to keep a straight face and Stella worried she might give the whole prank away because she couldn’t stop smiling. Luckily (THANKS, LADY LUCK!), Eddie ignored her completely and made his way out of the classroom. Jumping up, Stella followed after him, keeping at least two students between them. Once they got out into the hallway, it was a lot easier to keep up, dodging and weaving between her classmates (plus ten points for being tiny!).

Stella kept a hand pressed against her mouth to muffle the laughter that she could no longer contain. People were giving him funny looks and snickering and whispering and THIS WAS THE BEST THING SHE HAD DONE IN AGES. Why couldn’t Eddie be sleep deprived more often? By the time he was messing with his hair as if that were the issue, she could feel tears pricking the corners of her eyes. He thought it was his hair!! No, no, silly Eddie! Even Stella had to admit his hair looked just fine for being such a sleepy kid.

He ducked into the bathroom and she finally burst into giggles, clutching the wall as she doubled over with laughter. Ohmygod, this was the BEST day ever. “Did you draw that mustache on Brooke’s face?” She was getting recognition for it, YESSSS. Giving the upperclassman a high five, Stella straightened up after they’d left and wiped the tears from her face. You know a prank is well done if it’s made you cry. Jeez, man, why couldn’t they get grades for stuff like this? Why weren’t there classes on Jokes 101?

OH GOD, HE WAS BACK. Dropping the smile as quickly as she could, Stella bit down hard on her lower lip, waiting just waiting for Eddie to spot her. It wouldn’t be hard – it was never hard to find Stella in a crowed. Especially since she was wearing rainbow colored extensions today. He turned her way and she kept her hands clasped tight behind her back to resist giving a little hi wow that’s a lovely new look for you thumbs up. He was so mad!! Agh, score!!! Steam might as well have been coming out of his ears!

If she was being honest, Stella had to admit it was pretty exciting to see Eddie Brooke angry. It felt like a once in lifetime opportunity, and here she was, the reason for it in the first place. “What’s what?” Having not thought out at all how she’d handle this once it was staring her down, Stella thought maybe she should book it out of there, but nooo, this was too stellar to leave just yet. “Oh, wait! You mean that, don’t you?” Breaking any personal space rules he may have had, Stella reached forward and traced the mustache with her finger.

“Yeah, pretty well done, isn’t it?” Okay, maybe taking off soon would be a good idea. Especially since she was on the verge of losing it again, and as if he wasn’t angry enough, surely laughing in his face would be the cherry topping.

[EDGAR BROOKE]

Any smidgeon of Eddie's exhaustion was filled with the red hot anger that came from the mark on his face. Instead of his eyes being droopy and weary, they were wide and alert and his eyebrows were crossed in a very cross manner, in-fuckin'-deed and tHIS WAS THE WORST THING SHE HAD EVER DONE. EVER.

Steam was very nearly coming out of Eddie's ears, and he was sure it would be if it was physically possible. He was suprised he wasn't spewing fire and burning the ugly tiles with every step he took. It was like he had taken some sort of acrobatic fucking pirouette off the handle. Insert countless other metaphors for 'really goddamn angry' here. And you know it was true becausehe was starting to think in curse words, which he tried not to do because it led to talking in curse words, and he tried to stay away from that. He didn't want to fit that East Coaster stereotype, but he kind of let himself fall into it when he got this mad. Even his accent became thicker and a lot harder to understand, which frustrated him more.

So he tried to regain his composure before continuing on with the conversation. But oh god, she was playing dumb, and that was another one of Eddie's least favorite things. He crossed his arms tightly and refused to say anything, knowing it would come out in a thick Bostonian accent. And then she put the icing on the fucking cake by actually tracing the atrocity with her finger. Did he mention he didn't like people messing with his face? And touching it pretty much fell right into that category. It was kind of a spark, if by 'spark' you mean 'red hot ignition of pure fury', of course. Obviously.

“Yeah, pretty well done, isn’t it?”

And then the goddamn... dam broke and he couldn't take it anymore. "No, it's naht well done. It's pretty fucking atrahcious, if you ask me." Yeah, thick accent. What the fuck ever, he couldn't contain it now. "If ya gonna draw a fuckin' mustache on my face, ya could at least make it look like a actual mustache and not a fuckin' smudge on my face, which is exactly what it is!" He breathed heavily. If he were a dragon, he'd probably breathe fire. But he calmed down just a little so he would't do anything drastic. "Where did you even get the idea, the nerve to pull something like this? I like to be taken seriously sometimes, ya know!?" Which was not what was happening currently, most likely, but he didn't care. "Just... fuck." he coudn't even put his anger into words anymore. He just continued crossing his arms and fuming, glaring at Stella.

[/justify]

[STELLA HINES]

She was going to lose it any minute now.

Seeing Eddie so angry had to be one of the funniest things she’d ever seen in her entire life. In some distant corner of her mind, she realized she was doing the exact thing that she hated people doing to her: not taking her anger seriously. But really, how could she take him seriously right now? His face was all red and he had a marker mustache and he’d be breathing fire if he could. If he wasn’t so normally quiet and boring, she might be a little worried of him tackling her or something. Nah, though. He wouldn’t, and even if he did, she’d be too quick. If she needed to, she could be out of harm’s way in two seconds.

Man, why was he even just standing there glaring at her? She actually went so far as to cross her arms as well and mimic his position, glaring right back. It was hard to do, since all she wanted was to fall over and laugh until she cried. The stitch in her side that was inevitably going to come from not being able to breathe, she was laughing so hard, would suck. But it would be so so worth it. And out of nowhere the floodgates broke and he started yelling at her. He really properly went off at her and she realized it had to be that she’d touched his face and all sorts of evil little plans to piss him off started forming.

But what she couldn’t believe was the accent. She was never going to let him live it down. Stella was actually snickering now, pressing a hand tightly against her mouth to keep from bursting out in laughter. She just wanted to say Eddie please, please stop, I can’t handle it, ahhhahahah but she wouldn’t have even been able to do that because she’d end up losing it. Which was going to happen soon anyw—“excuse me?!” For a second, she had to have been just as or nearly as angry as he was. Yeah okay she was no artist, but that was definitely a mustache!!!! At least it had been until he’d done something stupid like try to wash it off!

She wasn’t upset long and it was thanks to his accent and the swearing that just set her off giggling again. It was just too funny. Absolutely hilarious. She really hoped someone was getting this on their phone. “Alright, first of all—” she started, quickly wiping the tears from her eyes and trying to keep a straight face long enough to talk. “I should get you angry more often for the accent alone. What even is that??” Stella actually stepped back a bit, as if she’d actually catch fire from the flames he’d be breathing if he physically could. “And the idea, well. That was obviously your fault for falling asleep in my presence!”

She rolled her eyes, unable to wipe the grin from her face. “Calm down, Edgar.” Jesus, was her tone really that condescending? Oops. “It’s just… uh pft, permanent marker!” Shit, Stella no don’t laugh. “It’ll come off before tomorrow, I’m sure! You must know some magic way to do it, since you know everythiiiiiing.” He was totally going to kill her. She took one more step back, ready to take off if she had to.

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