gracelyn ·· strawberry shave ice

[sage ashton tremblay]

after a long, fulfilling day of hanging ten, all that was on sage tremblay's mind was the largest cup of strawberry shave ice he planned to get at little sheila's shaved ice stand. with his quicksilver surfboard under his arm, sitting against the side of his body, sage walked through the sand across the beach and towards the pier. the sun was soon to set, and the beach was much easier to walk across than it was earlier. for some reason, ehu island was a place where tourists loved to visit all year round. and it was even more crowded around this time of the year, when it was spring break for many folks in america. there were perks to this, such as the beautiful groups of girls visiting from college, sunbathing on the beach all day long. but now that there was no sun to tan those fit bodies of theirs, they were probably off clubbing at rastafa night club.

sage dropped off his beloved surfboard at his locker at les'ella shiek's surf shack, where he kept it in storage. it would be out of his way to commute with his surfboard whenever he wanted to hit the beach, so it was awfully convenient that les'ella's offered that kind of service. the nineteen year old surfer pulled out his jesus sandals, tshirt, and backpack from his locker, slipping on his sandals immediately. he opened up his backpack zipper and tucked his tshirt in there for whenever he was more dry. slinging one strap of his backpack over his shirtless shoulder, sage started his very short journey to the shave ice stand. the shave ice stand was pretty crowded with tourists, but not as crowded he imagined the carnival would be. whenever sage walked or biked past the carnival, it was somehow always crowded. he didn't know how an island so small and new attracted so many people.

finally, when it was his turn in line, sage ordered the largest cup of strawberry shave ice he could. when it was finally in his hands, he couldn't help but make a mental note to bring it up to the environmental club that it was imperative that they brainstorm ways to encourage little sheila's shave ice stand to use less styrofoam. perhaps they could suggest using plastic cups, and giving their customers ten cents for returning the plastic cups. maybe the environmental club could have fundraisers for these cups. as he considered all the options, sage walked over to a bench that faced the ocean. only a few surfers still rode the waves, many having already departed because it was so close to dark. he basked in the soft breeze, admiring the beauty of the ocean and the sun setting behind it.

[gracelyn shae grammar]

ditching her guitar in her locker, gracie grinned. finally, school was over. she was ready to do something fun. she had plans tonight to go to the nightclub with some friends, but they wouldn't be leaving until nine, so she was free from now until then. readjusting her butterfly t-shirt so that it hung off one shoulder, gracie slipped her iphone into her pocket and slammed her locker door shut. feeling the burn of her amex in the other back pocket and the rumble in her tummy, gracie decided to go down to the beach and get a lemon shaved ice. it was exactly what she needed after a long day of slaving over her schoolwork. this year, she was really making an effort to do well at school. she was actually having fun, and she really wanted to do the right thing and do well after he father had poured so much money into getting her into this school.

putting one diamond-studded converse all-star in front of the other, gracie headed toward the big double doors of the music wing of the school. she felt the fresh air hit her face and she broke out into a jog to get to the beach. it was such a nice day. of course, when was it not on this island? she wasn't entirely sure she wanted to go back to new york for summer break - or ever again, for that matter. this island was just too perfect. it was almost dreamlike it was so amazing.

reaching the beach, gracie stopped jogging and started walking again. another great thing about the island was that the school was barely a two-minute jog to the beach. in fact, her dorm room was practically on the bay. it was such a small little community that everything was right up against each other. gracie smiled as the little shaved ice shop came into focus. she pulled her amex out of her pocket and walked up to the window, ordering a lemon shaved ice. it was her favorite flavor and this stand was some of the best shaved ice gracie had ever had. it was like a little piece of heaven.

gracie turned around and looked for a place to sit. there was not an empty picnic table to be seen. then, gracie saw a little bench. a guy was sitting on it, but there was another open seat next to him. she walked toward it. "mind if i sit here?" she asked the guy, pointing to the empty seat next to him.

OUTFIT

[sage ashton tremblay]

sage let his body rest on the bench, comfortably leaning backwards as he had small spoonfuls of his shave ice. looking out into the ocean reminded him of the days he spent in humboldt county sitting with his feet dug into the warm sand of clam beach as he spent the afternoon writing. while sage missed humboldt county, he had spent his entire life there and had so far enjoyed his three years at bouscher academy of the arts. the people he met on the island were so different than the people he grew up with at his tribe, amara terra. the people, sage had decided long ago, had one thing in common: they led wild lives. though there were some squares at bouscher, many of the student body loved to go on wild camping trips or destroy kolohe centera on mardi gras. at amara terra, many of the older men loved to sit by the campfire and drink beer until they were belligerent, and come back with wild shrooms trips from their days off. as he looked back at his memories, sage couldn't help but smile as he compared the two extremely different environments. he looked around at the people on the boardwalk, some tourists taking pictures with the pacific ocean as their background, and some students longboarding or socializing on their afternoon off from the day.

the third year looked back at the ocean, watching as the sun continued to set. by that point, it was almost gone. as sage gazed into the purplish orange sky, a pretty unfamiliar voice interrupted him. "mind if i sit here?" the girl asked, and sage tilted his head in her direction quickly, to make sure she was talking to him. "oh, oh, by all means, go for it," sage said, patting the empty spot beside him and scooting over just a tad. he glanced at the girl, admiring her curly locks of hair and big eyes. it was then that it hit sage that he could know her. "hey, are you by any chance taking poems and prose?" he asked curiously, squinting his eyes as he studied her more. "you look awfully familiar. i swear…" if not, sage decided, this girl definitely had a twin. he tucked his spoon into the pile of ice in his cup, and offered his now-free hand to her for a handshake. "well, either way, m'name is sage. it's a pleasure to meet you," he said, meaning it. sage had a thing for girls with dark hair and light skin. after all, that's what first drew him to jane. he didn't really know what to say at first, so he asked, "what flavor did you get? i hear you can tell a lot about a person depending on the flavor they like to order." oh, what bullshit.

[gracelyn shae grammar]

giggling when she realized that she had startled the guy, gracie sat down. the guy asked her if she was taking poems and prose before introducing himself and asking her what type of shaved ice she had gotten, blubbering something about how you could tell a lot about a person based on what type of shaved ice they got. deciding to appease him, gracie just smiled. "yea," she replied, grinning from ear to ear, "i'm taking poems and prose. there's only one composition class and i love writing songs, so i use that class period to write new songs. it's kinda one of my things. i'm gracelyn grammar. but everyone calls me gracie. i'm a first year music major. it's a pleasure to meet you as well. i got lemon. what about you?" she leaned over a bit to see the red ice in his cup. it was either strawberry, cherry or watermelon.

taking a bite of her ice, gracie smiled to herself. it had been so long since she had made new friends. she was so thankful that she had gotten this chance to get out of nyc and meet new people. she loved meeting people so much.

"so what year are you?" she asked sage. "and what are you majoring in?" she loved asking people. there was just something so genuine about determining what people liked to do, and the best way to do that here was to ask what they were majoring in. it showed where their true passions lie, and it really explained how their life was going. this guy looked like he could be a musician, but he was taking poems and prose and it seemed an awful lot like only writing majors took that class. there was only a handful of musicians in the class.

gracie took another bite of her ice and smiled to herself. she could still hardly believe that she could be eating shaved ice in shorts and a t-shirt in the middle of march. back home she would be sipping starbucks in jeans and a heavy coat. her new life amazed her at every turn and she was so, so thankful to have gotten the opportunity to attend bouscher academy of the arts. it had honestly changed her life and she couldn't imagine doing the same-old routine again back home. it would be tragedy.

OUTFIT

[sage ashton tremblay]

sage listened to the girl before him talk, nodding when appropriate as he continued to eat his strawberry shave ice, which was beginning to melt. "oh, so you're a songwriter, eh?" he asked. sage had written a few songs he was proud of, others he was not. he wondered what kinds of songs the girl wrote about, but sometimes that was too personal of a question to ask people. "during my first year at bouscher, there was this girl who sang at the talent showcase that the school puts on at the end of the year. she had written the song and all of that. well, the song was really dark. i'm talking incredibly dark. it was kind of a death wish to everyone at the academy who had done her wrong," sage paused to scoop a small spoonful of strawberry shave ice into his mouth. "she talked about how she cried herself to sleep at night, and that part made you, y'know, feel for her. but then, she started singing about the revenge she wanted to take on those people. she got really graphic. that was really awkward. when she was finished, there were slow, courteous claps at the end." sage finished his story and scooped another couple spoonfuls into his mouth.

"so, what instrument, or instruments, do you play? i play the guitar myself, but i'm an english major." sage fiddled with the guitar every now and then back in california, but he found more joy in letting his thoughts escape onto paper. sage had a dream of becoming a famous writer one day. slowly, but surely, he was working on a book, hoping all the effort he planned to put into it would result in it getting published. "i'm in my third year here. i've been here the entire three and absolutely love it. are you from the island?" sage could tell the answer would be no, but figured he could ask anyway. some of the local people he met on ehu island spoke with some sort of hawaiian accent, and it was surprisingly much different from the americans and europeans and russians who attended the school. even the caucasians sage met had adapted to the accent. "i'm from northern california," he offered. "i lived in the redwood forest of humboldt county." sage spoke of his home with pride, pushing his shoulders back and only slightly tilting his chin up. "707 born n' raised," as ramilda matsen would loudly say.

[gracelyn shae grammar]

nodding courteously as sage told his story about the girl at the talent show, gracie smiled to herself. to be honest, the girl would definitely be someone gracie could see herself being friends with. it wasn't that gracie herself was a generally dark person, but she loved hanging with those types of people. she didn't know if it was that they made her feel better about herself or if it was one of those life-saving things. like, if they snapped and decided to go on a murderous rampage, gracie wouldn't be shot because she had been there friend. it was a long-shot, but that was probably the reason why gracie tended to hang with the emo/goth/scene/generally-scary-looking kids. in fact, in third grade she had been labeled as scene because she had streaked her hair multiple colors, gone out for drama club, and she hung out with those kids. it wasn't a period in time she was necessarily proud of, but she liked that she had experiences with all different types of things.

sage went on to tell her that he was a third year english major, but he played guitar. gracie nodded, smiling broadly. that made sense. it explained the artist appearance and the fact that he was taking poems and prose. the whole world made so much more sense now. he continued by asking her what instrument she played. "guitar," gracie answered sweetly. "i sing a little, too, but i'd much rather play guitar in a band than sing. i have thirty-five guitars, and i brought twenty of them with me to school." she smiled broadly and thought briefly about the fifteen guitars she had left home. the no-brainer had been the pink, sparkly one she had gotten when she was three and first started playing. it was far too small for her now. but as of today she was kind of missing the bright red electric guitar with gold paisley design on it. it had been a gift from her father when she turned ten, and it always played so nicely. her bright blue electric guitar hadn't been working correctly today, which was why she had been missing the red one.

turning her attention back to sage, she noticed he was staring at her expectedly. pulling from her unconscious, gracie realized he had asked her where she was from. "new york city," she replied simply, and then realized that he had stated that he was from northern california. she smiled, biting her lip so she wouldn't say anything. she knew that northern california was a great place, but she had gone there for a surfing camp when she was thirteen. she had gotten her first period there and had to sit on the beach while everyone else was surfing - for the entire week. everyone knew why, too, and it wasn't an all-girls camp. they had picked on her about it the entire week. since then, she had always hated northern california, those who lived there, and surfing in general for the most part. though, she was sure sage hadn't been one of the boys to pick on her, and she could definitely appreciate the toned surfer body he had peaking through his wet t-shirt.

OUTFIT

[sage ashton tremblay]

sage could definitely picture a guitar in this girl's arms. "do you normally sing your own songs, though?" sage inquired. after all, she was into songwriting. his eyes definitely widened once he heard how many guitars the girl had. sage had only ever had two: an acoustic guitar he inherited from one of the members of his tribe, and an electric one he had bought not long after he moved to ehu island. "wow, thirty-five," was all he could say at first. "well, which twenty did you bring?" he tried showing as genuine curiosity as he could. "or at least tell me about your favorites." he sat back and slightly turned his body towards her. for sage, it felt awkward to be having a conversation with someone and not making eye contact with, or facing them. he did take a second to look down into his styrofoam shave ice cup. a small pout came onto his face when he saw it was nearly gone.

it was interesting to hear that gracie was from new york. sage hadn't been to very many places before, but after he visited quebec he stopped by new york as well. "new york, huh?" sage had met tons and tons of people at bouscher from new york. "that sounds like a fun place to be. i went there once, to look at an art school there. it was too crowded for me. i had never even been around half as many people before. i'm from this small tribe of people who lived in the middle of the redwoods," sage emphasized the word "small." "well, where in new york are you from? do you miss it?" sage finished his shaved ice, listening to gracie's answer as he stood up to toss it into a nearby trash can.

[gracelyn shae grammar]

"sometimes," gracie replied to his question about whether or not she sang her own songs, "i'd rather sing them than someone else's songs, but like i said, i don't sing that much." she smiled, hoping it didn't sound too rude. honestly, singing just wasn't gracie's thing. there were so many things that gracie loved to do, and it wasn't as if she couldn't sing or wasn't good at it, it was just that she didn't like it. there were so many people with perfect, melodic voices and she just wasn't one of those people. she could carry a tune pretty well, but she wasn't making-people-speechless-amazing. she honestly thought singing should be left to the people who really did it well, like taylor swift, ke$ha, and the handful of people she had met at bouscher who had the kind of voices that made you want to stop and listen for an hour or two or five. those were the kind of people that should have been singing.

gracie was pulled from her thoughts at sage's next question. she smiled at this one. talking about her guitars was one of her favorite things in the world. she decided to limit herself to five, knowing that if she gave an explanation for each of them, she'd be here all night. "well," she started, "i have my plain acoustic guitar. it's just one of the ones you can get at basically any music shop in the world, but it's custom fit and tuned perfectly - all of my guitars are. anyway, i take that one on camping trips and vacations and things of that nature. i have my bright blue electric guitar which i played in one of my classes earlier today. it's a temperamental guitar, but it's one of my newest, and i couldn't bear to leave it at home. i have a black electric guitar which my friends and i decorated with multi-colored duct tape, sharpies, and stickers when we were ten. it still plays perfectly and there's so many memories to it. it's the electric guitar i play the most. i brought my sparkly apple green bass guitar because it's the best bass guitar i own, and i have my absolute favorite. it's a sparkly acoustic guitar shaped like a heart. i got it when i was twelve, and it's been my favorite since then. i only play it in my room because it's really, really fragile and i'm afraid to take it anywhere else. on the way down here i held it with me because i was afraid to let it go in the cargo hold. it honestly means that much to me." she knew she was going on and on, but she knew that sage probably wouldn't care. he was an artist as well, and she was sure that he understood that art was all about the tools. gracie's guitars meant everything to her and without them she would be totally and utterly lost.

"i'm from the upper east side, and to some extent i miss it terribly but to another i'm so happy to be out of there. it's a love-hate relationship. a tribe? like - as in native americans?" it baffled gracie. she didn't know such a thing actually existed. she honestly thought that was just urban legend. she quickly regained her composure however and turned back to look him in the eye. "what about you?" she asked. "do you miss it?" she knew he had to have a strong opinion one way or the other, otherwise he probably wouldn't have asked the question. gracie had spent a long time studying people and she knew that generally when people asked a question they wanted to be asked in return because they had a strong opinion one way or the other. she had caught herself doing it numerous times, though she often tried not to.

OUTFIT

[sage ashton tremblay]

"yeah, i totally dig it," sage nodded. "i'm not much of a singer myself. i guess you could call me a music enthusiast though. in a way, everyone is. music is something universal that you can talk to anyone about, you know?" he loved music, and he loved concerts. sage loved seeing live music, even if he was unfamiliar with the band or musician playing. he just loved exposing himself to different sounds. "each show is a different experience. even for the person performing normally… they use different jokes, the audiences react in their unique way, and sometimes different songs are played. or even if musicians play the same songs, there is something unique about the song each time its played. i refuse to believe something can be so perfect all the time, but then again it's the idea that songs are so unique that make them beautiful to me." he was ready to go on and on, "that's what i love about writing. well. it's kind of different… but, you and i," sage pointed out towards the sea, "we could look out at that beach and the people hanging out in the sand, and if someone asked us both to describe it, we would describe it so differently. no two descriptions are really the same."

sage wanted to go on. he wanted to tell this girl about all the stories he had heard growing up, and how each elder told the same story differently. but, he didn't want to bore her. maybe, he would have to save that story for another day.

he listened as gracie talked about her favorite guitars. when she told him about her plain acoustic guitar, he was surprised that she said it was one of those guitars that you could get at any music shop. then again, he shouldn't have been surprised, considering she was a first year with thirty-five guitars. he smiled when she told him about the black electric guitar decorated with colorful tape and stickers. sage loved seeing decorated guitars. those decorations reflected a person's personalities. he wondered what gracie's black electric guitar reflected about her ten-year-old self and her friends. and of course, he couldn't help but smile and chuckle when she told him about her heart-shaped sparkly acoustic. "that's adorable," he said after she finished. "where did you get that one?"

sage honestly didn't really know where the upper east side of new york was, but he smiled and nodded. he learned geography at his school in his tribe, but they were never so specific. maybe he would go to the library to look it up, later. "what makes you so happy to be out of there?" he showed a genuine curiosity. still, he felt like he could have related. while sage missed humboldt county, he was happy to be living on ehu island. still, his relationship with humboldt county wasn't love hate, so he was curious about that. "well, sort of like native americans. there are some people of the wiyot tribe who live among us, but many of the tribe are former vagrants. amara terra is a tribe of people who live in nature, and rely on nature for everything. so, i grew up without a computer. we did have instruments..paper..books. we had simple things, but we lived without electricity. i miss it loads, but i've had a great time here so far. i lived with my tribe my entire life, so it's nice being away and meeting different people and experiencing loads of things for once, you know?"

[gracelyn shae grammar]

nodding like a psycho as sage related music to writing, gracie couldn't help but let a huge smile spread out on her face. sage was so deep. most guys didn't talk like that, and she honestly thought it was pretty sweet. none of her friends back home would have ever talked like that, and gracie kind of wished they did. he was so right, too. it wasn't like he was just pulling useless crap out of his butt. everything he said made sense, and the way he said it was so poetic. she assumed it was the wording of a writer and that certainly made sense to her. it was beautiful the way he talked and it made gracie want to listen to him for hours. that poetic voice. the way his eyes widened, like he was truly excited. everything about his mannerisms was just so perfect and it made gracie want to stay right there forever, just listening to his voice.

gracie's eyes widened and she shook her head. what the hell was she thinking? sage was two years older than her, and besides that, gracie was in no way interested in a relationship right now. maybe a fling here and there, but a fling with a writer? who played guitar? that was just begging for disaster. gracie shook her head a second time to clear her mind of any remnant of the thought before hearing him ask her where she got her heart-shaped guitar. gracie smiled. this was a question she could answer easily. "my dad found it for me on a business trip to japan" she said. "it was just a little booth selling handmade guitars and the second my dad saw the sparkles and the shape he knew i would absolutely adore the guitar and he bought it for me. it was really, really expensive but so worth it." she grinned broadly, thinking of her most prized possession. it was the guitar she composed all of her music on and it was the one thing in her life that was consistently there for her. losing the guitar or breaking it would mean losing or breaking a piece of her identity. it would be detrimental, not only to her psyche, but to her health. the guitar was part of her, a living, breathing organ that she needed to survive.

then, sage asked gracie why she was glad to be gone. this question was something gracie had to think about, though she knew exactly why. it was the phrasing she had to think about extensively. it wasn't that she hated her parents or her friends. there was just something so fake about new york. it was like a whole other planet cut off from the rest of the world. nobody there let anybody see their true colors. but here, everyone saw everything about everyone else. the little community here was truly a sharing one and though people had secrets, this was real. this was crazy real. she was so, so happy to be in a place that was real, not fake. but rather than saying all of that, gracie just shrugged her shoulders and replied, "new york is cool, but it's crowded. and the weather sucks."

OUTFIT