* zaryn { ex post facto

[jane aniya barlow]

{ jane barlow pushed open the door, already ajar, of a spare room located just steps down the hall from her music appreciation class. music appreciation had just ended, and jane felt like she was on cloud nine. not only was there a bounty of fresh faces in there this semester, but the material was simply fantastic. jane had never felt so inspired before by a music appreciation class, of all. however, jane was hoping she could sneak into this abandoned room that she too often snuck into, and steal some piano time to let her creative strings loose. her roommates had left like a million sticky notes saying things like lower your keys! or practice elsewhere! all over the mirror of her vanity. jane could barely see her face in there anymore so it was either find new space to practice or suffer bad hair day syndrome every single day.

jane glanced around the room and was relieved to see no one else was in there. she could see snow falling through the windows and the insides of jane were squealing girlishly. island snow was the best kind of snow, she had decided, because it was so unexpected, like a twist at the end of a good novel. jane set her books down on a chair by the door and carried her coffee tumbler over to the windows. she stood there for a minute, admiring everyone on the quad with scarves wrapped up around their pink noses. everyone was practically forced to be excrutiatingly adorable in the wintertime. jane took a sip of her mocha coffee and set the coffee tumbler on the windowsill she had just been leaning up against before waltzing over to the piano placed in the corner of the sparse room.

jane ran a hand over the keys, pressing a few unnatractive notes on the way. whoops. she laughed to herself a little. how nerdy was she? happier to see this piano just waiting for her than she was to go out and play in the snow. jane sat , crossing her legs like an indian on the fat piano bench. she was a little goofy, but really, who was looking? jane lifted her left hand up and played a little whatever when she heard scuffling a the door. it creaked open and jane stood, prepared to get gnawed out by whoever's classroom this was. instead jane saw a familiar blonde from her music appreciation class. "zaryn?" jane asked, crossing her fingers and hoping her classmate wouldn't end up ratting her out after this run in.

[zaryn kate oliver]

the bell rang and zaryn kate oliver gathered her things quickly, sort of glad that class was over and she could get maybe fifteen minutes to relax before her creative writing class. as she left the classroom, she looked around, wondering where she should go. maybe she could get a little bit of a song written, which could only be a good thing. someone was disappearing into an empty classroom down the hall. she couldn't tell who it was, but they'd just walked out of the music appreciation class, and zee was pretty sure that classroom wasn't supposed to be in use.

oh, hell, why did she care? it didn't even matter, not really. who cared if whoever it was got in trouble? zaryn definitely didn't. she had the reputation of the school's bitchiest second-year. well, she had her reasons for not being nice to people. for one, she didn't have to be nice to anyone. it didn't matter what other people thought of her. except that it kind of did. zaryn shook her head slightly, leaning against the wall with her eyes fixed on the spare classroom's door. these sort of thoughts always confused her.

secondly, it wasn't her fault that her mother was a million times the bitch that she was. constantly telling zee how unwanted she was, how she was a mistake, how she wished she didn't exist. what kind of "mother" did that? zaryn was thankful that she got to spend most of the year away from her dear mommy, because it meant it was harder for brielle to yell at her. when she only had to spend the summer vacation, plus spring break and christmas break (if she couldn't find an excuse to remain at bouscher) back at home in victoria, british columbia, canada... life was more bearable.

whoever it was didn't seem to have any intention of leaving the empty classroom. zaryn took a few steps towards the door, ignoring the people brushing past her on both sides, and cracked open the door a little farther. peeking in, she spotted a girl from her music appreciation class sitting cross-legged on a piano bench, running her fingers over the keys with an idiotic smile across her face. the girl looked up as zaryn entered the room. "zaryn?" zee thought that she spotted the girl crossing her fingers behind her back.

she allowed a slight frown onto her face as she looked at the other girl. god, she couldn't even remember her name -- damn it! now she felt guilty. because this girl knew her name, and she couldn't do the same. "i don't think people are supposed to be in here," said zee, trying not to look as though she was concentrating too hard on finding the girl's name in her head. something plain, she thought. something sort of boring. something that sounded old. like a name that a grandma might have. but it still had to suit the girl, to sound like a word that you could look in the dictionary and find her picture beside it.

word count; five thirteen
wearing; this
muse; songs like this, carrie underwood
notes; i don't want to go to school...

[jane aniya barlow]

{ "i don't think people are supposed to be in here..." the girl, zaryn, said to jane. jane cringed and pulled her hands back from the piano keys. she straightened her back and swung her legs over the back of the piano bench, standing up once her feet touched the floor. she smoothed down the front pleats on her high waisted black tap shorts. and took a little breath before spinning around. when she spun and tilted her head, a dark curl fell loose from it's previous position tucked behind a red beret, tickling her shoulder as it did so. jane smiled slightly, but quickly brought one corner of her mouth to meet the mood of the serious apology she was about to give.

jane cleared her throat, "please don't say anything..." she smiled at zaryn as best she could, but honestly, jane was a little intimidated by her. "i know we aren't supposed to go into empty classrooms and use the equipment," jane put these last words in air quotations and rolled her eyes, as if not using school equipment was the most unecessary rule ever. "i just needed to squeeze in some practice time. you know what i mean, right? it's hard for us musicians to get in alone time, especially since we're discouraged from going at it in our dorms.." jane rattled on a little, hoping her soft voice would convince zaryn not to get her in trouble. if jane got kicked out of this school, she didn't know what she would do with herself. she couldn't go through that again.

"what are you doing in here, anyway? a regular rule breaker, eh?" jane sort of laughed and leaned back against the wide window sill behind her, motioning for zaryn to come over too. "i mean, feel free to practice in here. i don't mind too much.." jane ould have actually enjoyed the company. she didn't have too many close friends around campus, especially not from the music department. she could use a good girlfriend these days.

[zaryn kate oliver]

the other girl stood up quickly, looking embarrassed. "please don't say anything..." a small smile played across her lips as she looked at zaryn, who didn't smile back. "i know we aren't supposed to go into empty classrooms and 'use the equipment.'" she reached up to form quotation marks with her hands as she spoke quickly. "i just needed to squeeze in some practice time. you know what i mean, right? it's hard for us musicians to get in alone time, especially since we're discouraged from going at it in our dorms..."

zee nodded slowly, a slight frown on her face as she tried to make sense of her classmate's babbling. was she trying to bond with her? why on earth would she do that? everyone knew that zaryn kate oliver was bouscher's second-year bitch. nobody wanted to be friends with her. ever.

"what are you doing in here, anyway?" asked the other girl when it became clear that zaryn wasn't going to say anything. "a regular rule breaker, eh?" she laughed, leaning against the window sill. zaryn took a few steps towards her, but didn't join her like she clearly wanted zee to do. "i mean, feel free to practice in here. i don't mind too much."

now zaryn shook her head, blonde curls bouncing. "i just wanted to know why you were in here, that's all," she said, her voice as near to emotionless as it would probably ever get. she flashed a smile at the other girl, a smile that didn't reach her eyes. "i don't break rules." as if that was actually true.

word count; ... a bunch
wearing; this
muse; fix you, coldplay
notes; i totally didn't see your reply... :/

[jane aniya barlow]

{ "i just wanted to know why you were in here, that's all." jane sort of smiled to herself. while a humble and simple girl, she still liked being noticed. she imagined zaryn just being so intrigued with her after class and following her, a few steps behind, just wondering where such a beauty could be going. jane was getting smug, letting her imagination's depiction of herself get away with her.

jane looked back to zaryn and saw her smile, though she didn't look her in the eye. it seemed as if she was in a daze of her own, and when she spoke it was almost as if she were speaking to only herself. "i don't break rules." jane began laughing. everyone breaks rules. jane wasn't a very sarcastic person herself, which is why she had patience left to bear and appreciate it in other people. but, jane soon became confused when she noticed zaryn wasn't laughing. oh god, was that not a joke?! how embarrassing. this girl -- zaryn, was a total myserty to jane, who had much too difficult a venture trying to uncover her intentions.

"sorry, i didn't mean that. it's uh, wonderful that you stray from trouble. wish i could be so lucky..." jane began to recall the times too numerous where she was thrust into trouble. though she hated to admit it, it was mostly always on her behalf rather than others. she was not mischievous or blatantly devilish, but jane never held back, and too often followed her heart that dreamed too big. jane felt awkward, keeping so quiet around zaryn in a room that held only the two of them. "sooo.." jane dragged out, "you're a music major? i mean, i'm only a minor so... what kind of music to you make? or listen to or whatever?" jane cleared her throat, feeling slightly more awkward than she had just a moment ago.

ooc: sorry this took forever and beyond

[zaryn kate oliver]

a secretive smile appeared on the other girl's face as she looked back at zee -- she would have asked what it was for, if she cared. which, to be honest, she didn't. zaryn wasn't the type of girl who cared that much about other people. if people didn't care about her, why should she care about them? it was pointless to return a favour that hadn't been given in the first place.

jane. it hit her suddenly; that was the girl's name. yes, so plain and simple -- boring, even. maybe. a little bit. god, zaryn hoped for the other girl's sake that she at least had an interesting last name. perhaps a cool middle name that she could go by instead. zaryn sometimes added in her middle name when she was talking to people, just because she thought that zaryn kate oliver sounded better.

the girl -- jane -- threw her head back and began to laugh. really laugh. as though something zaryn had said had been wildly funny. zaryn looked back at her blankly, blue eyes emotionless or very close to emotionless; and jane's smile slid off her face as she tried to figure out what was going on. zaryn had to physically stop herself from smiling -- it was just so damn funny, how confused the other girl was...

"sorry, i didn't mean that," mumbled jane, trying to take back her laughter. "it's, uh... wonderful... that you stray away from trouble. wish i could be so lucky..." she stood there awkwardly across the room from zee, and finally zee couldn't take it anymore and allowed her smile onto her face.

crossing the room and sitting down on the piano bench that jane had so recently vacated, she laughed quietly. "don't worry about it. i guess it's kind of impossible not to break any rules, huh?" she shrugged, making a face. "what i meant was, i try not to break rules."

"so..." jane lengthened that one syllable until it died in her throat. "you're... a music major? i mean, i'm only a minor, so..." zee looked up at her and nodded slowly, blonde curls swaying gently. "what kind of music do you make? or listen to or whatever?" she cleared her throat, the sound filling the otherwise silent room.

"country stuff, mostly. i mean, what else do you expect? i'm from nashville, and then there's... these..." zaryn held up one cowboy boot clad foot, smiling without showing her teeth. just the corners of her lips turning up; the smile didn't reach her pretty blue eyes. "i'm going through the... lengthy... process of putting all the songs i've written on youtube and stuff. you know, maybe i could get discovered. like the bieber kid, right?"

word count; four fifty seven
wearing; this
muse; mine, taylor swift
notes; haha, don't worry about it!