Snippet #2761363

While people begin to settle more into the cheery atmosphere of the bonfire, and become steadily more buzzed, different collections of people clearly are forming. The most notable of them are the drinking games, as they tend to let out a roar of noise every few minutes as someone lands a good toss, a team wins a game, etc. Amid one such group is Emerson Hill, engaged in a game of drunk jenga that is becoming steadily more perilous with every block drawn. The fact that most of the blocks require someone to take a shot, finish their drink, or do something stupid that they may want to take a drink to brace themselves for, has hardly improved people's mastery at removing pieces. Tipsy as she is, Emerson is still the clear winner among the group in terms of ability to take pieces out of shaky locations with ease. Right now, her hand is on a single piece supporting the entire tower. She looks around at the crowd with a cheeky grin, raising her eyebrows as everyone leans in with suspense. With one smooth motion, she pulls it out, and the entire tower moves down an inch without shaking. She leans back looking like the victor of an olympic medal, to the cheers of the people around her. Reading the dare, Emerson takes another drink.

Her phone buzzes in the pocket of her short denim overalls, and Emerson makes a critical mistake: she pulls it out with a flourish. In this action, her elbow hits the jenga tower and sends it tumbling to the ground. Her face falls with disappointment, though mostly in jest. Someone hands her a can, "Rules are rules."

Erin wrinkles her nose at this. She had been enjoying the game, but the loser has to shotgun beer and she really doesn't want to feel like a frat star at the moment. She sends a quick response to Kat first, and then accepts her fate.



With that incredibly cryptic message, she puts her phone to the side and makes a valiant effort with the can. She's only done this maybe twice before, always at the bonfire, and it is a sorry sight indeed. If nothing else, she manages to keep it from getting on her clothes. Upon finishing, she feels like an absolute mess and a half. And then she catches sight of Sean and then Petra, one after the other, and immediately wants another drink.

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As soon as Keevan catches sight of Drake approaching, he closes his mouth. He'll tease Thayer about his crush (which is most certainly requited but both members of it are way too deep in it to apparently notice) to the end of the earths in private, but when someone else is near Keevan does something he very rarely does: shuts up about it. This is a true testament to his respect and friendship for Thayer, given what a gossip and chatterbox Keevan otherwise tends to be. "Of course dude, the more the merrier!"

Keevan only really hangs out with Drake when Thayer is also around, but he enjoys the guys company. After all, they're actually in the same year- if anything, it's kind of funny how Drake is sort of Thayer's mentee, while Keevan is his best friend. Perhaps it helps that Keevan and Thayer's talents and interests are sort of on opposite ends whereas Drake has a lot that he and Thayer can work on together. Maybe if Drake were the writer and Keevan into photography, their positions would be flipped.

Likely called over by a text from Thayer, Jenny is the next one to join the group. Keevan tries to suppress a grin, but makes less of an effort to look over at Thayer for the guy's reaction to Jenny being so close behind him. He wonders, in hindsight, if Thayer had secretly hoped the clearly fake falsetto earlier had been coming from the tiny brunette girl standing behind him now.

Before Thayer could even really have a chance to respond, although Keevan suspects it will be with a scarlet blush, a stammer, and then a desperate attempt to seem completely cool and definitely not secretly in love with the girl, another girl bursts into the group. This time, it's Air- the peppy, if slightly ditzy, Influential. Keevan doesn't really know her that well, but she seems nice enough, same as Drake. And that's who she makes a beeline to in the group, completely ignoring the rest of them. Keevan has to scoot a bit out of the way to avoid being knocked over by her in all of her energy. Keevan glances over at the giant fire and grins, he can't help but agree that it is a pretty wicked sights. Perks of having students who can control fire at this school include wicked bonfires and firework displays. Meanwhile all he contributes is a gossip rag.

It's a pretty fun gossip rag, though.

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For the first time that night, something resembling a smile lights itself across Daniel's face when Brooklyn slips herself underneath his arm, something that doesn't require much effort considering the height difference between the two. He has to admit, as she's the first person he genuinely likes to show themselves at the fire Brooklyn did genuinely make his life better by showing up. He hears someone whisper behind him, "I bet Brooklyn likes to party so much because otherwise Daniel's too much of a robot to be decent in bed." With that, the smile immediately vanishes back to his typical blank expression. It's not the comment of him being a robot that bothers him, because in many ways he tends to encourage the rumors that he's an emotionless asshole. Instead, the constant insinuations that he and Brooklyn are dating tend to get under his skin.

It's not even that he has a problem with people thinking that they are together, really. They are typically found side by side at all times anyway. It just irritates him a bit that people feel like they can whisper behind his back without him finding out about it, without consequences. Lions may not need to worry about the opinions of sheep, but that doesn't mean the baaing doesn't get annoying from time to time. He turns a bit, as though cracking his back, and makes direct eye contact with the two who were smiling and chatting behind them. They immediately look away, and he flashes a smile that is more teeth than friendly intentions. Without another word, they push through the crowd to distance themselves, and Daniel's menacing smile fades to a smug expression before turning back towards the rest of the group.

Petra is the next to approach the group, and her immediate comment is on the sobriety of the group. Daniel glances down at the cup in his own hand, still untouched as it will likely remain for the rest of the night. He looks back up at Petra and shrugs, "You all are free to drink- I'll play chaperone."

Every one of them knows that the young man doesn't touch alcohol so long as it can be avoided, and he tends to end up taking care of everyone else when they get a little too messy. And if something is to happen, if someone sees something they shouldn't or makes an untoward comment about one of the group, even if it's about Lance or Lucy, he tends to be the first one to take care of it. His friends are ruthless, certainly, and able to fend for themselves, but he likes to help keep their hands clean where he can. A little bit of sentimentality, perhaps.

In the distance, the student class president for the seniors stands up on a picnic table and calls out for everyone's attention. "Welcome to the summer semester, everyone! We're gonna be starting the first song in a minute, so find your partners, or a comfy sit to watch everyone else have fun fro-" a student at the base of the picnic table shoves at the young man's legs, causing him to stumble, "Okay, okay, don't worry about the fun then. But if anyone is looking for a partner, you know where to find me." The guy winks, and then jumps off the picnic table as the groups of students return to chatter in a dull roar that fills the area.

Daniel turns from watching the speaker back to the group, "Well, if either of you need a dancing partner let me know, but otherwise I'll hang back."