can't remember why i came -- [devin]

[SANDRA HARU CHANG]

November meant that exams would be coming up in a matter of weeks. Exams meant that everyone was studying. Everyone else studying meant that Sandra seemed to be the only one not doing so, though she really probably should be. The fact that she probably should be meant that Matt was kind of getting on her case about doing homework and studying and the like, so finally, finally, Sandra threw up her hands in defeat (metaphorically) and decided to get out the textbooks. She wasn't going to just go ahead and make this easy on her older brother, though -- plus seriously, all this nagging was making him sound old, and if he was old, that meant she was old-minus-two-years -- so she called Devin, told him she'd be over in an hour or so for their bi-annual study session, and was glad when he approved of the plan. Matthew seemed a little wary when she told him she was going over to study with a friend, but hey, she had books and her backpack and everything. This was legit!

She grabbed a bunch of candy and shoved it into her bag too before she left, taken from that secret stash that she was pretty sure no one else had managed to find yet. Luckily, Devin's place was just a short bus ride away, though it was downtown, and so fifteen minutes later she'd already shown up, let herself inside, and sprawled out on his couch while she waited him to get... Well, she'd forgotten what he'd said he wanted to get, but she was sure she'd figure it out when he returned with it. Her bag lay ignored but not totally forgotten nearby. Considering they were in different grades, she figured that studying together was a little weird... just a little, but they'd always managed to make it work before. Devin was pretty good when she did have questions to ask about something she had forgotten about in her notes, and Sandra... uh, well, tried to provide moral support and snacks. Usually, though, their "studying" turned into "being lazy" and then "sleeping" and then "waking up and playing video games". It was still the closest she ever came to studying all year, incredibly. "DJ, my friend, it'll be a saaaad day when you're gone and in college and I'm still not," she called out, loudly enough that he'd be able to hear her wherever he was in the apartment. Incredibly, that was only a little while away, she realized.

[DEVIN JAMES THATCHER]

Devin sighed as he tapped his fingers on the side of his leg, waiting in line at the convenience store. In his other hand was a couple of energy drinks, chips, and some of his favorite candy--gummy worms. Normally he would have bought himself a soda, but he had plenty of those at home. No, he would need an energy drink because who knew how late he would stay up with Sandra "studying", which pretty much meant "group procrastination". They did this every time exams came around; they would talk about studying together, get together, and then do absolutely nothing. Well, they did stuff, but it pertained to video games and eating junk food and saying how they should stop and study for a while. Then forget and keep doing whatever it was they were doing. It was a vicious cycle, really. He enjoyed Sandra's company none the less, and was looking forward to some hang out time. He had avoided females quite a bit lately after Autumn, but Sandra was so light hearted and fun to be around. Maybe she could boost up his spirits a little bit today. "Did you find everything you needed?" The cashier asked, finally taking Devin's items and running them across the scanner. The blonde nodded. "Yep! About to go and procrastinate studying for exams." The man laughed and shook his head, looking a bit thoughtful. Perhaps he remembered the good old days of putting of studying until the last minute? "There you go sir, have fun shirking your work." Devin took the bag and smiled. "Will do!"

The walk back home was short, but a bit chilly. He had definitely put on his jacket today, something he had not really missed over the warmer months. He was not opposed to winter entirely, but spring was definitely his favorite time of the year. Everything was bursting to life, vibrant and green. Summer was okay, but a bit too hot for his liking. And with the fall came allergies, which he hated. Winter was a good reprieve from the allergies but it was not good for much else. He arrived home shortly after and walked in just in time to hear Sandra calling out to him from the living room. I have impeccable timing. He thought proudly to himself as he entered the room where Sandra was sprawled out on the couch. He shook his head. "Aw, I'll miss you too," Devin replied as he set the bag down by the coffee table and slumped down beside her, patting her head affectionately. "Hopefully I won't be at college for too long though. I'm kinda working towards being a professional skateboarder." It was a long-shot, and he knew it, but something that did not require sitting in a classroom and reading text books all day sounded infinitely more appealing. The fact that he and Sandra set up study sessions only to put it off until the night before exams proved he was simply not school material. "So what's the plan for tonight then?" He asked, staring at the ceiling as he leaned against her. "Should we procrastinate now? Or later? I brought energy drinks and chips, and of course my own sugary snackage." His shoe brushed the bag to show her, but nothing more. Sitting up required too much effort right now.

[SANDRA HARU CHANG]

She laughed when he walked in and patted her head, wasting no time in leaning over in his direction and slumping over against him instead. She really kind of loved Devin -- a close friend, ever patient when dealing with her, always up for something or other. It was the kind of thing that Sandra appreciated in her friends, but besides that, Devin was just nice and, when it came to schoolwork, just as lazy as she was. Well, she didn't really know if lazy was the word or if it was just a total lack of willingness to do work. It might have been a mix of both. "Oh. Then... I don't know, it'll be sad when you're skateboarding and I'm in school still," she corrected herself, realizing that she'd kind of never even known what he'd been planning for after school. She didn't really talk school much with Devin... probably because school sucked and was boring. Yep. "Come skate by some day and bust me out of class, yo!" Okay... She was sure the Academy wouldn't ever allow such a thing, but damn it, Sandra did not want to be stuck in school when there were only about... uh, infinite amounts of better things to be doing. Precision wasn't her strong point.

She followed his gaze all the way up to the ceiling even though she had no idea what he was looking at (seriously, what was even up there?) as she considered his question. Well, they would end up procrastinating at some point. Then again, Devin was in twelfth grade, which meant his last year, which meant that damn, if they ever wanted to be productive, this was more or less their last chance to do it in a study session! On the other hand, they'd been making it through so far -- why start trying now? She hummed to herself as she contemplated this, then sighed. "Well, I promised Matt that I'd actually do this..." Sandra wasn't really quite so obedient enough to just do whatever people told her, even (especially?) when it was Matt, but maybe just this once they could at least try. 'I figure we can try for at least like, ten minutes?" Even then this was probably optimistic beyond hope, but hey. She groaned even as she half-slid off of the couch to drag her backpack over. "What exams do you have, anyway?" They definitely didn't talk about school often enough that she'd actually remember (or know...) what classes he had this semester. She didn't get much further than this, though, because while seated at her new position on the floor she spotted a familiar logo inside of Devin's shopping bag, and... well, Sandra was on that like nobody's business. "Yes, Doritos! Oh yeah, and --" She unzipped her backpack and grabbed as much of the candy inside as she could, tossing them up in Devin's general direction and basically showering him with it. "My peace offering!"

[DEVIN JAMES THATCHER]

"Ah, I won't be too far away though," Devin replied, shaking his head and patting her again. He was not an extremely touchy-feely person, but when it came to friends he was willing to make an exception. It was his way of displaying the attachment he felt towards them, saying 'I trust you' without putting it into words. Some people were affectionate all around; Devin was only loving towards the people he was close to. "I'll come and whisk you away on my skateboard, to roll off into the sunset, away from the tyranny of homework and boring professors." The boy opened his hand and held it out before them, moving through the air horizontally in a sweeping motion. The school would most certainly not approve of said actions, but why would he care? Devin was never one to follow someone else's rules all of the time. He only followed them when there was no need to break them, and busting Sandra out of the school to escape...well, school was reason enough to do so. They both shared in their dislike for the educational system (not really the system, but the boring way they handled education) and Devin actually found comfort in that. It was nice to know he could laze about with someone and not feel pressured to study. Joshua always made him feel like he was not working hard enough in his studies, though it was probably good he did.

Devin smiled and wiggled a little bit to get more comfortable, already dreading the opening of textbooks and class notes. Studying was so...boring. There were so many other things they could be doing! Like video games. And sleeping. And eating junk food. "Never make promises you can't keep Sandy," The blonde scolded with a finger pointed at her. "Especially ones that involve being a good student." It was possible he promised Josh once or twice that he would delve more into his studies but never did, which made him feel a small pang of guilt. Josh knows me though. He shouldn't expect too much. It still did not erase feeling bad for shirking his work. "Ten minutes sounds like a plan to me." Hopefully they could focus long enough to get to that point. He figured that the night before exams he would be cramming, which he was good at. Procrastination was actually beneficial to Devin. He seemed to retain the information better in one rushed sitting than over the course of days. "I have history, biology, English, and math. What about you?" Being in different grades, he knew their material would be different, but that did not mean they weren't able to ask one another questions or something. Not that they really did much studying anyway. Devin watched with a raised eyebrow as she grabbed the bag and took out the chips. "Figured you might like those." He was then showered with a handful of candy, and laughed. "Hell yes! You are too good to me. Can't go wrong with candy." He immediately unwrapped a Jolly Rancher and popped it into his mouth with a quirky smile.

[SANDRA HARU CHANG]

As far as Sandra was concerned, most distances were too far. She grew attached to her friends pretty readily, and while she could obviously deal with the distance and what-not and wasn't quite so clingy as to need to be around her friends all the time, it was still a little lonely at times. Well, it wasn't even like Devin (and the other twelfth graders) leaving meant that she would be alone or anything, because some would wind up in college at the Academy and she still had friends in her grade and younger who'd still be there... but still. It'd be pretty sad when such a huge chunk of them left. Admittedly, it did mean there'd be yet another year of ninth graders to fill the spot, so to speak, and she was sure she'd make lovely friends there too, but even so, it was a really weird thought. "Nuh uh. Still too far," she told him stubbornly but letting him pat her head, and for the most part she didn't mean it. It wasn't like she could just force all of her friends to stay until she was leaving too or something. How awful would that be? "My hero!" she said with a laugh, following the motion of his hand and imagining the kind of sunset in all those cowboy movies with the hero riding off with his love interest. (Well, she'd never seen such a movie, but she was sure there were many. The cliché had to come from somewhere.) "Seriously. They're pretty... tyrannical. You should challenge some of them to a duel too while you're at it." That would be kind of hilarious, and yet she couldn't imagine Devin doing such a thing even a little.

She pouted a little at being scolded, though she wasn't going to take it too seriously. Devin was, after all, a friend and not a drill sergeant, and he was probably just as lazy as she was... when it came to homework, at least. (Few people were as lazy as Sandra when it came to other things.) "I can so keep this promise," she insisted, but she wasn't sure this was true -- at least she was determined enough to do it, and hey, for Sandra, it was always the effort that counted. Ten minutes wasn't that long, though... She was sure they could pull it off. Plus, she was sure Devin had made such similar promises to other people before, and he'd probably understand. She'd really just wanted to get Matt off of her back about this whole final exams business. There were still weeks left until the actual finals! "Mm... I have..." She seemed to have hit a mental block. "History, Chemistry, English, and Math too. What should we start with?" Their classes seemed to match up a bit, except for her Chemistry and his Biology, but it didn't really matter anyway considering the fact that they were in different grades; it'd all be different actual material. "You know me too well, Dev," she told him mock-gravely, opening the bag without further invitation, taking a few and then passing it up to him in offering. They were his, after all. "Hell yeah! Now it's a party," she said, laughing. Well, it was a party except for the fact that they had to study, but she was ignoring this momentarily. Snacks were more important.

[DEVIN JAMES THATCHER]

The Earth boy chuckled. “I’ll be going to the college at the Academy, and I don’t plan on leaving the Hollow, so no worries!” It was nice to know that he would be missed among his high school friends, even if he was not going to be going anywhere any time soon. He had lived in the Hollow his entire life, and to be honest it was a place he wished to stay in for the remainder of his days. Joshua was here, Nell was here, Sandy and Anna were here…there were enough people in his life that made him happy. And, with his aunt and sister moving back, it made the Hollow all the more homey. Devin puffed out his chest a little bit to try and look manly tough, but with that boyish face it was a bit difficult to take seriously. He was muscular and strong, but nothing like a hero. “Here I come to save the day!” The boy shouted, chest still puffed and finger pointed to the ceiling. Ever the dramatic. He glanced over at her with a smirk. “Me? Dueling? Come now dear Sandy you should know I can’t even wield a fist.” And that was incredibly true. Devin was probably the least confrontational person you’d ever meet. He would fight for his friends if it came down to it, but there would be a great amount of hesitation. Sandra pouted, resulting in Devin poking at her lower lip playfully. “You do that, and it’ll stay that way y’know.”

His friends were always so endearing. It was nice to know that he had people around like Sandra who could really brighten his day. Not to mention she encouraged his laziness, which was always greatly appreciated. “But I highly doubt you can keep that promise. You were the one that suggested ten minutes of studying, remember?” He didn’t want to study at all, but figured he could at least tell Josh the truth when he said ‘yeah, I studied for my exams’. There would be no scolding from his best friend this time! Unless of course he found out that the studying consisted of ten minutes, and the rest of the time spent playing video games. Devin slid off of the couch and leaned against it, spreading his arms out over the cushions for support. “I…have no idea. Maybe something with easy questions, like History.” Dates, people, events…they were all going to be the same in every history book. It would make it easy on both of them. Being in different grades finding the common ground was best. He smiled brightly at her and shrugged his shoulders. “I wouldn’t be a really good friend if I didn’t remember the basics, right?” Although Devin was lazy with schoolwork, he was not lazy when it came to his friends. He liked to remember the little details, tiny things that he could use later to let them know he cared. It was just a bag of chips, but it meant he thought about her none the less. “The party will start after we study. Which sucks. But we should try at least ten minutes.”

[SANDRA HARU CHANG]

She gave him a suspicious look anyway, as if she thought he would go back on his word and end up leaving anyway, but Devin had always been trustworthy as far as she knew. She didn't doubt him at all, actually. "What about when you're off doing your whole professional skateboarding thing, though?" she asked, cocking her head to one side. Maple Hollow was a city, yes, but it was one largely ignored by the general population of Canada, not like Vancouver or Toronto or Montreal or anywhere like that. She couldn't imagine that professional skateboarding was a particularly big scene around the city, but then again, she didn't know very much. For all Sandra knew, there was an entire world out there in the very city she now lived in for much of the year that she had no idea about. She pretended to swoon, putting a hand over her heart as she did so. Apparently she wasn't very good at pretending, though. Ah, well. "Like... like Captain America!" she exclaimed, a little bit excited at the idea, actually. Growing up with Matthew had definitely taught her a little bit about comic book superheroes. Just a little. "Only Canadian. So... Captain Canada or something. Saving the day with your trusty skateboard and maple syrup gun!" She definitely couldn't imagine Devin shooting a gun at anyone or anything, but maybe a maple syrup gun wouldn't count.

"Okay... fair enough," she agreed, frowning. She would have liked to see Devin actually duelling with one of their teachers, though. That would actually be kind of hilarious. "You should start a food fight, though, in Logan's class. That's close enough to a duel, right? " She made full use of their Home Economics teacher's leniency when it came to using his first name -- teachers that easygoing were rare. Her pout left quickly when he poked her, mostly because at that point she was too busy giggling as she poked his cheek back in return. "Pfft, it will not. Don't lie, Dev," she told him off, taking her own turn to scold. "But yeah, I remember... but, but... Ten minutes is definitely possible!" She would time them too, though, because she didn't want to spend any extra time studying than she had to. Ten minutes was a pretty good amount of time, honestly. With all the candy removed from her backpack now, she was able to dig through it to find her History textbook and binder, full of notes she'd taken. She did take notes in class, at least -- she had to do something to learn the material, considering she never did homework. "Let's do it!" She was sure that within the minute, though, her determination would be all the way down. "What History is yours?" Her own class was a Canadian History class dealing with the Canadian identity -- all things considered, it was one of her better (better as in more interesting, not as in a class she was doing well in) classes.

[DEVIN JAMES THATCHER]

Instantly, Devin frowned. He forgot that he would not be staying in the Hollow all of the time if he were to take on a skateboarding career. There will competitions in other cities around Canada and possibly the United States, so he would be gone quite a bit. This actually brought him down for a half second before realizing something. "Mmm. Well, it won't kick start immediately anyway. I'll be at the college until that does happen. And if it doesn't...then I'll still be here." Devin smiled brightly at her, trying to be optimistic while at the same time keeping a realistic edge to it. It was true; he planned on staying at the Academy until something worked out for him with skateboarding, but he had other options if that did not pan out like he planned. "I also talked to Josh about being a video game tester. The pay is pretty good and doesn't require a bunch of school. I can do that as my main job or as a side, depending on the skateboarding thing." That was the best route for him. Avoiding school and getting paid to play video games was Devin's dream, though professional skateboarding was ranking high up there. He did not set that particular goal up at the top, being as, realistically, becoming a pro boarder was very difficult and took a lot of time and practice and patience. At least being a paid gamer would tide him over until such a time where he might be able to make skateboarding possible. I would miss my friends terribly though... Traveling everywhere meant leaving people behind. He was not so sure if that would work out...but at the same time making a name for himself would be fun. So much deciding!

"Hah, that would be awesome! Captain Canada. With a giant maple leaf on his chest, and a fancy cape. And his maple syrup gun." Devin rolled his head back on the couch and laughed, shaking his head at the thought. Devin was the least confrontational person, so to imagine fighting off anyone, even with maple syrup, seemed rather far fetched. Unless it was in fun, then he could manage that. He watched her with an amused glow in his bright blue eyes. She always managed to make him smile. "Now that I can do," He agreed, shaking a finger in her direction for emphasis. "I'm sure he might actually like to jump in on that one. We'll have to see." The wheels in his head started turning, coming up with a perfect day to execute his food fight plan. "You are such a genius, Sandy. Where would I be without you?" He sighed, adding a dramatic flair by placing the back of his hand to his forehead. Devin giggled as Sandra poked his cheek, eliciting a bright smile. He poked her on the cheek in return. "No lying here! It really could you know." He teased. Going back and forth with his friends always put him in a good mood, especially his closer friends. The blonde gave her a nod and yanked the history book from his book bag, which was lying further away from the couch. He had to practically lean out to grab it, nearly falling on the floor. "Mine World History. Ohhh joy." Blue eyes rolled up and around to further prove his (lack of) enthusiasm. "So let's see..."

He took out his notes and flipped open to the last few chapters. "How do we wanna do this? For each question we get right...we uhh. No no. How about for each question we get wrong, we have to take a truth or dare from the other person." His eyes glinted with mischief, clearly trying to make studying fun so they might actually get something done. The boy set his book in front of Sandra and opened his palm to take hers into his hands. This would at least be entertaining, even if they did only go back and forth for ten minutes. Devin liked games, so maybe they could overlook the fact that they were studying and enjoy it a little more. However if they turned to video games, that was fine by him too! He was always up for anything, especially with people he enjoyed spending time with.

[Asdfjskp I had to rein in this boys muse. It was ridiculous. .__. Hopefully we can come up with some good questions and answers for truth or dare. XD]

[SANDRA HARU CHANG]

Sandra was generally of the opinion that growing up was kind of awful and not really anything she ever wanted to do. There was nothing at all exciting about it, she thought -- sure, the idea of not having to do school anymore was kind of great, but then again, college or university wasn't an option anymore anyways. There wasn't much that could be done with a high school diploma, not even one from what people around thought was some kind of "gifted" school. Sandra did at least know that much. Even after that, though, there was all that matter of finding a job and making money and keeping bread on the table and all those other things. All in all, it added up to a huge headache that she never wanted to have to deal with. The girl couldn't even decide whether or not she wanted to stay at the Academy! She was glad to hear that Devin would be sticking around, though -- it was a bit of a relief, even if eventually he'd be off doing his skateboarding and video gaming. "You can do it," she told him, beaming at him with all the confidence of the world. Sandra always believed everything was possible. "But ooh, video game tester! Being paid to play games all day..." The idea was kind of beautiful. "And neither of those things requires more school." Avoiding school would always be a plus as far as she was concerned.

She laughed with him, glad that the idea of Captain Canada amused him so much. Sometimes, people just thought that the things that came out of her mouth were sheer stupidity, even when she thought she was some kind of genius. Sandra had a kind of special mind, though -- only her friends would think that she was that funny. She was close iwth Devin -- not as close as she was with others, perhaps, not like Gale or others, but she definitely loved his company. "Hey, hey, superheroes should never wear capes, don't you remember The Incredibles?" she asked, looking almost affronted if he didn't know what she was talking about. "If you had a maple syrup gun, I could probably carry waffles around everywhere." That would be pretty much awesome. Everyone should get a maple syrup gun... well, she was pretty sure they didn't yet exist, but one day they would, and when that day came, she'd be glad to go out and spend her life savings on one. "Do it! Oh, oh, you should round up Ashton and Sean and Anna and everyone else and make it your Grade Twelve prank!" Graduating classes usually did that kind of thing as a last hoorah, right? Admittedly, it would be harder if they were returning for college, but still, she was pretty sure Logan wouldn't even mind that much. "Well, your life would be a lot more boring, that's for sure." She giggled, obviously kidding... but then again, she was pretty sure few people came up with the same things she did.

She just stuck her tongue out at him instead, determined to find a loophole, but then was distracted by the actual studying they had ahead of them. They were definitely of the same mind when it came to schoolwork. "Oh. Mine's just Canadian... Okay," she said, frowning. "Let's see here..." She flipped through to the beginning, figuring that it was a good place to start when it came to History. She gave him a wickedly amused grin, though, when she heard his suggestion. "Perfect!" This seemed like a very good idea to keep them on track and studying... unless it just dissolved into a regular old game of Truth or Dare, of course, but Sandra would try to keep it from becoming so (unless she, uh, forgot). She placed her own book into his open hands and picked up his from the floor. "I'll start? Okay... Who was the most powerful Mesopotamian god?" Her brain was already working on questions or dares for Devin for when he started getting questions wrong.

(LOL oh man, i'm glad you have muse though! XD ♥)

[DEVIN JAMES THATCHER]

Sandra’s confidence was always a welcomed thing. Devin was a realist—which was surprising considering he actually assumed he might get somewhere with a skateboarding career—but having people who were more optimistic than he was greatly helped. It gave him that extra boost. If he could go around and thank his friends for every time they uplifted him he would probably spend days upon days doing so. He could only hope they knew how thankful he was. “I hope so, but if not that’s okay too! I have a back-up plan at least.” With video game testing you could not go wrong. He supposed it was a rather lazy way to get out of school and potentially doing more with his life, but if he loved it then what did it matter? Devin pointed at her and closed an eye. “Exactly. Avoiding school would be kinda epic. No studying, no tests, no nothing.” Quickly he added, “Although I enjoy my study sessions with you because it hardly involves any real studying.” Devin liked that he could chill out with someone close to exam time and not feel any pressure to be some super amazing student who spends hours on end going over the same material repeatedly.

“Oh! Right right! I forgot about that. Wouldn’t want to get caught in a plane turbine or sucked into a tornado.” Devin pretended to look worried, but the smirk on his face betrayed him. He knew for a fact he would make an awful super hero, even as an average every day person. One could protect their friends to a certain extent, but the Earth student was not a fighter and did not feel confident that he could effectively defend someone via fist fight. “Wafflesss. We should definitely do breakfast tomorrow morning. My treat?” His blue eyes searched her face for a moment, bright and vibrant as ever. He figured if they were gonna be up most of the night gaming it up, there was a chance they would just crash on the couch when they got tired. If she needed to go home that was fine too, but the offer was practically there in her lap. Devin laughed. “That would be the best prank, though…I’m not sure what that would do in regards to my chances at college.” He shifted his eyes back and forth. “Ah, to hell with it. I’ll see what I can do to execute our food fight.” Logan was a really laid back teacher and never said much about things like that, so he figured they were in the clear. Besides, Devin usually did what he wanted anyway, repercussions or not.

In order to keep them focused, it always helped to have some form of entertainment. Studying was only manageable when it was fun. That was probably why he could not stand most of his classes; the teachers were stuffy and repetitive and sounded like Charlie Browns’ teacher when they babbled away endlessly. It made Devin tired just thinking about it. He shook his head a bit and focused on the book in his hands, flipping through a few pages. Devin glanced up with his trademark smirk of mischief when she agreed to play along with truth or dare. “Excellent! Then maybe we won’t get bored and start drifting around as much. Gotta make this stuff interesting, yeah?” For what was life without a little spice? He nodded at her, then pondered the question for a moment. “Enlil I think? The god of air.” There were a few gods they deemed very powerful, but Enlil was one they greatly revered. Devin was fortunate that he had a photographic memory with retaining skills to boot. “My turn!” He flipped a few more pages, scanning the pictures and bolded words with a quirked eyebrow. “What year did the Rideau Canal open?”

[SANDRA HARU CHANG]

Back-up plans were probably nice, Sandra thought. Then again, regular old first plans were pretty nice too, and she hadn't yet been able to come up with anything realistic regarding those. She'd been through the usual doctor-lawyer-computer engineer spiel with her parents before, particularly her mother (always a worrier), but overall, when it came to something Sandra wanted to do and could see herself doing, she had no ideas at all, forget realistic ones. Mostly, she was the type to go through her days appreciating all the little things, more than she was to go planning ahead. "How do you become a video game tester, anyway?" she asked, cocking her head to one side. She wondered if Nintendo would hire her for that, to test all the new versions of Mario Kart or something -- she could definitely steer them in the right direction. "No silly exams in November to stress everyone out and make them super boring!" she added, grinning. It was true, though -- everyone became seriously busy this time of year, and if they weren't too busy to talk, then they were complaining about how much they had to do still. Sandra was always willing to listen to a friend, but even then, hearing the same thing over and over was a little wearing. "Well, gotta say, Dev, our study sessions are the best of anyone's." It really involved so little studying that they couldn't even really consider it that anymore, though.

Man, Sandra loved Disney Pixar movies. She had gone to see the Incredibles with her family when it first came out, she was pretty sure, way back when she was nine years old. Actually, she had the DVD lying around somewhere. "Right. So no capes. Don't worry!" she said, laughing, "I'll design your Captain Canada costume for you. And it'll be perfect. And then we can hire someone to put it together, and then you'll be a real life superhero." There was any number of things wrong with this plan. For one, Sandra could hardly draw stick people (maybe Matthew would do it for them, though, if she asked nicely enough...) and for another, she was pretty sure neither of them were going to be able to pay someone to put it together. Even if they could have, she wondered if he would even wear her costume -- if not, it'd just be a waste. "Oh, we should! Though... should ask Mattie if I could stay. He'll probably say yes, though." It was a little weird, still, having to ask Matt for permission, but it was kind of what came with the territory now that she was living with him, more or less mooching off of his things. Admittedly, it was easier to ask him for permission than it was to ask their parents. "If anything, you can blame it on me! They have no choice but to keep me for another year!" she offered, laughing. She was kidding mostly, but she wouldn't actually mind taking the credit for the most epic food fight in Academy history. Her street cred would go way up... but she wasn't sure if that still counted when it started at zero.

They were definitely very good at drifting around, she thought, especially when they were studying, but this would probably be okay. Things like these were always pretty fun, though she'd never actually tried studying like this. She was willing to try most everything, though, and hey, maybe things would actually sink in this way. She figured there was no better way than to make it at least a bit interesting. "Sounds perfect," she commended with her nod of approval. She checked the answer in his notes quickly again and then gave him two thumbs up, nearly dropping the book in the process (but she managed to save it!). "Enlil's good. Hm..." What year? Sandra had no idea. "Oh! 1832. Right? Twenty years after 1812." The War of 1812 was, after all, a pretty important war in Canadian history, so it hadn't been that difficult -- and if she remembered the Rideau Canal as being two decades after that, it wasn't too tricky, though Sandra was better at the actual understanding of History than she was at memorizing dates and the like. She flipped through a few pages of Devin's book to find something appropriate. "What king issued the Rosetta Stone?" They were both off to pretty good starts, getting their first questions right and all, but that was likely to change at any moment.

[DEVIN JAMES THATCHER]

"I haven't really looked up much for it yet," Devin admitted with a faint shrug, not all too worried about rushing headlong into anything. He had a job at the club still, as a disc jockey, so it was not as though he was pining for cash. Did it makes sense for him to go to college then? Probably not, but it would certainly please his aunt. Judith's happiness was important to him after all the woman had done in his life. He owed her an attempt to do well in a college setting if he could. "I might have to go through a few semesters of it, but I think I can survive. Right?" He glanced at her with a smile. If he could survive high school and fights with their enemies, then college was not going to be much of a challenge. At least, he could only hope so. A faint frown did crease his lips. "We'll still have our study sessions right? Even after I graduate? I think I would feel kinda weird not having one every once in a while..." Devin did not mind change; usually he was able to cope with it quite well and allowed life to take him wherever it led. However when it came to his friends there were some things he preferred stayed the same for a while. Even if they never cracked a book, he wanted to continue spending time with Sandra. The study session label was merely to keep family off of their backs.

Seriously, it was times like these that Devin really appreciated his friends. Always kept him smiling and laughing. His blue eyes sparkled with amusement at the thought of wearing the superhero outfit, and an idea struck him. "Dude, you guys make me that outfit, and I'll wear it for Halloween next year." He promised, pointing a firm finger in her direction to confirm his words were truth. He did not mind going all out for the holiday; hell, most of his Halloween nights were spent getting drunk as opposed to dressing up and having a good party with friends. For the first time, Devin truly considered having such a 'good' party simply to dress up in this outfit and have fun with whomever wanted to join. The prospect actually excited him. "Oh, yeah, you should probably do that." The boy rubbed the back of his head and suddenly placed himself on edge. That was weird. I wonder what Matt would think, her staying at a guy's house? Even though he and Sandra had been friends for quite some time, Matt was her older brother and Devin knew all too well how protective one could be. He was an older brother himself. He had no intentions with Sandra of course, being only her friend, but he refused to step on any toes. Devin shifted slightly where he sat but made no facial expressions other than the smile he was wearing a few moments ago. "I wouldn't do that to you!" He shook his head. "If I'm gonna start it, I'm gonna finish it. Logan probably won't go hard on me anyway."

Studying was definitely not on Devin's list of 'favorite things', but at some point it had to be done. Fortunately he was very intelligent and did not need to spend hours on end stuffing his face into books day in and day out. Devin smiled. "Yes! One right for me." He did a partial fist pump--considering he was sitting down--and chuckled when Sandra almost dropped the book. He looked down and scanned over the page again before glancing over at her with a smirk. It looked as though he was about to tell her she was wrong before giving up a curt nod. "Yep! Nice job." So far, so good. He wondered when they were going to get a question wrong and they were going to begin their game. What stupid shit were they going to be able to come up with? He had no clue. The next question caused Devin to pause. Shit. He placed a finger to his chin. "Uhhh...damn. I can't remember." The boy rattled his brain to try and figure out what page it might have been on; images, bold words, random sentences...and nothing. His face was partially scrunched in thought before he leaned back and sighed. "Ugh. Why can't I remember? I think it starts with a P..." Pterodactyl? No, of course not. That was stupid. Devin looked at her with a bit of a defeated shrug before looking at the open book in his lap with a chuckle. "Guess I'll take truth." His finger ran over the pages before flipping to another chapter entirely. "What club was founded as a front in the women's suffrage movement?"

[SANDRA HARU CHANG]

Well, there was nothing wrong with waiting, Sandra figured. She didn't have a clue what she wanted to do, after all, so she couldn't very well have started searching at any time yet. She obviously wasn't about to hold any kind of laziness in regards to his future against him. Plenty of high school graduates still had no idea what the heck their futures held for them, she was pretty sure, and she was really just very okay with that. "That's okay," she said with a bit of a giggle, nudging his ribs playfully. "I figure they'll be knocking down yoru door to get you to test their games for them any day now!" She was obviously kidding, but she'd be pretty amused at the sight if this were ever to happen. "Hey... if they actually do that, your job is to call me right away so that I can see it, okay?" That'd be quite the spectacle. She nodded in response to what he said after that, though. A few semesters of college definitely sounded alright. She'd probably be in it for the long haul, actually, now that she thought about it, but that was okay. Maybe at that point she'd have found something she really wanted to study, and then school and what-not wouldn't be so bad. "You can do it. It won't be that bad!" She smiled a little bit, leaning back against his shoulder easily. "Yeah, they'll definitely still happen. You know how it is! We just get so much studying done every six months, y'know." That was a total lie, and she knew it, but it didn't stop her from grinning all the same. She was serious about their study sessions, though -- it really would just be sad if they never continued after this just because Devin had to go and be a graduate or something.

Her eyes lit up with mischief, and if she weren't so lazy, she would have probably darted up right at that second and started dialing phone numbers of everyone she knew who could draw or design or sew things. They would probably design this thing for her no problem, and she would pay them for it too... Well, she didn't have much money, but she would find some kind of way to pay them back! Maybe some of them would do it just because they really wanted to see Devin in his Captain Canada outfit, though, and that would have been even better. "Perfect! It'll be the cutest costume ever and you'll love it and you'll flex those huge superhero muscles and all the ladies will swoon and fall into your big superhero arms." She giggled. "And while you're distracted with that I'll be stealing your maple syrup gun." If this costume panned out into anything real, she'd probably be most concerned with the maple syrup gun, to be honest -- other than the fact that one of her friends was now a freaking supehrero, which would obviously be awesome for a different reason. She noticed the sudden attitude shift in the conversation when she'd mentioned Matt, though, and frowned over at Devin. "Well... it's just Matt. He'll live," she said with a firm nod. For all Matthew thought he was the scary big brother, after all, he was really a softie deep down as far as Sandra was concerned. "Nah, if anything he'd join in and then make everyone else clean it up." She laughed, but was also pretty sure that this wouldn't be that far off from the truth, if or when Devin actually did this.

She made a kind of pout again as she watched him scan over the page and then look up at her, but thankfully the answer turned out to be right. That was good. It would suck if she'd somehow remembered wrong and it was World War II or something, not the War of 1812. That would be a pretty awful mistake, now that she thought about it. Luckily, Sandra wasn't quite as goofy as that today. That would be a tragic error on her History exam. She was glad to get the question right, though, and perhaps even a little more glad when Devin got his wrong. She gave him a kind of evil grin (or as evil as someone like Sandra could possibly look, anyway) and rubbed her hands together in a scheming kind of way. "It was Ptolemy! But ooooh, truth. Okay! Let's see..." She supposed she could start them off easily. "Oh! What was your most embarrassing moment? At the Academy. Can't be when you were like, six or something," she decided. That wasn't too bad of a question. She grinned, only for her face to fall the instant she heard his question back to her. Uh. She racked her brain, but no answer came this time, no tricks for remembering it. Women's suffrage movement? There were probably plenty of groups! Well, there had to be just one in particular... She couldn't think up an answer at all. The Famous Five came to mind, but they weren't really a club at all, and they hadn't had much to do with suffrage. "Uh... Women's... Suffrage... Movement Group?" She knew it wouldn't be right, though, so she gave him a kind of half-scared smile. "I don't know. What is it? And... I guess I'll take truth, too."

[DEVIN JAMES THATCHER]

Devin giggled when she nudged him in the side, the blonde nudging her in return. It was so easy to be around Sandra; there was no pressure to be someone he wasn’t, or act a certain way. He was content to simply be himself and she accepted it. “You’ll be the first to know, I promise.” And Devin made pretty good on his promises. This was a simple request anyway, not like she asked him to sprout an extra set of legs or something. That would be impossible. “I hope it won’t be too bad. But you’ll help me survive.” He placed an arm around her in a sort of side hug, resting his chin on her head. He enjoyed being affectionate with the people he was close to; a sort of way to let himself know that they were somewhere nearby. With Josh it was difficult because it seemed to be an unspoken sort of “bro” thing to high five or knuckle bump or give a firm clap on the shoulder, but that was about it. Devin was not opposed to that at all, but it was nice to hug on someone every now and again. The boy cracked a smile. “Good! Because seriously I think I would feel off balance without them. And we should do it more than twice a year.” He nodded eagerly. “We can pretend that we have other really important stuff to do. Yeah.”

It was quite the ego boost to have Sandra brag about his superhero outfit, the excitement welling up in his chest. Would this actually be possible? It sure as hell would be a fun way to spend Halloween for sure. Though Devin did find it amusing that out of anyone who would wear the outfit, it had to be the least confrontational and lazy person at the Academy (next to Sandra of course). He was well built and strong, but nothing like Superman or most of the guys his age who actually went to the gym. Devin lifted his free arm and flexed it a bit, glancing over at her with a smirk. “Oh yeah, me and the ladies you know. Me and my muscles will just have them flocking all over the place! And I’ll live in a big fancy house like Bruce Wayne.” For some reason he did not like discussing having a bunch of girls around him, even though that was a fairly frequent thing. He pouted. “You would steal my best weapon? What if I told you I used that to make waffles and pancakes? Without my gun I couldn’t have breakfast.” And being one who liked sugary foods (and food in general) it would suck not to have such an awesome meal. His mind drifted to tomorrow morning and hoped they could stuff their faces for breakfast somewhere. Maybe at Timmies. Devin nodded a little bit, still feeling anxious about Matt but saying nothing more. He just hated making people angry with him and refused to cause a problem with Sandra’s older brother.

Although Devin claimed himself to be rather intelligent and had the capability to remember random facts and information from textbooks, that did not mean he was going to get everything right. The question totally threw him for a loop, and he wondered if he must have fallen asleep during the lesson or (no surprise) he honestly thought he had a grasp on the subject and ignored it completely. “Well damn,” Devin muttered. “I knew that it was something like that. Oh well! At least I know now.” Hopefully it would be on the test. That would be one right answer out of…however many. He tapped his chin a little bit, trying to think of the best response. “That’s a tough one actually. Me and my grace, I’ve fallen down so many flights of stairs—oh!” A memory struck him. “It was probably the time I was walking down the hall with my classmates and my friends decided to shank me. Nearly took my boxers with my shorts. Nearly.” That was possibly one of the most embarrassing moments of his life. Luckily Sandra did not have the right answer either. Devin grinned triumphantly; a random thought struck him and figured to use this opportunity to bring it up. “Nope! It was the The Toronto Women's Literary Club. So let’s see…truth…” He pretended to ponder over a possible question. He turned to look at her, arm still over her shoulder. “Would you go to prom with me?” He asked, eyes bright. It was innocent enough, right?

[SANDRA HARU CHANG]

For some reason the idea of any video game makers actually coming to get testers was a pretty ridiculous one. She was pretty sure they had people lined up all the time to do a job like that. Then again, Devin could kind of game like none other, so maybe he was kind of like a prodigy in the field. "Pinky promise?" she suggested anyway, holding up one of her pinkies and looking at him innocently. There was almost zero chance it'd ever happen, but on the off chance it did, she definitely wanted to be there. "Will do! Just don't flunk out or anything, 'cause then I'm not sure how I could help you after that," she told him, frowning a little bit but then shrugging it off. Well, she would figure something out! Devin wasn't stupid, anyway -- sure, he was lazy, but so was she, and both of them had made it this far. She saw no reason college should be any different, especially if it was still at the Academy and not much would be changing. "More than twice a year, huh?" she asked with a little giggle. Their study sessions had always been just twice a year, once with each set of exams that came their way, though admittedly Devin was in Grade Twelve and hadn't even had a semester break this summer -- they'd set up a supposed study session anyway. "Yeah! Like... like big tests and stuff. Or projects, even though we won't be in the same classes!" She grinned kind of mischievously. There were probably entire lists of things they could pretend to be doing when they were really just pigging out on candy and playing video games.

Admittedly, Sandra didn't know much at all about anything that might be going on in Devin's love life. She'd known, months earlier, about his relationship with Autumn, and that had been cute, but eventually that had ended and she was pretty sure there'd be no girls really in the picture since then. Well... okay, she did know a tiny little bit just from hearsay about his parties and girls there, but she figured that this was really none of her business. Still, Captain Canada would definitely be his alter ego and Devin would be his secret identity, so the two were pretty separate. "And you'll have your pick of all the loveliest ladies in town, but superheroes mostly get one main love interest, I think," she said, nodding, but then again she didn't know much about superheroes other than the very basics. That was probably Matthew's field of expertise. "Ooh, when you have a big Bruce Wayne mansion I'll come over all the time and throw huge parties without your permission." Sandra grinned -- she'd never really do something like that, partly because she wasn't rude enough to barge into someone else's home and wreck it, and partly because she didn't really enjoy out-of-control parties anyway. That would just be a waste if she didn't have fun. "Well... then I guess you'd just have to ask to borrow it back! Or you can just keep it, but then you'd have to deal with me asking for maple syrup all the time." It would just be sad if he couldn't have that breakfast, though -- it was the most important meal of the day, after all.

There was no better way to reinforce something than to get it wrong the first time, she'd learnt in all the time she'd spent "studying" in the past with Devin. At least, that was the case when they even ever got around to asking each other questions like they were doing now. She was pretty sure they just fell asleep first the rest of the time, or got distracted by Devin's PS3. She just nodded and then laughed a little bit at his story. Falling downstairs was sort of embarrassing, but she wouldn't call that the most embarrassing situation ever, especially not when it happened so often as it did to Devin. "Kind of sad I wasn't there to see it," she said, laughing still -- okay, no, she didn't have a particular desire to see Devin without his pants, but other than that the idea was pretty hilarious. "When was that, anyway?" She was kind of distracted from their actual studying now, darn it, but she nodded anyway in understanding as he told her the correct answer. "Toronto Women's Literary Club. Got it!" She would store this information in her mind for later -- repeating things aloud always helped her, or at least she thought they did, but who knew, really? She never studied often enough to find out what did work. She was quickly distracted all over again at his truth question for her, though, and she could feel her cheeks growing a little bit warm. "Yeah, I would," she said, giggling kind of shyly -- the very concept of dating and feelings tended to turn her into a mess of nerves, even when it was just someone like Devin, nothing more than a friend. "Though..." She calmed down a little and grinned crookedly at him. "You're just asking if I would, right? Not asking me to go?" If so, she'd probably just wrecked it by asking. Oh, Sandra.

(lololol she's so awkward, sorry. XD)