-- EASIER TO RUN [Josh]

[LARK MARIE HARPER]

It's easier to run,
Replacing this pain with something more
It's so much easier to go
Than face this pain all alone...

The news was a shock. It was very rare that Lark decided to go home to visit her parents, let alone deal with the drama of family. She even took the extra effort to ignore text messages and phone calls from them both on a weekly basis just to avoid dealing with them. Even though school was not all rainbows and butterflies, it was better than dealing with the estranged relationship with her parents. She’d rather have that any day. But one morning the text message that vibrated her phone was not much like the others she received from her father. At first when Lark heard the buzzing of her phone she ignored it—she had been in the shower after all, and decided it could wait. After all there were very few people that took the time to talk to her on the phone anyway, and the girl was able to quickly narrow down the sender of said text message. Sometimes I wish they would just leave me alone. As she stuck a toothbrush in her mouth, she went back into the room and flopped on the bed to check her phone, the text message bright on her screen. Lark’s toothbrush slid out of her mouth and hit the bed.

”Me and your mother are getting a divorce. Come by the house today. Need to talk.”

Lark was never one to take direction so quickly, but this was not some simple request to come to dinner or go out on a family night. They were breaking up. Her family was crumbling, more so than it already was. She got ready as quickly as she could in her cargo pants, black t-shirt and black hoodie before rushing out of the dorms and out into the cold. The distance to the Hollow normally would have taken a while, but when running it cut the time in half. If only I fuckin’ had a car, but noooo. A growl formed in her throat as she pushed through the entrance of the academy and took off at a near run towards her home—towards chaos. By the time she reached the driveway, her knees ached and her toes were almost numb from the cold. If this was a false alarm, then Lark knew all hell would break loose, but she had a sinking feeling that it was quite the opposite. It felt real. With a baited breath, the brunette pushed the front door open and narrowly missed being clocked in the face with a fine piece of china. It shattered on the wall behind her. “What the fuck is going on!?” Lark screamed, her eyes dark and shadowed with anger. Sheer anger. Had her parents not known their daughter so well, they might have taken a step back and quieted down, but in fact it was the opposite. Their voices went up an octave as they tried to talk over one another. Lark clenched her fists. “You either tell me what the fuck is going on, or I’m going to leave now! Stop wasting my time with your bullshit!”

Silence.

After a moment, both of her parents stood there and glared at one another before turning their focus on their daughter. Their only child. “Enough is enough,” Her father stated firmly, pointing an accusing finger at the woman standing nearby. “This bitch is cheating, and I’ve had enough of it.” Lark blinked and stared at her mother, who did not show one hint of regret. Heartless. Cold. Selfish. Her eyes narrowed. “Oh, is that a fact? What did dad do to you, hm?” The girl raised an eyebrow and fought from punching her mother in the face—she wanted to hear both sides before anything else went down. Her temper was flaring up, and would soon be out of control. Paula sighed, rather indignantly, before responding. “I feel like this marriage is going nowhere. He never shows me affection anymore, and is hardly ever home! What else am I supposed to do?” Now, some people would have possibly pitied the woman for feeling abandoned by her husband, but not Lark. Oh no. She was far from the point of pity, or even remotely caring. Paula cheated, and that was a good enough reason not to give a shit about her excuse no matter how badly she wanted to make peace with her parents. It would not work. “You could have talked to him about it, you sad excuse for a woman,” Lark seethed, features contorted with anger. “If you were that unhappy, then you should have left a long while back instead of going behind his back like some sort of whore that couldn’t keep her legs shut.”

Had you been an outsider looking in, one would have been appalled at the words that came out of Lark’s mouth, but it was honestly of no surprise. They had not been on good terms for some time, and it was definitely about to get much worse. Paula opened her mouth to respond, evidently infuriated with how cruel and heartless Lark was towards her own mother, but Frank stopped it. “Look, let’s just drop it. Me and your mother are done, Lark. Nothing can be done to alter it.” Paula soothed her features for a moment before approaching her daughter. “I’m going back home to Hawaii. You, little lady, are going with me.” It was like something inside of Lark snapped. The last of her sanity was slowly dissipating into nothing, leaving nothing but a hollow shell. You wanted to leave the Hollow remember? She told herself, but this was different. Lark wanted to wait until after school. Although there were very few, she did have friends. Josh, Samson, Jack, Altair…they were there. They were better than this shit hole. Lark took a few steps back. “I’m not going anywhere.”

Paula sighed. “Oh, you have no choice. You are under eighteen. You go with me.” Lark gritted her teeth and locked her jaw so tight one could probably hear it pop. “I have a choice to stay with dad. You are the cheater. I’m going to stay here.” The woman emitted another long sigh, clearly not wanting to deal with this. It was a clear indication that her mind was made up, and something had to be done to change it. Something. Anything. Tears burned behind her eyes. Were they of anger? Possibly. “You have three days until everything is settled. Get your stuff in order before then.” Without even responding, the girl took off out of the house and ran down the street, feeling the fury surge within her. It felt like a horrible nightmare. I can’t go to Hawaii yet. After a moment or two, the cold slowed her down. Frantically, the girl searched her pockets and pulled out an address. It was Josh’s. Part of her wanted to hide away and just let all of this take over—to just go with her mother and not even bid a farewell because of how much it would hurt—but she was far too stubborn to give up. Lark was a fighter in every aspect of the word. After reading the address over once, Lark went in search of the house. It was not too hard to find, but getting the nerve to approach the door was. This meant tossing away her pride, her dignity, her everything. Asking for help, or even talking to him in this state meant revealing weakness. Was she prepared for that? I don’t have a choice. Narrowing her eyes for a moment to refocus, Lark approached the door and knocked as loud as her shaking hand would allow. Her personality as she knew it felt like it was slowly melting away just to knock on that door. She wanted to run, but the pride would not allow her to back down once something had been started.

[JOSHUA DONOVAN DALE]

Though Joshua heard the door he was much too focused on his task to be bothered checking who it was. Not that he made a habit of doing so, anyway. When you had staff around the house to do all of that for you the necessity sort of drained away. In the summer when Nell had been over a lot he'd fallen into a habit of answering the door to her himself but as he was not living here he was not expecting anyone. He and his sister were sitting cross-legged on the dark hardwood floor of his large bedroom, busy trying to solve a puzzle Annabel had dug up from the attic. Joshua was good at things like this and Belle just enjoyed the company so they made a pretty good team. Though there was not much talking the siblings were just content to sit in silence. Occasionally there would be a chuckle or a soft apology as they reached for the same piece, or an exclamation of excitement from the younger girl as she managed to find a match. He heard footsteps outside of his closed door and glanced up expectantly but they faded again just as quickly. Probably going to answer the door. His mother was playing the piano (or had been last he'd noticed her) and his father had been on the phone to a colleague about some business involving the hospital. It was nice and peaceful today. Almost like things were back to normal, that is until he considered the fact that he was only here until Nell got off work and he returned to her apartment. It was nice to spend time with family when he would otherwise be alone but it also caused a physical pain in his chest to know that there were still unresolved issues between himself and his family.

"Is Nelly staying for Christmas, Joshy?" Though she was nearly thirteen, Annabel still hadn't dropped her cutesy habit of adding the 'y' to people's names automatically if it was available. She still remained one of two people allowed to call him by the nickname without getting a few threats or death glares in return. The question surprised him as he realised he did not know. He'd completely forgotten about Christmas. Well, not about the holiday itself, but at the fact he didn't know what he was doing about it in terms of Nell. "I dunno, Belle," he said honestly. He was planning to stay himself so that he did not let his baby sister down but he didn't want to leave his girlfriend alone. True, she had her father and a lot of her friends, but he still wanted to spend it with her in a way. "I'm not sure our parents would allow that." He carefully avoided pointing out why but he could tell by the look she gave him that she knew. Folding her hands under her chin and leaning forward to give him a frown, she said, "I'm not an idiot, Josh." The absence of the 'y' was noted immediately by her brother. "I never said you were, Annabel, I'm just saying I don't know if that's okay with Dad." She was right, there was no use pretending. Patricia would surely be fine with it, Donovan was the problem. She sighed heavily. "Ask him?" she suggested. "I know you guys don't talk much and you're not living here any more, but..." His sister trailed off hopefully as his gut wrenched. And you're not living here any more. He'd caught that, sure enough.

The clearing of a throat made them both look 'round, Annabel jumping slightly and Joshua merely looking caught off guard. The butler had noiselessly opened the door and was giving them his silent look of professionalism. "There is a Miss Lark for you at the door," he said. Josh blinked at him, not taking this in immediately. Lark? Here? How did she...? It was then that it dawned on him--the war. He'd given her his address in case anything had come up and they'd needed to meet but of course he'd stupidly forgotten to warn her she'd need to text him in advance. Thanking the gods he didn't believe in that she'd shown up when he actually was at 'home', he nodded and got to his feet. "I'll be back in a bit, Belle." The butler went off to do whatever it was he'd been doing before as Joshua found the staircase and went down to the foyer. The graduate seemed quite relaxed and fit into the surroundings of the elegant house--his fingers trailed the gilded railing for a moment before he took his hand away. "Lark, hello," he said with a smile. Jesus Christ. Here. In my parents house--mansion. I never told her I lived here. He wondered if she'd had any doubts about whether it was the right place when she'd found it. It was huge, after all. More land than building, but the house itself was sizeable enough. It's worth was the reason his parents were going to pass it down to him when he was of age and they were ready to move out. Buying another mansion seemed like reckless spending. "Sorry I didn't answer the door myself, I wasn't expecting anyone. My sister and I were just upstairs." He gestured vaguely in the direction he'd came.

Well. What did he do now? He glanced around surreptitiously, wondering what his parents were up to now. I'm sure they wouldn't mind. Trish had already told him he could bring people over if he didn't want to burden Nell--this had been said when he'd brought Devin hanging out with him in conversation. Still, he had expected it to be a planned thing. Not wanting to seem like anything was out of place, he merely acted as if he was still very much a member of the residence. "Want anything to eat? Drink? I'm sure the chef wouldn't mind--we can go up to my room if you want to talk." He gave her a quiet look of understanding, almost suspicion. He'd said that this would be for important things and thus had guessed that this was important. Lark hardly seemed the type to stop by 'just 'cause'. What's this about, though? The war? He wanted to ask but he'd make sure that he got all the formalities of guests out of the way, first. Much as he fought with his parents sometimes, they'd raised him right.

[LARK MARIE HARPER]

Lark never really noticed the size of the house, the fancy cars, the location of their home; right now, her mind was reeling with anger, sadness, regret, but most of all anger. So much anger. It did stun her, however, to come face to face with a man dressed in a nice suit. Lark did not dare shrink away, but instead nodded her head firmly and stated, “I’m Lark. I’m here to see Josh…if he’s home.” Oh, shit. What if he wasn’t home? Where would she go then? There was nowhere else to go. Samson’s. I’m sure Beatrice wouldn’t mind a visit… But instead the man invited her in and disappeared to retrieve her friend. Even then, Lark did not take a whole lot of time glancing around the house or absorbing her surroundings like a poor child that never saw the inside of a mansion. In fact, it felt comfortable. Normal. Lark rarely ever dealt with the feeling of normal, and silently the feeling was very welcome. The girl slumped her shoulders and stared off at a wall for a few moments, waiting patiently for Joshua to appear. In fact, she was so intent on waiting for him that his voice did not even startle her. Nothing could startle her after the morning she had had with Frank and Paula. With a blank stare she turned to face Josh, eyes dark and hollow. His greeting was excessively cordial, but nothing Lark thought about too much. Her mind could not focus on much of one thing to begin with.

“Hey, Josh.” Lark attempted a smile, but it faltered and fell into a deep frown; it was not in response to his statement, more like her body could no longer function properly. It was getting more and more difficult to keep hold of herself now. “It’s fine, of course. I’m...I'm sorry for interrupting your family time…again. God I should get an award for the most fucked up timing.” Once again, screwing up someone’s time with their family. If he had any sort of issue with his family she did not know of them, and so as far as she was concerned their family was tight knit and spent a lot of time with one another. Jealousy coursed through her veins, but it did not surface. That would be pointless. As long as Josh was happy, that’s all that mattered. It suddenly became harder to swallow; as though a large block of lead was blocking her airways. Why was she here again? What was the point in burdening one of her best friends over some petty family shit when he had his own to attend to? Physically the girl shrugged at her own train of thought, looking rather ridiculous for randomly tossing her shoulders up into the air over nothing. It did not matter much anymore—there was hardly any dignity left anyway. The fact that she apologized and acknowledged her mistake was a shock in and of itself. I feel so out of control…

After a moment Lark ran a hand through her long hair, stopping midway at Joshua’s offer for food and drink. If there was one thing Lark did not want to do, it was burden him further by requesting something as small as a glass of water. She simply could not do it. It was not in her nature to have others do things for her, and to have a servant do what she could easily do on her own bothered the hell out of her. Besides, she felt too nauseous to even think of food or even a glass of water. Nothing sounded pleasant. Finally swallowing, Lark finished raking her fingers through the brown strands of hair before replying. “N-no. I couldn’t eat anything even if I wanted to. I uh…” What was this? Why was this happening now? Out of every moment to go dumb and have nothing to say, it had to be when you needed to talk to someone most. Lark suddenly felt like a burden, and felt one foot slide back towards the door before immediately stopping herself. You need to. He’s all you have right now. Lark inhaled and closed her eyes, lower lip quivering to control her emotions as best she could until she was out of the way of wandering eyes. Lark did not reveal weakness to anyone, and to be standing here before Josh like this was proof enough that something was wrong. “I do want to talk. But…it’s not about the war. Well, not the war, at school anyway…” Larks’ voice grew distant and quiet as she drew her eyes to stare at her shoes; she wiggled her toes a little to try and warm them up. “If that’s okay with you, then can we? Please.”

Lark never expressed gratitude. She never exposed her insecurities, doubts, or weaknesses. She was supposed to be a face of stone that was impenetrable. Now, she hardly knew what she was supposed to be anymore.

[JOSHUA DONOVAN DALE]

Though Lark did seem a bit less composed than usual Joshua thought nothing of it as he came down the stairs to greet her. He figured that she was here for something to do about the war and thus having a bit of stress on her shoulders was more than enough reason to seem tense. His greeting was rather polite and formal but that was nothing out of the ordinary to the boy himself--not when in his own home, at least. He was forgetting that he usually acted a lot more like a city kid than a mansion baby when he was at school or around people that didn't know his parents. It was nice not having to worry about keeping up appearances but when he was in the familiar domain of the mansion he quickly fell back into old habits without even realising that he was doing so. "Isn't it cold out there?" he inquired. Joshua was already waving his hand, a slow wash of heat encompassing the foyer. He was careful to avoid any snow that the girl may or may not have tracked in with her thanks to the weather outside, not wanting the butler to get suspicious. Sometimes he thought that the staff might wonder at the odd family they worked for but he was pretty sure their secret was safe. Except from the gardener, of course, who had been hired by Patricia thanks to the sole fact that he was an Earth elemental she'd met in high school. Trish liked to tell the story of how they'd hated one another's guts until they'd met up again after college and put aside their elemental differences in order to work out a contract. "Did you walk?" This concerned him. The area of the Hollow where the mansions were located was a bit past the gated community of the regular upperclass. In other words, a bit of a walk.

The apology surprised the graduate a little. Like himself, Lark had never really seemed one for apologies or regrets. He'd never really cared much considering he could understand perfectly where pride factored into a situation. Josh himself could acknowledge mistakes internally but admitting them to other people was not usually an option. Telling said people that he was sorry was like asking them to cut off his arm. "Don't worry about it," he assured her with a wave of his scarred left hand. "Annabel and I spend plenty of time together--we were only doing puzzles, you didn't interrupt much." It might have seemed downright childish or silly that a graduate could be found sitting up in his room and playing games but he would break your nose if you suggested as much. Spending time with his baby sister was never 'stupid' or 'childish' to Joshua. He loved Annabel and he felt guilty for all the lying and avoiding he'd done over the past year. He knew that it was justified and that he couldn't really have done much to prevent being kicked out short of dumping Nell but that didn't really lessen how bad he felt when he saw the tears or heard her ask quietly whether or not he'd be missing Christmas again this year. "Besides, she won't mind. Her friends bug us all the time." This was only partially true and said for Lark's benefit. There was a boy Annabel liked whom she'd practically drop anything for if he called (and whom Joshua secretly despised) but apart from that she preferred hanging out with her brother as opposed to her friends.

Please? He blinked, the word echoing in his brain. Well, then. That was new. Nevertheless, his reaction was smooth as he nodded and gestured up the staircase. "Sure thing, come on up." He led the way up the couple flights to the third floor and down the hall a little, crossing through the connecting room that joined the two sides of the house at the front. It was a part of the multi-roomed library and was currently dark, though Josh lit the gas lamps in the room as they walked through so that they didn't bump into anything. He could have explained to Lark that he liked the feeling of reading by the antique lamps and that was why he didn't use ordinary electrical lights but Josh was not the sort of person that often offered explanation. Hell, he didn't even tell her it was his library. Once they reached the other hall he led the way to what was almost the end of it and pushed open the door. His sister had vacated the floor and was now sitting on the end of his bed, blue eyes curious as she tucked a lock of blonde curls behind her ear. "Hi Lark," she said amiably to the older girl, knowing her name from when the butler had said it. "Can I speak to my friend alone please, Belle? It's nothing against you, I promise." In contrast to the way that he usually kept a neutral and somewhat hard-edged tone, his words toward his sister were soft. They were close, after all, despite the seven year difference. She looked as if she might protest for a moment, then met his gray gaze and nodded. "Okay. Nice meeting you." She brushed past him and closed the door behind her as she left. Going over and locking it just to be sure, he gestured to the couch by the window. "Make yourself comfortable if you want." He sat down himself and then cast a querying gaze in her direction. "What's up, Lark?"

[LARK MARIE HARPER]

Lark was so absorbed in her thoughts and raging emotions that she hardly noticed the chill from outside enter the warm room—in fact, it did not seem cold at all, aside from her toes being numb. A wave of heat washed over her; the only way that could happen was if Joshua made it so. Even then, after the thought of being out in the cold, Lark shivered. “No, not really. I wasn’t paying much attention.” Her voice was calm and level, almost emotionless. Looking down, she noticed that her shoes were soaked and the bottoms of her pants were heavy with melted snow. During the walk over to his house little mattered to her except making it to her destination. It took everything Lark had within her to keep from setting something on fire, but did manage to keep it under control. By now, the girl was emotionally weary and did not even have the strength to be herself. It did not matter much anymore. This was just Josh, right? It was time to stop being such a cold and stone faced bitch to someone. She blinked. No. I can’t. Doing that might push people away even more. Her thought processes made no sense at all, but then again the day itself did not make any sense either. At his question about walking, Lark nodded slightly and shoved her hands in her pockets as though it were no big deal. “Ran, actually. But yes. Being carless put me in a rather shitty situation.” Lark shrugged her shoulders as though it really didn’t matter. “It’s fine though. Ran off most of my fury.” But now that the frustration was gone, all that was left was…well, everything else. And everything else was scary.

As though her presence was no big deal, Joshua waved it off like it was nothing. Lark grimaced. It did not feel like nothing. She felt like an intruder, an outsider, an outcast. No shit. You are an outcast. Pay attention! It was hard to focus though, when she had so much on her mind and nowhere to place it without looking like some sort of emotionally unstable maniac. Maybe she already was. The fact that she was here in Joshua’s house was evidence enough of that. At the mentioning of ‘Annabel’, Lark tilted her head a little and appeared rather curious. The name sounded familiar—it must have been his sister. Josh rarely talked much about his home life, so even his little sibling was hardly mentioned unless in passing. Lark could not help but reveal a genuine half smile at her friend. “That sounds like fun, actually. I won’t keep you long so you can get back to it.” She was never a huge fan of board games or puzzles, but by now any distraction sounded like an absolutely brilliant idea. Even something as simple as a puzzle. As if on instinct, Lark wished to have a sibling. Someone to make a connection with that understood you, put up with you, and spent time with you. Not many people spent time with Lark anymore. Fuck, I wouldn’t want to spend time with myself either. It was a harsh realization, but one that she could not ignore since it practically slapped her in the face. “I hope she doesn’t…I’m still sorry.” She flinched at her own apology.

Joshua then proceeded to lead her upstairs—it took her a minute to realize that she actually used her manners. She said please. Lark refrained from saying anything about said word; as if by instinct she wanted to take it back and tell Josh to act like it never happened, but it was not worth the effort. Hell, she did not even know what was worth the effort anymore. Life seemed as though it wasn’t worth it either. She slowly wandered up a couple of flights of stairs and down the hall, hardly noticing her surroundings. It was so hard to focus. Had she been in any other state of mind, her response would have been much more desirable and full of awe and admiration than a blank stare. The lamps lit up as they walked along—courtesy of Josh she assumed—and felt at ease lingering in their warm glow. If home had been like this, Lark would have been in a much better place. Unfortunately that was not the case, which was why she was here enjoying the lamps here instead of at her house. It did not feel like her house anymore. After a few minutes of silence and wandering through what seemed like an endless house, Joshua finally came to a door and pushed it open. A puzzle lay on the floor half finished, and a blonde haired girl sat on the edge of the bed inside of the room. It warmed Lark’s heart for a brief moment to see such a sweet looking girl being related to Josh; she wondered how much they differed in personality. It startled Lark to hear the girl greet her—how did she know her name? “Hi, Annabel.” Lark replied with as sweet a voice as she could muster, trying to appear as though nothing was wrong. The last thing she needed was for someone else to pass her a look of concern, especially Josh’s sister. It made her wish for a younger sibling all the more, but said nothing.

Lark wanted so badly to tell Josh that it was okay for Annabel to stay—that it was no big deal—but she did not want her to listen to this. It was not necessary. The protective side of her briefly revealed itself to her, which was odd considering the situation at hand. Quickly the girl shoved it away and watched as Annabel left, Lark nodding and ensuring to add a smile. “Nice meeting you too…” Once the girl was gone, Joshua shut his door and locked it, and offered her a place on the couch near the window. Lark approached it and looked down for a moment before attempting to sit, but the energy she had buzzing around in her body prevented her from completing the task. Instead she shrugged to herself and shoved both hands into her cargo pockets, staring partially out the window. “My parents are getting divorced. My mom is trying to take me back home to live with her in Hawaii…I have three days to pack my things and leave the Hollow for good.” Lark felt her lip quiver again and instantly her eyes snapped shut to keep it all inside. She bit her tongue to control the tears; pain was always a good distraction, even though sometimes it led her tongue to bleed. It’s better than crying. She told herself.

[JOSHUA DONOVAN DALE]

She ran all the way here? It sounded a bit of a crazy notion to Joshua. He knew the distance walking because he'd been stubborn once during an argument and walked all the way from the school to the mansion. It was very far when you considered that the stretch of road on which Maple Hollow's finest homes was located was at the opposite side of the Hollow than the one that met the Academy's road. Pride was a pain in the ass sometimes. He wondered whether or not Lark had a car and then reminded himself that she was younger than he was and probably couldn't drive yet. He'd gotten everything done as soon as he'd turned sixteen and gotten his full licence after the allotted time. It had also been easy because his father had taught him how to drive before he went for the official testing. It was probably illegal to do so but it wasn't like they'd been caught or anything like that. Besides, there had been no harm done. "Take a minute to catch your breath if you want," he said patiently. He didn't want to drag her up flights of stairs when she'd just ran all the way from wherever the hell she'd been before. She wasn't at the Academy, was she? No, that was far too much of a distance to run. Not unless you took pauses in between or jogged rather than running, in his experience. Joshua knew what jogging was like because he liked things like jogging and hiking to keep active when he didn't quite have the time to hit up the recreation centre for working out and such.

He had always been close to his sister, even though there had been definite anxieties since the first time his parents had told him that he was going to be having a sister to look out for. The then-six year old had been terrified of replacements and the typical sibling jitters. Things had worked out well, though, and Annabel was one of the few people that had his full trust and unconditional love. She still didn't know even half the stuff that Nell did but that was because he didn't want to burden his baby sister with the stresses of his life. He saw himself as the older brother, ergo taking on the role of the protector, the strong one. He wouldn't allow himself to crumple in front of her. He also didn't want her to think that there was anything wrong when he was meeting his friend here and so he gave her a reassuring smile as she was about to leave. She paused by the door and gave him a worried look. Glancing apologetically at Lark, he furrowed his brow at her. "What is it, Belle? We'll only be a few." She seemed to struggle with her anxieties for a moment, fiddling with the bottom of her shirt and glancing between her older brother and his friend. "You... you and Nell aren't having a fight, are you?" The introduction of Nell into the conversation was so surprising that it took him a second to understand what she was saying. When he did, Josh actually started laughing. "No. Hell, no. Nell and I are fine, sis. Lark really is my friend."

Annabel seemed to consider them both and nodded, smiling. Joshua almost sighed in relief. Crisis averted. So his little sister was worried that he was cheating? It was almost cute and the thought made him smile again, laughing quietly. "Sorry," Annabel said politely to Lark. "I just had to check." She frowned at Joshua as if suggesting that he could not be trusted. He merely snorted and ruffled her blonde curls, earning a swat on the arm from the blonde before she left the room. His demeanour was drastically changed from the tension and neutrality from before--he was smiling and his posture was light. Few got to see the way that he interacted with his young sibling but those that did were permitted to a side of the graduate that was both rare and touching. The cheerfulness faded back to a calm stoicism pretty quickly as he adjusted to the seriousness of their situation. "Sorry about that," he said. He did not apologise for himself but he had no problem with apologising for other people. Perhaps it was a pot calling a kettle black but he'd never really cared much about that. "Annabel's quite fond of Nell, I think." His tone was teasing but he spoke the truth. The small blonde had liked the Earth girl before she and Josh had even been friends, let alone anything more than that.

The news shocked him, especially with the suddenness that it was thrust upon him. He did not react immediately, taking a few seconds to digest this before his expression changed to something a little more guarded. He was protecting whatever emotion might have tried to betray him. He did not want to lose a friend. First Nell, then Devin, now Lark? Why is everyone I care about being threatened? Nell had survived the trial and Devin had ended up staying in Maple Hollow by unfortunate courtesy of his stepmother. What would happen to Lark? Third time's the charm, he thought dryly. He was worried about having to be apart. This was different than with Devin. She wouldn't be hurt if she stayed here, not that he knew of anyway. It took him several seconds to formulate a reply. "God, Lark, I'm sorry," he said regretfully. Shit. How the hell did he support her in this? He felt the weight crushing down upon him but would not be so selfish as to turn her away. She didn't know about all the other shit he was dealing with. She didn't know about Nell, about Devin, about his family, about himself. It wasn't her fault this had happened at a bad time. She opened up to me for once, I'm not taking advantage of that. "Trying, you said?" he repeated, having caught onto the word choice. "Is there any way you can stop this at all? Any way I can help?" He would, of course. He'd always help his friends.

[LARK MARIE HARPER]

It was amusing to watch Joshua interact with his little sister—she saw a new side of her friend that had not yet been revealed before. Like he was now seen in a different light. Lark knew that it was not something he revealed to others, and did not expect him to respond to her or anyone else the way he did to Annabel. In all honesty, that would probably freak her out. She was accustomed to who Josh was. Any change would not be readily accepted by someone who did not deal well with change. At least, a change that drastic. Lark observed the conversation between Annabel and Josh, blinking a few times to try and register exactly what was going on. Lark was not flirtatious, nor was she hardly ever smitten by a guy in any way—hell, the guy could be chasing her around like a little puppy and she would probably be completely oblivious to it unless they told her outright. The girl was lacking greatly in the romance department. It did not bother her though; a lot of guys saw her as just a friend and others were too intimidated to even be around her. She needed someone who could balance out the negatives and keep her in check, while at the same time adore her for who she was. Not that her friends did not do that for the most part, but Lark had a feeling that it would be quite different. Either way she was clueless. A brick.

Lark quickly caught on soon after that when Annabel mentioned Nell and looked quite perturbed by her presence. It made her feel unwelcome, which only added to the feeling she had before even knocking on the front door. I always feel unwelcome with everyone. She thought in passing, suddenly feeling really depressed. But, when Annabel offered up an apology Lark suddenly brightened up and waved her off. “No harm done.” Was all Lark could manage to say to the blonde girl while she watched them banter physically for a moment. The depression washed over her again; this time getting ever harder to control. Once the girl left the room, Lark finally emitted a sigh as though she were holding her breath; the conversation made her feel rather awkward. “Don’t apologize Josh. She was looking out for you.” A small smirk formed on her features while she shrugged and tucked her head to the side. “I don’t think she realizes that our compatibility only goes so far as friends. We’d wind up beating the shit out of one another otherwise.” The image made her screw up her face, though still smiling—it was an odd thought, but it was a distraction from the divorce and the impending move that would be happening within three days. That was, unless Lark could do something to stop it. Joshua’s voice was still rather light as he spoke of Nell; it made her feel warm to see him happy. “Well, I’d have to say I’m fond of her myself. She’s made you happy. That’s important." Her eyes were smiling, even though behind them was a large wall of torment. It was nice to have a brief moment away from her thoughts.

Truthfully, it scared Lark at how…different she felt. It was not normal. Beyond normal, for someone like her. The genuine smiles, the light joking, the apologies, the gratitude…it was really freaking her out and there was no way of stopping it. It’s just for today. It’s just for today. Was that really the truth? Maybe it was only due to her current situation that she was acting so out of the ordinary. Lark wanted to go back. She wanted to be hardened to the world, if not to at least those who did not need to see her act this way. To be human. Quickly the light in her eyes faded. Nothing was right anymore. At hearing Joshua’s apology, Lark almost turned on him and told him not to say something so stupid—apologizing for something he did not cause was fruitless and had no foundation. To Lark, apologizing for her troubles when you played no part almost meant nothing, even though she wanted it to. Perhaps if he had experienced the same problem the apology would be more along the lines of ‘I know what you’re going through’, as opposed to ‘I have nothing else to say’. It meant no words of encouragement. No positive or uplifting words. No, ‘Hey, it will be okay’. Because it wasn’t going to be okay. There wasn’t anything positive. Thus, Joshua’s apology actually made sense. Her thought processes were very askew. “Don’t…” She started, hardly a whisper. “Don’t apologize, okay? It’s nothing you’ve done.” Her voice was soft and very much out of character for the rough and tough tomboy who was quick to anger. It suited her for now though; she did not feel like herself anyway.

With a swift movement Lark turned her full attention on the window, taking in every possible detail that she could. Anything to pull away from all of this. For one reason or another, Joshua focused on the word ‘trying’. Even though it seemed her fate had been sealed, she inadvertently added the word into her sentence as though there was some sort of last hope to getting out of this. She highly doubted it. Lark was a realist. She was under eighteen, her mom would have custody, and there was nothing she could do to change that without going to court and fighting about it. That would not work. “Yeah, trying. I want to get out of it but I don’t have much going for me.” Slowly Lark turned her attention onto Josh; it was faint, but her eyes glistened with tears that threatened to fall. “Being sixteen I don’t have much of a choice. I want to be here and finish out school, at the very least.” She mulled over her thoughts for a moment or two, a dark, cold truth settling into her heart that she wished would take flight and never return. Maybe she would be better off in Hawaii. Start new, like she wanted. But Josh…Jack…Sam…Altair (even though she accused her of being a traitor, she was the only female even close to a friend). They kept her sane. She never verbally thanked them, but the appreciation was always there in her heart. “I don’t want to leave…I couldn’t live without you, or Jack, or Sam. I have nothing else. No one else.” Quickly she wiped her nose to dismiss any tears before turning away again. “I don’t know how to convince my mom to let me stay. I’m not sure what I can do legally to change this without causing a large fight.”

Finally, as though all of the emotions and the long run had caught up to her, Lark slumped onto the couch and stared out of the window, body facing the room. She released a bit of a frustrated groan before dropping her head, the thick brown locks of hair shielding her face from Josh. It was all she could do to keep from falling apart and actually crying in front of someone. Someone who did not need to see Lark cry. She was determined for hell to freeze over before then.

[JOSHUA DONOVAN DALE]

Sensing a certain note of awkwardness to the situation, Joshua decided to try and lighten up the mood. Smirking, he said, "I'd kick your ass in our metaphorical relationship." His gray eyes sparkled along with the grin to hint at the fact that no actual harm was meant by the statement, even though he probably could overpower her if he wished. Josh didn't doubt that Lark could get in a few good shots if they fought, though. She was right when she said that they were not a good match for one another. He allowed his thoughts to wander to Nell and how absolutely different she was from him in every respect. He was older, stronger, taller, crueller... Jesus, it would be far too easy for him to get Nell down in a fight. Only I'd never fight like that with her. Though with Lark his thoughts had been joking, they went softer and more serious when he considered his girlfriend. She really was a good match for him. The sweet Earth countered his fiery temperament well and managed to calm him even when she wasn't trying. Hell, her presence was enough. Maybe Lark had noticed the way he acted when Nell was ever brought into the picture for she made a comment on the girl in the next second. His lips twitched into the slightest of smiles. Though small, the gesture was genuine. She does, he thought. She does make me happy. He was not necessarily happy with the way things were going right now but he was at least content. He loved her enough to work through the current funk in their relationship. Would Lark ever find someone like that for herself? If I can get a girl, she can get a guy, he snorted internally. "It is important," he agreed. Where would he be without her right now? Dead, he reminded himself. Right.

His knee-jerk reaction had been to 'apologise' even if there was nothing to apologise for. It was rather ironic, considering he never let himself utter the words if the person he was speaking to really deserved them. He just wasn't sure what else to say. If this had been a different situation he might have flared up for her telling him off, however gentle, but at present he was still in a bit of shock over the fact that Lark had told him about this at all. "I know," he sighed. It was true. He hadn't caused her parents to break up--he didn't know much about her family except they were from Hawaii and that Lark had troubles with her mother. That was the thing about two friends that were both closed off; learning about one another was nearly impossible. That was fine. He didn't need to know the gritty details of Lark's life in order to care about her, to sympathise. He didn't have a whole lot of empathy for strangers (none at all, most of the time) but for his friends it was very prominent. He didn't have many friends to care about so he tended to go to the extremes with those he did. He had a lot of acquaintances, people that knew who he was and could carry on conversation without offending him, but friends were a rarity. Friends like Nell, Devin, and Lark--friends that stuck--were rare. There was Harley, too. Now that they were talking to one another again she count count herself in his small circle. People flitted in and out of his life so easily as of late. He needed to stick with those that he could. Like Lark. Except that she was very possibly leaving in three fucking days. Why the hell do I get stuck with all the problem friendships? It was not bitterness toward his friends but to fate. Why the fuck did it all have to happen at once?

It was things like these that made Joshua apathetic to the world sometimes, that nursed his inner pessimism like a wound. Only instead of healing it, the constant outpouring of bad things made it all the more prominent and uncontrollable. I thought things would get better after the trial. Had there ever been a time in his life where everything had been alright? Now that he thought about it, he really couldn't remember one. Even in the sunnier days of his childhood he'd had to deal with his small size and lack of friends as well as all the bullying that had come with it. Really, why had he even dared hope that Nell's victory would change anything? Things were still going to suck and that seemed to be a definite. "What about your father?" He asked it slowly as if testing the waters, not knowing whether or not she'd had some sort of a fight with him over something. He still remained unaware of the cause for the divorce, after all. He wondered if her father was planning to move as well and if she was going to have a choice of which parent she went with. It didn't really sound like it from what Lark had said. "I'm not sure, either," he admitted uncertainly, frowning and starting to tap his fingers against his thigh without even noticing that he was doing it. It was an old habit that Joshua had carried with him ever since he was a little kid. He'd picked it up from Patricia--she'd tap pens, fingers, anything she happened to be holding. Trish did it when she was anxious or deep in thought, for Josh it seemed to be more of the latter as he mulled over things in his mind.

It was several moments before something occurred to him, the thoughtful frown on his face deepening for a brief moment before he met his friend's gaze again. "You're not in college," he said. It might have sounded like a realisation but it was going somewhere and he hoped that Lark picked up on this so she didn't call him out for saying something stupid. He was trying to help, after all. "High school here, for our kind, is practically a mandatory thing." The school didn't want elementals running wild with their powers causing accidents all over the place, of course. Especially not a Fire being forced away from the place against her will. Anger and Fire elementals were a terrible mixture. He could remember a list of mistakes he'd made in his earlier years before he'd mastered the control over his powers enough that anger didn't result in accidental explosions. "Why not see if the Academy will fight for you?" he asked. It was a long shot, of course, but what if it worked? He'd never really had a friend in this situation so he wasn't sure of the chances but Josh knew the rules. He remembered a Thunder elemental he'd been friends with that had wanted to drop out. The Academy had been absolutely determined to have him finish grade twelve, a battle which they'd won. "I'm not sure how it works, but... well, it's something to consider." However, that did not solve one thing--breaks. It was only two out of the twelve months of the year, though. It would also mean that Lark would need to really keep it in good with her element and be even more careful about their friendship so that she didn't get kicked out like he had. Her staying here is more important than the publicity of our friendship, if this has a chance. "I mean, it's a boarding school. She can't very well say you have nowhere to stay, right?"

[LARK MARIE HARPER]

Lark leaned over her knees and rested her elbows on her thighs in a very relaxed fashion; being in the presence of friends was soothing and calmed her nerves, even more so than she realized. She chuckled and rolled her eyes a little, a smile pulling at her lips. “Oh, a little confident now, are we?” She raised her eyebrow before laughing again, the tension in her chest slowly dissolving simply by being in Joshua’s presence. “Ah hell, you might be able to. But don’t doubt that I can be a badass too.” Lark pointed at him and half closed one eye, shaking her finger as though trying to make a point that actually mattered. Of course it didn’t matter; they were simply bantering back and forth to try and ease the awkward moment they experienced with Annabel. Lark was many things, but a home wrecker she was most certainly not. Even if she were fully aware of the affections of males and any sort of romance, or even remotely liked Joshua in the way Annabel assumed she did, there was no way in hell she would ever cause problems with Josh. Loyalty always came first, no matter what. When Lark glanced over at her friend, she caught the faint glimmer of a smile when she mentioned Nell and how good she was for him. And she was. Lark knew all too well the complications of being a temperamental fire student with anger flare ups that were often times unpredictable. All it took was one word and they would fly off the cuff. It was one reason Lark found herself alone, but knew that anything was possible. If Josh could find someone, then so could she. But I have more important things to deal with than romance.

“Well, if you’re happy, then I’m happy. My friend’s happiness matters.” Like a child, Lark pushed her hair behind her ear and glanced down at the floor, an almost innocent look on her face. It warmed her up on the inside to see a softer side of Josh—there was no way she was going to bring it up, because that would only make him retract again. What she did not realize was that she was not quite herself either, although she swore it would just be for the day. Josh had someone that made him go soft; Lark had no one. Jack flitted through her mind for a nanosecond before disappearing again. Soon after, the girl felt the warmth fade away and the cold of reality settled into her heart. Lark knew that Joshua was not apologizing because he did anything wrong, as did she. It was one of those automatic human cues when someone tells you something horrible, and you have no other way of helping other than to offer your condolences. That’s how human interaction worked—even responses to ‘How are you?’ are generic and almost always the same, even if the person who says ‘I’m fine’ is most definitely far from being okay. “Yeah I know you know I just…felt I should let you know it isn’t your fault. It’s probably mine, somehow. It always is.” Her gaze passed over him, but only briefly. It was distant and thoughtful, but there was pain evident on her face. No matter what route her thoughts tried to take to sort out how this all happened, every time the trail led right back to herself.

At the mention of her father, she wondered how he was feeling right about now. Paula cheated on him because she felt she wasn’t getting enough out of him, and now his daughter had little to no chance of being able to stay in the Hollow. He would lose his wife and his only daughter because he decided to try and spend more time making ends meet instead of pleasuring his wife every time she wanted sex. It was despicable. It was disgusting. Lark felt ashamed to be her daughter. It hurt to know she was willing to destroy their family for sexual pleasures. She could feel her nose wrinkle in disgust, but it quickly disappeared as she remembered Josh’s question. “I don’t know. There is not much he can do, really. When it comes to custody battles the mother almost always wins unless there was some sort of physical abuse or she was doing drugs, which aside from her slapping me across the face a while back none of the above has been done.” Lark breathed out, closing her eyes again. She had not intended to speak of the physical confrontation with her mother, even though the slap was highly warranted. She knew it was. But if Joshua were to have told her that he was slapped across the face by his mother her initial instinct would be to get extremely angry, no matter how well her friend could defend himself or if he deserved it.

It truly did suck to be young and deal with this sort of situation—it put her in a position of great difficulty, even if the choice she made was clear. Her opinion did not matter (legally), and so Lark felt as though her voice would go unheard. Paula wouldn’t hear of it either. It was infuriating, but kept the anger down to a minimum. This was Josh. He was trying to help. So when he stated the fact that she was not in college, she turned her head and looked at him with a very bewildered expression. “No, definitely not in college…” It was not sarcastic or angry, more confused. What did not being in college have to do with anything? Not that she needed the dark reminder. But as she listened, the look on her face slowly shifted from that of complete and total perplexity to understanding. Lark felt a faint glimmer of hope, even though she had her doubts about Josh’s plan. “You’re a fucking genius Josh,” She replied with a bright smile, feeling a bit out of character before partially frowning. “But…I only have three days. I have no idea how to convince the school in that short amount of time…” Her eyes flitted around the room for a moment or two before resting on Josh. “If I don’t get it to work out…I…” She fiddled with her hair for a moment. “I’m going to miss you. And I’m sorry for anything that I’ve ever done to piss you off.” Lark sighed, feeling her heart twist around into knots. “You’re like the brother I’ve never had.” Even though I don't expect him to feel the same, he needs to know. Her voice quivered as her eyes burned, but did not allow those tears to fall. Lark knew she was saying enough already.

[JOSHUA DONOVAN DALE]

If there was one thing that bothered Joshua, it was when people blamed themselves for things that were not their own fault. If they were not his friends he'd just scoff and move on but there was nothing quite like watching a friend suffer over a mistake they themselves had not even made. Nell seemed to feel guilty about a lot of things and even though some of them were her fault (like his getting kicked out) that didn't meant she could have prevented it. He felt the same about Lark right now. She hadn't mentioned the cause of the break-up but even if it was because they'd fought over Lark, what could she have done about it? Your parents fight over you all of the time. He thought about that for a moment. Yes, they did argue over him a lot. The things he did, the things he wouldn't do, the ways they'd rather deal with him. In all fairness he couldn't get irritated with Lark, just in case. Maybe it was her fault. "You couldn't have stopped it," he said instead. "Shit happens sometimes and we can't do anything about it. We're only in control of ourselves." He remembered the feelings of helplessness as a child when he would hide around corners or behind closed doors and listen to the shouting. His name would come up in the fight and the yelling would get even louder until he couldn't bear to hear it any more. There was one major difference, however--his parents were still together. They had clearly found ways to work past their anger and disagreements. It seemed as if Lark wasn't going to be nearly as lucky.

Though Joshua didn't know much about legal matters aside from the little things he'd picked up from books and documentaries, he could find no argument against her claim. Mothers usually did have the upper hand, didn't they? He thought that was kind of unfair. If he ever had kids then he wanted equal rights over them if he ever got into a fight with their mother. Nell flickered through his thought process for a moment and he pushed that thought away before he could entertain it. It was nice that he could think of their future but he didn't want to think that far ahead. It would give him a headache. "She slapped you?" He sounded indignant but his anger was not as sparked as what might have been expected. He was used to getting hit and he usually deserved it. He and Donovan had slowly drifted apart in closeness throughout his teenage years and their relationship had gotten steadily more physical on both sides. He was pretty sure Lark and her mother didn't have it that bad and so it still offended him to think of anyone laying a hand on his friend. It would have induced more fury if the woman had been standing with them or if it had caused serious damage but otherwise they were not in danger of Josh flying off the handle, which was a good thing. "Fuck. The legal system is a load of bullshit, then." He was glad he'd never aspired to become a lawyer because the little things would have pissed him off. He understood that mothers usually wanted what was best for their children but, well, not always. He was dating Nell and that said enough. Her mother had been a nightmare.

He gave a quiet laugh that was nevertheless strained when she called him a genius. It would have been met with a joking comment displaying how 'pretentious' he could be if this was any other situation but right now he was feeling stressed out and worrying about what may or may not happen to Lark in three days time. This wasn't just moving to another city, another province. This was moving all the way out of the country entirely. He didn't want to deal with that. Lark brought up a good point when she mentioned the amount of time she had left. He'd never tried to drop out or persuade the Academy to fight a battle for him and so his knowledge of their speed was limited. "All you can do is try, right?" He figured that it was better for Lark to try and fail than to not try anything at all and end up on a plane to Hawaii in three days time. It was almost ironic--didn't she like Hawaii? She's lived in the Hollow for ages, she's got a life here now. He knew that he wouldn't be able to leave Nell behind willingly if his parents wanted to move. At this point in time, at over eighteen and with a firm foothold in the Academy, he wouldn't have went. Lark didn't have the luxury of that choice. It looked to him like the school was their only hope, but was it even a hope at all? This was not what he'd expected to be dealing with today. He'd came over thinking that he would spend a couple of hours with his sister and then go back to his girlfriend's apartment. He hadn't envisioned that he would be sitting on the couch and trying to work out a battle plan for Lark's imminent move.

He hadn't expected the words from Lark. It took a couple of seconds for him to process the fact that she'd apologised and then another few to register what had been said. He smiled a little. "I feel the same way about you, you know," he pointed out. It was true--he'd never felt any sort of sexual attraction toward Lark. He wasn't sure whether it was her aggressive nature or just the fact that they'd been friends too long to consider anything else but she really was closer to family than a love interest. "Let's just hope that this goes well." Even if Lark managed to secure her place in the Hollow for the next couple of years, what about her home life? He wondered at how she was going to deal with the actual divorce itself rather than just the things that came with it. A part of him wanted to ask but he hesitated, knowing that Lark had already told him much more than she normally would. Personal questions, he recited to himself. They were things that he didn't normally ask. "It's over break and all but I know that it's still possible to get in. A few people stay in the dorms if they have nowhere to go and the teachers are there during the day to get prom all sorted out." He really hoped that things turned out alright for the sake of his friend. I've only got a couple friends, why the hell is everyone so bent on taking them away from me? He didn't make friends easily and it seemed that life decided it would make it hard to keep those friends, too.

[LARK MARIE HARPER]

Lark flinched at Joshua’s words—in subtlety it seemed as though he were telling her that it was not her fault, but the girl could not help feeling that it somehow was. Every time Lark tried to think through the situation, it became harder and harder to see past herself. If I had been around more, I could have foreseen it. I could have helped them work through it. I could have noticed that mom was off. That was untrue, and even Lark knew that full well. She kept to herself a lot, and had a hard time feeding off of emotional and social cues like more normal people would. If Paula seemed shifty or skirted around specific questions or situations Lark may have shrugged it off as absolutely nothing. It made her realize that maybe the possibility of the situation being her fault was even higher than she first thought. Her heart sank. “No, I guess I couldn’t. I suppose that once a whore, always a whore. The cheating bitch. Destroying my family for her selfish sexual desires…” Lark spat at no one in particular; she was merely angry at the situation at hand, and thus allowed a bit of it to seep through. Her emotions had been a mixture of everything that day, and even Lark did not know which one would shine through next. After a moment the brunette closed her eyes and composed herself. “Sorry. I’m good.” Damn, she was apologizing a lot lately. Soon she would be one big soft pile of mush. Her face temporarily hardened; no, that was not going to happen. But to Josh, I can’t be the hard ass bitch anymore. Not about everything, at least. It’s unfair.

It was not as though life at home was always roses and sunshine before this particular incident, but she supposed hearing Josh reverberate her sentence back at her in the form of a question was of no surprise. Lark was quiet, and kept a lot of her home issues to herself, especially when it came to the physical confrontations with her parents. Paula was not an abusive woman; in fact, before now Lark knew that she was a rather tenderhearted woman who only wanted best for her husband and daughter. It was me that pushed the envelope, She harshly reminded herself, once again the bitter realization that she played a part in her parent’s divorce hitting her in the face. She wanted to be angry, to snap at Josh and blow off steam, but that would be fruitless. They were very similar in their temperament, and being a smart ass would only endanger their friendship (even more so than already with her leaving the Hollow). Instead, Lark swallowed her tendency to flare up and nodded at him all the while avoiding his gaze. “Yeah, but it’s no big deal. You know how I get…if she pissed me off then I was never afraid to speak out. I caused the problem.” I always caused the problem. Lark exhaled slowly, her fingers lacing and unlacing with one another. She agreed whole heartedly with her friend; the legal system was truly fucked up. They felt that if the mother gave birth to the child then they were entitled to them so long as the child was in no immediate danger. Her mom slept with another man while married. It happened all the time. Drugs, physical abuse, and other dangerous acts warranted the loss of your children but being a whore obviously slipped under the radar. Unfortunate. “You’re telling me…and I have no say, being under eighteen. I might be able to get some sort of waiver but that would take too long. Way too long.”

The knowledge that she would be leaving the Hollow in three days time became more and more of a solid fact than a faint chance. If Paula had given her a week, at least, then this could have been worked out. But three days? Damn near impossible. Lark was a realist and knew that all of this hope would eventually be a waste of time, but what else could she hold on to? It was in those moments she wished that she had someone like Josh did. The emotional support from her friend was greatly welcomed and Lark repeatedly thanked him in her mind, but seeing his attitude completely change just at hearing the earth girl’s name made her pine for the same thing. It felt weird. The males were always her choice of friend because other females always acted so frail and helpless. Tch, that was ridiculous. Lark wondered how guys were attracted to girl that fluttered around and acted like they couldn’t do a damn thing for themselves. What a fucking pity. Nell seemed like a good person though, especially if she could handle Joshua. That meant she was at least remotely tough, and Lark admired that. One day I might get to officially meet her. Right now with the war that was not possible, but there would come a time. I don’t have time. Lark nodded again and shrugged her shoulders a little, eyes glaring at the floor. “Yeah, I suppose. I’ll fight with everything I have. I can’t lose the people I love. Not yet.”

Quickly, Lark drew her head back and stared at her lap, lifting her upper lip in some sort of a bemused half smile. Love…she never even uttered the word aloud to anyone, let alone herself. It was a sincerely deep attachment that Lark kept locked away inside, knowing how strong the word really was. But, in all actuality, she loved her friends. Loved Josh, Samson and Jack without question. They were worth protecting with her life. They were all she had now. And my mother is trying to take me away from that… After a brief silence, Lark ran the palm of her hand down her face to recompose and focus, ignoring that she even allowed that word to slip out of her mouth. If anyone could hate themselves more, then Lark would beg to differ. She was rapidly becoming someone she did not know. It made her very frustrated. Even so, it shocked Lark to hear Joshua felt the same way towards her. Like she was family. It made this hurt all the more. Someone…someone actually cared about her enough to put her in the category of ‘family’. No matter though, Lark did not have a chance to reply as he spoke again, distracting her from her thoughts. “I can only hope…” She sighed for probably the thousandth time that day. Lark tore her gaze away from her lap and glanced out of the window, feeling a chill at the thought of walking all the way back home. “We’ll see. I’m going to head straight over there in the morning. I don’t feel up to walking in a bunch of fucking circles after nightfall.” It was not that she wouldn’t, but more that she couldn’t. The run here wore her out enough already.

I won’t give up. I won’t. Lark was determined to try and stay at the Hollow. She had to. Hawaii would always be there waiting when she finished school and could comfortably leave her friends. Slowly the brunette turned her head towards Josh with a pained smile, one stray tear inadvertently falling down her face. Lark did not even notice. “Thank you. For everything. I don’t deserve people like you.”