"I feel like we've been making so many videos recently that we need to just make our own channel, Jasmine," Sasha called from where the group sat. It was only girls for right now, since the boys were all with Mark and had their own camera, which could only mean one thing. It was a girls against boys challenge. Ever since Jasmine's friend had gotten increasingly popular on her channel, she involved them more. Not because she wanted to make money off of them or anything but because she simply enjoyed their company and frankly, making videos with them was way more fun than making them by herself. So, whenever she got the chance, she'd get them to make a video with her. And as much as some of them whined and complained about it, she knew they enjoyed it just as much as she did and that's why they let her drag them into her crazy ideas.
"That's not a bad idea, Sasha. We could make our own little side channel so that we don't just end up posting everything on my channel and making other people mad," Jasmine giggled as she set the camera down on the table in the warehouse and took a few steps back, letting it continue to record what was happening in the room.
"I thought you said people liked these videos, Jasmine," Aria replied, prepping before going into a series of turns, no doubt something that no one in the room could label. Jasmine sighed and put her hands on her hips, looking over at Aria.
"Well, yeah, but, like, it is supposed to be my channel about me and I think all of my recent videos are about all of us in the club and it'd probably be nice to have them all on their own little channel, don't you think?" She asked, waving her hands in the air for really no other reason other than the fact that she just sucked at self control.
"What would we even call it?" Isa said, sitting down in one of the chairs, where Monet sat down right in front of her. The room was silent for a second while everyone thought about it.
"We're all suicidal teenagers anyway," Cleopatra called out without skipping a beat, her enthusiasm about the name clearly more than what it needed to be. Everyone stopped, just staring at her before she realized what she had just said. "Oh my gosh! No! Sorry! That's an inside joke that Bailey and I had and... Oh gosh, I'm sorry. I wasn't even thinking. You'll have to take that out of this now. Sorry Jasmine." Not far from her, Kyra started to laugh, hugging her stomach and pulling her knees up to her chest. She probably didn't laugh much. Eventually, a few other people joined and then they were all just a mess after that.
"Okay, but, like, aren't we supposed to be planning things out?" Aria eventually asked. She'd been a part of the club for only a few days and it was clear that she was going to be staying for a while. She fit in nicely with Sasha, Leo, Isa, and Anthony, but she did get along well with everyone, which was good considering that the club was a very small place to be.
"Right, right. We do have to beat the boys," Jasmine said, flipping her hair over her head so that she could pull it up in a ponytail.
"I'm really looking forward to making Mark buy me ice cream, not gonna lie," Monet agreed, nodding in Jasmine's direction. Cleopatra chuckled a bit.
"I think that you enjoy making him do anything for you, if I'm being honest," She replied, tilting her head at Monet. The girl in question looked over at her with a slight tilt of her head.
"I'm not sure I know what you're talking about." Cleopatra just shook her head and Jasmine was quick to hit the pause button on the video camera.
"What's she's saying is that you like him, Mo. You're not that dumb. I mean, the Good Sir is rather attractive," Jasmine said with a giggle, sitting down next to her.
"He isn't though! He's not attractive," Monet protested, her cheeks flushing and she shifted a bit. Probably not from embarrassment but definitely from being the center of attention. "It's only just a little... Nevermind."
"No, I want to know now!" Jasmine whined, crossing her arms over her chest. Monet sighed and gave in.
"He's only a little adorable. But he's not attractive. Just cute." The girls all chorused an 'aw' before Sasha spoke.
"Okay, but you know who is attractive? Anthony." Cleopatra faked a gag.
"No, he's definitely trash. Like a landfill," The goth replied, crossing her arms over her chest and shaking her head so her curls slipped back into place.
"Yeah, but he's an attractive landfill," Isa replied with a small laugh. Kyra couldn't help but giggle a bit, hiding it behind her hand.
"He's a sexy landfill," Aria agreed, nodding her head with such seriousness it was hard to tell if she was actually joking or not.
"Sexy landfill," Jasmine laughed, pulling out her phone and writing that down really fast. "I'm making a quote book now and you can't stop me. That way, when we're famous, we can sell it off and make money..." Her voice trailed off. "Wait, I'm already famous. Wait... Wait..." She laughed again.
"We're supposed to be planning!" Sasha suddenly exclaimed, ashamed that they had forgotten so fast. The girls glanced at each other before sighing.
"We're so screwed," Isa sighed, resting her head against the wall. Jasmine sighed before getting an idea, counting out all of the people in the room.
"Okay, well, there are seven of us and four of them. If we put three on one side and four on the other, we should meet in the middle and it'll go by much faster," Jasmine replied. They didn't really need to come up with a plan, since Jasmine was bound to have done it herself, but it was more fun to hang out as a group, so that's what they did. It had produced some pretty interesting conversation, after all.
"Jasmine, why'd you have to turn off the camera when all the tea happened? Couldn't you have just left it on?" Sasha asked, picking up the camera that had been left on the table that was always in the warehouse and brought it over to its owner.
"Because we aren't gonna talk about Mo's love life on the internet just yet. I think that it's only fair if we let her decide," Jasmine replied, taking her camera back. She flipped it back onto herself and looked at the rest of the group. "Are we ready to go clean the ditches then?" Of course, since it was Jasmine who planned it, they were doing a who can clean the ditch the fastest challenge because not only was it fun, but she wanted to set an example. The boys probably knew they were fighting a losing battle, but it was all for fun anyway.
And that was the story of how Mark ended up owing seven girls ice cream and how Jasmine secretly paid him back for it because she felt bad.
()()()()()()()()()()()()()
Jasmine knew that they had a lot of planning to do. It was October and her days back at school were slowly ticking down to zero. Once November 1st hit, she'd be on the first plane to Detroit, Michigan to start filming for her next movie. As much as she loved acting, she hadn't been exaggerating when she said that it was exhausting. The Hollywood life, as little as she got from filming there, was something that she knew she couldn't handle. And so, as the days counted down, she was trying to make the most of her time with the club.
She wouldn't be gone forever and she certainly wouldn't be alone. She'd be back a few weeks into December just in time for Christmas and she'd be with Kyle, who'd come home with her so that she could show him what small town life was really like, but still. The weeks she was away from Mark and Monet were certainly the longest in her life. They'd helped her get through so much and they wouldn't be able to be as much of a support with the distance between them. Halloween was a week away and then it was time to leave, so why not go out with a bang? That's why she decided to host a Halloween party.
They were supposed to be planning it, but Monet was late, again, and she was with Cleopatra and Isa so not much was happening while they waited for them. That had to be why things seemed to be out of her control. Not because Mark was talking to her about how he wanted to ask Monet out. Right?
"You know her just as well as I do, Mark. If not, better, because you get to see her more than I do. You live in the same apartment building. I'm sure you'll figure out something good." She shrugged her shoulders and kept scrolling through Twitter, hoping to find something of interest that could get her mind off the topic. It wasn't like she hated the idea of Mark dating anyone. She knew that they were too close for her to lose him so fast, but this was Monet they were talking about. She was the other part of their trio. If he were to date her, wouldn't they want to hang out all the time? And what would it mean for her? That was her problem with it.
"Yeah, yeah, I know, but still. She's still your sister. I thought you might know what she'd like to do," He replied with a sigh. Jasmine looked up at him, raising her eyebrow at him.
"Mark, who are you wanting to ask out again?" She asked, a small smirk on her lips.
"Monet, obvious."
"And what does Monet like to do in her free time?" At this point, she was sure that Mark would be lost without her. If he was really asking her advice on someone that he had known since they were little, something was seriously wrong with him.
"Okay, okay. You're right. It's just Monet." Mark jumped up next to her on the top of the desk. They were silent for a minute, him just watching her scroll through her social media before speaking again. "Do you think that she'll say yes?" Jasmine sighed, shutting her phone off and leaning back on her hands.
"It's Monet. She's got no reason to say no. If anything, it can just be you two hanging out. I'll be gone next week anyway." She forced a smile and at this point, she was getting really good at it. After all, she was an actress. If Mark and Monet were going to get together, who was she to stop them? Plus, it was true. She was going to be gone, caught up in the mess of filming another movie and being the center of attention for thousands of people.
"You don't have to keep making movies if it's draining you like this. I don't want you falling into another depression. It's terrifying to watch you go through that again," Mark said, lowering his voice so that he didn't alert the other club members of what they were talking about. Jasmine just gave him a look and rolled her eyes slightly.
"You clearly have no clue how it works. I signed a contract that says I'd work with them until I graduate, so currently I'm stuck with them until then. I'm fine, Mark. I've been through worse." She leaned back on her hands, her playful mood seemingly intact again. He couldn't know what she was really worried about because she had said she was fine about it before. Besides, if they liked each other, and she knew that they did, she couldn't really stop him. It was better to let him believe she was more worried about the movie than anything. "Anyway, I'm just more sad about leaving the club for six weeks. I mean, I'll be home for Thanksgiving cause I'm not filming that week, but I'm going to miss being here and making videos with y'all. You'll be keeping that alive, though, right?"
"It's your channel though," He said, a little surprised. Jasmine giggled and turned her phone on again, pulling up YouTube and searching something up.
"This one isn't." She turned the screen around and showed him what she had found. Well, what she had made.
"My Friends and Me, huh? I like the sound of it," He smiled and took the phone. "Did you reupload the other videos onto it already?" Jasmine nodded her head.
"Yeah, the girls helped me with it the other day. I wanted to surprise you with it. I thought you might like it," Jasmine replied, shrugging her shoulders a bit. Mark chuckled a bit and smiled at her.
"I mean, you lost all those views and comments on them though. Doesn't that..." He trailed off before laughing at himself. "Who am I kidding. Of course you don't care. You're Jasmine Ender." Jasmine giggled with him, but that was when Monet, Cleopatra, and Isa decided to show up. They were chatting, like nothing had happened between the two of them, before anyone noticed what Monet was bringing.
"Hey! Are you going to play guitar for us, Miss Knight?" Mark asked, getting a little excited. That was when Jasmine remembered that he hadn't seen her play since June, which had been way too long in her opinion. Monet just blushed a bit at his remark, now that the rest of the club had turned to see what he was talking about.
"I wasn't really planning on it..." Monet said with a sigh, sitting down in the chairs that normally she and Cleopatra sat at.
"So you do play guitar?" Sasha asked, heading over to her. Monet nodded her head a bit. "That's so cool! You sing too?" Monet nodded her head again.
"I'm not very good at it, though," Monet said with a sigh, shrugging her shoulder a bit.
"That's not true! Don't believe her, Monet's really good," Mark shouted. Jasmine could only nod her head because she had to agree. It was true. Out of the two of them, Monet was definitely better at singing and she was so good that Jasmine swore that she could make it mainstream, but she knew that Monet was too shy to sing in front of her and Mark.
"That's awesome!" Sasha said, sitting down on the floor. "I wish I could play the guitar. I know how to play the piano but, like, so does everyone else I feel like. The guitar is so much cooler." Monet's face flushed red and she nodded her head, sitting down on the floor by her. She opened up her case and pulled out her guitar, throwing the strap over her shoulder so that she could actually play it.
"Ooh! That's a new strap. Where'd you get that?" Jasmine asked. Monet looked over at her with a small smile.
"Cleopatra. She made it for me for my birthday. It's all the martial arts belts and a bunch of different martial arts symbols stitched onto it. It's a great gift," Monet replied with a smile, showing it off to her. Jasmine giggled and held a thumbs up to Cleopatra, who nodded her head in response.
"Ooh! What's this?" Sasha asked, picking up a file from the case that Jasmine quickly identified as her personal music folder. She knew that Monet didn't get it out often because she normally didn't like sharing her songs with people, but whenever Jasmine heard her play them, she knew that Monet was capable of making a best selling album. And yet, she knew Monet never would.
Surprisingly, Monet didn't stop Sasha from looking through the music, though there were times where she shifted a bit. Still, she must have been getting along well with Sasha if she let her look through her music sheets. Sometimes, if she was working on a new song, she didn't even let Jasmine or Mark see it.
"These are super cool, Monet! You should post them online or something!" Sasha replied after a minute, setting them down in front of her. Monet just shook her head and strummed her guitar, checking to make sure it was still tuned from when she had played it during the Bathroom Picnic.
"Oh! Mo, you should play Puppet Show. I really like the beat of that one," Mark replied, jumping off the desk to head over to her. Monet rolled her eyes.
"You know that Puppet Show has awful lyrics though," Monet replied, reaching for her folder to find her sheet music. Sasha watched her, leaning over the music as Monet sorted through it. Once she pulled out the song that they assumed was Puppet Show, she sighed and looked up at the group.
"You can't judge me for it, okay? It took a lot of courage to come in here and show my guitar to you," She said, her voice lost of it's teasing tone that had been used when she spoke to Mark. The group nodded their heads and she looked down again, studying the music.
"One final question," Sasha asked, pointing at the music. Monet looked up, slightly nervous. Jasmine wasn't really sure if she should intervene or not, since she wasn't sure if Monet was comfortable with people asking about her music. "How come the notes are in different colors?" Monet shrugged a bit, looking down at it. Jasmine and Mark just laughed a bit.
"Easy, that's just how she hears it."
()()()()()()()()()()()()()
"You're sad, aren't you?" Kyra asked as she made it to Cleopatra's house. The girl was sitting outside on the stairs, all dressed up in a European style dress that no doubt dripped vampire vibes from it. She'd talked about being a vampire with Kyra before so she wasn't all that surprised about it. Kyra herself was a gender-bent Sherlock Holmes, but that shouldn't have much of a surprise either.
"A little, I guess," She replied, shrugging her shoulders. She glanced in the direction of the house next to them, as if she was waiting for someone. "Normally, Bailey's around to take Jake trick-or-treating with me and not only is she at boarding school, but we're not even speaking at this point." She sighed and pulled her knees up to her chest slightly before shrugging again. "Whatever. It's her own fault anyway. She's the one who called me Tia and gave me a panic attack. It's got nothing to do with me at this point." Kyra sat down next to her. Ever since the night that she figured out who Cleopatra was, what her life was like, the two of them hung out more than they'd ever really thought they would. She was still worried about her, of course, but she knew that Cleopatra was capable of handling herself. She was just worried that she wouldn't be able to intervene in time if something truly terrible were to happen.
"So, you're talking Jake today, right?" Kyra asked, deciding to leave the topic at hand. Cleopatra nodded her head, looking over at the neighboring house as the door opened and a boy no older than five ran out wearing what appeared to be a Superman outfit.
"Yeah. Jasmine said that they were taking the kids from six to eight and everyone was welcome. Why not take Jakey with us?" She said, putting on a smile as Jake ran over to her, throwing himself into her arms. Cleopatra giggled and shifted so that he could sit down on her lap.
"Pat! I can't wait to go!" He said with a smile, hugging Cleopatra tightly. Kyra smiled a bit as Cleopatra hugged him back, a few of her ornaments on her dress clinking together and making a little noise. What Kyra would give to be able to have the makeup she's did in order to make that kind of luck.
"Pat's a new nickname," She smiled. Cleopatra just rolled her eyes a bit.
"Hey, Jakey? This is Kyra. She's a friend of mine and she's going to be driving with us to go trick-or-treating with the other kids I talked about. Is that okay?" She said, tapping the boy's nose to get his attention. Jake just giggled a bit and nodded his head.
"I'm Superman today though." Kyra chuckled and nodded her head.
"Okay then Superman." Jake smiled at her and squirmed off of Cleopatra's lap in order to reach some of his friends that he saw passing. "So, Tatra... Can I call you that?" Cleopatra looked over at her, blinking slightly before nodding her head.
"I like Tatra. It sounds interesting," She said with a small laugh, drawing her attention back to the boy she was supposed to be watching.
"Well then, Tatra, tell me about how you met Bailey. Since you talk about her all the time." Cleopatra was silent for a minute, just staring at Jake, watching him play with the other kids.
"I met Bailey when I was about four years old. Just out here, actually. I was waiting for Chris to come home from school and she was just trying to get out of the house. At least, I believe that's what happened. After that, we were just best friends. She was the first person I'd really ever got the chance to hang out with in my life, other than my brother, of course. We were in the same Elementary class every year and we hung out all the time after school. We were in fourth grade, as most people here are, when we realized all the issues that go on at home. We lost most of our friends that year and she told me about her parents, who are alcoholics. In return, I told her about mine. We started goth clothes when we were in fifth grade, though I switched to Lolita after that. We were never without the other. We caused so many issues in middle school, as you heard, because we just needed an outlet. I mean, since I was always around, it's no wonder that Jake considers me like a sister. Now that Bailey's off at boarding school, I'm really his only protection against his parents, which is saying a lot, I guess." Cleopatra rested her head on her hand, staring off into space more than anything. Kyra didn't speak at first, processing what she had just been told.
"Is every house here on this block like that?" She finally asked. Cleopatra snapped back into reality, looking over at her like she didn't quite hear what she had said. "I mean, does every house here have something wrong with them? If your parents are basically hosting a strip club and Bailey's parents are alcoholics, and you said everyone figures it out in fourth grade that something's wrong, then is every house here in some kind of illegal business?"
"It's not everyone. There's, like, two normal houses as far as I'm concerned. But yeah, everyone here is involved in some kind of illegal activity. It's why we're the trouble neighborhood. Anyone who lives here is messed up somehow. The police don't even want to bother with us at this point so we've given up." She shrugged her shoulders again but that was when Chris came out of the house. Judging from the look on his face, he'd just been arguing with his parents to let Cleopatra come to the Halloween party.
"Ready to go then?" He asked, smiling at the two of them. Cleopatra nodded her head and stood up, shouting for Jake to come over so that they could leave. The little boy ran over and held onto her dress with a giggle, probably wanting her to pick him up. Kyra smiled and stood up as well.
"One last day with Jasmine before she leaves?" Cleopatra asked, resting a hand on Jake's head.
"One last day."
()()()()()()()()()()()()()
"Okay, okay, so let me get this straight," Jasmine laughed, grabbing Rose's hand as they left the house. The group taking the kids trick-or-treating was just Jasmine, Mark, Monet, Cleopatra, Kyra, Isa, and Leo and the others were coming later for the actual party, but it was enough that they had to watch multiple kids at the same time. "That's the guy you danced with at HoCo. You two have been kinda flirting for the past few days, and now you're going on a date with him next Friday. You, Cleopatra Blackheart, are going on a date?" Cleopatra chuckled a bit, tapping Jake on the hand to remind him to grab onto his hand, but he kept his childish conversation with Rose going on.
"I'm capable of talking to guys. You guys act like it's impossible for someone to like me. I'm insulted," Cleopatra reponsed, shaking her head slightly. Jasmine laughed again, trying to hide it behind her hand, but failing miserably. She could have been Meredith Blumer for Halloween and called it good, but it seemed like Rose was Meredith and instead she'd gone as Jill. It was rather cute and clever. Aside from her, Mark had dressed up like normally, but with a sword and a few other weapons, which Monet had said he was the Good Sir from their childhood game, while Monet had just put in her uniform for martial arts and the two of them were walking with Tommy and Julia, who were a basketball player and Princess Peach respectively. After that, Isa had decided to bring her nephew, the former just put on a dress and called herself a princess and the latter as Batman, and Leo had brought his younger brother and sister, who had all gone as zombies.
"Yeah, but it's a date. I didn't like that you'd get a date," Kyra said with a small laugh. Cleopatra giggled and rolled her eyes slightly.
"It's not like I'm the only one who got a date. Monet and Mark are going on one Tuesday after school, aren't they?" She replied as the walked up to the next house, letting all the kids run up to the door. It was true. Mark had asked Monet on a date right before they had taken the kids out trick-or-treating and the girl had been quick to agree. Jasmine shrugged her shoulders slightly.
"Yeah, but they're obvious. No one even knew that you were flirting with this kid. What is his name even?" Jasmine replied with a small laugh.
"It's Ben Jaykin. He's in my History class. It's not even that big of a deal, okay?" Cleopatra replied, watching the kids all talk to each other as they came back from the house.
"I mean, it kinda is, but I won't press if you don't want me too," Jasmine said with a shrug. She took Rose's hand again, looking down at the piece of candy that she was being shown. "Ooh! That's one of my favorite's Rosie! Good choice!"
"I got a chocolate bar!" Jake exclaimed as he ran back over to Cleopatra, holding up the candy bar in his hand like it was the biggest piece of gold that had ever been found. Cleopatra giggled and held his bag open.
"Good find, Jakey. That's a good choice," She said, ruffling his hair slightly. Jake laughed and took her hand again.
"We should be heading back by now," Jasmine said, looking at her watch. "It's getting really dark and it's almost eight. I told Aunt M we'd bring the kids back at eight. If we want to go back out, we can and she'll watch the kids, but still." Kyra and Cleopatra nodded their heads and Isa and Leo agreed, who'd paid enough attention to their conversation to hear that before they went back to their own. It was only Mark and Monet who hadn't heard it. "Hey love birds!" Jasmine shouted, cupping her hands around her mouth. "We're heading back now!" Mark and Monet took a step away from each other.
"But Jasmine!" Tommy whined, stomping his foot slightly. Julia, next to him, sighed. "Why can't we keep trick-or-treating?" Jasmine sighed and it was clear that she was still having issues with him.
"Because Mom said that we needed to be back at home by eight so that it doesn't get too dark," Jasmine replied. Tommy opened his mouth, like he was going to say something, but Jasmine was quick to cut him off. "And yes, she is my mother too. Even if I don't call her mom all the time, okay? So now we're going home." Tommy huffed, but no one said anything else and they turned to head back to Jasmine's house. Mark fell into step with her, pausing when she stopped to pick up Rose, who was tired of walking at this point.
"You doing okay?" He asked softly. Jasmine gave him a smile, hoisting Rose up so she didn't fall off.
"'Course. Aside from the fact that I'll be missing the next six weeks of everyone's lives, your first date, Cleopatra's first date, and Tommy's going to hate me when I come back for taking Aunt M with me to Detroit, I'm great." She sighed and laid her head on top of Rose's head, smiling at her. Mark sighed and looped his arm through her's.
"You've still got us, Missy. Even if the world's falling apart, you've still got us."
"Good, because I really think it is, Mark. I really think it is."