The Chill of Night {Andrew}

[Marley Crane]

Marley just laid in bed, trying to force herself to sleep. Staring at the ceiling, she wasn't even tired at all. Sighing, she closed her eyes and laid there for a few minutes. She had already taken sleeping pills, but they did no good whatsoever. Fidgeting slightly, she turned to look out the window. It was dark over the city and she pictured everybody sleeping soundly while she was stuck here, too tired to sleep. Ugh. She couldn't do this. After a few seconds, she threw her covers off and walked to her door. Out of all the dorms, it was hers that took forever to open. She fidgeted with it for a while and then finally got it to unlock. Shaking her head, she walked out, leaving the door unlocked so she wouldn't have to mess with it, trying to get back in.

She then proceeded to walk down the hall to the Theatre. It was 2 am in the morning and she just wasn't able to sleep. She rubbed her arms, trying to block out the chill that was coming through the halls. She suddenly cursed herself for not putting on a sweatshirt or something. She normally wore shorts and a tank top to bed, so that was what she was wearing now. The cold floor really didn't bother her bare feet because she was used to having her feet cold. It actually felt good.

There was an unbelievable silence surrounding her and it was a bit unnerving. Her body shivered slightly and she picked up the pace. Finally, she opened the double doors that led to the Theatre. As she made it inside, she was instantly warm. The warmth usually never helped when you were up on stage with the lights beating down on you, but now it was calming. She slowly made her way to the stage and climbed up onto it. Being up there when there was no one in the audience and no one up on stage with you was one of the things that Marley loved the most. Not many people knew this, but anytime she wasn't able to sleep, she would come down to the Theatre and stay there.

She yawned and walked around on the stage, humming some show tunes of the next musical that they were performing. It was so silent that you could literally hear a pin drop. This is how she liked it. After a few minutes, she laid down and just stared up at the curtains. They never turned off all the lights in here, but it was still pretty dark. Just the faint glow of the lights above so that you could atleast see where you were going. It took a few minutes, but soon her eyelids were getting heavy and she could barely keep them open. Soon enough, she had drifted off to sleep.

OOC: Sorry it's crappy, I know.

[Andrew Preston]

((lol it's fine, no worries))




Andrew had been walking around the school for a while now, having sneaked out of his dorm room early after the curfew, rolling his eyes when he'd noticed the person who was suposed to make sure students stayed in was asleep behind his desk. No wonder so many students hooked up, it was as easy as anything to sneak in and out of both dorm buildings. He had enough experience in that department to be sure of it - he was usually the one to head off to whichever girl's dorm room he planned on visiting. He was lucky enough to get with girls whose roommate were often out or left the room whenever he came in. When they didn't, he usually managed to get the girl to come to his own dorm, not really having any consideration for whatever his own roommate would think. Then again, consideration wasn't his strong point with anybody, for that matter. He couldn't exactly be blamed for it - the way he'd grown up and been raised, there hadn't been any place for consideration in his self-given upbringing.

Currently, he was walking up to the theater after leaving the music room. He'd also visited the dancing classrooms and library during the evening, taking pictures here and there with his favorite camera - the one he'd bought himself a few years back. It was rather old now, not as good as it used to be, and he didn't use it for school projects, seeing as he'd bought a new one the previous year, along with a digital camera that'd been given to him by his grandparents at his birthday. He didn't like it all that much, but he had to use it sometimes in class so it'd turned out to be a good thing that he should have one. Right now though, he didn't want to use a digital camera - it wouldn't give him the effect he wanted, in the dark. Because of course, he couldn't turn on the lights to take his pictures, seeing as if somebody came near and saw them on, he would get in trouble. Not that he wasn't used to it, but he wasn't exactly looking forward to that tonight.

When he finally reached the Theater, he slowly pushed the door open, putting the strap of his camera around his neck and letting it hang in front of him as he stepped inside the dimly lit room, looking around to decide what he could take a picture of. At first, he didn't notice Marley lying down on the scene and walked down the alley that lead to the stage, turning his back to the scene and bringing the camera to his face, looking through the lens and placing himself correctly, snapping a couple of photographs angled from different positions before deciding he'd had enough of those and putting the camera back down before turning to face the stage, finally noticing that there was somebody else in the room along with him.

It didn't take him long to recognize the girl, though he hadn't seen her for a while now, considering the last time was before they'd left the academy for summer holidays. She was a year younger than him, but they'd talk a few times before, and she was a rather interesting girl - being the guy that he was though, he mainly cared about the fact that she was also good looking, or at least he told himself that. A small smile appeared on his face and he walked over to the scene, climbing on it and silently making his way closer to Marley. He didn't think she'd be upset if he took a picture or two, and with the light and everything, she looked really great right now, both literaly and artistically speaking. Careful not to wake her yet, he took the camera between his hands again and took a picture, rather certain it'd be the best he'd taken tonight. Then, he wondered whether he should wake her up or not. She looked as though she could use the sleep, but at the same time, she'd most likely be in trouble if anybody found her, so he knelt down next to her and nudged her lightly. "Hey sleepy, better wake up now," he said.

[Marley Crane]

Marley fell into the usual restless sleep. One that was controlled by night terrors that she couldn't quite name. This time the dream wasn't filled with horrors that you'd find in a movie or anything, but the usual dream that seemed so real that it freaked you out. The dream that was controlling her mind tonight was that that of herself being on stage. She was moving around on stage and for some reason she was playing Velma Kelly in Chicago and she was singing one of the key songs when she saw everybody laughing. Was it her singing? She didn't think so, but whatever. She kept on performing and she saw that even the people performing with her were laughing. Frowning, she looked down and saw that she wasn't wearing anything. Great! she thought, panicking. She ran to go backstage but there was a wall instead of a curtain. There was no way out and everyone was laughing at her. She was folding her arms in front of her chest, trying to block out the embarrassment if only for a little bit. Seconds later, her dream shifted and she was running through the forest.. running from something that she couldn't see.

Turning around, she tried to see what it was, but there was only a dark figure chasing her. She picked up the pace, pushing her body to run faster, but the figure was gaining on her. She was in a full state of panic. It was strange how dreams can be so unrealistic yet so believeable and so.. real. Yep, it made absolutely no sense, but that was how it worked. Just when she could see the light out of the edge of the forest, she felt herself being shook. Lightly, but she could feel it. Next came a familiar voice telling her that she had better wake up. She was dreaming? Yeah, that's what it was. Her eyes opened slowly as she finally began to awaken. There was a figure standing over her and she couldn't tell who it was. It took her a few blinks, but she was finally able to clear the blurriness out of her eyes so that she could see the person that woke her up. She finally got her eyes clear and she saw who the figure was standing over her..... Andrew Preston.

Her eyes grew wide and she automatically sat up. One hand shot to her hair, messing it up slightly, trying to do something with her hands, using that as a distraction. She opened her mouth to say something and then closed it again. Yeah, so very smooth, Marley. How about we try words? she thought to herself as she fidgeted. Ever since she had first joined this school last year, she had liked Andrew. It tended to be annoying considering she had come to this school wanting there to be nothing that got in between her and her acting, but then she had to go and meet him. Yeah, she was pathetic, but she couldn't help it. They had only talked a few times but she saw him everywhere all over the school. That didn't help her not think about him at all.

After a few seconds, she looked back at him and said, "Yeah, I uh.." she paused, "I couldn't sleep and.. decided that I would come down here." She bit her lip, fidgeting once more. "The theater is usually my favorite place.." she laughed awkwardly, "as you could probably tell. Or maybe not. Probably not." Okay, she was rambling. That wasn't helping her out at all. She could feel her face turning beet red. Oh yeah.. that's not obvious. Good job! she scolded herself. After a few seconds, she turned to him and said, "Okay well," Pause. "I'm gonna go now." With that, she slid off of the stage and landed on the ground. Right as she did that, she fumbled and fell face down on the ground. Yeah, friggin smooth. Ugh. she thought as she scrambled right up, turning to face the stage, "Yeah, wow. Umm.. I'm clumsy and.. that was just beautiful." She smiled at him, face red from embarassment and waiting for him to say something.

[Andrew Preston]

He tilted his head lightly when he saw she seemed to be having a bad dream, which only made him want to wake her up even more. Nightmares were not exactly fun, and it always brought back memories he'd rather not have when anybody told him about them - like how his sister used to come up to him whenever she'd had one in her childhood, which pretty much showed what her thoughts were on their parents' parenting skills even at such a young age. Or it might have been because their rooms were close to one another while their parents' was practically on the other side of the house, which was a rather long way to go in the dark when you were six years old and had just had a nightmare. Of course, when they were babies, the nursery had been placed near the master bedroom, but as soon as both Andrew and Cassandra had turned five, they'd been given their own bedrooms away from their parent, nearer to their nanny's room instead. But neither Cass or Drew ever bothered to go to the usually exhausted woman during the night.

Shaking the thought away, he went back to trying to wake up Marley, smiling lightly when he saw she'd finally opened her eyes. The reaction that came next was rather interesting, and a bit amusing to Andrew, though he made no comment on it, seeing that the younger girl seemed already shocked enough without making her embarassed on top of it. If she wasn't already, that was. He'd heard from a few people before that there was a slight possibility that Marley was crushing on him, a fact he hadn't really bothered to get straightened out before, but now that he looked at her, he couldn't help but wonder if it was true or not, and the outlook of things seemed to lean toward the positive answer. He didn't really know what to think of it, to be completely honest. Girls didn't usually matter to him anyway, he was one of those that took without bothering to know if they'd given enough to even things out. But he'd gotten to know Marley a little and for some reason, he didn't want to be that way around her, so they were surely better off with friendship. He'd end up hurting her otherwise. He always hurt them. With the exception of one that'd hurt him instead, but that was physically speaking, not emotionally.

He chuckled lightly as she tried to explain herself, unable to restrain himself from thinking that she looked really cute when she was rambling. "Well it'd make sense that a Theater Student would prefer the Theater when looking for a place to go to," he pointed out with a light smile, running his hand through his hair lightly to brush it away from his face. After all, he loved being in the Photography classes, whichever for that matter. Though the dark room was probably his biggest favorite, and he'd spend most of his time there if he could. It was just so quiet, not a sound came through from the rooms around, and it made him feel as though he was just lost in his own little world, which he enjoyed a lot. Plus, being in a dark room, he knew there was no risk of being disturbed on whatever he was doing, so he could take his time to work his projects through.

When she headed to walk away, he wondered briefly if he should tell her to stay, thinking they could probably hang out or something though it was rather late and she really did seem sleepy, so it probably wasn't the best of ideas to get her even more sleep deprived as she already was. "Alright, I'll see you later then," he said, watching her as she slid off the stage, frowning lightly when he saw her falling and walking up to the edge to see her scrambling up to her feet again. He tried to restrain the laughter that wanted to come out right now, hiding it with a light cough as he covered his mouth lightly, hoping she wouldn't see his amused smile. "Are you okay?" he asked, however unable to hide the amusement that could be heard in his voice. If she had been hurt, he wouldn't have found it funny, but she seemed fine. He laughed a little at her comment though, grinning lightly. "Don't worry, clumsiness is rather common," he said with a smile. "That was indeed beautiful though," he added with a light smirk, his voice teasing though there was a bit of truth behind it. She really did look cute when embarassed. "Erm... you know, you don't have to head off right away," he then added, his voice and face back to serious as he shrugged lightly.

[Marley Crane]

Marley blushed when he asked if she was alright. She laughed and said, "Oh yeah, I do things like that a lot so.. it's pretty common." She fidgeted slightly, watching him up on the stage. She noticed he had his camera and she tilted her head to the side, checking it out. Nice. she thought. She was snapped out of it when he commented next. He said that it was beautiful, falling that is, and she blushed furiously, looking down. She hated that she blushed so much in front of him. It made it extremely obvious that she liked him and she hated when guys found out things like that because it always made things awkward.

She looked up when he said that she didn't have to head off right away. She saw the humor left his face and that he was completely serious in telling her that. She watched as he shrugged and she just stood there for a few seconds, wondering what she should do. With tests coming up, she knew that she needed to get some sleep. But then again, she didn't really get to talk to Andrew much and hardly ever saw him alone. Hmm.. what to choose. Finally she made her way to the front of the stage and lifted herself onto it.

When she got up, she sat down and dangled her feet off the edge. She noticed that he was still sitting and she patted the floor beside her, motioning for him to sit down. Looking out over the empty chairs, she just smiled. An empty theater. Such a beautiful sight. After a few seconds of just scanning the room, she looked at him and asked, "So, what are you doing up this late? Whenever I'm up and about, you aren't anywhere to be found." She raised an eyebrow at him and laughed. She was beginning to get comfortable which was a good thing. Hell, no guy had seen her in that short of shorts and that thin of a tank top before. She'd normally think this was weird, but she was starting to be okay. Looking at his camera, she nodded and said, "I like your camera by the way. It's nice." She smiled and watched his expressions.

[Andrew Preston]

He couldn't help but smirk lightl when yet another blush appeared on her cheeks, forcing her to look down as he chuckled lightly. So he wasn't exactly trying to make her feel embarassed or anything, but even though it wasn't on purpose, he couldn't really say he was disliking the whole thing. He liked having a certain effect on girls, especially cute girls, and it would seem that Marley was affected by hime to a certain point. However, he was pretty sure she wasn't feeling too good about the fact that she was making it so obvious, and he didn't want her to end up running away because she'd figure she'd turned red often enough for one night.

He then watched her carefully as she debated whether she wanted to stay or not. He couldn't help but wonder what was the inner debate she was having at the moment, but she figured that one of the arguments against staying was the fact that it was getting very late and she surely needed some sleep. He figured that if she decided to leave anyway, he'd better go get some sleep himself, but when he saw her walking back to the stage and lifting herself onto it, sitting on the edge, he grinned lightly and sat next to her once she motionned for him to do so, placing his camera on the stage between the two of them.

Once he was next to her, he glanced at her sideways and couldn't help himself as his eyes ran up and down her body, which, he noticed now, was hardly even covered up. Okay, so he'd seen a lot of girls with much less clothing, namely no clothing at all, and a lot of girls too wore shirts that were tha tight and skirts that almost let see their underwear, but that wasn't the same thing. Those girls dressed that way every day because they were pretty much slutty in his opinion, though, so after a while it just got uninteresting. But as strange as it seemed, he thought there was almost some sort of innocence in the way Marley was dressed... well, not necessarily innocence, but something similar, because it was unusual but she didn't wear it to flaunt it, it was just a pyjama, and it was something he had to be careful not to think about too much - he was just a guy after all, a teenage boy who'd hardly touched a girl all summer and who could have a very obvious reaction to the kind of thoughts he was trying to avoid. Shaking his head lightly, he listened as she spoke to him, smiling lightly. "I was taking pictures around the school," he explained. "But I usually stick to my dorm when I'm up late, so that's probably why you haven't seen me around. Are you up and about this late very often?" he asked curiously. He then grinned lightly when she talked about his camera, taking it and holding it up so that she could take it and see it better. "It's my oldest camera," he explained. "Not really up to date anymore, but it still works fine."




((so I got a bit carried away for the last paragraph... and I just realized I hardly gave you anything to answer to XD sorry >.<))

[Marley Crane]

Marley smiled when he sat down next to her. She noticed him looking over at her and once again, she blushed. God, my face is going to perminantly be like this if I don't stop blushing. she thought, coughing and trying to get her normal color back. She looked back at him when he explained that he was taking pictures and that he normally stayed in the dorms. He asked her if she was out of the dorms at night a lot, but she got distracted when he lifted his camera. When he said that it was his oldest camera, she smirked and said, "The oldest kinds are the best. Newer ones might have all the fancy stuff but, I'm a big fan of older things.. like typewriters and old polaroid cameras. Oh and you absolutely can't forget old fountain pens." She smiled, thinking of how she usually liked older stuff. That probably seemed weird to him.

She chewed on her bottom lip, looking out to the empty chairs once more when she remembered what he had asked her before. "Oh," she started, "and yeah, I do tend to sneak out of the dorms a lot. I'm not really that great of a sleeper. It's a curse." She laughed lightly and then grew silent once more. Fidgeting slightly, she tried to think of small talk. Small talk? Since when does she do that? The one thing that Marley could never get through was small talk. There were so much more important things to talk about, but people who don't talk that often resorted to small talk.

After a few seconds of thinking over that, she moved her legs up onto the stage, turned to face him and sat cross-legged. Yeah, that was probably strange for him, but she was beginning not to care anymore, which was a very good thing. Tilting her head to the side, she said, "So, call me weird but I hate small talk. I have my entire life. So," she started, thinking of what to ask him, "What are your goals in life? What's your passion and what scares you more than anything?" Those were probably really blunt for someone you hardly talk to, but he didn't have to answer them. He could leave if he wanted to. But knowing Andrew a little bit, made her guess that he wouldn't leave. He didn't seem like the type to be intimidated by her.

ooc: Ick! Excuse my shitty post. I'm sorry! And your post was good! Don't worry about it! XP

[Andrew Preston]

He grinned lightly and forced himself to look away when he noticed she's seen him looking her up, which had caused yet another blush to appear on her cheeks. If it kept going that way, she's probably start to wonder whether or not he was doing it on purpose, because at the moment, it's probably what it looked like. When she examined his camera and spoke up, he smiled a little, nodding. "That makes sense to me," he said, tilting his head a little as he rubbed the back of his neck lightly. "Well, I wouldn't know about other stuff, and some things I consider to be better new, like computers and cellphones, but yeah I like vintage stuff," he added, grinning a little. "But when it comes to cameras, I think old ones have more... well, more personality if you want, than the new digital ones. They're just the newest technology and yeah you can do better stuff with them sometimes, but... I don't know," he said, frowning a little to himself. "I guess they're just a bit... too cold, if that makes sense."

He smiled at her lightly as she explained that she didn't usually sneak out of her dorm, shrugging a little. "Well, I have some kind of experience with the sneaking out, to be honest," he said, chuckling a little. "I've done a lot of it in the past few years, mainly to go hang out with friends without having to come back for the curfew necessarily," he explained, then grinned a little when she added that she had troubles sleeping. "That seems to be the curse of a lot of teenagers," he said with a small laugh. "Which is weird, especially here, considering we're worked to death. From the outside, you'd expect anybody who comes to the Academy to fall asleep as soon as they get into bed, but yeah, I don't always get to sleep easily either."

He was a bit taken aback when she said she wasn't one for small talk and started asking questions that were a bit deeper, and a bit more personal. Some were actually fine, but he wasn't the kind of guy to feel obligated to answer a question if he didn't want to, so he most likely would skip a few ones if it came to it. "I think my biggest passion would be a bit obvious," he said with a light teasing grin, holding the camera up slightly before placing it back down on the stage. "I don't actually have... many other passions, actually. I'm taken too much with photography. Which is my goal in life, by the way," he added, smiling a little. It was no shock for anybody, most people who knew him knew that it was what he wanted to do. He'd never really explained it to his full extent though, and he was a bit shocked with himself when he started doing so. "I'd like to travel and take pictures around the world, maybe for magazines and stuff. I don't want to take pictures of people and I definitely don't want to end up being a wedding photographer," he said with a small laugh. "But you know... capturing wildlife on film, climbing up mountains and photographing the scenery. Stuff like that." He glanced at her, tilting his head slightly as he turned a bit, not facing her completely but a bit more than before. "What about you?" he returned the questions, skipping the one about his biggest fear.

[Marley Crane]

Marley noticed that he seemed a bit taken aback by the questions. Maybe she shouldn't have asked him. Just when she was about to say that he didn't have to answer, he began talking. She laughed lightly when she he said that his biggest passion was photography. That was definitely a given. She listened to him and got a big smile on his face when he mentioned that he wanted to travel and take scenery pics as opposed to pictures of people. National Geographic came to mind, but she said nothing. It seemed like he was talking to her as he would to any normal person that he hung out with all the time. That was good. She tilted her head as he said that he really didn't have any other passions. That was common around here, she thought.

She noticed that he skipped the fear question. That was also common.. for guys atleast. Not to admit their fears and whatnot. He asked her what her answers would be. She coughed and said, "Well, my passion is drama... as you can tell." she laughed. "But, I also love writing and I take pictures at times. I have a lot of passions.. just drama sticks out more." She smiled. "As for my goals in life.." she paused, thinking about the question. "I would have to say that I want to travel. I know that it's really not anything to do with drama, but it's something I'd love to do. Just to get away, you know?" She was surprised that she was opening up to him. Usually she would be blushing and not saying anything at all, but she was calm and.. very happy that she had stopped blushing. Tilting her head to the side, she said, "I'd also love to do a musical.. just one.. or as many as I can somewhere in London. It's a high place to reach, but I'd love to do it. Broadway would be amazing too, though." She was rambling.. again. She giggled and stopped talking.

Biting her lip, she thought about her fear. After a few seconds, she sat up straight and said, "My fear.. is probably going back home." She nodded. Marley wasn't the type to feel sorry for herself, she was just being honest because she knew that she'd want someone to be honest with her about that. Her father wasn't that great to her.. or her brother. But then, she grew up with her brother out of the house so much, so she didn't see him that often. See, her father wasn't the worst father in the world... okay, there were better fathers out there then hers, but she wasn't the worst off in the world either. She was scared mostly because of their last meeting. When she said that she was leaving. He took that as leaving like her mother did. She left her family and they'd never seen her again. Well, that got to her father and he made some mistakes that ended with him in jail. He was out now, and to tell the truth, she was very frightened of going back this upcoming summer. But she knew that she'd deal with it and she'd do it well. It took her a few seconds to realize that she was spacing off in her thoughts. Shaking her head, she looked back at him and tried changing the subject.

She coughed and said, "So, what type of stuff do you do around the school.. besides take pictures and whatnot?" She pulled her legs up to her chest and rested her arms on top of her knees. She looked out over the chairs, trying not to think about her father and then she thought of another question, "What's your family like?"

[Andrew Preston]

Andrew smiled a bit at Marley as she mentioned she also liked writing and photography, mainly interested by the latter. "You could show me some of the pictures you've taken some time," he suggested, figuring that would be a good reason to spend some time with her again. Of course, he wouldn't admit that; if asked, he'd probably end up saying it was the phographs that actually interested him, not the girl. Besides, even if he ended up saying he liked Marley, most people would just say he wanted to screw her or something because he hadn't had a girlfriend - or sex - in a while. And then, most girls who actually cared enough about something or someone else than themselves would go and warn her about what a jerk he was and that she shouldn't try to waste her time with him. Okay, so even he couldn't exactly deny that, but still, the reason why he'd seemed as a jerk with most of the girls he'd dated before was because people figured he acte the same with his girlfriends as he did the rest of the time. Well, with some of them he did, but shockingly enough, he could also be nice.

When she added that she wanted to travel too, his smiled widened slightly, figuring that it was something most people dreamed of. "Well, if you get signed up by one of those thater companies... there are some that travel around the world, I think," he said thoughtfully, trying to remember what he'd heard on the subject before. "Like, they go perform in other countries, but the spectators are actually wearing headphones in which they hear the translation of what the actors are saying," he added, smiling a little. "I think that'd probably be a rather nice thing to experience. See what kind of audience you have in each different country. I heard asians are a really respectful form of audience, they don't really react all through the show and then at the end they go crazy with applause," he said with a light grin. "Wouldn't that make you a bit dubious in you performed a funny play in front of a crowd that heardly reacts or laughs?" he asked, chuckling a little. "I'd probably get frustrated."

He couldn't help but stiffen lightly as she named her own fear. Going back home... that wasn't really a happy thought for him to have either, though probably not for the same reason. He wondered if he ought to ask her an explanation as to why that was a fear of hers - if he went with technicalities, people who started on these kind of things usually wanted to talk of it, to get something off their chest. But then, if he went with logic instead... well, girls weren't exactly all that logical, with their tricky questions such as 'do I look fat' or 'notice something new'. Maybe she'd just said that to make him curious but wouldn't want to add more to it. Of course, there was also the option that she hadn't meant to say that and that it'd gotten out without her being able to restrain it, which didn't necessarily mean she wanted to say more about it. Sighing a little, he decided to play safe and smiled lightly. "I know that feeling," he said, thinking he was definitely not looking forward to the day when he'd have to go home too. But he figured he could then get a job full time before trying to get into College and soon enough he'd probably be able to get an apartment. Or he could find a College far away too. These seemed like good options.

He shrugged lightly when she asked what he did around school other than taking pictures. "Not much, honestly," he said. "School work mainly, when I think of it. I'm not really a people person or anything," he added with a small smile, though it instantly faded away when she asked another question, about his family this time. "I don't know if you can call it a family," he said, trying to keep his voice under control as it tended to get a bit harsher whenever he got on that subject. "My parents work, my sister and I got sent away to another state for our studies. How does that sound?"

[Marley Crane]

Marley was glad that this conversation was actually a two-way one, unlike some where she would be the one trying to keep the conversation going while the other was silent. That was indeed, not fun at all. She smiled, thinking that it would be really awesome to hang out with him and show him her pictures. Also she thought of what he had said about going and joining a theater group that traveled around the world. That would be so amazing and she knew she'd love it. She was snapped out of her thoughts when Andrew began to answer her question. He said that he did schoolwork and wasn't really a social person. So, mostly schoolwork and pictures. Hmm. she thought as she watched his facial expressions and whatnot.

As he answered her next question, she could hear the tension in his voice. That might not have been a great question to ask, but there was no taking it back now. She listened as he talked about his family. She winced as he said the part about him and his sister being sent away for their schooling and she looked down. She knew that must be hard for him and his sister, being sent away and whatnot. Any kid would think it was because their parents didn't love them and it hurts when they feel that. A lot of people around the school thought of Andrew as a normal rich kid that got everything he wanted. But she knew then that not a lot of people know him that well if they thought that. She smiled lightly and looked back up at him.

When he asked her how that sounded, she moved her arms and let her legs hang over the stage once more. After a few seconds, she muttered lightly, knowing that he could still hear, "It sounds shitty." There were a few seconds of silence and then she finally did something. She moved her hand so that it was on top of his and she intwined her fingers with his. Anyone who knew Marley, knew that she wouldn't normally do that. Sure, when someone was hurting, she would try and comfort them as much as possible but.. never with the guy that she liked. So, that was pretty bold. Sad to think that bold for me is putting my hand on another guys hand. she thought, smiling lightly at that.

After a few seconds she said, "I'm really sorry about your family." She paused, "That's gotta hurt more than anything." She looked at him, giving him a reassuring smile and then pulled her hand away, knowing that if she left it there, it would probably be really awkward for him. She smirked and said, "As for us hanging out and me showing you my pictures, they suck." she laughed lightly, "But that would be fun and I'd love to." She bit her lip and shook her head, then asked, "So, what's your favorite memory about this place?" As if he didn't already guess, Marley was definitely a question person. Never got tired of asking people different questions.

[Andrew Preston]

Even though he'd tried to keep it under control, the tone of Andrew's voice still got a bit more tense as he mentionned his parents and so called family. He was pretty sure Marley would notice it, but at this point he didn't really care anymore. Of course, if things turned out bad, which strangely for once he really hoped they wouldn't, that would give her something to tell around the school, though he doubted she was that kind of girl. Andrew had talked to Cassandra before she'd come to the school, telling her nobody really knew how things went back home between them and their parents, and she'd agreed not to talk of it also. It was possibly not the best of things to do, keeping other people thinking they had the perfect spoiled life when it was anything but that, but he prefered that to other kind of comments.

Andrew was a little - no, wait - a lot taken aback when he felt her hand on his and her fingers intwining with his. That was definitely something new. And good, too. He didn't know anything about being comforted, except by his nannies when he'd been a kid and had fallen and scratched his knee or something, and he never asked for sympathy or other crap like that because half of the time, if not more, it was fake. However, he could feel that Marley felt sincerely bad about what he'd said, and the gesture was made to comfort him. It didn't seem like pity, which he would have hated. Pity was the worst feeling, as though they had anything to pity him for. He didn't want anybody's pity or whatever, something like that would have made him pull away and leave. But this was different. It just felt like... a friend, trying to be nice. And that was really a good feeling.

"Well, you get used to it," he said with a light shrug, trying to ignore the fact that her hand on his felt incredibly good and that shivers were starting to run up his arm. "I mean, it's not as though I miss it or anything, because there's nothing to miss," he tried to explain, which was weird in itself. He'd never told anybody about this, and there he was, confessing it to a girl he didn't know all that well yet in the middle of the night. It felt normal though. "I don't know why they even had children, actually," he added, snorting a little. "Sure, they give us everything they think we want, my sister's rotten spoiled and I'm not too far from it either, but what can you do about it?" He'd long before accepted the fact that his parents weren't actually parents.

He was glad when she changed the subject, but not so happy when she took her hand off his, though he acted as though it didn't bother him. Still, he felt like there was something missing now, and that sounded way too corny for him. "I'm sure they're not that bad," he said with a light grin once she mentionned her pictures sucked. "And if anything, I could give you advices as to how to make them better," he suggested before laughing a little once she asked yet another question, though it was less likely to go into the dark corners of his mind this time. "You're like a little detective, you know that?" he asked, smiling a little. "I guess... I don't know, most things that happened here feel pretty darn amazing," he admitted with a shrug. "If I have to choose though, I think I'd say..." he stopped for a few seconds before turning to her, his expression a bit more serious. "Honestly, this, tonight, is the best time I've had here in a long while," he told her, trying to sound casual though he really felt grateful for it. "What about you?" he then asked.

[Marley Crane]

Marley blushed as she noticed that the hand she was holding, his arm had goosebumps. Looking up, she noticed that he looked a bit disappointed at the fact that she had moved her hand. She slightly wondered why that was, but shook that off as he began talking once more. When he said that he'd give them advice to make them better, she nodded, thinking that would be really fun.. and a good chance to hang out with him more. She laughed when he commented on her being a detective and then gave him a smug look. She smirked and listened to him, tilting her head when he paused. Soon, he turned to her and she sat up straight, watching his expressions. It's when he said that tonight was the best time he's had in a long time that she looked down, smiling. He probably didn't mean anything by it, but of course, her being a girl with a crush meant that she took it that way.

He asked her what her favorite memory was and she stopped, looking down and chewing on her bottom lip. When she asked him that question, she didn't exactly know how hard it was going to be to answer it. She opened her mouth a few times and then closed it. What was her favorite memory? She knew that it probably wasn't very entertaining having Andrew just sitting there, watching her try and come up with her favorite memory. After a few more seconds, she looked up at him and said, "Well, I don't know if you knew but.. this is only my second year here so.." she paused, and then said, "Yeah, it would be tonight." She gave him a sincere smile and fidgeted slightly.

She sat there for a few seconds in silence, thinking about all they had just talked about. Mostly about what he said about his family. She realized that their families were very different. His were never around and they probably just had their workers to look after them while Marley's family were always around each other... minus her brother. Ever since her mother left, her father normally stayed around the house and she would take care of him and the house, along with her brother whenever he decided to show up. It wasn't the best family but.. they were together.. kind of. She began chewing on her bottom lip once more, thinking of all of that and wondering how Andrew dealt with it. Shaking her head, she realized that she spaced off and she looked at him, laughing lightly and said, "Sorry.. was a bit lost in my thoughts, I guess."

Scooting back, she pulled her legs up onto the stage and leaned back, laying down and looking at him. She watched his expressions and then asked, "Why do you put up with it?" she paused, and realized she might need to go into the question a bit more, "What people say about you and whatnot. Why do you put up with it?" Before he had a chance to answer, she leaned up, grabbing him by his shoulders and she pulled him back wards so that he was laying down next to her on the stage. She laughed afterwards and then stayed silent, waiting for him to answer. She heard a lot of stuff from people around the school about him and she stuck up for him a lot. Of course she usually stuck up for anyone who was being talked about. Normally saying stuff about how they might want to try shutting their mouths for a change. Then she normally got crap for it, but she didn't mind. She chewed on her bottom lip, waiting for him to answer.

[Andrew Preston]

He chuckled lightly at the smug look she gave her after commenting on how she was just like a detective, figuring he should have known she'd actually be proud about that. But, truth be told, he actually liked it, the fact that she was so blunt about asking questions other people would usually be scared of asking. Most people simply waited forever to get an information about someone, hoping the person would get on the subject themselves so that they didn't actually have to ask whatever they wanted to know. He thought it was a bit stupid, and he figured Marley might too, though maybe it was just her way of being. Some people just couldn't help themselves and asked all sort of questions about anything and everything whenever they were talking to friends or even people they didn't know all that much. Andrew didn't usually talk to people about his personal life to be honest, but there was something about Marley that made him want to answer.

He gave a small smile as he watched her try to answer the question, knowing how hard it'd been for him to answer to it, so understanding that it might take her a bit of time to figure it out herself. It was strange still, seeing as a lot of things had actually happened at the Academy, things he didn't like remembering but other things that were actually pretty amazing and which he always looked back on with a feeling of pride or just happiness. Yet, for some reason, he'd chosen this very moment as his favorite memory, though it wasn't even a memory yet since it was still happening. It was a bit unsettling, even for him, to consider that an evening spent with a girl without actually touching or kissing her was something he'd consider to be one of the best moments he had at the Academy.

He smiled slightly once she answered to the question, saying that this would probably be her favorite memory as well. At least they were agreeing on something, which was a good thing. What for? He couldn't say. But there was something happening right now though he wasn't exactly sure what it was. It was a bit strange, and to be honest he wasn't exactly sure it would turn out being something good in the end though he hoped so, but there was no way of knowing what would happen in the future. And he wasn't usually one to care about what would even happen then. He lived life as it came. Some people called that Carpe Diem, seize the day, though for him it was more of an uncaring attitude as to what would happen next, a lack of interest in what his actions could lead to. When Marley spoke up, apologizing for getting lost in her thought, he smiled, realizing he'd just done the same. "That's fine, I was doing a small trip in my mind too," he said, shrugging lightly to make her know it was fine.

Once she moved to lay down on the stage, he glanced at her, unable to restrain himself from looking at her body once more seeing as it was a bit more exposed now, or at least it gave a better view. He hardly heard her as she spoke once more though he did catch the question, but before he could answer she grabbed his shoulders, bringing him to lay down beside her and smiling a bit as he heard her laugh. Well, there goes the view. Frowning thoughtfully, he glanced up at the ceiling, trying to find a way to answer that question. Why did he put up with it... "Probably..." he began, sighing lightly. "Probably because most of it is true," he admitted with a shrug, feeling that wasn't necessarily the best thing to tell her seeing as stuff that was said about him definitely wasn't good, but wanting to be honest on that one, which was weird. "I did a lot of stuff, you know. Not all good, either. And sometimes I don't think it's really worth it to try to figure out what is true and what isn't."

[Marley Crane]

Marley looked over at him and noticed him thinking about her last question. She wondered what was going on in his head, but she found out a few seconds later. She frowned slightly when he said that most of it was true. She looked away from him and up at the ceiling when he told her the rest. She had heard a lot about him. A lot of it wasn't that good, but she knew that everyone made mistakes at one time or another. She was a bit surprised that he had actually admitted that to her. Most people would lie, but he came right out and said that. She admired him for that. Turning over to him, she just looked at him. He probably thought it was weird that she looked at him like that, but she was just contemplating everything.

She remembered one girl had found out that she liked Andrew, and she was told that he was bad to get involved with. She was thinking about that now, but all she could think was that she would have to find out for herself. He didn't seem that bad at all. Definitely someone that she could talk to and get along with. She didn't understand why people thought that he was so horrible. I mean, yeah, he'd done a lot of stuff, but who hasn't. She's done a few things that people around the school didn't like. Sighing, she looked back up at the ceiling. She kept going through her head about why he was so honest with her. It was really cool.

Suddenly, she did what she had done a few minutes ago. She moved her hand down and held his hand, fingers intwining with his. She bit her lip, slightly waiting for him to pull his hand away, but noticed that he didn't. Not yet anyway. She cleared her throat and said, "Look, all I know about the stuff that they say.." she paused and turned her head to look at him, "is that true or not, it's none of their business. Everyone's made mistakes." She smiled reassuringly at him and then looked back up at the ceiling, still holding his hand. She chewed on her bottom lip as she got lost in her thoughts once more.

She was really glad that the both of them ended up at the theater that night. She probably would have never talked to him if it wouldn't have been for this. Okay, maybe not never but still. She then said, "By the way, thanks for hanging out with me tonight. It's fun talking to you." She smiled and squeezed his hand. She'd never really been that upfront or anything. This whole thing was really new to her. Sighing, she asked, "Okay so if you could take back anything that you've ever done in your life, would you do it or not?" she turned to him and waited for him to answer. She didn't even bother to let go of his hand. If he wanted to not hold her hand, he'd move. She hoped he wouldn't though.