FALLING SLOWLY | tag: JASON !

[NATALIE LYDIA VALDES]

[style=color: 969696; font-size: 35px; line-height: 10%; font-family: times new roman; text-shadow: -1px 0 white, 0 1px white, 1px 0 white, 0 -1px white, 1px 0 white, 0 -1px white, 1px 0 white, 0 -1px white]so watch me fly,

[style= width: 300px; height: 255px; padding: 15px; overflow: auto; font-size: 9px; text-align: justify;]Natalie loved the park, especially in the summer. Of course it being summer meant that it was louder and more crowded, but she knew her way around.

There was one area a little off the trails that she always went to. It was under a canopy of tree branches and absolutely perfect for reading. While it was hidden enough that no one would notice her and bother her, it was close enough to the trails that she wouldn't get lost in the woods. Even in the summer it was a nice spot, since it was shady from the canopy. Natalie went almost every day in the summer and that day was no different.

She had Pride & Prejudice in her bag that day and really wanted to finish it. Natalie only had a few chapters left. Being such a hopeless romantic, she was obsessed with Jane Austen novels and devoured Pride & Prejudice. So far it was her favorite Austen novel. Natalie couldn't help but wish for her own Mr. Darcy. Actually, she wanted more of a Mr. Bingley. Mr. Darcy took too long to admit to Elizabeth that he was in love with her. Great for romantic novels, terrible for real life. Everyone wanted love in seconds flat. It was so obvious that Mr. Bingley and Jane were in love from the beginning and they were just so cute and Natalie wanted a relationship like that. She wished she could have a classic romance like the ones she read about.

It didn't take long for Natalie to finish the novel. She almost cried, but she contained herself. Even if she was alone, she was in public and people would see her. Looking at her watch, she decided she should probably start heading home. It wasn't like they were going to eat dinner any time soon; being Mexican, the Valdes family ate around 8 o'clock instead of the usual American 6 o'clock. Instead, she had promised her brother that they would watch a movie together, except they usually talked the whole movie instead of actually watching it. She didn't mind, though. Natalie had a great relationship with her brother even if that great relationship meant talking through movies.

Natalie stood up and made her way out to the trail. Maybe I'll find my Bingley this year, she thought as she looked down, If I do, he'd better come soon. Suddenly, she ran into someone. Well, she had hit the trail. She looked up and found that she had run into a very cute boy. She stared at him dumbly for a few seconds before she stammered out, "S-sorry..." She stood there for a few more seconds before looking past him, ready to leave and save herself from any more embarrassment. She didn't want to talk to him and make a fool of herself, especially before school started.

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TAG LIL/JASON; OUTFIT HERE; NOTES bleehh but it's up <3; ♔

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[walker]

[STYLE=width: 416px; background-color: #beb6b4; border: 5px solid #91827a; padding: 5px;] [/style][STYLE=width: 436px; font-family: georgia; font-size: 35px; text-transform: uppercase; text-align: center; margin-top: -9px; letter-spacing: -4px; color: #91827a]I KNOW IT'S A CRUEL WORLD[/style][STYLE=width: 436px; background-color: #91827a; margin-top: -25px; font-family: Cordia New; font-size: 8px; text-transform: uppercase; text-align: center; letter-spacing: 4px; color: #ffffff]BUT I WILL TAKE MY CHANCES[/style][STYLE=width: 416px; background-color: #beb6b4; border: 5px solid #91827a; padding: 5px; font-family: arial; font-size: 11px; color: #2a2927; text-align: justify; margin-top: 5px; height: 200px; overflow: auto;]
Jason was always out in the woods for a good bit of thinking. He had come out here not too long ago, and had an interesting encounter with a girl about his age. It seemed that with his luck, he was always in the right place at the right time for an awkward situation. It was engrained forever in Jason's mind that he was just the most awkwardly antisocial boy that ever could be. With a slight shrug of his shoulders he rolled the thought off, and went to his favorite spot down one of the trails. It was a small wooded area with an old stump perfect for sitting and writing. No one ever wandered that deep into the woods off the trails, too, so it meant seclusion and peace. In the silence, one could truly think and feel for oneself.

Jason pulled out a notebook and began to write furiously, the words pouring from his pen all over the page. Lines, dashes, squiggles, and anything else imaginable was used to connect ideas and words to thoughts. When he had finished the rough draft of the lyrics, he hummed them over to himself. Approving his work, he sketched out a few lines of basic musical chords, and then turned the page and quickly began a new song. It was his habit to keep moving forward, never to dwell on anything, always starting a new draft and never finishing an old. He could scarcely bring himself to read through his music. It was probably lacking, and he did not like the idea of having to face the monsters that came out on the pages of lyrics. Everything he wrote had a deeper meaning, a point he was trying to prove. There was method to his madness, but his madness was too hard to face.

Eventually, Jason was finished for the day. It was growing steadily colder and darker, and he was going to need to head home sooner or later. Gathering up his things, he made his way back out of the thick of the trees and shrubs. At home, he would stuff his new songs into drawers and books, to be forgotten by time. Maybe one day, when he was rich and famous and writing songs as a popular musician, he could look back on them and reflect on what his life was like. When he was happy, and not so very alone. When he had finally grasped that unexplainable something that he searched for throughout all he did. That would be when he could look back with a smile, and not feel frustrated beyond belief. There was a message in his music that he could not find, though it was right in front of him. Lost in his thoughts, Jason absently ran right into a fellow park-goer. His music went tumbling everywhere, and though she said something, he was too flustered to hear it. In a desperate attempt to regain composure, he dashed for the scattered works as if they were truly precious to him.

[/style][STYLE=width: 436px; background-color: #91827a; margin-top: 3px; font-family: Cordia New; font-size: 8px; text-transform: uppercase; text-align: center; letter-spacing: 3px; color: #ffffff]for NAT - 507 words - she'll find her Bingley soon. c:
[/style][STYLE=width: 436px; background-color: #ffffff; margin-top: 3px; font-family: Cordia New; font-size: 6px; text-transform: uppercase; text-align: center; letter-spacing: 3px; color: #000000]MADE BY KEROHOLIC BASED ON CRAYOLA'S TUT OF BTN!
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[NATALIE LYDIA VALDES]

[style=color: 969696; font-size: 35px; line-height: 10%; font-family: times new roman; text-shadow: -1px 0 white, 0 1px white, 1px 0 white, 0 -1px white, 1px 0 white, 0 -1px white, 1px 0 white, 0 -1px white]so watch me fly,

[style= width: 300px; height: 255px; padding: 15px; overflow: auto; font-size: 9px; text-align: justify;]Oh my goodness, Natalie thought when she saw she had sent his papers flying. "I am so sorry!" she cried, chasing after a few of them. Could this get any more embarrassing? Not only had she run into the poor boy, she had made a mess. She leaned down to grab a few that had reached the edge of the trail.

Curious, Natalie scanned over them. She thought she was being discreet, but how does one go about reading discreetly? The words on the pages looked like poems or maybe even song lyrics. Natalie started to properly read them and saw the chords above some of the words. So they were songs. Natalie could read music, but she didn't know a lot of guitar chords. The words found their own melody in her head. Even though it was probably far from what the boy had imagined them to sound like, she found the songs pretty though they seemed a little unpolished. Maybe that was his writing style, though. She flipped the page over to the next one, standing up and reading more. It did seem like 'unpolished' was his writing style, but it was good. She liked it.

"Are these yours?" she asked, turning around. "I mean... of course they're yours. The papers. But the songs. Did you write them?" She looked down at the papers in her hand as she spoke. She realized she probably shouldn't have read them. "Uh, they're really good," she continued to ramble, "Like really. I can't read guitar chords but the words sound pretty and they flow well..." Natalie stopped herself. What was she doing? Just give him his music and go. She extended the papers to him. "Sorry," she mumbled. The boy was actually pretty cute. No, more than pretty cute. Way to go, Nat. Just embarrassing yourself left and right in front of the cutest boy to breathe in your direction, she scolded herself. "Sorry," she mumbled again, more for herself than for him.

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TAG LIL/JASON; OUTFIT HERE; NOTES i'll call him jdawg, who is presh; ♔

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[walker]

[STYLE=width: 416px; background-color: #beb6b4; border: 5px solid #91827a; padding: 5px;] [/style][STYLE=width: 436px; font-family: georgia; font-size: 35px; text-transform: uppercase; text-align: center; margin-top: -9px; letter-spacing: -4px; color: #91827a]I KNOW IT'S A CRUEL WORLD[/style][STYLE=width: 436px; background-color: #91827a; margin-top: -25px; font-family: Cordia New; font-size: 8px; text-transform: uppercase; text-align: center; letter-spacing: 4px; color: #ffffff]BUT I WILL TAKE MY CHANCES[/style][STYLE=width: 416px; background-color: #beb6b4; border: 5px solid #91827a; padding: 5px; font-family: arial; font-size: 11px; color: #2a2927; text-align: justify; margin-top: 5px; height: 200px; overflow: auto;]
Jason darted for the papers that were being carried away by the breeze. These songs were bits of him, however unappealing he found reviewing them, and he wanted to make sure one were lost. Some had danced up into the tree branches, just beyond his reach. Sighing, the boy scuttled back to where the stranger had gathered some of his songs. He tentatively took them for her, wishing he could just ignore her question. Of course, it was followed by an unexpected compliment. Jason could feel his eyes light up a bit at the praise, but he then remembered the songs stuck in the tree, and sighed.

"Well, they are mine. And thank you." Then, not quite sure why he kept speaking, he felt more words press out of his mouth. "They're only rough drafts. I'm never sure what to do with them, because it seems there are more of these songs than words left in the English language. But I'm glad you like them." And, of course, he couldn't stop himself from talking further. "There are some guitar and piano chords on the paper, but mostly, the tunes are just things I pluck from the air. Inspiration, you might call it. Or something." Now he bit his tongue, refusing to say any more. He probably sounded like a wonderful idiot at that moment. Of course he did. He wasn't the best with conversation, especially when faced with an awkward situation. And in his mind, any time he confronted a girl, it was an awkward situation.

Then, he remembered one more the songs that had scattered out of reach. In all, there were three of them, stabbed by unkind branches and hanging from the tops of very imposing old trees. He cast a glance over his shoulder to make sure they were still there.

"If you could excuse me... I need to..." he mumbled, slowly turning with his head toward the papers. "If you want, you could always..." He just couldn't seem to gather his wits enough to ask her if she might help him get those last few songs down.

[/style][STYLE=width: 436px; background-color: #91827a; margin-top: 3px; font-family: Cordia New; font-size: 8px; text-transform: uppercase; text-align: center; letter-spacing: 3px; color: #ffffff]for NAT - 351 words - so much awkward... hahaha.
[/style][STYLE=width: 436px; background-color: #ffffff; margin-top: 3px; font-family: Cordia New; font-size: 6px; text-transform: uppercase; text-align: center; letter-spacing: 3px; color: #000000]MADE BY KEROHOLIC BASED ON CRAYOLA'S TUT OF BTN!
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[NATALIE LYDIA VALDES]

[style=color: 969696; font-size: 35px; line-height: 10%; font-family: times new roman; text-shadow: -1px 0 white, 0 1px white, 1px 0 white, 0 -1px white, 1px 0 white, 0 -1px white, 1px 0 white, 0 -1px white]so watch me fly,

[style= width: 300px; height: 255px; padding: 15px; overflow: auto; font-size: 9px; text-align: justify;]He was actually talking to her. He wasn't giving her a one-worded reply. He wasn't brushing her off. He wasn't even looking at her like she was a nuisance. The boy was actually making conversation with her and telling her about his music. She listened. Listening was probably one of her best qualities. Her friends could just ramble on and on to her and she would never interject. When you hate to talk, listening becomes enjoyable.

So there were more songs than the ones around them. Natalie kind of wanted to read them. She wasn't sure why, but she wanted to know a little more about this boy. Maybe it was because he was the first boy to have a proper conversation with her that wasn't in character on stage or gay. Maybe it was the obvious fact that he was a musician. Maybe it was because she was actually socializing, no matter how awkward the socializing was, and would have been half-way enjoying it if she didn't feel like crawling into a hole and dying of embarrassment. "You play the piano? And guitar?" she asked the boy stupidly. Of course he played, he just told her. "Inspiration," she repeated, nodding. "Right. Of course."

She followed his gaze towards the songs in the trees. "Oh my goodness, I am so sorry!," she said again, making her way over to the trees. "I'll get them down. I mean, this is all my fault, I've made such a mess. I'll do it..." She was rambling again, but lost her train of thought as she looked around for something to stand on. Finding a big, flat rock, she pushed it over to the tree, stopping every so often to make sure her skirt wasn't flying up. After getting it underneath the branches, she stood on it. Even then she was too short to reach the papers. Natalie was only 5'1". While it was great for dance and theatre (romantic leads were usually played by shorter girls), it was terrible for every day situations, though this couldn't exactly be called every day. She stood there trying to come up with another solution before she thought, Dance! She had been en pointe for four years and while she didn't have her pointe shoes, she decided she could go up without them just this once. Natalie kicked off her shoes, held on to a branch, and went en pointe barefoot. She grabbed the lowest paper before relaxing back onto her soles. Walking back over to Jason, she said, "You're taller than me. You'd... you'd probably be able to reach the others. Sorry..." She handed him back the paper before she turned a million shades of red, realizing that she didn't have shoes on. "Whoops," she said to herself as she walked back over to the tree to grab her shoes.

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TAG LIL/JASON; OUTFIT HERE; NOTES they're so presh omg; ♔

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[walker]

[STYLE=width: 416px; background-color: #beb6b4; border: 5px solid #91827a; padding: 5px;] [/style][STYLE=width: 436px; font-family: georgia; font-size: 35px; text-transform: uppercase; text-align: center; margin-top: -9px; letter-spacing: -4px; color: #91827a]I KNOW IT'S A CRUEL WORLD[/style][STYLE=width: 436px; background-color: #91827a; margin-top: -25px; font-family: Cordia New; font-size: 8px; text-transform: uppercase; text-align: center; letter-spacing: 4px; color: #ffffff]BUT I WILL TAKE MY CHANCES[/style][STYLE=width: 416px; background-color: #beb6b4; border: 5px solid #91827a; padding: 5px; font-family: arial; font-size: 11px; color: #2a2927; text-align: justify; margin-top: 5px; height: 200px; overflow: auto;]
Jason was completely baffled by this girl. She was nothing like he'd ever met before, and on top of that, the more he looked at her, the more beautiful she seemed to become. It was an odd feeling for Jason. He was always surrounded by girls, who said they loved how shy and cute he was, but he never felt anything for them. They were friends. She seemed so elegant, in a quirky, odd way, and he began to like it. A soft smile spread across his face and he realized that, lost in his thoughts, he had missed an opportunity to help her move the rock and be a true gentleman. Silently cursing him for having too many overpowering thoughts, he hurried to her side, arms up in case she should slip. It was probably cheesy looking, but he hoped that she wouldn't notice.

What shocked Jason most was when she decided to kick her shoes off. She went up onto her toes to get the papers, and he was mildly impressed, but mostly still full of the lingering confusion. He took a few steps back, watching her fingers brush the paper. At last, she handed it to him. He took it graciously, and watched her stumble back to get her shoes. She'd said something about him getting the others, hadn't she? She had such a charming little grin that he hadn't really noticed. Jason was always lost in his thoughts, and usually very awkward in conversations just because he would miss most of what was said because his brain was thinking far more interesting--or interruptive--things. Of course, it seemed logical that he get the other papers. He was certainly taller than she was by a good six or seven inches, which was plenty for the other two sheets of music.

Jason set his things down, hopped up on the rock and reached up, easily taking the other two papers in his hand. He looked down at the girl he had just met, smiling.

"Does it seem oddly poetic to you that the songs were carried off in the wind?"

He didn't know why he'd said it, but it was true. It was a very interesting thought. Not wanting the pretty girl to leave quite yet, but equally unsure what to say, he jumped off the rock and sat on it, looking at the papers in his hands.

"The songs titled 'Trust Me' and 'Open Your Eyes' were the culprits."

He was suddenly so much more clever than usual, and it must have been the girl's influence on him. He had moments of intelligence and wit, nothing like his brother, but enough to satisfy himself when he needed it. Also, there was a little bit less awkward tension now that he had decided his opinion of the girl, and seen her clearly helping him. She was too nice to disregard him, and he felt a little less apprehensive of her because of it. Looking up at her again, he decided that he must know her from somewhere. Manchester Prep, probably, but he'd seen her more than just a passing face in the halls.

"Where would I recognize you from?"

[/style][STYLE=width: 436px; background-color: #91827a; margin-top: 3px; font-family: Cordia New; font-size: 8px; text-transform: uppercase; text-align: center; letter-spacing: 3px; color: #ffffff]for NAT - 530 words - song playing as I wrote? "You Make My Dreams Come True." fate!
[/style][STYLE=width: 436px; background-color: #ffffff; margin-top: 3px; font-family: Cordia New; font-size: 6px; text-transform: uppercase; text-align: center; letter-spacing: 3px; color: #000000]MADE BY KEROHOLIC BASED ON CRAYOLA'S TUT OF BTN!
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[NATALIE LYDIA VALDES]

[style=color: 969696; font-size: 35px; line-height: 10%; font-family: times new roman; text-shadow: -1px 0 white, 0 1px white, 1px 0 white, 0 -1px white, 1px 0 white, 0 -1px white, 1px 0 white, 0 -1px white]so watch me fly,

[style= width: 300px; height: 255px; padding: 15px; overflow: auto; font-size: 9px; text-align: justify;]Suddenly Natalie was overwhelmed with feelings. And for once, they weren't awful nervous anxiety-ridden feelings. She was happy and much more at ease. Was this what she had been missing trying to avoid social situations? It couldn't be because not everyone could be as sweet as this boy. He had actually spotted her as she went up to grab the papers. She liked not feeling like she was going to throw up though. Often if you stuck her in a group of people she knew absolutely nothing about, she would start to feel sick and shaky until they started to make her feel comfortable. It came with the anxiety and she wasn't feeling like this with the strange, new, very cute boy.

Putting her shoes back on, Natalie watched as the boy got the other songs. She wasn't quite sure what to make of him. He was quiet, but he had this presence about him. What really got her hooked was when he smiled. His smile was so genuine and friendly that Natalie relaxed her shoulders.

Then he started speaking pretty. His words were just as lovely as his lyrics. What do I even say to that? she thought, feeling the nervousness come back as he kept talking. He sounded so intelligent and calm. Cleansing breaths, she thought, remembering what she had read online to help manage the nervous feelings. "And what do you think of that, mister?" she answered with a grin, trying to be clever but failing.

She really hoped he wasn't one of those super cliquey people that would look down on her because she was active in the theatre department. Some people didn't realize that the thespians had more talent in their pinky fingers than some of the pops did in their entire bodies. They thought all the theatre kids were lame dorks and didn't deserve their friendship. Natalie was almost afraid to tell him because she didn't want him to go away, but she knew she had to be honest. God didn't want her to lie to this boy. "I'm... I'm in... I was... I was in the school play and musical last year. At Manchester Prep. I was Amneris. In Aida," she explained, any smoothness in her speaking suddenly gone. She hated speaking about herself.

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TAG LIL/JASON; OUTFIT HERE; NOTES lol aida; ♔

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[walker]

[STYLE=width: 416px; background-color: #beb6b4; border: 5px solid #91827a; padding: 5px;] [/style][STYLE=width: 436px; font-family: georgia; font-size: 35px; text-transform: uppercase; text-align: center; margin-top: -9px; letter-spacing: -4px; color: #91827a]I KNOW IT'S A CRUEL WORLD[/style][STYLE=width: 436px; background-color: #91827a; margin-top: -25px; font-family: Cordia New; font-size: 8px; text-transform: uppercase; text-align: center; letter-spacing: 4px; color: #ffffff]BUT I WILL TAKE MY CHANCES[/style][STYLE=width: 416px; background-color: #beb6b4; border: 5px solid #91827a; padding: 5px; font-family: arial; font-size: 11px; color: #2a2927; text-align: justify; margin-top: 5px; height: 200px; overflow: auto;]
Jason tried to think of a clever reply, but nothing was coming to him. He was terrible at these kind of conversations. If he knew the person, his shyness might get the better of him a bit, and normally, his friends offered help in getting him to talk. It was so much easier to speak with music, though. Words meant more, carrying a richness with them that was so beautifully breathtaking. Words carried ideas, while music carried feelings, passionate, rich, full of worth and weight. Of course, he couldn't sing now. He'd look like a complete idiot, more so than he probably already did, and that would be bad. Extremely bad.

Mostly because Jason hated to feel like an idiot around people. He did it so often that he should stop thinking it was unusual, but it was still embarrassing. Of course, it was worst around Jackson. That boy was the kind of brother Jason would often wish he never had. As much as he loved him, of course, because families simply had to love each other; it was born and bred into you. The amount of torment on social status, however, was the worst. 'You're such a loser! Why are you so weird?' or 'Why can't you be cool like the rest of us?' or even 'You're an embarrassment on the family.' That was what he always had to endure when he went home. The music made it easy to convey these thoughts, but Jason wasn't strong enough to stand up without them. They were his crutch and support in hard times. They never judged, and always appreciated him for what he was.

"I was a keyboard in the musical arrangement for Aida."

Jason was in the orchestras in every production, it seemed. If it involved music, he would sign up with great excitement to participate. He could remember now the girl he was meeting, and he smiled. She had real talent.

"I knew I remembered you. I'd never forget a.. familiar face."

He had almost said 'pretty face' instead, but he knew that would be a mixture of corny, cheesy, and once more, the humiliation that followed Jason everywhere he went.

[/style][STYLE=width: 436px; background-color: #91827a; margin-top: 3px; font-family: Cordia New; font-size: 8px; text-transform: uppercase; text-align: center; letter-spacing: 3px; color: #ffffff]for NAT - 366 words - <3
[/style][STYLE=width: 436px; background-color: #ffffff; margin-top: 3px; font-family: Cordia New; font-size: 6px; text-transform: uppercase; text-align: center; letter-spacing: 3px; color: #000000]MADE BY KEROHOLIC BASED ON CRAYOLA'S TUT OF BTN!
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