HELPING HAND// OPEN

[ANDREW MARK WRIGHT]

[atrb=valign, top][style=border-left:4px solid #66aabb; font-size:10px; line-height:13px; padding-left:8px; text-align:justify; text-transform:lowercase; padding-right:8px; height: 224px; overflow: auto; width: 320px]The fourth of July was a holiday that most American teenagers looked forward to but filled Drew's stomach with a sense of dread and nausea. He didn't like to be stressed and the whole holiday amplified that feeling tenfold. It meant underage drinking, promiscuous behavior and most adults were so caught up in the celebration they turned a blind eye to it all. Drew knew from experience that he couldn't stop the inevitable party-goers from consuming alcohol or engaging in completely inappropriate behavior but he could offer his help to make sure they weren't completely falling into darkness. He had gathered the crew together at the beach to evaluate the area in the early morning hours, it was going to be an extremely long night. He had fellow volunteers from the soup kitchen, some comrades from his youth group at Church and even some helpers from the rehab. There was about fourteen of them in total and the task ahead was going to be a difficult one with such small numbers. Drew reeled out the mission's plan in detail assigning each of them their first shifts and when to meet up and swap jobs. They had a huge supply of water bottles that they'd be handing out to make sure everyone remained hydrated and also served as an alternative to those blessed souls who decided not to engage in the wrong behavior. They also had another supply of materials to hand out that Drew hadn't been incredibly fond of getting. He thought that the fact that they even had a supply of sexual protection only encouraged everyone to participate in those sorts of activities but the others had insisted that it was better to be safe than sorry and he'd been forced to accept. Drew didn't want to be on that duty at all so he had rostered himself on water duty for the remainder of the day. His parents had also begged him to keep an eye on his younger sister, Ariel, who as a cheerleader would most definitely be making an appearance at the celebration. The stress of being exposed to so much bad behavior and knowing he couldn't do anything about it was a lot but the pressure of keeping an eye on his sister and making sure she wasn't swept away in the party's evil persuasion was a task so daunting that it made him almost pass out. He'd asked his youngest brother to keep an eye on her when he wasn't around and his brother had agreed. If there was something that the Wright boys had in common it was the protection of their baby sister. They knew how easily mislead she could be and the trouble she was capable of and they felt the need to protect her from it all, because for Drew, she had so much promise and love to give away and he didn't want her throwing it away on a drunken jock. He stood behind the table with the water bottles stacked up and with news that another delivery was coming by later to make sure they weren't going to run out. Apparently, word had gotten out about his little organization and local businesses thought it was such a great idea that they had offered to donate some water (and disappointingly some other things as well) to make sure that the event didn't turn out like the last one with drunken underage kids being arrested left right and center for a mixture of things and the older kids left with sunstroke and choking on their own vomit. It had not been a pleasant year at all. By 12pm, the party was in full swing, he could hear music from where the stall was situated and see his fellow workers handing out the water bottles to the girls and boys dressed in what Drew could only describe as a more formal swimming attire. He tried to keep an eye out for Ariel but he couldn't tell the faces from all the long haired girls all dressed similar and the boys who looked nothing like his brother. Nobody really bothered to approach the stand for water with the others handing them out and going to them and he didn't want to think about who was taking the other choices they were offering. He hadn't seen anyone vomit yet or anything too bad happen although he did see a questionable couple almost undress but directed them away from his stand. "YO!" Drew had been staring off into the distance and the shout startled him and made him knock over a few of the bottles he had stacked while waiting for something to happen. A boy was staring at him in front of his stand, a cup in his right hand with what was definitely not water, and a backward cap and the brightest board shorts Drew had ever seen worn by someone before. He had a sly grin that Drew could only guess meant trouble and he immediately wished he hadn't decided to stay at the stand by himself. "You the bible thumpers handing out free rubbers?" Drew opened his eyes in alarm, not only was this boy being offensive but he was after the very thing that he hadn't wished they were handing out. He felt sick to his stomach that someone unfortunately found this boy appealing to want to use one and found it more sickening that it was to be done before marriage and right here in the public. Drew took a deep breath before replying and tried to think of a way to get the boy away from the stand and hopefully away from him for the remainder of the party. He couldn't help but feel angry he'd let the others persuade him to give them out because it was those damned things that made this boy approach Drew in the first place. "Er, um, there are people handing them out, yes! But no, not me, I just have water. It's good to stay hydrated you know and stay in the shade and...you know that hat will actually protect you from the sun if you turn it the right way around." The boy shot Drew the meanest look and took two steps closer to the stall which in turn sent Drew taking two steps backward. The boy knew he was obviously intimidating Drew and it sent a wicked smile across his sunburned face. The boy knocked over the neat little stacks of water he'd built and sent them rolling to the floor and with one swift hand movement had the tablecloth in his hands and was sprinting in the opposite direction. Drew wasn't sure what to do, he had just been robbed! He could stack the water bottles again and make sure none of them had any leaks or he could make chase and get back his stolen table cloth. Without thinking, he let his legs do the talking and was surprisingly quicker than he thought he would be, the adrenaline giving him that extra boost to catch up with him. He could hear the boy laughing as he tied the cloth around his neck like a cape, obviously amused that Drew was making chase, as the thief jumped off of walls and circled people like a wild man. Drew felt the intense stares of hundreds of party goers as they watched him sprint after the robber, he wondered if any of his fellow volunteers would help when he looked around for a split second and collided head on with another person. The collision was pretty bad, head on head, and it had sent Drew flying backward a fair few feet. Rubbing his head and gaining a grasp of what had just happened, he quickly jumped to his feet and raced over to the other person. His eyes were wide with alarm and his voice was coated with exhaustion and panic. "Oh no! Are you okay?" .[/style][STYLE=padding-left: 12px] template made by oxymoron! of back to neverland[/style]

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[erin]

Waking up with the alarm clock sounding, Erin punched the snooze button. Five minutes later, Erin punched the snooze button once more. And when it sounded the third time, she was sure to disalarm the deadly machine for good. The girl stumbled out of her bed, her wobbly, sleepy, weak legs managed to get her from her bed to her bathroom. In the mirror she could see a lion's mane around her head. At least it was a good sleep she had. Bedhead was nothing that couldn't be fixed within a few hours though. She stretched out her arms, yetting out a yawn although it looked like a lion trying to roar in the middle of some African wilderness in the mirror. Scratching her head she continued on undressing, taking a moderate-temparature shower, and coming out to quickly dry.

She came out with a towel wrapped around her body from her just down to her thighs. It draped over her like a curtain, not really the most flattering to a girl's curves unless you weren't going to show them off. And despite the fact Erin was sweet and usually very refrained from sticking into the norm, she did love showing off her beautiful curves. As a rising actress, she felt the need to keep in shape. If people didn't like her for any reasn, they'd lose interest in her and she wouldn't be able to become a Hollywood or a Broadway star without people's interest first. Enough actresses and actors got bumped to the bottom for losing their used-to-be sexy bodie. Looking through her closet, she took out a black bikini she hadn't been able to wear yet, just in case she decided that a swim would be fulfilling. And for about ten more minutes, she searched for something to wear over her swimming gear. Stuffing her legs into some short jeans, and pulling a white tank top over her head, she completed her outfit with a pear of black boots. But her outfit wasn' truly complete until she added a brass bracelet around her wrist. Now she was ready to head out.

Driving in her small white '72 Volkswagen beetle, she was hoping to make it to the beach bash around eleven because she was sure the crowds would roll in around twelve and she wanted to find a parking spot where she could be sure that her poor baby beetle would not get dinged up by some drunk driver. Her dad worked hard to restore much of the damage done to her car, and she was responsible so she tried her best to take care of her baby. Driving, she turned on the radio. Flipping through the different stations until she heard one playing The Smiths on the radio. So she left it cause obviously this station had great tastes. The traffic was awful. Erin wasn't patient so she was twisting her hair around her finger, waiting for the cars to speed up but of course, it was going to be a longer ride than she realized. Tapping her finger on the steering wheel, she waited for the car in front of her to move slowly into the parking lot not too far from the beach. She wasnted a bit of distance from the other cars who would be parking very near the back.

She parked, got herself fout of the miniature car and headed out of the parking lot. The beach seemed to have enough people on it already. The massive crowds and the hoards of people still coming in. The girl was second-guessing why she even came. It would be difficult to find her friends even if she texted them. But of course, she could always socialize with the strangers, but it looked like people were coming in groups. It wouldn't hurt though, would it? Maybe she could find people to invite to her play that was coming up at the local performance center. They were putting on Hamlet. She loved Shakespeare and all of his work. Erin was casted as Ophelia. The best thing was that it was a charity event. The proceedings of the play would go to help theater programs in poverty who needed money. It was perfect because theater and helping people out were her two favorite things in the world.

Walking on to the beach in her boots, she could hear the squeaks of the boots as they walked on and hit against the sand. They squanwked with every step. She just had to break them in more than she already had. Her hair flung itself in the slight wind. She turned her head from one side to the other. No one she recongnized yet. So she walked for a while. Five minutes passed. Then ten, then twenty, then thirty, and after forty five minutes of mindless socializing and meeting new people, she was bored and wanted to find an actual friend she could talk to. Cotinuing to walk she turned around to make sure her friends weren't behind her. She almost continued forward until she turned her head just in time to see a boy run past her with some sort of cloth around him. Wow this might have been her lucky bracelet because if she actually stepped an inch further out, she would have been crushed by the kid bulldozing his way through the beach.

Watch where you're going next time! she sighed. Thank you lucky bracelet! She turned around only to be struck by a different unseen force trying to stampede his way across the beah. The know was a blow right to her head, and she fell over. How awkward. Ouch, why don't people just watch where they're going anymore? she help her hand on her head in the spot that his head happened to collide with hers. She managed to wobble back on to her feet. Looking up she saw it was Andy. They weren't friends. She recognized him because even though she wasn't super religious, she sometimes helped them in projects they were doing such as restoring some of the churches buildings or other things. And he was certainly nothing to be angry over. From what she could tell, he wasn't but a timid guy.

Oh, Andrew! How's it going? Uhm, my head is totally fine! Nah, it's okay. You're okay. No problem, just an accident... she said still holding her head. Oh, there would be a lump there soon. Uhm so what are you doing here? Wait, not that you can't be here. You just don't seem the type to come to the beach bash. That came out wrong, but they...Okay I'll stop now. Maybe I'll go find some ice instead of being awkward.

[ANDREW MARK WRIGHT]

[atrb=valign, top][style=border-left:4px solid #66aabb; font-size:10px; line-height:13px; padding-left:8px; text-align:justify; text-transform:lowercase; padding-right:8px; height: 224px; overflow: auto; width: 320px]Drew hadn't recognized the girl at first but after recollecting himself (and making his head stop spinning and the throbbing die down) he knew the face that belonged to the head he had collided with. Her name was Erin and although he could count the times they had spoken to each other on one hand, he knew that she was a good kid, and instantly felt bad about colliding head on with her of all people. She was a familiar face that constantly appeared throughout the many volunteering programs that Drew himself had helped organize or participate in. She wasn't like the rest of the kids that stole tablecloths, demanded condoms or their behavior was just downright atrocious. "Oh, Andrew! How's it going? Uhm, my head is totally fine! Nah, it's okay. You're okay. No problem, just an accident... " Drew tried to smile, hearing she wasn't hurt was a good thing, he must have taken the force of the hit because his head was still pounding like a thousand drums and he knew there was a lump there on the side of his head. He winced in the distance knowing that the thief and his tablecloth were long gone but at least he had found someone that would possibly help him get it back or help him fix his water display. "I'm really sorry, Erin. I really should have looked where I was running!" He rubbed his own head and then taking a step forward toward her, offered a hand to help lift her off of the ground. As he lifted her up to her own two feet, he tried to survey the damage but couldn't see any lump of any shape or form on her forehead and managed to relax a little. He still felt incredibly bad about the whole ordeal and made a mental note to never lose himself in the moment and always keep his eyes peeled to avoid running into and hurting potential friends. "Uhm so what are you doing here? Wait, not that you can't be here. You just don't seem the type to come to the beach bash. That came out wrong, but they...Okay I'll stop now. Maybe I'll go find some ice instead of being awkward." Drew laughed, she was right, he really wasn't the type of guy to come to these types of things even though he was a college student, he tended to avoid events such as the beach bash like the plague. Once again, he felt incredibly blessed that he had collided again with someone so understanding of the whole ordeal and a friendly face, there were hundreds of other people he could have collided with and none of them would have been so nice about the situation. "Well, ah, as you know, I help out with a lot of things and this is just another one of our little projects. We know that we can't stop kids from drinking and other things , but we can encourage they do the right thing and stay hydrated and safe, if they're going to do the wrong thing we want to be able to at least help them do it in the best way possible. That sounded weird, I'm sorry. But you understand right?" He was never good at talking to people, even though he tried in front of the mirror or at his siblings, it never really ended well. He tended to ramble or embarrass himself by saying something and it being completely misconstrued. He hoped maybe Erin would cut him some slack seeings as she was probably feeling the same type of pain pulsating through her temples and finding the difficulty to think let alone put sentences together. "I don't have ice but I have some cold water that I probably should be getting back to. You can come along and maybe holding a bottle up to your head will do it some good? Well, um, that's what I'm planning on doing anyway. You're welcome to do your own thing but I really should be getting back...that boy!" The reality of what had happened before had finally sunk in and even though it was a table cloth that could easily be replaced, it was the fact it had been ripped out and taken right before his eyes, he felt incredibly stupid and weak and horribly incompetent for any sort of job...even if it was just handing out water. How could he be a nurse if he couldn't even look after an inanimate object weighed down by at least fifty bottles of water right in front of him? If any of his brothers had been in the same position, they would have handed it much differently to him. His oldest brother would have demanded he give it back right away and wouldn't need to do anything else, he had pure power in his words and you could sense it with every breath. Drew admired his oldest brother and even though he was constantly living in his shadows, he knew one day that his brother would see all the good he was doing and maybe even admire him in return. His other brother, Gabe, would have tackled the boy right into the ground, spat in his face and beaten him to a pulp. Gabe was the polar opposite of Drew and even his oldest brother, he breathed violence and rebellion and was most definitely not welcome in their family home anymore, something that made Drew thankful and terribly sad at the same time. He had tried reaching out to his brother, to save him from descending into the darkness, it had been a terrible waste though and there was nothing Drew could do about it now. As for his youngest brother, he was clever and popular and wouldn't have been in Drew's situation at all. The boy would have high fived him mentioned an after party or something and left him alone. The three boys couldn't have been more different and he wondered how all of his siblings had came from the same parents. The joke in the family was that Drew wasn't born from his parents but adopted. Whereas his siblings had fair hair, Drew had a shaggy head of dark hair that made him stand out from them, he knew he was different from them already but they liked to rub it with adoption jokes and the like and he detested it. He felt a little funny that Erin had noticed him here and thought it was weird he had tagged along. He wished that he could have worn board shorts and danced around with the others, he wouldn't drink or participate in any sexual activities of course, but he sometimes wished that he could at least be considered "normal" like his siblings instead of the black sheep that he was seen as in his family and out of his home. "Well, I guess you just have to get over these sorts of things...although being robbed really does come as a shock! I just hope that boy realizes what he's done and gives it back, I highly doubt he needs that table cloth, so I'll give him the benefit of the doubt and give him until the end of the day to return it. Anyway, what brings you here, Erin? Catching up with friends?" He didn't know much about Erin except that she attended the same school as Ariel and his youngest brother. He didn't know what she was like in school or out of school really only that she liked to volunteer and that was enough to make Drew happy. Teenagers didn't really like volunteering, they certainly had the mindset that everything was about them, Drew had a theory that was why college kids volunteered so much. They felt incredibly bad at how selfish they had been in their teens and wanted to repay it all back. It was refreshing to see someone like Erin participate, he knew how much arm twisting it took to convince Ariel to help out, he made another mental note to talk to her more when he saw her at events. .[/style][STYLE=padding-left: 12px] template made by oxymoron! of back to neverland[/style]

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