DAY ONE. - open/dan

[amazingphil]

"why do pancakes have to be so flat?"

First day in town - first day at school.

Truthfully, Phil did not have much time to adjust to his new surroundings. He had decided to attend school the moment he landed here in LA, together with Dan, and he thought it might help him get to know some people. It would be a good ice-breaker.

It might be 100% great idea if only Dan came along with him. Right now, Phil had to suffer the strangeness of his new surroundings on his own. Being a person that is usually shy, Phil actually managed to talk to no one until lunchtime. That made him feel awfully miserable.

He knew he was always the weird kid since young. Ever since he posted that Youtube video years ago for a school project, his life has changed drastically. He met Dan, and went on to become an internet sensation. Random members of the public often recognize him and Dan from the videos they make and uploaded on Youtube. Dan coped well with the fame, but Phil...

...he did enjoy it, but sometimes it made him feel uncomfortable.

"Locker number..." Phil looked down at the note that the teacher gave him earlier, which indicated his locker number. His medium-length black hair framed his thin face, his blue eyes searching the rows of lockers to find his destined storage area.

"...ah-ha," Phil gave a little cheer as he found his locker. It did not help that this scrawny (but tall) boy was holding a pile of books that limited his movements greatly. Attempting to reach up to undo the lock on his new locker was like trying to reach for a slice of pizza at the top of the Eiffel Tower from the bottom of the tower.

Yet, Phil tried very hard to do it despite his inconvenienced position. It was a big mistake. Phil did not want to stand out during his first day at school, but it seemed like that is not an option any longer.

"Whoa... whoa!" Phil cried out as his pile of books toppled out of his hands and landed everywhere around him in a complete mess. Phil tried to save them but they all fell to the ground.

Great.

Phil looked down at the mess around him and sighed dejectedly. Many students were already looking at him with mocking smiles on their faces. He was very well aware of that.

This is so not my day, Phil thought as he knelt down and began to pick up his books one by one.


mood; dejected | outfit; here

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[valerie rae jones]

Valerie walked down the hallway, combing through her golden hair with her left hand. She had arrived at school later than she had planned, having been up late last night... 'working'. Her sorry excuse for an alarm hadn't gone off in the morning, and her parents had been off passed out in a bar somewhere as usual. Valerie had been forced to rely on herself this morning, and that meant a few too many minutes sleeping in. Valerie made it to her locker and quickly performed the combination before shoving her things quickly inside and getting out her books for her first class.

Adjusting her old dress to look halfway decent and presentable, Valerie turned to the inside of her locker door. Inside, she had a broken mirror that she had found. She took an old tube of lipstick out of her purse and used the mirror to apply it. Valerie tried her best to look as elite as possible every day. The fact that she was dirt poor embarrassed her so much. She knew that everyone knew that she was lower class, but it was best if the public didn't know just how poor she was. Besides, it was always a good thing to look appealing to all people. If she was going to be forced to dress in rags, she was going to make those rags look as good as possible. Valerie was determined to make the best out of her bad situation. No one of any higher social status would take pity on her when she was hotter than they could ever dream of being, and without paying money for any designer labels, either.

Valerie put the lid to her lipstick back on and shoved it back in her purse. She turned back to the mirror to fix her hair again. It really did look like she had just run into the building. She found a comb in her purse and tamed her tresses as much as she could before sighing and deciding that there was nothing else she could do. Adjusting the locker door so she could get a different angle, Valerie decided that she was decent enough to face the school day. But before she could close her locker, she saw something in the background... A boy down the hallway fell and spilled his books everywhere. Immediately a crowd began to form. The crowd was filled with snobs who looked down on everyone, and Valerie slammed her locker to see just who it was this time that they were judging.

Valerie pushed her way through the crowd and gasped as soon as she witnessed the sight. The boy was obviously of a lower class background like herself. She could tell by his messy appearance and rather poor quality clothing. As she stared at the boy there on the ground, struggling to collect his books and flustered by all of the negative attention and snickers, Valerie couldn't help but see herself, drowning in the sea of papers and pointless literature. Immediately a fuse was lit inside of Valerie, and after a few moments, she exploded. No one would make fun of someone who was a lower class. Not on her watch.

"Buzz off," Val said, turning to look at the snotty onlookers.

They all looked back at Valerie, unimpressed. Nobody expected someone to stand up for the poor guy on the ground. There were not many people willing to break away from the crowd and stand up for another, thus subjecting themselves to the same ridicule. Valerie had just made a very impressive and brave yet incredibly risky move. But she was determined to stand by it.

"You heard me. Get out of here. All of you!" She said, waving each person away with her hands. Slowly, the crowd began to disperse, whispering quietly amongst themselves and looking back at the two people whom they left standing there alone.

Valerie breathed for a few moments, allowing herself to calm down before she turned to the poor boy on the ground. As she bent down to help him, she realized that she had never seen this boy before. And she had definitely seen a lot of boys in her time. She picked up the last book and handed it to him, before offering to help him up.

"Sorry about that. People here can be such snobs," Valerie said, shooting a glare at a couple of girls who passed by, giggling to eachother and looking at Val and the boy. Val rolled her eyes before returning her glance back to the boy. "Sorry, but I don't think I've seen you around before." She said, looking the boy up and down. Tall. Skinny. Dark hair. Lots of useless books. Maybe he was new here. "I'm Valerie. Valerie Jones, if you'd like to know." She gave the boy a single nod. "Some people call me Val," She added as an afterthought. "Who are you?"

[amazingphil]

"RAWR -- !!"

"Buzz off,"

Phil heard a voice as he was busy picking up all his books, and he paused in the midst of grabbing a Literature book that he did not even get to use. Turning his head slightly to see who it was, his black hair covered most of his face. Nobody will see AmazingPhil being like this. It would completely ruin Dan and himself. Afterall, Phil had always been seen by his fans as an elite. Being at school in L.A. and spilling books everywhere on the first day was not that good a start to life here...

"You heard me. Get out of here. All of you!"

Phil's large blue eyes widened. It was a girl. Well, he could have known that from the voice, but he thought that she would have been dressed differently. This girl behind him was slim and had golden hair. Her clothes looked inexpensive, but well matched. Very... trendy. Perhaps she was in middle class? Or an elite?

"Ah..." Phil stood up quickly, and looked around him at the kids who had gathered to watch him suffer. They all gave the girl shrugs or dirty looks before dispersing. Phil stood there like a statue, his blue eyes wide, a thick Literature book Tess of the D'urbervilles held in front of his chest awkwardly like a small and useless shield.

"Sorry about that. People here can be such snobs. Sorry, but I don't think I've seen you around before. I'm Valerie. Valerie Jones, if you'd like to know. Some people call me Val. Who are you?"

Phil still looked rather stunned, staring down at the shorter girl with his big, impossibly blue eyes. When he realized that he had been rather silent, he lowered the book from his chest and nodded slightly. "Yeah... they could be...?" Phil said skeptically as he looked at Valerie in front of him. She was not a snob. She was the first person to come up to him and speak to him today. She is currently the best person on the planet to him. "I'm new here, I just moved to L.A. this morning," Phil said, a smile appearing on his face. He had a Southern British accent. (If you want to hear his voice: www.youtube.com/watch?v=1RKt6nZJoB0 )

So this girl has not seen him before... even though he had gained some fame over the past years as a Youtuber, he knew that probably most of his fans were far younger than him - or are just stuck at home watching Youtube all day. "I'm Phil," Phil said, nodding slightly and extending his hand for her to shake. "Nice to meet you, Valerie," He said, smiling brightly.


mood; surprised | outfit; here

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[valerie rae jones]

It took the boy an uncomfortable amount of seconds to reply to Valerie. He seemed very uncomfortable. Valerie wasn't sure if it was his personality, the fact that he had just publicly embarrassed himself, or the fact that Val was just too forceful of a person. Valerie could see any one of those reasons being the real reason. Valerie had come out of nowhere and yelled at people until they went away, and he was now the first thing everyone was talking about. Just the fact that he had fallen in the middle of the hallway was enough to make someone self-conscious about themselves, so Valerie didn't blame him too much.

After a few moments of looking Valerie up and down, he finally spoke. "Yeah... they could be...?" He said, and Valerie furrowed her brow, confused. What was he talking about? She had already forgotten what she had said. Something about snobs maybe? She wasn't sure that was exactly how she was expecting his response to be but she took it anyway with a supportive nod.

"I'm new here, I just moved to L.A. this morning," The boy said, and Valerie's eyes widened as the pieces of the puzzle began to fit together. So THAT was why she had never seen him before. "Ooooh." Valerie said. "And you're already in school?" She shook her head. He was foolish. Going to school after a long flight over here? Not smart. But, that did explain the not so nice clothing. No normal person would ride on a plane in their formalwear. However, there was just a vibe that he gave off that let Valerie know that she hadn't just saved a middle class or elite kid wearing comfy plane ride clothes from what may be reputation-shaping ridicule. No, there was something else about him. He was definitely of the lower class. Maybe not as low on the rung as Val herself was, but low enough to be considered low.

"I'm Phil," The boy named Phil said, extending his hand out for Valerie to shake. "Nice to meet you, Valerie," Val smiled politely and took his hand, giving it a single firm shake. "Nice to meet you too, Phil." She said, before finally realizing that he had a distinct accent, one that was not often heard around these parts. "That accent..." She thought aloud, biting her lip as she racked her brain for the correct country of origin. Failing to come up with an answer that seemed correct, she gave up and asked, "Where are you from?"

Desperate for more answers, and no longer intent on getting to class on time, Valerie continued firing questions at the poor kid. "Why did you move to LA?" She asked, knowing that could help reveal a lot about himself. Was he coming to leave a dark past behind him? Did he use the last of his family money to buy a plane ticket to a land with more opportunities? Did he always long to live the city life? Was a family member offered a better job in LA, and they took it for the increase in pay or the change in scenery? Valerie was at a loss for answers. She had no choice but to stay until her craving for knowledge was satisfied. And maybe, if he passed all of her tests, maybe she would be able to talk to him again. Though if she did, she would have to help him look better. Val couldn't be seen talking to a fresh-faced lower class student like him. It was bad for her reputation. Oh, the irony. In order to keep herself from seeming poor she had to act like the rich, whom she despised. They were born with money, she had to work for it. They would never know what it was like to really be hungry, or to really need things. They also didn't know what it was like to have to provide for your parents. Val never had a childhood. She had been robbed of her innocence at a young age in order to survive in this world. The snobs that ran this school would never understand what she had been through. And even if they did, they wouldn't care. They were all the same. They would throw around their money like it was nothing, like it was trash. They would shove it into the hands of greedy drunkards just to satisfy their urges with a young girl who had no other options but to obey their every command. Then they would laugh at those who happened to be carrying too many books down the hallway. Sometimes they just needed to sit up and realize that lower class people are people too. Everyone is the same, some just have to work harder in life to be able to enjoy comforts that come so free to others.

Valerie suddenly snapped out of her reverie. She shook her head and her cheeks flushed when she realized she had interrupted the poor boy mid sentence. "Sorry, I think I zoned out a bit there," She said. "Its not your fault, I'm just a bit tired today. Stupid alarms," She giggled lightly, embarrassed. Brushing a stray strand of golden hair behind her ear and clearing her throat, she asked "Would you mind repeating that last bit so I could hear it? I'm so sorry about that." She smiled at Phil, hoping he wouldn't be too upset that she had been inadvertently ignoring him for the past few moments. She really hadn't meant to. It just sort of... happened!