Urban Life-St. Clare's Academy

[serynsatina]

In the richest of the richest neighborhoods, where all of the neighboring families have gone to Ivy League and private schools for generations, the one high school that receives nearly all of the business in the area is St. Clare's Academy. There, young heiresses, geniuses, and potential Presidents struggle through the everyday struggles of young teenage life, aided by multi-thousand dollar cell phones, Casadei heels, and lavish dormitories built within walking distance of the city.

It is the cream of urban life, complete with the inevitable yearly drove of nervous breakdowns as the young students wait for their acceptance letters or just sit wondering where their lives are going to go. This year, the graduating class of 2010 find solstice in late night drinking binges, rich-girl partying, and skipping class to have a smoke.

Friends drift away from each other, romances fall apart, and hopes are crushed, but the promise of each new day is strong. Dreams come true, nightmares are forgotten, and the prospect of living independently keep the students going.

Their fates, however, rest in your hands.



ooc//I will be right back to type my intro as soon as I finish dinner. Everyone is invited to join (as freshmen, softmores, juniors and seniors) and post their intros anytime they like.//

[serynsatina]

Stefanie frowned as she dropped her books on the lush, white carpet, kicked off her school shoes, and threw her Fendi bag on the couch. Even though it was only a few months into this term, her senior friend Taylor had already gotten early admission into Brown. Jealousy swept her thoughts as she thought of how smug Tay had acted the entire Saturday, as if she knew that she could just sit back and relax the entire year and still go to a good college.
"Psh."
Stefanie dismissed the unpleasant thoughts from her head as she scanned her spacious dorm. Her parents had paid for a single dorm, so she did not have to put up with a roommate.
The over-achiever softmore stumped barefoot into the kitchen, looking for something to eat.
The kitchen was small, but it was crammed with features; a minibar, a microwave, and a fridge the size of her TV. The fridge was full to the brim with the healthy, microwave dinners that cost monthly fees.

Selecting a pasta dish, Stefanie tossed it into the microwave and set the timer. She crossed the kitchen in nine steps to pour herself a glass flute of peach daiquiri, then settled down on her couch to space out until the beeping of the microwave and the smell of the pasta woke her up.

[ward]

Hank ran down the hall, dodging people left and right, as he reached out to catch the football. Ahh, another year back at St. Clare's. This was his home away from home. Considering his parents were always off at some banquet or something, he actually got more 'family' life here.
He was the typical rich boy, blonde, short hair, muscled, tanned, and wore all the right clothes. His father was a big corporate owner, and his mother was a CEO of a company.
He pushed his sunglasses up to the top of his head, and tucked the football under his arm. Waving to his friends, he made his way down the hall to his room. He was a junior, and had gone to St. Clare's his whole highschool career.

[serynsatina]

Stefanie started as her cell phone rang. She dove for her bag, fumbled in the pocket, and flipped it open.

"It's Stefanie," she said into the mouthpiece.

"Hi, honey!" The cheery tone of her stepmother's voice made her groan inwardly.

"Hello, Mother."

"I was just calling to tell you that your father and I are going out for the long weekend. If you need anything, just call the Joneses next door."

Great, Stefanie thought.

"Okay. Thanks, Mother," she said, and hung up.


She pursed her lips, anticipating another empty weekend while all her friends went to exotic places with their parents.
Immediately she speed-dialed another number.
The answering message picked up.


"Hello? Ariel? It's Stefanie. Want to hang out this weekend? My parents have left for the weekend. Call me back."

Snapping her cell phone shut, Stefanie heaved a sigh. Her friend was probably out skiiing or something with her family. Which was something that she lacked.

She decided to go out for a walk around the Lake. Slipping her feet into her best pair of ballet flats, she locked her dorm door and walked down the hallway and out the side door.

[serynsatina]

Outside, Stefanie took a whiff of the air and frowned. Cigarette smoke. She looked over at three guys lounging on the nearby bench. One of them blew a smoke ring at her. She walked away.

Further away, the stench of smoke disappeared and Stefanie breathed in the cool evening air of the city. The lake, though rather small, was very pretty and the moonlight glittered across the surface.

The girl chose to walk along the sidewalked around the lake. She flipped her long, black hair back over her shoulder.

Stefani saw three of her professors while she strolled and waved. They sat clustered on a picnic table, and they had been talking excitedly together.

Professor Jamie Hewes, Professor Kalvin Feebing, and Professor John Johnson suddenly stopped talking as Stefanie passed them. She wondered briefly what was going on, but then decided to leave them to whatever they were planning. Probably some new project or something, she thought.

Around a bend, she saw a classmate from third period Calculus concentrating over a small, handheld Gameboy Platinum. It was a prototype, and cost thousands and thousand of dollars.

"Hi, Matt," she greeted him.

Matt looked up. His glasses were wire rimmed, and if his clothing had not been so expensive, he would have been one of the geeks at a regular high school.

"Oh. Hello, Stefanie." He fidgeted. Stefanie knew that he was not very social, but he had helped her cram for exams more than once before.

"What are you playing?" she asked, taking a step closer.

Matt flinched and clutched at the Gameboy.

Stefanie pulled back, slight abashed.

"Sorry, Stef. But I'm...ah...not supposed to have this...ah...g-game...and, ah....yeah. So don't tell anyone, okay? See you." With that, he bolted from his spot and sprinted around the west side of the lake to get back to his dorm.

Stefanie raised her eyebrows, but shrugged. Everything was weird in high school.

[wildchild19]

Olivia glared at her dorm room door and kicked at it then scowled down at her pink-high heeled foot.

"Damn it Ava soo not funny!" The sophomore whined lightly tapping the door this time with her hand. The girl was standing, a Fubu hand bag perched in the crook of her elbow and her books long forgotten on the floor. She wore a black ruffled skirt that reached 3 inches above her knees and a light pink tank top with glitter making a sun design on the front. Around her neck was a gold chain with a heart locket and a O outlined in pink diamonds.

Finally after several more curses and threats the door swung open revealing Olivia's identical twin sister, Ava. The two looked exactly alike, the same mid-back length straight blonde hair, big bright blue eyes and a all year round tan their noses and upper cheeks sprinkled with light brown freckles.

"Oh..my bad!" Ava laughed dodging the deadly Fubu bag. The two where obviously opposites. Ava wore nothing girlie what so ever. A pair of faded south pole jeans and a black tee shirt with the words 'bite me' written in sprawled white hand writing. The two where inseparable even with their clashes. Ava was the typical rebellious teen, skateboarded, a volleyball player and into everything and anything rock-chic. Olivia was girlie, slightly childish and had a bubbly attitude.

It was a wonder how the two hardly ever fought. Small arguments here and there and pranks played against each other where as far as the two went usually.

"I'm going to the mall tonight, mama and daddy aren't going to be home for the weekend which means we are free for the weekend."

Gathering her books Olivia pushed past her 'clone' and then shut the door with a perfectly pedicured foot.

[ward]

Hank made his way to his room. Down the hall, he heard two girls arguing.
"Typical rich girls. He thought. They were always fighting more than regular girls. Not that he had had much experience with regular girls. He had gone to rich boarding schools all his life.
He was pretty sick of the whole rich-girl attitude. Everyone at this school thought they were higher than everyone else. Just because someone's father owned more of a certain company than someone else's father. He hated the attitude, but he'd never leave this school. Even with the jerks here, it was his home.
He dropped the football on the floor of his room, and looked around. Ahh, it was good to be back in his room and his school.
Grabbing a sweater, he put it on and headed down the hall to see what the girls were fighting about.

[linzee]

A sigh escaped the lips of young Elpida. Her pale-skinned and slightly freckle-nosed face was holding a slightly love-struck expression. She was sitting on her bed on her stomach, a book sitting on her pillow. And, yes, you guessed it; it was a romance story.

Elpida had always enjoyed her books, and her parents had bought her all the books she desired, so by now she had shelves and shelves full of books. Most of them were romance, where there would always be a happy ending and a long passionate kiss. She longed to have this feeling the authors would so beautifully describe! But right now the only way she could experience it was through books....

She closed the book and went to the washroom to pull back her straight red hair. She looked into the mirror, her emerald green eyes staring at her skinny figure. She nodded slightly in approval, and went to change. She slipped on a pair of dark jeans, and a green teeshirt. Her mother had bought her quite a few dresses, but she couldn't stand them, and only wore them when her mother visited her dorm.

She sat down on her bed and reached under for her textbooks, sighing as they were covered in dust. She blew it off, coughing a bit from inhaling a bit of it. She put them down on her bed carefully. Then she went out of her dorm to enjoy the day. And who knew? Maybe she'd get to live the romance she had always dreamed of today!

[wildchild19]

Olivia emerged from the room several seconds later dragging a very unhappy looking Ava behind her.

"You look absolutely amazing. See what a little lip gloss and eye shadow does to a girl?"

Ava nodded "Yeah turns 'em into future Botox-babes when they are 70. Then when they are older like 90, they have no money for dentures. Oh the horror!" she poised dramatically.

Olivia sighed "You know I hate needles, and besides..thats wrong. I meant it makes even a tomboy look semi-decent for a mall trip."

Ava winced slightly as her twin fumbled with the keys before finally finding the right one and quickly locking the dorm room. Turning around she scowled at her shirt. "I actually have a really nice top that would go with those jeans.... I mean really? Bite me? I dint think so!" she turned to unlock the door to grab the shirt but Ava grabbed the keys.

"lets just go before you make me wear something with a ruffle!"

[bizznot]

Dribble, dribble, shoot. Dribble, dribble, shoot. Dribble, dribble, shoot. Take a step back. Dribble, dribble, shoot five more times. Take another step back. Do it again. Martin did that probably ten times until he reached the three-point, made his five shots, and switched to the left side. That made three "rotations" today. He usually did ten: five left, five right, starting over from the first one if he missed a shot. Shooting like this, though, one angle, no pressure, he could make every one of them.

Unlike the vast majority of the students, he wasn't a "rich boy". His dad was a stock broker, a damn good one, and one of his unmarried clients had gotten Martin a four-year scholarship to St. Claire's, partly because Martin's father, Mr. McGill, was an incredible broker, partly because the man thought that Martin was smart enough to deserve the kind of education the place offered and partly because he was good at basketball and the school could use a good point guard, or so the man thought. That was what he'd been told. He'd also deduced for himself that the man had seen him as his father's son, as a talented stock broker, and had sent him here to get acquainted with high-class society and the future corporate elite of America so that he could have a foothold into the business.

Some said Martin had a mind like a computer: Martin begged to differ. A computer uses numbers and formulas to decide everything: Martin approached everything differently, getting a feel for how stockholders thought and what they thought. Why they were selling low, why they thought a company would go under. He looked at consumer surveys and figured out why. Sure, computers were amazing bits of equipment, but they were only as smart as whoever used them.

In fact, Martin's head for calculations was nil. In order to figure out how to do something, he had to figure out why: otherwise, it was a memorized process that he would regurgitate right after the test. Unlike most of the student body, he never crammed. He took notes, but he never used them. Instead, he would read the material, write the material, write about the material, at least in his head, and it would stick. People said he was a genius, that he never had to study. He was intelligent, but no genius: he just knew how to work a piece of information into his head: he would explain it to himself, rephrase it so that he could understand it better. It worked wonders, too: his grades were top-of-the-class, well over four point O most of the time.

[linzee]

Elpida leaned against the wall of the hallway. She watched all the other students pass, ans she wondered how many of the 'rich girls' were like her? Bookworms, slight tomboys? She hoped she could find someone like her.

[wildchild19]

"It doesn't have a ruffle! it's a cute tank" Olivia argued

"Does it involve pink?" Ava countered and smirked when Olivia instantly closed her mouth and scowled at her.

"Come on Dairy Queen is waiting, and uhmh..those little boutiques are..also..waiting..yeah.." She trailed off not knowing the exact names of the places her sister religiously shopped at.

[bizznot]

Martin flipped open his SideKick. He would've gotten a Slivr, but it didn't do typing so well and he had to communicate with his dad. Punching a few buttons, he found out that the Nasdaq had gone down, but his stock had actually gained a little bit. There was a news report to read about the company, so he picked it.
"Schumann Enterprises, the real estate dealers, bounced back from their terrible plummet after a deal with the State of Oklahoma for a two thousand acre tract 45 miles from Oklahoma City looked as though it would flop. However, this morning, the company's new negogiations team got the deal through and the stock gained sharply, rewarding sharply those who held on to it through the plummet. Good job, guys."
He exited out and hit 2, dialling his father automatically.
"Hello," the gruff voice picked up.
"Hey, Dad, it's Martin."
"Son? I'm a little busy now, can you-"
"No, I can't. Schumann Enterprises gained ten points while I was shooting hoops!"
"Jesus, son. You are good. I suppose that's your new basketball right there. How many shares did you have?"
"Two thousand."
"Wow, those have got to be selling at-"
"I'm going to wait on selling them, because with the Archimeda County deal going through in Colorado, as it should, especially with this leverage, Schumann's going to be the next Google for a few days. And, damn, if that's not gonna bring the Nasdaq up."
"Yeah, really. All right, I've got work to do, my little stock broker. Take me out to dinner with the dough of yours sometime, eh?"
"Sure."
Martin's father was one of the few adults he could stand. They argued a lot about just about everything, but the man would actually listen to Martin instead of going about it with the "I'm the adult, therefore I win" shit that he hated so much. Sometimes, he would pick a fight with his dad just to argue with someone who could listen. The one thing they never argued, at least not heatedly, about were stocks. Sure, they had totally different ways of doing it, but they could always agree on what stocks to buy, what to sell and when. It was amazing to watch, or so they were often told, a man and his teenage son, the man in a three-piece suit and tie, the boy in ratty jeans and a rock and roll T-shirt or his basketball uniform, discuss and completely agree on something off-the-wall like the Nasdaq.

[ward]

Hank leaned against the wall of the hallway, watching the girls argue. So maybe they weren't your typical rich girls, just one of them. The other one seemed to be the complete opposite, even though they looked exactly the same. He watched, waiting for one of them to notice him. He didn't mind waiting, their conversation was interesting.
He hated the rich girl type, always shopping, vain, and never thought of anyone else. It made him sick. He had put up with it his entire life, and wanted something different. He had plans to help people when he got out of this school, and he was going to make a difference. The only girl he ever told that to laughed at him. He'd find someone who would help him with his plans.

[linzee]

Elpida slowly stared to wander down the hall. She saw two girls who were fighting a bit, and she held in her laugh. She was lucky to have no siblings, though it did get lonely sometimes... She brushed off her jeans a bit, and continued to walk, hoping to get to the library today, maybe get one of the new books they had gotten.