Welcome Home [Open]

[Tanner Marks]

Tanner scratched the back of his neck as he pushed the door to his new dorm open. Immediately, the strong scent of salt water and sand smacked him in the face. The window on the opposite side of the room was open, showing off the magnificant view of the beach. Maybe this place wouldn't be so bad after all. The dorm looked cozy with four doors leading to four different bedrooms, a couch and a TV in the main room and a small seperator to lead to the small kitchen. Even if it wasn't huge, it was a pretty nice dorm for such a small high school...Especially that view.

No one seemed to be in the dorm, yet and he didn't hear any noises, so he immediately guessed that he was the first one in. That made him feel a lot better beacuse that meant he could choose whatever room he wanted. Now it was only the matter of choosing. Tanner dropped his luggage in the door way and made his way to the room next to the big, open, window. As he got closer, the scent stung his nose. He ignored it, pushing the door open. The room was small with a twin bed and a dresser, but there was also a desk and a small closet. It looked just like any normal room in any house. The best part was it had another huge window looking out of the bedroom at the beach. He didn't even want to look at the other rooms, he already knew which one he wanted. He ran into the front room to collect his luggage and he dragged his trunk and duffel bags into his new room.

[Bee, Nate, Alex & Scott [a.]<3]

Alex grabbed her stuff out of her car. Damn, I packed a lot of stuff. I knew I should have left all those shoes at home. But they look soo good on me. Screw that, I'm glad I brought them. She smiled slightly as she lugged as many bags as she could up to the elevator. Squeezing the key in her hands, she felt slightly nervous because she was with people she had never met before. Thinking back to her old school, all the memories came with it. Her mom yelling at her because she always came home drunk or high. But, she couldn't help it. She was addicted to the party scene. She would drink, smoke, or ingest anything that was handed to her, without any questions. She had been in the hospital a couple of times, getting her stomach pumped. It doesn't matter, though. I'll never stop and I love every second of it.

Hearing the elevator doors open, Alex snapped out of her trance and walked to the room number. Well, here goes nothing.. She put the key into the lock and turned. With a satisfying click, she walked into the room. "Hellooooo. Is anyone hear yet? Helloooooo. Anybody home." She giggled, sensing how stupid she must sound if someone was actually here. Dropping the bags and turning to the fridge, she opened it up to receive a blast of cool air. Hhmph. There must not be anyone here. Sweet, I get dibs on the biggest room. Running over and laughing at the same time, she took off toward the rooms. Seeing the biggest one, she ran into the room only to be surprised by someone there. "Uhh, hi. My name is Alex."

[Tanner Marks]

Tanner was leaning on the window sill, staring out at the sea when someone barged into his room. Whoever it was had a soft, girls voice introduced herself as Alex. Tanner didn't turn, he just kept staring off into the distance. Even if it was a little rude, he didn't feel like dealing with people at that moment. "I'm Tanner," he said clearly so she could hear him. "Nice to meet you."

His eyes were locked on the reflection of the sun hitting the crystal blue water. There he was, standing in his room, with his new dorm mate, and he didn't even have the decency to look at her. It didn't make much of a difference, anyway. It wasn't like they were ever not going to look at each other, so it was completely unnesscesary to look at her at that moment. Besides, the water and the perfection of the reflection was prettier than anyone he'd seen so far.

Besides Alison.

[Bee, Nate, Alex & Scott [a.]<3]

Alex's smile slowly turned sour. She was hoping she would have a hot guy that would be nice. Apparently I'm not getting the nice factor. I would like to see his face if he would just turn around. She leaned back and forth on the balls of her feet, waiting for him to say something, anything, else. When he didn't, she decided to clear her throat to speak. "Well, its nice meet you..uh, Tanner. Is there anyone else in the house?" She tried to think of more to say, because she was usually an outgoing kinda girl. But nothing came to mine.

Absentmindedly, she gazed around the room. He definitely has a sweet room. It has the prettiest view. I like it so far. She ran her eyes up and down all of his stuff. It didn't really see like he unpacked yet, which reminded her of all the stuff still down in her car. Oh well, I'll get it sooner or later.

[Tanner Marks]

"No," Tanner finally turned his head to see his new roomate. She was pretty, he wasn't going to deny that. Her brown curly hair bounced on her shoulders as she rocked back and forth on her feet, as if waiting for something from Tanner. "No one's come yet. And, sorry I was so rude." He forced a small smile. It was one of those moments where he actually didn't feel like smiling, where everything else around him seemed much more important, but he wouldn't want an enemy for a roomate, now would he?

[Bee, Nate, Alex & Scott [a.]<3]

Alex, finally glad that she wasn't looking at the back of her new roommate's head, stopped leaning on the balls of her feet. "Well, I guess I'll just go and claim a room really fast." She quickly walked out into the living room area that she had left her stuff in. Thank god, he finally turned around. He really isn't half bad. We've just got to get him to talk. She quickly looked through all the rooms and decided to pick the biggest room. It was a white color, but after a couple of weeks, that was going to change. Alex is a wonderful artist, and she planned to turn a whole wall into a mosaic. She set her stuff on her queen size bed and looked out the window. True, she did have a great view, but it wasn't as good as Tanner's room. Oh well, I won't be spending most of my time in here anyways. Feeling thirsty, she walked out into the kitchen.

"So Tanner, what do you like to do for fun? Is this your first year here at Westview?" She walked calmly over to the fridge and opened it up to receive a blast of cool air. She looked at the half stocked fridge and decided to grab a coke, and looked eagerly for vanilla ice cream in the freezer. When she found it, she gave a small yelp of happiness. Slowly spooning it out into a cup, she shouted to Tanner, "hey! I'm making a coke float, do you want one?"

[Tanner Marks]

"Uh, yeah," Tanner beamed at Alex. "Thanks." He wandered around his room, exploring the space he was going to be living in for the rest of the year. It wasn't too small but it wasn't big. At least it wasn't cramped. He smiled and placed his hands on the dresser, leaning down to catch a peak at the notebook that he had brought. It was still in the exact same place as before and he didn't expect that Alex would touch it, but he was jus making sure. The notebook was like his life. He's had it for two months and he wrote down everything that had even the slightest meaning in his life; his downfalls, his happiest moments, girls, fights, anything relevnant to him. It was all in there so when he got older, he could remember.

[Bee, Nate, Alex & Scott [a.]<3]

After scooping in some vanilla ice cream into two frosty glasses of coke, Alex turned around and looked for Tanner. She finally found him in his room, and handed a glass to him. She held hers up, ready to make a toast. "Here's to the rest of the school year. " She clunked her glass with his as she drained some of the pop. She walked back out into the living room and set up her baby blue keyboard lab top. It powered up and she decided to ask her room mate some questions about his life while she was waiting. "So..where are you from? I'm originally from a little town outside New York, though I really spent all my time there. It's so exciting in New York. Everything and everyone are moving at the same time and nobody really cares where you are going. They just want to get to where they are going. Its fascinating. Have you ever been there?"

Just then, her lab top clicked on and she decided to sign on AIM. Nobody was really on, so she clicked on the Internet button to go on myspace. Usually, she gets about five request per day for friends and a couple of picture comments, but nobody had requested or commented her. Alex didn't mind; myspace creeped her out. It was all about old guys checking out younger girls, so she never accepted anyone over the age of 25. Her friends had forced her to get one, so thats why she had one. Alex took her attention back to Tanner, who was answering her question.