amaranthh ([personal profile] greenling) wrote in [community profile] rainbowfic2020-07-27 09:02 pm

Proper Terms Purple #3

Name: Greenling
Story: Juniper Ridge
Colors: Proper Terms Purple #3 (Flutter)
Supplies and Styles: Graffiti (Lilith Fair Village Stage Day 1)
Word Count: 384 not counting the pasted-in lyrics.
Rating: G
Warnings: Bullying mentions.

Joel makes a... friend?


It was damn hard to find a livable place outside most days and of course they had a curfew at night, so there weren't many places for Joel to play. The acoustics of his room were tough, too, and well, he just preferred to be outside, so he had to find something. After some days of searching he discovered a spot around the giant rockpile west of Cafe Alpha, the high school and teachers' cafeteria, that was easy to climb to and in the shade most of the day. It wasn't too close to people, but he could watch them from there, and so he did.

Lots of kids laughed at him as he played; a few threw rocks, if half-heartedly. He got used to it, and he continued to play. Sometimes, when there were mostly adults, he also sang.

Have you seen Jack-In-The-Green?
With his long tail hanging down.
He quietly sits under every tree
in the folds of his velvet gown.

He drinks from the empty acorn cup
the dew that dawn sweetly bestows.
And taps his cane upon the ground
signals the snowdrops it's time to grow.


A group of older boys, some who looked like they might not even be high-schoolers, walked out of one of the multipurpose buildings laughing and talking. The stark concrete builds were, as far as Joel knew, locked, and definitely there were little "FACULTY AND STAFF ONLY" signs on each of them. He kept singing and tried to ignore them.

"Hey, it's the horny boy!" called one of them.

Nicknames were not a good sign.

Joel stopped, despite himself, getting ready to run. Boys were a lot more violent now that he was one, a fact that made him both scared and angry. He saw the grins on their faces and was about to run when the biggest one- a guy who must have been six and a half feet tall, wearing a black Nirvana shirt in the heat- stepped forward towards him.

"You're pretty damn good, horny boy. You know anything harder than Jethro Tull?"

He paused, weighing his options. "Not really, but I'd be happy t'learn?"

"Shit, I wish I'd thought to bring my fucking setup- yeah man, come listen to CDs with us and see what you can play."

Joel looked to the other kids, who looked at each other and shrugged. It might be a joke, or it might not be. He really should run, but Joel... well, he liked to think the best of people.

He slipped down and headed with them to Dorm Violet, at least for the moment.

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