[decorations] open [for homecoming]

[antonybastian]

The room was crowded, and the attendees were busily trying to catch the attention of the waiters and their trays of snacks.

Antony Bastian was dressed in his usual dark blue jeans, a black t-shirt, and a white tux-jacket. Rather than wearing some insanely expensive shoes, he chose to wear casual hemp slip-ons, which totally threw off the well-dressed crowd.

As he walked onto the stage, he cleared his throat into the microphone, hoping he would be able to do this.

"Excuse me, excuse me," He began, nervously shuffling his feet, "Ladies and Gentlemen, I am Antony Bastian. I designed these photographs to show the growth of Valkyrie, and it's children, and to emphasize that we are growing up." He smiled, glancing at the various faces, and continued, "And that we aren't the kids we were a few years ago."

He nodded and gave a thumbs-up, and suddenly the lights dimmed. The heavy curtains behind him slid open, revealing pictures that were strung from the ceiling. Students of Valkyrie Academy were the subject, their bright and smiling faces in the foreground, and in the background of each picture was that student as a child.

Antony had created his whole collection of portraits with digital imaging, which he was a pro at, hoping to show the growth of each individual.

The Spotlights were shining on the pictures just right, drawing out each student's unique qualities. Antony was in one, holding a large photography camera. The picture of him as a child was one of his favorites; a large camera was clutched into hands, his eyes wide as the flash went off.

He was hoping that this exhibit would win him the prize he was hoping for: co-decorator for the Homecoming Dance. The reaction people had to this would be the determining factor of it all.

[faith]

Ashley sat, staring at the images that had been made by Antony. They were wonderful and showed off his great skill. SHe too had shown off her work today, which she happened to be quite proud of "Not my best, but not my worst" she had said.

She looked carfully at each picture one by one, he was right, there was a big change in each child, in apperence of course but in personality too. I mean by staring at a picture you wouldnt be able to tell ones personality but its just the facial expressions, the postures, ect, that showed to you a wiff of the childs character.

She had dressed for thee occasion as well, wearing that simple balck dress that everygirl had owned and a pair of balck heels. The heels not big enough to be slutty but not small enough to be it for a 12 year old. Her hair was swept back and curled at the bottem, it was held back by a peice of silk, black ribbon.

After looking at the pictures she looked at him, "pretty sharp" she whispered. SHe smiled when she saw his shoes, in her opinion they were the perfect touch but she could see a few up tight people sticking up there noses at the sight of his shoes.

"Wow!" she whispered refering to the pictures and him

Just as she did this the lady next to her turned, "Young lady, could you please quite down!" Ashley quickly turned to her and frowned.

"Sorry" She whispered and then she put her attention back on Antony and his work!

[antonybastian]

Antony smiled at Ashley, then raised his eyebrows with incredulity at the lady that shushed her.

"Excuse me, Miss," Antony said with mock-civility, "If a friend of mind wants to admire my work aloud, I believe they have the right to." He grinned, turning away from the old lady to talk to Ashley again.

"So, do you like it?" He laughed, scratching his head, "I worked hard on it."

Hard was an understatement. He had stayed up until at least midnight every night since school started, and he had missed seven classes to work on it during various parts of the week. He really wanted it to go well.

He gave Ashley the once-over, examining her little black dress and such, and smiled. She was good at coordinating.

[faith]

The old lady sneered and walked off in anger. Ashley laughed "Thanks" she said watching the lady storm away.

"What do you mean 'do I like it'? she exclaimed "I love it" she said glancing back at his work.

"I could tell you worked hard on it, I mean it's so...so... amazing, for lack of better words," She truely was amazed by his work, it was truely better than amazing.

She smiled "Love the shoes!" She looked back down at his shoes. "I mean I really like how you decided to wear those instead of some like billion dollar shoes, i thinks its cool and brave today that when you are faced against such a stuck up crowd!" she wished she could have wron sneakers instead but little did the crowd know, craddled in her bag was a pair of worn out running sneakers, washed out jeans, and a simple white shirt with a light gray cursive lettering on it that read "Photograph" she liked this shirt, simply because she loved photography!

[kylieanderson]

She had waited until the end of his presentation to go up and approach him. Man was she impressed. Kylie herself couldn't do anything that amazing, and it really made her happy to know that her boyfriend was that skilled. Maybe he could help her out one day? She'd have to ask him about it or soemthing, but right now she had even more important business to take care of.

"Hey, hunny," Ky said as she walked up to Antony, a little sway in her step because of the white wine that she had been drinking that night. Yeah, her parents let her drink, especially at fancy evennts like this. It kind of showed just how mature their daughter was. In fact, she was walking around with a glass of wine in her hand. She switched it from her right hand to her left hand before giving Antony a gentle hug. "I didn't know that you would be showing here tonight. You didn't tell me!" A smile emerged on her face. She wasn't mad, oh no, even she couldn't be mad when having wine. Kylie was surprised, that was all.

She ran her hand across the thick curls that her brown hair held. That night she had gotten dressed up for the special event, and it would be Antony's first time seeing her fancy. Her hand then moved to the gold, peral earring in her right ear. It matched the green and gold cocktail dress that she wore on her slim body. Compared to what he wore, she certainly was dressy. "That was so amazing!" she praised him. "I wish I could do something like that!"

[antonybastian]

"Thanks!"He exclaimed, looking down at his shoes. He really did like them, they were comfortable enough, and it was his night. He should choose his outfit, and not base it on what other people might think.


As Kylie approached, Antony grinned, kissing her on the cheek and laughing.

"I was trying to keep it kind of low-key." He said, blushing. Ashley being there was a complete accident. He was hoping Kylie knew that.

"Well, Ashley, this is Kylie. In person." He smiled again, slightly uncomfortably this time. The dorm room incident was horrible enough, he didn't need another one.

"So, what are you doing here?" He asked Kylie, resisting the urge to kiss her for real, for Ashley's sake.

[kylieanderson]

She bit her bottom lip gently. She hadn't meant to interupt something or come to something he probaby didn't want her to be at. Now she felt kind of uncomfortable. It wasn't because of Ashley at all; she was going to try and be friends with the girl. She was uncomfortable because she didn't want Antony being upset or anything of the sort.

"I'm sorry, hun, I didn't mean to come to something you didn't want me at. My parents just sprung it upon me and told me to come spend time with them," she said in a dull tone. Talking about, or being with, her parents wasn't really that much fun. They were pretty snobby people.

Kylie then looked at Ashley. "Hey, I'm Kylie," she said with a smile. "I don't hate you if you don't hate me," she said with a slight laugh, trying to lighten the mood. "Oh!" She looked at Anton again. "You should come meet my parents!"

[antonybastian]

Antony laughed, taking Kylie's hand and playing with her fingers absentmindedly.

"Okay, yeah." He said, looking her in the eyes, "Where are they?"

He seemed perfectly calm, but at this moment there were more butterflies fluttering in his stomach than ever before. Meeting her parents? Meeting parents never worked out well. Ever.

Especially when you're matching a tux jacket with hemp shoes. Things like that tend to ruin first impressions. Before they began their venture to her parents, he asked "Hey, do they know I'm the one who created this exhibit?"

[kylieanderson]

Kylie shook her head as took his hand and began to lead him towards where her parents were sitting. Hopefully her dad would like Antony because of how amazing he was, but she had some crazy feeling that it wouldn't work out.

She looked at him, a small smile appearing on her face once again. "I figured that I would tell them when they met you. I guess that time is now."

Ky stopped in front of a round table where her parents were sitting. Apparently her brother and his wife had showed up too. "Everyone, this is my boyfriend Antony. He was the one who just had the exhibit. Marvelous, wasn't it?"

[antonybastian]

Antony blushed at the sudden introduction, but quickly smiled and began greeting everyone.

"Hello, hi, hey, nice to meet you..." He shook hands with everyone politely, then went back to standing next to Kylie. He'd rather have the butterflies she gave him flittering through his stomach than the ones of nervousness meeting her family gave him.

He suddenly felt very self-conscience. 'What if they hated it?' He began asking himself in his head, hoping his facial expression didn't match what he was feeling.

[kylieanderson]

"It was great!" Kylie's brother, Kaleb, said. His wife nodded because she agreed with him and had nothing really to say.

Kylie's mother msiled a bit. "Yes, it was very nice. You have so much talent. It was very impressive."

Kylie took Antony's hand back in her's again and gave it a little squeeze to try and comfort him. Her father's opinion was about to come next, and there was a chance that it wouldn't be the nicest.

"Well, it was good enough for Valkyrie, but would it be good to live off of?" he was trying to bring Antony down because he didn't like his apperance. As stupid as that sounds, it was true. Since he was a military man he liked for his daughter to date clean cut guys, and Antony's shaggy hair didn't work for the man. "Now, Kylie, how's your photography going?" he asked her. Somehow everything always turned out to have something to do with her. Kylie hated for her father to ruin Antony's night. She frowned a little. "I'm sorry," she whispered as she bent her head.

[antonybastian]

Antony was, surprisingly, not vexed by her Dad's comment. He rolled his eyes, unable to hold his tongue.

"I'm not going to make a living off of photography. I'm going into the medical field." His tone was a little too bitter, and he suddenly regretted speaking.

'Shit!' He cursed inside his head, closing his eyes and wishing he could reverse time. That definately didn't make for a great first impression.

[kylieanderson]

Kylie closed her eyes tightly. Her dad wouldn't attack Antony would he? No, of course not. But if something were to happen, she didn't want to see it at all. It would probably be best to get Antony away from there as fast as she could, but how?

"Than what exactly are you doing at Valkyrie, young man? It's not a medical school. It's a school for the arts and athletics. Are you working at the hospital with Kylie? I don't understand why you would want to be here, wasting away someone else's spot instead of going to a medical school," her dad said before taking a sip out of a glass of water.

Ky froze. She didn't know what to say. She wanted to defend Antony, but she wasn't sure how. She just gave his hand another squeeze.

[antonybastian]

"I go here because I have to forge my own path in life, and even if it involves being a doctor, I plan on involving art in it." He rolled his eyes again, suddenly brave, "Besides, I'm obviously deserving of this school. I got in, didn't I? Therefor, I'm perfectly deserving of a spot." He went on, unable to stop himself.

"Besides, I'm the one holding a premiere tonight. If I can do that, I can surely get somewhere in the art world."

Before he dug himself into a deeper ditched, he glanced at Kylie. His eyes were pleading with her, telling her to go along with everything.

"Now, if you'll excuse us," He began, taking a deep breath and continuing before he could be interrupted, "I've got to go socialize with the people who came to see my work, and I'd rather enjoy having my girlfriend with me."

He began to turn so they could walk away, and he was praying that he didn't provoke some murderous rage. If he did, he hoped they could at least get away fast enough to escape it.

[kylieanderson]

She took a step foward and placed the half full glass of wine on the table. "I don't even like wine, and I don't wan to drink it just so your friends think that I'm some mature, and well raised girl because I'm obviously not if my father is going to act like this to someone that I care about." She turned to walk off, but soon turned back around. "Oh, I'll see you some other time, Kaleb. Sorry our visit is cut short."

Kylie turned around again and started to walk off, knowing that Antony would follow. She had thought that she had followed his lead pretty well, but anything would have worked, as long as they got away from there before someone was slaughtered. As she walked, she put her hand on her head, feeling a bit unstable because of what she had drank. She just ignored it though. "So, let's talk about your exhibit. You have to teach me how to do that..."