⋆.ೃ࿔*:･ MAKE YOU MINE ღ !
ੈ✩‧₊˚ ── ── ── 008. ( real life. . .)
────── ❛ NOT LIKE THE OTHER GIRLS ❜

𐙚˙✧˖°💋💌 ༘ ⋆｡ ˚
IRL ! ; valentine's pov

               VALENTINE ANXIOUSLY BITES her nails freshly painted with black polish as she stands with sophie and her friend group in the hallway; she'd rather be in her dorm room than listen to them compare conspiracies on what happened to mars. but val's genuinely just fighting the urge to laugh because she's honestly the only person right now who knows the truth.

"when's the search party?" clementine questions while folding her arms with slight concern in her tone.

aurora reaches into the back pocket of her low-rise flared jeans, whipping her phone out and lightly tapping the screen. "about half an hour," she mumbles as a response, pursing her lips. "i'm shitting myself, like what if they find something bad?" aurora's eyebrows crease while her gaze falls to the floor, "like, what if—"

"they're not going to find anything," genevieve intentionally cuts her friend off, followed by an obnoxious huff. sure valentine doesn't know genevieve well, but she can tell that she's putting on a fromt, when in reality, there's a strong feeling of worry flowing through her body. "and that's because mars is perfectly fine," she continues, with a tone that seems like she's only trying to convince herself.

"i'm sure she's okay," valentine places a comforting hand on sophie's shoulder, acknowledging how she looks lightly upset. the thing is, as far as valentine is aware, sophie didn't even like mars but she has such a kind soul that she still feels sympathy towards her.

genevieve folds her arms and scoffs. "oh please," she says under her breath through a dry chuckle, making everybody look at her. "you didn't even fucking know her valentine," genevieve snaps while her eyes turn to slits.

valentine's jaw tightens as her right hand slowly balls into a fist, genuinely trying her hardest to not say something she'll probably regret later. the hostility that genevieve has towards valentine—not even bothering to hide it—is enough heavily piss her off.

"oh, shut up gen," sophie surprisingly snaps, making valentine's eyes widen since she really didn't expect sophie to even think about defending her. "we're all upset okay, but that doesn't give you the right to attack valentine," she rants with a crease between her eyebrows.

val really is grateful for sophie and the fact that even though she's the quiet, new girl, sophie's making such an effort to be her friend. she looks up at soph, a small but genuine smile lit with warmth and joy growing on her face. she's honestly lucky that she hit the roommate lottery with somebody like sophie, rather than somebody like genevieve or mars.

genevieve rolls her eyes and throws her hands defensively in the air. "yeah, whatever soph," she unenthusiastically grumbles while lacking any consideration for how valentine might feel. "i'm gonna go change my shoes," she looks down at the black heeled boots she's wearing, not exactly the ideal choice for walking around central park at night.

the rest of the girls all mutter their goodbyes to genevieve, watching as she sashays through the hallway while her long, blonde waves fall down her back. she passes by a couple students she knows, greeting them until she disappears through the crowd of college kids and it frustrates valentine with how entitled she seems.

"i'm so sorry about her," sophie shoots valentine a look of pure sympathy as the other girls nod in agreement. "it's nothing personal, she just gets a little..." she pauses momentarily, pressing her lips together while searching for the perfect words to describe genevieve's attitude.

"bitchy!" clementine finishes sophie's sentence and the four girls erupt into quiet laughter at her bluntness. "no but seriously, we love genevieve...she just gets a little crazy sometimes," she adds on, her lips upturning into a grin.

it seems like there's just a shift in the energy whenever genevieve isn't with them; maybe valentine does belong at blackmore with this new friend group. she never really had friends back in chicago since she was known as 'the weird girl', but this is just different and she loves it. a dimpled grin grows on valentine's face as she glances at the three girls surrounding her, feeling slightly at peace.

that is until, aurora reminds them that they've all got somewhere to be.

TYPICALLY, THE NIGHT time atmosphere is one of only settings that valentine feels comfortable in, enjoying the pure silence that it frequently involves. however, standing in central park surrounded by police officers and other blackmore students is fueling her nerves and valentine can practically hear her heartbeat reverberating through her body. valentine anxiously chews on her nails, an unlucky habit she's gained recently, as she stands with sophie, clementine and aurora.

the four of them stand under the yellow tinted streetlights glowing from above them while everybody is forced to wear high-visibility jackets as if they're working on some sort of construction sight. unfortunately for valentine, the neon green shade is clashing with her striped blouse and pencil skirt. she loudly sighs, even though that should be the last of her concerns. valentine tightly holds on to the metal poles of a few mini red flags that the officers gave them.

"shit, look at chris," sophie whispers with a tone laced with empathy to the girls, causing their gaze to glue to his tired state. "i sure hope mars is okay, who knows how he's gonna react if something bad happened," she pouts her lips slightly as valentine stares at chris.

she genuinely feels horrible for what she did, wishing that chris wasn't such a sensitive person. but mars wasn't perfect, she was a cheater and liar and valentine made sure chris knew that because he deserves everything.

chris and valentine suddenly make eye contact and a smile creeps up on her lips, him surprisingly doing the same; val swears she felt her butterflies fluttering around her stomach.

chris makes his way to his brothers, raven, colby and honey, his friends all trying to give him the comfort that he needs at this moment. valentine somehow doesn't mind as she watches honey pull him in to a tight embrace, acknowledging how he deserves to be hugged. of course valentine would rather it be her and not honey gilmore, but that'll happen soon enough.

"okay!" a police officer loudly announces through a megaphone, everybody shifting their attention to him. "everybody should have at least seven flags, and a high-vis jacket. i want you all to split up, and place flags on places that you've seatched," he pauses to clear his throat. "yell if you see anything or find the nearest officer to you, and under no circumstances, engage with any suspicious activity."

valentine thickly swallows her nerves as people begin to go off on their own, but she maintains her gaze on chris. he's talking to his brothers as honey and colby go off to one section of the park, his arm thrown comfortably around her shoulder. then archer follows after nick and matt after they exchange a couple words to with brother, leaving chris alone with raven. valentine's jaw clenches as she narrows her eyes, watching how she bats her eyelashes and smiles at him.

honestly valentine finds it quite disrespectful that raven is somewhat flirting with chris at this exact time. she finds it disgusting, actually, her top lip lifting into a sneer at the way raven places her hand on chris' clothed bicep. 'what a bitch', valentine thinks to herself before sophie snaps her out of her train of thought.

"hey val, we're thinking of searching around the bridge," sophie speaks up, val's lips parting slightly. "it's just the place that mars loved since she felt 'safe'," she mumbles while using her fingers for air quotations, probably having a feeling that it's no longer mars' safe haven.

but that's the last place valentine wants to search because she knows there's a high chance they'll find something. she physically cannot bring herself to revisit the same place she killed mars because it's as if her screams of pure agony, the sound of cries and blood splattering everywhere is haunting her. but what can she say? it's not like she's a serial killer; valentine isn't used to the feeling of guilt weighing her down.

"i'll catch up with you guys," val mumbles, watching as sophie's eyebrows knit together. "trust me, i'll be good," she forces a comforting and reassuring smile while her hands reach for sophie's, tightly holding onto them.

"stay safe val," clementine responds with a hopeful sigh, before the three girls disappear through the darkness surrounding them.

now valentine has her priorities straight and that's to keep an eye on chris, until she glances at where she last saw him talking to raven, except he's not there and it's just the ginger girl left alone. she chews on the inside of her cheek, holding onto multiple flag poles in one hand and a flashlight in the other.

valentine somehow finds herself where she assumes chris went to get away from everybody and their constant questioning on how he's doing. anxiety bubbles in her stomach as she holds the light up, using it as a weak source to become more aware of the environment she's currently trapped in. maybe this is another night that she'll share a moment with chris, hoping that she finds him.

yet it's as if the world is on valentine's side, done torturing her every moment of everyday, because she looks up and notices how chris is sat on a log, drawing circles in the mud with a wooden stick he's holding on to. he seems to be humming a song while completely unaware of his surroundings.

"oh, hi," valentine blankly says while blinking repeatedly as if this encounter wasn't totally planned by her. he looks up, pushing his lips into a thin line. "sorry if i'm interrupting, do you want me to leave?" she questions with an innocent expression plastered across her face, hoping that chris'll say no because she doesn't want to leave, she wants to stay with him forever.

chris dryly chuckles, dropping the stick onto the crunchy leaves. "normally i'd say yeah," he pauses, tilting his head and staring at valentine. "but you're cool val," chris says lowly and his voice makes val want to scream. he glances at the empty space on the log next to him, then back at val and she takes it as a sign to sit down next to him.

they fall into an uncomfortable silence for a couple moments, the only sound being the occasional barking of faraway guard dogs or loud chatter belonging to people. val really feels the deja-vu hitting her from their late night moment a couple days ago, the two of them not speaking since it took place.

"hey..." chris eventually but quietly speaks up, his head turning to face valentine. her doe eyes flicker between his own, looking up at the brunette boy. "i'm sorry i left so suddenly when you gave me my wallet back," he finally apologizes with his sincere tone. "i just found out my girlfri—ex girlfriend is missing, so i wasn't really in the right headspace, you know?" val nods along to him, his voice sweet like honey to her ears. "you're cool val, you're not like the other girls here."

valentine rolls her eyes at his words, having heard the same thing since she was in middle school, and not in a good way. "no, no!" chris blurts out after noticing her reaction, "in a good way, i promise," he grins and she can't help but do the same. "i'm still really sorry i left you alone, i was just in shock."

"i get that," valentine whispers, because she really does understand. maybe she hasn't lost somebody in the same way that chris did, but she somewhat gets what he's saying. "i don't blame you, mars is special to you," it hurts her to say that sentence, even if it is somewhat true.

chris just dryly scoffs at what valentine said, fighting the urge to roll his eyes. "yeah—well it seems like hooking up with one of my friends is even more special," he harmlessly jokes, but valentine knows that repeating it hurts him.

"i—" valentine mutters until she's cut off by a scream definitely belonging to a female. she freezes as chris immediately jumps up from his seated position, and valentine feels like she just knows what happened.

⋆.ೃ࿔*:･ arianna speaks ¡
cute little valchris moment before it got interrupted again

woah i wonder what they found????