Nick's POV ------- School: More on Mr. Ocley

When the bell rang Lace got up. "Do you need a ride today?" He asked me. He slung his back pack over his shoulder and looked at me waiting. I finished my sentence before looking up. "No," I said. "It's cool, my mum'll drive me anyways."

He nodded. "I'll talk to you later," He said. "Is you mom working tonight?"

"Yeah," I said. "I'm ordering a pizza, do you want to come over? It's just going to be me and David." I don't just invite people over to my house hwne my parents aren't home. Because all of my friends generally have money, they barely come over. Not because I'm ashamed of anything. I mean, they come shopping with me sometimes just to buy clothes like me every once in a while. They think I dress like the shit- that's why. I mean, I am quite the fashionista- but Lace is the only one that probably knows where I live.

Now I guess that's because my neighborhood is fucking a hundred years old. Swear to God they probably think nobody even lives in my neighborhood because the houses are all older than they are. But that's not really why- at least I hope it's not why because I didn't think my friends were that dumb. Sometimes I guess I just like keeping things simple. I don't need them knowing all about David. They'd all be dicks to him if I brought them over. I don't need them walking around and looking at my house like it was a third world country they didn't know existed.

I like my house being my house.

I'm a simple guy, I guess.

"Sure," He said. "I'll come over once I drop Em off."

I smile at him. "You didn't tell me Emily the Poet was stealing you away," I said. Ocley comes over sitting at his desk and shuffles papers.

"What about Emily Dickenson?" He asks. I look over at Ocley. He has to be around thirty now. He cut his beard last night and it's short again. He looks at us waiting. I look at Lace and wait.

He rubs his eye. "No," He says. "It's just this friend of mine."

"A guy named Emily?" Ocley says. "I didn't know we had a new student. I would have remembered if it was a student named Emily." I laugh a little looking back at my paper. I start writing again.

"Emily is a girl," I said focusing. "Not just any girl- but normal public school girl who Lace has been texting the entire class while you gave the class a nice lecture on the corruption of money when introduced to a class system."

"That was a nice lecture wasn't it?" Ocley says looking at me. He puts a clip on the paper in his hands. He looks at Lace. "Now, I'm not saying this because I'm a lot older and wiser than you are, Simon, but it sounds like- now I'm going out on a limb here- but it sounds like you have a girlfriend."

"Nope," I said. "See, Lace doesn't like it when people call Emily his girlfriend. He likes to say they're just friends. Friends who talk on the phone and text and stay up really late talking and ditch their other friends for each other."

"Oh," Ocley says sliding over ot his computer glancing at the screen. "I see."

"Ocley," Lace says. "I can report you right now for busting in questioning my personal life, so can we drop this?"

"No," I said. "He just asked about Emily Dickenson, I'm telling him all about your girlfriend. Come on, dude, this is completely different." I look up at Lace.

He takes out his phone. "I have to go," He says. "I'll see you later."

"See you," I say laughing a little.

"Bye Ocley," Lace says waving.

Ocley looks up from his computer. "Wait, listen to this:" He says. I turn. Ocley only reads e-mails not if they are really good. I wait and Ocley looks at the computer before starting to read. "'Dear Robert Ocley, It has come to my attention that you have been addressing such subjects in your third period English class as Buddhism, sexual encounters and addressing your students in inappropriate ways.'-" He looks at us. "What is wrong with that?"

"Inconsistent parallel construction," I said. "Duh."

Lace laughs. "Wait, the sexual encounters thing," He says. "Was that when you talked to us about what was going on in the novel?"

"No, wait," Ocley says. "It gets better. 'A student reported that you allegedly wrote expletives on the student Conor Simon's essay and attacked him verbally in front of the class.'"

Lace and I burst out laughing. "No way," Lace went over reading over Ocley's shoulder. "It was a joke!"

Lace wrote a paper that was great except for one paragraph. Ocley- as a joke- wrote simply 'P2 sucks' and explained to us what Lace did wrong in class. I thought it was hilarious. I thought about the low son of a bitch who was working to get Ocley fired.

"This is getting annoying," Ocley sighed. "I'm teaching. Is it that horrible?"

I kept writing. "I hate this school," I said. "Scott always talks about how much he hates it here."

Ocley looks at me. "You know a school is terrible when someone's parent- whose never been to it- says it's terrible." He says. He looks back at the e-mail. "I can't wait until I quit. I'm looking for a job at a high school in Philly or Conneticut."

"Go out with a bang," I said. "Get up in front of the school and call Barcphoph's B-S."

"Like I'd stop there," Ocley says under his breath. He shakes his head and Lace starts to walk away.

"I have to get going," He says. "Ocley, I'll have my paper in tomorrow morning. Do you have a free period?"

"Seven," Ocley says. "What do you have?"

"Study," Lace says. "I'll come here then?"

"Yeah, that's fine." Ocley says. "Who do you have for Study?"

"Mrs. Harney," Lace said.

"Alright," He said. "I'll call her tomorrow morning and tell her you'll be here. See you tomorrow,"

"Bye," Lace said he left and I kept writing finishing my essay.

I passed it over to Ocley. "Did you see Hampton reading Bukowksi?" I asked.

"Yeah," Ocley said. "What's up with that?"

"Thinks he's smart," I said. "Any horny guy can read Bukowski in public." We've established that it's only justified if you read Bukowki poetry in public, not 'Ham on Rye.' Especially if you're in high school. But I guess that's how it goes sometimes. People read good authors at the worst possible times.

"Did I tell you?" Ocley said fishing out a red pen. "They're not giving me any Senior classes next year." We make eye contact and my stomach drops.

"What?"

"They're making me teach sophomores," Ocley said. "He knows."

"What the hell?" I said. "Pardon my French."

"It's excused, I teach English." Ocley says. We say this as a joke. Don't think Ocley's a moron or something. He's the smartest person I know. "They have people walk by my classrooms. Kids have been telling me they see him walking by. How ridiculous is all of this?"

I shake my head. "This school is ridiculous," I said. "I'll have Judy tell me if she hears anything about it if it's getting to that. That sucks."

Ocley looks at my paper. He is reading and I watch him. I look out the window and see the woods. I wait for him to say something. "Great thesis," He says. I look back at him. I wait and see him add a comma here and there.

"Are you going to quit this year then?" I asked. Ocley looks up at me and for a second he pauses.

He pauses. "I might," He said. "I can ask to teach a senior course but I'll have to work really hard for it."

I look at him. "Try," I said.

He pauses. "You aren't sick of me yet?"

"No," I said reaching over picking up his folder for our class. "You're the only teach who knows what they're talking about."

"Thank you,"

I didn't say anything. I opened the folder and looked at it. I don't really know why people always thank me when I'm honest with them. It's the truth. The truth will always be the truth. I'm not being nice to make them feel better. Ocley goes back to reading my paper.

Next class we're reviewing "Catcher in the Rye."

"A little JD Salinger? Bold move," I said. "I'll have to slaughter Lace tomorrow I guess."

"Don't be too harsh," Ocley says turning a page. "You don't want to end up wearing a hunting cap."

I smile. "If you quit the day after tomorrow expect a phone call at midnight asking you to let me come sleep in your house," I said.

He laughs. "Tocuhe," He says. He starts reading again.

I don't want my teachers to all be like Ocley. I think if they were like that I'd take him for granted. He's really a cool guy. I start reading into next week's plan. I hope he doesn'ty quit soon. I want to do the stuff coming up in his planner.

Nick's POV ------- Lace's house

The Lieutenant door slammed and I heard Lace make his way into the kitchen. I had taken it upon myself to make food because I was hungry. His footsteps came closer. I cleared off some of the kitchen getting out trash bags and everything. "Hey," He said walking in behind me.

"Hi," I looked over my shoulder. If you've never been to Lace's house, it's hard to get used to once you're they're. It's all fucked up and in your face. The dining room leads to a hallway room and then another dining room. He walked over to the stove and looked at the bacon I had made.

"I didn't know we had bacon." He said. Looking over at me. He stuck his finger into the pancake batter I had made. Lace is one of those breakfast people. He made me appreciate it and all but I haven't eaten anything since the brownies I had last night. "Thanks, honey for making me breakfast... I'm sorry I didn't make love to you last night..." He was kidding. He stuck his finger into his mouth.

I laughed out loud. "It's okay," I said. "I am fucking starving."

Lace can also cook like a bastard. He barbeques and shit and everything. I can only make pancakes. I walked over flipping them over. "So," I said in a more serious way. "You know Perry was just being an asshole last night, right? You didn't have to sleep with-"

"I didn't," He said. I looked at him over my shoulder. He leaned against the counter. He didn't look dissheveled or anything like that. "He was being an asshole though."

"So you an Emily..." I said. "What's up with that?" I felt relief wash over me. Lace takes stuff too personally for his own good. I didn't think he'd just go have sex with some girl he barely knew because he's not like that.

He smiled a little. "She's cool," He said.

"Cool, huh?" I said flipping pancakes again. "As in: she's-a-guy-trapped-in-a-girl's-body cool, or cool." The pancakes were smokign because of the choclate chips but they had dark brown and golden swirls like hurricanes on them. I emptied them onto a nice plate. I had washed down most of the counters already we just had every other room.

"You don't like her, right?" He asked.

I gave him a look. Obviously I didn't like Emily. She had Lace written all over her. Everything she said was like Lace. She was his soul-mate if I ever saw one. He shrugged exhaling scratching his shoulder. He was in love with her. I sighed. "Do you think she's attractive?"

"Yes," He mumbled.

"Was she nice to talk to?"

"Yes,"

"When you kissed her did you feel the Boston pops swirling around in the brain that is now turned into mush and did you see a green light and think: here is my Daisy- I am her Gatsby never her Holden and she's always my Jane?"

"No," He said.

I looked at him. "So she's not what-"

"No," He said. "I didn't kiss her."

"Oh," I said. Then I looked back at my nice little pancakes freshly placed on the pan. I nodded and played with the edges of the circles. The choclate chips were sticking up like rocks in mud. "Just so you know, if you spend over three hours talking to a girl that's probably going to happen."

He laughed quietly. "Thanks," He said. "I've had girlfriends before."

"Yeah, ditzes who blew you and texted you," I said looking at him. "You never had an Emily before."

He gave me a look. "You say this like she's going to change my life," He said. "How do you know I'm even going to see her again?"

"Does she have your cell phone number?" I asked. Oh how little our little knight knew of such a plot. He nodded. "Then you're going to see her in no time. Just keep texting her." I flipped over some more pancakes.

"Dude, I just met her," He said. "Don't make this a big deal."

I looked at him. "Did you see her?" I asked raising my eyebrows. "She's gorgeous. She's funny. She's talkative. She's outgoing. She's smart- I think. She's not ripping her clothes off. She's a keeper."

He gave me a look again. He pushed off of the counter and picked up a piece of bacon popping it into his mouth. "Whatever," He sighed. "Keep telling yourself that."

I hit him with the spatula. "You're so cynical," I said. "Text her."

"No," He said walking away. "Not yet."

Lace is old-fashioned, I guess. He waits for the third date to kiss a girl. He doesn't do anything more until he sees himself with them in three years. When he stops seeing himself with them he starts pulling away. That's when they break up and returns to his life as Sir Lancelot- the cynic. I'm not a romatic but you know, sometimes you have to go out on a limb and assume the girl you meet at a party whose pretty, nice, and made for you is your soul mate.

I have to do that for Lace. And that's okay. That's what I'm here for.

JD Salinger.

The author of my favorite book passed away yesterday. JD Salinger wrote "The Catcher in the Rye" and I can read that book over and over again and never get bored of it. I try not to read it so much because I know I'll be reading it for the rest of my life. I was to be an English teacher just so I can teach that book.

When I found out he died my stomach dropped. I've never suffered from loss that was closely related to me. Which is strange but it's inevitable I guess. But I felt like I lost a close friend. He created Holden Caulfield who I think about all the time.

Once you read "Catcher in the Rye" and you really want to read it it will change your life. It did for me. It's the original "Perks of Being a Wallflower" but it surpasses "Perks" in every way shape and form.

RIP

Woooooooh.

Hi

So. I've been so bizznizzle (busy) lately. BUT good news and bad.

1.) Working on "Miracle" and thinking up some Lace and Nick POVs
2.) Will post something this weekend
3.) Started a new writing project - will not be on FanFic but it #4 on my list
4.) I've become and eBay fanatic

So, I'm going to go read me some Charles Dickens. Freshman English is a breeze for me. Got a 94 on a midyear that made a girl cry. I own every reading group. My secret? I'm literate. I write in my spare time. This is proof that when you write and read you will be good in school. All the smart kids need to figure that out. Don't diss reading. It'll save your life.

jaseyray

Lace's POV --- meeting Em

Lace's POV

Tonight was going perfectly. We had it planned out and everything was going along smoothly. I should have been looking around and thinking about how great this was. My chest should have been swelled with pride and with one look everyone would know we pulled it off. But I was walking around looking for Nick.

He had to be here. But there was so many people this endeavor was proving hopeless. I took out my phone texting him. 'where are you?'

Knowing Nick he was passed out on the roof or asleep in the bathroom or taking acid somewhere in my basement. My theories were all far-fetched but all of them were possible when it came to Nick. But the ext I got in a few minutes was something I had never considered. 'smoking w/this girl in the left starboard room- join us'

He simply found a girl. I sighed and tucked my phone into my pocket heading up the stairs. I should have texted him saying I didn't want to be a third wheel, but I figured it was best. I headed upstairs. Anxiety was getting the worst of me to come out full blast.

I knew exactly what room he took her to. I headed towards it knocking once. "Secret knock!" Nick yelled.

I sighed and started doing the "Secret Knock" which was just the beat of a Journey song. When I stopped I heard him answer. "I'm sorry that's incorrect- get the hell out." Typical. I opened the door and peaked my head in.

"Asshole," I said. I looked and saw a girl sitting near him passing him a newly lit joint. She was skinny and had long wavy brown hair. Nick took it from her looking back at me. "You didn't play the beat to 'Don't Stop Believing.'" He said waving his hand like it was obvious. He went on talking but I lost it shutting the door behind me and locking it.

I walked across the room. The girl took notice of me for the first time. She looked at me up and down as I sat down across from her. I looked at Nick who was inhaling the joint carefully before handing it over to me. "Hi," I said. I looked at Nick waiting for him to say something. He usually jumped into this type of thing. He looked at me steadily. What the hell was he doing?

I looked at the girl. "This is my asshole friend who isn't going to introduce me who I assume you're already acquainted with." I pointed at Nick. "My name's Lace."

"Hi," She said smiling. "My name's Emily."


Emily. She was pretty. Not the normal kind of pretty that you see all the girls in my school trying to look like. She was really pretty actually. Nick always got the pretty girls. I don't know why. "Like the poet," He added.

I looked at Nick. Perry totally said something like that, he really dug her poetry last year. "I am nobody, who are you?" I started reciting.

"Are you nobody too? Then that's a pair of us- don't tell..."

I smiled and looked at Emily who was blinking thoughtfully looking at me. She didn't know what I was talking about. Most people don't know Emily Dickenson. She's only underrated because of Sylvia Plath. I smiled at Emily. "Emily Dickenson," I said. Then I looked at Nick. "Perry said that right?"

He smiled laughing. "Yeah," He said.

I looked at Emily. "It's a compliment," I said. "At least in my books." I leaned over shaking her hand. She did looking at me steadily. "It's nice to meet you."

She nodded smiling. She had a nice smile. "You too," She said softly. She had big green eyes. They were the green that didn't make a big deal out of themselves. I moved back and Nick pushed the joint at me again. I took a hit. I never got why girls liked him so much. He hooked up with more girls than any of our friends. But that's just because he was Nick.

Nick looked at me again and I passed it over to Nick who took a hit again. "We were just discussing our newly acquired hobbies," He said.

"Really?" I looked over at Emily.

"Yeah," Nick said. "I told her how I'm learning German." We were just screwing around. A lot of people take us seriously. I don't know why they do. It's weird because I would never take someone like me seriously. Even our friends don't catch on. It's just me and Nick going back and forth most of the time picking someone apart.

He passed the joint to Emily. She was really pretty actually. I kept looking at her when she didn't notice. We all talked. She laughed a lot. She had a nice laugh. Nick got out another joint and we passed it back and forth until I stopped. Emily stopped a little while after.

She was cute. She was friendly and fit in. She didn't laugh nervously at jokes. She didn't squeeze her neck like it was about to burst open. She didn't make awkward uneccessary comments. Nick played around with her a lot but suddenly she started catching on. He would look over at me sometimes. I don't know why but after a while he was getting really stoned.

"My ass hurts," He said. "Come on," He said. He got up and walked over sitting on the couch. I looked at Emily who was getting up and doing the same. So I followed. I sat down near her. I don't know if it was because Nick was really stoned but we started talking a lot more. Me and Emily did. I didn't know how but all of a sudden we were just talking about anything.

Nick kept looking over making eye-contact with me. He kept smiling at me in a really dazed way. He was really fucked up. I didn't know what kind of weed that was but it was nice. Emily was nice. Emily was really funny and cute and pretty.

We had a lot in common. Her smile was so nice too. She smiled a lot more than girls usually do. I loved her smile. What got me most was that she wasn't even trying. It was awful. I was a shitty friend. She was Nick's. He got to her first.

I started to like Emily.

Lace and Emily.

Hi


I am having so much fun writing "Miracle" :) Hearing what people think is my favorite part. I have three consistent reviewers which is awesome! And Lace is my favorite character of all time. I love him so much.

I'm worried though that Emily is getting the whole "Bella Swan" thing to her where it seems like she's obsessed with Lace and can't function without him because I don't think that's healthy and realistic. But I might post something here or there from the story this is based off of.

I think I've explained it before but I am writing a story about Nick and Lace's last weekend out before they go to college. Then I started bringing Em in and I had to keep thinking about it. I just can't post a ton without ruining the ending. The ending is going to be huge and explosive.

But I'm really digging this. Let's hope I keep it up.

jaseyray

Saves The Day.

hi.
posted TWO (2) updates for "Last Place"!!!!!! i'd like to thank chris conley for making me feel the need to bring jonah into the story. i'm two steps closer to having a little more excitement in the story and boom-shakalama it has been done. so much has happened. wooo!

i have been fighting my urge to listen to my loves kevin devine and jesse lacey. they make me write for the nick and lace story i drew "miracle of 86" out of. but i want to get into the swing of things and hopefully my writing hasn't suffered although the chapters in both of my new updates are a lot shorter and a lot simpler which is good *thumbs up*

now to actually do some homework. damnit.

jaseyrayyaya

Goalios.

So. This year I am trying to decide what I want to do with myself on FanFiction. I want to dedicate myself a lot more to it. Since "Miracle of 86" appears slightly floppy it will probably be coming down or left incomplete altogether.

But I am wondering what I want to do with the whole "Last Place" and "Perfect Kisses" beast. I might be posting a thing asking people for their input on the subject. Because I am willing to try and invest once again into them due to the fact I now have a proper source to draw from for it that isn't an Academy Is... record (sorry to report in my FanFic absence (sp?) I have evolved into a hipster and cringe sometimes when I hear TAI).

Would people be interested in that? Should I move on and keep up "Miracle of 86"? Should I bother asking people? I don't know. I just know there's a gap growing between what I aim to write and what I have written and left in the past.

So far my goals are:
- Actually finish a writing project.
- Start a new writing project that will equal "Last Place/Perfect Kisses"
- Figure out what the hell I'm going with "LP/PK"

Any input?

Miracle of 86.

It was just complete chance. Emily went to that party unsuspecting and unaware. She went with some of her best friends and somehow she ended up alone. Not alone exactly, but completely without them. She was stuck with the only person she kind-of knew who was nobody else than this kid Nick who her friend thought was the coolest kid ever.

She thought Nick was cute. He was hilarious. It was a bad habit to go through every possibility that she might date every guy she talked to, but what if she meets the right guy? And so her bad habit pays off. Nick introduces her to Lace. She doesn't know what to make of it... somehow he just seemed different. She doesn't want to get cheesey but it was love at first site.

All it took was a few hours and all of a sudden she feels like she has everything figured out, but there's a lot more things down the road she never expected. There's the fact Lace doesn't tell her enough. There's the fact that he basically lives at his friend Nick's house. Nick was the biggest problem. She never got Nick and Lace. But somehow she finds out true love hits you out of nowhere. And once it happens, the conflicts have to be dealt with afterwards... right?

* * *

Like it?