Charlie, the artsy tom-boy!

As the night goes on, you find yourself chatting quite a lot to Charlie. She ends up showing you a bunch of her drawings and paintings, since she's one of the girls who lives in that room. You pretend to understand what she's talking about when she explains them; to you they all just look cool. All of her work is pretty dark, and simultaneously quite sexual, or perhaps a more apt word would be sensual. She jokes about having no male models to paint, and you volunteer half-jokingly. She blushes, "I- I would like that".

"Do you... have any tattoos?" she asks after a little bit of silence. You shake your head, "I've wanted one for a while, but it's pretty fucking expensive to get a good one". She giggles and loose page out from one of her drawers and shows you a page with smaller pieces, you assume they're ideas for tattoos. They're only in grayscale, but a few of them catch your eye, moreso than her paintings. One of them in particular stands out to you, a black/dark grey horse, rippled with muscles and exhaling steam, like it happens in the winter. It's mane flows in ribbons in the wind.

You take the paper with one hand and point to it, "Holy shit, that's cool, Char". She blushes and thanks you awkwardly, "If you want I can do it on you?". You get excited for a moment, but your logical side shines through for a rare moment. "Wait, have you ever tattooed before?". She laughs and answers by pulling up her shirt, revealing her flat stomache and a peek of a beige bra. Her skin is mostly clear, but occasionally patched with tattoos that she has apparently done herself.

You push her back onto the bed behind her and she gasps, though her hands stay on her shirt, keeping it up for you to see. You take her legs with one arm and put them up on the bed so she's lying on it fully. You then run your hands over her body, partly to feel her tattoos, and also partly just to feel her. She breathes heavily as you trace your fingers up and down her stomach, and you eventually ask her, "Do you have any others?". She nods, and in a timid voice she continues, "Yes, but... I can't show you those right now." then she laughs awkwardly. You smile at her and help her off the bed. She moves the white-ish section of hair out of her face, and you can see she is clearly flustered by your manhandling.

The party is hemorrhaging people, and now the number of people present has dropped down to six. You and Charlie, who stand in one side of the room; the side where Charlie sleeps. Other than you, Robin, Charlotte, Alex and Lydia are still going, although just barely for most of them, as it is nearing three in the morning. Alex pauses the music with a suggestion, "I think we should sneak out to the lake, who's in?", she takes a swig from a near empty bottle of vodka. Robin is the only one who pauses, and she decides it would be responsible of her to go home. Probably the right decision considering school starts in 5 hours, but the rest of you sneak out into the forest and sit around an old firepit near the lakes edge. You lie down to look at the stars, just content to listen to the girls' conversation. Charlie lies down next to you. "Tired?" you ask. She doesn't answer for a second, "Huh? What?". You laugh and tell her not to mind.

Alex and Lydia are talking about Radiohead as far as you can tell, so Charlie pipes up and asks, "Do you... like Radiohead?". Nonchalant, you tell her you do. They're not as good as everyone says. "Me too," she says quietly. You sit up to bring your phone out, and play Weird Fishes/ Arpeggi (from their ethereal and bittersweet magnum opus, In Rainbows (2007)) quietly. You look over at Charlie and see the corners of her mouth turn up, and her eyes close. She begins to tap her fingers to the drum rhythym and nod her head slightly. You scooch over closer to her and lie back down. You lie there for god knows how long, just enjoying the comfortable, cool breeze coming from across the lake, but your daydream (technically not a _day_dream) is broken by either Alex or Lydia shouting a swear word and scattering. You try to get up but notice that Charlie put her head on your chest at some point, and she's napping peacefully, your movement woke her up though, and she sits up, rubbing an eye with one hand. "What's going on? Where are Alex and Lydia?"

You shrug, but when you turn around you see light coming from the forest. "Oh. I think we've been caught". You look back at Charlotte, and she just sighs; it seems she's too tired to do any running, and you sympathise with that, so you figure you'll just take the punishment with her. You notice the empty bottle that Alex brought with her was lying next to you, and you don't want to deal with being punished for consumption of **** as well, so you quickly grab it and toss it as far into the lake as you can. Just then, Mrs. Juniper herself emerges from the trees, shining a flashlight directly into your eyes. You shield yourself from it, and Charlie does the same.

"Alex! I thought I had warned you enough" she starts, you look at her confused, after she directs the flashlight away from you. "I told you, _no messing around _with my girls". She puts her arms on her hips and looks at you angrily. Charlie tries to save your hide though, "Mrs. Juniper, we weren't going to... mess around. We just came out to listen to music," she gestures to your phone, still playing Radiohead, "and get some fresh air". She looks at you for affirmation, and you nod, pleading the principal with your eyes. She shakes her head, "I thought you would know better, Charlotte. Both of you follow me to my office."