Fandom High Welcome Picnic, Front Lawn of the School, All Day: Part II

[bigdamnprincipal]

The lawn was arranged with tables and chairs - some near the food, some not - and there was plenty of food to go around. The school had even wised up and put to-go boxes by the plates, so people didn't have to put food in their pockets to take it with them for later. No one was gonna judge you for making some pocket bacon, but at least now it wasn't a necessity.

[OCD is up! This is the picnic post for general mingling. Roommates, fake siblings and teachers are all here. Since it's outside, the picnic is open to all students, teachers, and townies!]

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Re: General Mingling [Spring 2019]

[white_oleander]

Astrid had only gotten back that morning; she'd only even known she was coming back two days ago, after another long week of meetings with her case worker and lawyers and just wanting to visit her mother again, but it wasn't allowed. She still wasn't sure if she wanted to be back; the short term house she was staying in was nice, the people were terribly kind and the other kids left her alone. They gave everyone a few presents for Christmas, nothing much, dollar store trinkets or donated things, and she knew that if she stayed in California, she'd be reassigned to a family like Starr and Uncle Ray again, but that didn't seem so bad if it meant getting to visit Ingrid more often.

At the same time, being so close and not being allowed to visit was achingly painful. She could feel her mother's presence through every pore of her skin, every blood cell flowing through her veins, but she couldn't see her or hear her or touch her...

...the distance, she hoped, would help dull the pain of longing. She thought about just hiding out in her room, maybe get started on a new painting for the semester, but she also thought maybe being around people would create enough noise to block out all the thoughts swimming in her head, the conflict of being both relieved to be back and wishing she wasn't, the chaos of a heart being pulled in two opposite directions.

She grabbed some food, but she wasn't very hungry. It remained mostly untouched while she bent over her sketchbook, back to drawing out the things she saw when she peeked up and through the curtain of blonde hair, just like the first picnic, probably just like every picnic from here on in.