And every demon wants his pound of flesh (Rachel)

[runrachelrun.insanejournal.com]

Rachel extended her arms high above her head, held, then slowly bent herself in half till her hands pressed flat against the floor. Around the dance studio, others were stretching as well. The class was just beginning, and in a few moments, their instructor would start running through the warm up routine before they divided into groups to work on their different performances.

When dance was held after lunch it was always a bit of a struggle to get going. Almost the entire class was watching what they were eating, especially this close to the final recital, and after lunch everyone was hungry and a little grouchy. Without fail, the teacher was late. Every Thursday, he was late. The class knew to get on with their warm up, as he expected them all to be ready when he did show up.

There was a commotion near the doors to the studio – gasps and denials and swearing. Rachel straightened up as someone left the room and one of the girls called to the rest of them “We’re on fucking lockdown!”

( ... )

It's for the snakes and the people they bite - Hector

[burneverybreath.insanejournal.com]

Five months ago Hector had been living in a slowly falling apart two-bedroom flat with his mother and sister in Dagenham and on the verge of getting kicked out of his school there. In that house they could barely keep the shower running with its frequent issues: now they lived in a house with three bathrooms.

They all got their own bedrooms here. There was a backyard and a pool and if you were on one end of the house, you couldn't just call out to people at the other end. And they had a housekeeper who came in to clean it all up once a week. The biggest difference, Hector thought, was that his mum laughed now. Aadhya was always serious and tired and blank, but here she smiled and when she cooked them dinner she sang again. It had been a long time since she'd sung around the house, not since a dozen terrible jobs ago at least.

Funny what difference a few million pounds made.

( Five months ago Aadhya had sat the two of them down and explained it all very calmly )

Truth (Danny and Rachel) [Backdated to Saturday]

[daniel_marlow]

Since the lockdown on Thursday, Danny had refused to leave his house. Friday had been declared a school-free day, but Danny wouldn't have gone either day. He wasn't leaving his mother for fear of losing her and he knew she felt the same way.

That meant that, in order to keep their plans for Saturday, Rachel had to come over to his house instead of heading out and having a picnic or seeing a movie. He promised her that if the weather permitted, they could at least have a picnic in the yard. Mostly though, he just wanted to talk to her and spend time with her.

( Black holes and revelations )