misguided g h o s t s ( asher bby )

[zahirah faith kallen]

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Saturdays were Zahirah's saving grace. Her four older siblings always came home on the weekends, which meant it was three times as easy to slip out of the house unnoticed. Unfortunately, everyone was already gathered in the living room by the time she was ready to leave - she had snuck downstairs to check - which meant she had to use a...less conventional means of leaving the house. Her room was on the second floor, but her window was also within reach of the patio awning, so she usually snuck out that way. It was tough to do in two and a half inch heels, but she managed. Crouching on top of the awning, Zahirah made sure her window was closed, and then, shoes in one hand, dropped the last eight feet to the ground. She staggered for a second, then straightened. She checked to see if anyone was around, then slipped her shoes back on and made her way around the back of the house to the gate. Once out front, she hurried across the street to her best friend Michael's house and punched the code into the keypad next to the garage door, breathing a sigh of relief when the opening door revealed a shiny, black 1977 Pontiac Firebird. Zahirah had been worried that Michael had decided to take her car out for a spin this afternoon, but he hadn't. Grabbing the keys hanging from the pegboard, she slid into the driver's seat and started the engine. It growled to life, bringing a half-smile to her lips.

Her parents didn't know about her baby - they thought she rode her bike or got rides everywhere she went. She remembered the day she'd gotten the car as if it were just yesterday. Her friend Alyssa had been nice enough to give her a ride to and from school that day, since it was so cold out, and the first thing Zahirah had noticed when Alyssa pulled onto her street was Michael, out in his driveway, waxing the most beautiful car she had ever seen. After waving goodbye to Alyssa, she had wandered across the street to interrogate Michael. The two had been best friends since their diaper days, though, so Michael knew what she was going to ask before she even said anything. He calmly told her that she owed him twenty-five hundred dollars, and it took her all of five seconds to realize what he was implying and start bouncing around. Zahirah was good with her money, and she had been saving up for a car ever since her freshman year, and between her allowance and her part-time job at the movie theater, she had managed to save quite a lot. She had paid him back for the car, and he had promised to keep it at his house as long as she promised to let him drive the car when she wasn't using it, or give him a ride if he needed it. That had been a year ago, and she still couldn't believe she had her own car sometimes. Shaking her head slightly to clear it, Zahirah shifted her car into gear and pulled out of the garage.

She had to hop out to punch the code into the keypad again to get the garage door to close, and while she waited for it to close all the way, she plugged her iPod into the adapter Michael had installed in the car for her and pressed 'Play'. Tapping her fingers to the beat against the steering wheel, she started singing along to Weightless as she pulled out of the driveway and headed for Atrium Mall. Her friends always ragged on her when she was listening to ATL ( which was quite often, since the band was one of Zahirah's favorites ), especially Alyssa, who preferred R&B and Jazz to Pop-Punk. Pointing out that she could be mean and force 'Lys to listen to their music was enough to shut up her friend, though. Lost In Stereo came on next, and she cranked up the radio and rolled down the windows even though it was cold out. She spent the rest of her drive to the theatre singing her heart out, even when she was stopped at red lights, and earning herself a handful of cat calls and wolf whistles as a result. Zahirah was having too much fun to care about or be bothered by the fact that she was attracting attention, though. Pulling into a parking spot close to the doors just moments after it had been vacated, she hopped out, locking her car doors and then heading inside, surprised not to see a shock of white blonde hair among the crowd. She had made plans to meet up with an old friend today, but...where the hell was he?

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TAGGED!? Asherr STATUS!? Finished WORDS!? Eight Oh Four NOTES!? Yay for average sized openers. Oh, and this is Zee's car. LYRICS!? Misguided Ghosts, by Paramore OUTFIT!? click hurr CREDIT!? Moi, aka Ellie or ELLIEPANTS FTW ?! of Caution 2.0. I put a lot of hard work into perfecting this layout - steal it and you can bet I'll grab a spork and hunt you down.

[Asher Rinehart]

You might want some lengthy, detailed backstory as to why Asher had come to the mall on this particular day. Sucks for you -- there isn't one. Sometimes, teen boys just wake up and feel like going to the mall. So there you have it. Asher was there. At the mall. Wandering around, wishing there was some lengthy backstory that lead to his presence there, 'cause at least it would mean he had some purpose for it other than the fact that he was bored and had nowhere else to go.

Ginger curls caught his eyes. The smile that followed was inevitable.

Zahirah Kallen, looking crushed, as though she'd been expecting someone and they weren't there? Oh, life was too good to him.

If you were waiting for a backstory, this one's for you. As a new student, Asher knew a grand total of five people at Lumini: Skyler Kanes, his female partner in crime (who wasn't nearly as obsessed with sex as he was -- or at least, wasn't as obvious about it), Jenna Aiken (Skye's partner in crime, who was actually very straight-edge and up-tight, so Asher never missed an opportunity to pester her), Mr. Thorne (his history teacher who'd left quite the impression after implying that Asher read at a first grade level), Marissa Kent (the sophomore bombshell i t was impossible not to know)... and Zahirah Kallen.

They'd met maybe... once? Twice? Not even?

Okay. So I lied. This is where the backstory comes in. The reason Asher was so freaking ecstatic, seeing Zahirah at the mall, was the last time they'd met, he'd had such a good time tearing her apart. And their audience had gotten quite a kick out of it, as well. It hadn't earned Asher any friends, but it'd earned him quite a few high fives, "way to go"s, and laughs. That's all high school was about, really -- the props.

Cutting through the crowd, Asher hovered over Zahirah's shoulder. "Hey ginger," he greeted, all ready teasing. "If you're looking for your soul, there's a reason you can't find it." He didn't finish the joke -- he was confident in Zahirah's extrapolation skills. Shoving his hands in his pockets, he looked down his nose as the petite girl. Before, he'd failed to notice how thin she was. God. She needed to like... eat a pizza or something. Never mind, he wasn't finished insulting her yet. "Or did someone stand you up?"

Gee. Asher could be a real d-bag sometimes....

Oh well.

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word count : obscenely smaller than the ellen's....
ooc : I thought it'd be more interesting if they'd met in the past. If that's not okay, beat me with fish sticks.

[zahirah faith kallen]

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Had Zahirah been paying more attention to her surroundings and less time agonizing over the fact that one of her best friends ( and one of only two guys she could comfortably talk to without making herself look like a total dork in front of them every five seconds ) hadn't shown up at the mall on time and as promised, then she might have spotted Asher Rinehart before he spotted her. Being greeted from behind and referred to as "ginger" was not the redhead's favorite way to find out that the very last person on the planet that she wanted to see was in the one place she thought she might actually be safe from suffering through yet another agonizing round of his tormenting.

Needless to say, Zahirah jumped about a foot in the air. And then, right on cue, she turned bright red. "Think happy thoughts, think happy thoughts..." Her inner voice chanted. Nothing helped at first, but then suddenly, Cameron's face popped into her head, and for half a second, she was fine. Until Asher's joke about her soul, that is. Her eyes filled with tears, and her lips parted in shock, the taunt only partially registering in her brain. The moment it sunk it, she bit her lip and whirled around to face Asher "D**che Bag" Rinehart ( she was sure that was the name his parents had put on his birth certificate - nothing else explained why he was the perfect epitome of the word ).

"N-no one is st-standing me up." Zahirah snapped, but she couldn't quite keep her lower lip from trembling. She remembered exactly how things had gone the last time Rinehart had set his sights on her, and if he didn't believe that she had backup on the way, she might have to start seeing her therapist every other week again. Tobi had been so proud of her when she'd dropped down to just one visit to her therapist each month, and she really didn't want to disappoint her eldest brother. Honestly, she was lucky to have such supportive siblings, even if they weren't actually related to her by blood. Which reminded her, she needed to try talking to Tobias and Piper about that again.

But first, Zahirah needed to escape from Asher's clutches before he got a chance to humiliate her in front of all these strangers. She was about to prove the redhead stereotype, but it was only in order to get back at Rinehart, so she didn't care. Thinking about everything he'd said and done to her the last time she'd run into him, she let the anger wash through her. And then she unleashed it on him at full force. "What did I ever do to you, Rinehart?" She snarled, her blue eyes flashing dangerously. "We're not even in the same grade, so you can't claim I did something to slight you in class, which means you have absolutely no reason to be such a gottverdammte arschloch to me."

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TAGGED!? Asherr STATUS!? Finished WORDS!? Five Oh Two NOTES!? I made dis post a smaller one so as not to scare away your Asher mooz. Also, the German ( if you can't work it out on your own xD ) translates to godd*mn a-hole LYRICS!? Misguided Ghosts, by Paramore OUTFIT!? click hurr CREDIT!? Moi, aka Ellie or ELLIEPANTS FTW ?! of Caution 2.0. I put a lot of hard work into perfecting this layout - steal it and you can bet I'll grab a spork and hunt you down.

[Asher Rinehart]

Confident and capable as ever, Zahirah stuttered her way through what Asher assumed had to be (by a severe stretch of the imagination) her "witty comeback". Negating my sentence, he thought dryly. Way to go. If I were five, I'd be impressed. Honestly, how had this girl survived so long? It didn't matter what high school you went to -- everyone was teased. Everyone was ridiculed. With her banter skills, it was a miracle Zahirah wasn't home schooled. By the amish.

Just kidding. That was an insult to the amish.

That's some good stuff, he thought, chuckling softly. Why don't you stop thinking about how lame she is and teach her how it's done?

"True," he conceded, glancing down at the tiled floor as he spoke. Then he looked up and met her gaze, narrowing his eyes ever so slightly in a show of false pity. "People do have to know you exist before they can stand you up."

He'd just barely gotten the words out before something dangerous flickered to life in Zahirah's eyes.

She was vapid -- snarling, asking him why he was such a terrible person (good question, Zahi.... good question), and.... I think she just swore at me in foreign.

Asher, being the uncultured little scheisse (see what I did there?) that he was, couldn't even name the language she'd used. However, the first word bore similarities to "goddamn", and "arsch" to "ass". The rest, he filled in. Goddamn asshole. Boy, she was all cotton candy and rainbows today, wasn't she? It was kind of nice that she'd finally decided to grow some lady balls... but seriously? That was the weakest show of bravado Asher had ever seen. After all, if one cannot understand the language in which they are being insulted, one cannot be offended. He shook his head.

"Zahirah, Zahirah, Zahirah."

His tone was patronizing.

"You want to know why I walk all over you?" Asher placed one hand on either of Zahirah's shoulders. "Because you make it so easy." ... and for good measure, he casually tossed off an, "And you have no soul, so you can't be offended."

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word count : 367 (i.e. worse than the last one)
ooc : this is all my asher muse gives me. Hope it's good enough for you. =/

[zahirah faith kallen]

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So Zahirah wasn't exactly the best when it came to comebacks - sue her. Unlike some people, she didn't practice insults in front of her mirror every morning. Her older brothers constantly joked that she wouldn't be able to insult someone if her life depended on it, but they made it sound like a good thing, whereas her run-ins with bullies like Rinehart made it feel like a bad thing. It was one of the reason's she had been such an easy target growing up. Not that she didn't have a spine; she just couldn't bring herself to say mean things to other people. But all that wasn't important at the moment - what was important was how she planned to deal with the situation at hand. She was off to a bad start, that much was for certain.

The moment he questioned the existence of one of her friends, however, something in Zahirah snapped, and she blew up at him. Sort of. The German had thrown him off, but not for as long as she would have liked. When his hands came down to rest on her shoulders, she visibly flinched. Physical contact with someone who was not either a friend or a family member wasn't high on her "Things I'm Not Okay With" list. Scowling ( more at the fact that Rinehart had the audacity to put his hands on her than anything else ), the redhead did something completely out of character. She took a deep breath, and then pushed his arms away, took a step forward, and jabbed him in the middle of his chest as hard as she possibly could.

"Don't you dare imply that I have no soul." Zahirah hissed, narrowing her eyes. "Just because you, High and Mighty Asher King of the Shitheads Rinehart, have no soul, that doesn't mean that everyone else is the same." She jabbed him again and took another step forward, drawing herself to her full height so that they were as close to being nose to nose as she could get. "I don't know what the hell your goddamn problem is, but you need to find someone else to fuck with. I may seem like a spineless jellyfish to you, but when it comes down to it, I know all the right people." Smirking, she paused, giving him a moment to let her words sink in. And then she dropped the bomb. "The name Rochelle Blanchard ring a bell, Rinehart?"

Zahirah knew it did, of course - the question was a rhetorical one designed to get a rise out of the junior. She and little miss Blanchard were quite good friends, too, which she knew she could use against Asher Rinehart in so many ways if she really wanted to. It was his fault that she and Shell had even become friends to begin with, so he had no one but himself to blame. That was the one bright spot in this whole tortuous mess - Rinehart's relentless teasing had earned her the empathy of the one girl who had known him his whole life and remembered every last one of his dirty little secrets. How Rochelle had made it so long without giving in to the temptation to blackmail him into submission, she would never ever know.

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TAGGED!? Asherr STATUS!? Finished WORDS!? Five Five Oh NOTES!? Maybe a longer post will fuel your Asher muse? LYRICS!? Misguided Ghosts, by Paramore OUTFIT!? click hurr CREDIT!? Moi, aka Ellie or ELLIEPANTS FTW ?! of Caution 2.0. I put a lot of hard work into perfecting this layout - steal it and you can bet I'll grab a spork and hunt you down.

[Asher Rinehart]

Based solely on the look that fell over Zahirah's face, Asher had a inkling he'd regret this moment for a fair chunk of the foreseeable future. His stomach tied itself in a knot the second the fire came to life in the little ginger's eyes. Next thing he knew, she was shoving his hand off her shoulder and jabbing a finger into his chest, backing him up a step or two. Even so, not a flicker of fear did he betray. If Asher knew how to do anything, it was hide his true feelings. He'd been taught by professionals.

That's right.

Californians.

Besides, he wasn't that scared. More curious as to what she could possibly say to shake him in his boots. As it turns out, she knew a handful of curse words, which she had no trouble dumping on Asher. At first, her insults were easy to brush off. She basically reiterated the fact that Asher was a douche with a capital D, which, newsflash! He already knew. He was not ashamed of this fact in the least. He didn't know why Zahi bothered.

Then she dropped the "R" bomb.

It had been ages since he'd heard that name, but Asher placed it right away.

If Zahi knew Rochelle Blanchard, she knew everything.

Regarding Asher, anyway.

He faltered for only a second, then regained his composure, his same sly smirk returning. "Geez, Zahi," he quipped. "If you have no problem cursing me out, maybe you really don't have a soul." He gently shifted her finger away from his person. "It was only a theory before, but now it's as good as proven."

Scooting to the side, he continued on his merry way through the mall. Only, he stopped and turned back for a brief second to call out to her. "Whatever Rochelle tells you, I wouldn't listen. The girl's been obsessed with me since the day we met." He shrugged. "Can't say I blame her." And turned away.

Not once in his life had Asher told a fatter lie.

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word count : 353
ooc : LOL. That tends to have adverse effects, but I did my best. ><

[zahirah faith kallen]

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Zahirah had hit the mark squarely on the head, and she knew it. She had seen the momentary flicker of panic in Rinehart's eyes - had noticed his barely perceptible pause. Both were there and gone so fast only someone looking for the signs would have caught them. And oh had she caught them. Smirking, the redhead quirked an eyebrow, waiting for the brunette boy's retaliation. He made another comment about her lack of soul, but she was over that at this point. She'd managed to hook her claws into him, and nothing, especially not a repeated insult, would keep her from her new goal. Rinehart wanted to make her life a living hell? She'd be more than happy to return the favor - with Shell's help, of course. The tiny brunette was her source for all things Rinehart.

The junior's parting remark made Zahirah snort in amusement. "That's not what I've heard, Rinehart. According to Mrs. Blanchard, you were the one who had an obsession with Rochelle. 'Followed my little Rochelle around like a lost puppy' were her exact words, if I remember correctly." She paused, her smirk reappearing for half a second before she shrugged, affecting a bored look. "But, you know how parents are...always exaggerating things where their own child is concerned. Still, I would hate for a rumor like that about me to get around at school, wouldn't you?" Brushing her hair over her shoulder, she turned on a sneaker-clad heel and started to walk away. And then, copying Asher exactly, she stopped and threw one last quip over her shoulder.

"I'd watch my back from now on if I were you, Rinehart." Grinning devilishly, Zahirah turned her back on the brunette boy and joined the crowd of people wandering the mall. If he wanted to have the last word that badly, he'd probably come after her, and she intended on making that as difficult as possible. Most guys didn't try chasing after girls that obviously wanted nothing to do with them in a place like the mall - it earned them a ton of dirty looks at best, and a visit to the mall security office at worst. The redhead had seen security cart off a college guy for bothering a group of girls once, so she knew it could happen. Humming softly to herself, she dug her phone out of her pocket and shot off a text to Rochelle. Operation Terrorize is officially a go. v^o^v

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TAGGED!? Asherr STATUS!? Finished WORDS!? Four One One NOTES!? I made it shorter just for chu. x3 LYRICS!? Misguided Ghosts, by Paramore OUTFIT!? click hurr CREDIT!? Moi, aka Ellie or ELLIEPANTS FTW ?! of Caution 2.0. I put a lot of hard work into perfecting this layout - steal it and you can bet I'll grab a spork and hunt you down.