The Vegan Amigos (Juniper)

[Amos Freeman]

Amos, while being relatively above average where intelligence was concerned, was sorely lacking in physical coordination. This may or may not have had to do with the fact that he was juggling a box of half a dozen vegan doughnuts in one hand, a folder full of papers that detailed his notes regarding Hammel’s up and coming Environmental Awareness club in the other, and was also trying to read.

The menu he was squinting at was brightly colored with clean typography; the sign above it read ‘Vegan Amigo’s Natural Juice & Snack Bar.’

“I’m gonna get a medium carrot-banana-orange with soymilk, I think,” he told Juniper after regarding the prices critically. He didn’t have a lot of allowance left. He grinned at his friend, shifting the doughnut box carefully.

“Wanna go by Earthbound Trading afterwards? They’re having a sale, I think.”

The people who had been in line in front of the pair received their juice and wandered off into the sea of chairs, and Amos stepped up to the cash register.

“Um, a medium carrot-banana-orange with soymilk, please,” he told the young woman at the register while he fished his wallet out of his pocket with some effort. He handed over a five dollar bill and two quarters.

“I’ll pick out a seat, Juney; will you bring mine?” He said over his shoulder, leaving her to order. He picked a seat close to the window and finally relieved himself of the doughnut box. It was a good view; it was a beautiful, sunny day, and everyone seemed to be in shorts. The trees around the parking lot were dancing in the warm breeze.

[Juniper Birdsong]

"Are you sure you can handle all of that stuff, Amy?" Juniper laughed, watching her friend struggle with his many assorted items he was attempting to carry. He seemed determined, though, so she let him handle it. She carried nothing but a simple hand-made leather purse, which matched her outfit choice of the day, inspired by a fox she had seen a few days ago. She, too, scanned the menu in his hand.

"Vegan Amigo's." She grinned. "I like that. We should be the Vegan Amigos." She struck a dramatic pose, chest out, back straight, one foot in front of the other and head held high. "The Vegan Amigos, fighting against the ever growing terrors of deforestation, global warming, and habitat destruction to save our glorious Mother Nature." She held the pose for a moment, then fell into giggles. "Sorry. I guess I should just order."

She glanced down the list, biting her lip before pointing at a listing. "Strawberry-Kiwi-Melon sounds good. I think it's all organic, right?" Seeing a note at the bottom that it was, she nodded. "Perfect." Following Amos to the counter, she nodded in agreement after he ordered and repeated his actions, only with her own choice of smoothie. She waited nearby for a few minutes, tapping her foot idly until the call came for he to pick up the finished drinks. She took the tray and walked (well, it was more like a skipping hop, it's pretty much impossible for Juniper to walk normally) to the table Amos had picked, sitting down with a smile. Seeing him staring out the window, she flicked her hand and summoned a small breeze to blow through his hair, getting his attention. "I bring you food, sire," she chirped, handing him the medium-sized cup. "And as for Earthbound Trading, I would looove to raid their sales. I saw a peacock at a park the other day, I MUST get something for a new outfit I'm planning." She sipped at her drink, nodding appreciatively. "We need to remember this place. This is great."

She nodded at the folder, adding,"So! What plans do we have to go over, Amigo? Do we have any interested students?" She was over the moon with excitement for starting this club; the environment was her ultimate passion, and teaching other students about it was a dream come true for her.

[Amos Freeman]

The small breeze ruffling his hair caught his attention, and Amos blinked into it amusedly. He smoothed out his bangs with one hand.

"Thanks, Vegan Amigo," Amos replied, grinning. "If I had tried to carry the tray, I think we might have ended up with a certified organic disaster."

He adjusted the straw meticulously, then took a long, appreciative sip of his smoothie.

"That is so good. How's yours?"

He looked around the food court at the several empty restaurant spaces. Pilot Ridge was a relatively small town, but it was rapidly growing, and he was sure that more similar restaurants would move in if they kept making a point to give them business.

"I went to a wedding that had some peacocks once," he said conversationally. "I think they lived at the venue. One of them crowed during the vows. It's probably good luck or something."

He pulled the folder out from under the doughnut box and slid it across the small table.

"I talked to Callie a few days ago, and she said she would be up for it as long as it didn't interfere with dance club," Amos said in a businesslike manner. Between editing the school newspaper and starting clubs, he thought he was practically an adult. "That leaves us with one more person to recruit before we turn our form in."

He flipped open the lid of the box, grabbed a napkin from the table dispenser, and pulled out one of the pastries with care.

"They totally slipped an extra in there!" He said with delight, licking some glaze off of his finger. "Look, I told you she likes us. I'll split it with you since it's uneven." He nudged the box toward his friend.

"Did you think of any cool club activity ideas?"

[Juniper Birdsong]

"I think this should be our official club meeting place," she declared, taking another sip. "Or maybe The Holey Place. Or both. Both. Both is good." She nodded, reaching over to grab a vegan doughnut with some sort of orange glaze on top. "We're going to get all of our members fat," she joked, taking a bite.

"Peacocks are beautiful," she breathed, her eyes glazing over. It took little to make Juniper's mind wander, especially if some sort of animal was mentioned. "I would love to have peacocks at my wedding. Peahens, too. Can't forget the ladies."

She brightened at the possibility of a new member, a grin spreading across her face. "Oooh, Callie is so fun, too," she replied. "I'm sure we can work around her schedule." She tapped her chin. "I need to talk to Willow. I'm certain she'll be more than happy to join, if it works with her other activities." Her sister was just as into nature as she was, albeit not quite as friendly. "I think Mia was interested too, I was going to talk to her later this week. If they join, we'll be ready for business!" She giggled a little, adding,"Maybe we should ask some guys to join too, so you won't be the only male in the club. Although I suppose we could always ogle at guys together, the five of us," she said with a wink. She knew about Amos's sexuality, and didn't care one bit about it. He was a wonderful friend, and that was all that mattered. People were free to love who they wanted.

"She did!?" Juniper responded in surprise, glancing in the box. "She did! Charlie is wonderful." She had visited the shop long enough to know Charlie on a first-name basis, and to also know how generous the young woman could be. Not enough to know how troublesome she could be, though, but that wasn't the point. "I'll totally split the last one with you," she agreed, finishing the doughnut she was eating with a flourish.

"I had an idea to encourage more people to join," she replied, bouncing eagerly. She had come up with this all herself, and she was super excited about it. "I can totally make our members hats of their favorite animals, like I did for your penguin hat. And we could wear them around school to promote the club!" Only she could get so excited about hats. "As for activities, I always think cleaning up garbage in parks is a good idea. Simple, but effective and helpful. Or we could volunteer with a nature conservancy program, and set aside a few hours every other week or so to help them with whatever they need." She rested her chin on her hand. "What do you think?"

[Amos Freeman]

“Both is good,” Amos agreed, his mouth full of fresh doughnut. He snorted out a laugh at her comment. “At least the school nurse would quit badgering me to gain weight then.”

He looked with amusement at the familiar dreamy look on Juniper’s face. He wondered if there was any room for a groom in her no doubt elaborate peafowl wedding fantasy.

“I’ve never really thought about what I’d want at my wedding,” he murmured, taking another long sip of smoothie. He’d had a few crushes, but never a meaningful relationship. He hadn’t even had a proper kiss. “Besides another man, obviously.”

He scratched his head absentmindedly.

“I copied some extra forms; they’re in the folder,” Amos told her hopefully. “You can take them if you want. You’ll probably see Willow and Mia before I do.” Juniper usually saw everyone before Amos did, as he spent the majority of his free time sleeping unless he planned something ahead of time.

And even then, he was notorious for oversleeping.

He half-smiled at her comment, chewing thoughtfully. He didn’t have many male friends. It was so typical for him to be the only male in a sea of females that he didn’t even realize the fact anymore.

“I’m sure all the manly-men you were thinking of recruiting would appreciate a nice fluffy hat,” he teased, not unkindly. He was grinning too widely to take another bite of doughnut. “I mean, if my penguin hat doesn’t kindle the fire of activism in them, nothing will.”

He pulled a sheet of paper out of the folder, on which he had written several activity and recruiting ideas. From his pocket, he produced a mechanical pencil. He began to scribble in his left-handed chicken scratch.

“I think that’s a really good idea,” he complimented, looking up from his writing. “I had some ideas, too. Um, I thought that maybe we could ask about putting decorated recycling bins around campus. Especially around the cafeteria; I’m super tired of seeing plastic bottles in the trash,” he mumbled.

“Oh, and I’ve already taken the liberty of putting an advertisement in the Bugle,” he told her proudly. “I paid for a half-size spot with my allowance.”

The fact that very few students ever read the advertisement section of the school newspaper was completely lost on Amos; he, of course, read every single letter of every single issue.

“I’m getting kind of full,” he said after a few moments, polishing off another doughnut with some difficulty. He examined the remaining pastries sadly. “They’re a lot more filling than they look.”

[Juniper Birdsong]

"Yeahh, I couldn't hurt to gain a few pounds myself," she replied, frowning down at her pretty much non-existing chest. Only around Amos could she do so without being embarrassed. "So both will remain to be good until we both fill out a little more!" she added with a giggle.

"Oh, I have my entire wedding planned out," she told Amos. She was a total hopeless romantic at heart, so she had spent a lot of time thinking about such things. She didn't necessarily want to marry young, but she did want to eventually. "But I agree with the man thing," she said, not going into details. That would take hours, and Amos had no reason to know about her in-depth plans, except for the fact that he was most definitely going to be a groomsman, whether he was friends with her future husband or not. But at least they shared the lack of being kissed.

"Sounds good!" she responded, taking a couple forms for her girls. "I'll talk to them ASAP." She felt so important, being a part of a team preparing a school club. She grinned at Amos, hit with a sudden wave of admiration for him. "You're so organized. I don't know what I would do without you." Knowing her, the papers would have been lost amidst books and stuffed animals and half-sewn clothes.

"Oh yes, you would be surprised how many manly-men simply adore fluffy hats," she said seriously. But she broke into giggles a moment later. "Maybe I could make them scarves instead. I'm sure not all of them would look as amazing in your revolution-starting penguin hat as you." She took a sip of her smoothie, smiling through the straw.

"Recycling bins are a GREAT idea!" she agreed, nodding vigorously. "It's amazing how much recyclable material ends up in garbage dumps from Hammel. If we could cut the numbers, that would be wonderful." Of course, even with recycling bins some students would still throw away everything that they didn't want, but at least it would be a start.

"You should let me pay for half of that," she said, frowning. "How much did it cost?" She was of course happy that he had taken the liberty to put up an advertisement, but he shouldn't have to do it at his own cost. She was more than willing to pitch in.

She nodded, setting aside half of the donut she was working on finishing. It was too much. "I'll give one to Willow, and maybe you can find a special someone to share one with too," she said with a wink. She actually thought about saving one for Eddie too, and a slight blush came to her face. She vaguely wondered if he would want to join the club. "Do you know Eddie Smith?" she asked, trying to keep her voice light and casual.

[Amos Freeman]

“You’d be fine without me,” Amos said dismissively, grinning. “And you’d have time to knit a lot more hats, probably. Or manly scarves, as the case may be. Actually, I’m the lucky one; without you, I’d likely freeze to death.”

He twirled the pencil between the thumb and forefinger of his left hand, staring towards the ceiling as he thought. He had thought it would be much easier to come up with ideas on a full stomach, but his brain was moving even more sluggishly than it had been before. All he wanted to do was go shopping and then fall asleep under five layers of comforter.

“We definitely have to make it clear which bins are for what,” he murmured, jotting down a note beside his growing list. “Or some idiot will come along and try to put number three bottles in the paper bin, and we’ll be responsible for sorting them out afterwards.” He supposed this was inevitable after all; a lot of their peers weren’t exceptionally bright.

Anyway, it never hurt to plan a little early damage control.

“It was only $7.50,” he assured her with a grin. “Ads for the school paper are pretty cheap. I’m just not sure how many people will actually look at it…” he trailed off, frowning.

“You don’t have to worry about paying me back, though. I told mom that I needed a little extra this month for club fees, and she gave me an advance on my September allowance.”

He looked up at her question, studying her face. He nibbled on the edge of his pencil eraser absentmindedly; borrowing the minds of rabbits could give you a formidable chewing habit.

“The Eddie Smith who tutors me in math?” He asked, then supposed this was a stupid question; it was unlikely that there would be more than one Eddie Smith floating around campus. “Yeah, I do. He’s, um… good at math,” Amos finished his sentence rather lamely.

“Any reason in particular you asked?”

[Juniper Birdsong]

"Without me, you'd probably just sleep all the time," she challenged him, grinning. More than once she had had to wake the poor boy up to get up and get going. "Maybe I should have made you a bear hat, to match your hibernation habit."

"Labels, definitely," she agreed. "Maybe we can color-code them, and put up flyers explaining which colors are for which types of trash or recycling. Colors work well for people who are a bit... Dim." She had a few specific kids in mind, namely Vincent and Sam, but she wasn't going to name names.

"Still, I'm definitely going to pay for your next smoothie," she told him with a nod. "You shouldn't have to do all that yourself. And I'm sure at least some students read the ads. I know I do." Most of the time. It was a good way to find new things to do at Hammel.

She noticed his nibbling and laughed, thinking about commenting on it but choosing otherwise. If he developed a taste for erasers, so be it. She wondered what he had been borrowing minds with to make him like that.

"Oooh, he's good at math?" Juniper asked, sighing a bit dreamily. Then she realized how she must look and straightened, attempting to hide her slight infatuation. "Oh, we made daisy chains together the other day," she said a bit dismissively. But anyone that knew her well would know that this was a big deal. "He's nice. And cute. And I kinda like him." Might as well be honest; she could trust Amos not to start spreading around rumors. "What about you? Meet any cute guys lately?"

[Amos Freeman]

Amos chuckled into his smoothie, pursing his lips before rubbing them on the back of his hand.

“I’m like, half as big as the average bear cub,” he quipped. He took another sip of his smoothie, and this time, the straw rattled with the effort of pulling up enough liquid to funnel into his mouth. He pouted a bit, pushing the now-empty cup aside.

“Dim is a nice word for it. I’ll write that down instead of ‘idiot.’” He picked up his pencil, nibbled eraser and all, and did just that. He spoke aloud as he jotted: “Color… code… bins… for… ‘dim’… people.”

He smiled warmly at his friend; no matter how much he protested, she always insisted on doing so much for him. He felt like a bother sometimes, but it was useless (and extremely rude) to turn her down on her kindness too often.

“Deal, then,” he conceded. “But really, I just did it out of convenience. I’m in the publication room all the time, anyway.”

Without a smoothie to sip on, the focus of his nibbling switched from the pencil eraser to the pencil wood, and he held it firmly between his teeth while he messed in the folder again.

“Well, he’s better than me at math, anyway,” Amos amended thickly through his mouth full of pencil. “Then again, that’s pretty much everybody.”

Amos’s eyes flicked up to the expression on his friend’s face, which was eerily similar to the face she had made during the peafowl wedding conversation. He raised an eyebrow.

“He is nice,” he encouraged, examining the newly formed tooth-marks in the yellow paint of his writing utensil. He smiled a bit. “He doesn’t strike me as the type of guy who would make daisy chains with someone he doesn’t like.”

Amos paused, testing the waters mentally.

“So are you going to talk to him again?”

He looked rather sheepish when the tables were turned on him, shuffling a bit in his seat.

“Other than Eddie, you mean?” He teased. “No, not really. Not anyone in particular I could see myself settling down with, anyway. Unless I suffer extensive brain damage, which is probably the only thing that might make Romeo and his friends appealing.”

[Juniper Birdsong]

Juniper giggled at his word choice. "Sounds good. Dim is much less offensive than idiot." Even though idiot may have been much more accurate for some students.

She watched as his smoothie went dry and his attention went from that to his pencil. Her eyebrows rose as she watched him continue to chew with greater intensity, until she twirled her fingers and blew a sharp gust of wind through his hair. "You're not a bunny anymore, Amy," she grinned. "Eat another donut if you're that hungry." She sipped once more at her smoothie, but hers, too, was empty. She wasn't about to go chewing on random objects though.

"I could help you with your math," Juniper offered. "I'm not brilliant at it, but I've done a lot of studying. Of course, I'm sure Eddie is a great teacher too," she added, grinning like a dork. "I'll have to see if we can study together sometime. I mean, when he's not helping you. I don't want to interfere with learning." She felt heat rise in her cheeks, and pretended to be very interested in the pattern on her napkin. "He said he's inside a lot, so that's probably why I haven't seen him before. Maybe if I can get him to come outside more, he will want to join the Environmental Awareness club!" The thought made her heart flutter a little.

"I hope so," she sighed in reply to his question. "I haven't seen him since, but hopefully I will soon. Maybe you could throw in a good word for me at your next study session," she hinted with a shy grin.

She nearly choked on a piece of donut at the mention of Romeo. "You've been hanging out with him?" she asked incredulously. "But he's so..... Romeo." If he knew him well enough, she wouldn't have to explain further. The fact that her easy-going friend had made acquaintances with one of (in her opinion) the jerkiest students at Hammel was extremely unexpected, to say the least. "Just... Don't let him warp you, okay?" she said tentatively. "I don't want my Amy to turn into some manwhore loser." She said this with a smile and a little laugh, but she really was a little concerned.

[Amos Freeman]

“I’m not hungry,” Amos said defensively, although he went to the effort of putting the pencil down. “I just need something to do with my mouth, that’s all. It was worse earlier; I couldn’t stop twitching my nose. My roommate probably thinks I have some sort of facial tic.” His tone was dry, and he sighed at the sight of their demolished pastries and empty smoothies.

“I love you, Juney, but I don’t want to associate you with math. I only do math with people I don’t like.” He pondered this, then amended: “Not that I don’t like Eddie, or whatever. He is a good teacher. We’re just… you know… math friends.” He made a vague hand motion in midair before giving up and squinting out the window.

“I can give him a club form,” Amos offered at her suggestion before meeting her eyes again, somewhat amusedly. “I mean, unless you want to do it.” He smiled, resting his chin on his open palm. “I have a pretty extensive vocabulary, you know. I’m sure I can come up with a good word or two.”

He twitched his nose absentmindedly and then scowled at himself. He began slowly consolidating all of their trash onto a single empty tray for ease of disposal.

“I wouldn’t say hanging out,” Amos replied a bit dully. “It’s more like ‘we’ve been practicing volleyball for the upcoming tournament in P.E. class and if I don’t cooperate he will beat me up or sexually harass me or all of the above.’” He closed his eyes and rolled them expressively before opening them again. “He broke into my dorm, Juney. Like, literally, he removed the doorknobs on both doors. He’s like a criminal. It’s insane.”

He was quiet for a moment, rolling the pencil along the table as he thought.

“I don’t really know what to do. I mean, I can’t just tattle on him; that’s stupid. I’ll feel stupid. I’m pretty sure Hammel’s code for dealing with bullies doesn’t include provisions for students being forced against their will to practice sports.”

He made a face.

“Anyway, whatever. Do you want to go to Earthbound now? Here, I’ll take our trash, since you brought the drinks.” He gave her a small, wavering smile before pulling his lanky frame out of the chair and disposing of their empty cups and napkins.

[Juniper Birdsong]

"You could chew gum or something," Juniper suggested. "Because really, pencils aren't the cleanest of things to chew on. Who knows what sort of germs might be on it?" She grimaced. She didn't know if Amos shared pencils, but still. If Romeo had gotten his hands on it.... She shuddered.

She understood his math problem. It wasn't her favorite subject, but she wasn't bad at it. "Just math friends~" she burst into song quietly, for some reason finding the name deserving of such an outburst. "Oh Amy, it could be just like in the movies! Bonding over algebraic equations, late night study dates in the library.... A wonderful love story!" Of course, she was teasing. She was pretty certain Eddie was straight. But, if he wasn't, she was still totally cool with it. But the thought of her friend dating Eddie resulted in a fit of giggles.

She grinned at him. "You can give it to him, along with telling him how fantastic I am and how thankful you are for having me help lead the club." Of course, she didn't really expect him to do that, but if he did... Well, she couldn't say she would mind.

She helped as he began to clean, amazed by how much food they had gone through in such a short period of time. Funny, considering they were both about as big around as a beanpole. Her brow became more furrowed as he talked about Romeo, until she was downright scowling. How dare he treat her friend like that! "Do you want me to talk to him?" she asked. "Or, ya know, beat him up?" She held up her fists and shook them, as though she was actually a frightening sight. Because, you know, 5'2" girls with arms the size of toothpicks were really scary. "Did you report him at least? I'm pretty sure breaking into dorms isn't allowed."

She paused as he made his excuse why he hadn't told anyone. ".... Oh. Well, plan B. I create a tornado and blow him fifty miles from here, and threaten to do it again if he ever returns. Sound good?" She wasn't actually capable of creating a full-sized tornado, but she was working on it. Anger could help fuel her power.

"Earthbound, yes. Sounds good." She stood along with him, smoothing her skirt and trudging along behind as he walked to the trash bin. "We're coming here again soon, yes?