Context:  

This story is a high school, slice of life drama. I made it when I was around 12 ( as you do). It was originally a self insert story about me imagining a public school experience (i used to attend a small church school). The story eventually evolved outside of myself when I started imagining it as a Littlest Pet shop series (a youtube series filmed with little animal toys). This is where the name for the main character comes from; Pika. She was a hedgehog named Pika and it just stuck. The name dear diary is just a placeholder, and I will give it a name some day. I’m not sure when the characters stopped being toys and became drawings.

It also became just barely more realistic after realizing public school is not as fun as media makes it out to be. The story is supposed to have wholesome vibes with drama and family issues. I want to focus on platonic friendship and personal growth. There is room for romance between some of the characters but for some reason I keep avoiding it… so for now, I’ll say its all platonic.

The environment and world around them are very important to the feel of the story. I usually find environment inspiration from my hometown, the idea of wishing American suburbs were more family friendly and walkable, and from images on pinterest.

The story itself is also inspired by media used to like or still like. Some influences include webtoons: the four of them, My next door neighboor, After school lessons for unripe apples, It’s On, and probably others.

 In an ideal world, the story would become either a web comic or a graphic novel with detailed illustrations, journal entries, and background images. I would want it to be one “book”, so that it won’t take forever to get through. Idk

My story is about A group of friends in high school. There is supposed to be a wholesome vibe with plenty of drama, conflict, and past trauma. Also family issues. Its inspired by webtoons adn things I read when i was younger but i’m having trouble coming up with something that will make the story unique tbh

Dear Diary*

(Notes for Pika)?

Very Detailed Timeline

 with maybe even some dialogue as needed

Disclaimer, please ignor spelling errors:

Day 1(Monday?)

• Wilhelm, Maya’s best friend from college reconnected with her while he was in the city. He suggested the town and over time helped her get an opportunity at his company.
• It is early in the morning and Pika is in the moving Truck with Wilhelm. The winding roads are causing her to fall half asleep but the vibes are immaculate. Wilhelm is lightly humming and tapping the wheel to the song playing on the radio. Pika is leaning on and looking out the window(half asleep) and watching the scenery
• They arrive at the new town  and house. The sun is just barely starting to rise as they reach the new house. It is her first time seeing it and she is extremely excited. As they arrive, she reminisces on their old apartment and the city. She thinks about Mrs.[insert name] cat and how much she would miss her soft yellow fur. Maybe she would ask mom for a cat. No, her mom is deathly scared of them. She remembers how her mom was adamantly against allowing the cat into the apartment and suggested Pika go into Mrs.[] apartment instead to feed her while she was away for a week.
• They park in front of the new house. It is a cute cottage type house with a garage and a balcony in the front. The neighborhood is suburban combination of yea and that one house that(i might remember what i'm referencing) Pika at this point is pretty much asleep. Wilhelm stops the truck and gets out. He walks over to Pika’s mom’s(Maya) car as she gets out. They talk. “I could grab some food for us before we start unpacking anything,” he says. “Oh yes!i will come with you” she agrees, “I’ll go wake up Pika, she will probably want to explore”. They head over to Pika seat. They wake her up gently and she goes in to explore. She finds her room quickly and is very excited about opportunities. They come back with food and eat. Unpack, they will head to school to get Pika fully enrolled and then Wilhelm takes them for a tour of the town. She calls Salute(her step brother still in the city) before bed and gives him a virtual tour of the house. Writes a note

Pika’s First Day (Thursday)

• She wakes up pretty early because she’s excited. Mom is cooking and gives her some stuff to take to school. She offers to drop her off and pick her up just for today since she’s starting work tomorrow.
• At school, in her homeroom class Pika sits next to a girl which she decides she will at least try to befriend. It goes pretty well, she learns her name is Hannah. Hannah asks her if she has anybody to sit with at lunch and then offers to sit with her because all of her friends have different lunch shifts.
• At lunch, Pika is looking for Hannah and notices some club sign ups in the cafeteira.

“Hey, i haven't seen you around, do you wanna join a club?” asks a guy. This is Nathan or Nate. He invites Pika to join a music club. She does and is excited because Nate seems nice and she plays both the guitar and piano.

• She eventually finds Hannah and they eat together and talk
• She goes to the Music club and it goes well, she also meets David and is ecstatic about it all. The club starts right after class and ends around 4:30 so she texts her mom to tell her she’ll be picked up later. She also learns that the club only has two members. Nate doesn’t really even play anything but wants to support David(Nate helps with graphic design stuff). They are trying to recruit more before the meeting with a supervisor next Friday. If they don’t get enough members, they won't be approved to keep rooms or get funding. They say that it should be fine since they are still early and ask Pika to see if she can recruit anybody… they are short on hands.
• The club ends and Pika heads out to wait for her mom, the boys are cleaning up the room. She squats down to wait and the boys come out a little after. David says bye and heads off with his ride and Nate squats down beside Pika. They start chatting (they are getting along well). A group of guys walk by (track&field) near the back, another guy looks at Pika and Nate and gives them both a nasty look.

“What are you looking at?”, Nate says. The guy keeps walking and Pika is confused and feels weird. “What f is wrong with that guy”, Nate mumbles under his breath.

Around then his ride arrives and he gets up. “My sister is here! I'll see ya, oh.. Do you have a ride? Do you want us to take you?”, asos.

“No, that's ok!, my mom is almost here”she responds.

• Her mom arrives and they head out for ice cream to celebrate the first day. Pika tells her mom about everything. She decides she’ll just avoid that guy. But she is more excited about the other interactions of the day. They get home and she unpacks while calling Salute.

Day 2 (Friday)

• It's Maya’s first day at the office so she wakes up really early, and Pika wakes up early because she is excited. Mom is rushing out and she says, “hi sweetie, could you take the trash out, I think its trash day? I just don’t want anything stinking up the house, bye love you”, she rushes kissing PIka on cheek and out the door. Pika goes to brush her teeth and then heads out with the trash bag. Out on the driveway swings the bag over her shoulder and accidently hits someone?!? It's still dark out and the person fell over. “Oh no! Are you ok, I’m so sorry” Pika gasped. “Ugh”, a guy groaned, “it's not even trash day”, he said angrily. Pika tried to help him up, “sorry sorry”. As she leaned closer they could see each other’s faces clearer. It was the guy that scowled at her. He seemed to recognize her too because he got angrier and ripped his hand back. He grumbled and stomped away. She watched him in disbelief as he entered the house right next door. Wow, he’s my neighbor, Pika thought. She just went back inside with the trash.
• She got ready, breakfast and stuff, and headed out to school. She was walking this time and the trail is behind the house that leads to the trail that leads to the school. She hoped she wouldn’t run into him on the way (sun was up by now). As she walks, she hears some guys talking and running around behind her. She moves to the side of the path to let them pass, but instead feels a thud on the back of her head. She stumbles. “WoAH! Are you ok”, the guys run up to her. She sees the scowling dude. Did he throw the footbal at me?she wonders. He doesn’t really look at her but mumbles under his breath “sorry…” they walk off. She stands there for a bit. Meets Vivian soft spoken who asks if she is ok, “Did Martin hit you?”, and they walk and talk to school.
• At school hangs out with Hannah and notices that she actually has a class with the scowling guy( after lunch). She hadn’t really noticed because he keeps his head down. She figures it's not that big of a deal and will just leave a little later in the morning to avoid him.
• No club on Fridays, she walks home, was gonna meet with Vivian but she can’t find her so(Vivan had to got to work)
• When she got home, her mom is baking baking baking. She informs Pika that they are having a party at work on Sunday and she offers to bring baked goods. They chat. And PIka helps baking

Next Day (saturday)

• Pika organizing in her room in morning. Mom is on the phone with someone. Pika wonders if it might be Wilhelm, she giggles.
• The doorbell rings. She hears muffled, her mom opening. Neighbor at door with son and food for to greet new neighbors! Maya is ecstatic and invites them in to talk. She offers some of the baked things she made. She calls PIka to come out. “Pika come out and say hi!” Pika comes out and is in dismay to see Martin in the room. PIka decides to pretend everything is just fine, she is agreeable and won’t allow a bad situation. Martin’s mom is friendly and she and Maya get along instantly. She eventually say, “you and my son should get along”, Pika agrees friendlily. And they are off on their way. Maya is happy. Pika thinks, his mom is nice.
• The day dies down

Work Party (Sunday)

• They go to the work party. The environment is cozy and immaculate vibes. Pika helps mom set up bakes table and Maya goes off to socialize with Wilhelm and others. Pika sits behind the table and tells people what's what. People are friendly, “Hello Dear! Are you Maya’s daughter?” “Did you bake these? They are delicious” “How are you today?”. Then she hears, “Pika?!” Pika turns her head to see Nate. “Wow hey!” she exclaims. “I wild to see you here! Do your parents work here? My dad does, he’s an accountant or something, he's over there” he talks pointing towards his father. “Yeah! My mom is over there, it's cool to see u too”. “Did you bake these?” “Noo that was my mom, I keep telling her she should start a bakery”, “these are so good, you should introduce me to her!”. “Sure” pika replies sliding down from her chair. They walk up to Pika’s mom and politely interrupt her conversation. “Mom! This is a friend from school, the guy from the club meet! Nate”, “its nice to meet you ma’am” he adds. “Oh hello! It's nice to meet you too” they chat a bit. “Hey Mrs. Pika’s mom, is it ok if me and your daughter and I ditch the party for a bit?” Nate says. Pika’s mom says sure and Pika is a bit shocked by his asking. Pika’s mom mouths the word “Location” to Pika. (reminding Pika to keep her phone location on). “Come, ill show you some cool places downtown”, he grabs her wrist and lightly pulls her through the party.
• They go around and he shows her some cool places downtown. They have fun and laugh. They also head to his apartment nearby and he grabs some drinks inside (juice >:0) before heading back to the party. They talk about the club and Pika learns about Nate’s busy family (older brother and sister and younger brother and sister, he is middle child)
• The day was eventful and they pipe down in the car, Pika is excited about her fun with Nate

Back at school (Monday)

• Because Pika and Nate talked about club, Pika decides to ask Vivan to join. She seems really tired and a bit down but she cheers up a bit when Pika asks her to come.
• At school, she’s planning on asking Hannah too but the topic doesn’t really come up until lunch. Hannah also seems to be in a bad mood today, she complains about how the supervisor lowered funds to the debate team because they lost some members. She is also annoyed about her younger brother who broke something of hers. She is about to ask Pika if she joined any clubs when they hear a loud crash. The cafeteria went quiet for a second and everybody turned their heads to see the lunch line. Pika sees Martin standing, staring angrily at another guy on the ground. Both of their lunch trays are on the ground. The cafeteria starts to get loud and one table starts chanting for a fight. Pika and Hannah watch the ordeal. The bell is about the ring and they see admin approaching the boys and walking them out.“I bet Martin pushed him” Hannah retorts, “That guy is always getting into fights”. the bell rings and students start heading to their classes, the environment is energetic and tense. Pika feels icky. She just kind of wants to avoid running into him.
• In her next class, the teacher announces a group project, gives criteria or whatever and tells them to pick a partner. Pika feels bad because she knows the people in the class will just pick their friends and she sees it happen immediately. She decides she might able to work alone and heads over to the teacher. “Excuse me, there are no groups left”, she says. “Oh.” the teacher looks around the class. “I guess we will have to make a group of thre-”. Someone walks in the door. The teacher looks toward the door, “Martin why are you late”. “I have a pass…” he said quietly. The teacher rolled their eyes while reaching for his pass. “Well, here is your partner Pika”. Pika felt defeated as she and Martin returned to an empty table. As she sat, she decided she would pretend she didn't see what happened in the cafeteria. If she must work with him, she will try to get along. She tries to break the silence. She suggests they work at her her (because she thinks he won’t act up in the presence of Maya), but he doesnt respond and puts his head down. Pika again is defeated and just works in awkward silence.
• She tries not to feel too discouraged when she remembers she invited Vivan to the music club and becomes excited again. She goes to club and introduces Vivan to David and Nate. They all get along. Vivian is a little quieter and PIka makes sure to make her feel involved and not intimidated by the other guys (they a bit rambunctious sometimes) they have a fun time and she heads home. Vivian seems refreshed after they hang out and they walk home together

A week between this?

• Want to put more space between the cafeteria incident and Martin coming over with cookies. This way I can add more “tense” moments between Pika and Martin and leave room for the build up between Nate and Martin that pika doesn’t see. If there is more build up between p&m, it will fee better when Pika pushes past that when he comes over + Martin will feel more awkward but in turn more comfortable because Pika was able to push past that.

So… the cafeteria incident that happens on monday will happen, but Martin coming over will be the next monday?

This will give them more time to work and spread out the project +:

• Explore the environment -> school, forest, maya’s work, club vibes
• More realistic time for the club sign up
• Build the friendships (so that when it crashes, Pika has a real reason to feel sad :/ )
• Demonstrate the strain that does exist in Pika’s relationship with Maya. Its really layered and hidden but its there

• She goes home and talks with her mom. They chat about their old neighbor. Pika goes to her room and begins playing piano. She can’t hear much and doesn’t hear the doorbell ring. Maya opens the door and sees Martin. “Hello!”. Martin brought food over, his mom asked him to. He is a bit awkward but Maya is very nice and he feels ok. He hears the beautiful sound of piano music. Maya then calls for Pika to come out to say hi and a flash of panic falls over Martin’s face. Pika walks out and almost mirror’s his face. She seems to go through all the stages of grief but then stops. And thinks. Pika makes a devious smile. You are on my turf now. “Oh hi Martin, you are here to work on the project!” Pike greets with the friendliest voice ever. She is determined to make this work and get that project done. Martin feels stumped. “Oh you two are working on a project? That’s great!” Maya includes. (btw she had insisted martin come in to have some cookies) “I’ll leave you two to it!” she says, winking at Pika. Pika gives her mom a playful disgusted look. Maya motions Martin to the dining table while PIka goes into her room to grab her bag. Martin decides he might as well eat a cookie. Pika comes back and tries to break ice with him. He seems less hostile right now and they do end up talking a bit. He vaguely apologizes in their conversation ( about accidentally hitting her with a football) and clears up the situation in the cafeteria. Apparently, someone smacked the tray out of his hand and he shoved them back(not his best moment i guess). After some time of work, Martin says he should go, he wanted to do some running because he has a track meet coming up. He leaves.
• Pika feels triumphant and expresses this at the dinner that she has with mom and Wilhelm when they go out to eat that night.
• Cut to Martin on his jog, he runs from the house towards his mom’s flower shop. He stops at a gas station to find a drink. Vivian is behind the register. He doesn’t really recognize her because he doesn't know her well. But she recognizes him and feels a bit awkward, she has seen him around and knows his reputation as good as the next person. He continues his jog to the flower shop, arrives at the beautifully decorated shop and delivers some cookies to his mom. Its late, she’s closing up and they drive home together
• Pika video calls Mrs.[insert old neighbor] and gets to see cat

Next Day(Tuesday)

• Hannah wakes up to her alarm and gets up. She walks out the hall bathroom yawning and stares at herself in the mirror. She uses the bathroom, brushes her teeth and takes a hot shower. She walks back into her room with her town and changes. She puts on the outfit that was hung outside her closet door all ready, pristine and ironed. Carefully she puts on the suit and smiles in her vanity mirror proudly.(strange cuz she normally wears very casual outfits) She seems to notice something on the vanity… and her expression drops. She picks up a small faded photograph of herself and an another girl. Hannah seems to suddenly grow angry, dropping the photograph and running out of her room. She turns aggressively around the corner looking into her younger brothers room, he’s not there. She dashes down the stairs and sees him giggling on the couch tossing a black ceramic cat up and down. There are scribbles on it and the culprit’s markers are all over the floor. “JAMIE” Hannah yells angrily, “why do you have that give it back!” She spouts, “I told you to stay out of my room!”. Jamie starts crying the commotion is hear upstairs. Hannah’s mom rushes down, “What is going on! Hannah what have I told you about yelling at your brother!” “Mom he keeps messing with my stuff” “you still shouldn’t yell Hannah” “UGH Mom tell your son to stay out of my room!” “ you apologize this instant”, her mom demands. Hannah snatches the cat and starts going back to her room. “Hannah [insert full name] you come back down here” “Mom SORRY. I have to go to school” she says closing her door. “Ugh” Hannah says angrily. She snatched the picture from the vanity and throws it in the trash. And looks at the ceramic cat. Her face looks sad, she places it back down. She grabs her bag and tries to head out quickly” I’m going to buy a lock for my room she mumbles”. “ Hannah come here and eat her” mom calls. “ I’m leaving!” Hannah calls back. She rushes out the door.
• Hannah runs toward her back gate, unlatching it and entering the school campus. (she lives right next to the school) She runs letting off steam and letting the morning breeze calm her down. She arrives at the vending machine , putting one hand on the glass and breathing heavily, calming down. She puts a couple of coins in and buys two drinks. She stuffs them in her bag and plops down to sit and wait for the home room bell.
• Pika arrives at school and heads to her home room, she sees Hannah is there at her seat early today, wearing a suit. Hannah’s hair is also flat ironed today. “What’s the occasion!”, pika greets cheerfully and sitting down. Hannah pulls the two drinks out of her bag and slides one over to Pika “ wow thanks!” “No problem” Hannah smiles, “ I have a debate today” she says proudly. “ I’m not gonna be at lunch today, I leave after homeroom” “Woow so cool! Your outfit looks so professional! I bet it’s gonna go great "" it better… The winning team gets $1000, high stakes. I’ll probably use my share for college” they continue to talk and Hannah mentions how much she prepared, and rants about her little brother. Pika is understanding but can’t relate, Salute and her have a good relationship. Pika wonders to herself if it would have been different if she and Salute grew up together. Class ends and Hannah heads off to debate land.
• Day continues, pretty uneventful, she did see in the hallway a run in between Nat and Martin though, Martin was glaring at him and Nate was laughing. Pika was heading to her next class and thought they must have just run into each other or something.
• Martin and Pika work on that project in class, they are presenting in a few days. They still feel a bit awkward but its not as sofofcating as last time, they even exchange small conversation.
• Pika heads to the club room and sees Nate, David, and Vivian outside. “Hey guys! What’s up” she says as she walks up to the. “Hi,” Vivian says softly. “Bad news!” Nate starts “These hockey pucks stole our room” he says pointing into the room. “We Have a project to doo” complains a student inside. David shrugged. “ Maybe we can do it outside? I don’t want to head home early today” Nate says, scratching the back of his head. “Ugh as soon as we get more members…” David mumbles. “Hmm” Pika thinks,”We could do it at my house” she suggests, “ I have a garage/my garage is pretty empty”. Nate gleams, “Yea that sounds great, I need your moms cookie recipe!”
• The group walks to Pikas house laughing and talking. They can hear the track practice in the distance as well as the hitting of tennis balls at the court. The boys are pushing each other in a friendly way. They normally take the bus so walking to and from school is not in their routine. The day is bright and sunny as they walk through the forest.
• As they arrive at Pika’s house Nate sees her back yard and runs up just beside Pika, “ you live right next to Martin, that’s crazy”, he said pointing at Martin’s house and lean nudging Pika. “Oh yeah! How did you know? "Pika says surprised. “Ahhm, my sister and his sister are friends, visited his house a couple times” he starts, “ eh It doesn’t matter he’s probably not here anyway”. Huh(a brief huh)pika thinks.
• They arrive in and have a fun time hanging out in the garage, they have it open and Pika pulls out water balloons but quickly puts them away after Nate started pelting them at David. Pika's mom arrives around then, introductions. Maya brings them a couple snacks. Despite being a music club, they engage in many non music related shenanigans along with music stuff.
• It’s getting late and Vivian heads home. Nate had called his mom to come pick him up and while they wait Martin and his mom arrive in the car. Martin’s mom notices the little party happens and sees Nate. She goes over to say hi ( kind of tells Martin to come with her in one of those like mom actions where Martin knows it’s not a suggestion). Pika's mom comes out as well and Pika notices Martin balling his fist as Nate smiles and greets his mom. She looks up at Martin's eyes concerned, but they meet and both look away awkwardly. Everything dies down a little when Nate’s mom arrives, Martin says hi to Nate’s mom and goes back inside and the other boys leave.
• Pika closes up the garage and heads inside with her mom. She and her mom talk about the day as she eats up some cereal for dinner. She hopes Hannah’s debate went well. She thinks about her conversations of the day. She hopes to get enough members quickly, she doesn’t know if she wants to bring Nate and Martin together.

Next Day( Wednesday)

• Pika wakes up a little late today, the eventful day yesterday made her tired. She walks out to the kitchen and sees a little note from her mom on the table. Her mom made waffles. Pika smiles quickly gets ready. She grabs her bag and runs out eating that waffle hoping she won’t miss Vivian.
• She’s not the only one running late… Nate slept in, he forgot to set his alarm. You would think he’d wake up because of his siblings ruckus in the mornings but he’s a deep sleeper and on the top bunk. (he shares a room with his brothers but his older brother is at uni right now so its just him and little brother). His older sister comes in the room with a fly swatter and smacks his foot. “Lazy bones! Get uuuup”, she calls. “Hnggg”, Nate groans, “noo”. “Suit yourself… you’re gonna miss the bus”. “Arghh”, he sits up and smacks his head on the roof, “ARGh”. “You sleep there everyday!” NAtes sister calls, “haha he hits his head”, she says across the hall. Nate looked out from his bunk at the clock while rubbing his forehead. “NATE”, calls his mom from the kitchen. Nate eyes widen, there 5 minutes till the bus arrives. “Shoot”, he says climbing quickly out of bed. She stubs his toe on the way down but quickly recovers and tries to get ready. He does all needs to be done but no time for breakfast. “Should have doused that boy with water!”, his father gafaws at the dinner table. Nate speeds out and dashes down the apartment stairs. He sees the bus, its there. But its already leaving, waiiiiiit, Nate is actually sprinting at this point. I guess the bus driver was feeling cruel today because it didn’t wait for him. “ARgh!”, Nate putting his hands on his knees and panting. His eyes light up with fury. He will run to school today.
• Pika is sitting in her home room class. Hannah didn’t show up today.  She wonders how her debate went. She’ll ask her next time. She had wanted to ask Hannah to join the club today. She’s looking out the window, it is raining lightly today. As she looks, she sees an absolutely fatigued, completely exhausted Nate approaching the front. Nate?!?, she thinks. Why is he running? Hope hes doing ok. She giggles, he is panting and walks into the school.
• Hannah’s not there so at lunch she’s gonna see if she can find Nate. She does and sits next to him, it seems he’s recovered. She asks him about it and he explains missing the bus. They laugh about it and talk about things. Nate mentions the club deadline again, its Friday. He steals one of her cake pops. In their convo, Pika mentions her project with Martin. “That must suck”, Nate says, “That guy is such a downer”.
• Pika thinks about this as she goes to class. She wonders if they used to be friends. Martin doesn’t seem awful these days though… She goes in and works with Martin and they have a little more talk. Pika is beginning to wonder if he’s not that bad? The project is going to be presented of Friday, so she suggests they work on it together at her house after school. He hesitates but says sure.
• No club on Wednesdays, Pika and Vivian are walking home together. She suggests the idea of adding Martin to the club. “I dont know…”, Vivan says, “I mean he was nice when we were younger”. “You guys were friends?” “No…i had a class with him in 5th grade i think”. They walked and talked. Vivian tripped and fell and a small, fading bead bracelet fell out of her bag. Pika asked if she was ok and helped her up. “O you dropped this”Pika said picking up the bracelet. Vivan picks it up “thanks” she said. Her expression has changed,she almost looks sad. she stuffs it in her bag. “Lets go!”, vivan picks up her expression and starts running. “Wait! Youre gonna fall again!”, PIka jogs after her. They slow down laughing and vivian wiping and the mud off her pants. (Pika didn’t notice viviansad). They part ways and Pika continues home
• PIka arrives and walks up the steps of her back porch. She wipes her muddy shoes on the straw mat and takes them off outside. The porch has a roof thing so they wont get wet unless it starts raining sideways. She unlcoks her bedroom door and walks in, setting her bag down and opening her large windows. Her mom isn’t home yet. She heads to the fridge and gets out some juice, strawberry lemonade. She giggles at the rock with a smiley face that greets her inside the fridge. She made it when she was little and her mom kept it and put it in there. Maya had said its to “preserve it”. She walks back to her room, plopping down on her bed with her guitar. Hmm maybe Martin’s home…” she thinks strumming, they have to work on project. He would be home already right? I think they cancelled sports today, she thinks turning around and looking the window at Martin’s house, its sprinkling a bit still. Pika freezes, she’s staring directly at him. Its MArtin. Their rooms windows are… right across from each other?!? She slides down slowly from her bed, how embarrassingly unexpected. Pika lies on the grown blank eyed for a minute. No, I can’t have this, she thinks, standing up abruptly. Martin is still there looking just as confused, Pika looks at him and points up, one second. She grabs her bag rushing out, shoving on her shoes and over to his back porch. She would not be defeated by awkwardness, if they must be neighbors, maybe they could be friends! Vivian said he used to be nice…
• Martin and Pika sat awkwardly at his dining table, his house was really cold for some reason. She notices that his house is kind of a mirror of her own, a little different though. They work in silence for a bit, he had awkwardly offered her fruit, So she was munching on grapes. I don’t know what to say… PIka thought, this is still really weird. This time, uncharacteristically, Martin breaks the conversation, “Uh.. you know… I was just about to head over….”. Pika is a little happy by this. They begin to talk a bit, and he asks her about her piano playing and stuff. PIka thinks things are going well. They finish up with the project and even practice the presentation together. MArtin’s mom comes come and says hi, gives PIka some food to take home and she goes home. Martin heads to his room . He looks out at Pika’s empty bedroom with the lights on and takes a deep breath. He closes the blinds.
• Pika makes a note (she’s considering inviting martin to the club)

Next Day (Thursday)

• Pika decides she will invite Martin, the deadline is Friday after all. That morning, she doesn’t avoid Martin, instead she confronts. “ Hey Martin” she intercepts, “could you do me a favor… I have this club and we need a few more members to sign to get approved. If you sign and come to the supervisor meeting we can keep it going. You don’t even have to come to the meets, I know you're busy with the track meets” she said. Martin was again stumped, he didn’t expect her to boldly come up to him. She felt things get awkward and started turning to leave, “think it over! I’ll bring a sign up sheet to class, see ya” she said running off. She heard Martin’s friends teasing him. “ ooo who is that” “ is that the girl you hit with a football? You move fast”. She ran off to catch up with Vivian.
• In home room class, Hannah is there today she seems a bit down and Pika asks her about the debate, Hannah talked about it but really danced around the question. Pika leaves without really knowing and is kinda confused because Hannah is pretty good at talking her way out of things. At lunch Pika decides it was time to convince Hannah about the club. She told Hannah something similar to Martin because she knew Hannah had a debate team and to her excitement, she agreed to sign. She even said she would come to a meeting today since she had nothing to do. Pika was getting really excited.
• In class she actually convinced Martin to sign and he didn’t keep his head down. Maybe he was actually a little nice! Pika was so excited. Not only was Hannah coming to the club, but she would also be breaking the news that the club would survive.
• Before club she stopped by at the vending machine to grab some drinks to celebrate. She went back inside and climbed the steps to the second floor( where club room is). She maneuvered against the flow of students heading home to the buses or to walk home. As she approached the room on the opposite side of the hall, she sees Hannah opening the club room door. Pika picks up her pace. As she gets closer something feels off. She notices Hannah’s expression, aggravated. The noise in the hall downstairs starts to get louder. “Hey Hannah!” Pika calls out. She is interrupted, suddenly she sees Vivian rush out, push her way past and run in the opposite direction. David runs out and calls out, “ WAIT VIVIAN”. ” ugh! Of course you run away Vivian!” Hannah yelled after her,” that’s all she does” she grumbled. Hannah turns furiously towards Pika. “Why didn’t you tell me she’d-UGH“ she yelled. The noise downstairs grew louder. Hannah ran away down the stairwell nearer to the room. “Wait what?! Hannah!” Pika called out. David and Pika looked at each other and immediately understood. David ran after Vivian while Pika followed Hannah down the stairs.
• “Hannaaah!” Pika called. As she ran down she the noise grew louder. There was a whole crowd pushing and chanting loudly downstairs. A fight?Pika thought, I have to find Hannah. She could see Hannah maneuvering and pushing through the crowd and she followed after her. She tried to catch up but got pushed away and instead ended up near the front. She had so been focused on Hannah that just now realized who was fighting. Martin was on top of Nate punching hitting. Pika was horrified. She felt fear and adrenaline and seeing matting hit Nate’s face into the hard school floor filled her with rage. Without thinking she ran in and tried to pull Martin off of Nate. The crowd cheered and chanted .fight fight fight. Martin swung his arm back and hit pika on the cheek, she stumbled back. Martin whipped his head around and noticed what just happened. He stopped. The admin and school staff finally got through the crowd and were already reaching for Nate Matin, and now Pika
• And he three of them were taken to principals office. Pika was scolded and given a day of detention for jumping into the fight. They sent her home. The boys stayed behind with the principal. “ How many times is it now” she started angrily” freshman year was something but you boys are juniors now!”she shouted. “You both are suspended and this is going on you record” she slammed her hand on the table. “ you don’t have to be best friends you just need to get along” she continued. “It’s not that hard.. wait outside. I’m calling your parents”. The boys remained silent.
• They sat across from each other in the lobby, both their heads staring at the floor. Martins mom and Nate’s dad arrived around the same time. They both talked outside before entering and when they both entered, their silent rage was palpable. You just know they are both in troubl
• Pika was devastated on the way home. She was still filled with adrenaline and she was sad because she didn’t know what she did wrong with Vivian and Hannah. By the time she got home ( her mom picked her up in car) tears were rolling down her face (tears of frustration that things weren’t working out). How could this be fixed? She talks it through with her mom. Prob some advice in there. That night she goes to bed in a haze. She writes a note

Next Day(Friday)

• Pika really going through it, on the way to school, Vivian is nowhere to be found and she walks alone
• In class Hannah won’t talk to her and ignores and not around during lunch
• She presents the project alone
• No club on Fridays but she has detention after school and she is sad as she knows the supervisor meeting is today. The club will probably be cancelled. As she sits in a the almost empty classroom( there are a couple other students and a clearly bored teacher) she wonders how she can fix the situation. She walks out from detention and makes the trudging walk back home. Even the sky is grey and cloudy today, but it doesn’t rain. She walks along the trail of the airy forest. She sees little birds and a couple squirrels. Somewhere she hears a light stream of water and the dense breeze ruffling the trees. She arrives at her house, to the right she sees Martin’s back yard and their little garden filled all kinds of flowers and greenery. Pika makes a light smile at the pretty arrangement. She steps up the back balcony and unlocks the door that leads to her room. “ Hi mom”,Piks calls through the house. “Hi sweetie” the mom calls back” I’m bringing in groceries”, she says from the garage door,” come help me”.pika goes and helps. “Martins mom came to talk to me earlier… she apologized for him”. “Yeah” pika replied. “ detention bad?” Asks Maya noticing her daughter’s down demeanor. “Why don’t you help me cook dinner, we’ll make something you like”, Maya said giving Pika a light squeeze.
• Cut to Vivian at work. She looks pretty awful and tired . She’s closing up her shift, she walks around the aisles past the little fish tank section. The light from the task and the swimming fish glow onto her eyes.
• Cut to her on the way home,shes walking and its dark out( this prob happens fast like quickly sliced). She arrives home and opens her apartment door. It squeaks loudly as she entered. Prhe place is kinda dirty, and scrapy? Her dad is smoking outside and she quietly heads to her room and locks it.

City visit(Saturday)

• PIka wakes up exhausted(didnt sleep well) and trudges out of bed. Maya is in the living room struggling with the instructions to build a little side table for the family room. “Good morning!”, Maya smiles to Pika. “morning”, PIka replies. She sits down at the table with some cereal and muches away slowly. “Pika, are you feeling alight?” “Yeah…””Aw sweetie” “:(“ “Did you remember your visiting your father today?” “Oh yea”, Pika replied, her motuh full of cereal.
• She and her mom drive out back to the city, (its about 2-3 hours away).
• Maya is gonna visit with Mr[insert old neighbor] and do other stuff while Pika hangs out with Salute and dad for the day. Her dad suggested they go to a museum or something. She says hi awkwardly to him and very friendly to Salutes’s mom and spend the whole day hanging with him. They run of and grab street food instead of sticking around. Pika decides to talk about whats going on because Salute notices she seems drained. She explains everything and he reacts. He suggests she see if Nate is ok. She thinks that is a good idea since she know where he lives. She thinks about checking on Martin but the image of Martin pounding Nate’s face flashes and she shakes her head angrily. PIka is feeling a bit better after the outing
• Maya comes to pick her up late and they head home, Pika tells her mom that she’s thinking of checking up on Nate. Maya thinks its a good idea and will take her tomorrow with some food to help him recover. PIka falling asleep in the car. Maya calls Wilhelm on speaker and talks while Pika sleeps.

Visit Nate(Sunday)

• Pika wakes up well rested today. She slept in. Maya is not up yet today (she is rested more from a long week of work and the drive back from the city). PIka decides to make some breakfast for her mom today. She makes a tradition american breakfast yu, eggs bagels and some hashbrown yuh. Pika is feeling restless this morning, really wants to check up on Nate. She decides she’ll go on a run. Changing up, she slips on her shoes, leaves her mom a text that shes going out, and steps outside.
• There is still morning air and the dew. She looks over at Martin’s house, nobody seems to be home, she lets out a heavy breath and starts jogging out the back through the trail. She runs and while she’s going she passes by the stream and notices something shining out of the corner of her eye. She stops and goes to look. Vivian’s bracelet is there. I thought she put this in her bag. PIka thinks picking it up. It’s muddy and Pika carefully steps down to the bed and rinses it off. She puts in in her pocket and keeps on.
• PIka gets back home, feeling refreshed from her run. Maya is up and has already eaten breakfast, she says goodmoringin and thanks Pika for making it. “What would i do without you” hug. They talk and Maya is already in the kitchen whipping something up for Nate. Pika works on some homework
• Pika and her mom get into the car and are going to head over to check on Nate. Maya had gotten his mom’s contact info on the day she picked Nate and David up, so she called to check if they were alright with the visit. All clear. Maya suggests they grab him a get well balloon and Pika thinks its a bit silly. “He’s not sick though”, she laughs. Maya insists, “we could check out there”, she says stoping at a flower shop she sees. They both get out and go in. It’s very cold in there and a little bell rings. The place is beautifully decorated with bouquets hanging from the ceiling and framing the whole shop. “Hello!” calls someone from the back. They come out from a back corner “Maya!what a surprise!”. It’s Martin’s mom. Pika is shellshocked i guess. Maya is ecstatic, they greet. “Oh honey PIka are you alright, I’m so sorry about everything”. Pika says its ok. She learns that Martin is grounded and ineligible for track. Pika stands a little awkward as she and Maya talk, they had a couple balloons although very flowery.
• Martin was in the back, he almost dropped a flower pot when he heard Pika was there. He stairs at the ground, he feels like he can’t breath. His mom had told him he would be grounded until he appologized himself. He was frozen. He just couldn’t do it.
• Pika and Maya resume their journey, talking about the situation.
• They arrive at Nate’s apartment door and ring the buzzer. Nate’s mom opens the door, greetings, taking the food and balloon, and lets them in. She brings them to the family room where Nate, his little brother and sister, and David are playing video games. “Kids, Mrs. [Pikas last name] and Pika re here!”, They all turn around and PIka sees Nate’s bandaged and bruised face. “Hey!” They all greet and talk and everything and Nate is very excited to see the food Maya brought. Maya and Nate’s mom go to talk and Pika sits down beside them. They discuss. Pika asks about the fight but Nate doesn’t seem to want to talk about it. They talk about how the club is cancelled, they might be able to try again later but they aren’t sure. David is really down by this. David mentions that he did manage to catch up to Vivian. She was really messed up and crying when he found her and he learned that Vivian and Hannah had history with each other. Pika asks when Nate will be coming back to school, he’ll be back on Wednesday but will still have a week of detentions. Pika thinks that’s rough considering he was the one who got beat up but then again, she didn’t see the fight start. Pika decides to let it go but wonders if she might have been responsible because she invited Martin to the club.
• They hang out for a few hours, playing games and things, she learns that Nate’s house is chaotic with the other kids always running around and Nate’s loud sister coming back from who know where. She comes in and playfully smacks Nate on the back of the head. She is reprimanded for that for hitting and “injured patient”, as she called him. It’s late and Pika and Maya leave
• Pika writes a note
• Cut to Nate and David have gone outside to play basketball on the community court. They are competitive with it. “I cant believe I’m gonna be the known as the guy Martin beat up” “yea well at least you have some battle scars. I mean you went toe to toe with the guy” “right?didn’t see that coming though.. I was just joking around” “yea..jokes…You think he’ll hold a grudge” “that guy always holds a grudge, ill just watch out and hit him with this basketball”, he launch passed the ball towards David. The moon is out, the stars are there, and the traffic of downtown can still be heard. Night vibes

Back at school (Monday)

For some reason I want vivian to start working a martin’s mom’s flower shop so… on monda Hannah appologized to pika for her outburst gives vague context and explains that she lost debate. Vivian had a bad weekend:the whole thing with vhannah and an awful time at work. She is considering quitting or something but she needs the money. She decided she’d start looking for a new place to work and feels really bad about ditching Pika.

Pictures

https://www.pinterest.com/alli_nico/dear-diary/

1Martin’s mom’s shop

2potential character designs (top left V, H, P, M, N) (their designs are still in progress especially Pika :/

3Pika’s house layout

4The gang’s all here

5Martin & PIka

Pika