by Ameriie
FROM: GWEN
TO: LANCE
The one on Benwick Ave?
FROM: LANCE
TO: GWEN
Nah. Corbin St.
FROM: GWEN
TO: LANCE
OK. Wait until later. Line is probably long.
FROM: LANCE
TO: GWEN
Too late. Pulling up, ha. No line at Griddle, but it’s a mess at the salon next door. All the girls getting their hair done for Prom. One looks just like you lol
FROM: GWEN
TO: LANCE
Lance? I’m sorry—please pick up
FROM: LANCE
TO: GWEN
YOU’RE GOING TO PROM? WITH *ART*? AFTER HE BEAT ME UP FOR A JOUST THAT *YOU* STARTED?
FROM: GWEN
TO: LANCE
Look, he asked me to go and I couldn’t say no. It’s just a dance, okay?
FROM: LANCE
TO: GWEN
All this time I didn’t think I was worthy of you. But now I see you’re not worthy of me. You and Art will make a perfect pair.
FROM: GWEN
TO: LANCE
Lance, I’m sorry.
FROM: LANCE
TO: GWEN
We’re done. Don’t ever text me again.
FROM: GWEN
TO: ART
Hey . . . I think you should make up with Lance. You two were best friends. Don’t let it fall apart over something stupid.
FROM: ART
TO: GWEN
Something stupid? He humiliated me. Let him rot in hell.
But I’ll thank him for one thing.
He brought you and me together.
FROM: GWEN
TO: ART
He’s your real friend, Art. Not me.
FROM: ART
TO: GWEN
You and Lance have very different definitions of what it means to be my friend :)
Pick you up at 6
FROM: GWEN
TO: LANCE
I can’t do this anymore. I want to tell Art I started the Joust. But if I tell him, he won’t go to Prom with me. And he needs everyone to *see* him at Prom with me. What do I do?
FROM: GWEN
TO: LANCE
Lance? Please talk to me.
FROM: ART
TO: GWEN
Almost at your house
FROM: ELAINE
TO: GWEN
EVERYONE is talking about how hot you two look. People are like stepping out of the way for you guys and when you danced, everyone stopped dancing and just watched. Like you’re royalty or something. You killed it, Gwen. Every girl here wants to be you.
FROM: GWEN
TO: ELAINE
Thanks
FROM: ELAINE
TO: GWEN
Where are you? Don’t see you
FROM: GWEN
TO: ELAINE
Bathroom. Needed a minute.
FROM: ELAINE
TO: GWEN
Hurry. Announcing Prom King and Queen soon. Art’s standing here alone. Other girls chatting him up.
FROM: GWEN
TO: ELAINE
Yeah. Coming.
FROM: ART
TO: GWEN
Where are you? They’re bringing out the crowns.
FROM: GWEN
TO: ART
Do you love me, Art?
FROM: ART
TO: GWEN
Uhhh did you pregame too hard lol
Get over here
FROM: GWEN
TO: ART
You don’t even know me.
FROM: ART
TO: GWEN
Of course I do. Why do you think you’re my date
I really like you.
FROM: GWEN
TO: ART
Tell me things you like about me.
FROM: ART
TO: GWEN
I like your blond hair
I like your blue eyes
All of it
FROM: GWEN
TO: ART
You have blond hair
You have blue eyes
You could be talking about yourself
What do you like about *me*
FROM: ART
TO: GWEN
You’re a badass.
Girls are scared of you and do whatever you say.
Guys have the hots for you.
You have power over people.
You’re not Persephone.
You’re Hades.
FROM: GWEN
TO: ART
That’s what you like about me?
FROM: ART
TO: GWEN
No one would have messed with you the way Lance messed with me You’re not weak like me
I want to be more like you
Hurry. People asking where you are.
FROM: GWEN
TO: ART
You don’t know me. I’m not strong. I’m not strong at all.
FROM: ART
TO: GWEN
Uhh definitely too much bubbly
FROM: GWEN
TO: LANCE
I made a mistake
FROM: ART
TO: GWEN
Elaine says you’re in the bathroom
Do I need to come get you
FROM: GWEN
TO: ART
Just need a minute
FROM: GWEN
TO: LANCE
I love you, Lance
I want to be with you
But I don’t know how to be with you and still be me
FROM: ART
TO: GWEN
You locked the bathroom
Open the door
FROM: ELAINE
TO: GWEN
WTF???
Got them to delay crowning 5 mins
HURRY
FROM: ART
TO: GWEN
I’m yelling through the door
Can you hear me?
FROM: GWEN
TO: LANCE
Lance . . . please . . .
FROM: LANCE
TO: GWEN
I’m here
FROM: GWEN
TO: LANCE
What?
FROM: LANCE
TO: GWEN
Outside Camelot. Calling you but line keeps dropping
Which tower are you in
FROM: ART
TO: GWEN
You okay in there?
Janitor’s getting me the key.
Please answer me.
FROM: GWEN
TO: LANCE
Tower A. 2nd floor bathroom.
FROM: LANCE
TO: GWEN
Open the window. I’ll climb up and get you.
FROM: ART
TO: GWEN
Got the key.
FROM: LANCE
TO: GWEN
Hear me? I’m calling your name
FROM: GWEN
TO: LANCE
Can’t hear or see you
Glass is thick and frosted on the inside
Where are you
FROM: LANCE
TO: GWEN
Don’t worry, I’m climbing up
Try opening it
FROM: GWEN
TO: LANCE
I can’t. It’s jammed.
FROM: LANCE
TO: GWEN
Push harder.
FROM: ART
TO: GWEN
You dead-bolted the door! WTF.
Gwen, open it!
FROM: GWEN
TO: LANCE
Art’s ramming against the door
FROM: LANCE
TO: GWEN
Gwen. You have to push harder.
FROM: GWEN
TO: LANCE
I can’t do it.
I can’t just . . . leave.
FROM: LANCE
TO: GWEN
Why?
FROM: GWEN
TO: LANCE
What about Art?
FROM: LANCE
TO: GWEN
; Art has the whole world to love him. He always will.
FROM: GWEN
TO: LANCE
What do we have?
FROM: LANCE
TO: GWEN
Our own screwed-up little kingdom with a broke-down palace where nothing can stop us from being together. And I will stay up here on this ledge, outside the window that you won’t open, while I text with one hand and hold on with the other until you get it through your thick skull. I love you, Gwen. Rich or poor; ugly or fair; young or old; inside and out.
I love you.
I love you.
I love you.
FROM: GWEN
TO: LANCE
Catch me if I fall
FROM: ART
TO: GWEN
They pushed me onstage.
I’m onstage, Gwen! In my crown!
FROM: GWEN
TO: ART
My beautiful Art
You’re right. I am Hades.
Kidnapping your Persephone.
But one day you’ll look back and see that only someone as pure as you could bring together two broken souls
FROM: ART
TO: GWEN
What? Gwen, please
They’re announcing you
I need a queen!
FROM: GWEN
TO: ART
Long live Arthur
All Hail the King
FROM: ART
TO: GWEN
Gwen?
FROM: ART
TO: GWEN
Gwen!
SAMANTHA LANE’S VILLAIN CHALLENGE TO SOMAN CHAINANI:
A Modern-Day Mash-Up of the King Arthur Legend and Persephone-Hades Myth
THE BAD GIRL HALL OF FAME
BY SAMANTHA LANE
dreadpersephone
377 posts 100.8b followers 12 following
Persephone • lover of pomegranates and winter
The choice was simple. I’d either be a maiden all my life, controlled by my overbearing mother, or I’d take an opportunity to escape to another world. Just didn’t expect to transform myself into a formidable queen, more feared than my husband! #sorrynotsorry
Comments
Samanthalane commented on your post:
Coming-of-age tales and villain origins have a lot in common. Teens are fighting for their independence and against familial pressures. Villains are frequently fighting against societal and moral expectations in their origins. One of the reasons I love the Persephone myth is that she combines both. Though I do not view her as a villain, many do, as she is associated with death.
Villains’ backstories are all about opportunities and choices. Throughout, we are shown the various crossroads where they could have turned back and continued to live a life of good. We, the audience, are torn between wanting them to cross over to the dark side and hoping that maybe this time they won’t. Characters with agency are more complex, which is why I love them so much. Villains do horrible things, and we still root for them in spite of that. We are drawn to people who make mistakes, like us. Very few of us are stalwart and true 100 percent of the time. Villains represent what we cannot and will not do in real life.
As I see it, Persephone made a series of choices that led to her becoming one of the most feared goddesses in the pantheon, instead of continuing to live a simple life with her mother. In “Gwen and Art and Lance,” Gwen made the choice to be with someone who her high school society viewed as the wrong choice. Villainy is liberating.
bornwicked
788 posts 500k followers 3k following
The Wicked Witch of the West • it’s not easy being green
Am I really so wicked? Or did the world paint me that way simply because I am different? And if I am wicked, was I born that way or made wicked by the world’s reaction to me?
Comments
Samanthalane commented on your post:
The other route for villains is the view that they are simply victims of circumstance—that they have been tricked into becoming villains, by fate or by those around them. This question has been explored by modern retellings time and time again. Are some people just destined to become villains, and they don’t have a choice in the matter at all? Historically, fairy tales and myths took this route, depicting people as either good or evil for no reason. But modern society has turned away from the view of passive characters and wants characters to be active participants in their destiny.
In “Gwen and Art and Lance,” Gwen takes an active role in what unfolds. She manipulates the situation around her to suit her needs and doesn’t apologize for it. She isn’t simply along for the ride, but is in charge of the entire operation.
killersingers
186 posts 300k followers 0 following
The Sirens • follow me into the sea
ONCE HANDMAIDENS, WE HAVE BEEN REBORN. NOW WE SERENADE YOU, TEMPTING YOU TO JOIN US.
Comments
Samanthalane commented on your post:
Origin stories are all about transformations. In stories of the past, we saw characters being physically transformed into villains or monsters. Medusa was once a beautiful woman. Anakin Skywalker had to be burnt to a crisp and don a mask in order to complete his transformation into Darth Vader. But physical transformations aren’t the only way villains are made. In “Gwen and Art and Lance,” Gwen has transformed herself into the “It Girl” at her school. She has skillfully climbed the social hierarchy of high school and manipulated those around her to get what she wants. Villains’ monstrousness, either physically or through their personalities, provides an excellent mirror for the hero. The better and more complete the transformation into a villain is, the better the hero has to be in order to defeat them.
camelotgwen
203 posts 31k followers 1k following
Guinevere • queen bee
CAN A BELOVED HERO BECOME A VILLAIN? CAN A VILLAIN TURN OUT TO BE THE HERO?
Comments
Samanthalane commented on your post:
We like our villains powerful, and one manifestation of power is narrative control. Who decides who the villain is and who the hero is? In “Gwen and Art and Lance,” Gwen takes power by being in control of information and withholding information to fit the narrative she wants. Over the years, our society has become fascinated with characters who are not fully evil or fully good, but instead lie somewhere in the middle. Our obsession with antiheroes and antivillains is a result of social ideals being rewritten. We are unmaking the concept of wickedness. As the popularity of the “heroes” in Batman, The Punisher, and Suicide Squad shows, the lines between heroes and villains have become blurred. There is no clear distinction between hero and villain anymore, which is the theme that modern stories and retellings are exploring.
SHIRLEY & JIM
BY SUSAN DENNARD
TO: Jean Watson
FROM: Shirley Holmes
This story begins with a kiss.
From my family’s pool boy. His name was Antonio. He was cute, and I liked the way a dimple formed in his right cheek whenever he smiled.
I was also super curious about kissing, so even though he was almost eighteen and I was only fourteen, I thought, What the hey? Opportunity was knocking, and you know me: once I’ve set my mind to something . . .
Well, the kiss was too sloppy, and for the record: tongues are gross. So that one exchange of saliva was more than enough to turn me off from kissing and from boys forever. Or at least for a while.
Not that it mattered to my dad. He caught me, see? And holy whatsit! William Holmes was on the phone with Headmistress Hudson an hour later, and the next morning, I was on my way to Baker Street Preparatory School. (Where young minds grow into brilliance! That’s what the brochure says. Have you ever looked at it, Jean? I think that’s the back of your head on the last page.)
No exaggeration, though. The very next morning, I was out of my family’s estate and moving into that dormitory with you.
Meaning (as you’ve no doubt deduced by now) that the st
ory I told you about pissing off a “Mr. Antonio” at my last school was a total lie. The first one I ever told you, Jean, and the only one until our senior year.
The truth is, I was embarrassed about that kiss with Pool Boy Antonio. Plus I wasn’t very popular at my first high school, my personality being—what is it Headmistress Hudson always says? Abrasive. So Baker Street Prep seemed like the perfect chance to reinvent myself.
A Rebel with a capital R. That was what I wanted to be. Someone who didn’t do what the establishment expected. Someone who didn’t do what her daddy expected. And I know, I know. I never convinced anyone of that image, least of all myself.
Fall semester, senior year. That was when a True Rebel showed up, and a pecking order established in the ninth grade was suddenly obliterated by a mysterious newcomer.
It was lunch when he arrived. We were in the cafeteria, remember? I was lecturing you about why you were never going to pass AP bio if you kept mixing up pneumatocysts and nematocysts. (I’m sorry about that, Jean. Looking back, I was such a condescending a-hole. Aka my dad.)
First came Headmistress Hudson, bustling into the drab dining hall with her usual animation. She pushed through the pizza line (boys) and then the salad line (girls) like Moses at the Red Sea.
Then a collective gasp crossed the cafeteria. All the way over to our shadowy table, remember? Right as I was getting to the best part on cnidarian morphology, you twisted around to look.
“Holy crap,” you said. “I hope he’s a senior.” I followed your gaze . . .
And my lungs hitched. Until that moment, Jim had been blocked by Headmistress Hudson’s bouffant. Holy crap, I thought. I hope he’s a senior.
I don’t know how to explain it. Nothing about Jim Moriarty looked that good. Fitted jeans and a flannel button-up? Totally hipster. Thick-framed glasses? Not in style anymore. Dark hair, all sideswept and dramatic? Definitely not achieved without product.
Yet the instant the school turned its gaze upon Jim Moriarty, everyone sat a little taller. Then, in a bolt of lightning, rumors raced through the hall. Whispers of I heard he got expelled from his last school for hacking into the computers and changing his grades and He got arrested for erasing all of a bank’s digital debt records and (the only one that actually sounded plausible) His parents died in a car crash and his uncle raised him.
Even his name—Jim Moriarty—just oozed bad boy. Or Gothic hero along the lines of Mr. Rochester and Heathcliff. Or maybe even one of those vampires who girls are always falling for on the CW.
I was hooked. Immediately. Like everyone else at Baker Street Prep, I wanted Jim’s swagger. I wanted Jim’s boredom. I wanted his lazy smile and complete uninterest in the school, the students, the world.