Edric watched Ella, waiting for the little girl to give some sort of reaction or response, but she seemed deep in thought. He wished he could fix this whole problem for her, just so she could go back to being her cheery and goofy, eyebrow-wiggling self, but there was only so much he could do for her at this point. He'd done his best, and though he still thought of Ella as a newborn in diapers, the girl was old enough to make her own decisions, to tell right from wrong.

The boy watched as the three girls then fell into a group hug which Evelyn started, both apologizing and forgiving both crazed little blondes. Edric just crossed his arms and watched expressionlessly. No, he wasn't endeared by the sight. Mr. Barlow doesn't have feelings. Pokerface.

BUT THEN.
Because this day couldn't just go back to being normal, could it?
Just when Edric thought everybody was happy and he could go back to being his pessimistic, people-hating self, Evs comes out of nowhere and apologizes to him. Not quite as moved as the three emotional girls around him, Edric shrugged. "It's fi--" But THAT'S when Evs did it - she hugged him. AGAIN! Knowing how much he hated that! And as if hugging the ogre wasn't weird and terrible enough, Evelyn was now pecking his lips too. Like--like… like he was some cute puppy or something she'd just decided to adopt.

"Evs--th--why--wha--" Edric stuttered as his arms uncrossed and he returned Evelyn's hug by patting the girl on her right shoulder this time. "Right." He cleared his throat. No, Edric wasn't totally feeling like the most awkward creature alive at that moment, and the faintest shade of pink on his face wasn't giving that away. You can't just throw hugs AND kisses at the ogre and expect him not to have some sort of breakdown, though!

Thanks to the state of shock he'd been left in, Edric wasn't paying much attention to the moment Ella and Alice were having on the side, hugging and forgiving and apologizing and just being second year little girls. But just as the boy was finally finding his tongue and about to question Evelyn, Ella came up to them and apologized to Evelyn, then to the ogre himself.

Edric sighed. Why was Ella being so depressed and paranoid? C'mon. Didn't she know it was against fairy world rules to abandon your fairy godchild, no matter how ogre-ish they become? "Don't be stupid." She's seven, Barlow. "I mean-- don't be silly. I'm not going to stop being your friend over this, Ells," the boy assured her. "I will have to take you with me to visit the hungry lions again, though, if you don't stop being so down on yourself." He smiled faintly at the girl, just to let her see that he wasn't upset with her. He'd never been, honestly, and he couldn't imagine himself ever being anything less than endeared by her. Ella would never hear that from him, though, of course. Never ever.

And now, out of nowhere, came a certain fun-sized demon that hugged a certain boy who'd been supposedly diagnosed with being allergic to hugs. Yep, Alice was hugging Edric for the SECOND time the same day.
!!!

"Would you guys stop doing that already!?" complained Edric, trying to push the little blonde off his torso, but her grip was like that of some vicious animal attacking new prey. She was totally doing that on purpose. <___< Seriously, though. Couldn't they all just go back to normal normally? Just agree that everything is fine now and then not see each other again for a couple more weeks? Get a snack the last day of school, maybe? Why was so much physical interaction required?!

And because Alice couldn't see Edric looking normal and comfortable for two seconds of his life, the girl was now asking to be flower girl at his wedding.
Wat.
"What wedding?" Oh Merlin. Just as he asked, he realized. Facepalm. Edric took a couple steps back from the group to return to his comfort zone and avoid any more physical interaction, and let Evelyn take care of the Little Demon. The blonde seemed to take Evs a lot more seriously than him, so he'd leave that babysitting job to her. He much preferred babysitting the other one, she was easier to handle.