Giving the Professor an uncertain glance, despite the man's smile, Jake stepped out into the corridor and leaned against the wall, immediately turning his head so that his gaze was directed pointedly away.

Once outside in the corridor, Vanessa stood a few metres away from Jake, and crossed her arms. She didn't exactly like what he had muttered. Couldn't he just give her a break really?
Sighing she waited for Professor Lawson to join them.

Professor Lawson stepped out into the corridor. Yeah out here he had to be a Professor back in his sanctum he was just Marcus. "Okay then, Mr Upstead now that we are out of the way of the others what seems to be the problem?" Lawson, glanced at the Prefect quickly, she should be here to know what was up with one of her students.

Biting his thumbnail, Jake looked uncertainly up at the professor, feeling a tad uneasy. "No problems here," he muttered at first, eyes darting up and down the corridor, for about a minute, before he stared down at the floor. "I mean... I'm sick of... everyone thinks they can pick on me and get away with it. I wouldn't mind, but Kayla isn't here anymore. The Hufflepuff prefect," he added, conveniently forgetting to add that she was a past prefect. "And I... I dunno..."

He felt scared to admit that he was now, in fact, scared. Kayla had been there at an important part of last year, during a certain outburst... where he unknowingly hurt and a certain Care of Magical Creatures professor. It seemed like she would stick up for him before.

Lawson listened patiently as the young Hufflepuff spoke and he nodded his head. Yep classic case of your bully victim, he knew it well he had been one himself at school. "Mr Upstead, I will help you by giving you some pointers at defending yourself but it is only to be used in extreme cases alright? There are other ways to deal with bullies and I will help you with that too."

Marcus looked between Mr Upstead and the Prefect with confusion for a moment before his face cleared. "So this Kayla, was a good friend to you and she is now no longer here right?" He seemed to be getting to the bottom of this now, "I am sure Ms Corbette here is going to make a fine Prefect. Perhaps you should give her a chance and she will be just as good as this Kayla person."

Nodding his head hurriedly, Jake was quick to agree with the professor. He needed all the help he could possibly get. "Okay, sir. Yeah, I'd like that, I really would," he added, voice eager. "I mean... please."

He was getting guidance from a couple of teachers now... if you could call detention with Kazi a method of guidance.

Biting his lip, Jake shrugged, which meant a yes in this case. He nodded, confirming Professor Lawson's summary of the situation. "Maybe," he mumbled. "I suppose I'm just... still kind of in shock that she ain't coming back," Jake admitted, perhaps finally coming to terms with it.

UGH. This was SO not Karma's way of starting out the school year. She was trying to work things out with Emiliano, when that girl had to show up and ruin it. They weren't even together, and she starts crying, making Karma feel like the slime in the bottom of the potions cauldrons.

She was walking rather heavily for such a small person. It wasn't often that Karma got mad, and she had to keep it under control. True, she wouldn't go full blown out like her grandmother could, but her eyes and mouth...

Shuddering, Karma calmed herself down somehow. That didn't need to happen, not here anyway. Maybe in private, but... No. Not at all, no way. She just needed to walk around, clear her head. It felt as if she could burst into tears at any moment, but that was not Karma, and when you saw her with her eyes watered? Something was definitely wrong.

She ran a hand through her hair, and leaned against the wall with a window looking out and AWAY from the Bamboo Forest. Towards the lake - that was the perfect view. Today, this year so far, just not good.

"Good" Marcus nodded. "Tomorrow afternoon in the dueling arena, meet me there and we'll go over some basic stuff." It would be good to give the kid a little confidence, it always worked wonders.

"Well I'm sure she had a very good reason for not returning and if she was a good friend then she won't forget about you." Okay so he had no idea what he was talking about but it was better to say things the kid wanted to hear.

He glanced out of the corner of his eye to the girl, who was looking out the window. Oh he remembered her, she had spoken to him at the feast. Karma, yeah that was her name and she didn't look particularly happy right now. Meh...it had to be over a boy. Girls only wore that look when they were thinking about a guy. Angst you gotta love it.

Marcus didn't want to interrupt her emotional dilemma, he simply waited for her to look his way and then he would know if she needed a person to talk to.

Eyes. Someone was looking at her, she knew it. Karma's eyes slowly looked away from the window and toward the owner of the eyes.

EEEP! It was Professor Lawson! Thump thump thump went her heart.

She straightened herself, and was slightly surprised to find the professor looking at her though she didn't mind. Yeah, that look on her face probably gave it away. Though that wasn't what she was all about, Em was pretty much her best friend out of anyone at the castle.

"Professor," she said, nodding her head.

"Okay sir," Jake nodded, standing himself up a little straighter. "I'll be there," he added, tilting his head as he eyed the door to the office, causing him to back away a bit. "Yes, sir, I'm sure she did," Jake replied softly, his attention caught by someone else in the corridor, causing him to go quiet.

"Good then I will see you tomorrow Mr Upstead, unless there was something else you wanted to talk to me about?" He sensed that the kid couldn't wait to leave, something else he would have to work on with him. How to talk to others!

"Karma" Marcus said inclining his head also. "Are you alright? You look a little bit down and term has only started." He gave her a reassuring smile to let her know that she could talk to him if she so wished. Marcus, never judged.

"Yes, sir," Jake nodded his head again, before shaking it. "And... no, sir. That was about it... thank you," he smiled awkwardly, slowly stepping back. "Am I okay to go now, sir?"

Karma sighed, put her hands in her pockets, and walked towards the professor.

"I know sir, it's pretty bad," she said, stopping a few feet away. "It's just a stupid teenage moment, you know? I lost contact with my best friend and love interest over summer. And somehow, it's become this love triangle thing. I hate that, 'cause the other girl is sooo dramatic..."

She made a face of disgust. It wasn't like she was the toughie here, just overdramatic girls made her gag. Yiiiiiikes - he smiled, nonono don't do that. FOCUS Atkins, focus.

"You may go Mr Upstead." Marcus gave him a gentle pat on the shoulder and chuckled. "See you tomorrow."

Oh yeah he knew about those teenage moments, they may have been twenty years ago but he remembered them as though they were yesterday. Marcus gave her a gentle smile. "Let's go for a walk shall we Karma, a bit of fresh air might do us both some good and then we can talk about how to get a smile back on your face." He gave a slight bow and gestured with his hand for her to go first. "How about we take a stroll along the pathways?"

At first a tad startled by the human contact, Jake blinked a little before bringing himself back so he was focusing. "Thank you, sir," he added again, before making his way hastily down the corridor and out of sight.

Where can I find me some sugar?

Karma blinked a few times before she had registered what he said to her. Fresh air, yeah. Most definitely, even though she had just come inside from there. But, talking it out with a professor would help her get everything back in order again.

"That sounds good to me," she said, looking towards the doors. "The air will help snap me back."

She began to walk, hands still in pockets, debating on how this meeting was going to go.

Despite his 'After you,' comment, Kel was the first downstairs. He looked back from where he'd come, and spotted Satine. "This corridor?" he asked her, surprised. It didn't look like anything special, and he couldn't see any ugly statues. Maybe he'd taken a wrong turn...?

Anywho, it didn't really matter to him. He was having fun, actually, just walking aimlessly around the castle.

Satine hurried after him...she was going a little to fast and slid on a especially shiny patch on the floor...she giggled loudly as she hit the floor pretty hard...her hair turned to a neon pink from her embarrassement, but she always took these kind of mishaps in stride and just giggle at herself...go figure...

As she was sitting on the floor, she looked around...wow this corridor was pretty...well...simple...

"So do we walk along the walls tapping or what?" she could picture an old cartoon she used to watch in the Muggle world, "Have you ever seen Scooby-Doo...it's a Muggle cartoon..." she could picture hiding place behind portraits that you could look out through their eyes and eavesdrop on people...yeppers this was fun...

Kel coughed back a laugh when he saw Satine slip. Walking over to her, he offered her his hand, but shrugged and just sat down on the floor next to her. He looked around the corridor, hoping no other creature with eyes and a brain was headed this way.

"I'm not sure, honestly." he admitted, frowning. He thought, but would never admit, that they would just run into a corridor and there would be a door. But that showed how stupid he really was...the whole point of a secret passage way was the secret part.

"Maybe we should look for an ugly statue. I've heard that there's this one painting thing...it goes into a tunnel. I have no clue where it is, though." he frowned. He wished that his parents would've told him more about Hogwarts before sending him off into the unknown.

Satine wondered how goofy they must look just sitting in the middle of the floor of the corridor, but she really didn't care...

"Maybe it'll be like that Room of Requirement thingy if we just walk by each ugly statue and say in our heads what we want...the statue will slide to side and poof there the passage would be...YEA RIGHT!" she finished laughing....

"Let's see time to turn on my secret passage and ugly statue radar...." she looked around slowly...still sitting on the floor...

OOC: See you tomorrow!

Kel grinned, realizing how stupid they probably looked. But...for some reason, he didn't feel the need to get up off the floor and act like a normal person. So...he just stayed right there, propping himself up on his arms.

"Room of Requirement?" he asked, repressing the urge to smack himself on the head. He'd had no idea how important this exploration really was. He really needed to learn more about this place that was going to be his home for the next...five years.

"You have a secret passage and ugly statue radar?" he asked, turning his head to Satine. "That could be helpful for this situation." he smiled at her briefly before turning his head forward and searching for an ugly statue.

Satine jumped up and held her hand out to Kel to help him up off the floor. She continued explaining, "O the Room of Requirement is amazing...we should go find that next. It's this amazing room that is hidden...you find it in the upper levels and walk by it a few times saying what you want it to be and then a door appears and that's what it is...." she could see that he thought she was crazy...he took her hand and she pulled really hard to get him up" No really our House Prefect told me yesterday that they use it for Dueling Class...my mom and the team used to use it for indoor Quidditch practice."

She spotted an ugly statue in front of the stairs leading up to the DADA classroom and pointed it out to Kel. "My radar," she said laughing, "is screaming that this is the ugliest statue on this floor."

Please don't RP for my charrie (:

He accepted Satine's hand, his ears going red. Wasn't it usually the male who helped up the girl? Hmm. Oh well. Satine seemed tough...she was tough enough to pull him up, at least. "That sounds...cool! We'll have to check it out!" It really did sound cool...a room that would become whatever you want? AWESOME!

"You're radar is quite accurate," he complimented, grinning. "This is one ugly statue." He looked at the statue curiously, then looked at Satine. "Do you think there's a secret passage behind it, though?"

Sorry I didn't realize I had... =0] oops!

Satine walked around the ugly statue..."Well I'm guessing if there was one it's not gonna jump out say, 'Hey here I am!'...so..." kind of starting to get disappointed with this idea...what was she thinking...even if she found a passage how was she going to open it...she thought for a moment and then a spell came to her mind...she pulled her wand out and flicked her wrist for practice, "Let's give this a try...I've never really done it...but here goes" she stepped back and motioned while saying 'Alohamora!"