He gave a sigh of relief when she said that she didn't dislike Brody. That was good at least. "Okay, sorry. It's just that I'm getting tired of everyone saying stuff and disliking her." Silly friends getting jealous of her.

Hearing him sigh, she looked up at him and then nodded "Yeah.. I know.. I've heard it" Peyton nodded again. Maybe they all had good reasons? "I don't dislike her, as I've said"

He smiled at her. "Thank you. At least you don't get jealous of her." He still didn't get that. He couldn't love his friends and have a girlfriend at the same time? And why share him? He wasn't an object or something.

"No.. not at all" Peyton smiled, hiding her real feelings of jealousy towards Brody. The girl had Torin as a boyfriend! Who wouldn't be jealous?! "It's fine.. we all have someone who's there no matter what, right?"

She was so right. He wished that more of his friends were like her. She didn't really see Brody as taking him away from his friends. Or as an evil girl. He still didn't get how she was supposed to be evil though; as far as he knew she had never done anything mean to anyone. "True. You're a good friend."

"Thanks" Peyton smiled, feeling really bad now. Maybe Brody really wasn't as bad as she seemed to be. Maybe if they met one on one, she might see her real personality.

He decided that now was a great time for him to change the subject. "So you want to go and hang out somewhere? Madame Puddifoots?" He sorta wanted to get a coffee and get warm.

"Sure... lets go" she nodded, suddenly remembering they were in that creepy alleyway. It was cold outside. She drew her coat closer again and nodded to Torin, indicating that they should go.

"Great, 'cause I'm freezing," he said as he shivered and started making his way towards the shoppe. Maybe he would get a nice dessert too 'cause he was suddenly getting hungry.

"Hmmm." Truebridge stood up and offered his hand to Jake.

"Dangerous? To whom? Come, lets head back to the school and maybe I can tell you a little bit about why I want you to stay, yes?"

Looking warily at the hand Truebridge offered, and then glancing over at the dented bins, Jake bit on his lip before extening out his own hand and taking hold, standing himself up. Luckily, the damage done to his foot was only very temporary, and though it might bruise, it didn't make him walk with a limp or anything.

"Everyone," the boy mumbled under his breath, pushing his hair out of his eyes and looking towards the end of the alley where they would take their leave. Heaving a slight sigh, Jake nodded his head and glanced up at the man. "Okay," he said simply, eager to hear what the man had to say.

Ohh she looked taken aback. Well he had just yelled at her, basically. "Look...I'm sorry. I didn't mean to yell." he said in a softer tone, relaxing his stance as well to show that he wasn't looking for a fight. He was just frustrated at the moment.

"I don't want to fight either Rach, but we have problems and those problems will more than likely cause us to have an argument at some point in time." He admitted, walking closer to her and hesitantly brushing his fingers lightly against her cheek, wiping away her tears. He hated that he made her cry but he didn't know how not to.

Smiling softly Reid almost... almost laughed at that. Him liking Livvy? Probably not going to happen. Not in the near future anyway. "For you I think both of us will try." Reid told her. He knew that even though he thought it unlikely that he and Livvy would ever come to like each other he would try for Rachel's sake. Plus this way if he tried and still didn't like her Rachel couldn't say that it was because he hadn't given the girl a chance.

He wished that this was fixed already. Wished that there was nothing left to be said on the events of the past and that they could just move forwards as if nothing had happened. But he knew they couldn't. Too much damage had been caused for them to pretend nothing happened. But Reid hoped that they could at least move forwards while acknowledging the past.

"Yes they do. Being opposite tends to make things more interesting." Reid said in reference to Rachel's whispered words. "And that's good to know Rach because not even for you would I be able to change myself. At least not completely." he had already changed because of her, but she wouldn't be aware of that fact due to the fact that she hadn't known him from before they met and he had always treated her like someone special. Someone to be cherished and showered with love.

Laughing Reid said, "But I wasn't exactly being un-civil either. Besides different people have different ideas on what being civil entails." Although to himself Reid just might concede that he hadn't exactly been nice to Livvy. But he found it hard to be nice to people who had only shown him deceit. Even if he himself was an excellent manipulator and liar he didn't appreciate those characteristics in others.

"So where would you like to go then?" he asked, looking at Livvy as well figuring Rachel would want to include her in the activities. He also had to admit that while the alley had at one time been a good spot it no longer was what with all the other people invading the place. It was definitely time to find somewhere else to hang out and relax.

"Good." Truebridge spoke simply, referring to Jake's willingness to move rather than his comment that he was dangerous to everyone. Ethan did not feel particularly endangered by the boy, though he knew well enough that appearances could be deceiving. Perhaps it was more that he was not particularly afraid for himself and hadn't been for a long time.

He let go of Jake's hand and offered a quick nod before walking towards the end of the alley. Expecting Jake to follow along. "I suppose I should start at the beginning, yes? Though for me the beginning was the day I got my first wand, just before starting school here at Hogwarts..."

Before shoving both hands into his pockets, Jake pulled up the hood of his jacket to cover his ridiculous hair and glanced down at the others in the alley. As his gazed lingered a little, he ended up being a step behind Truebridge.

"Better than starting at the end," he commented, smiling wryly as he forced his exhausted legs to keep up. This looked promising to be a dead interesting story, and Jake was determined to keep his attention on it.

Rachel gasped suddenly as she noticed the time, having lost track of it with all the drama that had taken up all of her thoughts. "Oh - dear. Erm, look, we WILL all meet again soon - the three of us - but right now I have to go. Like, REALLY quickly because I've decided to leave for Christmas" she eyed Livvy meaningfully and gave Reid a small nod, "and I haven't got ANY packing done."

The fact that she had actually decided to go back scared her like hell - but Jake had insisted. She WAS a little mad at him for keeping the news about her brother a secret from her, but that had been AGES ago and she sort of forgave him. Either way - it was better for them both if she spent Christmas at the Rider's and and not in The Flat since Jake wasn't really into festivities this year.

And she couldn't really blame him. He was just about the loneliest guy in the world and with all that money piling up in Gringotts for him, he doesn't even have anything to worry or fuss about anymore. It was truly depressing at times but he always seemed to brighten up whenever she had Hogsmeade weekends. She just COULDN'T be mad at him... Not for long, anyways.

"I'll catch up with you two after the holidays - I'll probably have LOADS to say," she nodded eagerly and with one last smile at them both, walked quickly out of the alley and towards the castle where her empty trunk awaited her.

Ugh. She HATED packing.

Because it was a bit strange to Kaika's mind, she tilted her head to one side when she noticed Professor Truebridge walking away with Jake. They were a bit far away from her spot, but...

...she took out her camera and tried to focus the best as she could, and zoomed in a bit too, because otherwise they wouldn't appear in the picture. Yes. She was going to take a picture of them...simply 'cause she wanted a perspective of the Back Alley to compare it to the Main Street but since they were in there she decided the perspective will have a main focus. Truebridge and Jake, her seeker.

Click!

And they were gone, just in time for Kaika to take the picture of such an odd pair (in her eyes), and walked back to the Castle after reaching the Main Street.

Lyddia ran to the Back Alley, searching, searching.

She sat down on the ground for a bit, contemplating.

Where?

Kylie smiled, extremely glad that Nate did indeed have her best intentions at heart. Called it. She thought to herself. When Nate brought her back to the back alley, she began imagining the things he would tell her. She held his hand and stood against a wall, her back nearly touching the cold brick. She looked at him, "Well?" She laughed. "What is it?" Her hands weren't nearly as cold as they usually were. (As they were usually freezing.)

"I've never had a girlfriend either. That's why I had such a hard time asking you out." he blushed and looked at his shoes. He stood next to her very closely. His leg was touching hers and some were thier arms. "But you can't tell anyone!"

Kylie burst out laughing. "Why would it even matter!?" She asked, giggling profusely. "Well, I'll tell you a secret..." She closed her eyes in thought, this was how she always thought. Sometimes, she'd stick her tongue out just a little bit in the right corner furrowing her eyebrows. She opened her eyes and quickly said three secrets.
"Well first, I know just about every spell I'm likely to learn as a first year already because my grandmother's totally paranoid. Uhh... I'm extremely ticklish... and.. I thought I was a muggle until I was eight. I had no idea the magical world existed until my grandma told my mom I was a witch. Apparently my mum's a squib." Kylie had been smiling until she realized what she'd said. She looked down at her feet, hoping it wasn't too much.

"I don't know why it would matter!" he said smiling. "That's cool that you know alot of spells. I'm probably behind. Maybe you could tutor me." Nate winked and lifted her head to look at him. "No need to be embarassed. We are dating now."

Kylie smiled. "I wasn't embarrassed!" She squealed. A defiant fire sneaking its way back into her expression. "I was just hoping it wasn't too much!" She rolled her eyes at Nate's wink. "It's a bit pathetic you just asked a first year to tutor you, dear." She said teasingly. "Even if I am your girlfriend." She wanted to laugh more than anything, but she kept the giggles inside her trying to look as serious as possible.

"Shhh..."he said pressing his finger to her lips. "Say no more!" he chuckled. "You are impossible, I was trying to be sweet. I will have to work on that." He remembered there was a candy shop in Hogsmede. "Baby, do you want to go get some candy?" He was in the mood for a treat.

Kylie smiled. "Impossible is for the dim witted and uncreative." she quoted her grandmother, winking. "Honeydukes?" she asked, she was almost nervous, she'd heard so much about it.. "Of course I want to!" Her green jewel-like eyes which unfortunately conveyed every which emotion she felt sparkled.

Rafe took Marilyn to the back alley by the wrist to have more privacy. He gently let her go, and kept walking a few more steps, he didn't know if he could bring himself to face her directly. He stared out in front of him, with his heightened senses he could hear her breathing and could catch her sweet scent in the wind.

"Marilyn," he started. "I don't know what has come over me..." he didn't know how to word it. "I'm starting to remember what it was like being under the love potion with Luce, it's like that feeling has swept over me like a wave onto a shore, but it won't retract. It keeps coming and coming...like an never-ending flood." Rafe took in a deep breath, he still couldn't turn around and look her in the eye. "I need you to end my suffering, please...just tell me that you don't have feelings for me and that nothing will ever happen...tell me that, so..." things can go back the way things were, but he couldn't finish his sentence. It was like he was breaking up with her, but not. He didn't want to end their friendship, he enjoyed what time they spent together. But, he was seeking some sort of closure. Some sort of sign that he could move on with his life. He thought of just dating some random girl to try and make her jealous, but that would be fair. He could only date someone he truly cared for.