Ella thought about how Nate had dumped Kylie for her, and now he was dumping her for some other girl. She knew that it had been pretty uncomfortable for her to talk to Kylie, but now they were great friends. Kylie was a strong girl, and she was very smart, too. But Ella didn't think she could handle it the way Kylie had.

"Oh.. hello." Ella said to the other girl, whose name she still didn't know. She felt a bit awkward meeting her, because she didn’t know what to say to her. It’s not your fault? Ella didn’t like her apologizing, but she couldn’t just dismiss it either. She turned back to Nate.

”Here, I suppose you want this back,” Ella said with a small huff, facing Nate’s hand outward and putting inside his ring. She turned around, ready to leave, not knowing if there was anything left to say.

Cadence wasn't really sure what else to do. She knew she'd never be bosom buddies with this girl, but she did hope that at least she wouldn't hate her. She tried to speak several times, but had no idea what should could say to make this better. The girl put a ring in Nate's hand, and her eyes widened a little. A ring? Why was she giving Nate back a ring?

And then she was turning to leave, and Cadence said. She had absolutely no idea what to do or say. This girl would probably go back to the Gryffindor Common Room and plot revenge against her with Lucy. They were probably going to start a, "We Hate Cadence" club.

Maybe coming back to Hogwarts hadn't been such a great idea after all...

"Oh! Ella. I have your brothers watch." he said sliding off his wrist. "Hey Candence can I meet you in the Common Room?"

He waited for her to leave before turning back to Ella, still holding the watch, to say, "Ella, I...just...here. I just want you to know I DO feel so bad about it but I just think we were slowing down and I fell for her so quickly."

"Yeah, sure!" Cadence said as she turned to walk away. She didn't kiss him on the cheek, though, afraid that that would just make things worse.

To spy or not spy?

She turned the corner as if leaving, but instead stayed just out of their line of vision so she could hear the rest of their conversation.

"Um.. yeah.. thanks." Ella said slowly, taking back the watch. Something was caught in her throat now, but she felt like she wasn't angry anymore. BUT she could do without all the details on how he 'fell for her.' Ella wasn't going to lie, she seemed like a nice enough girl and was pretty too. But she just felt like their was no future to her and Nate anymore.

"See you," she told them, but wasn't sure if she would.

Nate waited for Ella to leave before trying to catch his breath and make sense of what had just happened. Or what had happened over the past few days. He slid down the wall and sat on the floor. He put his elbows on his knees and his face in his hands as he began to slowly but not very loudly cry. It was just tears streaming down his face. He felt like a wussy but he couldn't keep things bottled up forever.

After she heard Ella leave, Cadence peeked around the corner to see which way Nate went so she could catch up to him, but Nate hadn't gone anywhere. He was sitting on the floor and... was he crying? Oh no.

She rushed over to him and sat down on her knees next to him. Gently, she touched his arm, not wanting to scare him. "Nate, what's wrong?"

"Oh. I thought you left. I didn't want you to have to see me cry. I'm just stressed because Ella doesn't forgive me and I don't want to ruin another friendship. I mean we were great friends before we started dating, why not after?" he said all of this between hiccups and crying. All he wanted was a hug from his mum, or Candence, and to have all the drama gone. Nate didn't enjoy drama only when it was nesscary. Girls on the other hand...

Cadence looked away in the direction Ella had just left before throwing her arms around Nate and pulling him into a really tight hug. "Shh... Nate it's okay. Don't be afraid to cry in front of me. If anyone knows about feelings and how crazy they can be, it's me. I blew up half the bloody common room!" she said, trying to make him laugh. "Besides, I don't think it's going to be dramatic with me and Ella. It'll just... take time, ya know? You have to give her time for her heart to heal. We all need that time when something has hurt us... especially girls. I bet you guys will be able to be friends again someday. You just... can't rush it. You've just gotta... let her have time and space for her heart to be fixed."

Nate smiled at her comment but just hugged her tighter. He felt so good hugging her even as good as the other way around. It felt good to be cared about instead of ignored or akwardly loved. He felt loved for the first time in his life by this girl. Nate seemed to belive there was a connection deeper than either of them could see.

Cadence just sat there hugging him and letting him hug her back. She didn't feel a need to say another word, so she just sat there with him in silence until he had calmed down. "Ready to go back to the Common Room?" she asked quietly.

Kylie smiled and hugged him back. "It's no problem, dear." She'd caught the habit of saying 'dear' from her brother's sarcastic remarks. Although she meant the pet-names more seriously than he did, she had now developed a maternal tick. At age twelve. Oh my. "And I'm glad you like them."

She stepped back from the hug, "So, tell me exactly what happened this summer? How are you and Marylin?"

She sincerely hoped they hadn't broken up.

"Sure. Thanks for not freaking out like I know some girls would. Thanks for being there for me." he said standing up with her.


OOC: just post in the Common Room?

Carter made it up three flights of stairs before his legs gave out. He collapsed on the floor. He had enough sense to pull himself to the side of the hallway. He leaned against the wall and took deep breaths. It didn't help any, he smelled so bad that breathing made it worse. He'd just sit here for a bit before continuing up to the Gryffindor Tower.

Lucy was walking--walk walk walk. Why did she always end up roaming random corridors?? Probably because she had no sense of direction. As she walked down the corridor, which she now recognized as the Second Floor corridor, she decided to stop and lean agaist the wall. As she did so, she started rummaging around her bag for her hair elastic because her hair was starting to get in the way.

Nate was walking down to the Common Room after class. He saw Lucy going threw her bag looking for something. "Hey Lucy. Nice hair." he said stopping in front of her.

Lucy finally found her hair elastic, but not before she saw someone enter the corridor. It was Nate. As she pulled her hair into a ponytail, she smiled at him. "Hey Nate! Thanks," She said, touching her hair. Did he really mean it? "Whats's up?" She asked, putting her bag on the ground and leaning against the wall.

"Not much really. Heard your going out with Tyler." he said leaning against the wall parallel to her. It was about 3 to 4 feet away.

"My summer was fantastic. I told you I have a sister now, right? Marilyn and I are good. She bought me an owl over the summer and I got her a necklace." Carter said recapping. He still hadn't seen Marilyn yet and seriously hoped she made it to Hogwarts and was just preoccupied with her little plan.

Kylie listened patiently as he told her a brief description of his summer. "You didn't tell me you had a sister!" Kylie was filled to the absolute brim with excitement. That was so cool! "What's her name?!" An owl? "What's the owl's name?!"

"A necklace?! That's so sweet."

Kylie was a little excited. "Have you seen Marylin yet?"

Lucy watched him as he leaned against the wall opposite her's. "Yeah, I am," She said with a smile. Awkwaaaaaaaaard silence.

"Yeah. My parents adopted a little girl. Her name is Anya and she's three years old." Carter said happily. "And I actually haven't named my owl yet." he said with a bit of an awkward laugh. He laughed again as she mentioned the necklace. "No, I haven't seen her yet..." he said trying not to sound worried.

Nate nodded. He really wanted Chinese food from this place back in London near his house. Mmmmm Sweet and sour chicken. Yummy.

"So..." he said twiddling his thumbs.

Well. This was turning out to be a bit more awkward than she had expected. Lucy straightened up and looked at him. "Is...is there something wrong, Nate?" She asked him, her face a bit sad.

"Umm..no. Just you seemed to have changed over the summer."he said twiddling his thumbs again.