Watching Evan's feet Marie cuoldn't believe how easy he made this look. "Thanks, I have a good teacher" she said. 'Oh, and here comes the ball again.' "So once you get the ball to the striker, they are the one that tries to get it in the goal? Is that what you play? The striker?" Taking her eye off the ball for just a quick second to look up at Evan was a mistake. The ball went rolling right past her this time, no chance in getting her foot out fast enough for that one. "Oops, sorry, I took my eyes off the ball. Guess that wasn't a smart thing to do." At least she didn't have any angry players coming after her trying to knock her down.
Going over to where the ball was she was just about to bend over and pick it up when she remembered the No Hands rule. 'Pay attention Marie, you almost made another mistake' she thought to herself as she kicked the ball back to Evan. This time she had to run and give it another kick. She didn't take into account that the ball was further away from him this time. Coming up to the ball she stuck out her right foot and gave the ball a fairly good kick as she stumbled just a little, but not enough to fall. 'Oh Merlin, I hope I didn't kick that one too hard.' she thought as she could feel her cheeks turning red. Hoping that Evan didn't see her almost fall she went back to where she had been standing to wait for him to kick the ball back to her.

Coming down from the castle, JD looks around the grounds. Excited, to finally be back at Hogwarts again after the long summer holidays, he looks around for something new to do.

Remembering his first year, getting lost in the maze, sitting on oversized pumpkins, and tossing little pumpkins for the squid to eat, he spots the one thing that topped all of that. A jungle gym!

Running across the grounds he climbed up to the very top, locked his legs over the bar, and hung upside down, watching everyone playing.

Shooting a glance at Annie, Lori raised her eyebrows. "It went MISSING? How? Why'd you leave it in a place someone could- Someone might HAVE it. Someone might READ it. Oh Annie. We need to fiiiiinddd ittt." Not that Lori had even seen what it looked like, considering she was focusing on her curly hair, or her shoes. Which at the moment the diary was there, she couldn't remember which one it was.

"Girls shouldnt play though. It's nicer to watch boys play. Because you can laugh fi they fall over." Lorelai giggled a little bit, and shurgged. "Short short skirts? What kind of cheeerleaders do you see? Skirt's shouldn't be that short. Only for people that just wear too much make up and totally look like...." Now, what WAS the word...

Dipticks?
Losers?
Idiots?
Nope...
Something else..

All Jake had had to do was see Cadence heading out of the front doors of the school, and he knew he need not hurry. Having a good view of the grounds was easy, and Jake picked Cadence out from a far off, heading towards that Jungle Gym Lawson had mentioned.

Feeling no desire to play, though he made another note for later, Jake strolled on, one hand in a pocket as he whistled to himself, a low haunting tune.

As Jake reached the structure, the whistle died on his lips and he glanced around at the man-made structure. Easy. Jake had gone on a climbing expedition in Peru when he was twelve, after all... With Truebridge... who'd gone.

Holding Cadence's wand in one hand, Jake made his way up the structure effortlessly, using one hand and both feet. The climb was boring and far from adventurous, though he found perfect opportunities for fun. Reaching the monkey bars, Jake hauled himself up with more strength than he looked capable of, and perched himself atop them, staring at Cadence, holding her wand still now.

"I ddduhh-dunno why yuhh-you're buhh-being sssso..." he stalled... what was the right word? He didn't want to seem insensitive. "... stupid."

Errr... yeah.

Oh Merlin, Marie thought he was a good teacher! Weee! Evan could have slided on his knees with if it wasn't for being in public. He could merely smile modestly and brightly. "Nah. You're a good student." he said. Seriously. She really was good. He remembered playing with his 11-year-old cousin... Ugh. He couldn't even do this simple passing, always hitting the ball to the mountains nearby. And the pass was meant to be 'low'. Unbelievable.

"Nope, I play attacking mid--" he cut off at the middle as Marie missed the ball. He shrugged to show it was OK. He could have missed that too. They were human.

The blondie was about to open his mouth to remind her that they couldn't use their hands when she looked to remember it. He smiled to himself. She really paid attention, and it pleased Evan. He'd teach her everything he knew, if she wanted to learn, that is.

He got ready to bring down that ball when it fell short. He took a few steps to get it when Marie ran after it and hit stronger this time. He was watching the ball, so he couldn't see her stumble. Whoa! That ball was coming fast! But he, as having played at Liverpool kids' team for 3 years, intercepted it again. "Nice one." he called with a smile, thumbs up, and sent the ball back again. "Any more questions?"

Cadence could have very easily been angry for being called stupid. In fact, she considered getting angry for a moment. She looked at him, eyes narrowed, but then she sighed, took her wand, pocketed it, and looked off towards the Forbidden Forest. She should probably thank Jake for returning her wand. Yes, she should thank him. "Thanks..." she mumbled quietly. For a few more moments, she just sat there, allowing an extremely awkward silence to come between them.

"It's scary being here again." Wow! Where had that come from? Why was she opening up to Jake about her deepest, darkest feelings? Her facial expression looked mildly surprised that she had actually said that aloud. Oh well, it was out in the open now. She sighed again and continued to stare at nothing.

Hanging there upside down, he spies an older boy climbing up the monkey bars toward him. Climbing right past JD and sitting at the very top. Looking down toward the girl he was calling after, JD wonders what was going on...

Stupid? he wonders curiously.

"Mhmm," Jake nodded, balancing precariously on the bars of the jungle gym as he stared up at the castle. The boy gave no indication that he'd just heard something of great importance; he instead chose not to reveal his surprise. Cadence was telling him stuff. Heh, odd.

He looked at her, a mild gaze though he wished more than anything, like he had done with countless people, that he could see into people's minds.

"S'why I wuhh-wanna go huhh-home," he stated, squinting up at Cadence as the slight breeze momentarily blew the hair away from his face. "I've buhh-been to St. Muhh-mungo's tuhh-too," Jake told the girl, speaking matter-of-factly. "A fuhh-few times..."

So now she knew she wasn't alone in that, and Jake wouldn't feel bad about not saying anything. "S'always suhh-scary ttto come buhhh-back."

Stupid castle.

Briefly, feeling a pair of eyes on him, or more remembering seeing a familiar kid close by, Jake looked straight down at the boy who was hanging below on the monkey bars. He gave the familiar looking boy a faint smile, and wondering why one would hang upside down when they could clearly be climbing some more.

Annie listened to Lori, telling her all the possibilites of things people might do if they found her journal. She gulped, went pale at just the thought of someone reading it. They'd find out about her, relations...life, love...etc. Not great. "I know, I searched for a whole day for it, and I hope it just appears, I hope someone actually has the decency to not read it and return it in the next days..." She smiled at Lori. She was a great friend, Annie appreciated her help.

"Okay, for me, short short skirts are those that go up the limit..." She pointed her middle and index finger together, right above her knee. "...and as I can remember, the cheerleaders used those kinds of skirts when our team played, or the boys..." Something the boys loved to see, actually. Annie twisted her mouth at this fact. Roberto, one of her previous friends was deeply attracted to one...

Cadence uncurled herself slightly from her ball, now looking at Jake. He had been to St. Mungo's, too? Maybe Professor Lawson was right... maybe they did have a lot in common. Though perhaps not the kind of things that you needed in common to be bosom buddies, but at least they had found a common ground.

"If you're so scared, why do you keep coming back?" she asked, staring at him inquisitively. Cadence hadn't been scared at all to come back. She had actually been really excited. Now that she was here, though. It was hard. She didn't know hardly anyone, she had practically forgotten how to socialize with people her own age, and when the slightest thing made her upset, she would run away or get angry. She was constantly second-guessing herself, constantly comparing herself to others, and constantly terrified of messing everything up again. As if that wasn't enough, more students had died here! Why hadn't Melanie told her on the train when she asked about Hogwarts?! She knew Cadence hadn't been allowed to know anything about the outside world while she was locked up in her bedroom, but Cadence had asked her specifically if anything else had happened, and Lanie had said no. She felt slightly betrayed....

Oyyye, this would be difficult. Jake had a problem telling this to his own sister, let alone the girl who he constantly shared mutual dislike with.

He wasn't looking at Cadence, so Jake didn't see any emotions or the like of her face, not that he'd have recognised any had he actually been looking.

"Well," Jake started, examining his fingernails and frowning as he thought about where to start. Ohhhh so much had happened, and it was hard enough to explain... with the stutter thrown in and the sketchy confrontation, Jake found himself quite nervous. "I rrran away whhhen I was tuhh-ten. Came here, it wwwas home." Then the first of the bad things had happened, which was obviously Set. "After muhh-my ffffirst year, I lllived rrrough for ab-about a week, thhh-then was tttaken to live wuhh-with m'dad," he went on, neglecting the whole mother disowning him and vice versa. That wasn't necessary. "It wwwasn't huhh-home. Ddddidn't belong there... complicated... Hhhogwarts wwwwas the only pppplace I could go."

And this was the hard bit. This was where he started losing track. "After... after my suhh-second year, I dddidn't go back to my Duhh-dad. Fffoster families," Jake went quiet here. That was the most disruptive time of his life. School had been the only constant, the one thing he was looking forward to in that summer, despite how much he hated it. "Fffound a guh-good place. Nnnot long afff-after, had to cccome back. Nnno time to bbbeg to stay home." And it hadn't felt right to beg that of someone he barely knew.

Laying across the monkey bars, Jake stared up at the sky. "Wwwwas adddopted this sssummer. Nuhh-not allowed to ssstay home," he finished, slightly miserably. Well, he couldn't exactly give the most truthful reasons at home. It wasn't fair.

Well, that was it. Jake had made it short and blunt and as emotionless as he could. The boy was turning into the kind of person who didn't want the worst parts of his life on show for everyone. He'd made it matter-of-fact and to the point.

Cadence listened, open-mouthed at Jake's story. When he had finished, she climbed down from her perch, and sat next to him as he laid on the monkey bars. "I'm really really sorry, Jake..." and she completely, sincerely meant that, and all she could do was hope that Jake knew she meant it. "After I left St. Mungo's, they made me go live with my grandparents... only wizarding relatives I have since my dad was a Muggle and my mom was an only child. My grandparents only took me in out of pity. I'd never even seen them before they came to visit me. They wouldn't speak to my mother because she married a muggle. They're purebloods." A dead, cold look came into her eyes as she remembered the way they had treated her. "I wasn't allowed out of my bedroom except to eat meals in the dining room and eventually to take ballroom dance lessons in the, well, ballroom..." Truth be told, her grandparents were very wealthy and very snobby about it. "Even my tutor and therapist visited me in my room..."

She wasn't sure why she was telling Jake any of this. Maybe because she thought he'd understand what it felt like to not be loved by the only family you had. Or maybe, just maybe, because her and Jake were actually becoming... friends.

"A hair flip? Seriously?" Carter asked with a bit of a laugh. "Your cousin wants you to work on flipping your hair?"

Jake was absolutely enthralled. He really was. What Cadence had to described to him sounded like something he wouldn't have minded. But that was just him, and he knew that if he said he fancied that, Cadence wouldn't be too pleased.

But what did it matter? It was an opinion, and one that wouldn't be considered whilst Jake resided with his new family.

"Don't sssound too bad ttto me," the boy answered vaguely, though the look in his eyes told that the life of someone who stayed away from many people was fine with him. The only problem with that would be that Jake was terrified of the dark, so he couldn't do what he did at home, which was beg his mother to stay with him until he fell asleep. "'Cept the buhh-ballroom thing."

Glancing very briefly at Cadence, Jake willed himself not to become attached to the girl in anyway. The last thing he needed was another friend that somehow broke his heart... one way or another. "Duhh-d'you knnnow how tuhh-terrifying it is... ttto be in a rrroom filled with buhh-bigger, ssstronger ppeople... who are all acc-accusing you of mmmurder?" he asked, just wanting to tell SOMEONE just how scary that had been. They'd been scary... and then Kazi put out that wanted thing for LouAnn...

Terrifying.

"I hhhate it here," Jake whispered, and stared intently at a cloud overhead, his blue eyes overbright. "I wuhh-won't even fffit in at a mmmmuggle school. Cccan't even rrrread..." As Jake said that, he heard his voice thicken, and immediately sat up. He REFUSED to get emotional, and was about ready to flip this conversation round.

"Whuhh-what are yyyou up to today, an-anyway," the boy said rapidly, so blatantly changing the subject it wasn't even worth pretending otherwise.

She simply sighed when Jake said her life didn't sound to bad. Maybe it wouldn't be for him, but Cadence enjoyed the company of other people. "Jake, why can't you do magic or re..." she began to ask him, but he moved on too quickly for her to finish the question. "No, I do..." she attempted to answer his question, but again he changed the subject. She was quite perplexed by him. What was he so keen to hide from?

"I'm going to Flying Lessons. You?" she replied, trying to sound cheery despite all the questions still burning in her brain.

Awww, gosh dang it. He wanted to go to the beginners flying class. That was just a crying shame. He was just PUMPED to start going to classes again.

Well... the ones that didn't involve magic...

Or reading...

Or writing...

"Puhh-probably sssee some pppeople," the boy shrugged, looking in the general direction of Herbology. BWAHAHA. Had he mentioned that? "Remember Buhh-bunbury?" Jake asked, grinning slightly evilly as he did so. "I tuhh-turned her cat pink."

Teehee.

Now THAT had probably involved magic... If only Jake could remember actually doing that. It had, after all, been a made up spell, which proved he wasn't a squib... Which made him proud. YAY FOR CAT VANDALISM!

Cadence laughed out loud at the thought of Bunbury's cat being pink! That was hysterical! "Oh, if I remember Bunbury correctly, she probably prefers that cat pink anyway, doesn't she?" and she was still laughing. Wow, that was really great.

Ella admired the fact that she didn't tell her his name. Now she knew that Nikki was Ella's type of person. Of course she wouldn't have named anyone either.

Ella stuck her tongue back out at Nikki, but failing as her smile was becoming way too big. "Hah, alright then! I'll figure it out then.." she said with a sly chuckle. She probably would. But how.. no idea.

She swung higher before jumping at just the right height, Flying felt so good; it reminded her of Quidditch. Ella hoped she'd make the team again this year. "The playground? I think it's awesome." Who wouldn't like to become a little kid again? Well, if you didn't call her a little kid..

Nahh. Maybe at heart, though.

She brushed off her pants from the wood dust she had stirred up from the jump. "Want to head to the play area?" she asked, pointing half at the jungle gym, half at Carter and.. oh! There was Mina. She was excited.. there was just so much to do.

Mina scowled a little and huffed. "You know there are times, I seriously think Jade has lost it." she said with a pout. "Her and some guy, she's friends with have this theory about hair flips or something. I mean it's crazy and I'm supposed to keep track of how people react to the flips." she explained. "It's all mental if you ask me, but I'll believe it when I see it." It really was a silly idea, but she was willing to try it once.

Carter laughed again. "Random..." he said. "How does a conversation even turn to hair flipping?" he asked dropping between the bars and swing over to the side. Was it bad that he was having so much fun on this? "Want to race?" he asked pulling himself through the bars again so he could sit on top.

Mina shrugged. "I'm not even sure how they got to talking about that. I mean, she does have pretty hair." she said as she dropped down to swing below the bars again. This was so much more fun then a pumpkin patch. "Sure!" she nodded with a grin. Apparently, this year she had been struck with a slight competitive streak.

Carter swung her way over to where she was. "So the first one to the end wins." he said looking toward the designated goal. "On your mark. Get set. Go!" he said starting to swing away at the word go. He didn't bother checking as he was going to see where Mina was, whether it be behind him or in front of him. He was focused on the end of the jungle gym and how it was rapidly approaching.

Jung laughed and sat down in the grass "sure will do i might fall asleep as well."

Mina nodded as she listened and looked down to the 'finish line'. Hearing the go, she took off. First, starting to just swing one bar at a time, she moved on to jumping bars and taking them two at a time. She missed one, but managed to hold on and grab the bar again. Focusing on the end, she didn't really notice where Carter was. Looking start for the end, she continued to swing toward the end of the bars.

ooc: I'll let you decide who wins

Carter neared the finished line and swung faster and faster. He was good at letting the competitive spirit get the best of him. He could have slowed down, but maybe Mina didn't need it. When he finally reached the end he jumped down and looked to see how Mina had faired.