Rose frowned and looked up from her sugar at the sound of someone talking, mixed with the smell of Chanel no. Five. Ugh. What an awful smell. Still, the girl looked sweet, and she was an ickle firstie. They always got to Rose; she thought they were just too darn cute for their own good. But they were sweet. Had she mentioned that already? Oh wells.

She smiled down at the girl and patted the empty part of the pumkin, meaning for her to sit down on it. Giving another grin, she held out the candy bag silently. Surely she'd want candy? Even if she WAS rather girly, she'd still want candy, Rose was sure. Everyone wanted candy! Especially sugar quills... cause you could eat them in class. Hehe.

'Nice to meet you, Courtney. And no, I don't believe we have. I'm Lily Rose, but just call me Rose. Or Lily. Whatever you prefer, just not both together.' yeah, she was weird. But what the hey. According to her mum, weird people were more fun. And fun was always good!

Courtney silently thought about things. The sky was clear and the day ahead was going to be great. Maybe. If she could be bothered to do anything that was. Meh. Why should she? She was a firstie and she just wanted to explore her new, slightly bit tatty home. Ok, that made the castle sound horrible but it was freezing inside. She hated the cold. But she was, afterall, a snake so it didn't bother her that much. Did it? Maybe it did. She wasn't sure yet.

She smiled at the girl as she offered her a sugar quill. Ermm. Ok. How many calories were in these things? Never mind. Probably a lot but she liked candy so what they hey, might as well endure it. She wasn't going to get this candy very often. She took pride in her figure and watched what she ate all the time. She flipped her long, wavy, blonde hair and took a sugar quill from the bag. Without thinking about how many calories she was taking in she ate it. Never mind. She was only having one and that was enough for her.

Nomore.

None.

Finnito. Was that even a word? It wasn't English that was for sure. Wait. If it wasn't English that meant she could speak a different language. Awesome. Ok, her mind was totally wierd. It was going in all sorts of directions and she had no idea how or why. O wells.

She held her hand out for the girl to shake. Lilly Rose. Or Rose. Or Lilly. Ugh. Decisions. She hated them. Rose it was. "Nice to meet you Rose" she replied. Hmm. She hoped this girl didn't think she was some sweet little firstie because she was far from it. She was hardcore mean. When she wanted to be. Enya and Callie had learnt that big time. They got what they gave her and it was one harsh cat fight but a funny one at that.

Rose. That was good, the girl was going with Rose. Her favourite name of the three. Or four, really, if you counted her middle name. But she wasn't going to count her name, because she detested it. Emerald. What a soppy, girly, ridiculous name. She simply refused to use it under any circumstances. Her mum was just too weird for naming her that. Anyway.... waaaaaaay off topic here.

She smiled as Courtney took a sugar quill, but then noticed the restraint on her face. No. Way. Courtney wasn't one of those calorie counting freaks, was she? That was so NOT COOL. She was going to have to convert this poor, deprived girl to the major religion of candyism. Uh-huh. Where herself and Sel were obviously the leaders. As well as candy, of course. 'Want another?' she said with a sly smirk as she held the bag by Courtney's nose. She KNEW the smell was too hard to resist when it was right there. Rose would CRACK Courtney like an egg. Eventually.

And she would have to make her less girly too, if she was going to survive a term around Rose. Shge couldn't stand anything THAT girly. A little was fine. But this girl? No. Too much! Maybe she could like, adopt her or something? And then convert her! Woo! And she was using a load of exclamation marks in her thoughts! Yay!

'So, Court... mind if I call you that? Anyway, what year are you?' Rose asked with another smile. Eesh, she was in a smiley mood today! It must have had something to do with the whole Morgana thing, but whatever. She was happy, and that was cool. Plus she had sugar, which just added to her mood. Infinitely.

Courtney cringed at the sweet smell of candy. What was this girl trying to do? Turn her into a candy machine? No way that was never going to happen. She never exceeded her candy limit of ONE sigar quill a day. And a can of soda maybe if she wanted one but that was like never. She was always smiley but that was due to her sense of humour not candy. She quickly moved her head away from the bag and pushed it away. "Nah, I'm good" she replied. Ugh. Too much sugar. Wayy too much sugar!

Courtney looked at the girl as she watched her. Ok, did she have a problem with her girlyness. If she did then she'd have to deal with it. CourtneyLouise Parker changed for no one. She was who she was and they either accepted it got lost. She would never change. Like ever. She was all pink, purple, blue and glittery. Never ever would she swap that.

She smiled when the girl called her Court. She liked that name better than Courtney. It made her.....different. Yeah. Different. Ok there she went again. Off with the random thoughts! Yay for randomness! Ok, now she was beginning to wish she never touched that sugar quill. It had gone to her head! Oops! She'd live! Maybe!.

"I don't mind you calling me Court. I'm in first year. Yourself?" she eventually replied. It took her long enough but it was Rose's fault. Yeah. Blame the new friend! That was a good idea! Hehe! Mwaha! Ok, random thoughts again! Never mind!

Pffft. Stupid Court, she seemd to be immune to Rose's sweeties. Fail. She failed the candy test. If... that even existed. Hehe. If there was one, Rose was pretty sure SHE'D pass with flying colours. And Sel too. Hehee. Yay for sugar! And... here she went again. Being totally random and weird.

'Suit yourself,' she said with a shrug, and reached into her bag ffor another bag of sweets, putting the sugar quills away. She'd moved onto Jelly Teddies. She grinned, picked out a red one, and bit off the arms and legs one by one before eating the head. Tortureeeeee!

Hmm. It seemed that Court had picked up on the fact that Rose wasn't sure about all the... girly-girl. Well. She wasn't going to say anything yet. Nu-uh. Because Court, however sweet she looked, had a dark side. Rose could tell, because it was something she herself possessed, and she could spot it from a mile off. Heh.

'Second year. Guess it means I survived final exams, or whatever.' Rose said with a shrug. 'And what house are you? Not an Eagle, because I haven't seen you in the Common Room'

"Definitely." Meredith agreed. " Wait, what dream lo..... OH YA!!!!!! Good gosh, i completely forgot about that!" How could she forget about that?! Meredith sighed. "Greeeeaat, looks like i'm going to have to come up with random stuff for the days i missed." Meredith groaned. "Have you started it?" Meredith asked.

" Good, did not want you mad at me" Rex told Freya. "Well, i actually think it is funny, too" Fex said to Freya. " Beck, I do not know him, but I do not know many boys" Rex explained to Freya. " Kay has brown eyes, blonde hair and kinda slim" Rex smiled. "Do you mind if we change that subject now?" Rex asked Freya, She did not know Kay has been AWOL from HogWarts. "We need to get started on our homework now, ok?" Rex asked Freya. " The due date is in a couple of days' Rex smiled.

"Many things," Eirian replied happily, kicking her legs aimlessly before giggling and settling down to explain. "Well, you see, Thiago is here this year... I arranged it so he could be. And now he is serious! He promises to be with me forever... it is completely sweet!" Smiling warmly, her mind turned to her... other situation. "But it is... not set in stone. We are yet to be titled, you see. Open relationship, you know. And... Jayce and I fought, but we made up not too long ago. We went swimming in the Lake... and a grindylow caught me. I drowned.... and Jay saved my life. Of course, he had to perform... What is it?" She didn't know the English equivalent. "Mouth to mouth? C... CPR! That is it... And, when I woke up, I kissed him back." Eep! Not something to think about!!! "But it was nothing... even if, in my gratitude, we did share... a few more kisses..." Blush. "But we are only friends. Best friends. Partners in crime. We have kissed before, so it did not matter... And now he has Hayley." She was a good girl, unlike Trixie. Eiri almost loathed that. "But... Much has happened. Yes."

"Friend?" Eirian questioned, laughing as she mocked Koda lightly. "I could expect nothing less from you, minha filha. Very flamboyant, very much me. I suppose you demand sparkes on your birthday present?" Tehe. Eiri would get something with sparkles, whether Neko said anything or not. Now... When was her birthday? This she had not found out... Grr. Immediately, her hand went to the beautiful necklace resting on her collarbone. Thiago had given it to her. And, beyond the glimmer of diamonds and peridot laid the paperclip necklace Jay had made her. Her boys... they were both on her heart.

Oh lovely. More places for her to get lost in. "Oh I'm not worried...not too much anyway. I'm sure if I get lost someone will come looking for me." Right? Mia could be slightly deluded sometimes. Really? Who would miss the new girl?

Mia pondered this for a moment. Hogwarts seemed like a very lively place to be and that was putting it mildly. She had the feeling that her father didn't know what happened here in the last few years. "Well I guess there is never a dull moment then." There was a nervous tone to her voice as she said this though. "I do hope the only excitement we have this year is the tournament just until I get used to the place." She chuckled a little. To be honest if any fights broke out she would be out of there.

She figured that he must be talking about Hogsmeade. Yes she had heard of the place. And it sounded rather exciting so did the though of cheesecake but something nagged at her also. "Yeah I like cheesecake." Mia looked at Carter and bit on her lip, "But you inviting me, is not like a date or anything is it?"

Callie was not gonna let Courtney bother her.

One, Callie knew she was pretty she didn't need anyone else to tell her she was or to tell her otherwise. Two, Courtney was a stupid little girl with her ego wrapped too tight around her - oh and she was a last name stealer too. So yeah Callie was too wrapped up in her own importance to bother about Courtney. She walked back over to the pumpkin patch where her and Jack had been a few days before. She stood by one of the small pumpkins, protecting it from the likes of Courtney Parker/ and waiting for someone to come talk to her.

Carter chuckled. "I'm sure someone will notice." he said. Like her housemates or something. "And I'm sure you won't actually get lost in the castle." he said. Lose her way? Of course. But never actually lost.

"Yeah." he said agreeing with her. It would be nice to have another quiet-ish year. "You get used to the excitement though..." he said trying to downplay it. "And... I guess... it's good preparation... you know... if you want to be an auror or something..."

...

Did she just say date?

"Is err... 'getting cheesecake' supposed to mean date...?" he asked. Because if so he probably needed to find Ella sometime...

But wait, they always got cheesecake together even when they both had significant others.

But he did always pay. Actually, he normally paid whenever he was out with friends. But that was because he was taught not to let girls pay.

Merlin's crazy long beard! Had he been unknowingly dating all of his friends?

"It could be I guess..." he said slowly. He wasn't technically with Marie at the moment.

"Wait! I didn't mean it like that." he said realizing how that came across. "You're really cute. And it would be lots of fun to... you know... 'get cheesecake' in a date kinda way..."

He stopped talking and ran a hand through his hair. Yeah... he should have taken some of those life lessons with the French guy...

He then chuckled nervously. "I mean... do you want it to be a date?"

Courtney cocked an eyebrow. This girl had a serious sugar problem. Was she purposely trying to annoy her? Why say anything? She didn't want another enemy. Did she? O now that would be awesome. But she was going to let her anger simmer for a while. She hated the smell of the sugar that was coming from this girl. She seemed to be obsessed by sugar and it was annoying. And she was getting another bag of candy out. Courtney knew Bradin had a sugar problem but this girl was beyond a joke. She was totally obsessed. She needed to cut down on the candy. Maybe she was comfort eating. Yeah. Maybe she missed home and sugar was the only thing she could eat to comfort that. Obviously! Well whatever it was she had a problem.

"How much candy do you have?" she asked stepping back away from the candy. And now the girl was eating the teddy bears as if she were torturing them. Poor poor teddy bears. Ah. Maybe this was a lame attempt at getting her to eat one of those. If it was then Rose might as well quit whilst she was ahead because it so wasn't gonna work. Not in this lifetime. Not a chance. Courtney reached into her Gucci bag and took out a bottle of water. Lime water to be precise. Ha. It was better than what Rose most likely had. Probably soda. Ick.

Courtney sighed at Rose, how could she eat all this candy? And how did she survive dressing like that. Well she wasn't going to say a word. Keeping her mouth shut was the best idea. Yes it was indeed. She didn't want to land herself in more trouble. She was in enough trouble with Callie and Enya as it was and being in a fight with Rose wasn't a good idea.

Meh.

Second year. Great! NOT! She rolled her eyes but so Rose couldn't see. Ok, this girl was seriously boring her to death and it wasn't a good thing. "I'm a snake. Proud to be a snake and never gonna stop being a snake" she replied. In case it wasn't obvious, she loved being a snake. Mwaha. Sly was her middle name but there was still only room for one Parker. Courtney Parker so Callie wasn't going to keep that crown of hers for much longer. No way was she. Whilst Courtney was around Calle was second best. And so was Enya for that matter.

Walking... Walking.. Yes Rae had begun walking everywhere now, just to try and lose the thoughts... Not that it ever worked, but she always thought it was worth a try. Most of the time she didn't really pay attention to where she was or where she was going. Now she noticed she was in the pumpkin patch, a place she hadn't wandered to before. After all this walking Rae had concluded that the thoughts weren't going away again. Looking around to see if anyone was near, she saw it was all clear then out of frustration she kicked a pumpkin until it flipped over. It hurt her toe a bit, but she was too frustrated to show any pain. Kicking of the pumpkin..... Didn't help at all.

Rae was now sixteen. Did anyone know that? Seemingly no, she had expected no one to really know, with the exception of Xylon. Guess she did get a surprise on her birthday, even he didn't seem to know or care. Awesome. Rae was starting to regret even being out of the shadows last year. She should've kept it low, flown under the radar, kept herself unnoticed like always. Then this year would be like the years previously. With the exception of last year, that's what changed it. Rae, you are so stupid! She thought.

Rae had grown soft, she trusted people. and now she had to pay for all that softness and trust. Xylon forgot about her and Fletcher.... Walked away, just like that. Rae didn't really know how much of a girl she had been acting like. Frustrating frustrating... "Urghh!" KICK ANOTHER PUMPKIN!

Fletcher was sitting outside, yes, sitting outside in the cold, wintry weather. There was no snow out yet, so he figured he could still get away with not looking stupid perched on a half-rotting pumpkin. Plus, the cold was kind of soothing to his still-sore face and half-bruised eye.

Sketching a rough drawing of the pumpkins, with Masterson's hut in the distance, Fletcher would glance up every now and then to check his progress and accuracy. He noted hardly anyone out, wandering around, but then a certain dark-haired chick caught his eye.

Mostly because she seemed to have declared a toe war with a pumpkin.

"Rae," he called out without thinking, tucking his pencil behind his ear and hopping off the pumpkin. He strolled over to her and rested his drawing pad under his arm, hands in his pockets for warmth. He paused by the pumpkin and squinted through his good eye at the Slytherin. "Did this orange squash do something to offend you?"

Mid-kick, was when she heard her name, however she already was in the midst of kicking it, so her leg and foot proceeded to the pumpkin. She thought she checked to see if no one was around! Obviously not good enough because the voice that called her name happened to be the one she was thinking about. His voice let off a red alert in her mind. Her head swung around to him after a brutal kick to the pumpkin. Her hair, messy as usual, her expression, like she really was shocked to see him right there. There was no hiding it, not after he caught her off guard like that.

"F-Fletcher..... I um..." She was going to try and make up something for kicking the pumpkin when she stopped. Why should she explain anything? She should be in the shadows right now! Like she used to be. "What you you doing.... Here.." It didn't sound rude, her voice still sounded like she was surprised to see him here, which she was.

Quick, can she run for it? She really wasn't up for conversation with the boy that just turned his back. She couldn't run now, it was too late. Rae didn't really think of what she would do if she was in his situation, she would probably do the same. However Rae only thought about herself. After all, Fletcher hadn't known that Rae once liked him right? Her mind only thought as if he did. Yes, the shadows should've been best.

Was it just Fletcher's imagination, or did Rae look rather surprised and.... unhappy to see him? Huh. Well he wasn't just going to walk away and pretend to ignore her now.

"Just... chilling," he replied with a shrug, leaning forward to set his drawing on the pumpkin and then rest his elbows there as well. Literally, he had been chilling. The cool air was a great stimulant and relaxant at the same time, and the grounds were kind of.... awesome this time of year, suspended between the seasons as they were.

He studied Rae for a long, quiet moment. Something was definitely off with his friend today. "Sickle for your thoughts?"

Looking at Fletcher, She wasn't too sure how she should act. The surprise wasn't there anymore, she was fully aware the Fletcher was right in front of her, at a time she was kicking a pumpkin because of him and Xylon. Rae sighed, resuming her normal, expressionless calm attitude. That's all there was to do now.

Rae half smiled and semi-laughed, "I think you and I both know you wouldn't give someone a sickle just to hear their thoughts." Yes, it was just an expression, but one that probably wasn't suitable for Fletcher.
"Quite the popular champion aren't you? What do they call you now? Glitterpuff?" Rae joked, though she was still calm and relaxed looking. She knew that he wanted to know why she had the surprised expression and the stutter, basically... What she was thinking. Heh, Rae wasn't that stupid to reveal to him what it really was.

Fletcher half-smiled too, a painful action for his jaw. Damn punching prefect. "True," he admitted, not missing her sigh. "I don't even have a sickle to spare."

Another shrug of the boy's shoulders. "Yeah... you can thank TaterTot for that one." He glanced down at his pumpkin drawing and closed the pad of paper. Okay he might have been just another clueless boy but he was definitely picking up on a darker side to Rae's tone. What exactly did she mean by popular there.......?

"Rae...." he started, wondering how to phrase this, "is something bothering you?"

They didn't call Hufflepuffs hard-working for nothing. He was definitely working hard to get to his friend.

Rose noticed Court eyeballing her, but didn't say anything. Yet. But she seemd rather arrogaant, she thought to herself. Or just... self-confident. Yeah, that was a better word. And girly, which equalled bad in Rose's book. But she figured she and Court could still be friends, probably. She bit into another teddy slowly, and then went cross eyed to see the colour. She'd bitten into a liquorice one! Ewwwwwwww! The only candy Rose couldn't stand was liqourice. It was just too gross for words. Blech. She swallowed it anyway, and dug in her bag for her cola. Mmm. Colaaa.

She raised an eyebrow at Courtney's choice of drink, though. Lime water!? What eleven year old drank lime water!? That was for like... old fat people who wanted to get slim. And boring people. Boring people liked lime water. Ick. She shook her head slightly and took a sip of her cola, setting down on the pumpkin when she was finished. 'Candy? I have loads. Three bags in here -' she paused and tapped her purse '- and loads more in the dorm. Why?'

Meh. She could feel Court giving her a once-over again, probably sizing up all her clothes and jewlerry - not that she was wearing any. Jewelery, that is, not clothes. She was wearing clothes. Her favourite ones, to be exact. Hehe. And Court was wearing... all pink. BAAAD.

'Sounds cool. I've got loads of Slythie friends' Rose said with a smile 'Anyway, what do you think of the castle so far? Pretty big, right?' well, big. Really big. Although Rose was used to the Estate in Ireland - hence the cool accent - and that was pretty big itself. Because really, it was more of a castle. A big old fashioned one.

Courtney rolled her eyes at Rose. Yep.Just as she thought. A soda. She looked at her bottle of lime water and threw it back in her bag. Ok why did she drink that? It was horrible but o well. She dug in her bag for a different drink. Now that was more like it. Cherry cola! She didn't drink much soda but she loved cherry cola that was for sure.

She dug in her bag again for a small bag of candy. Yes it was sugar but not as sugary as what Rose was eating. She didn't mind candy but nothing that was too sweet. Never anything too sweet. She took out a gummy worm and bit into it. She loved gummy worms. Hmm. Cola flavoured. Yummy.

Ok so maybe she was into sugar after all.

Never minds

She smiled at Rose. Come to think of it, her outfit was quite cute. Courtney looked inside her bag for her hair brush. She took her hair band out and brushed her hair gently letting it hand lose blowing in the wind. Ok now she felt more laid back. Time to ditch a little jewellery. All but the dog tags and cross pendant she was given by her cousin. They remained. And now to switch the girly clothes that were once more for tomboys. She untied the nots she'd made in them and let the lose fitting top hang how it was supposed to. Ok that was a lot better.

"Really? I used to know a Slytherin, well two actually. But neither of them are students here anymore" she replied referring to Bradin and Justin. She looked round and at the castle. "I don't think I've ever come across anything so big and yet I'm used to big places" she said referring to the huge hotel she stayed at in California once. Good times.

By the looks of his face, Fletcher seemed to be pretty popular alright. maybe it was because of one of the girls he was snogging. Inside Rae smirked, though outside showed nothing. Calm, cool, collected Rae.

Is something bothering her? What a question. Just the right thing to stump her. There were two options right now, either play it off as nothing is wrong, or risk ruining a friendship by telling him what she thought. This was too hard of a decision to be made in such a short period of time. She settled for a bit of both, which kind of sounded like changing the subject.

"Remember at the fountain last year, we were examining wishes...... Why didn't you back me up when Xylon was bothering me?" At the time he was bothering her. At the time she had no idea why Fletcher wasn't helping her out. If he did, then she never would have been with Xylon, then this letter thing wouldn't happen, and Rae would've continued liking Fletcher. Maybe this whole year would've been different. Who cares if he thought this topic was random.

Quote:

Originally Posted by brelovesweasleys

By the looks of his face, Fletcher seemed to be pretty popular alright. maybe it was because of one of the girls he was snogging. Inside Rae smirked, though outside showed nothing. Calm, cool, collected Rae.

Is something bothering her? What a question. Just the right thing to stump her. There were two options right now, either play it off as nothing is wrong, or risk ruining a friendship by telling him what she thought. This was too hard of a decision to be made in such a short period of time. She settled for a bit of both, which kind of sounded like changing the subject.

"Remember at the fountain last year, we were examining wishes...... Why didn't you back me up when Xylon was bothering me?" At the time he was bothering her. At the time she had no idea why Fletcher wasn't helping her out. If he did, then she never would have been with Xylon, then this letter thing wouldn't happen, and Rae would've continued liking Fletcher. Maybe this whole year would've been different. Who cares if he thought this topic was random.

He was maddeningly tempted to rest his chin on his hand, but Fletcher knew, he just KNEW that would cause his jaw to ache even more. ERRRRRRRGgggg it was infuriating. Instead, the boy settled for softly rubbing his scruffy chin, looking all thoughtful and pensive.

Not expecting Rae to still be dwelling on their fun at the fountain last term, Fletcher couldn't hide his surprise. "Uh..........." Think fast. Answer carefully. "Yeah?" Would it it be bad if didn't remember who Xylon even was? Yeah probably.

"I thought.... I thought...." Fletcher struggled with the memory, his eyes narrowing as he recalled the day. They had been scooping up coins, right, and then... that redheaded prefect chick came by, and some dude too.....

Aha that was right. NOW he remembered perfectly.

"I thought you were.... fffflirting.... with him." The word flirting sounded so foreign on Fletcher's tongue that he practically stuttered it. "You didn't seem bothered, not really."

And he had just... kind of stood back, watching the pair, and quietly scooping up more coins, as Fletcher recalled.

Maybe he couldn't remember? Rae could perfectly, Xylon walked up, kissed her hand, and kept saying random stuff about her... She had no idea how to react to this guy, she had obviously showed that she didn't like it. Both to Xylon and anyone who was paying attention...

FLIRTING?! Rae didn't even know how to flirt! "What? I wanted him to go away.. You stood there." Why did she even bring this up again? She would just get mad at him for something that happened a year ago. "I- Never mind. Sorry." She really was sorry, that was stupid to bring up.

Should Rae just leave? The thought sounded nice, getting out of this. Before she had the chance she was already spilling everything without meaning to. "Maybe..... Maybe I wanted you to step in. Cause I really liked you, and you didn't, after a little while, I was convinced we would only be friends. Xylon was there, he wanted to be more than friends, so I allowed it, and I trusted him. Now he forgot I even exist and you... You have girls all over you, I bet they didn't like you before you were champion."

Oh no, she didn't really say that did she? Rae clapped her hands to her mouth. How did she let this happen? She's never supposed to say what's in her mind! Rae wanted to run, far far away. Lock herself somewhere.

Quote:

Originally Posted by brelovesweasleys

Maybe he couldn't remember? Rae could perfectly, Xylon walked up, kissed her hand, and kept saying random stuff about her... She had no idea how to react to this guy, she had obviously showed that she didn't like it. Both to Xylon and anyone who was paying attention...

FLIRTING?! Rae didn't even know how to flirt! "What? I wanted him to go away.. You stood there." Why did she even bring this up again? She would just get mad at him for something that happened a year ago. "I- Never mind. Sorry." She really was sorry, that was stupid to bring up.

Should Rae just leave? The thought sounded nice, getting out of this. Before she had the chance she was already spilling everything without meaning to. "Maybe..... Maybe I wanted you to step in. Cause I really liked you, and you didn't, after a little while, I was convinced we would only be friends. Xylon was there, he wanted to be more than friends, so I allowed it, and I trusted him. Now he forgot I even exist and you... You have girls all over you, I bet they didn't like you before you were champion."

Oh no, she didn't really say that did she? Rae clapped her hands to her mouth. How did she let this happen? She's never supposed to say what's in her mind! Rae wanted to run, far far away. Lock herself somewhere.

"I.... did?" Fletcher scrunched up his face in an attempt to recall, as bits and pieces of the memory came back. "I did...." he repeated in the affirmative. "I'm so sorry. I didn't realize he was bothering you that mu-----"

And then he just forgot to finish his sentence, as Rae continued to reveal the true cause of her broodiness. "Oh."

That was all he said, for about five long minutes. Fletcher couldn't even look at her. His drawing paper became very, very interesting suddenly, and he traced a shape on the cover of the pad with his little finger. About five silent minutes passed before he looked back up at Rae.

"I liked you too. You were my first friend, Rae, and I'll never forget that."

He... He liked her too? Why didn't he ever say anything?!

Yes, Fletcher was also Rae's first friend. This... This was not what was supposed to happen. A long drawn out silence between them, it wasn't right. Once again, Rae spoke without meaning to. "Yeah, well you seemed to have forgotten the other day." Now, it should be her turn to walk away. He had done the same to her. She turned to walk away. She had a horrible feeling in her stomach that she really did ruin this friendship now.