"Nah... I'm gonna stick Hogwarts out I think... I like it. And I have new buddies like you" Dani smirked, winking at Cove as she giggled before sighing deeply.

"Yeah he studies there... I know I know... I have two brothers too... but... I don't care what Luke thinks- he's too wrapped up in his own troubles to deal with mine anyway, and Dan's my twin so... he knows Dallas isn't that bad" she laughed as she sighed deeply. "Oh... yeah, the whole best friend thing. I've been there" she smirked. "Oh... you do, now?" she laughed- "What's he like?" she asked curiously.

That made even less sense. She wondered even more than she had before what he was talking about. She had evidentaly done something to upset him, but what?!

Wait-what? What was he talking about? She watched him speak and tried to keep confusion from taking over her face. She couldn't help let some of it leak through, she was sooo confused.

"Damien." Without thinking about it Isobel reached out and gripped his shoulders with her hands. She was going to shake him, but it was all she could do to keep her grip on his shoulders. "What's wrong?" She felt her cheeks get slightly warm, but kept her eyes unblinkingly focused on his face.

"Good, I would be sad if you left and I bet everyone else would be too." Cove smiled at Dani.

"Ah, lucky you! Sometimes I wish I only had two brothers.....Well, I bet Luke does think about you. He is your brother after all." Cove said. "Does Dan go here, too?" She asked. She blushed beat red when she asked what her crush was like. "Um, well, how about I just tell you who it is. It's your friend Connor. He's really sweet and kind and sings beautifully, plus he loved the song I made for my brother. Which I thought was a complete failure." Cove sighed. She hadn't seen him around for a bit.

Well that caught him off guard.

The last thing Damien expected was for Isobel to grab his shoulders. Why was there so much confusion in her voice? She had a -- a -- a boyfriend and Damien and Isobel were best friends. So what? It really isn't all that hard to figure out.

He took a long look at her hands as they rested on his shoulders, before looking at her, raised eyebrows and a puzzled expression himself. Isobel's eyes pierced to the depths of Damien's soul, and the slight rose color in her cheeks made her all the more beautiful.

UGH!

"Isobel," he said, gently pushing her hands off his shoulders. "I don't understand why you think something would be wrong with me. I asked you what we were, you said friends, I said that's great. End of story. Why won't you let it go?"

Okay, you know what? He didn't care anymore. As soon as the boy's hands were on his hair, he snapped that hand away from his face. Not too subtle now, right?

"But who's to say I want it to move forward?" wasn't he well-aware that Treyen was trying to keep his answers short so the boy would get bored and finally leave him alone? "Supposed. That's correct," not all Hufflepuffs were nice, and not all Hufflepuffs were bad people, the same thing applied to every one of the Houses and to the people in general.

Treyen blinked. A couple times.

O_o

Er, what? What was he talking about? Never mind. The next thing he said managed to make Treyen forget about it all. So...a boyfriend. Yeah, he didn't know what to say to that, he didn't even nod. At least he had more people around him now, just in case he'll be needing some backing up soon, but...this was just too weird.

THIS, plus the hair thing from before, it was...ack! He wanted to run away and hide, truth be told, but he was no coward. "Funny, you don't act like you have a boyfriend," and Treyen should mind his own business.

No Lexi, no Josh. That made it all weirder.

Dani couldn't help but laugh- "Oh, Connor" she smirked- "He's my best friend... err, more like brother now... but anyways- I've known him since we were in nappies and he's like... well... a bit of a ladies man" she admitted- "As much as he'd say he isn't... he is. But yeah... he is, he's an amazing singer. Well, just hold out on him" she winked at Cove. "Connor won't abandon you" she said softly as she brushed back her curls and sighed.

"And Dan goes to Durmstrang" she said with a little frown. "I don't like that he goes there" she admitted.

"Because..." because why? Because she wanted to know what was making him upset. Because a part of her hoped he would argue. Because she didn't want to be just best friends.

"Fine. I will." She gave up trying to figure him out. She would try later, but at the moment she was fed up. "Bye." She turned around and walked out of the courtyard, down to the lake so she could play soccer. Maybe that would help clear her head.

"EEH?" Heather tried to stifle a gasp, but it would seem Cass had noticed and heard it. She even knows she had been staying there for quite some time.

So she went out of her hiding place and approached her best friend, trying so hard to keep a smile on her face. "aheheh...uhm...I...probably should apologize..." she said.

Cove's face flushed even more when Dani started laughing. "He's your brother!?" Cove looked at Dani with wide eyes. "Ladies man? But he's a good guy though, right?" Cove asked. "I think I will hold out. Connor is a really awesome guy." She said smiling, blushing going down.

"Why do you not like it? I've only heard things about it. But I don't know much about it."

He felt relief and yet that ache in his heart was still there, ever so much more as he watched her walk away. Damien made no attempt to try and catch her this time. They both needed a break. From what? Maybe to figure things out, but what was there to figure out in the first place?

Isobel had her -- boyfriend, who was more than capeable of making her happy. The Hufflepuff couldn't help but beleive, however -- that he could make her happier.

Once she'd cleared his eyesight, Damien heaved a heavy sigh before turning skyward. "Is it a little too much to ask for just a LITTLE BIT of HELP?!?!" he shouted to the clouds.

As if they'd answer him.

Luke stepped out of the castle in to the warm June air. It felt nice, but he wouldn't want to be out for too long. Luke looked around, but it was his ears that alerted him to another person. Said person was yelling, apparently at the clouds. Luke walked over to him. "Clouds saying anything interesting?" He didn't mean it to be mean. If it came out that way, he was sorry.

"Well his Mum and my... well, my Uncle who's my adopted Dad, are on the verge of marrying- so technically... yeah" Dani laughed as she pushed back her curls and smiled- "He is a good guy. A very good guy" she said softly as she playfully nudged Cove and smiled.

"Durmstrang? It's tough. Very tough" she said honestly- "I don't know how he copes" she laughed before sighing a little. "So, got any summer plans? You should come stay a few days at my place" she nodded.

Not aware that someone had been in earshot of his yelling, Damien turned to see who belonged to the voice -- Hang on a second. This baby face looked slightly familiar. Tilting his head to the side just so slightly, he realized who it was.

Great. Wonderful. As if nothing ELSE could not go his way.

Giving the boy a sideways glance, Damien ran his hand through his hair. "No," he replied. "They're typically not very conversational."

"Ah, that's kinda cool." Cove said smiling. She giggled when Dani nudged her. "Hey I'm very ticklish here, c'mon!" She laughed.

"It sounds tough. Like if some guy walked up to you from the school and he said 'You know I am obviously a Durmstrang boy and I am very tough.' With his chest all puffed out and then he turns out to be a big whimp." Cove put on a very bad fake accent when she was quoting. "Not saying that's your brother." Cove didn't want offend anyone. "Well, probably surfing and I think my family is going to meet me at our house in London for a vacation if my oldest brother is feeling up to it." Cove informed Dani. "Really? Would your Uncle be okay with that? Your house seems be a lot of fun."

Dani laughed- "Well, there's a lot of bullies. And I don't count them as strong at all" she smirked and sighed- "Nah, Dan's strong... emotionally too" she admitted with a little smile.

"Oh awesome, surfing. I was practically a sea baby so I've done a fair bit of that" she laughed, she'd been in the ocean countless time, mainly to do with Luke's... parentage, but then partly because she'd loved it so much. "Yeah, he'd be okay with it!" she said softly with a little nod. "It would be so fun!" she nodded again with a big smile. "And you'd see Connor" she smirked.

"I bet. Is it an all boys school or is her both boys and girls?" Cove asked Dani. "Bullies aren't strong, they're really whimps that just look so tough and when someone that is samller than them comes along they beat 'em up, ya know?" Cove said.

"Then you would love my house - minus all the chaos. We live right on the beach. Easy access to Pacific Ocean and to cute boys. You should come over." Cove smiled. "Okay, I think my parents would be very happy about me spending sometime with firends here out of school. Thanks for inviting me." She said. "It would be a lot of fun!"

Cass couldn't help the smirk creeping up on her face. She was just making a lucky guess when she called out for Heather...huh, it turns out she really did know her well.

She then cocked an eyebrow towards her direction when she offered to apologize. "You think?" Cass replied, after all, spying on your friend wasn't exactly a very polite thing to do.

Nika skipped towards the courtyard and found a nice little place to sit down. She looked around and took a few deep breaths full of the fresh air. Why hadn't she been out here recently? She missed it all too much. Nika smiled at some random students who walked by and noticed something rather unusual-- she was lonely. Nika Alder was not with a friend for once and it felt completely miserable. So like she did in all sorts of moments, she began to sing, yes sing. If someone else who looked lonely happened to walk by she'd be the first one to jump up to go talk to them. Nika Adler is going to snag someone to talk to. She will not be lonely for any longer!

Now to wait for someone to walk by. Then she can pounce on them and demand friendship.

Bring lonely was bringing out the worst in her...

"Just guys. Girls are strong but I don't think we'd put up with it" Dani laughed as she smoothed out her skirt and fiddled with her sketchbook. "Yeah, I get what you mean. They're just... pathetic" she smirked.

"Oh wow! I am so there!" she laughed- "Yeah, it's gonna be awesome, we'll have a blast" she said softly. "You can help me with my niece, she's a bit of a handful" Dani smirked as she pushed back her curls again and smiled warmly.

William walks by and sees Nika. " I just saw you" William told Nika. " I had been here looking for eomeone to talk to today" William said to Nika. "So what have you been doing lately?" William asked Nika.

"I think they wouldn't put up with it. I think girls would talk back to much and yell in people's faces." Cove said laughing with Dani. "Pathetic is a good word to describe them."

"There will be several end of school beach parties going on and my family always has a HUGE bonfire every weekend." Cove siad. "Aww, you have a niece? Handful, shamful. That doesn't matter to me." She said smiling.

Dani laughed- "Yeah" she smirked before nodding- "Ooh that's so awesome! I love bonfires and stuff like that! I can't wait to see all of that" she smiled excitedly and knowing that Rowan would be watching her from the sea was always comforting, because he ruled that place, literally. And he was sorta like her Dad... sorta. She smirked- "You'll like her- she is beyond cute, she's called Lana" she said softly as she brushed back her curls. "And she was given my second name" she said proudly with a big smile. "So we're Danielle Christina and Lana Christina" she laughed.

"Good I'm glad you like that type of stuff. I'm big on the parties. Does your family have any traditions?" Cove asked smiling. "Lana? Now that's pretty. It's different." Cove said. "Sweet. Mine is Cove Sunset and I live in Sunset Cove. I am named after the town I have been born and raised in." She rolled her eyes. Her mother was crazy.

"Well... to be truthful- our family has had a lot of drama. We don't really have any traditions- but I guess we're gonna be making them! Although, my older brother used to do a lot for me and Dan, he tried to make every Christmas special, he'd always take us to the beach in Summer and stuff..." she shrugged and smirked a little, somewhat sadly though- "Your family sounds ao amazing, you're lucky!" she said softly.

"And Cove Sunset... that's lovely! Original!" Dani giggled as she smiled widely at Cove.

"I can tell that you are close to your brothers. Only because I'm close to my oldest brother." Cove said smiling. She missed her brother, but he wasn't doing well at the moment. Her face slowly turned to sadness, but then back to happy. She wasn't going to be sad today. Cove has had a good day so far and talking with Dani made her forget about all her family problems. "Sometimes drama is good for a family. My family may seem like it's fun and everything, but we have drama too. There are twelve people in my family. Not one of us are related. Families always have a lot of drama. It's what keeps us together." For some reason, she signed the last part of her sentence. "Sorry, it's a habit that I usually control." Cove said smiling.

"Sure being named after the town that I live in. I'm just glad it's reversed and not actually Sunset Cove." Now that would be bad.... "I would legally change my name if that's what it was."