Scream of Frustration (Open!)

After the unusually boring Charms lesson and unfortunately eventful aftermath, Aoife stormed off towards the common room. The dramatic effect wasn’t so effective, what with bumping into Hunter on the way out. Still, after she saw him leave, she headed in the other direction. Which led to the common room. She could assume that he and the rest of her house would go and have lunch now, so she was probably safe for a few minutes.

Now all of that had happened, she really wasn’t in the mood to stuff her face like she had been before. Anyway, if she got hungry at all, she could sneak out of the dormitory when everyone else was in class and go to the kitchens. Maybe she could spill all her problems out to Rosey. But for now, she just wearily climbed the stairs to her dorm. As predicted, it was empty, so she jumped straight onto her comfy four-poster bed and buried her head in the pillow.

Why did she feel… sad? She should be angry, maybe even relieved! Hunter was a git and he didn’t really deserve the privilege of being her best friend, anyway, after this. He’d said that a normal person would just say no, but if she did that, there would still be this unavoidable awkwardness. They most likely wouldn’t be talking to each other. And she’d feel a lot more guilty. Hunter regretted asking her now. If it had been different, she’d have to live with the guilt of being cruel enough to reject him. This way was far better.

The aching feeling in her stomach was not a pleasant one. Aoife had expected to feel a satisfaction of sorts, to be glad that she’d humiliated and possibly hurt him in revenge for asking her the damn question. And then explaining the damn question. But no, she had to realise now that she could have possibly maybe made a mistake. No! She couldn’t think like that! She was in the right here! It was all his fault, and she was going to act with the intention of proving that.

She let out a scream of frustration, slightly muffled by her pillow but still audible. ARGH.

Ariel had been sitting, completely stunned by the scene that had taken place in front of her. She had felt so bad that she had reached for Darcy's hand under the table, so she could focus on that and be able to keep her appearance normal. She had witnessed their awkward getaway and she had no finally risen from her chair. She packed her stuff down and gave a soft smile to Darcy before she left the classroom.

People were going for lunch. But Ariel could see red hair moving towards the common room. Ariel understood. She'd want to think about the situation as well now without other people around to whisper about it. But even so, Ariel decided that she ought to go after the older girl. Ariel honestly didn't understand love. She didn't feel repulsed by it, though. She never had. Her parents were so natural about it that it just couldn't be anything else but nice.

But she didn't understand it. She sighed as she started climbing the stairs. She wondered briefly what the lunch would be like, but then decided she'd only have to go to the kitchens if she got hungry. Or… hungrier. Ariel was always hungry. She loved food. She could imagine her death. Eating so much that her gut was torn apart.

But now was not the time to think about her death. She finally made it to the common room and quickly crossed it, knowing Aoife would've walked up to her dormitory. She made it to the third year room and stood a bit outside the door, debating whether or not to enter. And then she heard a scream, muffled, as if screamed into a pillow. Ariel bit her bottom lip.

She took a deep breath and pushed the door in. "Aoife?" she asked softly, her voice carrying into the almost empty room. Aoife was lying on her tummy, her face in her pillow. Ariel stood silent, not knowing what to do, because she had never been in the middle of such a situation before. She wondered if she should walk over, or if she should stay put. Maybe she should turn her head into a sheep's head? But most of all, she figured she shouldn't say anything more until Aoife recognized her presence.

When Aoife heard footsteps outside of her dorm, she sighed. Who was it? Why were they not eating? Would they come in? Had they heard her scream? Were there any other Gryffindor girl third-years? Had all the rest got sick? How had she not noticed that she was the only one? Anyway, that was off topic. She just wanted to know who this person was and if they were going to interfere with her messed up life.

Blonde hair. Pretty. Oh, it was Ariel. "Ariel?" she asked, turning around a little confused. She sat up on her bed. "Why aren't you eating?" From what she knew about the veela girl, she liked food a lot. Enough to start a food fight, that time. "Sorry, not in a rude way or anything." Aoife blinked. She was hardly even thinking about what she was saying. This thing had her shaken up. Badly.

Why was Ariel here? Even if she didn't want food or had already eaten, why did she bother? The younger girl was a nice person, that was probably why. But the redhead imagined that she'd be more on Hunter's side, if this was a war. Oh, she must plan on being the annoying peacekeeping, not-taking-sides person. Not that Ariel could ever be annoying.

That got her thinking about all the sides in this war. Hunter had Blake, Seren. Aoife had nobody. Victoria wouldn't pick, most likely. Lyra never ceased to surprise her, but the second-year was Hunter's sister. Siding with her would only get her in trouble with her cute little family. Lyn would be with Hunter. Loyal kid. Yes, so she was pretty much all alone.

"So..." she murmured, snapping out of her war thoughts when she realised she wasn't alone. "How's life, Ariel?" Probably better than hers.

Ariel stepped further into the room when she was acknowledged by Aoife. She gave a shrug. "Well, I wasn't really all that hungry," she easily lied. She closed the door behind her when Aoife assured her it wasn't meant to sound rude. It didn't sound rude. It sounded nice and almost caring. So she gave a light smile. "That's fine."

Aoife seemed to be thinking through some things, and Ariel let her. She didn't quite know why she was here. She just didn't want Aoife to be alone. She'd looked so lost. And Hunter had Blake. Ariel saw him rush off after Hunter. So Ariel wasn't worried about him for now. He was being taken care of. Aoife was not. So that was Ariel's task.

As Aoife finally spoke up, Ariel sighed and walked over. She pointed at Aoife's bed, wondering if she could sit. "Well, it's okay. Second year is better than first, but second year is also more complicated," she said. Not the classes, but the people. She had Nina, and Lyra to an extent, but those were the only ones she properly knew her own age, and the others she knew were third years or older, and the third years were dealing with all kinds of drama.

Ariel looked at Aoife and bit her lip. "How are you, though?" she asked, not in the 'I'm playing ignorant, and just being polite'-kind of way, but the 'I'm honestly concerned, and I want you to take this seriously'-kind of way. At least, as serious as a second year could be. She liked Aoife. The girl was fun. So she didn't like that Aoife was sad. That was not fun.

"Yeah, me neither." Aoife HAD been hungry, absolutely starving. Counting down the minutes until lunch didn't help much and she only got hungrier. But then IT happened - she winced even thinking about it - and suddenly she had no appetite whatsoever. In fact, she felt like vomiting. She'd always believed that food made anything at all better, but even chicken and mushroom pie with chocolate brownie and ice-cream for dessert couldn't save her now.

When Ariel pointed to her bed, she stared at her a little weirdly. What? OH, she wanted to sit down! She nodded solemnly, since apparently they weren't using words. But now they were again. "Second-year is better. People make fun of first-years." Aoife included, on occasion. Whereas, second-years could join in poking fun at the little ones. And they would feel much more mature and important in the school order of importance.

Aoife allowed her thoughts to wander off, relieved to have a distraction from IT. She thought of making fun of that little Ryan git. And all his pathetic little first-year friends. She hadn't seen any of them in a while, thank goodness. Their stupid little romantic stuff really got on her nerves. It was nothing. They wouldn't know real love if it hit them in the head. And it hurt a lot when romantic stuff hit you in the head.

Damn, she was back to the depressed thing. "I've been better," she replied. "Y'know, feeling sick, no real friends, messed up hair." It seemed to be standing upwards on her head. "But not complaining or anything. Otherwise, life is great." Obviously she was complaining. Her tone was bitter and her eyes were filled with hatred for Hunter.

Ariel sat down on the bed, kicked off her shoes and crossed her legs. She smiled slightly at that. "Yeah, they call first years stuff, but I never felt that it was a bad thing. I'm so used to it, having an older sister and all," she said with a shrug. Though Darcy didn't patronize her for being younger than her like a lot of older sisters did, she was very often categorized as Darcy's little sister by others.

Messed up hair? How did that contribute to feeling bad? Ariel didn't get Aoife's logic. Maybe because the girl was a teenager? Or maybe because when Ariel had messed up hair, she still looked cute, due to her veelablood? Ariel didn't know, but she really didn't know how on earth hair would be a problem. She did, however, decide not to be focused on that. After all, the girl had reacted rather badly to the date thing.

"No real friends?" Ariel asked. So, sure, Aoife and Ariel hadn't hung out that much together, but Ariel definitely considered Aoife her friend. But if that was the way Aoife felt, then it was all right. "I think of you as my friend, if that helps," she stated nicely.

Ariel wanted to know why Aoife felt it was so hurtful to be asked out, but she really didn't know how to phrase it without sounding as if she was judging Aoife for her reaction. She didn't judge, she simply didn't understand. So she sighed and straightened her back a bit. "Why did you dislike it so much?" she finally just said, not bothering to trying to find a way to say it nicer. Maybe Aoife wouldn't even understand what she meant, and would start talking about the sheets or something.