Jezz laughed. "I've been avoiding her more than ever since then. I swear I thought she wanted me dead." She gave a shudder. "That lady is creepy."

Quote:

Originally Posted by hermy_weasley

Lima bit her lip slightly as Pretzel edged away slightly. "Look, I'm sorry, I really am..." she said blushing. "I'm just worried about him in general is all. He's been having some... problems..." She didn't want to mention the nightmares. She just sighed.

Rapunzel really felt bad for Lima now. Ryan could sure be obnoxious and weird sometimes, but at least he didn't have nightmares/fall into/out of comas.

"Oh, it's okay Lima," she said with one last friendly pat on the back. "Just try and relax and enjoy the party, mmkay? After all....next term it will be our trophy..."

She winked confidently and then popped back next to Ryan. Heh. Smooth.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tailzinator

Neo popped into the broomshed, soon after Max. His face harboured a mischievous smile, mixed with one of happiness. "Good game, guys," he said to the players in the room before taking to leaning against a wall to watch the festivities.

And just in time too, she was. Cuz whoo hooo hoo somebody gorgeous had entered the room.

Rapunzel could literally feel her jaw drop a few inches when she got a look at this - was he a professor? Surely that simple word couldn't describe his devilishly handsome, tall, dark good looks....

Quote:

Originally Posted by cake.ninjak

MWAHAHA. Ryan had turned on his devilish charm. "And that was a lucky shot, mind you," Ryan said. It was both a true compliment, and something he said to butter her up a bit. She probably needed a pick-me-up with the loss and everything. "You playing keeper is like...I dunno. Putting a lid on tupperware. Nothing can get in or out."

WHAT kind of an analogy was that?!

He squirmed a bit and chuckled as Rapunzel tickled him. Thank goodness he wasn't ridiculously ticklish, or else the trophy would have been shattered on the ground. "Stop!" he said through the laughter. "I'm going to drop it!"

As Rapunzel had her little conversation with this Hufflepuff girl, Ryan felt sort of like a rag doll. He was being thrown left and right, and his first instinct was to protect the cup, which he hugged tightly.



"HERE!" Ryan shouted at the appearance of his Head of House and idol.

He would have said something else....but he couldn't really think of anything. He was still too happy to formulate sentences.



When the groundskeeper appeared in the shed, Ryan happened to catch the look on Rapunzel's face. She was all googly-eyed, and if he didn't find it hilarious beyond belief, he would have been upset. But luckily for both of them, he found it hilarious.

"Want me to introduce you to him?"

"Tupperware...?" Punz managed to sputter, recovering a bit from the sight of the dazzling groundskeeper. "Hold on - isn't that the Muggle, er," she scratched her head for a sec. "Is that a Muggle blender or something? I think my mom might have one...."

Honestly, she could care less...unless that was an insult. Poor Pretzel never did help much around the kitchen...perhaps that was why she was so terrible at potions.

"You could put that silly trophy down, you know," she replied with a grin. "I mean, it's not going anywhere. No one's going to take it....yet..." she couldn't help adding with a bit of a wistful stare. So shiny. So big. So not hers.

Sigh.

Being introduced to that professorish dude would definitely make up for any quidditch loss though, in Rapunzel's world anyways. "Oh? You know him?" she said faintly, starting to blush. Was her staring that obvious that her own boyfriend noticed?! "PLEASE do, tell me who he is..."

"Oh. I thought maybe I started to pull you down with me or something," he explained, feeling his cheeks heat up. Wow. He hadn't blushed around Anna in...a while. That was a good thing, he concluded. Before he blushed around her all the time. It just got him in trouble, and he had been certain that he was giving away all his feelings in that stupid bodily function.

"Oh, I see him, over by that one Hufflepuff quidditch player," he said, craning his neck to finally catch a glimpse of them. "Should we go bug them? I dunno," he muttered. He never knew when it was appropriate to interrupt stuff like that. "OI!" he cried as his girlfriend called him by his full name...in PUBLIC...and then proceeded to punch him in the arm. "Must I remind YOU that your punches hurt?" he asked, chuckling a little bit as he rubbed his arm. Even though it felt like he had just been hit in the arm with a Bludger, she still looked cute when she punched him. "Don't forget, I'm in second...I'm catching up," he said, sticking his tongue out at her.

Neo looked thoughtful as he drank a bit of his lemonade. Creepy wasn't even enough to describe that woman. "She is...odd," he said slowly, after he had taken the cup away from his mouth. "One moment she can be the happiest person in the world...and the next moment...well, let's say she redefines the saying 'if looks could kill," he chuckled.

"It probably is best if you just stay away. Better chance of you staying alive," he sighed as he went to take another bite of his sandwich, before stopping again. "You know...in all the fury and Dion-ness anger...I never got your name."

"I'm Jezz. Jezzabell Higby. I met you in Hogsmeade in the begining off the term." She wasn't surprised that this wacky guy hadn't remembered her. Besides, she had mainly been talking ti Vindictus at the time.

Anna stood on her tippy toes, trying her hardest to see what Cale was seeing. It was no use, though. "Ugh, I can't see a thing, Cale," she replied, annoyance written all over her face. "Whether we go bug him or not will have to be your call. I can't even see what's going on over there. Who's he with?"

Anna jumped a bit when Cale yelled out. "What?!?!" she exclaimed, looking over at him as if she expected a hippogriff or something to be plunging through the crowd right towards them. "My punches can't hurt that much, Newell," she fussed. "I'm a 5'2" little shorty!" She wrinkled her face in annoyance again and grabbed his arm, looking it over to make sure she hadn't done any serious damage. "Sorry, Cale," she mumbled, giving him an apologetic look. "And I do see you creeping up on me in points. As a matter of fact, I'm actually glad you are. Who else would I want at the top with me besides you?"

...oh. There she went, making things awkward. Issy should have known better than to have gotten so excited. That confusion had momentarily rendered her foolish, she assumed. Otherwise, she'd have known better than to have hugged him and said he missed him. Cheeks flaming red, the dancing light in her hazel eyes abruptly ceased and turned dark.

Stupid, silly Issy. Assuming that because samson had approached her and said hello it meant he was happy to see her again.

Biting her lip again and sighing (again!) Rubbing the back of her neck, she averted her gaze. Ah. The way he spoke, it seemed Samson didn't even really want to be near her. His flat, monotonous voice actually made her feel a little ill and a little saddened. So, she'd missed him but he hadn't actually missed her. "That's nice" Who said that?

Looking away from him, jaw set firm, mouth in a straight line, she lightly made a sfot "hmph" noise.

Was he telling her she should run off with other boys? Because she was here first.

"I don't want to go run off with boys, as you put it," she replied flatly. "Are you trying to get rid of me suddenly? I was here first, thank you very much."

"Orlynow?" he said with a slight mouth full of food. He quickly swallowed and shook his head, "my apologies...At Hogsmeade, you say? Hmm..." He raised an eyebrow in throught, trying to remember the moment. "My mind must have been elsewhere...I'm sorry, but I assure you, I shall remember the name now, Miss Higby," he smiled gently before finishing off the last of his sandwich.

"Some Hufflepuff player. We'll leave them alone for now," he decided, going over to the nearby table and grabbing a drink. He wasn't about to eat ANY foods from here--especially not if Vindictus had put them out. That man had lost all his trust when it came to food after that one flying lesson.

"Oh, oh really?" Cale asked, grinning in spite of himself and looking down at her. "It doesn't matter how tall you are--your punches hurt. End of story," he said, sticking his tongue out at her. He was about to say that he was 5'11" and probably couldn't punch as hard as her, but he didn't want to her to think he was a wimp or anything. "Honestly, I think it would be so cool if you were top in points. I'd be dating the smartest girl in school," he said with a grin.

"Yeah.. you did save me from almost certain death." She looked around. She couldnt find the one person she was looking for. "Have you seen Antwone Thomas by any chance?" She hadn't seen him in FOREVER.

"I'm afraid to say that I've never met a kid with such a name...yet," Neo replied after downing his sandwich with the last of his lemonade. "I'm sorry for not being able to be of more help," he said, looking apologetic, "He'll turn up. Eventually," he added, with a smile for encouragment.

Hmph. Samson was NOT in the mood for this. He didn't want to put up with emotions at the moment, thanks very much. Especially when they came from Issy. He wasn't used to that! Yes, he recognized that he himself frequently had mood swings, but that didn't mean Issy was supposed to have them too. They were different. They had different situations and feelings and things. Just because he did it didn't mean she had to do it, too.

Fine! Let her be stubborn and pout like a bratty little girl. Who's fault was it that he suddenly became like this anyway? It was her hug. So it was her fault. He had nothing to do with it! And now it was karma, getting back at her because she decided she wouldn't give him a proper hello.

Girls.

"I didn't mean for it to sound that way, but if you're going to look at it like that, then be my guest," he snapped back. At least he was trying to be polite. "I did come up to you and had no intention of arguing, but I guess my timing was wrong, and now you decide to pick a fight." He took a step back and surveyed her. "And you can always tell me to go away if you really wanted to."

"Yeah.." She said, trying to sound less dejected than she felt. "Stupid guys."She mumbled under her breath. "So what does a groundskeeper do?" She asked, genuinly curious.

"We do pretty much what our title says," he shrugged lightly. "We keep the grounds looking good. You know...make sure none of the trees in an area are dying...keeping the flower gardens look good...making sure everything is clean and no student is burning my grounds. Oh and snowball fights, we like to participate in snowball fights," he chuckled at that one. "I would have liked to host a picnic of some sort...but...I had a feeling that in a school of all guys, a "picnic" didn't sound very appealing," he shrugged, "ah well, put it on the back burner, I guess."

Jezz giggled at the thought of a picnic of all guys. "Picnics are nice, but you have to have both girls and guys or they tend to be rather lame."

So this was the moment she'd been waiting so long for? For Samson to get mood swingy and confusing and to snap at her and be all mean and rude? This should have been forseen, she told herself. She shouldn't have even let herself get all excited or even hope, because Sasmon was her friend last year and this year he didn't even care.

Again, her throat constricted and this time it wasn't even because she was so captivated by his beauty. This time it was because holding back tears was so impossibly hard.

One of the very people Issy had considered her friend, one of her closer friends... urgh, she didn't want to think it. Ag. Where was Juni? Eyes looking upward, face tipped away from him, hoping the light wouldn't catch the tears, Issy swallowed thickly.

All those moments... she knew they'd happened. They were safely tucked away in her diary. Maybe not for him, but for her they'd happened. Issy knew, even now, she liked and she still liked Samson. How had she let herself fall for a jerk like him?

Fredreich had been right. He was only good at hurting her and that made the trembling tears finally fall. Not just a single tear, but one after another. Angrily, she bit her lip and finally wiped at her eyes with a tightened fist.

"You're right," Issy snapped in a sarcastic voice that seemed wrong. "All I'm aiming to do is a pick a fight. I only hugged my friend who I'd missed in aims of picking a fight! Hah, silly me!" The last senstance came out somewhat shrill, rolling off in her Scottish tongue as she continued to avoid his face, cheeks flaming scarlet with anger and shame.

How silly and foolish of her.

Rhiannon got an innocent look on her face. "Fun at your expense? When have we had that?" She remembered them having fun over Christmas break, but it wasn't usually at his expense. Except for maybe the snowball fight. Titling her head, she tried to remember the train from before the term. "Well, Taliesin was in the compartment I was in earlier, with Elizabeth and Bella. And I don't really remember who or what else might have been in there."

As he laughed at her comment about the cheesecake, she grinned. "I never said cheesecake didn't taste good. And since I haven't seen your fridge, I couldn't tell you what else might be in it. I'm not psychic, you know."

She surreptitiously pulled his hand out of his pocket and slipped hers into it as Professor Vindictus came in, along with several of her teammates and the groundskeeper from Cooper's. She knew she should probably mingle, but she didn't really want to. It wasn't like she was hidden, exactly. If someone wanted to find her, they could. And she didn't care if Vindictus saw her holding Josh's hand. It wasn't against any of the rules she could think of.

She smiled at James as he congratulated her. "Thanks. This was the first term I was able to play in all the games, in their entirety. And I haven't fainted or anything, either." She knew Josh would understand her meaning. "Ryan's always been good. At least, since I've known him. I think being captain was just stressing him out this term."

She nodded as they talked about how they wouldn't be graduating from Hogwarts. "I've never been a fan of these schools. I just hope I can pass my NEWTs and graduate. And hopefully Hogwarts comes back soon. Because my cousin started this term as a fourth year, so she has a few terms left, and I kinda want her to be able to experience the real Hogwarts." Her curiosity was piqued by the Ravie's gaze going between her and Josh, but she figured he would have said something if he wanted to.

Constantine chuckled, "I figured as much. Snowball fights, however...now...those can never be lame." He folded his arms across his chest and nodded, "I got into a snowball fight with a couple of first years...let's just say, by the end of it, they had me feeling like I was WAY old," he laughed and stroked his chin, thoughtfully. "Do you guys do anything fun at your school?"

That was the last straw. No, Samson wasn't going to be swayed by tears this time. There was no point in that. Time and again, whenever he'd meet with Issy, they'd always end up fighting and she'd end up crying and he'd end up just plain fed up with everything. Call him cold-hearted or whatever you wanted to. Samson Carswell didn't care. There were way too many moments that he gave up on his will because Issy shed a tear. There were way too many moments when he'd beat himself up because Issy was crying, and he'd think it was his fault even when it wasn't. Was it his fault she was such a cry baby? All he was doing was trying to talk to her. It wasn't his fault he existed.

"Y'know what? I don't understand you. I don't get you at all. I don't know why you're so caught up it trying to please me. You know how I am! You know I don't like physical contact much, and yet you continually torture yourself by coming up and hugging me anyway. Then you cry and try to make it look like it's my fault, and then think that you can get away with it. I know how you are, Issy. You try to cheer people up, and when your greatest attempt doesn't work, you move on. I don't get why you can't do that with me. I mean, I don't want to do anything to hurt you. I don't want to do that! I get the impression that you're trying to hurt yourself, though. You're always so thoughtful, and very admirable, but I'm starting to think that some of your traits are starting to become your undoing."

Phew.

...She could have just said she'd missed him. Just that. Because really, he missed her, too.

Ryan grinned. "Tupperware is a generic name for muggle food containers. Those lids are shut tight!" he said, as he chuckled at her guess. "Not the same as a blender."

He shrugged, trophy still in hand. "I could...it's not mine - it's the house's, but I'm still going to hang onto it."

At least Neo was around to help distract her from the trophy. For that, Ryan was thankful. He lead Rapunzel over to the Groundskeeper for Cooper's School and patiently waited for a good time to interrupt.

"Uhh, sir," he said after clearing his throat. "This is Rapunzel, my girlfriend. She...er...wanted to meet you."

Did Samson have any idea what he was asking, Issy wondered. He was the densest boy she had ever known and Fredreich used to be pretty dense. For her, the worst part of this, besides him lecturing her like she was a little child, was that she knew exactly, now, why she was so eager to please. To see him smile and to be the one to make him smile. Wiping her eyes more as the tears fell even harder she had to turn away.

Standing here by the table, crying, in the middle of the room, felt pretty silly and foolish and she looked around, desperate. Where were Juni and Becca? Willow? Even Mister Ryan? Surely the Ravenclaw Captain was around somewhere.

Trying to hurt herself, she scoffed. If Issy could stop liking Samson, she would in a heart beat. She would have the day he made her cry and she was left in the snow with Aiden. What was it she even saw in him? Samson Carswell was not that amzing, she tried to tell herself. He left her to cry and often CAUSED her to cry. The boy was rather an insensitive jerk who seemed to think it was perfectly fine for him to have mood swings but that it was wrong for anyone else to.

"I give up," she muttered, finally turning away. "It's impossible to be your friend Samson, and I'm not sure you really want me to be, with the way you keep pushing me away. Go off and be with Gavin or whoever you actually WANT to be friends with, because I realize now I must not be good enough or I do it wrong or something. Obviously, I should have known when you never came to visit in Hogsmeade like Gavin or to even reply to my letter. So silly, Issy," she continued to rant, but her voice became weak as she began to chide herself. "Fredreich was right - why didn't you listen to him?"

And as she realized she was only making herself cry harder, she swiftly moved for a corner of the small shack they were in, which unfortunately only seemed to be three of her little steps away.

From this moment, she vowed, she would ignore and forget about Samson.

"Difficult?" Vannie asked looking quite confusing. "Are you gonna give up that easily?" She added really hoping that he wouldnt. Surely it wasnt that Difficult. She could do it afterall, so it couldnt be that difficult. She would get Miles to tryout next year. She would just annoy him till he did. But then they'd probably have to play against each other. Friendly competition is good right?

Vannie smiled, following his gaze over to Cale and Anna. "Its Anna isnt it?" She nodded pretty sure that it was her name. "Lets go talk to them," She added with a smile as she looked back up at Miles before back at the two gryffindors.

He chuckled at reece as she always had the same idea as he did."Even better when you have an endless supply of it." he was sure if he ate more than a small cake he would heel over and die from all the sugar. He hardly had anything with that much sugar in it.

he gave him a smile as he shrugged." its alright." he told him as he was sure dan was a busy man. He had kate to try to hold back..crazy rock girl. Rocks have feelings! he chuckled a little as it came to his mind. He missed kate....crazy hippie. Oh man he was having a lot of flash backs lately. Guess it came with being in your last year." Its cool. i was their for some of the games, but to be honest im not totally sure i was actually there." if dan got his drift." Oh hey dan this is rhiannon. Rhiannon this is dan." he said introducing them." What have you been up too lately?" he hadnt seen him around really.

"Yeah ryan did great too." he tended to forget about everyone else on the team since he barely knew any of them other than rhiannon. he chuckled at the ministry comment."this year seem a bit of waste...im not sure i learned anything from the ministry." it was true. Hogwarts teachers were the only ones who cared enough to teach something worthwhile." You okay man?" he asked as he looked at them both.

"when did we have that?" Now she was the one with the bad memory."i'll tell you later." he told her as now wasnt a great time to start listing off things they had done over christmas break." See more than you said before." he won." But it was pretty crowded..at least for me.Not sure what its like ..." he took a moment to remember what it was like at her aunts house at the wedding." well nevermind, Your pretty use to crowded."

she started talking about his fridge." Well..which one are we talking about? cause their my fridge in france..which i wouldnt eat anything in that thing. Its probably been ages since anything has even been put in that thing. And then their is more alex's- pierce's fridge which was always stuffed with good stuff." where was she...man he hadnt seen her around either. Maybe he should of gotten out more."Your physic sometimes." he added."maybe not intentionally." he looked around as he felt someone pull his hand out of his pocket and slide theirs into his. he looked over at her as he gave her a small smile. he looked over at the door as he chuckled at ryan's entrance. bet he was the happiest guy around right now.

he chuckled at her fainted comment." good thing too." it would of been his nerves. he listened to her as she talked about being worried about being able to graduate." If i can pass it then you defiantly can. besides you have that whole ravenclaw smart thing going on." he watched her as she started to talk about one of her cousins." i hope its not like this next year...no one should have to be like this again." bad education.

Samson's brow arched over his eyes in frustration. Why was she always so difficult? Why was it so that she always had to be right and he was always wrong? It always had to be his fault. Issy always blamed him for being a jerk and making her cry. But if she knew so much that he made her cry, why did she keep coming back? He just didn't see the point. Why couldn't it be that it was Issy's fault for a change? She made herself cry because she didn't want to give up on him.

"Of course I want to be your friend, Issy. There's nothing wrong with that. It just seems that every time I want to be friends with you, you're not interested and you decide to be snappy. And whenever I'm not in the mood, you are. So where does that leave us? Nowhere. We always miss this certain mark where the two of us actually agree on something. I guess it's just that difficult to be you and me, huh Issy? I mean, I always thought you knew me so well that you'd avoid me whenever you thought necessary, but it seems that you never did. So I had to pull myself away, for your sake. If you don't see it that way, then I don't blame you. It's just that sometimes, there's something about you that I... can't stand." He didn't mean to say it. It was just out of frustration. A guy could only take so much, and he'd been taking all he could since Issy came about.

He knew coming to this party was stupid.

Barry walked into the broomshed he saw Ryan and asked "Did we win?"