A Meeting of the Girl Gang

Harley's eyebrows raised higher and higher as Rory responded, a teasing grin splitting her face. Sure, Rory had said no, but it was the kind of no that inspired further inspection. "Reeeeeally?" She teased. "That didn't sooound very certain..."
 
Hayley smirked. She could see a golden opportunity to make Rory uncomfortable here, and there was no way on Earth she was ever going to pass that up. "Come on Rory, spill the beans. That was the least sincere 'no' I've heard in my life. And we all know the punishment for wimping out on a truth." She wiggled her fingers in a threatening tickling gesture.
 
Rose was surprised when Rory picked truth, but she giggled at Harley's question. It was one Rory should have expected, honestly, and Rose was very interested int he answer. Rory's no sounded very unconvincing, even to Rose. Her friends seemed to agree, and Rose eagerly jumped into the discussion. "Oh oh! Rory!" She said, clapping her hands. "It's that guy you hang out with, isn't it? The one you went out with when I had to stand watch. Aodhan? Something like that." She grinned. "Isn't it? Tell uuuus." She said pleadingly, though her wide grin didn't waver.
 
Rory's head swung back and forth between Harley and Hayley, both girls giving her looks that didn't seem particularly beneficial for her health. "I said no cause the answer's no," she said, hoping that this time she sounded more serious. She was sure the answer was 'no' - there was no reason for it not to be 'no.' Her stupid brain was just trying to trip her up, that must be it. "I'm not wimping out - I don't like anybody." There was all that weird kissing and hand holding stuff going on when you liked somebody, right? Rory definitely didn't want to be doing any of that with... her face blanched at Rose's words. It was the look of betrayal she gave her friend that truly pushed her over the edge of no return in regards to believable denial. "It's not," she spluttered. "Why would it be - Aodhan's just fun, that's all." Her face flushed in defensiveness. "And he's actually a big centaur scaredy-cat baby. He made us come back out of the forest cause he was such a wimp, and I had to buy him ice cream to make up for it!" Realising what she'd said, Rory clamped her lips shut. It would surely only give the other girls more ammunition against her.
 
Hayley rested her elbows on her knees and her chin on her hands, making her lean forward and down towards Rory with a mocking grin on her face. Hayley found her rushed attempts to defend herself pricelessly amusing. "Well, well, well. Whatever were you doing in the forest with a boy, Miss Night? That sounds highly suspicious to me." Of course, she wasn't really implying that anything untoward had happened - she'd gone into the forest with Rose, after all, though she was sure Rory wouldn't think to turn that against her. But it was absolutely worth it to see the look on Rory's face.
 
Going for a truth rather than a dare had become ten times worse than Rory could have ever imagined. Hayley's retort only made her feel more pressure to convince the others she wasn't lying (because she wasn't), and she tried to glare at the other girl in an attempt to get her to back off, though of course it was made ineffectual by the panic of embarrassment that was creeping up her neck. "We weren't doing anything - it was the same stuff I did with Harley back in first year!" She gestured wildly at the friend in question, hoping that the other girl would come to her rescue - she usually could have counted on Rose, but she was the one who had got her into this mess by mentioning Aodhan at all. "Look, I'll just take the punishment if you think I'm lying even though I'm not," she stressed. Maybe this would get her friends off her back about the subject. "Or we could just move on - Rose it's your turn next, right?" she asked desperately. "Truth or dare?"
 
Rose could tell that Rory was starting to get upset with their teasing, and she knew they had to stop here. It was supposed to be fun, and if one of them wasn't having fun something had to be changed. So when Rory said it was now her turn, she nodded immediately and latched onto it. "Oh yes! Uhm," she paused, thinking it over, "why not? Truth." She said with a grin. She didn't think she really had any secrets, so she didn't think she would be upset by whatever her friends would say.
 
Insanely glad that Rose went along with her attempt to shift the focus off herself, Rory had to stop and think for a moment when her friend chose truth. There were plenty of dares she could think of, but... truth was supposed to be the lame and boring choice, and Harley's question had been anything but. The residual embarrassment at least provided a spark of inspiration, and Rory managed to muster up a slight grin as she thought of something. "Okay then - Rose, you have to, right now, relive your most embarrassing moment ever, and tell us every detail." It was only fair, right? And then she could move on to trying to embarrass the other two as well.
 
Rose was glad to take the heat off Rory, but she felt a little stab of irritation at the question Rory asked her in return. That was hard to answer! Rose got into quite a few embarrassing situations. But like with many things, now that she actually had to name one she couldn't seem to remember any. She frowned, looking up at the ceiling as she thought back. "Well, I don't know about you guys but I used to do weird stuff with my magic. And one time I like... somehow teleported myself into a high tree as I was running from Phoebe for some reason." She grimaced. "And... well, I'm sort of scared of heights and with the sudden shock. I really freaked out. Like, screaming and crying. And people came to see what the ruckus was about and saw me in that tree, but they were muggles so didn't understand how I had climbed up there only to be scared later." She shrugged. "I couldn't explain, and really couldn't do anything but freak out more. I vomited when they rescued me. Felt really bad for that afterwards." She paused, frowning slightly. "Is that enough detail?" She asked, a slight edge to her voice. She wished she had been a little less honest, perhaps, but there was nothing to do about it now. "So uh... I guess it's Hayley's turn right?" She asked, trying to keep her happy grin in place. "Truth or dare!"
 
Hayley gave Rose a sympathetic glance. Embarrassing stories were supposed to be funny, but that one was clearly something of a painful memory for her friend. Hayley hadn't known that Rose was scared of heights, but actually it made sense of some offhanded comments Rory had made. "Yeah, I used to do weird stuff, too. Scared the hell out of me and Mum. At least you understood what was happening." Hayley didn't mean to make herself seem a victim here, but to deflect attention from Rose's story, since she obviously didn't want to talk about it any more than she had to. On the other hand, Hayley didn't want to dwell on her own alarming early magical experiences, either. So . . . truth or dare? She's thought initially that truth would be the boring option, but the last couple had been anything but. And Hayley thought she was reasonably safe from uncomfortable truths; she didn't keep secrets from her friends. Although she suspected that Rose had thought that too, and she had been handed the epitome of an embarrassing question. Still, she couldn't do that again. "Ya know, I think I'll jump on the truth bandwagon."
 
Rose felt a little embarrassed at the admission she had made for this question. Why couldn't she have come up with a funnier story? She gave Rory a quick smile to show she wasn't upset with her, and then focused on Hayley. "Truth, huh?" She asked brightly. "Let me think..." Rose wasn't very good at coming up with good questions or dares, but she thought Hayley might have enjoyed tormenting Rory a bit too much about the boy she liked. Or didn't like. Whatever. So maybe it was time for some pay-back for her friend's sake. "Have you ever kissed anyone?" She asked the Slytherin, though Rose thought the answer was probably 'no'. Surely they would have discussed that already if any of them had.
 
Hayley looked down, staring absently at the top of Harley's head beneath her, the way her messy hair twisted and curled. The hot sensation of embarrassment crept up her neck and flushed her cheeks. Why had Rose had to ask this question, of all the infinite possibilities? For any other query about her nonexistent romantic life she could have honestly answered 'no'. But Rose had unerringly stumbled across the one embarrassing incident she hadn't mentioned to her friends. Well, she'd have to tell them now. She wasn't about to get into the same mess Rory had by denying it - although admitting the truth was hardly better. Still gazing fixedly at the soft waves of Harley's hair, she muttered, "Yeah."
 
Harley was honestly a little relieved when the subject moved on. It had been funny, teasing Rory about her crush, but she didn't want to actually make any of her friends uncomfortable. Unfortunately, Rose's question turned out quite uncomfortable as well, and Harley was beginning to regret this truth round, hoping Hayley would say dare. That was all erased from her mind though, the second Hayley answered her question. It should have been a softball, one all of them would certainly say no to. But Hayley had said yeah, and Harley's jaw dropped. "WHAT?!" She yelled, grabbing Hayley's leg and shaking it slightly. "WHEN DID THIS HAPPEN?! WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL ME?!"
 
Although Rory was initially kind of keen for someone else to be as embarrassed and uncomfortable as she was, as Rose answered her truth question she began to feel bad that she had even asked it. "Wait, you're scared of heights? Always? Why didn't you say anything?!" It was a revelation for Rory. She'd known Rose for two whole years and she'd never even suspected such a thing as important as this could be going on with her friend. They lived in castle most of the year, they'd been made to fly in first year, they'd - a lot of things were suddenly making sense to Rory now, actually. "This is why we had that fight about the kitchen last year, isn't it?"

She was still mulling it all over while Rose gave Hayley her own truth question, which meant that she wasn't really paying close attention to it. It was an easy answer anyway, everyone knew that the answer had to be - Rory's mouth gaped open in shock at hearing an answer she completely hadn't expected. "Wha - why would you kiss someone?!" She didn't know if Hayley had heard her over Harley's intense reaction to the news, but it wasn't like she was really expecting an answer. It was just natural to voice your shock at the fact that the world had completely flipped on its head. Who did Hayley even know to be kissing?
 
Rose hadn't really thought about the fact that Rory hadn't known about her fear of heights. She had told Harley in their second year, but not Rory. She shrugged. "I guess I was embarrassed." She told the redheaded Gryffindor. "I mean, you guys are all so brave about that sort of thing." She nodded when Rory brought up the fight last year. "Yep! I didn't wanna go to the North Tower. Still hate it." She said matter-of-factly. She sometimes went to visit Phoebe, but tended to avoid it. No matter how stable the towers seemed, she always felt like they could fall over at any time with her in it.

But there was no further room for discussion about her fears, as Hayley dropped a bomb on them all in response to Rose's question. Rose gaped. "What!?" She exclaimed, shocked. "You have to tell us who! That's like, an unofficial rule of this game." She insisted. "What's his name?"
 
Hayley burst out laughing as Harley's head suddenly turned around and she was looking straight into her friend's startled brown eyes. Hesitating to tell them the truth had definitely paid off. Now Hayley's embarrassment was washed away almost entirely by her amusement at her friends' reactions. The extremity of Harley's reaction was touching in a way that Hayley couldn't articulate, so instead she just went along with her leg shaking, kicking her friend gently in the side.

Hayley was intending to build the suspense a little longer but Rose's comment shocked her out of it. "His name? Ew, you think I'd kiss a boy? They have cooties." Hayley was old enough that she didn't really believe in cooties, and said it in a joking tone, but nor could she see any appeal whatsoever in kissing a boy. "No, it wasn't like that. It was an accident." She paused, trying to think of how best to phrase this, while also trying to make it seem instead like this was a dramatic storytelling pause. "It was . . . I was hanging out with my friend Ainsley, and she went to give me a kiss on the cheek - a bit weird, I know, but it's the kind of thing she does. Only, I turned my head at the wrong moment and it ended up being on the mouth." The last sentence came out in a rush, and with her cheeks colouring again, Hayley crossed her arms, daring anyone to comment.
 
Harley didn't think Hayley had ever surprised her so much in their entire friendship. She wasn't sure anyone had ever surprised her so much in her entire life. Hayley had kissed someone?! A girl?! And she hadn't even felt like she could tell Harley?! "I - you WHAT?!" She yelled, shaking Hayley's leg again. "Why didn't you even TELL ME?! Oh my GOD!" Harley shook her leg more insistently. "I've never even HEARD of this FRIEND, what ELSE haven't you TOLD ME?!"
 
Just like all her friends, Rose was astonished by this news. She wasn't sure why Hayley thought it was so weird Rose had assumed it was a boy. Most girls kissed boys, right? Her sister Phoebe was the only person she knew that liked girls, but now she started considering the possibility that maybe some of her friends would too. What about herself? Rose had never really thought to deeply about it, but she didn't think this was the time and the place. "Wait, who is this girl?" She asked, even though Harley already did too. "Someone you know well enough to get cheek kisses from? Why haven't we been called to approve of her?" Rose grinned, showing it was just a joke. Though honestly, she was really curious about this Ainsley person now. "Which house is she in? Not Gryffindor, right?" Maybe the girl was a Slytherin like Hayley, though Rose hadn't thought there were many girls of the friendly cheek-kissing type in Slytherin.
 
Once again the violence of Harley's response startled Hayley, but this time it wasn't funny. She was right. She should have told Harley, at least. They told each other everything, didn't they? "God! I was embarrassed, okay? My first ever kiss and it was a weird awkward accident - I didn't want to talk about it!" Not even with Ainsley, although it had changed something in their friendship, made it awkward in a way it had never been before. Hayley hated that. But had she really never mentioned Ainsley to the others? That did seem like an oversight on Hayley's part. "I'm allowed to have other friends! But honestly, I didn't realise I hadn't told you about her. Ainsley's a Hufflepuff, she's really sweet. But she's a . . . very private person, I feel like she'd be overwhelmed by having you lot thrown at her."
 
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