After Curfew. :o Rebel.

[Oliver Ashby]

This had been a rather dull week for Oliver. Classes had began, and he was doing surprisingly okay in them. God knows how he'd manage once they started getting into difficult topics, though. Still, he was pretty optimistic about schoolwork, since the young Gryffindor knew that nothing good would come of worrying. He really did want to do his best, but just had no idea how to make that happen. He wasn't the smartest of boys, and didn't enjoy having to ask for help. That was just weak, not to mention embarassing. Anyway, Oliver wasn't one to dwell on anything for too long anyway, so any thoughts of classes passed sooner than they'd entered his mind.

Another lame thing about this week was that Oliver hadn't been able to see any of his friends. They were all at Hogwarts Scotland, while he had been shipped off to New Zealand, on the other side of the world. He hadn't been by himself for this long in ages. I mean sure, he was used to being alone at home, but he was always seeing schoolmates at the park or shops, or going over to a mates house. Luckily, Oliver had met a few nice people at HNZ, and he thought that New Zealand was lovely country.. but he had to admit that he actually did miss Helmsley. It was a small excuse for a town, but it was where he'd always been, and it was only natural that it would take a while to adjust to the change.

Oliver now found himself sitting at the lake's edge, doing nothing in particular. He wasn't a very deep boy, so he hadn't come here to be emotional or think about the world. Instead, he was simply chucking pebbles into the lake, and watching them sink down into a dark, watery abyss. Oliver didn't realise that the time was now after curfew and getting dark, and he continued to hum a song as he flicked his wrist and successfully skipped a stone quite a long way across the surface of the hauntingly dark lake.

 

[Elizabeth Sturridge]

Elizabeth wasn't one to play by the rules, she never had and she probably never would. So coming down to the lakefront after dark really wasn't a big deal to her. She could just hear her mothers voice in her head now, "You're just like your good for nothing brother" she would say. Effy didn't give a toss what her mother thought, Lucas was her idol, he only thought of himself, he never let anyone stand in his way and most of all he was a die hard rebel. Effy loved that Lucas was nothing like Thomas, his twin brother, private schooled and perfect. The day that Luke had been sent away to Durmstrang was a sad one, but it meant that he had stood up for something, thats exactly what the young girl wanted to do. As Elizabeth pulled up on her rusted old bike she dumped it on the ground and smirked. She wasn't the only one up late, she thought to herself. "Rebel!" she said, walking towards the boy in her scuffed trainers and hoody. She slumped down next to him and picked up a stone.

"Whats a nice boy like you doing ou here after curfew huh?" she asked with a sarcastic tone in her voice, she didn't usually find any companions this late at night and she wondered whether this boy had gone astray. Throwing a pebble with force it landed in the pond with a splash, she hadn't achieved one single skip. She cursed under her breath and turned to the boy, looking at him with her deep hazel eyes. "What are ya' waiting for?" she said laughing as she slipped her shoes and socks off and ran towards the lake, splashing into it rather ungracefully. She scooped a large amount of cold water into her cupped hands and threw it across to the boy, splashing him with it rather abruptly. Stuff ettiquete, Elizabeth was never one for a boring introduction anyway.

 

[Oliver Ashby]

Oliver continued throwing stones into the lake, enjoying the crashing sounds that were reaching his ears. It was actually the only noise in the nighttime silence, apart from the distant hooting of owls, and his own humming, of course. That's why he was slightly taken by surprise when a voice yelled out to him. However, Oliver could tell that the voice wasn't one of a professor or adult, so he wasn't worried or nervous at all. Instead, he was simply wondering what fellow curfew-breaker had come to join him. Hopefully they wouldn't be a Slytherin, or other annoyance. Turning his head as a girl sat down next to him, he laughed at her comment. "I can't exactly be a rebel and a nice boy at the same time, can I?" the Gryffindor joked, not realising that his remark was indeed incorrect. Oliver was one of those odd people that actually was a rebel and a nice boy at the same time. Always blurring the lines between good and bad, right and wrong. The young boy was somewhat taken aback when the girl suddenly dove into the lake. Weren't most females meant to be all uptight, and worrisome about their looks? The majority of Helmsley girls would have squealed irritatingly, had they been forced into the water.

"Are you mad? It's gotta be freezin' in there!" he laughed. Sure, Oliver was a pretty adventurous boy, but he had to admit, he just wasn't a big fan of randomly jumping into chilly lakes. As the girl splashed him with a handful of water, he realised that it actually wasn't as cold as predicted. The seasonal weather was beginning to change from Winter to Spring, after all. "Ah, why not," Oliver conceded, jumping up and pulling off his own shoes and socks. He bolted for the lake, and crashed into the water with the blink of an eye. Oliver sunk down into the cool depths, weighed down by his clothes. He swam back upwards, and spluttered slightly as he broke through to reach the surface. His shaggy, wet hair was slicked over his eyes, so he swept it out of his vision to see the girl that had disrupted his rock-chucking. He laughed, not knowing what else to say. This chick seemed to be quite the character. Oliver liked that in people, because slow-pokes that wasted time with the whole 'getting to know you' act were tediously boring. To him, at least. He preferred people that got straight to business. In this case, by jumping into a lake after curfew. "You ain't got the time, 'ave you?" he asked randomly, wondering how late it actually was. Not that Oliver cared, he was just curious.

 

[Elizabeth Sturridge]

"I'm not a wuss!" Elizabeth called out to the boy, a little bit of cold never hurt anybody anyway. As the boy followed her and jumped into the lake she shuddered a litttle. OK, maybe it was cold, but she would never let it show, she was a brave girl and she didn't want to look like a little babyish girl afraid of catching a little cold. The small girl discarded her jacket, it was weighing her down anyway, and dove under the water. As she surfaced again her whole body was wet and her clothes were dripping with water. When the boy asked if she had the time she simply laughed. "No, but who cares anyway?" she said, her strong British accent ringing through every word. This boy seemed like her kind of friend, he didn't seem to be afraid of much and he was a bit of a rebel, which never hurt. "Whats ya' name?" she asked him curiously, before splashing him once more. She decided he was hardly wet at all and tackled him, bringing him down into the freezing water before tumbling in after him and giggling as she tried to ring the water out of her messy hairdo.

 

[Oliver Ashby]

Oliver shrugged in agreement when the girl said that the time didn't matter. He noticed that she, too, had a British accent, and he wondered whereabouts she was from, and why she was in New Zealand. It seemed that there were a lot of people in Oliver's situation, and he hadn't realised it until speaking to several foreigners. He was curious as to what each of their stories were, and if there were many other Britons that he was yet to encounter. "Suppose I don't either, then," he spoke in his own North Yorkshire accent.

Oliver was about to reply to the girl's question, when she decided to splash him once more. Laughing, he splashed her back, and opened his mouth to speak. "Hblibgh," he managed, as he was tackled, and pushed under the water, not noticing the cold. All he noticed was that he was actually hanging out with a chick that didn't annoy him greatly. In fact, he was actually having fun. Not that he would admit it, though, because girls were meant to be lame, right? Or maybe he was beginning to grow up. Oliver swam upwards towards the dim nighttime light, and coughed slightly as he treaded the water, having swallowed some. "Depends who's asking!" Oliver smirked, disappearing back beneath the surface, and swimming away from the girl for a moment, putting a few metres between them, before popping up again. He could be rather competitive at times, being an eleven-year-old boy. Still, he'd probably end up losing, and spilling his name before the girl did. She seemed like the type to get what she wanted.

 

[Elizabeth Sturridge]

Elizabeth nodded when the boy concluded he didn't care either. Effy had done too many bad things to care any more. Her home was broken, her parents at war with oneanother and her brothers too. But tonght she was forgetting about all of that and having some, almost, harmless fun. Elizabeth dove under the water and chased the boy surfacing a few metres down the lake. "OK then mystery boy" she said giggling. "Are you going to tell me about yourself or am I going to have to guess?" she asked, standing with her hands on her hips. They were acting like such kids but for once she was enjoying being silly. She pulled her sweatshirt up over her head and discarded it in the water, it was dragging her down, soon enough she'd have pneumonia if she wasn't careful. Elizabeth began to wade back to the grass and pulled herself up out of the water, weighed down by her wet clothes it was quite a hard task. Slumping down onto the grass she waited for the mystery boy to follow.