Open Crestfallen

[Adelaide Honeysett]

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Adelaide ran across the great lawn, tears brimming in her eyes. She'd only been trying to help! It had been awful seeing Wendall like that, soaking wet, his books destroyed, but it was even worse being pushed away. If she couldn't comfort her best friend - well, she'd assumed they were best friends - then who could she comfort? Nobody ever seemed to want her attention. She flung herself down at the base of a tree and wiped her face on her sleeve. She missed Wren. Wren would have given her a hug, told her it was OK, made her feel loved. The holidays still seemed like an eternity away.

 

[Baltair Smith]

Baltair had been minding his business, like he usually did when he was waiting for Elia. New Zealand was so different to Scotland after all, so it was hard to think about all the little minute differences between here and there. He'd taken up residence with his Defence Against the Dark Arts book, trying to get some study in to catch up with what he'd missed on his week off, but, unfortunately some little snot decided to use the tree to cry under. He could hear it, the little hiccoughing sounds of a snotty child. It was infuriating. He'd left Scotland to get away from this nonsense, not walk into more. Closing his book loudly, Baltair moved around the tree to where she was sitting and frowned. "Are you actually crying?" He asked, annoyed. Why did kids always pick trees to cry under. This wasn't a damn movie (he'd learned about those in Muggle Studies and then promptly dropped it) she could have gone back to her dorm or someone equally less invasive of his personal space. "Get over yourself."​

 

[Adelaide Honeysett]

Adelaide startled and looked around. "Oh. S-sorry," she stammered automatically, a pit opening in her stomach. "I didn't see you." The boy was probably right. She should get over herself. She was being a baby. But she couln't help it, and though she dried her face, the tears kept coming. Why was everybody being so mean to her today? She'd never done anything to deserve this. And anyway, she had as much right to sit here and cry as he did to sit here and read. Suddenly angry, she said, "You could ask if I'm OK."

 

[Baltair Smith]

Apologising, because of course she was. That was what people did, apologised. Baltair never apologised for anything in his life because he never did anything he didn't mean and why should he apologise for stating facts. She should get over herself, crying outside, under a tree? So bloody dramatic. This wasn't a soap opera drama. "Obviously you didn't, I was on the other side of the tree, you'd have needed x-ray vision to see me." He said, rolling his eyes. What was it with people saying that? This wasn't even the first time today! He snorted then as she told him he could have asked if she was okay. "Sure, I could, of course I could, but that would imply I care, which I don't, I don't even know who you are, Weepy." He said, shaking his head and looking around for Elia. He still couldn't see her. "Just stop crying, it's such a stupid thing to cry about." It probably was, eleven year old didn't exactly have complicated lives.​

 

[Adelaide Honeysett]

Adelaide flinched at the harshness of his response, feeling every word like a pinch on the arm. She should have stood up and walked away, but now she was feeling so shaky she wasn't sure she'd get very far without falling down again. She let out a sob at the name Weepy. Where was Chase? Or Wendall? She didn't even care about what had happened any more; she just wanted to see him. He'd been a little bit mean, but nowhere near as mean as this boy. "You don't even know why I'm crying!" she wailed, tears dripping from her chin. Just go away just go away just go away. "Go away."

 

[Baltair Smith]

"Ugh," Baltair wasn't even sure why he was entertaining the little pest by talking to her. Children were annoying and if he had it his way, Elia would never have any. All he was doing was speaking to her, he'd told her to stop crying and now she was crying even more! Why, why did children have to be people too? It was pathetic. "Of course I know why you're crying, you're a child, all children cry," the reason didn't matter, it was still annoying. "What did you do, drop your favourite stuffed toy in the," he paused for a moment to look around, "in the lake?" Not that he actually cared, he was wasting time waiting for Elia, and he couldn't leave because this was where he'd said he'd meet her. Besides, he was here first, she should leave.​

 

[Adelaide Honeysett]

Adelaide hated that. Being called a child. Admittedly she was a child, but people only ever pointed it out to annoy her. 'You're only a child; you'll understand when you're older.' Or, 'You're a child, all children cry.' Ugh. He was being so patronising. "No. My best friend shouted at me," she said, sniffing. She wasn't sure why she was telling him this, potentially giving him more ammunition, but the words tumbled out before she could stop them. "He fell in the lake and I tried to help him and he shouted at me!"

 

[Baltair Smith]

Really, all of this sniffling over a tiny relationship spat?! Really, why did he always get involved in this type of mess, it was humiliating. "You can not be serious," he said, the annoyance in his voice only becoming more obvious. She was crying because her friend fell in the lake and yelled at her. He knew children cried for dumb reasons, but merlin, this had to be one of the dumbest. "Your friend fell in the lake, so you're crying?" That made absolutely no sense. "Just because he shouted at you." The words he was saying were dripped with snark, but he couldn't help himself. She was crying and annoying him and he just wanted her to stop and leave. "Merlin, and they say not all stereotypes are true," Gryffindors really were dumb. "Your friend was probably embarrassed that he fell in the lake, and considering your over here crying and he's not, I wager he probably knows you, and that you're lacking of certain intelligences that tell you some people just don't like being seen to fall into a lake. You helping him just made his day worse." Baltair told her, rolling his eyes as if this was the most obvious thing in the world. "If he's supposed to be your friend, shouldn't you know that?"​

 

[Adelaide Honeysett]

Adelaide hunched over, trying to make herself as small as possible. There was no 'just' about it! Being shouted at by anybody was horrible, let alone by your best friend. She kept quiet as the boy continued, little pennies going plink plink plink in her head as they dropped into place. Oh, no. Oh no! Here she was, crying because Wendall had shouted at her, while he was off by himself somewhere probably feeling awful and embarrassed and upset. How could she have been so silly not to think of that? She sprang up. "I... I should go and make sure he's okay!" she said. She hesitated. "Should I? Do you think I should? I don't want him to be sad."

 

[Baltair Smith]

"Why the hell are you asking me, he's your friend?" He said, shaking his head. Baltair didn't care if her friend was embarrassed or not, all he cared about was getting his tree cleared of annoying pests before Elia showed up. "I'm sure you know the answer better than I do." It was honestly ridiculous he was even still talking to her. She was clearly just not taking the hints and he wasn't sure how else to let her know she wasn't wanted. "Perhaps he's sad because you just ran away and abandoned him in his hour of need, didn't think about that did you? I wouldn't want to see my friend if she'd done that to me." He couldn't very well be seen to help the girl, merlin forbid she decided to thank him.​

 

[Adelaide Honeysett]

Adelaide couldn't do anything right today. She looked down at her feet, which swam behind fresh tears. Wendall obviously didn't want to see her - he'd made that clear enough - but she didn't feel right just abandoning him, either. It was probably too late to make it up to him. She sank back down to the grass, shoulders shaking. "I'm a bad friend!"

 

[Baltair Smith]

Baltair blinked as the girl sunk to the ground and he audibly groaned, rolling his eyes so hard he thought they were going to pop out of his sockets and fall into the back of his head. "Oh for the love of... are you... what... how did this..." he didn't know what to say because logic had left him. This entire conversation was giving him a headache and he was almost positive he could feel his IQ dropping points. "You're an even worse friend if you don't go find him!" Baltair almost yelled at her, but managed to reign himself in at the last moment. "Don't just sit there wailing, go and find him and apologise for merlin sake." What was even happening right now?​

 

[Adelaide Honeysett]

The boy was right. Wendall might not want to see her, but at least if she went to find him he'd know she cared about him. She stood up and dried her eyes one final time, suddenly immensely grateful for this stranger's help. Maybe he wasn't so bad after all. Something had made him bitter and angry, but deep down he was probably just as sweet and sensitive as Adelaide. She flung her arms around his waist in a quick bear-hug. "Thank you so much," she said. And then she was gone, running back across the lawn, hoping she wasn't too late to fix her mistake.