Did I Do Something?

[Emilia Manning]

Lately, Emilia had been noticing something strange about one of her roommates, a girl she considered a friend, in a way. She hadn't talked to Analei too much, but she thought the girl was really nice. They'd had a nice conversation before, and sometimes talked a bit in the dormitory. But that hadn't been the case lately, and Emilia didn't know why. Emilia knew she could sometimes overthink things and worry about nothing, so she wasn't sure if she was seeing things that weren't there. Was it a coincidence that Analei seemed to leave a room every time she entered it? That she hadn't spoken to her in a while? That she always seemed to be occupied with something when they were together in the dorm? Emilia really wasn't sure if what she was seeing was real, or if she was making a mountain out of a molehill. But she liked the other girl and wished to be her friend, which was what caused her to seek her out today. She spotted Analei sitting in the student lounge, and she assumed the girl was working hard on her homework as usual. Hopefully, she wouldn't mind if Emilia joined her. She lingered near the door for a bit, working up the courage to approach. Finally, she told herself she was being nervous over nothing. She hadn't done anything to make Analei mad at her, as far as she knew, and the girl was way too nice to start ignoring her out of nowhere for no reason. Emilia took a deep breath, then approached Analei, sitting down at the same table with a shy smile. "Hi... do you mind if I sit here?" She asked, though she quickly realized that was kind of a silly question to ask after she was already sitting down. But Analei had never minded her company before, as far as she knew.

 

[Analei Westwick]

The Common Room was often too noisy for studying. Analei didn't know how people could concentrate in there. She had tried before, but there was just far too much distraction. Analei was going over what they were going to be learning in her next Charms class. She had found the locking charm a bit more difficult, but finally managed to do it. Analei decided she wasn't going to get caught out during the next class though, especially as they were learning the repairing spell, which was incredibly important. So she didn't want to be disturbed, which is why she went to the Student Lounge, instead of the library. The library was a place people knew she would usually be at, so the Lounge was a better choice for peace. That was, until, someone sat opposite her. Analei's eyes flicked up, turning into a small glare when she saw it was Emilia. The one who was supposed to be her friend, but betrayed her. Analei had been avoiding the girl since she saw her sitting with Jacob. She didn't understand why she did it - surely Emilia knew how Analei felt about Jacob? Surely she was smart enough to see him for who he really was? Analei answered the girl's question with a shrug of her shoulders, before looking back down at her book, but now, she was far to angry to even be taking in what she was reading.
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[Emilia Manning]

Emilia had just about convinced herself she had been nervous about nothing, when Analei gave her a look that definitely wasn't friendly. She bit her lip, feeling her heart speed up as she realized she hadn't been imagining things. Analei definitely wasn't acting like her friendly self towards Emilia. Maybe she was just in a bad mood in general? Emilia wasn't sure, but her anxiety grew the longer she sat here in silence. Analei didn't say anything, just shrugged her shoulders. Emilia stayed silent for a long moment as she wondered what she should do. She opened and closed her mouth, but wasn't sure what to say. Eventually, she thought of her cousin Evelyn. What would she do? Be direct, that was one thing that was for sure. She wouldn't wait around in silence like an idiot. Emilia took a deep breath. "Analei, are you... okay?" She asked. Maybe that wasn't as direct as Evelyn would be, but it was a start. And maybe something really was wrong, maybe Emilia could help her out?

 

[Analei Westwick]

Analei took in a deep breath when Emilia asked if she was okay. No, she wasn't. She was angry. She was loyal to her friends, and this was what she got in return. It upset her that Emilia didn't even seem to know what was going on - she just walked up to Analei and carried on as if nothing had happened. Sure, Analei hadn't specifically told her that she was upset, but surely, surely Emilia knew that sitting with, and hanging out with Jacob was the worst thing to do. At first, just avoiding Emilia seemed like the right thing to do - just distance herself from a toxic relationship. But now that she was there, it seemed incredibly rude to continue to ignore the girl, even if she was angry. Analei looked at Emilia, before shaking her head. "No. I'm not okay. And I feel like you should know why."
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[Emilia Manning]

Emilia watched Analei carefully, her entire body tense as if she was ready to run at any moment. She really had no idea what was going on, and now she felt like she had to know so she could make it better. Emilia's eyes went wide when the girl said she wasn't okay, and that Emilia should know why. She scrambled for any sort of reason. Eventually, she had to admit that she had no idea. "I... I'm sorry, I don't..." She said, her voice trailing off quietly. She bit her lip and looked around, as if anything in her surroundings would help her figure it out.

 

[Analei Westwick]

Analei felt herself get angry when Emilia said she didn't know, so she took a couple of deep breaths again, telling herself to calm down. "Unbelievable," Analei muttered to herself, before closing her book and looking at Emilia, feeling her eyes beginning to prick with tears. "Aren't you like, bffs with Jacob Kingsley now?" Analei said, "Wouldn't you prefer to go study with him?"
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[Emilia Manning]

Emilia still had half a mind to simply flee and get out of here, but both her curiosity and anxiety about the situation kept her in her place at the table. She fidgeted with her hair nervously, even though she knew that didn't help with the frizziness she often cursed, and glanced at Analai as she began to talk. Her words gave Emilia pause, and she frowned in confusion. What did Jacob have to do with this? Was Analei angry Emilia was friends with him? But why? "Um." She said quietly, shifting in her seat. "I've been friends with Jacob since first year... but I... I don't think I'm his best friend." She said quietly. She thought Jacob had closer friends than her, even if they had talked about some really deep things together and she felt safe and at ease with him. "But... I don't think we ever studied together." She added, wondering if that was what was bothering Analei.

 

[Analei Westwick]

Analei stared blankly at Emilia as she spoke, before she felt her nostrils flaring. She was angry and she couldn't help it. She threw her hands up in the air, not bothering to keep her voice down. "Merlin Emilia, seriously?! I see you sitting with him in class, I know you're friends, and that's why I'm angry! Do you not know what he's like? How he's treated me? Or do you just not care?" Analei asked, her voice breaking as she angrily flung a tear off her cheek.
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[Emilia Manning]

As Analei threw her hands up and started talking more loudly, Emilia scooted her chair back slightly. She hated when people were angry, but she also still couldn't understand why Analei was angry. "I just said that we were friends..." She said haltingly, as she had never denied this. "...What?" What was Analei saying? She did know what Jacob was like. He was nice and thoughtful and encouraging. She had no idea what he had done to Analei, but it couldn't be so bad, could it? "I don't know what you're talking about... he's very nice to me." She said with a small frown on her face. "I didn't even know... um, that you knew him."

 

[Analei Westwick]

Analei was surprised. She thought that everyone she knew, knew about the anger between the two. Analei's way of getting back at Jacob was making sure everyone knew what kind of person he was, but he supposed that his way of getting at her was to befriend all of her friends and slowly turn them against her. Eventually, Analei would probably have no friends left. This was all his fault. Analei leaned forward on the table, talking quieter. "He's not a nice person. He's probably just using you. He only thinks about himself. I honestly thought you'd be smart enough to see through someone like him. Did you know he shoved Arvel? It honestly looked like he wanted to kill him."
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[Emilia Manning]

Emilia wished she wasn't in this situation, but there was a part of her that realized Analei wasn't being entirely fair to her. She had been friends with Jacob for more than a year now, and the girl hadn't known about that. How could she expect Emilia to know the two didn't like each other? What she said about Jacob made her nervous and she wished she didn't have to hear it. It wasn't nice to hear someone say that about a friend, especially when it didn't line up with how you saw them at all. Did Analei think he would only be friends with her to use her? That thought made Emilia bite her lip. And she hadn't known he shoved Arvel. She knew Arvel and liked him too. Why was this suddenly all so complicated? "He is nice." She said, her voice wavering. She didn't want to go against Analei, but she couldn't just sit here and listen to this either. Emilia got to her feet. "Maybe... maybe he had a fight with Arvel, but I don't know anything about that. I don't think he is using me, and I..." She faltered, twisting the ends of her hair with her fingers. "I don't like ... that you say that. And he has never yelled at me." She said the last part quietly, as though wanting to swallow the words before they could reach Analei's ears. Her earlier outburst had really startled Emilia, and it was true that Jacob had never made her feel that way. But this wasn't supposed to be a competition. She wanted to like them both. "I... I want to be your friend, and his too." She muttered, taking a step away from the girl. "That's all."

 

[Analei Westwick]

Analei shook her head slightly, in disbelief that Emilia still continued to stand up for Jacob. Her eyes followed the girl as she stood up, and she couldn't help but let another tear drop when Emilia mentioned Jacob not yelling at her. She dropped her head for a second, feeling an array of emotions, angry, hurt, confused. Analei looked back up at Emilia for a moment before responding. Analei didn't think she could stay friends with someone who didn't care about how hurt someone had made her. "Well, he's obviously the better friend, so I guess it won't be a hard choice for you." Analei responded, before opening her book and pretending to read.
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[Emilia Manning]

Emilia regretted her words about Jacob not yelling at her a little when she saw how sad Analei seemed, but a part of her felt like the girl wasn’t treating her fairly by assuming she knew about her history with Jacob, and by trying to make her feel bad about being friends with him. It felt like Analei was trying to make her choose, and Emilia didn’t know how to deal with that sort of thing. She bit down on her bottom lip hard as Analei told her that Jacob was clearly the better friend and the choice wouldn’t be hard. It was true that she was a little closer with Jacob, but she didn’t want to choose. That was the whole point! Tears came to her eyes as she shook her head. “I didn’t… I didn’t want it to be a choice,” she muttered, turning her gaze away. But it was clear Analei wasn’t going to let this go, and from the way she was pretending to read it also seemed clear this conversation was over. Emilia turned away and headed out of the student lounge, blinking hard to push back her tears. She hadn’t felt like she had done something wrong, but she hated that Analei was now angry with her. She didn’t want to choose between two friends because of some sort of argument she wasn’t even a part of. Why couldn't’ Analei understand that? And what exactly had happened between her and Jacob that was so bad? They were both nice people, so why couldn’t they get along?