Figure it all out

[Arianna Tipley]

Arianna walked slowly down the country lane that led to Brightstone, kicking a pebble along in front of her. She sighed. It was almost the end of the holidays, and she and Viv had just arrived home. Their holiday had distracted her from everything she'd left here, and now they'd returned, Ari had crashed back to reality. Sighing again, she sat down on the grass verge. Hidden under the hood of her jersey, Ari went unoticed by the people walkinginto Brightstone.

All she wanted to do right now, was see Ares. Though she knew this was absolutely impossible. Usually Ares would be one of the people who would cheer her up when she was down like this.

 

[Sam Prince]

Sam had been in Brightstone shopping for the remaining items he needed for school. This was his last shopping trip and then he was finished until next year. He continously reminded himself of this fact when he felt completely and utterly lost in the stores. With a small paper bag under his arm, Sam walked out of Brightstone Village and headed home. Colin's house wasn't far away and he could get there by many diffent routes. That afternoon however Sam choose the less busy route, it was known as the 'country road'.

As the ending of winter dawned and the beginning of the new year was creeping up this brought many changes to Sam. He grow his hair out and he had grown a lot over the winter. His uncle claimed he was growing by each day, though Sam would have to disagree, he wasn't that tall. Sam was wearing one of his signature outifts and since the afternoon was quite cool, he zipped up his black hoodie a bit. Sam walked at a slow pace home, when he got home there would be nothing waiting for him there except his snooty cousin, Ava. Sam shuffled his foot along the lane when he noticed a hunched figure on the grass. Sam would have continued walking but there was something about the figure that was recognisable. He took a couple of steps back so he was in line with the person and to his own suprise, it was..
"Ari?"

 

[Arianna Tipley]

Picking a piece of grass, Arianna twirled it between her fingers, watching it spin. A familiar voice jerked her out of her reverie
"Hey Sam" she replied, managing a smile. Her voice had come out tired, like she felt. In an attempt to seem and feel normal, she asked
"How have your holidays been?" looking up at him. She noticed that he, like her had changed in appearance quite a bit. Though, his hair had grown out while she had had hers cut. It now only reached to her shoulder blades, instead of half way down her back. There were other, subtle differences in her appearance.

 

[Sam Prince]

Sam immediately noticed the changes in Arianna. There was both good and bad. She changed her appearance and Sam admitted that she looked good. But then she also looked a wreck, not only did she sound tired but she looked tired too. Sam wondered what could have happened that upset her so much, or stressed her so much. "My holidays have been good." He said casually, he didn't do much during his break so 'good' was the perfect word to describe it. Sam stayed silent for a bit and then quickly closed the gap between them, he then sat down next to her. He opened his mouth to say something but then closed it, he didn't know how he would phrase what he wanted to say. "Ari. You look a wreck." Cr@p that came out wrong. "I mean. You look great with the..eh changes and all but..eh" He scratched the top of his head fustratedly. He took a deep breath almost as if to start over, "Is there something wrong?" He asked, glad that that hadn't come out in some offensive manner.

 

[Arianna Tipley]

Arianna laughed hollowly
"I suppose I do" she said. She'd known it, but hearing someone else, especially a good friend made her feel a little defeated. When he asked if something was wrong, didn't know what to say. Where to start... she thought. Giving him a thoughtful look, Ari considering offloading her thoughts. She knew Sam had gone through his fair share of drama and confusion in their first year. Maybe he would understand.
"Well..." she said slowly, wondering what to say
"Do you know Ares Taylor?" she asked finally.

 

[Sam Prince]

Sam was happy that she appeared to be thinking about how to explain things to him. At least she wasn't going to bottle it up, he hated when people did that. Especially when things were visably wrong. Sam plucked a few strands of grass from beneath him as he waited for Ari to find her words. Once she had though, he looked up from the grass to her tired face. "Ares Taylor?" Sam asked in surprise, "Yeah. I know him." He didn't know how this would be bothering her, from what he got they seemed quite close at Hoshi's party. But he had always thought he had a thing for Hoshi? Sam didn't bother asking questions, he would just for Arianna to exlplain things to him.

 

[Arianna Tipley]

Arianna looked at Sam
"Well, I thought he asked me out, but then..." she shrugged, recalling their awkward conversation at the party, before they'd danced. The next part she remembered all to clearly
"I went to the Leaky cauldron to meet him the ext day, and he was sitting across from Hoshi Koshiba, holding her hands" she said, trying not to sound like she really cared. It was good to have Sam's opinion on this. Maybe he could explain to her how boy's minds worked.

 

[Sam Prince]

[Sorry again ]

Sam listened to Arianna's explanation of the whole thing. Hoshi was one of his close friends, he knew her well and he could honestly say that Hoshi Koshiba was a flirt. "Well...you probably don't want to hear this but..maybe its not what it looked like." He said, tiliting his head slightly. He hated when people said that to him if he had a problem but in this situation it was the truth. "Look if I know Hoshi and I do know Hoshi, she doesn't want to..y'know get involved with Ares. She only likes one boy." After the gossip magazine it was fairly often who this 'one boy' was and that was the snake-like Henric Lee. Sam dispised the boy, he was disappointed that Henric didn't play when Hufflepuff were up against Slytherin, Sam wouldn't have minded hitting a few bludgers against his head.

 

[Arianna Tipley]

Arianna looked at him, unsure how to react
"Do you think?" she said, looking sceptical. They had looked pretty close to her. Though, on the other it was possible that Sam could be right. Maybe she had over reacted a little, and should have gone over to the table anyway. Should've Could've Would've she thought wearily. It was all in the past now, and there wasn't anything she could do.

"Oh, did I mention I saw Hoshi in China?" she said as an afterthought.
"Purely by accident, but I saw her, and she's all... Different. It's weird" she said, thinking of their meeting, and frowning slightly.

Don't worry