Oh... It's You...

[Ai Nightray]

Ai Edogawa just wanted to stay in her bed for the whole day. The semester was yet to start and yet she had already gotten back to Hogwarts New Zealand. She had opted to do so after she had received the usual letter though now it had the Head Girl badge with it. Seriously, she had no idea if she was excited about the whole thing or if she just didn't care about it. She was probably neutral about it just as she had been with everything going on in her life. As soon as she had gotten the letter and the badge, she had started packing for Hogwarts and told Grace and Shiloh that she wanted to go back to Hogwarts early this semester. She didn't tell them the whole thing but she did manage to get back into the school early. She needed time to think and she knew that school would probably be the only place that she'd be able to think clearly. But even then, it was obvious that her mind was far from being clear. In fact, she hadn't been able to clear her head even in the duration of her stay.

And despite her wants to stay in bed, she was seriously getting sick of the view of her dorm room. Ai had been laying in bed for hours and yet her mind was a muddle of thoughts. Heath. Conan. Taylor. Liam. Miah. Ryuuji-niisan. Almost everyone entered her mind and it was making her dizzy, but the most that occupied her head was Heath and though there was very little progress in moving on, she knew that she would eventually get over the whole thing though that was still a little bit far from happening. The Head Girl then stood from her bed and dressed herself in her uniform, pinning the badge carefully as well. Afterwards, she strode down the common room and went outside to head for the Student Lounge. It wasn't far and it was one of the most relaxing places for a student. And so, she had decided to spend a few hours or probably the rest of the day there. And so she plopped herself down on the first couch she had found vacant. There were little to no people in the Lounge considering that it was still pretty early for the school year to start but Ai didn't mind at all. She could use peace and solitude for a bit.

 

[Jessie Vega]

*Wrong topic my bad*

 

[Taylor Blare-Edogawa]

Taylor Blare was at Hogwarts early. There were a number of reasons as to why this was the case, but the most readily available to her, was the fact that she was now Quidditch Captain and was using this time to prepare for her duties. She was working out the tryouts, the strategy and booking the pitch for training. If she wanted to have decent time for practice, then she was definitely going to have to start early, which was why she had returned to school much earlier then she would have normally. It wasn't really such a big deal, but she wanted to win the Quidditch cup this year. Hufflepuff has lost more times then Gryffindor, but that didn't matter, she wanted Gryffindor to win the cup and if that meant more training, then so be it. As a fledgling, Taylor had done a lot more training in one go then her whole team had done altogether. It was the main reason for her dismal grades. She had spent more time in the air then on the ground. She had to be dedicated if she ever wanted to be a Professional Quidditch player. They expected commitment from their players after all.

Intending to go out for a stroll after working out her timelines, Taylor made sure to dress in something semi warm. It wasn't a cold day, but she would definitely shiver if she wore only her top and jeans, so her leather jacket was her option of jacket. Leaving the Gryffindor common room, Taylor walked down the stairs and along the corridors until she came to the fourth floor. The Student lounge would be as good a place as any to work on her stuff, there wouldn't be many students in there, if any so she was very likely to have the place to herself, at least she hoped she would. Yawning slightly as she walked into the room, Taylor almost missed the presence of another person until she paid actual a to her surroundings and realised she wasn't alone. She raised her eyebrow at the badge pinned onto the girls top. So it was Ai whom they'd chosen. Taylor wasn't really sure about that. She had a bit of a temper when things didn't go her way and she liked to yell, especially at Taylor. She wondered who the head boy was. She hoped it wasn't Jeremiah or she would be really mad. Regardless, and not sure of their relationship right now, Taylor approached Ai, though she stayed a good metre away in case she has to run. "Are you okay? You look kind of... uhm, I actually don't know, you just don't look like you normally do." She said eventually, knowing she sounded like an idiot.
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[Ai Nightray]

Ai was just staring into space. Truthfully, she had a lot of things to accomplish but with her mind muddled up all over the place, she just couldn't bring herself to finish, or even start anything. She had a lot of things lined up for her to do, planning the sign-ups for Heta Omega, start reviewing for her NEWTs, preparing a timeline for the Quidditch practices for the Hufflepuff team, planning the try-outs and arranging the prefect patrols. Evidently though, her mind was not focusing on said tasks and instead focused on one person. She could barely believe herself that she still hadn't gotten over Heath and the break-up she went through. She really didn't believe in forever, but at some point he had managed to make her believe that maybe, just maybe, he would never leave her. But he did. She tried her best to make it work, but obviously her best would never be good enough for anything. Maybe it was true that everybody leaves. She had known that in her first years and she too much of an idiot to stop believing it. Train of thoughts brought tears to her eyes that she sniffed back and quickly wiped away before anyone else sees.

But maybe that wasn't her fate to be not seen since in only a matter of moments, she had heard a very familiar voice. A voice that she had hated so much in the past years but this time, she couldn't bring herself to care any less. Ai didn't even care that it was Taylor Blare right in front of her asking her if she was okay. Did she look anything close to okay? "Yeah," she muttered absentmindedly as her thoughts warded off to Conan and said Gryffindor. They were engaged now for all she knew as she had a run-in with them last school year while on her patrol. And she couldn't believe that they had been going on for six years going seven if their friendship was included. Her relationship with Heath had almost gone as long as that, though there's had been broken earlier, while Conan and Taylor's relationship was as strong as ever. It made Ai think that maybe if she hadn't yelled at Taylor that day on their first year, maybe she hadn't lost her brother, maybe things with Heath would have gone different. Maybe she wouldn't be so alone now. Maybe she wouldn't know how it felt like for everyone to leave her all alone.

 

[Taylor Blare-Edogawa]

Taylor honestly wasn't sure what to think about Ai's hot and cold attitude. Sure, the school year had just started and Ai had gone through a lot of poop lately, but so had she. Sometimes things just happened and it was no one's fault. Ai was head girl now, big fricken woop. Honestly, if Taylor hadn't seen it for herself, she never would have believed it. Was the fact that she was now a leader the biggest of the girl's concerns? If that was it then she had no true right to complain. She could have chosen to be ineligible for the position, though honestly Taylor couldn't understand what even made her eligible. She had been in trouble a few times, as Taylor had, yet she was still head girl. Admittedly, the Hufflepuff's grades were better, but that couldn't have been the only thing they were basing it off. They might never have the proper leader if they did. Despite it all, Taylor would never have wanted to be head girl. She was focusing on her studies and working with the Quidditch team. She was determined that they would win this year, whether she had to kill herself in the process or not. She was working herself and the team into the ground with all of this, she was virtually a slave driver. But when they win their first game, the team will thank her for it.

Taylor rolled her eyes at the absent response and walked the short distance over to Ai and sat beside her. She knew more then to attempt to be comforting, seeing as they weren't exactly friends and the phrase, "ai you can tell me anything" was a load of garbage anyway, because depending on what it was, Taylor may not have cared enough to bother. She had been apprehensive about this only moments ago, but Ai's response had more then annoyed her. What on earth could she have possibly had to be morose about? She wasn't the one who kept losing members of her family. First her parents, then her cousin, then her uncle and now her aunt was sick. It was like the universe was playing some sick joke and she had just been dumped into the middle of it. She did not appreciate it at all. "I'm not going to pretend we're friends Ai and I'm not going to pretend that we haven't hated each other for the majority of our years here..." She used the word "majority" more as a euphemism then anything. "However, if you do find the need to talk to somebody, about anything, please note that i can be a good listener, if the occasion calls for it." After she finished talking, she moved away from Ai slightly, crossed her legs and pulled out one of her textbooks. If she was going to get decent marks, she had to at least attempt the course work.
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[Ai Nightray]

Ai didn't actually know how to feel about Taylor's presence in the room. With her there, she actually couldn't help but think unpleasant thoughts that would have made no one proud. But then again, she was a total mess and she really didn't know what to do about anything going on in her life right now. And that counted her relationship with the Gryffindor. Ai knew that she was tired of it all. She was tired of the fighting and being alone. She didn't want any more of it and it was the truth. All she needed was somebody. And right now, that somebody proved to be in the presence of Taylor Blare. The Hufflepuff really couldn't control herself any longer than she could have and would have when the Gryffindor's words escaped those lips. She's been alone for too long and she's been keeping things to herself much too longer. "Your life sucks," the Hufflepuff started as she leaned back on the couch and letting her head rest, her gaze fixed on the ceiling. "Apparently, mine does too," she concluded with a sharp breath as she tried to reign in tears that had been kept at bay whenever she was outside the confines of her room.

"They're not dead," Ai's words resonated throughout the small space between her and Taylor and gloomy as her words were, she couldn't bring herself to care. She doesn't even know if she would care about anything else other than how to live through all of this. "On the contrary, they're so close. And yet so far," the Hufflepuff said as she closed her eyes, her mind trying to gather memories of past. Happy memories as if it would soothe all the pain she had been feeling. That she had been reigning. With a soft gulp and intake of breath, Ai forced herself to speak. "Conan... Conan-niichan, how is he?" she asked as she reverted to the way she had addressed her twin brother all those years ago. Those years that had seemed to have lasted for more than one lifetime. She missed him. A lot. "I haven't talked to him for a while and you guys are engaged now too, right? Or something like that," the Asian muttered, a hint of envy laced her tone as she tried to keep her voice from croaking, for if she did, she knew that she'd break apart into a fit of sobs. Something that she didn't want. For a slight moment, she opened her eyes and looked at Taylor, "Congratulations. I mean it. Take care of him. He's hopeless in the kitchen and anywhere around the house, really," Ai said with a rather fond smile before closing her eyes again and resting her head on the back of the couch.

"I suppose you know Heath right? Tall, Hufflepuff prefect guy in our year," Ai muttered with a rather sad smile covering her normal haggard yet peaceful and contented features. It was a rather pitying sight really, though she hated those looks and so somehow, she manages to make herself look fine most of the time. But apparently, today was not one of those days that she manages. "I still love him," and her voice croaked as she decided to keep her eyes closed though she hoped that the Gryffindor girl had not so suddenly left her. Funny how life goes. Just a year ago, Ai would have preferred Taylor to stay away from her on a 10 feet radius. Now, she wanted nothing more than the Gryffindor to stay. "You must be thinking 'Hey, what does Ai know about love? She's the one who's been hating me for no reason for the past six years?' kind of thing right?" the Hufflepuff chuckled bitterly more to herself than anyone else in the room for she knew that it was the truth. What reason did she have to hate Taylor? It was Conan's choice to leave her and it was her own actions that led to it. Taylor had no fault in all of this. "Well, when Miah and I messed up and Conan disowned me and my older brother graduated and I barely have contact with him," Ai paused, wondering why the heck was she saying all of this to the Gryffindor. What was she getting at by doing this? She didn't know. But perhaps all she wanted was to get everything out of her system. And so she continued, "Heath was the only one I had left. I was really happy. Thought I'd get by." By this point, tears had already formed in the closed eyes of the head girl. Tears that she didn't want to escape, but they flowed out nevertheless and she could feel the warmth and wetness slide down her cheek as she wiped them vigorously. "Then, we broke up. And I still love him and now I don't know what to do," Ai said all too quickly as her voice was breaking and she could barely keep its usual firmness. Its usual toughness, its usual strength. "It may sound idiotic, but all of this," the Head Girl chuckled as she pertained to all that she had achieved in the past years and this. Her prefect status, her Quidditch success, her position in Heta Omega. And her being Head Girl. "Means nothing when you have no one," Ai concluded as she wiped away the wetness that gathered in her eyes and on her cheeks. "I don't even know why I'm blurting this out to you," she chuckled as she sniffed softly as she remained silent and listened to the deafening silence while her chest clenched in pain at everything that went on in her life.
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