Payback's a b*tch

[Alyss Summers]

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<SIZE size="50">Alyss hurried up to the first floor corridor, after reading that horrible magazine article. She couldn't believe that someone had the sheer audacity to post about her private life like that... She had thought- no- hoped, that no one would find out that she had been in love with Jeremy ever since her fourth year... She hadn't been as mean to anyone, as she used to be in her younger years, and even though she had still kept her mouth shut about what she thought about blood purity, she thought that maybe, just maybe, blood purity didn't really matter as much. She still kept up the facade though of being a real b*tch, because if she didn't, she knew that she would be in danger once she left Hogwarts, and now the whole world knew. It had all come back to bite her on the a**.

How could this have happened to her? Why did anyone else care about who she loved? Who hated her so much that they wanted her to be humiliated, and picked on for the rest of her school life, and even the possibility of being murdered later on in life by one of her so-called "friends?" Or who she used to consider as "friends?" Shaking her head at the thought, the seventeen-year-old girl buried her face in her knees, trying to stifle the sobbing that was coming from her. She couldn't be seen as weak like this... She was meant to be the Slytherin Ice Princess, or one of them at least... She had a facade to keep up... And yet, this magazine. This stupid magazine had ruined it all for her. Everyone knew what she was like now... Everyone knew who she liked now...

Oh God. What would Jeremy think? Would he even talk to her? Or would he abandon her completely? The thought of that started a fresh round of tears... She couldn't imagine it if Jeremy abandoned her because of this... Or didn't even feel the same way back... What was going to happen to her?​

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[Kate Archer]

Kate walked back down to the Great Hall from the Hufflepuff common room.She had gone with Sapphire and shredded the magazine,it had helped quite a lot.She hated who ever wrote it.She would never forgive them for writing about Stefan,making a joke out of his life,no sane person should do that.She had gone up to the common room and changed,even though her OWLs were coming she had decided she was going to skip the morning classes and maybe go ti the afternoon,she needed to process the events of this morning.What was bugging her mostly was the fact that she had been in it three times,the only person who had a paragraph and picture in it three times.It was slightly un nerving to know that who ever RHI had either people watching her or watching her him/herself.She wasn't sure who she could trust,if anyone.She felt bad that Sammy had been mentioned,it wasn't fair on him.He had only been being nice,he thought she had looked lonely so he had comforted her.Nothing more then that and she wished RHI would get that in their head.They were some cowards not having the cuts to let everyone know who he/she was.If they wanted to say things about people he/she should at least have the guts to be known but maybe it was safer that way because he/she would have a mob after them.She hoped karma hit back hard and they would regret ever doing it.The fact that that they actually said things about teachers also showed how arrogant they were.

She walked down the many flights of stairs and when she was on the first floor she heard someone crying.Kate slowed down and looked around,she spotted the source of the crying,Kate could only see the back of her so she wasn't sure who it was.She looked older then herself though,she walked cautiously up,she walked slowly to the other side so she could see her face.Kate suddenly understood why she was crying.Alyss Summers had been in the magazine this morning.Kate was a small bit apprehensive because she had seen this girl playing quidditch.If Kate remembered correctly it had been something to do with Jeremy but it had obviously really upset the girl.She didn't want to ask how she was because well...she didn't feel good "I know what it feels like"She said quietly and softly so she didn't frighten the girl in case she hadn't heard her approach

 

[Riley Sparkles]

Riley was shaken. The Rumor magazine was absolutely horrid. She didn't understand how people could be so unpleasant, so, so mean. The little comment about Riley had gutted her. It wasn't nearly as bad as anyone else's, but she had been on the brunt of a full paragraph dedicated to her and it sucked. Riley shook her head and pushed the magazine away from her, not wanting to know anything else that was written in there. She felt like she was digging into other people's lives, and she wasn't actually doing anything. Riley was surprised at how bad her final year at Hogwarts was going.
Riley sulkily looked up across the Great Hall, and watched everyone's different reactions. She felt her heart break of the Hufflepuff that shouted across the Hall - the last time a Hufflepuff did that, she ended up in the magazine again; and poor Kate Moon never seemed to escape the spotlight. Riley wanted to follow some of her fellow students out, but knew that even with her Prefect status, the younger ones would want to be with their friends, or by themselves. Riley pulled on her curly hair, looking around to see if there was anything else she could do to help.
Noticing a familiar face leave the Great Hall, Riley took one last glance, before standing up and moving quickly after Alyss Summers. Riley didn't know her that well, but they had been in classes together, and basically grown up together, it felt wrong if Riley wasn't there to help her out.
Riley rounded the corner and noticed the Hufflepuff, Kate Moon, who had been mentioned so many times, already with Alyss. Riley shook her head in disgust at what the magazine had done. Riley quickly moved over to the girls, and put her arm around Alyss' shoulders, not caring what Alyss would think. "You have nothing to be upset about darling. I don't think I can tell you how many girls like Jeremy Thorne. And I can see why, because he's a cool bloke! And I'm probably going to be quoted on that someday..." Riley said with a small smile. "Don't waste your tears on what some coward said. It is so not worth it - look at Kate, she is still standing tall, and as beautiful as ever. Don't let this get you down."

 

[Samual Kaster]

Samual sighed as he left Tamalia with a big hug from his big sister that warmed him up. It was nice when Tamalia was kind and sweet and giving, but that side only ever came out when he was about to cry or felt crushed by something, like he had moments before hand because of the article. It was weird, when he first saw his name, he thought that it wouldn't affect him as much as it did, well, he hoped it wouldn't, but it had, he felt horrible for his actions, even if Kate seemed totally fine with the article, because he gave her a simple hug they liked each other? That was really weird. And the article had mentioned that he apparently liked part-goblin girls, which could be considered true, but not really. He had met two part-goblin girls and suddenly they were all he liked? He was only being nice! Why was that so wrong? Because of him hanging out with part-goblin girls he had caused that poor Ravenclaw boy to be incriminated and harmed, by his actions! It was horrible how rumours and lies could ruin lives. Sammy didn't understand why it was so wrong for him to be kind to people, for him to give out a hug to a girl by the lake that looked lonely, or to jump into leaf piles with a part-goblin girl, or to lay on the girl and laugh with another part-goblin girl, it was really stupid and sometimes he questioned the sanity of this whole school, the writer even wrote about Sam's favourite Professor, Professor Blaze, accusing him of things that could get him fired from his job, did they not realise what they could be doing? Some students would be teased for the things in that magazine, but Professor Blaze could lose his job and get a record if enough people in high places believed any of that rubbish. Sometimes people didn't seem to think.

Samual alked to the stairs on the first floor, but stopped when he heard something, crying? He followed the sound carefully, making sure no-one noticed his curious searching for something, he knew that not everyone was so kind to people who cried, some were horrible human beings that would laugh in the face of someone crying, just like that Annalie girl... she had looked Sam dead in the eyes when she so cruely pointed out to him what he already knew in his sub-conscious, but refused to believe, that his parents and brother were dead... He wasn't going to allow someone else to feel anything along the lines of the pain he felt on that day. So when he saw a girl on the ground, with a girl beside and and Kate too, he sighed with relief, atleast she was with nice people. He walked closer, very quietly and noticed who it was, that girl in the magazine... Alyss something, it had a happy ring to it, bright... yellow... fresh... Summer? Summers! That was it, Alyss Summers, it was such a lovely name, and she looked like a nice perosn, she didn't deserve to be crying in a corridor, even if she was mean, no-one deserved that, not even Annalie Darkhart. He approached the girl and knelt in front of her, nodded to Kate politely, this was not the time for smiles and rememberence. He wasn't sure if a boy helping out would be the best thing, since this could fall in the catagory of 'boy problems' that were traditionally solved by other girls, but he couldn't help himself, he just felt that by the mere presence of kind people would help the girl feel just a little better, because sometimes soothing words just never were enough, so he knelt in front of her and watched her with his caring emerald eyes, waiting until she decided it was time for her to look up.
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[Alyss Summers]

Through her sobs, Alyss heard some people walk up to her, and join her, just making her sob harder. She wasn't meant to be breaking down in the corridor... She was just meant to be laughing this off. She was meant to be perfect... She was meant to be having an unbreakable facade, that never showed how she was feeling, and yet, this happened. Something that shattered her life. Something that made her realise that life really was a b*tch. This was probably payback for everything that she had done in the past. Hadn't she suffered enough though? With being brought up as an orphan, her mother not wanting her, and her father being killed when she was in her first year? That was why she had picked on people... But then Jeremy, had been so nice to her, and she had slowly began to change... But then something like this happened. Why? She didn't understand it.

Feeling someone hug her gently, she stiffened, but then slowly lifted her face out from her knees, to see who it was that hugged her. Riley Sparkles a seventh year prefect, and a Gryffindor to boot was there, comforting her, as well as Kate Moon a Hufflepuff, and Samual Kaster, another Gryffindor. No one from her house, of course... She should've expected it. If anyone would've been nice enough to help a crying girl, even if she was a Slytherin, it would've been someone from Gryffindor or Hufflepuff. If anyone from her house had come, they probably would've picked on her, or ignored her, leaving her there by herself. She didn't have many friends in Slytherin... More acquaintances, it was what was expected.

Squeezing her eyes shut, trying to prevent anymore tears from escaping, she took a few shaky breaths, before opening them again slowly. Her eyes were red around the edges, and she knew that she must look horrible. 'Thanks.' She said shakily, all three of these people had been in the horrible magazine themselves, and yet they were comforting her. 'It's just not what I expected... I'm used to my private life staying... private.' She whispered, not sure if they could hear her. 'Hasn't enough already happened to me?' She whispered to herself, rocking back and forth, trying to escape the memories that threatened to come forth.​

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[Sapphire Bookchild]

Sapphire had been looking for Kate so they could gather the other two and set a time to practice for the Yule Ball. This was when she spotted the group along with the magazine's latest victim. Alyss Summers was not the first one to cry because of RHI and would certainly not be the last but she knew that Sapphire could not be one of the people crying no matter now many boys cat called her or tried to ask her out just to get some. She was slowly proving that she was not that easy though it helped in one looked good in a Quidditch uniform and was older than her by at least a year. "Hey it's alright. Trust me Jeremy has a way of getting all the girls wanting pin him up against a wall." Sapphire said trying to crack a joke to make her feel better but one was one of her feeble ones.

Sapphire herself had been made fun of in RHI because of her feelings for Jeremy but then again her's had no comparison. Sapphire loved the boy as a friend, a brother and had he responded to her a lover. The boy meant everything to her but because of the things that have happened they where only very close friends and Sapphire was fine with that. If she had to be labeled a wh*re because she was trying to move on so be it. Sapphire refused to live her life in sorrow because of some dumb person who had no other business than to pry into other people's lives. "Well news flash sweetie nothing's privet in this school anymore. RHI made sure to tell us that one. One comment, one stupid comment about maybe talking to the Gryffendor Keeper and suddenly I'm latching on to anything that moves." Sapphire said rolling her eyes.

"The only thing that can be said is that at least we're important enough to be targeted. Look at Kate, she's been a feature story three times now, that has to mean she's something special. No one would go through that much effort to spread that much libel if she weren't." Sapphire said hoping that she could get Alyss to stop rocking back and forth like that. Sapphire knew what it was like to have a heard life. She grew up in hell and didn't even know if her family had wanted her enough to want to keep her from the hands of Dympna Bella-Donna or not. She was still trying to decide if she wanted to see if she could find any record of her true parents but seeing as her Greek accent was the only clue she had to her origin her chances of finding them where not that good."

 

[Kate Archer]

Kate knelt down beside the girl,she seemed really upset and Kate's heart went out to her.Kate felt like they were on the same page and that they had sort of gone through the same thing together.It was definitely a hard thing to go through having your private life and secrets brought out in the open like that.It was an absolutely horribly feeling and she wished it upon no one.Riley Sparkles a girl who had been mentioned in the magazine also appeared and put an arm around Alyss. "Riley is right,it's not worth it"Kate smiling warmly at the girl,it was not worth it to listen to what someone like that said.They didn't have the guts to say it to their faces so instead they hid behind a name. "The best thing to do is to ignore it and don't listen to anything anyone says"Kate said,it was the best way to get through it.Don't let them get to you because that's just what they want and Kate had learned from the first time.

She saw Sammy join them,she nodded back at him. "Trust me we never expect our lives to be exploited like that"She said "Just because Sammy here was comforting me,RHI immediately turned it into something else"She said shrugging. Kate smiled shyly "thanks Sapphire"She said "She is right though,we are important though some people don't see it that way"Kate said sighing and leaning against the wall.Kate put her hand in her pocket and found a packet of tissues,after Herbology she had gotten the cold and if she didn't want to sneeze and cough everywhere she had to have tissues,she got a tissue and gave it to Alyssa "Here"She said smiling