Closed Salad Days

[Salem Lee]

Salem stretched out, arms over her head as she wiggled to get more comfortable from where she was laying in the grass before craning her neck to get a look at Indi and Jordie. Indi was still studying away, despite how nice it was out and Salem was starting to get itchy from the quiet. Or maybe it was the grass. "Hey, Indi, Jordie, did you know you can make a whistle out of grass? Look," she said, rolling over to grab a blade and trying to hold it carefully in her hands and blow like she'd seen one of the other Phoenix Scouts do. She mostly succeeded in making a raspberry noise though, huffing a laugh at herself at the resulting noise before glancing back over again at the others. "I think I'm doing it wrong," she supplied gamely, dropping back down onto her stomach in the grass.

 

[Indira Khatri]

Indi was starting to feel the pressure of all the classes she had signed up too take. She had once thought that she could sign up for all of them and have no problem, but now the thought of that kind of exam schedule made her palms sweat. Or maybe that was just the sun? She had to squint at her pages of parchment to see them in the bright light of the lawn. She wasn't sure why she agreed to study with Salem. She should have known to better than to think her friend had any interest in getting ready for exams. And now that Jordie was with them she just wanted to get back to her books. Indi had meant to apologize to Hufflepuff after she set fire to him at the dueling tournament but the moment passed and now she just felt weird about it. "Oh cool." Indi said with out looking up as she heard Salem say something. A moment later she noticed her friend flop back down on the grass and she finally registered what the other girl said. "Doing what wrong?" she asked confused and looked up from her notes to see what was happening.

 

[Jordan Harris]

Jordie would be lying if he said he wasn't stressing out over exams. So when Salem and Indira invited him to study, he jumped on the chance. Of course, that didn't mean he was doing well. Honestly, when they'd asked him, he'd almost said no, not completely eager to spend time with Indira again. But really... she'd already set him on fire. What could possibly go wrong?

Besides, they were outside. That had to count for something, right? Jordie sighed internally, shutting his textbook. It counted for sunburn. Indi might not be setting him on fire today, but the sun seemed intent to take up the task. He was relieved when Salem spoke, offering a distraction from the tedium. He rolled over, watching her. "Oh, a grass whistle? Let me see," He plucked a blade of grass, folding it. "My brother showed me, here," He brought it up to his lips and blew, pleased at the sharp whistle sound that came. He smiled and looked to the others.

 

[Salem Lee]

Salem frowned when she realized Indi wasn't paying attention, about to complain until Jordie managed to pluck a blade up himself and produce a sound. "Oh hey, how'd you do that," she said, annoyance forgotten as she popped back upright, shuffling over to Jordie to get a closer look at what he was doing. "Indi check it out, grass whistle," she said more insistently this time.

Salem tried a few more times, mostly only succeeding in making a raspberry sound herself before giving up, trying to see if she could balance the blade of grass across her upper lip instead like a mustache. "Hey, you guys ever thought about like. Dates and stuff? Like girls or whatever?" She asked idly, leaning back down in the grass and trying not to sneeze at the combination of the bright sun and the grass tickling her nose.

 

[Indira Khatri]

Indi watched with a level of forced excitement as Jordie tried to show Salem the right way to do whatever it was she had tried to do. “Oh that.” she said, realizing what was going on. She had learned how to make a grass whistle while on a camping trip as a child. Her step father had taught her but she wasn’t sure if she could still remember. She searched the ground and found a nice long and somewhat sturdy blade of grass. With a firm tug she picked it and placed it just right in her hands. “It’s all about the vibrations. That's all sound really is anyways.” Indi explained. It took a few times for her to get it but eventually, it made a slight whistle and she considered it a success. But she nearly choked when Salem asked about dates. She coughed a few times to catch her breath. “What do you mean?” she asked. “Are you asking if we like anyone?” Indi wasn’t sure if she wanted to talk about this. She wasn’t sure how she felt about dating but she was fairly certain no one had a crush on her. Indi hadn’t really considered her options but she wasn’t sure if she had a preference between boys and girls. She wasn’t sure she liked anyone at all.

 

[Jordan Harris]

Jordie smiled, glancing between the girls. He clapped as Indi got it, trying to give Salem an encouraging smile. He was unperturbed by Salems next question, shrugging before peeking to the other girl who looked like she'd eaten a bug. "I was dating someone but we broke up. Why?" He asked Salem, giving Indira a chance to compose herself. "I thought you were dating that one girl, Amy or something," He directed to the other Gryffindor, leaning back on his hands.

 

[Salem Lee]

Salem let out a huff when Indi managed to make a bit of a noise with the grass, nearly inhaling her own grass blade in the process. "I don't know how you know everything, Indi. It's so cool," she said fondly, resettling herself back in the grass and scratching idly where it was tickling her neck.

"Oh. That sucks, Jordie," Salem said when Jordie mentioned he'd broken up with someone, squinting at him against the sunlight to be sure he saw her sympathetic frown. "Kinda, yeah I dunno. Just wanted to talk about it," she answered Indi with a shrug, perking up when Jordie brought up Aubrey. "Yeah! She asked me out by the lake it was pretty cool," Salem said with a dreamy smile, tilting her head back in the sun. Salem had never really been in a proper relationship and while she had no real idea what she was doing, Aubrey didn't seemed bothered by it and Salem had to quash the urge to gush about her all the time. "She's a fifth year and her hair's really pretty," she said with a smile.

 

[Indira Khatri]

"Thanks." Indi smiled, pleased with Salem's compliment. She wondered how wizards got by knowing so little about science and how things worked. She appreciated that she sounded so smart but sometimes she thought about all the things her old classmates knew that she didn't now, and she hated it. They might not be able to cast spells but she still felt like she was getting left behind.

As much as she didn't want to talk about relationships, Indi did feel a bit bad for Jordie and gave him a sympathetic look. She wasn't sure why Salem wanted to talk about this but when Jordie mentioned her seeing some girl it all made a lot more sense. She wasn't really sure what to say. She almost always had some fact to say or an opinion about something but at this moment she was left at a loss. "How long have you been together?" Indi asked. She thought dating so young was kind of stupid anyways since you were bound to break up sooner or later. Jordie already demonstrated that. She wondered if she could predict just how long this one would last.

 

[Jordan Harris]

Jordie might not have been having much luck in love, but he thought it was awesome that Salem looked so happy about Amy. "You're dating an older girl? That's so cool," He gushed, his mind unintentionally shifting to Ares. He shook the thought away quickly. Just because Amy was happy dating a younger year didn't mean someone as cool as Ares would ever notice Jordie. "She's got that like, auburnish hair, right? It always looks super soft?" He asked, trying to picture the older girl in his head. He smiled at Indi as she got on board, asking about Salem's girlfriend.