Seeing Stars

[Jacob Kingsley]

"I can't believe she really thought I was going to give her the answer after she purposely left me no time" Jacob complained again to another house mate. It had been too late to do much complaining last night, though it had taken him ages to calm down enough to actually sleep. Today, he was raring to go. "I don't know why there couldn't be one more person in that stupid class so I could've worked alone. I would've even preferred working with the professor over her." He took a bite of his cereal, only shutting up long enough to chew before he continued.

 

[Zennon Baros]

Zennon had been having a hard day. He wasn't really doing very well in Transfiguration and after spending all night trying to brush up, he just wasn't getting it. He'd yet to decide if it was even worth keeping it with the way he felt about it right now. He was about to head over to the Slytherin house table to eat breakfast, but heard Jacob over the crowd and headed that way instead. Rubbing his dark eyes and yawning, Zennon dropped down beside Jacob and smiled. "What are you complaining about?" He asked, poking his tongue out as he reached for an orange. He needed some energy to get him through today.
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[Jacob Kingsley]

"I don't even know why I bothered to be nice to -" Jacob had continued on to anyone listening, stopping abruptly when Zennon dropped at the table. He couldn't very well continue complaining about Analei to Zennon, could he? Stuffing his mouth to bide some time, Jacob finished and then did something that could either be the stupidest move he'd made so far this year or, no, it was probably the stupidest move he'd made. "Your friend" he said darkly.

 

[Zennon Baros]

Zennon stared at Jacob for a second. He wasn't sure quite who Jacob was talking about. He blinked and was about to ask until he realised that the only friend of his, Jacob knew for sure, was Analei. He frowned then. "What are you talking about, my friend, of course she's my friend and why wouldn't she be?" He'd never thought he'd have this conversation with Jacob. Both Analei and Jacob were his friends, he didn't want to have to defend one to another one. "What did she do?" He was almost pleading for there to be a justifiable reason for the comment and tone. She better have murdered his dog or something. Otherwise, Zennon didn't know what to do.
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[Jacob Kingsley]

Jacob looked at his friend, a little exasperated by his response. He wasn't telling Zennon to not befriend her, but he had asked a question and Jacob had answered it. "She was a jerk in Astronomy last night" he stated and then knowing Zennon would need more than that to understand where he was coming from, he launched into it, giving his friend an earful. "We were supposed to be partners but she didn't want to help me set up our telescope and then went first without even asking. And then she left me hardly any time at all to do my own work." He left out the part where he left her to carry the telescope back down, feeling like it only made sense based on what she did to him. "My mom will kill me if I mess up in another class " he added as further explanation.

 

[Zennon Baros]

Zennon frowned at his friend. He really didn’t like this side of him, though he had a feeling something like this was going to come up eventually. He wasn’t blind to the fact that they didn’t like each other, but he hadn’t actually seen Analei do anything to upset Jacob. She certainly hadn’t spoken to him about it. He flinched at the word jerk and his frown deepened. “Okay, I’m going to stop you right there.” He said, his own tone dropping to match Jacob’s. He couldn’t believe he was hearing this. He was usually a really happy-go-lucky person, but he didn’t appreciate people bashing his friends, especially when it was another friend. “Jacob,” He pointedly used his friends name, “I don’t appreciate you talking about Analei like this.” He said, sliding away from Jacob slightly to give himself some space. “It’s one thing to have a disagreement with someone, it’s entirely another to go bashing that person to the entirety of Gryffindor.” Okay, so maybe not all of Gryffindor, but that wasn’t his point. “I’m really disappointed in you, Jake. I thought you were different.” He said, shaking his head and standing to leave. Sure, Zennon had asked him what Analei had done, but he wasn't expecting that. He assumed she'd done something really bad, to elicit such mouth. Clearly not, being unhelpful wasn't like Analei though, he wanted to hear her side of the story too.
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[Analei Westwick]

Analei was still reeling from the night before. Not only was it her worst subject, but she had to be paired up with the worst person. He had been so rude to her, and pretended to know an answer just to get what he wanted. She would've helped him. And to make it even worse, it was a night class, so she was exhausted. Analei sat at the Hufflepuff table, not even paying attention to the food in front of her as her hand held up her chin. Her body was not helping keep her awake, it was just as tired and not working with what her brain wanted. She wanted to be awake. Why was she falling asleep at the table? Analei shook her head and sat up straight, widening her eyes to try wake up a bit, looking around the room. Her eyes landed on a sight she did not want to see. Zennon and Jacob were talking. She would never tell anyone who to be friends with, but she really did not like the two boys being friends; especially if Zennon liked Jacob more than he liked her. Zennon was her best friend, and it would suck to not be his. Her mind raced, and she wondered if Jacob was talking about the Astronomy lesson. Surely he wouldn't be telling him how mean he was? He was probably making up some sort of lie about her. Whether it was because she really liked Zennon and was scared of losing him, or if she was just really, really tired, Analei felt her eyes well up. Analei groaned. She hated crying, and now it was the second time that semester. Angrily, Analei grabbed her bag and pushed herself away from the table. She needed to be anywhere but here right now, and she stormed off to the Hufflepuff Common Rooms.
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[Jacob Kingsley]

Jacob’s eyes narrowed as he watched Zennon move first away from him and then stand entirely, as if he couldn’t be associated with him. The distance hurt even more then the words that the Slytherin was saying. He looked around at the small group he’d been speaking to incredulously. If Zennon thought this was the entirety of Gryffindor, he needed some serious help with his math skills, probably as much help as Jacob needed with potions. Jacob had thought Zennon was his friend, but just as with the Valentine’s dance, the Slytherin was choosing Analei over him and he was beginning to tire of that. And he’d called him Jacob and Jake. Zennon never called him either of those names. Even though he was being told off, it was that which hurt him the most. “ Oh gee, Zennon. I’m sorry to disappoint you” Jacob said sarcastically. He turned away from his friend, not wanting him to see the hurt in his eyes and spotted Analei leaving the Great Hall. “You can leave now then. It looks like your girlfriend needs you…and I’d like to go back to my conversation with my friends if that’s ok with you” he added, waving his hand in dismissal, his eyes following in the direction of the Hufflepuff girl before turning his attention back to his Gryffindor friends and resuming conversation with them as if Zennon wasn’t there any longer. What Jacob really wanted to do was leave the Great Hall himself, but if there was a chance of running into Analei, he was going to stay put.

 

[Arvel Ayers]

There was a good reason Arvel hated late nights; he needed at least nine hours of sleep in order not to feel like a zombie the next morning - more, if he had classes first thing. Even then he felt as if he were carrying around a backpack full of bricks. He rubbed his eyes as he poured himself some cereal, glad at least not to be the only one on the verge of falling back to sleep. Analei had looked a bit off ever since she'd stormed out of the Astronomy tower, and though Arvel hadn't had the courage to ask her what was wrong, he suspected it had a lot to do with a certain Gryffindor. He'd only caught the end of their classroom dispute, but by the looks of things, their animosity stretched back much further than last night. Arvel startled as Analei suddenly pushed herself away from the table, his spoon suspended half way to his mouth. A cornflake dropped off and fell to the table. She was seriously stroppy, he realised all of a sudden. Not really wanting to get involved - he had too much revision to think about - Arvel shoved his spoon in his mouth and tried to forget about it.

 

[Zennon Baros]

Zennon stared at Jacob. He really didn't think he was being very fair and he was getting tired of this feud, or whatever it was, he had going on with Analei. Honestly they both had so much in common and that was part of the reason that Zennon liked them both. They made him feel good and though he hated lying to them everyday, it was only so he could keep them. He didn't think he could bare losing either of them over something like this. It was like they were fighting for his attention and he only had so much to give, he knew that seemed selfish, but they could barely even stand to be in the same room and Zennon certainly couldn't have them avoiding each other entirely. As Jake but back, Zennon realised he'd overstepped and immediately felt guilty again. He kept forgetting how important his grades were to him, especially since his mother was his head of house and he probably couldn't afford to fail another class. Zennon bit his lip and considered saying something, but Jake continued, calling his attention to Analei as she left. Why did his friends have to make him choose! If he went after Analei, he was afraid that would be it between him and Jake. But if he didn't go after Analei and she'd seen him notice her, then it could potentially end that friendship too. Why did this always happen? He was always the one who ended up alone because he always made the wrong decision. It seemed his curse extended not just to his secret abilities but to his associations as well. Tears welled up in Zennon's eyes as he recognised the sinking ship for what it was and walked over to the Slytherin table. There, now he wasn't choosing anyone. Friends be damned.
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[Jacob Kingsley]

Jacob hadn't seen Zennon walk away, but he knew that he had and though he kept on talking to his Gryffindor friends, it was only halfhearted attention he was giving them on his part. Finally pushing away his plate, Jacob drained his cup as his friends left ahead of him to get to class. The Gryffindor tossed his notebook into his bag and zipped it up, tossing the backpack on as he stood up. It was then that he had a good view of the Slytherin table where he saw his brother still eating breakfast and further down the table, Zennon. Jacob was surprised to see him still there, and he took a few steps in the direction of the table before he realized what he was doing and quickly turned to the door, lifting his head up high. He was not going to apologize.

 

[Zennon Baros]

Zennon noticed Jacob leave and sighed. He had hoped that maybe Jacob would have come and apologise, but it seemed that he didn't want to. Zennon wasn't sure what he was expecting, he knew what he'd said had probably hurt Jacob, but it was how he'd felt at the time. Zennon had never been good with conflict, he'd never really had to deal with a lot. He had friends, but he never really fit in with them. Shaking his head he pushed the rest of his food away. He headed out the door but he turned to gesture for Arvel to follow him. He knew he'd been there to see Analei, he didn't have anyone else to talk to, so Arvel, his not really friend, was the only person available.
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