Chimerical

Two truths and a Lie. (Pt.1)

I'm breaking this segment down into two parts.

Alice wriggled her eyebrows in confusion; what exactly was it that she was looking at? She thought, as she looked Garfield up and down before diverting her gaze to Rose. The latter stood there expectantly, waiting for Alice to notice the difference. But Alice just couldn't see anything different, it was just Garfield in all his ginger glory.

"What exactly am I looking for?" She asked sheepishly.

"Any difference." Rose replied vaguely.

"Alright I yield. Do tell." She sighed.

"Fine. Look around his neck." Rose prompted.

Alice picked up Garfield and observe him closely. She felt the collar around his neck and underneath his fur, she felt a cool, metal tag. It had his name inscribed in calligraphy. She turned back to Rose with pursed lips.

"Wow that's grand, how could I have ever missed it?" She feigned shock. "It was right there in front of my eyes; exceptionally well displayed under his massively thick cat fur."

Rose stared at her best friend puzzled. Alice was irritated and that, for her, was a rare phenomenon; it took something monumental for the girl to lose her composure. Had she done something to make her mad?

Indeed, Alice was irritated but it had little to do with Rose- she was convinced. She was upset with Marlene, or that's what she told herself. Lately, Alice had been feeling quite left out. She had all this built up anger which was very unusual. She felt left out very often but she couldn't understand why. She was always around Lily or Mary. Marlene was always on the move; she loved meeting new people. And Rose- Alice seemed to be spending the least time with Rose- ever since she started hanging out with Isha. She loved the fact that people were finally warming up to Rose- it was hard not to, the girl was very amiable, but what about her? Why wasn't Rose prioritising their friendship. She would come around not more than thrice in a week and Alice really missed her best friend. Of course, she didn't want to confront Rose because she was afraid of upsetting the girl.

Lost in her thoughts, she hardly noticed Rose addressing her until she snapped her fingers in front of Alice's face.

"Is everything okay? You seem distracted Al." She said

"I'm okay. I need to go, Lily and I are working on our essays for the Draught of Living Death. Better not be late.." she muttered as she got up to leave. However, Rose caught her by the arm before she could leave.

"Have I done something to cross you? You're acting all kinds of bizarre today."

"Well I got my period yesterday so it could be the hormones." Alice said shortly.

'Well it's true' Alice thought.

Rose was stunned. It was a big deal to get your period for the first time; why didn't Alice say anything to her? After all they never kept secrets from each other. Even though she shouldn't be upset with Alice, she couldn't help but feel a little irritated herself. Alice was behaving cold and distant today and Rose had no idea why. Nevertheless she decided to be calm and talk Alice through whatever she was feeling.

"Okay..."She said biting her lip slightly. "I can come with you to the library. It's on the way to the Ravenclaw Tower anyway. I'd actually join you if I could but Isha and I—"

"Are busy. I know." Alice cut her off.

"You are cross with me.."She realisedWhat did I do?" Rose asked bluntly. She was just trying to understand why Alice was upset but clearly, her approach wasn't working.

"Merlin, yes...I am angry with you Rose!" Alice bursted. "You don't even know why I am, and how could you? When you've hardly been spending any time with me, how would you know? It doesn't matter now..."she continued "I need to be alone."