MAEENA COOPER: AUTUMN, 1972
Words couldn't express the amount of want Maeena had, the want she had for punching someone that is. She didn't have any particular targets in mind, but Leonie Mallow seemed to be a good one.
Leonie and Draya had been fighting like little kids since last year. It was bothering Maeena endlessly! All Carolina did at night was talk to Draya and sneak out to see Draya and forget to cast the silencing charm so everyone could hear her talking to Draya. If she wasn't talking to Draya, though, she was talking to Maeena and poor Josephine about how to fix Draya and Leonie's problems.
Maeena didn't quite know how to tell her that she was the only one who cared this much.
Anyway, none of this mattered half as much as the information that Maeena Cooper (much like every other Cooper) was not a morning person.
Which is why the series of upcoming events was that much more painful for Maeena to endure. It had all started, naturally, when she woke up. Carolina was jumping on her bed, declaring that if she didn't get up at that very moment; they would be late to breakfast.
This, admittedly, worked very well. Maeena even half believed her as she clumsily threw on some clothes (which did not resemble the school uniform at all, as she was still rebelling against the idea of wearing the stupid thing anyway). She exited her dorm room with Carolina and Josephine, the two girls bidding Josephine farewell once they caught Dazai and Draya.
Leonie seemed to have abandoned them, which Maeena didn't mind at all, and the group of four walked to the Great Hall. Maeena checked out from the conversation that led the girls to their regular table, due to the fact that it was about David Bowie.
Maeena liked David Bowie as much as the next guy, of course, but it did get...a bit overbearing to hear about him all the time. There was only so much Suffragette City someone could take!
Maeena tuned back in, though, once everyone was seated at the table and stuffing themselves full. The issue was, she did not tune in to her friends conversation, she tuned in to Sinistra Cresswell's (who was also a very good candidate for the Maeena Cooper Punching Practice of '72).
"Wow, Leonie, your parents are really proud!" Cresswell's voice reminded Maeena very much so of a construction site. Every time you think it's over, it starts up again. "Listen to this: Our dearest daughter, we were so pleased to hear the results of your first day back. The entire family commends you on upholding our noble traditions, and congratulations are in order..."
Maeena watched, unimpressed and unamused, as Leonie wrestled Sinistra for the letter. Sinistra continued to read, but Maeena didn't care what the letter said. She knew that the entire thing was meant to be a show for Draya. "Didn't your parents confiscate your crow again?" Maeena asked, bluntly.
The Matei family was possibly the weirdest family Maeena had ever encountered. She found out last year that instead of owls, like normal witches and warlocks, they had trained crows to deliver and receive their mail. It was utterly ridiculous, but it seemed to give everyone the right idea about just how extra they were.
Draya, last year after the winter holiday, had her crow confiscated. She was originally meant to receive it back before the start of second year, but she'd told Carolina last night that her parents had taken it away as punishment for some stupid prank she'd pulled.
"Said I can have it back when I remember my duty to the family and started acting like a 'true Matei.' I don't care, I don't need a crow." Draya always sounded a bit whiney to Maeena, but she figured now wasn't the proper time to be having that thought. Familial issues were all too familiar to Maeena, and if anyone ever said 'You sound whiney' when she was complaining about Samroze or Mark, she'd want to kill herself.
