𝑆𝑜 𝑙𝑜𝑛𝑔， 𝑅𝑖𝑑𝑑𝑙𝑒 || 𝑇𝑜𝑚 𝑅𝑖𝑑𝑑𝑙𝑒 𝑋 𝑂𝑐

thirteen.

"I'm just sick of it, Smudge! Within the past day, I've managed to lose all of my friends, hit my head, and now my only friend is Tom Riddle! If you could even call him a friend, what is going on with my life?" Vivian questions. Yesterday had been the most confusing day of her life. One thing after another.

The cat sat there, completely ignoring Vivian's existence. "C'mon, Smudge, I don't know what to do right now." Vivian was sitting in the common room, her cat on her lap. It was quite late, so she kept her voice quiet, still petting the grey, white, and brown coloured cat.

It was almost twelve a.m and Vivian was absolutely shattered. If it wasn't for the fight she was in with her friends, she would've been in bed hours ago. All the blonde could do was stare at the clock. It somehow seemed to make time move a lot slower.

"Vivian?" A voice spoke from behind the couch that she was sitting on. Vivian turned her head. "Alexander? What are you doing awake?" The boy approached her and took a seat beside her. Avery spoke with a very quiet voice. "I, um, I didn't think anyone would be here." He looked almost frightened as he spoke to her.

Vivian noticed this almost right away. Avery was always laughing about something. "Is everything alright, Avery? You seem tense." She asked in a concerned tone. Avery shifted in his seat. "I'm fine, thank you." He said dryly. Vivian felt as though he didn't want to talk, yet he still sat down, so he must want to.

"You appear to be afraid." It was accurate. Over the previous few days, weeks, and perhaps months, his entire demeanour had changed. She wasn't sure what had made Avery so afraid, but it must've been something so evil. "I'm not afraid, Caledonia. I'm just... Tired, I suppose." He rubbed his eyes. Avery had the darkest eyebags Vivian had ever seen.

"You know that you can talk to me. We're friends, Alex." Though Vivian wasn't sure if she should bring up the subject, she felt compelled to do so after having a sudden epiphany. "I understand if you're scared of Tom. He is intimidating." Avery appeared angry now. "This isn't about Riddle. I don't want to talk about this, Vivian!" With an aggressive stance, he got up.

Vivian could see this was a touchy subject. It was clear from his response that he was terrified of Tom, but why? He was strange and seemed to have serious problems, but what would frighten someone to the point that they would become enraged about the subject?

Vivian awkwardly sat on the couch. She didn't expect to be shouted at, but she understood that Avery wasn't exactly thrilled about the subject. "I'm sorry." She apologised for bringing up Tom. "Vivian, he's... Just... Watch out." He warned before making his way back to his dorm room. It took every ounce of courage in Avery to say this.

'Watch out.' Vivian replayed it in her head. Watch out for what? Avery was Tom's friend, sort of, so why would he warn her? She finally kisses a boy, and then everyone on earth is warning her about him. She completely forgot she had kissed him as well. She was too upset about what had happened with her friends.

It was a little after twelve when Vivian looked up at the time once more. The little black box was in her hand. It was Abigayle's gift. A piece of jewellery was lying in the box. It was a heart locket, and within was a moving picture. When Vivian saw the two first-year girls, she grinned. In the picture, it was Christmas, with snow falling, hats, gloves, and even tartan scarves. The best birthday gift Vivian had ever thought of.

She was trying to think of a way to get the gift to the girl without talking to her. Vivian had tried talking to the girl, but it never ended well. She had to go in and sleep eventually, but it was just so awkward. Eventually, Vivian worked up the courage to enter the room. She left the box on Abigayle's bedside table and climbed into her bed.

  —꧁꧂—

Although Vivian hadn't had much sleep, she made sure to wake up before the other girls to avoid any conflict. She entered the bathroom brushing her teeth when another girl had entered. "Fancy seeing you here." Irene smirked as she picked up her tooth brush. "You couldn't have knocked?" Vivian rolled her eyes as she finished brushing her teeth.

Irene put her toothbrush back, too. "It's not only your bathroom, Caledonia." Her snide tone condescended Vivian. "No. But you knew I was in here. I could've been naked." Vivian untied her hair. "You're repulsive." Irene turned to leave but then stopped herself.

"You realise that you're a coward?" Irene got going. She appeared irritated. Vivian couldn't understand why Irene had such strong feelings about the issue when she didn't like any of the other girls in the room. Silent and ashamed of what she had done, Vivian stayed. "After missing the party they had thrown for you and Abigayle, you can't even face them."

It was true, Vivian was pathetic. She thought so herself too. But it was also pathetic to beg for Abigayle and the other girls to speak with her. "I'm trying, Irene! I'm really, really trying. They hate me. No one will talk to me!" Her voice rose. It was frustrating trying to get Irene to understand her situation. Frankly, she didn't care if Irene understood or not. Irene was the least of her concerns.

"Vivian, what is more important than your friends?" Leaning against the restroom door with her arms folded, Irene posed the question. "I wasn't to blame! Tom took my attention away." Irene was intrigued the moment Vivian spoke these words. "Riddle? It's not very kind to leave your friends for a boy." She made a mocking remark. "Are you happening to be slutshaming me?" Vivian scoffed and budged past Irene. She was so sick of her.