Rose Between Two Thorns.

Chapter 8

"Bitha, Bitha c'mon sweet you need to wake up" someone says in my ear. I mumble something incoherent and flip my head over on the hard surface so that I am facing the other way. Hearing giggles, I crack one eye open and see two of my roommates sitting on a bed staring at me.

"What time is it?" I grumble lifting my head up.

"Just after 6:30" Katie says giggling.

"Don't we have the whole day off? Why are you waking me this early?" I whine leaning my head on my arms and closing my eyes again.

"Yes we have the whole day off, buuut, it's the first task today. You need to get prepared before eleven. That means; shower, shave, dress and eat" Abigail states. I groan into my arm and I hear the two of them laughing again.

"I can't do it" I sigh.

"Tabs, if you can pull a prank on Albus Dumbledore – which you have by the way – you can most definitely do the tasks in the tournament. I definitely believe you can." Katie's soft voice says. I sit up and rub my hands over my face.

"Whatever" I say, before standing up. Stretching, I pop my shoulder blades and elbows, before wiggling around, as I walk around the room, much to Katie and Abigail's amusement.

"You know, if you do that too much, you're going to get arthritis." Marie scolds me as she walks towards her trunk. I stop moving and face her, my hands on my hips. I have had enough.

"Seriously Marie, what is your problem?" I ask. She turns around to face me.

"I'm not the one with the problem, you are" she says folding her arms across her chest. I scoff

"How am I the one who has a problem, you seem to really hate me this year, you treat me like garbage, and you make me feel like I don't belong here" my voice is starting to raise a bit.

"We were really good friends last year, I don't know what could have happened over a month that could have made you start to hate me" I add. Marie rolls her eyes.

"'Tabitha Granger is so awesome' 'Tabitha Granger is so amazing, I wish I was like her, she's so smart, and funny and kind, and pretty, and she hangs out with the Weasley twins'" she puts her fingers up as quotation marks as she speaks. I have to admit I am a little confused.

"I thought, that if I hung out with you, you would notice me, the way I have noticed you over the years. Maybe people would notice me" she adds.

"Wait, you thought by hanging out with me, you would be popular too? But I'm not popular" I say.

"Oh please, you are the most talked about girl in the school. The 'volunteer champion' the 'pranking queen' blah blah blah" she sneers.

"Wait....what do you mean I would notice you the way you noticed me over the years?" I ask confused. She sighs and rolls her eyes.

"I am surprised you haven't figured it out yet" she says. My eyes flicker over to Katie and Abigail, who have surprisingly stayed quiet throughout this.

"I-I like you okay. You are the only one who I could have counted on over the last few years. It's been really hard for me to figure out my feelings and my sexuality, but you helped me. And well...." Here she struggles for words ".....I didn't know how to tell you that I have a huge crush on you, so I settled for making fun of you, and treating you like....like dirt" she says the last part quietly.

I pause, starting to think. Marie's had a crush on me? It starts to make sense, the way she looks at me, the way she acts around me, the way she sat next to me last year, sort of close-like. I purse my lips trying to think of something to say.