She Said What?

Chapter 31: I Witness Another Love Story

A/N: I'm sorry to say it, but this chapter is a little more build-up. However, you will be very pleased to know that next chapter, I get to introduce a really fun side-story and the chapter after shall be more along the lines of what you're waiting for on the LJ front. I'm really excited – but for now, I hope this will tide you over.

Cheers, guys! You're wonderful!

January 7

1:05 PM
Status: Giddy

Forget taking notes. Forget being responsible. Forget being whatever the hell I'm supposed to be at the moment.

This is big news. Hang History. Hang the rules. Hang everything. I am going to write what I want instead of taking notes on goblin rebellions and damn it, Binns had better learn to accept that.

It all started...well...this morning.

Today was a pretty normal day to begin with. We had our usual early morning routine – I didn't really get the time to open and assemble the new alarm clock that Livvy gave me for Christmas, which meant I slept in late, thinking it was still the holidays, and was awakened by the lovely sounds of Alice and Livvy screaming in my ears.

This is their new favorite method of waking me up. They think it's highly effective. I tend to agree – even if my ears do ring quite unpleasantly afterwards.

Once I was awake, we three went to breakfast together. Livvy decided to go sit with Russell, since she seemed to believe that four days without him was too much to bear, which left me and Alice together. We chose to sat by Mary, then, and she filled us in on the latest gossip, which we happily indulged in.

While she was talking, however, I happened to catch a glimpse of Frank entering the Great Hall – alone, which was kind of unusual. He appeared a little down, a little less vibrant, like a plant gone three days without water. At once, I bade Mary to give us a second and poked Alice in her side.

"Look," I said. "There's Frank."

Alice looked around and she, too, caught sight of Frank. Since she was sitting with us, so did Mary – and pretty much everyone (except Frank) knows that Alice has an enormous crush on him.

"Oh, yes, there he is!" she said before Alice could acknowledge our find. "He looks so sad, poor thing. Do you know what's going on there?"

"Yes, I do," I said significantly. "It's about an inch shorter than me and goes by the name of Alice Prewitt."

Alice rolled her eyes at me in a would-be-casual fashion. "Don't be ridiculous," she said. "It's the first day of classes. I'm depressed too."

Mary frowned. "I don't think so," she said. "What's going on between you two?"

"Nothing!" Alice insisted.

"Not nothing, certainly," I said. "Go on, go talk to him. You know he's waiting for you."

"You're his best friend," added Mary. "Maybe he'd tell you why he's upset."

"We both know why he's upset," I said. "It's all a matter of you going over there and talking to him, like you said you would. It's the first day of class now – what the hell are you waiting for?"

"The sky to fall?" suggested Alice very quietly, her features seeming to shrink slightly into her face.

Mary raised an eyebrow and looked to me. I considered the situation, looking from Alice to Frank and back, and decided that this was absolutely ridiculous. I told her so.

"Alice, you are absolutely ridiculous," I said. "You are going to talk to Frank and that is final. I can't believe you would do this to him! He's falling apart like this, and so are you, and it doesn't have to be that way."