IT'S MID-JANUARY YOU GUYS

So, here we are. Christmas is over, and another semester of school has begun. The clouds continued their tempestuous snowstorms, as did the projections upon the ceiling of the Great Hall. At the yonder Slytherin table sat a rather greenish Hugh Geraldson, staring down at his half-eaten slice of toast. He had avoided Sophia as well as he possibly could since that afternoon, and he intended to keep that up as long as he could. The more he thought about it, the more he knew he couldn't possibly face any of it, the more his stomach churned, the less he found himself able to respirate, the less oxygen that flowed to his knees. In fact, she ought to be coming along for breakfast soon. Maybe he'd better get to History.

Further down the table sat Louise, the complete opposite of her distant cousin. She had stars in her eyes and bits of unmelting snow in her bowl-cut and a mouthful of cream of wheat, sweetened to a nauseating level with two-thirds of the brown sugar bowl. Josiah's hair sure looked lovely from halfway across the cathedral...

Down at the Hufflepuff table, little fourth year Eileen O'Maury sat alone. Her friends weren't early risers, and she was just eating a piece of bread, yawning and rubbing her eyes.

Leah was settled at the Gryffindor table, next to Josiah, sparking up mischievous conversation with him. "SO JOSIAH. I hear you're going to try to get all the chicks, hmm?" she said with her eyes narrowed curiously at her cousin. "Quite the daring approach I must say. You'll hopefully be hated by every girl in the year by the end of third year!"

"I already hate him!" Caroline declared, sitting down on the other side of him. "After all, he's a cocky, ignorant person. I know several boys who are much nicer than him."

Bianca slid out down the bench, until she was seated across from Louise, and she was studying her carefully. She swiftly turned around to see what she was staring at, and turned back around with a little sigh.


"He's out of your league, you know." she announced, sounding rather mournful.

"Says who?" Louise settled her chin further into her palms. "I don't think so."

"..." Leah shook her head at Caroline. "He's right here. And he's my cousin, y'know." then shrugged. "Any success with O Great William? Don't tell him I called him that by the way." Leah sighed.

"I'm not cocky or ignorant!" Josiah retorted. "It's called self-confidence, which I happen to have."

Caroline laughed, not even deeming that comment as worthy of a retort. "Anyway, no. No luck.."

"Well, you're not EXACTLY out of his league, but it's the situation you're in. Josiah basically has his pick for every girl in his year-every girl that doesn't have a brain, anyway," Bianca paused, to take a bite of a bagel with cream cheese spread on top.

"The problem is that you face a lot of competition. If you're going after to him, you'll have to face a lot of competitors." Bianca explained, feeling quite wise.

Leah ignored Josiah. "Really? I'm amazed you've held out this long."

"I've tried talking to him. He hasn't really been interested in me." Caroline sounded rather down. "He seemed so nice when we first met and now I don't think he's very nice at all."

"Oh, God, Caroline's got a crush on William?" Josiah smirked devilishly. "I wonder how Will would react if he knew that..."

Leah spun and glared at Josiah angrily. She then grabbed a bread roll, hooked her arm around his neck, and stuffed the bread roll in his mouth. "Don't you dare tell him, you dumbass. Or I'll tell every girl you hit on that you still wear briefs, and are only using them to get around the school."

"Shut up, Josiah! If you tell him.. If you tell him, I'll really hurt you." Caroline said, looking quite steamed. "Please, don't."

Josiah yanked on Leah's hair with one hand, moving the roll out of his mouth with his other. "God, what's wrong with telling a guy you like him?! If he doesn't like you back, then that's that! Damn!" Josiah rolled his eyes, smoothing out his fluffy hair. "You two are so weird."

"OW! Let go of my hair!" Leah yelled, and slapped his hand away. She glared frustratingly at him. "Well, if you tell the guy, considering how disgusting and immature boys are, they'll either try to take advantage of you, or make fun of you!"

"Or he'll just laugh at you and tell you no. That's even worse." Caroline added in, crossing her arms and frowning at Josiah. He certainly wasn't getting on her list of nice boys.

Louise let out an airy sigh. "Shmompetition!"

"And... he's not very nice, too." Bianca said, watching the whole hair pulling and insulting scene going on.

"You deserve better than him! I think someone like..." she paused and thought for a minute. "I think someone like Adam Astor or Victor Sawyer would be better for you. They're actually nice."

"Adam Astor?" She looked at Bianca, shocked. "We're cousins!"

"Oh yeah... I forgot." Bianca shrugged a little. "Well, what about Victor or uh... that Phil guy in your year-wait never mind, I think he's gay. But, what about his friend, Matt? He seems pretty straight to me."