Next To You

[Jack Holloway]

Jack was stupidly tired as he lay in a beanbag in the common room, a book open across his face to block out the light. What with them all fighting there wasn't much for him to do other than lie down and sleep. Or he could be doing his homework, but that was a ridiculous ask of him. He'd be turning up on time to lessons next.

Someone prodded him in the stomach and he flinched, growling a "get lost" and trying to roll over but instead rolling from the beanbag. Pulling the book from his face, he glowered up at the person above him.

[Elizabeth Holloway]

Elizabeth headed to the Inter-House common room, still getting used to being in a school with so many other people. She looked around for a familiar face, eyes lighting up as she saw the perfect person, nervousness bubbling in her stomach, approaching him cautiously. His face was covered by a book, and she couldn't tell if he was awake or not, so did the most sensible thing she could think of and poked him in the stomach.

Apparently he was in a bad mood.

"I'm sorry," she said, looking genuinely apologetic as she spoke. "I didn't mean to upset you. I wanted to ask you about your book."

[Jack Holloway]

Jack narrowed his eyes at the older girl in front of him. He didn't recognise her; he probably had never spoken to her in his life nor would he have anything to do with her. Without taking her eyes from him, he lifted the book up to scan the title. "How to Take Care of Your Chinchilla," he read slowly. "I'm guessing you have a lot of them then that you often need to take care of?"

He pulled himself back onto the beanbag and sighed, handing her the book. "Who're you, anyway?"

[Elizabeth Holloway]

A very bad mood. Elizabeth pushed down her overwhelming urge to smack the boy with the book, marveling at the fact that this was the first time they'd ever talked.

"Not really, though they are sometimes cute. I just thought it was an interesting choice of book," she replied, sarcasm slipping through slightly. "You definitely seem like the chinchilla type.

"I'm Elizabeth," she said, smiling slightly and taking the book, gripping it slightly too tightly. "And who're you?" other than oh so polite.

[Jack Holloway]

Jack smirked slightly. "Well you know," he said, looking up at her, "Some chinchillas bite. I'm like those ones." He grinned and crossed his legs. "I'm Jack. Nice to meet you, Elizabeth. Do you have a surname, or not?" He blew his cheeks out and slapped them, exhaling.

"I was sleeping," he told her. "I don't usually read about chinchillas but they make a decent pair of curtains. Next time, just pull the book off my face, I won't mind."

[Elizabeth Holloway]

Elizabeth noted that Jack seemed to get over his bad mood rather quickly. And really, this was the child they had chosen to keep? How was he better? She kept up her civil smile, amused as he asked for her surname. "Yes, my surname's Holloway," she said, though it was still strange to use it for her.

"It is quite a thick book, I imagine its quite good for keeping out the light," she agreed, the sarcasm finally breaking through. "Perhaps a real bed would be more pleasant than a couch in a communal area though. And I wasn't sure just pulling the book away would do the trick."

[Jack Holloway]

Jack frowned as she said her surname, before grinning. "Eh, snap. Huh, weird." He grinned. "Obviously your parents have good taste in surname. Ha, maybe we're related."

He took the book back from her and flipped it open, putting it back over his eyes. "Yeah, well, it's comfortable here. And I might miss out on something if I actually go to bed." He closed his eyes when he heard her speak again. "Wait. Did you deliberately wake me up? Are you really that stupid, dear?"

[Elizabeth Holloway]

Elizabeth chuckled at the joke, laughing inside her head. Oh, if only he knew. "Wouldn't that be weird?" and unfortunate. "I take it you're a Holloway as well? A long lost relative, perhaps?" she joked.

She smirked as he asked her if she was that stupid. "I'm not the one who's sleeping in a room where people could terrorise you. Or are you friends with everyone? You must feel very safe," Elizabeth teased. "And like I said, I was interested in your book, and you seemed to not be reading it. Unless you simply need to be that close to the pages. In which case, you might need your eyesight checking."

[Jack Holloway]

"Yup," Jack replied with a smile. "Jonathan Michael Holloway. I don't think it could get much more British if I tried." He looked around the common room and back at Elizabeth. "Nah, most people dislike me. Can't imagine why. Something to do with leviball." He yawned and looked across the common room, rubbing his nose as he thought about the other three. What were they doing right now?

"I want to do something," he told Elizabeth flatly. "I'm so bored with school. It's just so... so... schoolish. We haven't done anything interesting for a while." He looked around, saw a vase and looked. "Flipendo," he cast, causing the vase to fall and smash. Reasonably satisfying. "That feels better."

[Elizabeth Holloway]

No, she couldn't think of any reason why people would hate Jack. He was so lovable and pleasant. Elizabeth chuckled slightly, trying to encourage the boy to think she found him funny. She did want him to like her at first, after all. "I can't imagine why either. Though how leviball comes into it I would like to know."

"I imagine school would be schoolish," she said dryly. She raised a brow as he smashed a vase, smirking slightly. "I can't imagine your teachers would be overly impressed about that. Though, if it's a slightly destructive thing you're looking at doing, I would be happy to help you find it."

[Jack Holloway]

Jack grinned at her and reached out, grabbing her wrist and pulling her down into the seat next to him. "Don't stand over me, it makes me feel like I'm about six and being screamed at by my mum or something. Have a seat."

He grinned at the smashed vase and turned to look at her. "Destructive is good. What d'you have in mind?" Any rule breaking would be good, to be honest. Anything he could do without having to have Leo and Mel and Zol there.

"So, leviball," he said. "Long story short, this girl hit me in the face with a leviboard. We've been friends ever since." He thought about that again. "Or, we were."

[Elizabeth Holloway]

Elizabeth yelped slightly as she was dragged onto the couch, freezing slightly as she felt his hand on her wrist. This wasn't just some random person she didn't know. Not in her mind. Not with her knowledge. She was sitting far too close.

"Oh you know, the usual. Smashing a few windows, graffiting a few desks and chairs," she shrugged, deciding she probably needed to release some tension. Talking to Jack while remaining calm was proving harder than she thought it would.

She couldn't help but grimace at the idea of being hit in the fact with a leviboard. "That sounds...relatively painful. I can't say I'd ever make friends with someone who hit me with a leviboard," it must've been the redhead, she did seem slightly volatile.

[Jack Holloway]

She was a bit strange, Jack thought, but he shook it off. Maybe she wasn't the physical handling type. He leant his head back and closed his eyes again. "Graffiting? Never tried that before. I'm not the artistic type." He wiggled his fingers as if to say the artistic type was slightly elite. He shrugged.

"Yes. It was painful. But I'm sure there're worse things," Jack said. "Like... being hit by a mammoth. Or being impaled." He pondered this for a moment, wincing slightly, and looked at her. "Why haven't I seen you around before?"

[Elizabeth Holloway]

Elizabeth snorted slightly, rolling her eyes. "I can't imagine many people who graffiti are particularly artistic," she said. "You see some of it these days and you wonder if the people who do it have any sense of aesthetics at all. But you know, it's just a way of expressing yourself."

He certainly had an imagination, she could give him that. "You haven't seen me around before because I just transfered here," she explained, shrugging lightly. "I was home-schooled before. I thought it would be interesting to be at a proper school," she said, not exactly lying.

[Jack Holloway]

"Banksy is artistic," Jack countered her, shrugging. "I think he'd be pissed off to hear you say that. Calling him unartistic, really."

He listened to her talk and raised his eyebrows. "I'd love to be homeschooled," he said, though he rethought this straight afterwards. "Actually, no. Because then I'd be with my parents twenty four seven and that would actually suck. We'd probably all kill each other." He and his father would most definitely fight and his mother would probably end up shooting them both.

[Elizabeth Holloway]

"Banksy is an exception to the rule," she said, brushing it off easily. "The children in the poor estates back home are certainly not artists. And I said not many, not all of them. It's still fun."

Elizabeth felt an odd sense of satisfaction at the fact that Jack didn't seem overly keen on his parents, coupled with an anger at how ungrateful he seemed to have them. Perhaps him being homeschooled would be good, if it meant that they'd kill each other.

"I enjoyed being homeschooled, my parents hired in a teacher for me, who now teaches my sister, so it wasn't too bad. Just a bit lonely I suppose," she painted on a smile, feigning interest. "Do you not enjoy this school?"

[Jack Holloway]

"I'm sure rich people graffiti," Jack said. "Maybe Banksy is actually Prince Harry. Or something. I don't know. Do you want some popcorn?" He nodded over at the kitchen hatch, looking at Elizabeth.

"You have a sister? I wish I had a sibling. Being an only child is stupid. And I can't help bit feel the only reason they never had another kid is cos I'm not living up to their expectations. But then, I bet that's what everyone feels like." He shrugged. "Ugh. What was I just talking about? That's thirty seconds of your life you'll never get back."

"So, Effy. What year are you, again? And what house?"

[Elizabeth Holloway]

Elizabeth had the sudden urge to know exactly where on the scale of 'rich' to 'poor' Jack thought his family was. It would certainly make her feel better to know that she was higher up than him, though she didn't doubt it for a second. She resisted the urge to turn her nose up at popcorn, smiling instead. "Yes, okay. If you want."

But Merlin, she wished she didn't have to listen to him go on about not having a sibling. This whole conversation was a part of her life she was never going to get back. Perhaps his parents never had another kid because they only ever wanted one boy. Perhaps they just needed shooting in the face. "I do enjoy having a sister, when we get on," she said, imagining how much better she got on with her family than Jack.

"I'm a fifth year, House Crux. What about you?" she knew the answer, of course. It was only polite to ask.

[Jack Holloway]

Jack grabbed some popcorn, sighing as he stood there. He really, truly missed his friendship with Leo. And Mel. It wasn't the same for him and Zoltan without those two. He slapped the machine when it didn't work, before grabbing the bowl and returning.

"Listen," he said to her, "I'm sorry I'm in a bad mood. Break my nose if you want, that's how people normally deal with it." He smiled at her, passing her the bowl after grabbing a handful. "Third year Lacerta," he answered her question, popping a corn into his mouth. "The best house. Obviously." He grinned.

[Elizabeth Holloway]

Elizabeth watched as Jack went to get the popcorn, smirking slightly as he seemed to hesitate in thought. Perhaps he was thinking about his old friends. He wouldn't know what hit him.

"Oh, don't worry, I'm not going to break your nose," as tempting as it sounded. "I'm sorry if disturbed you," Elizabeth took the bowl, popping a piece of the popcorn into her mouth. It was certainly interesting. She had never had it before at home. "Popcorn is...interesting," she murmured outloud, repeating her thoughts, before turning back to Jack and trying to cover her slip.

"The best house in your dreams, maybe," she teased. "I don't know what I could do, but if there is anything I can do to help your mood, then..." she shrugged slightly, unable to actually summon the will to offer her help.

[Jack Holloway]

Jack watched her incredulously as she commented on popcorn. "Have you never had it before?" he asked, wide eyed. "Well lahdiDAH, aren't we civilised?" He grinned and took some more and chucking it into the air, catching it in his mouth. "I can't believe that. Do you like it? Does that mean you've never had other stuff? Like candyfloss or chips or Doritoes or sausages? Please tell me you've had sausages." He looked at her for a moment.

He smiled at her when she offered to help his mood. "Nah, you're alright. I'm cheering up. But thanks for the offer. You're a sweetheart." He grabbed some more popcorn and looked at her pointedly. "Why did you not like homeschooling? How're you finding it here?"

[Elizabeth Holloway]

Elizabeth watched as Jack caught the popcorn in his mouth, raising her brows in surprise. He was good at something then. Shame it was so useless. It suited him. "I have had sausages before," she said, giving him a mocking look. "Please, who hasn't? And I had candyfloss, when I was very little," Elizabeth thought about doritos. "And everyone's had chips. Popcorn just," she shrugged. "I had it once, and it got stuck to my fingers, so I've avoided it since really."

She inwardly grimaced at being called a 'sweetheart', a term that she didn't think had ever been used for her before. She managed to smile however, attempting to look pleased that he was cheering up. "I didn't exactly not like it," Elizabeth explained, picking out another piece of popcorn and toying with it. "I just thought it would be nice to experience something different, and be around people my own age. It's been nice, so far. Do you enjoy it here? I assume you've been here since first year?"

[Jack Holloway]

"Ooh, alright, your highness," Jack said, laughing. "At least I don't have to educate you in the ways of fatty foods too much, then." He looked at her again. There was something familiar about her but he couldn't put his finger on it. She must look like someone famous or something.

"School is schoolish," he repeated from earlier. "But yeah, I've been here from scratch. An ickle firstie. Only mildly more of a prick than I am now. In fact, I haven't really changed." He thought back to first year, where Mel had broken his nose, and to this year where Leo had. Nope. No change there.

"And do you?" he asked, raising his eyebrows. "Enjoy being around people you own age, that is."

[Elizabeth Holloway]

Ugh, he was an arrogant prick. Elizabeth was once again baffled by the fact that they were related somehow. For a brief moment she sincerely hoped that she'd gotten the wrong boy, though she knew she hadn't.

She chuckled slightly at the idea of him being more of a prick then than now. "I'm sure that's an over exaggeration," Elizabeth said with a teasing tone. Back when she was the age of a first year, she was too busy focused on finding her parents. To think how ignorant she was then.

"I am enjoying it. It's been nice to have people my own age to talk to. And living somewhere different too, it always makes for a nice change. Then again, you could ask me in a few months and I might've changed my mind."

[Jack Holloway]

"I'll check again in a few months then," Jack agreed. Really, who was it she reminded him of? Probably someone from a soap or something else trivial. He had been staring for about a minute or so before blinking and shaking his head.

"Woah," he said, "Sorry. I was just trying to figure out who you look like. You remind me of someone, like, really strongly, but I can't figure out who it is." That was gonna bug him. Really bug him.

He looked up at the ceiling. She seemed alright, this Effy. She was certainly pleasant to him, probably more pleasant than he deserved considering how rude he'd been to her at first, and she was quite entertaining, even if she was a bit funny about popcorn. But that was the only flaw he had found so far and it wasn't really even a flaw.

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