in shades of yellow

chapter 12

Cedric followed me out of the bathroom, lacing his arms around my waist as we reentered the crowd of Hufflepuffs.

"Do you wanna go, love?" Cedric asked, "do you still feel sick?"

"I want my toothbrush," I smiled up at him, "I'm gonna go get it!" I began to march away towards the door as Cedric grabbed my wrist and pulled me back towards him.

"I don't think so," he said, shaking his finger side to side, "Go sit with Pierson over there on the couch —I'll go grab it. I'm not letting my intoxicated girlfriend wander the halls alone." Cedric winked in my direction and headed off. I stumbled towards Pierson, plopping down next to him on the couch.

"So you're dating him now?" Pierson growled, his fingers rested on his temples and his elbows on his knees.

"Whatt does it mattter to you?" I asked, "I thought you two were friends."

"'Cause he's a bloody player, Lilah! What the hell don't you understand about that?!" Pierson must've screamed at me because a few heads turned from the crowd, "He's gonna break your little heart!"

Suddenly I was dead sober. Stunned to silence.

"What the hell Pierson?" I heard Penelope yell, emerging from the crowd, "you know nothing about their relationship! Mind you're own bloody business!"

"IT IS MY BLOODY BUSINESS ITS ALWAYS BEEN MY BLOODY BUSINESS AND ITS NOT FUCKING FAIR SO SHUT YOUR MOUTH, PEN!" Pierson screamed in her direction. My head spun as I watched my two best friends fight about my relationship.

"What's not fair?" I mumbled, not loud enough for anyone to hear over Pen's screaming rampage.

"YOU BETTER SHUT YOUR MOUTH PIERSON SHE DOESN'T NEED THIS RIGHT NOW!" Penelope yelped.

"What don't I need?" I asked a little louder. Still no one heard over the screaming, "WHAT THE HELL DONT I NEED!", finally they turned their heads to acknowledge me.

"YOU WANNA KNOW?" Ollie chimed in from behind Penelope, drunken out of his mind. Pierson stood up as if to tell his friend to shut his mouth but Ollie didn't pay any attention to the boy pleading him to shut it.

"Yes, I do wanna know." I said calmly, hoping the group would match my tone. They didn't.

"PIERSON'S BEEN IN LOVE WITH YOU SINCE BLOODY THIRD YEAR AND HES TOO PUSSY TO DO ANYTHING ABOUT IT BUT SIT IN SILENCE AS YOU SHAG DIGGORY!" Ollie screamed and the whole party went numb. I watched Pierson sit down and bury his face in his knees, defeated and embarassed.

"Pierson, is this true?" I asked, placing a hand on his lower back to comfort my best friend.

"Yeah, yeah it's true. And you fucking run off with Diggory who's gonna break your bloody heart into pieces!" I felt his voice crack at his words. He was so frustrated, so broken.

"Pierson, I..I don't know what to say," I started and he shoved my hand off his back.

"You don't have to say anything just go saunter off with your golden boy why don't you," He looked up at me with sadness deeply embedded in his kind blue eyes as he spoke and it broke my heart more than I thought to be possible.

I watched as my friend group shook under this fire-whiskey-triggered earth quake and realized we never acknowledged the faults in our friendships to begin with. Now we were destined for disaster.

I got up and rushed out the door to find the only stable and sturdy thing in my life right now, the person who'd grown to be my rock.

I shuffled down the corridors while tears clouded my vision until I reached the Hufflepuff common room. I crawled through the wooden door, shocked by the darkness. Whipping out my wand I muttered "Lumos" so I could see my way to the girls dormitories.