Tale of Four Houses: A Tiktok Story

Part 2 - Getting to Know One Another

Lexie took the paper away from Kara and took a look at it. "Ok," she said, looking at the rest of the group. "The first question is pretty basic: if you were stuck on a deserted island, what would you bring?"

"That is pretty basic," Myrta agreed. "You'd think they'd come up with something more original."

Lexie shrugged. "I dunno. Maybe they thought they should start out slow and easy? Anyway, I think I would bring a dog to the island. Might as well have some company! What about you guys?"

"Food," answered Cassandra without hesitation.

Kara snorted. "Food isn't as important as shelter or drinkable water," she retorted, folding her arms over her chest and cocking an eyebrow pointedly.

Cassandra's face burned red. "You can't survive without food," she returned hotly.

"And you couldn't go a week without water," Kara hissed.

Immediately, both girls burst into a heated argument with insults being thrown in here and there. Lexie looked back and forth between them, looking uncertain about what to do and looking panicked. "Guys..." she tried half-heartedly, realizing it was probably a futile effort when a Slytherin and Gryffindor fight.

Myrta rolled her eyes. "I would buy a boat," she said loudly, and Cassandra and Kara stopped mid-argument and stared at Myrta, then at one another.

"O-oh..." stammered Cassandra.

Lexie beamed. "That's a good one!" she gushed.

"Haha... yee-ah," Kara relented, smiling lopsidedly and glancing at Cassandra. "Very smart, yeah."

After a moment of awkward silence, Kara cleared her throat. "So... what else does that paper have for us?"

Lexie handed it over to Kara. "It has a few more questions. After that, we're free to go," she looked down and put her hands in her lap, looking a little sad. "If that's what you guys want to do."

Kara and Cassandra looked at each other guiltily. "Ask the next question," Cass whispered to Kara. "I promise I won't argue anymore. Truce?"

"Sure," Kara replied softly. More louder, Kara read the next question. "What is your favorite dad joke**?" she stopped at looked at Lexie. "This seems like something you would know a lot about. What's some of your good ones, Lex?"

A smile broke across her face. "Oh... uh... ooh! Why do flamingos sleep with one leg up?"

Myrta perked up. "Oh, it's a fascinating tactic! In order to preserve body heat-"

"-because if they slept with both legs up, they'd fall over!" Lexie finished, and everyone except for Myrta burst into laughter.

Myrta looked confused, not understanding that it was a joke. "But.. that's not... that's not the reason they-"

"Oh!" Lexie exclaimed. "Here's another one: you know how birds fly in a V formation and oftentimes one side is longer than the other? Do you know why that is?"

Myrta jumped on the answer again. "Possibly an evolutionary-"

"-because there are more birds on that side!" Lexie finished, giggling.

"I don't like this. Get me out, please?" Myrta huffed, crossing her arms over her chest.

Kara, trying to stifle a chuckle, said, "Oh, c'mon, Myrta. It's funny!"

"Not for me, it isn't," Myrta muttered.

"Aw, what's the matter, Myrta?" Lexie giggled, winding up for another one. "Do your socks have holes in them?"

"No they do not," Myrta answered grumpily.

"Then how did you get your feet in them?" Lexie joked, and Kara couldn't hold herself in and burst into a chortle.

Myrta groaned, and Cassandra put an arm around her and squeezed her shoulders. "How about we move on?" she suggested, but there was a smirk on her face that told the rest of the group she was holding in a giggle.

They moved on to other questions, and eventually, Myrta joined in the laughter. They slowly began to warm up to one another, although Cass and Kara might need some more time to accept being friends.

"This was actually pretty fun," Kara admitted, twirling a feather pen in between her thumb and pointer finger.

"Yeah," Cass agreed. "Much more fun than I thought it would be."

Suddenly, Lexie gave a small squeal of delight.

"What?" Myrta asked, curious.

"The paper says we're allowed two sleepovers per month!" Lexie declared, showing that paragraph to the others. "That could be fun!"

Before anyone could say anything, the clock struck eight and other students began to say their goodbyes to their group. "Looks like we're out of time for the night," Lexie mumbled.

"What if..." Kara mused. "We meet up tomorrow after potions? To get to know one another more?"

"We could meet in the Hufflepuff common room!" Lexie suggested, jumping to her feet excitedly.

The words "Sure," and "Ok," came from Myrta and Cass, and everyone stood up from the table and said their goodnights. While for some of them it felt like this new arrangement was a terrible idea, they had to admit to themselves that they had a pretty good time getting to know one another.  Maybe... this wasn't going to be so bad after all.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

**This scene is based off of the Tiktok sound from Thomas Sanders's "Sander Sides"**