Hey, this is Emma (HellsGuardian87). This story has been inspired by the Eden Hall RPG on Livejournal and it's Connie/Portman. I'm co-writing with Meme-Ann, I'll be taking care of Portman's POV and Meme will be doing Connie's. Hope you enjoy it:)

PORTMAN'S POV

It's three pm on a sunny Saturday afternoon and where am I? Laid on my bed. I have neither the inclination nor the motivation to move. It's Halloween…I used to love Halloween. The dressing up, the horror stories…not forgetting all the free candy of course. It all ended last year. Well, technically, it ended when I was twelve years old and considered too old to go trick or treating anymore, but my love of Halloween ended last year.

That was when my parents decided they were going to split up. Why they picked Halloween to break the news, I'll never know, but it shattered any illusions I might have had that my life was good. I can't say my life was perfect. Mom and dad argued almost constantly for as long as I remember. Sometimes they put me and my brother, Danny, in the middle of it all, arguing about who was the better hockey player, who was smarter, who was tougher…pretty much anything and everything. Danny always managed to ignore them, but I never could. I used to get upset that they were arguing, which in turn, made them argue more about which one of them had upset me. That was when I was about five years old.

As I got older, I stopped getting upset and started getting angry. When they were arguing, they forgot about everything else. I don' t mean that they were bad parents or anything. Far from it, Danny and I didn't want for anything, but a lot of the time we felt ignored. Or at least I did. Danny never really said anything either way. I was getting into a lot of trouble back then – nothing too major, just petty vandalism and stuff. In an effort to bring me out of this phase, my mom signed me up for peewee hockey. I have to say; it worked. Once I was on the ice, I could hit as many people as I wanted to, as hard as I wanted to. I could hit a puck as hard as I wanted to, not caring if it hit someone, or made a noise as it slammed off the boards.

It didn't matter to me that my playing hockey was the cause of more arguments. I loved playing. I think, ultimately, it was my decision to come to Eden Hall that made my parents decide to get divorced. With Danny off at college in Boston and me in school in Minnesota, it was like they suddenly didn't have a reason to be together anymore. We're not little kids, dependant on their parents anymore. We're growing up. We have our own lives and it's like they saw an opportunity to start their own lives again. Apparently this means having a string of meaningless relationships that somehow, always lead to another argument. Despite my dad moving to Detroit and my mom staying in Chicago, they still argue. Hence why I chose to move in with my aunt instead of living with one of them when I'm not in the dorms.

Rrring rring. I'm jolted out of my thoughts by the phone ringing. Sighing, I reach over and pick it up. I'm so not in the mood to deal with anyone right now.

"Hello?"

"Dean? Hi, it's me!" a female voice said into my ear brightly. "Listen, a bunch of us are going to go and play some street hockey. We thought you might want to come too?" Connie. And she's perky. Great.

"Connie…hi." I answered slowly, racking my brains for an excuse. "I, uh, I can't. I have…stuff to do." That won't wash with her. I know it won't, but it's all I got.

"What stuff? Dean, we're only going to play for a couple of hours, you can do your 'stuff' afterwards." She's trying her best to convince me to play. You know, she's the only person I let call me Dean without biting their head off. I'm not sure why.

Sighing, I decide to just tell her the truth. It would be easier than trying to explain what stuff I had to do. "Connie, I just…I don't feel like playing today, that's all. I'm kinda having a bad day."

I can almost hear her frowning as she speaks now. "What's the matter?"

I groan inwardly. "Halloween just brings back bad memories, that's all." I hope that will satisfy her.

Of course, it doesn't. "Bad memories of what?"

"My parents splitting up." There. She knows. Maybe now I'll get some peace.

"When did they split up?" Nope, she's still full of questions. Doesn't this girl ever give up?

"Last year. This year is the first one where they've been apart." Surely she'll think I'm being stupid now.

"Oh, sweetie, I'm sorry. Do you want to talk?" Now that was unexpected. I thought she'd laugh at me for being so pathetic or something. Maybe I could talk to her…it might help me get over it…what harm could it do?

"I do…I just don't really know what I want to say." I find myself telling her, sighing a little.

"Listen, I'm gonna tell the guys I can't play. I'm gonna come over and we can talk, or we can just hang out if you want. Is that okay?" She replied, her voice full of concern.

"Yeah, I'd like that. But you don't have to." I have to put up a bit of a fight.

"I want to." She reassures me. "I'll be over in a few minutes."

"Okay, I'll see you then. Bye Cons." I hung up, closed my eyes and groaned. What have I done? Why'd I have to open my mouth? No one needed to know. I can handle this. I…

Again my thoughts are interrupted. This time by a knock on the door. I still don't feel like getting up, so I yell instead.

"It's open!"

I hear the door open and close gently as Connie enters the room. After a couple of seconds I feel a weight on the bed beside me. "Hey."

I open my eyes and look up at her. "Hey."

Well that's the first chapter up. Please review!