For Quidditch, last round, using the prompts: truth, the quote "It takes courage to grow up and become who you really are." E.E. Cummings, and Therapy by All Time Low.
This wasn't finished before, but here it is now, as good as it will ever be.
Enjoy.
.,.,.
Dust swirled on the musty air. Each student sat with a slouch, heads resting on either hand, gaze focused on the front of the class where the professor worked at the board. The silence made every little tap of a pencil, drop of a book, exasperated sigh an elephant's roar.
In the back of the class James watched everyone nervously, fitfully nibbling at the hem of his vest with his fingers. Every few seconds he glanced to the front, squinted at the blurred board material that appeared to be the professor's swooping penmanship, then snapped back to his blank notes. Rinse and repeat for the best part of an hour.
Stressed didn't even begin to explain what he was feeling.
He walked out of class with slumped shoulders and a lowered gaze. Not to mention a severely wounded pride.
"Jamie! Hey, airhead!"
James turned and saw a shorter girl speeding down the corridor toward him, huffing and puffing from the effort. She stumbled once and nearly fell face-first onto the stone.
James rolled his eyes when she finally neared him. "What d'you want, Alice?" he muttered sounding less than pleased with her sudden appearance.
She matched his pace and walked beside him as they made their way down the corridor. Red-faced and out of breath she muttered, "Hi to you too."
"I've already got enough homework to last me a good century, I don't need another pest."
Alice was older than him. By a few months, actually. Yet the superiority complex James was so used to experiencing with two younger siblings, so ingrained in him, kicked in nonetheless.
Alice paled, so unused to it, even having been around James for some time. "Look, I just wanted to see how you were doing with the whole glas-mphhm!" She was cut off when James put a hand over her mouth and dragged them behind a pillar.
James made a point to meet her eyes. "Not another word about... you know what."
In an instant Alice had pried James' hand from her mouth. For a tiny girl, she was strong and not to mention quick as a whip.
The fiery gaze that she focused on him sparked the urge inside him to flee. "It is a legitimate issue and I would expect you to handle it that way!"
The urge instead quickly turned into anger. "Well you were wrong. And it isn't an issue! I don't need your help!"
"Maybe you don't need mine, but you do need help," she insisted.
They were inches apart and looked as though they were about to go into a cage match.
But James wasn't listening. "I said no."
Alice stared at him a moment. Her eyes held a distinct glint of exasperation. But mostly anger. That was normal around James. But somehow this was different.
She shook her head and wouldn't look at him. "Fine. But just know," she began in a serious tone. "That nothing you do can dissuade everyone from thinking of your granddad."
The anger inside him roared liked a festering beast. "They don't-"
She ignored his outburst. "Except being yourself. Forging your own reputation."
And then she turned on her heel and left without another word. Just like that.
Leaving James to dwell on her words. Realizing, with a jolt, that she was right. Nothing would stop everyone, his extensive and dysfunctional family especially, from looking at James and seeing his granddad instead. Except being yourself. Alice's words echoed. Forging your own reputation.
James made a note to drop by the Hospital Wing later. Maybe glasses wouldn't be such a bad idea.