Chapter 4: Apples to Apples

Mason flew towards the kitchen with Ryuk, since the winged man with the Death Note wanted some apples to satisfy his hunger. The ghost boy silently floated into the kitchen and collected a few apples, which Ryuk quickly ate before anyone took the time to notice. They were about to leave when a loud shout announced the rather annoying arrival of the blonde siblings, Sharpay barging into the kitchen first, of course.

"What the hell is the meaning of this?" she yelled to no one in particular, blobs of mashed potato caked into her hair and bits of chicken and apple sauce running down her cheeks. Multiple other foods and desserts stained the front of the outfit she had spent weeks searching out so it would be just right for her first day of school.

"What is going on in here?" Ethan demanded to know, following his sister, who was by now huffing next to him, "Who is responsible for throwing food at us?" Part of him didn't want to know what Dumbledore would do if he found out it was one of the house elves. Then again… if he got the right explanation, he'd be most reasonably obliged to convince his sister not to tell the headmaster about the incident.

Cloe looked up from the back of the kitchen when the two blondes had stormed in, putting down the few things she'd found lying around. There they stood, covered in food, and then she realized that must have been where the food ended up. She couldn't help herself as she unsuccessfully tried to suppress her giggles; in spite of her strained efforts, it wasn't working. Her body began to shake all over and suddenly, she burst out laughing uncontrollably. The looks on their faces were just too priceless for her to pass up the opportunity.

Sharpay looked over and noticed the girl holding her sides and tearing up slightly. She ran over to the other blonde and took hold of her by the shoulders. "What is the meaning of this?" Sharpay repeated, demanding an answer from the smaller girl.

Mason started laughing silently to himself as he watched the scene in front of him unfold. 'Freakin' idiot!' he thought to himself. This had to be better than TV.

"Shar, don't make a scene," Ethan warned her, reaching up and noticing the dessert caked into his tufts of messy blonde hair.

Cloe stopped laughing almost immediately and glared at the intruder. "You're gonna want to let me go right now," she growled at her, trying hard to control herself so she didn't go wolf on her in front of everyone. There was no telling how her new little friends would react to a large bear-sized wolf-thing suddenly appearing in their kitchen from what used to be a friendly girl, though she could imagine it wouldn't be pretty. Suddenly, a mental image of the little people attempting to stab her with knives popped into her head and she quickly shook those thoughts away.

Sharpay chose to ignore her brother as usual. "And why is that?" she challenged the green-eyed blonde girl.

"Ohhhh, looks like the bitch is gonna hurt the weirdo," Mason whispered to Ryuk and sniggered quietly to himself.

'Maybe I should step in,' he debated to himself as he quietly floated over to them.

Cloe's eyes narrowed as a smug smile tugged at the corners of her mouth. Oooh, this girl did not want to mess with her.

"That's what I thought. You're no match for me," Sharpay taunted, matching her opponent's smirk.

Ethan knew by the look on the other girl's face that his sister had just dug herself into a hole she would not be able to get herself out of. He'd had a feeling one day that his sister's pride and thrill of a challenge would rear up on its hind legs and bite her in the butt.

Mason just held in his laugh as he flew over to them, taunting them with faces they could do nothing about. Deciding to make a scene, he slicked back his shaggy dark chestnut hair, pulled his iPod and mini speakers out of his bag, and started playing Greased Lightning. Putting on a mask from his bag to disguise himself, he became visible and started pretending to be John Travolta while dancing on the table, figuring it would be a funny way to break up the awkward situation.

"Who said?" Cloe challenged the blonde girl, grabbing her wrist and detaching the girl from her shirt where she'd been grabbing her all in one swift movement.

Just as she was getting used to the feeling of having this kind of power over someone remarkably taller than her, she flung the unsuspecting blonde across the room onto the table where she'd been placing the food. She watched as this strange masked person she hadn't seen there before fell over due to the impact of the other girl knocking into him and the two of them were sent back up to the Great Hall again where she'd left them a few... presents... basically all the things she'd gotten bored with and a lot more leftover food.

Smirking, she turned back to the blonde boy and composed herself, speaking in a steady but calm voice, "Who's next? If you want to challenge me, too, then I'll send you the other way."

That just happened to be the direction of the fire place. She was getting excessively angry now and didn't want to hurt this guy, but he'd seen her overreact and quite frankly, she was afraid he'd tell someone. The little people had been ignoring everything that had been going on and continued cleaning things up and scurrying around. Cloe tried hard to control herself before she really exposed who she was. So, she settled for staring straight ahead at the blue-eyed blonde, who seemed like he didn't know whether to run away or to yell at her for tossing his sister.

Ethan continued to stare at her, undecided about what to do. "Um... sorry about that," he began, undecided as to whether he should leave to find his sister or just stay put and try to set things straight with this... girl. There was no way she could have thrown Sharpay without any help. She was practically a stick with giant developments and hips that looked like they could knock five people over. But then again... not that he was looking; he'd just seen her throw his sister across the room.

"Listen, boy... you don't have to look strong to be strong," she explained simply, taking an almost threatening step towards him, "So, if you don't give me one good reason why I shouldn't throw you across the room, too, then I suggest you leave... now!"

~~~~~~ Genevieve sat in the Ravenclaw common room contemplating her trip to and at Hogwarts so far. The train ride had been pretty boring; she'd spent most of her time reading Hogwarts: A History. When they'd finally arrived at Hogwarts and got on the boats that took the first years to the castle for sorting, she'd thought she would accidentally fall out of the boat and into the huge lake, so she'd tried to keep herself balanced. But the most exciting part was the actual sorting. She couldn't believe she had actually been sorted into Ravenclaw! Part of her had really wanted that to happen and she was rather glad it had. The feast had been incredible; she didn't think she'd ever eat again. When the prefect took them to the common room, she'd found her belongings were already there waiting for her.

After unpacking all of her things, she realized she'd left one of her books in the Great Hall. 'Figures...' she sighed to herself slightly, knowing the day couldn't have gone perfectly just like she'd hoped. Though she knew she wasn't supposed to leave the common room after curfew, she realized if she didn't go back to get her book, she might never find it again. Slightly dramatic, yes, but it had happened before, so she grabbed her wand and Hogwarts robe and quietly sneaked down the stairs and out the common room door.

She was so worried she'd get caught, but somehow she made it to the Great Hall unseen and in one piece. She was about to open the door, but heard a noise inside. Suddenly afraid it might be a teacher, she didn't go in, but instead, she did crack open the door to peek in. She wasn't sure what she was looking at, but she saw a boy dressed up like... John Travolta? And he was dancing on the table and there was another girl there with him. Looking over to the table where she had sat, she saw no signs of her book. Remembering that the house elves had cleaned up after they left the Great Hall, she figured they might have taken her book to the kitchen.

Silently closing the door, the quiet brunette girl sneaked away, finding her way down to the kitchen. Before she even had the chance to decide whether or not to open the door, once again, loud noises came from inside; she listened closely.

"Listen, boy… you don't have to look strong to be strong. So, if you don't give me one good reason why I shouldn't throw you across the room, too, then I suggest you leave… now!"

Genevieve had no idea what to do. Whoever was in there was definitely not a house elf and the girl in there sounded really angry. 'What if she hurt whoever was in there with her?' she questioned worriedly to herself. Again, knowing it was wrong, she opened the door and walked in.

"Um, is everything okay in here?" she asked the boy and girl who were apparently arguing while the house elves went about their usual business, working around them.

Cloe look over at the newcomer. 'Did she hear me?' she wondered almost worriedly to herself, 'Yeah, she probably did. Do I have to get rid of her, too?'

"Okay, I know what you're thinking," she began slowly, "You're thinking I'm a lunatic, aren't you? Go on. Admit it. I've been called worse before, you know. Just don't drag me back to where I came from. If you do, I'll see to it that you two never ever wake up again. Got it?" Ah, she hated making threats so close to bedtime. It was rather… unnerving.

"Um... will you please just calm down for a minute so I can talk to you?" Ethan asked her before turning to the new girl who came into the kitchen, "Sorry if we disturbed you. Did you come to find something?"

'I hope she doesn't think it's weird that I'm covered in my dinner,' he hoped, but then realized that if he were in her position, he most likely would have made a note of it, 'Maybe if I'm lucky she won't ask.'

"Oh, puh-lease! Put a sock in it, kid," Cloe stated, trying really hard to control the shaking and quivering that was traveling constantly up and down her spine, "No one wants to listen to you drawl on and on about whatever apologies you may have. Just get what you need, girl, and then leave. But keep your mouth shut or else I'll have to kill you. Got it? Whatever it was you heard just forget about it."

Most of this stuff she was saying was just so they'd leave so she could calm her inner wolf... which was more of a dog than a wolf anyway. That's the reason she wore a dog collar; it was pink... her favorite color... with pink rhinestones on it. There was no loop for a leash because there was no way anyone was going to get her to wear one of those. She'd rather die first, a task that would take many all too powerful people to complete. Simply put, she didn't hurt that easily.

Something caught her attention all of a sudden; it was the scent of the new girl... leading her to a corner. Glancing over, she noticed a small notebook sitting under one of the plates. She'd noticed it before, but hadn't bothered to pick it up. There was nothing interesting in it anyway; just school stuff and drawings of wizards and witches. Casually making her way over to it, she kept an eye on the other two so they wouldn't try to slip away and tell someone about her. They seemed to be watching her carefully as well, so she quickly pushed the notebook under some more plates so the girl couldn't find it and grabbed an apple to cover up being over there. Taking a bite out of it, she noted how crisp and fresh it tasted. It was better than any wild apple she had picked and continuously had to sort out for maggots in all the time she spent on the run. Ah, she was really starting to miss home, but she wouldn't let anyone else know that.

Just as she was wondering if maybe she could pry the other two for answers about if they knew where Halloweentown was, she noticed a shiny iPod on the floor by her feet. 'Must have been dropped by that strange kid in the mask,' she quickly tapped the off button to make that hideous music stop playing. Pocketing it, she decided to keep the little trinket... but it smelled just like that Mason kid and that strange Alphonse on his shoulder; that little blue thing that always stared at her funny. 'Why do I feel like I need to kill something?' she wondered to herself, realizing she needed to better control her hunting instincts, 'Bad me... Bad me... Calm down.'

"Um... I think we understand. Right?" Ethan asked the brunette girl, who nodded in shock, before he turned back to the other girl in the room, "I'm Ryan. Who are you?"

"Why do you want to know?" Cloe retorted, suddenly feeling like she was being stalked by him or something.

'Control yourself,' she kept telling herself over and over again. This was not going to work if she couldn't get some fresh air or at least some alone time to think things through.

"I'm just trying to be friendly," Ethan shrugged, risking a step towards the feisty blond.

"I... I'm... Cloe," she gave in, getting more and more nervous the closer he got.

Was she claustrophobic? Absolutely not. Well, maybe a little.

Did she deeply believe in having her own personal space? Heck yeah, she did. And this boy was getting dangerously close to bursting her personal bubble.

"Good. Now that we've gotten somewhere, what House did you get sorted into?" Ethan question just trying to be polite so as not to start an argument again, "I'm in Hufflepuff." He would have been more concerned for his sister, but right now, he had a feeling she'd be alright on her own.

"Excuse me?" Cloe asked in confusion, "What are you talking about? Sorting... and houses... I'm at Hogwarts, aren't I?" At least, she thought that's where she was. Why were they asking about what kind of house she was living in? Weren't they all living in this castle thing?

"Yeah... but you do know that there are 4 different houses you can get sorted into. There's Slytherin, where my sister got sorted into. You know her; she's the one you threw across the room. There's Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff, and then there's Gryffindor," he explained, wondering why she was being so evasive, "Which one are you in?"

She stared at him flabbergasted. "I'm not... sorted... into any of those places. This strange Mason dude kinda just ditched me after he found me on the train, so I came down here... and had a little fun," she stated, giggling again at the fact that he was covered in the food she'd sent up there.

"So, you missed the sorting ceremony. That means we'll just have to get you sorted," he replied thoughtfully, "Come on... let's go upstairs to the Great Hall and get the Sorting Hat."

So, this Mason was making friends already and ditching them to do who-knows-what, but why did this guy seem to be attracted to people who seem to have some kind of issues with their life? Then again, it could just be some kind of coincidence; not that he believed in them.

"The what?" Cloe ask in confusion, but he started to come closer to her.

She quickly grabbed the notebook and stashed it underneath the back of her shirt so no one would find it; she wasn't giving up either of her prizes that easily. When he'd gotten close enough to her, she dropped the delicious apple she had been munching on, hardly noticing its sudden disappearance almost before it hit the ground (Ryuk got hungry teehee) as she was dragged away out the door.

"You're coming with me," she muttered to the other girl and grabbed her wrist, too, dragging her from the room as well as the boy pulled her away from her little friends.

Ethan finally let go of her wrist as soon as he was sure she was following. They kept walking until they found themselves just outside the Great Hall. "Here we are... Ladies first," he said, ushering them inside before quickly following.

~~~~~~ No one had really been paying attention to Mason's Greased Lightning moment, so he'd started to leave until Sharpay crashed into him, screaming as she was flung across the room. He ended up falling on the floor, his mask almost falling off in the process as she bumped into him. Sharpay landed back in the Great Hall with a bunch more food on her now ruined outfit. Turning to the kid she'd landed on, she looked at him curiously.

"Who are you?" she asked, not recognizing him under the mask.

"Umm... I'm John Travolta?" Mason tried, hoping she wouldn't stick around to ask questions.

"Yeah, right," Sharpay said, reaching over and pulling his mask off, gasping in slight shock, "Mason?"

Though she wasn't quite sure if it really was him or not, she noticed he looked sort of similar to the boy she had met earlier, except his hair and eyes were different colors; especially the eyes. Instead of being blue with green flecks in them, they were green with blue flecks. And the hair was just wacky. For all she knew, this kid could be Mason's almost identical brother… if he even had one.

"Who's Mason? I'm not Mason," Mason said, backing away from her as he made an invisible clone of himself, making him transform into his human form. (Remember Mason is still in his ghost form.) Silently, he made his clone walk into the room. "Hey, what's up with all the noise? I can hear you guys from the dorm?" he complained.

Sharpay turned to look at the boy who just walked into the room. If that was Mason, then who was…? "Oh, uh… Huh? Wh-where did he go?" she asked in confusion as she noticed the other kid wasn't there anymore. This was more confusing than she'd bargained for.

Mason had quickly turned invisible when Sharpay had turned her back on him and he flew into his clone, putting them back together. "Who? I don't see anyone," he asked her, acting confused as to why she was talking crazy.

"Uh, there was someone... Where did he go?" she just repeated, looking around, hoping to catch a glimpse of this mystery guy who looked oddly like the boy in front of her.

"I didn't see anyone else when I came in. Are you sure?" Mason asked her again, his voice full of doubt. Hopefully, she would forget about it and just move on.

"I... uh, never mind," she said, not wanting him to think she was nuts. Just then, it occurred to her that she was still covered in food and the one thing she'd wanted to avoid had happened anyway.

"Oh... well, ok, then... I'll just get back to dorm then. I guess I'll see you later," Mason stated awkwardly, turning around and taking a few steps out of the room, sighing in relief at how smoothly that went.

"Uh, wait," Sharpay called to him as she got down from the table and tried to remove as much of the food from her outfit as possible, brushing herself off and picking out the bits and pieces of chicken from small tangles in her hair.

"Hm?" Mason asked, turning to look at her once again.

"Do you want to, I don't know, maybe do something?" she quizzed hopefully as she did her best to approach him casually.

"Like what?" Mason asked, trying not to sound skeptical.

"Oh, a movie? Explore the castle? I dunno, whatever," Sharpay responded with a smile.

Mason yawned. "I dunno... Maybe later. I'm kind of tired and it's pretty late," he told her, glancing at his watch. It was 11:00 already. "Sorry," he apologized, noticing her look of disappointment. He was still going for the nice guy look and he didn't want to sound rude even though he wasn't in the mood to be bothered right now.

"Oh, well, um, alright," she said trying not to show just how disappointed she really was, "Hey, do you know where the Slytherin House is?" It had taken her all this time to realize she really had no idea where she was supposed to go. Maybe he'd seen it on his way to his House.

"Oh, um, yeah, it's near Hufflepuff. I'll walk you there," he offered to sound polite, realizing why not, since he was heading that way anyway.

"Great," she enthused, taking Mason's arm and noticing her brother returning to the room, "See ya later, Ry." Well, the only real good thing about his fake name was it was so much easier to come up with a nickname for him than it was to find one for his real name.

"Um, ok?" Mason stated, looking at her funny as she grabbed onto his arm, "Let's go then." He began to lead her to the Slytherin common room.

"How do you get yourself into these messes, Mason?" Ryuk laughed in amusement, receiving a glare from the brunette in return. Mason decided it would be best just to ignore him and keep walking. It wasn't like anyone else could see or hear the annoying winged man besides him. None of them had the Death Note.

(A/N) Ooh… what could Mason be planning? He sure looks uncomfortable at the moment. Ah, well… Jude's a genius, I guess. XD Hmm… so, now what do you think will happen next?

Originally going into the kitchen for apples, he comes out with a whole other problem – one huge juicy apple of problems! Meanwhile, Genevieve finds her way to the Great Hall and kitchen looking for her notebook and she leaves both rooms with the same confused thoughts and conflicts. And of course, the twins went to the kitchen to post a complaint and figure out what was going on; they came back covered in more food and definitely asking more questions than when they went in. Woot! And of course, Ryuk gets all the apples. If that's not apples to apples, then I really don't know what it is.

So, all you peeps and more just please review for me and let me know if I did a good job of piecing this rp together into a story or if you think I really completely butchered it. I need to know. So, hopefully I'll get good replies. My eyes by now are almost completely dulled only slightly by sifting through all this info and placing it in the correct order. I can't remember an rp I've been in that's been more unorganized (in spite my hours of effort prior to starting just to prepare everything and get it all laid out in one straightforward and pretty piece of detailed information).

So, leave me reviews! Luv ya, peeps! Huggles! You know you're awesome! 3

EDIT:

Ugh… Again, it's getting later at night as I read through all this and I somehow managed to pick up on the corrections that needed to be made. =/ It's all the same stuff as before: I fixed a few grammatical errors, corrected the formatting, tweaked a few words in the narration, and weeded out any spelling errors there might have been. Nothing big and important really.

Original post: 10/8/09

Revised: 10/23/11

Reposted: 10/30/11