In Which Delilah Screams
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"
"Wait, why are you screaming?" Mary, who had screamed second, asked Sasha, wearing a bewildered look.
"Because you screamed; it seemed like the right reaction," Sasha shrugged back, plopping down next to her friend on the couch. "Speaking of screaming, why were you?"
"Take a look at the Watchervision," Mary said, gesturing to the screen right as another round of, "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" came in through the speakers.
"Oh my God!" Sasha exclaimed, eyes widening at the scene on the screen. "Delilah!"
Sure enough, there was Delilah McPhee- soon-to-be Corner- screaming her lungs out on a hospital bed and squeezing her fiancé's hand so hard that Dexter's face was turning red.
"This isn't what I think it is, is it?" Sasha inquired of her quiet friend.
"Delilah giving birth? Yes. Yes it is."
"Then why are we watching it?"
"Because Delilah's our friend, and I'm sure she would be thrilled to know that we're watching over her right now."
"Pom-Pom," Sasha began, "she looks like a wreck, she's in more pain than she's probably ever been in before in her entire life, and she's actually depending on Dexter. Why on earth would she want us to watch that?"
"Erm… good luck?" Mary suggested weakly. "To know that we're supporting her right now?"
Sasha sighed. "Tell you what, Mary. How about we-ˮ
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"
"Noooooooooooo!" Sasha yelled, instantly throwing up her hands to cover her gaze. "My eyes! My poor, innocent eyes!"
Sasha had no idea how Mary could watch this; how her stomach could possibly stand it! But Mary's eyes were trained to the screen in a fascinated, inquisitive way, and Sasha remembered that Mary had been considering entering the Healer Academy before the battle.
A new cry broke through her train of thoughts; this one, though, was high pitched and young, so young, and most definitely not a scream. Tentatively, Sasha moved her hands down and saw one of her best friends beaming at a tiny, wailing, pink bundle in one of the doctor's arms.
"It's a boy," the doctor said. "Congratulations, Mr. Corner and Ms. McPhee."
"Mr. and Mrs. Corner will do," Dexter corrected, his eyes never leaving his son. He looked to be in a state of shock; his stare trailed over the little body, from the wisps of black hair on his head to the almost miniscule toes.
"Let me hold him," Delilah spoke up. She was red-faced and looked as though she'd just been through seven hours of rigorous Quidditch training, but her voice was strong and clear, and she looked happier than Sasha or Mary had ever seen her.
"We should probably clean him first, Mrs. Corner-ˮ
"I just went through a full seven hours of labor to give birth to that baby. If you value your life, then you won't argue with me right now. Let. Me. Hold. My. Son."
"It'll just be for a moment, Doctor, then you can clean him," Dexter put in reasonably. "Please; it is so bad of her to want to hold her- our son?"
The doctor sighed; he looked reluctant, but tenderly handed the baby over to Delilah.
Delilah's golden eyes softened as she stared down at her son. "My baby," she said, brushing her fingers over his hair with a smile. "My little Michael."
"Michael?" Dexter asked. "Delilah, I thought you hadn't picked a name yet. Where'd you get Michael from?"
"Well, I thought that Michael Corner had a nice ring to it. More importantly, Michael and Mary both begin with 'M', and my best friend has to be remembered somehow." Delilah looked up to the ceiling, and for a startling minute, her eyes bored right into the Watchervision. "I miss you, Mary. You too, Sasha. You won't be forgotten."
Mary let out a choked, quiet sob, and Sasha felt tears well up in her own eyes as well as she whispered, "Off."
XxxxX
"I have a namesake," Mary breathed to herself. "I have a namesake."
"Yes, Pom-Pom, I realize that," Sasha snapped, perhaps a bit more harshly than intended. "You've said it about a thousand times, after all."
"Sorry," Mary grimaced apologetically. "I don't mean to. It's just that, well, I never thought that anyone would name someone after me, and it's just such a surprise, I can't get over it-ˮ
"Yeah, yeah, I get it. It's an honor, you're touched, it's flattering. Can we just keep walking? Please? I don't want to be late for orphanage duty."
Mary snorted. "You? Not wanting to be late for orphanage duty? Like I would really fall for that."
Sasha just walked faster, ignoring her friend. Mary frowned confusedly. "Hey, Sasha, wait up! What'd I do?"
"You keep- keep bragging, and it's getting on my nerves!" Sasha shouted back, not bothering to stop or turn around.
Mary stopped in her tracks, gaping at her friend's back. Finally, she closed her jaw and muttered, "Someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed this morning," before continuing her quiet walk to the orphanage.
XxxxX
Sasha didn't talk to Mary for the rest of the day. Even in the orphanage, amongst the crying, complaining babies, she was silent, going so far as to actually try to deal with the angels by herself. With no help. Needless to say, it was an utter disaster- but no matter how many times Mary offered her assistance or asked Sasha if she needed help, all she received in response was a stony quiet.
She told this all to Fabian and Gideon during her lunch break; the twins exchanged identical frowns.
"Did it just happen all of the sudden?" Fabian questioned. "Or has she been like that all day?"
"All of the sudden," Mary answered. "One minute, we were taking a look at the Watchervision; the next, she was snapping at me and now, it's the silent treatment! I don't understand what I did wrong!" she wailed, plopping down on a seat and putting her head in her hands.
"Wait- you said that you two were using the Watchervision?" Mary nodded in response to Gideon's question. "What'd you see?"
Mary explained about Delilah giving birth, and how the baby was named after her. When she had finished, Gideon and Fabian shared an identical look of understanding and sat down on either side of the bewildered curly-haired girl.
"Mary, Gideon and I have figured it out," Fabian started.
"Yep; it's real simple," Gideon added. Together, he and his brothers stated:
"Sasha's jealous."
Mary blinked at them. Once, twice, three times. Then, she burst out laughing. "Yeah. Right. Sure. Sasha's jealous of me. Funny joke, guys."
"We're being serious," the twins chorused.
"Yeah," Gideon went on. "Think about it-ˮ
"-Delilah was both yours and Sasha's best friend-ˮ
"-Yet she chose to name her first-born son after you-ˮ
"-How do you think that makes Sasha feel?" Fabian and Gideon ended together.
"Jealous," Mary murmured, as if testing out the word for herself. She looked up at the twins. "It makes sense, I guess, but- I mean, Sasha has everything. Looks, brains, powers, money, everything. I finally get something of my own to prize, and she reacts by not talking to me? How does that make any sense? How is that fair?"
She stood up abruptly, her ponytail bobbing up and down behind her. Her face wore a set, determined look. "I'm going to give her a piece of my mind!" she exclaimed, marching off to do just that.
The Prewett twins looked at each other, both thinking the same thing: This couldn't be good.
XxxxX
"SASHA OLIVIA BERG, GET DOWN HERE RIGHT NOW!" Mary shouted, standing her hands on her hips in the living room of the house she and her friend shared. After a moment, she heard footsteps coming down the stairs.
"Well, well, Mary knows how to shout," she smirked, her eyes hard.
"Well, well, Sasha knows how to talk," Mary shot back, her heart aching a bit at the absence of her usual nickname.
Sasha glared. "What do you want? I have things to do, you know."
"Like what? Ignoring me some more? Wallowing in your own self-pity?" Mary retorted. "You'll stay here and you'll listen to me and you'll talk to me until we've sorted out this problem of ours."
"There's no problem."
"Oh, really? Then why haven't you talked to me today except to yell at me? Huh? That certainly seems like a problem to me."
"So I can't just be quiet for a day? I always have to be loud and talkative?"
"That's not what I'm saying, Sasha!" Mary exclaimed exasperatedly. "Why are you mad at me?"
"I'm not mad at you."
"What are you, then?" Sasha didn't respond. After a minute, Mary continued, her voice softer but strong, "Jealous?"
"No!" Sasha replied much too quickly, her tone indignant. "Why would I be jealous of you?"
"I don't know; why would you be?" Mary retorted. "Fabian and Gideon think it's because Delilah named Michael after me instead of you."
"It's not that."
"So you are jealous, then?" Again, Sasha was silent. "Alright, I'll take that as a 'yes'. If you're not jealous of Michael getting named after me, what are you jealous of, then?"
"It's nothing."
"It's not nothing."
"It is."
"Please, just tell me, Sasha," Mary sighed. "I just want us to sort this out."
For a moment, there was more silence. Then, Sasha said, so quietly that the volume of the room barely changed, "You really want to know?"
"Yes."
"Delilah said that she was naming Michael after her best friend. She named Michael after you. That means she thinks of you as her best friend. What about me?"
"Oh." Mary's voice was soft now, gentle, and Sasha looked like if it was any louder, than she would break. "Sasha, I- I'm sure you're just misunderstanding. You are one of Delilah's best frien-ˮ
"Just save it, Mary," Sasha snapped. "You and I both know the truth. Delilah clearly doesn't like me as much as she pretended."
"You're overreacting, Sasha-ˮ
"I am not overreacting! It's all well and good for you, you've got yourself a namesake, but I've just found out that one of my best friends clearly didn't value me as much as I did her-ˮ
"Don't make assumptions when you don't know the whole story, Sasha-ˮ
"Oh, be quiet, Mary, and stop acting like my mother!"
"How would you know what a mother's like? You've only had one for two months!"
Silence. Sasha gaped at Mary, who clapped her hand to her mouth, clearly horrified at what she had just said. "I'm sorry, Sasha, I swear I didn't mean it, it just came out, I didn't mean it-ˮ
"I didn't think you could sink that low, Mary," Sasha said coldly, brown eyes blazing into Mary's hazel ones. "Apparently I've been disillusioned about a number of my friends."
"Sasha, I-ˮ
"Save it. I don't want to hear your excuses," Sasha cut Mary off, sweeping up the stairs without another word.
Mary shakily moved to the couch and collapsed onto it as she began to cry for the second time that day, for a very different reason.
First of all, let me say that I am so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so sorry.
I left you all waiting for a new chapter for nearly two months, and I feel absolutely terrible about that. I've been completely lost for ideas; this one was a last-minute one that I came up with in a train station. I've been so busy, and I'm so sorry that I've almost abandoned this story because of it.
I know, you're probably screaming at me right now, saying, "That's an awful excuse!" and "You're so lazy; you suck!" I agree with you. Feel free to throw rotten vegetables at me.
On another note, about this chapter: It's shorter than usual. Get used to it; I don't think I have enough ideas to write 3,000-word chapters anymore. Second, I know you're probably angry about Sasha and Mary's spat, but friends don't always get along, and the same goes for Sasha and Mary. They'll get over it, don't worry.
Anyways, I hope that this chapter isn't as horrible as my updating; please, please, please review! Thanks so much for sticking with me, even though I don't deserve it!
-Joelle8
P.S. I always seem to forget this…
DISCLAIMER: Recognize it? Then it's not mine. Pretty simple, don't you think?
P.P.S. If anyone has any plot ideas WHATSOEVER, then PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE tell me. In a review, in a PM, whatever, just TELL ME. I'M BEGGING YOU. Thanks a bundle!
