chapter seven
Summer
At the beginning of the summer, mum thought that Ellen be baby-sitting me for the summer again. However, we both protested this. Ellen didn't want to look after me anymore than I wanted her to look after me. It angered me because she had been my age when she'd started baby-sitting me. Fortunately, mum actually listened to us and agreed that I could finally be on my own.
I was thankful for this, especially since Ellen and me weren't getting along. I was sure that she was in charge, she would make me stay in my room or something. All I did was tell her that my grades were better than hers and she got so defensive about it. After that, she just seemed to be in a snippy mood all the time around me. I wasn't going to take her attitude, so I would give it back to her. After being around Tracy for almost a year, I knew I didn't have to take it.
I didn't understand what made her so angry anyway. She seemed happy with her life, but she just seemed moody and anytime mum complimented me or I talked happily about my grades or my friends, she would give me attitude. She would tell me to stay away from her and not follow her around. It was like she thought since she'd be seventeen soon she could do what she wanted.
One evening, I asked mum to measure me. I wanted to know if I'd grown anymore since Easter. Most of clothes didn't fit, so mum had to take me to get new ones. Ellen sat huffily on the couch while mum brought out a measuring tape.
"You know there is a spell for that," Ellen said to her. "Why don't you just do that?"
"Because I don't know that spell," mum said.
"Well you should," Ellen said.
Ellen and I had discussed this after she measured me over the break. I didn't think mum or dad knew many spells. I felt as if now Ellen was throwing this in mum's face. Why would she want to do that? Why was she so angry with mum and me? Mum didn't respond to her. She just took the tape and measured me.
"Half an inch since then," mum said to me.
"Just half an inch?" I asked disappointedly. "I grew all those inches in six months and now in three months it's just half an inch?"
"Well you had a growth spurt but half an inch is still good," mum said. "I noticed as soon as I picked you two up that you'd grown. You look different as well. You've matured."
Ellen let out a snort at this. "Matured? Right. He can still act as if he is six. Normal twelve year olds don't get excited over the things he does. He still plays wizard tag with his friends. Oh yes, he is so grown up! You still want him to have a baby-sitter."
"Check the attitude Ellen," mum said to her.
"Because you're just so mature right?" I asked her. "I'm more mature than you were at twelve? At least I got good marks. What is maturity Ellen? Snogging as many boys you can? How about shagging up with them? How about letting yourself fail?"
"Oh so because you get good grades you're better than me?" She asked me.
"Yes because I care about my future!" I said to her angrily. "You're not as mature as you think you are Ellen!"
"Kids, enough with the fighting," mum said to us. "Why have you been fighting so much? Did something happen at school?"
"Yes, he happened!" Ellen said with annoyance. "He shouldn't have been sorted into Hufflepuff."
And then she got up and walked off to her room. We heard her slam her door hard. Mum pursed her lips together.
"Mum, she is always so angry with me," I said. "I don't know what happened. She was happy at school but she just seems angry. Is she having a girl problem or something?"
As much as I didn't want to know about girls and their periods, I did. I'd grown up with Ellen after all and Tracy had gotten hers. She had felt the need to announce it to us for some reason. I'd heard most girls were embarrassed by that, but not Tracy. We always knew when it was coming because she got bitchier than usual. I knew when Ellen was on hers or about to as well. She'd never been this bad before, but perhaps something else was bothering her. Usually she was angry when something was stressing her out. I just didn't know what.
"Maybe," mum said. "But she has never acted that way before on it. Something else is bothering her. I don't think she is fighting with her friends because she talks about them a lot, and I know things are fine with Keith. You didn't see anything at school did you?"
"No," I answered. "She was happy at school. She actually let us hang out with her a few times. It wasn't until the car ride home that was moody."
"Well I'll talk to her later," mum said to me. "Why don't you invite your friends over? You two aren't getting along, so if you keep yourself occupied it might help until I get to the root of the problem. She doesn't seem as if she is feeling well. She has been tired a lot lately too. I also thought I heard her throwing up yesterday morning."
"Jerry has been asking to come over. I don't know about the girls," I said. "Tracy's and Sally-Anne's parents want them home for the time being. June said she might be able to. I know she has plans with Alana. Colin really hasn't gotten back to me yet."
"Well just invite them over when you want," mum said. "I'd rather you stay busy and you can go over to their places as well."
I was grateful for this. I was bored in our little flat. I never used to have that problem before. I used to be happy just to swim in the pool or to play in my room on rainy days. Now I was too old for playing and I really didn't know the kids in my building too well anymore. I wanted my friends and I didn't want to be around Ellen. She was being rude to me for no reason, and I was just fed up with it. Anytime I brought up my grades, she would get defensive. Perhaps if she had worked harder in school, she wouldn't be so annoyed with me. I was still disappointed in her for what she'd done over the years.
Now that I was older, I understood more about what she'd done with the drinking and smoking weed too. Neither were too bad when it was once and a while, but when she was supposed to be baby-sitting me, she'd been too busy with the muggles in our building. I was worried that she'd even been drunk when she was supposed to be baby-sitting me. What if I'd hurt myself when I was eight? She had gotten herself into trouble so much over the years. She was someone I looked up to, but she hadn't been a very good role model. Ashley and Ben were my role models and that was sad.
I told Jerry all of this while we sat on the balcony. We were playing one of my old board games. It was for younger kids but I didn't really have much things for my age level. Jerry didn't seem to care at first but eventually we got bored with it. As I complained, one of the game board pieces rolled away from us and fell off.
"I think it hit that bloke down there!" Jerry said laughing as he jumped up to look over. "He's looking up."
"I don't think it did," I said. "It was light. It probably got blown further. He isn't even looking at us."
Jerry grabbed another game piece and threw it at him, or tried to. I stood up to look. The bloke was no longer looking up.
"You missed him," I said. "The pieces are too light. We need something heavier. I have some old toys I don't play with anymore."
"Well go get them," Jerry said.
I hurried inside to grab some toys I hadn't touched since I was about six. I wouldn't miss them. I gathered them up and then hurried back outside. Jerry was peering over the balcony. When he heard me come out, he turned and smiled at me.
"Brilliant!" He said when he saw how full my arms were. "There are more people now."
"I don't know why I've never thought of this before," I said. "I've been out here so many times since I was little but I've never done this. Mum has never told us not to either."
"Well it's not like we're going to hurt anyone," Jerry said. "Use the alphabet blocks first."
I grabbed one of my old wooden alphabet blocks and hurled it off. We quickly jumped back and then waited a moment before we looked over. A few people were looking around, so we moved back again. We waited about five minutes and then we did it again. We were about half-way through my blocks when mum stepped out.
"What the bloody hell do you think you're doing!?" She shouted.
Jerry and I jumped away from the edge to look at her.
"Are you throwing things at people down there?" She asked as she stepped closer to us. "I am surprised at you Timmy! You talk about how grown up you are, and then you revert back to an eight year old! Take all of this back inside right now! I'd better not catch you doing it again!"
"What is the big deal?" I asked her. "We're not hurting anyone. These wooden blocks won't hurt or at least not a lot and people don't know it's us. They haven't looked at our balcony yet. So they won't blame us or you."
"Because you shouldn't be throwing things at people!" Mum said. "Especially off the balcony. Inside now!"
"I thought you wanted me to bring this in," I said to her.
"Timmy, don't give me attitude. If you want Jerry to stay over, you will go inside right now!"
I rolled my eyes and sighed. With a wave of her wand mum made all the stuff come inside. I had a feeling she sent it all down to my room as it vanished. I really didn't see what the big deal was. We hadn't hurt anyone. The things landed around them and not on them. It just confused them.
"Let's go," I said to Jerry as we went in.
"I have enough problems with your sister," mum called after me. "I don't need you starting Timmy, and I know you know better than this!"
I didn't respond. So this was about Ellen and not me. It made sense. Mum was so frustrated with her lately, even if she had a turn around since last summer. She wouldn't stop giving us attitude. I figured us throwing things off wasn't that big of a deal. Jerry and I headed down the hall and into my room. The things I had taken outside were now in a pile on my floor.
"I'd better put this away. I still don't see what the problem is," I said.
Jerry shrugged. "I don't know. Parents can be weird sometimes. Mum and dad still haven't let go of the firework thing yet. It's why I wanted to get away so bad. I'm not even grounded, but if I do anything wrong, they bring it up. I went out flying yesterday and I flew up higher than usual and dad flipped out. We're not supposed to fly too hard. He didn't even bring that up. He just told me things are going downhill since the fireworks. I brought home good grades and I really didn't have detentions. They think I have an attitude even though I don't."
"Same here," I said. "That's not the first time she told me not to give her attitude. I think it's because of Ellen that she is treating me this way. She usually compliments me and she is so happy that I am done school work, and yet she said I gave her attitude when she told me to go to bed. I didn't have a bed time at Hogwarts. Why do I have one now? I'm sure Ellen didn't have one at twelve."
"Maybe they think they need to get a bunch of parenting in before we go back," Jerry said to me.
"Maybe," I said. "That might be part of mums problem and also Ellen too. I don't know why she seems moody when things are going good in her life."
"I wonder about the others. I've only heard from Sally-Anne," Jerry said. "June did write to me on the first day of summer, but she hasn't gotten back to me. I don't know why. I thought I was one of her best friends. Colin hasn't either. Tracy doesn't write me."
"She hasn't me either," I said. "Maybe we should write them all. Do you think Tracy will change now that we know the truth?"
"No," Jerry said. "It's obvious she is so insecure about all of that. She's going to be a bitch again when she gets stressed. I notice she gets like that the most when she is stressed. I'll write Colin and June and you can write Sally-Anne and Tracy. We'll tell them we're hanging out."
"I'm curious about Tracy's house," I said. "I think she lives in a big house. She has never said so, but it sounds like that. Maybe she'll let us go over there."
"Maybe," Jerry said. "I'm not sure I want to be honest. I'll go if she invites me, but it's not something I am going to want. I'd rather go to Colin's or June's. I like coming here the most even if your flat is small. You have a pool."
"Well we'll see what they're doing," I said. "And I don't care where we go as long as we hang out. I'm just so bored this summer. I actually do get bored here. Ashley said all of us can go to Ben's pool party too."
"I bet Ellen will like that," Jerry said with a grin as he pulled out his parchment. "She hates when Ashley invites us."
"Yes I know," I said with a grin. "Ellen is being such a bitch this summer, so it's even better."
"Wasn't she being one last summer too?" Jerry asked as he wrote Colin's number at the top of his parchment.
"Well yes, but this year it's for no reason," I said. "She just has this attitude with mum and me but she is friendly with everyone else. We never did anything to her to deserve that. So I've been rubbing my grades in her face. At first I wasn't, but she gets angry every time I bring them up so now I do it on purpose."
I pulled out my own parchment to write to Sally-Anne and Tracy. Even though Jerry wasn't curious, I really was about Tracy's house. I asked them both when they wanted us to get together and if they thought we'd be invited over to their places. That one was mainly for Tracy.
I can go over there or anyone else's. Mum and dad don't want me inviting boys over here though. Don't ask why. It doesn't make sense except maybe because I am home alone most days. My brother is gone so maybe it's being unsupervised or something. They said maybe in a few years. I might have a sleep over with Tracy and June soon. Maybe you can have Colin over when I do that, and then we can all talk to each other on the parchments when we do that. It will be like we're all together but we're not. Mum and dad want me home for at least the first few weeks but after that I can go over.
I read this out loud to Jerry. A few minutes after Sally-Anne got back to me, Tracy did.
I talk to mum and dad about it. They said maybe end of July or the beginning of August all six of you can come over. They said they'll fix up a couple of the rooms for everyone to sleep in. I think they want to prepare for your visit so things don't look out of place. None of the spare rooms are used and they're all dusty. Mum and dad will want to put on a good show. They won't want you to come over and see things that you might tell your parents. It's why they're still together. They care too much about what people think. I'll get back to you with a date. Mum and dad said since they have met your mum and Sally-Anne's parents that I can go over. She isn't sure about me going to Colin's or Jerry's. They don't know about June either only because her parents are muggle and they might not be able to look after me properly... yes they actually believe that. There is a chance I can have Sally-Anne over since I already had her over, but I don't know about June. They're being really strange about her being muggleborn. I never thought they were prejudice about that before and they say they aren't since we're from muggleborns but why else would they be so weird about it? Anyway, I'll keep in touch with you and Jerry.
"June says she can come over anytime likely if she isn't baby-sitting and Colin said the same thing," Jerry said. "Colin said we could probably go to his place soon."
"Well I'll talk to mum about letting all of you come over soon," I said to Jerry. "It sounds like they can all come over here with some notice. I'll talk to mum about it and see what she says. I just can't wait until we're older. Ellen and her friends get to come and go, especially this year because they're of age."
"I'll just be happy to be in third year," Jerry said. "They get to go to Hogsmeade. Alana, Rory and Derek got more freedom even if they didn't realise it. So are you going to be snogging anymore girls this year? I notice things ended with Claudia after Christmas. What happened with that? You never really talked about it."
I shrugged. "We kept in contact sometimes but that's it. Maybe I'll talk to her again next year. Tracy does have a point that she doesn't have much substance. I can't see her being a girlfriend."
"I'm not talking about girlfriends, I am just talking about snogging," Jerry said. "I don't want to be tied down yet. Sometimes I think Sally-Anne has a crush on me and I hope not. She is pretty enough but I don't think I could date her."
"What about Tracy?" I asked with a smirk. "You two seem kind of close lately."
"Hell no," Jerry said quickly. "I'd snog her though."
I dropped my quill and stared at him. He would snog Tracy? He often talked about how she wasn't very pretty. I could understand why he wouldn't want to date her. She'd be a nightmare of a girlfriend. She could be a nightmare of a friend. So why would he want to snog her? Jerry smirked at me.
"I know that sounds odd because I don't think she is pretty. I never thought I'd want to snog someone I wasn't attracted to," he said.
"So why would you want to?" I asked. "I would snog June or Sally-Anne out of the girls we hang out with but not her."
Jerry snorted. "Well I'd snog them too, they're both so pretty, especially June. I'd snog all three of them. I can't explain it. There is something hot about Tracy even if I don't find her pretty. Trust me, I can't figure it out myself."
"I think it's because you two fight so much," I said. "I think I understand now. It's that tension between you two. Is that why you didn't care that she was on your lap?"
"Well you don't care when she hangs off you. She's a girl and she is annoying, but no I don't care if a girl is sitting on my lap," Jerry said. "You have to feel the same way. I bet if Tracy sat on you, you won't care. I like when they get close like that. That's the benefit of hanging out with three girls. Don't tell me you don't like it either."
"I do," I admitted. I liked it a lot, even when it was Tracy. At first it had been awkward but now I liked it when they all sat so close. "I was just surprised. Out of all of us, you have the most tension with Tracy. You don't even like her. You just hang out with her for us. I am fond of Tracy even with some of the things she's done."
"When she is normal I don't mind her," Jerry said. "I can't say if I like her yet or not."
"That just doesn't make sense to me," I said shaking my head with amusement. "If I couldn't stand a girl I don't think I'd want her around me. That Anita girl tried to hug me the last day of school and I ran away."
"That's different though," Jerry said. "She forced herself on you when you didn't want her to. I'll say a lot of things about Tracy, but she wouldn't do that. If I didn't want her near me, I'd tell her and she would back off. She wouldn't do what Anita did to you. Why do you care so much?"
"It's not that I care, I am just confused," I said. "I don't have that mindset."
It was something I'd have to ask one of the older boys later. Maybe they would understand it better.
"Maybe you will someday soon," Jerry said with a shrug. "But you didn't answer the question."
"What question?" I asked him.
"Sally-Anne. I think she has a crush on me," Jerry said. "What do you think?"
"You didn't actually ask," I said. "But no she doesn't have a crush on you. That actually came up a while ago between her and me. I thought she talked about that with you."
"No, she never said anything about a crush on me. She just said she didn't think I liked her," Jerry said.
"And that's why she always got upset when you were angry with her," I replied. "I asked her about it after we realized that we shouldn't be hexing those sixth year boys. She said she didn't have a crush on you, but she didn't think you liked her. She was worried that you viewed her the same way you viewed Tracy. I told her she should talk to you about it. Why did you think she had a crush on you?"
"Because she still gets upset when I get angry with her, and she gets jealous of Tracy and me," Jerry said. "She made a snide comment about Tracy sitting on me. She was joking. She was pissed off about it."
"Maybe she lied to me then," I replied. "But it seems odd because she told me she likes- nevermind."
"Who?" Jerry asked. "I'm not going to tell her you told."
"I'm bad with secrets around you," I said.
"I'm your best friend, at least I would think I am out of everyone," Jerry said. "You're mine before Colin or June. At times I don't even think June sees me as a good friend. I think she is closer to you and Sally-Anne and then it's Alana."
"You and June are mine, although Colin is close," I said. "He knows some stuff June doesn't only because she is a girl. There are just some things that girls don't need to know."
"Obviously Sally-Anne trusts you too though," Jerry said.
"Only because she was reassuring me that it wasn't you," I said. "Speaking of which, Tracy was going to tell me who she liked."
"Why do the girls all trust you?" Jerry asked. "Why are there even secrets like that in our group. Unless it's Colin or you, I don't see why it's a secret. I tell you lot when I am interested in someone. We're supposed to all be friends."
"It's Derek," I replied. "But don't tell her I told you. She does trust me after all."
"Oh... well yes I should have guessed that one," Jerry said with a shrug. "Maybe she likes both of us then."
"Is that possible?" I asked.
"Of course it is Timmy. Haven't you seen any cute girls beyond Claudia? There was a different girl a week for me at least."
"But I thought fancying someone was different than just finding them attractive," I said. "Look how long Ellen wanted Ben for. She was our age when she wanted him and she didn't get over it until she got with Keith. All the boys she dated she was just using them to get over Ben."
"I don't know," Jerry said with a shrug. "All I know is that I've seen many girls who I think are pretty. There isn't just one that I want."
"I don't think you've had a crush then," I said. "From what I know about it, you're just infatuated with one person."
"I think you can have more than one even if I haven't," Jerry said. "You're right. I probably haven't because if a girl is pretty, I want to snog her. But I think it's possible for someone to fancy more than one person. It is a relief to know that Sally-Anne does like Derek, but sometimes her attitude towards me makes me think she feels the same way. You, Colin and June all joked about Tracy but Sally-Anne seemed pissed. Maybe she doesn't know what she wants."
I smiled. "Well that could very well be true. I've heard that about girls."
I figured Keith was someone I could ask these questions to. He would know about it more. I couldn't ask Ellen because she was a girl, but I didn't really want to anyway. She was never nice to me anymore and maybe she'd laugh at my questions. I didn't think these were questions I could ask mum. This was a time when I wished I had dad around. He could answer my questions about girls, but unfortunately he cared about that new family more than me. I figured I could even ask Ben or Michael too if Ellen invited them over.
The next day after Jerry left, I saw Keith walk past my bedroom door. I hurried after him. He and Ellen had been in her room. I was surprised by this. Mum never used to let him go in her room if she wasn't home. I figured she must have been around though. Perhaps she'd come home early. Sure enough, when I hurried into the living-room, it was to hear her singing in the kitchen.
"Are you leaving?" I asked as I rushed over to Keith. He was just putting his shoes on.
"I have to work tonight," he answered. "What's up mate?"
"Do you have time to answer a few questions?" I asked.
"Sure," Keith answered. "I don't have to be at work for a few hours. I came to visit Ellen, but I wanted to hang out and relax before I went in. Let's go for a walk in the halls. I'm guessing it's about girls."
"Sort of," I answered.
So we went out in the hall, and I asked him about Jerry and Tracy. I wanted to know how someone could want to snog someone they weren't attracted to. I explained what Jerry had said when it came to her.
"Hormones," Keith said right away. "You're at that age. You're just starting puberty."
"So why does Jerry feel that way but I don't?" I asked him. "I wouldn't want to snog girl I don't like or I'm not attracted to."
"Well everyone is different but my guess is that Jerry is probably more hormonal than you. Twelve is about that age where it starts and it gets worse as you get older. You notice cute girls, but you probably haven't gone further than that. With Jerry, he wants every girl he sees so he is probably further along than you are."
"And is that bad then?" I asked. "I mean I am twelve. So I should think like that too right?"
"No. When I was twelve, I noticed cute girls too but I was nothing like some of the boys in my year. I don't know if Jared can really count since he was two years older, but I remember how some of the boys were. Ben was actually quite bad in the first year. He met Ashley's sister and he thought he was in love with her. Michael was like that with your sister."
"But they didn't hate those girls," I said.
"No they didn't hate those girls. Look, Jared actually shagged Melanie before they dated and he hated her. There are some blokes who will do anything with any girl whether they like them or not. I get the feeling Jerry is going to be like Jared was. He also doesn't hate Tracy even if he says he does. It's really hard to explain Timmy. Jerry would never date Tracy, and maybe he doesn't like much of her personality but there has to be some attraction there if he wants to snog her. What I am guessing is that there is sexual tension between them... well not exactly sexual. Neither are ready to shag but enough tension between them that they'd snog," Keith answered.
"It's still confusing for me," I told him.
"I know it is," Keith replied. "None of it makes sense even now for me when I am with your sister. I see the way Jared is, or was even before he got with Melanie. I remember having those confused feelings about girls at twelve as well. I never ever hated Ashley but I didn't find her pretty at all. I wanted to snog her though, and then after I heard that Jared had shagged her in our fourth year, I wondered what that would be like at all. Trust me mate, you're in for a long ride when it comes to all of this. I still get confused about your sister and we've been together for almost a year. Did Ben or Ellen ever tell you how he realized his feelings for Ashley?"
I shook my head. I knew the two of them had always been attracted to each other, but I didn't know when it had started. I did remember seeing Ben checking my sister out in bikini, but apparently he'd wanted Ashley too. So that's what was confusing about it.
"Ben used to protest about Ashley all the time. He wasn't attracted to her at all in our first year. He even flipped out when she thought he was taking her to a Valentine's party in our first year. He used to even talk behind her back, and then she basically threatened to end their friendship because she was tired of it. Their friendship ended up changing after that and they got closer. That was around the time when Ellen was moody over your parents fighting and Michael was moody about his home life. Ashley and Ben bonded because their friends were in bad moods and that made them closer. In the summer that year, Ashley sat on Ben's lap and that's when he realized that he'd wanted her all along. He'd never had a girl sit on him like that before, so it shocked him but then he realized he liked it, and he was happy that it was her," Keith said.
"And that was it?" I asked. "Ashley sat on him and he liked her?"
"Yes, it's was such simple and silly thing. Ben was just this hormonal twelve year old boy, and he had a girl sitting on him. I think it was always between them but they didn't realize it. It took Ashley longer," Keith said. "At your age it's just full of confusion and that's probably what it is for Jerry and Tracy."
"And you think they'll fall in love someday?" I asked.
Keith shrugged. "Who knows. It could be just a tension between them or maybe when they're seventeen they'll like each other. You can't really tell at your age Timmy. The girls you like now might not be the ones you like later on. Feelings can change. I think with Tracy and Jerry, or at least for Jerry is that he is confused about this feelings about Tracy and girls in general. He is just figuring out his feelings. Is that all you wanted to know? I don't know if I answered properly or not. It's not an easy question to answer because even now that happens. I think it can even happen for people in their twenties or older."
"I think I understand better," I said. "Can you fancy more than one girl at a time?"
I wasn't sure if I did understand though. It still seemed confusing to me, but maybe Keith was right. Maybe I wasn't at the same level as Jerry was yet. I still thought Claudia was very pretty even if I didn't want her as my girlfriend. I didn't anyone as a girlfriend. There were other girls I would snog though, but I wasn't sure if I'd want to snog Tracy. Even if I did think she was pretty I didn't know if I wanted to.
"Yes," Keith said. "Infatuation with someone is different than loving someone. You may think you love someone but you don't. If you can have feelings for someone else then you aren't in love. You'll probably run into that a lot. Look at what happened with Ellen. She was never in love with Ben. She was just in love with the idea of him, but she was able to fall in love with me and she forgot about him. Is there more than one girl you think you want?"
"No," I answered. "There isn't any girl I have strong feelings about. There is that girl Claudia and I liked snogging her but that's it. I would never want to date her. I saw her kissing other blokes and it didn't bother me so she obviously didn't like me either. I do think Tracy was right that she is just a pretty face with no substance."
"You'll meet plenty of girls like that," Keith said. "I get the feeling you'll have quite a few girlfriends. What I can tell you though is the best thing you can do is be with someone who feels like your best friend. Someone you can talk to about anything. It's like that with Ellen and me. A lot of people make that mistake but blokes are the worse with that. Michael is like that with Ellen. Why do you ask then?"
"It's something Jerry and I talked about," I answered. "He thinks you can but I didn't think you could. I thought you could have feelings for only one person."
"Not if it's just fancying someone," Keith said. "Some people are like that. Some people only like one person, but there are others who have more than one. Michael is a good example of that. He is still in love with Anne and Ellen. It happens. I've never had that but Dan did and Hank and Stan did. Erica and Jess were like that. I think you'll be one of those blokes who only fancy one girl at a time, but I think your friend Jerry will be one who goes for multiple ones. Same with that Tracy girl. It's hard to say for the others because I don't know them too well. Anything else mate? I really should get going soon."
"No I think that's everything for now. Will I be able to ask you more questions if I have them though? There are some things I can't ask mum or Ellen," I said.
"Anytime mate. You have my parchment number too. If I can't, I'm sure Ben or Michael will too," Keith told me. "I'm just going to apparate now. There aren't any muggles around. I'll probably see you tomorrow unless you're at a friends."
I nodded and said good-bye to him. He turned on the spot and disappeared with a loud crack. We were on a top floor, so I had to make my way down to our floor. I was still confused about Jerry wanting to snog Tracy, but I supposed Keith could have been right about hormones and confusion. He said it even happened with older people too. I wondered if that would ever happen with me. I supposed growing up was going to be more confusing than I'd thought.
My friends and I were able to get together a lot more after that. After their parents thought they had been home long enough, they let us have sleep overs. I was able to invite all five of them over one day after we went to the Hoofer's place. They had a celebration there for Ashley because she'd been made Head Girl. In my opinion, I didn't think anyone else in her year deserved it more. I was relieved when Ellen asked if she could stay at Ashley's for the rest of the week instead of coming home with us. I couldn't take her attitude much longer.
As we were leaving, mum told me that I could invite all my friends over. I was disappointed to go because everyone else was staying to swim longer. Ben's pool was a good size and I liked it better than our building pool since I knew everyone there, or most of them. I wanted to be able to go over more to swim and I hoped that Ben would let me, even if Ellen didn't want me there.
"I can't think of anyone else who could make a better Head Girl," mum told me once we got home. "At one time I'd hoped maybe Ellen would be, but I lost hope years ago. I am just surprised Ben turned it down."
"Me too," I said. "I'd like to be Head Boy. I hope I am prefect at least. Ashley's mum isn't angry with me anymore either. I apologized to her for the fireworks and she said I could go over again."
"I know," mum said smiling at me and she patted my head. "I was right there. I am glad you apologized Timmy. She forgave you a long time ago. She told me that boys will be boys. Now why don't you go write your friends? I am sure they are still up. They can stay all weekend. I know you've all been wanting to get together. I've talked to all their parents too, and they're fine with it."
"Ellen doesn't want Tracy sleeping in her room," I told her. "Where are the girls going to sleep?"
"I think they'll be fine in your room or even out here. They can just bring sleeping bags or someone can sleep on the couch. I'll lock Ellen's door. I know she won't want them in there. I've had enough of her attitude lately, I don't feel like dealing with that," mum said. "I think I have some extra mattresses in storage, I'll check tomorrow. It might be a good idea to get a few foam mattresses for you anyway. With Ellen it was only ever Ashley who slept over, and they always just shared her bed. With you, there are more people. Someday Ellen will move out and we can turn her room into a spare room anyway."
I was surprised mum didn't care now about the girls sleeping in my room anymore. She had been adament about that not happening before. I wondered why she'd decided to lighten up on that one. I decided not to worry about it though. I hurried to my room to change from my bathing suit into pajamas, and then I wrote to all my friends. Part of me hoped that Tracy wouldn't be able to. At times her parents were strict about that. However, all five of them would be allowed to come over for the weekend.
I set to making some space in my room. If all of them were sleeping there, I'd have to move some of my stuff around. I decided to move my old toy box into my closet. I wasn't ready to let go a lot of my old toys yet. We'd thrown some more of them off the balcony when Colin and Jerry came over, but there were quite a bit I wanted to keep. We'd mainly thrown my old baby toys away. Other ones I thought I could keep for my future kids. After I moved my toy box, I decided to move my shelves to one side of the room and my dressers to the other.
Mum must have heard me because she came into help me. With a quick wave of her wand, she had everything all arranged.
"I can't believe you're growing up," mum sighed as she looked around my room. "It's hard to walk in here and see all of your toys gone. You put your kid books away too."
"I'm going to keep them. They're all in the closet. Now there is more room though. Everyone should be able to fit in here. They're all coming over for the weekend."
"I still can't believe your starting second year and Ellen and Ashley are starting seventh year. She deserves that badge but I still remember the first day I met her. She was almost as shy as June. She was such a sweet girl back then. I was pleased with Ellen's choice when it came to her, and she was always good with you. I realized how much you've all grown up when Ben, Ashley and Keith started to apparate over here. Soon your friends will be doing that too."
"Not soon enough," I said. "It's still a long time for us."
"It will go by quickly," mum answered. "I really am proud of you Timmy. You did so well for your first year and I have no doubt at all that you'll make prefect and Head Boy."
"I want to make up for Ellen," I told her. "I'll do what I can to make up for everything she used to do and dad too."
"It's not your responsibility to do that Timmy. You should be doing it for yourself," mum said.
"I am but I am also doing it for all that too," I said.
Mum smiled at me and then hugged me.
"You're a sweet boy. Get ready for bed Timmy. We'll finish getting ready for your friends tomorrow," mum said.
I was excited to see the girls, so I did get into bed quickly. I was never someone who had problems sleeping. The only time that had happened was when I was younger and I had to witness mum and dad's fighting. Otherwise I always fell asleep right away, even if I was excited or stressed. That night wasn't any different. I closed my eyes and in moments I was asleep. The next thing I knew, mum was waking me up.
"Your friends will be arriving after lunch," she told me. "Their parents all wrote to me. The girls are staying until Monday, but Colin and Jerry's parents both told me the boys can stay for most of the week."
"Brilliant!" I said excitedly. "Why?"
"Colin's family aren't going to be around. His brother is going to their grandparents and his parents both need to make a trip. They were just going to send him with his brother, but they asked if we could keep him instead. I guess Colin and Howard are fighting as much as you and your sister have been. So I told them he could stay as long as he needed to. I wrote to Jerry's parents about the situation, and they said it was fine for Jerry to stay as well. I figured you'd want them both here. I did try with the girls, but June needs to baby-sit and neither Sally-Anne's or Tracy's parents want them gone for long. You'll all be allowed to go over to Tracy's very soon though. Her mum said that she wants all five of you over, so she said maybe next weekend or the weekend after that."
When everyone did arrive, it looked to me that Tracy had grown even more. However, I must have grown at least a little because I thought I was slightly taller than June now. Sally-Anne looked more or less the same. It was hard to say with Colin or Jerry. It was hard to believe because not that much time had past since I'd seen them. Perhaps they had grown before we'd left school but I noticed the difference in the two weeks or so since we'd last seen each other.
June must have noticed this too because she looked me up and down.
"Did you get in the way of a stretching charm jinx at the beginning of the year Timmy?" She asked. "I used to be taller than you."
I shrugged feeling very pleased.
"I'm still taller," Tracy said and she flopped down on the couch. "But my mum and dad are tall and so are my siblings. I'll probably be about five foot seven. That's how tall my sister is anyway."
"I'll probably be done growing soon," Sally-Anne said. "No is particularly tall in my family but we're not too short either. Mum isn't much taller than me. I'll probably grow another inch or two."
"Did you eat before you came over?" Mum asked as she came out of the kitchen. She'd been busy preparing us some snacks for later.
"We stopped for lunch on the way here," June said. "My mum picked up Sally-Anne and Tracy. We don't actually live too far from each other."
"We ate too," Colin said nodding at Jerry. "We took the Knight Bus here and we stopped for by that pizza place across the road. We saw the girls come, so we came over."
"Well I have snacks for when you are ready," mum said and then she looked at Tracy, Sally-Anne and June. "Now I went and grabbed some foam mattresses this morning. Some were in storage and some I had to buy. Ellen isn't home, so you won't be sleeping in her room. You three can either sleep out here, or you can sleep in Timmy's room."
"I don't care where I sleep," June said.
"We'll sleep in Timmy's room," Tracy said. "That way if you want to stay up you don't have to worry about being quiet."
Mum looked at her with surprise, and I was sure she wondered why she was being so polite.
"Well I have a telly in m room," she told her. "Is that where all three of you want to sleep? I want to make sure it's okay with all three of you."
"We're fine with sleeping in there," Sally-Anne said. "We won't complain about that."
June nodded in agreement.
"Well why don't all of you set up in Timmy's room then?" Mum asked. "You can go swimming if you'd like," and then she looked at Jerry, Colin and me. "No throwing things off the balcony. I mean it. I know you've been doing it still. I shouldn't have to tell you more than once not to do it."
"We won't do it," I said and then I started to head down to my room.
"You throw things off the balcony?" Sally-Anne asked the moment we were in my room. I shut the door behind us. "Why would you do that?"
"We just try to scare the people below us," Jerry said with a shrug. "We stopped trying to hit them."
"That's stupid," June said and she sat on my bed. "I baby-sit a couple of seven year olds and that's something they'd do. You're all twelve."
"What if you do hit someone?" Sally-Anne asked. "You could hurt them."
"Hold the lecture," Jerry said as he took a seat. "We get enough of it from Timmy's mother. You're not our mothers."
"Well don't complain when she won't let you come over anymore," Sally-Anne said.
"You do sound like a mother," Tracy said as she sat beside June. "It's stupid but who cares. What has everyone been up to this summer? I've been so bored. Mum and dad wanted me around to spend time with me but then they weren't around. My sister said she'd come over but she hasn't yet. She said she'd take me out for lunch soon. Thankfully mum and dad said you lot can come over soon though."
"We really do need to try and get together more," I said. "I've been bored too. I haven't done much except hang out with these two a couple of times and just fight with Ellen. I've already done my homework. I hate being twelve. I feel like we're grown up but apparently we're not grown up enough because we can't do anything on our own."
"I thought mum and dad would let me do more this year," Tracy agreed. "I mean, I am going be thirteen in September. She almost wanted me to have a sitter, but I know how to use their situation to my advantage. I threw the biggest temper tantrum ever."
"And yet you want them to treat you like a grown up," Jerry said as he rolled his eyes.
"Yes well sometimes you have to take drastic measures. They try to buy my love or try to make me happy, sometimes I have to do that. It's not like I want to, but it's ridiculous that they want me to have a sitter still," Tracy said. "Besides Jerry, you can't really talk either. You were throwing things off the balcony. That's something a six year old would do."
"Don't lecture me and throwing a temper tantrum is something a three year old would do!"
"You're both immature," Sally-Anne said. "Throwing temper tantrums to get your own way and throwing things off the balcony. No wonder your parents don't treat you like a grown up!"
"And I am sure you're any better," Jerry said.
Why were they fighting? I looked to June and Colin. Both were wide-eyed as they stared at Sally-Anne, Jerry and Tracy. We hadn't seen each other in a while. I didn't want them fighting. I didn't want my sleep-over to be tense. Was the same thing going to happen to us that had happened to Ellen's group. She'd told me they'd had their big fight. I didn't think there was tension with our group, but what if there was?
"Why are you all fighting?" June spoke up. "We should all be happy because we haven't seen each other. I don't want us to fight. Why are you acting like you're angry with each other?"
"I'm just stating the truth," Tracy said. "I wasn't trying to start a fight. If someone is going to throw something in my face, I'll do it back to them. I was trying to keep things light but it seems as if Jerry is angry about something."
"Because I hate when people who are my age lecture me about something," Jerry said. "It's not up to you lot to lecture me. You're not the boss of me and you never will be."
"I never said anything until you threw it in my face Jerry," Tracy said. "And yet you want to take it out on me. You're the one lecturing me about throwing a temper tantrum. I only used it as a last resort. Why not take advantage of a difficult situation? I'm sure any one of you would."
"I'm sorry," June said quickly. "I wasn't trying to lecture you Jerry. I was just saying it's stupid. You're right though, I'm not the boss of you. I don't want us to fight."
Tracy folded her arms angrily and stared at the floor. She had a point and I wondered what Jerry's problem was. For once, she wasn't the one who was the problem and yet he took it out on her. I sighed trying to think of a way to ease the tension. Then I thought about drinks. Mum had bought a lot of butterbeers for us.
"Jerry, let's go get some butterbeers," I said.
Jerry shrugged and got up from the chair.
"We'll be back," I said to the others. "Just make yourselves comfortable. Pick a mattress and maybe later we will go down to the pool. Maybe mum will let us go somewhere else too. Ellen used to be allowed to and I'm allowed to. We don't have to stay cooped up in my room."
I wait until we were in the kitchen. Mum was now sitting on the couch and peeling some potatoes while she watched some soap opera. She was really going all out for us. She was making some big potato casserole for us. I'd tried it before and it was quite good. I was sure my friends would like it too.
"Why are you so moody?" I asked Jerry. "Tracy is right. For once she isn't the problem."
"It was Sally-Anne," Jerry said. "I've been looking forward to this since last night. Ever since we all met up downstairs. It's irritating me. She's never had this kind of attitude before. She's been like this ever since Tracy sat on me."
"It's not Tracy you should be taking it out on," I said. "I know you don't like her, but this time isn't her fault. I'm sorry if it seems as if I am lecturing you, but this time you and Sally-Anne are the problem."
"Yes I know but Sally-Anne will get overly sensitive if I get angry with her," Jerry replied. "I'll apologize to Tracy when we go back."
"Remember when you told me that we can't always coddle to June's shyness?" I asked him.
While we were protective of her, Jerry had said this me last November. We'd all realized that we weren't helping June by hovering over her and we'd all talked about it. I'd been the worst offender for it and Jerry had told me straight up to stop. The moment we stopped doing this, there was improvement with June and it was quick improvement. The same had to be for Sally-Anne as well. It was the same with Tracy too. We all knew we had to call her out when she was being a bitch, but for once she wasn't being one.
"Yes I remember. I just don't feel like having her worrying that I don't like her as a friend or something," Jerry replied. "And I am paranoid she fancies me."
"You need to figure that out," I said. "I don't want tension in our group and I don't want us fighting. It happened with Ellen's friends. They ended up fighting because Michael liked Ellen but she ignored it. They all had things they weren't happy with and it all built up. Ellen warned me about that and she said that if we have problems we should speak up. You're the one who said we're friends and so there should be secrets."
"I'll talk to her but it's going to be awkward. I'll wait until later to ask her. Later if we need butterbeers I'll get her to help me, or you tell Sally-Anne and me to get them," Jerry said and then he grinned at me. "By the way I figured you wanted to talk to me. I knew why you chose me out of everyone. It was obvious."
"I figured as much," I said. "I just don't want us all fighting. I have enough of that with Ellen. I don't need it with you lot too, especially with our first sleep-over of the summer."
"I get it mate," Jerry said and he clapped me on the back before he grabbed three of the butterbeers I'd set on the counter.
I grabbed the remaining three and followed him as he left the kitchen. Mum didn't look up as we went through. She just continued to peel the potatoes. When we entered my room, it was to find Colin going through some of my board games. Mum had grabbed some of the more age appropriate aged ones from Ellen's room. Mine were all too young but Ellen had ones that were for kids my age and older.
Tracy and June were now laying on their stomachs on my bed and discussing a sleep-over they'd had at her place recently. Tracy seemed as if she couldn't help but send a jab at June. She made a comment about June needing a light on or something. June just rolled her eyes and shrugged her shoulders. Sally-Anne had taken Jerry's seat at the desk. She was writing on her message parchment. I handed them their butterbeers and then sat down on the edge of my bed.
"What is this?" Colin asked as he held up a game of Monopoly. "How do you play this?"
"We can play that later," I said. "It can take hours when Ellen and I play. There are six of us. We can have some drinks and then maybe go swimming. It's too nice out to stay inside. I wish we could go to Ben's. His pool is brilliant! I was there last night."
"Why did you get to go to Ben's?" June asked as Jerry and handed out his butterbeers.
"Oh right," I said. "I didn't tell you lot. Ashley was made Head Girl so Ben's parents decided to invite us all over to celebrate. Michael passed his apparition test too, so we were celebrating that. They invited mum and me over as well as Ashley's parents."
"She made Head Girl!?" June asked excitedly. "That's amazing. Oh and deserves it too. I am so glad that she was made one. I can't wait to see her so I can congratulate her. I wonder if Alana knows yet."
"I'm surprised you haven't had a meeting of the sister club yet this summer," Tracy said. "Are you sure she can actually do it though? She'll have to interact with people. I never imagined Ashley as a leader."
"She can do it," Sally-Anne said. "She's the only one out of any of them that takes the time to look out for us younger ones."
"I still find that weird," Tracy said.
"Unless you want to be invited to Hufflepuff corner," Colin said. "Then it isn't so weird. Come off it Tracy, you love it when the older kids take notice of us. I should tell Howard. He has always liked her."
"Everyone does," Tracy said and she took a sip of butterbeer. "And I bet when we start seventh year it's going to be Timmy and June. It's always the brown nosers. I'd never want to be a prefect or Head Girl."
"You'd never make Head Girl or prefect anyway," Jerry said. "Anyway Tracy, I am sorry I got angry with you earlier. You're right. I started it with you."
"That's perfectly okay," Tracy said with a shrug. "But I really wish you lot would stop getting angry with me when it's someone elses fault. It's always me that people get angry with and I get tired of it. You should only get angry with me if I deserve it."
"Yes I know," Jerry said. "I guess I am just used to it being you that pisses me off," he added the last bit with a grin and he winked at her.
"Guess I have a bad reputation then," Tracy said with a smile back at him.
I glanced at Sally-Anne to see her glaring at the two of them. She must have fancied him even if she said she fancied Derek. She was definitely not herself. I'd never seen her pull this kind of attitude before. It put me in mind of how Ellen could be at times.
"The girls can change into their bathing suits first," I said as I sat down on the edge of my bed. "We might as well swim first."
"I don't want to go swimming!" Sally-Anne snapped. "I'll just stay up here."
"What was the point in coming if you're going to be like that?" Jerry asked her.
"I didn't know that I had to come here to swim," Sally-Anne said.
"We don't have to swim I guess," I said.
"But I do want to swim," Tracy said. "We have a pool at my place, but it's been down this summer. Mum and dad didn't set it up. It's not very big but it's enough to relax in. I've been waiting to go to Ben's so swim. I want to go swimming."
"Me too," June said. "Why don't you want to swim Sally-Anne?"
"Because I don't!" She said. "Don't let it stop the rest of you. Just go. I brought some homework. I can do it up here while you swim."
"You can watch us too," Colin said. "What's wrong Sally-Anne?"
"NOTHING!" She shouted.
We all stared at her. What was wrong with her?
"I'll be right back," I finally said. "I'll just let mum know you want to stay up here. You don't have to go down but you don't get so angry with us. We're your friends you don't need to be like this."
"And yet it's okay when Tracy does it," Sally-Anne snapped.
I sighed. What was with my friends? I got up from the edge of the bed and left the room. Mum was no longer peeling the potatoes. She was in the kitchen and rinsing off each potato.
"Is everything okay?" She asked when I entered the kitchen. "I heard shouting."
"Sally-Anne is being weird today," I said. "I just came to let you know that she is staying up here. She is getting all angry about us swimming for some reason. She's never been like this before and she seems to get jealous of Jerry and Tracy."
"Oh just leave her be Timmy," mum said. "Tell her she can help me make dinner. The rest of you go down and swim. I'll keep her busy."
"You don't mind?" I asked. "I hope she isn't moody with you."
"Oh I don't think she will be," mum said. "Don't you worry. Go on and get ready to swim."
I nodded and headed back to my room. Everyone was still asking her what was wrong and she looked close to tears. What was wrong with my friend?
"Mum said you can help her with dinner if you want," I told her. "She said it's fine if you stay up here, but I don't know why you're so upset. I thought you liked swimming."
"I just don't want to right now," she responded. "I'll help your mum make dinner."
"You'd rather do that then swim?" I asked her.
"Why?" Colin asked. "I don't get it."
"Oh just leave her be," Tracy said. "If she doesn't want to swim then she doesn't want to."
"Well I just don't get it," Jerry said.
"Of course you wouldn't," Tracy said. "I didn't at first but I just figured it out. So just leave her alone."
June suddenly let out a gasp and then she glanced at Sally-Anne and then she looked at Tracy. Tracy gave a small nod.
"Okay what is going on?" Colin asked.
"Don't worry about it," June said. "I'll change first and then Tracy. I can't wait to swim so let's hurry!"
Colin, Jerry and me looked at each other. Girls were so strange sometimes and it seemed even mum understood why Sally-Anne didn't want to swim. So it must have been a girl thing. As I thought about that, I remembered that this happened with Ellen sometimes. She went through her monthly thing and she'd get grumpy and she couldn't go swimming. Was that happening with Sally-Anne? The thought of that made me uncomfortable even if it made sense. I decided just to leave it for now.
"I'm just going to go help your mum then," Sally-Anne said and she got up from the chair and left my room.
"What is all that about?" Jerry asked Tracy the moment she was gone.
"That isn't something I am going to reveal," Tracy replied. "I can be mean, but I'm not that mean."
"But how would you be mean?" Jerry asked her.
"What is going on?" Colin asked.
"Just let it go," I said.
"Do you know too?" Jerry asked. "What is the big mystery?"
"You two are persistent," Tracy said with a sigh. "It's up to Sally-Anne to tell you. I doubt she'll want to though. Just let it go already. She's a big girl. She can take care of herself. Expect this to happen frequently."
June returned moments later and then Tracy jumped up, grabbed one of her bags and then left the room. June sat down on the bed and smiled at us.
"Tracy won't tell us, and Timmy seems as if he knows so what is going on June?" Colin asked.
"I don't get why we're keeping secrets from each other," Jerry added.
"Would you just let it go?" June asked.
"The point to this sleep-over is for us all to get together," Jerry said. "So if something is bothering her, we'd like to know. I don't see why four of you know but Colin and me are left out. I thought we talked about this on the train."
"Because it's not a secret exactly," June said.
"Well we're going to keep asking her," Colin said. "It's not right that we don't know but you three do."
"Well good luck with that," June said with a giggle. "All I am saying is it's nothing personal against the two of you. We all guessed. You can probably guess too if you think about it. That's all I'll say about it. Let's just stop talking about it."
After we were all dressed in our bathing suits, we headed down to the pool. Thankfully it wasn't too crowded. At times it could really depend. Sometimes it was very full of the old ladies and I didn't like swimming then. I didn't like it when the really small kids were around either. Thankfully it was just a few teenagers when we went down. Tracy stopped in her tracks when she noticed one of the boys.
"They're too old for you," I told her as she stared at them. "They're like fifteen or something."
"I'll be thirteen soon," she said and then she turned to June. "Do you want to sunbathe or are you going to swimming."
"Swimming," June answered.
"Oh come on, there are two boys and they are cute," Tracy said. "Come sunbathe with me. Maybe we can hang out with them."
"They're too old," June said as she made a face as them.
"Ugh, you are so boring! Sally-Anne doesn't care about age. Fine, I'll just take them for myself!" Tracy said. "This is why I don't like hanging out with you."
"I am twelve and they are fifteen," June said.
"There is nothing wrong with just talking to them. That's fine though. The more the better," Tracy said and she headed over to one of the lawn chairs.
"They won't want you," Jerry called after her. "You're not pretty enough!"
Tracy turned and stuck her tongue out at him. She then put her bag down and pulled off her dress. June was busy kicking off her flip flops. She wasn't paying attention to her anymore, but Colin, Jerry and me stopped in our tracks when she did this. We'd only ever seen the girls in robes or just casual clothes. I'd seen other girls in bikini's before, and the summer before I had even looked at them quite a bit, but it was different when it was a girl I knew and hung out with. I couldn't help but notice that Tracy had a nice body. Jerry dropped his bag as he stared at her.
"They might notice her after all," June said with a smirk. "Stop drooling Jerry."
"What?" Jerry asked looking away from her. "She doesn't look good. Well, let's go swimming."
June rolled her eyes and shook her head.
"It's your turn now," I said to her. "Are you hiding a bikini under your dress?"
"Nope a one piece," she said. "Just go swimming. Don't look at me."
I took off my clothes but I couldn't help but be curious about her too. If Tracy looked good then surely June would too. She was a very pretty girl. Jerry and Colin also got undressed and then they climbed in the pool. I jumped in moments later. I glanced at June who almost seemed self-conscious now. She walked over to where Tracy was sitting with sun glasses on. I couldn't help but watch as she took her dress off to reveal a black one piece. It might not have been as revealing as Tracy's suit but I thought it was still quite nice.
"And this is why it's good that we hang out with girls," Jerry said with a sigh. "I never realized they had all that under those robes."
"I never really thought of them as girls," Colin said. "I mean, I know they are but I never thought of them as the ones I've seen in magazines or at the beach. Too bad Sally-Anne didn't come down too. She probably looks good as well."
"Ooh does Colin fancy Sally-Anne?" Jerry asked laughing.
"Not really but I notice she is pretty," Colin said. "I told you who I fancy."
"And who is that?" I asked feeling left out by this. Now I understood how the others felt when I knew things and they didn't.
"Phoebe," Colin said. "I love how she wears pig-tails. Normally girls seem too old at our age but they look good on her."
"She is pretty," I said thinking about a pretty Ravenclaw girl with dark hair. She normally wore her hair in two braids or pig-tails. She had a cute smile and very pretty blue eyes. I could understand what Colin meant. I wondered what she would look like in a bathing suit.
"And Timmy probably wishes he could see Claudia in a bikini," Jerry said with a smirk.
"I haven't thought about her in a while," I said. "But I'm sure she looks nice. What about you Jerry? You tease us about girls."
"I'll take them all," Jerry said with a grin. "I'll take that Anita girl as well, even if she is a bad snogger."
"You'll take Tracy?" Colin asked.
"You wouldn't?" Jerry asked as he gazed over at her again. June had now joined her on one of the lawn chairs. I thought she'd wanted to swim?
"She's a bitch," Colin said making a face. "And she's ugly. I thought you didn't like her."
Jerry just shrugged. "I would snog her though, and she isn't that ugly."
"You don't fancy her do you?" Colin asked making a face.
"Nope, but she is a girl," Jerry said with a shrug. "And it's not as if she is gross. She isn't exactly pretty but she's not that ugly either. I'll snog any girl that wants to snog me."
"What about Betsy? You don't seem to be picky if you'd snog Tracy." I asked thinking about one of the second year Hufflepuff girls.
I moved to the edge of the pool facing away from Tracy and June.
None of us thought she showered or something, even her own friends. She was smelly and her hair looked gross and unbrushed. She could be pretty, but she didn't take care of herself. Even her robes didn't look right. Jerry instantly made a face.
"No," Jerry said quickly. "I bet she hasn't showered since last September. She's disgusting. You know, I'll say a lot about Tracy, but she is not gross at all. You could say the same about Ashley. She isn't pretty at all but blokes like her too. You can't compare her to Betsy or that Slytherin girl Samnang. There is a difference between not being that pretty and just being gross."
"True," Colin said laughing. "We're only teasing Jerry. You can't say that out of all the girls though there isn't one you'd want."
"There is Emily," Jerry said. "She's in that second, well no I guess that third year now who hangs out with Anita. You know, that one with the long ginger hair. I like girls with ginger hair. Even since I noticed how pretty Ginny Weasley is years ago. I've been noticing girls with red hair ever since. Probably won't want a twelve-year-old though."
"You won't know unless you try."
We looked around to see that June had joined us now. Tracy was still in the lawn chair, but at some point since we'd looked away from the girls, June had decided to join us. We'd been so much into our conversation, we hadn't noticed. She was now grinning at us.
"Decided to join us?" Jerry asked her as he splashed her.
"Tracy changed her mind about me sitting with her," June said. "She is worried the boys won't notice her with me there. She told me to join you lot, so I did. They're not even looking at her. Some new girls have come out that are closer to their age. They aren't going to notice a twelve-year-old when they have pretty fifteen-year-olds around them," and she nodded in the direction of the boys.
She was right, a few girls who hadn't been there had joined them. All three of them were very pretty and they looked even better in bathing suits then June or Tracy did. I believed it had to do with them being older teens. I'd noticed that with some of the older teens. Their bodies looked better. Someday Tracy, June and Sally-Anne would probably look that good too. The girl who had been with the two boys before looked annoyed by the newcomers and I wondered if she was jealous or something.
"Wow," Jerry sighed.
"So are we going to swim and play or are we just going to check out girls all day?" June asked. "I swear I am the only one who doesn't go crazy around cute people. Tracy and Sally-Anne go mad when they cute boys and you three do when you see pretty girls."
"Hard not to notice," Colin said. "But you're right. Let's swim."
We spent most of the day down in the pool, and I couldn't help but keeping thinking back to Sally-Anne. Was she still with my mum or was she doing homework? Even if she didn't want to swim, she could have still hung out with us by the pool. After a while, I started to get hungry and I did worry about her too so I suggested we go back up. Tracy had remained outside of the pool most of the time.
In fact, when we got out, I thought she looked asleep and she looked very red.
"I dare one of you to slap her sunburn," Colin said as we walked over to her.
Jerry snorted. "I don't have a death wish. You do it."
"No you do it," Colin said.
"Just throw water on her," I said. "That will wake her."
"Or just shake her awake," June said and she rolled her eyes before she leaned forward to shake Tracy.
Tracy sat up and pulled off her sunglasses. She looked around looking dazed.
"Where are the boys?" She asked. "You didn't scare them off did you?"
"They left with those girls a long time ago," June told her. "I told you. They're not going to notice you when they have girls their own age around."
"It's common knowledge that a lot of blokes like younger girls," Tracy said and she stood up and stretched.
"When they're older," June said. "No fifteen year old wants a twelve year old."
"I'll be thirteen soon," Tracy said and then she made a face. "Oooh I feel like I am on fire. Oh I got a really bad burn. Why did you let me burn so much?"
"You're the one who didn't put on sun screen," June said. "I told you to. You said you never burn."
"Only cause you let me fall asleep!" Tracy retorted.
"Yes it's June's fault," Jerry said and he rolled his eyes.
Tracy let out a groan as she pulled on her dress. The rest of us dressed as well and then we headed inside. All the way up she complained about it. Thankfully mum had some stuff she could put on sunburns that would soothe it right away. I really didn't want to listen to her bitch all night, so I reassured her mum would give her some.
When we went back upstairs, Sally-Anne seemed to be in a much better mood. Mum served us dinner and then took care of Tracy's sunburn. Upstairs it looked even worse than it had outside. She was very red and she also had a funny looking burn on her face because of her sunglasses. She ended up getting angry with us for laughing at her.
"Should have wore sunscreen," Sally-Anne said. "You told me you have fair skin."
"And yet she told me that she doesn't burn," June said. "She was trying to impress those boys. They were too old. They were probably like fifteen or sixteen."
"They weren't too old for me!" Tracy snapped. "I am going to be thirteen soon."
"It's still too old dear," mum told her as she rubbed some of the potion into Tracy's skin.
"What do you know about it?" Tracy asked her.
"I know that at your age you shouldn't go more a year or two," mum told her.
"Fifteen is only two years older than thirteen," Tracy said. "How long does this stuff take to work anyway? I don't think we have this stuff at home."
"It's my own potion," mum said. "There are other ones but I perfected this one in my seventh year. We had to make our own and this works really well. I always make sure I keep it around for the kids. Timmy and Ellen can burn easily well too. I'll make more for you tonight to take home. You'll have to put it on everyday for three days for it to go away. Thankfully with this stuff you won't peel."
"I never knew that," I said looked up from my plate. "Why didn't you ever tell me that? You should sell it."
"I do sell it," mum said. "I sell a lot of my potions."
"You never said you were good in potions," I said.
"It's why I test potions at work," mum told me.
"But you could do so much more. Ashley sometimes thinks she might do Experimental Charms if she doesn't end up being a teacher or she might do it when she is tired of teaching. Isn't here an Experimental Potions department or something?"
"There is something similar to that," mum answered. "And yes, I would eventually like to get in there. In fact, my department is the one who tests those potions. Eventually I could move up to the point of working on my own. It takes year Timmy. When I first started, I only cleaned vials and cauldrons. So I have moved up through the department. Nobody fresh out of Hogwarts starts at the top. I am sure Ashley will have to start at the bottom as well with Experimental Charms if she goes into it. It's like that for any job you want."
"This stuff feels good already," Tracy said. "Anything mum or dad puts on my skin it still burns a bit. My skin already feels cool."
"That's the mint in it," mum said. "You'll notice tomorrow that it will be better already."
"Thank you," Tracy said sounding sincere for once. "I feel better already. I wasn't looking forward to sleeping on that foam mattress with my skin on fire."
"Well if you have to, I'll take a foam mattress and you can take my bed," I told her.
After we finished eating, we all went back into my room. Colin was really curious about the Monopoly game, so I decided to pull it out. The girls seemed more curious about Twister, but I told them we could try that one later. It was getting later and mum didn't like us to make too much noise. We had people who lived below us and sometimes they complained about the noise I made. I figured Twister would be a good game for the next day. It was a fun one. Ellen and Ashley used to play it and they would let me as well.
"I've played monopoly," June said. "I didn't think it was wizard game."
"It isn't," I said. "Mum gets us both wizard and muggle ones. It would be neat if someone charmed this game. Maybe I can get Ashley to do that. Muggles have chess too but the pieces don't move. Most muggle games would be more fun that way."
"We should get a poker set," Jerry said. "And then we could play poker and get better at it. I want to beat Michael and some of the other older kids. I want to beat him the most though. He gets cocky when he wins."
"And he gets annoying when we want to play," Colin said. "Apparently he started in his second year but he doesn't want first of second years playing."
"That's what Alana said and she ended up being him in her first year," June said. "Monopoly is fun, but it does take hours. I want to be the dog piece."
"So Sally-Anne," Colin said as June and me started to set the board up. "Are you going to tell us what was going on? Tracy, June and Timmy seem to know but they won't tell us."
Sally-Anne folded her arms and let out an impatient sigh.
"Are you insecure about wearing a bathing suit?" Jerry asked her.
"What makes you ask that?" Sally-Anne asked him.
"I dunno, it's just I remember my sister reacting that way," he answered with a shrug. "Sometimes she doesn't want to swim if my parents take us to the beach and she says it cause she is feeling insecure about wearing a bathing suit."
June and Tracy suddenly giggled and Sally-Anne shot them a look.
"There is nothing to be insecure about," Colin said. "We've seen girls in bikini's of bathing suits."
"Oh for the love of- I am on my period!" Sally-Anne said. "I can't go swimming because I am having my first period!"
Jerry and Colin stared at her open-mouthed while Tracy and June started to laugh even harder. I tried not to pay attention as I continued to set everything up. I didn't know if I should laugh or feel embarrassed. I'd grown up hearing Ellen talking about it with mum or Ashley but I'd tuned those conversations out. I didn't want to hear about it and I only knew a little about the topic. It was something that had always made me feel uncomfortable. It was a little funny seeing the looks that Colin and Jerry were giving Sally-Anne. They looked almost scared.
"Jerry, you have an older sister!" Tracy said still laughing hard.. "She's had it by now. Didn't she ever tell you about it? What about your mum?"
"No," Jerry answered blushing furiously. "I mean, I know that happens to girls but it's not something I've ever known or given much thought to. My sister has never talked about it with me. I didn't ever think it was something I'd ever have to worry about cause you know, I am a boy so I don't have to think about."
"Unless you get a girlfriend," June said. "That's what your sister means when she tells you she is insecure. It's easier to tell you that instead of telling you that she's on her period."
"Do we have to talk about this?" Colin asked.
"You're the ones who kept asking," Sally-Anne said. "I talked to Timmy's mum about it while you were swimming. She said it's a normal part about being a woman and I shouldn't be embarrassed. So I won't be. Whenever you lot bother me like this again, I am going to tell you the truth. I actually feel good telling you. Timmy's mum gave me something for my cramps. We did say no secrets."
"I think that is something you can keep a secret," Jerry said. "You're not going to be like Tracy and announce it are you? I thought girls were supposed to be embarrassed by that."
"But it's embarrassing you," Tracy said. "And I've never been embarrassed about it. I was excited about it. Every girl is excited about it... that is until the experience it and then they dread it every month. I just can't believe you didn't connect the dots since you know I get it."
"We try not to think about things like that," Colin said. "I think we should just play the game. You three don't need to share with us when you're on your periods. That's information from now on that you can keep to yourself."
"Someday you'll want to know when your girlfriend is on it," Tracy said. "Someday when you're older and you're ready to shag."
"Well I'll worry about that when the time comes, but we don't need to know for you three," Colin said who had a face as red as Jerry's.
June, Sally-Anne and Tracy all laughed harder. I was glad when I had the game officially set up. I told everyone to pick a piece. I truly hoped the girls would move onto another topic. I supposed that was one of the misfortunes of hanging out with three girls. I tried to think of something that could change the subject, and then I remembered earlier that Jerry wanted to talk to Sally-Anne. Would he want to do that now?
"Jerry do you want to grab some butterbeers with Sally-Anne?" I asked and he shook his head quickly. "Not right now. I'm not thirsty. We'll grab butterbeers later."
"Well I am thirsty," Tracy said jumping up. "I'll go. Let's go Sally-Anne. I want to see if Timmy's mum has made some more of that sunburn potion anyway. Coming June?"
The three girls all got up and left leaving the three of us to stare at each other.
"They must be up to something," I said.
"I hope it's nothing else embarrassing," Jerry said. "I wish we had just let it go."
"They're probably laughing about us," Colin said. "What are you two up to anyway? You wanted Jerry and Sally-Anne to go Timmy."
"Remember I told you I thought she has a crush on me?" Jerry asked him. "I was going to try and talk to her alone but it can wait until tomorrow or Monday or I can even write her. Too embarrassing right now. I thought girls, especially ones our age are supposed to be embarrassed about periods but those three aren't."
"Probably because we are embarrassed," I replied. "I tried to ignore it as much as possible with Ellen, but I noticed that with her. She was embarrassed until she realized that she could make fun of boys with it. The girls will probably use it against us. So I think we should try our best not to be too embarrassed around them with it. They'll take advantage."
"I just hope they have another thing to talk about when they get back," Jerry said. "Let's just get the game started."
The rest of their visit was a lot of fun but in a way I was glad when the girls left. There really wasn't much drama after that night, except for Tracy with some of her bitchy comments. I was just glad for it to be Colin, Jerry and me. It felt less embarrassing but the girls also got annoyed when they thought we were doing 'dumb' things. They got annoyed with us for throwing things off the balcony. With them gone, we could do it freely when mum wasn't paying attention.
There was a moment when Ellen came home to yell at us for it. For some reason she came over with Keith and Ashley even though she was supposed to be staying at Ashley's. I was really hoping that she wasn't coming to stay. I had enjoyed the freedom without her around. She wanted mum though, so perhaps she was asking to see if she could stay the rest of the summer. I really hoped so. The moment she'd left, I'd felt less stressed.
"She looks like she has been crying," Colin observed.
We had just hit some bloke with one of my remaining alphabet blocks and he couldn't figure it out. We had been laughing until Ellen had shown up with her friends. I was worried she'd tell on us and mum would yell at us. Mum had said she was trusting us to go out on the balcony. She said if we were caught again, she wouldn't let us go on it together for the rest of the summer.
I shrugged. "That's nothing unusual," I replied. "She cries over silly things and it seems like she has been more than usual this summer. She cried at some silly commercial."
"So did you ever ask Sally-Anne about her crush?" Colin asked Jerry. "You haven't said but she seemed so jealous the entire time the girls were here. You told June she looked beautiful and Sally-Anne got so angry and then Tracy sat on you again, and she looked as if she could hex her. She didn't get that way when Timmy let June sit on him."
"She can anytime she wants," Jerry said with a shrug. "She seems as if she doesn't want to touch me at all, but then she gets all annoyed when the other two do. She got angry when June and me were wrestling on the Twister mat. I never got the chance to ask her."
"Well you should soon," I said. "Just remember what I told you about Michael and Ellen."
"Why what happened?" Colin asked.
"Michael had... well he still does but after their first year he was all over Ellen but she didn't like it. She wouldn't tell him to go away and he kept jealous about her being around other blokes. They got in a huge fight," I said. "Actually their whole group did."
"You should talk to her then," Colin said to Jerry. "Look at how we were all the first night here. We were at each others throats. And it was mainly because of Sally-Anne and you. You were taking it out on Tracy and then it was kind of affecting us too. If you don't like her, you need to tell her. Maybe you led her on somehow."
"Maybe," Jerry said. "Maybe I'll write her when I go home or something. It's not an easy thing to bring up you know. She isn't my type. She is a pretty girl and everything, and I would snog her if she wanted that but I won't want her as a girlfriend. I couldn't date any of the girls in our group."
"Who is your type then?" I asked. "Is it just red heads you want or something?"
"No they don't have to be ginger," Jerry said. "I don't know exactly, I just know that it's not the girls we hang out with. I don't mind them being shy and June is pretty enough, but she feels like a sister to me. Sally-Anne doesn't exactly feel like a sister but I can't explain it either and Tracy is obvious. I just like having a platonic friendship with all three."
"Same here," I said. "But you should talk to Sally-Anne so she understands that soon. We don't want any awkwardness. Plus Tracy seems more and more comfortable with us than before. She never used to be like that with you, but now she is. It's going to cause a fight."
Jerry nodded. "I will. Just give me sometime but I'll make sure I do it before school starts."
We got together quite a few more times after that. Ellen was home again, but she seemed weird and weepy. I wondered what it was that bothered her so much. She was happy with Keith, so it couldn't be about Ashley and Ben. As far as I knew, they hadn't gotten engaged, so she couldn't be sad about that. There was a few times when Michael, Ben and Ashley all came over to comfort her. Mum seemed kind of sad too but she wouldn't tell me either. I hated it because I felt like they were leaving me out of something because of my age.
One afternoon, Keith came into the living-room where I was watching some silly Canadian sitcom. It was about a school called Degrassi. It wasn't bad and it kind of reminded me of some of the drama my friends and me got into. I was behind quite a few seasons. Ellen thought it was barmy but I liked it.
"Watching that barmy American show?" Keith asked as he walked over to me.
"It's Canadian and it's not barmy," I said. "She'd probably like it if she gave it a chance. She won't because of the name of it."
"How'd you know it was Ellen who said that?" Keith asked with amusement.
"Because she is the only one who calls it barmy. June told me about it and sometimes when they come over, we watch it," I answered. "Mum said she might get me some seasons to watch."
"Well Ellen wants to talk to you," Keith said to me. "She is in her room."
"You were in her room with the door shut," I said. "Why is that suddenly allowed? You're not supposed to be in there with the door shut."
Keith shrugged. "I have to go mate. I'll see you later."
I sighed and shut off the telly before I stood up and headed to Ellen's room. She was sitting on the edge of her bed. She looked a little nervous. She never looked at me that way.
"Keith said you wanted to talk to me," I said.
I wondered what was going on. I took a seat beside her.
"Mum lets him come over more now. She doesn't even care that you two were in here for a long time," I continued.
"Well there is a reason for that," Ellen answered. "I'm not going to beat around the bush. I'm pregnant Timmy."
I stared at her. Did I hear her right? She had to be joking. This was just a prank because I kept rubbing my grades in her face. She wanted me to think she was pregnant, and then she was going to laugh in my face.
"You're yanking my chain right?" I finally asked. "This is some kind of prank for rubbing my grades in your face all summer."
Ellen shook her head and then put a hand on her stomach.
"Tell me you're joking," I insisted now feeling some dread. Of all the things she had done over the years, she couldn't be pregnant. She couldn't ruin her life or an innocents baby's by not finishing Hogwarts. She didn't have the OWL grades to finish now. "You can't be sixteen and pregnant."
"I'm not. I found out almost a week ago. Ashley's mum noticed I was throwing up so she made me take a pregnancy test. I was shocked too," Ellen told me.
I jumped up feeling rage. How could she do that? I'd always known she had a lot of sex but I'd always thought she was careful. I knew mum had her on some kind of potion. She was going to ruin her life! My niece or nephew would have a teenaged mother just because his or her mother was so irresponsible. How could she be so stupid? Of all the stupid things she'd done over the years, this was the worst! I'd been so disappointed about her OWLs, but I'd rather hear she failed instead of that she was sixteen and pregnant.
"How could you do that Ellen!? You're ruining your life! You're not even sixteen yet and now you're knocked up? I tried not to say anything in the past with all the sex and drugs and the alcohol... but this-" and I couldn't even put it into words what I wanted to say. I was just so angry with the one person who was supposed to be a role model for me.
I stomped away from her not caring that the woman below us would complain. Once I reached her door, I thought more about what I wanted to say to her.
"I've always looked up to you Ellen. Ever since I was a little boy, I've looked up to you. I am very disappointed in you. I haven't been happy with your life choices, but this is the worst thing you've done so far. You should have worked harder in school too. Now you have terrible grades and you won't be able to support the baby because you slacked off. You'd better put that baby first before any of your selfish needs from now on," I said to her angrily.
I left her room and slammed the door hard behind me. I heard a knocking from below, and I knew that the neighbour was irritated by the noise.
"What's going on?" Mum asked me.
"Ellen is pregnant!" I said.
"Yes I know she is," mum said to me. "Timmy she needs our support right now."
"I don't want to support her!" I said angrily. "She shouldn't be pregnant!"
"Timmy-" Mum began but I shook my head.
"No, nothing you can say to me will change my mind," I said to her and I headed to my own room.
I quickly grabbed my parchment to write to Tracy.
When can we go over there Tracy? I need to get away from here and Ellen. Let me know.
It didn't take long before Tracy got back to me.
I'll talk to mum and dad about this weekend, but if you can't I am sure you can stay with Colin or Jerry. What is wrong?
I can't talk about it on the parchment.
Well I'll talk to mum and dad. We have the pool set up now and my sunburn is completely gone. I actually have a nice dark tan now.
I was relieved when Tracy got back to me about five minutes later that we could all go over that weekend. I hoped everyone else could go as well. I needed to talk to my friends but the parchment wasn't enough. I needed to be around them and I needed out of this flat. Going to someone elses house would help.
"She wasn't kidding when she said her house was big," Jerry said as we stared at it in awe. "You can never know with Tracy. She does brag. I didn't know her family was loaded."
"I thought it was implied," I said to him.
His father had just dropped us off, and we were now staring up at the house. Apparently the other three were already there. June's parents had taken Sally-Anne and June earlier that day while Colin's brother had dropped him off. Jerry's dad picked me up since we didn't live too far from each other. It was why we could see each other a lot.
"It isn't as big as Ben's though," I added as we walked up to knock. "Two of these houses could fit in there."
"Well the Hoofers have a lot of money," Jerry said as he knocked. "So what is going on with you? You needed to get away so bad."
"I'll tell you when we're with the others. I would have told you before but I'd rather not tell it five times," I told him.
"It must be urgent if you needed Tracy," Jerry said with a smirk.
I rolled my eyes. "Well it seems this is the only other place all six of us can together. I don't see you or Colin inviting us all over."
"Maybe next summer," Jerry said. "It's not as if I don't want to. It's up to mum and dad, not me. I'd have all of you over quite a bit. It would beat hanging out at your flat. Nothing wrong with your place, but it's small and you don't have a yard."
"Trust me I know," I said. "But maybe Tracy's place could be the new hang out. Knock again. No one is answering."
Jerry knocked hard. "We told them we'd be here at this time."
Moments later, a man with graying hair opened the door and stared down at us. I was assuming it was her father. If it was, Tracy wasn't lying when she said he was tall. I thought he was even taller than dad.
"Timmy and Jerry?" The man asked and we nodded.
"It's polite to answer when someone asks you a question," he said.
"Yes I am Timmy and that is Jerry," I said quickly.
"Come on in," he said stepping back and opening the door further. We walked into a large foyer that was all dark red. It made the room dark. It also had a heavy smell of lemons that actually burnt my nose. I saw Jerry wrinkle his nose. "Everyone is upstairs. Tracy will show you where you are sleeping," and then he leaned down to stare at us. "No funny business with my daughter!"
"No of course not sir," Jerry said in a shaky voice.
The man pointed to a staircase and we hurried over to them and rushed up them. Was he always like that? When we got to the top of the steps, it was to see a very dark hallway with thick carpet. The walls were painted a dark blue colour and most of the doors were shut. I figured there must have been at least six bedrooms or maybe one of the doors led to a bathroom. We could hear loud music coming from one to the right, so we hurried over to it.
"I feel like I am in a haunted mansion," Jerry muttered to me. "Why is it so dark in here?"
"And her father seemed like a scary butler," I murmured back as I knocked on the door.
The door opened and a smiling Tracy stared back at us. Her room was much brighter than the hallway. It was a Hufflepuff yellow on the walls, and the carpets were black. Other than the black carpet, the rest of the room had white or yellow. She even had white furniture set up almost like the corner in Hufflepuff. It was just smaller.
"Now this is much better," Jerry said as he stepped in. "Wow, you have a nice sized room."
We took in her four poster bed, her desk, three dressers, some book and toy shelves and what I thought was probably a toy chest.
"I got the idea after I saw Ashley's room," Tracy said. "I wanted a Hufflepuff theme too. Mum and dad did this for me when I went back. I like the finishing touches," and she pointed to some of the Hufflepuff flags.
"It's brighter at least," Jerry said and we walked over to where June, Colin and Sally-Anne were. They were sitting on the furniture. We sat down on the love seat while Tracy took a spot in the armchair. "Why is your place so dark? It seems almost scary."
"It's the one thing mum and dad agree on," Tracy said. "They think dark colours look more elegant. It apparently makes us seem more richer than we are. It's all about show and what people will think."
"It looks like a scary mansion," I said repeating what Jerry had said. "It seems almost depressing."
"I used to get nightmares from it," Tracy said. "This room used to be a dark red colour like down in my foyer. I hated it so much. I told mum it would make me very happy if she could make it Hufflepuff themed. So she changed it, and then dad went out and bought me a bed like at Hogwarts and then I told them about Hufflepuff corner, so mum arranged it like this. This room is all about trying to make me happy and to love them. I have to admit, I do like this out of everything else they've bought. It's better than all the clothes and shoes I'll never wear, on account of me being at Hogwarts."
"I like it better like this," Sally-Anne said. "It looked so formal before. It didn't seem like a room for a little girl. I don't know how you lived that way before."
"Well I didn't know what I wanted. Mum did want it to be pink, but I didn't want a pink room. I wanted it to be girly, but not pink. So they just painted it red like downstairs. They thought red was girly enough I guess, but it wasn't. They were both Gryffindors too, so I think that's why there is a lot of red. Wait until you see the living-room. Gryffindor threw up in there."
"So what is going on Timmy?" Jerry asked.
"Ellen is pregnant," and I told them everything. I expected them to be as upset as I was. Tracy had laughed when I'd told her that Ellen was pregnant, but now she was staring at me with an angry expression.
"Timmy, you yelled at her for that?" Tracy asked.
"Yes, she is sixteen and pregnant! She is ruining her life and you laughed at first. So don't sit there and lecture me."
"I laughed because she told me I'd end up being pregnant when I was her age," Tracy said. "I just find it ironic is all. But you should be supporting your sister! I know she is sixteen and pregnant, but you are her brother! It doesn't matter if I laugh or not because she's not my sister, but I can tell you that if my sister had gotten pregnant at sixteen, I'd be there for her."
"She's right Timmy," Sally-Anne said. "You're making this all about you. It's about Ellen. I am sure she is feeling lousy as it is without you yelling at her."
"She is probably scared and vulnerable. She told you because she wanted your help and all you can do is yell at her and ignore her. What kind of brother are you Timmy?" June asked.
"Just like she has always supported me? She's never been there for me! She has never wanted me around and now when she has ruined her life, I am supposed to be there for her? You saw what she was like last year,"
"Yes you're supposed to be there for her because she is your sister and you love her," Sally-Anne said. "Would you treat one of us like that if we got pregnant at sixteen? Would you stop being our friends over it?"
"No," I said.
"So how can you do that to your sister?" June asked.
"You don't get it okay," I said. "She's my role model. It's easy for you to judge me but you're not my shoes."
"And you're not in her shoes," Tracy retorted.
"Get off his case!" Jerry snapped. "All three of you don't understand what he is going through. I know I'd be disappointed in my sister too. We're supposed to be his friends and all of you are jumping down his throat."
"Because Ellen needs his support," June said.
"And Timmy needs ours," Colin said. "If Howard got a girl pregnant, I know I'd be upset too. This doesn't only affect Ellen. Timmy looks up to her just as much as I look up to my brother. He wanted us this weekend, and so we shouldn't be yelling at him."
"Well you should talk to your sister is all I am saying," Tracy said. "I hate Ellen, but I find this really low Timmy. And you've always been better than this."
"I'm shocked and angry," I replied. "You don't understand."
"But I know you love Ellen," June said. "And I'll be there for you Timmy, but you do need to talk to her soon. You're right, I am not in your shoes. Ashley and Alana aren't my real sisters but I look up to them so much. I know I'd be there for them if they got pregnant. They've done so much for me."
"They haven't been disappointments lately," I said. "It's not just getting pregnant. It's everything and the way she treats me. Ashley has been more of a sister to me than my own lately. If she got pregnant I might not feel this way, but then again maybe I would. She has so much potential, especially since she's Head Girl now."
"Well, I just hope you do support her before it's too late," Tracy said. "I know you'll make a good uncle, and I know you don't want to be estranged from your sister just because you're angry with her. You know I don't like your sister at all, so you should know I wouldn't be saying something like if I didn't care about you."
"Right," I grunted. "Let's just talk about something else now. Maybe you can show us around Tracy. Your house actually is really big."
Despite how gloomy I felt, and how depressing and scary Tracy's house looked, it was actually a nice visit. Her dad had seemed strict when he'd first met Jerry and me, but after that first meeting he seemed to want to spoil us. I could actually see what Tracy had meant when she'd said her parents put on a show for company. They did act like a loving couple around us, but it was obvious when they tried to take us separate places and one thing seemed to up the other. We even went to a Quidditch game. I hadn't been to a real Quidditch game since the World Cup, but I'd been too young to remember it. I had some vague memories, but I didn't think they were real. I'd only been two after all.
Seeing a real one made me realize just how mediocre the school ones were. Ellen was quite good at playing, but the Chasers on the Wimbourne Wasps team made her look like a beginner. She would have to put in a lot of work if she wanted to be a professional. When I thought that, it made me feel sad. Her dreams of being a Professional Quidditch player were over. What was she going to do now? She didn't have the grades for much. Perhaps she could be a Herbologist. Maybe she could be Neville Longbottom's assistant. He would be taking over for Professor Sprout as the Herbology teacher in a year or two.
When I returned home from Tracy's I kept my distance from her. There was a few times when she tried to call out to me, but I ignored her. The girls, particularly Tracy kept telling me to hurry and make it up with her. I had to wonder why it meant so much to her. Perhaps it was because of her parents or something.
After a while, I did start to feel bad for her. I would see her crying in her room at times, or sobbing at night. I started to have sleepless nights because of it, and then I realized that my friends were right. Ellen had made a huge mistake, but that didn't mean the baby would be a mistake, and that she would ruin the baby's life. I knew she would love her baby girl or boy. I could tell already that she was trying to make things right.
After my realization, I kept trying to think of the right way to apologize to her but I couldn't think of a good time. The opportunity didn't come up until we were at St. Mungos and we were waiting for her first appointment and ultrasound. I was tuning out mum and Ellen's conversation until I heard mum say something about dressing the baby in girls clothes if they didn't have boy clothes right away. I told her straight up that she wouldn't be dressing my nephew in girl clothes. Apparently she'd done the same to me.
As soon as I said something, Ellen looked at me with shock and I knew I had to apologize. Tracy was right. I didn't want to be fighting with her, and I did want to be a good uncle to my niece or nephew. My sister seemed to forgive me right away though. I was think she was mostly relieved that I was talking to her again, and I actually felt the same way. I wanted to be seen as a grown up, and so I had to help her out. A grown up wouldn't stop speaking to their sibling. They would be there for them as much as possible. And I decided right there and then in the waiting room that I would do everything I could to be a good uncle and brother from then on.
After that St. Mungos appointment, I started to feel excited about the new baby. I think it was actually seeing the picture and hearing the heartbeat that did it for me. In March, I was going to be an uncle and that baby would look up to me. I would take him to fun places all the time once I was old enough. The baby would ask Ellen if she could visit her Uncle Timmy because I was so much fun to be with.
My friends seemed to be happy about my attitude in regards to the baby, even Jerry and Colin who has stood up for me right away. Ellen must have told Ashley that I was on board about the baby too, because one afternoon shortly before the pool party while we were all sitting in my room, she entered the room with a big smile on her face.
"What are you doing in here?" Tracy asked her rudely.
I shot her a warning look and so did June. Tracy just shrugged and looked away. I was wondering the same thing, but I welcomed the visit. She had actually been over more that summer than any other. Now that she could apparate, she was always coming over in the evenings. I expected a lot of it had to do with the baby now.
"I wanted to talk to Timmy, Sally-Anne and June," Ashley told Tracy before she turned to me. "I need to make this quick. I don't want your sister to get overly suspicious because I have disappearing a lot to talk to your mum. You mum and me are throwing a surprise baby shower for her over the Christmas holidays. We want you to go Timmy. Usually it's for women, but we want you, Ben and Michael there as well," and then she looked at June and Sally-Anne. "You two are more than welcome to go as well if you'd like. You don't have to get an expensive gift. Ellen won't be expecting that. Just as long as it's for the baby. It can be a rattle if you want. We're not sure of the exact date yet, but you're invited."
"Ooh yes I'd love to go," Sally-Anne answered.
"Me too," June said. "But do you think Ellen would want us to be there? Sometimes she doesn't like when we're at things because we are younger."
"She won't mind," Ashley said. "When it comes to something like this, she'll appreciate it. It shows how much of us love and support her. I'll let you know when the date is closer to the holidays. We haven't decided exactly when yet."
"Wait, what about me?" Tracy asked. "Why aren't I invited?"
"I wasn't under the impression that you liked Ellen very much," Ashley said. "And I know that Ellen doesn't like you. Do you actually want to go to a baby shower her? I've heard you've given her a hard time about it."
"From who?" Tracy asked looking annoyed. "I haven't said a word to Ellen about it once."
"But you've found it funny that she did get pregnant at sixteen," Ashley said to her. "Apparently you smirk at her every time you see her. If you want to go you can, but you had better not ruin it. I will personally escort you out. You'd better buy a thoughtful gift as well," she said to Tracy and then she looked at Colin and Jerry afterwards. "If you two want to go, you're more than welcome as well but it's usually a girl thing. Michael and Ben are going because they are her best friends and they want to be involved, and Timmy is going just because he is her brother."
Jerry made a face at that. "I don't want to go to no stinking baby shower. It will be full of girls squealing about baby gifts. I can buy her a gift but I am not going."
"I don't want to go either," Colin said. "I can buy a gift too but I am not going."
Ashley laughed. "I didn't think you two would want to but I didn't want you left out either. I'd better get going. I don't want Ellen to come looking for me, she might overhear. I'll keep in touch with you girls."
Tracy waited until she was out of the room.
"Have you been telling people that I was rude to her Timmy? I haven't said a word to Ellen! I even stuck up for her!"
I was shocked to see that she actually looked close to tears. Generally things like this didn't affect her that much. People accused her of things but she usually shrugged it off.
"You have been smirking at Ellen, and I think she is just assuming that you have or would say something," I told her with a shrug.
"I'm going home," Tracy said angrily.
"Why?" I asked. "I didn't say a word. You're not actually angry with me over that are you?"
"No, but I just want to go home," Tracy said and she got up and walked out the door.
"Mum can take you home!" I called after her.
I got up and hurried after her but by the time I got into the living-room, she'd slammed the door behind her.
"Are you fighting with that girl again?" Mum asked me looking over from the telly in surprise. "Timmy, you really should stop hanging out with her if she is causing problems."
"No not this time," I said and I quickly explained what had happened. "I don't know why she is so upset. People say things like that to her all the time. She usually expects that people are going to assume things about her."
"Well if she was sticking up for Ellen then it's different this time," mum answered. "I don't like that little girl at all, but I can understand why she is upset this time."
"But it's her own fault," I said. "Usually she is the first one to be rude about those things. The older kids are used to her doing that, so of course they are going to assume that she's the problem."
"Yes but I can understand why she is upset," mum said. "Just give her a few days Timmy. She'll come around."
I nodded and then returned back to my room. Everyone was discussing Tracy.
"Tracy seemed really upset this time," June said to me as I took seat beside her on the bed. "I've never seen her react that way before. Normally when one of the older kids say something to her, she gets angry but she moves on. She looked like she wanted to cry this time. She never gets like that when Ellen makes assumptions."
"Mum thinks it's because she was sticking up for Ellen this time though," I said with a shrug. "I really don't get it either."
"I honestly still think it's because it's Ashley this time," Sally-Anne replied.
"What do you mean?" I asked.
"Well the others disagree," Sally-Anne began, "but I think it's because she looks up to Ashley. I think she wants the sister relationship with her too, she'll just never admit it. With Ellen or the others, she doesn't care if they make assumptions but she does with Ashley."
"But why Ashley but not Alana?" June asked her. "I would think she would want that with Alana too if she wants the sister relationship. She can just as rude to Alana as she is to Ellen."
"No, I think she wants it with Alana too," Sally-Anne said. "We all know by now that Tracy is insecure. She won't ever show her true feelings. She hides behind that bitchiness so that we don't see the real Tracy. We all know that by now. I just think she is very envious of the sister relationship and she feels left out. I'm not a sister but Ashley and Alana are just as nice to me as they are to you June. Ellen gives attitude to all of us because we are younger."
"I don't know," Jerry said. "She has always said it's stupid that Ashley takes notice of us. She thinks it's weird that someone her age wants to hang out with us."
"Or so she says," I said.
I thought what Sally-Anne said actually made sense. I remembered when June had first started hanging out with Alana, Rory and Derek. Tracy had wanted to be friends with them too, but all three had shot her down right away. They still all disliked her to this day. She seemed to take their comments well, and she even joked with them, but perhaps she just really wanted them all to like her. Sally-Anne also had a point about Ellen giving us all attitude. She was nicer to my other friends, but she still hated having them around. So it made sense why Tracy didn't care too much if Ellen didn't like her as opposed to Ashley.
"You might have a point, but Tracy brings it on herself," June said. "Ashley tried being nice to her when she first met us, but Tracy gave her attitude. None of us were to keen on her at the beginning, but we've gotten to know her. Ashley and Ellen haven't. They've never seen the Tracy that we like."
"I'm still not that keen on her," Jerry said.
"You can't hate her that much," Colin said. "You say you do, but you are affectionate with her. If you dislike her, you wouldn't let her hang off you all the time or even sit on you. Sometimes I think you two have what the older kids call chemistry between you. You've even said you would snog her."
"I would snog any of the girls," Jerry said with a shrug. "That doesn't mean anything, and I don't hate her; I just don't know if I like her either. I can tolerate her. She's gotten a lot better than she used to be. It's not Ashley's fault that she assumed that about Tracy though. She has been giving Ellen looks even if she stuck up for her. I've seen it myself."
"Well mum said to just give her a few days," I said. "I just wonder how she is getting home. Is she taking the Knight Bus or something?"
"She's a big girl Timmy, she can get home on her own," Colin said. "We might as well not worry about it. It's the summer and I don't want any stress or worries right now. We should relax while we still can."
I nodded. I didn't want anymore stress either that summer. Enough was going on with Ellen as it was. I didn't want to add Tracy and her problems to the mix. We were probably going to have to deal with it enough in the school year. All I wanted was for the rest of the summer to be carefree. I had a pool party to go to very soon and a niece or nephew on the way. It was supposed to be a happy time for me.
Ellen's seventeen birthday wasn't too much longer after that. It started out as a good day, but then out of the blue, my dad showed up. I felt so angry the moment I saw him. How could he just show up unannounced like that? I immediately tried to get him to leave, but he wouldn't do it. All he did was scold me for giving him attitude which made me even angrier. I hadn't seen him since I was a little boy and he thought he had authority over me? He'd replaced me with another little boy. He had no right to tell me what to do.
All that happened though was mum and Ellen getting into a big argument with him that lasted for hours. They wouldn't let me be part of it either. They made me sit on the couch to wait. Eventually I even changed, but I felt as if I would never be able to leave. I hated being a witness to this. I didn't want to watch all three of them fight like that. I was supposed to be the man of the house now, but they were all still treating me like a pesky kid. I had to be seen but not heard.
I was surprised when there was a loud crack and Ashley appeared. My parents and Ellen didn't even notice that she appeared. They were still deep in their argument.
"What's going on?" Ashley asked me as she sat beside me on the couch.
"Dad came over today. He wanted Ellen to go over there to celebrate her birthday, but she said no because of the party today and because he's been ignoring us for years. They just all started fighting with each other. Dad is blaming mum for it. He says that she should have been watching Ellen better, even though it happened at school. Then he tried to blame it on Hogwarts and everything. They've just been fighting for hours. Dad just won't let up on mum and Ellen for it. Maybe if he'd been around the last five years things might have been different," I explained.
The three of them still went on but I was surprised to hear what dad had to say next. Apparently the other woman had left him. She had seen the magic and she'd left him. Was that why he suddenly wanted us in his life again? He had chosen another family over us. How could he think that we would want him now?
"I feel really uncomfortable being here for this family moment," Ashley said to me. "Why don't you and I go to Ben's place? I'll just tell them I'm here. When they're done this, they can come."
I felt relieved when she said this. I didn't want to be here anymore. I didn't want to just sit and watch them fight like this. If I couldn't be involved in it, I might as well not be there.
"It works for me, I'm uncomfortable too," I told her.
Ashley got up and walked over to them. Ellen and my parents looked over at her with surprise.
"Oh hi," Ellen said to Ashley. "When did you get here?"
"About five minutes ago," Ashley replied. "Look, I couldn't help but overhear but I'm just going to take Timmy over to Ben's place."
Ellen and my parents all glanced at me, and they all looked upset. I wasn't sure if they were feeling guilty that I had to witness it or what the look was about. All three did seem as if they looked ashamed of themselves.
"If you could please dear," mum said to Ashley. "I'll bring Ellen over in a bit. We're almost done here. I know you lot have a big party for her."
I got up quickly and rushed over to them. I took a hold of Ashley's hand. I tried my best not to look at my father. I knew he was still watching me.
"Mum and I will be there soon," Ellen said to Ashley and then she looked at me. "I'm sorry Timmy."
"I am too, I'll see you later," dad said to me.
I did my best to give him a very dirty look. I didn't want his apology. Dad looked as if he flinched and then he looked hurt. I didn't care if I had hurt his feelings or not. He deserved it.
"Can we go now Ashley? Bye mum, bye Ellen, see you soon," I said quickly completely ignoring dad's apology.
Ashley seemed to want to get out of there quickly because she didn't hesitate. One moment we were at mum's and then the next I felt that tight suffocating feeling of apparition and then we were in Ben's kitchen. I released Ashley's hand and quickly took off out to the pool. The deck was already crowded of the older teens but I could see my friends in the pool already. I quickly took my clothes off so that I was just in my bathing suit, and then I ran to jump into the pool.
"There you are," June said as I swam over to them. "Where have you been? This party is supposed to be for Ellen. I thought you two would have been here by now."
"Or does she want to make a grand entrance?" Tracy asked me. "I don't see her anywhere."
"Dad showed up today," I answered and then I told them everything.
"So what are you going to do then?" Colin asked. "If he wants to be in your life again; are you going to let him?"
"I don't know," I answered.
And I really didn't know. I was still so angry with him, but that little boy in me did want his father back. It was very confusing. I wanted to hex him so much but I also wanted a father and son relationship. I didn't know what was wrong with me. I explained this quickly to my friends.
"It's understandable," Sally-Anne told me. "No matter how angry you are with him, he is still your dad."
"Just make him prove himself," Tracy said. "Don't give in yet because he could hurt you. Just make sure he doesn't try to buy your love."
"I have a feeling he will," I said. "Maybe if he tries I'll give him a chance but it's going to take a long time before I fully forgive him. Anyway, I don't want to talk about this anymore. I want to have a fun day."
Ellen showed up not too much longer after that. I was surprised that she announced to everyone about her pregnancy. I would have thought it would be something she would try and keep secret. However, she seemed very happy as she and Keith stood side by side to say this. The deck was full of teenagers, but it got so quiet that if one of us whispered, everyone would hear.
Slowly though, people began murmuring and then it got loud again.
"Why would she want everyone to know?" June asked. "I don't even know if I could go back to school let alone announce it to the world."
"To get it over and done with," Tracy said. "It's what I would do. Everyone is going to see her growing. You can already see a slight baby belly. She's so skinny that she is going to be very noticeable. If she is going to Hogwarts until at least the end of term, she'll be six months. Everyone can get used to the idea by the time school starts. It's actually smart. People will still probably make fun of her, but they might even move on to other things. You know what Hogwarts is like."
"You have a point there," Jerry said. "She certainly has people talking, but she is lucky in a way. She'll be done school and they'll all move on."
"Yeah I can see why she did it," Sally-Anne said as she nodded. "Something might happen in September anyway, and they'll move on. Everyone will expect to see a baby bump and she won't have to try and hide it. I don't think I could have the nerve to do that."
For the rest of the day, I tried to ignore the gossip around me, but it wasn't easy. A few times my friends had to stop me from going over to tell people off. I could hear one girl trying to say that Ellen didn't know who the father was because she'd been cheating on Keith through-out their relationship. It made me so angry because some of those girls acted like they were her friends when she talked to them.
One girl I knew of because Ellen talked about her quite a bit made me very angry. Her name was Lindsay, and Ellen used to say that she was her second best girlfriend after Ashley. They didn't hang out a lot, but she shared a lot with Lindsay. I could hear her telling a couple of boys that she actually got pregnant by some Zachary bloke. Tracy and I exchanged looks when we heard this.
"I haven't said anything," Tracy whispered to me. "I swear I didn't. I don't know who that girl is."
"I know you didn't," I muttered back. "Ellen probably told her about Zachary. She is just making assumptions. Ellen might have even told her that she cheated, but somehow I doubt it. Lindsay is probably just bringing up Zachary for the hell of it."
Tracy nodded. "I just don't want her to think I said something when I didn't. Stan is the only one who I told. I haven't even told Sally-Anne and she keeps asking me what I'd read."
I felt annoyance with Sally-Anne when it came to that. I'd told my friends not to bother Tracy about what she had read. Jerry was the only one who knew, but I didn't ever want the others to know. I did like Sally-Anne a lot, but sometimes I still felt she wanted to instigate things with Tracy. She knew the majority of us got annoyed with Tracy, and so I felt she hoped that it would impress Jerry or something by doing that. Neither one of us knew for sure yet if she liked him.
"She won't," I whispered back. "If she suspects something, I'll make sure she knows it wasn't you. I doubt she will though. She knows you really don't know Lindsay. I barely know her. I just know her from sight."
"What are you two whispering about?" June demanded.
"Yes, what is the big secret?" Jerry asked. "Since when do you two have secrets anyway."
"It's not a secret," I said quickly as everyone else stared at us.
At times it was hard having so many friends. They all wanted to know everything and they always felt left out. I understood because I felt that way too, but sometimes it felt like a lot of work. Someone always got jealous if it appeared someone else was closer to someone else. They all must have known by that point it was June and Jerry for me, and then the rest of them.
"So why are you whispering then?" Colin asked. "It's about Ellen isn't it?"
"It's about what that Lindsay girl just said," I told him. "Ellen once had a fling with that Zachary bloke she is talking about. It just lasted a summer after her third year or something. Ellen probably told her because she considers Lindsay her best girl friend after Ashley. Now she is using that old piece of information against her."
"So why whisper about it then?" Sally-Anne asked.
"Because that was one of the things I read about in Ellen's diary," Tracy answered. "I was just telling Timmy that it wasn't me who told her. I don't even know that girl. I just didn't want to get blamed for that rumour going around. They didn't even do anything besides kiss anyway. They were like thirteen or something. I just don't want it getting back to Ellen because she might assume I told people."
"But you don't even know that girl," Jerry said.
"I know, but it doesn't matter. Ellen obviously knows what is in her diary. Timmy was just telling me how Ellen knows her and that she likely told her," Tracy explained.
"I get the feeling that Ellen probably told Lindsay more than she has told Ashley," I said. "She likes to keep Ashley in the dark about certain things. Lindsay has had it out for Ellen since the whole Ben thing though."
"Why?" Sally-Anne asked.
"Because she is still in love with him," Tracy answered. "Ellen was the one who put them together, but she was still in love with him. She was hoping Ben would go to her after he realized he didn't want Lindsay. Ben broke up with Lindsay because he was in love with Ashley though and- I mean, oops. I'm sorry Timmy. I don't want to talk about this anymore. I'm going to end up revealing things."
I couldn't help but laugh at that. I was about to tell them the same thing anyway. I was sure that the Lindsay, Ellen, Ashley and Ben thing was common knowledge anyway. I didn't know if Ben or Ellen knew, but I'd heard things from the older students. Lindsay had likely told people that. I quickly reassured Tracy that it was fine.
"When I tell you not to tell people things, I don't mean that," I told Tracy. "I was about to say it anyway when Sally-Anne anyway. Most of that stuff people know by now. Lindsay isn't as good of a friend as Ellen thinks she is."
"I thought I heard that too now that I think about it," June said. "I heard it in the library when I was with Alana. The older Ravenclaw girls were talking about it."
Jerry snorted. "What is it about Ben? All those girls go crazy over him. I wonder if that will happen with us. I'm surprised none of them have hexed Ashley for being with him."
"I've heard that they have," Tracy said.
"I hope that doesn't happen," Colin said. "I mean, not to sound arrogant but plenty of girls like Howard. So what if that does happen? I don't want a psycho girl after me. I just want to have a normal girl. I don't want to have a situation like Ben has."
"I have had that situation," I said thinking about Anita. "She still wants me. Thankfully she hasn't done anything else besides kiss me, but she is always staring at me. Maybe she'll have moved on by next year. I don't want to sound arrogant either but Ben actually had girls try to drug him with a love potion. If she wanted to kiss me when I didn't want to, what if she tries that?"
"Well thankfully you won't really have to have drinks around her," Tracy said. "Just make sure you don't eat or drink anything she offers. I don't understand why someone would resort to a love potion."
"I'm surprised you wouldn't," Colin said to her.
"I may do sneaky things, but not that," Tracy said. "If a boy doesn't like me, I'll move on. I'm not that desperate."
"They're bad, but what if someone already likes you but they're too scared to say anything. Maybe the love potion would give them confidence to speak up if they knew a girl or boy wanted them so much," Sally-Anne said.
"That would be an instant turn-off," I said. "If I liked a girl and she drugged me, I wouldn't like her anymore. I'm surprised at you Sally-Anne. I would think you of all people wouldn't want to do that."
"I don't want to," Sally-Anne said. "I was just talking theoretically."
"Well leave it hypothetically," Jerry told her sending her a glare. "The word is hypothetically, and you shouldn't even be discussing it that way."
I nudged him.
"Just talk to her," I muttered. "This has been going on long enough. I am sick of it. I don't want another Ellen and Michael situation."
"Fine, I will later today. Not after this discussion though. Tonight after they set off the fireworks I will talk to her," Jerry muttered back.
"What is the big secret now?" Tracy asked.
"Trying to see if we can get alcohol," I answered. "Tracy, maybe you can try."
Tracy rolled her eyes. "I have my doubts about it, but I can try. I might end up just returning with butterbeers though. Don't complain if that's what I come back with."
She swam off without another word.
"I have my doubts that is what the big secret is," Colin said with a frown.
"You know what?" Jerry began, "I am tired of this too. Sally-Anne, come for a walk with me. I am tired of all the secrets too."
Sally-Anne's eyes lit up, and I instantly felt bad for her. She was probably thinking he was going to ask her to be his girlfriend or something. Colin and me exchanged looks while June looked completely clueless. If Sally-Anne did like Jerry she must not have mentioned it to June. Had she told her about her crush on Derek? None of us said a word until the two of them had swam off as well.
"Okay, what is that about?" June asked. "We're always saying no secrets, but this is definitely something that seems to be a secret. Were you trying to get rid of Tracy for a reason?"
"Yes and no," Colin answered. "I don't think that was Timmy's intention, but I think it is better this way anyway. Should we tell her the truth Timmy?"
I shrugged. "It's June. I don't think it will hurt for her to know, and she might have some answers anyway."
"Well I don't have any answers," June said. "So stop talking as if I am not here and tell me already."
"Ooh feisty!" Colin said with a smirk. "You definitely speak your mind now more than you used to."
June stuck her tongue out at him.
"Jerry thinks that Sally-Anne might like him," I answered. "So he has gone off to talk to her. He isn't interested back in her, but he is worried about hurting her feelings or making things awkward. Colin and I have been telling her for a long time to just talk to her. That's what we were whispering about. I told him to talk to her, and he was going to wait until they set off the fireworks but I guess he changed his mind now."
"Oooh," June said and her eyes widened. "She hasn't said anything but I've wondered that too. She gets so jealous when Jerry is affectionate with Tracy or me. Actually, she gets worse with Tracy then me. Jerry supposedly hates Tracy, but the two of them seem like they have that spark anyway. I hope this doesn't ruin our friendships. I hope he lets her down easily. I don't think Sally-Anne would drug him with a love potion though you know."
"I don't think she would either," Colin said. "I think she was just saying that to see what Jerry would say or do. She isn't sneaky like that. I don't think there is a spark between Jerry and Tracy."
"There is," I said. "There is tension there. I think they secretly want each other even though they won't admit it. I just don't think they want to date each other, so I wouldn't call it a spark. I think they just want to snog each other. I've seen it too. You saw the way he reacted when he saw her in a bikini for the first time. Jerry has even said he would snog her."
"Jerry is what mum calls a horn dog," June said with a smile. "Tracy isn't beautiful, but she has sex appeal. That's why the boys want her."
"Sex appeal," Colin said making a face. "She isn't ready to have sex yet."
"No but someday she will," June said. "It doesn't mean she is going to shag. It just means that she is attractive to boys. Why do you think so many of them want to snog her? It's not just because she is willing to snog, it's because there is something about her that attracts boys. It's called sex appeal."
"How do you know all that?" I asked her. "I've never heard of sex appeal. I know what you mean now but it seems weird to say it since none of us are going to have sex."
"You didn't learn all that from the muggle telly?" June asked. "I read magazines and I watch a lot of telly. I learns things from all the smutty magazines. I saw the word sex appeal last summer and I looked it up. I didn't understand it either. I mean, I was just learning about sex then after all. Those magazines have taught me more than what mum will."
"There is a side to you that I never knew about," I said to June. "I never would have thought you'd read those magazines. They seem like the kind Tracy would read."
"Most teen girls read them," June said with a shrug. "Well, Sally-Anne is kind of prudish about them, but she is slowly getting into them too. You should see Tracy's collection of them. She has both muggle and witch ones. The Witch Weekly is tame compared to some of the muggle ones though."
"So you're both saying that Tracy has that sex thing and that Jerry wants to snog her?" Colin asked.
I nodded. "Jerry would never date her. I don't know who his type is, although he says he likes gingers. You can tell that he does want to snog her though, and she wants him too. I think Sally-Anne can see it too, and that is why she gets jealous."
June nodded. "It's true. Hopefully she moves on from this though. She gets jealous about me too, but not as bad as Tracy. She knows that Jerry and me are strictly platonic."
Jerry returned not too much longer after that sans Sally-Anne.
"What happened?" Colin asked.
"She tried to deny it at first, but I told her all of my observations and she got really embarrassed," Jerry answered. "I told her that I didn't see her anything beyond friendship, and that I didn't want to lose our friendship either over this. I said she did have to stop acting like a jealous girlfriend though because it would put tension between us."
"And what did she say?" June asked. "Where did she go? I had my suspicions about her too."
"She got all self-conscious. She said she should have known a boy like me would never like a girl like her. She started calling herself ugly and all that. So I had to reassure her that she isn't even close to being ugly. I just told her that I don't see her that way, or really any girl right now. I told her that just because I don't want to date her, it doesn't mean she is ugly because she most definitely isn't. She said that I was just saying that because she has noticed I find Tracy attractive and so she must be uglier than Tracy. I said no that isn't the case at all and that neither her or Tracy are ugly. This is why I didn't want to talk to her. I knew this was going to happen," Jerry said.
"So where is she?" June asked.
"She's talking to one of the seventh year girls," Jerry said. "That prefect named Sarah saw us. She told me that she'd talk to Sally-Anne for me. She said she can probably get through to her better as an older girl. I thought for a moment Sarah was going to get upset with me for it because Sally-Anne was getting kinda hysterical but she didn't. She just said that I can't help who I like or don't like and not to feel guilty. I do hope she can get through to Sally-Anne."
"I hope so," I said. "I don't want what happened with Ellen's group to happen with us."
"If it does, I think it will be because of Tracy more than anything," Jerry said with a shrug. "Speaking of which, where is she? I thought she was going to try and get us alcohol."
"Probably ran into some problems," June said. "I bet Ben's parents or his brother and sisters are watching to make sure none of us try and get any."
"But she still seems to be taking a long while," I said. "She was just going to bring back butterbeers if she couldn't get any real alcohol."
"Well maybe I'll go see why then," June said. "And we can find Sally-Anne in the process."
"So do you think things will be awkward between you and Sally-Anne now?" Colin asked Jerry as soon as June left.
"Maybe at first, but I do hope it won't be for very long. I like her as a friend. She is fun to hang out with when she doesn't get into those moods. It's been happening more often and I don't think it's just a girl problem, or her crush on me," Jerry said.
"She's always been like that," Colin said. "It's just easy to overlook because she is fun to be around. It's not as bad as Tracy, so it's easy to ignore. I think she just gets insecure or she just has mood swings or something. Even June gets like that sometimes too... and probably us as well," he grinned at me. "I know you do."
I smiled back at him before I turned to Jerry. "He's right. We all have our moments. I think you've just been noticing Sally-Anne more lately just because of her crush on you. Let's just enjoy the rest of the party now. We'll worry about the rest of that later. We're all sleeping at my place anyway. So we'll see how she is later."
