Okay, I'm sorry I haven't update in forever, but life gets a little crazy (slowly begins to hide behind giant brick wall) so please don't kill me. I have a new chapter! Read it and let me know if you like it. This chapter's about... Mitchell and Terah and a lot of head conversations.
And please don't kill me!
Chapter 7
"God dammit!" Mitchell thought to himself. "Focus… it's important… focus on class." He tried to pay attention to what McGonagall was saying. But for some reason, some of the words she was saying must've been lost in translation while going from his ears to his brain.
He looked down at his notes. Nothing! Usually, if he was in a massive stupor, his subconscious took over and would write down at least a few things that had to have been relatively important to the lesson. But today, there was nothing. Nada! Zip. Zero. Zilch.
"What the hell's the matter with me," he asked, even though he knew perfectly well what the answer was. The girl sitting directly ahead of him, whose notebook was also blank, but it wasn't like she needed the theory when she had the practice down perfectly. Why oh why did McGonagall decide to put her with the fifth years?
Maybe it was Terah's perfect black hair… or the side of her cheek that showed whenever she turned her head to listen to something her neighbor asked… or maybe it was her whole damn head in general that was jamming his signal.
"Uhhhh…" Mitchell groaned, shoving his forehead into his hands. They'd been back at school for three weeks now and he hadn't taken a signal word down in his Transfiguration notebook. Maybe he could ask Terah for help…
"No, no, no, no, no! She'll just think I'm a freaking idiot or trying to go out of my way just to talk with her."
Why did he have problems when it came to her? Any other girl, and he'd be just fine. Quiet, calm, and collective… and oh my god, did McGonagall just say pop quiz?!!
"Just a quick ten questions over the last three days of class. As it's only the beginning of the school year, I trust that all of you still have most of your attention spans and this will be an easy ten points for you."
Was Mitchell getting paranoid, or did McGonagall look his way when she added that side comment.
But he didn't have time to think on that. He had to comb through every inch of his brain to see if he recalled anything from the last week of class. Terah turned around in her seat to give him the stack of quizzes that he had to pass back. As he took it, he quickly muttered, "Wot 'ave we been talkin' 'bout?"
Terah shook her head and muttered "Sorry" before turning to her quiz.
No surprise she was the first one done. Stupid know-it-all.
David was either the third or fourth, with Andrew right behind him. Mitchell was reading questions over and over to see if there was anything he could answer or at least BS. Two of them he could. He managed to sneak another three answers off the girl's paper next to him before she was finished. Then he found one that he was able to answer confidently. The others he just guessed. He turned his paper over and put his quill down.
When everyone was done, they switched papers. Terah once again twisted in her chair. "Switch with me?"
"Why, yeh know yeh got 'em all right," Mitchell grumbled, slightly rude.
Terah glared at him. "If you're going to be that way, then I don't want to switch with you." She turned to the girl next to her and handed her his paper.
Mitchell cursed himself.
The girl next to him, the one he'd cheated off of, offered to switch. He did so and took her paper. McGonagall read through the answers and the class marked correct or incorrect. The girl's paper he had, Benicia Teresini, missed two questions. He circled the number correct and handed the paper over. She gave his back, with a four circled. She had written in the correct answers for him, however.
"Crap," he let himself say.
Benicia looked over at him and said, "Not your best quiz, is it, I trust?"
"I don' understand 'alf o' wot's comin' outta her mouth," Mitchell complained. McGonagall was coming around and writing down scores in her grade book. He didn't fail to notice that the teacher wrote two marks when she was standing in front of Terah. "Or course."
"If you need help, I could tutor you," Benicia offered.
Mitchell was caught slightly off guard. Well, at least he wouldn't have to admit he was stupid in Transfiguration to Terah now. "Uh, sure. Thanks."
"No problem," she answered. "Do you want to start now, or wait until next week?"
Mitchell was about to say why not tonight, but then he remembered his brother had called for a Quidditch meeting. "Um… yeah, next week would work loads better."
"Okay," Benicia replied. "So we'll work this out next class, sound good?"
Then the bell rang. Benicia gathered her books and left, but before she was through the door, two girls were running up to her and were excitedly whispering with her. Mitchell groaned and stretched before getting out of his seat and walking across the room to where David sat.
"Hey, mate, lemme borrow yer notes," Mitchell ordered, holding out his hand.
"Why do yeh need mine?" David asked.
"Cause I haven't taken notes since class started this year," Mitchell explained. "And it's all Terah's fault because she's in our classroom now and I can't focus on anything."
"Then ask McGonagall to switch seats or something," David muttered as he handed over his notebook. "By the way, you ruin them and I'll kill you."
The two of them got up and headed for the door. Mitchell glanced behind his shoulder to see if Terah was still at her spot. She'd moved across the room to another desk and had a new Transfiguration book out. Mitchell's mouth dropped open and he'd stopped.
"Have yeh fergotten 'ow ta walk?" David hissed at him, turning around.
"Terah takes two Transfiguration classes?" Mitchell demanded.
David nodded at him like he was an idiot. "Aye. She takes ours and fourth years. That way she can take her Transfig O.W.L. early, but she still technically needs to have taken fourth year. Then she's wit us fer sixth an' seventh years."
Two more years of not taking notes because he would be too distracted?! That was too much for Mitchell. He was going to have to do something about her. She'd either date him, which would make Transfiguration more enjoyable, or reject him, and he'd just have to get over it and then he'd be able to focus on class again. There was no alternative.
Of course Mitchell was always known for his procrastination.
Hannah and Oliver were lagging behind the rest of the group as they walked along the corridor to class. They were both tired, having stayed outside swimming until nine thirty. Then, instead of going in afterwards, they took a walk around the lake twice, talking over Quidditch plans and about the list of people trying out for the open Chaser position. Finally, they had to rush up seven flights of stairs to get to the common room before Filch caught them, which he almost did.
"Ow, my legs hurt," Hannah whined. "Ollie, gimme a piggy-back."
"No," Oliver mumbled, staggering as Hannah pulled back on his shoulder. "Jus' keep walkin."
They'd reached the Transfiguration room and collapsed into the closest seats available. Oliver put his head down and began to snore softly. Hannah propped her chin on her hand and let her eyelids begin to droop. Before she could fall asleep, Terah was poking her forehead.
"Wake up!" she hissed. "C'mon! Merlin, Hannah, how late were you two out?"
"Till eleven," Hannah whispered, her eyes still shut. "Go away." She batted Terah's hand away.
Terah turned in her seat, huffed, and crossed her arms. First Mitchell was being rude and now Hannah was exhausted. Today was just not a good day.
Janelle slid in next to Terah. She dropped her books on the desk and then propped her head on her hand. "What are you so mad about today?"
"I'm not mad!" Terah replied.
Veronica sat on Terah's other side. "Yes you are. What's going on?"
"I'm not mad!"
Veronica leaned forward so she had a clear view of Janelle. "You know, Mitchell might've done something to set her off. Maybe he was flirting with some girl. You wouldn't've liked that, would you've?"
Terah gaped at her friends. It took a few seconds for her to recover from the accusations. "What? Are you saying I like Mitchell Wood?" Janelle nodded and Veronica rolled her eyes at the obviousness. Terah let out a scoffing laugh. "You're kidding, right? Mitchell? No way would that ever happen."
"Suuure," Veronica muttered.
"I do not! Mitchell's like… like… what Oliver is to Hannah!" she pointed behind her. Veronica and Janelle looked over their shoulders to see Hannah sleeping on Oliver's shoulder.
"Soooo… he's a pillow?" Veronica asked, raising her eyebrows.
Terah shrugged and started to play with her quill. "I guess. I mean, I dunno. Mitchell's just… he's Mitchell. Nothing more." Terah eyes her friends closely. "Does he really like me?"
"Well, sometimes he acts like it," Janelle murmured as more students filed in. "But then other times he's kind of oblivious to you. So wait… are you interested?"
Terah gave her a look of "You're-kidding-right" face and Janelle shut up. For the rest of class, everyone was silent. Terah kept playing with her quill and daydreaming instead of taking notes. What if Mitchell did like her? That would make things awkward. If she was honest with herself… yeah Mitchell was cute… but it was Mitchell… however, maybe she did sort of like him. But Janelle wasn't really specific. Mitchell could have any girl in school, why would he pause to think about his friend that way? Terah thought of the everyday clothes in her closet; just jeans and T-shirt; none of the really nice dressy shirts the other girls in school had. Mitchell had to like one of those other girls. So she wasn't about to talk herself into liking him only for him to get one of those girls to be his girlfriend.
Later that night, Mitchell had Quidditch practice. Or rather, Curt had assigned a Quidditch practice and only a half hour into it they had to stop because one of the Bludgers had hit Mitchell in the head. Now he was laying in a huge mud puddle with the team surrounding him. Curt stood over his brother while Kevin and Andrew kept slapping him at regular intervals.
"Wake… Up!" Kevin screamed in Mitchell's ear.
"Kevin, remember, yer tryin' ta wake 'im up, not break his ear drum," Curt warned. "Me ma ain't gonna be too happy if yeh damage his hearin'."
Andrew smacked Mitchell across the face again. "Mate, wake up! C'mon Mitch, git outta the mud!" He lifted up his Beater back but Curt grabbed it and ripped it away. "Sorry, thought it might've help," Andrew replied with an evil grin on his face.
"Mate, yeh know tha' creeps me out," Curt said. He sighed deeply and cocked his head to the side. "Alrigh', we're gonna do dis my way." He bent over and grabbed Mitchell by the ankles and lifted him up.
The sudden blood rush woke Mitchell up. He gasped and began thrashing around. Curt held him tightly and when Mitchell realized what was going on, Curt made sure he had his hands on the ground before he let him fall. Mitchell did a sort of half somersault so that he ended sitting upright.
"Um… wot 'appened?" he asked.
Curt shook his head. "Alright, practice is over. Go change. Make up tomorrow."
The rest of the team headed to the locker rooms. Curt waited until they were gone before turning to Mitchell. "Alright, mate, wot's going on wit yeh?"
Mitchell stood up, rubbing his head where the Bludger had hit. "It's nothing, Curt, don' worry."
Curt crossed his arms and stared down his brother. "Seriously, what's the matter?"
Mitchell sighed and thought for a moment. Really, Curt was the only one he could be perfectly honest with. Before he could stop it, the words came out. "I like Terah."
Curt grinned and clapped his brother on the head. "Is tha' really it? Yeh like Tee? Well, jus' git back to yer normal self and lemme know when everythin's be'er." He turned and headed for the warmth of the locker rooms. Mitchell folded his arms and scowled at his brother's back. "I know yer makin' faces at me!"
"Go away," Mitchell muttered, before picking up his broom and following the muddy tracks made by the team.
Inside the locker rooms, everyone was getting undressed or already naked and heading to the showers. The one good thing about an all boys team, no need to worry about offending any girls. Austin was gone from the group and Jeff was getting ready to go to the shower. Kevin had just pulled off the wife beater that was slathered in muck. The rest of Kevin was just as dirty as his shirt, that there was a distinct outline between where bare skin and clothing had been. Andrew was trying to clear his face of mud, but instead he succeeded in getting more of it into his eyes. Curt went straight to the hamper and, with difficulty, stripped himself of his Quidditch attire.
Mitchell shuffled over to his cousins and began pulling at his own rain soaked clothes. The second he opened his locker, Andrew asked, "So was it because of Terah."
"Shut up."
"Yeh had that same glazed look in yer eye tha' yeh had this mornin' in Transfig," Andrew said.
Mitchell finally got his shirt off, and then proceeded to slap Andrew across the back with it. "I said ta shut up."
Kevin snorted. Mitchell turned to glare at him. "Yeh got somethin' ta say?"
"Nope," Kevin replied, and then headed to the back of the locker room.
"Mitchell and Terah, sittin' in a tree. K–I–S–S–I–N–G," Andrew muttered just loud enough for Mitchell to hear. His cousin glared at him. "First comes luuve," Andrew taunted, just like a three year old would.
"I'm gonna kill you!"
And Mitchell responded with just like another three year old.
"Oy! Children! Cut it out o' I'll put yeh in time out!" Curt hollered, at the two of them, who were rolling around and punching at each other. "Kevin, break it up."
"No way," Kevin laughed as he watched. "This is too much fun!"
Curt grumbled, threw his dirty clothes in the direction of the hamper, and stalked over to the two of them. He grabbed Mitchell by the arm and pushed his foot into Andrew's stomach before pulling Mitchell away. Mitchell was still making kicks and swearing at Andrew, but Andrew was laughing. To silence Mitchell, Curt grabbed his ear and pulled, and then dropped Mitchell.
"Shut up and grow up," Curt said over his shoulder before heading to the showers.
Alright, next chapter is about... well I don't know just yet, but give me a little time (I'll try not to go over a month!) If you guys have anything you want in specific, let me know about it and I'll work with it. Other than that, nothing! Just review! They make me smile. =)
