Disclaimer: me- "do you know why i don't own you, faun?" mr. tumnus- "because i believe in a free narnia!" me- "right on, mr. tummy, right on."
okay, okay, okay. i LURVE you guys! i appreciate all the reviews and the favorites and the alerts verrry much! i really did want to update like the next day... unfortunately i got the despicable, blank horror of... writer's block! DUN DUN DUN! yes, yes... i know! such a tragic fate, but hey! i'm back! and i'm watching llw while writing this!
oh and i'm really hyper and excited because it's my birthday this week! yup! i finally get to change that measly 13 on my profile to an impressive 14! so, you know what would be the best birthday present ever? REVIEWS! soooo, please make me very happy and drop in your gift-review by clicking that oh, so familiar green button at the bottom!
Kacey watched warily as Dani paced back and forth and back and forth and back and forth across the wooden floor, making ominous thump, thump, thump noises as she went. She knew what was coming, and she knew that she could do nothing about it... except hope for a set of magical earplugs to materialize on her lap.
Finally, Dani looked up and said in a surprisingly quiet voice, "You are Draco Malfoy."
"Huh?" Kacey said, utterly bewildered. She had been expecting somewhere along the lines of 'You, Kacey Brinkley, are the biggest prat I've ever had the displeasure of knowing' or perhaps 'You would have deserved it if you had gotten hit on the head with a bowling ball on a stick' or even just 'IDIOT!' Being referred to as a Harry Potter character however, was most certainly not a reaction she would have predicted after telling Dani about her most interesting day today.
"You heard me. You are Draco Malfoy," Dani repeated.
Kacey grinned a bit. "So, I'm a sulky blonde ferret boy with magical powers?"
"No- you don't have magical powers," Dani said unsmilingly, which shut Kacey right up. And then, with a heavy sigh, Dani said, "Ugh! Kacey, you know what I mean! I love you, you're my best friend in the whole entire world, but sometimes, I just hate you."
"Woah... Bi-polar much?"
"Kacey! I'm serious! You can just be so... so- STOP SMILING!"
Kacey, who had been fighting an internal battle against laughing out loud ever since the ferret comment, immediately stopped grinning at the look on Dani's face.
"Honestly, do you know how frustrating you are sometimes? Just take this seriously for once! I don't think you get how big of a prat you've been to Edmund."
"I do that know that I am a prat... But at least now that he's off my back, I won't have to worry-"
"Don't you dare suggest that Mary-Sue thing again! Or else... or else... I'll... throw this pillow at you!" Dani said, throwing Kacey her most deadly look, though the fact that she was brandishing a fluffy blue pillow detracted from it.
"Wow. I don't stand a chance now..." Kacey drawled sarcastically. For this, she received a square hit on the nose. "Hey!"
"You deserved that! And you also deserve getting hit on the head with this candle holder, but I don't feel like being charged for assault and battery," Dani chided her, and then she added in a quieter tone, "You've been awfully inconsiderate to him, Kace. I thought you liked him."
Kacey looked very confused then. "W-well... What if I don't like him anymore?" she said, uncertainty ringing in her voice.
"Well, even if you don't like him anymore," Dani said (though she highly doubted it), "I still think you should say sorry to him."
"Well, what am I supposed to say?" Kacey said, grinning a bit, "Look, Edmund... I'm sorry that I'm a freak who doesn't handle serious situations very well, but I was really just practicing for being an anti-social nun when I grow up."
Dani raised her eyebrows. "Try again."
"Fine! Fine! You know what I'll say to him? 'Edmund, I'm sorry that I am such an inconsiderate jerk'." Dani nodded enthusiastically, but Kacey didn't seem to notice as she ranted on.
"'But really, we should practice making our conversations just a bit less bipolar, because when you're laughing one minute and sulking the next, it really does make the situation a bit awkward, you know? And I should tell you that I'm not really the person to talk to about those things because I'm not a trained shrink, nor am I a bald, middle aged man called Dr. Phil. When people bring up serious things, I tend to either freak out or point out oddly-shaped cloud formations... And why were you telling me all that crap when I thought you went to your siblings for advice, instead of a slightly insane, teenage girl you found wandering in the forest and have known for only a few days? And why does it seem like you're stalking me? Or am I stalking you? Because I really stopped being able to tell the difference since I've been doing the latter for a few years now, and I've kinda grown used to it. But I must be doing it subconsciously because I've been really trying to stay away from you, in case I turned out to be a psycho Mary-Sue rampaging through Narnia, destroying it with a mix of pink hearts, sparkling strawberry-scented magic powder, and air kisses you can catch in your hand that make you feel all warm and gooey all over. And-'"
"KACEY!" She hadn't noticed that Dani had been yelling her name several times, trying to get her attention. Dani, shaking slightly from laughter, said, "I asked to give him an apology, not a raving rant that told him your entire life story."
Kacey was slightly red and out of breath, as anyone would be after reciting such an impressive rant as the one above. "At least I got that out of my system," she grinned, "Imagine Ed's face if I actually told him all of that."
"I don't think he would understand a word of it, seeing how fast you were talking... But I think that a simple, 'I'm sorry for being such an inconsiderate jerk. If it makes you feel any better, I am insanely in love with you' would suffice," Dani said half jokingly, half hopefully.
"Fine. I'll tell him that in the morning," Kacey said, Dani looking at her delightedly. "Minus the 'insanely in love with you' part," she added, and Dani's face fell.
"Right. Well, at least you're saying sorry..."
"And that's all I'm going to do."
"I still think you should give him a chance... Then we can just avoid little incidents like that..." Dani said, sounding tired.
"Of course. And let me guess? He lurves me back, and we all live happily ever after with our children, Edmund and Kacey Jr. and our magic penguin, Jello."
"Yup... The guy clearly likes you, Kacey," Dani yawned sleepily.
"Dani? I think you are in need of some much deserved sleep, seeing as you're agreeing to me adopting a magical penguin... and believing that 'Mrs. Kacey Pevensie' is actually a possibility. Go to bed before your logic becomes any more delusional."
"Yeah... yeah..." Dani said, sluggishly making her way out of Kacey's room. "Think whatever you want, but the fact remains... He LURVES you." Kacey heard her stifle one last yawn before she shut the door behind her.
And as Kacey climbed into her own bed that night, she silently cursed herself because sleep-induced or not, what Dani had said made her wonder why Edmund did open up to her, out of all people, about the White Witch.
-----
The next morning brought an uneasy dread to the pit of Kacey's stomach. It had just occurred to her that an apology meant another extremely awkward conversation, and no one enjoys having those very much, especially not two days in a row.
And of course, with nothing else occupying her brain besides figuring out how to put several layers of convoluted dresses on, it was only natural that she would come up with several complicated schemes on how to get out of having to say the apology.
For example, Kacey figured that the plan where she faked amnesia was a particularly good one. At least, it was endlessly better than the plan involving a crumpet, a rubber ducky, and the utterance of the phrase 'Avada Kadavra'. However, it was quite sad to think that the scheme of hiding behind a potted plant was probably the one that was most likely to work (not saying that it would work, of course).
As you might have figured out, Kacey was not much of a schemer (Dani was really more of the evil mastermind type), and therefore, she decided that there was no way that she could avoid another disastrous confrontation with Edmund today. It was only the right thing to do, and besides, if she resisted, Dani would just drag her by her ankles downstairs, making sure that Kacey would hit every suit of armor that they passed on the way down.
Kacey could only hope that she wouldn't start ranting like a mental person when she made her apology like yesterday night. Or worse- repeat Dani's suggested apology word for word to him, including the 'insanely in love with you' part.
Repeating her carefully-selected (and non-romantic) speech over and over in her head, she set off, hoping that by doing it early, Dani wouldn't be up yet to poke the living daylights out of her, asking what she was going to tell him.
So she looked and looked... She checked in the ballroom and in the courtyard, looked in the kitchen and dining room, poked her head in the occasional broom closet or two, searched the library, and looked in the garden. Ed didn't seem to be in any of his usual hangouts. And after nearly two hours of wandering around the castle, Kacey decided that he must either be really really good at hide-and-seek, or have disappeared in a puff of bright orange smoke. Even with Cair Paravel's massive size, finding someone as conspicuous as one of the kings really shouldn't be that hard.
So, disheartened with the realization that Edmund must really be avoiding her, Kacey went off in search of the one thing that can lift one's spirits at a time like this. Pie, of course.
Luckily, Queen Lucy seemed to have an odd obsession with pie, and the kitchens had an alarmingly large variety of the dessert at hand. Kacey was immediately given a stool to sit on at the counter, and a plate with a slice of apple pie and an enormous pile of fluffy cream on top appeared in front of her before the words could be fully articulated.
"Umm... Thank you?" Kacey told the Badger who handed her a fork.
The Badger smiled before turning back to attend to a bubbling pot of hot soup. "It looked like you needed it, dear."
"Right," Kacey said, before shoving a massive forkful of cream into her mouth. Was her depression really that obvious?
She looked up at the Badger, who smiled again and said, "Yes. It was painfully obvious," before the words left Kacey's mouth. Man, she was good at this!
Kacey raised her eyebrows. "Rea-"
She was interrupted by the door as it squeaked open, with Lucy walking into the room with a sheepish smile on her face. "Good morning, everyone!" she said brightly, "Oh, hullo there Kacey!"
"Hey Lucy..." Kacey mumbled, her mouth still stuffed with pie. During her stay, she had gotten quite used to calling the kings and queens just by their names, as they had said they preferred it much more that way.
Lucy grinned at her. "Is that apple pie?" she said, and then looking at the Badger (whom Kacey would later find out was named Mayella), she asked, "Is there more?"
"Now, now, Your Highness," Mayella chuckled, "What would your sister say if she found out you were sneaking dessert before lunch?"
"Oh, I'm hoping she won't," Lucy said, taking a seat next to Kacey. "So, Kacey, how have you been? I haven't seen you around the castle for a few days now."
"Been better," she sighed.
"Oh... Well, I'm sorry to hear that. Nobody has been at their best this week... Why, just yesterday I was telling Susan that we were all going to go mad soon with all this stress!"
"If we haven't gone insane already." It then occurred to Kacey that, if anyone, Lucy would know the whereabouts of her brother. "Hey, Lucy? You wouldn't happen to know where Edmund is, would you?"
At this, Lucy gave her a triumphant and mischievous smirk, as if she'd won a bet or something and muttered something that sounded like, "I knew it!" under her breath, causing Kacey to eye her suspiciously.
"Huh?" Kacey said, feeling like she was missing something.
"Oh, nothing!" Lucy said, turning her grin into a sympathetic smile. "Oh, Peter finally broke down this morning and said he couldn't possibly wait any longer. He's not really the most patient of people, and it really was to be expected soon enough, so he went off into the forest, dragging poor Ed and Oreius with him. I heard his clamoring around the castle before sunrise!"
"Oh," Kacey said, not really knowing what to say.
"Well, I really must be off, Kacey. I need to be upstairs to greet the governor of Archenland, and I have a necklace I need to talk to Susan about..." Lucy said mischievously, giving her a quick smile, "Nice talking to you!"
And with that, the door squeaked shut once again, leaving Kacey sitting there, staring at her plate. She was slightly relieved that Ed hadn't been avoiding her after all, but she still felt an odd mix of worry and disappointment overshadowing that...
And despite all of the trouble and reluctance with the apology this morning, the fact that she didn't have to say sorry after all somehow didn't make her any feel better.
oh, i'm so sorry that that is a ridiculously short chapter, but that's all i could put in this chapter without seeming to skip around too much! the action will pick up in the next few chapters!
oh yes, and lucy IS devious enough to make a bet about kacey and ed with susan :)
and again, i'm sorry for the delay- writer's block and i really had to start working on stupid summer work for school :P my summer's been oddly busy... and i'm sorry if this was a sort of crappy chapter, but please please review anyway! remember: reviews are the best birthday present to a fanfiction author! and, if you do, you get a piece of cake along with my many thanks!
-justplaincrazy8