CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
"Lily, Lily, wake up."
"Huh? What time is it?" I roll onto my back and open my eyes, "Sirius? What are you doing in our dorm?" I whisper frantically.
"Shhh, just come down."
"Ugh, you idiot," I mumble as he pulls me down the stairs to face a just as confused James.
"So, today, we begin!" Sirius announces.
"Great, can we get some sleep?" James yawns.
Sirius ignores James and pulls out a sheet of parchment. He clears his throat and begins, "I have planned for you a schedule. 6:26 am, wake up James, 6:28 am, wake up Lily, 6:30 am, be in common room to discuss schedule and any other important issues, 7:00 am, be dressed for breakfast together, 7: 04-"
"What, give me that!" I say, grabbing the sheet from Sirius' hands. "This is insane," I mutter, scanning the schedule.
7:04 am - leisurely walk together to breakfast while holding hands (please note to make sure other students will see this).
7:15 am – arrive at hall.
7:16 am – sit down together.
7:17 am – James spoons Lily her breakfast.
7:18 am – James spoons his own breakfast.
7:20 am – flirt and tease each other (still eating).
………………
the list continues down to:
9:40 pm – finish homework.
9:42 pm - sit in front of fire together.
9:50 pm – James feeds chocolate into Lily's mouth.
9:54 pm – James wraps arms around Lily's waist from behind her and plays with her hair.
9:54.5 pm – James kisses Lily on the neck.
9:54.75 pm – Lily turns to reply the kiss.
9:55 pm – James and Lily start kissing passionately.
"Sirius!" I say, thrusting the parchment back to him.
"What?" Sirius says blankly.
"You're crazy. James and I don't need every minute of the day planned out with what we're going to do and how we're going to flirt!"
"What? Give me that!" James grabs the schedule and raises his eyebrows.
"Hey, that took a lot of effort!" Sirius moans as James folds it into a plane a flies it out the window.
~*~*~*~*~*
Lily and I walk to breakfast holding hands, making sure to take the path that has the most students. I can't believe we're actually vaguely following Sirius' schedule.
"Hey, there's Martin," Sirius whispers at us.
Martin glances across at James and me. James quickly reaches for a strawberry and feeds it into my mouth.
"Yes, keep going, he's still looking," Sirius murmurs.
I giggle. "This is ridiculous! No James, not another one, I can't eat that fast!"
"Ok, he's stopped watching."
"Good," I say, wiping strawberry juice from my face where James has missed my mouth. I feel a tap on my shoulder.
"Oh, hi Caitlin," I say as I turn around.
"Hi Lily," Caitlin smiles and looks at James and me, somewhat confused.
"I'll be right back," I hug James and rise out of my seat.
"So, you made a decision," Caitlin comments.
"Yeah."
"You guys already seem really close."
"What? Oh, no, you've got it wrong," I say quickly, realizing she thinks I'm with James.
"So, you chose Martin?"
"Yeah. And I'm flirting with James-"
"-so that Martin will get jealous and realize he still likes you!" Caitlin finishes for me.
"Yep."
"I better get back, Sirius has a whole schedule planned out for us," I say.
"Schedule?" Caitlin says, frowning.
"Don't even ask…" I mutter.
"Ok… look, just be careful. Don't fall for James. You don't know whether he's really trying to get you."
"Hmn?"
"He still likes you. And maybe this whole plan is so that you will fall for him, not so that you will have Martin back," Caitlin explains what she means.
"Oh, right. Don't worry. He doesn't like me anymore. We're just friends. I trust him," I reply confidently.
"Alright, whatever you say. See you," Caitlin walks back to her table.
~*~*~*~*~*
After breakfast, I walk with Lily to our classroom, making sure that Martin is getting all of it. He's chatting to some other guys, but occasionally glances expressionlessly in our direction. We take a seat and I write to Sirius.
Me: I know you didn't come up with this plan so that Lily could have Martin back. I know you hate him as much as I do.
Sirius: Fine, busted. I came up with this plan so that Lily would realize how great it is to be with you.
Me: What?? How can you do that? She trusts us.
Sirius: But it won't be our fault when she falls for you.
Me: Argh…
Sirius: You know you want her back.
Me: Throw this up and don't let her read it. We are only doing this for her, ok? We are not doing this so that she'll fall for me.
Sirius: But if she does, it's not our fault, right?
Me: She's not going to fall for me. You can see how she looks at me. Lily and I are only friends.
Sirius: It hurts to know that, doesn't it? It hurts to have to do this for her. It would hurt so much less if you make her fall for you.
Me: No, that's not true. It would hurt to know that we're only pretending, but it would hurt more if I was actually trying to change her mind and she thought I was trying to help her.
Sirius: I do not understand you anymore.
Me: Then you have never understood loving someone.
Sirius: Ok, you're scaring me now.
Me: I'm scaring myself too…
I'm taking a walk by myself to clear my mind when I hear hushed voices.
"So they're going out?" it sounds like Bertha's voice.
"I don't know. I guess so," that sounds like Remus. Oh yeah, they're going out. At least they were.
"My brother loves Lily."
"So does James!"
"So you're standing up for him?"
"Well yeah, he's my friend."
"Martin is my brother!"
"What has this got to do with us?"
"Everything. I can't go out with you knowing that your friend James is taking Lily from my brother and that you're not doing anything to stop it," Bertha's voice heats up with annoyance.
"What can I do? In case you haven't noticed, no one tells James what to do," Remus responds sounding just as annoyed.
"Fine!"
"Fine what?"
"It's over."
"What? Just because my friend and your brother are fighting?"
"Yes."
"What? That's the most ridiculous reasoning I have ever heard."
"So you're calling me ridiculous."
"Kind of."
"Fine."
I hide in the shadows as an angry looking Bertha strides past. Remus comes round the corner in a few minutes and walks straight into me.
"Um…"
"Yeah, I overheard. Look, thanks for sticking up for me," I say.
"No problem."
"But the thing is-"
~*~*~*~*~*
AN: sorry, I just had to make some sort of a cliff. I think you can probably figure out what James is going to say anyways. I'll upload this even though I don't have 200 reviews yet, just because I'm such a nice person. Replies:
Angelbud2233 – now James has done some eavesdropping too…
Marion – stop giving my plot away. I have reviewed your story. Call me if you're bored (or even if you're not…)
Dee Ann – another mini cliff, plz don't kill me.
Ljstagflower4e – if I got them together so fast, there wouldn't be a story, would there?
Crazyswimmer27 – oh yeah, thanks for reminding me - I will try to include more characters.
Windowseat wonderer – ok, ok… (not much of an interesting reply)
Padfoots angellover – we all know frogs go la di da di da, la di da di da, la di da di da… ok, I'll stop being weird now…
xxGinnyxx – I don't know why she would want Martin back, but she obviously doesn't want James at the moment. And Martin was a good bf.
Kittiy – are you kidding or serious, I can't tell.
Cyd – sorry, when I read that I could totally hear someone saying it with the accent and all that they use in movies!
Miss fred – 200 reviews was a suggestion, not a command. Toe is like forcing us to review! I'm not doing that, I am merely setting goals.