Silver: sigh I miss Julian

Mike: No you don't, you have me now. I'm a better writer than he ever could or ever will be.

Silver: I don't miss his writing..... I miss him

Mike: Why? You in love or somethin'?

Silver: Nope, Julian was gay, unlike you, which is why he wrote better than YOU

Mike: Bitch

Silver: Whore

Mike: I'm not gay!

Silver: That's the problem

Nic pulled back.

"After all we've been through, your still apprehensive of me?" Ron asked

"Just..... don't do that again....." She said

"Do what? Kiss you? Did something happen to you?" She turned away "Nic-?

"Just..... don't do that and we'll be fine, O.K.?" She sprinted out of the room holding her shoulders for dear life. She ran into Aimie on the way out.

"Watch It!" Aimie growled as she got up off the floor. Nic just kept on running.

"Strange....." Aimie said to herself as she walked to the Slytherin common room. Draco walked over to her.

"Snape wants you in his office, now." He said. Aimie swallowed hard. She knew what that meant.

"Tell him to go fuck himself" She said 'for once' she thought to herself. She took off running through the halls, he wouldn't find her this time. She didn't know where she was going and she didn't care, anywhere was better than Snape's office. She found herself outside near the lake. She sat onto a bench and prayed that he wouldn't find her this time. She sat and buried her head in her hands and listened to the birds and fish. The mer-people were above the surface singing songs that sounded like nails on a chalkboard. Suddenly a hand touched her shoulder.

"NO!" She screamed as she turned around. Kyle pulled back and looked at her.

"What?!" He said

"Kyle?" She asked "Y-you haven't come to see me"

"I was afraid you'd scream at me" he said with a smile. She didn't smile back

"What do you want?" She asked. He lowered his head, still smiling

"I think you know" He said

"Oh God, your still on that?"

"Aimie, please I know-"

"No Kyle, you don't. You don't know anything about me, you never have and you never will!" She stood up and tried to walk away, but Kyle grabbed her hand.

"If you would just tell me, I would" He spoke gently, but Aimie pulled away.

"If you ever touch me again I swear to God I'll kill you." Then she walked away, leaving Kyle in shock.

Aimie continued to run. Run away from people, friends, loves, just run. She wouldn't let Snape find her, but she didn't know where she could turn. She yearned for days long lost, for days when nothing but getting decent grades, and showing up for school were her problems. For the days when She, Nic, and Rachael were still friends. She didn't want anything else, just for life to be the way it was again. Often were the days that she would stay up till dawn thinking of what could have been, how much better it could be. But there was no room for what ifs, and wish I would haves. Now life was real, and cold. Like steel, nothing was going to penetrate her unhappiness. She flung herself to the ground near the forest.

"Please God" she said "Please, tell me why you took everything away from me. I used to be so happy, so happy! Now I'm afraid to go home, why did you do this to me?! Why?!" She started shaking on the ground.

"Aimie?" The voice came and snapped her head in two.

"Rachael?"

"What's wrong?" Rachael knelt down next to her. Compassion wasn't one of her strong suits, but for this once she was willing to give it a try.

"I-I uh," She thought hard, knowing she could never speak the truth. "I miss you guys so much, I miss all of us being friends and having fun, I miss our old lives"

"It's not 'us' any more Aimie, remember? We're not friends any more"

"Don't say that! What we had was different, all of us! We can't function right without each other."

"Even if I agreed with you, we've all been through so much. Too much. Things will never be the same. Nic..... Nic doesn't smile anymore."

"What?" Nic, who had been the first to make a joke, and the only to make people laugh when they were sad, had said she couldn't imagine life without happiness. She seemed to be the only one who cared when there was a problem, and she was the quickest to beat any one who hurt one of her friends. They hadn't known where she had come from before sixth grade and they didn't really care. Once they asked, she got dark and forlorn, she began to shake, and she ran away. They never asked again, and they never mentioned the incident.

"That, that's not true Nic always smiles, always no matter what!"

"Not anymore. Face it, Life's different. Some parts for better, some parts for worse. And you're just making it harder for yourself by thinking that we can't function right without each other You need to move on and live your life the best way possible"

Aimie looked up at her

"Where did Nic come from?" she asked "And where did you come from?"

"You know I don't know where Nic came from, no one does. But I came from Texas"

"I-"said a soft voice from the woods "I don't really come from anywhere..." Aimie and Rachael turned to see Nic leaning against a tall tree, looking up into the blackened abyss called the sky.

"I've always been here, hiding in the shadows, watching people grow, watching them change... I don't want to change. I don't-"she stopped short. She averted her gaze from the sky, and turned to face them.

"I guess it's just easier to say good-bye" she smiled half heartedly, at them, as the wind blew across the lake and she dissolved into leaves.