Chapter Two
"Blimey! You girls sure do take your sweet time!" James complained from roughly twenty feet in front of the three overwhelmed girls.
"Well, excuse us!" Julia whined and stuck out her tongue at James…nearly falling as she did so…
"Watch it!" Emily growled pulling her rolling luggage out of Julia's path.
"I'm sorry, James, but we haven't really done this before!" Katherine had to yell because there were now students as well as distance between them.
"Great…" Emily muttered, "Now we're gonna get lost, too…"
Julia glared at Emily, "We are not gonna get lost, you ditz!"
"Come on…" Katherine began weaving in and out of the sea of students trying to push their way into descent compartments and eventually caught up with James.
"Hey…welcome back…" He said teasingly.
"Yeah, yeah…whatever…." Katherine turned around. "Damn!"
"What?" James asked.
"Those two are still back—no wait…there they are…" Katherine sighed at what she saw: Emily, carrying all of her bags and dragging Julia (and her bags) along behind her, looking very pissed off….and coming straight for them at top speed…
"Shit!" Katherine hissed as she attempted to dodge Emily's assault. James; however, wasn't quick enough… In one swift motion, Emily had dropped everything she had been dragging (including Julia) and wrapped her hands around James' neck.
"What the HELL did you think you were DOING! You obviously don't understand how much I despise being left alone in a crowd!"
Julia reached out to correct her, but quickly thought better of it and muttered something along the lines of 'naw…I value my life…'.
James—oblivious to Emily's…temper—just smiled, as if laughing at Emily's anger.
Unfortunately for James…Emily noticed…
"What the hell are you smiling at, you little prick!" Her hands flexed around his neck as she spoke… Katherine laughed and Julia stared as Emily's eyes once again (twice in a day!) began to flash gold.
James continued to grin, "Nothing really…" He then noticed Emily's eyes, and his expression turned from amusement to awe, "Hey...your eyes are really pretty…"
Emily cursed under her breath and released her grip from James' neck. Katherine (who was still giggling) handed Emily her sunglasses again. "Merry Christmas!" she laughed.
"Yeah, yeah…" Emily muttered while she hid her eyes.
Julia looked around, "Um…why are we just standing around in the hallway anyway!"
"We should find a compartment, shouldn't we…?" Katherine stated as she searched for a nearby empty compartment.
"I'll let you share my compartment!" James offered, but with a hint of smugness in his tone.
"Really!" Julia beamed. "That would be awesome!" Katherine nodded in agreement.
"What's the catch?" Emily folded her surprisingly muscular arms as she stared James down through the dark lenses of her sunglasses.
James' lips curled upward as his eyes shone of mischief, "The catch is…" he paused dramatically, "You have to explain why your eyes go all golden when you're angry."
Emily and Julia inhaled quickly in disagreement. Katherine, on the other hand, merely shrugged. "Sounds like a fair trade. Shall we then?" she made a gesture towards the direction James was originally headed in. "I'm getting awfully tired of standing her like this…"
James nodded—his smugness still obvious—and began off once again.
"What the hell are you thinking!" Emily grabbed Katherine by the shoulders as she spoke in a harsh whisper. Julia, too, was curious to what Katherine's reasoning was.
Katherine just shrugged again as she followed James slowly, "Well…do we have to tell him?"
"But you just said--" Julia protested, catching up to Katherine.
Katherine raised her hand to silence Julia, "I know what I said…but what I'll do is totally and utterly another story all together!" Julia and Emily smiled at Katherine and then at James, who was waiting for them in front of a compartment near the back. He gave them a look of confusion which made all three girls laugh.
"What are you three giggling about?" He questioned as he opened the sliding door.
Julia gave him a sweetly innocent smile, "Nothing important." The other two girls nodded, both smiling as well.
James shrugged. "Well…this is it!" He gestured towards the compartment, "Ladies first." He made a slight bow as he waved them into their section of the massive train. Julia entered first, curtsying with her invisible skirt. Emily and Katherine more or less resented being called 'ladies'. "But at least this guy's got some form of manners…" Katherine whispered. Emily merely grunted in reply.
