8: Confrontation

The O.W.L.s passed, and things didn't get better. I thought that Angelina would calm down after her tests, but she didn't. I expected that when I approached her with a peace offering of a box of Honeydukes' sweets she would accept, and we would talk and laugh like before. I was horribly wrong.

"I told you not to get me anything," Angelina said.

"I wanted to. It's a gift, an apology," I explained.

Angelina shook her head, and I set the box down next to her.

The Gryffindor common room was unusually quiet. Now that most of us were finished with our tests- O.W.L.s for fifth years, N.E.W.T.s for seventh years, and general finals for the rest of us- most of the students were relaxing outside, enjoying the warmth of early summer. Angelina, however, was still pouring over various books.

"What are you doing?" I asked.

"I've missed something, I know it," she said. "On the History of Magic O.W.L. there was this one section I wasn't sure of-"

"Even if you did miss something, there's nothing you could do about it now," I pointed out.

This earned me a glare, but I didn't want to back down this time.

"You don't understand," Angelina said before returning to her book.

"What don't I understand?" I demanded.

"You're just a fourth year, you don't have to deal with this yet," she said.

I began to get upset, even more so than I had been already. "Just because I'm younger than you doesn't mean I don't understand. I know it's stressful, and it sucks, and I am dreading doing it; but I get it, ok?"

My breathing was ragged, and I could feel an unfamiliar sensation behind my eyes. There was this horrible lump in my throat, which I tried to swallow, but couldn't. I tried to calm myself down, but it was a futile attempt.

"Stop it, Katie. Why don't you go hang out with the girls from your own year?"

That was it. I had lost her.

Then I did something I never do: I started crying.

I could feel the hot tears flowing down my cheeks, and I wiped angrily at them, but they wouldn't stop. I stomped my foot indignantly, like a child, then went to sulk in my bed.

I clutched my pillow tightly to my chest, sobbing in a very un-Katie-Bell-like way. This thought, of course, just made it worse. I was acting like a little kid. I decided there must be a better way of relieving stress, and eventually settled on Quidditch. I sometimes chased the Snitch to practice flying. That way I could be alone, and doing one of the things I loved the most.

I grabbed my broom and headed down to the pitch, resolutely not looking in Angelina's direction on my way out of Gryffindor tower.

I mounted my broom just outside of the castle, then took off, flying high enough that no one would bother trying to talk to me. There were an awful lot of happy students out. They laughed and played in the sunlight, enjoying the little time they had left together before the summer holidays. Angelina, Alicia and I should have been doing the same.

The Quidditch balls were in a storage closet next to the locker rooms, and really, I had no reason to go into the locker rooms themselves. But as I took out the Snitch, I heard a loud bang from inside one of them, and my curiosity got the better of me; especially since no one was supposed to be in them after the final match.

I pushed the door open gently and peered in. Alicia was pressed against the lockers, her legs around the waist of the Ravenclaw boy. His arms were around her, supporting her weight. They were snogging like there was no tomorrow, and they looked only moments away from doing more. I figured that in order to make a bang like that, he must have slammed her pretty hard into those lockers. She didn't seem to be protesting, however, and I left, letting the door slam behind me.

I was outside by the time I heard a tentative voice calling, "Katie?"

I knew it was Alicia, and I ignored her, the way she'd been ignoring me for the past several weeks.

"Katie, wait!" She called.

I paused. Was I over-reacting to this? Maybe she had just found a guy she really likes. Maybe this is more than a quick snog to relieve stress over the O.W.L.s. Maybe she wasn't ignoring me really, and I was just making unfair assumptions.

I turned to face her. I was tense, and clutching the Snitch too hard. It was struggling against my hand, and I realized I must have been breaking its wings. I loosened my grip and took a deep breath.

"What?" I said to Alicia, once she caught up to me.

"This isn't what you think," she said, gesturing to the Ravenclaw boy, who was now leaning against the red-checkered wall outside the locker room.

I looked at her incredulously. She shifted uncomfortably under my gaze.

"I mean, we're not serious, it's just… you know…"

"No, I don't know," I said. "What I do know, however, is that you've been blowing Angelina and me off for him-" I gestured to the boy- "for several weeks now. We're supposed to be best friends, and it's like I don't even know you anymore."

Alicia got upset then. "I don't need to explain myself to you!"

"Then why did you follow me out here?" I demanded.

"I… I don't know. You're my friend." She gave me a weak smile.

I felt that horrible lump in my throat again, and it made it difficult to get my response out. "I don't think I am anymore."

I mounted my broom, and left her there, speechless.