Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters. They're all JK's.
Author's note: Well, this is a prequel to my other fic, "You Make Me Beautiful". However, it can be read even if you haven't read that. Enjoy!
Alicia swallowed heavily and glanced over at George. He was sitting a few seats away from her at the dinner table, chatting animatedly with Lee and looking cute, as always. It was awful, really, how his red hair and freckles made him look cute, not ridiculous. Her freckles certainly didn't make her any prettier.
"Why does he have to be so good-looking?" she muttered angrily to Angelina. "It's unfair, that's what it is."
The black girl smiled. "Relax, Leesh," she said, obviously amused by her friend's nervousness. "He's just a boy, and as immature as the rest of them. Well, more than most of them, actually, considering he's a Weasley twin."
"Oh, shut up," Alicia replied, scowling. "You're my best friend; you're supposed to support me. So stop making fun of me!"
Suddenly she registered a movement from George and the others, and she clutched Angelina's arm tightly. "They're leaving!" she hissed. "Come on!"
Reluctantly, Angelina let her best friend drag her after Fred, George and Lee. "Seriously, Leesh, I don't think this is a good idea. I mean, you have no idea how he's going to react. What if he freaks out?"
Alicia pretended not to hear her, and kept walking determinedly.
They caught up with the boys outside the kitchen, just as they were about to tickle the pear and enter. Angelina gave them a disgusted look. "Honestly. We just had dinner, how's it possible for you to still be hungry?"
Lee gave her a cheeky grin. "We need more dessert," he explained. "There weren't even any chocolate cake today. Horrible, isn't it? How do they expect us to make do without chocolate cake?" The twins nodded solemnly.
Alicia frowned at them. "Stop fighting, will you?" Without waiting for them to respond, she continued: "We want to talk to George. Alone."
"We?" Angelina looked horrified.
"Yes, we, Angie." She turned to George again. "So, are you coming?"
"Um… Sure." He looked a little bit frightened, but she didn't worry about that. After all, he didn't even know what she was going to tell him. There was no way he could know.
They wandered a little away from Fred and Lee, who were left whispering and giving them long glances, apparently dieing to know what they were talking about. Angelina gave them the meanest look she could muster, trying to scare them off, but they only grinned and waved.
"Boys. Honestly. What's their problem?" Her eyes fell on George. "And yes, that includes you. You're every bit as bad as them. Don't think that I don't know who turned my hair orange!"
He shrunk back a bit. "That was Fred, actually. Not me. I'd never do that to you. Don't hurt me, please."
"Angie!" Alicia interrupted, giving her friend a sharp look. "This isn't what we wanted to talk to George about, is it?"
"There is no we about this," came the grumpy reply. "You'll have to handle this all by yourself now."
"Handle what by yourself?" George asked, curious.
Alicia opened her mouth, and then closed it again. She looked at the boy in front of her. For the first time she doubted the wisdom of what she was about to do. What if he rejected her? What if he laughed at her? "Er… I'm not sure that this is such a good idea after all…"
"What?" Angelina exclaimed. "Leesh, you've been pestering me about this for weeks! If you don't tell him now, I'll say it myself!" There was a dangerous glint in her eyes now.
"No!" Alicia was horrified. She just knew that Angelina would be terribly blunt and ruin it all. That would be so like her, really. Better get this over with, then.
She looked at George. "I need to tell you something, George. The thing is… I really like you. As a boy, not just as a friend. You know?" Her expression was a mixture of hope, fear and desperation.
For several moments, time seemed to stand still. The three of them were frozen, Alicia and George staring into each other's eyes and Angelina watching them from the side. It seemed to her that in this moment something important was decided. Everything now depended on George's answer.
After what seemed like eternity, he finally spoke. "You like me?" Alicia nodded weakly. "But I… Well, I think girls with freckles are ugly."
It was horrible to see the effect of those two words, Angelina thought later. The hope was wiped away from Alicia's face and replaced by a look of terrible hurt. Her mouth opened and closed a couple of times, and then she turned on her heel and fled from the corridor.
George was left with a furious Angelina, who wasted no time before telling him exactly what she thought of him.
"What the hell was that about!" she exploded within seconds of Alicia's disappearance. "I knew that this was a bad idea from the start, but you just made it much worse than it needed to be! Couldn't you have been a bit nice about it?"
George hesitated. He wasn't really sure why he had said it. Truth to be told, he didn't think Alicia was at all ugly. But…
"She's Alicia," he said, more to himself than to Angelina.
The girl groaned at his stupidity. "Merlin, you really are an idiot," she muttered before giving him the smack over the head that he deserved and then going off to look for Alicia. She had a feeling that her friend would be in need of some comfort now.
xxxxx
Alicia walked angrily towards the Gryffindor Common Room. How dared he say that girls with freckles were ugly? It wasn't as if he didn't have plenty of freckles himself! He had no right to say that!
"Stupid, stupid, stupid," she growled, not sure if she meant herself or George. Probably him, she decided. He was the one at fault here. She had just acted on her feelings, and because he was such a mean person, she had gotten hurt.
Leaning against a wall, fisting her hands and picturing his face, she whispered fiercely: "I hate you, George Weasley! And I'll never, ever forgive you this."
Just then Oliver, her Quidditch Captain, walked by. "Hi, Leesh," he said distractedly as he passed her. She looked after him. How come she'd never noticed how handsome he was? Grinning slightly to herself, she went to find Angelina and ask her exactly what she thought about Oliver.