Chapter Two: Problems

Cheryl Whitworth was still in a bad mood when she got back to the Slytherin common room. She was sick of the stupid Gryffindor's running all over the school like they owned the place. Especially Childs. Cheryl didn't know what it was, but whenever she saw that girl, she just couldn't keep the insults to herself!

It wasn't only this that had put her in such a bad mood. Jeff had gotten another detention! This time it was from their very own Professor Snape! It seamed like every other day now, he came up to her in between classes and said, "Oh, sorry Cheryl. I can't hang out. I have a detention."

She'd always get so upset, until he would wrap his arms around her, kiss her gently on the lips and say, "Hey Cheryl, cheer up! We'll have plenty of time to do whatever we want to do tomorrow." Then he'd take off down the hall again, giving her a charming smile that never failed to make her stomach flutter. She couldn't help but smile and laugh to herself as she walked away.

They had been going out since the middle of their sixth year, and she had never had a more trying boyfriend. She was also so used to being with him, that she couldn't picture herself in a better relationship. Familiarity blinded her from seeing just how crumbly her relationship with Jeff really was.

Cheryl came to a stop at her bed, and put her books down. Her green eyes searched the room, to see if she was alone. When she found that she was, she ran her fingers through her honey-blonde, long, curly hair and collapsed on her bed in frustration. She wasn't angry with Jeff this time, but with Snape. She had actually been there this time. Cheryl had been sitting right next to Jeff, and they were talking. There was no way that Jeff could have done it.

After laying down and attempting to relax for a few minutes, she heard a call from down the stairs. "Cheryl! Cheryl, are you up there?" the voice asked. She recognized the voice at once to belong to her best friend Olivia Sullivan. She was too lazy to respond.

"Cheryl!" she heard the voice again, but this time she could see the girl that was speaking to her. A short girl with light brown hair and fierce blonde highlights was standing in the doorway. Her long hair was pulled back into a pony-tail, and her hazel eyes spotted Cheryl. "Are you deaf?" she asked. "Can't you hear me calling your name?"

"I heard you," Cheryl mumbled to herself.

"What?" asked Olivia.

"Nothing," Cheryl snapped back.

"Gees, someone's cranky today," she said, glaring at Cheryl. "What put you in such a bad mood?" she asked as she sat down on her own bed. Cheryl sat up as she was forced to think it over again.

"I can't decide if it's Snape giving Jeff a detention unfairly, or if it was because Childs literally ran me over in the hallway. Either way, today is just not a good day." Cheryl readjusted her small, thick rimmed, purple glasses. The glasses complimented her facial features, and looked absolutely stunning on her.

"Is there such a thing as Jeff getting a detention unfairly?" Olivia snorted, in an un-ladylike manner.

"Oh come on, Olivia! You were there! He was talking to me the whole time. You know he couldn't have done it," Cheryl replied, almost pleadingly.

"I know. I think that Jeff Young kid had something to do with it. You know, Childs own personal bodyguard? I saw him laughing about something after class. He looked real pleased with himself."

"That was probably it. It would be so like him to," Cheryl said in her snobbiest voice. "It's too easy for those two to ruin my whole day," she whined.

"Since you're not hanging out with Jeff, why don't you come upstairs and talk to me and Alec? We don't bite," said Olivia. Alec Hardy had been Olivia's boyfriend on and off for years, and they happened to currently be dating, though sometimes it was hard to keep up with when they were, and when they weren't going out.

Cheryl didn't seam to like that option. Whenever she chilled with those two, it was really awkward. They were always all over each other. "No, that's okay. I think I'll find Keith and see what he's up to."

Olivia seamed to find that amusing. "Aaaww, your secret lover?" she said, laughing at what she had started teasing Cheryl about almost daily.

"He is NOT my secret lover," Cheryl said stubbornly. "How many times do I have to tell you? I love Jeff, and ONLY Jeff. Keith and I are just good friends!" She considered him her other best friend.

"Whatever you say, mam," Olivia laughed, and winked at Cheryl, making Cheryl angry again.

"I'm being serious," she stated desperately.

"Wow, you can't even take a joke today! Calm down!" Olivia looked at Cheryl in alarm before her face went back to it's 'I-like-to-listen-to-myself-talk' mode. "But really, you should come and hang out with us, instead of sulking around here all night."

"I wouldn't be sulking around here," she mumbled to herself, with her voice barely above a whisper. "I'd be having more fun."

"Huh?" Olivia asked, pulling Cheryl to her feet.

"Nothing," she responded, too tired to fight Olivia.

Olivia gave her a sly look. "I'll race you up the stairs," she said as she took off around the winding staircase, not even giving Cheryl the chance to respond. Cheryl sighed inwardly before she broke into a half-hearted jog up the stairs to the common room. She heard a scream coming from Olivia at the top of the stairs and the sound of breaking glass, so she picked up her pace, slightly worried.

When she got to the top of the stairs, she tried hard not to laugh at the site she saw in front of her, but it didn't work. It looked as if Cheryl wasn't the only girl today to have a head on collision with someone. The difference was that when Cheryl ran into Childs, Childs hadn't been holding glass bottles of ink.

The girl whose ink bottles had shattered all over looked extremely worried, and was almost in tears. She was a short, sixth year girl who had dark blonde hair that was pulled back into one long braid down her back. She had pretty brown eyes hidden behind large glasses and overly-bushy eyebrows. Her face was full of zits. Her name was Ann Cook, and she was one of the few Slytherins that was unlucky enough to be made fun of all the time by her fellow Slytherins.

"Uuugh! You freak!" shrieked Olivia in rage. Ink and broken glass was everywhere. It was on the wall, the floor, and it was all over both of the girls. "Look what you did Ann! You ruined my clothes! You're so stupid!" she glared at the girl whimpering in the corner. Ann quickly tried to help Olivia clean up, but Olivia pushed her away and gave her an evil look.

If Cheryl hadn't been so busy laughing, she would have felt sorrier for Ann, like she usually did. Ann seamed like a nice girl, and perhaps a bit misunderstood. The problem was, she was Olivia's favorite person to pick on in the common room, and Cheryl didn't know how to stick up to her friend, and the truth was that she was afraid to.

"I'm sorry," Ann tried to say over and over again, but her voice wasn't heard among the yells and cussing that was coming from Olivia's mouth.

Olivia stopped screaming, and fixed a cold gaze on Ann, "Just go away, and leave me alone." Ann looked down and picked up her things, and started walking to her dorm. "Oh," Olivia added, as Ann turned back around, "and clean your ugly face for once!" At this, Ann stormed down the stairs, crying. Even Cheryl gasped at how harsh Olivia had been. She watched Ann run down the stairs.

"Well, don't just stand there," she snapped at Cheryl. Do something! Help me!" Cheryl flicked out her wand, and aimed it at the ink on the floor, cleaning it up. She then moved onto the ink covering the walls. Olivia did the same to herself, getting the ink off of her clothes and face.

"Wow," a male voice said in amusement. "What happened over hear?" Cheryl turned and looked at Alec (Olivia's boy) and smiled.

"Olivia's just having problems today," Cheryl laughed again. "She ran into Ann on the stairs, and Ann's ink shattered everywhere."

Olivia scowled at Cheryl. "Ann ran into ME," she corrected her.

Olivia rolled her eyes. "Right," she said, as Alec moved toward Olivia to give her a hug.

Alec had short, brown/blonde hair, and brown eyes. He went around carrying the classic Slytherin smirk more than anyone else Cheryl knew. His little bit shorter and muscular build made him look extremely intimidating, especially to the younger students. Alec wrapped his arms around Olivia's waist and kissed her. "Don't worry about it," he said.

Olivia smiled at him as she was looking into his eyes, and seamed to relax a little bit. Cheryl could sense what was coming up and said, "Um, thanks for offering to hang out, but I really think I'm going to find Keith. I had a question on my, uh, on my Charms homework." She turned around and started to leave.

Alec looked away from Olivia long enough ask, "What are you talking about? We didn't get Charms any homework. Besides aren't you and Jeff hanging out tonight?"

Cheryl decided to ignore what he said about the Charms homework. "Snape gave him a detention for no reason today," she stated bitterly, turning back to the two of them. "Other wise I would!"

"But I just saw Jeff about five minutes ago! He was walking around on the third floor, and he definitely wasn't on his way to the dungeons for a detention." With that, his attention went back to Olivia.

Cheryl looked very confused. If he was skipping it, he was just going to get another detention. "Thanks for telling me, Alec." He was too distracted to acknowledge her.

"You still have ink in your hair," he laughed while trying to clean it out of Olivia's hair. Olivia just grumbled to herself.

Cheryl changed her mind, and instead of heading out to find Keith (who was probably in the library reading books about the Dark Arts, she thought in amusement) she set out for the third floor to find Jeff. She doubted that she'd be very happy with him when she found him.