I know, I know…long time no update. I'm really sorry, but I'll answer your reviews at the bottom so you all can get along reading! And don't forget to answer the question!
Remember, reviews are at the bottom.
Disclaimer: I don't own any characters, 'cept for Carly.
Thanx to all my reviewers! I seriously thought of giving up this story for a longer time 'cuz I wasn't as interested, but if you guys are…ok!
James looked disgusted. "Excuse me? That whore slept everywhere! I wouldn't do anything with her even if it were her dying wish! Who knows where she could've been."
Lily looked at him with interest. "Who knows where the Marauders have been."
"Everywhere!" James replied. "Well, mainly Sirius. Remus and I weren't so big on that. But Sirius…he didn't sleep in our dorms half the time. But it was okay. We wouldn't have gotten any sleep if he did. He snores like a pig."
Lily laughed, and he grinned evilly as he got up. Lily looked at him. "What?" Her heart started beating furiously as he came closer. "James…you're scaring me. James?" Her breaths became short and quick. Oh my god, he's gonna rape me! But he picked her up, with her squealing, and dropped her in the pool
Lily screamed and then started laughing. "James Potter! You arse! Get me out of here! It's fuckin' freezing!" He grinned.
"Nope," he said. Then he moved back and cannon balled into the water, splashing lily all over. Lily laughed again as she started splashing him. "Hey! That's not fair!" James cried as water splashed all over him. Lily stuck her tongue out.
"Yeah it is!" She took off her shoes and tossed them on the sidewalk as did James. Then she started floating around. "The stars are so much prettier like this."
"Uh huh," he just said. They swam and talked for half an hour before they heard someone coming. "Let's go," he said helping her up. She grinned as she pushed him back in as he was trying to get out. Then she really did help in up. "Thanks," he scoffed.
This time she grinned cheekily. "You're welcome. Hey, James?" she asked as they were about to go their separate ways.
"Yeah?"
"Why'd you throw me in the pool?"
James looked at her oddly. "Well, you did say that you liked swimming." And with that, he left, leaving Lily to her thoughts.
-
"Yum!" Lily swallowed fully. Carly pouted as she munched on the only thing that she could recognize, a piece of Italian bread. The whole pageant reserved a restaurant especially for tonight. After tomorrow, there would only be half of the people left.
Paesaggio della cascata, the restaurant, was absurdly expensive and '100 percent' Italian. Of course, Lily insisted on ordering spaghetti, but it was full of carbohydrates. Nonetheless, she managed to get her way buy what she wanted by slipping the waiter a nice, big tip.
"Hey! How come the waiter only brought you spaghetti?" Carly protested as she dipped her bread in olive oil. "I wanted pizza, but no… 'it's full of carbs'," she mimicked.
Lily flicked a thin piece of spaghetti at her and grinned when she shrieked. "I'm quite generous with money if I really want something." She pushed a meatball onto Carly's plate. "And I'm quite generous with food when they gave me so much."
Carly ate it without hesitation and moaned. "Unfair."
"We seem to do this every time we go out to eat. It's a wonder we aren't fatter than other girls who are in this pageant," Lily remarked, purposely not using the word competition. They both knew it was one, and only one of the girls that would win, but neither wanted to bring it up in front of the other. Mutual agreement.
A shadow loomed over them. "Who says you aren't fatter than us other girls here? You're always eating when you're not performing. It's quite sad that you find comfort in food, especially since your aunt just died."
Lily's fists clenched and her face turned pale."Who told you about that?"
Ms. Paris smirked. "Everyone knows about that honey, and it's pathetic how you had to cry like a baby to dear James." She face straightened itself out and narrowed in anger. "I know what you're planning. Stay away from him!"
"What the fuck are you talking about!" Lily finally managed to get out. "Ya know what? Just beat it or I'll make you!"
"You? Make me?" She gestured to the other few girls around her. "Too bad; they're with me."
"And I'm with her!" Carly stood up, before being dragged down by Lily. "Hey!"
"Don't make a scene!" Lily whispered to her. Ms. Paris smirked.
"Looks like you sluts have got some common sense after all," she laughed nastily. "Too bad it's not enough—"
"Sluts! Bitch! Who're you calling a slut?" Lily asked outrage. She had been called so many things in her life, but the term 'slut' never applied to her.
"You! As I said, I see through your plan. One of you is cozying up to Mr. Potter and the other to Mr. Malfoy. Both important members of the pageant. Well, well, well, coincidence? I don't think so."
"You'd think I---"
"Ah hem!"
"—I mean we--sorry Carly—would be low enough to win like that? You have a twisted mind!" Lily declared angrily.
"I saw you down at the pool. What a flirt," Ms. Paris flicked some imaginary dust front her fingernails while Lily blushed beet red. She hadn't told Carly. Boy, was she gonna have to do some major talking when they got back. "You probably do this a lot. Your aunt deserved to die! Having a niece like you! It was probably your fault too."
Lily wiped the tears that managed to leak out and stood up shaking her head. "You did not just go there! Screw not making a scene!" She leapt at Ms. Paris.
Dinner was going fine for James Potter. After all, what more could a guy want than being surrounded by gorgeous women? But somehow, his mind kept straying to a certain redhead. He laughed silently at her reaction to him throwing her in the pool.
She was a heck of a woman. James shook his head, trying to get rid of those thoughts. He turned to the person next to him. "Hey, Padfoot! When's Moony and Wormtail gonna get here?"
Sirius shook his head. "Beats me! They were supposed to get here two days ago, but they caught some 'order' business."
"Even Wormtail?" James slapped Sirius on his head. "You better not be screwing me!"
"Hey! Hey! Hey!" Sirius put up his arms to defend himself. "What's this all about? Besides, I can't screw you. You have all these women for that." James snorted.
"I'm the host for the pageant. You know perfectly well that it's against competition rules for anyone who works on the pageant to sleep with the contestants. I'm not about to soil the pageant's reputation," James said conversely.
"It's not like it hasn't happened before. Like the judge before you, and the one before that…and hmm…whad'ya know? The guy before that!" Sirius slapped his knee and laughed in the way that only he could.
James frowned. "That's why I've been the host longer than they have. I don't do that sorta stuff."
But Sirius eyed him knowingly. "Ahh…but this year's different, isn't it?"
"What shite are you sprouting now?"
"You've had your eye on one purty little redhead with emerald eyes hmm?"
James squirmed under Sirius's intense gaze. "I don't know what your talking about. That's never gonna happen, I mean, come on! She's a decent girl and actually has half a brain. She's smarter than that and so am I!"
"A little sex never hurt anyone," Sirius remarked happily. James laughed.
"You disgust me."
"So?"
"You suck, ya know—" James swiveled his head at the shout. He heard a familiar voice. Lily…
"You did not just go there! Screw not making a scene!" She leapt at a blonde whom he recognized as Ms. Paris. Next to him, Sirius whistled admiringly.
"You sure have good taste Prongs," he remarked. "Fiesty."
"It's not gonna happen Padfoot. Common, they can't do this in public. Let's go break 'em up!" James jumped to his feet and hurried over there. Lily was clawing at the blonde and kicking everywhere she could. The blonde in turn slapped and pulled at her hair. Even after James pulled Lily away from the blonde, Lily kept kicking and clawing as hard as she could.
She was a mess, but damn was she hot.
Nearby, a photographer took a picture of the fight, and slipped into the shadows.
000000000000000000000
"Evans! Look what you did. Now I'll never be able to show myself in that restaurant again!" James complained.
Lily sulked, bringing an icepack to her head. "That was a fucked up restaurant anyways." She pulled out her wand, but a hand stopped her.
"The bus driver is muggle; don't. And besides, I love Italian!" James slapped a towel on her cut. "Uh, the cut looks pretty nasty. I don't think it'll heal by itself. I can fix it when we get back."
"Oh it's okay!" Lily grinned at him, but it turned into a grimace. She rubbed her head. "Ms. Snot-nose over there pulls really hard!" James shook his head.
"I can't believe you did that in public! This competition is all about making friendships with other people, and here you go and ruin that. Besides, she more banged up than you are," he said dryly.
Lily grinned proudly, wincing. "Damn straight!"
"Bella!" Lily whined. "I'm so tired! I can't even think straight! You can't possibly make me participate today!"
Bella sighed, stroking Lily's red hair. "I'm sorry Lily! I really am! But after what you did yesterday—"
"How come everyone thinks it's my fault? It really wasn't!"
"—you can't go around complaining. Anyways, today's one of the most important days! It's when you either go home or you get to stay." Bella smiled sadly at her charge. "I just wanna tell you now…that if you have to g-go—" Bella broke off, her eyes shining with unshed tears.
Lily pulled her into a hug. "I know, I know. I'll miss you too. But we can still owl each other and keep in touch! It doesn't have to end, just like with Carly and everything."
Bella laughed. "Look at me! You're turning me into a sap! I've been doing this for the longest time and I still cry. But I just wanted to tell you—that—well…that you've been one of the best people I've come across in a long time. You—you really helped me live through another one of these damn pageants."
Lily turned away from her. "What're you talking about? Stop talking nonsense. I'm nobody." Bella grinned slyly and hugged her.
"Is someone crying?"
"…shut up!"
"Now, here come our beautiful and talented contestants!" James Potter's voice rang out over the cheering fans. "Announcing Ms. Venice, Ms. Paris, Ms. London—"
Breathe Lily, breathe, breathe, breath…Lily chanted to herself silently. It's not that big of a deal. It's nothing. It's simple. I definitely made it. But even to herself, she seemed unsure. What was going on with her lately? A few weeks, even days ago, she could've cared less if she didn't make it. All she wanted was the scholarship in the first place, but now…it seemed as if she was striving for something more.
Like she wanted to win the competition. Competition…such an ugly word. She cursed herself for getting so attached to the people here. Scholarshipscholarshipscholarship…she changed her chant.
The envelope was being brought up, in front of billions of viewers, by a beautiful girl. Not a contestant, but nonetheless beautiful. She presented it to James with the prettiest smile she had ever seen. Lily felt white hot anger lick her insides. She squirmed a tiny bit, disturbed. Since when was she angry?
Potter's messing with my head, she decided. She thought back to the first round.
"Well, you did say that you liked swimming." Lily cursed him again. His words repeated in her mind over and over again. She wiped her sweaty palm discretely on her traditional white dress.
James opened the envelope and smiled. "Would the ladies I call please come and stand next to me? Ms. Madrid." A beautiful bronze haired woman gracefully went down to stand by him. "Ms. Berlin. Ms. Lisbon…"
Lily tuned him out as more and more women went to stand in front. It was just so hard to keep concentrating on the pageant. I wander what Rinnie's doing right now…
"Ms. Warsaw, Ms. Dublin, Ms. Venice…"
Venice? That was Carly! She brought herself out of her stupor and cheered for her, giving her a thumbs up. She crossed her fingers in return.
"Ms. Paris." Bitch. Lily mentally said to herself. As if she heard, Ms. Paris smirked at her gloatingly as she passed and in retaliation, Lily tried to trip her. No such luck.
"Blah, blah, blah, blah…Ms. London." Lily jerked out of her reverie. Did he? Did he just say—oh my gosh! She gasped out loud and stepped down the steps, astonished. Maybe, just maybe, the Fates were actually going to be on her side this time. Maybe. As she passed him, James gave her an encouraging grin and went back to announce names.
Lily just felt a huge relief standing there. She felt as though she was going to fall down at any moment. Her knees shook a bit, trying hard to carry her weight. Man, she really did need to lose a few pounds. Across the stage, Carly gave her a thumbs up and this time, Lily crossed her fingers.
Good Luck.
After the show, the girls slipped into more casual dresses (still dresses nonetheless) and were supposed to go to the dining room for a surprise. Lily tried to pester Bella to tell her what it was.
"Oh come on! If it's not worth it, I don't wanna go!" Lily complained. "My feet are—"
"Aching, sore, yada yada yada," Bella finished for her. She pushed Lily's back to keep her going. "Lils, I'm not gonna lie. You might not like the surprise, but then again, you might love it." When Lily gave her the look, Bella hastily said, "But I'm not gonna say nothin'!"
"Damn you," Lily muttered, grinning though, to say that she was joking. Carly caught up to them and punched Lily's shoulder.
"I knew we were gonna make it! I just knew it!" Carly giggled. "How could they not? We're so adorable!" Lily laughed. "Oh, and I didn't forget anything about last night." She nudged Lily. "So what happened with you and dashing Mr. Potter?"
Lily glared angrily at her. "Nothing!"
"Oh really?"
"Yes!"
"Alright then, but just remember at the beginning of this pageant, I told you that you fancied Potter, but you just didn't believe—"
"Who fancies who!"
Carly looked amused. "So he fancies you?"
"No! Just drop it. Okay? Please?" Lily begged. Carly rolled her eyes dramatically and sighed loudly.
"Fine! Hm…I wonder what the surprise is. Bella?" Carly latched onto the trainer's arm and fluttered her long, pretty eyelashes. "Please?"
Bella huffed. "Oh dear god, not you too! For the last time, I'm not sayin' nothin' about anything! Oh well, we're here; you'll find out soon enough anyways."
Lily and Carly gasped as they saw the dining hall. What had once been plain was now elaborate. They actually lighted the chandeliers instead of the regular lamps, giving it and ethereal glow. The tables were neatly set up and chairs orderly aligned. The had added flowers to each table.
James Potter was on the podium again. "Welcome girls, and congratulations on making it this far! As you know, they next day of the pageant will be in three days. There, you will answer a few questions and tell your viewers about yourself. The following day, I'm sad to say, twenty-five of you will go home. But enough about that!" He gestured to the seats. "Sit!"
"This is our surprise? I'm really quite unimpressed Bella," Lily said boringly. Bella hushed her as James continued talking.
"Now, we all know that there is a surprise today that the pageant has in store for all of you. Allow me to lift this curtain." He did so with ease and out poured many parents and guardians. "We have cordially invited your parents and guardians with us to stay with us for the rest of the pageant. Dinner will be served shortly. Enjoy!"
While the rest of the girls were moving and crying, laughing, and hugging their parents, Lily stayed rooted to her seat. He couldn't mean that they invited…
"Lillian?"
Mother.
Xox.Annie Potter.xox-
You wanna speak Hindi and Mermaid? Lol! That's so cool! No one has ever written that to me before.
White-angel-snowflake-
Grade violin? I don't really…keep track. But I think I'm in third year, or maybe second. Whatever. All I know is that I play piano a whole bunch better. I've always wanted to speak with animals, like communicate with them? It'd be so awesome.
Rae-
Gaelic…funny. I've never heard of that language before. But I am taking Spanish even though I totally suck at it.
SilverRaiine-
I play piano too! Wow, but it's so hard to do because with school (well, school's out now but…) but I'm in orchestra instead of band. Elvish? Can you really learn that? It's quite unique…
KrAzYkEwLgUrL-
Dude! Your name is gonna kill me these days, and so are you probably. I'm really sorry I haven't been able (sometimes it was laziness) to update!
Lehana Nirvei-
Portuguese is something my friend speaks. And it's really weird cuz' she comes from Brazil. But you're so right! I can't understand a word of it, and nighter can anyone else.
Eleira312-
Thanx! And I'm sorry for not posting sooner; it's quite difficult for me to get up and just type. I'm quite lazy.
Natalie-
Dang! Has my story not been updated for that long? Sheez..I've really been gone, haven't I? My school went to New Orleans for this festival of some kind, and it was with a bunch of other high schools and middle schools with band and orchestra and choir. It was really, but I really hate those extra rehearsals. They take up so much time!
Ann-
Oh god. Another reviewer that gonna kill me! I'm sorry for not updating! I really am!
Flame of Desire-
Spanish is harder than French? Did I say that? Hm…whatever. But Latin is so incredibly difficult. I couldn't translate fast enough, so I'm taking Spanish instead! Gosh, you speak so many languages. You're gonna be trilingual if you keep studying. Maybe quadrilingual with Latin.
Hpandfriendsruletheworld-
Ancienct Egyptian! Wow! Egypt is awesome! Are you joking me? I just absolutely love learning about their history. It's one of a kind! Their traditions and religions are so different from what we know today!
L:icoriceWands-
Italian is such a sexy language! You might think I'm weird saying that but it's seriously true. And it's really pretty and all smooth and fluent. The place that I wanna go most is Venice, although some people say that it's not as good as it looks, but whatever. I'm still going!
Man eating plant-
No! You should continue Italian! It's a really awesome language! But French comes in pretty close. It's all accenty and purr-y. Brilliant language.
Cutestsweetiepie-
Italian is hard but Spanish isn't as pretty. It really isn't. Oh gee! I just realized how many people wanna speak Italian! I really want to too, but unfortunately, I'm taking Spanish with a mean crow.
Lily-900121-
Thanx!
IamSiriusgrl-
Darn you! You're one of those people that can guess what's gonna happen. Intuitive. And French is a really pretty language? Are you taking it in school?
WoW-Girl-
Hmm…not too picky are you? Just anything but boring old English? Nice…
Forever-FallenAngel-
Japanese! Me too! Me Too! Do you read any anime or manga books? I don't know, but my friend asked me to teach her how to read the book because she didn't know how to read it. Everyone that doesn't read it says it's really confusing, but once they learn, they're all like 'oh it's so easy!'
Auramistealia-
Welsh. I've never heard anyone speak Welsh before! I need to like get a tape recording or something. Uh, I hate allergy season! It sucks and the allergies in Texas seem worse than anywhere else. I personally don't have allergies but all of my friends and my brother have them and uh…I feel really bad.
Sweet Sarcasm-
Yeah! Asian Power. Prestigious schools…bah! Humbug (completely out of season what w/e)! My school only offers French, Spanish, or Latin. So it's not that much better. I was gonna go to a Magnet School cuz' I got accepted, but it's so far! But it offers Japanese, Chinese, and some other stuff that you usually don't see.
IcyCrystal-
I play the violin and I'm so bloody tired of it! I wanna quit after I get my credits (but I could just do art). Italian! Almost everyone want to speak it! But I don't blame them. It's such a gorgeous language.
Mizlovegood-
French! Yippee! I take Spanish (but only cuz' of my parents. Nag nag nag), but I really really wanted to take French. It's a lot prettier than Espanol.
FlOrA!
The Lily/James attraction will begin soon. Guarateed. And they are really difficult. I know Chinese and I'm learning Japanese slowly, but surely. My dad used to take Japanese in high school and said that it was almost like relearning Chinese with different pronunciations and some different symbols.
Poisoned Ink898-
Awww…thanks! (blushes)
ww-
Oh thanks! I was actually going for the real Christina lyrics but you're right. I should've made them the ones from Disney
WingedWisdom-
And yet another reader that will kill me for not updating sooner. Sorry!
Jersey Princess-
Dutch! Yesem! This author came to our school and said something in Dutch, cuz' she was an exchange student there. Well, she was all like talking about some porridge I think? And said it was the hardest thing to pronounce. It was like fleur gleur something something. And who's Dixie?
JeNnIfEr88-
You're Chinese? Awesome! And I heard from my dad, cuz' he took Japanese in China, that Japanese was a lot like Chinese. It was just sorta different but undeniably easier once you knew one of the two languages.
SilverFalls-
Thank you! That seriously makes me feel a whole bunch better about my story.
Question:
What is your zodiac sign and element? If you don't know, I can tell you. Just gimme your b-day.
I am a Taurus and my element is earth cuz' I'm a Taurus. I don't really believe in horoscopes since I'm Christian, but it's just fun to know sometimes, ya know? It interests me, just like mythology. I'm a history person.
Bye!