For the life of her, Cho could not understand proofs in algebra. Why were they needed, anyway? If a teacher taught a certain thing, it was not like anyone was going to try to argue with them. There was no need to prove anything.
Suddenly, the door to the library opened and slammed. Cho cringed; at Hogwarts, Madam Pince would never have allowed that.
Brisk footsteps followed the slamming of the door, and Cho's table quaked when there was a loud smack. She looked up to see Elizabeth glaring at her. "Hello," Cho said quietly, cursing her luck but at the same time thankful that she had a distraction from her homework.
"What the fuck, Cho," was Elizabeth's greeting.
"What?"
"You and…Dursley went to Starbucks on Tuesday?"
She fidgeted uncomfortably in her chair, her Ravenclaw jumper slipping off of one shoulder. She didn't bother to fix it, however, instead allowing it to dangle there as she tried to change the subject. "How are you, Elizabeth?"
"Why the hell would you want to hang out with Dursley?"
"You mean Dudley?" She was sure that he had told her his surname, but at the moment, she just couldn't place it. However, since she had never heard of Starbucks before—but found upon arrival that it was only a Muggle coffee shop that apparently also served tea—and had only gone once in her life, it had to be Dudley that Elizabeth was referring to.
"Of course I mean Dudley! What other 'Dursley' do you know?"
"He's…very nice," she said hesitantly. It seemed that Elizabeth, however, was not a fan of Dudley's.
"He's also a Grade A loser, Cho," she snapped, sitting across from her 'friend'. "I mean, look at him and tell me he's not!"
"He's decent enough," Cho said, fidgeting again. She hoped that it didn't get out that she had agreed to go on another Starbucks date—if it could be considered a date—with Dudley sometime in the future… "I mean, he helped me after maths on Tuesday, and we were going to, well, hang out after his literature class."
"God, Cho Chang, you're an idiot," Elizabeth said. She leaned across the table, dropping her voice a small bit. Cho leaned forward as well. "My brother went to Smeltings with him a few years ago, and he told me all about him, and his family. His family is the biggest group of morons ever. He and his dad used to be, like, morbidly obese. Well, Dudley slimmed down, but the dad didn't. It makes me wonder how in the hell his mum ended up with him. But he was a bully in secondary school. He would shove kids' heads into toilets and stuff and beat them up just for the hell of it. He beat up my younger brother Mark once. Just cause he could."
Cho didn't believe a word of it, but she wasn't sure if that was because it was so outlandish or because it was so horrible.
"And that family…there's something funny going on there. He had a cousin that lived with him—Howard, or something, I don't remember—that just disappeared for most of the year. He'd be there for the summer, but then he'd just vanish. They claim that he went to St. Brutus's Secure Center for Incurably Criminal Boys, but I had a cousin that went there, and when I asked, he had never heard of the kid. Never."
"So what does that have to do with Dudley?" Cho asked, wondering just how much family Elizabeth must have had if she had three separate stories just based on their accounts. She also wondered how Elizabeth would have responded if she knew that she used to disappear every year for the same amount of time to go to Hogwarts.
"I don't know, you tell me," she said. Seemingly bored with the conversation and as though she had read Cho's mind, she asked, "Where did you go to school?"
"Uh…you know," Cho said quickly. She needed an answer, and quick. "I…moved a lot, you know?"
"Oh." That answer obviously bored Elizabeth. "I went to Howard of Effingham, in Surrey. But you're from Scotland, I doubt you've heard of it." It was obvious that her favorite topic of conversation was herself. "Are you going to Deana's party tonight?"
It was Friday, so classes for the week were finally over. Deana, one of Elizabeth's friends, was having a party, and told everyone that she personally invited to 'bring friends'. Elizabeth alone could probably invite fifty people, Cho included. If she went, she just hoped that no one would call the cops on them…like the last time. "I don't know," Cho said. She had actually planned on Apparating that night to Sutter's Grove, where Cedric, her father, and Marietta were buried. She hadn't 'seen' them in so long, and college life was starting to eat away at her. She had so much she wanted to tell them, too. Wherever people went after death, she knew that they'd be listening.
"Well, you should go," Elizabeth said, "because Ralph Martin is going to be there, and he's so fit." Cho couldn't honestly tell whether Elizabeth wanted Cho to hook up with Ralph or if she would prefer to keep him in her company.
"I'll see."
"Well, you better 'see' quickly, cause her party is in two hours." Elizabeth took out a compact mirror and began reapplying her lip gloss. "And hey, Mark Jackson will be there." Cho wondered whether she was Elizabeth's only female friend. "I think he's friends with Dur—Dudley. And if Mark will be there, then I'm sure your friend will be too."
Dudley didn't strike Cho as a party type, but she pushed it from her mind. "I'll think about it," she repeated. There went her plans for the evening. If she even humored Elizabeth, then she couldn't sneak out of her dorm to go to the cemetery; Elizabeth would be there every fifteen minutes to invite her to the party—that happened the last time Cho had promised to 'think about it' when it came to her invitations.
"Good. Do think about it." Elizabeth stood, grabbing her pink Prada tote off the ground as she did. When she stood, her breasts threatened to fall out of the front of her shirt, which she obviously didn't give a rat's arse about. Instead, she flipped her long blonde hair over her shoulder and turned, quickly leaving the library.
Cho stared at her algebra text again, hoping to make sense of the homework. Maybe instead she'd focus on her philosophy paper that she'd neglected for three days…
At that moment, the heavy library door swung open again, and in walked Deana and her boyfriend, Scott Douglass. It was no secret that Deana disliked Cho; that seemed reason enough to take a rain check on the party that night.
"Oh, hey, Chloe!" she said, snapping her gum loudly. Cho cringed. Where was Madam Pince when you needed her?
Oh, at Hogwarts. Of course.
"It's Cho," she corrected yet again.
"Right," Deana said, completely ignoring the fact that Cho was doing homework; ditching Scott, she practically waltzed over to the table that Cho occupied. "Listen. Cheyenne." Obviously, Deana was paying loads of attention. "I'm guessing Elizabeth invited you to my party tonight?"
"Yeah, she did," Cho said uncomfortably. Knowing Deana, she was probably uninvited.
"Listen, it would be great if you got the alcohol for us. You know, just some Budweisers, Smithwicks, Stella Artois, and a bottle or two of rum would be amazing."
Great. She was invited. And would be expected to show up. Again. "I don't drink," she said uncomfortably.
"You don't have to drink it," Deana said, giggling. "Just pick up a few boxes, okay?"
"I'm also broke."
Shocking Cho to the core, Deana reached down her shirt and produced two twenty pound notes. "Just get something nice."
"That's a lot of money," Cho said uncomfortably. "I wouldn't feel comfortable…"
"Just take it," Deana said, her voice dropping to a sinister hiss and her breath warm and sticky on Cho's face. "Oh, and Shiloh?" Where Deana came up with each new name was beyond Cho. "I wouldn't spend too much time with Dudley, if I were you. Because I plan on ditching Scott, and when I do, Dudley's mine." She gave her a sinister smile before standing up, grabbing hold of Scott's hand, and fleeing the library.
Cho had never, ever bought drinks before. She had never drank in her life, not counting the time at her father's funeral when they served firewhiskey. She had ended up paying for that experience, though, retching a few hours later in the bathroom. When it came to actually purchasing alcohol, she was clueless.
Somehow, she didn't think that she was the only one buying alcohol for the party—after all, Deana seemed positively loaded—but she still had no idea what to get. Sure, Deana had given a few suggestions, but what would taste good to crazy college students? Cho had absolutely no idea.
Settling for a few boxes of Budweiser, since they practically leapt off the shelf, and a couple bottles of rum, she went up to the register. The freckly cashier gave her an odd look.
"Plan on drinking all that yourself?" he asked, a worried tone in his voice.
"No," she said. "It's—for a party."
"Hopefully the cops don't show up this time." Apparently, he was aware of Deana's track record as well. "That'll be thirty-two pounds."
She placed Deana's two bills on the counter hesitantly as he started bagging her items. She shifted uncomfortably from foot to foot, then took her purchases and left the store quickly. It was awkward walking back to Oxford, but she quickly went to Deana's room and knocked.
"Siobhan!" she said happily, Scott draped around her shoulder. "So glad you could make it. Oh, you brought the supplies! Come in, come in!" She practically dragged Cho into the room, which was abuzz with college students. "Since you're not a drinker, we have blue cups for you, but don't lose sight of it, kay?" She giggled, then pointed at the bar. "Just tell the bartender every time that you want a virgin…well, virgin whatever. He'll mix it in front of you, too. And relax! You look so sexy."
Cho was startled by the blunt comment, but said nothing, taking her purchases to the bartender, asking for a Coke—even being sure to tell him it would be virgin—and going to sit on Deana's sofa next to a bloke sitting all alone. For such a small room, a ton of people were there. She scanned the room looking for Elizabeth, but found no one.
"Wanna bum a cig?" the bloke next to her asked, wearing shabby clothing.
She turned, seeing him with a cigarette perched between his lips and reeking of smoke. "Er—no, thanks," she said, standing. "I was actually—going to look for the loo." With that, she stood quickly and raced down the hall, looking for the bathroom to try to escape for the action.
What she found instead when she turned the knob was seven minutes in heaven—Elizabeth definitely wanted Ralph Martin to herself—then slammed the door and turned the other way.
"That was definitely not the bathroom," she told herself as she walked away. She went back to where the makeshift bar was, sighing and sitting at a barstool. She had to admit, Deana certainly had a very nicely decorated place.
"Fancy seeing you here," said a familiar voice, also holding a cup, though that one was red.
She looked up, seeing Dudley's handsome features. Finally, she thought, breathing a sigh of relief. A familiar face.
"Hey," she said coolly.
"I take it you're not much of a partier, either?" he asked. She shook her head. "Neither am I. I don't mind a drink once in a while, but I used to have really bad habits in secondary school, so I figured I was gonna be a better man once I got to university. For the most part at parties I just casually observe. I only came tonight because Mark—you know Mark Jackson, from our maths class—he brought me here."
So Elizabeth was right, Mark and Dudley were friends. Cho said nothing about it, however. "Elizabeth dragged me here," she said.
"Oh, her," he said, smiling. "She's definitely, er…a character."
"You're telling me," Cho groaned. "She always tries to get me to be her buddy, but really, we're not even friends."
"That's tough," Dudley said, leaning against the wall. He seemed to be quite taken with her.
"I guess, a little."
"Say," Dudley said, throwing his cup in the garbage—it was empty, quite like the rubbish bin. "What do you say we ditch this party? I doubt we're going to see our, er—friends for the rest of the night."
It didn't take an idiot to accept that offer immediately. Quickly, they made their way across the room and were out the door before anyone could be the wiser.
Real quick. I am not a fan of Cho, but I kind of like her in my own writing xD I don't know why, really. Anyway, please review, it's two a.m. (anyone starting to see a theme?). I'm still not really sure where I'm going, but I get ideas randomly, sooo…
- Hatter of Madness