Party Games
Chapter 11: Bloody Knuckles
"Ouch!" Lily flinched as a Knut skidded into her knuckles once again. Her knuckles were already bright red, hence the name of the game: "Bloody Knuckles".
"Sorry, but it has to be done," Alice said, cackling a little. Yes, cackling. She was known to be violent, for sure, but thi was just plain, prolonged evil.
"You know, it's not my fault you're so bad at this game," the girl crowed, spinning the coin. It immediately fell. "Bullocks. You win."
Lily, intent on getting her revenge, flicked the coin acoss the desk. It collided with Alice's still barely-touched knuckles, making her wince a bit.
It was a hardly entertaining little game, but still it had captivated the attention of most of the Runes class, including the usually antsy James. Now a few gathered round, some peeked at the girls from the corner of their eye, and one even stared shamelessly. It was curious.
"Why is James staring at you?" queried Alice, wrinkling her nose. "That's so weird."
"He's not staring at me, he's obviously got the hots for you," Lily teased. It was a pitiful attempt to distract her friend, but not entirely fallible.
"Excuse me, but I'm not the one who is possibly the most-loved girl in the whole bleeding school, with her hair down today to boot."
"My hair looks horrible down," Lily deadpanned.
"No, no." Alice smiled cheekily. "You look beautiful. In a completely non-slutty way, of course."
"Right."
"Hi, ladies."
"Bloody hell." Lily hiccupped, more than a little surprised at James's smooth maneuver across the room. "Erm - I mean ruddy. I really did say ruddy."
James raised an eyebrow. "Right. Well, how are you?"
"James!" Alice exclaimed, seeing and seizing the opportunity. "Doesn't Lily look better with her hair down? Doesn't she?"
"Nooo," Lily falsely sobbed, covering her head with her hands. By this time the entire Runes class was outright staring as the teacher obliviously droned on through the book.
"No, I think it looks better up," he said dryly, clearly put off. Although he was saying it for conversation-ending purposes, Lily visibly relaxed and thanked him.
"So, Lily." James, set on continuing what he'd come for, "your knuckles are all chapped. Actually, that one's bleeding."
"Yeah."
"Elaborate on why?"
"Not that it's your business, Potter, but Alice and I were on our second round of Bloody Knuckles when you stepped in."
"And you know red knuckles are a symptom of bulimia?"
Lily looked up, slightly impressed, slightly disgusted, and slightly frightened. "Yes, Potter. I do know that."
"Well, I just wanted to say so." He grinned. "Good afternoon, ladies." He turned and looked purposefully towards his own desk when Lily stuttered,
"Wait, why?"
He turned back. "Well, you see, they start off putting two fingers down their throat, then - "
"No, you dolt," she interrupted. "Why did you say so?"
"I just wanted to make a bit of conversation," he replied nonchalantly. "You know, find that highlight to my day and all that."
"Well, I've certainly found it," Alice crowed, collecting her Knut. Lily shot her a dirty look which was promptly ignored. "Weeellll, aren't we a bunch of grumps today?"
James smiled. "I also wanted to ask you out."
Lily, unfazed by his flattering attitude, waved him off. "Oh, James. What would people say if they knew you were dating a bulimic?" And she waved her bloody knuckles in his face, effectively deterring him another day.