Maka, still in a daze from reading throughout the afternoon, had stumbled to her feet, having meticulously cycled through all the books she'd picked out. Head wrapped in a bubble of fantasy the girl staggered over to the bookshelf, replacing the previous ones in her hands with fresh new ones, new stories desiring to be discovered. With the feeling back in her tired limbs Maka stode back to her seat on the floor and despite the subconscious protest from her legs, promptly sat down, shuffled slightly, and opened the book at the top of her pile. She delved into it immediately, savouring the disconnection she had with reality. In the short space of time she'd gotten half the book had been absorbed by the young teen before she was interrupted, an obnoxious voice piercing her safety bubble abruptly.

Shocked, Maka dropped the novel, gasping from lack of air, and panic from dropping her precious reading material. Eyes wide and eyebrows narrowed Maka looked up and gazed at Black*Star as if he'd just committed a major taboo. Passing her eyes to the right of him she spied Tsubaki, barely visible from where she hid behind the wall. Inhaling a deep breath Maka locked onto Black*Star again, anger replaced with annoyance and confusion.

"What do you want." Her tone was sharp and steely, the unexpected coldness in it sending even her reeling. She followed her question with an impatient salute, ready to ignore the intruders.

"I firmly believe that rest is important. However, you have skipped an important part of the day. I couldn't afford to let you miss another! I have lots of important announcements to make today and everyone needs to hear them. Everyone! All the sort of important people, and that includes you." Black*Star's simple yet extravagant speech grated against Maka's head as she comprehended what she'd just been told. If she said she truly thought Black*Star ever had anything important to say, she'd be lying. The walking talking blue-haired timebomb had only ever spoken utter nonsense and when he did talk about significant things, his speech was laced with riddles that no one could understand. Safe to say it was pointless to listen to him.

Maka rolled her eyes, not gracing the boy with a response. Her hand reached out for the book, a book, any book that should use to block out the white noise in the background.

"Marie has, she h-has an announcement. Important. It's important." Maka felt like a five year trying to be patient as she groaned, leaning back against her bed and breathing in deeply. The teenagers at the door watched, one unsure of what to do and the other running out of patience. Black*Star frowned and stepped in to latch onto Maka's wrist, his intent to pull her up and along with them. The girl snapped back her arm, the force knocking Black*Star off balance as steely forest eyes gazed fiercely at him. Maka was rubbing her wrist with vigor, eyes digging into Black*Star.

A moment passed.

Another.

She stalked past him, finally removing her eyes from him. She'd snatched up a book, a lengthy novel that she gripped in such a way that her knuckles were a pure shining white. She marched on sparing not a second to stand and wait for her peers to catch their bearings.

She reached the doors in a manner of minutes, shoving one open and slinking in through the slight gap. She collapsed into the nearest chair, swinging the book she'd brought up onto her lap where she swung it open and began to read. She barely acknowledged when the door opened again, Black*Star blubbering into Tsubaki's arm as they found a place to sit. She refused to acknowledge when Maire hushed everyone and began expressing herself excitedly, voice bouncing and echoing. She did notice, eventually, that there was an addition at her table. Unlike most days where he was slumped at a corner table awkwardly spooning pasta into his mouth, Soul was resting his head on the table in the seat next to her, his chair pulled out a little too far. Presuming he was asleep she took the liberty of pushing it in for him, taking the quiet mumble as a sign of gratitude. She carried on reading, somewhat peacefully, until Black*Star interrupted once more, this time though, by slamming his hands on the tabletop, waking Soul from his fitless slumber and enraging Maka a second time.

"Okay you stupid half-eaten sandwich buffet, what on bloody earth could you want? Don't say nonsense, don't turn it into a riddle, just. Say. It. Or I swear on everything holy I will lodge this book permanently in your skull. You better pray it's actually important enough to piss me off twice." Every word pronounced clearly, no one could mistake the venom in Maka's voice.

Black*star blinked obliviously before launching into a long winded spiel about birthdays before ending with a simple, "So yes, the most important day is upon us. My birthday. On Friday. Don't say I didn't say it was important. It's also the day of our trip. Also important but not as important obviously because I should take priority-" Maka focused on the word 'trip', mind at a lost as she tried to recall a trip. Soul seemed to not understand at first but soon just tilted his head in confirmation before lying back down, although this time not falling into a deep sleep.

Batting away Black*Star's hands which poked and prodded her for a response Maka turned to Tsubaki for explanation. The black-haired girl, more than happy to comply, drew in breath, throwing open her mouth to speak when Kid's voice rang from behind her. Already irate Maka braced herself, pleading quietly that he was addressing someone other than the small group that had begun gathering in the doorway.

"...So as you can see Maka,"

Okay, so he wasn't. Unable to withstand the pressure of the people around her Maka copied Soul, resting her head in her arms which she crossed on the tabletop. She faintly heard Black*Star question if they were dead before being silenced. Chair scrapes and rustles signalled that the ever-expanding group of people had drawn up chairs and sat down, clearly wanting to discuss an array of different topics, none of which seemed remotely interesting to the blonde.

A/N

So change of plans? Today I was adding some more onto the 1,100 words you see before you but I eventually realised that the direction I was taking and the scene I had set made it hard to find a suitable point to stop before I ended up creating a crowded and unnecessarily lengthy chapter. FYI my definition of lengthy is compared to the rest of the chapters I've written. I'd update three consecutive days but I have parents evening and I'm not sure if I'm going home after school or holing myself in some bookstore in the town nearby?
Also you might see a few minor/major changes of characters of a sudden ahahaha yeah... Crossing my fingers it's not too out of the blue. I have a sorta ending in mind too, warning, it's not gonna be nice. It's a frowny face ending. It's not fine tuned so I may change it. Take a gander at what it may be.
AND LAStly to the couple of wonderful people who reviewed my last chapter may Jesus be in your hearts and may God bless you the holy heavens above amen you good people? Thank you? Okay, bye!