Chapter 15- Ache

When Rose walked into her Muggle Studies lesson and spotted Fabian sitting at their desk as per usual, smiling adorably, looking one hundred per cent innocent, she felt a little queasy to say the least. Here sat the charming boy that kissed her best friend.

Why didn't she listen to her father's advice of staying clear from boys? Everything would have been a lot simpler if she had.

"Hi flower," he said when she reached their desks.

She raised an eyebrow at the pet name. Barf.

"Hey," she replied lightly. There was silence as she pondered how to bring up the dreaded subject.

She had no chance to interrogate him just yet as Professor Wright had just started the lesson, however she wouldn't miss her opportunity after class. He was notgetting away with this.

"This is your last lesson to get the magazine done, as we're going to be going back over all topics we've studied this year in the last few lessons leading up to your N.E.W.T.s. So that means no chatting, no messing about and most importantly no canoodling with your neighbour! I know what you adolescents are like. You've got a lot to get done today."

Everyone groaned.

"Can't we have a fun lesson, sir?" begged Bertie McGee. "We'll work extra hard in the next few lessons if we can watch Mean Girls again, promise!"

"No, no, Minerva will have my head in, unfortunately. However, I have brought in a bowl of sugar cubes to appease you all, and maybe even give you some extra oomph to get your work done," he said, lifting the lid of the silver platter on his desk to reveal the sugar cubes. "Hand them out, will you, Mr McGee."

"We're not horses, sir! Besides, sugar cubes are detrimental to the enamel of the tooth!"

"Ah, so you paid attention in the new Muggle Dentistry and Health topic added to the syllabus last year, I see!" Professor Wright replied, looking pleased, shoving the bowl into the student's hands.

Rose was glad to see she had new letters in her agony aunt box. Naturally, half of them were about how to get their crush to notice them and things like 'I'm in love with one girl but dating another- help me!', but one question in particular caught her eye.

Dear Rose,
I ruined my relationship with my best friend because of a stupid mistake involving her boyfriend. I told her what happened truthfully but she still won't talk to me. How can I let her see that I truly am sorry and that she means the world to me?
Miss Regretful

The corners of her lips tugged up into a little smile. Lizzie was so sweet.

Dear Miss Regretful,
Your friend just needs time. What you did was obviously hurt her, but if your friendship means anything to her, she'll forgive you eventually. Sisters must always come before misters on a girl's list of priorities. Don't give up hope just yet!
Rose

She glanced sideways at Fabian who was tapping his fingernails on the desk while he proofread his article on music. The drumming was getting on her nerves. If she reallyliked Fabian, wouldn't she hate Lizzie forever for attempting to steal him? Instead she found herself angrier at Fabian for not staying loyal to her. Her annoyance at Lizzie was already wearing away, especially since she'd come clean to Rose whilst Fabian had yet to utter a word. They'd become sisters over the last several years; Rose had known Fabian for a matter of months.

She couldn't help but compare the situation to the one involving Scorpius. She hated the fact that he was with someone else, it physically hurt to see him holding hands with another girl. But the thought of Fabian kissing Lizzie… sure, the infidelity was annoying, not to mention the extremely odd mental image, but it still didn't make her want to scream at the top of her lungs or throw Lizzie into the Black Lake.

When they bell finally rung she scooped up her chosen questions and replies to go in the magazine and dropped them on Professor Wright's desk where he was stuck nose deep in some fluffy Fifi LaFolle novel. Rose grinned to herself; she was going to miss this daft man once she left Hogwarts.

Fabian was stood waiting for her by the door. So far, so good.

She smiled sweetly at him as he automatically took her hand. Her hand suddenly felt too small in his large ones. She decided to waste no time and cut straight to the point.

"So, Fabian," she began, glancing up at him with a determined glint in her eyes, "I hear you went to the kitchens recently after curfew. I may just have to tell the Head Girl on you."

He kept his composure and laughed softly in response. "Don't tell me you've never taken an evening trip to the kitchens."

She shrugged, "might've done. So, you really did sneak out, huh? Anything interesting happen down there?"

He could sense something was up. Tugging at his shirt collar, he swallowed visibly. "Nope, nothing out of the extreme. Got myself a lovely iced bun. Er, why do you ask, if you don't mind me asking?"

Her jaw clenched; he wasn't going to be honest with her. He was lying and they both knew it.

"I was told by a close friend of mine that a very, shall we say, intimatemoment was shared, actually," she stated with gritted teeth.

"I don't know what you're talking about," he said apathetically.

"Fabian!"

She snatched her hand away and swivelled round to face him, hands on hips. Passers-by looked on warily. "You kissed Lizzie in the kitchens. Do you deny or confirm that statement?"

He was a deer caught in the headlights with no means of escape. He cursed under his breath. "You weren't meant to find out…"

A storm was beginning to rage in Rose's eyes. "It was going to be your dirty little secret, was it? String me along while you go kissing other girls behind my back? My own best friend, of all people? I know I've been concentrating a lot on the exams lately and haven't given you as much attention as you'd like, but it's still no excuse. You disgust me," she spat, voice dripping with acid. He tried to defend himself but she spoke over him. "I hate guys like you. You know what the funny thing is? I thought you were sweetest boy ever, so unlike all the others. But as it turns out, you're no different."

"Um… sorry, but please calm down," he said timidly, taking a step back.

"No, I will not calm down, Foster!" Rose hissed. "Stop telling me what to do! You're so controlling and, ugh, I just can't believe you'd cheat! Who else have you been getting with?"

"It was a mistake, okay! It shouldn't have happened and we agreed afterwards to forget about it, that's why I wasn't going to tell you!" he said in one breath before she could get another word in edgeways. "She agreed to keep it a secret…"

"Yeah, well Lizzie is a properfriend who actually cares about me."

"I care too," he mumbled meekly. "I knew you'd react badly. I didn't want you to get hurt."

She folded her arms across her chest and narrowed her eyes at him. "Well. You did a pretty lousy job at that, don't you think? I want you to stay away from me, my friends, and everyone in my family. And don't you dare put any other girls what you've put me through or… or you'll have me to answer to," she said, voice wobbling at the end.

Rose thought his eyes looked a little glazed over. "Rose, please."

She shook her head as tears were invading her own eyes. "You weren't even going to tell me. There can't be a relationship without trust."

Tears began to fall as she turned away and stumbled down the rest of the corridor, leaving Fabian to be engulfed by his own regret as he watched her retreating figure.

It occurred to her a little later on that perhaps she had been a little dramatic. But hey, she was a teenage girl. She deserved that privilege.

Five minutes later Rose found herself sobbing on the dusty ground of an empty classroom on the ground floor, leaning against the teacher's desk. She hated arguing and getting all worked up, and breaking up with someone was never a nice situation to be in.

Having people walk in on you crying your heart out isn't too pleasant a situation, either.

She looked up in alarm when the door flung open and in walked Poppy Parkinson, giggling madly, clutching onto the arm of some tall dark and handsome member of the Slytherin house. Luckily, she spotted Rose almost immediately, a blubbering wreck on the floor, and froze in her tracks.

"This room seems to be taken, maybe we should find somewhere a bit more private," the bloke murmured into her neck.

Poppy bit her lip and looked torn. Should she stay or should she go? Was it worth ditching a boy to listen to the woes of Rose Weasley?

After a moment's deliberation she whispered something in his ear to which he shrugged disappointedly and left the room, closing the door behind him.

Cautiously, Poppy placed herself next to Rose. "'Sup, Weasley?"

Rose sniffed and looked at Poppy apprehensively. "Why would you want to comfort me when you had that boy with you?"

Poppy looked uncomfortable. "Well you listened to me go on about my dad, didn't you? I reckon you need someone to talk to. It's only fair I return the favour."

Rose smiled through her tears, "You're not so bad for Slytherin, you know."

"Yeah, yeah, I know, I'm fabulous," she replied, rolling her eyes. "Now, why the long face?"

She could trust Poppy. Right?

"I broke up with Fabian," Rose said with a hiccup. "He kissed Lizzie a few days ago and wasn't going to tell me, so I kind of yelled at him and said it was over and it was all so horrible." She frowned and leant her head on Poppy's bony shoulder.

"Funny, I never had Foster down as a cheater," Poppy mused.

"Me neither," Rose grumbled.

"You don't think it's worth giving him a second chance?"

Rose shook her head.

"Well… think of the positives. You're now single and ready to mingle. No responsibilities of staying loyal to one person. Freedom!"

"I guess."

"Are you mad at, er, Lizzie?" It was weird hearing Poppy call someone by their first name.

"Not really. I was angry at first, but I got over it pretty quickly. It's not her fault."

Poppy nodded. After a short pause she said, "I thought you'd have gotten with Malfoy by now. Who would you rather be with – Foster or Malfoy? Trying to be with both of them is evidently not going well for you."

Rose moved her head sharply off of her shoulder and looked at Poppy in shock. "What?"

"Uh, reality check! You can't have both boys. That's just selfish- think about all the other single girls in our school desperate to have a chance with either one of those hotties," Poppy smirked. "Choose one or the other, it's not fair to mess them about."

"I'm not messing anyone about!"

Poppy raised a perfect eyebrow. "I remember walking past you and Malfoy the other day and, boy, did it look cosy. Personally, I think I'd stick to Foster at the moment. I'm going through this tall, dark and handsome phase."

"I can tell."

"Then again, he seems to be suffering from loyalty issues."

"So is Scorpius, though! He promised he'd break up with Scarlett to be with me. And then I watched as he kissed her instead."

Poppy raised both eyebrows now. "Oh, wow. So you were planning to cheat on Foster with Malfoy before he even cheated on you, then?" She snorted. "Bit hypocritical."

"N- no, it wasn't like that," Rose said desperately.

"What was it like, then?"

Rose didn't answer. It was completely like that. Her face heated up. "Oh my Merlin, I am such an abysmal, poor excuse for a human being."

"Nah, you're not abysmal. You're just a normal human who makes mistakes," she answered wisely.

"I'm just as bad as he is! Although, I'm pretty sure I would've broken up with him immediately, instead of pretending my kisses with Scorpius never happened…"

"So you prefer Scorpius, then?"

Rose cleared her throat. "Yeah. Of course. But he's a liar, cheater, betrayer, et cetera. He loves Scarlett, not me, and he hasn't come to see me since the day he told me he'd break up with Scarlett. If I'm not mistaken, that means it's pretty clear that he's not interested."

"Maybe there's more to this than you think," suggested Poppy.

"Like what?"

Poppy shrugged shrewdly. "Talk to him. Find out. He's a good person, you know."

Without warning she stood up, stretched her arms above her head and headed for the door. "Well, it's been nice chatting, Weasley. Hope I've helped."

"Wait!" Rose scrambled up as Poppy turned to look at her curiously. "Er, thanks, Poppy. I needed to hear all that."

Poppy half-smiled. "Any time."

Rose was left on her own in the darkening classroom, contemplating what to do next.

A/N:I don't own the film Mean Girls - it belongs to Paramount pictures.

Thank you very much for reading! Let me know what you thought of the chapter. :D
p.s. the next chapter's a big one.