I know, sorry for the short chapter and the long wait. But, at least we get the main plot line!

4: Hesitant Promises

"Truth is, everyone is going to hurt you. You just got to find the ones worth suffering for."

― Bob Marley

DECEMBER, 1974

Jane's guilty pleasure was always witnessing people telling Truths in Truth or Dare. Girls who didn't at all know her assumed she'd love the thrill of dares (it was no secret that Saiph certainly did), and sometimes when the expectations of other pretty girls were too high she would obviously choose the humiliating – possibly dangerous – challenges.

But, that was when she was at the age of six.

'I think – I think I'm in love!' cried Polly, throwing her arms in the air and cackling. Her bright blue eyes looked wild as she expected shocked gasps – and she did albeit faux, get some; once every month she would proclaim her new interest almost as regularly as Rhea's furry nights and Saiph's boyfriends, the phrase used so often that Jane could almost peg the exact moment she would exclaim the five words. 'Oh, Mark McDonald – isn't he gorgeous?'

'Absolutely exotic,' Saiph drawled sarcastically, rolling her eyes and lying her head comfortably on Jane's lap – the four on Jane's bed was becoming rather cramped, she realised, for four developing girls. 'Isn't he gay, though?'

Polly looked scandalized. 'No!' she cried, outraged.

'Oh, Pol,' comforted Rhea. 'We all saw it coming.'

'But – but –'

Jane grinned. 'Still in love now?'

'NO!'

'It'd be terribly romantic if you did, though,' Rhea said, disappointed. As soon as she caught the three's puzzled/disgusted faces, she added, 'No! I mean, you loving him but him loving someone else, you know? Oh, you know what I meant –'

'Oh, sort of like Jane and Liam, but not?' said Polly.

Saiph sniggered at the loud thwack of Jane's fist colliding with Polly's arm and Rhea's wince. 'Isn't it weird that I wasn't the one who said that?'

'Be glad you weren't,' Jane threatened, glaring at the two and comforting her fist – though, that didn't mean they stopped laughing. 'Okay. Snape – funny. Polly in love with a gay man – funny. Me depressed at unrequited love – NOT FUNNY.'

'Oh, it is.'

'No, it's not!

'What's actually happening with the two of you, anyway?' Rhea interrupted, oddly curious – she hardly ever was the one to intrude with things. 'Something's changed.'

Jane scrunched up her nose. She didn't really realise any shift in their relationship at all – she loved him, he hated her, he loved his best friend, she hated aforementioned best friend – you know, the works. 'What'd you mean?'

'Oh yeah! The more I think about it – oh yes, something's weird. With you and Liam,' Polly inferred, surprising them all but thankfully it didn't show. 'Like, before, it was all joking – he knew you were joking, you knew you were joking, happy days! – but now...'

'You're serious,' Saiph finished, looking up at Jane inquisitively with her grey eyes slit sceptically. 'Oddly serious.'

'I've fancied him for over three years,' Jane said bluntly. 'Of course it's bloody serious! It's always been serious!'

'Really?' Rhea asked sceptically, raising an eyebrow.

Jane's first instinct was to scoff an 'of course', but then she hesitated – the first time she'd probably approached him with that type of headstrong goal was in third year, whereas in the year prior it was, now she thought about it, for fun. In her ideal 12-year-old world, Liam as her prince was the icing on the cake, since, even at the tender age of twelve, she knew she was far too inferior for her to stand a chance. So, she asked him repeatedly to either a) pester him, b) boost up her confidence – not that she needed much more – or c) all of the above.

Now Liam was the cake.

Which was... well, depressing.

'Look. I was stupid back then, alright?' said Jane.

'Why are you talking in past tense?' Saiph snickered, earning a flick to the forehead. 'Ow!'

'I just – I just really want him now,' she said, tempted to whine and stamp her foot. 'I don't know why. But I just get so jealous and it's so bloody annoying and I hate teenage hormones.'

'Amen!' Polly agreed.

'I think the word you're trying to find is determined,' Rhea said, failing miserably at hiding her smile – unlike the other two of her friends, she absolutely adored Jane's complicated relationship with Liam.

'No, the word you're looking for is freakily obsessed,' Saiph corrected, sitting up from Jane's lap and nearly head-butting her in the process. 'You need to stop. It's becoming scary. You're so much better than that arsehole, anyway.'

Jane's cheeks reddened. 'He's not an arsehole!'

'You've asked him out a total of 157 times,' Rhea said frankly. 'What makes you think he'll agree anytime soon?'

Nothing. She had nothing except from her hormonal teenage moods and the flip-flop of her stomach and the lurch of her heart whenever he passed her in the hallways and the brilliant shade of red and the beautiful twinkle of emerald.

That's all she thought about. It hardly occurred to her that there had to be mutual attraction for there to be any type of non-platonic/non-enemies relationship, and so far she held no qualities Liam could ever fall for.

Why would anyone go out with a flat-chested, messy-haired, insensitive, spectacled idiot like her, anyway?

A determined flare ignited in her hazel eyes, and before she knew it, she blurted: 'Watch your words. He'll be going out with me by the end of sixth year, you'll see.'

'That's, what, a year and a half away?' Rhea calculated. 'That's a long time.'

'Too short for Evans,' Saiph snorted, clearly disapproving of the redhead.

'No, seriously. I'll be jumping into his arms and we'll be snogging and shagging before we even start NEWTS,' she said, cringing internally at how shallow she sounded; she knew that she didn't feel that way at all. She only wanted him to say those precious three words to her – even if he didn't mean it. 'I promise you.'

'I'm not taking that promise seriously,' Saiph said, getting up from the bed and flopping down to hers across the room, which had various Witch Weekly posters of sexy Quidditch players loitered around the wall next to it. 'Really, I'm not. You'll either grow tired of it all or he'll go off on one.'

'Saiph, don't be so cruel,' Rhea sighed, before marching over to her own bed beside Jane's. 'We'll see what happens where Liam's concerned, alright? Don't worry about it, Jane.'

Polly grinned at her as she flew to her bed next to Saiph, letting out a contented muffled sound in her pillow which sounded a lot like 'Sleeeeeeeeeep.'

'Lights out, then?' Rhea suggested, despite the fact that nobody's opinions were considered and Francine was still out on her prefect rounds (it was Rhea's shift the following night). The candles flickered off at Rhea's whisper of a spell, and once again darkness surrounded them.

It only heightened Jane's worry of hopeless romance further.

So Jane and Saiph are little bitches. But us girls are bitches at least once in our lives for our hormonal development - James had a bit of growing up to do with his childishness, and so does his female equivalent.

But Sirius? He doesn't do the FULL EXTENT of growing up.

Hm.

Thanksh for the support :)

Favourite line? Favourite character so far? What're you looking forward most in seeing? Lemme know!