Chapter 16

Apparently, I wasn't the only one having a bad night. It didn't really make me feel better.

"Alicia!" I cried, rushing out into the entrance hall. She was just sitting on the floor with her head in her hands, crying, her carefully-applied make-up already smeared. "What's wrong?"

She just shook her head and sobbed. I sat down next to her and put an arm around her. Katie took a spot on Alicia's other side, and Maya just stood there, looking sympathetic but awkward.

"It's okay," I said, feeling a bit awkward myself. I knew Alicia better than practically anyone, but I wasn't the best person to go to for comfort.

"No, it bloody well isn't!" she snapped, firing up and then falling back into sobs.

"Oh, Alicia," I sighed, not knowing what to say.

"Just tell us what happened," Katie urged gently, "Maybe we can help."

"Did something happen with Eric?" I asked, wondering if the twins and Lee had been right all along. It wouldn't exactly surprise me.

Apparently thinking along the same lines, Alicia looked up at me with red eyes. "Go ahead and gloat. You were right all along." She covered her face with her hands again.

"I'm not going to gloat," I said, losing my patience a bit. I did feel bad for her, but why couldn't she just tell us what was wrong? "Come on, Alicia, please? This isn't helping anyone. Besides, you love to talk, don't you?" I grinned at her, trying to cheer her up.

She looked up at me icily and then said, in a voice dripping with sarcasm, "Thanks so much, Ange."

"What?" I cried, confused.

"I'm crying my eyes out over here and all my "best friend" can say is that I love to talk?"

"What's wrong with that?"

"You have no idea what I've been through tonight-"

"So tell me!"

"Why should I?" she glared at me, angry tears running down her cheeks.

I just looked at her, completely at a loss for what to say. She wasn't making any sense at all. I'd said one thing and she'd blown up in my face.

Then Katie spoke up. "Alicia, we all just want to help you, but we won't know how to until you tell us what happened."

"You can't help, though!" she said, turning to Katie, now seeming more desperate than angry.

Merlin, the way she was acting, you'd have thought someone had died. She needed to get a grip.

"Well, maybe not," Katie said gently, "But at least you'll have someone to talk to."

Alicia heaved a sigh, and it seemed to calm her down slightly. Looking at Katie, she started to talk, although she was still crying. "It was going fine at first; I sat with Eric and a bunch of his friends for dinner- Mason and Kr- Kristin," she gulped, then continued "Eric talked to me the whole time, asking me questions, laughing... He seemed like he really liked me." She stopped and burst into tears again.

"So-" I prompted after a few minutes.

"So," she continued, although she gave me a frown, "It was going great, until he said that I should go get some drinks for the both of us, and I did, and then, when I came back-"

She started to cry again, and it makes the next part of her story nearly incoherent. Luckily, she's not talking all that fast, "When I c-came back, Mason and Eric were standing at the edge of the dance floor. These t-two Slytherins were standing right in front of them. They were massive- the Slytherins, I mean- they looked like great big mossy rocks! So, I was trying to get around them to Eric and Mason, when I heard what they were saying."

"The Slytherins?" Katie asked, looking confused.

"Eric and Mason," she answered sadly, "The Slytherins weren't saying anything. Rocks don't talk, I suppose."

"What were they saying, then?" Maya said.

"Mason- Mason said that I was pretty, even if I was- even if I was-" she stopped, seeming to, momentarily, be unable to go on, then she steeled herself and finished in a rush, "An annoying little twit. And that wasn't even the worst of it," she said as the rest of us gasped with pity. Tears were falling fast down her face, but she went on, "And then Eric said, 'She's the most irritating I've ever met in my life. She talks too much and too fast, and I can hardly understand her half the time!' and then he told Mason that he must have poor taste, because he didn't think I was all that good-looking, and then he said, 'But you know I only brought her to make Kristin jealous.'"

I remembered George saying that Kristin had turned Eric down. So this was why he'd asked Alicia to the Yule Ball. It was all just a ploy to make the girl he really liked jealous. Merlin, I hated Eric Hale. I wanted to go kill him, right then and there, but I couldn't leave Alicia. I understood why she'd gotten angry at me now, even though I really hadn't done anything wrong. I'd just said the wrong thing.

Alicia had already heard that she talked too much twice tonight. She hadn't wanted to hear it again.

"And then they saw me, and I guessed I looked pretty upset, so they knew I'd heard, and they just looked at me and laughed. They laughed!"

Katie patted her on the shoulder, looking like she was about to start crying. Maya sat down at last, taking a spot next to Katie. Alicia ignored both of them, turning to me, looking sad and angry at the same time.

"So I hope you're happy Angelina! You were right, about everything! Eric is a complete-" a sobbed obscured the next word, but I got the picture, "And I do talk too much, and I suppose you've just been putting up with me for years!"

"Alicia," I said, "I'm so sorry. I swear, I didn't mean it as a bad thing. I know I'd be bored out of my mind if I didn't have you to talk my ear off. You're my best friend! You're easy to talk to and funny and nice and-"

"Good at Quidditch," Katie interjected, grinning at her. "A very cool person."

"Pretty," put in Maya.

"And smart as a freaking whip," I finished. "And if Eric can't see that-"

"You're exaggerating," she sighed, and maybe we were. She wasn't perfect. She could be a little self-centered, a little too focused on outward appearances. That was, I thought, one of the reasons she'd liked Eric, instead of someone like Lee. She wasn't hilariously funny, either, like the twins were, or the top of the class, like Patricia Stimpson. It didn't matter. She was Alicia Spinnet, my best friend, and she certainly deserved better than Eric Hale.

"Kristin's prettier," she said, "And funnier, and she's a Ravenclaw, so she must be smarter."

"That's not true," I scoffed. "Merlin! You're not perfect, Alicia, it's true, but neither is she!"

"And I'm really not that nice," she whispered, "I yelled at you for no reason at all-"

"You were upset," I rolled my eyes, "It's fine."

"No, it's really not," she said, "I'm a terrible friend. Lee was right. Eric and I deserved each other, and I deserved exactly what I got for going with him."

"That doesn't even make sense-" Katie started.

"Lee, Fred, George, and even Ange, sort of, told me he was no good, but I didn't listen. Eric was good-looking and he asked me to the ball, and that was really all I cared about."

She was getting louder now, yelling through her sobs.

"That's not true," I argued, and it wasn't, not completely. "You didn't really know-"

"But I should have," she insisted, "Even now, when I know what he did, know what he is, there's a part of me that still wants to be with him, no matter how much of a jerk he is! And I hate that!"

"Alicia, calm down, it'll all be okay," I tried. I really didn't know what to say...

"No, it won't. Eric's a jerk and he's not my boyfriend and Lee hates me."

"He doesn't hate you-"

"Yes, he does. I can't blame him, either. I chose having Eric as a date over his friendship, and now I've lost both of them."

"Alicia, Lee-" I wanted to tell her the real reason Lee was so upset, but she didn't give me the chance.

"He was one of my best friends and now he doesn't give a damn thing about me. He didn't get me a Christmas present. He won't look at me, won't talk to me and I MISS HIM LIKE HELL!"

"Alright," I said, knowing what I had to do now, and began to walk away from the three of them, towards the stairs. "I'll be right back."

"Where are you going?" asked Katie, her eyes wide. I've almost forgotten she and Maya were there.

"Gryffindor Tower," I replied. "I've got to go find someone."


Hey all!

Told you I'd update soon this time! The Slytherins mentioned are Crabbe and Goyle, by the way, if you didn't catch that. I hope you enjoyed this chapter, but I'd love a review from you even if you didn't.

-Julia