Part II

Satlynn: Year 5

Satlynn suddenly feels self-conscious about her wardrobe choice; she opted for a pink tube top today. It's her first time seeing her classmates since the beginning of June. Generally, she tries to dress in a way that will draw attention to herself, but usually she has her friends to back her up when they go back to school.

This time, though, she obviously won't be sitting with Penny since they're not friends anymore, and Ziph has apparently been made a prefect and has to sit in a specific compartment because of it. Now that she's not flanked by her best friends, Satlynn's confidence deflates; there's no one to tell her that her daring fashion choice makes her look great. Although, maybe she doesn't need anyone to tell her that. She suspects her boobs have grown a bit, and the top she's wearing definitely showcases them. But suddenly she feels a bit weird about showing them off and almost wishes she had brought a sweater or a jean jacket or something.

"Move it or lose it, asshole," Marcy grumbles as she pokes Satlynn in the back with her wand to get her to move faster.

"Calm down, would you?" Satlynn snaps, but she picks up the pace. The two of them are an abysmal combination when it comes to timeliness, and they're already running slightly late.

"I can't believe you're wearing that," Marcy says. "My sister, the basic bitch. I can't be seen with you."

"You're so mean!" Satlynn bursts out. She knows her outburst isn't very dignified, but she isn't exactly sure about this outfit, either, and she certainly doesn't need Marcy shitting all over it!

"Just because you're this wannabe-hipster, grimoire-brandishing lunatic doesn't mean I have to be. I think I look fantastic!" Satlynn defends herself.

"Whatever. We're here," Marcy announces, "and I'm going through alone. Wait an entire sixty seconds before you go through so no one associates me with this." She gestures disgustedly towards Satlynn's getup.

"Fuck off," Satlynn says. "I'm so glad we're going back to school so I don't have to live with you anymore."

"Same here," Marcy says fiercely as she takes her trunk and shoves it through the portal. Satlynn barely has time to fume and Marcy is already gone. She doesn't want to indulge Marcy's request to wait sixty seconds, but she's overcome by nerves and casts an uneasy glance at the wall, not wanting to go through. If only Penny was here; she's generally relatively fearless, and the attitude seeps into Satlynn and gives her confidence.

But now she's here alone. And she's going to go through there and see all of her peers - alone. Penny will see her being a lonely loser; Parker will see her by herself. Satlynn's hands feel clammy at the thought. Okay. She's just going to do this. She studies the wall and tries to envision herself going through assertively; she can do that. She can show up to takeoff day alone and proud. Her stomach feels knotted, but she grasps her trunk tightly and braces herself for social interaction as she walks forward.

When she opens her eyes, she's relieved to see that no one at 9.75 has turned to stare at her or mock her for going through alone. In fact, everyone seems caught up in their own takeoff plans. Younger students are hugging their families goodbye, and older students are hanging out and being very loud and cheerful about their reunion. Satlynn feels a stab of insecurity at her lack of cheerfulness and lack of reunion with any of her friends, but she breathes deeply and begins making her way through the crowd. She'll be fine; she can do this.

There's a group of younger boys playing catch with a miniature quaffle, and Satlynn watches as one of them barrels towards her, his eyes on the ball and not where he's going, and realizes she doesn't quite have time to get out of the way. Panic seizes her as she realizes this boy is definitely about to run into her.

"Um - !" she begins frantically, but it's too late, and he trips over her foot as he passes her by.

"Aw, you made me miss the ball!" the boy - probably a second-year - whines.

"I - uh, sorry," Satlynn says cluelessly.

"Pro-tip? Don't play catch in the middle of a crowd," someone behind Satlynn says. She looks behind her and smiles when she sees none other than Griffin Vaughn.

"Hi!" she says brightly. He meets her eyes and gives her a half-nod as he passes the ball back to the kid, who takes Griffin's advice and tells his friends, "lets take this over to the lawn!"

Satlynn is relieved when they all run far away from her.

"Watch where you're going, LaRue," Griffin says mockingly as he elbows her lightly.

"I was minding my own business -!" Satlynn begins to defend herself, but then she realizes he's just joking. She begins attempting to maneuver her trunk through the crowd again, and Griffin walks with her and helps her steer. Thank god she finally has someone to hang out with; she's infinitely relieved she ran into him. Now she looks far less like a loser.

"Where's Taman? We should all sit together!" Satlynn says excitedly. Now she's gotten her hopes up; maybe this year won't be so terrible, after all. Hanging out with Griffin and Taman is always an interesting time. Maybe not a fun time, like it was with Penny, but it's better than nothing.

"Sup?" Griffin says suddenly in an unfamiliar low voice - he sounds falsely confident. Satlynn realizes he's talking to Victoria Edger, a fourth-year who's just walked by. She squeaks back a "hi!" and turns bright red before moving on, and Satlynn hears her and her friend dissolve into giggles once they've gone by. Satlynn stops walking and gives Griffin a 'what-the-fuck' look.

"Excuse me?" she says. "What was that?!"

"What?" Griffin says innocently, and Satlynn notices, suddenly, that he's gotten a haircut. His usual shaggy hair is now all gelled up and fancy-looking.

"The 'sup'!" Satlynn says, imitating his low voice. She tries to sound like she's kind of teasing him, but it sounds a bit accusatory.

"What? I was just saying hi," Griffin says.

"That's not how you'd say hi to me or Taman!" Satlynn points out.

"It's obviously different with girls," Griffin says, and he rolls his eyes and fluffs his oh-so-cool hairstyle. Satlynn squints suspiciously at his arm; it's more toned than usual! He's been working out!

"What's wrong with you?!" Satlynn demands suddenly.

"What do you mean?" Griffin asks defensively, and Satlynn notices he's gotten new clothes, too! The type of tee-shirt and jeans that you get from somewhere other than a secondhand store - in fact, the type you pay a lot for.

"What's up with this horrible douche-makeover you've given yourself?!" Satlynn demands before she can stop herself.

"Did you get a tan?!" she asks incredulously. Who's he trying to be?! Brad Pitt?! Specifically in Fight Club?!

"What 'makeover'? What is wrong with you?" Griffin asks. Satlynn stops walking and just stares at him.

"What?!" He demands with a shrug.

"I don't like it," Satlynn snaps, and she starts walking and steering again and ignores Griffin next to her.

"Cool. Well everyone else does," he says, a hint of bitterness in his voice.

"Good for them."

"Hey," he says in his stupid low voice, this time aimed at some random Ravenclaw Satlynn doesn't recognize. Her reaction is similar to Victoria's.

"VAUGHN!" someone yells, and Satlynn's stomach does a flippitty floppitty when she sees it's Parker, pushing his way through the hordes with James in tow. She tries not to look at him.

"Look who I found!" Parker says with a grin as he points to James, who looks mildly annoyed but mostly pleased at his friend's excitement to see him.

"Sup, Pecs? Heard they made you captain," Griffin says, again using his jock-voice to interact with James. Satlynn crosses her arms over her boobs (even though she kind of wants Parker to notice them, she feels incredibly awkward with them out) and looks at the ground.

"Congrats on that," Griffin adds.

"Well it's not that much of an accomplishment. I was kind of the only option," James says modestly.

"Excuse you! Bit rude to me and Switch," Parker points out.

"I doubt you were even in the running," James says, and he and Parker mock-punch each other in a way that Satlynn finds a little immature. If anyone wants her opinion.

"Anyway, Griff, we gotta tell James here about what happened at the water park with those French babes," Parker says, slapping his arm around Griffin's shoulders. Griffin sends an uneasy glance Satlynn's way, and her eyes widen in surprise.

French babes?! Water park? What? Did Griffin hang out with Parker over the summer? Parker, the scumbag who played with Satlynn's feelings and broke her heart over and over again? And who Griffin knows Satlynn has strong feelings about? And now he and Griffin are - are best friends, or something? S

atlynn looks from Griffin to Parker and back again and realizes they're dressed eerily similarly; and - how did she not notice this - they have the same freaking haircut! Satlynn grabs her stupid trunk and rams it forward, getting away from Griffin and Parker as fast as she possibly can. How could Griffin do this to her?! He's supposed to be her friend! And now he's hanging out with the person she can't stand! She breathes hard, trying to control her rage as she mercilessly runs her trunk into people.

"Watch it!" someone yells at her, but she doesn't care. She'll have to sit with Taman, as he's apparently the only fourth-year Gryffindor who's still her friend.

Fuck this. Satlynn ruined her friendship with Penny because she felt bad for Griffin! Satlynn took Griffin's side in their breakup, and now he's taking Parker's side in hers! It's not fair. Has every friend Satlynn's ever had been fake?!

She finally gets to the train and shoves her trunk in the bottom. She's got to get out of this crowd; she's just going to get on the train and pretend not to notice what's going on outside. She has no idea who she'll sit with - probably an assortment of losers. (No offense to Taman.) She vows to find him, and is surprisingly successful when she runs into him on the stairs.

"Hi, Taman! How was your summer?" she asks, attempting to be cheerful despite the fact that Griffin is a backstabbing bitch.

"Oh, it was fantastic! I went to Delhi and saw my mum's family," he explains. He's already changed into his uniform, and Satlynn's heart sinks when she sees the badge on his chest.

"Wait - you're a prefect?!" she asks.

"Yeah!" Taman says proudly.

"Oh. Well, congrats," Satlynn says dully. She's not thinking at all about his joy over receiving the position; instead, she's focused on her own anxiety over the fact that she now has absolutely no one to sit with.

"Thank you! I was just going to find Griffin to ask him if he remembered to bring his Chinese chess set. Have you seen him?" Taman asks.

"Uhh. Yeah. He was down there somewhere," Satlynn says, motioning vaguely.

"'Down there somewhere'. That's very helpful," Taman says sarcastically.

"I just want to get on the train!" Satlynn snaps, and she feels bad when she sees Taman's alarm over her outburst. He just shrugs, though.

"Fine then. Don't let me stop you," he says, stepping out of her way.

"Great. See you," she says emotionlessly as she pushes past him and gets on the train.

Of course, Taman's a prefect. It makes perfect sense; he's smart and follows the rules and he's sure a better choice than Griffin! Satlynn fumes as she boards the train and tries to look like someone who's just trying to find her friends so she can sit with them. She tries to look casual, and not like someone who's frantically searching for her place to fit in.

All the compartments appear to be full - there are people laughing and causing mayhem in each one. What if she just walked into one and said, "hey guys! What's up!?" And just pretended like she fit in? Would that work? Probably not; they'd laugh at her.

She sees a sparse compartment - the only people in it are Wanda Bradwell and Marty Incellio; they're weird, but at least they're in her house. Satlynn considers it and almost pulls open the handle, but then she wonders what her other options are and keeps going. After scouring every compartment, she realizes that there are a few empty ones (but she wouldn't be caught dead sitting alone) and one other sparse one that's full of unfriendly Slytherins. She resigns herself to Bradwell and Incellio. Ugh. Her sister's roommate and Parker's roommate; how fun.

"Hey guys," Satlynn says awkwardly as she slides the door open. "Um.. can I sit with you?"

"Sure," Marty says with a shrug as he goes back to fixing his camera. Wanda just wrinkles her nose.

"Marcy's sister? If you must," she relents. Well, that's better than a flat no, Satlynn decides, and she settles in with her magazine.

They're sitting on the side of the train with the countryside view, so at least they don't have to look at the crowd of their peers. Satlynn takes a seat by the window and spontaneously decides to put on her robes; she feels way too conspicuous in her outfit. She pulls them on then flops back down on the seat. This is so depressing. She hasn't even seen Ziph yet, and she probably won't see her until dinner. Taman is gone doing his prefect duties, too. It's not fair that they get to hang out with each other while Satlynn has to sit here with Gryffindor's least popular human beings and hope the earth swallows her whole.

Griffin probably wasn't planning on sitting with her anyway, she realizes with a stab of disappointment. Maybe he'd invite her to sit with him and his stupid jock friends as a gesture of pity, but he wouldn't plan on actually sitting with her and hanging out with her. And she would have said no to that gesture, anyway, because no way in hell is she subjecting herself to the torture of being around Parker.

It's ironic, isn't it: she befriended Griffin out of pity when he was a hopeless nerd who just broke up with his girlfriend, and now he's surpassed her in popularity. She's like the Regina George to his Cady Heron. And Parker is their Aaron Samuels. (Sort of. Hopefully Griffin's not making out with him.) Satlynn huffs and tries to focus on her magazine. She doesn't care about Griffin. Or Parker. Or anyone. All she cares about is her horoscope. Let's see.

"Cancer: the start to your school year may be rocky; however, you can power through! Focus on the positives: even if you're having trouble with friends or your significant other,you can always focus on being more organized and prepared for your classes! You're going to rock this year!"
Wow! How great! She's going to have a ton of time to color code her fucking notes now that she doesn't have any friends! She turns the page ferociously. So much for that.

Twenty minutes later, they've finally started moving. No one else joined them in their compartment, so she's still awkwardly sitting in silence with Wanda and Marty, the latter annoyingly clicking around on his camera and trying to get it to work. Satlynn's read an article about a missing cat (spoiler alert: they find it), found out her "skin undertone" (she's got a warm undertone according to her vein color), and has discovered that knee socks are "all the rage" for fall.

She finally finds a more interesting section (an interview with Paul Tinsely, lead singer for The Chiseled Chaplains) when the door slides open and Griffin enters, looking distraught. Wanda looks up briefly, then goes back to her book disinterestedly. Marty is unfazed.

Satlynn crosses her arms and looks at Griffin skeptically as he steps over Marty and takes a seat across from her.

"You better be ready to beg for forgiveness if you want to be friends again," Satlynn says loftily, looking at her nails and pretending she's bored.

"What? What did I do?" Griffin asks, but he doesn't seem to really care that much about the way she answers the question.

"You - you've been hanging out with my ex- Whatever! Not boyfriend, I guess, but you know how I feel about him!" Satlynn says heatedly.

"What, so now I'm not allowed to be friends with Parker?" Griffin says, looking a bit distracted. Satlynn frowns at him; does their friendship really mean so little to him that he can barely even focus on this conversation about its fate?

"Well - no! I don't know. You're supposed to be my friend! And by default, you should hate who I hate!" she explains.

"Well, sorry. But I don't hate him. He's really cool, actually," Griffin says.

"He's 'really cool'?! You think he's -"

"Satlynn, I can't talk about this right now," Griffin says, and he puts his head between his hands. Satlynn feels a bit sorry for him when she realizes that something must be wrong.

"Oh...Okay," she says uncertainly. Griffin sighs heavily.

"I just need a break from them," he mumbles, his face still towards the ground.

"Oh. Sure. Parker has that effect on people," Satlynn says, trying not to add too much venom to her voice (and failing).

"Not a break from Parker. A break from the world's cutest couple," Griffin says bitterly.

"Oh. But Lukas and Margaret graduated," Satlynn says, thinking this would be a funny response. Griffin doesn't laugh. He does look up, though.

"Did you know she was dating him?" he asks her.

"I don't know who you're talking about," Satlynn says with a shrug.

"Penny," Griffin explains, "and Sirius."

Satlynn raises her eyebrows in surprise, then brings them back down as she realizes Griffin is probably mistaken, just like she's been countless times when she's suspected the same thing.

"You're just projecting your own suspicions, Griffin. They always act like they're dating. But they really aren't," Satlynn explains, trying to make it easy for him to understand.

"Oh sure. I just watched them make out for like, three minutes straight. And they have nicknames for each other. And they told the hilarious story of Penny's little sister finding them in bed together this summer. But yeah, it's definitely all in my head, Satlynn," Griffin says sourly.

Satlynn just stares at him for a second, her eyes wide. She knows he's upset, but she can hardly contain her satisfaction at finally being right about something.

"No fuckin' way. I knew it. I knew it! You know, I bet they started dating a long time ago. She's just been such a fucking liar about it because she didn't want me to be right! But I knew she liked him. I knew the WHOLE time. I saw them almost make out when she was dating you! They were probably -" Satlynn stops her self-indulgent rant when she sees Griffin's reaction to it. He looks like he's on the verge of a breakdown.

"Sorry. I know this sucks for you, with being her ex, and all, but I'm telling you, I knew it. Didn't I know it?" she says, trying not to sound too gleeful.

"Yes, you did know it," Griffin says impatiently, "but can we please focus less on your satisfaction and more on my feelings?"

"Oh, so I'm supposed to help you and 'focus on your feelings,' even though you clearly don't care about mine since you decided to take Parker's side?" Satlynn asks, suddenly irritated again.

"Oh, my god, Satlynn. You don't even know him. I'm sorry if he hurt your feelings, but you knew what he was like and you liked him anyway. Even though -mind you - I said he was a bad choice for you. Remember? Remember when I told you exactly how it was going to work out and you didn't believe me?" Griffin says, his voice rising.

"Oh, I believed you. I knew what he was. I wanted to rebel by being with him. I just didn't factor actually falling for him into my plans. My mistake! And, if I recall correctly, that was the same conversation where I warned you not to be with Penny, either, because I thought she liked Sirius. Yet YOU kept dating her for like, two more months. Funny how THAT all worked out, isn't it?" Satlynn says, well aware that she's being a bit nasty and not caring.

"Yeah, really funny. I'm clearly dying of laughter," Griffin snaps.

"I thought you were over her, anyway," Satlynn says, leaning back in her seat.

"I am! I'm always flirting with new people. Parker's been helping me with that, and I've completely moved on," Griffin explains. Satlynn doesn't even want to think about the implications of that - lord knows what he's been up to with Parker as his mentor.

"Then why are you flipping a tit now that she's got a new dude?" Satlynn asks.

"I don't know!" Griffin snaps, and he ruffles his stupid new hair again.

"Hey - What are you doing in here, Vaughn?" James - who's just poked his head in their doorway - asks Griffin. He opens the door the rest of the way and joins them in the compartment.

"He's having a mental breakdown," Satlynn explains as she casually turns the page of her magazine.

"What?!" James asks, sounding concerned as he takes a seat next to Griffin and across from Satlynn.

"No, I'm fine," Griffin says, shooting Satlynn a look that clearly says, 'shut up! I want James-the-quidditch-star to think I'm cool!'

"Just wanted to say hi to Satlynn," Griffin explains.

"Oh, I see. You guys mind if I chill here for a while?" James asks. Satlynn raises her eyebrows skeptically. James Potter wants to 'chill' with them?

"Okay then," she says with a shrug.

"Want me to read your horoscope?" she inquires, looking at James.

"Sure," James says, looking amused as he exchanges a look with Griffin, like, 'you're friends with this person?'

"Aries," he adds, and Satlynn tries not to judge him too much; Penny's an Aries. Satlynn doesn't exactly have the highest opinion of them right now.

"Alright, let me find yours," Satlynn says, flipping to the right page.

"Aries: it's the beginning of a new school year, which means it's time to try new things! Try joining a new club or sitting with new friends at lunch. Your circle could always benefit from adding more people to it. Your friendliness and charm will draw people to you and even help create strong friendships!" Satlynn reads in a cheesy voice.

"I don't have time to join a club," James says flatly, "and there's no way in hell I'm sitting with the Slytherins at lunch."

"Fine then. Be a hater," Satlynn says sassily as she folds her arms.

"Well, do you agree with yours?" James shoots back.

"Not necessarily," Satlynn says vaguely.

"What's it say?" Griffin asks, looking curious as he straightens up a little.

"That all my friends hate me so I should throw myself into my school work."

Griffin snorts.

"You know, your friends don't hate you: YOU hate THEM. And maybe if you didn't yell at them for befriending your ex-boyfriend -" Griffin begins.

"Befriending? You mean acting like a psycho, less-attractive clone of him?" Satlynn snaps.

"I am not acting like his 'clone'!"

"EXPLAIN THE HAIR, THEN."

"Everyone loves my new hair!" Griffin whines.

"I like it," James pipes up.

"THANK YOU," Griffin says with a satisfied smile in Satlynn's direction.

"I'm just annoyed that you're indulging Parker's stupid ego," Satlynn says. "James, don't you think this new friendship is unhealthy?"

"Uh.. I dunno. Parker and Griffin? I don't really care if you guys are friends, I guess. But yeah, you are feeding his narcissism a bit," James admits, addressing Griffin with a shrug.

"See! What did I tell you?" Satlynn says, giving Griffin a significant look. Griffin just rolls his eyes.

"What the FUCK are you guys doing in here?!" Satlynn whips her head up and sees (speak of the devil) Parker standing in the doorway of their compartment.

"Chilling," James says casually.

"Oh, yeah right! You just happened to leave for FIFTEEN whole minutes? I don't wanna be stuck in there alone with THEM," Parker says disdainfully as he crosses the compartment clumsily and sits down next to Satlynn. Excuse her ? Parker thinks he can just SIT DOWN next to her ? Casually? As if they didn't DATE last year ?

"Admit it. You're in here to escape," Parker says, looking at James and Griffin skeptically.

"Okay, yeah, I am," Griffin admits, "but I'm also talking to Satlynn."

Parker turns to look at her, seemingly noticing her presence for the first time.

"Oh hey," he says dismissively.

"HI," Satlynn says loudly and fakely, hoping he'll get the message that he's not welcome here. Or anywhere where she is, for that matter. Parker just gives her a judgmental look before focusing his attention on Griffin and James again.

"Okay, I maybe needed a break from them, too. At least you guys didn't have to spend the whole summer with him," James says with an eye roll. "I mean, don't get me wrong. Spending the summers with your best friend is great. At least, it usually is. But he's been driving me insane lately; all he does is talk about her. All day. Every day. Things I didn't need to know about her - like once he spent twenty minutes telling me about her handwriting. Her handwriting!"

"How the hell are we going to deal with this? Like, what if they both suck at beating now that they're distractingly into each other?" Parker asks. James just shakes his head.

"I've been wondering the same thing. I guess we'll have to see what happens at the first practice," he says reasonably.

"Well, you're the captain. You could just forbid them from dating," Parker says.

"They'd never listen to me."

"Threaten to kick them off the team if they don't," Parker says with a shrug.

"Well I'm not going to be mean about it," James says with a frown. "Besides, I've got bigger things to worry about right now. We still need to find a new keeper and chaser."

"Yeah, no shit," Parker says. He turns to Satlynn. "You play quidditch?"

She gives him a disgusted look. "Don't talk to me," she replies.

"'Don't talk to me,'" he mimics her in a high voice. Satlynn jumps up, feeling like she's about to do something stupid, like punch Parker in the face or start crying, and she needs to get out of here, now.

"Fuck off!" she snaps as she makes her way towards the door.

"You need to be nicer to her," she hears Griffin say as she slams the door shut and stands in the hall, feeling like her entire body is on fire.

She can't stand Parker; he just casually inserts himself into her life and acts like nothing ever happened between them! She's freaking out, and he's cool as a cucumber. She remembers everything vividly, and he probably gets their memories confused with his memories of every other girl he's been with. It's not fair; it's not fucking fair.

Satlynn searches wildly for a place where she can be alone in case she needs to fall apart - whether she screams with anger or cries with dejection, she'd rather not do it in the aisle where there are people about.

Thankfully, she finds an empty compartment and hides herself by sitting on the floor directly in front of the door. Things are not looking up for her 5th year so far. She tries to focus on her magazine, but all she can think about is the fact that she's going into this school year with no friends, no boyfriend, and terrible grades. Awesome. She leans her head against the door and tries to think a grateful thought, but what does she have to be grateful for? Her annoying family? Her nonexistent friends? She nearly topples over when someone flings the compartment door open.

"Why don't you check the ones on the right and I'll take the - oh hey, Little LaRue! Hang on, Penn wants to talk to you. PENNY!" Sirius yells.

Satlynn scrambles off the floor and gives him an annoyed look. Yes, Satlynn definitely wants to talk to Penny right now. Exactly what she needs now that she's already clearly at a low point. She gets as far away from Sirius as possible and sits down stiffly by the window.

"I don't want to talk to her," Satlynn grumbles.

"Oh, it'll be fine. Listen, have you seen James?" Sirius asks. He rocks back and forth on his feet and appears to be very full of energy, which is exactly NOT what Satlynn wants to be around right now.

"Yeah. I've seen all your friends, in fact. You'll be glad to know that they'd all rather hang out with me than you," Satlynn says coldly. She's never been a fan of Sirius and he might as well know.

"Even Parker?" he asks with an evil grin.

"Yep, even him!" Satlynn says loudly. Why do people always have to bring him up? No one will give her a moment of peace. Why do people just associate her with him? Why can't she be known for her daring fashion choices or her talent for matching her jewelry to her nails?

"Hey!" Penny says breathlessly as she appears in the doorway; she looks at Satlynn nervously.

"Bon-freaking-jour," Satlynn responds flatly. Penny gives Sirius an uncertain look, and he inclines his head towards Satlynn, which apparently Penny interprets as a signal to continue talking to Satlynn.

"I think we should talk," Penny says, her expression strangely sincere as she takes a seat across from Satlynn.

"Uh...I'm going to keep looking for James. Where is he?" Sirius asks Satlynn.

"Like, ten compartments down. On the left," she explains emotionlessly.

"Okay great," he says, bouncing towards the door. "I'll see you later?" He asks Penny.

"Yeah. I'll come and find you," Penny says warmly.

"Okay," Sirius says, lingering in the doorway to stare at her - very unnecessarily, Satlynn thinks.

"AHEM," Satlynn says, not bothering to hide her irritation. Everyone else is annoyed, too, so she feels justified in being a bit of an asshole about this completely doomed and fickle relationship that no one asked for. Luckily they get the hint and he leaves - which Satlynn is initially relieved about, until she realizes it's left her alone with Penny and she's rather obviously red-eyed and getting over a breakdown.

"Hi," Penny says awkwardly. Satlynn just gives her a judgmental look. She's wearing a gross pink skirt and some sort of graphic band tee shirt. It looks mismatched; this is what happens when Penny dresses herself alone without Satlynn's guidance.

"Um...I was thinking we should talk about what this year is going to look like for us," Penny continues. Not so confident without her stupid boyfriend, is she?

"Well, your horoscope says you're supposed to widen your social circle," Satlynn informs her.

"Oh. In Witch Weekly? Yeah, I saw that," Penny says. "So...maybe you should be in my circle again."

"That sounds like an innuendo," Satlynn replies. Penny sighs and gives Satlynn a long look.

"I'm just trying to make things better for us!" Penny snaps.

"Better for you, you mean! I don't want a fake-ass friend!" Satlynn says, folding her arms and trying to look as unwelcoming as possible.

"When was I ever fake?" Penny asks.

"Always."

"We were best friends for four years! I didn't hear any complaints then!" Penny exclaims.

"Well, that was before you became a compulsive liar and cheater," Satlynn snaps.

"Oh, so this is still about Griffin? You don't even know what happened with us! I don't know why you've decided to ally yourself with him - he doesn't even like you! He's not the one who was your friend for all those years!" Penny says angrily. "You were supposed to be there for me! Instead you abandoned me when I needed a friend the most."

"Oh, right. Indeed. You were clearly SO hurt when you and Griffin broke up - even though you'd been making out with Sirius the WHOLE time," Satlynn says coldly.

"Great! Keep telling yourself that! I don't know WHAT it has to do with our friendship," Penny snaps.

"I don't want to be friends with someone who doesn't know how to fucking treat people!" Satlynn explains. "And can we just take a moment to note that you vehemently denied liking Sirius? And I KNEW you were lying? And now you're his girlfriend? Wow! Look who was RIGHT and who was a liar!"

"You know what!? Fuck off!" Penny says, jumping up from her seat and stomping towards the door.

"Consider my invitation for reconciliation officially CANCELLED!" Penny says as she wrenches open the door.

"You're so dramatic," Satlynn says, rolling her eyes at Penny's immature behavior.

"Oh, I'm the dramatic one?! Right," Penny says sarcastically as she slams the door shut and marches away. Whatever. Satlynn doesn't need her anyway. She's got Ziph. And Taman. She'll be fine. That's what she tells herself, anyway.

Notes:

I think I wrote this section a few years after I wrote the Penny section. I never posted it because I wanted to finish it first. Also, I didn't think anyone would read it because it was so OC-heavy.

I've actually considered re-writing the Satlynn sections and making them about a canon character, but I don't really care that much about this story anymore to go to the trouble of doing that, lol.

There will be a few more chapters about Satlynn!

If you read this, thanks for the support! :)

-Giant Squid