Who said life was easy? (Open)

[riley]

It had been a long few months.. That was for sure. His reading had been cut nearly in twine, because of the nasty flow of steady homework he'd been nearly buried under so far. Well guess that was his own fault for taking all the hard classes huh? Sighing softly he lifted a worn hand only to run it through his brown hair. He was tired, his eyelids were sagging, but he had something he was aiming to do today. Which was, to find some kind of intelligent conversation or company that had nothing to do with books.

But first.. his mother had sent him a letter, and demanding a reply almost as soon as it got into his fingers. The bird had even bit him to get the point across. Bloody bird.. So now, he'd finished his letter, and was gliding up the stairs to the Owlery. Maybe he'd find an equally vicious bird to peck out his mothers eyes or something. Alright, he really didn't want that. But sometimes she was just so pushy and infuriating with her demands that it drove him nearly mad. In this letter she'd demanded to see his sparkling grades and I quote, "wanted to hear her loving son talk to her again." But a load of bollocks!

When he had finally reached the top of the tower, he let his aquamarine eyes search through the owls for one that he thought could make it all the way home.. He chose soon after, a rather large black owl with wise yellow eyes. He was well mannered and hopped over to Riley and extended his leg. When Riley was sure the letter was secure, he let the bird hop onto his wrist and led it to one of the many windows. "Good luck with your trip.." the brunette said. It was sad, now he was searching for conversation from an owl... He really had fallen far this year.

Speaking of intelligent conversations, Riley secretly wondered how his Vivi was doing. He really hadn't seen her in a great long time.. He hadn't been able to ask her or anyone to the Yule Ball because he had been swallowed by his books... Sometimes it really sucked trying to maintain good grades. But he just couldn't let his family down.. They were counting on him to be great... "God this is bollocks.." he said to himself as he rested his elbows on the edge of the window.

[vas]

So this is how it goes,
Well I would have never known.

“Fez, this sucks,” Vas moaned to her cat as she stroked his sleek fur. Of course he didn’t know the difference, purring and swishing his tail like always. The feline couldn’t understand the stress she was going through, or how alone she felt at times. He would always just sit there and watch her, clearly oblivious to how much easier off he had it then her. “And now I’m jealous of cat…lovely,” she sighed, stretching him behind the ear. Fez leaned his head inward towards her palm, begging for more attention. Vas gave in and set her diary down and replace it with Fez sitting in her lap. He curled up right away and waited for the long petting session. “You’re such a good kitty,” she crooned, smiling down at him. Fez didn’t move an inch, completely content with sitting there for the rest of his life if he could. Vas had been sitting up on her bed for a long while now, recording her thoughts into her journal. One of the many topics of today was her boy craze.

Boy number one: Edward Jameson. Could that boy be any less observant? She’d been crushing on him forever and day. And what did she get in return? Nothing; absolutely nothing. Because that stupid Hufflepuff had to get in the way. From what she’d seen they didn’t even like each other. It was a mystery to her why two people who argue constantly could ever want to date. They just seemed like such an unlikely pair, and of course Vas’s jealousy was getting in the way. Boy number two: Joel Madden. No words could ever express her love for him, and he knew it too. Unlike her unrequited love with Edward, Joel had actually returned the feelings. Lately it’d been a little awkward, sort of like they were only now going through the post break-up stage even though it’d been almost a two years. He was still one of her closest friends, but Vas wasn’t stupid – Joel had the biggest crush on her other best friend, Jinxter. Anyone with half a brain could see that; the way Joel stared at her was completely different then the way he stared at Vas. There was almost like silent hurt in his eyes, because he had to sit on the sidelines and watch as his crush flirted with other boys.

And then finally, boy number three: Riley Winters. What had happened to him she had no idea. It was like he’d disappeared off the face of the planet, and it hurt. Vas had struggled with the idea that maybe he was avoiding her for some reason – why she could only imagine. The difference between the break-up with Joel and Riley was that Riley was a more recent break-up. Over the years she’d been able to subsidize her feelings for Joel, but Riley was different, because normally she saw him every day. Now it was even rare that they saw each other at meal times. Vas actually missed catching him glance at her from down the table and teasing him about it later. It was just so strange, having one of your best friends suddenly stay away from you like a bad disease. Had she done something? Could it have– “Mrrrrrrroooow!!!” Vas jumped, causing Fez to leap out of her lap. “That was your fault!” she scowled him, slowing down her heart rate. He slunk off under her bed, clearly annoyed. “Fine, whatever,” she scoffed, sliding down onto the floor. She picked up her notebook and hid it back under her mattress. “Enough of this,” she decided, grabbing her jacket and the letter she’d written to Leon that was in dire need of being sent.

It wasn’t very long before she was running up the Olwery stairs two at a time – it took too long otherwise, simply taking one at a time. She jumped the last two and pushed the door open, and routinely called “Bray, come out come out where”– Vas caught short realizing she wasn’t the only one in the room. Immediately she blushed as the barn owl swooped down from his perch, hooting quietly when she ignored him. Alright, why of all the times did Riley decide to show up now? She’d driven herself mad just thinking about it, and now when she was mentally freaked out he graced her with his presence? “Hey Riley,” she said stiffly, unable to act like nothing had happened. Maybe she was just imagining the whole “avoiding” thing, but that wasn’t going to stop her from forcing him to regain her forgiveness.