Strawberries PV Closed

Before she was even finished, Rhea had reached over and added something underneath part of what she'd written. Kalani leaned back a little, giving the other Gryffindor a little more room to write. As she did she bumped into someone passing behind her, and lifted a hand and nodded in apology. By the time she turned back to the parchment, Rhea had finished her addition.

Kalani let out a reckless laugh, so raw and unedited and loud that it was obvious that she had no clue what it sounded like or how loud it was.

That's why you use the glue! The fancy teeth glue!

She couldn't remember the word (denture adhesive) so 'the fancy teeth glue' would have to do. She finished writing, handed the paper back to Rhea, and while the red-headed Gryffindor wrote out her replies she took a moment to examine the girl. Her eyes drifted to the lapels on the girl's robes, and spotted the shiny red 'Prefect' badge, glinting lightly in the faint candle light. Kalani sucked on her teeth.

She'd heard a lot of stories about prefects, both magical and non-magical. Evil, mean, nasty, smelly ones that were rats who told teachers if someone sneezed the wrong way. There was also the sweet, kind, caring, pretty ones that helped you with your homework and were only stern when the absolutely needed to, which was Kalani was a lot more often than you'd hope. She'd heard about cool, mischievous ones that used their position beside teachers to pull off the best pranks you'd ever seen and get away with them. There was also the type she was most familiar with, which was the stern, stone cold ones that didn't care very much about you, as long as you were following the rules. The prefects at home were usually either the first type or the last type. She'd only ever seen one of the second kind, and only heard about the third, though she felt that she'd get along best with them. Rhea was starting to look like the second kind, though maybe it wasn't that cut and dry.

She spotted Rhea write something, but once she was finished she didn't move for several seconds. Kalani peered over her shoulder to see what she'd written, and frowned a little. She glanced at Rhea's face, but her hair covered much of it and she couldn't see to read her expression. Had she struck a nerve? She really hadn't meant to. Reading it over again, it was a weird question. 'Sweet or sour'? What was that even meant to mean? And Rhea's reply, that definitely wasn't polite. She needed to change the subject, she thought as she slunk back into her seat with a sigh.

The parchment was slipped back towards her, and she dipped her quill back in the ink well. Rhea had managed to make things a lot more positive. Kalani laughed again, the same loud giggle, and wrote underneath:

That's good! I guess that makes Hogwarts great for you, because you can do whatever you want! That's what it's like for me... but I still wish there were a few less rules! I don't get the curfew.

This was true. Though she was an early bird, it was obvious that if you stayed up late you got more hours in the day to play soccer and basketball and all sorts. So, she always wanted to stay up late at home, but her parents always wanted to be in bed themselves by ten o'clock. So Kalani had to be in bed for nine. It wasn't fair! And at Hogwarts, though she got freedom in a lot of stuff, the curfew was just the same as if her parents owled her every single night to tell her to get to bed. Stupid. She was smart enough to wake up on time in the morning, even if she'd stayed up late.

   laugh was unlike anything she'd ever heard before. It was louder than any other one, but that was to be expected, seeing as the short haired girl couldn't hear herself. But it was so full of genuine happiness and realness that Rhea felt herself smiling alongside her. All negative thoughts flew out of her head and she only focused on the present. Not the future, not the past - the present.

Scrunching her nose at what Kalani had written, Rhea shook her head. What even was that? She had never heard of anyone using dentures, and now apparently there was such a thing as 'teeth glue?' The concept was foreign to Rhea, and one that she didn't like it. She wanted to keep her teeth nice and healthy, without having to put any products on them... ever.

Giggling as she wrote, Rhea noticed Kalani was looking over her robes. More specifically, her prefect badge. It was a recent addition, one that Rhea was slowly getting used to. The extra power and responsibility that came along with being prefect was something that struck Rhea all of a sudden, and she had yet to adjust to it. Thankfully, her friend Eris had been prefect prior to her so she could ask for help whenever. In the beginning, Rhea was satisfied simply patrolling the halls at night and spooking people who were out past curfew - there was no bad side to it! She could stay up later than usual, and she could scare the heck out of kids her age! Their reactions were usually pretty funny. But now, as time passed and Rhea had began to get used to it, she realized she could use her power for... other things. Pranking was something that Rhea loved to do (back before Hogwarts, she used to play tricks on the house elves all the time, for lack of something better to do) and thus, she couldn't give it up when she became prefect! Before, Rhea had been too paranoid about getting caught and losing her position that she hadn't dare to do anything bad... but now, with the urge of a few of her friends, she realized that she could play some pranks and get away with it. 

Slipping the parchment back to Kalani, Rhea tucked her hair behind her ear. All thoughts of her parents had disappeared now, as the redhead focused more on her life at Hogwarts and the delicious sweets presented to her. She picked up another strawberry and did the trick once more, before biting into it and savoring the taste. The sweetness got her every time, and she loved it. 

When Kalani finished writing, the piece of parchment was passed back to her. Rhea laughed as she read what was on it, then smirked. The curfew wasn't too big of a problem for her - although she had to patrol during the extra time, it was still extra time!

Would she come across as standoffish in the way she'd written it? Rhea didn't think so, and she hoped Kalani wouldn't either. Just to make sure everything was in light fun, Rhea added one more sentence: