Summer Plans and Summer Fights PV Jack W Closed

Jack's current personality with almost everyone was only a shade of what it once was. Where once was a cheerful joker, now was a callus and spiteful boy filled with nothing but annoyed energy, however, with one major exception. Dee Prince. Somehow she had a way of cutting through his supernaturally charged moods.

The boy lounged in his regular haunt, legs kicked up and relaxed. He had also used the time off to change from the frumpy robes into that something more suited towards bouts of unbearable heat: a pair of knee-length khaki shorts paired with an unbuttoned black shirt. Jack sat up the moment he caught sight of Dee, and a grin grew across his face to match her bright smile. "Hey there." He replied in turn and returned the peck on the lips. "Better now that you're here." With an unwavering grin, Jack warmly replied to her question. No brain bug would stop him from laying on the charm.

Whenever Dee wanted something, Jack was defenseless in denying it. Today, lap sitting and cuddles seemed on the docket, not that he would complain. It is not surprising that Jack enjoyed being close to the Ravenclaw. Once she became comfortable, he wrapped his arms around her waist. For a brief moment, Jack felt satisfied until he noticed Dee holding a piece of parchment. He became immediately interested. Before he even had time to ask, Dee had the answer locked and loaded. 'Theo.' Jack's mood instantly soured like milk in the sun. "Oh." A moment of pause, "What does he want." The question came out more like a sentence than anything else, and the sudden change of tone was stark compared to how it was only moments ago. Usually, Jack didn't feel jealous, but today he was consumed by it. Just with those two words, the green hands of envy gripped him. He needed to know what that letter said. Without so little thought, Jack attempted to pluck the letter from her hands.

@Dealla Prince

Satisfied that she'd gotten what she wanted, Dee leaned into Jack's arms, eyes still on the letter. She didn't notice the change in tone, thoughts already on how she'd be able to convince her parents to let her travel to America this summer. They didn't know Theo or his family, and letting their fifteen year old daughter spend half her summer break on a different continent... well, Dee would have some convincing to do.

"Oh, you know, I was just asking whether he'd be here for summer camp, and he-" The letter was snatched out of her hands, and she blinked, then frowned. "Jack, what the hell? Give that back!" She reached for the parchment, the movement made awkward by their position and Jack's longer reach. She almost lost her balance, putting a hand on Jack's shoulder for support, then twisted around to frown at him, brows drawn together. "Jack, seriously? That's private."

Not that there was anything secretive in those scribbled lines. Dee's last letter had mostly been about exam stress and gushing that Aly was back, now that they'd made up; secretely, Dee was thinking she should maybe introduce them. Theo was cute and single, Aly was cute and single, maybe they'd hit it off? And she would've told Jack about her vague ideas if he'd just asked instead of just snatching her letter like a cave dweller.

@Jack Warren
Mentions Theo Duncain (@Opeila Winters) & @Aly Salinger

Jack's scowl cracked across his face as he held the letter outstretched away from the whining Ravenclaw. The scene would have been somewhat cute if it weren't for the anger that rested behind the dark eyes of Jack Warren. The idea of Dee spending time with 'Theo' made his eyes twitch with jealousy. Ignoring the Ravenclaw's annoyed exclamations was easy, though her playing grabby hands for the note was a bit more trouble. Pulling her off his lap with his free arm, Jack stood and continued to read the letter.

Was she cheating on him with some shithead from another country? Privacy be damned. Why in the world would she want to go camping with him, and why was Dee so damn protective of that stupid letter? Was she trying to hide something from him? The dark envy was usually there, but something forced the minimal emotion into the spotlight. Never before had he acted so rashly against somebody he trusted so profoundly. Jack knew there was something wrong, but he couldn't stop himself. "What is this kid to you, huh?" The question wasn't expecting an answer, but the implication of duplicity was clear. His voice was deep and untrusting, entirely out of character. No sly smirk or lightness in his eyes, only sudden onset anger.

@Dealla Prince
Mentions @Opeila Winters

While Dee had been annoyed when Jack had snatched the letter, it was quickly morphing into something hotter, more intense. Bickering wasn't uncommon in their relationship, they were both too stubborn, their tongues too sharp for anything else. But this was different, and after she found herself man-handled off his lap, her letter still out of reach, the look on her face might have been enough to make other people flee. Jack, of course, was oblivious, because he was still too busy reading her letter.

"Jack," she began slowly, her voice low but not soft. Her fingers were itching, whether to reach for her wand or just punch him in the nose - surprisingly effective, as recent experience had shown - but she just curled them into a fist, nails digging into her own skin. "If you don't give me back my-" Jack's words interrupted the demand before she could finish it and Dealla jerked back as if he'd slapped her. She couldn't have been more surprised if he had.

They'd never had problems like this before. Yeah, there had been silly fights over spin the bottle games, but that had been shallow jealousy, there hadn't been any real doubt. This wasn't anything like that, the tone of Jack's voice made that very clear, and it was the last stoke of the flame for Dee's temper to boil over. "What is he to me? He's the guy who made sure I had a good time at the blossom ball when you weren't there," she hissed back, entirely aware that her words weren't the least bit reassuring, but not in the mood to amend them. "Is that what you wanted to hear?" She shook her head in disgust. "He's my friend. He's fun to be around. He invited me to spend the summer with him and I'd like to go. Happy?"

Nevermind that she would have loved to spend the summer with Jack's family if it had been offered, nevermind that it wasn't spending the summer with Theo, but going camping with his siblings and Dee wasn't even the only girl invited. She'd done nothing wrong, and she certainly didn't need to justify being friends with Theo.

@Jack Warren

There wouldn't be any kissing and making-up after this one. "Are you for real, right now?" Dee's words didn't hit lightly on the Hufflepuff. They stung, that's for sure. But instead of taming the angry fire that was his jealousy, it only spurred him on further. "Oh for gods sake! Who gives a damn about the stupid ball, Dealla!" Normally using Dee's full name was a death wish, but there was that need to put power behind his words. Jack's voice only crescendoed in volume as he kept talking, each word becoming more forceful and dipped in venom than the last. "I had better things to do than prance around in a lil' monkey suit with everyone else playing dress up!"

Gripping the letter in his right hand, the words he wanted to say just refused to come out. He wanted to say sorry and try to make up, but an evil whisper in the back of his head kept edging him closer to the edge of the precipice. He had to win this argument, and nothing would stop him. The self-sabotage that Jack was performing was at a professional level. "If you LOVE being around him so much, then you should go get together with him!" As an act of pure spite, Jack's hands gripped the edges of the letter. There was a long, terrible noise as he tore the page down the center. Then again. and again. In seconds, the single note was confetti in his hands. Everyone knows that confetti couldn't just sit on the ground. It was made to be tossed in the air, so that's exactly what the angry boy did. With an overdramatic flail of his arms, Warren threw the tattered parchment toward the girl who stole his heart. Was there even a reason to be angry? Did he honestly think that Dee would cheat on him? The nagging thoughts of reason bit at the edges of his mind, but nothing could stop him now. All he could do was wait for her reaction and make things worse.

@Dealla Prince

"Oh, fuck you," Dee replied heatedly. No one ever used her full name except for her mother, she'd made sure of that. Jack using it now meant he wanted this fight, what was to come. He could have it. She'd rip him to shreds. "Better things? You? And what would that be?" She tried for a sneer but couldn't quite muster the right air of indifference, so she glared instead, fierce and angry. He'd been all too happy to prance around with her just last year. "Alienating more friends? It's not like you're doing anything, really. You even quit racing. And I care about the stupid ball, you asshole."

This whole thing had spiralled out of control too quickly. It was all their worst traits coming to light, stubbornness and pride and sharp words that were usually only turned on others, not at each other. Looking closely - or even not so closely - neither Jack and Dee were very nice people. Yet, together, they'd somehow worked.

It also wasn't like Dee wasn't aware that Jack was somehow acting weird, acting wrong. She'd been putting up with it for months, because at least he hadn't tried this with her. But this was too much, this was too far, and her temper didn't care for reason. Fortunately, it helped her ignore that his words did hit, and they did hurt. He meant them to, which made it even worse.

But Jack wasn't done yet, and the next words were worse. They brought her up short, her mind going blank. There was a tearing feeling deep in her chest that none of their other fights had brought with them. He couldn't mean that, right? Right? If he did, what would that even... mean? Her eyes began burning oddly, but still the words wouldn't come. This was ridiculous. It wasn't like that with Theo, he was just... They didn't even know each other that well. If Jack noticed the pause in her, it didn't seem to stop him. Dee only jerked forward when he started ripping up the letter, protest on her lips. "I wasn't done reading that!" Of course these were the words that came bursting out, none of the other thoughts that were rattling through her head. She tried to grab his wrist to stop him, but as a typical noodle-armed duellist, her attempts were flimsy at best.

And then, the finishing touch, the tiny scraps of paper that were left of the letter of doom, fluttering down around her, settling on her hair, on the hand that was still stretched out in protest. "Fine!" she snapped. Her hands were shaking, and she brushed off the remains of the letter to hide the fact, trying to convince herself that the trembling in her voice came only from anger. "You know what? Maybe I will. I certainly don't need this bullshit. I hope you have enough 'better things' to do to keep you busy all summer."

@Jack Warren

The sad confetti that was once a sweet letter drifted lazily in the windless afternoon, and it was surprising that the whole room around the two had not erupted in flames by now. The Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw's personalities were like two raging infernos, constantly stoking the other into more tremendous heat. As the first bits of the parchment weightlessly skimmed the surface of the ground, the foot of a boy who severely needed therapy or a brain surgeon stamped down atop it. Grinding the paper under his heel, Jack made deliberate eye contact as she spoke. Who gives a damn about broom racing? Who needs friends? We don't need this girl.

Dee's childish flailing wasn't enough to bother Jack, but it was irksome, and he could feel even more irritation from his gut into his throat. However, the words that came from Dealla would only stoke that irritation into pure outrage. Maybe she would get together with that American. That bitterness quickly molded itself into a string of words that the boy would someday regret. "Good! Fine! Like we- I care if you go around sticking tongue down an ugly fuck's throat!"Ignoring the change in referring to himself as we, he could only think about how Theo was trash compared to him. Jack was the pinnacle, and they were most definitely settling with the dark-haired Ravenclaw. He began with a low rumble that quickly crescendoed into a growl, "Goes to show that you couldn't do better than us anyway! You're just a pathetic cheater. I can't believe I even spent an hour of my time with you." He wanted to twist the dagger and then drop the mic. He wanted to win, and this feels like a death blow. For good measure, he dug his heel further down on the tattered parchment, and with that, he spun on his heels and began to stalk off.

Jack will attempt to leave the thread, unless otherwise stopped
Mentions @Dealla Prince & Ugly ol' Theo @Opeila Winters

There were lines that shouldn't be crossed, and Jack seemed determined to absolutely obliterate all of them. It was hard to breathe, anger pressing on her chest, but she glared back at Jack unblinking, refusing to back down. There were several things she could have replied. If Theo is ugly, what does that make you? was an easy option. The more reasonable--be honest, be calm, try to talk this out. Unfortunately, Dee was far from reasonable at the moment.

Jack was turning away with that last, ridiculous insult - cheater? She sure could have if she'd wanted to, but she hadn't - and Dee's only, petty thought was that she wasn't going to let him walk out on her. If anyone, she should be the one leaving. Her wand was out within half a breath, reliable and familiar between her fingers. But it didn't keep her hand from shaking, or her voice from trembling with anger. A split second to decide on the spell, but then, the main purpose was to stop him, to satisfy the childish impulse that it was her right to end this conversation. "Immobulus!" The incantation was quiet but the spell came out fine regardless, casting wasn't about who could shout the words the loudest. But her vengeful fantasies weren't coming to fruition either way. Precise aim needed a steady hand, and hers was far from it at the moment.

A flush of humiliation rushed to her cheeks when her spell failed to meet its target, tears stinging in her eyes to match, but she just straightened, pushing her shoulders back and raising her chin. "Well, I'm certainly not going to stick it down yours anymore," she replied, fingers tightening around her wand. If he wanted to go, if this was what he wanted, let him. He'd regret it soon enough. "Guess we're done here." And Dee would be free to do whatever she wanted, too.

@Jack Warren