Heading to Class Closed

"I've never tried making peppermint bark before, but it sounds really fun!" Sylvie said beaming. "Also, peppermint with chocolate is really good! That's why it's my favorite sweet, well, besides cream puffs, nothing can beat cream puffs." Sylvie closed her eyes, imagining cream puffs, and she didn't notice that she accidentally licked her lips. She had just a little bit of a sweet tooth.

"And these are some I've collected over the years. If I make a friend, I get their birthstone and put it in the box. It's kinda my way of acknowledging their friendship. Or it just makes me feel more lonely, considering their's like eight or nine of them..." she said giggling. "But hey, what can you do. They aren't magical or anything. I started to collect them before I even knew the magical world existed." She said taking the stones into her hands. "You can hold them if you want, it's fine with me. Hey, what's your birthstone?" Sylvie asked, indicating that she wanted to be friends with Phoebe, and holding a few of the stones out to her. 
Sylvie felt two of the cool rocks in her hands. She looked at them. Garnet and Aquamarine, Andy and Thomas. She smiled as she remembered her friends back home, and smiled more as she hoped to make new ones. After all, this figuratively and literally was a magical place.

Phoebe smiled, picking up one of the stones to take a closer look. "I was born in September, so I think my birthstone is sapphire. I'm not mad at it, either. I quite like the dark and elegant look of it," she said, holding the object in her hand in multiple positions. Satisfied, she put the stone down with the others.

"It's nice that you collect your friend's birthstones. It shows you really care," she smiled. "I've never had friends my age, even at home. I've always been surrounded by women and men who are at least twenty years older than me. I never went to a muggle school, so I spent a good majority of my time at my house or my aunt's shop," she said, feeling like she had missed out at something. "I hope we become good friends. You're really nice," she grinned, blushing slightly. She somehow felt embarrassed for asking someone to be her friend. Then again, she's never done it before, so she had good reason to be nervous.

Phoebe's mind went back to the girl mentioning creampuffs. "I also know how to make creampuffs. Those are my aunt's favorite, as well. She taught me how to make them as soon as I knew how to use an electric mixer," she laughed, remembering how enthusiastic her aunt was when she had taught her how to make choux pastry. "I can teach you how to make them." She smiled. Perhaps she had just made her first friend.

"Oh really? I don't have that one yet..." She said, examining the stones. She had garnet, aquamarine, two emeralds, two rubies, a peridot, an opal, and a blue topaz. Andy, Thomas, Johnathon, Daniel P.,  Daniel S., Charles, Crystal, Lyla, and Larence. And now maybe Sapphire, Phoebe. 

She was right, sapphire was elegant. Sylvie's birthstone was amethyst, and she quite liked it. She kept hers in its own box, away from the others because it was special, and rare as far as she knew. Her father was the one who got it and gave it to her when she was born, saying it was destiny it was her birthstone. The amethyst looked almost like a galaxy on a rock, and it was smooth to the touch. The box it was in had a lock, and only she knew the code.

"Oh mah gosh, YES!" Sylvie said enthusiastically, smiling brightly. "I am down with that plan! You are literally like my favorite person right now." She giggled sweetly and casually hugged Phoebe, "Thanks so much!" Sylvie guessed that Phoebe had underestimated her love of cream puffs. Sylvie had never turned down a cream puff, and her dad always made them for her, but never let Sylvie into the kitchen, being the overprotective father he is. Let's just say, there was like one left for Sylvie's sister. "What's your favorite pastry? I've already said mine... or did I not mention it was cream puffs?"

Phoebe's face lit up like a lantern when the girl hugged her, interpreting it as a sign of friendship. She smiled, quickly hugging her back before she quickly broke the small embrace.

"I kind of already had the understanding that you were fond of creampuffs," she laughed, tucking a strand of grey hair behind her ear. "I myself am obsessed with strawberry squares when it comes to pastries," she said, licking her lips. "I love anything strawberry, though."

"What's your birthstone?" Phoebe said, going back to that topic. She didn't know why, but she imagined the girl to have a birthstone that was some shade of purple. It reminded her of a Diney princess, Rapunzel, probably. Phoebe thought it made sense to put a crown on her new friend. Her reasoning for that was the Rapunzel reference and the girl's noticeable intelligence and suave demeanor.

Phoebe blushed, feeling as though she were idolizing the girl. Embarrassed, she turned her head slightly, trying to hide her flushed cheeks while also attempting to make it seem casual. "I was just wondering since you asked me about mine. I'm quite curious about birthstones now that you've mentioned it." Phoebe played with her hands, having an urge to chew on her nails as it was a mechanism she used when she felt nervous.

"Oh well, mines amethyst, since I was born in February." Sylvie debating showing her friend her stone. She had just met her, but she trusted her almost immediately because of her kind demeanor. Sylvie looked around. No one else was there, so no one could take it from her. Sylvie knew she was being a little too overprotective, especially since it was a stone, but it meant a lot to her. It was also the stone that started her collecting them.

Sylvie put her hand into her bag, until she felt the velvet covered box, and closed her fingers around it. She pulled it out. The box had her initials, S.C.M., on the top of it. She looked at the miny code lock on the box and entered the code, ROBIN, her favorite bird, and opened the box, showing Phoebe the stone. "This is mine, I usually keep it protected so no one else can see it. It's weird, I know, but it means a lot to me." SHe took the stone out and held it in her hand, smiling. "I've always thought it looked like a galaxy. I like that." She said, then holding it out to Phoebe. "You can hold it if you want." 

Sylvie wondered if Phoebe actually wanted to be her friend, or if she was just being nice. Sylvie didn't know what Phoebe was thinking, so she just had to hope that she wasn't just making a fool of herself. Sylvie started playing with her hair, which is what she did when she was thinking and/or nervous. Right now she was both.  

Phoebe sat, amazed that she had a completely seperate box for her own birthstone. She tenderly picked it up, analyzing the shine and shape of the purple quartz. Phoebe's eyes seemed to have glimmered, amazed at how the sunlight reflected perfectly off of the stone. She grinned.

"Beautiful," she whispered to herself, taking one last look at it before handing the stone back to the girl. "It really does look like there's an entire galaxy inside." Phoebe leaned back, her smile never ceasing. "It's wonderful."

Phoebe didn't know what to talk about after that. She was actually impressed she was able to pull of such a long conversation already, but now she was at a loss. She looked around, trying to find some inspiration to spark up something else to talk about. Finding nothing, she continued to sit silently.

It suddenly dawned on Phoebe that she actually had no idea if they had become friends or not. Then again, how do you know? Are you supposed to just randomly ask if you are friends with someone, or are you supposed to just know? Phoebe had assumed they were for a few moments, but a familiar sense of doubt had decided to invade her thoughts. Gathering up the courage, she decided to just ask the girl.

"Are we friends now?" she asked, smiling rather awkwardly. She nervously waited for the girl's reply, mentally beating herself up for sounding so stupid.

Sylvie looked at Phoebe and smiled. "Yeah, I would love to be friends!" she said beaming at Phoebe. Hopefully, she didn't look too desperate.  Sylvie fiddled with her hair and smiled warmly. 

She took the stone back, giving one last, loving glance before closing and locking the box, putting it back into her bag, feeling her finger pull away from the velvet box. "If you see me as a friend, and it's alright with you, I'm going to get another stone, a sapphire. I can ask my father to send one to me. I'll let you see it before I add it to my collection, after all, it will symbolize you, or I don't have to get one if you find it weird..." Sylvie blushed slightly, and put a hand behind her head, knowing some people thought this hobby of hers was strange. 

"And how did you learn to bake, might I ask. Did your grandma teach you?" She asked, remembering Phoebe mention of her grandma teaching her to make cream puffs, which Sylvie was craving, and wanting to start more conversation. After all, she wanted to know more about her new friend, well, she hoped that Phoebe also considered them friends. She still didn't know.

Phoebe beamed when Sylvie mentioned getting a birthstone for her. "Yeah! I'd like that," Phoebe grinned, clasping her hands together to bottle up some of her excitement. "I'd like to see my birthstone in person. It'd be really cool."

Phoebe tilted her head when Sylvie mentioned something about a grandmother. "Oh! No, my grandmother didn't teach me how to bake; my aunt did. Her name is Eva. Actually," Phoebe began, thinking about her grandparents' absence, "I don't remember the last time I saw my grandparents. They sort of stopped acknowledging my parents ever since they got expelled from Hogwarts for using magic in front of muggles." Phoebe realized that she had trailed off too much, and she felt really self-conscious after she had accidentally mentioned her parents getting expelled.

"A-Anyway," she began, nervously rubbing her arm, "my aunt Eva taught me everything I know. I'm not the best at presentation, but I can bake just about anything and make it taste nice as long as I have a recipe," she grinned awkwardly. "My aunt even taught me how to embroider. I must admit that my skills quickly exceeded hers, though. She said it's because I'm good at envisioning patterns and shapes. I also garden, so that helps." Phoebe felt kind of awkward talking about herself so much, but she was still getting used to having two-sided conversations. She hoped she was doing a decent job.

Sylvie's face turned bright red. "Oh no no no no I've ruined EVERYTHING!" She thought, freezing, "How could've I forgotten it was her aunt. I'm so stupid!" She felt even worse when Phoebe mentioned her grandparents and parents. Could this be the end of their friendship? Did Phoebe hate her for making her bring it up? 

"I-I'm sorry for making you bring it up," Sylvie muttered, looking away from her. She made swirls with her hair again, feeling very nervous, wondering what Phoebe was thinking. She felt inconsiderate. 

"Your aunt sounds very nice, is she a good baker?" Sylvie asked, she grabbed three long pieces of grass and tied one end of each of the pieces together, holding the knot between her knees and braiding the grass, trying to distract herself from her nervousness. 

"I'm not that good at envisioning things, well, not that good at all. I think it's a weird thing... I forget the name, fan-ta- s- wait I know aphantasia. I did a science project on it," Sylvie looked at Phoebe. Sylvie thought Phoebe looked confused, and that made Sylvie giggle, "It basically means I can't close my eyes and imagine things. I just see emptiness. I've been trying to fix it, and it has been working slightly. If I focus hard enough I can see flashes of images, but it hurts my head to do it," Sylvie realized she was rambling. "Oh, sorry for the science lesson..."

Phoebe smiled, trying to comfort the girl. "It's fine. I don't really mind at all about whatever my grandparents are doing," Phoebe said, relieved that Sylvie didn't seem bothered by her parents. "It's nothing to get so worked up about."

"My aunt is an amazing woman," Phoebe smiled fondly. "My aunt is the best at baking. She's always making some type of sweet to give out to her friends," she said, licking her lips. "She's quite known for her shortbread biscuits."

Phoebe frowned when Sylvie mentioned having aphantasia. "I can't imagine doing what I do without being able to envision it first," she said, eyebrows furrowed. "You're really cool for trying to fix it, and I really don't mind the science lesson. I definitely have room for some education," Phoebe said, internally crying. Her grades were definitely suffering at this point in time. It wasn't because she refused to learn; she just wasn't an auditory learner, and half of her classes were taught verbally or through reading.

Phoebe cleared her throat, trying to forget about her grades for a moment. "When do you have class?" she asked, trying to find something new to talk about. She was running out of ideas, and she was running out of them quickly.