March 18th, 1892 — Gryffindor Common Room

Cracks were beginning to form on Alice's resolve to press on like everything was fine. The students she tutored had picked up on obvious mistakes she'd made, and one had even gone as far to accuse her of purposely sabotaging them. (Nevermind that that student would have flunked out of school two years ago if not for her efforts.) Her friends had begun to clue into her obvious avoidance of them, for she couldn't risk the distractions or arguments over her staying at school. After all, the start of their OWLs were now less than two months away. Two months and their future schooling possibilities would be decided, not that that mattered for her.

As was her normal of late, Alice had nearly missed curfew, arriving at the Gryffindor Common Room only two minutes before she could've been accused of causing trouble. The bag slung over her shoulder was heavily stacked with more borrowed books from the library and no charm seemed to alleviate its weight. Or, perhaps she was so mentally and physically exhausted that even a feather's weight would've caused her shoulders to droop.

She dropped the bag carelessly onto the floor of one of free armchairs by the window without pausing to see who now sat opposite her. However, once she had situated herself and looked up to see Sloane her cheeks flushed as red as her scarf. Merlin, Alice had scarcely spoken to Sloane since Christmas — since they'd kissed and Sloane had shrugged it off like it hadn't meant a thing. Although, now sitting face to face with her friend it made sense that Sloane wouldn't have cared about it. She and Cameron likely had done far more by now, so what was a harmless peck between friends?

What did it matter if that was Alice's first kiss?

Alice broke eye contact to begin digging one of her books out. "I'm going to be working on the Charms homework if you wanted to do it with me," she said in lieu of a more pleasant greeting. Merlin knew Alice was too tired to try and navigate the complexity of their friendship ending right now.

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Amazing set by Bee!

It was far more like Sloane to be cutting curfew so closely, but as she watched Alice rush in with minutes to spare, she didn't even have to wonder where her friend had been. Those thoughts often plagued her lately, as something once again seemed off since their return from the Christmas holidays, but Sloane hadn't the foggiest what it might be. She had been too consumed by January to notice much, but as February crept into March and she was less self-absorbed it was hard to miss that Alice had been avoiding her on some level.

"Ah I just finished it actually, wasn't so bad." She had actually, after more effort that was probably necessary and receiving some help on it, she had managed something she thought might be worth a passing grade. Charms was one of the things she wanted to be better at, even if she wasn't that great at it and even though she was pretty sure she could safely consider her quidditch career back on track, she supposed even if she did want to go into magizoology at some point, she should practice her charms.

"I was going to start my transfiguration essay though?" Alice was obviously more than welcome to do her charms, but  transfiguration was one of few classes Sloane didn't need help in either.

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Well, that was one less stressor at least. Alice truly didn't have the energy to try and talk Sloane through the essay on top of finishing her own. Maybe if things weren't so tense, maybe if she didn't constantly wonder about the kiss and what it meant or hell, maybe if she didn't feel like she had a ticking time bomb over her head, Alice wouldn't have felt this uncomfortable sitting across from Sloane. But the fact of it was was that she no longer knew how to talk to her dormmate. Not about classes or their assignments, not about quidditch or their friends, nothing. Alice felt like a fish out of water, flopping about in a desperate attempt to find water.

"Great, thanks for the heads up." Alice nearly snapped. It was a shorter response than she meant to say, or at least it was how it sounded. "I think I'll work on it upstairs. It's a bit noisy down here." More like she was now trying to run as fast as she humanly could to avoid any kind of confrontation.

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Amazing set by Bee!

Sloane visibly winced at Alice's reply, the tone more than anything. Genuinely taken aback, she bit her lip and fidgeted with her hands as she then announced she was going to go upstairs and work where it was quieter. Man, Sloane thought that after all they had been through after the last year or so, they would be over situations like this.

"Alright, good luck." Sloane passed her a sad sort of smile and leaned down to get her transfiguration book to start on her essay. Looked like she would be up late tonight waiting until everyone else was asleep before going upstairs. At least she'd be caught up on homework. "I'm sorry," She added quietly. "For whatever I did."

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Two paths now laid before her. The first would solidify the end of her friendship with Sloane. It would take her upstairs to work on the bloody essay until sleep inevitably took over. Morning would then bring splinters and cracks throughout their friend group until Alice finally became the outcast. The second would likely end with the exact same results, but she could at least say she made the effort. Alice remained still with her book half shoved back into her bag. Losing more friends after Calla, Cameron and Edison wasn't something she could live with right now. Even if Sloane wasn't really a friend at present.

"You didn't do anything," she huffed as her book was forced back into her bag. The kiss wasn't something they could discuss here — or ever — but she also didn't want to get into leaving school right now. A half truth would have to suffice. "There's a lot going on and I'm too confused and overwhelmed to think it through right now. I don't even know when I would have the time to process it." She finished with another huff.

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Amazing set by Bee!

Sloane really didn't believe Alice when she said she hadn't done something. They simply didn't go this long without talking every day, more than a simple good morning and goodnight, without something else being at the core. It felt back like when she had discovered the secret about Cam and herself and Sloane hated it.

"Alright," Sloane sighed, a defeated sort of look on her face. "I don't want to add to your stress." She added as Splash made her way into Sloane's lap. Thankful for the weight, the seeker curled her fingers into the cat's long fur to give her hands something to do.

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