Empathy (Book 2)

Arguments

"That's completely ridiculous. You're wrong."

"I'm wrong, am I? Do you not think I would make sure I was correct before having a massive argument about it?"

Kat sighed, and put her face in her hands. It had been two weeks since they caught Ryan, and originally she thought that his defeat would bring them closer as a group. It did in many ways, for example Gem and Jorgie's friendship had grown stronger, but her keen eyes had spotted a few discrepancies within the group that she knew needed to be solved.

Firstly, Seth outright refused to hang out with anyone except for Neo. Kat was worried about this because she was sure it had something to do with Gem, as she had become extremely quiet and secluded- Kat noticed that this had started around the time Seth stopped hanging out with them, but at least her mood seemed to be improving with time.

Another problem was Jorgie and Neo's constant arguments. Kat had hoped that the temporary truce they agreed to would last, but she was unfortunately mistaken, as they still seemed to find a loud argument in the smallest of things. Even at that moment, they were all eating breakfast in the canteen, and Neo was leaning around his girlfriend just to disagree with Jorgie.

"Neo, if you want to continue arguing with Jorge, we can swap seats." Kat said through her hands. "Then you wouldn't have to lean around everyone."

"No thanks." He immediately scoffed. "I don't want to sit opposite anyone who thinks the Star Wars movies are better than the Harry Potter ones."

"Alright, so I have an opinion!" Jorgie shot back. "What of it? I just find Star Wars more enjoyable. Opinions can't be right or wrong, they're just what people believe!"

"Of course opinions can be wrong!" Neo countered angrily. "In this case, the correct answer is that Harry Potter is infinitely better."

Kat sighed, and began to tune them out like she had expertly learnt to do over the past year. She caught Ellie's eye, who had an apologetic look on her face- she knew Neo was stubborn and easy to provoke, but she could see past it and hoped her friends could too. Gem was just staring at her food, completely unaware of the happenings around her, and Lily was holding Jorgie's hand, squeezing it in reassurance whenever her voice became too loud. Luckily, before the argument got out of hand, the bell rang to signify the start of their first period.

Everyone got up to leave immediately, thankful that they no longer had to be in the presence of a heated disagreement, and left as quickly as possible. Too late, Lily realized that Neo's lesson was in the same direction as Jorgie's one.

Both of them continued to bicker as they walked towards their respective buildings, Lily sighing every couple of minutes. She wished they could realize that neither of them wanted to fight, and even though both of them acted the victim, Lily also knew they both had difficult lives. Unfortunately, neither knew the daily struggles that the other had to endure, and for all she knew, they never would.

Suddenly, in the back of her mind, she sensed someone watching them- after turning, she saw a blond haired girl staring at the arguing couple with interest. She didn't even have time to wonder why, however, as suddenly the girl had caught up with them and began to speak.

"You two seem to argue a lot, don't you?" She asked mildly. Jorgie and Neo stopped mid sentence and turned to stare at her, slightly off-put. She was wearing a pastel pink sweater that was too large to fit her skinny frame, pastel blue jeans and white trainers. She was short ('Still taller than me though,' Lily thought bitterly) and her pale blond hair flowed down her back. They also noticed she was wearing a flower crown that consisted of pastel pink roses, and her dreamy expression made Neo immediately draw parallels with Luna Lovegood.