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chapter fourteen | dates?!
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"THAT'S RIGHT UP YOUR STREET, K,"
Kaya and Maisie has practically bounced over to Jaeden and Milo at Gryffindor table, sharing their excitement with them about the Yule Ball. They were, yet again, sitting next to the Weasley twins and Lee.
"I want it to be Christmas so bad," Kaya said. Her face was hurting from smiling so much. But everyone couldn't help but notice the fact that Jaeden was more on the downside.
"What's up, Jae?" asked Milo.
"How are we gonna get dates?" the boy said, glancing between his three friends. They all exchanged frowns. Fred George and Lee moved closer to them, becoming much more invested in their conversation at the mention of 'dates' and so looked to join in.
"By asking," George butted in with a grin.
"That should be the least of your worries," said Maisie. "We've got it easy - we're a group of four, two boys and two girls, what makes it more complicated than that?"
"Yeah," said Kaya. "Maisie'll probably go with Milo, and then I can go with you,"
Fred turned away at that point, but only for a moment. Jaeden hesitated for a second, moving his food around his plate with a fork.
"Yeah... but the Yule Ball is the only dance we'll probably ever have at Hogwarts. Which is why I wanna go with someone I love,"
"Oh, what? Like Alicia?" said Kaya sarcastically, putting on a high pitched voice. Maisie bit her lip, grinning.
"...Maybe I do love Alicia! She's smart, she's beautiful, and she's amazing!"
Maisie and Kaya exchanged smirks.
"Probably worth mentioning to her, then, mate," said Milo. "If that's how you feel,"
"Yeah, go for it," Fred chimed in, now, for some reason, more cheerful. "Worst you can get is a 'no' so what's stopping you?"
"I should, shouldn't I?" Jaeden said, although it sounded like he was trying to convince himself first. "What if she feels the same?"
"Seems fairly unlikely," said Kaya. Fred drank some pumpkin juice to stop himself letting out a laugh. George snorted.
"Do you think?" Jaeden said, eyes flicking between the group all staring at him.
"I'm joking!" Kaya said. "Go for it, it won't kill you. You never know, she might say yes,"
Everyone murmured in agreement.
"Okay," The boy said smiling. "I'll do it,"
Maisie glanced over at Alicia Spinnet many seats down from them, talking with Angelina Johnson. Please say yes, she thought.
"Who are you gonna go with, then K, if Jae ends up going with Alicia?" asked Milo. The twins both leaned forward to see the girl's answer.
"I don't bloody know," she said. "But we haven't gotten that far yet. Until it's clear Jae's going with Alicia, I'm not sorting anything."
Fred really hoped Alicia would say yes to Jae.
"I'll still be dancing with you, though," Jaeden said to the brunette. "We've gotta do our kitchen practice."
Kaya grinned.
"Of course we do," she said, as if it was obvious.
Kaya and Jaeden absolutely loved dancing, and so the two best friends had made up a routine that they both danced in their huge kitchens, as the tiles on the kitchen floor were extremely slippery so it was easier to shuffle. Their dance matched pretty much every song played, and it became such a natural dance that when Kaya zoned out, the moves would be constantly playing in the back of her head, wherever she was. She was beginning to think it was unhealthy, truth be told.
"Kitchen practice?" asked Lee, making a face. The twins looked equally confused, but Milo and Maisie were unbothered, for Kaya and Jaeden had performed it for them way too many times.
"Only one of the best dances made since 'Born to Hand Jive'," said Jaeden proudly.
"Born to Hand Jive?" asked Fred. "What are you on about?"
"Oh, 'Born to Hand Jive' is a muggle thing," Kaya said, not bothering to get into the explanation of muggle movies and then Grease. "Basically, our kitchen practice is just a dance we made up. That's all."
"Oh," said Fred. "I'll be looking forward to that, then,"
Kaya grinned.
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It was an average night in the Hufflepuff common room. Kaya's day had consisted of being scared to death yet again in Moody's class, discussing the Yule Ball with anyone who'd listen, catching up with her little brother, and swearing at Peeves the Poltergeist for dropping a textbook on her head.
Kaya, Maisie and Cedric were all sitting by the fireplace, writing letters to home. Kaya had only sent two since she'd been back at school, and so thought she should give her parents an update.
The two girls were singing an acapella version of the Grease soundtrack, of which Cedric knew nothing about apart from the fact that they sang it all the time. He still frowned in confusion every now and again when they sang certain lyrics he found extremely strange. Especially during 'Sandra Dee'.
"Elvis! Elvis! Let me be! Keep that pelvis far from me!"
"Literally, what the hell are you singing?" he asked, scrunching his face. But Kaya and Maisie just laughed, carrying on their common room concert as they wrote.
Everyone in Hufflepuff had gotten so used to them singing they'd learned to ignore it, by now. But the girls were usually drowned out by their housemate's bubble of chatter, anyway, so it was no bother to anybody but Cedric.
Kaya read through the letter she'd just finished.
Hi, Mum and Dad!
Sorry I haven't written in ages I kind of forgot, it's all been really busy! The first task was absolutely terrifying, I thought I was going to be sick watching. Not that it was gross, it was just scary to watch. They made all the champions fight a dragon to retrieve a golden egg - I know! I bet you're both glad I'm not seventeen yet so that I couldn't enter. Mind you, you both know I probably wouldn't have anyway. Cedric - and I swear, Dad, if I have to tell you one more time who he is (Kaya's Dad took ages trying to learn who any of her friends were, apart from her three closet, of course) - came second, which I think was amazing since half his face got burned. Harry Potter and that Viktor Krum came first.
But there's going to be a Yule Ball! We're so excited, we can't wait. The original plan was for us four to split off (Maisie with Milo, Jae with me) and you know, go as friends. But Jae wants to go with one of the girls in our year he's got a crush on, so he's going to ask her first. I know it's selfish, but I'm kind of going along with the idea that she'll say no so I won't be dateless. But if she says yes, I have no idea who to go with. Oh well, I'll figure it out. We'll all have to go shopping for dresses and robes soon! I can't wait.
I just realised I'm nearly filling the whole page, so I'll have to close off real quick. Alfie's doing great, from what I've seen of him. Milo's in the same house as him, so he's like his designated babysitter when they're all in the common room. He sees him more often and says Alfie and Jeremy fit right in with the rest though. They're much cooler than me when I was a first year. Oh yeah, and I dunno if he told you, he made a friend called Caleb. Alf's useless, so I doubt he told you. But stop stressing about him - because I know you are! - he's doing great. And he's got his extra cool big sister with her Grease melodies looking out for him!
How are you back home? Have you got a puppy yet? Please tell me you have, I really think we should get one!
Could you send some money from my stash at home? It's Jae's birthday soon, and I need to get presents and a dress for the ball and I'm skint. Cheers!
Kaya (your favourite child) xxx
PS. I'm with Maisie right now in the common room and she told me to write 'Hi' from her on this, so there you go.
Kaya had been pestering her parents for years about getting a dog. She knew it was a long shot - but that didn't stop her from sneaking it in her letters every time she wrote to them.
She'd always got hope!
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"Bloody hell Jae, why'd you have to be born in December? It's such an inconvenience," said Kaya.
"Erm, I didn't ask to be born in December," Jaeden retorted. "Sue my parents, not me,"
"It's all too much on my plate," said Maisie. "I need to get a dress, then I need to get you all Christmas presents, and on top of that, it's Jae's birthday soon so I need to get him an extra present as well!"
"I just usually get one extra present when we're Christmas shopping," said Milo. "It's not too bad - okay yeah, that was bollocks, I take that back. Jaeden, you're so hard to buy for."
"Wow, I'm so sorry for having a birthday!"
"Apology accepted,"
The group were all planning to go to Hogsmeade at some point, but they were waiting for their parents to send them money first, as they were all broke. Kaya was longing for a letter back because she was itching to go and buy a dress with Maisie. The Yule Ball was going to be the highlight of her year, without a doubt.
They were headed to the Great Hall for lunch, after just spending a free period in the library rushing through homework that was due later on that day. Well, except for Milo, who just chatted to them as they worked. He was the only organised one of the group - he'd completed his homework two days before.
"Hey, Ron's back!" Milo said happily, as the group sat down in their usual place. The ginger smiled at him, before awkwardly glancing at the other three, wondering who on Earth they were.
Hermione had to explain it to him, and each one of them waved when she said their name.
"So you're the twins' little brother," Kaya said to him. "Yeah, I see it,"
"No shit, Kaya, they've all got the same colour hair," said Jaeden.
"Shut up! I'm just being friendly,"
Fred, George and Lee had been pestering Jaeden for the last few days to ask Alicia to the ball. Kaya wished they wouldn't, she didn't know what to do if she ended up dateless. She'd feel like Rizzo and Marty.
It was around two weeks into December, the group was sitting in the library, doing some more homework. Jae walked in, grabbing a book and sitting down.
"Alright, Jae?" Maisie greeted.
"I asked her," said Jaeden. The three looked up at him, before exchanging looks.
Three familiar boys - otherwise known as the twins and Lee - noticed Jaeden's arrival and scurried over to hear him speak, still waiting for him to tell them whether he'd asked Alicia or not. Today was their lucky day.
"Awe, never mind-" Kaya began, expecting the answer to be 'no'. But the boy shook his head, grinning.
"She said yes!"
"What?!"
Maisie and Milo both beamed. Kaya froze and stayed silent for a few seconds, processing what was happening.
"Nice one, mate!" Milo said. "Good on ya,"
"...FUCK!" Kaya said loudly, earning a scolding from Madam Pince.
"I mean - yeah, good for you, Jae, I'm happy for you," she began. "But now I'm dateless! Who am I gonna go with?"
George and Lee turned to Fred, who scowled at them.
"We'll find you someone," said Maisie. "If not, Milo'll just have to have two dates."
Kaya gave a half smile to the blonde boy who laughed at the idea of taking both Kaya and Maisie.
"Fuck sake," she muttered with a small laugh, almost amused at the fact that she ended up being the one with nobody to go with. She decided to change the subject. "When did you ask her, Jae?"
"Well I've got Care of Magical Creatures with her, haven't I?" he said. "And she doesn't have any friends in that class, so it was easy to get her alone,"
"What did you do, hold her down?"
Jaeden ignored Kaya's sarcastic comment.
"I bet you were well awkward about it," said Lee with a laugh.
"Oh yeah," George agreed. "He probably, most definitely wet himself,"
Jaeden flipped the two off.
"And, well... I just asked her!"
"Did she seem surprised?" asked Maisie.
"Well, yeah," said Jaeden. "But she said yes! In fact, she said she'd love to."
"Awe," said Kaya, acknowledging the boy's bright eyes and gleeful beam. "I'm happy for you. Really."
Jaeden did a sarcastic gasp.
"Was that you being nice?" he said, his jaw dropped. "To me?!"
"Don't get used to it," said Kaya.
The time came for the group to make their way out of the library, ready for their next lesson, when George and Lee pointed it out to Fred that they were leaving.
"Well, go on then," said George to his twin. "You wanna hurry up before she gets nicked by someone else,"
Lee nodded in agreement.
Fred gave the two an unsure glance, before slowly and steadily, following the brunette girl and her friends out of the library.