Off to jolly old England on Aladren Commons

Jennifer Z.

November 13, 2005 10:27 PM

Off to jolly old England by Jennifer Z.

Jennifer sat at the Crotalus table with a few pieces of luggage beside her. She had been waiting for about twenty-five minutes, occasionally checking her watch. She silently thanked all the diplomatic dinners that she was forced to go to occasionally as a child, because she was now able to wait patiently, unlike some she knew.

Without a doubt, Lizzy was still trying to figure out what to take. Jennifer loved her best friend, she really did, but they were just so very different. While Lizzy loved to draw attention to herself, and did so whenever she could, through actions or outfits (which explained why it always took her hours to pack), Jennifer was still the meek mouse she'd always been.

She reached down and smoothed her outfit, a grey shirt and a black skirt. No matter how much some of her friends tried to get her out of her shell, being a wallflower was highly underated. She could watch without having to get involved in the politics and fakery of life, and know before she acted everything she needed to.

Jennfer sighed, and checked her watch again. If Lizzy didn't hurry up, they were going to be late to meet Gary. Her oldest cousin, the one who had gone to Sonora with Lizzy's brother Brett. Gary was possibly her favorite cousin, with the only other competitor being Will, the cousin nearest her age. Gary had begged and pleaded in order to be the one who came to pick them up.

He had written Jennifer a few weeks before about how he couldn't wait to meet the sister of his best friend, and he had decided he would prefer all questions involving the two's school days to be over with sooner than later. Jennifer hadn't managed to get a satisfactory answer out of Lizzy or her cousin about what that meant, but she would probably know soon enough. Gary had decided to throw convention to the winds even more by taking them back to England using muggle transportation, just to shock Aunt Meg and her mother, and it was a ridiculously long flight, perfect for interrogations. \n\n

0 Jennifer Z. Off to jolly old England 48 Jennifer Z. 1 5

Elizabeth, of course...

November 13, 2005 10:59 PM

Yes, England. by Elizabeth, of course...

It had taken Elizabeth only a few minutes to make her way through the crowds of students all off to their own Christmas destinations to the Cascade Hall where Jen was surely waiting. The journey involved a good amount of waving off friends or yelling goodbyes across the foyer to departing classmates. All the while, however, the card she had just recieved in her common room burned in her mind. It was an unexpected guesture coming from Ash, who had always seemed to her as someone who wouldn't care enough to send a Christmas card. Okay, so maybe she was overthinking the whole thing. Yeah, that was it.

Upon entering the festively decorated hall, Lizzie immediately found her best friend sitting at her house table, dressed like someone getting ready for a funeral. Honestly, she tried everything she could with Jen, absolutely everything, but nothing seemed to dissuade Jennifer from her monotonous wardrobe. Lizzie herself was wearing an outfit fit for Christmas- her long, flowy black skirt and red top went nicely with her new floor length black traveling cloak she had gotten specifically in anticipation for the freezing England wintertime.

"Jen!" she called out from the hall entrance, and hurried over to where her friend sat with her luggage. "I can't believe it's Christmas already!"

Elizabeth grinned widely as she guided her trunk to sit next to her. After it had situated itself, she turned back on her friend, a mix of excitement and nervous anticipation flushing her cheeks. Afterall, she was going to spend the break under the ever-critical eye of Jen's mother and aunt, but somehow the prospect of spending a Christmas in the snowy climate of England seemed to outshine the former. Somehow, since she had talked with Ash, things like the Noires and what they would think of her didn't bother her so much anymore. She rather liked not having to worry so much about what everyone else thought.

That train of thought lead her back to the card, which she banished from her mind as soon as the idea began to form. Elizabeth focused, instead, on the exciting holidays that lie directly ahead of her.

"So, Jen," she said, "Who's coming to get us? I know you said that one of your cousins would come out, but you never specified which one..." \n\n

0 Elizabeth, of course... Yes, England. 0 Elizabeth, of course... 0 5

Jennifer

November 14, 2005 10:41 PM

Oh, of course by Jennifer

Jennifer rolled her eyes as her friend joined her. "Let me guess, Lizzie. Your trunk magically unpacked itself, so you had to repack everything, and then it turned out your clothes had been lost in the storm, or something like that, and you're late because you were searching for them. That better be it, because you had promised continually over hte past couple of days that you were completely packed.

"And Gary's coming to pick us up and take us to the airport. You know, he's the one who your brother knew at school. He's decided to fly us over there, just to shock the mothers, so if you had been much later, than the wagons would have been held up, and we would have missed the flight, and Gary would probably have left us there."

She sighed, and rested her chin on her elbows. "And please, don't give me a hard time about my outfit. It's perfectly acceptable. Does it really matter that it blends in very well with the wall?" Lizzie hadn't started the scathing remarks about her clothing choice, but she knew it would come sooner or later, and she really didn't want to hear it.

She probably was giving Lizzie a harder time than she should have, but her family was a delicate subject for her. There were some cousins that she adored, like Gary, some she liked on occasion, like Will, and others who she couldn't stand, like Paul, her second oldest cousin and Will's brother.

On the subject of family and cousins, she thought about the letter Gary had sent her again. "Oh, and Liz, did I miss something that happened when your brother came for the alumni banquet? Gary mentioned you might have some questions for him, and neither of us has had time since the mudstorm to actually talk very much."

Finally looking at her friend, she noticed that Lizzie was wearing a rather...strange look. Almost ridiculously happy. ANd a small envelope was sticking out of the messenger bag Lizzie was always toting about. Grinning evilly, she reached in and grabbed it before her friend could stop her.\r\n

"And what have we here?" she asked, while sliding the card out. It probably wasn't very nice, but Lizzie was the one who was always telling her that she needed to be less...easy to walk over, and more assertive. Well, this was her being assertive. She scanned the note, and gave Lizzie an amused look.\r\n

"That's really sweet, at least from what I know about Ash. I don't know either him or hsi twin very well, but I heard he doesn't like girly-girls all that much, and while you may have your tomboy moments, you also have your girlish ones. So, is there something going on between the two of you?" Jennifer smug smile grew wider. THis was going to turn out to be very interesting indeed. \r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

0 Jennifer Oh, of course 0 Jennifer 0 5

Elizabeth

November 23, 2005 6:43 PM

Well, you expected someone else? by Elizabeth

A smirk met Jen's tart opening comments, but it was all in good fun. Of course Lizzie hadn't packed these past few days- she had only said that to appease her best friend. Otherwise, she would have been pestered to no end about getting the task done. Besides, there was no harm in doing everything last minute, especially with something as trivial as packing, which was trivial only until you really got down to it and realised you didn't know what to pack. That was the situation Elizabeth had found herself in only half an hour ago.

"And Gary's coming to pick us up and take us to the airport. You know, he's the one who your brother knew at school..."

Elizabeth sighed, recieving the lecture she had known was coming. It seemed that somehow Jen was always early to whatever she needed to do, while Lizzie always managed to arrive either right on or late. But Lizzie's mind wasn't really focusing on her punctuality, or lack there-of. She was, infact, thinking about flying to England. She'd never done it before- fly on an airplane, that is. It was severely ironic that the one chance she got to fly long-distance was in a muggle airplane. Would the Noire family have something to say when they all appeared hours later than they should have. It would be interesting to see how they all would react.

It was then that Jen started talking about the Alumni Banquet, and the events that occured between the younger alumni. The subject was one of great interest- it seemed that Lizzie's family was much closer to that of other Sonora inhabitants. First of all, an older of the Santoro children, Julia, had been a great friend to her older brother's ex-girlfriend, who happened to also be her Head of House. It was definately a small world. Gary, it seemed, was part of the whole thing, and supposedly, Brett, Professor Connell, and Gary were all friends until mid-way through their 6th year. That, however, was the extent of her knowledge.

"Yes," she said, looking a bit vacant save her innermost thoughts, "Gary would know alot about what happened... I'll have to ask him on the plane ride..."

Her slight reverie was broken by Jen's hand slipping quickly into Lizzie's messenger bag. Before she could do or say anything, Jen had read the card and was commenting on it. A cold glare took over Lizzie's usually rosy and cheerful features as she grabbed the card and its envelope back, stuffing it in her bag.

"Nothing's going on, now let's go." she stood abruptly and flicked her wand, beckoning her luggage to follow, "C'mon Jen, we're going to be late."
\n\n

0 Elizabeth Well, you expected someone else? 0 Elizabeth 0 5