Peyton O'Malley
March 27, 2020 7:05 AM
(Prefect Lounge) Thinking by Peyton O'Malley
Peyton sat in the prefect lounge. Last year, she really hadn't come in here much because nobody she was friends with was able to but now Connor and Ivy were Head Students so she was able to talk to them. However, both were graduating at the end of the year and she'd...be back to not having friends who could join her in the prefect lounge unless Vlad and/or Jasmine got Head Student. Peyton was tempted to vote for Jasmine rather than herself for this reason.Not that she actively didn't want to be Head Girl. It would be nice, it would mean that people liked her. However, it would also be really nice to have her best friend hang out with her in the prefect lounge.
As for Vlad, Peyton had to admit that while he would make a wonderful Head Boy and of course she was going to vote for him personally....Dorian was likely going to win regardless of what the Crotalus wanted or thought. Not that her cousin's roommate was a bad choice but Vlad would, in her eyes, be the best. Peyton felt bad for thinking her cousin was unlikely to get the honor, but then she was similarly pessimistic about her own chances. She wasn't sure who would get Head Girl but it wouldn't likely be her. Even if Vlad did campaign on her behalf like he had Ivy.
And then there were prefects. Peyton didn't get a choice in that obviously, as if she'd had a say in that Ivy (and Vlad) would have won, but she sort of hoped it would be Allegra rather than Julius for Crotalus. She really felt that Allegra would be the easier, more agreeable one to work with. Julius did not seem to like anyone but Evelyn Stones. (Though to his credit, he had seemed to side with Ivy during the newspaper incident.)
Honestly, Peyton did not get why some people, such as Evelyn, Dorian and Eden, just...had It. Some intangible quality that she just did not have. She also did not know why she seemed immune to them having It. Like, Dorian was nice, she just was loyal to her cousin, but with the other two she just did not see what was so special about them. It wasn't as if Peyton disliked them, she'd worked fine with them last year on the Challenges, but she was not exactly fawning over them and did not get why others seemed to. For Merlin's sake, Julius Astley who did't even seem to like anyone liked Evelyn and Eden had gotten prefect over a much more deserving candidate. It was as if they had veela powers, when Peyton was pretty sure they didn't have veela heritage.
Actually Eden-and therefore her mother since while Ross Manger was not human he definitely did not have veela blood-being part veela would make a lot of sense. Why he would be so nice to them and not her mother or siblings.
The door opened and Peyton looked up, hoping to see Connor or Ivy. Unfortunately, it wasn't either of them. She smiled nervously at the other person.
11
Peyton O'Malley
(Prefect Lounge) Thinking
1403
1
5
Eden Manger
March 27, 2020 10:58 AM
What about? by Eden Manger
Drawstring bag slung over one shoulder and Potions textbook in the other, Eden headed off toward the lounge. It was convenient that both she and her boyfriend were Prefects and had access to the lounge, and they often met there to study together. The library was fine, but with more people able to access it, there was more foot-traffic, and Brett was pretty easily distracted. Only a maximum of fourteen people (four Prefects for each of the upper years and two Head Students) had access to the lounge, so there were less people who could be coming and going to distract him. And since Brett was usually the one who needed the most work - academics were not exactly his strong suit, and Eden had picked up a lot of the schoolwork slack since his Aladren sister graduated - they needed to cater to his slight attention span deficit.Brett told her today at the last minute that he couldn’t make it, though. Eden didn’t know what on earth he could possibly have to do, but whatever. She was already committed to this schedule today, though, so she decided to carry on and work on the Potions essay currently hanging over her head in the privacy and quiet of the Prefects lounge.
When she arrived, she found that someone was already there. And not just anyone: Peyton O’Malley. Eden and Peyton had managed to operate in close quarters well enough during the challenges, but it was hard not to imagine that Peyton held some sort of resentment for her. After all, Eden’s dad and Peyton’s mom had been married once upon a time, which was how Sally, Arnold, and Jake got here. But it hadn’t been good. Eden knew that now. The truths were all laid out to her, but they still hardly felt like truths. That was not the man her father was. Ross Manger was kind. He was a great dad and, for most of her life, her best friend. Losing him had been a hard blow to the chest, but to hear all this years later had been like losing him all over again. Her memories felt tainted now. Questionable. And everyone wondered, but no one asked because no one could answer: what was the difference in Ross between his two marriages? Half of his survivors were left to wonder, Why was he so cruel to them? while the other half wondered, Why was he so kind?
“Oh,” Eden uttered, thrown off by the unexpected sight. “Hi, Peyton.” She paused, maybe a little too long, and just stared at her. “Um, maybe I should… should I go?”
12
Eden Manger
What about?
385
0
5
Peyton O'Malley
April 06, 2020 2:55 PM
Uhhh....stuff. by Peyton O'Malley
Oh crap! Peyton thought when she realized who had entered the lounge. It was not as if Eden was mean or anything but it was so super awkward to be around her. True they'd been around each other during the Challenges last year, but they'd had their other teammates around as a buffer. Of course, there had also been the worries about making their other teammates uncomfortable and also about looking bad in front of them either comparatively-because so far it seemed mostly seemed as though most people thought Eden was better-or because they thought the Crotalus was rude or mean for no reason-not that Evelyn would have had room to talk-so Peyton guessed it was a trade-off.Rationally, she knew the older girl hadn't done anything wrong, but truthfully, she still felt like their mutual siblings were more interested in getting to know Eden (and their other siblings) than they were in Peyton-or Ryan either. True, her brother was not biologically related to Sally, Jake or Arnold, but she was. The Crotalus had always felt like she was old news to them. That she wasn't as interesting or as talented or as something . She was just ordinary. Boring.
And since then, Peyton had felt like she had to compete with Eden. True, she hadn't, for example, decided to try playing Quidditch because nothing about that appealed to her at all, but she had, however, felt she needed to get prefect. And that had made her feel guilty because she'd been competing against Jasmine, who would have been a wonderful prefect...but she'd still really wanted it. Honestly, the sixth year was just glad that it wasn't the same with Head Girl. Especially as that was based on student votes and she didn't know who would possibly vote for her other than possibly Vlad. If he didn't vote for her, she'd honestly be hurt, even if she personally decided to vote for Jasmine. However, at least she wouldn't have to live up to Eden because Eden hadn't gotten it.
"Hi." Peyton responded. The older girl offered to leave. "No, no, you don't have to." She was not going to look like the jerk and chase Eden off. What if their mutual siblings found out and thought Peyton was being mean?
11
Peyton O'Malley
Uhhh....stuff.
1403
0
5
Eden Manger
April 11, 2020 11:26 AM
Yeah, me too. by Eden Manger
Peyton said she could stay, but that almost just made Eden want to leave more. After all, she probably didn’t really mean it, she just had to say it out of social obligation. Eden had never had an issue with the younger girl - in fact, she kinda thought they had worked pretty well together during the team challenges - but there was forever an unspoken tension. Eden always felt like she needed to apologize to Peyton. But she didn’t, because she had never actually done anything wrong to her, and maybe because Eden was a little bit too proud. She felt that she was as much a victim as almost anyone. Not Sally or Dad’s other wife, for sure, but just about anyone else.Certainly more than Peyton, who had, admittedly, a pretty good situation, all things considered. She got to grow up with their siblings for her whole life, always feeling supported and loved by them. Eden only met them as a cushion during the lowest moment of her life. And her relationship with their brothers was rocky at best now; she hardly knew what to think, how to look at Jake knowing that the sweetest person she had ever met had also committed the most atrocious act she had ever experienced. Not to mention, Peyton had both of her parents. So maybe Eden was just a little jealous.
“Okay, thanks,” Eden replied. She moved to a different couch, sliding her bag off of her shoulder as she sat. She pulled her homework out quietly, trying not to look too directly at Peyton, but it was hard in the cozy lounge not to make accidental contact. And not talking, she quickly decided, was more awkward than talking. So Eden conversationally stated, “I brought my stuff to work on that Potions essay. Have you started yours yet?”
12
Eden Manger
Yeah, me too.
385
0
5
Peyton O'Malley
April 16, 2020 3:06 PM
*nods* by Peyton O'Malley
"You're welcome." Peyton replied, a bit stiffly. It wasn't as if Eden needed her permission. The Teppenpaw had the same rights as she did to hang out in the prefect lounge.Still, it was uncomfortable and awkward and tense and a whole bunch of other words that basically had the same connotations. And she had to sit there and take it or it would somehow make her out to be the one in the wrong. Like, that she was being rude to Eden if she didn't somehow stay there for a little while. Because it would be Peyton's fault, she was sure of it. Because Eden was apparently perfect . Special. Apparently so wonderful and extraordinary that her father had treated her like a princess while being cruel to their siblings.
And to Peyton, that wasn't any different then Ryan's biological mother favoring Carrie over him. As far as she was concerened, it was the same blasted situation except Eden was admittedly not the monster that Carrie was. Not that Peyton remembered much about her older half sister-in this case the half was an important distinction, her siblings were all technically her half siblings, but while she embraced her brothers and Sally wholeheartedly, she wanted to distance herself from Carrie as much as possible-she had heard the horror stories. Nobody had any more good to say about the former Crotalus than they did her mother.
As far as Peyton was concerned, Pearl Brockert O'Malley and Ross Manger were the same. Why they'd even plotted to get her and her siblings taken away and her mother declared unfit. That was why she had lived briefly with Ivy and Vlad and their parents when she was little. Not that living with their family was bad or anything, but she still resented both her parents' ex-spouses for this.
However, with Carrie, Peyton knew that her dad's first wife had wanted a girl to make in her own image-something she was quite successful at by all accounts. There was no specific reason, even a poor one, why Ross Manger had favored Eden.
She looked up as the older girl spoke to her. "Yes. Do you need help on it?" Peyton asked, sincerely doubting that the seventh year would say yes. Why wouldn't she be better at Potions than Peyton too?
11
Peyton O'Malley
*nods*
1403
0
5
Eden Manger
April 25, 2020 7:17 AM
Well this is going as well as could have been expected. by Eden Manger
Initially, Eden wasn’t exactly sure how to take Peyton’s response. She wanted to believe it was meant in good faith, and that Peyton was just genuinely trying to be helpful. But just based on the dynamic, Eden couldn’t help but be defensive, and she didn’t appreciate the implication that she needed a younger student’s help to do her homework. Not that Peyton necessarily had any means of knowing it, but Eden got pretty darn good grades. There were slips here and there when her personal life got too stressful - having your brother kill your dad could do that to a person - but she was a clever girl with a solid capacity for book learning.She had college on the horizon, in fact. After some recommendations, she had eventually settled on following their her sister’s footsteps. She hadn’t gotten into Harvard like Sally had, but Eden was still heading to school in Boston, Massachusetts to study pre-law. After everything that had happened, and all the topsy-turvy changes to her little world, she just wanted to help make things right again, and to establish some sense of justice. Eden just wanted to do good. So, no, she didn’t really need tutored by a sixth year.
“No, but I just thought maybe you might,” she returned, her tone as equally sincere as Peyton’s had been. Either one of them was being petty or neither of them was, and Eden was apparently not going to be the one to decide which it was. “Have you gotten far?”
12
Eden Manger
Well this is going as well as could have been expected.
385
0
5
Peyton O'Malley
April 25, 2020 4:36 PM
Well, we can agree on that. by Peyton O'Malley
Peyton could feel her blood boiling. The absolute nerve! Potions was the sixth year's absolute best subject and Eden had to be so condescending as to think she needed help on it! She should know better after all, considering the final Challenge last year where Peyton had shown off her cooking skills, which was very similar to potions. And while the Crotalus might not be as good a student as Ivy or even Connor, she was perfectly fine!But of course. Of course Little Miss Perfect would think she was better at everything than Peyton was. She didn't just have to be an amazing Quidditch player and just so bloody special that even her evil monster of a father who treated his other children and her mother so horridly loved her and take their mutual siblings away from Peyton (and Ryan), she had to think herself better at the sixth year's best subject too!
Not to mention what Eden had taken from Ivy who had been much more deserving of prefect. The Crotalus legitimately did not know how the older girl had done it. What power did she have over so many people, the staff and their siblings and even a sociopath like Ross Manger? And it was clear to Peyton that Eden must realize this too since she clearly thought herself so much better than the Crotalus.
She wanted to cry. She wanted to scream. She wanted to swear and throw things and just otherwise lose it. Peyton was sick and tired of this, having to feel inadequate and inferior and just plain old boring. Eden always came out being the better of them.
However, the Crotalus could do none of that. Never mind the whole pureblood doctrine of always keeping your cool, if Peyton lost it she would look bad once again. She knew full well she'd come across as the monster who was mean to poor Eden. Her siblings would hate her. So she managed to keep her tone as neutral as possible. "Actually, I'm almost done."
11
Peyton O'Malley
Well, we can agree on that.
1403
0
5
Eden Manger
May 02, 2020 10:00 AM
You should probably agree with me more often. by Eden Manger
There was something so intrinsically insulting about a sentence that began with the word, “Actually”. It was almost always meant to say, Actually, you’re wrong. Eden wasn’t sure if that was really how Peyton meant it, but honestly, she was getting kind of tired of assuming the best in people. It had slapped her in the face a good few times, and this conversation was growing more and more infuriating by the minute.So now Peyton was almost done? Funny, she hadn’t mentioned that before. She just said she had started. All Eden had wanted was to diffuse the tension with a common enemy - in this case, Potion’s homework - but all she got back was Peyton’s passive aggression and superiority. The younger girl probably thought she was better than her. Healthy families bred confidence, two things Eden had once thought she had. But Peyton did have those. She had two living, loving parents. That was how
“Oh, that’s cool,” Eden answered, a glint in her eye. “Do you want me to proofread it for you?”
12
Eden Manger
You should probably agree with me more often.
385
0
5