Yes, I fancied Oliver, but I wasn’t going to start wearing enough make-up for a clown, a push-up bra, and shirts cut down to my navel just to get his attention. Instead, I pretended like nothing had changed, but made the mistake of telling Riley, Angelina, Katie, and Alicia about my little crush. Don’t get me wrong, my friends are great, but Riley is a hopeless romantic, Angie’s a cynic, Katie’s about as oblivious as Oliver, and Alicia has a tendency to be tactless.This would not in and of itself be a problem if I had realized it at the time.

Potions class, as I had expected, was really quite dreadful.  What do you get when you add one irate Snape plus an icky dungeon plus evil Slytherins plus ingredients with a tendency to explode plus a six foot four Nazi Quidditch Captain as a partner??  That’s right.  Welcome to Kenna Appleby’s own personal seventh circle of hell.  In case that isn’t descriptive enough, or is somehow muddy in meaning, I’ll clarify.  Hell.  Is not.  Fun.

I was sort of expecting Katie to argue, but instead, she just gave us all a long, hard look, then nodded, staring out the window at the Whomping Willow.  I swear, that tree is possessed by...by Snape or something!  Seriously.  It’s bad tempered and rude and  never lets you have a chance to say what you want, and I bet if it could, it would totally take points away from everyone.

 Because if I fail in my mission (it’s titled Operation:  Make Kenna Realize I Am Not a Fascist), I’m going to have several highly pissed off people after me.  And while the idea of Kenna with a spoon is terrifying, I think I might survive.  She would eventually take one look into my 'iridescent amber eyes' (Her words, not mine.  Fred and George stole her diary once and read it to me.  I was both repulsed and fascinated.) and melt sufficiently so that I could make an escape.

I saw the wheels turning in Riley’s head. I nearly ran out of the room then and there. “Oh, nothing much.” She grinned slyly before screeching loud enough for the entire castle to hear. “Unless you want me to tell you how KENNA APPLEBY FANCIES THE PANTS OFF OF OLIVER WOOD.”

In his defense, today’s the first Quidditch match of the season, and I suppose he’s too busy with his captaining to bother screwing around with his Seeker, who should by all rights be freaking concentrating on the match instead of worrying about a sarcastic, entirely too good-looking arse.

I can’t believe that I just defended Oliver.  The world must be coming to an end.

His hair was no longer pink, but his nails were still growing and his mouth wouldn’t stop moving.  He clamped a hand over it, trying to avoid whatever it was he was trying to say, but it was no use.  “I’m a fancy pants!”  The entire class grew quiet, even Snape.  “I’m camp, gay, homosexual!”  Wow.  This was shocking.  “I want to shag Percy Weasley.”  That was just disturbing.  Ollie and I cracked up anyways.

They exchanged smug glances.  “Let’s just say we bribed Percy to tell us what was going on.  After all, if Wood’s planning any surprise Quidditch ambushes, it’s in our best interest to know beforehand.” George explained.  In a strange way, this actually made sense.

I smiled thinly.  “He told me so.” Oliver made a sound of derision, and I went on.  “Also, he likes me and realizes that meeting my family’s a good idea.  The fact that he’d like to get his hands up my skirt probably doesn’t hurt.” 

Yes, Katie was a meddling little slag-bird, but she was my friend, my roommate, and in spite of her many faults, I loved her.  In a completely platonic and not-at-all creepy way, of course.  So if she was going to pretend to be too cowardly to confront Oliver, it was pretty much my sacred duty as one of her best mates to do so for her.

She seemed almost amused. “You apparently can’t focus around Montgomery, either. If there’s no other problem, you might try sitting with Mr. Wood again; the pair of you could probably pay more attention sitting next to each other. That way, you wouldn’t have to send longing glances at the back of his head, and Mr. Wood might be able to face the front of the class again instead of staring at you all period.”

“Mmphnga.” I tried to talk, but my mouth still wasn’t working.

“Oh, we know.” Katie replied brightly.  “We love you, too!  See you two later!”  That was definitely not what I had been saying.  Lucky for Katie that I couldn't move or I'd have broken her face.

“Kenna!” Oliver called after me, but I didn’t stop.  “Kenna, no!  Wait!”

I didn’t wait for him.  I couldn’t.  The tears that I thought had dried up a week before came back in full force, and my eyes were streaming as I made my way out onto the street, going somewhere, anywhere that would take me far away from Oliver.

“Actually, no.” I replied dryly, wiggling a little underneath him.  His eyes crossed and his body pressed harder into mine.  It was certainly true that he knew how he affected me.  But it was equally true that I knew how I affected him.  And if certain body parts could be believed, which they most certainly could, Oliver was definitely affected.  It brought a smug smile to my lips as I continued.  “I really don’t want to.”