two

                                    

                                          
             
                          
''Here you go, drink this.''  Lily's best friend, Alice Lightwood, said, passing Lily a steaming mug of tea with a smile.  
                          
''Thanks, Alice.  I'm sorry I'm such as mess,'' Lily said, sighing and taking a sip of her tea.  Alice had come over as soon as Lily had called, crying on the phone about Thomas and his love confession.  Alice merely smiled at Lily's apology, and sat down next to her on the bed.  
                          
''Don't apologise.  He made a major confession, and one that he can't take back. It's okay to not love him.  You don't have to.'' She said, smiling at Lily kindly. 
                          
''Thank you.  What do you think I should do?''  
                          
''Why on earth are you thanking me, I'm just telling the truth.  And, I think that if you still don't love him in a week's time, call it off, otherwise he's going to be even more hurt.''  Alice said, standing up.  ''Now, I'm going to run you a bath, and then later we'll watch a movie.  Is it okay if I sleep over tonight?  I don't want you to be lonely.''  Lily smiled at her friend's kindness.  
                          
''Sure.  I'll be up in a minute.''  Lily said.  Alice nodded and smiled back, before sliding Lily's bathroom door across and filling the bath.  Lily sighed.  How was her friend so good at keeping herself together?  She walked into the bathroom and pulled Alice, who was adding relaxing oils to the water, into a hug.  ''Thank you, for being so kind and helpful.''  Lily said into Alice's warm shoulder.  Alice laughed and squeezed Lily's hand.   
                          
''What else are friends for?''  
                          
-.-.-
                          
Monday
                          
Lily was studying in the library of her school, Gryffindor High.  Her math homework was due, and even though she was terrible at it, she needed to at least try to get it done.  She had just finished scribbling out an answer when a very loud laugh interrupted the quiet around her.  She looked up, furious, and saw James Potter, Sirius Black, Remus Lupin and Peter Pettigrew.  James was still laughing, Sirius was pouting, Remus was telling them to shut up and Peter was snoozing on his chemistry book.  Lily waited for them to shut up, but when they didn't, she got up, moving towards their table quickly and quietly.  When she arrived she glared at James and crossed her arms.   He stopped laughing immediately and looked up, trying his best to look innocent.  
                          
''Yes, Evans?''  He said, leaning back in his chair and running a hand through his hair.  He grinned at her, which made her more furious than before. 
                          
''I'm trying to study, so please shut up.''  She said, then she turned on her heel and walked back to her table.  She didn't look back over there, because the boys had dropped their voices to a whisper, though she was curious as to why they had listened to her.  She had just started to focus again when something pointy hit the side of her head.  She spun around and saw a paper aeroplane on the floor, perfectly folded, though a bit dented where it had hit her.  She picked it up, glared at James, who was smirking, and unfolded it.  She was dreading seeing some crude message, or maybe a note asking to go out somewhere, but instead she saw different sort of note.  
                          
The answer to question 16 is 409. – J.P.
                          
Lily stared at it, then looked back at her sheet.  She hadn't answered question 16 yet.  She looked at James, who now seemed to be in conversation with Sirius.  She took out her calculator and typed in question 16.  She looked at the answer on the small, black screen and the untidy scrawl on the small, white paper.  They were the exact same.  She shook her head but smiled to herself as she wrote down the answer. 
                          
''What's up with James?  He's looking quite too happy.  That either means a broken arm for some 14-year-old or a week's detention for himself and Sirius.''  Lily glanced up to see who spoke, and discovered the voice belonged to Alice, who sat down into the seat across Lily and took out her history textbook.