red light • {tomie}

The scent of pastries welcomed Hazel as she entered the shop, a greeting that she was happy to receive after the day she’d just had. She and Sienna were fighting, an event that had happened twice before but felt like the equivalent of an apocalypse every time. Their arguments seemed to always be massive; an amalgamation of small annoyances built up for a while that exploded into heated yelling. At the apex, Hazel had grabbed her backpack and exited the cabin without a glance back. Unfortunately, the cashier informed her that they were close to closing up, which meant that she would only be able to purchase a sweet, and needed to find seating elsewhere. She left the store, spiced tea and strawberry doughnut in hand, and surveyed her surroundings.

It was a little past seven and groups of students were scattered throughout the grounds. The sun wasn’t quite setting yet, sitting in the middle of a blue sky with bits of pink and yellow peeking through neighbouring wispy clouds. While she usually loathed being outside for long doses of time, these were the moments Hazel found herself appreciating; when things were a little more on the quiet side, the temperature was neither too cold nor too hot, and the atmosphere generally felt calm.

She rolled up the end of the paper bag containing her treats and shimmied her backpack off of her shoulders. She slung a strap off of one arm and transferred the food to that free hand. Then, she put the satchel on a nearby rock and rested the paper bag beside it. Next, Hazel retrieved her blanket and spread it out on the ground, pulling the ends to get the bumps out of the center. Once the blanket was as smooth as it could possibly be, she grabbed her backpack and rummaged around for some magazines. After she found a few, the little witch carefully pulled off her shoes and placed them in front of the rock housing her backpack before returning to the blanket and tucking her feet under her. Neatly, she placed her magazines one by one on the blanket, trying to decide which one she wanted to read first. Hazel reached for her food and pulled out the doughnut, then shuffled through the pages of a Witch Weekly issue that had Joey Mowie right on the cover.

Solitude could not be enjoyed for long, however. A group of rowdy boys led by none other than Matthew Maverick stepped on the scene, kicking some dirt her way as they scuffed past. Affronted, Hazel turned her head and gave them the iciest glare. “Why don’t you idiots watch where you’re going!” she yelled. Matthew paused and his crew of mindless zombies followed suit to face her. He eyed the doughnut in her hand and smirked.

“Better be careful with that, So. Wouldn’t want to stain your blanket.”

The Slytherin witch froze. She could hear the laughter coming from the crew behind him and her face reddened. She suddenly felt hot and there was a dry burning sensation in her throat. She wanted to take her dougnut and throw it right at him, but the embarrassment kept her still as she willed the tears from falling. How could he have said that?! And in front of other people?! Hazel turned her glare to the ground, her grip on the pastry tightening.

Tomie nearly fell on her face as Benny kicked under her shoe from behind. She spun around with a grin and gave him a playful shove before skipping off and catching up to the other boys. Falling in step with the group, Tomie caught the tail end of none other than Hazel So yelling at the group. She rolled her eyes, glancing over her shoulder to exchange a look with Benny, almost bumping into another boy as the group slowed to a stop.

And then Matty spoke.

Tomie’s eyes widened, and she glanced at Hazel’s face through the gap made by the two taller boys in front of her. She liked making Hazel mad more than anyone, but didn’t he know that wasn’t something to joke about? She felt a deep sense of mortification even hearing it; she didn’t want to try to imagine how Hazel was feeling. Did all of the boys know what Matthew was referring to? Had he told them?

After a beat, the brunette elbowed her way through, moving to the front of the group. She gave Hazel a quick uncertain look, but felt too embarrassed to keep eye contact, so she glared at Matty instead. “Shut up, Maverick,” she said with a scowl. The boys fell quiet. “Yeah,” she said, half-trying to hype herself up. Adrenaline was making her heart beat fast as she felt all eyes turn her way, “I said shut up.”

Hazel remained rooted on the blanket, wincing internally when, for a brief moment, she locked eyes with Tomie Vos. Instantly, she suspected that maybe the other girl wanted to add fire to the flames; their encounter on that same day hadn’t ended well. When Tomie spoke on her behalf, however, Hazel felt somewhat guilty for having the thought, and tremendously silly. Why couldn’t she speak up to Maverick? Why had she let his stupid comment reduce her to a heated almost-teary-eyed mess in the middle of the lawn? Her gaze returned to the ground, trained on a stray blade of grass, expression still stony. She didn’t get up until Maverick spoke again.

‘Of course you’re getting involved,’ he scoffed, fixing Tomie with a contemptuous look. ‘You two, Rivera, Trickett… You lot always stick together, don’t you?’

This forced Hazel to look up, eyes wide, the tears that had threatened to fall now pooling and slowly trailing down her face. She hadn’t gotten on with Matthew since the beginning of the term, but it was never anything she’d thought about in great detail – there were quite a few people she didn’t get on with, the girl in front of her included. She had always just thought of him as another pest, but this sealed him as an absolute troll. It was unforgivable. Her stomach was in knots as she let go of her food and slowly pulled herself up to stand beside Tomie. The silence that followed his sentence was thick, palpable. Hazel’s fingers had curled into her palms, fists balled up at her sides.

“You heard her, Maverick. Shut. Up.” Hazel wasn’t a violent girl by any means but she was shocked, hurt, and she didn’t think anything could quell the red hot anger she was feeling. Her wand felt heavy in her trouser pocket. “If you know what’s good for you, you’ll –” Her sentence was cut off by Tomie, and Hazel gasped.

“Excuse me?” Tomie was shocked, sure for a moment that she must have misheard. The entire group – all of the boys, Matt, Hazel – were staring at her now though, and everyone was quiet, waiting for her to react. She felt her temper rising, blood pumping in her veins. Her short fingernails dug into her palms. Hadn’t she just spent the whole afternoon with this – this dickhead? She had to reach for the swear word, it didn’t come naturally, but it fit like a keeper’s glove. Weren’t they friends? And he’d just… ?

Hazel had gotten up at some point and appeared beside her. Tomie felt a pinprick sting in her eyes and knew if she didn’t do something quick, she’d probably cry. And then she’d be the girl who used to hang out with the boys until one of them teased her and she cried about it. Ugh! It only served to make her more furious. He looked a bit unsure, but was clearly trying to project smugness. Her face was already so hot, and she’d already put herself in a position where she wasn’t joking or anything – and now he’d just said that – and she felt the challenge and –

Tomie snapped. Hazel was speaking, everyone was watching, but suddenly it was just her fist making contact with Matt’s smug-turned-shocked face. It made a satisfying sound. All those pushups seemed to have done the job, she thought, as Matthew literally tripped over and landed on his butt.

Tomie had never punched anyone in the face before. Not really. One time, after a conversation about being prepared for a fistfight, she and Benny had taken turns punching each other’s faces, starting out real light and increasing slowly until it hurt. And they’d both gotten into a lot of trouble after, because they’d both ended up with bruised cheeks. Her dad had been ready to murder “that Rivera kid” until he’d seen Benny’s face too.

But that all felt very juvenile and silly compared to how she felt right now, which was more like a vicious sort of satisfaction – clearly a far more mature emotion.

"What?" She snapped at him as he pushed himself out of the dirt, looking rather stunned. "Scared of a girl?" she taunted, "Scared I might bleed all over you?"

When Tomies’ fist collided with Maverick’s face, Hazel instinctively shrieked, taking a step back. How had her solo picnic turned into an absolute bloodbath in a manner of minutes? She stood, wavering, hands at her face. Although she wanted to be brave, to stand up to Maverick, she felt out of her element. This was beyond the hurling of insults back and forth in the middle of a classroom.

The wind whipped dark tendrils of her hair around as she watched the scene, feeling apprehensive, but somewhat satisfied… which was a little alarming to the witch. Fighting was so undignified. Hazel recoiled at the mere thought of throwing a punch. But, when her nemesis landed, it felt like a win. Like he deserved it. His words had made her feel awful, and she wanted him to endure that same insecurity, but tenfold.

Tomie stood over Matthew, who had pulled himself up but appeared taken aback by what had just occurred. If Hazel wasn’t so stunned herself, she would’ve smirked. She liked that the previous smugness he’d worn like a crown had been ripped from his head. Still, Tomie was threatening. She had a menacing look on her face and Hazel looked between them, unsure of what to do. What if Maverick recovered and hit back? What if this scuffle turned into an all out brawl? Hazel contemplated simply packing her things and retreating to the cabin; she was officially willing to put the argument with Sienna behind her.

It was silent as more attention turned their way. Tomie and Matthew were glaring at each other, and Hazel felt like even she could feel the pricks of daggers as they bore into each other with icy looks. It seemed apparent in the palpable tension; if someone didn’t do something, things would escalate. “Tomie… maybe we should go.”

Laughing loudly as he watched Tomie trip on the rock and then knowing a shove or something was coming shortly after Benny smiled brightly. He raced her back to the group, eyes peeled for another rock to kick, and nearly ran into the back of the boy in front of him. They had all stopped and he stood on his tiptoes to figure out why. Hearing Hazel's voice he instantly looked to Tomie, and then watched her move through the group. Benny followed quickly, not far behind her as she told Maverick to shut up. Benny didn't know what they were arguing about, but he didn't need to, because if Tomie told him to shut up then Benny agreed he should stop talking.

There was a thick tension in the air and his eyes moved to Hazel for a split second before back to his best friend right as her fist was contacting with Matthews fast. "Woah!" He shouted, not because he disapproved, but because he was stunned and ridiculously impressed. Benny didn't look for fights, he'd never been in a real one and would stay out of them for as long as he could, but there was something uniquely satisfying about seeing a bully get his lights knocked out. "Nice hit Tomie!" He shouted, even as the other boys pushed past him to help Matty up. The look on the downed Slytherin had a look on his face that Benny recognized, he looked like his younger brother had the day he fell off the jungle gym and got the wind knocked out of him.

When he started moving to get up Benny's instincts kicked in and he moved to stand next to Tomie, not in front of because Tomie was the last person who needed protection from bullies, but beside. "No, he should leave." The Gryffindor said, trying to be brave like Tomie, and feeling galvanized by the fact that he'd just seen her punch a Slytherin in the face. On his own, he was medium brave, but he was always stronger standing next to Tomie. Benny had never been very close friends with Hazel, on account of things between Tomie and her, but he liked her a whole heck of a lot more than he liked Maverick right now.

Her heart was absolutely about to beat out of her chest, but Tomie didn’t feel scared. She just felt mad. It was a weird sort of high, this one. She didn’t think she’d ever felt anything like it. Angry-high. If Matthew Maverick had gotten up at that point, or if any of the other boys – still looking on in silence, she noted, somewhere in the back of her head – had challenged her, she would have been ready to go. Her hand was still curled into a tight fist, ready to fight.

A couple of them moved forward to help him up, and Hazel was doing the verbal equivalent of tugging on her sleeve. Benny was talking too, but she only half registered all of these things as they happened. “Um,” she said, blinking, mentally taking a step back. “No, it's cool, we'll go,” she said, mostly to Benny. She let Hazel pick up her things, but wasn’t really paying attention. She didn’t check to see if all of the boys had gone with Matty; a part of her suspected that some of them might have come and talked to her if she hadn’t walked off. In moments, though, her, Hazel and Benny were walking together, away from where it'd all happened.

“Fuck him,” Tomie said, raging. Merlin, she was not used to using that word yet, but it felt like the right one to say right now. That was what swear words were for, wasn’t it?? Adding emphasis?? Anyway, she felt a bit awkward saying it, so she swapped. “Screw all of them,” she added, her sneakered feet falling heavily in almost stomp-like steps. She wasn’t sure where they were going, but she probably needed to get away from the situation before she’d be able to calm down. Right this second, she didn’t even want to.

Hazel winced at the use of such a crude word and would have told Tomie off for using it too if she weren’t so afraid of incurring the wrath of the clearly agitated Gryffindor. Instead, she chose to agree. “He’s the worst. The worst of the worst.” She held onto the straps of her backpack. Her heart felt caged in. There was still heat behind her eyes and at the tips of her ears. Matthew Maverick could go kick rocks! And then fall over those rocks! Into the murkiest dirtiest lake ever! The thought wasn’t much of a comfort, though.

“Why would he say something like that?” she asked, looking at the ground, her eyebrows low on her forehead. She blinked rapidly, willing herself not to cry. Hazel had never been one to care for Gryffindors or their opinion, but for the first time, she’d felt the massive difference between the houses. Tomie had stood up to the bully – she’d attacked him like an absolute barbarian – but she’d defended them. Even Benny spoke up, while Hazel stood there cowering. Crescent shaped indents were left behind in her palm as she unfurled the fingers from the fists she hadn’t realised she’d made. Her throat hurt.

“You two…” The words were caught in her throat, adding to the soreness. She swallowed and looked away again. “Thanks,” she murmured, back to clutching the straps of her backpack. She didn’t know what she would have done, what would have happened if they hadn’t been there. She certainly wouldn’t have punched Matthew, but she didn’t know if she would have been brave enough to say anything either despite all of that blazing anger she felt.

Benny felt like his heart was racing from the commotion, but he was sure it was nothing compared to what the other two might have been feeling. He was full of adrenaline, but his excitement was second hand at best, it wasn't like he had been insulted and he certainly hadn't punched anyone. Though... he'd be lying if he said it hadn't looked kind of fun. He made a mental note to tell Tomie how cool she had looked when she'd done it, like one of the heroines in a comic book or something. Already he was excited to tell the story when they got back to their cabins. Idly he wondered if JR would believe it.

Following Tomie's lead, he fell into step with the two witches as they left the scene. Tomie's curse words made him stop in his tracks, wide eyes staring at her before he laughed loudly. He was still trying out his curse words, putting his toe in the water as it were, but he hadn't worked up the nerve to drop that one just yet. Instead, he looked around them, (because he still wasn't out of the habit of checking for his mum before swearing), and then repeated her words. "Yeah, screw them."

Hazel's question made him shrug his shoulders and then shake his head, he had no insight as to why Maverick acted the way he had. He couldn't even blame it on the fact that Matthew was a Slytherin, because this was beyond that. And Benny never assumed someone was exactly what they had been labeled to be. He knew better than that. "Serves him right," he stated instead, nodding when Hazel said thank you, and giving her a warm little smile.

Tomie was usually a pretty relaxed and laid-back sort of girl. Or at least, that was the version of herself she was sure that most of her friends associated with her. Benny knew better, of course. He’d seen her angry-cry about things before. He’d seen her rage about random things, like her brothers or the world cup or other things that got her riled up. Truthfully, Tomie was a pretty emotional person – she’d shed a couple of tears when she and her best friend had been sorted into the same house, for example. Sometimes she cried over a good meal, even, though most of her friends just found that endearing; not a lot of them had seen her when she’d missed a meal.

Benny had, though. He couldn’t like, read her mind or whatever, but he’d know that she was quiet because she was still absolutely fuming. It tended to take a lot to really make her mad, but once she was, her temper burned hot. At the moment, she didn’t even want to calm down. She wanted to rage more. If she were honest, a part of her wanted to turn back around and go and hit him again.

Her footsteps fell heavy against the grass underfoot, and every now and again Tomie stomped on a twig and was satisfied with the feeling of it snapping. She glanced at Hazel when the Slytherin spoke, then glanced at the ground again. “Oh,” she said, a little awkwardness slipping into her emotional landscape. Hazel had thanked her for things before – the Halloween thing came to mind, as did the pad and tampon period thing from only a few weeks ago – and she always felt a little awkward, considering Hazel seemed to hate her most of the time. “No worries,” she said.

Tomie was quiet for a moment before she forced herself to slow down, instead of marching so aggressively. "Does anyone have any snacks?" she asked finally, frustration in her tone.