To Early

It was 4 a.m., Friday morning, and Athena, Jezebel, Carson, and Jessika were in the community bathroom in the girl's dormitory. It started like fireworks all around and excited Jessika flying around the room as the fuse. She had spent the morning convincing everyone to come with her, nagging and pleading until even Jezebel agreed to go. They are getting ready to go to the Dragonheart football practice before their game this weekend. There was nobody else in the bathroom because nobody in the right mind would voluntarily get up this early to watch stupid boys hit each other, Athena thought to herself. Athena rolled her eyes and sighed at Jessika's irritated, snippy retorts to Jezebel's defiant chatter about how much she did not want to go. Carson nudged Athena in the ribs in agreement, her mouth full of toothpaste. Her eyes, the same licorice black as Tucker's, sparkled as though she had been awake for hours.

"Guys!" snapped Athena, effectively cutting off the other two's babble. "It's not even five in the morning. I have head next to no sleep (due to the late-night rendezvous with Beckett that nobody knows about, Athena thought to herself), I'm hungry, I look like hell, and I'm having a severe disagreement with my uterus as to how much pain is necessary. So if you would like to keep your eyeballs intact and in their sockets, I suggest you both shut up." Jessika and Jezebel fell into a shocked silence, and Carson burst into laughter at their gobsmacked expressions, spraying minty foam everywhere. Athena huffed a sigh, letting go of the tension that had built between her shoulder blades, before going back to applying concealer under her eyes to hide the dark circles as a result of only getting two hours of sleep.

The girls put the final touches on their looks, concealer to hide the dark circle due to lack of sleep, last curl in their hair, and the final look of their outfits in the mirror before they left the bathroom. It was the time of year that it was cold in the mornings, so when the girls got back to their dorm room, they grabbed their beanies, scarves, and gloves in preparation for the chilly air they would half endure on their walk to the stadium. Before Athena or Carson could say anything, the other girls were raiding their trunks for a snack; Athena had muggle energy bars while Carson had an unbelievable amount of muggle candy stashed under her bed for breakfast since the Great Hall doesn't open till 7 a.m. an hour before classes started. As they all got ready to leave the room they groaned in annoyance as Jessika stopped to fix her eyeliner for the sixth time this morning as if Beckett could see it from the field.

With no other way to get to the stadium, they started their cold two-mile walk, with Jessika leading the way with an annoying amount of energy that early in the morning. She felt a little jealous of boys because they could just grab their broomsticks and jump out of their windows and fly to the stadium even though they weren't allowed to. We all learned how to ride a broom for emergencies only, just in case we had to evacuate. The only time we are allowed to ride them was when there was a Quidditch match or in emergencies. The boys always broke the rules just because they could. In riding their brooms, it would take them but minutes to get to the stadium. At the same time, it would take the girls a solid forty to forty-five minutes to get there. Athena blamed most of the delays on Carson's obsession with everything they came across on their walk through the forest to get to the stadium. They cut through the woods to cut down on the walking time. Still, Carson stopped at everything, the supposed mag, neon green moss growing on some rocks, the cranky blueish-purple gnomes that were stalking the trail, or the pretty little pixies that would play tricks on any passerby, squeaking to each other in amusement.

Jezebel handed out four flasks, charmed to keep its contents warm; as they reached the top of the Dragonheart stadium seats, there was a different color for each one of the girls. "Thanks, Jeezy; hot chocolate is exactly what the doctor ordered," Athena sighed contentedly as she felt the warmth from the creamy drink spread throughout her body.

"Yeah, thanks!" the other girls chimed in as they huddled together to keep warm.

"You are very welcome, my lovely friends," Jezebel said with a sweet smile on her face, cuddling closer to Athena for extra warmth.

The girls settled in just in time to see the boys jogging onto the field for practice. Jezebel and Athena's eyes automatically start searching for Beckett, spotting him looking as comfortable as he possibly could be. He might as well have been lying in bed, lazily playing with one of his footballs.

"Try not to drool," whispered Jezebel into Athena's ear. "It'll be very obvious to you that you are fond of him if you do," she settled back into her seat with a smug smile on her face, earning a scowl from Athena, knowing that she was right. Athena's cheek flushed a deep pink; she hoped the coldness of the air would be a good cover for the rosy cheeks. She could barely remain cordial towards him unless she were deliriously tired. So she couldn't like him… right?

"You know, Jezzy," began Jessika. "I don't know why you don't just go out with Tucker. He's always trying to crack into you, and he's… not exactly… bad looking." A rare blush-colored Carson's cheeks. Making it evident that she likes him herself even if she would never admit it. Jezebel decided not to bring it up. Instead, she answered the question as simply as possible.

"It's not my type," Jezebel lied crisply so she wouldn't hurt Carson's feelings. A silence fell before she spoke again.

"Anyways… I zink zat I like… Issac." Her gaze fell to the ground as she bit her lip, suddenly shy and seemingly embarrassed of the omission of her feelings.

"WHAT?!" exploded Jessika, "When did this happen?" Jezebel shrugged in response.

"I don't believe this, and all of you knew?" Jessika questioned,, scanning over the others' unsurprised faces.

"Well yeah, it happened last night, in the common room, that is why she wasn't in there waiting for you…" Athena said matter-of-factly,, giving Jessika a look of superiority. "Tucker being Tucker, screamed across the room at her, she went to investigate and ended up kissing Isaac on the cheek and rushed back to the dorm room to tell us, and you yelled at her for it," she continued raising an eyebrow at her. The other girls remained silent,, knowing that if they interjected,, Jessika would snap at them too. Jessika remained silent as well for the first time in an argument knowing Athena was right.

"I'm sorry ,Jezebel, I didn't know," Jessika said as she turned to Jezebel,, sounding more sincere than ever before. They had a very complicated relationship, but it seems like they might be growing closer and beginning to understand him a little more. It remained silent for a few minutes before Carson brought up the happier side of this uncomfortable situation, "It's so cute; how did you find out you liked him?" she said with slight excitement in her voice.

"I don't know it sort of… snuck up on me." The four went quiet again before Jessika broke the silence. "That's… kinda adorable." Athena, Carson, and Jezebel burst into giggles. "I guess it sort of is," admitted Jezebel shyly.

"Yeah,, girl!" squealed Carson. "You're totally in!"

"The real question is," Athena said mischievously. "What are you going to do about it?" Jezebel looked momentarily put out, a frown on her pretty face. Jessika's lips turned up into a knowing smirk, her gaze trained on the boys wasting time on the field.

"What about… Truth or Dare?" she suggested, a plan already forming in her eyes. Athena and Carson looked at each other.

"Genius," they both replied. Jessika smiled happily, thrilled to be the one to come up with a plan for once, not Athena.

"How is it 'genius'?" asked Jezebel skeptically.

"Because," explained Carson. "We can dare you to kiss Isaac, or the other way around, and-"

"We can dare Carson to kiss Tucker," interjected Jessika playfully, causing Carson to blush.

"And we can draw Athena to kiss Bec-" Carson stopped abruptly, switching gears at lightning speed. "Beary Bearington," she finished, naming Athena's childhood teddy bear she keeps hidden in her trunk. Jezebel looked at her with wide eyes, seeing her almost mistake. Thankfully, Jessika was busy paying attention to Beckett running drills and didn't hear Carson's misstep. Athena, however, did. She pretended not to notice either, glancing guiltily at Jessika, hating herself for wishing that Carson had finished the sentence.

"And Jess can keep Beckett!" said Jezebel, her voice too sparkly and chipper to be genuine. Jessika's attention immediately snapped back to her friends, a bright, hopeful look in her eyes.

The thought of Jessika and Beckett kissing made Athena nauseous for some reason. Athena looked sadly to the field at the idea of Jessika and Beckett, her stomach churning with the sudden anxiety at the prospect of just how risky a game of truth or dare with Beckett was. There was too much that could go wrong and too much that went unsaid between them. Athena felt physically ill at the idea of admitting to… whatever it was that had been going on between them. Especially in front of Jessika.

She took another drink from her flask, hoping that the warmth would calm her nerves. She watched the boys run around the field, ignoring her friend's excited chatter in favor of observing Beckett. He was attractive; she had to admit. For as long as she could remember,, she had associated the attractiveness of a male with deadly camouflage. He was too smooth, too enchanting, he seemed to have a permanent stare that made your heart skip a beat, and his smile radiated arrogance.

Over the last month or two, Athena had seemed to be able to slowly chip away at the mask Beckett wore every day, making Athena see him in an entirely new light. His smile seemed less arrogant and more friendly, and the why-are-you-not-making out-with-me look, never in his eyes when he looked at her. She didn't hate him anymore; in fact, she may like him occasionally. And that made this specific male infinitely more dangerous to her.

"Thena?" Carson called over the top of Jezebel and Jessika's excited conversation. "Are you still with us?"

"Yeah," Athena mumbled, nodding distractedly. Her eyes didn't leave Beckett. Carson clumsily climbed over seats, her skinny legs ending up with a few bruises as she sat next to Athena. Carson looked at her sympathetically.

"You know," she whispered. "You don't have to play. Just make something up, say you need to go to a club meeting or something, Jeezy won't mind, and Jess will be too preoccupied with…" Carson trailed off,, not wanting to finish her sentence.

"With him." Athena tried not to let her voice show just how upset the idea of it made her, even if she didn't know why. Carson didn't say anything, letting the charged silence between them settle, both unsure of what to say or if they even wanted to say anything. Somehow Carson could see Athena's feelings before Athena even knew she had them. She could read people like a book; Athena always thought it was rather freaky.

"I'll think about it," Athena said, still deep in thought about if she liked him or not. Her fingers were numb from the cold,, even through her gloves. The wind that swirled around them was ice cold, but at that moment,, Athena couldn't find the capacity to care.

*

*

The rest of the day went by in a blur. Athena and Jezebel maintained their perfect attendance and went to all of her classes even though they felt like they could very well fall asleep standing up. Carson and Jessika ditched their classes a little more than halfway through the day to go back to the dorm and sleep for the rest of the day.