#3 - Beware of sulking teenagers

Someone exclaimed nearby, but Jacob didn't react or make any effort to look. He waited for the clouds to strike him, though the fact it wasn't a thunderous storm remained irrelevant. Logic often defied his need for dramatics and thus was preferably ignored.

Jacob grunted when someone nudged his foot. His gaze shifted to see who it was. 'OH, you. Wait - what's wrong with me? What's wrong with you?' He huffed, crossing arms over his chest. 'I had a plan when I came here, but now the main courtyard is forever away and I don't have that sort of effort left. So I'm staying here to await death.' He sighed dramatically as if it was all very tragic.

'Haven't you heard the rumours over breakfast? We were betrayed. And I thought she was my friend...' He didn't sound as convinced of the betrayal as he was earlier, but it didn't matter now. Jacob remembered Eleanor's sad face, but refused to. He grumpily forced himself to glare at the clouds again, wondering how long it would take for some actual lightning to happen or if he'd starve to death first.

He'd rather be struck by lightning.

Jacob opened his mouth to protest sharing his spot of the grass, but Terrance was already talking. He kept his arms crossed and glared at clouds, figuring he wasn't going to get struck now he had company. Sighing dramatically, he listened to what the other boy had to say. He didn't like it though.

'How'd I mess anything up? She got me - and Gryffindor - in a lot of trouble. Those detentions were the worst! One of us almost got banned from Quidditch. I reacted like anyone would.' Jacob huffed, wanting to tell Terrance to sod off. 'I don't want to talk about this. I don't know what to believe, okay? There's always some truth in those things, and it....Ugh, who cares?' He got up and walked to the tree, kicking it then wincing as that hurt his toe.

Jacob had doubts, but the hurt of betrayal and everything else going on with it all just confused him further. He didn't know what to do, only that his was emotional and angry and didn't want to talk about it. He yearned to go prank someone, but doubted even that would make him feel much better today. Terrance was being reasonable, but Jacob didn't want reasonable right now. He just wanted all this drama to be over so he can go back to having fun.

Eleanor entered the courtyard, hoping for solitude as she reflected on her strange conversation with Amara Seabrook. Instead, she spotted Jacob and Terrance, and all of the emotion she had tried so hard to bury deeply bubbled back towards the surface. Determined to ignore her friend...ex-friend..instead of making yet another scene as she had at breakfast, she ignored the two Gryffindor boys and went to sit by herself. She supposed it would probably be smarter to just leave, but she didn't want to give them the satisfaction of running her off, she wasn't going to hide because she had done nothing wrong.

Eleanor took a spot on a bench, flipping her hair over her shoulder and doing her best to not look in the direction of her housemates. It was a lot easier to appear nonchalant when she had someone to talk to. After a few moments of trying, though, she glanced in the boys' direction and then looked up to the sky, staring at the clouds and trying to convince herself that this wasn't as painful as she felt it was. It would be so much easier to retreat to her dorm, but then she'd have to go through the common room, which would be filled with people whispering about her tratorious ways. She couldn't help but remember Seabrook's claim that the rumor possibility originated from within her own house, which was enough to fully convince her to stay as far away from the rest of her house as possible.

For the first time ever, she wished they were in class or something, so she could have something to distract her from the stress of her social life--or former social life.

Marley easily located Eleanor in the courtyard, away from the other Gryffindors present. She ungracefully plopped onto the bench next to her, quickly analyzing her best friend's posture, expression and location before asking, "Rough morning, yeah? I heard you're having a bit of a tiff with your fellow lions."

She glanced in Jacob and Terrance's direction, then grabbed Eleanor's hand, "Come on, don't sit here and wallow, let's do something."

Marley waited for Eleanor to agree, fully prepared to put up a fight if her friend wanted to blow her off. She didn't believe any of those rumors for a second, though she knew from the scene in the Great Hall earlier that not everyone was as good of a judge of character and truth as she was. Having known Eleanor for years, she knew that her friend was probably hurting, and figured a distraction would helpful at the moment.

"Something away from the rest of those wearing red colours." Marley clarified, "I want to work on my potions kit and I need someone to provide entertainment while I do so. Come with me. Please?"