Hiding Bruises

Hiding Bruises- Chapter 7- Heart To Heart

3rd Person

Sirius looked at Tina’s back as she walked away, she didn’t look back which he found strangely annoying. He realized that girls all around were watching him. He didn’t want to seem as though he was staring longingly after the first girl to ever turn him down: which, of course, he was. He forced himself to shrug his shoulders as though unbothered and turned to walk over to his friends who were standing in a group at the edge of the dance floor.

“What was all that about?” asked James as soon as Sirius reached them.

“All what?” asked Sirius, as though he didn’t know what they were talking about, they all raised their eyebrows at him to show they weren’t fooled. “Just asked a girl to dance guys, it isn’t that unheard of you know” trying very hard to be cool about it.

“And she walked away from you” Peter pointed out, who seemed strangely pleased that there seemed to be at least one girl in the school who was immune to Sirius’s charms. Sirius glared at him.

‘Which, I think I am right to assume, is unheard of” said James.

Sirius looked at them and sighed, it was obvious they weren’t going to give up, “it was going fine and then I asked her for another dance and she seemed to get really distracted and muttered ‘no’ and walked away.”

“A girl got distracted by something, when she was with you? And then walked away?” Peter was definitely much too happy about this.

“Why did you ask her to dance though?” asked Remus, it was a question which Sirius had known would be coming since the moment he last left the group muttering that he just wanted to do something. It was a question he didn’t really know the answer to.

“I don’t know really, she looks really good.”

“Someone else might fall for that but we know you mate, you’re not as fickle as everyone thinks.” James looked at him seriously.

“Yeah, well you’re way more of a gossip then everyone else thinks,” retorted Sirius. None of them replied, so he sighed and tried to explain to them what he didn’t understand himself, “ I don’t know, it’s hard to explain but when I look in her eyes, it’s as though there’s this thing within her, a light, I can’t explain it but it’s like there’s a wild thing inside her, something alive. The only thing is it’s been trapped or tamed, hidden deep, real deep so no one else can see it.”

James forehead creased as he tried to work out what his friend was saying, it didn’t quite make sense. He looked over Sirius’s shoulder at the subject of their conversation. Tina was sitting down at the table she had been before; it was in the corner of the room, away from everyone else. He thought it was strange, the way she kept away from everyone else, it wasn’t just shyness, it was something else. Most other girls would have taken the opportunity of being asked to dance by Sirius to get in with the ‘cool crowd’. As he watched her she looked up, he didn’t look away, instead he stared straight at her, trying to understand what Sirius meant. He couldn’t see it; he looked her up and down, searching for a clue at how this girl had caught the attention of his best friend. She did look really good; the dress she was wearing fit her perfectly. He stopped himself staring at her figure and looked back into her eyes. It was strange looking at her, she was looking back at him but it was like she wasn’t really there, she wasn’t actually in the room, or her mind wasn’t anyway. He tore his eyes away, “I can’t see it, I don’t think I can anyway.”

“Exactly,” said Sirius, “you can’t tell what you’re seeing, and even when she looks back you can’t tell what she’s seeing, if she’s really seeing you.” James was silent for a minute and then Sirius seemed to come out of a trance, “listen to me,” he said jokily, “I’m getting deep.”

Then the four of them went back to their normal harmless chatter and jokes.

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Tina’s POV (Point Of View)

I didn’t know what to do after leaving Sirius so I just went back to my old table in the corner, girl’s eyes drilling into my back all the way. I knew they all wanted to know what had happened between Sirius and me and that most of them would be spreading some type of crazy theory on the mater by the morning.

I sat down and looked around, everywhere I looked eyes met mine and quickly looked away. I saw Sirius but he was standing with his back to me so I couldn’t see his face, James however was standing opposite hm. He was looking at me and didn’t look away, he looked me up and down as though checking to see if something Sirius had said about me was true. I don’t know if he found what he was looking for but eventually he looked away and said something to Sirius, I couldn’t see his reaction.

I turned away from watching them at stared down at the tablecloth, it was made of paper and is started ripping the edges absentmindedly.

“You shouldn’t do that,” said a voice behind me, “it ruins the décor.”

I didn’t turn around because I already knew it was Bella. She pulled out a chair and sat beside me, I had to try had not to flinch away when she put her cold fingers over my hand. “I thought we could have a little heart-to-heart, me and you, Tina, because now I come to think of it I’ve never really got to know you. The real you I mean, I’ve seen plenty of the snivelling, grovelling, begging-for-mercy version of you, but not the real you that’s hidden inside.” She dug her sharp nails into my hand so that I had to bite down hard on my lip to stop myself from whimpering.

Bella smiled at me, “ Ok, you don’t want to talk about it? That’s fine, we can talk about something else, let me see, what shall we talk about?” She stopped for a moment, as though thinking hard, then her eyes lit up as though she’s just had an idea, “I know, boys!” She dug in harder and this time I couldn’t hold in the exclamation of pain that escaped my lips.

“What was that?” she asked grinning, “nothing ok. What was I saying, oh yes, boys. So, I saw you dancing with my cousin earlier, do you like him? “ She leaned in closer and stared me straight in the eyes, a malicious grin spread across her face, “do you love him?”

I turned my head away from her and looked down at the ground.

She let out a high-pitched cackle, “you do! You’re in love with my good-for-nothing, layabout cousin!” She looked back at me, her eyes glinting, “do you dream about him? Do you spend your nights lying in bed, hugging your pillow, thinking about him?” She said all this in a crooning, sickly-sweet voice, making faces as though she were concerned for me, pouting horribly. “Arhh, you poor thing. You know he’d never love you back. He only asked you to dance for a dare, you know.”

I tried not to react but could feel the colour spreading to my cheeks, I should have known, the only boy who asked me to dance did it for a dare. I was so stupid!

Bella saw the expression in my face change and started to gloat, “Are you going to cry?” She asked, her eyes lighting up at the idea of me bursting into tears in front of the entire school. “Go on,” said Bella, “ Do it, cry. Cry!” She ordered.

I stared down and didn’t answer apart from shaking my head slightly from side to side.

Bella raised her voice and said in an annoyed manner, “You’re impossible! I hate you!” She flung my hand to one side and stormed away from my table.

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3rd Person

Sirius had been looking at Tina’s table every few minutes and wasn’t sure whether to go over and tell his cousin to leave the girl alone. He was about to walk over when Bella walked away, looking rather annoyed he noted.

This confused him and he wondered what Tina had done to cause this expression on Bella’s face; she normally didn’t show emotions so strongly.

He was so intent on watching Bella that when he looked back at Tina’s table, the girl was gone, he looked around the hall for her and spotted her just as she left through the entrance hall. He thought about following, but changed his mind. After all, he was Sirius Black, he didn’t want anyone thinking that he was desperate enough to follow her outside.