Chapter Eight

'Andrew!' Marie yelled, barging uninvited into his room.

Andrew yanked the sheets off his bed and threw it over the dragon while James yelled at her to get out.

'I'm not here to spy on your stupid dragon, I'm here to take Andrew to see coach,' she huffed, 'To get him assigned to a house.'

'That's not your job,' James pointed out, raising a suspicious brow, 'Where's Evan?'

'Well Evan's not doing his job so it hath fallen unto me,' Marie proclaimed, 'Come along now Andrew, I have a PLAN.'

'What plan?' Andrew inquired worriedly. It was always concerning when Marie claimed to have a plan.

'I'll tell you on the way,' she said brightly, yanking him out the door before he could protest. James unhelpfully slammed the door shut before he could argue.

'Okay so,' Marie started, pulling him down the corridor, 'I see the way you wake up late and run to class everyday, and you're FAST!'

'Wha- I don't wake up late everyday! I even usually have time to stop at the cafeteria. Neither you OR James ever eat there,' he chided, 'Breakfast is the most important meal of the day and you shouldn't miss it.'

'Of course we eat breakfast,' Marie scoffed.

'I don't see you eat ANY meal-

'Well, what do you think we survive on? Starlight? You don't see us because we wake up early so that there's plenty of time to feed- I mean eat!' she quickly amended, surreptitiously gaging his reaction.

'Well uh- I guess it's true that James has already left the dorm by the time I get up,' Andrew admitted.

'AHA-

'Anyway,' Andrew quickly interrupted, 'I really can't run that fast- maybe just when I'm stressed out.'

'What do you fear most in the world?'

'Um, the vast, empty nothingness after death?'

'Lame! I meant something more along the lines of spiders or lions or something.'

'Those don't exist anymore,' Andrew pointed out, 'I think they would be cool though.'

'Whatever, they're not cool if they're chasing you. Just imagine a hoard of people-eating spiders, as big as lions, with razor-sharp teeth- chasing you! That should stress you out enough to run fast.'

'I suppose so...' Andrew replied without much conviction.

'Don't just guess! Know!' She slapped him on the back in camaraderie and he tried not to wince.

Marie threw open the door to coach's office, completely forgetting about the older woman's temper.

'Who DARES march in here without invitation,' Coach bellowed through her megaphone.

Andrew nearly jumped out of his skin and even Marie paled a little and shrank before the angry woman.

'I uh- sorry Coach, I forgot to knock. It won't happen again,' she apologized with some contrition, 'Andrew here doesn't have a house yet, and I was hoping he could be put in Cheetah's?'

Coach swiveled around once on her chair and stood up. She strode in front of the two imposters and glared down at them from her towering height of six feet and two inches.

'So you two BRATS,' she started, 'barge into my office, without so much as an "Excuse me, Coach," or a mere "Good morning," and then you DEMAND to be assigned to the HOUSE OF YOUR CHOICE?'

Coach's voice grew louder with each word and she yell the last bit through the microphone, directly into Marie's face.

Marie groaned with discomfort, her sharpened senses hearing the sound about ten times louder.

'I'm- we are so sorry, Coach,' Andrew babbled nervously, his voice coming out in a high-pitched squeak. 'Really any house is perfectly fine, I'd be honoured to be in- any!'

Coach glared at him for a long moment, enjoying how he was reduced to a puddle of fear and respect before her mighty stance.

'As it turns out,' Coach finally said, 'I have already assigned you to Cheetah's, as it doesn't have enough members. But that was before your friend here showed up making DEMANDS.' Coach turned her glare once more towards Marie. The girl sorrowfully ducked her head, having the decency to at least look repentant.

'Get out,' Coach said, tipping her head towards the door with disgust.

Andrew and Marie rushed out of the room, almost toppling over each other in their hurry to get away.

'THAT was your genius plan?!' Andrew gasped once they had run a safe distance away.

'It worked out in the end didn't it? I convinced Coach to put you into Cheetah's,' Marie argued.

'You did not! She was already going to!'

'Details. Just details, dear Andrew,' she waved her arm around expansively, 'Anyways, see how fast you ran from that office? You managed to keep up with ME! Just think of that enormous trophy we're going to take home.' She sighed contently.

Andrew rolled his eyes, feeling that no trophy could be worth the amount of terror he had just gone through.

'Okay you can go back to James now,' Marie said rather rudely, 'I have other dorms to barge into.'

'You really should knock, Marie, you could be interrupting something.'

'Oh?' Marie raised a single brow with the utmost interest, 'And what exactly was I interrupting between my brother and you?'

'Nothing!' Andrew exclaimed, immediately colouring up, 'It was just- the dragon! And I meant like um- interrupting Coach, she was furious.'

'The dragon? Really? Pretty sure I saw the two of you dancing,' Marie grinned irritatingly.

'No we were just listening to music!'

'Sure, sure Andrew, whatever you say.' She patted him condescendingly on the back while Andrew huffed and grumbled.

'Bye now!' She winked and sailed away.

Marie skipped down the corridors, a huge grin plastered on her face. She thought that Andrew looked adorable when he blushed and blew out his cheeks in annoyance.

She considered that he was also a good influence on her brother. James had seemed much less tense the past few days. Marie often missed the carefree little boy that her twin had been. He had been cheerful and fun-loving as a child, but circumstance had caused them both to grow up— although Marie always tried her best to act as immature as possible, to forget about how horribly old she was.

'Ciaraaaa,' Marie sang, floating into her friend's dorm.

'Ugh, what do you want.'

Marie playfully smacked them on the arm. 'You know that girl with the long, looong red hair, right? Her eyes are the brightest green, and she looks like a mysterious woodland elf.'

'I've seen her around. Why?'

'What's her name? What class is she in? Gimme details!'

'I don't KNOW her, Marie, I've just seen her around. I'm not even sure if it's the same girl; I don't think she looks like an elf.'

'You know her! Your brother's dating her best friend!'

'Tara? I don't know her friends names,' Ciara shrugged.

'Ask him to ask her!' Marie yelled, grabbing Ciara by the shoulders and shaking them.

'Ow, ow, how are you so strong? Fine, I'll ask,' they huffed, 'I don't see why you have to be so weird about it though. Just talk to the girl if you're so curious to know.'

'I cannot,' Marie wailed, flopping on to Ciara's rollie chair and dramatically rolling away. 'I absolutely humiliated myself in front of her and now she thinks I'm a huge dork.'

'Everyone thinks you're an embarrassing dork,' Ciara pointed out, not unkindly.

'Rude! Okay! I don't tease you about your secret crush- EVAN!'

Ciara's dark face turned scarlet. They looked like an upside-down traffic light with their red face and green hair.

'That was really uncalled-for,' they mumbled, 'And it's completely irrelevant to the topic at hand.'

'I just felt like bringing it up.'

Ciara threw a pillow at the infuriating girl.

~

A/n: Oh no, seems like Marie succeeds in pissing off everyone xP