Beside the Lake

Theresa's eyes widened "that is just plain wrong, ew ew ew, an arranged marriage is one thing but with someone who is a member of your familly, yuck" she said, shuddering at the thought. "I would hate to have an arranged marriage, it would take all the fun out of everything, not like I ever want to get married though" she said.

"Oh, Resa you're such a liar! You want to get married to Rain and me and Hilary both know it!" Shelby teased. "Speaking of Rain, did you go talk to him again yet?" she focused her gaze on Resa and stared her down, determined to force her friend to have an actual conversation with him.

Theresa pouted "what is it with you two and getting me to talk to him, Hilary was doing the same thing, I swear, it is creepy" she said. "I am not going to talk to him, this crush will go away, anway, I have nothing to talk to him about, I havent even properly talked to him before, all it was, was me being in his way and him wanting me to move" she said, shaking her head.

Hilary thought for a moment. "I wouldn't mind getting married someday. But I don't think I'd want to marry one of my cousins. That wouldn't be very fun," she said.

She laughed as she heard Shelby's question. "We were just talking about that actually. She is incredibly stubborn about the whole thing. I couldn't even talk her into talking to him in class. I may have an idea though."

Shelby sighed. "Resa, you have to start somewhere. You don't have to go up to him and immediately start talking about marriage. You can ask him a question in class, say hi when you see him, things like that. Build up to having a real conversation," Shelby was starting to think that she should become a relationship coach.

"An idea?" Shelby's ears perked up. "I like ideas. Is it something we have to keep secret?"

"Ofcourse I am not going to just walk up to him and talk about marriage" Theresa said, blushing. "I havent even seen him in any of my classes yet, I havent seen him anywhere without a group of girls around him or his friends so I am not going to say hi then" she said. She turned to Hilary "I am not stubbon" she denied.

"Though," Hilary said. "It might be interesting to start talking about marriage right away. It may lead to some... interesting reactions on his part. And you can be very stubborn. Especially about this." She paused a moment. "That's what I told her. Just try to talk to him and aim for being friends first. We're all too young to be playing with serious relationships anyway."

Hilary smiled. "Not too secret. But I don't think we should tell our dear friend Resa. I don't think she would let it work out if she knew."

"I am not going to do that so you two might as well get that out of your heads and I am not that stubbon thank you" she said, grinning as she stuck her tongue out at Hilary. She stopped when she heard about the plan "oh come on, you have to tell me, don't be mean" she whined.

Hilary stuck her tongue out at Theresa. "I'm not being mean. If I was being mean, I wouldn't be trying to help you. But you're too stubborn to just listen to what we're saying, so we have to find a way around it."

She picked a lonely daisy that was growing nearby and starting picking off the petals in a 'he loves me, he loves me not' fashion.

Theresa rolled her eyes "helping me would be letting me try and get over this stupid crush- actually, I am not even sure that it is even a crush" she said. She watched Hilary pick the daisey up and pluck it's petals off, she grinned "what did that poor flower do to you that deserved such a fate" she teased.

"Alright, well I want to hear about this idea of yours. Send me an owl. I promise I won't tell Resa anything," Shelby looked at Hilary, then turned and stuck her tongue out at Theresa. "That's what you get for being stubborn," she smirked. "Your feelings toward Rain are the textbook example of a crush, and you're going to be friends with him whether you like it or not. Because then, even if you grow out of your crush, you'll still have another friend."

"We wouldn't be very good friends if we let you try to convince yourself that you didn't really have a crush on him."

She pulled a piece of parchment out of her bag and began scribbling out her idea for Shelby. It seemed pretty flawless, if they managed to pull it off properly, which really should be too difficult.

She looked down at her discarded flower. "It didn't do anything to me. I just felt like pulling it apart."

Theresa stuck her tongue out at Shelby in retaliation "and if I choose not to be his friend?" she asked, raising an eyebrow as she grinned at her. "I do not have a crush, I refuse to" she said, crossing her arms, there was no way she did. She turned to Hilary and snorted "that was very mean, you destroyed it because you just felt like it" she said, laughing slightly as she looked at the poor flower.
"And for the last time, I am not stubborn" she said.

"Refuse all you want, you still have a crush," Hilary said, finishing up her note to Shelby. "It's just a flower, silly. We sit on them, walk on them and tear them to bits all the time, and you've never worried about it before."

She packed her quill back in her bag and sent the note in Shelby's direction, wondering what the other girl would think of her idea.

Theresa looked at the flower and shrugged "I don't know, it is one thing to do it by standing on them or sit on them but it's another to pluck them, at least the first two ways, they die fast, the third one must be torture for them" she said, trying not to laugh as she watched the flower sadly. She looked up when she saw the note "hey, let me see it you meanies" she said as she tried to snatch it from Shelby.

Hilary looked down at the flower beside her. It was just a flower. She was getting confused as to why it was such a big deal to pick a flower. People did it all of the time.

She laughed at Resa's attempts to grab the paper. "No way," she said, between giggles. "Just remember that you brought it on yourself by not listening to us in the first place."

"That is so unfair" she said, pretending to huff at them. She looked back down at the flower "so mean, the poor thing probably had weeks left" she said tragically. She noticed the confused expression Hilary had and burst out laughing. "yay, it worked!" she said triumphantly, raising her hands in the air.

Hilary was completely lost and confused. Usually, she was pretty good at following what was going on, even in the most random of conversations. But Resa had lost her completely. She wasn't sure if they were talking about the flower, the note or something completely different.

"What in the world are you talking about?" she asked, shaking her head at her silly friend.

Theresa fell back on the grass, laughing and killing a few flowers in the process. She looked at Hilary again and laughed harder when she realised that the girl was even more confused. Once she finally stopped laughing, she sat up and grinned at her. She pointed at Hilary "exactly my friend, exactly" she said, trying her hardest not to laugh again.

Hilary watched as her friend all but fell over laughing. She still hadn't the slightest clue what was going on or what her friend had been going on about. There had been something about flowers, and the note... But she couldn't see anything within those two topics to have her friend laughing that hard.

"Theresa, did you have too much sugar today?" she asked, motherly.

Shelby leaned over to Hilary and whispered in her ear, "I think she's gone completely mad. She's probably even crazier than Lauren," she giggled before lying back on the grass to look up at the sky.

"Resa, you are the most stubborn human being I have ever met in my entire life," Shelby declared dramatically.

Theresa sat up straight and caught her breath "sorry, since you said I was random and crazy, I decided to see how long it would take to confuse you by being random and crazy and I chose talking about flower murder and yes, I have had a lot of sugar today, what's you point?" she asked, giggling. She stuck her tongue out at Shelby "I have you know, I have not gone mad and I don't come close to being as mad as Lauren the tiny brain and I am not stubborn" she huffed.

"I think you're right," she whispered back to Shelby. "Do you think we should take her up to the hospital wing? Just incase she hurts herself." Turning to Resa, she said, "I love you, Theresa. That's my point."

Hilary didn't bother getting involved with the whole stubborn talk again. She had been there already. And besides, they had the plan now. And there was no chance that the plan could fail.

Theresa smiled as she leaned back "well I am fine, just had a fun crazy moment, you should know about them by now, you should be use to it" she joked as she plucked one of the flowers. "I am a nut and I am proud of it so deal with it" she said, grinning as she stuck her tongue out at her friends.

Hilary couldn't help but laugh. "I think that one wins the awards of the craziest of the crazy moments," she said. "You had me so lost, I wasn't sure what to think."

She laid back on the grass, probably getting dirt all over her robes, letting the warm evening sun warm her face.